Path Of The Wild Heart Barbarian Guide for DND

The Way of the Wild Hearted Barbarian Dungeons & Dragons offers a primal and untamed connection with nature, empowering players to unleash a powerful, spirit-driven fury. Inspired by the brute force of the wild, this subclass gives barbarians unique abilities associated with spirit animals, enhancing their combat abilities and granting magical effects.

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Building the path of a wild-hearted barbarian requires thoughtful choices to maximize your wild powers while staying true to the character's wild essence. In this guide, we'll cover key strategies, from optimal ability stats to the key features that make this barbarian truly formidable.

Path Of The Wild Highlights

Dungeons & Dragons image of a barbarian.
Wild Heart of Aldita Siregar

There is many kinds of barbariansand they do not limit themselves to leaping into the heat of battle with blind fury. Those that tune in to nature walk the way of the wild heart fight like animals without major changes in their bodies.

The subclass is perfect for people who want that pure communion with nature without long lists of spells. Unlike druids or rangers, you don't turn into animals or change their behavior; instead, the animal kingdom sees you as one of its ownstill having the ability to wield a powerful battle axe.

Differences in the 2024 Player's Guide

Dungeons & Dragons image of the Barbarian.
Denman Rooke's Fierce Warrior.

There is a way of the wild heart based in many ways on the path of the totem warrior from the 2014 rules, but it had many changes other than the name. Since you communicate directly with animal spirits, you no longer need the totem object and your physical form is not altered in any way.

Another key difference is the animal options. In 2014 you got the abilities of different animals, weaving your choice between the same five animals: bear, eagle, moose, tiger and wolf. In 2024 each animal appears only oncemaking it easier to remember which skills you chose.

The best options for species

A Dungeons & Dragons image of many dwarves being tinkered with.
Image of the gnomes by Mike Pape.

While species no longer determine what ability points you can increase at first level, those that usually good barbarians continue to follow this trend. Goliaths and orcs in particular don't just look the part, but they also have abilities that make them shine as barbarians. the gigantic forces of the Goliaths or the resilience of the orcs.

The best views, however, it's a dwarf. They have some pretty nice bonuses for any class, but barbarians benefit the most from them presence of a large health pooland the dwarves offer as large as possible thanks to their dwarven strength.

Best placement statistics

A Dungeons & Dragons image showing a casting druid surrounded by wild creatures.
Druid by Jessica Fong.

Strength is your main indicator of ability for any barbarian, p The constitution is nearby. Strength needs no explanation, but Constitution is important to barbarians thanks to their unarmored defensesallowing them to add their dexterity and physique modifiers to their armor class.

This means that increasing dexterity is also usefulbut not as much as it might seem. As a barbarian, you have a large enough health pool to largely ignore agility you don't want the modifier to go into the negatives.

As for mental ability scores, the one you should take care of is Wisdomnot just for possible saving throws, but because it's your ability to enchant. You don't make any attacks with it, but your dungeon master might think you can't do anything if your wisdom is too low.

The best options for wild heart

A Dungeons & Dragons image showing a barbarian receiving a blessing or charm from a unicorn.
Art by Axel Defois

Like a barbarian walking the path of a wild heart, you gain multiple animal aspects to channel when you rampage. You don't have to completely commit to the choices, as you can often swap them out when raging or after a long rest, but some have more general application than others.

Rage Of The Wilds Variants

Dungeons & Dragons image of a wolf.
Wolf of Borja Pindad

At the third level, you get three animals as options: bear, eagle and wolf. The default should always be a bearas it gives you resistance to all damage except force, necrotic, psychic and radiant, making you a tank that almost never gets destroyed.

If you prefer to focus on losses, then the wolf is betteras it gives your allies an advantage when attacking enemies adjacent to you. Eagle is all about mobilitynot something you always need, but you should keep it in the back of your mind; it's perfect for stalking enemies.

Aspect of wild options

Dungeons & Dragons image of a tiger.
Hermit background image by Pedro Cardoz and Tiger via Wizards of the Coast.

These sixth level options are always activeand you can switch between them when taking a long rest. The owl gives you darkvision, the panther gives you climbing speed, and the salmon gives you swimming speed the obvious choice for most players would be panther.

It is always useful to have dark visionbut you better choose a species that already has the ability. You'll rarely need to use salmon, and even if you think you do, your Dungeon Master will probably give the whole party a way around underwater travel like a boat or giant seahorses.

The power of wild nature

Dungeons & Dragons image of a lion.
Hermit background image by Pedro Cardoz and Leo via Wizards of the Coast.

At level 14, you get three new options for you to use when you rage which works in tandem with the animals you already have. This means that every time you rage, now you activate two animals: one from the wrath of the wild nature, and the other from the power of the wild nature.

There are three animal options falcon, lion and ramand they all have very specific but fantastic uses. if you doubt falcon is always greatsince it allows you to fly. This makes the falcon the animal you'll most likely use outside of combat, as you can just rampage for ten minutes and fly off to solve puzzles or avoid traps.

Leo is perfect for tanks, making nearby enemies a disadvantage when attacking anyone but you. The best damage and destruction is brought by the ram, allows you to force enemies to fall prostrate hitting them. Be aware that this does not benefit ranged members of your party, so use this ability wisely.

The best starting equipment

A Dungeons & Dragons image showing an adventurer with a sword.
Dragonlance Adventures by Antonio Jose Manzaneda.

Starting equipment given at first level perfect for barbarianssince you don't really need any armor. Your only ranged option is four hand axes, but as the way of the wild-hearted barbarian, you will mostly focus on melee in any case.

You may be tempted to buy a bow later, but you're better off ignoring agility-based weapons in favor of throwing weapons. maximum, a few spears will doespecially if you need to finish off a fleeing enemy.

Best hits and backgrounds

A Dungeons & Dragons image showing farmland.
Farmer background image by Kenny Waugh.

Backgrounds for barbarians, as a rule ones that provide ways to raise both constitution and power. The two options that do this are the soldier and the farmer, both perfectly viable, but in the way of wild barbarians of the heart, farmer is the best choice.

The descent feat they get is brutal, great for a barbarianbut the choice depends on more animal and nature handling skills. Of course, barbarians may already be proficient in these things, but since they are so important to barbarians, they get them as part of their backgroundchoosing things like intimidation or survival instead.

If for some reason you don't have the dark vision look, a great feat – an athleteas it gives you climb speed. Therefore, you can use your wildlife aspect on the owl and thus gain darksight, always retaining both advantages.

For players who want to deal raw damage, a great weapon fighter is a perfect feat. This increases your strength by one, which allows additional heavy weapon damageand after a critical hit you can attack again. The critical strike part is perfect for getting the most out of all your reckless attacks.

The best options for multiclassification

A Dungeons & Dragons image of a barbarian, a ranger, and a monk fighting gnolls.
Art by Craig J Spearing

The Way of the Wild Hearted Barbarian very dense physiquegetting little benefit from casters due to the inability to focus while raging, and not much from combat classes that the barbarian can no longer do; two levels per fighter just for the extra action seems like a steep price to pay.

Thematic choice is druidespecially at two levels in the classroom. You gain spells that can benefit you outside of combatas well as the ability to transform into animals; you can even use all of your class mechanics while transforming, making the combination of Lunar Druid and Wildheart Barbarian really tempting.

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