5 Powerful D&D Combos to Destroy Your Enemies With

Tags character-building author-DeAngelo-Murillo

Dungeons & Dragons offers a wide range of character build options and items to hinder your foes in a variety of ways. Over the years, dedicated gamers have found powerful combinations of class features, feats, and items in order to deal the most damage or cause the most havoc. Here are just a few of them:

  1. Bag of holding + portable hole
  2. Darkness + devil’s sight
  3. Flight + invisibility
  4. Instant fortress + enlarge/reduce
  5. Sentinel + Polearm Master
A note on power level

This list contains D&D combos that can give you an edge in combat. Depending on your table’s power level, these combinations could hinder the group’s fun. So, talk to your players and Dungeon Master before using any of them. Remember, just because a combo may be fun for you, doesn’t mean it’ll be fun for others!

1. Bag of holding + portable hole

Bag of holdingThe bag of holding and the portable hole combo is a classic example of two relatively harmless items that, when brought together, bring chaos to the table. A note included in both of the items' descriptions explains what happens when a bag of holding is placed inside a portable hole or vice versa:

"Placing a bag of holding inside an extradimensional space created by a handy haversack, portable hole, or similar item instantly destroys both items and opens a gate to the Astral Plane. The gate originates where the one item was placed inside the other. Any creature within 10 feet of the gate is sucked through it to a random location on the Astral Plane. The gate then closes. The gate is one-way only and can’t be reopened."

Source: Bag of holding

There are no checks to defend against this effect; any creature within range of it is sucked into the Astral Plane. Using this combo during a boss fight can make for an easy win. Just be warned that if your character is also within that 10-foot radius, they’re also a goner!

2. Darkness + devil’s sight

This combination can be run by Dungeon Masters and warlock players alike. First, you’ll want to cast darkness, a 2nd-level spell that fills a 15-foot radius sphere with magical darkness that nonmagical light and even darkvision can't penetrate. The spell causes the blinded condition for creatures in the spell's radius. That is, unless they have something like devil's sight:

Devil’s Sight

You can see normally in darkness, both magical and nonmagical, to a distance of 120 feet.

Source: Warlock class

Where your enemies will be swinging wildly at disadvantage, you'll be cackling and swinging (or blasting) back with advantage. But players beware: Dungeon Masters can pull off this combo by pairing the drow with fiends like an imp, bearded devil, or one of these other creatures with devil's sight. A few monsters even have this combo built into their stat block, like the blue abishai from Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes.

If you're a player considering this combo, keep one thing in mind: While your enemies might be blinded by your darkness spell, your allies will be, too. It can be frustrating as a player when your character is blinded by an ally's effect. So, position your spell carefully!

3. Flight + invisibility

Flying owlin

As a Dungeon Master myself, this is a strong combination that plenty of monsters will struggle to counter. All you need is a source of flight, such as by playing a race with a flying speed like the owlin, and a source of invisibility that doesn't wear off when you attack or cast a spell. The 4th-level spell greater invisibility will likely be your best bet. At high levels, look to the legendary cloak of invisibility.

Put this combo in the hands of a rogue or other ranged damage dealer and they could benefit from advantage on attack rolls made while being unseen. Meanwhile, enemies will be helpless to counterattack unless they have see invisibility or truesight and ranged attacks to strike back with. That’s a tall order for Dungeon Masters who might be rolling off random encounter tables.

Unless combat encounters are created specifically to counter this combination, an invisible, flying character could easily overwhelm enemies—or cause enough of a distraction that their party members are left unscathed after a battle. There is a notable downside to this combination, however: If monsters choose to ignore you combat after combat, that’s one less character to split up their attacks between. So, hope that your party members can take some extra hits.

4. Instant fortress + enlarge/reduce

Instant fortressInstant fortress can be an immediate source of shelter for your adventuring party. But it can also serve as a bomb. When not in use, an instant fortress is a 1-inch metal cube. It's in this form that you'll use the magic item to set up a trap for your enemies.

Enlarge/reduce is one of my favorite spells in the game for the sheer utility that can come out of making creatures and objects bigger or smaller. Normally, this spell is great for turning the party fighter or barbarian into a giant to wreak havoc on your foes. When you have an instant fortress, though, you can shrink it to the size of a pill—or half an inch—using reduce. Then, drop the shrunken magic item into an enemy's drink or pocket with a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) or just toss it at their feet. When the moment is right, activate the instant fortress to force your target to make a Dexterity saving throw or be squished by the fortress: 

"Each creature in the area where the fortress appears must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 10d10 bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. In either case, the creature is pushed to an unoccupied space outside but next to the fortress. Objects in the area that aren't being worn or carried take this damage and are pushed automatically."

Source: Instant fortress

5. Sentinel + Polearm Master

If you've picked through build guides for fighters and other martial characters, you've likely stumbled across this popular combination of feats. It utilizes two feats from the Player's Handbook: Sentinel and Polearm Master. Let's take a look at what these bad boys do and how they interact.

Sentinel
  • When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, the creature's speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn.
  • Creatures provoke opportunity attacks from you even if they take the Disengage action before leaving your reach.
  • When a creature within 5 feet of you makes an attack against a target other than you (and that target doesn't have this feat), you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the attacking creature.
Polearm Master
  • When you take the Attack action and attack with only a glaive, halberd, quarterstaff, or spear, you can use a bonus action to make a melee attack with the opposite end of the weapon. This attack uses the same ability modifier as the primary attack. The weapon’s damage die for this attack is a d4, and it deals bludgeoning damage.
  • While you are wielding a glaive, halberd, pike, quarterstaff, or spear, other creatures provoke an opportunity attack from you when they enter your reach.

Source: Player's Handbook

The game plan is straightforward: You rush into battle and get in the face of your enemies. When they attempt to move away from you or past you or attempt to attack another player, you spend a reaction to make an opportunity attack in retaliation. If you hit, the enemy is unable to move.

This combination helps lock down the battlefield, keeping enemies off squishier allies and their attention fixed on you. It's particularly powerful in areas with tight quarters, such as a hallway or small room. For maximum effect, wield a weapon with the reach property, like the glaive. Doing so increases your attack range to 10 feet, allowing you to control a larger portion of the battlefield.

You won't just be protecting your allies, either. Polearm Master also grants you a bonus action attack that deals 1d4 damage. This increases the amount of attacks you can put out, which in turn increases your overall damage output. Just make sure you have a healer nearby to keep you standing when the baddies get their own attacks in.

What's your favorite combo?

These are just a few powerful D&D combos. Just remember to keep your Dungeon Master and other players in mind before picking one of these up. It might be fun trivializing combat encounters, but do it time and time again, and you might find others coming to dislike your build or choice of magic items. In short, communicate and be flexible if your Dungeon Master or players dislike a certain combo you’ve brought to the table. In the end, D&D is about having fun together—not in spite of one another. Do you have a favorite combo that you’d love to share? Tell us in the comments!

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DeAngelo Murillo (That_DeAngelo) is a fourth-generation Mexican-American who helps bring more representation to the geeky community through storytelling, journalism, interviewing creatives, and more on his Twitch channel. In his free time, he enjoys harassing his peers into participating in TTRPG charity events with him and also dies quite often in video games.

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