Last Updated on February 1, 2023
Back in the days of 3e, you could make an off-hand attack any time you made a normal attack – but at a -5 penalty.
If you were lucky enough to be a ranger or monk or had the appropriate feat, you could reduce it to -2.
In 5e, it’s much simpler.
How Do I Make an Off-Hand Attack?
You can make a second attack with a light weapon you are holding in your other hand as a bonus action provided you have made a weapon attack with a light weapon as normal. Penalties apply in different circumstances.
When you make a normal attack with a light weapon, you can make an off-hand attack with another light weapon.
You do not add your ability modifier to the damage of that attack unless your modifier is negative.
Light Weapons
To make an off-hand attack, you must be using light weapons (or be unarmed).
Here are all of the weapons that you can use to make an off-hand attack, provided you have another one of these weapons in your other hand for your main attack.
- Club
- Dagger
- Handaxe
- Hand Crossbow
- Light Hammer
- Scimitar
- Shortsword
- Sickle
This gives you some interesting combinations, considering you can also throw a weapon with your off-hand, assuming it has the thrown property.
Also, make sure you are using finesse weapons if your dexterity is higher than your strength. That means use shortswords, scimitars, daggers, or the like.
If your Strength is higher, use light hammers, handaxes, or sickles.
Improving Off-Hand Attacks
The following feats and class abilities will improve your ability to fight two-handed.
Dual Wielder allows you to ignore the rule, which means you have to have two light weapons. If both weapons are one-handed weapons, it doesn’t matter if they have the light property or not.
In addition, you’ll gain a +1 to AC when wielding two weapons.
Two-Weapon Fighting is a fighting style available to Rangers, Fighters, and Paladins, or anyone with the Fighting Initiate feat.
The benefit here is that you will be able to add your ability modifier to the damage of your second attack, which is a step up from the original restriction.
Steps To Make the Best Two-Weapon Fighter:
1. Play a Ranger. Choose Favored Foe at 1st level for an additional 1d4.
2. Take the Two Weapon Fighting Style at second level to add a (usually) +3 to damage on the off-hand attack.
3. At 3rd level, take the Hunter subclass, and choose Colossus Slayer for an extra 1d8 damage per attack.
4. At 4th level, take the Magic Initiate (Druid) feat, and choose Shillelagh as one of your cantrips.
You can now wield two clubs that can each deal 2d8 + 1d4 + 3 damage. That’s a range of 4-23 damage for a single attack at 4th level.
Your second attack will be just the same, meaning that your total range of damage is 8-46.
At 5th level, you gain an extra attack. At 6th level, you should multiclass into monk to get flurry of blows, thus granting you FOUR total attacks.*
*Thanks to our sharp eyed reader Christopher Chatterton who noticed our mistake. It’s Four total attacks not 5 that we previously had!
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Rich is an avid D&D player and DM. He has been playing since the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st and 2nd editions. He has run campaigns of various editions with family and friends for over 20 years. Playing DnD 5th Edition in person at local game stores and online with VTT’s over the past 10 years has provided a consistent connection to how the game has grown. He strongly believes in understanding the source material, but catering the games to your individual players. Feel free to ask anything in the comments or drop him an email: [email protected].
At 5th level, you gain an extra attack. At 6th level, you should multiclass into monk to get flurry of blows, thus granting you five total attacks.
How is it 6 attacks? Is it not Main hand attack, extra attack, flurry of blows 2 off hand bonus action attacks? should only be 4?
5 attacks.. silly typo I thought I fixed it.. is it not 4 attacks and not 5?
And how do you get 2 clubs doing the 1d8? You can only cast Shillelagh on one of them.. if you try to cast it a second time the first one ends…
Hi Christopher! We had a chat about it and we all think you’re absolutely right. We’re going to update this article and credit you if that’s cool!
Hi, as mentioned above, Shillelagh can only benefit one weapon at a time.
Favoured Foe and Colossus Slayer both explicitly state they apply to one attack per turn. So the at 5th level damage would look more like:
2d8+1d4+3 (main hand attack)
1d8+3 (main hand extra attack)
1d4+3 (off-hand attack)
Flurry of blows would get you an extra 1d4+3 if you multiclassed. Not damage to be sniffed at, but not as big as stated in the article!