D&D 5E Cleric Tier Ratings

[Todd Roybark]

High marks for fun factor and theme but not a fan of it mechanically.

That is fair. I felt the same way, until I started playing one. Mechanically it holds up better then I thought it would.

Blessing of the trickster is potentially useful, depends on how much stealth scouting your PC can do. It's at will but it's a bit situational. Sometimes brilliant, other times useless as it also relies on the DMs take on stealth.

Even the most hard hearted, can't ignore Advantage. Since you can't self buff with it, it truly is a blessing for others. I use it on the Wizard's Familiar before it scouts. I use it on the Rogue.
I use it on the heavy armor wearing Fighter to negate Disadvantage.
Blessing of the Trickster is a nice tool to have and lasts just as long as a Pass W/O Trace spell.

Channel Divinity invoke duplicity.
This ability looks great but it requires an action and is very short duration. It doesn't do a lot that going defensive doesn't achieve.

Invoke Duplicity lasts a minute, so it lasts longer the a Warpriest's Guided Strike.
It does require an action, which is unfortunate, especially given an Echo Knight's Echo only costs a Bonus Action, but as a CoT, being able to pre-cast it and surprise someone is a viable option.
Invoke Duplicity with the Elven Accuracy feat can be a beast. 6d10 damage with a Critical Hit with Inflict Wounds is good damage at 4th level. It also can be useful to draw enemy fire, and as a spell range extender since you can cast spells through the perfect illusion.

One side benefit, is that since Invoke Duplicity requires your Concentration to use, it enforces a sort of spell use discipline, which is useful. A CoT can burn through spells very quickly, as they have magic for each Pillar of Play.

Between Mirror Image and Invoke Duplicity, I often wonder if I should take the Sentinel feat down the line just for the extra attacks the feat will grant.
I will admit having 4 duplicates at 17 level strikes me a a micromanagement hassle, but I am nowhere near that level yet..so time might tell a different tale.

 

[Zardnaar]

Death Domain.

At first glance the death cleric is an odd bird. It gets martial weapons proficiency but not heavy armor.

It's spell list is suitably thematic but lacks any obvious hard hitters.

Looks can be a bit deceptive and the death cleric is now one of the best in the game and perhaps the best melee cleric.

So how does one figure that. Well Xanathars introduced toll the dead to the game. This combos with the reaper ability. This let's you target two creatures with it if they're within 5' of each other. This ability fires enough to make it great. It's also not to hard to hurt died with spelks like spiritual guardians/weapons. With the ability to deal d12 damage to multiple targets it's a winner. Added tidbit the ability also works for a cleric 1/Divine Soul XYZ and you can select it with you divine Soul levels and key it off charisma.

Touch of death.
This ability is basically a smite. It deals 5 damage plus twice your cleric level with a melee attack. This adds up to a lot of damage as you can use it with spells. This means you can use it with inflict wounds. It also works with vampiric touch the the extra damage stacks with the spell effect for restoring hit points to you. Notice the death cleric also gets vampiric touch. Damage translation a lot.

Inescapable destruction.
This ability let's you ignore resistance to necrotic energy. Surprisingly not that much has resistance anyway and it's one of the better damage types to inflict. This reduces it to necrotic immunity only matters which is mostly certain types of undead. You deal a lot of necrotic damage.

Divine strike.

This would be so much better as potent cantrip but oh well. With a moderate dexterity score you can use a rapier. An ideal death cleric probably won't want to use weapons at all but hey it's an option.

And here we have it. Overall since Xanathars IMHO the death cleric rockets to the top of the cleric power table. If you want to be a melee cleric convince your DM to allow this archetype. Play up the Raven Queen.

Thatically and mechanically this cleric is great. One of the best melee clerics IMHO even if you never use a weapon. Gets back to the key everything off wisdom idea I suggested. With high rolled states you can use a greatsword if you feel the need.

Zardnaar top tip. If you want to melee don't play a war cleric!!!!. Strange but true.

Core books dine. Next up SCAG.

 

[Zardnaar]

That is fair. I felt the same way, until I started playing one. Mechanically it holds up better then I thought it would.

Even the most hard hearted, can't ignore Advantage. Since you can't self buff with it, it truly is a blessing for others. I use it on the Wizard's Familiar before it scouts. I use it on the Rogue.
I use it on the heavy armor wearing Fighter to negate Disadvantage.
Blessing of the Trickster is a nice tool to have and lasts just as long as a Pass W/O Trace spell.

Invoke Duplicity lasts a minute, so it lasts longer the a Warpriest's Guided Strike.
It does require an action, which is unfortunate, especially given an Echo Knight's Echo only costs a Bonus Action, but as a CoT, being able to pre-cast it and surprise someone is a viable option.
Invoke Duplicity with the Elven Accuracy feat can be a beast. 6d10 damage with a Critical Hit with Inflict Wounds is good damage at 4th level. It also can be useful to draw enemy fire, and as a spell range extender since you can cast spells through the perfect illusion.

One side benefit, is that since Invoke Duplicity requires your Concentration to use, it enforces a sort of spell use discipline, which is useful. A CoT can burn through spells very quickly, as they have magic for each Pillar of Play.

Between Mirror Image and Invoke Duplicity, I often wonder if I should take the Sentinel feat down the line just for the extra attacks the feat will grant.
I will admit having 4 duplicates at 17 level strikes me a a micromanagement hassle, but I am nowhere near that level yet..so time might tell a different tale.

It's not a bad class but I think it's inferior to mist if the other archetypes.

Do you use the default array or rolled stats?

 

[Todd Roybark]

But one feature of 3e was clerics was the gained proficiency in a deity's favoured weapon. It wouldn't be broken to grant this on a 5e trickery cleric.

I'm not sure it is needed. As a high Dex CoT, I use a shortbow or daggers if I want to add my Dex mod to damage or spells are problematic. An extra point or two of damage with a weapon is not going to significantly change the way I play it.

Overall the war cleric is a disappointment IMHO.

The subclass is good at lower levels, but once other classes get Extra Attack, the warpriest starts pivoting to spells.
The 6th level subclass ability is great, and scales up well. A war priest does not strictly need a high CON score...Heavy Armor plus SoF and Aid can give you some protection.
I do wonder why play this instead of a Paladin of Conquest? ( short answer Spirit Guardians)

 

[Zardnaar]

I'm not sure it is needed. As a high Dex CoT, I use a shortbow or daggers if I want to add my Dex mod to damage or spells are problematic. An extra point or two of damage with a weapon is not going to significantly change the way I play it.

The subclass is good at lower levels, but once other classes get Extra Attack, the warpriest starts pivoting to spells.
The 6th level subclass ability is great, and scales up well. A war priest does not strictly need a high CON score...Heavy Armor plus SoF and Aid can give you some protection.
I do wonder why play this instead of a Paladin of Conquest? ( short answer Spirit Guardians)

True but if you're going to pivot to spelks play a different cleric IMHO.

See Light/death in particular.

 

[Todd Roybark]

Do you use the default array or rolled stats?

Rolled Stats....but I will say, that while I rolled better then the Default Array, it was not much better....instead of a 15 and a 14 in the default array it was two 16s instead.
My DEX score is higher then my WIS score!

As an aside, a Death priest/Monk of the Long Death M/C combo could be quite effective.
Reaper is too good an ability for the cost of an one level dip.

 

[Todd Roybark]

Once Spirt Guardians arrives, how often are clerics meaningfully dealing damage through their weapon attacks?

The classes damage comes through upcasting their spells.

 

[Zardnaar]

Once Spirt Guardians arrives, how often are clerics meaningfully dealing damage through their weapon attacks?

The classes damage comes through upcasting their spells.

Smart clerics probably not a lot although they can stack weapon damage with spirit guardians or if they nova weapon plus spirit guardians plus weapon.

Weapon damage doesn't scale that well relative to cantrips though with a few exceptions coming up.

Yes if your stats are high enough weapon damage can still be useful though. Potent cantrip tends to obsolete it though.

 

[auburn2]

Not to too fond because it's underpowered, overpowered, boring?

I've been in a group with a life cleric and currently DM for a group with a life cleric - the extra healing adds amazing staying power. It's not top tier, but it's not near the bottom either.

i think boring and dont bring a whole lot in versatility or extra abilites. extra healing is not really a big boon imo. between short rests, potions and other classes (including other clerics) there is alredy plenty of healing available. a lot more than in previous additions.

 

[Dausuul]

Question: How critical is it for a cleric to pump Wisdom?

I ask because it seems like Strength-first is a perfectly viable option if you're playing a Divine Smite domain. Arcane casters rely heavily on their casting stat because they throw a lot of damage spells and debuffs, which require saving throws. But heals and buffs, which are (in theory at least) the cleric's bread and butter, don't require saves and so are not much affected by Wisdom.

Weapon damage for a Strength cleric with Divine Smite should be comparable to cantrip damage for a Wisdom cleric with Potent Spellcasting at most levels. (Assuming 1d8 base damage in both cases, you have a substantial advantage from levels 1-4, do about equal damage from 5-10, fall behind at 11-13, regain equality from 14-16, and after level 17 how much do you really care anyway?)