Is Great Weapon Master Necessary? A Deep Dive into D&D 5e’s Powerhouse Feat
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The short answer is: No, Great Weapon Master (GWM) is not necessary for a successful D&D 5e campaign, but it is exceptionally powerful and highly recommended for certain melee builds aiming for maximum damage output. It’s a feat that can dramatically alter the landscape of combat, but its impact varies wildly based on your character, your party, and your preferred playstyle. Let’s delve deeper into what makes GWM so impactful and whether it’s truly a must-have.
The Allure of Great Weapon Master
Great Weapon Master offers two key benefits:
- The Power Attack: This allows you to take a -5 penalty to your attack roll to gain a +10 bonus to your damage roll on a successful hit with a heavy weapon. This is where the majority of GWM’s power resides. The trade-off between accuracy and damage is significant, and at higher levels, this penalty often becomes negligible due to increased proficiency and ability score bonuses.
- The Bonus Action Attack: When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with one, you gain a bonus action to make a single melee weapon attack. This provides an additional opportunity for damage and battlefield control, further increasing the feat’s value.
The reason GWM is often considered the “best feat for great weapon melee builds” boils down to the way D&D 5e’s math works. Armor Class (AC) does not scale linearly with levels, while character bonuses to hit rolls tend to increase much more rapidly. This creates a scenario where the -5 penalty to attack becomes less impactful over time, while the +10 to damage remains a consistent source of raw power.
When GWM Shines
GWM is particularly potent in the following situations:
- High Strength Builds: Characters with high Strength scores, particularly Barbarians, Fighters, and Paladins, are naturally well-suited to GWM. Their inherent attack bonuses help offset the -5 penalty.
- Characters with Advantage: Gaining advantage on attacks significantly mitigates the -5 penalty, turning GWM into an absolute powerhouse. Class features and spells that grant advantage, such as Reckless Attack for Barbarians, make GWM incredibly reliable.
- Fighting Low-AC Enemies: GWM’s damage output is especially noticeable against enemies with low to medium AC. In these situations, the -5 penalty becomes almost irrelevant, and the +10 damage is almost guaranteed.
- Versatile Weapon Users: Interestingly, GWM works with versatile weapons when wielded in two hands, expanding the options for characters looking to maximize damage.
- Groups With Buffs: Party members that can provide buffs to hit such as bless can make this feat even more reliable.
When GWM Might Not Be Ideal
Despite its power, GWM isn’t always the optimal choice. Here are situations where it might underperform:
- Low Strength Characters: If your Strength score is low, the -5 penalty to attack will be significantly detrimental, leading to missed attacks and wasted actions.
- Fighting High-AC Enemies: Against enemies with very high AC, the -5 penalty can make it incredibly difficult to hit reliably. In these situations, the +10 damage might not be worth the consistent misses.
- Characters Relying on Consistent Hits: Characters who need to hit reliably for their effects to work, like certain Paladins that depend on smites, might find the GWM power attack too risky.
- Party Synergies: If your party lacks the tools to mitigate GWM’s accuracy penalty, such as advantage or attack buffs, you might find yourself missing more often than hitting.
Alternatives to Great Weapon Master
If GWM isn’t the perfect fit for your character, several other feats can provide comparable benefits or be better tailored to your specific needs:
- Polearm Master: This feat allows for bonus action attacks and opportunity attacks when enemies enter your reach, providing consistent damage and battlefield control. It pairs well with GWM but doesn’t replace it.
- Savage Attacker: While not as impactful as GWM, Savage Attacker provides a more consistent increase in average damage by rerolling low damage dice results.
- Lucky: This feat allows you to reroll attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks, providing consistent utility and the ability to turn the tide in crucial situations.
- Resilient (Wisdom): Helps shore up a common weakness in martial characters and provides proficiency in a critical saving throw.
The Verdict: Is it Necessary?
In conclusion, Great Weapon Master is not strictly necessary, but it is incredibly powerful when used strategically. It can significantly increase your damage output, especially at higher levels and against lower-AC enemies, especially when supported by character features and party support. However, it is not a “set it and forget it” feat. You need to understand your character, the enemies you face, and your party composition to utilize it effectively. It is a fantastic option for characters seeking to maximize their damage, but it’s not a requirement for a successful D&D 5e experience.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What weapons does Great Weapon Master work with?
Great Weapon Master works with Heavy melee weapons that you are proficient with. This includes weapons like greatswords, mauls, greataxes, and halberds. Interestingly, it also applies to versatile weapons like longswords, warhammers, and battleaxes when wielded with two hands. In Baldur’s Gate 3, the rules are more generalized and works with any 2 handed melee weapon, or versatile weapon with no offhand.
Does Great Weapon Master apply to a critical hit?
No, the +10 damage bonus from GWM is not doubled on a critical hit. Only the weapon damage dice are doubled on a crit. The +10 bonus from GWM is added as flat damage, therefore it does not multiply with a critical hit.
Can you use Great Weapon Master more than once per turn?
The -5/+10 power attack can be used on each attack that you make in a turn. The bonus action attack that is granted for scoring a crit or dropping a target to zero can only be used once per turn if you are able to use it in the first place, as you can only use one bonus action. Actions Surges will allow more attacks, and thus more potential uses of the GWM power attack, and one extra potential bonus action.
Does Great Weapon Master work with Polearm Master?
Yes, the two feats work in conjunction. Polearm Master allows you to make an attack with a polearm as a bonus action, while Great Weapon Master allows for a -5/+10 trade-off with attacks.
Is Great Weapon Master good at low levels?
GWM is more difficult to use effectively at low levels due to lower attack bonuses. It’s typically recommended to wait until around level 8 or 9, when your proficiency bonus and ability scores provide a better chance of landing your attacks reliably with the -5 to hit.
Does Great Weapon Fighting work with Great Weapon Master?
Yes, but not together. Great Weapon Fighting allows you to reroll a 1 or a 2 on your damage dice for melee attacks with two handed weapons. It can be used together with the GWM attack, as the GWM feat only affects the hit roll, and adds flat damage, and therefore does not conflict with the Great Weapon Fighting style.
Does Great Weapon Master work with Smite?
Yes, Great Weapon Master works with smite. Smites are added as extra damage when you hit with a melee attack, so they are not considered a “weapon” hit or damage. Therefore they are unaffected by GWM or Great Weapon fighting rules.
Why is Great Weapon Master so good?
GWM is powerful because D&D 5e’s AC doesn’t scale as rapidly as attack bonuses. The -5 penalty to hit becomes less impactful at higher levels, making the +10 damage a significant increase in damage.
Is Great Weapon Master better than Sharpshooter?
Both are powerful feats, but Sharpshooter applies to ranged attacks. Whether GWM is “better” depends on your playstyle and character build.
Does Great Weapon Master work with longswords?
Yes, GWM works with longswords when they are wielded with two hands, since they are a versatile weapon.
Does Great Weapon Master double on a critical hit?
No, the +10 damage bonus from Great Weapon Master does not double on a critical hit. Only the dice of the weapon’s base damage are doubled.
What is the best class for Great Weapon Master?
Barbarians, Fighters, and Paladins are the best classes for GWM, thanks to their proficiency with heavy weapons and abilities that synergize well with the feat. Paladins also benefit greatly from the high damage output for their Divine Smite.
Does Great Weapon Master work with versatile weapons when used in one hand?
No. GWM only works when versatile weapons are used with two hands. It requires that you make the attack with a two-handed weapon, which does not include versatile weapons being used with one hand.
Does Great Weapon Master work with a Lance?
No. While a lance is a melee weapon, it does not have the heavy property that’s required for GWM.
What is the bonus action associated with Great Weapon Master?
The bonus action granted by GWM allows you to make one melee weapon attack as a bonus action when you score a critical hit with a melee weapon or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with one. This is only possible if you have not already used your bonus action that turn.