Offhand Attack 5e (Updated for 2024)
Published on September 28, 2024
The 2024 Player’s Handbook has changed dual-wielding builds for the better thanks to the Nick mastery property.
Magali Villeneuve - Wizards of the Coast - Act of Heroism
Table of Contents
New Rules for Offhand Attacks
In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, dual-wield builds were given a huge boost thanks to the Nick mastery property. For those who are unaware, Weapon Mastery is a new system that provides each weapon with a mastery property. The Dagger, Light Hammer, Sickle, and Scimitar have been given the Nick property, which allows them to be used effectively when wielded in your offhand.
The Nick property states:
Nick
When you make the extra attack of the Light property, you can make it as part of the Attack action instead of as a Bonus Action. You can make this extra attack only once per turn.
Seeing as each of the weapons with the Nick property are Light weapons, this means you can combine your extra attack into your Attack action, rather than having to take a Bonus Action.
What Are Offhand Attacks in 5e?
Offhand attacks aren’t really the correct term for attacking with two different weapons in D&D, but it is commonly used amongst the player base. The Player’s Handbook calls this two-weapon fighting, which all classes can take advantage of. Essentially, it’s the ability to have a weapon in each of your hands and attack with both of them.
How Do Offhand Attacks Work in 5e?
You’ll need a weapon with the Light property in each hand to use your offhand attack. When you take an Attack action with one of your Light melee weapons, you can use your Bonus Action to attack with the weapon in your other hand. However, this second attack does not receive a damage bonus from your ability modifier unless it’s negative.
In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, if you have the Weapon Mastery feature and have chosen a weapon with the Nick mastery property, you can make this extra attack as part of your Attack action rather than your Bonus Action.
Mechanics That Affect Offhand Attacks
There aren’t many things that directly affect offhand attacks. But, if you’re looking to make your own two-weapon fighting build, here are some things that can help even out the odds:
Fighting Style: Two-Weapon Fighting
As expected, the Fighting Style centered around using both hands works with offhand attacks. It simply removes the downside of not having the additional damage from your ability modifier to your offhand attacks. This is available for College of Swords bards, fighters, and rangers. Other classes can learn this fighting style with the Fighting Initiate feat.
In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, Fighting Styles are now feats that can be chosen by any class with a Fighting Style feature, such as Rangers, Fighters, and Paladins.
Dual Wielder (Feat)
Another option is to pick up the Dual Wielder feat. This feat allows you to ignore the light property of your two weapons, allowing you to use any combination of weapons you’d like to. You also get a +1 bonus to your AC. However, according to ThinkDM, the math shows that you’re (probably) better off with ASIs over this feat. It does allow you to have some fun combinations, though.
In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, this feat has been updated to allow you to take an additional attack as a Bonus Action after you attack with a weapon with the Light property. Unfortunately, this still isn’t particularly impressive if you’re just using it to attack with a non-Light weapon in your offhand, despite the fact it now offers an ASI to Strength or Dexterity.
But, combined with the Nick property, it can start to net some serious benefits.
With this feat, two Light weapons (we’ll assume Scimitars), and the Nick mastery property, this is how your turn will look:
- Take Attack action, attack with your main hand Scimitar.
- As part of the same action, make an attack with your offhand Scimitar, thanks to Nick.
- Then, thanks to Dual Wielder, you can make a third attack as a Bonus Action.
This is made all the better if you have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat because you can add your ability modifier to the damage for each attack. It also stacks with other extra attacks you’re granted as part of your class features.
One extra attack per turn isn’t all that impressive, but two extra attacks? Now that’s worth a feat.
What 5e Builds Are Best Using Offhand Attacks?
If you’re a melee build and don’t use your bonus action regularly, offhand attacking might be right for you. Here are some questions to ask yourself to see if you might want to commit to offhand attacks:
Do you have a way to stack damage on hit?
Things like the Barbarian’s Rage damage bonus, the Ranger’s Hunter’s Mark, and the Paladin’s Improved Divine Smite want you to hit your enemies as many times as possible. They can apply damage multiple times per turn and can make up for the lack of damage modifiers (if you don’t want to invest in Two-Weapon Fighting.)
Other things that can make offhand attacks worthwhile are damage abilities that only activate on hit, like the Rogue’s Sneak Attack and Paladin’s Divine Smite. These abilities are in place so that these classes can keep up damage-wise with the sheer number of Extra Attacks Fighters get. If you miss your primary attacks, you’ll want a lifeline that can potentially net you a burst of damage.
Do you want to wield a shield?
If you’re looking to bump your AC up +2 so you can tank for your party, it may seem daunting giving that extra survivability up. The 2014 version of the Dual Wielder feat can help mitigate this, but especially at lower levels, the extra +1 AC can make a relatively large difference.
Do you want to use a Heavy weapon?
Builds that stack into Strength usually end up with Great Weapon Master so they’re able to output as much damage as possible. If you’re looking to optimize your build for damage, however boring and linear it may be, building your character around offhand attacking usually isn’t for you.
Best Classes for Offhand Attacks
I do want to point out that, unfortunately, the way that 5e has been balanced, almost every build that heavily focuses on offhand attacking is suboptimal. That said, the rules in the 2024 Player’s Handbook make it a lot more viable.
Seeing as these builds are often feat-heavy, you’ll want the Dual Wielder feat as soon as possible, typically at level 4.
Barbarian
Your initial Bonus Action in each combat will be to Rage, but after that, you can lay into people with two longswords amounting to 2d8 + STR + Rage(x2) damage per turn. A 4th level, you could also invest in the Fighting Initiate feat to grab Two-Weapon Fighting and turn your damage output into 2d8 + STR(x2) + Rage(x2). This is slightly worse than if you were to take Great Weapon Master and use a greatsword but sometimes that’s the cost of cool.
Bard
Despite Swords and Valor bards having access to Two-Weapon Fighting, this is probably one of the worse builds for offhand attacks. Unfortunately, with Bardic Inspiration and other potent spells taking up the Bonus Action slot, there will be few opportunities to use it to offhand attack.
But thanks to the Nick mastery property in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, this build has become much more viable, as offhand attacks no longer require Bonus Actions. You’ll need to multiclass in order to pick up the Weapon Mastery feature, which is a great time to jump into a Fighter to boost combat prowess.
Fighter
Another rather subpar option, even with access to Two-Weapon Fighting and tons of feats. Fighters don’t have many uses for their Bonus Action. But, they also don’t have ways to add damage to their strikes. This can be somewhat mitigated with a hefty investment into Fey Touched to grab Hex or Hunter’s mark, though you’ll only be able to cast that once per long rest.
Even with the benefits offered in the 2024 Player’s Rulebook, Fighters will typically want to invest their Weapon Mastery elsewhere, like Cleave, Push, or Topple.
Paladin
Before you get your Extra Attack at 5th level, you might want to consider running with an offhand attack build so you’re more likely to hit and get to use Divine Smite. It’s not really worth it past 5th level, unfortunately, so investing in the Dual Wielder feat would be unwise.
Ranger
One of the better builds to run offhand attacks, honestly. Taking Dual Wielder at level 1, then picking up Two-Weapon Fighting at level 2 gets your build online fast. Then, you can use Favored Foe to mark your target and get an extra 1d4 once per turn. This results in 2d8 + STR + 2d4 by 2nd level, which is above even what Sharpshooter can produce. That said, after level 5when you get your Extra Attack, it starts to trail off (while still being relatively effective). Once you’re out of Favored Foe uses, you can use Hunter’s Mark, though you’ll now be walking a fine line between using your Bonus Action to attack and using it to manage your spell.
Rangers in the 2024 Player’s Handbook will have to wait until level 4 to pick up Dual Wielder, but having access to the Nick mastery property more than makes up for it. This mastery property frees up your Bonus Action so you can use Hunter’s Mark or command your companion while still being able to net extra offhand attacks as part of your Attack action.
Rogue
Because rogues can’t use Shields and are only optimized to use Finesse weapons, it generally makes sense for them to carry around two Scimitars, just in case. Rogues have Cunning Action, which is a prominent use for their Bonus Action. But, if they miss their primary attack, they’ll want to have the option to attack again in order to land Sneak Attack damage. If you’re really looking to get into an offhand attack build with a rogue, you can even take the Mobile feat which allows you to freely Disengage from an opponent if you target it with an attack. This can take the place of your Cunning Action, so you’re free to use your bonus action to offhand attack.
Rogues in the 2024 Player’s Handbook are given a huge boon in the Nick mastery property. Being able to net an extra attack as part of your Attack action is huge because it frees up your Bonus Action to do Cunning Action stuff.
Sheathing The Swords
The image of dual-wielding weapons is one of the iconic parts of fantasy. They’re always cool to see, whether it’s elegant elven blades spinning in a whirlwind or twin Scimitars swung wildly by pirates. With the 2024 Player’s Handbook, dual-wielding builds have been given a huge power boost thanks to the Nick mastery property.
How will you build your new swords-akimbo character?
Offhand Attack 5e (Updated for 2024) FAQs
Can Rogues use Sneak Attack with offhand attacks in 5e?
Yes, you can! Neither of these class abilities restricts you to a normal Attack action. Instead, they only care that you made a Melee attack against a target. Remember, you can still only Sneak Attack once per round. If you miss your first attack, using your Bonus Action to offhand attack can be an excellent way to make sure you're still outputting damage.
Do offhand weapon attacks add modifiers in 5e?
Per RAW, you do get your bonuses to the attack roll, but not for your damage roll. This is only changed by the Two-Weapon Fighting Style .
Do you add proficiency to offhand weapon attack rolls 5e?
Per RAW, you still get your normal bonuses to your attack rolls. There is nothing in the Player’s Handbook or the Dungeon Master’s Guide that states you don’t get your proficiency bonus.
Can paladins smite with offhand attacks?
Yes they can!
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