Feat: Spell Sniper - What Spell Should You Choose?

Spell Sniper is a feat from the 5e Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook that enhances the attacks with ranged spells by doubling their range and allowing you to ignore half and three-quarters cover. You also gain one cantrip that requires an attack roll which can be selected from any spell list.

There are a couple of factors to consider when choosing this feat. First, which cantrip you should choose, and which spells are affected by the doubling of their range? I’ll go through the list of available cantrips and rank them and then list the spells that are affected. This should help you on deciding on whether or not to pick up this feat for your character. Spoiler alert, if your character is not a Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard, then this might not be the right feat for you. 

Rule Exception?

The feat is called Spell Sniper, but the way it reads there is no difference made between a melee or ranged spell attack. It simply states that when an attack roll is made then the range is doubled. This puts a couple of spells in the category of “will my DM allow it?” So, before selecting any of the following spells just make sure you talk to your DM first.

Bigby’s Hand says specifically in the spell that it is a melee attack when using the Clenched Fist effect. The other effects are not attack rolls, so I would rule that only the range of the Clenched Fist is doubled. Blade of Disaster, Mordenkainen’s Sword, Spiritual Weapon, and Thorn Whip are similar to Bigby’s Hand in that they require a melee spell attack, but, again, the feat does not specify a ranged spell attack. Shadow Blade can also fall into this feat because the sword weaved of shadow has the thrown property. The thrown range would extend from 60 feet to 120 feet.

The cantrip Shocking Grasp also falls into this category except that its range is touch. I would argue that this would open it up for characters to get access to it as their free cantrip as part of this feat, but it does not benefit from any of the other provided features of the feat. The same goes for the cantrip Primal Savagery.

Choose a Cantrip

You get to choose one cantrip that requires an attack roll from any spell list. The list below includes all cantrips that meet the requirement of needing an attack roll even if the range is self or touch. I would discuss with your DM if you can include the cantrips that have a range of self or touch. Here is the list of cantrips which includes what spell list(s) each is from:

•  Chill Touch (Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard)

• Eldritch Blast (Warlock)

• Firebolt (Artificer, Sorcerer, and Wizard)

• Produce Flame (Druid)

• Ray of Frost (Artificer, Sorcerer, and Wizard)

• Shocking Grasp (range - touch) (Artificer, Sorcerer, and Wizard)

• Thorn Whip (Artificer and Druid)

• Magic Stone (Druid and Warlock)

• Primal Savagery (range - self) (Druid)

There are two ways to approach which cantrip you select. You can either choose one that already exists on your spell list which will allow you to choose more support cantrips with your known cantrips. Or you can choose one that is not available to you from another spell list. This is a dangerous choice because you will need to have a high ability score that matches the list from which you choose. Sure Eldritch Blast is the best attack cantrip in the game, but if you have a Charisma score of 8 then your attack bonus will not be good.

Here is my tier list:

S Tier

Chill Touch – Can be selected from either the Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard spell lists. If necrotic damage is your jam then this is a great pick. Plus the range jumps from 120 feet to 240 feet.

Eldritch Blast – If you are a Sorcerer and you don’t select Eldritch Blast then I think you need to re-examine the choices you have made in life. This feat must have been created to give non-Warlocks access to Eldritch Blast. The range becomes a ridiculous 240 feet, which means nothing is out of range for most combats. Pair this with the invocation of Eldritch Spear and your Warlock becomes a great ship-to-ship combatant, killing pirates at a range comparable to a ballista.

Firebolt – Another mainstay of the attack cantrips that also gets the jump from 120 feet to 240 feet. The only caution I would place with this one is if you plan on having Fireball and Flaming Sphere, then it might be good to diversify your damage-type spells to include something other than fire for when you have to fight demons and other such fire-resistant monsters.

A Tier

Ray of Frost – Lacks the range of the S Tier attack cantrips, but it does slow anyone hit by ten feet which is not a bad little bonus.

B Tier

Magic Stone – The damage is a little weak, but you can hand the stones over to someone else to throw them. I would rule that the increase to the range would carry over to anyone who threw the stones since, as per the spell description, the thrower uses the caster’s attack modifiers.

Produce Flame – A great choice for your player characters that lack darkvision. This works like a poor man’s Light cantrip while giving you the chance to throw the conjured fire up to 60 feet away when paired with this feat. You can cast this and hurl the flame on the same turn, but if it’s your only light source then hopefully you and your companions can fight in the dark.

Shocking Grasp – The range of touch makes this one not as good unless you have a familiar that can deliver the blow for you while you stay safe behind the frontliners.

C Tier

Thorn Whip – This is a choice that you make when you have a character that can dish out melee damage, because why else would you want to drag an opponent closer to you? Pact of the Blade Warlocks might find a use for this if they didn’t want to get the Grasp of Hadar invocation.

D Tier

Primal Savagery – Technically this meets the requirements of needing a spell attack roll, but this would be low on my list of cantrips to select. Get something that has a range that will keep you safe and out of danger.

The Spells Effected

Now that we’ve covered the cantrips, let’s talk about the spells that get that nifty range bonus and cover ignoring feature. I’m not including spells with a range of touch or self since two times zero is still zero (for example, Vampiric Touch). Here is the list of spells broken down by level and includes the range improvement:

1st Level

• Chaos Bolt – 120 feet to 240 feet

• Chromatic Orb – 90 feet to 180 feet

• Guiding Bolt – 120 feet to 240 feet

• Ice Knife – 60 feet to 120 feet

• Jim’s Magic Missile – 120 feet to 240 feet

• Ray of Sickness – 60 feet to 120 feet

• Witch Bolt – 30 feet to 60 feet

2nd Level

• Melf’s Acid Arrow – 90 feet to 180 feet

• Ray of Enfeeblement – 60 feet to 120 feet

• Scorching Ray – 120 feet to 240 feet

• Shadow Blade – (Thrown) 60 feet to 120 feet

• Spiritual Weapon – 60 feet to 120 feet

5h Level

• Bigby’s Hand – (Clenched Fist) 120 feet to 240 feet

• Steel Wind Strike – 30 feet to 60 feet

7th Level

• Crown of Stars – 120 feet to 240 feet

• Mordenkainen’s Sword – ­ 60 feet to 120 feet

9th Level

• Blade of Disaster (9th level) – 60 feet to 120 feet

To help you make a more informed decision about this feat, below is a list of the character classes and which of the affected spells and cantrips are available to each. You can see why this is really a feat designed for the Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard characters. The spells and cantrips that are available to each class are:

• Artificer: Bigby’s Hand, Ray of Frost, Shocking Grasp, and Thorn Whip

  • Alchemist: Melf’s Acid Arrow and Ray of Sickness

  • Artillerist: Ray of Sickness

• Bard: Mordenkainen’s Sword

  • At 6th level College of Lore Bards can choose two spells of 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level from any list and add them to their known spells. This feature opens up the following spells: Chaos Bolt, Chromatic Orb, Guiding Bolt, Ice Knife, Jim’s Magic Missile, Melf’s Acid Arrow, Ray of Enfeeblement, Ray of Sickness, Scorching Ray, Spiritual Weapon, and Witchbolt.

• Cleric: Guiding Bolt and Spiritual Weapon

  • Grave Domain: Ray of Enfeeblement

  • Light Domain: Scorching Ray

• Druid: Ice Knife, Primal Savagery, Produce Flame, and Thorn Whip

  • Circle of Spores: Chill Touch

  • Circle of Wildfire: Scorching Ray

• Paladin: None

  • Oath of Glory: Guiding Bolt

  • Oath of Conquest: Spiritual Weapon

• Ranger: Steel Wind Strike

• Sorcerer: Bigby’s Hand, Chaos Bolt, Chill Touch, Chromatic Orb, Crown of Stars, Firebolt, Ice Knife, Ray of Frost, Ray of Sickness, Scorching Ray, Shadow Blade, Shocking Grasp, and Witch Bolt

• Warlock: Chill Touch, Crown of Stars, Eldritch Blast, Ray of Enfeeblement, Shadow Blade, and Witch Bolt

  • The Fathomless: Bigby’s Hand

  • The Celestial: Guiding Bolt

  • The Genie (Efreeti): Scorching Ray

• Wizard: Bigby’s Hand, Blade of Disaster, Chill Touch, Chromatic Orb, Crown of Stars, Firebolt, Ice Knife, Jim’s Magic Missile, Melf’s Acid Arrow, Mordenkainen’s Sword, Ray of Enfeeblement, Ray of Frost, Ray of Sickness, Scorching Ray, Shadow Blade, Shocking Grasp, Steel Wind Strike, and Witch Bolt

So, if you are playing a Bard, Cleric, Paladin, or Ranger then this is not the feat for you, Artificers and Druids will want to make sure that this is really what they want before selecting it because of how little they will be boosted by it. The feat is made for Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards.

What do you think about the Spell Sniper feat? It is one that I really like and that can make a big difference in how combat plays out.