In this article, we’re sharing our list of the top 10 best magic items for rangers in 5E D&D! The items are presented in no particular order – and we’re focusing on non-legendary magic items featured in the Dungeon Master’s Guide!
1. Oathbow
An oathbow is the only unique magic ranged weapon in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, but, luckily, it’s also a pretty fun and flavorful magic item! Once per day when wielding this longbow, you can designate a target to become your sworn enemy and gain advantage on attack rolls against the target, and add 3d6 piercing damage to your damage rolls against – which is obviously a pretty significant buff!
However, you can only have one such sworn enemy at a time – and while that creature lives, you have disadvantage on attack rolls with any other weapon than this bow, putting you at a major disadvantage if your sworn enemy manages to escape and you want to use other weapons than this bow.
2. Amulet of Health
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An amulet of health is one of those magic items that I repeatedly end up highlighting on these lists, not because it’s the most unique or fun magic item there is, but because it’s simply super solid. While wearing this amulet, your Constitution score becomes 19, and since you’ll probably want to focus on your Dexterity and Wisdom score as a ranger – as well as picking up various cool feat – getting an amulet of health will not only make you really sturdy, it’ll also let you focus your Ability Score Improvements (ASI) on the fun stuff!
3. Bracers of Archery
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Far from the most inspiring magic item, bracers of archery bracers give you a flat +2 bonus to damage rolls on ranged attacks, which is quite a nice buff if you’re all about shooting down enemies from a distance. Is it the best magic item you can wish to obtain for your ranger? No. But for an uncommon item, they’re still quite nice!
4. Boots of Elvenkind & Cloak of Elvenkind
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You’re probably already pretty stealthy, but if you want to take your stealthiness to the next level, a pair of boots of elvenkind or a cloak of elvenkind is the magic item for you!
A cloak of elvenkind gives you advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide while also giving your enemies disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks to see you – making you extremely hard to detect. The cloak does require attunement, though, so if you’re already carrying a heavy load of magic items (lucky you!), you should instead go for a pair of boots of elvenkind, which give you advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks that rely on moving silently by literally making your steps soundless and doesn’t take up an attunement slot.
5. Ring of Spell Storing
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A ring of spell storing is another magic item that’s useful for almost any class – and the ranger is no exception here! This ring lets you store up to five levels of spells in it, so whenever you have spell slots to spare, you can fill it up with whatever spells you like to use to have a much larger arsenal of spells available when you really need them.
Even better, anyone can cast spells into the ring, so you could ask your cleric to fill it with a use of bless and have your wizard stock it up with other awesome spells that aren’t on the ranger’s spell list, such as shield, misty step, mirror image, or haste. These spells would use the spell save DC of the original caster – but it’d be you casting and concentrating on them.
6. Scimitar of Speed
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A scimitar of speed is one of the best magic items for rangers in 5E D&D if you’re focused on melee combat. Aside from being a +2 weapon, you can make an additional attack with the scimitar as a bonus action on each of your turns which can vastly increase your damage output while also making sure you never waste your bonus action!
7. Weapon of Warning
Having a weapon of warning is like having Spider Man’s spider-sense – obviously awesome!
While this weapon is on your person, you have advantage on initiative rolls and neither you nor your companions within 30 feet of you can be surprised. Like a true friend, it will even wake you and your friends up if you’re sleeping when combat begins. Plus, a weapon of warning can be any type of weapon, including bows and crossbows!
8. Winged Boots & Boots of Speed
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Mobility is great – and a few magic items will make your ranger more mobile than a pair of boots of speed or winged boots. As their names would indicate, boots of speed lets you double your walking speed for a total of 10 minutes per day – which translates to “always during combat”, if you’re smart about it – while a pair of winged boots gives you a flying speed equal to your walking speed up to 4 hours a day – which again translates to whenever you need it.
Boots of speed are my personal favorite of the two (mainly because characters constantly flying around can become a bother, especially for the DM), and also have the added advantage of giving your opponents disadvantage on opportunity attacks against you while they’re activated, but they do require a bonus action to activate and deactive.
9. +1-3 Weapons
A weapon that grants a flat bonus to your attack and damage rolls might not be the most exciting magic item I can think of, but a +1 weapon that doesn’t require attunement is a pretty great magic item for a ranger – or any other martial class for that matter. Obviously, a +2 weapon is even better, and having a +3 weapon is such a fantastic buff that your DM probably shouldn’t give it to you unless you’re in a high-level campaign.
The same can be said about a +1-3 armor, although it’d argue that a magic weapon is more important for a ranger.
10. Wands
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While wands might not be the type of magic item that immediately comes to mind when you think of a ranger, rangers count as spellcasters – the only requirement for most wands – and can greatly benefit from many of the wands 5E D&D has to offer! For example, a wand of fireballs or a wand of lightning bolts gives you access to numerous daily uses of a powerful spell that can damage multiple creatures, while a wind of binding not only lets you cast hold monster and hold person (DC 17!) but also allows you to expend 1 of its 7 charges to gain advantage on a saving throw to avoid being paralyzed or restrained, or to escape a grapple – which is super useful for a ranger.
Honorable Mentions
Before we round off the list, I have a bunch of magic items that didn’t make the final cut, for one reason or the other, but still deserves an honorable mention.
Manual of Quickness of Action
I’d be amiss if I didn’t at least mention a manual of quickness of action on this list. If you spend 48 hours reading this manual over the cause of 6 days, your current AND maximum Dexterity score magically increases by 2, which is obviously a really huge buff. I’m personally not a huge fan of the whole concept of these magical tomes and manuals, though, which is why I didn’t include it in the top 10.
Efficient Quiver
An efficient quiver is the only magic quiver in 5E D&D and so deserves a mention. The quiver lets you store a lot of arrows, javelins, bows, etc. in it, which is not very impressive – but still fairly useful if your DM is keeping track of that kind of stuff. Plus, a magic quiver is really cool, I just wish this one let you make an additional attack as a bonus action when pulling arrows from it, made your ammunition a bit magical, or something like that. It doesn’t.
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Moon Sickle
A moon sickle is for the ranger what a rod of the pack keeper is for the warlock – although somewhat less powerful since a ranger isn’t really that great a spellcaster. This magic sickle is a druid- and ranger-only item that gives you a bonus to your spell attacks and spell save DCs determined by the sickle’s rarity (ranging from +1 for the uncommon variant up to +3 for the very rare one). You can use it as a spellcasting focus and it also lets you add a d4 to any healing magic you use when holding it, which is great. I left it out since it’s not from the Dungeon Master’s Guide.
Ring of Free Action
A ring of free action lets you ignore difficult terrain – which is just a minor upgrade from the ranger’s level 8 Land’s Stride feature – but it also makes you immune to having your speed reduced or becoming restrained or paralyzed by magic, which is quite great. Becoming paralyzed is terrifying!
Ring of Evasion
A ring of evasion lets you auto-succeed on a Dexterity saving throw three times per day. Given that you’re probably already pretty good at Dexterity saving throws, chances are that you’ll never again fail one with this ring on your finger. It becomes even better if you pick up the Evasion feature at level 15, although it would probably go for Stand Against the Tide or Uncanny Dodge at that point instead.
Ring of Protection & Cloak of Protection
A ring of protection & cloak of protection each give you a +1 bonus to your AC and saving throws, which is a pretty decent buff if you’re often finding yourself in melee combat, or as the DM’s favorite target for nasty spells.
Conclusion
That concludes our list of the top 10 best magic items for rangers in 5E D&D!
Let us know in the comments if you agree with our picks, share your own favorite magic items for rangers, and check out our amazing printed magic item card handouts for all the most iconic magic items in 5E D&D!
