D&D: More Than Magic Swords – The Best Magic Items For Fighters
Rolling up a Fighter? Here’s your guide to some of the best magic items for Fighters, whatever kind of Fighter you’re playing.
Fighters have it both easy and tough when it comes to D&D. They have it easy because their class is pretty straightforward. That’s why they’re one of the most popular classes, even if a vocal minority feel they don’t have enough to do compared to Wizards.
It feels good to make lots of attacks, have lots of hit points, and have some fun options on occasion. But the right magic items can take that to the next level.
Best Magic Items for Fighters
First, let’s talk about magic items that any Fighter can make do with. All Fighters have a few things in common:
- They use weapons to deal damage
- d10 hit dice
- Relatively few skills
- Wears armor
- With few exceptions, doesn’t do magic
Whatever kind of fighter you’re playing, you’ll want to have a good magic weapon and suit of magic armor. There’s a lot of variety, depending on what kind of Fighter you’re playing. A strength-focused Fighter might have lower dexterity and get more out of heavy armor like plate armor. While a ranged Fighter with a high Dex might get more out of medium or light armor.
Since your armor class is likely to be high, you will get even more mileage out of magic armor with an effect:
- Armor of Resistance gives you resistance to energy damage
- Mizzium Armor makes any critical hit a normal hit, and when you have to make a Strength or Con save you gain Evasion, effectively
- Plate Armor of Etherealness lets you move through objects and blink out of existence, so you can move through walls
- Any armor that lets you apply your full Dex modifier (Serpent Scale) or ignore penalties to Stealth
Then you’ll want items that give you more mobility, so you can reach your foes (or stay out of theirs):
- Winged Boots
- Cape of the Mountebank
- Boots of Speed
- Cloak of the Manta Ray
Anything that lets you move around in unusual environments.
And some more defensive magic items to protect you from the harmful effects of spells or monsters. Things like:
- Ring of Free Action
- Ring of Feather Falling
- Cloak of Displacement
These, in general, will give you a good baseline. The category of items for Fighters of all stripes, are the ones that let you damage more than one creature. Whether by summoning allies or by doing direct damage:
- Horn of Valhalla
- Horn of Blasting
- Circlet of Blasting
- Necklace of Fireballs
These are great for any fighter. But let’s talk about specific builds.
Arcane Archer
Arcane Archers have a lot going for them with their magical shots. As the name implies, they’re archers. So, naturally, you’ll want items that help with that:
- Bracers of Archery – gain a flat +2 bonus to damage with Longbows and Shortbows
- Quiver of Ehlonna – hold up to sixty arrows, bolts, or whatever, so you never run out of ammo
- Magic arrows of any kind – these will add extra damage on top of your magic bow
- Arrows of slaying – when you know what kind of creature you will be fighting
And then magic weapons that make your ranged attacks go even further:
- Oathbow – pick one creature as a sworn enemy, add 3d6 extra damage to any attack that hits them until they die, and pick a new enemy once per day
- Dragon Wing Bow – deal an extra 1d6 energy damage on any attack, and magically generate your own ammunition
Battle Master
Battle Master Fighters excel at using combat maneuvers to deal extra damage, surprise enemies, move them into position, and then some. Like the Champion, Battle Masters are the closest to a “standard Fighter” so they benefit most of all from the guidelines for any Fighter.
But even Battle Masters can get a lot from specifics:
- Animated Shield – gain the benefits of the shield without having to use both hands, so you can use a Polearm or Great Weapon
- Sword of the Paruns – this magical longsword from Ravnica, lets you power up allies when you take certain actions, leaning into the Battle Master’s abilities even more
Cavalier
One of the rarer fighters, Cavaliers are all about mounted combat and “holding the line.” They’re good at defending their allies by incentivizing enemies to attack them. As such, you’ll want to make it harder for enemies to hit you.
Magic armors that do extra go even further here:
- Adamantine Armor/Mizzium Armor – negating crits is especially good when you’re making sure you get hit more
- Belt of Dwarvenkind – extra constitution for more hit points, plus free resistance to poison
- Shield of Arrow-Catching
Champion
Champion Fighters are as basic as it gets. They do what Fighters do but a little better. Their biggest claim to fame is that they get Critical Hits even easier. So they benefit especially from magic items like:
- Flame Tongue – when you can crit more often, you’ll turn that 2d6 extra fire damage into 4d6 extra fire damage
- Oathbow – extra damage means more crit potential
- Crystal Blade – you can not only deal more damage on a crit, but also get healed
- Gauntlets of Flaming Fury – turn any melee weapon into a fire weapon
- Nine Lives Stealer – one of the few weapons to have an effect specifically on critical hits (Vorpal weapons et al. only take effect on a natural 20), this weapon can instantly slay a creature with fewer than 100 hit points remaining, and with how often you can crit, you might actually get to see it in action
Echo Knight
Echo Knights are gold star Fighters because they do what Fighters do but there can be two of them. So you can be in two places at once. All the standard stuff goes well here. But they benefit in particular from items that do extra effects on an attack since they will make so many. They are some of the best fighters, with some of the best magic items for fighters at their disposal.
- Blood Fury Tattoo – deal extra damage on a weapon attack, regain hit points equal to the extra damage dealt
- Acheron Blade – you can give disadvantage on a creature’s next save when you hit a target
Eldritch Knight
Eldritch Knights mix magic and melee. And while they want a good magic weapon like any other Fighter, some of the best magic items these Fighters can have, are magic items that let you cast more or better. This means these have some of the widest selection of “best magic items for fighters” because their list includes Wizard mainstays too.
- Ring of Spell Storing – Turn yesterday’s spell slots into tomorrow’s Shields, essentially giving you five “free” levels of spells you can cast whenever
- Pearl of Power – regain a spell slot of 3rd level or lower once per day
- Rod of Absorption – catch your enemy’s spells and then use them to fuel your own spell slots
Psi Warrior
These Fighters are psionically empowered and can use their psychic abilities to deal more damage, negate incoming damage, or move things with their mind. Their abilities give them a unique advantage. Especially when it comes to magic items. Because of their innate psychic abilities, items like an Amulet of Thoughts or Helm of Telepathy make a lot of sense, but also consider:
- (Greater) Silver Sword – this is either a magical long sword or greatsword that requires you to have psionic abilities. If you do, you gain resistance to psychic damage, are immune to charm, and can sever silvery cords.
- Ring of the Ram – add to your ranged damage by taking this ring that lets you attack enemies with a powerful telekinetic thrust
- Bloodaxe – your ability to add extra damage makes you a natural fit for using this great axe that deals 1d6 necrotic damage on a hit. Reduce a creature to 0 hit points with an attack and you gain 10 temporary hit points. The gift that keeps on giving
Purple Dragon Knight
Perhaps the least popular Fighter, even Purple Dragon Knights can benefit from their own selection of magic items. These Fighters can be diplomatic, once they hit 7th level. But before then they’re all about giving extra healing to allies when they take a Second Wind. So lean into the Fighter as healer specialization with the following:
- Sword of the Paruns – as with the Battle Master, this sword makes you better at supporting your allies
- Helm of the Gods – this magic item from Theros lets you cast a variety of support-focused spells, including sanctuary, heroism, goodberry, and guiding bolt
- Platinum Scarf – You can restore hit points to an ally or yourself, gain a +1 shield, or make a 2d4 magic light hammer, but really it’s the hit points you’ll want
Rune Knight
Rune Knights use the power of giant runes to become big and bad. They benefit a lot from magic items that let them take advantage of their size, as well as magic runes used by giants.
- Shard of the Ise Rune – be even more of a frost giant: surround yourself in an icy mantle, cast sleet storm
- Claw of the Wyrm Rune – giants fought dragons, and with this weapon, you can too
- Opal of the Ild Rune – become even more of a fire giant with the ability to extinguish flames near you, or to cause things to catch on fire
Samurai
Finally, we have our Samurai. These Fighters specialize in making many attacks in a single round and are especially deadly when paired with weapons that have an effect on a hit. Much like the Echo Knight:
- Bloodaxe – your ability to add extra damage makes you a natural fit for using this great axe that deals 1d6 necrotic damage on a hit. Reduce a creature to 0 hit points with an attack and you gain 10 temporary hit points. The gift that keeps on giving
- Blood Fury Tattoo – deal extra damage on a weapon attack, regain hit points equal to the extra damage dealt
- Acheron Blade – you can give disadvantage on a creature’s next save when you hit a target
But really, when it comes to Fighters, with any magic weapon you can’t go wrong
