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The warrior of the elements monk inDungeons & Dragonsharnesses the power of nature’s elements to enhance their combat prowess. With the ability to imbue their strikes with elemental energy, this subclass offers a unique twist on the traditional monk, combining agility with devastating elemental attacks.
In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, this subclass has been refined, making it more versatile and powerful to the point that it is a new subclass. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the key features of the warrior of the elements monk, from optimal ability score placements to the best feats and tactics for mastering elemental combat.
Warrior Of The Elements Highlights
The Warrior of the Elements fulfills everyone’s fantasy ofbecoming the Avatar, mastering the elements with swift precision. When we say elements, we specifically meanfire, cold, acid, lighting, and thunder, butyou can still influence the four basic elementsslightly thanks tothe Elementalism cantrip.
The way you channel these elements isby spending a single Focus Point,a basic resource for all monks, whichimbues your unarmed strikeswith the chosen element. Not only do those strikes deal that type of damage now, butyou also gain 10 ft extra range, as you shoot out bolts of fire or create lightning whips.
At level six, you gain the ability tocast ranged explosions as far as 120 ft, making this subclass one ofthe better choices Monks have for ranged combat.The best part, however, is that at level 11you gain fly and swim speedwhile attuned to the elements, making you a versatile character in and out of combat.
Differences In The 2024 Player’s Handbook
While the 2014 version of the monk class alsohad a subclass about mastering the elements, that old iterationcouldn’t be more differentthan what was added in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. In the way of the four elements subclass,monks just learned a few spells, the vast majority of them already present in the book as spells for wizards or sorcerers.
The warrior of the elements is built tofeel like an actual monk subclasssince it interacts heavily withits unarmed strikes and mobility.You could have a Warrior Of The Elements Monk and a Way Of The Four Elements Monk in the same campaign, and they would feel like two completely separate characters.
Best Species Options
Sincespecies no longer govern your starting Ability Scores, you canchoose whatever species you likeand still be a perfectly viable elemental warrior. There are, however, a few choices thatexpand your elemental prowessor simply fit what you’re doing asa monk attuned to nature.
The Goliath specieshas severalabilities that combine well with your elemental powerssince their giant ancestry is alreadyadding fire or cold damageto their attacks. you’re able to either roleplay these abilities or your class-given onesas part of the same source, giving you a more well-rounded character.
Forest gnomesofferan added connection to nature, one that works beyond the elements. Through them,you can gain the Minor Illusion cantrip, which is easy to roleplay as if created through elemental connections, andthe Speak with Animals spell, letting youconnect with the animal kingdomas well as the elemental realm.
A better overall choice, especially at early levels,is going asa high elf.Their elven lineagegives them a wizard cantrip, one you can change after every long rest, meaningyou can match your favorite elementwith things like Firebolt or Acid Splash.
Best Stat Placements
Like all monks, your main stats to focus onare Dexterity and Wisdom, sincethey both contribute to your unarmored defense.The warrior of the elements, however,lacks any real practical use for Wisdombeyond that, so be sure tokeep Dexterity as the real main stat.
Constitution should be the third stat you focus onsince everyone needs hit points to survive. Beyond that,the other Ability Scores aren’t a priority, but monks overall have little tono use for Strength, so if you need a dump stat, be sure it is that one.
Best Elements To Focus On
Whenever you prepare yourself tostrike with an elemental attunement, you should alwaysconsider the damage resistances and vulnerabilitiesyour target might have. If you change the damage type to fire, for example, and hit an imp,you’ll be doing no damageto it due to its immunity to fire damage.
If you don’t know if a target has any resistance,the best elemental damage to use out of all is thundersince it is the least resisted. It is also ideal to useif you’re trying to deal non-lethal damagesince it is easier to justify someone surviving a little thundering shock than a splash of acid to the face.
Best Starting Equipment
Most monks can get by without needing any equipment, but that isparticularly true with warriors of the elements.You canonly empower your unarmed strikesafter all, so carrying any sort of weapon would get in the way of you setting your enemies on fire.
If you’re already starting at level three,but your Dungeon Master only lets you get the starting equipmentfor monks, you’re better offgetting the 50 gold piecesinstead of all the other items. You won’t be using them anyway, and you can go and buy an explorer’s pack later on.
Best Feats And Backgrounds
Among the many backgrounds on offer,you want something that lets you raise your Dexterity and your Wisdom, while also giving you a worthwhile feat.We recommend the sailor backgroundsince the tavern brawler origin feat works very wellwith basically all monks.
The main benefit of the origin feat is the ability toreroll unarmed damagewhen the die lands on a one, butonly once per roll.Still, if you hit three times with unarmed strikes on a turn, you can reroll all of them should they land on one, which in generalwill improve your overall damage.
The feat states that you “can” deal 1D4 damage instead of the normal damage for your unarmed strikes, not that you “have” to, meaning that you can ignore this part of the feat and use your monk damage die instead.
The feat also lets youpush enemies away from you without a save, but once per turn. This is somethingwarriors of the elements can already do, just with a strength saving throw, so combining both abilities can let you bea master of shoving enemies into traps or cliffs.
For general feats,you should look into the grappler feat, letting yougrab an enemy and deal damagewith your unarmed strikes. Since the reach of your unarmed strikes is improved by your elemental attunement,you may be able to grapple enemies from afar, however, your Dungeon Master has the final say on how that works exactly.
Best Multiclassing Options
As a warrior of the elements, you want toavoid multiclassing into most spellcasting classesunless you have a particular build in mind since the whole subclass is built around being an empowered version of a martial character. This makesoptions like Fighter enticingsince each level you put into Fighter can give you benefits likeextra actions or self-sustain.
If you just wantthe biggest improvement for monkswithout deviating too much from the class, thena single level into rangerwill do. This willgive you access to Hunter’s Mark, adding a D6 to every single attack roll you make, which is plenty when you’re dealing with monks and their unarmed strikes.
