Most Powerful Long Range Spells In DND

Summary

• Blade Barrier provides crowd control with potential damage, creating a protective wall of blades from 90 feet away.
• Control Water offers both combat and utility uses from 300 feet away, controlling water for various purposes.
• Earthquake delivers battlefield control with the potential to damage enemies from a range of 500 feet.

Sometimes, during combat in Dungeons & Dragons, you might find yourself just out of range of one of your enemies. This can prove to be really frustrating, particularly if your Dungeon Master is insisting they’re ‘looking rough,’ and only need one or two more hits to take them down.

If this scenario sounds familiar to you, fret not. It’s time to upgrade your spell list with some of the best long-range spells available for spellcasters in Dungeons & Dragons. This list has everything from combat-based spells to utility-based magic. Here are the best long-range spells to use in Dungeons & Dragons.

10

Blade Barrier

Blade Barrier is a simple concentration spell that can make a huge difference on the field of play when it comes to crowd control. Once you cast this spell, your cleric will summon a wall of blades comprised of magic energy, which appears in range. The wall provides three-quarters cover and makes the space difficult terrain.

Anyone trying to enter or pass through the wall has the potential to take up to 6d10 force damage depending on how well they do on a save. Between the impact of the damage and the range, you can easily cut off half the battlefield, either protecting your allies or offensively damaging enemies.

9

Control Water

This spell has both combat and utilitarian purposes. Plus, with a range of 300 feet, you can cast this from a very safe distance. With this spell, you can control any water inside a 100-foot cube and recreate the effects of a flood, redirect the flow of the water, part the water, or cause a whirlpool to form.

For anyone playing in a nautical campaign, this spell is a must-have. Sailing through vast oceans will prove easy with this spell at your disposal. Or, if you’re fighting in an aquatic setting, you can easily disperse enemies with Control Water in your back pocket.

8

Earthquake

Earthquake is an incredibly powerful spell that allows you to take control of the battlefield and potentially cause high damage to enemies, depending on how you use it. Once you cast this spell, a terrifying tremor in a 100-foot radius circle emits, potentially knocking enemies prone.

You can also create 1d6 fissures or completely decimate structures with this spell. Because of its range, you could, in theory, cause the structure of an enemy encampment to collapse in on itself from outside its perimeter, potentially turning a TPK into an easy win for your party.

7

Forcecage

This spell can potentially turn an entire encounter completely on its head if you play your cards right. It does have pretty hefty material components, namely, ruby dust worth about 1,500 GP. But, the results are often worth it.

At a range of 100 feet, you can create an immobile, invisible prison that can encase anything within a 10-foot cube. Anyone found inside the cage is trapped, and can only teleport outside of it by first making a charisma saving throw, and the cage can block ethereal travel. This is great for trapping nonmagical enemies who are otherwise extremely powerful.

6

Plant Growth

Plant Growth is a wonderful utility spell that is great for both roleplay and combat. When you cast this spell, you can choose one of two different effects: either Overgrowth or Enrichment.

When you choose Overgrowth, every normal, nonmagical plant in a 100-foot-radius sphere becomes thick and overgrown, causing any creature moving through that area to spend four feet of movement for every one foot of normal movement. This is great for creating distance between enemies and your allies. Or, you can choose Enrichment, and all plants within a half-mile radius yield twice the amount of food they normally would.

5

Reverse Gravity

This powerful spell is a real game-changer and offers a fun and unique way to deal damage in combat. When you cast this spell and maintain concentration, you can reverse the flow of gravity in a 50-foot radius, 100-foot-high cylinder. Any creature or object in that area falls upward toward the top of the cylinder.

From there, you can try to inflict damage by positioning the cylinder underneath a ceiling, thus inflicting force damage from the blunt strike as creatures fly upward. Or, you can lift creatures, dispel the effect, causing everyone in the cylinder to fall, and immediately take 5d6 force damage from the fall.

4

Tsunami

Tsunami has one of the longest ranges of any spell available in the 2024 Player’s Handbook at one mile. With this spell, you can conjure a wall of water that can be up to 300 feet long and 300 feet high, as well as 50 feet thick.

This spell is incredibly powerful as you can not only cause 6d10 bludgeoning damage on creatures as soon as the wall appears, but for each subsequent turn, any creatures that are caught up in the wave also take damage (reduced by 1d10 each round), and are moved with the wall. So, with this spell, you can potentially cause upwards of 21d6 damage depending on how many creatures you capture along the way.

3

Hallucinatory Terrain

Hallucinatory Terrain is another great utility and roleplay spell that can come in handy if the situation is right. When you cast this spell, you can transform natural terrain within a 150-foot cube to look, sound, and smell like any other type of terrain. In theory, you could transform a snowy mountainside into a lush, green field.

The real trick with this spell is to use it to divert foes that might be looking for you. For example, if you want to protect the entrance to an encampment, you can transform a normal road leading to a fortress into a chasm that appears to drop passersby into a 100-foot crevasse, thus protecting your weak points.

2

Clairvoyance

If you’ve got the material components on hand for this spell (namely, a focus worth 100+ GP), this spell is well worth the effort. With this spell, you can create an invisible sensor within range, either in a location familiar to you, or an unfamiliar location that is obvious (i.e. on the other side of a wall).

You can use the sensor to either see or hear anything in the space where you cast the spell. You can also switch between these two as a bonus action. While this spell can be spotted with See Invisibility or Truesight, at lower levels of play, this spell is immensely powerful.

1

Meteor Swarm

Expert Dungeons & Dragons players know just how powerful and tide-turning the spell Meteor Swarm can be. With a range of one mile, you can cast this spell and cause fiery meteors to rain down at four different points within range. At impact, creatures take 20d6 fire damage and 20d6 bludgeoning damage on a failed save.

Obviously, the damage of this spell is incredible all on its own. But, what makes this spell truly powerful is its range. Like other spells on this list, because of the range, you can use this spell to deal a deadly first strike against opponents without even having to be in sight of them.