Picture this: you are playing a level three wizard class running towards the protection of a keep and everyone else in your party has gone past the gate. You eliminate a monster too close to you using one of your spells and start running towards the gates. However, the portcullis had already closed before you made it in.
You are low on hit points and are surrounded by a ton of monsters you know you cannot defeat all on your own. You can see through the gates your party members desperately looking for a way to save you. What can you do in this situation?
Spellcasters are powerful beings able to cast magic with varying effects. With a large number of spells available for casters to pick from, they need to get creative with their spells to solve any given situation they are in. In the case above, one extremely useful spell would be handy to escape from danger, and that is the spell featured in this Misty Step 5e Guide..
Misty Step allows you to teleport from one place to another, kind of like the powers of Nightcrawler from the Marvel franchise or Blueno from One Piece. You can use this spell to get out of pretty bad situations you might find yourself in. In fact, it is even highly praised as one of the best spells in the book and many say that it is a must-have in your arsenal of spells. If you want to figure out how it works, what should be done to cast it, and if you should have it as well, then read on our guide to find out.
What is Misty Step?
Misty Step is a level two conjuration spell that can be found in the Player’s Handbook on page 260. Conjuration spells deal with bringing over creatures, materials, and more from another space to the caster. The reverse is also true; conjuration spells can send other creatures, materials, and the like from or near the caster to another space. Below are key details about the Misty Step spell.
- Misty Step
- 2nd-level conjuration
- Casting Time: 1 bonus action
- Range: Self
- Components: V
- Duration: Instantaneous
Further on this article is the necessary information about how to use the spell and how it works when it is successfully cast.
How to use Misty Step
To use Misty Step, one would need to adhere to the rules of casting the spell such as meeting its requirements. These said requirements are detailed down below for the readers to follow on like a checklist or a to-do list.
- The caster must have this spell in their spell list e.g. as a class spell, a race feature, etc.
- Since Misty Step is a level two conjuration spell, the caster must have at least a level two spell slot available that can be expended. Misty Step can be cast with a level three spell slot or higher still. The availability of level two spell slots differs from class to class; be sure to check the caster’s class’ “Spell Slots per Spell Level” to see at which level they can get them.
- The caster must have an available bonus action to use the spell on. This spell cannot be cast as an action. Keep in mind that bonus actions can only be performed once per turn.
- The caster must be able to speak freely without any restrictions to their vocals. This is because the spell requires the caster to speak certain magical incantations in an audible voice for it to work.
Once you meet all of these requirements on the list, you can finally cast the Misty Step spell. Misty Step allows you to teleport to a location of your choice. To do so, follow the instructions written down below.
- The caster must choose an unoccupied location; this location must be up to 30 ft. from the caster and visible to the caster.
- The caster must use their bonus action to cast this spell.
How does Misty Step work?
When the above requirements for Misty Step are met and the mentioned procedure is done, the spell will take effect. A silvery mist briefly surrounds the caster and suddenly teleports the caster to the location of their choice. The silvery mist would have faded by then. Remember that casters are only required to be able to see the location of their choice. So if they are looking through a glass window or a portcullis gate, they can still cast Misty Step and go to the other side without any problems.
Since it is a spell with the “self” range, only the caster can get teleported. Misty Step has no other additional effects when cast on spell slots with higher levels although it can still be cast that way. Misty Step also has no saving throws nor spell save DCs required. It simply lets the caster teleport to wherever they want to go as long as they can see it with their vision.
Who can cast Misty Step?
Classes
Thankfully, Misty Step is a very highly accessible spell. Although only three main classes have access to the spell, even more subclasses can get it as well. But first, listed below are the three main classes as mentioned before that have access to the spell along with their source.
- Sorcerer (Player’s Handbook, page 99)
- Warlock (Player’s Handbook, page 105)
- Wizard (Player’s Handbook, page 112)
Both the Sorcerer and the Wizard classes attain two 2nd-level spell slots, which are needed to cast Misty Step, by the time they reach level three. The Warlock class also has two 2nd-level spell slots available, although they do not retain their previous lower-leveled spell slots compared to the Sorcerer and the Wizard classes.
Subclasses
There can be up to seven subclasses from different sources that have access to the Misty Step spell; they are listed down below along with their source and their original class.
| Subclasses that can cast Misty Step | Originating Class | Subclass Source | Class Source |
| Oath of the Ancients | Paladin | Player’s Handbook, page 86 | Player’s Handbook, page 82 |
| Arcane Trickster | Rogue | Player’s Handbook, page 97 | Player’s Handbook, page 94 |
| Eldritch Knight | Fighter | Player’s Handbook, page 74 | Player’s Handbook, page 70 |
| Fey Wanderer | Ranger | Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, page 58 | Player’s Handbook, page 89 |
| Horizon Walker | Ranger | Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, page 42 | Player’s Handbook, page 89 |
| Circle of the Land (Coast) | Druid | Player’s Handbook, page 68 | Player’s Handbook, page 64 |
| Oath of Vengeance | Paladin | Player’s Handbook, page 87 | Player’s Handbook, page 82 |
The paladins under both the Oath of the Ancients and the Oath of Vengeance have access to this spell during their 5th level as a part of their oath spells. Similarly, both the Fey Wanderer and the Horizon Walker rangers have access to this spell during their 5th level as part of their respective class spells.
The Arcane Trickster rogue and the Eldritch Knight fighter both have access to the spell since they have access to the Wizard class spell list. Finally, druids who are in the Circle of the Land and have chosen the coast as their land of choice during the Circle Spells subclass feature can cast Misty Step. Furthermore, this spell does not count with the druid’s daily prepared spells.
Here’s a detailed guide with everything you need to know about the Oath of Vengeance in 5e.
Races
Some races have access to the spell purely by being themselves. They are natural-born talents when it comes to casting Misty Step, and these races are listed down below along with their source and the class feature that lets them do that.
| Races that can cast Misty Step | Racial feature allowing the ability | Source |
| Elf (Eladrin) | Fey Step | Dungeon Master’s Guide, page 286 |
| Gith (Githyanki) | Githyanki Psionics | Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, page 96 |
| Human (Mark of Passage) | Magical Passage | Eberron: Rising from the Last War, page 46 |
Is Misty Step good?
Completely subjective, but Misty Step is an extremely good spell to have because of many reasons.
Pros
First, the spell is cast as a bonus action; so, you can cast a spell, attack with your weapon, or do any other moves that would cost action and then cast Misty Step as a bonus action. For example, you can cast the Witch Bolt spell at an enemy within range using your action then teleport away from the scene with Misty Step using your bonus action. It really is a good spell to escape from unfortunate circumstances that may befall you.
Second, you only need to speak incantations for the spell to work. In other words, this is a very useful spell to escape from situations wherein you cannot move your hands.
For example, you can use Misty Step to escape from an enemy’s grapple. Normally, to escape from a grapple, the creature who is being grappled and is trying to escape from it must roll either an Acrobatics check or an Athletics check. The creature who is grappling must then make an Athletics check.
Both rolls are then compared with one another. If the creature being grappled has the higher roll, they break free from the grapple. If not, the grapple does not end. Usually, spellcasters do not have high Strength (Athletics) scores and Dexterity (Acrobatics) scores because they need to prioritize their spellcasting ability instead. Therefore, Misty Step is an easy solution to this problem.
Third, you only need to see the location you want to teleport to for the spell to work. Even if the caster is in a jail cell, a cage, or on another side of a wall, as long as they can see the location, they can teleport to escape using Misty Step. This reinforces the view about Misty Step being an extremely good spell as it is useful for escaping restrictions. In fact, it is even useful for infiltrating or reaching hard-to-reach places.
For example, if you are having problems reaching a steep cliff, you can cast Misty Step to teleport to the top (as long as it is within 30 ft.) without any effort, items, or time wasted.
If you need to get inside a locked room but you do not have the key, you only need a hole to see through the room and teleport inside using Misty Step. Voila! you can open the door from the inside so that your other party members can get inside as well.
Cons
With the benefits aside, the Misty Step spell can suffer from being unusable when the caster cannot speak due to magic, physical restraints to the mouth, or something else.
It can also be unusable if the caster is in a position wherein they cannot see the location they want to teleport to. Perhaps they have been blinded by magic, or there is a fog currently limiting vision. It could only work in darkness if the caster has darkvision as well.
So, all the enemy has to do is either shut your mouth up or blind you with a cloth over your eyes. When that is done, a caster cannot escape from their cages anymore using Misty Step. With that said, the enemy must also be knowledgeable in the arcane to even know about this limitation.
Misty Step is also a level two spell, which might be taxing for characters just starting to gain level two spells or level two spell slots. Sorcerers and warlocks only have a limited number of spells to learn when leveling up. Wizards do not have this problem because they can just prepare a list of spells after a long rest, so they can switch Misty Step with another level two spell from time to time.
Another con would be that Misty Step can only teleport the caster and not any other person. Therefore, it would be useless for making the whole party escape dire situations.
Indeed, it is quite a selfish spell. With all of that being said, the pros Misty Step has to offer far outweigh its cons. But then again, this is entirely subjective so it is up to you. Perhaps you think that there is a con with using Misty Step that has not been tackled about here. It is really up to you.
FAQs
Question: Is Misty Step a reaction or bonus action?
Answer: Misty Step is a spell that is cast using your bonus action. You cannot cast Misty Step as a reaction nor as an action.
Question: Can I Misty Step into the air?
Answer: Yes, as long as the air is unoccupied space and is within 30 ft. of you. Also, you must be able to see the air where you want to teleport to. However, if you are incapable of flying or levitating, then of course you would fall after teleporting into the air.
Question: Can I Misty Step with someone?
Answer: No, you cannot. Misty Step is a spell that only targets the caster, so unless a magical effect dictates that self-target spells also target others, you can only teleport yourself.
Question: Can I Misty Step out of a grapple?
Answer: Yes, you can as long as you can still speak. Misty Step does not require its caster to move its hands to make it work, so you can definitely use Misty Step to get out of a grapple.
Question: Can Misty Step stop or avoid fall damage?
Answer: It depends. There is no explicit rule about teleportation spells conserving the momentum during a fall. So, it really depends on your DM whether or not they would let you land safely with Misty Step. Many DMs allow it because it is a creative solution to the circumstance and that it looks cool while others want to be realistic in their game and make you take fall damage. Some would even let you roll if you land safely.
Question: Can Misty Step go through walls?
Answer: If there is a hole on the other side of the wall where you can see through from it, then yes, you can. You only need to be able to see the location where you want to teleport for the spell to work. If it is a complete wall instead with no holes at all, then it would not work.
Question: Can Misty Step be counter spelled?
Question: Can I Misty Step with a mount?
Answer: You cannot bring with you your mundane mount when teleporting using Misty Step. However, you can teleport a mount from the Find Steed spell or Find Greater Steed spell since it states there that any spell targetting the self can be used with the mount.
Question: Can I cast Misty Step and another spell?
Answer: Yes, as long as that other spell requires an action to cast. Misty Step is cast as a bonus action, so you can cast another spell then cast Misty Step afterward.
Question: What is the difference between Misty Step and Dimension Door?
Answer: Misty Step is a level two conjuration spell that lets you teleport anywhere within 30 ft. of you as long as you can see the unoccupied destination. On the other hand, Dimension Door is a level four conjuration spell that lets you teleport anywhere within 500 ft. Dimension Door also lets you bring with you someone else, which Misty Step cannot do. Overall, Dimension Door is a much more powerful spell and that is obvious given the difference in levels.
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