Blade Barrier: The Meat Grinder

Usable By: Cleric

Spell Level: 6

School: Evocation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 90 feet

Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes

Components: V, S

You create a vertical wall of whirling, razor-sharp blades made of magical energy. The wall appears within range and lasts for the duration. You can make a straight wall up to 100 feet long, 20 feet high, and 5 feet thick, or a ringed wall up to 60 feet in diameter, 20 feet high, and 5 feet thick. The wall provides three-quarters cover to creatures behind it, and its space is difficult terrain.

When a creature enters the wall’s area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, the creature must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 6d10 slashing damage. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage.

Review by Sam West, Twitter @CrierKobold

Also known as “The Meat Grinder”, Blade Barrier exists for high level clerics who want to mirror what Wizards can do with their fancy wall spells while simultaneously chopping enemies into mince meat.

The spell is ripe for party abuse, and can easily be manipulated to output huge amounts of damage over and over again.

Effective uses of Blade Barrier can be tricky. If this is a spell you’re thinking about taking, know it isn’t an every combat kind of spell. It’s placement, shape, and location relative to others makes or breaks it. The cover it grants helps it be somewhat generally applicable, but if you want to use Blade Barrier to its fullest potential you’ll need coordination and teammates to help.

Blade Barrier’s power is closely tied to its wording; The text “When a creature enters the wall’s area for the first time on **a turn** or starts its turn there,” allows a creature to conceivably be damaged in every turn in initiative.

This can happen by a creature both entering and exiting the barrier on each turn. A simple push in place of an attack from a melee character can get a creature caught in the blades. Characters with multiple attacks can get multiple creatures in with no trouble by shoving in place of each attack.

Getting creatures out of the barrier is a bit more tricky; spells like Gust of Wind and Thorn Whip jump to mind as easy ways to get them out safely, and can be used to get creatures on the other side pulled in. Two characters with Thunderwave on opposite sides of the wall can play ping pong with enemies and rip them to shreds.

To showcase how to abuse this spell, here is an example round:

- The cleric acts first, surrounding their allies and a lone enemy with Blade Barrier.

- The fighter acts next and successfully shoves the enemy into the barrier.

- The enemy spends its turn disengaging and backing out of the barrier away from the group.

- On the druid’s turn, they cast Gust of Wind to push the monster back into the Blade Barrier.

In this tame example, the single enemy is taking between 9d10 and 18d10 slashing damage.

This isn’t a huge ask for the spell, either; the spell can hit huge lines of creatures on cast and subsequently be abused to shred whole groups to bits.

Keep in mind larger creatures can potentially use the meat grinder better than you; sure, you may initially get your damage in on it and can make walls to specifically attack larger creatures, but with little effort large creatures can throw your allies into the spinning blades of death you created.

Blade Barrier isn’t just a double-edged sword- it's a million-edged one. Use it wisely.

5e Spells

Blade Barrier: The Meat Grinder