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The battlemaster fighter is often regarded as the most popular fighter subclass inDungeons & Dragonsdue to its inclusion in the original Player’s Handbook as well as its unique access to a retinue of maneuvers that modify your attacks. As opposed to other fighters that simply make attacks time and time again, the battlemaster fighter presents you with a choice of whether to use a maneuver every single turn.
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In other words,it’s the most interactive and hands-on fighter subclass in the game. However, the large amount of choices available to battlemaster fighters also makes them susceptible to pitfalls when trying to properly build and play one. This article will cover some of these pitfalls and explain how to properly build an ideal melee-based battlemaster fighter.
Species
One of the greatest things about fighters is that there are so many species that mix well with the class.Dwarves, Half-Orcs, Goliaths, and just about any other Strength-based specieswill do perfectly well.
However, there is an important consideration to be made here based on your dungeon master’s rules.Many dungeon masters (DMs) allow their players a free feat at level one; however, this is an optional rule that not all DMs abide by.
If your DM allows a free feat at level one,feel free to play any species that provides a +2 strength bonus.
If they don’t, though, you’ll likely want to settle on a species that provides you with a feat at level one, such as theVariant Human or Tasha’s Custom Lineageoption.
If you want the most optimal build,take advantage of the Mountain Dwarf species if your DM allows you a free feat, as the Mountain Dwarf gives +2 to CON and STR.
Ability Scores
Speaking of ability scores, you’ll want tomaximize your strength score as soon as possibleto increase the accuracy and damage of your attacks.
Once your strength is maxed out, you’ll spend the rest of your ASIs (Ability Score Improvements) either tomax your Constitution or pick up new feats.
If you happen to get a+1 magic weaponearly on, there’s an argument to be made for taking feats instead of bumping your Strength score from 18 to 20, but that’s up to you.
While fighters function perfectly fine when focusing on just Strength and Constitution,it’s also important to try and get your Wisdom as high as possible as well.
Although none of the fighters core features function off of Wisdom,it’s the most common save you’ll have to make against enemy spells and abilities.
Often, failing these saves will meanyour character is temporarily incapacitated from a fight,which is something you sincerely wish to avoid.
To make things concise,maximize your Strength, then Constitution, then Wisdom. The last thing to note about ability scores is that you will want toput an odd number in Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom if you can.
Some feats you want to pick up are"half-feats" that provide a +1 bonus to an ability scorein addition to other benefits.
To take advantage of this +1 bonus,the ability score effected by the half-feat needs to be odd.
Feats
Feats are arguably the most important part of building any fighter. Your feat selection not only defines what kind of battlemaster fighter you’re playing butprovides you with benefits that are nearly as important as your very own class features.
If you’re interested in dishing out as much damage as possible, consider eitherGreat Weapon MasterorPolearm Masterfor your first feat.
Polearm Master is better at earlier levels, while Great Weapon Master allows for incredible, if somewhat unreliable, single target burst damage. It also beats out Polearm Master at higher levels.
If you’re interested in filling the role of tank, instead look to feats such asSentinel, Shield Master, Crusher, Mobile, Tough, or Alert.
These feats will eitherhelp you control where enemies are located on the battlefield or provide you with extra defenses against enemy tactics.
For combos, consider takingboth Polearm Master and Sentinel togetherto trigger tons of opportunity attacks, while also preventing enemies from reaching you or your allies.
The last important feat to mention here isResilient. Especially at higher levels of play, picking upResilient (Wisdom) gives you the best chance at making saving throws against debilitating enemy status effects,including Frightened, Paralyzed, Incapacitated, and more.
It’s not a bad idea to pick up Resilient (Wisdom) as early as level nine, but you should definitelyhave it by level 14 at the latest.
Fighting Style
Your fighting style is another important choice you’ll make at very early levels. While it may appear that any fighting style provides a nice benefit, some are certainly more worthy of consideration than others.
Damage-based fighters should look toGreat Weapon Fightingin order to maximize damage rolls, while tanks should either takeDefenseif you’re the only melee attacker in the party, orProtectionif there are additional melee party members.
If your DM allows the optional fighting styles from Tasha’s, it may also be worth takingInterception or Superior Technique.
Any fighting styles listed in the books that aren’t mentioned here are suboptimal choices. There are niche character builds that may want to take advantage of other fighting styles, but they simply don’t bring as much to the table.
Battlemaster Maneuvers
Like the fighting styles, it may appear that every maneuver provides a cool benefit.However, some of them are a lot more useful than others.
Once you unlock your first three maneuvers at level three, you’ll want topick up Trip Attack, Pushing Attack, and Precision Attack.
These three maneuversgive you all the utility you need to disable enemies, save your allies from attacks, and ensure a high damage output.
That being said,there are some other maneuvers worth considering at third level depending on extenuating circumstances.
If you happen to have a rogue in your party, for example,Commander’s Strikegives you the ability to trigger the rogue’s sneak attack a second time by providing them with an opportunity attack outside of their turn.
In case you didn’t take a feat that lets you make use of your bonus action often, you may considerpicking up Quick Tossto give you a reliable bonus action each turn.
If your main concern is keeping your allies safe, you might want to takeBait and Switchfrom Tasha’s as one of their first maneuvers.
This maneuver allows you toremove one of your allies from melee combat with another creature,while also giving you the choice of buffing their AC or your own by a d8 until your next turn. Now that’s tanking.
At levels seven, ten, and 15, you’ll unlock even more battlemaster maneuvers to add to your repertoire.
Feel free totake whichever maneuvers interest you the most.
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