Proactive Defense Tactics

[Nagog]

So I've been formulating a few strategies and tactics for being proactively defensive, and so far I've found the following:

Sentinel+Crusher: Enemy makes a melee attack against an adjacent ally, provoking Sentinel AoO. If it hits, it not only reduces their movement speed to 0, but also pushes them 5 feet away from said ally thanks to Crusher, thereby preventing any consecutive hits (and preventing them from closing the distance again)

Vengeance Pally 7 + Tunnel Fighter + Polearm Master: Bonus action stance (for unlimited AoO), Polearm Master triggers whenever anybody enters 10 ft range, Vengeance Pally 7 ability allows half of your movement for free without provoking AoO when making an AoO, move away from attacking enemy. Rinse and Repeat.

Overall these are the only surefire methods I've seen to be proactively defensive, does anybody have any other additions? I'm trying to build a roster of tactical martial characters to choose from.

[Frogreaver]

So I've been formulating a few strategies and tactics for being proactively defensive, and so far I've found the following:

Sentinel+Crusher: Enemy makes a melee attack against an adjacent ally, provoking Sentinel AoO. If it hits, it not only reduces their movement speed to 0, but also pushes them 5 feet away from said ally thanks to Crusher, thereby preventing any consecutive hits (and preventing them from closing the distance again)

Vengeance Pally 7 + Tunnel Fighter + Polearm Master: Bonus action stance (for unlimited AoO), Polearm Master triggers whenever anybody enters 10 ft range, Vengeance Pally 7 ability allows half of your movement for free without provoking AoO when making an AoO, move away from attacking enemy. Rinse and Repeat.

Overall these are the only surefire methods I've seen to be proactively defensive, does anybody have any other additions? I'm trying to build a roster of tactical martial characters to choose from.

I'm not sure what you mean by proactive defense.

[CheddarChampion]

IIRC Sentinel kicks in after an ally is hit so I wouldn't call it proactive.
Sentinel's special reaction attack doesn't count as an AoO so it doesn't affect your enemy's movement speed.
If 5' isn't enough of a push you could add a battlemaster's pushing attack or tripping attack.

If your DM is fine with UA - specifically Tunnel Fighter - then #2 would work.
If not, Sentinel + PAM would work for one enemy per round.

Cavalier's Unwavering Mark might work well for what you're going for: hit an enemy, they have a harder time hitting your allies.
Same deal with Ancestral Guardian.

Shove prone + grapple + a high athletics check can work well against one enemy.

Plenty of spells (especially walls) can shut down enemies. But it sounds like you're talking about martial abilities.

In my experience, defensive tactics mostly involve positioning and cover. And taking out the biggest threats.

[Sparky McDibben]

Preemptive fireballs work great.

There are also a whole range of spells in the "I want you to hit me" line like hellish rebuke and armor of Agathys.

[Frogreaver]

I don't know that I would call this proactive but it worked surprisingly well.

Went Barbarian 3 / Swashbuckler Rogue X. Isolate one enemy and stay on top of it with your high mobility. Deter it from going after allies with your high sneak attack. With rage and rogue half damage ability you are more than tanky enough to pull this off.

[MaxWilson]

So I've been formulating a few strategies and tactics for being proactively defensive, and so far I've found the following:

Sentinel+Crusher: Enemy makes a melee attack against an adjacent ally, provoking Sentinel AoO. If it hits, it not only reduces their movement speed to 0, but also pushes them 5 feet away from said ally thanks to Crusher, thereby preventing any consecutive hits (and preventing them from closing the distance again)


I believe this combo is illegal. Sentinel only reduces movement speed to zero on an opportunity attack. The reaction attack it grants when an enemy attacks someone besides you is not an opportunity attack.

Grapple + prone is a pretty good proactive defense. Sometimes so is grapple + drag away from other PCs. Disarming is also good proactively. Throwing nets is situationally good.

[stoutstien]

So I've been formulating a few strategies and tactics for being proactively defensive, and so far I've found the following:

Sentinel+Crusher......

Vengeance Pally 7 + Tunnel Fighter + Polearm Master......

..... are the only surefire methods I've seen to be proactively defensive, does anybody .....

If your strategy involves a specific enemy doing X for it to work and you don't have a way to force them to doing it then it's not surefire nor is proactive. Not to mention both of your tactics rely on sight, perfect positioning, and NPCs without reach or alternative options than simple melee attacks. so while these might work to make easy encounters easier that does a little to address the encounters that might be a challenge to begin with.

If you want to be proactive defensively you must first identify the most effective options the opposition has and prevent it. Most NPCs are one trick ponies so this is enough to maintain control of momentum. This is also why action denial is so powerful because it guarantees that block.

the next step is to looking at ways of punishing them from doing anything else and start adding mitigation in. So the AG barbarian is impeding attacking anyone else so then they need to make sure targeting them is also less effective. This can be achieved with mobility and staying out of range or looking for other ways to increase avoidance and lasting longer.

You can see the problem with sentinel once you step back. while it does an okay job of punishing enemies from hitting an ally it doesn't actually prevent them from doing it and if the single reaction attack is a smaller cost than hitting that ally it doesn't even effect their choice. i.e. hitting the caster concentration on haste is more effective than hitting the martial pc with the haste effect.


So in short the best things to do to be proactive
- take advantage of advantage. If the enemies aren't at disadvantage and your party doesn't have advantage then that should be a high priority. Even in cases where you're just trying to cancel one out it can have a very noticeable effect.

- don't have weak links. This goes hand and hand with don't over specialize. Being able to shut down an ogre is cool but have plans for a gaggle of goblins as well.

- teamwork. Being proactive is something a party does not any single player/character. Don't try to do it all.

- look for incentives and motivations. Try to figure out what the NPCs want and what they are trying to achieve. Sometimes being proactive means using your action to do something beyond the mechanics.

[Hellpyre]

Starting a list with two overtuned UA opyions is probably not the best way to sell the concept. That being said, as far as actual proactive defenses, spells are really what you want. Stone Shape and Illusion magic both provide for ambushes and spontanious cover. Flight in general is a good proactive defensive tool against anything relegated to melee range. Glyph of Warding + Hold Person on something easy to cover and display is a great way to pull someone out of the fight on demand without taxing concentration.

(Also, you seem to have listed a pair of very reactive defense tactics, so I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for suggestions on or not)

[sophontteks]

I second using grapple and trip with high athletics. Drop their movement to zero, give them disadvantage, and give your allies advantage. It's simple but there are some really great synergies and combos you can use to make it even better.

My barbarian has athletics expertise (dm let me take brawney but prodigy also works). He gets advantage from raging too. Most enemies don't have athletics profeciency. The odds of succeeding are much higher then a single reaction attack.

3rd level eagle gives me a bonus action dash, and makes enemies waste reactions. I took athlete so I can climb at my movement speed too (not worried about making athletics checks to climb).

The idea is that I rush through the rabble to grab a priority target, and force the attention to be on me. But exact tactics depend on the enemy. This is just the default idea. Get their attention and force them to deal with me, while my teammates get to blast away and enjoy the room I created.