Spell Sniper 5E: DnD Feat Guide

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Spell sniper is a very popular 5th Edition D&D feat that should be a high priority to any full casting class that finds them relying on an array of attack spells that require a roll. Spell sniper offers some very specific benefits that many spellcasters are going to find useful.

And warlocks, arguably, will find absolutely essential.

5E Spell Sniper in a Nut Shell:

Spell Sniper is an excellent 5E spell for battle casters that ignores all but full cover, doubles the distance of an attack spell, and allows them to learn an attack cantrip that even belongs to another class. Sometimes referred to as “Sharpshooter for Spellcasters” the feat fulfills that promise and potentially more.

Let’s take a deep dive into the 5E Spell Sniper feat!

Extra distance on the attack cantrips that ignores partial cover? Yes, Please!

Breaking Down the Spell Sniper Feat

Let’s start by looking at the exact wording of how the Spell Sniper Feat works in 5th Edition D&D.

Directly from the Player’s Handbook:

Prerequisite: The ability to cast at least one spell

You have learned techniques to enhance your attacks with certain kinds of spells, gaining the following benefits:

  • When you cast a spell that requires you to make an attack roll, the spell’s range is doubled.
  • Your ranged spell attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover.
  • You learn one cantrip that requires an attack roll. Chose the cantrip from the bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard spell list. Your spellcasting ability for this cantrip depends on the spell list you choose from: Charisma for bard, sorcerer, or warlock; Wisdom for cleric or druid; or Intelligence for wizard.

Player’s Handbook p.170

Casting practice makes perfect.

So let’s break down the Spell Sniper feat in more detail looking at each benefit more in-depth.

Benefit #1: When you cast a spell that requires an attack roll, the spell’s range is doubled.

This is half of where the description of the Spell Sniper feat as “Sharpshooter for Casters” comes from, and it is a very strong benefit. Preferred higher level magic spells tend to be more AOE, save-based, or effect so this doesn’t come into effect as much for many high level battle casters, but it can increase the viability of low-level and mid-level attack spells.

It is also a beast on attack cantrips like Eldritch Blast, and since attack cantrips scale this helps keep them viable in brutal late campaign stretches where magic users may want to help but also find themselves needing to save some very limited spell slots.

This is an excellent benefit that allows spellcasters to use one of their best defensive tactics: staying as far away from danger as possible while remaining effective.

Benefit #2: Your ranged spell attack ignores both half-cover and three-quarters cover.

This is where the other half of the description “Sharpshooter for Casters” comes in, and it’s a solid one. The biggest potential nerf to this is tables where DMs don’t pay to much attention to giving defensive bonuses to partial cover. So this has varied greatly depending on what table you were playing at.

With RAW this is a very good benefit, as it is with the Sharpshooter Feat.

Benefit #3: Learn one cantrip that requires an attack roll, this cantrip can come from bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard spell lists.

This is a really good benefit, though it’s a bit hilarious considering that as of Tasha’s, the Bard and Cleric classes don’t have any cantrips requiring a spell roll, though this does cover the classes and the feat in case this changes in future releases. There are only seven cantrips right now in 5E ta require an attack roll, but there are some really good ones that group.

An additional cantrip added to the spell list, and one that scales with the player’s level, is potentially useful at all levels of the game.

The cantrips that require an attack roll are (sorted by class further down):

  • Chill Touch
  • Eldritch Blast
  • Fire Bolt
  • Produce Flame
  • Ray of Frost
  • Shocking Grasp
  • Thorn Whip

Cantrips Requiring an Attack Roll (by Class)

To know what your options are for a build or how strong that last benefit is, you need to know what your actual options are. How many cantrips require an attack roll? Are there any truly good ones other than the obvious Eldritch Blast?

Where here’s the full list, split by class, meaning some spells may appear more than once.

Bard Cantrips requiring attack roll

  • None currently, this may change with future book releases

Cleric Cantrips requiring attack roll

  • None currently, this may change with future book releases

Druid Cantrips requiring attack roll

  • Produce Flame
  • Thorn Whip

Sorcerer Cantrips requiring attack roll

  • Chill Touch
  • Fire Bolt
  • Ray of Frost
  • Shocking Grasp

Wizard Cantrips requiring attack roll

  • Chill Touch
  • Fire Bolt
  • Ray of Frost
  • Shocking Grasp

Warlock Cantrips requiring attack roll

  • Chill Touch
  • Eldritch Blast

Can Artificer Spells Be Picked with Spell Sniper?

While it’s true that the 5E Artificer Class wasn’t around when the Spell Sniper feat was initially created, that doesn’t mean that the spells from that class are automatically included. I’ll point out that partial casting classes like Ranger and Paladin already existed, but their spells were not made available to be picked for this feat.

So rules as written, the Artificer Spell list would not be eligible. From a purely practical standpoint, it probably doesn’t matter as the only attack cantrips this applies to are Fire Bolt, Ray of Frost, & Shocking Grasp, all of which appear on the wizard’s spell list and use the same intelligence modifier. Which makes sense and thus serves the same purpose as far as this discussion goes.

The only exception is Thorn Whip which is a Druid and Artificer attack cantrip and if you wanted to cast with intelligence versus wisdom, this is the one situation that it could come up.

Ask your DM for clarification if you’re in that ridiculously niche situation, otherwise assume that Artificer spells are off-limits.

5E Classes That Should Take the Spell Sniper Feat

Two classes stick out as getting the most use from the spell sniper feat, in large part because they are the two classes that rely on cantrips more than any of the others. Those classes that should always look at taking the spell sniper feat are Artificers and Warlocks.

Artificers

Artificers rely heavily on their cantrips not only in casting but for creating their technological wonders that assist them in battle. While some cantrips are available up front, if they want to have creations that use other weaponized spells, then the ability to pick one from spell sniper feat and extend the distance just makes sense.

Since this also improves any other attack cantrips they have whether because of class or through the Magic Initiate Feat, it’s basically a “must have” for the Artificer class to get the most out of the build.

Warlocks

Warlocks are all about the Eldritch Blast, and that means anything that enhances Eldritch Blast is a must grab. Since Warlocks have limited spell slots, having that ultra powerful cantrip is important to keep the class relevant throughout the game.

So removing all partial cover and allowing the Warlock to grab an extra cantrip to boot is powerful, and is going to make spell sniper a must grab. This also allows Warlocks to either take the Eldritch Spear for insane distance sniping, or to use that invocation on something else for a more rounded, less DM-hating build.

Either way, Spell Sniper is clear winner for the 5th Edition Warlock.

5th Ed Classes that should always take the Spell Sniper Feat:

  • Artificers
  • Warlocks

5E Classes That Should Consider Taking the Spell Sniper Feat

There are multiple classes that can make very good use of the Spell Sniper feat when used properly. The first on this list is surprising and looks at building one very specific thing while the other classes that are in the “maybe” group are the usual suspects.

Bards

Why would a class with no attack cantrips want to take the Spell Sniper feat? Well if you’re running a 3-person party with a DM who still treats you like a 4-5 member party, then your bard spells might focus heavily on healing and battlefield control.

Picking up Eldritch Blast so even at low levels you can attack from a distance and be effective, with a spell that uses your main casting ability, that can actually be incredibly useful for bards especially when you are playing the character who needs to fulfill many rolls but you don’t want to be useless those times you need to fight or die.

So it’s not a bad pickup at all for a bard.

Druids

Druids can be thorough users of wild shape, they can be all-important casters in the party, or they can do both. When they are playing the part of caster, having double the distance on your attack spells can make a huge difference, and thorn whip is a cantrip that works very well with the Druid in both mechanics and roleplaying flavor.

Sorcerers & Wizards

Sorcerers & Wizards are your power spellcasters, but in the right campaigns even at mid-levels they can find themselves going low on spells. Having the distance of attack roll spells double and attack cantrips that scale with the character level are both powerful traits that can be of huge benefit to both classes.

Add in removing bonuses from defensive cover, and that can be useful even with AOE spells. They are classes where spell sniper might not be mandatory based on build, but most serious casters at least strongly consider it.

5th Ed Classes that should consider taking the Spell Sniper Feat:

  • Bards
  • Druids
  • Sorcerers
  • Wizards

5E Classes That Should NEVER Take the Spell Sniper Feat

In the same way that Sharpshooter is a feat for a very narrow type of build, spell sniper is for the casters and for many other classes it just doesn’t make a lot of sense as a feat.

While you can always create an exception of a build, generally speaking barbarians, clerics, fighters, monks, paladins, rangers, and rogues will have relatively little use for this feat in most conventional builds.

5th Ed classes that should never take the Spell Sniper Feat:

  • Barbarians
  • Clerics
  • Fighters
  • Monks
  • Paladins
  • Rangers
  • Rogues

Final Feat Grade for 5E Spell Sniper

Spell Sniper Feat Grade: A-

Is the 5E Spell Sniper Feat Worth It?

The Spell Sniper feat is going to be an incredibly powerful feat for Artificers and Warlocks in 5th Ed, and can even be very strong for sorcerers and wizards. This is a spellcaster’s feat all the way and delivers three excellent benefits that make spells stronger, more versatile, and adds an attack cantrip that scales with player level.

That is one heck of a combo to come out of a single feat, and is why it is ranked powerfully. The only potential knock? Most of the popular higher level spells don’t have attack rolls, meaning at higher levels the benefits scale a little less and the uses are a bit more limited, although they still come up often enough to stay on the A-tier of feats.

Spell Sniper Feat FAQ

Does spell sniper make a touch spell’s range 10 feet?

No, touch spells do not get the range doubled. As one of the best Tweets ever from rules master Jeremy Crawford confirms here.

Does the Spell Sniper feat stack with the Eldritch Spear invocation?

Yes. The Eldritch Spear increase to Eldritch Blast’s range is applied and then the feat doubles that, creating an insane distance though from a practical standpoint most DMs won’t allow a character to see that far to attack without the Eagle Eyes magic item.

Does spell sniper work with melee spells?

No. The attack roll needs to come directly from the casted cantrip. If the cantrip creates a weapon, the roll becomes a weapon attack, not a spell attack, so spell sniper doesn’t apply to these spells.

Can spell sniper give you Eldritch Blast?

Yes, in fact taking the Spell Sniper feat in 5th Edition is one of the most common ways to acquire Eldritch Blast, and among the many D&D players I’ve talked to this is the main cantrip that they take when picking up the feat.

How do you increase your spell range in 5E?

Spell Sniper is the best way to increase the range of any cast spell that requires an attack roll. There are limited options for other classes or spells, especially outside of homebrew solutions.

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