Exploring nature, eviscerating their enemies, or identifying traps… The Ranger takes on many roles in a party, which is why feats are so important for them. As you level up and gather Ability Score Improvements, you may find the urge to take feats to improve your options and flexibility. But, with such a large list of options, it’s going to be a difficult choice. Our Ranger 5E Feats guide will go over 10 really good feats for the ranger!
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Should a Ranger Take a Feat?
Whether or not you take a feat for your next ranger build will depend on a few things. If you aren’t playing a variant human or a background that automatically starts with a feat (like the Astral Drifter), your only option to pick up a feat is by forgoing your Ability Score Increase. Depending on your build, you might want to focus on bumping one or more abilities to 20 before taking a feat.
If your build is entirely focused on melee combat, you could comfortably take a feat after you max out Dexterity. If you plan on relying on your spells, you might want Wisdom boosted to 20, too. Of course, some builds might require you to take a feat as soon as possible. For example, if you are running a crossbow build you might prioritize the Sharpshooter feat over any ASI.
Top 10 Best Ranger Feats 5E
Before you start collecting feats, we recommend that you get 20 Dexterity or Strength, depending on what weapon you use. Getting +1 to attack and damage means you’ll hit harder and more often, which is critical for a Ranger. If you do end up looking for feats, the Ranger is a very multifaceted class that can do a lot of things. This list is prioritized towards the Archery-focused Ranger, as that build tends to be the most successful.
10. Dual Wielder
To start, Dual Wielder helps the melee Ranger grow more safely and securely. This feat grants a few benefits, but all of them are great; you get more durability against attack rolls, which will be looking at you a lot. You get the opportunity to gather more damage with your attacks, by equipping non-light weapons. That will usually change your d6s to d8s, which isn’t a significant damage buff, but it helps! Finally, you get to draw your weapons with ease, helping you out during an ambush. This is not the strongest build path, but Dual Wielder will make things much, much safer for you.
9. Resilient
Resilient is a highly defensive feat, but for a Ranger it has unique synergy. Rangers don’t start with Wisdom Save Proficiency. So, you can get a +1 to your Wisdom – your spellcasting stat – while also getting Proficiency in one of the most important saving throws in the game. This will always be a good idea, since Wisdom Saves get more and more prevalent as time goes on.
8. Observant
If you’re looking for an out-of-combat feat, nothing makes more sense for a Ranger than Observant. You get your +1 to Wisdom, which is acceptable. You can read lips, which is really fun and flavorful for the brooding mountain or forest dweller. Most mechanically importantly, you get a massive +5 to your Passive Perception. That’s a lot, and will often get you above 20. If your DM often asks for Passive Perception and uses it for things like stealth, you will be an incredibly difficult wall to climb.
7. Piercer
Slasher and Crusher are fine, but if you’re a Ranged build, then Piercer is the weapon-based feat for you. Piercer is a damage-focused feat, allowing you to reroll a damage dice per round. This will normally let you reroll a d8, which can be impactful to your damage roll. Your critical hits also improve, though Rangers don’t have much synergy with that. Most importantly, you still get +1 to your Dexterity, which is just nice to have. This is an almost free Feat, so consider it if you’re at an odd number of Dexterity.
6. Shadow Touched
Rangers don’t naturally have the ability to go Invisible. That’s a problem, especially if you’re the party’s scout. Shadow Touched solves this by granting Invisibility to your spell list, which is fantastic. You also get a pinch of Wisdom and a 1st level spell of your choice. Your options for the 1st level spell aren’t great, but you can get some spells like Ray of Sickness or Tasha’s Hideous Laughter. Fun stuff, but nothing impactful. Great if you want to bring your Wisdom to an even number while getting a good spell.
5. Heavily Armored
For any Strength-based Rangers, this is a critical feat. You get to ignore Dexterity entirely while boosting your Strength or Constitution. Heavy Armor’s AC bonus is immensely high; 18 is impossible to get from any other basic armor in the game. If you want your frontline Ranger to be a force of nature, this feat is basically required.
4. Crossbow Expert
Dual Wielding crossbows can be ridiculously fun. Since Crossbow Rangers only spend their bonus actions to cast spells, this is a way to increase damage while spamming Hunter’s Mark’s damage. If you consider that a Hand Crossbow’s bonus action will usually be about 1d4+4+1d6 damage, then you’ll see how much extra damage you can squeeze out of this build. That being said, this does require you to constantly cast Hunter’s Mark to maximize your build’s damage output. Be careful, but be willing to let your 1st level slots be for damage and damage alone.
3. Fey Touched
Similar to Shadow Touched, Fey Touched gives Wisdom and some spells. Unlike Shadow Touched, this feat’s spells are incredible! You get Misty Step, which is probably amongst the best 2nd level spells in the game. You can’t underestimate how good a 30 ft teleport is… At level 2! As a Bonus Action! That repositioning is insane. If that wasn’t quite good enough, you can also gain access to a strong 1st level spell, including Hex! Though that might be a bit overkill.
2. Sharpshooter
Great Weapon Master goes here if your Ranger likes Heavy melee weapons, though those builds are rare. Sharpshooter’s +10 to damage will decimate any enemies that dare wander close. You’ll tear through your opponents so easily. While -5 to your accuracy is quite a lot, there are ways to get advantage on the attack to partially negate it. And when you make 2 attacks per round… The risk is usually quite worth it.
1. Alert
The Ranger likes to go first in a fight. If you can start a battle turn 1 by using Hunter’s Mark and pumping 2 arrows into a high priority target, then you’re in a good spot. Alert synergizes well with any damaging feat, like Sharpshooter or Piercer, with the single-minded goal of taking down priority targets early. Even if you don’t kill them, making them scared can be good enough. So, if you want to be the first into a fight with a real chance to end it early, Alert might just be the spell for you.
Wrapping Up Our Ranger Feats 5E Rankings
How did we do? Should Skill Expert be on the list? Did we overvalue Alert or Fey Touched? Did we undervalue Dual Wielder? Tell us in the comments, and put in your favorite Ranger feat synergy that you’ve discovered in your gameplay!
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