Attacks of Opportunity in D&D 5e (Updated for 2024 Rules)

React quickly and change the tide of battle with Opportunity Attacks in D&D 5e, updated to match the rules in the 2024 Player’s Handbook!

Update on Attacks of Opportunity in 2024 Rules

The rules regarding Opportunity Attacks haven’t changed much in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, aside from some interesting wording changes that open up a world of new possibilities. You can now take attacks of opportunity against creatures that leave your space. This means allies can trigger attacks of opportunity.

What does this mean for your game? Read on to find out.

Understanding attacks of opportunity

An attack of opportunity, also known as an “attack of opportunity,” occurs when a hostile creature moves out of reach without disengaging.

First, let’s take a look at what the 2024 D&D Free Rules say about opportunity attacks.

attack of opportunity

You can make an opportunity attack when a visible creature moves out of your reach using an action, bonus action, reaction, or speed. To make an attack of opportunity, make one melee attack with a weapon against the taunting creature, or take a reaction to make an unarmed attack. The attack occurs just before the creature leaves your reach.
Rules Glossary – 2024 D&D Free Rules

living things

In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, we replaced “hostile creature” with “creature.” This means that you can take attacks of opportunity against your own allies.

Why would you want to do this? Now, there are two scenarios here.

Shove: You can choose Unarmed Strike and select the Shove option to move your party members an additional 5 feet. Casting Spells with a Warcaster: A warcaster allows you to use reactions to cast spells against creatures that cause attacks of opportunity. This means that if a wizard has a warcaster and a fighter moves out of reach, he can cast haste as they pass. Alternatively, a cleric can drop Cure Wounds on them.

eyesight

The rules state that you must be able to see the creature when it moves out of reach. This means that greatly obscuring or making an area invisible is a good option to avoid attacks of opportunity.

arrival

The creature typically has a reach of 5 feet. Provoking attacks of opportunity only when you move outside of a creature’s reach actually puts long reach creatures at a slight disadvantage. If your reach is 10 feet, enemies can move more freely within your reach and position themselves strategically without being exposed to attacks of opportunity.

reaction

You get one reaction per turn, but you don’t have to use it on your turn. When something activates your reaction, you can use it regardless of whose turn is in progress in initiative order. This means you can use Opportunity Attacks strategically to maximize “once-per-turn” abilities like Rogue’s Sneak Attack or 2024 Paladin’s Smite. However, this also has its drawbacks. Attacks of opportunity only allow one melee attack, so features that allow additional attacks cannot be activated.

This also poses challenges for builds that have other important uses for reactions. One such example is a caster who has access to Counterspell or Silvery Barbs. Considering that you can only make melee or unarmed attacks as part of your attacks of opportunity (unless you have the warcaster feat), it’s a better idea for the caster class to force the enemy to retreat rather than attack. Possibly. Counter something later in the initiative.

Release action

This Overview of the Disengage 5e Mechanism provides details on the Disengage action and how it affects attacks of opportunity.

Teleportation and forced movement

One of the best ways to get out of an enemy’s reach without triggering an Opportunity attack is to teleport, like the Misty Step spell or the Eladrin Fae Step ability. When it comes to forced moves, being blown out of your space is usually not advantageous, even if attacks of opportunity are the other option. That said, some abilities, such as the Thorn Whip spell, can be used strategically to get allies out of harm’s way.

This clause also allows you to maximize attacks of opportunity by using your opponent’s reactions and movements to force movement. Examples of ways to do this are dissonant whispers, commands, or fear spells.

One thing to note is that rising from a prone position does not create an attack of opportunity, as confirmed by Jeremy Crawford.

Make the most of attacks of opportunity

Netting additional attacks is a huge advantage for most martial arts classes, especially when the enemy is placed in a vulnerable position. To make the most of attacks of opportunity in 5e, consider the following strategies.

Sentinel + Polearm Master: The best builds for taking advantage of Opportunity Attacks have both a Sentinel and a Polearm Master. The Polearm Master allows you to attack anyone who comes within 10 feet, and the Sentinel reduces its speed to 0 when attacked. This allows you to continue approaching the enemy from outside of their melee range, allowing you to intercept attacks and retreat on your turn without provoking attacks of opportunity from them. Then, if they try to get within your reach again, rinse and repeat. Additionally, Sentinels allow you to take attacks of opportunity against your enemies even if they are already within your reach and trying to break away. Warcaster Feat: This feat allows you to cast spells in place of traditional attacks of opportunity. Once the enemy is out of reach, unleash a more powerful touch spell like Booming Blade, Green Flame Blade, Shocking Grasp, or Contagion. Also, as mentioned, you can now take attacks of opportunity against friendly creatures. This allows you to drop powerful spells like Haste or heal allies with Cure Wunds as a reaction on your turn. Add extra damage: Class features that add extra damage to attacks, such as the rogue’s sneak attack, the barbarian’s rage, and the paladin’s divine smite, are all good ways to increase the effectiveness of opportunity attacks. Rogues and Paladins are the best examples. This is because their Sneak Attack and Paladin’s Smite usually do a lot of damage and can only be used once per turn. By creating opportunities to attack while it’s not their turn, a rogue can increase their damage exponentially.

Avoiding attacks of opportunity

Whether you don’t want to scratch your shiny armor or are on the brink of death, getting an attack of opportunity feels bad.

The 2024 Player’s Handbook includes many more class features that allow you to avoid opportunity attacks. This is likely to encourage strategic repositioning during combat, rather than just standing around and punching each other until the opposing team dies.

Here’s how to avoid giving free hits to enemies when you turn tail and run away.

Use class features: The 2024 Player’s Handbook introduces several class features to help you avoid opportunity attacks. A fighter’s tactical shift allows them to move without provoking attacks of opportunity. So does the College of Grammar Bard’s mantle of inspiration. Alternatively, if you’re a barbarian, you can hit your enemies with Staggering Blow. Don’t move: When you’re thinking about running, it’s often easier said than done. However, if you do not leave the enemy’s attack range, the enemy will not receive attacks of opportunity against you. Disengage: Wasting an action sucks, but if you need to get out of reach of an enemy to heal, a disengage action is usually the best thing to do. Teleport: Again, easier said than done for martial artists who can’t use magic. Unfortunately for non-magical adventurers around the world, magic is one of the best options for avoiding unwanted attacks. Speedy Feat: This feat, formerly known as “Mobile”, now dispels attacks of opportunity made against you. This has been changed from granting free disengagement to attacking creatures. This update makes things even worse in some situations, but it can protect your hiding spot if you’re running away from a large number of enemies. Reduce Visibility: A creature must be visible to receive an attack of opportunity against it. The best way to accomplish this is to become invisible or use spells that hide foggy clouds, darkness, or other areas.

don’t miss the chance

The 2024 Player’s Handbook reverses the Opportunity Attack concept by removing one word. Now, those aren’t necessarily bad things and can create great synergy between the supporting caster and the couple.

These new rules also introduce more ways to avoid attacks of opportunity, allowing for a more free type of combat where each party doesn’t want to move to avoid taking damage. Possibly.

This is one of the most interesting changes in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, but check back for more updates and guides.