D&D: Fight Dirty With These 5 Combat Tricks
Want to punch above your weight in D&D? Play to your strengths with five quick combat tricks that will give you an edge in your next encounter.
More people than ever are enjoying D&D, thanks in part to 5th Edition’s accessibility and ease-of-use. But just because the game is streamlined, doesn’t mean the rules are basic. Combat in D&D can have a ton of complexity, if you play it right. And while a big part of that lies in the DM’s hands, in terms of making sure monsters fight in interesting ways, there’s also a lot that players can do to give themselves some extra power in their corner now. So put some heavy ammunition in your camp, and try one of these combat tricks the next time you’re up against a band of kobolds piloting an Iron Golem.
Knock ‘Em And Hold ‘Em
Bring a little MMA to your D&D. Being knocked prone is bad enough–attack rolls, melee and otherwise, against you have advantage so long as they’re made from within 5 feet, you have to spend half your movement speed to stand up, and all your attacks have disadvantage. Being prone is no fun, but the upside to it is, you can always just stand up–unless someone grapples you. Then your movement speed is reduced to zero, so you can’t even stand up to defend yourself. All you need is one of the many ways to knock someone prone: good old fashioned shove, a spell, a special attack; then grapple ’em if you have the attacks or a friend.
This is a quick way to give everyone in your party advantage on the target. And to keep it for at least a round, assuming you can succeed on your grapple checks. Time to pump some iron and get proficiency in Athletics.
Sneak Attack Again And Again
This one is another trick that relies on the careful use of readied actions. Taking advantage of the fact that a Rogue can use their Sneak Attack once per turn (and remember a round is made up of everyone’s turn) this requires a little bit of help from a willing magic-user, but with a little bit of Haste you can secure two sneak attacks per turn. Here’s how to do it: use your extra action from Haste to make one attack on your turn (while being eligible for sneak attack naturally), then use your “normal” action to ready an attack with a trigger of “as soon as [next character in the initiative order] acts” and as soon as it’s not your turn, you’ll make another attack which is, you guessed it, eligible for Sneak Attack.
This means you’re able to effectively double your damage output. Again it takes a little bit of magic, but this is a great way to spice up any Rogue’s day.
Ready A Spell, Ready A Victory
Does Counterspell have you down? If so–great news, you’re at a high enough level where that’s routinely a thing, so congrats, and also if you ready a spell out of sight of the enemy caster, with a trigger of “I cast it when I see him again” your enemies won’t be able to counterspell you, no matter how hard they try. So you could, in theory, duck behind a pillar, ready a Fireball or Hold Person or whatever with a trigger of ‘the next time I see my enemies’ then use the remainder of your movement to step out from the pillar to release the spell.
And due to the way Counterspell and Readying a Spell work–when you ready a spell you cast it but don’t release it until the trigger goes off, which takes your Concentration–spellcasters won’t be able to do much. Now, as stated, it does take your Concentration, which is a bummer. But the idea of a Wizard ducking behind a pillar, tracing out their mystic runes hurriedly before popping back out to unleash fury upon a Lich is pretty rad.
Take Cover!
Did you know that 5th Edition has cover rules? If you can keep something between you and your enemy, you’ll gain a boost to your AC. If you can break line of sight altogether, either by hiding in a fog cloud or ducking around a corner, they might not hit you at all! Play up the strength of mobility, one of the most underrated aspects of the game, by attacking your enemies and not letting them hit you back. You effectively get all the benefits of a Shield spell without actually spending a spell slot.
So save your movement during the fight and get a shot off, then duck back in cover or concealment and you’re good.
When In Doubt, Dodge
One of the least used actions in combat is the Dodge Action. It takes your Action, but every attack against you has Disadvantage. If you’re not sure what you’re going to do, or are needing to try and keep yourself alive for a few more moments so you can either, a) survive the fight and take a short rest or b) live long enough for a healer to cast something at you–then the Dodge Action is your friend. Especially since you can still move and dodge, so you can make yourself truly defensive. Especially if you combine this with something like a high AC.
Layer something on that penalizes foes who attack other things–Compelled Duel or the Ancestral Spirit Barbarian come to mind–and you’ve got yourself a recipe for wasting enemy attacks while maximizing yours.
Well that’s enough for now. Hopefully these tricks will help boost your combat efficacy in your next session. Enjoy!
And as always, Happy Adventuring!
