What are the best support characters in 5e?

[Rfkannen]

In your opinion, what are the best ways to build a support character in dnd 5th edition?

[Mastikator]

Divine Soul Sorcerer is really good at support. Extended Aura of Vitality, twinned Haste.

[Teaguethebean]

I think we need to divide support into 2 categories, controllers, and leaders.
Best controller is the divination wizard
Leader really is a mix between Order cleric, Divine soul, and Lore bard.

[Unoriginal]

In your opinion, what are the best ways to build a support character in dnd 5th edition?

Define support character, please.

Do you mean a character who helps the other PCs do stuff rather than deal with the enemies, challenges and other situations themselves?

[RogueJK]

Without a more narrow definition than just "best support", I'll throw out the Peace Cleric 1/Lore Bard X.

CHA-based for Face skills, plus extra proficiencies, Expertise, and Jack of All Trades to fill in other party skill gaps
Access to Bless, Guidance, and Emboldening Bond (which stacks with both spells and scales with Proficiency Bonus), to help make the party better at attacks, saves, and skill checks
Bardic Inspiration and Cutting Words, to boost and protect the rest of the party
Song of Rest for greater healing for the party during rest periods
Bard's support-focused spell list, plus additional Magical Secrets to poach more spells to fit whatever the party needs
Excellent Counterspelling thanks to Jack of All Trades (and Magical Secrets to get it), to prevent nasty spells from even affecting the party in the first place
Medium Armor and Shield so not as squishy as a typical Lore Bard.

You can also do similar with Life Cleric 1/Lore Bard X if you want to be a more healing-focused support character.


Honorable Mention goes to stuff like:
-Divine Soul Sorcerer - Can Twin powerful single-target buffs, Extend support spells, and pick from both Sorcerer and Cleric support spells
-Twilight Cleric - For its obscene Temp HP generation on the already support-oriented Cleric chassis
-Watchers Paladin 9/Divine Soul Sorcerer X Sorcadin - Gets Lay On Hands for extra healing and status removal, two sweet Paladin auras, Watcher's Will to grant the party Advantage on mental saves, Counterspell, plus Twinned Sorcerer, Cleric, and Paladin buff spells, and can still lay down the hurt with Divine Smite
-Celestial Tomelock - Bonus healing, extra support spells, Temp HP for the whole party at every rest, access to Guidance and bonus utility cantrips, and can cast all ritual spells in the game using Book of Ancient Secrets

[Kane0]

Cleric and Bard.

[Gtdead]

Depends on what you want to support. A wizard is a good support character for a fighter but 2 wizards aren't supports but a specialist squad. If by support you mean healing and buffing, I'd go with Divine Soul.

[Townopolis]

Without a more narrow definition than just "best support", I'll throw out the Peace Cleric 1/Lore Bard X.

CHA-based for Face skills, plus extra proficiencies, Expertise, and Jack of All Trades to fill in other party skill gaps
Access to Bless, Guidance, and Emboldening Bond (which stacks with both spells and scales with Proficiency Bonus), to help make the party better at attacks, saves, and skill checks
Bardic Inspiration and Cutting Words, to boost and protect the rest of the party
Song of Rest for greater healing for the party during rest periods
Bard's support-focused spell list, plus additional Magical Secrets to poach more spells to fit whatever the party needs
Excellent Counterspelling thanks to Jack of All Trades (and Magical Secrets to get it), to prevent nasty spells from even affecting the party in the first place
Medium Armor and Shield so not as squishy as a typical Lore Bard.

You can also do similar with Life Cleric 1/Lore Bard X if you want to be a more healing-focused support character.


Honorable Mention goes to stuff like:
-Divine Soul Sorcerer - Can Twin powerful single-target buffs, Extend support spells, and pick from both Sorcerer and Cleric support spells
-Twilight Cleric - For its obscene Temp HP generation on the already support-oriented Cleric chassis
-Watchers Paladin 9/Divine Soul Sorcerer X Sorcadin - Gets Lay On Hands for extra healing and status removal, two sweet Paladin auras, Watcher's Will to grant the party Advantage on mental saves, Counterspell, plus Twinned Sorcerer, Cleric, and Paladin buff spells, and can still lay down the hurt with Divine Smite
-Celestial Tomelock - Bonus healing, extra support spells, Temp HP for the whole party at every rest, access to Guidance and bonus utility cantrips, and can cast all ritual spells in the game using Book of Ancient Secrets

We should probably add Star Druid to this list.

Eloquence is also the other support bard now. If you can expect social checks to be significant, and don't mind bringing the power difference between bards and rogues into stark relief, Eloquence Bard is amazing.

[Mjolnirbear]

As others said, depends what you want to do and what you mean by support.

A battle master fighter can support others with rallying cry and the Healer feat. So can a rogue. An ancients barbarian is a great control preventing attacks on their Allies. Druids have tons of control spells. You can argue a sorlock nuker is a support too, because the best status is Dead.

For the classic meaning of support, though, you really only have bards, clerics, druids, and artificers as real choices. (Edit to add: you can build many other classes and subclasses to have some or lots of support. But not quite like these four)

Of these, my favourite is artificer. It's the most versatile. I can boost your rolls, fill magic item holes, be the pack mule with bag of holding, make any number of fun, magical effects like lights, recordings, any magic item of common rarity, and best, I can switch it up: bag of holding today, goggles of night tomorrow. The Artillerist has the protector, there's the homunculous for free help actions (like a familiar, which crucially is not on most spell lists), prepared casting for changing needs... Hell, even the alchemist, the most hated subclass, can pull out on the fly an emergency flight or emergency disguise or emergency bless.

Bards get a very support-worthy spell list and bardic inspiration. Clerics get the spell list and channel divinity. Druids get spellcasting and great utility and scouting. But only the artificer can do so many different things.

The biggest con? Lack of spell slots. Which sucks. Buuuut on the other hand, most utility spells are very low level. So as a con, it's no Frenzy Rage.

[Zuras]

Clerics and Bards are the strongest support classes in 5e, followed by Druids, and Wizards. Divine Soul Sorcerers and Celestial Warlocks can also do support well.

Cleric and Bard are the most obvious, however, since you almost have to intentionally avoid using some of their stronger features avoid supporting the rest of the party. Even the more offensively minded subclasses can serve as support if you want to play them that way.

[Sigreid]

Bard. If you want you can set up to heal, buff and control and literally have a class feature that is basically you let other people do stuff better.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

For battlefield control I go with lore bard.

All you need to do is cast a spell or two and make sure you are not a viable target.

Cutting words may come handy.
Instrument of the Bards is god tier if you can get it(I like the one with fog cloud because it is a great battlefield control spell).

I used a long bow to make one attack a turn and go back to full cover to make sure I do something after casting my big battlefield control spell.

(I am against taking healing spells on my bards)

[Ogre Mage]

My personal favorite is the Twilight Domain Cleric. Twilight Sanctuary is extremely powerful support. Vigilant Blessing is great at all times. You are packing: faerie fire, sleep, moonbeam, Leomund's Tiny Hut, greater invisibility and circle of power on top of the usual cleric spells. The ability to grant your allies uber darkvision is a nice ribbon ability.

[stoutstien]

In a fan of artificer. No matter who you want to support you can do it. Need a flying barbarian? Got it. Need a magical hand crossbow? Cake. Need more reliable concentration? No problem. Extra spell slot? Step right up. Reaction based save/ability check buff. A source of spell casting that bypasses spell casting. Familiars for everyone.

[J-H]

Artificer (magic items, emergency healing)
Bard (inspiration, healing)
Cleric (best healing and buffs)
Sorcerer (Twinned buffs)
Insight Rogue (give advantage 1/rd)
Dream druid & celestial warlock (Extra healing)

[Sigreid]

Well, half the list has been suggested. That's gotta be helpful. lol

[stoutstien]

Well, half the list has been suggested. That's gotta be helpful. lol

One of 5th edition strongest features is the freedom of expression when it comes to PC options. You can have a party with a wizard tank, fighter controller and a muscle rogue.

[Zuras]

I think we need to divide support into 2 categories, controllers, and leaders.
Best controller is the divination wizard
Leader really is a mix between Order cleric, Divine soul, and Lore bard.

"Support character" is a pretty vague term. It clearly means "character not optimized for max DPR", but the specific capabilities include:

Healing
Buffing
Utility
Crowd Control



The exact mix varies according to taste--some people consider "support" to primarily mean "does stuff besides inflicting damage on the enemy to help win battles", in which case you are talking Leader or Controller, but if you more generically mean characters focused on helping others be more effective, high utility characters are also in the mix.

The word "best" is also vague--for some players, the "best" supporting character is one that can support the party, but also lets them significantly contribute in combat, meaning a Devotion or Ancients paladin or a Way of Mercy monk is best. Other players want a character that can serve a support role but also has the capability for tremendous nova damage to bail out the party in a bad situation--in one campaign I ran, my most experienced player ran a Tempest cleric and played as support/tank most of the time to let the newer players shine, and only broke out Destructive Wrath in dire emergencies when the party needed to be bailed out from their poor decisions.

Further complicating any answer is that there are several impressive support feats and other character options--a Thief Rogue with the Healer feat can do an impressive amount of healing with their Fast Hands bonus action, and a Celestial warlock with the Inspiring Leader feat is a short-rest support extravaganza. Ritual Caster lets anyone pick up a wide variety of utility spells, while Magic Initiate lets a character grab support cantrips like Guidance, and multiple Warlock options for the Pact of the Tome, Talisman and Chain provide significant utility and support options, especially Book of Ancient Secrets and the Talisman invocations in TCoE. 5e makes it really easy to build a character with strong support capabilities.

Beyond quibbling about the definitions of "support" and "best", though, there really isn't a single answer, because the best support character for a party has to support the capabilities of the other PCs in the party. For a party of multiple ranged strikers (Hunter Rangers or Dex Fighters), a controller like a Druid who can create difficult terrain to keep enemies from closing the range and help set up ambushes using Pass Without Trace might be the ideal support. For a melee-heavy party, on the other hand, a Life cleric who can mix it up shoulder-to-shoulder with the Ancestral Guardian and take full advantage of their Ancestral Protectors might work best. At this point, 5e provides a tremendous variety of support heavy classes and subclasses. Really, the only way to go wrong is to pick the wrong type of support tools for your specific party or play a Purple Dragon Knight.

[Sigreid]

One of 5th edition strongest features is the freedom of expression when it comes to PC options. You can have a party with a wizard tank, fighter controller and a muscle rogue.

I know. I was just laughing because OP clearly was looking for help narrowing it down and I'm not sure we narrowed much of anything for them.

[Merudo]

The word "best" is also vague--for some players, the "best" supporting character is one that can support the party, but also lets them significantly contribute in combat

Good point - "best support character" can mean "best at support", but also "best character that can support".

[Zuras]

Good point - "best support character" can mean "best at support", but also "best character that can support".

Even beyond that—if you’re supposed to be providing the support, but the frontline PCs are spending their actions bailing you out because you’re so squishy you can’t protect yourself, you’re not actually support, you’re an escort quest. In a 3 character party, even a PC wanting to play a support role is going to need respectable defenses and damage output, while in a 7 character party, you’re free to specialize without too many issues.

[Kane0]

Wait, i'd like to change my answer to 'sidekick'

[kingcheesepants]

Like others have pointed out the rest of the party composition is a huge factor on what's the most helpful support and there are a wide array of great ways to make a support character. But in games I've personally played in the support that I've felt was the most helpful came from an eloquence bard. In addition to the support heavy bard spell list and the extremely supportive bardic inspiration, eloquence bards can debuff enemy saves and thus (very nearly) ensure that the team's important spells will actually hit. If you like to play characters who force enemies to make saves this is a very good ability. Plus they pretty much can't fail persuasion and deception checks so that's pretty handy too.

[Eldariel]

Even beyond that—if you’re supposed to be providing the support, but the frontline PCs are spending their actions bailing you out because you’re so squishy you can’t protect yourself, you’re not actually support, you’re an escort quest. In a 3 character party, even a PC wanting to play a support role is going to need respectable defenses and damage output, while in a 7 character party, you’re free to specialize without too many issues.

Not necessarily. 2 damage dealers or frontliners or just Conjure Animals is more than enough damage for a 3 character party. Honestly, in a game with 1 character parties like Shepherd Druid and Necromancer Wizard, basically any party can work as long as the rest of the party, even if it's only 1 character, covers the rest.

[Zuras]

Good point - "best support character" can mean "best at support", but also "best character that can support".


Even beyond that—if you’re supposed to be providing the support, but the frontline PCs are spending their actions bailing you out because you’re so squishy you can’t protect yourself, you’re not actually support, you’re an escort quest. In a 3 character party, even a PC wanting to play a support role is going to need respectable defenses and damage output, while in a 7 character party, you’re free to specialize without too many issues.


Not necessarily. 2 damage dealers or frontliners or just Conjure Animals is more than enough damage for a 3 character party. Honestly, in a game with 1 character parties like Shepherd Druid and Necromancer Wizard, basically any party can work as long as the rest of the party, even if it's only 1 character, covers the rest.


My play experience does not support that assertion. If you’re planning on healing other PCs who go down in a tough fight, you need to invest in some defensive capabilities. Otherwise you go down first, which makes it tough to heal anybody. Similarly, if you ignore offense, you’re going to be in a pickle if the Druid fails a concentration check for Conjure Animals.

Not saying you should only be playing the more martial subclasses in those situations, just that in a 3 PC party you shouldn’t try playing a 10 Con Wizard and make sure you have a few damaging spell options, even if you want to be more of a healer/controller.

[Eldariel]

Not saying you should only be playing the more martial subclasses in those situations, just that in a 3 PC party you shouldn’t try playing a 10 Con Wizard and make sure you have a few damaging spell options, even if you want to be more of a healer/controller.

Sure, but a 2-person party with Shepherd Druid and Eloquence Bard that does 0 damage is likely to be one of the stronger possible character combinations on Tier 2+ on the back of incredible CC from the Eloquence Bard and all the damage you could ever want from the Shepherd (while failing Concentration is a possibility, a Shepherd in such a scenario is likely to have Res: Con and War Caster on the short list so that's not all that likely to happen starting from level 4, and the Bard can even give Inspiration die for extra insurance - and of course, the spell can always be recast or, if out of 3rd level slots, they can fall back on Spike Growth and Thunderwave or such, while Eloquence Bard makes the encounters feature as few damaging enemies as possible).

[KorvinStarmast]

Cleric and Bard.
Hard to argue against that.
Divine soul sorcerer is pretty good also.

For battlefield control I go with lore bard.

All you need to do is cast a spell or two and make sure you are not a viable target.

Cutting words may come handy.
Instrument of the Bards is god tier if you can get it(I like the one with fog cloud because it is a great battlefield control spell). My bard has the Mac-Fuirmidh cittern (uncommon item) which when I use it for Hypnotic Pattern is silly good. Fog cloud is one of my favorite spells in this edition, it's nice to have on tap for when I need it. But I have found that my favorite spell on that instrument is Protection from Evil/Good; I cast it on our paladin and I step back. He goes in and whacks on stuff: aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, undead - we fight a lot of those. They attack him at disadvantage, and he can't be charmed by them. My job is to keep concentration up so that he can just go to town.
And he does.

Even beyond that—if you’re supposed to be providing the support, but the frontline PCs are spending their actions bailing you out because you’re so squishy you can’t protect yourself, you’re not actually support, you’re an escort quest. In a 3 character party, even a PC wanting to play a support role is going to need respectable defenses and damage output, while in a 7 character party, you’re free to specialize without too many issues. *well said*

My celestial warlock is a support but without her wand of web she'd have been not as good during the tier 2 play that has made up most of her game.

[Nhym]

Shepherd Druid. The best support controller. Druids in general are excellent utility support, but Shepherds are the best. There is no other build that can match a Shepherd for utility, which is exactly what makes a support good in D&D; an answer for every problem. Not to mention 1 level in Life Cleric and you get the best out-of-combat healer.

[Skemo]

Order Cleric 1/Glamour Bard X

I call it the dandy warlord :elan: You get:

Alternative use of BI which gives good temp HP and allows movement with no OA for a reaction
Order of Authority, which I trigger w/ Bless or Healing Word, esp. great with a rogue
Great survivability w/ heavy armor shield
Access to Guidance
Higher level Glamour traits are decent, esp the 14th level "charisma sanctuary"
Magical secrets to fill in any party gaps
Decent skill monkey and counterspeller w/ Jack of all Trades


Super fun to play, running at 16th level in my campaign.

[Zuras]

Sure, but a 2-person party with Shepherd Druid and Eloquence Bard that does 0 damage is likely to be one of the stronger possible character combinations on Tier 2+ on the back of incredible CC from the Eloquence Bard and all the damage you could ever want from the Shepherd (while failing Concentration is a possibility, a Shepherd in such a scenario is likely to have Res: Con and War Caster on the short list so that's not all that likely to happen starting from level 4, and the Bard can even give Inspiration die for extra insurance - and of course, the spell can always be recast or, if out of 3rd level slots, they can fall back on Spike Growth and Thunderwave or such, while Eloquence Bard makes the encounters feature as few damaging enemies as possible).

In a 2 person party, sure, you could have a viable support character with no/low damage output, since if someone goes down that’s half the party gone. They should still be investing in defense. In this case it might involve more retreat options like Dimension Door (since it can transport the entire party). A 2 player party is a weird edge case though, all sorts of complementary duos can work amazingly well depending on the campaign.

[Eldariel]

In a 2 person party, sure, you could have a viable support character with no/low damage output, since if someone goes down that’s half the party gone. They should still be investing in defense. In this case it might involve more retreat options like Dimension Door (since it can transport the entire party). A 2 player party is a weird edge case though, all sorts of complementary duos can work amazingly well depending on the campaign.

Well, if you add a second all-rounder like a Bladesinger Wizard, that same Shepherd Druid/No-Damage Eloquence Bard still works superbly as a 3-man. I don't think damage capability is really an important metric for character function as long as the party is capable of doing enough to clean up (aside from the party of 1 of course, where the single character does need to be able to provide everything).

[Zuras]

I know. I was just laughing because OP clearly was looking for help narrowing it down and I'm not sure we narrowed much of anything for them.

It’s hard to know exactly where the OP is at, in terms of experience, without lots more details. Generally, I assume people who ask for advice are newer to 5e, so I stay away from more complex class options. For someone who wants to play support, I would recommend Cleric or Druid, primarily because they’re prepared casters, so if you try an idea that doesn’t work (or works but isn’t fun) you can just prep a different spell next session. You also have enough tools to be a mix of support and damage dealing if you change your mind about your party role.

I rate Life Domain Clerics and Circle of Stars Druids most highly for this, because support via healing is simpler than anything else (it’s easier to know when someone needs healing than to know the best time and place to use buffing and control spells). Other clerics and druids can also work great, too, they just give you fewer obvious cues for how to start. Bards, Divine Soul Sorcerers, celestial Warlocks and Wizards can also be amazing support classes, but you can’t decide to change your mind how you want to play and immediately prepare eight different spells tomorrow like clerics and druids can.



Well, if you add a second all-rounder like a Bladesinger Wizard, that same Shepherd Druid/No-Damage Eloquence Bard still works superbly as a 3-man. I don't think damage capability is really an important metric for character function as long as the party is capable of doing enough to clean up (aside from the party of 1 of course, where the single character does need to be able to provide everything).

In my experience, everyone eventually needs to fight for themselves at some point. Plans eventually fail and your ideal situation breaks down. Never seen a bard eloquent enough to talk their way out of a Froghemoth’s stomach. For a 2 or 3 PC party, a lot less has to go wrong to leave the non-damage PC on their own. Your mileage may vary, my DMs may be extra vicious, I’m only giving advice based on my own experience.

[samcifer]

Divine Soul Sorcerer is really good at support. Extended Aura of Vitality, twinned Haste.

I've played sorlocks with ds as my sorc sc and it works very well at covering both support and dps. Being able to cast fireball while flying on one turn, then swooping over to use healing word on someone making death saves then fire off a few EBs in that same turn is amazing.