Dwarf Champion Fighter Build Guide

Levels 1-4

Start with the Great Weapon Fighting style. Pick up a Greataxe—not only is it the classic dwarven aesthetic, but rolling a d12 synergizes far better with critical hit feats later on than the 2d6 of a Greatsword. At level 3, the Champion archetype comes online, granting Improved Critical and Remarkable Athlete. Improved Critical expands your threat range to 19-20, immediately doubling your chance to crit. Remarkable Athlete is a subtle but potent buff that adds half your proficiency bonus to your Initiative rolls (since Initiative is a Dexterity check). At level 4, immediately take the Great Weapon Master (GWM) feat. The +10 damage is mandatory for Fighter scaling, and Improved Critical directly fuels GWM's bonus-action attack feature when you score a critical hit.

Levels 5-10

Level 5 brings Extra Attack, doubling your chances to roll a 19 or 20 every turn. At level 6, use your Ability Score Improvement (ASI) to grab the Slasher feat, rounding your Strength up to 18. Slasher's critical hit debuff imposes disadvantage on the target's attack rolls—a devastating penalty that you will trigger constantly thanks to Improved Critical. Level 7 grants Additional Fighting Style; take Defense to bump your AC by +1, compensating for your lack of a shield. At level 8, use your ASI to cap your Strength at 20. Level 10 introduces Heroic Warrior, granting advantage on saving throws to avoid being Incapacitated. For a frontline Dwarf whose biggest weakness is being locked down by control magic, this feature is a lifesaver.

Levels 11-16

Level 11 is the Fighter's major power spike: Extra Attack (2). Three attacks per turn means three chances to fish for a critical hit. At level 12, take Resilient (Wisdom). With your starting Wisdom of 10, you are highly vulnerable to crippling spells like Hold Person; this feat patches that glaring hole. Level 14 brings another ASI: take Tough. When stacked with Dwarven Toughness, your hit point pool becomes virtually bottomless. Level 15 upgrades your core subclass feature to Superior Critical, expanding your threat range to 18-20. If you are attacking with advantage, you have roughly a 40% chance of landing a critical hit on your turn. At level 16, take the Alert feat to fix your miserable Initiative and guarantee you get into melee early.

Levels 17-20

Level 17 grants your second use of Action Surge. Level 18 is where the Champion achieves godhood via the Survivor feature. Because you have a massive health pool from Dwarven Toughness and a solid Constitution score, regenerating 1d6 + CON hit points at the start of your turn (when below half HP) makes you functionally immortal against anything short of concentrated boss-level burst damage. At level 19, take the Lucky feat to reroll missed GWM attacks or save yourself from a failed saving throw. Finally, level 20 caps the build with Extra Attack (3), giving you four base attacks per turn to continually trigger Superior Critical.

Great Weapon Master

This is a non-negotiable tax for a two-handed Fighter build. While the -5 penalty to hit for +10 damage is the main draw, the Champion uniquely benefits from the secondary feature: scoring a critical hit grants you a bonus action weapon attack. Since Improved Critical and Superior Critical double and triple your chances of critting respectively, you will reliably trigger this bonus action attack almost every combat.

Slasher

A phenomenal half-feat to round out an odd Strength score. Reducing an enemy's speed by 10 feet helps mitigate the Dwarf's sluggish 25-foot movement speed. The real synergy, however, lies in the critical hit effect. When you crit—which is incredibly often for a Champion—you impose disadvantage on all of the target's attack rolls until the start of your next turn. This transforms your striker into a potent debuffer.

Resilient (Wisdom)

Fighters inherently lack Wisdom saving throw proficiency, and this build starts with a mediocre Wisdom of 10. Once you hit Tier 3 play, enemy spellcasters will constantly target you with incapacitating effects. Heroic Warrior at level 10 helps, but adding your proficiency bonus to the roll via Resilient is mandatory to ensure you actually get to play the game rather than spending every fight paralyzed.

Tough

Normally, Tough is overkill for a Fighter, but it leans into the specific strengths of the Dwarf Champion. Stacking Tough with Dwarven Toughness yields an extra +3 hit points per level on top of your d10 hit die and Constitution modifier. This staggering amount of health ensures you easily survive the initial onslaught of a fight, giving you enough runway to drop below half HP and activate your Survivor regeneration at level 18.

Tier 1 (Levels 1-4)

Start with Chain Mail and a Greataxe. Your primary goal is to save up 1,500 gold for Plate armor as quickly as possible. Since Dwarves do not suffer movement penalties for wearing heavy armor without meeting the Strength requirement, you can theoretically wear Plate immediately if you find it, though your Strength will be high enough anyway.

Tier 2 (Levels 5-10)

Seek out a +1 Greataxe to offset the accuracy penalty of Great Weapon Master. For armor, Adamantine Plate is arguably better than generic magical armor for this build; you are a massive bag of hit points, and negating incoming critical hits ensures your health pool drains at a predictable rate. Boots of Striding and Springing are excellent here, as they stack with the Champion's Remarkable Athlete feature to give you incredible battlefield mobility via jumping.

Tier 3 (Levels 11-16)

Upgrade to a +2 Greataxe. A Belt of Dwarvenkind is highly thematic and incredibly effective, boosting your Constitution score by +2 (which directly buffs your future Survivor regeneration) and giving you resistance to poison damage if you somehow chose a subrace that didn't have Dwarven Resilience. A Cloak of Displacement is also ideal to force disadvantage on incoming attacks.

Tier 4 (Levels 17-20)

You want a +3 Greataxe and a Belt of Fire Giant Strength (or better) to maximize your GWM accuracy. The ultimate item for a Champion is a Blood Fury Tattoo. Because you crit on an 18-20 thanks to Superior Critical, you can save the tattoo's charges exclusively for critical hits, doubling the massive 4d6 necrotic damage bonus and healing yourself for the total damage dealt.

Your role in the party is a Striker and frontline anchor. Because you lack the burst damage of a Paladin or the control of a Battle Master, your job is to stand exactly in front of the most dangerous enemy, absorb their attacks with your massive dwarven health pool, and relentlessly swing your Greataxe until you score a critical hit.

To make the Champion truly shine, you desperately need party members who can generate advantage for you. A Wolf Totem Barbarian is your best friend; standing next to them grants you permanent advantage on melee attack rolls, meaning you roll two dice per attack and drastically increase your Improved Critical frequency. Alternatively, a spellcaster like a Light Cleric or Evocation Wizard casting Faerie Fire or Web creates the ideal environment for your Great Weapon Master swings.

Barbarian 2 Dip

Taking two levels of Barbarian for Reckless Attack is the most mathematically potent choice you can make for a Champion. Reckless Attack gives you on-demand advantage for all your Strength-based melee attacks, ensuring you are rolling two d20s every single time you swing. This skyrockets your chances of rolling a 19 or 20. The tradeoff is that enemies get advantage against you, but your Dwarven Toughness HP pool can absorb the punishment.

Paladin 2 Dip

If you meet the 13 Charisma requirement, a two-level dip into Paladin for Divine Smite turns you into a burst-damage monster. Because the Champion crits twice as often as a normal character, you can hoard your spell slots and only declare a Divine Smite when you roll a 19 or 20, instantly doubling the smite's radiant damage dice.

• Ignoring Advantage Generation: The Champion's Improved Critical feature is statistically underwhelming if you only roll a single d20 per attack. You must actively seek out flanking, shove enemies prone, or coordinate with spellcasters to get advantage, or your subclass feature will rarely trigger.
• Skipping Great Weapon Master: A Champion without GWM hits like a wet noodle. Your crits need to trigger the GWM bonus action attack to keep your damage output competitive with other Fighter subclasses.
• Using a Longsword and Shield: The Champion is built for two-handed weapons. Critting with a d8 longsword adds a pitiful 4.5 average damage. You need the massive d12 of a Greataxe to make expanding your critical threat range actually intimidating.
• Forgetting Remarkable Athlete applies to Initiative: Players constantly forget that Initiative is a Dexterity check. Because Remarkable Athlete lets you add half your proficiency bonus to any DEX check that doesn't already use it, your Champion gets a permanent, scaling buff to Initiative rolls.