2025 One D&D Magic Item Tier List

S Tier

None

A Tier

Moon-Touched Sword – If you lack Darkvision, then this is just free value. Even if you have Darkvision, you may be able to use this against creatures that have Bright Light sensitivity which can be just extra value.

Perfume of Bewitching – This is easy to get, lasts a solid amount of time, and has a pretty potent effect. Big fan of this.

Potion of Healing – A staple for any party, even at mid levels, as with how enemy damage progression works, these potions will wake you up and maybe let you tank one additional hit, but very rarely multiple hits.

Prosthetic Limb – If you’re in a campaign where this matters, you’re going to need this.

Veteran’s Cane – Surprisingly versatile if you’re already planning on using a Longsword.

B Tier

Enduring Spellbook – While this may not seem that useful, losing your spellbook is a huge detriment to any Wizard so this is a nice piece of insurance.

Erzatz Eye* – If you have a campaign with lingering injuries, then this can be good, otherwise this isn’t an item you would ever encounter making this rating kind of moot.

Horn of Silent Alarm – This looks to be surprisingly useful as you may not know when you need to alert one party member. You need to be somewhat close to the person you’re trying to alert, but this is pretty versatile regardless.

Ruby of the War Mage – Realistically any class that wants to both spellcast and attack with a weapon won’t have much issue doing that, but this is a very nice shortcut for builds where you don’t have enough hands to make it work, you don’t have the right feat, or you don’t have the right class feature.

Walloping Ammunition – This is a pretty easy saving throw to pass, but it is functionally free value.

C Tier

Bead of Nourishment – This isn’t a bad item, but Goodberry will get this job done for you just as well. However, if nobody you know can cast Goodberry or your DM has banned it, then this is your best replacement.

Bead of Refreshment – It’s very hard to say how hard it is to find good drinking water, but in campaigns where this matters, this will obviously be good.

Cloak of Many Fashions – For those needing to quickly change disguises, this is going to be a pretty useful item that’s relatively easy to get.

Hat of Wizardry – This isn’t bad for lower levels, but will likely be quickly replaced by other items over the next few levels.

Instrument of Illusions – This probably will make your Bard’s performance checks better even if it doesn’t implicitly do that. Still, I like the style points you’ll get when using this.

Pole of Collapsing – There are only so many applications for a pole, but having a more convenient way to carry it is nice.

Potion of Climbing – If you’re really desperate to climb, then this can be useful. That said, this is only going to be useful until you have better means of navigating vertical surfaces.

Potion of Comprehension – If you have no other means to understand an NPC, this is how you’d do it.

Pot of Awakening – Plant and friend all in one! If you have no means of getting a familiar, this isn’t a bad substitute.

Silvered Weapon – Unless you’re in a horror-themed campaign, this is not likely to come up often. However, it’s not like there’s really an opportunity cost to having this either.

D Tier

Armor of Gleaming – While there are pretty much no functional applications of this, this can be useful for making a good impression on an NPC in theory.

Candle of the Deep – Obviously this is extremely specific, but does as advertised when under water.

Cast Off Armor – Unless you’re trying to reenact this scene from Bruce Almighty, I can’t imagine this being super useful beyond shedding armor if you’re on the bad end of the Heat Metal spell or you fell into water.

Charlatan’s Die – There is potential here to rip people off, considering this is a common magic item, you can expect any serious gambler to know of its existence.

Clockwork Amulet – You need a large enough to hit bonus for this to do literally anything, and even when it does, you barely get to use this.

Dark Shard Amulet – This item is super niche and not nearly good enough to compensate for how little use someone could reasonably get out of this.

Dread Helm – Super cool visual, but this is really only helpful for obscuring your face which a lot of items, magic or otherwise, could accomplish.

Ear Horn of Hearing – The Deafened condition isn’t that bad so something that helps you with that is a bit unnecessary.

Hat of Vermin – If you could control the summon, then this would get an entirely different rating. However, without that control, I just don’t see the point of this realistically.

Instrument of Scribing – This is a very interesting item that can be used to good effect to someone who can plan far enough ahead, but in general, you’ll probably have a hard time finding a good use for this.

Mystery Key – Not technically useless as this will have use eventually, but by the time this works, you may have had another means of getting past the lock anyway.

Orb of Direction – Not bad if you need help with directions, but that’s probably not going to happen all that often.

Orb of Time – I’m not sure why this would be that useful, but maybe you’re on a time sensitive mission and knowing roughly what time it is can be useful.

Pole of Angling – A more convenient fishing pole is something I guess.

Rival Coin – The juice is not worth the squeeze on this one unless you are truly desperate.

Staff of Birdcalls – You may be able to get some use out of this if you’re particularly creative, but that isn’t going to be easy.

Sylvan Talon – Decent if you’re encountering a lot of Fey, but not great otherwise.

Talking Doll – Considering this can be surprisingly versatile, this may serve as a decent distraction if you have enough time to set this up. All that said, this is obviously still pretty tough to get to work.

Tankard of Sobriety – Great for drinking contests which may come up more than you’d expect, but probably not that helpful otherwise.

Wand of Conducting – While this is mostly for flavor, this can be used to enhance performances or potentially cause a distraction.

Wand of Pyrotechnics – Once again, another item that is solid at providing a distraction, but that’s about all it’s good for.

F Tier

Boots of False Tracks – This feels super niche and I’m struggling to even come up with scenarios in which this would be at all useful. Someone more creative than me can probably get some use out of this, but I can’t imagine they would be able to often.

Cloak of Billowing – While a necessity of every character, there’s only so much that this accomplishes beyond increasing team morale.

Clothes of Mending – While I wish I had this in real life, not terribly useful in game.

Heward’s Handy Spice Pouch – It’s hard to imagine what scenario this would actually be useful, but for the chefs of the party, I guess this is neat.

Pipe of Smoke Monsters – Cool, but not really useful in any capacity.

Rope of Mending – Very niche magic item that I struggle to see the utility in, especially as Rope isn’t expensive in any capacity.

Shield of Expression – Funny? Yes. Useful? No.

Smoldering Armor – Maybe good for flavor, not useful otherwise.

Staff of Adornment – Great for drip, just doesn’t do anything.

Staff of Flowers – Perfect for players who love flowers, not that useful otherwise.

S Tier

Bag of Holding – These are a staple for any party and you should get as many of these as possible.

Rod of the Pact Keeper (+1)* – An absolute staple for any Warlock that isn’t going Pact of the Blade.

Sentinel Shield – This is an unreasonably good item for how easy it is to get.

Wraps of Unarmed Power (+1)* – Absolutely busted on Monks, but probably not great otherwise.

A Tier

Bag of Tricks – Having a few free friends per day is definitely nice and can be relevant even in higher levels. It’s kind of surprising that this is only an uncommon item and there’s no overall limit to how many times you can use this.

Boots of Striding and Springing – While these aren’t Boots of Speed, these do functionally increase your movement speed on top of having a few additional effects making these a pretty excellent pickup.

Broom of Flying – Live out your witch fantasies with this excellent item! Flying is extremely good, especially on such an easy to acquire magic item.

Cloak of Protection – Excellent on any character and pretty easy to get.

Elemental Gem – This is a tough one to rank as how strong this can be is completely contingent on what level you get this, but this is going to be pretty potent for most levels.

Eyes of the Eagle – Not hard to get, pretty free to use, and very good for functionally zero opportunity cost.

Mithral Armor – If you couldn’t normally wear heavier armor, but have the proficiency, this is perfect.

Quiver of Ehlonna* – I think many tables won’t worry much about where you’re storing arrows, javelins, or otherwise, but for campaigns that do care, this will be extremely useful.

Ring of Jumping – Extra movement with functionally no opportunity cost is awesome.

Saddle of the Cavalier* – Obviously only relevant if you are using a mount, but if you are, this is a staple.

+1 Weapon – One of the first magic items a party should look to get and a staple for lower level parties.

+1 Shield – Easier to get than +1 Armor, even if not everyone is going to want a shield.

Slippers of Spider Climbing* – While it will likely be replaced in the coming levels, this will be an excellent item for a surprisingly long time for anyone who doesn’t need to be in melee range.

Staff of the Adder – While this item is pretty specific and won’t stay as your best option for long, this is extremely good on lower level Monks, War Clerics, or any other melee classes that have decent Wisdom.

Stone of Good Luck (Luckstone) – An excellent item early that isn’t too hard to get. You won’t keep this forever, but you’ll never be sad that you got this.

Wand of Magic Missiles – Getting free, guaranteed damage is going to be really strong in early levels and can remain a better option than a cantrip even as you start leveling up.

Weapon of Warning – Pretty comparable to a +1 weapon and arguably better than one.

Winged Boots – This is very strong for such an easy to acquire item as flying is just pretty busted.

B Tier

+1 Ammunition – I do have a relative dislike for consumable magic items, but anything that makes your attacks better is always good. These will be a little hard to stockpile in earlier levels, but as these become easier to come by, this will be better and better.

Bracers of Archery – While using ranged weapons is worse now than it was in 5e, increasing your damage and getting free proficiencies is still good.

Boots of Elvenkind – These are generically good on any character, but are obviously best on those who care about being stealthy.

Cap of Water Breathing – While you may not get the most use out of this, when you need it, this will obviously be very useful.

Cloak of Elvenkind – While having more effects than Boots of Elvenkind, this requires attunement where the Boots don’t making this an actual choice on which is better.

Decanter of Endless Water – I really like the versatility of this item and this is even more valuable in campaigns where water may be scarce.

Deck of Illusions – While you’re going to need some creativity to get the most out of this, being able to create a controllable illusion of (hopefully) a scary monster can be useful in a surprising amount of circumstances.

Dust of Disappearance – I have a general dislike of consumables, but this is a really good item for stealth missions as it’s both very useful and cheap.

Eyes of Minute Seeing – While it is very prohibitive in how much this helps you, I do like making your Investigation checks better.

Gauntlets of Ogre Power – It really depends on when you get these, but if you can get this while it’s still a +1 to all Strength related rolls, this is obviously quite good.

Gem of Brightness – All the functions it has are pretty reasonable uses, and when you exhaust them all, you can still sell this for some gold which is nice! Not something I would buy, but something I would be happy to find in my loot.

Gloves of Thievery – If you are interested in pickpocketing or adjacent activities often, this is going to be a staple for you.

Goggles of Night – Pretty strong ability for functionally zero opportunity cost.

Hag Eye – This provides some decent spells and you’ll have enough charges that this can feel useful, even if it’s not the easiest to get.

Headband of Intellect – If you can get this before you already have a +4 in Intelligence, then this is going to be pretty big game. Even for characters who don’t care much for Intelligence, this can still be useful.

Helm of Telepathy – Free telepathy and free spells is nice, especially for an uncommon magic item.

Immovable Rod – This is such a famous item that’s always required a creative mind to fully utilize, but there are a surprising amount of applications of this.

Lantern of Revealing – This isn’t something you would need to use often, but this can be invaluable when you’re facing the sneakiest of enemies.

Periapt of Wound Closure – While you probably can’t use this forever, this will be really good at ensuring you don’t push up daisies prematurely.

Pipes of Haunting – Only having a charge ability that won’t necessarily fully recharge each day is a bit brutal, but the effect is good – at least in earlier levels.

Potion of Greater Healing – Nice to use when you have it, but realistically not that much better than a regular Potion of Healing due to aforementioned reasons.

Ring of Water Walking – This is much better than getting a good swim speed for a multitude of reasons so I’m a reasonably big fan of this.

Robe of Useful Items – As the name implies, this is pretty useful. Who would’ve thunk it.

Rope of Climbing – If nobody in your party has any Flying yet, this will be very useful. Even if someone can fly, that likely takes a resource while this requires no resources to use beyond just owning it.

Staff of the Python – This won’t remain good for many levels, but it will definitely be useful if you get this earlier on as having a snake friend on hand can definitely come in handy.

Tentacle Rod – This is way better in earlier levels than later, but this is still a pretty good use of your turn over a cantrip for casters or for martials who can’t get close enough to their target.

Wand of Secrets – This is a pretty niche item, but I can get behind this as you won’t need it often and can have a relatively strong payoff when it works.

Wand of the War Mage (+1) – The spellcasting equivalent of a +1 weapon, just a bit weaker than a standard +1 weapon.

C Tier

Adamantine Armor – For an item that would have legendary implications in a lot of other media, I would argue that this is a bit disappointing. Critical hits can obviously be scary for players and this can save your life in the right scenario, but considering this isn’t going to be relevant the vast majority of the time makes it tough to be excited about.

Alchemy Jug – This is a pretty versatile item that will take some creativity to use well as it is probably weaker than most people assume, but having the right liquid for the right scenario will come up often enough to make this feel worthwhile. That said, being able to produce actual mayonnaise could make this S tier as you can pour gallons of mayo on a party member while they are sleeping.

Amulet of Proof Against Detection and Location – This items usefulness will be very adventure/campaign relevant and does nothing to shield your party (unless you’re all rocking one of course) making this a bit awkward. If you do need this item, then this is going to be very relevant, but if you get it randomly and your whole party doesn’t look to get one as well, this doesn’t do much. Very low floor, but a reasonably high ceiling.

Baba Yaga’s Dancing Broom – This is functionally just a consumable item because the odds of this breaking in any given combat is relatively high, especially as you get into higher levels. That said, this can distract an enemy for a little bit so that isn’t too bad and this wouldn’t be that hard to replace.

Boots of the Winterlands – These are very specific, but the reason I have these at C is that you would only get these if they were going to be useful, and at worst, they are good with (or against) Sleet Storm which is a pretty top notch spell.

Circlet of Blasting – Not a bad item as (potentially) getting free damage is nice, but nothing special as you won’t be able to use this that much.

Cloak of the Manta Ray – While only relevant when you’re in water, this will be great when you are.

Driftglobe – This is more useful than just someone with the Light cantrip, especially if you use it in dark areas, but not by a super wide margin. Still a useful item.

Eversmoking Bottle – As the name implies, this provides a pretty large smoke cover which can be useful whether you’re trying to infiltrate, escape, or even in the midst of a fight making this relatively useful.

Gloves of Missile Snaring – A bit specific, but can be great in fights against enemies peppering you from a range.

Gloves of Swimming and Climbing – These definitely do as advertised, but of course are only good in campaigns where this comes up some amount of the time.

Hat of Disguise – If you plan on committing misdeeds, this can be useful to try and get away with it.

Helm of Comprehending Languages – This is excellent to have stowed away in the bag if you don’t have a Wizard in your party (pretty free for them to have Comprehend Languages versus other spellcasters).

Javelin of Lightning – This is better than a regular Javelin normally, and getting an interesting AOE attack is just icing when you have enough goons lined up.

Keoghtom’s Ointment – This is a solid healing balm in a pinch, even if this requires a full action versus your standard potion.

Mariner’s Armor – Only useful if you find yourself in water a lot, but if you do, this can be very useful to make yourself more maneuverable and potentially even save you in a tight spot!

Nature’s Mantle – You won’t always have a good opportunity to use this, but while you’re outside, this can be pretty beneficial.

Pearl of Power – Getting additional spell slots is always nice, even if it isn’t the highest spell slot around.

Philter of Love – This may not be super easy to use effectively, but you can get some decent mileage out of this with proper planning.

Potion of Hill Giant Strength – While the obvious application of this is to boost your strength for combat, I think it’s actually much better to wait for the rare Strength skill check and give this to your scrawniest party member.

Potion of Pugilism – Throw this on a Monk and let them get to work.

Potion of Waterbreathing – While specific, this has a long enough duration that this is going to be useful if you need it.

Quaal’s Feather Token (Anchor) – This is an oddly specific item, but really good for some sabotage or keeping your vessel safe.

Ring of Mind Shielding – If you need this, then you probably really need this. How often you’ll need this is the real question.

Sending Stone – Useful for lower level parties when you don’t have better options and still helpful to higher level parties who want to conserve resources to send a message.

Wand of Web – Strong if you find this pre-level 5, then pretty mediocre after as it only gets progressively worse and worse.

D Tier

Adamantine Weapon – I was flabbergasted on first read through, but when I realized this is only relevant to objects, I was much less excited. Damaging objects can be relevant and some DMs/parties may be more interested in doing this often, but this is unlikely to matter particularly often.

Brooch of Shielding – This is super specific, but can be really powerful if you have enemies who really like spamming Magic Missile

Dust of Dryness – This is very specific, but can be useful in campaigns where you need to have large quantities of water on you.

Dust of Sneezing and Choking – Worthless for your party and actively detrimental unless you know what it is. The only use you can get out of this is tricking someone else into using it and ambushing them afterwards, but that’s going to be a tough sell and a pretty specific situation.

Eyes of Charming – I have a relative dislike of Charm spells as the target knows they were charmed at the end of it which feels very risky to use in a lot of circumstances. That said, this can be good for the wandering adventurer if you have no intention of interacting with your target after you use this.

Lock of Trickery – Cute to help secure some items, but if someone really wants in, this isn’t going to help you much.

Medallion of Thoughts – This isn’t going to be useful often, and even when it can be, it may not work. Furthermore, it’s only going to get less and less useful as you level up making this pretty rough.

Necklace of Adaptation – Some amount of the time this may save you, but the good majority of the time, this is going to be a piece of jewelry.

Oil of Slipperiness – While this does have a few applications, neither are exciting.

Pipes of the Sewers – This is awfully specific, but you may be able to find some useful application with a pile of rats.

Potion of Animal Friendship – I already don’t like the spell, so I’m not going to be too excited by a consumable potion of it.

Potion of Fire Breathing – Decent to throw on an ally who can’t participate in a fight normally, but otherwise, this isn’t going to be all that useful.

Potion of Growth – This can be an alright potion for combat, but it’s not really going to make a big difference realistically.

Potion of Resistance – Even when you’re fortunate enough to run into an enemy that deals the right type of damage, it’s rare that they exclusively deal that type of damage.

Quaal’s Feather Token (Fan) – I already think the other Feather Token variants are pretty niche, but this is niche on top of niche. It works if your boat doesn’t, but who knows how often this is going to happen.

Ring of Swimming – The odds of you actually needing this seems very low compared to similar magic items.

Ring of Warmth – If you’re in the arctic, then I guess this can be useful but I’m not ever using it otherwise.

Wand of Magic Detection – Decent if you’re in a rush, not great otherwise.

Wind Fan – Not bad to have in the back pocket, but this isn’t going to be useful often if ever.

F Tier

Potion of Poison – Mostly going to mess you and your party up rather than being useful. If you can pawn this off on someone you don’t like then this can be useful, but even then, that’s a lot of hoops to jump through.

Quaal’s Feather Token (Tree) – Have you ever been walking around, you reach into your pockets, and realize you left your tree at home? Yeah, me neither.

S Tier

Helm of Teleportation – Getting access to teleportation on just a Rare item is pretty ridiculous, especially since it’s pretty easy to always have enough charges in the tank when you need it.

Rod of the Pact Keeper (+2)* – An absolute staple for any Warlock that isn’t going Pact of the Blade.

Wraps of Unarmed Power (+2)* – Absolutely busted on Monks, but probably not great otherwise.

A Tier

+1 Armor – Anything that increases your AC is excellent for any character that can wear armor.

Boots of Levitation – These boots do as advertised and they are great. While melee martials can’t get the best out of this, pretty much any one else can.

Boots of Speed – Getting more movement speed is excellent on anyone, and while they technically have a restriction on how much you can use these, as long as you’re turning them on and off as needed, you should functionally never run out.

Cube of Force – While you won’t always have as many charges as you’d like, the spell list this is capable of casting is excellent.

Elven Chain – This can be really good on characters that lack armor proficiencies as they can have a reasonable AC.

+2 Weapon – While much harder to find than +1 Weapons, this is going to be pretty high priority for any mid level martial character.

Heward’s Handy Haversack – This is just a much bigger Bag of Holding which is obviously quite nice.

Potion of Invulnerability – This is a pretty powerful effect that’s going to make you super difficult to down if you know you’re going into a tough fight.

Ring of Protection – Excellent for early to mid level parties, but will get replaced eventually for pretty much anyone.

Robe of Eyes – This does a lot of stuff for just a Rare magic item, even if it is pretty gross looking. Smart enemies could take advantage of you wearing this, but the downsides here are pretty easily mitigated.

+2 Shield – Easier to get than +2 Armor, even if not everyone is going to want a shield.

Staff of the Woodlands – This is an excellent item for any Druid, even if the spell options you get on it aren’t super exciting and you don’t get nearly as many charges as you’d like.

Sun Blade – Just an excellent magic weapon that is strictly better than it’s +2 weapon counterpart.

B Tier

+2 Ammunition – I do have a relative dislike for consumable magic items, but anything that makes your attacks better is always good. These will be a little hard to stockpile, even in middle levels, but as these become easier to come by, this will be better and better.

Amulet of Health – This item is very good as increasing Constitution is great, but considering functionally every character should already have a decent CON score, this may not be as useful as you’d imagine. Still a great item nonetheless.

Bead of Force – While this gets consumed upon usage and the DC enemies have to pass isn’t that high, anyone being able to hurt and potentially trap enemies is still quite powerful in a tougher fight.

Belt of Giant Strength (Hill) – While this is great equipment, for characters actually interested in using it, this probably isn’t that big of an increase. However, for characters who get this early or DEX heavy builds, you can get a lot of value out of this.

Bowl of Commanding Water Elementals – While you could probably never guess what this does, getting a free companion for even one fight can be quite powerful.

Bracers of Defense – While surprisingly not great on those with no armor proficiencies (still fine of course), these can be decent on Barbarians and are near guaranteed to be excellent on a Monk.

Brazier of Commanding Fire Elementals – While you could probably never guess what this does, getting a free companion for even one fight can be quite powerful.

Cape of Mountbank – A free spell, even once a day, is always great, especially since this doesn’t require you to be a caster to use this cape.

Censure of Controlling Air Elementals – While you could probably never guess what this does, getting a free companion for even one fight can be quite powerful.

Cloak of Displacement – Making yourself harder to hit is going to be good for any character whether you’re a front liner or hiding in the back, even if this doesn’t always work as you’d want.

Cloak of the Bat – While you do need to be in Dim or Dark light for this to do anything, this is quite impactful when you are.

Cube of Summoning – There are a lot of excellent summoning items on this list and this is no different. While you may not get the exact summon you want, you’ll always get the same spell level making this pretty consistent.

Dimensional Shackles – You do need to down your target in some capacity to use these, but these can be very potent once you do as you’ll more than likely keep that person locked down tight.

Flame Tongue – While you don’t implicitly get any to hit bonus and you do need to activate this, you do get a non-negligible damage boost compared to a +1 or +2 Weapon making this a viable alternative if you don’t have one.

Glamoured Studded Leather – For those who only have Light Armor proficiency this is going to be good implicitly, but being able to make it seem like you don’t have armor could have some stealthy benefits.

Mantle of Spell Resistance – This does as advertised, but you may get less use of this than you’d expect as this doesn’t count abilities either.

Potion of Fire Giant Strength – Even on a Strength focused character, this will be an appreciable boost that can make them a bigger menace in combat or help with an important skill check.

Potion of Superior Healing – A solid health boost so good for a quick heal.

Quaal’s Feather Token (Swan Boat) – I complain about a lot of transportation items as they don’t carry the whole party effectively, but this does so obviously I’m going to like this more. You are limited to water, but still carrying your whole squad is pretty rare.

Ring of Spell Storing – Really good for having multiple low level spells on hand or one bigger one that a teammate can use in a pinch.

Rod of Rulership – While your DM may hold you on a short leash when using this, being able to potentially charm a bunch of targets in one fell swoop is potentially very powerful.

Staff of Charming – This is a bit specific in what it can do, but it’s not going to be difficult to get some pretty good use out of this.

Staff of Swarming Insects – For the item rarity, this is pretty impactful as all the modes will have their time and place.

Stone of Commanding Earth Elementals – While you could probably never guess what this does, getting a free companion for even one fight can be quite powerful.

Sword of Wounding – While I would say this is better than a +1 weapon, but a smidgen worse than a +2 weapon making this a solid choice overall if you prioritize damage over accuracy.

Vicious Weapon – Generally worse than Sword of Wounding barring you are facing a Construct or Undead, but only by a tiny bit.

Wand of Fireballs – Very strong item in earlier levels and still very reasonable in the mid levels of the game.

Wand of Lightning Bolts – Very strong item in earlier levels and still very reasonable in the mid levels of the game.

Wand of the War Mage (+2) – The spellcasting equivalent of a +2 weapon, just a bit weaker than a standard +2 weapon.

C Tier

Armor of Resistance – This is a tough one to rate as you are probably more likely to receive this from your DM when you’re going to be facing enemies that this is good against. That said, I would say that for most scenarios this is weaker than +1 armor making this something that’s good to have in the treasury, but not an amazing item for everyday combat.

Arrow-Catching Shield – Being better against ranged attacks and being able to intercept an attack for an ally can both be solid, but nothing earth-shattering.

Bag of Beans – There is a mix of good and bad effects so this is obviously a bit tough to judge without knowing what you’re going to get. That said, most of the bad rolls aren’t too bad, but most of the good effects may not be that good either so I find this to be pretty middling in terms of power level, but S tier in fun.

Belt of Dwarvenkind – This does a lot of different things, just none of the abilities are super stand out, but all are useful to the average character who isn’t already a Dwarf.

Chime of Opening – For parties that may lack someone who can’t cast Knock or lack someone who can pick locks well, this is a reasonable alternative that shouldn’t be too hard to get.

Daern’s Instant Fortress – This is super interesting and could’ve easily been incredible if damage didn’t accumulate on the fortress and repairing it is near impossible. That said, this can give you and your team really advantageous positions in a fight which can be useful for tougher fights that have enough space to actually use this.

Dagger of Venom – While this is weaker than a +2 weapon, it obviously isn’t by much even you only get to use the venom component of this once per day.

Elixir of Health – Useful in a pinch which is good for a consumable item, but not the strongest effect around.

Folding Boat – Fine if you need to navigate water, but there are probably better ways to get where you need to go than this realistically.

Giant Slayer – Good if you need to slay a giant, but worse than your other options otherwise.

Brass Horn of Valhalla – You do get some reasonable summons with this horn, but the long delay in when you can use this again is a bit brutal. Still, this can be useful in a tougher fight if you need a few more bodies.

Iron Bands of Bilarro – This can be a really good item for a fight, but you do risk it being destroyed with each use or risk losing your turn if this misses. However, if this works, this is pretty effective.

Mace of Disruption – Decent to have in the pocket as it can be better than a +2 weapon, but this is far from a necessity.

Mace of Smiting – I like this better than the Mace of Disruption, but it is a bit more specific. I’d still rather have a +2 weapon for most circumstances.

Mace of Terror – There’s a lot of maces on this particular list, and out of these three, I like this one the most. It has the best activated ability, but it’s the worst inherent weapon making this a bit awkward. Again, I’d prefer a +2 weapon than this realistically, but this is not a bad replacement.

Necklace of Fireballs – Depending on when you get this, this can either be a very potent item or just ok for someone to have when they don’t have other good options. Your DM probably won’t give this to your party at a level this is going to be super impactful, but it will still be nice.

Necklace of Prayer Beads – While free spells are always nice, but these spells aren’t particularly exciting for the most part. Obviously not bad to have, but nothing that’s going to blow your socks off.

Oil of Etherealness – If you really need this effect, I guess this is a good way to get it without it being a high level spellcaster.

Periapt of Proof Against Poison – This is a pretty powerful, but narrow effect – perfect for C tier.

Portable Hole – While useful, I think it’s easy to overestimate the utility of this as this is going to be worse than a Bag of Holding most of the time. However, if you need to store really big objects, then this is how you’ll do it.

Potion of Clairvoyance – Useful when you need it, but not terribly exciting for a rare item.

Potion of Gaseous Form – While you may have a hard time knowing when to use this, I do like this as this can be a really good escape plan if stuff goes sideways. It’s just a shame that this will only work for one person.

Potion of Frost/Stone Giant Strength – If you get this early, this could be a decent boon for a combat for a melee martial or you can hold it for an important Strength skill check.

Potion of Heroism – Decent benefits for combat, even if neither effect is super high impact.

Potion of Invisibility – As long as you aren’t looking to attack someone, this can be very useful for all your stealthy needs.

Quaal’s Feather Token (Bird) – Decent to help multiple people fly via the air, but I still have issue with items that can’t transport full parties.

Quaal’s Feather Token (Whip) – This is useful in combat, but isn’t going to make a huge impact and still takes your Bonus Action each turn to use.

Ring of Feather Falling – While it’s not hard to have a party member with Feather Fall, this is a good insurance plan even if you do.

Ring of Free Action – This probably won’t come up often which is never great for a magic item that requires attunement, but when it is relevant, it’ll probably be decently relevant which is nice.

Ring of the Ram – This item is like the epitome of decent to me, nothing about it is bad, nothing about it is super exciting either. It’s just fine.

Ring of X-Ray Vision – I like any information gathering items or spells, and this is no different even if you don’t get many opportunities to safely use this.

Rope of Entanglement – This is relatively medium risk, medium reward as using your turn to not get the most exciting effect isn’t great, and there’s a real risk that the enemy can just break this which is also a concern. Definitely better in lower levels, but I would probably not use this once you start getting close to level 10.

Staff of Healing – This was close to an excellent item, but the spell choices here are a bit rough. Still, this is going to be a very useful item as long as you monitor the charges.

Wand of Binding – You likely can’t use this as much as you’d like, but this is solid when you do get to use it.

Wand of Paralysis – Barring weaker enemies, this isn’t going to work nearly as often as you’d like to justify using it.

Wings of Flying – Being able to fly is excellent, but you don’t get to use this enough for my liking.

D Tier

Horn of Blasting – While this can be useful, I would argue the juice isn’t worth the squeeze as this may accidentally kill you in the process.

Silver Horn of Valhalla – I always like summons, but these are just not going to be particularly helpful.

Horseshoes of Speed – Extra speed on a mount can be useful, but realistically, this would only be useful in combat and your mount is probably going to be faster than anything else in combat anyway.

Potion of Dimunition – For a rare item, this doesn’t give you a particularly good effect as it’s pretty narrow – especially on a consumable.

Potion of Mind Reading – This can be useful if you’re going to be negotiating with a lot of people, but the DC to avoid this is too low to make this reliable.

Ring of Animal Influence – Already niche, it has a low spell save DC, and you likely won’t get all your charges back each day. This isn’t the type of item I would be happy to find most of the time.

Ring of Resistance – Obviously useful if you face the right type of damage, but even when you do, it’s not like this is going to be super potent in that encounter.

Scroll of Protection – Despite the name, this is not very good at protecting you, only works against the specified creature, and isn’t difficult for specified creature to overcome. Not a complete miss, but I wouldn’t be excited by this even if I knew I was going to be facing the aforementioned creature.

Staff of Frost – While free spells are free spells, these are not the free spells I would normally be looking for. This definitely isn’t bad, just not nearly as good as its fiery counterpart.

Staff of Withering – Not a bad weapon, but definitely worse than a +2 weapon of your choosing. If you get this early enough, then this can be more impactful.

Sword of Life Stealing – I would never use this over a +2 weapon or even a +1 weapon, but that doesn’t make this bad.

Trident of Fish Command – Very specific, but nautical campaigns can probably get way more value out of this.

Wand of Enemy Detection – I do like anything that can help you gather information, but this doesn’t provide you particularly helpful information the vast majority of the time.

Wand of Wonder – S tier in fun, but with so few good rolls on this, I wouldn’t be excited to use this.

F Tier

None

S Tier

Rod of the Pact Keeper (+3)* – An absolute staple for any Warlock that isn’t going Pact of the Blade.

Staff of Power – Easily one of the strongest staves in the game for those who can use it between the bonuses it gives and the spells it can cast.

Wraps of Unarmed Power (+3)* – Absolutely busted on Monks, but probably not great otherwise.

A Tier

Amulet of the Planes – Free travel is always something I’m interested in, especially since this has no per day limit (even if you’re unlikely to be using this multiple times per day). This does require an Arcana check, but even if you fail it, you still have a decent chance of getting close to where you needed to be anyway.

+2 Armor – Anything that increases your AC is excellent for any character that can wear armor, especially since you don’t need to attune to this.

Belt of Giant Strength (Fire) – Even for characters with maxed out Strength, this is still an additional +2 making this excellent on any character that can use this well.

Candle of Invocation – This does a lot of different things, and while it being consumable is unfortunate, getting advantage on checks and getting free spells is obviously quite powerful. I think the worst part of this is the tracking that this requires to see when it burns out, but beyond that, this is very powerful.

Carpet of Flying – Flying is excellent, and this is even better if it can transport multiple party members. Unless you can carry multiple members, this doesn’t feel like a Very Rare item, but it’s still excellent.

Dancing Sword – This takes very little investment to get good use out of and this just gives you additional attacks. While this will be likely be weaker than your main weapon, this is super easy to use effectively.

Dwarven Plate – Not that different from +2 armor, just a bit specific in what armors can constitute Dwarven Plate.

Dwarven Thrower – While very specific on who can use this, this is extremely good and arguably as good as a regular +3 weapon.

Energy Bow – This is a powerful bow that has a lot of versatile applications as well making it an excellent weapon for any marksman of your party.

Manual of Bodily Health – Anything that can permanently increase your stats is obviously incredible.

Manual of Gainful Exercise – Anything that can permanently increase your stats is obviously incredible.

Manual of Quickness of Action – Anything that can permanently increase your stats is obviously incredible.

Oathbow – This weapon is excellent if you can ensure you’re defeating the sworn enemy as you’ll functionally be cursed if you don’t, but as long as you’re ensuring their defeat, this is an extremely potent weapon.

Ring of Telekinesis – Just an excellent magic item for any player, especially for martial characters.

Rod of Alertness – This does too many good things to not use whenever possible, even if melee characters can’t use this super well as it’ll take up one of their hands.

+3 Shield – Easier to get than +3 Armor, even if not everyone is going to want a shield.

Shield of the Cavalier – While still good, getting the Shield Master feat does somewhat similar things to this, but if you don’t have the feat, then this is obviously a pretty nice replacement.

Tome of Clear Thought – Anything that can permanently increase your stats is obviously incredible.

Tome of Influence and Leadership – Anything that can permanently increase your stats is obviously incredible.

Tome of Understanding – Anything that can permanently increase your stats is obviously incredible.

+3 Weapon – While much harder to find than +2 Weapons, this is going to be pretty high priority for any high level martial character.

B Tier

+3 Ammunition – I do have a relative dislike for consumable magic items, but anything that makes your attacks better is always good. My only real issue with this is that they’re going to be very hard to come by no matter the level, but these are very good when you do.

Animated Shield – Getting the benefits of a shield without having to commit to holding it can definitely be strong, but it is awkward that you do have to activate it so you may be caught by a hit before you have a chance to spring it to life. Beyond that, this is definitely a solid pick up for anyone who doesn’t have enough hands normally.

Belt of Giant Strength (Frost or Stone) – This is a solid increase to strength, even to players prioritizing Strength, but if you get this when you already have 20 Strength, this isn’t that big of a boost.

Crystal Ball – Being able to get functional free charges of spells is always appealing, as long as the spell you’re getting is at all useful.

Dragon Scale Mail – Unsurprisingly, unless you’re looking to fight a Dragon, you’d rather have +2 Armor. Still, this is going to be good for any character in even a mid level campaign.

Efreeti Bottle – This is going to be good the vast majority of the time, you’re obviously just limited in how much use you can get out of this.

Helm of Brilliance – This has a lot of different functions and you definitely wouldn’t be mad at any of them. This has functional charges to get the actual good stuff, but even if you don’t use any gems up, this will still have some amount of value.

Lute of Thunderous Thumping – For any Swords Bard or Valor Bard, this is one of the best weapons you could realistically get as this does some real nice damage. For anyone else, this would still be a solid weapon overall.

Nine Lives Stealer – This isn’t as exciting as a +3 weapon, but it isn’t much worse of course. The extra ability isn’t going to be that useful realistically, but can come up.

Potion of Greater Invisibility – This is a long time to be invisible and can last over the course of multiple encounters which is obviously quite powerful.

Potion of Speed – This is really strong on any martial character and not even bad on casters need be.

Potion of Vitality – A bit niche in when you’d want to use it, but if you ever accumulate multiple levels of exhaustion and you can’t just chill at home, this is going to be a lifesaver.

Robe of Scintillating Colors – This has two powerful effects, this just won’t always give you all your charges back after a long rest which is a bit brutal. However, this is pretty potent when you do use it.

Rod of Absorption – While you may not see many instances you can use this, this is excellent when you get to use this.

Staff of Fire – Even if it isn’t at the spell level you would want, free spells, especially good ones, are always welcome.

Wand of the War Mage (+3) – The spellcasting equivalent of a +3 weapon, just a bit weaker than a standard +3 weapon.

C Tier

Ammunition of Slaying – This is an awkward one to rank, because realistically, a DM is likely only going to give this to you if you need to fight the thing the ammo is good against making the restriction not nearly as bad as you’d assume it be. The slight issue I have with this is that you wouldn’t want to use it against a weaker enemy, but a tougher enemy will have a much higher chance of passing the saving throw which may make this item worthless in the moment. That said, this is a good amount of extra damage, and if you get enough of these, you can get a solid amount of extra damage, but conversely, consumable magic items are always weaker than their ever-present counterparts.

Cauldron of Rebirth – Free potions and being able to bring back a deceased party member for much cheaper than normal is nice, but the rebirth property of this is more of a last resort rather than something you’re excited about using.

Cloak of Arachnida – While this has a good amount of abilities packed into one item, this is a bit middling for a Very Rare magic item. Still, if you lack an item to give you flying or levitation in some capacity, this is probably the next best thing.

Executioner’s Axe – This item isn’t bad, it’s just a bit weak for the rarity of the item. This is obviously great if you’re facing humanoids, but I would much prefer a +3 weapon even in the circumstance.

Bronze Horn of Valhalla – You do get some reasonable summons with this horn, but the long delay in when you can use this again is a bit brutal. Still, this can be useful in a tougher fight if you need a few more bodies.

Horseshoes of a Zephyr – Considering how hard these are to get, it’s awkward that this can only reasonably support one party member’s mount limiting the usefulness of this. This is still a good item, it just may not be that helpful if your party can’t find other accommodations.

Manual of Golems – Getting a free buddy is solid, but the time and cost associated to make this happen are a bit ridiculous. There is more downtime things to do now like Bastions so this isn’t so bad, but this is still a lot for not necessarily the highest payoff.

Potion of Flying – This is a decent effect, but at this point, you should have another way to already fly.

Potion of Cloud Giant Strength – While this is consumable, this is a pretty massive boost to someone’s Strength score making them that much more of a problem in combat.

Potion of Supreme Healing – While the best health potion you can get, unless you’re getting these in mid levels, this is likely going to be less impactful than you’re probably anticipating.

Quarterstaff of the Acrobat – This is a pretty versatile weapon which I always like, but as a weapon itself, this can be a bit middling despite how many abilities are packed into this thing. Quarterstaves aren’t going to be my weapon of choice generally speaking.

Ring of Shooting Stars – This does a good amount of things, just none of them super exciting but I would still be happy with this for the damage option.

Robe of Stars – I was torn between B and C tier as this is a good item, just not super exciting despite having three good abilities.

Rod of Security – If you and your party are in real dire straits, this can potentially save you by giving you some long term respite, but with how infrequently you may need to use it and how infrequently you can actually use it, this is a bit of a tough sell.

Scimitar of Speed – The whole point of using a Scimitar in the new rules is the Nick property, but if for whatever reason you are one handing a Scimitar, this is a very solid weapon.

Spellguard Shield – It’s not like this is a bad item, quite good actually, but using this over a Shield of comparable rarity (a +3 shield) is a very tough sell unless you know you’re going to be facing a lot of casters.

Staff of Frost – While free spells are free spells, these are not the free spells I would normally be looking for. This definitely isn’t bad, just not nearly as good as its fiery counterpart.

Staff of Striking – Not my first choice of weapon, but this could be useful on a Monk who may not have better options.

Staff of Thunder and Lightning – All the abilities on the staff are quite good, even at higher levels, but the base weapon here is not something I would necessarily be happy about normally.

Thunderous Greatclub – There’s a lot to like about this item, but I would always be hard pressed to use this over a +3 or even +2 weapon. Still, this can be used just for the activated abilities and then stowed away so there’s a good amount of value there.

Wand of Polymorph – This item is solid, but doesn’t cast Polymorph that well offensively and isn’t that exciting at this point using it on yourself or a party member.

D Tier

Frost Brand – This weapon isn’t bad, but is very sad compared to other weapons of this level and even weapons of lower level.

Hat of Many Spells – This will only do something you want roughly half of the time, and even then, this isn’t going to be super exciting. I do like the RNG elements of this, but from a fun perspective, not from a power level perspective.

Mirror of Life Trapping – This is much less an item you could actively use (not bad for protecting something important), but is likely going to be a trap your DM sets for you.

Nolzur’s Marvelous Pigments – Maybe I’m just not creative enough to see the potential of this, but this doesn’t seem that useful as you can’t create valuable objects.

Oil of Sharpness – The comparison between how hard this is to get and what this does is pretty striking. This isn’t bad per say, but by the time you get this, you probably don’t even need it.

Ring of Regeneration – In campaigns with lingering injuries this can be useful, but otherwise, this will just give you a bit of a boost during short rests.

Spirit Board – I love information gathering spells in general, but this item has too few charges for the rarity.

Sword of Sharpness – I can’t imagine ever using this over even a +1 weapon, but if somehow you get this first, then this is acceptable.

F Tier

Bag of Devouring – This isn’t technically a cursed item, so this can be judged! Obviously this is tough for you to use well, but you can trick enemies of yours into using this potentially!

Potion of Longevity – While potentially valuable from a story or RP perspective, this isn’t realistically going to help you except in the most niche of circumstances.

S Tier

Holy Avenger – If you have a Paladin on your team, this is something you absolutely need to get your hands on if possible. You probably can’t do better in terms of weapons in general beyond an Artifact.

Luck Blade – As a weapon itself it’s just fine, but anything that can let you Wish is obviously pretty broken.

Ring of Three Wishes – You’ll never guess why this is so good.

Robe of the Archmagi – If you’re one of the classes that can use this, you are desperate to get your hands on it.

A Tier

+3 Armor – Anything that increases your AC is excellent for any character that can wear armor, especially since you don’t need to attune to this.

Defender – While not strictly better than a +3 weapon, being able to potentially get more AC when needed is quite powerful for those who have high AC already.

Moonblade – It really depends on how many runes this already has in it, but this should be pretty strong by the time it makes its way to you. If it’s a fresh blade, then this isn’t going to be particularly strong but I’m assuming most are going to have a few effects.

Ring of Invisibility – Just very powerful and versatile for a lot of situations.

Staff of the Magi – Really good offensively, defensively, and has great versatility. What more could you ask for?

Talisman of Pure Good – While the passive on this is just ok, the activated ability is unbelievable and can literally end a fight instantly against any enemy. That is really messed up, even if you’re limited in how many times you get to try this.

Tome of the Stilled Tongue – The activated ability of this is absolutely incredible, but it’s functionally the only thing it does and you only get it once per day. While powerful, this may not be good enough to justify using it for some Wizards.

B Tier

Apparatus of Kwalish – This obviously does a lot of things, but the times you would need this over just using a spell seems a bit limited. Furthermore, I would be kind of afraid to take this into combat in case it gets broken and you’re probably not going to find a second Apparatus of Kwalish lying around. I do really like the versatility of this, I’m just not that excited by any one function.

Armor of Invulnerability – Despite the name, this is worse than +3 Armor. This is still great of course, but higher level enemies aren’t always going to dole out Bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing damage making the main point of this armor unreliable some amount of the time. Regardless, you’re likely to get a good amount of use out of this if you are going to wear Heavy Armor anyway.

Cloak of Invisibility – You will have to be somewhat mindful of how often you use this as you may not get all your charges back each day, but this is quite powerful when you get to use this.

Efreeti Chain – This can be better than +3 armor if you know you’re going to be fighting enemies that use Fire, but otherwise, I’d prefer my armor of choice.

Hammer of Thunderbolts – Beyond the charge ability, this is a bit disappointing for the level, but the charge ability is definitely good enough that I would consider using this in tandem with a different magic weapon.

Ring of Djinni Summoning – This is a pretty nice ally to have, you just need to ensure that your buddy doesn’t hit 0 health as this will brick the ring. As long as you’re careful, this is a really nice pickup.

Ring of Elemental Command (Air) – While I’m not a big fan of this item in general, Air is definitely the best element of the bunch by a pretty substantial amount as it has a better spell list and better passive ability.

Ring of Spell Turning – While this doesn’t work against abilities which a DM will be more than happy to tell a player with this, this is still quite strong even if you never get to reflect a spell.

Rod of Lordly Might – This is probably the most versatile weapon in the game with the amount of different abilities this has. Any martial character would be more than happy to have it, I’m just not convinced that this is at A tier power level, but it is very close if it isn’t.

Rod of Resurrection – Ironically, you don’t really want to use the spell that this Rod was named after but rather use your charges on healing instead. With that in mind, if you use this just for healing, this is a pretty nice item.

Scroll of Titan Summoning – While this is more likely an item the DM will use against you rather than one you would use, it is not hard to imagine how carrying around a cosmic force in your pocket could be useful.

Sword of Answering – A simple, yet powerful magic weapon for those who are already interested in using a Longsword.

Vorpal Sword – A classic and excellent weapon that can make critical hits that much more impactful.

C Tier

Crystal Ball of Mind Reading – This can be very useful for picking up information on someone you’re interested in, but this is only useful for effective spying on a target you know of which may not be that useful in the average campaign. However, in a campaign that surveillance is good, there’s a lot of mystery, or your antagonists are mostly people/monsters you already know, then this will be substantially more useful.

Crystal Ball of Telepathy – This can be very useful for picking up information on someone you’re interested in, but this is only useful for effective spying on a target you know of which may not be that useful in the average campaign. However, in a campaign that surveillance is good, there’s a lot of mystery, or your antagonists are mostly people/monsters you already know, then this will be substantially more useful. I would argue this is slightly worse than the Mind Reading version, but still very useful.

Crystal Ball of True Seeing – This can be very useful for picking up information on someone you’re interested in, but this is only useful for effective spying on a target you know of which may not be that useful in the average campaign. However, in a campaign that surveillance is good, there’s a lot of mystery, or your antagonists are mostly people/monsters you already know, then this will be substantially more useful. I think this is the weakest of the three Legendary Crystal Balls, but can still be very useful.

Cubic Gate – You don’t get to control where this is linked to which is pretty inconvenient, but being able to zip to a different plane at a moments notice is still useful.

Deck of Many Things – One of the most famous magic items in the game, this is commonly known as the “campaign ender” as both the good and bad effects can be so devastating. If you’re planning on a longer campaign, I would not include this in my treasures ever. However, this is perfect for shorter adventures.

Iron Horn of Valhalla – You do get some decent summons with this horn, but the long delay in when you can use this again is a bit brutal. Still, this can be useful in a tougher fight if you need a few more bodies.

Iron Flask – This is such a cool item to find, and if you encounter one, you’d be hard pressed to find a DM who wouldn’t have some sort of nasty critter already inside. That said, this can be useful if you are trying to avoid a fight temporarily or you want to store something nasty until an opportune moment to let it loose.

Potion of Storm Giant Strength – This is an excellent boost to a Strength based martial if you know you’re heading into a tough fight.

Scarab of Protection – How good this item is will greatly rely on what type of enemies your DM is throwing at you, but even if there aren’t a lot of undead in your campaign, this is still a decent item overall.

D Tier

Plate Armor of Etherealness – You do get a decent spell when wearing this, but having this only affect one person is a pretty big issue and I would much rather wear +3 armor.

Ring of Elemental Command (Non-Air) – This is too specific of an item as it does have multiple benefits, but none of them are really worth the attunement slot.

Sovereign Glue – Maybe I’m just not creative enough to see the potential here, but this doesn’t feel like a legendary item despite how hard it can be to get rid of it once it’s applied to something.

Talisman of the Sphere – An accessory to an item that you can’t reliably control or transport can be useful for a moment, but will not end up being that impactful.

Talisman of Ultimate Evil – While this is functionally the inverse of the incredibly powerful Talisman of Ultimate Good, those who can use this are much more limited and it’s pretty unlikely a party member can naturally use this without getting burned by it. If you find this, nothing a Magic Aura can’t potentially solve for you, even if you have to recast it daily to not get burned by this.

Universal Solvent – This is extremely specific and only really exists because of Sovereign Glue, so this generally come with it.

Well of Many Worlds – Teleportation/plane shifting is great, but not being able to choose where you go is very far from ideal.

F Tier

Sphere of Annihilation* – It’s not that this isn’t impactful, there’s just no real way to take this with you making this kind of bunk as a magic item that your party would be happy about.