My Field Medic character is a Battle Master. She has a Hermit Background, Longbow, Healer's Kit, and the Healer feat. She can use the longbow to distract/move/push enemies away from vulnerable allies, even if she's far away, Rally to boost HP, and maximize the usefulness of her Kit. Atop that, she can make Healing Potions and Antitoxins. Great healing character without using any magic.
That sounds so fun and incredibly useful in many ways. The DPS and team support is perfect sounding. I like the idea of granting the rogue extra sneak when you grant them an attack during your turn.
Would be an interesting take, I've normally used a Thief Rogue for a medic character, though that would work up to 4th/5th level and perhaps the rest as fighter for more hp boosts. While temp HP doesn't stack, having rally available to add more temp hp once the other is gone could help allies.
@@AzraelThanatos Yes! Thief Rogue with Healer feat to use Healer's Kit as bonus action, then main action healing potion. Great healer! I like your suggestion, too
@@ashenwuss1651 You can also use the healing kit twice during a turn which can lead to some amusing situations if you stockpile kits. Had an area that was blocked off by two characters, both could attack if the other was, enemy creature had multiattack and could attack twice. Due to other things, it couldn't move backwards. Unfortunately, my two allies blocking the way kept getting dropped when it had its turn, then on mine my action and bonus action would be to use the healers kit to bring them each back with 1 HP, they'd have their turns, then would get knocked out again and the cycle would repeat again and again.
@@AzraelThanatos That sounds epic. Don't forget that Healer feat is only one heal per character, until they finish a short rest. Unless your DM allows otherwise. Honestly, I'd allow it if therr were no healers and it was a gritty setting.
One thing about this video that I don't like is the statement "I don't like saving throws because if they don't work it didn't do anything", but if you use riposte and miss the attack roll is it any different? Sure, the chance to hit is often times higher than the average save, but at least how I see it the benefit of a manacing attack is far greater than the benefit of 'having that reaction attack'. Example: you hit a creature with manacing attack. The dm roleplays the target that failed the save, it wants to run from you. When it retreats you get an opportunity attack. While a free opportunity attack isn't bad at all, it is generally more beneficial to hurt the enemy action economy rather than buffing your own. (a fighter with a greatsword does an average of 12 damage at 20str without feats while every cr10 melee creature deals 20+ damage per strike and multiple strikes per turn)
Did you find commander's strike useful, or did you use it at all? On paper it looks good if you have a rogue in the party, especially as you gain levels and that sneak attack keeps getting better.
@@godsamongmen8003 No rogue in the party and Commander's strike was one of the maneuvers I didn't select as I ended up being the more action/attack oriented member of the party. Goading Attack was more useful in that department. Also, the Sentinel and Mage Hunter feats were very handy.
Don’t forget that when you get to choose more maneuvers, you are also able to swap an existing one for a new one. It gives you flexibility and you aren’t stuck with a bad choice.
Pretty good that you have mentioned (Monthy and Kelly have not talked about it)! Each time you learn new maneuvers, you can also replace one maneuver you know with a different one. For example, maybe your fighter started with Rally maneuver, then later he has picked up Inspiring Leader feat. As we know, temporary hit points are not cumulative, so that is a great, official way to replace Rally maneuver to something more useful. ;)
@@DBebeful that said, I still take both most times I've played a battlemaster. inspiring leader is solid preemptive temp HP, but rally is a solid backup for immediate, ranged temp HP. I have both with my current battle medic
@@cnkclark extra 2 maneuvers and 1 more superiority die. Actually, i would take that feat with any physical build and even with some spell casters that have a weapon focus like hexblade or path of blade warlock etc.
@@flimpeenflarmpoon1353 imagine that you spot an opening in the enemys defense and you manage to slash at his wrist holding the shield and cutting the straps off
I'm a battlemaster with great weapons style. I find that commander's strike works very well when I'm out of range for melee and can direct my Ranger to take an additional attack. I refer to the ranger AS my ranged attack.
The Rally maneuver could be useful if you find yourself in one of those rare campaigns that doesn't use Feats. A common mistake I've seen many DMs and players make is in thinking that ONLY Battlemasters can make disarms, trips, and shoves. This is not the case at all. Battlemasters do them _better_ because of their Superiority Dice and that they can do them as part of their Attack Action (meaning they also deal damage), while non-Battlemasters have to do them _instead_ of their Attack Action and do _no_ damage, but they _can_ do them. Shove/Trip: PHB page 195-196 and DMG page 272, Disarm: DMG page 271, Mark Target: DMG page 271, Help Action: PHB page 192.
Problem is lunging strike is only one attack and fighters get 3 by level 11. So yes, you may be able to get extended reach on that one attack but then you have to move in closer to use the rest. Honestly I think this is a very niche ability whose best use is letting you still get an attack when your normal movement is 5ft short of where you need to be (and those will be some rare cases).
I want to make a Battlemaster that makes heavy use of Disarming Attack and the Tavern Brawler feat. Basically, their whole deal is to flex on enemies by taking *their* weapons and beating them with it. Bring in Trip and Pushing Attack to get a bit of an Armored Monk kinda feel to the character.
@@anthonynorman7545 if you're not proficient, this gives you an argument for using proficiency to hit at the expense of the weapons normal damage. Sure, I might not be able to use this exotic weapon "properly", but I can still hit you consistently with it.
I honestly feel that battlemaster is the most utilitarian, as well as the best subclass choice, of the fighter. it gets really interesting features that not only make it unique compared to the champion but also come in more handy than the Eldritch Knight. I really feel bad for the Arcane Archer however.
I honestly feel the Arcane Arcger's Arcane Shot would have been better as a copy/paste of the BM's Superiority Dice. Seriously, why can I only use my cool archer magic twice before needing a short rest? I might as well just go BM and use a bow.
@@neog8029 I I agree, I have an Arcane archer in a campaign currently and the GM decided after 3 sessions adjusted to the class with a little homebrewing making the Arcane shot a number of times equal to my intelligence modifier, minimum of 2. It makes it much more versatile
I just finished playing an arcane archer, and I absolutely loved it. No complaints about any of the features, nor the damage output. It did everything I wanted it to do.
@@zachbrown9350 don't get me wrong I love the class, thematically and featurewise. But compared to the Battlemaster and the Eldritch Knight it feels like it's features are less plentiful.
John Harrison i played a horizon walker and had a lot of fun with it. however i could see the planar warrior damage being a bit underpowered at higher levels.
So a bugbear battle master who uses lunging attack with a reach weapon has a 20 ft. reach... WITH A MELEE WEAPON!!! That's the same range as throwing a dagger, and you get a d10 for the damage instead of a d4.
That is quite spastic. My first level minotaur character uses a ranged attack with a dart at 20 feet. I got some dang lucky stat rolls and have a 20 strength, I took Archery for +2 ranged attack, plus my +2 for level so I have a +9 to hit and a +5 damage for a damage of 6 to 9 with my darts. You would have to have a dang awesome armor class to drop my chance of hitting to 50/50. As a first level character as long as I don't roll a 1 I can hit a unarmored enemy that does not have a dexterity bonus with my darts at long range of 60 feet. The problem is I don't like the odds of rolling a 1 at disadvantage. Just yesterday playing the game not a single one of my d20 rolls where higher than a 10.
Battlemaster maneuvers sure are a trip. Gotta be pushy and precise to get them, they can be really evasive and distracting, disarming even. Don't let them goad you, parry, rally and riposte, don't fall for their feints and sweep them away with your command of knowing them.
I agree with both of you on your choice of TOP5 maneuvers! My personal favorite is Riposte! ;) A short story: In one campaign we were fighting against a hydra when a dwarf battle master managed to intimidate a hydra with a Menacing Attack maneuver, which already had 7 heads! Thanks to the frightened condition, the hydra attacked with disadvantage and missed all of its seven bite attacks, none of which hit our dwarf warrior! That was the moment when we realized how great this maneuver can be when it's used in the right place at the right time!
Although I love the story, I just don't see it happening: a dwarf menacing a 7 headed hydra. How come this creature isn't immune to fear from creatures smaller than it? If I where a GM, I would grant monsters advantage if they are bigger. This is no magical induced fear, it's a simple physical attack that threatens you. Aren't all attacks? We'll this exemple shows me how this maneuver needs to be a little toned down.
@@JorisVDC Thanks for your comment Joris! If you check the Monsters Manual, you can see that - due to the multiple heads - Hydra has advantage on saving throws against being blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, stunned, and knocked unconscious. So it has his own, great chance to not being frightened. Luckily, it has merely Wisdom 10 (+0), and the DM rolled poorly! ;) The rest is already a history! xD
Menacing attack is basicly the funniest thing you can do on a halfling fighter:D: I played a halfling dualwielder Fighter in Tomb of Anihilation and every fight we came across a Dinosaur I scared the living hell out of atleast one of them xD. The image which this drew in my mind was one of the most hillarious I ever had in DnD. Like you got a 3 foot dude with 2 rapiers pinching a dinosaur and he this beast gets scared the hell away from that little hobbit xD *Edit: Yes some dinosaurs are immure to beeing frightened but unfortunatly (for them) not all of them xD **Edit: deeper in the Video now^^: yes I had Trip Attack too xD and most dinosaurs are just large ;)
Now I'm envisioning all the dinosaurs on Chult like the dinosaurs from DBZ. They see a short, spiky-haired halfling and just nope the fuck out of there immediately. Headcanon. Thanks!
During a nautical themed campaign I was playing a battle master Triton, using Pushing attack to knock enemies who boarded our ship back into the sea haha.
After having watched something like 40 videos, always skipping the introduction, today I heard you say "register so you don't miss..." and I fucking realized I wasn't registered!! Insta-register! I live how you eviscerate every topic, with a written and prepared discussion, instead of something more similar to an interview or a Pub chat, like others do. I learned a lot thanks to you. Gonna forward this video to my friend playing fighter first time after 15 years not playing!
I remember using disarming strike to once cause the enemy troll to drop the unconscious child they were trying to kidnap. Since that child was a major plot point this was critical, and a real life saver.
Something to consider about precision attack is that, at level 7, Battle masters get Know your Enemy, which can let you know the targets AC after a minute of observation.
The best Eldritch Knight build is with 2+ levels of Hexblade, Eldritch Blast/Agonizing Blast and the Crossbow Expert feat. You can fire EB into melee without penalty and add the War Magic attack at EK 7. Pick EK spells that doesn’t require saves or attack and you can focus only on Charisma. To really min-max this build, pick up Polearm Master + War Caster and Repelling Blast, wield an arcane focus staff and shield. Every time enemy comes near it triggers an opportunity attack EB, with which you push them back and resetting the combo. You also finish the core build at level 10, after which you can MC into Sorcerer/Bard/Paladin or take more Hexblade/EK levels. Eldritch Strike in particular is amazing when you have maxed out casting stats, and multiclassing into full casters give you a wide range of spells unavailable to regular EKs.
EK is one of those archetypes that is difficult to build correctly or at least effectively. You have to carefully pick your spells, specially since you're mostly restricted to 2 schools of magic
marcos2492 It’s not really that hard to pick though since there really isn’t that many options and with a sub-par INT you have to prioritize spells with no saves or attack rolls. At level 1 it’s Find Familiar, Shield, Absorb Elements, at level 2 it’s Darkness and Mirror Image or Misty Step, at level 3 take Haste, and that’s most of the spells you’d use for a majority of encounters.
I feel I built my level 7 EK pretty well and it isn't too min-max. Whent human for character reasons and took heavy armor master. Then level 4 I took war caster. For cantrips I got greenflame blade and booming blade (for opprotunity attacks with war caster and locking down one target) for 1st level spells I took false life, shield and absorb elements. For second level spells I took mirror image and blur. I obviously was focussing on being mega tank
Loved this one, really great break down. I homeruled that exact change to parry. Just made more sense. And there are some great feats that complement the battlemaster as a dex fighter. Rapier/hand crossbow combo and its just a buffet!
I got the Sentinel feat and I'm playing melee in a big party. I can often get the Sentinel reaction, so Riposte was unnecessary for me. Also: Trip Attack, Pushing Attack, or even Menacing Attack on attacks of opportunity and disable enemies on their turn with speed reduced to 0! It's great.
In a smaller party with melee buddies, having both Sentinel and Riposte really shines, because you're consistently putting the enemy in a lose/lose situation: If they attack your group, you counter attack, if they attack you and miss, you counter attack. Pretty reliable way to use your reaction every round.
My fighters back story was as a field metic with the healer feat, so I took evasive footwork, and it actually worked the first time I used it to pull one of my team mates out of combat and heal her. It was so sweet. It might not work all the time but those moments are so cool!
Sweeping attack sounds like it tried to be the Horde Breaker feature of the Hunter Ranger. And what you guys said you visualize it as sounds a lot like whirlwind attack, from further down the same subclass. The Hunter subclass isn't as flashy as the new subclasses for the Ranger, but it's really solid.
If you only ever used the battle master to trip on the first attack for advantage on the rest of the attacks it would be worth it. The fact that there are maneuvers that allow you to soft taunt and frighten a target make this class crazy good.
Wow guys this is great, I've just started to follow this Chanel, yesterday I read about the battle master on players handbook and now I just open UA-cam and the first thing I see is you with this great video
I've been working on a battle master / sorcerer multiclass which originated from a dumb idea of disarming an opponent and then castingcatapult on said weapon, throwing it far away or impaling the owner. This video is a great help for that. Now to decide whether they'll be divine or shadow, perhaps even dragon
Once, our Fighter Battlemaster Polearm Master used Pushing Strike against a SWARM OF BATS. I narrated the scene as he swirled the point of his Halberd and using the air pressure pushed all those bats away. So fun... :D
pushing attack + pole arm master is an amazing combo where you push them out of your reach and then when they go to engage next round they provoke an attack of opportunity from you again. If you also have sentinel it drops there speed to zero keeping them out of reach to attack you.
To add to the trip attack dialog, taking shield master feat lets you attempt to shove (push or knock prone) your target even if your melee attack misses. Not to mention the other advantages of shield master (increase to dex save and reduction in dex attack based damage)
While a lot of this seemed like good advice, I found the dissing on commander strike to be hilarious since it combined with an archer using trip, goading or maneuvering strike (this assumes you have multiple attacks at this point) is just so strong. In fact, I usually downplay how strong commander strike is so that DMs won't disallow it. Commander strike has to be, hands down, the most flexible and potentially powerful maneuver...especially when thinking about fights from a team tactics perspective instead of just an individual one. Individually, trip attack is seemingly the best or maybe precision attack.
I really wish I'd watched this before the last encounter I played with my Battle Master Fighter. Menacing Attack is one of her maneuvers, and I could have made good use of it. Still, I now have a better grasp of her maneuvers for the next one! Cheers!
Thank you so much for the quality content. I'm prepping for my first time behind the DM screen, and your channel has been a HUGE help in sorting through all the rules and options. I'm curious about your opinions on how to start a campaign (or a one shot) at a higher level. What equipment should the players start out owning? What are your rules for multiclassing from the beginning? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Love your channel, April
Regarding Menacing Attack: I saved an entire caravel our party was sailing on from a Kraken by shooting it in the eye. 😃 Ever since then, I’ve been sold on menacing attack.
Both Trip and Menacing are awesome. Push is also very nice, controlling where monsters are (or pushing them over a ledge/into a trap etc) is always good. Parry in combo with heavy armour master is surprisingly good, you need others to deal the damage tho. Most others feel lackluster or very situational.
Hey guys! Just wanted to say I love your videos! I'm super brand new to d&d and technically haven't even played a game yet. But I'm learning and reading a lot of lore and how the game works. Your videos have really helped and inspired me to create some fun ideas for my first character. Thanks for the tips!!
I needed this video so badly! Before watching video, I'm going to lay down my personal favourites at level 3- - Parry (good use of Reaction. But if using Str-based fighter, can go for Pushing Attack to push into environmental hazard or spell AoE) - Distracting Strike (no save, and good setup for next ally) - Goading attack (useful if your DM likes to ignore tanks and go for squishies) *Edit* After the video - - I did not know that Frightened imposed disadvantage on all attack rolls. I had assumed it was only against the source of the fright. This makes Menacing Attack > Goading Attack - Only reason I avoid trip attack is because a melee fighter can knock someone prone by Shoving (no superiority die needed), while a ranged attacker would be imposing disadvantage on their future attacks against a Tripped opponent. But I did learn something new - Ranged attackers can knock a flying creature out of the air with Trip Attack, which does make it useful. - Ok, yeah, Parry doesn't scale well. I'll take that back and replace it with Pushing or Riposte.
The good thing is you can do that at L7 when Parry becomes less useful L3 - 5 it is fairly useful L6 less so as monster damage ramps up in the mid-tier of the game
Parry is one of the best early maneuvers imo. At level 7 swap it for something else. Trip attack can also be used with a pole arm weapon while maintaining distance. That and it does damage while potentially knocking them prone. A DC is more consistent than contested rolls sometimes as well. That being said I dont use trip attack, not my style
Goading attack on a crossbow master fighter is great as a support skill. You can force the boss to miss your melee or move to target you. Combined with sentinel on one of your melee and you can keep applying disadvantage every turn
Another good use for a Precision Attack is the net. No damage, but automatic restrain if it hits a target that is Large or smaller. Until they break or escape the net, they can't move, take every attack against them with advantage while they attack with disadvantage and take disadvantage on Dex saves, setting them up for anything from a Sacred Flame to a Disintegrate.
Rogue Fighter Multiclass is quite potent as a Battlemaster when you take maneuvers designed to give you advantage. Riposte and trip attack in particular pair very well with sneak attack.
You can already use Polearm Master + Sentinel to stop an enemy dead in their tracks before they get to you, but with Trip Attack, you can also knock them prone (because their movement is 0 they can't get up), and on your turn, you can then move 5 feet closer and get advantage on all your attacks.
I'm taking Parry at level 3, but plan on replacing it at a higher level when a D8 does nothing for me health-wise. Since you can replace a Maneuver every time you learn new ones.
Battlemaster, Polearm Master, Sentinel: Enemy enters range, use Push Attack, push then out of your range, and reduce their speed to 0. Ultimate CC Fighter build that is guaranteed to piss off your GM.
Had this plan with a Bugbear for 15' reach ... DM straight said 'I dont allow sentinel with polearm master because its not fun for the DM' I understand and will just trip and push my way lol
Great breakdown thank you so much 💪🏼 I am relatively new to dnd but am thinking about multicasting my gloomstalker Ranger with battlemaster fighter so I have powerful options in daylight too. My Ranger is an Archer, often mounted, who doesn’t want to rely on magic so this seems like a great option.
basically the only maneuver my fighter ever uses is maneuvering attack. Letting knocked down friends stand up, get out of bad situations, get into attack positions, just all sorts of situations. Its basically just never bad. My team mates get into enough bad situations, or my DM works to put them into bad situations often enough, that I often feel like I need to save my superiority dice just to pop maneuvering attacks.
Precision Attack When you make a weapon attack roll against a creature, you can expend one superiority die to add it to the roll. You can use this maneuver *before or after* making the attack roll, but before any effects of the attack are applied.
Meaning you can know if its a Hit or a Miss before expending the dice, correct? Jeremy Crawford basically stated that its true, you get to know whether its a Hit or Miss before using the dice, as long as you don't apply any damage to it first.
I think the Battlemaster is often overlooked as a viable chassis for an Archer. Over half of the available maneuvers can be used with ranged weapons. I'm thinking something like Battlemaster 11/ Pact of the Blade Hexblade 5/ Gloom Stalker 4. A bunch of battle maneuvers (D10 Superiority dice) along with Eldritch Smite.... & you have spell slots recharging after a short rest to power your Eldritch Smite in the next battle. Hexblade class abilities as well as the Hex & Shield spells. And you get an extra attack the first round of every new combat.
So, the damage for the second target would be d8 + your spellcasting ability modifier? Still doesn't sound impressive enough to me to invest one of your maneuver picks AND a cantrip pick. As a fighter, you want top scores on either strength or dexterity and consti, so your spell casting ability will have what, a +2 modifier at best? 1d8+2 won't reliably drop many opponents, so at best you are softening them up for later....
Thank you for the advice! Just leveled up and taking Battlemaster for the first time! Definitely going with the top 3 you both suggest first, can’t wait to use them!!!
Sweeping Attack was useful for our campaign as our DM liked to have multiple caster enemies. This allowed me to force more concentration checks on them. Pretty much the only reason I took it.
These are really the best sort of videos! I would say, don't discount rally because if you happen to have any leftover battle manuevers, you can just give temporary hp to your allies right before you take a short rest so as to not 'waste' them. Of course, which battlemaster still has battle manuevers after a fight? Well, sometimes things happen and it's a great backup.
This video is perfectly timed for me. I'm going to be playing my first game of D&D tonight, and one of the character's I've considered making is a battlemaster with the polearm master and sentinel feats. Thanks for the timely info! :D
Great Information as always fellas. I am starting a Battlemaster Fighter/Totem Barbarian and this information was extremely helpful in planning out my character.
Shout out to Commanding Presence. I'm a Hexblade that recently multiclassed into Battlemaster because reasons. We have a Bard but I am also often the face of the party. It's really, REALLY nice to be able to use those superiority die in RP situations out of combat with the Commanding Presence Maneuver, making a resource that is almost always a combat only resource applicable and useful both on AND off the battlefield. It's kind of like having my own little private Bardic Inspirations that I can apply to Intimidation, Performance and Persuasion checks whenever I want.
My Battle Master dwarf fighter played a lot with Commander's Strike and Riposte, boasting Sentinel. Commander's Strike was mostly what I always used, because I stayed close to our casters to shield them with Sentinel, and just ordered our Great Weapon Master frontline paladin with Str18 to do their thing - just double the time. Especially good before lvl 5, and fine even at lvl 5.
Very cool to know which ones are key for the Battlemaster and which ones fall flat. I didn't realize that commanding strike took the bonus action on top of one of the attacks. My brother played a Battlemaster and I never noticed that part. Oh well, that campaign is almost over and the character will live on in for our legends, lol. Some of these other combos are really great. I need to take a moment and look at some of these combinations to learn how to better manage my characters. Sometimes I just end up picking things that seem great at the time without thinking about how it'll end up in the end. Kinda how I ended up with a 1/2-orc Acolyte Beast Conclave Ranger (Revised). Yeah, I had an interesting idea but it didn't quite work out. Excellent stuff as always, thanks dudes!
To every dear reader: If you want to see 'in action' how Trip Attack maneuver works with a thrown javelin against a manticore, just check the running Dungeons of Drakkenheim campaign! I guarantee that you won't be disappointed!
@@DBebeful Only saw the first episode yet, but i'm curious. Would a flying creature take fall dmg in that case? I'm not so knowlageble when it comes to flyers and their rules.
@@Gnarlf Yes, as you say Gnarlf! ;) I have collected the relevant rules for you directly from the Player's Handbook: Trip Attack page 74 PHB When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to knock the target down. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and if the target is Large or smaller, it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, you knock the target prone. FLYING MOVEMENT page 191 PHB Flying creatures enjoy many benefits of mobility, but they must also deal with the danger of falling. If a flying creature is knocked prone, has its speed reduced to 0, or is otherwise deprived of the ability to move, the creature falls, unless it has the ability to hover or it is being held aloft by magic, such as by the fly spell. FALLING page 183 PHB A fall from a great height is one of the most common hazards facing an adventurer. At the end of a fall, a creature takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet it fell, to a maximum of 20d6. The creature lands prone, unless it avoids taking damage from the fall. So in short (a very possible scenario): Successful trip attack on a flying creature -> prone -> speed reduced to 0 -> falling (1d6 bludgeoning damage / 10 feet) -> prone
@@DBebeful WOW! 1000 Thanks. That is a lot more effort, than i ever anticipated for an answer. Somehow i thought part of the rules would be in the DMG or somewhere else. Well, i take it as my homework then to read the PHB cover to cover next week. :) Thanks again.
Thanks for this video! I've just made a Warforged fighter and wanted to make them a battle master. This video helped with my choice of maneuvers - thanks!
Thank you for making these guides, Dudes, they are fun, informative and well made :D And yeah, martial classes getting a wider toolbox is always awesome :)
I feel like feinting Attack gets a bad wrap compared to trip attack, but in my experience it has been equally useful and a generally more reliable than trip Attack. The situations in which trip Attack is more useful are when you have a single or a few important targets and other melee combatants near you. The only reason it is sometimes ineffective is that when you’re fighting a couple important enemies they are usually either all to large to trip, or to strong to fail their save. Trip Attack is also more useful than fronting attack against a single strong enemy when you use action surge. Feinting Attack is always useful. Getting advantage on an attack and an extra d8 for a bonus action is almost always useful in melee fights. Feinting attack also serves as a reliable second attack after any maneuver that requires a check or save to additionally affect the target so you can fail to trip, disarm, menace, or push a target and still have a second attack w/ advantage. It also acts as a consistent follow up if you successfully distract, goad, or maneuver so both you and your allies can be at advantage
If your Battlemaster is a sword / board build, a non polearm heavy weapon, or a ranged build, Feinting attack has something to go for it, by making use of your Bonus action to augment the potential of your action (or ally action) by giving advantage. If you have access to a bonus action attack though (with Polearm Master, or Two Weapon fighting), this is worse, it's better to just get a bonus attack than giving advantage one time.
I’m adding battle master to my swarmkeeper soon! Best part is using my swarm to move opponents doesn’t affect my bonus or superiority dice and it makes great flavor text to have my swarm do the maneuvers. Example disarming attack could be my swarm attacking the enemies arm, making them drop their item
Distracting Stike, Riposte, Precision Attack, and Manuevering Attack are good pretty much always. Commander’s Strike can be really good as a follow up to Distracting Strike if you have a paladin or rogue.
It seems nice at first glance, but if you want to make Parry shine, you need DEX. To make use of Heavy Armor Master, you need STR. Those 2 are usually not maxed together, so you'll parry a pretty subpar number of incoming damage while spending a Superiority Die and a Reaction to do so, that doesn't scale well past Tier 1. Like they said, if Parry was used to block an attack completely by raising your AC for that incoming attack with the Superiority Die roll, that would be much better.
Great video guys .... as usual .... and perfect timing my Bugbear Battlemaster should level up in our next session and now I know what I want for maneuvers . Now I only have to decide on Sentinel or Great Weapon Master when he reaches level 8. Either way he will be even more of a badass .
I think brace is criminally underrated. If you aren't running a polearm master build, you want this. It is especially good with a fighter/swashbuckler multiclass as you can disengage with enemies after attacking them, forcing melees to walk back into your range to reengage. And you get sneak attack on these typically on top. Personally I don't think I would play a fighter, nonmulticlass. But this is my go-to for dex fighter. For strength fighter, I am going barb multiclass and yes I am still getting brace unless I am going polearm master
I totally agree! I just came up with an assassin bugbear ambusher with a whip a couple days ago. If you are hidden and someone comes into your reach, you can use brace to get a sneak attack, which is now a crit. Since surprise occurs in the first round (not a bonus round) now your actions and your bonus action are also all crits. Also if you want to you don’t need to disengage, because you have a reach of 10ft or 15ft if using a whip.
2:12 arcane archers have something similar, your uses of arcane shot for many options only take effect if you hit, it makes it much less risky to use than a spell slot.
Thank you guys, I've been needing an analysis on this subject. I'm using a human variant to take this as a feat. His 1st 3 class levels will be fey warlock of the blade, then finish with bard of blades to gain other similar features (and cool features not like this) to make a more combat like caster. At second level I will go with the invocations armor of shadows and fiendish vigor, then at 3rd trading fiendish vigor for improved pact weapon. I am so glad I watched this so I could better understand how to use these with more versatility. Thank you. (I will be using disarming and trip attacks for this and base the DC on DEX with is kind of high for him.)
I started my Dalton build with Superior Technique for the Sweeping Attack combined with the feat Crusher, letting me shove around potentially two ogre sized creatures with bludgeoning attacks.
In one campaign I'm going to be playing a Stout Halfling battlemaster, the campaign is set around a fallen order of knights that lost their previous commander and guess who got lumped with the position. Which is why I've been gearing his maneuvers towards support and leadership, so I actually gave him rally and in the session 0 it turned out to be pretty useful to characters on their last legs, just to keep them standing a bit longer which for a bonus action isn't too bad. I also gave him Distracting strike and Commander's strike which compliment each other very well, especially when you have a paladin on your side and you don't want them to miss. I've also been playing with the idea of giving him 5 levels as a Valor bard allowing allies to increase their damage output even further or increase their AC when they get attacked doubling down on the leadership role.
I used to really like feint attack, because it boosted your accuracy and dealt damage, but I'm seeing that bonus action cost now and it's a little too steep
Using riposte, feinting attack and parry on my fighter. Especially parry has saved my life a couple of times. And feinting attack when you just HAVE to do some damage.
Just played my first Battle Master Fighter yesterday. I was one of the few that left the Fight without a hit. I had a high AC, used Evasive footwork to target priority objectives and avoid opportunity attacks. Finally, when one of a pair of Draco's of The Storm managed to bite me, I reduced all the damage taken to 0, so I roleplayed it by blocking one of the Draco's attack with my rapier, then using my sword's pummel to force shut the mouth of the other Draco with a hit. It was epic 😎
I have a combat medic fighter (lvl 5 atm) and i have found Commander´s Strike REALLY valuable, cos the party´s main melee dealer is a Half-Orc Barbarian. If i Action Surge, i can have him do one huge blow to the target and still take 3 attacks myself with my flail. We have disposed LOADS of difficult opponents with this maneuver. I also have Riposte (funnily, this hasn´t come up so many times) and Feinting Attack. I can see now the Trip attack goodness and the Disarming attack for my lvl 7 (if i survive ;) ) choices. Good videos guys, thanks for these!
I discovered this channel a few weeks ago and every video so far has been solid. Thanks for doing what you do. I didnt pick BM as I feared it would be far to complicated, so I picked samurai instead..
My Field Medic character is a Battle Master. She has a Hermit Background, Longbow, Healer's Kit, and the Healer feat. She can use the longbow to distract/move/push enemies away from vulnerable allies, even if she's far away, Rally to boost HP, and maximize the usefulness of her Kit. Atop that, she can make Healing Potions and Antitoxins. Great healing character without using any magic.
That sounds so fun and incredibly useful in many ways. The DPS and team support is perfect sounding.
I like the idea of granting the rogue extra sneak when you grant them an attack during your turn.
Would be an interesting take, I've normally used a Thief Rogue for a medic character, though that would work up to 4th/5th level and perhaps the rest as fighter for more hp boosts. While temp HP doesn't stack, having rally available to add more temp hp once the other is gone could help allies.
@@AzraelThanatos Yes! Thief Rogue with Healer feat to use Healer's Kit as bonus action, then main action healing potion. Great healer!
I like your suggestion, too
@@ashenwuss1651 You can also use the healing kit twice during a turn which can lead to some amusing situations if you stockpile kits.
Had an area that was blocked off by two characters, both could attack if the other was, enemy creature had multiattack and could attack twice. Due to other things, it couldn't move backwards.
Unfortunately, my two allies blocking the way kept getting dropped when it had its turn, then on mine my action and bonus action would be to use the healers kit to bring them each back with 1 HP, they'd have their turns, then would get knocked out again and the cycle would repeat again and again.
@@AzraelThanatos That sounds epic.
Don't forget that Healer feat is only one heal per character, until they finish a short rest. Unless your DM allows otherwise. Honestly, I'd allow it if therr were no healers and it was a gritty setting.
Timestamps of each maneuver
for public use (But mostly me because i'm a lazy fighter):
4:53 Commander's Strike
6:10 Disarming Strike
7:34 Distracting Strike
8:43 Evasive Footwork
9:19 Feinting Attack
10:34 Goading Attack
11:41 Lunging Attack
12:34 Maneuvering Attack
13:50 Menacing Attack
16:20 Parry
17:30 Precision Attack
19:28 Pushing Attack
20:54 Rally
22:54 Riposte
23:58 Sweeping Attack
25:44 Trip Attack
the real mvp here!
Thank you!
Thanks god there's people like you. Tbh, i think it should be a crime that 20+ minute explanation videos exists...
@@Wingedwolf1894 1,25 or 1,5 speed.
Thank you for this!
*Two days ago: I wish the DD's made a guide for the Battle Master I am kinda new and want to play this class
Today: Satisfaction 100%
blantonman11 this class is really fun, youll have a blast with it!
@@youtubefuckingsucks thanks I am looking forward to playing as my Tabaxi Battle Master
blantonman11 im starting a new campaign tomorrow and playing a monk i cant wait!
One thing about this video that I don't like is the statement "I don't like saving throws because if they don't work it didn't do anything", but if you use riposte and miss the attack roll is it any different? Sure, the chance to hit is often times higher than the average save, but at least how I see it the benefit of a manacing attack is far greater than the benefit of 'having that reaction attack'.
Example: you hit a creature with manacing attack. The dm roleplays the target that failed the save, it wants to run from you. When it retreats you get an opportunity attack.
While a free opportunity attack isn't bad at all, it is generally more beneficial to hurt the enemy action economy rather than buffing your own. (a fighter with a greatsword does an average of 12 damage at 20str without feats while every cr10 melee creature deals 20+ damage per strike and multiple strikes per turn)
He just used Wish.
Having just wrapped up a 3 year campaign with my Battle Master ending at level 20, I found Trip Attack as a solid selection.
I cant think of a trip attack without a polearm
@@gaj7062 a whip would work
Did you find commander's strike useful, or did you use it at all? On paper it looks good if you have a rogue in the party, especially as you gain levels and that sneak attack keeps getting better.
@@godsamongmen8003 No rogue in the party and Commander's strike was one of the maneuvers I didn't select as I ended up being the more action/attack oriented member of the party. Goading Attack was more useful in that department. Also, the Sentinel and Mage Hunter feats were very handy.
@@gaj7062 flail could work with sweeping the leg
Don’t forget that when you get to choose more maneuvers, you are also able to swap an existing one for a new one. It gives you flexibility and you aren’t stuck with a bad choice.
Pretty good that you have mentioned (Monthy and Kelly have not talked about it)!
Each time you learn new maneuvers, you can also replace one maneuver you know with a different one.
For example, maybe your fighter started with Rally maneuver, then later he has picked up Inspiring Leader feat.
As we know, temporary hit points are not cumulative, so that is a great, official way to replace Rally maneuver to something more useful. ;)
Makes party at low level at least somewhat viable
@@DBebeful that said, I still take both most times I've played a battlemaster. inspiring leader is solid preemptive temp HP, but rally is a solid backup for immediate, ranged temp HP. I have both with my current battle medic
Not to mention the Feat that gives you 1 more Superiority Die plus an extra Maneuver selection. 5 dice and 4 Maneuvers.
@@cnkclark extra 2 maneuvers and 1 more superiority die. Actually, i would take that feat with any physical build and even with some spell casters that have a weapon focus like hexblade or path of blade warlock etc.
You could use disarming attack to knock a shield out of an enemy fighters hand, which lowers their AC and makes it easier to hit them
Don't shields have straps though? You don't just hold it you have to like Don and doth it n that?
@@flimpeenflarmpoon1353 imagine that you spot an opening in the enemys defense and you manage to slash at his wrist holding the shield and cutting the straps off
@@lattekahvi1298 what about with a bow lol
@@flimpeenflarmpoon1353 you fire a legolas level one in millions probability shot and the arrow cuts the straps
@@flimpeenflarmpoon1353 Some do, some don't. Depends on the shield type.
I'm a battlemaster with great weapons style. I find that commander's strike works very well when I'm out of range for melee and can direct my Ranger to take an additional attack. I refer to the ranger AS my ranged attack.
who needs javelins when you have allies
Why does this remind me of God of war
I use commander strike to double my strength modifier from my bard and let my damage do the thing lmaooo
The Rally maneuver could be useful if you find yourself in one of those rare campaigns that doesn't use Feats.
A common mistake I've seen many DMs and players make is in thinking that ONLY Battlemasters can make disarms, trips, and shoves. This is not the case at all. Battlemasters do them _better_ because of their Superiority Dice and that they can do them as part of their Attack Action (meaning they also deal damage), while non-Battlemasters have to do them _instead_ of their Attack Action and do _no_ damage, but they _can_ do them.
Shove/Trip: PHB page 195-196 and DMG page 272, Disarm: DMG page 271, Mark Target: DMG page 271, Help Action: PHB page 192.
Enemy: (Attacks)
Fighter with Riposte: "No U"
Lmao
Bugbear polar master fighter with lunging Strike!! 20 ft reach!
sun soul monks ftw
Problem is lunging strike is only one attack and fighters get 3 by level 11. So yes, you may be able to get extended reach on that one attack but then you have to move in closer to use the rest. Honestly I think this is a very niche ability whose best use is letting you still get an attack when your normal movement is 5ft short of where you need to be (and those will be some rare cases).
at that point just play an archer lol
20 feet long ''melee'' attack 100% just for the funsies.
hamon move:ZOOM PUNCH
I want to make a Battlemaster that makes heavy use of Disarming Attack and the Tavern Brawler feat.
Basically, their whole deal is to flex on enemies by taking *their* weapons and beating them with it.
Bring in Trip and Pushing Attack to get a bit of an Armored Monk kinda feel to the character.
But wouldn't the weapons of the enemies not be improvised, meaning you do not need the Tavern Brawler feat?
Are you going to incorrectly use the weapons you grab?
The answer to a gm that insists on exotic proficiency
@@anthonynorman7545 if you're not proficient, this gives you an argument for using proficiency to hit at the expense of the weapons normal damage. Sure, I might not be able to use this exotic weapon "properly", but I can still hit you consistently with it.
@@Aedi all none of them?
I honestly feel that battlemaster is the most utilitarian, as well as the best subclass choice, of the fighter. it gets really interesting features that not only make it unique compared to the champion but also come in more handy than the Eldritch Knight.
I really feel bad for the Arcane Archer however.
I honestly feel the Arcane Arcger's Arcane Shot would have been better as a copy/paste of the BM's Superiority Dice.
Seriously, why can I only use my cool archer magic twice before needing a short rest? I might as well just go BM and use a bow.
@@neog8029 I I agree, I have an Arcane archer in a campaign currently and the GM decided after 3 sessions adjusted to the class with a little homebrewing making the Arcane shot a number of times equal to my intelligence modifier, minimum of 2. It makes it much more versatile
I just finished playing an arcane archer, and I absolutely loved it. No complaints about any of the features, nor the damage output. It did everything I wanted it to do.
@@zachbrown9350 don't get me wrong I love the class, thematically and featurewise. But compared to the Battlemaster and the Eldritch Knight it feels like it's features are less plentiful.
John Harrison i played a horizon walker and had a lot of fun with it. however i could see the planar warrior damage being a bit underpowered at higher levels.
So a bugbear battle master who uses lunging attack with a reach weapon has a 20 ft. reach... WITH A MELEE WEAPON!!! That's the same range as throwing a dagger, and you get a d10 for the damage instead of a d4.
That is quite spastic.
My first level minotaur character uses a ranged attack with a dart at 20 feet. I got some dang lucky stat rolls and have a 20 strength, I took Archery for +2 ranged attack, plus my +2 for level so I have a +9 to hit and a +5 damage for a damage of 6 to 9 with my darts. You would have to have a dang awesome armor class to drop my chance of hitting to 50/50. As a first level character as long as I don't roll a 1 I can hit a unarmored enemy that does not have a dexterity bonus with my darts at long range of 60 feet. The problem is I don't like the odds of rolling a 1 at disadvantage. Just yesterday playing the game not a single one of my d20 rolls where higher than a 10.
Take magic initiate and thorn whip for some real nutty range
Quick note about Precision Attack - you can use it after making the roll, and it doesn't say you don't get to know whether it hit or not.
Battlemaster maneuvers sure are a trip. Gotta be pushy and precise to get them, they can be really evasive and distracting, disarming even. Don't let them goad you, parry, rally and riposte, don't fall for their feints and sweep them away with your command of knowing them.
Cat Trucker haha, nice job
+++
Oh my...
Nice.
8/10 you forgot about Lunge
@@GamerGrovyle So did everyone else
I agree with both of you on your choice of TOP5 maneuvers! My personal favorite is Riposte! ;)
A short story:
In one campaign we were fighting against a hydra when a dwarf battle master managed to intimidate a hydra with a Menacing Attack maneuver, which already had 7 heads! Thanks to the frightened condition, the hydra attacked with disadvantage and missed all of its seven bite attacks, none of which hit our dwarf warrior! That was the moment when we realized how great this maneuver can be when it's used in the right place at the right time!
Amazing! You sold me on menacing attack! I can’t wait to frighten a hydra now!
Although I love the story, I just don't see it happening: a dwarf menacing a 7 headed hydra. How come this creature isn't immune to fear from creatures smaller than it?
If I where a GM, I would grant monsters advantage if they are bigger.
This is no magical induced fear, it's a simple physical attack that threatens you. Aren't all attacks?
We'll this exemple shows me how this maneuver needs to be a little toned down.
@@JorisVDC Thanks for your comment Joris! If you check the Monsters Manual, you can see that - due to the multiple heads - Hydra has advantage on saving throws against being blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, stunned, and knocked unconscious. So it has his own, great chance to not being frightened. Luckily, it has merely Wisdom 10 (+0), and the DM rolled poorly! ;)
The rest is already a history! xD
Menacing attack is basicly the funniest thing you can do on a halfling fighter:D:
I played a halfling dualwielder Fighter in Tomb of Anihilation and every fight we came across a Dinosaur I scared the living hell out of atleast one of them xD. The image which this drew in my mind was one of the most hillarious I ever had in DnD. Like you got a 3 foot dude with 2 rapiers pinching a dinosaur and he this beast gets scared the hell away from that little hobbit xD
*Edit: Yes some dinosaurs are immure to beeing frightened but unfortunatly (for them) not all of them xD
**Edit: deeper in the Video now^^: yes I had Trip Attack too xD and most dinosaurs are just large ;)
Now I'm envisioning all the dinosaurs on Chult like the dinosaurs from DBZ. They see a short, spiky-haired halfling and just nope the fuck out of there immediately.
Headcanon. Thanks!
During a nautical themed campaign I was playing a battle master Triton, using Pushing attack to knock enemies who boarded our ship back into the sea haha.
After having watched something like 40 videos, always skipping the introduction, today I heard you say "register so you don't miss..." and I fucking realized I wasn't registered!! Insta-register! I live how you eviscerate every topic, with a written and prepared discussion, instead of something more similar to an interview or a Pub chat, like others do. I learned a lot thanks to you. Gonna forward this video to my friend playing fighter first time after 15 years not playing!
Thank you! Glad you enjoy the content. Thanks for hitting subscribe!
I remember using disarming strike to once cause the enemy troll to drop the unconscious child they were trying to kidnap. Since that child was a major plot point this was critical, and a real life saver.
child lands on head and dies instantly. campaign derailed
I've never clicked on a Dungeon Dudes video this early. For Caspia!...U'mm I mean Drakkenheim!
I immediately thought of Superma-- I mean, Pluto Jackson
You said it right the first time. We're all here for Caspia and the Jackson three
@@kmoustakas Three Crows.
@CatandBonez Drakken Force
Something to consider about precision attack is that, at level 7, Battle masters get Know your Enemy, which can let you know the targets AC after a minute of observation.
Has to be outside of combat though
Could I request an in depth guide on the Eldritch Knight? I know there are other ones out there, but I wanna learn from you 2.
The best Eldritch Knight build is with 2+ levels of Hexblade, Eldritch Blast/Agonizing Blast and the Crossbow Expert feat. You can fire EB into melee without penalty and add the War Magic attack at EK 7. Pick EK spells that doesn’t require saves or attack and you can focus only on Charisma.
To really min-max this build, pick up Polearm Master + War Caster and Repelling Blast, wield an arcane focus staff and shield. Every time enemy comes near it triggers an opportunity attack EB, with which you push them back and resetting the combo.
You also finish the core build at level 10, after which you can MC into Sorcerer/Bard/Paladin or take more Hexblade/EK levels. Eldritch Strike in particular is amazing when you have maxed out casting stats, and multiclassing into full casters give you a wide range of spells unavailable to regular EKs.
EK is one of those archetypes that is difficult to build correctly or at least effectively. You have to carefully pick your spells, specially since you're mostly restricted to 2 schools of magic
marcos2492 It’s not really that hard to pick though since there really isn’t that many options and with a sub-par INT you have to prioritize spells with no saves or attack rolls.
At level 1 it’s Find Familiar, Shield, Absorb Elements, at level 2 it’s Darkness and Mirror Image or Misty Step, at level 3 take Haste, and that’s most of the spells you’d use for a majority of encounters.
I'd take 17 Warlock (Fiend), 3 Fighter (EK)
I feel I built my level 7 EK pretty well and it isn't too min-max. Whent human for character reasons and took heavy armor master. Then level 4 I took war caster. For cantrips I got greenflame blade and booming blade (for opprotunity attacks with war caster and locking down one target) for 1st level spells I took false life, shield and absorb elements. For second level spells I took mirror image and blur. I obviously was focussing on being mega tank
OMG yes!!! I'm leveling up next session to level 3 and I've been agonizing over these maneuvers for a month. There's no other videos on this subject.
Loved this one, really great break down. I homeruled that exact change to parry. Just made more sense. And there are some great feats that complement the battlemaster as a dex fighter. Rapier/hand crossbow combo and its just a buffet!
Fighter class... Straightforward, yes.
Simple, Nine Hells no!
I got the Sentinel feat and I'm playing melee in a big party. I can often get the Sentinel reaction, so Riposte was unnecessary for me. Also: Trip Attack, Pushing Attack, or even Menacing Attack on attacks of opportunity and disable enemies on their turn with speed reduced to 0! It's great.
That sounds amazing! Trip them on their turn and give them 0 speed. On your turn, they are lying in wait for you.
In a smaller party with melee buddies, having both Sentinel and Riposte really shines, because you're consistently putting the enemy in a lose/lose situation: If they attack your group, you counter attack, if they attack you and miss, you counter attack. Pretty reliable way to use your reaction every round.
My fighters back story was as a field metic with the healer feat, so I took evasive footwork, and it actually worked the first time I used it to pull one of my team mates out of combat and heal her. It was so sweet. It might not work all the time but those moments are so cool!
Sweeping attack sounds like it tried to be the Horde Breaker feature of the Hunter Ranger. And what you guys said you visualize it as sounds a lot like whirlwind attack, from further down the same subclass.
The Hunter subclass isn't as flashy as the new subclasses for the Ranger, but it's really solid.
Battle master manoeuvres are great for some monk combat bonus, riposte, extra AC when moving, parry. Even 3 level dip makes a
Formidable combatant.
If you only ever used the battle master to trip on the first attack for advantage on the rest of the attacks it would be worth it. The fact that there are maneuvers that allow you to soft taunt and frighten a target make this class crazy good.
Wow guys this is great, I've just started to follow this Chanel, yesterday I read about the battle master on players handbook and now I just open UA-cam and the first thing I see is you with this great video
I've been working on a battle master / sorcerer multiclass which originated from a dumb idea of disarming an opponent and then castingcatapult on said weapon, throwing it far away or impaling the owner. This video is a great help for that. Now to decide whether they'll be divine or shadow, perhaps even dragon
Do shadow for the ability to see through that darkness, giving you advantage on your hits and disadvantage on theirs, as long as you can concentrate.
That sounds fun! I love the idea of killing them with their own weapon after disarming them.
Naming Monty as the tripper and Kelly as the trippe is a hard flex
Once, our Fighter Battlemaster Polearm Master used Pushing Strike against a SWARM OF BATS.
I narrated the scene as he swirled the point of his Halberd and using the air pressure pushed all those bats away.
So fun... :D
So cool! xD
Amazing video. i'm just playing a battlemaster myself in Out of the Abyss and this comes perfectly.
Really appreciate your game experience as there are so many maneuvers to choose from. I hope you do an updated vid with Tasha's one day.
pushing attack + pole arm master is an amazing combo where you push them out of your reach and then when they go to engage next round they provoke an attack of opportunity from you again. If you also have sentinel it drops there speed to zero keeping them out of reach to attack you.
To add to the trip attack dialog, taking shield master feat lets you attempt to shove (push or knock prone) your target even if your melee attack misses. Not to mention the other advantages of shield master (increase to dex save and reduction in dex attack based damage)
I have a fighter/rogue I just made, so I can see giving myself advantage on an attack very useful
While a lot of this seemed like good advice, I found the dissing on commander strike to be hilarious since it combined with an archer using trip, goading or maneuvering strike (this assumes you have multiple attacks at this point) is just so strong. In fact, I usually downplay how strong commander strike is so that DMs won't disallow it. Commander strike has to be, hands down, the most flexible and potentially powerful maneuver...especially when thinking about fights from a team tactics perspective instead of just an individual one. Individually, trip attack is seemingly the best or maybe precision attack.
Rogue+Commander's strike=raining dice
thank you for this! I was having a hard time trying to pick 3 for my archer and I think I finally figured out the ones I want.
I really wish I'd watched this before the last encounter I played with my Battle Master Fighter. Menacing Attack is one of her maneuvers, and I could have made good use of it. Still, I now have a better grasp of her maneuvers for the next one! Cheers!
Thank you so much for the quality content. I'm prepping for my first time behind the DM screen, and your channel has been a HUGE help in sorting through all the rules and options. I'm curious about your opinions on how to start a campaign (or a one shot) at a higher level. What equipment should the players start out owning? What are your rules for multiclassing from the beginning? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Love your channel,
April
I'm building my battle master fighter for a new game tomorrow, really appreciate this video!
Regarding Menacing Attack: I saved an entire caravel our party was sailing on from a Kraken by shooting it in the eye. 😃
Ever since then, I’ve been sold on menacing attack.
Kraken failed a save while it had legendary saves? That's an interesting situation lol
Xander Michael - huh, I never looked to see... maybe either he forgot, or took pity on us when he realized what he threw at us! 😀
@@queenannsrevenge100 what level were yall?
@@xandermichael836 5th :-0
@@queenannsrevenge100 had to be realizing the beast you were facing was too much, , an army of level 5s wouldn't fair too well with a kraken lol
Both Trip and Menacing are awesome.
Push is also very nice, controlling where monsters are (or pushing them over a ledge/into a trap etc) is always good.
Parry in combo with heavy armour master is surprisingly good, you need others to deal the damage tho.
Most others feel lackluster or very situational.
Hey guys! Just wanted to say I love your videos! I'm super brand new to d&d and technically haven't even played a game yet. But I'm learning and reading a lot of lore and how the game works. Your videos have really helped and inspired me to create some fun ideas for my first character. Thanks for the tips!!
I needed this video so badly! Before watching video, I'm going to lay down my personal favourites at level 3-
- Parry (good use of Reaction. But if using Str-based fighter, can go for Pushing Attack to push into environmental hazard or spell AoE)
- Distracting Strike (no save, and good setup for next ally)
- Goading attack (useful if your DM likes to ignore tanks and go for squishies)
*Edit*
After the video -
- I did not know that Frightened imposed disadvantage on all attack rolls. I had assumed it was only against the source of the fright. This makes Menacing Attack > Goading Attack
- Only reason I avoid trip attack is because a melee fighter can knock someone prone by Shoving (no superiority die needed), while a ranged attacker would be imposing disadvantage on their future attacks against a Tripped opponent. But I did learn something new - Ranged attackers can knock a flying creature out of the air with Trip Attack, which does make it useful.
- Ok, yeah, Parry doesn't scale well. I'll take that back and replace it with Pushing or Riposte.
The good thing is you can do that at L7 when Parry becomes less useful
L3 - 5 it is fairly useful L6 less so as monster damage ramps up in the mid-tier of the game
Parry is one of the best early maneuvers imo. At level 7 swap it for something else. Trip attack can also be used with a pole arm weapon while maintaining distance. That and it does damage while potentially knocking them prone. A DC is more consistent than contested rolls sometimes as well. That being said I dont use trip attack, not my style
Goading attack on a crossbow master fighter is great as a support skill. You can force the boss to miss your melee or move to target you. Combined with sentinel on one of your melee and you can keep applying disadvantage every turn
Another good use for a Precision Attack is the net. No damage, but automatic restrain if it hits a target that is Large or smaller. Until they break or escape the net, they can't move, take every attack against them with advantage while they attack with disadvantage and take disadvantage on Dex saves, setting them up for anything from a Sacred Flame to a Disintegrate.
Only a DC 10 Str check to escape :(
@@levimote- Sure, but that is still a turn in which the target isn't attacking you.
Rogue Fighter Multiclass is quite potent as a Battlemaster when you take maneuvers designed to give you advantage. Riposte and trip attack in particular pair very well with sneak attack.
You can already use Polearm Master + Sentinel to stop an enemy dead in their tracks before they get to you, but with Trip Attack, you can also knock them prone (because their movement is 0 they can't get up), and on your turn, you can then move 5 feet closer and get advantage on all your attacks.
Oh, and if you're fighting a monster with Reach, you can use Shove Attack to still keep them from hitting you.
I love ur work guys. Keep it up. Yall make learning everything dnd just a bit easier for us less experienced players
I'm taking Parry at level 3, but plan on replacing it at a higher level when a D8 does nothing for me health-wise. Since you can replace a Maneuver every time you learn new ones.
Parry, parry, thrust, thrust, GOOD!!!!!
Battlemaster, Polearm Master, Sentinel: Enemy enters range, use Push Attack, push then out of your range, and reduce their speed to 0.
Ultimate CC Fighter build that is guaranteed to piss off your GM.
Had this plan with a Bugbear for 15' reach ... DM straight said 'I dont allow sentinel with polearm master because its not fun for the DM' I understand and will just trip and push my way lol
Great breakdown thank you so much 💪🏼 I am relatively new to dnd but am thinking about multicasting my gloomstalker Ranger with battlemaster fighter so I have powerful options in daylight too. My Ranger is an Archer, often mounted, who doesn’t want to rely on magic so this seems like a great option.
basically the only maneuver my fighter ever uses is maneuvering attack. Letting knocked down friends stand up, get out of bad situations, get into attack positions, just all sorts of situations. Its basically just never bad. My team mates get into enough bad situations, or my DM works to put them into bad situations often enough, that I often feel like I need to save my superiority dice just to pop maneuvering attacks.
Precision Attack
When you make a weapon attack roll against a creature, you can expend one superiority die to add it to the roll. You can use this maneuver *before or after* making the attack roll, but before any effects of the attack are applied.
Meaning you can know if its a Hit or a Miss before expending the dice, correct? Jeremy Crawford basically stated that its true, you get to know whether its a Hit or Miss before using the dice, as long as you don't apply any damage to it first.
I think the Battlemaster is often overlooked as a viable chassis for an Archer. Over half of the available maneuvers can be used with ranged weapons.
I'm thinking something like Battlemaster 11/ Pact of the Blade Hexblade 5/ Gloom Stalker 4.
A bunch of battle maneuvers (D10 Superiority dice) along with Eldritch Smite.... & you have spell slots recharging after a short rest to power your Eldritch Smite in the next battle. Hexblade class abilities as well as the Hex & Shield spells. And you get an extra attack the first round of every new combat.
I like using sweeping attack in conjunction with Green Flame Blade. You can pick it up as an elf or with magic initiate. It makes it usable.
So, the damage for the second target would be d8 + your spellcasting ability modifier? Still doesn't sound impressive enough to me to invest one of your maneuver picks AND a cantrip pick. As a fighter, you want top scores on either strength or dexterity and consti, so your spell casting ability will have what, a +2 modifier at best? 1d8+2 won't reliably drop many opponents, so at best you are softening them up for later....
One level of Hexblade and you can max charisma only along with Greenflame Blade/Booming Blade and some damage buffs.
Till you reach 5th. I mean you are 3rd to reach battlemaster anyways. Then it is 2d8+int or cha. That will kill a goblin np.
So each of your attacks do 2d8. For 1 superiority die.
Thank you for the advice! Just leveled up and taking Battlemaster for the first time! Definitely going with the top 3 you both suggest first, can’t wait to use them!!!
Sweeping Attack was useful for our campaign as our DM liked to have multiple caster enemies. This allowed me to force more concentration checks on them. Pretty much the only reason I took it.
Tremendous video per usual. I never thought of Rally outside of combat. I will now. Thanks, and keep up the good work.
These are really the best sort of videos! I would say, don't discount rally because if you happen to have any leftover battle manuevers, you can just give temporary hp to your allies right before you take a short rest so as to not 'waste' them. Of course, which battlemaster still has battle manuevers after a fight? Well, sometimes things happen and it's a great backup.
2 years later and this helped alot.Thanks!
Absolutely riposte was my favorite. Can't tell you how many bbegs and rando minions ive taken down with a well timed riposte
Goading attack with spear master is great. Add mobile feat on top to consistenly set up the spear master's ready stance.
Lunging Attack and Pushing Attack with Polearm Master and Sentinel. Attack of Opportunities out the wazoo!
This video is perfectly timed for me. I'm going to be playing my first game of D&D tonight, and one of the character's I've considered making is a battlemaster with the polearm master and sentinel feats. Thanks for the timely info! :D
Great Information as always fellas. I am starting a Battlemaster Fighter/Totem Barbarian and this information was extremely helpful in planning out my character.
Disarming strike to knock the focus out of a spellcaster's hand and then your ally spellcaster grabs it and moves it up 30 ft with mage hand :)
"Slow moving barbarian..."
What?
Shout out to Commanding Presence. I'm a Hexblade that recently multiclassed into Battlemaster because reasons. We have a Bard but I am also often the face of the party. It's really, REALLY nice to be able to use those superiority die in RP situations out of combat with the Commanding Presence Maneuver, making a resource that is almost always a combat only resource applicable and useful both on AND off the battlefield. It's kind of like having my own little private Bardic Inspirations that I can apply to Intimidation, Performance and Persuasion checks whenever I want.
My Battle Master dwarf fighter played a lot with Commander's Strike and Riposte, boasting Sentinel. Commander's Strike was mostly what I always used, because I stayed close to our casters to shield them with Sentinel, and just ordered our Great Weapon Master frontline paladin with Str18 to do their thing - just double the time. Especially good before lvl 5, and fine even at lvl 5.
Very cool to know which ones are key for the Battlemaster and which ones fall flat. I didn't realize that commanding strike took the bonus action on top of one of the attacks. My brother played a Battlemaster and I never noticed that part. Oh well, that campaign is almost over and the character will live on in for our legends, lol. Some of these other combos are really great. I need to take a moment and look at some of these combinations to learn how to better manage my characters. Sometimes I just end up picking things that seem great at the time without thinking about how it'll end up in the end. Kinda how I ended up with a 1/2-orc Acolyte Beast Conclave Ranger (Revised). Yeah, I had an interesting idea but it didn't quite work out. Excellent stuff as always, thanks dudes!
"Knock a manticore prone"
*THATS HOW YOU PLUTO JACKSON*
To every dear reader: If you want to see 'in action' how Trip Attack maneuver works with a thrown javelin against a manticore, just check the running Dungeons of Drakkenheim campaign!
I guarantee that you won't be disappointed!
Manticore: Will it BLEND?!
That. Was. So. Awesome.
@@DBebeful Only saw the first episode yet, but i'm curious.
Would a flying creature take fall dmg in that case? I'm not so knowlageble when it comes to flyers and their rules.
@@Gnarlf Yes, as you say Gnarlf! ;)
I have collected the relevant rules for you directly from the Player's Handbook:
Trip Attack page 74 PHB
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to knock the target down. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and if the target is Large or smaller, it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, you knock the target prone.
FLYING MOVEMENT page 191 PHB
Flying creatures enjoy many benefits of mobility, but they must also deal with the danger of falling. If a flying creature is knocked prone, has its speed reduced to 0, or is otherwise deprived of the ability to move, the creature falls, unless it has the ability to hover or it is being held aloft by magic, such as by the fly spell.
FALLING page 183 PHB
A fall from a great height is one of the most common hazards facing an adventurer. At the end of a fall, a creature takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet it fell, to a maximum of 20d6. The creature lands prone, unless it avoids taking damage from the fall.
So in short (a very possible scenario):
Successful trip attack on a flying creature -> prone -> speed reduced to 0 -> falling (1d6 bludgeoning damage / 10 feet) -> prone
@@DBebeful WOW! 1000 Thanks.
That is a lot more effort, than i ever anticipated for an answer.
Somehow i thought part of the rules would be in the DMG or somewhere else.
Well, i take it as my homework then to read the PHB cover to cover next week. :)
Thanks again.
next fighter you should talk about is the cavalier im playing one in a 1-20 campaign rn and its a fun and very handy arctype
Seeing that you guys are Canadian with the roots sweater and jays hat was an unexpected surprise, but a welcome one! Cheers!
Thanks for this video! I've just made a Warforged fighter and wanted to make them a battle master. This video helped with my choice of maneuvers - thanks!
Thank you for making these guides, Dudes, they are fun, informative and well made :D And yeah, martial classes getting a wider toolbox is always awesome :)
I feel like feinting Attack gets a bad wrap compared to trip attack, but in my experience it has been equally useful and a generally more reliable than trip Attack. The situations in which trip Attack is more useful are when you have a single or a few important targets and other melee combatants near you. The only reason it is sometimes ineffective is that when you’re fighting a couple important enemies they are usually either all to large to trip, or to strong to fail their save. Trip Attack is also more useful than fronting attack against a single strong enemy when you use action surge. Feinting Attack is always useful. Getting advantage on an attack and an extra d8 for a bonus action is almost always useful in melee fights. Feinting attack also serves as a reliable second attack after any maneuver that requires a check or save to additionally affect the target so you can fail to trip, disarm, menace, or push a target and still have a second attack w/ advantage.
It also acts as a consistent follow up if you successfully distract, goad, or maneuver so both you and your allies can be at advantage
If your Battlemaster is a sword / board build, a non polearm heavy weapon, or a ranged build, Feinting attack has something to go for it, by making use of your Bonus action to augment the potential of your action (or ally action) by giving advantage. If you have access to a bonus action attack though (with Polearm Master, or Two Weapon fighting), this is worse, it's better to just get a bonus attack than giving advantage one time.
I’m adding battle master to my swarmkeeper soon! Best part is using my swarm to move opponents doesn’t affect my bonus or superiority dice and it makes great flavor text to have my swarm do the maneuvers. Example disarming attack could be my swarm attacking the enemies arm, making them drop their item
This is great info really gives me more confidence in useful maneuvers and reinforces what I thought about ones that seemed more or less useless.
Distracting Stike, Riposte, Precision Attack, and Manuevering Attack are good pretty much always. Commander’s Strike can be really good as a follow up to Distracting Strike if you have a paladin or rogue.
I think Parry + Heavy Armor Master is a really nice combo, personally.
It seems nice at first glance, but if you want to make Parry shine, you need DEX. To make use of Heavy Armor Master, you need STR. Those 2 are usually not maxed together, so you'll parry a pretty subpar number of incoming damage while spending a Superiority Die and a Reaction to do so, that doesn't scale well past Tier 1. Like they said, if Parry was used to block an attack completely by raising your AC for that incoming attack with the Superiority Die roll, that would be much better.
Great video guys .... as usual .... and perfect timing my Bugbear Battlemaster should level up in our next session and now I know what I want for maneuvers . Now I only have to decide on Sentinel or Great Weapon Master when he reaches level 8. Either way he will be even more of a badass .
If you have Precision Attack, GWM for sure.
Dungeon duuudes! Can't wait for next episode
I have a battle master coming up and this helps. Thanks again
I think brace is criminally underrated. If you aren't running a polearm master build, you want this. It is especially good with a fighter/swashbuckler multiclass as you can disengage with enemies after attacking them, forcing melees to walk back into your range to reengage. And you get sneak attack on these typically on top. Personally I don't think I would play a fighter, nonmulticlass. But this is my go-to for dex fighter. For strength fighter, I am going barb multiclass and yes I am still getting brace unless I am going polearm master
I totally agree! I just came up with an assassin bugbear ambusher with a whip a couple days ago. If you are hidden and someone comes into your reach, you can use brace to get a sneak attack, which is now a crit. Since surprise occurs in the first round (not a bonus round) now your actions and your bonus action are also all crits. Also if you want to you don’t need to disengage, because you have a reach of 10ft or 15ft if using a whip.
2:12 arcane archers have something similar, your uses of arcane shot for many options only take effect if you hit, it makes it much less risky to use than a spell slot.
Thank you guys, I've been needing an analysis on this subject. I'm using a human variant to take this as a feat. His 1st 3 class levels will be fey warlock of the blade, then finish with bard of blades to gain other similar features (and cool features not like this) to make a more combat like caster. At second level I will go with the invocations armor of shadows and fiendish vigor, then at 3rd trading fiendish vigor for improved pact weapon. I am so glad I watched this so I could better understand how to use these with more versatility. Thank you.
(I will be using disarming and trip attacks for this and base the DC on DEX with is kind of high for him.)
I love how your going through subclasses right now. Could you do a Four Elements Monk next?
I started my Dalton build with Superior Technique for the Sweeping Attack combined with the feat Crusher, letting me shove around potentially two ogre sized creatures with bludgeoning attacks.
16:20 The platypus? How unexpected... By which I mean totally expected!
In one campaign I'm going to be playing a Stout Halfling battlemaster, the campaign is set around a fallen order of knights that lost their previous commander and guess who got lumped with the position. Which is why I've been gearing his maneuvers towards support and leadership, so I actually gave him rally and in the session 0 it turned out to be pretty useful to characters on their last legs, just to keep them standing a bit longer which for a bonus action isn't too bad. I also gave him Distracting strike and Commander's strike which compliment each other very well, especially when you have a paladin on your side and you don't want them to miss. I've also been playing with the idea of giving him 5 levels as a Valor bard allowing allies to increase their damage output even further or increase their AC when they get attacked doubling down on the leadership role.
I used to really like feint attack, because it boosted your accuracy and dealt damage, but I'm seeing that bonus action cost now and it's a little too steep
Very soon i'll be starting to play a warforged crossbow expert-battlemaster, and I am very excited.
Using riposte, feinting attack and parry on my fighter. Especially parry has saved my life a couple of times. And feinting attack when you just HAVE to do some damage.
Just played my first Battle Master Fighter yesterday. I was one of the few that left the Fight without a hit.
I had a high AC, used Evasive footwork to target priority objectives and avoid opportunity attacks.
Finally, when one of a pair of Draco's of The Storm managed to bite me, I reduced all the damage taken to 0, so I roleplayed it by blocking one of the Draco's attack with my rapier, then using my sword's pummel to force shut the mouth of the other Draco with a hit. It was epic 😎
I have a combat medic fighter (lvl 5 atm) and i have found Commander´s Strike REALLY valuable, cos the party´s main melee dealer is a Half-Orc Barbarian. If i Action Surge, i can have him do one huge blow to the target and still take 3 attacks myself with my flail. We have disposed LOADS of difficult opponents with this maneuver. I also have Riposte (funnily, this hasn´t come up so many times) and Feinting Attack. I can see now the Trip attack goodness and the Disarming attack for my lvl 7 (if i survive ;) ) choices. Good videos guys, thanks for these!
I discovered this channel a few weeks ago and every video so far has been solid. Thanks for doing what you do. I didnt pick BM as I feared it would be far to complicated, so I picked samurai instead..