Spellcasting classes such as wizards, clerics, and druids are an iconic fixture of Dungeons & Dragons. While there are countless powerful spells that players can cast in order to strike down and defeat monsters, there are just as many that can be used to help allies in need. Whether these spells provide buffs or healing, the presence of support spells within a party can make or break a dangerous encounter.

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When selecting spells, there are numerous tempting options to choose from, and different classes are going to have very different choices at their disposal. While some classes are more predisposed to support than other, nearly all spellcasters in D&D 5th Edition have access to some kind of support spells.

Updated May 27, 2022 by Declan Lowthian: D&D has no shortage of helpful support spells for players to use on their adventures. While many of these come at high levels, there are support spells scattered throughout the spell lists of every D&D class. This list has been update to include some more low-level spells to help characters just starting their D&D careers.

15 Bless Helps On The Offensive And Defensive

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Though incapable of healing allies, Bless is an excellent first-level support spell option for clerics and paladins. It can be cast on up to three creatures, or more at the cost of a higher-level spell slot, and lets them all roll a d4 and add it to any attack roll or saving throw they make.

While 1d4 may not seem like a lot, 5th Edition's bounded accuracy design means that a +2 or +3 bonus will always be helpful. Even if Bless only turns one or two misses into hits, or saves a party from one spell, it is worth casting in almost every single encounter.

14 Spare The Dying Can Avert Disaster

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By and large one of the most useful support cantrips in D&D is Spare the Dying. Available to both clerics and artificers, this spell can be used to instantly stabilize a creature with zero hit points as long as that creature is neither undead nor a construct.

Rolling death saving throws can be one of the most terrifying and stressful things a player can do in D&D, and Spare the Dying can help a gravely injured ally without spending a spell slot. It might not be flashy, but being able to stabilize anyone with a touch is an invaluable tool to have.

13 Warding Wind Has A Variety Of Effects

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A second-level spell available to bards, druids, sorcerers, and wizards, Warding Wind has several defensive and supporting effects that can be useful in a wide variety of situations. It creates an aura of whirling winds around the caster, deafening them and anyone else nearby.

Warding Wind extinguishes small fires, disperses gas and fog, creates difficult terrain, and makes ranged attacks more difficult. Any one of these effects could be extremely useful in the right situation, so having Warding Wind prepared is a nice catch-all for anyone out adventuring.

12 Healing Word Is The Best Low-Level Heal

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Healing Word is the gold standard when it comes to low-level healing magic in D&D. A first-level spell with a range of sixty feet, this spell can heal its target for 1d4 plus the caster's spell casting modifier. While this spell may not seem like it heals very much, it can be used as a bonus action, allowing a player to heal an ally or themselves in the same turn they attack.

RELATED: Dungeons & Dragons: 10 Rare Magic Items You’d be Lucky to FindThe other major first-level healing spell, Cure Wounds, heals for a lot more, but is limited by being an action and requiring the caster to touch the recipient. Healing for even a few points can put a downed character back in the fight, potentially giving them a whole turn to attack and potentially end the fight, making Healing Word a must-have for any party healer.

11 Enhance Ability Is Right For Any Situation

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A second-level spell, Enhance Ability is an incredibly underrated spell that has numerous helpful applications, helping players much more frequently than they may expect. This spell's caster can touch a willing creature and choose one of the six ability scores. For the next hour, the target of this spell gains advantage on all checks made with the chosen score, including skill checks. The recipient also gains an additional effect when Constitution, Strength, and Dexterity are chosen, ranging from extra hit points to reduced falling damage.

10 Scatter Can Be A Stroke Of Tactical Brilliance

Positioning can make all the difference in a D&D encounter, and the sixth-level spell Scatter can really help get the party into a good order. It targets up to five creatures, allies and enemies alike, and teleports them to a solid location anywhere within 120 feet of the caster.

Since Scatter can target both allies and enemies, it can easily be used to rearrange the battlefield however the caster wants. Getting front-line attackers in next to the enemy caster or archers, or making sure the same thing doesn't happen in reverse, can make or break an entire fight.

9 Greater Restoration Can Bring A Creature Back

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When it comes to returning a creature to their normal, unhindered self, few spells can do the job quite like Greater Restoration. While the spell Lesser Restoration can end such as poison, paralysis, and blindness, Greater Restoration can deal with more hard-pressing problems such as curses that need to be removed or petrification. Greater Restoration can even deal with detrimental effects of spells that cause ability scores to be greatly reduced, such as Feeblemind.

8 Revivify Is The Earliest And Fastest Way To Reverse Death

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Nothing in D&D is scarier than the prospect of a player's character dying. While many of the most useful revival spells are not available to players until very high level, Revivify is a third-level revival option.

Revivify can be used to return a creature who has been dead for no more than one minute back to life. While this may seem like a small window of time to revive a fallen ally, time passes notably slow in combat. Revivify is a perfectly serviceable means of reviving a fellow party member in the heat of battle, as it takes just an action to cast.

7 The Investitures Are Wildly Versatile

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There are four Investiture spells, one for each element. Each of these spells has a different and unique effect appropriate for its element. They all have some kind of defensive quality for the caster, whether it be a damage resistance or rendering them harder to hit with ranged attacks, in the case of Investiture of Wind.

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The Investitures also have several other powerful effects, including enhanced mobility and extra attack options. The versatility of these spells means that the caster will almost certainly be able to find a way to help their allies using their newfound abilities.

6 Raise Dead And Reincarnate Can Be Used After Some Time Has Passed

Two spells with very similar applications and effects, Raise Dead and Reincarnate are fifth-level spells that are capable of reviving a creature that had been dead for no more than ten days. An upgrade to Revivify, Raise Dead brings back a deceased being in the way that one would expect and can affect a creature that has been dead for up to 10 days.

Reincarnate does not return the target's soul to its own body, but rather creates a new body with a randomly generated race for the individual to inhabit. While the potential change in species may take getting used to, it definitely beats being dead.

5 Enlarge/Reduce Has Two Different Modes

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Versatility is always a plus in D&D, and Enlarge/Reduce is essentially two spells in one. If the Enlarge option is cast, the target increases in size, gaining advantage on Strength checks and saving throws and dealing extra damage with its melee weapons. This can be a great way to enhance an ally in combat or increase their chances of succeeding at an important strength check.

Reduce, on the other hand, makes the target do less damage and gain disadvantage on Strength-based rolls. While this can be used offensively to reduce an enemy's effectiveness, it might also be used by a clever caster to shrink a stealthy ally and let them sneak into an area they might not otherwise be able to reach.

4 Mass Cure Wounds Heals More Than One Target

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While the majority of healing spells in D&D require the caster to designate a single target, Mass Cure Wounds is a spell capable of healing entire groups of creatures at once. Healing up to six creatures within a thirty-foot radius, this spell restores 3d8 plus the caster's spellcasting ability modifier hit points.

Mass Cure Wounds can easily help sway the tide of battle in the party's favor, even in the grimmest of situations. Like Healing Word, this spell's greatest benefit is being able to heal at range. Potentially saving one ally from death while keeping the rest of the party topped off is a great choice for any spellcaster who can take it.

3 Ceremony Can Give A Wide Variety Of Effects

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Ceremony is a cleric and paladin spell that allows the user to perform a special ritual, choosing from a long list of potential effects. The most obviously useful of these effects are the Coming of Age and Dedication options. The first lets a creature add a d4 to all their ability checks for 24 hours, while the second does the same for saving throws.

While a creature can only benefit from these rituals once, it can be a great way to get some extra bonuses on an important quest. There are some other fun options with the spell, including the ability to create holy water.

2 Mass Heal Is The Ultimate Healing Spell

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As one would expect from a ninth-level spell, Mass Heal is a stellar option that is as flexible as it is effective. When this spell is cast, the caster gains access to a massive pool of 700 hit points that they can distribute however they see fit among any number of creatures within 60 feet of them. When a spell makes Mass Cure Wounds start to look lackluster by proxy, that should really say something.

Mass Heal has a lot more applications than just healing everyone in the party back to their maximum. If cast in the midst of a massive battle, Mass Heal could cure an entire squadron of soldiers, potentially turning the tide. Alternatively, since the spell also cures all diseases, it could be used to rid a town of blight or contagion in an instant.

1 Wish Can Do Anything

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While it won't be cast in all but the highest-level campaigns, it's hard to find a more universally helpful spell than Wish. Capable of simultaneously bringing up to twenty creatures up to full health while also providing all the benefits of Greater Restoration, Wish can do it all. This spell can provide creatures with damage resistances, provide immunity to another spell, and even raise the dead.

Wish is one of the only options players have when it comes to restoring creatures struck by high-high level monster attacks, like a nightwalker's Life Eater trait or a sibirex's Warp Creature attack. This spell is so powerful, it will likely see only one or two uses before the campaign is over, but that's enough to make it the best support spell in D&D.