One DnD 2025 Class and Subclass Tier List Breakdown

The Ultimate 2025 One D&D Subclass Tier List – February 2025 Update

While I could just use the standard S-F Tier list model (and I will) that makes it difficult to determine the rankings for classes/subclasses that are similar in power. If there are a ton of subclasses in C Tier, what relatively objective way can determine which sits on top and which doesn’t? To that end, each ability for a class and subclass is going to receive a ranking from S Tier all the way down to F Tier.

S Tier – Problematic in some way, either in power level or some sort of game play facet is problematic (a lot of the time, it’s both).

A Tier – The best of the best. These are the top dogs in terms of power without broaching into unfair territory like S Tier classes might.

B Tier – These will not be as inherently powerful as A Tier options, but are still quite strong in their own right. These are likely a bit more situational or slightly weaker than the A tier options, but still very good.

C Tier – Decent options, but likely not particularly strong. These options don’t offer too much or may just be a bit too situational to be ranked higher, but are still options you should consider as these will be the average power level.

D Tier – While weaker than your average class, these classes can still function and be useful when utilized to their full potential.

F Tier – Something has to be the worst/weakest, these are it. This is more ceremonial than literal as functionally nothing is completely useless.

If an ability is in the middle of two rankings (strong for B, but not strong enough for A), they can get a + or – to help show the differentiation with a B+ and A- being slightly different, but by a small margin.

Furthermore, abilities given earlier should be weighted heavier than abilities received later as you’ll simply have more time with them, and for abilities gained much later, a fair share of campaigns won’t even make it that far so those should have the least bearing on how strong a class is unless yo u are starting at a much higher level. Even if you know that you’re going to reach the higher levels, if you have to play with weaker abilities until then, a strong ability may not necessarily make up for it. There are exceptions (the Cavalier Fighter‘s 18th level ability, Vigilant Defender, comes to mind), but those are very rare.

That said, all these rankings do take these later abilities into account, so if you play in campaigns that frequently end around levels 10-12, you’ll need to evaluate these rankings with a little more scrutiny and see why these classes received the grade they did. Some classes are carried by their mid level abilities (8-10) which may not be particularly relevant to those campaigns that end in lower levels. Similarly, adventures/campaigns that skip earlier levels will also skew these rankings as you skipped some of the earlier levels that are weighed heavier than later levels. Lastly, these rankings don’t take into account any feats, items, or anything else outside of the class itself that may provide more power to a specific class/subclass.

Feats granted through the standard leveling progression will not be considered in this system except if they are outside the normal progression of level 4, 8, 12, 16, and 19.

Keep in mind, this grading system does favor classes that get more abilities than those who have fewer, stronger abilities. To that end, some discernment will have to be used on my end to not skew too hard towards classes that have a lot of weaker abilities as I would much rather have one A class ability over 10 D class abilities, even if having a lot of abilities will generally make a class better.

These rankings have to do solely with the base class and is not considering factors like multiclassing.

If you want to see the spreadsheet I was working off of, there’s a link right here. You can see the modifiers and amount of points I assigned to each tier value. Any ability with an asterisk is reserved solely for expanded spell list selections that got a separate modifier less than 1 (as they can be good, but they generally aren’t as strong as a true ability). To that end, the modifiers for expanded spell list selections are S = 1x, A = 0.8x, B=0.6x, C=0.4x, D=0.2x as more powerful spells are closer to real abilities than weaker spells.

To be abundantly clear, this is still going to be very subjective and I’m not going to rank these subclasses solely on the number output from my spreadsheet and additional subjectivity will be added to this list (especially when dealing with S tier as I didn’t modulate the point value on the S tier abilities at all and not all of them are created equal). The spreadsheet was to help put some objectivity into a system that is entirely subjective so don’t take this to gospel.

The most important part of evaluating subclasses is understanding these are extensions of the base class, not complete transformations of the class (for the most part, there are obvious exceptions). In that capacity, base classes that are stronger are going to have a higher average rank compared to the classes that have a weaker base class as that’s the most fair evaluation of these rankings. To that end, this is how I would rate the base classes in order.

1. Wizard
2. Bard
3. Sorcerer
4. Paladin
5. Warlock
6. Druid
7. Cleric
8. Monk
9. Fighter
10. Ranger
11. Rogue
12. Barbarian

While I have more thorough breakdowns of the base class in the second half of this article, here’s a quick breakdown so you see where I’m coming from.

Wizard – Spellcasting is incredibly powerful and the Wizard is simply the best at it. They have the best spell list, the largest spell list, and the ability to have more spells functionally prepared than any other class because of their Ritual Adept ability.

Bard – While a less versatile spell list than Wizards, Bardic Inspiration is a huge draw, you are incredible at most skill checks, and you get Magical Secrets at level 10 giving you even more spell versatility.

Sorcerer – With a very similar spell list to Wizards, Sorcerers critically lose out on some important Wizard spells and Ritual Adept, but instead, get to be Charisma casters which are inherently strong due to Charsima being a great ability for roleplaying scenarios and Metamagic which can be very powerful.

Paladin – Tanks, damage dealers, and protectors all in one, the Paladin is an excellent catch all class that every party is happy to have, especially once they get their Aura of Protection which is easily the biggest draw to the class (especially now that Divine Smite got nerfed).

Warlock – A weird half caster of sorts, Warlocks trade the natural spellcasting prowess of the other classes for powerful Eldritch Invocations, and eventually, the ability to cast more mid level spells than any other class in the game making their power spike come before many of the other classes.

Druid – An extremely versatile control caster, Druids excel in battlefield control spells as Druid has excellent options in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level spell slots, have strong general utility with Wild Shape, and in One D&D, have routes to become surprisingly good damage dealers as well.

Cleric – The most emblematic support caster, the Cleric excels in supporting their allies generally through healing, but with general support spells as needed. While this is a useful role and getting Heavy Armor proficiency is awesome, Clerics suffer from lack of versatility and a relative inability to proactively affect combat compared to the Druid.

Monk – Typically a martial combatant, Monks fill a very particular niche as they don’t inherently deal as much damage as the more aggressive classes like Fighter or Barbarian, but excel when grappling making them excellent at repositioning enemies and allies alike.

Fighter – Fighters only care about fighting, so while powerful in a fight, their lack of versatility can be tough depending on the scenario you’re in.

Ranger – While inherently less effective in combat compared to the other martial classes, being a half caster still gives the Ranger some good utility with the glaring issue of being overly reliant on Hunter’s Mark.

Rogue – Rogue is in an unfortunate spot where their stronger abilities come on later, their need as skills person is diminished by the Bard’s existence, and their damage struggles to keep pace with the martials, let alone the spellcasters. Overall, the Rogue doesn’t fill a particular niche well anymore.

Barbarian – Similar to Fighters, Barbarians are a bit one note where they are really only useful in a fight, but they are still very effective damage dealers and the Rage ability is still quite powerful. Unfortunately, the Barbarian does lag behind the other martial classes for the most part as they don’t do much of anything better than another class.

Barbarian Rankings

With the new changes, World Tree stands on top with a slew of great abilities. On top of that, the other 3 subclasses that were present in the 2024 book got enough improvements to be at the top of this class as well so these were really nice changes for the Barbarian, which unfortunately by the merit of my rankings, may not have been enough overall.

1. World Tree – C- Tier
2. Wild Heart – C- Tier
3. Zealot – D+ Tier
4. Berserker – D+ Tier
5. Ancestral Guardian – D Tier
6. Giant – D- Tier
7. Wild Magic – D- Tier
8. Beast – D- Tier
9. Battlerager – F Tier

Ancestral Guardian

Ancestral Protectors (Level 3) – B Tier – This ability lets you truly be the tank of the party as enemies are really incentivized to hit you when this is active.

Spirit Shield (Level 6)– C- Tier – Using your reaction to prevent a smidgen of damage isn’t necessarily awful, but not great.

Consult the Spirits (Level 10) – C- Tier – Free spells are nice, and these are solid spells that can keep refreshing!

Vengeful Ancestors (Level 14) – C Tier – Reflecting damage is neat, and while you aren’t preventing or dealing that much damage, healing an ally an average of 14 health and dealing that much is solid.

Battlerager

Battlerager Armor (Level 3) – D Tier – While this is the main feature of Battleragers, it is not the most exciting ability in the world. Spiked Armor is just slightly better Scale Mail which means you won’t be able to easily upgrade from this. While that’s not ideal, you do get a free bonus action attack and a bit of an extra boost when grappling which is alright.

Reckless Abandon (Level 6) – D Tier – Some free temporary health is always nice, but you get so little that this is not going to do that much for you realistically.

Battlerager Charge (Level 10) – C Tier – Being able to trade your bonus action for a Dash is not at its best on Barbarians for the most part, but still a very solid ability.

Spiked Retribution (Level 14) – F Tier – How is this a capstone? it isn’t useless, but it is close.

Beast

Form of the Beast (Level 3) – C- Tier – This is a solid ability as you have some versatility in how you fight, but this does not scale particularly well as you progress into later levels. This only really becomes an issue once you pass level 10, but will still be a bit of a pain until then.

Bestial Soul (Level 6) – C- Tier* – This ability is pretty good for travel and it can be useful in combat, but this is really just an ability for traveling.

Infectious Fury (Level 10) – D Tier – This can be powerful if the enemy fails their saving throw, but you can only do this proficiency bonus times per day making this not the most useful as you’ll realistically only successfully make this work a few times a day.

Call the Hunt (Level 14) – C+ Tier – Getting temporary health and a global damage buff is solid, especially as you can functionally get this every fight, but both halves of this are so small that the benefits can feel somewhat marginal.

Berserker

Frenzy (Level 3) – B Tier – Extra damage is always good, even if it isn’t an abundance of extra damage.

Mindless Rage (Level 6) – C Tier – Charmed and Frightened (Frightened is more common) are kind of niche conditions, but not potentially losing your Rage because you get hit by one of them is nice.

Retaliation (Level 10) – B Tier – Sometimes this will do nothing and other times this is an Extra Attack, and while that’s a pretty wide range, it settles on being solid on average.

Intimidating Presence (Level 14) – C+ Tier – A mass Fear effect is definitely solid, but not necessarily good for you in particular. Still a good ability.

Giant

Giant’s Power (Level 3) – D- Tier – Purely a flavor ability.

Giant’s Havoc (Level 3) – B- Tier – This is a neat ability that gives you better thrown weapons and reach with your weapon. Both are a bit niche, but it’s not too difficult to make this a good ability.

Elemental Cleaver (Level 6) – B Tier – Extra elemental damage and the ability to attack at a distance is quite nice, even if Barbarians are traditionally supposed to be in the thick of combat.

Mighty Impel (Level 10) – C Tier – This is decent for repositioning allies and being able to toss the occasional enemy, although most enemies at this point are likely to be pretty large.

Demiurgic Colossus (Level 14) – C+ Tier – More reach and more damage is nice, but may not necessarily feel that impactful.

Wild Heart

Animal Speaker (Level 3) – D+ Tier – Getting two free ritual spells, even if they aren’t the strongest rituals in the world.

Rage of the Wilds (Level 3) – A Tier – This is a really good ability and is even better than the 2014 version was. While Bear likely is still the best (even when nerfed), Wolf and Eagle are very strong options as well.

Aspect of the Wilds (Level 6) – C Tier – Being able to switch between having Darkvision, being a good swimmer, or being a good climber is some solid utility.

Nature Speaker (Level 10) – C- Tier – Commune with Nature is a decent spell, but you may have trouble using this effectively depending on how flexible your DM is.

Power of the Wilds (Level 14) – A- Tier – This is nearly (or just as) good as your initial Rage of the Wilds as all of your options are quite strong (Falcon probably being the weakest as you’d have to be unarmored).

Wild Magic

Magical Awareness (Level 3) – D- Tier – Detect Magic is a great spell, but it would be shocking to me if you didn’t have a party member that could already cast this without a hard limit. The only advantage this has over the casters is this takes an action versus the 10 minutes needed for a ritual.

Wild Surge (Level 3) – C Tier – All the effects you could get are fine, but not being able to control it does hurt how strong this can be as sometimes you’ll get a useless roll.

Bolstering Magic (Level 6) – C- Tier – This is a really unique ability as it’s either a slightly different Guidance or a way to refresh some spell slots.

Unstable Backlash (Level 10) – C- Tier – If this gave you an additional effect from your Surge without replacing your current effect, this ability would be really strong, but just replacing it isn’t that helpful considering all the effects are relatively the same power level. Still, this isn’t terrible as sometimes you’ll roll an effect that’s generically good, but just not what you want for that encounter.

Controlled Surge (Level 14) – C+ Tier – Choosing which effect you get is all well and good, but again, most of these effects are pretty much the same power level so it’s hard to be super excited by this.

World Tree

Vitality of the Tree (Level 3) – A- Tier – While you don’t get a lot of temporary health yourself, you get to give out a solid amount of temporary health to your allies. even at earlier levels, which can really add up over the course of a fight.

Branches of the Tree (Level 6) – A Tier – Forced repositioning for enemies and keeping them there is really good, especially to peel enemies off of your squishier allies. Best yet. this only costs you your reaction which is something you’re not going to be using much of anyway!

Battering Roots (Level 10) – C+ Tier – Some reach is neat, but an extra mastery property on top of that? That’s a nice ability.

Travel Along the Tree (Level 14) – A- Tier – Now every time you Rage, you can always be in the right spot and you can even get a pseudo Scatter for your allies. This is a pretty nice ability, even though you won’t always get much value out of it.

Zealot

Divine Fury (Level 3) – B Tier – A little bit of extra damage each turn is always nice!

Warrior of the Gods (Level 3) – B Tier – This is really potent early, and while it doesn’t scale super well, extra healing will always be nice, especially since this will be close to a full heal in earlier levels.

Fanatical Focus (Level 6) – B- Tier – This is similar to the Fighter’s Indomitable feature which is quite strong, but obviously more akin to their previous version rather than the current version. That said, this ability is still decent.

Zealous Presence (Level 10) – C+ Tier – I think this ability reads better than it plays. Advantage on all attacks for a turn is obviously solid, but it’s going to be very hard to know when granting advantage on saving throws is going to be relevant.

Rage of the Gods (Level 14) – B- Tier – While you can only use this once per day, it is pretty strong when you activate it. First, you get a Flying speed which is nice, but not necessarily the best since Barbarians generally want to stay in melee range. It is still helpful though to navigate around the map. Second, you get resistance to necrotic, radiant, and psychic damage which, depending on the enemies, may or may not be useful. Finally, if an ally would go down, you can bring them back up! This is a neat meshing of features that you’ll be happy to have for tougher boss fights.

Bard Rankings

While it is a bit of a boring answer, if you’re looking for the best Bard, you still have to look towards Lore Bards as getting additional Magical Secrets is incredibly strong. Beyond Lore and despite receiving no direct changes, Swords Bard shoots to the top of the rankings both because of the strength of their abilities and since the value of Scimitars have gone way up in the 2024 version due to the Nick weapon mastery (you will need a feat or multiclass to get it, but that’s no big deal).If you’re interested in a new melee Bard, the updated Valor or Dance Bards are looking great as well.

1. Lore – A Tier
2. Swords – A Tier
3. Eloquence – A- Tier
4. Valor – B+ Tier
5. Dance – B+ Tier
6. Glamour – B+ Tier
7. Creation – B Tier
8. Spirits – B Tier
9. Whispers – C+ Tier

Creation

Mote of Potential (Level 3) – B- Tier – Bardic Inspiration is already good, and making it even better is always a good thing. While the attack roll buff isn’t great, the other choices are quite solid.

Performance of Creation (Level 3) – C Tier – Creating non-magical objects is neat, but this is not a feature you’re going to use particularly often. Still nice to have in a pinch!

Animating Performance (Level 6) – C+ Tier – This is a decent summon option, even if the scaling isn’t necessarily the best. Solid in earlier levels and still alright in later levels as a distraction.

Creative Crescendo (Level 14)- C Tier – Performance of Creation is alright, and upgrading it is just alright.

Dance

Dazzling Footwork (Level 3) – C+ Tier – This has a lot of abilities stacked into this, but only a few really matter, the AC buff in particular is quite good. The extra damage can be alright, but it’s nothing special.

Inspiring Movement (Level 3) – C+ Tier – Repositioning tools are always nice, and being able to bring an ally with you is a nice bonus. This isn’t the best use of Bardic Inspiration, but is helpful in a pinch.

Tandem Footwork (Level 6) – A+ Tier – Anything that increases initiative is really powerful, doubly so if you are able to share that will allies.

Leading Evasion (Level 14) – C Tier – Giving Evasion to allies is definitely neat and incentives the squad to bundle up more against tougher enemies.

Eloquence

Silver Tongue (Level 3)– A Tier – This functionally gives you the ability to never fail a Deception or Persuasion roll, even in earlier levels, which is as powerful as it is frustrating.

Unsettling Words (Level 3) – D Tier – Easily one of the most misunderstood abilities in the game, while this looks good on the surface, the math does not support this at all. If you don’t know why, check out the incredible Treantmonk’s video explaining it to see why this really doesn’t do much most of the time.

Unfailing Inspiration (Level 6) – A- Tier – Not wasting your Bardic Inspiration die when your roll still fails is awesome and functionally gives you functionally way more charges of Bardic Inspiration.

Universal Speech (Level 6) – D Tier – One use of Comprehend Languages is nice and all, but having it be a feature in itself is not that useful. You can include multiple people which is nice, but this is unlikely to come up particularly often.

Infectious Inspiration (Level 14) – C+ Tier – I do like more Bardic Inspiration dice, but this is not nearly as exciting as Unfailing Inspiration and will only give out 5 more dice per day. 5 more dice is still a lot though making this a decent ability that really doesn’t cost you anything.

Glamour

Beguiling Magic (Level 3) – C+ Tier – Two free spells and a free charm/frighten once per day or when you spend a Bardic Inspiration die is decent overall.

Mantle of Inspiration (Level 3) – B- Tier – Repositioning tools can be helpful and a smidgen of temporary health on top of it is definitely nice. This can get even more value if your team is trying to escape from somewhere, but otherwise, this is just to get allies out of harm’s way.

Mantle of Majesty (Level 6) – A Tier – This ability is really strong as getting a free Command every turn is really going to mess your enemies up, especially since you can still spellcast normally as, in the 2024 rules, you’re limited to just one spell per turn if it uses a spell slot rather than one leveled spell per turn no matter what.

Unbreakable Majesty (Level 14) – C- Tier – This ability only works on the first attack, and realistically, you shouldn’t often be in a position where enemies can hit you anyway. Not bad, but definitely not great.

Lore

Bonus Proficiencies (Level 3) – B- Tier – Getting proficiency in three skills is nice, but not super helpful on a class that has Jack of All Trades.

Cutting Words (Level 3) – C Tier – This isn’t necessarily the best use of Bardic Inspiration, but being able to help an ally avoid a nasty attack can be useful.

Magical Discoveries (Level 6) – S Tier – Getting two spells outside of your class four levels earlier than other Bards is really powerful and lets you have a much more well rounded spell list than you would have otherwise.

Peerless Skill (Level 14) – C- Tier – This ability would’ve been excellent if it worked for saving throws or you cared about attack rolls, but this is unfortunately not the best as it’s just not going to come up often.

Spirits

Guiding Whispers (Level 3) – C- Tier – Guidance is an incredible cantrip, and getting it for free is definitely nice as Bards wouldn’t normally have access to it.

Spiritual Focus (Level 3) – D Tier – The first ability is just a ribbon ability, but is some nice flavor. The ability you get at level 6, however, is a bit more interesting. An average of 3 more damage or 3 more healing on a spell is not bad, but you have to consider that your focus has to be used in the casting, so it can only be spells with material components that both: don’t cost anything and don’t get consumed in casting. That is probably a smaller list of spells than you would think making this not too exciting of a feature.

Tales from Beyond (Level 3) – C Tier – Random abilities are generally not good as you may get something that isn’t helpful in the moment, or worse, something actively detrimental. Thankfully for this ability, there are no bad effects and you can choose who receives them. While you have no control over what you get, all of them are good so it probably won’t be difficult to get a get use out of them, and since you can transfer this to another creature, it gives this ability even more versatility.

Spirit Session (Level 6) – C Tier – Having a rotating spell is neat, even if the Divination or Necromancy schools aren’t known for the strongest spells and it takes an hour long ritual to get it. You can still get some nice options though, so definitely not complaining.

Mystical Connection (Level 14) – C+ Tier – Having greater control over your third level ability is nice and makes it much more likely you get something actively good rather than something that’s just ok which is definitely interesting.

Swords

Bonus Proficiencies (Level 3) – B Tier – Medium Armor and Scimitar proficiency? You get similar offensive and defensive power to the Ranger, but with an infinitely better spell list! Furthermore, you get to use your weapon as a spellcasting focus, so in conjunction with War Caster, you can seamlessly cast spells in combat. The only issue is that incentives you to either dip into another class to get Weapon Mastery or grab the feat for the maximum amount of attacks, but you’ll do what you have to!

Fighting Style (Level 3) – C- Tier – As you’ll likely want the Dual Wielding style, getting a bit of extra damage if you connect with your second attack is fine, but it’s not likely going to be super impactful.

Blade Flourish (Level 3) – B+ Tier – Beyond your Slashing Flourish, this ability is pretty strong and gives you solid uses for your Bardic Inspiration.

Extra Attack (Level 6) – B- Tier – While still excellent on Swords Bards, you will be tempted to spellcast in battle, and when you do, you won’t be able to use the Extra Attack. Still, this is great for anyone looking to get into melee.

Master’s Flourish (Level 14) – A Tier – Getting free Blade Flourishes, even if you aren’t going to get a particularly large number on average, is really strong.

Valor

Combat Inspiration (Level 3) – C Tier – Potentially avoiding one attack or dealing a bit of extra damage is fine, but likely not the best use of your Bardic Inspiration die.

Martial Training (Level 3) – A Tier – Proficiency in martial weapons, medium armor, and shields is really strong. Furthermore, you get to use your weapon as a spellcasting focus, so in conjunction with War Caster, you can seamlessly cast spells in combat.

Extra Attack (Level 6) – B Tier – While still excellent on Valor Bards, you will be tempted to spellcast in battle, and when you do, you won’t be able to use the Extra Attack. Still, this is excellent as you can even weave in a cantrip into one of your attacks which is really nice.

Battle Magic (Level 14) – B Tier – Remember how I said that casting a spell stops you from attacking? Not anymore! It may be risky to attack enemies directly at this level rather than standing back and using a concentration spell, but it’s still a pretty good ability.

Whispers

Psychic Blades (Level 3) – D- Tier – Not only is this not a great use of your Bardic Inspiration, this isn’t even a Bard subclass you would want to make weapon attacks with (unlike the Swords or Valor Bard). Maybe this is ok for a level or two, but it’s going to be pretty unusable afterwards.

Words of Terror (Level 3) – D- Tier – In what scenario do you need a frightened condition where you can talk to your target ahead of time? By RAW, it’s hard to imagine how this is helpful, but if your DM makes it so Intimidation or something has advantage when the target is frightened of you, then I can see this being decent.

Mantle of Whispers (Level 6) – D+ Tier – This ability is really interesting as disguising yourself as someone who recently died can be useful, this is realistically super niche.

Shadow Lore (Level 14) – C Tier – This is a pretty cool utility ability that creative players could take reasonably good advantage of, but this is very particular and may not be as effective as you’d ideally like it to be.

Cleric Rankings

Without any changes, Twilight and Peace Cleric still reign supreme not just over the cleric subclasses, but over all subclasses in D&D. Beyond that, the biggest mover was easily Trickery as they went from a niche option to the best, non-broken Cleric in the game due to all the buffs they’ve received (I’m still mad they lost Polymorph for Confusion though).

1. Twilight – S Tier
2. Peace – S Tier
3. Trickery – B Tier
4. Light – B Tier
5. Knowledge – C+ Tier
6. Forge – C+ Tier
7. Tempest – C+ Tier
8. Nature – C Tier
9. War – C Tier
10. Arcana – C Tier
11. Order – C Tier
12. Grave – C- Tier
13. Life – C- Tier

Arcana

Arcane Initiate (Level 3) – C Tier – Picking up two cantrips, especially ones you can’t normally access, is solid!

Channel Divinity: Arcane Abjuration (Level 3) – C- Tier – I think this ability is a bit underrated, but it’s not too exciting either. Turning extraplanar enemies is helpful, but it would be incredibly rare that banishing a really low level one (compared to you anyway) would be that helpful. If the scaling was better, this would definitely be better, but it’s not a bad ability.

1st Level Spells (Level 3) – C+ Tier – You already had access to Detect Magic so that isn’t a big draw, but getting Magic Missile is definitely nice as it’s one of the most consistent sources of damage in the game.

2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – D Tier – Not terrible options, but I’m not excited about either barring some pretty niche scenarios.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – D Tier – Two spells you already had access to, but freeing up a prepared spell slot because of the free Dispel Magic is nice.

Spell Breaker (Level 6) – C Tier – Sometimes this will turn your healing spell into an extremely good spell, but this won’t be that useful most of the time. Still, the ceiling here is relatively high which is nice, even if the floor is low.

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – C+ Tier – Arcane Eye is definitely a nice pickup that Clerics can’t normally get, it’s just a shame that Secret Chest is terrible.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – C+ Tier – Teleportation Circle is a really nice spell that Clerics don’t get, but another party member probably could already take it. Planar Binding can be broken, but this isnt’ a spell you want prepared all the time and you can naturally prepare it anyway.

Arcane Mastery (Level 17) – A Tier – Getting four prepared spells that you wouldn’t normally have access to is obviously excellent, especially when you can take the best of the bunch in each category.

Forge

Bonus Proficiencies (Level 3) – D- Tier – This was a good ability until the Protector from Divine Order was a thing. Still, if you want to pick Thaumaturge (I don’t know why you would want to), then this is obviously decent.

Blessings of the Forge (Level 3) – B-* Tier – Getting +1 equipment, especially early, is pretty good, at least until every piece of equipment you have is magical.

Channel Divinity: Artisan’s Blessing (Level 3) – D+ Tier – I like the idea of making stuff, but similar abilities from other classes aren’t as restrictive as this ability is. Still useful in a pinch, but nothing amazing.

1st and 2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – C- Tier – Not useless, but pretty mediocre options – Identify can be helpful and Heat Metal is solid, but Searing Smite and Magic Weapon are not great.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – D+ Tier – I’m not really a fan of either Elemental Weapon nor Protection from Energy, but you canget value out of these in the right circumstances.

Soul of the Forge (Level 6) – B Tier – Fire resistance and +1 AC on an ability is definitely quite nice!

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – B+ Tier – Wall of Fire is a really nice pick up and not a spell that Clerics would normally get. I personally dislike Fabricate, but getting it for free means you may be able to do something with it eventually.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – C Tier – Animate Objects is a decent pickup as Cleric doesn’t really get good damage options, but you’ll still probably want to use Wall of Fire instead most of the time if you want damage. I very much dislike Creation personally, but I’ve heard some players using it effectively.

Saint of Forge and Fire (Level 17) – B Tier – Immunity to Fire damage and resistance to all bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing makes you substantially harder to knock down. You probably shouldn’t be in a position to be getting hit much anyway, but when you do get hit, this is likely to reduce a good amount of damage.

Grave

Circle of Mortality (Level 3) – C+ Tier – This is a weird ability as you only get the effect when somebody has no health, but getting the highest possible result on a roll can have some pretty powerful implications. Even at this level, giving a downed ally 11 health every time (12 when you have 18 Wisdom) with a level one Healing Word is pretty nice.

Eyes of the Grave (Level 3) – F Tier – Easily one of the worst abilities in the game. Yes this can technically be helpful if your DM likes running dungeons with a mix of corpses and undead, but at worst, you can just fire arrows or something into them.

Channel Divinity: Path to the Grave (Level 3) – C* Tier – This can work really well with allies who hit super hard on one attack, like Rogues, but you do need to coordinate to make that possible. Still a very interesting ability in the right team composition, but not one you can use often.

1st and 2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – D+ Tier – Ray of Enfeeblement is a decent pick up, but the rest of your spells here are really not that helpful.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – C- Tier – Revivify is a decent pickup since that frees up a prepared spell, but that’s not a particularly big deal as the opportunity cost for taking Revivify was already very low. I don’t consider Vampiric Touch to be an exciting pickup so it’s not really considered in the ranking.

Sentinel at Death’s Door (Level 6) – D+ Tier – This ability is a weird one. Yes it is definitely useful, but that fact that it’s not going to come up that often and it may not even prevent that much damage when it does makes it pretty mediocre. Good when relevant, it just won’t be relevant a lot of the time.

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – D+ Tier – Death Ward is a solid pick up, but it’s a spell you were likely to take anyway and the opportunity cost for taking it was already pretty low. Blight is just awful except in the most niche situations so this doesn’t add anything to this ability.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – D Tier – Both spells are super niche and not that exciting.

Keeper of Souls (Level 17) – B Tier – This is actually a pretty strong ability as this can be a steady stream of healing in the average fight, but it probably does read better than it plays. Still a nice capstone on an otherwise unremarkable subclass.

Knowledge

Blessings of Knowledge (Level 3) – C+ Tier – Two languages and two Expertise is a nice feature!

Channel Divinity: Knowledge of the Ages (Level 3) – C Tier – This is a super niche, but unique ability that could be useful for those who are creative enough to make good use of it. I bet players smarter than me (so most of them) can do interesting things with this.

1st and 2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – A Tier – Both Command and Identify are fine, but both Augury and Suggestion are very strong pick ups, especially Suggestion which is not a spell Cleric can normally get.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – D Tier – Both Nondetection and Speak with Dead are pretty bad unfortunately.

Channel Divinity: Read Thoughts (Level 6) – C Tier – This is super weird, but can be useful for those who really like finding unconventional solutions to their problems.

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – C+ Tier – Arcane Eye is a solid pickup, but Confusion is definitely not exciting. Not unusable as Clerics don’t really get CC like this often, but not something I would be too happy to use.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – D Tier – Neither spell is useless, but not spells I’m excited to use either.

Visions of the Past (Level 17) – C- Tier – Once again, this ability is extremely niche but very interesting for information gathering. This isn’t a capstone ability I’m excited about though and this realistically could’ve been the Channel Divinity option considering the power level. However, in campaigns with a lot of mystery elements, this can be incredible.

Life

Disciple of Life (Level 3) – D+ Tier – A bit of extra health when you cast healing spells can be useful, especially in earlier levels, but it’s never going to be super helpful as this isn’t too impactful for low level spells and it doesn’t scale well with higher level spells.

Preserve Life (Level 3) – D Tier – When I first read this ability, I thought it couldn’t restore more than half a creature’s hit point maximum when they were bloodied allowing someone to be full healed if they were at half health. However, this can only bring someone up to half their hit point maximum which is unbelievably limiting. This can be useful after a tough fight potentially, but it’s just way too many hoops to jump through.

1st and 2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – C- Tier – Bless is a great spell, but the opportunity cost for taking it normally was functionally zero making getting it for free not particular helpful. Ironically, I’m happier with Cure Wounds as it’s a spell I would never normally take (Healing Word is just better of course), but by having it for free, it lets you use it in the few situations where it outperforms Healing Word (mainly right as you finish combat). For 2nd level spells, both Aid and Lesser Restoration are great spells, but were already available to you. Overall, these are good spells, but the opportunity cost to take them normally was pretty low.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – C- Tier – Revivify is a decent pickup since that frees up a prepared spell, but that’s not a particularly big deal as the opportunity cost for taking Revivify was already very low. Mass Healing Word is unfortunately pretty bad so you’ll likely not be able to cast it often, but in the few scenarios you have multiple allies down, this could feel pretty good.

Blessed Healer (Level 6) – D Tier – A little bit of healing for yourself when you use healing spells is nice, but it’s unlikely to really add up unless you are using all of your spell slots on healing.

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – C- Tier – Death Ward is nice, but you probably would’ve taken that anyway so this isn’t that impactful. Aura of Life, like Mass Healing Word, is not a spell you’re casting often but can be useful in some scenarios.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – C- Tier – Greater Restoration is a decent pickup, but again, you’re just getting spells you could easily take anyway.

Supreme Healer (Level 17) – D Tier – This would be a sweet ability if the late game healing spells were roll based rather than a flat amount. This still can be helpful if you’re upcasting lower level healing spells, but that’s pretty much the only way you can use this at all effectively.

Light

Channel Divinity: Radiance of the Dawn (Level 3) – C+* Tier – This Channel Divinity is pretty good in the early game as getting an average of 14 damage AOE blast at level 3 is a really good rate. However, as you keep progressing in levels, this will be weaker and weaker until you’ll only want to use it when you’re trying to preserve spell slots, even if at that point, a cantrip may end up being stronger than this.

Warding Flare (Level 3) – C+* Tier – Similar to the Channel Divinity, this ability is much stronger in the earlier levels than later levels as multiattacks can really put a damper on the effectiveness of this. That said, this is still reasonable in later levels as Clerics are functionally never using their reaction anyway making this pretty free to use when necessary.

1st and 2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – C+ Tier – You get two spells you normally couldn’t get, and while Burning Hands is not an exciting one, Faerie Fire is a solid pickup you can get some value out of! For 2nd level options, See Invisibility is a strange pickup when you already have Faerie Fire, but Scorching Ray is a nice one as Clerics don’t normally get solid damage spells.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – A- Tier – The most exciting spells on the list, getting Fireball as a Cleric is just so sweet. Furthermore, I actually kind of like getting Daylight as it’s not a spell you would ever normally want, but if you’re facing any enemy with sunlight sensitivity or Vampires, this can be devastating.

Improved Warding Flare (Level 6) – B Tier – Getting substantially more charges of Warding Flare and doling out some temporary health is definitely a pretty nice improvement. This still won’t scale that well into later levels, but this makes it more useful.

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – A Tier – Two truly excellent spells as both Arcane Eye and Wall of Fire are both unique to the Cleric spell list and really strong. This is a huge power bump to Light Clerics.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – D Tier – How can the 3rd and 4th level spell options be so much better than the final ones? Really disappointing as you pick up two spells you may literally never cast in your campaign.

Corona of Light (Level 17) – D+ Tier – Spending an action to give enemies disadvantage against a few of your spells is not generally how I want to spend my action. This can be useful if you’re in a really long fight, but even then, functionally skipping your turn is a pretty big risk.

Nature

Acolyte of Nature (Level 3) – D+ Tier – Getting a cantrip isn’t nothing as you can grab a decent utility option or even an offensive option if you feel so compelled. Furthermore, getting proficiency in a new skill can be useful, but this is likely more flavor than function.

Bonus Proficiency (Level 3) – D- Tier – This was a good ability until the Protector from Divine Order was a thing. Still, if you want to pick Thaumaturge (I don’t know why you would want to), then this is obviously decent.

Channel Divinity: Charm Animals and Plants (Level 3) – D Tier – This is better than other charm effects that don’t help your allies, but this is so specific. This can be ok if you are facing a lot of animals in combat (there are next to no plant enemies in 5e, maybe that will change in the 2024 update), but only while they are still a threat to your party, which realistically, won’t be for long.

1st and 2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – A Tier – For 1st level spells, both are unfortunately pretty bad. For 2nd level spells, Barkskin can be alright to help protect a squishier ally, but that’s going to be hard to justify over casting the incredible Spike Growth. Getting Spike Growth is probably the sole reason players would ever consider this class realistically.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – C Tier – Plant Growth is a solid pickup and can range from decent to excellent depending on how your DM interprets the spell. Wind Wall is atrocious so that can be ignored.

Dampen Elements (Level 6) – C- Tier – A free Absorb Elements is alright, especially as it can protect an ally if you need. While this ability is good, it’s not likely to come up that often which does limit its usefulness, and realistically, an ability that’s a slightly better 1st level spell is not that exciting of a pickup.

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – D+ Tier – Dominate Beast is going to be worthless most of the time where Grasping Vine can be usable, but far from exciting.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – D Tier – Tree Stride is easily one of the worst spells in the game, but Insect Plague can be ok.

Master of Nature (Level 17) – D- Tier – It would be a miracle if your Channel Divinity was still relevant at this point, but potentially commanding a bunch of plants and animals could(?) be useful in the right situation, but that’s going to be a really tough situation to make happen.

Order

Bonus Proficiencies (Level 3) – D- Tier – This was a good ability until the Protector from Divine Order was a thing. Still, if you want to pick Thaumaturge (I don’t know why you would want to), then this is obviously decent.

Voice of Authority (Level 3) – C Tier – This ability is super unique and while I can’t rate it too highly, I do kind of love it. In the average party, this will be just ok as extra damage is decent. However, if you have an ally that can hit like a truck for one attack (specifically a Rogue and their Sneak Attack), then you can get substantially more value out of this. Funny that an Order Cleric has to pair with a lawless Rogue to get the most out of this ability.

Channel Divinity: Order’s Demand (Level 3) – D+ Tier – This ability is super cool, but is really only helpful against enemies that are carrying weapons which is not super common. Even then, if they pass the saving throw or their turn comes before an ally who can go grab their weapon, then this ability is useless.

1st and 2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – D+ Tier – Not spells you’re excited about, and you could just pick up Command if you wanted it. Hold Person can be more helpful if you find yourself fighting humanoid enemies often enough, but it’s still pretty risky.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – B Tier – Slow is a really strong pickup as Cleric does not normally get good CC options. Mass Healing Word is not particularly good, but can be useful in situations where multiple allies are down so this isn’t useless.

Embodiment of Law (Level 6) – C Tier – Being able to cast spells as a bonus action that normally take an action can be good, but only if you have a relevant action you want to take on top of it. A cantrip isn’t the worst action to take with your freed up main action, but it’s not that exciting either.

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – D- Tier – I don’t think I would ever consider casting either spell except in the most unbelievably specific scenarios.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – D Tier – Getting Commune for free is nice, but you would’ve picked that up anyway and the opportunity cost for grabbing it was already pretty low. Dominate Person isn’t generally a good spell, but could be good when dealing with NPCs.

Order’s Wrath (Level 17) – D- Tier – Free damage is free damage, but this could’ve been a level 6 ability, not the Order Domain capstone. This is a minimal damage boost that you have to set up with your cantrip that you still need to connect with to get.

Peace

Implement of Peace (Level 3) – D Tier – A free skill proficiency is nice, but not particularly high impact.

Emboldening Bond (Level 3) – S Tier – A very powerful ability. Getting a 1d4 every turn on a relevant roll will slow games down tremendously (especially as more and more players get the bond), but this is still much more powerful than it looks in general.

Channel Divinity: Balm of Peace (Level 3) – B Tier – While this will be extremely powerful in earlier levels as you can heal a good amount of health with each use of this, this doesn’t scale particularly well and its usefulness is pretty dependent on how large your party is.

1st and 2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – C- Tier – While it may seem like Peace can do no wrong in terms of quality, both the 1st and 2nd level spell options are pretty sad to middling. I do like Aid and Warding Bond can be solid, but the opportunity cost for taking them normally was quite low.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – D+ Tier – These spells aren’t useless, but you probably aren’t getting much if any use out of them.

Protective Bond (Level 6) – A+ Tier – This ability functionally lets you pool your health together as, if someone is in a better position to take damage, they can take it for someone else. Once again, this ability is going to slow games down a lot like Emboldening Bond, but it is very powerful.

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – D+ Tier – Resilient Sphere is an interesting pick up, but it functions so similarly to Banishment that it’s not that impactful.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – C Tier – Greater Restoration was a spell you were interested in grabbing anyway, but Telepathic Bond is a pretty nice pick up that you wouldn’t normally get.

Expansive Bond (Level 17) – S Tier – Your broken abilities are now somehow even better. Peace really got all the love.

Tempest

Bonus Proficiencies (Level 3) – D- Tier – This was a good ability until the Protector from Divine Order was a thing. Still, since you get both martial weapon and heavy armor proficiency, you can grab Thaumaturge which sucks, but it is free. To that end, this ranking is for Thaumaturge rather than the proficiencies.

Wrath of the Storm (Level 3) – D+ Tier – Not bad early, but this damage doesn’t scale at all making it weaker and weaker as you level up. Still, your reaction is rarely going to be used so free damage is free damage.

Channel Divinity: Destructive Wrath (Level 3) – C Tier – This ability is actually pretty good, but Tempest Cleric receive so few spells they can use with this that it really limits the usefulness of them. Would it really have been so terrible to give this class Lightning Bolt? Ok, that would be really strong as you could sling 48 damage Lightning Bolts starting level 5, but there is definitely something that could’ve been done to make this more balanced.

1st and 2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – C Tier – For 1st level spells, Thunderwave is ok and works with your Channel Divinity and Fog Cloud is a surprisingly good pick up. For 2nd level options, you don’t get much unfortunately. Shatter is far from ideal, but it is a decent target for your Channel Divinity for a couple of levels.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – A Tier – Call Lightning is going to be your main damage spell as it is a decent damage option already and does work with your Channel Divinity. Wish this spell was a bit stronger as it would make this class more appealing, but what can you do? Sleet Storm, similarly, is an excellent CC spell that Clerics don’t normally get access to so this is a big pickup.

Thunderous Strike (Level 6) – C Tier – Pushing enemies can be good, especially in this new edition which has a lot of emanation effects, but you do need to connect with a spell that deals thunder or lightning damage which makes this a bit restrictive and you can only push away from you which you may not always want to do.

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – F Tier – Two terrible spells that you will likely never use.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – C Tier – Insect Plague isn’t great, but using your Channel Divinity on Destructive Wave will give you an average of 47.5 damage which is definitely not bad.

Stormborn (Level 17) – B Tier – A little specific, but an indefinite flying speed is still really powerful.

Trickery

Blessings of the Trickster (Level 3) – C Tier – Niche, but a pretty potent ability. I generally don’t like abilities that incentivize characters going off alone, but Stealth is one of those things that you sometimes have to send someone by themselves.

Invoke Duplicity (Level 3) – B- Tier – This is just a solid ability both in and out of combat. Having a greater functional range on your spells, getting advantage on your attacks, and just being a general distraction when you use this is pretty solid. I do think this ability is a bit worse than it looks, but it’s still pretty good.

1st and 2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – A Tier – The 1st level spells here are pretty disappointing, but for your 2nd level spells, getting two powerful spells Clerics don’t normally get is very nice.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – A- Tier – While Nondetection sucks, Hypnotic Pattern is a huge pickup for Clerics as it gives you an additional third level combat option beyond Spirit Guardians.

Trickster’s Transportation (Level 6) – B Tier – Clerics don’t get teleportation options, and this can be a pretty good one if you’re willing to set it up a little bit.

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – B Tier – I am not happy about Confusion considering you used to get Polymorph, but Dimension Door is a very solid pickup.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – D- Tier – Neither spell I would be happy about casting unless under the most specific of scenarios.

Improved Duplicity (Level 17) – C Tier – If you still got four illusory copies of yourself like the previous iteration of this ability, then this would be extremely powerful, but as is, it’s just ok.

Twilight

Bonus Proficiencies (Level 3) – D- Tier – This was a good ability until the Protector from Divine Order was a thing. Still, since you get both martial weapon and heavy armor proficiency, you can grab Thaumaturge which sucks, but it is free. To that end, this ranking is for Thaumaturge rather than the proficiencies.

Eyes of Night (Level 3) – C+ Tier – Having a longer range Darkvision than literally everything else in the game is going to come up pretty often, and the ability to share it too is quite nice to launch a surprise attack on unsuspecting enemies.

Vigilant Blessing (Level 3) – C+ Tier – Although this only impacts one person, advantage on Initiative for absolutely free is obviously pretty good.

Channel Divinity: Twilight Sanctuary (Level 3) – S Tier – This is easily one of the most powerful ability in all of D&D when you consider the level you get it at. Activating this means it’s functionally impossible to lose a fight as your team will just be drowning in temporary health or you can even stop them from being charmed or frightened.

1st and 2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – C+ Tier – None of these spells are super high impact, but they are all spells Clerics don’t normally get giving you more versatility.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – B+ Tier – While Aura of Vitality is already a spell you could pick up, Tiny Hut is a really nice and rare pick up as this is the only class outside of Wizard (or Bards with their Magical Secrets) that can get it.

Steps of Night (Level 6) – B Tier – Free flying when you’re in dim light or darkness! That sounds specific, but your Twilight Sanctuary makes a 30 foot sphere of dim light that follows you around making this really easy to use, even if you are limited to PB times per day.

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – B Tier – Greater Invisibility is completely unique to Clerics and a really potent buff for any martial allies you have! Aura of Life isn’t too exciting, but can be decent if you have multiple allies down or close to it so it’s not like this has no utility.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – C Tier – Not great, but not terrible options as Circle of Power is a solid spell.

Twilight Shroud (Level 17) – C Tier – Surprisingly weak for an ability in this class, but this is still a pretty reasonable ability.

War

Channel Divinity: Guided Strike (Level 3) – B- Tier – While this is mainly helpful on those who hit like a truck with one attack or when an enemy is really low on health, converting a miss into a hit is still a reasonably powerful ability that a party can pretty easily build around. This is better at early levels compared to late, but Barbarians and Rogues are going to love you.

War Priest (Level 3) – B-* Tier – This is a really good ability early when you have less to do with your bonus action, but as you level up, this gets substantially weaker. Still, decent overall.

1st and 2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – C- Tier – Nothing super novel here, but some decent options. Both Guiding Bolt and Shield of Faith are decent, but your 2nd level options are both quite weak.

2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – D Tier – Magic Weapon is not a particularly exciting spell especially since monsters in the new Monster Manual don’t have non-magical weapon resistance, and Spiritual Weapon is an even bigger trap than it used to be making this not great.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – C- Tier – Both spells are solid, and while taking Spirit Guardians has pretty low opportunity cost normally, getting Crusader’s Mantle is cool as you don’t normally get access to it.

War God’s Blessing (Level 6) – D Tier – Using a Channel Divinity just for +2 AC or a base Spiritual Weapon may be acceptable in early levels, but it is not going to scale well at all. I would much rather save my charges for Guided Strike.

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – D- Tier – Two exceedingly mediocre spells, even if Fire Shield isn’t part of the normal Cleric spell list.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – B- Tier – Two pretty solid spells and both are unique to Cleric! Steel Wind Strike, in particular, is a nice pick up as Clerics rarely get good damage options.

Avatar of Battle (Level 17) – B- Tier – The ability is good, it just comes really late as Barbarian’s get this with their Rage normally. This is still a strong ability.

Druid Rankings

With all the changes, Land Druid now reigns supreme as the best casters of the bunch. Despite not receiving changes, both Stars and Wildfire Druid are close behind as well. The new Sea Druid makes a splash at the top half of the list which is nice to see. However, easily my favorite changes were to the Moon Druid which took it from a completely unbalanced mess to a very reasonable subclass option. Kudos to Wizards on that one!

1. Land – B Tier
2. Stars – B- Tier
3. Wildfire – B- Tier
4. Sea – C+ (Sea) Tier
5. Moon – C+ Tier
6. Spores – C Tier
7. Dreams – C Tier
8. Shepherd – C Tier

Dreams

Balm of the Summer Court (Level 3) – B Tier – You have a functional wellspring of Healing Words, and better yet, this actually scales really well. You have to devote so many spell slots to Healing Word normally that this frees up both a prepared spell and a bunch of spell slots per day.

Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow (Level 6) – C Tier – It’s hard to say if this is better or worse than Tiny Hut, but this is still a pretty great replacement for it. This is a bit niche and this may not be helpful in every campaign, but it is definitely decent normally and can be good if you find yourself camping out a lot.

Hidden Paths (Level 10) – B+ Tier – Free Misty Step is definitely quite nice, even if it’s just a few times a day! Druids don’t get good short range teleportation options generally, so this is a pretty nice pick up, especially as you can move your allies around as well making this really flexible.

Walker in Dreams (Level 14) – C- Tier – This is a very cool, but very strange ability. You aren’t always going to get good use out of any of the usable spells, but you certainly can make this reasonable without a terrible amount of effort.

Land

Land’s Aid (Level 3) – D Tier – This is just unfortunately a pretty weak ability, really only shining in very early levels where the average of 7 damage and healing is at its most impactful. Even if you aren’t going to be using your Wild Shape charges often, I would probably opt to save them most of the time rather than use it for this.

Cantrips, 1st Level Spells, & 2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – B+ Tier – Land is unique in that you can cycle through different prepared spells, and with versatility, comes with a lot of strength! That said, spell lists come in packages so you have to evaluate them as a group rather than individually. That said, Temperate is pretty good for your 1st and 2nd level options as both Sleep and Misty Step are solid spells that are not normally accessible to Druids.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – A- Tier – Your third level options are just banger after banger with Fireball, Sleet Storm (Druids could already get this, but Druids have a lot of potentially good 3rd level options making the opportunity cost of taking this not irrelevant), and Lightning Bolt being potential options. There is of course awkwardness that if you pick a biome for those spells, you get all the spells not just the one you want, .

Natural Recovery (Level 6) – A Tier – At level 6, this ability gives you two additional 3rd level spells lots per day, and by level 10, you can get two additional 5th level slots (or lower). That is obviously very strong, even if one of those slots has to be dedicated to casting one of your Land spells.

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – D Tier – A pretty big whiff on all the spell lists this level unfortunately, especially as the best spell (Polymorph) is a spell you can already pick up and it’s on the arguably weakest land spell list.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – B Tier – You have some solid options here with the best one being Wall of Stone on the Arid spell list which you wouldn’t mind being on anyway.

Nature’s Ward (Level 10) – C- Tier – Immunity to the Poisoned condition is super specific, but resistance to elemental damage can definitely be solid if you know what type of creatures you may encounter. However, there is definite awkwardness as you have to pick the right biome to get the correct damage resistances, but enemies that deal a particular type of elemental damage typically have resistance or immunity to the same type of damage which can work unfavorably with your spell choice. Overall this isn’t a bad ability, it’s just definitely a bit awkward and niche.

Nature’s Sanctuary (Level 14) – C+ Tier – If this ability only grants half-cover and the damage resistance doesn’t matter, it is still ok, just nothing special. If the elemental damage resistance is relevant though, then this can be reasonably strong. That said, you probably won’t have the right resistance enough of the time to make this ability excellent, but it definitely will come up some amount of the time.

Moon

Circle Forms (Level 3) – B+ Tier – With the Monster Manual out, your beast options are definitely not as exciting as they used to be. That being said, this is still a great ability and will make you quite threatening in earlier levels, but this unfortunately drop off somewhat hard in later levels.

Cantrips, 1st Level Spells, and 2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – D+ Tier – Starry Wisp is good, but Druid cantrips are generally weak, so getting an additional one is not that helpful. Cure Wounds isn’t terrible, but is still worse than Healing Word. Moonbeam isn’t bad, but it’s not particularly good either. Not too exciting of a pickup, especially since you could’ve just prepared it normally if you wanted to.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – C Tier – Conjure Animals is a great spell, but one you probably would’ve prepared anyway. That said, freeing up a prepared spell slot to grab a different third level spell is nice.

Improved Circle Forms (Level 6) – C- Tier – It’s hard to say how much damage resistance there’s going to be on your average enemy, but I bet this is going to be ok. Better Constitution saving throws is nice, but nothing special.

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – C- Tier – Fount of Moonlight is decent on Moon Druids, and again, you could’ve just prepared this normally, but the opportunity cost would be a little high considering Druid has a lot of solid 4th level options.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – D- Tier – Not an exciting pickup here unfortunately as Mass Cure Wounds is not a spell I would normally consider casting and is only really useful in the niche scenario where multiple party members are downed simultaneously.

Moonlight Step (Level 10) – B+ Tier – This is similar to the Dream Druid Hidden Path feature, and while their ability is better, getting advantage on your next attack is nice. Obviously, you have to teleport near an enemy to get the full effect, but functionally getting Misty Step prepared for free as you can trade in 2nd level slots to use this is sweet.

Lunar Form (Level 14) – B Tier – Improved damage in Wild Shape and bringing a buddy along with your Moonlight Step is definitely solid!

Sea

Wrath of the Sea (Level 3) – B- Tier – Having to stand right next to enemies is not ideal, but using a bonus action every turn to deal a decent bit of damage and potentially shove enemies around is definitely very interesting.

Cantrips, 1st Level Spells, and 2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – D+ Tier – I’m not excited by most of these spells, but Thunderwave. can be acceptable early and Fog Cloud can be good in the right scenarios (which may be more often than you think), though you could just as easily prepare Fog Cloud. For your 2nd level spells, you do not get great options. Shatter isn’t useless if you need damage, but Gust of Wind will probably feel pretty useless.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – A- Tier – Lightning Bolt is already an excellent option for Druids as they get functionally no good damage options and Water Breathing isn’t half bad either! This is a really nice level for the Sea Druid.

Aquatic Affinity (Level 6) – C- Tier – While doubling the emanation range sounds good, you are probably in no less danger from 10 feet away than you were 5 feet away. The only advantage that distance brings is not being hit with an opportunity attack if the enemy has no form of reach. The swim speed is a nice little addition as well making this an alright, but unexciting ability.

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – F Tier – Two truly terrible spells.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – D+ Tier – Once again, pretty rough spells. It’s sad that the only great spell on this spell list is Lightning Bolt from 4 levels ago.

Stormborn (Level 10) – A Tier – A fly speed is already very nice, but three elemental damage resistances is quite strong.

Oceanic Gift (Level 14) – B Tier – Doubling up on your main ability, even if you have to pay the cost twice, is a pretty good ability. The downside is that you will be really limited in how many fights you can use this in as you only have so many Wild Shape charges, but this is still good. Alternatively, you may be able to really change your team dynamic if you want to stay back and put this on an ally who can make better use of it than you can which can potentially make for a more sound team strategy while also preserving your Wild Shape charges.

Shepherd

*These abilities are ranked assuming your DM can adapt this subclass to the 2024 rules which isn’t difficult to do, mostly pertaining to how to calculate HD. As a general rule, summons have HD equal to spell level.

Speech of the Woods (Level 3) – C Tier – This is a functional Speak with Animals that works all the time! While I don’t love Speak with Animals, you can use it a lot more liberally when it’s always active.

Spirit Totem (Level 3) – B- Tier – This ability has a lot of utility and many good options on top of it. None of the totems are super stand out, but all of them have their purpose.

Mighty Summoner (Level 6) – D Tier– This ability is extremely awkward in the new rules for multiple reasons. First off, it seems that the new rules moved away from Hit Dice on monsters focusing on just flat HP making it harder to determine how much extra health a summon should have (the new Monster Manual may shed some light on this, but it’s hard to say). Second, turning a summons attacks magical doesn’t do anything as monsters no longer have non-magical damage resistance making this moot as well. All that said, giving your summons more health can be useful, but if that’s all this does, I’m not that excited by it.

Guardian Spirit (Level 10) – C- Tier – As long as you can keep your summon inside the totem area, then they do get a decent stream of healing, even if it’s just a little bit at a time. Not too bad, but nothing exciting here either.

Faithful Summons (Level 14) – C+ Tier – This ability kind of breaks under the new rules as Conjure Animals no longer summons literal animals, but if you just use it as it summoning four CR 2 or lower beasts, then this works just fine. Anyway, this ability is good, it just sucks that you can’t really control when it happens making this pretty unreliable.

Spores

Halo of Spores (Level 3) – D- Tier – I have been saying that free damage is free damage and Druids really don’t use their reaction most of the time, but this is pitiful damage.

Symbiotic Entity (Level 3) – B+ Tier – You get so many temporary hit points with this ability, it’s pretty incredible. This also makes you a decent martial character for a few levels until you are obviously outpaced by those who get Extra Attack (but you still surprisingly don’t lag behind too terribly). I wish I could rank this ability even higher as it does somewhat deserve it, but you are unlikely to be in the line of fire often so the temporary health is not super helpful on you, but still solid.

Cantrips, 1st Level Spells, and 2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – C- Tier – Chill Touch is mediocre and Gentle Repose sucks, but Blindness/Deafness is a decent CC option that you’ll likely use.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – C Tier – Both Animate Dead and Gaseous Form are a bit niche, but getting them for free is pretty nice as they can shine in the right scenarios, it was just hard to justify taking them normally over more consistent options.

Fungal Infestation (Level 6) – D Tier – This is a super weird ability, but a free minion is a free minion. This definitely does not scale the best as the Zombie stat block never changes, but you don’t have to use it for combat necessarily!

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – D- Tier – Not completely useless spells, but they are definitely not spells I’m looking to use my 4th level slots on.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – D+ Tier – I’m not really a fan of either spell, but it’s not like they’re unusable.

Spreading Spores (Level 10) – D Tier – This ability is pretty bad as the damage and AOE are quite low, but it is functionally free to use so it’s not like it’s completely useless.

Fungal Body (Level 14) – C Tier – This is a lot of status immunities which is neat, but it’s hard to say how often this is going to come up. It really depends on what monsters your DM throws at you. Immunity to critical hits is a super weird line of text, but I’m definitely interested in that as critical hits are not just a threat to your health, but for breaking concentration on your spells.

Stars

Star Map (Level 3) – C+ Tier – Getting both Guidance and Guiding Bolt for free is pretty nice, but being able to get multiple free casts of Guiding Bolt per day is quite nice as it’s like a really good attack cantrip early and still a decent one in later levels. This isn’t a super high impact ability, but consistently good.

Starry Form (Level 3) – B Tier – Three good forms that are great now and remain good over the course of many levels, even if they don’t scale at all until level 10.

Cosmic Omen (Level 6) – B Tier – Even though this takes up your reaction, being able to use your reaction every turn to add an average of 3.5 to a friend’s roll or subtract 3.5 from an enemies roll is quite strong and will likely be better than it may seem. The only drawback is you don’t get many charges of this and, even if you use it, it can still not work to your advantage making this a somewhat inconsistent ability.

Twinkling Constellations (Level 10) – A- Tier – While this doesn’t scale super well as this is the final upgrade to Starry Form, being able to switch between now powered up forms is really good and does a great job of turbo charging the Starry Form ability. Realistically, as most campaigns don’t go to level 20, you won’t even feel the pain of this ability dropping off.

Full of Stars (Level 14) – B Tier – While it’s unlikely that you’re getting hit often in general, having resistance to the most common damage types is still really nice.

Wildfire

Summon Wildfire Spirit (Level 3) – B Tier – While this isn’t the toughest in a fight, being able to teleport allies around the battlefield is really strong and this can be surprisingly annoying with a decent health pool and a natural flying speed.

1st and 2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – B* Tier – Neither 1st level spell you’re excited about, but both are usable in a pinch. For right now, both of your 2nd level spells are just decent damage options, nothing spectacular. However, once you get access to Conjure Minor Elementals, having Scorching Ray makes your potential damage output extremely high, higher than any other Druid subclass by a pretty significant margin. You do need four more levels to get to this point and more levels to capitalize on it, but if your campaign is going to at least level 10, you will get some good value out of this. All that said, I’m trying to weigh abilities how they are now rather than how they will be, so right now it’s in the C+ to B- range, but by level 9, I would put this at A to A+ tier based on how strong the interaction between Conjure Minor Elementals and Scorching Ray is. To that end, I’m going with a rough average of B to not skew the rankings too much.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – C Tier – Even if you could and would normally take Plant Growth and Revivify, having two prepared spell slots freed up is quite nice.

Enhanced Bond (Level 6) – B- Tier – A modest increase to your Fire and Healing spells as you gain an average of 4.5 to your rolls. Decent overall, but this is nice to functionally upgrade your Produce Flame.

4th Level Spells (Level 7) – D+ Tier – Not terrible, but really unexciting options here.

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – D+ Tier – Once again, not good but not unusable spells here.

Cauterizing Flame (Level 10) – C+ Tier – Being able to trade your reaction for a small amount of healing (or damage, but enemies are probably going to avoid that spot) is not a bad deal at all. An average of 11 + WIS isn’t a huge difference, but it can be relevant, especially since there is functionally no opportunity cost to use this.

Blazing Revival (Level 14) – A- Tier – Abilities that stop you from going down are really powerful, and they become even better when you have a choice in the matter, and they become better again when you get a big heal! This is a great ability and worthy of being a Druid capstone.

Fighter Rankings

Unfortunately Echo Knight still reigns supreme, but Eldritch Knight is much closer to Echo Knight’s power level now that they aren’t restricted in what schools of magic they can access, but are still a bit behind the Rune Knight . Beyond that, most of the rankings from 2014 have functionally remained the same.

1. Echo Knight – B Tier
2. Rune Knight – B Tier
3. Eldritch Knight – B Tier
4. Battle Master – C+ Tier
5. Arcane Archer – C Tier
6. Cavalier – C Tier
7. Psi Warrior – C Tier
8. Champion – C- Tier
9. Samurai – D+ Tier

Arcane Archer

Arcane Archer Lore (Level 3) – C- Tier – A skill proficiency and a good cantrip is a decent ability, just not that high impact.

Arcane Shot (Level 3) – B-* Tier – The ability itself is quite good, but the fact that you only ever get two Arcane Shots per short or long rest is so brutal. The guide details potential fixes for this at level 3, but at base, this ability is still pretty good as the arrows are strong, you just don’t get enough of them.

Magic Arrow (Level 7) – F* Tier – This ability doesn’t work anymore since 2024 no longer has non-magical weapon resistance, but if this was home-brewed to make your arrows deal force damage or you can choose an elemental damage type, then this would be pretty good. I’m assuming the average DM would have some sort of solution for this making this a pretty solid ability, but if they are only playing by base and won’t homebrew, then this is obviously F tier as it does nothing.

Curving Shot (Level 7) – B Tier – This somewhat functions like a bonus action attack most of the time as you’re not always going to hit. Extra attacks are great, even if it’s not against the target you initially wanted. This obviously doesn’t do anything if you don’t miss or there’s one enemy, but this will still be strong on average.

New Arcane Shot Option (Level 7) – B- Tier – You already have the best two shots, but you get to pick up Shadow Arrow at this level as well which is also quite good.

New Arcane Shot Option (Level 10, 15, and 18) – D Tier – I’m bundling all these together as they are around the same power level. You get three more Arcane Shot options, and while none of them are bad, none are that good either as you’re likely to stick to the first three that you got instead.

Ever Ready Shot (Level 15) – C Tier – Getting a charge of your main ability each fight is definitely nice whether you’re playing RAW or with homebrew rules.

Battle Master

Combat Superiority (Level 3) – A- Tier – Most maneuvers are quite strong, you start with a d8 for your Superiority dice, and you get enough of them to make this feel constantly impactful.

Student of War (Level 3) – D Tier – A tool and skill proficiency is neat and all, but nothing special.

Know Your Enemy (Level 7) – D+ Tier – I’m a big fan of this ability as being able to discern any vulnerabilities or resistances/immunities can be really helpful information, but being limited to once per day (without using Superiority dice anyway) is confusing both from a balance perspective and a game play perspective. I do believe this is a good ability, but this not having more charges (without using Superiority dice which I’d like to avoid using) really limits the usefulness.

Additional Maneuvers (Level 7) – C+ Tier – More maneuvers and you still have a bunch of good options left!

Improved Combat Superiority (Level 10) – B- Tier – Improving your average roll by 1 is always solid, if you don’t believe me, think of the difference between a regular weapon and a +1 weapon.

Additional Maneuvers (Level 10) – C+ Tier – More maneuvers and you still have a bunch of good options left!

Relentless (Level 15) – A+ Tier – Maneuvers are the strongest part of your kit, now you get infinite of them. This is extremely strong and nearly S Tier.

Additional Maneuvers (Level 15) – C Tier – While you already picked up the best maneuvers, it’s not like you have to pick up bad ones now.

Ultimate Combat Superiority (Level 18) – B- Tier – Improving your average roll by 1, again, is always solid.

Cavalier

Bonus Proficiency (Level 3) – D+ Tier – One skill proficiency out of limited choices or a language is alright, but not really good.

Born to Saddle (Level 3) – D Tier – Even if you are using a mount, none of these abilities are really that impactful, and considering there is a decent chance someone will pick this class and not plan on using a mount, this ability is pretty bad.

Unwavering Mark (Level 3) – C+ Tier – The conditions in which this works are a bit specific, but it is a strong ability to incentivize attacks to come to you and to heavily punish an enemy who doesn’t abide. That said, this ability does literally nothing if they choose to just hit you which is obviously not great, but that can depend on whether or not you are trying to act as the team tank or not.

Warding Maneuver (Level 7) – D+ Tier – If this gave AC/resistance until the affected allies next turn, this ability would be really good. Unfortunately as is, it’s not that good and conflicts with the Protection Fighting Style that this class would probably want. Even if you aren’t using the Protection fighting style, only giving AC/resistance against one attack a few times a day isn’t super exciting, but it can obviously be useful.

Hold the Line (Level 10) – B+ Tier – This is just a really strong ability in general and is much more versatile than Sentinel (which is already a good feat). If you’re using a Polearm or naturally have reach, this ability can get even more powerful as you may be able to lock enemies outside of range of hurting anybody.

Ferocious Charger (Level 15) – C Tier – Repeatable CC is nice, but you’re not always going to be able to use this effectively, at least without risking a lot of opportunity attacks as you need to be able to keep moving.

Vigilant Defender (Level 18) – S Tier – Easily the strongest ability on a Fighter as this just means one million attacks per round of combat. If you know you’re making it this far in the campaign or you’re starting at a high level, I would definitely use a Polearm to maximize the odds of having an enemy in range on every turn.

Champion

Improved Critical (Level 3) – D Tier – While an awesome ability and the main draw to this class, the math doesn’t favor this ability. To make the most of this ability, you incentivized to make as many attacks as possible which favors Dual Wielding, but the doubling the damage on something like a Scimitar is neat, but not super impactful. You could go for something like a Greatsword instead for maximizing the damage potential, but you’re getting a 5% increased chance of getting the average of 2d6 damage which is 7. To put that into perspective, not accounting for advantage or disadvantage (which does affect the math, generally positively), this ability gives you an additional 0.35 damage to your average damage over the course of however many attacks you make. Again, while this ability is super cool, just getting a +1 to your damage, mathematically, would serve you better in the long run. Still, if you have many ways to gain advantage so you’re rolling twice the number of attack dice, you will get critical hits more often, but even still, the math doesn’t favor you. All that said, this ability isn’t bad or anything as it’s still extra damage and hitting a critical is always a dopamine rush, so no complaints there.

Remarkable Athlete (Level 3) – B Tier – If nothing else, advantage on initiative rolls is really good generally speaking, even if Fighters can’t necessarily get the biggest benefit from it. The advantage on Athletics won’t matter often, and the extra movement after a critical hit is a nice little feature that may or may not be relevant.

Additional Fighting Style (Level 7) – C Tier – A free feat is a free feat, even if Fighting Styles are much weaker than your average feat.

Heroic Warrior (Level 10) – B+ Tier – Having Inspiration every turn is definitely quite good, even if you don’t get to always use it. Being able to reroll dice in a dice game is a strong ability!

Superior Critical (Level 15) – D+ Tier – See Improved Critical as everything I said applies here as well. That said, now having a 15% chance of nabbing a critical hit on any given attack roll is relatively solid odds if you are fighting with Two Weapons with a Scimitar (for the Nick property) and Dual Wielder (for the extra attack) as you’ll get 5 attacks a turn (eventually 6) to get you to 55% odds of landing one crit a turn normally or 80% if you have advantage on your rolls. While critical hits are fun, to get these odds, you do need to make a lot of attacks with relatively weak weapons so they aren’t going to be too impactful.

Survivor (Level 18) – C Tier – This is a pretty specific, but pretty neat ability. Gaining 10 health per turn (assuming 20 CON) is definitely not irrelevant if you’re hurt, but you do have to be at half health which is not necessarily a spot you want to be in.

Echo Knight

Manifest Echo (Level 3) – S Tier – Your main feature is very good as getting an unlimited number of clones who can let you functionally be in two places at once and teleport as you please,n all at the cost of just your Bonus Action, is obviously extremely strong.

Unleash Incarnation (Level 3) – C+ Tier – This will be pretty impactful early as it’s just an extra attack a few times, but it won’t be that special for long. Extra damage is extra damage though.

Echo Avatar (Level 7) – B Tier – Utility skills on Fighters tend not to be great, but this is a pretty strong one! The main issue I have with this ability is that it’s clearly for scouting, but the main advantage of scouting is not alerting your target to your presence which your echo may not be able to do successfully. Still, a scouting ability is always nice, especially since you have unlimited uses of this.

Shadow Martyr (Level 10) – D+ Tier – Potentially stopping one attack can be impactful, even against multiattacking enemies, but only being able to use this every short or long rest really limits how useful this is.

Reclaim Potential (Level 15) – C+ Tier – Getting average 12 temporary health when your echo pops for a few times a day isn’t at all bad, but it’s not going to be particularly high impact, at this level. Still, getting on average 48-60 health per day is far from bad.

Legion of One (Level 18) – A Tier – Getting two echos to work with and a fresh Unleash Incarnation charge each combat is obviously great.

Eldritch Knight

War Bond (Level 3) – D Tier – While this ability is really cool, it isn’t that useful. Few enemies will disarm you and very rarely do you need to summon your weapon. Creative players may find something to do with this (selling your weapon then recalling it), but I wouldn’t count on this being a great ability or anything.

Cantrips & 1st Level Spells (Level 3) – A- Tier – Getting spells as a fighter? Incredible! Wizard cantrips and spells are very strong, and even when you’re limited in how many of them you can cast, now that the school restriction has been lifted, Eldritch Knights are going to be extremely strong.

War Magic (Level 7) – B Tier – Weaving a cantrip into your normal attacks will generally just be a flat, but good damage boost with something like Booming Blade. However, you could get fancy and get something like Blade Ward if that serves you better which is some nice versatility.

2nd Level Spells (Level 7) – B+ Tier – Your second level spell options are definitely excellent, you just don’t get that many slots to fully utilize them compared to four 1st level spells per day at this point.

Eldritch Strike (Level 10) – B- Tier – While this ability won’t reach its full strength until you get to your level 18 ability, this does pair pretty nicely with Suggestion if you think that’s a more effective use of your action than attacking.

3rd Level Spells (Level 13) – A Tier – Your third level spells are very strong and you get to cast three per day pretty quickly making this a bigger power jump than 2nd level spells were.

Arcane Charge (Level 15) – B- Tier – I’m never mad at free teleportation. This ability is really strong, it just won’t come up that often due to you only being able to Action Surge so much and you won’t always want to teleport when you Action Surge.

Improved War Magic (Level 18) – B Tier – While not as strong as it may seem, being able to weave in a Suggestion after getting your Eldritch Strike to trigger is a pretty strong combination, especially if you’re ok with potentially burning an enemies charge of Legendary Resistance.

4th Level Spells (Level 19) – B- Tier – Your fourth level options are good, just getting them so late and only one spell slot a day is a little brutal.

Psi Warrior

Psionic Power (Level 3) – B+ Tier – You get functionally three abilities with this, and all of them have their time and place. The damage boost is likely the one you’re going to use the most, but having the option to move allies around (even if it is an action) or reduce damage for yourself or an ally is definitely nice. These are a bit weaker compared to the Battle Master and their maneuvers, especially since you get fewer per day, but these are still very good.

Telekinetic Adept (Level 7) – B Tier – These are two reasonably strong psionic abilities that closely rival the general strength of maneuvers.

Guarded Mind (Level 10) – C- Tier – Resistance to psychic damage likely isn’t coming up often if ever, but being able to end the charmed or frightened condition on yourself (even at the cost of a psionic die) is decent, but pretty niche.

Bulwark of Force (Level 15) – B+ Tier – Giving the squad +2 AC and to Dexterity saving throws for a fight is obviously solid, you just have to be sure to not get knocked out so your squad loses the bonus.

Telekinetic Master (Level 18) – B Tier – Telekinesis is nice and all and even being able to attack once while using it is very solid, but it may not be better than just attacking every turn. This is still pretty solid though, especially as you can spend a psionic die to restore it.

Rune Knight

Bonus Proficiencies (Level 3) – D- Tier – A tool proficiency and language isn’t useless, but not having the choice of either is pretty rough. Thankfully this is a flavor ability so it doesn’t matter if its good or not.

Rune Carver (Level 3) – A Tier – Runes are really strong as their passive abilities can be solid and their activated abilities can be really strong.

Giant’s Might (Level 3) – D+ Tier – For the old grappling rules, this ability was pretty good. Now it’s just a fine ability that gives you a small damage boost as growing larger doesn’t implicitly give you reach. Maybe turning Large can have other good consequences such as blocking off hallways or even using oversized weapons, but in terms of just the average use case, you’re not getting very much mileage out of this.

Runic Shield (Level 7) – C- Tier – A forced reroll just for one attack can be useful if an ally is getting hit by a critical hit or they’ll go down very soon, but potentially stopping one attack of a multiattacking enemy is never too exciting.

Additional Rune (Level 7) – A Tier – You can now access the best runes so it’s no surprise that this ability is really strong. Hill Giant’s Rune, in particular, is very good.

Great Stature (Level 10) – D- Tier – This ability tests my patience as increasing your Giant’s Might average damage by 1 isn’t nothing.

Master of Runes (Level 15) – A+ Tier – Runes are good as their passive and activated abilities are great, but obviously their activated abilities are stronger than their passive abilities. Getting double charges on activated abilities on all of them is excellent.

Runic Juggernaut (Level 18) – D+ Tier – More damage from Giant’s Might is ok even if it’s a small boost and additional reach can be ok, but it likely won’t be that impactful.

Samurai

Combat Superiority (Level 3) – D Tier – A skill or language proficiency is ok, but not at all exciting.

Fighting Spirit (Level 3) – D+ Tier – Despite this being your main ability, gaining just a smidgen of temporary health and advantage on all attacks for one turn is not a big draw, especially with only three charges per day. For your primary ability, that is a ridiculously small amount of uses and it’s not even that impactful as just knocking an enemy over will have an extremely similar effect. This was a stronger effect in 5th edition when Great Weapon Master and Sharpshooter had the -5/+10 clause, but with those gone, getting advantage on attacks is much less important.

Elegant Courtier (Level 7) – C+ Tier – You probably shouldn’t be talking, but a small boost in Persuasion can be nice. However, the bigger prize is proficiency in Wisdom saving throws as that’s just a functional feat, even if it’s not one you could choose.

Tireless Spirit (Level 10) – D+ Tier – Getting one charge of Fighting Spirit is realistically not that impactful, but it is per fight so this is a pretty substantial increase in the amount of times you get to use this.

Rapid Strike (Level 15) – B+ Tier – Getting an extra attack is definitely no joke, but you do need advantage on one of your attacks to get it. Still with all the ways to knock enemies prone in the new rules and obviously your Fighting Spirit, this should work pretty consistently.

Strength Before Death (Level 18) – C- Tier – While this ability is cool, this is much worse than similar abilities as you can still very easily die on that extra turn you get without intervention. This will feel super relevant if you’re in a really close fight, but otherwise, you probably can’t have too much of an impact before just passing out anyway.