Dragonborn Cleric Build Guide

Levels 1-4

Start as a Forge Domain Cleric to immediately secure heavy armor proficiency and the Blessing of the Forge feature, granting yourself a +1 to your starting Chain Mail to offset your miserable 8 Dexterity. Cast Bless on your martial allies and rely on your Breath Weapon when enemies group up. At level 4, take the Heavy Armor Master feat. This bumps your 14 Strength to exactly 15, removing the movement penalty for Plate Armor, while simultaneously reducing non-magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage by 3 to dramatically increase your frontline survivability.

Levels 5-10

Level 5 is the defining power spike of this entire build. You unlock Spirit Guardians and Draconic Flight simultaneously. Cast Spirit Guardians, use a bonus action to manifest your wings, and fly 10 feet above the battlefield. Melee enemies cannot reach you, but your 15-foot aura extends downward, shredding them while halving their speed. At level 8, take the Resilient (Constitution) feat. This rounds your odd 13 Constitution up to 14, granting you a much-needed +5 to Concentration checks to ensure your Spirit Guardians never drops.

Levels 11-16

By Tier 3, your melee weapon attacks are completely obsolete. Rely strictly on your scaling Breath Weapon and cantrips like Toll the Dead when you aren't casting leveled spells. At level 12, use your Ability Score Improvement to bump your Wisdom from 15 to 17. At level 16, take the Fey Touched feat (picking up Silvery Barbs or Gift of Alacrity) to cap your Wisdom at 18. Keep using your Draconic Resistance to shrug off high-level elemental attacks, and utilize Heal to keep your primary tank alive.

Levels 17-20

At level 17, you gain access to 9th-level spells. Mass Heal is the only correct choice here, instantly restoring 700 hit points distributed among your party. Your Breath Weapon now deals 4d10 damage, which remains a decent filler action to clear out weakened minions. At level 19, take the War Caster feat. Even with a 14 Constitution and proficiency from Resilient, Tier 4 enemies deal massive chunks of damage; gaining advantage on Constitution saving throws is mandatory to maintain Holy Aura or an upcast Spirit Guardians against ancient dragons and archfiends.

Cantrips

Take Guidance immediately; it is the best cantrip in the game for skill checks. Follow up with Toll the Dead for your primary single-target damage, as it relies on a Wisdom saving throw, entirely bypassing your 8 Dexterity and mediocre Strength. Grab Word of Radiance to combo with your Breath Weapon when surrounded.

Level 1-2 Spells

Bless is your bread-and-butter concentration spell for Tier 1. Healing Word is mandatory to pick up downed allies as a bonus action without sacrificing your action to use your Breath Weapon. At second level, Spiritual Weapon provides a consistent bonus action attack that doesn't require concentration, maximizing your action economy.

Level 3-5 Spells

Spirit Guardians is non-negotiable; it is the engine of this build when paired with Draconic Flight. Revivify is a Cleric tax you must pay. Take Banishment at 4th level to remove high-threat targets from the board, utilizing your high Wisdom save DC.

High-Level Spells

Heal at 6th level is the most efficient single-target burst healing in 5e. Heroes' Feast at 6th level stacks beautifully with your Draconic Resistance, making your party immune to poison and frightened conditions. Holy Aura at 8th level is the ultimate defensive buff, providing advantage on all saving throws to your entire party.

Heavy Armor Master

Take this exactly at level 4. With a starting Strength of 14, you suffer a 10-foot movement penalty in Plate Armor. This half-feat bumps your Strength to the required 15, restores your movement speed, and shaves 3 damage off every non-magical weapon attack. For a frontline Support Cleric taking aggro from Spirit Guardians, this damage reduction adds up to hundreds of effective hit points over a campaign.

Resilient (Constitution)

Take this at level 8. Your starting Constitution is an uneven 13. This feat rounds it to 14, granting you more maximum hit points, and adds your proficiency bonus to Constitution saving throws. If you lose concentration on Spirit Guardians while flying above a horde of enemies, your build falls apart. This feat prevents that.

Fey Touched

Take this at level 16 to bump your Wisdom closer to the cap. The true value here is gaining Misty Step. Since you have an 8 Dexterity, your initiative is terrible, and you can easily be grappled or trapped in bad positioning before your turn starts. Misty Step gets you out of restraints without wasting your action.

War Caster

Take this at level 19. While you already have Resilient (Constitution), Tier 4 enemies routinely deal 40+ damage in a single hit, necessitating DC 20+ concentration checks. War Caster gives you advantage on those checks and allows you to cast a spell (like Command or Banishment) as an opportunity attack when enemies try to flee your Spirit Guardians aura.

Tier 1 (Levels 1-4)

Your immediate priority is acquiring Splint Armor to replace your starting Chain Mail, bumping your AC to 17 (or 19 with a shield). Since you have 8 Dexterity, do not bother with ranged weapons; keep a Mace for flavor but rely on Toll the Dead. Purchase a standard Shield and keep a holy symbol emblazoned on it.

Tier 2 (Levels 5-10)

Upgrade to Plate Armor the exact moment you hit 15 Strength via Heavy Armor Master. Seek out an Amulet of the Devout (+1). This boosts your spell attack rolls and spell save DCs, directly increasing the damage of your Spirit Guardians and the reliability of your Banishment. Also, look for a Sentinel Shield to grant advantage on initiative rolls, aggressively countering your -1 Dexterity modifier.

Tier 3 (Levels 11-16)

Hunt for an Amulet of the Devout (+2) and Adamantine Plate. Critical hits are the bane of a concentration-reliant Cleric, and Adamantine reduces them to normal hits. A Devotee's Censer is a fantastic thematic weapon; even if your melee attacks rarely hit, the bonus action healing incense provides excellent utility without costing a spell slot.

Tier 4 (Levels 17-20)

Aim for an Amulet of the Devout (+3) to maximize your Mass Heal efficiency and save DCs. A Staff of Striking or Staff of Healing provides a massive pool of extra resources. If you can secure +3 Plate Armor, your AC will hover around 23, making you nearly untouchable by standard attacks while you hover above the fray.

As a Support Cleric, your role is to anchor the frontline, maintain concentration on massive area-denial spells, and keep the party alive. However, your 8 Dexterity and lack of Darkvision mean you are loud, blind in the dark, and act last in combat. You desperately need a scout. A Gloom Stalker Ranger or an Arcane Trickster Rogue pairs perfectly with you, handling stealth infiltration and lighting up targets so you know exactly where to drop your Breath Weapon.

You also shine when paired with a lockdown martial class like an Ancestral Guardian Barbarian or a Conquest Paladin. If they can grapple or frighten enemies, pinning them precisely at the edge of your 15-foot Spirit Guardians aura, the enemies will take your radiant damage every turn without ever being able to reach you in the air. The Paladin's Aura of Protection also stacks with your Resilient (CON) feat, mathematically guaranteeing you never lose concentration.

Fighter 2 Dip

Taking two levels of Fighter after Cleric 5 gives you the Defense fighting style (+1 AC) and the crown jewel of multiclassing: Action Surge. Because your Breath Weapon (Fizban's variant) can replace an attack, Action Surge allows you to cast Spirit Guardians and unleash your Breath Weapon on the exact same turn, creating an immediate, devastating burst of AoE damage.

Divine Soul Sorcerer 1 Dip

Taking a single level of Sorcerer solves your defensive reactions. You gain access to the Shield spell (+5 AC on demand) and Absorb Elements, which stacks wonderfully with your innate Draconic Resistance. The Favored by the Gods feature adds 2d4 to a failed saving throw, providing a vital emergency button when your concentration is threatened.

• Forgetting the Plate Armor Strength Requirement: If you equip Plate Armor with 14 Strength, your speed drops by 10 feet. If you don't take Heavy Armor Master to fix this, you'll be crawling across the battlefield whenever you aren't using Draconic Flight.
• Relying on Melee Weapon Attacks: With only 14 Strength, your mace attacks will miss constantly by Tier 2. Stop swinging your weapon and start using Toll the Dead or your Breath Weapon.
• Wasting the Breath Weapon on Single Targets: The Breath Weapon replaces an attack, but its damage is balanced around hitting multiple foes. If fighting a single boss, cast a leveled spell or a cantrip instead.
• Ignoring the Lack of Darkvision: Dragonborn do not have Darkvision. If you walk into a dark dungeon without casting Light on your shield or carrying a torch, you will have disadvantage on attacks and cannot target enemies with spells that require you to see them (like Healing Word).