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Great Weapon Fighting is a Fighting Style passive feature.
Description
When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack with a Two-Handed melee weapon, that die is rerolled once.
How to learn
Notes
- This also applies to Versatile weapons when off-hand is empty.
- Unlike in 5th Edition rules, added damage dice from sources like Superiority Dice,
, and a Fire- or Poison-dipped weapon may also be rerolled. - This feature increases the average of a "Dx" (a dice with x sides) by 1 - 2/x, e.g. by 0.5 for a D4, by 0.833... for a D12, and so on.
- When used in combination with Savage Attacker, Great Weapon Fighting is applied before selecting the highest damage roll.
Math
Average bonus damage of Great Weapon Fighting alone
| Damage dice | Average bonus damage | Average damage roll |
|---|---|---|
| 1d4 | 0.50 | 3 |
| 1d6 | 0.67 | 4.17 |
| 1d8 | 0.75 | 5.25 |
| 1d10 | 0.8 | 6.30 |
| 1d12 | 0.83 | 7.33 |
| 2d6 | 1.33 | 8.33 |
If we compare to the 2 bonus damage of Duelling fighting style, at least a few damage dice need to be rolled for this feat to be equivalent or better. For example using the Halberd of Vigilance dipped in fire, this feat would on average add 2 x 0.5 + 0.8 = 1.8 bonus damage. If it is a critical strike it would add 3.6 bonus damage on average.
Average bonus damage of Great Weapon Fighting with Savage Attacker (or Brace)
| Damage dice | Average bonus damage | Average damage roll | Avg bonus damage difference from Savage Attacker alone | Avg bonus damage difference from Great Weapon Fighting alone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1d4 | 0.88 | 3.38 | 0.25 | 0.38 |
| 1d6 | 1.27 | 4.77 | 0.30 | 0.60 |
| 1d8 | 1.63 | 6.13 | 0.31 | 0.88 |
| 1d10 | 1.97 | 7.47 | 0.32 | 1.17 |
| 1d12 | 2.31 | 8.81 | 0.32 | 1.48 |
| 2d6 | 2.54 | 9.54 | 0.59 | 1.20 |
Comparing with the 2 bonus damage of Duelling fighting style, at least 6 damage dice need to be rolled to be equivalent or better.
This feat is less efficient when used in combination with Savage Attacker but it can still be worth taking if :
- Many damage dice are rolled, which can be achieved with e.g Divine Strike and/or when building characters based on Critical Strikes.
- Someone wants to take another feat than Savage Attacker whose efficiency is slightly reduced by using Great Weapon Fighting instead (0.25 to 0.5 less bonus average damage, or 50% to 25% less bonus average damage for a d4 to d12 die)
- There are no better fighting style to pick anyway.
Average bonus damage of Great Weapon Fighting with Savage Attacker and Brace
| Damage dice | Average bonus damage | Average damage roll | Avg bonus damage difference from Savage Attacker + Brace |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1d4 | 1.02 | 3.52 | 0.08 |
| 1d6 | 1.43 | 4.93 | 0.06 |
| 1d8 | 1.82 | 6.32 | 0.05 |
| 1d10 | 2.20 | 7.70 | 0.04 |
| 1d12 | 2.58 | 9.08 | 0.04 |
| 2d6 | 2.86 | 9.86 | 0.13 |
This feat average bonus damage becomes almost negligible when used with Brace and Savage Attacker but Brace can only be used once per short rest so it could still be worth taking.