All Druid Subclasses can use Wild Shape Action and shapeshift into various animal forms in Baldur’s Gate 3. This fantastic spell makes them unique and fun to play in BG3.
Wild Shape proves to be a potent ability, granting druids a significant advantage in combat and a distinctive playstyle. With the ability to transform into various beasts, each boasting different strengths and abilities, they become powerful opponents to defeat. Additionally, this transformation allows them to perform actions that would be impossible in their humanoid state. This guide lists all wild shapes and explains wild shape action.
What is Wild Shape in BG3? Explained
In Baldur’s Gate 3, druids possess the remarkable spell known as Wild Shape, allowing them to transform into an animal form. Beast transformations become available when your druid reaches level 2. They have two charges of Wild Shape, letting you transform twice and it can be replenished after each short rest.
When a druid uses Wild Shape, they adopt the game statistics of their chosen beast form, including hit points, armor class, movement speed, as well as Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores. Moreover, they acquire the unique special abilities of the selected beast form, such as climbing, flying, or breathing underwater. Transforming into a specific form will also grant you the ability to speak with the same species of animals and often learn much more than when in human form.
However, certain limitations come with Wild Shape. The druid’s Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores remain unchanged, as a result, preventing them from casting spells or speaking with humans while in animal form. Furthermore, the druid’s equipment blends into their animal shape and remains inaccessible until they revert to their humanoid form. The specific beast forms available for Wild Shape depend on the druid’s chosen subclass.
Wild Shape Features and Mechanics
Wild Shape important features in Baldur’s Gate 3:
- Activation type depends on the chosen subclass – Bonus Action (Circle of the Moon subclass) and Action (Circle of the Land subclass)
- Each transformation consumes Wild Shape Charge
- You can replenish the Wild Shape charge with Short or Long Rest
- Wild Shape doesn’t disrupt the concentration of active spells.
- If Druid’s health points are fully exhausted while in Wild Shape, they return to human form.
- While in Wild Shape, druids gain access to a self-healing ability.
- While in Wild Shape, you are unable to heal allies or use regular druid spells and cantrips. Instead, you are limited to Wild Shape-specific actions.
- Each beast transformation has its own unique abilities
- At level 7 you will receive the extra attack while in wild shape, which will allow you to deal even more damage or provide support to the group.
All Druid’s Wild Shapes In Baldur’s Gate 3
The table below lists all Wild Shape Druid’s Animal Forms, Health Points, and skill points of all Wild Shapes in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Wild Shape Animal | Health Points | Skills |
---|---|---|
Cat | 2 | Claws, Meow |
Badger | 13 | Badger Bite, Badger Claws, Burrow |
Dire Raven | 13 | Beak Attack, Rend Vision |
Wolf | 18 | Inciting Howl, Bite, Exposing Bite |
Spider | 20 | Web, Venomous Bite |
Deep Rothé | 23 | Gore, Charge |
Bear | 30 | Goading Roar, Claws |
Panther | 45 | Jagular Strike, Prowl, Pounce |
Sabre Toothed Tiger | 62 | Shred Armour, Jagular Strike, Bite |
Owlbear | 65 | Enrage, Rupture |
Dilophosaurus | 74 | Pounce, Corrosive Spit, Lunar Mend |
Air Mymidon | 90 | – |
Fire Mymidon | 90 | – |
Water Mymidon | 90 | – |
Earth Mymidon | 103 | – |
Cat
Great for scouting missions in many environments. In combat, it has very low Hit points and will die fast. Unlocked level 2 (All subclasses).
Badger
The Claw action knockback enemies Prone, which is good in the early game and utilized for crowd control status effect. Unlocked level 2 (All subclasses).
Dire Raven
The Shape has Rend Vision which can Blind enemies. The Raven can also fly and reach hard-to-get locations. Perfect for exploration and scouting missions. Unlocked level 4 (Circle of the Moon).
Wolf
Wolf shape can increase its allies’ movement speed and guarantee a critical strike for the next attack. Pack Tactics can come in handy if you have another melee fighter in your party. Unlocked level 2 (All subclasses).
Spider
The spider can cover the ground with flammable webbing, which is great against aggressive melee enemies. Spiders can climb, making them the best scouts you can get while dealing one of the best combat damages at a low level. Unlocked level 2 (All subclasses).
Deep Rothé
Deep Tothe has a force attack Gore and Charge, which is a great crowd control area ability that can knock enemies Prone. Later you’ll get better Wild shapes but early on it’s a good option. Unlocked level 4 (All Subclasses).
Bear
Roar acts like a taunt, forcing targets to attack you, and is a great move if you need a party member with decent health points or to draw enemies’ attention from your other characters. Fantastic Tank Wild Shape for low-level Druids. Unlocked level 2 (Circle of the Moon).
Panther
Can turn invisible and attack from shadows, gaining a huge advantage. With good hit points it’s a powerful Wild Shape you’ll be using a lot. Great damage dealer for middle-game combat. Unlocked level 6 (Circle of the Moon).
Sabre Toothed Tiger
Enemies who are Prone will receive huge damage from this wild shape and with shred Armor ability, that can also weaken enemies it’s one of the best damaging Druid’s Wild Shapes. Unlocked level 8 (Circle of the Moon).
Owlbear
High Hit points with fantastic Aoe damage and survivability. This Wild Shape can successfully become a group tank with exceptional hit points and crowd control abilities. Unlocked level 6 (Circle of the Moon).
Dilophosaurus
Beyond its impressive appearance, this wild shape holds fantastic damage potential for late-game druids. Unlocked level 10 (Circle of the Moon).
Air Mymidon
Air Mymidon possesses the lighting Bolt spell that can execute watery surfaces while being resistant to this damage type. great combo for your team to utilize if you need area effect damage. Unlocked level 10 (Circle of the Moon).
Fire Mymidon
Fire is one of the highest damage-producing elements in the game. This Mymidon is an end-game damage dealer with fantastic movement thanks to the fly ability. Unlocked level 10 (Circle of the Moon).
Water Mymidon
Unique spells, crowd control, and utility are the biggest strengths of Water Mymidon. It’s capable of applying status effects such as prone, useful specifically against melee and range enemies. Unlocked level 10 (Circle of the Moon).
Earth Mymidon
With the highest health pool of all available wild shapes and fantastic defense capabilities, this wild shape is the best if you need a tank or durable helper who can also heal themselves thanks to Lunar Mending ability. Unlocked level 10 (Circle of the Moon).
How To Use Wild Shape to Its Full Potential
You should use Wild Shape forms for situations that fit their strengths the most. For example, Cat Wild Shape has only 2 Health Points so is not very suited for combat, the same can be said about Raven, with 13 HP, and still won’t be very effective in combat. However, Cat can apply bleeding effect and Raven a special blinding attack so both can be helpful in some situations. Additionally, both creatures can be fantastic scouts and thanks to their special abilities to climb or fly they can get to hard-to-access places with ease.
The Wild Shape: Badger and Wild Shape: Deep Rothé are great options to apply crowd control and make enemies Prone, giving your team the chance to follow the strategy to eliminate the most dangerous enemy on the field. Spider can slow enemies with its web area effect and it can be later set on fire by any other character creating a fantastic trap. All three creaturs also deal great damage.
The owlbear has the highest HP and effectively takes pressure from your other characters. Meanwhile, the Wolf, Panther, and Sabre Toothed Tiger serve as fantastic damage dealers. Wolf can boast speed and grant extra movement points and a guaranteed critical chance for your team. Panther and Sabre Toothed Tiger are available much later in the game so they will replace some of the early game wild shapes. All options offer excellent combat capabilities and are straightforward to utilize. Consequently, each Wild Shape creature can provide distinct bonuses, crowd control, and support.
Wild Shape Action Explained
In Baldur’s Gate 3, Wild Shape is a versatile Action available for Druids based on their chosen subclass. Whether in exploration or combat, Actions allow characters to maneuver across the battlefield, and aid or harm others. The specific actions a character can perform depend on their Class and Equipment. In Dungeons & Dragons 5e, Wild Shape proves invaluable in various scenarios within and beyond combat, offering a lot of transformations that serve different purposes and functions to suit a wide range of situations.
Magically assume the shape of a beast. While in animal shape, you can’t talk or cast spells.
Baldur’s Gate 3 In-Game Action Description
You take on the game statistics of your beast form -excluding your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores. When your beast form drops to 0 hit points, you revert to your normal form, with the number of hit points you had before transforming. If your hit points dropped below 0 in beast form, that damage is applied after you revert. Spells that require concentration are not broken by turning into an animal. Your equipment merges into your animal form and won’t have any effect until you revert. Consumes 1 Wild Shape Charge.
Differences for Each Druid Subclass In Baldur’s Gate 3
The major differences between Combat Wild Shape and Wild Shape are based on their respective subclasses, Circle of the Moon and Circle of the Land. Using Combat Wild Shape as the Circle of the Moon subclass allows the druid to transform with a Bonus Action, leaving them with an additional action to spend on spells or cantrips. In contrast, when using Wild Shape from the Circle of the Land subclass, transforming takes an entire Action, leaving the druid with only a Bonus Action remaining in that turn.
Not every subclass has access to each Wild Shape form. Circle of the Moon subclass druid can transform into Badger, Bear, Cat, Spider, Dire Raven, Deep Rothé, Wolf, and Owlbear. While Circle of the Land druid can take the form of a Badger, Cat, Spider, Deep Rothé, and Wolf. The access to those forms you’ll gain at defined levels.
The best druid subclass for Wild Shape is Circle of the Moon. Those druids receive good buffs for their Wild Shape ability, including Wild Shape as a bonus action, access to higher CR beasts, and the ability to cast spells in Wild Shape at later levels.
Benefits of Wild Shape in BG3
The most significant benefit of using Wild Shape in BG3 is that it unlocks a secondary health bar for your Druid. These health bars are considered entirely separate, so if your character’s health is low you can use an Action to transform and receive a full health bar as that animal. This might not make much difference in the early levels, but as you unlock stronger beasts it will be incredibly useful.
Secondly, many of the animal forms have actions that can provide crowd control. A bear’s Goading Roar provides a taunt, a spider’s Web can entangle enemies, a panther and dilophosaurus can both Pounce and knock enemies prone, and the owlbear’s Enrage can make enemies fearful. All of these can provide you with good utility in combat.
Finally, Wild Shape can even have benefits outside of combat. The cat form is a great way to open up other avenues of exploration, for example. Because they can fit into small holes and spaces, you can reach areas that might otherwise be inaccessible.
FAQs About Wild Shape in Baldur’s Gate 3
Q1: How many times can you wild shape in BG3?
Answer: As a Druid, you can transform using Wild Shape as many times as you have Wild Shape Charges. Each transformation uses one charge, and you can replenish your charges each time you Rest. The max number of Wild Shape Charges a Druid gets is 2. However, you can add one stack to that if you equip the Shapeshifter Hat in Act 3.
Q2: What is the strongest wild shape in BG3?
Answer: Based on a Strength ability of 20 (which is max) the Owlbear is the strongest Wild Shape form in Baldur’s Gate 3. Furthermore, the Bear and Dilophosaurus come in as close seconds with Strength scores of 19.
Q3: Can Druids speak in wild shape in BG3?
Answer: Wild Shape gives you the ability to speak to animals in Baldur’s Gate 3, however, you loose the ability to speak to NPCs or during cutscenes. Therefore, in some cases if you end combat while your character is in Wild Shape, they may not be able to participate if a dialogue scene triggers immediately after.
Looking For More About Baldur’s Gate 3?
Thank you for reading All Baldur’s Gate 3: Wild Shape Forms & Action Explained Guide. We provide the latest news and create guides for Baldur’s Gate 3. Also, watch me play games on Twitch or visit my YouTube channel!