If you’re interested in maximizing your action economy in Dungeons and Dragons, this tier list will help you find a class that uses Bonus Actions well and class options for the classes that don’t have good Bonus Actions to start. Action economy refers to how much impact you can have in the game on your turn. Each player has 1 Action, 1 Bonus Action, and their movement speed which they can use each turn. Bonus Actions aren’t available unless a feature or ability grants you the Bonus Action, so it can be difficult to use this portion of a player’s turn. With that said, let’s jump into the tier list.

Our first tier has two classes: Monk and Rogue. These classes have base class features which are accessible extremely early which allow Bonus Actions on every turn if desired. Only these two classes can do this without an additional feature from a weapon, feat, or a choice of features from their class. They also each have multiple subclass options which grant even more diverse options for their Bonus Action.

All monks have access to the following Bonus Actions: Unarmed Strike, Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind. The subclasses Warrior of Shadow and Warrior of the Open Hand each grant additional options at higher levels. 

All rogues have access to the following Bonus Actions: Cunning Action (Dash, Disengage, Hide) and Steady Aim. The subclasses Arcane Trickster, Soul Knife, and Thief grand additional options at higher levels.

The next tier features the Bard, Druid, and Warlock. Each of these classes has access to an unlimited number of Bonus Actions if they have the appropriate class options, and some solid options before considering Subclass. 

All Bards have Bardic Inspiration. The Bard Subclasses College of Dance, College of Glamour, and College of Valor each grant additional options at higher levels. 

All Druids have access to Bonus Action spells and Wild Shape. In addition, every Druid subclass in the 2024 rules has additional Bonus Actions, with the subclasses Circle of the Sea and Circle of Stars each offering practically uncapped Bonus Action attacks.

While Warlocks don’t have base features to automatically grant them Bonus Actions, they have many meaningful choices including spells and the following Invocations: Gaze of Two Minds, Investment of the Chain Master, and Pact of the Blade. In addition, Celestial Patron and Great Old One Patron Warlocks gain additional Bonus Actions at level 3. 

Our B–Tier includes classes which automatically gain Bonus Action options or (in the case of Wizard) provide powerful utility through Bonus Action options.

All Barbarians have early access to Rage, a feature which uses a Bonus Action to activate, and the option to use future Bonus Actions to maintain the Rage if they don’t meet other requirements to keep it active. In addition, all Barbarian subclasses in the 2024 rules offer additional Bonus Actions. Most notably, Path of the Wild Heart grants access to Rage of the Wilds which allows the Barbarian to use a Bonus Action to Dash and Disengage every turn as a Bonus Action if they choose to embody the Eagle.

Rangers have access to Bonus Action spells for damage, healing, and utility which saves them from being demoted to D Tier. This is because the only automatic Bonus Action they gain is Nature’s Veil which allows them to turn invisible a few times a day. The only subclass which offers additional Bonus Actions is Beast Master, which makes the Beast Master Ranger a master of Action Economy as well, as they can use their Bonus Action to order their pet to attack on every turn. This unfortunately does not extend to the other subclasses which are surprisingly lacking in Action Economy features, making them lean into using their sparse spell slots to cast Bonus Action spells instead. Thus, while Beast Master Ranger could easily be S Tier, the rest of the class is only here for their limited Bonus Action spells.

All Sorcerers have access to a limited-use feature known as Innate Sorcery which makes them extra-powerful spellcasters for 1 minute. All Sorcerers have the choice of Metamagic options, and one of those options is Quickened Spell. Unfortunately, Quickened Spell uses Sorcery Points, which is the same currency Sorcerers use to gain additional uses of their Innate Sorcery, which adds another restriction to their Bonus Actions. Each subclass offers some form of Bonus Action, though Wild Magic’s option is random, and the others all (once again) require Sorcery Points to activate or gain additional uses. Even though the Sorcerer has some very powerful Bonus Action options, they remain in B Tier due to the massive restrictions on the number of times they may do so.

Wizards, like Rangers, only make B Tier because of their spells. Fortunately, Wizards are full-casters, and have features to regain their expended spell slots, so they get to cast a lot of spells if needed. Unfortunately, there are no core features which grant other uses of Bonus Actions. The Abjurer, Diviner, and Illusionist subclasses offer some additional utility through Bonus Actions, but they are severely limited in scope.  

Our C Tier features the Fighter and Paladin classes which have extremely limited utility through Bonus Actions.

The Fighter has no access to spells, and the only feature which grants all Fighters a Bonus Action is Second Wind, which has limited uses. The Fighter subclasses Battle Master and Psi Warrior each grant interesting Bonus Action options, but both are limited by the pool of dice granted by the subclass, meaning Fighters have very little control over their action economy. 

Despite being spellcasters, Paladins only have “damage+effect” spells for their Bonus Actions along with their Lay on Hands and Divine Sense features. Every other notable Bonus Action is earned at level 20 of a subclass, which makes them effectively non-options, as few games reach or play at level 20. 

The only class in our D Tier is Cleric. This is due to the niche scope of their Bonus Action options. While an argument can be made that a niche build of the Cleric can excel at action economy, the truth is, most players aren’t interested in having fewer options with limited utility.

Though Clerics are full casters, their spells which use Bonus Actions are limited to primarily healing spells. The most notable Bonus Action spell Clerics have is actually a Cleric-exclusive spell Spiritual Weapon, which allows the Cleric to use a Bonus Action to attack with the summoned weapon. This basically forces Clerics who want to deal damage primarily to taking this spell, but it’s also Concentration, so the Cleric must risk losing the spell after a single attack or keep their distance from combat. To complicate this, nearly half of their Bonus Action spells are Concentration, all of which compete against powerful Action spells which require Concentration. To add insult to injury, the Bonus Actions available through subclasses are extremely limited and resource-dependent, which means Clerics give up other utility to gain a negligible improvement to action economy. The notable exception to this is Trickster’s Transposition which allows the Cleric to change places with their illusory double, but since the uptime of the duplicate is a maximum of 4 minutes a day, this does not overcome the other weaknesses in the Cleric’s overall options.

There are a number of ways to improve your action economy with Bonus Actions which are not class dependent. Using these features, you can guarantee you have interesting choices on your turn with or without class features. 

The first feature belongs to the unsung heroes of action economy: Weapons. When you attack with a Light weapon, you can attack with another Light Weapon as a Bonus Action. This means that every class can gain an additional attack by choosing the right weapon. This comes with a trade: less damage per hit for more tries to hit. At every tier, extra attacks are better than more damage per hit, as there is always a chance your attack will miss. More attempts means that you deal more damage over time. The second attack does not add your Strength or Dexterity modifier, however, so this isn’t always going to be a worthwhile trade unless you have some of the other options below.

A brand new feature to the 2024 rules, the Weapon Mastery Nick allows you to save a Bonus Action by allowing you to make the Light property attack as part of your Attack action. This is excellent for Melee combatants with excellent Bonus Action options. Spell casters are more likely to avoid this feature, as being in melee is a good way to lost Concentration on a spell, with a few exceptions. Note: This feature requires you to have Weapon Mastery as a class feature or from a Feat, and you must have the Nick Mastery for the exact weapon you use for your main-hand attack. 

Feats are available every 4 levels for every class, with Fighters and Rogues gaining an additional Feat as they level up. Using Feats, you can customize any class to make sure you always have something to do on your turn.

You gain the ability to make snacks, and creatures (like you or your friends) can eat these snacks to gain Temporary Hit Points, meaning you have a bit of a shield against damage. 

This feat can be taken starting at level 4, and allows melee combatants to swap out their second Light weapon for another 1-handed weapon, which increases the potential damage of that attack. Their first attack still must be made with a Light weapon, but the damage can be increased significantly with this feat. 

This Feat allows you to heal yourself using your Hit Dice as a Bonus Action, giving you the ability to heal yourself in combat without spells or potions.

This feat allows you to make a second attack when you attack with a polearm (glaive, halberd, lance, pike, quarterstaff, and spear). This bonus attack deals 1d4 bludgeoning damage regardless of the specific weapon used because you’re attacking with the other end (haft/hilt) of the weapon.

This feat is only available to Fighters, Paladins, and Rangers, who each have the ability to learn a Fighting Style feat. With this feat, your extra attacks made using the Light property of your first attack gain your Strength or Dexterity modifier, increasing the base damage they deal.

This Feat allows you to learn Mage Hand, and it allows you a chance to create space in combat by shoving a nearby creature away from you. This can be especially useful for getting away from an enemy, since it allows you to move without provoking an Attack of Opportunity if the creature is pushed away.

Feats—Keen Mind and Observant

These two features are very similar. Each turns an Action you can use into a Bonus Action. For Study comes with Keen Mind, and Search comes with Observant. Because these Actions compete with attacks, spells, and other Actions, they are often overlooked by players, but they can be very powerful if you want to use something in your environment to change the course of the battle.

Feats—Great Weapon Master and Poisoner

These feats grant a chance to do something extra with your Bonus Action. Great Weapon Master is triggered by a Critical Hit, so you have no control over when you get its extra attack. As for Poisoner, the creature you attack has to fail a Constitution saving throw, and that is easily the best resistance most monsters have, and it has no effect if they save. This can mean that it sometimes feel like you spend every turn poisoning your weapon, hitting with that weapon, and then the creature taking no extra damage. Because of these limitations, most players will only choose them if they are thematic to the character or particularly useful for a campaign. 

There are many ways to increase your use of Bonus Actions for maximizing your turn in Dungeons and Dragons. Every class has at least one feature available to it, and every class has access to powerful feats and weapon properties which can improve this further. Will you go with a Rogue or Monk, adding on feats that allow you to maximize every moment of your turn, or will you play another class and tune it up a bit? Whatever your decision, you can always make your turns feel more interesting, impactful, and effective through these features. Enjoy, and remember to thank your DM (and ask if you’ve leveled up).

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Source: geekdad.com