Which Class has the Best Unique Spells in D&D 5e?

Documenting and analysing all the unique spells for each class.

Which spells are unique to each class?

I’ve focused this analysis on the class spell lists in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. It doesn’t change a huge amount from the 2014 version, but there are a few changes which I’ve documented in another article.

Here’s all the unique spells for each class:

Bard

• Vicious mockery – Lv1
• Dissonant whispers – Lv1
• Compulsion – Lv4

Cleric

• Sacred flame – Cantrip
• Thaumaturgy – Cantrip
• Word of radiance – Cantrip
• Guiding bolt – Lv1
• Inflict wounds – Lv1
• Sanctuary – Lv1
• Spiritual weapon – Lv2
• Beacon of hope – Lv3
• Spirit guardians – Lv2
• Guardian of faith – Lv4
• Commune – Lv5
• Flame strike – Lv5
• Hallow – Lv5
• Blade barrier – Lv6
• Forbiddance – Lv6
• Harm – Lv6
• Planar ally – Lv6
• Word of recall – Lv6
• Conjure celestial – Lv7
• Divine word – Lv7
• Holy aura – Lv8
• Mass heal – Lv9

Druid

• Druidcraft – Cantrip
• Produce flame – Cantrip
• Shillelagh – Cantrip
• Thorn whip – Cantrip
• Moonbeam – Lv2
• Call lightning – Lv3
• Giant insect – Lv4
• Antilife shell – Lv5
• Reincarnate – Lv5
• Conjure fey – Lv6
• Transport via plants – Lv6
• Wall of thorns – Lv6
• Wind walk – Lv6
• Animal shapes – Lv8
• Tsunami – Lv8
• Storm of vengeance – Lv9

Paladin

• Compelled duel – Lv1
• Divine favour – Lv1
• Divine smite – Lv1
• Searing smite – Lv1
• Thunderous smite – Lv1
• Wrathful smite – Lv1
• Find steed – Lv2
• Shining smite – Lv2
• Blinding smite – Lv3
• Crusader’s mantle – Lv3
• Destructive wave – Lv3
• Staggering smite – Lv4
• Banishing smite – Lv5

Ranger

• Ensnaring strike – Lv1
• Hail of thorns – Lv1
• Hunter’s mark – Lv1
• Lightning arrow – Lv1
• Cordon of arrows – Lv2
• Conjure barrage – Lv3
• Conjure volley – Lv5
• Swift quiver – Lv5

Sorcerer

• Sorcerous burst – Cantrip

Warlock

• Eldritch blast – Cantrip
• Armor of Agathys – Lv1
• Arms of Hadar – Lv1
• Hellish rebuke – Lv1
• Hex – Lv1
• Hunger of Hadar – Lv3

Wizard

• Find familiar – Lv1 (while not on their spell lists, druids and warlocks can gain access to this spell through class features)
• Tenser’s floating disk – Lv1
• Arcane lock – Lv2
• Melf’s acid arrow – Lv2
• Nystul’s magic aura – Lv2
• Rope trick – Lv2
• Phantom steed – Lv3
• Arcane eye – Lv4
• Evard’s black tentacles – Lv4
• Fabricate – Lv4
• Leomund’s secret chest – Lv4
• Mordenkainen’s faithful hound – Lv4
• Mordenkainen’s private sanctum – Lv4
• Otiluke’s resilient sphere – Lv4
• Summon construct – Lv4
• Passwall – Lv5
• Summon dragon – Lv5
• Wall of force – Lv5
• Contingency – Lv6
• Drawmij’s instant summons – Lv6
• Magic jar – Lv6
• Wall of ice – Lv6
• Sequester – Lv7
• Simulacrum – Lv7
• Clone – Lv8
• Maze – Lv8
• Telepathy – Lv8

How does this help with character optimisation?

First off, if you’re determined to have access to a particular spell, then knowing which classes have exclusive access to those spells is important.

This might then affect what options you take in a few ways:

1. It might determine the class you pick (though there are likely other more important considerations here).
2. It might determine which class’ spell list you pull from for the magic initiate origin feat.
3. It might determine which class’ spell list you pull from for the bard’s magical secrets feature.
4. It might help determine any multiclass dips you choose to take.

This final option is especially important because options like magic initiate and magical secrets are now limited to just cleric, druid and wizard spells lists in D&D 2024 (though 2014 characters can still pull from other class spells lists). This means that if you want spells from the paladin or warlock lists, for example, the (nearly) only way to grab those is through a multiclass dip.

It is possible to grab some other class spells through other means like the fey touched feat (which can grab you hex or hunter’s mark), the shadow touched feat, the ritual caster feat (which can get you find familiar) or a species’ innate spellcasting (like hellish rebuke from a Tiefling).

Multiclass dips

If considering a multiclass, it’s worth considering spell lists where you can get a lot of great options at level 1. Fortunately, paladins and rangers now get spellcasting at level 1 making this even easier.

As it happens, paladins and rangers, along with warlocks, are some of your best options for 1 level multiclass dips if you want strong, low level, unique spells.

Paladins get smites which works great on something like an eldritch knight giving you enough spell slots and spells to weave into your attacks.

Rangers get hunter’s mark and ensnaring strike which can work great on most martials. Hunter’s mark is great on non-casting martials as it works well with a low number of spell slots and with a low spellcasting ability score.

Hex from a warlock is similar to Hunter’s mark in function (but I’d argue slightly better). Access to eldritch blast, armor of Agathys, hellish rebuke and other spells is also great here.

I would argue that if all you want is hex or hunter’s mark, then fey touched is a much lower cost way of getting these spells in your repertoire, though it will lead to less castings.

So which class has the best unique spells?

Sorcerers and bards

We can immediately discount sorcerers and bards. They do have some great spells, but most of these already feature on other spell lists (especially the Wizard’s). In fact, sorcerers were so bereft of unique spells in 5e, that D&D 2024 introduced sorcerous burst just to give sorcerers one spell of their own! And sorcerous burst and a bard’s vicious mockery aren’t enough to make their unique spells the best.

Wizards, clerics and druids

Wizards have the most unique spells at 27, followed by clerics at 22 and druids at 16. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean their unique spells are the best. In fact, wizards have many unique spells that are quite uninspiring or niche in their scope.

There are some great wizard spells still in that list though. Arcane eye is a top information gathering spell, summon dragon is a great summon and simulacrum works well at high levels.

Clerics and druids sit in a similar place with a few great options. Word of radiance is a great melee cantrip while spirit guardians is a top tier damage dealer. But there’s not a huge amount to get excited about here. Druids get shillelagh, moon beam, wall of thorns and animal shapes, which are all good, but it remains a mixed bag despite their large number of unique spells.

Paladins and rangers

Paladins and rangers have less unique spells, but the ones they have tend to be top tier. They also kick in at lower levels giving more use to more characters. Smites are an obvious highlight for paladins, but divine favour and crusaders mantle are both great boosts to your damage output (especially as divine favour doesn’t require concentration).

Rangers also get a bunch of damage increasing options with hunter’s mark, ensnaring strike and hail of thorns all being strong options. Conjure barrage and conjure volley also give you decent AoE options.

Warlocks

Finally, we have warlocks. There’s not a lot of unique spells here, but the ones that are there are all at least solid. Hex is top tier, as is eldritch blast, while other options like armor of Agathys and hunger of Hadar are all good options.

Verdict

For me, the winner here is the paladin. With 13 unique spells, there’s a decent number here and no real fluff. It’s primarily about enhancing damage, but it’s all effective stuff and mostly kicks in at lower levels making it accessible for most characters.

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Which class do you think has the best unique spells? Let me know about them in the comments below.

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