The One D&D Barbarian Handbook – Mastering Barbarians

I do a standard S-F tier ranking and here’s how I categorize them:

S Tier – The absolute best of the best. These options can even broach into unfair territory and may be subject to being banned at certain tables. If you’re looking for power level alone, there’s functionally no reason not to use these.

A Tier – While not as broken as the S Tier options, these are as good as you can get without broaching into unfair territory, although some of them may be strong enough to feel unfair!

B Tier – These will not be as inherently powerful as A Tier options, but are still quite strong in their own right. These are likely a bit more situational or slightly weaker than the A tier options, but still very good.

C Tier – Decent options, but likely not particularly strong. These options don’t offer too much or may just be a bit too situational to be ranked higher, but are still options you should consider as these will be the average power level.

D Tier – While not completely useless, these options are either very weak or very situational so are unlikely to be used, but unlike F tier, these aren’t completely unusable or actively detrimental.

F Tier – Either so weak or so situational that these should functionally never be taken or considered unless in the most niche of circumstances.

Level 1

Starting Proficiencies – A- Tier – Solid proficiencies you’ll be happy to have. You’re only missing Heavy Armor which is unfortunate (obviously doesn’t work with Rage anyway, but more so if it did), but it’s not the end of the world.

Rage – A Tier – The iconic ability of the Barbarians. It is easier to keep up than it used to be and has a very strong effect. Excellent for anyone looking to tussle on the front lines.

Unarmored Defense – D Tier – Unfortunately, just wearing Medium Armor is going to be better than this most of the time. However, this may be stronger in the early game or with the assistance of particular items.

Weapon Mastery – B- Tier – Weapon Masteries are overall pretty good and add a decent amount of power and versatility to your weapons.

Level 2

Danger Sense – C Tier – Weaker than Evasion, but still a reasonably good way to dodge some nasty spells or abilities.

Reckless Attack – B- Tier – This ability has a high risk and reward, but when used properly, this can be a pretty devastating way to force through damage.

Level 3

Primal Knowledge – C- Tier – Getting a skill proficiency is always nice, but the rest of this ability feels like flavor text.

Level 5

Extra Attack – A+ Tier – Extra Attack is probably the most important ability on any martial class.

Fast Movement – C Tier – Extra movement is always nice, but this is not going to be particularly relevant often.

Level 7

Feral Instinct – A Tier – Acting before your enemies is really strong, and this helps you do that.

Instinctive Pounce – C Tier – This can be a useful repositioning tool, but it’s not likely to come up often.

Level 9

Brutal Strike – C Tier – Giving up advantage for some mediocre CC and a smidgen more damage is not that exciting of a prospect, especially when enemies will have a very easy time hitting you after the fact. The push ability can definitely be useful, but 15 feet may actually be a little too much forced movement if your allies can’t plan around it properly.

Level 11

Relentless Rage – A+ Tier – An extremely powerful ability, nearly S Tier. Being able to continue fighting when you shouldn’t be able to and healing a decent amount of health can make putting you down to 0 feel near impossible.

Level 13

Improved Brutal Strike – B Tier – Unlike the first set of abilities, these abilities are much more enticing to give up advantage for.

Level 15

Persistent Rage – B- Tier – Regaining all uses of Rage is definitely nice, but in the average adventuring day or even campaign, you are unlikely to need this as long as you have taken a short rest or two. This ability does gain more stock if your DM likes throwing a lot of encounters at you per day though!

Level 17

Improved Brutal Strike – A Tier – Getting 2d10 additional damage by giving up advantage is akin to how Great Weapon Master and Sharpshooter used to work, but you also get to use two Brutal Strike abilities with each attack! This is very powerful and would easily be an S Tier ability if enemies didn’t have advantage to hit you after using this.

Level 18

Indomitable Might – D Tier – This will be helpful when enemies try to grapple you as you’ll almost certainly autopass the save, but useless otherwise. Is it even bad if an enemy manages to grapple you?

Level 20

Primal Champion – A Tier – This buff is the equivalent of four ability score improvements so it’s obviously great!

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.

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.

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 compared to other classes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The D&D Feats, Fighting Styles, and Epic Boons Tier List

Origin Feats

While your Origin feat is tied to your background, it’s good to know how good each feat is to help consider which background you may want or if you decided to pick Human as your species. Past level one, I would functionally never consider taking an origin feat (though it is allowed).

Alert – A Tier – While an excellent feat, it’s not a huge deal if Barbarians in particular go first as they are just damage dealers versus battlefield controllers.

Crafter – F Tier – The feat is just bad unless there’s something big about it I’m missing.

Healer – C+ Tier – It’s an alright feat, but a bit better on Barbarians in particular as you are pretty mobile and should have alright Wisdom anyway, but you may not have inherent proficiency in Medicine which will make this less appealing. If you chose Hermit as your background or Medicine as your skill proficiency as a Human, then you can get the most out of this.

Lucky – C Tier – A decent feat in general, fine for any class or build.

Magic Initiate (Cleric) – B- Tier – Guidance is an excellent cantrip to have and you can never have too many Guidance on your team (plus you get another cantrip which can be an attack cantrip to give you a decent ranged option). Getting long distance healing in the form of Healing Word is nice, but you only get to do it once per day as a Barbarian.

Magic Initiate (Druid) – B- Tier – Like Cleric, Guidance and Healing Word are great to have, and if you are feeling spicy, you can take something like Entangle or Goodberry instead. While your second cantrip option is less consequential (probably an attack cantrip for a decent ranged option, but a utility option can be reasonable as well), but if you are playing with spells from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, Magic Stone can be a good pickup to synergize with your team if they are about that lifestyle.

Magic Initiate (Wizard) – C+ Tier – These cantrips can give you a decent ranged option for Barbarians compared to the other initiate feats which is nice and you can pick up a pretty strong combat spell like Shield or Silvery Barbs which can be useful, even if it’s once per day.

Musician – A Tier – A generically excellent feat for any class.

Savage Attacker – D Tier – This is at its best for martial characters, but a pretty weak feat in general.

Skilled – C+ Tier – A reasonable feat for nearly any class (save Bard or Rogue who doesn’t really need it).

Tavern Brawler – D- Tier – Barbarians probably aren’t using unarmed strikes much, and if they were, you would be doing so to make grappling possible, not to just push someone 5 feet.

Tough – A- Tier – Extra health is always great, especially on a class that’s going to be used predominately as a damage sponge.

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.

Crusher – B Tier – While your best weapon is probably not a bludgeoning weapon (the Maul is fine, but not my first pick), Crusher is still a great feat as pushing people around is always great.

Dual Wielder – B 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, getting more attacks does make Reckless Attack more appealing, especially when you get Brutal Strike in the mix as giving up advantage on one of four attacks is obviously less painful than giving it up on half of your attacks for the turn. The only real downside of this feat is that it buffs Dexterity where you would probably still want to be Strength based (you don’t have to be per say, but it’s obviously way more common). If you do end up picking this up, I would highly recommend grabbing Defensive Duelist as well which is an excellent feat for dual wielders.

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.

Grappler – A- Tier – While I would usually have Monks be the grappler for the team, Barbarians can do it really well too if you’re into that. The main downsides of taking this is you can’t use a Greataxe (you’d go for Battleaxe instead which has the Versatile property so you can swing with one or two hands) and you have to go for an Unarmed Strike rather than weapon attack, but beyond that, this is an excellent direction to take your Barbarian if that’s what you want.

Great Weapon Master – A+ Tier – A staple for any Barbarian using a two handed, heavy weapon. Not as strong as the 2014 iteration for Barbarians, but not much weaker either.

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.

Piercer – C+ Tier – If you’re using a Piercing weapon, this is a reasonable pickup as it will increase your damage potential, but not to any substantial degree. Still a fine choice.

Polearm Master – A Tier – While Polearms aren’t going to give you as much damage as a Greataxe on average, if you can consistently get the Reaction attack, they will likely be the highest damage weapon a Barbarian can get (especially since Barbarians only use their Reaction for opportunity attacks most of the time).

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 – B+ 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 – B Tier – This feat is pretty awkward as most Barbarians are not going to be interested in using a Shield, but if you are, then this is a must have for you. Increasing Strength and getting two excellent abilities definitely makes using a shield tempting.

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).

Slasher – B- Tier – Increasing Strength, two fine abilities, and working with Barbarian’s most common damage type makes this a solid option.

Speedy – C Tier – If you want to increase your Constitution and need even more speed than you already had, this is a reasonable option. If you have the Grappler feat though, I would put this more in B Tier as being able to cart enemies or even allies further in combat is definitely appealing.

Unsure how to build your specific Barbarian? This section can help you! While each subclass guide has my specific way of building it (with plenty of overlap between builds), there’s a lot of directions you could take Barbarians.

(For all Strength based builds, this is assuming you have 17 starting Strength between your initial ability score distribution and your background. For the one Dexterity build, this assumes you’re starting with 17 Dexterity)

Strength Based Greataxe User – A Tier – The classic Barbarian with a giant axe. This is how most Barbarians are going to be built as Greataxe dishes out the most damage out of any weapon inherently when the Cleave mastery property comes into play. Your first two feats should generally be Great Weapon Master into Mage Slayer, but you have a lot of options after that. I like picking up Charger or Sentinel at that point (to get 20 Strength) and then you can start boosting Constitution after that.

Strength Based Polearm User – A- Tier – Very similar to the classic Two-Hander, the main difference is you pick up Polearm Master first, then Great Weapon Master, Mage Slayer, or Sentinel (you take one of the feats you didn’t initially take at the next feat). This will be very similar to the Greataxe in terms of damage with the main downside being your Bonus Action will be a bit clogged up.

Strength Based Shield User – B+ Tier – While this isn’t the typical direction Barbarians go (as I would argue Fighter is better defensively), this strategy can definitely work as Shield Master is an excellent feat. After Shield Master, grab Mage Slayer at level 8 then whatever Strength based feat you want at level 12.

Strength Based Grappler – B Tier – While you aren’t going to grapple as well as a Monk, you’re the second best class to do it as you’ll likely be a bit more nimble than the average martial character. You do need to pick up the Grappler feat at level 4 to make this work and your AC will likely suffer as you’ll want to remain unarmored for the movement speed bonus, but this is definitely a viable strategy if you want it to be. If you go this route, make sure you’re using a Battleaxe rather than the Greataxe and look to take Mage Slayer at level 8 and then whatever Strength based feat you want at level 12.

Strength Based Dual Wielder – B Tier – A bit atypical, but a very reasonable direction to take Barbarians. Reckless Attack works a bit better for you as you have more attacks to get advantage on, and both Dual Wielder and Defensive Duelist are excellent feats. If you want to go down this path, take Dual Wielder at level 4 increasing Strength then Defensive Duelist at level 8 (which unfortunately only buffs Dexterity). You probably want to just increase your Strength to 20 at level 12, but there are alternative options like going Mage Slayer or Medium Armor Master (both increasing Strength, Medium Armor Master only if Defensive Duelist put you to 15 Dexterity) at levels 12 and 16 respectively.

Dexterity Based Dual Wielder – B- Tier – While you do need 13 Strength to multiclass into or out of Barbarians, if you are planning on sticking to just Barbarian, you can instead dump Strength and go for a Dexterity based Barbarian instead. Very atypical, but it is an option and you would take a similar feat progression to the Strength Based Dual Wielder but would obviously increase Dexterity over Strength.

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.

The Ultimate Guide To Multiclassing in One D&D

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.

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. Not bad, but it’s definitely unclear if that’s worth it.

Ancestral Guardian Barbarian Build Guide: The ultimate defender, Ancestral Guardian Barbarians are all about defending your friends.

Battlerager Barbarian Build Guide: A very specific Barbarian subclass, this requires you to be a Dwarf to get access to Spiked Armor and abilities pertaining to using it effectively!

Beast Barbarian Build Guide: Utilizing the power of beasts, the Beast Barbarian can take attributes from animals to aid them both in and out of combat.

Berserker Barbarian Build Guide: The iconic Barbarian, this class got a nice face lift in 2024 that made it go from unplayable to a reasonable option that’s all about the Rage!

Giant Barbarian Build Guide: Using the strength of Giants to grow in size, hit from further away, or throw their weapons with great efficiency, Giant Barbarians are excellent skirmishers.

Storm Herald Barbarian: No build guide yet.

Wild Heart Barbarian Build Guide: Channeling animal spirits, the Totem Warrior Barbarian is hailed as the most tanky barbarian with the ability to gain resistance to nearly all forms of damage.

World Tree Barbarian Build Guide: The newest class to the party, World Tree is unique where none of the abilities deal additional damage, but give you a lot of utility in combat instead!

Wild Magic Barbarian Build Guide: These Barbarians can’t control the magic inside of them which manifests into random effects, but with all of them being helpful, this is a chaotic and fun subclass.

Zealot Barbarian Build Guide: For players who love rushing headlong into battle, Zealots are very good at not dying, and even if they do, not staying dead.

Barbarian Rankings

With the new changes, World Tree stands on top with a slew of great abilities. What’s nice about Barbarian though, is that besides Beast, all the subclasses are relatively close in power level so you can’t really go wrong with picking any of the top 7 if you want to have a good time with a Barbarian.

1. World Tree – C Tier
2. Zealot – C Tier
3. Wild Heart – C Tier
4. Ancestral Guardian – C- Tier
5. Berserker – C- Tier
6. Giant – C- Tier
7. Wild Magic – C- Tier
8. Beast – D Tier
9. Battlerager – D- Tier

Ancestral Guardian

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.

Spirit Shield (Level 6)– C- Tier – Using your reaction to prevent a smidgen of damage isn’t necessarily awful, but not great.

Consult the Spirits (Level 10) – B Tier – Free spells are nice, and these are solid spells that can keep refreshing!

Vengeful Ancestors (Level 14) – B 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 is solid.

Battlerager

Battlerager Armor (Level 3) – D Tier – While this is the main feature of Battleragers, it is not the most exciting ability in the world. Spiked Armor is just slightly better Scale Mail which means you won’t be able to easily upgrade from this. While that’s not ideal, you do get a free bonus action attack and a bit of an extra boost when grappling which is alright.

Reckless Abandon (Level 6) – D Tier – Some free temporary health is always nice, but you get so little that this is not going to do that much for you realistically.

Battlerager Charge (Level 10) – C Tier – Being able to trade your bonus action for a Dash is not at its best on Barbarians for the most part, but still a very solid ability.

Spiked Retribution (Level 14) – D- Tier – How is this a capstone? it isn’t useless, but it is close.

Beast

Form of the Beast (Level 3) – C+ Tier – This is a solid ability as you have some versatility in how you fight, but this does not scale particularly well as you progress into later levels. This only really becomes an issue once you pass level 10, but will still be a bit of a pain until then.

Bestial Soul (Level 6) – C- Tier – This ability is pretty good for travel and it can be useful in combat, but this is really just an ability for traveling.

Infectious Fury (Level 10) – C Tier – This can be powerful if the enemy fails their saving throw, but that’s a big if most of the time.

Call the Hunt (Level 14) – B- Tier – Getting temporary health and a global damage buff is solid, especially as you can functionally get this every fight, but both halves of this are so small that the benefits can feel somewhat marginal.

Berserker

Frenzy (Level 3) – B Tier – Extra damage is always good, even if it isn’t an abundance of extra damage.

Mindless Rage (Level 6) – C Tier – Charmed and Frightened are kind of niche conditions, but not potentially losing your Rage because you get hit by one of them is nice.

Retaliation (Level 10) – B Tier – Sometimes this will do nothing and other times this is an Extra Attack, and while that’s a pretty wide range, it settles on being solid on average.

Intimidating Presence (Level 14) – B Tier – A mass Fear effect is definitely solid, but not necessarily good for you in particular. Still a good ability.

Giant

Giant’s Power (Level 3) – D- Tier – Functionally if not completely useless.

Giant’s Havoc (Level 3) – B- Tier – This is a neat ability that gives you better thrown weapons and reach with your weapon. Both are a bit niche, but it’s not too difficult to make this a good ability.

Elemental Cleaver (Level 6) – B+ Tier – Extra damage and the ability to attack at a distance is quite nice, even if Barbarians are traditionally supposed to be in the thick of combat.

Mighty Impel (Level 10) – B- Tier – This is decent for repositioning allies and being able to toss the occasional enemy, although most enemies at this point are likely to be pretty large.

Demiurgic Colossus (Level 14) – B- Tier – More reach and more damage is nice, but may not necessarily feel that impactful.

Wild Heart

Animal Speaker (Level 3) – C+ Tier – This is a bit niche, but definitely a solid ability.

Rage of the Wilds (Level 3) – A+ Tier – This is a really good ability and is even better than the 2014 version was. While Bear still reigns supreme, Wolf and Eagle are very reasonable options as well.

Aspect of the Wilds (Level 6) – C Tier – Being able to switch between having Darkvision, being a good swimmer, or being a good climber is some solid utility.

Nature Speaker (Level 10) – C- Tier – Commune with Nature is a decent spell, but you may have trouble using this effectively.

Power of the Wilds (Level 14) – A Tier – This is nearly (or just as) good as your initial Rage of the Wilds as all of your options are quite strong.

Wild Magic

Magical Awareness (Level 3) – D+ Tier – Detect Magic is a great spell, but it would be shocking to me if you didn’t have a party member that could already cast this without a hard limit. The only advantage this has over the casters is this takes an action versus the 10 minutes needed for a ritual.

Wild Surge (Level 3) – B Tier – All the effects you could get are good, but not being able to control it does hurt how strong this can be.

Bolstering Magic (Level 6) – B- Tier – This is a really unique ability as it’s either a slightly different Guidance or a way to refresh some spell slots.

Unstable Backlash (Level 10) – C- Tier – If this gave you an additional effect from your Surge without replacing your current effect, this ability would be really strong, but just replacing it isn’t that helpful considering all the effects are relatively the same power level. Still, this isn’t terrible as sometimes you’ll roll an effect that’s generically good, but just not what you want for that encounter.

Controlled Surge (Level 14) – B- Tier – Choosing which effect you get is all well and good, but again, most of these effects are pretty much the same power level so it’s hard to be super excited by this.

World Tree

Vitality of the Tree (Level 3) – A- Tier – While you don’t get the most temporary health, you get to give out a decent amount of temporary health even at this level which can add up over the course of a fight.

Branches of the Tree (Level 6) – A- Tier – Forced reposition for enemies and keeping them there is really good, especially to peel enemies off of your squishier allies. Best yet. this only costs you your reaction which is something you’re not going to be using much of anyway!

Battering Roots (Level 10) – B Tier – Some reach is neat, but an extra mastery property on top of that? That’s a nice ability.

Travel Along the Tree (Level 14) – A Tier – Now every time you Rage, you can always be in the right spot and you can even get a pseudo Scatter for your allies. This is a pretty nice ability, even though you won’t always get much value out of it.

Zealot

Divine Fury (Level 3) – B Tier – A little bit of extra damage each turn is always nice!

Warrior of the Gods (Level 3) – A- Tier – This is really potent early, and while it doesn’t scale super well, extra healing will always be nice, especially since this will be close to a full heal in earlier levels.

Fanatical Focus (Level 6) – B Tier – This is similar to the Fighter’s Indomitable feature which is quite strong, but obviously more akin to their previous version rather than the current version. That said, this ability is still decent.

Zealous Presence (Level 10) – B- Tier – I think this ability reads better than it plays. Advantage on all attacks for a turn is obviously solid, but it’s going to be very hard to know when granting advantage on saving throws is going to be relevant.

Rage of the Gods (Level 14) – B+ Tier – While you can only use this once per day, it is pretty strong when you activate it. First, you get a Flying speed which is nice, but not necessarily the best since Barbarians generally want to stay in melee range. It is still helpful though to navigate around the map. Second, you get resistance to necrotic, radiant, and psychic damage which, depending on the enemies, may or may not be useful. Finally, if an ally would go down, you can bring them back up! This is a neat meshing of features that you’ll be happy to have for tougher boss fights.