Radiant Damage Spells: What Spell Should You Choose?

Jan 16

Radiant damage-type spells are an effective way to attack the undead in 5e Dungeons & Dragons. It is easy for Clerics to pick up radiant damage spells, but what about everybody else? It is a good trick to have in your bag of tricks if you don’t have a Cleric in the party to be able to pull out a radiant damage spell.

Let’s take a look at the list:

Cantrip

Word of Radiance (Cleric)

1st Level

Divine Favor (Paladin)
Guiding Bolt (Cleric, Paladin (Oath of Glory) and Warlock (The Celestial))

2nd Level

Branding Smite (Artificer (Battle Smith), Paladin, and Warlock (The Hexblade))
Moonbeam (Cleric (Twilight Domain), Druid, and Paladin (Oath of the Watchers)

3rd Level

Blinding Smite (Paladin)
Crusader’s Mantle (Paladin)
Spirit Guardians (Cleric)
Spirit Shroud (Cleric, Paladin, Warlock, and Wizard)

4th Level

Guardian of Faith (Cleric and Warlock (The Celestial))
Sickening Radiance (Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard)

5th Level

Destructive Wave (Paladin)
Flame Strike (Cleric, Druid (Circle of Wildfire), Paladin (Oath of Glory), and Warlock (The Genie – Efreeti and The Celestial))
Dawn (Cleric and Wizard)
Holy Weapon (Cleric and Paladin)
Summon Draconian Spirit (Druid, Sorcerer, and Wizard)
Wall of Light (Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard)
Summon Celestial (Cleric and Paladin)

6th Level

Forbiddance (Cleric)
Sunbeam (Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, and Wizard)

7th Level

Crown of Stars (Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard)

8th Level

Sunburst (Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, and Wizard)

Quick Reminder: Divine Sorcerers have access to all spells on the Cleric’s spell list.

Let’s take a look at these spells in a tier list.

S Tier

Dawn from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything is a movable shaft of sunlight that causes radiant damage. This would be a spell that Strahd would hate.

Destructive Wave is a spell for use by a Paladin who is surrounded, which can happen quite often. You get to choose who it effects, it causes both thunder and radiant or necrotic damage (player’s choice), and can also knock your opponents prone.

A long-range and high damage 1st level spell that you can upcast makes Guiding Bolt an excellent choice for your Cleric, Oath of Glory Paladin, or The Celestial Warlock. Plus, the next attack against the creature hit gets advantage.

Holy Weapon from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything can imbue your weapon with magical properties. All hits with the weapon deal an extra 2d8 of radiant damage. When the spell is dismissed, each creature of your choice within 30 feet must make a saving throw or take a blast of radiant damage and be blinded. That is a nice capper to an already pretty good spell.

Spirit Guardians is the preeminent Cleric spell for combat but the character has to be good or neutral to cause the radiant damage because evil Clerics do necrotic damage instead.

I love the summon spells from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and Summon Celestial is no exception. It not only causes radiant damage when it attacks but can also heal and provide temporary hit points as alternate actions.

If you decide to summon a gem dragon with Summon Dragon Spirit spell from Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons then their breath weapon can cause radiant damage. Plus, you get to add a large dragon to the battlefield as an ally.

Sunbeam not only causes damage but can also cause blindness on a failed saving throw. You can create a new line of radiance as an action on your turn for the duration of the spell.

A Tier

Blinding Smite does a good additional amount of damage and can cause the target hit to go blind until the spell ends or they make a Constitution saving throw.

Crusader’s Mantle adds 1d4 radiant damage to all nonhostile creatures in the area of effect which could be a game changer in a vampire fight.

Divine Favor doesn’t do a lot of damage but is a nice damage stacking spell that is cast as a bonus action on the Paladin’s weapon.

Moonbeam is a movable area of radiant damage to keep your targets constantly taking radiant damage.

Sickening Radiance from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything is one of the first non-Cleric spells open to any Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard. It is a good choice for a party that lacks a Cleric or Paladin to lay down an area effect spell that causes radiant damage. Any creature stuck in its area of effect will also suffer from the effects of exhaustion.

Spirit Shroud from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is open to more classes than Cleric. You can choose what type of damage to be radiant, necrotic, or cold. Any creature hit by you cannot regenerate and you can slow down an opponent. The slowing down is not that useful since you can only effect creatures within 10 feet of you which at that range they most likely will not be moving that much anyway.

B Tier

Branding Smite is good for a smite spell that adds some good damage and keeps the creature that was hit from turning invisible.

When cast, Crown of Stars from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything creates seven stars that circle your head for an hour. As an action, you shoot one of those stars at a target within 120 feet and hit with a spell attack roll.

Flame Strike causes a lot of both fire and radiant damage but has a limited radius of effect which would most likely only effect one opponent.

Forbiddance is a good spell for protecting an area and if it is cast 30 days in a row then it lasts until dispelled. This is a long-term spell meant to protect a place and not when you are in the heat of combat.

A Guardian of Faith will protect an area for 8 hours or until they deal a total of 60 hit points. On the good side, you will deal a known amount of hit points, but it costs a 4th-level spell slot to cast and is not movable.

Sunburst is the highest-level spell that causes radiant damage. It does cause quite a bit of damage in a 60-foot radius along with blindness on a failed saving throw. It just seems a little underwhelming for such a high-level spell.

Wall of Light from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything creates of wall of light that causes radiant damage to all who pass through it. As an action, you can also shoot a beam of radiant damage from it but this does reduce the wall length by 10 feet whether you hit or miss.

D Tier

The only cantrip that does radiant damage is Word of Radiance, but it is very limited. It has a range of only 5 feet, allows for a Constitution saving throw, and has a damage base of 1d6. On the bright side, you can choose who to attack anyone who is in range (who will all be in the immediate squares around you). Every spellcaster should have that last stand spell that they can cast when surrounded, but it shouldn’t be a cantrip that does very little damage.

So, what have we learned? If you want to cause radiant damage then you need to be a Cleric or Paladin. There are options for other classes at higher levels. Has a radiant damage spell saved your party in a combat? Let me know in the comments down below.

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