Spell Spotlight: Sleet Storm

Author: Tatersalad810

Whenever there is a discussion that involves the large increase in power full spellcasters gain at level 5, a few standout spells are mentioned universally. Conjure animals, fireball, hypnotic pattern, and spirit guardians are the big names that almost always show up in discussion. An oft undiscussed spell by most of the D&D community is sleet storm, which has the same encounter-warping power as the cream of the crop, if not more. Let’s explore why.

Sleet storm has a lot going on so let’s break down the spell into a few different parts. Firstly, it causes heavy obscurement. The ground inside of it is difficult terrain, and at the start of a creature’s turn or when a creature enters the area for the first time, they must make a Dexterity saving throw or fall prone on a failure. A creature in the area concentrating on a spell must make a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC at the start of its turn or lose concentration. Lastly, it’s a 20-foot tall cylinder that has a radius of 40 feet. That is one enormous cylinder.

Heavy Obscurement

The rules regarding heavy obscurement can be extremely confusing but essentially it negates any advantage or disadvantage you or your foes would have when making attacks. If you’re wishing for a more detailed explanation, our article on Hiding and Surprise elaborates on obscurement; Pack Tactics also has a great reference on obscurement in his fog cloud video. Obscurement can be inconvenient in certain situations, but bear in mind this negates the disadvantage ranged attackers would have against creatures who have fallen prone, allowing any ranged allies to attack enemies in the spell’s area without much disruption. Another added bonus regarding obscurement is that it hard counters many spells and some of the more debilitating effects in the game that depend on being able to see one’s target. A Vampire cannot charm anyone while it or their intended target is in the spell’s area. A group of Yuan-Ti cannot spam suggestion from the inside of the cylinder. An Evoker cannot upcast magic missile and target your Ranger ally concentrating on pass without trace. This doesn’t fully counter spellcasters as fireball, wall of force, and plenty of other spells do not require sight but this absolutely reduces their overall lethality.

Difficulty Moving

Difficult terrain on its own may seem underwhelming for a third level spell, but the area of the spell is gigantic compared to most others in the game. Often multiple Dash actions will be required for enemies to get out of the cylinder based solely on said terrain alone, and time spent moving is time not spent attacking you or your allies. On top of that, the saving throw vs prone eats up to twice as much precious movement when creatures need all the movement they can get, while simultaneously splitting any group walking through it (since some end up passing the save and moving faster than their friends). Not only does Dexterity quickly become one of the best attributes to target with respect to saving throws, but the rest of the spell’s effects are not reliant on saves at all, giving sleet storm utility that holds even against enemies with strong saving throws or legendary resistance. As icing on the cake, sleet storm is one of the better ways to deal with flying monsters, knocking them prone (forcing them to fall if they don’t have a hover speed) and then acting as soft denial for a huge area above them; all of this just so happens to be attached to a spell that’s already really good for other reasons.

Enemy Concentration

In most instances on this website, whenever Constitution saving throws come up, we view them as a drawback, and for good reason. Plenty of big beefy monsters have high Constitution scores, and at higher levels proficiency in Constitution saves can be found across large swaths of the Monster Manual. However, many hostile spellcasters, including all of the NPC Wizards in Monsters of the Multiverse, do not have strong Constitution saving throws. Sleet storm just got more valuable against enemy spellcasters. We’ve already discussed how this spell can reduce the lethality of spellcasters, now it just gets better. Even the CR 12 Archmage has only a +1 bonus to its Constitution saves, so slap this spell right on them if they decide to cast wall of force to split the party. Now they’re more likely than not to fail the save on their next turn, letting your allies take down the mage more easily.

Now that we’ve discussed what the spell does, let’s talk about how to best use the spell and make it shine. We’re going to talk about the magic of teamwork and force multiplier combos. This is not a comprehensive list, but it should help your party figure out how to approach the encounter once sleet storm has been cast with the resources available.

Spells

Firstly, let’s look at some spells that work really well with sleet storm:

Eldritch blast – On its own, this cantrip does not have any value when used with sleet storm, but it’s when you add the Repelling Blast eldritch invocation that the synergy materializes. The earliest you can acquire sleet storm is the exact time eldritch blast fires its second beam — at 5th-level. This allows one to push either two enemies back 10 feet or a single enemy back 20 feet with two hits. With sleet storm, enemies will have to use double the amount of movement to recover from the push back when pushed into the spell’s area. Combined with the excellent Dexterity saving throw against being knocked prone, you can easily keep enemies out of melee and keep those who are dangerous at range restricted by a lack of sight. This effectively neutralizes the effective options for 65% of the monsters in the Monster Manual. Additionally, the Lance of Lethargy eldritch invocation combined with sleet storm can even further trap monsters in the spell’s area and keep them out of melee.

Ray of frost – This will function much like the Lance of Lethargy eldritch invocation; it’s not as potent a combination but the movement reduction applies to Dash actions as well. The Wizard or Sorcerer would find great use in casting this into a nasty brute caught in a sleet storm. 

Magic stone – Did our melee allies run out of javelins? Oh no! Anyway, magic stone is a great tool to use with melee allies for chip damage to wear down enemies. You can even hand these off to summons to fling as well! The Druid who has baboons hanging out at the edge of sleet storm as a meat shield can have some of their baboons make ranged spell attacks with the stones while they wait for things to get close. 

Plant growth, transmute rock – These two spells are incredibly powerful movement-reducing spells that we’ve discussed on various builds, including some of our Flagship Builds. Their movement-reduction effect stacks with difficult terrain and, combined with sleet storm’s area of effect, have a similar outcome as eldritch blast. Forcing 5 feet of movement for every 1 foot taken is a debilitating debuff for many of the enemies you’ll find in your travels, and it’s not a condition like restrained so fewer enemies will be able to avoid it. 

Spirit guardians – Obviously, you do not want your ally concentrating on spirit guardians to enter the area of effect of sleet storm. However, spirit guardian’s movement reduction effect, like plant growth and transmute rock, will stack with difficult terrain. A Cleric standing at the edge of a sleet storm will project their aura 15 feet into the spell’s area. In rooms with few entrances and exits, a hallway, or other combat scenario where there’s a chokepoint, this combo really hinders an enemy’s ability to exit sleet storm. Enemies who enter the spirit guardians area will already be using double the movement to move around in the sleet storm, now they’ve just had their movement speed reduced by half. Any creature who took the Dash action to cover more ground will immediately run out of movement upon entering the spirit guardians aura. It isn’t quite as potent as plant growth as it covers less area, but this will slow down enemies, especially those trying to get past your Cleric.

Entangle, Evard’s black tentacles, web – The difficult terrain effect of these spells is not doubled when these spells are stacked on each other, but you do not want to fall prone while you are restrained and trying to get out of the thing that restrains you. It’s not as resource efficient as eldritch blast or plant growth, but it’s a serious hindrance to most of the enemies as most enemies are more dangerous in melee than they are at a distance. One could also place these spells at the edge of an existing sleet storm to extend the area denial further if the battlefield isn’t too large.

Rime’s binding ice – The effect of this spell isn’t as flashy compared to say web or plant growth, but it absolutely can force a monster to take two turn’s worth of non-damaging actions in order to get out of the spell’s area; an action to break the ice, and an action to Dash next turn in order to get out because they couldn’t Dash the turn they broke the ice. Combat lasts three to four rounds in most scenarios so wasting two actions that could’ve been multiattacks translate into a lot of damage avoided.

Thunderwave – We don’t usually take this spell on our casters, but if you have a scroll of it or an ally of yours has it, then your party can push enemies further into sleet storm.

Pulse wave –  It’s difficult to stack this spell because cones are inherently tricky to place. However, lining this spell up to push enemies 15 feet away from you while they’re in difficult terrain will consume 30 feet of movement when they try to close the distance afterwards. 

Slow – Slow is a decent spell we don’t talk about often on this blog. It’s not terrible per se, but it’s not as strong as the best in slot options like hypnotic pattern, so it gets left out of a lot of lists. That said, the movement reduction along with the penalty to Dexterity saving throws makes slow pair well with sleet storm, especially when it doesn’t require seeing the target. 

There are several other spells like gravity sinkhole, magnify gravity, Tasha’s mind whip, and scatter that provide forced movement and movement reduction that could stack really well with sleet storm, but they require line of sight. Consider using these when you know an ally is going to cast sleet storm after your turn. Cast your spell to hinder/reposition the enemy and make it that much harder for enemies to get back in the fray once they’re debuffed further by sleet storm. 

Non-Spell Abilities

Now let’s talk about a few non-spell effects that can synergize well with sleet storm. After all, casters shouldn’t have all the fun, right? 

Caltrops (equipment) – Caltrops are really nice on their own for chokepoints as they can end an enemy’s movement for their turn entirely and apply a longer lasting movement debuff, forcing Dash actions for the measly price of 1 gp. Due to the wider application of sleet storm, the strategic application of caltrops will not always appear but when it does it can be extremely potent. This can keep an enemy from getting out of sleet storm on a turn they otherwise would have. The DC of the saving throw isn’t amazing but bear in mind Dexterity is one of the best saves to target so a DC 15 will stay surprisingly relevant throughout the campaign. Sure the enemies can just move through the space at half speed to avoid the saving throw entirely, but slowing down melee enemies or keeping dangerous sight-based monsters in the spell is the point so it still works.

Ball Bearings (equipment) – Like caltrops, but the saving throw is easier to succeed, the effect isn’t as long lasting, and the area is four times as large (10 foot square vs 5 foot square). There’s nothing more frustrating for a beefy melee monster like a troll than falling prone, getting up, charging forward and falling prone again. Like caltrops, moving through the square at half speed avoids the save, but moving through difficult terrain at half speed eats up quite a bit of movement and risks staying in sleet storm for another turn. Enjoy the subsequent saving throw from the spell next turn and risk falling prone anyway.

Of course, there are other items that can work with this spell well, such as the Tangler Grenade. Check out our guide on non-magical items to come up with more comboes.

Crusher (feat) – With a bludgeoning weapon, you can push people on the edge of sleet storm into it or enemies still inside the spell’s area on the edge further into it. Remember that this ability lets you push your target 5 feet into an unoccupied space, so push them into the spell 5 feet off the ground and force an Acrobatics check to not fall prone due to difficult terrain rules. This ability works especially well with Genie (Dao) Warlocks, as they can have one of their eldritch blast beams deal bludgeoning damage once per turn and push enemies further into the spell’s area.

Alert (feat) – Whenever Alert is discussed, the initiative bonus and inability to be surprised are most often discussed. However, in this case the third bullet point, “Other creatures don’t gain advantage on attack rolls against you as a result of being unseen by you,” is our primary interest in relation to sleet storm. When a character with Alert is targeted by enemies obscured by sleet storm, the enemies have disadvantage on their attack rolls unless they have some other means of acquiring advantage. 

Telekinetic (feat) – Shoving creatures requires sight so the synergy is limited, but you can attempt to shove a creature at the edge of sleet storm into it, useful for pushing spellcasters into obscurement before you cast another big spell they might counter.

Ranged weapons – One might argue that there’s a degree of anti-synergy here as the obscurement produced by the spell negates any advantage you could possibly obtain. That is a valid point, but it’s completely negated simply because most monsters have zero ranged attacks in their stat block. As a result these monsters can only make improvised weapon attacks with rocks, ranged attacks that have no proficiency modifiers added and deal little damage. Additionally, falling prone isn’t an issue because the obscurement negates the disadvantage one would normally have trying to shoot prone enemies. Your party can follow up with javelins, bows, crossbows, handaxes, etc and not worry about disadvantage due to long distances and tilt the damage dealt to damage taken equation heavily in your favor.

Gravity Well (class feature) – Well well well, here we are with a caster feature anyway. This feature is extraordinarily potent on its own by virtue of being able to control the battlefield at no resource cost via cantrips. Stack this on a ray of frost and move the target you hit in the spell’s area up 5 feet as described in Crusher and force additional Acrobatics checks. Lob a fireball into a sleet storm, no sight required, and move everyone up five feet and watch more enemies fall prone.

Features with Anti-Synergy

While sleet storm combos nicely with several other debuff abilities, there are some features in this game that do not work as well with sleet storm. These spells and features below should not be used in conjunction with the spell. This is not a comprehensive list, but it should help your party figure out how to approach the encounter once sleet storm has been cast with the resources available.

Fear (spell) – The frightened condition in general doesn’t synergize with sleet storm because you don’t want to block the line of sight of something affected by the frightened condition, as the targets affected by this spell cannot make saving throws against it if the caster cannot be seen. The only real synergy between these two spells is casting sleet storm in between you and your foes after they have broken line of sight and made their saving throws, making returning to you that much harder. Other spells that apply the frightened condition like wrathful smite should be similarly avoided.

Melee weapons – This one is pretty self-explanatory. You do not want to charge into sleet storm just so you can swing your polearm around and hit things. Stick to the edge of the spell to attack approaching targets or throw javelins — their effective range is now 120 feet without penalty since obscurement rules will cancel out the disadvantage you’d have otherwise. 

Sneak Attack – Due to the nature of heavy obscurement creating both advantage and disadvantage, Rogues will lose the ability to sneak attack enemies caught in a sleet storm at range. The exception to this is if their target is at the edge of the sleet storm and an ally is outside the edge of the spell. In this scenario, they will not have disadvantage due to obscurement advantage & disadvantage canceling each other out, and they’ll have an ally within five feet of their target. If the enemy is further in, forget about Sneak Attack damage.

Sleet storm is crowd control, and very good crowd control at that. That said, there are plenty of other crowd control options available at third level with more seemingly debilitating control like hypnotic pattern, fear, or web. So why would we want to use sleet storm instead of those other options? While hypnotic pattern is extremely potent, we do have to remember that roughly 12% of the published enemies are immune to the charmed condition entirely, monster Wisdom saving throw bonuses scale quite well at high levels, and most Fiends or other powerful supernatural creatures have Magic Resistance. The same can be said for fear and the frightened condition. Web needs accomodating terrain to affect areas above ground for more than one round, and enemies caught by web are still free to use their actions that don’t involve making attack rolls.

These spells have powerful debilitating effects, but in a campaign full of Constructs, Fiends and/or Undead, we can expect a regular appearance of enemies resistant or immune to their effects, especially at higher levels. Sleet storm gets around these limitations quite easily. Only ~5% of published enemies are immune to the prone condition, and it’s easy to discern if they are immune beforehand by paying attention to the features of the monster, like a floating enemy, a swarm, or a non-corporeal entity. Additionally, Magic Resistance does not entirely nullify this spell. While you won’t see Fiends falling prone as often as enemies without Magic Resistance, there is no resisting the difficult terrain or the obscurement, and forced movement will effectively keep them away from melee range and in the spell’s area unable to use any sight-based abilities. For the more dangerous type of foes with spells and sight-based abilities, the heavy obscurement alone can nullify their threats. 

Lastly, the area this spell covers is in a whole different league. In fact, sleet storm‘s area is bigger than all of the spells we just mentioned, combined!

Obviously there are three classes that have this inherently on their spell list: Druid, Sorcerer, and Wizard. There’s no real need to discuss this further beyond Druid’s spell list is usually lacking in the extremely hard crowd control that is web, hypnotic pattern, fear, etc, and this fills that gap for them; additionally, it can be used in more environments than plant growth if your table uses the reading that it requires plants. 

Arcane Trickster (Rogue) – Obviously this subclass will not have access to this spell until much later in the game, but it is quite relevant at the level you can first learn it. It is important to bear in mind that there is no elegant synergy this spell has with other subclass features like Magical Ambush, as the saving throws do not occur on your turn. That said, being the one who concentrates on sleet storm while being able to Hide as a Bonus Action (preventing yourself from being targeted) provides a lot of nice breathing room for other casters in your party. 

Magical Secrets – Bard’s do not get sleet storm on their spell list, but they can get it via Magical Secrets, and it’s not a bad option to grab at level six or level ten. See our Guide to Magical Secrets article for more detailed explanation.

Tempest domain (Cleric) – One of the major selling point for Tempest Cleric is the access to this spell as a Domain Spell. Clerics, generally speaking, do not get many options in the way of crowd control, and getting sleet storm to your arsenal opens up an additional playstyle with Tempest Cleric and allows a strong ranged option to use when enemies are using tactics that would render spirit guardians suboptimal or difficult to use, like ranged attacks and spells.

Eldritch Knight (Fighter) – As with Arcane Trickster, this subclass does not have access to this spell until tier three, but thankfully this spell still works well at all levels and doesn’t require a high saving throw DC. There is some synergy here with Eldritch Strike and Improved War Magic but you’re not really using it to combo with those subclass features. You’re using it because it’s a strong spell on its own and those features are just nice extras.

Warlock subclasses – Fathomless Warlocks can learn this spell, and its presence on the Expanded Spell List provides a huge boost in power. Bonus Action summon a Tentacle of the Deep in a group of enemies and whack something to reduce its movement speed. Then drop this spell on the group and use Repelling Blast, Lance of Lethargy, and Tentacle of the Deep on subsequent turns to keep the enemies in the spell’s area for as long as possible and chip away at their health. Genie (Marid) Warlocks also get this spell on their Expanded Spell List, and while they do not have as many synergy tools as Fathomless subclass, the ability to use the Repelling Blast and Lance of Lethargy eldritch invocations in your own sleet storm is very strong on its own. Remember that Warlocks recover spell slots on a short rest, so it’s very possible your level 5 Warlock will be galavanting through a dungeon dropping 4-6 sleet storms and being generally irritating to all foes.

Half-Elf: Mark of Storm (race) – We don’t rate this race as highly as we do some of the other Dragonmarked Races like Mark of Passage/Shadows but this is still one of the better races, with this spell being a major reason for it. There are a lot of classes that can benefit from the accessibility of this spell: Artificers now have a better use of their third level spell slots than web, Clerics & Paladins have an option for ranged combat beyond bless, cantrips, and javelins, any Warlock can solo-provide the sleet storm + eldritch blast combination of crowd control, you get the picture.

As stated above, none of the individual effects of sleet storm seem particularly flashy at a glance. Difficult terrain can be achieved with lower level spells, falling prone isn’t particularly impressive for a third level spell when hypnotic pattern, web, and fear exist, and fog cloud and darkness can very reliably provide obscurement. However, the combination of all these little features in a 80 foot diameter cylinder is surprisingly potent and very easily capitalized on by most parties with force multipliers or effective ranged-based tactics. Even against foes with Magic Resistance, the inability to close the distance quickly often spells an enemy’s doom. Sleet storm might not have the most glamorous effects, but its sheer size and potential will often make it the star of your show.