If you’re interested in playing D&D as a Bard, one of the most useful spells you should know about is Dissonant Whispers. Dissonant Whispers can help you to do damage to targets without having to work around a lot of complicated conditions.
With that being said, using Dissonant Whispers properly involves understanding how to get it in the first place, what the spell can and can’t do, and optimizing the spell as much as possible.
Here’s everything you need to know (see also: Crown Of Madness 5E Guide: Everything You Need To Know)about Dissonant Whispers in D&D 5e, from the basics to helpful tips that will improve your spell-casting efficacy.
What Does Dissonant Whispers Do?
Dissonant Whispers is a 1st level enchantment that you can find in the D&D 5e (see also: The Scimitar 5e Introductory Guide)Player’s Handbook. The spell features on the Bard’s spell list. Casting Dissonant Whispers on a target allows you to whisper in the form of a discordant melody.
The creature hearing the whisper will receive psychic damage amounting to 3d6 if their Wisdom saving throw is unsuccessful. In the case of the successful saving throw, the damage is halved.
When using higher-level spell slots, you’ll be able to deal another 1d6 worth of damage for every level you go up. You’ll only need to use 1 action to cast Dissonant Whispers, and it’s a very simple spell to cast because it doesn’t require you to have your hands free like some other spells.
It also doesn’t require your target to be in your line of vision (although the spell won’t work if your target is protected by total cover). As long as you are able to speak and there are no total cover obstacles between you and your target, you’ll be able to deal some damage with this spell.
The best part is, since only your intended target can hear the whisper, nobody else will be able to hear it, which is ideal if you’re trying to maintain a low profile.
Using Dissonant Whispers
Obtaining Dissonant Whispers
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t necessarily need to play as a Bard in order to use Dissonant Whispers in D&D. However, this is the most straightforward way of getting the spell.
Dissonant Whispers is a 1st level spell, so once you have taken any Bard level, you can start using the spell. Specifically, Dissonant Whispers features on the spell lists for both The Great Old One Warlock and the Aberrant Mild Sorcerer.
If you want to get the most out of Dissonant Whispers, it’s best to use it as a sorcerer because you can use it for your Twinned Spell metamagic.
You can also use it as a warlock, but you will only have two available spell slots until you reach level 11, and there are more powerful spells you can use in this subclass.
Regardless of what kind of character you’re playing, you have the option to obtain Dissonant Whispers if you get the Fey Touched or Magic Initiate feats.
Fey Touched is the option we would recommend in this case, since it also means you can get a 1st-level spell in either enchantment or divination, and you’ll get Misty Step as well.
Meanwhile, Magic Initiate means you can use Minor Illusion or Vicious Mockery, although you’ll only get to use Dissonant Whispers once each day.
Depending on how your DM has built your campaign or one-shot, you may also be able to get Dissonant Whispers from the Rakdos Guild, which is part of the Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica. However, your setting may not allow for this.
Optimizing The Dissonant Whispers Spell
If you have Dissonant Whispers in one of your spell slots, you’re off to a good start. However, it’s important to know how you can optimize Dissonant Whispers to deal the most damage and make the most out of any situation.
Here are the best ways to optimize your use of the Dissonant Whispers spell:
Understand Condition Requirements
One of the main reasons we love Dissonant Whispers is that, unlike some other spells you’ll encounter in D&D, it doesn’t come with a whole host of conditions for you to navigate around.
For example, some spells will charm your enemies, and while this helps to make a spell more powerful, it also means that any creature immune to the charmed condition will also be immune to the other effects of that spell.
This is not the case with Dissonant Whispers because it doesn’t inflict any condition, including the frightened condition or the charmed condition. Essentially, nobody is immune to Dissonant Whispers, unless they are unable to hear for whatever reason.
It’s important to be aware of this information before you start playing so that you don’t hold yourself back by assuming that condition-immune characters will be resistant to the spell.
Force A Reaction
Dissonant Whispers does a fair amount of damage, especially at higher levels, but that’s not the only way this spell can be useful. Another thing to bear in mind about Dissonant Whispers is that it forces your target to use their reaction to your attack on moving away if they fail their saving throw.
So, once you use Dissonant Whispers on a player and their saving throw fails, they have to use their reaction to move away from you, and that means they can’t cast any reaction spells for the rest of the round.
Now, the initiative order may not always work in your favor, but you can always ready your action, allowing you to cast Dissonant Whispers at the start of your target’s turn.
This should mean that their reaction is used up straight away, but bear in mind that it will also cost you your reaction. Be careful when trying to force a reaction from spellcasters that have legendary resistance.
Liches, for example, won’t necessarily know that the spell you are casting against them is level 1, which means they might use Counterspell in response if they don’t fail their saving throw.
Position Yourself For Opportunity Attacks
Most of the time in D&D, opportunity attacks won’t be provoked by forced movement and will only apply after a willing movement. However, if you look carefully at the Player’s Handbook on page 195, you’ll see that there is a loophole.
It’s true that an opportunity attack is not provoked after a movement that involves teleportation, or where a player moves out of range without using an action, reaction, or movement.
But, as we’ve established, using Dissonant Whispers does force the player to use their reaction if they fail their saving throw. So, if your target fails their saving throw and, as a result, uses their reaction to move away, opportunity attacks from other players will be triggered.
Depending on where you are in relation to your enemy and the other players, however, opportunity attacks may not always be effective. Ideally, your target will need to move past as many of your teammates as possible, so position yourself carefully before taking your turn.
Make sure you’re paying close attention during everyone else’s turn, so you know who still has their reaction left to use, and who has already used theirs.
Set A Trap
When you start using Dissonant Whispers, it can be tempting to use it to make your enemy move into dangerous territory or even out of the combat zone (directly off a cliff, for example). However, this is not allowed.
That doesn’t mean you can’t still use the forced movement of your target’s reaction to your advantage, though.
Although using Dissonant Whispers can’t force your target to move into territory that is obviously dangerous, there are ways of creating hidden danger in the environment in order to trap your target.
If you look in the Player’s Handbook equipment list, you’ll find a trap listed there. You can set up a trap and cover it to conceal it from your target’s view. You can use leaves and branches for this.
Alternatively, if you’re able to cast Minor Illusion, you could create the illusion of an area of terrain next to a drop.
While making your target run off a cliff would usually be impossible because a cliff would count as obvious danger, you can essentially trick your target into doing so by creating false terrain.
Spike Growth is another illusion spell you can use to trap your enemies after using Dissonant Whispers, but be aware that this is not always guaranteed to work.
That’s because, unlike Minor Illusion, which requires physical interaction with the illusion to determine whether it’s real or not, Spike Growth’s illusion can be detected using only sight as long as the player rolls high enough.
Use Kiting Strategies
You may not have heard of kiting before if you’re relatively new to D&D, but it’s one of the most effective strategies for avoiding attacks by keeping opponents away from you.
Not all monsters in D&D are capable of ranged attacks and if they are, they’re often less powerful compared to melee attacks. This means that you can keep yourself safe by forcing these creatures to stay away from you and either be incapable of attacking you, or limited to weaker attacks.
When you cast Dissonant Whispers on an enemy, and they have to move away from you, they are forced to move their speed. They are also only able to move their speed to close the distance again, unless they have a bonus action and are able to Dash.
This means that, if your enemy’s speed is less than yours, you can keep them away from you indefinitely. Bear in mind that this is only an effective strategy if you’re faced with one opponent.
If you’re surrounded by a mob, you won’t be able to rely on this strategy since you won’t be able to cast Dissonant Whispers in between each turn.
Conclusion
Dissonant Whispers is one of the most useful spells you can have in your repertoire. Not only can it deal a significant amount of damage, especially when playing at higher levels, but it can also be optimized using a variety of strategies and techniques.
For example, in addition to using Dissonant Whispers to inflict a potential 3d6 psychic damage, you can use Dissonant Whispers to keep individual opponents away from you, force them into hidden danger, or provoke opportunity attacks by your allies.
To get the most out of your Dissonant Whispers spell slot, make sure to keep paying attention after your turn is over and take note of who has yet to use their reaction.
This will help you to know when you can optimize your spellcasting by forcing a reaction, manipulating your target’s movements, or keeping enemies at bay.
Frequently Asked Questions
Overall, Dissonant Whispers is an effective spell that inflicts moderate damage while impacting your target’s movements.
You can find the full guide to obtaining and using the Dissonant Whispers spell (see also: Your Guide To Augury 5E (Creative Spell For Clerics))in the Player’s Handbook. The spell description is on page 234 of the current edition.
Your target does not need to be visible to you in order to cast Dissonant Whispers. The only requirement to be able to cast this spell is that your target must be able to hear you.
However, this does still mean that there will be situations where you can’t cast the spell, such as when your target is behind a significant obstruction.
Yes, and as discussed above, this is one of the main ways you can optimize your Dissonant Whispers spell. The reason this works is that a target has to use their reaction to create distance between themselves and you, which triggers opportunity attacks based on that movement.
It is a misconception that using Dissonant Whispers on an enemy will trigger Booming Blade damage. However, this is not the case because Booming Blade only comes into effect after willing movement, not forced movement.
However, while Dissonant Whispers itself won’t trigger Booming Blade, the movement your target will have to make willingly in order to rejoin the battle will incur damage.
No conditions are applied when you use Dissonant Whispers, including the frightened condition, which means that even if your target is immune to fear, the effect of Dissonant Whispers will still take hold.
Yes, you can use Dissonant Whispers to break a grapple because, again, if your target fails their saving throw, they will be forced to release their hold and move away from you.
No, Dissonant Whispers produces an instantaneous effect that only impacts your target’s reaction by forcing movement away from you. Your target won’t continue to feel the effects of Dissonant Whispers for any subsequent turns.
For the most part, Dissonant Whispers is a spell attributed to Bards in D&D. However, if you’re not playing as a Bard, you can choose the Magic Initiate or Fey Touched feat as you level up, selecting the Bard class, and gain access to Dissonant Whispers.
In spite of my reservations, there is nothing quite like D&D to bring out your inner creator and now I love the imaginative and even roleplaying elements of the game (I still can’t manage doing accents though!).
My favorite thing about D&D is that there isn’t just one way to play it.
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