While paladins are spellcasters inDungeons & Dragons, most players would likely consider them to be martial characters focused on weapon damage, since they mainly tend to use their magic on “smites.“Paladins can apply smites to their attacks from the moment they gain their first spell slots, adding extra radiant damage to their hits. While the basic “divine smite” has been the go-to for a lot of paladins, there are other smite variants that deal different kinds of damage and apply additional effects.
In past versions ofD&D, theseother smite spells were considered much less powerful than divine smite, but the2024 Player’s Handbookhas made some huge changes to these powers that even the playing field.Now, every smite requires a bonus action to use,but can be used after an attack hits. Plus, only a few of the smite spells in this new book require concentration.
8Shining Smite Fails To Impress, In Damage Or Effect
All That Glitters Is Not Gold
Shining smite is a reworked version of a previously-existing spell, calledbranding smite. It is a 2nd-level paladin spell that adds 2d6 radiant damage to an attack and causes the target to take on a bright glow. The targets emits light from their body, cannot turn invisible, andall attacks against them are made with advantage for the duration of the spell. This sounds like a good spell; and honestly, it is. All of thesmite spells in the2024 Player’s Handbookcould be good in certain scenarios.
What it comes down to is whether the smite is worth the slot used to cast it, or if another option is just straight up better. And in the case ofshining smite, it can’t do anything that the other options can’t outperform. The damage is tied for the lowest out of any paladin smite for the spell slot it takes, even when upcast, and while radiant damage is a good type to deal, there is a better alternative for players just wanting that.
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The secondary effects of this spell seem powerful, and granting advantage for up to one minute is pretty strong. Butthis spell suffers from being one of the two smites that still requires concentration, meaning it can’t be used alongside something like haste or bless. And while the fact that this effect doesn’t require any saving throw to work is very nice, there are other ways to gain advantage on attack rolls that use resources more efficiently, especially for paladins.
7Wrathful Smite Has Potential, But Lacks The Power To Back It Up
Wrathful smite functions almost exactly the same as it did before, with one key change that makes it worse. Even given that, it’s not a bad option for paladins looking to debuff their enemies. The spell deals out 1d6 necrotic damage at 1st level and forces the target to make a wisdom saving throw. On a failure, that target is frightened of the paladin, a powerful condition thatgives them disadvantage on attack rolls and skill checks while they can see the paladin and keeps them from moving closer.
One smaller change here is that wrathful smite now deals necrotic instead of psychic damage, probably since no other smite deals that damage type, and it makes sense with the idea of inflicting fear. Both psychic and necrotic damage are rarely resisted, but occasionally enemies are immune to them.
Frightenedis good for making an enemy attacker less dangerous, and whilethe damage of this smite is awful(tied with shining smite in terms of spell slot cost), the main reason to use it is to shut down strong enemies. That being said, many of the smites in the new book have gotten better, and aside from no longer requiring concentration, wrathful smite has only gotten worse.
The old version of the spell said that enemies could use an action on their turn to try and make a save to stop the frightened condition. This way, even if an enemy manages to snap out of it immediately, they still lose at least one action if they fail the initial save. Now,the affected creature can simply make another save at the end of each of their turnsto stop the effect, which means wrathful smite is easier to get rid of without as much effort on the enemy’s part.
6Searing Smite Gets A Glow-Up, But Still Burns Out
Good Damage In Specific Situations
Searing smite gets the biggest improvement out of these spells from its weak previous version. The smite is useful for churning out sheer damage over time rather than all at once, thoughdespite its effect seeming like one that would require concentration, it does not. Searing smite deals 1d6 fire damage on the initial hit, and 1d6 more at the start of each of the target’s subsequent turns. In a perfect scenario, this spell could deal up to around 36 fire damage over one minute from one first-level spell slot.
Technically, searing smite has the highest average for guaranteed damage, if you consider the initial damage and the damage that occurs at the start of the target’s turn on a version of this spell upcast at 5th-level. Though, this damage is divided between the paladin’s turn and the target’s.
But anyone who has used this spell knows it will rarely last that long. This is becausethe target also makes a constitution saving throw at the beginning of each turn, shutting down the spell on a success.Monsters often have high con saves, and will succeed after three or four turns at the longest. This new version of the spell does deal more damage than its previous iteration, though, sincethe target makes the con save after taking the damage each turn rather than before.
In addition, this is one smite that is worth upcasting. The fire damage from both the initial hit and on each subsequent turn increases by 1d6 per level, meaning a 5th-level casting would deal at least 10d6 fire damage in one round. Fire damage is a little riskier to use than radiant, since many creatures are resistant or immune to it, but others are vulnerable, andthis spell can melt the right enemies.
5Staggering Smite Sounds Better Than It Is
Powerful, But Not Enough To Justify Its Staggering Cost
Staggering smite is one of the more costly smite spells, being 4th-level, and one would think that its damage would reflect that. Unfortunately,the 4d6 psychic damage it deals on a hit is just enough to tie it for the lowest damage outputwith shining and wrathful smite. But much like wrathful smite, this spell is more useful for its secondary effect than its damage. The target must succeed on a wisdom save when hit or become stunned until the end of the paladin’s next turn.
Stunned is a great effect for players to inflict,possibly robbing a tough enemy of their whole turn,taking their reaction, and gaining advantage on attack rolls against them. It only lasts for one turn, unlike the effects of other paladin spells, but it doesn’t take up concentration like its previous version. However, taking one turn away from one enemy is not worth the 4th-level slot cost in many cases.
When paladins gain 4th-level slots, they can use them to cast banishment, death ward, and many other powerful spells that are beneficial for longer periods than staggering smite. Stunned is good, but potentially stunning one creature for one round is not worth that much magic. This, plus the fact thatmany monsters are immune to being stunned,decreases the usefulness of this smite well below what one would expect it to be for its cost.
4Banishing Smite Is Great If You Can Meet Its Requirements
A Powerful Move For High-Level Players
Banishing smite is the highest-level smite spell available in the2024 Player’s Handbook, and it comes with one of the most powerful effects. The smite itself adds 5d10 force damage to a hit, a sizeable amount of a rarely-resisted damage type, and on top of that, has an additional effect if the target is left with 50 or fewer hit points. If a target is left with health that low,they must succeed on a charisma saving throw or be banished for the duration of the spell.
The spell lasts up to a minute and requires concentration, making it very similar to the 4th-level spellbanishment, just with added damage that is guaranteed once the paladin hits with an attack. Plus, this effect requires a charisma saving throw, a type of save that is often pretty low for a lot of monsters.The effect has a good chance of working each time it is used, as long as players can be relatively sure that the enemy will end up in the proper health bracket.
The usefulness of spells like banishing smite and power word: kill are somewhat dependent on the style of the DM, since some let players know how much health enemies have remaining, and others do not.
But that brings up a pretty big problem with this spell. Paladins get 5th-level spells at level 17, when they and most of the party will have enough damage output per turn to easily decimate anything left standing with less than 50 hit points. There might be niche opportunities when the banishment comes in handy, but often,it would be better to just upcast a more damaging smiteand finish them off. This spell is powerful, but that factor and the fact it requires concentration pull down its strength quite a bit.
3Thunderous Smite Brings The Lightning
Subpar Damage Held Up By A Fantastic Secondary Effect
Thunderous smite was one of the best non-divine smite options in previous versions ofD&D, and it continues to perform very well. Its damage, 2d6 thunder on a hit, is middling at best and does not scale well when upcast. Butthis smite is great due to the secondary effects it has if the target fails a strength saving throw.
On a failure, creatures that are large or smaller are knocked backwards 10 feet and are prone, a condition that gives melee attacks against them advantage. Pushing creatures around the map is powerful on its own. But adding knocking them prone givesthis smite spell a lot of utility and reasons to use it beyond dealing damage.
With the concentration requirement lifted, this smite is better than ever before.
There are only a few things holding thunderous smite back. For one, it specifies thatit makes a loud sound audible for 300 feet around its origin point,which could be detrimental in certain dungeons as it will attract attention. For another thing, while constitution and dexterity are the saving throws most monsters are very good at, many of them aren’t bad at strength saves either. Still, with the concentration requirement lifted, this smite is better than ever before.
2Divine Smite Remains Strong
This Iconic Spell Cannot Be Held Back
Despite now costing a bonus action and having little else about it changed,divine smite remains one of the best ways to use a paladin’s spell slots.This is because it has the highest immediate damage output of all the smite spells at any given spell slot level, especially if the foe is undead or infernal. Divine smite deals 2d8 radiant damage on a hit, plus one extra if the target is an undead or a fiend.
Unlike many of the smite options, which scale poorly and are mostly useful for their secondary effects, divine smite is all about instant damage. It scales well with higher-level slots, andno longer has a cap on how much damage it is allowed to do. It can be cast with a 5th-level slot to deal up to 7d8 radiant damage against its specialized foes, and even more with certain multiclass builds.
Paladins can no longer divine smite multiple times a turn, which does decrease their damage output. But the fact that this remains so high on the list is maybe an indicator that it was too powerful before.Paladins have more to offer than extremely high radiant damage, and now they are more incentivized to experiment with their other abilities. And, if they still want to strike whatever is in front of them with the power of the sun, divine smite is still a tool in their shed.
1Blinding Smite Finds The Balance Between Damage And Debuffs
All A Paladin Can Ask For In One Move
More than any of the others,blinding smite finds the perfect matchof high damage and a powerful ability. It’s a 3rd-level spell, meaning it comes online in the mid-game for many campaigns, and works similar to divine smite with an added bonus. It deals a base amount of 3d8 radiant damage on a hit, one less than divine smite, butif the target fails a constitution saving throw, they become blinded.
Blindess is a powerful debuff, giving attacks against a blinded creature advantage, their attacks disadvantage, andcausing them to automatically fail any check that requires sight. The exact interpretation of that last point is somewhat up to debate, but the fact remains that blinding an enemy can be just as, if not more useful than frightening or banishing them. Being able to do that while still churning out pretty sizable radiant damage is very strong.
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The weak point of blinding smite is thatit uses a constitution saving throw, which many monsters will have good bonuses for.Plus, they get a chance on their turn to try and end the effect with another save. However, they make this save at the end of their next turn, not the beginning, meaningplayers will get at least one round of them being blindedas long as they fail the initial save. Blinding smite sits squarely in the middle of the smite spells, both in terms of slot requirement and damage, and has become one of the paladin’s best smite options.
