The Complete Guide to Weapons, Properties & 2024 Masteries
In Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, your weapon choice defines your combat role. Whether you are a rogue lunging from shadows with a finesse rapier, a polearm master halting dragons at ten-foot reach, or a heavy-armored fighter cleaving through hordes with a greatsword, understanding weapon properties and mathematical expected damage is essential.
With the release of the 2024 Revised Core Rules, weapons received their biggest mechanical upgrade in twenty years: Weapon Masteries. Martial warriors no longer simply execute the generic "I attack" command—every weapon now triggers distinctive tactical maneuvers, battlefield displacement, or status debuffs on every single turn.
The 8 Official 2024 Weapon Masteries Explained
Martial classes (Fighters, Barbarians, Paladins, Rangers, and Rogues) gain access to Weapon Mastery properties during character creation and level progression. When a character with the appropriate mastery feature attacks with a mastered weapon, they activate one of the following eight maneuvers:
- Cleave (Greataxe, Halberd): If you hit a creature with a melee attack roll, you can make a second attack roll against a different creature within 5 feet of it. If that second attack hits, it deals the weapon's damage dice (without adding your ability modifier). This provides reliable multi-target pressure against swarms and minions.
- Graze (Greatsword, Glaive): Even if your attack roll misses a creature, your swing is so forceful that you still deal damage equal to the ability modifier used for the roll (e.g. +3 or +4 damage on a total miss). In bounded accuracy combat, Graze guarantees consistent chip damage every single round.
- Nick (Dagger, Scimitar, Light Hammer): Revolutionizes Two-Weapon Fighting! Normally, making an off-hand attack with a Light weapon requires spending your valuable Bonus Action. Nick allows you to make that extra attack as part of the Attack action itself, freeing your Bonus Action for spells, Cunning Action, or Rage!
- Push (Pike, Heavy Crossbow, Greatclub, Warhammer): On hit, you push the target up to 10 feet straight away from you if it is Large or smaller. There is no saving throw, making it the ultimate tool for shoving monsters into cliffs, lava, or spell AoEs like Spike Growth and Wall of Fire.
- Sap (Flail, Morningstar, Mace, Spear): Hitting an enemy forces it to have Disadvantage on its next attack roll before the start of your next turn. Perfect for tanks looking to protect squishy backline spellcasters.
- Slow (Club, Light Crossbow, Longbow, Whip): Dealing damage reduces the target's walking speed by 10 feet until the start of your next turn. Combined with difficult terrain, kite-heavy ranged rangers can permanently prevent enemies from reaching melee range.
- Topple (Battleaxe, Lance, Maul, Trident): On hit, you can force the target to make a Constitution saving throw (DC = 8 + ability modifier + proficiency bonus). On a failure, the creature is knocked Prone, giving your allies advantage on all subsequent melee attacks!
- Vex (Handaxe, Rapier, Shortbow, Shortsword): If you hit and deal damage, you gain Advantage on your next attack roll against that creature before the end of your next turn. Creates a continuous loop of self-sustaining combat advantage!
Understanding the Math of Damage Per Round (DPR)
A common mistake made by new players is looking only at maximum weapon damage (e.g., thinking 1d12 is better than 2d6 because its ceiling is 12). In reality, combat effectiveness is determined by Expected Value and Hit Probability:
$$\text{Expected DPR} = [P(\text{Hit}) \times \text{Avg Hit Damage}] + [P(\text{Crit}) \times \text{Avg Crit Bonus}] + [P(\text{Miss}) \times \text{Graze Damage}]$$
Consider the Greatsword (2d6) versus the Greataxe (1d12):
- Greatsword (2d6): The average of two six-sided dice is \(3.5 + 3.5 = 7.0\). Its minimum roll is 2. The probability of rolling maximum damage (12) is \(1/36 \approx 2.8\%\), but the probability of rolling below 5 is very small.
- Greataxe (1d12): The average of one twelve-sided die is \((1 + 12) / 2 = 6.5\). Its minimum roll is 1. Every number has an equal \(8.33\%\) chance of rolling, leading to higher damage variance.
Over a 4-round combat encounter with an attack bonus of +6 against an AC 15 enemy, a warrior wielding a Greatsword deals approximately 15% more total damage than one wielding a Greataxe, unless external features like Half-Orc Savage Attacks or Barbarian Brutal Critical (which add only one extra die on crits) are present.
Explore Complementary Combat Tools
Calculate your defensive Armor Class and simulate how enemy attacks scale against your gear.
See how Topple's Prone and Vex's Advantage transform your attack roll probability.
Run tactical encounters, manage turn order, and apply weapon damage directly to monsters.
Pair your weapons with Great Weapon Master, Polearm Master, and Sharpshooter feats.