Fighting Initiate Feat 5E Guide | Pros, Cons, and Builds
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything was very willing to use feats to spread class features around. One of them, the Fighting Initiate, brings the discipline of the Fighter to whoever wants it! You’ve trained with a fighter to learn how to maximize the usefulness of your weapon. Was it worth the training time? Or should you have just focused on your own body, and improved your ability scores? Find out, in our Fighting Initiate Feat 5E guide!
Fighting Initiate Feat 5E Guide
Your martial training has helped you develop a particular style of fighting. As a result, you learn one Fighting Style option of your choice from the fighter class. If you already have a style, the one you choose must be different.
Whenever you reach a level that grants the Ability Score Improvement feature, you can replace this feat’s fighting style with another one from the fighter class that you don’t have.
The Fighting Initiate Feat allows a character to choose between the eleven Fighting Styles that a Fighter can learn. They learn that, though only if you don’t already have the option from another class feature. You may replace style this whenever you get an Ability Score Improvement.
Is Fighting Initiate Good?
So, fighting styles are pretty incredible. What other feats give you a +2 to hit with a ranged attack? Or allow a Barbarian to become a Thrown Weapon build? Or give a flat +1 to AC? This has a pile of good, strong, flat bonuses that feats normally don’t give. You don’t have to worry about situational upsides when Two-Weapon Fighting is sitting right there, waiting to give you full Strength Bonus to your second swing.
Cons
Feats are huge milestones in a character’s history. It’s why they replace the Ability Score Improvement; this is supposed to be huge. So, instead of a +2 to your most important stat (or a +1 to two), you get… a +2 to damage rolls with a specific weapon. That’s pretty minor, especially compared to what you’re losing instead.
On the bright side, no other feat can replicate the pure, numbers-based power of the Fighting Style. It just gives hard benefits… Which can be a little bit boring.
Best Classes for the Fighting Initiate Feat
Obviously, if you’re taking this feat, you’re using a weapon. This is fantastic for the Barbarian or Rogue class; these guys can Two-Weapon Fight fairly well, but lose their Ability Score Bonus to damage without this style. This can boost your Barbarian’s bonus action’s damage by quite a bit, even more than Dual Wielder (though you may want to take both feats to maximize damage).
Speaking of Rogue, a ranged Rogue might want that +2 to attack rolls with a ranged weapon. That’s a 10% chance to hit, and then sneak attack. That’s pretty substantial! Realistically, the fighting styles that give bonuses to attack and damage are best. AC is nice, but you might as well get a +2 to Dexterity instead of a +1 to AC while wearing armor.
Fighting Initiate 5E FAQ
Can I Take Fighting Initiate Twice?
You cannot take the same feat twice. This includes the fighting initiate feat. That said, it is possible to have more than one fighting style from other sources.
Can You Take Fighting Initiate If You Already Have a Fighting Style?
Yes, you can take fighting initiate and gain an additional fighting style even if you already have one. You cannot take the same fighting style twice.
Is Fighting Initiate Good for a Rogue?
We love fighting initiate for a rogue. This is an especially good option if you are building a rogue character that relies on ranged attacks, as you can take the Archery fighting style.
Conclusions
This is a cool feat, but it suffers from not getting an Ability Score boost to smooth out your character’s curve. Still, this is a hard number’s game; boosting your attack or damage rolls might be better than raising a secondary stat like Constitution. Check out what your numbers will be afterwards, and make sure your Strength or Dexterity is at 20 before really considering taking this on. See our Feats 5E guide for more information!
