D&D: Five Fighting Styles Worth A Look
Fighting styles got an upgrade in 5.5E. If you’re playing someone who uses weapons, these are well worth checking out.
Fighting styles got an upgrade in the latest edition of D&D. While some old favorites are unchanged, others are better than ever. But whether you’re picking up a favorite fighting style or trying something new, these are some of our favorites from the new edition.
Interception
I really like this one. It’s a lot more of an active defense for your party. With this fighting style, you can use your Reaction to reduce the damage of an incoming attack to a target by 1d10 + your Proficiency Bonus, and you can use it whether you’re holding a shield or simple/martial weapon – and note that it’s weapon, not melee weapon, so you can intercept even if you’re holding a bow or crossbow or the like. You just have to be next to your ally.
Two Weapon Fighting
Two weapon fighting is enjoying its day in the sun right now. With the Nick Weapon Mastery Property, two weapon fighting has gotten good again. Now you can make an attack either as a bonus action, or, with Nick, as a part of the attack action for free. The latter part of that statement means you’re going to get a lot more out of the fighting style, since you won’t be throwing your bonus action down the tube to make a sort of okay extra attack. Now you’ll be adding your stat bonus to your offhand attack, upping the damage you’re doing with every attack action.
Dueling
Dueling hasn’t changed at all from 5E, but it’s enjoying some extra time in the sun. This is the “use a one-handed weapon” fighting style, which most often pairs with sword and shield (or axe or hammer and shield if you’re not boring). And there’s plenty of reasons to use a shield. Not the least of which is the Interception fighting style, but the Shield Master feat is much better now, which gives you a more active way of using a shield in your offhand. Similarly, spellblade types (those who use magic to attack, like a Warlock’s pact of the blade or a caster with True Strike) get a lot out of using a one-handed weapon while leaving a hand free to cast spells.
Thrown Weapon Fighting
Thrown weapon users rejoice. This is the Fighting Style you’ve been waiting for. No more weird rules about how you can draw a limited number of thrown weapons. Now it just adds +2 damage to any ranged attack roll with a weapon that has the Thrown property, and since Nick, Vex, Topple, and Slow are all weapon mastery properties you can find on thrown weapons, there’s a lot more flexibility to fighting with thrown weapons than ever before.
Blind Fighting
Finally, straight out of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, the Blind Fighting style gives you Blindsight out to ten feet. It’s extremely useful, and an amazing ability to have on pretty much any character.
What fighting style will you pick?
