Top 20 Paladin Spells DnD 5E Ranked – [UPDATED]

Paladins have access to beneficial divine spells in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition.

Paladins can prepare a limited number of spells per day that they can cast using their available slots, despite the fact that they are only half-casters (meaning they can only cast up to 5th-level spells at best).

Many of their choices revolve around boosting themselves or their friends, while a handful allow them to deliver significantly more damage in combat—both directly and indirectly.

Paladins’ spell slots, on the other hand, are in direct competition with their hallmark feature, Divine Smite, which trades spell slots for strong bursts of radiant damage. As a result, deciding whether to perform a spell or use it to smite feels like a balancing act to get the most out of a Paladin’s limited resources.

Paladins are superb martial characters in general. And I’ve played quite a few of them with various builds.

In this section, I’ve highlighted options that allow Paladins to provide buffs and some magical help.

NOTE: The spell levels listed below correspond to the lowest spell slot level required to cast the spell. I’ll also limit myself to spells from the Paladin’s base spell list (discounting any possible oath spells).

Best Paladin Spells DnD 5E List:

1. Find Steed/Find Greater Steed

Source: Player’s Handbook/Xanathar’s Guide to Everything

The discover steed (2nd-level) and find bigger steed (4th-level) spells, along with the aura spell, are two of the Paladin’s most well-known spells.

Both spells summon a devoted, intelligent mount that will carry out the Paladin’s commands, from transporting them across the country to charging into battle.

The creature you summon might have a variety of appearances, as well as distinct abilities.

The second-level variant summons a mount with the strength of a war horse.

The 4th-level variation, on the other hand, allows your mount to transform into a more powerful form, like as a griffon or a pegasus.

Unless your Paladin dismisses your “steed,” the supernatural mount will remain with you as long as they don’t lose all of their HP, thereby making them a permanent companion on your journeys.

Overall, these horses may be incredibly useful in both combat and non-combat situations.

2. Bless

Source: Player’s Handbook

Your Paladin can give up to three monsters a d4 to add to their attack rolls and saving throws for a 1st-level spell slot.

Only a few other effects provide such direct benefits to those rolls, so bless remains one of the game’s most powerful and resource-efficient buffs.

You can also use a higher-level slot to cast bless, which allows you to target an extra creature each spell level above the first.

Because blessing requires an action to cast, you can get the most of it by casting it right before a conflict.

3. Shield of Faith

Source: Player’s Handbook

This fantastic 1st-level spell gives your chosen target a +2 Armor Class boost for up to an hour.

Shield of faith is a particularly useful boon for frontline combatants, and Paladins, whose Divine Smite necessitates melee assaults, are frequently among them.

Furthermore, shield of faith’s added action casting time lets you to cast it while also wading into the frontline to spend your action attacking in the same turn.

4. Wrathful Smite

Source: Player’s Handbook

Wrathful Smite allows you to use a 1st-level spell slot to empower your next successful melee weapon attack, causing an additional 1d6 psychic damage and compelling the targeted creature to make a fear check.

Whether by accident or design, wrathful smite has a profound, long-lasting effect that can be difficult to erase.

A creature must expend an action (a very good cost to impose on an opponent) to attempt to end the spell’s scared condition.

The creature must make a Wisdom *check*—not only are Wisdom checks, if not identical to Wisdom saves, usually lower. If you stay in sight of the terrified creature, they will perform the check with a disadvantage, allowing you to keep the condition on your target.

5. Aura of Vitality

Source: Player’s Handbook

The 3rd-level spell Aura of Vitality creates a healing aura surrounding your Paladin.

You can spend a bonus action each round for the next minute to heal another creature within 30 feet of your character for 2d6 HP.

Aura of vitality, now available in a single 3rd-level slot, restores a large amount of HP and is especially useful for healing outside of combat. Definitely worth a look.

6. Crusader’s Mantle

Source: Player’s Handbook

A 30-foot radius aura is created around your Paladin with this 3rd-level spell.

Each nonhostile creature in your aura (including yourself) gives 1d4 extra radiant damage each time you hit with a weapon attack for up to a minute, similar to divine favour.

Spreading the offensive bonus to your squad improves this impact, which is especially useful if your party has a few characters who rely on weapon attacks.

7. Revivify

Source: Player’s Handbook

With a touch, you can resurrect a recently deceased creature with this famous 3rd-level spell.

However, there are a few prerequisites:

You must have a 300 gp diamond that will be consumed during the casting.

The targeted creature couldn’t have died more than a minute before you cast this spell on it, and its body couldn’t have been missing any important organs (like its head).

Thematically, a single casting of revivify offers your Paladin some control over death, which is an interesting concept.

8. Divine Favor

Source: Player’s Handbook

Divine Favor is a very dependable 1st-level spell that allows Paladins to add a d4 of radiant damage to their weapon attack damage rolls.

This spell is cast with a bonus action and lasts up to a minute.

Divine Favor is a decent and basic offensive bonus to any Paladin early on. It’s even better when your character has the ability to attack many times every turn!

9. Protection from Evil and Good

Source: Player’s Handbook

Protection against Evil and Good is a powerful 1st-level spell that grants any target a large bonus against the following:

Aberrations
Celestials
Elementals
Fiends
Fey
Undead

A target protected by this spell can’t be possessed, charmed, or scared by creatures of those categories for up to 10 minutes.

Furthermore, those creatures are at a disadvantage when it comes to attacking the target.

Overall, protection from evil and good provides those specific categories of opponents some very powerful advantages.

The main disadvantage of this spell is that it requires holy water or powdered silver to cast.

10. Holy Weapon

Source: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything

Holy weapon is an excellent choice for Paladins as a 5th-level spell.

You can imbue holy energy into your weapon for up to an hour, allowing you to deliver an extra 2d8 radiant damage each time you use it.

During this time, the weapon also emits light.

You have the option of dismissing the spell early, which will cause a burst that does additional radiant damage and blinds enemies within a 30-foot radius.

Because it delivers a considerable boost to your damage each round, you’re more likely to keep this spell up for as long as possible rather than discard it.

11. Death Ward

Source: Player’s Handbook

A Paladin who is unkillable is frequently the most fearsome.

Death ward is a 4th-level spell that grants a single target an 8-hour non-concentration benefit that helps protect it from death.

The spell prevents the subject from falling below 0 hit points and instead reduces them to 1 hit point before finishing.

A creature impacted by the spell cannot be killed by effects such as spells or special abilities that cause immediate death while the death ward is active.

This perk is most useful at higher levels of play, but it’s still a powerful guarantee of your Paladin’s overall survival.

12. Heroism

Source: Player’s Handbook

For 1 minute, this 1st-level concentration spell offers two noticeable buffs.

The target, for one, grows impervious to the terrified state.

Two, the target gains a temporary amount of HP equal to your Paladin’s Charisma modifier, which refreshes at the beginning of each of the target’s turns.

So long as you stay in fight for more than two or three rounds, heroism can supply an amount of temporary HP that is incredibly efficient for the spell slot you expend.

13. Compelled Duel

Source: Player’s Handbook

Compelled Duel is a fantastic 1st-level spell that targets a single creature within 30 feet of you.

For up to a minute after a failed Wisdom saving throw, your target suffers disadvantage when attacking creatures other than you.

It also has a hard time getting away from you.

Your Paladin can only attack the spell’s target, and neither your allies nor your enemies can hurt your target. Otherwise, the compelled duel’s effects fade away.

This spell can be cast with simply a bonus action. As a result, you can focus your action on your target as well.

14. Blinding Smite

Source: Player’s Handbook

Paladins have a lot of amazing 3rd-level spells to choose from.

Blinding Smite is similar to thundering smite in that it deals an additional 3d8 radiant damage on a hit and, if the creature you attacked fails the Constitution saving throw, it becomes blinded for up to a minute.

This spell is a wonderful choice because blindness is a powerful affliction to inflict on an enemy.

15. Banishment

Source: Player’s Handbook

As previously stated, Paladins have few options for incapacitating foes other than delivering damage to them.

Banishment, on the other hand, is a powerful 4th-level spell that can banish a creature from play—possibly permanently if it’s an extraplanar monster.

Though the spell slot cost can be significant (a 4th-level spell slot for a Paladin maxes out their Divine Smite damage), exile, which requires a Charisma saving throw, can be very effective. Due to the fact that many monsters have lower save bonus values.

16. Command

Source: Player’s Handbook

This 1st-level spell lets you to give another creature a single-word command.

If that target fails their Wisdom save, they must do their hardest for a round to follow your orders.

Given that Paladins don’t have many tools for crowd control that may completely negate an enemy’s actions, command provides an early option in this regard.

The explanation of this spell includes some word suggestions, but creative wording with Command can open up even more options.

17. Aid

Source: Player’s Handbook

This 2nd-level spell provides extra hit points to up to three creatures (HP).

Aid boosts the current and maximum HP of targets by 5 at the lowest level you may cast it, and casting the spell with higher level slots increases this extra HP by 5.

It’s a simple buff that lasts up to 8 hours and doesn’t take up any of your concentration.

18. Destructive Wave

Source: Player’s Handbook

The majority of Paladins’ spells lack intrinsic blasting abilities.

They can finally employ destructive wave once they have access to 5th-level spells (the highest level spells a Paladin can cast).

This has an effect on all creatures within 30 feet of you that you choose. Targeted creatures must make a Constitution saving to avoid being knocked prone as well as taking 5d6 thunder damage and 5d6 radiant or necrotic damage.

Paladins take a long time to reach destructive wave. It does, however, assist them overcome their inability to successfully deal with huge groups of adversaries at the same time.

19. Thunderous Smite

Source: Player’s Handbook

The next time you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack after performing thundering smite, you deal an extra 2d6 thunder damage.

The additional effects of this spell make it worth the 1st-level slot (which could otherwise be used for Divine Smite): you can shove the monster you hit 10 feet away from you and knock them prone.

However, keep in mind that when you cast the magic, it makes a very loud noise. As a result, it’s unsuitable for any situation that necessitates nuance.

20. Magic Weapon

Source: Player’s Handbook

Paladins get this 2nd-level spell about the same time they get their Extra Attack ability.

A magical weapon gives a weapon a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls.

Due to the fact that many creatures have resistance to nonmagical weapon damage (meaning they only receive half of the damage), this spell can get beyond those defences.

You’ll want to keep this spell ready until your Paladin has a magical weapon. Just in case you come up against a foe who despises commonplace damage sources.

Conclusion:

I hope that you liked my efforts bringing to you the best Paladin Spells D&D 5E. There are other blogs as well on Dungeons & Dragons that you can also read. I hope you will love the knowledge after reading.