Fighting Style Feats in the 2024 Player’s Handbook
Choose a Fighting Style feat that optimizes your character for success!

Ryan Pancoast - Wizards of the Coast - Myrel, Shield of Argive
Table of Contents
The Best (and Worst) Fighting Style Feats
The 2024 Player’s Handbook major change to Fighting Styles: They are now feats, meaning they can be picked up whenever you choose a feat, as long as your class has access to the Fighting Style feature.
This also opens the door for any martial class with the Fighting Style feature to select any Fighting Style feat. This flexibility, compared to the 2014 Player’s Handbook, means players now have broader options to tailor their builds. But with more choices comes the question: which Fighting Style feats are worth it?
Here’s a breakdown of the Fighting Style feats and which builds or classes benefit the most from each.
Archery
Mechanics: +2 bonus to attack rolls with Ranged weapons.
Best For: Fighters and Rangers
This feat is nearly mandatory for dedicated ranged builds. A +2 bonus to attack rolls drastically increases your hit rate, Although the 2024 version of the Sharpshooter feat no longer has the ability to -5 your attack rolls for +10 damage. Classes like the Fighter and Ranger get the most mileage due to their Extra Attack feature and their propensity to use Ranged weapons.
Defense
Mechanics: +1 bonus to AC while wearing armor.
Best For: Fighters, Paladins, and Rangers.
Defense is a simple but effective choice for any character relying on armor. The static AC boost synergizes well with builds that prioritize high durability. While not flashy, it’s reliable and effective.
Dueling
Mechanics: +2 bonus to damage rolls when wielding a Melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons.
Best For: Paladins, Rangers, and Fighters.
Dueling is a go-to choice for melee combatants using Shields or focusing on single-weapon builds. The bonus damage per attack is consistent and bring single-handed weapons on par with Heavy weapons.
Great Weapon Fighting
Mechanics: When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack with a two-handed or versatile weapon, you can treat it as a 3.
Best For: Fighters and Paladins wielding Heavy weapons.
This feat maximizes your damage potential with two-handed weapons, making it a solid choice for builds that are focusing damage over defense. Fighters and Paladins using make the most of this feat, especially if they combine it with Great Weapon Master. It’s more effective to use a Greatsword or Maul with this feat, rather than a Greataxe because the average damage increase is more substantial for this effect on 2d6:
- 1d12: Average damage increases from 6.5 to 7.33 (+13%)
- 2d6: Average damage increases from 7 to 8.33 (+19%)
Two-Weapon Fighting
Mechanics: When you attack with a weapon in your offhand, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.
Best For: Rangers and Fighters.
Dual wielding has received some rule updates in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. You can now make an offhand attack as part of your main Attack action, as long as your offhand weapon has the Light mastery property. This is an excellent boost as it frees up your Bonus Action for things like Hunter’s Mark or commanding a companion. While this feat does the same thing it did in the previous Player’s Handbook, dual wielding is now better, which makes this feat a more attractive pickup.
Protection
Mechanics: When a creature you can see attacks a target within 5 feet of you, you can impose Disadvantage on the attack roll as a Reaction.
Best For: Paladins and Fighters
Protection is an effective feat for martials wielding Shields. The ability to impose Disadvantage is a powerful tool for tanking and protecting allies. However, it loses effectiveness in fights with multiple enemies because you’ll only ever have one Reaction to spend. It’s also better to use on martial allies than casters, as imposing Disadvantage on an attack is more effective when the target has a high AC.
Interception
Mechanics: When a creature you can see hits a target within 5 feet of you, you can reduce the damage by 1d10 + your Proficiency Bonus as a reaction.
Best For: Paladins and Fighters.
This is a strictly worse version of Protection, because if the attack deals more than 8-10 damage, your ally could still be taking damage. In this case, if you’re trying to protect a caster who’s concentration on a spell, they’ll still have to roll (and potentially fail) their Concentration check.
Unarmed Fighting
Mechanics: Your Unarmed Strikes deal 1d8 damage if you’re not wielding any weapons or a Shield, or 1d6 if you are. Grappled creatures take 1d4 damage at the start of your turn.
Best For: Fighters
Unarmed Fighting is the cornerstone of grappling builds, which is a fun archetype but is generally underpowered. When you have to devote an entire feat and both hands to get 1d8 damage on your attacks, when you could be getting 2d6 from a Greatsword without any further investment, it’s just plain less efficient.
Blind Fighting
Mechanics: You gain Blindsight with a range of 10 feet.
Best For: Paladins, Fighters, and Barbarians.
Blind Fighting is situationally useful because it counters invisibility or darkness, but this can also be mitigated by most parties with a caster and Faerie Fire. Dwarves in the 2024 Player’s Handbook can also give themselves Blindsight when they’re standing on a rock surface, so if you’re dying for Blindsight, pick it up that way and grab a better Fighting Style feat.
Thrown Weapon Fighting
Mechanics: You can draw a thrown weapon as part of the attack, and you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with thrown weapons.
Best For: Rangers and Fighters specializing in Thrown weapons.
Thrown weapon builds aren’t particularly viable without the help of class features or magic items. Ranged weapons are much more viable because you don’t have to worry about running out of throwing ammunition