Introduction

Aarakocra did a lot of things first. They’re the first entry in the Monster Manual. They’re the first playable race in 5e that could be considered an anthromorph (an animal person). They’re the first playable race with flight. They’re the first race banned from Adventurer’s League. All exciting stuff.

Mechanically, Aarakocra are frustratingly bland. They get ability score increases, flight, talons, and a disappointing innate spell that you’ll rarely use. They’re a flying stat block. You play an Aarakocra either because you want to be a flying bird person or because you want flight at first level and don’t particularly care where it comes from.

Despite this blandness, Aarakocra are extremely powerful for a variety of builds, even without the custom origin rules or the updated racial traits. Dexterity and Wisdom is an excellent combination of ability score increases, and racial flight is insanely powerful, especially at a whopping 50 ft. of fly speed.

Before we look at class options, I want to take a moment to explain exactly why flight is such a big deal. In many encounters, it’s a guaranteed win condition. Armed with a ranged weapon and sufficient ammunition (or a good cantrip like Eldritch Blast), a flying humanoid can eventually kill anything that can’t find a way to get full cover. The flyer can easily chase enemies around above ground and wear them down while safely well out of the defender’s range unless the defender can also fly.

Even in enclosed spaces like a dungeon, a high ceiling can easily put the flying creature well out of their enemies’ reach. Most creatures in the monster manual lack a method to counter the simple issue of an enemy being 5 feet too high for the monster to attack them.

To summarize: Aarakocra can fly directly above most of the monster manual and kill the monster regardless of CR solely because you can fly and most monsters can’t.

If you’re using the updated version of the Aarakocra published in Monsters of the Multiverse, you should understand how Gust of Wind works. It makes it difficult for enemies to approach you, but remember that it has an Action casting time and doesn’t do anything when you cast it except push creatures in the initial area of effect.

Table of Contents

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.

Aarakocra Versions

There are effectively three versions of the Aarakocra. The original was published in the Elemental Evil Player’s Companion alongside genasi and goliaths, making the Aarakocra among the first non-core races to appear in 5th edition. They were later reprinted in Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount without any changes.

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything introduced the option Customizing Your Origin rules, which gave us the second version and allowing players to reassign the Aarakocra’s ability score increases, effectively making them a blank template with flight as their only racial trait.

Most recently, Monsters of the Multiverse re-published the Aarakocra, making a major change to their racial traits. In addition to the standard changes (1d6 damage from all natural weapons, everyone gets their choice of +2/+1 or three +1 increases), the Aarakocra’s speeds were changed to 30 ft. for both land and fly speed, and they gained the ability to cast Gust of Wind as an innate spell.

Aarakocra Classes (Customizable Origins and MMoM)

The updates to the Aarakocra in Monsters of the Multiverse does change their traits, but it doesn’t change which options work well for the Aarakocra. Gust of Wind isn’t something that you can build a character around, so the Aarakocra is still basically just a generic flying race.

This section assumes that you’re using the option updated versions of the race, including the “Customizing Your Origin” rules presented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and/or the updated version published in Monsters of the Multiverse. Because the race changed so little between those two versions, I have decided to combine these two sections. If you’re not using those rules, scroll down to the “Classic Rules” section.

Artificer

+2 int, +1 con, and flight, but only in light or no armor. Flight puts you safely out of range of the majority of enemies, reducing the need for you to dump spells and infusions into items to raise your AC and to get access to flight. Subclasses like the Armorer (especially with Infiltrator armor) and the Alchemist both make sense, but the Battle Smith’s pet can’t fly and neither can the Artillerist’s canons.

Barbarian

+2 str, +1 con, and flight. The Barbarian is locked into melee, which dramatically reduces the usefulness of flight, but at the very least flying enemies are no longer a problem for you.

Bard

+2 cha, +1 dex or con, and flight. Do all the normal bard things from the comfort of 10-30 ft. above the fray.

Cleric

+2 wis, +1 con, and flight. Go for a caster domain and remain safely out of range while raining divine wrath on your enemies.

Druid

+2 wis, +1 con, and flight. Any subclass except Circle of the Moon and Circle of Spores will benefit greatly from the defensive benefits of flight.

Fighter

+2 dex, +1 con, and flight. Grab a bow and go nuts.

Monk

+2 dex, +1 con or wis, and flight. If you’re using the updated version of the Aarakocra, +1 to each of Dex/Con/Wis. Being locked into melee can be a problem since it reduces the benefits of flight, but you can spend Ki to Disengage and fly out of range whenever you feel the need, or you could try to fit the Mobile feat into your build.

The Aarakocra’s flight speed is affected by Unarmored Movement, so your already impressive 50 ft. flight speed continues to improve as you gain levels, making an Aarakocra monk among the fastest creatures in the game (at least in terms of speed; actual maximum movement gets messy). This is less amusing if you’re using the updated version of the Aarakocra since their fly speed is only 30 feet, but Unarmored Movement does still improve your fly speed.

Paladin

+2 Dex, +1 Con or Cha, and flight. If you’re using the updated version of the Aarakocra, consider +1 to each of Dex/Con/Cha, but that’s not necessarily a better option that +2/+1. Paladins, like barbarians, are mostly locked into melee. You could build a Charisma-heavy build thanks to Fighting Style (Blessed Warrior) to build around cantrips and spellcasting, but at that point why not just play a cleric or a divine soul sorcerer?

Ranger

+2 dex, +1 con, and flight. Grab a bow and go nuts.

Rogue

+2 dex, +1 whatever else you need, and flight. You could certainly fight at range, but melee works great too. Thanks to Cunning Action you can Disengage as a Bonus Action and perform easy hit-and-run attacks from the air.

Sorcerer

+2 cha, +1 con, and flight. Free flight saves you a precious spell known and keeps you at a safe distance right from level 1.

Warlock

+2 cha, +1 con, and flight. Free flight saves you limited resources, and keeps any non-melee build at a safe distance. Melee hexblades should look elsewhere.

Wizard

+2 int, +1 con, and flight. Free flight saves you some spell slots, which is really nice.

Aarakocra Classes (Classic Rules)

This section assumes that you’re not using the option “Customizing Your Origin” rules presented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything or the updated version of the race published in Mordenkainen’s Monsters of the Multiverse. If you are using those rules, scroll up to the previous section.

Artificer

Aside from flight, the Aarakocra brings nothing to the Artificer.

Barbarian

Flight is always great, but barbarian is a poor choice for aarakocra. The emphasis on remaining in melee combat takes away the aarakocra’s biggest advantage: mobility.

Bard

Flight is great for staying out of melee, but that’s the only thing that the Aarakocra brings to the bard.

Cleric

Dexterity and a bit of Wisdom are great for a lightly-armored Cleric, and flight is always fantastic.

Druid

The Aarakocra works really well as a druid. Dexterity will help fill out your AC in druid-friendly armor, and Wisdom will help with your spells. Flight means that you don’t need to spend your limited wild shape uses to turn into a bird, so you can save them for more useful things like fighting.

Fighter

Fighters really like races with a great stat line and few frills, so the Aarakocra is a great fit. Dexterity is ideal for an archery build, but if you want to be in melee you’ll want to use finesse weapons. Flight solves a lot of problems for fighters since they typically need to rely on party members or magic items whenever an enemy is out of reach.

Monk

It’s hard to think of a better option for monk than the Aarakocra. Dexterity and flight line up perfectly, and flight is a massive boon for a class that’s almost completely locked into melee combat. Better still, your flight speed is affected by Unarmored Movement, so your already impressive 50 ft. flight speed continues to improve as you gain levels, making an Aarakocra monk among the fastest creatures in the game (at least in terms of speed; actual maximum movement gets messy).

Paladin

You could make a dexterity-based paladin work, and flight is always amazing, but the Aarakocra offers very little of value for the Paladin.

Ranger

Likely an even better option for aarakocra archers than the Fighter, the Ranger makes good use of both of the Aarakocra’s ability score increases, and still gets the Archery fighting style to capitalize on the Aarakocra’s superior mobility at range.

Rogue

+2 dex, +1 whatever else you need, and flight. You could certainly fight at range, but hit-and-run melee attacks work great too. Thanks to Cunning Action you can Disengage as a Bonus Action and perform easy hit-and-run attacks from the air.

Sorcerer

Aside from flight, the Aarakocra brings nothing to the Sorcerer.

Warlock

Aside from flight, the Aarakocra brings nothing to the Warlock.

Wizard

Aside from flight, the Aarakocra brings nothing to the Wizard.

Aarakocra Feats

Aarakocra don’t have any racial feats. I mostly just want to call out Mobile.

MobilePHB

A fantastic solution for melee builds that don’t want to give up the advantages of flight whenever they get into melee. Move in to attack, then fly away with your 60 ft. fly speed. Mobile’s bonus speed applies to any natural movement type that you have, which includes your fly speed.