Best Feats for Drakewarden Ranger 5e

by Prince Phantom

If you’re as big a fan of the “How to Train Your Dragon” franchise as I am, this subclass probably speaks to you on a very deep level. Even better, it actually delivers on the fantasy in a mechanically powerful way!

This subclass is awesome all around, and the addition of a summoned drake to attack and take hits really opens up a ton of possible synergies for us to take advantage of. Feat selection may actually look quite different for us than it does for the average Ranger, so let’s dive in.

Best Feats for Drakewarden Ranger 5e

Sharpshooter/Great Weapon Master (Lv 4): For once we actually don’t want to take a bonus action attack feat. This is because our drake is going to monopolize our bonus action almost every turn. This is great, because it means we aren’t bound to taking two feats to be a relevant damage dealer, only one! This frees us up to take other feats later. To be clear, if you want the most damage possible, us attacking with something like Crossbow Expert will do more than our drake attacking, but we really sacrifice a lot of utility and flexibility if we do that. Besides, if you want to just play with the typical Ranger, just pick Hunter and be boring the way Garfield intended.
Mounted Combatant (Lv 8): This probably isn’t super necessary for your build, but it’s not like I get to talk about niche feats like this very often, so I’ll take it! Redirecting attacks from our mount to us is something we may or may not want to do depending on which of us has more hp, but it does keep enemies from hard focusing our drake and taking it out in only a round or two. It will be rare that this provides us with advantage until level 15 where our drake becomes large, but it might come up occasionally. Our drake actually does have proficiency in Dexterity saves, so it will have a decent shot at passing them and taking no damage at all. All together I think this feat is worth it if you plan on riding your drake all the time, with the understanding that not all Drakewardens are planning on doing that. Staying uncounted and having your drake fly around is a totally valid strategy as well.
War Caster (Lv 8): We really shouldn’t neglect our spellcasting just because we are good at weapon attacks. In fact, we benefit more from casting a spell during our turn than a typical Crossbow Expert build. This is because Crossbow Expert requires us to attack with our action to get the bonus action attack, but our drake can attack no matter what we do with our action. Concentrating on a spell like Spike Growth can be really good for us, as our drake and work to grapple and block enemies to keep them inside the area of effect. Because of this, it is definitely worth investing in our concentration.
Fey Touched (Lv 8): It’s just hard not to take the feat that’s arguably the most generically good in the game. Misty Step fills a hole in our spellcasting capabilities, and Silvery Barbs gives us a reaction option that also fills a gap in our spell list. It’s especially good if we are rounding up our Wisdom.
Sentinel (Lv 12): If you are playing the melee build and either always staying next to our drake or riding it, this gives us a reaction attack whenever a creature attacks our drake. The movement denial can also be a way for us and our drake to provide a frontline defense, as two bodies can really control a lot of space.
Resilient (Lv 12): Wisdom and Constitution are both good choices. Wisdom saves are much more debilitating, but Constitution saves protect our concentration. Pick whichever you feel like you’re struggling with most frequently.
Alert (Lv 12): Our good Dexterity has probably carried us in terms of initiative up to this point, but as we get to higher levels winning initiative becomes more and more important as monsters get stronger opening gambits. A good DM throws the strongest punch first, so being able to prep or even prevent that is very strong.

Thank you for visiting!

If you’d like to support this ongoing project, you can do so by buying my books, getting some sweet C&C merch, or joining my Patreon.

The text on this page is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a.

‘d20 System’ and the ‘d20 System’ logo are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
and are used according to the terms of the d20 System License version 6.0.
A copy of this License can be found at www.wizards.com/d20.