Feats are an invaluable character customization tool in Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition. Although few and far between, they can give a character an array of new abilities that change how they play. Nearly every feat has its uses, but many suit one class or role better than others.

The paladin is an iconic Dungeons & Dragons class. As some of D&D's most capable and versatile characters, they benefit from a vast number of feats. Nonetheless, some choices stand out head-and-shoulders above the others as useful for paladins, depending on what the player wants to achieve.

Updated November 21st by Isaac Williams: The paladin is one of D&D 5e's strongest classes, combining spellcasting with more physical fighting. With the right feats, paladins can be among the best characters in the game. This list has been updated to fit CBR's current formatting guidelines and to include even more detail on the best paladin feats in D&D 5e.

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20 Dual Wielder Adds More High-Damage Attacks

Player's Handbook, pg. 165

a barbarian using two weapons at once

Paladins are not a class associated with two-weapon fighting in D&D 5e. It's not on their list of Fighting Styles, while iconic paladins wield swords and shields or two-handed weapons. However, paladins can get significant mileage out of the Dual Wielder feat in D&D 5e. This is because Improved Divine Smite adds d8 radiant damage to every strike, encouraging as many attacks as possible.

Dual-Wielder lets the paladin wield regular weapons while two-weapon fighting for maximum damage. Its +1 to Armor Class also makes it more protective than a heavy weapon. However, it requires a Fighting Style the paladin doesn't typically get, requiring either multiclassing or another feat. As a result, it's bottom of the list of the best paladin feats in D&D 5e.

19 Heavy Armor Master Helps Make The Paladin A Tank

Player's Handbook pg. 167

A warrior decapitating a giant in DnD.

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The Heavy Armor Master feat is game-changing at low levels in D&D 5e, although its usefulness tapers off somewhat as a campaign goes on. Besides increasing the character's strength, this feat reduces the bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing damage the character takes from any non-magical attack.

Paladins are some of the best tank characters in D&D 5e. Their high Armor Class, hit die, and self-healing help them weather almost any assault. However, non-magical attacks become less prominent over time. As a result, Heavy Armor Master lags other D&D 5e paladin feats that don't drop off over time.

18 Shield Master

Player's Handbook, pg. 170

A Paladin armed with sword and shield in DnD

Many D&D 5e paladin builds fight best with a shield, especially if they're trying to tank for their party. Shields provide a substantial Armor Class increase at the cost of limiting weapon options. Shield Master is a top-tier D&D 5e feat for paladins because it turns the shield into an offensive tool, not just a defensive one.

Shield Master's most significant feature is that a character can knock an enemy prone with their shield after attacking. This makes enemies more vulnerable to allies' attacks and limits their ability to escape the paladin. Its defensive benefits are also ideal for a D&D 5e paladin. It lets them add their shield's bonus to Dexterity saving throws against spells and use their reaction to negate damage from a successful Dexterity saving throw, synergizing with a paladin's Aura of Protection.

17 Slasher Debuffs Enemies While Dealing Damage

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, pg. 81

A dnd fighter wielding a large sword and shield

The Slasher feat is somewhat situational compared to some of the other best paladin feats in D&D 5e, but it still has strong appeal. This feat starts with a boost to Strength or Dexterity, with the former being ideal for most paladins. It then provides substantial combat benefits for paladins wielding slashing weapons like greatswords.

With the D&D 5e Slasher feat, a paladin can reduce their enemy's speed by ten feet just by striking them. This makes it significantly harder for the enemy to escape or chase down vulnerable party members. A critical hit gives a creature disadvantage on all attacks until the paladin's next turn, further negating its combat effectiveness.

16 Gift Of The Gem Dragon Punishes Melee Foes

Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, pg. 17

gift of the gem dragon in DND

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Gift of the Gem Dragon works well for classes who want to avoid melee combat at all costs. Nonetheless, a paladin can use it to buy themselves breathing room in combat if they're being swarmed. It's also an ideal way for them to deal damage outside of their turn, such as to finish off a badly wounded foe.

Gift of the Gem Dragon lets a paladin use their reaction to blast enemies who hit them, dealing damage and forcing them back. As it requires enemies to be in melee range, paladins get to use it far more often than many other D&D 5e characters. Moreover, it can boost Charisma to bolster many other paladin features.

15 Ritual Caster Adds Out-Of-Combat Utility

Player's Handbook pg. 169

A wizard poring over a spellbook surrounded by floating blue runes in DnD.

Paladins are already one of D&D 5e's most versatile classes. They're good warriors, effective healers, and helpful in social situations. However, they don't have much in the way of utility spellcasting. Their spell slots are limited, and much of their magic focuses on smiting foes or supporting allies.

The Ritual Caster feat gives any character a large amount of utility spellcasting. A paladin that takes it can choose any of D&D 5e's full spellcaster classes and learn their ritual spells — which can be cast without spell slots. If the character picks a class not present in their party, their paladin can take up some slack outside combat.

14 Piercer Helps Keep Damage High

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, pg. 80

Xenk the Paladin surrounded by blue crystals in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

Paladins often use slashing or bludgeoning weapons in D&D 5e, but this is far from a hard-and-fast rule. Paladins are fully capable of using weapons that deal piercing damage, ranging from a rapier to a pair of short swords to a pike. Piercer is an ideal feat for these paladins in D&D 5e.

Piercer lets a character re-roll one damage die of an attack that deals piercing damage. With Divine Smite, paladins roll more damage dice than almost any other class. They're likely to have one low roll that Piercer can boost substantially. It also makes critical hits even harder, ideal for a D&D 5e class that wants to land criticals as often as possible. However, piercing weapons struggle with the best paladin builds in D&D 5e, preventing it from being higher on this list.

13 Fighting Initiate Unlocks New Playstyles

Tasha's Cauldron Of Everything pg. 80

A fighter wielding a single sword in DnD.

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As martial characters, paladins are one of the few classes that get access to D&D 5e Fighting Styles as a class feature. However, they can only choose one from a limited selection. This list has some notable omissions, including Archery and Two-Weapon Fighting. Paladins often find themselves locked into playstyles like Dueling or Great Weapon Fighting.

Unconventional paladin builds in D&D 5e might want unavailable Fighting Styles to improve their effectiveness. Alternatively, paladins might want to take two Fighting Styles for greater versatility, such as Dueling and Great Weapon Fighting. There's also the option of taking a second Fighting Style that provides a useful passive buff, such as Blind Fighting or Defense.

12 Gift Of The Chromatic Dragon Buffs Damage And Durability

Fizban's Treasury Of Dragons pg. 17

A Dragonborn Barbarian attacking with a flaming axe in DnD.

Paladins' individual attacks already deal some of the most devastating damage D&D 5e. However, some players may want to push things even further. With Gift of the Chromatic Dragon, a paladin can add d4 damage to every one of their attacks for a minute, helping increase their damage even higher.

The feat's other benefit lets a character use their reaction to gain Resistance to several damage types. Given how much damage paladins can expect to take, the ability to resist some of it can be invaluable. Gift of the Chromatic Dragon is one of the D&D 5e paladin's best feats because it makes them better at their core roles of taking and dealing damage.

11 Lucky Makes Any D&D Character Better

Player's Handbook pg. 167

A pair of adventurers racing through a dungeon in DnD.

Lucky is one of D&D 5e's best feats for any character. Its effect is simple. It provides three Luck points a character can use to reroll an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. A luck point can also force enemies to reroll their attacks. A greater chance of success on attack rolls, saving throws, or ability checks covers most areas of D&D 5e and makes a character even better at them.

In particular, Lucky can help paladins land attacks when they need to. Thanks to their Divine Smites, paladins can do some of the best damage in D&D 5e. Sometimes a single attack landing can be the difference between a living and a vanquished enemy. With the Lucky feat, those attacks become more likely to hit.

10 Tough Keeps Tanks Alive

Player's Handbook pg. 170

A half-Orc paladin weilding a sword and yelling in DnD.

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The Tough feat is another that benefits anyone. It grants two more hit points per level, making the character significantly more durable. These benefits are comparable to four points in Constitution. Every character could use extra hit points, but paladins want them more than many other classes.

Paladins often have to act as tanks for their party, taking damage so that more fragile party members don't. Tough is one of D&D 5e's best paladin feats for boosting them in this role. In addition, having more hit points can ensure that a paladin needs to heal less frequently. This lets them save on their invaluable D&D 5e healing spells or Lay on Hands.

9 Shadow Touched Gives Paladins A Spellcasting Edge

Tasha's Cauldron Of Everything pg. 80

A Soulknife Rogue conjuring their weapon in DnD

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything contains several D&D 5e feats that give any character slightly more spellcasting. Shadow Touched offers players a dark flavoring of this. A character with Shadow Touched learns Invisibility and one other spell from the Illusion or Necromancy lists.

These already open up possibilities that paladins don't often get access to. Illusion spells widen a paladin's toolkit, while Necromancy provides decent options for specific builds. Invisibility has limited combat utility. Out of combat, however, a paladin can achieve great success, particularly with the ability to cast it on another creature.

8 Magic Initiate Unlocks Synergistic Spellcasting Options

Player's Handbook pg. 168

Despite being a versatile spellcasting class, paladins have a few holes in their repertoire. They often struggle in ranged combat. On top of that, they lack access to cantrips outside of one D&D 5e Fighting Style. Magic Initiate is the perfect feat for any character to add versatility, particularly for paladins.

A paladin can use Magic Initiate to crib ranged combat cantrips from the sorcerer or warlock spell lists to fall back on. They can even look to the bard list to get Healing Word. A paladin with a bonus action heal can slay an enemy and save an ally in one turn. Magic Initiate is one of the best D&D 5e feats for paladins who want to shore up weaknesses.

7 Fey Touched Offers Valuable Options

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything pg. 168

A DnD druid surrounded by animals in the forest.

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Fey-Touched is another feat that gives paladins access to more spells. It lets a character learn the Misty Step spell and a first-level spell of their choice from the Divination or Enchantment schools. Free spells are invaluable, especially for a caster with more limited spell slots like a paladin. In addition, the choices Fey-Touched gives aren't often available to paladins.

In particular, Fey-Touched giving Misty Step is invaluable. Few paladins get Misty Step, and it's one of the most useful spells in the game for battlefield mobility. On top of that, the paladin gets to improve their Charisma, one of their most vital ability scores. These benefits are all invaluable, with only more direct combat feats beating Fey Touched out on this list as the best D&D 5e paladin feats.

6 Resilient (Constitution) Bolsters A Paladin's Concentration Spells

Player's Handbook pg. 168

A warrior wielding a magic sword in DnD.

Among their many abilities, paladins are half-casters in D&D 5e. They can use magic and have a vast spell list with unique options. However, they also have far fewer spell slots than classes like the cleric or sorcerer. As such, paladins need to make good use of their spell slots. This includes not wasting their Concentration spells.

The Resilient feat can give proficiency in Constitution saving throws, which makes concentration checks far easier to pass. Coupled with the paladin's natural bonus to saving throws, their big, impactful spells will last far longer in combat. It also helps them avoid many unpleasant poisons or enemy abilities.

5 Sentinel Forces Enemies To Stand And Fight

Player's Handbook pg. 169

A human paladin in DnD being followed by a golden ghost.

Tanking is an invaluable party role in D&D 5e. However, it can be hard to pull off. Only a few subclasses have aggression-drawing features to force an enemy to attack them. The Sentinel feat lets a character control an enemy's movement and gives them options to punish melee attacks. It's one of the best ways of forcing enemies to attack a specific character.

Centering on opportunity attacks, Sentinel allows a character to make an opportunity attack even if an enemy disengages and reduces their movement to 0 if the attack hits. Keeping enemies away from more fragile party members is excellent for any paladin, and Sentinel is one of the best ways to do this.

4 War Caster Is Essential For Frontline Combatants

Player's Handbook pg. 170

A Paladin casting a spell in DnD.

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The idea of casting and battling in tandem is a popular concept. D&D 5e enables it through the War Caster feat. Ordinarily, a combat caster struggles to cast while using a sword and shield, has to worry about dropping concentration, and has limited casting opportunities when using their actions to attack.

War Caster allows a paladin to use a spell's somatic components even with weapons or shields in their hands. It also gives advantage on their Concentration checks, which synergizes with a paladin's saving throw bonuses. It also lets a caster use their spells as a reaction instead of an opportunity attack. Paladins already get a lot of mileage out of opportunity attacks, but they may benefit from the flexibility this third feature provides.

3 Great Weapon Master Provides A Significant Damage Buff

Player's Handbook pg. 167

A Fighter blocking the way in DnD.

Paladins can use any weapon, but their abilities reward melee combat. Some paladins may use a one-handed weapon and shield or even dual-wield. However, a single heavy weapon is an iconic choice. For those paladins, Great Weapon Master is one of the best feats in D&D 5e. It gives infrequent bonus action attacks, which let a paladin deal even more damage to enemies.

Great Weapon Master's main feature, however, lets a character take an accuracy penalty for a hefty damage bonus. This can be risky for a paladin and make them miss a crucial attack they could use Divine Smite on. However, some D&D 5e paladin Oaths like Devotion or Vengeance have features that boost accuracy. With these abilities, Great Weapon Master has almost no drawbacks.

2 Inspiring Leader Protects The Entire Party

Player's Handbook pg. 167

A party of DnD characters readying themselves for an attack.

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Temporary hit points can make a creature far sturdier in D&D 5e, but they're limited. Many features giving them are expensive to use or only provide a small number. The Inspiring Leader feat blows these features out of the water. It gives temporary hit points to party members and potentially other allies when the paladin makes a great speech. The temporary hit points given this way can easily reach the teens.

This is already a lot, but it can be done once every short rest. These uses add up quickly, giving the party hundreds of temporary hit points within a few sessions. Temporary hit points act like proactive healing. They save the paladin on support spells and Lay on Hands. In addition, it uses Charisma, which a paladin already wants to be as high as possible.

1 Polearm Master Makes Some Of The Best Weapons Even Better

Player's Handbook pg. 168

Like most martial classes, paladins' regular attacks become more devastating later in the game. Unlike fighters, they don't make more attacks. Instead, their two attacks per turn become more lethal via features like Improved Divine Smite. Since these features require the paladin to hit an enemy, getting more opportunities to hit is vital to keeping up damage output.

D&D 5e's Polearm Master feat is the best way to do this. It gives a bonus action attack with a variety of weapons, ranging from halberds to spears. A paladin can use a heavy polearm for maximum damage, or a one-handed spear and shield for tanking. Either way, they get frequent opportunity attacks on foes and a bonus attack every round. This sheer volume of extra strikes makes Polearm Master the best paladin feat in D&D 5e.

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A fantasy roleplaying tabletop game designed for adventure-seekers, the original incarnation of Dungeons & Dragons was created by Gary Gygax in 1974.