Dungeons & Dragonsoffers many weapons for you to wield in battle, creating many builds along with the classes and subclasses. You can stab fools near you, stab fools from afar, or go berserker on them with heavy weapons. This time, though, we’ll focus on the former. Let’s talk about melee combat.
Weapons are separated into simple and martial weapons. Though most builds will focus on martial, it’s always nice to have some simple weapons with you, either for your off-hand, as backup, or to throw at that nasty flying enemy the DM put in front of you just to piss your melee character off. Which of them is the most useful, though?
Updated on July 16, 2025, by Lucas Olah:The rules have changed. One decade after the original Player’s Handbook for D&D fifth edition, we now have a newer version that makes changes to some of the core rules, the classes and subclasses it features, and the weapons the game offers. Thus, we decided to reevaluate the weapons on this list, make sure their ranks are still in the proper order, and talk about their weapon masteries, as well as how that impacts each choice here.
Improvised Weapon
Before discussing weapons, there are two peculiar ways to hit someone in the face. You can punch them or use something that wasn’t made to be a weapon.
Unarmed strikes cause anoverwhelmingone hit point of damage plus your strength modifier. So, a character with 16 in their strength score will always cause four hit points of damage, just enough to knock out a commoner in a single strike. you may usethe Fighting StyleUnarmed Fighting to replace this one for a d6 or even a d8, and any class can get this through the legacy feat Fighting Initiate. Or you can play as a monk, like most players do when they want to hit people with their fists.
As for the art of hitting people with ordinary objects, Improvised Weapons cause a d4 plus your strength bonus, though your DM may increase the damage depending on what thing you’re using. A kitchen spoon and a metal bar aren’t exactly the same, after all, but it is up to them.
Weapon Mastery
Push.
Of all simple melee weapons, greatclubs have the greatest damage die, a 1d8 (though a quarterstaff or a spear on both hands has the same damage). Why is it such a bad pick, though?
The thing that makes Greatclub bad is the fact that it’s a two-handed weapon. Most classes who wield two-handed weapons have access to martial weapons, so why use both hands to cause a d8 of damage when you can cause 2d6 of damage? And for the classes who aren’t proficient in martial weapons, they’ll likely be spellcasters or obtain some proficiency due to a subclass if necessary or stick to a one-handed weapon and a shield or dual-wield.
This weapon is technically good, but there are so many better alternatives in the martial section that it was rendered useless. Small species no longer have disadvantage with heavy weapons, so greatclubs are no longer an alternative for them over martial weapons. The Push mastery, which lets you push a target ten feet/three meters away, is helpful, especially depending on how much verticality the maps you go through have. However, many superior martial weapons have access to Push, too.
Slow.
Ah, the club - the primary weapon of the commoner. It’s one of the weakest weapons, using only a d4 in their damage roll, and possesses the light property so that you can use each in one hand without issues. However, your off-hand won’t have your strength bonus on the hit unless you have Two-Weapon Fighting.
If you have Tavern Brawler, nearly any small object without a blade can be a club for you.
And that’s about it. They don’t offer any extra utility for you, so they would mainly serve as a backup in case the BBEG just tossed your magnificent Vorpal Sword away from you. It now has the Slow weapon mastery, which removes ten feet/three meters of movement from the target, but this is a mastery that usually works better forranged weapons.
Nick.
By all accounts, the sickle is virtually the same thing as the club, our second-lowest pick here, being a light weapon with 1d4 damage, and technically, it could be considered slightly worse because its damage is slashing rather than bludgeoning, and there are more enemies resistant to slashing than bludgeoning. Why does the sickle beat the club, then?
Weapon mastery, that’s why. It has the Nick mastery, which means that whenever you use a light weapon to make an off-hand attack with your bonus action with it, you can do so as a free action, thus leaving your bonus action available to do something else. Overall, it’s a great mastery, particularly for dual-wielders.
Sap.
Maces are like clubs but slightly bigger, which lets you hit people harder than the the club does. And that’s about it.
They also lack any type of unique properties, and the only difference is that their damage die is a d6 instead of a d4. Dual-wielding won’t be a thing here due to the lack of the light property, but you could wield a mace in one hand and a club in the other. Or get the legacy Dual-Wielder feat, so you’re able to wield two maces - or two better weapons, but still.
What puts it above other options thus far is its mastery, Sap. With Sap, your target’s next attack will get a disadvantage, so not only are you causing damage, but you’re increasing the chances of a miss coming from the enemy, which is always nice.
Going back to low-damage outputs, we have the light hammer that hits people for 1d4bludgeoning damage.They’re also light, so you can wield any of them along with something else, but that’s not why this weapon is superior to the previous options.
What makes it interesting is that they have the thrown property; you can attack people from afar with your strength score. The minimum range is 20ft (6m), and the maximum is 60ft (18m). And it comes with Nick, so you can even throw it as an off-hand attack and still have your bonus action. Or just do a melee off-hand attack.
Similar to greatclubs, spears lost their charm because, while effective, they got overshadowed by a martial weapon: the trident. That said, it still has some things going for it, which is why the spear isn’t at the bottom of the list.
Their damage is a d6, and it improves to a d8 with both hands. It can also be thrown, being a good weapon for you to carry in case of ranged enemies. But what it truly has going for it is Sap, giving your enemy disadvantage on their next attack when you hit them. It’s a powerful weapon mastery, after all.
Let’s keep throwing things at your enemies. In melee combat, javelins are a worse spear, but they’re better when it comes to throwing them - and they’re cheaper, which is good since you may lose your javelin after throwing it.
They have a 1d6 piercing damage, and their range goes from 30ft (9m) to a maximum of 120ft (36m). You can use them in regular combat, but they won’t surpass a martial weapon or the spear, as we mentioned. Still, having javelins in case someone starts flying is effective.
Their mastery, Slow, isn’t nearly as good as Sap, but Slow works well with a thrown weapon because you can prevent an enemy from reaching you or an ally in the first place.
Vex.
Handaxes work the same way as light hammers. They can be thrown using your strength bonus; they’re both light weapons, and they hit targets at the same range.
What sets them apart is the damage type, which is slashing here - which, to be fair, isn’t as good - the damage die, which is a d6 instead of a d4, and the mastery, Vex, which is one of the best in the game. Essentially, when you hit someone with this weapon, your next attack will have advantage, helping you dish out even more damage.
Topple.
Letting go of the thrown property for a bit, let’s discuss the quarterstaff. It’s one of the best simple weapons here, and quite a few builds can have it as default, even if they could wield a martial weapon instead.
It has a d6 bludgeoning damage that turns into a d8 thanks to the versatile property, and it’s usually associated with monks (who can use their martial arts die for damage and use the weapon mastery through a feat since the class doesn’t have access to those by default). It’s also a fun option for spellcasters thanks to Shillelagh, which hits harder in the new book, and through Magic Initiate, any spellcaster can get this cantrip and use whatever ability score they can for the attack (though there are better options for a melee spellcaster).
Lastly, it’s the only simple melee weapon with Topple, which can potentially knock an enemy prone (they need to fail a saving throw) and give advantage to all your melee allies' attacks. It’s the best weapon here for quite a few builds.
