Introduction
The Ranger in Tales of the Valiant is a martial combatant with just enough magic to change the shape of a fight. Rangers draw from the Primordial spell list, the same source as Druids, but they know only the spells they have learned instead of preparing from the full eligible list. You start with 2 at 2nd level and build to 11 known spells at 20th level.
WIS is your casting stat. This dovetails perfectly with the Ranger's non-magical strengths: Animal Handling, Survival, Perception, and Insight are all WIS-based. A Ranger who invests in WIS is getting returns across martial and magical operations simultaneously.
The defining constraint of Ranger spellcasting is scarcity. No cantrips. No rituals. No short-rest recovery. Every spell slot must count. The Primordial list is rich with excellent combat-control and exploration spells. The challenge is picking the eleven spells that make your specific ranger the most effective. The Ranger who learns pass without trace and conjure animals has reshaped how their party approaches every dungeon. The Ranger who picks fog cloud and animal friendship has wasted that window.
The Old Margreve is a major upgrade for Rangers because it adds spells that feel written for the class's actual job: find the prey, get the party into position, keep the target from escaping, and end the hunt. Not every Old Margreve option is worth one of your known spells, but the best ones make the Ranger feel much less like a Druid with fewer slots and much more like a supernatural hunter.
The Labyrinth Worldbook expands Rangers in a different direction: camouflage, portals, metal manipulation, disorienting movement, martial fury, mental protection, burrowing attacks, cold lockdown, and giant vine control. The best options are not generic Druid picks; they are the ones that make a Ranger harder to catch, better at setting an ambush, or nastier once the terrain is already under control.
Player's Guide 2 gives Rangers more clean martial-magic glue: a smaller summon before Conjure Animals, a bonus-action ranged attack multiplier, Beast-flavored buffs, anti-caster lockdown, party flight, and mud-pit terrain control. The joke is that "more arrows" and "the ground eats you" are both sophisticated tactical doctrines if you say them with enough Wisdom.
How to Use This Guide
Spells are rated using a four-color system for the Ranger specifically. A spell that's blue for a Druid might be orange here because of the slot scarcity and limited known spell count. Ratings assume a typical adventuring day with 2–4 encounters.
- ● Red — Bad. Do not learn this.
- ● Orange — Situational. There are better uses of a spell slot.
- ● Green — Good. A reliable pick that earns its slot.
- ● Blue — Fantastic. Learn this and never replace it.
Cantrips
Rangers do not have cantrips by default. The Path of the Sage Heroic Boon at 10th level unlocks two Primordial cantrips of your choice. If you take that boon, prioritize:
Shillelagh ●: Turns a club or quarterstaff into a WIS-based weapon. If you ever go melee, this lets your weapon key off the same stat as your spells. A niche but clean pickup.
Produce Flame ●: Ranged fire damage cantrip. Gives you something to do when spell slots are spent. Better than nothing; not better than your longbow.
Druidcraft ●: Utility cantrip with minor weather prediction and nature-flavored tricks. Fun roleplaying tool, limited mechanical value.
Tree Heal (The Old Margreve) ●: Heal a plant or Plant creature for 1d4 HP, cure one plant disease, or remove pests. Flavorful for forest campaigns and unusually on-theme for Margreve play, but it is too narrow unless your table regularly treats plants as adventure assets.
Corrosion (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●: Object sabotage and slow material damage. Rangers can make clever use of it on locks, hinges, armor fittings, and dungeon hardware, but Path of the Sage cantrip picks are too rare to spend on a tool this narrow.
Crimson Forge (Labyrinth Worldbook / Player's Guide 2) ●: Creates blood-forged weapons or tools in a pinch. The image is excellent, but a Ranger already carries weapons and should not spend a rare cantrip pick on emergency gear unless the campaign constantly strips equipment.
Doorbind (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●: Seals or interferes with a door, lid, hatch, or similar closure. Useful in chases and retreats, but too situational for most Rangers unless the table plays a lot of dungeon-room tactics.
Electric Jolt (Player's Guide 2) ●: Ranged lightning cantrip with a metal-target accuracy boost. Path of the Sage Rangers who want a spell attack can do much worse, especially in armor-heavy campaigns.
Hoarfrost (Player's Guide 2) ●: Cold control cantrip for slowing or punishing movement. It is not a bow replacement, but Rangers care about enemy speed more than most classes.
Invigorate (Player's Guide 2) ●: Temporary HP for a wounded ally. Useful, but Path of the Sage cantrip picks are scarce and Rangers already strain to cover damage, scouting, and control.
Moonfang Strike (Player's Guide 2) ●: Make a ranged weapon attack as part of the cantrip and punish the target if it spends its reaction. This is the PG2 cantrip Rangers actually read twice, because it lets "I shoot it" remain the plan.
Upright (Player's Guide 2) ●: Bonus-action stand-up help for an ally, with a small anti-control rider if they were already standing. Good table-saving utility, but narrow for one of two Path of the Sage picks.
Poison Spray ●: 10-foot range. You are a ranged striker. This is never the right play.
1st Circle Spells
Rangers learn their first spells at 2nd level. These early picks do enormous work; you will carry them for most of your career.
Animal Friendship ●: Charms a Beast for 24 hours if it fails a WIS save. Wonderful out of combat, useless against anything with INT 4+. Do not use a spell slot on this unless your campaign is heavily wilderness-exploration-focused.
Bloodhound (The Old Margreve / Player's Guide 2) ●: Long-duration tracking magic for a Beast or Animal-tag creature, using your spellcasting strength to make the trail stick and helping the party avoid being surprised while near the tracker. This is exactly the kind of pursuit spell Rangers want in wilderness and bounty-hunting campaigns.
Blend (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●: Touch-range camouflage that makes a still target much harder to spot. This is not invisibility, but it is excellent for watch posts, sniper nests, ambush starts, and hiding a wounded ally. It falls off once the target needs to move.
Burning Hands ●: 3d6 fire in a 15-foot cone. Rangers are not blasters. Your slot economy does not support area damage that ignores Mystic Mark. Skip unless you desperately need AoE at low levels.
Cobra Fangs (The Old Margreve) ●: Gives a touched creature a STR-based bite with poison rider damage. Funny on the right Beast, monster ally, or strange melee build; awkward on the normal archer Ranger who does not want to spend actions biting people.
Create or Destroy Water ●: Creates or destroys 10 gallons of water. Almost never relevant. Leave it on the shelf.
Cure Wounds ●: Touch-range healing that averages 5 HP at 1st level. Rangers are not healers. In a party without any healer this bumps to green. With any dedicated healer, skip it.
Cure Beast (The Old Margreve) ●: Bonus-action healing for a Beast within 60 feet. Pack Masters, Beast-heavy parties, mounted Rangers, and conjure-animal tables get real value here. Hunter Rangers without a Beast package can leave it behind.
Elemental Burst (Player's Guide 2) ●: Small-radius selectable elemental damage. Flexible damage types are nice, but Rangers are still not built to spend known spells on modest blast templates.
Entangle ●: 20-foot square of difficult terrain that restrains targets who fail a STR save. Concentration, 1 minute. Restrained enemies give your party advantage on attack rolls. This is your best 1st-circle aggressive option: it enables Mystic Mark damage to accelerate, sets up pack-based finishing, and costs only a 1st-circle slot. Learn this.
Expeditious Retreat ●: Bonus action Dash for up to 10 minutes. Concentration. Rangers are skirmishers. This spell lets you hit-and-run across an entire encounter, stay out of melee, and never provoke opportunity attacks while repositioning. Strong early, fades late.
Feather Fall ●: Reaction, 60-foot range, stops fall damage. Very strong when you need it, dead weight the other 95% of sessions. Consider only in campaigns with lots of vertical terrain.
Feed the Forest (The Old Margreve) ●: Negates the Margreve Forest's penalty to your spell attacks and spell save DCs for 1 hour. Essential in the specific environment it names, nearly blank everywhere else. Learn it only if the campaign is actually spending serious time in the Margreve.
Feed the Worms (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●: Corpse-and-vermin magic with grim battlefield utility. It is more of a necromantic set piece than a Ranger known spell, and it does not beat Entangle, Goodberry, Blend, or Pass Without Trace setup play.
Fire Under the Tongue ●: Eat fire and store it to launch as a breath weapon. Clever flavor, low output. The action economy cost to "load" it first is painful.
Fog Cloud ●: 20-foot radius heavily obscured sphere. Concentration. Cuts off enemy visibility in a tight corridor or around a target, effectively blinding them. Excellent for disengaging a trapped party or setting up your own ranged attacks from the fog edge where you have darkvision or keensense.
Forest Native (The Old Margreve) ●: In a forest, a touched creature ignores natural-vegetation difficult terrain and gains advantage on saves against environmental hazards. This is campaign-dependent, but in a forest crawl it is clean mobility and survival tech.
Goodberry ●: Ten berries, each heals 1 HP and provides a day's nourishment. The nourishment clause is underrated in resource-tight wilderness campaigns. Ten berries for one slot is impressive healing efficiency over time, even if 1 HP per berry is humble in a fight.
Hunter's Endurance (The Old Margreve) ●: 24 hours of advantage to find and track a named quarry, with hunt-related exhaustion suspended until the spell ends. This is a serious pursuit spell, but the geas-like compulsion and delayed exhaustion mean you should cast it when the hunt matters, not as routine exploration filler.
Illuminate Spoor (The Old Margreve) ●: Makes one creature's tracks glow for you and three allies, granting automatic success or advantage to follow them depending on concealment. It is concentration, but it turns a tracking scene from "roll and hope" into a solved problem.
Longstrider ●: +10 ft speed for 1 hour, no concentration. Lasts long enough to cover exploration and combat. For a skirmisher, extra movement is never wasted. Great opening buff before a known encounter.
Lesser Conjure Animals (Player's Guide 2) ●: A 1st-circle mini-summon package for Fey Beasts. It is weaker than Conjure Animals, obviously, but it comes online early and scratches the "I brought backup" itch with fewer bookkeeping crimes. Use the Monster Vault Animal Allies and Summons Guide when you need summon targets.
Mud Pack (The Old Margreve, Ritual) ●: Protects a target from temperature hazards and grants slow-travel Stealth advantage in matching terrain. Rangers do not get rituals by default, so this is only practical through Path of the Sage or another ritual source. With ritual access in a harsh wilderness campaign, bump it to green.
Scentless (The Old Margreve) ●: Removes a willing creature or object's odor for 1 hour, imposing disadvantage on smell-based Perception and Survival checks and defeating smell-only senses. Great anti-predator, anti-hound, and anti-tracker tech.
Seed Bolt (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●: Turns a plant into a repeatable thorn launcher while you concentrate and spend actions. It is flavorful ambush artillery if the battlefield has plants in the right places, but Rangers usually get more from Entangle, Spike Growth, or just shooting twice.
Speak with Animals ●: 10 minutes of Beast communication. Useful in investigations and scouting situations; irrelevant in most combats. Pack Masters should consider it. Hunter subclass can leave it.
Step Like Me (The Old Margreve) ●: Swaps the tracks you leave with another creature's and fools tremorsense identification. Clever, weird, and very table-dependent. Great for a spy Ranger; too narrow for most known-spell lists.
Thunderwave ●: 15-foot cube pushes and damages. You are a ranged class. You should never be in melee range for this to help you. Orange for most builds; red for pure archers.
Tree Speak (The Old Margreve) ●: Ask one tree a question about what happened nearby and receive sensory impressions. In forest investigations this is better than Speak with Animals because trees witnessed the scene and did not wander off. Outside tree-heavy adventures, it drops to orange.
Volley (Player's Guide 2) ●: Bonus-action touch spell that doubles a ranged attack with a second missile, scaling into more missiles when upcast. This is not subtle. It is also exactly what archery Rangers wanted: more arrows, less speech.
2nd Circle Spells
Your first access to 2nd-circle slots comes at 5th level alongside Multiattack. These spells define your mid-game.
Alter Self ●: Transform your appearance or grow natural weapons. Concentration, 1 hour. The aquatic adaptation option is excellent in water-heavy campaigns. Generally too slot-expensive for limited returns.
Barkskin ●: AC cannot be less than 16 for up to 1 hour. Concentration. Excellent on Beast Spirit companions (Pack Masters) or on an ally without armor. On yourself, only relevant if you are in leather armor without DEX 18+.
Bestial Fury (The Old Margreve) ●: Forces a creature into natural-weapon or unarmed attacks, adds 1d6 damage, and blocks charm/frightened. This is green for Pack Masters or parties with natural-weapon allies; otherwise it is too build-specific for a Ranger known spell.
Bleating Call (The Old Margreve) ●: Creates an illusory sound that lures nearby creatures toward it until they investigate or take friendly damage. Excellent ambush setup, poor combat payoff, and blocked by charm immunity.
Bombardment of Stings (The Old Margreve) ●: 30-foot cone for 4d6 piercing plus poisoned on a failed DEX save. Better rider than most low-circle blasts, but Rangers still should not spend precious known spells on short-range cone damage unless the party badly lacks AoE.
Darkvision ●: 60-foot darkvision for 8 hours, no concentration. Not exciting, but darkvision changes what your party can do in darkness-heavy dungeons. One cast before a dungeon delve covers the whole environment.
Enhance Ability ●: Advantage on all checks using one ability score for 1 hour. Concentration. Eagle's Splendor (CHA) is useless. Bear's Endurance (CON) helps concentration checks. Owl's Wisdom (WIS) boosts your already-strong WIS skills. Flexible slot that earns its place.
Enlarge/Reduce ●: Enlarge makes an ally deal extra 1d4 damage. Reduce shrinks a foe for disadvantage on STR checks. Concentration. Decent but competing with pass without trace and spike growth for your best concentration option.
Flaming Sphere ●: Bonus action movement, 2d6 fire to adjacent creatures. Concentration. Mediocre damage, awkward positioning requirements. Druids love it; Rangers have better things to do with a 2nd-circle slot.
Gust of Wind ●: 60-foot line of wind that halves movement and extinguishes flames. Concentration. Too situational for Rangers' small spell pool.
Heat Metal ●: Concentration, deals 2d8 fire per round and imposes disadvantage on attacks/checks while touching it. Bonus action to redeal damage. Against armored targets, this is sustained free damage that costs only one spell slot. Excellent in melee-adjacent ranger builds or when the Pack Master's beast spirit can keep pressure on.
Healing Malediction (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●: Stops or punishes healing on a target. This is real boss tech against priests, regenerators, and rival adventurers, but it is too narrow for a normal Ranger known spell unless the campaign keeps putting healers across the table.
Earthen Tomb (Player's Guide 2) ●: Restrains a target in hardening earth and keeps squeezing. This is what happens when Entangle stops asking plants for permission. Great against ground-bound brutes and anyone your archers want held still.
Instant Snare (The Old Margreve) ●: Creates a magical trap that can hang a Large or smaller creature restrained upside down for up to 1 minute, with a mental alert if it triggers within 1 mile. This is the Ranger ambush spell: set the trap, hide under Pass Without Trace, and make the first round ugly.
Inter (Player's Guide 2) ●: Battlefield burial and extraction utility. It is campaign- and terrain-dependent, but Rangers who fight around dirt, ruins, graves, and ambush sites can turn it into control, concealment, or a very rude rescue plan.
Magnetize (Labyrinth Worldbook / Player's Guide 2) ●: Metal manipulation for weapons, armor, bars, and environmental hardware. It can win a clever scene, but the value depends heavily on what the GM puts in the room. Great scroll spell, shaky known spell.
Mark Prey (The Old Margreve) ●: Bonus-action concentration mark for 1 hour. You gain advantage to find and track the target, your attacks against it have advantage if you can see it, and it cannot benefit from invisibility against you. It competes with Pass Without Trace and Spike Growth, but the payoff against one priority target is absurd.
Misdirect (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●: Scrambles enemy movement, can knock the target prone, and can lock its speed down while you sustain the effect. Rangers care deeply about where enemies stand; a spell that turns movement into a liability pairs beautifully with Spike Growth, snares, and ranged kiting.
Moonbeam ●: 5-foot radius beam of radiant, 2d10 on failed save each round. Concentration, can be moved each turn. Radiant is rarely resisted, good against undead and lycanthropes. Reliable 2nd-circle damage sustain.
Pass Without Trace ●: +10 to Stealth checks and no tracks for the entire party. Concentration, 1 hour. This is the most valuable 2nd-circle slot in the game. It transforms group exploration, enables ambushes, lets your whole party stay invisible to patrols. Learn this at 5th level and never replace it.
Perceive Vulnerability (Player's Guide 2) ●: Exposes an enemy's weak point for crit-fishing and focus-fire parties. It is best when the Ranger has allies who can capitalize immediately, especially martial-heavy groups with Martial Talents.
Protection from Poison ●: Neutralizes poison and grants advantage vs. poison effects. Situational. Consider if your campaign features poison-heavy enemies.
Quill Growth (Player's Guide 2) ●: Punishes creatures that touch or grapple the target. Green for Pack Masters, mounted play, and melee allies who get swarmed; orange for archers who never want the enemy close enough to admire the spikes.
Restoration ●: Remove one disease, condition (blinded, deafened, paralyzed, poisoned), or reduce exhaustion. No concentration. Rangers without a Cleric or Paladin will want this in the pool as a condition emergency-response tool.
Spider Climb ●: Climb on any surface for 1 hour. Concentration. Useful in vertical dungeons; wasted in flat terrain. Too campaign-dependent for a small spell pool.
Spike Growth ●: 20-foot radius of difficult terrain and 2d4 piercing per 5 feet moved through. Concentration, 10 minutes. No save to enter; any enemy moving through it takes damage. This spell enables your ranged platform: force enemies to move through it to get to you, deal 4d4–8d4 damage for free each round, and make them reach you exhausted. The synergy with kiting and Mystic Mark is extraordinary. Learn this.
Spore Surge (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●: A close-range cone of fungal punishment that can slow a group. It is green for melee Rangers or Pack Masters who regularly fight near the front line, but archers should not spend precious known-spell space on a self-originating cone.
Thunderburst (Player's Guide 2) ●: Small thunder burst that pushes creatures away. The damage is modest, but forced movement is real value when Spike Growth, cliffs, snares, and ranged firing lines are already part of your personality.
Wildsense ●: Perceive through a Beast's senses. 10-minute duration. Exceptional scouting tool: send a bird ahead, see through its eyes, map the dungeon room before you enter. Underrated on Rangers; essential for Pack Masters.
3rd Circle Spells
Rangers access 3rd-circle slots at 9th level. These are your heavy-hitters.
Animal Aspect (Player's Guide 2) ●: Touch buff with beastlike modes: keensense, movement, AC, venom, wings, or a utility tail. This is flexible Ranger identity in one spell, and the wings option alone makes it worth testing.
Aqueous Form (Player's Guide 2) ●: Turn a willing creature into a slow, watery infiltration form with defensive benefits. Clever for scouting and escapes; awkward in a fight because the target cannot attack or cast.
Call Lightning ●: 100-foot range lightning bolt, 3d10 or 4d10 outdoors, repeatable while you maintain the spell. Concentration, 10 minutes. Impressive sustained damage but requires outdoor or open environments for maximum effect. Rangers often fight in both; the limitation is too significant for a guaranteed pick.
Conjure Animals ●: Summon CR 2 or lower Beasts to fight for you. At 3rd circle, this is typically 2 CR 1 or 4 CR 1/2 beasts. Concentration, 1 hour. Having additional creatures on the field grants your party action economy advantages that no other 3rd-circle slot can match. Pack Masters in particular want this to extend the theme of their build. For source-labeled summon targets, use the Monster Vault Animal Allies and Summons Guide. Learn it.
Create Food and Water ●: 45 lbs. of food and 30 gallons of water. Too niche for a known spell slot. Goodberry handles nourishment with more flexibility.
Cynophobia (The Old Margreve) ●: Makes a target fear canids for 8 hours and suffer disadvantage while canids are close. Strong if your Pack Master, party, or campaign leans on wolves and hounds; too specific otherwise.
Daylight ●: 60-foot radius daylight sphere. Strong against undead and creatures with Sunlight Sensitivity. Situational but potent in specific campaigns.
Fly ●: 60 ft. flying speed for 10 minutes. Concentration. Rangers are mobile attackers, and flight lets you perch entirely out of melee reach, attack from above, and use ranged weapons with impunity. In any encounter with flying enemies or vertical terrain, this is worth every slot. Learn it when your campaign goes skyward.
Electrify Metal (Player's Guide 2) ●: Punish a metal object, weapon, or armor with lightning and possible drop/stun pressure. It is narrow, but when the villain wears plate or clutches a signature weapon, the spell does not politely ask if they have feelings.
Forceful Courser (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●: Sends spectral beasts tearing across the field for force damage and prone pressure. The big selling point is that it does its work immediately without demanding your concentration afterward. Very Ranger-shaped: fast, violent, and positional.
Gaseous Form ●: Ally becomes incorporeal gas. Concentration. Good for infiltration or escape; too passive for combat purposes. Rangers want aggressive mobility, not defensive passivity.
Legion of Rabid Squirrels (The Old Margreve) ●: Forest-only summon that uses a swarm profile and distracts canids. It is funny, occasionally useful, and much weaker as a general pick than Conjure Animals. Green only in a very forest-heavy campaign.
Meld into Stone ●: Merge into stone for up to 8 hours. Excellent hiding option, useless in combat. Very campaign-specific.
Monstrous Empathy (The Old Margreve) ●: Charms a low-INT Monstrosity for 24 hours unless your party harms it. This is Animal Friendship for weirder creatures. Great when it applies, dead when it does not.
Plant Growth ●: Instantly transforms terrain in a 100-foot radius into difficult terrain (3× movement cost). No concentration, no save, instantaneous. Perfect for holding a chokepoint, slowing a pursuing army, or turning a battle terrain to your advantage. The non-combat version (cast over 8 hours) enriches crop fields, useful in downtime.
Protection from Energy ●: Resistance to one damage type for 1 hour. Concentration. Pre-fight insurance against a known threat. When you know a dragon breathes fire or a storm giant throws lightning, this spell halves all incoming damage of that type. High value in boss fights.
Putrescent Faerie Circle (The Old Margreve) ●: Creates a 20-foot ring of poisonous fungi that damages creatures inside and can poison/paralyze creatures crossing it. This is a nasty terrain-control spell for choke points, forced movement, and "do not follow us" retreats.
Sleet Storm ●: 40-foot radius cylinder of freezing rain. Difficult terrain, DEX save or prone, concentration checks for casters caught in it. Concentration, 1 minute. Area denial that also disrupts enemy spellcasters. Solid crowd control in open environments.
Speak with Plants ●: Talk to plants for 10 minutes. They animate to impede enemies if you ask. Situational but flavorful. Too narrow for a limited spell pool.
Stir Fury (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●: Touch a melee attacker and make their hits roll an extra weapon die. This is not an archer self-buff; it is a Beast Spirit, Barbarian, Fighter, or melee Ranger damage engine. If your party has a reliable frontliner, this can outperform another control spell.
Structured Mind (Labyrinth Worldbook / Player's Guide 2) ●: Eight-hour mental defense against psychic pressure, fear, charm, stun, and illusion play. This is exactly the kind of pre-boss spell Rangers like: cast it before the lair, keep concentration free, and punish mind-game encounters.
Tracer (The Old Margreve) ●: Imbues your ranged ammunition with an invisible tracking beacon for 8 hours. If the shot lands, your weapon warms when pointed toward the target on the same plane. This is perfect Ranger fiction and strong pursuit tech, though less immediately lethal than Mark Prey.
Virulent Nightmare (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●: Psychic chain damage that can punish clustered enemies. It is better than most Ranger blasting because the damage type is useful, but it still competes with Conjure Animals, Fly, Plant Growth, Forceful Courser, and Structured Mind.
Veil of Waves (Player's Guide 2) ●: Self-protection with cold/fire resistance, poison protection, water breathing, and swim speed. It is campaign-dependent, but in aquatic, volcanic, or poison-heavy arcs it earns the slot cleanly.
Water Breathing ●: Party breathes underwater for 24 hours. Essential in aquatic campaigns; useless in most others.
Wind Wall ●: 50-foot wall of wind blocks ranged attacks and pushes creatures. Concentration. Useful defensive tool in open environments. Competing with better options.
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Start Building4th Circle Spells
Rangers access 4th-circle slots at 13th level. You only ever know 1–2 spells at this tier.
Amorphous Form (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●: Ooze-like transformation and escape utility. It is clever infiltration tech, but Rangers usually want Polymorph, Heart-Seeking Arrow, Ice Storm, or Burrow Striker from this tier.
Blight ●: 8d8 necrotic, halved on save. No concentration. Strong burst damage against plants (no save, maximum damage). Solid option when your party needs a single-target nuke. Ranger's best raw damage spell at this level.
Burrow Striker (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●: Gives you a burrowing skirmisher pattern through earth, sand, mud, or ice, then rewards you for erupting into an attack. The terrain requirement matters, but when it is online, this is exactly the kind of movement-and-ambush spell Rangers should want.
Acid Rain (Player's Guide 2) ●: Mobile acid storm that damages creatures below it and can be moved as a bonus action. It is more Druid than Ranger in feel, but sustained area denial is sustained area denial.
Burning Pitch (Player's Guide 2) ●: Sticky fire control. Fine when the party needs fire zones, but it is fighting Polymorph, Heart-Seeking Arrow, Ice Storm, and Burrow Striker for a slot.
Conjure Woodland Beings ●: Summon Fey creatures (CR 2 or lower). Similar to Conjure Animals but for Fey. More variable in availability of stat blocks, but the action economy value is the same. Pick this or Conjure Animals, not both.
Control Water ●: Move water in a 100-foot cube: flood, part, redirect, or whirlpool. Concentration. Cinematic and powerful in water-adjacent encounters; irrelevant otherwise.
Giant Insect ●: Enlarge 10 insects, 3 spiders, or 1 giant scorpion into combat-ready forms. Concentration. The damage output does not justify a 4th-circle slot compared to Polymorph.
Heart-Seeking Arrow (The Old Margreve) ●: Bonus-action concentration spell that empowers your next ranged or thrown weapon attack with +6d6 weapon-type damage on a hit, or half on a miss. This is expensive but very Ranger-shaped: a boss-finisher that still gives you something when the attack roll betrays you.
Freeze Metal (Player's Guide 2) ●: Cold punishment for metal weapons, armor, and objects. It is narrower than Heat Metal, but the anti-gear angle is excellent when armored enemies are common.
Fey Song (Player's Guide 2) ●: Enchantment-style Fey pressure. Good flavor, but Rangers usually want this tier to solve positioning, flight, transformation, or damage.
Hunting Stand (The Old Margreve, Ritual) ●: Creates a camouflaged, comfortable 10-foot cube shelter for up to nine Medium creatures for 8 hours. Rangers need ritual access to use it, but Path of the Sage Rangers in wilderness campaigns should consider it a strong safe-rest and ambush tool.
Ice Storm ●: 20-foot radius, 2d8 bludgeoning + 4d6 cold, difficult terrain left behind. No concentration. Solid AoE burst that leaves the field slowed. Rangers rarely have AoE, making this meaningful when you need it.
Looping Trail (The Old Margreve, Ritual) ●: Turns a trail up to 1 mile long into a subtle loop for 8 hours. It is not a normal Ranger pick because it is a ritual, but it is excellent campaign tech for losing pursuers, protecting a camp, or making hostile terrain feel mythic.
Polymorph ●: Transform a willing or unwilling creature into a Beast with CR ≤ 9. Concentration, 1 hour. Turn your frontliner into a huge Beast. Turn the boss into a harmless animal. Turn yourself into a melee disaster with fur. Polymorph is one of the most powerful concentration spells in the game. Rangers who take it get real battlefield transformation at the cost of their concentration slot.
Stone Shape ●: Shape a medium-sized or smaller piece of stone. Brilliant utility in dungeon environments; useless otherwise.
Stoneskin ●: Resistance to all nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. Concentration, 1 hour. Expensive material component (100 gp diamond, consumed). On a Fighter or Barbarian ally, this halves all mundane weapon damage. Fantastic in the right fight, painful to maintain the gem supply.
Storm of Wings (The Old Margreve) ●: Creates a movable 15-foot-radius storm of bats, birds, or insects. The modes offer necrotic speed control, slashing attack disadvantage, or poison plus spellcasting disruption. Concentration competition is brutal at 4th circle, but this is flexible area harassment.
Tree Thump (Player's Guide 2) ●: Animate a tree for one big knockback hit. Wonderful in forests, weaker when the map refuses to provide a tree because architecture has no respect for your build.
Wall of Fire ●: 60-foot wall of fire, 5d8 fire to those who enter or start their turn in it. Concentration. Area denial that channels enemy movement. Rangers excel at creating dangerous terrain, and wall of fire is a companion to spike growth in that toolkit.
5th Circle Spells
Rangers access 5th-circle slots at 17th level. You may only ever know 1 spell at this tier.
Antilife Shell ●: 10-foot radius barrier prevents living creatures from entering. Concentration, 1 hour. In the right fight (a horde of enemies, a closing mob), this is a free bubble of safety. Useless against undead, constructs, or ranged attackers.
Awaken ●: Make a Beast or Plant sentient with INT 10. Requires 8 hours and 1,000 gp of rare herbs. Too expensive and slow for combat use. Roleplaying gem but not a spell slot pick.
Commune with Nature ●: Learn three facts about the surrounding land within a 3-mile radius. No concentration. Perfect pre-mission intelligence: enemies, hazards, terrain, from a 5th-circle divination that gives you perfect scouting. The information advantage is real.
Conjure Fey Hound (The Old Margreve) ●: Summons one hound of the night, two winter wolves, or four dire wolves for up to 1 hour. This is a cleaner thematic fit than many Ranger summons and can flood the field with Pack Master-friendly pressure.
Cone of Cold ●: 8d8 cold in a 60-foot cone. No concentration. Rangers rarely need blasting, but when the moment calls for it, this is the highest raw damage you can deal. Good pick if your party lacks AoE finishers.
Empty Rain (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●: A hostile rain effect for area pressure and attrition. Rangers like spells that make a zone expensive to cross, and this fits that job better than most late-circle blasts, though it still competes with your one precious 5th-circle known spell.
Earthen Mantle (Player's Guide 2) ●: Self-buff with earthen AC, acid immunity, and burrowing movement through natural earth and stone. Good for strange ambush builds, but most Rangers want their 5th-circle slot to affect more than themselves.
Feathered Flock (Player's Guide 2) ●: Give up to five creatures wings and a 30-foot fly speed. This makes the floor optional for the whole party, which is rude to encounter design and very efficient. If your party lacks mass flight, this can be your best 5th-circle pick.
Flash Freeze (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●: Cold burst plus restraint through ice. Rangers do not need many damage spells, but a 5th-circle option that both hurts and locks targets in place is worth serious consideration if your party lacks high-end disables.
Harrying Hounds (The Old Margreve) ●: Pushes affected creatures to travel away from a chosen direction for 8 hours and frightens them from that direction when not traveling. Excellent strategic routing spell, weak in direct combat because the effect suspends during combat.
Insect Plague ●: 20-foot radius sphere deals 4d10 piercing each round on failed CON save. Concentration, 10 minutes. The sphere persists and moves as the insects swarm, creating ongoing area denial. Excellent sustained zone control; pair it with spike growth for a layered killing field.
Killing Fields (The Old Margreve, Ritual) ●: Turns a 100-foot cube of natural terrain into a hunting preserve where chosen creatures gain tracking, stealth, pack-attack, and once-per-turn weapon damage benefits against hindered creatures. It is too ritual-gated for most Rangers, but with Path of the Sage it becomes excellent lair and ambush prep.
Primal Infusion (The Old Margreve) ●: Self-buff for 1 minute: 30 temporary HP, +2 AC, CON save proficiency, advantage on attacks when an ally is adjacent to the target, and +1d10 weapon damage on hits. This is one of the best Ranger capstone-tier combat buffs in The Old Margreve.
Reincarnate ●: Resurrect a dead Humanoid in a new random body. Campaign-defining in the right context; useless when Raise Dead exists in the party.
Snapping Snare (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●: Creates a massive vine that grapples, crushes, flings, and smashes enemies while acting like a real battlefield object. This is the Labyrinth Worldbook spell that can actually compete with Primal Infusion for a Ranger's only 5th-circle pick because it changes the whole fight instead of just dealing damage.
Sucking Mud Pit (Player's Guide 2) ●: Turns a 20-foot-radius patch of ground into progressive quicksand: restrained, then unable to attack, then suffocating. This is the PG2 Ranger spell for people who understand terrain is a weapon and patience is a damage type.
Yarila and Porevit's Mantle (The Old Margreve) ●: A 1-hour plantlike transformation that helps with sunlight healing, exhaustion, nourishment, and vegetation stealth. Beautiful survival magic, but a hard sell as your only 5th-circle known spell unless the campaign is deeply wilderness-focused.
6th–9th Circle Spells
Rangers cap at 5th circle. They do not access 6th-circle or higher spells from the Ranger class directly. Player's Guide 2 adds high-circle Primordial spells such as Cleave Chasm, Conjure Giant, Earth Clash, Geyser Surge, Hostile Environment, Nacreous Shell, Overgrowth, Sun Cycle, and Wreath of Flames, but Rangers will not cast those through their class. If you want higher-circle Primordial magic, multiclass into Druid.
The Old Margreve adds Conjure Forest Defender (The Old Margreve) at 6th circle and Forest Sanctuary (The Old Margreve) at 9th circle as Primordial rituals. They are powerful forest magic, but they are not practical Ranger spells without exceptional ritual access, multiclassing, or GM-granted story magic.
The Labyrinth Worldbook and Player's Guide 2 add higher-circle Primordial rituals and world-scale nature spells, but Rangers only reach them through multiclassing, story access, or unusual ritual permission. Path of the Sage Rangers should instead look at lower-circle rituals such as Discern Portals and Gates, Ancestral Whispers, Cobblecraft, Animal Spy, Appease Local Spirits, Butterfly Spies, Healing Sleep, Spirit Beast Elixir, Dreamspan, Eutierrian Walk, and Grassland Stride when the campaign rewards travel, scouting, portals, or prepared terrain.
Top 10 Ranger Spells
| Spell | Circle | Why It's Essential |
|---|---|---|
| Pass Without Trace | 2nd | +10 Stealth for the whole party is a campaign-changer |
| Spike Growth | 2nd | Forces enemies to take damage just to reach you — perfect for kiting builds |
| Entangle | 1st | Cheapest reliable restraint on the Primordial list; enables advantage for everyone |
| Conjure Animals | 3rd | Action economy multiplication through summoned creatures |
| Polymorph | 4th | Transform allies into monsters or neutralize key enemies |
| Fly | 3rd | Turns you into an untouchable aerial platform |
| Plant Growth | 3rd | No-save, no-concentration terrain denial in a 100-foot radius |
| Heat Metal | 2nd | Sustained damage and disadvantage on armored targets; free each round |
| Blight | 4th | Your best single-target burst damage option |
| Goodberry | 1st | Ten HP of healing and a day of sustenance for one 1st-circle slot |
Best Old Margreve Ranger Picks
| Spell | Circle | Best Use |
|---|---|---|
| Mark Prey (The Old Margreve) ● | 2nd | Advantage, anti-invisibility, and tracking against one priority target |
| Primal Infusion (The Old Margreve) ● | 5th | Late-game self-buff for weapon damage, AC, temp HP, and concentration |
| Instant Snare (The Old Margreve) ● | 2nd | Ambush traps, camp defense, and restrained opener setups |
| Heart-Seeking Arrow (The Old Margreve) ● | 4th | Ranged finisher that still deals half bonus damage on a miss |
| Bloodhound (The Old Margreve) ● | 1st | Long-duration scent and tracking package |
| Illuminate Spoor (The Old Margreve) ● | 1st | Turns visible tracks into near-certain pursuit |
| Scentless (The Old Margreve) ● | 1st | Beats scent trackers, hounds, and smell-only senses |
| Tracer (The Old Margreve) ● | 3rd | Tags a fleeing target with an 8-hour beacon |
| Conjure Fey Hound (The Old Margreve) ● | 5th | Summoned hunting pack for action economy and theme |
| Killing Fields (The Old Margreve, Ritual) ● | 5th | Strong ambush terrain if you have ritual access |
Best Labyrinth Worldbook Ranger Picks
| Spell | Circle | Best Use |
|---|---|---|
| Snapping Snare (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● | 5th | Giant vine control that grapples, crushes, flings, and zones |
| Blend (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● | 1st | Stationary camouflage for ambushes, watches, and sniper nests |
| Misdirect (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● | 2nd | Movement disruption, prone setup, and Spike Growth punishment |
| Forceful Courser (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● | 3rd | Immediate spirit-beast strike with prone pressure |
| Stir Fury (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● | 3rd | Damage-die buff for Beast Spirits and melee allies |
| Structured Mind (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● | 3rd | Long-duration protection against mental and illusion encounters |
| Burrow Striker (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● | 4th | Terrain-dependent burrow ambush and escape pattern |
| Flash Freeze (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● | 5th | Cold burst plus restraint when the party needs a hard disable |
| Dreamspan (Labyrinth Worldbook, Ritual) ● | Ritual | Bridge and ladder utility if you have ritual access |
Best Player's Guide 2 Ranger Picks
| Spell | Circle | Best Use |
|---|---|---|
| Feathered Flock (Player's Guide 2) ● | 5th | Party-wide flight when one flying Ranger is not enough |
| Sucking Mud Pit (Player's Guide 2) ● | 5th | Progressive terrain lockdown for bosses, chokepoints, and retreats |
| Volley (Player's Guide 2) ● | 1st | Bonus-action ranged burst for archers and thrown-weapon builds |
| Lesser Conjure Animals (Player's Guide 2) ● | 1st | Early summon pressure with less table drag than bigger conjures |
| Animal Aspect (Player's Guide 2) ● | 3rd | Flexible beast buff: senses, speed, AC, venom, wings, or utility |
| Earthen Tomb (Player's Guide 2) ● | 2nd | Restrained control against ground-bound enemies |
| Perceive Vulnerability (Player's Guide 2) ● | 2nd | Focus-fire and crit setup for martial-heavy parties |
| Thunderburst (Player's Guide 2) ● | 2nd | Forced movement into bad terrain |
| Electrify Metal (Player's Guide 2) ● | 3rd | Anti-armor, anti-weapon, and metal-object punishment |
| Freeze Metal (Player's Guide 2) ● | 4th | Cold gear control when armored foes keep showing up |
Spell Synergies
Spike Growth + Mystic Mark + Multiattack This is the ranger's core tactical loop. Drop spike growth, push or pull enemies through it using terrain (or force them to come to you), then hammer them with Mystic Mark's extra damage on every arrow. An enemy crossing 20 feet of spike growth takes 8d4 piercing before a single arrow lands. Combined with Mystic Mark, your damage output at mid-levels is exceptional.
Mark Prey (The Old Margreve) + Mystic Mark + Multiattack Mark Prey solves the accuracy and pursuit problem; Mystic Mark solves the damage problem. Against a boss, invisible skirmisher, or fleeing villain, advantage on your attacks plus Mystic Mark damage turns the Ranger into a ruthless single-target closer.
Instant Snare (The Old Margreve) + Pass Without Trace Set the snare, hide the party, and let the target trigger the fight from a restrained position. Pass Without Trace protects the ambush, while Instant Snare creates the first-round advantage Rangers usually have to earn with positioning.
Entangle + Conjure Animals Restrain a group of enemies with entangle, then set your summoned beasts loose on the restrained targets. Restrained creatures grant advantage on attack rolls against them, so every CR 1 beast attack lands more often than it should. This two-spell combo turns action economy and control into a snowball.
Pass Without Trace + Hunter Killer Instinct Enter combat already knowing enemy immunities (Killer Instinct) after approaching invisibly under Pass Without Trace. The party strikes from ambush with +10 Stealth, you have already identified the optimal damage type, and the first round is entirely yours. Most groups never get to act before round two.
Fly + Spike Growth Cast spike growth on the ground below you, then take to the air. Enemies must walk through the damaging zone to fight you, or they don't reach you at all. You rain arrows from above while they bleed. This two-spell setup, combined with Mystic Mark, effectively ends some encounters before the party needs to move.
Wildsense + Conjure Animals Summon a Beast companion via Conjure Animals, then use Wildsense to perceive through it while directing it into enemy territory. You can effectively spy through your own conjured animal, gathering intelligence and dealing damage simultaneously while remaining safely out of range.
Killing Fields (The Old Margreve, Ritual) + Hunting Stand (The Old Margreve, Ritual) With ritual access, this is a prepared battlefield package: Killing Fields rewards helped allies with pack pressure, stealth, tracking, and extra weapon damage, while Hunting Stand hides the party in a dry, camouflaged firing nest. It is not spontaneous adventuring magic; it is "we own this forest now" magic.
Blend (Labyrinth Worldbook) + Pass Without Trace Pass Without Trace gets the party into position; Blend helps the exposed watcher, sniper, or injured ally stay unseen once still. Treat it like an ambush-camp tool, not a replacement for invisibility.
Misdirect (Labyrinth Worldbook) + Spike Growth Spike Growth punishes movement. Misdirect makes movement unreliable, can knock a target prone, and can leave it stuck where you want it. This is the Labyrinth Worldbook control package Rangers should test first.
Thunderburst (Player's Guide 2) + Spike Growth Thunderburst is not about the damage. It is about moving enemies through the angry ground blender you already cast. If the table gives you cliffs, hazards, or narrow lanes, it gets even funnier.
Volley (Player's Guide 2) + Mystic Mark Volley doubles down on the thing your Ranger already wants to do: make a ranged attack against the important target. Add Mystic Mark, a good bow, and a party willing to point at the same enemy, and "just shoot it" becomes a respectable plan.
Perceive Vulnerability (Player's Guide 2) + Martial Frontline Perceive Vulnerability is best when your allies can capitalize immediately. Fighters, Paladins, melee Rogues, and crit-hungry builds with Martial Talents turn the spell from "nice information" into a group execution order.
Feathered Flock (Player's Guide 2) + Ranged Party Fly makes you safe. Feathered Flock makes the whole backline safe. In outdoor or vertical maps, giving the party wings can make melee-only enemies spend the encounter filing a complaint with gravity.
Sucking Mud Pit (Player's Guide 2) + Ranged Firing Line Drop the mud where enemies must cross, then let archers and spellcasters punish every failed escape attempt. The deeper they sink, the less they participate. That is control, damage prevention, and comedy in one hole.
Forceful Courser (Labyrinth Worldbook) + Mystic Mark Open with spectral beasts to deal force damage and create prone pressure, then follow with marked ranged attacks while the target is already behind the tempo of the fight.
Stir Fury (Labyrinth Worldbook) + Beast Spirit or Melee Striker Stir Fury is at its best when you cast it on the creature making the most melee attacks. Pack Masters, wolf-heavy parties, Barbarians, Fighters, and melee Rogues turn the extra die into repeatable value.
Snapping Snare (Labyrinth Worldbook) + Ranged Firing Line The vine grapples and throws enemies while the Ranger and backline punish anything held in the kill zone. This is not subtle magic; it is a late-game battlefield centerpiece.
Hot Takes
Hot Take: Goodberry is one of the best spells Rangers can learn, and most players undervalue it. One 1st-circle slot creates ten berries that each restore 1 HP and provide a day's nourishment. It is a durable resource tool, not just a flavor pick.
Hot Take: Spike Growth is better than conjure animals for most Rangers, but the community has the tier list backwards. Conjure Animals gets all the press because summoning creatures is flashy. Spike Growth is passive area control after the cast, forces movement decisions from every enemy, and costs a 2nd-circle slot instead of a 3rd. In the specific case of a kiting-ranger build, spike growth enables more total damage across a fight than even the best summon.
Hot Take: Rangers should almost never take Cure Wounds as a known spell. Emergency healing is useful, but it may not justify one of eleven lifelong spell choices. Goodberry offers flexible small healing, while Restoration answers conditions. An entangle pick and a party member focused on larger healing will often serve the Ranger's control role better.
Hot Take: The Old Margreve is secretly a Ranger book. Druids get more total access, but Rangers get the biggest identity correction: Bloodhound, Illuminate Spoor, Scentless, Mark Prey, Instant Snare, Tracer, and Heart-Seeking Arrow all say "magical hunter" more clearly than half the base Ranger list.
Hot Take: Mark Prey (The Old Margreve) is not redundant with Mystic Mark. Mystic Mark is your damage engine. Mark Prey is your "this target does not get away" button. The concentration cost is real, but against an invisible assassin, shapeshifting scout, or fleeing boss, it does a job no base Ranger spell does as cleanly.
Hot Take: Snapping Snare (Labyrinth Worldbook) is the Labyrinth Ranger spell that actually competes with Primal Infusion. Primal Infusion makes you better. Snapping Snare makes the battlefield worse for everyone else, and that is often the stronger Ranger play.
Hot Take: Blend (Labyrinth Worldbook) is not invisibility, and treating it like invisibility will get characters caught. Treat it like a hunting blind: get still, stay patient, and let the target walk into your shot.
Hot Take: Misdirect (Labyrinth Worldbook) is better than it reads because Rangers win by controlling enemy movement, not by winning caster duels. Randomized movement, prone pressure, and speed denial all matter more when Spike Growth, snares, and ranged attacks are already online.
Hot Take: Stir Fury (Labyrinth Worldbook) is not for archers. It is for Beast Spirits, frontliners, and parties willing to let the Ranger concentrate on someone else's damage engine.
Hot Take: Lesser Conjure Animals (Player's Guide 2) is only "lesser" until action economy starts talking. It will not replace Conjure Animals forever, but at 1st circle it gives low-level Rangers a summon button that does not require a spreadsheet and a sincere apology to the GM.
Hot Take: Volley (Player's Guide 2) is the Ranger spell that looks boring until the archer realizes "more arrows" is a complete personality.
Hot Take: Sucking Mud Pit (Player's Guide 2) is what Spike Growth players graduate into when they decide damage is nice, but watching the boss slowly lose access to the concept of legs is better.
Final Notes
The Ranger's spell list rewards a specific mindset: you are not a caster who also fights, you are a fighter who uses magic to control the battlefield before the fight ends. Pass without trace and spike growth define encounters before your first arrow flies. Conjure animals multiplies your team's action economy. Entangle puts enemy targets exactly where you need them.
The scarcity of known spells is a design feature that forces you to choose identity, not a limitation. A Ranger who takes entangle, spike growth, pass without trace, conjure animals, and polymorph has made a clear statement about how they win encounters. A Ranger who adds Mark Prey, Instant Snare, Tracer, Heart-Seeking Arrow, or Primal Infusion from The Old Margreve has made that statement even sharper. A Ranger who adds Blend, Misdirect, Forceful Courser, Structured Mind, Burrow Striker, or Snapping Snare from the Labyrinth Worldbook leans into ambush positioning, enemy movement control, and supernatural pursuit. A Ranger who adds Volley, Lesser Conjure Animals, Animal Aspect, Feathered Flock, or Sucking Mud Pit from Player's Guide 2 gets cleaner action economy, broader movement answers, and more ways to make the map itself do unpaid labor.
Spend every spell pick with intention. Replace any spell that has sat unused for three sessions. Your spell list is a living document, and the Ranger's ability to swap one known spell per level is the most underutilized feature in the class.
For the class and circle index, return to the Tales of the Valiant Spell Guides.
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