Seeking advice on a Sharpshooter-focused build (post Tasha's)...

[samcifer]

So my idea is to focus a build around the Sharpshooter feat in 5e. I'm thinking that at the Steady Aim feature of the rogue class'es new TCoE class features would be good, but wondering if there's a better way. All classes and subclasses as well as all races allowed, all books allowed.

The goal is to have high accuracy to counter the -5 to hit from SS and to have at least 2 attacks per turn for high damage output. What would be the best build to go with on this (preferably trying to get the benefits to come online ASAP for lower-leveled campaigns (currently at levels 10 and 11 in the campaigns I'm currently in as replacements if my character in either campaign suddenly dies on me.)

[MaxWilson]

So my idea is to focus a build around the Sharpshooter feat in 5e. I'm thinking that at the Steady Aim feature of the rogue class'es new TCoE class features would be good, but wondering if there's a better way. All classes and subclasses as well as all races allowed, all books allowed.

The goal is to have high accuracy to counter the -5 to hit from SS and to have at least 2 attacks per turn for high damage output. What would be the best build to go with on this (preferably trying to get the benefits to come online ASAP for lower-leveled campaigns (currently at levels 10 and 11 in the campaigns I'm currently in as replacements if my character in either campaign suddenly dies on me.)

The easiest way is to play a Kobold and make sure you have an ally (like a conjured wolf or whatever) next to whomever you want to shoot, and that there's no sunlight around (e.g. because you do your adventuring at night).

Alternately, play an Eldritch Knight and just cast Darkness (conveniently, it's an Evocation spell so it's easy to acquire). By strict RAW being in darkness makes you unseen, which grants you advantage, and as long as your target is far enough away to NOT in be darkness you'll be able to see them, so there's no disadvantage to cancel out advantage. Now of course DMs don't always play by strict RAW so you should check with your DM (many DMs like to make the Darkness spell block vision in both directions, and let's please not have that argument in this thread--I'm just saying the DM might not let Darkness by itself grant advantage) so in that case you might need to either pick up the Blindfighting style or spend a feat on Eldritch Invocation (Devil's Sight) or dip Hexblade 2-3. Blindfighting is probably the easiest but only works at short range.

There's also the option of just having somebody throw a net on the target so you can shoot them with advantage for being restrained; having a familiar (possibly your own, via Find Familiar as an Eldritch Knight) Help you attack so you get advantage; knocking the target prone (with a conjured wolf or zombie or your own Athletics) so you can shoot them a bunch of times at advantage as a Sharpshooter + Crossbow Expert; and being a goblin so you can Hide as a bonus action and get advantage that way while also being difficult to attack back. (Skulker feat lets you hide even from darkvision.)

Edit: Oh yes, and I always forget this one because I houseruled it out of existence long ago, but... if you do your adventuring at night, by RAW you can just light up your enemies with a light source like a torch on a PC or a Dancing Lights spell from 120' away or an arrow with a Light spell pre-cast on it, and as long as you're beyond their darkvision range (60' for most monsters), they can't see you and you get advantage to shoot them. I houseruled it away because it made getting advantage on ranged attacks waaaaaay too cheap and easy, and ranged attacks are already strong and don't need the extra help. I now only grant advantage to unseen melee attackers. Anyway, this works by RAW and I call it the NARC Beacon (https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Narc_Missile_Beacon), for the BattleTech homing missile that makes all other missiles more accurate.

[BurgerKingMan]

Kensei Monk is a great sharpshooter build post tasha, V.Human (sharpshooter) by using deft strike or focused aim you can get 3 longbow attacks per round with ki-fueled attacks. By 11th level you have sharpen the blade to give you a plus 3 long bow, for 12th take the Martial Initiate (Archery) Feat. With the fighting style and sharpen the blade you can negate the -5 to attack with the ability to further boost the hit to chance by spending ki for focused aim when needed.

[poopyloop]

Monk, ranger, fighter and rogue are all good options for this kind of character, post Tasha. The above post about kensei is all the best parts of monk for a sharpshooter build. Ranger can add more damage with each attack from hunter's mark, as well as more accuarcy from archery fighting style. Gloom stalker gets an extra attack first turn of combat. Fighters also get archery, battle master stands out to me as a good pick for precision attack, boosting the accuracy more. Rogue in general works if you'll be using the aim ability, assassin grants easy advantage on turn 1. Advantage and accuracy boosting abilities are what you really want to be looking for. If you go with monk, a small dip in war cleric can give you +10 to hit a few times a day which is pretty big for a sharpshooter.

[ZRN]

Monk, ranger, fighter and rogue are all good options for this kind of character, post Tasha. The above post about kensei is all the best parts of monk for a sharpshooter build. Ranger can add more damage with each attack from hunter's mark, as well as more accuarcy from archery fighting style.

I wonder if it'd be worth taking three levels of Fey Wanderer ranger later on in a Kensei Monk build (after level 5 at least).

Ranger 1:
-1d4 damage per turn from Chosen Foe
-Expertise in one skill
Ranger 2:
-Archery style
-Spellcasting (Hunter's Mark, Absorb Elements)
Ranger 3:
-1d4 psychic damage once per target per turn
-Charm Person, some other spell
-Wisdom added to Charisma ability checks

You're giving up on a few ki points and some good higher-level monk stuff, but this is pretty inviting, no?

[poopyloop]

I wonder if it'd be worth taking three levels of Fey Wanderer ranger later on in a Kensei Monk build (after level 5 at least).

Ranger 1:
-1d4 damage per turn from Chosen Foe
-Expertise in one skill
Ranger 2:
-Archery style
-Spellcasting (Hunter's Mark, Absorb Elements)
Ranger 3:
-1d4 psychic damage once per target per turn
-Charm Person, some other spell
-Wisdom added to Charisma ability checks

You're giving up on a few ki points and some good higher-level monk stuff, but this is pretty inviting, no?

Yeah definitely a lot of goodies there, hunter may also be an option for the larger extra dice of damage, if that's what you're into, but the fey wanderer gives a lot of little bumps on top of extra dmg. I think it's hard to go wrong on subclass choices for any of the classes I mentioned, other than monk, which is better off in melee most of the time, but there's still a lot of mixing and matching to do to taste with a sharpshooter now.

[x3n0n]

I wonder if it'd be worth taking three levels of Fey Wanderer ranger later on in a Kensei Monk build (after level 5 at least).

Ranger 1:
-1d4 damage per turn from Chosen Foe
-Expertise in one skill
Ranger 2:
-Archery style
-Spellcasting (Hunter's Mark, Absorb Elements)
Ranger 3:
-1d4 psychic damage once per target per turn
-Charm Person, some other spell
-Wisdom added to Charisma ability checks

You're giving up on a few ki points and some good higher-level monk stuff, but this is pretty inviting, no?

Very inviting!

The only thing I'd emphasize (as you mentioned) is that "higher-level monk stuff"; if you are going to get to level 14 or 18, anything that would prevent (or overly delay) Diamond Soul or Empty Body is a HUGE opportunity cost, IMO.

If you expect your game to stop before level 14, then the questions start to revolve around how valuable you expect Sharpen the Blade to be. (If you've got magical weapons with +to-hit anyway, then Sharpen the Blade isn't worth much; if not, it's a wonderful pairing with Sharpshooter.)

Kensei, among Monks, seems to be particularly friendly for dips. You're already using d8 weapons (so delaying Martial Arts isn't as painful), you have useful things to do without ki, and Sharpen the Blade is of conditional value as discussed above.

Fighter 1: Archery (Fighter 2 for Action Surge is fun, but not nearly as good for a Monk as for other classes)
Ranger 2/3: as you described (note Gloom Stalker as another good option)
Cleric 1/2: spells, various subclass features like (the above-mentioned) War Channel Divinity. (Note that War's other feature got marginally less valuable with the addition of Ki-Fueled Attack.)

[LudicSavant]

So my idea is to focus a build around the Sharpshooter feat in 5e. I'm thinking that at the Steady Aim feature of the rogue class'es new TCoE class features would be good, but wondering if there's a better way. All classes and subclasses as well as all races allowed, all books allowed.

The goal is to have high accuracy to counter the -5 to hit from SS and to have at least 2 attacks per turn for high damage output. What would be the best build to go with on this (preferably trying to get the benefits to come online ASAP for lower-leveled campaigns (currently at levels 10 and 11 in the campaigns I'm currently in as replacements if my character in either campaign suddenly dies on me.)

The more attacks you have, and the less damage you deal per-hit, the better Sharpshooter is for you. So Rogues tend to not be the best choice for it, even with Advantage.

[Sherlockpwns]

The more attacks you have, and the less damage you deal per-hit, the better Sharpshooter is for you. So Rogues tend to not be the best choice for it, even with Advantage.

Indeed - I like this:

Fighter 1/ Artificer Armorer X

Hand crossbow and make picking up SS and XBert (LOL) your top priorities. So Tasha race variant for the feat choice if you can. I'd actually take Xbert first and SS at 4.

This gives you several big advantages:

1: This is the maximum amount of bonus to hit, which is the most important thing for you. We're looking at +2 from archery and +1 from artificer infusion repeating shot.
2: It's close to the maximum amount of attacks, albeit 1 level behind a pure fighter.
3: It gives a lot more flexibility than a pure fighter in many ways thanks to your spells.
4: You can use lighting launchers AND a hand crossbow, giving you 2d6+Dex with your first hit instead of 1d6. It also has infinite ammo if your DM is an ammo-counter.
5: You can wear heavy armor without str and without a stealth penalty.... plus 5ft of movement is always nice.
6: Depending on your DM, you can use a shield + hand crossbow (repeating shot creates the arrow)

At Party level 11 you'll fall behind a pure fighter by 1 attack, but you'll have 9 spells and 6 infused items and the big spell storing item boost coming next level, at which point you'll be a mix of sharpshooter and utility instead of pure gattling DPS. You can also add in another level of fighter in this mix for action surge if you want some serious burst once in a while, but I wouldn't. Artificer stuff is too good to delay longer than 1 level (but you need fighter 1 for the hand crossbow proficiency and the +2 to hit).

If you just want pure "maximum shots per turn" nothing will top a pure fighter at level 11+.

Anyway, imo this is a fantastic build if you're looking for ranged combat DPS with a little more depth than shooting arrows every turn. I find having a few interesting spells can really make decision making more fun in and out of combat.

[Keravath]

1) The best sharpshooter characters are those who have some mechanism to reliably obtain advantage on every attack. This compensates for the -5 to hit and lets you use the ability more often.

2) The more ways you can generate advantage, the more flexible the character will be.

Here are some ways to generate advantage ..
-Gloomstalker ranger using their invisibility in darkness when the opponent is using darkvision - this is very effective and rangers also get the Archery fighting style to further mitigate the -5 to hit.

-utilize the darkness+devils sight combination to provide another way to obtain advantage

-combine with the xbow expert feat to add a bonus action ranged attack with a hand crossbow (if that is the route you want to go).

So one suggestion would be

Variant human or custom race: Eldritch knight 15 + Gloomstalker 3 + Artificer 2 - Artificer for the repeating shot infusion which lets you use a hand crossbow with a shield. Xbow expert, Sharpshooter, Eldritch invocation: devils sight, 2 x +2 dex and one more ASI.

Though there are lots of good sharpshooter builds.

[JackalTornMoons]

11 Battlemaster/3 Gloomstalker/1 Peace

CBE/SS

Pre-fight peace bond yourself

1st turn Bonus Action Quick Toss Net +1d4 to hit, Action Surge, 8x sharpshooter attacks at advantage w/ Precision Attack

Bye bye BBEG

[whateew]

Kensei Monk is a great sharpshooter build post tasha, V.Human (sharpshooter) by using deft strike or focused aim you can get 3 longbow attacks per round with ki-fueled attacks. By 11th level you have sharpen the blade to give you a plus 3 long bow, for 12th take the Martial Initiate (Archery) Feat. With the fighting style and sharpen the blade you can negate the -5 to attack with the ability to further boost the hit to chance by spending ki for focused aim when needed.

To complement the kensei monk, why not take 2 levels in fighter? By 3rd level, you have all the necessary features, and by 5th with the extra attack, having an action surge per short rest would be a lovely addition - two extra sharpshooter attacks is definitely worth missing out on ki points, and you get a +2 from archery to compensate for the late ASI

[MaxWilson]

To complement the kensei monk, why not take 2 levels in fighter? By 3rd level, you have all the necessary features, and by 5th with the extra attack, having an action surge per short rest would be a lovely addition - two extra sharpshooter attacks is definitely worth missing out on ki points, and you get a +2 from archery to compensate for the late ASI

Two extra attacks per short rest is negligible for a Monk.

[whateew]

Two extra attacks per short rest is negligible for a Monk.

For a normal monk maybe, but these two extra attacks are dealing +10 damage each. It gives incredible nova potential - 5 superb attacks in the first round, and as a monk you want to be taking regular short rests anyway. Second wind is also nice for some healing on a squishy character, but you get that at 1st anyway.

[x3n0n]

Two extra attacks per short rest is negligible for a Monk.

Agree, and that's what it will usually be for a Sharpshooter (Kensei).

However, I can see an argument for Action Surge one of the Monks that can get more effect out of an action (like Silence or Fireball or Fly).

[Droppeddead]

This is my build for a bounty/big game hunter that could probably put The Mandalorian and that Van Pelt dude from Jumanji both to shame. It's very much a skill monkey build and depending on how you want to spread your abilities (or if you rolled well) it can deal with pretty much anything.

Start out as a Variant Human with the Crossbow Expert feat (so that you won't miss extra attack for at least a while). Dex 16, Wisdom 14 and the rest doesn't matter. Your first level will be a Rogue for some more skills, expertise and a bit of sneak attack. You can probably persuade your DM to give you a hand crossbow, if not, just pick one up as soon as possible. Next you take a single level of Ranger for an extra skill, Favored Enemy (for more languages) and expertise from Deft Explorer; Canny.

From here you have a choice depending of if you want to focus on Ranger stuff or Rogue stuff, it doesn't really matter. What you want is to get three levels each of Rogue and Ranger, picking the Scout and the Gloom Stalker subclasses respectively. For Ranger 2 you pick Archery as your Fighting style. You are already pretty much online at level 6 (Ranger 3/Rogue 3) with proficiency in 10 skills and expertise in half of those. Then for level 7 and 8 I suggest getting to level 4 in both the classes to pick Sharpshooter and boost your Dex (or perhaps take the Lucky feat). On your first turn of combat you will get three chances to score a crit and/or sneak attack for a nice total damage of 3D6+1D8+13 at a decent +3 to hit. Add an extra D6 if you have Hunter's Mark up. If you manage to attack while being unseen you'll get advantage which ups your chance of hitting and critting.

The goal if I built this character would probably be Ranger 7, Rogue 13 for more expertise, a very decent sneak attack and some nice stealthy spells from Ranger. You can also play teh role of a sniper very well with your bonus action aim/hide and a heavy crossbow. With XBE you will still get to use your Second Attack from Ranger 5. With spells like Hunter's Mark, Hail of Thorns and Pass Without a trace you can be a very usefull addition to your party and that's even without your SEVEN skills with Expertise.

[maswan]

The easiest way is to play a Kobold and make sure you have an ally (like a conjured wolf or whatever) next to whomever you want to shoot, and that there's no sunlight around (e.g. because you do your adventuring at night).

I'm playing a Kobold Battlesmith at lvl 5 now, and once I got past 4&5 for Sharpshooter and extra attack, he became quite a damage dealer as long as it isn't direct sunlight. Sending his steel defender in to provide advantage if the party tank isn't already doing it. Repeating hand crossbow + shield (with medium armor + artificer goodness) makes the AC good enough to be able to take a step back and eat an attack of opportunity against most foes, and then shoot them in the face with advantage thanks to an ally.

[whateew]

I'm playing a Kobold Battlesmith at lvl 5 now, and once I got past 4&5 for Sharpshooter and extra attack, he became quite a damage dealer as long as it isn't direct sunlight. Sending his steel defender in to provide advantage if the party tank isn't already doing it. Repeating hand crossbow + shield (with medium armor + artificer goodness) makes the AC good enough to be able to take a step back and eat an attack of opportunity against most foes, and then shoot them in the face with advantage thanks to an ally.

I second this as an idea. I however am not a fan of the kobold mechanics (I have poor taste!) so you can recreate this with fey touched as a starting feat - use bless to get a reliable 1d4 buff for you and your party, and then build as maswan says. Doesn't rely on sun or positioning, but takes one extra turn to set up, and costs a spell slot after the first use.

[samcifer]

I second this as an idea. I however am not a fan of the kobold mechanics (I have poor taste!) so you can recreate this with fey touched as a starting feat - use bless to get a reliable 1d4 buff for you and your party, and then build as maswan says. Doesn't rely on sun or positioning, but takes one extra turn to set up, and costs a spell slot after the first use.

The issue is that the dm for one of the campaigns refuses to allow the pack tactics to work with ranged attacks. He'll only allow it for melee attacks. The dm for the other campaign, I'm not sure of, but the dm for the first campaign is in the other campaign and might insist the rule still applies even though he's not the dm of that other campaign. :(


One Idea I have is 5+ of Battlesmith artificer with 2+ levels of rogue (likely Arcane Trickster subclass) for extra damage and the Fairy Fire (sp?) spell to help me get advantage.

[MaxWilson]

The issue is that the dm for one of the campaigns refuses to allow the pack tactics to work with ranged attacks. He'll only allow it for melee attacks. The dm for the other campaign, I'm not sure of, but the dm for the first campaign is in the other campaign and might insist the rule still applies even though he's not the dm of that other campaign. :(


Huh. Well, at least that should make fighting kobolds easier. Normally their slings are quite nasty with Pack Tactics.

[Eldariel]

I like Sharpshooter Bladesinger (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?628446-Best-race-for-Bladesinger-post-tasha-s&p=24966950&viewfull=1#post24966950) currently (though Kensei Monk is kinda cool too but Wizard just has more and cooler toys than Monk). It's versatile, sufficiently powerful and quite able to get a lot of mileage out of Sharpshooter, especially in Tier 2+. One of the hallmarks of the Wizard-chassis is the ability to generate advantage in a myriad of ways (help actions from minions [starting from familiar] and vision denial/invisibility), including Minor Illusion in many cases, which makes Sharpshooter very efficient especially since you also have Extra Attack. Then you can add Haste on top of that when needed and later an array of increasingly more powerful buffs, some permanent, some circumstantial.

Tiny Servants can also get in there and Help pretty efficiently when you don't trust their independent attack ability. This is one of the few solid sharpshooter builds for extremely long ranges (alongside Samurai Fighters and Gloomstalkers).

[Frogreaver]

So my idea is to focus a build around the Sharpshooter feat in 5e. I'm thinking that at the Steady Aim feature of the rogue class'es new TCoE class features would be good, but wondering if there's a better way. All classes and subclasses as well as all races allowed, all books allowed.

The goal is to have high accuracy to counter the -5 to hit from SS and to have at least 2 attacks per turn for high damage output. What would be the best build to go with on this (preferably trying to get the benefits to come online ASAP for lower-leveled campaigns (currently at levels 10 and 11 in the campaigns I'm currently in as replacements if my character in either campaign suddenly dies on me.)

Archery Style + Crossbow Expertise + Precision Attack (use a hand crossbow)

Only use precision attack on "near" misses. Your superiority dice will last most of the adventuring day this way.

Kobold is probably the most effective race as written. Variant human is nice for getting the required feats by level 4. Elf is great for elven accuracy feat - assumes your party will be able to generate some advantage for you.

[5eNeedsDarksun]

1) The best sharpshooter characters are those who have some mechanism to reliably obtain advantage on every attack. This compensates for the -5 to hit and lets you use the ability more often.

2) The more ways you can generate advantage, the more flexible the character will be.

Here are some ways to generate advantage ..
-Gloomstalker ranger using their invisibility in darkness when the opponent is using darkvision - this is very effective and rangers also get the Archery fighting style to further mitigate the -5 to hit.

-utilize the darkness+devils sight combination to provide another way to obtain advantage

-combine with the xbow expert feat to add a bonus action ranged attack with a hand crossbow (if that is the route you want to go).

So one suggestion would be

Variant human or custom race: Eldritch knight 15 + Gloomstalker 3 + Artificer 2 - Artificer for the repeating shot infusion which lets you use a hand crossbow with a shield. Xbow expert, Sharpshooter, Eldritch invocation: devils sight, 2 x +2 dex and one more ASI.

Though there are lots of good sharpshooter builds.

I'm pretty much in agreement with this. SS is good with lots of attacks and not so much reliance on rider damage, which = Fighter. EK has a good selection of ways of getting advantage, so to me 11 levels of this is the core of the build. You might consider also picking up blindfighting or devil sight, though you need to think about how reliance on things like darkness or fog cloud will impact the rest of your party.