Analysing the Spells from D&D: World of Warcraft for D&D 2024 (5.5e)

Are the new spells for D&D 5.5e any good and which are best?

About the spells

Of the 67 spells in D&D World of Warcraft, every single spell level is covered, though some levels get a single spell and lower levels certainly dominate. Uniquely, each spell has only 1 class that can use it and some spells are unique to some of the class reskins like the death knight and demon hunter so these spells can be very exclusive. It’s also worth pointing out that the spells are only available for classes featured in D&D: World of Warcraft so bards and artificers miss out completely.

Heroic classes like death knights and demon hunters get a lot of love, which makes sense as these are needed to pad out their capabilities. However, sorcerers get the most new spells to play with and druids get quite a lot too. Usually, wizards get a lot of new spells in books like these as they are utility casters with a wide range of spells, but they only get 4 spells unique to them.

Number of new spells by class

• Artificer – 0
• Bard – 0
• Cleric – 6
• Death knight (paladin) – 10
• Demon hunter (ranger) – 13
• Druid – 9
• Paladin – 3
• Ranger – 3
• Sorcerer – 17
• Warlock – 3
• Wizard – 4

Number of new spells by level

• Cantrip – 1
• Level 1 – 16
• Level 2 – 11
• Level 3 – 14
• Level 4 – 10
• Level 5 – 8
• Level 6 – 3
• Level 7 – 1
• Level 8 – 1
• Level 9 – 2

All D&D: World of Warcraft spells

Cantrips

• Wrath (3/5) – Basically ray of frost with lightning damage. Lightning damage is resisted less than cold damage so is a slightly better damage type, but they’re very similar.

Level 1 spells

• Azure strike (4/5) – Like a lower level scorching ray, but I think this is better. It’s 2 rays instead of 3, have the same amount of damage and a level lower, but this uses force damage and slows down the targets. It’s a little more limiting when it comes to distance of targets, but overall, I think it’s a little better than scorching ray, which is decent.
• Chains of ice (2/5) – Like inflict wounds but with half damage, halved speed and 30ft range. Half damage on a successful saving throw helps, but is less impactful than on inflict wounds because of the lowered damage. It’s fine if you can work around reduced speed, but not that great.
• Consume soul (4/5) – The best damage type in the game that’s only slightly less damaging than inflict wounds, but adds half of that as temporary hit points and is ranged making this quite good comparatively.
• Death grip (3/5) – Not bad for a melee reliant paladin who can’t quite reach their foe. Not always useful, but pretty good those times when it is.
• Ebon might (2/5) – This will last till the end of your next turn so let’s say you have yourself and an ally affected by this. Maybe you use twinned spell and cast a cantrip and scorching ray on your next turn and your ally is a warlock with eldritch blast and is using 2 beams because you’re level 5. That’s 6 attack rolls so this is dealing 6d4 damage so an average of 15 damage. That’s better than average for a level 1 spell, but you’ve had to delay that damage a little and this relies on all those attacks hitting. Conversely, if you get 2 allies within this and each cast a cantrip, this is only 2d4 damage. I think to make this worthwhile, you really need 3 allies encompassed in this with enough attacks to make it worthwhile. They’ll probably need to be ranged characters as that’s where you’ll be standing as a sorcerer. I think most parties will not be able to make this worth it. Some larger parties with a fair bit of planning will and could make it really potent, but I’m going to score it based on most parties and I don’t think this is a spell you’ll necessarily be building around.
• Fel rush (5/5) – If you can move past 3 creatures while this is active, then it’s already better than scorching ray (at level 2). Upcasting it is really good as well as it’s +1d6 per creature affected too. With this active, 60ft+ should be plenty to often be able to damage several creatures in a turn and no opportunity attacks keeps you fairly safe to run around.
• Freezing trap (2/5) – If you can do this ahead of combat, say against a group that are marching around or that you can coax into the trap, it may partially disable an enemy, but it could be tricky to manufacture in the right circumstances. The effect ends if the target takes damage too. It could be decent in the right circumstances, and stealth casting is definitely possible, but kind of situational too.
• Frost nova (2/5) – The damage and effect seem about right for this level and there’s potential to affect a few enemies. Problem is, this is a wizard exclusive spell that ideally needs you in the midst of lots of enemies, which is a really bad place for a wizard to be! Even bladesingers won’t want to wade into the middle of crowds.
• Infernal strike (4/5) – AoE damage that’s a bit less than burning hands, but gives you extra movement and keeps enemy attacks focused on you (a martial) is quite good. The damage is less than burning hands and the more enemies you hit may mean more enemies attacking you so you need to be a little cautious in your recklessness, but this works great on a demon hunter.
• Living flame (2/5) – Sorcerers don’t have much in the way of healing, so this is something, but it’s like a worse cure wounds or a worse azure strike. Flexibility is nice, but this feels inferior to other options.
• Moonfire (5/5) – Higher total damage than inflict wounds, and it’s ranged and it only uses a bonus action. It also upcasts damage really well, increasing by 2d8 damage per level. This makes it really good as you can cast this and a cantrip for some really decent damage output in a turn without hefty spell slots being used. Technically inflict wounds is better on a successful save, but not by a lot. Overall, this is a much better spell.
• Rune strike (4/5) – Basically a very slightly worse divine smite. The damage type is a little worse (necrotic instead of radiant) and the extra damage only affects celestials instead of fiends and undead (so less likely to occur). This is still a good spell for adding extra damage to your attacks.
• Scourge strike (4/5) – Like wrathful smite but with an extra d6 damage and it causes the poisoned condition instead of the frightened condition. Frightened is probably a little more problematic than poisoned, but the extra d6 makes these fairly similar in power. Another good smite alternative.
• Shadow word pain (2/5) – Kind of like a slow acting inflict wounds. You’ll need it to last 2 turns to deal the same damage as inflict wounds and 3+ to exceed that. Slow damage isn’t as good as instant damage though and inflict wounds isn’t that great anyway.
• Throw glaive (5/5) – Like chromatic orb but with a bit less damage and a different method of determining whether there’s another bounce. This is more likely to bounce as it isn’t also reliant on matching damage dice, just a hit. That makes this more reliable but less deadly.
• Vampiric blood (2/5) – A bit like aid for yourself. Aid is a level higher and will grant 5 more to hit point maximum’s but this will also improve healing a bit. That sounds quite good in comparison, but I have a couple of challenges with this. The first is concentration. Paladins aren’t concentrating loads, but it will get in the way of that. The other is the setup turn. This only lasts a minute so you need to cast it during combat and it requires an action. You’d have to be being healed a lot to make that worth the action economy. Aid, on the other hand, lasts 8hrs, so can be cast ahead of combat.

Level 2 spells

• Consecration (3/5) – 1/3 of the damage of shatter per round so you’d need to get the same number of creatures within this emanation as shatter would for 3 turns. Not necessarily easy. I think this has a higher ceiling than shatter, but also a lower floor. I think you’re more likely to do less damage than shatter, more slowly and with concentration. This does have it’s place though, and could be good in some situations.
• Curse of agony (1/5) – The damage on this is dreadful. Why would I use this when shadow word pain (at level 1) is always 1d10 damage every round? And that’s not even a good spell. This is considerably less potent than a worse than average level 1 spell. Please don’t bother using this. You’ll be disappointed!
• Death and decay (4/5) – Shatter deals more damage (3d8 vs the 2d6 form this) but has half the area. This will then let you deal extra damage to affected creatures on your next turn. You’ll have extra attack as a death knight at this stage so that’s a chance for 2d6 more damage and dual wielding could increase this further. Paladin’s don’t get much AoE damage and this is quite good.
• Dream breath (3/5) – Cure wounds will average about 21-23 hit points healed when cast at level 2. This is an average of about 7HP per target so you need to affect 3 targets for the same magnitude of healing. That could be better or worse depending on whether you need to spread healing or focus it but getting enough targets in the right place is the challenge. Still this is a decent healing option on a heal-lite caster that will be better in bigger parties.
• Eruption (5/5) – Covers twice the area of shatter with a slightly worse damage type but a slightly better saving throw and a better extra effect making for an even better low level AoE spell.
• Eye beam (4/5) – Pretty much dragon’s breath but you can only cast it on yourself and it has the best damage type in the game (force). It also won’t demand a bonus action and an action in the first turn it’s cast. Your main problem is concentration, which for demon hunter’s, is often demanded by hunter’s mark. This is a good alternative though.
• Feral prowl (4/5) – The invisibility spell uses concentration and will give you invisibility for longer, but this is intended to be used more in combat so you can transform into something nasty then surprise your opponent as you attack and become visible again. It could also be used for a narrow escape or when you’re out of wild shape uses. The fact that it doesn’t use concentration means you can maintain that on a different spell too. I think this can be quite useful. I think this is best on a moon druid who will have some really tough wild shape forms.
• Fiery brand (3/5) – A good idea against a high damage foe that might last a while in combat. The damage is decent and the resistance to all their damage can be quite potent, especially if you can keep it focused on you and not others. No concentration helps here too but I think this is only good against some enemies.
• Frostscythe (4/5) – The same damage as shatter in a different type of AoE. This will also reduce movement speed keeping enemies closer to you and away from allies (which is good for a death knight). I think this is slightly better than shatter with its better extra effect.
• Roar of ursoc (4/5) – Basically a wild shape use with taunt. That’s not a bad idea if you’re a moon druid and you have some quite tough wild shape forms. You should be more resilient than most and draw enemy attacks.
• Sigil of flame (1/5) – 2d8 isn’t a lot of damage. The next turn emanation could help here, but the problem is the creature controls where it goes, not you. That means it’s more likely to get in range of you and your allies than its own allies. This could be more self-destructive than useful.

Level 3 spells

• Blistering scales (3/5) – This is OK. Probably 5d8 damage on the right target and +1AC is decent, but it does consume your concentration (even if the bonus action casting is reasonably generous). I think I’d have liked to see this bumped up to +2AC. In fact, we can compare it to demon spikes which is +2AC and deals more damage on a hit and doesn’t require concentration making this clearly inferior.
• Demon spikes (5/5) – This is really good. +2 AC is a big buff already, but when you do get hit, you’ll land 10 damage to the attacker (at least from melee attacks). You only need a bonus action to activate this and there’s no concentration. Great on melee demon hunters (which you really should be).
• Emerald blossom (1/5) – This is a bit rubbish. Only 20HP of healing (worse than cure wounds at level 2 or dream breath with 3 targets). It may only be a bonus action, but it also consumes your concentration. The emanation isn’t even very big. I can’t see a reason to use this instead of lower levels healing options.
• Flurry (3/5) – Like scorching ray but with an extra d6 per shard. This deals 9d6 damage while an upcast scorching ray will deal 8d6 so technically this is a little better. 3 chances to cause restrained is alright but critical hits with this won’t be likely and I wouldn’t rely on that. It’s OK but there are better spells at this level.
• Guided prayer (3/5) – An average of 20HP healed and advantage on an attack roll is about the equivalent of a casting of cure wounds at level 2. I think that’s the power levels we’re looking at here. This occurs as a reaction though which often will go unused. I think that just about justifies this at level 3.
• Hand of Gul’dan (3/5) – This will only deal more damage than fireball if you can keep enemies in the area for 2 more rounds after this is first cast. Not only is that unlikely, but it’s also a bit of a slow burn and demands your concentration.
• Leeching strike (4/5) – The same extra damage as blinding smite but with healing instead of blinding. Healing works automatically so there’s no chance of failure here. You also don’t need to choose between damage and healing with your bonus action. This scales quite well when upcast too as both effects upcast, not just the damage (like with most smites) making it a slightly better option to upcast.
• Metamorphosis (4/5) – There are 3 options here and devourer isn’t great. The other 2 are good as it activates with a bonus action and no concentration. Havoc’s +1d6 on melee attacks is like hunter’s mark without concentration or the need to focus on one target (and it can stack). I’m more inclined towards vengeance (ironically named for something entirely about resilience). But the +2 AC and +5 maximum HP are quite good. Ironically, it’s very similar but weaker than demon spikes which I’d recommend instead if you just want this for vengeance.
• Prayer of mending (2/5) – This will eventually heal more than a level 3 cure wounds, but it’ll be slow about it and has restrictions too around range which makes it fiddly. It’s also a slow burn effect which is no good when characters need lots of immediate healing.
• Rain of fire (4/5) – Like a slightly more damaging and larger radius moonbeam. Just keep moving it into the areas of creatures to damage as many as you can each turn. The advantage and extra damage for creatures hit by you in the area is nice, but you’ll likely be moving this with your action every turn so not sure how you’ll be making these spells attacks. This is still pretty great though.
• Regrowth (2/5) – The overall healing is worse than upcasting cure wounds at this level and you’ll need to maintain concentration. I guess it will recover allies from hitting 0HP without taking more actions, but this requires your concentration which is a big price to pay for lower than standard healing.
• Remorseless winter (5/5) – Fireball with a better damage type, a bigger area but a little less damage (6d6 instead of 8d6). It also reduces movement to 10ft which is really slow. You also don’t need to worry about friendly-fire. Dare I say, I think this might be a little better than fireball!
• Serpent sting (4/5) – Like blinding smite with similar damage but a worse condition. However, subsequent damage from being poisoned makes up for this if the creature fails it’s constitution saving throws.
• Soul reap (2/5) – A lightning bolt deals 8d6 damage and can affect multiple targets. The same with a fireball. This is 6d6 damage to 1 target with the chance of maybe 1 or 2 more d6 on average. Odds are, this won’t even break even on a single target making it a poor option, even if it does bypass cover.

Level 4 spells

• Breath of eons (4/5) – The question here is can you curse enough creatures often enough and safely enough to make this worth casting? I think it’s very possible in larger encounters, but it takes a lot of maneuvering and possibly a bit more danger than sorcerers normally like, but this could be really fun.
• Chaos nova (4/5) – Stunned is quite nasty condition, but it’s only for a turn. Hypnotic pattern will accomplish something similar for longer but without the damage and at a lower spell level. I suppose this doesn’t need concentration and you can still attack the targets so this does have its place, but I’d rather use hypnotic pattern and focus fire elsewhere. Not that demon hunter’s have access to hypnotic pattern, and if you’re concentrating on something else (like hunter’s mark) then this is still a good alternative.
• Collapsing star (4/5) – Slightly less damage than a fireball for a higher level spell slot but with a better damage type and a higher spell slot. Fireball’s still better in my book, but rangers don’t have that and this remains a good spell.
• Divine shield (5/5) – This is really good in the right moment. Use it as a reaction to a high damage attack or before you get knocked to 0HP and become immune to damage for a round. Be aware that enemies may just attack your allies, but a great emergency spell for a class that tends to take a bruising.
• Emberstorm (5/5) – About the same damage and radius as a fireball but with burning effects afterwards that either cause more damage or require an action to end. Both are a problem and justify the higher level spell slot making this a decent amount better than a fireball.
• Holy nova (4/5) – This isn’t as good as a fireball in terms of raw power, but the area is bigger and you don’t need to worry about friendly-fire. In fact, you want allies in the area since they get healed too. I think this is quite good.
• Psychic horror (3/5) – A single target frightened effect is less potent than the fear spell at level 3 which affects multiple targets. This has a bit of damage and a round of stunned, but I still think fear is more potent. I think where this is better is the lack of concentration so you combine this with a concentration spell for more nullified enemies. That maybe gives this a place in your repertoire.
• Starfall (5/5) – An average of 3.5 more damage per target than fireball with a bigger radius, a better damage type and it can hit some flying creatures too. It also lasts a round so there’s potential to affect creatures during that round. Especially if you can keep them in the area. This is excellent and a fair bit better than fireball!
• Time dilation (2/5) – A level 4 spell slot and a reaction to cause damage to a target to affect them more slowly. That’s obviously better than just taking the full force of an attack and it gives the party time to heal someone, but I’m not sure it’s worth a level 4 spell slot. I might consider this at level 1 or 2 but as it stands, it’s a spell for really desperate situations only, but when healing word can get someone back on their feet really easily, I feel like this isn’t really worth it.
• Upheaval (3/5) – Even with the fall damage, this is lower damage than a fireball at 1 level lower. Fireball is excellent and with this being a higher level spell slot and worse, it’s only OK, even with difficult terrain. It does at least upcast better but you’d need to get to a level 6 casting for it to be overtaking in power.

Level 5 spells

• Bonestorm (2/5) – Worse damage than remorseless winter with a much smaller emanation. Healing’s nice, but it’s not loads and not worth the other compromises in power. It’s not worthless, but it is worse than level 3 spells of a similar ilk.
• Dream flight (5/5) – Swoop around the party and average 12.5 HP healed per round to each/most allies. That’s going to really add up, especially in larger parties. A party of 4 will average 37.5 HP healed per round (as this won’t heal yourself as you don’t move within 5ft of yourself so you’re healing 3 characters per round). That’s assuming you can reach them all but that often won’t be too hard. Scale that up over multiple rounds and that’s some major healing!
• Explosive trap (3/5) – The idea with this is you cast it before combat against enemies on the move or that you can coax towards the trap. You’ll then want combat to start once the trap is triggered or about to be triggered so you can focus concentration on other things. This is basically a fireball you can cast ahead of combat, saving your action economy. You can do this stealthily too as it doesn’t require verbal components and the trap is invisible. The only issue will be some limitations on when you’re able to use this effectively and whether it will affect the right number of targets (with fireballs, you have more control over who is hit, this may only affect 1 or 2 targets for your highest level spell slot).
• Innervate (2/5) – Is this a good trade? I’m not sure. How often does an ally need a 4th level spell slot more than you need a 5th level spell slot? I guess it adds up as you regain a use of wild shape. Maybe a moon druid will use less spells than the other full casters (as they’ll be fighting in wild shape) so might want to give them spell slots. But this does take away from learning another spell so I’m not sure this is that great.
• Rescue (3/5) – A big misty step with a friend. Level 5 is a high spell slot for this but it’s more flexible than dimension door in terms of where the ally is and has much bigger range than misty step. It’s a decent enough emergency spell I think.
• Shattering star (3/5) – It’s got more damage than blight at level 4 and a better extra effect, but it’s still just 1 target and that -2AC is only for a round.
• Sigil of chains (4/5) – I guess this is like a higher damage chaos nova with better damage but a worse condition. Restrained for a round without concentration is still good. I guess if you want more damage and less debuff then this is still a good alternative.
• Void eruption (5/5) – A mini fireball, extra damage through your bonus action and you can be invisible for the duration without effects ending that (except light). It’s basically greater invisibility with quite a bit of extra damage. Just cast it in a place with darkness or dim light and I think this is really good.

Level 6 spells

• Azure sweep (4/5) – Less damage than circle of death, a smaller area and it has to be an emanation around you. The problem with emanations is you have to be close to your targets and that’s a bad place for a sorcerer to be. A minute of 20ft movement reduction could well be worth it though, especially against primarily melee enemies. Maybe activate dream breath and then use this to dive in and out of a crowd.
• Combustion (2/5) – The 3 effects here are kind of separate in that they all have different use cases. One is defensive, another is for enhancing spell attacks and another is for getting close to enemies and hurting them. The main problem is these benefits don’t necessarily help at the same time so you’re maybe picking one or 2 benefits. Wizards don’t want to get close to enemies and most of their spell attacks are ranged so 2 of these effects mix poorly. You might use this for spell attack advantage, but that’s an action setup and a sorcerer’s innate sorcery will do this as a level 1 feature and a bonus action.
• Tranquility (5/5) – This emanation is massive and the resistances are great! The constant healing is really good too, even at just 2d8. It’ll keep getting allies back into combat, is an efficient use of spell slots and will affect most, if not all of the party. I think this is excellent.

Level 7 spells

• Lay waste (3/5) – Like a more damaging, wider lightning bolt that teleports you at the end. It’s not easy lining up creatures in a line and even harder finding a spot you want to teleport to at the end of that line making this a tad awkward. Potentially really good but often hard to get the most out of.

Level 8 spells

• Tree of life (3/5) – I think the idea here is you become a really slow, but resilient and more powerful spellcaster. You won’t get away from danger, instead, you’ll need to weather it in your treant form. The buffs to spellcasting and healing are decent, as are the resilience buffs, but it’ll be no good if you really need to get away. A really interesting option that could be good, especially on subsequent turns. Whether it’s good enough for a level 8 spell is debatable and it does have drawbacks so I’ve gone for a middling score.

Level 9 spells

• Apotheosis (3/5) – The flight and extra speed are nice for staying safe and moving around a lot, the damage resistances also make you more durable. The upcast healing spells is quite nice too. Spamming mass cure wounds will keep the party on their feet for much longer. I don’t think this is a top tier level 9 spell, but it’s decent enough.
• Mass polymorph (3/5) – Kind of the opposite of animal shapes where you transform enemies into rubbish beasts of 0CR. Basically you’re nullifying a bunch of enemies. The emanation is large and you may need to make yourself vulnerable to affect enough creatures, but it’s a profound debuff that doesn’t have subsequent saving throws so if they fail that saving throw, they’re screwed! The only problem is if the un-polymorphed enemies just blast away the temporary hit points of their friends and then the spell ends.

How have the spells changed?

There’s only 1 returning spell in D&D: World of Warcraft in the form of mass polymorph (previously released in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything). All the rest are completely new, likely so they can match spells used in World of Warcraft. I’ve detailed the changes to mass polymorph below:

• Mass polymorph (Lv9) – This spell can now only be used by wizards (not sorcerers or bards) and can affect every creature in the 30ft emanation, rather than being limited to 10 within 120ft. It now only affects certain creature types (humanoids, beasts, giants and monstrosities). It only transforms into a CR0 creature rather than one of an equal or lower level/CR of the target. Now retain your creature type and hit points dice when transformed. Creature no longer loses temporary hit points when the spell ends.

Are the new spells any good?

When I evaluate new spells in books, I’m looking for whether these are spells I’d want to use, whether they alter gameplay or tactics in significant ways and whether they cause any imbalances in the game. Generally, you don’t want too many 1s and 2s as they won’t be used much as they will likely feel underpowered or too situational.

On whether I’d use a lot of these spells, yes I would. There are some really good options like divine shield for a defensive paladin or void eruption for a cleric that wants to turn invisible and deal damage. Dream flight is a great way to heal while demon spikes is a gnarly, defensive spell. There’s plenty more I’d use as well and many of them do give new and interesting options that I really like the look of.

I can also say that none of these feel overpowered or unbalancing. Some are clearly better than other, similar options, but not in a way that causes balance problems in the game.

That’s not to say that it’s without some bad spells. Curse of agony is the worst offender with some slow damage effects that are extremely trivial. You can also see that there are quite a few spells causing effects over time which I understand to be a mechanic often used in World of Warcraft but it tends to translate less well in D&D where many encounters are 3-4 turns long and you tend to have less sacks of hit points style enemies. None of the rest are as bad as curse of agony, and some damage over time spells are even quite good (like emberstorm).

In some ways, I think the inspiration from World of Warcraft has helped lift the shackles of old design and give the designers new ideas to work with, which has been refreshing. In a few other instances, it’s created new shackles to try and shove World of Warcraft mechanics into D&D. However, the hits are far more common than the misses and this is a large, varied, interesting and overall successfully produced bunch of spells that I’m glad to have added to the game.

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What do you think of the spells from D&D: World of Warcraft? Let me know in the comments below.

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