I mean, I look at Primal Savagery (and even Shocking Grasp), and I feel like it's lost it's luster. I understand that Shillelagh has a high damage floor and a low damage ceiling, but the low damage floor and high damage ceiling of Primal Savagery seems to be a far more viable as a melee damage cantrip. Not to mention that Shillelagh takes your bonus action to activate.
Shillelagh scales with extra attack. It's actually best on a martial like the ranger.
Working off a quarterstaff means that Polearm Master and other synergies that require a weapon can be added on.
I'd say the new cantrip versatility option for druids gives it a lot more life for that class. Shillelagh has better damage than Primal Savagery before PS scales at 5th level. 1d8 + wisdom is better than 1d10. You can sub out Shillelagh at level 4 and set yourself up with Primal Savagery for the rest of your career. Still, the druid may choose to stick with Shillelagh because they have a good magical quarterstaff or are otherwise built to take advantage of the weapon.
As one of the few ways to make your attacks with a weapon key off of a mental stat Shillelagh will always be good. It enables builds.
Agreed about Shillelagh being best on a Martial Class. If you get multi attack from somewhere another class, this does wonders. Also note... a CLUB is Light, so technically you could wield another light weapon in other hand (dagger, or sickle) and make a second attack with your off hand. If you have two weapon fighting style from another class, or Pole Arm Master feat (as mentioned above) there are tons of benefits. Do note, you can only cast Shillelagh on a single weapon, as casting on a second weapon cancels out the first... but the spell is much more diverse than Primal Savagery for character design.
It may never come up for you. But Shillelagh also has an added advantage that it won't trigger the mage slayer feat since your not repeatedly casting it every turn like you would be with Primal Savagery. That is an outlier case I admit but occasionally something to be aware of depending on how your dm builds npc's.
Shillelagh is better than it has ever been with cantrip versatility.
With that said, considering that most play in 5e is low level, this cantrip still has plenty of use-case. It is a better choice than primal savagery at the lowest levels and not far behind past level 5, depending on ability score. The other obvious thing to point out is that a druid should be spending far fewer actions on cantrips (and probably far less time in melee as well) at higher levels anyway, so putting yourself into melee to use them (either of these), and then worrying over 1.5 points of damage seems entirely like the wrong focus for any druid at these levels.
Also, there are plenty of groups who would appreciate a druid who takes a flavorful, iconic spell over a boring, optimal one.
The two spells do two very different things, so it's important to look at that.
Shillelagh enchants a weapon to be magical. This bypasses resistances and immunities, such as against a shadow or werewolf. It does get better with a feature like Extra Attack, so a ranger with Druidic Warrior may see more mileage out of it. It's probably the attack method of choice now for Beast Masters with a Primal Companion. But it can also be combined with other cantrips for even greater damage. A high elf druid with booming blade or green-flame blade can put out a ton of damage. And some druid circles, like the Circle of Spores, lean into melee weapon attacks.
All things being equal, primal savagery deals more damage over the long run and uses a good damage type to do it. But it lacks the synergy of its PHB cousin.
I'd argue a new beastmaster wants a high wis due to their companion, and so a druidic warrior ranger with shillelagh is actually a great idea. They'd be less MAD than a finesse or ranged beastmaster.
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I mean, I look at Primal Savagery (and even Shocking Grasp), and I feel like it's lost it's luster. I understand that Shillelagh has a high damage floor and a low damage ceiling, but the low damage floor and high damage ceiling of Primal Savagery seems to be a far more viable as a melee damage cantrip. Not to mention that Shillelagh takes your bonus action to activate.
Shillelagh scales with extra attack. It's actually best on a martial like the ranger.
Working off a quarterstaff means that Polearm Master and other synergies that require a weapon can be added on.
I'd say the new cantrip versatility option for druids gives it a lot more life for that class. Shillelagh has better damage than Primal Savagery before PS scales at 5th level. 1d8 + wisdom is better than 1d10. You can sub out Shillelagh at level 4 and set yourself up with Primal Savagery for the rest of your career. Still, the druid may choose to stick with Shillelagh because they have a good magical quarterstaff or are otherwise built to take advantage of the weapon.
As one of the few ways to make your attacks with a weapon key off of a mental stat Shillelagh will always be good. It enables builds.
Agreed about Shillelagh being best on a Martial Class. If you get multi attack from somewhere another class, this does wonders. Also note... a CLUB is Light, so technically you could wield another light weapon in other hand (dagger, or sickle) and make a second attack with your off hand. If you have two weapon fighting style from another class, or Pole Arm Master feat (as mentioned above) there are tons of benefits. Do note, you can only cast Shillelagh on a single weapon, as casting on a second weapon cancels out the first... but the spell is much more diverse than Primal Savagery for character design.
It may never come up for you. But Shillelagh also has an added advantage that it won't trigger the mage slayer feat since your not repeatedly casting it every turn like you would be with Primal Savagery. That is an outlier case I admit but occasionally something to be aware of depending on how your dm builds npc's.
Shillelagh is better than it has ever been with cantrip versatility.
With that said, considering that most play in 5e is low level, this cantrip still has plenty of use-case. It is a better choice than primal savagery at the lowest levels and not far behind past level 5, depending on ability score. The other obvious thing to point out is that a druid should be spending far fewer actions on cantrips (and probably far less time in melee as well) at higher levels anyway, so putting yourself into melee to use them (either of these), and then worrying over 1.5 points of damage seems entirely like the wrong focus for any druid at these levels.
Also, there are plenty of groups who would appreciate a druid who takes a flavorful, iconic spell over a boring, optimal one.
The two spells do two very different things, so it's important to look at that.
Shillelagh enchants a weapon to be magical. This bypasses resistances and immunities, such as against a shadow or werewolf. It does get better with a feature like Extra Attack, so a ranger with Druidic Warrior may see more mileage out of it. It's probably the attack method of choice now for Beast Masters with a Primal Companion. But it can also be combined with other cantrips for even greater damage. A high elf druid with booming blade or green-flame blade can put out a ton of damage. And some druid circles, like the Circle of Spores, lean into melee weapon attacks.
All things being equal, primal savagery deals more damage over the long run and uses a good damage type to do it. But it lacks the synergy of its PHB cousin.
I'd argue a new beastmaster wants a high wis due to their companion, and so a druidic warrior ranger with shillelagh is actually a great idea. They'd be less MAD than a finesse or ranged beastmaster.