Arcana Cleric Arcane Mastery Spells Guide

The Arcana Domain Cleric has one of the most powerful capstones among Cleric subclasses, potentially even among all subclasses. Similar to the Bard’s Magical Secrets features, which we have a guide on here, Arcane Mastery allows Arcana Domain Clerics to fill in gaps in their spell repertoire that other Cleric subclasses may experience. Like a Divine Soul Sorcerer, you get to combine both divine and arcane spells, with the bonus of getting some of those Wizard exclusives Sorcerers lack. The feature reads as follows:

In this guide we cover some of the highlights in the Wizard spell list which will allow you to make your Arcana Domain Cleric a peerless force of spell mastery! For this purpose we will start with 6th level spells and go all the way to 9th level spells. An important consideration for your specific choices are the capabilities of your party members. Many spells work even better with multiple casters, whereas others may have diminishing returns when more than one party member can cast them.

6th Level Spells

Clerics get access to a multitude of good 6th level spells, but who says no to getting, arguably, even stronger ones?

10 minute cast, range of self, 10 day duration. Sets up a spell to trigger on a specific condition within the duration.
Using this spell, you can prepare yourself to counter a threat you expect to encounter. For Cleric, top picks for spells to prepare in this manner include dispel magic, freedom of movement, greater restoration, and death ward. This is a great personal defense spell, and it gives us things to set up during downtime. However, this is a spell that you don’t need to cast very often, so just casting it using wish, which can also be picked up through this feature, may suffice for your game.

Action cast, 30 ft range. Wis save (willing targets do not need to roll), on a failure reposition target within 120 feet.
Positioning can be key to winning an encounter, and this spell allows you to adapt to a sudden change in the battle. If you’re looking for a 6th level spell to cast every day, this is it.

1 minute cast, range of self, until dispelled. Cha save, on a failure possess the body of a humanoid.
This is one of the most powerful 6th level spells in the game. For the purpose of this spell, you could use true polymorph and potentially simulacrum to even manufacture humanoids to guarantee good bodies. This is also not a spell that you need to cast very often, so if you pick up wish, leave this by the wayside.

Action cast, 60 ft range, 24 hour duration Forces up to 12 targets to follow a set of reasonable orders, Wis save.
Depending on what passes as a reasonable suggestion at your table, this may be really good or just…good. At the very least, you should be able to remove a great portion of enemies by telling them something along the lines of “Leave the battlefield in peace and you will be spared”, which will likely yield a satisfactory result depending on the motivation levels of your enemies (a paid mercenary might be more susceptible than a zealous cultist).

7th Level Spells

Ever heard about the “Daniel” and “Cooler Daniel” meme? That is what 7th level spells are for Cleric vs. Wizard. Yeah, conjure celestial is nice, but have you ever met my friend forcecage?

Action cast, 100 ft range, 1 hour duration. Create an invisible prison and trap creatures inside.
This allows you to create a box or cage of indestructible force which can’t be dispelled. For a Cleric, who doesn’t get access to wall of force, this is a gamechanger. This is a non-concentration way to temporarily remove creatures from the battlefield (oftentimes without a chance of failure)! Consider working with allies to “microwave” them.

10 minute cast, range of sight (1 mile), 10 day duration. Make audible, visual, tactile, and olfactory elements appear different
This is a truly insanely potent spell, because the illusions it creates can be interacted with physically, and there is no restriction on the kind of interactions. Lower level illusions such as major image specify that the illusions can’t do damage, while this limit is removed on mirage arcane. In fact, Jeremy Crawford has said the design intent that this spell can have real, physical, and even lethal effects. Create a complex net of adamantine walls, pitfalls hundreds of feet deep, lava pools, difficult terrain, or come up with other creative uses to absolutely demolish any tactical advantage your enemies might have. We discuss some questions on this spell that may arise at your table in this article.

12 hour cast, range of touch, until dispelled. Duplicate one beast or humanoid.
For a bit of money, play as two characters. Seriously, that’s what this spell does. It’s a bit expensive, but you shouldn’t have a problem paying for the material components at this level—the average level 11-16 treasure hoard contains over 30,000 gp. This spell is one of the biggest reasons why Wizards dominate at high levels even compared to other casters, and now you can copy their act of copying! You could pick up wish to replicate this spell, however, you can alternatively pick up both spells, allowing you to make your simulacrum use unconventional wish options, like giving your entire party resistance to damage types.

Action cast, 10 ft range. Teleport eight willing creatures or an object
Similar to plane shift, which Clerics do get access to by default, but with the added option of teleporting an object that is able to fit inside a 10-foot cube, not necessarily at the time of casting. A lot of objects can do that! Not as amazing as the alternatives, but can situationally come up.

8th Level Spells

While neither Wizard nor Cleric spells improve as much from 7th to 8th level spells, Arcana Domain Clerics get access to a few additional heavy hitters besides the spell the two spell lists share; antimagic field.

1 hour cast, 60 ft range, 10 day duration. You target a Huge or smaller object or creature or an area that is no larger than a 200-foot cube within range and either make it attract or repel certain creatures.
Use antipathy to make anyone who carries the item you cast it on into walking control machines possibly making creatures unable to approach, or use sympathy to clump up enemies for area of effect spells. Either are able to spell doom for most creatures. Its long duration means you can have multiple castings for different creature types and usages stocked up, and by using divination spells, you can figure out what you should stock up in advance.

Action cast, 150 ft range, 10 minute (concentration) duration. Creates a 60 ft radius sphere of magical darkness. 8d8 psychic damage when starting turn inside, Wis save for ½ damage. Similarly to dark star, this spell works nicely as a disruptive area of effect, and it blocks sight (even against darkvision). It has both a huge radius and a long range, and damages anyone inside. This can be quite a good combination with forcecage for “microwaves”, even against casters who may be unable to teleport out due to lack of sight.

Action cast, 60 ft range, 10 minute (concentration) duration. Target is banished to a maze for the duration, reappears on a successful DC 20 Int check as an action.
Removing an enemy from the fight entirely is an extremely potent effect, and can outright win a fight much like a wall of force would.

Action cast, range of touch, 24 hour duration. Target is immune to psychic damage, the charmed condition, divination spells, and having its emotions or thoughts read.
Most of these are quite scary effects, and this is a great rest cast.

9th Level Spells

The Cleric spell list is rather devoid of good options for 9th level spells. Mass heal is one of the only spells that actually heals a decent amount, but true resurrection can be prepared after you gain the knowledge that you need it, rather than before in 99.99% of cases. The addition of Wizard spells turn this upside down, with the unfortunate restriction of only getting to pick one!

1 minute cast, range of touch, 8 hour duration. For the duration, the target can’t be surprised and has advantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. Other creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls against the target.
This is an excellent rest cast, so you shouldn’t feel bad about leaving 9th level slots unused.

1 Action cast, range of self, 1 hour (duration) concentration. Assume the form of another creature, but retain benefits of any features from your class, race, or other source.
Gaining the ability to transform into creatures besides undead and constructs for an hour allows for heaps of fun in gameplay.

Action cast, 30 ft range, 1 hour (concentration) duration. Change a creature into another, an object into a creature, or vice versa.
Many people think wish is the best spell in the game, but true polymorph gives it a run for its money. Refer to our Chronurgy Magic Wizard build for more suggestions.

Action cast, 1 mile range. 20d6 fire + 20d6 bludgeoning damage in four 40 ft radius spheres, Dex save for ½ damage.
Clerics don’t have access to exceptionally strong high level blasts, and this is the strongest one. Extremely straightforward use case. Damages objects as well.

Action cast, range of self. Replicate the effects of any spell of 8th level or lower and more.
The best spell in the game, wish has a massive array of uses, one of the most important ones being getting a free simulacrum. Remember that the use case here is replicating the effects of any spell of 8th level or lower. Using it for any other effect means a chance of never being able to cast wish again, which is never ever worth the cost. You can learn about the many applications of wish in our Spell Spotlight.