A Guide to the Best Feats for Clerics in Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) 5E

Clerics are an excellent all around character, with practical spellcasting, decent melee, solid hit points and armor, and excellent supporting qualities. Clerics excel in terms of versatility and are an excellent choice for anyone who wants to be able to heal and support their party members.

Depending on the kind of character you want to play and the subclass you choose, certain choices might be of more value to you than others as each character and play style is always going to be different. Nevertheless, this list should give you insight into why each choice is of value to you, and help you determine which you want to use.

Defensive Duelist:

Since Clerics tend not to use their reactions frequently as they aren’t always on the front lines, nor do they tend to be avid counterspellers. Clerics often do wield shields, however, so strapping on a shield to gain a bit of extra defense with this feat can be quite useful. This feat isn’t incredibly high up on this list because there are better options for most situations, but if you find a lot of damage is coming your way, this might be the way to go.

Inspiring Leader:

This feat is at the bottom of the list because comparatively, it is not that good. But, it does have its uses. Inspiring Leader allows you to give a speech and give up to 6 friendly creatures temporary hit points equal to their level plus their charisma modifier. While this might not seem like too many, a creature can benefit from this feat again after a short or long rest. It might not be too many hit points, but it will decrease the load of healing from your dedicated healer, especially if that is also you, and since you can use it multiple times per day as long as a rest is used in between, then it can be of value if you decided to take multiple rests, such as when dungeon crawling or on a long travel day.

Healer:

If you are the primary healer in the party, but you don’t always want to be using your spell slots all the time, then this is the feat for you. Using this in conjunction with a Feat like Inspiring Leader or a spell like Aid can keep your allies in better shape for longer.

Heavy Armor Master:

Heavy Armor Master is useful for those Cleric archetypes that get heavy armor, and this feat will keep you alive longer, mitigating damage before you take it.

Fey Touched:

Taking this feat nets you Misty Step, which is a very useful spell you normally would not have access to, and a 1st level Divination of Enchantment spell and you can increase either Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma by 1, though unsurprisingly this bonus will probably be going into Charisma to get your primary spellcasting stat as high as possible!

Warcaster:

This is basically a go-to for any fullcaster, it allows you to hold things while casting, even if your hands are full, it allows you to make Attacks of Opportunity with a spell as a reaction and it gives advantage on Constitution saves to avoid losing Concentration, which is certainly the most important part. In any campaign that has a fair level of combat or higher, Warcaster is potentially the first feat any full caster should get simply because of the value of not losing concentration over the course of a fight.

Lucky:

This is probably the most banned feat per table for a reason, but it is also extremely good. Taking this feat gives you 3 luck points that allow you to roll an extra d20 when you make an attack roll, ability check or saving throw, or to make an enemy reroll. It’s like having the ability to give yourself advantage or an enemy disadvantage, because of this it is extremely handy. You have to decide to use Luck before you know the outcome of the die, but after you roll it, so if you have a shitty roll or an enemy has a good one, it is very easy to assume the outcome and use Lucky.

Metamagic Adept:

Perhaps one of the best feats in the game, Metamagic Adept allows you two Metamagics as if you were a Sorcerer and 2 Sorcery Points as well. These can be useful for a variety of choices, such as twinning spells, quickening, empowering or taking distant or subtle to keep yourself safe. There are simply enough metamagics to almost always make this feat worth it, and it’s one of the best spellcasting feats in the game.

Alert:

While going first in the fight isn’t as paramount to your success as a Cleric as it might be for a rogue, going first is still useful, as is being immune to being surprised, and also to keep you alive longer. Being able to start a fight, and either debuff your enemies or drop Bless on your allies before the first round of combat gets underway can be unbelievably beneficial.

If you like this article or any others I have written, consider liking, subscribing, tipping or pledging here on Vocal as it really helps me continue writing! If you're looking for other articles about Clerics, follow the links below!

• Backstories for Clerics
• Backstories for Clerics Pt. 2
• Spells for Clerics
• Magic Items for Clerics
• Best Tempest Cleric Build

If you're looking for the best feat choices for any other class, simply follow the links below!

• Artificer
• Barbarian
• Bard
• Cleric
• Druid
• Fighter
• Monk
• Paladin
• Ranger
• Rogue
• Sorcerer
• Warlock
• Wizard