Short answer
Yes, still very good, and almost unchanged. Shield is a +5 bonus to AC that you can add after seeing the attack roll land, until the start of your next turn. For a Wizard or Sorcerer who stands in the second rank but still gets targeted, it turns between a fifth and well over a half of incoming hits into misses, depending on the enemy. It is weakest against enemies with huge attack bonuses and against damage that doesn't use attack rolls.
What the 2024 spell does
The System Reference Document 5.2 lists Shield as a level 1 Abjuration with a Reaction casting time, Self range, verbal and somatic components and a duration of 1 round.
"Reaction, which you take when you are hit by an attack roll or targeted by the Magic Missile spell ... Until the start of your next turn, you have a +5 bonus to AC, including against the triggering attack, and you take no damage from Magic Missile."
Source: System Reference Document 5.2, Wizards of the Coast LLC, CC-BY-4.0 (spell header and key lines).
In plain terms: you wait to see if you got hit. If you did, you cast Shield, the +5 applies to that same attack (so a hit can become a miss), and it lasts through every other attack until your next turn comes round. One slot can therefore stop several attacks in one round.
2014 vs 2024
| Detail | 2014 (SRD 5.1) | 2024 (SRD 5.2) |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger | Hit by "an attack" | Hit by "an attack roll" |
| AC bonus | +5, including against the triggering attack | Same |
| Magic Missile | No damage from the spell | Same, and it is also a valid trigger |
| Duration | Until the start of your next turn | Same |
| Flavor text | An invisible barrier appears | An imperceptible barrier protects you |
The one change with any effect is the trigger word. The 2024 spell asks for an attack roll, so a trap or effect that forces a saving throw doesn't let you cast it. Everything else is the same, so the spell has been neither nerfed nor buffed in any way the numbers show.
The maths: how many hits does Shield stop?
An attack hits if d20 + bonus meets or beats your AC. A natural 20 always hits and a natural 1 always misses. The table shows the chance an enemy hits you before and after the +5, and the share of hits that Shield cancels (the number you care about when deciding to spend the slot).
| Enemy attack bonus | Your AC 12 | Your AC 15 | Your AC 16 | Your AC 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hit now, with Shield, hits cancelled | Hit now, with Shield, hits cancelled | Hit now, with Shield, hits cancelled | Hit now, with Shield, hits cancelled | |
| +5 | 70%, 45%, 36% | 55%, 30%, 45% | 50%, 25%, 50% | 40%, 15%, 62% |
| +7 | 80%, 55%, 31% | 65%, 40%, 38% | 60%, 35%, 42% | 50%, 25%, 50% |
| +9 | 90%, 65%, 28% | 75%, 50%, 33% | 70%, 45%, 36% | 60%, 35%, 42% |
| +11 | 95%, 75%, 21% | 85%, 60%, 29% | 80%, 55%, 31% | 70%, 45%, 36% |
Read one cell: an enemy with +7 to hit against AC 15 lands 65% of the time. With Shield active that drops to 40%, and 38% of the hits that would have landed turn into misses. Against AC 12, a typical mage with no Mage Armor, an enemy with +5 hits 70% of the time and Shield cancels more than a third of those.
Two patterns fall out of the table. First, the lower your AC and the higher the enemy bonus, the less Shield helps, because a natural 20 still hits and a high bonus clears even AC + 5 on most rolls. Second, the spell is strongest when you have decent AC already (Mage Armor, or a Dexterity of 16): at AC 16 against +5, half of all hits disappear.
Because the bonus lasts until your next turn, add up every attack aimed at you before then. A boss that makes three attacks in a round turns one Reaction into up to three chances to miss. That multi-attack case is where Shield earns the most.
Who gets it
The SRD 5.2 spell list puts Shield on two classes. Check your table's subclass options with your DM, since some subclasses add spells from other lists.
- Wizard: prepare it at level 1 and leave it prepared.
- Sorcerer: a known spell, so it costs one of your few picks. Still the standard choice because Sorcerers have even less armor and fewer hit points than Wizards.
Rulings and mistakes
- You must be hit first. You cast it after the roll is announced and the total meets your AC. Casting it earlier wastes the Reaction if nothing hits.
- One Reaction per round. If you spend it on Shield you cannot also cast Counterspell until your next turn. Wizards with both spells have to choose, which is the real cost of the spell.
- Ranged attacks count. Any attack roll against you triggers it, melee or ranged, weapon or spell attack.
- Magic Missile only works as a trigger because the spell names it. Magic Missile has no attack roll, so this is a special case written into Shield.
Questions
Is Shield worth a spell slot at higher levels?
Yes if you have slots to spare, because the effect doesn't scale with the slot. Casting it uses a level 1 slot, which is the cheapest slot you have. It falls behind only when you have no Reaction left or when your slots are needed for concentration spells.
Does Shield stop a critical hit?
Not if the d20 shows a natural 20, because that always hits whatever your AC is. For any other roll, Shield can turn the hit into a miss, so the critical never happens.
Can I cast Shield on someone else?
No. The range is Self and the barrier protects you only.
Has Shield changed between the 2014 and 2024 books?
Only in small wording. The numbers, duration and Magic Missile interaction match. See the table above.
Corin Ashdown is the pen name of the editor who writes and checks every guide on Vorbelutrioperbir. How we write and check guides.