Dragons can be attacked safely and effectively using Ranged (level 70+ recommended) or Magic (Water Bolt or Water Blast recommended). For engaging dragons with Melee, 90 Combat or higher is recommended. Tidal Wave is a great option for knocking the Dragon Prone while it is in flight, with its range, damage, and accessibility. Levels 1-5 include Fly, Counterspell, Mind Spike, and Conjure X spells to shift the battle to your advantage.
Fire is more powerful against frost dragons and frost against fire, but shock is best against them all. When you get their magicka low enough, you can cancel. For example, a white dragon could swoop in on the party during a blizzard, while a blue dragon could use a lightning storm as cover during its descent. Red and black dragons could be lying in. Fighter archers can use BM maneuvers to knock the dragon prone, and enough Warlocks can use lances of lethargy until the dragon can no longer move.
Earth spells should be used to take advantage of the dragons’ earth weakness. Players can opt for better setups if maging, Void. Fire is more powerful against frost dragons and frost against fire, but shock is best against them all. Commonly used defensive spells include Protection from Evil/Good, Wall of Force, Prismatic Sphere, Mind Blank, Spell Turning, Globe of…
To fight dragons, use fast moving spells like lightning and fight at medium range. Dragons are pretty resistant to all spells, so it’s best to cast a hex or two, stick with winter’s grasp, lightning, or virulent walking bomb, and use Hero’s Feast if you have someone who can cast it. The best tactic against dragons is preparation! Reply, and the third edition version of the creeping doom spell is one of the best weapons.
📹 Five Best Spells to Use Against Your Players in D&D 5e
Specifically, let’s look at the five best spells a dungeon master can use against his players in D&D 5e. These are the spells that will …
Are dragons weak to fire?
It is a common misconception that fire is damaging to dragons. In fact, it is Dragon’s Breath that causes damage to players who lack immunity or resistance. The Blood Curse of Exposure has no effect on resistance, whereas red dragons are immune to its effects. JavaScript is either disabled or blocked by extensions, and your browser does not support cookies.
What magic are dragons weak to in Skyrim?
Fire-breathing dragons and Frost-breathing dragons are affected by different types of spells. Elder Dragons are weak to Lightning, and they can be stunned by lightning. Your IP address has been temporarily blocked due to a large number of HTTP requests. Common causes include the latest version of the Opera browser sending multiple invalid requests to servers for every page visited, using the Brave browser or Ghostery add-on, which send extra traffic to servers for every page visited, and using unofficial phone apps that do not behave like a real web browser. These apps may cause IP blocks indefinitely.
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What spells are dragons weak to Elden ring?
In Elden Ring, strategy is crucial when facing dragons. Players should stay on Torrent for battles, navigating the dragon’s proximity to land hits and escape. However, not all players will use melee combat, and ranged combat is common. Sorcery and spells can provide physical damage, such as Comet Azur, Connon of Haima, Night Comet, and Rock Sling. Players with sorcery stats may have less investment vitality and strength, so keeping a distance is crucial. Fire damage spells like Cath Flame and Roiling Magma are recommended for battles with Ekzykes and Borealis.
What is a dragon’s weakness?
The stone, inscribed with archaic dragon runes, disclosed a hitherto unknown aspect of dragon biology: all dragons possess a latent vulnerability in their abdomens, which could potentially result in the temporary loss of their magical abilities if struck.
What is the best damage against dragons in Skyrim?
Fire is the most powerful weapon against frost dragons, while frost against fire is best. To cancel their breath attacks, use low magicka and cancel their animation. Your IP address has been temporarily blocked due to a large number of HTTP requests. Common causes include the latest version of the Opera browser sending multiple invalid requests to servers for every page visited, using the Brave browser or Ghostery add-on, which send extra traffic to servers for every page visited, and using GameFAQs regularly with these browsers can cause temporary or permanent IP blocks.
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Does paralyze spell work on dragons?
Dragons are immune to Paralyze, and poisons can work on them, but paralyze poisons do not. However, you can dual cast destruction spells with Impact at least one point in the extra damage perk, and if timed well, you can stun-lock a dragon and blast it to death. As an insignificant spec of a person, you are an insignificant spec of a world orbiting an insignificant spec of a star, and no one cares about your thoughts.
What kills dragons in Skyrim?
In Skyrim, players can choose to fight a non-main quest dragon or fight them, with rewards for success. Dragon Shouts are crucial weapons against dragons, which players learn or acquire as they progress. Players can force dragons to the ground using Dragon Shouts or wait until they land before attacking. Followers can be used as a distraction or fight alongside the player, allowing them to attack dragons without much damage. Resistance potions and other items are necessary to combat negative effects like ice and fire.
Players can lure dragons into enemy territory, causing enemies to attack the dragon or enemies from a distance without extensive damage. Giants can easily take out dragons, making them easier to kill than dragons. Terrain can be used to hide from ranged attacks and take shots when possible using ranged weapons. Skyrim is available on various platforms, including PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, and Nintendo Switch. Dragon’s Dogma 2 can pick up where Skyrim left off.
What sorcery is best against dragons?
Intelligence-focused spellcasters have powerful spells that can knock dragons over by dealing huge poise damage. These spells are mainly from the Gravity School, with the Rock Sling being the first option for early-game players. Later, players should aim for the dragon’s head and use the meteorite spell obtained in Liurnia to deal even more poise damage and thrashes the Dragon’s Health Bar. The best sorcery for dealing with dragons is Meteorite of Astel, which is a flat upgrade from the basic Meteorite and better at shredding through them.
Faith-focused spellcasters have several excellent options for eliminating dragons but only a few good options for breaking their stance. The Beast Incantation Bestial Sling is an excellent early option, dealing reasonable damage and chipping away with poise damage until their stance breaks. Stone of Gurranq is even better at dealing poise damage than Bestial Sling. Flame of Frenzy incantation is also available early in the game. Pest-Thread Spears is a potent option for Faith builds, aiming at the dragon’s body and firing multiple times to deal immense damage and break its stance almost instantly.
What spells to use against dragons in Skyrim?
Mages’ combat consists of their spells, which typically include elements from all Mage Skills in the game. Ranged Destruction spells, such as Icy Spear, Thunderbolt, and Incinerate, are the main way a mage deals damage to dragons. If the player has completed the “Master Destruction” side quest, they should also use Lightning Storm to relive their favorite Kamehameha moment from Dragon Ball. Restoration spells, such as healing and warding, are essential for survival.
Alteration spells, such as Paralysis, are less useful against dragons, but Flesh spells like Dragonhide can prevent a single melee attack. Conjuration is a useful tool to prevent a dragon from focusing on the player while bombarding it with Fire and Shock magic. Illusion is almost useless against dragons, but can boost the effectiveness of conjured creatures. The main issue for a mage is not wearing armor, as a Legendary Dragon’s melee attack can easily one-shot a mage without an inherent armor rating. Dragonhide or Ebonyflesh Alteration spells are mandatory for a Legendary Dragon battle, but players can increase their armor rating to the maximum.
What spell to use against dragons Harry Potter?
The dragon’s stamina increases the difficulty of this duel. To approach it, go Defensive and use the Incarcerous spell, which stuns it for two turns. After stuning, check your stamina bar. If you have above half stamina, use Incendio or Depulso. If low, use Wiggenweld potion to heal. After the stun wears off, go Defensive and use Incarcerous again until you stun the creature. Repeat this process until you win. However, this strategy is not guaranteed to work every time, and if unlucky, you might lose the duel. With luck, you should eventually win.
📹 You NEED to Get the 3 BEST Dragon Incantations – Ekzykes’s & More – Build & Location – Elden Ring!
Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak can wait for now as we delve into Elden Ring and its Elden Ring gameplay with this Elden Ring …
Heat Metal is a really cool, really cruel spell. It makes metal armor, weapons, etc. become dangers to the party, which is an interesting mechanic. Also, its abilities are great – 2d8 damage from a bonus action as long as the spell is active, it can cause disadvantage on attack rolls and checks, and it can make the target drop the item.
I see so many comments on many of your articles about how this is not what a DM should do, wargaming this, PCs vs DM that, taking control of pcs is wrong blah blah blah. I like roleplay heavy games where I get to talk a lot and hate heavy combat or losing control over my character due to a spell. Doesn’t mean it’s “wrong” to do these things, First off, some players like the challenge, whether they’re minmaxers looking to try out a new build, players who miss the thrill and the “one wrong choice and you’re dead” style of play present in older editions, or even just people looking for a beer and pretzels game. Second, everyone seems to forget that the DM is there to, surprisingly, also have fun. If someone’s DMing style doesn’t suit your fancy and you’d rather play a chill game then all the power to you! Everyone has preferences. Doesn’t mean it’s okay to talk down to someone because they like a more wargame-ish DnD experience. The “YOUR FUN IS WRONG!” attitude in some of the comments is the only thing that’s actually wrong. Third, if this really was a DM vs PCs type situation, the DM would always win anyways, even without these spells. This is just advice for a challenging game, idk why everyone takes it as malicious/ as if this is the worst thing to ever happen.
One of my favorite moments in my d&d time. I was dming and it was session one. A level one campaign. And I wanted to show them this would be a hard campaign. Someone cast the 9th level spell meteor swarm. It didnt target any players. It targeted a city. Then the caster began approaching the party. One party member pissed his pants (in game only) and they all ran.
An alternative with Wall of Force could be to have the enemy caster target themselves with Wall of Force as a defensive measure so that the PCs need to get creative about how to break that caster’s concentration when they can’t even reach them inside of the Wall of Force with any attacks (possible solutions that come to mind could be to try and hit them with a Sleep spell, a Charm spell (to convince them to just drop the Wall of Force spell “for a friend”, or perhaps more cleverly, cast something like Catapult on an object inside of the Wall of Force so that it goes flying at the enemy caster in an attempt to damage them and break their concentration). Or an enemy spellcaster might save Wall of Force for an emergency situation, where if a fight starts to really go south, then they could try and trap the entire party inside of the Wall of Force….and then flee. Wall of Force could actually be a great escape plan for enemy casters, particularly if you intend for them to become a recurring villain that the PCs now need to track down again.
Spirit Guardian is actually stronger than it seems: The spell text says “(…) An affected creature’s speed is halved in the area (…)”, note there is not an actual mention of difficult terrain. Difficult terrain specifies “(…) moving 1 foot in difficult terrain costs 2 feet of movement – so you can only cover half of the normal distance in a minute, hour or day.” Therefore, Spirit Guardian and Difficult terrain stack, meaning if you have a character in a swamp, the enemies are walking 1/4th their speed. And that means a 30ft. speed character moves 1,5 square per turn (so 1 without dashing and 3 while dashing).
The spell darkness can utterly devastate a lower level party, blocking line of sight for the wizards, rangers, and bards and drastically reducing DPR (Damage per round) and if it is cast in the right location, then everything is free to whack the melee fighters leaving those ranged characters nearly useless.
I really like glyph of warding as a dm. It’s designed so if you move it it goes off which sucks for players, but if you’re a bad guy with a lair it works fine to go off when x happens or x person goes over it. And it can combine with lots of cool spells. You could even store buff spells for the bad guys in it and it gets them out of concentrating on them it just lasts for the full duration.
One that I love is Harm. It can create a lot of tension, and can be a big ‘oh crap’ moment if the party encounters a high level spell caster. Leaving a character alive, but in mortal peril at 1 HP unlesls they’re a high enough level to weather the effects. It lets you show off the badass magic a boss is capable of. It creates tension and on the fly thinking as the party must now shield this party member from harm. But also doesn’t risk one hit killing them. It keeps the afflicted character in the game and active, to RP and react to what’s happened to them. And it only lasts an hour, so it’s not a long term problem that will make the target unable to contribute for a long stretch of time. It could be the trump card of a magical boss fight. Or a BBEG could toss it out on a party member, decide the party isn’t worth their time, and sic some minions on them as they leave to continue their evil plans elsewhere, and then have a fun moment town the line when the party IS strong enough to fight them.
Tip with hold person, use it as an attack of opportunity with War Caster. If the PC is caught not only should they be deep in enemy lines but they should be surrounded and have an “Oh Crap…” moment before being mercilessly ganged up on and torn apart (or knocked unconscious, your call) for their hubris
One great way I used command, rather a spell like ability version of it: My cleric runs unawares into the lair of a vampire. Once he realizes he is, he consecrates it. The vampire spawn in there commanded him to undo it. “I don’t have enough spells”, he says. “Then you must immediately begin the prayers necessary to cast desecrate on the area.” 🤣🤣🤣
Wall of Force led to what is still my personal favorite D&D moment and it was in my first game. We were fighting a litch and he had used to to corral the rest of the party, so that left him and my sorcerer to have a full on magic duel, with me desperately trying to break his concentration and using my meta magic to cannibalize my lower level slots to keep couterspelling his bigger stuff, until he eventually got so frustrated with me that he used banish, at which point I flipped him off and held back on couterspell. That switched his concentration away from Wall of Force and allowed my party to move in and finish him off.
Fire Trap on vials of oil covered in dust on a dirt floor, in an half moon pattern 10 feet inside a doorway, while at the same time the door slams shut behind them startlingly everyone. It’s nasty and it was something a party member attempted against a platoon of Goblins. As they were closing in on the party, while they were desecrateing the Goblin Kings Tomb. After that I didn’t use Goblins for a few campaigns, they make too much noise.
A great use of a Command-style ability I saw once. Strip. Not only does it force the targeted character to stop what they’re doing, but they also begin removing their armour, making them easier to hit. The particular version I saw was in Dark Imperium and was a bit stronger, so the player ordered his target to instead strip the person next to him, taking them both out of the fight for a short time.
That bored out of their mind thing is real, especially since in another article you recommended adding scarecrows to a hag encounter, but scarecrows have inability that paralyzes their target. So I had an entire encounter in which the barbarian was just useless because each scarecrow targeted her because she’s stormed into the fray and the hag had a whole person spell that they would also cast on other party members. I quickly learned that at my table taking away players turns isn’t fun
Pathfinder spell: Status. I have an evil necromancer appearing to one PC during the nights, befriending her and giving her a “blessing” (casting Status on her), and then the next day, they always seem to have enemies hunting and finding them. I’ve even given the wizard a spell scroll with Status on it and thrown so many hints about what is happening, but they still haven’t figured it out. When they do, it will be epic!
Another spell/spell combo to use is Plant Growth + Spike Growth. Plant growth counts as Super rough terrain variant that bypasses a ranger’s rough terrain immunity (since it triples how many feet you need to move to move x feet.), and stacks with rough terrain that spike growth generates. Thus your reducing your players movement speed by a factor of 6, so 30 ft of movement = 1 square. its pretty insane. I do that to hordes of melee mobs as a druid all the time and my DM really doesn’t like it.
Spells like Wall of Stone, Errupt Earth, perhaps even Web seem pretty nice against spell casters. At least if the enemies have reason to believe that the wizard will cast a spell like fireball. Have the enemy spell caster prepare the spell and plot that barrier as close to the wizard as possible, making the fireball hit the barrier and damage the wizard. 😀 Catapult or Shatter are also 2 spells I could see countering a fireball. Catapult a bit of rock to trigger the fireball on the solid surface, or Shatter to make imbalance also triggering the blast. That would probably surprise the player and make them a bit more careful. I think it would make sense that the enemy would have thought of ways to deal with at least some of the more commonly used spells you know. Fireball is like, the thing all the people in a world like that would know wizards very often love to use. So would it be strange for it to be one of the spells people recognize and have a lot of ways to deal with? It would still naturally be a very powerful spell, but your wizard may want to pick a few other offensive spells as well. I also like the idea of the enemy having some tactic of disarming the heroes and destroying their weapons. At least if the weapons are not rare or anything. I can also see spell casters and archer having some lowlife minions create a shield wall giving them a degree of cover and also a barrier from someone just running up to them. Then naturally the fighters up front. Making a 3 layer system basically.
There’s also the evil combo of Wall of Force + Cloudkill. Have your Evil wizards team up to ruin your party’s day. Has the added effect of heavily obscuring the area inside the wall so your PCs can’t misty step. They can still get out with a dimension door but it’s unlikely they’ll be able to find their friends to take them along.
Re: Teleport Spells and getting out of Walls of Force If I make my players use their action and a spell slot to get out of the wall, that was a success. Any round the wizard couldn’t explode the NPCs is a spell well cast by said NPCs. Also if the PC had to use two third level slots to cast a single fireball, then that too was a moderate success. Especially if that means that they won’t have it come the boss fight. Cackles Evilly
Happened to me last week: My barbarian ran first into the fight, used the javelin of lightning to cause a tremendous amount of damage(enemies perfectly lined up), then with the second attack killed one of the cultist with my axe. Next up the cultists started casting hold person on me, failing the first and succeeding the second try. My allies freed me but before my round came the enemy mage casts banishment on me, my team had to free me again just to appear in a prismatic spray failing my saves again against a blue and purple ray and become banished again. I had fun for only one round of the encounter…
Plot twist: Your players’ melee line is a Forge domain Cleric and a Paladin. Command is not going to do (much) between decent wisdom, save proficiency and the Paladin’s Aura of Protection feature. Same applies to hold person. Oh and that exact same Cleric also knows Spirit Guardians and likes to use it himself.
Interesting thing about Hold Person: the paralyzed condition states that ANY successful attack within 5 feet is a critical hit. This includes spells. Spells like Inflict Wounds, Chromatic Orb (upcast), and Guiding Bolt are particularly nasty with this combo. Imagine a War or Death Cleric bad guy in heavy armor dealing 6d10 necrotic damage with a 1st level spell!
I don’t allow a caster to use counterspell in their own turn if they are also casting a spell. Both require a verbal component and you cannot chant two things at the same time. It also prevents these hideous counter-counter-counter issues. There’s also a rule about not being able to cast 2 spells in the same turn unless one is an action or a cantrip with action speed, and a bonus action spell. There’s no mention of reaction spells there, and they’re used in OTHER creatures turns anyway. Legit rules interpretation or not, that’s the rule we use and it makes caster-heavy combats much faster and easier.
At my last session I had the Paladin of the party making funky dance moves to a satyr’s panflute. And when the satyr tried to make the paladin conga-line the crap out of there, Meat Shield 1 intervenes… He gets a suggestion: Sleep! And ALL of the sudden Meat Shield 1 hits the ground like a sack of potatoes…. The party wasn’t able to wake him up for 8 hours! XD
I like it you mentioned the war caster feat. Every NPC when I play, that is above average, I give a class. Sometimes it does not matter but more for flair. But take Drows as an example. Drow Elite warriors: I created 3 different types here. 1: Ranger Gloom stalker or Horizon Walker, 2: Fighter/Eldricht knight, and 3: Battle Master. Just an example and it makes players never really knowing. Oni: Make him a Kensai Monk, or maybe even a Warlock. Vampires: Stick whatever class is suitable. But its nice to see Im not the only one creating NPCs with feats, classes and indeed, never, ever stick to the spell lists given by default, not that you need to be nasty but the fact is, most of those spell lists are just bad. No player would ever pick those spells. So, I tend to my NPCs as if i would be a player, and it can often create more difficult encounters, but above all, you never, ever, ever, know what your up against. My latest encounter in the Mad Dungeon, was against the Goblin King yek with his 4 mercenary Bug bears. The players was given a lot of information leading to them able to bribe these fellows, cause combat is not advisable. Why? Cause they was level 9 Bugbear chiefs, barbarian spartans, working as a group, with Pole arm mastery, shield mastery and wolf totem barbarians. They took the fight……………………And thats for another story. Being creative with your NPCs is fun for all, but dont over do it and if its a nasty encounter, indeed, give the players a heads up through Insight etc that, maybe, just maybe, we should try to talk ourself out of this one.
Using counterspell on a party that’s been spamming counterspell in the past and are outraged when the enemies use it too is just the best feeling. And coming across a warlock that spams eldritch blast after taking all those eldritch blast invocations against the group warlock that’s been doing it too….god it’s just amazing😆😂
not going to lie, one of the most fun things my DM has done, is I always… every single fight… without fail… throw up a spiritual weapon. one level two spell slot, and for the next 10 rounds, I essentially have a long sword with a 20 foot reach, get to add my wis mod to the damage, and only use a bonus action to wield it. which made it hilarious when I cast my spiritual weapon, and upon seeing this, the enemy spellcaster cast their spiritual weapon to target me. It basically turned into a long range sword fight, with me hitting him and him hitting me, it was great and everyone LOVED it. just an idea for any DM’s out there with a cleric who won’t stop using spiritual weapon
Heh, I used “Spirit Guardians” as a player character and covered my crew’s entire right flank from a swarm of spiders. Super useful. Speaking of spells to use as a DM, I’ve noticed that the monster manual, for certain monsters, tends to have a light amount of spells to choose from. Were I wanting to augment the choice of spells for a specific monster for a campaign, is the sky the limit or should I tailor but a few spells so as not to become some insane beast that cranks the challenge rating up to a level that my PCs aren’t ready for?
My two favorites are “Bones of the Earth” and “Transmute Rock”. I tend to give these two to a boss type enemy. Transmute rock is a great battlefield control spell, and Bones of the Earth is devastating to players when there are a lot of little minions that can swarm a pinned player in a cavern with a low ceiling.
Solid article, the one thing I disagree with is identifying a spell before counterspelling it. I don’t require that of my players so my players shouldn’t require that of my enemies either – my logic is that a trained spell caster will be able to identify the material, verbal and somatic components (or lack there of) and know what’s coming. I also think that even if a spell is ‘instant’ it doesn’t literally happen in the blink of an eye, there’s some level of time passing as the magic is gathered, shaped and travels from the caster to the target. Almost anyone would be able to see the different between scorching ray and fireball, but especially casters. That’s how I run it at least – not saying you’re wrong, just sharing my two cents : )
I’m a new DM and your articles have been super helpful. That being said, I avoid using these types of spells on principle, the only exception is if I know the player has some kind of work around. For me, taking away player agency is the worst thing that can happen to a PC, so paralyzing them and such is, as you said, very boring and frustrating for the players when they don’t have counterplay better than rolling well enough to save. Maybe this is just me as a DM but my objective is for the players to have fun above everything else. I design encounters and plan enemy strategies that deliberately play to the strengths of players so they have good opportunities and chances to use their entire tool kit. Ranged weapon enemies target my monk so that he can use deflect missile, swarms of minions surround my goblin PCs so he can make constant use of his nimble escape. In an encounter where the room suddenly was submerged in water, I made sure that there were several enemies who had a cr rating 1 level below the PCs level so the druid could make excellent use of her polymorph. Again, maybe it’s just me, but I want my PCs to feel epic and powerful, and my encounters are designed around letting them shine.
The problem with a lot of these spells (Command, Hold person, Counter-spell, Wall of force etc) is that if used in the ways you’re describing they eliminate player mobility and options. Players HATE that. There’s no fun in the game if you can’t move, or if every time you cast a spell it’s negated! These spells may be fun, but if you as a DM use them all the time, your players will have less fun in your game. So these are all great spells… for PLAYERS. DMs must use them sparingly, or else your players will start getting upset and feeling cheated. Basically, you want your players to always have options. There should be a clever way out of every scenario or challenge you throw at them. If you do use these spells in your game that’s fine, just make sure that your players still have things that they can do. This is just in my experience though.
You can only cast one spell per round, unless one is a cantrip costing an action, and the other is a 1st- or higher-level spell costing a bonus action (not sure if reactions are allowed). So you couldn’t Counterspell his Counterspell on your Fireball, unless you stopped casting Fireball, which would just be redundant. This actually makes Counterspell even better (as a DM) as the players have no defense against it.
Command is generally one of my favorite spells. It’s only as limited as your vocabulary. For example, I once prepared an action to cast Command and say “BETRAY!” if he swings to attack me. The DM was reasonable (or nice) enough to allow my interpretation of that: to make him attack his ally instead. Gets better at higher levels, when you can force enemies to “CONVERGE!” for a nice AoE. Or, what I hope to make them do once: “ACAPELLA!” “Run, digi-dun-dun dun digi-dun, digi-dun, digi-dun, digi-DUN, digi-dun, digi-run, digi-dun-dun, Uoooooooooh, Primo Victoria!”
From orignal experience… Hold person, even later in the game you can have multiple people subjected to this awful condition Banishment, remove anyone you feel would be important and vulnerable to this spell. Lead to my favorite boss fight where the death knight started by banishing the overconfident barbarian who ran up ahead of everyone else, he did not return until 8 turns later. Feeblemind hasnt worked on the players yet as they keep passing it but it does still strike fear into them Much like feeblemind, Sleep is a scary spell and is still useful at higher levels once your opponents are hurt a bit. Causes fear. Counterspell makes it a mage fight, fun to use higher level spell slots for 3rd and such spells making it risky to counterspell. Mind games and shit
I kinda prefer giving abilities other than spell casting because spell casting requires looking for several spells in at least two books to figure out the best one to use at any one situation. That said, command, disintegrate, fireball, summon woodland creatures, lightning bolt. Mostly because I know what most of those do by rote and summon woodland creatures would be fun to throw at a party sometime.
His use of Wall of Force gave me a really sinister idea. 2nd spellcaster stands between PCs and Wall caster with an Anti-Magic Shell up while next to a Shield Guardian. Guardian protects Anti-Magic caster from ranged and the anti-magic protects Wall caster from PC spells because any shot past would dissipate.
I have a sorcerer in a game I’m running specifically the dragon of icespire peak when my party was fighting the Ochre Jellies I found the cantrip Ray of Frost to be a game breaker, the sorc cast ray of frost then moved backward, an ochre jelly can only do a melee attack meaning the sorc could keep casting until ochre jelly was dead without the chance of ochre jelly attacking back any ideas?
I miss the disclaimer that this is targeted specifically at DMs who need to give a higher challenge to their overpowered players. The tone of the article feels like it’s the DM’s job to play /against/ the players, which is simply not the case and has fortunately been addressed in the closing statement. The spells are mostly developed for player characters and as such designed to fit a articlegame-esque type of turn-based tactical combat system. And we all know nobody cares about fairness towards the enemy if the enemy is a mindless bunch of goblins that needs to be slaughtered quickly for some experience points before we move on to the next ones – we do care, however, when the bunch of goblins assumes similarly unfair tactics, and it’s usually a reason for tilt rather than excitement. These kind of tactics offer a fantastic way to spice up an interesting campaign. Have the players fight against organised parties that could very well be other PCs, but I’d keep from it with the average minor encounter.
I forgot the level of the spell, it was 3rd or 4th I think, but it’s called Ray of Disruption. It’s a pretty large destructive ray that does like 2d10 damage, and they fall if they don’t save. It’s also capable of puncturing and destroying large walls. Its range was like 10 meters + 3 meters per level, don’t really remember it too well. Just be cautious of cave ins!
I’ve used alarm on the dungeon once. My players thought it was a good idea to sneak into dungeon, kill some of the mobs, see that they where out of spell slots and decide “Taking a long rest in the dungeon is unsafe, but if we camp outside, we should be safer.” They tried sneaking in again, but the silent alarm went of and they had a rough time getting trough.
Regarding the comment about metagaming as the dm to know what spell the player is casting, I would consider what the spell looks like. If they’re conjuring fire, maybe not counterspell. If it looks like they’re messing with the cult leader, counterspell. I think the visual aspects of spellcasting are often overlooked. Most aren’t instant, and they’re usually traceable Edit: also, I bet Wish could get rid of Wall of Force. Massive overkill, but it is a third way
I have a gaggle of spells I’ve used against players as a DM, players as a player, and player against npc. DM vs. Player: A fine moment when I had a Red Dragon put Delayed Blast Fireball on the ground then target the party rogue with Baleful Transposition spell, she failed her save and was now standing where the dragon was, flat footed bang and the dragon got surprise act on the party cause he was now behind them. Player vs. Player: party samurai leaves party to deal with lesser Beholders while he decides to go hold up the greater Beholder, to which he was turned to stone on the stairs, so now a glorious statue, we proceed to defeat the encounter, my mage walks up to the statue, was like “well, you left us to die for your own glory, now look at you, this can’t be unpunished” and casts Rock to Mud Player vs. NPC: Same mage, different setting, we’re dealing with some 20+ NPC’s confronting us, so my mage goes unnoticed doing an invisibility spell, sneaks off to surround the hostile gang in 4 walls of force then caps it with a horizontal wall of ice on top, has the party cleric cast shatter on it, the ones that survived the falling large shards now had to learn to swim, cause it was a hot day and the ice was melting.
10:27 You mean “number 4” 😛 Also question about counterspell: Assume target A casts fireball. Assume target B casts counterspell on A’s fireball using his reaction. Now target A can use his reaction and also cast counterspell on target B’s counterspell. Does this mean that A can finally cast fireball and B can do nothing about it? Or does this mean that B can cast another counterspell to counter A’s counterspell attempt?
Quick question for counter spell. PC casts fireball. NPC counterspells. PC counterspells the counterspell. PC continues to cast fireball. Is it not impossible for the npc to counter again, since the reaction is gone? The only way to stop the spell would be for another character to counter it, correct?
Time stop. The spell has nearly limitless possibilities, and even though it’s not really an offensive spell, it puts so many questions into the mind of the player, and allows you to set up some devastating combinations. it’s a ninth level spell, so they’ll only ever encounter it when they’re fighting an endgame enemy or if someone’s using an artifact, but it really helps with making your big bad last and giving them enough rounds to pose a threat to a large party. It’s like having one of those immobilizing spells but it affects the whole party and the players have no idea what the villain’s cooking up while time is stopped.
This was a fun article, but I have a major problem with it. Most of the spells are specifically targeted at Melee based characters. Who are rendered unable to do anything, which is unfair to anyone who wants to play a swordsman. 4/5 spells target melee characters. Only 2/5 affect caster types. Maybe another article for some anti-caster spells.
While not a spell question, i am curious as to how you would deal with a divination wizard and their dice pool ability to change friend or foe’s dice result to say a 1 in a monsters case. I honestly grew vindictive against my friend and went out of my way to mess up his spell casting etc and it made me hate divination spec wizards
Pc: Hey I just made this new fighter I can’t wait to play Dm: give me wis saving throw. Pc:fails Dm: all the bad guys how surround you and hold you down and beat on you for the rest of combat (which lasted 45 mins of me just sitting there unconscious) Pc: cool I don’t want to play anymore Happened to me. Being a dm and casting spells like this is fun, but in my personal experience never punish your players the way this guy in the article tells you. It was way too harsh and It doesn’t make for a good time for them when you just get to win and they don’t get to do anything in combat.
To phrase it in a less meta-gaming way, it is not that you are targeting those who will have bad saves. You are targeting the people that you think the spells will be effective against. If you are doing something that can be resisted with willpower, you aren’t going to attack the Wizard, you are going to target the Barbarian. Big, Dumb, and Stupid is a known target for “fuck up your mind” attacks.
Hi there Does anyone work with soul traits? Its something youre born with that gives you special abilities Ill give a few examples 1 lucky (you get to reroll if you roll low but only once per fight/battle) 2 poison ivy (immume to poisons and +50% of level on poison spells And each normal attack has a 1 in 4 chance to give a weak poison that drains a bit but cant kill 3 fury (when angry all stats/rolls +2) 4 heal (heals 1 hp every turn and +50% off level on heal spells If anyone works with these please tell me some more off these and their effect
I think it’s not that great of an idea to have minions use spells the DM chooses and stick to what they remember from the Monster Manual unless the stats are changed for a box encounter because there isn’t anything wrong with challenge but I’d prefer to save more powerful spells for the final boss, the reason is so that the final boss has seen what they’re capable of and has most likely knows the spells but never used them until now…due to the fact that a bunch of adventurers kicking down the door into their dungeon isn’t a common occurence but things like “wall of force” is a BAD idea since I can’t think of any real context that a common race would come across such arcane knowledge and it’s as rare to them as a flint lock pistol to a PC
I both like and dislike hold person. I like it because it can massively increase the threat level of the monsters, but I dislike it because it just makes that person sit out the encounter possibly for the full minute. Now they’re fairly likely to save eventually, but if they don’t well they don’t get contribute at all. I prefer effects at a lockdown a player character for one maybe two rounds
A way to shut down the argument that casting against a lower spell save target is meta gaming is the fact that it isn’t. PC and NPC’s alike should know in character that there spells seem to work of hell of a lot better when cast on those of low wisdom, (unwise, dumber people) they would know that a wizard is likely to be more wise than a fighter.
So, this is from 3.5e but… Goblin casters. First casts grease around the players feet, slowing them and maybe sending them prone. Second casts Burning Hands, and ignites the grease. Nasty. Now there’s Damage over Time going on. Final casts Create Water directly above the conflagration… Have you ever seen what happens when you throw water on burning fat? 🙂 ah, such happy screaming…
I know this is an old article but maybe somebody’s still reading the comments… The wizard in my party keeps using Wall of Fire to devastating effect on my NPCs/monsters. He figures out where to place it that will cut off the cannon fodder from any bosses while right on top of the back line of that group so that they are incinerated. Then he and the rest of the party sweep the floor with the minions leaving a boss fight that’s very one-sided because of action economy. OF COURSE I’m going to use that against them! mwah-ha-ha-ha
I once nearly killed a, I believe 6th level PC, with nothing but a few fairly weak cultist. Now, he played it REALLY badly so it wasn’t just because of a strong spell or anything… He was way too confident and just thought “mehh, I will be fine!” and had his rogue run up to the two cultist while leaving behind the other PC that was following. They needed to kill them, to avoid them running for help, so it made SOME sense but they had more than enough time so he didn’t really have to rush. He hit one of the cultist for a lot of damage but not enough to down it…and then he got hit with hold person…and failed the save… So, now he was face to face with a very pissed off, badly hurt, second level caster in melee range. He didnt think much off it..untill said pissed off, badly hurt, second level caster used “inflict wounds” while he was paralyzed…. He did survive by a miracle but only just barely. I believe he had like less than 5HP left, because I remember telling him that if he didn’t break out of that hold person, he would be shit out of luck….He was lucky and managed to break free and manage to run away from the cultist he was in melee with and do some long distance damage instead untill the other PC came to back him up. Don’t underestemate spell casters in melee if you are paralyzed since there are quite a few touch spells that hurt! and they will probably hit you with them and get auto crit…so…yeah… (Also, I would like to point out that he had fought these guys before so he already knew the kinda spells they had up their sleves so not like it came as a shock.
The makers of D&D have said that they don’t give counterspell to NPCs very often because an NPC doing that to players has a larger impact than the players doing that on an NPC. That’s not to say the DM shouldn’t give it to NPCs, just to save it for enemies the DM wants the party to have a tough time with.
I take a lot of issue with what you said at the end of the first spell, about how it would be “Amazing fun, at least for the Dungeon Master” but that’s not how D&D should be played, you and the players should be having a good time. Having a spell caster target a Fighter or Barbarian and force them to the ground and make them watch all of their health disappear is gonna make them feel like shit for just trying to choose a class that balances out the party. I have DM’d before and I can easily say that the times that I feel like I’m having a good time is when the PLAYERS are having a good time. There is a place for rough and tough campaigns where a PC dies every other session, but the common D&D game where the players are there for light hearted fun in the form of tactical battles and interesting roleplay is more enjoyable than “The Enemy Wizard casts Command on the Fighter again as 3 people with Greatswords step forward to cut him down” and “OFF WITH THEIR HEADS. They didn’t praise me well enough!”
I agree that the DM should play the NPCs in such a way that makes sense, and it does make sense that they would target characters that are LIKELY to have bad Wisdom saves with Command, but there’s an important issue here – as the DM, YOU KNOW WHAT STATS THE PCs HAVE! That’s just not cool, man. You know full-well that if one of your players made a high Wisdom Fighter, your Command-wielding spellcasters would suddenly choose not to attempt a Command on this guy. That’s just scummy play. Also, Monks are rare. Why would your bad guy ever think of a Monk as a Wisdom character and not a simple-minded Punchy-Fighter? Your Command casters should be attempting it on Monks too.
I really have to disagree, the player paladin kept running up on my goblin mages that were appearing every now and again in groups of goblins in a dungeon… Everytime he ran up to the goblin mage, as soon as the mage could, he casted hold person on the paladin and would be able to make a safe getaway. It KEPT happening as a pattern and the player only got to enjoy the times he passed the save more and got a rivalry going with these specific enemies I threw in. They also had magic missile just to make sure I pierced his high AC.
Man, why, why would you think those spells are great to use as a DM? Were you ever in a situation as a player that you though it was fun to not have the option to play because you are paralized or something like that? All of these spells (minus Spirit g Guardians) were actually on a list of spells I avoid as a DM. For me this article literally could be renamed to “top 5 spells you should avoid as a DM”.
You said a few points, I have wondered about for a while. Every D&D game I have played, always seem like it is “dm against players. ” (I never liked that concept!) You said you play “nasty DM” then say you want everyone one to have fun. That seems counter intuitive. I have so many questions on this I can’t even form words to write them.
Wow… Really didn’t expect this level of bad advice. 4 out of 5 of these spells revolve around removing player agency or nullifying player action. Play with it every once in a long while, sure. But if depriving player agency is something you actually enjoy doing, then I’d rather not be a player at your table.
I personally really like the ice breath spell, it’s like a kooler version of ice stomp, and does really decent damage and seems to proc quite frequently, it’s especially useful in the Melania fight, once she hits 2nd phase, you can dodge her falling flower move, and then just spray the ice breath at a safe distance, pair that with the unlimited FP physic, and you can deal a decent chunk of her health before she stands up, another kool thing is the breath attack will actually stun her pretty well too.
I really feel like these should have hyper armor during the breath attack itself. They have a long casting windup, which should be the opportunity for an opponent to stop you, then once the actual breath starts, you cant be knocked out of the attack. If that seems a little overpowered, reducing the speed at which you can redirect it oughtta help.
I think if Placidusax’ Ruin worked like azurs comet where it’s just a straight up beam that doesn’t wildly flail around, it could be considered the incantation equivalent of it. Also try using Theodorix’s Magma with the Stonebarb cracked tear, I haven’t tried this myself, but using the tear with black flame ritual seemed to cause almost an infinite stager loop.
Smarag’s glintstone breath does magic damage, which most enemies in the game do not have high resistance against. Borealis’s mist inflicts frostbite, which deals damage and lowers the target’s damage absorption by 20% and stamina recovery. Both of them are equally solid choices that aren’t inferior to even Ekzykes’s decay imo. But the best part of the dragon communion spells series, would be the flexibility of having access to multiple various damage types, letting you exploit the weaknesses of your enemies on the fly.
I swear the Glintstone breaths are so slept on. They do a ton of damage, look cool, and (if you run a hybrid build like I currently am) are buffed by Terra Magica. Same goes for the ice breaths. The combo of the two can lead to some hilarious damage. I killed Morgott in under 30 seconds the other day with these two spells, and I was only level 90! I thought it was hilarious
My main problem is that, other than Ekzykes and maybe Greyoll’s, the rest feel so underwhelming in most situations. Even in my arcane caster build I used just those 2 plus maybe whatever specific breath the opponent was weak to if they had a glaring weak spot. The damage on Greyoll’s is underwhelming but the debuff and fast startup are very convenient, and Ekzykes is just the same or better damage as the other breath spells with free Scarlet Rot, which adds a ton to its damage numbers. Also, as someone else mentioned, Placidusax’s isn’t a Dragon Communion spell and doesn’t get the boost.
Going with an arcane build, is actually great to be able to use dragon incantations with low faith using the dragon seal, as to get some use out the mana I have on bosses that are immune to bleed. So the basic rot and frost breath, alongside Frenzy burst for PVP and bleed flies are the 4 spells I always use.
k, i just used 6 larval tears in testing on a character, i used light heavy and ash of war attacks against 1. torch bearer outside of church of elleh 2. troll outside of secluded cell in stormveil 3. glintstone dragon adula in manus celes. all to confirm something and its kind of important; ash of war scaling does NOT change when you use a whetstone to change the weapons quality, it only uses the base scaling the ash of war begins with to determine its damage. this testing was done with 6 of the same weapon with the same ash of war all set to different qualities, though i obviously accept the possibility this means just some ash of wars are bugged and not scaling properly.
Ekzykes’s is strong I agree, though you shouldn’t sleep on Borealis’s Mist and Smarag’s Glintstone. Borealis’s Mist is great for a burst of damage and frost built up while Smarag’s Glintstone is great for a huge burst of damage as magic damage can be insanely boosted in this game. I do hope these incatations get the cast speed boost from Radagon Seal in a patch in future as that would be a huge DPS increase, though as a side note if you have two Dragon Communion Seals with one offanded even without upgrades and both Faith Boosting talisman the damage is insane. Add the Magic Scorpion Talisman then Smarag’s Glintstone is a true dragon’s breath attack.
I’m currently doing a semi-dragon incantantion build and i can say its one of the most fun if not the most fun build i’ve done. I say semi because the incantations take quite a while so i have other faster incantations like giantsflame and lightning spear to “balance” the build because a pure dragon build is not very viable as of rn imo. But if you can land the dragon incants the damage is so satisfying and worth it.
For the lazer breath(not spelling hes name) it will be easyer to jump cast as you stay in the air and can avoid some attacks also that breath is funny enough the best vs other dragon because it take them awhile to start ataking you and the breath will stager them so you can cast it twice without being interrupted and on ng+ i manage to do over 20k on the rot dragon (it was mainly because of the bonus dmg when it got stagger) and from practice most of the time you need the wind up and 1 swipe and most would be staggered and if not the other swipe(from right to left) will stagger 100% making the last attack 100%to hit but I will that if you go with it is best to try poise build with it but not sure if it would help to not e staggered by any attack
Dragon incantations are both super fun and can be super frustrating. Was in the sorcerer city in Caelid and got completely wrecked by the mages. They cast so fast it was impossible to get any spells off. But other that that it is super fun just perusal enemies melt away in a cloud of rot. ETA: the dragonclaw one is pretty good for certain situations.
Dragon claw and Dragon Bite do have hyper armor, and you can use the rock shotgun incantation from beast cleargyman to speed buffer cast the claw, its still easily rollable, but people who try to retaliate and trade lose the trade usually, and the claw has a slight tremor to it that also deals damage. The bite hits harder but is easier to dodge, but it lunges further. Are they meta? No. Can you surprise and kill people with them? Yes.
Im surprised no roar talisman is mentioned for this, as it includes Roars and Breath attacks (including dragons breaths.) I also personally prefer STR/ARC as opposed to Dex/Arc both due to less people playing it, and the greatsword for it being really cool. Not to mention it feels way more “Dragon Knight”-y to use a greatsword.
Placidux spell doesn’t get affected by the seal. Fire and magic are the strongest for RAW Use the buff talismans Lava is sick for breaking stance Scarlett rot is very good, but if you want to learn how to actually play the game relying on passive damage like that makes leaning timings actually harder
fyi, ice breath should be used first since damn near every boss can be proc’ed which cause them to take more damage from anything you do. On top of that if you use the pot upgrade to add enhance magic damage, the glintstone breath would do MORE damage than most of the breath. in my move set i do as the following 1. ice breath till its proc (doesn’t take long to proc) 2.glintstone breath (with fizic magic enhance) or if you yall love being a pyromaniac then you can replace glintstone with fire (not lava) and use the fire damage boost from the fizic
Arcane is great because you immediately get huge AR and high bleed with Occult weapons, and then later you can choose between broken Incantations and buffs with the Dragon Seal or even higher AR and Bleed + Seppuku with high Dex and Arcane. It’s pretty broken but I think that’s fair considering it did literally nothing when the game launched.. Lol. Also the poise damage on Bloodblade Dance (Eleonora’s Poleblade AoW) is ridiculous. It staggers even faster than pre-patch Moonveil..
Ekzyke’s Rotten breath is very good indeed for a Dragon Incantation, its a Joker Card essentially PvP and PvE…. I’m actually a Mage and i use Incantations for few spare slots and here’s what i think about a Crazy insane Incantations in Elden Ring. ( I do have 12 Memory Slots which is Maximum in Elden Ring including Moon of Nokstella Talisman…. So Ekzyke or Rotten Breath are really good, i also use Borealis the Ice Breath is One of the Best dragon incantations as it offers Cold damage which there isn’t a Defense for plus you get Frostbite Proc when built up that gives you +20% Increased Damage on Enemies… Frostbite is clearly an Underdog Status Ailment and as a Mage i also use Melee ranged Frostbite like with Adula’s Moonblade the Combo of both Borealis Ice Breath and Adula’s Moonblade is clearly Insane…. ( Ok now as for Placidusax’s Ruin, definitely Grab it for PvE its an Insane Incantation worth of using 80fp for in Boss fights and specialy Stronghold enemies etc… In Stormveil Castle at NG+ you can 1 shot those Exile enemies with Placidusax when they guard and shoot at you in the Courtyard where there are like 10 of them or 12 lol ). Another great Incantation options will be Smarag’s Glintstone Breath, Greyoll’s AoE Roar, Dragon Claw 2 Combo, and there are particularly some underdog lowkey insane Incantations that are Slept on which is the Aspect of the Crucible : Tail, Breath and Horn. All of the Aspect of the Crucible incantations are really really good even in PvP or PvE it doesn’t matter.
I found a cave with a crystal boss which awards u a talisman the boost roar and breath skills/spells. If it works the way I think it should add 10%-20% damage to breath and roar skills/spells. I’m currently making a HIGH lv build I call Teamet (5 head dragon featured in D&D 80s cartoon) (pronounced as TEE-AHH-MET). Build starts as a Str/faith build wielding Great shields and spear wep while wearing Bull goat armor set. Different shields for different combat modes (frost, fire, Rot, lightning, and magic). 2 different modes per element type. 1)defense heavy (Great shield + Spear) 2)Defense light (Medium shield + great sword or Great hammer). Magic mode just sucks…breath attack REALLY poor damage, switched to a blood mode instead forcing me into getting more Arcane. Armor was choosen to reflect dragon’s HIGH defense and high poise which I feel dragons naturally possess.
Keep in mind that Placidusax’s Ruin does not scale with Dragon Communion! It is a Dragon Cult Incantation. Dragon communion focuses on the Dragon Breath spells but Placidusax’s Ruin counts as a Dragon Cult spell A.K.A Dragon Lightning. For more damage scaling on Placidusax’s Ruin you need the Gravel Stone Seal (found in Leyndell Capital) You need 4 Strength and 18 Faith. It upgrades with normal Smithing stones and has an S scaling on Faith at +15.
The best breath attacks are actually the jump in the air frost attack breath for all mobs that aren’t frost resistant. And even if they are you can get the crit value proc after a full charge breath. If you follow this breath with the basic rot breath you will fuck up most if not all bosses with just two breaths. Also the magma breath kinda sucks without a full fire build. And it’s stupid easy to get just use radans bow or any bow really or magic from the ledge right behind him on the waterfall. He’s unable to even hit you if your above him and it’s a stupid easy fight.
Eh… Lightning is flashy but impractical to use. Want to straight up delete endgame bosses? Open with frost breath, then follow up with the glintstone breath OR the rot breath(depending on resistances and ability to run away until rot kills it). The named incantations do significantly more raw damage, but basic breath attacks ca be used from horse back. Happy Hunting!
Personally the rot breath and ice breath are the best choices. The rot breath gives you more buck of damage over a drawn out fight like large hp bosses, and frost breath giving that frost debuff damage and lowering their defense gives more damage over any breaths. Any of the named breaths take longer and make you immobile. I’d say magma breath is the worst overall as it requires a slow and easy to manipulate enemy.
IMO, the breath spells aren’t really intended to be a “main” spell since they scale with Arcane (aka. status spamming). It seems to me like they’re designed to barf up a solid chunk of damage as support to your main status spam (bleed, frost, poison etc.), such as when a boss needs to be pushed into phase 2 or you need a strong finisher at the end of a fight. Hence the very high FP cost and why most of them cover a vast area.
Gotta be honest my build is basically dovakin, I thought the higher cost ancient dragon roar one would have been more powerful (haven’t tried it yet). Oh and if you want to really overkill use magic shrouding cracked tear and cerulean hidden tear, terra Magica, lusats glintstones staff in offhand (no reason to use a shield when casting anyway), graven school talisman, faithful canvas talisman, claw talisman, axe talisman and use the glintstone breath while jumping