Rogue Fighter Multiclass

Why I Love to Multiclass as a Rogue/Fighter in D&D 5e

Rogue Fighter multiclass featured art by Ioana-Muresan, CC Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License

Update: This article features a multiclass of Assassin Rogue and Battle Master Fighter. To see more Rogue-Fighter multiclass ideas, check out our in-depth analysis here!

Additionally, you can find the Assassin subclass in the Player’s Handbook. Support our adventuring cause by using our affiliate link to purchase!


Cunning and sly, powerfully lethal, and full of role-playable intrigue, Rogues are by far my favorite class. Out of combat, Rogues can easily be deceitful or manipulative, allowing for some sweet player-to-NPC one-liners and scenes. But the most fruitful mechanic a Rogue possesses is the additional damage they deal in combat: Sneak Attack.

To some players, Sneak Attack is overlooked as something that isn’t guaranteed—a character has to have advantage or a flanking friend to reap this benefit. This is where multiclassing with Fighter comes into play to ensure that bonus sneak damage. Check out the process:


Building Your Character

First a Rogue

Building Stats: Dexterity First, Constitution Second

Dump your highest stat into dexterity and your second highest into Constitution. The rest of your stat-building is dependent on your choice of character skills. Luckily, Fighters can be dex-based, so your stats are not wasted on this multiclass. Just make sure you have at least 13 Dexterity to multiclass into Fighter!

The reason why we choose to build a Rogue first is simple: Rogues get a ton of skills (four to be exact). Though we miss out on a few extra hit points by starting as a Rogue, our proficiencies make up the difference: thieves’ tools, the right types of weapons, light armor (good for stealth), and the aforementioned four skills of your choice.

At level 1 as a Rogue, you will also gain expertise in two skills as well as a nice Sneak Attack. The skills you choose for expertise should be determined by your character’s personality and goals, as it will not heavily influence this multiclass build.

Then a Fighter

Take at least 3 levels in Fighter

When you take your first two levels of Fighter, you will gain some incredible abilities:

  1. A Fighting Style: Focus on a style that helps with melee finesse attacks, like Dueling (gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls).
  2. Second Wind: A bonus action that regains HP once per short rest.
  3. Action Surge: Take an additional action once per short rest.

Maneuvers

But here is where the magic happens. At level 3, choose the Battle Master archetype. Your character can learn three maneuvers that are fueled by D8’s, called superiority dice. These maneuvers upgrade your regular attacks, and you can do four maneuvers per short rest (rather, you have four superiority dice to expend per short rest). You may use one maneuver per attack.

Now read this carefully: here are the maneuvers every Rogue/Fighter must have:

  1. Feinting Attack—As a bonus action, expend a superiority dice to fake out a target within five feet to gain advantage on this target. If that attack hits, add the superiority die (1d8) to the attack’s damage roll. This option uses your bonus action.
  2. Precision Attack—As part of a melee attack roll, you can expend one superiority dice before or after your attack roll and add it to the roll. This does not expend your bonus action or reaction.
  3. Trip Attack—Knock your foe prone and add additional damage with your superiority dice. This is an excellent option because it does not expend your bonus action. See this comment for excellent suggestions on how to use your Battle Maneuvers.
  4. Riposte—When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to expend a superiority dice to make a melee weapon attack out of turn. With a hit, add the superiority dice to the damage (1d8) AND you can add your Sneak Attack (assuming you satisfy the Sneak Attack rules), regardless if you’ve used it already during the same round. See Jeremy Crawford’s explanation:

What Does This Mean?

The Feinting Attack maneuver is pretty self-explanatory: you can use a bonus action before your action to feint a target, throwing off his groove, and giving you advantage on your next attack roll (which can be on the same turn). You get instant Sneak Attack on your target AND you get to add an additional 1d8 to your damage. Suddenly, Sneak Attack is almost always guaranteed, plus you get to cushion your damage even more!

For the times when an ally is adjacent to your target, guaranteeing Sneak Attack, the Precision Attack maneuver will make your attacks count. When you make an attack roll, and you’re just low of hitting your target, you can expend a 1d8 superiority dice, roll it, and add that number to your attack roll. This maneuver does not take up a bonus action or a reaction, it simply enhances your attack roll, helping you actually hit your target. With all the damage a Rogue can deal, every hit counts, and the Precision Attack maneuver can make that happen.

The other maneuvers you can choose from are up to your discretion. If you plan on taking at least 7 levels in Rogue, I don’t recommend taking any maneuvers that reduce damage, as the Rogue reaction Evasion will cover that. Rogue reactions are quite coveted, as you can only use one reaction per round, so choose your maneuvers wisely!

More of a Rogue, Not as Much a Fighter

At this point, your character builds itself: the more Rogue levels you take, the more Sneak Attack you will get, and there are some great Rogue abilities that reduce damage, like Evasion and Uncanny Dodge. The archetype you choose as a Rogue should be based on character goals and how you are roleplaying him or her.

One highly compatible archetype of a Rogue is Assassin, in which you gain advantage on attack rolls against a creature that hasn’t taken a turn yet. And, a hit on a surprised foe is a critical hit. This combined with Feinting Attack makes for even greater damage, as all dice will be doubled: weapon, Sneak Attack, and superiority dice.

If you choose to take more levels of Fighter, I recommend taking no more than five. At level 5, a Fighter gains an Extra Attack, which can be very helpful. Just be aware of the tradeoff: less Sneak Attack.

Alternatively, by taking only 3 levels in Fighter, a Rogue Assassin will gain the level 17 Death Strike feature, giving him the chance to double his damage output.

Possible Feats to Take

Martial Adept: If you choose to take more levels in Rogue, I recommend getting this feat, which allows you to learn two more maneuvers and have additional superiority dice (more chances for Sneak Attack).

Lucky: As mentioned before, every hit counts as a Rogue, so having three additional chances to roll well per short rest might make all the difference.

Alert: Recall that Assassins that take a turn before another creature at the beginning of a battle will crit on a surprise hit. Alert will give you +5 to initiative, helping you achieve this. Don’t forget to add the Feinting Attack to your roll!

Example: Damage in Battle

To give you a summary of how well this multiclass works, look at this example of a Level 20 Assassin Rogue/Fighter who, at level 15 Rogue and level 5 Fighter with 20 Dexterity, and with the Martial Adept feat, has the potential to deal 401 maximum damage by the end of the second round:

Round 1 with Surprise

  • Surprise Attack 1: Crit with Assassinate (double all dice)
  • Rapier: 2d8
  • Feinting Attack Maneuver: 2d8
  • Sneak Attack: 16d6
  • Fighting Style: 2
  • Dex Mod: 5
  • Surprise Attack 2: Crit with Assassinate (double all dice)
  • Rapier: 2d8
  • Distracting Strike Maneuver: 2d8
  • Fighting Style: 2
  • Dex Mod: 5

Action Surge

  • Surprise Attack 3: Crit with Assassinate (double all dice)
  • Rapier: 2d8
  • Trip Attack Maneuver: 2d8
  • Fighting Style: 2
  • Dex Mod: 5
  • Surprise Attack 4: Crit with Assassinate (double all dice)
  • Rapier: 2d8
  • Goading Attack Maneuver: 2d8
  • Fighting Style: 2
  • Dex Mod: 5

Round 2

  • Attack 1:
  • Rapier: 1d8
  • Sneak Attack: 8d6
  • Fighting Style: 2
  • Dex Mod: 5
  • Attack 2:
  • Rapier: 1d8
  • Fighting Style: 2
  • Dex Mod: 5

On a foe’s missed attack

  • Riposte out of turn:
  • Rapier: 1d8
  • Sneak Attack: 8d6
  • Riposte Maneuver: 1d8
  • Fighting Style: 2
  • Dex Mod: 5

Total Damage: 20d8 + 32d6 + 49
Maximum damage by the end of the second round: 393
Average damage by the end of the second round: 252

Alternative Assassin Build:

Take 17 levels in Rogue Assassin and only 3 in Fighter. At level 20, an Assassin Battlemaster has the potential to deal maximum damage of 558 by the end of the second round.

Round 1 with Surprise.

  • Surprise Attack 1: Crit with Assassinate (double all dice).
  • Assume successful Death Strike (double damage).
  • Rapier: 2d8
  • Feinting Attack: 2d8
  • Sneak Attack: 18d6
  • Fighting Style: 2
  • Dex Mod: 5

Action Surge

  • Surprise Attack 2:
  • Rapier: 2d8
  • Trip Attack: 2d8
  • Fighting Style: 2
  • Dex Mod: 5

Round 1

  • Attack:
  • Rapier: 1d8
  • Goading Attack: 1d8
  • Sneak Attack: 9d6
  • Fighting Style: 2
  • Dex Mod: 5

On a foe’s missed attack

  • Riposte out of turn:
  • Rapier: 1d8
  • Sneak Attack: 9d6
  • Riposte: 1d8
  • Fighting Style: 2
  • Dex Mod: 5

Total Damage: 2*(8d8 + 18d6 + 14) + 4d8 + 18d6 + 14
Maximum damage by the end of the first round: 558
Average damage by the end of the first round: 321

Which Build Should I choose?

Deciding between 15 and 17 levels in Rogue Assassin is a tricky call with a tradeoff of Extra Attack. On one hand, Death Strike has the potential to do an entire battle’s worth of damage, but this is only on the first turn, and this results only when a foe does not pass his Con Save against your DC (DC 8 + your Dexterity modifier + your proficiency bonus, so in our case, 8 + 5 + 6 = 19).

If you’re fighting a BBEG with incredible Con, what are the odds your Death Strike fails?

Contrast this with the chance to deal an extra attack each round. The exchange is tricky, so it really just depends on personal preference and a bit of luck.

Did you find an awesome combination in the Rogue-Fighter multiclass? What other synergetic classes could you add to increase damage? Share with us in the comments!

Additionally, see our Ultimate Rogue Fighter Multiclass Guide for more inspiration on multiclassing these two synergistic classes. You can also find our article about multiclassing combinations by class right here.

32 thoughts on “<b>Why I Love to Multiclass as a Rogue/Fighter</b> in D&D 5e”

  1. Wait, for the alternate build damage per round, how can you use riposte if you assume surprise? The surprised enemy wouldn’t be able to attack.

  2. Maybe I’m reading something wrong in the rules, but Precision Attack doesn’t seem to add to the damage roll as far as I can tell, only to the attack roll. There are other maneuvers that do, but not precision attack

    1. Hi Adam, thanks for commenting.
      You’re right! It looks like we made some copy errors in this article (one of the first we ever wrote). We’ll make updates soon. 🙂

      1. I really hope this doesn’t come across as me nitpicking, because I absolutely love the site- but I think we have a different problem with feinting attack. I could be wrong, but I think because it uses a bonus action you only get to use that trick once per turn. I think it takes something like distracting strike or disarming strike, which are both “free” to use in terms of the action economy and still add to the damage dice. Either way, I think it more or less works as stated, or at least I hope it does since the rogue I’m playing now is planning to multi class just like the article describes. Thanks for the great content, it’s been a big help for me as I’m only recently coming back to the game after a long time away.

        1. Thank you so much Adam! Once again, you are correct about my oversight, which I will update. We really appreciate your help in keeping our information accurate! And we’d love to hear more of what types of articles you’d like to see.

  3. I’m not sure I understand why you use feinting attack first as advantages is already assured given it is a surprise round. I do not understand either how you get sneak attack on the riposte.

    1. Hi SvenPek! Thanks for your interest in the article.

      I believe Opal chose Feinting Attack as the maneuver in the surprise round not for the advantage it grants but for the 1d8 of damage it inherently adds to an attack (2d8 for critical hits). A player could substitute for another maneuver with the same damage benefit. Other maneuvers that grant bonus damage but would grant benefits that aren’t redundant to the surprise round’s advantage include Commander’s Strike, Disarming Attack, Distracting Strike (also redundant with advantage from surprise round), Lunging Attack, Maneuvering Attack, and Trip Attack. I’ll point out that I’m using the term ‘surprise round’ to describe the first round of combat when the ‘Surprised’ condition applies. Since a fighter has a limited number of maneuvers to learn, I believe Opal thought it fine to use a maneuver she valued in other circumstances as well.

      For sneak attack on the riposte, Opal shared a tweet in the “Maneuvers” explanation of the article where Jeremy Crawford (lead game designer for D&D 5e) confirmed that sneak attack triggers once per turn rather than once per round (turn vs round). This means a rogue can use sneak attack with a reaction-based attack on another character’s turn. Think of it as getting sneak attack once per turn, even if that turn isn’t your own (as a reaction). Here is the link to the explanation: https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/608079075337330688

      I hope this helps! Opal might chime in if she has more to add.

      1. Oh now I see! I did understand that sneak attack can be triggered more than once since it is not your round but the enemies. However I didn’t understand why sneak attack is assumed. The way the article is written it makes it sound like it is a given due to the setup of the class so it had me confused. But Opal probably meant it in terms of an ally being near said enemy too to trigger sneak attack again.

        Also! At the beginning it says you should get 13 str. To multiclass into fighter. This isn’t needed as multiclassing into fighter requires either 13 str OR 13 dex. So str and int can be used as dumb stats in this build. I THINK. I’m a noob but I am pretty certain this is the case here. Thanks for the quick reply!

      2. Fair enough but how do you sneak attack on the reaction attack? Riposte allows you to attack back as a reaction, but where is your advantage coming from to be able to sneak attack without using some other maneuver? Does it just assume you have an ally flanking?

        1. Hi Artorias, though some people play with the optional flanking rules, we’re making the assumption of Sneak Attack based on having an ally adjacent to the target. Sneak Attack can be gained with a melee finesse weapon if the Rogue has advantage to attack or if an ally is also adjacent to the target.

    2. Hi, for the alternative assassin build. I do not know why there is 8d8+18d6+14. The death strike is 2*damage. So wouldn’t it be 2*(4d8+18d6+7) ?? Or am I understanding part of the rules wrong ?

      1. Hi Amir! The way I set up the Total Damage is a bit messy, so let me break it down:

        • 1. In the surprise round, we do two total attacks with Action Surge: weapon attacks accentuated by Battle Master maneuvers = 4d8 (2 rapier attacks and 2 maneuvers) + 9d6 sneak attack + 14 (fighting style + dex mod for two attacks = 7 + 7)
        • 2. With Rogue’s Assassinate (level 3 ability), we double the damage dice: so now we’re at 8d8 + 18d6 + 14
        • 3. Then, with Death Strike, we double ALL damage, including our Dex Mod and Fighting Style: that leaves us with 2*(8d8 + 18d6 + 14) total damage for that surprise round.

        Does that explain it a little better?

  4. I was wondering why the action surge for the (five levels rouge and 15 levels fighter) grants 2 additional attacks? as I understand it you would have two attacks thanks to fighter and an action surge which is three attacks? I might be a bit unclear on how this works could you clarify?

    1. Hi Anders, I’m happy to clarify this! The Fighter’s Extra Attack feature (level five) says when you use the Attack action, you can make two attacks instead of one. When you use Action Surge, you’ll use the additional action is grants to make the Attack action. Since the Fighter has Extra Attack, using the Attack action will include two attacks instead of the usual one attack that the basic Attack action uses.

      Action Surge: “On your turn, you can take one additional action on top of your regular action . . .”
      Extra Attack: triggers “whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.”

      This means Fighters at high levels will make four attacks with their Attack action, and then they can make another four attacks with their Action Surge, resulting in eight attacks in one turn!

      Here are others who have asked your question, so you can see others giving a similar answer to what I’m explaining:
      https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/121878/does-a-fighters-action-surge-trigger-extra-attack
      https://www.therpgsite.com/pen-paper-roleplaying-games-rpgs-discussion/5e-dd-attacks-and-action-surge/

          1. Im thinking about multi classing with Rogue fighter but im not sure what the layout would be. For a level 6 Rogue and level 1 Fighter, what would be the downside to multi classing? Would my dex go down or maybe my intelligence? There has to be a downer from all the great things that come out of this right?

            1. The downside to multiclassing can include foregoing features of your main class that you would’ve received, as well as bad fits if you multiclass in a way that crowds your action and bonus action options. You’ll want to weight what you’re passing up against what you’re gaining from the multiclass. I also highly recommend that you plan your character levels based on the expected level the character will reach before your campaign ends. If you’re only playing a campaign to level ten, you don’t need to weight options beyond that level-ten cap.
              With your main class being Rogue, you won’t gain significant benefits from the Fighter class until you obtain three levels of Fighter and gain a Fighter subclass like the Battle Master. The Fighting Style at level one is great, but may not be as good as whatever your Rogue would receive without multiclassing. Second Wind is ok, but same story. Action Surge at level two is a very useful ability, though less important for a Rogue that already has Cunning Action and Sneak Attack.
              Does that help?

  5. I have a few questions about this particular build.

    1. To get a surprise round, how do you walk right up to an enemy and stab him if your movement is only 25 to 30′? Realistically wouldn’t you “roll for initiative” way further away than 30′ away?
    I’d think at least your opener would have to be a long range weapon of some sort.

    2. Should Two-Weapon fighting be used on this build and two short swords? Or is Rapier and a single attack better? (or double/quad attack as the case may be due to Action Surge and Extra Attack)

    3. The TCOE “Piercer” feat. Adding a damage die to all crits on an Assassinate build seems made for this?:

    You have achieved a penetrating precision in combat, granting you the following benefits:
    Increase your Strength or Dexterity by 1, to a maximum of 20.
    Once per turn, when you hit a creature with an attack that deals piercing damage, you can reroll one of the attack’s damage dice, and you must use the new roll.
    When you score a critical hit that deals piercing damage to a creature, you can roll one additional damage die when determining the extra piercing damage the target takes.

    1. Hi Digitalskillz, thank you for your questions!
      [Should a ranged attack be used for the surprise attack?] As a Rogue, the Cunning Action bonus action can be used to Dash or Hide, making it much easier to attack at melee while a foe is surprised. Additionally, the Assassin has several features that will enable the character to get close to a target. Ambushes can happen in a corridor, thick grove of trees, at the dinner table, and many other places. I’ve found that it is not difficult to get a melee attack while foes are surprised, especially when Cunning Action is available.
      [Should two-weapon fighting be used?] Since Rogues use their bonus action for Cunning Action so often (and TCoE gave the Steady Aim option as well), two-handed fighting isn’t ideal. Even without being a Rogue, two-weapon fighting isn’t ideal without a way to boost each attack’s damage, such as with Hunter’s Mark or Hex. Two-weapon fighting is also reliant on a Fighting Style to be effective; it’s just not a great option when all things are considered.
      [Is ‘Piercer’ a Good Feat Here?] It’ll take us a while to update all our articles for TCoE content, so thank you for bringing up the question to prompt the update here. Piercer is an acceptable feat because of the stat boost it comes with. The dice rerolling for a weapon can be useful, and the extra bit of damage on a guaranteed critical hit from an Assassin surprising a foe is nice as well. Just remember you can’t reroll Sneak Attack damage with this kind of feat, just the actual weapon’s damage dice.
      I hope I’ve answered your questions to your satisfaction! Let me know if I can help further.

      1. Great replies Flutes! Thanks.
        I was just doing some theorycrafting on rapier damage. Seems like the Trip Attack maneuver should not be used on the first round, but instead be used on the second round attack 1, so that the second round attack 2 might get a guaranteed crit because the enemy is prone, thus giving that second sneak attack a crit too and kicking in the Piercer crit die. It’s not guaranteed they will fail their Str check, but may be worth it.

        1. That’s a great point to consider. Since a surprised foe cannot move, use an action , or use a reaction, I’d make the recommendation based on the target’s initiative roll (assuming they survive). If we assume we’re attacking the same target for each attack because it’s a beefy monster that isn’t immune to being prone, and you have a lower initiative roll for your character than the target, then using the Trip Attack maneuver on round 1 is good because the surprise will end when the creature takes/loses its first turn. The monster also won’t be able to get up until its turn on round 2, allowing your allies to also gain advantage on the prone target. Your ranged attacking party members won’t appreciate it though since ranged attacks will have disadvantage on a prone target. High initiative is necessary for a character to capitalize on surprising a foe. In summary, you’re right to think critically of this; there are unknown factors that should be considered for each situation in order to deal the most damage and work with your party. And as a point of clarification, the second round attack wouldn’t get a guaranteed critical hit because the foe stopped being surprised and it technically did have a turn in round one; it just wasn’t able to do anything on that first turn because it was surprised (PHB p.189). It feels really good when a character succeeds at getting surprise with a high initiative roll. This is one reason it makes sense for Initiative to be based on the Dexterity stat since Rogues and Rangers are typically the characters trying to be stealthy, classes that can use Dexterity effectively.

  6. Rogue can pair surprisingly well with Barbarian, even while remaining Dexterity-Based. Thought the potential downsides include that you need good enough rolls to not only multiclass into Barbarian, and that if you make Dex your highest stat you’ll miss out on Reckless Attack (which if fine imo, Rogues have enough ways to gain Advantage), and the additional damage during the Rages, which means your Rage will only give you the defensive bonuses. Still quite good imo.

    A Rogue with 5 Levels of Barb will get Extra Attack of course, helpful at all times. Unarmored Defense will likely be at least comparable to your AC with Studded Leather. But they also get Danger Sense, giving them Advantage on Dexterity saves that they can see… And a Rogue is already phenominal at Dexterity saves, so this all but ensures they’ll pass, and even if they don’t – first, HOW? – they’ll still half damage with Evasion.

    Furthermore, Rage pairs surprisingly well with both Uncanny Dodge and Evasion, halving nonmagical damage on top of halving it again with Uncanndy Dodge and Evasion. Even more insane if you go Bear Totem Barb – You effectively get double Resistances on everything except for Psychic Damage.

    If you want to go even further, and you have good enough ability scores for it, go Swashbuckler Rogue and Totem Barb, Max out Constitution, and take the Tough Feat. Between Max Con, Tough Feat, Uncanny Dodge, Evasion, Advantage on Dexterity saves, and Bear Totem Raging… You can turn a Rogue into a surprisingly effective tank.

    Also, you give your Rogue the ability to use a shield, which is always nice.

    Personally I would go 12 Levels Swashbuckler to get Reliable Talent and another ASI, and 8 Levels for a second Totem feature and Feral Instinct for Advantage on Initative and mitigating Surprise against yourself.
    Pick up Resilient Wisdom to mitigate your weakness against charms and fear spells.
    I believe the tradeoff is worth it for the general benefits, and it could make for a very fun unconventional tank!

    1. Hi JCDenton2187,
      You are speaking my language! I wrote another article here on Flutes Loot about Barbarians that use rapiers and use the Defensive Duelist feat. I also wrote an article about Barbarian multiclassing concepts that include several ideas for how Barbarians and Rogues can multiclass together. I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of that content as you seem very knowledgeable about the concepts. I also appreciate that Reckless Attack can be used to reliably get Sneak Attack since attacks gain advantage and I can use a rapier or other finesse weapon. I’d choose a different subclass for the Rogue since I’m not a big fan of Swashbuckler, so I’d go with the Phantom or Assassin subclasses. Assassin isn’t amazing, but I can’t help but love it. Assassin also does well with advantage on initiative rolls to make sure the character gets a turn before a target. The auto-crit ability also pairs well with the Barbarian getting additional critical hit damage rolls for their weapon. Thank you for your detailed comment!
      https://www.flutesloot.com/barbarian-multiclass-guide-ideas/
      https://www.flutesloot.com/barbarian-duelist-dnd5e-character-concept/
      https://www.flutesloot.com/rogue-multiclass-guide-ideas/

  7. The Grand Falloon

    I’m gonna disagree with you on Feinting Attack. In a big melee, a Rogue should always be sticking close to his friends, making Sneak Attacks. My disagreement assumes the Rogue player knows this, and almost never has to attack without a nearby ally. Advantage is great, but 2 attacks are better. A melee Rogue should always wield two weapons, even if he has no feats or class abilities to take advantage of them. Their Cunning action gives them a wealth of possibilities, and they need to be ready to use it.

    Using Feinting attack, the Rogue spends his Bonus Action to get 2 chances to make a single hit. With a shortsword or dagger in his offhand, he has two chances to make two hits. If he misses the first attack, he can then use his bonus action to make a second attack with his off-hand. It won’t deal quite as much damage, but it still gets the Sneak Attack bonus, and that’s the important thing. If the first attack hits, the Rogue has a choice of what to do with his Bonus Action. He can either make a second attack, for admittedly unimpressive damage, or he can Disengage and move about the battlefield at will. Or he could use that handy Second Wind he gets for being a Fighter. If he managed to dispatch his enemy, he could Hide, or Dash to someone’s rescue.

    In lieu of Feinting Attack, I would take Trip Attack. It’s a risk, as the target gets a Saving Throw, but it’s very handy when the Rogue gets caught off-guard. If successful, he can use his second attack to inflict Sneak Attack damage, because he has Advantage. Since his enemy has Disadvantage, the Rogue can also move away much more safely.

    1. Thank you for the writeup! Trip Attack is an excellent maneuver because it gives you the utility of knocking them prone and adding the extra 1d8 of damage without using your bonus action. I think this is all the more reason to invest in the Martial Adept feat, to receive more options of maneuvers to use. There is absolutely reason why you wouldn’t be next to an ally in every battle (in fact, my allies are typically not very aware of where the Rogue is and hardly put themselves in positions for my advantage). Assuming you don’t have a shield and are in a tight-knit fight, your suggestions are excellent.

  8. I find you can add a lot of flexibility to this combination with a hand crossbow + rapier, crossbow expert and trip attack. Almost everything else still just works (except Dueling fighting style – but archery fighting style is excellent and most attacks can be made with the crossbow). Greatly increasing range should make it easier to land those surprise round attacks to assassinate as well as engaging otherwise unreachable enemies. Bonus action attacks with full damage for a second bite of the apple when missing the first attack (or just extra damage), Trip works just fine with ranged attacks and is absolutely devastating on flying opponents as flying enemies who are knocked prone fall to the ground taking fall damage.

    Combine this with sharpshooter and you can trip an opponent with the first attack, get your sneak attack, and then attack at close range for attack 2 and bonus action attack for advantage you can fairly safely trade accuracy for damage using sharpshooter.

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