Offhand Attack 5e (Updated in 2024)

New rules for off-hand attacks

In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, dual-wielding builds have been greatly enhanced thanks to Nick’s mastery trait. For those who don’t know, Weapon Mastery is a new system that provides mastery characteristics for each weapon. Daggers, light hammers, sickles, and scimitars are given the nick property, which makes them effective when used in the off-hand.

The Nick property states:

nick

If you want to make an additional light attack, you can do it as part of your attack action rather than as a bonus action. This additional attack can only be performed once per turn.

Given that each weapon with the nick property is a light weapon, it means that you can combine an additional attack into an attack action rather than taking a bonus action.

What is an off-hand attack in 5e?

Off-hand attack is not an accurate term for attacking with two different weapons in D&D, but it is commonly used by players. The Player’s Handbook calls this two-weapon combat, and it’s available to all classes. Essentially, it’s the ability to hold a weapon in both hands and attack with both hands.

How do off-hand attacks work in 5e?

To use off-hand attacks, you need a weapon with the light property in both hands. When you take an attack action with one of your light melee weapons, you can use a bonus action to attack with the weapon in your other hand. However, this second attack receives no damage bonus from ability modifiers unless it is negative.

In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, if you have the Weapon Mastery feature and choose a weapon with the Nick Mastery property, you can make this additional attack as part of your Attack action instead of as a bonus action.

Mechanisms influencing off-hand attacks

There isn’t much that directly affects off-hand attacks. However, if you want to create your own two-weapon combat build, here are some things to help even out the odds.

Combat Style: Dual Wield Fighting

As expected, his fighting style that focuses on both hands is also effective for off-hand attacks. It simply removes the downside of not getting additional damage from ability modifiers for off-hand attacks. This is available to Bards, Combatants, and Rangers of the College of Swords. Other classes can learn this fighting style with the Fighting Initiate feat.

In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, Fighting Style is now a selectable feat for any class that has a Fighting Style feature, including Ranger, Fighter, and Paladin.

Dual Wieder (Feat)

Another option is to select the Dual Wielder feat. This feat allows you to ignore the light properties of two weapons, allowing you to use any combination of weapons you like. You also get a +1 bonus to AC. However, according to ThinkDM, calculations show that using ASI is (probably) better than this feat. However, some fun combinations are possible.

In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, this feat has been updated to allow you to take an additional attack as a bonus action after attacking with a weapon that has the light property. Unfortunately, despite the fact that this provides ASI to Strength or Dexterity, it’s still not particularly impressive if you’re just using it to attack with off-hand non-light weapons.

But when combined with Nick’s assets, there could be significant gains.

With this feat, two light weapons (assuming a scimitar), and Nick’s mastery property, your turn will look like this:

Take the attack action and attack with the scimitar in your main hand. As part of the same action, thanks to Nick, we make an attack with an off-hand scimitar. You can then attack a third time as a bonus action thanks to Dual Wielder.

This gets even better if you have the Dual Wield Fighting feat, as you can add your ability modifier to the damage of each attack. It also stacks with other additional attacks granted as part of class features.

One extra attack per turn isn’t that impressive, but two extra attacks? This is a feat.

Which 5e build is best for using off-hand attacks?

If you’re a melee build and don’t use bonus actions regularly, off-hand attacks might be better for you. Here are some questions to ask yourself to see if you are likely to make an off-hand attack.

Is there a way to accumulate damage on hit?

Things like the Barbarian’s Rage damage bonus, the Ranger’s Hunter’s Mark, and the Paladin’s improved Divine Smite require you to hit your enemies as much as possible. These can deal damage multiple times per turn and can make up for the lack of damage modifiers (if you don’t want to invest in dual wield combat).

Other things that make off-hand attacks worthwhile are damage abilities that only activate on hit, like the Rogue’s Sneak Attack or the Paladin’s Divine Smite. These abilities are in place so that these classes can maintain damage with the huge number of additional attacks that fighters get. If you miss a major attack, you’ll need a lifeline that can deal explosive damage.

Want to use a shield?

If you’re looking to increase your AC by +2 so you can tank for your party, giving them extra survivability may seem daunting. The 2014 version of the Dual Wielder feat helps alleviate this, but the extra +1 AC can make a relatively big difference, especially at lower levels.

Want to use heavy weapons?

Builds that stack up to Strength typically end up being Great Weapon Masters, allowing you to output as much damage as possible. If you want to optimize your build with damage in mind, building your character around off-hand attacks is usually not for you, even if it’s boring and linear.

Best class for off-hand attacks

Unfortunately, I would like to point out that the way 5e balances is not optimal for almost all builds that focus on off-hand attacks. That said, the rules in the 2024 Player’s Handbook make it more possible.

These builds are often feat-heavy, so you should get the Dual Wielding feat as soon as possible (usually at level 4).

savage

Your first bonus action in each battle is Rage, but then you can swoop down on people with your two longswords, dealing 2d8 + STR + Rage(x2) damage each turn. At fourth level, you can also invest in the Fighting Initiate feat to gain Two-Weapon Fighting and turn your damage output to 2d8 + STR(x2) + Rage(x2). This is slightly worse than getting Great Weapon Master and using a Greatsword, but sometimes that comes at the expense of coolness.

bard

Swords and Valor barrd has access to Two-Weapon Fighting, which is probably one of the worst builds for off-hand attacks. Unfortunately, Bardic Inspiration and other powerful spells take up the bonus action slot, so there’s little chance of using it for off-hand attacks.

However, thanks to the Nick Mastery trait in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, this build is now more viable as off-hand attacks no longer require bonus actions. Must be multiclassed to obtain Weapon Mastery feature. This is a great opportunity to jump into fighters to improve your combat abilities.

fighter

Another fairly subpar option, but gives you access to two-weapon combat and a ton of feats. Fighters don’t have much use for bonus actions. But there’s also no way to add damage to attacks. This can be alleviated to some extent by investing heavily in Fey Touched to gain Hex or Hunter marks, but you can only cast it once per long rest.

Even with the benefits offered in the 2024 Players Rulebook, fighters typically want to invest their weapon mastery elsewhere, such as in Cleaves, Pushes, and Topples.

paladin

Before you get the extra attack at 5th level, consider running with an off-hand attack build to increase your chances of hitting and using Divine Smite. Unfortunately, it’s not wise to invest in dual-wielding feats, as they don’t have much value past level 5.

ranger

Honestly, it’s one of the best builds for performing off-hand attacks. Getting Dual Wielder at level 1 and Two-Weapon Fighting at level 2 will make your build faster online. You can then use Favored Foe to mark the target and gain an additional 1d4 once per turn. This results in 2d8 + STR + 2d4 at 2nd level, which is more than even Sharpshooter can generate. That said, after level 5, when you get Extra Attack, it starts to become less effective (although it’s still relatively effective). You can use Hunter’s Mark when you run out of uses for your favorite enemies, but there’s a fine line between using the bonus action to attack or to manage spells.

Rangers in the 2024 Player’s Handbook will have to wait until level 4 to get dual wielding, but access to Nick’s Mastery property more than makes up for it. This mastery trait unlocks a bonus action, allowing you to use the Mark of the Hunter or command your allies while netting additional off-hand attacks as part of your attack action.

rogue

Rogues cannot use shields and are only optimized to use finesse weapons, so it generally makes sense to carry two scimitars just in case. Rogues have a Cunning action, which is a notable use of bonus actions. However, if you miss the first attack, you will need the option to attack again to deal surprise attack damage. If you want to get serious about your off-hand attack build with Rogue, you can also take the Mobile feat, which allows you to target an enemy with an attack and disengage at will. This replaces the Cunning action, allowing you to freely use your bonus action for off-hand attacks.

Rogues in the 2024 Player’s Handbook will benefit greatly from Nick’s mastery properties. Being able to net an extra attack as part of your attack action is hugely beneficial, as it frees up your bonus action for cunning actions.

sheath the sword

The image of dual-wielding weapons is one of the iconic parts of fantasy. Whether it’s an elegant elven blade spinning in a whirlwind or a pair of scimitars being wildly wielded by a pirate, it’s always cool to see. In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, the power of dual-wielding builds has been greatly increased thanks to Nick’s Mastery trait.

How do you create a new sword-like character?

Jeff Nabers

Jeff Nabors has been playing D&D ever since he stumbled across the 3.5E core book in his high school library. When he’s not running campaigns or designing games, he can be found on Twitch writing about game design or staring into the endless abyss.