Comparing Fireball and its Equivalent Spells in D&D 5e

Is fireball really the best AoE damage dealer?

How does fireball work?

Fireball is an Area of Effect spell meaning that it affects an area rather than a single target. All the creatures found within the area are impacted by the spell. You can see the full rules for the spell below:

Level 3 Evocation (Sorcerer, Wizard)

Casting Time: Action
Range: 150 feet
Components: V, S, M (a ball of bat guano and sulfur)
Duration: Instantaneous

A bright streak flashes from you to a point you choose within range and then blossoms with a low roar into a fiery explosion. Each creature in a 20-foot-radius Sphere centered on that point makes a Dexterity saving throw, taking 8d6 Fire damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one.

Flammable objects in the area that aren’t being worn or carried start burning.

Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot. The damage increases by 1d6 for each spell slot level above 3.

p274 2024 Player’s Handbook

Not only does everyone in the area of the spell take 8d6 damage, but even on a successful saving throw, creatures still take half damage. This makes fireball extremely reliable and almost always has an impact, especially if you can land it in a crowd of enemies.

The only real drawback of something like fireball, is it becomes hard to use once allies get into melee range of enemies (which is usually during or after the first round of combat). This makes fireball very useful on your first turn, but potentially less so on subsequent turns.

Sorcerer’s with their careful spell metamagic and wizards of the evocation school can get around this, but it can remain a limitation of the spell.

Comparing Fireball with equivalent spells

It’s easy to forget though, that fireball isn’t the only AoE damage dealer out there. In fact there are quite a few variants of fireball around, from shatter to synaptic static and even fire storm (which is like 10 mini fireballs all raining down burning death from the heavens).

So despite all the attention that fireball gets, is it actually the best option? Well I’ve pieced together the data to work this out. The table below shows details of each fireball equivalent and important aspects of each spell to know:

Spell	Level	Available for	Range	Area	Damage	Damage type	Saving throw	Other effects
Circle of death	6	Sorcerer, warlock, wizard	150ft	60ft sphere	8d8	Necrotic	Constitution	None
Conjure volley	5	Ranger	150ft	40ft radius, 20ft high cylinder	8d8	Force	Dexterity	None
Fire storm	7	Cleric, druid, sorcerer	150ft	Ten 10ft cubes	7d10	Fire	Dexterity	None
Fireball	3	Sorcerer, wizard	150ft	20ft sphere	8d6	Fire	Dexterity	None
Flame strike	5	Cleric	60ft	10ft, 40ft high cylinder	10d6	Fire and radiant	Dexterity	None
Ice storm	4	Druid, sorcerer, wizard	300ft	20ft radius, 40ft high cylinder	2d10 + 4d6	Bludgeoning and cold	Dexterity	Difficult terrain
Meteor swarm	9	Sorcerer, wizard	1 mile	Four 40ft spheres	40d6	Fire and bludgeoning	Dexterity	None
Otiluke’s freezing sphere	6	Sorcerer, wizard	300ft	60ft sphere	10d6	Cold	Constitution	Freezes water. Can be hurled within a minute.
Shatter	2	Bard, sorcerer, wizard	60ft	10ft sphere	3d8	Cold	Constitution	Constructs have disadvantage
Sunburst	8	Cleric, druid, sorcerer, wizard	150ft	60ft sphere	12d6	Radiant	Constitution	Blinded and dispels darkness
Synaptic static	5	Bard, sorcerer, warlock, wizard	120ft	20ft radius	8d6	Psychic	Intelligence	Subtract 1d6 from attack rolls, ability checks and concentration saves for a minute
Vitriolic sphere	4	Sorcerer, wizard	150ft	20ft radius	10d4 + 5d4 the next turn	Acid	Dexterity	None

2014 and 2024 versions of these spells

In the table above, I’ve used the 2024 versions of the spells. However, it’s worth noting that while most of these spells remain the same between the 2 versions, there are a few with some small differences.

Ice storm – Deals 2d8 bludgeoning damage in the 2014 version instead of the now 2d10. It also increases damage with spell level by 1d10 rather than 1d8.

Flame strike – This now deals 5d6 fire and 5d6 radiant damage rather than 4d6 each in the 2014 version. Upcasting also increases both damage types by 1d6 instead of just one of the damage types.

Conjure volley – The 2014 damage had the damage type of the ammunition used. The 2024 version now just deals force damage.

Damage at different spell levels

The problem with the table above is each spell is being cast at different levels. Of course fireball cast at level 3 is weaker than sunburst at level 8. But sunburst uses a considerably more powerful spell slot.

The other challenge is converting damage dealt between different types of dice.

To normalise this data, I’ve included average damage on a failed saving throw per target to show the raw power of each spell. This will also help normalise damage that uses different damage dice.

Spell	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
Shatter	13.5	18	22.5	27	31.5	36	40.5	45
Fireball		28	31.5	35	38.5	42	45.5	49
Ice storm			25	30.5	36	41.5	47	52.5
Vitriolic sphere			37.5	42.5	47.5	52.5	57.5	62.5
Conjure volley				36
Flame strike				35	42	49	56	63
Synaptic static				28
Circle of death					36	45	54	63
Otiluke’s freezing sphere					35	38.5	42	45.5
Fire storm						38.5
Sunburst							42
Meteor swarm								140

Shatter

Even when upcast, shatter remains your lowest damage option. But it also happens to be your only option for a fireball-like effect before level 2.

Synaptic static

Synaptic static is also low powered compared to the other spells cast at level 5, but it does have the advantage of using intelligence saving throws (which tend to be poor) and weakening it’s targets.

Higher damage spells

There are some spells that will cause more damage than fireball, but these come with caveats. For example, vitriolic sphere deals a decent amount more damage, but it deals a third of that damage on the turn after making it less immediately impactful.

Flame strike deals the same damage as fireball at level 5, but upcasting ramps up the power more than fireball. Unfortunately, it’s also got half the radius (even if it has more height, but that’s rarely useful in D&D).

Larger areas

Some spells have lower damage than fireball, but cover a larger area. This is the case for things like circle of death with a 60ft radius (though it upcasts better than fireball).

Otiluke’s freezing sphere also has a 60ft radius and can be prepared in advance and thrown by your barbarian.

Fire storm also has slightly less damage per target for it’s level, but a much larger area of effect with ten 10ft cubes.

Sunburst has a larger area too, but deals a little less damage, but also has the benefits of causing the blinded condition and dispelling darkness.

Meteor swarm

Meteor swarm is the only 9th level spell on this list and it far outstrips the damage of any other of these spells, even when upcast to level 9! It’s essentially 4 giant fireballs of immense destruction. In fact, none of these other spells should be cast as a level 9 spell. There are far more powerful options (like meteor swarm) to expend these spells slots on.

So is fireball your best ranged AoE damage option?

Compared to other, similar spells, fireball is middling on damage and size. But other spells tend to increase one aspect to compromise on another aspect. What makes fireball a really great option is the relatively low level you can cast it at (level 3). This makes it accessible to low – mid levels parties and means that even once you can cast higher level spells, you can still use lower level spell slots on a really effective damage dealer.

Other options can be great too

That’s not to say that the others aren’t worth using though. For example, I’ve been playing a disruptor sorcerer. I still wanted some damage dealing options so I took synaptic static, which also works to disrupt enemies without using concentration. In my opinion, it’s really good, especially as failure is much more likely than against a fireball, and the after effects are quite profound.

Otiluke’s freezing sphere is great for increasing what you can do in combat with spheres prepared ahead of combat for others to launch, potentially meaning 2 (or more) spheres launched in the first round of combat.

If you’re facing enemies you don’t expect to kill instantly with a fireball anyway, then vitriolic sphere will cause more damage overall which I think makes it better for higher level combats. And 4th level spells aren’t overly high once you reach mid – high levels of play.

Consider the damage type

It’s also worth keeping in mind the damage type. Fire damage is one of the most commonly resisted. Many of these other spells use damage types that are resisted much less often. Vitriolic sphere has acid, synaptic static has psychic and circle of death uses necrotic for example. All of these will be resisted less often.

You might also want to consider what creatures you’re facing. A trip down to the Abyss or the the elemental plane of fire will mean your fireball is often nullified by resistances.

Options to avoid

Personally, I’m not a fan of flame strike. It might upcast better than fireball, but the damage is barely better, while the radius is halved. It might have better height, but this is rarely useful.

Shatter is handy at very early levels, but is quickly outperformed by other AoE spells. I’d be tempted to swap this out as you hit higher levels.

I also feel like the 1 turn of difficult terrain you get from ice storm isn’t worth the lower damage, even if it has a slightly better damage type and more height than fireball.

Apart from these, I do think there can be a place for all these fireball equivalents.

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So fireball is great and it’s availability at lower levels is what makes it shine the most. But there are other great equivalents to try too, especially as you reach higher levels.

Which fireball equivalent do you like best? Let me know about it in the comments below.

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