D&D 5E Best blaster cleric

[Esker]

Playing a tempest cleric in a campaign now, and finding him to be quite an effective blaster, at least through low tier 2. Light cleric might be better at very low levels, simply because they can blast more often and in a party-friendly way, but their CD doesn't scale well.

 

[GlassJaw]

I like both but for a cleric that focuses more on casting, I'd probably go with Light. Light's spell list is very versatile - mix of close and long range, single-target and AoEs. Radiance is a very good AoE and doesn't require spell slots to boot. Warding Flare adds some decent cc and they get one of the best buffs spells in the game: Faerie Fire.

Tempest really wants to be on the front line too.

 

[RogueJK]

Tempest really wants to be on the front line too.

Tempest still works well as a DEX-based, light armor wearing ranged caster/bow user. Especially with a little bit of multiclassing, like Fighter 1 for Archery Fighting Style or Ranger 2 for Archery Fighting Style, Absorb Elements, and Hunter's Mark.

 

[Esker]

Other than Faerie Fire, I don't find the Light domain spells to be that exciting. Burning Hands is a worse Thunderwave. Flaming Sphere is mostly a worse Spiritual Weapon (particularly due to its concentration requirement and full action initial casting time). Scorching Ray doesn't do that much more than spiritual weapon + weapon attack in the round you use it, and is even with spiritual weapon + toll the dead once you hit 5th, and then does nothing in subsequent rounds. Fireball is a good blast spell of course, but other than its bigger area (which is a mixed blessing), it does less than a tempest cleric upcasting and maximizing Shatter.

The light cleric's blaster status really lives and dies on Radiance of the Dawn, it seems to me.

 

[RogueJK]

The light cleric's blaster status really lives and dies on Radiance of the Dawn, it seems to me.

And while that's handy at low levels, or against mobs of low HP mooks, it scales poorly, doing a flat 2d10 + caster level.

 

[Yardiff]

Tempest works well and you can have your theme song "Thunder" by Imagine Dragons.

 

[Esker]

And while that's handy at low levels, or against mobs of low HP mooks, it scales poorly, doing a flat 2d10 + caster level.

Yeah, exactly. Which is why my assessment above was that Light Cleric might be better as a blaster at really low levels, but falls behind Tempest by tier 2.

 

[Zardnaar]

At tier two radiance if the dawn still is better than most level 2 spells.

Think of it as 6 extra level 2 spells. On top of your spell slots so you danraduance of the dawn and spiritual weapon.

Sure you can maximise your shatters or whatever but RitD doesnt hit allies is a Dex save which is better than con and has a huge AoE.

So a fair comparison is spiritual weapon plus RotD vs a maximised shatter.

Basically light clerics better blaster.

Utility as well. Light cleric can use radiance if the dawn plus healing word. Tempest cleric can't maximise spell and cast healing word.

 

[RogueJK]

At Tier 2, Level 2 spells start to matter less. You can be upcasting that Spiritual Weapon into a 4th level slot for double dice on each hit. Or upcasting that Maximized Thunderwave, Shatter, or Call Lightning into a 4th or 5th level slot for a flat 40 or 48/50 damage. While Radiance of the Dawn is still doing 2d10 + 7/8/9.

You are correct that Thunderwave/Shatter are CON saves, which are less ideal in some situations. But Call Lightning is a DEX save. And it does its damage round after round, with one casting. So while you may be saving the equivalent of 2nd level slots with Radiance of the Dawn, you're saving 3rd (or higher) slots with Call Lightning. And it uses your Action on subsequent turns to call down additional bolts, which leaves your Bonus Actions free, allowing it to still be used in conjunction with Spiritual Weapon, Healing Word, etc.

Radiance of the Dawn is a fine ability, for the reasons you've pointed out. But look at it this way, apples to apples: It's a less powerful Channel Divinity ability than maximizing your thunder/lightning damage, especially at higher levels (5+). And Fireball is a less powerful 3rd level domain spell than Call Lightning. Faerie Fire is a great spell, when your Concentration isn't in use elsewhere, but not enough to make up the difference. So the Tempest Cleric pulls well ahead as far as blasters go, in my book.

 

[TwoSix]

If you're open to semi-official, look at Zeal Domain from Plane Shift:Amonkhet. It gains the maximize ability of the Tempest domain, except instead of thunder and lightning, it's thunder and fire. Oh, and it gets fireball as a domain spell.