D&D 5E (2024) Best Blasters?

[Zardnaar]

New adept feat has chromatic orb, fireball and wall of force on it.

Alot of spells you want anyway on Dragon Sorcrerer.

 

[Some Dude]

Late to the party but my favorite Blasters:

 

[One Man [RPG] <studio>]

I'm going in another direction. A blaster list becomes much more useful when it separates kinds of performance instead of compressing everything into one tier. I would score at least burst damage, sustained output, ability to affect multiple targets, reliability when enemies spread out or resist the primary plan, and resource cost. A character can dominate one of those categories while being merely competent in the others.

That would also clarify what putting Dragon Sorcerer in S actually means. Is it best when resources can be spent freely, across several fights, against one target, or against groups? Changing that assumption can move a ranking substantially without either list being wrong. I would also include mobility and ease of target selection, because a large damage number that requires perfect geometry appears less often in actual play than in a theoretical comparison. For me, the most informative tier is not who can produce the highest number, but who keeps fulfilling the role when the scene stops favoring their ideal case.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

New adept feat has chromatic orb, fireball and wall of force on it.

Alot of spells you want anyway on Dragon Sorcrerer.

5.5 draconic sorcerer gets chromatic orb on its spell list, and you only want fireball if you are a fire dragon sorcerer, which isn’t a good option since it’s the most commonly resisted element.

 

[FrogReaver]

snip - you only want fireball if you are a fire dragon sorcerer

Wait what?

 

[Zardnaar]

I'm going in another direction. A blaster list becomes much more useful when it separates kinds of performance instead of compressing everything into one tier. I would score at least burst damage, sustained output, ability to affect multiple targets, reliability when enemies spread out or resist the primary plan, and resource cost. A character can dominate one of those categories while being merely competent in the others.

That would also clarify what putting Dragon Sorcerer in S actually means. Is it best when resources can be spent freely, across several fights, against one target, or against groups? Changing that assumption can move a ranking substantially without either list being wrong. I would also include mobility and ease of target selection, because a large damage number that requires perfect geometry appears less often in actual play than in a theoretical comparison. For me, the most informative tier is not who can produce the highest number, but who keeps fulfilling the role when the scene stops favoring their ideal case.

Dragon Sorcerers good at both via innate sorcery.

5.5 draconic sorcerer gets chromatic orb on its spell list, and you only want fireball if you are a fire dragon sorcerer, which isn’t a good option since it’s the most commonly resisted element.

More thr other 3 spells can be appealing and you also get shatter.
Frees up 4 spells to pick.

The feat essentially turns any full caster into a B tier blaster. A bard could eventually get to B+ via more feats etc but lack class features boosting it

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Frees up 4 spells to pick.

Really, no it doesn’t, it’s three at most (you already have chromatic orb). You would be better picking the feat that had the spells you actually wanted (abjuration adept or fey touched are best if you aren’t allowed a dragonmark), and selecting the damage spells from the sorcerer list that match your element.

 

[Zardnaar]

Really, no it doesn’t, it’s three at most (you already have chromatic orb). You would be better picking the feat that had the spells you actually wanted (abjuration adept or fey touched are best if you aren’t allowed a dragonmark), and selecting the damage spells from the sorcerer list that match your element.

You get 4 extra spells all useful. Even shatter that you can empower and add a couple of extra dice to is ok at lvl 3 and 4.

Vitriolic sphere and fireball are some of the best blast spelks, wall of force is a big pick up.

Looks like 4 spells to me.

And yes sometimes they cast spelks that are not their element.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

And yes sometimes they cast spelks that are not their element.

Why would they? Fireball and Vitriolic sphere do the same job with a different damage type, you choose the one that matches your element (and neither if it’s not fire or acid). Room clearance spells are situational, you don’t need more than one.

 

[Zardnaar]

Why would they? Fireball and Vitriolic sphere do the same job with a different damage type, you choose the one that matches your element (and neither if it’s not fire or acid). Room clearance spells are situational, you don’t need more than one.

Immunities and resistances for starters. Ive seen a fire sorcerer vs fire giants and he didn't have a single non fire spell.

Remember me saying chromatic orbs really good and I like sorcererous burst.