Boon of Irresistible Offense 5e (Updated for the 2024 Rules)

By Mike Bernier

Published on March 9, 2025, Last modified on March 13th, 2025

Power up your attacks with the Boon of Irresistible Offense! This Epic Boon lets you ignore Resistance to weapon damage and hit harder when you score a Critical Hit.

A Fighter with the Boon of Irresistible Offense slashes into an undead creature

Anna Steinbauer - Wizards of the Coast - Blur of Blades

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What Is the Boon of Irresistible Offense Feat in 5e?

On paper, this boon seems appealing for martial characters, as overcoming Resistances and dealing extra damage on a Critical Hit is always nice.

However, in the 2024 rules, most monsters that previously had Resistance to nonmagical weapon damage have simply lost that Resistance altogether. On top of that, many high-level martial builds are already using magic weapons. Because of this, the main benefit of this feat is much weaker than it would have been in the 2014 rules.

No More Non-Magical vs Magical Damage

In the 2024 rules there’s also no more distinction between magical and non-magical physical damage.

How Does Boon of Irresistible Offense Work?

The Boon of Irresistible Offense is one of the Epic Boons found in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. Unlike regular feats, Epic Boons are only available to characters who reach level 19, making them a capstone reward for the most powerful adventurers.

When you take the Boon of Irresistible Offense, you gain the following benefits:

Ability Score Increase: Increase one ability score of your choice by 1, to a maximum of 30. This increase is useful, but the real power of the boon comes from its ability to influence fate. The maximum of 30 is (typically) impossible to hit if you’ll just be playing to level 20. Instead, it’s meant to be a reward for gaining levels beyond level 20 as described on page 46 of the 2024 Player’s Handbook.
Overcome Defenses: Your Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage ignores Resistance. In older editions, this would have been a huge benefit, as many monsters resisted nonmagical weapon damage. However, in the 2024 rules, those resistances have mostly been removed or changed. The only cases where this will really help are against monsters that still have resistance to physical damage, such as certain elementals, incorporeal undead, and swarms.
Overwhelming Strike: When you roll a natural 20 on an attack roll, you deal extra damage equal to the ability score increased by this feat (which is likely 20 by this point). This is a big boost to damage but only happens on 5% of your rolls, especially because this is only triggered when you roll a Nat 20, not even when you score a Critical Hit, so it can’t be boosted by the Champion’s Improved Critical.

How to Get the Boon of Irresistible Offense Feat

Any class can pick up the Boon of Irresistible Offense feat when they reach level 19 and gain the Epic Boon class feature.

Is Boon of Irresistible Offense Good?

We gave Boon of Irresistible Offense a C Tier rating In our 5e Feats Tier List, making it a below-average feat in D&D 5e.

While the idea of overcoming Resistance sounds great, this boon is underwhelming in practice. The main issue is that resistance to physical damage is much rarer in the 2024 rules, so this benefit won’t come up often. Plus, many magic weapons and martial abilities already bypass resistance by dealing alternative damage types (such as Force or Radiant damage). The extra damage on a Critical Hit is nice, but it is far and few between.

Which 5e Classes Make the Most of Boon of Irresistible Offense?

The color code below has been implemented to help you identify, at a glance, how good the Boon of Irresistible Offense 5e feat is for a specific class/subclass.

Red: Weak, unlikely to contribute to your build

Orange: Situationally good, but below average

Green: A solid choice

Blue: A great option worth considering

Sky Blue: One of the best choices for optimization

Artificer: Nothing here for an Artificer.

Barbarian: The ability to bypass Resistances is somewhat useful if you don’t have a magic weapon, but most Barbarians will already have one at level 19. Extra crit damage is nice but rare.

Bard: Nothing here for a Bard.

Cleric: Nothing here for a Cleric.

Druid: Nothing here for a Druid.

Fighter: The ability to bypass Resistances is somewhat useful if you don’t have a magic weapon, but most Fighters will already have one at level 19. Extra crit damage is nice but rare.

Monk: Thanks to Empowered Strikes, your Unarmed Strikes already can deal Force damage, which makes the Overcome Defenses benefit useless. Extra crit damage is nice but rare.

Paladin: The ability to bypass Resistances is somewhat useful if you don’t have a magic weapon, but most Paladins will already have one at level 19 and your Radiant Strikes and smites can help mitigate this either way. Extra crit damage is nice but rare.

Ranger: The ability to bypass Resistances is somewhat useful if you don’t have a magic weapon, but most Rangers will already have one at level 19. Extra crit damage is nice but rare.

Rogue: The ability to bypass Resistances is somewhat useful if you don’t have a magic weapon, but most Rogues will already have one at level 19. Extra crit damage is nice but rare.

Sorcerer: Nothing here for a Sorcerer.

Warlock: Nothing here for a Warlock.

Wizard: Nothing here for a Wizard.

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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.

Boon of Irresistible Offense 5e (Updated for the 2024 Rules)

What Is the Boon of Irresistible Offense Feat in 5e?

How Does Boon of Irresistible Offense Work?

How to Get the Boon of Irresistible Offense Feat

Is Boon of Irresistible Offense Good?

Which 5e Classes Make the Most of Boon of Irresistible Offense?

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Mike Bernier