Introduction
The Witch is a full Wyrd caster, so Wyrd spells are the class's baseline and expansion Wyrd spells become direct Witch options when the sourcebook is allowed. That matters more here than it does for most classes: the Witch's core engine is not just "cast a spell." It is Hex first, exploit the weakened save, then use the familiar, Brew, and concentration spell that best traps the target.
The Old Margeve adds a compact Witch package: shadow scouting, pain marks, grim self-healing, pursuit tags, flying swarms, fey hounds, bodily ruin, and a forest-defender ritual.
Labyrinth Worldbook is the larger Witch expansion. It gives Wyrd casters social cantrips, door control, pocket storage, misfortune, mental debuffs, void summons, maze banishment, gravity wells, petrifying chains, and dream rituals.
Player's Guide 2 adds the practical Witch tools the class wanted: reaction luck, social subtext, corpse and fear tricks, spirit wards, save-pressure auras, psychic barrages, delay magic, petrification, soul nonsense, and rituals that make familiar play better. Subtle? No. Useful? Absolutely. The broom has cup holders now.
Hot take: The Wyrd list gives the Witch a stronger battlefield identity than it first appears: Bane, Faerie Fire, Hold, Bestow Curse, Hypnotic Pattern, Spirit Guardians, Black Tentacles, Greater Hold, Wall of Force, Maze, and Weird all reward the same Hex-first play pattern. Labyrinth Worldbook and Player's Guide 2 then add true alternate spell identities beyond "dark wizard with Hexes." The best spells are not the damage buttons. They are the spells that make enemies act wrong, move wrong, dream wrong, or disappear into a maze.
How to Use This Guide
Ratings are for the Witch specifically, accounting for Wyrd spells, Hexes, familiar play, rituals, and additions from The Old Margeve, Labyrinth Worldbook, and Player's Guide 2.
- ● Red - Bad. Skip it.
- ● Orange - Situational. Learn it when your build or campaign calls for it.
- ● Green - Good. Worth a serious known-spell look.
- ● Blue - Excellent. One of the best picks at its circle.
Cantrips
Guidance ● - Add 1d4 to ability checks all day. Seeker Witches especially love this because investigation, insight, stealth, and lore checks define their job.
Grave Touch ● - Necrotic damage plus healing denial. Excellent against regenerators, enemy healers, and anything relying on recovery.
Vicious Mockery ● - Psychic damage plus disadvantage on the target's next attack. A defensive cantrip that fits a control Witch well.
Mage Hand ● - Safe object interaction, trap testing, and ritual-scene utility. Almost always worth a cantrip slot.
Minor Illusion ● - Distraction, ambush setup, false cover, and eerie social pressure.
Message ● - Useful for scouting teams and familiar-led infiltration, but less essential than Guidance or Mage Hand.
Dancing Lights ● - Functional light, but concentration makes it costly.
Thaumaturgy ● - Strong flavor, modest mechanics.
Word of Misfortune (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - The best Labyrinth cantrip for most Witches. Psychic harm plus disadvantage support fits the Witch's entire plan: soften the target, make the next roll worse, and let your Hex engine compound the problem.
Hamstring (The Old Margeve) ● - Ranged Wyrd damage with reaction denial. This is not your main damage plan, but shutting off reactions matters when your allies need to leave melee, cross a threatened space, or reposition around your control effects.
Crushing Curse (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Psychic damage plus deafening. Word of Misfortune is usually better, but deafening is relevant against sound-based monsters, verbal coordination, eavesdropping scenes, and some caster tactics.
Doorbind (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Holds a door, lid, hatch, or similar closure shut. It is a dungeon cantrip, not a damage cantrip. Witches who like ambushes, retreats, prison breaks, or "split the room" play will get real value.
Swift Stash (Player's Guide 2 / Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Pocket an object. This is fantastic intrigue utility: hide a focus, smuggle a key, protect evidence, conceal a vial, or make a guard search fail. It is not combat power, but it is very Witch.
Influence (Player's Guide 2 / Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Temporary advantage on CHA checks. Useful for a social Witch, especially one without a Bard in the party, but it competes with cantrips that help every session.
Luck Bait (Player's Guide 2) ● - A perfect Witch support cantrip: wait for a miss or failed save, then tilt the next important roll. It is not flashy, which is how you know it is probably doing something rude.
Demonic Pact (Player's Guide 2) ● - A niche defensive bargain cantrip. Interesting for infernal, cursed, or desperate Witches, but most builds prefer cleaner control cantrips.
Pernicious Radiance (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Illuminates a target and makes it easier to hit. This is better in attack-heavy parties than caster-heavy parties. A Coven Witch focused on save spells usually wants Word of Misfortune instead.
1st Circle Spells
Bane ● - The Witch's best low-circle setup spell. The penalty to saves stacks beautifully with Hex-driven failed-save play.
Faerie Fire ● - Advantage for the party and anti-invisibility in one spell. Excellent if your group makes lots of attacks.
Command ● - No-concentration control. Drop, flee, grovel, and halt are all useful tactical verbs.
Hellish Rebuke ● - Reaction damage when something hurts you. Good because it does not consume your action on your own turn.
Charm ● - Social control and encounter softening. Best outside active combat.
Detect Magic ● - Essential magical investigation. If your table lets Witches ritual-cast it through the appropriate access, it gets better.
Disguise Self ● - Infiltration and social positioning. Stronger for Seeker and court-intrigue Witches.
Guiding Bolt ● - Radiant damage plus advantage for the next attacker. A good focus-fire spell.
Hideous Laughter ● - Single-target shutdown. Creature limitations and repeat saves keep it from blue.
Inflict Wounds ● - Big touch-range necrotic damage. Witches usually do not want to be in touch range.
Protection from Evil and Good ● - Excellent into the right creature types, dead into the wrong ones.
Sleep ● - Great at very low levels, fades as HP totals rise.
Eclipse Sight (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Blind an attacker. Witches are fragile, and defensive reactions are premium tools because they protect concentration without costing your whole turn. This is the Labyrinth 1st-circle spell I would test first.
Truth of the Void (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Frighten a creature with void truth. Fear is real control when you need space, and the Witch is better than most casters at making save-based effects stick once Hexes are online.
Agonizing Mark (The Old Margeve) ● - Mark a creature with pain; repeated damage can knock it prone on failed CHA saves. This is strongest when the party can focus fire one target. It is less useful when combat is spread across many enemies.
Ruminate (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Instills distracting daydreams. The flavor is excellent, but the spell is softer than Eclipse Sight or Truth of the Void. Learn it for social manipulation, weird court scenes, and nonlethal problem solving.
Sapping Smite (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Weapon deals necrotic and slows the target. This is a build-specific pick for a blade Witch or table where the Witch actually attacks with weapons. Most Witches skip it.
Stumble (Player's Guide 2) ● - Cheap movement disruption that can punish a creature at exactly the wrong moment. Witches love anything that turns enemy positioning into a practical joke with consequences.
Withering Gaze (Player's Guide 2) ● - Fear and psychic pressure in one low-circle package. A strong pick for Witches who want early control that feels like a Hex with eye contact.
Subtext (Player's Guide 2) ● - Social coding, hidden meaning, and table-talk mischief in spell form. It will not win a boss fight, but it will win an intrigue scene while the Fighter wonders why everyone is whispering.
Distance Dilation (Player's Guide 2) ● - Movement math gets weird around the target. Good for chase scenes, kiting, and keeping melee enemies from arriving on schedule.
Lesser Conjure Animals (Player's Guide 2) ● - Early action-economy support if your table handles summons quickly. Strong, but do the table a favor and know the creature stats before your turn.
Void Glimpse (Player's Guide 2) ● - Strange knowledge at a cost. Excellent in occult campaigns; less attractive when the party only wants a clean answer and not a little existential backsplash.
Feed the Forest (The Old Margeve) ● - Suppresses the Margreve Forest's spellcasting penalty for you. Essential inside that specific environment, mostly blank outside it. If the campaign is actually in the Margreve, this becomes green.
2nd Circle Spells
Hold ● - Paralyzes a Medium creature. Hex the save, land Hold, then let melee allies crit.
Detect Thoughts ● - Social and investigation power. A Witch with this spell can turn conversations into evidence.
Misty Step ● - Bonus-action escape. Witches are fragile enough that this deserves serious priority.
Silence ● - Anti-caster zone and stealth tool. Best with grapplers, doors, ambushes, and tight rooms.
Blindness/Deafness ● - No-concentration debuff. Blindness is the main mode.
Darkness ● - Strong with the right sight package, awkward without it.
Enthrall ● - Social distraction. Learn it for performance, cult, or court scenes, not dungeon combat.
Invisibility ● - Scouting and infiltration staple. Familiar play makes it even better.
Magic Weapon ● - Useful for a weapon ally in low-magic campaigns, but not a normal Witch priority.
Mirror Image ● - No-concentration defense. Good when enemies keep reaching you.
Ray of Enfeeblement ● - Narrow STR-damage counter. Learn it when the enemy profile is obvious.
Rope Trick ● - Safe short-rest and hideout utility, table-dependent.
See Invisibility ● - Learn it when invisible enemies are likely.
Spiritual Weapon ● - Bonus-action force pressure without concentration. Good when you can spare the bonus action from Hex work.
Suggestion ● - Flexible social and tactical control if the table supports reasonable-command play.
Spy My Shadow (The Old Margeve) ● - Turn your shadow into a two-dimensional spy that slips through cracks and scouts with your senses. This is the most Witch-coded Old Margeve spell: safer than sending your body, stranger than a familiar, and perfect for infiltration.
Maddening Whispers (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Incapacitate a creature through mental pressure. Any save-based shutdown gets better in Witch hands because Hexes and Empowered Hexes are built to force failed saves.
Dream Lance (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Damage and debilitate a target's mind. Good single-target pressure, especially in fights where one enemy must be softened before the party commits resources.
Destructive Resonance (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Psychically assaults foes. This is a clean control-damage hybrid for Witches who want impact without drifting into weapon smite territory.
Healing Malediction (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Makes magical healing cause damage. This is boss tech. Learn it when your campaign features priests, rival adventurers, regenerators, fiends with healers, or any enemy force built around recovery.
Corrupting Sheath (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Acid retaliation when hit. It is better on a melee Witch than a backline Witch. If your plan is "do not get hit," this is not the spell that gets you there.
Luminous Smite (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Weapon deals radiant and makes the target easier to hit. Good on a weapon build, but most Witches would rather create advantage through familiar play, Hexes, and control.
Vengeful Smite (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Weapon deals psychic and frightens. The rider is attractive, but the delivery method is still weapon-first. Orange unless your Witch is intentionally built around weapon attacks.
Spirit Ward (Player's Guide 2) ● - Protective spirit tech that fits Witch flavor and actual party needs. If your Witch often plays backline stabilizer, this belongs on the short list.
Shadow Guardians (Player's Guide 2) ● - Summons defensive shadows around a target area. Good Witch battlefield presence without pretending you are just a Wizard wearing darker sleeves.
Lesser Eyebite (Player's Guide 2) ● - A lower-circle taste of repeatable debuff pressure. Strong when you want a spooky control plan before the big late-game toys arrive.
Lockjaw (Player's Guide 2) ● - Shuts down bite-heavy monsters and can complicate speech-dependent scenes depending on the table. Very funny against something with one impressive mouth and no backup plan.
Paranoid Delusions (Player's Guide 2) ● - Social and tactical disruption for targets that rely on trust, orders, or formation. It is not subtle, but neither is accusing your bodyguard of being a cursed mirror.
Psychic Block (Player's Guide 2) ● - Mental defense matters more as levels rise. This is one of the cleanest PG2 Witch additions when mind magic, fear, charm, or psychic enemies are on the menu.
Perceive Vulnerability (Player's Guide 2) ● - Helps a party exploit a target's weak spot. Better in coordinated groups than solo-minded tables.
3rd Circle Spells
Bestow Curse ● - The Witch spell that says the quiet part out loud. Hexes and Bestow Curse together can make one target collapse under stacked disadvantages.
Hypnotic Pattern ● - Encounter-winning crowd control. Hex the priority save, then remove a cluster from the fight.
Spirit Guardians ● - A surprising Wyrd-list prize. Best for Witches who can protect concentration and survive close enough to use the aura.
Fear ● - Strong cone control. Good when the party can punish enemies that run or drop positioning.
Conjure Animals ● - Action economy spell. Strong if your table handles summons efficiently.
Blink ● - No-concentration survival. Inconsistent, but very useful when enemies target you.
Major Image ● - Creative illusion tool for Witches who like setup, misdirection, and social pressure.
Remove Curse ● - Necessary utility. Not exciting until the session where it saves someone.
Revivify ● - Emergency resurrection. If no Divine caster has it covered, the Witch should consider it mandatory.
Sending ● - Campaign communication. Learn it when distance matters.
Stinking Cloud ● - Area denial and action denial. Strong in chokepoints.
Vampiric Touch ● - Melee-range sustain. Too dangerous for most Witches.
Minor Maze (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Sends a target to a pocket demiplane maze. Temporary removal is one of the strongest things a control caster can do, and Witch save pressure makes this especially threatening.
Virulent Nightmare (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Attacks random foes with nightmares. This is exactly the kind of spell Witches want: it turns an enemy's turn into a liability instead of merely dealing damage.
Tracer (The Old Margeve) ● - Tracking beacon delivered through ranged ammunition. It is not a normal combat-control spell, but it solves a real campaign problem: important targets escaping.
Forceful Courser (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Conjures trampling spirits. Immediate battlefield impact without committing your identity to a long summon plan. Stronger when prone pressure or forced positioning helps the party.
Golden Bull (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Punishes and pushes approaching enemies. Good defensive geometry for a Witch protecting the backline or holding a corridor.
Void Strike (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Launch bolts of darkness. Solid direct offense for void-themed Witches, though it is less unique than Minor Maze or Virulent Nightmare.
Blood Offering (The Old Margeve) ● - Steal life force from a corpse you helped kill. It is grim, situational self-healing with resurrection consequences. Very on-theme, but not a default known spell unless your table embraces that tone.
Conjure Ferryman (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Calls a spirit to ferry you across water. Strong when the adventure requires it, dead when the terrain does not. Learn it for Styx, river, swamp, and underworld travel.
Aura of Bane (Player's Guide 2) ● - The Witchiest PG2 mid-circle spell: make nearby enemies worse at saving, then cast spells that punish bad saves. This is not a combo so much as the class reading its own job description.
Pocket Portal (Player's Guide 2 / Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Linked spaces inside the fight. Great for getting allies out of danger, cheating around chokepoints, and making the map less fair in your favor.
Animal Aspect (Player's Guide 2) ● - Flexible exploration and combat utility. It is a good Witch pick when the campaign rewards movement, senses, and problem-solving more than another single-target curse.
Mantle of Death (Player's Guide 2) ● - Necromantic presence with real table tone. Strong for death-marked Witches; maybe skip it at the bright pastoral picnic unless the picnic started it.
Necrotic Pustules (Player's Guide 2) ● - Gross, effective, and exactly as subtle as the name promises. Good when you want damage and debuff pressure stapled together.
Abjuring Smite / Venomous Smite (Player's Guide 2) ● - Valid for weapon-forward Witches, but still not the default plan. If your familiar attacks more often than you do, take the hint.
Venomous Smite (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Weapon deals poison and causes poisoned. Poison is a rough damage type, and smite delivery is not the normal Witch plan.
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Start Building4th and 5th Circle Spells
Banishment ● - Clean single-target removal, especially brutal against non-native creatures.
Black Tentacles ● - Area control, difficult terrain, damage, and restraint. Very Witch.
Confusion ● - Good area control when immunity to charm or fear makes other options unreliable.
Dimension Door ● - Long emergency repositioning with one ally. Excellent extraction tool.
Greater Invisibility ● - Defensive and offensive buff. Strong on a Rogue, archer, or the Witch herself.
Mass Faerie Fire ● - Larger advantage setup. Great for attack-heavy parties.
Phantasmal Killer ● - Stylish fear damage, but usually weaker than broader control.
Cloudkill ● - Sustained poison zone. Campaign and enemy-type dependent.
Conjure Elemental ● - Strong action economy if concentration is protected.
Dispel Evil and Good ● - Creature-type defense and dismissal. Excellent in planar, undead, fey, or fiend arcs.
Dominate ● - Turn an enemy into your asset. Hex support makes the opening save scarier.
Greater Hold ● - Paralyze any creature. One of the best Witch control spells.
Wall of Force ● - Encounter division, emergency defense, boss isolation. Take it when hard control matters.
Telekinesis ● - Long-form object and creature manipulation. Good in creative hands.
Telepathic Bond ● - Party coordination for scouting, infiltration, and split plans.
Storm of Wings (The Old Margeve) ● - Movable swarm of spectral bats, birds, or insects. The modes matter: bats slow, birds impose attack disadvantage, and insects can disrupt spellcasting. This is the Old Margeve combat standout for Witch.
Conjure Minor Voidborn (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Calls void creatures to help. Summons add action economy, and action economy is one of the few things a Witch cannot create with Hexes alone. Use it when your table handles summons cleanly.
Maim (The Old Margeve) ● - Necromantic injury magic that hinders a target's body. Strong, nasty, and table-tone dependent. It belongs on villainous, horror, or revenge-driven Witches more than casual adventuring lists.
Starbright (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Creates stars to shoot at foes. Reliable magical offense at 5th circle, especially if your build wants a sustained ranged pressure option.
Detonate Metal (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Makes metal objects explode. Learn it for armories, knightly courts, construct arcs, foundries, prisons, and enemies covered in metal. In the wrong adventure, it drops to orange.
Nether Weapon (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Weapon deals necrotic. This is better on an ally than on a normal Witch, and the guide does not assume the spell can be transferred unless your table confirms the exact use case.
Conjure Fey Hound (The Old Margeve) ● - Summons fey hounds, winter wolves, or dire wolves. The fantasy is excellent, but the spell asks for concentration at 5th circle and depends heavily on summon management, battlefield size, and GM comfort.
Spirit Rend (Player's Guide 2) ● (4th) - Tears at spirits and other supernatural threats. This is a good "the enemy is weird and hard to hurt" answer.
Fey Song (Player's Guide 2) ● (4th) - Charm and mood magic for social or fey-heavy adventures. Great when the scene supports it; less exciting in a straight monster brawl.
Psychic Barrage (Player's Guide 2) ● (5th) - Reliable mental offense for Witches who want a serious damage/control button without picking up a sword and making everyone nervous.
Lifeblind (Player's Guide 2) ● (5th) - Anti-life perception tech for undead, necromantic, or stealth-heavy stories. Strong when the campaign is dark enough to deserve it.
Spirit Double (Player's Guide 2) ● (5th) - Deception, scouting, and tactical misdirection. If your Witch likes being in two places at once, excellent news: now she can annoy two rooms.
Rune Tattoo (Player's Guide 2) ● (5th) - Buff infrastructure with ritual overlap. Better for campaigns that give you downtime and a party willing to plan before kicking in the door.
6th to 9th Circle Spells
Mass Suggestion ● (6th) - Large-scale control and social bypass. Very strong when the wording lands.
Irresistible Dance ● (6th) - No initial save. That matters against bosses.
Disintegrate ● (6th) - Force damage and destruction utility. Good finisher.
Eyebite ● (6th) - Repeatable panic, sickness, or sleep pressure.
Harm ● (6th) - Heavy necrotic damage that will not quite kill. Good setup for follow-up.
True Seeing ● (6th) - High-value detection against illusions, invisibility, and shapechanging.
Forcecage ● (7th) - No-concentration imprisonment. One of the cleanest high-circle answers in the game.
Finger of Death ● (7th) - Reliable necrotic damage with zombie aftermath against Humanoids.
Plane Shift ● (7th) - Travel and offensive banishment. Campaign-defining when planes matter.
Demiplane ● (8th) - Secure storage, trap space, hideout, or strange Witch lair.
Greater Dominate ● (8th) - Dominate without the Medium restriction. Hex support keeps it threatening.
Maze ● (8th) - Remove one creature from the board, especially low-INT brutes.
Power Word Stun ● (8th) - No roll if the HP threshold is met. Strong finisher-control.
Wish ● (9th) - The broadest spell in the game. A Witch with Wish has answers far beyond the Wyrd list.
Weird ● (9th) - Mass fear and psychic punishment. Hex support makes it especially on-brand.
Power Word Kill ● (9th) - End a weakened creature with no save.
Gate ● (9th) - Planar portal and named-creature summoning. More campaign spell than routine combat prep.
Greater Maze (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Sends a target to a nightmarish demiplane maze. This is the capstone control spell in the expansion package. If your Witch wants a late-game "you are gone now" button, this is it.
Event Horizon (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Creates a gravity well. Battlefield gravity control is exactly the kind of high-circle effect that changes encounter geometry instead of just changing HP totals.
Petrifying Chains (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Petrifies a creature with eldritch chains. Save-based hard control is terrifying in Witch hands. Check condition immunity, then make the enemy regret being targetable.
Void Rift (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Creates a rift to the Void. Strong, dramatic, and campaign-flavored. This is better when Void hazards, dread, or planar instability are already part of the adventure.
Conjure Voidborn (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Calls a stronger void creature to help. Good if you want summons as a major Witch line, but make sure the table can handle extra creatures without slowing play to a crawl.
Body of Ruin (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - A creature pulses with void energy. Powerful, strange, and risky in the way high-circle Wyrd magic should be. Use it when the fight rewards a dangerous centerpiece effect.
Delay Spell (Player's Guide 2) ● (6th) - Timing manipulation is premium caster defense. Any spell that lets a Witch make enemy magic arrive late deserves a blue sticker and a suspicious look from the GM.
Void Bubble (Player's Guide 2) ● (6th) - Defensive void space and area denial in one strange package. Excellent for Witches who prefer making danger wait outside.
Pluck Soul (Player's Guide 2) ● (6th) - Very campaign-tone dependent, very Witch. Use it when the table is comfortable with soul magic and the target really had it coming.
Pronouncement of Doom (Player's Guide 2) ● (6th) - Big ominous debuff energy. It is not subtle, but if your Witch is still doing subtle at 6th circle, someone misplaced the hat.
Blinding Revelation (Player's Guide 2) ● (7th) - Punishes enemies with too much truth at once. Good control for revelation, prophecy, and cosmic-horror Witches.
Ghostly Form (Player's Guide 2) ● (7th) - Exploration, infiltration, and survival utility. It is not your biggest combat spell, but it solves enough high-level problems to earn a place in the conversation.
Crawling Darkness (Player's Guide 2) ● (8th) - High-circle shadow pressure for Witches who want the room to become hostile terrain. Elegant? No. Effective? The darkness appears to be crawling, so probably yes.
Power Word Petrify (Player's Guide 2) ● (8th) - Threshold control with statue-shaped consequences. One of the cleanest late PG2 upgrades for a Witch who can coordinate focus fire.
Star Well (Player's Guide 2) ● (9th) - Enormous cosmic control and damage presence. Wish is still Wish, but Star Well gives the Witch a very real "the sky is now a problem" finale.
Wraithblade (Player's Guide 2) ● (9th) - Extremely cool for a blade or death-themed Witch, less efficient for the average controller. Style rating: blue. Practical rating: orange.
Wyrd Rituals
Find Familiar ● - The Witch is already familiar-forward, so this ritual is central to scouting, delivery, roleplay, and setup.
Unseen Servant ● - Safe mundane manipulation, trap baiting, and eerie utility.
Illusory Script ● - Niche, but useful for secretive Witch correspondence.
Augury ● - Low-cost omen checking before dangerous choices.
Locate ● - Find a creature or object. Excellent investigation ritual.
Magic Mouth ● - Alarm messages, dead drops, and strange lair tricks.
Clairvoyance ● - Remote seeing or hearing. Excellent for Seeker play.
Speak with Dead ● - Investigation, secrets, and murder scenes. Very Witch.
Magic Circle / Planar Binding / Planar Ally ● - The ritual infrastructure for dealing with outsiders, spirits, and bound entities.
Contact Other Plane / Dream / Geas ● - Long-form information, coercion, and dream magic. These define high-level Witch campaign play.
Magnificent Mansion / Mirage Arcane / Antipathy/Sympathy / Astral Projection / Imprisonment ● - High-circle ritual-scale magic. Not everyday combat prep, but exactly the kind of power a Witch should exploit when time and story allow.
Dreamspan (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Creates a phantom bridge or ladder. Excellent utility when time is available and the party needs to cross a gap without spending a combat slot.
Dreamward (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Protects targets' dreams. This is campaign-dependent, but in a dream, hag, fey, Void, or psychic-intrigue campaign, it is exactly the kind of ritual a Witch should own.
Dream Step (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Observe a creature's dream. Great investigative ritual for Seeker-style Witches and unsettling social play.
Conjure Forest Defender (The Old Margeve) ● - A 6th-circle Wyrd ritual that turns a Humanoid body into a forest defender. Mechanically potent, morally loaded, and forest-restricted. This is a campaign-defining spell, not casual utility.
Vision Voyage (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Transports a creature to a different world. Potentially massive, but too adventure-specific to rate as a normal known-spell priority.
Sigil in Yellow (Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Paints a mesmerizing rune. High-circle ritual magic with strong weird-fiction flavor. Use it when the story gives you time, location control, and a reason to weaponize a symbol.
Enhance Familiar (Player's Guide 2) ● - A Witch ritual that improves familiar play is not a side dish; it is the plate. Learn this if your familiar is more than decorative shoulder furniture.
Read Object (Player's Guide 2) ● - Investigation ritual for secrets, provenance, and cursed heirloom drama. Seeker Witches should be delighted and slightly insufferable.
Portal Jaunt (Player's Guide 2) ● - Short-range ritual movement for exploration and infiltration. It is not combat teleportation, but it is excellent "we entered from the wrong side of the locked door" magic.
Veteran Spirit (Player's Guide 2) ● - Consult martial memory and battlefield experience. Great when the party needs tactical context instead of another vague prophecy.
Curse Shuffle (Player's Guide 2) ● - Very Witch, very useful when curses are campaign facts rather than spooky wallpaper.
Hidden Path (Player's Guide 2 / Labyrinth Worldbook) ● - Travel infrastructure with adventure-breaking upside in wilderness, pursuit, and secret-route campaigns.
Portentous Dreams (Player's Guide 2) ● - Divination through ominous dreams. It is exactly the kind of ritual that makes the party ask the Witch before making a plan.
Soul Entanglement (Player's Guide 2) ● - High-circle ritual weirdness with major story implications. Do not treat it like routine utility unless your campaign already has a soul-management department.
Best Picks by Tier
| Tier | Best Witch Picks |
|---|---|
| Cantrips | Guidance, Luck Bait (Player's Guide 2), Word of Misfortune (Labyrinth Worldbook), Grave Touch |
| 1st Circle | Bane, Faerie Fire, Command, Eclipse Sight (Labyrinth Worldbook), Stumble (Player's Guide 2) |
| 2nd Circle | Hold, Detect Thoughts, Misty Step, Psychic Block (Player's Guide 2), Spirit Ward (Player's Guide 2) |
| 3rd Circle | Bestow Curse, Hypnotic Pattern, Spirit Guardians, Aura of Bane (Player's Guide 2), Minor Maze (Labyrinth Worldbook) |
| 4th-5th Circle | Banishment, Black Tentacles, Dominate, Greater Hold, Wall of Force, Psychic Barrage (Player's Guide 2) |
| 6th-9th Circle | Wish, Weird, Maze, Forcecage, Delay Spell (Player's Guide 2), Power Word Petrify (Player's Guide 2), Star Well (Player's Guide 2) |
| Rituals | Find Familiar, Enhance Familiar (Player's Guide 2), Read Object (Player's Guide 2), Dream Step (Labyrinth Worldbook) |
Hot Takes
Hot Take: Spy My Shadow (The Old Margeve) is not redundant with a familiar. A familiar is a creature that can be spotted, attacked, charmed, trapped, or eaten. A two-dimensional shadow slipping under a door is a different scouting vector, and good Witches want multiple vectors.
Hot Take: The Labyrinth Worldbook smite package is a trap for most Witches. Sapping Smite, Luminous Smite, Vengeful Smite, Venomous Smite, and Nether Weapon are not bad spells in a vacuum. They are bad default Witch priorities because they ask a WIS full caster to solve problems with weapon attacks.
Hot Take: Player's Guide 2 is secretly a familiar and save-pressure book for Witches. Luck Bait, Aura of Bane, Psychic Block, Enhance Familiar, and Power Word Petrify are not random extras; they are the class getting better at making one important roll go sideways.
Hot Take: Minor Maze (Labyrinth Worldbook) is more important than another damage spell. Removing one dangerous enemy for even a short window can win the fight before damage math matters.
Hot Take: Storm of Wings (The Old Margeve) is the Old Margeve Witch spell people should talk about more. The insect mode punishes enemy spellcasters, the bird mode protects your party from attacks, and the bat mode slows the battlefield. That is real modal control.
Hot Take: Greater Maze (Labyrinth Worldbook) is the Witch endgame in one spell. Hex the target, make the save miserable, and send the problem somewhere it cannot keep acting on the same board as everyone else.
Related Guides
- Tales of the Valiant Witch Guide
- Tales of the Valiant Spell Guides
- Best Cantrips in Tales of the Valiant
- Best 2nd-Circle Spells in Tales of the Valiant
- Best 4th- and 5th-Circle Spells in Tales of the Valiant
- Best Warlock Spells in Tales of the Valiant
- Best Theurge Spells in Tales of the Valiant
Final Notes
Witch spell choice starts with the Wyrd staples, then branches when the campaign rewards stranger tools. Use The Old Margeve for shadow scouting, forest horror, and grim body magic; use Labyrinth Worldbook for Void pressure, maze control, dream rituals, and high-circle weirdness; use Player's Guide 2 for luck tricks, spirit protection, familiar rituals, save pressure, and late-circle control.
The strongest Witch picks from these books are not the flashiest. The best ones either make enemies fail saves, create safer scouting, remove a target, or turn the battlefield into a place where the Witch has already decided what happens next.
Tales of the Valiant is published by Kobold Press. This guide is fan-made and not affiliated with or endorsed by Kobold Press.
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