Arguably the most notorious ranger spell, some claim this to be the Ranger’s bread and butter.

While others argue that it is really not a “must-have” spell.

So let’s find out which of these best describes Hunter’s Mark, or if it’s somewhere in the middle.

Hunter’s Mark

Type: 1st-Level Divination
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: 90 feet
Components: Verbal
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

You choose a creature, and any attack you do does an extra 1d6 magical damage, matching whatever type of damage you do.

Hit it with an arrow? Magical Piercing.

Hit it with a warhammer? Magical Bludgeoning, etc.

In addition to the damage you do, you also gain advantage on both perception and survival checks when trying to track the target of your hunter’s mark. So a nice additional bonus to a spell that is already good with its first effect.

Hunter’s Mark Uses

Hunter’s Mark is an exclusive Ranger spell, meant to serve as a spell built for them, with their few spell slots from being a half-caster class.

Similar to how a Barbarian will bonus action rage at the start of combat, most rangers will use their bonus action at the beginning of their turn to cast Hunter’s Mark on a target.

The secondary effects of Hunter’s Mark can be useful while tracking a target.

But this is a very situational ability.

It goes well with the tracking skills of the ranger, both mechanically and thematically, but again, those are situational.

The primary effect is the additional 1d6 damage per attack. This is great at lower levels, however it does not stack at higher levels, which is a little disappointing.

The duration of up to an hour is great, and increasing it with higher spell slots can be useful.

Basically, you can do an increased 3.5 average damage per turn for an hour with Hunter’s Mark, which can be helpful in closing the gap. Extra attack allows this to pay off even more.

Hunter’s Mark lends itself better to ranged characters as maintaining concentration will be made easier.

Hunter’s Mark Build Ideas

Most ranger mains elect to take this spell, and a few builds might really benefit from his spell.

Hunter’s Mark works great, especially with Wood Elves thematically and mechanically, due to Wood Elves primarily being trackers and scouts.

Variant Humans also work mechanically, as gaining the Sharpshooter feat at level 1 can allow for more accuracy, and eventually a chance at an even larger damage output.

As far as exotic races, Tabaxi fits in both mechanically with the dexterity bonus, and thematically since they are more than likely hunters.

Gloomstalker Ranger

By itself or paired with a rogue multiclass, the Gloomstalker is known for the insane damage output it has on the first turn of combat, making it ideal for surprise attacks and high dexterity.

Let’s take a 3rd Level Ranger that just took Gloomstalker, and they’re using a longbow, and they have 18 dexterity and 16 wisdom.

So they go first in the order due to a +7 bonus to Initiative.

On the first turn, they cast Hunter’s Mark on a creature as a bonus action.

If they hit the creature, it will do 1d8+4 piercing damage, plus 1d6 magical piercing damage.

Then with Dread Ambusher, an additional attack can be made on the first turn. If it hits, that’s an additional 2d8+4 piercing, plus 1d6 magical piercing.

So a level 3 Gloom Stalker utilizing this can do 3d8+8 piercing and 2d6 magical piercing, or 21.5 piercing and 7 magical piercing, or 28.5 damage total on average.

At Level 5, due to the addition of extra attack, this damage scales even further.

So now you have three attacks, making the damage 4d8+8 piercing and 3d6 magical piercing if all attacks hit the target.

This is 26 + 10.5 or 36 average damage per turn.

This can be even more lethal with a Rogue Multiclass. Maybe throw in sneak attack which an Assassin can trigger reliably, due to you gaining advantage if you’re ahead of a creature in the order.

Which Gloomstalker will allow more often than not.

Hunter Ranger

If you do not have Xanathar’s Guide to Everything as an option, then a Hunter Ranger can still make Hunter’s Mark shine.

So with the Giant Killer feature, if the creature misses you a lot(or if you maintain concentration on each hit) it can do crazy damage outputs. This means each attack adding hunter’s mark on to the damage.

But let’s talk Colossus Slayer more in-depth.

If the creature is already damaged, then you can do an additional d8 damage once per turn.

So if another party member hits a creature first, or you attack it on your first turn, every subsequent round has you doing 2d8+4 piercing and 1d6 magical piercing.

This is 13 piercing and 3.5 magical piercing, or 16.5 damage total.

With Extra Attack at Level 5, it scales to 3d8+8 piercing and 2d6 magical piercing every round if every attack hits.

This is 21.5 + 7 or 28.5 average damage per turn.

This is a bit more consistent than Gloomstalker’s first round nuking capacities, so it will even out after three or four turns of combat.