Best 5E Feats for Rogues

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Rogue is one of the most diverse classes in Dungeons and Dragons, offering a mix of out-of-combat skill options and damage-dealing power. The rogue is the definition of a skill monkey, with a devastating sneak attack that can make them incredible damage dealers. If the rest of the party sets them up right, a lot of major bosses or enemies are going to fall to a cascade of rolling d6 dice. But for the class that already has everything (well other than magic), what are the best feats for rogues that can top off the perfect build?

Here are the best feats to compliment their unique ability set, focusing on a wide array of potential builds and sub-classes so you have plenty of ability to create the ideal rogue. Let’s jump in!

The mysterious, dangerous, and powerful rogue. This awesome art comes from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/395261304792845799/

Let’s dive into the top 10 feats for rogues in 5E D&D (plus one honorable mention)!

1. Fey Touched (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)

Fey Touched is one of the best feats in the game and can easily fit on pretty much any build mechanically. It grants access to the second-level spell Misty Step along with any one enchantment or divination spell each day. Setting aside that some of the most powerful spells in the game are first-level enchantment spells, the misty step is incredibly strong on a rogue.

Even though you’ll only be able to cast your Fey Touched spells once each day unless you are multiclass or go into Arcane Trickster, Rogue has enough mobility and skill options that you shouldn’t need them more often than that. For your second spell, you can choose silvery barbs, dissonant whispers, commands, Tasha’s hideous laughter, or even comprehend languages.

This feat also gives a +1 increase to one of your mental ability scores (intelligence, wisdom, and charisma) all of which can be useful for Rogues. This mitigates the problems with taking the feat to level one.

Fey Touched is more useful to an Arcane Trickster than a conventional rogue, but don’t sleep on a single Misty Step and one other carefully chosen spell per long rest – it can be devastatingly effective.

2. Skill Expert/Prodigy (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything/Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)

If you’re looking for a feat that will make rogues even better at what they’re already good at, look no further! Skill Expert and Prodigy both give your character access to an extra skill and double proficiency in a skill that they already have. Both of these feats are great options for characters who just need one more skill to feel right.

Skill Expert will be the one that most players are familiar with. This is from Tasha’s and lets the rogue double up on expertise, doubling their proficiency in yet another skill, while also taking proficiency in another skill. Or to borrow/paraphrase from a Dragon Ball Z reference: You go from Skill Monkey to Super Skill Monkey.

Skill Expert is a little better than prodigy, a racial feat from Xanathar’s that also grants a bonus to one of your ability scores and isn’t locked to humans, half-elfs, and half-orcs. Because of this, you should only pick up Prodigy if you already have a Skill Expert and still don’t have enough expertise.

3. Sharpshooter (The Player’s Handbook)

If you’re looking for a straight damage boost for your character, then look no further. At the (optional) cost of -5 to any long-ranged attack you do, you can add 10 to the damage dealt on a hit. This is a huge increase even at later levels, and for Rogues who specialize in getting and keeping advantage the -5 to hit is hardly ever that bad.

Sharpshooter also allows you to ignore 3/4 cover allows you to shoot right through your allies’ spaces without accruing any penalties, allowing you to attack from wherever you’re hiding with ease.

If you’re in the market for more than one feat, Sharpshooter combos incredibly well with both the archery fighting style that can be gained through Fighting Initiate and the bonus action shot given by Crossbow Expert. Adding a sneak attack on top of all that damage can easily turn any Rogue into a nuclear weapon, and Assassins into, like, a double nuclear weapon or something.

Remember that this is for ranged attacks. This could be a hand crossbow, a thrown dagger, a sling – the rogue doesn’t have to do a ranger impersonation to make this feat work and considering that sneak attack

Crossbow Expert is an incredible feat in its own right, but its bonus action attack doesn’t work as well for Rogues since their bonus action is already pretty hotly contested with the many options that rogues have, though with the right build it can be made to work but it’s not as good as sharpshooter.

4. Telekinetic (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)

Telekinetic grants you one of the best parts of the Arcane Trickster in an improved mage hand spell, and on top of that increases one of your mental ability scores and grants a thirty-foot range bonus action shove ability. These are all huge benefits in and of themselves. While a feat that is built for wizards…it is built with rogues in mind as a close second.

The shove ability can allow you to bonus action disengage from up to one enemy each turn, although Rogues can already do that for free which makes this particular ability a little less appealing for disengagement. However, if you need to create a distraction, putting a hard shove into the back of a big burly Half-Orc at the bar while a tough barbarian is walking by can really help to get things started.

That shove can also be used at opportune times to push people off a building, into a lava flow, or shove an opponent out of partial cover so the ranger can get a clean shot.

Still, the invisible mage hand is absolutely incredible for committing thefts, and the range bonus gives the Arcane Trickster the option to pickpockets from sixty feet away, which seems strong.

5. Eldritch Adept (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)

The Eldritch Adept feat gives any character with spellcasting or pact magic access to one of the Warlock’s Eldritch Invocations, which may not seem like a lot until you realize that several of those invocations are strong abilities in their own right. Additionally, many warlock builds make for a magical style of rogue, which means many of the available invocations can do wonders for further strengthening a rogue and slide right into fitting in with that class and what it has to offer.

At level one, the best invocations to take with this feat are probably Mask of Many Faces for free disguise self and Misty Visions for free Silent Image. At the 7th level, you can get Trickster’s Escape for Freedom of Movement if that seems like something you need. If you make it all the way to level 15, you can use this feat to get unlimited invisibility with Shroud of Shadows as well.

In other words, there are plenty of options for an overpowered rogue that comes from that fateful discovery that opened a glimpse of the Eldritch world to your likely terrified, but now even more powerful, rogue.

Now, because of the prerequisite of needing to be a spellcaster or have the pact magic option, a rogue must either:

  1. Multi-class into Warlock
  2. Be an Arcane Trickster

So this is a feat for Arcane Tricksters, and not for your pure alleyway rogue, but if you want to add some unexpected pop to the Arcane Trickster, this feat is an amazingly sneaky way to do it.

6. Observant (The Player’s Handbook)

The rest of the feats on this list are highly situational but have unique synergy with the Rogue’s toolkit. The observant feat pairs well with expertise in the Investigation or Perception skills, which is great for Inquisitive Rogues playing the detective type. At low levels, it shines by making your party incredibly difficult to sneak up on.

Even at higher levels this remains a solid pick as having more passive perception is always a good thing and the ability to read lips can bring in the intrigue to a party in a campaign and open up unexpected secrets, especially if the rogue is wearing a helm of comprehend languages.

Added together with Alert and you have a 1-2 feat combo that fits in thematically with rogues and supercharges them to the next level.

7. Fighting Initiate (The Player’s Handbook)

Get a fighting style! That’s really all there is to this feat. There are many different fighting styles that can help the rogue depending on your build. Wield two weapons better, have a higher defense, or grab archery to become a terror from a distance. They’re all viable options to help supplement your 5E rogue built.

The Fighting Initiate feat might not be the first one that jumps to mind when you’re thinking of feats for rogues, but it can be an interesting addition for sure.

8. Actor (The Player’s Handbook)

While it isn’t the most exciting feat for many players, personally I love this feat and not just when playing a bard. For rogues, the 5E Actor feat is incredibly helpful. Already built to be stealthy and deceptive, adding Actor to a Rogue’s repertoire can really push a DM to work hard at keeping you held at bay in a social situation or a heist assuming you have a decent Charisma stat with your build.

Having advantage on checks for Deception or Performance when passing yourself off as someone else, and can mimic other people’s voices or animal noises as long as you’ve heard them for at least a minute. These might be situationally useful, but when you need them they are a HUGE benefit and can lead to some hilarious situations around the table with a DM who knows how to roll with the punches.

You can even use it to troll the bard.

9. Shadow Touched (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything)

The ability to cast invisibility once per long rest for free, as well as grab an additional illusion/necromancy spell? That is great for a rogue. The already stealthy rogue is a nightmare to perceive in normal conditions. When invisible on top of it, forget about it. Just not happening. Using that ability to also reposition yourself in an enemy camp before a battle can be devastatingly effective, not to mention some good roleplay opportunities.

Shadow Touched is one of my favorite feats in the game, and while there are other classes you might think of first, it works extremely well for a Rogue build, as well!

10. Alert (The Player’s Handbook)

What Rogue doesn’t want the Alert feat? A +5 bonus to initiative drastically increases your chances of going early in combat and getting off a sneak attack even at lower levels. The inability to be surprised means you’ll always have a turn during a surprise round even if the party is ambushed, and enemies who are invisible don’t get advantage when attacking you, providing that crucial 6th sense rogues need to slip out of the noose once again.

A great feat that should be on the shortlist of every rogue build.

Honorable Mention: Mobile (The Player’s Handbook)

The 5E Mobile feat is often associated with monks and rangers (for good reason), but it is also an excellent feat for a rogue to pick up. The +10 movement speed is nice, but the real bread & butter here for rogues is the not provoking opportunity attacks on a turn after making a melee attack (whether it’s hit or miss). This allows the rogue to save their bonus action instead of having to disengage.

Best Feats for Rogues: Concluding Thoughts

Rogue is such a fun class, and it’s one that can create so many amazing multiclass possibilities, as well. You get a huge array of skills, get to do serious damage on sneak attacks, and have some of the best skills in the game like stealth and perception – both of which open up even more options during gameplay of a good campaign.

Adding the right feats can further enhance these abilities, add a dash of useful magic, or make you even more deadly in combat. Rogue is a fun class and by adding some of these feats you’ll be amazed by what your character will be able to pull off.

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