Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released and this article will be updating accordingly as time allows.

The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games. We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. Blue: Fantastic options, often essential.Red: Bad, useless options, or options whichĪre extremely situational.RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance. I strongly recommend listening to this episode of the Dragon Talk podcast, in which Jeremy Crawford spends 45 minutes discussing the minutiae of Wild Shape and its interaction with other stuff. There is a lot of confusion around the rules of Wild Shape and its interaction with your racial traits and class features. You can heal yourself as a bonus action by burning spell slots, which helps, but it’s very expensive compared to what you can get from casting a spell with that slot. Remember that you can only Wild Shape twice per short rest, and the DMG’s expectation of a normal adventuring day is 6-8 encounters per day with 2 short rests (See DMG : “The Adventuring Day”), so a single use of Wild Shape often needs to be able to last at least an entire fight on average. Understanding Wild Shape mostly boils down to understanding what form to take which forms work, which forms work in specific situations, and which forms just never work. There are other wands and staves and rings and rods one could probably get some use out of, but those are the things that stuck out to me the most.Wild Shape is an exciting and versatile Druid class feature which a lot of people want to use, but which is easy to use badly. Staff of the Woodlands would also accomplish that nicely, with the added benefit of being useful in melee for when you're out of Wild Shapes. Similarly, a Ring of Animal influence would accomplish many minor Druidic things while allowing you to save the spell slots for Wild Shape healing or other spells. (Though you'd need to spend a bonus action activating that effect before you shifted.)ĭancing Sword would be beneficial for similar reasons.ĭepending on how long a DM is going to say it takes to affix shoes, the Horseshoes of Speed/a Zephyr could come in handy if you shift into something equine.Īn Ioun Stone would also work, assuming the DM doesn't rule that an item orbiting your head counts as equipment that gets shifted.Ī Pearl of Power would be nice for getting back spell slots spent healing yourself in Wild Shape form. Insignia of Claws gives a +1 to attack and damage rolls with natural weapons.Īnimated Shield gives you a shield bonus as though you were wielding it, even though it's hovering near you, and therefore doesn't require a actual hand to use.

Dnd 5e druid wild shape magic items