D&D 5E Best archer build?

CTurbo

Explorer
I can't decide between Fighter or Ranger and I can't help feeling like the "best archer" should have a some Rogue levels for sneak damage.

I'm thinking 5-8 levels of Ranger or Fighter and then Rogue our from there.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

FrogReaver

As long as i get to be the frog
I can't decide between Fighter or Ranger and I can't help feeling like the "best archer" should have a some Rogue levels for sneak damage.

I'm thinking 5-8 levels of Ranger or Fighter and then Rogue our from there.

What kind of archer? The mobile archer? The sniper archer? All out DPS archer?

IMO rangers are fine but they are kinda bad at doing archer things (unless we are talking a spelless ranger). Hunters mark has limited range to activate. The only real damage increasing level 3 style requires the enemy to be injured which is fine for dps but loses a lot in the flavor aspect as it doesn't really help kill unijured enemies from long range either.

Fighters make the best archers IMO. The second best is a rogue. Fighter rogue multiclass works too but its typically best to get fighter levels first and then rogue levels after a certain point.

Fighters basically get everything you could ever want with an archer. Archery Style, Action Surge, Extra Feats, lots of attacks, precision attack. There's some nice synergy with multiclassing the fighter version into war cleric as well.

I personally really like paladins and monks as archers too. But in terms of being the best archer you can be I think the fighter really takes the cake. A fighter 5 or 11 then multiclass rogue works just as well too.
 
Last edited:


I can't decide between Fighter or Ranger and I can't help feeling like the "best archer" should have a some Rogue levels for sneak damage.

I'm thinking 5-8 levels of Ranger or Fighter and then Rogue our from there.

Best archer is either a Battlemaster or an Eldritch Knight, depending on whether or not you're willing to count on "found" magical items for penetrating weapon resistance. EK can just self-cast Magic Weapon; but if you're not worried about that then Precise Shot/Menacing Shot are more directly useful than other EK spells like Shield/Absorb Elements/Expeditious Retreat/etc.

I think EK is more versatile and fun though.

If you want to be an archer AND a scout, then a Sharpshooter Skulker Fighter/Swashbuckler is hard to beat in terms of sheer fun. Use Cunning Action to hide after each set of attacks, which allows you to be hidden (advantage!) on many of your Sharpshooter attacks (virtually guaranteeing at least 20-30 damage per round from d8+15+sneak attack), and you also get the fun of tanking for the party when you want to, with or without using Panache on the scariest-looking enemy first. Note that Panache doesn't require the target to be able to see you, only to hear you...
 
Last edited:

CTurbo

Explorer
Rangers make great archers too. Both Colossus Slayer and Horde Breaker are great for archery. I could see Volley being really strong under the right situation too. A Sharpshooting Deep Stalker/Assassin sounds REALLY fun.

I was actually thinking about how fun a Ranger/Tempest Cleric Archer build could be, but I can definitely see how War Cleric could be really great too.

Honestly, this is one of the few instances I could see possibly multiclassing into more than 2 classes.
 





FrogReaver

As long as i get to be the frog
Rangers make great archers too. Both Colossus Slayer and Horde Breaker are great for archery. I could see Volley being really strong under the right situation too. A Sharpshooting Deep Stalker/Assassin sounds REALLY fun.

I was actually thinking about how fun a Ranger/Tempest Cleric Archer build could be, but I can definitely see how War Cleric could be really great too.

Honestly, this is one of the few instances I could see possibly multiclassing into more than 2 classes.

Rangers are okay archers due to the huge restrictions put on the things they could use to make their archery good.
 

Remove ads

Top