D&D 5E Favorite AoE Spells?

[Sacrosanct]

Yep. My cleric had war caster and the feat for con saves. Went that route instead of increasing WIS from ASIs since I was a combat melee tank, not really an offensive caster. Most spells were for healing or buffing, so I didn’t miss the extra + from higher wisdom. Not compared to the benefits of the feats anyway, since I was front line

 

[Gladius Legis]

Spirit Guardians and Hypnotic Pattern have already been mentioned, so I'll bring Synaptic Static into the converation. As much damage and radius as a 3rd-level Fireball, forces a rare and usually easy-to-attack INT save and penalizes enemy attacks, ability checks and concentration saves by an average of slightly less than disadvantage (3.5). Pretty darn nice.

 

[Fenris-77]

I'll second Synaptic Static. Lovely spell. Oddly, my actual favorite AoE spell might be grease, but not because it's the most effective.

 

[Blue]

I agree that HP is one of the best AoE spells, but there's no reason the affected creatures would auto fail vs web, is there? They're just incapacitated and charmed; not stunned.

Heh, you're right. That's what we all get for taking the sorcerer at his word.

 

[Shiroiken]

If fact Spirit Guardians made the second best 3rd level spell list, while fireball made the second most overrated spell list for 3rd level.

I really don't care what some random dude on the internet thinks (lots of people say a lot of different things). I've seen both in action, over several groups, and Fireball is used consistently more, to great effect. While it doesn't scale particularly well, TBH a lot of spells really don't. Spirit Guardians does, mostly due to the lack of other damaging spells clerics have access to (Dawn is the next best at level 5, but suffers from the "friendly fire" problem as well, then maybe Blade Barrier), while other classes usually have other AoE damage spells to use.

That said, Hypnotic Pattern is better than both.

Agreed. I didn't mention it because it had already been mentioned.

 

[Mistwell]

I really don't care what some random dude on the internet thinks (lots of people say a lot of different things).

LOL are you saying TreantMonk is just some random dude on the Internet?

OK then. I guess his notoriety hasn't made it to your circle of the woods.

I've seen both in action, over several groups, and Fireball is used consistently more

Yeah that's part of the definition of something being overrated. Everyone takes it and uses it more than they should It's a fine spell for 5th level. It's a terrible spell to upcast. But people upcast it all the time.

other classes usually have other AoE damage spells to use.

Spirit Guardians scales so well it usually beats higher level AoE spells from other classes. It's one reason why, in my opinion, Clerics make better blasters than Wizards.

 

[Shiroiken]

LOL are you saying TreantMonk is just some random dude on the Internet?

OK then. I guess his notoriety hasn't made it to your circle of the woods.

TreantMonk might actually be an accomplished game designer (I don't actually know), but so is Keith Baker and I feel he's a hack. To each their own.

Yeah that's part of the definition of something being overrated. Everyone takes it and uses it more than they should It's a fine spell for 5th level. It's a terrible spell to upcast. But people upcast it all the time.

It's not overrated if it's actually good, and despite your protests, it is. I'll agree on the upcast (in fact I already did), but the only class I've seen regularly upcast it is the Sorcerer, and even then only because they have such limited spells known. Wizards IME usually pick up different combat spells at higher levels, often either control or single target, relying on just 3rd level slot fireballs for the AoE. In this, I feel we've simply had differing experiences, with my players not falling into the traps your players apparently have.

Spirit Guardians scales so well it usually beats higher level AoE spells from other classes. It's one reason why, in my opinion, Clerics make better blasters than Wizards.

I'm not going to argue that there aren't some bad (some REALLY bad) higher level spells that are going to be less damage than Spirit Guardians, but there are going to be other spells that deal equal damage (such as Cloudkill) with better area of effect options.

Really what it comes down to is play style and preference. I've seen Spirit Guardians be amazing, both for players and for NPCs, but it does have the concentration disadvantage. You either have to build around it (using opportunity costs) or you have to deal with the fact that you might deal damage to only a few targets before you lose the spell. In addition, you can't have another concentration spell active.

 

[abirdcall]

I love Faerie Fire.

It's atmospheric/looks cool and is fun for the party. Plus it is only a 1st level spell and can still do a lot to turn the tide of battle.

LOL are you saying TreantMonk is just some random dude on the Internet?

OK then. I guess his notoriety hasn't made it to your circle of the woods.

I watched a couple of his things and turned it off when I saw how wildly wrong he is about just about everything.

The thing is, D&D isn't a competitive game. So it's both hard to judge who is right and easy for people to think they are right about strategy.

I've seen people argue until they are blue in the face that their strategy is correct in competitive games even though they lose all the time. So even though there is an easy test to see who is right, they still don't believe the results.

The other thing is that most D&D players don't play competitive games at a high level (indeed most people). I'm not going to trust anyone who doesn't have some good strategy game credentials.

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

Web is a contender for my all time favourite spell. On my wizard even when I had access to higher level spell slots I always kept web handy. I eventually took hypnotic pattern but I found myself still casting web because difficult terrain is very handy in choke points and I just found that hypnotic pattern is only really a powerhouse if you manage to get the entire encounter with it. Most of the time enemies (or clumsy allies) would just end the effect early.

 

[CleverNickName]

Always been a fan of Thunderwave, myself.