A Guide to the Best Feats for Fighters in Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) 5E

Fighters are an excellent all around character, with the ability to make great frontliners or ranged characters, with the ability to tank, or provide combat support. They excel at dealing high damage and maintaining high armor class and survivability. Depending on the kind of character you want to play and the subclass you choose, certain choices might be of more value to you than others as each character and play style is always going to be different. Nevertheless, this list should give you insight into why each choice is of value to you, and help you determine which you want to use.

Charger:

Charger is not necessarily one of the best feats out there, even for a fighter. But what it does do is allow melee characters with slower movement speeds to get into combat faster with double movement with the Dash action. On top of that it allows you to deal extra damage or shove a creature 10 feet instead of 5 on a charge. This does have some practical applications. If you have a DM who creates large battlemaps, this is a feat I would suggest. If your DM runs more closeknit encounters such as those more often found in a dungeon, then you can probably leave this one behind.

Crusher, Piercer and Slasher:

All of these Feats have their upsides and are very cool offensive feats for a frontline fighter. Which one you take is totally dependent on your weapon of choice of course, and I am a personal fan of all of them, though Slasher might be my personal favorite.

Resilient:

Resilient is at the start of this list because Fighters, like Barbarians truly have very very few weaknesses, but the weakness that they do have, low Wisdom and no proficiency in Wisdom saves is huge. This means more likely than not in early levels you’ll be hit with things like Hold Person and effectively taken out of the fight. At higher levels, abilities like Dominate Person or even Plane Shift will immediately nullify your character, and that’s never fun. I’d highly recommend using this feat to grab proficiency in Wisdom around 8th level. You’ll find yourself in a more advantageous position than not.

Lucky:

This is probably the most banned feat per table for a reason, but it is also extremely good. Taking this feat gives you 3 luck points that allow you to roll an extra d20 when you make an attack roll, ability check or saving throw, or to make an enemy reroll. It’s like having the ability to give yourself advantage or an enemy disadvantage, because of this it is extremely handy. You have to decide to use Luck before you know the outcome of the die, but after you roll it, so if you have a shitty roll or an enemy has a good one, it is very easy to assume the outcome and use Lucky.

Great Weapon Master/Sharpshooter:

Essentially the archetypal Fighter Feats, Great Weapon Master and Sharpshooter both let you sacrifice accuracy for damage, just the way god intended. Which one you choose is really down to whether you choose to be melee or ranged oriented. Both have secondary effects, but Sharpshooter's secondary boon of being able to shoot further without disadvantage AND ignore 1/2 and 3/4 cover makes Ranged Fighters particularly brutal.

Sentinel:

As the party tank and a frontliner, it is your job to make sure people don’t get past you and hurt your healer or your wizard. Taking Sentinel means it is much harder to avoid you, and no longer are enemies able to simply run away with Disengage. Instead, when you hit an enemy they can no longer move and you can continue hacking away with your massive axe. If you pair this feat with Polearm Master your DM might get so mad he kicks you out of the game, but it will be totally worth it.

Shield Master:

If you are a more tanky fighter than a heavy damage dealer, Shield Master is the feat for you. Allowing you to shove enemies, and most importantly, add your shield bonus to Dexterity saves against spells. On spells like fireball, if you succeed, you can spend your reaction to take no damage instead of half damage, essentially mimicking the Rogue’s Evasion ability. I have a particular fondness for Shield Master for exactly this reason.

If you like this article or any others I have written, consider liking, subscribing, tipping or pledging here on Vocal as it really helps me continue writing! If you're looking for other articles on Fighters, check the links below!

• Backstory Ideas for Fighters
• Best Magic Items for Fighters
• A Guide to Battlemasters

If you're looking for the best feat choices for any other class, simply follow the links below!

• Artificer
• Barbarian
• Bard
• Cleric
• Druid
• Fighter
• Monk
• Paladin
• Ranger
• Rogue
• Sorcerer
• Warlock
• Wizard