How Do Advantage And Disadvantage Affect 5e Vicious Mockery?

Mechanically, the interaction is simple: vicious mockery forces a Wisdom saving throw. Any advantage or disadvantage that applies to that saving throw (from spells like 'Bane' or 'Bless', environmental effects, or specific features) affects whether the target fails and therefore whether it takes the damage and suffers disadvantage on its next attack roll. The cantrip itself never uses an attack roll, so you won’t take advantage on the spell in the usual sense.

If the target fails and gains disadvantage on its next attack, that disadvantage is a standard attack disadvantage: it doesn’t stack with other disadvantage sources and cancels out against advantage. So if the target has advantage for some other reason, the advantage and the mockery’s disadvantage cancel and you end up with a normal attack roll. Timing matters: the imposed disadvantage only lasts until the end of the target’s next turn and applies only to its next attack roll in that timeframe, so missing your timing can make the effect less useful. I like that it’s low complexity but high utility; small mechanical bits like this reward smart play and party coordination.

I love how vicious mockery feels both petty and potent at the table — it's one of those cantrips that teaches you to think about timing, not just damage. The basic rule is straightforward: you cast it, the target makes a Wisdom saving throw, and if it fails it takes a bit of psychic damage and suffers disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn. Where advantage and disadvantage come in is almost always about that Wisdom save or the attack roll the Creature ends up making afterward.

If any effect grants the creature advantage or disadvantage on that Wisdom saving throw, it directly changes the chance the creature will fail and thus be affected. For example, if an ally has cast 'Bless' on the creature (yeah, you’d rarely bless your enemies, but hypothetically) it adds a d4 to their saving throw, making them likelier to succeed; conversely, a spell like 'Bane' subtracts a d4 from their saving throw making failure more likely. If the creature has disadvantage on Wisdom saves for some reason, that stacks with the save itself and makes failure much more likely. The cantrip doesn't use attack rolls, so the caster never has advantage on it per se.

Now, about the disadvantage that vicious mockery imposes on the target’s next attack roll: that disadvantage is just like any other source of advantage/disadvantage on attacks. Multiple sources of disadvantage don’t make it worse; you either have disadvantage or you don’t. If the target has some effect granting advantage on its attack (maybe an ally is helping, or a feature like 'Brave' for a friendly paladin), advantage and disadvantage cancel and the attack becomes a normal roll. Timing matters too — the penalty only applies to the creature’s next attack roll before the end of its next turn, so if it uses that attack for something else or is forced to skip it, the window can close. I always enjoy watching the math and psychology of a failed save — the mockery that lands changes the battlefield more than its tiny damage suggests.

My bard buddy once turned a boss fight with one perfectly timed barb, and that’s the kind of moment that shows how advantage/disadvantage plays on vicious mockery. The spell itself asks the enemy for a Wisdom save; anything that gives advantage or disadvantage on that specific saving throw will change whether the target ends up taking the psychic hit and the attack-penalty. Think of effects like 'Bane' reducing their saving throws or 'Bless' increasing them — those directly swing the odds.

But here’s a twist that players often forget: vicious mockery doesn’t use an attack roll, so you never get advantage on it in the way you would with a ranged attack or spell attack. Instead you manipulate the target’s saving throw indirectly. Some party tricks — like forcing a concentration save or inflicting a condition that penalizes saves — can help you land the mockery. Once the target fails, the imposed disadvantage is applied to its next attack roll. That interacts with any other advantages/disadvantages on that attack. If the creature already had disadvantage (poisoned, restrained, whatever), you don’t double-down; disadvantage stays disadvantage. If it somehow had advantage from another source, the two cancel and the attack is rolled normally. I find it super satisfying to lineup combos: my friends will debuff the target’s saves or reel them into a condition, I throw the mockery, and suddenly a swing that would’ve hit is a miss thanks to that single-layer of social cruelty. It’s elegant in how it makes one little cantrip influence big moments, and it rewards tactical thinking rather than brute force.