My Harengon fighter has reached lvl 3 and i'm going battle master. He is Dex based and uses a shield rapier combo. any advice about the most effective maneuvers would be most appreciated.
Disarming strike! This one is a favorite. so few ways exist to get weapons off enemies RAW, this is one of them. Disarm the enemy caster of their focus, or, make the bad guy drop the import plot piece. Then you can use your item interaction to kick it away out of reach.
Menacing strike, if you frighten a creature, it can't come any closer. Plus, being a WIS save, it's common you'll get things to fail.
I'm personally a big fan of precision attack, but that's really more so for SS/GWM builds.
Trip attack gets mentioned a lot, but truth be told, I'm not a big fan because so many things have a decent STR saving throw.
My Harengon fighter has reached lvl 3 and i'm going battle master. He is Dex based and uses a shield rapier combo. any advice about the most effective maneuvers would be most appreciated.
Also go with Defensive Duelist feat (if you need more AC in melee) at level 4 ASI.
Or Shield Master feat (if you need better resistance vs casters). Also a shove vs melee.
Riposte can be a decent maneuver (if you're looking for extra damage) for this build since they're likely to miss a lot.
Trip attack gets mentioned a lot, but truth be told, I'm not a big fan because so many things have a decent STR saving throw.
With my lizardfolk dex-build battlemaster, I was avoiding trip attack until I started using it. Once I hit level 6 and had +4 dex, the DC 15 on the strength save was enough to be surprisingly formidable. And once she's level 8 it'll be DC 16 with her +5 dex, which is quite enough to knock over most humanoids.
Prior to that I had been using Feinting Strike to give myself advantage when I needed, but feinting strike uses up your bonus action and is only good on one strike. The great thing I've been finding with tripping attack is that if I trip them on the first one, I'll automatically get advantage on my extra attack since they're prone, and then everyone else that has their turn before the monster will have advantage as well. So, I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand.
Back to the original post, however, parry has saved my life quite a number of times. With that +4 dex it's an automatic reduction of 5 damage, up to 12. I find that if I get hit for 8 or 9 damage by something, a well placed parry can pretty reliably nullify it, which is like getting another second wind that you can waste a reaction on rather than a bonus action.
Disarming strike! This one is a favorite. so few ways exist to get weapons off enemies RAW, this is one of them. Disarm the enemy caster of their focus, or, make the bad guy drop the import plot piece. Then you can use your item interaction to kick it away out of reach.
I'd ask your DM about whether they're happy to use the Disarming rules in the Dungeon Master's Guide (p271) first; Disarming Strike is still better overall, but it might save you a pick (and avoid the need for characters to be built just to do this).
I think it's always good to have at least one manoeuvre that enables an additional attack, not necessarily by yourself; Riposte is the classic for a decently reliable reaction attack of your own, Commander's Strike can work extremely well if you have an ally who has a very high damage attack, such as a Rogue (as they can Sneak Attack each turn, not just on their own turn), and so-on.
I quite like Feinting Attack since it just straight up lets you roll an attack with advantage at a cost of your bonus action; whether you take this may depend on if you want to take Shield Master since that will also occupy your bonus action (and also gives advantage if you're able to knock something prone, though only for your allies since it comes after your own attacks unless you Action Surge).
Precision Attack is also a good pick IMO; anything that can let you turn a miss into a hit can be incredibly valuable as nothing hurts your damage quite like not hitting at all, but whether you take this will depend on whether you have anything similar already like a Bard or a Cleric with Bless, though it rarely hurts to pile on even more dice. You may not want both Feinting and Precision but that's up to you.
As great as they can be when they land, I tend not to take things like Shoving Attack or Trip Attack, since they're limited by size so you can easily find situations where you simply cannot use them. It may not hurt to have one as an option just in case, but there is usually something else that I want more. Plus since you have a shield, the Shield Master feat can give you a Bonus Action Shove to cover pushing/knocking prone just as effectively (plus some nice defensive boosts).
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While you won’t get as much out of the Shield Master shove, it doesn’t take anything more than a bonus action, so you should consider that vs. trip attack taking up a battlemaster die. For DEX characters, the no damage on DEX saves feature is potentially even more valuable because you will save so often.
If you plan for Shield Master then Riposte and Parry start to make more sense. And would be thematically appropriate if you are going with a fencing style of fighting.
I find maneuvering attack (to get allies out of trouble or in position to smite or sneak) one of the most useful. It doesn’t require a save to work. Distracting strike also no save, very good. trip is a trap. Too many allies have ranged or spell attacks at disadvantage. Need several melee in party to take it. take no more than 1 save maneuver at first, then at lvl 7 take another save but not on same ability. I like menacing attack as my first since if failed, attacks on anyone is at disadvantage. Riposte is a have-to for any melee. Commander strike is great if u have a Paladin or rogue for another smite or sneak.
take no more than 1 stg and 1 wisdom save maneuver to start with. Initially I would pick only 1 save maneuver unless ur dc is really high. lots of melee allies-take trip. Have rogue or Paladin ally-take commanders strike. menacing is the best all around since enemy has disadvantage on all attacks. Maneuvering attack can get allies into or out of danger. Distracting is great and no save. Look at ur party makeup and see what synergies with them.
My Harengon fighter has reached lvl 3 and i'm going battle master. He is Dex based and uses a shield rapier combo. any advice about the most effective maneuvers would be most appreciated.
As far as combat maneuvers those you mentioned are my favorite on this build.
Others worth considering:
Brace, Grappling attack, Riposte, bait and switch
Riposte in particular is really great with this combo as your AC should be good.
I am not a fan of trip attack unless you combine it with grappling attack. I don't particularly like feinting attack either, but it is better than trip IMO.
My Harengon fighter has reached lvl 3 and i'm going battle master. He is Dex based and uses a shield rapier combo. any advice about the most effective maneuvers would be most appreciated.
Disarming strike! This one is a favorite. so few ways exist to get weapons off enemies RAW, this is one of them. Disarm the enemy caster of their focus, or, make the bad guy drop the import plot piece. Then you can use your item interaction to kick it away out of reach.
Menacing strike, if you frighten a creature, it can't come any closer. Plus, being a WIS save, it's common you'll get things to fail.
I'm personally a big fan of precision attack, but that's really more so for SS/GWM builds.
Trip attack gets mentioned a lot, but truth be told, I'm not a big fan because so many things have a decent STR saving throw.
Also go with Defensive Duelist feat (if you need more AC in melee) at level 4 ASI.
Or Shield Master feat (if you need better resistance vs casters). Also a shove vs melee.
Riposte can be a decent maneuver (if you're looking for extra damage) for this build since they're likely to miss a lot.
With my lizardfolk dex-build battlemaster, I was avoiding trip attack until I started using it. Once I hit level 6 and had +4 dex, the DC 15 on the strength save was enough to be surprisingly formidable. And once she's level 8 it'll be DC 16 with her +5 dex, which is quite enough to knock over most humanoids.
Prior to that I had been using Feinting Strike to give myself advantage when I needed, but feinting strike uses up your bonus action and is only good on one strike. The great thing I've been finding with tripping attack is that if I trip them on the first one, I'll automatically get advantage on my extra attack since they're prone, and then everyone else that has their turn before the monster will have advantage as well. So, I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand.
Back to the original post, however, parry has saved my life quite a number of times. With that +4 dex it's an automatic reduction of 5 damage, up to 12. I find that if I get hit for 8 or 9 damage by something, a well placed parry can pretty reliably nullify it, which is like getting another second wind that you can waste a reaction on rather than a bonus action.
I'd ask your DM about whether they're happy to use the Disarming rules in the Dungeon Master's Guide (p271) first; Disarming Strike is still better overall, but it might save you a pick (and avoid the need for characters to be built just to do this).
I think it's always good to have at least one manoeuvre that enables an additional attack, not necessarily by yourself; Riposte is the classic for a decently reliable reaction attack of your own, Commander's Strike can work extremely well if you have an ally who has a very high damage attack, such as a Rogue (as they can Sneak Attack each turn, not just on their own turn), and so-on.
I quite like Feinting Attack since it just straight up lets you roll an attack with advantage at a cost of your bonus action; whether you take this may depend on if you want to take Shield Master since that will also occupy your bonus action (and also gives advantage if you're able to knock something prone, though only for your allies since it comes after your own attacks unless you Action Surge).
Precision Attack is also a good pick IMO; anything that can let you turn a miss into a hit can be incredibly valuable as nothing hurts your damage quite like not hitting at all, but whether you take this will depend on whether you have anything similar already like a Bard or a Cleric with Bless, though it rarely hurts to pile on even more dice. You may not want both Feinting and Precision but that's up to you.
As great as they can be when they land, I tend not to take things like Shoving Attack or Trip Attack, since they're limited by size so you can easily find situations where you simply cannot use them. It may not hurt to have one as an option just in case, but there is usually something else that I want more. Plus since you have a shield, the Shield Master feat can give you a Bonus Action Shove to cover pushing/knocking prone just as effectively (plus some nice defensive boosts).
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I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
While you won’t get as much out of the Shield Master shove, it doesn’t take anything more than a bonus action, so you should consider that vs. trip attack taking up a battlemaster die. For DEX characters, the no damage on DEX saves feature is potentially even more valuable because you will save so often.
If you plan for Shield Master then Riposte and Parry start to make more sense. And would be thematically appropriate if you are going with a fencing style of fighting.
I find maneuvering attack (to get allies out of trouble or in position to smite or sneak) one of the most useful. It doesn’t require a save to work. Distracting strike also no save, very good.
trip is a trap. Too many allies have ranged or spell attacks at disadvantage. Need several melee in party to take it.
take no more than 1 save maneuver at first, then at lvl 7 take another save but not on same ability. I like menacing attack as my first since if failed, attacks on anyone is at disadvantage. Riposte is a have-to for any melee. Commander strike is great if u have a Paladin or rogue for another smite or sneak.
Melees always take reposte
take no more than 1 stg and 1 wisdom save maneuver to start with. Initially I would pick only 1 save maneuver unless ur dc is really high.
lots of melee allies-take trip. Have rogue or Paladin ally-take commanders strike.
menacing is the best all around since enemy has disadvantage on all attacks. Maneuvering attack can get allies into or out of danger. Distracting is great and no save.
Look at ur party makeup and see what synergies with them.
As far as combat maneuvers those you mentioned are my favorite on this build.
Others worth considering:
Brace, Grappling attack, Riposte, bait and switch
Riposte in particular is really great with this combo as your AC should be good.
I am not a fan of trip attack unless you combine it with grappling attack. I don't particularly like feinting attack either, but it is better than trip IMO.