Fighters are one of the martial classes in Dungeons and Dragons, and they are centered around combat knowledge. A martial class is a class not centered in some way around casting (though each martial class does have a subclass that can bring in spellcasting to your character build). Fighters often fulfill an offensive role in an adventuring party, able to run right into combat and take on enemies. Fighters often have high enough armor classes and hit points to do so, and unless you specifically take a ranged weapon, usually have to be up close in combat to even think about hitting an enemy.
Feats that can make your performance in combat better are best geared towards Fighters. There are also a few non-combat related feats that can be good for long term campaigns or character development, but if you are aiming to play the combat geared class then combat feats are the best bet you can take.
15. Alert
"Always on the lookout for danger, you gain the following benefits:
- You can't be surprised while you are conscious.
- You gain a +5 bonus to initiative.
- Other creatures don't gain advantage on attack rolls against you as a result of being unseen by you."
Alert is a feat that helps you be more aware of enemies. It is good for Fighters because it keeps you more alert to the possibility of combat and gives you a buff to initiative to get you closer to the top of the round.
Alert is a good feat, but it is at the bottom of the list because there are other feats out there that do more to assist you in combat. Feats that buff damage and help your actual performance are better, in my opinion.
Reasons To Choose Alert
- You travel a lot in your campaign
- You often face enemies on long bouts of travel, and enemies being unable to surprise you while you’re conscious is very good in this regard - you can take watch and never have to deal with surprise rounds from enemies
- You often fight lots of enemies
- If there are more creatures hiding, they can’t get you with advantage on their rolls
- You have a low Dexterity
- When I build Strength based Fighters, I often don’t prioritize Dexterity, which can lead to bad initiative and put me towards the bottom of combat rotation (which is not good for a front line fighter), so the buff to initiative this build gives can help with that
14. Tough
"Your hit point maximum increases by an amount equal to twice your level when you gain this feat. Whenever you gain a level thereafter, your hit points maximum increases by an additional 2 hit points."
Tough is an okay feat, as a buff to hit points is always good. It is good specifically for Fighters, because in my experience playing them, we take a lot of hits. By continually increasing your hit points with an extra boost you can take hits for your party easier.
This feat can really be used for any build that you can imagine for a Fighter. A buff to hit points is beneficial for anyone who would be going directly into combat. However, tank builds would likely benefit the most, and front-line builds would benefit from this feat as well.
This feat is at the bottom of the list because it is very simple, and it doesn’t do that much to help you with combat abilities so much as it keeps you up in combat. It is beneficial, but it is not the most beneficial of feats out there.
Reasons To Choose Tough
- You’re building a tank
- Tanks absorb damage for the party, and having an extra buff to hit points can make that easier
- You didn’t roll great hit points
- Fighters, because they are often so close to combat, take a lot of damage. If you want to stay up in combat, you need a good hit point maximum and if you don’t have one, this feat can help fix that
- You’re building a front-line fighter
- Similar to the other two reasons, you want to stay up in combat. Fighters are meant to be the most skilled in combat, so actually participating in it is very beneficial to your party
13. Savage Attacker
"Once per turn when you roll damage for a melee weapon attack, you can reroll the weapon's damage dice and use either total."
Savage Attacker is a good feat for an easy buff to your damage. Fighters would find this useful because it is a class associated with a large damage output. The class is built so that you can deal large amounts of damage, and this feat would help that happen.
Savage Attacker is really good for Dexterity builds. Dexterity builds often have weapons that deal less damage, so if you can ensure that you roll better damage at least once a turn, you can increase your damage output.
This is another simple feat, which is why it is so far down on the list. There are other feats that buff damage or do more for you in combat, but this one can still be useful despite its simplicity.
Reasons To Choose Savage Attacker
- You built a Dexterity based Fighter
- Dexterity weapons generally have smaller hit die, so you can get more out of that hit die if you can choose to reroll it once a turn
- You didn’t take Great Weapon Fighting with a weapon like a greatsword or greataxe as your main weapon
- Great Weapon Fighting is a fighting style that allows you (once a turn) to reroll a one or two on a damage die while wielding a great weapon. Not everyone takes that fighting style and this feat can make up for that
- You want to increase your damage output
- All Fighters can stand to find ways to increase their damage output, and this feat can help make that happen
12. Revenant Blade
"You are descended from a master of the double-bladed scimitar, and some of that mastery has passed on to you. You gain the following benefits:
- Increase your Dexterity or Strength score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
- While you are holding a double-bladed scimitar with two hands, you gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class.
- A double-bladed scimitar has the finesse property when you wield it."
This feat, attached to the Elven race, can be a great benefit. Elven Fighters could benefit easily from the stat buff, the armor class buff, and the finesse property (which allows you to use Dexterity instead of Strength on your attack rolls).
Unless your DM allows you to bypass racial requirements for feats, this feat can only be used for Elven Fighters. This feat is also best for a Dexterity Fighter.
Reasons To Choose Revenant Blade
- You’re building an Elven Fighter
- This feat has the prerequisite that you must be playing an elf to take it
- You’re building a Dexterity Fighter
- Both if you are playing an Elf or your Dm allows you to ignore the prerequisite, you can get a very unique weapon and ignore it requiring you to use Strength which is very beneficial
- You need the stat buff to Dexterity
- You can choose to get a +1 to Strength or Dexterity, and this feat benefits Dexterity Fighters the most
11. Skulker
"You are an expert at slinking through shadows. You gain the following benefits:
- You can try to hide when you are lightly obscured from the creature from which you are hiding.
- When you are hidden from a creature and miss it with a ranged weapon attack, making the attack doesn't reveal your position.
- Dim light doesn't impose disadvantage on your Wisdom (Perception) checks relying on sight."
Skulker is a feat that allows you to stealth better. This is a great feat for Dexterity Fighters and Fighter multiclasses that involve more stealth because you can find better positions to use long ranged weapons that keep you hidden.
Sulker is a good feat. It does help you perform better in combat, but it is eleven on this list because it requires a Dexterity of 13 or more, and it is beneficial to very specific builds.
Reasons To Choose Skulker
- You’re building a Dexterity based Fighter
- Due to its Dexterity requirement, this feat is better for Fighters that use Dexterity as their main physical stat
- You’re building a Ranger multiclass
- Rangers are compatible with Fighter for a multiclass, often use long range weapons, and are Dexterity based
- You’re building a Rogue multiclass
- Rogues are also compatible with Fighter for a multiclass, often use long range weapons, and are Dexterity based
10. Lucky
"You have inexplicable luck that seems to kick in at just the right moment.
- You have 3 luck points. Whenever you make an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw, you can spend one luck point to roll an additional d20. You can choose to spend one of your luck points after you roll the die, but before the outcome is determined. You choose which of the d20s is used for the attack roll, ability check, or saving throw.
- You can also spend one luck point when an attack roll is made against you. Roll a d20 and then choose whether the attack uses the attacker's roll or yours.
- If more than one creature spends a luck point to influence the outcome of a roll, the points cancel each other out; no additional dice are rolled.
- You regain your expended luck points when you finish a long rest."
Lucky is a really good way to improve your chances in dnd. Lucky is kind of a universally good feat, but it benefits Fighters because they’re often very close to their enemies. Also the way that I build Fighters, personally, my mental stats aren’t always favorable when it comes to saving throws, and Lucky can help them go more your way.
Lucky doesn’t necessarily go with one specific build, which makes it universal for any and all Fighters. It is only number 10, however, because it doesn’t improve combat, but it isn’t lower on the list because it can keep you safer in combat, as long as what you roll works well in your favor.
Reasons To Choose Lucky
- You’re building a higher-level character
- Things get more challenging in campaigns the higher your level is, and if you are starting at a higher level, it can be nice to have Lucky to try and make things sway in your favor
- You’re playing in a magic heavy campaign
- Saving throws are made much more frequently in magic heavy campaigns, and this feat can save you if you reroll and roll well
- You fight a lot of difficult enemies
- Similarly to the previous reason, it can also be nice to change the enemy’s rolls and make them worse, and keep you or your party members safe from their attacks while you work hard to take them down
9. Piercer
"You have achieved a penetrating precision in combat, granting you the following benefits:
- Increase your Strength or Dexterity by 1, to a maximum of 20.
- Once per turn, when you hit a creature with an attack that deals piercing damage, you can re-roll one of the attack’s damage dice, and you must use the new roll.
- When you score a critical hit that deals piercing damage to a creature, you can roll one additional damage die when determining the extra piercing damage the target takes."
Piercer is a great damage buff. This feat is good for Fighters because we are a class that uses a lot of weapons that deal this type of damage.
I believe this feat is the best for Dexterity builds, which is not the best way to build Fighters in my opinion. However, this can also benefit Strength builds. It’s one of those feats that's a little better than alright because it really aids with damage output, but still isn’t the best.
Reasons To Choose Piercer
- You’re playing a blade-heavy character
- Knives and swords, and other bladed weapons all do piercing damage, which this feat buffs
- You’re playing a front-line fighter
- Front line Fighters use weapons that often deal piercing damage, which this feat buffs
- You’re building a Dexterity based Fighter
- Dexterity based Fighters can get a stat buff from this feat and make their damage from their attacks better
8. Keenness of the Stone Giant
"You’ve manifested the physical talents emblematic of stone giants, granting you the following benefits:
- Ability Score Increase. Increase your Strength, Constitution, or Wisdom score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
- Cavernous Sight. You gain Darkvision with a range of 60 feet. If you already have Darkvision from another source, its range increases by 60 feet.
- Stone Throw. As a bonus action, you can take a rock and make a magical attack with it. The attack is a ranged spell attack with a range of 60 feet that uses the ability score you increased with this feat as the spellcasting ability. On a hit, the rock deals 1d10 force damage, and the target must succeed on a Strength saving throw (DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + the spellcasting ability modifier) or have the prone condition. You can use this bonus action a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest."
Keenness of the Stone Giant is a good buff. This feat is great for Fighters for the stat buff and the way it helps you buff your damage output.
Keenness of the Stone Giant is really a prerequisite feat. You must take this if you want to take Strike of the Giants. While Keenness of Stone is a good feat because it gives you a bonus action attack, can give you (or extend your) darkvision, and buffs a stat of your choice, I think there are still more useful feats out there.
Reasons To Choose Keenness of the Stone Giant
- You intend to get the Strike of the Giants feat
- The Strike of the Giants feat can only be taken if you take this feat beforehand
- You fight a lot of magical enemies
- Magical enemies are often resistant to non-magical attacks, which is usually a Fighter’s only option. This feat gives you the ability to make a magical attack, which can help you defeat magical enemies sooner
- You are building a Strength based Fighter
- Strength based Fighters can get a useful stat buff from this feat
7. Magic Initiate
"Choose a class: bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard. You learn two cantrips of your choice from that class's spell list.
- In addition, choose one 1st-level spell to learn from that same list. Using this feat, you can cast the spell once at its lowest level, and you must finish a long rest before you can cast it in this way again.
- Your spellcasting ability for these spells depends on the class you chose: Charisma for bard, sorcerer, or warlock; Wisdom for cleric or druid; or Intelligence for wizard."
Magic Initiate gives you access to a range of classes to pick magic from (even if you can only select one class). This feat is useful for Fighters because it can give you some magic to fall back on if your attacks are being less effective.
Magic is useful, which is why it is number 7 on the list. Spells can give healing or help you bypass non-magical resistance by giving your damage a buff. However, because I enjoy that Fighters (for the most part) lack magic, this is why it is not higher on the list.
Reasons To Choose Magic Initiate
- Your party has no casters
- Although it is rare, it can happen. Parties without casters can lack balance or have more fear about combat because they could lack a healer. This feat could help regain that balance (and maybe some healing magic to boot)
- You are playing in a magic heavy campaign
- This feat could help you tie into the setting of the game without having to compromise your desire to Fighter, or you could expand upon your spell abilities as an Eldritch Knight in a magic heavy setting
- You want magic, but don’t want to play an Eldritch Knight
- Eldritch Knights are not everyone’s forte, but having a little magic can be useful. This feat can give you a small amount of magic and you can still play a subclass you enjoy more
6. Sharpshooter
"You have mastered ranged weapons and can make shots that others find impossible. You gain the following benefits:
- Attacking at long range doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged weapon attack rolls.
- Your ranged weapon attacks ignore half and three-quarters cover.
- Before you make an attack with a ranged weapon that you are proficient with, you can choose to take a -5 penalty to the attack roll. If that attack hits, you add +10 to the attack's damage."
Sharpshooter helps long range combatants perform better in combat. This is good for Fighters because you can either multiclass and have a nice balance of skills, or you can design Fighters who are not front-liners, and this feat can help their skills go farther.
I think Strength based Fighters are the best way to build Fighters, but this feat can buff your damage and makes your attacks more effective. Those things combined are what puts it at six.
Reasons To Choose Sharpshooter
- You are building a Dexterity Fighter
- Dexterity Fighters can find more use for ranged weapons, and this feat makes your performance with them better
- You are building a Rogue multiclass
- Rogues are a Dexterity class with a knack for ranged weapons that are compatible with Fighters. Sharpshooter would benefit that multiclass greatly
- You are not building a front line fighter
- Some Fighters are built to give support from behind, with long range weapons. This feat is the most beneficial for these types of Fighters
5. Strike of the Giants
"You have absorbed primeval magic that gives you an echo of the might of giants. When you take this feat, choose one of the benefits listed below. Once per turn, when you hit a target with a melee weapon attack or a ranged weapon attack using a thrown weapon, you can imbue the attack with an additional effect depending on the benefit you chose:
- Cloud Strike. The target takes an extra 1d4 thunder damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw, or you become invisible to it until the start of your next turn or until immediately after you make an attack roll or cast a spell.
- Fire Strike. The target takes an extra 1d10 fire damage.
- Frost Strike. The target takes an extra 1d6 cold damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw, or its speed is reduced to 0 until the start of your next turn.
- Hill Strike. The target takes an extra 1d6 damage of the weapon’s type. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or have the prone condition.
- Stone Strike. The target takes an extra 1d6 force damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be pushed 10 feet from you in a straight line.
- Storm Strike. The target takes an extra 1d6 lightning damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Constitution saving throw, or it has disadvantage on attack rolls until the start of your next turn.
- The saving throw DC for these effects equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Constitution modifier.
- You can use this feat a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest."
Strike of the Giants is the best part of the giant-related set of feats. This feat is good for Fighters because it buffs your damage, and you get a wide range of effects to choose from as a result.
Each effect is unique and can make life harder for your enemies on top of the extra damage. Due to this feat not adding much to combat though, it lands it at number five and not higher up.
Reasons To Choose Strike of the Giants
- You took Keenness of the Stone Giants
- Keenness of the Stone Giants is the feat you must take before this one. Some DMs will let you bypass this I am sure, but they do actually build off of each other well
- You fight a lot of magical enemies
- You can buff your damage with magic damage, which can really help because magical enemies are often resistant to non-magical attacks
- You want to increase your damage output
- All the effects buff you damage output
4. Martial Adept
"You have martial training that allows you to perform special combat maneuvers. You gain the following benefits.
- You learn two maneuvers of your choice from among those available to the Battle Master archetype in the fighter class. If a maneuver you use requires your target to make a saving throw to resist the maneuver's effects, the saving throw DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice).
- You gain one superiority die, which is a d6 (this die is added to any superiority dice you have from another source). This die is used to fuel your maneuvers. A superiority die is expended when you use it. You regain your expended superiority dice when you finish a short or long rest."
Martial Adept allows you to get Maneuvers without having to play a Battle Master. This is incredibly useful for Fighters because most of the subclasses are better than Battle Master, but some of the Maneuvers are pretty beneficial to most Fighters.
Maneuvers can be incredibly useful. However, in my opinion, of the selection of Maneuvers there aren’t that many useful ones which can be kind of stunting in terms of character building, which places this feat at four and not higher.
Reasons To Choose Martial Adept
- You don’t want to build a Battle Master
- Battle Master, despite being an iconic subclass, is not one of the better Fighter subclasses. However, some of the Maneuvers can be very useful and this feat can let you pick two that benefit you the most
- You want to increase your damage output
- A lot of the Maneuvers give you damage buffs
- You encounter a lot of enemies in combat
- There are Maneuvers that can help you take on multiple enemies at once
3. Tavern Brawler
"Accustomed to the rough-and-tumble fighting using whatever weapons happen to be at hand, you gain the following benefits:
- Increase your Strength or Constitution score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
- You are proficient with improvised weapons.
- Your unarmed strike uses a d4 for damage.
- When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike or an improvised weapon on your turn, you can use a bonus action to attempt to grapple the target."
Tavern Brawler is perfect for rough and tumble characters. This feat is so useful for Fighters, because it expands your weapons proficiency and helps your unarmed strikes become more effective. This is geared toward Strength builds as well, which I think is the most useful Fighter build.
Tavern Brawler can lead to some really unique character builds that makes them more versatile in weaponless situations to boot. Due to it needing specific situations to be at its most useful, it lands in at number three, but Tavern Brawler is very fun.
Reasons To Choose Tavern Brawler
- You are building a Strength based Fighter
- Strength based Fighters (in my opinion) are the best built Fighters, and all the skills this feat gives you work best with a Strength build. Plus, you can choose to get a buff to Strength
- You are building a tank
- You can buff your Constitution and use the ability to bonus action grapple to keep the fight close to you
- Your DM gives you unique combat
- This feat works the best if you get opportunities to utilize improvised weapons and unarmed strikes, and DMs that play to the PCs strengths are the best at finding ways to make that happen
2. Mage Slayer
"You have practiced techniques in melee combat against spellcasters, gaining the following benefits.
- When a creature within 5 feet of you casts a spell, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against that creature.
- When you damage a creature that is concentrating on a spell, that creature has disadvantage on the saving throw it makes to maintain its concentration.
- You have advantage on saving throws against spells cast by creatures within 5 feet of you."
Mage Slayer helps make you more lethal on the battlefield. This feat is incredibly useful to Fighters, because being strictly martial and beating spellcasters/magic enemies can be so difficult. This feat makes it so much easier to do so.
Mage Slayer is one of the best feats in the game, and not just for Fighters. I would honestly recommend it to every martial main. It unfortunately doesn’t specify that it stops spells from happening, however, which is the only thing that could make it better. This feat comes in at number two.
Reasons To Choose Mage Slayer
- You are in a magic heavy campaign
- You can take on enemies that cast much easier with the ability to target them this specifically
- You are a front-line fighter
- Front line fighters can get very close to casters, which makes them the most beneficial receivers of this feat
- Your Wisdom stat is low
- Wisdom saving throws are a really common response to spell casting, so if you can see someone casting a spell and hit them first, maybe you can end the spell before it has the chance to affect you, or at least get a hit in
1. Sentinel
"You have mastered techniques to take advantage of every drop in any enemy's guard, gaining the following benefits.
- When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, the creature's speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn.
- Creatures provoke opportunity attacks from you even if they take the Disengage action before leaving your reach.
- When a creature within 5 feet of you makes an attack against a target other than you (and that target doesn't have this feat), you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the attacking creature"
Sentinel keeps you swinging at all times. This feat is the best feat for Fighters because it makes it much easier for you to target enemies and keep them locked in with you. It provides you more opportunities for attack which can help you deal more damage in the long run too.
Sentinel is my favorite feat in the game. It can keep the fight on the front lines, it keeps enemies from getting away, and you can target enemies for swinging on someone other than you. It is extremely useful and requires no prerequisites or specific situations. Sentinel is number one on this list.
Reasons To Choose Sentinel
- You fight a lot of enemies
- Keeping enemies close to you with this feat can help make combat less overwhelming for the rest of the party
- You are building a front-line fighter
- Front line fighters will be close to enemies, which is a requirement for this feat to work
- A lot of your enemies are humanoid
- Humanoid enemies tend to have lower armor classes, which makes them easier to hit and feel the effects of the feat
All feat descriptions credited to Wizards of the Coast.
