Complete Guide to Acid Damage Spells in D&D 5e
by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
Acid Damage has been historically disrespected by Wizards of the Coast. There have been a handful of spells in the history of the game that can deal Acid damage, and their quality isn’t typically the highest.
There are multiple levels that don’t get any new way to deal acid damage or have any spells at those levels that always do acid damage, which is a shame. 5e is a bit light on persistent damaging effects; spells that eat enemies away over time with acid seem like an easy design direction to explore, but that exploration has moved at a snail’s pace.
Some modern additions have brought the damage type slightly closer to par with damage types like Fire and Cold; here is a source for all the current Acid damage-based spells, and a comprehensive ranking of each in comparison to each other!
Acid Damage Spells by Level
The following spells can deal Acid damage when cast. Each can only deal Acid damage, deal Acid damage randomly, or has the option to deal Acid damage.
Spells that Deal Acid Damage
| Spell Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| Cantrip | Acid Splash, Primal Savagery |
| 1st | Absorb Elements*, Chaos Bolt*, Chromatic Orb, Tasha’s Caustic Brew |
| 2nd | Acid Arrow, Dragon’s Breath |
| 3rd | Elemental Weapon, Glyph of Warding, Hunger of Hadar |
| 4th | Elemental Bane, Vitriolic Sphere |
| 5th | Summon Draconic Spirit |
| 6th | - |
| 7th | Prismatic Spray* |
| 8th | Illusory Dragon |
| 9th | Prismatic Wall, Storm of Vengeance |
| (Spells with a * can deal acid damage, but only randomly.) | |
Spells that Always Deal Acid Damage by Level
The following spells always deal Acid damage when they deal damage. They can also deal an additional damage type to qualify, such as Acid and Cold damage.
Spells that Always Deal Acid Damage
| Spell Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| Cantrip | Acid Splash, Primal Savagery |
| 1st | Tasha’s Caustic Brew |
| 2nd | Acid Arrow |
| 3rd | Hunger of Hadar |
| 4th | Vitriolic Sphere |
| 5th | - |
| 6th | - |
| 7th | - |
| 8th | - |
| 9th | Storm of Vengeance |
Acid Damage Spells by Class
The following are in order of spell level per class encompassing any spell that can deal Acid damage. Spells with parentheses following them are accessible through the specified subclass.
Acid Splash
Absorb Elements
Tasha’s Caustic Brew
Acid Arrow (Alchemist)
Elemental Weapon
Glyph of Warding
Elemental Bane
Glyph of Warding
Prismatic Spray
Prismatic Wall
Elemental Weapon (Forge)
Glyph of Warding
Primal Savagery
Absorb Elements
Acid Arrow (Land)
Elemental Weapon
Elemental Bane
Summon Draconic Spirit
Storm of Vengeance
All Acid Damage Spells Ranked Worst to Best
All acid damage spells aren’t created equally. For your consideration, here is my ranking for the worst to best Acid-damaging spells in the game. Any spell that can deal acid damage is included in this ranking, even if only some versions of the cast deal that damage type.
These rankings aren’t ranking the total acid damage a spell is capable of dealing but how useful the spell will likely be on a character sheet. Let's dive in!
F Tier: Near Uncastable
18. Storm of Vengeance: 9th-level spells normally have splashy, exciting impacts on the game. Storm of Vengeance deals pitiful damage round after round. You start with 2d6 thunder round one, get a measly 1d6 acid damage round two, a few lighting bolts round 3 for 10d6 damage, and each round after that does pathetic quantities of damage. You don’t even get the heavy obscurity until you’ve had it up for five rounds, so that can’t be the main reason you’re using it. Given the only other thing this joke of a spell does is less damage over three rounds than plenty of lower-level spells, I can’t rate this anything higher than an F.
17. Chaos Bolt: Chaos Bolt does less damage than it should and fails to meaningfully deliver on the promise of being a fun, chaotic effect. Most characters that take this are better off casting Chromatic Orb or any other 1st level damaging spell than this.
16. Elemental Bane: While flavorful, Elemental Bane is a horrendous way to spend a spell slot. You need to be actively working with some other character who is routinely dealing acid damage every round for this to start dealing damage, and more often than not, you’re getting pitiful damage numbers. The only exception is if you’re in a group that entirely does only acid damage, in which case this might be better than some of the D-tier options above it, but you’re almost always going to be better off just casting a damaging spell over this.
15. Prismatic Spray: 10d6 damage for a 7th-level slot is a terrible rate. One in eight times, this might do twice that, but you have no control over it. Like Chaos Bolt, this fails to do anything interesting with the chaotic elements of it and feels like a waste of paper that is outclassed by most other area-of-effect damage spells in the game.
D Tier: Most Sheets Don’t Want These
14. Glyph of Warding: Glyph of Warding is a novel effect, but the reality of most D&D games is defensive spells you have to palace somewhere and get an enemy to trigger are incredibly difficult to use. Adventurers are aggressors; you’re going to be pushing into spaces far more often than holding one.
The main practical benefit of it is using it to abuse duplicating Concentration effects that are 3rd level or lower for 200 gold per cast. If you want an hour-long spell cast to get a bonus hour-long concentration spell like a second Summon Beast or Shadowspawn, this can work, but most tables aren’t going to find that this fits their adventuring schedule.
13. Prismatic Wall: The wall spells are ticky and weird to play with, and none highlights this more than Prismatic Wall. It usually is just a tool you try to push things into to get all the effects at once. For a 9th-level spell, that is way too much work for not nearly enough payoff when spells like Wish and Meteor Swarm are among its competition. If you can get something forced through it, you’re getting 50d6 damage with a potential restrain and blind, which is great, sure, but not anything to write home about when it comes to the highest-level spells in the game.
12. Primal Savagery: Poison Spray wasn’t a spell people were bending over backward to make work, and that deals a d12 damage. Primal Savagery has an even lower range, and while it deals a unique damage type, fails to actually satisfy the fantasy of growing massive claws and mauling an enemy with them. A 1d10 damage melee weapon attack is usually just a worse version of Shillelagh which melee ranged druids will take over this every time. If you plan on casting a melee-ranged cantrip past 5th level, this scaling will eventually overtake Shillelagh, so maybe a handful of characters playing in a mid to upper-tier game with a heavy resource tax will find some use for this.
11. Hunger of Hadar: Hunger does a weird mix of Cold and Acid damage in a Fireball area. It has two instances of 2d6 damage, first cold, then acid. Not only are these damage numbers laughable when stood up against its competition, but without ways to keep creatures in the area, they can easily leave the 20 ft. radius area and suffer even less from it.
To make matters worse, this is a Warlock-exclusive 3rd level spell that doesn’t benefit from upcasting. Past 6th level, if you want to cast Hunger of Hadar, you’re wasting higher level slots on this effect.
If you have a lot of tools for keeping enemies in it, I could see it being something to play with at exactly 5th and 6th level, but beyond that this option is horrendous.
C Tier: Have a Home on Some Characters
10. Acid Arrow: Also known as Melf’s Acid Arrow, this 4d4 Acid damaging blast isn’t getting many people excited. With both instances of damage giving it 6d4 for a 2nd level slot it’ll feel fine, but when the half-damage is just 2d4 with no bonus die, I’m unimpressed. If you want a tool to through a reasonable chunk of acid at somebody, this spell can serve you well enough for its cost.
9. Chromatic Orb: 3d8 damage for a 1st level slot is entirely fine. Chromatic Orb is the floor of 1st level damage spells; anything less than this and it’s not getting onto my characters, especially if I’m mainly looking for a specific kind of damage to fulfill a role in creating an elementalist or other damage-type fantasy. There are better damage options like Magic Missile available to you, and they’re better by a lot, because they can’t miss, but plenty of characters in the low tiers can make great use of this.
8. Acid Splash: I’ve always wanted to love Acid Splash; having tried it now on a handful of characters, I can say with confidence the boon of getting one extra creature to take 1d6 damage doesn’t make it better than higher damage single-target options, or options that do something else beyond damage. If you’re building an acid-based caster, this option is fine, but otherwise, I’d go with most of its damage competition over it.
7. Elemental Weapon: It's hard for me to say this is fine for some characters, namely because Hunter’s Mark and Hex both exist and do most of what Elemental Weapon is doing, but better in terms of dice size. +1 to hit, though, alongside making your weapon magical, makes this a massive upgrade from the mundane Magic Weapon, leaving it as something I still don’t want to have to cast, but it does improve your damage and hit modifiers meaningfully.
B Tier: Solid Options on Many Characters
6. Vitriolic Sphere: 15d4 damage over two instances is entirely reasonable area of effect damage for a 4th-level spell. It's worse should a creature pass the save than Fireball, but is close enough to one of the best damage spells in the game that you’ll be pretty happy with it if Acid damage is what you’re looking for.
5. Dragon’s Breath: A bonus action setup for a repeatable 15 ft. cone of damage will stretch your resources in the early tiers, as you can just commit to one 2nd level spell for a fight and not need to mess around with the far worse damaging options cantrips tend to cover.
As far as effective ways to deal acid damage over multiple rounds goes, I think this is one of the best and cheapest options you get access to.
4. Tasha’s Caustic Brew: For an even cheaper way to deal Acid damage, Tasha’s Caustic Brew is for you. 2d4 damage isn’t the best, but it hits a great area and forces enemies in the low tiers to either burn an action removing the acid or continue to take 2d4 bonus damage. If you ever get 4d4 damage out of it on more than one creature its great. If it ever does some damage and eats an action, it's excellent.
3. Illusory Dragon: Despite you literally creating an Illusory Dragon that flies around and blasts breath weapons at people, this spell works closer to an Arcane Hand than a Summon Draconic Spirit. In that context, though, Illusory Dragon is one of the best bonus action damaging spells in the game. An 8th-level spell needs to be dealing north of 14d6 damage to justify casting it as a damage spell; this spell gives you half that damage each turn it's out. Getting two uses from it isn’t a particularly high bar, and should anything opt to waste actions trying to discern this is an illusion instead of attacking you, you’re getting even more out of it.
The short duration, cost, and concentration component are holding this back from A tier. Casting an 8th-level spell for one round of 7d6 damage before losing concentration and getting nothing further is rough. As long as you get three rounds from this, though, it’ll be superb.
If you want a top-end acid-damaging spell, this by far is the best option you’ve got.
A Tier: Excellent Spells for Anyone
2. Summon Draconic Spirit: Summon Draconic Spirit can act as a bonus blast of acid damage every round, no action required by you. This is on top of two, three, or four attacks based on the spell slot used. It's large as well, meaning if you’re medium and want a flying mount, you’ve got it here. We’re seeing a pattern emerge for Acid spells- if you want decent tools to deal area-of-effect acid damage, seek draconic assistance.
1. Absorb Elements: Absorb Elements is cheap to cast, using only a reaction and a 1st level slot, is on a ton of spell lists, and reduces incoming damage substantially. The bonus acid damage you then deal on a hit is gravy; the main use case of this is helping you survive enemy Vitriolic Spheres and Fireballs. Any character that can put Absorb Elements on their sheet, especially those past 5th level, will benefit from having it.
Best Classes for Acid Damage Spells
There aren’t a ton of acid damaging spells making a lot of classes lack any major support for using this damage type. There’s a massive disparity between the top 3 and bottom 6 classes when it comes to Acid Damaging spells.
9. Bard: It turns out getting only Prismatic Spray, Prismatic Wall, and Glyph of Warding doesn’t exactly set a class up to deliver on the Acid Damage fantasy. Bards can get any of these spells through Magical Secrets, but with how restricted their quantity of known spells is already, I don’t think you can meaningfully bring together an acid-slinging caster within Bard as well as the other classes.
8. Cleric: Cleric doesn’t fair much better, but at least Forge can deal acid damage round after round with Elemental Weapon. It's better than nothing!
7. Paladin: Paladin is only higher than Cleric because it can make two attacks each turn with Elemental Weapon. Slightly more acid damage per round! Huzzah!
6. Ranger: Ranger’s one-up paladins by getting one of the best reactions in the game that can deal acid damage- Absorb Elements- while having superior ranged options to deliver acid damage with Elemental Weapon.
5. Warlock: Warlocks, specifically Hexblades, get Elemental Weapon with Extra Attack and Hunger of Hadar. Sure, D-Tier spells aren’t that compelling of a reason to go with Warlock over Ranger or Paladin, but it technically has better resources for dealing Acid damage than the other two.
4. Druid: Druid finally has some unique options, but those unique options are Acid Arrow in Circle of the Land (Swamp), Primal Savagery, and Storm of Vengeance, none of which are great reasons to build with that damage type in mind. Still, Acid Arrow can be a fine base to build a bull-caster from, as its up-cast damage improves 2d4 at a time, and Primal Savagery gives you access to the damage type way sooner than all five other classes. The only other major boon it has is Summon Draconic Spirit, which is fine and all, but other classes have far better lower-tier spells to deliver the acid-spewer archetype meaningfully.
3. Artificer: Tasha’s Caustic Brew and Acid Splash easily set Artificer up as the best class so far for dealing acid damage. They’re both cheap, easily recastable, and work in tandem with Battle Smith and Armorers using Elemental Weapon for multiple melee acid attacks each round. Artillerist even has access to Acid Arrow if you want to lean more into the acid spells.
2. Wizard: Wizards have all the best spells Artificers have for dealing bulk acid damage with some new toys and double the spell power backing them. Dragon’s Breath gives you a great tool for round after round acid damage with a 3d6 cone, and Vitriolic Sphere is a great area damage spell that compares fairly well to Fireball, making this option have a great time in the early and mid-tiers when it comes to dealing ample acid damage. It even tops off with Illusory Dragon for a splashy upgrade to Dragon’s Breath with a way larger area and bonus action activation!
1. Sorcerer: Sorcerer gets most of what Wizard gets but with one massive difference: Metamagic. Metamagic can twin spells like Chromatic Orb and Acid Arrow to double damage potential, and Quickened Spell empowers Acid Splash to get it all over the place. All it's lacking is Illusory Dragon, but when that’s an 8th-level spell most tables aren’t reaching anyway, the sheer bonus flexibility and power that comes with Metamagic gives Sorcerer the number one spot.
Acid Spells are Few, but Fitting
While there aren’t the strongest options for dealing Acid damage, there are a handful of fun, unique damage effects that come with this damage type. Vitriolic Sphere and Tasha’s Caustic Brew both stand out to me as reimaginings of typical evocation damage spells with a distinct acidic twist that I think works pretty well to both deliver its fantasy and differentiate it mechanically from other damage types.
Take this information with you, and sling acid every which way to disintegrate your foes with ease!
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