Vortex Warp 5E Guide

Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos is the most recent entry on the shelf of Dungeons & Dragons 5E. As expected from the title, much of the character options from this book are magical in nature. There are only six new spells, but each of them are exceptionally unique and may change up the standard for what a Wizard takes. One of these spells is Vortex Warp, a pure utility spell with a ton of potential. How much? Find out in our Vortex Warp 5E Guide!

Vortex Warp is available for Artificers, Sorcerers, and Wizards.

Level: 2nd
School: Conjuration
Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: 90 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

You magically twist space around another creature you can see within range. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (the target can choose to fail), or the target is teleported to an unoccupied space of your choice that you can see within range. The chosen space must be on a surface or in a liquid that can support the target without the target having to squeeze.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the range of the spell increases by 30 feet for each slot level above 2nd.

Spell Breakdown

This spell allows you to teleport another creature with ease. 90 feet is a gigantic range. Most combats won’t go much farther than the range of this spell. And then you can move them up to 180 feet away from their previous location! That’s not bad for a teleport.

Let’s talk about the bad parts of this spell. By itself, this does very little. You can defensively throw a melee-range combatant far out of its depths, forcing it to run at you once again. You could grab it from a defensively-valid area and place it somewhere where it would be easier to hit. But for a 2nd level spell slot, that’s only passable utility. We’re looking for stellar utility.

And you’ll get stellar once you add in your team! The ability to teleport a target becomes significantly better if you have teammates that can follow up. Let’s say you yoink a Wizard from its tower, and place it right next to your angry Barbarian. That’s a pretty good use of a spell slot! You’d nullify their advantage while empowering your team. Or, you can teleport someone onto a trap that your Rogue found earlier. As long as the target can be supported by the ground that the trap is on, you’re good to go!

And we haven’t even talked about this thing’s secret utility; teleporting allies! Did your Wizard get ambushed by a bunch of goblins and is taking a bunch of damage? Just snatch them out of danger! Did the enemy get 120 feet away from your Fighter, preventing them from dealing damage? Use this to put them back in range to deal a huge amount of damage!

Overall, choose this spell only if you don’t use magic to deal high damage. 2nd level spell slots are expensive early on! But, this is one of the best raw utility spells that you can ask for, and can solve a large number of problems without putting yourself in danger.

Conclusion

This is a potent supportive spell with great combat utility! Try it out if your party has a bunch of melee so you can help them stay relevant in long-ranged fights. And this isn’t the only spell! Check out a few more from Strixhaven.

Vortex Warp 5E Guide | Strixhaven Conjuration Spell