Which pugilist subclasses are best and what are they good at?
The pugilist is a longtime 3rd party class for D&D 5e, but was just recently added to D&D Beyond’s roster with a fresh 2024 coat of paint. With it come 6 subclasses, but for many, these subclasses will be quite unfamiliar. I’ve trawled through these options to outline what they each do, what they’re good at and scored how well I think they perform. If you’re interested in tactics and builds, then my pugilist guide is a great place to start. If you’re thinking more about which subclass to choose, then read on for a deep dive.
Dog & Hound
What are they?
Pugilists that have formed an ironclad bond with a canine friend. Now they fight alongside one another as steadfast companions.
Key abilities
- Brawler’s best friend (lv3) – Gain a hound companion that can attack when commanded with your bonus action.
- Mutt with moxie (lv3) – Your hound can benefit from your moxie instead of/in addition to yourself.
- Coordinated attack (lv6) – Once per round, your hound can give you advantage on an attack and enhance the damage dealt.
- Hound’s best friend (Lv11) – Make a move and attack with your reaction when your hound is damaged.
- Off the chain (Lv17) – When your hound is bloodied, it gains substantial temporary hit points, becomes faster and can make attacks without requiring your bonus action.
What are they good at?
Your hound is a decent utility option. They can go places humanoids might not be welcome and it only takes something like speak with animals and/or beast sense to communicate and know what they’re seeing.
Because they’re proficient at all skills, it means they’ll likely sneak and perceive better than you will.
Ultimately though, your hound is an extra bundle of hit points and another source of attacks to get in the way of enemies.
How effective are they?
To understand this, it’s probably best to compare them to the beast master ranger. You lack a flying or swimming companion, but we can compare quite directly to the land companion. Compared to that, the AC is likely worse, there’s no climb speed, the intelligence and wisdom are worse but charisma is slightly better.
They’re the same when it comes to ability checks and saving throws (considered proficient in all of them). The damage on the hound is slightly better, but charging improves the primal companions damage while the hound has other effects like grappling, knocking prone and pushing. I’d argue that stats reliant on constitution for a pugilist are likely to be higher than those based on wisdom as a ranger (as rangers have 3 ability scores to focus on, pugilists only have 2).
Overall though, I think the hound is slightly better than the primal companion in combat (mainly due to the extra effects it causes with attacks) but worse in a utility role. However, my big issue is this only works in isolation from the core classes. The problem you have with the pugilist is the hound only really equals what the pugilist can do with their bonus action anyway (other than having a push option) whereas the primal companion enhances the beast master from level 3.
As a pugilist, you can always use your bonus action for attacks and the hound just replaces these with extremely similar attacks of its own. They can make attacks on their own once you’re incapacitated which is something, and this situation does improve with levels, granting advantage on some attacks and easier reaction attacks. But sadly, I think this hound doesn’t add enough at early levels, even if it improves as you progress.
Score: 2/5
Hand of Dread
What are they?
Pugilists that have made a pact with a powerful entity in a moment of desperation. In return, they receive some amount of magical ability, but at the cost of being influenced by the whisperings of some unknown being.
Key abilities
- Black magic (lv3) – Gain 2 cantrips and a level 1 spell that you can cast once per long rest.
- Dread hand (lv3) – Once per rest, you gain a buff to attacks for a minute. This includes reaction attacks when hit, rolling damage dice twice and choosing the highest and rerolling missed attacks once per turn.
- Deal with the devil (lv6) – Gain invisibility, disguise self or misty step as a spell. You can cast these once per rest (or at will for disguise self).
- Grotesque growth (lv11) – Once per long rest, when using dread hand, you also gain the benefits of enlarge/reduce and your reach becomes 10ft.
- Fountain of viscera (Lv17) – Use a magic action to attempt to rip out someone’s innards. This causes 50 or 100 damage.
What are they good at?
Dread hand means they’re great at dealing damage and grotesque growth enhances this further (especially with your many attacks). You also have a decent amount of utility with a few spells at your fingertips. The hand of dread isn’t a third caster like the eldritch knight or arcane trickster, but there’s enough utility here to be useful.
How effective are they?
Dread hand is excellent. The increase in attack reliability and damage potential is quite strong, especially with how many attacks the pugilist has. Because this can be used every short rest for an entire combat encounter, you can be using it for most serious encounters. That means easy reaction attacks, better damage on each attack and more accurate attacks.
Enlarge/reduce will add to your damage making this even better and fountain of viscera can be absolutely devastating.
With spellcasting performed with your constitution, you can be quite good at the spells you cast. You don’t have a lot of options though, but there are many good options to choose from and I’d be tempted to mainly go for utility spells. This is mainly because your unarmed strikes will generally be superior to what your spells can accomplish. The exception I’d make here might be grabbing a ranged cantrip to give you a good ranged option. Eldritch blast is a good choice if you’re unable to get into melee range.
Score: 5/5
Piss and Vinegar
What are they?
The most provocative pugilist around. Piss and vinegar pugilists revel in getting a rise from their opponents and will hurl insults just to start a brawl and gladly fight dirty when they inevitably cause a conflict.
Key abilities
- Bad attitude (lv3) – Proficiency and a strength modifier bonus to intimidation checks.
- Salty salute (lv3) – A sort of ranged psychic attack using insults that gives the target disadvantage on attack rolls against anyone other than you for a turn.
- Dirty tricks (lv6) – Apply 3 different effects to an attack once per rest. This includes making immobile, causing the blinded condition and granting advantage on attack rolls against the target.
- Mean old cuss (lv11) – Use a bonus action to cause psychic damage to all enemies within 30ft of you and cause disadvantage on attack rolls against anyone other than you.
- Dirtier tricks (Lv17) – Gain a couple more dirty tricks. One makes your psychic attacks more effective and the other causes an automatic critical that’s even more damaging.
What are they good at?
Attracting attacks with salt salute and mean old cuss. They’ve also got a few tricks for debilitating enemies in quite a variety of ways.
How effective are they?
If you can build a fairly resilient pugilist, then piss and vinegar can be quite decent. This is made harder by a relatively low AC, but pugilists can be reasonably resilient in other ways. Salty salute is interesting as you can keep out of melee range from the target.
There are some effects here that are quite decent, but nothing overwhelmingly good unless you get to level 17. They are just a decent enough subclass and that’s all.
Score: 3/5
Squared Circle
What are they?
Wrestlers that specialise in grappling and subduing their enemies.
Key abilities
- Groundwork (lv3) – You cause automatic damage to grappled creatures, can use a moxie points to give disadvantage on saving throws against your grapple and shove and can make unarmed strikes that grapple, shove and deal damage at the same time.
- Muscle mass (lv3) – Gain acrobatics or athletics proficiency or expertise (if you already have proficiency).
- Meat shield (lv6) – Gain half cover when grappling a creature from anyone you aren’t grappling. Can also use a reaction and a moxie point to cause missed attacks to be rerolled and made against a creature you’re grappling.
- Heavyweight (lv11) – Can grapple even larger creatures and can move at normal speed when grappling creatures your size or smaller.
- Clean finish (lv17) – Cause incapacitated with your reaction against a grappled creature or force them down to 0HP if already bloodied.
What are they good at?
Grappling. There is no better grappler in the game than the squared circle. And it’s not even close!
How effective are they?
Very. It’s easier to grapple, you have more opportunities to do so and deal more damage to grappled creatures. You even get protection using the creatures you grapple, can cause hits from enemies to hit grappled creatures, you can grapple creatures larger than you and even cause deadly chokeholds.
This is a lot of enhancements to an already quite good grapple class.
Score: 5/5
Street Saint
What are they?
These pugilists manage to rise above the filth they’ve been raised among. They have an abiding faith in the gods that drives them to do good. Because of this, they are granted powers from on high to aid them.
Key abilities
- Channel divinity (Lv3) – Once per rest, activate a channel divinity option either increase damage of your attacks or improve saving throws and gain necrotic resistance.
- Lay on hands (Lv3) – Use a bonus action to heal someone from a pool of hit points you have to share.
- Ravaged but resolute (Lv6) – Replenish your lay on hands hit points for healing when using bloodied but unbowed.
- Aura of resilience (Lv11) – Grant yourself and allies resistance to bludgeoning piercing and slashing damage in a 10ft aura.
- Hallowed hands (Lv17) – Deal extra radiant damage on one attack per turn by expending lay on hands points. Maximum extra damage equals your pugilist level.
What are they good at?
You get some damage enhancements, some healing and some defence. If you want a backup healer that’s a pugilist, street saint is the way to go.
How effective are they?
The healing capabilities are decent. It’s not as potent as a paladin, but you wouldn’t expect so on a subclass. But it is enough to be reviving downed allies or giving a decent healing boost in one go.
Channel divinity is probably the other big thing here. I’d favour the extra damage from fists of faith as it’s more certain to be useful and you’re already quite resilient to saving throws. You also get a lot of attacks to apply this to. Once per short rest means you should be able to use this in most major encounters for a pretty solid damage boost.
Largely, everything else is decent. Once per long rest resistances you share is good for a big encounter and extra damage using your lay on hands is a good alternative to healing when you need damage more. It also doesn’t expend action economy. Overall, I’d say it’s a pretty good subclass without being remarkable.
4/5
Sweet Science
What are they?
Pugilists that practice the sweet science have learnt techniques that are fast, precise and hit hard. Think Robert Downey Junior’s version of Sherlock Holmes and his physics based precision and you have sweet science.
Key abilities
- Bare knuckle boxer (Lv3) – Your unarmed strikes cause a critical on a 19 or 20.
- Cross counter (Lv3) – Use your reaction when hit to reduce some incoming damage and potentially make an attack back of your own.
- Combo maker (Lv6) – Instead of grappling or shoving when you deal damage with an unarmed strike, you can now grant advantage on your attack rolls against that target until the start of your next turn.
- Combo breaker (Lv11) – When you use cross counter and reduce all incoming damage to 0, you regain a moxie point.
- Knock out (Lv17) – Once per rest, cause a critical hit. You can also attempt to knock unconscious when landing a critical hit.
What are they good at?
Durability and precision. Sweet science pugilists are more accurate than other pugilists meaning they hit more easily and land critical hits more often. They can also defend against some incoming damage and this provides an easy way to get reaction attacks for damage boosts too.
How effective are they?
If you use them well, the sweet science pugilist is quite good. Use combo maker on your first attack of a turn, focus fire on one enemy and with 3-4 attacks per turn (plus a possible reaction attack), you’ve got plenty of opportunities to land a shove and/or a grapple. Your reactions on average, should be capable of blocking damage from most melee attacks and that blocking damage scales quite quickly.
All of this adds up to something that’s quite good but not excellent.
4/5
Which pugilist subclass is best?
In my ratings, I gave my highest scores to hand of dread and squared circle. Both are excellent options. Hand of dread has some decent utility, but a fair bit of damage enhancement on top of that.
However, the squared circle is an imperious grappler that can do a lot to disable their foes. They also do some decent damage and have interesting protective abilities too. For me, they are the best pugilist subclass.
Most of the other subclasses range between decent to good, though I felt that dog & hound was a little disappointing with the hound not really adding to your damage output at all at level 3 and lacking the same level of versatility that the beast master’s primal companions possess.
