Magical Secrets Tier List – The Best Non-Bard Spells for Bards

This list will be analyzing spells mostly in a vacuum. While these options will be weighted against spells that Bards already have access to, some spells may be better or worse depending on your exact build. Be sure to consult your build when analyzing which spells to take.

Unlike the other spell tier lists, this will focus on the levels you can pick your spells and be subdivided into The Best Spells, Great Spells, and Situational Spells. This guide will not cover every possible option, but most of the ones that should be considered. If a spell is left off the tier list, that means it likely shouldn’t be a consideration for the average build.

Any spell not linked to is not part of the 5e OGL and have to be looked up in their sourcebook.

As a final note, the spells will be listed alphabetically in their tier rather than completely ranked in order.

The Best Spells

Counterspell – Likely the immediate first choice you should take, you want as many Counterspells on your team as you can realistically get. This is one of the best Magical Secrets choices even at level 10, so this is even better when taken early.

Revivify – Similar to Counterspell, you will more or less take as many Revivify users on your team as you can get. That said, it isn’t as much of a staple and even just having one Revivify user can be acceptable, but having multiple does insulate your team from deaths substantially better.

Spike Growth – One of the best AOE CC spells in the game, Spike Growth is just a great spell without any added synergy, but if you have allies that can make really good use of it (Grapplers, people who can push, etc), then this easily one of the strongest spells in the game.

Great Spells

Fireball – One of the best damage spells in the game and AOE damage is extremely rare for Bards. If your team needs more DPR, this can be an awesome choice.

Fly – Just a great spell in general, but I would recommend you have a plan when taking this. That said, this does scale pretty well when upcasted which is nice.

Misty Step – Functionally the best teleportation spell in the game, Misty Step can be an invaluable repositioning tool that Bards wouldn’t normally have access to. Like mentioned in the parenthesis, you could simply take the Fey-Touched half feat to get access to this instead and that will almost certainly be a better option that using one of your Magical Secrets on picking this, but if you aren’t planning on taking it, this is completely fine.

Situational Spells

Augury – An excellent Divination spell overall. Some campaigns really thrive on planning out your every move, and if you have to do that, it’s hard to do better than to get info straight from the DM! I feel that this pick would be kind of hard to justify over your other options, but it isn’t unreasonable.

Aura of Vitality – While not necessarily the best in combat healing, being able to heal 20d6 health outside of combat is quite strong and not an effect that Bards would normally have.

Entangle – A really good CC spell if your squad is really lacking them, but picking a 1st level spell at this point doesn’t necessarily feel the best.

Pass Without Trace – An excellent spell for when being sneaky matters a lot. This spell gets better or worse depending on what role stealth plays in your campaign. If your DM utilizes surprise rounds and/or you’re finding that your party needs to sneak around constantly, then this is a really good spell. However, if stealth is only happening every so often, this probably isn’t the best pick.

Phantom Steed – Some party compositions or builds really would excel with a mount, and if nobody else can get one, this is an option.

Spirit Guardians – Spirit Guardians works much better on Clerics as they tend to have much higher AC than Bards, but if you also happen to have a high AC, then this could be a great option.

There will be overlap from “The Best Spells” column from the Level 6 Magical Secrets and even some overlap with “The Great Spells” tier.

The Best Spells

Conjure Minor Elementals – If you’re able to combine this with anything that lets you make multiple attack rolls, this spell can deal absolute boat loads of damage which is sometimes what a party needs.

Counterspell – Likely the immediate first choice you should take, you want as many Counterspells on your team as you can realistically get. This is one of the best Magical Secrets choices even at level 10, so this is even better when taken early.

Revivify – Similar to Counterspell, you will more or less take as many Revivify users on your team as you can get. That said, it isn’t as much of a staple and even just having one Revivify user can be acceptable, but having multiple does insulate your team from deaths substantially better.

Wall of Force – Simply the best fifth level spell in the game. No save and very few ways to escape this makes this unbelievably reliable.

Great Spells

Commune – This is just the best Divination spell in the game. Getting a full three questions, even if they have to be yes or no questions, is really good.

Fly – Just a great spell in general, but I would recommend you have a plan when taking this. That said, this does scale pretty well when upcasted which is nice.

Misty Step – Functionally the best teleportation spell in the game, Misty Step can be an invaluable repositioning tool that Bards wouldn’t normally have access to. Like mentioned in the parenthesis, you could simply take the Fey-Touched half feat to get access to this instead and that will almost certainly be a better option that using one of your Magical Secrets on picking this, but if you aren’t planning on taking it, this is completely fine.

Spike Growth – One of the best AOE CC spells in the game, Spike Growth is just a great spell without any added synergy, but if you have allies that can make really good use of it (Grapplers, Dao Genie Warlocks, etc), then this easily gets propelled into The Best Spells tier.

Wall of Fire – An excellent AOE spell with some solid damage as well. Just a great spell all around!

Situational Spells

Arcane Eye – This is an excellent scouting spell for campaigns where a lot of planning is required and an effect Bards wouldn’t normally get.

Aura of Vitality – While not necessarily the best in combat healing, being able to heal 20d6 health outside of combat is very strong and not an effect that Bards would normally have.

Death Ward – Interesting in campaigns where you may be facing a lot of instant-death effects from creatures like Banshees and Beholders. While that’s probably not your campaign, it is a consideration in normal ones as well if you really need this effect.

Pass Without Trace – An excellent spell for when being sneaky matters a lot. This spell gets better or worse depending on what role stealth plays in your campaign. If your DM utilizes surprise rounds and/or you’re finding that your party needs to sneak around constantly, then this is a really good spell. However, if stealth is only happening every so often, this probably isn’t the best pick.

Transmute Rock – A pretty solid spell, but there are likely better options. I would consider this if you are in a campaign that is constantly dungeon crawling though.

There is also consideration to backtrack if you are missing spells you are interested in, but moving forward, I’m going to highlight the options you didn’t have access to before.

The Best Spells

Contingency* – A really powerful spell that does need you to have some self-targeting spells to really make shine. Even without a host of options, using this for just Polymorph is still quite powerful.

Forbiddance* – This pick is only contingent on you constantly dungeon diving. Rather than rehash what I already wrote on why this spell could be broken, check it out my explanation on the Cleric Spell Tier List.

Great Spells

Crown of Stars – A really solid damage spell overall, something that Bards don’t normally get access to.

Heal – Just a great spell as it’ll bring an ally back from the brink to (presumably) nearly full health.

Simulacrum – While not nearly as good as it used to be, this is still a good spell if you know you’re going to be walking into a particularly troublesome encounter soon.

Situational Spells

Heroes’ Feast – The 1000 gp consumable component is quite rough, but if your party is flush with cash and you are constantly getting into tough fights, this can be a great buff available to you.

Plane Shift – You naturally have access to Teleport which makes this less necessary, but can be good if multiplanar travel is common for you.

Transport via Plants – While you already have access Teleport, this is a whole level lower and a bit more reliable making this a solid pickup.

There is also consideration to backtrack if you are missing spells you are interested in, but you should have enough powerful options here to not worry about going back.

The Best Spells

Wish* – You should take this, doubly so if you picked up Simulacrum as well. The combo of Simulacrum and Wish is easily the most powerful thing you can do in D&D. Furthermore, Wish can replicate any spell effect eighth level or lower, so you can keep that in mind when choosing your other spells.

Great Spells

Animal Shapes* – Depending on how your DM interprets this, this ranges from just ok to absolutely broken. You can read the full explanation in the Druid Spell Tier List.

Mass Heal – The best healing spell in the game!

Situational Spells

Holy Aura – A good spell, but realistically, you likely have better options.

Maze – A really strong CC spell for single targets as it will always work for at least a turn and can trap creatures with negative intelligence modifiers for the length of the spell.

Meteor Swarm – The best damage spell in the game, so if your team needs a bit more damage, this is a solid option. That said, a lot of ninth level options can naturally deal a lot of damage, so you have to be constantly dealing with encounters with a massive amount of enemies to pick this.