The ranger closed her eyes and pressed her hand into the soft loam. She drew a long, deep breath and let the power of the forest suffuse her being. Magic flowed from her core, through her arm, and into the soil. Her power spread through the tiny ley-lines that ran through the land like nerves through a body, and she felt herself become one with the world, if only for a moment. She could sense the movement of every creature in this forest, but she was overwhelmed. The sights, sounds, and scents flooded her mind, drowning her in sensation. She struggled to stay above the waves, straining her power to stay connected to the earth.

The ranger’s companions stood around her, looking at her as she gritted her teeth and furrowed her brow. The fighter leaned down to whisper into the druid’s ear, a note of distress in her voice. “Is she okay?”

The druid stroked his beard and glanced up at the fighter. “That woman possesses powers beyond even my own. Trust her,” he said with a sly smile.

The ranger clenched her hand into a fist, and her arm sunk wrist-deep into the soft soil. She took in a sharp breath and said one clear, quiet word. “Drachen.”

And the waves receded. All the sensation that surrounded the ranger subsided, and she found herself standing in a blank, white plane. The ghostly images of trees danced around her, as thin and transparent as morning mist. She looked into the distance, reaching out and feeling the pull of the one single stream of sensation. It was muddy, but she could feel warmth—no, intense heat! A furnace of charcoal and embers!

The ranger stood bolt upright and staggered backwards, mud dripping from her right forearm. She coughed and sputtered as tears welled in her eyes and magic burned through her body.

“Ranger!” the druid shouted. He ran forward and put a wrinkled hand against her back, stabilizing her. “My granddaughter, what did you see?”

The ranger blinked stinging tears out of her eyes and scowled. Her gaze moved from her grandfather’s weathered face and to the questioning eyes of the fighter. “The dragon you seek is in this forest. She has returned to her lair, in the heart of the Everburning Thicket,” she said grimly. “You cannot kill her alone, not with your scant numbers. You will need a dragonslayer. You will need me.”

You are a ranger. Your skill with bow and blade rival those of a fighter, and you possess magical power similar to that of a druid. And yet you possess abilities beyond spell and steel. Your connection to the natural world is both magical and mundane—your survivalist skills have been honed to perfection by years of experience in the wild places of the world, but you also possess superhuman powers of perception while within the natural world. Fighters may outclass you in terms of raw martial capability, and clerics and druids gain access to more powerful spells over the course of their adventuring career, but your versatility and unique mastery of the wilderness makes you an invaluable addition to any party.

This guide will walk you through the decisions that you will face in your first five levels of playing a ranger, and offer suggestions on how to make the best choices for the kind of ranger you want to play. When roleplaying your expert survivalist, you will find that every ranger has a different personality and style. Likewise, all rangers fight in a way unique to them, using different tactics, using different weapons, and spells based on their ranger archetype. This guide will show you a few iconic options that make the ranger stand out from the other classes of Dungeons & Dragons, while showing you a few places where you can make choices that will help make your ranger uniquely yours.

Quick Build Expanded: Building Your Ranger

This isn’t a character optimization guide, but the first step in playing your class effectively is building it effectively. The Quick Start guidelines in the Player’s Handbook are a good start, but don’t go far enough for most new players. Here’s an expanded Quick Start guide. This guide assumes you’re using the D&D Beyond Character Builder, which includes helper text for new players.

• Under “Character Preferences,” turn off “Playtest Content,” “Critical Role Content,” and “Eberron Content.”
• Choose your Race. While characters of any race can be a good ranger, most rangers tend to hail from naturally wise and dexterous races. Dexterity and Wisdom are your most useful ability scores, as the former allows you to deal more damage with your attacks and improve your Armor Class, while Wisdom increases the power of your spells and vital skills like Perception and Survival.
  • Wood elves are archetypal rangers, and their stat bonuses to Dexterity and Wisdom further solidify this niche. Their Mask of the Wild racial trait also helps you hide in natural terrain, making you an excellent hunter. Legolas is an iconic ranger for a reason.
  • The most iconic ranger in fantasy is Aragorn, and humans in D&D carry on his legacy well. (Okay, technically as a descendant of the kings of Numenor, and thus half-elven, but that’s a bit too deep for this guide.) Humans’ well-rounded ability scores and early access to a feat (if using the Variant human option) are useful to any ranger.
  • If allowed in your campaign, aarakocra possess ability scores ideal for a ranger, and their ability to fly makes them fearsome archers.
  • Firbolgs can be good rangers, especially if you want to emphasize Strength instead of Dexterity by wielding large and powerful weapons rather than dual-wielding or using a bow.
  • Any race with an inherent bonus to Dexterity or Wisdom make for good rangers. Fortunately, racial bonuses to Dexterity are fairly common, making goblins, halflings, kenku, kobolds, and tabaxi fun and unusual rangers.
• Choose ranger as your class (obviously).
• Choose skills that fit the character you want to play. Many rangers specialize in tracking, making skills such as Perception and Survival vital for their success. Rangers that work with animals would be well-served by becoming proficient in the Animal Handling skill, and rangers who want to pull off Legolas-like feats of acrobatics would be wise to become proficient in the Acrobatics skill.
• Consider what role you want to fill in the party. Let’s take a closer look at this.

What Kind of Ranger Are You?

D&D is not a single-player game. As such, you should consider how your party will work together when building your character. One way to look at party composition is to look at the specific role that your character will fill in your party. If you want to hunt down enemies and kill them quickly, the role of Offense is for you. If protecting yourself and staying alive is more important than dealing massive damage, consider the Defense role. Finally, if you would rather improve the power of your party than take direct action yourself, the Support role is best for you.

That said, the ranger is a jack-of-all-trades class by design, so you’ll have plenty of options to do things outside the purview of your chosen role. On top of that, your role won’t really come into its own until you select your Ranger Archetype (hereafter referred to as your subclass) until 3rd level. Still, you’ll have plenty of options to make your character’s role distinct until then, such as your Fighting Styles, choice of weapons, and spell selection. This early “trainee period” before choosing your subclass will let you play around and discover what path you ultimately want to go down for the rest of the campaign.

(Note that I’m using Offense, Defense, and Support as shorthand. The D&D rulebooks never refer to characters using these terms, but they’re an easy way to discuss the different roles characters serve in the party.)

Offense

Rangers who seek to hunt the most dangerous prey would be wise to wield a longbow for ranged fighting and hang onto either a longsword or two shortswords for melee combat. Depending on which style you prefer, choose either the Two-Weapon Fighting or Archery Fighting Style at 2nd level, and follow the archetype of either the Hunter or the Beast Master at 3rd level. Beast Master rangers also have a versatile animal companion, allowing them to fulfil a Support role as well.

Defense

Rangers interested in protecting themselves and—if the mood strikes them—their allies, can take a defensive role in the party and attempt to outlast their foes. Archetypes you should choose if you wish to play defensively are the Gloom Stalker and Monster Slayer, both from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. The Gloom Stalker takes a more stealthy approach to defense, whereas the Monster Slayer is more interested in active role in foiling their enemies’ plans.

Support

Rangers don’t have a lot of Support-focused options, but there are archetypes that capitalize and improve upon on the ranger’s naturally utility-focused toolset. Namely, the Horizon Walker (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything) zeroes in the on the ranger’s focus on exploration, and takes it to a planar level. It also allows you to be a flighty and hard-to-pin combatant, making it harder for enemies to take you down. The Beast Master’s animal companion also allows you to support your party while still fighting like an Offense-focused ranger.

Quick Build Expanded (part 2)

• Place your highest ability score in Dexterity, if you want to focus in archery and/or two-weapon fighting. If you want to use weapons like longswords or battleaxes, put your highest ability score in Strength. Put your second-highest ability score in Wisdom, to power up your spells. If you’re willing to sacrifice some attack power to make your magic more potent, you could even reverse this order and put your highest score in Wisdom instead.
• Choose any background that fits your character concept. This is a chance to be creative! How did you become a ranger? Perhaps your parents were killed by orcs, and you became a bounty hunter to pay the bills while hunting down your parents’ killers. Maybe you were a soldier that was separated from your unit on the way back home, and you had to survive in the wilderness until you could find your way back to civilization.
• Finally, determine your equipment. For an easy selection, click on “EQUIPMENT” when promoted to “Choose EQUIPMENT or GOLD”.
  • Given the choice between scale mail or leather armor, choose leather if your Dexterity is higher than your Strength, or choose scale if your Strength is higher than your Dexterity.
  • Given the choice between two shortswords or two simple melee weapons, choose the shortswords if you plan on choosing Two-Weapon Fighting as your Fighting Style at 2nd level. Choose two simple melee weapons if you want throwing weapons like a javelin or a handaxe. (Yes, that is how it works. Throwing weapons are classified as melee weapons first and foremost.)
  • Choose a dungeoneer’s pack if you plan on spending a lot of time underground in dungeons or ruins, but generally it’s best for a wilderness explorer like you to choose an explorer’s pack.

A Ranger in Combat

You are a warrior who fights with the speed and ferocity of a wild animal. You are a front-line warrior with hit points comparable to a fighter, but with slightly lower defenses than heavily armored fighters and paladins. As such, you are a front-line fighter who can lay down serious pain on your enemies, but you also need to stay mobile to avoid taking too much damage. Much like a sorcerer, rangers need to learn spells in order to cast them, but a spell is always prepared for you once it’s learned.

You only know a number of spells as shown on the Spells Known column of the ranger table. It starts at 2 spells at 2nd level, and slowly increases from there.

Finally, be aware that some ranger archetypes grant you bonus spells. Once you choose your subclass at 3rd level, these bonus spells are always prepared, and can help round out your arsenal. If this guide suggests that you prepare a spell that you already have as a bonus spell, just pick another spell to prepare instead. All the ranger subclasses in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything grant you bonus spells known, but none of the ones in the Player’s Handbook do. If you’re up to doing a little bit of houseruling, game designer and ranger enthusiast Dan Dillon recommends giving the Hunter and Beast Master ranger a list of bonus spells, just like the ones in Xanathar’s Guide. Here’s his list!

All Rangers

At 1st level, you gain the Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer features, allowing you to specialize in tracking and learning about certain enemies. This lets you tie certain backstory elements into your initial favored enemy; archetypally, Aragorn’s family was killed by orcs long before the events of The Lord of the Rings. Natural Explorer similar gives you a favored terrain in which your navigational and survivalist skills are most effective. Neither of these features grant you bonuses in combat, but instead provide bonuses to another pillar of the core D&D experience: exploration. Don’t worry if you mess up your initial pick of favored enemy or terrain; you get more choices at higher levels.

At 2nd level, you choose a Fighting Style. These styles tend to be fairly specialized, so look for more information on them in the role breakdowns below. You also gain the ability to cast spells at this level. Likewise, your spell selection will be based on the role you want to fill in your party.

At 3rd level, you choose your Archetype! This subclass will seriously impact the way you play, and is a major defining factor of your party role. You also gain the Primeval Awareness feature, which lets you spend a spell slot to identify the presence of a certain type of supernatural creature in a 1 mile radius around you, but not their location or number.

At 4th level, you gain an Ability Score Improvement or a feat! Most rangers want to maximize their Dexterity or Wisdom scores as quickly as possible to be better warriors or spellcasters, but you may wish to choose a feat to accentuate your role in the party.

At 5th level, you gain Extra Attack, allowing you to attack twice whenever you take the Attack action instead of once. This marks a massive increase in your potential damage.

Offense

As an offensive ranger, you want to be powerful and mobile. If you need to sacrifice armor or hit points in order to make this happen, so be it. Additionally, rangers get a list of spells that generally borrows from druidic magic, but also includes a few unique and powerful options. Since you have so few spell slots (and the ability to prepare so few spells), it is usually best to lean hard into your offensive role rather than spreading yourself too thin. However, you are the final arbiter of your spell selection, and you should pick spells that help you based on the content of your own campaign!

At 2nd level, pick a Fighting Style that compliments the ability score you chose to make the highest: Strength or Dexterity. If you picked Strength, you should pick the Dueling style and wield a longsword (or similar) and shield. If you picked Dexterity and want to specialize in melee combat, pick the Two-Weapon Fighting style and wield two shortswords or scimitars. If you picked Dexterity and want to focus in marksmanship, choose the Archery style.

Also at 2nd level, you learn two 1st-level ranger spells. This isn’t very much, so be sure to go all-in on offense. Two good spells to choose are ensnaring strike and hunter’s mark. Be aware that both of these spells require your concentration, so you can’t have them both active at once. Cast them wisely.

At 3rd level, you choose a ranger Archetype to emulate, choosing between the Hunter and the Beast Master. Neither of these subclasses grant you bonus spells, unless you house rule in Dan Dillon’s bonus spells.

If you choose the path of the Hunter, you are actually faced with another choice. At 3rd level, your Hunter’s Prey feature is actually a choice between three features. You can choose between Colossus Slayer, which encourages fighting single powerful monsters, as grants you extra damage against injured creatures; Giant Killer, which lets you use your reaction to attack a Large or larger monster whenever it misses you while within 5 feet (probably the weakest of the three choices); and Horde Breaker, which encourages fighting large groups of weaker monsters, as it lets you attack two creatures standing next to one another. The choice is yours, but I’ve found that Colossus Slayer is typically the best pick of the three.

If you choose the path of the Beast Master, you gain an animal companion that will fight alongside you as long as you use your action to command it to attack. Be sure to read the actual text of this feature carefully; it’s quite specific in what abilities and bonuses it grants your companion. Some of the best choices of animal companion include the flying snake, giant poisonous snake, panther, and wolf. The flying snake may seem weak at first, but its Flyby trait and high poison damage lets it flit about the battlefield, shooting out from around your arm to hit an enemy, and then retreating back to you. Don’t underestimate this little critter.

Also at 3rd level, you learn one more 1st-level ranger spell. Take this opportunity to round out your arsenal by choosing a utility or support spell. Cure wounds is always a good pick, especially if your party is short on healing. Beast bond can be a fun choice for a Beast Master, and snare is fun, if you’re a clever player that likes setting traps.

At 4th level, you should take an Ability Score Improvement. If you’re an archer, consider instead taking the Sharpshooter feat. This feat allows you to do massive damage at the cost of accuracy, but the tradeoff is usually worth it.

At 5th level, you get your Extra Attack and access to 2nd-level spells. You also learn one new spell of either 1st or 2nd level. Take this chance to learn one of your powerful new 2nd-level spells. There aren’t a lot of offensive 2nd-level ranger spells, so consider taking a utility spell like pass without trace. If you need more power, cordon of arrows is an exciting and flavorful option.

Defense

A defensive ranger wants to be mobile and stealthy. Since you are unable to wear the heaviest armor, staying hidden is a much easier choice than trying to tank up. (That said, you do have access to both shields and medium armor. Playing a well-armored ranger isn’t impossible.)

At 2nd level, pick the Defense style. This grants you a +1 bonus to AC whenever you’re in armor; that’s essentially equivalent to a rare magic item!

Also at 2nd level, you learn two 1st-level ranger spells. Two good spells to choose are fog cloud and hunter’s mark. Be aware that both of these spells require your concentration, so you can’t have them both active at once. Fog cloud is a useful way to gain concealment and either flee from your enemies or approach them unseen.

At 3rd level, you choose a ranger Archetype to emulate, choosing between the Gloom Stalker and the Monster Slayer. As a Gloom Stalker, you gain three features at 3rd level! The first is a bonus spell: disguise self, which you can use to fool your humanoid prey. You also gain the Dread Ambusher feature, which grants you a bonus to initiative, as well as extra damage and movement speed on the first turn of combat. Finally, the Umbral Sight feature grants you darkvision and effective invisibility against creatures who have darkvision, making you an incredible nocturnal predator.

As a Monster Slayer, you also gain three features at 3rd level. The first is a bonus spell: protection from evil and good, which can ward you or an ally against a certain type of supernatural creatures. Be sure you have holy water to spend on this spell, which costs 25 gp! You also gain the Hunter’s Sense feature, which allows you to learn a creature’s damage immunities, vulnerabilities, or resistances as an action. Finally, you gain the Slayer’s Prey feature, which lets you deal extra damage to a single creature when you attack it.

Note that most of the Monster Slayer’s early class features are offensive in nature, but the subclass itself is ultimately a more defensive one, especially as you gain levels.

Also at 3rd level, you learn one more 1st-level ranger spell. Take this opportunity to round out your arsenal by choosing a utility or support spell. Cure wounds is always a good pick, especially if your party is short on healing. Detect magic is also useful, and can help keep you and your party safe in the presence of enchantments.

At 4th level, you should take an Ability Score Improvement. If you’re an archer and you feel your offensive power needs improving, consider instead taking the Sharpshooter feat. This feat allows you to do massive damage at the cost of accuracy, but the tradeoff is usually worth it. If you think your defenses need shoring up, the Medium Armor Master feat could give you just the boost you need.

At 5th level, you get your Extra Attack and access to 2nd-level spells. You also learn one new spell of either 1st or 2nd level. Take this chance to learn one of your powerful new 2nd-level spells. Pass without trace is easily the most powerful stealth spell in the game, and is a strong contender for the most powerful spell in the game, period. Barkskin is a straightforward and powerful defensive option, as well.

Support

Support is perhaps the ranger’s least conventional role. All rangers have party support features available to them, but they can sometimes be forgotten when a dedicated healer like a cleric is present. Nevertheless, you have powerful support spells and features available to you, and can put them to great use.

At 2nd level, pick the Archery or Defense Fighting Style. Archery will help you fight from a distance, allowing you to make a difference in combat, even when you’re out of spells.

Also at 2nd level, you learn two 1st-level ranger spells. Two good spells to choose are cure wounds and hunter’s mark. Even though you’re a Support character, hunter’s mark is a powerful and versatile spell that fits into every ranger’s arsenal.

At 3rd level, you choose a ranger Archetype to emulate, choosing between the Horizon Walker and the Beast Master. The Horizon Walker gains three features at 3rd level, the first of which is a bonus spell. This spell is protection from evil and good, which can ward you or an ally against a certain type of supernatural creatures. Be sure you have holy water to spend on this spell, which costs 25 gp! Your next feature is Detect Portal, which allows you to sense the presence of planar portals within 1 mile. This feature is either very powerful (in planar campaigns) or not very useful at all. Be sure to talk with your DM about this feature. If your DM thinks it’ll be totally useless in their campaign, consider asking to swap it out with the Monster Slayer’s Hunter’s Sense feature, a powerful support tool.

Finally, the Horizon Walker gains a very powerful combat feature called Planar Warrior, which lets you spend a bonus action to deal additional damage on an attack. This synergizes very poorly with two-weapon fighting, so a Horizon Walker would do well to stick to a longbow or a longsword in combat.

If you choose the path of the Beast Master, you gain an animal companion that will fight alongside you as long as you use your action to command it to attack. Be sure to read the actual text of this feature carefully; it’s quite specific in what abilities and bonuses it grants your companion. Some of the best choices of animal companion include the flying snake, giant poisonous snake, panther, and wolf. The flying snake may seem weak at first, but its Flyby trait and high poison damage lets it flit about the battlefield, shooting out from around your arm to hit an enemy, and then retreating back to you. Don’t underestimate this little critter.

Note that you can use your action to command your animal companion to use the Help action. If you send your companion far from you, it essentially lets you Help at range, like a Mastermind rogue. Speaking of rogues, your animal companion counts as an ally, making it easier for rogues to activate Sneak Attack if your companion remains adjacent to your enemies. Also, once you reach 7th level, you can command your companion to Help as a bonus action, which makes your “ranged Help” even more powerful, since you can grant an ally advantage and still make your own attacks at the same time.

Also at 3rd level, you learn one more 1st-level ranger spell. If you feel your offense needs improving, ensnaring strike will help injure enemies and keep them away from you. Animal friendship is also an excellent way to improve your out-of-combat utility.

At 4th level, you should take an Ability Score Improvement. If you’re an archer and you feel your offensive power needs improving, consider instead taking the Sharpshooter feat. This feat allows you to do massive damage at the cost of accuracy, but the tradeoff is usually worth it. If you think your defenses need shoring up, the Medium Armor Master feat could give you just the boost you need. The Mage Slayer feat could also help you protect your party by disrupting enemy tactics if enemy spellcasters are giving your party a hard time.

At 5th level, you get your Extra Attack and access to 2nd-level spells. You also learn one new spell of either 1st or 2nd level. Take this chance to learn one of your powerful new 2nd-level spells. Pass without trace is easily the most powerful stealth spell in the game, and is a strong contender for the most powerful spell in the game, period. Find traps can also keep your party out of trouble, if you spend a lot of time in dungeons. Finally, lesser restoration is an always-useful status-removing spell.

Making Your Ranger Your Own

Your ranger doesn’t have to be an off-brand Aragorn or a Legolas clone. Rangers in D&D fill a variety of unique roles. They are a mystical warrior of the wilderness, as in touch with magic as they are proficient with animal empathy. As a Gloom Stalker, you can be an assassin of the wilderness, like Tarzan stalking his prey… or you can be an urban ranger, using the shadowy streets of Waterdeep as cover like another ranger might use woodland foliage… or you can be a drow assassin of the Underdark, as familiar with the bioluminescent mushrooms of your subterranean realm as another ranger would be with the flowers of the wetlands.

Never feel beholden to the clichés and archetypes of classic fantasy, but don’t be afraid of them either. My first D&D character ever was a ranger named Mars, and he was definitely an Aragorn knock-off… but he quickly evolved into his own character with his own story. Tales of his famously bad luck and his enchanted helmet will live on in my memory forever. Even bad ideas can blossom into great characters, so don’t fret over your first concept. Go ahead and make a character, and have fun!

James Haeck is the lead writer for D&D Beyond, the co-author of  Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and the Critical Role Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, the DM of  Worlds Apart, and a freelance writer for Wizards of the Coast, the D&D Adventurers League, and Kobold Press. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his partner Hannah and his panther companions, Mei and Marzipan. You can usually find him wasting time on Twitter at @jamesjhaeck.