Hello magic casters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 31st episode of our first level spell series. Today we’re going to be taking a look at one of the best ranger spells 5e, hands down may i introduce to you with great honor and esteem ensnaring strike dnd spell.
As per mentioned usable exclusively by the ranger class and it is found in the players handbook. With all that hype out of the way let’s take a look at the mechanics we can better understand the way the spell works.
Mechanics
- Level: 1st Casting
- Time: 1 Bonus Action
- Range/Area: Self
- Components: V
- Duration: 1 Minute (Concentration)
- School: Conjuration
- Attack/Save: STR Save
- Damage/Effect: Piercing
Your cast time will be a 1 bonus action, so really good stuff there. The range is self, the duration is a whole minute and it is concentration based. You can also check out this ensnaring strike vs entangle.
The effect at a glance is as followed: After hitting a creature with a weapon attack, vines sourround the target. The target make s strength save vs your spell casting DC. On a fail they become restrained. Large creatures have advantage on the save, on a success the vines shrivel away. Make sure to check out this ensnaring strike vs hunter’s mark.
The target takes 1d6 piercing damage at the start of its turns. The target or another creature can use their action to remove the vines with another strength save. Do not miss this comparision ensnaring strike vs hail of thorns.
At higher levels: You add 1d6 per spell slot level above first. The components are just verbal and the school unsurprisingly is conjuration. Perfect that being said, let’s look at the full description here.
Description
The next time you hit a creature with a weapon attack before this spell ends, a writhing mass of thorny vines appears at the point of impact, and the target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be restrained by the magical vines until the spell ends. A Large or larger creature has advantage on this saving throw. If the target succeeds on the save, the vines shrivel away.
While restrained by this spell, the target takes 1d6 piercing damage at the start of each of its turns. A creature restrained by the vines or one that can touch the creature can use its action to make a Strength check against your spell save DC. On a success, the target is freed.
At Higher Levels. If you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 1st.
Wowzers a ton of stuff to unpack there as a matter of fact. First and foremost it might be worth noting froma thematic standpoint. That the vines shoot forth from where the target is hit. Not from the ground and this is important for a little bit later on but i think it makes really cool sense thematically you – open or you swing an opponent and it opens a wound and from that wound the vine shoot out and wrap around them. I just love the visual behind it, it is super cool stuff! Also read this can tieflings have wings.
The larger creatures have a disadvantage makes sense honestly, it’s great you can affect them though. You can get pretty creative with this as i’m sure you might imagine and i’ll get into that a little bit later too.
So the restrained 5e consition is kind of broken down where the target that’s restrained has zero speed, any attacks against them have advantage and their attacks have disadvantage and they also have disadvantage on dex saves. Which is pretty pretty standard makes sense. With that out of the let’s take a look at the alternative uses here.
Alternative Uses
So as it doesn’t imply has to be a melee attack. So as of that does ensnaring strike work with ranged weapons, of course you can actually use this with ranged weapons as well and i really think that’s where this shines in all honesty. That being said, you can also use it to prevent an opponent from running away or from a chase scene from starting.
Alternatively because the vines shoot frm the point of contact and not frm the ground you can essentially use this to drop flying targets relatively easily and some that i realized during that the production of this article was that has size requirement doesn’t have a cap on it. You might have interested in can you sneak attack with unarmed strike 5e.
Now what that means to you individuals out there who are familiar with the sentinel feat combo and the ways to use that properly. It essentially lets you drop dragons. I think that’s a very cool, they still take the falling damage but it makes it very clear that the restraining condition has a speed of zero and that includes fly speed.
So i think that’s particularly interesting, you can also use this on absurdly large enemies such as the tarasque which i think would be absolutely hilarious. That being said, trusta have a massive strength modifier but if you have the lucky feat you know you might just be able to catch yourself at rest. I love that, great visual.
Conclusion
That being said, if you have any alternative uses for ensnaring strike 5e or any crazy build concepts or stories revolving around this spell i’d really like to hear it down in the comments beneath. As always you guys are not absolutely no way to listen and hear from and i really hope this community continues to grow. That being said, i hope everyone has a great day and as always happy spell-casting. zephyr strike 5e | hail of thorns 5e | cold rules 5e | dnd pregnancy rules 5e | what is the feywild dnd | can you polymorph into a dragon 5e.