12 Best Ranger Feats in the 2024 Player's Handbook

Tags Ranger 101 author-damen-cook Player's Handbook

The Ranger is one of the most versatile classes, able to excel in exploration and combat, with a knack for healing, utility, and battlefield control magic to boot. A Ranger can safely guide the party through a hot desert or the grim Underdark, be a durable frontline combatant, and quickly eliminate enemies from afar. But their feats will dictate where their specialties lie.

In this article, we’ll look at feats well-suited to the Ranger in the 2024 Player's Handbook. As Rangers have such a varied skill set, we’ll note where feats will work best for ranged, magic, exploration, or melee-focused builds.

  1. Alert
  2. Magic Initiate
  3. Skilled
  4. Defensive Duelist
  5. Piercer
  6. Speedy
  7. Sharpshooter
  8. Archery
  9. Two-Weapon Fighting
  10. Boon of Combat Prowess
  11. Boon of Dimensional Travel
  12. Boon of Skill

Feats Are Now Standard in the 2024 Player’s Handbook

Feats are now a standard part of the 2024 core rules, with four different types of feats to help bolster your characters. Origin feats are granted by your background and can be taken whenever you get a feat; General feats are unlocked at class level 4 and again as you progress your character; Fighting Style feats are available as part of specific class features; finally, Epic Boon feats are bestowed as powerful, game-changing gifts for characters who reach level 19.

Best Origin Feats for a Ranger

Artist: NOOR RAHMANAn aerial view of a well-lit city at night. Its walls tower over a river and mountainous area.

Alert

Associated Backgrounds: Criminal, Guard

“An alert Ranger is an alive Ranger,” or whatever Drizzt said. With the Alert feat, your Ranger can add their Proficiency Bonus when they roll Initiative, so pick up this feat if you want uncannily quick reflexes in combat. The updated Alert feat also allows you to swap your Initiative roll with a willing ally’s Initiative roll.

So if you and your party agree that you should cast Silence before the enemy mage’s turn or Barkskin on an ally before they run into danger, this feat lets you potentially trade your spot in the Initiative order to make that happen.

Magic Initiate (Cleric, Druid, or Wizard)

Associated Backgrounds: Acolyte (Cleric), Guide (Druid), Sage (Wizard)

If you’re anything like me, you may find it difficult to decide between a Fighting Style feat or the Druidic Warrior benefit when Rangers gain the Fighting Style feature at level 2.

It’s easy to yearn for cantrips, especially as a half-caster like the Ranger, who doesn’t usually get access to them. But a Fighting Style feat is an excellent asset to increase your martial prowess. Now that every background comes with an Origin feat, you can choose a background that provides the Magic Initiate feat to have both!

Artist: WAYNE ENGLANDA spellbook, potions, and other magical implements.

The Magic Initiate feat grants you two cantrips from the Cleric, Druid, or Wizard spell lists, plus one level 1 spell from that list. You can choose Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma as your spellcasting modifier for these spells, so naturally, your Ranger will choose Wisdom. You also can cast the level 1 spell without a spell slot once per day, which is a huge boon for the Ranger because of their limited spell slots.

You have a valuable opportunity here to broaden your skill set with these spell choices. Pick up Healing Word and some cantrips from the Cleric spell list to ensure you can help your party members from a distance, or Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade (both from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything), and Shield from the Wizard spell list if you want to use magic to empower yourself in close-quarters combat. Or grab Find Familiar because every Ranger deserves a little animal friend!

If you want to continue expanding your magic as you level up, consider the Fey-Touched or Shadow-Touched feats.

Skilled

Associated Backgrounds: Charlatan, Noble, Scribe

Everybody can benefit from a few extra skill proficiencies, and the Skilled feat grants you proficiency in three skills or tools of your choice.

You’ll want to tailor your selections to your campaign and to the role you want to play in your party. If you’ll be spending a lot of time in the Underdark, you might choose Perception, Stealth, and Survival. If your campaign is combat-heavy, you can use this opportunity to ensure you’re proficient in Acrobatics, Athletics, and Intimidation. Rangers in an intrigue-laden campaign will want to grab proficiency in Deception, Insight, and perhaps the Disguise Kit or Forgery Kit.

If you want to continue investing in your skills as your story progresses, consider the Skill Expert feat later on.

Best General Feats for a Ranger

Artist: Chris RalllisAn elven Ranger in a tree with their primal companion aims a bow and arrow.

Defensive Duelist

Prerequisite: Level 4+, Dexterity 13+

When you are wielding a Finesse weapon and another creature hits you with a melee attack, this feat allows you to take a Reaction to add your Proficiency Bonus to your AC, potentially causing the attack to miss you. After you take this Reaction, this bonus to your AC applies against all melee attacks until the start of your next turn.

If your Ranger is a frontline combatant, you’ll probably be using this feat’s Reaction on most rounds of combat. Increasing your AC by at least +2 (and up to +6 at higher levels) for an entire round of combat could easily be the difference between life and death, especially when you’re surrounded by enemies!

The Defensive Duelist feat also now increases your Dexterity score by 1, which is great news for nimble Rangers.

Piercer

Prerequisite: Level 4+

Piercer belongs to a lovely subsection of feats that I recommend to any damage-focused martial build: Crusher, Piercer, and Slasher. Each of these feats grants you +1 to an ability score (in Piercer’s case, Strength or Dexterity), an effect you can apply once per turn when you hit a creature, and an ability that triggers when you score a Critical Hit against a creature. As their names suggest, each feat is concerned with dealing a specific type of damage: Bludgeoning for Crusher, Piercing for Piercer, and Slashing for Slasher.

If your Ranger prefers a Quarterstaff or Warhammer, look into Crusher, and if your Ranger prefers a Battleaxe or Scimitar, consider Slasher. I recommend Piercer here because it complements Shortswords, Daggers, Rapiers, and most Ranged weapons—which are standard fare for Rangers.

Once per turn, when you deal Piercing damage to a creature, Piercer allows you to reroll one of the damage dice. You must use that new roll, but you don’t have much to lose if you roll a 1 on your Longbow attack’s damage die. When you score a Critical Hit that deals Piercing damage, you can roll an additional damage die when determining the extra Piercing damage the target takes. If you’ve picked a weapon with the Vex mastery property, such as the Rapier or Shortsword, you’ll likely gain Advantage on attack rolls quite often, significantly increasing your chances of landing a Critical Hit and triggering this feature.

Speedy

Prerequisite: Level 4+, Dexterity or Constitution 13+

The Mobile feat from the 2014 Player’s Handbook has gotten a bit of a makeover in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, revamping into the Speedy feat.

The 10-foot increase to your Speed will look familiar, as will ignoring Difficult Terrain when you use your Dash action. But now, instead of allowing you to avoid provoking Opportunity Attacks from creatures you made an attack against this turn, Speedy imposes Disadvantage on all Opportunity Attacks against you. The new Speedy feat benefits a wider variety of play styles by protecting your Ranger from Opportunity Attacks even if they haven’t made an attack that turn.

And finally, the new Speedy feat increases Dexterity or Constitution by 1, two ability scores that your Ranger probably values quite highly.

Sharpshooter

Prerequisite: Level 4+, Dexterity 13+

Sharpshooter is one of the best feats for any build focused on Ranged weapons, perfect for a Ranger who hangs back and provides cover fire. With Sharpshooter, neither attacking at long range nor attacking within 5 feet of an enemy will impose Disadvantage on your attack rolls with Ranged weapons, and your ranged attacks with weapons ignore Half Cover and Three-Quarters Cover. Your Dexterity score also increases by 1.

Sharpshooter’s ability to ignore Disadvantage on long-range attacks can significantly benefit parties facing aerial creatures or who spot an ambush from far away. With a Longbow, Rangers with Sharpshooter can attack targets up to 600 feet away without suffering Disadvantage—even a Roc using the Dash action would have to take two turns' worth of your arrows before it could reach the party. Throw a Hail of Thorns or Lightning Arrow on top, and the Roc may change its mind about whether you’re a meal worth pursuing!

Best Fighting Style Feats for a Ranger

Artist: MIKE PAPEA Ranger stands atop a cliff overlooking mountains and a lake. A deer stands nearby.

In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, Fighting Styles have been transitioned to feats, which Rangers can pick up at level 2 when they gain their Fighting Style feature.

Remember, the Ranger’s Fighting Style feature also offers the Druidic Warrior benefit, which you can select instead of a Fighting Style feat. Druidic Warrior allows you to learn two Druid cantrips of your choice, which count as Ranger spells for you.

Archery

Prerequisite: Fighting Style Feature

Rangers can be frontline combatants, but if you’re inclined to perch in a tree or dip behind a pillar and fire arrows, take the Archery feat. You’ll gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls made with Ranged weapons. This bonus applies not just to bows but to crossbows and even firearms if your setting includes them.

Two-Weapon Fighting

Prerequisite: Fighting Style Feature

If you want to wield weapons in both hands, pick up the Two-Weapon Fighting feat.

When you take the Attack action on your turn and attack with a Light weapon, you can use your Bonus Action to take an extra attack with a different Light weapon on the same turn. But, when you make an extra attack as a result of a weapon’s Light property, you normally cannot add your ability modifier to the attack’s damage unless it is negative. Two-Weapon Fighting allows you to ignore this restriction.

Seeing as Rangers tend to use their Bonus Actions to cast Hunter’s Mark or use a subclass feature (like a Beast Master commanding their Primal Companion to attack), Rangers who want to wield weapons in both hands should consider finding a weapon with the Nick mastery property.

The Nick mastery property allows you to make the extra attack of the Light property as part of your Attack action instead of a Bonus Action (once per turn). At level 5 (when the Ranger gets the Extra Attack feature), a Ranger that has chosen to learn the Dagger’s Nick mastery property with their Weapon Mastery feature can wield a Shortsword in one hand and a Dagger in the other, thus allowing them to make three attacks as part of their Attack action (two with their Shortsword and one with their Dagger thanks to the Nick mastery property). Plus, with the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, they can apply their ability modifier to the damage of their Dagger attack.

If you want to play it safe (and simplify your Ranger’s combat options), opt for the Defense Fighting Style.

Best Epic Boon Feats for a Ranger

Boon of Combat Prowess

Prerequisites: Level 19+

Missing an attack? Pfft, like you could be caught doing something so ordinary.

With the Boon of Combat Prowess, you can turn a missed attack roll into a hit once per turn. So whether you’re swinging with a Legendary sword, firing with an ordinary bow, or casting a spell like Steel Wind Strike, you can use this feat to ensure your attack hits its target.

In high-stress moments, when the enemy’s turn is next, and you want to land your Ensnaring Strike, the Boon of Combat Prowess will not let you down. This feat also allows you to increase one ability score of your choice by 1, up to a maximum of 30.

Boon of Dimensional Travel

Prerequisites: Level 19+

This Epic Boon allows you to jump around the battlefield with unparalleled mobility. Immediately after you take the Attack or Magic action, you can teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. If a foe has Grappled you, you no longer need to spend your action solely trying to escape. You can make a melee attack against your grappler or cast Cure Wounds on yourself and instantly teleport out of danger! Or use this feat to run up to an opponent, attack at melee range, then teleport away, hopefully behind cover of some sort. And do it all with stronger stats—the Boon of Dimensional Travel increases one of your ability scores by 1, up to a maximum of 30.

Boon of Skill

Prerequisites: Level 19+

If your Ranger specializes in diplomacy, exploration, or investigation, the Boon of Skill might be for you. This Epic Boon feat grants you proficiency in all skills, as well as Expertise in one skill of your choice. You also gain a +1 to any ability score of your choice (up to a maximum of 30), so if you have an odd-numbered ability score that applies to skills you frequently use, take this opportunity to boost it!

This feat’s most impressive quality may be its ability to make the party’s Bard think, “I thought I was the charming one…”

Artist: WAYNE ENGLANDA magical helmet, belt, and bracelet.

Customize Your Ranger

Rangers are flexible characters, able to sneak the party past a dragon with Pass Without Trace one moment and pick an enemy out of the sky with their Longbow the next. Feats present an opportunity to specialize your Ranger and focus on one particular party role or broaden your Ranger’s skill set and keep them well-rounded!

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Damen Cook (@damen_joseph) is a lifelong fantasy reader, writer, and gamer. If he woke up tomorrow in Faerûn, he would bolt through the nearest fey crossing and drink from every stream and eat fruit from every tree in the Feywild until he found that sweet, sweet wild magic.

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