How Does Blade Ward Work in D&D 5e?

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The ultimate guide on one of the only defensive cantrips for spellcasters
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Spellcasters in Dungeons and Dragons are notoriously brittle. Something as underwhelming as a small horde of kobolds can cut down a low-level wizard well before they get a chance to cast Fireball. So, defensive cantrips like Blade Ward tend to attract players. But how does it work? In fact, is it even worth taking? We’ll break down the spell & more so that you can build the perfect character for your next campaign.

How Does Blade Ward Work?

Blade Ward is a cantrip available to bards, sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards. As an action, players cast this spell to gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage for a full round of combat.

Section 1 of 5:

Blade Ward at a Glance

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    The spell reads, “You extend your hand and trace a sigil of warding in the air. Until the end of your next turn, you have resistance against bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage dealt by weapon attacks.” As a note, Blade Ward is only available to bards, sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards. [1]
    • Casting time: 1 action
    • Range: Self
    • Target: Self
    • Components: Visual, Somatic
    • Duration: 1 round (6 seconds)
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Section 2 of 5:

An Example of Blade Ward at Work

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    The spell is a cantrip, so you don’t have to use any spells slots. You can only cast Blade Ward on yourself, so there’s no targeting involved. You now have resistance to weapon attacks that bludgeon, pierce, or slash. [2]
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    Let’s say one of your foes decides to attack. They have a sword, which does slashing damage. They roll a d20 to try and hit you.
    • If they hit you: You take 50% of whatever damage they roll, rounded down. So, if they roll a 7, you take 3 slashing damage.
      • Key note: The attacker is using a sword. If they were using a weapon that did radiant damage, for example, you would take the full 7 damage.
    • If they don’t hit you: You take 0 damage and Blade Ward is still active.
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    Let’s say there’s another enemy on the field—a druid. They cast Witch Bolt, targeting you. They roll their ranged spell attack to see if they strike you with the spell.
    • If they hit you: You take 1d12 lightning damage. Since Blade Ward doesn’t grant resistance to lightning damage, you take 100% of whatever they roll on the d12.
      • Key note: If the druid had cast a spell that caused slashing, bludgeoning, or piercing damage, like Wall of Thorns, Blade Ward would cut that damage in half.
    • If they don’t hit you: Nothing happens and Blade Ward is still active.
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    Blade Ward is only active for 1 full round, so it goes away the instant your next turn begins.
    • Since Blade Ward is a cantrip and it doesn’t use spell slots, you’re more than welcome to continue casting Blade Ward every turn if you’d like!
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Section 3 of 5:

Is Blade Ward good?

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    Even for a cantrip, using a full action on your turn to maybe take slightly less damage when you’re hit in combat over the next round is not very good. It’s even more restrictive than that, though! It only grants resistance against weapon attacks (so all spells get past Blade Ward), and only certain types of weapon attacks at that. [3]
    • Isn’t damage resistance really good, though? Damage resistance is a “nice to have” but it’s not game-changing. You take half damage instead of full damage when you’re resistant, but half damage is still damage.
    • Does Blade Ward get better at higher levels? Unlike a lot of other spells, Blade Ward doesn’t actually scale. This means it becomes less powerful the longer the game goes on. This isn’t that unique for cantrips though, so don’t hold it against the spell.
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    The really awesome thing about Dungeons and Dragons is that there’s no wrong way to play it. You should choose spells, cantrips, weapons, and feats that seem cool and fun to you! If you want to build a super defensive tank who can handle any blows that are hurled their way, Blade Ward is definitely a great option! [4]
    • Blade Ward is also uniquely useful for Bladesinging Wizards. Since Bladesinging Wizards can cast cantrips as an attack at 6th level and they get 2 attacks a turn, a Bladesinger can use Blade Ward after attacking with a melee weapon to ensure any incoming attacks aren’t devastating.
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Section 4 of 5:

Is Blade Ward better than Dodge?

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    The Dodge action is normally better than Blade Ward. Blade Ward only minimizes the amount of damage you’re going to take from certain weapons. The Dodge action imposes disadvantage on all attack rolls against the user. In other words, Dodge protects you against more types of damage than Blade Wards. Also, Blade Ward doesn’t prevent you from being hit in the first place, while Dodge can. [5]
    • The only scenario where Dodge might lose out to Blade Ward is if you’re being attacked by a magical weapon that rolls at advantage to hit. That’s a pretty niche scenario, though.
Section 5 of 5:

Fixing Blade Ward with Homebrew Adjustments

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    Your action is basically the most important thing you have at your disposal on any turn of combat. It’s what you use to cast big spells, make attacks, or perform key maneuvers to get out alive. Using Blade Ward—a spell that might do something, and even then, only halves damage—as your action is kind of a bummer. Allowing players to use Blade Ward as a reaction dramatically improves its usability while making it a lot more satisfying to use.
    • Blade Ward is also a defensive spell, so it makes sense that players would be happier off using it as a reaction after they already know they’re going to be attacked.
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    If you don’t want to turn Blade Ward into a reaction, you can at least allow your players to use it as a bonus action. This way, you can preserve the intended spirit of the spell (a proactive defensive option), without crippling players’ abilities to do other (cooler) things on their turn.
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    Look, resistance just isn’t that cool. Taking half damage is sort of good, but it’s just not exciting. If you’re going to keep Blade Ward as an action, at least giving players immunity from slashing, bludgeoning, and piercing damage can make it more exciting and useful.
    • Immunity against traditional weapon damage is also pretty rare in Dungeons and Dragons. This adjustment gives players a unique and powerful defensive combo in traditional combats.
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      • Blade Ward doesn’t stack. If you can take multiple actions on one turn, casting Blade Ward twice won’t make it twice as effective.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://orkerhulen.dk/onewebmedia/DnD%205e%20Players%20Handbook%20%28BnW%20OCR%29.pdf
      2. ↑ https://orkerhulen.dk/onewebmedia/DnD%205e%20Players%20Handbook%20%28BnW%20OCR%29.pdf
      3. ↑ https://www.caverns-and-creatures.com/5e-spells/blade-ward
      4. ↑ https://slyflourish.com/building_great_dnd_characters.html
      5. ↑ https://orkerhulen.dk/onewebmedia/DnD%205e%20Players%20Handbook%20%28BnW%20OCR%29.pdf

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