Vicious Mockery 5e DnD Guide

I’d agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong.
Keep rolling your eyes; you might eventually find a brain!
You’ve got a face only a mother could love.

Any of these sound familiar? If so, you might have been on the receiving end of a Vicious Mockery spell.

Besides possibly being eligible for financial compensation (just kidding), you might learn to wield those insults in your favor against your worst enemies.

Read our guide to Vicious Mockery 5e below.

Table of Contents

What is Vicious Mockery 5e Spell?

The spell’s text from the Player’s Handbook reads: “You unleash a string of insults laced with subtle enchantments at a creature you can see within range. If the target can hear you (though it need not understand you), it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or take 1d4 psychic damage and have disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn.

This spell’s damage increases by 1d4 when you reach 5th level (2d4), 11th level (3d4), and 17th level (4d4).”

Vicious Mockery 5e Stats

Level	Cantrip
Casting Time	1 Action
Range/Area	60 feet
Classes	Bard
Components	Verbal
Duration	Instantaneous
School	Enchantment
Attack/Save	Wisdom
Damage/Effect	Psychic

How Does Vicious Mockery Work?

Vicious Mockery 5e has a range of 60 feet and requires that you can see your target and that it can hear you. Notably, you can’t use this spell if your target has the deafened condition. The spell notes that the target doesn’t need to understand your words, so you don’t need to worry about speaking the same language as your opponents.

This also means that technically you could viciously mock an animal or another creature incapable of speaking or understanding language. It’s hard to know what counts as a mockery to a bear, but apparently, you barely manage.

Is Vicious Mockery a Good Spell?

Vicious Mockery 5e is a decent spell when wielded against foes who rely on weapon attacks. It hardly deals any damage and consumes an entire action which means that the real reason people like it is the disadvantage on the enemy’s next weapon attack.

GameCows Tip: Note that animals do not make weapon attacks because their claws/fangs/etc. count as natural weapons (a separate category).

Additionally, it deals psychic damage, which is rarely resisted and almost nothing has outright psychic immunity.

Which Classes Can Use Vicious Mockery?

Vicious Mockery is available to Bards only. However, Warlocks with the Pact of the Tome can choose Vicious Mockery as one of their three additional cantrips, and classes that rely on Charisma can always take the Magic Initiate feat to get Vicious Mockery.