Unleash a magical attack on your enemies with the iconic Magic Missile 5e spell. This staple of Dungeons & Dragons, first featured in the original game back in 1978, has remained a powerful force for good (or evil) for players and Dungeon Masters alike.
Magic Missile 5e Spell Description
A quick glance at the Player’s Handbook will tell you the basic form that the spell takes…
You create three glowing darts of magical force. Each dart hits a creature of your choice that you can see within range. A dart deals 1d4 + 1 force damage to its target. The darts all strike simultaneously, and you can direct them to hit one creature or several.
When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the spell creates one more dart for each slot level above 1st.
Magic Missile 5e Stats
- Range: 120 feet
- Components: V, S
- Duration: Instantaneous
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Level: 1
- Damage Type: Force
- School: Evocation
- Classes: Sorcerer, Wizard
- Subclasses: Lore
Is Magic Missile 5e spell good?
The humble Magic Missile is part of the lore of the DnD world. It is also the best single-target spell available at 1st level.
There isn’t much which will block it, and whilst there are spells that do more damage, such as Chromatic Orb or Chaos Bolt, once you factor in the fact that they don’t automatically hit and some have more ways of being resisted, Magic Missile is a safer bet every time.
It also increases at one dart per level. It won’t win you any battles, but it might ruin an opponent’s day.
Kendra has always been a hardcore fantasy nerd. Growing up in the worlds of Tolkien, Sanderson, Jordan, and Abercrombie, DnD & board games just came naturally. She and her husband, Bryan, started GameCows.com in 2018 as a fun passion project that just took over their lives. An avid board gamer since childhood and chronic DnD chronicler for more than two decades, she loves to play, write, travel, and learn dead languages. She is also a professional content writer at SlashGear.com