Ranger Attack Roll Spells – What Spell Should You Choose?
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Rangers have only one attack roll spell that they can choose from in Dungeons & Dragons 5e. It is available to all Ranger Archetypes but cannot be selected until 17th level. So, if you’re choosing the Ranger class to get all those juicy attack roll spells, then you might want to re-think your decision. Here is the list of Ranger spells in D&D that can be chosen from:
Steel Wind Strike (5th level) from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything – Force damage
The two other strike spells (Ensnaring Strike and Zephyr Strike) that are available to Rangers do not use spell attacks but are instead weapon attacks that then have spell damage. The difference is that a weapon attack uses either Dexterity or Strength plus proficiency to come up with the attack bonus while an attack roll spell uses the Ranger’s spellcasting ability. You might want to use the spellcasting ability instead of a melee or ranged weapon attack bonus depending on your ranger’s ability scores. A Ranger with a higher Wisdom score modifier than their Strength would rather use Steel Wind Strike since the bonus is better.
There is another way for Rangers to get an attack roll spell, well actually to be technical they are cantrips. If the Ranger chooses the Druidic Warrior Fighting Style then this also opens up the following:
Magic Stone (cantrip) from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything – Bludgeoning damage
Primal Savagery (cantrip) from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything – Acid damage
Produce Flame (cantrip) – Fire damage
Thorn Whip (cantrip) – Piercing damage
I go over which cantrips to select in more detail in my article Ranger Fighting Style Druidic Warrior What Cantrip Should You Choose? (it’s pretty good, you might want to check it out). These cantrips are a great way to either help a Ranger with ranged attacks (Magic Stone and Produce Flame) or melee attacks (Primal Savagery and Thorn Whip). Your choice will all depend upon whether or not you created a Dexterity- or Strength-based Ranger. For instance, my half-orc Ranger was Strength-based to maximize the potential of Savage Attack then picked up Magical Stone through Druidic Warrior to have an effective ranged attack. I then picked up the Crusher feat later to maximize the potential of damage and other effects.
Now you know what attack roll spells you can choose when you are a Ranger. It is a bit complicated since there is only one and more are opened up only if you choose Druidic Warrior. Let me know about your favorite Ranger build in the comments down below.
