Winter Walker Ranger: D&D 5e 2024 Optimisation Guide

Become hardened by the frozen tundras and harness their powers.

Originating from the frigid wastelands of the Icewind Dale and similarly frozen regions, winter walkers have become resilient to these harsh environments. Their exposure and training in these places has allowed them to harnass and become resilient to cold powers.

Many find these hardened rangers to be a terrifying presence, though they are not necessarily ill-willed. But as with much that is misunderstood, rumours and hearsay will exaggerate truth.

Winter walkers are great against the powers of cold and use it for themselves. They get small enhancements in a bunch of areas like damage dealing, healing, resilience and even the ability to stun their foes and eventually pass through walls.

They are a brand new subclass released as part of the Heroes of Faerun supplement for D&D 5e 2024. In this article, I’ve done a deep dive into their capabilities, tactics and how to build an effective winter walker.

At a glance

Half caster, half martial class
Solid utility class that leans into the exploration elements of the game
Gains enhancements when casting hunter’s mark
Great against cold creatures

3/5 – The winter walker is a decent subclass, but that’s all. It does a lot of things a little bit like extra damage, resilience and healing. But, it ties some of its best features to hunter’s mark tactics as well as bringing in some of the best features a little late in level progression for many characters.

Winter walker features

Frigid explorer (Lv3) – 4/5

The extra damage adds up eventually to something decent. Cold resistance is an OK resistance and ignoring cold resistances is useful for a subclass with a lot of cold damage to deal. Just be aware that it doesn’t bypass immunities.

The extra damage is equal to what a fey wanderer produces at this level. I think this will outperform the extra damage from a gloom stalker on longer adventuring days, but will be less on short adventuring days.

Hunter’s rime (Lv3) – 3/5

If your tactics mostly revolve around hunter’s mark, then this is a decent buff. A regular supply of temporary hit points at the beginning of most combats is welcome. Because it forms part of the casting of hunter’s mark, it’s kind on your action economy. Just be aware that if you want to lean less into hunter’s mark, then you’ll get less use from this.

With preventing disengage, this isn’t exclusive to you, so a martial ally could be in melee range of that creature and it would be prevented from taking the disengage action. How often that helps may depend on what you face (though I expect it to be small). Many creatures will just stay and fight to the death, others will have alternative methods of escape (like teleportation).

Winter walker spells (Lv3) – 3/5

Mostly you get some AoE options here. Unfortunately, cold spells often aren’t as potent, and that sort of shows. Ice storm deals slightly less average damage than a fireball, but with a higher spell slot, the extra effects usually aren’t worth the extra spell slot. Cone of cold is better, but a little harder to get positioned for the right kind of area of damage.

Ice knife is OK as a 1st level mini AoE, but it’s rarely going to be a better option than your attacks once you hit level 5. Hold person is decent if you face a lot of humanoids, but many creatures are not humanoid, and those numbers have been reduced with the new edition. Remove curse is situationally useful, but not a common situation.

It’s an OK set of spells, and really, things like ice storm are still good spells, just not as good as some of their counterparts.

Fortifying soul (Lv7) – 3/5

A bit of emergency healing is decent enough, and for a handful of allies. However, this is only once per long rest and requires a whole action to use.

The banneret has a similar feature in group recovery that kicks in at level 3. It heals a bit less but it also doesn’t require any extra action economy and can be reused after every short rest. In comparison, I’d prefer the slightly weaker, but more regular and easy to use healing of the banneret, but this is still a decent choice when the party is in need of some healing.

Chilling retribution (Lv11) – 4/5

Stunning enemies with a reaction is great. It may only be for part of a round, but that’s often enough for you to really target them with some nasty attacks and potentially your allies too.

You only have a handful of uses per adventuring day so you want to preserve this for tough, problematic enemies. You’ll also want to make sure you can easily get attacks on the creature once they’re stunned for maximum effects.

The ending of the stunned condition is important too. It ends at the end of your next turn so the target won’t be stunned during their next turn. You’ll want to make sure you catch them on their first attack if possible with this so they lose some of their effectiveness (though they will still have a bonus action). If you can, I’d also suggest using it on creatures that come soon after you in initiative order so your allies can benefit from attacking a stunned creature too.

It’s worth being aware that when a creature is stunned, they fail all strength and dexterity saving throws, so it’s a great time to shove them prone and grapple them.

Frozen haunt (Lv15) – 5/5

It’s not hard to maintain this for a considerable time. 1hr as standard and 8 with a higher level spell slot. But it’s also tied to your concentration on hunter’s mark which over this time, could easily be broken. Something like war caster might be a worthy investment to help here. Interestingly, it’s useful both in and out of combat.

In combat, you’ll want to stick close to enemies for maximum emanation damage. Hit and run tactics could also be interesting by stepping in and out of walls between attacks.

Out of combat, it’s a great exploration tool as you can just move through walls.

I’d say this is up there with the best capstone features for ranger subclasses.

Is the winter walker any good?

The winter walker is a decent subclass with some great flavour. A deadly stalker of frozen wastelands that strikes fear into the hearts of others.

Some decent damage increases, the ability to stun at mid-levels and an excellent capstone feature are the highlights here. However, it’s held back a little by a few things.

Those that don’t want to be burdened by hunter’s mark tactics to maximise features may struggle a bit with the winter walker. You’ll miss out on temporary hit points and frozen haunt if you’re not using hunter’s mark consistently. At least this way, using hunter’s mark is more worthwhile, but it does stymie other tactics.

The spells aren’t overly exciting either. At later levels, you do have some big AoE spells, but they’re not best in class even then.

The healing is quite good, but only once per long rest which may feel a bit minimal for longer adventuring days.

This does leave us with the best winter walker features kicking in later in progression (at levels 11 and 15) which is going to be a bit late for a lot of players. Ultimately, I think the winter walker is only a decent subclass, but not remarkable.

3/5

Related articles

Building a winter walker

Largely, the winter walker works like most other rangers. They’re martial half-casters that make great scouts and explorers. Below is a load of advice on the different character options you can choose for your build.

Ability scores

Recommended options

Dexterity: You’ll need this for ranged attacks, a decent AC and to have strong stealth skills. You can also opt for finesse weapons in melee if you want to avoid investing in strength altogether (which is probably a good approach considering all your ability score priorities).
Wisdom: The effectiveness of your spells rely on this so needs some investment. Having said that, if you intend to mainly use hunter’s mark and other spells where your spellcasting ability doesn’t matter too much, you might get away without investing in this too much but features like fortifying soul and chilling retribution will be weaker as a result.
Constitution: You’ll need the resilience from this as a potential frontline warrior. It’ll also help you maintain concentration on the likes of hunter’s mark. And you’re likely to be making a lot of concentration saving throws if you’re jumping headlong into melee combat.
Strength: You can opt for a strength build if you want. It does mean spreading ability scores quite a lot though, and you’ll likely be worse as a scout and ranged warrior as a result. I’d lean towards a dexterity build, but strength is an option.

Options to avoid

Intelligence: Of little worth to a ranger.
Charisma: Unfortunately, you don’t have enough space to invest in charisma and face skills, so should leave this to others.

Ability score	Point Buy	Standard Array
Strength	8	12
Dexterity	15	15
Constitution	15	13
Intelligence	8	8
Wisdom	15	14
Charisma	8	10

Skills

Recommended options

Athletics: Acrobatics will often be better for a ranger with their bigger focus on dexterity, but isn’t an option as standard. Athletics is a decent choice though, especially if playing a strength build.
Perception: Crucial skill for a scout and highly used, plus you have the wisdom to be really good at this.
Stealth: Strong option for a scout and a class relied on for skills.
Insight: A good skill for social situations. You may pick up on things your companions don’t.
Investigation: Great option for an exploration class.

Species/race

There are a few things to consider when choosing a species for a winter walker:

Resilience: You’ll likely be needed on the front lines at least sometimes. Improving your resilience will help narrow that gap between yourself and the tanker martials like barbarians.
Innate spellcasting: As a spellcaster, you can repeat cast spells and have the wisdom to back this up. Rangers tend to have a limited repertoire of spells, so enhancing this tends to be a good option.
Damage dealing: Rangers are primarily about dealing weapon damage. The more your species helps with this the better.
Utility class: Rangers are something of a utility class. Species that can aid this are usually a good option.

Recommended options

Aasimar (2024): Resistance to necrotic and radiant damage increases your hardiness. For celestial revelation, I’d lean on inner radiance for the extra damage. Necrotic shroud requires decent charisma which you’ll struggle for. However, temporary flight is always useful. Expect to use this for accessing hard to reach places and enemies or to launch projectiles from the safety of the skies. A bit of healing is a decent emergency option too.
Dragonborn (2024): You don’t get much in the way of AoE damage as a ranger, especially with the option of being a frontline martial. This makes a Dragonborn’s breath weapon a useful tool. You can use it in place of just one of your attacks too. Temporary flight again lets you get to hard to reach enemies. Plus there’s a resistance for better durability.
Dragonborn (2024): Dragon’s breath gives you a handy AoE damage dealer. You can use it in place of just one of your attacks too. Temporary flight again lets you get to hard to reach enemies. Plus there’s a resistance for better durability.
Dwarf (2024): An extra hit point per level is great for a frontline warrior. And for even more resilience, you have resistance against poison and advantage on saving throws against the poisoned condition.
Goliath (2024): Faster movement makes you even better at traversing the battlefield. Your giant ancestry grants some very useful options too. For a hunter, the durability of the stone giants, knocking enemies prone with hill giant and extra damage from fire giants are all great options.
Human (2024): A great option if you want to lean more into the utility aspects of a ranger. An extra skill and a feat will help here, while a regular supply of heroic inspiration is always useful.

Backgrounds

Backgrounds are much more important now with D&D 2024 with ability score increases, origin feats and skills all now linked to your background.

For a winter walker, I’d focus on strength or dexterity and wisdom with constitution a possible option. Below are the best backgrounds for a winter walker:

Name	Ability scores	Origin feat	Skill proficiencies	Tool proficiency
Chondathan freebooter	Strength, dexterity, wisdom	Skilled	Athletics, sleight of hand	Weaver’s tools
Criminal	Dexterity, constitution, intelligence	Alert	Sleight of hand, stealth	Thieves tools
Farmer	Strength, constitution, wisdom	Tough	Animal handling, nature	Carpenter’s tools
Guide	Dexterity, constitution, wisdom	Magic initiate (druid)	Stealth, survival	Cartographer’s tools
Sage	Constitution, intelligence, wisdom	Magic initiate (wizard)	Arcana, history	Calligrapher’s tools
Sailor	Strength, dexterity, wisdom	Tavern brawler	Acrobatics, perception	Navigator’s tools
Soldier	Strength, dexterity, constitution	Savage attacker	Athletics, intimidation	One kind of gaming set

I’d probably lean towards the chondathan freebooter or guide, but much will depend on what ability scores you want to improve and which origin feats you need.

Feats

I’d suggest the following feats for an oath of the noble genies paladin:

Origin feats

Alert – Going early in combat is always handy to get some damage in before your enemies do.
Lord’s alliance agent (HoF) – Work as a team with other melee warriors to gain advantage and grant heroic inspiration. This is less good on a primarily ranged build.
Lucky – More ways to be reliable at important rolls is universally beneficial.
Magic initiate – Grab some more spells, including a couple of cantrips. Things like minor illusion and guidance are good for a stealthy, utility class while something like thunderclap and thunderwave are great for melee combat. You should have the wisdom to back these spells up too.
Musician – A universally great feat for dishing out heroic inspiration. Great for altruistic rangers. Plus you can ensure you have some heroic inspiration available too.
Purple dragon rook (HoF) – Give heroic inspiration to your party on one encounter per day, plus a skill proficiency.
Savage attacker – Decent enough damage dealing feat to make your attacks a little more powerful.
Skilled – You may find you need a lot of skill proficiencies as subterfuge tends to require a lot of skill proficiencies. You could grab acrobatics over athletics this way too. And maybe even grab sleight of hand so you can work as a backup rogue.
Spellfire spark (HoF) – Minor damage reduction from spells. But sacred flame as a bonus action could be quite a good bit of extra damage. Rangers have high demand for their bonus action, but it’s not likely to be every turn and this has limited uses anyway.
Tough – You’re not as tough as some other martials. This will help here by giving you more HP.
Zhentarim ruffian (HoF) – Advantage on initiative rolls is pretty good. Make sure someone in the group has musician or a similar feat to make sure you have a regular supply of heroic inspiration. Your opportunity attacks hurt a little more too.

General feats

Cold caster – You’ll often be dealing cold damage against enemies so can often give out saving throw reductions. Especially good in conjunction with allied spellcasters.
Defensive duelist – Better AC at the expense of your reaction is a strong option if you’re wielding a finesse melee weapon. Less good if you expect to be shooting a bow a lot.
Fey-touched – Misty step is great for escaping danger as well as getting into it and even for exploration too; all things you’re likely to get involved in as a ranger. You get another spell too, just make sure you go for the wisdom increase.
Genie magic (HoF) – Access to all sorcerer spells of level 1 and eventually 2 and 3 is great and really versatile for a caster class. At level 1, an AoE damage dealer like thunderwave is great, or sleep to nullify some enemies. And it’s a free spell to cast.
Great weapon master – Excellent option for a strength build if you just want to deal more damage. You’ll get to land extra attacks occasionally with your bonus action too, though that can be hard to balance with your other bonus action demands.
Inspiring leader – Great for granting temporary hit points to the party. Go for the wisdom increase to make this work best.
Mage slayer – Best against mages, but having what is practically legendary resistance is also great.
Purple dragon commandant (HoF) – Better while bloodied and temporary hit points for allies is all pretty good, especially on a frontline melee build.
Sentinel – Good for a melee ranger, especially if you’re fighting with an ally.
Shadow-touched – Invisibility is great for a stealthy class plus you get an extra spell. Make sure you increase your wisdom for this.
Sharpshooter – Great for a primarily ranged ranger.
Skill expert – Great for becoming more of a skill expert. Plus you can get proficiency (and even expertise) in a skill you don’t normally have access to, like sleight of hand.
War caster – You’re mainly here for improved concentration (important for maintaining hunter’s mark and some of your other spells). This is especially important for keeping frozen haunt active.
Zhentarim tactics (HoF) – More opportunity attacks means more extra damage from things like hunter’s mark and frigid explorer (which can be used once per turn so can be used on your turn and another creature’s).

Weapons

The weapons you choose will depend largely on how you want to fight and what weapon mastery properties you want to be using:

Pure damage: Go for two-handed weapons like a greatsword, greataxe, glaive, halberd or maul. Just be aware you’ll need to go for a strength build if you want to do this which can be more challenging.
Sword and shield: If you want to go heavier on defense, you’ll need a one handed weapon like a longsword, battleaxe, morningstar or warhammer. If you’re going with a finesse build, rapiers, scimitars and shortswords can all work instead (a rapier will get you the best damage).
Two weapon fighting: If you want to fight with two weapons for the extra offhand attack, you’ll need to use light weapons. Handaxes, shortswords and scimitars are best for this. To make this work best, you’ll want to invest in things like two weapon fighting, dual wielder and/or the nick weapon mastery property. With so many demands on your bonus action, I’d suggest ignoring dual wielder and take nick so your bonus action is free. Take two weapon fighting to increase your damage output a bit too.
Ranged: A longbow is likely your best option here. Crossbows need reloading which is no good once you get an extra attack (unless you take crossbow expert). If you’re strength based, you could go with thrown weapons like a trident or handaxes if you want to dual wield or take a shield.

If you want some help choosing a weapon mastery property, you can check out my weapon mastery guide to work out how best to utilise these properties.

Armor

If you’re a strength build, go for 14 dexterity and take medium armor. Half plate is tempting as it gives the best AC, but disadvantage on stealth checks is poor for a subclass so reliant on stealth. That means a breast plate is your best option for medium armor. Having said that, if you want to be stealthy, you should probably just go for a dex build and take light armor (studded leather is best).

If you want some extra protection, a shield is a good option but it will diminish your damage output.