EDIT: Because the Post Title is certainly misleading, I'll clarify at the beginning.
This is a Wildshape Focused build.
TLDR Bullet Points for the Build:* Averages 180 DPR before any crits, consumables, items, or external buffs* Summons for multiple external sources of CC, Debuffs, and Vulnerability* Very resource efficient, doesn't need lots of resting
I am not recommending you ignore concentration spells. This build just doesn't spend resources on min/maxing concentration, and because of that I point out a lot of really great spells that don't need it. But you should virtually always be concentrating on something. This build just doesn't need to be concentrating, so you aren't too upset when you lose concentration - as you inevitably will as a low AC frontliner.
Since Druid is the Class of the Week Discussion, I'll throw out my Moon Druid Build, because thematically Moon Druid is my favorite DnD SubClass.
Up Front, this is a Wildshape - Centric Build. I know most Druid builds are backline caster-heavy with Wildshape as an escape pod, this isn't that. For that - you're better off taking Land. This is also not a "Nova then Long Rest" build - those are awful to play. This build is actually extremely efficient with your rests and resources - so if you're doing something like a solo + tactician + no illithid + limit long rests run, this would work very well for that.
That having been said, concentration spells and a low AC brawler don't synergize well - what can we do about it?
We could paddle upstream and try to force it to work with War Caster, and Resilient (Con). I tried that, it still doesn't feel great.
Instead, what I ended up liking a lot more - was focusing on what a Moon Druid can do without needing to maintain Concentration. It's also worth noting that through gear (not end-game gear either) you can get Advantage on Concentration Saves, you can become immune to Prone, and you can get boosts on your Con saves - we really do *not* need to invest in this with feats.
So let's take a look at some of our spell list through this lens. This isn't intended to be an exhaustive list. In fact, it's mostly an overview of spells that often get ignored on a more traditional build.
TLDR; You are an extremely strong summoner, and you have some solid self-buffs (we are multiclassing for even more). Some require Concentration - others do not. You will leverage a lot of your spell slots to summon and buff, and you will augment that with your "standard" Concentration spells to suit the situation. The difference is that, once you do lose concentration - you are still a buffed up Wildshape with excellent summons controlling the fight.
Cantrips:
- Shillelagh - excellent "normal form" damage, particularly at low levels.
- Guidance - Must have out of combat spell
- Produce Flame - outstanding for utility (light until long rest) with a side-gig in ranged damage at low levels.
- Thorn Whip - a solid cantrip to move enemies - great at lower levels
Level 1:
- Create or Destroy Water - outstanding spell to manipulate surfaces to your advantage - great synergy with Armor of Agathys
- Enhance Leap - excellent mobility both out of combat and pre-cast before a fight. Enhance Leap Longstrider Sabretooth is insane.
- Fog Cloud - yes it's concentration, but at low levels is still good enough to be worth preparing
- Healing word - Insanely good, put downed allies back in the fight from 18 meters away as a bonus action
- Ice Knife - solid low level blaster, can use it while silenced & creates a surface
- Longstrider - Cast it after every long rest for your whole party and all your summons, it's a Ritual, no concentration, and lasts until long rest. Incredible.
- Thunderwave - moves things - almost always worth preparing for L1 slot usage
- Speak with animals - it's a ritual and nice to have when you're not in wildshape, plenty of scrolls and potions for this lying around though.
Level 2:
- Gust of Wind - change surfaces, move things, and knock things off balance
- Pass Without Trace - mostly out of combat concentration spell, extremely good party buff when you want to sneak
- Protection from poison - solid self-buff, being poisoned sucks
- Spike Growth - yes it's combat concentration - but this spell is incredibly powerful in BG3, fortunately you get a much better implementation of this later on, for low levels - this is still worth it even if it will likely get popped quickly.
Level 3:
- Daylight - this spell is incredibly powerful for large chunks of the game
- Plant Growth - excellent Crowd Control without concentration - use it a lot.
- Call lightning - awesome blaster, pair with wet
Level 4 (this is where it gets fun):
- Conjure Woodland Being - this spell is incredible. She will hang out in the back and concentrate on Spike Growth for you, while also conjuring a Wood Woad once per short rest to fight up front with you - the Wood Woad can cast Entangle. The only downside to this is she can't Jump, so will occassionally get left behind.
- Conjure Minor Elemental - not as good as Woodland Being, but still outstanding action economy. The Azer also cannot jump so can be left behind, both Mephits can fly.
- Freedom of Movement - outstanding utility for any frontliner, as soon as you have 2 L4 spell slots, self buff yourself after every long rest and abuse it.
- Blight - situationally good blaster spell for when you need one, but mostly you use these slots for summoning and self-buffing.
Level 5:
- Conjure Elemental - until we can upcast to Myrmidon
- TBD - we will be using your L5 spell slot for something else we will discuss later.
Level 6:
Heroes' Feast - Outstanding Party Buff- Conjure Elemental - upcast to Conjure Myrmidon.
So now that we know the Spell List that is useful to us as a strange Druid that doesn't have to maintain Concentration, I'll go ahead and share the actual Build.
Race - lots of options, here are a few with good synergy:
- Wood Elf / Half-Wood Elf: +1.5m speed, Stealth proficiency + some other things
- Half-Orc: Relentless Endurance
- Lightfoot Halfling: my personal preference - Reroll Nat 1's, Advantage on Stealth & against Fear - but you get -1.5m movement, though this is compensated a lot with Wildshapes + Longstrider.
- Githyanki - strong racial traits for anything
Background:
- Outlander - the Druid Trope
- Urchin - my personal preference - since we are Baldurian's after all, also stealth is good.
Ability Scores (just an example):
- Str - 8
- Dex - 13 (14)
- Con - 17 (18)
- Int - 10
- Wis - 16
- Cha - 10
Class Proficiencies:
- Perception
- Survival
Feats:
- L4 - Tavern Brawler (Con): Tavern Brawler only works in wildshape on attack rolls, damage rolls are currently bugged - but attack rolls are the more important one anyways so it's still very worth taking. The +1 Con ticks us over to 18 for lots of HP buffer when we get knocked out of Wildshape.
- L8 - Resilient (Dex): Dex saving throw proficiency is excellent for a frontliner. Also this feats +1 to Dex will actually pass through to Wildshaping, giving you +1 AC on Wolf, Panther, Sabretooth, Dilophosaurus, Cat.
- L12 - none.
Leveling: 10 Moon Druid / 1 White Dragon Sorcerer / 1 War Cleric
- 1 - Druid or White Dragon Sorcerer (both are good options for different reasons, but I would take Sorc 1 for solo)
- 2 - Moon Druid
- 3 - Moon Druid
- 4 - Moon Druid
- 5 - Moon Druid
- 6 - Moon Druid
- 7 - Moon Druid
- 8 - Moon Druid
- 9 - Moon Druid
- 10 - Moon Druid
- 11 - White Dragon Sorcerer
- 12 - War Cleric
Why the multiclasses? Well, after L10 you only get your third Feat and Wildshape HP Scaling.
Normally, a Moon Druid needs all three feats - this is because it has such a terrible time trying to concentrate while brawling (War Caster + Resilient Con) and Tavern Brawler is so good on Wildshape that it is a must. Now that we have a build that works after losing Concentration - we can take a more optimal version of Resilient for our Wildshapes - and we can safely drop War Caster altogether.
I don't think the extra HP you get from the L12 scaling is worth 2 levels.
Sorcerer & Cleric are also full casters - so we still get our spell slot progression which is important.
Now let's expand on our multiclass choices.
White Dragon Sorcerer: We get a lot here.
- 4 cantrips - this is awesome for us as it gives us more "normal form" utility. I chose Mage Hand, Dancing Lights, Friends, and Minor Illusion.
- 2 spells that are always prepared - Magic Missile is excellent when you're out of Wildshapes, particularly as we often end up with lots of spare spells slots to burn, Shield is also very good. Honorable Mention goes to Mage Armor only because it can be used on Woodland Being to help her concentrate (but so can Sanctuary), it can also be used for +3 AC to Air & Fire Elementals. At the end of the day though, don't take this - use Scrolls.
- White Dragon - we are here for Armor of Agathys, and get Draconic Resilience on the way.
- Armor of Agathys - This spell is outstanding, and what we will be using those L5 slots for (L4 slot until we have 2x L5 to also conjure an elemental). at L5 this gives us +25 Temp HP and attacks anything that hits us with a melee attack for 25 damage each time until that temp HP is gone. This does transfer to Wildshape. You can also re-cast with lower spell slots once the L5 is gone. This attack always hits - it cannot miss. While you are in "normal" form - any items that increase your Cold damage (such as Heart of Ice) do apply to this attack. This alone is better than going L12 straight Moon Druid - also, no concentration required and its on until Long Rest.
- Draconic Resilience - You cannot be wearing armor before wildshaping to get the bonus while Wildshaped. It will increase AC on wildshapes with a base AC <13. Due to class synergy, this is currently the best version of Unarmored Defense / Mage Armor / etc that you can use in Wildshape.
- Here is a table of each Wildshape and how much AC they gain from Draconic Resilience.
| Wildshape | +AC |
|---|---|
| Badger | +3 |
| Bear | +1 |
| Cat | +3 |
| Spider | +2 |
| Wolf | +1 |
| Dire Raven | n/a |
| Deep Rothe | +3 |
| Panther | +1 |
| Owl Bear | n/a |
| Sabre-Tooth | +1 |
| Dilophosaurus | n/a |
| Air Myrmidon | n/a |
| Earth Myrmidon | n/a |
| Fire Myrmidon | n/a |
| Water Myrmidon | n/a |
War Cleric - this gets us a lot more "normal form" utility and has solid if frustrating single-level dip synergy for a brawler, and is better than anything another level of Sorcerer would give us:
- 3 cantrips - Sacred Flame, Thaumaturgy, Resistance
- 2 Subclass Spells - Shield of Faith, Divine Favor. Shield of Faith is actually awesome for us. Even though it is concentration, it's until Long Rest and we have plenty of Level 1 slots to burn. So cast it out of combat and benefit until you lose concentration.
- 4 more spells - Sanctuary is situationally amazing, Guiding Bolt, Inflict Wounds, Command
- 3 War Priest Charges per long rest - these let you expend a War Priest Charge + Bonus Action to make an Attack. Before you get too excited, these attacks will not trigger your extra Wild Strikes. They are also frustrating because in the current implementation you have no control over when you use them. This means that if you make a normal attack - your next attack will use a War Priest Charge (if available) and your Bonus Action, you don't get to choose. This is annoying as you cannot save them up for big fights - and if you want to use your bonus action for something else you must do it before you attack a second time. This is almost certainly something that will get fixed as a QoL feature in the future, but for now - it's very annoying. In any case, it's still very good because it will give your wildshapes 4 attacks per round while you have War Priest Charges.
- Heavy Armor and Simple + Martial Weapons Proficiency - the heavy armor you may or may not use at all. But this does make you proficient with your Air & Water Myrmidons Weapon Attacks. This is important because Tavern Brawler does not work on any of the Myrms that carry weapons - not being proficient on top of that can make the weapon attacks feel bad. This solves that - you are now proficient with all of your Wildshapes attacks. You can also now use hand-crossbows.
In summary - for our multiclass:
We Lose:
- Level 12 Wildshape HP Scaling
- Our Third Feat
- 6th Level Druid Spells (Heroes Feast)
We Gain:
- 7 Cantrips
- 9 Spells - including Armor of Agathys with synergy to Upcast it
- 3 War Priest Charges
- Proficiency with Air & Water Myrmidons Weapon Attacks
- Situationally useful Draconic Resilience
Finally this brings us to items that are useful to us:
Staffs: this has synergy with Shillelagh for use in a pinch (when you're out of Wildshape Charges) but mostly you're looking for stuff that gives you some blaster spells you wouldn't normally have. This can be nice to maximize what you're doing out of Wildshape.
Weapons: Gontr Mael: not Druid specific, but this gives you access to once per long rest Haste with no Lethargy. This is so overpowered on this build I would consider not using it unless you're already doing solo Tactician.
Shields & Armor: Almost nothing works in Wildshape - but high AC is still great for when you're out of wildshape. There's also some cool spells you can get that will transfer to wildshape.
- Dark Justiciar Half-Plate
- This gives us Advantage on Con Saves while out of Wildshape (among several other cool things). With our 18 Con plus this - we still do quite well at holding Concentration when we choose to do so (out of Wildshape). There are other armors that do this, including clothing. I just mentioned this one because you get it fairly early in the game.
- Armour of Moonbasking
- The end-game Wildshape Armor. This does not override Armor of Agathys (you will get the +AC, but will not get the damage reduction if Armor of Agathys is up).
Boots & Gloves: Lots of options - mostly out of combat, flavor or spell access for Moon Druid, but there are some things that will Proc on entering combat and carryover when you wildshape (momentum).
- Boots of Striding
- This makes us immune to Prone while Concentrating (out of wildshape only). Prone is automatic lose concentration, so this is great. This plus an armor/clothing can make us incredible at holding concentration in our normal form.
Other Items:There are other items in the game that will increase stats. These do carry over to wildshape. Strength and Dex are where I recommend putting them. I'll leave the rest up t your story or googling prowess.
Rings & Amulets: Again, see above. There is however, one notable exception to this. Moon Druids, by and large get excluded from the loot fest that is BG3 - moreso than any other subclass, and Larian did a terrible job of making tailor-made gear for Druid Wildshapes, but I digress. It just so happens that one of the most powerful equipment sets in the game does work in Wildshape.
- True Loves Caress & True Loves Embrace
- This gives us +1 AC, +1 to all Saving Throws, and Resistance to Everything.
- The downside is that your damage is shared with the caster (the wearer of True Loves Embrace).
- This spell is always good, but it's balanced around being cast by a Cleric. The reason this equipment set is so strong is because it allows you to break that balance.
- When you give True Loves Embrace to Karlach (or any Wildheart Barb) and Bear Rage - you get resistance again to all of that shared damage (less Psychic).
- This Equipment set has more Synergy with Moon Druid than anything else in the game because:
- Moon Druid has a huge HP Pool with Wildshapes (Lunar Mend still sucks - don't use it)
- This build in particular has tons of HP due to temp HP + 18 Con in normal form
- Armor of Agathys - that 25HP just became 50 Effective Temp HP that hits back for 25 every time until it's gone.
- DISCLAIMER: This equipment is not in any way specific to Moon Druid - anything can use it. It just happens to have the most synergy with Moon Druid, and this build in particular).
- DISCLAIMER: There is an exploit associated with Warding Bond - don't use it, it's terrible - the game is already easy enough as it is.
There you have it - my Moon Druid Wildshape Build that doesn't rely on maintaining concentration! I hope you enjoyed the read!
