Many of those who have played any RPG has probably tried to build a ranged character. However, in the 5th edition of D&D, there are several options you can choose from. You can become a wizard or sorcerer slinging all sorts of spells, a ranger hunting the foe relentlessly, or even a rogue getting sneak attack every round from safety. Whatever you choose, building a ranged character is great because you can shift your stats away from Constitution without really increasing the threat of death. So allow me to tell you what my Top 3 classes are for making a ranged character.
3. Warlock
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I feel Warlocks get a bad rep for how many cantrips they cast every single combat, but their bread and butter cantrip Eldritch Blast is an incredibly strong ranged cantrip for how easily you can buff it at higher levels. In addition, you can pick up spells that make killing you even harder or let you deal a metric ton of damage by casting the right spells.
Why Warlocks are Great for Ranged Builds:
Eldritch Blast: Cast while unarmed for a long-range attack, that can target multiple enemies at higher levels, and deals a lot of damage.
Spellcasting: Get some extra spells to make yourself harder to hit, and consider your subclass spells for extra bonuses.
Eldritch Invocations: Many great choices to help with ranged combat:
Agonizing Blast: Increases the damage Eldritch Blast can do for each individual hit.
Ascendant Step (9th Level): Allows you to float out of reach by making it harder for you to move.
Devil’s Sight: Combine with a Darkness spell centered on yourself, to give yourself advantage on attack rolls, and give your enemies disadvantage on attack rolls against you. Just make sure your allies can see.
Eldritch Spear: Eldritch Blast can be cast from up to 300 feet away.
Fiendish Vigor: Keep a small buffer of extra health in case you do take damage.
Grasp of Hadar: Allows Eldritch Blast to pull a single creature 10 feet closer to you, and the barbarian they are running from.
Lance of Lethargy: Eldritch Blast can slow a creature by 10 feet so you can run and shoot.
Maddening Hex (5th Level, plus a kind of hex): You can deal damage equal to your Charisma modifier to a big group of enemies in addition to an action like Eldritch Blast!
Mire the Mind (5th Level): Slow is incredible as you can hit 6 targets, reduce their speed by half, reduce their AC by 2, remove their reactions, and force them to choose between their bonus action and action. Also, their spells might not go off in time.
Repelling Blast: Eldritch Blast can push a creature 10 feet away so you can push them off that cliff.
Tomb of Levistus (5th Level): If you are about to be hit by a massive amount of damage, you can sacrifice your next turn to absorb pretty much all of it, especially at higher levels. But you can only do it once before you need to rest.
Pact Boon: Pick up Pact of the Chain and get a familiar that can give you advantage, on your attacks by having it use the Help Action. Pact of the Tome can also be handy for grabbing cantrips that help you even more with ranged combat.
We all know Iron Man, right? That guy is an Artificer who focuses on ranged combat while sending his enemies for a loop! You can really get creative with this class as not only can you dish out a lot of damage, you can also
Why Artificers are great for Ranged Builds:
Cantrips: Attack without a weapon on hand as long as you have tools.
Firearm Proficiency: If your DM has added Firearms to their campaign and you have had the chance to see how they work; you are proficient with them.
Extensive Spell List: Select many spells to use at any given time for improving ranged combat.
Infusions: Make magical items for you and your allies (this includes ranged weapons).
Flash of genius: When you fail a save, you might just succeed.
Spell-Storing Item: Store any spell of 1st or 2nd level that takes 1 action to cast inside your weapon or the weapon of that friend who always feels useless, and have it ready to go when you need any of those spells on a whim.
Soul of Artifice: Attune to 5 magic items at once, and laugh as you stop failing saves. Also, expend extra infusions to keep yourself alive.
Your enemies may have an army, but you have guns.
Artificer Details: http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/artificer (DnD Beyond does have Artificer, but you need to purchase it in order to see the details there.)
1. Fighter
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In terms of versatility, Fighters have a lot of wiggle room that allows them to do all sorts of neat tricks. With features that provide permanent bonuses to attacks, and subclasses that make all weapons -including bows- incredibly valuable for any combat scenario. They also gain more Ability Score Improvements than any other class which will help you make the most out of all your attacks.
Why Fighters are Great for Ranged Builds:
Fighting Style: Archery adds a +2 to any roll you make to hit, though Defense could also be really strong. These benefits are permanent and can prove incredibly valuable.
Second Wind: “I get knocked down, but I get up again. You’re never gonna keep me down!”
Action Surge: When you use your action, you can use this to say “I’m not done yet”.
Many Ability Score Improvements: Without Feats in your game, you can increase your Ability Scores by a collective total of 14 points by the 19th level.
Extra Attack: When you take the Attack Action, you attack more times at once. You also get more attacks than any other class so your arrows can blot out the sun.
Indomitable: Re-roll any save you fail. Just walk it off.
Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best solutions.
For the list you just read, I did my best to steer clear of Subclasses, Unearthed Arcana (UA for short), and Feats as they won’t be available at every single game, but if your DM is alright with it, you might be able to do something great with UA. And while classes like Ranger, Sorcerer, and Rogue are also good for ranged combat, they have other good uses, and I just like the classes listed better as that’s what I prefer. If you want, you can always choose a class that isn’t listed here. I’m not going to judge. Who knows? Maybe you will find something that works great. After all, it is your character you are building. My goal is simply to get those ideas running. Good luck with those rolls!
With countless worlds to explore He looses his sails to sail seas, climb mountains, and create worlds of his own. He lives to bring joy to others. I also enjoy shiny pieces of digital plastic
