D&D (2024) Teamwork tier list

[mellored]

I am ranking subclasses on how well classes synergies with a cohesive party.

This is not the Tier list if your playing with random people. Life cleric, for instance, will never be a bad choice, but doesn't really combo with anyone else. Meanwhile Thief won't be able to Restrain anyone without a grappler/incapacitation in the party.


I haven't played most or seen many of them. So this is an early list, subject to change.

Lower levels abilities weighted more heavily than higher ones. And I am ignoring Conjure Minor Elementals.



S: Life of the Party.

Glamor: spamming Command to not only stop an enemy, but also can trigger opportunity attacks. Warcaster and Rogues will love this. THP is also really nice early levels, and out of turn movement.

Dance: Party wide initiative boost is likely an extra turn for someone. But also, you can let a grappler move an enemy into a damage zone on the enemies turn. Possibly drag someone yourself too.

World Tree: THP generator for the party, just keep the rage going before/between combat. Then adding the teleport into Cloud of Daggers, and extra reach and push and this is top Tier.

Elements: move enemies in and out of zones with ease. Plus monks being the best grappler and the ability to move allies around.

Mercy: Mercy opens up one possibility overpowered combo. Posion + Summon Undead (Putrid), for Paralyze. Probably a B otherwise.

Moon: while I haven't seen the Monster Manual yet, It looks like they will be able to grapple, push and prone just by hitting. All while keeping concentration on spiked growth for your allies to push people into.

Devotion: paladins are a top class, with a big bonus to allies saves. Devotion's bonus stacks with advantage. Probably the best aura too.

Thief: Rogues are some of the easiest targets to support. Giving them an extra (opportunity) attack via Command, Dissonant Whispers or Commander's Strike is top damage. They are also premier scouts letting the party pre-cast buffs. Thief can then turn a friendly grapple into restrained with a bonus action and some with rope / manacles. Also good for concentration free zones. Nothing funnier than Terrasque slipping on ball bearing. Plus the potential of magic items.

Great Old One (+Chain +Repelling Blast, ect): Hex giving disadvantage on saves is fantastic, if a bit late. Dissonant Whispers to provoke opportunity attacks, silent communication, Pact of the Chain for scouting, Lessons of the First One can grab Alert or Musician, and Repelling blast to shove into zones.

A: Team Player

Beserker: Someone needs to deal the damage and Beserker is one of the best at it. Also immune to friendly Hypnotic Pattern, and allies can push enemies next to you for retaliation.

War: Spirit guardians for a zone, Command for Opportunity attacks, and helping allies hit.

Druid (Land, Sea, Stars) Scout with familiars, spiked growth, pass without trace, turning into a flying mount for the gnome. All the subclass support teamwork as well, though moon is up a notch.

Fey Wanderer: for groups that do a lot of charming like with Hypnotic Pattern, you can add a lot of fear.

Soulknife: scout, group telepathy to report your findings, and the base powerful opportunity attacks for Command.

Celestial Patron (+Chain + Repelling Blast): a lot of bonus action heals to get allies off the floor. Also THP, though doesn't stack with Inspiring Leader.

Sorcer (Heightened, Twinned): Sorcerer are more defined by their metamagic. Heightened can really help control spells like hold person stick, and Twinned can get your party flying sooner. All subclasses seem about equal in terms of teamwork.

Illusionist: Bonus action to block line of sight. The first arrow or creature to touch it will cancel the effect, but you can do it while concentrating and casting something else. Plus lots of rituals.

B: Can Work with others.

Zealot
Wild Heart
Light
Battlemaster
Beastmaster: extra opportunity attacks for Command
Assassin
Arcane Trickster
Abjuration: the damage reduction helps concentration checks.
Diviner

C: Self sufficient.

Valor
Lore
Life
Trickery
Champion
Eldritch Knight
Psi Warrior
Gloom Stalker
Fiend Patron
Evoker

D: Party Poopers.

Shadow: while you could make a full team that can see though magical darkness (Devils Sight and Blind Fighting), this can often prevent spell casters from targeting the enemy your next to.

Hunter: probably the weakest in the game, and has no synergies.

 

[FrogReaver]

A few thoughts.

champion has advantage to initiative with alert background feat can let casters (or anyone else) go first in place of him. With a good caster player this can be game changing. Can also couple this with protection fighting style as his 2nd fighting style to protect the casters concentration on turn 1.

Battlemaster with sentinel and precision attack makes a really nice tank, since you rarely miss your opportunity attacks and enemies have a hard time moving away from you. Also commanders strike is really nice with high damage attack pc like a rogue.

Less subclass, but barbarian with a maul and topple mastery and reckless attack will have an excellent chance of causing a prone every turn.

Wildheart can give allies advantage easily.

War domain cleric can use channel divinity to help allies hit. Along with no concentration shield of faith on an ally at level 6. Also crusaders mantle is an amazing buff in the right party and getting it is a subclass feature of war cleric.

Eldritch knight at the very least can get magic initiate Druid as a background feat and take goodberry and precast them with slots right before long rest. Theres probably some better spell options to help the party as well.

Hand of harm monk can inflict poison starting at level 6. Poison is a potent debuff. And this is no save. Poison also combos really well with summon undead putrid option for paralysis.

Open hand can cause topple on failed dex save with no size restriction. Really good. Monks in general also make good grappler feat users to grapple enemies the party has proned.

Shadow monks darkness can impact line of sight against opposing spell casters. Many spells cannot be cast where you cannot see.

Also, all monks obviously get stunning strike.

All rogues can poison starting at level 5 by giving up 1d6 sneak attack. Often this will be a great trade off. But it is a con save.

Assassain rogues can get alert and advantage to initiative so they also make good candidates for allowing casters to go ahead of them.

Beastmaster ranger adds another body to the battlefield. Can block doors, can get opportunity attacks. Synergies well with command flee, dissonant whispers and all that.

Hunter rangers get a level 7 ability for disadvantage to OA’s. Hunter himself trigger enemy OA’s allowing other allies to freely move since enemies only have a single reaction. Even better if you use magic initiate wizard to add shield spell to the ranger.

Great old one warlock can give disadvantage to saving throws with hex at level 10. Must choose the ability but is usually fairly obvious what’s good to target and what your casters can easily target.

Evoked Wizard for party friendly fireballs is soo nice.

Sorcerer can do similar with careful spell.

One other really good general purpose combo vs casters is to have one pc grapple them and then the other cast silence on them. Also works with sentinel and world tree barbarian.

 

[Ashrym]

Lore: 2 of the 3 features competes with basic bardic inspiration, so you will run out. And the 3rd is only useful for a few levels. Probably the best social subclass though.

By that standard Tandem Footwork also competes directly with Bardic Inspiration and the bard will run out. What makes Tandem Footwork better than Cutting Words is the number of targets it can impact, not the rate at which Cutting Words uses BI.

Cutting Words adds options to Bardic Inspiration. That's not the same as direct competition. Standard BI dice do not prevent PCs from getting hit. Cutting Words does do that for other members of the party. There's nothing about adding an option to prevent others from getting hit or taking damage that would indicate a problem working with others.

A person can also argue that adding more skill proficiencies helps increase the odds of group checks, and adding additional spells helps the bard prep more spells that can synergize with the group and help them.

Great Old One: warlocks are generally a bit selfish, but Dissonant Whispers can provoke opportunity attacks and Hex giving disadvantage on saves is top.

I mentioned that because you rated GOO high for adding Dissonant Whispers but that example already has one slot down to Hex and not a lot left for Dissonant Whispers. Magical Discoveries creating more spells prepped opens up more room to also prepare Dissonant Whispers and allows for more uses of that spell.

GOO Warlocks and Lore Bards should both be in your self-sufficient category.

Also...

You place a curse on a creature that you can see within range. Until the spell ends, you deal an extra 1d6 Necrotic damage to the target whenever you hit it with an attack roll. Also, choose one ability when you cast the spell. The target has Disadvantage on ability checks made with the chosen ability.

Hex doesn't give disadvantage on saves; only ability checks.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

You ranked Hunter at the very bottom but I'd say that Hunter's Lore is actually pretty strong for group synergy. Immediately knowing every resistance and immunity can often help bump up everyone's damage. Ranger itself is weak though, no argument there.

 

[Horwath]

Shadow: while you could make a full team that can see though magical darkness (Devils Sight and Blind Fighting), this can often prevent spell casters from targeting the enemy your next to.

Since darkness has smaller radius than fireball, I see not problem with targeting...

 

[ECMO3]

I am ranking subclasses on how well classes synergies with a cohesive party.

This is not the Tier list if your playing with random people. Life cleric, for instance, will be good in any party, but doesn't really combo with anyone else.

I haven't played most or seen many of them. So subject to change.

Lower levels abilities weighted more heavily than higher ones. And I am ignoring Conjure Minor Elementals.



S: Top Teamwork

Glamor: spamming Command to not only stop an enemy, but also can trigger opportunity attacks. Warcaster and Rogues will love this. Other features are also solid.

World Tree: THP generator for the party, just keep the rage going before/between combat. Then adding the teleport into Cloud of Daggers, and extra reach and push and this is top Tier.

Elements: move enemies in and out of zones with ease.

Devotion: paladins are a top class, and Devotion's bonus stacks with advantage. Probably the best aura too.

Thief: Rogues are some of the easiest targets to support. Giving them an extra (opportunity) attack via Command, Dissonant Whispers or Commander's Strike is top damage. They are also premier scouts letting the party pre-cast buffs. Thief can then turn a friendly grapple into restrained with a bonus action and some with rope / manacles. Also good for concentration free zones. Nothing funnier than Terrasque slipping on ball bearing. Plus the potential of magic items.

Great Old One: warlocks are generally a bit selfish, but Dissonant Whispers can provoke opportunity attacks and Hex giving disadvantage on saves is top.


A: Plays well with others.

Beserker: Someone needs to deal the damage and Beserker is one of the best at it. Also immune to friendly Hypnotic Pattern, and allies can push enemies next to you for retaliation.

Dance: you'll make a decent number of free attacks, even if they aren't the best attacks, but the main draw is the party wide initiative boost.

War: Spirit guardians for a zone, and bonus action + channel Divinity + Warhammer when you really need to push something.

Moon: while I haven't seen the Monster Manual yet, It looks like they will be able to grapple, push and prone just by hitting. All while keeping concentration on spiked growth for your allies to push people into.

Soulknife: scout, powerful opportunity attacks, group telepathy.

Celestial Patron: a lot of bonus action heals to get allies off the floor. Also THP, though doesn't stack with Inspiring Leader.

Sorcer (Heightened): Sorcerer are more defined by their metamagic than the subclass. Heightened can really help control spells like hold person stick.

Abjuration: best wizard at maintaining concentration as the ward reduces damage, both for you and your allies. That lets you maintain Cloud of Daggers, Web and other zones for allies to push into.

B: Some group support.

Zealot
Wild Heart
Light
Land
Sea
Mercy
Gloom Stalker
Beastmaster
Assassin
Arcane Trickster
Diviner

C: Self sufficient.

Valor
Life
Trickery
Eldritch Knight
Psi Warrior
Fey Wanderer
Fiend Patron
Evoker
Illusionist

D: Has issues working with others.

Lore: 2 of the 3 features competes with basic bardic inspiration, so you will run out. And the 3rd is only useful for a few levels. Probably the best social subclass though.

Shadow: while you could make a full team that can see though magical darkness (Devils Sight and Blind Fighting), this can often prevent spell casters from targeting the enemy your next to.

Hunter: probably the weakest in the game, and has no synergies.

Some random comments and opinions:

Warlocks: I would add any Warlock to the A list due to Lessons of the First Ones. IME so far this is commonly used to get the Musician and Alert and is a huge party boon (especially musician). I have not seen anyone take Musician at 1st level, but I have seen multiple Warlocks getting it through this Invocation.

Thief: I would make Thief C tier. While they can do the things you mention with Fast Hands, their bonus action is also cluttered and it is relatively rare that it actually works out like that IME.

Great Old One: Agree on Dissonant Whispers .... but then isn't every Bard S tier? Also Hex does not give disadvantage on saves, it gives disadvantage on ability checks.

War: Agree it is powerful, but sounds more like self sufficient as opposed to a great team/cohesive player. Kind of like Life Cleric IMO.

Fey Wanderer: This is generally B because of how it can control a battlefield with Beguiling Twist and create situations your casters and martials can exploit. In the right party - if you have Bards, Wizards or Sorcs throwing Hypnotic Pattern or Fear this becomes S tier.

 

[mellored]

champion has advantage to initiative with alert background feat can let casters (or anyone else) go first in place of him. With a good caster player this can be game changing. Can also couple this with protection fighting style as his 2nd fighting style to protect the casters concentration on turn 1.

Champion extra crit lets them use of advantage better than anyone else. So definitely a good target to buff.

Also commanders strike is really nice with high damage attack pc like a rogue.

Yea. I had them in A, but lost it somehow.

Wildheart can give allies advantage easily.

Yes, but it's melee only, and if you have a melee group, then you probably have topple.

Wolf is good, but there are a lot of ways to give advantage.

Poison also combos really well with summon undead putrid option for paralysis.

Hmmm...
That might be S worthy.

Shadow monks darkness can impact line of sight against opposing spell casters. Many spells cannot be cast where you cannot see.

Yea, but that cuts both ways.

Also, all monks obviously get stunning strike.

And are top grappler and can move allies. Yea, I had them up there. Seems I lost Open Hand somewhere too.

Beastmaster ranger adds another body to the battlefield. Can block doors, can get opportunity attacks. Synergies well with command flee, dissonant whispers and all that.

Yup.

Hunter rangers get a level 7 ability for disadvantage to OA’s. Hunter himself trigger enemy OA’s allowing other allies to freely move since enemies only have a single reaction. Even better if you use magic initiate wizard to add shield spell to the ranger.

Anyone can grab Speedy.

 

[mellored]

By that standard Tandem Footwork also competes directly with Bardic Inspiration and the bard will run out. What makes Tandem Footwork better than Cutting Words is the number of targets it can impact, not the rate at which Cutting Words uses BI.

Cutting Words affects 1 attack per die.

Tandem can end up with dead enemies a round early, affecting 4+ attacks. Big difference.

And the rest of the Dance dice are 2 attacks. Your allies and your unarmed one.

Hex doesn't give disadvantage on saves; only ability checks.

GOO hex does at level 10.

Otherwise I would agree that Warlocks are mostly self sufficient.

You ranked Hunter at the very bottom but I'd say that Hunter's Lore is actually pretty strong for group synergy. Immediately knowing every resistance and immunity can often help bump up everyone's damage. Ranger itself is weak though, no argument there.

If they make resistance and immunity more common in the new MM then sure.
But they where pretty rare, and most of the ones are obvious. Don't hit fire elementals with fire.

Since darkness has smaller radius than fireball, I see not problem with targeting...

And your hitting the monk.
You can't even use Sculpt Spell without seeing.

 

[mellored]

Warlocks: I would add any Warlock to the A list due to Lessons of the First Ones. IME so far this is commonly used to get the Musician and Alert and is a huge party boon (especially musician). I have not seen anyone take Musician at 1st level, but I have seen multiple Warlocks getting it through this Invocation.

Humans can also get that.

Thief: I would make Thief C tier. While they can do the things you mention with Fast Hands, their bonus action is also cluttered and it is relatively rare that it actually works out like that IME

Did they read the equipment chapter? I am guessing they don't realize what it can do.

It's a bonus action to give the party advantage. Then sneak attack.

Great Old One: Agree on Dissonant Whispers .... but then isn't every Bard S tier? Also Hex does not give disadvantage on saves, it gives disadvantage on ability checks.

GOO 10 gives disadvantage on saves.
Dissonant Whispers is a bonus.

War: Agree it is powerful, but sounds more like self sufficient as opposed to a great team/cohesive player. Kind of like Life Cleric IMO.

Yea... might be rated too high.
You don't get that many Channel Divinity's.

Fey Wanderer: This is generally B because of how it can control a battlefield with Beguiling Twist and create situations your casters and martials can exploit. In the right party - if you have Bards, Wizards or Sorcs throwing Hypnotic Pattern or Fear this becomes S tier.

oh. Dunno why I thought that was enemy charms only. But yes, that works.

 

[ECMO3]

Humans can also get that.

Did they read the equipment chapter? I am guessing they don't realize what it can do.

No I realize what to do, it is just situational, and requires a bonus action, usually requires movement to get in position and a relatively easy skill check.

You have really good abilities like Cunning Action and Steady Aim at that level (plus others like drinking a potion or applying poison). In play I find Mage Hand Legerdemain more effective generally because you can use it from farther away.

GOO 10 gives disadvantage on saves.
Dissonant Whispers is a bonus.

ok gotcha.