Horizon Walker MC

[Anthiondel]

I'm planning a Horizon Walker for a campaign that will go up to lvl13. I like the lvl11 feature, but I'd like to diversify a bit.

My idea for the character's a scout and archer, with heavy dmg output. I'm considering a 2lvl dip in either fighter or rogue.

Rogue would give sneak attack, expertiese in stealth and perception (good for scouting) but the bonus action would be somehow negated by the extra d8 from the HW lvl3 feature. Fighter gives second wind and action surge, but no expertiese nor sneak attack.

Which one do you thinks works better?

[kazaryu]

I'm planning a Horizon Walker for a campaign that will go up to lvl13. I like the lvl11 feature, but I'd like to diversify a bit.

My idea for the character's a scout and archer, with heavy dmg output. I'm considering a 2lvl dip in either fighter or rogue.

Rogue would give sneak attack, expertiese in stealth and perception (good for scouting) but the bonus action would be somehow negated by the extra d8 from the HW lvl3 feature. Fighter gives second wind and action surge, but no expertiese nor sneak attack.

Which one do you thinks works better?

Depends entirely. Rogues sneak attack make pretty good per turn damage, especially if youre already multiattacking. Cunning action clashes somewhat with other options you have, but are still always useful if you need to either go dark, go mobile, or get away (hide, dash, disengage respectively) its. Additionally, if your DM allows you to use the alternate class features UA you can also 'aim' to give yourself advantage, at the cost of your movement for that round.

Whereas the 2 fighter levels only give you a heal that is...really no better than a first level cure wounds from the party healer, and it costs your own action economy (which clashes with that 1d8 too) and it gives you an extra action every fight.

Narratively I think for a charatver thats meant to be a 'scout' the mobility and expertise from rogue makes far more sense. And mechanically i think the rogue abilites are gonna come into play a but more (although in bith cases by the time you get them youll be reaching the end of the campaign unless you do the dip earlier)

[bendking]

It depends on how much short rests you get between battles. If the answer is definitely "at least one", then go for the Fighter. The Action Surge will be much better than 1d6 of Sneak Attack.
You will also be able to get an additional Fighting Style, which can easily be Defense for an additional +1 to AC.

[thoroughlyS]

If damage is what you're after, I'd go with fighter. Action surge will definitely output more damage in a given fight than sneak attack will.

[Nidgit]

I'd go with Fighter as well. A RAW reading of Distant Strike has it focusing on the Attack action, which means that every part of it should apply a second time when you Action Surge. 6 attacks in a turn is pretty tasty when you tack on some Planar Warrior and Hunter's Mark bonuses.

2d8+2d8+2d6+10 (35) force damage to a single enemy and 19 damage to two more? Yes please, and put some Sharpshooter on there too.

[RogueJK]

Of those two choices, go Fighter if you want more damage and a slightly higher AC, and go Rogue is you want more out-of-combat utility and some potential greater maneuverability in combat.

Another option to consider is 2 levels in Cleric. This will give you some additional higher level spells slots for upcasting, and some extra cantrips and lower level spells known, plus a few other useful riders from subclass abilities. Good choices would something like Knowledge Cleric for proficiency and expertise in two Knowledge skills plus on-the-fly additional skill proficiency as needed, or War Cleric for some additional Bonus Action attacks per day plus 1/short rest +10 to attack bonus to help counteract the -5 from using Sharpshooter. The former is more useful out of combat and more thematically appropriate, with a planar traveler/guardian being necessarily more versatile in their skillset and more knowledgeable on certain topics, and the latter being the slightly more powerful combat option

Keep in mind that you already have several uses for your Bonus Action, including Planar Warrior and spells like Hunter's Mark. Other Bonus Action abilities from some other classes, like Rogue's Cunning Action, Fighter's Second Wind, and War Cleric's extra attacks, will be competing for your Bonus Action too. So that's a point in favor of Knowledge Cleric, who's not reliant on Bonus Actions.