D&D 5E Who is best in damage output Barbarians? Monks?

[Jushirambo]

Hello everyone, i post a video in my channe talking about damage output of barbarians and monks, but which class is better at causing damage and why?


This is the video I was talking about (Portuguese content, because i'm Brazilian):

 

[Undrave]

I'm gonna say Barbarian is way better. It doesn't take as much work to have solid damage output, while the Monk relies too much on juggling your ki points and not using all your cool abilities JUST to reach decent damage with Flurry of Blows. The moment you need your Bonus Action for something other than attacking (hello Shadow Monk) , or spend Ki on something useful but non-damaging (Hey Quivering Palm!) your DPS just drops like a Rock Golem on a frozen lake. The Monk is also too frail so they end up spending Ki on stuff like Dodge or Disengage to survive, costing them DPS.

 

[DND_Reborn]

FWIW we see better overall damage output from barbarians in out games than from monks. The monks are close, but like @Undrave said juggling ki and other factors limit their damage potential more often that not.

 

[Jushirambo]

I'm gonna say Barbarian is way better. It doesn't take as much work to have solid damage output, while the Monk relies too much on juggling your ki points and not using all your cool abilities JUST to reach decent damage with Flurry of Blows. The moment you need your Bonus Action for something other than attacking (hello Shadow Monk) , or spend Ki on something useful but non-damaging (Hey Quivering Palm!) your DPS just drops like a Rock Golem on a frozen lake. The Monk is also too frail so they end up spending Ki on stuff like Dodge or Disengage to survive, costing them DPS.

With Magic initiate and Sentinel the number of attacks and damage grows.

Doesn't it pay off?

 

[Jushirambo]

FWIW we see better overall damage output from barbarians in out games than from monks. The monks are close, but like @Undrave said juggling ki and other factors limit their damage potential more often that not.

What is FWIW?

 

[Undrave]

With Magic initiate and Sentinel the number of attacks and damage grows.

Doesn't it pay off?

The Barbarian can just spend their ASI on boosting their STR, getting better at attack rolls AND damage. It's just easier to do.

What is FWIW?

It means 'For What Its Worth'.

 

[Jushirambo]

The Barbarian can just spend their ASI on boosting their STR, getting better at attack rolls AND damage. It's just easier to do.



It means 'For What Its Worth'.

In fact, Rangers have a good damage output? I saw some comments about this

 

[Dausuul]

With Magic initiate and Sentinel the number of attacks and damage grows.

Doesn't it pay off?

If you are allowed feats, then you have to allow them to the barbarian as well. GWM and/or Polearm Mastery blow the monk out of the water. Both are powerhouse feats to begin with, and they combine beautifully with barbarian class features: GWM with Reckless Attack, and Polearm Mastery with the flat damage bonus from rage.

 

[Coroc]

In fact, Rangers have a good damage output? I saw some comments about this

with sharpshooter on colossus slayer and hunters mark you dish out a few.
but that requires you to have advantage or bless so that you actually hit with ss.
and folks do not discuss me on that i play a ranger now since some time and that is my experience. Ss always on means your dm does worse than he could. I can use it about 40% of the time.

 

[Shiroiken]

Paladins!

Oh, if you're just looking at barbarian vs monk, the barbarian wins every time. They might not deal as much damage per round, but they'll live more rounds to deal out more damage