Top 10 Best Debuff Spells to Help Your Party DnD 5e

debuff spells in Dungeons and Dragons 5V can apply debilitating effects to your enemies that can turn unfavorable matchups into advantageous ones or even outright win and encounter so in this video we'll be going over some of the best debuff spells worth taking when you're out on your adventures with your party and also we'll be having a guest speaker because my throat has some medical problems starting us off in number 10 is shocking grass this is a cantrip with a range of touch that allows you to grasp a creature shocking it for 1d8 lightning damage whenever you hit it with an attack roll if your target is wearing metal armor then you get to make this attack roll with Advantage which can be useful against certain medium and heavily armored foes but what really makes the spell great is the fact that a creature hit by the spell can't take reactions until the start of its next turn making this a great escape option if an enemy decides to come into melee range and you don't want to risk taking an opportunity attack to reposition yourself what makes shocking grasp a fantastic spell for the number 10 spot on this list is the balance mix between utility and damage that most other cantrips are lacking it is the only cantrip with a range of touch that can be used defensively as opposed to spells like booming blade which requires you to put yourself In Harm's Way just to use it despite of how good of a cantrip it is Shing grass d8 damage die isn't so bad either especially since it scales up by one damage die whenever you hit levels 5 11 and 17 for a total of 4 d8 lightning damage and because the Spells effect is so good you might even find times where you use it more offensively as well you may find yourself fighting an enemy that is only 10 ft away from you so you start planning to create some space between you and that particular enemy so you walk forward 10 ft use your action to cast shocking grasp and then use the rest of your movement to move away from that enemy you can also follow up with Misti step a second level spell which teleports you 30 ft to a spot you can see with a bonus action which will get you even further away from that creature and while this may not be the best use of shocking grasp especially since a Firebolt or or toll the dead can do more damage it can open up avenues for your allies to play around in since they would be able to freely move back and forth or around the creature without fear of provoking opportunity attacks and creating space for them as a result however while this spell does fill a good role in giving you a way to defend yourself if you happen to miss with a spell You've Lost Your Action for that turn when you might want to instead prioritize spells that can help you escape a creature's clutches such as Misty step and follow it up with a cantrip that does better damage than shock and grasp so this is a niche spell that does its job as a defensive option well while also sporting damage that doesn't feel completely underwhelming but it can be riskier than a lot of other spells on this list because you need to be in melee range to cast the spell but there is a fix so to speak in the use of fine familiar you see fine familiar is a first level ritual spell which lets you summon a familiar that has its own initiative in combat and can act on its own one of the benefits of fine familiar can be found in the last paragraph which basically allows you to cast any spell that has a range of touch through your familiar as long as it is within 100 ft of you The Familiar uses its reaction to deliver the spell and uses your attack modifier if the spell requires an attack role effectively turning touch spells into range spells so long as you're familiar is within touch range of a creature already so there are definitely ways to make this cantrip even better while spending very few resources making this an excellent spell to take on your adventures and at number nine we have contagion this is a level five spell which lets you inflict the poison condition whenever you make a successful melee spell attack roll against the creature within touch range the poison creature will have disadvantage on attack roles and ability checks for having the condition but must also make a constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns causing a disease to manifest within the creature for 7 days and removing their poison condition whenever they fa fail three of those saves however if the creature succeeds on three Constitution saving throws then the spell ends and the creature is no longer poisoned there are six different diseases that you can choose from which include blinding sickness which inflicts the blinding condition and forces disadvantage on wisdom checks and wisdom saving throws filth fever which imposes disadvantage on strength checks strength saving throws and any attack roles that use strength flesh rot which gives disadvantage on Charisma checks and gives the target twice the amount of damage they normally would due to having vulnerability M fire which gives the creature disadvantage on checks and saves that used intelligence while also forcing them to behave as if they were hit by the confusion spell which has all sorts of other effects attached to it there is also seizure which is the same as filth fever but for dexterity and slimy Doom which imposes disadvantage on checks and saving throws involving Constitution as well as being stunned until the end of its next turn whenever they take any damage effectively skipping it its entire next turn and while all these effects are really good the problem with them is that it takes at least three turns in order for one of the many diseases to set in which is a lot of time to pass and by then the creature might already be dead so it should really be reserved for bigger creatures such as a boss monster but another way this spell can be used is for both bypassing and baiting out legendary resistances because the poison condition only requires an attack role in order to afflict it and since legendary resistances only apply saving throws there isn't anything they can do about it and while they are poisoned they still have to successfully make three Constitution saving throws or be afflicted by a debilitating disease such as flesh rot which might not be in the creatures plan to deal with so if they fail they might have to use one of their legendary resistances and while this goes on you can also throw out other low-level spells to try and force out more legendary resistances as well until it runs out and you can start using stronger spells however there are three problems with the spell which prevent it from being an absolute GameChanger for Boss encounters the first problem is that in order to try and inflict a disease on your target they must not be immune to being poisoned the second is that the spell requires a Target to fail three Constitution saves which a lot of creatures have a good shot at passing and the third problem with this spell is that it requires a range of touch which isn't the worst in the world considering that the spell is available to clerics and Druids two classes that might want to be in melee depending on play style but still worth noting as some clerics and Druids might not want to be close to enemies if they're fulfilling A Healer role instead contagion is very potent and effective if you do manage to pull it off but the fact that it requires you to inflict the most nullified condition along with having the worst saving throw for a spell that does nothing if you either miss the creature or the creature passes all of its saves is the reason why the spell only takes the number n spot on this list and at number eight we have blindness deafness this is a second level spell with a range of 30 ft lasts 1 minute and doesn't use your concentration in order to maintain it and what the spell allows you to do is choose between either blinding a creature or making them deaf whenever they fail their constitution saving throw against it once they're Afflicted they can repeat the saving throw and end the effect upon a success a deafen creature can't hear and automatically fails ability checks which require hearing which can have some Niche uses spells which require hearing such as dissonant Whispers for instance won't be able to affect a creature inflicted with deaf which can actually be seen as a positive benefit for party members if you wish to use it this way it can also be a way to block Bic inspiration from benefiting an enemy Creature if they have one since the text for Bic inspiration states that you inspire others through stirring words or music and requires you to Target a creature that can hear you but you would mostly want to use deafness as a means to assist and stealth activities like causing distractions for instance a guard suddenly going deaf while talking to someone can make for some humorous moments while also potentially creating an opening for your Rogue to sneak through meanwhile a blinded creature can't see and will automatically fail any ability check that requires sight and also has disadvantage on attack roles against creatures while rolls from other creatures have advantaged against the affected Target this effect can be used a lot more offensively than death because blinding a melee creature means that they will have a harder time hitting you and your allies but the biggest use of the spell has to be the fact that if you use the spell against a spellcaster you basically take them out of combat because most spells in the game require you to Target creatures objects or Center Spells at points that they can see so if the enemy wizard isn't able to see then they aren't able to cast Fireball or teleport away with Misty step and thus severely limiting what they are able to do in a given combat encounter and since the spell doesn't require you to use concentration to maintain it they are simply stuck being blind for an entire minute unless they manage to successfully pass a constitution saving throw that they can make at the end of each of their turns while Constitution is usually the worst stat to Target because most creatures in D and D5 have really high Constitution scores this spell is kind of the exception if you are using it regularly against spellcasters since they tend to be on the lower side of the spectrum when it comes to their constitution scores a good example on how useful this spell can be is casting blindness on a Beholder while it does have an anti-magic field that it creates out of its central eye that prevents creatures inside of it from using spells and magic effects that aren't artifacts or deities if you happen to find a way to cast the spell from outside the anti-magic field and if the beholder fails its Constitution saving throw which it is relatively likely since it only has a plus4 modifier then all the beholders IR attacks become useless because they all require sight in order to use which can make the encounter much more manageable however it can suppress the effect by going inside of its own anti-magic field but at the same time time it won't be able to use its own ey Rays as the rules state that the field works against its own ey Rays another good use of this spell has less to do with the Spell's effect and more to do with the fact that it's a pretty lowlevel spell meaning that casting this requires very few resources which makes this an excellent spell to use if you want to bait out legendary resistances a feature which allows certain creatures to turn failed saves into successful ones a certain amount of times a day since any boss monster that gets hit by the spell will instantly have a bad time but the reason the spell only takes the number eight spot on this list is the fact that the deest part of this spell doesn't have very many uses while the blindest part of the spell has more uses but can be very situational this isn't a spell that you would use on the regular except against certain enemies since even blinding melee creatures isn't a great idea because of the fact that spells which Target Constitution tend to be a bit harder to deal with especially if it's a spell that either works or it doesn't and at number seven we have Stow curse this third level concentration spell allows you to touch a creature and deliver a curse onto them if they fail their wisdom saving throw against it you choose one of its four effects whenever you cast the spell which include imposing disadvantage on ability checks and saving throws made by one ability score of your choosing forcing disadvantage on attack roles made against you wasting their action at the start of each of its turn by doing nothing if they fail a wisdom saving throw or dealing an extra 1d8 necrotic damage to that Target with with your attacks and spells you can also choose an alternative effect for the curse at your DM's discretion but it can't be stronger than any of the listed effects of the spell and if you cast bestow curse using higher level spell slots the duration increases depending on the spell slot used if you cast the spell using a fourth level spell slot the duration goes up to 10 minutes using a fifth level spell slot increases it to 8 hours at seventh level the duration is 24 hours and at Ninth level the spell is per permanent until manually dispelled it's important to note that when using a fifth level spell slot to cast the spell it will no longer require you to concentrate on it in order to maintain it aside from the creature potentially wasting an action on a wisdom saving throw the effects are kind of lackluster you first have to be within touch range in order to even afflict someone with a curse which is already a dangerous thing to do as a spellcaster unless you take one of the subclasses the spell is available to that are more melee oriented like Arcane Trickster but even then dealing an extra 1d8 necrotic damage is not really great especially since Spirit shroud exists which is also a third level spell introduced in Tasha's cauldron of everything that also lets you deal an extra 1d8 damage in necrotic cold or radiant damage of your choosing and comes with other benefits like shutting down healing and impeding movement so if you're looking to add extra damage to your attacks then Spirit shoud might actually be a better option since you're getting additional benefits out of it and a slightly better range as Spirit shroud's Aura extends 10t from you and can affect multiple creatures however out of all the listed curses being able to potentially skip your opponent's action by forcing them to do nothing with a failed wisdom saving throw is by far the most powerful effect and why beats Spirit shroud on this list not many creatures have bonus actions that they can use on their own instead a lot of their bonus actions tend to be tied to their main action such as Tiger's pounce which can only be used after it moves 20 ft and hits with a claw attack on the same turn so if you force them to forego their action by doing nothing they can't just follow up with a pounce since it no longer meets the requirements to use it and what makes this effect even better is that once a creature is cursed by the spell there's no follow-up saving throw to end the effect early so even if a creature successfully passes their wisdom saving throw to do nothing they will still have to repeat the saving throw on their next turn because it's not a saving throw to end an effect it just determines whether or not that creature even gets to have an action on on the turn there are lots of other ways to use bestow curse as the spell does allow for flexibility when it comes to what kind of curse you want to place some great curses you might consider include reducing the target's movement speed making them unable to speak taking away their ability to read or write cursing them with a terrible sense of direction or even forcing the creature to develop an annoying habit such as snoring loudly in the middle of the night or interrupting every conversation that they're a part of however the strength of these alternative curses depend heavily on what you and your DM deem to be acceptable for the purpose of the spell as some seemingly mundane curses might end up having unforeseen consequences if your setting relies heavily on Magic users and forcing creatures to not speak might actually be debilitating for them since vocal components are required for a lot of spells but the fact that this spell can be made permanent and not even require concentration by upcasting is what makes it take the number seven spot on this list and at at number six we have heat metal this is a second level concentration spell with a range of 60 ft that allows you to cause a manufactured metal object such as heavy or medium metal armor that you can see to glow red hot for up to 1 minute and Deals damage to creatures that come into physical contact with the object for 28 fire damage a creature being affected by the heated object must also make Constitution saving throws in order to not drop that object whenever they take damage and if they don't drop the object they have this advantage on attack roles and ability checks until the start of your next turn being able to deal guaranteed damage with a spell is always a good thing and since the 2D fire damage does not force any kind of saving throw and can be done automatically using your bonus action on turns after you cast it you'll be able to cast other spells while also just being able to deal an average of nine guaranteed damage a turn which might not sound like a lot when you consider that enemies can just drop whatever they're holding in order to avoid the damage altogether but a creature that drops the great swword for instance would be a creature that is left unarmed and must either attack with their bare hands or brandish a lesser weapon such as a bow or a backup shortsword however if the creature is wearing metal armor then it would be impossible for them to drop that armor since it takes 1 minute to do medium armor and 5 minutes to do heavy armor and since they're unable to take off their armor whether or not they succeed their constitution saving throw they now basically have to make every attack role and ability check with this Advantage every turn because they can't drop the armor the only way for the creature to break free from this is basically by forcing the Caster of the spell to drop concentration which is already made Harder by the effects of the spell in situations where you might be afflicted with the spell you might consider asking your fellow spellcaster to use magic Missile which shoots three darts that deal guaranteed Force damage in order to force three concentration saves to try and break out of heat metal of course the alternative is outright killing the creature that is affecting you in the first place which might need to be left to your allies but the reason the spell is only at number six on this list is because while the effects are very good you typically don't fight creatures that wear metal armor and whenever you do fight creatures that possess a metal object such as a sword or pendant they can simply drop the object and switch to another weapon if they can in cases like this you might opt for something like Spike growth another second level spell which deals piercing damage to creatures that walk around its 20ft radius while impeding Movement by making the area difficult terrain and can also affect multiple enemies at a time however against a single creature wearing armor heat metal definitely holds more value over time in terms of damage and can make the combat easier since you don't have to worry too much about a creature Swinging with disadvantage every turn so while the spell is very good and can hold a lot of value it can be a little too situational if you really want to squeeze out as much as you can out of it and at number five we have Tasha's mind whip this is a second level spell with a range of 90 ft and has the effect where it takes away the reaction of a creature that fails its intelligent saving throw while also taking 3d6 psychic damage in addition on its next turn the affected creature must either choose to use their action bonus action or their movement rather than being able to use all three as usual the creature suffers only half damage and none of the Spells other effects if they manage to succeed their saving throw access to early psychic damage is always a nice thing to have since very few creatures resist it or are outright immune to it but what's even better is messing up your enemy's action economy by forcing them to only be able to use one of their three main courses of action on their turn and for every spell slot you upcast past second level you get to Target one additional creature meaning the overall usefulness of the spell scales pretty well at higher levels this spell also shuts down reactions so you can very easily achieve the same effect as shocking grasp but from a 90ft range while also dealing more damage before cantrip scaling increases shocking grasps damage to 3d8 and leave your opponents in a tight spot and all of this coupled with it requiring an intelligence saving throw the best stat to Target makes it not only a fantastic debuff spell but the best second level spell deserving of being on this list and at number four we have synaptic static this is a fifth level spell with a range of 120 ft and has a 20ft radius sphere that does 86 psychic damage to creatures that fail an intelligent saving throw and afflicts them with an effect which forces affected creatures to subtract a D6 from all of their attack roles ability checks and concentration checks for 1 minute the creature suffers only half damage and none of the Spells other effects if they manage to succeed their saving throw once Afflicted they can make an intelligent saving throw at the end of each of their turns ending the effect on itself upon a success while this spell doesn't deal as much damage as a fireball cast at fifth level it does still maintain a good amount of damage and applies a debuff in a way that is unique only to a handful of spells like it unlike disadvantage and Advantage which can't be applied multiple times for a stronger effect meaning you can't have double advantage or disadvantage synaptic static actually directly affects the dice roll itself and if you have a way to impose disadvantage on affected creatures it makes it even harder for that creature to hit pass a check or maintain concentration and since the debuff from synaptic static doesn't require concentration in order to keep the effect active you can stack this effect with the first level concentration spell Bane which applies a similar effect except you choose up to three creatures to make charisma saving throws and if they fail they subtract the D4 from all of their attack roles and saving throws so under both of these effects your opponents would have to subtract a D4 and a D6 from every one of their attack roles for the next minute or until they successfully pass an intelligent saving throw which is now made a bit harder because of Bane this spell is an absolute monster when it comes to maintaining control on the battlefield especially when combined with other debuff or crowd control spells due to the nature of its debuff not requiring your concentration making this a wonderful spell to take up and at number three we have Bane this is a first level concentration spell which forces up to three creatures of your choosing within 30 ft to subtract a D4 from any attack rolles or saving throws they make if they fail their Charisma saving throw against it for up to 1 minute while this might seem like a bit of a downgrade compared to everything that synaptic static can do what makes the spell a bit better is the fact that it can be used at the low cost of a first level spell slot as opposed to a fifth level spell slot which makes it generally more useful not only that but unlike synaptic static Bane can also affect saving throws which can benefit your party a lot more than affecting ability checks since they can more easily follow up with spells or attacks which require saves however while the spell is more generically useful than synaptic static it does require your concentration and kind of has less availability than it due to only being on The Bard and cleric spell lists fortunate Ely barns do gain access to both of these debilitating spells and can comble them very easily as a result the other spellcasters can take magic initiate or Fay touched to give themselves access to Bane as well so there are some options available if you want to combo these two spells together but at the end of the day with its low cost and the ability to affect saves makes it worth it over its brother leaving it just a bit higher on this list at number three and at number two we have fairy fire this is the first level concentration spell with a range of 60 ft that envelops creatures and objects inside a 20ft cube if they fail their dexterity saving throw against it they are outlined in a blue green or violet light of your choice making it so that they no longer benefit from becoming invisible while also making it so that any attack roll against them is made with Advantage there are very few ways to give yourself and allies free Advantage outside of certain class features and there are even fewer ways to do so with spells of a low cost and that's exactly what fairy fire allows you to do for a first level spell you make it a lot more likely for you and your allies to hit or even land a Critical Strike with their attacks since they'll all be rolling twice this can be especially useful for Rogues where the conditions for activating their sneak attack feature require them to hit with an attack roll while having advantage or attack a creature that's within 5T of your allies so there's less worry about how they position themselves if they want to deal their extra damage off of sneak attack having advantage on attack rols means that spells which require you to make attack rolls like scorching Ray which requires you to make a separate attack roll for each Ray allows you to hit with it more often if you have a barbarian they no longer have to use their Reckless attack to give themselves advantage on Attack rules meaning they don't suffer the penalty for using Reckless attack by giving enemies Advantage when attacking the Barbarian a samurai fighter can conserve their charges of fighting Spirit since they'll already have advantage on their attack roles from Fairy Fire And while all a bit Niche preventing enemies from benefiting from the effects of invisibility can also be useful against creatures that might want to stay invisible such as skull which are normally invisible and can be seen under three circumstances in the light of a charnal candle through a reflective surface such as a mirror or if you're a child of age 10 or under so being able to have a way to detect and fight skulks can be a huge Boon and because they are no longer benefiting from the effects of invisibility meaning they are no long longer imposing disadvantage on incoming attack roles your party would now have advantage against the affected skull rather than the advantage and disadvantage cancelling out since there's no longer a disadvantage at play being able to do all this for a first level spell is absolutely amazing and deserves its spot on this list because of how well it can help conserve Resources with the benefits it can provide and at number one we have slow this is a third level concentration spell which adds a load of debuffs up to six creatures you choose inside side of a 40t cube the range on the spell is 120 ft and can last up to 1 minute and requires a wisdom saving throw which can be repeated at the end of the affected creatures turns in order to not be affected by everything the spell does and what the spell does is that it has the creature speed subtracts two from their AC and dexterity saving throws they cannot use reactions they can only use an action or bonus action on their turn only one attack can be made on their turn and if a creature attempts to cast the spell with a casting time of one action they roll a D20 and on an 11 or higher the casting is delayed until their next turn and wasting the spell if they do not use their action in order to complete the casting on that turn so as previously mentioned messing with your opponent's action economy is extremely powerful and can even win you the encounter with how effective it is this is because action economy is basically another resource at your disposal which helps determine how much you can do as a collective group haste and spiritual weapon are both great examples of how you can increase your own action economy as haste allows the affected creature to take another action in addition to their normal action with some restrictions while spiritual weapon gives clerics a use for their bonus action which isn't normally used all that much in order to make attacks that deal damage and doesn't use their concentration leaving them room to also cast something like Bane and as you increase your action economy your chances to win an encounter also increases so restricting certain actions your opponents have and getting rid of their reaction actually goes a long way because you're taking away their ability to fight effectively on all accounts they can only take their action or bonus action each turn and they can only make a single attack so no multi-attack their speed will also be haved meaning that they can't get away from the fight easily spells have a chance of being delayed which greatly hinders spell casters because they might not be able to cast their spell in time to maximize value out of it and being able to hit more often because of the minus two to their AC and dexterity saving throws is a huge plus Additionally the spell lets you choose which creatures are affected in its area meaning you don't ever have to worry about accidentally hitting your allies with a spell for a third level spell slow does so much and can turn a difficult encounter into a victory when used at the right time which is why it takes the number one spot on this list and that's all the spells for this list there are plenty of more debuff spells that might be worth mentioning so there could be a part two for this video [Music]

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Keywords: D&D, Dungeons and Dragon, s Dungeon & Dragons, D&D Beyond, DnD, Wizards of the Coast D&D, Heroes Campaign RPG, tabletop, gaming, roleplaying, rule, rules, d20, d12, d10, d8, d6, d4, DM, PC, tips, tricks, advice, guide, dice, book, PHB, VGTM, dungeons and dragons, 5th edition, best, overpower

Id: Iz1kY151KCM

Length: 27min 37sec (1657 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 20 2023