Unarmed Strike 5e (Updated for the 2024 Rules)

New Rules for Unarmed Strikes

In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, Unarmed Strikes have seen some significant changes, which also encompass grappling and shoving opponents. Now, you can choose a variety of options when you hit a target with an Unarmed Strike, and these options have also changed from their 2014 counterparts.

What is an Unarmed Strike in 5E?

D&D offers a wide variety of methods for “aggressive negotiations.” Some adventurers often may choose to wield legendary weapons while others cast mighty spells as their favored methods of monster dispatch. Others want to just punch an opponent in the face. At its core, an Unarmed Strike in D&D 5e is an attack made with any part of your body – your fists, elbows, knees, feet, or even head and tail for certain races. It doesn’t require a weapon, making it a versatile, but typically with the tradeoff for less damage.

The basic Unarmed Strike used to simply deal a modest 1 point of Bludgeoning damage plus your Strength modifier. In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, there are three options you can choose from:

• Damage: the Unarmed Strike you all remember. Roll a d20 and add your Strength modifier and Proficiency Bonus. On a hit, the target takes Bludgeoning damage equal to 1 plus your Strength modifier.
• Grapple: Make your target succeed in a Strength of Dexterity saving throw or become Grappled. The DC for the saving throw equals 8 plus your Strength modifier and Proficiency Bonus. You can only grapple targets that are no more than one size larger than you and if you have a hand free.
• Shove: Same as Grapple, except the target will have the Prone condition.

Making Unarmed Strikes in D&D

If our level 5 Barbarian with 18 Strength makes an Unarmed Strike and chooses the Damage option to punch a bandit leader in the face, this is what it would look like:

Attack Roll: d20 + 4 (Strength modifier) + 3 (proficiency bonus)

Now, if the same Barbarian wanted to Grapple or Shove, their target would have to succeed on a DC 15 Strength or Dexterity saving throw:

Grapple and Shove Saving Throw DC: 8 + 4 (Strength modifier) + 3 (proficiency bonus) = 15

Unarmed Strike Damage 5e

When you hit, you deal 1 + Strength modifier damage. That is, unless you have a class feature that says otherwise. For the example above with our level 5 Barbarian with 18 Strength, you’d deal 5 damage when you hit:

Damage: 1 + 4 (Strength modifier) = 5

There are ways of increasing Unarmed Strike damage in 5e. The best ways to do so are the following:

• Increase Strength: Increasing your character’s Strength score is one of the most straightforward ways to increase Unarmed Strike damage. This can be achieved by leveling up, using Ability Score Improvements, or through certain magical items like the Belt of Giant Strength.
• Monk’s Martial Arts: A defining feature of the monk class in D&D 5e is their Martial Arts ability. This ability allows monks to use their Dexterity modifier for attack and damage rolls with Unarmed Strikes, and the damage die for these strikes increases as they level up. At higher levels, a Monk’s Unarmed Strike can do up to 1d10 per hit.
• Unarmed Fighting Style: This Fighting Style can step up the damage of Unarmed Strikes to 1d6 or 1d8 if you’re not wielding anything in your offhand.
• Natural Weapons: Some races have natural weapons that supplement your Unarmed Strikes. The best natural weapons out there are either the Lizardfolk’s Bite which do 1d6 and can provide Temporary Hit Points or the Minotaur’s Horns which deal 1d6 and can be used as a Bonus Action as a part of Goring Rush.

Unarmed Strike Rule Interactions

For something as seemingly simple as punching someone, there are a lot of interactions with D&D 5e’s combat system:

Paladin Smite

Even though an Unarmed Strike is technically a melee weapon attack, it was confirmed on D&D Beyond’s Sage Advice Compendium to not be intended to work with the Paladin’s Divine Smite.

Offhand Attacks

You can only use your bonus action for an offhand attack when you make an attack with a weapon with the light property and are holding a second weapon with the light property. This means you cannot use your bonus action to offhand attack with an Unarmed Strike unless you’re a monk (discussed below).

Critical Hits

Unless you have a feature that makes Unarmed Strikes use a damage dice, when you crit with an Unarmed Strike, you still deal 1 + your Strength modifier. While the damage may be disappointing, you still automatically hit your target, which is an upside.

Which Builds Work Best With Unarmed Strikes

Certain classes and subclasses in D&D 5E can take the simple Unarmed Strike to the next level, but unfortunately, Unarmed Strikes are severely debuffed in the 2024 Player’s Handbook because they are the only weapon attack that doesn’t have a Weapon Mastery property. In the new book, each weapon has been given a new feature that can be used each turn. Some weapons can knock opponents Prone, others can cleave through enemies and deal damage to multiple foes.

Unarmed Strikes haven’t been given these buffs, so, in my opinion, they are even less optimal then the were in the 2014 iteration of the Player’s Handbook.

Monk

The monk class has an intrinsic synergy with Unarmed Strikes. The Martial Arts class feature allows monks to use their Dexterity modifier instead of Strength for Unarmed Strikes. They also can make an Unarmed Strike as a Bonus Action regardless of what they do with their action, allowing them to up their action economy and damage output. They can even spend 1 Focus Point to use Flurry of Blows to make two Unarmed Strikes as a Bonus Action.

Most importantly, their Unarmed Strikes damage scales with the Monk’s level, providing a significant boost to their damage output. At higher levels, Empowered Strikes make a Monk’s Unarmed Strikes deal Force damage for the purposes of overcoming Resistances and Immunities.

The new Warrior of the Elements Monk in the 2024 Player’s Handbook is likely the best subclass to build an Unarmed Strike build with, because most of their features improve upon these types of attacks. They get to increase their range and add additional elemental damage, helping them keep up with regular weapon attacks.

Barbarian

Barbarians, though traditionally weapon-oriented, can be formidable unarmed combatants. Not only do they love to get in close, but their Rage feature also grants a bonus to melee damage rolls, which encompasses Unarmed Strikes. If you want your Barbarian to punch above their weight class, consider picking up the Tavern Brawler feat. This feat slightly increases the damage done by allowing you roll a d4 + your Strength instead of simply dealing 1 damage + Strength. It also allows you to push creatures 5 feet away from you as part of your attack after you hit them with an Unarmed Strike. This, combined with the Grappler feat and advantage on Strength checks because of Rage, can make you a formidable presence on the battlefield.

If you’re looking to go all in on Unarmed Strikes, the Fighting Initiate feat from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is a must because it allows you to pick up Unarmed Fighting and use a d6 (or even a d8 if you’re not using a shield) on your Unarmed Strikes. This feat also lets you deal 1d4 Bludgeoning damage to any creature grappled by you, making it a perfect combination.

Fighter

Similar to Barbarians, Fighters can make use of Grappler and Tavern Brawler to create a somewhat viable Unarmed Strike build. Fighters innately get access to the Unarmed Fighting through their Fighting Styles and they get a lot of feats that they can use to pick up Tavern Brawler, Grappler, and even Crusher.

College of Dance Bard

The College of Dance in the 2024 Player’s Handbook get Dazzling Strikes at level 3, which lets them take Unarmed Strikes as part of the same Reaction or Bonus Action in which they expend a Bardic Inspiration. This can net a bunch of Unarmed Strikes per encounter, so mutliclassing into Monk for Dexterity-based Unarmed Strikes or investing in Strength and Fighting Initiate can certainly make this a worthwhile build.