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

Rangers are an excellent all around character, with the ability to both provide frontline and ranged support and damage, as well as crowd control and a unique batch of utility that only the ranger provides. They excel at taking care of a multitude of smaller enemies, scouting and stealthing and providing both damaging and healing spellcasting abilities. 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.

Piercer:

This feat gives you an easy increase to Dexterity, which is valuable to you, both for combat and for skills. It also allows you to reroll one of your damage dice, which is useful for a ranger as between their spells, class abilities and weapons, they tend to pile up multiple damage dice, and this translates to an increase in overall damage every round. Lastly, when you get a critical, you roll one additional damage die, which translates to another bump in the damage your ranger is able to dish out on a round to round basis.

Sharpshooter:

Sharpshooter is perfect if your character is focusing on ranged damage rather than getting close into melee. It allows you to ignore half and three quarters cover, negating the AC bonuses your enemies get for hiding behind pillars or other environmental obstacles. It allows you to ignore the disadvantage you get from shooting from your second range increment, allowing you to hit more easily, and it allows you to take a -5 to your attack roll to give yourself a +10 to damage. Against lower AC enemies such as Giants or spellcasters, this might allow you to quickly eliminate a foe.

Skilled:

As a class with a high number of skills already, Skilled allows you to gain proficiency in three more, which may allow you to truly cover your bases, learning extra knowledge skills (Arcana, History, Nature, Religion) if your party doesn’t have them, or it might let you learn a new tool proficiency you wanted to take but couldn’t fit into your character. I highly recommend taking Skilled if there’s an important area that your party has no specialty in, allowing you to fill that role more easily.

Skill Expert:

If, on the other hand, your party is fairly covered already in the skill department, Skill Expert gives you an ability score increase, which you should likely put in Wisdom or Dexterity, and proficiency in one skill instead of three. But, in addition to that, it also gives you Expertise in a skill you have, which makes you even better at something you were already quite good at.

Mobile:

Mobile increases your movement speed even more, making it a great choice for your character as someone who needs good positioning in order to be effective. But, in addition, it allows you to automatically Disengage a target that you have attacked (not hit) in melee, which helps your action economy, and allows you to do more with less actions. This feat will let you cross the battlefield with ease and allow you to set you and your allies up for success by choosing advantageous flanking positions or the perfect spot to shoot your bow from.

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.

Elven Accuracy (Elves and Half-Elves only):

This feat allows you to reroll a die when you have advantage, and gives you a boost to Dexterity or Wisdom. This is an excellent feat for when your enemy is stunned or prone, or if you are sneaking to gain advantage and you’re trying to land that big critical hit to deal massive damage.

If you are looking for other Articles about Rangers, check out the links below! 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! Thanks again for reading!

• Backstory Ideas for Rangers
• Magic Items for Rangers

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