Light Domain Cleric: D&D 2024 Subclass Optimisation Guide

Illuminating cleric domain focused on spell damage, protection and knowledge gathering.

Worshippers of gods of truth, vigilance, beauty and insight, light clerics wield fiery and radiant powers. This grants them spells that can both deal considerable damage as well as those that shed light upon truth and knowledge.

If you’re looking for a cleric that combines both damage through spell craft and information gathering, then the light domain tackles both these roles while throwing a fair bit of protection into the mix as well.

The light domain subclass has been refreshed for D&D 2024. Below I’ve delved into the subclass to pull out tactics and optimisations you can use for these characters.

At a glance

Full caster with healing, buffing and damage dealing capabilities
Quite resilient for a full caster
Wield powerful radiant and fire spells
Regularly cause disadvantage on enemy attacks

4/5 – The light domain subclass is quite versatile. It works well as a higher damage dealing Spellcaster than other cleric subclasses while providing a strong measure of protection and knowledge gaining making them fairly versatile as well.

What’s changed in D&D 2024?

The 2014 of the light domain subclass was very focused on fire abilities but the 2024 revision alters this slightly by placing the focus on illumination. This not only means a combination of fire and radiant spells, but also powers that can illuminate the mind (such as those that provide information).

Below I’ve explained all the changes coming for the new light domain cleric:

Subclass starts at level 3 – All subclasses now kick in at level 3. For light clerics, this means moving the light domain spells, radiance of the dawn and warding flare features to level 3.
No bonus cantrip – You no longer get the light cantrip as standard.
Potent spellcasting – This is no longer a feature in the subclass and is instead an option in the main class.
Spell changes – You get some different spell options with spells focused more broadly on illumination than just fire. This means you get see invisibility and arcane eye at the sacrifice of flaming sphere and guardian of faith.
Improved warding flare – Warding flare can now be used to protect allies and can work on creatures with immune to being blinded. It can also grant temporary hit points at level 6.

Related articles

Light domain features

Cleric in combat — Cleric: Wizards of the Coast

Radiance of the dawn – Lv3

How it works

Use your channel divinity to create a 30ft emanation that creates a flash of light that dispels magical darkness and causes 2d10 + your cleric level in damage on a failed constitution saving throw.

Tactics

Dispelling darkness is a little situational so this is mainly about the damage.
It deals slightly more damage than shatter (a level 2 AoE spells) at level 3 and this grows a little as you gain levels. It’s also worth noting that the area is considerably bigger (30ft emanation rather than a 10ft sphere) but you must be at the centre of the effect. You also get to choose the targets, so works really well as an AoE you can use once your martials have charged into the thick of combat without fear of harming allies.
Fireball however, will deal a fair bit more damage, even at mid levels. This makes this strong for a level 2 spell and eventually comparable to a level 3 spells.
It’s going to work best for clerics that are a bit tougher and happy to wade into the thick of combat.

Light domain spells – Lv3

How it works

Gain the following as prepared spells at the relevant levels:

Cleric level	Prepared spells
3	Burning hands, faerie fire, scorching ray, see invisibility
5	Daylight, fireball
7	Arcane eye, wall of fire
9	Flame strike, scrying

Tactics

There’s some really strong spells here with fireball being the standout for damage dealing.
Faerie fire is great for grabbing advantage on attacks rolls and see invisibility makes you a great option for tackling invisible creatures.
You can also dabble in some information gathering with arcane eye and scrying which are both great options for gaining knowledge.

Warding flare – Lv3

How it works

Impose disadvantage on an attack roll using your reaction a number of times equal to your wisdom modifier.

Tactics

A great safety feature than can help you survive longer if you’ll be more of a melee cleric or help others survive longer if you plan on playing things a bit safer.

Improved warding flare – Lv6

How it works

Uses of warding flare are now recovered each short or long rest. You also grant the target of the attack 2d6 + your wisdom modifier in temporary hit points.

Tactics

If you can manage a short rest after most combats, this means you can impose disadvantage on attacks pretty much once per round which is substantial. At this point, I’d recommend ensuring this is used on most rounds.
The temporary hit points are going to be very useful, but remember that they don’t stack. This might encourage you to spread out the targets of this feature.

Corona of light – Lv17

How it works

Create an emanation of light that causes your enemies to have disadvantage on saving throws against your spells that cause fire or radiant damage.

Tactics

How good this is depends on the spells in your repertoire and how much you’ll be using them. The requirements are that it must trigger a saving throw and cause fire or radiant damage.
This means that light cleric spells like fireball, burning hands, wall of fire and flame strike are all affected. You can also use this with cantrips like sacred flame and word of radiance and standard cleric spells like spirit guardians.
Essentially, there are plenty of spells to use with this, just make sure you have plenty of them prepared and fire them off when you activate this feature.

How good is the light domain subclass?

The light domain cleric focuses on spellcasting prowess more than any other 2024 cleric subclass.

Between high damage and great information gathering spells, you get some great options here. Radiance of the dawn is a solid option for melee clerics while warding flare is a strong protective option.

Corona of light is decent and should help you deal a fair bit more damage with your spells at higher levels.

Overall, I’d say that the light cleric is solid and efficiently merges higher spell damage with information gathering and buffs making this a fairly well rounded subclass.

4/5

Building an optimised light domain cleric

Undead attack a cleric — Cleric: Wizards of the Coast

Light domain clerics are primarily about powerful spellcasting but can still operate at both short and long range.

Below I’ve gone through the various character options with advice on how to build an effective light domain cleric.

Ability scores

Recommended options

Wisdom: This is primarily to enhance your spellcasting, but it will give you more uses of warding flare as well as improved ability checks and saving throws.
Constitution: The higher this is, the longer you’ll last. This becomes a bit more important if you plan on getting up close and personal with your enemies (which you’ll need to do to make use of radiance of the dawn).
Dexterity: You likely won’t be making many weapon attacks with a light domain cleric, but you’ll still need this at 14 to make the most of your medium armor.

Options to avoid

Strength: For a light cleric, I’d probably recommend leaning towards spellcasting options rather than weapon and armor options which makes strength less useful. You could still build into this and dump dexterity but I think dexterity is the better option for a light domain cleric.
Intelligence: You don’t need intelligence.
Charisma: Clerics aren’t built for face skills and you’ve got more important ability scores to focus on.

Ability score	Point Buy	Standard Array
Strength	8	8
Dexterity	14	14
Constitution	15	13
Intelligence	10	12
Wisdom	15	15
Charisma	8	10

Skills

Recommended options

History: Solid knowledge skill.
Religion: Decent knowledge skill. You can enhance this further by taking the thaumaturge option.

Options to avoid

Insight: Important face skill, but there will be better options for face skills in the party.
Persuasion: Great face skills, but there are probably better options in the party for focusing on face skills.
Medicine: Just use healing word.

Species/race

I’d look for species with the following qualities:

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 front lines. Extra HP, resistances and other durability traits will help out here.
Damage dealing: A big part of your role will be dealing damage through your spells. Enhancing or supplementing this however you can will be useful.
Innate spellcasting: More spells and spell castings will be useful. Light clerics lean particularly into fire and radiant damage spells so consider grabbing these types of spells.

Recommended options

Aasimar (2024): Two resistances for extra durability. You get some extra healing to reduce the strain on your spell slots. Celestial revelation will also give you options for flight or some close combat effects letting you mix up your approach, which light clerics might need to.
Dragonborn (2024): A damage resistance for durability and the breath weapon gives you a close range AoE option to go alongside radiance of the dawn. Temporary flight will let you mix up your approach for when you need to stay out of range 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 and the drow’s best spell (faerie fire) is already on your spell list so I’d avoid them too.
Human (2024): An extra skill is nice. With your high 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 and will work well with corona of light.

Backgrounds

Backgrounds are much more important now with D&D 2024 with ability score increases, origin feats and skills all now linked to your background.

For a light domain cleric, I’d prioritise wisdom and then constitution or dexterity (though depending on your build, you might opt to build into strength instead of dexterity).

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 or dexterity 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 while farmer will get you tough if you’d like to beef up your cleric a bit (you might also need the strength increase so you can manage full plate armor if you’ve gone with the protector option).

Feats

Origin feats

I’d say the below are your best origin feats for a light cleric:

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 front lines.

General feats

At level 4, you can start picking up general feats. These are some of the better options for a light cleric:

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.
Heavy armor master – If you’re going to be wearing heavy armor, you can reduce the damage of all 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. This combines nicely with something aid as well which increases hit points maximum rather than temporary hit points.
Mage slayer – Get better at dealing with mages plus a form of legendary resistance.
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.
Speedy – if you plan on using spirit guardians a lot, having a bit of extra movement is a pretty good idea.

Weapons

Light domain clerics should mostly be focused on casting spells. This probably means very little in the way of weapon attacks unless you plan on using true strike.

With this in mind, I think it doesn’t make sense to build around high damage weapon attacks. You’ve got cantrips and spells as standard for when you do want to deal damage. Instead it makes sense to build around defence which means grabbing a shield and a one handed weapon.

Armor

If you’ve taken the protector option, you’ll likely want to be using heavy armor. The best option is full plate armor. Grab this once you can afford it (and make sure you get up to 15 strength).

For a light cleric, I’d probably lean towards sticking with medium armor and the extra spells options that come from that (though both builds can work). If this is the case, you’ll want to grab half plate when you can afford it and get your dexterity up to 14 for the +2 AC boost.

Light armor won’t be better for a light cleric as you’re not built for stealth and you’d have to invest heavily in dexterity to make it work which wouldn’t be worthwhile.

No matter your armor, you should also grab a shield. You shouldn’t be making many weapon attacks so this shouldn’t inhibit your damage much, but will help your defence.