The Circle of Spores is a Druid subclass in Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3). Check out our guide for how to unlock the Circle of Spores subclass, its features, as well as its best build.
| Druid SubclassesDruid Class Guide | ||
|---|---|---|
| Circle of the Land | Circle of the Moon |  Circle of Spores |
List of Contents
- Subclass Overview
- How to Unlock
- Subclass Features
- Best Builds
- Early Game Build
- Best Races to Use
- Best Ability Scores
- Best Feats
- Related Guides
Circle of Spores Subclass Overview
Circle of Spores Basic Information
| Subclass Overview | |
|---|---|
| Circle of SporesViewing death, necrosis, fungal growth, and sporulation as just another part of life, you can manipulate such spores to augment yourself and harm foes. |
| Parent Class | Druid |
| How to Unlock | Reach Druid Level 2. |
| Spellcasting Ability | Wisdom |
| Starting Subclass Features | |
| ・Access to the Wildshape Class Action ┣ Spider Form ┣ Badger Form ┣ Cat Form ┗ Wolf Form ・Access to the Symbiotic Entity Class Action. ・Access to the Halo of Spores Class Action. ・Bone Chill Cantrip | |
Circle of Spores Druids have the ability to cast multiple spells in a single turn because of the different resources required to cast them. These Druids also create damaging areas of effect and summon multiple spore-covered zombies, making skilled Circle of Spores Druids capable of winning battles alone.
How to Unlock the Circle of Spores Subclass
Available Once Your Druid Reaches Level 2
The Circle of Spores subclass will become available once your Druid reaches Level 2. In order to earn EXP and level up in Baldur's Gate 3, players will need to complete quests, discover new areas, or defeat enemies they find in the world.
Circle of Spores Subclass Features
| Circle of Spores Features | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonus Cantrip | Symbiotic Entity | Halo of Spores | |||
| Circle Spells | Fungal Infestation | Spreading Spores | |||
| ▼ Subclass Level Progression ▼ | |||||
Bonus Cantrips
Circle of Spores Druids obtain their first (second if you are counting the Fire Bolt cantrip that you start with) cantrip, Bone Chill at Lv. 2.
Afterwards, Circle of the Spores Druids are allowed to learn up to 2 of the following 4 Bonus Cantrips as they level-up.
- Guidance (Divination)
- Poison Spray (Conjuration)
- Produce Flame (Conjuration)
- Resistance (Abjuration)
The first of these bonus Cantrips can be selected once the Druid hits Lv. 4, with the next Cantrip appearing much later at Lv. 10.
Selecting one Bonus Cantrip removes it from the selection list of your next milestone, meaning if you choose to take Poison Spray at Druid Lv. 4, you will only be able to select amongst the remaining 3 Cantrips at Lv. 10.
Remember that Cantrips are different from spells in that you do not consume spell slots to cast them. They only cost an action to cast each time your Druid takes a turn, making your first cantrip selection important.
Symbiotic Entity
Symbiotic Entity is a class action available only to Circle of Spores Druids. It provides a temporary HP bonus and lasts until the Druid either long rests or uses any Wild Shape class actions.
Additionally, having Symbiotic Entity active doubles the damage dealt by another unique class skill, Halo of Spores.
Once the Circle of Spores Druid has reached Lv. 10, they will learn the Spreading Spores class action, which can only be cast while Symbiotic Entity is active.
Halo of Spores
Acquired upon changing subclass to the Circle of Spores, Halo of Spores is a class action unique to this subclass. It is a spell that deals 1-6 damage when cast without Symbiotic Entity active, or 2-12 damage with Symbiotic Entity active.
Furthermore, it differs from typical spells because it only consumes Reactions instead of Actions/Bonus Actions and a spell slot. Meaning you could potentially cast this every turn before or after using a separate Action, making it a very powerful and reliable damage tool for Circle of Spores Druids.
Take note that when Spreading Spores is active on the field, you cannot use the Halo of Spores reaction.
Circle Spells
Starting at Level 3, in addition to learning the spells that all Druids learn, Circle of Spores Druids will begin obtaining two spells from Circle of Spores Spell Bonus at certain Lv. intervals.
Spells obtained this way will permanently be equipped to your Circle of Spores Druid, regardless of whether or not you've prepared them at your camp.
For a detailed breakdown of the spells your Circle of Spores Druid learns at Levels 3, 5, 7, and 9, click the button below.
| Spores Spells | |
|---|---|
| Lv.3 | ・Blindness (Necromancy) ・Detect Thoughts (Divination) |
| Lv.5 | ・Animate Dead (Necromancy) ・Gaseous Form (Transmutation) |
| Lv.7 | ・Blight (Necromancy) ・Confusion (Enchantment) |
| Lv.9 | ・Cloudkill (Conjuration) ・Contagion (Necromancy) |
Fungal Infestation
Fungal Infestation is a Class Action that Circle of Spores Druids unlock at Lv.6. It consumes a Reaction as well as a unique resource called Fungal Infestation Charges. These charges can be replenished each time the Druid long rests.
Casting Fungal Infestation will reanimate a single corpse into a spore-covered zombie. Since Circle of the Spore Druids can have a maximum of 4 Fungal Infestation Charges, they can also animate up to 4 zombies simultaneously.
These Zombies function as controllable allies during battle with access to Dash, Jump, and a basic Slam attack. However, these zombies cannot participate in dialogue, nor can they be separated from the Druid who animated them.
Spreading Spores
Spreading Spores is a powerful class action only available to Circle of Spores Druids who have reached Lv.10. The Druid covers an area in toxic spores that continuously deals 2-16 damage to non-allied creatures who start their turn within its area of effect.
While this ability can only be cast while Symbiotic Entity is active, it only consumes a Bonus Action, meaning it can be cast reliably whenever the Circle of Spores Druid takes their turn.
It is also worth noting that while Spreading Spores remains active, Spores Druids cannot use the Halo of Spores reaction.
Circle of Spores Level Progression
| Level | Subclass Features Unlocked |
|---|---|
| Level 2 | ・Symbiotic Entity ・Halo of Spores ・Bone Chill |
| Level 3 | ・Blindness ・Detect Thoughts |
| Level 4 | ・Cantrip |
| Level 5 | ・Animate Dead ・Gaseous Form |
| Level 6 | ・Fungal Infestation (Class Action) |
| Level 7 | ・Blight ・Confusion |
| Level 9 | ・Cloudkill ・Contagion |
| Level 10 | ・Spreading Spores ・Cantrip |
Best Circle of Spores Builds
Circle of Spores Early Game Build Overview
| Circle of Spores Early Game Overview | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Circle of Spores Equipment | ||||||||||||||
| Helm | Player's Choice | |||||||||||||
| Armor | Poisoner's Robe | |||||||||||||
| Gloves | Player's Choice | |||||||||||||
| Boots | Boots of Striding | |||||||||||||
| Circle of Spores Weapons | ||||||||||||||
| Slot | Main Hand | Off-Hand | ||||||||||||
| Melee | Pale Oak / Woe | Shield (Optional) | ||||||||||||
| Circle of Spores Accessories | ||||||||||||||
| Amulet | Broodmother's Revenge | |||||||||||||
| Ring 1 | Emerald Ring | |||||||||||||
| Ring 2 | Player's Choice | |||||||||||||
| This build amplifies the effects of the Spore Druids Poison abilities, while taking defensive pieces to protect them while they perform their role as a mid-range caster. | ||||||||||||||
Equipment of Choice
Poisoner's Robe
Poisoner's Robe increases the Poison Damage the wearer deals by 1-4 damage. This works well with the Poison Spray cantrip, as well as Cloudkill.
Boots of Striding
Boots of Striding grants the wearer Momentum when casting spells that require Concentration.
Additionally, these boots immunize the wearer against Shove and Prone while concentrating.
Pale Oak and Woe
Pale Oak is a Quarterstaff that allows the caster to slow and possible Entangle enemies.
Both of these effects work well with a Spores Druid because some of the most effective abilities like Spreading Spores and Cloudkill are AoE spells that persist on the field. This means keeping enemies in one area longer increases your damage potential. This slowing effect also helps us position our minions, allowing them to catch up or punish enemies affected by the slow.
How to Get Pale Oak
Once you've progressed a little further into the game, you could replace this weapon with Woe.
Woe is a Quarterstaff that grants Arcane Vampirism to the wearer. This effect heals the caster for 1-4 whenever the target fails any saving throws. What this means essentially is anytime a spell doesn't hit a target for maximum effectiveness, our Druid heals.
Additionally, these weapons being Quarterstaves means they can still work well with Shillelagh.
Broodmother's Revenge
The Broodmother's Revenge is an amulet that imbues our weapon with Poison whenever we heal ourselves. This effectively empowers our next weapon attack with Poison damage that stacks with the Poisoner's Robe whenever we heal ourselves with Halo of Spores.
Emerald Ring
Grants the wearer +3m movement speed. Extra movement speed is most helpful on classes that rely on positioning to be most effective. The Spore Druids being among those classes.
Best Races to Use As a Spore Druid
Wood Elf
Wood Elves have the highest base movement speed amongst all the Races in Baldur's Gate 3. This means that your Druid can outmaneuver most enemies during your skirmishes. This is especially important because Spores Druids are primarily spellcasters, so standing farther away from enemies as you cast your spells is beneficial to you.
- Elven Weapon Training grants Proficiency with Longswords, Shortswords, Longbows, and Shortbows.
- Darkvision allows you to see an extra 12m in Dark Areas. This can be helpful for ranged classes that want to see threats and targets as soon as possible.
- Fey Ancenstry makes you less susceptible to the Charmed status effect while granting you immunity to spells that put you to Sleep.
Wood Elf Subrace Guide and Best Classes
Gold Dwarf
Gold Dwarves are the popular choice for Druids because they offer bonuses to survivability. The extra HP this Race offers allows the Druid to make full use of Wild Shape. Wild Shape ends prematurely and turns the Druid back into their original forms whenever the shapeshifted animal loses all its HP. This can often leave the Druid in the middle of multiple hostiles with no choice but to fight their way out. The extra HP can come in clutch during moments like these.
- Dwarven Combat Training grants Proifiency with Battleaxes, Handaxes, Light Hammers, and Warhammers.
- Darkvision allows you to see an extra 12m in Dark Areas. This can be helpful for ranged classes that want to see threats and targets as soon as possible.
- Dwarven Resilience grants Advantage on Saving Throws against Poison, as well as grants a resistance to Poison Damage.
- Dwarven Toughness increases Max HP by 1, and another +1 per Lv.
Gold Dwarf Subrace Guide and Best Classes
Best Circle of Spores Ability Scores
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 14 | 15(+1) | 8 | 17(+2) | 9 |
Wisdom is the primary spell casting ability of Druids. Having this ability as high as possible will increase the damage Spores Druids deal with their spells.
Constitution and Dexterity are prioritized after Wisdom to provide our Druid with as much survivability as we can.
Strength is increased to the point where we can wear Medium armor without penalties, while also giving us some damage when we want to swing our Quarterstaves.
Intelligence is a dump stat for Druids as they don't get much use for it.
Charisma is the secondary dump stat since Druids don't typically use this stat for spells or during dialogue.
Best Circle of Spores Feats
Ability Improvement
Druids use Wisdom as their spell casting ability, this means that having more Wis is equivalent to gaining more damage from your spells.
As a caster, you will prioritize getting 20 Wis as soon as possible. So pumping 2 pts into Wis should get your Druid to 19.
Depending on your progress, you will need to wait to defeat Auntie Ethel for your final point, bringing your Wisdom up to a maximum of 20.
Auntie Ethel Quest Guide
War Caster
War Caster helps maintain your concentration when casting spells that require it. This increases the odds of successfully casting your spells while standing in the middle of a battle.
Additionally, this feat allows the user to use Shocking Grasp as a reaction on targets who are moving out of melee range.
Durable
As mid-range characters, Spore Druids will oftentimes be well within reach of the enemy. Durable increases your Con, thereby increasing your survivability as well as making it harder for enemies to break your Concentration. This feat also has the added effect of fully healing your HP every short rest, meaning you'll have to spend less spell slots and resources overall to maintain your team's health during your adventure.
You could also opt to pickup Tough instead of Durable. While the benefits of this feat are less than Durable's in terms of variety, the effect provides more maxaimum HP overall.
Baldur's Gate 3 Related Guides
Druid Class Guide
All Druid Subclasses
| All Druid Subclasses | ||
|---|---|---|
| Circle of the Land | Circle of the Moon | Circle of Spores |
