Baldur's Gate 3 Druid Class Build (Circle of the Moon)

welcome back for another balder's gate 3 early access in-depth class guide in today's video i'll be focusing on the druid class specifically the circle of the moon i'll go over everything from character creation to the features that you gain as you level up and of course i'll be focusing a lot on the druid's wild shape ability and the various forms and benefits that come along with it i will cover the land druid in a future video so be on the lookout for that quick shout out to gore spiller phil sokoloff mfantho and sakara kit for your guys support on the channel i really appreciate you guys as well as everyone else links to my twitter and my discord server will be below let's get right into it [Music] wisdom is the druid's spell casting ability so in character creation if you want to optimize your druid you're going to want to pick a race that offers a plus one to wisdom a higher wisdom modifier will increase the overall power of many of your druid spells making some of them more likely to hit their targets less likely to be resisted and also increasing the damage that some will be able to dish out the races currently in early access that offer a plus one to wisdom are the wood elf human half elf and the gold dwarf all of these races will work well but i will point out that the gold dwarf allows you to be a bit tankier and the wood elf offers some nice extra weapon proficiencies such as bows even though you're not going to really need weapons before you assign your ability score points let me first point out that we're going to be playing the circle of the moon subclass when presented with our subclass choice at level 2. this means we'll be using the druid's wild shape feature and transforming into various animals quite often when you use wild shape your druid will take on the strength dexterity and constitutionability scores of the beasts that you wild shape into your druids wisdom intelligence and charisma however will remain the same so if you dump strength don't worry your polar bear will still be strong when assigning ability score points all druids will likely want to boost their wisdom to 16 to get that sweet plus 3 modifier next you'll want to get both your constitution and dexterity scores to at least 14. if possible make one of them 16 as well constitution will give your druid more hp when not in wild shape form and also help you hold concentration on spells that require concentration and dexterity will help with initiative roles dexterity saving throws but also increase your druid's armor class up to a max of plus 2 if you have a 14 or higher in dexterity you will likely dump strength and then it's really up to you where you want to disperse your leftover points intelligence helps with intelligent saving throws which can be important and of course it helps with intelligence-based skills and charisma will mostly benefit you in dialogue as far as skills go you may want to choose skills that are wisdom and dexterity based considering that you've likely invested most of your ability score points into those abilities this will make you exceptionally good at those particular skills when in wild shape form you can speak to other animals so you don't really need to take the animal handling skill nor do you really ever have to prepare the speak with animals spell druids at level 1 get to choose two cantrips from a list of six cantrips are spells that can be cast at will they do not use up one of your limited spell slots the easiest choice you'll ever make in a game is here and it's thorn whip it deals minor damage but also pulls enemies closer to you with your maneuverability options with wild shape you can get to many places on the battlefield to position yourself to pull an enemy to their death or at least dish out some nice extra damage on them from their fall many times it may actually be worth coming out of wild shape to do this here's an example of me taking advantage of both wild shape and thorn whip get the hell away from me your second cantrip choice is more so up to you after you choose your two can trips if you gave yourself a 16 in wisdom you now get to prepare four spells from a list of 13. the spells that you have prepared are not permanent choices so don't stress out here you can swap these spells in and out when not in combat when you get the ability to wild shape at level two you cannot cast spells while in wild shape form but what you can do is cast a spell before wild shape that requires concentration and when you wild shape that spell will remain active for as long as you can hold that concentration holding concentration is done by succeeding unconstitution saving throws when you take damage the three level one spells that use concentration include ferry fire entangle and fog cloud i would say fairy fire is a great choice to get familiar with here cast it before you go into wild shape turn into an animal and then attack the affected enemies the enemies that are affected by fairy fire you and your party will have advantage on your attack roles against them making your hits much more likely to land many spells you just won't use as a moon druid but concentration spells can be your best friend when you reach level 2 the real fun begins this is where you'll choose your druid subclass and we're of course going with the circle of the moon both subclasses will learn wild shape at this level but the circle of the moon gives it some really good added benefits wild shape lets your druid assume the form of a beast taking on that b statistics excluding wisdom intelligence and charisma as a moon druid to wild shape it will cost just a bonus action as opposed to an action when playing as a land druid this allows you to wild shape and also attack all in one turn one of the most powerful features of wild shape is that when a beast's form is taken down to zero hit points your druid does not die or get knocked unconscious instead they'll revert back to their humanoid form with whatever hp they had before wild shaping it gets even better when you realize that you can then wild shape back into the same form or a different one and once again gain the full hp of that particular beast there is a limit on the amount of times that you can wild shape though and that limit is twice per short or long rest but here's a little life hack with the way the short rest system is currently implemented in early access you could actually have three wild shaped forms in one combat encounter before combat simply wild shape then hit the short rest button which replenishes your wild shape uses back to two and then enter combat as a polar bear you have 30 hit points so turn into a polar bear hit the short rest button enter combat and when that polar bear form drops to zero hit points you're reverted back into humanoid form wild shaped back into a polar bear form getting 30 hit points once again when that form drops to zero you still have one wild shaped charge left so go ahead and transform back into polar bear form for the third time with that 30 hit points and there you go so you could get 90 hit points from the polar bear form alone don't forget that your humanoid form also has hit points as well if your druid's normal form is taken to zero then you'll be knocked down and out of the fight as a moon druid you'll get the ability to heal yourself in wild shape form through a feature called lunar mend lunar men heals you for one to eight hit points and costs a bonus action and a spell slot when you learn level 2 spells at druid level 3 lunar men can then be upcasted using a level 2 spell slot making the heel more powerful this is a great feature for the moon druid and because it costs a bonus action and not an action you can heal an attack heal and attack as long as you have spell slots to use it's also important to note that dismissing your wild shape form in baldur's gate 3 costs nothing so you can be in one form dismiss it go into another form using your bonus action and then attack using your action all in one turn now let's talk about the actual wild shape forms at level 2 you'll get access to the badger the cat the direwolf spider and the polar bear and when you reach level 4 you'll get to add the deep broth and the dire raven to that list and i'll also mention that when you get your lifted powers you'll get a really cool form of the intellect devourer but i don't want to really spoil that for you guys there will be more wild shaped choices available when the game actually comes out the badger is one of my personal favorites and i highly recommend using it when you speak to other animals because the close-up of the badger is oh so cute the badger only has 13 hit points so it will go down fast in combat and has two offensive attacks the badgers main use is for its burro ability which has a 40 foot range this can be used in and out of combat if you use it in combat when your badger comes up from its burrow it has a chance to knock nearby enemies prone if one of your party members or you yourself attacks a prone creature with a melee attack they will have advantage on that attack so combo your badger with someone like laizelle and her aoe cleave attack to dish out great damage also look for enemies near ledges because the badger is the only wild shaped form that has a claw attack that deals damage and can actually knock enemies back we all know how powerful knocking things back can be in this game the badgers burrow ability is probably more useful out of combat though as you can burrow underneath doors to get to the other side or burrow into the ground to pop up on much higher terrain this allows for a lot of creativity in solving problems and don't be afraid to try its burrow even when in places that you don't think it would work as a spider you'll have 20 hit points get a venomous bite that deals 1d8 plus 3 damage and can poison enemies and also get webb which restrains enemies and can be used as a bonus action so you could attack with its poison bite and use web all in the same turn this definitely makes the spider more appealing if you want to do some damage possibly inflict poison on an enemy giving them disadvantage on their attack roles and also web down some melee based enemies to stop their movement and maybe even then have gail drop a fire bolt the spider can also be really useful in combat when you need to get your druid to elevated or lower areas because it has the ability to jump pretty high and also not take fall damage if you're jumping down the direwolf still looks a little like a seal in a hyena but it's getting there it has 18 hit points so it is a bit low but it does deal out the most base damage that the current wild shape forms can do the wolf's bite attack deals 2d6 plus 3 while most other wild shape forms are around 2d4 plus 3. the wolf also has a really cool attack called exposing bite this attack only deals 1d4 plus 3 but it also distracts a target making the next attack against that creature be a critical hit that can certainly be powerful if you combo it with other melee based party members the exposed effect will last two rounds so you could even attack on the next round with your wolf with its regular bite and that bite will turn into 4d6 plus 3 damage as a critical hit the direwolf also gets an ability called inciting howl which is an aoe buff to movement speed for all party members within 30 feet it only lasts for one turn and does cost an action so make sure that it's something that your party actually needs for that round specifically the cat form only has two hit points and deals extremely low damage the cat's use is more so for stealth movement and utility situations it has a meow ability that distracts creatures in a 60-foot radius which is similar to the familiar cat just more powerful this can certainly be useful when you need to turn the gaze of other creatures away from one area so your party members can sneak behind take things pickpocket or even set up nicely for combat now on to perhaps the most popular pick the polar bear which is a wild shaped form exclusive to the moon druid the polar bear is such a great choice simply because it has the highest hit points of 30. like i said before you can start the fight as a polar bear and as long as you don't get killed in humanoid form you could potentially have three polar bear forms in one fight which is 90 hit points just from wild shape it is extremely tanky on the topic of tankiness the polar bear has an ability called goading roar which sends out a taunt to enemies within 30 feet enemies that fail a wisdom save will then attack you and only you until they can succeed on a wisdom save you are the ultimate tank so you might as well pull as much damage onto you to keep your weakling party members safe so they can dish out damage the polar bear's base attack which is called claws deals 2d4 plus 4 damage which is not as high as the wolf but the hp makes up for the smaller but not bad damage amount the next two animals you'll have access to when you reach druid level 4 and we'll start off with the dire raven it only has 13 hit points so you're not going to be using it long in combat but the great thing about the raven is its maneuverability while the spider can jump 37 feet vertically the raven can fly 60 feet this is huge and considering that you can dismiss a shape for free and use wild shape as a bonus action as long as you have a wild shaped charge available you can get to most places on the battlefield if you need to this can lead to great thorn whip pulls or just a better positioning in general the raven does have an attack that can blind enemies but you probably won't use it that often and its regular beak attack deals 2d4 plus 2 use the raven to get to all sorts of places in and out of combat and the last wild shape option is the ladder climbing deep roth the deep roth comes in at second place for hit points with 23 in its base gore attack deals 3d4 plus 4 damage so it's fairly tanky and it deals more potential damage than most other forms it also has a charge attack where it charges forward up to 30 feet dealing minor damage but potentially knocking enemies in its path prone if multiple enemies line up and you have a melee based party member ready to take advantage of prone targets this can work very well it's also important to mention that the deep broth gets the dancing lights can trip so when you're in darker areas depending on your party's setup this might be the right choice like i said earlier in the video you will get access to the intellect devourer form but it's kind of tied into the story so i'm going to let you guys discover that on your own and those are the wild shaped forms that we'll have access to in early access now let's go over the remaining class features you'll gain as you level up at druid level 3 you'll get access to level 2 druid spells adding 12 more spells to your druid spell list some of these spells are really good and also a lot of fun i will go over all of these spells in depth on my land druids guide but for now i'll just mention the ones that work well with the moon druid this brings us back to spells that require concentration that you can cast and they will remain active when you wild shape bark skin is a level 2 spell that will give you or another party member a 16 armor class number some party members will already have 16 or higher so there's no need for bark skin on them the great thing about bark skin is that you can cast it on yourself before wild shape then use wild shape and it will remain active for as long as you can hold the concentration for example the bear has an armor class of 12 cast bark skin transformed back into a polar bear and now the polar bear has 16. just when you thought it couldn't get any tankier it just did other concentration spells that can work well include moonbeam which calls down a beam of light that deals 2d 10 radiant damage you'd be surprised at how many enemies stay within it or walk into it you can also move the beam if you want at the cost of your action this can be a really powerful spell to go alongside wild shape just make sure not to enter the light yourself enhance ability can also be a useful one for combat purposes using bear's endurance can be a great enhanceability choice to help out other casters because it will give them an advantage on their constitution checks and also give them some temporary hp cast it on shadow heart to help her hold her concentration on spells such as bless which can be a huge help to the party and then go into wild shape and attack the other three concentration spells are flaming sphere which summons a big fireball that rolls around spike growth which can be great to pop off in an area with a lot of enemies it will slow enemies and also deal damage to them heat metal is probably better with the land druid so you can actually reapply it with a bonus action keep in mind that each wild shape form will have its own constitution score so some will be better at holding concentration than others the polar bear comes in first place here because it has a 16 in constitution with a plus three modifier and lastly is level four where you'll likely just take the ability score improvement giving your druid an 18 in wisdom with a plus 4 modifier you also get to pick up another can trip but it really doesn't matter what you choose here the moon druid is an extremely powerful class in utility situations in combat alike you really won't find another like it and that will be it for the circle of the moon druid thank you guys so much for watching i know i take a little bit of time to put out these class guides but i want to make sure that i spend the proper time with each of these classes before releasing a guide if you guys ended up enjoying this video please like comment and subscribe it's a huge help to my channel i do all sorts of content ranging from live streams to game reviews to game tutorials to lore videos and of course class guides i'd love to have some of you guys back for a future video until next time [Music]

Channel: WolfheartFPS

Views: 130,426

Keywords: Baldur's Gate 3, baldurs gate 3 druid, druid class guide, druid, druid build, circle of the moon, moon druid, baldurs, gate, early access, druid spells, wildshape, bg3, classes, races, class builds, beginner's guide, ranger knight, warlock, land druid, wild shape, tips, balder's gate 3, baulder's gate 3, druid gameplay, patch 4, wolfheartfps, larian studios

Id: VMZw4bzF4Ro

Length: 18min 24sec (1104 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 05 2021