D&D Best Spell Sniper Cantrips To Have

Updated:

15 Jun 2022

Deep within the dark halls of dragon mountain, an orc general rallies his troops, for today they march on the realms of humans and elves, and nothing will stop them…at least that would be, had the general not had his head blown up by an arcane discharge from far away.

The town is in flames, the villagers run for a haven within the cathedral. The only thing keeping the hordes of gnolls away is cold rays of magic being shot from the forest.

Spells are specific, limited expressions that happen when a spellcaster shapes magical energies.

From bringing down fiery mountains to charming villages, magic is as varied as the people who wield it, thus it’s no wonder there are so many different builds for your spell-slingers in 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons.

One of the most common ways to play a spellcaster is to focus on slinging as many fiery conflagrations as you can to reduce your foes to ash, and today we’ll talk about the best way to do it from a safe distance.

Spell Sniper & You.

If your game table allows feats, chances are spellcasters in your party have perused the Spell Sniper feat.

Simply put, this feat lets you double the range of spells that require a ranged attack roll and lets you ignore half and three-quarters cover.

While this applies to all ranged spell attacks, cantrips, which are simple spells you can cast at will, benefit the most since you can now spam them from way behind enemy lines and outside the reach of most attacks.

From bards to clerics, from wizards to druids. The 5th edition is ripe with spellcasting classes, each with its unique spell list. It can be daunting to decide which of the many cantrips to pick for your spell sniper.

Worry not, for we have made a list with the best cantrips you can choose to maximize the utility of this amazing feat!

4. Fire bolt

The classic choice for a damaging cantrip, this spell lets you fire off a beam of flame that strikes a foe for fiery punishment. If you hit a flammable object, it lights up in flames if it isn’t worn or carried.

The reason for picking this up is simple, it’s one of the highest damage cantrip available to spellcasters.

What Firebolt Is Useful for:

Burning down foes before they know what hits them. With its range doubled to 240 feet, you can disintegrate anything before it catches up to you.
Flammable objects hit will ignite if they aren’t worn or carried. Perfect for blowing up your foes’ oil deposit.

Fire Bolt details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/spell:fire-bolt

3. Chill Touch

With its deceiving name, Chill Touch does neither cold damage nor is it a touch spell, instead, you send a ghostly hand towards a creature in range, dealing necrotic damage, and, guess what, it can’t regain Hit Points for a turn.

If the creature is undead, it comes with the bonus of granting it disadvantage on attacks against you for the turn.

What Chill Touch Is Useful for:

Healing can be problematic in 5th edition, some Spells can bring a foe to full Hit Points in the blink of an eye, by denying them this, no amount of enemy healers will make a difference.
Undead creatures are problematic, granting them disadvantage on attacks against you, as well as denying the natural healing some of them have (talking to you Vampires!) is a great way of dealing with them.

Chill Touch details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/spell:chill-touch

2. Ray of Frost

You release a beam of frigid energy that chills your foes to the bone.

Not only does it deal a decent amount of cold damage, but you can also reduce your foes’ speed by 10 feet.

What Ray of Frost Is Useful for:

With its range increased to 120 feet thanks to spelling sniper, you can stay fairly far away and gimp your target’s speed, thus ensuring it doesn’t even come close to you, or your allies.

Ray of Frost details: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Ray%20of%20Frost#content

1. Eldritch Blast

Hands down the best damaging cantrip any class can get their hands on.

With eldritch blast, you shoot a beam of crackling force towards your target. The number of beams increases as you level up, thus multiplying the number of attacks you make.

What Eldritch Blast Is Useful for:

Eldritch Blast is the only cantrip that deals with force damage, the least resisted damage type in the whole system. Thus you will always have a reliable source of damage.
By getting more beams you’re also getting more attacks, which means more chances to score critical hits and to spread your damage to multiple opponents.

Eldritch Blast details: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Eldritch%20Blast#content