So I have seen many posts talking about how dual wielding is good at lower levels but gets outshined by 2 handed builds in later levels. I personally prefer sword and board (one handed weapon w shield) as I like the increase to my AC and like to leave my bonus actions free for something else than an extra attack with my secondary weapon if I was dual wielding. That said, I was thinking about changing it up on my next melee character from what I usually have played in the past and either going two handed or dual wielding.
My question is for you math guys out there. At which level does a two handed weapon become better than dual wielding? Depending on what level my character goes to (as most don’t make it to level 20 due to death or just not continuing a campaign for that long) may impact which route I choose.
Here are the parameters so we don’t end up going off on tangents:
Fighter w 18 in main stat (Str or Dex)
Straight fighter (no multi class)
Each version has either Great Weapon Master or Dual Wielder
Well, I would say if you have access to Polearm Master as well, then your two-handed option will always net you more damage in the long run. Polearm Master coupled with Great Weapon Master and selecting the Two-Weapon Fighting option would give you all your normal attacks and that extra damage gained by GWM on top of your bonus attack with your stat bonus to the extra attack, which could also be used with GWM since the weapon is still considered to be a "Heavy" weapon.
The problem is Great Weapon Master and Duel Wielder do not match well. They do such radically different things.
The -5 to hit and +10 Damage from GWM makes the math wonky, and different people have arguments of it's utility. Sure I'd love to use that against a Zombie's AC: 9, but against any real threat? That's AC 17-20... and any damage is better than a powerful miss.
Dual Wielding is a lot more then extra damage.
GWM gives 2 abilities. If you down an enemy to 0 or crit, you can attack again as a bonus action. This ability is actually very cool, but unreliable. If you take a -5 to hit you get +10 damage. The utility of this depends on the AC of the target.
Dual Wielder gives 3 abilities. Draw/Stow 2 weapons as a environmental action instead of 1. +1 AC, this is actually a really nice touch adding a bit more AC. Weapons don't have to be light. Basically it ups the damage from d6 to d8 for each weapon.
Polearm Master give 2 abilities. A bonus action attack of 1d4+STR if you Attack Action. ReAction attack when an enemy enters your Reach.
Great Weapon Masters are best off with a Martial Class that utilizes their Bonus Action a lot, because they aren't going to need it normally unless they Crit or drop an enemy.
Dual Wielders are going to be using their Bonus Action every single turn. So they will want a Martial Class that utilizes their ReAction as any time they are using their Bonus Action they are losing damage.
Polearm Masters are going to be using their Bonus Action every single turn and possibly leave their ReAction open for an attack.
Now let's look at damage Great Weapon Masters are using: 1d10 + Reach, 2d6 or 1d12. Dual Wielders are using 1d6 or 1d8 weapons, possibly 1d4 if you're dual wielding whips. Polearm Masters are using 1d10 + Reach, with a 1d4 bonus attack.
The -5 to hit and +10 Damage from GWM makes the math wonky, and different people have arguments of it's utility. Sure I'd love to use that against a Zombie's AC: 9, but against any real threat? That's AC 17-20... and any damage is better than a powerful miss.
*This is why I have never particularly liked this feat.
Dual Wielder gives 3 abilities. Draw/Stow 2 weapons as a environmental action instead of 1. +1 AC, this is actually a really nice touch adding a bit more AC. Weapons don't have to be light. Basically it ups the damage from d6 to d8 for each weapon.
*The last two points are why I like this feat, especially the AC bonus. Can’t hit something if you’re dead or unconscious because you are too easy to hit while on the front line. But dual wielding a long sword and a battleaxe just seems very visually awesome to me.
Polearm Master give 2 abilities.
A bonus action attack of 1d4+STR if you Attack Action. ReAction attack when an enemy enters your Reach.
*This seems way better than GWM the more I look at the benefits. Pairs very well with Sentinel feat.
Great Weapon Masters are best off with a Martial Class that utilizes their Bonus Action a lot, because they aren't going to need it normally unless they Crit or drop an enemy.
Dual Wielders are going to be using their Bonus Action every single turn. So they will want a Martial Class that utilizes their ReAction as any time they are using their Bonus Action they are losing damage.
Polearm Masters are going to be using their Bonus Action every single turn and possibly leave their ReAction open for an attack.
* I like your breakdown on the above, very good points. I enjoy your posts here bunny, thanks for your input
This guy goes pretty in depth about weapons and feats for damage comparison. I hope this helps, it's my second post and I just started 5e recently so I'm still a bit niave. But I had watched this recently and I think it answers your question. They basically equal out in the long run it seems.
In broad strokes, as I have been committing myself to developing a Fighter character recently, I'd say that Two-Weapon fighting and Great Weapon Fighting both have remarkable utility...for a particular subclass.
Two-Weapon Fighting shines under a Battlemaster, who is able to utilize a Maneuver with each strike of a weapon...piling on the damage and also implementing useful effects at a quicker rate. Great Weapons can do this, too; however I feel Two-Weapon Fighting fits the subclass more, as most of the Manuevers do not require the bonus action, allowing a chain of attacks and effects (provided the Battlemaster has the Superiority Dice available!). These also replenish on short rests... very good!
Great Weapon Fighting is quite fantastic under the Samurai subclass.. as the Samurai subclass requires a bonus action for it's main feature, it doesn't mesh well with Two-Weapon Fighting. For Great Weapons, however...you will gain advantage on your weapon attacks FOR THE WHOLE TURN...meaning that, even with the -5 to your roll for "Great Weapon Master", you have a chance to gain advantage for that sweet +10 damage with every swing. This features will turn the tide of any battle...though, it does need to replenish on a long rest.
So...a Two-Weapon Fighter in this way can attack more frequently with numerous effects, while a Great Weapon Fighter hits like a truck when he needs to most.
I am going to compare these weapons all with the Fighter class and Variant Human with each character starting with 16 strength/dexterity. I am not nearly smart enough to calculate all the different abilities, but I will do my best.
Fighter One w/ Polearm Master Feat and Great Weapon Fighting. Level 1: 1d10+3 + 1d4+3 (14 DPR) Level 4: 1d10+4 + 1d4+4 (16 DPR) ASI to 18 Strength Level 5: 2(1d10+4) + 1d4+4 (25.5 DPR) Level 6: 2(1d10+5) + 1d4+5 (28.5 DPR) ASI to 20 Strength Level 11: 3(1d10+5) + 1d4+5 (39 DPR)
This is pretty solid damage per round just using the attack action + bonus action. This character most likely has Great Weapon Fighter (rerolling damage 1s and 2s) and Great Weapon Master feat (granting an occasional full attack bonus action and the -5/+10) and the DPR is much higher than what I listed. Obviously these numbers will change if the character takes Sentinel or Great Weapon Master at levels 4 or 6, but this gives a good idea of their DPR.
Fighter Two w/ Dual Wielder using two d8 weapons (Rapier, Longsword) and Two Weapon Fighting Level 1: 2(1d8+3) (15 DPR) Level 4: 2(1d8+4) (17 DPR) ASI to 18 Strength Level 5: 3(1d8+4) (25.5 DPR) Extra Attack Level 6: 3(1d8+5) (28.5 DPR) ASI to 20 Strength Level 11: 4(1d8+5) (38 DPR) Second Extra Attack
Fighter Two is actually slightly ahead of damage for the first few levels, evening out when hitting level 5 when Fighter One gets a 2nd d10 attack. This build doesn't have strong AOO like Fighter One does and also loses out on the additional feat support of Great Weapon Master.
Fighter Three w/ Great Weapon Master and Great Weapon Fighting using Greatsword Level 1: 2d6+3 (10 DPR) Level 4: 2d6+4 (11 DPR) ASI to 18 Strength Level 5: 2(2d6+4) (22 DPR) Extra Attack Level 6: 2(2d6+5) (24 DPR) ASI to 20 Strength Level 11: 3(2d6+5) (36 DPR) Second Extra Attack
Fighter Three has the least vanilla DPR, but the build is entirely situational. Great Weapon Master can grant an additional full, bonus action attack that puts it way ahead when it occurs, as well as adding the power strike. This also has higher average damage because, again, they can reroll 1s and 2s.
So given the context above, the answer to your question is Fighter Two gets straight out damaged by Fighter One at level 11, and situationally around level 5 by both Fighter One and Fighter Three.
That assumes that all attacks hit, and is therefore not nuanced enough to accurately reflect the balancing of Great Weapon Master. For a more representative DPR estimate you need to consider accuracy as well.
This raises the question of what AC do you target and do you keep AC or accuracy flat over levels. Keep AC flat and accuracy improves, leading to higher DPR results. Keep accuracy flat and the DPR is lower but may underestimate the benefits of Great Weapon Master.
In my examples I will try to address the stipulations in the OP, and will factor in features separately.
My assumptions:
Variant Human taking the appropriate combat feat at 1st level.
Fighter (no assumption on subclass).
Select appropriate Fighting Style at 1st level.
Starting with 18 primary, increasing to 20 at 4th level.
No other ASIs or feats add to accuracy or damage.
No other accuracy or damage boosts included (e.g. magic weapons, Hex etc.).
Target AC of 15, fixed over all levels (accuracy therefore improves over time).
When applying Great Weapon Master, include -5/+10 to DPR calc, assume bonus action attack procs only on critical hit.
GWF uses greatsword, TWF uses 2x shortswords/scimitars or 2x longswords/rapiers as appropriate.
I'm ignoring polearm fighting because it is basically the two styles combined and should out DPR them both once it fully comes online at 6th.
Basic DPR
Start with basic DPR. Great Weapon pulls ahead at level 5 once you get 2 attack. This shows the core of why Two-weapon Fighting sucks on a Fighter: the bonus damage from the off-hand weapon does not scale with your attacks. Every additional attack gives the GWF 2d6+Str potential damage, while for a TWF it is 1d6+Str. The GWF therefore gets approx. 40% more damage per extra attack than the TWF.
Add Fighting Style
The TWF gains some ground when you factor in Fighting Style because the feature is adding 4 points of damage to your off-hand attack vs ~1.3 to your primary attack (avg 7 to avg 8.3). This means at level 1 we are comparing 2d6+8 (15 assuming both hit) to 2d6'+4 (12.3). At level 5 however, the effects of extra damage on your primary attack outweighs the benefit of extra damage to your off-hand.
Add relevant combat feat
Here I include the effects of the feats. For TWF we are now using d8 weapons, pushing level 1 DPR above 10. For GWM we now include the -5/+10 adjustment and assume a bonus action attack triggering on a crit. At low levels the chance to proc this extra attack are low (5%) but this increases as we gain more attacks (to 18.55% at level 20). This only adds approx 3 points to our DPR so we can ignore it for the most part given our DPR is up at 60. Despite the accuracy penalty, when our Extra Attacks kick in at 5th, the bonus damage from GWM is able to increase the DPR difference.
The increases in DPR at levels 5, 11 and 20 are due primarily to Extra Attack, the smaller increases are a result of accuracy increases from keeping the target's AC flat. If we instead chose to keep accuracy flat then the only DPR changes would be at levels 5, 11 and 20 and the DPR charts would peak at 35 rather than 60.
If you are choosing your Fighting Style based purely on the maths, then for a Fighter you plan to take over level 11 then you are better going for a two-handed weapon. If you are planning on only playing the character at low levels (or multi-classing before Fighter 11) then choose the style you like the best as the DPR difference below level 11 isn't too great.
"The -5 to hit and +10 Damage from GWM makes the math wonky, and different people have arguments of it's utility. Sure I'd love to use that against a Zombie's AC: 9, but against any real threat? That's AC 17-20... and any damage is better than a powerful miss."
Get advantage, be an elf taking elven accuracy, let's say you need to roll a 13 or higher to hit AC17, instead of having a 40% chance to hit, you have 79% chance now, and double dice crits and an free bonus attack on a crit will more than make up for occasional miss.
"The -5 to hit and +10 Damage from GWM makes the math wonky, and different people have arguments of it's utility. Sure I'd love to use that against a Zombie's AC: 9, but against any real threat? That's AC 17-20... and any damage is better than a powerful miss."
Get advantage, be an elf taking elven accuracy, let's say you need to roll a 13 or higher to hit AC17, instead of having a 40% chance to hit, you have 79% chance now, and double dice crits and an free bonus attack on a crit will more than make up for occasional miss.
For a moment I imagined an Elf Barbarian combining Elven Accuracy with Reckless Attack, until I remembered that Elven Accuracy requires "Whenever you have advantage on an attack roll using Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, you can reroll one of the dice once."
It can't be used with a Strength based attack and so won't work with GWM.
"The -5 to hit and +10 Damage from GWM makes the math wonky, and different people have arguments of it's utility. Sure I'd love to use that against a Zombie's AC: 9, but against any real threat? That's AC 17-20... and any damage is better than a powerful miss."
Get advantage, be an elf taking elven accuracy, let's say you need to roll a 13 or higher to hit AC17, instead of having a 40% chance to hit, you have 79% chance now, and double dice crits and an free bonus attack on a crit will more than make up for occasional miss.
For a moment I imagined an Elf Barbarian combining Elven Accuracy with Reckless Attack, until I remembered that Elven Accuracy requires "Whenever you have advantage on an attack roll using Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, you can reroll one of the dice once."
It can't be used with a Strength based attack and so won't work with GWM.
I was thinking with a level 3 pact of the blade warlock, thus using CHA as my weapon stat.
It's minimum 8th lvl before the concept gets going. Race has to be Elf. 4 Levels of Fighter (any subclass) to get an ASI and Feat. 4 Levels of Warlock, Hexblade, Pact of the Blade to get ASI and Feat.
Feats must be spent on Great Weapon Master and Elven Accuracy.
In this instance you've traded: Extra Attack, 2 ASIs, and 7th lvl Martial Archetype for attacking with Charisma and to maximize Elven Accuracy.
It could work with a focus on Fighter, but that requires min level to be 9 instead of 8. 6 lvls of Fighter (any subclass) to get 2 ASIs and Feats, and at least gets Extra Attack back. 3 lvls ofWarlock, Hexblade, Pact of the Blade
Whether the trades are worth it and *when* to make those trades is going to be an important question.
Race has to be Elf. 4 Levels of Fighter (any subclass) to get an ASI and Feat. 4 Levels of Warlock, Hexblade, Pact of the Blade to get ASI and Feat.
Feats must be spent on Great Weapon Master and Elven Accuracy.
In this instance you've traded: Extra Attack, 2 ASIs, and 7th lvl Martial Archetype for attacking with Charisma and to maximize Elven Accuracy.
It could work with a focus on Fighter, but that requires min level to be 9 instead of 8. 6 lvls of Fighter (any subclass) to get 2 ASIs and Feats, and at least gets Extra Attack back. 3 lvls ofWarlock, Hexblade, Pact of the Blade
Whether the trades are worth it and *when* to make those trades is going to be an important question.
Level 1 - Half-elf for 17 CHA.
Choose The Hexblade for your patron for the 19+20 crits on the BBEG.
Hex Warrior gives you martial weapons, shields using CHA instead of DEX/STR. Get 2 x scimitars, or 1 scimitar and shield for now.
Level 3 - Pact of the Blade. All weapons you use let you use CHA. You can create a pact weapon and transform another.
Level 4 - Elven Accuracy and CHA now 18. Now roll 3 x d20 anytime you have advantage.
Level 5 - Invocations - Thirsting blade which gives Extra Attack (plus Improved Pact Weapon,, Cloak of Flies).
So by level 5 you're hitting with two attacks, and a bonus attack, each with curse and hex, and flat damage with the cloak. (Advantage is easy to gain, as we us flanking rules and have a druid sending doggos). Take an extra level now for further flat damage from accursed specter if you like, if situation allows.
After this take 4 levels in Sorcerer (or Fighter if you prefer) for GWM, and you're using greatsword and this point. You'll bonus attack for free fairly often, every time you kill a mob, or crit with one of your elven accuracy advantage attacks.
If I take sorcerer first, I'd take the 4 levels of fighter for GFW, action surge, feat for polearm mastery.
(To be honest, I'm doing all this after I've taken 1 level of sorcerer for the CON save, and 5 levels of Coastal Druid with WarCaster for the ridiculously fun conjure animals, which almost guarantees advantage).
So I have seen many posts talking about how dual wielding is good at lower levels but gets outshined by 2 handed builds in later levels. I personally prefer sword and board (one handed weapon w shield) as I like the increase to my AC and like to leave my bonus actions free for something else than an extra attack with my secondary weapon if I was dual wielding. That said, I was thinking about changing it up on my next melee character from what I usually have played in the past and either going two handed or dual wielding.
My question is for you math guys out there. At which level does a two handed weapon become better than dual wielding? Depending on what level my character goes to (as most don’t make it to level 20 due to death or just not continuing a campaign for that long) may impact which route I choose.
Here are the parameters so we don’t end up going off on tangents:
I'd also be interesting in seeing some data on this. What sub-class and race, a variant human will affect the math.
Well, I would say if you have access to Polearm Master as well, then your two-handed option will always net you more damage in the long run. Polearm Master coupled with Great Weapon Master and selecting the Two-Weapon Fighting option would give you all your normal attacks and that extra damage gained by GWM on top of your bonus attack with your stat bonus to the extra attack, which could also be used with GWM since the weapon is still considered to be a "Heavy" weapon.
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
Race let’s say human variant
Sub class I would prob go w battlemaster
The problem is Great Weapon Master and Duel Wielder do not match well. They do such radically different things.
The -5 to hit and +10 Damage from GWM makes the math wonky, and different people have arguments of it's utility. Sure I'd love to use that against a Zombie's AC: 9, but against any real threat? That's AC 17-20... and any damage is better than a powerful miss.
Dual Wielding is a lot more then extra damage.
GWM gives 2 abilities.
If you down an enemy to 0 or crit, you can attack again as a bonus action. This ability is actually very cool, but unreliable.
If you take a -5 to hit you get +10 damage. The utility of this depends on the AC of the target.
Dual Wielder gives 3 abilities.
Draw/Stow 2 weapons as a environmental action instead of 1.
+1 AC, this is actually a really nice touch adding a bit more AC.
Weapons don't have to be light. Basically it ups the damage from d6 to d8 for each weapon.
Polearm Master give 2 abilities.
A bonus action attack of 1d4+STR if you Attack Action.
ReAction attack when an enemy enters your Reach.
Great Weapon Masters are best off with a Martial Class that utilizes their Bonus Action a lot, because they aren't going to need it normally unless they Crit or drop an enemy.
Dual Wielders are going to be using their Bonus Action every single turn. So they will want a Martial Class that utilizes their ReAction as any time they are using their Bonus Action they are losing damage.
Polearm Masters are going to be using their Bonus Action every single turn and possibly leave their ReAction open for an attack.
Now let's look at damage
Great Weapon Masters are using: 1d10 + Reach, 2d6 or 1d12.
Dual Wielders are using 1d6 or 1d8 weapons, possibly 1d4 if you're dual wielding whips.
Polearm Masters are using 1d10 + Reach, with a 1d4 bonus attack.
Still waiting on some math wiz to show which level dual wielding starts falling behind (as that was originally my main question)
This guy goes pretty in depth about weapons and feats for damage comparison. I hope this helps, it's my second post and I just started 5e recently so I'm still a bit niave. But I had watched this recently and I think it answers your question. They basically equal out in the long run it seems.
https://youtu.be/VxtupOcBJC0
In broad strokes, as I have been committing myself to developing a Fighter character recently, I'd say that Two-Weapon fighting and Great Weapon Fighting both have remarkable utility...for a particular subclass.
Two-Weapon Fighting shines under a Battlemaster, who is able to utilize a Maneuver with each strike of a weapon...piling on the damage and also implementing useful effects at a quicker rate. Great Weapons can do this, too; however I feel Two-Weapon Fighting fits the subclass more, as most of the Manuevers do not require the bonus action, allowing a chain of attacks and effects (provided the Battlemaster has the Superiority Dice available!). These also replenish on short rests... very good!
Great Weapon Fighting is quite fantastic under the Samurai subclass.. as the Samurai subclass requires a bonus action for it's main feature, it doesn't mesh well with Two-Weapon Fighting. For Great Weapons, however...you will gain advantage on your weapon attacks FOR THE WHOLE TURN...meaning that, even with the -5 to your roll for "Great Weapon Master", you have a chance to gain advantage for that sweet +10 damage with every swing. This features will turn the tide of any battle...though, it does need to replenish on a long rest.
So...a Two-Weapon Fighter in this way can attack more frequently with numerous effects, while a Great Weapon Fighter hits like a truck when he needs to most.
I am going to compare these weapons all with the Fighter class and Variant Human with each character starting with 16 strength/dexterity. I am not nearly smart enough to calculate all the different abilities, but I will do my best.
Fighter One w/ Polearm Master Feat and Great Weapon Fighting.
Level 1: 1d10+3 + 1d4+3 (14 DPR)
Level 4: 1d10+4 + 1d4+4 (16 DPR) ASI to 18 Strength
Level 5: 2(1d10+4) + 1d4+4 (25.5 DPR)
Level 6: 2(1d10+5) + 1d4+5 (28.5 DPR) ASI to 20 Strength
Level 11: 3(1d10+5) + 1d4+5 (39 DPR)
This is pretty solid damage per round just using the attack action + bonus action. This character most likely has Great Weapon Fighter (rerolling damage 1s and 2s) and Great Weapon Master feat (granting an occasional full attack bonus action and the -5/+10) and the DPR is much higher than what I listed. Obviously these numbers will change if the character takes Sentinel or Great Weapon Master at levels 4 or 6, but this gives a good idea of their DPR.
Fighter Two w/ Dual Wielder using two d8 weapons (Rapier, Longsword) and Two Weapon Fighting
Level 1: 2(1d8+3) (15 DPR)
Level 4: 2(1d8+4) (17 DPR) ASI to 18 Strength
Level 5: 3(1d8+4) (25.5 DPR) Extra Attack
Level 6: 3(1d8+5) (28.5 DPR) ASI to 20 Strength
Level 11: 4(1d8+5) (38 DPR) Second Extra Attack
Fighter Two is actually slightly ahead of damage for the first few levels, evening out when hitting level 5 when Fighter One gets a 2nd d10 attack. This build doesn't have strong AOO like Fighter One does and also loses out on the additional feat support of Great Weapon Master.
Fighter Three w/ Great Weapon Master and Great Weapon Fighting using Greatsword
Level 1: 2d6+3 (10 DPR)
Level 4: 2d6+4 (11 DPR) ASI to 18 Strength
Level 5: 2(2d6+4) (22 DPR) Extra Attack
Level 6: 2(2d6+5) (24 DPR) ASI to 20 Strength
Level 11: 3(2d6+5) (36 DPR) Second Extra Attack
Fighter Three has the least vanilla DPR, but the build is entirely situational. Great Weapon Master can grant an additional full, bonus action attack that puts it way ahead when it occurs, as well as adding the power strike. This also has higher average damage because, again, they can reroll 1s and 2s.
So given the context above, the answer to your question is Fighter Two gets straight out damaged by Fighter One at level 11, and situationally around level 5 by both Fighter One and Fighter Three.
That assumes that all attacks hit, and is therefore not nuanced enough to accurately reflect the balancing of Great Weapon Master. For a more representative DPR estimate you need to consider accuracy as well.
This raises the question of what AC do you target and do you keep AC or accuracy flat over levels. Keep AC flat and accuracy improves, leading to higher DPR results. Keep accuracy flat and the DPR is lower but may underestimate the benefits of Great Weapon Master.
In my examples I will try to address the stipulations in the OP, and will factor in features separately.
My assumptions:
Basic DPR
Start with basic DPR. Great Weapon pulls ahead at level 5 once you get 2 attack. This shows the core of why Two-weapon Fighting sucks on a Fighter: the bonus damage from the off-hand weapon does not scale with your attacks. Every additional attack gives the GWF 2d6+Str potential damage, while for a TWF it is 1d6+Str. The GWF therefore gets approx. 40% more damage per extra attack than the TWF.
Add Fighting Style
The TWF gains some ground when you factor in Fighting Style because the feature is adding 4 points of damage to your off-hand attack vs ~1.3 to your primary attack (avg 7 to avg 8.3). This means at level 1 we are comparing 2d6+8 (15 assuming both hit) to 2d6'+4 (12.3). At level 5 however, the effects of extra damage on your primary attack outweighs the benefit of extra damage to your off-hand.
Add relevant combat feat
Here I include the effects of the feats. For TWF we are now using d8 weapons, pushing level 1 DPR above 10. For GWM we now include the -5/+10 adjustment and assume a bonus action attack triggering on a crit. At low levels the chance to proc this extra attack are low (5%) but this increases as we gain more attacks (to 18.55% at level 20). This only adds approx 3 points to our DPR so we can ignore it for the most part given our DPR is up at 60. Despite the accuracy penalty, when our Extra Attacks kick in at 5th, the bonus damage from GWM is able to increase the DPR difference.
The increases in DPR at levels 5, 11 and 20 are due primarily to Extra Attack, the smaller increases are a result of accuracy increases from keeping the target's AC flat. If we instead chose to keep accuracy flat then the only DPR changes would be at levels 5, 11 and 20 and the DPR charts would peak at 35 rather than 60.
If you are choosing your Fighting Style based purely on the maths, then for a Fighter you plan to take over level 11 then you are better going for a two-handed weapon. If you are planning on only playing the character at low levels (or multi-classing before Fighter 11) then choose the style you like the best as the DPR difference below level 11 isn't too great.
"The -5 to hit and +10 Damage from GWM makes the math wonky, and different people have arguments of it's utility. Sure I'd love to use that against a Zombie's AC: 9, but against any real threat? That's AC 17-20... and any damage is better than a powerful miss."
Get advantage, be an elf taking elven accuracy, let's say you need to roll a 13 or higher to hit AC17, instead of having a 40% chance to hit, you have 79% chance now, and double dice crits and an free bonus attack on a crit will more than make up for occasional miss.
For a moment I imagined an Elf Barbarian combining Elven Accuracy with Reckless Attack, until I remembered that Elven Accuracy requires "Whenever you have advantage on an attack roll using Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, you can reroll one of the dice once."
It can't be used with a Strength based attack and so won't work with GWM.
I was thinking with a level 3 pact of the blade warlock, thus using CHA as my weapon stat.
That is good
It's minimum 8th lvl before the concept gets going.
Race has to be Elf.
4 Levels of Fighter (any subclass) to get an ASI and Feat.
4 Levels of Warlock, Hexblade, Pact of the Blade to get ASI and Feat.
Feats must be spent on Great Weapon Master and Elven Accuracy.
In this instance you've traded: Extra Attack, 2 ASIs, and 7th lvl Martial Archetype for attacking with Charisma and to maximize Elven Accuracy.
It could work with a focus on Fighter, but that requires min level to be 9 instead of 8.
6 lvls of Fighter (any subclass) to get 2 ASIs and Feats, and at least gets Extra Attack back.
3 lvls ofWarlock, Hexblade, Pact of the Blade
Whether the trades are worth it and *when* to make those trades is going to be an important question.
Level 1 - Half-elf for 17 CHA.
Choose The Hexblade for your patron for the 19+20 crits on the BBEG.
Hex Warrior gives you martial weapons, shields using CHA instead of DEX/STR. Get 2 x scimitars, or 1 scimitar and shield for now.
Level 3 - Pact of the Blade. All weapons you use let you use CHA. You can create a pact weapon and transform another.
Level 4 - Elven Accuracy and CHA now 18. Now roll 3 x d20 anytime you have advantage.
Level 5 - Invocations - Thirsting blade which gives Extra Attack (plus Improved Pact Weapon,, Cloak of Flies).
So by level 5 you're hitting with two attacks, and a bonus attack, each with curse and hex, and flat damage with the cloak. (Advantage is easy to gain, as we us flanking rules and have a druid sending doggos). Take an extra level now for further flat damage from accursed specter if you like, if situation allows.
After this take 4 levels in Sorcerer (or Fighter if you prefer) for GWM, and you're using greatsword and this point. You'll bonus attack for free fairly often, every time you kill a mob, or crit with one of your elven accuracy advantage attacks.
If I take sorcerer first, I'd take the 4 levels of fighter for GFW, action surge, feat for polearm mastery.
(To be honest, I'm doing all this after I've taken 1 level of sorcerer for the CON save, and 5 levels of Coastal Druid with WarCaster for the ridiculously fun conjure animals, which almost guarantees advantage).