A wise man once said, “The best offense is a good defense.” This saying is very true, and abjuration is all about the defense. Whether that’s preventing damage, alerting you to danger, or otherwise avoiding harm. So, in this top 10, I am going to cover Abjuration Spells that I’m sure clever players would find a good place to use each one. The list is filled with 5e spells, and not ranked in any particular order.
10. Absorb Elements
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If you find yourself taking a lot of acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage, this is going to save a lot of healing if you can pick it up. Not only does it reduce the damage you take from the triggering attack and all damage of the same type until you start your next turn, but it also allows you to return that damage on any Melee Attack when your turn finally does come around.
1st Level Spell: Can be obtained as soon as you can cast spells, and is easy to cast many times.
1 Reaction Cast Time: You don’t need to guess when you are going to need this, you can just cast it when you need it (provided you still have a reaction)
Benefits last till the start of your next turn: If your enemies decide to drop lots of the same damage type at once, you can divide all of it by half with one spell slot.
Provides Resistance: You take half damage from the damage type chosen while the spell lasts.
The next Melee Attack you make deals 1d6 of the damage you took: If you have Shocking Grasp, a thwacking stick, or other melee attacks, you can deal 1d6 extra damage at no further cost if you can hit.
Can be Upcast: Higher level spell slots increase the damage you deal on your first hit on your next turn by 1d6 for every level above 1st.
When somebody shocks you, shock them back.
Absorb Elements Details: https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/absorb-elements
9. Armor of Agathys
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Sure, this may be Warlocks only, but this is a powerful spell if a 1 level dip from another spellcasting class is acceptable. However, you only really want to grab it if you find your enemies hitting you a lot with melee attacks, or you don’t have much health.
1st Level Spell.
Lasts 1 hour: most combats don’t even last 1 minute, so if you are delving through a dungeon, you can cast it before combat and only worry about it when you run out of temporary hit points.
Gives 5 Temporary Hit Points: Temporary Hit Points may not stack, but these are depleted first before your main hit points.
Deals 5 Cold Damage to attackers that hit you with a melee attack as long as you have the temporary health: If your enemy isn’t immune, you can step out of melee range without disengaging, let the melee attack hit (say you are letting them hit), and watch your DM slowly realize their mistake, and become warier of attacks of opportunity.
Can be Upcast: Increases both the Temporary Hitpoints, and damage by 5 for each level above 1st (Cast at 9th level for 45 Temp HP, and 45 Cold Damage).
Armor of Agathys Details: https://www.dnd-spells.com/spell/armor-of-agathys
8. Shield
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Probably one of the more reliable ways of avoiding damage as it gives a whopping +5 to your AC for basically an entire round. If you had unarmored defense (from barbarian), and got your base AC up to 20 with that, picked up a +3 shield, for a +5, and found boots of hast, then while you had your reaction and a spell slot, or you already cast shield, you would have an AC of 33, which I know no creature with an AC that high (highest permanent AC is 25). And on top of that, magic missile is pointless against you.
1st Level Spell.
1 Reaction Cast Time
Benefits last until the start of your next turn.
Completely negate all damage from magic missile
Use a personal bubble to bounce everything off of you.
This spell doesn’t seem all that great because it breaks whenever the target(s) target an enemy with an attack or offensive spell. However, if you want some time to buff your allies, you just want to maintain concentration on a spell, or the rogue surrounded by enemies really hates disengaging, then sanctuary is the perfect spell to use.
1st Level Spell
1 Bonus Action Cast Time: Spend a bonus action to cast, then follow up with a cantrip, attack action, dodge, dash, or any other action you desire, as long as you don’t try to cast another spell that isn’t a cantrip.
Lasts 1 Minute
Enemies must pass a Wisdom Save, or target another creature with their attack or spell, or lose it entirely. Even if they pass, they still need to beat your AC.
Watch your enemies miss and pretend their AI is broken
The classic spell to see used if any kind of spellcaster is being annoying by just saying “No, you can’t”. You could, in theory, have a chain of Counterspells to prevent the next one in the chain from working.
3rd Level Spell: Not as easy to come by as a 1st level spell like shield, but very much worth the power.
1 Reaction Cast Time
Automatically shuts down any spell with a level equal to or less than what you use on this spell
Any spell that is too high to be shut down can still be shut down with an ability check with your spellcasting modifier.
“I wish to counterspell the counterspell that’s counterspelling the counterspell, that’s counterspelling the Teleport spell.”
Everybody loves traps, especially when you teleport the BBEG into your kill chamber, or turn the thief that keeps stealing your spell components into something to embarrass them and teach them a lesson. It does consume 200 GP worth of incense and powdered diamond, but I mean you can really do some nasty things if you accumulate enough.
3rd Level Spell
Lasts until Dispelled or Triggered: An enemy would need to target the spell with something such as Dispel Magic or trigger it in order to get rid of this.
Nearly Invisible: A creature needs to make an investigation check against your spell save DC in order to find it. And they have to actively search for it. If they don’t know there are magical wards around the area, they won’t look for it.
Triggered by anything you wish: When you cast this spell, you can choose what triggers this spell (an invisible creature steps on it, it is touched on a full moon, or when a creature says “Bingo!”, when there are 5 creatures at once, etc.), and what doesn’t trigger the spell (creatures that say “nope!”, your friends, or creatures that perform a specific silly dance)
Explodes, or casts a spell on being triggered: You can make it explode in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on the glyph, dealing 5d8 damage of the chosen type (acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder) to creatures who fail a Dexterity save, or half that to those that pass the save. Alternatively, you can cast a spell of the same level you cast this one to store it inside, as long as it only targets a single creature or an area.
“Have you ever heard of a glyph of warding? (Massive explosion)”
Glyph of Warding Details: https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/glyph-of-warding
4. Banishment
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Surely nobody wants to be ditched and left behind. That is what makes the Banishment spell really fun and nasty because if your big bad boss can’t help you fight the invaders, then you are going to go down pretty quickly when they hit him with this.
4th Level Spell: A strong choice among all of your options, though perhaps not the most readily available.
Lasts 1 minute with Concentration: As long as you pass all your Constitution Saves, or there are no distractions or enemies, you can keep this up for the full duration. The only problem is you can only cast one concentration spell at a time.
Effectively removes a creature from combat while it lasts: If you drop this on a pivotal enemy, you will become a major target. But, if your party can protect you, then you can mop the floor with them.
Banish a creature that isn’t native to your plane, then loot their treasure while they try to return.
When you know something’s about to go down such as fighting an ancient dragon that could kill you with a single use of its breath weapon, this can be a lifesaver. Literally. Drop it on the character that will die fastest, and hope nobody else dies.
4th Level Spell.
Lasts 8 Hours.
You Can’t be Killed in One Hit: When you drop to 0 hit points, you instead drop to 1 hit point, and if an effect would kill you without dealing damage, that effect cannot kill you. When either of these happens, the spell ends.
Stand back up when you take damage from the One Punch Man.
Death Ward Details: https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/death-ward
2. Private Sanctum
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There are many spells on this list that are incredibly useful on the battlefield. But sometimes, you just want to stay at home without being bothered at all. Private Sanctum really makes home a place to keep anything safe from unwanted visitors.
4th Level Spell
Lasts 24 hours, or until dispelled if cast in the same place for an entire year (or less if your DM deems the situation appropriate). You may also dismiss it as an action.
Prevents all sorts of privacy invasion: at your choice (upon casting), you can prevent sound, vision, teleportation, and planar travel from passing through the barrier, and divination cannot enter the area, or appear inside.
Use this on a bathroom to really maintain your privacy.
So many monsters and spells apply nasty effects that can debilitate, cripple, or otherwise cause major problems to a party member outside of dealing damage. Greater Restoration is your Cure-All for magical Ailments (outside of maybe disease), and can really clear you up for a big fight if you have the materials to spare.
5th Level Spell: It takes a while to reach these spells, but they give some strong bonuses that can really come in handy.
Instantaneous: The effects cannot be targeted after the spell is cast, and simply happen after the casting time.
Ends a lot of seriously detrimental effects that can cripple you for the rest of the game.
Have a way to restore the intelligence of the fighter so he can stop peeing on everything.
At the end of this list, we have some incredible choices. The cantrips may not be the best around, but the other spells are incredibly useful as they have far too many uses for anyone to reasonably say otherwise. Just remember as always, that you can build your character as you see fit, and this list is mostly to help you figure out what good possibilities are out there.
With countless worlds to explore He looses his sails to sail seas, climb mountains, and create worlds of his own. He lives to bring joy to others. I also enjoy shiny pieces of digital plastic
