Barbarians. The ultimate power. The playable monster. The unstoppable force that is yet to meet an immovable object. At least that's our goal when we build a character of this class. One of the simplest yet strongest classes in Dungeons & Dragons, its goal is purely to enter combat and get the job done, with their physical prowess and pure rage.
To make sure you can become the best berserker in the party, there are a lot of feats to choose from as you level up — especially considering barbarians can take quite a lot of them as levels increase. From becoming even more resistant to the ultimate killing machine, you have plenty of options in front of you.
10 Great Weapon Master (Player's Handbook)
To ensure the beast within you will be sated, Great Weapon Master is one of the best feats for you. Every time you get a critical hit or when you decrease someone's health to zero, you can use your bonus action for another attack, making it easier to knock people down.
You can also give yourself a minus five penalty on your attacks, and doing so will increase your damage by ten if it still lands. This works well with Reckless Attack if you're willing to give advantage to your enemies later, or you can just try your luck with this penalty.
9 Grappler (Player's Handbook)
Grappler is a good way to render an enemy useless, as well as help your party to destroy them. Firstly, it gives you advantage on attacks you use to grapple people, something you'll likely be already good at considering your strength. Secondly, once you've grappled a creature, you can 'grapple' them again to pin them and restrain them.
You'll also restrain yourself in the process, but a restrained enemy can't do much — and you can still attack them. This is perfect to use against powerful spellcasting enemies, who won't be able to do anything against you or your friends under these conditions.
8 Mage Slayer (Player's Handbook)
Keeping with the motif of destroying spellcasters along the way, Mage Slayer will make you an even bigger problem for them. If you're in close combat with a spellcaster (within five feet of them) and they decide to cast a spell, you get an opportunity attack. And, if you're targeted by said spells, you'll have advantage in whatever saving throw it asks of you.
In case that isn't enough, there's one more thing to annoy the spellcaster. If they have any spell on Concentration, and you hit them — forcing a Concentration saving throw — they will have to roll their saving throw at disadvantage, making it more likely for them to lose said Concentration. That's what they get for relying on magic rather than their fists.
7 Sentinel (Player's Handbook)
Sentinel is another good feat to prevent enemies from running away, and this time it's not just for spellcasters. It gives you opportunity attacks even when people disengage from you, and hitting them will reduce their movement to zero. They won't get away, as long as you don't miss your attack.
Also, if you're in close combat with someone and they attack a friend, you can hit them with your reaction. This doesn't have anything to do with them running away, but hey, the more you attack, the better.
6 Charger (Player's Handbook)
A barbarian usually doesn't have plenty of ranged options, so running around will be a necessity. Dash can be a powerful ally, but Charger even more so. This feat allows you to attack with your bonus action when you use Dash on your normal action, and means you won't waste a whole turn just to keep up with a quick enemy. This attack can also be used to shove the enemy five feet away.
It gets better, too. If you moved ten feet in a straight line during your Dash to reach your target, your attack will have gain plus five to damage. If you decide to shove, then they'll be pushed ten feet away.
5 Mobile (Player's Handbook)
Mobile increases your movement by ten feet, but that's not all. It also allows you to ignore difficult terrain when dashing, and with the movement increase you can dash further too. Combined with the extra ten feet barbarians already get at level five, you can have up to 50ft of movement with this feat — or more, depending on your race or other feats that increase movement.
It also combos pretty well with Charger, so you can dash and still hit someone with your bonus action, and maybe even get the bonus damage Charger gives you. Lastly, if you attack someone, they can't attack you with opportunity attacks — even if your attack missed them.
4 Slasher (Tasha's Cauldron Of Everything)
As the name implies, weapons with slashing damage are needed for this feat to work. Slasher works very well with axes, especially the great ax barbarians are known for.
Once per turn, when you hit an enemy, you can decrease their speed by ten feet until your next turn. Also, when you strike an opponent with a critical hit, every single attack this opponent makes until your next turn will be at disadvantage. Oh, and you also get one point to add to either your Strength or Dexterity scores. Crusher and Piercer are similar feats for bludgeoning and piercing weapons, in case your weapon doesn't match the criteria for Slasher.
3 Tough (Player's Handbook)
Barbarians are already notorious for their huge health pools, since they have the most significant hit die and a tendency to have high Constitution scores. The Tough feat will make you even more durable, adding two extra hit points every time you level up.
Don't worry if you don't get this feat until later down the road — it instantly grants you hit points equivalent to twice your level, for a total of 40 at max level. It's fun to combine this feat with Hill Dwarves, who also get an extra hit point per level.
2 Fighting Initiate (Tasha's Cauldron Of Everything)
Fighters have many things that spice up their gameplay, especially in combat. Though you are not one of them, that doesn't stop you from playing around with it. One of their coolest features is fighting styles, and you can choose one depending on your build. These can help you you protecting yourself better, or do even more damage.
This feat allows any class to pick a fighting style, as long as they have proficiency in any martial weapon. If you regret your choice, you can just swap fighting styles every time you level up where you get an ability score increase, with no penalty whatsoever.
1 Orcish Fury (Xanathar's Guide To Everything)
In case you're a Half-Orc as well as a barbarian, you can use Orcish Fury to be a bit more destructive. It allows you to add an extra die when you hit an enemy, and you can use this ability once per rest, short or long. The extra die is the same as that of your weapon, so a 2d6 axe would become a 3d6, for example. In case you get a critical hit, this die will double as well.
Another perk you get from this feat is that whenever you use Relentless Endurance from the Half-Orcs, you can also attack with your reaction, saving yourself and hurting someone else in the process.