Elven Accuracy Feat 5e: 5 Ways to Make the Most Of This Amazing Ability

Last Updated on January 22, 2023

Blessed with natural grace and swiftness, elves and half-elves are perfect examples of why speed and precision can often overpower brute force.

Some characters with elven blood take this to a whole new level, striking at their foes with near-supernatural accuracy. 

Welcome to our guide to the Elven Accuracy feat in Dungeons & Dragons 5e. In this guide we’ll break down exactly how this powerful feat – introduced to the game as part of Xanathar’s Guide to Everything – works, which classes may want to consider taking the feat, and provide some examples of possible builds that synergize with Elven Accuracy to the point of almost breaking the game.

Let’s jump in. 

Elven Accuracy 

Source: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything 

Prerequisite: Elf, Half-elf

The accuracy of elves is legendary, especially that of elf archers and spellcasters. You have uncanny aim with attacks that rely on precision rather than brute force. You gain the following benefits:

Increase your Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Whenever you have advantage on an attack roll using Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, you can reroll one of the dice once.

Is the Elven Accuracy Feat Good? 

Combining versatility and a huge bonus to your chances to hit with weapon or spell attacks, the Elven Accuracy feat may be one of the strongest feats in all of D&D 5e

Let’s break down exactly what that means and what makes Elven Accuracy such a powerful and, frankly, an unusual feat.  

Elven Accuracy ASI 

First of all, any feat that also grants an Ability Score Increase is off to a great start. Most feats make you choose between increasing one ability score by 2 (or two scores by 1) and their benefits, which can make for a steep trade-off.

Feats that compromise by giving you a special bonus or ability and a small stat boost are great, especially if you’re just one point away from an all-important modifier increase. 

The ASI offered by Elved Accuracy is also more versatile than those typically offered by feats. Most feats that provide an increase to a stat let you choose between two or maybe three options.

Being able to put an extra point into Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma immediately makes this feat suited to a broader range of characters and classes. 

Obviously, the racial prerequisite is a drawback. However, while elves are somewhat restricted in terms of the classes they gel with, half-elves are an incredibly versatile race, capable of fitting into just about any mold, so our options for class-race-Elven Accuracy combos are still pretty broad. 

The only thing that this feat (not to mention elves and half-elves) really isn’t suited to is Strength-based builds, so barbarians, melee-focused rangers and fighters, and (to a lesser degree) clerics are all out of the window. 

Elven Accuracy and Double Advantage 

The most powerful aspect of the Elven Accuracy feat is definitely the ability to effectively gain double advantage on both weapon and spell attacks. 

When you make an attack that uses Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (which covers just about every Dex-based martial class, finesse weapon-wielding bard, druid with Shillelagh, and spellcasting class in the game) and have advantage from some other source, you may reroll one of those dice. 

Basically, with Elven Accuracy, you get to roll 3d20 and pick the highest result.

Assuming your character’s stats aren’t a total dumpster fire (meaning you have a to-hit bonus with your weapon or spell attack modifier of between +5 and +7 at lower levels), that makes your chances to hit an enemy insanely high unless their armor class is also ridiculous. 

Statistically, your average base roll with double advantage (before adding modifiers) is going to be about 16.8. That’s already enough to beat the AC of pretty much all monsters of CR2 and below. 

Obviously, this relies on being able to consistently give yourself advantage on attack rolls. Let’s look at how to do that. 

How do I get advantage on an attack roll? 

The most common ways to give your character advantage on attack rolls in D&D 5e, all of which would trigger your Elven Accuracy feat and grant double advantage. 

  • Using the Help action grants advantage to another creature for their next ability check, or on their next attack roll if made before the end of the helping creature’s next turn, as long as the helper is within 5 feet of the target. 
  • The Dodge action also gives you advantage on all Dexterity saving throws until the start of your next turn
  • Attacking a creature that hasn’t seen you yet (attacking from hidden) grants advantage on the attack roll
  • The various conditions grant advantage on attack rolls. Imposing conditions like Blinded, Paralyzed, Unconscious, and Prone on an enemy grants you advantage on the attack roll (usually only if you are within 5 feet of the target)
  • The optional Flanking rule in the Dungeon Master’s Guide gives you advantage on attack rolls if a friendly, non-incapacitated creature is on the opposite side of an enemy you’re targeting

Characters that have abilities and features that give them advantage on attacks, spells like Hold Person (great because any hit is an automatic critical if the attacker is within 5 feet), Faerie Fire (perfect for gaining advantage against multiple foes who can’t save each turn to halt the spell’s effects), Entangle (a great low-level option), and some Feats can also help impose these conditions and grant advantage in other ways. 

Let’s look at some of the best classes and builds to combine with the Elven Accuracy feat. 

Which Class Is Best With Elven Accuracy? 

Dexterity-based classes like rogues, rangers, and some fighters can all benefit from Elven Accuracy, not to mention classes like the warlock and sorcerer, which rely heavily on cantrips for their damage output. 

Beyond these criteria, any class (or subclass) that can easily gain advantage on attack rolls is going to be a strong contender. Some examples include… 

Rogue 

All rogues have the ability to use their Cunning Action to hide as a bonus action. Seeing as attacking an enemy that can’t see you is probably the easiest way to consistently gain advantage, this makes rogues optimal candidates for Elven Accuracy.

Fire a weapon from hidden (or use a cantrip if you’re playing an Arcane Trickster), roll with double advantage, hide as a bonus action, rinse and repeat until everyone’s dead. 

Rogues are also natural candidates for Dexterity-based weapons, and because they don’t gain multi-attack at higher levels like other martial classes, being able to boost your chances of applying that all-important Sneak Attack damage every round makes the Elven Accuracy feat a fantastic choice for any elf or half-elf rogue. 

Warlock

With their frankly miserable pool of spell slots, warlocks are probably the most cantrip-reliant spellcasting class in D&D 5e, a bitter pill which is sweetened considerably by their access to Eldritch Blast and a host of Eldritch Invocations. 

While a Warlock can’t hide as a bonus action like the Rogue, they can use spells like Darkness which, when paired with an Eldritch Invocation like Devil’s Sight (which allows you to see through both magical and non-magical darkness), hiding among the shadows and firing off supernaturally accurate Eldritch Blasts is a walk in the very spooky park. 

Alternately, if you take the Pact of the Chain feature at 3rd level, you can command your familiar to take the Help action, which gives you advantage (and therefore double advantage) on your attack rolls. 

Samurai Fighter 

While most fighters are going to be Strength-based, this class is so versatile (and consistently powerful no matter what you do with them) that making a Dexterity-based fighter that uses a finesse weapon like a rapier or scimitar (or two scimitars if you want to be a badass with the Two-Weapon Fighting style) and a ranged weapon like a longbow is totally viable. 

Because Advantage is going to be your bread and butter if you’re playing an Elven Accuracy-focused build, there’s no better candidate for this class-feat pairing than the Samurai martial archetype.

Using a bonus action, the Samurai’s Fighting Spirit grants them advantage on all weapon attacks for the rest of their turn and gives them 5 temporary hit points – especially good if you’re using two-weapon fighting, for a possible four attacks with double advantage at 5th level (assuming you’re burning your Action Surge).  

Beast Master Ranger 

Another class that benefits from a companion taking the help action, the Beast Master’s animal sidekick is a sure way to give yourself advantage on attack rolls – which you can safely make from range while your 34 hp Brown Bear happily tanks damage. 

Circle of the Shepherd Druid

Speaking of powerful companion-based builds, the Circle of the Shepherd druid is all about drowning their enemies in waves of bloodthirsty woodland creatures (or velociraptors if you want to break the game) using the Conjure Animals spell.

Also, the Hawk Spirit you can summon from 2nd level is also capable of giving you advantage on attack rolls using your reaction. 

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