The 10 Most Overpowered D&D 5e Spells, Ranked (2024)

Apr 17, 2020

So you've decided to play a spell caster in Dungeons & Dragons. That's quite an exciting decision, as you're going to become a very versatile member of your D&D party!

Choosing spells can be tough, though, because there are so many and they all do different things.

Thankfully, the game does a good job when it comes to progression: you aren't overwhelmed at the start because you can only learn a handful of balanced spells at level 1, then you gain access to more powerful spells as you level up.

Once you reach the higher levels and unlock access to 7th, 8th, and 9th Level spells, that's when things start getting really exciting—welcome to ridiculously powerful spells!

Here are some of the most overpowered spells in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. Pick any of the spells on this list and you'll be wreaking havoc and warping reality in no time.

10. Prismatic Wall

This spell requires enemies who aren't the smartest, as they need to walk through the wall. But if they do, they take an unreasonable amount of damage and suffer all sorts of other ill effects.

Even if they don't walk through the wall, it still offers incredible defensive capabilities that make it a worthwhile spell for any wizard.

9. Feeblemind

Feeblemind isn't a spell that does a ton of damage (4d6), but it offers an incredibly powerful effect that can turn the tide of any battle—the target's Intelligence and Charisma scores become 1 if it fails a save.

It also can't cast spells, activate magic items, understand language, or communicate in any intelligible way. And it lasts for a whopping 30 days!

Related:

8. Fireball

Fireball is a risky spell because it damages everyone, including your friends. But if you can align it so you hit a group of enemies, 8d6 of fire damage on a failed save (and half that on a successful one) is an absurd amount for a 3rd Level spell.

7. Sunburst

Do you like spells that do huge amounts of damage? Then you're going to love Sunburst. It puts down a giant radius that damages all creatures who fail a save within it for 12d6 and blinds them. It's a huge AOE, tons of damage, and a disable.

All that and it's not even a 9th Level spell!

Related:

6. Meteor Swarm

While we're on the subject of ridiculous damage in a large area, let's talk about Meteor Swarm. All creatures in four 40-foot-radius spheres have to make a save and if they fail they take 20d6 fire damage and 20d6 bludgeoning damage.

Even if they succeed, the enemies still take half, which is an unreasonable amount of damage.

5. Simulacrum

Do you know a fight with a powerful enemy is coming? Feeling undermanned and outnumbered? What if you could summon a copy of yourself and have it fight with you? The copy has half as much HP, but it can still perform actions and fight alongside you.

Seeing as it's a 7th Level spell, we can safely assume that you're pretty powerful, so having a second one of you would be pretty good. You can copy any creature you can touch, but the tradeoff is that it takes a whopping 12 hours to cast this one, meaning it requires some planning.

4. Power Word Heal

When it comes to healing spells, it doesn't get much better than Power Word Heal. You'll need to be a high level in order to cast it, but once you can, you're able to restore a party member to full health and remove negative conditions from them.

3. Storm Of Vengeance

Do you know what's really badass? Casting a giant storm over the battlefield that becomes increasingly more powerful as time goes by. There's lightning, there's thunder, there's acid rain, and of course, there'a boatload of damage and negative status effects for anyone unlucky enough to fail their saves.

Related:

2. True Resurrection

Never again will you need to worry about someone dying if you have a cleric or druid with True Resurrection. With this spell, anything that didn't die of old age and that has been dead for less than 200 years can be brought back to life with full hit points.

Even if the creature's body was completely destroyed, this spell can give them a new one.

1. Wish

In the D&D rules, the description of Wish says that it "is the mightiest spell a mortal creature can cast."

If that doesn't get you excited, here's a little more detail about what this might spell does:

"By simply speaking aloud, you can alter the very foundations of reality in accord with your desires."

To start with, you can duplicate the effects of any spell that's 8th Level or lower. That's already powerful in itself, but it also has a bunch of other effects—like fully healing up to 20 creatures, or forcing a reroll on any recent event.

Not only that, but DMs can allow all kinds of other crazy stuff to happen with Wish at their discretion. If you can dream it, Wish might be able to make it happen.

It's truly game-breaking and it's so much fun!

Read next: