Best Cantrips in D&D 5e (2014): The Complete Cantrip Guide

Introduction

A cantrip is the only spell decision in D&D 5e (2014) that you usually cannot take back. Prepared casters rewrite their spell list every long rest. Sorcerers and Warlocks swap known spells as they level. But a Wizard who takes Acid Splash at level 1 is casting Acid Splash at level 20, and there is no rule in the 2014 Player's Handbook that lets them trade it in.

That permanence is what makes cantrips worth arguing about. It is also why so much cantrip advice is bad: a cantrip that looks fine at level 3, when your spell slots run out halfway through the second encounter, can look very different at level 11 when you have fourteen slots and a damage cantrip is what you cast on the turn you are repositioning.

This guide covers every cantrip available in the 2014 ruleset, grouped by what it actually does at the table rather than by school. Damage cantrips first, because that is what most people are choosing between. Then the melee cantrips, which are their own strange category. Then utility, which is where the campaign-defining picks actually live.

Verdict: take one attack-roll damage cantrip, one save-based damage cantrip if your class list allows it, and spend everything left on utility. The single most common mistake is three damage cantrips and nothing else.

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Why Cantrips Are the Only Spell Choice You Cannot Undo

Every other spell decision in the game is reversible on some timescale.

• Prepared casters (Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Artificer, and the Wizard from their spellbook) rebuild their prepared list after every long rest. A bad prepared-spell choice costs you one day.
• Known casters (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Ranger) may replace one spell known each time they gain a level. A bad known-spell choice costs you one level.
• Cantrips have no such clause for most classes. The Bard's Magical Secrets, the Sorcerer's spell replacement, and the Warlock's spell replacement are all written to cover spells of 1st level and higher. Tasha's Cauldron of Everything added optional class features that let a few classes retrain cantrips, and many DMs allow it by house rule, but the default 2014 rules do not.

The practical consequence: treat cantrips like feats, not like prepared spells. Ask what this pick will be doing for you at level 15, not just at level 2.

The second consequence is subtler. Because cantrips are free, you will cast them more times than any other spell in your character's life. A cantrip that is 10% better is not 10% better once - it is 10% better across several hundred casts.

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How Cantrip Scaling Actually Works

Damage cantrips in the 2014 rules scale on a fixed table tied to character level, not class level and not slot level:

Three things follow from that, and each one changes how you build.

Multiclassing does not slow cantrips down. Spell slots for a multiclass caster come from a combined table that can leave you behind on slot level. Cantrips do not care. A Sorcerer 1 / Paladin 11 casts Fire Bolt for 3d10, exactly like a Sorcerer 12 would. This is the single strongest argument for a one-level caster dip on a martial character: the dip's spell slots stop mattering around tier 3, but the cantrip never does.

Eldritch Blast scales differently, and better. It gains extra beams rather than extra dice, at levels 5, 11 and 17. Every beam is a separate attack roll and a separate damage roll, which means every beam separately benefits from Agonizing Blast's Charisma modifier, from Hex, and from any other per-hit rider. That multiplication is the whole reason Eldritch Blast sits at the top of every cantrip list.

Cantrips that do not roll damage do not scale at all. Guidance is exactly as good at level 20 as at level 1 - which sounds like a criticism and is not, because "+1d4 to any ability check" never stops being relevant. But it does mean the utility cantrips should be judged on what problems they solve, not on numbers that grow.

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The Damage Cantrips

Ranked by how much work they do across a full campaign, not by peak damage on a good round.

Eldritch Blast

Warlock only. Cantrip, Evocation. 120 feet, V S, instantaneous, ranged spell attack, 1d10 force damage per beam.

The best cantrip in the game, and it is not close - but only because of what surrounds it. On its own, Eldritch Blast is a 1d10 force-damage attack cantrip, which is fine and unremarkable. What makes it the centerpiece of an entire class is the Invocation list:

• Agonizing Blast adds your Charisma modifier to each beam's damage. At level 17 with 20 Charisma, that is +5 damage four times over, on top of 4d10.
• Repelling Blast pushes the target 10 feet on each hit, which turns a damage cantrip into forced movement, into difficult-terrain denial, and into a way to keep a melee bruiser permanently out of reach.
• Grasp of Hadar (Xanathar's) pulls instead, which combines with a party controller who wants enemies bunched.
• Lance of Lethargy (Xanathar's) drops the target's speed by 10 feet on a hit.

Force damage is resisted by almost nothing in the Monster Manual, the 120-foot range covers nearly every battlefield, and splitting beams across targets means it does not waste overkill damage the way a single big hit does. The tradeoff is that multiple attack rolls means multiple chances to miss, so Eldritch Blast wants accuracy support more than a save-based cantrip does.

Rating: A-Tier. The reason "just play a Warlock" is a real answer to "how do I do consistent damage with a caster."

Fire Bolt

Artificer, Sorcerer, Wizard. 120 feet, V S, instantaneous, ranged spell attack, 1d10 fire damage.

The best damage cantrip available to a class that is not a Warlock. Same 1d10, same 120-foot range, and it ignites flammable objects the target is not wearing or carrying, which is a small utility rider that turns up more often than you would expect - burning a rope bridge, lighting an oil slick, setting a distant brazier.

The one real weakness is the damage type. Fire is the most commonly resisted damage type in the game: devils, fire elementals, red dragons, salamanders, azers, and a long tail of others. Against a fire-immune enemy your primary damage cantrip does literally nothing, which is why a second damage cantrip of a different type is worth a pick.

Rating: A-Tier. Highest damage, longest range, worst damage type.

Toll the Dead

Cleric, Warlock, Wizard (Xanathar's Guide to Everything). 60 feet, V S, instantaneous, Wisdom saving throw, 1d8 necrotic - or 1d12 if the target is missing any hit points.

Mathematically the strongest save-based damage cantrip, and against a target that has already been hit, it out-damages Fire Bolt. Average 6.5 on a d12 versus 5.5 on a d10, at four dice that is 26 versus 22, and Toll the Dead does not need to beat AC.

The 1d12 clause is easier to trigger than it looks: after round one of almost any fight, most enemies are missing hit points. The right way to use it is to let the party's martials open, then switch on.

Necrotic is resisted less often than fire but more often than force, and undead frequently have outright immunity - which is awkward for a Cleric, since undead are the enemy Clerics face most. Wisdom saves are also a common strength on higher-CR monsters. Pair it with an attack-roll cantrip rather than relying on it alone.

Rating: A-Tier. Best damage-per-cast among save cantrips, worst matchup against exactly the enemies a Cleric fights.

Sacred Flame

Cleric. 60 feet, V S, instantaneous, Dexterity saving throw, 1d8 radiant.

The Cleric's default offensive cantrip, and the one genuinely unusual rule in the group: the target gains no benefit from cover for this saving throw. Nothing else in the cantrip list ignores cover. Against an archer shooting from behind a battlement, a spellcaster ducked behind a pillar, or anything using three-quarters cover for a +5, Sacred Flame is the answer that other ranged options do not have.

Radiant is one of the least-resisted damage types in the game and is actively strong against undead and fiends. The problem is the save: Dexterity saves are the most common good save on the monster statblocks, particularly on exactly the fast, dangerous, low-AC creatures you most want to hit. A heavily armored knight will fail it; a giant spider or an assassin will not.

The other structural weakness is that a Dexterity save cantrip cannot crit, cannot benefit from advantage, and gains nothing from the accuracy boosters an attack-roll caster invests in. Its floor and ceiling are the same.

Rating: B-Tier. Reliable, cover-piercing, and the best Cleric cantrip - but a Cleric who also has Toll the Dead should usually cast Toll the Dead.

Chill Touch

Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard. 120 feet, V S, 1 round, ranged spell attack, 1d8 necrotic.

Badly named - it is a ranged attack at 120 feet, not a touch spell. Its rider is the value: the target cannot regain hit points until the start of your next turn, and undead have disadvantage on attack rolls against you.

The healing lockout is a genuine anti-troll, anti-vampire, anti-cleric-boss tool that no other cantrip provides. Against a monster with regeneration or a healer in the enemy back line, Chill Touch is a control effect disguised as a damage cantrip. Against anything else it is a slightly worse Fire Bolt.

Rating: C-Tier generally, A-Tier in a campaign with regenerating enemies. This is a pick to make when you know your DM's monster habits.

Vicious Mockery

Bard only. 60 feet, V, 1d4 psychic, Wisdom save, and the target has disadvantage on its next attack roll before the end of its next turn.

The worst damage of any damage cantrip, and it does not matter. A d4 of psychic damage is a rounding error; disadvantage on an enemy attack roll is worth roughly a quarter of that attack's expected damage, and Bards are casting this on the turns they are not doing something better anyway.

Two things make it better than the damage line suggests. It has only a verbal component, so a bound and gagged - well, bound - Bard can still cast it. And the disadvantage applies whether or not the target takes damage, as long as it fails the save.

The catch is the Wisdom save and that the debuff only lasts until the end of the target's next turn, so casting it on a creature that has already acted is close to wasted.

Rating: B-Tier for Bards. Judge it as a debuff cantrip that happens to deal damage, and it is fine.

Mind Sliver

Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything). 60 feet, V, instantaneous, Intelligence save, 1d6 psychic, and the target subtracts 1d4 from its next saving throw before the end of your next turn.

The setup cantrip. The 1d4 penalty applies to the target's next save of any kind, which means Mind Sliver is how a caster improves the odds on the big save-or-suck spell they are about to cast next round - or, better, how they improve the odds on an ally's save-based spell in the same round.

Intelligence is the weakest save on the largest number of monsters, so it lands often. The damage is irrelevant; the debuff is the spell. Its awkwardness is timing: you have to spend a turn not doing damage to make next turn better, which is only correct when next turn's spell is genuinely worth it.

Rating: B-Tier. Excellent in a party that leans on saving-throw spells, mediocre in one that does not.

Ray of Frost

Sorcerer, Wizard, Artificer. 60 feet, V S, ranged spell attack, 1d8 cold, and the target's speed is reduced by 10 feet until the start of your next turn.

A slightly worse Fire Bolt with a kiting rider attached. Cold is a much better damage type than fire in practice, and the speed reduction stacks with itself across a party that has more than one source. For a caster who wants to stay away from melee, the 10-foot reduction genuinely buys distance.

Held back by the 60-foot range - half of Fire Bolt's - which puts you inside the reach of most ranged attackers.

Rating: B-Tier. The right second damage cantrip for a Fire Bolt caster who wants a non-fire option.

Frostbite

Artificer, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard (Xanathar's). 60 feet, V S, Constitution save, 1d6 cold, and the target has disadvantage on its next weapon attack roll before the end of its next turn.

Lower damage than Ray of Frost, but a save instead of an attack roll and a real debuff. Constitution saves are strong on the brutes you would most like to debuff, which is the problem: the enemies whose weapon attacks you most want to blunt are exactly the ones who pass Con saves.

Rating: C-Tier. Fine, redundant with better options on most lists.

Thorn Whip

Artificer, Druid. 30 feet, V S M (the stem of a plant with thorns), ranged spell attack, 1d6 piercing, and you pull the target up to 10 feet closer.

The forced-movement cantrip. Pulling an enemy 10 feet is worth far more than 1d6 of damage: into your Spike Growth, off a ledge, out of cover, away from your downed ally, or into your Barbarian's reach. Druids with Spike Growth and Thorn Whip have a well-known damage engine that does not depend on the cantrip's own damage at all.

30 feet is very short. Accept that it is a positioning tool used at close range, not a ranged attack.

Rating: B-Tier standalone, A-Tier alongside any zone-damage spell.

Produce Flame

Druid. Self, V S, 10 minutes, ranged spell attack when thrown, 1d8 fire.

Two spells in one: a torch that does not occupy a hand awkwardly and produces no heat, and a thrown 1d8 fire attack at 30 feet that ends the spell. Most Druids use it as the light source and never throw it, which is a perfectly good reason to have it - the light lasts 10 minutes and leaves your hands otherwise free.

Rating: C-Tier as damage, B-Tier as a light source you do not have to think about.

Create Bonfire

Artificer, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard (Xanathar's). 60 feet, V S, concentration up to 1 minute, Dexterity save, 1d8 fire in a 5-foot cube.

Genuinely different from every other damage cantrip: it creates persistent terrain. A creature must save when it enters the space or ends its turn there, so a well-placed bonfire in a doorway or on the only path to the party's back line is a repeating tax on enemy movement.

The cost is concentration, which is enormous. A caster concentrating on Create Bonfire is not concentrating on anything real. It belongs on characters who genuinely have no better concentration option, and on nobody else.

Rating: C-Tier. Interesting design, and concentration kills it.

Word of Radiance

Cleric (Xanathar's). Self (5-foot radius), V M (a holy symbol), Constitution save, 1d6 radiant to each creature you choose in range.

The Cleric's answer to being surrounded. Any number of targets within 5 feet, your choice, so it never hits allies. Against three or more adjacent enemies it out-damages every single-target cantrip in the game by a wide margin.

It requires being surrounded by three or more enemies, which for a Cleric is a bad situation you were trying to avoid. That is the whole review.

Rating: C-Tier, spiking to A-Tier on a melee-forward Cleric who is deliberately standing in the middle of things - a War Domain or Twilight Domain Cleric with Spirit Guardians up is exactly that character.

Sword Burst

Artificer, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard (Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide). Self (5-foot radius), V, Dexterity save, 1d6 force.

The arcane version of Word of Radiance, with force damage instead of radiant and a Dexterity save instead of Constitution. Verbal component only. Same review: excellent when surrounded, and being surrounded is a failure state for the caster who has it.

Rating: C-Tier.

Thunderclap

Artificer, Bard, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard (Xanathar's). Self (5-foot radius), S, Constitution save, 1d6 thunder.

Somatic component only, no verbal - which makes it the one damage cantrip a silenced caster can still use. Otherwise it is Sword Burst with a worse damage type. The audible-out-to-100-feet clause is a real liability on any infiltration.

Rating: C-Tier, with a narrow niche against Silence.

Acid Splash

Sorcerer, Wizard. 60 feet, V S, Dexterity save, 1d6 acid, and it can hit two creatures if they are within 5 feet of each other.

The two-target clause is the only argument for it, and the geometry requirement plus 1d6 damage means it rarely beats simply casting Fire Bolt at one of them. Acid is resisted by black dragons, oozes, and not much else, which is genuinely in its favor.

Rating: D-Tier. Take it as a fourth or fifth cantrip if at all.

Poison Spray

Artificer, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard. 10 feet, V S, Constitution save, 1d12 poison.

The biggest damage die on the cantrip list attached to the worst delivery in the game. Ten feet of range means you are in melee. Constitution is a strong save. And poison is the single most commonly resisted or outright immune damage type in the Monster Manual - undead, constructs, most fiends, many elementals.

Rating: D-Tier. The 1d12 is a trap.

Shocking Grasp

Artificer, Sorcerer, Wizard. Touch, V S, melee spell attack, 1d8 lightning, and the target cannot take reactions until the start of its next turn.

The escape cantrip. Denying reactions means denying the opportunity attack, so a Wizard grappled in melee can Shocking Grasp and then walk away untouched. It also has advantage on the attack roll against a target wearing metal armor.

It is a bad damage cantrip and a good panic button. Do not make it your primary.

Rating: C-Tier. Situational by design, and the situation does come up.

Lightning Lure

Artificer, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard (Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, revised in Tasha's). Self (15-foot radius), V, Strength save, 1d8 lightning, and you pull the target up to 10 feet toward you.

Thorn Whip for arcane casters, in reverse: it pulls enemies to you, which is usually the opposite of what a squishy caster wants. It belongs on a Bladesinger or an Eldritch Knight who wants a fleeing enemy dragged back into reach.

Rating: C-Tier, and only on a melee-capable caster.

Infestation

Artificer, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard (Xanathar's). 30 feet, V S M, Constitution save, 1d6 poison, and on a failure the target moves 5 feet in a random direction.

The random movement can trigger opportunity attacks, break a grapple on an ally, or shove a creature off a ledge - and can just as easily do nothing. Poison damage on top of that.

Rating: D-Tier. A gimmick with a bad damage type.

Primal Savagery

Druid (Xanathar's). Self, S, melee spell attack, 1d10 acid.

A melee spell attack that uses your spellcasting modifier, for a class that has no business in melee unless it is Wild Shaped, in which case it cannot cast it. Acid is a good damage type and 1d10 is a good die, and neither redeems the delivery.

Rating: D-Tier.

True Strike

Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard. 30 feet, V S, concentration up to 1 round, grants advantage on your next attack roll against the target.

The most notorious trap in the 2014 Player's Handbook. It costs your action to grant advantage on one attack next turn - which is strictly worse than simply attacking twice across those two turns, for any character with any attack at all. It also requires concentration, so it cannot be set up while a real spell is running.

Rating: F-Tier. There is no build in which this is correct. Do not take it.

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The Melee Cantrips

A small group with rules that work unlike anything else on the list: they are cast as an action but include a weapon attack, which makes them the answer to "how does a caster contribute in melee." All three are from Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide and Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, so confirm your table is using those books.

Booming Blade

Artificer, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard. Self (5-foot radius) in the Tasha's printing, V M (a weapon worth at least 1 sp), 1 round.

You make one melee weapon attack. On a hit the target takes the weapon damage plus, at higher levels, extra thunder damage - and it is sheathed in booming energy until the start of your next turn. If it moves willingly 5 feet or more before then, it takes 1d8 thunder (scaling to 4d8) and the spell ends.

This is a movement tax, not a damage cantrip. It is at its best on a character who wants the enemy to stay put - a Bladesinger holding a chokepoint, a Hexblade in the front line, a Rogue with Booming Blade from a magic initiate feat locking down a target while allies reposition.

The critical rule, and the one most often played wrong: the extra damage triggers on willing movement. A creature dragged, shoved, or teleported does not take it.

Rating: A-Tier for any melee-capable caster. It is the reason Bladesinger and Hexblade builds work at all.

Green-Flame Blade

Artificer, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard. Self (5-foot radius) in the Tasha's printing, V M (a weapon worth at least 1 sp).

One melee weapon attack; on a hit, green fire leaps to a second creature within 5 feet of the first, dealing fire damage equal to your spellcasting modifier, plus scaling dice at higher levels.

The cleave cantrip. It beats Booming Blade whenever there are two adjacent enemies and loses to it whenever there is one. A melee caster who can take both should, and should choose per round.

Rating: A-Tier in crowds, B-Tier otherwise.

Shillelagh

Druid (and Artificer via Magic Initiate-style access). Bonus action, touch, V S M (mistletoe, a shamrock leaf, and a club or quarterstaff).

Your club or quarterstaff uses your spellcasting ability for attack and damage rolls, and its damage die becomes a d8, for 1 minute.

Not a damage cantrip - a stat-fix. It is what lets a Druid with 8 Strength swing a stick competently, and it is the foundation of every "Wisdom-based melee" build in the game. On a Nature Domain or Twilight Domain Cleric with the right feat, or a Circle of the Land Druid without Wild Shape combat, it turns the worst attack in the party into an acceptable one.

The bonus action cost and 1-minute duration mean you cast it before combat, not during.

Rating: B-Tier, A-Tier for any Wisdom caster who intends to make weapon attacks.

Magic Stone

Artificer, Druid, Warlock (Xanathar's). Bonus action, touch, V S, 1 minute.

Enchant up to three pebbles; anyone can throw one as a ranged attack using your spellcasting modifier for the attack and damage rolls, dealing 1d6 + your modifier bludgeoning.

The rule that makes it interesting is that someone else can throw them. A Warlock hands three stones to their familiar or to the party's Fighter, and those attacks use the Warlock's Charisma. It is fiddly and slow, and at low levels it genuinely outdamages the alternatives for a Warlock without Agonizing Blast yet.

Rating: C-Tier. A low-level curiosity that most builds outgrow.

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The Utility Cantrips

This is where the picks that shape a campaign live. Damage cantrips differ from each other by a die size. Utility cantrips differ from each other by what problems they can solve at all.

Prestidigitation

Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard. 10 feet, V S, up to 1 hour.

Six listed effects: a harmless sensory effect, lighting or snuffing a small flame, cleaning or soiling an object up to 1 cubic foot, chilling or warming or flavoring up to a cubic foot of nonliving material, creating a color or mark on an object for 1 hour, and creating a nonmagical trinket or illusory image that fits in your hand and lasts until the end of your next turn.

Read as written it is a list of parlor tricks. In play it is the most-used cantrip in the game, because "clean an object," "make a mark," "produce a small illusory image," and "warm this" cover an enormous surface of table problems - forging a seal, ruining evidence, cleaning off the blood before you walk into the tavern, signaling an ally across a room, warming a freezing companion.

Rating: A-Tier. If your class list has it and you have a spare pick, take it.

Minor Illusion

Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard. 30 feet, S M (a bit of fleece), 1 minute.

Creates either a sound or a 5-foot-cube image, your choice, and unlike Prestidigitation's trinket it lasts a full minute and does not require concentration. An Investigation check against your spell save DC reveals it, and physical interaction gives it away immediately.

It is the best problem-solving cantrip in the game because it does two completely different jobs. As a sound, it draws guards away from a door - and the sound can be a voice, though it cannot mimic a specific person's voice convincingly enough to fool someone who knows them. As an image, it makes a wall where a doorway is, a crate to hide behind, or a pit in a corridor that a pursuing enemy has to test.

Rating: A-Tier. The cantrip that most rewards a creative player.

Guidance

Artificer, Cleric, Druid. Touch, V S, concentration up to 1 minute.

The target adds 1d4 to one ability check of its choice before the spell ends.

Simple, and one of the strongest things on this page. Ability checks are how most of the game outside combat is resolved, and +2.5 on average is a large swing on a d20. Any Cleric or Druid can improve every skill check the party makes all day, at no resource cost.

Two constraints keep it honest. It requires concentration, so it cannot run alongside a real concentration spell - irrelevant out of combat, decisive in it. And it is one check, so it must be cast for a specific roll, which is why many DMs require you to declare it before the roll rather than after.

Rating: A-Tier. The single best non-damage cantrip in the game for a party that talks to people and searches rooms.

Mage Hand

Artificer, Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard. 30 feet, V S, 1 minute.

A spectral hand that can manipulate objects, open unlocked doors and containers, stow or retrieve items, and pour contents out. It cannot attack, activate magic items, or carry more than 10 pounds.

The safety cantrip. Every trapped chest, suspicious lever, and pressure plate in the game has an answer that does not involve a party member's hand. It also picks up dropped items in combat, retrieves a component pouch, and moves things across a gap.

Arcane Trickster Rogues get Mage Hand Legerdemain, which upgrades it to pickpocketing and lockpicking at range and makes it invisible - a completely different and much stronger tool.

Rating: A-Tier.

Message

Artificer, Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard. 120 feet, V S M (a short piece of copper wire), 1 round.

Point at a creature within range and whisper a message that only they hear; they can whisper back. It follows around corners and through solid barriers up to 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, or 3 feet of wood or dirt.

The coordination cantrip. Splitting the party stops being reckless when one member can talk to the others silently through a wall. It is also the cleanest way to communicate with an NPC in the middle of a conversation without anyone else hearing.

Rating: B-Tier. Its value is entirely determined by how much your table splits up and sneaks.

Light

Artificer, Bard, Cleric, Sorcerer, Wizard. Touch, V M (a firefly or phosphorescent moss), 1 hour.

Bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light for another 20, on an object, for an hour, with no concentration. A creature can make a Dexterity save to avoid having it cast on an object it is holding.

Boring and correct. Nearly every party needs a light source, and the alternative is a torch that occupies a hand. The overlooked use is casting it on a small object and throwing it - a lit pebble down a shaft tells you the depth.

Rating: B-Tier. Take it if nobody else has a light answer; skip it if three people do.

Dancing Lights

Artificer, Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard. 120 feet, V S M, concentration up to 1 minute.

Up to four torch-sized lights you can move 60 feet as a bonus action, or combine into a vaguely humanoid glowing form.

Worse than Light in almost every way - concentration, shorter duration, dimmer - with one advantage: you can move them at range. Scouting a dark chamber from the doorway is a real use. The humanoid form is a decoy that no attentive enemy falls for.

Rating: C-Tier. Light is the better pick unless you specifically want remote illumination.

Mending

Artificer, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard. Touch, V S M (two lodestones), 1 minute cast time.

Repairs a single break or tear no larger than 1 foot in any dimension. It leaves no trace, and it cannot restore magic to a magic item.

The 1-minute casting time keeps it entirely out of combat, which is the point. Broken chain, torn map, cracked lens, damaged rope bridge, snapped key - it removes a whole class of "the object is ruined" problems from the campaign for free. It also quietly undoes evidence of a break-in.

Rating: B-Tier. Underrated by people who evaluate cantrips only in combat.

Druidcraft

Druid. 30 feet, V S.

Predict the weather for 24 hours, make a flower blossom or a seed pod open, create a harmless sensory effect, or light or snuff a small flame.

The Druid's Prestidigitation, and slightly worse at everything except the weather prediction - which is genuinely useful in a wilderness or naval campaign and worthless in a dungeon.

Rating: C-Tier. Flavor with a real use in outdoor campaigns.

Spare the Dying

Artificer, Cleric, Druid. Touch, V S.

Stabilizes a creature at 0 hit points. It does not restore hit points.

Compare it honestly: a party member can stabilize a dying ally with a DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check as an action, and Healing Word does the same job and gets them back up. Spare the Dying's advantage is that it always works and costs no slot - so it is the right call after the fight, not during it, and during the fight you should have cast Healing Word instead.

Note that Tasha's Cauldron of Everything upgraded it to 30 feet for Clerics with the optional Blessed Strikes-era class feature set; check which version your table uses.

Rating: C-Tier. A safety net, not a plan.

Resistance

Artificer, Cleric, Druid. Touch, V S M, concentration up to 1 minute.

The target adds 1d4 to one saving throw of its choice before the spell ends.

Guidance for saving throws, and much worse, because you rarely know which save is coming, and it burns your concentration for a minute to maybe help once. Guidance works because you choose to cast it immediately before a specific check. Resistance almost never gets that timing.

Rating: D-Tier. The trap version of Guidance.

Blade Ward

Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard. Self, V S, 1 round.

Resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from weapon attacks until the end of your next turn.

Halving all incoming weapon damage sounds excellent until you notice it costs your entire action. In practice, using your action to Dodge imposes disadvantage on every attack against you, which is usually the better defensive action, and using your action to end the fight faster is better than both.

Rating: D-Tier. It has a narrow use for a caster who cannot Dodge and cannot escape, and that is a bad place to be.

Thaumaturgy

Cleric. 30 feet, V, up to 1 minute.

Voice booms three times as loud, flames flicker and change color, harmless tremors, an eerie disembodied sound, a door or window flies open or slams shut, or eyes change color. Up to three effects at once.

Pure theater, and theater is what Clerics do. It has no mechanical effect and it wins social encounters - a booming voice while making a demand is worth an advantage on Intimidation at most tables. It cannot open a locked door, only an unlocked one.

Rating: C-Tier. Zero mechanics, real table value.

Encode Thoughts

Wizard (Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica). Self, S, concentration up to 1 minute.

You pull a memory, idea, or message out of your own mind and manifest it as a visible strand of glowing energy in your hand - a thought strand. You can hold it, store it, or hand it to someone else, who can spend an action to experience the encoded thought. If you encode a memory you currently hold, you lose that memory until you re-absorb the strand.

The most narratively distinctive cantrip in the ruleset, and it is very nearly the whole reason to care about the Ravnica spell list. On Ravnica itself it is House Dimir's signature tool: memories become currency, evidence, and contraband. It also has a straightforward practical use anywhere - encode the password before you walk into a place where you might be mind-read, and you genuinely do not know it.

Rating: C-Tier mechanically, A-Tier as a campaign object. Take it if your DM will engage with it.

Control Flames, Gust, Mold Earth, Shape Water

The four Elemental Evil / Xanathar's manipulation cantrips. Each one moves or shapes a small amount of its element within 30 feet: snuffing or expanding a fire, pushing a creature 5 feet or shoving an object, moving a 5-foot cube of dirt, or freezing and shaping a 5-foot cube of water.

Mold Earth is the strongest of the four - a 5-foot cube of excavation per action creates cover, digs a shallow pit, or builds a low wall, repeatedly and for free. Shape Water freezing a 5-foot cube of water is a genuine barrier and can trap a creature's limb at a DM's discretion. Gust and Control Flames are narrower.

Rating: C-Tier as a group, B-Tier for Mold Earth on a caster with time to prepare a battlefield.

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Cantrips by Class

The right pick depends on what your class list contains and what your class already does well.

Wizard

Cantrips known: 3 at level 1, 4 at 4th, 5 at 10th.

Fire Bolt, Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation is the standard opening, and it is standard because it is correct: your damage answer, your creativity answer, and your everything-else answer. Add Mage Hand at 4th and Toll the Dead at 10th if you have Xanathar's - or swap Toll the Dead in for Fire Bolt from the start if you expect a fire-resistant campaign.

A Bladesinger replaces one of these with Booming Blade, which is not optional for that subclass.

Sorcerer

Cantrips known: 4 at level 1, 5 at 4th, 6 at 10th.

More picks than a Wizard and fewer spells known, so the cantrips carry more of the load. Fire Bolt, Ray of Frost, Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation covers two damage types and both utility staples. Add Mage Hand and Message. A Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer whose damage type is fire should take Fire Bolt specifically, since Elemental Affinity adds Charisma to it.

Warlock

Cantrips known: 2 at level 1, 3 at 4th, 4 at 10th.

Eldritch Blast is not a choice, it is the class. The second pick should be utility - Prestidigitation or Minor Illusion - because your damage problem is solved and no other cantrip will out-damage a beam. Mage Hand at 4th.

A Hexblade that intends to fight in melee takes Booming Blade as its second, which is the one case where the utility pick waits.

Cleric

Cantrips known: 3 at level 1, 4 at 4th, 5 at 10th.

Sacred Flame, Guidance, Thaumaturgy if you only have the Player's Handbook. With Xanathar's, Toll the Dead should replace or precede Sacred Flame for raw damage, keeping Sacred Flame for cover-heavy fights. Add Light if the party lacks it, Spare the Dying if the party is fragile, and Word of Radiance on any Cleric who fights in the middle of the enemy line.

Druid

Cantrips known: 2 at level 1, 3 at 4th, 4 at 10th.

Only two picks at level 1, which makes them tight. Shillelagh and Guidance is the strongest opening for a Druid who expects to make weapon attacks; Produce Flame and Guidance for one who does not and wants a light source. Add Thorn Whip at 4th - especially if you plan on Spike Growth - and Mold Earth or Druidcraft at 10th.

Bard

Cantrips known: 2 at level 1, 3 at 4th, 4 at 10th.

Vicious Mockery and Minor Illusion is the default. Bards are the class most likely to be talking their way through the adventure, so Prestidigitation and Message both earn their picks. Bards do not get a strong damage cantrip and should stop trying - your damage comes from spells and Bardic Inspiration makes allies better instead.

Artificer

Cantrips known: 2 at level 1, 3 at 10th, 4 at 14th.

The slowest cantrip progression in the game, so both early picks matter. Fire Bolt and Guidance, or Fire Bolt and Mending on an Artificer who likes fixing things, which is thematically the whole class. Booming Blade on an Armorer or Battle Smith who fights in melee.

Ranger, Paladin, and the martial subclasses

Rangers and Paladins get no cantrips at all in the 2014 rules. Eldritch Knights and Arcane Tricksters get two from the Wizard list at 3rd, and for both the correct answer is usually Booming Blade plus one of Green-Flame Blade, Minor Illusion, or Mage Hand - the Arcane Trickster gets Mage Hand for free as Mage Hand Legerdemain and should not spend a pick on it.

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Getting Cantrips Without Being a Caster

Four feats and a handful of racial traits hand out cantrips, and the rules for each are slightly different in ways that matter.

Magic Initiate gives two cantrips and one 1st-level spell from a single class's list, and it is the most-taken caster feat in the game for exactly this reason. The cantrips use that class's spellcasting ability, so a Fighter taking Magic Initiate (Warlock) casts Eldritch Blast off Charisma whether or not the Fighter has any Charisma. Choose the class whose ability score you actually have. The 1st-level spell is once per long rest, which is a footnote next to the two permanent cantrips.

Spell Sniper grants one attack-roll cantrip, doubles the range of your attack-roll spells, and makes them ignore half and three-quarters cover. It only works with cantrips that require an attack roll, so it does nothing for Sacred Flame or Toll the Dead. On a Warlock it pushes Eldritch Blast to 240 feet, which is beyond most maps.

Ritual Caster grants no cantrips at all despite the name - it is a ritual-spell feat. It is listed here only because people take it expecting cantrips.

Fey Touched and Shadow Touched (Tasha's) grant 1st-level spells, not cantrips, and raise a mental ability score by 1. Again, listed because they are frequently confused with the cantrip feats.

Racial cantrips come with a specified spellcasting ability that is usually Intelligence or Charisma:

The High Elf entry is the one worth building around: any Wizard cantrip, keyed to Intelligence, on a race that already suits Wizards. A High Elf Wizard should generally take Fire Bolt racially and spend the class picks on utility, since both run off the same stat and the effect is simply one extra cantrip.

The Githzerai entry is the odd one - a Wisdom-based Mage Hand is functionally identical to any other Mage Hand, because Mage Hand never rolls anything.

Note what is not on this list. Air Genasi, Earth Genasi and Aarakocra all get once-per-day 1st-level spells from the Elemental Evil Player's Companion (Levitate, Pass Without Trace and Gust of Wind respectively), not cantrips, and they are routinely miscounted as cantrip races.

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Ranked Summary

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Cantrip Traps

Five mistakes that show up over and over.

Taking three damage cantrips. Two is already one more than most characters need. The third pick should be solving a problem that damage does not solve.

Taking True Strike. Covered above. It is never correct.

Ignoring damage type. A caster whose only damage cantrip is Fire Bolt has nothing to do against a fire elemental. A caster whose only damage cantrip is Poison Spray has nothing to do against most of the Monster Manual.

Spending a pick on a racial cantrip you already get. High Elf, Drow, Tiefling, Forest Gnome, Aarakocra and several others grant a cantrip for free. Check the racial grant before you spend the class pick, and note that racial cantrips use the ability score the race specifies, not your class's spellcasting ability - which sometimes makes the free version worse and sometimes makes it a second, independent attack stat.

Assuming cantrips scale with class level. They scale on total character level. Any multiclass build should count again.

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Hot Take: Guidance is a better cantrip than Fire Bolt. Fire Bolt makes your worst combat turns slightly less bad. Guidance changes the outcome of the skill checks that decide whether there is a fight at all - and it does that on every single check the party makes, all day, forever. The only reason it does not top every list is that it is boring to talk about.

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Related Guides

• 1st-Level Spells - the first spells you spend a slot on.
• 2nd-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.

Ready to put a caster to the test? Find a D&D 5e game on The Role Players Guild and see how your cantrip picks hold up across a real campaign.