Builds - Handaxe Dwarf
The thrown weapon. Ignored by most players since the damage output by these weapons is lower than others. Why would you want a 1d4 damage-producing dagger when you can wield a longsword and its 1d8 damage. Well, thanks to Tasha’s, the thrown weapon is shown a little love as a fighting style for the fighter. Today we are going to focus on those fun Strength-based weapons, the handaxe. You can check out the character sheet by clicking the link.
Axe (the) Dwarf
Battle Master Fighter / Hunter Ranger
Race - Mountain Dwarf
No variant human today. A +2 Strength and +2 Constitution will go a long way during the lower levels. Since our primary weapon is the handaxe, we’ll want the Strength bonus to increase our damage input.
Starting Class - Fighter
Stats - Str. 17, Dex. 12, Con. 16, Int.8, Wis. 13, Cha. 10.
Using the standard array, our stats are pretty straightforward. With the racial bonuses mentioned above, we are able to start off with a +3 bonus to our damage and pick up a decent amount of additional starting hit points.
Skill Proficiencies - Athletics, Intimidation, Perception, Survival
Background - Soldier
Weapons - 4 Handaxes, +5 to hit, 1d6 + 3 damage
Armor - Chainmail
Our handaxe-wielding dwarf is ready to go. They are not going to be the most mobile character so the challenge is to be able to effectively deal damage while still trying to tank the damage for the party. There’s always an expectation for the party’s fighter to stand in the front, absorb a ridiculous amount of damage and then return said damage, so I’m also trying to be realistic with the build. Character builds are fun to create, but useless if they have no practical application, so our dwarf will have to sacrifice some mobility to actually be playable.
Fighter 1
Fighting Style: Thrown Weapon. Having to use an action to pull out another weapon to throw was one of the biggest detriments to building this type of character. Thanks to Tasha’s, you can draw a weapon that has the thrown property as part of the attack you make with the weapon. What’s even better is that when you hit with a ranged attack using a thrown weapon, you gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll. Take that, longbows!
Even though we have not taken two-weapon fighting (yet), we’ll be wielding two handaxes at all times. Our current damage output is as follows:
Ranged Attacks
1st handaxe -1d6 base damage + 3 (Strength bonus) + 2 (Thrown Weapon Style) = 8 avg damage.
2nd (offhand) handaxe - 1d6 base damage + 2 (TW) = 5 avg.
Total average damage output - 13 damage (20 max)
Melee Attacks
Battleaxe - 1d8 + 3 (Strength bonus) = 7 avg. damage.
1st handaxe -1d6 base damage + 3 (Strength bonus) = 6 avg damage.
2nd (offhand) handaxe - 1d6 base damage = 3 avg damage
Total average damage output - Two handaxes: 9 damage (15 max)
Fighter 3
Martial Archetype - Battle Master. There was no new ‘thrown weapon’ archetype in Tasha’s, but that’s ok because we can go Battle Master and take the following:
Goading Attack - You’re supposed to be tanking damage, remember?
Quick Toss - Use your bonus action and one superiority die to throw a weapon when you need to do more damage than two-weapon fighting can provide. If you hit, add that beautiful d8 superiority die to the handaxe damage roll.
Riposte - I love reaction attacks. If you haven’t thrown both your handaxes, might as well take a swing.
Fighter 4
ASI Increase - Any number of feats would be nice here, but to accomplish our goals, we’ll need to take in the ASI so we can meet the minimum requirements to multiclass. Adding 1 point to Strength increases our damage bonus to +4 and adding 1 point to Dexterity allows us to start adding levels in Ranger. But we aren’t quite there yet.
Fighter 5
Extra Attack - I was tempted to start taking levels in ranger, but you’re a fighter, so take one more level in fighter before starting to level up in ranger.
Fighter 5 / Ranger 2
Not much happens at 1st level for the ranger, but when you get to 2nd level, choosing an additional fighting style is kinda a big deal.
Fighting Style: Two-Weapon Fighting. Adding this fighting style allows us to increase our damage output by +4 on that second attack.
Spells: Let’s not underestimate the importance of the ranger spells in this build. Take hunter’s mark and zephyr strike. We’ll have to use a bonus action to cast either of these spells, but the payoff on the next round is worth it. Both are great spells if your target(s) are out of range in the first round.
Our updated damage output is as follows, based on two attacks and one bonus weapon attack:
Ranged Attacks
1st handaxe -1d6 base damage + 4 (Strength bonus) + 2 (Thrown Weapon Style) = 9 avg damage.
2nd handaxe -1d6 base damage + 4 + 2 = 9 avg damage.
3rd (offhand) handaxe -1d6 base damage + 4 + 2 = 9 avg damage.
Total average damage output - 27 damage (36 max)
Melee Attacks
1st handaxe -1d6 base damage + 4 = 7 avg damage.
2nd handaxe -1d6 base damage + 4 = 7 avg damage.
3rd (offhand) handaxe - 1d6 base damage + 4 = 7 avg damage
Total average damage output - Three handaxes: 21 damage (30 max)
Fighter 5 / Ranger 3
Ranger Archetype - Hunter. Embracing our lack of mobility, we go Hunter instead of everyone’s favorite, Gloom Stalker. I would much rather go the Colossus Slayer Hunter Archetype and get my extra 1d8 damage each turn than extra damage and some movement once per combat. Plus we have three chances to land that sweet extra damage.
Fighter 5 / Ranger 4
Feat - Dual Wielder. Couple of reasons we go this route. Since we are never going to get a shield as we will hopefully always have a weapon in each hand, a +1 AC is about as good as it’s going to get. We’ll now grab a battleaxe for those times we have no handaxes left in our arsenal, and we can wield it with a handaxe or can grab onto it with two hands for a nice change of pace.
We take our remaining levels in Fighter, ending up with the following:
Fighter 16 / Ranger 4
ASI - No more feats, taking ability increases the rest of the way. Increase your Strength and Constitution to 20 and enjoy the +5 damage bonus on all your attacks and the extra hit points you’ll probably need. I dumped a couple into Intelligence so there would be no more negative modifiers on the sheet and the rest in Wisdom since it feels like everything is Wisdom sometimes. There’s nothing wrong with taking a feat once your two core stats are maxed out, and I would recommend Sharpshooter or Tough.
Battle Master Maneuvers - There really is no right or wrong picks here. Unfortunately, most maneuvers are focused on melee attacks, so pick whatever makes you happy when you’re fighting up close and personal.
Base Stats - Str. 20, Dex. 13, Con. 20, Int. 10, Wis. 15, Cha. 10
Fighter - Thrown Weapon Fighting, Second Wind, Action Surge, 3 Attacks, 7 Manuevers, 6d10 Superiority Dice, Indomitable, Know Your Enemy, Relentless
Ranger - Favored Enemy, Natural Explorer, Two-Weapon Fighting, Primeval Awareness, Hunter’s Prey (Colossus Slayer), Ranger Spells (2) - Hunter’s mark and zephyr strike.
Feat - Dual Wielder
Damage Output - We’ll only break down the ranged attacks only since there are countless combinations of thrown handaxes, melee attacks with said handaxes, and melee attacks with that shiny battleaxe our dwarf owns.
Ranged Attacks
1st handaxe -1d6 base damage + 5 (Strength bonus) + 2 (Thrown Weapon Style) = 10 avg damage.
2nd handaxe -1d6 + 5 + 2 = 10 avg damage.
3rd handaxe -1d6 + 5 + 2 = 10 avg damage.
4th (offhand) handaxe - 1d6 + 5 + 2 = 10 avg damage.
Total average damage output per round - 40 damage (52 max)
With Hunter (Colossus Slayer) bonus - 44 (60 max)
With 1 Battle Master Manuever - 45 (62 max)
With 4 Battle Master Manuevers - 60 (92 max)
With a Reaction Attack - 45 (62 max)
With Hunter’s Mark - 43 (58 max)
Put it all together in one blaze of glory attack round and here’s what you can do. You’ll use your bonus action before this round to cast hunter’s mark on your target and will be burning all of your superiority dice.
1st attack - 1d6 handaxe damage + 5 (Str. bonus) + 2 (Thrown Weapon Style) + 1d6 Hunter’s Mark + 1d8 Hunter Archetype + 1d10 Battle Master Maneuver = 22 avg damage (37 max)
2nd attack - 1d6 handaxe damage + 5 (Str. bonus) + 2 (Thrown Weapon Style) + 1d6 Hunter’s Mark + 1d8 Hunter Archetype + 1d10 Battle Master Maneuver = 22 avg damage (37 max)
3rd attack - 1d6 handaxe damage + 5 (Str. bonus) + 2 (Thrown Weapon Style) + 1d6 Hunter’s Mark + 1d8 Hunter Archetype + 1d10 Battle Master Maneuver = 22 avg damage (37 max)
4th attack (Bonus action attack) - 1d6 handaxe damage + 5 (Str. bonus) + 2 (Thrown Weapon Style) + 1d6 Hunter’s Mark + 1d8 Hunter Archetype + 1d10 Battle Master Maneuver = 22 avg damage (37 max)
5th attack (Action Surge attack) - 1d6 handaxe damage + 5 (Str. bonus) + 2 (Thrown Weapon Style) + 1d6 Hunter’s Mark + 1d8 Hunter Archetype + 1d10 Battle Master Maneuver = 22 avg damage (37 max)
6th attack (Reaction attack) - 1d6 handaxe damage + 5 (Str. bonus) + 2 (Thrown Weapon Style) + 1d6 Hunter’s Mark + 1d8 Hunter Archetype = 17 avg damage (27 max)
Total single round damage - 127 avg damage (212 max)
Sure, there are higher damage builds out in the world, but those require you do either use a ranged OR melee weapon. Our buddy Axe the Dwarf uses weapons that can do both, allowing him to draw, throw, and slash in any number of combinations.
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