Combat Styles

[Pinkcrusade]

Hello, Playground.

I am planning on playing a Fighter, and I was wondering what everybody's opinions pertaining to the different Combat Styles. I don't have a PHB with me, so I can't ascertain their benefits.

Thanks

[Person_Man]

My read is that the best option is Protection; as a Reaction impose Disadvantage on an enemy if it attacks someone other then you, and you must wield a shield. It works best while wielding a lance (1d12 damage, reach) combined with the Mounted Combat Feat while mounted on an ally Moon Druid who has the Sentinel Feat. But even without that, if you're just standing shoulder to shoulder with an ally who also has the Protection Fighting style and/or Sentinel Feat, it's very useful.

However, you shouldn't take it if you have other plans for your Reaction, like Polearm Master, Sentinel, or Mage Slayer.

Every other Fighting style else basically boils down to +1-2ish average damage per attack or +1 AC.

[randomodo]

My two cents:
- Defensive. +1 AC while wearing armor isn't very sexy, but with bounded accuracy, getting a +1 bonus to AC is more beneficial than it would have been in 3.5 (I don't know about 4e, since I never played it). Synergizes well with Heavy Armor Mastery, to reduce damage from those attacks which do hit you. Most likely to be selected by Champions as their secondary style rather than by anyone as their primary (it doesn't suck, it's just not passive defensive bonuses aren't as cool-seeming as the other styles)

- Protection (if using a shield, impose disadvantage on one attack per round against an adjacent ally) is useful if you fighting small numbers of enemies to help keep squishy rogues or wizards alive. Not so useful if you're fighting a horde of enemies, since it's only good for one defense per round (but it still has a net effect of reducing the damage your ally takes)

- Duelist. +2 damage with one-handed weapon. Works if you're carrying a shield in your off-hand, but not if you're using two weapons. Good boost to damage that doesn't require you to sacrifice your AC. Changes longsword average damage from 4.5 to 6.5 (roughly the equivalent of using a d12 for your damage die...I say "roughly" because the math works differently on crits, and the bell curve is different, but your median damage is that of using a d12)

- Archery, DW, and Great Weapon I don't recall the details of off the top of my cranium.

[Symphony]

- Archery, DW, and Great Weapon I don't recall the details of off the top of my cranium.

Archery is +2 to hit with a ranged weapon, which is pretty awesome if you're planning to use a lot of ranged weapons. Combined with the Sharpshooter feat, it reduces the hit penalty for the +10 damage to a reasonable -3 which is great for more damage.

Two-Weapon Fighting adds your ability modifier to attacks with your off-hand, which provides a reasonable damage boost early on, though as a Fighter gets more attacks, other options tend to be better. It stays comparable longer with the Dual Wielder feat, but that does cost a feat.

Great Weapon Fighting I think allows you to re-roll damage on a 1 or 2. This increases your average damage, which is nice. There is also the Heavy Weapon Master(?) feat that gives very nice bonuses that work well with this feat.

[randomodo]

It works best while wielding a lance (1d12 damage, reach) combined with the Mounted Combat Feat while mounted on an ally Moon Druid





Moon druids can turn into an Allosaur or Rhino at level 6, iirc (both are CR2). Custom-build a saddle and have fun ;-)

[DrLemniscate]

Archery has the potential to be the fighting style with the highest damage output, due to its interaction with the Sharpshooter feat (especially if you are also using Dual Hand Crossbows as per the Crossbow Expert feat). Fighters have the potential to be better archers than Rangers, but only in late game with the extra attacks.

Great-Weapon Fighting is best exploited with a 2d6 weapon, making it pull even further ahead of the 1d12 weapons.

Two-Weapon Fighting is good at low levels, but starts to fall behind when you get extra attacks; you only get one bonus action per round of combat. You need to pick up the Dual Wielder feat to make it worthwhile.

Dueling is great for defensive fighting. You can still use a shield, or have a hand open for grappling. 2 extra attacks make this fighting style pull ahead of Two-Weapon Fighting (without the Dual Wielder feat).

Protection is probably the best for a traditional tank character. I personally prefer the sizeable damage bump from Dueling, but this style offers utility. Just keep in mind it uses your reaction, so it is only once per round of combat, and interferes with other reactions like an attack of opportunity, Defensive Dueling feat, or Shield Master feat.

Defense would be best for building a meat shield, but can end up doing nothing. Either you take a loss of damage, making the fight go longer, or the bad guys attack someone who isn't you. Still, the +1 AC shouldn't be thought of as too small; Going 20 to 21 AC is a much larger jump than going from 10 to 11 AC. Defense might actually be the best one to take if you get a second fighting style from somewhere; either from multiclassing or taking the Champion archetype. If you want a pure meat shield, you might be better off going Barbarian (who can reach 24 AC unarmored) or taking a single level in Barbarian (which lets you reach 22 AC unarmored).

The issue with Dueling vs un-feated TWF is really only a concern for Fighters, since the breakpoint is 2 extra attacks. For melee Rangers, TWF will be better, especially with the bump from Hunter's Mark. This is also true for other classes multiclassing in to a Fighting Style, as long as they get extra damage on every attack (not just once per turn).


In order to get the most damage from the first three Fighting Styles, they need to be supported by feats. Archery needs Sharpshooter, GWF needs Great Weapon Master, and TWF needs Dual Wielder. This is most important for Fighters, since their extra attacks make the damage gap even wider.

Great Weapon Fighters can specialize even further by using a Polearm (1d10), and picking up the Polearm Master feat (Sentinel feat also works great with this). Ideally going through all extra attacks trying to get a crit to trigger GWM, then triggering Polearm Master on the last one if it doesn't crit.

If you get more than one fighting style, you could try to combine fighting styles. Say, TWF with 2 versatile 1d8's, dropping the offhand after the first attack, then GWF with the versatile weapon for 1d10 or Dueling with a 1d8 on subsequent attacks. However, this requires a heavy investment of feats. You're probably better off taking something for defense or utility, like Defensive or Protection.

[Inevitability]

At the moment, I'm working on a fighter guide. It should appear in a few days here. Hopefully it'll help you.

[TimeWizard]

Moon druids can turn into an Allosaur or Rhino at level 6, iirc (both are CR2). Custom-build a saddle and have fun ;-)

Do the rules require a saddle and/or is their a bareback riding feat?

[Person_Man]

Do the rules require a saddle and/or is their a bareback riding feat?

IIRC, having a saddle just gives you Advantage on checks to avoid being knocked off your mount. You don't need it. It's just useful.

[randomodo]

Halfling ranger/barbians get advantage if they're mounted on an allosaur. 'Least they do if they're named Belkar.