D&D: All Paladin Smites In The 2024 Player's Handbook, Ranked

While paladins are spellcasters in , most players would likely consider them to be martial characters focused on weapon damage, since they mainly tend to use their magic on «smites.» Paladins can apply smites to their attacks from the moment they gain their first spell slots, adding extra radiant damage to their hits. While the basic «divine smite» has been the go-to for a lot of paladins, there are other smite variants that deal different kinds of damage and apply additional effects.

In past versions of, these other smite spells were considered much less powerful than divine smite, but the has made some huge changes to these powers that even the playing field. Now, every smite requires a bonus action to use, but can be used after an attack hits. Plus, only a few of the smite spells in this new book require concentration.

Shining smite is a reworked version of a previously-existing spell, called branding smite. It is a 2nd-level paladin spell that adds 2d6 radiant damage to an attack and causes the target to take on a bright glow. The targets emits light from their body, cannot turn invisible, andall attacks against them are made with advantage for the duration of the spell. This sounds like a good spell; and honestly, it is. All of the smite spells in the could be good in certain scenarios.

What it comes down to is whether the smite is worth the slot used to cast it, or if another option is just straight up better. And in the case of shining smite, it can't do anything that the other options can't outperform. The damage is tied for the lowest out of any paladin smite for the spell slot it takes, even when upcast, and while radiant damage is a good type to deal, there is a better alternative for players just wanting that.

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The secondary effects of this spell seem powerful, and granting advantage for up to one minute is pretty