Best Feats for Fighters 5e

Amazing Feats for Fighters

• Crossbow Expert: Dex-based fighters are pretty powerful, and this feat is one of the reasons why. Paired with feats like Sharpshooter makes them ranged fighters a force to be reckoned with, allowing them to ignore any potential penalties with ranged damage. You’re on par with Polearm Master and Great Weapon Fighting with these feats.
• Ember of the Fire Giant: Perfect ASIs, good defensive boost, and a potent offensive ability. This is an awesome choice for fighters.
• Great Weapon Master: GWM, combined with the fighter's ridiculous number of attacks will result in a lot of extra damage and, therefore, a lot of extra bonus action attacks.
• Gunner: DEX fighters are great, and this feat is a strong contender for them. Between this and Crossbow Expert, it only comes down to whether or not you want to use hand crossbows for the extra bonus action or the extra DEX from this feat.
• Lucky: Just a straight-up, damn good feat that's made even better by the fighter's ability to make tons of attacks.
• Polearm Master: Fighters will love this feat, mainly because they get so many opportunities to combine its effects with other feats. Fighters get more ASIs than any other class, so picking up Great Weapon Master and Sentinel on top of Polearm Master is well within your reach. The fighter’s playstyle synergizes exceptionally well with Polearm Master. They get attacks for days, and having the extra reach is terrific. Polearms will work incredibly well with every subclass except for the Arcane Archer.
• Sharpshooter: Pretty much the same thing as Great Weapon Master. The negative you take to your attack roll for damage can be offset a bit more by using the Archery Fighting style. This is an insanely good pickup for ranged, DEX-based fighters.

Great Feats for Fighters

• Crusher: Crusher is a very strong pickup for any build using a bludgeoning weapon. The Champion especially loves this feat because of how much more often they will be landing critical hits. The only downside of this feat would be if your fighter finds a magical weapon that isn't bludgeoning and is strictly better than your current weapon.
• Elven Accuracy: Dex fighters can be absurd, and this feat makes it even more so. With the number of attacks you get, this can easily get out of hand quickly if you can find some way to gain advantage. Samurai subclasses are probably the best for this, as they can use their Fighting Spirit ability for repeatable advantage three times a day.
• Fey Touched: Misty step is an amazing spell for a fighter, allowing them to traverse the battlefield with ease. The ASI will likely get wasted, but can go into CHA for extra face skills or WIS for perception. The 1st-level spell will more often than not be hunter's mark because it can be cast while your hands are full and will add a d6 onto every one of your hits. Hunter's mark also doesn't really need any upcasting to increase the benefits, nor does it matter if you have a bad spellcasting modifier.
• Fury of the Frost Giant: Perfect ASIs, good defensive boost, and a potent reaction ability. This is a solid choice for fighters as long as you'll be avoiding a Polearm Master build.
• Gift of the Chromatic Dragon: Fighters attack a lot, and can use Action Surge to double the amount of attacks they get access to in a turn. That, plus the damage resistances, make this an ideal feat for fighters.
• Gift of the Metallic Dragon: This is awesome for fighters who will be in the fray and taking hits. Plus, the cure wounds can be useful to turn your fighter into a pseudo-paladin if you ever have a party member go down. You could even combine it with Action Surge to heal your ally up then keep attacking.
• Guile of the Cloud Giant: This is actually a pretty decent ability for non-Sentinel or Polearm Master fighters. Giving yourself resistance to an attack's damage can help with survivability and the free teleport can help you navigate the battlefield. Plus, you can pump Strength or Constitution.
• Heavy Armor Master: Damage reduction like this is a massive boost to being able to stay alive through fights, especially good on builds not looking to use a shield.
• Keenness of the Stone Giant: While the 1d10 + prone stone throw is a great bonus action for fighters to have, they'll be hard-pressed to hit if they're attacking from within melee range. Ranged Dexterity-based fighters with a decent Constitution can make great use of this to output extra damage and control the battlefield.
• Orcish Fury: Half-Orcs are a very synergistic race for fighters and this feat adds additional utility to martial builds. It's a half-feat so it provides an STR or CON bonus, provides additional damage once per rest, and provides an extra attack when you use your Relentless Endurance feature.
• Piercer: This is a stellar feat for most fighters, as there are a ton of weapons that you can use. Samurai and Champions are the best fits for this, as they can get crits a little more often than other classes. It's also a  solid pickup for DEX fighter builds that will either be using a bow, crossbow, or rapier.
• Revanent Blade: Awesome option for Dexterity-based fighters as you can use your Fighting Style to pick up Defense, rather than having to take Two-Weapon Fighting.
• Righteous Heritor: Unless you're going for a Polearm Master or Sentinel build, this can offer a huge amount of damage mitigation each long rest, for both you and your allies.
• Second Chance: A pretty solid way to make your tanky fighter more tanky, especially if you'll be getting into fights often. This is a good opportunity to boost Constitution if you ended up with an odd score after character creation.
• Sentinel: Kings of battlefield manipulation, all fighters love this feat! It pairs well with Polearm Master to lock down enemies in combat, and they get plenty of melee combat action. Almost any fighter can use this, with Echo Knights favoriting it a little more because it works with their echoes.
• Shield Master: This is a great option to use your bonus action if you don’t already have a use for it. Knocking a creature prone gives the rest of your party advantage, but keep in mind that this is only available after you have taken an attack action.
• Slasher: Fighters love this feat, and it works with almost any subclass.
• Soul of the Storm Giant: Great defensive boost for Strength-based fighters that want to be in the thick of it. Being able to boost Strength or Constitution is also a nice little bonus.
• Strike of the Giants: The wide variety of effects you have to choose from can help your fighter specialize into a playstyle. Hill Strike or Fire Strike will likely be your best bet, but Storm and Frost Strike can help with tanking playstyles. Make sure to check out which 4th-level giant feat you'll want to take, because the Strike option you take when you pick this feat will dictate what's available.

Good Feats for Fighters

• Alert: Fighters don't have any means of outputting burst or AoE damage, but being able to close with enemies and soak damage for the rest of the party is part of what fighters do.
• Baleful Scion: Fighters will always appreciate a bit more self-healing, especially when it can be activated in the same action as their attacks.
• Chef: One of the few classes where this really doesn't fit in outside of fleshing out your backstory. Fighters have a lot of uses for their bonus action, making this slight HP boost insignificant.
• Defensive Duelist: If you’re going for a DEX build, this feat is pretty good. While it only works for one attack per turn, it can save your bacon. However, Eldritch Knights and Battle Masters are better off keeping their reactions for other abilities.
• Divinely Favored: This provides a decent amount of value to baseline fighters, who can grab a solid cleric cantrip and either armor of Agathys or hex. That said, it is absolutely incredible for Eldritch Knights, who can expand their spell repertoire and skip having to take War Caster to be effective spellcasters in combat.
• Durable: A fighter with a +5 Constitution and the Durable feat will recover at minimum 15 hit points with a single Hit Dice roll. This is a solid amount of healing, especially if you can find a way to roll Hit Dice mid-combat (like with the Dwarven Fortitude feat or a caster buddy with wither and bloom).
• Fade Away: This could be beneficial if you've built a Dexterity-based fighter or an Eldritch Knight. Keep in mind that you'll only get advantage on one attack after you've turned invisible.
• Fighting Initiate: Picking up an additional Fighting Style is pretty neat, and most work pretty well with one another. Your choice of Fighting Styles is very build-dependent, depending on if you fight with a bow, two-handed weapons, etc.
• Grappler: Grapple builds will usually pick up this feat, the Unarmed Fighting Fighting Style feat,  and maybe even Rune Knight subclass or Goliath species for enlarging shenanigans. This is a lot of investment for a suboptimal build, but it can be a lot of fun. If you're not going for this build, skip this feat and choose something that is better value for your investment, like Shield Master.
• Mage Slayer: Almost all fighters can benefit from this feat, as long as they are playing in a campaign with plenty of spellcasters. Almost all fighters excel in melee combat, and they have excellent damage output. There isn’t one in particular that stands out, though. Just remember that most fighters have access to a few different reactions to choose from, and you only get one reaction per round.
• Magic Initiate: Utility spells for free? Yes, please! Any fighter will be happy with this feat. Eldritch Knights will almost always want to pick this up and pick the wizard spell list, as they can cast the 1st-level spell as if they already knew it since they use wizard spell slots.
• Martial Adept: This is a fairly good option for Battle Masters that want more dice/maneuvers and for Champions that want to trip a foe and use the advantage to aim for critical hits. It is, however, a bit more clunky than taking something like Lucky.
• Medium Armor Master: Most fighters will just go with heavy armor because it provides the most protection for the least investment. Dexterity-based fighters who don't want to invest in Strength at all can use this feat to boost their AC to heavy armor levels while still maintaining their stealthiness.
• Mounted Combatant: Almost all fighters can benefit from this feat if they want to try mounted combat. Because fighters prefer to be in the thick of the fray, they will most likely have to redirect almost all attacks on their mount to themselves in order to keep it alive. Mounted fighters must be wary of powerful AoE attacks that target DEX saves because even a half damage from a dragon's Breath Weapon can kill most mounts. Obviously, cavaliers can get an incredible amount of utility out of this feat, as the subclass is all about mounted combat.
• Resilient: This is an alright option for becoming proficient in DEX saves and is especially potent if you're a medium armor, DEX-based fighter as you could gain a pump to your AC.
• Rune Shaper: Armor of Agathys is a solid choice if you'll be running into battle. Also, taking an AoE spell like burning hands or thunderwave could end up netting a ton of damage if you're surrounded by minions. Make sure to keep your spellcasting modifier at a respectable level if you're going for spells that require a save DC, though.
• Scion of the Outer Planes: Unless you're going for an Eldritch Knight or Psi Warrior, your spellcasting ability won't be high enough to make an offensive cantrip worth it. Instead, choose a your favorite utility cantrip and damage resistance combo, Lawful Outer Plane for force damage resistance and guidance is a solid place to start.
• Squat Nimbleness: Mountain dwarves make awesome fighters because of their +2 to Strength and Constitution. The extra speed is welcome here to get you to the front lines quicker, as is the ASI to Strength and proficiency in Athletics.
• Tough: Fighters already have a d10 hit dice but they have plenty of ASIs to spend on Tough, which will help keep them alive and swinging in combat.
• Vigor of the Hill Giant: This can be fine for fighters who want some extra hit points. Plus, seeing as you're usually in the fray you're more likely to be targeted by effects that try to move you.

Situationally Useful Feats for Fighters

• Agent of Order: A typical fighter's ability scores aren't going to provide a high enough save DC on Stasis Strike's restrain effect. If you're playing a Eldritch Knight or Psi Warrior and have a high Intelligence ability, this feat gets a lot more tempting.
• Athlete: You get an ASI to Strength and some minor movement buffs, but nothing amazing for a fighter.
• Crafter: Could be useful if you want to stock up on a variety of weapons for Weapon Mastery or some other purposes.
• Dual Wielder: Good option for Two-Weapon Fighting builds, but seeing as that build is suboptimal, the ceiling for this feat is quite low. Most of the fighters that are interested in the Dual Wielder feat will be DEX-based fighters, as they can't enhance their strikes with Great Weapon Master and they aren't tanky enough for Sentinel.
• Gift of the Gem Dragon: Most fighters likely won't have a high enough Charisma, Intelligence, or Wisdom to make this work. Eldritch Knights and Psi Warriors, on the other hand, will love this ability as it boosts Intelligence.
• Healer: This isn't a horrible feat for early levels of play, as it allows Fighters to heal themselves for 1d10 + Proficiency Bonus as an action. Combined with features like Action Surge and Second Wind, these benefits will help your Fighter stay in the fight. That said, once your Fighter can start attacking two or three times a turn, it's much better to focus on outputting damage.
• Inspiring Leader: Certain fighter subclasses, like the Battle Master and Purple Dragon Knight, tend to stack into Charisma. But likely, it will be a tertiary priority behind Strength and Constitution.
• Mobile: Most fighters can use this if they want that playstyle, but it isn’t a must-have. Eldritch Knights and Cavaliers, however, can get good mileage out of this feat for booming blade and mobility advantage.
• Observant: You don’t get much out of this feat, as you don’t usually have high INT or WIS, to begin with. Eldritch Knights might be able to get away with this if they need the extra boost.
• Poisoner: Fighters don't have much use for their bonus action outside of two-weapon fighting. Having access to an extra 2d8 poison damage on your attacks is a great way to stretch your damage and the poisoned condition is an excellent debuff. Unfortunately, the low DC for the save makes this less impactful the higher level you get. Obviously, something like Great Weapon Master or Polearm Master would be much stronger, but this can be fun, especially in the lower levels.
• Prodigy: Fighters get access to loads of feats and this is a great way to pick up a proficiency and expertise with some of those extra resources.  If you're playing as a half-elf, half-orc, or human, this is a great pick up.
• Ritual Caster: Most fighters won't want this feat, but subclasses that use Intelligence, like Eldritch Knights or Psi Warriors, could make good use of it.
• Shadow Touched: This could work out either way based on how you prefer to play your fighter. Most fighter subclasses aren’t interested in being stealthy at all, but it’s not wrong to have a few spells up your sleeve in a pinch. Yet, for most fighters, this one can be skipped.
• Skill Expert: Fighters probably don’t want this as their first feat as their main role in a party is to kill stuff. It’s excellent in the long run, but there are so many other feats fighters would want first, such as Sharpshooter, Sentinel, or Great Weapon Master depending on your build.

Bad Feats for Fighters

• Cohort of Chaos: Unfortunately, this is too unpredictable to be a efficient use of a feat.
• Eldritch Adept: Fighters can’t pick up this feat unless they were to multiclass or pick Eldritch Knight as a subclass. Even then, it doesn’t add much to the subclass. War Caster poses as a better feat than this one, but adding a few utility spells isn’t terrible.
• Elemental Adept: This feat doesn't provide any value to fighters. Even Eldritch Knights are better off with Magic Initiate or similar spellcaster feats.
• Fey Teleportation: Neither of these stats work for most fighters. However, Eldritch Knights get a pass, as they can use the INT. However, they should probably look at Fey Touched for more spells instead. It gives them more spell options, and they can cast misty step with spell slots.
• Heavily Armored: Fighters already have heavy armor proficiency.
• Keen Mind: Nothing here for a fighter. It is at least of some use to Eldrtich Knights who cast spells with INT, but there are plenty of other feats to take before this one. Namely, Fey Touched or Shadow Touched.
• Lightly Armored: Already has access to light armor at the start.
• Linguist: Fighters typically won't get much use out of this feat, unless they're playing a more intellectual or tactical character.
• Metamagic Adept: Only Eldritch Knights can pick this feat up, but it works well. Most of their 3rd and 4th level spells would work great with double duration, but even just having a subtle spell to prevent counterspell can be ideal. Picking up blur at 8th-level and being able to cast it as a bonus action while maintaining the ability to attack with your action is an awesome way to start off initiative.
• Outlands Envoy: One free casting of misty step and an ASI isn't enough to make fighters want to take this feat. Eldritch Knights may find slightly more value, but will find that Fey Touched is more impactful.
• Planar Wanderer: Even with the tailorable damage resistance, this feat just isn't worth it for a fighter.
• Savage Attacker: Even though this feat is best with heavy weapons, which fits some fighter's playstyle, it's much more worth it to go with Great Weapon Master or one of the Tasha's weapon feats.
• Spell Sniper: Fighters can't cast spells unless they are Eldritch Knights, who usually want to avoid spells that require attack rolls or saving throws.
• Tavern Brawler: Fighters would much rather go for an Origin feat like Lucky, especially because they can access the Push mastery property.
• Telekinetic: Fighters have little to no use for this feat because the Shove bonus action will be weak due to a lack of CHA, WIS, or INT. Also, the Shove can't knock enemies prone, only move them 5ft. These caveats make Shield Master a much more worthwhile feat for Fighters to pick up. Eldritch Knights might make decent use of this with their INT focus and it's particularly flavorful (but not powerful) for Psi Warriors.
• Telepathic: Nothing here for a fighter.
• War Caster: Fighters who end up as Eldritch Knights will want this feat. They will always be up-close and personal, and they usually don’t have material components for their spells. Paired with fighter’s proficiency in CON, you’ll be tough to stop.
• Weapon Master: Fighters already have access to all weapon proficiencies.

Other Fighter Guides

• Fighter 5e Overview
• Fighter Races
• Fighter Subclasses Overview
• Eldritch Knight
• Rune Knight
• Battle Master
• Arcane Archer

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Mike Bernier

Mike Bernier is the lead content writer and founder of Arcane Eye. He is a Adamantine best-selling author of Strixhaven: A Syllabus of Sorcery on DMs Guild and is a contributing author at D&D Beyond. Follow Mike on Twitter.