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A tree is between me and the enemy. It provides half cover to an enemy.

If I cast Spiritual Weapon adjacent to him, does Spiritual Weapon ignore the cover provided by the tree? Or, because my line of sight is half-blocked by the tree, does the half-cover bonus stay?

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Spiritual Weapon ignores Cover (but not Visibility) between the Caster and Target

The Cover rules state:

A target can benefit from cover only when an attack or other effect originates on the opposite side of the cover

Spiritual Weapon indicates that the weapon itself is attacking the Target, so only Cover between the Weapon and the Target matters.

However: Visibility is still determined based on the Caster to Target. This is supported by Jeremy Crawford's statements:

The spell doesn't require you to see its target. It follows the normal rules for attacking a target you can't see.

Questioner: caster could leave the room and leave a spiritual weapon floating in the doorway for a minute w/ disadv to hit?

Crawford: Yes, assuming there's actually something there to hit.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ You might link the 2017 SageAdvice. Also, the Podcast from Feb 12, 2017 he explicitly goes into detail about this spell and its interaction with cover. \$\endgroup\$
    – Slagmoth
    Apr 10, 2018 at 23:32
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Slagmoth do you have a link for the more recent sage advice reference? My search-fu is poor. \$\endgroup\$
    – Carcer
    Apr 11, 2018 at 16:40
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Carcer Actually it was my mistake I thought he was referencing the Compendium but was referencing the SageAdvice.eu... also the Podcast can be found here. I can't seem to get a direct link for some reason. But it is the Jan 19, 2017 podcast, filter by Crawford to shorten the list. \$\endgroup\$
    – Slagmoth
    Apr 11, 2018 at 17:14

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