Best 2nd-Level Spells in D&D 5e (2014): The Complete Guide

Introduction

2nd level is where a caster stops making trades and starts stacking effects.

At 1st level almost everything worth casting demands concentration, so your list is really a list of alternatives - Bless or Faerie Fire or Hex, never two. 2nd level breaks that pattern. Misty Step, Spiritual Weapon, Shatter, Aid, Mirror Image, Lesser Restoration and Enlarge/Reduce all leave concentration untouched, which means every one of them is something you can do in addition to the control spell you are already running.

That is the organising idea of this tier, and it is why the standard power ranking looks odd at first glance. Spiritual Weapon does mediocre damage. Misty Step does none at all. They sit at the top anyway, because what they cost is not what other spells cost.

The flip side is a new constraint that 1st level did not have. Three of the best spells in the tier want your bonus action, and you have one.

Verdict: build the 2nd-level list around what does not require concentration, then add exactly one concentration option for the fights that need control.

---

The Bonus Action Bottleneck

Three of the strongest options at this level - and one of the strongest at 1st - are bonus action spells:

You get one bonus action per turn. A Cleric with Spiritual Weapon and Healing Word prepared has to choose, every single turn, which one this turn is for - and the answer changes depending on whether anyone is down.

Then there is the rule that catches people out even more often. If you cast a spell as a bonus action, you cannot cast another levelled spell that turn at all. The only thing you may add is a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action.

So the turn where a Cleric casts Spiritual Weapon is a turn where their action is Sacred Flame, a weapon attack, or a Dodge - not Spirit Guardians. This is why the standard Cleric opening is Spirit Guardians on round one and Spiritual Weapon on round two, in that order: the round you spend the action on the big concentration spell is a round your bonus action is free.

The practical rule: count your bonus-action spells before you add another one. Two is usually the ceiling. Three means one of them never gets cast.

---

The Best 2nd-Level Spells

Misty Step

Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard (and several subclasses). 1 bonus action, self, V, instantaneous. Teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see.

The best 2nd-level spell in the game for most casters, and it does no damage and imposes no condition.

What it does is remove you from a bad position for a bonus action, with no attack of opportunity, no concentration, and no saving throw for anyone to pass. Grappled, restrained, surrounded, on the wrong side of a chasm, standing in a Spike Growth - Misty Step solves all of it identically.

Three things elevate it beyond "an escape button":

• Verbal component only. No hands needed, so a grappled or bound caster can still cast it. This is the single most common way out of a grapple for a caster.
• It is a teleport, not movement. Difficult terrain, walls of force, and anything that reacts to movement do not stop it. You still need line of sight to the destination.
• It leaves your action free. A Wizard can Misty Step out of melee and cast a cantrip, or Misty Step behind the enemy line and cast nothing.

The 30-foot limit and the line-of-sight requirement are the only real constraints. It cannot be upcast for more distance.

Rating: A-Tier. If your class list has it, prepare it, permanently.

Spiritual Weapon

Cleric. 1 bonus action, 60 feet, V S, 1 minute, no concentration. A spectral weapon; on your turn you can use a bonus action to move it 20 feet and make a melee spell attack for 1d8 + your spellcasting modifier force damage.

The single most efficient damage spell a Cleric has, and it is efficient because of what it does not cost. One minute of duration, no concentration, and an attack every round for a bonus action.

Ten rounds of 1d8 + 4 from one 2nd-level slot is roughly 85 damage if the fight lasts, which no other 2nd-level spell approaches. Force damage is almost never resisted. And because it does not need concentration, it runs on top of Spirit Guardians, Bless, or Hold Person.

The catches are real and worth stating. The attack uses your spell attack bonus, so it misses against high-AC targets like everything else. Moving it and attacking with it are the same bonus action, so it can never both reposition far and attack a distant target. And it eats the bonus action that Healing Word wants.

Upcasting adds 1d8 per two slot levels, which is a poor rate - cast it from the lowest slot available.

Rating: A-Tier. The reason Clerics do more damage than their spell list suggests.

Pass Without Trace

Druid, Ranger. 1 action, self (30-foot radius), V S M (ashes from a burned leaf of mistletoe and a sprig of spruce), concentration up to 1 hour.

You and every creature within 30 feet gain +10 to Dexterity (Stealth) checks and cannot be tracked except by magical means.

+10 is enormous. It is larger than any proficiency bonus, larger than expertise, and it applies to every creature in the aura simultaneously - including the Fighter in plate armour who has a Stealth modifier of -6. That Fighter goes from rolling 4 on average to rolling 14, which is the difference between an impossible plan and a routine one.

A whole category of adventure becomes available to a party that has this: infiltration, ambush, avoiding an encounter you cannot win, reaching a boss before the alarm goes off. There is no upcast, no save, and a full hour of duration.

The cost is concentration, which for a Druid means no Spike Growth and no Conjure Animals while it runs. That is a fair price to pay before the fight starts, and the wrong price during one.

Rating: A-Tier. The most impactful non-combat spell in the game at this level.

Invisibility

Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard, Artificer. 1 action, touch, V S M (an eyelash in gum arabic), concentration up to 1 hour.

The target is invisible and anything it carries is invisible with it. The spell ends on that creature if it attacks or casts a spell.

An hour of invisibility for one 2nd-level slot, on any creature you can touch, with upcasting adding one target per slot level - so a 5th-level slot makes a party of four invisible.

Read the ending condition carefully, because half of what people believe about this spell is wrong. It ends if the target attacks or casts a spell. It does not end on moving, opening a door, picking a lock, taking damage, or being grappled. An invisible Rogue can pick a lock, walk through a guard post, and steal an object without ever breaking the spell.

What it is not is a combat spell. Attacking ends it, and by the time you have attacked once you are visible again with your concentration spent. Compare Greater Invisibility, which is the combat version and costs a 4th-level slot for that reason.

Note also that invisible does not mean undetectable. Creatures can still hear you, and an attacker who guesses your square attacks with disadvantage rather than not at all.

Rating: A-Tier out of combat, C-Tier in it. Know which one you are casting it for.

Hold Person

Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard. 1 action, 60 feet, V S M (a small straight piece of iron), concentration up to 1 minute. Wisdom save or paralysed; the target repeats the save at the end of each of its turns.

The strongest single-target lockdown at this level, and the reason is the paralysed condition rather than the spell itself. A paralysed creature is incapacitated, cannot move or speak, automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saves, and - the part that decides fights - any attack from within 5 feet that hits is a critical hit.

A Rogue with Sneak Attack landing a guaranteed crit on a paralysed boss is one of the largest damage spikes available in tier 2. A Paladin dumping a 4th-level Divine Smite into a paralysed target doubles every die.

Two limits define it. Humanoids only - no beasts, dragons, giants, fiends, aberrations, undead, or constructs, which is a large fraction of what you fight after tier 2. And the target saves again at the end of every one of its turns, so the expected duration against a decent Wisdom save is short.

Upcasting adds one target per slot level, which is how you shut down a whole squad of guards.

Rating: A-Tier at levels 5 to 10, B-Tier after. Always ask "is it a humanoid" before preparing it.

Web

Artificer, Sorcerer, Wizard. 1 action, 60 feet, V S M (a bit of spiderweb), concentration up to 1 hour.

A 20-foot cube of webs, lightly obscuring the area and turning it into difficult terrain. A creature that enters or starts its turn there makes a Dexterity save or is restrained; a restrained creature can escape with a Strength check.

The best area control spell at this level. A 20-foot cube is enormous - it covers a corridor, a doorway, or most of a room - and unlike a one-shot save, Web keeps testing every creature that moves through it for an hour.

Restrained is the payoff: speed 0, disadvantage on its attacks, advantage on attacks against it. A group of enemies caught in a Web is a group your party gets to shoot at with advantage while they roll Strength checks.

Two riders that decide how good it is at your table. The web must be anchored between two solid masses - walls, floor and ceiling, trees - or it collapses on itself and is only lightly obscuring difficult terrain. And it is flammable: any fire damage burns it away in a round, dealing 2d4 to anything inside. A party with a Fireball caster and a Web caster need to talk to each other.

Rating: A-Tier. The most area covered per slot at this level.

Suggestion

Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard. 1 action, 30 feet, V M (a snake's tongue and a bit of honeycomb or a drop of sweet oil), concentration up to 8 hours. Wisdom save or the target pursues a suggested course of action.

You suggest a course of action in a sentence or two; the target must be able to hear and understand you, and the suggestion must sound reasonable. The suggestion cannot be obviously harmful, and the spell ends if you or your allies damage the target.

The highest-ceiling social spell in the game and the one that most rewards a careful player. "Reasonable" is doing all the work: "This fight is going badly for you - go and get your captain" is reasonable and removes an enemy for the rest of the encounter. "Your sword is cursed, throw it in the river" is reasonable to a superstitious guard and disarms them permanently. "Kill your friend" is not.

Eight hours of duration means an out-of-combat Suggestion can direct an NPC's entire day.

Its weaknesses are structural: the target must understand you, so no language barrier; it is concentration for up to 8 hours, so you can do nothing else that needs concentration; and damaging the target ends it instantly, which means the rest of the party has to be told.

Rating: A-Tier for creative play, B-Tier at a table that wants combat solutions.

Shatter

Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard. 1 action, 60 feet, V S M (a chip of mica), instantaneous. 3d8 thunder in a 10-foot radius sphere, Constitution save for half.

The area damage spell of this tier. 3d8 averages 13.5 in a 10-foot-radius sphere at 60 feet, with no concentration, upcasting at 1d8 per slot level.

Two riders. Creatures made of inorganic material - stone, crystal, metal - have disadvantage on the save, which makes Shatter a specialist answer to constructs, animated armour, and earth elementals. And it damages non-magical objects that are not being worn or carried, so it breaks doors, chains, and locks.

The comparison people actually want is against Fireball: Shatter is a 10-foot radius for 3d8, Fireball is 20 feet for 8d6. Fireball is enormously better, and it is also a full spell level higher and only available three levels later. In the window where 2nd is your top slot, Shatter is the best area option you have.

Thunder damage is loud - audible to 300 feet - so it is a poor choice on a stealth mission.

Rating: B-Tier. Solid, and it stops being your area answer the moment Fireball arrives.

Spike Growth

Druid, Ranger. 1 action, 150 feet, V S M (seven sharp thorns or seven small twigs), concentration up to 10 minutes.

A 20-foot radius of ground becomes difficult terrain, and a creature takes 2d4 piercing damage for every 5 feet it moves through it.

The best damage-over-area spell in the game per slot, and the reason is that the damage has no saving throw and no attack roll. It is not a spell that might work; it is terrain that hurts.

The numbers only make sense alongside forced movement. A creature that walks 30 feet through Spike Growth takes 12d4 - averaging 30 damage, from a 2nd-level slot, with no roll of any kind. Combine it with:

• Thorn Whip, dragging a creature 10 feet through the spikes every round for 4d4 plus the cantrip damage.
• Repelling Blast, pushing a creature 10 feet per beam.
• A party that simply retreats through it while the enemy follows.

Because it is difficult terrain, a creature that knows it is there moves at half speed, doubling the number of rounds it spends taking damage. The area is also camouflaged - it takes a Perception check against your spell save DC to spot before entering.

Rating: A-Tier with a forced-movement partner, B-Tier without one.

Darkness

Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard. 1 action, 60 feet, V M (bat fur and a drop of pitch), concentration up to 10 minutes.

A 15-foot radius sphere of magical darkness. Nonmagical light cannot illuminate it and darkvision cannot see through it.

Read as written this is symmetrical and mostly bad: nobody inside can see, so everyone attacks with disadvantage and is attacked with disadvantage, which nets out to nothing.

It becomes one of the strongest spells in the game with one Invocation. A Warlock with Devil's Sight sees normally through magical darkness. Standing in their own Darkness, that Warlock has advantage on every attack (the enemy is effectively blinded) and every attack against them has disadvantage (they cannot be seen). One 2nd-level slot, ten minutes, both halves of the advantage economy.

Without Devil's Sight or a similar effect, Darkness is a way to break line of sight and escape - which is a real use, and a much smaller one.

Note that it can be cast on an object and covered, giving you a portable darkness you switch on and off.

Rating: A-Tier for a Devil's Sight Warlock, C-Tier for everyone else. Almost no spell in the game varies this much by build.

Aid

Artificer, Cleric, Paladin, Ranger. 1 action, 30 feet, V S M (a tiny strip of white cloth), 8 hours, no concentration. Three creatures gain +5 to their hit point maximum and current hit points.

The most efficient healing in the game, and it is not healing.

Fifteen hit points spread across three creatures, for eight hours, with no concentration - cast in the morning and it covers the entire adventuring day. Compare it to Cure Wounds, which restores about 8 hit points once, and the difference is stark.

The mechanic that makes it better than it reads: it raises the maximum, so those hit points cannot be topped off by other healing and then wasted. And because it lasts eight hours, a creature that drops to 0 and is healed back up still has the increased maximum.

Upcasting adds +5 per slot level, which is one of the best upcast rates in the game. A 5th-level Aid is +20 hit points to three creatures for the day, which for many parties is worth more than any 5th-level combat spell.

Rating: A-Tier. Cast before you leave camp, every day.

Lesser Restoration

Artificer, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Ranger. 1 action, touch, V S, instantaneous. End one disease or one condition: blinded, deafened, paralysed, or poisoned.

Situational, and the situation ends fights. Removing paralysed from an ally who is about to take auto-critical hits is worth more than any damage spell in this tier. Poisoned - disadvantage on all attacks and ability checks - is the most common condition in the game and appears on a large fraction of low-CR monsters.

There is no concentration and no save, and it works every time.

The reason it is not A-Tier is that it does nothing on the many days when nobody gets poisoned or paralysed, and a prepared caster who takes it every day is spending a slot on insurance.

Rating: B-Tier. Prepare it on the day you fight anything with a save-or-suck.

Mirror Image

Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard. 1 action, self, V S, 1 minute, no concentration. Three illusory duplicates.

Each time a creature targets you with an attack, roll a d20: with three duplicates, an 6 or higher hits a duplicate instead. A duplicate is destroyed by any hit, and its AC is 10 + your Dexterity modifier.

The best purely defensive spell available to arcane casters at this level, and it does not touch concentration - so it runs alongside your control spell.

Across a full minute against a moderate number of attacks, it absorbs several hits outright. It works against every attack regardless of damage type, and unlike Shield it does not cost a slot per attack.

The limits: it does nothing against area effects and saving throws, and a creature that can see through illusions or does not rely on sight ignores it entirely.

Rating: A-Tier. Cast it in round one of any fight where you expect to be attacked.

Blur

Artificer, Sorcerer, Wizard. 1 action, self, V, concentration up to 1 minute. Attackers have disadvantage on attack rolls against you.

Disadvantage on every attack against you for a minute is roughly a 25% reduction in incoming hits, which is a lot.

Its problem is that it costs concentration, and it is defending the concentration you are trying to protect. Mirror Image does a comparable job for free. Blur is the pick when you have nothing else to concentrate on, or on a Bladesinger who is going to be attacked constantly and has Booming Blade rather than a concentration spell to run.

Blindsight, truesight, and blindness-immunity effects ignore it.

Rating: B-Tier. Mirror Image first, Blur if you have concentration to spare.

Scorching Ray

Sorcerer, Wizard, Artificer. 1 action, 120 feet, V S, instantaneous. Three rays, each a ranged spell attack for 2d6 fire.

The single-target damage spell of the tier: 6d6 across three separate attack rolls, averaging 21 if all three land.

Splitting into three rolls is both the strength and the weakness. Each ray can target a different creature, so it finishes off multiple wounded enemies. Each ray also independently benefits from per-hit riders - and this is where it becomes a build: a Sorcerer with Hex and a Draconic Bloodline's Elemental Affinity adds damage to every ray, and a Hexblade with Hexblade's Curse crits on 19s across three rolls.

Upcasting adds one ray per slot level, which is one of the best upcast rates in the game. A 5th-level Scorching Ray is six rays.

Fire is the most-resisted damage type, and three attack rolls means three chances to miss.

Rating: B-Tier standalone, A-Tier on a build that stacks per-hit damage.

Detect Thoughts

Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard. 1 action, self, V S M (a copper piece), concentration up to 1 minute. Read the surface thoughts of a creature within 30 feet; probe deeper with a Wisdom save.

Two spells stacked. The surface-thought half is automatic and undetectable, and it tells you what a creature is thinking about right now - which in a negotiation is what they are worried about. The deep-probe half forces a Wisdom save, and failing it gives you access to their reasoning, emotional state and memories, but success tells them they are being probed and ends the spell.

Its overlooked third use is detection: it senses the presence of any thinking creature within 30 feet, even through walls, including invisible ones.

Rating: B-Tier. An investigation and social spell that a combat-focused evaluation rates far too low.

Enlarge/Reduce

Artificer, Sorcerer, Wizard. 1 action, 30 feet, V S M (a pinch of powdered iron), concentration up to 1 minute.

Enlarge: the target's size doubles, weapon damage gains +1d4, and it has advantage on Strength checks and saves. Reduce: size halves, weapon damage takes -1d4, disadvantage on Strength checks and saves.

Both halves are useful and neither is spectacular. Enlarge on a Barbarian is a modest damage bump and a real improvement to grappling and shoving, since size category decides who can grapple whom. Reduce on an enemy brute cuts their damage and hands your party the grapple.

The uses people forget are physical: an Enlarged character can hold a portcullis, and a Reduced character fits through a gap that nothing else in the party can.

There is a Charisma save for an unwilling target, which is a poor save on the brutes you would most like to shrink.

Rating: C-Tier. Flexible, never decisive.

Alter Self

Artificer, Sorcerer, Wizard. 1 action, self, V S, concentration up to 1 hour. Choose one: Aquatic Adaptation, Change Appearance, or Natural Weapons.

Three different spells sharing a slot. Change Appearance is a full-hour disguise you can alter at will, with no Deception check to maintain, which is far stronger than Disguise Self at handling scrutiny. Aquatic Adaptation grants gills and a swim speed, which solves an entire environment. Natural Weapons gives a magical 1d6 attack that uses your spellcasting modifier.

None of the three is best in class, and having all three on one prepared slot is genuinely convenient for a Wizard who has to guess what tomorrow needs.

Rating: C-Tier. Underrated by combat-first rankings, correctly rated by anyone who has had to get past a guard.

Spider Climb

Artificer, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard. 1 action, touch, V S M (a drop of bitumen and a spider), concentration up to 1 hour. The target gains a climb speed equal to its walking speed and can move on walls and ceilings with hands free.

A full climb speed on vertical surfaces and ceilings for an hour. In a dungeon or a city this genuinely changes what routes exist, and a caster on a ceiling is out of reach of most melee enemies entirely.

Concentration is the price, and it is a high one for a mobility effect that only matters when there is something to climb.

Rating: C-Tier. Excellent in a vertical campaign, dead weight in a flat one.

Locate Object

Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Ranger, Wizard. 1 action, self, V S M (a forked twig), concentration up to 10 minutes. Sense the direction to a familiar object within 1,000 feet.

Finds the specific object you know, or the nearest object of a described kind. 1,000 feet is a large radius in a settlement.

Its two blockers are severe: it fails if any thickness of lead blocks a direct path, and you must have seen the specific object up close - within 30 feet - at least once, unless you are looking for a general category. Anyone hiding something valuable knows about the lead clause.

Rating: C-Tier. Solves a specific mystery-plot problem and nothing else.

Phantasmal Force

Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard. 1 action, 60 feet, V S M (a bit of fleece), concentration up to 1 minute.

An illusion in the target's mind only, within a 10-foot cube. The target rationalises anything inconsistent, believes the illusion is real, and takes 1d6 psychic damage per round from an illusion that could plausibly harm it. It gets an Intelligence save on the cast, and an Investigation check against your DC only if it uses its action to examine the illusion.

The mechanically strangest spell in the tier. Because the target believes the illusion, a well-described one can effectively remove them from the fight - a wall of flame across the only exit, a pit where the floor is, chains around their arms. The 1d6 is irrelevant; the belief is the spell.

It is also entirely dependent on your DM's willingness to adjudicate it, which varies more than for any other spell here.

Rating: C-Tier, with a high ceiling in the hands of a specific player at a specific table.

Rime's Binding Ice

Sorcerer, Wizard (Fizban's Treasury of Dragons). 1 action, self (30-foot cone), S, instantaneous. 3d8 cold, Constitution save; on a failure the creature is restrained until it uses an action to break free.

Area damage plus a condition, in a 30-foot cone, with no concentration. Restrained is a strong condition and forcing an enemy to spend an action escaping is a full turn removed.

It is somatic-only, which is a small but real advantage for a silenced or gagged caster. Cold is a good damage type. The cone shape means positioning matters and friendly fire is a risk.

Rating: B-Tier. Better than Shatter when you can line up the cone.

---

The Rest of the 2nd-Level List

2nd level is a crowded tier. These are the spells that do not make most top-ten lists and still turn up on good characters, plus the two that most reliably decide a fight when the DM did not expect them.

Moonbeam

Druid. 1 action, 120 feet, V S M (several seeds of any moonseed plant and a piece of opalescent feldspar), concentration up to 1 minute. A 5-foot-radius, 40-foot-high cylinder of light; 2d10 radiant on a failed Constitution save, half on a success, and you can move the beam 60 feet with an action each turn.

The Druid's answer to sustained damage, and the only 2nd-level spell that keeps dealing damage every round for a full minute. 2d10 averages 11 per round, upcast at 1d10 per slot level.

The clause that makes it a specialist tool: a shapechanger has disadvantage on the save and instantly reverts to its true form if it fails. Against a doppelganger, a werewolf, or anything wearing another shape, Moonbeam is both the damage and the reveal.

Moving the beam costs your action, so a Druid running Moonbeam is spending every turn on it. That is the real cost.

Rating: B-Tier, A-Tier in a campaign with shapechangers.

Heat Metal

Artificer, Bard, Druid. 1 action, 60 feet, V S M (a piece of iron and a flame), concentration up to 1 minute. 2d8 fire damage to a metal object you can see, and a creature holding or wearing it takes the damage and must succeed on a Constitution save or drop it - repeatable as a bonus action each turn.

One of the most efficient damage spells in the game against the right target, because after the initial cast the damage costs only a bonus action each round. That leaves your action free every turn.

It also has no attack roll and no save to avoid the damage - the save is only to avoid dropping the object. Against an armoured knight it deals 2d8 a round for a minute, guaranteed, and periodically disarms them.

The restriction is total: no metal, no spell. Against beasts, oozes, unarmoured casters and anything in leather or hide, it does nothing at all. Ask what the enemy is wearing before you prepare it.

Rating: B-Tier, A-Tier against armoured humanoids.

Silence

Bard, Cleric, Ranger. 1 action, 120 feet, V S, concentration up to 10 minutes, ritual. A 20-foot-radius sphere where no sound can be created or pass.

A hard counter to most spellcasting. Almost every spell in the game has a verbal component, and a caster inside Silence cannot cast any of them. It also makes creatures inside immune to thunder damage and to effects that require hearing.

Cast on an enemy spellcaster, it removes them from the fight more completely than most damage does. Cast on your own party, it makes a whole approach silent - which is why it is a ritual, and why it pairs with Pass Without Trace for an infiltration that cannot be heard or seen.

Its weakness is that it is a stationary sphere and an enemy caster can simply walk out of it, which costs them a turn but not the fight.

Rating: B-Tier, A-Tier against a spellcasting boss.

See Invisibility

Artificer, Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard. 1 action, self, V S M (a pinch of talc and a small sprinkling of silver powder), 1 hour, no concentration.

For an hour, with no concentration, you see invisible creatures and objects and into the Ethereal Plane.

Boring until the session where an invisible enemy is systematically killing your party, at which point it is the whole answer. No concentration means it stacks with everything, and an hour covers a full dungeon.

Rating: C-Tier as a prepared default, A-Tier when you know what is coming.

Knock

Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard. 1 action, 60 feet, V, instantaneous. Unlock one locked object - a door, chest, manacles, a padlock - or suppress an Arcane Lock for 10 minutes.

The Rogue-replacement spell, and it comes with a deliberate cost: it makes a loud knock audible to 300 feet. That is the design. Knock is the fast, loud way in; thieves' tools are the slow, quiet way.

It does not open anything held shut by a magic effect other than Arcane Lock, and it only opens one lock per cast, so a door with three padlocks needs three slots.

Rating: C-Tier. Essential in a party with no Rogue, redundant in a party with one.

Levitate

Artificer, Sorcerer, Wizard. 1 action, 60 feet, V S M (a small leather loop or a piece of golden wire bent into a cup), concentration up to 10 minutes. A creature or object up to 500 pounds rises up to 20 feet and can be moved up or down 20 feet per turn.

Cast on an enemy that fails its Constitution save, it removes a melee attacker from the fight entirely - floating 20 feet up, unable to move except by pushing off a surface, with only ranged options. Against a creature with no ranged attack, that is a full removal for one 2nd-level slot.

Cast on an ally or an object it solves vertical problems, though it does not grant a flying speed and you must maintain concentration.

Rating: B-Tier. The offensive use is much better than the utility use and gets overlooked.

Zone of Truth

Bard, Cleric, Paladin. 1 action, 60 feet, V S, 10 minutes. Creatures in a 15-foot-radius sphere must make a Charisma save or be unable to speak a deliberate lie; you know who passed.

An entire investigation scene compressed into one slot. You always know who saved, which itself is information - a person who resists a truth zone has told you something.

The gap that experienced NPCs exploit is that it prevents lies, not evasion, silence, or technically true statements. A careful liar under Zone of Truth is still a careful liar.

Rating: B-Tier. The single best spell for an intrigue campaign.

Calm Emotions

Bard, Cleric. 1 action, 60 feet, V S, concentration up to 1 minute. Each humanoid in a 20-foot radius makes a Charisma save; on a failure you either suppress charmed and frightened, or make it indifferent toward creatures of your choice.

Two effects, both underused. Suppressing frightened is a hard counter to a dragon's frightful presence and to most fear-based boss abilities, applied to the whole party at once. Making a crowd indifferent defuses a riot, a hostile mob, or an interrogation before it becomes a fight.

Humanoids only, and it is concentration.

Rating: C-Tier, A-Tier in the specific fight where the party is all frightened.

Warding Bond

Cleric, Paladin. 1 action, touch, V S M (a pair of platinum rings worth at least 50 gp each, which you and the target must wear), 1 hour, no concentration. The target gains +1 AC, +1 to saving throws, and resistance to all damage - and you take the same damage it takes.

The most mathematically interesting spell in the tier. Resistance to all damage plus +1 AC and +1 to every save, for an hour, with no concentration - and the price is that you take a copy of every hit.

On paper it halves the damage the front-liner takes and moves it to you, which is break-even. In practice it is strong when the caster has a way to reduce the shared damage - heavy armour is irrelevant since the damage transfers directly, but temporary hit points, resistance of your own, or simply being at full health while the tank is not, all shift the maths.

The bond ends if you drop to 0 hit points, which is the failure mode. The 100 gp of rings is a real cost.

Rating: C-Tier. A build-specific spell that a party with a durable Cleric can break in their favour.

Flaming Sphere

Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard, Artificer. 1 action, 60 feet, V S M (a bit of tallow, a pinch of brimstone, and a dusting of powdered iron), concentration up to 1 minute. A 5-foot sphere of fire; 2d6 fire on a failed Dexterity save to anything ending its turn within 5 feet, and you can move it 30 feet as a bonus action, ramming a creature for the same damage.

Sustained area damage for a bonus action after the first turn, which is the same economy that makes Spiritual Weapon good - except this one costs concentration.

That concentration cost is why it loses to Moonbeam for Druids and to almost everything for Wizards. Its advantage over Moonbeam is that moving it is a bonus action rather than an action.

Rating: C-Tier. Good economy attached to an expensive resource.

Magic Weapon

Artificer, Paladin, Ranger, Sorcerer, Wizard. 1 bonus action, touch, V S, concentration up to 1 hour. A nonmagical weapon becomes magical with a +1 bonus, rising to +2 at 4th level and +3 at 6th.

Solves exactly one problem - a party fighting something resistant or immune to nonmagical weapon damage, with no magic weapons of their own - and solves it completely.

That problem is common at levels 3 to 6 and rare after, because by tier 3 the party has magic weapons. The concentration cost is heavy for what it does.

Rating: D-Tier normally, A-Tier in the one session where nothing you own can hurt the monster.

Prayer of Healing

Cleric, Paladin. 10 minutes, 30 feet, V. Up to six creatures each regain 2d8 + your spellcasting modifier hit points.

Six creatures healed for around 13 each from one slot, which is by far the best healing-per-slot rate in the game.

The ten-minute casting time keeps it entirely out of combat, and out of combat it competes with a short rest, which costs an hour and restores Hit Dice, class features and warlock slots. Prayer of Healing is what you cast when you have ten minutes and cannot afford an hour.

Rating: C-Tier. Efficient and almost always beaten by simply resting.

---

Blindness/Deafness

Bard, Cleric, Sorcerer, Wizard. 1 action, 30 feet, V, instantaneous, 1 minute. Constitution save or the target is blinded or deafened for the duration, repeating the save at the end of each of its turns.

The most underrated save-or-suck at this level, and the reason is that it costs no concentration. A blinded creature automatically fails any check requiring sight, has disadvantage on all its attacks, and every attack against it has advantage - and you can run Web or Hold Person at the same time.

It also has no material component and upcasts to one additional target per slot level, so a 4th-level cast blinds three creatures at once for a minute with your concentration still free.

The target repeats the save every turn, and Constitution is a strong save on the brutes you most want blinded. Against a caster or a Rogue it lands often.

Rating: B-Tier, and it deserves a place on more lists than it gets.

Dragon's Breath

Sorcerer, Wizard (Xanathar's). 1 bonus action, touch, V S M (a hot pepper), concentration up to 1 minute. A willing creature can use its action to exhale a 15-foot cone dealing 3d6 of a damage type you choose, Dexterity save for half.

The build piece. Cast on a familiar, a summoned creature, or a party member who has nothing better to do with its action, it produces a 3d6 cone every round for a minute from one 2nd-level slot. Upcast at 1d6 per slot level.

The classic application is a Pact of the Chain familiar or a Steel Defender, which gets an action every round and no better use for it. Choosing the damage type at cast time also means it is never wasted on a resistance.

Some DMs rule that a familiar cannot take the Attack-adjacent action this requires; the spell says a willing creature, and a familiar is willing, so most allow it.

Rating: B-Tier, A-Tier on a Chain Warlock or Battle Smith.

Crown of Madness

Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard. 1 action, 120 feet, V S, concentration up to 1 minute. Wisdom save or charmed; on each of its turns, the charmed creature must attack a creature of your choice before moving, and you must use your action each turn to maintain it.

The most notorious trap at this level. It reads like mind control and is not. The target still chooses its own actions except for the one attack, it moves freely, it uses its abilities freely, and you must spend your entire action every turn to keep the spell going - on top of concentration.

So the actual cost is: one 2nd-level slot, your concentration, and every one of your actions for the duration, in exchange for redirecting one attack per round from an enemy that gets a new save every turn.

Casting almost anything else with that action is better.

Rating: F-Tier. It is the True Strike of 2nd level.

---

Which 2nd-Level Spells Survive Contact With 5th Level

The honest question about any 2nd-level spell is not how it performs at character level 5. It is whether you still have it prepared at character level 15.

Still on the sheet at high level:

• Misty Step. Escaping a grapple never stops mattering, and there is no better version of it at any level.
• Spiritual Weapon. Still bonus-action damage that does not touch concentration, alongside a 6th-level concentration spell.
• Pass Without Trace. +10 is +10 at every level; nothing replaces it.
• Invisibility. Upcast to cover the party, it is still the cleanest infiltration answer.
• Lesser Restoration. Greater Restoration exists but costs a 5th-level slot and 100 gp of diamond dust.
• Aid. Upcast to 5th, it is +20 maximum hit points to three creatures for the day.
• Mirror Image. Absorbing whole attacks scales with how hard those attacks hit.

Off the sheet by then:

• Shatter, replaced by Fireball and everything above it.
• Hold Person, because humanoid bosses become rare and Wisdom saves get good. Hold Monster is the version that survives.
• Scorching Ray, unless the build is specifically stacking per-hit riders.
• Blur, outcompeted for concentration by everything you gain.
• Web, as enemies gain flight, teleportation, and better Dexterity saves.

The pattern is the same one from 1st level: spells that cost no concentration and spells that upcast well survive; spells whose numbers are the point do not.

---

Best Picks by Class

Wizard

Misty Step, Mirror Image, Web, Invisibility. Misty Step and Mirror Image are the two you should have prepared nearly every day, because both are self-preservation that costs no concentration. Web is the control option; swap it for Hold Person when you know the enemy is humanoid.

Sorcerer

Misty Step, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray. Sorcerers know few spells and Scorching Ray is the one that scales into a build with Metamagic - Quickened Scorching Ray plus a cantrip is a real turn. Suggestion with Subtle Spell is the strongest social play in the game.

Cleric

Spiritual Weapon, Aid, Lesser Restoration, Hold Person. Spiritual Weapon and Aid are close to permanent fixtures. Rotate the third and fourth by the day - Lesser Restoration when you expect poison, Hold Person when the enemy is a person.

Druid

Pass Without Trace, Spike Growth, Lesser Restoration. These two Druid spells are the reason Druids are strong at this tier, and the tension between them is real: both want concentration, and you will be casting Pass Without Trace before the fight and Spike Growth during it, so you get one per encounter.

Bard

Invisibility, Suggestion, Hold Person. Bards get the best social 2nd-level list in the game and should lean into it. Shatter is the damage option if nothing else covers area damage.

Warlock

Misty Step, Darkness, Invisibility, Hold Person. Darkness plus Devil's Sight is the defining Warlock build at this tier and it is worth the Invocation. With only two short-rest slots, a Warlock's 2nd-level picks are their whole spell arsenal until level 5.

Ranger

Pass Without Trace, Spike Growth, Lesser Restoration. The same tension as the Druid, plus the pull of Hunter's Mark at 1st level - a Ranger has three excellent concentration options and one slot to run them in.

Paladin

Aid, Lesser Restoration, Find Steed. Paladins should mostly be smiting, and Aid before the day starts is the best non-smite use of a 2nd-level slot. Find Steed is not covered above because no retired guide covered it, and it deserves a mention: a permanent intelligent mount with a shared spell range.

Artificer

Enlarge/Reduce, Web, Lesser Restoration, Aid. Artificers prepare from a broad list and their infusions cover a lot of utility, so lean the prepared slots toward control and support.

---

Hot Take: Misty Step is a better spell than Fireball. Fireball wins fights that were going to be won anyway, a little faster. Misty Step is the reason your caster is alive to cast Fireball in the first place - and unlike Fireball, it has no saving throw, no resistance, no friendly fire, and no wasted casts. Every experienced caster has a fight they survived because of a bonus-action teleport, and none of them remember which Fireball did the most damage.

---

Related Guides

• Cantrips
• 1st-Level Spells
• 3rd-Level Spells - the tier where casters take over the game.
• 4th and 5th-Level Spells
• 6th to 9th-Level Spells
• D&D 5e 2014 Spell Guides hub - class-by-class spell selection.

Building a caster and want a table to test it on? Find a D&D 5e game on The Role Players Guild.