So this is a thread intended primarily for folks to share their own rankings of the feats and their reasons for doing so. I'll share my rankings, but I would absolutely love it if instead of just critiquing what I've got folks share their own lists. I think we'll get more useful information for folks and have this be a more useful thread if folks do. Without further ado, I'll kick it off!
S Tier: Tavern Brawler - Utterly broken. An ASI is incredible for adding +1 to hit and +1 damage (among other bonuses, but those are typically the most important). To instead add up to +8 to hit and +8 damage? Ridiculous. This is a large part of why Monks are as absurdly good as they are, and the fact that it gives +1 Str or Con on top of its effects is just silly. Lucky - This would be lower, much lower, if you needed to decide whether or not it was being used before the result of the die was revealed. As is, getting a reaction to make it so an enemy does not in fact crit when they would have, or that someone does not miss that crucial attack or skill check or saving throw, *after* it has been determined that something bad has happened, is just amazingly good. The fact that you get to apply it not just to yourself but anyone you can see, is ridiculous. Elemental Adept - Ignoring resistance and allowing you to use your themed damage type with something like a Storm Sorc or Tempest Cleric or whatever enables the efficacy of a build in a way that other feats just don't do. It's doubling your damage when it applies. Sure, it won't always apply, and not all builds need it. But if you're running a themed damage build it's the obvious must have choice, thus S tier.
A Tier: Polearm Master - The bonus action attack is nice, even if it is bugged making it far less nice than it should be. But the real reason this is so nice is due to the reaction attack when a target comes into range. In practice, this can double the number of attacks a character has at level 4, and it remains useful throughout the game. Obviously it's not useful if you're not using polearms, but for anyone who even has them as an option it's quite potent. Sentinel - Getting additional attacks via feats is always going to be very, very powerful. The reaction attack is somewhat uncontrollable but triggers more often than you might think. The denial of movement is quite nice as well, and it has strong synergy with say Polearm master which can outright prevent enemies from getting into melee range, leaving them stuck within your range but outside theirs, which is a great time. Great Weapon Master - It grants a toggleable mode switching between damage and accuracy. If you have a reliable source of advantage, in the early game it can be a 50%+ boost to damage output. The Bonus Attack remains useful in all situations and throughout the game. Sharpshooter - +2 to hit when attacking high ground foes in and of itself is nice. The toggleable mode switching between accuracy and damage is incredible, same as Great Weapon Master. Can be a +50% damage increase or more, you need to see it in action to fully appreciate it. Actor - Grants a Cha increase and proficiency *and expertise* in 2 skills which are very useful for your Cha based character. So much better than skilled it's ridiculous, and Skilled is already a good feat. Athlete - The reduced movement cost for standing up prone is somewhat useless. +1 Str or Dex is ok. The 50% increase in jump distance is very good, and can allow you to bypass difficult terrain and reach areas you otherwise could not, significantly increasing the mobility of melee and ranged characters alike. Warcaster - The reaction shocking grasp is ok but not amazing, but advantage on maintaining concentration *is* amazing. Concentration based spells are some of the most powerful in the game, and maintaining them reliably is very potent, in terms of saving spell slots and resources and ensuring debuffs stick.
B Tier: Heavy Armour Master - It would be a tier higher if it was all damage and not just non-magical attack damage. It's nice, as with certain sets of Heavy Armor you can get -5 to incoming non-magical attack damage, halved if you've got Blade Ward or Rage going. This makes you *very* tanky. But spells and magical attacks ignoring it completely reduce its effectiveness, and its usefulness is reliant on the idea you're taking a lot of incoming hits, so it gets worse the better you get at the game and the easier you can kill your enemies. Still good, just not amazing. Magic Initiate: Druid - Guidance and Resistance are two of the best Cantrips. Druid has several great 1st level spells including Speak with Animals, Enhance Leap, or Faerie Fire. Very good overall. Mobile - If you're a melee character, mobility is king. You deal 0 damage while at greater than melee range (generally), so +3m base movement speed, which then gets enhanced further with move speed bonuses, as well as universally ignoring difficult terrain, is quite good. Jumping is often better than running which is why this isn't higher. Moderately Armored - Rogues specifically can make great use of this, as there are several sets of medium armor which are exceptional for high dex characters, and they can use the +1 Dex to even out an odd starting score. Most other characters don't even have it available to them, so the percentage of time where it's useful is higher than one might expect, and the benefit it can provide is quite substantial, up to +4 to AC. Skilled - Skill proficiencies are quite good, 3 is a large number of proficiencies, and being able to choose *any* skill you want lets you completely round out the skills for a given attribute rather easily. While it doesn't impact your combat efficacy, skills are often pass / fail checks without redo opportunities, and passing them more consistently is fantastic from a RP and overall game experience standpoint. Spell Sniper - +1 crit range on spells, which stacks, is very nice. The bonus damage cantrip is ok but not amazing. Overall it's a good, very solid feat choice which can do well in certain builds. Dual Wielder - It's not for everyone, but it can let you do some silly things, like dual wielding staves for higher spell save DC bonuses and other unusual build options. Though those builds are unlikely to be particularly overpowered, nonetheless they are only possible with this feat, thus it's as high as it is. Alert - Going first is very useful for alpha striking enemies, and especially if you have a class feature which lets you leverage that, like Assassins do. An inability to be surprised is also quite nice. Heavily Armored - This can be nice for certain builds, letting them full dump Dex. Though you can get this with a dip in a class, there are situations where the feat is preferable.
C Tier: Mage Slayer - It's actually quite good, when it applies. You break concentration easily, you get extra attacks against mages, and advantage on saves against them. It's just all very situational - how often is the character in question adjacent to a mage maintaining concentration on something in the first place? How often do they just cast something on you while in your face instead of trying to walk away first? If it wasn't so reliant on situations which you can't necessarily force (And wouldn't typically want to), it would be much higher. As is, it's here. Magic Initiate: Anything Else - None of the other classes have as good of a spell list for Magic Initiate specifically. Eldritch Blast isn't amazing without its invocations, and while there are certainly options and you can certainly add value with this feat, generally speaking you're not getting anything you can't get from other sources (such as scrolls) which will actually significantly change your game experience or effectiveness. Defensive Duelist - It can be quite nice, +4 to AC, and ways to increase your utilization of your reaction are always appreciated. But it doesn't give it for the rest of the turn like the Shield spell does, just for that one attack, and the triggering attack must be melee, both of which limit its usefulness. Shield Master - Same as above, the utilization of a reaction is great, and taking no damage on the successful save is great. But the scenarios where it applies are limited, and entirely outside of your control. It must be a dex save, and it must have been caused by a spell. This limits its usefulness. Savage Attacker - It's generally +1 to +3 damage, often around +2 damage. It's nice and feels even nicer, but it's hardly going to be a game changer. Additional damage and more consistent damage is never a bad thing. Dungeon Delver - It has a host of benefits - resistance to damage, advantage on perception, and advantage on saving throws are all quite nice, and traps are quite plentiful in the game. However the narrow range of it, just applying specifically to traps, means it's of limited effectiveness. Ritual Caster - Unlike PnP 5E, where you get *all* ritual spells for a class, this gives you only 2, which you must pre-select at the time you choose this. All of which have plenty of other ways to obtain them, and as they're ritual spells, if someone *does* have them from another source they're not using spell slots to cast them. As such you're not gaining anything from a resource efficacy standpoint. All of the choices are decent things to have available to you (speak with dead, speak with animals from a RP standpoint, familiars are always nice, Enhance Jump is great, and Disguise Self has some buggy interactions you can exploit) which saves it from falling further.
D Tier: Resilient - The trouble is, anyone who would want this as a half feat likely can't take it, as they're already proficient in their primary ability's saving throws. About the only case where someone may want to pick up an extra proficiency would be Wizards or other spellcasters grabbing Con proficiency to maintain concentration, and in that case it's strictly worse than Warcaster granting advantage on them. Tough to ever justify. Martial Adept - Battle Master Maneuvers suffer from needing to pass 2 checks for them to apply an effect - you need to hit *and* for them to fail their save, generally. Getting 2 maneuvers and 1 superiority die per short rest just isn't going to actually do much for you. For a battlemaster this is *slightly* better but that's just one subclass of one class, and not enough to change the overall ranking. Performer - As hilarious as it may be to have your entire party take this feat and throw impromptu concerts everywhere you go, it's pretty much useless. You can get this for free on a character if you care about it and aren't running a bard, and otherwise the most you'll get on this is a couple of gold every now and again. Only the fact that it's fun from an RP standpoint saves it from F tier. Tough - +2 HP per level is nice, but not that nice. It's tough to recommend. Weapon Master - The +1 Str or Dex is a nice bonus, but generally there are better ways to gain proficiency in a specific weapon classification than via a Feat. It's tough to envision a scenario where a character would both desperately want a weapon proficiency they don't have to enable a build, and also doesn't have a better option for how they would obtain it. Crossbow Expert - Avoiding disadvantage at point blank range is nice, but rarely is it the optimal play. Additional Gaping Wounds duration is utterly useless. Overall it feels like a mistake for someone to take this, *even if* they're focused on a ranged crossbow build, but it's not entirely and completely useless, landing it in D tier. Charger - I honestly haven't tested this, it may be better than it looks, but it looks aweful. From an action economy standpoint it doesn't really seem like it's doing much other than maybe sometimes effectively giving you a bonus action attack you wouldn't otherwise have had if you would've been dashing, or a free bonus action shove. Both of which are predicated on the idea you're using a full action dash in the first place, which is something best avoided whenever possible. Is that worth a feat? It's hard to see how it would be.
F Tier: Lightly Armoured - May well be the worst feat in the game. Only Monks, Wizards, and Sorcerers (or a MC combo of those) are even eligible for it. Setting aside the idea that generally they don't want or need it (they have as good or better options among clothing than they would light armor), it would only take a 1 level dip in Ranger to get Heavy Armor Proficiency, which otherwise would take 3 feats to achieve, with this being only the first of them. Wildly useless. Medium Armor Master - For someone who wants to use Medium Armor, who needs more than 2 Dex bonus applied, and doesn't want disadvantage on stealth, there are armors available which already have those effects built in. The use case for this is just so incredibly narrow. Durable - Getting all your HP back on a short rest is just not useful. Any situation where you can take a short rest you can also drink some of your plentiful healing potions, you often will short rest without being significantly more than half dead in the first place, and having one character full heal while the rest don't isn't strategically advantageous. It's very likely to be totally useless to you.
What advantage do you gain by having your crossbow wielder in melee range? Why aren’t you prioritizing having high ground over them for the bonus hit chance? Why would you ever want to be in a position where it provides any advantage at all in the first place? As to the gaping wounds, if you’re using gaping wounds on a target and it takes 4 rounds to kill them and 4 damage was the difference, something has gone very wrong.
If it doesn’t belong in D tier, make the argument for why not. What exactly is it supposed to be doing for you, on what builds, and why?
How exactly does it help you there though? You only used an ability with an 18m range, and didn't display anything or use any abilities which required melee range that I saw. Nice video but it doesn't exactly make the case for Crossbow expert if you're flying into melee range for no reason. If it's providing a benefit to that build, what is the benefit?
Mind I dont pay attention to power builds and I dont play the game fast.
But so far for me:
Tier 1: Near musthave if its for your build --------------------
Lucky - Basically another Lore Bard or Divination Wizard, except it works out of combat as well. Awesome.
Polearm Master - Second best warrior feat and friggin awesome.
Savage Attacker - Ironically despite the name actually a musthave for Paladins, since it works on their Smite spells, too.
Spell Sniper - Musthave for Sorcerer and Wizard so they get twice as many crits and access to Eldritch Blast. Always my first pick for them.
Tavern Brawler - Best warrior feat and also friggin awesome. Only one in group can really fully benefit though because you want the itemization, too.
War Caster - Musthave for Sorcerer and Wizard, unless you can avoid concentration spells.
Tier 2: Solid picks if its for your build --------------------
Athlete - If you want +1 Str on an offensive warrior, such as mainly Barbarian, this is probably the best pick. Its still not actually great but its solid enough, I think.
Great Weapon Master - Really solid choice, but it occupies the bonus action, which all too often was already used for jumping. Extra damage for easy to hit targets, too.
Heavy Armour Master - Nice to get +1 Str and max out a defensive tank. Does one need a defensive tank ? Given we only get four peeps max, the best defense seems to be offense.
Mobile - Pretty useful if you want to move around a lot. For example because you have a ranged build.
Sentinel - Pretty good. Especially for a defensive warrior. Only one in group should have this, since Sentinels cant protect other Sentinels.
Sharpshooter - Kinda good if you go ranged, though mostly for the a damage for easy to hit targets.
Actor - I pick this for protagonist Bard, but mostly for roleplaying reasons. If you dont actually have other social skills on Expertise and also have Charisma without end, and arent the protagonist, I dont really see the point. Both Persuation and Intimidation are more important than Deception, and Perform is even more rare. Well, usually.
Alert - I'm always tempted by this on warrior, especially if they have Heavy Armor and Dex 10. Tough opponents can oneshot you and with this you can oneshot them instead.
Elemental Adept - Might pick on a Storm Sorcerer or some such build for roleplay reasons, otherwise I dont see the point. Only really helps with opponents with resistance. Non resistant opponents show no change, neither do opponents with immunity.
Mage Slayer - Great, but too much other good stuff around. Roleplaying choice for a Paladin ?
Resilient - Great idea but theres just not enough feats, so I mostly go for roleplaying for this. If you pick this, probably go for one of the primary saving throws you're missing (Wis, Con, Dex).
Shield Master - Another roleplaying choice for Paladin, to be an even better magekiller. Though ironically Paladin doesnt really get good Dexterity saving throws.
Tier 4: Probably not ... ? --------------------
Ability Improvement - Honestly kind of meh. I mostly really pick this one for roleplay reasons. Or maybe to even out two odd ability scores.
Defensive Duellist - Decent. But really, if you want all defense, go Heavy Armor for the damage reduction.
Dual Wielder - Does too little for wasting a feat on this, unless you have an itemization argument to make.
Magic Initiate: Class - I think this is a waste, but what do I know. Yeah there are some nice ideas, but there are just too many other good feats around. Really the main problem with this is that level 12 doesnt give you more spells. So why not take a level of this class instead, whatever it is ? Very likely much more benefits this way than taking this feat.
Tough - If there is really nothing else good to pick for your build, this is often a very solid choice. But really even at maxlevel you only get 24 HP.
The only one I personally strongly disagree with is Savage Attacker, it gets proportionally worse the more dice you have and I can promise you it’ll never be more than +3 average damage on those smites. Compared to something like Sentinel which grants additional capabilities and attacks it’ll just never give you the same kind of impact. If someone likes it more power to them, but since all it does is increase damage, and it’s not a huge damage increase at that, I’d never put it in the “must have” category for any class, but especially Paladin given they’re MAD and love ASIs and also melee tanks who can benefit from half a dozen feats more than they could Savage Attacker.
Just Mho of course but if you’re curious about the math I’d be glad to share it out.
2d6 + 4 (level 1 paladin with a 16 in a stat, +1 weapon) goes from 11 average damage to 12.37, gain of 1.37 damage, 12% additional damage, Great Weapon Fighting (reroll 1s and 2s) does very similar things, combined you get to 13.46, at which point your damage contribution from Savage Attacker is 1.23, 9%, showing it gets worse when rerolls and other dice manipulation are already in play. Add in a smite (2d8) and you go from 21.33 to 23.50, a gain of 2.17 damage, or 9.8%. Note too there is substantially less impact on the probability curve as the dice pool grows. Make that a max smite (5d8) and you get from 34.83 to 37.95, or 8.9%. At this point the impact on the reliability of the damage, and the shape of the probability curve, is basically gone, it's just shifted up a bit.
Those last 3d8, you expected to gain 13.5 damage if savage attacker wasn't in play, or 4.5 average damage per die, but you instead gained 14.45, or 4.81 damage per die. Compared to the effect on a single d8 where it shifts the average damage from 4.5 to 5.81, and we can see the increasing dice pool and thus decreased probability of overall variance from the mean really limiting its impact.
So don't get me wrong, 3 damage is nice, 9% more damage is 9% more damage. But that's also with an artificially low amount of non-dice damage added to the mix (which really doesn't help it since there's no variance in it), and it's just 3 damage even with a large dice pool, which is why I say it's not a "must have" in my book.
The plus side though is that damage gets more reliably high, i.e. its very unlikely you ever roll a 1 (1/36 = 2.778%) and in 20/36 = 5/9 = 55.556% of cases you get a 6 or 5 rolled.
The more dices you roll the more reliably high the damage gets anyway, though.
Either way yes I would downgrade this to group 3 if not 4. Far less impressive than Tavern Brawler or Polearm Master or Great Weapon Master.
lucky is trash only 3 charges and its even more useless the more crit rate you have, f tier
gwm - lost 25% accuary that lost over 25% damage, X+10x0 = 0, ite can have some uses for reckless attacks and presision from battle master c tier
sharp shooter same as above - f tier
actor lol - d tier
war caster - ss tier keeping concetration is a must for casters and cleric maybe expect warlock
war caster is auto pick at level 4 for cleric and sorc
athle i never ever need that - d tier
heavy arm mastery - ss tier give str from 17 to 18 so its act like stat gain feat and its ridiculas combo with forge heavy armor from act 1 and blade ward, you are tanky AF vs enemies warriors barbs and archers
skilled give nothing to combat trash f
dual wielder its - ss tier for dual wielding and auto pick on level 4 for dual wielders,can combo 2x long sword, 2x rapier with screaming rapier, mix combo like legendary spear and flail of ages to buff main weapon and change it from off hand to weapon like flail from weapon 2 dont remember name
dual wielder got level 5 for attack and level 3 thief for bonus action and fighter 1 for fighting style that give you more dmg from offhand
spell sniper at least A tier
shield master at least A tier
savage attacker C tier hahahaha - its s tier for weapons like great sword from range dmg like 15-30 to get more likly max damage insted minimal diffrence is huge and give more dps than crapy great weapon master
resiliant CON its another tool to keep concentration, con s tier rest d tier
tough f tier on level 4 b tier on 8 s tier on 12
24 hp on level 12 stack it with help buff scaled as level 6 spell from cleric and another buff feast of something another 12 hp
yes you can use items with free cast for 6 bufs from cleric level 6
and some races have 1 hp per level to make it even more ridiculas
Tavern Brawler Tier: - Tavern Brawler - A ton of bonus damage
Awesome, I miss them if I don't have them: - Great weapon master - good bonus damage - Sharpshooter - good bonus damage - Alert - often allows str based fighters / paladins to kill an enemy caster before they act, can prevent a TPK in a few fights (e.g. Yugir) - Sentinel - makes sure the enemy stays where it's supposed to be, e.g. inside a wall of fire - Resilient - very valuable to keep concentration spells active
Good: - Polearm Master - would be awesome if we had better polearms in this game - Spell Sniper - better crit is nice, but not awesome since the most powerful spells can't crit - Elemental Adept - can be good, depending on the damage types you are using - Lucky - being able to reroll a die is always good - Actor- helps a lot to solve situations without combat
Nice to have: - Heavy Armour Master - never tried it, but it should make you quite tanky - Warcaster - there are a number of armours that grant the same effect. But it's quite good if you for some reason don't use any of those armours - Mobile - I usually don't need it, but being faster never hurts - Skilled - helps with skill checks - Dual Wielder - dual wielding in itself isn't great, but for some (caster) builds it's nice to benefit from the effects of two weapons that are not light - Athlete - in my opinion being able to jump further than your maximum movement distance is a bug. If you use the feat to it's full extend, it's quite good. - Charger - Being able to move and attack a different target without taking opportunity attacks can be nice - Crossbow Expert - The main reason to pick this feat got moved to the things every character can do at level one. But you can still end up in situations where you benefit from it. E.g. when you are forced to drop your melee weapons. - Martial Adept - some bonus damage and cc - Shield Master - can be good against high damage dex saves when fighting dragons or powerful mages
Maybe you find a situation where it's useful: - Moderately Armoured - usually multiclassing will be the better choice, but I could see some exceptions - Mage Slayer - never tried it, doesn't sound too good - Defensive Duellist - quite limited use. Only against a single attack and only if you use a finesse weapon. - Medium Armour Master - if you have high dex, it's often better to wear armour that allowes you to add your full dex modifier - Savage Attacker - a bit of bonus damage, but generally weaker than all other feats that add damage - Tough - a bit of extra hp never hurts, but it's probably not worth it - Weapon Master - usually multiclassing will be the better choice, but there are exceptions (e.g. longbow and heavy crossbow on a rogue who started with an odd dex score)
Not going to pick them (again): - Magic Innitiate - multiclassing should pretty much always be the better choice - Heavily Armoured - multiclassing should pretty much always be the better choice - Dungeon Delver - it's very rare that I take damage from traps even without that feat - Durable - not needed in my opinion - Lightly Armoured - multiclassing should pretty much always be the better choice - Performer - you can get musical instrument proficiency from a skill check, no need to waste a feat. - Ritual Caster - multiclassing should pretty much always be the better choice
Tavern Brawler Tier: - Tavern Brawler - A ton of bonus damage
Awesome, I miss them if I don't have them: - Great weapon master - good bonus damage - Sharpshooter - good bonus damage - Alert - often allows str based fighters / paladins to kill an enemy caster before they act, can prevent a TPK in a few fights (e.g. Yugir) - Sentinel - makes sure the enemy stays where it's supposed to be, e.g. inside a wall of fire - Resilient - very valuable to keep concentration spells active
Good: - Polearm Master - would be awesome if we had better polearms in this game - Spell Sniper - better crit is nice, but not awesome since the most powerful spells can't crit - Elemental Adept - can be good, depending on the damage types you are using - Lucky - being able to reroll a die is always good - Actor- helps a lot to solve situations without combat
Nice to have: - Heavy Armour Master - never tried it, but it should make you quite tanky - Warcaster - there are a number of armours that grant the same effect. But it's quite good if you for some reason don't use any of those armours - Mobile - I usually don't need it, but being faster never hurts - Skilled - helps with skill checks - Dual Wielder - dual wielding in itself isn't great, but for some (caster) builds it's nice to benefit from the effects of two weapons that are not light - Athlete - in my opinion being able to jump further than your maximum movement distance is a bug. If you use the feat to it's full extend, it's quite good. - Charger - Being able to move and attack a different target without taking opportunity attacks can be nice - Crossbow Expert - The main reason to pick this feat got moved to the things every character can do at level one. But you can still end up in situations where you benefit from it. E.g. when you are forced to drop your melee weapons. - Martial Adept - some bonus damage and cc - Shield Master - can be good against high damage dex saves when fighting dragons or powerful mages
Maybe you find a situation where it's useful: - Moderately Armoured - usually multiclassing will be the better choice, but I could see some exceptions - Mage Slayer - never tried it, doesn't sound too good - Defensive Duellist - quite limited use. Only against a single attack and only if you use a finesse weapon. - Medium Armour Master - if you have high dex, it's often better to wear armour that allowes you to add your full dex modifier - Savage Attacker - a bit of bonus damage, but generally weaker than all other feats that add damage - Tough - a bit of extra hp never hurts, but it's probably not worth it - Weapon Master - usually multiclassing will be the better choice, but there are exceptions (e.g. longbow and heavy crossbow on a rogue who started with an odd dex score)
Not going to pick them (again): - Magic Innitiate - multiclassing should pretty much always be the better choice - Heavily Armoured - multiclassing should pretty much always be the better choice - Dungeon Delver - it's very rare that I take damage from traps even without that feat - Durable - not needed in my opinion - Lightly Armoured - multiclassing should pretty much always be the better choice - Performer - you can get musical instrument proficiency from a skill check, no need to waste a feat. - Ritual Caster - multiclassing should pretty much always be the better choice
i personalty hate great weapon master with -25 less accuary unless you are barb with reckless attack and this sometimes is bad vs bosses with high defs
same with sharpshooter
war mage is better than con resiliant for concentration
heavy armor mastery is rly good to have cause give your melee who use str fighter or paladin 17 to 18 str so is act like stat bonus and when you pair it with forge armor its make ridiculas def vs psysical attack, pair it with blade ward so you will laugh at you eniemies
with that combo even stell watch in act 3 doing shit dmg to my fighter
savage attacker is best for 2h weapon like great sword, my fighter with gs do shitload more dmg cause allmost never do minimal damage, its better than great weapon master for fighter
im fighter specialist have him all time and passed this game 4 times already and fighter is terminator xD hasted fighter with gs is ridiculas
dual wielder its - ss tier for dual wielding and auto pick on level 4 for dual wielders,can combo 2x long sword, 2x rapier with screaming rapier, mix combo like legendary spear and flail of ages to buff main weapon and change it from off hand to weapon like flail from weapon 2 dont remember name
dual wielder got level 5 for attack and level 3 thief for bonus action and fighter 1 for fighting style that give you more dmg from offhand
dual wielder is not an auto pick. I played a Gloom Stalker Ranger in my second play through and took dual wielder at level 4 and it is great with my D8 weapons, screaming rapier and Phalar Aluve. But level 4 is where the D8 greatness starts and finishes. Because there are only 2 Finesse longswords in the game the other being Larethian's Wrath from the Githyanki Creche.
Well there is always Rapiers, Rupturing Blade +1 (act 1) Harmonic Dueller +1 but the special damage works off your Charisma Modifier and it is an act 3 weapon. There is also a +2 rapier that appears on a merchant when you reach a certain level can't remember what level. But thats it no more rapiers that can be dual wielded the legendary rapier's bonus comes from having no weapon in your off hand.
Ok so it will be fine at level 12 with the 23 str gloves as I am not restricted to Finesse weapons well I was out of luck for a D8 legendary so I ended up with Nyrulna (legendary trident) and Orphic Hammer or Voss' Silver Sword.
Yet sticking to light weapons I could have got Knife of the Undermountain King (Githyanki Creche ) Sword of Life Stealing (Last Light Inn) and Crimson Mischief (Orin) so what is to be gained from dual wielder? I could have could increased my stats at level 4. Then at level 12 gone Great Weapon Master Balduran's Giantslayer. (joke maybe?)
dual wielder its - ss tier for dual wielding and auto pick on level 4 for dual wielders,can combo 2x long sword, 2x rapier with screaming rapier, mix combo like legendary spear and flail of ages to buff main weapon and change it from off hand to weapon like flail from weapon 2 dont remember name
dual wielder got level 5 for attack and level 3 thief for bonus action and fighter 1 for fighting style that give you more dmg from offhand
dual wielder is not an auto pick. I played a Gloom Stalker Ranger in my second play through and took dual wielder at level 4 and it is great with my D8 weapons, screaming rapier and Phalar Aluve. But level 4 is where the D8 greatness starts and finishes. Because there are only 2 Finesse longswords in the game the other being Larethian's Wrath from the Githyanki Creche. Well there is always Rapiers, Rupturing Blade +1 (act 1) Harmonic Dueller +1 but the special damage works off your Charisma Modifier and it is an act 3 weapon. There is also a +2 rapier that appears on a merchant when you reach a certain level can't remember what level. But thats it more rapiers that can be dual wielded the legendary rapier's bonus come from having no wea
If your dual wielder is strength based then Dual Wielder is fracking great. There are a bunch of great weapons that you can dual wield. Grab the gnoll flail that heals you and combine with Lathander's mace, or the Defender flail for more AC, or the spear that gives you true Sight if you miss or ..... I admit for finesse based it only adds rapier and the two long swords but it really shines for strength based dual wielding.
Both sharpshooter and GWM are really great. Just do the math to determine where the breakover point is. I usually find that if I'm at 40% with the damage turned on its better than 65% without.
If someone is using Great Weapon Master or Sharpshooter, they need to be able to calculate when to use it. It’s really not hard to do so on the fly though, just ask yourself: "What percentage of my damage is (GWM / Sharpshooter)? "
If it’s half your damage, you can halve your hits before it’s disadvantageous. Note this is always in comparison to your rate with it off. If off you’d hit 60% of the time and on you’d hit 35%, It’s still worth using, lower and it’s not, you’d be nerfing your own damage by leaving it on.
If it’s 1/3 of your damage, you can drop your hit percentage by 1/3. Going from 90 to 65 is fine, lower and leaving it on is worse.
If it’s 1/4 of your damage, you’ll basically only use it when you’re dropping by 1/4 of your hit chance or less, which means either enemies with low ACs where your accuracy was overkill beforehand, or against enemies where you have advantage.
The link above is dice probabilities, with advantage, normally, and with disadvantage. Since you always hit if you get "at least" the target AC, the "At least" tab will always be directly reflective of the probabilities you'll see in game. Thankfully you don't need to manually calculate them, if you have a +10 and the AC is 15, and you have advantage, it'll just show 96%, or if you have disadvantage, 64% (or if neither 80%). But it gives you an idea to the kind of space where Sharpshooter and GWM will still be worth using even if your initial damage is 30 or more. If you're going from a 2 to a 7 with advantage (99.75 to 91), you could have 80 base damage, and GWM / Sharpshooter will still be worth using.
So as long as you understand your odds, and understand when to use it, it can be a tremendous boon. Often it will increase your expected damage output by 50%+ in the early game, and continuing to pay dividends throughout the game. If someone hasn't already, they should try pairing someone with GWM and / or someone with Sharpshooter with a Druid who makes effective use of their spider form and web, it makes the early game an absolute slaughter.
Later on, you can get reliable sources of advantage with items, the most famous being the Risky Ring, but multiple options are available. You also gain access to many types of paralysis or sleep effects, at which point your hit percentage is always 100% and more damage is always better. Note that this 100% hit auto crit mechanic even applies to ranged weapons within 1.5m, and they both auto hit and auto crit without needing Crossbow Expert to negate the normal disadvantage they would have for their target being prone if they were conscious.
Finally, it should be noted that the ancillary benefits will apply regardless of your use of the passive. +2 to hit when shooting at enemies with high ground over you and a bonus action attack on a crit or kill remain useful, potent bonuses at all stages of the game, even if you never have the passive on. But, if you use advantage and CC well, and can handle basic math calculations, you'll certainly have it on more often than not, and as a result you'll do some very silly amounts of damage.
dual wielder its - ss tier for dual wielding and auto pick on level 4 for dual wielders,can combo 2x long sword, 2x rapier with screaming rapier, mix combo like legendary spear and flail of ages to buff main weapon and change it from off hand to weapon like flail from weapon 2 dont remember name
dual wielder got level 5 for attack and level 3 thief for bonus action and fighter 1 for fighting style that give you more dmg from offhand
dual wielder is not an auto pick. I played a Gloom Stalker Ranger in my second play through and took dual wielder at level 4 and it is great with my D8 weapons, screaming rapier and Phalar Aluve. But level 4 is where the D8 greatness starts and finishes. Because there are only 2 Finesse longswords in the game the other being Larethian's Wrath from the Githyanki Creche.
Well there is always Rapiers, Rupturing Blade +1 (act 1) Harmonic Dueller +1 but the special damage works off your Charisma Modifier and it is an act 3 weapon. There is also a +2 rapier that appears on a merchant when you reach a certain level can't remember what level. But thats it no more rapiers that can be dual wielded the legendary rapier's bonus comes from having no weapon in your off hand.
Ok so it will be fine at level 12 with the 23 str gloves as I am not restricted to Finesse weapons well I was out of luck for a D8 legendary so I ended up with Nyrulna (legendary trident) and Orphic Hammer or Voss' Silver Sword.
Yet sticking to light weapons I could have got Knife of the Undermountain King (Githyanki Creche ) Sword of Life Stealing (Last Light Inn) and Crimson Mischief (Orin) so what is to be gained from dual wielder? I could have could increased my stats at level 4. Then at level 12 gone Great Weapon Master Balduran's Giantslayer. (joke maybe?)
dual wielder with level 1 fighter or any class that give dual wield mastery make like 100% more damage for str builds cause you dont have use light weapons
daggers deals like 6-12 damage for each hand, legendary spear deal like 17-35 dmg in main hand and 15-30 in off hand, so tell me how its not auto pick ?
even dex weapon like rapier + scream rapier deal more dmg than daggers
even dual wield long swords deal 10-25 dmg its 100% more than light weapons
level 5 fighter or barb for bonus attack and level 3 thief for bonus action its give 4 attacks total without haste
and i can tell you barb dual wielder with thief 3 do more dmg than your ranger and bear barb have 50% less damage from any source, so no, your ranger dual wielder its not better than this
If someone is using Great Weapon Master or Sharpshooter, they need to be able to calculate when to use it. It’s really not hard to do so on the fly though, just ask yourself: "What percentage of my damage is (GWM / Sharpshooter)? "
If it’s half your damage, you can halve your hits before it’s disadvantageous. Note this is always in comparison to your rate with it off. If off you’d hit 60% of the time and on you’d hit 35%, It’s still worth using, lower and it’s not, you’d be nerfing your own damage by leaving it on.
If it’s 1/3 of your damage, you can drop your hit percentage by 1/3. Going from 90 to 65 is fine, lower and leaving it on is worse.
If it’s 1/4 of your damage, you’ll basically only use it when you’re dropping by 1/4 of your hit chance or less, which means either enemies with low ACs where your accuracy was overkill beforehand, or against enemies where you have advantage.
The link above is dice probabilities, with advantage, normally, and with disadvantage. Since you always hit if you get "at least" the target AC, the "At least" tab will always be directly reflective of the probabilities you'll see in game. Thankfully you don't need to manually calculate them, if you have a +10 and the AC is 15, and you have advantage, it'll just show 96%, or if you have disadvantage, 64% (or if neither 80%). But it gives you an idea to the kind of space where Sharpshooter and GWM will still be worth using even if your initial damage is 30 or more. If you're going from a 2 to a 7 with advantage (99.75 to 91), you could have 80 base damage, and GWM / Sharpshooter will still be worth using.
So as long as you understand your odds, and understand when to use it, it can be a tremendous boon. Often it will increase your expected damage output by 50%+ in the early game, and continuing to pay dividends throughout the game. If someone hasn't already, they should try pairing someone with GWM and / or someone with Sharpshooter with a Druid who makes effective use of their spider form and web, it makes the early game an absolute slaughter.
Later on, you can get reliable sources of advantage with items, the most famous being the Risky Ring, but multiple options are available. You also gain access to many types of paralysis or sleep effects, at which point your hit percentage is always 100% and more damage is always better. Note that this 100% hit auto crit mechanic even applies to ranged weapons within 1.5m, and they both auto hit and auto crit without needing Crossbow Expert to negate the normal disadvantage they would have for their target being prone if they were conscious.
Finally, it should be noted that the ancillary benefits will apply regardless of your use of the passive. +2 to hit when shooting at enemies with high ground over you and a bonus action attack on a crit or kill remain useful, potent bonuses at all stages of the game, even if you never have the passive on. But, if you use advantage and CC well, and can handle basic math calculations, you'll certainly have it on more often than not, and as a result you'll do some very silly amounts of damage.
you never get 95% accuary with snarp shooter and 95% its only possible for reckless attack in one turn, so yeah great feat if you want to deal 0 dmg every turn
i dont accept 90% accuary cause its too low and 25% crit is bonus damage from time to time, but you lost crit and any dmg if you miss, this game sucks cause they should be possible to have 100% acc, even 95% piss me off cause it can miss too and miss pretty oftten
with 65% you will miss pretty all the time, fighter have 60% accuary at level 1-4 something like this and its always miss, same with monk 60% acc is basilcy miss all the time
at early levels you have to abuse magic missles and bless to do any damage
