Cleric 5e: The Complete Class Guide

Clerics get introduced as "the healer" and then spend the rest of the game being the best tank, the best support, the best crowd controller, and also still the best healer. They are, mechanically speaking, the class that ate every other class's lunch.

If you've been told Clerics are boring, or that they're the class you play when nobody else wants to heal: that person was wrong, or they were describing a different edition. In 5e, Cleric is arguably the most complete class in the game.

The Pitch

A Cleric is a divine spellcaster. You serve a god (or a cosmic principle, or an ideal, or sometimes just a vibe) and that entity lends you power. Mechanically:

• Full spellcasting. You prepare spells each day from the entire Cleric list, which is long and contains some of the best spells in the game.
• Wisdom-based. Your spellcasting modifier is Wisdom.
• Medium armor proficiency by default, with some domains granting heavy armor.
• Channel Divinity. A once-per-short-rest feature that lets you convert divine energy into various effects. Turn Undead is the default. Subclasses add more.
• Divine Domain (subclass). Chosen at level 1. Grants extra spells, extra features, and determines how your Cleric fights.

Unlike Wizards, Clerics don't need a spellbook. You prepare your spell list each long rest from the entire Cleric list. You're never stuck with a bad pick because you can change it tomorrow. This is a bigger deal than it sounds.

Stat Priorities

Clerics want:

1. Wisdom (primary). Your spell attacks, save DCs, and Turn Undead effects use it.
2. Constitution (secondary). HP and concentration saves. Many Cleric spells are concentration.
3. Strength or Dexterity depending on your build. A frontline War Cleric wants Strength. A ranged-focused Light Cleric wants Dexterity.
4. Charisma (minor). Some social skills.
5. Intelligence can be dumped.

A balanced Cleric array: STR 14 or DEX 14, CON 14, INT 8, WIS 16, CHA 12, and the remaining point in Strength or Dex. Put your first ASI into Wisdom.

Choose Your Divine Domain (Subclass)

The Cleric's subclass is picked at level 1, unlike most classes that pick at level 3. This is because the domain fundamentally shapes how you play. Pick wrong, and you'll have a Cleric that doesn't match your playstyle for levels.

The SRD contains Life Domain. Outside the SRD there are over a dozen more. For SRD-accurate play (which is what The Endlessness uses):

Life Domain

The quintessential healer. You gain heavy armor proficiency, healing spells are more efficient, and your Channel Divinity restores HP to an ally. At level 2, Disciple of Life adds 2 + spell level to any healing spell you cast. Cure Wounds goes from "decent patch" to "actually keeps people up."

Best for: Players who want to keep the party (or their solo character) alive. Reliable. Forgiving. Never has a bad day.

Outside the SRD

War Domain: turns you into a Fighter-with-spells. Tempest: you blast with lightning and thunder. Light: ranged caster with burning spells and a nuclear Channel Divinity. Forge: you're walking around in armor so heavy it has weather. Trickery, Knowledge, Nature, Death, Grave, Twilight (slightly notorious), Order, Peace, each with their own flavor.

For an SRD experience, Life Domain is great. Simple, strong, never wrong.

Spell Preparation: The Cleric's Superpower

Every long rest, you prepare a number of Cleric spells equal to your Wisdom modifier plus your Cleric level. These are the spells you can cast that day. Tomorrow, you can swap them out entirely.

This is why Clerics are so adaptable. Going into a dungeon? Prepare Daylight and Bless. Fighting undead tomorrow? Swap in Sacred Flame and make sure you have Turn Undead ready. Political intrigue day? Guidance, Calm Emotions, Zone of Truth.

The Cleric spell list is long (40+ core spells plus your domain's bonus spells). You'll rarely run out of options.

Must-Prepare Cleric Spells

Almost always useful:

Cantrips: Sacred Flame (Dex save damage), Guidance (add a d4 to an ally's ability check, not concentration-heavy), Spare the Dying (stabilize a dying ally at 10 feet).

1st Level: Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Bless, Shield of Faith, Guiding Bolt, Protection from Evil and Good.

2nd Level: Spiritual Weapon (bonus action attacks that don't use concentration), Aid (HP buff for the whole party, lasts 8 hours), Lesser Restoration, Silence (gigantic counterspell-like effect).

3rd Level: Spirit Guardians (one of the best damage spells in the game, AOE that auto-triggers), Revivify, Mass Healing Word, Dispel Magic.

4th Level: Guardian of Faith, Death Ward.

5th Level: Flame Strike, Mass Cure Wounds, Raise Dead, Commune, Greater Restoration.

6th Level+: Heal, Mass Heal, True Resurrection. The late-game Cleric list reads like a cheat code.

For the full list with mechanics, see our complete spell list.

Channel Divinity

Once per short rest (twice at level 6, three times at level 18), you can spend your Channel Divinity. Every Cleric gets:

• Turn Undead. Undead within 30 feet must succeed a Wisdom save or be turned for up to a minute. Turned undead flee from you and can't take reactions.

Life Domain adds:

• Preserve Life. Restore HP equal to 5 times your Cleric level, distributed among creatures of your choice within 30 feet.

Other domains add their own effects. Every domain's Channel Divinity is a reason to play that domain. War Domain gets a free attack. Light Domain gets a blinding radiance. Trickery gets duplicates.

The "Clericzilla" Combo

A classic Cleric combo that starts working at level 3 and gets nastier as you level:

1. Cast Spirit Guardians (concentration). Every hostile creature within 15 feet takes radiant damage if they fail a Wisdom save, and their speed is halved.
2. Move toward enemies. They take damage passing through the aura.
3. On your next turn, cast Spiritual Weapon as a bonus action (not concentration). Attack with it.
4. Attack with your weapon as your main action.
5. Enemies running toward you eat Spirit Guardians damage and face Spiritual Weapon attacks.

You're generating three sources of damage per turn (Spirit Guardians aura, Spiritual Weapon bonus action, weapon attack), and you're concentrating on only one spell. Opportunity cost: almost zero.

This is why Clerics are a "damage class" as well as a "healing class." Spirit Guardians plus Spiritual Weapon is the combo that makes human party healers say "why is the Cleric outdamaging my Barbarian?"

Cleric in Solo Play

Cleric is S-tier for solo play. The reasons, listed in order of importance:

1. Self-healing. You are always the best healer at the table (table of one). Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Mass Healing Word on yourself at higher levels.
2. Concentration staying up. You're in medium or heavy armor with high Con. Your concentration saves are reliable.
3. Spell versatility. Prepared casting means you tailor your kit to the day. Exploring a cursed forest tomorrow? Prepare Remove Curse and Lesser Restoration. Fighting a necromancer? Lock in Turn Undead and Death Ward.
4. Decent combat ability. Your spells kill things. Your melee attacks hit hard enough. You don't need a Barbarian.
5. Resource sustainability. Channel Divinity recharges on a short rest. Spell slots are plentiful.

The weakness: you're less flashy than other classes. A solo Cleric is methodical, steady, and increasingly unkillable. It's not cinematic, but it wins.

For where Clerics rank, see our classes ranked for solo play.

Leveling Path

• Level 1: Spellcasting, Divine Domain.
• Level 2: Channel Divinity (1 use).
• Level 5: Destroy Undead (turned undead of low CR are just destroyed).
• Level 6: Channel Divinity (2 uses), Domain feature.
• Level 8: Domain feature (often includes bonus damage on Sacred Flame or weapon attacks).
• Level 10: Divine Intervention (roll a d100, your god maybe helps).
• Level 17: Domain capstone.
• Level 18: Channel Divinity (3 uses).
• Level 20: Divine Intervention Improvement (automatic success at level 20).

Common Cleric Mistakes

Only casting heals. You are not a heal bot. You are a full caster who can heal. Spirit Guardians, Guiding Bolt, and your damage cantrips exist. Use them.

Not using Spiritual Weapon. It's a bonus action. It doesn't use concentration. It scales with spell level. It's strictly additional damage. Cast it every fight you can.

Dumping Strength or Dexterity. You need to hit things sometimes. A 14 in one of them is fine. An 8 in both is a problem.

Forgetting Channel Divinity. Turn Undead on a dungeon full of skeletons is a fight-ender. Preserve Life on the whole party (or your solo self at low HP) is a massive heal. Use it every short rest.

Preparing the wrong spells. Take a minute at dawn. What's the day likely to involve? Prepare accordingly. Swap tomorrow if you were wrong.

The Endlessness and the Cleric

Our AI Dungeon Master handles Cleric's complexity without making you track it: prepared spells, slots across multiple levels, Channel Divinity uses, concentration, domain bonuses, the full pipeline. When you cast Spiritual Weapon and Spirit Guardians in the same combat, the system tracks both independently.

This is the class where our SRD rules enforcement really shines. Clerics have a lot of specific rules interactions (Divine Favor, Spirit Guardians' save mechanics, Bless's bonus applying to attack rolls but not damage, Aid's HP bump staying for 8 hours). The AI gets these right.

For more on how spellcasting works in general, our concentration rules guide and action economy guide are worth reading alongside this.

Final Verdict

The Cleric is the class you pick when you want to be effective in every situation without being a specialist in any of them. You'll heal when healing matters. You'll blast when blasting matters. You'll tank when tanking matters. You'll swing a mace when a mace is what the situation calls for.

It is, genuinely, the best all-rounder class in 5e.

If you want to try a Cleric, head to The Endlessness, pick Life Domain, and get comfortable with Spirit Guardians. It's going to be your favorite spell within three sessions.