Sling Builds in DnD 5e
Whether you’re inspired by an ancient slinger like David or a modern one like Usopp from One Piece, sling builds can be a fun niche concept. Here are some effective builds for a slinger character.
Why Use Slings?
As a primary weapon, slings lag behind other ranged weapons. They do less damage than shortbows or light crossbows (both simple weapons) and have the same drawbacks. The reasons to choose a sling are more practical.
The sling is a weapon that can be easily hidden and snuck into areas where weapons are not allowed. You don’t have to use purchased sling ammunition—you can easily collect rocks or other small objects. You can get a bag of 1,000 ball bearings for 1 gold and never have to worry about ammunition again, and no one will think anything of you bringing the bag somewhere weapons are not allowed. This makes the sling great for intrigue campaigns or missions where you’ll go somewhere without your weapons.
One other synergy that slings have is with the Crusher feat. Being able to hit an opponent with a ranged attack and knock it back 5 feet can offer some interesting tactical choices to combat that aren’t available with other ranged builds.
One area where slings shine, though, is as a backup weapon. A monk might use a quarterstaff or her fists most of the time, but a sling weighs next to nothing and can give her a ranged option if she needs it.
Beyond all that, the main reason to use slings is simply for flavor. Halflings have a lot of thematic tie-ins with slings, but any small race, or any character with decent Dexterity, can be fun to give a sling to.
Slinger Monk
The easiest way to make a sling work is to give it to a Monk. Any Monk can use a sling, as it is a simple weapon, and Monks can make it scale with their martial arts die by choosing it as a dedicated weapon, increasing the damage to keep it competitive with other ranged weapons. Choosing to use a sling as your primary weapon, though, can be difficult, as a good portion of the Monk’s damage comes from bonus action attacks, which you’d be missing out on if you only attacked with a sling.
The Kensei Monk alleviates a lot of those problems. Kensei Monks make great archers, and using a sling instead of a bow isn’t much different. It has more synergy with the Monk overall if you take the Crusher feat, as this will also apply to your unarmed attacks if you get stuck in melee. The additional movement speed from the Monk class is useful to any ranged character.
To make a slinger Kensei Monk, choose the sling as one of your Kensei weapons at level 3. Another level 3 feature you get is Kensei’s Shot, which allows you to use your bonus action to boost damage for ranged attacks you make on that turn. This is notably a free bonus action that does not cost ki points.
When you get to the 5th level, some optional Monk features from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything give you some more options. Focused Aim allows you to boost your accuracy using ki points. This is especially great if you have the Sharpshooter feat, but it can help any Monk.
At level 6, you get additional Kensei features that will make you more deadly. Magic Kensei Weapons makes any Kensei weapon you have into a magic weapon, which helps to get around non-magical damage immunity that many creatures at this level have. You also gain Deft Strike, which enables you to use a ki point to boost the damage on one of your attacks that turn. With this ability, you can forgo the Kensei’s Shot feature and instead use the optional feature Ki-Fueled Attack, which enables you to make an additional attack using a Monk weapon on your bonus action. You can burn through ki pretty quickly doing this, but it’s a great way to significantly boost your damage in crucial moments, such as boss battles.
The Kensei features you get at levels 11 and 17 apply to this build and can be impactful, but it might also be useful to switch over to Fighter or Ranger for a level or two to pick up the Archery fighting style, which gives a flat bonus to attack rolls with ranged weapons. This, combined with the Sharpshooter feat and your ability to boost attack rolls using ki points, makes you a deadly slinger.
Slinger Ranger
Rangers are renowned as archers but can make good slingers for the same reasons. Slings are ranged weapons, so the Archery fighting style significantly boosts accuracy. The Hunter’s Mark spell is a Ranger staple and gives you solid damage with your attacks. The Sharpshooter feat works great with slings, giving you a significant damage boost and also increasing the range of slings. With the optional features in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Rangers also get a boost to their speed at level 6, which is useful to any ranged character.
The Gloom Stalker and Hunter conclaves make great archers, and they make excellent slingers too. At level 2, pick the Archery fighting style and pick Hunter’s Mark as one of your spells. This alone will make you a good slinger, but subclass features can provide additional help.
Gloom Stalkers gain a feature at level 3 to potentially get an extra attack in the first round of combat. This, combined with Hunter’s Mark and possibly Sharpshooter, can be a pretty big damage boost right at the beginning of combat. At level 11, they gain a feature to make an additional attack if they miss, which can greatly boost the reliability of Sharpshooter.
Hunters get features at levels 3 and 11 to boost the damage of ranged attacks. Hunters may be a simple subclass, but they do plenty of damage and have some great defensive abilities.
The Druidic Warrior fighting style opens up some interesting options with the Magic Stone spell. (DND Tinker Inn has a great write-up on cantrips to pick with the Druidic Warrior fighting style for other options.) This spell allows you to use Wisdom instead of Dexterity for your attack and damage rolls. The spell states you can throw the stones, but if you do that, you can’t apply the Archery fighting style or Sharpshooter feat, so loading them in your sling is the way to go. Note that the Magic Stone spell does require a bonus action, so creating the stones will compete with your use of Hunter’s Mark. With a Wisdom Ranger build, you’ll want to wear medium armor and drop your Dexterity to 14. With high Wisdom, you can also reliably use spells like Entangle. If you want a melee option, take Shillelagh as your other cantrip to use Wisdom with clubs or staves.
Beast Master is a poor pick for a Magic Stone build because it takes a bonus action to control your Primal Companion, so you’ll be forced to choose between creating magic stones and using your animal companion.
The Fey Wanderer Ranger has no conflict with Magic Stone and gains significant benefits from a high Wisdom score, so this is probably your best bet for a Magic Stone build.
Slinger Rogue
Rogues can also be great slingers. Rogues get most of their damage from their Sneak Attack, so the lower damage die on the sling matters less for Rogues than other classes. With gaining advantage on attacks being a central part of Rogue gameplay, you’ll also find hitting your targets easier.
One thing to note: unlike most other slingers, Sharpshooter isn’t a great fit for Rogues. You get all your damage from a single attack, so if you miss an attack, you’ve essentially wasted that turn. Lowering your accuracy is a dangerous proposition for Rogues. Also, you only get one attack, so the additional damage doesn’t add up as much as it does for other classes with multiple attacks. The extended range for your sling is nice, but there are probably more important things to focus on with your build.
Many Roguish Archetypes can make great archers, but the stand-out is the Scout subclass, also known as the Ranger of Rogues. At level 3, you can jump back to safety if an enemy ends its turn next to you, making it easier to stay at range rather than get stuck in melee. You get a speed boost at level 9—useful for any ranged character. You get advantage on initiative rolls and a nice support feature at level 13. If you make it to level 17, you get the amazing ability to attack twice and apply a sneak attack twice, doubling the damage that most Rogues would get at that level. Every one of those features is useful for a slinger. You also gain expertise with Nature and Survival skills, which is thematic and gives you some utility outside of combat.
Other Roguish Archetypes can make good slingers too. The Assassin gets advantage on the first turn of combat, and if your party can coordinate to surprise an enemy party, this can be deadly. The Thief subclass can throw things like acid or alchemist’s fire as a bonus action, and the range on those is similar to the sling. Arcane Tricksters don’t get a lot of features to help slingers, but they get a lot of extra utility with their magic that can be fun for a ranged character.
Slinger Fighter
Fighters get more weapon attacks than any other class, and with access to the Archery fighting style, Sharpshooter becomes incredibly potent. There are a few Fighter slinger builds that work, and they all focus on making the best use of Sharpshooter.
The Battle Master Fighter is great here as always, especially with the Precision Attack maneuver. Other maneuvers can give you a much-needed damage boost and aid your party in other ways.
The Samurai Fighter can gain advantage on all attacks made in a turn, which completely negates the penalty Sharpshooter imposes. Combine this with Action Surge and you’re looking at an additional 20 damage at level 3, or 40 damage at level 5—pretty significant. You get fewer uses of Fighting Spirit than the Battle Master has of their maneuvers, but you get to use it on all attacks for a turn, and you get other benefits from the subclass, like better social skills.
The Arcane Archer subclass will not work with a sling, as the subclass requires you to use a shortbow or longbow. That said, using these features with a sling would not create an unfair advantage—if anything, it’s a step down in power—so your DM might make an exception if you want to use this subclass. The Arcane Shot options can change encounters, and the curving shot feature at level 7 works great with Sharpshooter.
Best Feats for Slingers
Sharpshooter
For most slinger characters, Sharpshooter is almost essential. The extended range on the weapon is nice, but the damage boost can be deadly. Rangers and especially Monks can boost their accuracy to negate the penalty imposed by Sharpshooter, making this an easy pick. As discussed above, though, Sharpshooter can be dangerous for Rogues, since you get all your damage from a single attack and don’t want to miss.
Crusher
Knocking an enemy back 5 feet with a ranged weapon is a unique feature of sling combat. The bonus to Strength or Constitution isn’t especially important but can be nice for rounding out an odd Constitution score. The effect applied on a critical hit can help your entire party, although it’s unreliable as you have little control over whether you get a critical hit.
Skulker
This feat can be a lifesaver if you’re playing a character that relies on stealth (like a Rogue). If you miss your attack, rather than broadcast your exact position to every enemy in the area, you’ll simply alert them that danger is near, but they won’t understand where you are. Being able to hide while lightly obscured, such as in rain or dim light, greatly helps with stealth. The bonus to Perception in dim light can be great for any character, but especially races without darkvision.
Lucky
This feat is great on any character, but at-will advantage will make Sharpshooter much more reliable.
Fighting Initiate
If you don’t have the Archery fighting style, this is a great way to get it. This can make Sharpshooter more reliable for Rogues.
Fey Touched
Misty Step is a great spell for any ranged character. Also, if you don’t have access to the Hunter’s Mark spell, you can get that (or Hex) through this feat, greatly boosting your damage.
About the Author
Brandon Gregory
Brandon Gregory is a web developer and writer in the Kansas City area. He's been playing TTRPGs since 2020 and is involved in the disability-related TTRPG podcast Tales from the Crips. He's into classic movies, mental health, and, of course, DnD. Also, he's in a band. One time, they rocked so hard it killed a man.