Tactics for a fighter

Maybe this is a silly question, but my friends say that a fighter is weak without a tactic. Is that true and when it is have you examples for tactics? (Level 2 Fighter)

Ummm. Run up next to the bad guy and hit it with your hitting stick of choice?🤷‍♂️

Unless you’re ranged. Then stay back from the bad guy and shoot it with your shooting tool of choice.

Fighters are not exactly subtle. 
Maybe if you’re a battle master, you should consider your maneuvers, but 9/10 times it’s still going to come down to hitting the bad guys.

Don't forget position to block the baddies from reaching the more squishy members of the party. The only thing hard about playing a fighter, is staying alive given how much damage anyone entering melee ends up taking.

 fighter is weak without a tactic...

What is the original poster's definition of a tactic?

To minimize your frontage but maximize the enemy frontage is a tactic.  Always keep  your shield pointed toward the weapon hand of the opponent is a tactic.  Keep your feet mobile to shift position or the opposite keep feet planted to prevent from any going around you.

Thanks for your replies. I will choose the battlemaster and will try to be a Tank for the group. Also because we don't have a barbarian.

Fighters being tactical ????

I never saw a fighter acting like this.... 

Quote from Dertinus >>

Fighters being tactical ????

I never saw a fighter acting like this.... 

 The tactics they provide is a big meat shield for the back line casters. That’s the only tactic I have seen employed.

Since you asked..... There are many "tactics" that a fighter can use to great effectiveness. In 5.5 (officially called that now), fighters get weapon masteries. This is a special add-on when you use that weapon. Picking a weapon with the Topple weapon mastery can give you a chance to knock your opponent prone when you hit them. Vex gives you advantage on the next attack against that opponent, Sap gives your opponent disadvantage on their next attack, Slow can slow their speed by 10ft, Push can move them back 10ft, etc. You can any of these by 1st level. Another tactic is positioning. If you are the toughest character, you will have to stand in between the enemy and your squishier allies. You are the front line. As long as you keep the enemy from getting within melee range of your wizard, rogue, etc, you can determine where that line is. This could include using terrain, like walls, buildings, trees, to hinder the enemy. Doorways are a great choke point for fighters and other front-liners. Some feats that give you other tactics are Pole-arm master, Sentinel, etc.  

Bonk.

But if that's too basic for you you could wait until you level up to lv 3 and subclass into Eldritch Knight.

That way you can bonk with Green Flame Blade.

Some basic (non-Fighter-specific) "tactics":

1. A fight avoided is a fight won. Mindlessly trying to kill your way through the adventure simply consumes resources unnecessarily. Your goal should be to use social skills, Stealth and other methods to avoid all the incidental fights and focus on your actual goal. If you’re trying to recover the Lost Blade of Eldritch Awesomeness, that’s what you should focus on - not de-populating the local orc tribe en route. Note that this tends to mean that everyone in your party should be proficient in two key skills: Stealth and Perception (and not have Disadvantage on them, such as from non-Mithril Heavy Armor).
2. Strike First, Strike Hard. If you’re putting together a level 20 party, the first thing you do is include a Dex-based Battle Master (albeit probably multi-classed with something else). Why? Because the combination of 22 Dex + Alert + Ambush means you get to choose who gets to go first. While “Alert Guy” will rarely be the one going first, they’ll get to choose who does - and the difference between your +3 Initiative Wizard being able to drop a Force Cage before the enemy acts and after they act is a big deal.
3. They can’t hit what they can’t see. A Fighter normally has to stand in the middle of the fray. That Wizard? He should be cowering behind Cover somewhere. Preferably Invisible. Standing out in the open to fight isn’t a virtue but a cost. If you’re going to do it, you’d better be getting some extraordinary return on value rather than just putting yourself unnecessarily in harm’s way.
4. You can’t hit what you can’t reach. Perhaps the single biggest mistake I see with martial builds is failing to recognize the critical importance of mobility. If you start a fight 120’ away from your enemies, that’s two rounds of Dash before you’re ready to engage them. Essentially, the fight is over before you even get into it. Now imagine someone cast Plant Growth. Or Sleet Storm. Or you’re fighting underwater. Or against flying enemies. You might think these only happen rarely. Except that those sort of extreme conditions are precisely what your casters are trying to set up with their first actions in a fight - they know that they can build around them but most opponents aren’t prepared to function in such hostile environments.
5. Focus Fire. Your goal in a fight is to subtract pieces from the board. This doesn’t necessarily mean reducing them to zero hit points - Polymorph’ing an enemy into a toad or using Hypnotic Pattern to nullify a group for a time works just as well. However, it does mean that it’s a lot easier to fight 3 dead Orcs and 3 living ones than 6 partially damaged Orcs. It also means that if you’re faced with the Big Boss and a bunch of his mooks, it’s normally better to kill the mooks than mildly annoy the Big Boss with your attacks.