# Tasha's Battle Master Builds - Revisited Located in the fighter section of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is a collection of build archetypes for the Battlemaster subclass. Each of these offer up suggestions for those looking to play as a bow wielding archer or knight on horseback and what fighting style, maneuvers and feats go with it. While many of the suggestions are good, I think others kind of work against the concepts. So, below are a few edits and suggestions I think you can make to the archetypes. These are just my opinions and I'm not offering up optimized builds. Instead, I'm looking more at casual builds or roleplay potential. I’m also not taking race into account for your options, and some feats like Lucky, Martial Adept and Fighting Initiate are always good and you can take them at your DM's discretion. ### Archer **Fighting Style:** Archery ___ **Maneuvers:** Disarming Attack, Distracting Strike, Precision Attack, ***Menacing Attack, Pushing Attack, Evasive Footwork, Trip Attack*** ___ **Feats:** Sharpshooter, Piercer, ***Alert, Observant, Crossbow Expert*** ___ Archer is pretty simple and straightforward for any character who wants to use a bow. All the options presented in Tasha's are pretty good. I’d also recommend Menacing Attack, Pushing Attack and Evasive Footwork to help keep your distance from your enemies. Trip Attack is also good for knocking flying targets out of the air. Alert and Observant also work well for a sniper/hunter character. If you’d like to dip into crossbows, pick up Crossbow Expert as well. ### Bodyguard **Fighting Style:** Interception, Protection ___ **Maneuvers:** Bait and Switch, Disarming Attack, Goading Attack, Grappling Strike, ***Menacing Attack, Pushing Attack*** ___ **Feats:** Alert, Observant, Sentinel, Tough, ***Shield Master*** ___ Bodyguard does pretty well to create a defender type character. For maneuvers, consider picking up Menacing Attack or Pushing Attack to keep enemies away from your charge. Shield Master also might be a good pick if you happen to be using a shield. ### Brawler **Fighting Style:** Blind Fighting, ~~Two-Weapon Fighting~~, Unarmed Fighting, ***Dueling*** ___ **Maneuvers:** Ambush, Disarming Attack, Feinting Attack, Pushing Attack, Trip Attack ___ **Feats:** Athlete, Durable, Grappler, Resilient (**dex/int/wis/cha**), ~~Shield Master~~, Tavern Brawler, Tough ___ Taking roleplay into consideration, Brawler actually has a lot of good suggestions. Grappler is normally a pretty bad feat (you can gain a similar benefit by simply shoving a creature you're grappling prone), but it kind of works on a character who would probably wrestle someone to the ground. If you're planning to use improvised weapons, I think dueling might be be better than two weapon fighting to make that broken table leg hit a little harder. While not stated, Resilient should be any ability score that isn’t Strength or Constitution. Shield Master is a bit of a tough one to justify. It really all depends on if your DM would rule a bar stool as a shield. ### Duelist **Fighting Style:** Dueling **-OR-** Two-Weapon Fighting ___ **Maneuvers:** Evasive Footwork, Feinting Attack, Lunging Attack, Parry, Precision Attack, Ripost, Martial Adept ***Disarming Attack, Distracting Strike*** ___ **Feats:** Defensive Duelist, Dual Wielder, ~~Observant, Savage Attacker,~~ ***Piercer/Slasher, Alert, Mobile*** ___ If you want to be a swashbuckling pirate or a dashing fencer, this build is for you. I think the intention on suggesting Two-Weapon Fighting and Dueling is meant as “one or the other” as they don’t work together and I’ve noted as such here. Outside of that, there are a lot of good maneuvers that work well with this build. You could also pick up Disarming Attack or Distracting Strike. Observant is an okay choice for roleplay, but I think Alert and Mobile are better picks. Instead of Savage Attacker, take the weapon damage associated with your weapon of choice ### Gladiator **Fighting Style:** Defense, Two-Weapon Fighting ___ **Maneuvers:** Goading Attack, Menacing Attack, Sweeping Attack, Trip Attack ___ **Feats:** Athlete, Charger, Dual Wielder **-OR-** ***Great Weapon Master,*** ~~Grappler~~, ~~Savage Attacker~~, Martial Adept, Durable, Tough, ***Slasher/Piercer/Crusher*** ___ Gladiator is good to make if you took the associated background and like turn combat into a spectator sport. The options here are already good. For feats, skip Grappler and Savage Attacker for a weapon damage feat (Slasher/Piercer/Crusher). If you’re not going with two weapon fighting, you could grab a heavy weapon and get Great Weapon Master instead of Dual Wielder. ### Hoplite **Fighting Style:** Defense, ~~Thrown Weapon Fighting~~, ***Dueling*** ___ **Maneuvers:** ~~Brace,~~ Lunging Attack, Parry, Precision Attack, ***Trip Attack*** \pagebreak ___ **Feats:** ~~Grappler~~, Athlete, Polearm Master, Sentinel, Shield Master, Piercer ___ If you’re going for a spear and shield combo, swap Thrown Weapon Fighting for Dueling. The suggestion of Polearm Mastery probably means you want to hang on to your weapon when fighting. This also means you can probably skip Brace, as it becomes a bit redundant with the feat. Take Trip Attack instead. For feats, skip Grappler because you have your hands full already. ### Lancer **Fighting Style:** Dueling ___ **Maneuvers:** Lunging Attack, Menacing Attack, Precision Attack, Pushing Attack, ***Goading Attack*** ___ **Feats:** Heavy Armor Master, Mounted Combatant, ~~Savage Attacker,~~ ***Shield Master,*** ***Piercer/Slasher/Crusher*** ___ If you plan on being a knight on horseback, The Lancer may suit you well. Though, if you're interested in mounted combat, maybe give the Cavalier subclass a look as well. Overall, there's a lot of good suggestions here. For maneuvers, Goading Attack would also be a good pick to keep enemies focus on you. Since you're on a mount, consider picking up a lance to fight with. For feats, pick up your weapon damage feat instead of Savage Attacker and maybe Shield Master for protection. ### Outrider **Fighting Style:** Archery ___ **Maneuvers:** ~~Goading Attack~~, ~~Quick Toss~~, Ambush, Distracting Strike, Precision Attack, ***Menacing Attack, Disarming Attack, Pushing Attack, Trip Attack*** ___ **Feats:** Alert, Crossbow Expert **-OR-** ***Gunner***, Mounted Combatant, Observant, Sharpshooter ___ Reading the suggestions here immediately made me think of wild west style gunfights on horseback. Stick with many of the maneuver suggestions from Archer. Skip Goading Attack and Quick Toss as they don’t really fit here unless you plan to build around throwing weapons. If your campaign is using firearms, consider swapping Crossbow Expert for Gunner. ### Pugilist **Fighting Style:** Unarmed Fighting ___ **Maneuvers:** Disarming Attack, Evasive Footwork, ~~Grappling Strike,~~ Menacing Attack, Pushing Attack, Riposte, Trip Attack ___ **Feats:** Athlete, Durable, ~~Grappler~~, ~~Savage Attacker~~, Tavern Brawler, ***Tough, Crusher*** ___ Great if you’re trying to be more of a monk or boxer-type character. You could probably skip Grappling Strike as becomes a bit redundant with Tavern Brawler and a high strength score. Skip Grappler and Savage Attacker. Instead, grab Tough to take more punches than the other guy and Crusher knock them around with your fists. ### Shock Trooper **Fighting Style:** Great Weapon Fighting, ***Defense*** ___ **Maneuvers:** Menacing Attack, Pushing Attack, Sweeping Attack, ***Brace, Bait and Switch*** ___ **Feats:** Charger, Great Weapon Master, Heavy Armor Master, ***Slasher/Piercer/Crusher*** ___ Shock Trooper seems to be about going all-in on the heavy weapon fighting. The options already presented are pretty good, but consider also taking Defense to boost your AC, Brace and Bait and Switch to get in the enemies face and Slasher/Piercer/Crusher based on your weapon type. ### Skirmisher **Fighting Style:** ~~Archery~~, Thrown Weapon Fighting, ***Two-weapon Fighting*** ___ **Maneuvers:** Ambush, ~~Bait and Switch,~~ Distracting Strike, Quick Toss, ***Evasive Footwork*** ___ **Feats:** Alert, Dual Wielder, Mobile, ~~Skulker,~~ ***Slasher/piercer/crusher, Poisoner*** ___ Skirmisher seems to be your “throwing weapon” fighter. ~~Taking Archery and Thrown Weapon Fighting together is actually pretty good, boosting the damage and accuracy of your weapons.~~ (Nevermind, they don't work together) If you can, consider adding Two-Weapon Fighting on top of that as a number of throwing weapons also have the light property. Bait and Switch is a tricky pick as you don’t really want to get in close for throwing, try Evasive Footwork instead. Skulker is also a difficult one as you’ll need to use your action to hide, unlike the rogue or ranger who can do it as a bonus action. Try slasher/piercer/crusher based on your weapon and Poisoner if you’re feeling a bit underhanded. ### Strategist **Fighting Style:** Defense, ***Superior Technique*** ___ **Maneuvers:** Commander’s Strike, Commanding Presence, Maneuvering Attack, Rally, Tactical Assessment, ***Distracting Strike, Bait and Switch*** ___ **Feats:** Inspiring Leader, Keen Mind, Linguist, ***Observant, Skill Expert, Skilled*** ___ This is straight-up the Banneret/Purple Dragon Knight. If you want your fighter to function as more of a socialite or thinker, this is the build. By itself, Strategist offers a lot of options that can fit well into a less combat focused campaign. Since this build is suggesting to be more of a commander than combatant, I’d also suggest Superior Technique as a fighting style. For maneuvers, you could also try Distracting strike and Bait and Switch to set up attacks for your allies. For feats, Observant, Skill Expert and Skilled could be good to build up your fighter’s proficiencies. \pagebreak > ## TL;DR > Oh, wow. I don't know why this has as many views as it does. If you think I'm wrong about anything I said above, you're probably right. I originally wrote this to nit-pick Wizards for suggesting the Weapon Master feat for Fighter, which they've since eratta'd. > >The printed suggestions are honestly fine for the most part. There are still a few suggestions in the published builds that I feel work against the concepts. >___ >**If you want to ignore everything I've written and just use what's printed, just be aware of the following:** > ___ > **Duelist** > * The Dueling and Two-Weapon Fighting styles conflict with each other. Only take one. > ___ > **Hoplite** > * Thrown Weapon Fighting is suggested here for what looks like a melee build. > * Brace and Polearm Master have a similar mechanic. > ___ > **Pugilist** > * Savage Attacker doesn't work with unarmed strikes > * Grappling Strike and Tavern Brawler have a similar mechanic > ___ > **Skirmisher** > * Archery only works with ranged weapons (bows, crossbows) and not thrown weapons (dagger, javelin) The exception is darts which are a ranged weapon with the thrown property.