One D&D Ancestral Guardian Barbarian Build Guide
Learn the best build for the Path of the Ancestral Guardian Barbarian with step by step leveling guides and easy to navigate sections to only read what you need!
This Ancestral Guardian Barbarian One D&D guide covers everything you need to build your character from level 1 to 20. We rank each subclass feature, provide a quick level-up guide for easy reference, suggest the best feats and species, and highlight top magic weapons to enhance your build. Whether you’re new to Dungeons & Dragons or optimizing for high-level play, this guide has you covered.
Ask questions or discuss the build on Reddit!
Build Summary
- Class: Ancestral Guardian Barbarian
- Role: Defensive Damage Dealer, Tank
- Best Species: Goliath (Hill Giant Ancestry), Aasimar, Human
- Best Feats: Sentinel, Shield Master, Mage Slayer
- Primary Stats: STR > CON > DEX
- Loadout: Shield and One Handed Weapon (Preferably Battleaxe for the Weapon Mastery, but any one handed weapon would do)
- Playstyle: Stay in front of your team, get the attention of the biggest bad, beat them up and take hits for your team
Table of Contents
- Why Ancestral Guardian Barbarian?
- Quick Level Up Guide
- Ancestral Guardian Barbarian Build (Level 1)
- Abilities Ranked
- Species Ranked
- Backgrounds Ranked
- Skills Ranked
- Feats Ranked
- Best Magic Items
- Multiclassing for Ancestral Guardian Barbarian
- Frequently Asked Questions
Why Ancestral Guardian Barbarian?
Most of the time when you’re picking Barbarian, you’re doing it to be a heavy damage dealer and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. However, this subclass flips that concept onto its head. Rather than focusing on damage, this subclass and build are all about protecting your allies instead and letting them shine while you take the beatings in their place. There are extremely few classes and builds that can effectively tank for your team, but if you like that play style, this is one of the best!
Quick Level Up Guide
| Level | Class Features/Feat | Notes |
| 1 | Rage, Unarmored Defense, Weapon Mastery | Rages Per Day: 2 Rage Damage Bonus: +2 |
| 2 | Danger Sense, Reckless Attack | Rages Per Day: 2 Rage Damage Bonus: +2 |
| 3 | Ancestral Guardian Ancestral Protectors Primal Knowledge – Intimidation | Rages Per Day: 3 Rage Damage Bonus: +2 |
| 4 | Feat: Sentinel (STR) | Rages Per Day: 3 Rage Damage Bonus: +2 |
| 5 | Extra Attack, Fast Movement | Rages Per Day: 3 Rage Damage Bonus: +2 |
| 6 | Spirit Shield | Rages Per Day: 4 Rage Damage Bonus: +2 |
| 7 | Feral Instinct, Instinctive Pounce | Rages Per Day: 4 Rage Damage Bonus: +2 |
| 8 | Feat: Shield Master (STR) | Rages Per Day: 4 Rage Damage Bonus: +2 |
| 9 | Brutal Strike | Rages Per Day: 4 Rage Damage Bonus: +3 |
| 10 | Consult the Spirits, Spirit Shield Upgrade Primal Knowledge – Survival | Rages Per Day: 4 Rage Damage Bonus: +3 |
| 11 | Relentless Rage | Rages Per Day: 4 Rage Damage Bonus: +3 |
| 12 | Feat: Mage Slayer (STR) | Rages Per Day: 5 Rage Damage Bonus: +3 |
| 13 | Improved Brutal Strike | Rages Per Day: 5 Rage Damage Bonus: +3 |
| 14 | Vengeful Ancestors, Spirit Shield Upgrade | Rages Per Day: 5 Rage Damage Bonus: +3 |
| 15 | Persistent Rage | Rages Per Day: 5 Rage Damage Bonus: +3 |
| 16 | Feat: Constitution to 18 | Rages Per Day: 5 Rage Damage Bonus: +4 |
| 17 | Improved Brutal Strike | Rages Per Day: 6 Rage Damage Bonus: +4 |
| 18 | Indomitable Might | Rages Per Day: 6 Rage Damage Bonus: +4 |
| 19 | Epic Boon: Boon of Combat Prowess | Rages Per Day: 6 Rage Damage Bonus: +4 |
| 20 | Primal Champion | Rages Per Day: Unlimited Rage Damage Bonus: +4 |
Ancestral Guardian Barbarian Build
Level 1 Build
Species: Goliath (Hill Giant)
Attributes:
| POINT BUY | |
| STRENGTH | 15 (+2 background) = 17 |
| DEXTERITY | 14 |
| CONSTITUTION | 15 (+1 background) = 16 |
| INTELLIGENCE | 8 |
| WISDOM | 10 |
| CHARISMA | 8 |
This is the standard stat array for any Barbarian, not need to overthink it!
Class: Barbarian
Class Features: Rage, Unarmored Defense, Weapon Mastery (Start with Greataxe and Handaxes, change as needed)
For your abilities you get Rage, Unarmored Defense, and Weapon Mastery!
Rage is your bread and butter skill that gives you damage resistance and extra damage which is just what a Barbarian is interested in doing! Furthermore in One D&D, Rage now has out of combat utility once you get Primal Knowledge giving you even more options!
Unarmored Defense is as it sounds, better defense if you’re not wearing armor! Realistically though, I would look for Medium Armor as fast as possible as you’re never going to outscale the AC bonus you get from even middling medium armor.
Finally, you get Weapon Mastery which is a skill which is pretty common amongst martial classes. Pick the weapon masteries of weapons you realistically use and you get some extra effects!
Skill Proficiencies: Athletics and Perception
You can pick any skills you want, but these are the two I want the most for my Barbarians.
Background: Farmer (Tough)
You definitely have good background choices between Farmer, Entertainer, and Guard so you can’t go too wrong, I think Farmer just gives you the most with a good feat (Tough) on top of perfect ability scores and good skill proficiencies.
Starting Equipment: Greataxe, 4 Handaxes, Explorer’s Pack, and 15gp + 50gp from background
Level 2
Class Features: Danger Sense, Reckless Attack
Equipment: Try to pick up some Medium Armor at this point or sometime soon, Scale Mail being your cheapest option.
Now you have access to Danger Sense and Reckless Attack!
Danger Sense is really nice to pick up early as getting advantage on Dexterity saving throws is no joke. While you probably aren’t facing many spells that are going to force Dexterity throws quite yet, having a greater chance of avoiding traps is huge as they can be extra dangerous at this level.
Reckless Attack is a mixed bag as giving yourself advantage on attacks for a turn at the cost of everyone having advantage on attacks against you can be a scary tradeoff. While this is definitely risky when there’s a lot of enemies or you aren’t raging, this is a strong feature when you just care about maximizing your damage, especially after you get your Extra Attack!
That said, there is an interesting tradeoff between Reckless Attack to help ensure your Ancestral Protectors feature, but being easier to hit versus just attacking normally and hoping you hit. I don’t think there’s a great metric here on when to do what, but I would say in a very general sense that the lower your team’s health is versus your own, the more you should probably be using Reckless Attack.
Level 3
Subclass: Ancestral Guardian
Class Features: Ancestral Protectors, Primal Knowledge
Ancestral Protectors is a really unique ability that’s going to draw a lot of attacks away from your allies which is great. At this point, I would highly recommend having Medium Armor (Scale Mail, Breastplate, or Half Plate) as those out-scale what you’d get from Unarmored Defense (generally speaking anyway), a Shield, and a one handed weapon. Drawing attacks is awesome, but if you’re constantly getting hit and downed, you’re not going to be a very effective tank.
With 18 or 19 AC, you’ll be reasonably hard to hit which makes this feature much more potent, although you do have to give up a bit of damage to make this possible. That said, if you wanted to be the main damage dealer, you probably shouldn’t have picked the tank subclass!
For your base class feature, Primal Knowledge gives you more proficiencies from the base Barbarian class, and this is a solid time to pick up Intimidation, but it’s really up to you what you want at this point.
Level 4
Feat: Sentinel (STR) (or Shield Master)
While the average Barbarian would be interested in taking Great Weapon Master as their first feat, you are not the average Barbarian!
Picking up Sentinel is really nice as the tank wants to keep enemy attention on him, and there are few better ways of doing that than not letting them walk away from you. Locking an enemy down next to you will go a long way to keeping your allies alive longer!
The only issue you’re going to come across in a few levels is deciding between whether to use your reaction to take opportunity attacks or use Spirit Shield (once you get it at level 6), and while it is unfortunate you have to pick between the two, having the option to do either means you’ll functionally always have a use for your reaction!
Level 5
Class Features: Extra Attack, Fast Movement
Level 5 brings two great features with Extra Attack and Fast Movement!
Extra Attack literally doubles your potential damage and is the best feature that any martial class could pick up, especially since it gives you two opportunities to activate Ancestral Protectors.
Fast Movement is a nice movement boost to help you navigate the battlefield, something martial characters would always be happy to have even if it’s only 10 more feet.
Level 6
Class Feature: Spirit Shield
You get your second subclass feature in Spirit Shield!
Being able to use your reaction to reduce damage is obviously good, but less good than it may seem. You can only use your reaction once per turn cycle, it isn’t preventing that much damage, and you may lose out on an opportunity attack (from Sentinel) if you use this too early in the round.
All that said, this is still a solid feature as this is functionally small amounts of healing with no resource cost and can sometimes be the difference between someone staying up or going down.
Level 7
Class Features: Feral Instinct, Instinctive Pounce
Level 7 brings Feral Instinct for better initiative rolls and Instinctive Pounce for even more movement!
Feral Instinct is awesome as advantage on initiative rolls is no joke and is functionally like having the Alert feat as a class feature. Being able to go earlier in the turn order is naturally awesome, but it’s even better on Ancestral Guardian Barbarians than other Barbarians! Getting to go before an opponent who may attack one of your squishier party members to intercept them and potentially lock them down between Ancestral Protectors and/or Sentinel is obviously great.
Instinctive Pounce can give you a nice movement speed buff on turns you Rage. It’s hard to tell how often that’s going to be relevant, but there’s nothing more embarrassing than being too far away from your enemy to attack them!
Level 8
Feat: Shield Master (STR) (or Sentinel if you took Shield Master at level 4)
You now have the very difficult decision on whether you want to push your Strength to 20 immediately or look to take two feats to get 20 Strength by level 12. While there are really good arguments for either, I think getting two feats is a better, especially when your other attributes aren’t in a hurry to get increased.
With that in mind, you’re going to pick up the excellent Shield Master feat at this level.
Being able to reposition enemies is really good for getting your allies out of harm’s way, especially when you get to do it for free! Furthermore, being able to potentially avoid damage when you’re forced to make a DEX saving throw really puts this feat over the top!
Level 9
Class Features: Brutal Strike
Reworked from Brutal Critical, Brutal Strike is a nice ability that lets you trade advantage on an attack (perfect for your Reckless Attack or when you knock your enemy prone with your species ability) for extra damage, the ability to push an enemy away and follow them, or to reduce their speed for the turn.
This gives the Barbarian surprisingly decent CC options on top of just getting extra damage by sacrificing accuracy, which is reminiscent of the old Great Weapon Master. Overall, this is a great ability that you’ll use often, especially on enemies with a lower AC.
All that said, this subclass is probably going to use this ability the least amongst all Barbarians as you really don’t want to miss your enemies as when you do, Ancestral Protectors doesn’t activate.
Level 10
Class Features: Consult the Spirits, Spirit Shield Upgrade
You get one of the most unique subclass abilities at this level with Consult the Spirits! Having a surveillance spell every short rest is much more powerful than it may seem and can provide truly invaluable information on an adventure.
On top of a new ability, Spirit Shield also gets a boost which makes it an even more appealing option than it already was.
You also get your second round of Primal Knowledge so you get additional skill proficiencies, and if you don’t have a strong opinion, I would just pick Survival.
Level 11
Class Features: Relentless Rage
One of the strongest abilities not just for Barbarians, but just in the whole game is Relentless Rage!
Relentless Rage lets you keep fighting even when you were supposed to go down from hitting 0 health by passing an initial DC 10 Constitution saving throw that grows by 5 each time. Obviously the first saving throw will be easy to hit, but each one is going to be harder than harder. While you used to just stay at 1 health, you now heal twice your Barbarian level instead making it less likely for this to trigger again immediately making what was one of the strongest Barbarian abilities even better!
Level 12
Feat: Mage Slayer (STR)
As mentioned in level 8, you now want to get your Strength score to 20 so you’re taking the best STR feat you don’t already have, Mage Slayer.
At this level, enemies that use magic are going to become more common so having a feat specifically to counter them is definitely welcome. Make it tough to concentrate on their casting, and if they happen to catch you in a nasty spell, you’re allowed a “Get Out of Jail Free” card once per day!
Level 13
Class Features: Improved Brutal Strike
You get new options to use on your Brutal Strike – Stagger and Sunder.
Stagger makes an enemy have a tougher time passing their next saving throw which can be absolutely devastating when you have an ally ready to blast them with some potent CC.
Sunder, on the other hand, gives a bonus to the next attack against that enemy until the beginning of your next turn. While you could use this to set up your next attack (that you just gave up your Advantage to do which is a little counterintuitive), this is good to help an ally connect if they have a strong attack you really want them to connect with.
Level 14
Class Features: Vengeful Ancestors, Spirit Shield Upgrade
You get your final subclass feature with Vengeful Ancestors that now reflects damage when you’re using Spirit Shield!
This makes Spirit Shield much more enticing now as you can use your reaction as both healing and damage. While you still may be tempted to potentially save your reaction for opportunity attacks still, but I would probably just use Spirit Shield most of the time at this point.
Level 15
Class Features: Persistent Rage
Level 15 brings Persistent Rage which just means you have a base of 10 Rages per day rather than 5! Realistically, you probably weren’t going to be running out of Rage often unless you’re using them liberally for Primal Knowledge or you’ve been in a lot of fights in a row, but ensuring you can functionally never run out is quite nice!
Level 16
Feat: Constitution to 18
Since this is your final feat, it’s best to just bump up your Constitution for extra health. Make it that much harder to kill you and make your Relentless Rage checks a bit easier to pass!
Level 17
Class Features: Improved Brutal Strike
Your final improvement to Brutal Strike – the extra damage is now doubled and you can use two Brutal Strike effects simultaneously. Obviously, this is very strong as doubling the output of an already strong ability will be good, but again, this is probably not an ability you’re going to be using particularly often if you’re interested in guaranteeing that you connect for Ancestral Protectors.
Level 18
Class Features: Indomitable Might
Indomitable Might is a weird class ability as Strength checks and saving throws are pretty rare, but not being able to roll less than a 20 on them is nice for what it’s worth.
Level 19
Epic Boon: Boon of Combat Prowess (STR)
Level 19 brings your Epic Boon, and as any martial should, you’re taking Boon of Combat Prowess!
Being able to turn a miss into a hit is obviously great for any character getting into melee, but it’s especially important for an Ancestral Guardian Barbarian as connecting with a hit means you’re either activating Ancestral Protectors or you’re going for a big Brutal Strike to deal good damage and apply CC to an enemy!
Level 20
Class Features: Primal Champion
While it’s always tempting to multiclass into Fighter at some point for a few levels to get a Fighting Style and Action Surge, Primal Champion is a compelling reason not to. This is equivalent to FOUR ability score improvements which is a tremendous boost. Get that incredible strength and constitution.
Ancestral Guardian Barbarian Abilities Ranked
Ancestral Protectors (Level 3) – B Tier – This ability lets you truly be the tank of the party as enemies are really incentivized to hit you when this is active as they will have a much harder time hitting your allies!
Spirit Shield (Level 6)– C- Tier – Using your reaction to prevent a smidgen of damage isn’t necessarily awful, but not great. This does improve with time, but it’s never going to be an exciting amount of damage prevented. However, if it’s the difference between an ally going down and surviving another turn cycle, then this can be invaluable!
Consult the Spirits (Level 10) – C Tier – Free spells are nice, and these are solid spells that come back every short or long rest!
Vengeful Ancestors (Level 14) – C Tier – Reflecting damage is neat, and while you aren’t preventing or dealing that much damage, healing an ally an average of 14 health and dealing that much damage is not the worst use of your reaction.
Click here for more Tier List Rankings or the Tier List Breakdown.
Ancestral Guardian Barbarian Species Ranked
Aasimar – A Tier – A generically strong species that gives you a lot of things for Barbarians. First off, Necrotic and Radiant resistance obviously works well with Rage to give you a really wide spectrum of damage resistances, Darkvision is great to have, you get a bit of healing which Barbarians don’t typically get, you get Light for free, and a cool form to transform into with 3 reasonable options. Overall an excellent option if you aren’t interested in being a Goliath.
Dragonborn – B Tier – A decent species in general as you get a damage resistance (depending on which origin you pick, I would probably pick Fire), Darkvision, a bit of flight at level 5, and a breath weapon (the element depending on which origin you pick) that can be useful in a pinch. While a solid species, it does get mostly overshadowed by Aasimar who just offer more overall.
Dwarf – C+ Tier – Long range Darkvision, Tremorsense for scouting, and extra health is definitely nice. Resistance to poison damage and advantage to save against the poisoned condition is alright, but pretty rare so it’s not going to come up that often.
Elf – B Tier – Darkvision is always great, an extra skill proficiency, as well as advantage on saving throws against being Charmed (even if that isn’t common as that can cause you to lose Rage), but the real treat is being able to pick your lineage which all comes with things you’d be happy to have as a Barbarian. I would say the Wood Elf lineage is probably the most appealing for Barbarians, but all would be solid.
Gnome – C+ Tier – Advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws is excellent, especially for Barbarians as these spells/effects can cause you to lose your Rage, but nothing here is appealing for Barbarians.
Goliath – A+ Tier – Large Form and Powerful Build aren’t exciting for really any class (maybe a bit better on Barbarians, but that’s debatable), but getting a higher base speed and one of the many excellent Giant Ancestry abilities is awesome, especially Hill Giant for Topple which all martial classes love. This is the gold standard for martial classes.
Halfling – C- Tier – Brave is awesome for Barbarians as Frightened is particularly debilitating and Luck is a fun feature, but it’s really just Brave that’s appealing for Barbarians.
Human – A- Tier – A free Heroic Inspiration every day, a free skill, and a free Origin feat is great for any class. This is a smidgen weaker for Barbarians than other classes as you aren’t as reliant on a particular Origin feat as compared to other classes, but this is still obviously a great option.
Orc – B+ Tier – The archetypal species for a Barbarian as all the abilities here are very strong for Barbarians. Bonus Action Dash lets you get into the fight easier so you don’t miss out on damage which is great. Not going unconscious once per day also help tremendously when you’re going to be typically taking quite the beating in combat. Finally, long range Darkvision is generically good for any class making this a great choice.
Tiefling – D Tier – Damage resistances and Darkvision are always great, but the spells package is just worse than what Elves could give you and this simply doesn’t provide as much as your other options.
Ancestral Guardian Barbarian Backgrounds Ranked
Acolyte – D Tier – While you do get a solid feat and proficiency in Insight, the rest of what Acolyte gives doesn’t really mesh well with what Barbarians are typically looking to do.
Artisan – B- Tier – Good ability scores, solid proficiencies, but a really weak Origin feat. Not a bad option, but the feat definitely hurts.
Charlatan – D+ Tier – The feat is solid and being able to bump both Dexterity and Constitution is solid, but everything else is pretty mediocre and not being able to boost Strength is really rough.
Criminal – C+ Tier – An excellent feat and decent ability scores, but the proficiencies aren’t great and not being able to boost Strength hurts.
Entertainer – A- Tier – The best Origin feat and nearly ideal ability scores (you’d prefer Constitution over Dexterity, but not the end of the world) are obviously great, but the proficiencies aren’t the best. Still an excellent option for Barbarians.
Farmer – A Tier – Excellent Origin feat, excellent ability scores, and decent proficiencies. This is my general go to choice for Barbarians.
Guard – A- Tier – This is an excellent feat, excellent skill proficiencies, and solid ability scores. Not being able to bolster Dexterity nor Constitution does hurt a bit, but it’s not a huge deal.
Guide – B+ Tier – Good ability scores, the Feat is great and the skill proficiencies are also great. The only issue is not being able to boost Strength is really rough.
Hermit – C- Tier – Medium ability scores, medium feat, and not great proficiencies culminate to not so great of a choice.
Merchant – C- Tier – Constitution is the only reasonable ability score, and while the Feat is solid, the rest of the package is not great for Barbarians.
Noble – C Tier – Being able to boost Strength is great and the feat is decent, but the proficiencies in general aren’t ideal.
Sage – C- Tier – Not ideal ability scores (Constitution is great, Wisdom is not so great) and the skill proficiencies aren’t good for Barbarians, but the Feat is great.
Sailor – B- Tier – Good ability scores and good proficiencies, but the Origin feat is pretty bad which is awkward.
Scribe – D Tier – Not great abilities, mediocre feat, but solid skill proficiencies.
Soldier – B Tier – The best possible ability scores and proficiencies, but the worst Origin feat which is awkward.
Wayfarer – D+ Tier – You only get Dexterity as an ability score, the feat is solid, and the skill proficiencies are alright, but not getting Strength nor Constitution as ability scores is super rough.
Ancestral Guardian Barbarian Skills Ranked
Animal Handling – C Tier – Your Wisdom should be decent inherently, and if you don’t have a Druid or Ranger on your team, you may be the one who has to do these checks. That said, Animal Handling isn’t a common check in general so it’s not that important to have.
Athletics – A- Tier – While not a common skill check in general, this is nearly mandatory on every Barbarian for the times you do need to use it as you want to be excellent at it.
Intimidation – A- Tier – Now that Barbarians can use Strength for Intimidation starting at level 3, this is a great proficiency to have as your Charisma caster may not have this specifically (I in particular like Deception and Persuasion more personally).
Nature – B- Tier – A solid proficiency if you don’t have someone who has proficiency in this as Barbarians are like the tertiary nature class.
Perception – A Tier – Simply one of the best proficiencies around if you can get it and have decent Wisdom.
Survival – B Tier – I think this generally a bit better than Nature, but what I said for Nature makes sense for this as well.
Ancestral Guardian Barbarian Feats Ranked
While not every feat can be mentioned as that would be an oppressively long list, the ones I would at all consider would be here (all the Origin feats included as any of the backgrounds could be potential choices). Feats left off the list are not ones I would normally not consider for any Barbarian build, but a full reference on the all the feats in the Player’s Handbook and their associated rankings, check the link below.
General Feats
Charger – B- Tier – While you’ll only get to use this so many times per fight, Barbarians are definitely used to charging headlong into battle so this is very reasonable.
Dual Wielder – C+ Tier – While not typical and Barbarian bonus actions are a little tight because of Rage (and other subclass abilities), Barbarians can reasonably dual wield in this new addition if you have two Light Weapons. Furthermore, this does give you additional opportunities to trigger Ancestral Protectors (or Brutal Strike) which can be very tempting. Personally, I don’t think this is a great option as bringing attention to yourself and then being really easy to hit is a pretty dangerous proposition, but if you’re feeling wild, don’t let me stop you.
Fey-Touched – C Tier – Don’t get me wrong, I love having access to Misty Step (and Silvery Barbs presumably), but this feat isn’t amazing on non-casters as you’re limited to once per day and Barbarians are pretty mobile in general. Not a bad feat, but not one I’m usually looking to take.
Inspiring Leader – C Tier – This is an excellent feat, I would just hope that the Barbarian wouldn’t need to take it. If you have to, there are worse options since every team should probably have one person with Inspiring Leader, but hopefully a Wisdom caster can grab this instead.
Mage Slayer – A Tier – Getting a functional charge of Legendary Resistance is awesome and especially good for Barbarians who can lose their Rage to many spells or abilities.
Medium Armor Master – C Tier – I am not generally a fan of this feat, but if anyone is going to want an increase in Strength and also has 16 Dexterity, it would probably be Barbarians. I wouldn’t look to go for this, but if you have a high enough Dexterity, it’s probably worth it.
Resilient – C+ Tier – Resilient (WIS) is always a fine pick up on any character, Barbarians get a little more out of it as you don’t want to lose your Rage.
Sentinel – A Tier – While this unfortunately doesn’t work as well with Polearm Master anymore, Sentinel is still a great feat that can really let you feel like the team’s tank, especially if you’re a more defensively oriented Barbarian like Ancestral Guardian, Wild Heart, or World Tree.
Shield Master – A Tier– This feat is pretty awkward as most Barbarians are not going to be interested in using a Shield, but as an Ancestral Guardian Barbarian, I think this is a must have for you. Increasing Strength and getting two excellent abilities definitely makes using a shield well rewarded.
Skill Expert – C- Tier – A fine feat for most classes, I would be surprised if the Barbarian is being relegated to the skills guy though (barring you’re the only one who’s good at a particular skill and it comes up often).
Best Magic Items For Ancestral Guardian Barbarian
Here’s a list of magic items you may want to look for/ask your DM about specifically for this subclass – magic items that literally anybody would want (like the Bag of Holding) won’t be mentioned. For a full tier list ranking of the available magic items, check out the link below!
Common
Silvered Weapon – C Tier – Far from a necessity on this build, it’s just a no opportunity cost add on to your weapon.
Uncommon
Sentinel Shield – S Tier – A relatively easy item to get for how strong it is, going before your opponents is extremely good for Ancestral Guardians.
Boots of Striding and Springing – A Tier – Additional movement speed to ensure you get to your chosen opponent on turn one is definitely useful.
+1 Weapon – A Tier – If you’re using a weapon, getting an upgraded one is a pretty big priority.
+1 Shield – A Tier – If you can’t get a Sentinel Shield, this is your best alternative.
Weapon of Warning – A Tier – A solid alternative if you can’t find a Sentinel Shield.
Gauntlets of Ogre Power – B Tier* – This can be useful pre-level 4, but will be unnecessary once you hit level 4.
Gloves of Missile Snaring – B Tier – Useful if you are targeting a ranged enemy with your Ancestral Protectors ability.
Rare
+1 Armor – A Tier – An obviously good pickup for any character that can wear armor.
Boots of Speed – A Tier – Likely an upgrade to Boots of Striding and Springing for you, but not a necessity if you already have those.
+2 Weapon – A Tier – You’re always looking for your best possible weapon as a martial character!
+2 Shield – A Tier – Higher AC will never be a bad thing.
Sun Blade – A Tier – If you were planning on using a Longsword and can find this, you may as well use this instead.
Belt of Giant Strength (Hill) – B Tier – Even for a minor boost to Strength, you’d still be happy to have this.
Mantle of Spell Resistance – B Tier – Losing your Rage because you failed your saving throw against a Hypnotic Pattern or something similar is always a feel bad.
Very Rare
+2 Armor – A Tier – The more AC, the better.
Belt of Giant Strength (Fire) – A Tier – This is a solid boost to your Strength making you hit harder and more accurately.
+3 Weapon – A Tier – The best possible weapon beyond some dope magic weapon!
Manual of Gainful Exercise – A Tier – Anything that can increase your Strength is going to be good!
+3 Shield – A Tier – The more AC, the less damage you take.
Legendary
+3 Armor – A Tier – As much AC as possible!
Vorpal Sword – B Tier – No harm in having a better sword.
Multiclassing For Ancestral Guardian Barbarian
Not every potential multiclass is going to be mentioned as most don’t synergize well with Barbarians, just the ones I would consider. For a more thorough breakdown on multiclassing, check out the link below.
Fighter – A+ Tier – Getting a Fighting Style at level one is definitely appealing, but you’d go for two levels to get Action Surge as well. Great for any class, but Barbarians in particular would always be happy to pick Action Surge up. If you were looking to grab a few levels of Fighter, I would probably pick up Shield Master at level 4, go to level 5 as usual, then multiclass out level 6 and 7 jumping back into Barbarian at level 8.
Rogue – C- Tier – Barbarians can get Sneak Attack really easily with Reckless Attack, but it’s such a minor damage boost unless you’re willing to go at least 3 levels into Rogue to at least get a 2d6 Sneak Attack bonus and a subclass. Maybe more reasonable for you damage oriented Barbarian, but as a defensive Barbarian, I’m not nearly as interested.
Ancestral Guardian Barbarian FAQs
How does Ancestral Protectors trigger each turn?
While you are raging, the first enemy you hit with an attack triggers Ancestral Protectors on them until the start of your next turn.
Can Spirit Shield be used on yourself, or only on other creatures?
Spirit Shield only works when you target somebody else, you can not use it on yourself.
How do Ancestral Protectors’ resistance and multi‑type damage attacks interact (e.g., bludgeoning + piercing)?
Multiple instances of resistance do not implicitly stack, so if a character is being hit by a damage type they are already resistant to, another layer of resistance will not have an effect.
If you reduce damage with Spirit Shield, does Vengeful Ancestors always reflect that damage, or can you opt out?
Rules as written, the damage is automatically reflected. However, you may be able to opt out if there is a tactical reason to do so. Talk to your DM who will have a final say in this.
Can two Ancestral Guardian Barbarians stack their Ancestral Protectors effect on the same enemy?
Different DMs will have different interpretations on how this interaction would work. The three major consensuses are:
- The enemy afflicted by both Ancestral Protectors (they stack)
- The enemy will have disadvantage against everyone except the two barbarians (they don’t stack)
- Abilities of the same name can not affect the same enemy at the same time
I would personally opt for the second or third interpretation, but the ultimate say is up to your DM.
Does Ancestral Protectors work if you hit a target before you rage (e.g., via bonus action)?
No, you specifically need to be raging for Ancestral Protectors to activate.
How does Spirit Shield reduction resolve relative to resistance from Ancestral Protectors (which is applied first)?
Damage resistance and damage vulnerability are always calculated last. So take the base damage, reduce it by the Spirit Shield total, and then halve it for your final output. If that ends up in a fraction, make sure you’re always rounding down!
Is the Ancestral Protectors feature considered “magical”, or just spiritual/flavor?
That can be up to the player and the DM! For flavor purposes it could be either, but from a mechanical perspective, the ability is not intrinsically magical as the effects of an Antimagic Field spell won’t negate it.
Do grapple or shove attacks count as a “hit with an attack” for triggering Ancestral Protectors?
No, you specifically need to do an attack to activate Ancestral Protectors.
