The Bestial Tank – Barbarian/Druid Multiclass Build Guide
Learn how to play the Bestial Tank with full leveling guides, full spell lists, and easy to navigate sections to only read what you need!
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For all D&D guides on Nat1gaming, they only use the main sourcebooks (Player’s Handbook, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything) as well as Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos (mostly for Silvery Barbs) as those tend to be the most commonly used books at tables. Always be sure that if you’re following a guide that you’re adhering to your tables rules about what sourcebooks you are allowed to follow.
Any spell, class, feature, or other game item that is linkable on this website is covered by the 5th edition Open Games License and will be in the Player’s Handbook, but not everything in the Player’s Handbook will be linked to. All other materials that aren’t linked to are from other sourcebooks or aren’t allowed to be linked to per the 5th Edition Open Games License, so please refer to the appropriate sourcebooks for that information.
For the purposes of this guide, it will be assumed that you would not be multiclassing. While multiclassing can be excellent for many of these, this is for those who want to play the build all the way through in the same class. Guides that use multiclassing will be separate from these.
For spellcasters, you may notice substantial overlap between the spell lists of builds with the same base class. This is due to each guide utilizing a generically good spell list and not considering extenuating factors that will influence how you particularly sculpt your spell list. When creating your own spell list, you should take into account the campaign setting, what spells any other party members are capable of casting, potential overlap (ritual spells tend to overlap so it’s rare you need multiple people capable of casting them), or potential shortcomings in the parties total spell list. While this guide can definitely help point you in the right direction for crafting a spell list, you should use your judgement and preferences to figure out what spells make the most sense for your character.
To that end, please refer to the Spell List and Spell Tier list for any substitutions you’d want to make to the build.
Druid Spell List and Spell Tier List
As Druid can change their spell choices with a long rest, don’t be afraid to liberally change around spells and experiment. The spell choices given in the guide are simply suggestions and do not have to be perfectly adhered to.
Why Bestial Tank?
Realistically, this is likely just a strictly better Moon Druid because you took one level in Barbarian. Getting access to Rage, proficiency in Constitution saving throws, and potentially a higher AC in your Wild Shaped form is a lot of benefits for investing just your first level in Barbarian. If you were interested in Moon Druid implicitly, then this is a great option to go with.
Quick Level Up Guide
| Level | Class Features/Feat | Notes |
| 1 – 1 Barbarian | Rage, Unarmored Defense, Weapon Mastery | – |
| 2 – 1 Barbarian 1 Druid | Druidic, Spellcasting, Primal Order (Warden) | + Guidance + Starry Wisp + Detect Magic + Entangle + Faerie Fire + Healing Word |
| 3 – 1 Barbarian 2 Druid | Wild Shape, Wild Companion | + Goodberry |
| 4 – 1 Barbarian 3 Druid (Moon) | Circle Forms, Circle of the Moon spells | – Starry Wisp + Shape Water + Starry Wisp (Moon) + Cure Wounds (Moon) + Moonbeam (Moon) + Spike Growth |
| 5 – 1 Barbarian 4 Druid | Feat: War Caster (WIS) | + Thorn Whip + Pass Without Trace |
| 6 – 1 Barbarian 5 Druid | Wild Resurgence | + Conjure Animals (Moon) + Revivify + Sleet Storm |
| 7 – 1 Barbarian 6 Druid | Natural Recovery | + Dispel Magic |
| 8 – 1 Barbarian 7 Druid | Elemental Fury | + Fount of Moonlight (Moon) + Polymorph |
| 9 – 1 Barbarian 8 Druid | Feat: Resilient (CON) | – Faerie Fire + Conjure Minor Elementals + Conjure Woodland Beings |
| 10 – 1 Barbarian 9 Druid | – | + Absorb Elements + Mass Cure Wounds (Moon) + Transmute Rock |
| 11 – 1 Barbarian 10 Druid | Nature’s Ward | + Mold Earth + Wall of Stone |
| 12 – 1 Barbarian 11 Druid | – | – Goodberry + Heal + Transport via Plants |
| 13 – 1 Barbarian 12 Druid | Feat: Wisdom to 20 | None |
| 14 – 1 Barbarian 13 Druid | – | + Plane Shift |
| 15 – 1 Barbarian 14 Druid | Nature’s Sanctuary | None |
| 16 – 1 Barbarian 15 Druid | Improved Elemental Fury | + Animal Shapes |
| 17 – 1 Barbarian 16 Druid | Feat: Constitution to 18 | None |
| 18 – 1 Barbarian 17 Druid | – | + Shapechange |
| 19 – 1 Barbarian 18 Druid | Beast Spells | + Foresight |
| 20 – 1 Barbarian 19 Druid | Epic Boon: Boon of Luck | + True Resurrection |
Questions About Multiclassing?
Not every inherent interaction here is going to be mentioned in the guide, so check out the multiclassing guide to help answer any additional questions you may have!
What’s The Game Plan Of The Bestial Tank?
The game plan of the Bestial Tank, in earlier levels, is to wild shape into the best animal possible, and beat your enemies down. Once you reach higher levels, your game plan is going to change a lot depending on your combat encounter. Sometimes the same old game plan will still work, sometimes you want to concentrate on a spell, Wild Shape into a fast animal, and keep dashing around the battlefield avoiding hits, sometimes you want to cast Conjure Woodland Beings, Wild Shape into a flying animal, and flying around, and finally, sometimes you are just going to spellcast normally. The versatility of this build is what makes it appealing for any type of player – whether you just want to smash enemies as a beast or having a lot of options!
Important Notes For The Build
- Unarmored Defense can supersede a beast’s natural AC if your unarmored defense value is higher.
- You can activate Rage while in Wild Shape which will make you that much tougher in your beast form!
- While you can’t cast spells while Wild Shaped (until Beast Spells anyway), you can still concentrate on them! Try not to enter Wild Shape without casting something first (when appropriate of course). However, remember that Rage stops you from spellcasting and concentrating on spells so you have to more or less pick and choose which game plan you’re going for.
- If you are in a campaign that has a lot of fights per day, I would generally opt to Rage earlier in the day to conserve health and spell slots, barring you aren’t in an obviously tough fight.
Level One Build
Species: Goliath (Hill Giant)
Attributes:
| POINT BUY | |
| STRENGTH | 13 |
| DEXTERITY | 13 (+1 background) = 14 |
| CONSTITUTION | 15 (+2 background) = 17 |
| INTELLIGENCE | 8 |
| WISDOM | 14 |
| CHARISMA | 8 |
Class: Barbarian
Class Features: Rage, Unarmored Defense
Skill Proficiencies: Perception and Survival
Background: Criminal (Alert)
Starting Equipment: Greataxe, 4 Handaxes, Explorer’s Pack, and 15 gp + 50 gp from background
Species: Goliath (Hill Giant)
For any martial character, it’s hard to justify not going for Goliath as the Hill Giant topple is so incredibly good to get advantage on attacks. There are other solid options for species as well like Human for an additional origin feat or Aasimar as they are just generally strong, but Goliath is generally going to be my choice.
Attributes
| POINT BUY | |
| STRENGTH | 13 |
| DEXTERITY | 13 (+1 background) = 14 |
| CONSTITUTION | 15 (+2 background) = 17 |
| INTELLIGENCE | 8 |
| WISDOM | 14 |
| CHARISMA | 8 |
Barbarians are always going to prioritize Strength and Constitution so they are the ones who get the buff. Barbarians also only need 14 DEX as, as tempting as it is to stick with unarmored defense, Medium Armor is going to be better most of the time.
Proficiencies – Perception and Survival
Solid proficiencies for this build.
Background – Criminal (Alert)
You get an excellent feat on top of the ideal proficiencies
Starting Equipment – Greataxe, 4 Handaxes, Explorer’s Pack, and 15 gp + 50 gp from background
Standard equipment for a Barbarian.
Starting Class – Barbarian
Barbarians come with three inherent features that is emblematic of Barbarians in general – Rage, Unarmored Defense, and Weapon Mastery.
Rage is a bonus action activated ability that gives you a big boon in combat a few times a day (that will incrementally climb as you level up). While Raging, you have advantage on all Strength checks and saving throws, you gain bonuses to your Weapon damage, and you have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. You can maintain this powerful state for 10 minutes as long as you keep attacking, force an enemy to make a saving throw, or you use your bonus action to actively maintain it. You start with 2 Rage charges per day, but once per day after a short rest, you get one charge back which is a nice change from 5e. An absolutely excellent ability overall.
Unarmored Defense is easy, your AC is 10 + CON modifier + DEX modifier. So for level 1, your AC will be 15 which is solid, but nothing special. However, when you’re turning into animals as a Druid, this may end up making your AC higher than the creature’s base AC which is definitely nice.
Weapon Masteries are the new feature coming in One D&D that gives you a weapon’s mastery property when you select it. I would pick Greataxe and Javelin initially, but you should change them as you find new weapons.
The Build Level 2 Onward
Level 2-5
Level 2
Class: 1 Barbarian 1 Druid
Class Features: Wild Shape, Wild Companion
Spell Change Log: + Guidance + Starry Wisp + Detect Magic + Entangle + Faerie Fire + Healing Word
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Faerie Fire |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
Believe it or not, you’re going to now switch to Druid and stick with it for the rest of the guide. While it may seem weird to only pick one level in Barbarian, that one level offers you so much that your opportunity cost in taking more Barbarian levels becomes very high very quickly. You already have armor proficiencies, Rage, and Unarmored Defense – you realistically don’t need any more.
Starting out, Druids get three abilities – Druidic, Spellcasting, and Primal Warden.
Druidic is a language known only among druids, and if you want to covertly talk or leave messages to other Druids, this is how you’d do it.
Spellcasting is pretty much the same as the other full casters and will be expounded on in other sections.
Finally, you get a new feature with Primal Order. You have the choice between Magician which is exceedingly mediocre or Warden which gives you medium armor and martial weapon proficiency. As you started Barbarian, you may as well grab Magician.
For your spells, you’re going with an extremely standard spell list for a level one Druid. You have good cantrips and versatile level one spells with varying effects from healing to CC. You only have one way to deal damage at this point, but Druids are support casters first, so having spells that are good at making your allies lives easier is a good thing. Of course be mindful that you can’t concentrate on spells or spellcast while raging, but that’s just something you’ll have to be mindful of.
Level 3
Class: 1 Barbarian 2 Druid
Class Features: Wild Shape, Wild Companion
Spell Change Log: + Goodberry
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Faerie Fire |
| 1st Level Spell | Goodberry |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
For your base Druid abilities, you get access to your Wild Shape, and like every Druid (except for Moon Druids which is going to be relevant in a level), you can turn into anything max CR 1/4 that can’t swim or fly. You’re really only going to use this for utility as you should be a more dangerous threat in human form, but you can use it in combat in a real pinch.
The final ability that you get at this level is Wild Companion. You can use Wild Shape to cast Find Familiar, and while it’s not permanent like a Wizard’s would be, getting it for a bit is still pretty good!
For your actual spell choice, you can pick up Goodberry. Goodberry is a weird spell as it functions as food replacement, but also heals whoever eats it by 1. This is good to dish out some light healing in early levels, avoid using rations, and if your DM is willing to play ball (while it doesn’t work within the official rules, most DMs allow it), you can feed it to downed allies to bring them back up with your action (and sometimes a Medicine check). This use is good in particular as each ally can carry a few berries around to bring up anyone who gets downed (you in particular if you have no other healer in the party).
Level 4
Class: 1 Barbarian 3 Druid (Moon)
Class Features: Circle Forms, Circle of Moon Spells
Spell Change Log: – Starry Wisp / + Mold Earth + Starry Wisp (Moon) + Cure Wounds (Moon) + Moonbeam (Moon) + Spike Growth
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Mold Earth |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Faerie Fire |
| 1st Level Spell | Goodberry |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 2nd Level Spell | Moonbeam (Moon) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Spike Growth |
This level brings a lot for you as you get your subclass, two new abilities, and a slew of new spells!
The first ability you get is easily the most important – Circle Forms. This lets you ignore the usual Wild Shape restrictions, and instead, Wild Shape to any beast that has 1/3 your level in CR which means you can immediately Wild Shape to a CR 1 beast. Furthermore, if that forms AC is lower than 13 + your WIS modifier, it becomes that instead. Finally, you get temporary health equal to three times your druid level when you Wild Shape. While this ability is still weaker than it was in 5e, I think this remains faithful to what the designers were intending (a stronger Wild Shape) rather than what we had (horrible balancing issues).
The second ability is Circle of the Moon spells that gives you a decent list. Starry Wisp is fine, but Druids are never really hurting for additional cantrips so this was a bit unnecessary. The leveled spells you get are Cure Wounds and Moonbeam, but unfortunately, neither is particularly exciting. Cure Wounds is much worse than Healing Word and Moonbeam is not that exciting in terms of damage. Neither are terrible spells , but I’m probably not going to be casting either too often.
For level three you get one of the strongest Druid spells in general, not just in the second level slot – Spike Growth. This spell is truly messed up for many reasons. First off, the range on this is absolutely massive with the AOE also being quite solid. Second, enemies take 2d4 damage for every 5 feet that it travels, and considering this is difficult terrain, that can add up. Lastly (as mentioned previously), this is 5 feet traveled, not moved. If you or your allies have a way to force movement, you can stack up an unholy amount of damage extremely quickly. Even if you have literally zero other ways to make this good, it’s still such a good spell that it doesn’t matter.
Level 5
Class: 1 Barbarian 4 Druid
Feat: Speedy (CON)
Class Feature: None
Spell Change Log: + Thorn Whip + Pass Without Trace
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Mold Earth |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp (Moon) |
| Cantrip | Thorn Whip |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Faerie Fire |
| 1st Level Spell | Goodberry |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 2nd Level Spell | Moonbeam (Moon) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Pass Without Trace |
| 2nd Level Spell | Spike Growth |
Hitting level four means a feat, a cantrip, and more spells.
For your first feat, I very much like taking Speedy. Getting additional movement speed is always great, but having a +4 to Constitution is going to make you that much tankier as you have more health and unarmored defense.
For your cantrip choice this level, I like Thorn Whip. Being able to potentially drag enemies towards you can be surprisingly versatile depending on what’s happening in your combat, especially when really dangerous terrain is involved!
Furthermore, you get a new spell to work with this level!
You get the best stealth spell in the game – Pass Without Trace. Pass Without Trace grants your squad a natural PLUS TEN on all stealth checks. That is absolutely egregious and can make even the most heavy-footed companions reasonably stealthy. An absolute essential for any Druid.
Level 6-10
Level 6
Class: 1 Barbarian 5 Druid
Class Feature: Wild Resurgence
Spell Change Log: + Conjure Animals (Moon) + Revivify + Sleet Storm
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Mold Earth |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp (Moon) |
| Cantrip | Thorn Whip |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Faerie Fire |
| 1st Level Spell | Goodberry |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 2nd Level Spell | Moonbeam (Moon) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Pass Without Trace |
| 2nd Level Spell | Spike Growth |
| 3rd Level Spell | Conjure Animals (Moon) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify |
| 3rd Level Spell | Sleet Storm |
Now you get access to third level spells and Wild Resurgence!
Wild Resurgence lets you, on each of your turns, to convert a spell slot into a Wild Shape charge if you have none. Conversely, once per day, you can exchange a Wild Shape charge for a first level slot if you like. While not ideal for other Druids, this is pretty nice for Moon Druids who are pretty reliant on Wild Shape.
For your Moon spell, you get Conjure Animals. This is a solid spell that moves around the battlefield absolutely demolishing anything that comes across it. This is nice as you don’t have to even get close to enemies to put the hurt on them!
For your spell choices, you get the excellent Revivify and Sleet Storm.
Revivify is an absolute staple for every party to have and you can never have too many people who can cast it. You likely won’t cast this often, but it’s invaluable to always have it prepared.
Sleet Storm is an excellent AOE spell that makes a lot of difficult terrain, blinds enemies, can knock enemies prone, and can really stifle spellcasters. This is really brutal against pretty much any enemy that doesn’t have an excellent ranged attack option.
Level 7
Class: 1 Barbarian 6 Druid
Class Features: Improved Circle Forms
Spell Change Log: + Dispel Magic
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Mold Earth |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp (Moon) |
| Cantrip | Thorn Whip |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Faerie Fire |
| 1st Level Spell | Goodberry |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 2nd Level Spell | Moonbeam (Moon) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Pass Without Trace |
| 2nd Level Spell | Spike Growth |
| 3rd Level Spell | Conjure Animals (Moon) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify |
| 3rd Level Spell | Sleet Storm |
Level 6 brings a new Class Feature with Improved Circle Forms. Now you can change your Wild Shape attacks to radiant damage and you can add your WIS modifier to CON saving throws. Nothing too exciting, but definitely a solid feature.
For your spell choice you can pick up Dispel Magic! Dispel Magic is no Counterspell, but it is the next best thing! Being able to stop an existing magical effect is a staple for every party and you really can’t have too many of them.
Level 8
Class: 1 Barbarian 7 Druid
Class Feature: Elemental Fury
Spell Change Log: + Fount of Moonlight (Moon) + Polymorph
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Mold Earth |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp (Moon) |
| Cantrip | Thorn Whip |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Faerie Fire |
| 1st Level Spell | Goodberry |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 2nd Level Spell | Moonbeam (Moon) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Pass Without Trace |
| 2nd Level Spell | Spike Growth |
| 3rd Level Spell | Conjure Animals (Moon) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify |
| 3rd Level Spell | Sleet Storm |
| 4th Level Spell | Fount of Moonlight (Moon) |
| 4th Level Spell | Polymorph |
Level 7 brings Elemental Fury and fourth level spells!
Your Druid feature is Elemental Fury which lets you choose between adding your WIS modifier to cantrips or you get 1d8 elemental damage to a melee attack once per turn. While most Druids would want the cantrip improvement, this build obviously wants the extra melee damage!
For your subclass spell, you get Fount of Moonlight! This is a decent buff spell that adds extra damage to your melee attacks and can blind enemies that well. Solid, but realistically, not as strong as other spells you’re going to get soon.
Polymorph is so egregiously good as it can take yourself or an ally who’s low on health, low on resources, or for whatever reason not able to fight and turn you back into a threat. While the Beasts don’t scale past level 8, Giant Ape and Tyrannosaurus Rex will remain viable for quite a long time regardless. Furthermore, this can function as CC as well to turn an enemy into something harmless like a Crab for a little bit in case you need that. Excellent spell all around.
Level 9
Class: 1 Barbarian 8 Druid
Feat: Constitution to 20
Class Features: None
Spell Change Log: – Faerie Fire / + Conjure Minor Elementals + Conjure Woodland Beings
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp (Moon) |
| Cantrip | Thorn Whip |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Goodberry |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 2nd Level Spell | Moonbeam (Moon) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Pass Without Trace |
| 2nd Level Spell | Spike Growth |
| 3rd Level Spell | Conjure Animals (Moon) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify |
| 3rd Level Spell | Sleet Storm |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Minor Elementals |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Woodland Beings |
| 4th Level Spell | Fount of Moonlight (Moon) |
| 4th Level Spell | Polymorph |
You get another fear this level and I like maxing out Constitution. Having the most health and highest AC possible (in Wild Shape) is never going to be a bad thing.
Since there’s a few spells you want, something has to go, and right now it’s Faerie Fire. This is decent CC, but not something you’re looking to use anymore.
Your first spell is Conjure Minor Elementals, the spell that everyone is hyping up! Getting a base 2d8 additional damage per attack is pretty strong, but each upcasted level granting an additional 2d8 damage is obscenely powerful. Cast this, go into Wild Shape, and prepare to deal a bunch of damage with each attack!
For your second spell, you can grab Conjure Woodland Beings. This is like a slightly juiced up Spirit Guardians with less range and no difficult terrain. That said, this spell is still plenty strong as it can dole out a lot of damage if you’re willing to run around the battlefield, something you won’t have issue with as a Moon Druid.
Level 10
Class: 1 Barbarian 9 Druid
Class Feature: None
Spell Change Log: + Absorb Elements + Mass Cure Wounds (Moon) + Transmute Rock
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Mold Earth |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp (Moon) |
| Cantrip | Thorn Whip |
| 1st Level Spell | Absorb Elements |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Goodberry |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 2nd Level Spell | Moonbeam (Moon) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Pass Without Trace |
| 2nd Level Spell | Spike Growth |
| 3rd Level Spell | Conjure Animals (Moon) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify |
| 3rd Level Spell | Sleet Storm |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Minor Elementals |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Woodland Beings |
| 4th Level Spell | Fount of Moonlight (Moon) |
| 4th Level Spell | Polymorph |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 5th Level Spell | Transmute Rock |
Level 9 brings fifth level spells, and you get your final Circle spell as well!
Your final Circle spell is Mass Cure Wounds, which unfortunately is not a great one. This can be good if you have multiple allies down at the same time, but it’s not going to be better than your cheaper healing options otherwise.
For your spell choices, you’re going with a first level option and a fifth level option: Absorb Elements and Transmute Rock.
Absorb Elements is great at defending yourself against large blasts of elemental damage, like from a Dragon’s Breath weapon. While those types of attacks were likely not common earlier in your campaign, they’ll definitely become more common as you keep ascending in levels, so this is a good time to grab it.
Transmute Rock has an incredible amount of versatility as you can get get enemies stuck in a -4x speed terrain, trap them in stone, destroy buildings/hallways, and so much more. Extremely versatile with strong uses in and out of combat.
Level 11-15
Level 11
Class: 1 Barbarian 10 Druid
Class Features: Moonlight Step
Spell Change Log: + Elementalism + Wall of Stone
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Elementalism |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Mold Earth |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp (Moon) |
| Cantrip | Thorn Whip |
| 1st Level Spell | Absorb Elements |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Goodberry |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 2nd Level Spell | Moonbeam (Moon) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Pass Without Trace |
| 2nd Level Spell | Spike Growth |
| 3rd Level Spell | Conjure Animals (Moon) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify |
| 3rd Level Spell | Sleet Storm |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Minor Elementals |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Woodland Beings |
| 4th Level Spell | Fount of Moonlight (Moon) |
| 4th Level Spell | Polymorph |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 5th Level Spell | Transmute Rock |
| 5th Level Spell | Wall of Stone |
For level 10 you get another subclass ability, cantrip, and spell!
You get your penultimate subclass ability with Moonlight Step. This is a Misty Step that you get a few times a day and gives you advantage on your next attack after you use it. This is a very nice ability to reposition and interpose yourself between a squishy ally or make a quick escape!
For your cantrip choice, you pretty much have all the ones you’d be interested in, so you can now pick up Mold Earth. You never know when you might need to move around a lot of dirt and this can be surprisingly useful.
Finally, for your spell choice you can pick up Wall of Stone. Unlike the other CC spells currently available to you, Wall of Stone is good at truly trapping enemies where they are. While the wall can be broken through, it is very tough so it will likely consume at least a couple of turns worth of actions to get through. However, sometimes that’s all you need as bisecting fights and cutting enemy action economies in half is extremely powerful.
Level 12
Class: 1 Barbarian 11 Druid
Class Feature: None
Spell Change Log: – Goodberry / + Heal + Transport via Plants
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Elementalism |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Mold Earth |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp (Moon) |
| Cantrip | Thorn Whip |
| 1st Level Spell | Absorb Elements |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 2nd Level Spell | Moonbeam (Moon) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Pass Without Trace |
| 2nd Level Spell | Spike Growth |
| 3rd Level Spell | Conjure Animals (Moon) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify |
| 3rd Level Spell | Sleet Storm |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Minor Elementals |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Woodland Beings |
| 4th Level Spell | Fount of Moonlight (Moon) |
| 4th Level Spell | Polymorph |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 5th Level Spell | Transmute Rock |
| 5th Level Spell | Wall of Stone |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
| 6th Level Spell | Transport via Plants |
Sixth level spell time and you need to make a little more room to get multiple of them. With that, Goodberry should be nixed at this point as that’s the only non-essential spell still in your rotation. If there ever comes a time you really need it, you can always bring it back.
For spell pickups, you can grab Heal and Transport via Plants.
Heal is excellent as it’s 70 flat points of recovery with some status recoveries on top of it. A little pricey, but worthwhile.
For your second spell, you get the excellent Transport via Plants. While there are limitations here compared to Teleport, this is a full spell level lower and has no failure rate, you just need two big plants you know about. This should be a simple ask and will only stop you from getting where you want to go in very specific biomes or if your DM is being a real stickler.
Level 13
Class: 1 Barbarian 12 Druid
Feat: Wisdom to 16
Class Feature: None
Spell Change Log: None
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Elementalism |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Mold Earth |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp (Moon) |
| Cantrip | Thorn Whip |
| 1st Level Spell | Absorb Elements |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 2nd Level Spell | Moonbeam (Moon) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Pass Without Trace |
| 2nd Level Spell | Spike Growth |
| 3rd Level Spell | Conjure Animals (Moon) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify |
| 3rd Level Spell | Sleet Storm |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Minor Elementals |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Woodland Beings |
| 4th Level Spell | Fount of Moonlight (Moon) |
| 4th Level Spell | Polymorph |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 5th Level Spell | Transmute Rock |
| 5th Level Spell | Wall of Stone |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
| 6th Level Spell | Transport via Plants |
Level 14
Class: 1 Barbarian 13 Druid
Class Feature: None
Spell Change Log: + Plane Shift
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Elementalism |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Mold Earth |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp (Moon) |
| Cantrip | Thorn Whip |
| 1st Level Spell | Absorb Elements |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 2nd Level Spell | Moonbeam (Moon) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Pass Without Trace |
| 2nd Level Spell | Spike Growth |
| 3rd Level Spell | Conjure Animals (Moon) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify |
| 3rd Level Spell | Sleet Storm |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Minor Elementals |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Woodland Beings |
| 4th Level Spell | Fount of Moonlight (Moon) |
| 4th Level Spell | Polymorph |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 5th Level Spell | Transmute Rock |
| 5th Level Spell | Wall of Stone |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
| 6th Level Spell | Transport via Plants |
| 7th Level Spell | Plane Shift |
Seventh level spell time, and you can pick up another excellent transportation option – Plane Shift. While you can’t use it to travel within the same plane, this can be a decent escape tool provided you aren’t in combat and you have the magic fork attuned to the plane you’re trying to go to. What’s nice about this, though, is that if you’re going back to your original plane, this doesn’t have a fail chance like Teleport would. In a real pinch, you can try to banish creatures with this as well making it rather versatile.
Level 15
Class: 1 Barbarian 14 Druid
Class Features: Lunar Form
Spell Change Log: None
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Elementalism |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Mold Earth |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp (Moon) |
| Cantrip | Thorn Whip |
| 1st Level Spell | Absorb Elements |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 2nd Level Spell | Moonbeam (Moon) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Pass Without Trace |
| 2nd Level Spell | Spike Growth |
| 3rd Level Spell | Conjure Animals (Moon) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify |
| 3rd Level Spell | Sleet Storm |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Minor Elementals |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Woodland Beings |
| 4th Level Spell | Fount of Moonlight (Moon) |
| 4th Level Spell | Polymorph |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 5th Level Spell | Transmute Rock |
| 5th Level Spell | Wall of Stone |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
| 6th Level Spell | Transport via Plants |
| 7th Level Spell | Plane Shift |
Level 14 brings your final subclass feature – Lunar Form.
Lunar Form gives you an additional 2d10 radiant damage on your Wild Shape hits and your Moonlight Step can now bring one ally along if they’re close enough. This is really simple, but a really strong ability. The only issue is that your Wild Shape forms may not be too exciting at this point, but this in conjunction with other buff spells will still let you deal some really solid damage.
Level 16-20
Level 16
Class: 1 Barbarian 15 Druid
Class Feature: Improved Elemental Fury
Spell Change Log: + Animal Shapes
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Elementalism |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Mold Earth |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp (Moon) |
| Cantrip | Thorn Whip |
| 1st Level Spell | Absorb Elements |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 2nd Level Spell | Moonbeam (Moon) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Pass Without Trace |
| 2nd Level Spell | Spike Growth |
| 3rd Level Spell | Conjure Animals (Moon) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify |
| 3rd Level Spell | Sleet Storm |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Minor Elementals |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Woodland Beings |
| 4th Level Spell | Fount of Moonlight (Moon) |
| 4th Level Spell | Polymorph |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 5th Level Spell | Transmute Rock |
| 5th Level Spell | Wall of Stone |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
| 6th Level Spell | Transport via Plants |
| 7th Level Spell | Plane Shift |
| 8th Level Spell | Animal Shapes |
You get improvement to your Elemental Fury and access to eighth level spells!
Now you get an additional 2d8 elemental damage once per turn over 1d8. This is a solid improvement, but nothing spectacular.
Now you get access to eighth level spells so you can take what’s arguably the best one – Animal Shapes. Rather than dive into it, you should check out the Druid spell tier list to see why I rate this spell so highly, but even without its broken uses, you can still find some solid utility for this.
Level 17
Class: 1 Barbarian 16 Druid
Feat: Wisdom to 18
Class Feature: None
Spell Change Log: None
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Elementalism |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Mold Earth |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp (Moon) |
| Cantrip | Thorn Whip |
| 1st Level Spell | Absorb Elements |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 2nd Level Spell | Moonbeam (Moon) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Pass Without Trace |
| 2nd Level Spell | Spike Growth |
| 3rd Level Spell | Conjure Animals (Moon) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify |
| 3rd Level Spell | Sleet Storm |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Minor Elementals |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Woodland Beings |
| 4th Level Spell | Fount of Moonlight (Moon) |
| 4th Level Spell | Polymorph |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 5th Level Spell | Transmute Rock |
| 5th Level Spell | Wall of Stone |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
| 6th Level Spell | Transport via Plants |
| 7th Level Spell | Plane Shift |
| 8th Level Spell | Animal Shapes |
Once again, I would look to buff Wisdom to make your spells better. You could go for a feat or additional Dexterity even, but I think spells are going to be your most important feature at this point.
Level 18
Class: 1 Barbarian 17 Druid
Class Feature: None
Spell Change Log: + Shapechange
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Elementalism |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Mold Earth |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp (Moon) |
| Cantrip | Thorn Whip |
| 1st Level Spell | Absorb Elements |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 2nd Level Spell | Moonbeam (Moon) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Pass Without Trace |
| 2nd Level Spell | Spike Growth |
| 3rd Level Spell | Conjure Animals (Moon) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify |
| 3rd Level Spell | Sleet Storm |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Minor Elementals |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Woodland Beings |
| 4th Level Spell | Fount of Moonlight (Moon) |
| 4th Level Spell | Polymorph |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 5th Level Spell | Transmute Rock |
| 5th Level Spell | Wall of Stone |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
| 6th Level Spell | Transport via Plants |
| 7th Level Spell | Plane Shift |
| 8th Level Spell | Animal Shapes |
| 9th Level Spell | Shapechange |
Finally, you’ve reached ninth level spells!
To kick it off, you have to take the Druid’s best ninth level spell with Shapechange.
Shapechange is a better Polymorph that lets you turn into anything and even change forms as needed if the current one is working for you. This is an incredibly powerful spell as a CR 17-20 monster should be substantially stronger than a single level 17-20 adventurer making you a much bigger threat in a given fight. That said, since this spell lasts an hour. It is possible that you may get to fight multiple times with the spell active making it even more potent!
Level 19
Class: 1 Barbarian 18 Druid
Class Features: Beast Spells
Spell Change Log: + Foresight
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Elementalism |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Mold Earth |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp (Moon) |
| Cantrip | Thorn Whip |
| 1st Level Spell | Absorb Elements |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 2nd Level Spell | Moonbeam (Moon) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Pass Without Trace |
| 2nd Level Spell | Spike Growth |
| 3rd Level Spell | Conjure Animals (Moon) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify |
| 3rd Level Spell | Sleet Storm |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Minor Elementals |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Woodland Beings |
| 4th Level Spell | Fount of Moonlight (Moon) |
| 4th Level Spell | Polymorph |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 5th Level Spell | Transmute Rock |
| 5th Level Spell | Wall of Stone |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
| 6th Level Spell | Transport via Plants |
| 7th Level Spell | Plane Shift |
| 8th Level Spell | Animal Shapes |
| 9th Level Spell | Foresight |
| 9th Level Spell | Shapechange |
Level 18 brings a new Druid ability with Beast Spells.
Beast Spells is definitely more interesting as it allows you to spellcast in Wild Shape (provided the spell doesn’t need a material component). This is pretty strong as you can turn into a Flying creature and be a lot more mobile while spellcasting which can drastically increase your odds of surviving an encounter.
For your spell, you can take the best buff spell in the game with Foresight. Foresight turns any melee ally into an absolute beast by giving them advantage on attack rolls, ability checks, saving throws, and all enemies have disadvantage against them. That is extremely powerful, and lasting nearly a whole day is the cherry on top.
Level 20
Class: 1 Barbarian 19 Druid
Epic Boon: Boon of Luck
Class Features: None
Spell Change Log: + True Resurrection
| SPELL LEVEL | SPELL NAME |
| Cantrip | Elementalism |
| Cantrip | Guidance |
| Cantrip | Mold Earth |
| Cantrip | Shape Water |
| Cantrip | Starry Wisp (Moon) |
| Cantrip | Thorn Whip |
| 1st Level Spell | Absorb Elements |
| 1st Level Spell | Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 1st Level Spell | Detect Magic |
| 1st Level Spell | Entangle |
| 1st Level Spell | Healing Word |
| 2nd Level Spell | Moonbeam (Moon) |
| 2nd Level Spell | Pass Without Trace |
| 2nd Level Spell | Spike Growth |
| 3rd Level Spell | Conjure Animals (Moon) |
| 3rd Level Spell | Dispel Magic |
| 3rd Level Spell | Revivify |
| 3rd Level Spell | Sleet Storm |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Minor Elementals |
| 4th Level Spell | Conjure Woodland Beings |
| 4th Level Spell | Fount of Moonlight (Moon) |
| 4th Level Spell | Polymorph |
| 5th Level Spell | Mass Cure Wounds (Moon) |
| 5th Level Spell | Transmute Rock |
| 5th Level Spell | Wall of Stone |
| 6th Level Spell | Heal |
| 6th Level Spell | Transport via Plants |
| 7th Level Spell | Plane Shift |
| 8th Level Spell | Animal Shapes |
| 9th Level Spell | Foresight |
| 9th Level Spell | Shapechange |
| 9th Level Spell | True Resurrection |
Level 19 brings your Epic Boon, and it’s hard to go wrong with Boon of Fate. Being able to potentially turn a failure into a success and vice versa, even if it’s once per short or long rest, can be the difference between surviving an encounter and not.
For your spell choice, you can pick up True Resurrection. While you are unlikely to cast this often, being able to restore a being in their entirety is pretty strong if you’re in a situation where a Revivify doesn’t get the job done.
