jgsugden
Legend
You should not be concerned with these spells. There are no spells in any official product that should 'concern' you. They're all fine.So I really like clerics thematically as buff, heal, divination, and some weird utility type spellcasters. Narratively I generally don't like clerical god laser blasting spells, though divine hammer flamestrike and holy word type things don't really rub me the wrong way. Generally I like zaps to be arcane and a lot of damage to come round to round from the martials. With the clerical daily access to anything on the spell list it is easy to find and load up on the rare spells that are arguably off theme or overpowered.
As a DM I have repeatedly been introduced to the PC cleric of my group's favorite2nd3rd level spell spirit guardians, the auto damage to enemies only in an area ongoing spell which is super effective. It seems to have significantly altered fights it gets deployed in, which is most of them. My games narratively rarely have large numbers of separate encounter fights per game day so it often gets deployed in combat.
My group is currently 5th level, any other clerical spells you think I should particularly be on the lookout for as he levels and I think about fight encounters? PHB, Xanathars, and Tashas are all books that I have.
3rd level spells are a very intentional 'upgrade' in power over 2nd level spells. It is intended to be a significant jump. Hypnotic Pattern, Fireball, Fly, Spirit Guardians, Revivify - these open up new levels of power to PCs that were unavailable before. They are intended to change the way the game operates. They are one of the marks, along with abilities like Multi-attack for weapon PCs, that mark the transition to Heroic levels of play.
There is a very common mistake that many DMs make: They fail to realize that D&D is intended to change as PCs advance. The intent is for advancing magics to trivialize things that used to be a challenge to PCs at lower levels. Certain styles of challenge are intended to be too easy once the PCs gain access to powerful divinations, transmutations, etc... This change is what allows the players to see that their PCs are becoming more powerful. When the abilities of the PCs grow, it is something you should emphasize as a DM and celebrate - not something that should concern you.
My advice to you is to not plan for Spirit Guardians unless the NPC has a natural reason to plan for it. Contriving a reason for the enemy to be prepared for it tends to make it look like the DM is a bad sport, that the DM doesn't want the PCs to succeed, and that the DM is more interested in dictating how the game should go than sharing the journey with the players (by allowing them to shape the game with their decisions and character abilities). As a DM, you end up looking like that Fastfood Manager that spills grease on the floor because their clean up crew was cleaning too fast and the manager thought their regional manager needed to see their employees cleaning up more.
At levels 1 to 4 PCs should struggle a bit with mundane problems, and feel like the world is intimidating. From 5 to 10, they should feel like they've found their place and are effective. From 11 to 16 they should feel like they are starting to be real forces in their world - and are capable of making lasting changes to the regions they populate. From levels 17 and above they should feel like they are major players in the world.