Complete Guide to Shoving in D&D 5e
Guide by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
Ah, shoving. It's simple, blissful brute force. Sometimes you’re teetering on a high beam and just want to knock your foe from the rafters, other times you’re just irritated at the bar and are looking to start something. In any case, Shoving is here for you.
Shoving Mechanics
To get a good base point for shoving, and all the intricacies around it, we can consult the rules. Yay!
Shoving Rules
The following are the exact rules for how anyone can shove another creature.
“Using the Attack action, you can make a special melee attack to shove a creature, either to knock it prone or push it away from you. If you’re able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them.
The target must be no more than one size larger than you and must be within your reach. Instead of making an attack roll, you make a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the target’s Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (the target chooses the ability to use). If you win the contest, you either knock the target prone or push it 5 feet away from you.”
Prone Condition
As shoving a creature can knock a creature prone, here are the specific rules for being prone.
“A prone creature’s only movement is to crawl, unless it stands up and thereby ends the condition.
The creature has disadvantage on attack rolls.
An attack roll against the creature has advantage if the attacker is within 5 feet of the creature. Otherwise, the attack roll has disadvantage.”
Contest Rules
Additionally shoving relies on the Contest rules, so we can reference the important text here.
“Both participants in a contest make ability checks appropriate to their efforts. They apply all appropriate bonuses and penalties, but instead of comparing the total to a DC, they compare the totals of their two checks. The participant with the higher check total wins the contest. That character or monster either succeeds at the action or prevents the other one from succeeding.
If the contest results in a tie, the situation remains the same as it was before the contest.”
Tactics of Shoving
On its own, some characters may want to shove more often than they do. There are a bunch of reasons to use it, especially for characters with a high Athletics modifier.
Shoving to Disengage
One of the easiest reasons to shove is to get a free “disengage” action alongside one or more other attacks. When you’re getting majorly injured, but you know you still need to kill something you’re fighting, spending one of your two attacks past 5th level attempting to shove the creature back can free you up from triggering Attacks of Opportunity. While the disengage action ensures you can freely escape, taking the Attack action to get an extra attack prior can squeeze a bit more out of your character in fights.
Shoving for the Prone Condition
Another easy reason to want to shove is to take advantage of the prone condition. But when should you try to knock something prone instead of just attacking it again? Time to engage statistics!
White Room Statistics
Let's take a basic example: a 5th-level fighter with a longsword, +3 Strength, and no other modifications. When they hit, they deal an average of 7.5 damage, which is the average result of 1d8+3.
Against a creature with an AC of 16, the fighter is hitting roughly half the time with their weapon attacks. Advantage ups the odds of getting the needed 10 or higher from 50% to 75% of outcomes.
We can calculate an “average damage per round” from these two scenarios: two attacks, or successfully knocking the creature prone and attacking once with advantage. Two attacks with a 50% chance to hit are easy to calculate average damage of; 50% of 7.5 *2 is still 7.5.
With advantage on one attack, with the odds being 75% instead, we’re dealing 5.625 damage (7.5*.75), which is lower.
However: when you start adding allied attacks into the mix, these numbers change dramatically.
Assuming everyone is just 5th-level fighters with longswords, which we’ll do for the sake of simplicity, each ally that takes advantage of the prone condition ups their average damage by 1.875 per attack for the modifier.
Two fighters, each making two attacks with a 50% chance to hit, would average 15 damage. Over three attacks with advantage, the extra 25% chance to hit ups the average damage dealt to 16.875, and it will only continue to go up from there with additional subsequent attacks.
The TLDR: making one attack at advantage usually results in less damage than making two attacks normally. Making one less attack when the total attacks would be four or more results in more average damage in most situations.
This doesn’t even take into account critical hits, which double the damage of a given attack and are twice as likely to occur. Additionally, if you’ve got rogues, paladins, or other characters adding larger quantity of dice on hit, the advantage of granting them advantage gets even higher, making knocking something prone often going to be worth it if you can get at least one extra ally to get advantage from the condition. Neat!
The Downsides
It also doesn’t account for failing to knock something prone, which is another compounding factor. In situations where you succeed, it can be a large average damage boost. When you fail to shove, you’re missing out on an opportunity to strike, which is an incredibly high cost. Investing in Athletics as a fighter, barbarian, ranger, or paladin becomes a lot more appealing with this line of play in mind.
Another major concern is initiative. If a creature is knocked prone and has speed still, should they act between you and your other melee ranged allies, this condition doesn’t really mean anything. You can get advantage on one attack roll, which we’ve determined isn’t worth it over making a second attack, and none of your allies can take advantage of the condition as the monster can just end it by getting up with their movement. Knowing what the initiative order is prior will help guide whether or not it's worth risking the shove.
There are yet more concerns with shoving: knocking something prone grants them a defensive boon against ranged attackers. This can take your Sharpshooter ranger and radically reduce their odds of hitting a target you’d really like them to sink shots into. This can be alleviated by readying actions, but can still act as a major hiccup in strategy that will not necessarily make this a great option in many party compositions.
All of these numbers aren’t representative of every encounter at every table; after all, D&D is a game of constantly shifting context with wildly different party compositions. But knowing the power of knocking something prone and being able to use that condition to your team’s advantage can offer a strategic edge to empower any character with Extra Attack.
Grappling a Prone Creature
While not directly attached to the shove mechanics, you can replace attacks with grapple attempts as well. Doing so successfully on a prone target prevents it from getting up while grappled, which can extend the duration of them being prone to empower multiple rounds of attacks.
This likely is going to be even more niche than getting meaningful shoves but is still an interesting mechanic to keep in mind on hearty enemies you intend to lay into for a few rounds back to back.
Shoving into Area of Effect Spells and Abilities
The last major reason to consider frequent shoving is to help empower allied spellcasting effects that trigger “when a creature enters the space for the first time each turn” or similar effects.
Cloudkill, for example, forces a creature to make a Constitution saving throw when they enter a space for the first time each turn, taking 5d8 poison damage on a failed save or half as much on a success. A creature that exists the area on its turn and runs into you now can suffer one of your attacks and get shoved back in to double dip into the damage. On top of that, the creature can then subsequently start its turn in the area for an additional save and damage, taking a spell that may have only dealt 5d8 damage and potentially tripling it to 15d8.
It won’t necessarily be that consistent, but playing defense at the line of a Wall of Fire, which has similar wording, can end up dealing more damage than a single attack would have dealt.
Features that Enhance Shoving
If shoving is something that you’re excited to play around with, there are a handful of options you can consider building to further empower it.
Feats
Shield Master is the default “free” shoving action characters get access to. It does three things while wielding a shield:
“If you take the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action to try to shove a creature within 5 feet of you with your shield.
If you aren't incapacitated, you can add your shield's AC bonus to any Dexterity saving throw you make against a spell or other harmful effect that targets only you.
If you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you can use your reaction to take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, interposing your shield between yourself and the source of the effect.”
The bulk of this we care about is the bonus action special shove we get after taking the attack action; with it, we can not forgo any of our two attacks and get a free opportunity to knock something prone or pushing it back 5 feet, all while also adding a bunch of defensive juice to your sheet.
It’s great on characters with Extra Attack, as you can use the bonus action shove after any attack made as part of your Attack action, and against any creature within 5 feet of you. This means you could make a weapon attack, shove as a bonus action, then make your Extra Attack against a creature you could have knocked prone!
Charger, similarly, offers characters a bonus action to shove if they’d like. It states:
“When you use your action to Dash, you can use a bonus action to make one melee weapon attack or to shove a creature. If you move at least 10 feet in a straight line immediately before taking this bonus action, you either gain a +5 bonus to the attack’s damage roll (if you chose to make a melee attack and hit) or push the target up to 10 feet away from you (if you chose to shove and you succeed).”
This shove is special; it doesn’t gain any bonuses for knocking the target prone, but can push a creature back an extra 5 feet if you’ve moved at least 10 feet in a straight line.
Charger works great on characters who regularly need to dash to engage in a fight, and don’t necessarily want a ton of other feats. The prone condition here isn’t all that exciting, nor is typically the knockback as the use cases where you’ll likely want to be charging towards will be far away from other melee allies or allied damaging area effects. Still, if you want as many options for shoving as possible, Charger is an extra way to get it.
Class Features
Raging. The easiest place to start in empowering shoving is the Barbarian’s Rage feature. While raging, you have advantage on Strength checks, making all of your contested ability checks empowered whenever you’d like. One level in barbarian offers two rages, and can be an easy dip for other multi-attackers to take to wildly increase their chances of success when shoving people around. Alternatively, a 5th-level barbarian is going to also have Extra Attack, and while Reckless Attack somewhat overlaps with your advantage gained by shoving, you can still do plenty of knocking people prone for allied setups.
Expertise. This may seem a bit out of the ordinary for a fighter, barbarian, or ranger, but dipping a level into Rogue, especially on Dex-based attackers can easily improve both your damage once a round with Sneak Attack (which will trigger when attacking a prone creature once a round) and offer you Expertise for your Athletics skill, doubling its proficiency. While rogues otherwise aren’t great at shoving, as they have to forgo their single, powerful attack to do it, getting Expertise on multi-attacking characters can majorly take advantage of it. Rangers in particular can make this dip easily, often sticking around for three levels for a subclass and Cunning Action as well. Three levels in Bard can accomplish a similar outcome, getting Expertise and some supportive casting features should that be a direction you prefer.
Other Enhancements
If you want to be better at shoving, you’ll want additional ways to empower your Athletics skill, or ways to make more attacks with the Attack action to make the shoving prone worth it on its own.
Gloom Stalker Ranger’s Dread Ambusher feature gives you an additional attack made as part of an attack action on your first turn in combat which can make knocking something prone worth it on its own, agnostic of initiative or allied attacks.
The Hex spell is a bonus action way to subtract a d6 from enemy skill checks; should you choose Strength or Dexterity (whichever you expect your contestant to use), you can hamper further their means of avoiding the shove.
Bardic Inspiration majorly enhances your ability to shove and can be a great place to use those dice. It can help facilitate a massive advantage for more than one creature at the expense of the bard’s bonus action and just one of your attacks. If you’re a martial character with a bard in the party, this combo can massively improve you and your melee comrades' lethality and consistency.
Shoving FAQ
Below are some common rules questions that can have unintuitive outcomes, sometimes with results that change interpretations based on the game designer's later amendments to the rules.
Q: Is there a shove action?
A: No. Shoving is a special attack made in place of a normal attack you’d make using the Attack action.
Q: I tried to shove a creature and we tied on our contested check. What happens?
A: You don’t shove the creature. When a contest results in a tie, the situation remains the same as it was before the contest.
Q: Can I shove a creature as part of an Opportunity Attack, or another attack made as part of a non-Attack action like Monk’s Flurry of Blows?
A: Nope! Shoving is a special melee attack that can be made only as part of the Attack action. There are some special times a character can attempt to shove using these rules (namely the Shield Master feat), but unless it specifies you otherwise, you can’t shove outside of the Attack action. Opportunity Attacks and similar features don’t take the Attack action even though they make attack rolls.
Q: Can I shove a creature using the Attack action granted by the Haste spell?
A: No. The Haste spell specifies the additional action can only be used “to take the Attack action (one weapon attack only)”. Shoving isn’t a weapon attack, and thus doesn’t qualify.
Q: I have an Extra Attack; can I shove twice when I take the Attack Action?
A: Yes! While the wording is somewhat ambiguous, one of the game developers clarified this ruling on Twitter, allowing it to be fully interpreted as something you can do more than once per attack action.
Q: I have a feature or ability that includes the condition that I’ve made a melee attack against a creature; does shoving count?
A: Yes, so long as it doesn’t require having attacked with a melee weapon. Shoving a creature is considered a melee attack made against the creature you contest with, but doesn’t make an attack roll, nor does it count as a weapon attack or unarmed strike. The Mobile feat, for example, will let you move freely away from a creature you knock prone with a shove, while Monk’s Martial Arts won’t offer you a bonus action unarmed strike or attack with a monk weapon should you only shove or grapple as part of the Attack action.
Q: Can I shove a creature while my hands are full?
A: Yes! Unlike grappling, shoving doesn’t require a free hand to use.
Q: I have Extra Attack; can I shove and grapple with the same attack action?
A: Yes! You can do either or both, so long as you have more than one attack.
Q: Can a prone creature stand up while grappled?
A: Nope. This nifty combo can allow a single player with Extra Attack to shove a creature prone and grapple them with an open hand in the same action. This way, the creature’s speed is zero, and because standing from prone costs you movement equal to half your normal speed, they can’t get up until they break free of the grapple, and will suffer all the penalties that come with being prone.
Q: I have a weapon with the reach property; can I shove a creature 10 feet away with it?
A: No. The reach property states “This weapon adds 5 feet to your reach when you attack with it, as well as when determining your reach for opportunity attacks with it.” Shoving doesn’t use any weapon to make its special attack, making what weapons you’re wielding not matter.
Q: Can I use the Bonus Action shove obtained with Shield Master before making any attacks?
A: Yes, so long as you’ve made at least one attack with the Attack action. The general consensus now is that bonus actions can occur whenever you want on your turn so long as their prerequisites have been fulfilled. Once you’ve made an Attack as part of the Attack action, which can include another shove or grapple, you’ve taken the Attack action. Bonus actions can be made whenever you want on your turn, which can include between portions of actions that can be broken up by other elements, like how the Attack action functions. Jeremy Crawford on Twitter had a bunch of threads about this, and while it's kind of all over the place, ultimately where it lands makes sense to me!
Anyone Can Shove
Knowing the ins and outs of this mechanic, even without building specifically towards it, can open up some opportunities for variation in your barbarian, paladin, and fighter’s means of engagement. It shines brightest in groups of three or more other melee combatants who can take advantage of it. Before automatically deciding to just keep spamming attacks round after round, consider what a shove could do for you and your team!
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