#prompted by a youtube video that pissed me off putting dual wielder in b tier

[triviallytrue]

BG3 Feat Tierlist

Fuck it, here's every feat in the game split into four tiers. Within each tier, feats mentioned earlier are better.

Always Take

Feats that, when applicable to your build, are so good they should always be taken.

Tavern Brawler

The best feat in the game by a wide margin. Strength elixirs are available by the time you hit level 4, so for throwers and monks this is a flat +5/+5 to all attack and damage rolls, scaling to a +8/+8 when you get Cloud Giant elixirs in act 3. The fact that it gives you +1 Con on top of that just makes it even more absurd.

Sharpshooter/Great Weapon Master

Both feats revolve around the -5/+10 attack/damage passive, which is crucial for dealing damage as a non-TB martial. Requires a fair bit of game knowledge to manage (should be toggled off against high AC/low HP enemies) and prepare for (Oils of Accuracy, sources of advantage), but in the hands of a skilled player it's essential. The question of which of the two is better gets into thornier debates about ranged vs melee - GWM has the better extra feature with bonus action attacks, but ranged martials can already utilize their bonus action with hand crossbows and have archery style for extra accuracy, but melee gets strength elixirs- on and on.

Often Take

Feats that are not essential but will be useful in a lot of builds.

Dual Wielder

Funnily enough, this feat is the closest thing pure spellcasters have to an Always Take. Melee martials are better off with two-handed weapons and ranged martials don't care, but pure spellcasters can use this feat to dual wield staffs. As early as mid act 1 with the Spellsparkler and Melf's First Staff, this makes a big difference, and in the lategame this allows for dual wielding the Markoheshkir and Staff of Spell Power. Oh, and you get a free +1 AC on top. Isn't an Always Take because if you're running more than one pure spellcaster, you may want to distribute the staffs instead.

Savage Attacker

On a d12 this averages out to +2 damage, which is fine but not incredible. What really makes this shine is that the effect applies to all additional rider dice as well, which is a hefty chunk of damage by the late game. A very nice option for melee builds to pump up their damage, especially if using strength elixirs.

Ability Score Improvement

The default option. Bland, unsexy, but almost always a pretty good choice.

War Caster

The opportunity attack feature here is negligible, but as it turns out, not losing your concentration when you get hit is really, really important. Most dramatic example is twinned haste, where losing concentration will stun half your party, but there are lots of other scenarios where it's pretty bad. Only reason it isn't higher is that there's other ways to obtain advantage on concentration saves, but if you don't have access to those, this is worth taking.

Alert

Much improved over its tabletop counterpart, due to BG3 using a d4 for initiative rolls. If you commit to this one partywide (or on all non-dex primary characters) you can almost always all go first, especially nice for parties that benefit from interweaving actions when they go together.

Resilient

Useful for patching up your saving throws - you can't gain saving throw proficiencies by multiclassing. Mostly useful with Constitution for casters looking to never blow a concentration save, but could be nice to have to buff up Intelligence saves against stuns.

Rarely Take

These feats have niche uses but aren't generally optimal.

Elemental Adept

A very hard one to rank. There are three good elements in BG3 - Lightning, Cold, and Fire. Lightning and Cold resistance are uncommon and can be mitigated with Wet and Fire resistance can be bypassed with Arsonist's Oil, so that part of the feat is less useful than it would appear at first glance. The damage increase is +0.5 per damage die on average, so a Fireball or Lightning Bolt will deal +4 damage per target, which is quite good. Cantrips deal +0.5/+1/+1.5 more, which is less impressive. The main downsides are that you only get it for a single damage type when you'll want to use spells from all three, and that the main elemental damage specialist (Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer) gets their Charisma added to their specialized damage anyway, so Ability Score Improvement for +1 attack/DC/damage is competitive. I think this narrowly misses the cut in most builds, but it's still pretty good.

Lucky

Loses points because it doesn't synergize with... well, anything, but it's never bad to be able to reroll important rolls 3 times a day. A slightly suboptimal alternative to Ability Score Improvement if you don't have anything you want and are feeling quirky. Be warned that it may slow down the pace of play with random boxes.

Sentinel

Unfortunately doesn't have the juice to be a core building block with its Polearm Master synergy bugged, but it does accommodate a tank-adjacent playstyle that you really can't get any other way. Purely mechanically it isn't terrible either, but generally there are better options.

Actor

Useful if you have a Warlock/Sorcerer Tav who isn't going to multiclass into Bard or Rogue. Still not great in most situations - you can get a lot of other bonuses to ability checks and there's a parasite power that gives you expertise in all the social skills in act 3.

Polearm Master

Kind of a tragic feat, considering its stature in tabletop. The bonus action attack doesn't proc additional non-ability modifiers like the Great Weapon Master passive, which severely limits its usefulness, and the classic synergy with Sentinel is buggy and unreliable. Still probably usable, but only just.

Spell Sniper

All damage cantrips besides Eldritch Blast are pretty bad, so be sure to take that one. In general you'd rather take two levels in Warlock to get the goodies that make Eldritch Blast ridiculously good instead of merely better than Firebolt, but as it turns out there is a clear niche use where this is completely optimal: Eldritch Knights that need a cantrip to use with their bonus action attack but can't spare two levels for Warlock because they want the level 11 fighter multiattack. The expanded crit range is worth more to them than the other Magic Initiate crap or a single level in Warlock. Go figure!

Mobile

Optimal for Hamarhraft builds, if you're the kind of person who likes crazy builds in theory and is willing to push through hours of tedium in practice. Everyone else should steer clear, movement speed is nice but not worth spending a feat on and the other benefits are negligible.

Never Take

There are strictly superior options.

Defensive Duellist

Close to putting this one in Rarely Take, but I cannot in good conscience endorse putting in a feat so you can burn reactions on buffing AC, or one-handed melee builds in general.

Martial Adept

Very hard to justify a feat for a single superiority die (ie, one maneuver per fight).

Charger

Would be usable if it was a passive or just cost your action, but spending your bonus action in exchange for only 5 damage and not being able to combo other abilities with it makes this one a no-go.

Mage Slayer

Want to fuck with casters? That's what Wizardsbane Oil and Arrows of Arcane Interference are for. Don't waste a feat on those squishy nerds.

Shield Master

Makes you tankier without making you more resilient to actually dangerous conditions like stuns. Don't spend feats around avoiding damage - enemies can't damage you when they're dead.

Medium Armour Master

Decent effects in the early game (more the AC than the stealth) but obsoleted by magic items that give you these effects or better for free.

Heavy Armor Master

-3 damage, only from nonmagical sources, in a game where most heavy armor users will have more health than they ever need? Not worth a feat.

Tough

Gives less HP at level 12 than a level 5 Aid cast, which hits the entire party.

Crossbow Expert

Crossbows in BG3 already get the main feature that makes this good in tabletop for free. Instead you get the ability to hit from point blank range (you should not be doing this) and a slight improvement to a mediocre ability. Pass.

Athlete

Don't sacrifice one of your ability points for the ability to stand up faster and jump a little farther. There is a level 1 ritual spell which triples your jump distance.

Lightly/Moderately/Heavily Armored/Weapon Master

You're better off getting your proficiencies through multiclassing instead of feats, even with the ability score bonus.

Ritual Caster

Take a level in Wizard.

Magic Initiate X

Take a level in X.

Durable

This is what healing potions are for, and it's hard to run out.

Performer

Just play a Bard. It's a really good class, I promise.

Skilled

A feat on extra skill proficiencies, in a game where you can build an entire party to cover the handful of actual relevant skills? Come on now.

Dungeon Delver

Worst feat in the game. Not only are its stated benefits complete ass, its main feature is glitched and offers no benefits.