Best Races for Moon Druid and Wildshape 5e
The Moon Druid focuses on Wildshape more than any other Druid subclass, and oh boy, it’s a mess of a feature. Here is that section of the Wildshape rules that applies to our racial selection, which I will be referring to frequently throughout this article.
You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source and can use them if the new form is physically capable of doing so. However, you can't use any of your special senses, such as darkvision, unless your new form also has that sense.
Essentially, as long as it makes sense for our new form to be able to do the thing our race can do, we can do it in Wildshape. That is so incredibly vague and difficult to interpret that Jeremy Crawford has had to respond to multiple questions in his Sage Advice thread about it. These responses actually manage to complicate things further. In summary, if the racial feature specifically mentions a part of your race’s anatomy, it is dependent on your Wildshape form sharing that part of your anatomy. If it does not specify anatomy, you can use that feature while Wildshaped. You cannot cast any spells while Wildshaped, even if those spells come from your race and even if they are described as Psionics as in the case of the two Gith races. The example provided from Sage Advice is that a Lizardfolk’s AC bonus comes specifically states that it is due to hardened scales, so it wouldn’t translate to a Wildshape form that lacks those hardened scales. That means it might work for something like a Giant Constrictor Snake, but definitely not a Bear. In contrast, the Dragonborn’s Breath Weapon does not specify anatomy, and therefore can be used by any Wildshape form. This principle serves us well in some circumstances, and makes utterly no sense in others, but it’s the word straight from the head designer’s mouth, so that’s what we’re going with. In this article, I will go over each race very briefly and note what features do and don’t work while Wildshaped. I will also rate each race for their potential performance as a Moon Druid focusing on Wildshape, and then give a quick top 5 at the very end for those of you who just want to know the best of the best. Let’s not delay any longer.
See Also: Best Races for Druid
Variant Human/Custom Lineage: Feats still apply while Wildshape as long as we can actually use them. Polearm Master, for example, would not work, but something like the concentration protection provided by War Caster would. Sadly there aren’t really any feats that majorly benefit Wildshape, so these options aren’t as tantalizing for a Moon Druid as they are for most builds. Still a solid option. 3/5
Aarakocra: None of these features carry over to Wildshape. We lose our wings and talons and can’t cast Gust of Wind. Still, you get a fly speed when you aren’t Wildshaped, but if you are making a Wildshape focused build and you want flight, you can do better than this. 2/5
Aasimar: We can’t cast Light while Wildshaped, but aside from that everything else here works. There are a couple of things in the Radiant Consumption option that require a mouth and eyes, but I reckon that just about every Wildshape form you take should have those, even the Elemental forms exclusive to Moon Druid. Both Wildshape and Celestial Revelation requiring a bonus action is a bit clunky, but thanks to the extremely long duration of Wildshape, you should be able to be in a Wildshape form before combat begins, activating Celestial Revelation on turn 1. The best option here is definitely Radiant Soul for their temporary flight, and the bonus to damage provided by all of these options is a really big selling point. I surprisingly love this option for Moon Druids. 4/5
Autognome: Ignoring the question of if an Autognome even can be a Druid thanks to the whole “won’t wear metal armor” thing, there’s a bit to go over here. We don’t stay a construct when we Wildshape, and we definitely don’t benefit from Armored Casing as it specifies metal plates and I highly doubt any of your Wildshape forms will have that. Everything else does work, even Healing Machine’s ability for us to heal when the Mending spell is cast on us. That’s actually a really interesting point, as while we can’t cast the spell ourselves, if we can get someone else to cast it on us we can use our Wildshape form’s hit die to heal instead of ours. This allows us to basically heal a Wildshape form up to full between combats with no real resources expended at all. This actually makes this race an extremely strong pick assuming you have another party member who can cast Mending. 4/5
Bugbear: And here we have our first example of something very silly. Everything here works. Yes, even Long-Limbed. The feature specifies no anatomy, and therefore our Wildshape form now has extra reach on their melee attacks. We also get Surprise Attack, an incredibly strong feature that really boosts the damage on a Wildshape form on turn 1. This is surprisingly an incredibly strong race that also provides an entirely unique feature found nowhere else. 5/5
Centaur: We get to keep Charge, and thankfully we lose Equine Build while Wildshaped. However, Charge is really the only thing this race is providing, as we don’t get to keep the 40ft speed when we Wildshape. There are much stronger options than this. 1/5
Changeling: As flavorful as this option is for creating the greatest shapeshifter in the multiverse, the actual mechanics of how Shapechanger interacts with Wildshape are so complex that you should take what I’m about to say with a grain of salt. This feature seems to allow you to change the appearance of your Wildshape form to whatever other form you want as long as it has the same arrangement of limbs. This means you could be a Giant Ape and change your appearance to that of a normal human, but still have the crazy strong attacks of the Giant Ape. It specifies that you can change to another race, so I assume you cannot change your appearance from a bear to a tiger. There are some really extreme interpretations of this interaction, but even at its most ludicrous, this is only changing your appearance, not your game statistics. I do not feel like this exploit is worth the headaches it takes for both you and your DM to make this work. The potential is there, I’m just not sure it’s worth pursuing. 3/5
Deep Gnome: We can’t cast spells while Wildshaped, but everything else here works. That being said, we aren’t getting much from this race that we couldn’t get elsewhere, but it isn’t a terrible option. 2/5
Dhampir: Our Vampiric Bite works as long as our new form has sharp teeth, which most Wildshape forms will. Everything else works as normal, and the concept of a bear stalking me by walking on the ceiling is wonderfully silly. Note that our bite is not increased in power by our new form, nor can it be mixed in with a Multiattack. Multiattack works differently than Extra Attack, as it specifies what actions can be taken during the attacks and normally even the order in which you do them. For this reason, I don’t think this is a very strong option as the only other thing you’re getting is Spider Climb. 2/5
Dragonborn: Every feature from all types of Dragonborn work while Wildshape, even the Gem Dragonborn’s temporary flight. Gem would also be the best pick for a Moon Druid, as it allows us to speak through telepathy while Wildshaped. I will rate this assuming you are at least using one of the Fizban’s Dragonborn, as all other types are significantly weaker. 4/5
Dwarf: Every aspect of the Dwarf and all its subraces work with Wildshape, with one strange exception. The Hill Dwarf’s Dwarven Toughness does not grant extra HP to your Wildshape form, as it specifically states that it grants extra HP when you level up. That being said, this is a pretty poor choice for your Moon Druid as there’s not really anything here you would want besides poison resistance. 1/5
Duergar: We can’t cast our spells while Wildshaped, but we could cast Enlarge and then shapeshift, allowing us to be a truly gigantic beast, but that’s honestly not as strong as just attacking with the action we used to cast the spell. Everything else here works perfectly, but all we’re getting is poison resistance and advantage versus charm and stun effects. Better than the normal dwarf, but not by much. 2/5
Eladrin: Everything here works, and adding a 30ft teleport to our Wildshape forms is a big boon. Our mental stats are also unchanged, meaning the save DC is unaffected by our new form. Trance even works, allowing us to take long rests while Wildshaped becomes possible much earlier than usual. 4/5
Elves: Okay, so there’s a lot of elves and I do not feel like going over all of them, especially when so many of them add spells that don’t matter to us. The High and Drow elves offer no additional benefits, and all other elf subraces offer very little if anything beyond the base elf features. So how good are those? Advantage versus charm is nice, and Trance enabling us to long rest while in Wildshape form earlier than usual has some definite potential for shenanigans. This is really just a bunch of small boosts, but there’s enough here that you’ll appreciate it, though not much more. 2/5
Fairy: We can’t keep our flight and we can’t cast spells, which means we keep no racial features when we Wildshape. Still, we do have all of these features when we aren’t Wildshaped, and these are some really strong features. 3/5
Firbolg: Everything here works, except for the spells obviously, and I especially love the idea of talking to animals and plants while you are an animal yourself. A permissive DM might even give you advantage on your checks to interact with that animal. The real benefit here is being able to go invisible a few times a day for a turn, which really helps to boost our defense. 3/5
Genasi (Air): The spells don’t work, but everything else does. That being said, all we are getting is lightning resistance and Unending Breath, and neither of those excite me much at all. 2/5
Genasi (Earth): Spells don’t work, but casting Pass Without Trace and then Wildshaping into a stealthy form will make you basically impossible to perceive. We also get to ignore most difficult terrain, which is actually a pretty big boon since almost all Wildshape forms need to engage in melee. That being said, Druids get Pass Without Trace already, so this isn’t that impactful of a selection. 3/5
Genasi (Fire): We can’t cast these terrible spells while Wildshaped, so all we get is Fire resistance. Pass. 1/5
Genasi (Water): Without the spells all we get is Amphibious and Acid resistance, and if you want that then there are much better options out there than this. 1/5
Giff: The only real benefit we get here is Hippo Build, granting advantage on all strength checks and saving throws. Astral Spark doesn’t work because it requires hitting with a simple or martial weapon, and natural weapons are neither of those. There really isn’t enough support in terms of Wildshape forms to make an effective build around grappling, at least not a build that wouldn’t be majorly outclassed by any other type of grapple build. I don’t see a reason to go with this option. 1/5
Goblin: Fury of the Small only works on creatures a size larger than us, and while that’s normally not a problem for small sized goblins, the same can’t be said for large bears. Aside from that, all we get are advantage versus charm effects and Nimble Escape, a feature that I don’t think most Wildshape forms will need a lot of the time. Hard pass on this one. 1/5
Goliath: Everything here works, but we aren’t getting much. Cold resistance and Stone’s Endurance add a bit of durability to a Wildshaped Druid, but there are better races than this for increasing our durability. Still, this isn’t a horrible choice. 2/5
Grung: Here’s another weird one. Amphibious, Poison Immunity, and Standing Leap clearly work without issue, and the idea of a bear being really good at jumping is very funny to me. Poisonous Skin is a bit more complex. The feature states that it triggers when a creature comes in contact with our skin, and the only thing we need for our Wildshape form to use a racial feature that mentions anatomy is for it to have the same piece of anatomy. That means that this feature should be available to any Wildshape form with skin. We can also apply poison to the natural weapons any Wildshape form that deals piercing damage. That does limit our options pretty heavily, but remember that even if we hit with something like a bear, we are still making contact with our skin and potentially poisoning our target. This also excludes the elemental forms unlocked by the Moon Druid at higher levels, but if you know your campaign won’t get to those levels, I think this is a really strong pick, and will still be decent in campaigns that get to those high levels as we’ll still have Poison Immunity and other small bonuses. 4/5
Hadozee: Glide doesn’t work, and that’s really the main selling point of this race. The rest still works assuming our Wildshape form has feet, but it’s just not enough to justify picking this race. 1/5
Half-Elf: This is almost strictly worse than a standard Elf in every way. None of the potential subrace options do anything for our Wildshape forms, and the rest of the features on offer here are pretty lacking. Skip this and play an actual elf if you must. 1/5
Half-Orc: Relentless Endurance and Savage Attacks both work, and you can use Relentless Endurance to stay at 1hp on your Wildshape form. Still, this is not enough to compel me to consider this, especially because Savage Attacks is even worse in most Wildshape forms as beasts typically roll multiple small damage die instead of one big one. 1/5
Halfling: Everything here works, including all the subraces (besides ones that grant spells), but I’m not impressed by what’s here. I know a lot of people love Lucky, but the math shows that it is not very impactful. Still, I know people love Halflings so go wild, it at least won’t be terrible. 2/5
Harengon: Everything here works, including Rabbit Hop, which is wonderfully silly as it allows your bear form to jump insane distances. I actually like this quite a lot, as it gives us a boost to initiative, allowing us to ensure we get into Wildshape ASAP, a boost to Dexterity saves, something most Wildshapes struggle with, and an extra movement option. Everything here is just good value. 4/5
Hexblood: No, casting Hex and then Wildshaping is not a good method of increasing your damage. For one, both require a bonus action making it very clunky to set up, and there are dozens of better spells for a Druid to concentrate on. The other features here aren’t that exciting, though Wildshape does theoretically give us infinite teeth to use with Eerie Token. 1/5
Hobgoblin: All these features work, and Fey Gift gives us something to occasionally do with our bonus action. Fortune From the Many is also decent for boosting our saving throws, and we get advantage versus charm effects. All around this is a perfectly fine option, but it’s not exciting me in many ways. 3/5
Kalashtar: Everything here works fine, and this is a potential option for us to be able to speak while Wildshaped using our telepathy. The Druid probably doesn’t need advantage on Wisdom saves, but extra defenses never hurt anyone. I’d definitely consider this one of the better telepathic races for Moon Druids, but not the best either. 3/5
Kender: Taunt requires us to actually speak to our target, so that’s off the table. If you can’t Taunt, why are you playing a Kender? 1/5
Kenku: Mimicry does not allow us to talk while Wildshaped, and outside of mimicry all this race is providing is a little help on a few skill checks each day. Pass. 1/5
Kobold: If you can play the old Kobold and get Pact Tactics, this is an easy 5/5. As for the revised Kobold, it’s still okay. Draconic Cry does a decent job at providing advantage a few times a day, but outside of that you’re not getting much from this. 2/5, 5/5 if you can play the old version.
Leonin: The only real benefit here is the Roar, and since it triggers off of our Constitution modifier, we’re actually pretty good at using it. Problem is, we only get one use of it per rest, and it’s literally the only thing we care about getting from this race. 2/5
Lizardfolk: Our bite doesn’t really work because of the very specific wording, which means Hungry Jaws doesn’t work, and neither does Natural Armor. This is one of the weakest possible options. 1/5
Locathah: Druids are one of the better races at fulfilling the Locathah’s need for water, especially because Wildshape allows us to change into a tiny beast who can much more easily be immersed in water. The biggest reason to play this is definitely Leviathan Will, granting advantage versus most of the status effects in the game. That alone is a pretty great reason to pick this option, even if it’s really all we are benefiting from. 4/5
Loxodon: We obviously don’t get to keep our trunk, so all we get are a few very minor features. Definitely skip this. 1/5
Orc: The old version is definitely better as we don’t have limited uses of Aggressive, but both versions are fine options. Wildshape forms are desperate for bonus action options, and dashing will definitely help a lot since we are almost certainly going into melee. 3/5
Owlin: We don’t get to keep flight or our increased darkvision, so all this race gives us while Wildshaped is stealth proficiency. Still, we get all of those things when we aren’t Wildshaped, so this is still a decent pick I guess. 2/5
Plasmoid: This is one of my favorite options because it is so weird. Read through this race as many times as you want, you will never find a mention of anatomy in these features. That means everything here is possible while Wildshaped. In fact, we are actually better at being a Plasmoid than most builds, because 99% of the time while in Wildshape you will be wearing and carrying nothing, allowing you to take full advantage of Amorphous and still operate at full power. We can even extend a Pseudopod while in Wildshape, giving us a level of manual dexterity that you’d be hard pressed to find otherwise. Note that I don’t think Shape Self allows you to reform into your Wildshape form if you revert to a blob, so don’t do that while Wildshaped, but aside from that anything goes here. Tack on poison and acid resistance and the ability to hold our breath for an hour and I think this is a fantastic option. 5/5
Reborn: We keep all of our features, and we get some quite good stuff here. We essentially get Elf Trance, allowing us to long rest in Wildshape sooner, we get poison resistance, we don’t need to breathe, and we get bonuses to some skill checks, which can be used for grappling and the like. A decent package overall, but not anything super special. 3/5
Satyr: We obviously don’t get our extra movement speed or the Ram attack, but we do get Magic Resistance (the spell-only kind) and Mirthful Leaps, and adding jumping potential to a Wildshape form could potentially be useful until you get elemental forms, and even then have some limited use. I think if you want Magic Resistance there are better picks than this. 3/5
Sea Elf: We don’t get to keep our swim speed, so just play a normal Elf. 2/5
Shadar-Kai: I love the Eladrin, and I like this even more. We get the same teleport but now are resistant to all damage after using it for a turn. This adds a ton to our tanking potential, and we are already one of the tanky-est builds in the game! That plus all the other elf goodies and always-on necrotic resistance make this a very strong candidate. 5/5
Shifter: This one’s a bit clunky, as shifting and Wildshape both require a bonus action, but if you can go into a fight already in Wildshape then you’ll have no problem with this. I’ll rate each of the options individually, as the only thing they share is a skill proficiency.
Beasthide: +1 AC won’t help many Wildshape forms very much because their AC is already so low. The extra temporary HP is nice, but not so impactful to make me choose this over other options. 2/5
Longtooth: I love this option so much. We get a bonus action attack every turn (including the turn we shift), which is something basically all Wildshape forms lack. Note that while this feature does mention anatomy, the act of shifting actually grants us these fangs, meaning as long as we shift after Wildshaping, we have them. This is a prime candidate for getting more damage out of your build. 5/5
Swiftstride: This is the only way for a race to give an increase to our movement speed, but I don’t think that makes this worth it. The free disengage isn’t blowing me away either. 2/5
Wildhunt: We shouldn’t be attacked at advantage very often, and the advantage on Wisdom checks won’t come up very frequently since we can only shift for a minute at a time. 1/5
Simic Hybrid: Almost every feature here is dependent on some form of anatomy, meaning they are useless to us in Wildshape. Hard pass. 1/5
Tabaxi: Feline Agility works in Wildshape, and is likely the best movement buff available from a race. All the other features are just fluff. You either want Feline Agility or you don’t. 3/5
Tiefling: We can’t cast spells in Wildshape, so despite the huge list of subraces the Tiefling has to offer, the only feature we can get from any of them is fire resistance. 1/5
Thri-Kreen: This is another method of speaking while in Wildshape, but that’s practically all we get. Obviously we can’t use our secondary arms in Wildshape, and that pretty much the only reason anyone takes this race. 1/5
Tortle: Literally the only thing this race gives us in Wildshape is the ability to hold our breath better. 1/5
Triton: Obviously we can’t use the spells while Wildshaped, but being able to talk to fish while also being a fish could have some roleplay implications. Aside from that we are just getting cold resistance and water breathing. Not impressed. 2/5
Vedalkin: Everything here works fine, and Vedalkin Dispassion is a really big selling point. It’s the single strongest racial feature for boosting saving throws, and that has to account for something. 4/5
Verdan: This is a decent package of abilities. We get Limited Telepathy, but it’s still a method of communication while in Wildshape. We also get advantage on Wisdom and Charisma saves, and Black Blood Healing does work with a Wildshape form’s hit die, even if its benefit is very small. This is a perfectly average option. 3/5
Warforged: I’m pretty sure all aspects of Integrated Protection don’t work as it specifies that OUR body is what is providing these benefits, and we are changing into other bodies. Without that, all we’ve really got is poison resistance and a few fluff features, and that’s not enough for me when many races offer poison resistance along with real features.
Top 5 Choices
Shifter (Longtooth)
Shadar-Kai
Plasmoid
Bugbear
Grung
Each of these offer something very different and can completely change the playstyle of a Moon Druid. Far more than other classes and subclasses, picking the right race can make you feel like you have an additional subclass that racially alters your build. More than any other subclass, I highly recommend you really take a bit to consider your race, as picking the wrong one will make it feel like your choice had no impact on your character, and picking the right one can be completely transformative.
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