Level Up Your D&D Game with The 5 Best Cantrips for 2024!

[@colbyrackler3915]

I also like the new starry whisp cantrip because it prevents creatures from becoming invisible, which while obscure-it does happen, so spamming this will make enemies not able to invisible bs. It's also a Druid/Bard cantrip which is nice for casters who usually don't have blasty cantrips.

[@glitchking666]

Prestidigitation is the ultimate cantrip. As for minor illusion use mold earth to dig a deep hole use the dirt excavated to create a choke point and use minor illusion to make it look like solid ground

[@ThisCrits]

Creativity cantrips are always hard to qualify similar to Minor illusion since its all dependant on creativity. That made making this list pretty darn difficult hahahah

[@TxSonofLiberty]

Depends on your needs... Minor Illusion and Druidcraft have much better range...

[@dwaynewrighton8547]

I like grabbing prestidigitation via cartomancer

[@TxSonofLiberty]

Slight correction (and not a bad one), due to 2024 rules, Ray of Frost can benefit from most if not all Eldritch Invocations that used to be exclusive to Eldritch Blast... a good pair to use is Lance of Lethargy and Repelling Blast... now the Ray of Frost slows them 20 feet, not 10, pushes them back 10, and pairs very well with Summon Shadowspawn (Despair Form) for shutting down a foe's movement... if you use the extended content, further slow them with Fathomless Warlock's Tentacles of the Deep, and now you can put the Shadowspawn AND Tentacles on them on them round 1, then on consecutive rounds you Ray of Frost them for 20 feet of lost movement, Bonus Action hit them with the Tentacles of the Deep that Reduces their speed an added 10 feet until your next turn, then when they start their turn within 5' of the Shadowspawn, it reduces their speed by 20 feet til the Shadowspawn recieves.

[@ThisCrits]

Oh dang I didn't realize that! I will definitley be looking into this soon hahaha

[@oniminikui]

IMO, Prestidigitation, Mending, and Guidance should be part of the top 5 cantrips. I might even add Elementalism to the list. Mind Sliver (=) or Vicious Mockery (=) Encode Thoughts (-) or Guidance (+) Minor Illusions (-) or Prestidigitation (+) Considering minor illusions cannot move, I prefer using prestidigition is sell an illusion Ray of Frost (=) or Elementalism (=) Message (-) or Mending (+) I've used mending to conceal messages in an egg shell and sometimes oil for potential projectiles

[@Godzillawolf1]

I love Minor Illusion. My Sorcerer uses it and as she's a painter, I have her paint the illusions into being and regularly use it just for fun.

[@ThisCrits]

Thats such a fun narrative use for Minor Illusion!

[@Godzillawolf1]

@@ThisCrits Thanks. It's Eve of Ruin, and since I'm an Aarakocra (well, Reborn Aarakocra), the DM let me explain the story of the Rod of Seven Parts and I did it by using Minor Illusion to illistrate the story with a series of metal album cover paintings.

[@nickm9102]

Chill touch used to be my go to but in 5e renerfed they changed it to a touch range so it needs an Owl familiar to support it now. Minor illusion is very much a useful spell you can do the obvious hiding but you can also do something like make a map to show someone, replicate the appearance of someone to show another person, if you still have 2014 keen mind you could commit a document to memory and produce an image of it for the recipient. Encode thoughts also changes the role of courier. Carry a memory of the information and then have the recipient absorb the memory.

[@ThisCrits]

Theres so mmany interesting uses for a bunch of the cantrips! Between Minor illusion, encode thoughts, presditigitation, etc you pretty much have a catch all for any situation lol

[@patrickmcathey7081]

Chill touch used to be my go-to as well that range nerf murdered it

[@nickm9102]

@@patrickmcathey7081 unfortunately, with the change I now go with shocking Grasp for the reaction removal and ray of Frost but I am considering mind sliver as a replacement. Too bad it doesn't work with spell sniper.

[@harrisonyoung987]

good 1

[@ThisCrits]

Good 2!

[@shallendor]

Chill Touch was my favorite Cantrip in 5E, it allowed me to solo kill a Cleric while i was hidden in foliage, avoiding the spider she had summoned to attack me, and i used Chill Touch book ended with Fireballs! It created a hand that touched someone for damage! Fits the name!

[@ThisCrits]

Yea! The chill touch nerf in 2024 is a big shame >

[@HoosierJedi]

During an ambush, I used Minor Illusion to make it look like a brink wall was suddenly blocking a door. Stopped the guard who was running for backup long enough for us to kill him and infiltrait the castle without issue.

[@ThisCrits]

Thats fantastic hahah

[@WolfHreda]

00:20 I would definitely argue against Mind Sliver being the most powerful cantrip in 5e, 2024 or otherwise. I would not, however, argue that it's definitely one of my favorites. I take it with every caster who can.

[@ThisCrits]

Thats fair! :D

[@andrewandsueniemeyer6958]

I have to agree. If you're in a caster heavy party, with a lot of shutdown spells, like banish, anything that debunks saves is gold. No attacks coming at you is best... But if you're in a party of melee martial who don't target saves... Half damage save spells like fireball from you party members it doesn't improve much, you would be better off using a leveled spell per math or a "repelling blast" to put them into a fireball formation for that other caster

[@HerrderGezeiten23]

The key for Nr.1 in my books is with Sorcerer Quickend Spell Sorcerer Innat Sorcery DC +1 Mind Sliver 1d6 ~+3,5 Metamagic Quickend Spell -> Fun + Metamagic Empowered Spell Disadvantage on ALL saves for this Spell for 1 creature DC = 8 + spellcasting ability modifier + proficiency 20 Wizard DC should be 8+5+6 at level 20 -> 19 20 Sorcerer DC with this should be 8+5+6 +1+3,5 -> 23,5 + Disadvantage Something is Chrushed by a save Spell with Disadvantage ? -> Just blast again and again with Mind Sliver and Quicken Spell that sticks like super glue. On the other classes it is nice but on the sorcerer it is a supercharger for Spells. ---- Level 10 against a Aboleth (+8 Int Saves) Sorcerer 8+ 4 + 4 +1 +3,5 ~ DC 20,5 + Disadvantage with out Magic Weapon bonuses Would need to roll a ~12 with Disadvantage Sorcerer vs an 8 with out Disadvantage for a Mage.

[@andrewandsueniemeyer6958]

I think prestidigitation is still the king of cantrips (maybe thaumaturgy or druidcraft for the classes that don't get prestidigitation, or mage hand). Its just way too useful. Either way only get 1 of the 4 (see below) Minor illusion is still the second best in the hands of a creative or experienced player. After that, it gets much more situational. Eldritch blast and force damage are solid, especially in builds that cheese the multiple attacks aspect. Although the changes to warlocks made this less... I like your argument for ray of frost in an open combat where your party maintains distance/mobile, but if your party is melee based..... (1 damage isn't that much of a sacrifice). Making it a repelling blast as well would be better. Chill touch is solid for a mobility based caster, who gets in and gets out... or a rogue dip- Move, attach, bonus action disengage, especially with piking up via magic initiate or similar feats. Message and encode thoughts are way too situational and non-combat for an increasingly combat focused game. (Which is why you should only get one of prestidigitation, mage hand, druidcraft, or thaumaturgy) Bane is a better choice than mind sliver, leveled spell, or not. Most DPR in damage calculations of half damage save spells is from enemies making saves... for the same logic of bless, even though Bane requires a save. Silvery barbs if you want a specific enemy to fail

[@ThisCrits]

Prestidigitation and Minor illusion are both sort of difficult to encapsulate simply due to the amount that they can do lol. I chose minor illusion, but both are great! I am really not a fan of the new chill touch though. Making it a melee spell attack is just such a hit. As for the rest, Bane is of course going to be better than mind sliver since its a leveled spell! Given that Mind Sliver is an intelligence save I think that while single target for 1 save, can be much more impactful or reliable than bane. That being said both are great spells!

[@ulasdorak6190]

this encode thoughts cantrip sounds a bit interesting, time to give my dm another anxiety attack before they have a chance to recover from "ghost smell" LOL

[@ThisCrits]

Dude Encode Thoughts has some really cool potential, its a shame its so oddly worded lol. And beward the ghost smell, its op.

[@ericpeterson8732]

I like the NEW cantrips. Starry Wisp is better than Produce Flame and has a cool debuff. And Bards get it, which is awesome because their only damaging cantrip is vicious mockery, which does a d4. The other new cantrip I really like is sorcerous burst. Flexible damage type, decent damage, and a bouncing effect. Now, it's only for sorcerers, but it's a cool spell.

[@ThisCrits]

I loveeeeeee Sorcerous Burst! Also, side note but Vicious Mockery got increased to a d6 in 2024 =D

[@ryanweaver3348]

Why do you keep saying fireball? It isn't a cantrip. I was thinking you were mispronouncing fire bolt, but you did actually say that properly at least a couple times. So yes, fireball would not be on anyone's "best cantrips" list.

[@ThisCrits]

That's a great question. If I had to guess its probably a freudian slip lol

[@beersontap]

These are exactly what is wrong with 5th ed. Power creep is so ridiculous that the modern game is almost unplayable.

[@ThisCrits]

I hard agree with the sentiment but think its more prevalent in the leveled spells. The only spells in this video not from original 5e are Mind Sliver and Encode Thoughts.

[@avengingblowfish9653]

“Best cantrips for 2024” - …only suggests cantrips that are unchanged from 2014. 😢 Where’s True Strike, Acid Splash, or Blade Ward which all got significant buffs? True Strike deals more damage than Firebolt in most cases…

[@ThisCrits]

I really like all of the changes made to those spells but personally I don't think they were enough to put them over any I mentioned. But I do have to say I really enjoy the new blade ward lol

[@CoIdnestea]

Fireball isnt a cantrip.

[@suzanneromijnders6320]

FirebOlT ;)

[@ThisCrits]

wait what?

[@suzanneromijnders6320]

@@ThisCrits He said fireBOLT, which is a cantrip, not fireBALL, which is a leveled spell.

[@jeffloeb9611]

I noticed this as well. Firebolt is a cantrip and fireball is a level 3 spell. The youtuber said fireball at the beginning when he meant to say firebolt.