The Circle of Wildfire was introduced with Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and certainly provided a whole new perspective for the Druid class. While Druids are often seen as a gentle and peaceful class, this Circle gives them the opportunity to explore who they are and how they fight their battles.

Fire is not inherently destructive, and a Circle of Wildfire Druid understands this. Fire holds the key between the balance of creation and destruction—sometimes, the old must burn so that new life can grow and flourish. It’s a Druid subclass that defies expectations and stereotypes, allowing you to really come into your own.

How to Use This Guide

Throughout this guide, you will see a series of emojis—we use these to rank how useful a feature or ability is for your chosen class.

✅ — A critical feature that you absolutely need in order to play your class to the best of its ability. It may also provide exclusive bonuses.

🆗 — A good feature that should definitely be considered.

⚠️ — A weaker feature that might only work with specific builds. Definitely largely circumstantial.

⛔ — A terrible feature that could be detrimental to your class that often weighs you down. It can also be a dump stat that is completely useless.

Why Choose a Circle of Wildfire Druid 5e?

The thing about Circle of Wildfire Druids is that they take a step back from the stereotypical Druids that we see in D&D 5e. They understand the importance of destruction and how it leads to the creation of new life. They are chaotic in a strangely controlled manner. It’s like a Fire Mage merged itself with a Druid.

You’ll be able to switch between damage and healing, making you a valuable member of the party since both roles are equally effective. If you choose to be a Tortle, you can even set yourself up to be a tank and take on the brunt of the damage while your party supports you and tackles the big bad boss.

There’s also your Wildfire Spirit, which works as a handy companion who can make life a little easier during battle. They are sure to become a close friend and help bring about fiery destruction to all of your enemies. Circle of Wildfire lets you try something a little different and spice up the Druid class up.

🌿 Looking for an awesome name for your character? Check out our Druid name guide

How Does Your Wildfire Spirit Work?

As you know, you gain access to Wild Shape when you hit 2nd level. This is great because you are able to change forms and summon your Wildfire Spirit. You can expend one Wild Shape use to summon your Wildfire Spirit. It takes on the shape of your choosing, which means you get to be creative here.

Your Wildfire Spirit gets a movement speed of 30 and has immunity to fire. What’s more, it’s immune to being charmed, frightened, grappled, prone, and restrained. Plus, it has a main stat block that you can use for reference that looks like this:

AC: 13 (natural armor)
HP: 5 + 5 X druid level
STR: 10 (+0)
DEX: 14 (+2)
CON: 14 (+2)
INT: 13 (+1)
WIS: 15 (+2)
CHA: 11 (+0)

Your Wildfire Spirit has several abilities. When you summon your little friend, every creature that is within 10 feet of it must make a successful Dexterity Saving Throw or suffer 2d6 fire damage. After that, it can use Flame Seed or Fiery Teleportation as an Action (which really sweetens the deal).

Flame Seed works as a ranged attack spell that uses your Wisdom modifier in order to hit. The range is an impressive 60 feet, and it deals 1d6+Proficiency fire damage. Fiery Teleportation zooms your Spirit and a willing creature up to 15 feet away. Creatures in that space must make a successful Dex Saving Throw or suffer 1d6+Proficiency fire damage.

🌿 Looking to discover another Druid subclass? Check out our Circle of Dreams Druid guide

How to Play a Circle of Wildfire Druid

Knowing how to play your Druid and the subclass you’ve chosen is a vital part of the game. So, how do you go about playing a Circle of Wildfire Druid?

There are five vital aspects to your Circle of Wildfire build:

High Wisdom modifiers
Knowing the basics of your build and your Wildfire Spirit
Selecting a race that works well with your Circle
Using magic combat with a shield
Choosing the right spells

Choosing a Race

The same strategy for any Druid applies to the Circle of Wildfire—keep the Wisdom score high. However, there is something else to consider as well. A Circle of Wildfire Druid is likely to enter the heat (excuse me) of battle more often than other Circles, and so having a Constitution (or even Strength) bonus is a plus.

This is why we have four core races that we recommend if you want to maximize your Wildfire build’s capability. These are:

Aarakocra
Firbolg
Tortle
Lizardfolk

Ok, but why have we chosen each of these races? Well, Firbolgs offer you a nice +2 Wisdom and +1 Strength bonus, and you also get access to Firbolg Magic. This gives you things like Detect Magic and Disguise Self alongside Hidden Step, which is basically invisibility. You also get Speech of Beast and Leaf.

Lizardfolk are pretty cool and fit in thematically, and give you a nice +2 Constitution as well as a +1 Wisdom bonus. You also get some nice racial additions such as Bite, Hungry Jaws, and Hold Breath. These aren’t just good from an adventuring standpoint but also enhance gameplay.

The Aarakocra is a classic Druid race and offers a nice +2 Dexterity and +1 Wisdom, and the Dex is good for boosting your AC and durability. You also gain the ability to fly, which can be pretty handy during battle, as well as scouting. You can also bring some pretty cool effects to the table as a flaming bird person.

Looking at the Tortle, you get a +2 Strength and +1 Wisdom, which gives you a tank build because of the nice Strength boost—deviating from the typical Druid. The tank build is further supported by Natural Armour, which boosts your AC to a base of 17, and Shell Defence can boost that by another +4.

Knowing Your Class and Build

The interesting thing about the Circle of Wildfire is that it has so much potential as a ranged attacker, melee fighter, and even a tank if you build it correctly. While you still remain fairly squishy in terms of health, your Wildfire Spirit gives you some nice advantages on the battlefield.

Use your Wildfire Spirit as your form of ranged attack and transform yourself into a magic Fighter with a shield. You’ll keep your weapons simple with a club or scimitar, and you wear leather armor unless you’re a Tortle. Of course, your shield will be wooden since Druids can’t wear metal.

Ideally, you should pick Animal Handling, Survival, and Perception for Proficiency. These allow you to take advantage of your high Wisdom score while also benefiting you throughout your adventures. Like any other Druid, you’ll know the secret language, Druidic, which might come in handy.

At 2nd level, you gain access to Wild Shape. This is important because you don’t just get to use it to transform into beasts. You can also use it to summon your Wildfire Spirit and use them in battle or scouting tasks. You can use this ability twice a day—each summon will take up one Wild Shape use.

Spells and Cantrips

While we have an entire guide dedicated to the spells and cantrips that you get as a Druid, let’s take a look at some of the best ones for a Circle of Wildfire Druid.-

For cantrips, we suggest going with Druidcraft, Shillelagh, Resistance, and Produce Flame. These are great spells for enhancing melee capabilities as well as playing off your fire magic as a Wildfire Druid.

For 1st level spells, Healing Word is a great choice for you and your party. You may also find Detect Magic and Entangle to be helpful choices. At 2nd level, Summon Beast, Flame Blade, and Lesser Restoration will allow you to enhance your fire capabilities and help keep your party members alive.

Circle of Wildfire Features

With this Circle, you get a Wildfire Spirit, which is basically a flaming creature of your choice (I’m basic, I like going for a firefox or fire wolf). You get a nice combination of fire-based magic as well as healing, and the Elemental Adept Feat is a fantastic way to further boost your power so you get all the benefits this Circle has to offer.

You should consider using Elemental Bane. While it relies on a Constitution Save (making it less reliable than Elemental Adept), you do get to suppress resistance to your choice of magic. This means that you could use fire magic against a fire-resistant enemy to massive effect.

🆗Circle of Wildfire Spells (2):

Alright, this is where we get that nice fire magic and healing balance. So let’s take a look at some of the spells you can expect to gain access to, starting from 2nd level.

2nd Level

Burning Hands
Cure Wounds

3rd Level

Flaming Sphere
Scorching Ray

5th Level

Plant Growth
Revivify

7th Level

Aura of Life
Fire Shield

9th Level

Flame Strike
Mass Cure Wounds

🆗Summon Wildfire Spirit (2):

This is probably one of the coolest features you get as a Wildfire Druid. You can start using it from 2nd level, but it does take up one of your Wild Shape uses to summon. Combat is its main function, and it comes with a 30ft fly speed. It’s basically made for ranged combat.

However, the thing that I really like is that it comes with a nice selection of abilities. It leaves masses of AOE fire damage in its wake after teleporting and can be used to save your allies from grapple effects. Use it to get them out of melee range or through small barriers (think doors and jail bars). It has a lot of power.

✅Enhanced Bond (6):

You get a great bonus for your damage and healing. Apply it to your Cantrips or any leveled spell. You get a 1d8 bonus while your Wildfire Spirit is on the field, which means you can be a real lifesaver for your allies.

You can also have the spells originate from your Wildfire Spirit instead of you, giving you more durability as a Druid and allowing you to stay safe while your Spirit takes on the brunt of the work.

ariagoria elf circle of the wildfire druid

🆗Cauterizing Flames (10):

The healing and damage is a reaction, providing a 2d10+Wisdom Modifier to damage or healing. Pick off the weak enemies when you’re being charged by a group, and be strategic with the application of healing lines and attack for greater versatility.

✅Blazing Revival (14):

When your health drops down to 0, your Wildfire Spirit has the opportunity to save you by sacrificing itself and granting you half of your Hit Points back. Don’t worry; you can resummon your Wildfire Spirit pretty much instantly, which makes this more like a phoenix rising from the ashes moment.

🌿 Not convinced? Try playing a Circle of Stars Druid instead

The Perfect Circle of Wildfire Build

So, how do you get the perfect Circle of Wildfire build? Well, below, we have our ideal build for this particular Circle, so you have a good place to start.

Stats

⚠️ Strength: Only a decent choice if you are going for a Tortle tank build.
🆗 Dexterity: Always handy to have for the added AC.
🆗 Constitution: This can be useful since you are going to be in melee range.
⚠️ Intelligence: Only good for knowledge skills.
✅ Wisdom: The most important stat.
⛔ Charisma: Dump stat.

Races

✅ Aarakocra: offers a Wis/Dex increase as well as flight.
✅ Firbolg: Wisdom increases and innate spellcasting abilities.
✅ Lizardfolk: Wisdom increase, a good Con boost, and natural abilities.
✅Tortle: Wis/Str boost that makes it a great option for a tank. AC increase.

Feats

Elemental Adept: Allows you to ignore resistance to fire damage. When you roll damage for a spell that deals fire damage, treat any 1 on the die as a 2.
Elemental Bane: Allows you to suppress resistance to your choice of magic but does require a Constitution Save.

Skills

Animal Handling
Perception
Survival

Cantrips:

Druidcraft: Manipulate small plant life, make natural effects, and read the weather.
Shillelagh: A club or staff is imbued with magic, dealing 1d8 + Wisdom modifier.
Resistance: Touch a willing creature. The target gains 1d4 to a saving throw of its choice.
Produce Flame: Produce a small fire to shed light for 10 feet or use it as an attack. If you attack, deal 1d8 fire damage. This will increase by another 1d8 with Enhanced Bond.

Spells

1st Level:

Speak with Animals: Communicate simple concepts with animals and understand them in return.
Healing Word: Heal a target you can see for 1d4. Increases your ability to heal at a range. You can further increase this with Enhanced Bond.
Detect Magic: Detect a magic source and what type it is.
Entangle: A 20-foot square of land grows grasping vines, grappling foes who end or begin their turn on a failed Strength saving throw.

2nd Level:

Summon Beast: You can summon an ethereal creature, choosing one of 3 forms: flying, swimming, or terrestrial. Each of them provides different advantages and traits.
Lesser Restoration: Offers a good range of healing effects.
Flame Blade: Summon a blade of flames, dealing 3d6 + Wisdom modifier fire damage.

jayla lizardfolk circle of wildfire druid

Weapons

As for weapons, it’s the same old same old for Druids in pretty much any Circle. You need a weapon as a Circle of Wildfire Druid, especially since you’ll find yourself in melee combat. These are some of the best options you’ll have:

Sling
Staff
Javelin
Scimitar

FAQs

Does Circle of Wildfire Get Fireball?

Circle of the Wildfire Druids don’t get Fireball anymore. It’s been replaced with Flamestrike instead. Certainly a controversial decision among the D&D community, and some DMs prefer to keep Fireball in place. However, according to the rules as written, you get Flamestrike at the 9th level now.

What Book Is Circle of Wildfire In?

Circle of Wildfire was introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Its implementation into the game provided a pleasant twist to the Druid class that brought a touch of destruction to an otherwise peaceful concept.

Can Circle of Wildfire Druids Wild Shape?

Yes, Circle of the Wildfire Druids can use Wild Shape just like any other Druid. In addition to this, they can also choose to spend one of their Wild Shape uses to summon their Wildfire Spirit instead.

Are Wildfire Druids Resistant to Fire?

Yes, Wildfire Druids do get fire resistance. This starts at the 4th level, and the fire resistance increases as your Druid levels up. The ability is called Unscorched Skin and replaces Nature’s Lure and Venom Immunity.

To Sum It Up

We hope you enjoyed this guide to The Circle of the Wildfire. Have you managed to find the balance between creation and destruction with the help of your new fire magic? Why not show us how this guide has helped enhance your D&D adventures? Make sure you drop your experiences in the comment section below so we can share in your journey.