Learn about the best feats 5E to turn the game around in your favor and build an undefeated character.
When it comes to Dungeons and Dragons, your feats can mean the difference between defining your character and having a character who can easily be forgotten. The right set of feats can transform your character into an unforgettable character. They can help benefit your campaign in ways that are otherwise impossible.
However, choosing the right set of feats can be really challenging as there are so many feats in the D&D 5e source books. In this article, we will mention all the best feats 5e so you can make calculated choices when choosing your set of feats.
Below is a list of the best feats 5E in Dungeons and Dragons to help you build the character of your dreams. This list contains feats from both the source books as well as the newer releases, including the Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.
So without further ado, let’s get to it, shall we?
Table of Contents
Top 20 Best Feats 5E [Ranked]
#20 Elven Accuracy
Source: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
The Elven Accuracy feat for Half-eves and Elves allows you to reroll your die when you have an advantage on the attack rolls including Intelligence, Charisma, Dexterity, and Wisdom. So you get 3 d20 rolls. It also increases your Intelligence, Charisma, Dexterity, and Wisdom by 1.
With this feat, maximizing your advantage is the most important aspect. The only caveat is that this feat is restricted to Elves and Half-elves.
#19 Magic Initiate
Source: Player’s Handbook
The Magic Initiate feat lets you pick a different class and learn a first-level spell and two cantrips from its spell list. It is an incredibly versatile feat that offers an extra edge in your combats and lets you use alternate spells that you won’t normally have.
With this feat, any class can get a 1d10 ranged attack with Eldritch Blast or Firebolt while getting their hands on some really handy utility spells. For instance, a barbarian with a magic spell can do wonders to their gameplay. A Paladin can finally get their hands on cantrips, which is normally not possible.
However, as the spells you choose will use the similar ability score as the class, you may feel like there are less options of classes to pick from. But it doesn’t change the fact that this is a really game-changing feat.
#18 Squat Nimbleness
Source: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
As you can tell from its name, the Squat Nimbleness feat makes Halflings and Dwarves extra nimble by offering them a gain of 5 feet of walking speed, increased Dexterity of Strength, Athletics or Acrobatics proficiency, and an advantage when they are attempting to escape a grapple
So if you are a small race, this is a really great feat to have as it offers a lot of small benefits in just one feat.
#17 Mounted Combatant
Source: Player’s Handbook
Mounts don’t really turn out to be the most pivotal roles in the game. So the only time when it makes sense to build a mount character in D&D 5E is if you have the Mounted Combatant feat. This feat lets you divert attacks directed towards your mount, to yourself, which goes a long way in ensuring your mount’s survival.
What’s more, the feat also offers advantage on attack rolls against the smaller unmounted creatures. So if you are building a mount character in D&D 5E, it can only be done right with the Mounted Combatant feat.
#16 Prodigy
Source: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
Prodigy is a racial feat available for humans, half-orcs, and half-elves that makes you proficient in whatever skill, language, and tool you choose. What’s more, you will gain expertise with the one skill you choose in which you have proficiency, meaning that the proficiency bonus you get will be doubled for the ability checks you make using it. However, do note that this feat cannot be stacked with Expertise.
#15 Flames of Phlegethos
Source: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
Accessible only to tieflings, the Flames of Phlegethos feat is ideal for those who use fire magic. Not only does this feat ensure that you never roll minimum damage on your fire damage, it also boosts your Intelligence and Charisma, which is ideal for any sorcerer, bard, wizard, or warlock.
What’s more, you will be surrounded by flames, which means anyone who dares to close on you will get hurt. If you are building a fire-based build, this is the ideal feat for you as it keeps the enemies at bay and increases your reliability of damage.
#14 Shield Master
Source: Player’s Handbook
The Shield Master feat gives you the ability to shove your enemies after attacking them. This gives you a bonus action as you can shove them prone or 5 feet by coordinating your attacks properly. This would ensure that your ranged allies are at a safe distance from your foes.
What’s more, you can even turn a prone enemy into an easy target by using this feat just before your ally’s turn. You can even shove your foes into a spell’s area of effect to inflict damage. This can be quite useful and fun for your team.
However, do note that you can only use the shove option as a bonus action after you have taken the attack action.
#13 Tavern Brawler
Source: Player’s Handbook
Tavern Brawler allows you to transform just about anything you can get your hands on, into a weapon. So you will never be without a weapon. The feat also gives an upgrade to your unarmed strikes. They will be using a D4 now instead of inflicting only a single point of damage. What’s more, as a bonus action, you will now be able to grapple a target.
#12 Mage Slayer
Source: Player’s Handbook
The Mage Slayer feat allows you to make a melee attack as a reaction on an adjacent creature when they cast a spell. It is ideal for players who are building a melee anti-mage archetype character. When damaging them, you will also be imposing a disadvantage on your enemies as they use concentration saving throws.
What’s more, if the creature is adjacent to you, you will have an advantage against their spells with your saving throws. So if you come across a lot of spell casters in your games, get your hands on this feat.
#11 Alert
Source: Player’s Handbook
Alert is an ideal feat for those whose Dungeon Master tells them to ambush at every chance they get. It offers a +5 bonus to initiative and negates the advantages that other creatures get when they surprise you. So the feat will keep you safe from ambushes.
What’s more, it also lets you act first in combat and allows any character to become the party sentry. You can use this feat on a dextrous character so that they always go first. It can also prove to be ideal for a character with a bad initiative score. After all, you only really need one “Alert” member of the team to warn others about the danger.
#10 Second Chance
Source: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
Available only for Halflings, this racial feat is triggered when you are hit by a creature. Once the feat is triggered, you can force the creature to reroll the attack roll as a reaction. You can only use this ability after a short or long rest, or once per initiative roll.
#9 Healer
Source: Player’s Handbook
If you end up in a party where there is no healer, you can rely on this feat to be your knight in shining armor! While you can already stabilize a target in 5E using the healer’s kit, using the kit with this feat will result in the target regaining 1 hit point. Pretty cool, right?
You can even spend a use of the healer’s kit to get 1d6 + 4 hit points + the target’s level. This can be done by using an action. It is one of the best and most useful feats that also proves to be really cost effective for you.
Healer is one of the best utility and cost effective feats while only costing 5 gold and having just 10 uses. What’s more, you can use it just after a short rest.
#8 Elemental Adept
Source: Player’s Handbook
Only available for casting classes, this feat is an incredibly useful tool for characters that only focus on a single type of damage, such as a Pact of the Fiend warlock of a Draconic Bloodline sorcerer. The reason why it is only limited to casting classes is because it needs you to be able to cast at least a level one spell.
The feat greatly fortifies single-damage builds and can be used multiple times for better-rounded builds. It also lets you ignore all the resistances to that specific damage type, nullifying the biggest setback of focusing on a single damage type. It also upgrades all damage rolls into twos so that you never roll minimum damage on any spell.
#7 Athlete
Source: Player’s Handbook
The Athlete feat offers a number of small benefits in addition to boosting your Strength or Dexterity by one. These benefits come in handy for any character or build which is focused on increasing mobility. If you are an explorer who is more of a dungeons fan, climbing will not cost you extra movement anymore and you can even make running jumps without any effort.
Players will also be able to enjoy ability score increases and other improvements in other effects. They can also leap and run towards anywhere easily, which really comes in handy at low levels.
#6 Sharp Shooter
Source: Player’s Handbook
This feat elevates your archery skills to a whole another level. Usually, when a character attacks using a ranged weapon, they get a -5 penalty to attack rolls for a +10 bonus to damage. With Sharp Shooter, this penalty is offset. The feat allows you to ignore the three-quarters cover and half cover.
What’s more, when you use the long ranged options of ranged weapons, you will not be rolling at a disadvantage anymore. It will actually feel like you’ve activated a cheat for low and mid-level characters.
#5 War Caster
Source: Player’s Handbook
War Caster is an ideal feat for all characters who want to cast spells during melee combat. It comes with a number of awesome benefits. For instance, it offers advantage on concentration saving throws, which are activated when you take damage.
It allows melee-caster builds and helps casters maintain concentration. It also lets armored casters freely cast somatic spells. However, my personal favorite feature of this feat is how it lets you cast spells as opportunity attacks. This opens up so many avenues in combat. You can bind a creature with Hold Monster and use it as a supercharged combat trick.
#4 Heavy Armor Master
Source: Player’s Handbook
Ever wanted to become a heavy armor master? Well, this feat makes you so great at using heavy armor that you will be deflecting strikes like a pro. It increases your Strength by 1 and also becomes much more powerful as it reduces the non-magical weapon damage by 3. This may not sound that attractive but when equipped with a Battle Master’s Parry, you can reduce the damage by 11 points. How useful, right?
#3 Bountiful Luck
Source: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
If you are someone who knows that taking out your antagonist and passing through dungeons is more about hitting everything with a powerful weapon, this feat is for you. Bountiful Luck allows you to reroll for the allies who are within 30 feet. This happens as a reaction to when they roll a 1.
What’s more, you can use this feat every round and it even works for saving throws, attack rolls, and ability checks. How cool, right? This feat protects your team from pivotal rolls.
Halflings in D&D come with inherent luck thanks to their racial trait. But the Bountiful Luck feat also extends this luck to all your allies. How lucky, right?
#2 Polearm Master
Source: Player’s Handbook
If you are looking for a melee version of the Crossbow Expert feat, Polearm Master should be your go-to feat. It grants you a bonus action when using a weapon with reach. With this bonus, you can inflict 1d4 of damage using the butt-end of the weapon as well as the bonus you get from the ability score used for the main attack.
Polearm master affects halberts, quarterstaffs, glaives, and spears. It works the best with Greater Weapon Master if you are aiming for a great melee damage dealer build. You can also get extra attacks with bonus action. What’s more, any enemies approaching you will get hit.
So if you are looking for a character that uses Polearm, this is the ideal feat for you as it will empower your build. Paladin’s Smite and Barbarian’s Range both benefit from extra attacks.
#1 Lucky
Source: Player’s Handbook
When it comes to the best feat in D&D, it has to be Lucky. This awesome feat offers 3 luck points that can be used to roll an extra d20 on a saving throw, an attack, or an ability check. You can then select which dice you can use for the result. Although you can only use this before you find out if you failed or won, Lucky can get you out of the ugly situations.
It basically offers free rerolls, which makes it the best feat overall. It can be used for any build or character and it also comes in handy in and out of combat.
You can even use this feat on attacks made against the player to help them ditch death. It is incredibly versatile and is ideal for any character or build.
Conclusion
So this sums up our top 20 best feats 5E. If you are looking for a way build a remarkable character in D&D 5E, get your hands on these best feats 5E. Also check out our other 5E guides to remain on top of your game (literally).
