The Ultimate One D&D Cleric Guide – Mastering Clerics

I do a standard S-F tier ranking and here’s how I categorize them:

S Tier – The absolute best of the best. These options can even broach into unfair territory and may be subject to being banned at certain tables. If you’re looking for power level alone, there’s functionally no reason not to use these.

A Tier – While not as broken as the S Tier options, these are as good as you can get without broaching into unfair territory, although some of them may be strong enough to feel unfair!

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 not completely useless, these options are either very weak or very situational so are unlikely to be used, but unlike F tier, these aren’t completely unusable or actively detrimental.

F Tier – Either so weak or so situational that these should functionally never be taken or considered unless in the most niche of circumstances.

Level 1

Starting Proficiencies – A- Tier – Good proficiencies, but you’re probably taking the Protector part of your Divine Order anyway!

Divine Order – A Tier – Being able to grab Heavy Armor proficiency for free is definitely quite nice. The rest of the abilities tend not to really matter, but this is more or less like a free feat!

1st Level Spells – A+ Tier – First level spells are foundational to all casters, and Cleric is no different. You get really powerful utility options here you are going to use for the rest of your campaign.

Level 2

Channel Divinity – A Tier – While a really important feature for Clerics and their subclasses, the base Channel Divinity is not that great. Turn Undead is good, but pretty niche, and Divine Spark is a not so great healing spell. You’ll almost always use your subclass Channel Divinity instead, but these are nice to have in a pinch. That said, the ability itself is really powerful as your subclass will likely make good use of it.

Level 3

2nd Level Spells – B+ Tier – While not as impactful as 1st level spells, Cleric has some solid 2nd level options you’re going to be more than happy to use.

Level 5

Sear Undead – C- Tier – This is niche, but will make you an absolute menace against any undead.

3rd Level Spells – A+ Tier – 3rd level spells, like a martial characters Extra Attack, is a huge power spike for every full caster as you have a lot of extremely powerful spells to pick from now.

Level 6

Third Channel Divinity Charge – A Tier – Subclass Channel Divinity features tend to be really strong, so having 50% more of them per day is almost always great.

Level 7

Blessed Strikes – C Tier – You get a choice between two alright abilities, nothing special here.

4th Level Spells – B Tier – While you do get some solid 4th level options, these aren’t incredible like your 3rd level options were.

Level 9

5th Level Spells – B+ Tier – Better than your fourth level options, but not by a substantial margin.

Level 10

Divine Intervention – A+ Tier – This used to be much more of a gamble when you used this, but the sure thing is much better! Getting any 5th level spell (or lower) once per day is excellent, especially when you can use spells that usually take more than one action to cast. For example, using a Prayer of Healing mid combat to refresh short rest abilities can be really powerful!

Level 11

6th Level Spells – B Tier – Cleric doesn’t get much from 6th level spells beyond Heal, but no complaints about getting Heal!

Level 13

7th Level Spells – A+ Tier – You get a lot of power here and every 7th level spell you take is going to be really impactful.

Level 14

Improved Blessed Strike – B Tier – Your Blessed Strikes are better and these are some solid upgrades, even for this level.

Level 15

8th Level Spells – B Tier – Like 6th level spells, you do get a good option in Holy Aura, but that’s all you’re really interested in.

Level 17

9th Level Spells – S Tier – 9th level spells are absolutely broken and the game is very much going to revolve around when you get to use them.

Level 18

Fourth Channel Divinity Charge – A Tier – Like the third charge, an additional charge of your Channel Divinity will likely be strong, even this late in the game.

Level 20

Words of Creation – C Tier – This ability is super cool, but your other 9th level options are likely going to be better most of the time. Still, this definitely can come in handy.

The Complete Cleric Spell List

Cleric Spell Tier List – The Best Cleric Spells

Aasimar – A Tier – A generically strong species that gives you a lot of things for any class. Two damage Resistances (Necrotic and Radiant), Darkvision is great to have, some free healing, the Light cantrip for free, and a cool form to transform into with 3 reasonable options. Just a great all around choice and my general pick for Cleric.

Dragonborn – B Tier – A decent species in general as you get a damage resistance, Darkvision, Flight at level 5, and a breath weapon that can be useful in a pinch. Dragonborns are good, but are generally just outshined by Aasimar who offer a similar, but stronger package.

Dwarf – C- Tier – Long range Darkvision, Tremorsense for scouting, and extra health is nice. Resistance to poison damage and advantage to save against the poisoned condition is alright, but pretty rare so it’s not going to come up that often and the poisoned condition is not that relevant to spellcasters.

Elf – A- Tier – Darkvision is great, an extra skill proficiency is nice, and advantage on saving throws against being Charmed can be useful in some situations. The real treat, however, is being able to pick your lineage for free, prepared spells. Wood Elf in particular to get Longstrider and Pass Without Trace on top of extra movement speed is particularly appealing (assuming you aren’t going Trickery Cleric), but High Elf for Misty Step is definitely great as well.

Gnome – C+ Tier – Darkvision is obviously good, but more importantly, advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws is excellent. This is a decent choice if you want to be relatively resistant to enemy spells/effects, but that’s literally all that Gnome offers you. Definitely solid, but the lack of abilities does hurt.

Goliath – C+ Tier – Extra movement speed and a free ability is nice, but the only one you’d be super interested in is Cloud’s Jaunt for a functional Misty Step, and you could’ve just chosen Elf with High Elf ancestry if you wanted that (you do get more teleports for free, but you’re trading off all the other abilities Elf gets for it).

Halfling – D Tier – Brave is ok and Luck is a fun feature, but Clerics don’t really get much out of being a Halfling.

Human – A- Tier – A free Heroic Inspiration every day, a free skill, and a free Origin feat is great for any class. A generically good choice.

Orc – C Tier – Long range Darkvision, bonus action Dash, and not going down the first time you hit 0 health are all fine abilities, but none of them are super exciting for Clerics in particular.

Tiefling – D Tier – Damage resistances and Darkvision are always great, but the spells package is just worse than what Elves could give you.

Acolyte – C Tier – Buffing Wisdom is great and you get solid proficiencies, but getting Magic Initiate (Cleric) is a bit overkill when you’re already a Cleric!

Artisan – F Tier – Beyond good skill proficiencies, you don’t get anything that you would realistically want or need.

Charlatan – D+ Tier – You get an ok feat and you can buff Constitution, but that’s the extent of what you’d be happy with if you chose this background.

Criminal – C- Tier – Same deal as the Charlatan, but your feat is much stronger making this a more appealing option.

Entertainer – D Tier – You get arguably the best Origin feat, but that’s the only thing you’d be happy about as the ability scores and proficiencies are a bid miss.

Farmer – A Tier – Your proficiencies aren’t great, but it’s the perfect ability scores and a great feat. If you’re planning on being a Cleric that fights on the front line and cares about Strength, this instead would be an A+ Tier selection.

Guard – B+ Tier – While not being able to buff Constitution hurts a bit, you get an excellent feat, proficiency in Perception, and you can still buff Wisdom. If you’re planning on going melee Cleric, this could be an alternative option for you and would be more around the A- Tier range.

Guide – A Tier – Perfect ability scores, decent proficiencies, and an excellent feat makes this a great choice. Getting access to Absorb Elements (if you’re playing with Xanathar’s Book of Many Things), Entangle, or Goodberry is a huge draw to this background if you feel that your team needs that.

Hermit – B Tier – Perfect ability scores and solid proficiencies, but the feat is pretty redundant considering you are the Cleric. Still, it’s not bad as in earlier levels you may not always have enough spell slots for heals.

Merchant – C- Tier – You get to buff Constitution, Persuasion proficiency, and a decent feat, but this still isn’t that exciting of an option.

Noble – D Tier – Ok feat and good proficiencies, but none of the ability scores you would want to buff.

Sage – B- Tier – While you only get Wisdom as a good ability score, Magic Initiate (Wizard) can give you access to better attack cantrips and one of the many excellent first level spells like Absorb Elements (if you’re playing with Xanathar’s Book of Many Things), Find Familiar, Shield, or Silvery Barbs (If you’re playing with Strixhaven).

Sailor – C- Tier – Buffing Wisdom is good and you get proficiency in Persuasion, but the rest of the package is not great.

Scribe – C+ Tier – You get to buff Wisdom, decent feat, and good proficiencies. Solid choice all around.

Soldier – D- Tier – Nothing about this package is what a typical Cleric wants.

Wayfarer – C Tier – You get to buff Wisdom, you get a decent feat, and decent proficiencies. The most middling background option for Clerics as everything is fine.

Rather than listing off every potential skill, I’m only going to cover the ones you could potentially get proficiency in at level one.

History – C+ Tier – Like everyone else, Intelligence is probably going to be a dump stat, but getting proficiency in this makes your History checks not completely embarrassing and it is a check you may have to do reasonably often.

Insight – A+ Tier – I would never leave home without this.

Medicine – B+ Tier – You’re going to be expected to have a really good Medicine check, and while this may not always come in handy, it is at least thematic and can let you stabilize party members when you can’t heal them.

Persuasion – B Tier – Even though you aren’t going to be the “face” of the party, having good Persuasion can be useful when you want to engage in RP.

Religion – C+ Tier – Unless you’re picking Thamauturge for your Divine Order (which I would very rarely recommend), Religion is ironically not a great skill check for you naturally. While it would make sense to have proficiency in this, Religion is not a common check unless your adventure/world has a lot of relevant religions, so this is far from a necessity.

While not every feat can be mentioned as that would be an oppressively long list, the ones I would at all consider would be here (all the Origin feats included as any of the backgrounds could be potential choices). Feats left off the list are not ones I would normally not consider for any Barbarian build, but a full reference on the all the feats in the Player’s Handbook and their associated rankings, check the link below.

The D&D Feats, Fighting Styles, and Epic Boons Tier List

Origin Feats

While your Origin feat is tied to your background, it’s good to know how good each feat is to help consider which background you may want or if you decided to pick Human as your species. Past level one, I would functionally never consider taking an origin feat (though it is allowed).

Alert – A Tier – An excellent feat for any spellcaster as going first can be a large boon. That said, it’s not as important for Clerics to go first compared to other casters who have more battlefield control options, but you’ll definitely be happy doing so.

Crafter – F Tier – The feat is just bad unless there’s something big about it I’m missing.

Healer – C- Tier – It’s an alright feat, but kind of unnecessary on Clerics who are going to be the parties healer.

Lucky – C Tier – A decent feat in general, fine for any class or build.

Magic Initiate (Cleric) – D Tier – Normally an excellent feat, I would definitely argue that Clerics don’t have nearly enough good cantrips or 1st level spells to consider taking this as you can very easily prepare every spell you’re interested in.

Magic Initiate (Druid) – B Tier – While you don’t get any super exciting cantrips (good utility cantrips or Magic Stone if your party is about that), but getting a 1st level spell you wouldn’t normally get like Absorb Elements (if you’re playing with Xanathar’s Book of Many Things), Entangle, or Goodberry

Magic Initiate (Wizard) – B+ Tier – Getting access to better attack cantrips and an excellent 1st level spell like Absorb Elements (if you’re playing with Xanathar’s Book of Many Things), Find Familiar, Shield, or Silvery Barbs (If you’re playing with Strixhaven) is great..

Musician – A Tier – A generically excellent feat for any class.

Savage Attacker – D- Tier – I would only pick this if you’re looking to be a melee Cleric, and even then, this is pretty bad.

Skilled – C+ Tier – A reasonable feat for nearly any class (save Bard or Rogue who doesn’t really need it).

Tavern Brawler – F Tier – I can’t imagine any scenario you would want this from an optimization perspective.

Tough – B+ Tier – Extra health is always great, especially since you’re a caster that may be getting into melee range semi-often (especially when you have Spirit Guardians).

General Feats

Fey-Touched – A Tier – A generally strong feat for casters as you get Misty Step and a Divination or Enchantment spell for free (generally Silvery Barbs if your table allows it).

Heavy Armor Master – B+ Tier – As I would always recommend for Clerics to wear heavy armor, being able to shrug off some amount of damage when you get hit is really nice and can definitely add up over time.

Inspiring Leader – A+ Tier – An extremely good feat that gives allies a lot of temporary health with each rest. Between this and Aid, your party can be extremely durable throughout the adventuring day. That said, only one party member realistically needs this feat so whether you take this or not will be very party dependent.

Resilient – A Tier – An awesome feat even if it isn’t flashy, especially for Constitution for better concentration checks and saving throws.

Ritual Caster – B- Tier – If you’re the only spellcaster in your party, I can see grabbing this to have a greater suite of spell options to work with.

Speedy – C Tier – Not your best feat if you want to boost Constitution, but extra movement speed is always a good thing.

Telekinetic – B Tier – Not every Cleric will always have something to do with their bonus action, so shoving enemies or allies around is definitely not bad.

War Caster – A Tier – An excellent feat that’s a necessity for any Cleric that runs the risk of having both hands full when they need to cast spells. Even if that isn’t a common concern for you, getting advantage on concentration checks and the ability to use a cantrip in place of an opportunity attack is still a good choice. Choosing this feat would generally be contingent on how often you see needing to cast spells (without material components as you’ll need a hand free for that anyway to grab the components or your focus), as if that isn’t an issue, I would likely pick something else.

Unsure how to build your specific Cleric? This section can help you! While each subclass guide has my specific way of building it (with plenty of overlap between builds), there’s a few directions you could take Clerics.

(For all builds, this is assuming you have 17 starting Wisdom between your initial ability score distribution and your background)

Support Caster – A Tier – The classic play style of the Cleric. This build is going to mainly focus on providing support to your allies through healing, buffs like Bless, and whatever battlefield control you can get access to (like Spirit Guardians which doubles as battlefield control and damage). This is the main way Cleric is played, and for good reason, it works! For this style of Cleric, I would normally pick either Inspiring Leader or War Caster at level 4, Resilient (CON) at level 8, boosting your Wisdom to 12 at level 12, and grabbing whatever feat you want at level 16 (I normally choose Heavy Armor Master, but it’s completely up to you).

Blaster Caster – B Tier – While it wouldn’t be obvious that Clerics are good at dealing damage, they actually can be! You do generally have to pick specific subclasses to make it work (like Light Cleric for example), but if you do, it definitely works well. I would still argue that Sorcerers or Wizards are generally better at dealing damage, but with Blaster Clerics, you can have a few offensive spells while still mostly focusing on support which is the best way this plan could be played. For feat progression, I would follow the same route as Support Casters.

Melee Cleric – B Tier – With your Divine Order giving you martial weapon proficiency, it can definitely be tempting to get into the fray with your heavy armor, shield, and weapon to start cracking skulls. This can be fine in the earlier levels, but even the subclass that has an emphasis on melee combat (War Domain) just doesn’t do this that well once you hit level 5+. Clerics are unfortunately not really meant to get onto the front lines despite how tanky they can be. All that said, this isn’t bad to do per say as more options are more options, but having to commit to Strength just to have slightly better damage early on is not an exciting prospect. For feat progression, I would follow the same route as Support Casters, but take War Caster at level 4 for sure rather than deciding between that and Inspiring Leader.

Not every potential multiclass option is going to be mentioned as most don’t synergize well with Clerics, so this list will be just the ones I would at all consider. Clerics in particular are awkward as they’re going to be a popular option to multiclass into because of their armor proficiencies and spell options, but not a common class to multiclass out of. To that end, I’m going to focus on keeping Cleric as the base class for the purposes of this list. For a more thorough breakdown on multiclassing, check out the link below.

The Ultimate Guide To Multiclassing in One D&D

Druid – B- Tier – This isn’t a multiclass I would often choose as you already have the armor proficiencies you want, but dipping a level into Druid can give you a lot of nice spells you wouldn’t have access to normally like Absorb Elements (if you’re playing with Xanathar’s Guide to Everything), Entangle, and Goodberry. If these spells are important to you, you can definitely do worse than this multiclass as you already have high Wisdom and this doesn’t hurt your spell level progression.

Wizard – B Tier – Needing 13 Intelligence is a bit painful as Cleric normally has no use for it (beyond Religion which ironically isn’t a naturally good skill proficiency for Cleric), but you do get some nice rewards even just for a one level dip. Wizard gets to start with six 1st level spells in their spellbook, and for any rituals, they don’t even need to be prepared which gives you so much flexibility in what you can pick. If you’re playing with access to both Absorb Elements and Silvery Barbs, these are two excellent choices right off the bat. If you aren’t, you still have Comprehend Languages, Feather Fall, Find Familiar, Expeditious Retreat, Shield, Unseen Servant, and more excellent options! This is a lot of versatility for a one level dip, and better yet, you can continue to put spells in your spellbook by learning them from other sources over the course of your campaign. All that said, this isn’t a multiclass I would generally go for even with the advantages it brings, but it’s definitely not a bad option.

Arcana Cleric Build Guide: Utilizing a small dip into the scholarly aspects of magic, Arcana Clerics have all the power of normal Clerics with some assistance from the Wizard spell list!

Forge Cleric Build Guide: A multifaceted cleric with frontline capabilities, an excellent tank, and fire spells to dish out the pain.

Grave Cleric Build Guide: With powerful healing and damage options, this Cleric is a master of death whether they’re preventing it or causing it!

Knowledge Cleric Build Guide: A unique subclass with a focus on information gathering, the Knowledge Domain is a unique spin on the classic support archetype that Clerics tend to fill.

Life Cleric Build Guide: While Clerics are much more than healers, Life Domain is all about maximizing the power of their healing.

Light Cleric Build Guide: Don’t let the name fool you, the Light Domain is the blasting subclass of Clerics specializing in Fire and Radiant spells to incinerate your opponents.

Nature Cleric Build Guide: A blend between Cleric and Druid, Nature Domain is for those who want the connection to nature without the limitations of Druid.

Order Cleric Build Guide: A powerful utility and frontline subclass, these pseudo Paladins are strong in and out of combat while ironically combining well with the cunning Rogue.

Peace Cleric Build Guide: The ultimate support caster, what Peace Domain lacks in offensive option they more than make up for in buffs and protecting their allies.

Tempest Cleric Build Guide: The masters of thunder and lightning, live out your dreams of playing as Thor when picking this class.

Trickery Cleric Build Guide: An interesting blend of Cleric magic and a Rogues cunning, Trickery Domain is for players who like playing a bit more sleuthy.

Twilight Cleric Build Guide: The masters of darkness, Twilight Domain draws their immense power from the night sky.

War Cleric Build Guide: The most aggressive of Clerics, you’ll find them on the front line dishing out damage while still having the spell list of a full caster.

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. Forge – B- Tier
6. Tempest – B- Tier
7. Knowledge – C+ Tier
8. Order – C+ Tier
9. Nature – C+ Tier
10. Life – C+ Tier
11. War – C+ Tier
12. Grave – C Tier

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.

Channel Divinity: Artisan’s Blessing (Level 3) – C- 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 Level Spells (Level 3) – D+ Tier – Not useless, but extremely mediocre options. Identify can be helpful, but Searing Smite is pretty worthless.

2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – C Tier – Heat Metal is decent, but nothing incredible.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – D+ Tier – Not too exciting, but you may get some value out of these.

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 it’s better than the Cleric’s best natural option of Banishment.

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.

Saint of Forge and Fire (Level 17) – B Tier – Immunity to Fire damage and resistance to all bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing makes you much tankier. That said, you probably shouldn’t be in the line of fire much anyway so it’s hard to say how relevant this is going to be.

Grave

Circle of Mortality (Level 3) – B- Tier – This will be more impactful in earlier levels compared to later levels, but this will be decent for a little while!

Eyes of the Grave (Level 3) – F Tier – Easily one of the worst abilities in the game. Literally just looking around will accomplish the same thing.

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.

1st Level Spells (Level 3) – D Tier – Both spells are just pretty bad, not worthless, but bad.

2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – D+ Tier – Ray of Enfeeblement is alright, but not particularly good either.

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.

Sentinel at Death’s Door (Level 6) – C- Tier – You are not going to use this ability often, but it is nice when you get the opportunity to do so!

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.

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, but too bad it comes late in an extremely weak subclass.

Knowledge

Blessings of Knowledge (Level 3) – B+ Tier – Two languages and two Expertise is a really 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.

1st Level Spells (Level 3) – C- Tier – Alright options, but nothing that enticing.

2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – A- Tier – These are two solid options that you’re very happy to get!

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – D Tier – Both spells 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 – I’m not sure why Wizards was so incensed to make every feature in this class weirdly specific, but this is at least one of the most unique subclasses in the game.

Life

Disciple of Life (Level 3) – C- 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) – C- Tier – This can be decent as you get into later levels and the health points start really piling up, but this is really only useful to full heal a party member that has a small health pool. This isn’t bad, but it is kind of specific and you really don’t have enough healing to meaningfully help more than 1-2 party members.

1st Level Spells (Level 3) – C Tier – Both spells are solid, but are options you had access to anyway.

2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – C+ Tier – Same deal as the first level spells, but your options here are slightly better.

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.

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.

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, functionally why you would choose to use a cantrip in combat.

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

1st 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!

2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – C+ Tier – 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 good 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) – C- 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.

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 Level Spells (Level 3) – D Tier – Both spells are just pretty bad. Speak with Animals can have some value, but only in pretty niche situations.

2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – A Tier – Barkskin can be alright to help protect a squishier ally, but that’s going to be hard to justify over 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, just a little niche. 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 instead. Unfortunately, this only works for one instance of elemental damage, but a lot of the time, that is all you will need.

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.

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) – C- 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 Level Spells (Level 3) – D+ Tier – Not spells you’re excited about, and you could just pick up Command if you wanted it.

2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – D+ Tier – Situational spells and not particularly good ones. Hold Person can be more helpful if you find yourself fighting humanoid enemies often enough.

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 action economy, but it’s not that exciting either.

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

5th Level Spells (Level 9) – C- Tier – Getting Commune for free is nice, but you would’ve picked that up anyway so this just frees up a prepared spell.

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) (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 is just much more powerful than it looks in general.

Channel Divinity: Balm of Peace – A+ 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 Level Spells (Level 3) – D- Tier – While it may seem like Peace can do no wrong in terms of quality, these spells are pretty bad and I would be surprised if I ever used either.

2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – C Tier – You do get some solid options here, but both spells you could just grab if you wanted and the opportunity cost for taking them was pretty low already.

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 Level Spells (Level 3) – C- Tier – Thunderwave is ok and works with your Channel Divinity and Fog Cloud is really niche, but may have some use.

2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – D Tier – Shatter is not good, 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 alright 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, on the other hand, 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.

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.

1st Level Spells (Level 3) – D Tier – Not spells I’m excited to cast, but do have a bit of usefulness sometimes.

2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – A+ Tier – What a quality jump between your 1st and 2nd level spells! Picking up two options that are both extremely powerful and spells Cleric doesn’t normally get is really strong.

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) – B 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) – B 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 the single 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 hp or you can even stop them from being charmed or frightened.

1st Level Spells (Level 3) – B Tier – These are two solid spells that you wouldn’t normally get access to!

2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – C- Tier – Pretty middling, but unique options for Cleric.

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 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.

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 still far from bad.

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

1st Level Spells (Level 3) – C Tier – Two solid spells, but both are options you can just pick up normally.

2nd Level Spells (Level 3) – C- Tier – Magic Weapon is not a particularly exciting spell, but Spiritual Weapon is solid, but again, you could’ve just grabbed this yourself no problem.

3rd Level Spells (Level 5) – C+ Tier – Once again, you get two solid spells, but at least Crusader’s Mantle is not a spell you could normally get for Clerics.

War God’s Blessing (Level 6) – D Tier – Using a Channel Divinity just for +2 AC or a base Spiritual Weapon may be acceptable early, 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 very mediocre spells, even if Fire Shield isn’t part of the 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.

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. Still a strong ability.