D&D 5e Sorcerer Subclasses Ranked Worst to Best
by Prince Phantom
The base Sorcerer is kinda boring, with Metamagic being the only standout feature to make up for our low number of spells known. With a smaller spell list, less spells known, and no ritual casting, Metamagic alone isn’t enough to justify playing a Sorcerer over a Wizard besides for multiclassing with classes like Warlock and Paladin.
That puts pressure on the subclasses to stand out and be desirable enough to make me actually want to play one over a Wizard. To be clear, the worst Sorcerer subclass is still miles better than even something like the Monk’s best subclass, but that doesn’t mean the bad ones get off scot free. There is a big gulf of quality between the worst and best options here.
8: Draconic Bloodline
Building around a single damage type is a bad strategy even in the best of cases. Draconic Bloodline doesn’t force you to to that, and Transmute Spell makes it slightly easier to do, but if you don’t then this isn’t offering you much at all. Having to spend a Sorcery Point to get our resistance is a complete rip off as well. Permanent flight at level 14 is nice at least, but other than that there’s nothing to be excited about here.
7: Wild Magic
You could make the argument for Wild Magic being the worst and I’d have a tough time arguing with you. The DM buy-in required for this to even do anything is the biggest problem, even bigger than the potential of Fireballing ourself.
Still, if your DM does play along, Tides of Chaos is one of the most consistent and plentiful sources of advantage in the entire game, and that might just be enough for your build, especially if it’s anything like the insane build I made for this site that seeks to trigger surges as often as possible.
6: Storm Sorcery
Storm Sorcery is conflicted in terms of how it wants you to play it. Tempestuous Magic wants to help you stay away from foes, but Heart of the Storm wants you to be close to them. A Sorcerer should avoid melee at all costs, so even if this did stick to that theme, it would still be bad.
There also aren’t that many great Lightning and Thunder damage spells, especially past 3rd level, and we already talked about how building around a damage type is a bad idea. Even if we did, the damage from Heart of the Storm is laughably bad. Still, I actually quite like the 14th and 18th level features, so I suppose that’s enough to keep it from the bottom.
5: Shadow Magic
Nothing to really get excited about until Hound of Ill Omen at level 6, but that is genuinely a really good feature. It almost makes Shadow Magic feel like a “pet” subclass skin to the Beast Master. However, the lack of any real scaling on the hound makes it hard to keep alive as the game goes on.
Being able to see through your own Darkness is neat and helps certain builds, just be mindful that the rest of your party does not share this benefit and be careful where you place the darkness. Shadow Walk is a 14th level ripoff of a 6th level Monks subclass feature, and that should tell you all you need to know about that.
The capstone is a very expensive way to get resistance to basically everything, and that’s boring and lame. Go into this subclass with a plan to use the Darkness, otherwise I’d skip this one.
4: Lunar Sorcery
Lunar Sorcery gives me a headache. I haven’t run the numbers, but I think this is the longest subclass in terms of word count, and it’s definitely an instance of quantity over quality. This subclass adds a whopping 15 spells, literally doubling your expected amount of spells for a normal Sorcerer, but how much value is that worth when 90% of those spells are hot garbage?
Twinning Sacred Flames is nice but not amazing, and then we get into the word soup. Lunar Boons boils down to a discount on metamagic for certain spell schools determined by your phase, which can now be swapped as a bonus action for 1 Sorcery Point thanks to Waxing and Waning. This is probably the best feature of the subclass.
The 14th and 18th level features give additional boons depending on your phase, though none of them are that impactful or are very limited in uses. There is definitely some power here, but keeping everything straight and piloting this optimally sounds like a bookkeeping nightmare rather than a D&D session.
3: Divine Soul
Cleric spells plus Metamagic is a heck of a drug. I don’t have the space to detail all of the sweet stuff you can do with the Cleric list, but it won’t take you long to come up with many ideas. Favored by the Gods is also a fantastic ability to help us make important saving throws.
Empowered Healing isn’t great, though getting permanent flight at level 14 is very nice. That being said, most people just take a few levels of Divine Soul to get Favored of the Gods, certain Cleric spells, and Metamagic, so most will never actually see even the 6th level feature.
2: Aberrant Mind
The top two subclasses have expanded spell lists whose spells can be swapped out for spells of certain schools. Aberrant Mind can swap for Enchantment and Divination spells, which is a decent selection though not as good as the subclass that landed #1 on this list.
That difference is actually the only reason that these subclasses are ordered the way that they are. Honestly, if all these two subclasses gave was these flexible spell lists, they would probably still be at the top of this list. Thankfully, we don’t have to debate that because these features are also pretty sweet.
We get a decent form of telepathy, and at 6th level, we get to cast spells from our expanded spell list (including ones we have swapped in) with Sorcery Points. Note that the rate here is at a discount, and all spells cast this way are also basically under the effect of Subtle Spell. This right here is my favorite Sorcerer subclass feature of them all, allowing this Sorcerer to cast way more spells per day than any other. Psychic Defenses is also fine, and the higher level features are cool as well. The 6th level feature and the expanded spell list is all I need though to call this my personal favorite Sorcerer.
1: Clockwork Soul
Would you like to assemble your dream spell list, consisting of practically all the best spells in the game? Because this expanded spell list with the ability to swap for Transmutation and Abjuration spells is exactly how you do that. Oh yeah, all the actual features are great too.
Restore Balance will come up constantly, though Bastion of Law doesn’t do quite enough to justify the cost in my opinion. The higher level features are fantastic though, and even if they weren’t, the potential spell list this character can have is enough for me to rank Clockwork Soul #1 by itself.
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