Feat: Elemental Adept: Lightning – What Spell Should You Choose?

Jul 3

If you take the Elemental Adept feat from the 5e Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook you can choose the damage type of lightning. This will allow you to ignore your opponents’ resistance to lightning damage, and any lightning damage that you roll the 1s are changed to 2s. You can also take this feat multiple times to add more damage types such as acid, cold, fire, and thunder.

It is very important that the cantrips you pick up doll out lightning damage. Unfortunately, there are only two lightning-damage-dealing cantrips which are Shocking Grasp and Lightning Lure. Shocking Grasp is a melee ranged spell (unless you have a familiar to deliver it) and is not a first choice for most spellcasters (although I did find a good use for it with the Tavern Brawler feat). Lightning Lure is also a short-range cantrip that pulls targets toward you, which again is not the best choice for most squishy spellcasters. Your go-to damage spells had better be lightning damage as well. Remember you are giving up a +2 to your ability scores so that you never roll a 1 for your lightning damage-dealing spells and so you can ignore the target’s resistance to it as well.

Here is a list of spells that have the lightning damage type including the classes (and subclasses) that have access to the spell:

Cantrip:

Shocking Grasp (Artificer, Sorcerer, and Wizard)
Lightning Lure (Artificer, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard)

1st Level:

Absorb Elements (Artificer, Druid, Ranger, Sorcerer, and Wizard)
Chaos Bolt (Sorcerer)
Chromatic Orb (Sorcerer and Wizard)
Witch Bolt (Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard)

2nd Level:

Dragon’s Breath (Sorcerer and Wizard)

3rd Level:

Call Lightning (Druid)
Elemental Weapon (Artificer, Cleric (Forge Domain), Druid, Paladin, Ranger, Warlock (The Fathomless)
Lightning Arrow (Ranger)
Lightning Bolt (Artificer (Armorer), Sorcerer, Warlock (The Fathomless), and Wizard)

4th Level:

Elemental Bane (Artificer, Druid, Warlock, and Wizard)
Storm Sphere (Sorcerer and Wizard)

5th Level:

Summon Draconic Spirit (Druid, Sorcerer, and Wizard)

6th Level:

Chain Lightning (Sorcerer and Wizard)

7th Level:

Prismatic Spray (Bard, Sorcerer, and Wizard)
Create Magen (Wizard)

8th Level:

Illusory Dragon (Wizard)

9th Level:

Prismatic Wall (Bard and Wizard)
Storm of Vengeance (Druid)

Artificer has five spells to choose from unless they are an Armor then they get six spells, but they do have access to both cantrips. Bards only has two higher-level spells available. Only Clerics who are Forge Domain can access one 3rd-level spell otherwise they have no lightning damage type spells. Druids have six spells they can choose from. There is only one spell available to Paladins that can be affected by this feat. Rangers can choose from three spells. Sorcerers have twelve spells including both cantrips. Warlocks have only three spells unless they are either The Fathomless or The Hexblade then their pool increases to four. Finally, Wizards have access to fifteen spells including both of the cantrips.

My opinion is just like for all the other damage types versions of this 5e feat. If this were a half-feat and your character also got a +1 to either Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma then I could recommend this feat, but as written there are much better options. If you diversify your damage types when selecting spells then the target’s resistances do not matter. Lightning as a damage type is worsened by the fact that there is no good cantrip which surprised me. I thought this would be more like the Fire version of the feat, but it is really one of the weakest of the damage types you could select given the available spells.

So, what do you think? Have you ever made a character that took this feat? Did you feel like it was worth it? Let me know in the comments below.

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