Emissaries of the gods and wielders of their divine powers.
Devoted to a deity, clerics are more than just simple priests and adherents, they are some of the rare few chosen by their god to wield their powers.
While healing and buffing are the main roles of a cleric, they are also battle-ready. Capable with weapons and armor, clerics also wield the furious magic of their gods allowing them to deal considerable damage; comparable to a wizard in power.
Beyond simple spellcasting, clerics also harness spiritual powers from their god through their channel divinity feature. They also happen to be the most resilient of the full spellcasters barring the extra hit points druids gain through their wild shape ability.
Clerics have been altered a bit in the 2024 rules and my guide below will take you through those changes, tactics you can use and how you can build your cleric into the ultimate spiritual warrior.
At a glance
Strengths
- Best healing class in the game
- Can also remove conditions, buff and debuff
- Strong amount of damage dealing spells
- Can hold their own in melee combat if needed
- Quite resilient for a full spellcasting class
Weaknesses
- While capable enough in melee, they tend not to deal as much damage with basic weapon attacks
- Smaller range of spells than most spellcasters
- Healing needs of the party can limit your ability to deal as much damage
What’s changing for clerics in D&D 2024?
Clerics get improved and more flexible with D&D 2024. You now have more options to choose from and more ways to alter your build to suit the style you want to play. On top of this, some features that didn’t work as well as they should in the 2014 rules have now been improved. Options like channel divinity and divine intervention should work much better now.
These changes include:
- Divine order – The ability to use heavy armor and martial weapons is no longer tied to different subclasses. Instead you can choose a divine order to enhance either your combat or spellcasting through the core cleric class.
- Channel divinity – You get an extra use when you reach level 2. You also get another way to use it called divine spark, letting you harm or heal. Turn undead will also frighten and incapacitate undead.
- Sear undead – Replaces destroy undead to deal damage that will be useful against undead of any level rather than only affecting low level undead.
- Spellcasting – You can now change a known cantrip whenever you gain a level.
- Blessed strikes – Can now focus further into combat or spellcasting with enhanced damage to either weapon attacks or cantrips. These options were previously tied to subclasses but are now part of the main class.
- Divine intervention – Now let’s you use an action to cast any cleric spell without material components (other than those that require a reaction to cast).
- Improved blessed strike – Your blessed strike option is enhanced further with either more damage for weapon attacks or granting temporary hit points when casting damage dealing cantrips.
- Greater divine intervention – You can now use divine intervention to cast the wish spell.
Tactics
First and foremost, clerics are spellcasters and healers. But with a decent amount of resilience, they can also throw themselves right into the fray, unlike frailer spellcasters like wizards and sorcerers.
I’d suggest some of the tactics below for a cleric:
- Heal specialist – Your most important role is to keep your allies in the game. This means healing and removing problematic conditions. The likes of healing word are excellent for recovering allies that have dropped to 0HP without using up your action. You’ll also want to grab spells like raise dead and lesser restoration for when bad things do happen to your allies. You’ve also got divine spark through your channel divinity to help you heal even more. You can get more advice in my guide to the best cleric spells.
- Damage dealers – But clerics aren’t all about healing. They have a strong range of damage dealing options at their disposal too. In fact, you can choose to enhance your cantrips or weapon attacks for more damage.
- Tough spellcasters – With options for heavy armor and shields, clerics are more durable than most spellcasters. This makes them a great option for close range spells. Options like spirit guardians (which emanates damage in an area around you) or word of radiance can work well on a cleric. You could also use shield of faith if you want to last a bit longer. You’re no tank though so be careful you don’t get caught out with too many enemies.
- Buff your allies – Clerics are great at buffing their allies. Spells like bless, aid, protection from evil and good and heroes’ feast are great for enhancing and protecting your allies.
- Great against undead – Their channel divinity options make clerics great against undead making it easy to nullify them, especially low level undead.
- Divine intervention can be very handy! – Divine intervention is a reliable feature now. Some of the best uses involve using cleric spells you don’t already have prepared, that take longer than an action, that have expensive material components or that allow you to use a levelled spell with a bonus action as well. Hallow is a great example of this, letting you instantly create a hallowed area that would normally take 24hrs. Geas, prayer of healing and magic circle also have powerful effects when able to be cast with an action instead. Prayer of healing is particularly useful as it allows affected creatures to gain the benefits of a short rest meaning instant recovery of some abilities.
Optimising a cleric
You’ll primarily want to build your cleric around their spellcasting ability. But there are options for building around the armor and weapons you use too, especially if you’re going for a more combat-focused build.
Below I’ve gone into some advice on how to build your cleric.
Ability scores
Recommended options
- Wisdom: A cleric’s most important ability score. It’s used for spellcasting and other features. It also happens to be pretty good for some important skills and one of the most common saving throw abilities too.
- Constitution: If you intend to throw your cleric headlong into battle, you’ll likely want to up your constitution. Even if you don’t want to do this, you probably still want at least a decent constitution.
- Dexterity: If you don’t have heavy armor training, then you’ll want to get your dexterity to at least 14. I’d argue that spells and cantrips are usually going to be superior to weapon attacks so this is more for AC than attacks. And if you do want to go the weapon route, you probably have heavy armor training, making dexterity redundant.
- Strength: If you take the protector option, then you’ll need some strength to handle your heavy armor (15 for the best heavy armor). If you do want to be making weapon attacks, this can help you out here too.
Options to avoid
- Intelligence: You don’t need intelligence.
- Charisma: It’s possible to build a slightly charismatic cleric, but you don’t really have the skill options for this and your ability scores are already divided 3 ways so I’d usually leave this to other classes.
| Ability score | Point Buy | Standard Array |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 15/8 | 14/8 |
| Dexterity | 8/14 | 8/13 |
| Constitution | 15/15 | 13/14 |
| Intelligence | 8/8 | 10/10 |
| Wisdom | 15/15 | 15/15 |
| Charisma | 8/10 | 12/12 |
Skills
Recommended options
- History: Solid knowledge skill
- Insight: Important face skill.
- Persuasion: You probably won’t be the party face, but many people in the party often join in with the talking.
- Religion: Decent knowledge skill. You can enhance this further by taking the thaumaturge option.
Options to avoid
- Medicine: Just use healing word.
Species/race
I’d consider the following when picking a species for a cleric:
- Toughen up: With just d8 hit dice, no matter your AC, you’re still a little light on hit points. This is especially the case if you plan on wading into the frontlines. Extra HP, resistances and other durability traits will help out here.
- Damage dealing: Clerics are very much about dealing lots of damage. More ways to do this is always going to be helpful.
- Innate spellcasting: Clerics are great spellcasters, but lack some of the versatility of a wizard with their range of spells. Some species can help here with innate spellcasting as an option.
Recommended options
- Aasimar (2024): Two resistances for extra durability. You get some extra healing to reduce the drain on your spell slots. Celestial revelation will also give you options for flight or some close combat effects letting you mix up your approach as frontline clerics might need to.
- Dragonborn (2024): A damage resistance for durability and the breath weapon gives you a close range AoE option. Temporary flight will let you mix up your approach for when you need to hang back after a bit of a battering or you can use it to reach high places.
- Dwarves (2024): More HP and some damage resistance works great on a frontline cleric.
- Elves (2024): Lots of extra spells to cast. High Elf will get you a cantrip like true strike which can combine with the extra damage from divine strike if you choose that option. You’ll also get misty step for when you need to make a quick escape. Wood Elves are too stealthy for the cumbersome cleric (unless you’re going down the trickery domain route), but a Drow has darkness and faerie fire which are both good options.
- Goliath (2024): There’s a giant ancestry for any cleric build here, whether you want the misty step-like cloud’s jaunt, extra damage from fire’s burn or to knock enemies prone with hill’s tumble. It’s worth noting that these will work with spells that make an attack roll too. Large form isn’t the best for a cleric, but an extra 10ft of movement is always handy.
- Human (2024): An extra skill is nice. With your great wisdom, you might want to consider perception. More heroic inspiration is useful for any class and an extra origin feat could help fill gaps in your repertoire. For example, you could grab magic initiate if you really want to have true strike for weapon attacks. You could also consider something like tough to up your HP. There’s also lucky and musician for rerolling dice.
- Tiefling (2024): Some innate spellcasting and a damage resistance is nice. You’ve got some of the most common damage types to choose from for your resistances here. Infernal legacy is probably your best option, especially if you want to be launching off hellish rebuke with spare spell slots.
Backgrounds
Your background will give you an origin feat, ability score increases and skill and tool proficiencies.
You’ll definitely want to grab a wisdom increase. Beyond that, constitution and one of dexterity or strength are probably your next best options depending on your build. I’ve included some advice on the best origin feats for a cleric in the next section.
Below are what I think are your best backgrounds for a cleric:
| Name | Ability scores | Origin feat | Skill proficiencies | Tool proficiency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Farmer | Strength, constitution, wisdom | Tough | Animal handling, nature | Carpenter’s tools |
| Guard | Strength, intelligence, wisdom | Alert | Athletics, perception | One kind of gaming set |
| Guide | Dexterity, constitution, wisdom | Magic initiate (druid) | Stealth, survival | Cartographer’s tools |
| Hermit | Constitution, wisdom, charisma | Healer | Medicine, religion | Herbalism kit |
| Sage | Constitution, intelligence, wisdom | Magic initiate (wizard) | Arcana, history | Calligrapher’s tools |
| Wayfarer | Dexterity, wisdom, charisma | Lucky | Insight, stealth | Thieves’ tools |
Normally it’s wisdom and constitution you’re going to want to increase. With that in mind, I think your best options are sage and farmer. Sage will get you some wizard spells (true strike is really good if you want to be using your weapons) while farmer will get you tough if you’d like to beef up your cleric a bit.
Choosing your subclass
Which subclass you choose comes down to the kind of deity you want to worship and what powers you want to focus on. Some cleric subclasses double down on healing, some on spell damage, others on combat and some even on stealth and trickery.
Below are all the cleric subclasses that have been released for D&D 2024 (though you can still use subclasses from the 2014 version of the rules too).
Life domain
Masters of healing and curers of maladies, these clerics focus on nurturing and maintaining life more than on death and destruction.
Light domain
Associated with gods of truth, virtue , beauty and vigilance, these clerics wield holy and fiery powers gifted from their god.
Trickery domain
Subtle and stealthy clerics that prefer to disrupt the world order indirectly rather than through direct confrontation.
War domain
While some war clerics perform acts of violence to revere their bloodthirsty gods, many others are more noble They are protectors of the weak and heroes of battle.
Knowledge domain (HoF)
Knowledge domain clerics are highly focused on scholarly pursuits, become specialists in various disciplines such as the arcane, technology or history. These clerics are experts at gathering information
Feats
At 1st level, you can grab an origin feat through your background and from level 4, you can pick up a general feat (or another origin feat if you want) instead of an ability score increase. When you hit level 19 you can pick up an epic boon feat too. You can pick up additional epic boons each time you level up beyond level 20 too.
I’d suggest the following feats for a cleric:
Origin feats
Recommended options
- Lucky – Grant advantage or disadvantage on important d20 tests.
- Magic initiate – Grab some spells from another spell list. True strike is a good option for a weapon-wielding cleric.
- Musician – Give everyone in the party a regular supply of heroic inspiration.
- Tough – Great way to grab some extra hit points, especially if you want to dive into the frontlines.
General feats
Recommended options
- Charger – Could be a good option if you’re putting out emanations like spirit guardians and want to be moving around a lot while enhancing a weapon attack.
- Defensive duelist – Good for some reactionary defence. You will likely sacrifice some damage output, but if you’re going for sword and shield anyway, you can just grab a rapier for damage equal to a longsword.
- Fey-touched – 2 more spells prepared and 2 free castings expands your repertoire nicely. Misty step works well for moving where you need to be. For more ways to optimise for this feat, check out my fey-touched guide.
- Great weapon master – If you’ve gone down the protector route, this can enhance your damage a bit. It will mean sacrificing using a shield though.
- Heavy armor master – If you’re going to be wearing heavy armor, you can reduce the damage of every bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage that strikes you.
- Inspiring leader – Go for the wisdom increase and bestow temporary hit points on the party each rest. A good idea to have someone in your party with this.
- Mage slayer – Get better at dealing with mages plus a form of legendary resistance.
- Polearm master – If you’re playing a melee cleric, this is a good way to get some extra damage on your attacks and with your reaction.
- Ritual caster – Can really expand your spell repertoire for some utility spells, plus they don’t require spell slots when cast as rituals. Good if no one else in the party can get things like detect magic. Read more about how to use this in my ritual spells guide.
- Shadow-touched – 2 free castings of spells expands your spell uses nicely and invisible is a great option.
- Shield master – Great for shield wielding clerics (which is pretty common).
- Speedy – if you plan on using spirit guardians a lot, having a bit of extra movement is a pretty good idea.
- Spell sniper – You could easily find yourself firing spells at enemies in cover or wanting to make spell attacks against enemies you’ve charged into. This will help overcome these problems while extending your range considerably.
Epic boon feats
- Boon of combat prowess – Become unmissable. This works for both weapon and spell attacks.
- Boon of dimensional travel – Teleport every turn to get where you need to be in combat.
- Boon of fate – Turn failed d20 tests into successes.
- Boon of fortitude – More resilience for someone that might get stuck into the frontlines is helpful.
- Boon of truesight – Handle invisible creatures and illusions.
Weapons
This largely depends on how you want to lean into combat. Below is some broad advice you can apply when choosing what kind of weapon approach you want:
- Sword and shield: Go for a sword and shield if you want greater protection. I’d generally say this is the best option for a cleric. You mostly want to be outlasting everyone else so you can keep healing everyone else, all while staying resilient due to your lower hit points.
- Two-handed weapons: If you want to mainly go for high damage attacks and not worry about a shield, then grab a two-handed sword and the protector option. I’d generally prefer a shield on a cleric as the single attack won’t stack up the extra damage enough like it might for martials with the extra attack feature. The exception here might be a war cleric with their bonus action attacks.
- Thrown weapons: Generally, your cantrips will outperform weapons for ranged attacks other than at early levels. The exception is if you can grab true strike (by being a High Elf or through the magic initiate feat). In these cases, going for a thrown weapon and a shield can work out, especially with enhanced damage from divine strike.
Armor
Trickery domain clerics might consider light armor and a high dexterity for increased stealth. If this is the case, grab some studded leather.
Most other clerics will want to go for either medium or heavy armor (through the protector option). Half plate is your best option for medium armor. Go for this if you intend to get your dexterity up to 14. Otherwise, you’ll want to go for heavy armor and just dump your dexterity. Plate armor is your best bet, but it’s expensive so you may have to settle for chain armor or splint armor until then.
For most clerics, a shield is a good investment too no matter your build. The extra durability it provides should outstrip the extra damage you might gain by having both hands free for a weapon for example. And many clerics will simply focus on spellcasting anyway.
Cleric builds
Most clerics will work best as a spellcasting focused build with little focus on damage. If you build for it though, you can make a weapon focused build work too. Below I’ve outlined some quick cleric builds you could use:
Healer
Good for
Focused on healing, buffing and debuffing to make allies more effective and last longer.
Ability Scores (Point Buy/Standard Array)
- Strength: 8/8
- Dexterity: 14/13
- Constitution: 15/14
- Intelligence: 10/12
- Wisdom: 15/15
- Charisma: 8/10
Skills: Insight, religion, arcana (background), history (background)
Species: Aasimar
Background: Sage – Add +2 to wisdom and +1 to constitution.
Subclass: Life domain
Spells known (at level 3)
- Cantrips: Guidance, mage hand (magic initiate), spare the dying (thaumaturge), toll the dead, true strike (magic initiate) word of radiance
- Level 1: Bless (Life domain), cure wounds (Life domain), guiding bolt, healing word, protection from evil and good, sanctuary, sleep (magic initiate)
- Level 2: Aid (Life domain), blindness/deafness, enhance ability, lesser restoration (Life domain)
Weapons: Daggers
Armor: Half plate armor and shield
Spell damage dealer
Good for
Focus on dealing damage with spells with some supportive healing options. You’ll want to grab the protector option for better weapons and heavy armor
Ability Scores (Point Buy/Standard Array)
- Strength: 15/14
- Dexterity: 8/8
- Constitution: 15/13
- Intelligence: 8/12
- Wisdom: 15/15
- Charisma: 8/10
Skills: Insight, religion, arcana (background), history (background)
Species: Dragonborn
Background: Sage – Add +2 to wisdom and +1 to constitution.
Subclass: Light domain
Spells known (at level 3)
- Cantrips: Guidance, minor illusion (magic initiate), toll the dead, true strike (magic initiate) word of radiance
- Level 1: Bless, burning hands (light domain), faerie fire (light domain), guiding bolt, healing word, magic missile (magic initiate), sanctuary
- Level 2: Lesser restoration, scorching ray (light domain), see invisibility (light domain), spiritual weapon
Weapons: Tridents (protector)
Armor: Chain mail (until you can get plate armor) and shield
Melee warrior
Good for
Supplementing weapon attacks with magic and some light healing. You’ll want to grab the protector option for better weapons and heavy armor
Ability Scores (Point Buy/Standard Array)
- Strength: 15/14
- Dexterity: 8/8
- Constitution: 15/13
- Intelligence: 8/12
- Wisdom: 15/15
- Charisma: 8/10
Skills: Insight, religion, animal handling (background), nature (background)
Species: Human (magic initiate – wizard for the extra origin feat)
Background: Farmer – Add +2 to wisdom and +1 to strength.
Subclass: war domain
Spells known (at level 3)
- Cantrips: Guidance, minor illusion (magic initiate), toll the dead, true strike (magic initiate) word of radiance
- Level 1: Bless, guiding bolt (war domain), healing word, magic missile (magic initiate), protection from evil and good, sanctuary, shield of faith (war domain)
- Level 2: blindness/deafness, lesser restoration, magic weapon (war domain), spiritual weapon (war domain)
Weapons: Tridents (protector)
Armor: Chain mail (until you can get plate armor) and shield
Other classes guides
Not sure a cleric is for you. Not to worry. Why not check out one of our other D&D 2024 class and subclass guides.
