Cleric Multiclass Tier Rankings in D&D 5e 

Single class cleric party would work amazingly well I think.

I mean 4 clerics overlapping spirit guardians. Everyone say it with me. Death

The way they discussed the others made it seem like they were planning on making it a series

Single class monk party LUL

YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!! PRETTY PLEASE WITH ALL THE THINGS ON TOP!!!!!

I think stars druid is easily one of the best cleric multiclass combos in the game. It seems almost designed as a dip from Cleric. As you said, Chalice synergizes well with Cleric healing. It's almost like twinning a healing spell, except it doesn't require metamagic. Paired with Life domain, it means you can heal at a distance without even having to prepare any healing spells. Cure Wounds is always prepared for Life domain, so you can just cast it on yourself if no one else is within reach (and take a little extra healing from Disciple of Life), then use the chalice ability to heal someone else up to 30 feet away. Alternately, use Archer form for a spiritual-weapon-like ability, and save yourself a prepared spell, as well as any spell slots you would have spent on spiritual weapon. It recharges on a short rest! Or if you really want to keep your concentration up on a spell, you can go Dragon form instead. You can't roll lower than a 15 on concentration checks, which means you automatically succeed on the check when you take no more than 30 damage. Higher if you pick up Resilient - CON. This is great for a melee cleric build to help you keep your concentration on spirit guardians. You also get Guiding Bolt always prepared, plus some free uses of it per day. One more prepared spell and some spell slots you save. Finally, you get Guidance for free. If you were planning to take it anyway, that frees you up to take another cleric cantrip. Stars druid gives clerics a lot of versatility in how they play, and the best part is that you don't have to decide at the moment you choose the subclass. You could switch between play styles each battle.

Even for Wildshape, the utility of it is still quite helpful.

Or shepard turning it into an aoe heal, so your lvl1 healing word heals one ally 1d4+mod+2+1(spell lvl)+2(amount of druid lvls) and all allies within 30ft for 2+1(spell lvl)+2(amount of druid lvls). Not an awful lot perhaps, but that's a total amount of healing comparable to mass healing word which is a 3rd lvl spell!! Sounds worth it to me!

Goodberry isn't the best example cause you only get the chalice bonus when casting a spell that heals.

Circle of stars druid dragon form channel divinity makes you have auto 10 on concentration checks, never get knocked outta spirit guardians again...

I'm playing that right now. It's good fun

There was an awesome trilogy of Forgotten Realms novels about a rogue (assassin) who got hand picked by Mask (God of thieves) and he multiclassed to cleric to act on Mask's behalf. (He might have even eventually become a Chosen of Mask) Edit; his name was Everis Cale and it was written by Paul S Kemp

Agreed. I think the dudes slept a bit on the utility that cunning action can give a cleric. I also think Soulknife works a bit better than they gave it credit for, because their Psi Bolstered Knack is just so incredibly useful. And sneak attack may not be as immediately impressive as Extra Attack for a more melee focused cleric, but it’s certainly no slouch and puts less of a hold on your cleric progression than five levels of fighter.

Basically Temenos from Octopath Traveler 2 if anyone is playing that, and Temenos is awesome

I am building towards this at the moment in one of my campaigns so its good to hear others are enjoying it

Astral Self Monk I think is a fantastic option to pair with Cleric for all the reasons you said

Was about to comment that they’d totally forgetten the Jojo class.

@@Psuedo-Nim yeah, but you're a cleric and for you every ki point spent in transformation is almost like a 2nd lvl spiritual weapon, so each ki saves you 2nd lvl spell slots specially if going 1 lvl of fighter for unarmed fighting if don't want to go deep into monk

@@LokangoFreewar15 And pair that WITH Spiritual Weapon, you can whip out a huge ass amount of force damage

@@fightingfalcon777 if clerics got the darkness spell it would be sick with Astral sight

I think C still stands but yeah stars druid is an exception

The other thing you also get is a free familiar. With the new Tasha's rules you can use your wildshape to summon a familiar for up to an hour at lv2 twice per day. You get the upside of infiltration with wildshape when you need it. Or a familiar to give advantage in combat. The druid spells might not add alot but the 2 lv dip adds a lot of support and utility from the class features and the Stars or Shepard subclasses. I would argue it's at least a B if not an A. Low cost, high reward

These aren't dipping videos. They are actual multi-classing. It is assumed you take near equal levels. They are assuming much closer to 5/5, maybe 6/4. Dipping would be a different video.

@@BW022 in this video and in previous videos they have talked about dipping. They've referred to dipping in multiple videos including this one.

C rating should not stand. Wildshaping utility is better than Monty was giving it credit, sounded like he forgot about it. There are also quite a few cantrips and lower level Druid spells that are stand out features. The nature cleric doesn’t get access to those. Also some rituals available that the cleric doesn’t have access to. The summoning spells the Druid has access to can be upcast quite effectively. Conjure animals, summon beast, and summon fey. That’s without taking into account circle features.

plus if you go with life as a bonus you might as well get the beloved goodberry heal

Plus if you go up to 3rd lvl in druid you get access to pass without trace and summon beast. Very good if you plan on being a sneaky party, especially if you got someone in heavy armor. And another body on the board is never a bad thing

Have played one of these, can confirm it's dope as hell

If you go war domain and just dip two levels into paladin, you can blow your higher level spell slots on thunderous smite and divine smite and then use your channel divinity to give yourself a +10 bonus to hit.

​@talongreenlee7704 if you rolled good stats, you can go 5 lvls of paladin for extra attack and rest cleric for massive spell damage, just need 13 cha.

And the loss of Armor and Spiritual weapon for one round is worth it? Plus spell levels? Having more options is fun however purely on optimization levels I am skeptical.

I think we have the same girlfriend because my girlfriend is also playing that combo.

Dragon Form is pretty nuts though. With a decent CON and Dragon Form active, your Con Checks for Spirit Guardians are very solid. Shillelagh and Thorn Whip are great Cantrips for a Cleric. Guidance and Guiding Bolt are always prepared and Guiding Bolt can cast for free based on your Proficiency Bonus.

@@Hyde_Hill The Cleric-Druid MC hugely depends on your DM's ruling on that stupid armor restriction. I play with very tolerant DMs who allow Breastplates made from wood or bone, scale armour made from snake skin or crocodile hide just as it can be made from dragonscales. In which case the Cleric-Druid is really great, though you're only dipping 2 levels for some 1st level spells: Absorb Elements, Faerie Fire, Entangle, Healing Word, Speak with Animals, and your first subclass feature -> Starry druid is good, Shepherd is nice as well for aura healing, or Wildfire for group teleport ability. However I'm sure we'll see in the druid video druid with 2 levels of cleric is much better than the reverse.

@@feelingrizzly1515 although I think magic stone is better most times because of Crusher and pulling them into your Spirit Guardians for additional dmg each turn

But a PC like that wouldn't feel like a Barbarian first and and Cleric second?

@@fabiovarra3698 I get what you mean, but I feel like there’s enough synergy to make it at least a C, especially since if you wanna play a combat cleric, that does benefit from going barb, at least up to level 5

Tempest Cleric Barbarian is what could have been if the player from Seth Skorkowsky's "For Thor" video had decided to settle down in that town (if we pretend they were playing 5e, which they explicitly weren't)

Hear me out.... Berserker Barbarian with access to greater restoration?

10 cleric/5 barbarian works well. Even 7 Cleric/ 3 Barbarian is good. It's the last 2 levels of Barbarian that are painful because you continue to stunt you upper spell casting.

Exactly! However, in my current campaign, the DM does a ton of wisdom saving through things against us, so I'm glad I went Cleric first.

I just wrote the exact same

@@wwade7226 Thats why you take Resilient Wisdom at later levels

A three level dip for Font of Magic and Metamagic works too. Subtle is cheap and effective, and you can get more by breaking down Spell Slots on the Cleric you don't use. Twinned for buffs. I agree with DDs that Divine Soul kinda gets you all this without needing Cleric, maybe dipping Peace or Twilight Cleric for armour and the subclass level 1 features, but maining Cleric does seem weaker. Still, if you DO end up doing this it is still better than D.

This is what I've done death cleric shadow sorcerer going 3 lvl in sorcerer

Was going to mention the Fey Wanderer. Throw Canny onto Persuasion, getting Charm Person, gaining proficiency on Deception (and don't forget the Wis bonus doesn't replace but is on top of any Cha bonus); suddenly your cleric is one of the best Party Faces in the game without going near the Trickery domain. Plus adding an extra 1d4 Physic to your Shillelagh is a nice cherry on top.

oh my, Trickery cleric domain and Ranger Fey wanderer. Suporte, Exploration, Face, utility.... yep that is good

Yeah, honestly I think it's one of the better Cleric multilcasses if you're choosing a good Ranger subclass.

They definite did this combo dirty. I think they were stuck on the idea of the cleric being a STR/WIS class, but this combo would lean to a DEX/WIS build wearing light armor and using ranged/finesse weapons. Ranger is bringing in a fighting style and extra attack, as well as some good spells the cleric normally doesn't get. This is a great build for a ranged cleric that isn't going to be using spirit guardians. It is not so good for melee, but still workable. Ranger should be a low B at least.

@@daltigoth3970 Another mistake was comparing it to the Paladin, when it should’ve been to the Fighter. And if Fighter’s an A, Ranger is pretty close. And they rated it worse the then Monk :/

I've been hoping he'd make a cleric gish lol

A Cleric Barbarian that stacks a load of Guardians of Faith in a row and then uses rage to grapple enemies and run them past all the guardians, and holds a dash action to do it again immediately after their turn is over? At least it's a nice easy damage calculation! Edit: No wait, this doesn't come online by level 6. That couldn't possibly be a Colby build!

The channel synergy has been sick lately. I think he has made a cleric gish before.

@@Grooveworthy I guess he did but I can't quite recall.

His Twilight Cleric/Stars Druid multiclass is the strongest healer and support character he's ever built.

Yup

For class tier lists they usually don't really consider subclasses unless it is like a natural match.

​@@Dani_77709that's the point they are

This could make an interesting hunter of heretics, an arm of the church dedicated to rooting out corruption by any means necessary even those considered unseemly. A witch hunter.

Ive been playing an inquisitive rogue rogue / trickery domain cleric for the past 3 years and for a social interaction based campaign, the multipleclassing feels great.

Nat 1 has no influence on saving throws nor ability checks, meaning that you won't have the chance yo fail any concentration checks unless you take 22+ damage in a single hit

@@abcrasshadow9341 look dude I don’t know what rules YOU play with, but at every single table I’ve ever played with, a natural 1 is a failure no matter what and that’s how I’m fairly certain most people play it

@@gengar618 Well, actually 5e's player's handbook says that nat 1 and nat 20 affect attack rolls, but neither affect ability checks or saves unless you house rule it. Check it out, there's no need to get offended by that

@@LokangoFreewar15 I’m not offended by it, just that people play by different rules.

@@LokangoFreewar15 Im reading p.176 and its not really clear..

Yeah but you can also just take the magic initiative feat for this. Plus you get 2 cantrips, take thornwhip and you can pull creatures in your spirit guardians. All this and it doesn't cost you a cleric level.

@@NickErkens-ft1ve your method doesn't work since you need to be able to cast goodberry more than once for it to be useful. Magic initiate only let's you cast it once. Also, feats are few and far between, you can't go spending them on magic initiate when there are significantly better feats out there such as resilient (con) and war caster. It ends up being that dipping one level into druid is a much smaller opportunity cost and therefore, a better option.

@Steelsly i thought you could use your spell slots also for goodberry. You can get quit many feats so i see magic initiative as a good option also for the cantrips, you can get that and also the feats you said, I see your point but i dont know if sacrificing a level 20 for cleric for a level one druid is worth it.

@@NickErkens-ft1ve I think I should point out that dipping a level of druid also gets you the druid cantrips. And no, you cannot use your spell slots on the goodberry from magic initiate. You just cast it once and that's it for the day. As for your point on the level 20 cleric, I'd be inclined to agree if you are going all the way to level 20 just because the cleric capstone is very strong. But that is really rare for a character to go up to level 20. For any character going up to level 19 or below, it's well worth dipping the one level in druid.

in theory with splint armor which is 17 plus a shield is 19 plus shield spell which is 21 at level 3 and if you have ceremony and a level 3 zealot barbarian in your party you can constantly marry the party together and then kill and revivify the barb at no cost for a free +2 ac for the whole party which is 23 ac at level 3

The opposite is even better 1 cleric the rest sorcerer. Gives you heavy armor, healing and far more utility for 1 level of cleric. I played that character and it's nutty. Twin spell healing word is probably the best healing spell in game. It's 1st level and 1 sorcery point to revive two party members from unconsciousness

@@bart_ender6116 agreed but this is their cleric video. The builds here are supposed to be talking about clerics with small dips into other classes.

That may be more a Sorcerer multiclass than Cleric. Since you two-level dip into Tempest and probably start Sorcerer to get Con Proficiency.

You are the player every table wants. 😂

Ps1 Hagrid lets go

Same

Ur son was a good cleric actually😊

overrated

That’s also why I’m shocked druid didn’t get an S, and was wondering if they were going to say astral monk was the S or if something in the ranger was S, like gloomstalker adding to initiative and that first round damage. I do still think full cleric is the real S tier option when starting as a cleric, but Druid’s wild shape seems to only be looked at for the moon druids damage. Kelly even mentioned how using wild shape lets you get in to almost ANYWHERE, but somehow it wasn’t enough.

On the other hand, even if you don't have an expert in the party that can make the check better than you without sacrificing levels for it, Cleric can already give themselves or another person Guidance for any skill check they know is coming.

@Esja my comment wasn't just about this video but about all of the multiclassing videos released so far. I agree that guidance is fantastic and better than expertise at early levels. When combined it can allow for some incredible consistency

@@WolfWarriorLive The armor restrictions make druid multiclass not worth the hassle

@@ancientgammoner6961 you can make armor out of nonmetal materials. If you’re a dwarven cleric with a druid dip, you could have plate armor made of stone. Hell, any cleric/druid could use dragon scale mail and not have to have 15 strength or be a dwarf to wear it. Granted that is an actual magic item and not just flavor, but the point still stands

There's also the celestial warlock.

Indeed, and the god doesnt even need to be the patron of a cleric/warlock multi, it could be a high ranking angel/celestial in service to the god, to use Christianity for an example, imagine having an archangel as your patron. your god sees you as important enough to delegate off your own personal handler. Very conductive to roleplay.

That's what I'm currently playing, Life Cleric 6/Celestial Warlock 4 Currently, interesting playstyle, can take a bit to ramp up but versatile damage output and options.

Or, their god gained power and turned evil and demanded a different type of pact, which they went with.

Or an inquisitor weeding out heretics.

I was thinking of going two level in tempest domain cleric then the rest in a blue dragon ancestry sorcerer for bg3.

VALID

(Plays Guile's theme on a pipe organ)

Clerics are not fighters that brings the hurt train, they're not bang for buck Spellcasters. But you can bet your bottom penny whenever there's a cleric in the party. Or a lack of cleric in the party especially when you're thick in the shit. That heat is real and feeling it. I love dex based fast movers that are stealthy and shooty. I would not be able to do what I do without a cleric backing my ass. Hell I won't even feel confident doing what I do without knowing one of them is around watching my back.

I don't think they're the strongest class but probably the most versatile and adaptable.

@@BigPurpleCarrot AND most dependable friend when you're knee deep in some hostile shit heap of a dungeon

Same! I also am thinking of taking levels in ranger for gloomstalker, cause the twilight sanctuary creates dim light, and anything that can see you in that 30 ft radius must have dark vision, and as a gloomstalker you are invisible to anything that is using dark vision to see. Ergo as long as your sanctuary is up, either they can’t see you cause they don’t have dark vision and you are invisible to those that use dark vision. Meaning you are essentially invis as long as your sanctuary is up.

You could also just play an Astral Self Monk and just use wisdom all the time.

I did a similar thing with Tempest, lots of good evocation spells available to clerics.

@@danielhughes213 I imagine Scribes wizard to also remain a solid choice for any tempest main.

Thank you!

Twin healing word is fantastic

I'm imaging Tifa in FF7R spamming her true strike (not to be confused with the inferior D&D counterpart) while Cloud stands on the other side swinging his sword. Monk and Cleric are an amazing combination.

If you used ki to stun on your action, ki-fuelled strike lets you attack once with your shillelagh as a bonus action.

@@saltypork101 no it doesn’t

@@NotYourAverageNothing Care to elaborate?

@@saltypork101 I misread your comment

You could also go Astral monk so that your unarmed strikes are wis based as another option

also fey wanderer can make a trickery cleric into a fantastic face.

Straight question. While thematically it is cool how mechanically does one enhance the other?

@@Hyde_Hill the twilight gives you the ability of limited flight, almost guarantees you win initiative for that damage boost, an extra d8 with divine strike, etc etc. you get a lot out of gloomstalker 5/ twilight x.

@@Hyde_Hill the key was in versatility. The Gloomstalker gave the character unbelievable stealth in the Underdark, while the Twilight Cleric gave them the temp HP buff and powerful magic in combat. They don't need to synergize in the sense that they both have powers going at the exact same time. Just imagine a Level 3 Gloomstalker. Now imagine a Level 3 Twilight Cleric. By themselves, they are fantastic, and because they both don't interfere, they work wonderfully in one character.

@@YoungTroy23 The initiative I will grant you. The flight would mainly be out of combat. But for the initiative the dip would be the other way around. So more a cleric dip with gloomstalker. 8 levels of cleric/5 gloomstalker is pretty end campaign for 1d8 on one attack. Plus you wouldn't channel divinity first turn, which is very strong part of of twilight cleric. I grant versatility however it is at the cost of overall power imho. 1 level dip on a gloomstalker seems stronger for armor and initiative advantage plus some utility spells. I would say they do interfere to a degree action economy wise though. Also feat selection if want to make the most of your gloomstalker.

@@Hyde_Hill flight in combat is incredibly potent since most non-humanoids do not have ranged attacks and it’s non-concentration. As for action economy it depends entirely on what spells you choose and how you choose to engage in combat. It’s not perfect but it’s way higher than D-tier since it’s essentially a ranger support options and reliable ways to deal with undead foes in mass and a very potent channel divinity.

Or Dragon, for good Concentration boost.

Or the other way around. If you are buffing and healing with your cleric spells, WIS isn't so important.