Thunderwave
1st-level evocation · 2d8 Thunder damage, average 9
9 average Thunder damage · 2–16
Roll Thunderwave
Press a roll button. The dice land here.
Spell details
- Level
- 1st-level
- School
- Evocation
- Casting time
- Action
- Range
- Self
- Components
- V, S
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Classes
- Bard, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard
- Save
- Constitution (half on success)
Thunderwave buys you ten feet of room, and tells the whole dungeon you're there
At the table. Thunderwave is a 15-foot Cube starting at you. Everything in it makes a Constitution save: on a fail, 2d8 Thunder damage and a 10-foot push away from you; on a success, half damage and no push. Unsecured objects in the Cube fly 10 feet too, and the boom carries 300 feet.
What changed from 2014. The rules are the same in substance. SRD 5.1 said a creature that saves "isn't pushed"; SRD 5.2.1 says it takes half "damage only". The spell stays on the Bard, Druid, Sorcerer and Wizard lists.
What it's worth. At save DC 13, counting half damage rounded down as the rules do:
| Target Con | Fails (pushed) | Expected damage |
|---|---|---|
| +0 | 60% | 7.10 |
| +1 | 55% | 6.86 |
| +3 | 45% | 6.39 |
Catch three Con +0 goblins in the Cube and you average 21.3 damage in one action, with each one 60 percent likely to end up 10 feet away.
The choice that matters is where you stand before you cast it. The Cube starts at you, so step up so the enemies sit inside it, not your friends. Get the enemies between you and a cliff edge, a pit, or a fire, and the push becomes the real damage.
The common mistake is forgetting the 300-foot boom. Every guard in the next three rooms now knows where you are. Cast it in a stealth mission and you've swapped a quiet fight for a loud one. The other mistake is counting on the push against a big Con save: an ogre or a troll mostly shrugs it off and stays in your face.
The human angle. Being surrounded is a physical feeling before it's a tactical one. Hayduk's review of personal-space research describes the zone people keep around their bodies and the stress when others press into it. Thunderwave is the one spell that puts that zone back by force. When the wizard is ringed by three goblins, clearing ten feet feels better than the damage it does. The wizard asked for some space. Loudly.
Source: Hayduk, L. A. (1978). Personal space: An evaluative and orienting overview. Psychological Bulletin, 85(1), 117–134. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.85.1.117
Thunderwave damage by level
| Cast at | Dice | Average | Range | On a save |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st slot | 9 | 2–16 | 4.3 | |
| 2nd slot | 13.5 | 3–24 | 6.5 | |
| 3rd slot | 18 | 4–32 | 8.8 | |
| 4th slot | 22.5 | 5–40 | 11 | |
| 5th slot | 27 | 6–48 | 13.3 | |
| 6th slot | 31.5 | 7–56 | 15.5 | |
| 7th slot | 36 | 8–64 | 17.8 | |
| 8th slot | 40.5 | 9–72 | 20 | |
| 9th slot | 45 | 10–80 | 22.3 |
“On a save” is the average of half each roll, rounded down, as the rules do it.
The odds of 2d8
| Total | Chance |
|---|---|
| 6 or more | 84% |
| 9 or more | 56% |
| 13 or more | 16% |
| 15 or more | 5% |
Thunderwave against other 1st-level damage spells
By average damage on one target, Thunderwave ranks 9th of 15 1st-level damage spells in the SRD. Area, saves and riders are not counted here; read each spell.
| Spell | Dice | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Guiding Bolt | 4d6 | 14 |
| Hellish Rebuke | 2d10 | 11 |
| Inflict Wounds | 2d10 | 11 |
| Burning Hands | 3d6 | 10.5 |
| Dissonant Whispers | 3d6 | 10.5 |
| Magic Missile | 3d4 + 3 | 10.5 |
| Divine Smite | 2d8 | 9 |
| Ray of Sickness | 2d8 | 9 |
| Thunderwave | 2d8 | 9 |
| Ice Knife | 1d10 | 5.5 |
| Ensnaring Strike | 1d6 | 3.5 |
| Hex | 1d6 | 3.5 |
| Hunter's Mark | 1d6 | 3.5 |
| Searing Smite | 1d6 | 3.5 |
| Divine Favor | 1d4 | 2.5 |
Rules text
You unleash a wave of thunderous energy. Each creature in a 15-foot Cube originating from you makes a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes Thunder damage and is pushed 10 feet away from you. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage only.
In addition, unsecured objects that are entirely within the Cube are pushed 10 feet away from you, and a thunderous boom is audible within 300 feet. Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot. The damage increases by for each spell slot level above 1.
This page includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 (“SRD 5.2.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The averages, odds and tables are ours.