Baldur’s Gate 3: The 10 Best Spells for Druid

Larian Studios / Sarah Arnold

Author XP

Human Made

Penned by Sarah Arnold

Sarah loves RPGs, sandboxes, and sims. She's played every expansion of World of Warcraft and WoW Classic and spent hundreds of hours modding and playing Bethesda games.

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

Druids are a versatile support class in Baldur’s Gate 3, with some unique nature-themed options that provide flavor as well as utility. They’re also able to prepare new spells any time they are out of combat, which means they have a great deal of flexibility in choosing what spells to use and when.

Whether you’re playing with Halsin or Jaheira in your party or controlling your own custom character, we’ll help you pick the best spells for your druid with our list below. Keep in mind that everyone’s build will be different and you’ll want to consider your subclass, playstyle, and the makeup of your party when choosing your spells.

I’ve ranked the Druid spells below from good to great.

Popular Destinations..

Baldur’s Gate III Waystone | Navigation Page

The 8 Best Heavy Armor Sets in Baldur’s Gate 3, Ranked

#10 Speak With Animals

You’re a druid, so communing with nature is kind of your thing. This spell is great for doing exactly that. It will let you converse with all kinds of animals, in some cases opening up avenues that you wouldn’t otherwise have access to for completing quests or acquiring items. It’s also just plain fun.

The best part is this is a ritual spell, so you won’t use a spell slot when you cast this as long as you’re out of combat. It’s totally free and it lasts all day. Sure you can also transform into an animal using Wild Shape to speak with a creature of the same type, but that uses up one of your limited Wild Shape transformations, and it ends the second you transform back.

#9 Plant Growth

Druids are the ultimate tree huggers, so of course there was going to be at least one plant-based spell on this list. Plant Growth is a level 3 spell that lets you place weeds on the ground which reduce the movement speed of anyone in the area by 75%. There is no save or attack roll involved, it just works. And it doesn’t even require concentration.

The spell doesn’t provide any other effects, like preventing actions or guaranteeing critical hits. But it’s a reliable way to slow enemies down when the situation calls for it. That can give you time to position your own team and prepare a greeting for when your foe makes it through the brambles.

#8 Wall of Fire

Fire is a part of nature just like flora and fauna, albeit a much more destructive aspect. But that works in your favor here, letting you do some serious damage to your enemies while also limiting where they can safely venture on the battlefield.

This is a level 4 spell that does 5d8 fire damage, and can be upcast for an extra 1d8 for each level. It draws a line of fire that burns anyone who gets close. It does its damage once when you place it and again each time a creature starts their turn too close to it, and it lasts for up to 10 turns if your concentration holds. The damage is decent, but more importantly, enemy AI will try to avoid passing through the fire, so you can place this in a way that will funnel them where you want them to go (or punish them if they don’t).

#7 Create or Destroy Water

The Destroy Water component of this spell isn’t that helpful unless you have a compulsion for mopping up puddles wherever you go. But the Create Water part can be quite powerful in the right circumstances. For one thing, it can be used to douse flames, which are a common hazard you’ll encounter in the game. But more importantly, you can place a puddle of water wherever you want, and water makes creature vulnerable to lightning and cold damage.

Combine this with your Call Lightning spell and watch the sparks literally fly. Or if you prefer to let others have all the fun, lay this down and let your Storm Sorcerer or Tempest Cleric cast Chain Lightning. This is a level 1 spell so it’s fairly cheap to cast, and it doesn’t even require concentration.

#6 Moonbeam

Moonbeam has a few different things going for it. For one thing, it does radiant damage, which is rarely resisted. It’s also an area of effect spell that you can move every turn, and it does damage as soon as you move it. So this spell’s damage will never be wasted by an enemy moving out of its radius.

This spell does require concentration, but that’s a small price to pay considering you can keep moving it around and dealing damage with it, even while Wild Shaped. And it always does at least half damage, even on a successful saving throw. That’s pretty great for a level 2 spell.

#5 Guidance

For a cantrip that doesn’t use your spell slots, Guidance is extremely useful. You get to roll an extra d4 and add it to all of your ability checks as long as you have it up. Even better, you can cast this spell directly from the ability check screen, so you don’t even need to cast it in advance.

The uses for this spell are endless: passing a Persuasion check in dialogue, passing a Stealth check when trying to sneak around an enemy, or passing a Sleight of Hand check when disarming a trap. It can even help you pass a check in combat to shove someone (or avoid getting shoved). Someone in every party should have this spell, and it may as well be you since the druid has limited options for cantrips.

#4 Hold Person

If you’re fighting a particularly tough humanoid foe, this spell can make your life a lot easier. It can last up to 10 turns if it holds, and in that time your target won’t be able to move or take any actions or reactions. They’ll be stuck in one place doing nothing. As if that wasn’t already powerful enough, any melee attacks against them will also be automatic critical hits. So throw this up and let your fighter, monk, or paladin go to town.

This spell’s biggest weakness is that it requires concentration. It also can’t be used against non-humanoid enemies. As a level 2 spell, this will be your best control spell for most of the game. You can upcast it with higher level spell slots to affect an additional target for each level.

#3 Healing Word

This is a level 1 spell, but it’s the most useful healing spell in the game due to the way it works. First, it only costs you a bonus action, so you can cast this and another spell on the same turn. Second, it’s a ranged spell. Where Cure Wounds requires you to be right next to your target, Healing Word lets you heal someone from up to 18 meters away.

With this spell, you can react to a teammate in trouble without sacrificing your own movement and action to do so. This spell becomes even more vital if you don’t have a cleric in your party, but even if you do, it’s good to have another character who can throw out a heal when needed.

#2 Conjure Elemental

As a level 5 spell, this is the highest level spell on our list. Summoning spells in Baldur’s Gate 3 are particularly strong, effectively granting you an extra party member with their own action, bonus action, and reaction. With Conjure Elemental, you can choose from eight different creatures to summon, each with unique abilities.

The elemental you summon stays with you until it dies or is dismissed, no concentration required. You can even use this alongside other summoning spells like Conjure Minor Elemental or Conjure Woodland Beings. Just be prepared for combat to be a bit slow as you play out all of their turns in addition to your own.

#1 Call Lightning

This is your best damaging spell, especially if you use it alongside Create Water. As a level 3 spell it does 3d10 lightning damage, but it can be upcast for an extra 1d10 for each level. It does that damage again every time you call it down, and you can do that on every turn for as long as it lasts (10 turns or until you lose concentration). That means you can cast it up to 10 times without spending another spell slot.

This is a targeted AOE spell that can hit multiple targets within 18 meters of you. When combined with Create Water, it does double damage and has a chance to stun. It also applies the Shocked condition to wet targets, preventing them from using reactions. As if all that wasn’t enough, this spell always does at least half damage, even on a successful saving throw.