D&D 5e Fighter Subclasses (2014): All Ten Martial Archetypes Ranked

Introduction

Every other martial class in D&D 5e 2014 arrives with an engine already running. The Barbarian has Rage. The Paladin has spell slots and Divine Smite. The Monk has ki. The Fighter has Second Wind, Action Surge, and nothing else that recharges and gets spent round to round.

That absence is the whole point of this decision. The Fighter's martial archetype is not a flavor package bolted onto a finished class. It is the class's resource system, and the ten archetypes hand you ten different ones: dice you spend on attacks, a second body you place on the battlefield, a bonus action that buys advantage, runes carved into your armor, a small pool of Wizard spells, a mark that punishes enemies for ignoring you, psionic dice, an expanded crit range that costs nothing, magical arrows, or a banner that helps everyone else.

So the question that actually decides this choice is not "which subclass has the biggest number." It is how often does this thing come back, and what does it ask of me on my turn? A Battle Master with four Superiority Dice per short rest has more real power across an adventuring day than a subclass with a larger pool that refreshes only on a long rest. A Champion that asks nothing of you every round is a different game from a Rune Knight tracking four rune invocations.

This guide covers all ten martial archetypes, rates every feature, and is honest about which ones front-load their power and which ones make you wait until level 15 for the feature you picked them for.

The Ten Archetypes at a Glance

Why the Recharge Cycle Decides This

A standard adventuring day in 5e 2014 is built around roughly six to eight encounters, two short rests, and one long rest. That structure is the reason short rest resources are worth so much more than their raw numbers suggest.

Battle Master starts with four Superiority Dice. Across a full day with two short rests, that is twelve dice spent. Samurai starts with three Fighting Spirit uses and, before level 10, gets three for the entire day. The Battle Master's pool is four times larger in practice while looking smaller on the page.

This is also why the two subclasses that hand you a guaranteed refill at initiative matter more than they look. Battle Master's Relentless and Samurai's Tireless Spirit both say the same thing: if you are empty when a fight starts, you get one back. Echo Knight's Legion of One does it too. These features exist because the designers knew the failure state of a long rest resource is walking into the boss fight with nothing left, and they are quietly among the most valuable things in this guide.

The three ways this plays out:

• Spend freely. Battle Master and Rune Knight recharge on short rests. Use the resource in ordinary fights; it will be back.
• Spend deliberately. Samurai, Echo Knight's Unleash Incarnation, Psi Warrior, and Eldritch Knight recharge on long rests. Every use is a judgment about whether this is the fight that matters.
• Spend nothing. Champion, and the passive halves of Cavalier and Arcane Archer, are always on. There is no wrong turn to use them because there is no turn where you use them.

Keep that frame in mind through everything below. When a feature is rated down here, it is usually because it costs a resource that does not come back often enough to justify it, not because its effect is weak.

Hot Take: Read the recharge column before the feature list. Superiority Dice that come back on a short rest and Fighting Spirit uses that wait for a long one are the same nominal power doing very different work, and which one is better depends entirely on how many encounters your table runs between rests.

Battle Master

The tactician, and the correct default pick for most players at most tables. Battle Master is the only Fighter subclass that gives you a meaningful decision on almost every attack roll from level 3 to level 20, and its resource is the most forgiving in the class.

Combat Superiority - Level 3 ●

You learn three maneuvers and gain four Superiority Dice (d8s). You can use only one maneuver per attack, and the dice recharge on a short rest.

This is one of the strongest level 3 subclass features in the game, and the short rest recharge is why. Four d8s that reset every short rest makes you a tactical engine that comes back twice a day rather than a Fighter with a single daily trick. In a standard adventuring day with two short rests, you are spending twelve Superiority Dice.

The save DC scales correctly at 8 + Proficiency Bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier. At level 3 with a 17 in your attack stat you are looking at DC 14 or 15, high enough to matter without being unfair. By level 17 with a maxed attack stat you are at DC 19, which most creatures struggle to beat.

Three maneuvers at level 3 is exactly enough to cover your core needs. Take one damage amplifier, one defensive reaction, and one control option, and you will have an answer to most situations you meet before level 7.

Student of War - Level 3 ●

Proficiency with one type of artisan's tools.

A ribbon. Smith's Tools, Leatherworker's Tools, or Woodcarver's Tools have real value in a campaign with crafting and none in a dungeon crawl. It costs you nothing and affects your combat power not at all.

Know Your Enemy - Level 7 ●

Spend at least a minute observing a creature outside combat and learn whether it is your equal, superior, or inferior in two of: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Armor Class, current hit points, total class levels, and Fighter levels.

The value here is entirely about how your table plays. Against a recurring villain you have been tracking for sessions, a minute of study gives you concrete mechanical data: whether your Strength beats theirs, whether your AC exceeds theirs, whether they outlevel you. That changes how you allocate resources going into the fight.

In a dungeon crawl where enemies appear and combat starts immediately, Know Your Enemy does nothing at all. Ask your DM how often you get an observational window before a fight. In a roleplay-heavy or investigation-heavy campaign this is excellent; in a pure tactical crawl it is close to dead.

Improved Combat Superiority - Levels 10 and 18 ●

Your Superiority Dice become d10s at level 10 and d12s at level 18.

A flat upgrade to everything you do. Precision Attack adds an average of 5.5 to a missed roll instead of 4.5, Trip Attack hits harder, and every rider effect scales. The DC does not change, since that comes from proficiency and your attack stat, but the added value on each die does. This is simple math and the math is good.

At level 10 you also learn two more maneuvers, reaching seven. That is the point where you can cover every common tactical scenario at once: a damage spike, a defensive reaction, a control option, a utility pick, and a couple of specialists. By level 18 you have six dice at d12, averaging 6.5 per die spent.

Relentless - Level 15 ●

When you roll initiative with no Superiority Dice remaining, you regain one.

Relentless solves the single most frustrating thing about playing a Battle Master: burning your dice in a long fight and starting the next one empty. You will always have at least one die available when a combat begins, which changes how aggressively you can spend in the fight before. One die is not many, but a single Precision Attack can convert the miss that would have cost you the encounter.

The Maneuvers, Rated

You will pick three at level 3 and more as you level. These are the ones worth knowing.

Precision Attack ● - On a miss, spend a die and add it to the attack roll. This is the universally correct pick. Every Fighter misses, and converting misses into hits is the highest-value thing a Superiority Die does. It is also the maneuver that pairs with Great Weapon Master's -5 penalty, which is how most Battle Masters justify taking that feat at all.

Trip Attack ● - Extra damage plus a Strength save or the target falls prone. Prone targets are harder to hit at range and easier to hit in melee. In a melee-heavy party, one die improves every ally's to-hit chance for the round. The best control maneuver in the list.

Goading Attack ● - Extra damage plus a Wisdom save, or the target has disadvantage attacking anyone but you. A soft taunt that keeps a dangerous enemy pointed at the character built to survive it, without requiring the enemy to cooperate.

Menacing Attack ● - Extra damage plus a Wisdom save or the target is frightened of you. Frightened creatures cannot move toward you and attack at disadvantage while they can see you. Against a single powerful enemy this applies a real condition without a spell slot.

Riposte ● - When a creature misses you in melee, spend a die to attack it as a reaction. At level 5 and beyond the free attack is welcome. It competes with Parry for your reaction, and which one you want depends on whether your build would rather deal damage or stay upright.

Parry ● - Reduce melee damage by the die plus your Dexterity modifier. Less exciting than Riposte but useful when a big hit would drop you under half and trigger concentration checks or emergency healing.

Pushing Attack ● - Extra damage and a push of up to 15 feet on a failed Strength save. Positioning tool. Shove enemies off ledges, away from your casters, or out of an area effect. Excellent in vertical terrain and mediocre on a flat field.

Commander's Strike ● - Give up one of your attacks and spend a die so an ally attacks with their reaction. You are trading one of your own attacks for one of theirs, which is a net loss unless that ally hits much harder than you do. It is real with a smiting Paladin or a Rogue who gets another Sneak Attack; otherwise it is usually wrong.

Sweeping Attack ● - Damage a second adjacent creature equal to the die, no save. One of the Fighter's few area options, but it needs tight clustering and carries no rider effect. Take it if your DM runs dense melee encounters.

Rally ● - Bonus action, spend a die, grant an ally temporary hit points equal to the roll plus your Charisma modifier. Fighters do not build Charisma, so the numbers are small, and spending your bonus action for them is expensive. Support tooling on a class that does not support.

Battle Master in play

You will spend your first three levels of subclass play learning when not to use a die. The instinct is to fire Precision Attack at the first miss of every combat; the better habit is to hold until the attack that matters, which is usually the one carrying Great Weapon Master's penalty or the one that would drop an enemy before it acts.

By level 10 with seven maneuvers and d10s, you stop thinking of yourself as a Fighter who sometimes trips people and start thinking of yourself as the character who decides what the enemy is allowed to do. Trip the boss so your melee allies get advantage, goad the second-biggest threat into ignoring the wizard, and keep one die in reserve for the Precision Attack that ends the fight a round early.

Echo Knight

A second body on the battlefield, and the highest ceiling of any Fighter subclass. Echo Knight is widely considered the most powerful martial archetype in 5e 2014, and the reason is geometric rather than numerical: you are in two places, and your enemies have to solve for both.

Manifest Echo - Level 3 ●

As a bonus action, create a shadowy echo of yourself in an unoccupied space within 15 feet. It has AC 14 plus your proficiency bonus and 1 hit point, and it uses your saving throw bonuses. When you take the Attack action, any attack can originate from your space or the echo's. You can move the echo up to 30 feet as a bonus action, and you can swap places with it.

The 1 hit point means any successful hit destroys it, but the AC climbs with you: 16 at level 3, 17 at level 5, 20 at level 17. Enemies will spend attacks removing it because it is inconvenient, and that is information you should build into your tactics rather than a problem to solve.

The opportunity attack clause is the part most players underrate. You threaten from the echo's space, and the trigger includes creatures moving through that space, not merely leaving your reach. The echo is a deployed threat zone that shapes where enemies are willing to walk.

Unleash Incarnation - Level 3 ●

When you take the Attack action, you can make one additional attack from the echo's position. You can do this a number of times per long rest equal to your Constitution modifier, minimum one.

This is why the Echo Knight cares about Constitution more than any other Fighter build. It is not just hit points; it is your Unleash budget. Constitution 16 gives three uses, Constitution 20 gives five.

The timing is worth stating precisely, because it is the most misread part of the subclass. You spend one use per use of the Attack action, not per attack. On an ordinary turn that is one extra attack. On an Action Surge turn, which contains two Attack actions, you can spend two uses for two extra attacks. At level 11 with Constitution 20, five uses across a long rest means five extra attacks distributed where you choose.

The math at level 11: you normally make three attacks per turn, so an Unleash turn is four. Action Surge turns go higher still. Those extra attacks are free damage that no other Fighter subclass gets.

Echo Avatar - Level 7 ●

As an action, project your senses into the echo. You see and hear through it while blind and deaf to your own senses, for up to 10 minutes, and during this the echo can be up to 1,000 feet away.

This turns a combat feature into a scouting feature and gives the Fighter something almost no other martial has. Place the echo around a corner, up a tower, or across a valley and look through its eyes. Ten minutes covers a full reconnaissance run, and 1,000 feet covers most dungeon layouts.

When the party needs to know what is in the next room, the Echo Knight answers without anyone taking a risk. That is a different role from "the character who hits things," and it arrives at a level where scouting decisions start to matter.

Shadow Martyr - Level 10 ●

When a creature you can see hits a target within 5 feet of your echo, use your reaction to make the echo absorb the hit instead. Once per short or long rest.

Complete negation of one attack, once per short rest. The damage simply does not happen. The echo is destroyed, but you rebuild it with a bonus action on your next turn, so the real cost is near zero.

The skill is target selection. Use this on the attack that would drop your cleric, not on a routine swing at the barbarian. A reaction that saves a party member's life once per short rest is high-value support from a class that is not supposed to have any.

Reclaim Potential - Level 15 ●

When one of your echoes is destroyed by damage, gain 2d6 plus your Constitution modifier in temporary hit points, provided you have none already. Uses equal your Constitution modifier per long rest.

This converts the echo's greatest weakness into a resource. Enemies who destroy the echo to remove your positional advantage are handing you temporary hit points for the trouble. With Constitution 20 that is an average of 12 temporary HP per destruction, up to five times per long rest.

In fights where the echo is targeted repeatedly, and intelligent enemies will target it, this quietly adds 60 or more hit points of absorption across an encounter.

Legion of One - Level 18 ●

Create two echoes with one bonus action, and they coexist. Anything you can do from one echo's position you can do from the other's. Also, when you roll initiative with no Unleash Incarnation uses left, you regain one.

Two echoes doubles your positional threat. You attack from three positions, intercept movement in two places at once, and can send one scouting while the other holds the line.

The Unleash refill at initiative is the same guarantee Battle Master's Relentless and Samurai's Tireless Spirit provide, and it means the echo attacks never fully stop.

Echo positioning tactics

Where you put the echo is the difference between a good Echo Knight and a great one.

The flanking shadow. Place it directly opposite you relative to the target. Even without the optional flanking rule, the enemy has to choose a facing and you threaten from two directions.

The chokepoint. Put it in a doorway or corridor. Anything moving through triggers an opportunity attack, and enemies start routing around a space that contains nothing solid at all.

The safe attacker. Stay behind full cover and place the echo in the open. You attack at full effectiveness from a position the enemy cannot reach through a wall.

The teleport escape. When you are surrounded or grappled, swap to the echo as a bonus action. This is a teleport rather than movement, so Sentinel and similar movement-stopping effects do not apply.

The bodyguard. Park the echo next to your most fragile ally and hold your reaction for Shadow Martyr.

Echo Knight in play

The bonus action is the constraint that shapes every turn. Manifesting the echo, moving it, and swapping to it all cost your bonus action, which means Echo Knight fights with Polearm Master and Two-Weapon Fighting for the same slot. Most Echo Knights settle into a rhythm: manifest once at the start of a fight, then spend later bonus actions moving it only when the position is worth more than the alternative.

Build Constitution higher than a standard Fighter would. It buys hit points, Unleash uses, and Reclaim Potential temporary HP all at once, which is a rate of return no other Fighter subclass offers on a single ability score.

Samurai

One button, pressed at the right moment. Samurai is the most immediately powerful of the top three and by far the easiest to play well, which makes it the best strong subclass to hand a newer player.

Samurai Bonus Proficiency - Level 3 ●

One skill from History, Insight, Performance, or Persuasion, or one language.

A small addition to a class with few skill options. Insight is the broadest pick for a character reading enemies and NPCs. If you intend to lean on Elegant Courtier at level 7, take Persuasion so that feature has something to modify.

Fighting Spirit - Level 3 ●

As a bonus action, gain advantage on all weapon attack rolls until the end of the turn, plus 5 temporary hit points. Three uses per long rest, with the temporary HP rising to 10 at level 10 and 15 at level 15.

This is the subclass. Advantage on all your attack rolls for the turn, not one of them, which is what separates it from most advantage-granting effects. Combined with Action Surge, a Samurai's burst round rivals any nova feature in the class.

The math is worth walking through. With 18 Strength and +6 to hit against AC 16, a single roll hits 55% of the time; with advantage that becomes 79.75%. Across two attacks that is roughly half an extra hit per activation, before you count the increased crit chance. At level 11 with three attacks it is about three-quarters of an extra hit, and at level 20 with four attacks it is nearly a full one.

That scaling is the important part: Fighting Spirit gets better as your attack count rises, so it is one of the few level 3 features that is stronger at level 20 than it was when you took it. The temporary hit points are a real bonus rather than the point - 5 is modest, but 15 before a boss fight at level 15 absorbs a hit.

The obvious pairing is Great Weapon Master. Advantage makes the -5 penalty far more tolerable, so the usual pattern is to toggle GWM on during Fighting Spirit turns and attack normally the rest of the time.

Elegant Courtier - Level 7 ●

Add your Wisdom modifier to Charisma (Persuasion) checks when it exceeds your Charisma modifier, and gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws.

Two features wearing one name, and the second one is what matters. Wisdom saves govern the most dangerous conditions in the game - frightened, charmed, paralyzed, stunned, dominated - and Fighters do not normally get them. Picking up that proficiency at level 7 patches the second most important save in 5e after Constitution.

The Persuasion half is campaign-dependent but cheaper than it looks, since a Samurai already has a reason to carry Wisdom 14. The disciplined soldier who is quietly persuasive without being a courtier is a coherent character, and it costs you nothing you were not already buying.

Tireless Spirit - Level 10 ●

When you roll initiative with no Fighting Spirit uses remaining, you regain one.

This changes how you manage three uses across an unknown number of fights. Instead of hoarding, you know every combat opens with at least one available. Burn all three in one desperate fight and you still walk into the next one armed.

It also fixes the worst case at the end of a long day: after your second short rest with nothing left, you enter the final encounter with a use in hand.

Rapid Strike - Level 15 ●

If you have advantage on an attack roll against a target, you can forgo that advantage to make an additional weapon attack against it as part of the same action.

The instinct is to fire this on Fighting Spirit turns, and that is usually wrong. Against high-AC targets, one advantaged attack is more reliable than two straight ones, so converting the advantage you spent a resource to get is a poor trade.

The correct use is external advantage. When an ally casts Faerie Fire, when the target is prone, when you attack unseen - that advantage cost you nothing, so trading it for an extra attack is pure profit. Treat Fighting Spirit's advantage as something you bought and intend to keep.

Strength Before Death - Level 18 ●

When reduced to 0 hit points without being killed outright, use your reaction to delay falling unconscious and immediately take an extra turn. Damage during that turn still causes death saving throw failures. Once per long rest.

An extraordinary feature. The hit that should have removed you from the fight instead buys you a full turn, and the list of problems that solves is long: drink a potion and stabilize, finish the enemy who dropped you, escape a grapple and retreat to safety, or simply make four more attacks while the enemy believes you are already down.

Once per long rest is the right limit for something this strong. By level 18 you have enough hit points and Fighting Spirit temporary HP that it will not trigger every fight, but when it does it tends to decide the encounter.

Samurai in play

Fighting Spirit is a long rest resource, so the discipline is knowing which fight deserves it. The rule of thumb that works: spend it when you are also spending Action Surge, because advantage on eight attacks is worth far more than advantage on two, and the two resources recharge on different clocks anyway.

From level 10 onward, Tireless Spirit lets you stop rationing quite so carefully. You will always open a fight with one use, so the question shifts from "can I afford this" to "is this the round." Usually the answer is the round you close with the boss.

Rune Knight

The Fighter who gets bigger. Rune Knight is the most mechanically dense subclass in the class and the one with the most levers to pull, and it is the strongest option in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything for a Fighter who wants both control and size.

Rune Knight Bonus Proficiencies - Level 3 ●

Proficiency with Smith's Tools, and you can read and write Giant.

Smith's Tools is a prerequisite rather than a benefit: carving runes requires having the tools. Reading Giant has flavor value in campaigns where giants or their kin appear. Neither does anything in a fight.

Rune Carver - Level 3 ●

During a short rest, carve a rune onto a weapon, shield, or suit of armor you own. Each rune has a passive effect that is always active and an invoked effect usable once per short or long rest. You know two runes at level 3, three at level 7, and four at level 15.

The system design here is generous in a way that is easy to miss. The runes are persistent - you do not re-carve them, and you do not lose them between rests. The passive effects are simply always on, and invoking costs nothing but the once-per-rest charge. A short rest recharge on the invoked effects puts Rune Knight in the same comfortable position as Battle Master: spend in ordinary fights, because it comes back.

Giant's Might - Level 3 ●

As a bonus action, for 1 minute: you become Large if you were smaller, you have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws, and once per turn you deal an extra 1d6 damage to one target you hit. Uses equal your proficiency bonus per long rest.

Three effects that compound, and the uses scale properly - two at level 3, six at level 17, so you will not be rationing this by mid-campaign.

Large size extends your threat zone and, more importantly, changes what you can grapple. Advantage on Strength checks covers Athletics, which is grappling and shoving. Advantage on Strength saves defends against the push, restrain, and prone effects that otherwise shut a melee Fighter down. And the extra damage applies once per turn with no resource cost and no attack condition.

The damage is modest on its own, but it stacks with everything: critical hits double it, and Savage Attacks adds another weapon die on top. At level 10 it becomes 1d8 and at level 18 it becomes 1d10.

Runic Shield - Level 7 ●

When a creature you can see within 60 feet is hit by an attack roll, use your reaction to force the attacker to reroll and use the new result. Uses equal your proficiency bonus per long rest.

Retroactive defense with a wide radius. You intervene after knowing the attack hit, which means you never waste it on an attack that was going to miss anyway - a real advantage over Cavalier's Warding Maneuver, which adds to AC and can be spent on an attack that would have missed regardless.

The reroll is an independent roll, so against an attack that barely cleared your AC it will often fail to help, and against an attack that cleared it by a wide margin it negates roughly 45% of the time. Three uses at level 7 rising to six at level 17 is a generous pool for a long rest feature, and 60 feet means you are protecting the whole party rather than just the people next to you.

Great Stature - Level 10 ●

Roll 3d4 and grow that many inches permanently. Your Giant's Might bonus damage increases to 1d8.

The height is pure flavor. The die upgrade is half a point of average damage per turn. This is a level 10 feature that does almost nothing, and it is the clearest weak spot in an otherwise excellent progression.

Master of Runes - Level 15 ●

You can invoke each rune twice rather than once per rest.

Substantial, and it effectively doubles the subclass's power budget per rest cycle. Cloud Rune redirects two attacks. Storm Rune shapes two combats. Fire Rune restrains two creatures. With four runes known at this level, that is eight invocations per short rest across four different effects - a pool deep enough that you can simply use the subclass rather than conserving it.

Runic Juggernaut - Level 18 ●

Giant's Might damage rises to 1d10, and while transformed you can use a bonus action to become Huge for 1 minute, gaining 5 feet of reach.

Huge size means you occupy a 15-foot space and threaten at 10 feet, or 15 with a reach weapon. The reach is the real content here; the 1d10 is a rounding error by level 18. Threatening a vastly larger area generates more opportunity attacks and makes it much harder for anything to slip past you.

The Six Runes, Rated

Cloud Rune ● - Passive: advantage on Sleight of Hand and Deception checks. Invoked: when you or a creature within 30 feet is hit, redirect the attack to a different creature within 30 feet. The invoked effect is exceptional. Redirecting a boss's critical hit from your cleric onto another enemy, or back onto the attacker, swings fights on its own. Take this at level 3 without thinking about it.

Storm Rune ● - Passive: treat an Arcana check of 9 or lower as a 10. Invoked: on rolling initiative, enter a prophetic state for the rest of the combat, during which you can use your reaction to give any attack roll, saving throw, or ability check you can see advantage or disadvantage. The passive is trivial and the invoked effect is enormous - a concentration-free Portent that lasts the whole fight and applies to allies and enemies alike. Give the enemy caster disadvantage on the concentration check, give your ally advantage on the killing blow. One invocation covers an entire combat.

Fire Rune ● - Passive: +2 to tool checks. Invoked: on hitting with a weapon attack, the target makes a Strength save or is restrained until the end of your next turn, and can spend an action attempting to break free. Restrained means disadvantage on its attacks and advantage on everyone's attacks against it. The DC keys off Strength, your main stat, so it lands reliably against non-boss enemies. This is your best single-target control.

Frost Rune ● - Passive: +2 to Animal Handling and Intimidation. Invoked: give yourself or a creature within 30 feet +2 to AC and to Strength and Constitution saves for 10 minutes. Less dramatic than Cloud or Storm but a reliable buff with a duration long enough to cover a whole encounter. A solid fourth pick.

Stone Rune ● - Passive: advantage on Insight checks. Invoked: a creature ending its turn within 30 feet makes a Wisdom save or is charmed for 1 minute, ending early if it takes damage. The DC keys off Wisdom, which you do not build, and the condition breaks the moment anyone hits the target. Two problems at once.

Hill Rune ● - Passive: advantage on saves against poison and resistance to poison damage. Invoked: resistance to bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing damage from weapons for 1 minute. A minute of physical resistance reads well and plays worse, because it costs a bonus action you usually want for Giant's Might and an invocation you would rather spend on Cloud or Fire.

Rune Knight in play

The opening sequence is almost always the same: Giant's Might on the first bonus action, Storm Rune at initiative if the fight looks serious, then Cloud Rune held in reserve for the worst hit of the encounter. Fire Rune goes on whichever enemy most needs to stop moving.

The grappling build is the one worth knowing about. At Large size you can grapple Large creatures, and with the Grappler feat you can restrain one - which restrains you too, but you are the one with advantage on Strength checks and a pile of hit points. At Huge with Runic Juggernaut, that extends to creatures nothing else in the party could physically hold.

Eldritch Knight

The Fighter with a small, sharp box of Wizard spells. Eldritch Knight is not a caster and pretending otherwise is the most common way to play it badly. It is a Fighter carrying four of the best defensive and mobility spells in the game.

Eldritch Knight Spellcasting - Level 3 ●

Cast spells from the Wizard list using Intelligence. Three cantrips at level 3, and one-third caster slot progression reaching 4th-level spells by level 19. Two of every three spells you learn must be Abjuration or Evocation.

The school restriction sounds limiting and is not. Abjuration covers Shield, Absorb Elements, Counterspell, and Banishment. Evocation covers Thunderwave, Shatter, and Fireball. Between them you have every spell you actually want, and the free pick every few levels fills the gaps.

The honest constraint is slot count. You have two slots at level 3 and they return only on a long rest. Treat them as a handful of very powerful situational tools rather than an offensive resource: Shield when a hit would land, Absorb Elements when the dragon breathes, Counterspell when the enemy caster starts something you cannot afford to let finish.

This is also why most Eldritch Knights dump Intelligence. If your spells are Shield, Absorb Elements, and Misty Step, none of them care about your spellcasting modifier at all.

Weapon Bond - Level 3 ●

Bond with up to two weapons. A bonded weapon cannot be involuntarily disarmed, and you can summon it to your hand as a bonus action from any distance, including across planes.

The disarm protection is worth exactly as much as your DM's fondness for disarming, which varies wildly. The summon is reliably useful and enables a distinct playstyle: throw a handaxe and recall your longsword, throw the sword through an arrow slit and call it back, or simply never worry about being separated from your weapon again.

Quality of life rather than power, but it costs nothing and it opens tactical options no other Fighter has.

War Magic - Level 7 ●

When you take the Attack action to cast a cantrip, you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action.

This is the level that makes the cantrip build work. Before level 7, casting Booming Blade means giving up your Extra Attack, which is a straight loss from level 5 onward. After level 7 you cast Booming Blade as your action, which is itself a weapon attack plus a rider, then swing again as a bonus action. You are no longer trading attacks away; you are adding an effect to one of them.

At level 7 with a shortsword, Booming Blade is 1d6+4 plus 2d8, averaging 13.5 on the hit, with another 2d8 if the target moves. The bonus action attack adds roughly 7.5 more. That is competitive with simply attacking twice, and it discourages the target from moving at all.

Eldritch Strike - Level 10 ●

When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, it has disadvantage on the next saving throw against a spell you cast before the end of your next turn.

This turns every hit into setup. The applications that matter are Blindness/Deafness on a Constitution save, Hold Person on a Wisdom save, and at higher levels anything that ends an enemy's participation in the fight.

The catch is action economy. Setting this up costs you a round of full attacks plus a slot, and in most rounds you will decide that attacking is better. When you do commit, disadvantage on the save is often the difference between a wasted slot and a disabled enemy, and it partly compensates for the low save DC that a dumped Intelligence gives you.

Arcane Charge - Level 15 ●

When you use Action Surge, teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see, before or after the extra action.

Undervalued by most players, who read it as "teleport to the enemy and surge." The better read is that you can reposition 30 feet, through anything, on the turn you were already going to have your biggest output. Escape a grapple. Get behind full cover. Cross a chasm. Close on the caster hiding at the back.

At level 15 with three attacks per turn, this converts Action Surge from a damage button into a damage button that also solves whatever positional problem the encounter has built around you.

Improved War Magic - Level 18 ●

When you take the Attack action to cast a spell, you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action.

War Magic extended from cantrips to full spells. At level 18 that means casting Banishment and still swinging, or Counterspell and still swinging. The spell and the attack fit inside one turn's economy.

Eldritch Knight spell selection

Cantrips. Booming Blade ● is the core pick and the one you build around after level 7. Green-Flame Blade ● is stronger in clustered melee and weaker against a single target. Minor Illusion or Prestidigitation ● earn a slot for out-of-combat utility. Blade Ward ● and True Strike ● both cost your action to do less than attacking would; skip them.

1st level. Shield ● always, with no exceptions - +5 AC as a reaction is the most efficient use of a 1st-level slot in the game. Absorb Elements ● halves elemental damage and adds to your next melee hit. Find Familiar ● does not care about your Intelligence and gives you a scout and a Help action on demand. Thunderwave ● is the answer when you are surrounded.

2nd level. Misty Step ● is your mobility before Arcane Charge and your backup after it. Blindness/Deafness ● needs no attack roll and pairs with Eldritch Strike. Shadow Blade ● costs a free pick since it is neither Abjuration nor Evocation, but psychic damage is resisted by almost nothing.

3rd level and up. Counterspell ● puts a counter on the front line where nobody expects one. Fireball ● is worth it only at Intelligence 16 or higher. Banishment ● removes a creature from the fight and pairs with Improved War Magic at level 18.

Eldritch Knight in play

Build it as a Fighter. Strength or Dexterity first, Constitution second, and Intelligence last unless you have specifically decided to run save-based spells. Shield does not ask for an Intelligence check, and neither do Absorb Elements, Misty Step, or Booming Blade's damage.

The one feat that changes this subclass is War Caster, which lets you cast with a weapon and shield occupied, gives advantage on concentration saves, and turns opportunity attacks into cantrips. If you are playing sword and board, take it.

Cavalier

The bodyguard. Cavalier owns the best pure tanking feature in the class at level 3 and answers a question no other Fighter subclass really addresses: how do you make enemies attack you instead of the wizard?

Cavalier Bonus Proficiency - Level 3 ●

One skill from Animal Handling, History, Insight, Performance, or Persuasion, or one language.

A ribbon that suits the knightly flavor. Animal Handling is thematically right for a mounted character, though its mechanical use is thin at most tables. Insight or Persuasion adds social coverage to a class that gets very little.

Born to the Saddle - Level 3 ●

Mounting or dismounting costs only 5 feet of movement. You have advantage on saves to avoid falling off your mount, and if you do fall you land on your feet when not incapacitated.

These three effects together are what make mounted combat playable rather than a trap. Normally mounting costs half your speed, so a 30-foot character cannot mount and close with an enemy in the same turn. At 5 feet you mount and still have 25 feet of movement, which changes the action economy of the entire playstyle.

The advantage on falling-off saves removes mounted combat's worst failure state, where your mount takes a hit and you end up prone in the dirt while it bolts.

Unwavering Mark - Level 3 ●

When you hit a creature with a melee attack you can mark it until the end of your next turn. You have advantage on attack rolls against a marked creature that is the nearest creature to you, and if a marked creature attacks anyone other than you, you can use a bonus action to make one melee attack against it, adding half your proficiency bonus to that attack roll.

This is the Cavalier, and it is the best level 3 tanking feature on any Fighter subclass. The advantage clause fires whenever the marked creature is nearest, which in ordinary melee is most of the time.

The bonus action punisher is what separates it from every other lockdown tool. When the marked enemy ignores you and swings at your cleric, you get a free attack in response - and crucially it is a bonus action, not a reaction, so your reaction stays free for Warding Maneuver, an opportunity attack, or Shield if you multiclassed.

In practice: mark the most dangerous enemy, gain advantage against it, and tax every single attack it makes at anyone else. That is the martial protector fantasy actually working rather than being described.

Warding Maneuver - Level 7 ●

When you or a creature within 5 feet is hit by an attack, use your reaction to add 1d8 to the target's AC against that attack, potentially turning it into a miss. Three uses per long rest.

An average of 4.5 AC will not stop a high roll, but it negates the attacks that barely landed, and you get to see the roll before deciding. The discipline is in not wasting it: on a 12 against AC 18 the attack already missed, and on a 20 against AC 18 you need an 8 or better to save it, which is even money.

Three uses per long rest is the real constraint. Spend them on the boss's attacks, on a downed ally about to be finished, or on the caster standing in plate they are not wearing.

Hold the Line - Level 10 ●

Creatures within 5 feet provoke an opportunity attack from you when they move, and your opportunity attacks reduce the target's speed to 0 for the rest of that turn.

This hands you most of the Sentinel feat for free. A creature that tries to walk away takes an opportunity attack and then simply cannot leave - complete movement denial from a single hit.

Because Hold the Line covers the movement half of Sentinel, taking the feat afterward is still worthwhile for its third effect, which triggers an opportunity attack when an adjacent creature attacks someone other than you. Between the two, a marked enemy adjacent to a Cavalier has no good options at all.

Ferocious Charger - Level 15 ●

When you hit a creature after moving at least 10 feet toward it, it must make a Strength save or be knocked prone. Once per turn.

Prone is a strong condition and the DC keys off Strength, your primary stat, so at level 15 with Strength 20 you are imposing DC 18 - reliable against most things that are not a boss.

The requirement is the interesting part. Mounted, you satisfy it automatically because you are always riding toward something. On foot it asks you to plan your positioning so that you are never standing still at the start of your turn.

Vigilant Defender - Level 18 ●

On other creatures' turns you can make opportunity attacks without using your reaction, up to a number per round equal to your Dexterity modifier, minimum one.

Exceptional, and the reason to carry Dexterity 14 or 16 on a Strength-based Cavalier. Removing the reaction limit means opportunity attacks stop competing with Warding Maneuver, and the count scales.

Stacked with Hold the Line, which triggers opportunity attacks on any movement, and Unwavering Mark, which punishes attacks on your allies, the level 18 Cavalier is a complete lockdown engine. Nothing moves freely inside your reach and everything that tries gets hit on the way out.

Mounted versus dismounted

The conclusion matters for anyone worried about committing to a mount: a dismounted Cavalier is not dramatically weaker. Unwavering Mark, the subclass's defining feature, works identically on foot. The mounted benefits are additive rather than foundational, so play the Cavalier in a dungeon campaign without hesitation.

Cavalier in play

Your bonus action belongs to Unwavering Mark, which means Polearm Master is a poor fit despite its usual excellence on a lockdown build - the two compete every round. Sentinel is the feat you actually want, and taking it early through Variant Human transforms levels 3 through 9.

Mark the right target. The instinct is to mark whatever you are already fighting; the better habit is to mark whatever is threatening the squishiest member of your party, then position yourself as the nearest creature so the advantage clause stays live.

Psi Warrior

Force damage, telekinesis, and a late-arriving party buff. Psi Warrior is solid rather than spectacular: a consistent damage rider from level 3, mobility at level 7, and one excellent feature at level 15.

Psionic Power - Level 3 ●

You gain Psionic Energy Dice equal to your proficiency bonus. Once per short or long rest you can recover one expended die by using a bonus action and expending your reaction. You start with three powers: Protective Field, Psionic Strike, and Telekinetic Movement.

Be careful with the die count, because this is the most commonly misquoted number in the subclass: you have a number of dice equal to your proficiency bonus, not twice it. Two at level 3, six at level 17. The dice grow as you level, from d6 at level 3 to d8 at level 5, d10 at level 11, and d12 at level 17.

The recovery mechanic deserves thought rather than reflex. Trading a bonus action and your reaction for one die is only correct on turns where you were not going to use either, and your reaction is often valuable - opportunity attacks, Protective Field itself, or Shield if you multiclassed. The right habit is to bank the recovery on a quiet turn early in a fight rather than reaching for it when you are already empty.

Psionic Strike ● - When you hit with a weapon attack, spend a die to deal extra force damage equal to the roll plus your Intelligence modifier. This is the core power and the reason the subclass functions. No action cost, no save, no attack roll: you hit, you spend, you deal more damage. Force is the least resisted damage type in the game.

Protective Field ● - As a reaction, reduce damage to yourself or a creature within 30 feet by the die plus your Intelligence modifier. The numbers are modest early, but the 30-foot range means you are covering the whole party, and preventing a killing blow is worth more than the average suggests.

Telekinetic Movement ● - Spend a die and a bonus action to move a Large or smaller object or creature up to 30 feet. Against a creature this is a contested Strength check. Its real value is out of combat: handling dangerous objects at range, solving exploration problems, and dragging an unconscious ally out of danger without stepping into it yourself.

Telekinetic Adept - Level 7 ●

Two new powers.

Psi-Powered Leap ● - As a bonus action, gain a flying speed equal to twice your walking speed until the end of the turn. Once per short or long rest, and it does not cost a die.

The short rest recovery makes this far more available than it first appears - two or three uses across an adventuring day, on a martial class that otherwise has no answer to a chasm, a ledge, or a flying enemy. It also escapes a grapple without provoking anything.

Telekinetic Thrust ● - When you deal damage with Psionic Strike, the target makes a Strength save or is knocked prone or pushed up to 10 feet.

A free rider on damage you were already dealing. The DC scales with Intelligence, which most Psi Warriors dump, so it will not land constantly - but it costs nothing extra, and you choose prone or push each time. Prone is usually better; push matters when there is a ledge.

Guarded Mind - Level 10 ●

Resistance to psychic damage, and if you start your turn charmed or frightened you can spend one die, with no action required, to end one of those conditions.

The resistance is niche, since psychic damage is far less common than fire, cold, or lightning. The condition clearing is the real feature. Frightened imposes disadvantage on every attack and stops you closing with the source, which is crippling for a melee Fighter, so spending a die to shed it immediately is almost always correct.

It is weaker than the outright immunity some subclasses approach, because it costs a resource each time, but having an on-demand answer to both charm and fear is valuable against high-level monsters that spam them.

Bulwark of Force - Level 15 ●

As a bonus action, choose creatures within 30 feet up to a number equal to your Intelligence modifier, minimum one. Each gains half cover for 1 minute or until you are incapacitated.

The Psi Warrior's best feature by a wide margin. Half cover is +2 AC and +2 to Dexterity saving throws, and a full minute of duration means one activation covers roughly ten rounds - you set it and forget it rather than spending a bonus action every turn.

The Intelligence cap on targets is the catch and the reason to reconsider dumping the stat entirely. At Intelligence 10 you protect one creature, which is nearly pointless. At 14 you protect two, and this feature alone can justify that investment.

The Dexterity save bonus matters as much as the AC at this tier, where area spells dominate. Against a Fireball at DC 17, a rogue with +4 Dexterity goes from a 40% save chance to 55%, on top of halving the damage the save already provides.

Telekinetic Master - Level 18 ●

You can cast Telekinesis with no components, using Intelligence, and while concentrating on it you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action each turn.

The important word is that the spell no longer competes with your other concentration in practice, and the bonus action attack means holding an enemy in place does not cost you your damage. Pin the enemy caster with a 5th-level effect while continuing to swing.

Psi Warrior in play

Build it as a Strength or Dexterity Fighter first and treat Intelligence as a deliberate, limited investment rather than a theme to commit to. Intelligence 14 buys a second Bulwark target and a slightly better Telekinetic Thrust DC; going beyond that costs more than it returns.

The turn-to-turn pattern is simple: spend Psionic Strike on your first hit of most rounds, hold at least one die back for Protective Field, and use the bonus action recovery on a turn where nothing else wants your reaction. From level 15, open serious fights with Bulwark of Force before anything else.

Champion

The subclass with no bookkeeping. Champion is the simplest martial archetype in the game, and the honest case for it is not that it is secretly optimal - it is that it asks nothing of you and still contributes.

Improved Critical - Level 3 ●

Your weapon attacks score a critical hit on 19 or 20.

The feature that defines the archetype, and one whose value is routinely overstated in both directions. Doubling your crit chance sounds dramatic; in practice it moves you from 5% to 10% on a single attack roll. Over a long session with many attacks, that adds up to real damage, but it is not a per-turn swing you will feel.

Where it earns its place is in combination. Half-Orc Savage Attacks adds a weapon die on every crit, and Great Weapon Master grants a bonus action attack on one. The expanded range makes both of those fire twice as often, and by level 3 you are already building a crit-spike playstyle.

The problem is opportunity cost, and it is worth being blunt about it. Battle Master receives Combat Superiority at this same level: a suite of tactical options with a short rest recharge. Improved Critical is passive and cannot be optimized turn to turn. Both are level 3 features and the gap between them is large.

Remarkable Athlete - Level 7 ●

Add half your proficiency bonus, rounded up, to any Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution check that does not already use it, and increase your running long jump by your Strength modifier in feet.

A ribbon. It helps you climb, swim, jump, and shove outside combat, which is pleasant in an exploration-heavy campaign and entirely forgettable in a dungeon crawl. The jump distance is flavor at most tables; three to five extra feet rarely decides anything.

Fighters do not get many skill proficiencies, so adding half proficiency to unproficient physical checks does produce results at the margins. But this is the level where Battle Master gets Know Your Enemy, and the comparison is not kind.

Additional Fighting Style - Level 10 ●

Choose a second option from the Fighting Style class feature.

The best Champion feature after Improved Critical, and it is not really a Champion feature at all - it is more of something every Fighter already has. The combinations are good: Great Weapon Fighting with Defense for the melee build, Archery with Defense if you flex to range, Dueling with Protection for a shield user.

The value is real because Fighting Styles are strong across the board. The criticism is that "a second helping of a class feature" is a perk rather than an identity. You would play any other subclass and still be glad to have this.

Superior Critical - Level 15 ●

Your weapon attacks score a critical hit on 18, 19, or 20.

Now the premise pays off. You are critting 15% of the time instead of 5%, and at this level you have three attacks per turn and four under Action Surge. A Half-Orc Champion swinging a greatsword with Savage Attacks at a 15% crit rate produces a noticeable damage increase across an adventuring day.

The difficulty is arrival time. Level 15 is past where most campaigns finish. If you know you are playing a full 1 to 20 game, this is excellent. If your table typically wraps between 10 and 14, this feature effectively does not exist for you - and that is the single most important thing to know before choosing Champion.

Survivor - Level 18 ●

At the start of each of your turns, regain hit points equal to 5 plus your Constitution modifier if you are at or below half your maximum. You gain nothing at 0 hit points.

The Champion's best feature, and it is not close. Regeneration every turn while bloodied is something almost no other subclass offers. With Constitution 18 that is 9 hit points per round for as long as the fight lasts and you stay above 0.

The same caveat applies as Superior Critical - level 18 is theoretical for most groups. In the campaigns that reach it, Survivor makes the Champion dramatically harder to remove than its reputation suggests, and it shines specifically in long encounters where the party cannot stop to rest.

Champion in play

Play Champion deliberately, not by default. It is the correct pick if you want a character you can run while teaching the rules to someone else, if you are new to D&D, or if you simply want a night off from tracking resources. It delivers exactly what it advertises: you swing, you hit, and sometimes you crit twice as often as anyone else.

Build it to lean into the one thing it does. Strength to 20 before anything else, Half-Orc if you are optimizing, and Great Weapon Master plus Polearm Master to maximize the number of dice you are rolling - because every additional attack is another chance at the expanded crit range that is your entire subclass.

Arcane Archer

A wonderful fantasy attached to a resource that is too small. Arcane Archer is the clearest example in this guide of a subclass whose problem is not the quality of its effects but the number of times you get to use them.

Arcane Archer Lore - Level 3 ●

Proficiency in Arcana or Nature, and either the Druidcraft or Prestidigitation cantrip.

A ribbon that suits the theme and does nothing for your combat performance. Take whichever cantrip your table will let you be creative with.

Arcane Shot - Level 3 ●

You learn two Arcane Shot options. Once per turn, when you fire a magic arrow from a shortbow or longbow as part of the Attack action, you can apply one option to it. You have two uses, recharging on a short or long rest. You learn an additional option at levels 7, 10, 15, and 18.

Here is the whole problem with the subclass, stated plainly. Two uses per rest, on bow attacks only. Compare the same level of Battle Master: four Superiority Dice per short rest, usable on any weapon attack. The Arcane Archer has half the resource, a narrower trigger, and a longer wait between refills at low levels.

The effects themselves are good. That is what makes this frustrating rather than simply bad. You will end the campaign with six excellent options and the ability to use two of them per rest, which means you always have the right tool and almost never get to reach for it.

Magic Arrow - Level 7 ●

Whenever you fire a nonmagical arrow from a shortbow or longbow, you can make it magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks.

Quietly your best feature, precisely because it is not rationed. From level 7 you start meeting lycanthropes, fiends, and undead that shrug off nonmagical weapons, and Magic Arrow means every single arrow you fire counts. You never need to hunt for a magic bow to stay relevant.

It applies to your full attack volume rather than two shots per rest, which makes it worth more than most of the Arcane Shot options it sits alongside.

Curving Shot - Level 7 ●

When you miss with a magic arrow, use a bonus action to reroll the attack against a different target within 60 feet of the original.

Your other strong feature, and also free. Because Magic Arrow makes every arrow magical, Curving Shot applies to all of them. Miss the boss with a 14, spot a minion you would hit on a 10, and convert a wasted attack into a landed one.

Across a session, never fully wasting a miss adds up to more damage than your Arcane Shots contribute. The only cost is your bonus action, which matters if you have taken Crossbow Expert or Polearm Master and have a competing use. On a pure longbow build there is no competition, and you should use it on every miss.

Ever-Ready Shot - Level 15 ●

When you roll initiative with no Arcane Shot uses remaining, you regain one.

The same guarantee Battle Master and Samurai get, and after a career of carefully rationing two shots per rest it is welcome. One Arcane Shot at the top of a fight has real tactical weight: a Banishing Arrow to remove the biggest threat before it acts, or a Shadow Arrow to blind the enemy caster in round one.

The Arcane Shot options, rated

Bursting Arrow ● - On a hit, every creature within 10 feet takes 2d6 force damage, rising to 4d6 at level 18, with no saving throw. Automatic area damage with no DC to fail makes this the standout option for a subclass whose Intelligence is usually dumped. In a melee cluster, one arrow hits four or five targets.

Shadow Arrow ● - Extra psychic damage and a Wisdom save or the target is blinded until the start of your next turn. Blinded is one of the strongest conditions in the game. If your DC can land it, this is your best single-target control.

Banishing Arrow ● - Charisma save or the target is banished to a harmless demiplane until the end of your next turn. Removing an enemy for a round skips its turn entirely and pulls it out of melee. Best spent on the single most dangerous thing on the field, early.

Grasping Arrow ● - Extra slashing damage and brambles that deal 2d6 if the target moves more than 10 feet, plus disadvantage on Acrobatics, for 1 minute. The brambles apply automatically with no save, which makes this reliable regardless of your Intelligence. Persistent pressure on anything that wants to reposition.

Seeking Arrow ● - The arrow curves around obstacles and ignores cover, and you learn the target's location. Excellent for finding something hidden, redundant when you could simply shoot at it.

Enfeebling Arrow ● - Extra psychic damage and a Constitution save or the target deals half damage until the start of your next turn. Halving a boss's output reads well, but it needs a save and lasts a single round, which is too short to build a plan around.

Beguiling Arrow ● - Extra psychic damage and a Wisdom save or the target is charmed until the end of your next turn. A charmed creature cannot attack you and is entirely free to attack your allies, which is not protection. Avoid.

Piercing Arrow ● - A 30-foot line with a separate attack roll against each creature in it. The geometry demands perfectly aligned enemies, which happens rarely enough that you will regret the pick.

Arcane Archer in play

Build Dexterity first and Intelligence last, then choose options that do not care about your save DC. Bursting Arrow needs no save, Curving Shot needs no save, and Grasping Arrow's bramble effect applies regardless. That trio lets you play the subclass well with Intelligence 10, which is what your ability scores will actually look like.

Sharpshooter is the feat that carries this build, exactly as Great Weapon Master carries the melee ones. The -5 for +10 trade across three attacks per turn is a far larger damage contribution than your two Arcane Shots, and ignoring cover removes the most common penalty a ranged character faces.

Play it because you want to be a magical archer. That fantasy is delivered fully. Just go in knowing you will contribute less raw combat impact than a Battle Master standing next to you.

Purple Dragon Knight

The weakest Fighter subclass in 5e 2014, and worth being straightforward about. Purple Dragon Knight, also called the Banneret outside the Forgotten Realms, is a support package whose features read as quieter versions of things Battle Master already does better. It is a flavor pick, and it is a perfectly good one if the flavor is what you came for.

Rallying Cry - Level 3 ●

When you use Second Wind, up to three allies within 60 feet who can see or hear you each regain hit points equal to your Fighter level.

The numbers are honest and they do not keep pace. At level 3, three allies regain 3 each, which is 9 hit points across the party and useful when everyone has around 25. At level 10 it is 10 each, and at level 20 it is 20 each - by which point a single attack from a serious enemy removes more than that from one character.

What saves it from being worthless is that it is free. It rides on a Second Wind you were already spending, costs no action and no extra resource, and the cumulative healing across a low-level campaign is real. By level 10 you will mostly notice that a Paladin's Lay on Hands or a Cleric's Healing Word does far more for comparable effort.

Royal Envoy - Level 7 ●

Proficiency in Persuasion, or double your proficiency bonus on it if you are already proficient, plus proficiency in one of Animal Handling, Insight, Intimidation, or Performance.

This is the strongest feature on the subclass, which tells you most of what you need to know about the subclass.

Taken on its own merits it is good. Expertise in Persuasion at level 7 means a minimum +4, rising to +12 by level 17, and with even moderate Charisma this Fighter becomes one of the best Persuasion rollers at the table without building for it. In a campaign where social encounters carry equal weight to combat, that changes how you play.

The problem is framing rather than power. Rogues, Bards, and Paladins have had social advantages since level 1. Arriving at level 7, on a class not designed for it, means catching up rather than leading.

Inspiring Surge - Level 10 ●

When you use Action Surge, one ally within 60 feet can immediately use their reaction to make one weapon attack. Two allies from level 18.

This is what the subclass identity should have been at level 3. It is Commander's Strike without the cost - you give an ally a free attack and it does not consume one of yours, and it fires on the turn you were already spending your biggest resource.

Its value is entirely about who you point it at. Handed to a Paladin who smites, it is a large chunk of nova damage. Handed to a Rogue who can land another Sneak Attack, it swings the exchange. Handed to a Ranger making one ordinary shot, it is a modest bonus.

The constraint is the reaction requirement. If your ally already spent theirs on Uncanny Dodge, Shield, or an opportunity attack, Inspiring Surge does nothing at all. Call your Action Surge out loud before you use it.

Bulwark - Level 15 ●

When you use Indomitable to reroll a saving throw and you are not incapacitated, one ally within 60 feet who failed the same save can also reroll and must use the new result.

Unique - nothing else on any Fighter subclass does this. When you spend Indomitable on yourself, a second character gets rescued for free.

The setup is specific: you and an ally must fail the same saving throw, which in practice means area spells and mass effects. When it triggers it costs nothing extra, since you were using Indomitable regardless. Across a long rest cycle with two or three uses, this can pull the party caster out of a Dominate Person or the cleric out of a save-or-die.

The honest assessment is that the subclass's best feature arrives at level 15, twelve levels after you committed to it, in an archetype that was already behind. That is a design that needed its power spread earlier.

Making the best of it

If you are playing this subclass, these are the approaches that extract the most from it.

Lean all the way into the face role. Take Charisma to 14 or 16 and let Royal Envoy do the rest. At level 17 with Charisma 14 and doubled proficiency you roll Persuasion at +14, which is the highest non-magical Persuasion a Fighter can reach.

Coordinate your Action Surge out loud. Tell the Paladin or Rogue that you are surging this turn so they hold their reaction. Inspiring Surge turns your burst round into the party's burst round, but only if someone is ready to receive it.

Hold Indomitable for Bulwark moments. Do not spend it on a solo failed save when an ally failed the same one. In a campaign full of enemy spellcasters, that discipline meaningfully reduces how many of your party members spend fights paralyzed or dominated.

Take Inspiring Leader. It covers the subclass's biggest weakness directly. After a short rest, every party member gains temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier plus your level - at level 10 with Charisma 14 that is 12 each, which dwarfs anything Rallying Cry produces.

Purple Dragon Knight in play

Pick it for the story. A Cormyrean knight, a royal officer, a commander who leads from the front - the subclass delivers that character completely, and a table that cares about the Forgotten Realms will get real mileage out of it.

Go in knowing the ceiling. You will contribute less combat power than any other archetype in this guide, and the gap is widest between levels 3 and 9. If you want the same fantasy with functioning mechanics, consider a Battle Master who takes Inspiring Leader and plays a knight, or a Fighter 5 into Paladin for a commander with an aura and real staying power.

Ability Scores

The Fighter's priorities are close to identical across all ten archetypes, which is one of the reasons the class is easy to build.

Get your primary attack stat to 20 before taking any feat that does not directly increase damage or survivability. The Fighter has more Ability Score Improvements than any other class, so you can afford both - just take them in that order.

Four archetypes change the third slot:

• Echo Knight wants Constitution higher than a normal Fighter, because it sets your Unleash Incarnation uses and your Reclaim Potential temporary hit points as well as your hit points. This is the best return on Constitution in the class.
• Psi Warrior wants Intelligence 14, and only 14. That buys a second Bulwark of Force target and a workable Telekinetic Thrust DC. Beyond that the returns fall off sharply.
• Samurai wants Wisdom 14, which improves the Wisdom saves it just gave you proficiency in and feeds Elegant Courtier's Persuasion bonus. It is the one Fighter build where Wisdom is a genuine third stat.
• Cavalier wants Dexterity 14 or 16, because Vigilant Defender at level 18 gives you opportunity attacks equal to your Dexterity modifier.

Purple Dragon Knight is the odd case: Charisma is its effective third stat, since Royal Envoy and the Paladin multiclass it pairs with both want it. Eldritch Knight and Arcane Archer can both dump Intelligence entirely if you choose options that do not use a save DC.

Races

Variant Human ● is the strongest choice for almost every archetype in this guide, for one reason: a feat at level 1. Getting Polearm Master, Sentinel, Great Weapon Master, or Sharpshooter seven levels early transforms the stretch of the campaign you will actually play. It is the default, and the rest of this list is about when something beats it.

By archetype:

• Champion wants Half-Orc ● above all else. Savage Attacks adds a weapon die to every critical hit, and Champion crits more than anything else in the game. If you are optimizing a Champion, this pairing is close to mandatory.
• Rune Knight wants Goliath ●. Giant's Might makes you Large and grants advantage on Strength checks, which lets you grapple Huge creatures, and Goliath's Athletics proficiency and Strength focus line up exactly with the grappler build the subclass supports.
• Arcane Archer wants Wood Elf ●: Dexterity, extra speed, longbow proficiency, and Mask of the Wild for setting up shots from concealment.
• Psi Warrior and Eldritch Knight both suit Githyanki ●, which brings Intelligence, martial proficiencies that overlap cleanly, and innate psionics that fit the theme without costing build resources.
• Purple Dragon Knight suits Half-Elf ●, whose Charisma and two bonus skill proficiencies compound with Royal Envoy into a strong face character.
• Echo Knight has two interesting options beyond Variant Human: Bugbear ● for Surprise Attack and Long Limbs, since the echo can open a fight while you stay hidden, and Shadar-Kai ● for a second teleport alongside the echo swap.
• Cavalier benefits from Loxodon ● for natural armor, Wisdom save proficiency, and Powerful Build, which matters if your mount is on the small side.

Mountain Dwarf ● is a solid generic pick for any Strength build, with Strength and Constitution together plus built-in armor proficiency. Kalashtar ● gives a Psi Warrior the psionic theme without the Intelligence investment.

Feats

Great Weapon Master ● and Sharpshooter ● are the two damage feats, one for two-handed melee and one for ranged. Both trade -5 on the attack for +10 on the damage, and both are at their best when something else on your sheet supplies accuracy: Battle Master's Precision Attack, Samurai's Fighting Spirit advantage, or simply a prone target.

Polearm Master ● adds a bonus action attack and extends your reach to 10 feet. It is excellent on Champion, Battle Master, Rune Knight, and Psi Warrior, and a poor fit on Cavalier, Samurai, and Echo Knight, all of which already have a standing claim on your bonus action.

Sentinel ● stops enemies leaving your reach and lets you punish them for attacking your allies. It is the core lockdown feat for the whole class. Note that Cavalier's Hold the Line already covers the movement half, so a Cavalier takes it specifically for the ally-protection clause.

War Caster ● is close to mandatory on a sword-and-board Eldritch Knight, since it lets you cast Shield with both hands occupied and gives advantage on concentration saves. It does very little on a Fighter who is not casting.

Grappler ● is a specialist pick that only makes sense on Rune Knight, where Large or Huge size lets you wrestle creatures nothing else in the party can hold.

Inspiring Leader ● belongs on Purple Dragon Knight, where it delivers far more party healing than Rallying Cry ever will.

Resilient (Wisdom) ● patches the Fighter's weakest common save and is worth considering on any archetype except Samurai, which already gets Wisdom save proficiency for free. Crossbow Expert ● suits a hand crossbow build, and Lucky ● partly compensates for subclasses with no active tactical tools.

Multiclassing

The Fighter is both the best class to dip into and a class that rarely wants to leave. Five Fighter levels give Extra Attack, Action Surge, and a Fighting Style, which is why so many builds take exactly that many.

Barbarian 3 ● - Reckless Attack grants advantage on every attack, which doubles how often an expanded crit range triggers. That makes it strongest on Champion. Totem Warrior adds resistance to most damage. The cost is that Rage does not work in heavy armor and competes with several subclass features for your bonus action.

Paladin 2 ● - Divine Smite, and crits double the smite dice. Excellent on Champion for the crit range and on Samurai, where Fighting Spirit's advantage raises crit frequency directly. The cost is spreading your ability scores across Strength, Constitution, and Charisma.

Paladin, deeper ● - Fighter 5 into Paladin is the best home for a Purple Dragon Knight concept. Aura of Protection, Divine Smite, and spellcasting supply the power the subclass lacks, and the Charisma investment it already wanted is suddenly doing real work.

Rogue 3 (Arcane Trickster) ● - Sneak Attack adds consistent damage but wants an ally adjacent and suits a Dexterity build. Reasonable, not exciting.

Ranger 3 (Gloom Stalker) ● - Dread Ambusher gives an extra attack and bonus initiative, which makes for a strong opening round on a nova build.

Bard (Valor or Swords) ● - Both grant Extra Attack, which does not stack with the one you already have. Take this because you want to play a bard, not as an optimization.

Choosing by Campaign

If you are still deciding, the shape of your campaign usually settles it faster than a damage comparison.

• A standard campaign ending around level 10 to 12: Battle Master. Its power is fully online at level 3 and it never stops being relevant.
• A full 1 to 20 campaign: Echo Knight or Champion. Both are built around features that land late, and both pay off enormously if you actually get there.
• Open terrain, overland travel, or a mount: Cavalier.
• Dungeon crawls and tight corridors: Echo Knight, Rune Knight, or Battle Master. Cavalier and Arcane Archer both lose value indoors.
• Heavy roleplay and intrigue: Purple Dragon Knight or Samurai, the two archetypes with real social mechanics.
• You want to protect a specific fragile party member: Cavalier first, then Echo Knight for Shadow Martyr.
• You are new, or you want low overhead: Champion, or Samurai for one memorable button.
• You want magic without leaving the class: Eldritch Knight.

Related Guides

• D&D 5e Fighter Guide - the full class guide: Fighting Styles, Action Surge, Indomitable, weapons, armor, and level-by-level build advice.
• Best Feats for Fighter - a deeper level-banded look at the feat choices summarized above.
• D&D 5e Class Guides - every class in the 2014 rules, compared.