Savage Attacker 5e
Published on July 18, 2023
Discover why Savage Attacker falls short in D&D 5e. Learn how its diminishing returns and gameplay slowdown make it a less-than-ideal feat.
Zezhou Chen - Wizards of the Coast - Resolute Strike
What Is Savage Attacker 5e?
This feat allows you to reroll the damage dice for a melee weapon attack once per turn, and use either total. This means, in theory, you have a second chance to maximize your damage output with every swing. But in reality, this feat falls short of being a hit.
How Does Savage Attacker Work?
Savage Attacker is a straightforward feat with a seemingly powerful benefit:
- Once per turn when you roll damage for a melee weapon attack, you can reroll the weapon’s damage dice and use either total.
This means that if you roll low on your damage dice for an attack, you can choose to reroll them and potentially get a higher result. This can be particularly useful for weapons that have a high damage die, such as a lance or a greataxe, as the potential increase in damage can be significant.
Is Savage Attacker Good?
We gave Savage Attacker a D Tier rating In our 5e Feats Tier List, making it an underwhelming feat in most cases.
Unfortunately, this feat just simply does not work when you look at the math. For example, a greataxe typically inflicts an average of 6.5 damage (1d12). With the Savage Attacker feat, which allows you to reroll and choose the higher result, the average damage increases by 1.65, bringing it to 8.80.
Where the math starts to fall apart is when you look at simply increasing your Strength by 2. Not only does this give you a flat increase of +1 to damage, but it also makes you more likely to hit, thus increasing the chance that you’ll do damage. When these factors are brought into play, Savage Attacker simply isn’t worth it unless you’re trying to eke out some more damage after already getting to 20 Strength. Even then, there are plenty of feats that will provide extra attacks or extra damage, which are much more worth it.
Savage Attacker 5e Interactions
- Critical Hits: Savage Attacker applies to all damage dice rolled for a melee weapon attack, including additional dice rolled for a critical hit. This means that if you score a critical hit, you can reroll all of the damage dice, potentially leading to a massive amount of damage.
- Weapons with High Damage Dice: Savage Attacker is more effective with weapons that have a high damage die, such as a lance or a greataxe. The higher the damage die, the more potential benefit you can get from rerolling it.
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