What is a Shillelagh? The Best Spell in Your Arsenal

What is Shillelagh dnd 5e and why is it actually one of the best spells to have in your tome of spells?

The Shelaylee..shuhlaylee?…shuh·lay·luh? Whatever… The Shillelagh 5e spell is a cantrip that is available for druids that buffs the wood of a club or quarterstaff that you are holding and imbues it with nature’s power for a 1d8 + your Wisdom modifier.

Although it is pretty good damage for a cantrip, can we do better? I think so. In this article we’re going to examine the spell and look at how we can make the most of it and look into the history of the spell while we’re at it (does Ireland exist in Dungeons and Dragons? The answer might surprise you…).

Shillelagh is a Walking Stick?

Outside of Dungeons and Dragons, the Shillelagh is much more than a spell. It is conventionally associated with a wooden walking stick that has a large knob on top (stop snickering). It is an item that hails from Ireland which is slyly hinted at in Shillelagh‘s component requirement of a shamrock leaf.

This section doesn’t dive too much into depth about the subject but I included it as I thought it was an interesting tidbit of information to include.

Pronunciation of Shillelagh

The official pronunciation is shil-AY-lee. This is because it hails from Ireland and is a word for the original Gaelic sail éille where sail means “willow” and éille often means “strap”.

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Shillelagh DnD Through the Ages

The Shillelagh 5e spell has been around for nearly 45 years and has seen a couple of changes during its time as it has evolved alongside the game.

Shillelagh 5th Edition

What we know and love!

This transmutation cantrip has a casting time of 1 bonus action, which makes it easy and quick to equip without wasting any important aspect of your action economy (read more about action economy in What is the “Action Economy” and Why Should You Think it’s Important?). The duration is only a minute but in combat that is an eternity and can equip instantly if you have the bonus action available.

It’s basically a free buff. It does have some components (mistletoe, a shamrock leaf, and a club or quarterstaff) but who keeps track of spell components in the 5e? It does have a Touch range which means you have to be physically holding the item, but I think this would be negative in unique situations.

As mentioned before, the spell imbues your staff with nature’s power and allows the weapon’s damage die to be a 1d8 plus your Wisdom modifier. If you’re a wise fellow, this can be a 1d8+5 weapon which, honestly, Shillelagh 5e isn’t a spell buff to scoff at.

Shillelagh 4th Edition

Looking at Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition hurts my brain and I think it is bad. I am putting this section in literally to rant about how bad it is. As someone who was introduced to the game in the 5th edition, I may have some biases but why do I have to shift through three Player Handbooks to try and find a class and it’s spells? Even worse, Wizards of the Coast decided to leave out the Shillelagh spell for the Druid class in this edition. One of the many mistakes they made

Shillelagh 3rd and 3.5 Edition

Starting with Dungeons and Dragons 3.5e, it is interesting to see that Shillelagh 5e was at one time, a first-level spell. It takes a lot more commitment to cast than 5th edition cantrip bonus action. Although it does seem that with this higher cost, it balances out with transmuting the weapon into a +1 weapon that deals 1d10 damage for one minute for each level your character is at. Which is MUCH longer than 5e’s flat one-minute casting time.

Although I will say, that since 5e allows it to be cast virtually for free, I would say 5e wins out on this one in terms of utilization ability.

Moving onto Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edtion, while there aren’t any changes between the two 3rd editions, I will state that this is where Wizards of the Coast stepped in and took control of the Dungeons and Dragons property, and while they have done a lot of wrong to this community, this is where they also introduced Cantrips. Which I think changed the game in a lot of ways in terms of roleplay and combat.

So… good for you WOTC, you did one thing right.

DnD Druid 5E - Wizards of the Coast artwork showing a halfling druid with birds — Depiction of Druid

Shillelagh 2nd Edition

We are adventuring into unknown territory of most of us. So I will preface this section by saying that I have personally never played 2e so I may misspeak now and then but have tried to keep it as honest as I can.

The Shillelagh spell is all over the place in the Player’s Handbook 2e. First, the spell uses an alternative name to Transmutation which was Alteration in the 2nd edition. Furthermore, the Shillelagh spell is similar to the 3rd edition in that it is a 1st level spell that changes the weapon to a +1 weapon but this time the damage is 2d4 points of damage to a creature you are attacking that is your size and 1d4+1 to anyone larger. The duration is 4 rounds +1 round/level which you might first think “So like 1-2 mins max?”. But you have to keep in mind that in 2e, each round is about a minute. So the duration is a pretty hefty amount of time.

I think the size component is an interesting feature that makes combat a little more realistic but it would probably limit roleplay and I’d end up with a party of goliaths.

Shillelagh AD&D

One of the most popular versions of Dungeons and Dragons, the Shillelagh spell is included and is still a 1st level spell for Druids. Not much else is different for the +1 spell in this version so I won’t waste much time on it. The duration is 1 round per level and has a similar damage-to-size ratio that 2nd edition had.

Builds

We will be talking about three builds proposed by u/ploopthewizard but I recommend you check out the original post.

The Dollar Store Dual Wielder

If you want to be the most powerful Druid out there, the build recommends that you claim the Dual Wielder feat (which also gives you +1 AC while wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand, use two-weapon fighting even when your one-handed melee weapons aren’t light, and can draw two one-handed weapons), collect your wooded club, and a weapon of your choice for your other hand.

Before you go into battle, cast the Shillelagh spell on your wooden club and enter battle after equipping your weapon of choice in your other hand. The build recommends a scimitar.

On your turn, that means you can attack with your club and use your bonus action to attack with your scimitar. On the implication that they both hit, you will do 1d8+1d6+ your spellcasting modifier (or strength/dexterity, whichever is higher) for a possible 19 points of damage with one melee attack!

My only problem with this build is that you have to use your bonus action to swipe your scimitar, disallowing you to utilize the Shillelagh spell due to its requirement that you need a free hand to cast it and it uses a bonus action to cast. That means this would be a one-time hit but an excellent way to hit hard at the beginning of a fight.

The Polearm Hunter

The premise of this build asks the user to move away from the Druid class and go Ranger instead, their cooler cousin.

Rangers also use Wisdom as their primary stat in combat and with the combination of Variant Human and Magic Initiate, you have a badass amount of damage for one spell slot.

You pick your spells from the Druid Magic Initiate list and focus on Wisdom as you level up your Ranger. Choose Dueling as your fighting style and grab a quarterstaff as part of your starting equipment when you create your character.

When choosing your spells, grab Hunter’s Mark. Grab Hunter Conclave at level 3 and choose Colossus Slayer. Take the Polearm Master feet at level 4 and finally gain your Extra Attack from your Conclave at level 5.

Before combat, do the similar Shillelagh casting on your quarterstaff but this time, cast Hunter’s Mark on your soon-to-be victim. Then, on your turn, attack twice with your action and a third time with your bonus action that you can do due to your Polearm Master Feat.

In total, you should be seeing 3d8+1d4+6+ Wisdom*3. That is 67 points of beautiful magical bludgeoning damage for a single spell slot (I’d recommend not showing this to your DM. DM’s, I’d beware any rangers who seem too into their quarterstaff).

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight on Screen - Trebuchet — Image from *The Green Knight*

The Twig Knight

The last build is the Twig Knight, which is a sick name in general. This build exploits the Shillelagh‘s lack of concentration and allows it to stack with other weapon enchantments to do destructive damage.

Again, you put up your hippie robes and trade it in for the Paladin class and wield that quarterstaff from your ranger days. You will need to try and get your charisma as high as possible.

Stick to Paladin until level 2 where you unlock Smite and Searing Smite. Then take three levels of Warlock, choose the Pact of the Tome, and choose Shillelagh as one of your three free cantrips.

Learn Green-Flame Blade and/or Booming Blade. Take one more level of Warlock to unlock a feat and unlock old faithful: Polearm Master.

Do your prebattle ritual of casting Shillelagh on your quarterstaff and cast Searing Smite and Hexblades curse on your target. On your turn, you will attack with your staff, using Green-Flame Blade and/or Booming Blade and activate your Searing Smite.I’d recommend using Divine Smite as well using a 2nd level Warlock spell slot. Use your bonus action to attack with your staff again and use Smite.

The Final Count

*Takes a deep breath…

Okay so now that everything hits at peak, you will see (1d8+ Charisma + Proficiency) + 1d8 thunder + 3d8 radiant and 11d6 fire damage. Then with the bonus action, you’d get an additional 1d4+ Charisma + proficiency +3d8 radiant.

In total, that’s 8d8 + 11d6 + 1d4 + Charisma*2 + Proficiency*2 in a wide array of different damage types. Adding that up you’ll get 150 points of damage on a SINGLE TURN if everything works out or an average of 93 points per round! Not half-bad, Twig Knight!

As I mentioned please check out u/ploopthewizard‘s original post and comment on this blog if you have a better build!