Pair this with a weapon with the Reach property and the Sentry feat and you have a tank who won’t let anything past them…ĭwarves make halfway decent tanks on their own. Which means their attacks have a range of at least 10 feet. Their biggest draw is their Long-Limbed trait which extends their melee range an extra five feet. With that out of the way, let’s go into my picks for the other top tanking races. Either the Half-Orc or Goliath makes for a great tank character in D&D. So, it really comes down to personal preference. But even then, Goliaths are better for adventuring with their Powerful Build trait. Now, I will say, the Half-Orc has the better damage output with their Savage Attacks trait.

But, the Half-Orc’s Relentless Endurance is basically a 'get out of death free card' once per day. The Goliath’s Stone’s Endurance trait is great for mitigating some damage (a major aspect of tanking). Yeah, I couldn’t pick one because they’re both so good. But, as far as survivability goes (which is what we care about), the best race for a D&D tank is either the Half-Orc or Goliath. With TCoE, you shouldn’t have a problem with improving your Dexterity and Constitution Ability Scores. What is the Best Race for a Tank in D&D? Half-Orcs & Goliath are a couple of the best tank races in D&D 5eĪlmost any race works as a tank. So, it’s more beneficial to look at the Traits these races offer for making a good tank character.īut first, let me tell you what I think is the best race for a D&D tank. With Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything ( TCoE), you may switch out Ability Score bonuses granted by your race with others.

I will note that I won’t factor in Ability Score Increases. That said, certain races come with traits that suit them better for tanking.

So, any race is a viable choice when making your tank character. One thing I like about 5 th Edition is that you can play any race with any class and have fun with it. Now that you know how to play a tank in D&D 5e, let’s start looking at options for creating one starting with their race.

So, in this article, I’m gonna go over what I think are the top seven tank races in D&D 5e.īe sure to check out my other guides on building a D&D tank.Īlright, let’s get started looking at the best races for a D&D 5e tank. But, some races have traits that work better for playing tanky characters over others. D&D 5e is pretty forgiving in terms of letting you play what you want. If you’re looking at fill the tank party role, you should know which of the playable races in Dungeons & Dragons 5 the Edition work best.

Bugbear 5e playable race