Recently I shared a sneak peak of THESE results
from our big 5e weapon system survey! Specifically, revealing the least favorite
weapon in the game according to over 7,500 D&D players!--the blowgun--and I talked about
some new features I wrote to make it more fun and actually useful! But someone asked, “where can I see the
complete favorite weapon rank?” And I realized, yeah! Together with NOW about 9,000 people, we’ve
created a pretty definitive ranking of every weapon in D&D 5e, so before we get to more
videos with new features for specific weapons, I thought it would be best to share this comprehensive
tier list, which is ultimately informing this weapon system project! Because I’m Bob, this is where we learn
how to have more fun playing D&D together! And if you’re interested in more details
and updates about the project itself, stick around until the end of the video! Or if you want to know my secret to rolling
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so go save 15% with code BOB! …after this video! Now this whole favorite weapon ranking is
based on THIS single survey question: “Given the opportunity, which weapon types would
you keep in 5e with no changes, keep in 5e with changes or added features, or remove
from 5e?” And this tier list (graph?) relies on that FIRST response of what weapons
people actually like as they currently exist in D&D 5e, then sorts them by the percent
of all responses from least liked or least favorite, to most liked or the most favorite
weapon in D&D! So our least favorite weapon, the blowgun,
was only “liked” or voted to keep as is by 15% of those 9000ish people! While 75% said to change the blowgun, and
about 10% said to remove it from the game! For some context, the most favorite weapon--which
I’ll reveal at the end--was still only “liked” by 59% of people, with 41% saying to change
it, and amazingly about 0% saying to remove it, which is pretty impressive that out of
around 9000 freaking people, only a negligible amount suggested removing that weapon! 37. Alright, from the bottom, we have the blowgun--check
out this video for all the reasons why the blowgun is definitely an F-tier weapon, and
some pretty clever ideas for making it less terrible! Seriously, the blowgun is so bad, that when
I asked in that video what weapon people thought would be the worst, many folks forgot the
blowgun even existed and instead guessed the second worst weapon… 36. The whip! It’s really cool! But it’s a martial reach weapon with way
lower damage than every other martial reach weapon, and since proficiency and damage are
the top two factors people consider when choosing a weapon (according the survey), naturally,
people do not often choose the whip! F-tier!! And whip features will be the topic of the
next weapon house rule video, but let me know in the comments how you feel about a tripping
feature, whether or not to raise the damage, and how else we can make the whip more fun
in game! I’m also thinking about introducing a chain
as a simple whip-like weapon because in like every movie with thugs beating each other
up, somebody always just has a chain! But a chain might fit better as a variant
of this next worst weapon… 35. The flail! Similar problems to the whip: it’s martial,
and it has lower damage than other martial weapons with the same damage type like the
maul and warhammer. But also like the whip, its construction implies
that it should have some cool feature perhaps for tripping, but more likely for swinging
around shields. And maybe this next one needs something similar… 34. The sickle! An extremely curved blade that’s really
a tool, not a weapon. So it is considered a simple weapon, but mechanically,
it is a dagger that you can’t throw! F-tier! Personally, this is one weapon I’d happily
remove and replace with a cooler hooked shortsword. Next… 33. The trident! It’s identical to the spear except it’s
martial, and it definitely needs some kind of weapon-catching or parrying feature to
capitalize on those extra points! And make it worthwhile to keep in the game. Until then, also F-tier! Just like… 32. The dart! This weapon is a dagger that you can only
throw, and no, darts don’t have anything to do with blowguns in D&D 5e! Blowguns use needles! These darts are more like *tiny* javelins
for adventurers who eat at weenie hut juniors! This weapon had the most responses suggesting
to remove it from the game, and I’m pretty onboard with that idea! The only reason I have to keep it around is
to reskin it as throwing stars and give it one or two of the cool features I gave to
blowguns, because that would make it way cooler! Now we enter the D-tier with two weapons you
may have also forgotten about! 31. First, the war pick! Another martial weapon with lower damage than
other martial weapons of the same type. Maybe it could be redeemed by capitalizing
on its utility as a pick…??? And it’s basically identical to the next
one… 30. The morningstar! Exact same problems as the war pick, because
it’s exactly the same weapon mechanically speaking, but honestly, the morningstar has
even fewer reasons I can think of to keep it in the game! Unlike… 29. The sling! For which I am overflowing with reasons this
should be better! It should be a light weapon! It should have the concealable property that
I wrote for the blowgun! It should probably have slightly higher damage
or at least have longer range! It should probably have the finesse property,
and there should be both a wrist-rocket style slingshot AND a staff sling variant with their
own cool features! Lots of potential for the sling, but for now,
D-tier right alongside… 28. The net! Do I have to say it? It can only be used with disadvantage. It’s really easy to escape. It only works on creatures that are size large
or smaller. Kinda surprising that it made it this far
on the list, but this next one really surprised me! 27. The dagger! Guys, the dagger is perfect! I think it only ended up here because even
though it does everything a dagger should do, the majority of folks still want additional
features for it like maybe some kind of bonus in close quarters combat, but I really didn’t
see any other common suggestions for the dagger in the written parts of the survey, so let
me know your ideas for dagger features in the comments! 26 & 25. And our last two D-tier weapons are the pike,
and the halberd. Much like the war pick and morningstar, the
trident and the spear, these two are almost the same weapon from a mechanical standpoint! But with the pike being just a longer spear
and weaker lance, I realllllly don’t think there’s a need for it in the game, and its
piercing damage type should just be added onto the halberd which typically also has
a spear point on the end, as well as some kind of hook on the back which could be used
to trip enemies, making it the far more exciting weapon choice between these two martial 1d10
reach weapons. Alright, with 35% of folks choosing to keep
this weapon as is, we have our first C-tier weapon… 24. The scimitar! It is mechanically-identical to the short
sword, and visually almost identical to a handful of other swords like cutlasses and
falchions and sabers which for some reason were pretty highly-requested in the survey,
but I have no idea how I could make each one of those meaningfully, mechanically unique. Even for the scimitar, my ~big idea~ is to
add a variant that’s more distinctly a hooked sword for tripping targets, but this could
just be a variant of the short sword, so I don’t know if the scimitar is really gonna
make the cut. Pun intended! Next! 23. The light hammer! It’s a club, but you can also throw it! So I don’t understand this being ranked
lower than the club! It’s like if we all chose the sickle over
the dagger! But the people have spoken. C-tier! And speaking of clubs… 22. The great club! Apparently not-so-great! This simple, 1d8 weapon should not be strictly
two-handed! It should totally be versatile d8 or d10,
because it should remain a weaker version of… 21. The maul! It does 2d6 damage! People love damage, yet we’re still in the
bottom half of this list! My only guess is that similar to the dagger,
we want a little more! Historically, I believe this was essentially
the same thing as a warhammer, and it would have a spiked point on the back, which not
even the 5e warhammer has, but my point is (pun lol), there could be a little more to
the maul. However, with its damage already being so
high, from a designer perspective, I’m hesitant to add anything to it, and instead I’d rather
add features to the warhammer, which is a little higher up on our list. Next… 20. The glaive! I’ve always thought this weapon was cool,
but it is literally in every way, even weight and gold value, 100% identical to the halberd! C-tier. Besides adding a second blade on the other
end, idk what to do with it… 19. The lance! It’s got good damage, it’s got its own
unique features--I could see an impaling mechanic coming into play with this, check out my video
about that idea, but not much else because it’s already cool! Let’s jump through the next few boring ones! 18. The mace! It’s a club with a little more damage. I’m surprised it made it this far. 17. The spear! This should definitely be a light and/or finesse
weapon; it should also have an option to launch it with leverage like an atlatl, or even something
mechanized like a harpoon! 16. The warhammer! We already talked about this with the maul! And now with 47% of folks choosing to keep
this next weapon as-is, we have our first B-tier weapon… 15. The heavy crossbow! It’s already really good, so I don’t want
to add much, but I do want to come up with a bunch of cool types of ammunition that could
be employed with any crossbow or bow. And since this is the biggest and baddest
crossbow, maybe it should be able to handle some cooler ammunition like firing a grappling
hook or something! That would be awesome! A lot of people asked for a repeating crossbow,
but that feels like it could get out of hand, so I’m thinking more like a double-grooved
crossbow so you can load just two bolts at once. That feels less game-breaking, but we’ll
see! 14. Ahh the humble club! It is surprising to me to see this weak weapon
so highly ranked, and like I said, ranked higher than the light hammer which is a dagger
you can also throw. So I feel like most people looked at this
like I see the dagger: it’s already doing all the things it should do! B-tier! Well, there were some solid suggestions in
the written survey responses for a sap, basically a concealable club, and a tonfa, which is
more like a baton that I see as having defensive properties, so I do think there’s room for
us to expand the club! Unlike with these next two… 13 & 12. The battleaxe and greataxe! It was great to see these right next to each
other on the list because as a pair, these two martial axes are very different, and that’s
great! However, they are almost the same things--mechanically--as
the longsword and the greatsword! I think they get away with this thanks to
the third factor people consider when choosing their weapons: the aesthetic! In fact I think this is the failure behind
the mace and the morningstar, the greatclub, the warpick and warhammer, and the maul--there
might be a little too much gradation among the style of those weapons! Just a theory. 11. The quarterstaff! Just like the club, it does what it needs
to do--B-tier! And I don’t plan on messing with it very
much! Similar to… 10. The javelin! Which people really seem to like as is, even
though it’s a weaker version of the spear and trident. Honestly, if we give the spear the range it
deserves, I think it could just absorb the javelin? Maybe a lot of martial-focused players voted
the javelin highly because they’re familiar with it, as it comes with a few classes’
equipment? That would definitely explain this next one
which was pretty surprising to find way up here in the A-tier… 9. The handaxe! Its features and damage are a strong mix of
the dagger and the spear that seems to really hit a sweet spot for a melee based, thrown
weapon. Well done 5e designers! And really, that’s the theme of these top
tier weapons, like… 8. The greatsword! It is great! A-tier! I’m a little surprised more people weren’t
asking for this to have a variant that counts a reach weapon because supermassive swords
are a really cool anime trope, and I’m considering it, but the base greatsword lets you roll
2d6 and that’s enough for most folks. Next… 7. The rapier! Good damage, and a perfect example of how
the finesse and light properties can be implemented to make similar weapons unique from each other! A-tier! And actually, that’s good inspiration for
how we might be able to make some of those hammers and maces unique! 6 & 5 & 4. Ahhh the light crossbow, hand crossbow, and
shortbow! Back to back to back! These can also have cool ammunition, maybe
the light crossbow can have that double-grooved variant feature I’m thinking about for the
heavy crossbow, maybe the hand crossbow can have a variant that’s collapsible to make
it concealable on your person, maybe the shortbow can have a composite variant to increase its
range! But they’re already great! I don’t want to change much! 3. The shortsword!! I think my only change here might be to make
it a simple weapon! That would also create a better opportunity
to add cool variants to the scimitar as a martial weapon! …
And here we are, at the S tier! If you’ve been enjoying this video, remember
to hit the like button so more people will see it! :D And if you’ve been keeping track, you already
know what these last two weapons are, or if you haven’t been keeping track, you can
probably guess! Any core martial character can use these weapons,
they have perfectly good damage, and they are iconic weapons that will fit the desired
aesthetic for the vast majority of weapon-wielding D&D characters! Nearly tied at 58.6 and 58.8% liked, they
are two of the only three weapons that rounded out to 0% of people suggesting to remove them
from the game! (the other one was the dagger)...The top two
favorite weapons of D&D 5e according to about 9,000 people! 2 & 1. The longbow and the longsword! I do have this wild idea to add a finesse
variant great bow that would have slightly higher damage and range than the longbow,
and a TON of people, like hundreds of people, wrote in asking for a finesse variant longsword
that has slightly higher damage specifically saying that’s what a katana should be, even
though I kinda agree with the 5e designers that the longsword already is a katana, but
what do YOU think?? And hey, if you want more frequent updates
on this weapon system project, join our Discord by becoming a member here on YouTube or a
Patron, so you can see my occasional screenshots of things I’ve added to my notes for this
supplement--I try to do it weekly, but I’m getting married in a couple months, things
are busy, cut me some slack!--Alternatively, if you want to view my entire weapon system
notes draft at your leisure, you can join the Pillar tier on Patreon which also comes
with a ton of other content! Patrons really do make this all possible,
so thank you Patrons, and thank YOU for your likes and comments and sharing these videos,
because the more people that see these videos and talk about this project, the better we
can make it! Keep building! :)
