Horde Breaker + Volley: The Double Tap

[GiantOctopodes]

Just a little something I realized as I was rereading the rules: Horde Breaker gives you an attack against someone within 5' of a target you hit with a weapon attack, once per turn. Volley lets you make an attack against everyone in a 10' radius. Assuming any two creatures in there are adjacent, Volley triggers Horde Breaker. This is especially true because of the line "If there’s ever any question whether something you’re doing counts as an attack, the rule is simple: if you’re making an attack roll, you’re making an attack."

Not excessively powerful, but a nice little bonus for Hunter Rangers out there.

Edit: Please note, I do realize that for many people who have read the rules thoroughly or multiple times, or are very rules oriented, this is a "no duh" sort of post. But I consider myself generally pretty quick on the uptake when it comes to rules, and this was not immediately apparent to me, so I figured this may help at least one person out there. If this was a "no duh" post for you, I apologize for wasting your time. :smallsmile:

[MadBear]

Just a little something I realized as I was rereading the rules: Horde Breaker gives you an attack against someone within 5' of a target you hit with a weapon attack, once per turn. Volley lets you make an attack against everyone in a 10' radius. Assuming any two creatures in there are adjacent, Volley triggers Horde Breaker. This is especially true because of the line "If there’s ever any question whether something you’re doing counts as an attack, the rule is simple: if you’re making an attack roll, you’re making an attack."

Not excessively powerful, but a nice little bonus for Hunter Rangers out there.

actually, for bursty AOE fun, pair the volley + hoard breaker, and make that hoard breaker attack a lightening arrow. It can literally fry everyone in a decent radius for a really good amount of AOE damage.

[GiantOctopodes]

actually, for bursty AOE fun, pair the volley + hoard breaker, and make that hoard breaker attack a lightening arrow. It can literally fry everyone in a decent radius for a really good amount of AOE damage.

Nice, I like it! Essentially you could make a Venn's Diagram sort of overlapping fields of AOE damage, potentially wiping out a maximum of 20+ enemies. It requires using volley, then using a bonus action to cast lightning arrow, then using the attack granted by horde breaker, but it's totally doable.

If you want to concentrate AOE damage, it's worth noting that you can use Lightning arrow as part of a volley attack, which when combined with just basic serpent venom means you can be doing upwards of 30 damage to each enemy in the radius, better damage than a fireball even before accounting that other on-hit effects (such as crusader's mantle) will apply as well.

[MadBear]

Nice, I like it! Essentially you could make a Venn's Diagram sort of overlapping fields of AOE damage, potentially wiping out a maximum of 20+ enemies. It requires using volley, then using a bonus action to cast lightning arrow, then using the attack granted by horde breaker, but it's totally doable.

If you want to concentrate AOE damage, it's worth noting that you can use Lightning arrow as part of a volley attack, which when combined with just basic serpent venom means you can be doing upwards of 30 damage to each enemy in the radius, better damage than a fireball even before accounting that other on-hit effects (such as crusader's mantle) will apply as well.

The hunter ranger has surprisingly good AOE on-demand damage and ways to boost it to even better levels. Sure the beast-master is a bit underpowered, but the hunter can definitely fill the void, that I used to think only a well placed fireball could fill.