D&D 5E (2024) How Many Offensive Spells Do You Ned to Know?

[EzekielRaiden]

Realistically? You only need like...five? offense spells.

One decent, scales-okay ST option.
One decent, scales-okay AoE/multi-target option.
One decent zone-effect option.
One solid debuff, preferably AoE, unless it's a real potent single-target option.
One additional pick of preference, simply for variety.

You don't really need anything more than that. And certain spells even get eventually outclassed enough that you can just drop them entirely. Sorcerous burst, for example, is nearly strictly superior to chromatic orb once you hit 11th level; it has a (nearly) 1/3 chance to get at least one bonus die with no additional rolls required, while chromatic orb has a (just over) 1/3 chance to permit a second attack roll, and thus by definition a less than 1/3 chance to deal three bonus dice. Given the cantrip has no cost while the spell does, while it's not true that chromatic orb is totally pointless, it's definitely worth asking whether a spell slot is worth, say, a 1/4-ish chance to hit two targets. (That said, chromatic orb gets more benefit out of critting than sorcerous burst does, since it merely needs any two matching dice, rather than needing specifically one or more 8s.)

So, for example: take magic missile (good for clearing small groups or guaranteed minimum damage) and chromatic orb at 1st level. Take scorching ray at 3rd, and fireball at 4th. Yes, fireball gets outclassed over time, but it's probably the single most solid, reliable AoE spell in the game from level 5 to 8, and you'll get good use out of it (especially as a Sorcerer with Careful Spell). Pick any zone-type spell you like. I'm personally partial to sickening radiance, but there are plenty to choose from. Pick your debuff of choice--I've seen quite a bit of good use from Tasha's hideous laughter, but slow is also a good choice (part of why I like sickening radiance is that it pulls double duty, albeit with a mid-level slot rather than a low-level one.) I've got my set of five, with fireball as the additional pick of preference.

Other options are perfectly doable. Chromatic orb and witch bolt make another good starting pair, cloud of daggers is an acceptable (if small) zone effect, and storm sphere is a pretty solid mix of damage, zone, and control. Lightning bolt is unfortunately pretty weak because getting even three targets on a straight line from you (with no allies along that same line) is not easy, but lightning-element spells at 3rd level are not exactly growing on trees.

But yeah. You really only need like four or five spells for offense. Maybe eight if you're REALLY wanting to be sure that you always have something strong to bring to bear. Beyond that? Bob's your uncle. Do whatever you want. It's one of the reasons why I always find it very dubious when folks claim that spellcasters cannot be simultaneously good with utility effects, and also good at offense. It's quite easy to be good at offense, especially by level 5, without making any meaningful sacrifice at all to your utility potential.

 

[Zardnaar]

Realistically? You only need like...five? offense spells.

One decent, scales-okay ST option.
One decent, scales-okay AoE/multi-target option.
One decent zone-effect option.
One solid debuff, preferably AoE, unless it's a real potent single-target option.
One additional pick of preference, simply for variety.

You don't really need anything more than that. And certain spells even get eventually outclassed enough that you can just drop them entirely. Sorcerous burst, for example, is nearly strictly superior to chromatic orb once you hit 11th level; it has a (nearly) 1/3 chance to get at least one bonus die with no additional rolls required, while chromatic orb has a (just over) 1/3 chance to permit a second attack roll, and thus by definition a less than 1/3 chance to deal three bonus dice. Given the cantrip has no cost while the spell does, while it's not true that chromatic orb is totally pointless, it's definitely worth asking whether a spell slot is worth, say, a 1/4-ish chance to hit two targets. (That said, chromatic orb gets more benefit out of critting than sorcerous burst does, since it merely needs any two matching dice, rather than needing specifically one or more 8s.)

So, for example: take magic missile (good for clearing small groups or guaranteed minimum damage) and chromatic orb at 1st level. Take scorching ray at 3rd, and fireball at 4th. Yes, fireball gets outclassed over time, but it's probably the single most solid, reliable AoE spell in the game from level 5 to 8, and you'll get good use out of it (especially as a Sorcerer with Careful Spell). Pick any zone-type spell you like. I'm personally partial to sickening radiance, but there are plenty to choose from. Pick your debuff of choice--I've seen quite a bit of good use from Tasha's hideous laughter, but slow is also a good choice (part of why I like sickening radiance is that it pulls double duty, albeit with a mid-level slot rather than a low-level one.) I've got my set of five, with fireball as the additional pick of preference.

Other options are perfectly doable. Chromatic orb and witch bolt make another good starting pair, cloud of daggers is an acceptable (if small) zone effect, and storm sphere is a pretty solid mix of damage, zone, and control. Lightning bolt is unfortunately pretty weak because getting even three targets on a straight line from you (with no allies along that same line) is not easy, but lightning-element spells at 3rd level are not exactly growing on trees.

But yeah. You really only need like four or five spells for offense. Maybe eight if you're REALLY wanting to be sure that you always have something strong to bring to bear. Beyond that? Bob's your uncle. Do whatever you want. It's one of the reasons why I always find it very dubious when folks claim that spellcasters cannot be simultaneously good with utility effects, and also good at offense. It's quite easy to be good at offense, especially by level 5, without making any meaningful sacrifice at all to your utility potential.

Lvl 1 chromatic orb a bit meh.

Lvl 11 Sorcerers Burst is great I love that cantrip.
. You manipulate both with empower spell and elemental adept feat.

CO turns into a pseudo AoE lvl 3/4 bases bounce chance hit 72 and 93% iirc.

It outperforms fireball at 4+ unless you hit more than 1 target+ lvl of CO.

Theres 2 or 3 good blaster builds. I think Sorcerers the best in all of them.

CO bounce chance becomes 100% at 6th level slot. 5th level with elemental adept. By then you can take seeking spell and various other ways to manipulate the dice rolls.

Then it basically doesn't miss (innate sorcerery) and 100% bounce chance.

If you're paralyzing monsters or your allies are its hilarious.

 

[GMMichael]

Just one. Summon Ned.

 

[Minigiant]

Realistically? You only need like...five? offense spells.

One decent, scales-okay ST option.
One decent, scales-okay AoE/multi-target option.
One decent zone-effect option.
One solid debuff, preferably AoE, unless it's a real potent single-target option.
One additional pick of preference, simply for variety.

More like 7 once you hit hit tier 2 as your high level slots and low level slots with have very different power. Minus one as 1 can be your personal pick

1. One decent, scales-okay Single Target, lower slot option.
2. One decent, big effect, Single Target, higher slot option.
3. One decent, AoE/multi-target, high slot, option.
4. One decent zone-effect option.
5. One solid debuff, preferably AoE, unless it's a real potent single-target option.
6. Personal pick
   1. One situational, different damage type mid-high slot option.
   2. One situational, different saving throw, mid-high slot option
   3. One situational, scales okay, AOE, low slot option

 

[EzekielRaiden]

More like 7 once you hit hit tier 2 as your high level slots and low level slots with have very different power. Minus one as 1 can be your personal pick

1. One decent, scales-okay Single Target, lower slot option.
2. One decent, big effect, Single Target, higher slot option.
3. One decent, AoE/multi-target, high slot, option.
4. One decent zone-effect option.
5. One solid debuff, preferably AoE, unless it's a real potent single-target option.
6. Personal pick
   1. One situational, different damage type mid-high slot option.
   2. One situational, different saving throw, mid-high slot option
   3. One situational, scales okay, AOE, low slot option

That will certainly make things easier if you know you'll be getting into lots of combats...but I genuinely don't think you NEED this much. If all you care about is reasonable competence in combat, not bleeding-edge DPR optimization, then what I listed is enough.

You just need to cover single-target, AoE/multi-target, good debuff, and zone. Anything beyond that is trying to optimize combat performance, not meet minimum requirements. Once optimization gets into the picture, it's a much more involved process, but the results won't be radically different. Better, to be sure, but not radically different.

And even with optimization for combat, you can still put probably 1/3 of your spells known into utility spells without any cost to your potential combat ability--and you only need a small number of such spells to have quite an arsenal. Fly and invisibility alone are insane for their utility potential.

 

[Minigiant]

That will certainly make things easier if you know you'll be getting into lots of combats...but I genuinely don't think you NEED this much. If all you care about is reasonable competence in combat, not bleeding-edge DPR optimization, then what I listed is enough.

You just need to cover single-target, AoE/multi-target, good debuff, and zone. Anything beyond that is trying to optimize combat performance, not meet minimum requirements. Once optimization gets into the picture, it's a much more involved process, but the results won't be radically different. Better, to be sure, but not radically different.

And even with optimization for combat, you can still put probably 1/3 of your spells known into utility spells without any cost to your potential combat ability--and you only need a small number of such spells to have quite an arsenal. Fly and invisibility alone are insane for their utility potential.

It's not much of a question of optimization. But how the spell slot system works.

If you are a ninth level caster, you have first second third fourth and fifth level spells.

If your game plan is not to mostly up cast spells, then some of your needed spells would be of the same level. And thus, you would have a whole slot level or more of slots that you are not casting from. If your single target spell and your defuff spell are both fifth level, AOE third (fireball), and your zone spell, fourth, what are you doing with your second level spell slots?

You need a spell to use your lower limit of your combat effective spell slots and you need another spell to use your highest level of your compact, effective spell slots.

Upcaster Mage has a minimum of 5 and a Basecast Mage as the minimum of 6.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

If your single target spell and your defuff spell are both fifth level, AOE third (fireball), and your zone spell, fourth, what are you doing with your second level spell slots?

Presumably, you've moved on to spending them on utility effects rather than direct damage?

2nd level offers, in alphabetical order without special regard to any specific class: darkvision, enhance ability, enlarge/reduce, find steed, find traps, gust of wind, healing spirit, invisibility, knock, lesser restoration, levitate, misty step, pass without trace, rope trick, spider climb, suggestion, zone of truth. Faaaairly sure anyone can find at least one or two spells in that list they'd like to have.

And that's leaving out technically-combat-focused spells like hold person and silence which have tons of utility uses. I just avoided them because I wanted to reference only (almost-pure) utility effects. Enlarge/reduce is sorta both so I left it in.

 

[Zardnaar]

Presumably, you've moved on to spending them on utility effects rather than direct damage?

2nd level offers, in alphabetical order without special regard to any specific class: darkvision, enhance ability, enlarge/reduce, find steed, find traps, gust of wind, healing spirit, invisibility, knock, lesser restoration, levitate, misty step, pass without trace, rope trick, spider climb, suggestion, zone of truth. Faaaairly sure anyone can find at least one or two spells in that list they'd like to have.

And that's leaving out technically-combat-focused spells like hold person and silence which have tons of utility uses. I just avoided them because I wanted to reference only (almost-pure) utility effects. Enlarge/reduce is sorta both so I left it in.

Mostly thus. Low level soells mostly defensive, support, utility later.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Mostly thus. Low level soells mostly defensive, support, utility later.

And the only full-caster class that both (a) does not have immediate access to every spell on its list, and (b) does not have the ability to un-learn an old spell to learn a new spell in its place, is Wizard....which is also the only class that doesn't care about that, because their whole thing is learning tons of spells, and unless the GM is actively hobbling them, they should be getting some amount of additional spells to learn through scribing scrolls into their book.

Even Bards can swap out their Magical Discoveries. They're actually even more flexible, since each feature is separate: you could swap out both a regular Bard spell and a Magical Discoveries spell when you gain a level.

So...yeah. You have old offense spells from level 1 that you aren't using anymore? Drop 'em and pick up some utility instead. There are always a few 1st and 2nd level spells worth hanging onto for their utility benefits, and you can keep magic missile or chromatic orb if you REALLY want to have something to spend those low-level slots on.

Hence, I stand by what I said. Very roughly 5 spells--updating now and then for offensive potency--will get you everything you need out of offense. Anything further is, to at least some extent, an attempt to optimize for combat, and that's a bigger ask than the original question.