Elemental Adept 5e (Updated for the 2024 Rules)

Which 5e Classes Make the Most of Elemental Adept?

The color code below has been implemented to help you identify, at a glance, how good the Elemental Adept 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: Choosing Elemental Adept (Fire) is a great boon for the Artillerist because of their spell list and because they get the extra d8 from their Arcane Firearm.

Barbarian: Skip this entirely. This does nothing for Barbarians, as you rarely will be dealing elemental damage. You’re better off with a feat that focuses on dealing weapon damage, like Crusher, Slasher, or Piercer, or Great Weapon Master.

Bard: The Bard spells list doesn't have a particular focus on a damage type, apart from maybe Psychic damage, which isn't covered by this feat. None of the subclasses work well with this feat either.

Cleric: Most Clerics can skip this, as Radiant damage isn’t included here. Tempest Domain Clerics can pick this up if they want to get better damage on either Thunder or Lightning spells, but it’s not essential.

Druid: The bonus damage is negligible but go for it if most of your damage comes from one element. This is a must-have for Circle of Wildfire Druids as they are almost entirely focused on Fire. Fire is also one of the most common damage Resistances in the Monster Manual.

Fighter: This feat doesn't provide any value to Fighters. Even Eldritch Knights are better off with Magic Initiate, Fey Touched, or similar spellcaster feats.

Monk: This feat doesn't provide any value to monks.

Paladin: Most Paladins can skip this, as Radiant damage isn’t included here. You’re better off with Great Weapon Master or Sentinel.

Ranger: Skip. You won’t be dealing much elemental damage, no matter what build you go for.

Rogue: Nothing here for a Rogue.

Sorcerer: Most Sorcerer subclasses can skip this, as they have varied elemental damage. However, Draconic Bloodline (Fire) and Storm Sorcery can benefit the most from this, as they are focused on a single element.

Warlock: Warlocks aren’t casting much more than Eldritch Blast most of the time, which isn’t affected by this feat. But, if you instead decide to pump Firebolt with your Eldritch Invocations for whatever reason, it could be a reasonable pick-up.

Wizard: You can get away with this feat if you want to focus on a specific element. However, the damage boost isn’t that potent, so you’ll mainly want it to ignore Resistances.