[RPG] How much damage can a level 8 ranger deal in a typical combat encounter

damagednd-5eoptimizationranger

I want to know the damage (as well as how such a thing would be worked out – show your working please – I want to learn how to do this by myself for the future, since I'm also interested in Tiers 3 and 4) that a ranger, well optimised for a DPR party role, can deal in a typical combat encounter (meaning, one that lasts the average number of rounds that combat tends to last in D&D; according to this, that means five rounds).

I'm interested in Tier 2 levels (specifically between levels 7 to 10 – I'm going to pick level 8 as my level to focus on, since that gives us the ranger's 7th level class archetype feature, an extra ASI to play with, but without the proficiency bonus being bumped up to +4 yet).

The restrictions:

  • Assume standard array stats, but assume the race to be Wood Elf for that +2 DEX and +1 WIS (or any race well suited to this role; I'm just suggesting Wood Elf because that's what I'd choose, I'm not married to it).
  • No spells; let's assume this ranger already used up all their spell slots before this encounter.
  • No multiclassing; this must be a ranger and nothing else.
  • No magic items or buffs from others; I want this damage to be derived from the ranger's own class features and feats, etc, rather than magic items or other party members' spells.
  • You can assume every attack hits, but I'm not interested in critical hits; we're lucky, but not that lucky.
  • You can also assume that, if using a ranged weapon, that we have more than enough ammo for this encounter.
  • Let's assume there's, say, a raging grapple-based barbarian who's soaking up the enemy's aggro and keeping the enemy pinned so that the ranger can ignore defense and focus solely on DPR.
  • We can also assume that the ranger is the only one dealing damage against the target, which we can assume to be a single big-bag-of-hit-points enemy; this matters for a Hunter's Colossus Slayer feature, since the first hit won't be against a wounded target, but subsequent attacks will be.
  • Sources are anything RAW, so not UA nor anything homebrew/third party.

I was originally going to ask for a Gloom Stalker Ranger, because it's popularly considered one of the strongest ranger archetypes, but then realised that some of its features aren't relevant, such as being invisible in darkness, if we're assuming that every attack hits and they don't need to worry about defense, so I'm leaving the archetype open for answerers to decide.

So, just to restate my question, I'm looking for the average damage over 5 rounds that a level 8 ranger of any race and archetype can deal with the above restrictions. This is in aid of trying to come up with my own answer to this deleted question.

Best Answer

301.5 damage total, 55.5 damage on most rounds

Feat selection

Given that we assume all attacks hit, any serious attempt must include either Great Weapon Master + Polearm Master or Sharpshooter + Crossbow Expert so at to maximize the number of attacks and the damage on a hit.

None of the many reasons we might favor the SS+CE over GWM+PM (Archery Fighting Style, lack of heavy armor, Elven Accuracy, etc.) matter given our restrictions, so we choose GWM+PM because of the slightly larger weapon dice.

Race selection

Given that we are using GWM+PM we need a race that can improve strength. Whether the race improves it by 1 or 2 is irrelevant because we can choose either 14 or 15 point buy so our starting strength modifier will be +3 regardless. Among such races, there are several with an offensive trait that might improve melee damage.

  • The Dragonborn's Breath Weapon and the Simic Hybrid's Acid Spit can't even compete with a single GWM attack, so they're out.
  • The Half-Orc's Savage Attacks is irrelevant given our restrictions, so it's out.
  • The Centaur's Charge, the Longtooth Shifter's Shifting Feature, and the Minotaur's Goring Rush can't compare to a GMW attack, so they're out.
  • The Fallen Aasimar's Necrotic Shroud (even when applied over the course of the next 4 turns) can't compete with two GWM attacks, so it's out.
  • The Bugbear's Sneak Attack deals an extra 2d6 at the beginning of combat (assuming surprise), so it's a contender.
  • The Variant Human's Feat allows us to reach a +4 strength strength (instead of +3), so it's a contender.

Over the course of 5 turns the extra strength deals more damage than 2d6, so we choose Variant Human.

Subclass selection

None of the Ranger's subclasses provide offensive features at level 7, so we need only compare the level 3 offensive features.

  • The Ranger's Companion and Planar Warrior cannot compete with a GWM attack, so Beast Master and Horizon Walker are out.
  • Colossus Slayer is strictly superior to Slayer's Prey given that we already have a use for the bonus action and that 1d8 is larger than 1d6, so the Monster Slayer is out.
  • Horde Breaker is useless because we are facing a single enemy, Giant killer is also useless because the Barbarian is soaking all the enemy attacks, whereas Colossus Slayer's deals 5d8 over the course of 5 rounds, so it is a contender.
  • Dread Ambusher deals a GWM attack and a d8 at the beginning of combat, so it is a contender.

5d8 is slightly less than a GWM attack + 1d8, so we choose Gloom Stalker.

Build

Partly because we had few things to consider and partly because some of the restrictions heavily favor some choices over others, we managed to narrow down to a single build.

In other words, we can be reasonably certain that the combination which deals the most damage under our restrictions is a Variant Human Gloom Stalker with Great Weapon Master, Polearm Master, and +4 strength modifier, even if we don't make the full damage calculation.

Damage calculation

The total damage over the whole combat is [rounds] * ([2 action attacks] + [1 PM bonus attack]) + [1 Dread Ambusher attack] = 5 * (2 * (1d10 + 10 + 4) + (1d4 + 10 + 4)) + (1d10 + 10 + 4 + 1d8) = 5 * 55.5 + 24 = 301.5.

In that calculation I have not taken reactions into account. If we can guarantee an opportunity attack each round, then the total becomes [rounds] * ([2 action attacks] + [1 PM bonus attack] + [1 opportunity attack]) + [1 Dread Ambusher attack] = 5 * (39 + 16.5 + (1d10 + 10 + 4)) + 24 = 5 * 75 + 24 = 399.