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The Best Legendary Magic Items in D&D Fifth Edition (5E)

A List of the Most Awesome Equipment for your Character

By Theo James TaylorPublished 3 years ago Updated 3 years ago 9 min read
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The Best Legendary Magic Items in D&D Fifth Edition (5E)
Photo by Michael Kelly on Unsplash

There are a number of magic items in 5E Dungeons and Dragons, but few are nearly as awesome as the Legendary Items that we almost never get to use. These items are found in the highest level of play, or given out by newbie DMs who don’t know any better (sorry!). Sadly, we very rarely get to see these Legendary Magic Items in actual play, but nevertheless I thought I would make a list for you so you can see my personal top 10 for Legendary Magic Items in the game so far.

As usual, my list doesn’t have any real order to it, but I’ll give my reasoning for why each one has made the list below. Also, I will say ahead of time, I am only doing Legendary Items, and not including any artifacts as they basically only get used when it makes sense for the plot, whereas Legendary Items will occasionally sneak their way into the game regardless.

Holy Avenger

The Holy Avenger is an absolute D&D classic that traces its history back to the early days of D&D. In 5E this absolute beast of a weapon requires attunement by a Paladin, which unfortunately makes it a lot more limited than some other Legendary Items. However, with a little cajoling of your DM, you might get them to let you use it as a Cleric, or even a Zealot Barbarian if they’re nice to you. This beautiful blade is a +3 weapon, and when you hit a Fiend or Undead with it, the creature takes an extra 2d10 radiant damage. In other words, when you get close to real bad guys, they are going to quickly get carved up and die a very sad and brutal death.

In addition to all that though, while you are holding your sword you gain an additional aura. All friendly creatures including yourself within 10 feet essentially gain Magic Resistance, giving you advantage on Saving Throws against spells and other magical effects. If you are a 17th level or higher Paladin, this increases the aura to 30 feet. Which means it’s very unlikely you’ll get this ability if you have simply dipped into paladin later on. This weapon will singlehandedly save you against powerful Fiends like Balors or Pit Fiends and might even change the tide against particularly vicious spellcasting undead like a Lich. There’s a reason this one is the first one on the list!

Cloak of Invisibility

That cloak from Harry Potter is a Legendary Magic Item? Yes it is. The D&D version unfortunately has a time limit. However, the time limit is 2 hours long, and as we all know that is enough time to get away with just about anything in D&D. The Second unfortunate bit is that you can’t smuggle a bunch of your friends along with you. That aside, this magic item lets you pull up or down the hood as an action, this action causing you and anything you are carrying or wearing to also become invisible. Time is deducted from the Cloak’s maximum duration in increments of one minute, and for every 12 hours you don’t wear the cloak, the cloak regains 1 hour of duration. In other words, when you’re clear out, you just have to wait one full day and you’re back good as new.

Robe of the Archmagi

Another old fan favorite, the Robe of the Archmagi is the quintessential high level magic item for anyone of the casting persuasion. The Robe is attuned to a specific alignment, and can’t be worn if that alignment is not the same as your own, which is a slight downside if the DM gives it to an evil-doer and your party is full of heroes. But, assuming you can find one of your own, you gain the following benefits. As long as you aren’t wearing armor, your AC is 15 + Dexterity, which is a little higher than Mage Armor, and you’ll no longer have to spend any spell slots on it. You have advantage on Saving Throws against spells and other magical Effects just like the Holy Avenger, but unfortunately this doesn’t apply to all those around you. More importantly, your Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Bonus each increase by 2. Now if you’re read my other articles about specific Class items you know that that ability is insanely good in its own right, but pair that with the fact that most caster classes can now easily get their hands on a magic item pertaining to their class that boosts their DC by 1-3 and your Wizard could theoretically get their spell save DC to 24 with this Robe, essentially making most of their spells unsaveable to anyone who doesn’t have proficiency in the required Saving Throw.

Black Dragon Mask

This Legendary Item is found in Hoard of the Dragon Queen, making it one of the few Legendary Items that players might actually get their hands on, assuming they can kill or subdue the Black Wyrmspeaker earlier on in the module. Wearing this mask gives you a number of abilities, but the most powerful of the lot is access to a single use of Legendary Resistance per day. In other words, just like a Dragon, when you fail a save, you can simply choose to succeed instead. Only once though, so make it count.

In addition, while not wearing armor you can add your Charisma bonus to AC, which is very useful for Bards or Sorcerers, and some Monks or Rogues. You can breathe underwater, you gain Draconic as a language and have advantage on Charisma checks against Black Dragons. You gain 60 feet of Darkvision or an additional 60 feet of Darkvision if you already have it and once per day you can gain blindsight out to a range of 30 feet for 5 minutes. This last ability is particularly useful if you are entering an area where you are sure there is an ambush, or if you have been blinded in a fight or the enemy is using invisibility or other illusions to their advantage.

Lastly, you gain resistance to acid damage. If you already have resistance you gain immunity. And if you already have immunity, when you take acid damage, you regain hit points equal to half of any acid damage you are dealt. Not the most useful, since acid damage doesn’t come up as much as other damage types, but circumstantially, it could be handy. There is also an ability that makes your Breath Weapon able to recharge, but that ability is only useful if you are a Dragonborn, so for most characters it’ll be useless.

Hazirawn

Another Legendary Item out of Hoard of the Dragon Queen, this is a fun one! Hazirawn is a sentient (and very evil) greatsword that is capable of talking in Common and Netherese. It is a +1 weapon that deals 1d6 extra necrotic damage even if you are not attuned, making it pretty handy if your attunement slots are full. If you do have open attunement and want to get caught up with a magic sword, the weapon increases to +2 and 2d6 necrotic damage on a hit, making it an even better Flametongue Weapon. In addition to the damage, any creature you hit with Hazirawn can’t regain hit points for 1 minute, making a DC 15 Constitution save at the end of each of their turns to end the effect.

Last but not least, Hazirawn has their own spells. It contains 4 charges, using 1 to cast Detect Magic or Detect Evil and Good, or 2 to cast Detect Thoughts. It regains 1d4 charges at midnight. Overall, the sword is incredibly handy, and a great way for your DM’s creatures to die kicking and screaming when they lose their access to any healing whatsoever. On the other hand, the sword will probably turn you evil and corrupt you, but who’s saying that isn’t a win in itself!

Blackstaff

This item out of Waterdeep Dragon Heist is a symbol of office for the Highest Ranking Wizard of Waterdeep. Additionally, it can only be attuned to by a wizard who is specifically the successor to the current Blackstaff or the Blackstaff themselves. In other words, the chances of you getting to use this are extremely slim. It has about a million abilities, including increasing AC, saves and spell attack rolls. It has 20 charges and is very similar to a Staff of Power in its ability to use Power Strikes or cast spells. In addition, however, the Blackstaff can be broken to explode and deal a ton of damage in a Retributive Strike, and possibly send its user to a random plane of existence. The staff can also Animate the Walking Statues of Waterdeep or Dispel anything it touches for only one charge. It can drain the spell slots from another creature and even has its own Sentience, with an Intelligence of 22, which is higher than most PC’s will ever get. Beyond that, the Black Staff traps the soul of any Blackstaff that uses it, which is pretty fun from a lore perspective. I could go on and on about all the fun things this Staff can do, but it would be a pretty boring read. Safe to say that no DM should ever give this thing to a player unless they’re about to steam roll the party.

Armor of Invulnerability

To round this list out with something a little more down to earth. The Armor of Invulnerability gives you resistance to any and all nonmagical damage while wearing this armor. Additionally, you can use an action to make yourself simply immune to all nonmagical damage for 10 minutes. This action is regained at the next dawn. While this won’t save you from fireballs or powerful casters unfortunately, the Armor will save you from everything the Tarrasque or even a Dragon can throw at you (Assuming that dragon doesn’t have spells).

Well that’s all for now, the best and coolest Legendary Magic Items in 5e D&D! May you one day manage to get your hands on one of them! If you want to read my other articles on Magic Items, follow the links below

  • Barbarian
  • Bard
  • Cleric
  • Druid
  • Fighter
  • Monk
  • Paladin
  • Ranger
  • Rogue
  • Sorcerer
  • Warlock
  • Wizard

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About the Creator

Theo James Taylor

Writer, MCU lover, and HUGE RPG nerd (but especially D&D). I have been a ghostwriter for blogs and other publications for 5 years now, but love the freedom Vocal gives me. You can find me DMing an outrageous Homebrew Campaign every Monday!

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