Top 20 Best 2nd-Level Spells in D&D 5e [Ranked]

You can think of 2nd-level spells as the last step before a world of incredible magic becomes available.

Don’t get blind-sighted even if you’re distracted by the powerful spells you’ll unlock after 2nd-level spells.

There are a vast array of 2nd-level spells that you’ll find a use for throughout the entire game.

Best 2nd-Level Spells 5e

20. Locate Object

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Self

Components: V, S, M (a forked twig)

Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes

Losing a powerful possession or quest item can make things difficult, but with Locate Object finding the item can be made a bit easier with Locate Object.

Describing or naming an item familiar to you lets you sense the object’s direction if within 1000 feet of you. You’ll also know the direction of movement if it’s moving.

Note: You can also locate specific known objects or items of a particular kind, like weapons, jewelry, or tools.

Just watch out for lead, as the spell cannot penetrate any thickness of it.

19. Knock

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 60 feet

Components: V

Duration: Instantaneous

Unlocking chests or doors can make for many ways of entrance or well-deserved loot.

Choose an object containing a magical or mundane lock preventing access. Mundane locks with one lock will be unlocked, and stuck doors or objects will become unstuck.

Note: Targets locked with Arcane Lock will be suppressed for 10 minutes, and you can open and shut it normally.

Just be careful of the sound the knock creates, as it can be heard from as far away as 300 feet.

18. Suggestion

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, M (a drop of sweet oil or a piece of honeycomb and a snake’s tongue)

Duration: Concentration, up to 8 hours

Mind control, even if subtle, can ease situations or put creatures out of combat. Suggestion gives you that power.

Suggesting a course of activity (limited to 1 or 2 sentences) influences a creature. The activity must be reasonable, and the target must fail a Wisdom saving throw to be affected.

Note: Asking the creature to harm itself or having you or your party damage it will end the spell.

You can also suggest conditions that trigger events, like having a Knight give his armor to the first peasant he encounters.

17. Zone of Truth

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 60 feet

Components: V, S

Duration: 10 minutes

Discerning the truth without direct confirmation is difficult; therefore, use the Zone of Truth to find the exact truth.

A magical zone with a 15-foot-radius sphere makes creatures unable to tell a deliberate lie if they fail a Charisma saving throw when entering the sphere.

Note: You’ll know if a creature fails or succeeds in its saving throw.

Affected creatures will be aware of this spell and can choose to avoid specific questions. These creatures can also evade the truth if they stay within the truth’s boundaries.

16. Spider Climb

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Components: V, S, M (a spider and a drop of bitumen)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

Even though flying is great, it isn’t suitable for all areas, so that’s where Spider Climb becomes an essential alternative.

Touching one willing creature enables it to move down, up, and vertically across surfaces and upside on ceilings. The target will also gain a climbing speed equal to its walking speed.

15. Detect Thoughts

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Self

Components: V, S, M (piece of copper)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

The thoughts of creatures hold many secrets that can be exploited.

You choose the mind of one creature within 30 feet of you. Initially, its surface-level thoughts are put forward, but if it fails a Wisdom saving throw, you probe deeper into its mind. Finding its fears, worries, and loves.

Note: Detect Thoughts is an excellent interrogation tool and a way to discover the inner thoughts of those closest to you.

14. Mirror Image

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Self

Components: V, S

Duration: 1 minute

Being the target of a strong enemy as a spellcaster spells certain doom, so use Mirror Image to disorientate it.

Three illusory duplicates are created near you, mimicking your actions and making the real image impossible to track.

Attacks against you let you roll a d20, determining if the attacks will instead target a duplicate. Having 3 duplicates means you must roll 6 or higher, 2 duplicates mean 8 or higher, and 1 duplicate means 11 or higher.

Note: Don’t bother using this spell against blind enemies or enemies that can perceive the true nature of illusions.

13. Web

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 60 feet

Components: V, S, M (a bit of spiderweb)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

Slowing hordes of enemies is made easy with Web.

Thick, sticky webbing fills a 20-foot cube, identified as difficult to terrain and obscuring the area lightly. Enemies starting their turn in the webbing must succeed in a Dexterity saving throw or be restrained.

Note: Be careful of fire, as the webbing is highly flammable.

Enemies can also use a Strength check against your spell save DC to break free, so STR brutes will be more difficult to keep restrained.

12. Enhance Ability

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Components: V, S, M (feather or fur from beast)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

Lower levels mean a larger disparity between classes, but Enhance Ability increases ability modifiers to help you with that.

Touching a creature lets you choose between 6 different effects, all granting some form of ability modifier (you can choose from all attributes).

11. Lesser Restoration

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Components: V, S

Duration: Instantaneous

Conditions are some of the worst debuffs in D&D, so ending one quickly is extremely useful. Lesser Restoration will help with that.

Touching a creature ends one condition or disease affecting it. Conditions include Blinded, Deafened, Paralyzed, or Poisoned.

These are some of the most common conditions, so having a way to get rid of them can make battles much easier to win.

10. Crown of Madness

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 120 feet

Components: V, S

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Driving a creature mad puts them out of battle and makes it a liability to its immediate allies. Crown of Madness is the spell to do just that.

Choose 1 humanoid to succeed in a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed. That creature must use an action before it moves on its turns to make a melee attack against a creature you choose (other than itself).

Note: Not choosing a target for it to attack means it can act normally on that turn.

9. Healing Spirit

Casting Time: 1 bonus action

Range: 60 feet

Components: V, S

Duration: Concentration up to 1 minute

The soothing spirits of nature will swiftly heal your wounds.

With Healing Spirit, a spirit taking up a 5-foot cube appears. Moving into the spirit’s space for the first time on a turn restores 1d6 HP.

Note: The spirit cannot heal undead or constructs.

The spirit can also be moved up to 30 feet to space within your vision.

8. Aganazzar’s Scorcher

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, S, M (one red dragon scale)

Duration: Instantaneous

Blazing fire absorbs those unlucky enough to find themselves in its range.

Summon a line 30 feet long and 5 feet wide made of roaring flame. Creatures caught in this line must perform a Dexterity saving throw or then take 3d8 Fire damage on a fail but only half if successful.

Note: The spell has the potential to affect a large number of enemies simultaneously.

7. Moonbeam

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 120 feet

Components: V, S, M (a piece of opalescent feldspar and several seeds of any moonseed plant)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Shining the light of the moon on your enemies with Moonbeam causes searing pain, affecting shapechangers most of all.

A beam of pale moonlight shines down in a 40-foot-high cylinder in a 5-foot radius. Creatures entering the spell’s area for the first time must perform a Constitution saving throw, taking 2d10 Radiant damage if failed and half is successful.

Note: Shapechangers make their saving throw with disadvantage, and if they fail, they’re instantly transformed into their original form, unable to shapechange until stepping out of the pale light.

If enemies move around, you can also use an action on your subsequent turns to move the moonlight up to 60 feet in any direction you choose.

6. Invisibility

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Components: V, S, M (one eyelash encased in gum arabic)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

Sometimes sneaking around obstacles isn’t enough to avoid detection, but using Invisibility gives you a lot more leeway.

Touching a creature turns anything it’s carrying or wearing invisible (as long as it’s on the target).

Note: If the target attacks or casts a spell, its invisibility will end.

Just be careful of enemies that can detect invisibility, as this will counter the spell outright.

5. Misty Step

Casting Time: 1 bonus action

Range: Self

Components: V

Duration: Instantaneous

Teleportation, no matter how far, can prove to be extremely useful.

You surround yourself with silvery mist and proceed to teleport a maximum of 30 feet to an unoccupied area within your vision.

Note: Misty Step is a must-have for characters who want to have insane mobility or ways to avoid dangerous situations quickly.

4. Pass Without Trace

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Self

Components: V, S, M (a sprig of spruce and ashes from a burned leaf of mistletoe)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

Sneaking past enemies with a large hulking Paladin is difficult without the use of some magic!

All creatures you choose within 30 feet of you (including you) get a +10 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks. All of those affected will also have their tracks become untraceable without the means of magic.

Note: Since creatures affected by Pass Without Trace don’t leave any tracks or traces of passage behind, it makes a perfect infiltration and escape spell.

Gauge how much you need this spell, as having your Druid unlock this spell means you’ll have it at a lower level (level 3), while a Ranger unlocks it at level 5.

3. Phantasmal Force

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 120 feet

Components: V, S

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Sometimes illusions that torment our psyche are more effective than those in reality.

Craft an illusion in the mind of a creature, forcing it to make an Intelligence saving throw or a phantasmal creature; a visible phenomenon or object is created and only visible to the creature.

Note: Even though the illusion includes temperature, sound, and other different stimuli, if the creature inspects the phantasm and succeeds in an Intelligence (Investigation) check, Phantasmal Force ends.

The illusion is so powerful that the creature can take damage (1d6 Psychic damage) from the phantasm or even rationalize illogical outcomes after interacting with it.

2. Aid

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, S, M (one tiny strip of white cloth)

Duration: 8 hours

Some battles are tougher than others and require bolstering magic to win.

With Aid, choose up to 3 creatures to fill with increased resolve and toughness. Each target has its maximum, and current HP increased by 5 HP.

Note: Upscaling this spell adds 5 HP to each spell slot level above the 2nd.

1. Silence (Ritual)

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 120 feet

Components: V, S

Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes

Sealing the lips of a mage is like withholding a vampire from blood.

A 20-foot-radius sphere where no sound can be created or pass through is created. Creatures or objects completely inside the sphere are immune to Thunder damage and are deafened.

Spells requiring a Verbal component cannot be cast inside the 20-foot sphere.

Note: Around 95% of spells use a Verbal component to be cast, so effectively using Silence against a spellcaster makes them close to useless.

Full List of 2nd Level Spells in D&D 5e

Final Thoughts

The abovementioned spells are great to work into your spell list. Their various different effects bring a great dynamic to any spellcaster’s playstyle.

2nd-Level spells are truly your last step before you start unlocking some of the coolest spells in D&D!

You might also be interested in the following:

• Best Cantrips 5e
• Best 1st-Level Spells 5e
• Best 3rd-Level Spells 5e
• Best 4th-Level Spells 5e
• Best 5th-Level Spells 5e
• Best 6th-Level Spells 5e
• Best 7th-Level Spells 5e
• Best 8th-Level Spells 5e
• Best 9th-Level Spells 5e