Earth Tremor - Actually good for the Goblin Shepherd Druid?

[Merudo]

I'm not a bit fan of Earth Tremor, but it might actually be useful for the Goblin Shepherd Druid.

The Goblin takes bonus action to disengage, gets into position, casts Earth Tremor and knocks a few enemies prone. Use up the remaining movement (longstrider helps) to retreat to safety.

Then the Conjured Animals gang up on the prone target for considerable damage.

Not bad at all. Probably beats using a cantrip.

[Dork_Forge]

I'm not a bit fan of Earth Tremor, but it might actually be useful for the Goblin Shepherd Druid.

The Goblin takes bonus action to disengage, gets into position, casts Earth Tremor and knocks a few enemies prone. Use up the remaining movement (longstrider helps) to retreat to safety.

Then the Conjured Animals gang up on the prone target for considerable damage.

Not bad at all. Probably beats using a cantrip.

Using Earth Tremor like this works just as well with your party swarming in, the main issue is that if it fails you've burned a slot doing nothing but creating difficult terrain in a small area. It would be greatly improved by just giving it an extra die and saving for half.

[MaxWilson]

I'm not a bit fan of Earth Tremor, but it might actually be useful for the Goblin Shepherd Druid.

The Goblin takes bonus action to disengage, gets into position, casts Earth Tremor and knocks a few enemies prone. Use up the remaining movement (longstrider helps) to retreat to safety.

Then the Conjured Animals gang up on the prone target for considerable damage.

Not bad at all. Probably beats using a cantrip.

I see several issues:

(1) You're using movement to get into position, and then more movement (potentially over difficult terrain from Earth Tremor!) to get away.

(2) Knocking enemies prone is already a decent kiting strategy even without Disengage, because it gives them disadvantage on their opportunity attacks, and costs them movement to stand.

(3) Conjure Animals has very little trouble doing lots of damage even against non-prone targets, and some of the animals knock prone as a rider anyway.

(4) I'm too cheap to spend spell slots on stuff a minor, one-round damage boost. : )

So if I were a goblin Shepherd Druid I'd probably just Disengage + Thunderclap instead. Superior damage (after level 5), smaller area (but I can get next to the biggest grouping of enemies), and I can save the spell slot for Longstrider or Goodberry. Or I could take advantage of my advantage on Strength checks from Bear Spirit (if I'm using it) and Shove an enemy prone instead, for free. Against a big mob of enemies where it's important to spend spell slots, I could Thunderwave to do more damage than Thunderclap, but Earth Tremor would only add as much extra damage as I have animals (and PCs) available, so I'd only do it if I had GWM PAM PCs on my side or something.

Overall it's not a terrible tactic but it's niche and not to my taste.

[Nagog]

I see several issues:

(1) You're using movement to get into position, and then more movement (potentially over difficult terrain from Earth Tremor!) to get away.

(2) Knocking enemies prone is already a decent kiting strategy even without Disengage, because it gives them disadvantage on their opportunity attacks, and costs them movement to stand.

(3) Conjure Animals has very little trouble doing lots of damage even against non-prone targets, and some of the animals knock prone as a rider anyway.

(4) I'm too cheap to spend spell slots on stuff a minor, one-round damage boost. : )

So if I were a goblin Shepherd Druid I'd probably just Disengage + Thunderclap instead. Superior damage (after level 5), smaller area (but I can get next to the biggest grouping of enemies), and I can save the spell slot for Longstrider or Goodberry. Or I could take advantage of my advantage on Strength checks from Bear Spirit (if I'm using it) and Shove an enemy prone instead, for free. Against a big mob of enemies where it's important to spend spell slots, I could Thunderwave to do more damage than Thunderclap, but Earth Tremor would only add as much extra damage as I have animals (and PCs) available, so I'd only do it if I had GWM PAM PCs on my side or something.

Overall it's not a terrible tactic but it's niche and not to my taste.

I for one love this combo. I've seen a similar combo performed by a Moon Druid in my party who used a summoned Giant Owl to escape while the rest of his summons curb stomped the enemies to death. That was a Moon Druid Shifter, no powerbuilding for any similar combos or the like. Difficult Terrain in a 20 foot wide circle means most enemies won't be able to get to you (unlike Thunderwave which will cost 1/3 of most enemies movement, if they fail the save), and the difficult terrain remains the rest of the battle as a good buffer to put between you and melee attackers. All in all, this combo works wonders for a smart player.

[Merudo]

I see several issues:
(1) You're using movement to get into position, and then more movement (potentially over difficult terrain from Earth Tremor!) to get away.


Longstrider helps here, plus as long as there some allies between the enemies and you, you don't actually have to go that far.

Also, an enemy with 30 feet of movement that is knocked prone will only be able to move a single 5' square into the difficult movement area.


I see several issues:
(2) Knocking enemies prone is already a decent kiting strategy even without Disengage, because it gives them disadvantage on their opportunity attacks, and costs them movement to stand.


The main point of disengage is to move into a good position to target multiple enemies while avoiding hitting your own team with the spell.



(3) Conjure Animals has very little trouble doing lots of damage even against non-prone targets...


Increasing the DPR of my conjured animals by 25%-50% by giving them advantage seems quite worthwhile to me, and better than doing 2d6 / 2d8 with a cantrip.



... some of the animals knock prone as a rider anyway.


Agreed. The combo doesn't work well with some of the conjured animals.



(4) I'm too cheap to spend spell slots on stuff a minor, one-round damage boost. : )


Suppose I get into a boss fight at the end of a dungeon, while I still have plenty of level 1 and level 2 slots left. I'm already concentrating on Conjure Animals. What do you recommend I use my action for during combat?