DnD 2024 Fighter Class Guide

Introduction

The Fighter, DnD 5e’s most iconic martial character, is a fantastic addition to any party. While their skill options are often limited, Fighters excel in combat. They are durable, dangerous, and deeply customizable to suit a variety of playstyles. Fighters get more Weapon Mastery options, more attacks, and, thanks to Action Surge, they get more Actions than anyone else, making the Fighter a lot of fun to build and play.

Fighters are a great example of “opt-in complexity” in DnD 5e. The core of the class is simple and resilient, but the complexity of the subclasses varies significantly. The Champion adds almost no complexity, but they’re still satisfying to play and nearly unstoppable at high levels. Subclasses like the Battle Master add substantial additional complexity, but can bring fantastic new tactical options. This makes the Fighter a great choice for players of all experience levels and for players with a broad range of preferences, allowing you to build a character that you find mechanically appealing without making it more work than you might like.

Fighters excel as Defenders and Strikers, but can add additional roles depending on your build choices. A bit of work allows the Fighter to also serve as a Face (Purple Dragon Knight) or Librarian (Eldritch Knight, Psi Warrior), and even with middling Charisma or Intelligence, you can use Tactical Mind to add 1d10 to your skill checks, easily making up the difference. You can also explore a role as a Scout if you’re built around Dexterity, allowing you to succeed with skills like Stealth and with tools like Thieves’ Tools.

This article is for the 2024 DnD rules. For the 2014 rules, see our 2014 DnD 5e Fighter Class Guide.

Introduction
Disclaimer
Fighter Class Features
2024 Fighter Changes from 2014 Rules
Fighter Backgrounds
Fighter Species
Fighter Ability Scores
Fighter Skills
Fighter Feats
Fighter Weapons
Fighter Armor
Fighter Multiclassing

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.

Red: Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
Orange: OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
Green: Good options. Useful often.
Blue: Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.

The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.

Fighter Class Features

Optional Class Features are detailed below under Optional Class Features.

Hit Points: d10 hit points is standard for martial characters, and it’s plenty to keep you going, especially with heavy armor and abilities like Second Wind.

Saves: Strength saves are fairly rare, but Constitution saves are common and typically very problematic.

Proficiencies: All weapons, armor, and shields, but you get no tool proficiencies, and only two skills.

1. Fighting Style: Fantastic. See Fighting Styles under Feats, below, for help picking a Fighting Style.

1. Second Wind: A great way to keep yourself going in combat without begging spellcasters for help in combat. Be sure that you’ve used this at least once before each Short Rest to help conserve your Hit Point Dice.

1. Weapon Mastery: Absolutely fantastic. Most martial classes get just 2 Weapon Mastery slots, but Fighters start with 3 and eventually get 6. Since the rules for weapon attacks allow you to draw or stow a weapon with each attack, you can rapidly switch between weapons to benefit from different Weapon Mastery options in quick succession.

Note that at level 9 you’ll get Tactical Master, which allows you to use Weapon Mastery even more flexibly.

For more on Weapon Mastery, see our Weapon Mastery Guide.

2. Action Surge: A second Action can let you do a lot of things. In most cases, that’s going to be a second Attack action. You eventually get 3 uses per Short Rest, at which point you can comfortably use Action Surge at least once in every encounter.

Unfortunately, two-weapon fighting builds don’t benefit from Action Surge as much as other builds. You don’t get a second Bonus Action, and even if you use a weapon with the Nick mastery, Nick says “You can make this extra attack only once per turn.”

Because Action Surge explicitly prohibits the Magic action, you can’t use Action Surge to cast a spell, activate many magic items, and use many class features from other classes. The Eldritch Knight’s War Magic and Improved War Magic features notably bypass this because you’re not taking the Magic action to cast spells, but it’s not clear if this is intentional.

2. Tactical Mind: The Fighter generally has few good skill options, which makes it difficult for them to contribute outside of combat. This gives you a huge boost to ability checks a few times per day, allowing you to be effective will skills even if your modifier is relatively poor.

3. Subclass: Fighter subclasses are briefly summarized below. See our Fighter Subclasses Breakdown for help selecting your subclass.

Battle Master: Use powerful combat maneuvers to apply rider effects to your attacks, and use the same pool of resources to support skill checks outside of combat, allowing you to thrive both on and off the battlefield.
Champion: Do you like critical hits? Cool. Do you want to smash through problems with a ball of weaponized math? No? Just the crit thing? Okay, fine. They do that.
Eldritch Knight: Add a splash of Wizard spellcasting to mesh martial mastery and magical might.
Psi Warrior: Use powerful psionic abilities to manipulate the battlefield.

5. Extra Attack: Fantastic.

5. Tactical Shift: Not always important, but this can get you out of a bad position, or it can stretch your movement to reach a good position without Dashing.

6. Ability Score Improvement: Fighters get an extra Ability Score Increase at level 6, making it much easier to collect feats.

9. Indomitable: With 5e’s bounded math, save DC’s won’t break 20 for a long time, and even then your level increases much faster than save DC’s do. This isn’t quite Legendary Resistance, but, with your level as an added bonus, you’re very likely to succeed on any given saving throw. You eventually get up to 3 uses per Long Rest.

9. Tactical Master: This massively expands what you can do with Weapon Mastery, allowing you to more easily benefit from multiple mastery options in quick succession. Having essentially permanent access to these masteries does mean that weapons with those masteries are less useful, so you may want to change weapons unless you have a magic weapon that you’re enjoying.

11. Two Extra Attacks: More attacks than anyone except the Monk.

13. Studied Attacks: Absolutely fantastic. With as many attacks as the Fighter gets, you’re bound to miss some, but Advantage on your next attack means that you’ll rarely miss two in a row. Combine this with a Vex weapon and you’ll have Advantage on every attack after the first whether you hit or miss.

20. Three Extra Attacks: 4 attacks is a lot.

2024 Fighter Changes from 2014 Rules

This section is from our 2024 DnD Rules Transition Guide.

Changes to the Fighter were almost purely additive, so there are a lot of buffs here compared to the 2014 Fighter. The only thing lost was the ability to do magic with Action Surge, which almost never helped the Fighter anyway.

1. Persuasion added to list of skill proficiency options
1. Fighting Style. Fighting Styles are now feats, making them more broadly accessible. Fighters get 1 for free, and can change it each time they gain a level. Previously you were locked in permanently, which was frustrating in a game where you might find cool magic items that don’t fit your Fighting Style.
1. Second Wind. Now 2 uses per Long Rest, and you get 1 back on a Short Rest. Uses per long rest improve with level. This allows you to use them sporadically as-needed throughout the day, rather than hoping that they’ll be equally useful between each rest.
1. Weapon Mastery. New.
2. Action Surge. Now prohibits the Magic action, so you can no longer use Action Surge to cast spells.
2. Tactical Mind. New. Spend Second Wind to add 1d10 to a failed ability check; retain the use of Second Wind if you still fail.
5. Tactical Shift. New. Move up to half your speed without Opportunity Attacks when you use Second Wind.
9. Indomitable. The reroll now adds a bonus equal to your Fighter level, generally removing the frustration of rerolling and failing again.
9. Tactical Master. New. Use the Push, Sap, or Slow Weapon Mastery with any weapon. This will make weapons that already have those masteries unappealing from level 9 onward.
11. Two Extra Attacks. Renamed. Thank god, they found a better name than “Extra Attack 2”
13. Studied Attacks. Advantage on your next attack against the same target when you miss. Removes the frustration of making numerous attacks and missing with all of them.
20. Three Extra Attacks. Renamed.

Fighter Backgrounds

Increases to either Strength or Dexterity are absolutely required, and increases to Constitution are helpful. If you’re playing an Eldritch Knight, you probably also want Intelligence. Strength-based builds don’t have many good skill options, but Dexterity-based builds will enjoy Dexterity-based skills like Sleight of Hand and Stealth.

For information and advice regarding Origin Feats, including those granted by your Background, see the Fighter Feats section, below.

Artisan ^(PHB) : Good ability scores for an Eldritch Knight, but Persuasion is a hard skill for the Fighter, and Crafter isn’t a great feat.
Charlatan ^(PHB) : Dexterity, Constitution, and Skilled is a great combination for Dexterity-based builds, especially if you’re filling in for a Rogue in the party.
Criminal ^(PHB) : A good choice for Dexterity-based builds, especially if there isn’t a Rogue in the party.
Farmer ^(PHB) : A good option for front-line martials. The ability scores are great, and Tough is an easy go-to feat if you don’t want more complexity, but you won’t get much use out of the skills.
Guard ^(PHB) : Good ability scores for any Strength-based Fighter, and Perception is a great skill. Alert isn’t crucial for most martial characters, but remember that you can trade initiatives with a willing ally to help an allied spellcaster act early.
Guide ^(PHB) : A fine choice for Dexterity-based builds, but you may struggle to use the Druid spellcasting for anything except Eldritch Knight, which may struggle without an Intelligence increase. Still, using Shillelagh with Intelligence may work out long term.
Noble ^(PHB) : This could work for an Eldritch Knight build.
Sage ^(PHB) : Intelligence and Constitution seem appealing for the Eldritch Knight, especially with Magic Initiate (Wizard) and Intelligence-based skills, but remember that you’re still a Fighter first, so you need either Strength or Dexterity.
Sailor ^(PHB) : Decent ability scores for a melee build plus one good skill. Tavern Brawler isn’t a great choice, but the ability to push an enemy 5 feet while also dealing damage with an Unarmed Strike may be useful if you’re not using weapons with the Push mastery.
Scribe ^(PHB) : Good ability scores for a Dexterity-based build, especially an Eldritch Knight. The skills are pretty good, and if you don’t have another Intelligence-based character in the party, you can use Skilled to get knowledge skills like Arcana.
Soldier ^(PHB) : The nominal default for the Fighter. Savage Attacker is a decent feat at low levels when you’re only making a few attacks, but will feel less impactful as you make more and more attacks in a turn. The skills aren’t great, but Intimidation might give you something useful to do in social situations.
Wayfarer ^(PHB) : Good ability scores for a Dexterity-based build, and between the skills and Thieves’ Tools you could fill in for a Rogue in your party. Lucky is an easy feat on any character.

Fighter Species

Most Fighters will enjoy additional durability, as well as combat options like the Goliath’s Giant Heritage and the Orc’s Adrenaline Surge. Dexterity-based builds might enjoy additional skills, especially if you’re hoping to substitute for a Rogue in your party. Eldritch Knights will enjoy innate spellcasting, but be cautious about offensive spells since your Intelligence likely won’t be as high as your Strength or Dexterity.

Aasimar ^(PHB): Two damage resistances, Darkvision, a once per day heal, and a once per day combat transformation. Celestial Revelation is very useful for the Fighter, offering both a way to handle crowds and flight, neither of which are available for most Fighters.
Dragonborn ^(PHB): A damage resistance, likely to a common damage type like poison or fire, a decent way to handle crowds of small enemies, Darkvision, and flight once per day.
Dwarf ^(PHB): Darkvision, resistance to the most common non-weapon damage type, and more hit points. Tremorsense offers a way to find hidden or invisible enemies which most Fighters can’t replicate. Altogether, a great package for melee builds.
Elf ^(PHB): Darkvision and an extra skill are both great. The innate spellcasting is only consistently useful for the Eldritch Knight, but Blade Ward can be useful for any Fighter even if you don’t use the other spells.
Gnome ^(PHB): Darkvision is both great, and the added cantrips from Gnomish Lineage offer some interesting utility options. However, Gnomish Cunning may feel obsolete once you get Indomitable at level 9.
Goliath ^(PHB): Giant Heritage offers numerous excellent options. I like Cloud’s Jaunt, Hill’s Topple, and Stone’s Endurance. Large Form is great for melee builds looking to occupy more space on the battlefield.
Halfling ^(PHB): Brave and Lucky are both nice, but not enough on their own. Halfling Nimbleness is neat, but rarely impactful since you can already move through allies’ spaces and if you need to get past an enemy it should involve hurting them. Naturally Stealthy isn’t helpful for the front-line martial characters. Lucky may be helpful since fighters make so many attacks, but I don’t think that’s enough.
Human ^(PHB): An additional skill and origin feat are an easy choice on any build.
Orc ^(PHB): Adrenaline Rush is great for front-line melee builds, letting you move into melee quickly and padding your hit points for when you inevitably draw a lot of attacks. Relentless Endurance provides some insurance in case things go wrong, and you can heal yourself as a Bonus Action with Second Wind on your next turn to keep from immediately dying.
Tiefling ^(PHB): Darkvision, a damage resistance, and some innate spellcasting. Only useful for the Eldritch Knight, but who will find the additional spellcasting will be very welcome.

Fighter Ability Scores

Fighters can be built in many ways. Strength-based Fighters are the simplest, but Dexterity builds are just as effective, and your subclass might introduce a need for mental ability scores like Intelligence or Charisma.

The PHB recommended ability scores attempt to cater to both Strength-based and Dexterity-based builds, and there is no reason to do this. New players will likely find that their ability scores are unsatisfying. Point them to this section for help, even if they’re not ready for deeper character optimization.

Strength-Based Fighters

Str: Your primary ability score.

Dex: Dump.

Con: Hit points and saves.

Int: Dump.

Wis: Saves and skills.

Cha: Dump.

	Point Buy	Adjusted	Standard Array	Adjusted	PHB Recommended	Adjusted
Str	15	17	15	17	15	17
Dex	8	8	12	12	14	14
Con	15	16	14	15	13	14
Int	8	8	10	10	10	10
Wis	15	15	13	13	12	12
Cha	8	8	8	8	8	8

Dexterity-Based Fighters

Str: Usually you want to dump this. However, if you’re planning to use a Heavy like a Longbow or Musket, consider taking 13 Strength to qualify for Great Weapon Master.

Dex: Your primary ability score.

Con: Hit points and saves.

Int: Dump.

Wis: Saves and skills.

Cha: Dump.

	Point Buy	Adjusted	Standard Array	Adjusted	PHB Recommended	Adjusted
Str	8	8	12	12	15	15
Dex	15	17	15	17	14	16
Con	15	16	14	15	13	14
Int	8	8	10	10	10	10
Wis	15	15	13	13	12	12
Cha	8	8	8	8	8	8

Eldritch Knights and Psi Warriors

Eldritch Knights and Psi Warriors introduce a need for Intelligence, but you are still a Fighter first. 14 Intelligence is a safe bet to meet your needs without dumping Wisdom. If you’re building to fight at range, consider dropping Constitution slightly to focus more on Intelligence and Wisdom.

I do not recommend building an Eldritch Knight or a Psi Warrior using the PHB recommended ability scores. 10 Intelligence is not enough.

	Point Buy	Adjusted	Standard Array	Adjusted
Str	8 or 15	8 or 17	10 or 15	10 or 17
Dex	15 or 8	17 or 8	15 or 10	17 or 10
Con	15	16	14	14
Int	14	14	13	14
Wis	10	10	12	13
Cha	8	8	8	8

Fighter Skills

Acrobatics (Dex): Functionally useless.
Animal Handling (Wis): Functionally useless.
Athletics (Str): Functionally useless.
History (Int): History can provide a lot of useful background information. This is especially viable for Eldritch Knights.
Insight (Wis): Arguably your best social skill.
Intimidation (Cha): Fighters almost universally dump Charisma, but if you want some social skills this seems like your best choice.
Perception (Wis): One of the most important skills in the game. At least two people in the party should have it, but more is always better.
Survival (Wis): Too situational.

Fighter Feats

This section does not address every published feat, as doing so would result in an ever-growing list of options which don’t cater to the class. Instead, this section will cover feats which we think work especially well for the class or which might be tempting but poor choices.

Origin Feats

These feats typically come from your Background, but you can also select an Origin Feat any time that you could select a General Feat, and you may get more from sources like the Human’s species traits.

Alert ^(PHB): Never a bad choice, but less impactful for martial characters than for full casters.
Crafter ^(PHB): Neat, but not especially impactful. Crafting mundane gear stops being impactful early in the game as players quickly accumulate enough to afford nearly anything in the Player’s Handbook. This notably omits the Herbalist Kit as a choice, so you can’t even use this to craft Potions of Healing.
Lucky ^(PHB): An easy choice on any character. It won’t directly impact your build, but it’s a great default if you don’t need anything else.
Magic Initiate ^(PHB): Druid spells to get Shillelagh for Eldritch Knight Fighters or Wizard spells to expand the Eldritch’s Knight’s existing spellcasting can both have a big impact, but there’s no appeal here for other Fighters.
Musician ^(PHB): A great way to contribute to any party.
Savage Attacker ^(PHB): Decent if you’re using weapons with big damage dice, but as you add more attacks per turn this becomes less impactful.
Skilled ^(PHB): Good for Dexterity-based builds and for Eldritch Knights to pick up skills which capitalize on your ability scores.
Tavern Brawler ^(PHB): There is very litle to use this. Grab a weapon with the Push mastery.
Tough ^(PHB): Always helpful for front-line melee builds, but not essential.

General Feats

Athlete ^(PHB): A decent choice for many martial characters. A climb speed is the next best thing to a fly speed. The ability to stand up quickly makes falling or being knocked prone less of a problem. The ability to jump with less of a running start may let you easily jump over difficult terrain and other obstacles which otherwise might slow your movement in combat.
Charger ^(PHB): The push effect is decent, especially when combined with a Push mastery, but without other stacking sources of push distance you’ll have trouble getting past the 30-foot threshold where most creatures won’t have enough speed to immediately run back into melee. The Battle Master’s Pushing Attack is one such option.
Chef ^(PHB): An excellent source of additional healing and of Temporary Hit Points. Good for any melee build.
Crossbow Expert ^(PHB): Crossbow Expert paired with Fighting Style (Archery) is a simple build for consistently good damage at range.
Crusher ^(PHB): A simple and easy way to control enemies’ positions in combat, especially when combined with the Push mastery.
Defensive Duelist ^(PHB): A consistent and effective way to boost your AC in melee if you’re using Finesse weapons like rapiers or short swords. However, giving up your Reaction prevents you from making an Opportunity Attack, and punishing enemies for moving away from you is an important part of being your party’s front line.
Dual Wielder ^(PHB): Without an additional damage boost on hit, the Bonus Action attack doesn’t meaningfully improve two-weapon fighting for you. Fighting Style (Two-Weapon Fighting) and a Nick weapon are all that you need.
Durable ^(PHB): Not as good as you would hope. The Bonus Action to spend a Hit Point Die notably does not add your Constitution modifier, which makes it an expensive and frustrating way to burn through your Hit Point Dice very quickly with minimal impact. Unless your party has some other deep, inexpensive healing resource, you need those dice for Short Rests to refill your massive pool of hit points. Take Chef instead.
Elemental Adept ^(PHB): Even the Eldritch Knight should not use a single element enough to justify this.
Fey Touched ^(PHB): Helpful for the Eldritch Knight. More spells and some free castings can do a lot for you.
Grappler ^(PHB): Even if you do nothing else to make yourself good at unarmed strikes, this is a great way to hold enemies in place without heavily cutting into your damage output. You’ll want to use a one-handed weapon (Versatile weapons also work well here) to leave a hand free. If you use a weapon with the Topple mastery or if you make another unarmed strike, you can knock your target prone and keep them there, then drag them away from your allies.
Great Weapon Master ^(PHB): Essential and reliable if you’re using two-handed melee weapons.
The damage bonus notably applies to any weapon with the Heavy property, making it an option for weapons like longbows and muskets. The Strength increase is hard for Dexterity-based builds, but strongly consider this once you’ve hit 20 Dexterity.
Heavy Armor Master ^(PHB): A huge amount of damage reduction.
Inspiring Leader ^(PHB): You might have enough Wisdom to qualify for this. It’s a fantastic addition to any party, but definitely don’t rush to take it until you’ve hit 20 in Strength or Dexterity.
Mage Slayer ^(PHB): Great insurance against difficult mental saves. This may feel redundant once you get Indomitable, or you might find that you’re using both reliably.
Medium Armor Master ^(PHB): Borderline worthless. Put +2 into Dexterity and wear light armor.
Mounted Combatant ^(PHB): Without a magical mount of some kind, mounted combat simply isn’t viable.
Observant ^(PHB): If you’re proficient in Perception and have decent Wisdom, you may be well qualified to use Perception reliably. But even then, this is only helpful if your DM likes to use stealthy enemies and/or likes to include traps in combat encounters.
Piercer ^(PHB): Excellent if you prefer piercing weapons. Spectacular if you’re a Champion.
Poisoner ^(PHB): This could work for Dexterity-based builds, but it’s not especially impactful. You’ll get more value out of something like Piercer.
Polearm Master ^(PHB): Fantastic.
Resilient ^(PHB): More saves never hurt. Resilient (Dexterity) is easy to fit into a Dexterity-based build.
Ritual Caster ^(PHB): Not even on an Eldritch Knight.
Sentinel ^(PHB): Fantastic. This provides the “stickiness” that you need to be your party’s Defender, allowing you to easily fill that role regardless of any of your other build choices.
Shadow-Touched ^(PHB): Helpful for the Eldritch Knight, but Fey Touched offers better spells.
Sharpshooter ^(PHB): Helpful for ranged builds, but not essential unless your DM really enjoys using cover. Thrown weapon builds might enjoy this to offset their poor range relative to weapons like bows and muskets.
Shield Master ^(PHB): Excellent on Strength-based sword-and-board builds. Shield Bash is great action economy. Interpose Shield will help mitigate area damage, especially once you have Indomitable and can turn a failed save into a successful one and fully negate the damage.
Skill Expert ^(PHB): Strength-based Fighters have very few good skill options, but Dexterity-based Fighters and Fighters that need high Intelligence or Charisma all have better options.
Slasher ^(PHB): Excellent if you prefer slashing weapons. Consider a weapon with the Slow mastery so that you can stack the speed penalties.
Speedy ^(PHB): You’re durable enough that an occasional Opportunity Attack shouldn’t scare you, but you might want the 10-foot speed boost on a melee build.
War Caster ^(PHB): Fantastic on the Eldritch Knight. Grab Booming Blade since True Strike relies on your spellcasting ability modifier, which will almost certainly be worse than your Strength or Dexterity.
Weapon Master ^(PHB): You get 3 at level 1, and it scales to 6 on its own. You really don’t need more.

Fighting Styles

Archery ^(PHB): Mathematically spectacular
Blind Fighting ^(PHB): Fantastic, but only situationally useful. Unless you have party members that like to rely on magical darkness or fog or similar effects, you’ll get more consistent benefit from other options.
If it’s an option, take the Skulker feat instead.
Defense ^(PHB): Consistently useful, and doesn’t discourage you from switching weapons.
Dueling ^(PHB): Easy and consistent damage that puts you roughly on par with two-handed weapons without giving up access to a shield.
Thrown Weapon Fighting ^(PHB): More complex than Archery, but the ability to change weapons mid-turn means that you can use multiple Weapon Mastery options in a single turn. Two-weapon fighting can work, but without an on-hit damage boost, it’s actually less damaging than Archery with a longbow or musket.
Two-Weapon Fighting ^(PHB): Without an on-hit damage boost on all of your attacks, two-weapon fighting can’t keep up with the damage output of two-handed weapons, especially as you add more attacks and Great Weapon Master.
Unarmed Fighting ^(PHB): Take Tavern Brawler.

Epic Boons

Boon of Combat Prowess ^(PHB): Helpful, but it only affects on your 3 or more attacks.
Boon of Dimensional Travel ^(PHB): The Eldritch Knight can combine this with War Magic to do a bunch of stuff inside of one Acton.
Boon of Energy Resistance ^(PHB): A powerful defense on any character.
Boon of Fate ^(PHB): More useful to support your allies’ save-or-suck spells than for anything that you’re doing.
Boon of Fortitude ^(PHB): Great for melee builds. Remember that the additional healing applies to Second Wind and with things like the Champion’s Heroic Rally feature.
Boon of Irresistible Offense ^(PHB): You don’t have a built-in way to do anything except bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage, so this allows you to bypass troublesome damage resistances. You also have 3 or more attacks, giving you more opportunities than most characters to roll a 20 on an attack roll. If you can get Advantage, such as from knocking an enemy prone or from the Vex mastery, you can roll a big pile of d20’s in hopes of getting a 20 and adding a mountain of bonus damage.
Boon of Recovery ^(PHB): The Last Stand feature is great insurance, but definitely not enough to justify your first Epic Boon. Try to get someone to cast Death Ward on you.
Boon of Skill ^(PHB): Potentially useful in a small party with poor skill coverage.
Boon of Speed ^(PHB): A huge boost in mobility for Dexterity-based builds.
Boon of Spell Recall ^(PHB): Potentially useful for the Eldritch Knight, but remember that it only has a 25% chance to work.
Boon of the Night Spirit ^(PHB): Tempting on Dexterity-based builds, but you’re probably your party’s Defender, so remember that there’s value in being a big, shiny target.
Boon of Truesight ^(PHB): Probably your only option for handling invisible enemies, but the ability scores are hard. If you’ve made it this far, your party is covering for you or you’ve found a creative solution.

Fighter Weapons

The Fighter is proficient in simple and martial weapons. They also get far more Weapon Mastery slots than other characters, which encourages them to rapidly change weapons mid-combat in order to benefit from whatever mastery meets the needs of the moment.

However, the Fighter’s extreme versatility also puts us in a weird spot: there are no bad weapon choices. The issue isn’t “what’s the best weapon?”, it’s “what’s the best weapon for my build and my preferred tactics?” Almost every weapon has a niche. There are (almost) no bad choices; you just need to pick the best weapon for your build.

Your choice of weapon may need to change when you reach level 9 and get Tactical Master. The option to use Push, Sap, or Slow with any weapon means that weapons which already have those masteries lose much of their appeal. Weapons with Cleave, Graze, Topple, and Vex remain good choices. Unless you’re locked into a weapon due to some combination of weapon properties and damage type, strongly consider switching weapons at this point.