The Five Best (Offensive) Buff Spells in D&D
They say the best defense is a good offense. And these are the five best (offensive) buff spells in D&D. Cue the power up music.
Teamwork makes the dream work in D&D. And nowhere is that more apparent than in D&D’s buff spells. They’re capable of handing out powerups to even the lowliest of henchmen and hirelings.
With the right retinue of buff spells, your adventuring party will be ready for anything D&D can throw at you. And these are the five best buff spells in D&D. At least, when it comes to offensive buffs. These spells make you and your allies better at fighting. But they won’t necessarily make you any hardier. That’s for another list.
Bless
One of the only spells likely to make the list as one of the best offensive and defensive buff spells, Bless is an absolute blessing. Pick up to three of your friends (including yourself) and they get a d4 to add to any attack roll or saving throw. It lasts a minute and can make the difference between success and failure.
Enlarge/Reduce
Enlarge/reduce adds extra combat capabilities to your fighter. They double in size, going up a full-size category. If you cast it on a polearm master, means you can reach more squares more easily.
It expands your battlefield profile. But the spell also adds an extra 1d4 damage on top of it. And you get advantage on Strength checks and saves, if you want to grapple someone. Which being large, means you can grapple and control even more targets. All of this adds up to make Enlarge/Reduce one of the best lower-level buff spells in D&D.
Shadow Blade
Shadow blade is the rare self-buffs that can only affect the caster. It’s not necessarily the best choice for a pure caster wizard but for someone like an Arcane Trickster Rogue or a Gish of any stripe? It’s pretty indispensable.
This spell lets you deal 2d8 psychic damage, plays well with a sneak attack, and only takes a bonus action to summon it. And what’s more, it scales with your level, giving you a minute’s worth of extra damage.
Crusader’s Mantle
Time for Paladins to get in on some of the best buff spell action. Well, Paladins and Clerics. But this spell works great as a buff—you conjure up an aura of holy power that causes you and everyone nearby to deal an extra 1d4 radiant damage when hit with an attack.
Beef up your damaging attacks, sure, but if you have a friend who likes to cast summon/conjure spells, suddenly that’s upwards of 8d4-12d4 extra dice of damage per round.
Haste
Finally, we come to haste. Haste frequently tops the lists of best buff spells in D&D, and with good reason. This spell gives anyone a whole extra action on their turn.
Anyone taking the Attack action gets the most out of it. Fighters gain an extra attack. Rogues can use their hasted action to make an attack, their regular action to ready another attack for up to two sneak attacks per round.
But anyone will be happy to have an extra dash, disengage, hide, or use an object action regardless, as well as the bonus AC and to Dex saves.
What tops your list as the best buff spells in D&D?
