DnD 5e Feats
Published on September 28, 2023
Feats are great ways to customize your D&D 5e character, but which ones are worth picking up?
Yongjae Choi - Wizards of the Coast - Irencrag Feat
What Are Feats in 5e?
Feats are special abilities that can be gained to further customize your character build. Because of the fairly tight-knit class system in 5th Edition, feats are the most effective way to customize your character build.
Feats are usually organized into two categories: full feats and half-feats. Half-feats are unique because they provide a +1 Ability Score Improvement (ASI) on top of a unique ability or trait. These feats are usually less powerful or are more limited than full feats.
How Do You Get Feats in 5e?
There are a number of ways to pick up feats in 5e. The first and most obvious is, when your character gets an ASI, you can forgo the ASI to choose a feat.
The second way of getting a feat in 5e is by choosing the Variant Human race. Because Variant Humans get to choose a feat at 1st-level, and because feats are necessary for a lot of 5e character builds, they are considered a very powerful race.
The last and most overlooked way to get a feat in 5e is to be rewarded one by your DM. If you would like a feat from your DM, consider asking about spending in-game time training or performing a particular task that would allow your character to learn a feat. These circumstances usually come with a cost, whether it is money, time, or both.
Remember, feats are an optional rule. Before taking a feat, ask your DM if it is okay.
D&D 5e Feats Ranked
As mentioned earlier, feats are the best way to customize your character build and make it unique. We have separated all of 5th edition’s official feats into five tiers that will allow you to determine the strength of different feats at a glance.
The ranking system we have created below is merely to get an idea of how a particular feat will improve the strength or utility of your build. Just because we rank a feat in the D Tier doesn’t mean it can’t be used to make your character unique to how you want to play it!
Also, these tiers may differ in rankings from our class guides. This is because some feats will be more powerful for certain builds.
* Keep in mind that the feats in each tier are listed alphabetically, not by power level.
S Tier
Bountiful Luck
The halfling’s Lucky trait is good enough as it is but this feat takes it a step further. Being able to allow your party to reroll 1s as long as you are within 30ft is great. Being able to do this once every 6 seconds is absolutely amazing.
Outside of initiative, your party essentially gets automatic advantage for 5% of their rolls. This feat is great in just about any build, but keep in mind that it is restricted to the halfling race.
Fey Touched
Misty step is a spell that every caster wants. Being able to pick misty step up, plus another spell from the Divination or Enchantment schools, plus increasing your spellcasting ability score is an insanely good deal. The reason this is ranked above its twin, Shadow Touched, is the Divination and Enchantment school of spells offer a wider variety of spells, including some insanely powerful 1st-level spells. While these spells can only be cast once a day without a spell slot, casters will be able to use their spell slots to cast more often, or potentially even upcast.
Great Weapon Master
Great Weapon Master is widely considered to be the best feat to take for great weapon melee builds. Because D&D 5e’s AC doesn’t scale with levels, taking a -5 to hit to get +10 damage is a no brainer at higher levels.
This in itself would be enough to get this feat into the A Tier, but getting a free attack as a bonus action whenever you drop a creature to 0 or score a crit pushes this ability into the S Tier.
Lucky
Gain advantage on three attack rolls, ability checks, or saving throws per day day, your choice. This ability on its own makes this an S Tier feat, but being able to affect attack rolls against you is also extremely beneficial. This can make an enemy’s crit turn into a miss very easily.
Polearm Master
Polearm Master is one of those feats that entirely created a build archetype. The bonus action it grants allows you to add your attack bonus to the hit, stretching your damage per round. Taking an opportunity attack when creatures enter your reach is pure action economy and can be especially powerful when combined with the 10ft reach of a halberd or glaive.
Builds that get extra value added to their attacks make excellent use of this feat. For example, paladins, who can get more smite triggers; Battle Masters, who can use their maneuvers; and barbarians, who can add their Rage damage, are among some builds that make effective use of this feat. If combined with other feats like Sentinel, Polearm Master can get so good that it is now considered a faux pas to play a Polearm Master/Sentinel build.
Sharpshooter
Attacking at long range without disadvantage and ignoring cover is great for any ranged builds. Throw in the same ability from Great Weapon Master (GWM) and take a -5 on your roll to do +10 damage and you have an amazing feat.
This ability is usually even more viable than GWM because of the Archery fighting style, which is available to a number of builds. Granting an automatic +2 to all attack rolls with ranged weapons enables builds to utilize Sharpshooter’s -5 ability at much earlier levels and with more reliability than GWM.
War Caster
War Caster is similar to Polearm Master because it enables a particular build rather than offering raw power to an already established build.
There are tons of characters that like to wield magic in combat, which can mean taking damage from multiple sources each turn. The last thing these casters want to do is lose concentration and waste an action, bonus action, or spell slot casting a spell again. Therefore, getting advantage on concentration checks is massive for these builds.
War Caster also negates the need for a free hand for somatic components and can allow you to cast a spell as an opportunity attack. Without this feat, melee spellcasters take a massive hit to their viability.
A Tier
Aberrant Dragonmark
This feat is extremely good. It’s essentially a different version of Magic Initiate (Another A Tier feat). Casting the spell with CON isn’t usually an issue because CON is typically the second choice when it comes to pumping stats, even for casters.
Being able to (potentially) use a hit die outside of a short rest is great, and the fail case of doing damage if you don’t gain the temp hit points is also awesome.
Lastly, and most importantly, Greater Aberrant Powers is extremely powerful. Now, this is an optional part of the feat, but if included, this feat easily is brought up into the S Tier.
Alert
A +5 bonus to initiative is massive in 5e and going first in initiative can be a huge momentum swinger. The inability to be surprised and negating advantage from unseen attacks is something any character is happy to have. This feat is useful for nearly any build, but some builds are going to like it more than others, most notably the Assassin rogue.
Crossbow Expert
One of the more hotly debated feats (before the Errata), Crossbow Expert is still a worthwhile feat to pick up. Ignoring the “loading” property on crossbows enables rangers, fighters, and any other class with an extra attack to attack multiple times with a crossbow on a turn.
The second part of the feat, being able to make a ranged attack within 5ft, is also solid when ranged builds, even casters, inevitably get encroached upon.
The third section is also a nice bonus action for light crossbow users, who will get to attack an extra time.
Elven Accuracy
Offering an ASI to DEX, INT, WIS, or CHA is solid and gaining “super advantage” on attacks that you have advantage on is really neat.
This ability has a huge range of utility because its benefits can be applied to DEX, INT, WIS, or CHA but, more often than not, it will be a DEX build that takes this feat. Because of DEX build’s inherent sneakiness, they will be able to get advantage on attacks more often than other characters. This feature makes it so hitting is all but certain and crits are all the more likely.
Ember of the Fire Giant
Even with the prerequisites, Ember of the Fire Giant is a solid ability for pretty much any martial build. While it doesn’t output damage on par with a heavy weapon (like a greatsword or maul), the AoE, defensive boost, and debuff provided by this ability are outstanding value. On top of this, this is a half-feat, meaning that you still get to increase important ability scores, ensuring you don’t fall too far behind in your stat progression.
Another thing to note is activating Ember of the Fire Giant doesn’t take an action or bonus action, you can simply replace an attack with it. This adds to it’s effectiveness for just about any build.
Gift of the Gem Dragon
While it may not be as universally powerful as some other feats, it’s a solid baseline boost to most casters. It can really shine in the hands of half-caster martials who want to boost their spellcasting ability while also gaining a powerful reaction-based damage and battlefield control ability.
Gunner
This is an entirely setting-dependent feat but, if your DM allows it, Gunner makes firearms more accessible. While this feat isn’t overpowered, it definitely enables a type of character build that isn’t otherwise possible (in published materials). Being able to increase DEX and ignore the loading property of a pistol (1d10) or musket (1d12) allows firearm users to keep pace with melee damage dealers because they can use the extra attack features.
Heavy Armor Master
Getting a +1 to STR and reducing non-magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage by 3 points is highly effective for tanks, especially at lower levels. It’s important to note that negating damage is always more efficient than expending healing resources.
Keenness of the Stone Giant
While the darkvision isn’t anything to get excited about, the stone-throwing bonus action is a huge damage boost for just about any class that doesn’t want to be in melee distance of their opponent.
Not only that, it’s also a magical attack which can skirt around damage resistances and can knock your target prone, which is hugely beneficial when you have martial party members around.
Unfortunately, the main limiting factor is that you can’t pump Dexterity, Charisma, or Intelligence with the ASI, thus limiting the bonus action’s effectiveness to builds that are stacked into Wisdom, Strength, or Constitution.
Magic Initiate
Magic Initiate is a very solid choice for a wide variety of builds. Being able to choose 2 cantrips and a 1st-level spell from the full caster classes is a surprisingly beneficial ability.
Mobile
Mobile is an effective feat in a lot of situations. Raising your base movement speed by 10ft is never a bad thing and, while situational, being able to Dash through difficult terrain without spending extra movement is strong for characters that need to be in melee range.
Being able to attack a creature, then move an additional 10ft without provoking an opportunity attack, is awesome for skirting damage.
Rogues are going to absolutely love this feat, and so will melee builds that use booming blade.
Prodigy
This is a solid utility pickup that meshes with just about any build. Want to be persuasive? Want to be stealthy? Want to be a rockstar on the lute? You can pick up a proficiency even if your class and background didn’t have it available.
On top of that, you get the ability to choose an expertise, something that is usually kept for bards and rogues. Getting at least +4 to a skill in the first tier of the campaign (1st – 4th level) is amazing and, as the game progresses, the bonus will scale with your proficiency bonus.
Keep in mind, this is a race-specific feat for Half-elves, Half-orcs, and Humans.
Resilient
Gaining an ASI in CON and a free proficiency in CON saving throws is amazing for spellcasters that rely on concentration.
Typically, for casters that will be wading into combat while concentrating on spells, the play is to get War Caster with your first ASI and then get Resilient (CON) when you’ve maxed out your primary stat (STR for Eldritch Knights, WIS for Forge Clerics, etc).
For builds that aren’t going to rely on concentration, the next most likely play is to choose DEX as the ability score. This is good for light/medium armor fighters and barbarians that don’t gain proficiency in DEX, but want to pump their AC and gain a bonus to a common saving throw.
Scion of the Outer Planes
While a damage resistance and cantrip might not seem like much, characters that take certain Planescape backgrounds can get this feat for free at 1st-level, making it an incredible worthwhile pickup. The effectiveness of each damage resistance/cantrip combo will vary based on your campaign, but the Lawful Outer Plane’s offering of force resistance and guidance is probably going to be default choice for most builds.
Sentinel
Sentinel is a great pickup for tanks that will be heading to the front lines. Usually, because their AC and HP is so high, enemies will focus on squishier party members.
Sentinel allows you to get close to an enemy and keep them away from your party members. If they happen to get an attack off, you can use your reaction (only one per round, but hey, it’s free attacks) to hit them for it.
Shadow Touched
Invisibility is one of the best low-level spells out there, but it is available to the majority of the caster classes (bard, sorcerer, warlock, and wizard) already. With this in mind, this Shadow Touched also includes an ASI to INT, WIS, and CHA. This makes Shadow Touched an amazing feat for druids, clerics, paladins, and rangers who want to pick up invisibility, another spell from the Illusion or Necromancy schools, and still pump their spellcasting ability. An interesting concept explored in the Shadow Touched and Fey Touched feats is they don’t require a spellcasting feature in order to pick up. This means that other stealth-aligned builds, like a rogue or Way of the Shadow monk can also pick this feat for once-a-day invisibility and added utility.
Shield Master
Being able to shove with your shield as a bonus action is a huge benefit. Because you can choose to knock the shoved creature prone, as opposed to away from you, you can provide advantage on melee attack rolls to all of your other party members. Keep in mind, the specific wording around this feat states that this can only be done after you use the Attack action, which means you will not get advantage on attacks.
The defense bonuses from being able to add your shield’s AC to DEX saves fairly niche because DEX saves are usually to avoid AoE attacks, which don’t normally target a single creature. On top of this, taking no damage when you succeed in DEX saves against damage is a huge boon for survivability.
This is a very tempting feat for builds where tanking is everything.
Skill Expert
A slightly better version of the Prodigy feat, but not quite good enough to push it into the S Tier. Essentially, this is Prodigy, but instead of a free tool and language, you get an ASI. It also can apply to any race, not just half races.
Strixhaven Initiate
Strixhaven Initiate is very comparable to Magic Initiate, as you gain two cantrips and one 1st-level spell. Though, because you can cast the 1st-level spell for free once per long rest and choose any spellcasting ability modifier you’d like, it can be more powerful in certain circumstances. Where Magic Initiate has Strixhaven Initiate beat is that you can choose choose eldritch blast which is the most powerful damage cantrip in the game and not available in any of Strixhaven Initiate’s lists.
Svirfneblin Magic
This feat gives you access to a 3rd-level spell, two 2nd-level spells, and a 1st-level spell, all of which are fairly good. Now, most gnomes are wizards who can already learn all of these spells, but if you happen to be playing a different class, or want to pick up four spells in a single level, this is a great choice.
B Tier
Artificer Initiate
Not a lot of full caster builds want to pick up an Artificer cantrip and 1st-level spell, and cast them with their INT modifier. The only situation that really calls for this is a Wizard looking for Cure Wounds. That being said, the half-caster subclasses, like Eldritch Knights and Arcane Tricksters, can gain quite the benefit from this feat. The Artificer spell focus allows you to ignore non-costly material components and the spell list has quite a few good options. For cantrips, you can pick up booming blade or green flame blade. For 1st-level spells, you can grab absorb elements, cure wounds, or another utility spell.
Baleful Scion
This is a simple, yet incredibly strong ability. Being able to output buffed damage and heal in the same attack is a very efficient use of action economy. Plus, this ability can trigger off of any damage you produce, which makes it useful for melee, ranged, and spellcaster builds.
While the 1d6 + prof. bonus damage isn’t anything to write home about, the healing it provides you is better than a healing word. This is an excellent ability that will keep you in the fight longer, while also not taking up your healer’s spell slots or action economy.
Chef
Chef is a solid, flavorful (heh) pickup that is beneficial for any class. The biggest benefit is the “special treats”. These treats can be eaten as a bonus action and provide temp hitpoints.
Coupled with the fact that you get a CON or WIS ASI and bonus healing from hit dice for you and your party during a short rest and you’ve got yourself a feat worth having.
Crusher
Crusher is a somewhat situational half-feat. The only build that really wants this feat is a melee build (preferably Champion Fighter) with a bludgeoning weapon. If this fits your build, being able to +1 your STR or CON while getting the bonus from crits is going to provide a lot of value for your party.
Dragon Fear
The Frightened condition is quite a powerful one, especially so here because it can affect multiple targets. Because this is a half-feat, you also get to pump one of your important ability scores.
This feat is absolutely amazing for Oath of Conquest Paladins because of their Aura of Conquest feature.
Drow High Magic
Detect Magic, Levitate, and Dispel Magic are all great spells and this is a good way to pick them up if they aren’t in your class’s spells. The CHA spellcasting modifier makes this work well with any of the CHA casters.
Dual Wielder
+1 AC halves the disadvantage of taking a second weapon instead of a shield, and being able to use one-handed melee weapons that aren’t “light” enables you to take a longsword or rapier for extra damage.
Unfortunately, the math for this doesn’t quite check out when you compare it to heavy weapon builds using Great Weapon Master. In reality, wielding d8 weapons instead of d6 weapons only nets you two extra damage per turn.
It can also interfere with classes that are bonus action-heavy, as dual wielders really want to be using their bonus action each turn to attack to make the most of the fact that they’re losing 1 AC from not wielding a shield or other class features.
Eldritch Adept
Locking the invocations that have prerequisites behind the warlock class is a fair choice to balance this feat but also drastically reduces the potential of this feat.
Fade Away
This is an extremely strong ability with a long recharge time, and is restricted to the gnome race. Being able to go invisible when you take damage allows you to escape any more damage and get advantage on your next hit. This is great for gnome rogues, though gnomes are usually more conducive to wizards and artificers.
Unfortunately, when compared to a feat like Shadow Touched, which provides the invisibility spell on top of another spell of your choice and allows you to increase any spellcasting ability, Fade Away simply doesn’t stack up. In most cases, Shadow Touched will be better, unless you’re already stacking into Intelligence or Dexterity, and plan to be in the fray where you’ll be frequently taking hits so you can make better use of your invisibility reaction.
Fey Teleportation
Misty Step is a fantastic spell. If your spell list doesn’t have it, this is a solid way to get it. Builds that will particularly love this are Bards, Paladins, and Artificers. All classes that don’t innately have access to Misty Step but will benefit from the +1 to CHA or INT should consider Fey Teleportation.
If you are interested in this feat Fey Touched (A Tier) is a better version, if you don’t care about learning Sylvan.
Flames of Phlegethos
Great feat for fire-focused Wizards, Sorcerers, and Warlocks that can increase the damage of spells and provide some protection.
Fury of the Frost Giant
This is a decent value-for-investment feat, especially if you plan on getting hit by attacks while also not having a particularly useful reaction on-deck. Most martial characters can make great use of this, especially because they can boost Strength or Constitution on top of the solid defensive boost and reaction.
Gift of the Chromatic Dragon
The Gift of the Chromatic Dragon is a versatile feat that offers both consistent bonus damage and a solid defensive ability. Elemental damage is common enough that you’ll likely be avoiding damage most combats with this feature. If damage vulnerabilities were more common in D&D 5e, this would be an even better feat. But, unfortunately, they’re quite rare.
Gift of the Metallic Dragon
Adding some healing and support options, especially when the features don’t compete with resources such as spell slots, is a benefit for a lot of builds. If your party lacks healing, you’ll definitely feel the impact of this feat. Unfortunately, seeing as cure wounds is tied to a spellcasting modifier, it’s not as potent for martial characters, who would otherwise love to pick this up.
Guile of the Cloud Giant
Misty step is an incredible spell that most builds will want access to. Unfortunately, you can only use this ability when you’re hit by an attack so it’s a bit more limited than the actual spell version, which can be easily acquired through Fey Touched.
Gaining resistance to the attack’s damage is a nice little boost to survivability, as is the fact that this can be used pb number of times per long rest.
Ultimately, this is a solid defensive and evasive ability, which unfortunately reduces its effectiveness in a game like D&D 5e where outputting damage is usually the best gameplan.
Infernal Constitution
+1 to CON is beneficial for HP and CON saving throws, and damage resistances are always quite strong. Gaining resistance to poison or cold damage individually would simply be too narrow to put this feat in the B Tier but the combination, plus advantage against being poisoned makes it worth it.
Inspiring Leader
There are plenty of ways to get temp hit points, but this is free and can be repeated every short or long rest. The fact that it takes into account your level plus Charisma modifier means that this feat will scale quite well as you level up. Even if you took this feat at 1st level and had a +4 to Charisma after character creation, this would still dish our 5 temp hit points to each party member plus you. If you have four party members, that’s 20 hit points, which is more than a 2nd-level aid can provide.
Medium Armor Master
This isn’t a terrible feat, it is just limited by which classes actually want to use it. Because you have to have proficiency with medium armor, this limits the pool of eligible classes. Additionally, most of the classes that have medium armor proficiency would rather use heavy armor (fighters, clerics, and paladins). Then, you have the classes that have medium armor proficiencies but are unsure if they can use it (barbarians, druids). The more you look at it, the more you realize that this feat will only be picked up a few specific builds.
Metamagic Adept
This is a very similar feat to Martial Adept in the sense that you gain a good class feature, but its usefulness is limited by the number of times you can use it per long rest. This feat is teetering on the edge of being an A Tier feat because of the utility it can offer casters, the lack of uses per long rest just weighs it down.
Moderately Armored
Easily the best armor proficiency feat. This allows light armor wearers to pump their AC by at least 4 (breastplate + shield) or even 5, if you are okay with disadvantaged Stealth checks (half plate + shield).
Coupled with the fact that it’s a half-feat so you can still pump DEX by 1, Moderately Armored is a tempting feat for any class without better AC options.
Observant
Observant provides a fair amount of utility for a half-feat. Being able to read lips is extremely beneficial while sneaking or playing in political campaigns.
The +5 to passive Perception and Investigation is always useful, though the obscure rules around passive skills may prevent this feat from providing as much as a benefit as it should. Adding +1 WIS at the end of all of these utility buffs makes this feat a great pickup for any builds concerned with WIS.
Orcish Fury
This is a solid half-feat that can benefit any half-orc melee character. The +1 to STR and CON is a good boost and so is the weapon attack after using Relentless Endurance, but the main benefit comes in the extra damage dice.
The efficiency of adding one of the weapon’s damage dice will really depend on what weapon you’re using. If you take this feat you should really consider a greataxe because a greatsword will only add 1d6 (instead of 2d6).
It is also suggested that you leave this ability for when you land a critical hit because you can use this ability “when you hit” and double the dice, much like a paladin’s smite.
Piercer
Piercer is essentially the half-orc’s Brutal Critical combined with the Savage Attacker feat and you get to +1 STR or DEX which is a lot of value from one feat.
Something to keep in mind is that this damage isn’t restricted to melee combat, so this is a great feat to pick up for a ranged build as well.
Poisoner
An extra 2d8 poison damage is an excellent buff to martial characters who don’t have a solid use for their bonus action. The cost of 50gp really isn’t that much for characters who have spent a decent time adventuring and being able to create doses equal to your proficiency bonus is solid value for money.
Righteous Heritor
Righteous Heritor’s damage mitigation can be a lifesaver in dire situations, and essentially boils down to a reaction-based 1d10 + prof. bonus of healing multiple times per long rest. Also, seeing as this can be applied to yourself or allies, it’s a solid ability for both martial and support-based builds.
Rune Shaper
The versatility this feat offers is quite substantial. Not only are there plenty of solid spells on this list, but you can change them out whenever you level up and even cast them without spell slots. This is a really solid ability when you want to fill a gap in your playstyle, such as adding a potent damage spell (chromatic orb, burning hands), some utility (disguise self, command), healing (goodberry), or defensive bonuses (armor of Agathys).
Soul of the Storm Giant
These features essentially allow you to tank attacks for a full round and prevent enemies from leaving your 10ft aura to attack other, less defended party members. It also provides two damage resistances which are relatively common and will be very useful against specific creatures. All in all, this ability will be worth it for builds looking to tank, but won’t be of much use for other playstyles.
Spell Sniper
A good feat that is somewhat limited by the fact that the cantrip you get to choose from another class’ list uses their spellcasting modifier. Every class would love to have eldritch blast, and be able to cast it from 240ft away while ignoring half and three-quarters cover, but this is only going to be viable for other CHA based casters.
Squat Nimbleness
This is a solid half-feat because it provides a lot of small benefits that add together into something that is viable. Usually, this will be chosen by a melee Strength-based dwarf or Dexterity-based halfling builds so they can even out the disadvantages provided by their Small race.
Strike of the Giants
This feat has a number of solid options that can boost the power of any Strength-based martial character. Unfortunately, the DC of the save abilities is limited to Strength or Constitution, which can limit its effectiveness for Dexterity builds.
Strixhaven Mascot
The buffed find familiar spell is tempting enough on its own, but being able to get your familiar to attack and teleport to its location are quite substantial upsides on top of improved summon. This is a solid feat for casters with the ritual casting feature, and even good enough to pick up for casters that will have to spend a 1st-level spell slot each time.
Telekinetic
This feat can offer some serious utility. Never underestimate an invisible mage hand that can move 60ft and shove as a bonus action. Plus, an increase to INT, WIS, or CHA never hurts.
Telepathic
Telepathic is a versatile feat that can be invaluable in various situations. While it might not directly boost combat prowess, being able to communicate telepathically at up to 60ft offers a fair amount of utility and the detect thought spell is extremely strong in roleplaying and intrigue-heavy campaigns. Throw in a free ASI to INT, WIS, or CHA and you’ve got yourself a viable feat.
Tough
Tough is always effective, if not very exciting. An extra 2hp per level certainly adds up and will be an extra 40 hit points by level 20.
Wood Elf Magic
This feat allows you to pick up some pretty good spells. Druid cantrips aren’t particularly exciting because Thorn Whip is about as good as it gets. Longstrider isn’t very useful, but Pass Without Trace is an absolutely amazing spell, even if you don’t have great WIS.
This is a strong pickup for a wood elf Bard, Paladin, Sorcerer, or Warlock who is looking for some extra utility.
C Tier
Actor
This is a cool feat, if a little clunky. The Mission Impossible-style abilities are solid for infiltration, though there are spells that are similarly as effective. The fact that it is a half-feat certainly makes up for it a bit, but it’s questionable to choose a feat that a spell like invisibility can accomplish quite easily, if in a different manner.
Defensive Duelist
Being able to add your proficiency bonus to your AC is a great use of your reaction. This is a solid trait for finesse builds that don’t have access to spells like shield or some other defensive reaction. Unfortunately for Defensive Duelist, several classes already offer better defensive abilities, some that don’t even need a reaction. Even still, Defensive Duelist isn’t outright bad and can contribute to the survivability of a DEX-based martial character.
Dragon Hide
This feat unfortunately just doesn’t synergize that well with Dragonborns. The unarmored bonus is nice, but only really for classes that don’t get access to armor or an unarmored defence feature.
The claws only do 1d4 and use your STR modifier, so even if you pump DEX for the unarmored defense, you are leaving behind damage for the claws.
The class that this feature synergizes with most is probably Bard, Sorcerer, or Warlock so you can always have the equivalent of Mage Armor, use the Dragonborn’s CHA for spellcasting, and use the claws as a backup.
Durable
Unless you are in a very hard, gritty game of D&D, Hit Dice don’t run out very easily. If your campaign doesn’t allow for long rests very often (lots of dungeon delving, etc.), this could be a worthwhile pickup.
Dwarven Fortitude
Usually, this feat will be taken by a tanking melee class. If there is one thing support casters don’t want is the tank using their entire action to take the Dodge action.
With the wide variety of ranged healing options, melee fighters really shouldn’t be in a situation where they need to take this feat.
Elemental Adept
The damage added by Elemental Adept is certainly disappointing, so the main draw of this feat is to ignore resistances. Damage resistances really shouldn’t be an issue to a well-rounded character, but if you want to run, say, a pure fire sorcerer, then this could be worth it. Keep in mind that if you’ve slated into a single element, you’ll be stumped by enemies that have immunity to your chosen element.
If you’re planning on building a character that does one type of damage, fire is usually your best bet as it has the widest variety of spells. Unfortunately, fire is one of the most common damage immunity, behind poison which is included in Elemental Adept.
Fighting Initiate
While the initial idea is great, this feat just lacks the power it needs to be a truly sought-after feat. Most builds that use fighting styles will get access to the ones they need through their class features. Even if you don’t have access, taking a dip into the fighter class provides a d10 hit dice, tons of good proficiencies, a fighting style, and second wind.
Healer
This feat’s rating is one of the most variable depending on the type of campaign your DM runs. If your DM runs low-magic settings, prefers using the typical 5-6 encounters per adventuring day, or uses the gritty realism variant, this feat will be much more valuable. This feat is also great for Thief rogues that can use a bonus action to use the healer’s kit and when your party that doesn’t have a paladin or cleric.
Heavily Armored
Heavy armor is one of the more sought after proficiencies due to the non-scaling AC of 5e. That said, it comes with a fair amount of downsides in that you have to devote a lot of resources to STR, and you get disadvantage on Stealth checks. If your character build values AC over ASI for their primary stats, this is a reasonable pick up.
One thing to keep in mind is that a one-level dip the fighter or paladin class, also gives you heavy armor proficiency on top of some other solid bonuses. Plus, you already need a 13 in Strength to choose the class, so the requirement for heavy armor will be fulfilled.
Lightly Armored
This half-feat can be useful for casters who want to save spell slots instead of casting Mage Armor each day. That said, caster classes don’t get a lot of ASIs, so taking this feat comes at quite the opportunity cost.
Mage Slayer
Unfortunately, with the changes to monster stat blocks made post-Oct. 4th, 2021 update, Mage Slayer has received a massive nerf. Most spellcasting creatures (other than player characters) got their spell list greatly reduced and now rely on “spell-based actions” to do damage and perform other effects that used to be spells. Jeremy Crawford confirmed that these melee/ranged spell attacks do not trigger counterspell because they don’t count as spells. Therefore, they won’t trigger Mage Slayer’s reaction.
Martial Adept
This is a good feat because Battle Master maneuvers can be quite strong, but it is limited by the superiority dice. You only get one die and it doesn’t scale with your level.
This feat is usually most effective for the Battle Master subclass from which it came. This is because you get two new maneuvers and an extra superiority dice, which is a reasonable increase in place of an ASI.
Mounted Combatant
This is a solid feat, but it needs a fair amount of setup in order to be effective. Because most mounts are quite squishy (Warhorses only have 19 hit points) even taking half damage from a fireball or dragon’s breath can be enough to finish it off.
This feat really shines for the paladin class because of find greater steed, and is really the only viable option for this feat.
Outlands Envoy
Even though this feat offers misty step and a 3rd-level spell, it’s still a fair bit weaker than Fey Touched. This is because tongues won’t have as much of an impact as some of the powerful 1st-level spells you can pick up with Fey Touched, despite it being a 3rd-level spell.
Planar Wanderer
Planar Wanderer is a niche feat designed for Planescape campaigns. While it does provide a damage resistance that can be tailored to your environment, its value is directly tied to how often your campaign interacts with different planes and portals. In a standard campaign, its benefits might not shine as brightly. This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that Scion of the Outer Planes, this feat’s prerequisite, is restricted to Planescape campaigns unless your DM rules otherwise.
It’s also worth noting that it’s secondary feature, Portal Cracker, is basically useless to any character not stated into Intelligence and with a proficiency in Arcana.
Revanent Blade
Double-bladed scimitars are a very powerful weapon for Dexterity builds. Being able to take a bonus action attack that you can add your ability modifier to without having to take pick up a Fighting Style is incredibly efficient. Plus, the damage being 2d4 instead of 1d8 makes it more consistent (5 damage per attack vs 1d8’s 4.5 damage). This feat offers an ASI, added AC, and the ability to use this weapon for a Dexterity build, making it a valuable pickup if you’ll be using this weapon.
Ritual Caster
Ritual Caster is a decent feat, but is usually outshone by Magic Initiate. Usually, the best combination of ritual spells to take would be detect magic and find familiar from the wizard spell list, as these are both powerful 1st-level spells to be able to cast whenever you want (as long as you have 10 minutes).
This feat really begins to shine if you start to find ritual spells throughout the campaign. Keep in mind, this may need discussion with your DM to ask if they could include spell scrolls or spell books as loot.
Second Chance
This half-feat allows you to make a target roll at disadvantage if they hit you. It’s an alright ability, but really only worth it if you have a high AC in the first place or are in a dungeon crawl-heavy campaign, where you’ll be rolling initiative multiple times a day
For casters, a defensive, reaction-based spell like shield, counterspell, or silvery barbs is likely going to be much more use of your reaction slot. For martial character, the Lucky feat will certainly provide more value. For example, the Lucky feat gives you 3 attempts to negate an attack against you and doesn’t require your reaction, it can also give you advantage on your attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws.
Skilled
Not great, not terrible. If you want to offer more utility to your party, Skilled is a decent way of doing so. Unfortunately, this ability is outdone by Prodigy, which is the far superior skill-based feat.
Skulker
This feat certainly has some use for a very specific build. Being able to hide while lightly obscured is a wood elf trait, and being able to see in dim light comes with Darkvision, so if you are a human rogue or ranger, this could be a good pick-up.
This is also good for Underdark campaigns because seeing in darkness with darkvision is still considered dim light. This means you’d be able to hide from creatures while navigating dark areas, even if they normally have no issues seeing in the dark, because you’ll be lightly obscured.
Slasher
Unfortunately, Slasher is the worst of the melee damage type feats introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. It doesn’t offer as much damage as Piecer and the effects you impose on hit and crit are more situational than Crusher.
Tavern Brawler
Unfortunately, Tavern Brawler doesn’t even come close to being optimized when comparing it to Shield Master, Sharpshooter, or Great Weapon Master. Even with this feat, grapple-based character builds that use improvised weapons will always be outpaced by regular melee classes.
Vigor of the Hill Giant
Unfortunately, this feat just doesn’t do enough to make it particularly worthwhile for most campaigns. If you’re playing a dungeon crawl where short rests and Hit Dice are imperative to stay alive, this can produce the extra resources needed to survive.
D Tier
Athlete
The only thing in this feat really worth anything (apart from the STR or DEX ASI) is the elimination of extra movement cost to climbing. Only take this feat if that stipulation is extremely important to your class build.
For most campaigns, this is an automatic pass, but for a low-level, low-magic, city-based campaign, the parkour possibilities are quite fun to think about.
Charger
Without considerably building around this feat, Charger is not a good use of your turn when you have an extra attack. Of course, there will be situations where dashing and taking an attack will be useful, but taking an ASI to +2 STR or DEX will always outpace this feat.
Cohort of Chaos
While the Cohort of Chaos feat introduces a fun and unpredictable element to gameplay, its inherent randomness can be its downfall. The inability to control or predict the outcome of the Chaotic Flare can sometimes be detrimental, especially in critical situations. Compared to other feats that offer more consistent benefits, Cohort of Chaos is just not reliable enough most of the time.
Dungeon Delver
This feat could be useful if your campaign revolves primarily around dungeon delving (as the feat suggests). Otherwise, it has a very low floor.
Grappler
The Grappler feat is a situational choice. It can be very powerful in the right circumstances, but it’s not always the best option. If you’re playing a character who specializes in grappling, such as a barbarian or a fighter, this feat can be a great addition to your arsenal. However, for most other classes, there are likely better feats to choose from.
Keen Mind
Keen Mind isn’t particularly powerful. Yes, it’s only a half feat so it can provide some bonus to your INT score. Unfortunately, it only improves your INT, unlike other half feats that allow you to pump any spellcasting stat. This means that classes that dump INT (AKA the majority of them) will be unlikely to take this feat.
Linguist
The value of the Linguist feat can vary greatly depending on the campaign. In a campaign where communication and intelligence gathering are key, Linguist can be an alright. However, in a more combat-focused campaign, other feats may provide more tangible benefits.
Savage Attacker
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.
Weapon Master
Most builds that want to use a specific weapon have proficiency in that weapon. This isn’t even worth it as a half-feat.
If you’re looking for extra weapon proficiencies, it’s usually more worth it to multiclass into a class that has access to the weapon you’re looking for.
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