D&D 5e Ranger Subclasses (2014): All Eight Archetypes Ranked

Introduction

Every other class in D&D 5e 2014 asks its subclass to add something to a functioning base. The Ranger asks its subclass to fix one.

The 2014 Ranger chassis is the weakest in the Player's Handbook, and this is not a controversial opinion. Favored Enemy grants advantage on checks to track one creature type you probably will not fight. Natural Explorer makes travel in one terrain more efficient, which most tables narrate past. Primeval Awareness burns a spell slot to learn that something exists somewhere within a mile. Tasha's Cauldron of Everything shipped a set of optional replacements specifically because these features do not work.

So the Ranger subclass carries more weight than any other subclass in the game. It is not adding a flourish to a strong character. It is the reason the character functions at all.

Two things separate the eight, and the first one is structural:

• Five of the eight give you an expanded spell list. Gloom Stalker, Fey Wanderer, Monster Slayer, Horizon Walker and Swarmkeeper all add spells that never count against your spells known. The Ranger has the smallest spells-known progression of any caster in the game, so this is proportionally an enormous gift. Hunter, Beast Master and Drakewarden get nothing, though Drakewarden is paying for a companion instead.
• The features themselves are answering a specific weakness. Gloom Stalker fixes your opening round and your stealth. Fey Wanderer fixes your damage floor and gives you a social pillar. Drakewarden fixes the companion fantasy that Beast Master fumbled. Monster Slayer fixes your saving throws against bosses.

This guide covers all eight, rates every feature, and is direct about which ones are strong and which are asking you to accept a worse character for a better story.

The Eight Subclasses at a Glance

What Your Subclass Is Actually Fixing

Three consequences follow from that framing, and they matter more than any individual feature rating below.

The free spell list is worth more here than anywhere else in the game. A Ranger knows two spells at level 2 and eleven at level 20. That is the smallest progression of any caster in D&D. When Gloom Stalker hands you Greater Invisibility, or Horizon Walker hands you Haste and Misty Step, those spells arrive outside that budget entirely. Five subclasses effectively double the size of your usable spell list. Of the three that do not, two are Hunter and Beast Master, the weakest entries here, and the third is Drakewarden, which spends its budget on a drake instead and is strong anyway.

Your bonus action is the real bottleneck. Hunter's Mark is your primary damage and it costs a bonus action to cast and another to move. Then Planar Warrior wants it, Slayer's Prey wants it, commanding a drake wants it, Writhing Tide wants it, and Misty Step wants it. Before you commit to a subclass, sketch out what a normal turn looks like, because several of these features cannot coexist in the same round and a few of them directly replace Hunter's Mark rather than stacking with it.

Check when the subclass front-loads, because the Ranger front-loads badly. Your subclass arrives at level 3 and the base class gives you very little before then. Gloom Stalker, Fey Wanderer and Drakewarden all hand you something excellent immediately. Beast Master does not become coherent until level 7 and does not become reasonable until 11. Given how many campaigns run from roughly 3 to 10, a subclass that needs level 11 to work is one you may never see working.

One practical note across all eight: take War Caster or Resilient with Constitution. Hunter's Mark is concentration, it is most of your damage, and you are frequently in range of something that wants to hit you.

Hot Take: Every strong Ranger subclass here is fixing something the base class does badly, so choose by the flaw that bothers you most. Gloom Stalker fixes your opening round, Fey Wanderer fixes your damage floor and your social pillar, Drakewarden fixes the companion fantasy Beast Master fumbled. If none of those flaws bother you, plain Hunter is still a working Ranger.

Gloom Stalker

The best Ranger subclass in the 2014 rules, and the gap is real. Gloom Stalker gives you the strongest opening round any martial character gets at level 3, and then makes it very difficult for anything to see you.

Gloom Stalker Magic ●

Level 3. You learn additional spells at set levels, and they do not count against your spells known.

Disguise Self and Rope Trick at 3rd, Fear and Silence at 5th, Greater Invisibility at 9th, Seeming at 13th, Mislead at 17th.

An excellent list and thematically tight. Rope Trick creates an extradimensional space for a short rest, which is quietly enormous in a dungeon crawl where resting is contested. Fear is a cone that forces enemies to drop what they are holding and run, denying actions across a group. Greater Invisibility at 9th is one of the best spells in the game and something a Ranger has no business having: you stay invisible while attacking, which means advantage on every attack and disadvantage on everything aimed at you.

Disguise Self and Seeming cover infiltration. None of this eats into your tiny spells-known budget.

Dread Ambusher ●

Level 3. At the start of your first turn of each combat, your walking speed increases by 10 feet for that turn. If you take the Attack action on that turn, you can make one additional weapon attack as part of it, and if that attack hits, the target takes an extra 1d8 damage of the weapon's type.

Read the wording carefully, because the value is in one phrase: first turn of each combat, not once per day. Every fight, all day, every day.

At level 3 that is one normal attack plus a Dread Ambusher attack with an extra 1d8. At level 5 it is two normal attacks plus the Dread Ambusher attack. With Hunter's Mark running and Archery style, a level 5 Gloom Stalker who connects with all three is looking at roughly 40 damage in the opening round, which is Fighter burst on a Ranger chassis.

The extra 10 feet of speed is not decoration either. It frequently decides whether you can reach a target and still take the Attack action on the turn that matters most.

This is why Alert is the signature Gloom Stalker feat. Acting first means Dread Ambusher fires while enemies are at full health and have not yet spread out.

Umbral Sight ●

Level 3. You gain darkvision out to 60 feet, or its range increases by 30 feet if you already have it. You are also invisible to any creature that relies on darkvision to see you in darkness.

The first sentence is useful. The second is extraordinary, and players routinely underrate it because it reads like a stealth bonus rather than what it actually is.

You are not hidden, not heavily obscured, not at disadvantage to be seen. You are invisible to darkvision in darkness. Most monsters see by darkvision. Most dungeons are dark. The practical consequence is that you can move through a room full of enemies and none of them can perceive you unless something is carrying a light, or the creature has blindsight or truesight.

Combine that with attacking from hiding, which gives advantage, and Dread Ambusher firing on the same turn, and the opening of a dungeon fight becomes something no other martial can replicate.

Iron Mind ●

Level 7. You gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws. If you already have it, you take Intelligence or Charisma instead.

Do not skim this one. Rangers do not get Wisdom save proficiency, and Wisdom is the save that Hold Person, Fear, Dominate Person, Suggestion, Hypnotic Pattern and most other save-or-lose effects target. Going from a bare Wisdom modifier to modifier plus proficiency at level 7 is frequently the difference between participating in the boss fight and watching it.

It costs you nothing and requires no decisions. One of the better level 7 features in the class.

Stalker's Flurry ●

Level 11. Once per turn, when you miss with a weapon attack, you can make another weapon attack.

Not a reroll, an additional attack, which matters because the new attack gets its own chance at everything riding on a hit: Hunter's Mark dice, Sharpshooter damage, a critical.

Against a typical mid-tier AC you miss somewhere around a third of the time, and this converts each of those misses into a fresh attempt once per turn. The effective damage increase is roughly 15 to 20 percent, and it rises against high-AC bosses where your miss rate climbs. It is not dramatic in the way Dread Ambusher is, but it contributes in every round of every fight for the rest of the campaign.

Shadowy Dodge ●

Level 15. When a creature makes an attack roll against you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on it.

A reaction that roughly halves the chance of any single incoming attack landing, with no daily limit. Against a boss making three attacks a round, it reliably removes one of them.

The retired Gloom Stalker guide claimed this only works in dim light or darkness. That restriction is not in the feature as published, so check your DM's reading, but the version above is the one to build around.

Gloom Stalker in play

Build for initiative above almost everything else. Alert, or Variant Human taking Alert at level 1, is what guarantees Dread Ambusher fires under the best possible conditions.

Ask your DM what proportion of the campaign is indoors, underground or at night, because Umbral Sight is close to a permanent invisibility field in those conditions and does nothing in an open field at noon.

Build Dexterity to 16 at creation and then 20, Wisdom 14, Constitution 14. Wood Elf is the definitive race here, stacking Mask of the Wild on top of Umbral Sight. Three levels of Assassin Rogue is the signature multiclass and produces one of the highest alpha strikes in the game, at the cost of delaying everything else.

Fey Wanderer

The most complete Ranger subclass. Fey Wanderer gives you free damage on every turn with no resource attached, turns your spellcasting stat into a social stat, and hands you the best teleportation package in the class.

Fey Wanderer Magic ●

Level 3. Additional spells that do not count against your spells known: Charm Person at 3rd, Misty Step at 5th, Dispel Magic at 9th, Dimension Door at 13th, Mislead at 17th.

Misty Step is the best bonus action mobility spell in the game and it arrives on a class that badly wants an escape button. Dispel Magic is a utility every party needs and no other Ranger gets for free. Dimension Door moves you and one willing creature up to 500 feet, which is an extraction tool, an infiltration tool and an ambush tool at once.

The retired Fey Wanderer guide listed Summon Fey on this table instead of Dispel Magic, and also listed Misty Step twice. Use the list above and confirm against Tasha's if your DM cares about the specifics.

Dreadful Strikes ●

Level 3. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can deal an extra 1d4 psychic damage. A creature can take this damage only once per turn. It increases to 1d6 at level 11.

The lowest-overhead damage feature in the class. No bonus action, no concentration, no resource, no condition on the target. You hit something, it takes extra damage.

The once-per-turn clause means Extra Attack does not double it, so this is an average 2.5 rising to 3.5, on every single turn from level 3 to level 20. Set against the alternatives that is remarkable: Colossus Slayer needs the target below maximum hit points, Slayer's Prey costs a bonus action, Hunter's Mark costs a bonus action and your concentration. Dreadful Strikes costs nothing at all.

Psychic is also one of the least resisted damage types in the game, so almost none of it gets halved.

Otherworldly Glamour ●

Level 3. Whenever you make a Charisma check, add your Wisdom modifier to it, minimum +1. You also gain proficiency in Deception, Performance or Persuasion.

This is the feature that makes the Fey Wanderer unique in the whole 2014 library: a full martial class that becomes a genuine party face without spending a single point on Charisma.

You are already building Wisdom for spellcasting. By mid-game that is +3 or +4, and it now applies to Persuasion, Deception, Intimidation and Performance. With the free proficiency on top, you are rolling those at around +7 to +9 at levels where DC 15 is a normal ask.

A Ranger already covers tracking, perception and survival. Adding the social pillar means you contribute meaningfully in all three parts of the game, which no other Ranger subclass can claim.

Beguiling Twist ●

Level 7. When a creature within 120 feet succeeds on a saving throw against being charmed or frightened, you can use your reaction to force a different creature within 30 feet of it to make a Wisdom save against your spell save DC or be charmed or frightened by you, your choice, for 1 minute.

An unusual trigger: it fires when a charm or fear effect fails, which turns your party's wasted spells into second attempts.

Its value scales directly with your party composition. At a table with a Bard, a Druid or an enchantment-leaning caster it triggers constantly. At a table of martials and an Evoker it may never come up. The 120-foot trigger radius is generous; the 30-foot redirect radius is the real constraint.

Fey Reinforcements ●

Level 11. You can cast Summon Fey without expending a spell slot, a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.

A free summon, repeatedly, is strong. The fey spirit uses your spell attack modifier and save DC, attacks every round, and comes in three moods: Mirthful charms, Tricksy turns invisible and teleports, Dreadful frightens.

The catch is concentration, which the spell requires and which Hunter's Mark also wants. That is a genuine decision rather than a drawback: a summoned ally attacking every round is usually worth more than 1d6 per hit, especially in a long fight.

The retired guide claimed this version does not require concentration. It does. Plan around that.

Misty Wanderer ●

Level 15. You can cast Misty Step without expending a spell slot, a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest, and each time you can bring one willing creature within 5 feet along with you.

Free teleportation several times a day on a class with almost no spell slots to spare, plus a passenger.

The passenger clause is what elevates it. Pull your Paladin out of a grapple. Extract a downed ally from melee before they get finished. Move your Barbarian into a flanking position they could not have walked to. At the tier where positioning decides fights, this is among the strongest level 15 features any Ranger gets.

Fey Wanderer in play

Dreadful Strikes applies itself, so the actual skill here is remembering Otherworldly Glamour exists out of combat. Players build this subclass for the damage and then forget they are the party's best negotiator.

Push Wisdom higher than a typical Ranger would, toward 16 by level 8. It feeds your spell save DC for Beguiling Twist, the fey spirit's DC, and every Charisma check you make.

Wood Elf and Half-Elf are both excellent, and Eladrin is the thematic pick with a second teleport attached. Fey Touched is the feat that fits the subclass best, adding another Misty Step and a free enchantment or divination spell.

Drakewarden

The companion subclass that works. Drakewarden exists in the same design space as Beast Master and solves the exact problem that ruins it, which makes the comparison between them the clearest illustration of action economy in the 2014 rules.

Draconic Gift ●

Level 3. You gain the Thaumaturgy cantrip as a ranger spell, and you learn to speak, read and write Draconic or another language of your choice.

Flavour. Thaumaturgy has no combat application and costs you nothing to carry. It sets up the draconic theme and nothing else, so budget for it as zero.

Drake Companion ●

Level 3. As an action, summon your drake within 30 feet, choosing a Draconic Essence damage type from acid, cold, fire, lightning or poison, which sets both its damage immunity and its bonus damage. Its hit points equal 5 plus five times your Ranger level, its AC is 14 plus your proficiency bonus, and its attacks and saves scale with your proficiency bonus. It shares your initiative and acts immediately after you. By default it takes the Dodge action, unless you spend a bonus action to command something else. Once summoned, you cannot summon it again until a long rest unless you spend a spell slot of 1st level or higher.

This is the mechanical heart of the subclass and the reason it outclasses Beast Master so decisively.

Commanding the drake costs a bonus action, never your action. That single design choice means your turn is: Attack action with your own weapon attacks, bonus action to command the drake to Attack, and the drake then takes its own turn immediately after yours. A full Ranger turn plus a companion attack, every round, forever.

Compare that with Beast Master, where commanding the companion to attack consumes your action and therefore costs you both of your Extra Attack swings. That is the entire difference between a subclass rated blue and one rated red.

The drake's Bite deals 1d6 plus your proficiency bonus. Its reaction, Infused Strikes, triggers when any creature within 30 feet that it can see hits with a weapon attack, adding 1d6 of its essence type to that hit. Note the wording: any creature, not just you.

That changes where you put it. The instinct is to keep the drake at your side; the better play is usually to position it next to whichever ally swings most often. A Fighter making four attacks generates four chances for the reaction, against your two or three.

Pick the essence type per encounter rather than once at character creation. Poison is the most widely resisted damage type in the game, so default to fire, cold or lightning when facing something unfamiliar.

Bond of Fang and Scale ●

Level 7. Your drake gains a flying speed equal to its walking speed. While it is summoned you also gain three benefits: you can ride it if you are Medium or smaller, though it cannot fly while you ride it; its Bite deals an extra 1d6 of its essence type; and you gain resistance to that damage type.

Where the drake stops being a good companion and becomes a force multiplier. Flight opens up positions a grounded Ranger simply cannot reach, and even as a ground mount a 40-foot-speed drake beats walking.

The resistance is the underrated part, because it stacks conceptually with the drake's own immunity to the same type. A well-chosen essence protects both of you from the same threat, so pick it with the next encounter in mind.

Drake's Breath ●

Level 11. As an action, you or your drake exhale a 30-foot cone. Choose acid, cold, fire, lightning or poison, independent of the drake's essence. Each creature makes a Dexterity save against your spell save DC, taking 8d6 on a failure and half on a success, rising to 10d6 at level 15. Once per long rest, or by spending a spell slot of 3rd level or higher.

Substantial area damage on a class that is otherwise almost entirely single-target. An average 28 to everything in a cone is a real answer to the grouped-enemy problem that Rangers usually solve badly.

The tactical detail worth knowing: have the drake breathe, not you. Using it yourself costs your whole action and your weapon attacks. Commanding the drake to do it costs only the bonus action you were already spending.

Choosing the damage type separately from the essence is flexible, so read the enemy before you commit.

Perfected Bond ●

Level 15. While summoned, the drake remains until it drops to 0 hit points, you summon it again, or you die. Its Bite gains another 1d6, taking the total bonus to 2d6 with Magic Fang. It becomes Large and can now fly while you ride it. You also gain Reflexive Resistance, a reaction usable a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest, granting you or the drake resistance to one instance of damage while you are within 30 feet of each other.

A strong capstone that removes the subclass's main friction. The drake staying summoned indefinitely means no more spending spell slots to recover from a bad fight, and flying while mounted finally makes it a real aerial platform rather than a ground ride with occasional solo flight.

Drakewarden in play

Command the drake with a bonus action every single round. Players coming from Beast Master instinctively reach for their action and give away the subclass's entire advantage.

Place the drake near the party's highest-volume attacker, not near yourself, so Infused Strikes fires as often as possible.

Guard the summon. Losing the drake mid-fight costs either the rest of the day or a spell slot, so pull it back with Dodge when it is badly hurt rather than trading it for a few points of damage.

Build Dexterity to 20, Wisdom 14 to 16 because Drake's Breath uses your spell save DC, Constitution 14. Two levels of Fighter is the strongest dip, since Action Surge stacks cleanly on a turn that already leaves your action free.

Monster Slayer

The boss killer. Monster Slayer is narrow in a way the other subclasses are not: it is built entirely around one dangerous enemy, and against that enemy it does things nothing else in the class can.

Monster Slayer Magic ●

Level 3. Additional spells that do not count against your spells known: Protection from Evil and Good and Zone of Truth at 3rd, Magic Circle and Nondetection at 5th, Banishment and Glibness at 9th, Hold Monster at 13th, Whirlwind at 17th.

Solid but uneven. Protection from Evil and Good is excellent against fiends, undead, fey, aberrations and elementals, giving you advantage on saves against them and imposing disadvantage on their attacks. Banishment is one of the best 4th-level spells in the game for removing a single priority target. Hold Monster works on anything, unlike Hold Person, and paralysis means every attack from within 5 feet is an automatic critical.

Zone of Truth and Glibness are social spells that sit oddly on an otherwise combat-focused subclass.

The retired class guide claimed this list includes Counterspell, and that no other Ranger subclass can access it. That contradicts the subclass guide's own table entirely. Counterspell is not on the list above; verify against Xanathar's before building around it.

Hunter's Sense ●

Level 3. As an action, choose a creature within 60 feet and immediately learn its damage immunities, resistances and vulnerabilities, and whether it is immune to being charmed, frightened or paralyzed.

Valuable information delivered at an awkward cost. Spending your entire action in round one to learn things is a real sacrifice when you could be attacking.

The way to use it well is to move it out of combat. If you can see or hear the creature before initiative is rolled, Hunter's Sense costs you nothing. Knowing the thing is immune to fire before your Wizard commits a Fireball, or that it cannot be frightened before your Paladin spends a smite on Wrathful Smite, makes this a party-wide force multiplier rather than a personal one.

Slayer's Prey ●

Level 3. As a bonus action, choose a creature within 60 feet. The first time each turn you hit it with a weapon attack, it takes an extra 1d6 damage. This lasts until the target dies or you use the feature again.

The direct comparison is Hunter's Mark, and the distinction matters: Slayer's Prey requires no concentration.

Hunter's Mark deals 1d6 on every hit but eats your concentration and costs a bonus action to move. Slayer's Prey deals 1d6 once per turn and costs nothing to maintain.

For boss fights, Slayer's Prey is usually better. Your concentration stays free, which means your party's Haste lands on you without conflict and nothing you take breaks your damage bonus. For sustained fights against waves of enemies, Hunter's Mark wins, because moving it between dying targets is cheaper than reapplying.

Note that the retired guide described a reactive weapon attack attached to this feature, triggering when the marked creature damages you. That is not part of Slayer's Prey as published. The version above is what you get.

Supernatural Defense ●

Level 7. When your Slayer's Prey target forces you to make a saving throw, or when you make an ability check to escape its grapple, add 1d6 to the roll.

Precisely targeted at what a high-CR boss actually does to you: Hold Monster, Dominate Person, grapples, Frightful Presence, petrification.

An extra 1d6 turns a marginal save into a comfortable one, and it applies automatically whenever the marked creature is the source. Against a vampire's charm at DC 17, a Ranger with a decent Wisdom goes from unreliable to favoured.

The retired guide added your Wisdom modifier on top of the 1d6. That is not in the published feature; it is 1d6 alone.

Magic-User's Nemesis ●

Level 11. When you see a creature within 60 feet casting a spell or teleporting, you can use your reaction to force it to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, its spell or teleport fails and is wasted. Once per short or long rest.

A Counterspell that costs no spell slot, works on teleportation as well, and does not require you to identify what is being cast.

The once-per-rest limit is the real constraint, giving you perhaps two or three uses across an adventuring day. Save it for the spell that would change the fight, not the first Fire Bolt you see. The teleport clause is the hidden value: a boss trying to escape via Dimension Door can simply be denied.

The retired guide described this as imposing disadvantage rather than forcing a save. The save version above is the published one.

Slayer's Counter ●

Level 15. When your Slayer's Prey target forces you to make a saving throw, you can use your reaction to make one weapon attack against it. You make the attack before the save, and if it hits, your saving throw automatically succeeds.

An excellent capstone and a satisfying one. The boss spends its action trying to paralyze, dominate or petrify you; you shoot it, and if you connect, the effect simply does not happen and you dealt damage in the process.

It is not a guarantee, because you still need to beat its AC, which at level 15 lands somewhere around 55 to 65 percent. But those odds are dramatically better than raw save odds against a boss's DC, and a failure just means you make the save normally.

It requires Slayer's Prey to already be on the target, so mark the boss early rather than waiting.

Monster Slayer in play

Mark the most dangerous enemy with Slayer's Prey on round one, every time. Every other feature in the subclass keys off that mark.

Hold your reaction deliberately. Magic-User's Nemesis and Slayer's Counter both want it, and both are worth more than an opportunity attack.

Push Wisdom higher than a typical Ranger, to 16, because Magic-User's Nemesis uses your spell save DC and Supernatural Defense protects you from the boss's.

Build Dexterity to 20, Wisdom 16, Constitution 14. Sentinel is the standout feat, locking the boss in place while your party surrounds it. Resilient with Wisdom is the alternative if your DM leans on save-or-lose effects.

Horizon Walker

The mobility subclass. Horizon Walker converts your damage into the least-resisted type in the game and gives you teleportation at three separate levels, which together make it the hardest Ranger to pin down or wall off.

Horizon Walker Magic ●

Level 3. Additional spells that do not count against your spells known: Protection from Evil and Good and Misty Step at 3rd, Haste and Protection from Energy at 5th, Banishment at 9th, Hold Monster at 13th, Plane Shift at 17th.

Arguably the strongest expanded list in the class, with no filler at all.

Misty Step is a bonus action teleport that escapes grapples, crosses obstacles and repositions without provoking. Haste doubles your speed, adds +2 AC and grants an extra action you spend attacking, which on a class with Extra Attack is a large damage increase, though the concentration competes with Hunter's Mark. Banishment removes a creature from the fight and can do so permanently against something extraplanar. Hold Monster paralyzes anything.

The retired class guide lists Blink and Teleportation Circle in place of Haste and Hold Monster. The two sources disagree materially here; the list above comes from the dedicated subclass guide. Confirm against Xanathar's before you plan around a specific entry.

Detect Portal ●

Level 3. You know the direction and approximate distance to the nearest planar portal within 1 mile, and you have advantage on saving throws against spells and magical effects while within 5 feet of one.

Entirely campaign-dependent, which is why it sits at orange. In a planar campaign it generates hooks and useful intelligence. In a game that never leaves the Material Plane it may never trigger once. The save advantage is real but so narrowly conditioned that you will rarely notice it.

Planar Warrior ●

Level 3. As a bonus action when you take the Attack action, designate a creature you can see within 30 feet. Until the end of the turn, your weapon attacks against it deal force damage instead of their normal type and the first one deals an extra 1d8 force damage, rising to 2d8 at level 11.

The defining feature, and the part players undervalue is not the extra 1d8, it is the type conversion.

All of your damage becomes force, including the weapon dice and your Hunter's Mark dice. Force is resisted by virtually nothing in the Monster Manual. The martial fighting a fire elemental, a specter, or a werewolf without a silver weapon is watching half their damage disappear; the Horizon Walker is not.

The cost is the bonus action, which competes directly with Hunter's Mark. The usual pattern is to apply the Mark on round one and then run Planar Warrior every round after, since the Mark stays put while Planar Warrior must be reapplied.

The retired class guide described this as replacing 1d8 of your normal damage with force rather than converting all of it. The conversion reading above is the one the subclass guide gives and the one that makes the feature worth taking.

Ethereal Step ●

Level 7. As a bonus action at the start of your turn, cast Etherealness, lasting until the end of that turn. Once per short or long rest.

One turn of moving through solid matter, recharging on a short rest, which in a normal adventuring day means two or three uses.

That short duration is less limiting than it sounds because the applications are positional and immediate. Walk out of a grapple. Pass through the wall the enemy is hiding behind. Step through a portcullis and open it from the other side. Cross a line of shields and emerge behind the archers.

This feature makes terrain almost irrelevant to you, which is a rare thing for a martial character to be able to say.

Distant Strike ●

Level 11. When you take the Attack action, you can teleport up to 10 feet before each attack to an unoccupied space you can see. If you attack at least two different creatures with the action, you gain one additional attack against one of them.

Excellent, and it rewards tactical play rather than simply adding a number.

Teleporting between attacks means you never provoke while repositioning, you can strike two enemies who are nowhere near each other, and you can hit and then relocate out of reach. Against a Sentinel-style lockdown, you simply leave.

The bonus attack for hitting two different creatures is the reason to spread your attacks in a crowd, and combined with Planar Warrior's force conversion it turns a multi-enemy round into serious output.

Note the threshold is two different creatures. The retired class guide says three.

Spectral Defense ●

Level 15. When you take damage from an attack, you can use your reaction to gain resistance to all of that attack's damage.

Reactive halving of one hit per round. Less powerful than Hunter's Evasion because it costs your reaction and covers a single attack, but broader, because it applies to any damage type rather than only Dexterity saves.

The "all damage from that attack" wording matters against attacks that deal two types at once, which becomes common at this tier.

Horizon Walker in play

Decide each round whether the bonus action goes to Hunter's Mark or Planar Warrior. Against a single tough enemy that resists physical damage, Planar Warrior wins outright. Against a spread of ordinary enemies, the Mark travels better.

From level 11, deliberately split your attacks across two targets to trigger the extra attack. Players who focus everything on one enemy leave a whole attack unclaimed every round.

Build Dexterity to 20, Wisdom 14, Constitution 14. War Caster matters here more than most, because Haste is the list's best spell and losing concentration on it costs you your turn as well as the spell.

Swarmkeeper

The positioning subclass. Swarmkeeper gives you a free rider on every hit that can deal damage, shove an enemy fifteen feet, or slide you out of trouble, and choosing correctly between those three is the whole skill of playing it.

Swarmkeeper Magic ●

Level 3. Additional spells that do not count against your spells known: Mage Hand and Faerie Fire at 3rd, Web at 5th, Gaseous Form at 9th, Arcane Eye at 13th, Insect Plague at 17th.

Uneven, carried by two entries. Faerie Fire is outstanding and something a Ranger has no other route to: advantage on every attack against everything caught in it, plus it reveals invisible creatures. Web creates difficult terrain and restrains, which pairs directly with Gathered Swarm's push, since you can shove an enemy into the web you just made.

Mage Hand is a cantrip Rangers do not otherwise get. Gaseous Form, Arcane Eye and Insect Plague are situational but real. Faerie Fire and Web alone justify the list.

Gathered Swarm ●

Level 3. Once per turn when you hit a creature with an attack, choose one: the target takes 1d6 piercing damage from the swarm, or the swarm moves the target up to 15 feet horizontally, or the swarm moves you up to 5 feet without provoking opportunity attacks.

Three different tools on one trigger, and the push is the one that wins fights.

The damage averages 3.5 and is the default when positioning does not matter. Piercing is rarely resisted outside creatures immune to physical weapons.

The push is the standout, and the reason is two words: no save. Not a Strength contest, not a Dexterity save. The creature moves fifteen feet, full stop. That means you can shove a melee attacker off your downed cleric, push something off a ledge, pin an enemy against another creature's space, drop it into your own Web, or simply remove a bruiser from your archer's face every single round.

The self-move is a five-foot disengage that costs nothing. Step out of reach, step into flanking, step behind cover after shooting.

Note that the retired class guide described this as expending dice from a pool. There is no pool: it is once per turn, every turn, forever.

Writhing Tide ●

Level 7. As a bonus action, you gain a flying speed and can hover for 1 minute. Uses equal your proficiency bonus per long rest.

Flight on a Ranger at level 7 is a substantial upgrade, and the hover clause matters more than it looks: hovering creatures do not fall when their speed drops to 0, so a paralysis or speed-reduction effect does not drop you out of the sky.

Proficiency bonus uses at a minute each covers most or all of an adventuring day's fights.

The two retired sources disagree on the speed, one giving a flat 10 feet and the other a speed equal to your walking speed. That is a large practical difference, so confirm it against Tasha's before you plan a build around aerial positioning.

Mighty Swarm ●

Level 11. Gathered Swarm improves: the damage becomes 1d8, a creature pushed by the swarm is also knocked prone, and the self-move option grants you half cover until the start of your next turn.

The prone rider is the headline. A prone creature attacks at disadvantage and everything attacking it in melee has advantage, so pushing the boss prone turns your single trigger into a party-wide damage multiplier for a round.

It also costs the target half its movement to stand, which compounds with having just been shoved fifteen feet away.

The sources disagree on the third option, one giving half cover and the other extending the self-move to 10 feet. Half cover is the reading above.

Swarming Dispersal ●

Level 15. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to gain resistance to all of that damage, then move up to 20 feet without provoking opportunity attacks. Uses equal your proficiency bonus per long rest.

Two useful things at once: the damage is halved, and you leave. Against a boss landing 40, that is 20 prevented plus a free escape from melee.

Five uses at level 15 against combats that typically run four to eight rounds means you can use it most rounds of most fights without running dry.

Compared with Hunter's Evasion, this covers any damage type from any attack and adds movement, where Evasion covers only Dexterity saves but negates entirely. Different tools, similar value.

Swarmkeeper in play

Read the board before every attack, because the correct Gathered Swarm choice changes round to round. New players default to damage; the push is usually worth more.

Pair it with Web or Spike Growth deliberately. Shoving a creature into a zone it already failed to avoid is the single strongest thing this subclass does.

Build Dexterity to 20, Wisdom 14, Constitution 14. Sharpshooter for ranged builds, Sentinel for melee. Two levels of Fighter gives an extra Gathered Swarm trigger on an Action Surge turn.

Hunter

The subclass with no bad options and no great ones. Hunter asks you to make four choices across your career, and the honest summary is that the right answer is usually obvious and always at least solid.

Hunter's Prey ●

Level 3. Choose one.

Colossus Slayer ● deals an extra 1d8 once per turn when you hit a creature below its hit point maximum. "Below maximum" describes essentially every creature after the first hit of a fight, so treat this as a passive +1d8 every round for the rest of the campaign. Take it when in doubt.

Horde Breaker ● lets you make an additional weapon attack once per turn against a different creature within 5 feet of your first target. A full extra attack, not a bonus action attack. Excellent in mob-heavy campaigns, dead when enemies are spread out.

Giant Killer ● gives a reaction attack when a Large or larger creature within 5 feet hits or misses you. It is melee-only, size-gated, and spends the reaction you would rather keep. Fine in a giant-heavy campaign, otherwise pass.

Defensive Tactics ●

Level 7. Choose one.

Escape the Horde ● imposes disadvantage on opportunity attacks against you. Passive, always on, and excellent for any build that moves in and out of melee.

Multiattack Defense ● grants +4 AC against a creature's subsequent attacks after the first one hits you. Read it carefully: it does nothing against the first attack, and nothing at all against creatures that attack once. Against the Multiattack bosses you meet from CR 3 upward it is strong.

Steel Will ● is advantage on saves against being frightened. Too narrow next to the other two.

The split is simple: skirmishers take Escape the Horde, anchors take Multiattack Defense.

Hunter Multiattack ●

Level 11. Choose one.

Volley ● makes a ranged attack against every creature you choose within 10 feet of a point in range. No cap on targets, no spell slot, one action. Against a cluster of six this is more damage than anything else a martial does at this level, and it is the single best reason to play a ranged Hunter.

Whirlwind Attack ● is the melee version, hitting every creature within 5 feet. Strong when you are surrounded, which is also when you are in the most danger.

For ranged builds Volley wins decisively. For melee builds Whirlwind is the only option.

Superior Hunter's Defense ●

Level 15. Choose one.

Evasion ● turns a successful Dexterity save against an area effect into no damage at all, and a failure into half. Fireballs, breath weapons and chain lightning are among the most dangerous things that happen to a character, and this is passive, permanent and costs no reaction. Take it almost always.

Uncanny Dodge ● halves one attack's damage as a reaction. Solid, but it covers one hit where Evasion covers every area effect simultaneously.

Stand Against the Tide ● redirects a missed melee attack at another creature. Creative and memorable, but it needs an enemy to miss you and spends your reaction to do it.

Hunter in play

Colossus Slayer, Escape the Horde or Multiattack Defense, Volley, Evasion is the default path and it is good. Hunter's weakness is not that any choice is bad, it is that nothing here is exciting and you get no expanded spells.

Play it if you want a Ranger with no bookkeeping and no campaign dependencies. It works in every game, which is more than Beast Master, Monster Slayer or Horizon Walker can say.

Build Dexterity to 20, Wisdom 14, Constitution 14. Sharpshooter is the core feat for ranged, and a single Fighter level for Archery style plus Action Surge is the strongest dip in the class.

Beast Master

The weakest subclass in the 2014 Player's Handbook, and the reason is a single line of rules text rather than weak features.

Ranger's Companion ●

Level 3. You gain a beast companion of challenge rating 1/4 or lower. It adds your proficiency bonus to its AC, attack rolls, damage rolls and saving throws, and its hit point maximum is either its normal maximum or four times your Ranger level, whichever is higher. You must use your action to command it to take the Attack action.

That last sentence is the whole problem.

From level 5 you have Extra Attack. Spending your action to command the beast means giving up two of your own weapon attacks to gain one of the beast's. At virtually every level, your attacks are worth more than the companion's, which means the correct play is to ignore the subclass's central feature. A subclass whose optimal use is not using it is a broken subclass.

What does work is the scaling. Four times your Ranger level in hit points makes the companion durable by mid game, and your proficiency bonus keeps its attack rolls relevant. It is a real creature that survives real fights. It just cannot act without costing you more than it gives.

Best picks at level 3 are the Wolf for its prone rider, the Giant Wolf Spider for restraint and a climb speed, the Panther for pounce, and the Flying Snake for a scouting option with a tiny profile.

Exceptional Training ●

Level 7. On any turn when you do not command the beast to attack, you can use a bonus action to command it to take the Dash, Disengage, Dodge or Help action.

This is the feature that makes the subclass playable, four levels late.

The key word is bonus action. Now the beast can take the Help action to give you advantage on your next attack while your own action stays free for a full Attack action. That is the loop the subclass should have had at level 3: you attack twice with advantage, the beast contributes by setting it up rather than by competing with you.

The trade is that a Helping beast deals no damage. At most levels that maths still favours Help, because advantage on two attacks with Hunter's Mark running is worth more than one beast attack.

Bestial Fury ●

Level 11. When you command the beast to take the Attack action, it makes two attacks instead of one.

The payoff, and it arrives at level 11. Two beast attacks finally makes spending your action a real decision rather than an obvious mistake.

It is still usually close. Two beast attacks against your own two attacks plus Colossus Slayer or Hunter's Mark dice is a genuine comparison rather than a rout, and against a high-AC boss where advantage matters more than volume, Help often still wins.

Share Spells ●

Level 15. When you cast a spell targeting yourself, you can also affect your beast companion if it is within 30 feet.

The subclass's best passive. Longstrider on both of you for the whole day from one slot. Barkskin setting a floor on the companion's AC. Absorb Elements covering both of you.

Doubling the value of every self-targeted buff is efficient, and it arrives at a level most campaigns never reach.

Beast Master in play

Be honest with yourself before choosing this. In the 2014 base rules you are accepting a meaningfully weaker character for the story of the bond. That is a legitimate choice, and it is the only reason to make it.

Ask your DM about the Tasha's revised Beast Master, which gives the companion its own action budget and lifts the subclass into the reasonable range. If they allow it, most of this section stops applying. If they do not, consider Drakewarden instead, which delivers the same fantasy with functional action economy.

If you do play it as written: take Exceptional Training's Help action as your default from level 7, keep the beast out of area damage, and use Dodge proactively rather than losing it. A dead companion leaves you with a subclass that does nothing at all, and rebuilding the bond takes eight hours.

Build Dexterity to 20, Wisdom 14, Constitution 14. Two levels of Fighter is the strongest dip in the class here specifically, because Action Surge lets you command the beast and take your own Attack action in the same turn, which is the only way to have both.

Ability Scores

Every subclass wants the same three stats in the same order, which makes the Ranger simple to build even when it is hard to play.

Start Dexterity at 16 and reach 20 as early as your ability score increases allow. Strength is a dump stat for any ranged or finesse build, which is nearly all of them.

Two subclasses want Wisdom pushed higher than the usual 14:

• Monster Slayer wants 16, because Magic-User's Nemesis uses your spell save DC and Supernatural Defense protects you from your marked target.
• Fey Wanderer wants 16, because Otherworldly Glamour converts your Wisdom modifier directly into every Charisma check, and Beguiling Twist uses your save DC.

Drakewarden also benefits, since Drake's Breath uses your spell save DC, though 14 is workable there.

Races

Wood Elf ● is the default best Ranger race and nothing is close. Dexterity and Wisdom are exactly your top two stats, 35 feet of speed, free Perception proficiency, darkvision, and Mask of the Wild for hiding in natural terrain. On a Gloom Stalker it stacks with Umbral Sight into near-permanent concealment.

• Variant Human ● is the rival, purely for a feat at level 1. Alert on a Gloom Stalker, Sharpshooter on any ranged build, or Sentinel on a Monster Slayer all reshape the early game.
• Half-Elf ● is the Fey Wanderer pick, and the only Ranger subclass where the Charisma bonus does real work, since Otherworldly Glamour is already turning you into the party face.
• Eladrin ● is the other Fey Wanderer option, adding a seasonal Fey Step teleport on top of the subclass's own teleportation package.
• Bugbear ● is the melee Gloom Stalker peak: Surprise Attack adds 2d6 on a first-round hit, stacking directly with Dread Ambusher, and Long-Limbed extends your reach.
• Half-Orc ● brings Relentless Endurance and Savage Attacks, which suits Monster Slayer, where crits come from reaction attacks.
• Githzerai ● is the thematic Horizon Walker fit, with Wisdom and advantage on saves against charm and fear.
• Fairy ● gives a Swarmkeeper flight from level 1, long before Writhing Tide.

Feats

Sharpshooter ● is the damage baseline for any ranged Ranger: ignore cover, remove long-range disadvantage, and trade -5 to hit for +10 damage. With Extra Attack and Hunter's Mark this is the largest single damage increase available to the class.

Alert ● is close to mandatory on Gloom Stalker, because Dread Ambusher only fires on your first turn and you want that turn to come before the enemy has moved. It is strong on everyone else too.

War Caster ● or Resilient (Constitution) ● protects Hunter's Mark, which is most of your damage. Take one of the two on essentially every build.

Sentinel ● is the melee pick and the standout on Monster Slayer, where locking a boss in place next to you is exactly the plan.

Crossbow Expert ● suits a hand crossbow build for the bonus action attack, though it competes with everything else that wants your bonus action. Mobile ● suits skirmishers. Fey Touched ● is the thematic and mechanical Fey Wanderer pick, adding another Misty Step. Resilient (Wisdom) ● matters on any subclass except Gloom Stalker, which gets Wisdom saves free at level 7.

Multiclassing

The Ranger dips well because its own progression is thin, but every level taken elsewhere delays your subclass features and your spell slots.

Fighter, 1 to 2 levels ● - The best dip in the class and arguably the game. One level gives a Fighting Style, Second Wind and Constitution save proficiency. Two gives Action Surge, which doubles a Dread Ambusher round, doubles a Planar Warrior round, or lets a Beast Master command the companion and still attack.

Rogue, 3 levels (Assassin) ● - The signature Gloom Stalker multiclass. Assassinate grants advantage and automatic critical hits against surprised creatures, which lands on the same first turn Dread Ambusher fires. It produces one of the highest opening rounds in the game and needs a campaign that supports setting up ambushes.

Rogue, 1 to 2 levels ● - Expertise on Stealth and Perception plus Cunning Action for a bonus action Dash, Disengage or Hide. Cheap and broadly useful.

Paladin, 2 levels ● - Divine Smite converts your spell slots into burst, and Lay on Hands covers emergencies. It suits Monster Slayer especially, where Slayer's Counter's free attack can carry a smite.

Bard, 3 levels (College of Eloquence) ● - A Fey Wanderer curiosity. Unsettling Words imposes a penalty on a save, setting up Beguiling Twist. Thematically excellent and a heavy delay.

Druid, 2 levels ● - Wild Shape for scouting and thematic coherence. Fun rather than optimal.

Cleric, Warlock or Sorcerer ● - Wrong ability scores and no meaningful synergy with a Dexterity martial who is already short on spell slots.

Choosing by Campaign

• A standard mixed campaign, any level range: Gloom Stalker or Fey Wanderer. Both are excellent from level 3 and neither depends on a particular table.
• Dungeon crawls, underground or night play: Gloom Stalker, decisively. Umbral Sight is close to permanent invisibility in those conditions.
• You want a companion: Drakewarden. If your DM does not allow Fizban's, ask about the Tasha's revised Beast Master before taking Beast Master as written.
• Heavy social or intrigue play: Fey Wanderer, the only martial that becomes a real party face without spending anything on Charisma.
• Boss-heavy campaigns with save-or-lose effects: Monster Slayer, built specifically for surviving and punishing one dangerous enemy.
• Planar campaigns, or lots of resistant enemies: Horizon Walker, whose force conversion ignores most resistances in the game.
• Grid-focused tactical tables: Swarmkeeper, whose no-save fifteen-foot push is the most reliable control any Ranger has.
• You want zero bookkeeping and no campaign dependencies: Hunter.
• A campaign ending around level 10: avoid Beast Master, which does not become reasonable until 11. Everything else front-loads acceptably.

Related Guides

• D&D 5e Ranger Guide - the full class guide, including the Tasha's optional class features that replace Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer.
• Best Ranger Spells - spell selection by level, including Hunter's Mark and the concentration decisions around it.
• Best Feats for Ranger - a deeper level-banded look at the feats summarized above.
• D&D 5e Class Guides - every class in the 2014 rules, compared.