Ranking Every DRUID Subclass In D&D 

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A correction on moon druid, you can't turn to a brown bear twice per long rest, you can do it twice per short rest.

Druids are the class that, in my experience, can always do just a little more than you thought they could.

Stars Druid is peak 5e Druid. Strong, but not broken, and flavourful. It does everything right

My favorite thing about the Druid is how unique each subclass feel from one another. Makes for great role play too. Thanks for doing my favorite spell casting class justice

Playing as a spores druid in my current campaign, I'm so glad to see that someone making a ranking put them in at least A tier. People always say it B or C because "why would a caster want to be in melee?" With that temp Hp I actually became my parties tank since we lack a fighter, barbarian, or even a paladin.

Dear God. Hearing Für Elise on a keyboard just gave me such a flashback to Secondary school music lessons. Great list. I love Druids and it's good to be reminded of all the fun you can have with each subclass. I've refrained from Shepherd though. Need to find a table that'd be cool with having to deal with it.

You massively underrated wildfire. The pet has an infinite use 15ft teleport that can bring along any number or allies and deals damage to enemies it left behind. Infinite teleportation automatically gives that subclass an A at least.

What i sadly never saw is a Druid subclass that allows you to turn into Things other than Animals. Things like Monstrosities and Plants. Like the "master of many forms" class that existed in 3.5 (but balanced)

I did not expect a mid-video musical number... You never fail to deliver something different!

Damn bro the piano really caught me off guard

Circle of Stars is hands down my favorite Druid subclass. When I played a Stars Druid my character had rolled pretty good stats, so I was able to take both the Resilient (Constitution) feat and the War Caster feat. Pair that with a 16 Constitution and a Stone of Good Luck, that gave her a final +10 to concentration checks as well as advantage on them. This meant that using the Dragon constellation she couldn't get less than a 20 on concentration checks, meaning it would take over 40 damage from a single source for her to even need to roll for concentration, and Full of Stars made that virtually impossible for enemies that rely on weapon attacks. If you build for it, Circle of Stars is easily the undisputed king of concentration. And for that character, she also had an 18 Dexterity with Serpent Scale Armor and a shield for 20 AC, as well as the Tough feat to bring her final HP to over 200. Add in her Staff of the Woodlands, and her 22 Wisdom thanks to a Tome of Understanding, and you've got one of the most fun and powerful characters I've ever played. And just throwing this combo out there, If you play a level 20 Stars Druid and cast the 9th level spell Shapechange, you can have your Starry Form active while in the shape of an Ancient White Dragon. That's an Ancient White Dragon with resistance to all Bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing damage, and a +14 to Constitution saves (24 minimum for concentration checks to maintain Shapechange).

For Circle of Spores The temp HP doesn't only last 10 minutes, It lasts until you long rest like most other Temp HP sources. Meaning if you're a caster focused druid (higher level) you can grab your temp HP early in the day and just ignore the 10 minutes of bonus damage, which falls off a cliff as you wouldn't have extra attack. The actual text states "Also at 2nd level, you gain the ability to channel magic into your spores. As an action, you can expend a use of your Wild Shape feature to awaken those spores, rather than transforming into a beast form, and you gain 4 temporary hit points for each level you have in this class. - This is seperate While this feature is active, you gain the following benefits: When you deal your Halo of Spores damage, roll the damage die a second time and add it to the total. Your melee weapon attacks deal an extra 1d6 necrotic damage to any target they hit. These benefits last for 10 minutes, until you lose all these temporary hit points. or until you use your Wild Shape again. So, the "benefits" 1. Halo of spores bonus damage and 2. +melee damage) Note the last sentence, there are 3 ways to lose the above 2 benefits 1. After 10 minutes 2. Until you lose all the temp HP granted by the feature 3. Until you use your Wild Shape again (this also means you couldn't get a boosted halo of spores as a squirrel)

best thing about moon druid is the fact that wildshape becomes a bonus action, you can heat metal a knight, flip him off as a free action, then wildshape into a badger and burrow underground while maintaining concentration, all on the same turn. Also, Conjure Animals doesn't have to summon things on the ground, you can summon 8 cows, 20ft in the air above a target's head, and beef bomb them to death

The wildfire teleport has been the game changer for my partner in so many fights. Someone gets grappled by a Manticore, or stuck in a gelatinous cube, or we're roof hopping or getting around traps, the spirit is always there to help out

Basically, give each player control of one or two of the wolves. Which was the suggestion offered in said mentioned game breaker video. Give everyone else more shenanigans to do during combat will make them feel involved.

Personal head-canon: the music video for "Who let the Dogs Out" is really a party of 5 Moon Druids driving their DM up the wall :)

Finally, my favourite class gets the attention it deserves!

"To Elis" was awesome. My favorite comercial ever!

I absolutely loved the ad read in this! Super fun and creative, best one yet! I appreciate the content and the positivity that you bring into the community, keep on being awesome and inspiring us all!

12:26 I'd like to point out the Lv. 1 spell entangle, that is not only good for restraining targets but good for field manipulation and overall altering the battlefield, which imo is the best part of being a druid

I think if you could activate Symbiotic Entity with a bonus action instead of an action, that might push Spores into S-tier

Thanks for making all the dice optional add-ons for Ryoko's! I can't wait to get them!

Divorced, beheaded, survived, blinded, deafened, frightened, poisoned. Wait, I think that's wrong. And yeah, poor Land Druid, it's the Ranger of Subclasses.

I think Dream Druids are a little better than you gave them credit for. Cure wounds + Balm of the Summer Court is good burst healing, and a +5 to perception checks while Hearth is up is great for keeping watch

I love the flavor of Land druid because I think your land of origin forming your powers is a really cool concept. So I've played them a few times. I've felt really important with one game and completely frivolous in another game. I think a lot of how much fun I had in this subclass was dependent on which race I complemented it with and who I was playing with, whether it be group size or classes. What campaign I was in mattered to moderate extent. I never got to those high levels where their features got really bad, so that didn't matter.

I really like the spores druid, but there a caviat about the Symbiotic Entity feature. It's only active while you have the temp hp. So you'd be pretty lucky to make use of this feature for more than one round, at least for early levels.

Love the subclass ranking videos!

I needed a dnd shorts video today. Thanks

FYI you got my like and subscribe straight after your “BAAAAAAAD” joke, love it. Also it was super informative, im about to begin my first dnd game and wanted to look into the Druid classes. Thanks heaps.

Favorite fixation of mine: Circle of Spores plus a setting adjusted Semic Hybrid race is a great way to indulge in the body horror potential of the class, more so if you get creative with how you cast spells. Primal Savagery cantrip works great as a close range option as well as playing out the mouth/jaw horror, and flavoring Thornwhip as coming out of your mouth as a detaching tongue is great. If you're flanking and helping other fighters up close, you'll get more use out of your zombification reaction than you'd think, honestly; just more problems for the squishy, rapdily rotting and tendril filled distractions. A good way to turn an encounters minions against them in my experience. Good stuff. Barbarian Path of Beasts can also get flavor twisted with Semic Hybrid easy for just as creepy body horror enjoyment too.

My man. You just keep cranking out the most amazing videos!

I want to point this out with the healing ability for circle of dreams. No where does it say that you can’t use it while wild shaped. So this is one of the few healing abilities you got that can still work while you are doing that. I mostly chose this for its theme but it was neat to figure this out.

This was one of the most impressive advertisements I have seen in the last years. Oh, btw nice tier list XD. GJ mate!

Druids, always, forever. Best class. Best aesthetics. Moisturized. Unbothered. Contented.

you always deliver on those ADs! Nice work mate.

I have wanted to play a high level shepherd Druid for a long time, for one reason. The last time we got direct numbers for how many creatures were in a “swarm of X” was in 3.5, where they note that if the creature by itself would be considered “tiny size” and has a fly speed, there’s about 1000 of them in the swarm. Swarm of Ravens in 5e is a CR 1/4 creature, and Ravens are size category tiny, with a fly speed. A high level Shepherd Druid can summon 36 creatures of CR 1/4 with maximum level Conjure Animals. I want to go full Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” on the BBEG! Even if we lose, they *will* have Ornithophobia for the rest of their existence if I have anything to say about it!

Amazing video as always!

That ad was so good!

That Fur Elise cover was great!

this has to be one of the best sponsor sections I have ever seen. I have replayed it like 3 or 4 times now

I was really surprised about the little song but I also think its really good!! 👏 👏 👏

I love your ads sooooo much. Never change.❤

I love those vids. Can't wait for Cleric!

That song for the ad was actually really impressive.

Fur Elise totally threw, but damn that was awesome... you are the only youtuber that i don't skip the ads for! Cheers!

Scrying is a very situational spell?! It's one of the most powerful spells in the game and I would argue basically a must take for anyone that can at 9th lvl. I mean you can literally see anywhere in the world, this spell is one of the bigger gamechangers in basically how the entire game is played and integral to the story of basically every game I've been in at that level. This doesn't just kill the BBEG 1 turn faster, it actually changes the whole narative.

That was the best ad. Top tier stuff!

In terms of Wildfire not getting fireball, i like it. Every other fire spell on the list *and* for druids are controlled flames, whether directional casts, pointed casts, moving the aoe every turn, or Fire Storm being shapable and not burning plants as you wish A wildfire doesnt have to be all encompassing and, well, wild. It can often be controlled to help a forest grow the helthiest it can be by protecting where a lot of animals live while burning a dead part of the woods to make room for healthier growth. That is VERY in line with druids if you ask me

8:41 "If you have a d1, you can guarantee that you get Woe every single time" Holy crap, I never realized that Cosmic Omen doesn't say what kind of die you need to roll (this is the kind of loophole that I like).

Great vid once again!!! Always love your sponsors XDDD

Druid Subclasses gooooooo! Smoke that J with a Dire Wolf! *Also, pretty sure a Club and Shield or Quarterstaff and Shield works with Shillelagh too. Still a 1d8 Magic Weapon.

Love the song for the book

very fun and informative review, especially with your creative comments

LETS GO LOVE YOUR CHANNEL!

As a shepherd druid I made sure never to summon more than 4 creatures, knowing that any more would be just a headache for everyone. That being said, my 4 giant goats tended to batter down any enemy the DM tried to throw at us

I was not prepared for the piano ad, but I really enjoyed it

Respect the background music choice, my dude. A man of taste

Great video

I swear this guy makes the most entertaining adds on his videos, skipping them is a crime lol.

OH MY GOD! The icon you used for the Shepherd Druid is exactly what I used for my high level Shepherd Druid!

People miss the point of the dream druid level 2 and 10 abilities: breaking action economy. In fact, if they worded it different people would probably bemoan how broken it is. Is level 2 just healing word? Sure, except that it has double range. Is level 10 just misty step? Sure, but with double range. And the fact that they aren't casting spells. Not that they don't take spell slots, but that they aren't casting spells. How many character builds take 2 levels of fighter to get action surge just for the ability to cast 2 spells in one turn? Dream druids get to do that ALL THE TIME, with two of the best spells in the game. The biggest drawback to both healing word and misty step are that if you use them, you're limited to a cantrip for your action, and druid cantrips are pretty mid. Dream druids throw that rule out of the window, and by the time you get the level 10 ability, you can effectively cast 2 leveled spells per turn 15 times per long rest. Additionally the level 6 ability - hearth of moon and shadow - doesn't just give you a +5 to stealth. It also gives a +5 to perception, great for keeping lookout, and light inside doesn't show outside. So you can be on watch at night, it's pitch black outside the dome but you're in bright light--so no disadvantage on your perception rolls, but even creatures with darkvision would have disadvantage on perception rolls to spot you. You also get total cover. So if someone DOES see you, they still can't actually attack you, unless they come inside the dome. It's a more interesting (and less noticable) version of Leomund's tiny hut, which people lose their minds over.

We have missed you king 👑

Your land druid/bottom of the C pun was glorious.

Loved the ad bit

Would really like more of these

The songs ad was great!

Would also say one strong point in favour of the dreams’ balm of the summer court is that like healing word it is a bonus action, but unlike HW it doesn’t use a spell slot so you can still cast a levelled spell if you want

Circle of Wildfire is my favorite Druid subclass. I was fortunate to play that class all thr way to lvl 14 :)

I swear he does some of the best sponsor advertising i've seen on youtube

I’ve been waiting for this one. I want to play Druid for my first magic caster

I Love your Videos, please continue

The at-will party-wide misty step in B tier is crazy

Listening at double speed, as I am wont to do, the Fur Elise ad plug serious slaps.

And he plays Keys aswell, give this man Knighthood now

One of my favorite characters I've played was a Shepard druid. That campaign, the DM gave everyone very rare magic items (so he could scale the difficulty) and I got a Rod of Absorption so I had plenty of free uses of summoning spells. Had one encounter where I summoned 24 dire wolves.

Played, a few moon druids, land, dreams (actually super fun, if you flavour up your spell casting) and now I just want to play a wildfire, spores, stars and shepard. All this video has done is add stars and Shepard to the list.

Extra bonus like for the awesome singing

Thanks for another fun video! And for getting your silly song in my head

I once played a circle of stars druid when play testing some upcoming new material, and it was only one time, and I’m really bummed that I didn’t get a chance to try out their other features because they sounded awesome to me. Glad to see them in S tier.

I have a Path of the Beast Barbarian I'm leveling up and I'm very much considering multiclassing into Spores Druid. It just sounds like a super fun combo

👏👏👏👏 Nice play

we just completed Avernus in which i played a circle of the shepherd druid. he definitely turned the tide of many battles. having 64 giant owls, whos attacks were considered magic by the time he could summon that many, ripped many high level demons and devils to shreds. AND IF YOU PLAY IT RIGHT, it doesnt have to slow down combat. our dm allowed me to start calculating my attacks before my next turn began. i even had two other players, who are otherwise just waiting for their turn, help keep track of the number of attacks and damage. i was doing an average of 140 to 180 points of damage per turn. and with their flight speed and flyby ability, i made sure that any injured ones returned back to the totem's radius to regain some health. its my favorite subclass! 😁

I honestly love the shepherd because it is amazing support too and I heard of a fix for the summoning spells that I ended up using and is really fun. When a mass-summoning spell is cast, divide control of the summoned animals among all of your players. The animals will still act according to the druid's commands, but the attacks and damaging is handled by the players the control is granted to. This gives all players smth to do and doesn't make combat feel like a massive drag.

This is great!

How to play shepherd: 1. Ask dm which beasts are chosen ( or who choses them ) 2. Make macros on roll20 with labels for the beasts that can be selected 3. Put the tokens on the map yourself and manage hp ( you can do it on dndbeyond by adding extras ) It takes two seconds to roll to hit and damage. DM just looks at any number higher or equal to the AC of the attacked creature. You are using template roll macro, so all hits are in one line. This takes 10-15 seconds TOPS to do. I don’t see why people complain. Yeah, preparation is key. You do it ONCE at the start of the campaign.

I always skip the ad segment, but that sudden piano playing was great.

A+ plug for the Elyse book 👏

We made a House Rule for Circle of the Land: You can attune to different Land after a long rest if you didn't chance your spell list. Also 12:03 "During a short rest, you can choose expanded spell slots to recover." You can choose to recover the spell slots during the short rest. That means when you start short rest you can then recover the expended spell slots. There is debate of RaW if this means you can declare during a combat as an action that you choose to start short rest and recover the expended spell slots 😂 most DMs wont allow this abuse. But what we allow is that if short rest is interrupted by random encounter Druid regains their spell slots but Wizard wont as Wizard's arcane recovery states "... when you finish a short rest, ..." means you must finish the short rest. I think this is oversight and RaI you should regain them after the short rest.

Dude that song legit made me think of elyse in a positive light and made me feel like buying it.

My DM and I are home brewing groups of animals so that summoning 8 wolves only takes up 2 actions instead of 8. We simply separate the wolves into groups of 4, make them do less damage based on if they are below 75%, 50%, or 25% health. Remove advantage at 25% health (unless the other group is in range), and take bones damage from area attacks.

Yea, I played a Circle of the Sheppard Druid and my DM and I did a work around for the huge number of animals I summoned. I would just roll all of my creatures attack rolls at once and everyone who got to attack would then get their damage die rolled. It really helped cut down on the time on my turn.

I played Spores Druid for a stretch of time. The 6th level ability was my favorite.

Neat little trick, star druids dragon form with shapechange can make you pretty crazy with staying in shapechange. It is an easy way to dominate encounters

I love circle of the moon as a multiclass dip for wizard or other squishy casting classes. The ability to turn into a fucking bear in the event that you’re forced into melee with something stronger than you can be a game changer, and the Druid spell list also has plenty of exclusive spells that shouldn’t be overlooked.

I loved my Shepherd Druid, and with work around for the summons + macros, even when I summoned 16 velociraptors, it was smooth and fun for all my fellow players. Shepherd Druids are fun and are a really strong subclass!!!

With that musical number, it seems we have a new bard feature unlocked!!

The best buffs to circle of the land would be to expand or reverse their later defensive capabilities. Land’s stride basically just encourages Spike Growth spam, not a bad spell and there’s tons of combo ability, and this feature also tells everyone “hey i’m gonna wild shape and jump on the tangled enemies, unless you have any other ideas”. Charm and Frighten are good immunities, but you are tied to the land, so let’s expand on that. For Nature’s Ward, let’s add that You gain immunity to Charm and Fright against creatures not native to your plane, and full immunity to these conditions when within the terrain you have chosen for yourself. As for Nature’s Sanctuary, let’s have nature working to aid us. You gain Expertise on Nature and Animal Handling! Additionally, as long as beast and/or plant is within 30 or 60 feet, on a saved Wisdom throw against your spell save DC, the target must attack someone else, and on a successful save, when you take reduced damage (equal to wisdom modifier) you retaliate with lashing thorns, dealing the reduced damage and reducing their movement to 0 until the start of their next turn, and is immune to the effects of Nature’s Sanctuary for 24 hours. A wild shaped druid can activate this feature, but not for themselves, but a party of Land Druids can buff each other (for the memes!) I think this buff is flavorful, as nature responds to your power and works to protect you, not simply submit to you. It’s also more powerful, though incentivizing a bit more home-turf tactics. Combined with the various movement spells such as spider climb or tree stride, you can navigate a battlefield smoothly, reach a spot from which to benefit from your defensive Features, set up combos, or even use those spells to soup up your defenses while wild shaped! And thanks to the tendencies of parties to have familiars, it can be easy to set up an uncharmable beast who can only primarily take damage through collateral damage. However, you can still be charmed by other people, beasts(?), plants(????), monstrosities, and dragons, and fear from these will still send you running for your beloved hills. This gives you the spellcasting of a wizard but the potential power of a moon druid, turning this subclass from a lowly C to an awesome A tier! ENJOY!

Absolutely loved all the puns. This video is grewt

im gonna start a campaign soon using cirlce of winter by blackbando its pretty cool, obvi cold centered the big thing is that instead of wildshape, i can become cold and get 5+ temp hp and deal more damage