Fighter Feats 5E: The Top 10 Feats for Fighters

There are few warriors who are as potent and efficient as the Fighter. If any were worthy of feats of strength, the Fighter would surely be one of them. They even get in-game synergy and additional potential feats to work with! So, since they have so many feat slots, you might be wondering what feats work best with them. Our Fighter feats guide will tell you our 10 favorite feats so you can start building!

Top 10 Fighter Feats for 5E

Before you start collecting feats, a Fighter should get to 20 Strength or Dexterity. The higher your weapon stat is, the more likely you’ll hit and the more damage you’ll deal. However, since the Fighter gains two more Ability Score Improvements when compared to any other class, you can absolutely start getting feats early on! The feats listed have a mix of Fighter builds in mind; from ranged to melee, two-handed to dual wielding. This list changes a lot for specific fighters, so keep that in mind as you’re building.

10. Charger

Charger is by no means the strongest feat in the world. However, this feat allows a melee-based Fighter to double their movement speed with a Dash action and still be able to deal damage in a round. The +5 to damage is the cherry on top, and is a pretty significant buff. If your Fighter seems to have trouble rushing into combat, then this feat will find some pretty good usage. The ability to Shove 10 feet instead of 5 is actually somewhat useful as well, though more rarely.

Honorable mention to Mobile, which is the defensive version of Charger with one better stat; the +10 to movespeed.

9. Crusher / Piercer / Slasher

We’re going to cheat here. All three of these feats have their merits in a Fighter Build, and they’re all close enough together to work. Crusher is a brutal offensive feat that relies just a bit on crits. Piercer is an aggressive damage-dealing feat that can buff your numbers. Slasher is extremely useful for lockdown builds, but doesn’t do too much with its critical hit effect. Choose the feat type that goes with your Fighter’s weapon of choice and get angry! Oh, and each of them gives you the chance to increase Strength or Dexterity (or Strength or Constitution for Crusher). So, you’re not even losing out on the full Ability Score Increase here.

8. Skill Expert

This is a weird one. The Fighter is next to useless out of combat, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Skill Expert allows you to become proficient in a Skill, and then gain Expertise in another skill, or the same one. Expertise is so good that a Fighter doesn’t really need to have high mental scores or Dexterity to have a good roll with a skill; the doubled Proficiency Bonus will be more than enough. The only reason this beats out Skilled is because you also get to increase an attribute by +1. That’s really nice.

7. Dual Wielder

Dual Wielder is an incredibly strong skill which makes the Two-Weapon Fighter more viable. +1 to AC is a huge boost to your durability in 5E, where AC can be hard to find. You also get a boost in damage, since you no longer need to use Light Weapons and can use d8 or d10 weapons instead. The final benefit really only comes into play when ambushed, but it’s yet another example of how this feat makes a dual wielding build happy. Get this if you feel your side weapon, and your AC, could use some buffs.

6. Resilient

+1 to an ability score is already pretty good. However, the Fighter is one of the few classes that really struggles with Wisdom Saving Throws. That’s not good; that means it’s easier for you to get Dominated or Paralyzed. So, by giving your Wisdom a +1 and getting Proficiency in that save, you’re no longer relying on the Indomitable Reroll. You can have a consistently good save against the most dangerous spells in the game. That’s one of the Fighter’s biggest weaknesses!

5. Lucky

All classes can benefit from being able to reroll a d20. Lucky lets you reroll three d20s. Whenever you want! That’s stellar, even if it’s restrictive. However, it’s not perfect for the Fighter. You don’t really want to reroll attack rolls on a class that can swing their weapon 5 times per round. Lucky is instead good for defensive purposes; reroll an attack roll that critically hit you, or reroll a saving throw that Indomitable failed to rescue you from. Having these dice in your pocket can be a lifesaver, though not exactly critical for any Fighter build.

4. Crossbow Expert

Have you ever just wanted to be the coolest Crossbow wielder on earth? Check this feat out when you have the chance! This feat lets you sling two crossbows at once, which is an insanely fun build. You don’t have to reload the things anymore, so you can shoot these suckers at someone as many times per round as you like. And since the offhand crossbow does full damage, you can take the broken Archery Fighting Style for +2 to your accuracy on attack rolls. You’ll be a really, really hard to stop ranged character in any given fight.

3. Alert

Alert is a good feat because of how great going first is in 5E. +5 to your initiative is bonkers, especially on a class with good Dexterity. Getting a +10 to your roll vastly increases your chances to act before a Boss, or an enemy caster. Then, you can spend your turn and Action Surge bringing that enemy down a notch. Heck, with good rolls, you might even one-shot them! The other two benefits are situational, but you’d be surprised with how often ignoring the advantage from invisible creatures comes into play.

2. Great Weapon Master / Sharpshooter

This is a really important step in your Fighter’s journey. Fighters get a ton of chances to attack, so a +10 to damage rolls is downright sickening even with a -5 to Accuracy. Great Weapon Master even gives you an extra chance to attack, vastly increasing DPS! Meanwhile, Sharpshooter still increases your range and accuracy while giving you the chance to decimate an opponent. Seriously, pick these up once your attack rolls are in a good spot. You’ll shred some fools.

1. Sentinel

If you’re a melee Fighter, this is the best feat in the game. The ability to completely interrupt movement, body attacks, and keep enemies in place is silly. They barely get the chance to fight, and your DM will likely let out exasperated sighs as their caster has to stay in melee range yet again. Sentinel is the ultimate lockdown experience, and as a d10 melee class, the Fighter is totally in their rights to use it.

Conclusions

Those are some of our favorite Fighter Feats. Did we miss any? Should Mobile have gotten on the list? Did we overvalue Alert or Sentinel? Undervalue Skill Expert? Leave some of your favorite Fighter feats in the comments! Be sure to see our 5e Feats list as well.