5e Weapons: A New Player’s Guide to Basic Weapons in D&D

Melee Weapons

Melee weapons in 5e are those which require the wielder to be adjacent to, usually within five feet, of a target creature or object. However, some melee weapons may also be used at a range. Examples of these types of weapons include the longsword, spear, and handaxe.

Basically, a creature wielding a melee weapon (usually) needs to be within five feet of their target to make an attack.

Now, this only applies to normal attacks made using these weapons. Some melee weapons may also be used at a range thanks to the Reach and Thrown Properties. We’ll get into these later, so just know these weapons normally require your character to be adjacent to their target before making their attack.

Another important thing to remember is the Ability Score you use for a melee weapon depends on whether said weapon has the Finesse Property. Every melee weapon in 5e uses Strength as the default, but Finesse weapons give you the option to use Dexterity instead.

List of Melee Weapons in 5e:

• Club
• Dagger
• Greatclub
• Handaxe
• Javelin
• Light Hammer
• Mace
• Quarterstaff
• Sickle
• Spear
• Battleaxe
• Flail
• Glaive
• Greataxe
• Greatsword
• Halberd
• Lance
• Longsword
• Maul
• Morningstar
• Pike
• Rapier
• Scimitar
• Shortsword
• Trident
• War Pick
• Warhammer
• Whip

Ranged Weapons

Ranged weapons in 5e involve making attacks at a distance greater than five feet. Example ranged weapons include the shortbow and heavy crossbow.

Basically, ranged weapons are the opposite of melee; you make attacks using them at a distance greater than five feet.

Now, unlike with melee weapons, any normal attack you make using a ranged weapon uses Dexterity…unless of course you’re making a ranged weapon attack by using a melee weapon with the Thrown Property that doesn’t have the Finesse Property. In this case, you still use Strength. Additionally, you can thrown any melee weapon to make a ranged weapon attack with a range of 20/60 (we’ll get to this in a second) but the weapon only deals 1d4 damage regardless of what the weapon’s description usually states.

One of the more important things to remember when attacking with any ranged weapon in 5e is every one has two ranges, each measured in feet. The first number lists the normal range which means an attack targeting a creature or object out to the stated number gets treated normally. The second number is the weapon’s maximum range; this means any attack made against a target between the normal and long range has disadvantage. A creature can’t make an attack against a target further away than a weapon’s maximum range.

So, take the shortbow for example with its range of 80/320. Attacks made against any creature out to 80 feet aren’t affected by range (not including other mechanics like cover). You can then target creatures between 80 and 320 feet out, but those attacks automatically have disadvantage due to being between the shortbow’s normal and maximum range.

Another thing to remember, and this is one which always gets under ranged character’s skin; you can target a creature within five feet of you with a ranged weapon attack (or any ranged attack, for that matter), but the attack has disadvantage.

So, ranged weapon attacks have disadvantage against targets within five feet of the attacker and further than a given weapon’s normal range out to a specified maximum.

Also, just because it may come up in your game, you can make a melee weapon attack using a ranged weapon. A character who does this treats the ranged weapon like a melee one for the purposes of the attack but deals 1d4 damage regardless of what its statistics state.

List of Ranged Weapons in 5e:

• Dagger (Thrown)
• Handaxe (Thrown)
• Javelin (Thrown)
• Light Hammer (Thrown)
• Spear (Thrown)
• Crossbow, Light
• Dart
• Shortbow
• Sling
• Trident (Thrown)
• Blowgun
• Crossbow, Hand
• Crossbow, Heavy
• Longbow
• Net

Simple Weapons

Simple weapons in 5e are essentially implements which most people could use with little to no training. They’re easy to use and often readily available to the populace. Example simple weapons include the club, handaxe, and dart.

In essence, a simple weapon is one which requires little to no training. Any commoner could pick one up and use it effectively as they’re relatively straightforward; bash with the blunt object, stab with the pointy stick, or hack with the sharpened bit.

Because of their simplicity, many character classes have Proficiency with all simple weapons or, at the very least, in a few of them. Not all classes, mind you. The Sorcerer and Wizard get comparatively few proficiencies despite simple weapons being supposedly easy to use. But, they get magic, so it’s fine.

List of Simple Weapons in 5e:

• Club
• Dagger
• Greatclub
• Handaxe
• Javelin
• Light Hammer
• Mace
• Quarterstaff
• Sickle
• Spear
• Crossbow, Light
• Dart
• Shortbow
• Sling

Martial Weapons

Martial weapons in 5e require more specialized training to use appropriately and effectively. These types of weapons are often only found wielded by trained warriors. Examples of martial weapons include the longsword, warhammer, and longbow.

The next stage up from simple weapons, martial weapons basically require actual training to use effectively. They’re the more advanced counterparts to simple weapons and usually more deadly as a result.

The martial classes in 5e as well as some of the more mundane combat-focused subclasses (like the College of Valor Bard) get proficiency with martial weapons. These classes tend to put more of a focus on their physical prowess even if some of them rely on spellcasting as their main priority.

List of Martial Weapons in 5e:

• Battleaxe
• Flail
• Glaive
• Greataxe
• Greatsword
• Halberd
• Lance
• Longsword
• Maul
• Morningstar
• Pike
• Rapier
• Scimitar
• Shortsword
• Trident
• War Pick
• Warhammer
• Whip

Silvered Weapons

Silvered weapons in 5e are basically modified basic weapons to incorporate silver into their construction. Almost any weapon can get silvered depending on the Game Master’s ruling and availability of services. Certain monsters resist or ignore damage from non-silvered weapons, so silvering a weapon is a good way for overcoming these situations.

Some creatures (like the Werewolf either resist or ignore damage from non-silvered weapons. Granted, they’re relatively few amongst the full list of monsters in 5e. But, it may come up during your game.

Silvering a weapon gets around those resistances and immunities.

Luckily, any weapon or ammunition can get silvered assuming your Game Master allows it. The Player’s Handbook states on page 148:

Simple as that. You can silver any weapon or 10 pieces of ammunition given availability in your game and whether your character has the coin for it.

Aside from overcoming specific resistances and immunities, a silvered weapon works in the exact same way as a non-silvered one. There’s no reduction to attack or damage rolls to worry about, rules as written.

Magic Weapons

Magic weapons in 5e can be any sort of weapon but enchanted with an additional, magical effect. The most basic magic weapons add a bonus to your Attack or Damage rolls, but many other have extra effects a creature may call upon.

Certain specific weapons in D&D 5e have enchantments bestowed upon them. For all intents and purposes, these weapons behave like their mundane, non-magical counterparts but provide other benefits like granting a bonus to Attack and Damage rolls or giving a character extra options for their Actions.

Now, you need to keep in mind two things concerning with magic weapons; identifying them and attuning to them.

First off, identifying magic items in 5e is usually a good idea before trying to wield an enchanted weapon. By spending a short rest or casting the identify spell, you’ll learn the weapon’s features and whether it requires attunement or not (more on that in a second). Now, this usually won’t reveal a curse, so that’s still something to keep in mind.

Whether you identify them or not, some magic weapons require a creature to attune to them to use the item’s abilities. Attunement in 5e is actually pretty easy; all you need to do is spend a short rest concentrating on and maintaining contact with for the duration. After that, you’ll have access to all abilities (and suffer and curses) of the attuned magic weapon.

Improvised Weapons

Improvised weapons in 5e include anything that isn’t a standard or deliberately crafted item meant for combat. Wielding a glass shard, breaking a chair over a creature’s back, or swinging a shovel at a creature all are examples of using an improvised weapon. In these cases, a Game Master may rule an improvised weapon is close enough to an existing one and use the rules for the equivalent weapon.

Attacking with an improvised weapon in 5e can get a bit tricky as it sometimes relies on the judgement call of your Game Master. But, at the end of the day, it’s not that complicated.

Basically, see if you can make a rough comparison between the object and an existing weapon. If it’s close enough, like a table leg serving as a club, use the existing weapon’s description. If the improvised weapon doesn’t have a comparable, existing counterpart, the object does 1d4 damage on a hit which most likely uses Strength for its Attack Modifier.

D&D 5e’s improvised weapon rules also apply to melee attacks made with ranged weapons (for example, whacking a creature with a longbow) and making ranged attacks using melee weapons without the Thrown Property (for example, hucking a longsword at a creature). In both instances, the weapons deal 1d4 damage regardless of the weapon’s normal damage.

Characters and creatures don’t really have Proficiency with improvised weapons by default. If the object is similar enough to an existing one, your GM may let you use your Proficiency bonus. Aside from that, you’d need the Tavern Brawler feat.

Race

Some character racial traits in D&D 5e can grant proficiency with certain weapons. Many of those which do are older as the design choices of later races and lineages have started leaning away from granting these types of traits as proficiency with a weapon is less racial and more cultural.

That said, 5e does have some races which grant a weapon proficiency by default. Of course, your GM may allow you to switch out an existing trait using the Customizing Your Origin rules in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, at which point, any race may give you a weapon proficiency.

Here are the races which grant proficiency in a weapon or selection of weapons by default.

• Dwarf: Dwarven Combat Training (PHB)
• Elf (High Elf): Elf Weapon Training (PHB)
• Elf (High Elf): Elf Weapon Training (PHB)
• Elf (Dark Elf): Elf Weapon Training (PHB)
• Hobgoblin: Martial Training (VGtM)
• Gith (Githyanki): Martial Prodigy (MToF)

Class

The bulk of weapon proficiencies come from character classes. Every class in D&D 5e grants some weapon proficiencies with the martial classes granting the most.

Honestly, it’s a simple as that.

Literally every character class grants a handful of weapon proficiencies. Now, some grant more than others, so you’ll need to thoroughly read your desired class’ list of proficiencies at character creation.

The real trick comes in your subclass choice and whether you decide to multiclass or not.

Feats

Certain Feats in D&D 5e give a character more weapon proficiencies.

That said, there aren’t many feats which give a weapon proficiency. Only three out of the those available in 5e. Even then, one only grants proficiency in improvised weapons and another in firearms which is usually only allowed through GM approval.

But, these feats are an option for gaining weapon proficiencies in 5e, so I figured I’d include them.

Here’s the list of feats to get proficiency in weapons:

• Tavern Brawler (PHB)
• Weapon Master (PHB)
• Gunner (TCoE)

Ammunition

You can use a weapon that has the ammunition property to make a ranged attack only if you have ammunition to fire from the weapon. Each time you attack with the weapon, you expend one piece of ammunition. Drawing the ammunition from a quiver, case, or other container is part of the attack (you need a free hand to load a one-handed weapon).

Basically, a weapon with the Ammunition Property requires a secondary item for its use. This includes arrows for bows, crossbow bolts, blowgun darts, and bullets for firearms.

Also, this Property applies to only certain ranged weapons by default.

List of Ammunition Weapons in 5e

• Crossbow, Light
• Shortbow
• Sling
• Blowgun
• Crossbow, Hand
• Crossbow, Heavy
• Longbow

Finesse

When making an attack with a finesse weapon, you use your choice of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls. You must use the same modifier for both rolls.

A weapon with the Finesse Property gives you the option to use either your Strength of Dexterity modifier on your attacks. Normally, melee weapons only use Strength, but this property overrides that rule.

Now, it’s important to remember; whichever Ability Score you choose you have to use that modifier for both your Attack and Damage Modifier. For example, you can’t use your Strength for your Attack roll and Dexterity for the Damage roll. It’s one of the other for the entirety of any given attack.

List of Finesse Weapons in 5e

• Dagger
• Dart
• Rapier
• Scimitar
• Shortsword
• Whip

Heavy

Creatures that are Small or Tiny have disadvantage on attack rolls with heavy weapons. A heavy weapon’s size and bulk make it too large for a Small or Tiny creature to use effectively.

Basically, weapons with the Heavy Property can only be wielded by Medium or larger creatures. This is one instance when size in 5e comes into play almost from the start of a game. These weapons are simply too big for Small or Tiny creatures to use effectively, so they have disadvantage on any attack made with them.

An example is the longbow. Normally, a small-sized player character like a Halfling would be really good at Dexterity-based attacks, including ranged ones. But, it wouldn’t be optimal to play a Halfling character using a longbow because the weapon has the Heavy Property.

Just remember this if you’re planning on playing a Small character.

List of Heavy Weapons in 5e

• Glaive
• Greataxe
• Greatsword
• Halberd
• Maul
• Pike
• Crossbow, Heavy
• Longbow

Light

A light weapon is small and easy to handle, making it ideal for use when fighting with two weapons.

Honestly, the Light weapon Property is pretty much most useful if you plan on engaging in two-weapon fighting in 5e. This Property basically makes it possible to use two weapons, one in each hand, during combat.

Now, you need to remember; you can only wield two weapons if both weapons have the Light Property. That means using two daggers, two handaxes, two scimitars, etc. But, it means you can’t hold a rapier in one hand and a shortsword in the other as only the latter has this Property by default.

The Dual Wielder feat is about the only way to use two weapons lacking the Light Property.

List of Light Weapons in 5e

• Club
• Dagger
• Handaxe
• Light Hammer
• Sickle
• Scimitar
• Shortsword
• Crossbow, Hand

Loading

Because of the time required to load this weapon, you can fire only one piece of ammunition from it when you use an action, bonus action, or reaction to fire it, regardless of the number of attacks you can normally make.

Some ranged weapons require time to reload. As such, you can usually only attack with a weapon with the Loading Property once per action even if you have the ability to make multiple attacks. It basically negates abilities like Extra Attack which allow a character to make multiple attacks as part of a single action.

In other words, you can fire a weapon with the Loading Property up to three times per round; once as an action, once as a bonus action, and once as a reaction. This, of course, all assumes you have the ability to do so.

Most of these weapons are crossbows (light, hand, and heavy) but some of the optional firearms in the Dungeon Master’s Guide also have the Loading Property. So, regular bows or Thrown weapons don’t require the extra time to load them.

Basically, how the Loading Property works is a weapon with it can only make one attack per action (regular, bonus, or reaction) even if you could otherwise make more.

List of Loading Weapons in 5e

• Crossbow, Light
• Blowgun
• Crossbow, Hand
• Crossbow, Heavy

Range

A weapon that can be used to make a ranged attack has a range shown in parentheses after the ammunition or thrown property. The range lists two numbers. The first is the weapon’s normal range in feet, and the second indicates the weapon’s long range. When attacking a target beyond normal range, you have disadvantage on the attack roll. You can’t attack a target beyond the weapon’s long range.

Every weapon has an effective range measured in feet. Technically, this even includes melee weapons but they have a strict range of five feet (unless thrown or have the Reach Property). A weapon’s Range features two numbers; normal and long. Attacks made within the normal range behave, well, normally. But, attacks made out to the long range have disadvantage.

For example, the shortbow has a range of 80/320. So, a creature may make an attack against any target between 10 and 80 feet away (remember, ranged attacks made against a target within five feet also have disadvantage). After that, any attack made against a target between 80 and 320 feet is at disadvantage. Anything beyond a weapons long range is untargetable with that weapon as the object lacks the ability to send a projectile that far.

You’ll normally see the Range Property alongside ranged weapons, of course, and those with the Thrown Property. But, using a weapon without the Thrown Property also has a default range of 20/60.

Reach

This weapon adds 5 feet to your reach when you attack with it, as well as when determining your reach for opportunity attacks with it.

Basically, a weapon with the Reach Property has an effective melee range of 10 feet. Melee weapons without this Property can only target creatures within five feet of the creature wielding the weapon (or at a range of 20/60 feet if thrown). Aside from that, weapons with the Reach Property work the same way as those without.

So, a Reach weapon works as a regular melee weapon does but out to 10 feet instead of five.

List of Reach Weapons in 5e

• Glaive
• Halberd
• Lance
• Pike

Special

A weapon with the special property has unusual rules governing its use, explained in the weapon’s description.

There are no established rules for the Special Property. It varies depending on the weapon it applies to as these items work a bit differently than others. The two default weapons in 5e with this property are the lance and net. Each one has unique rules which apply only to them.

Thrown

If a weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon to make a ranged attack. If the weapon is a melee weapon, you use the same ability modifier for that attack roll and damage roll that you would use for a melee attack with the weapon.

The description for the Thrown Property is a little dishonest.

Yes, specific weapons have this Property as part of their construction deliberately accounts for throwing as a viable combat tactic. But, any weapon or object may be thrown with the intent to deal damage, you just need to follow the Improvised Weapons rules for these situations (range 20/60, 1d4 damage).

Now, some weapons with the Thrown Property have a longer range or deal more damage which warrants the specification for them. For example, the javelin has this Property and deals 1d6 piercing with a range of 30/120, making it a better candidate for throwing than other weapons.

List of Thrown Weapons in 5e

• Dagger
• Handaxe
• Javelin
• Light Hammer
• Spear
• Dart
• Trident
• Net

Two-Handed

This weapon requires two hands when you attack with it.

Simple and easy.

Weapons with the Two-Handed Property in 5e must be wielded with two hands for any attack you make with it. So, even if you picked up the Dual Wielder feat looking to fight with two mauls, you’ll be sadly disappointed.

This also means you won’t be able to use a shield and use a Two-Handed weapon at the same time as one hand is occupied maneuvering the shield.

List of Two-Handed Weapons in 5e

• Greatclub
• Crossbow, Light
• Shortbow
• Glaive
• Greataxe
• Greatsword
• Halberd
• Maul
• Pike
• Crossbow, Heavy
• Longbow

Versatile

This weapon can be used with one or two hands. A damage value in parentheses appears with the property–the damage when the weapon is used with two hands to make a melee attack.

Some weapons give you the option to attack one- or two-handed. This is thanks to the Versatile Property.

Every weapon in 5e with the Versatile Property has a default damage die and a second, higher damage die if you attack using two hands. For example, the longsword has the Versatile Property and deals 1d8 slashing damage normally or 1d10 if used with both hands.

List of Versatile Weapons in 5e

• Quarterstaff
• Spear
• Battleaxe
• Longsword
• Trident
• Warhammer

What Weapons Use Dex in 5e?

Most ranged weapons and weapons with the Finesse Property use your Dexterity Ability Score in 5e.

Ranged weapon attacks typically use Dexterity for their attack rolls, but this doesn’t apply to some Thrown weapons, like the handaxe, as they must use the same Ability Score (Strength) that normally applies to their attacks. That said, any melee weapon with the Finesse Property gives characters the option of using either Strength or Dexterity on attack and damage rolls made while using them.

Can You Dual Wield Versatile Weapons in 5e?

Not by default. Normally, you can not dual wield weapons with the Versatile Property in 5e as none of the default options have the Light Property.

Normally, to dual wield weapons in 5e, both weapons must have the Light Property. None of the basic Versatile weapons also have the Light Property, so a player character may not engage in two-weapon fighting with them.

That said, the Dual Wielder feat removes this restriction. This means, if you take this feat, you may dual wield any one-handed weapons regardless if they have the Light Property or not.

Do Improvised Weapons Use Strength or Dexterity?

Whether an Improvised weapon uses Strength or Dexterity depends on the object used. It also depends on what your Game Master rules. For example, a table leg may use Strength since it’s similar to a Club but a glass shard may use Dexterity because of its similarity to a Dagger.

By default, most improvised weapons will most likely use Strength in their attack and damage rolls. This applies to both melee and ranged weapon attacks as a character either swings with or throws the improvised weapon, both of which would use Strength.

That said, if an improvised weapon is sufficiently similar to an existing weapon with the Finesse property (a large splinter of wood akin to a javelin, a shard of glass serving as a makeshift dagger), your GM may allow using Dexterity instead.