What is the most optimal Cleric Subclass for a party consisting of mostly melee martials?

Question

I'm a cleric considering asking my DM for a subclass change. My character worships Hestia, so most domains might work, emphasis on Life and Light. My party consists of two melee fighters, a paladin, a rogue and a sorcerer. What subclass would synergize best with this party?

Here's how the party goes:

2 Melee-Oriented Fighters

1 Paladin(obviously melee-based)

1 Rogue(unsure of in combat terms)

1 Sorcerer(Blaster role, hasn't shown up recently, so don't consider)

1 Cleric(Me)

So I would say put an emphasis on support and damage when determining the subclass.

Answer 1

Twilight Domain is easily the most powerful cleric subclass.

I’ve written about this before, describing the Twilight Domain as “stupidly powerful”. The chief offender for the Twilight Domain's dominance is the Twilight Sanctuary feature. Borrowing from my previous analysis, I state:

Twilight Sanctuary

This is the feature that really matters here. Here's the short version: the published version of Twilight Sanctuary is too reliable and too powerful. It creates a 1d6+level hit points buffer for every ally, every round, for basically no cost. It doesn't even require concentration. It scales with cleric level, so it gets better as you level up.

The Twilight Sanctuary channel divinity is powerful and reliable. It allows the cleric to take a full array of offensive spell selections without compromising on healing ability. Just turn it on, and it does the healing for you, for free, and allows you to hack and slash or blast your way through fights with your choice of offensive options.

I played through much of Rime of the Frostmaiden as a Goliath Twilight cleric, and I was frequently the lead damage dealer while also providing ample healing support to my party.

Answer 2

With lots of martial characters in your party the Voice of Authority feature of the Order Domain cleric (Tasha's Cauldron of Everything p.31) might be fun because it keeps you thinking tactically about everyone else's position and potential damage.

If you cast a spell with a spell slot of 1st level or higher and target an ally with the spell, that ally can use their reaction immediately after the spell to make one weapon attack against a creature of your choice that you can see.

Put on your heavy armour and start targeting allies with support spells. Once you are at a level with enough spare spell slots, you can spam Healing Word as a bonus action to trigger it regularly while also casting thematic cantrips alongside (Sacred Flame? multiclass dip a level Sorcerer for more hearth fire themed options), and could even be used to give your rogue a second go at sneak attack in a round.