The companion piece. If you want the rules, the full feature versus spell breakdown, and the history, that’s all in the Divine Smite explainer post. Go read that first, then come back, because this one is about getting the most radiant damage out of a spell that costs you a bonus action, a slot, and one shot per turn.
Divine Smite is the most argued about paladin mechanic on the internet, before and after the 2024 rewrite. So I went digging through the Reddit threads, the rules fights, the crit stories, and the salt, and I sorted it all into four buckets: real uses that lean on the rules, cheeses that are clever and legal, questionable stuff that depends on your table, and the deviant stuff, because paladins have been smiting things they shouldn’t for a long time.
Everything here comes from real threads and I’m citing them as we go, so check my work. One caveat. Some of the loudest discussion happened during the 2023 playtest, when the spell version was first floated. Where a thread is reacting to the playtest I’ll say so. The final 2024 printing kept the parts they were arguing about.
REAL USES (rules-solid)
1. Decide after the hit, and keep fishing for crits. The casting time says you take the bonus action immediately after hitting, so the choice to spend a slot comes after you see the d20. Somebody on r/onednd argued the 2024 wording forces you to declare the smite before the roll, and got buried: “Divine smite does not add any modifiers to the attack roll, only the damage. I see nothing in this wording to imply that you’re required to declare the divine smite before the attack roll.” Roll first, smite the hits, dump the slot on the 20. (u/Dougboard, r/onednd)
2. Yes, the smite dice double on a crit, in both editions. Every so often a DM decides riders don’t crit. They do. One r/dndnext thread settled it with the 2024 rules text: “If the attack involves other damage dice, such as from a Rogue’s Sneak Attack feature, you also roll those dice twice.” The rule of thumb from the same thread, “If it says it’s extra damage, it benefits from crits.” Divine Smite says extra damage from the attack. So your 1st level smite on a crit is 4d8, and 6d8 against an undead. (u/Wish_i_was_Asl33p and u/DBWaffles, r/dndnext)
3. Save it for fiends and undead. The free extra d8 against those two types is the quiet reason Divine Smite still beats the other smite spells where it counts. When r/onednd decided the fancy smites made the plain one obsolete, the top reply pushed back that plain smite still gets its bonus die against undead and fiends, “and that damage gap grows when spent on Crit.” Another listed why it stays in the kit, it’s “prepared for free,” it “doesn’t take concentration,” it “does extra damage to fiends and undead,” and it “does radiant damage, which is one of the best damage types in the game where resistances are concerned.” (u/Born_Ad1211 and u/evanitojones, r/onednd)
4. Pick the smite for the job. In 2024 every smite spell is a bonus action on a hit, so Divine Smite is one option among eight. The original poster of that thread found the gap between Divine Smite and Searing, Thunderous, or Staggering is “exactly two damage on average,” so take the rider when you want the push, the burn, or the stun, and take Divine Smite when you want raw radiant with no concentration and no save to fail. When plain smite still wins, per one commenter: “The enemy is immune to the effect of the smite spell.” “You are concentrating on another spell that is a better use of your concentration.” “The extra damage can matter.” (u/kenlee25 and u/DivinitasFatum, r/onednd)
5. Attack first, then spend the bonus action. Lay on Hands is a bonus action in 2024, and so is Divine Smite, so a paladin who heals first and then crits can’t smite the crit. A DM on r/DungeonsAndDragons55e watched exactly that happen in a three player Curse of Strahd game. The practical fix from the replies: “strategic players will generally attack first and then decide whether to smite or save their BA for LoH.” Swing, look at the dice, then choose heal or hurt. (u/DMspiration, r/DungeonsAndDragons55e)
6. The free smite, and what you can pair it with. Paladin’s Smite at level 2 gives you one casting per long rest with no slot. The 2024 rule says you can expend only one spell slot to cast a spell on a turn, and the free smite expends nothing, so the turn you cast Bless with your action is a legal turn to land a free smite with your bonus action. Once a day, you get the 2014 feeling back. (Rules as written, 2024 Player’s Handbook, Paladin’s Smite page 110 and the one slot per turn rule page 236.)
7. Throw the javelin and smite it, rules as written. 2024 Divine Smite triggers on hitting “with a Melee weapon,” and a javelin is a melee weapon with the thrown property. An r/DnD thread ran this down: “RAW yes. A Javelin (for example) is explicitly a melee weapon in the PHB, whether you’re throwing it or not.” One caveat, “If you for some reason feel the need to build a dart-paladin, that would not work, as darts are specifically ranged weapons.” The thread admits intent is murkier than the text, so flag it, but my favorite take was simply, “a knight pulling a javelin off his back, and then smiting a dragon out of the sky is such a paladin vibe that I think it fits.” In 2014 a thrown javelin was a ranged weapon attack, and the feature said melee weapon attack, so this one is new. (u/Rayquaza50, u/Yojo0o, u/Gnashinger, r/DnD)
CHEESES (clever, and legal)
8. The uncapped multiclass smite. The 2014 feature stopped at 5d8. The 2024 spell scales one d8 per slot level with no ceiling, so a paladin who dips and then climbs a full caster’s slot table can eventually smite with a 9th level slot for 10d8, 11d8 against an undead, doubled on a crit. When r/3d6 asked why the old cap existed, one answer was “At least until PHB 2024 hits, Divine Smite can be used on every attack you make.” That reason flipped in 2024, and the cap went with it. For scale, one poster noted “a fifth level divine smite (with no cap) does 27 damage on average, 31.5 vs undead or fiends.” The brakes still apply, once per turn and only one slot per turn. (u/DBWaffles and u/Count_Backwards, r/3d6)
9. The one level dip now gets the smite. In 2014 you needed two paladin levels for Divine Smite. In 2024, paladins get Spellcasting at level 1 and Divine Smite is a 1st level paladin spell, so a single level buys medium armor, shields, martial weapons, and a smite you can prepare the normal way, even though the always prepared and free casting perks don’t arrive until level 2. That’s exactly the build in an r/DMAcademy thread, a Wild Magic sorcerer who took “a single level dip in paladin to get medium armour, shields, a long sword and, critically, divine smite.” (u/Sabazadeh, r/DMAcademy ; dip mechanics are rules as written.)
10. True Strike into a smite. 2024 True Strike is a cantrip that makes one weapon attack with your spellcasting ability instead of Strength or Dexterity, and Divine Smite only cares that you hit with a melee weapon. So a Charisma paladin multiclass swings with True Strike and smites the hit, no slot conflict because the cantrip costs none. r/dndnext agreed: “it specifically says ‘after hitting the target with a melee weapon or an unarmed strike,'” and “Divine smite takes a BA, whereas True Strike takes an Action and is a cantrip so it doesn’t break any rules.” Just keep it a melee weapon, because True Strike also works with bows and the smite won’t. (u/RKO-Cutter and u/KingSpooker, r/dndnext)
11. Celestial warlock, add your Charisma. The 2024 Radiant Soul feature says once per turn, when a spell you cast deals radiant or fire damage, you add your Charisma modifier to that spell’s damage. Divine Smite is now a spell you cast that deals radiant damage, so a paladin with six levels of Celestial warlock adds Charisma to every smite. The r/onednd thread on Radiant Soul is about Searing Smite and Divine Favor rather than Divine Smite, but it shows how people read the new wording, and as one DM there put it, “a +3to5 damage increase isn’t game breaking, especially at level 6.” (Rules as written for Divine Smite; u/AltruisticTrash4575 on the feature, r/onednd)
12. Metamagic on your smite. Because it’s a spell now, a sorcerer paladin can Empower it to reroll up to Charisma modifier of those d8s, and Subtle Spell it to drop the verbal component, which makes the smite immune to Counterspell and castable inside Silence. The thing people were mad about cuts the other way here. (Rules as written, 2024 Player’s Handbook metamagic text.)
13. The 2014 doorway tank. Old smite had no action cost, so it worked on opportunity attacks, and a paladin with Sentinel could smite anyone who tried to walk past. That’s a 2014 only trick. “If you take Sentinel feat, and it feels so good to use divine smite on reactions,” and from the house rule thread, “Paladin was uniquely an excellent tank as you can punish enemies for targeting your allies by making it normal to smite on opp attacks or Sentinel attacks. Since you can’t bonus action off-turn, that’s now off the table.” Even a fan of the new version said, “The one thing I will miss is being able to Smite on opportunity attacks.” (u/therealgookachu, r/3d6 ; u/their_teammate and u/OperationSpencer, r/onednd, r/onednd)
14. Stacking Thunderous Smite and Divine Smite on one hit, 2014 only. Under 2014 rules Divine Smite was a feature and the smite spells were spells, so both could land on the same swing. A 666 upvote r/dndnext thread came from a DM refusing exactly that, and the top reply linked Jeremy Crawford’s ruling that it’s legal. In 2024 both are bonus action spells that each eat a slot, so you pick one per turn. One commenter predicted the DM’s house rule was “likely to become the core rules in the new edition,” and it did. (u/Quizlibet and u/PM_YOUR_ISSUES, r/dndnext)
QUESTIONABLE (check with your table)
15. Will your DM counterspell your smite? Legal in 2024, and it lands on exactly the crit you cared about. The r/onednd thread is mostly people explaining why it’s a bad trade for the monster. “If your bosses are counterspelling smites instead of hold person/monster or hypnotic pattern, your bosses have already lost the fight anyway.” And, “Ok, you counter spelled my smite. You spent a third level spell slot to shave 4d6 off the attack, are you proud of yourself? Too bad you’re still being hit in the face with a maul for 2d6+5.” The rules details help you: 2024 Counterspell gives you a Constitution save, your Aura of Protection adds Charisma to it, and if you fail you keep the slot. The original poster’s point stands though, “some DMs aren’t the most optimized in combat” and will do it anyway. (u/stack-0-pancake, u/LordBecmiThaco, u/Pookie-Parks, r/onednd)
16. The rakshasa problem, and how the new Monster Manual fixed it. The 2014 rakshasa can’t be affected by spells of 6th level or lower, and a pure paladin tops out at 5th, so a spell version of smite bounces off a fiend, which is a bad look. The playtest thread said it plainly: “Yes. They are. Not immune to radiant strikes, though.” One prediction there, “it may be that the reprinted rakshasas won’t have it,” came true. The 2025 Monster Manual rakshasa has Greater Magic Resistance instead, it auto succeeds on saves and spell attacks miss it, and Divine Smite has neither, so the smite works. Mixing the 2014 monster with the 2024 spell is where the fight lives, so ask which book your DM runs. (u/adamg0013 and u/Blackfyre301, r/onednd ; statblocks checked against the 2014 and 2025 Monster Manual data.)
17. No smiting while raging, no smiting in Wild Shape. 2024 Rage says you can’t cast spells, and 2024 Wild Shape says the same, so the barbarian paladin and the druid paladin lost their smite the day it became a spell. The 1,765 upvote playtest thread called it early: “barb multiclass is dead – can’t smite while raging now. Same with druid wildshape,” and the final rules kept it that way. Pure 2014 tables don’t have this problem, and some 2024 tables house rule it back. (u/Darthnemesis2, r/DnD ; restrictions confirmed in the 2024 class text.)
18. It does not recharge Tides of Chaos. A Wild Magic sorcerer with a paladin dip wanted Divine Smite to count as a sorcerer spell so every smite could refresh Tides of Chaos and trigger surges. The table said no, and the reasons are right: “it’s explicitly not a Sorcerer spell, and it would give them perma Elven Accuracy advantage for (basically) free,” and more bluntly, “Cheese builds don’t get freebies.” If your DM allows it, that’s a gift. (u/Afraid-Adeptness-926 and u/TheHumanTarget84, r/DMAcademy)
DEVIANT, FUNNY, AND CURSED
19. Smite the door. The 2014 feature said “a creature,” and when r/dndnext asked about smiting objects the answer was “it wouldn’t have any effect on an object. Same thing for Divine Smite.” The 2024 spell says “a target,” and objects are targets, so the holy portable battering ram is now a rules as written thing. The door’s hit points and whether radiant damage does anything special to oak are the DM’s problem. The original poster’s defense of the whole idea: “anyone who has had their phone/laptop/car die at the worst moment knows the urge to smite an object.” (u/splepage and u/Kilowog42, r/dndnext ; 2024 wording from the Player’s Handbook.)
20. The brand new player who deleted the Halloween boss. A first time player, 3rd level paladin, first turn of a headless horseman fight, rolls a natural 20 against a radiant vulnerable undead and smites it. 80 damage. The rogue never got a turn. The top reply: “Undead boss gets owned by a class that destroys undead.” And the correction every table should hear: “crits don’t double the total damage, just the number of damage dice. So if they’re using a longsword the smite would be 6d8 + str mod, not (3d8 + str mod) * 2.” Even done right, the horseman was cooked. (r/DnD)
21. The DM who nerfed smite after one crit. A paladin crit smites a homebrew demonic undead miniboss for 44, kills it, and weeks later the DM posts a smite nerf in the campaign discord. Reddit’s verdict, at over a thousand upvotes: “I am most perplexed by the DM of 4 years who still thinks a solo boss monster with 44 hp is going to last a full round.” If you’re a DM, the lesson is the same as the last item. Budget for the crit, because the paladin is. (u/ohanhi, r/DnD)
22. The thread that saw it coming. When the playtest first turned smite into a spell, r/DnD produced a 1,765 upvote post titled “Turning the Paladin’s Divine Smite into a spell is a BAD IDEA,” and the top comment summed up the mood in one line: “They seem to be really against the multi class / mini-max builds.” The bonus action complaint from that thread reads like a prophecy now: “Spiritual Weapon or smite? Polearm attack or smite? Misty Step or smite?” Every one of those arguments is still happening at tables today. (u/NODOGAN, u/ReaperOfSinners, u/sgruenbe, r/DnD)
So that’s the pile, honest and rules first. In 2014 you smited every hit, including the ones on someone else’s turn. In 2024 you get one per turn, it costs your bonus action, it can be silenced or countered, and in exchange it climbs without a cap and sits next to seven other smites that are finally worth casting. What’s your call, is the 2024 smite the right fix or an overcorrection, and what’s the biggest crit smite you’ve ever rolled? Let me know in the comments below, and until next time, roll high and stay ridiculous.
