War Domain Clerics 5e: The Definitive Guide for Clerics that want to Embody Righteous Combat

When you think of D&D Clerics, what do you think of? Do you think of noble heroes in shining armor who preach about the beauty of light and life, healing and buffing their allies? Do you think of adventuring priests who dislike combat and prefer helping those in need over engaging in brutal violence? Do you think of someone who speaks endlessly of the power of good and law? 

If your answer to these questions was “yes,” then what I am about to tell you might shock you, for there is a Cleric Domain that defies all of these expectations. They focus heavily on conflict, violence, and the righteous glory and goodness of war. It is one where you are not only expected to get bloody, but encouraged to, where you become a one-man army, effortlessly mowing down enemies like an invincible avatar of battle.

If this fantasy appeals to you, if you want to play a Cleric unlike any other, then the War Domain Cleric might just be for you. The War Domain Cleric is a subclass that heavily emphasizes getting up close and personal with your enemies, relying on overwhelming power to slice, smash, and smite their way through hordes of enemies with spells and weapons alike. War Domain Clerics exist to inspire others in the heat of battle, to offer violence and bloodshed as offerings to the gods of war, and to impose order in the chaotic fields of battle and grand stages of war. This Domain can be played as anything from a Lawful Good arbiter of conflict who seeks to maintain fairness and chivalry in war, to a Chaotic Good harbinger of righteous fury, who imposes their god’s unusual vision of glorious battle upon all, regardless of who stands in their way. 

In this article, we will look at the various features and unique mechanics that the War Domain Cleric offers, as well as the best ways to build a War Domain Cleric of your own, including some surprising options.

War Domain Class Features

Similarly to every other Cleric subclass, you can choose this subclass as soon as you hit Level 3. However, before we delve into the unique subclass features of the War Domain, we must first discuss one of the most critical decisions you have to make if you wish to play this domain. 

Divine Order - Level 1

With your first level in Cleric, you get access to Divine Order, which gives you two choices through which to define your character’s build. Most Cleric Domains would tend to opt for Thaumaturge, which grants them an extra Cleric cantrip and the ability to add their Wisdom modifier to Arcana and Religion checks.

However, as a War Domain Cleric, you would much rather be on the frontlines, smashing enemies with your weapon of choice and blocking attacks from many directions. For this reason, it’s important to take Protector here, which gives you proficiency with martial weapons unlike the simple weapons you normally would need to use, but more importantly, gives you Heavy armor proficiency, making it so you can take things like Chain Mail, Half-Plate, and eventually, the magnificent Full Plate which, with a Shield, can bring your AC to a nigh impenetrable 20.

While it is theoretically possible to make a Thaumaturge War Domain Cleric work, it will be significantly less effective, as not only will your weapon choices be significantly more limited, but your AC will be much lower, making it much harder for you to be the frontliner you are meant to be.

Guided Strike - Level 3

With your first level of War Domain, you get access to your first real feature in Guided Strike. When you or another creature within 30 feet of you misses with an attack roll, you can expend a Channel Divinity to give a +10 to that roll. When this feature is used to enhance another creature’s attack roll, you must expend your reaction to do so.

This feature is nothing short of fantastic. Being able to apply a +10 bonus to any attack roll can make all the difference in the world in a critical situation. Expending a spell slot to cast Guiding Bolt or Inflict Wounds and missing is a terrible feeling, so being able to turn that miss into a hit is a downright game-changer. Not only that, but if you have any classes in your party that rely on doing considerable damage off single attacks, such as Rogues with their sneak attack or Paladins, being able to turn their misses into hits can turn what would be a wasted turn into HUGE damage. 

This feature is especially good because Clerics tend not to use their Reactions for a lot, so oftentimes you only stand to gain from using this. Given its limited uses, I would advise you not to use this on just any normal attack that misses, but instead something that has the potential for considerable damage/major effects.

War Domain Spells- Starting Level 3

Cleric Level	Prepared Spells
3	Guiding Bolt, Magic Weapon, Shield of Faith, Spiritual Weapon
5	Crusader’s Mantle, Spirit Guardians
7	Fire Shield, Freedom of Movement
8	Hold Monster, Steel Wind Strike

These spells are always prepared for you, and they’re a fantastic mix of Cleric staples such as Guiding Bolt, Shield of Faith, and Spirit Guardians, and unique options such as Fire Shield and Steel Wind Movement, which serve to make you an even better, even tankier frontliner than you already are.

War Priest - Level 3

The last of your starting War Domain features, War Priest lets you make a weapon attack or Unarmed Strike as a Bonus Action for a number of times equal to your Wisdom Modifier. You regain all uses of this feature on a Short Rest or Long Rest.

This is one of your defining features as a War Domain Cleric, but also one of your most awkward. As a War Domain Cleric, your Bonus Action is already going to be used up by spells such as Healing Word and Spiritual Weapon (especially the latter, given your level 6 class feature). Not only that, but these attacks are made using your Strength or Dex modifier, depending on the weapon. This modifier is usually going to be much lower, since as a Cleric, you need to invest more in Wisdom and Constitution. This means that these Bonus Action attacks are often less likely to hit, and when they do hit, do much less damage than your cantrips.

However, there are ways to make significant use of this despite those limitations. For example, you can use that Unarmed Strike to grapple your opponent, pinning them down so that your Spiritual Weapon or Spirit Guardians can make easier work of them. You can use certain lineage features to knock them prone, making follow-up attacks much easier to land. You can even remedy the issue of having to rely on an off stat to land these attacks with a certain, somewhat awkward solution that we will discuss later.

War Priest is something you can absolutely make work; you just need to be a bit creative about it. Also, as an addendum, I would advise not using Guided Strike on these attacks.

War God’s Blessing - Level 6

At level 6, you get War God’s Blessing, which gives you the ability to expend a use of your Channel Divinity to cast Shield of Faith or Spiritual Weapon instead of using a spell slot. When cast in this way, these spells do not require Concentration, but instead last for 1 minute, until you are Incapacitated, or until you die.

This is an incredible feature. This is perhaps your best feature as a War Domain Cleric, and there is an argument to be made that it is worth taking this class for this feature alone.

Shield of Faith and Spiritual Weapon are already fantastic spells, so being able to not only cast them effectively for free but without concentration means that you can do so much more with these spells than you could otherwise. In particular, because of the way spellcasting works in 2024 5e, using this feature technically does not count as casting a spell normally, so you could pull off the otherwise impossible one-turn combo of Spirit Guardians as an action and Shield of Faith or Spiritual Weapon as a Bonus Action. In fact, you can also do this with the likes of Bless, Bane, Banishment, you name it. The applications of this are practically endless.   Not only that, but remember when I said that you should aim for Heavy armor in the beginning? Throwing Shield of Faith on yourself with Full Plate and a Shield gives you a nice, crisp, 22 AC, which makes you impregnable to basic attacks.

To top it all off, since this feature is tired to your Channel Divinity, which you have 3 of at this point and continue to have 3 of until level 18 (which most campaigns don’t reach), and which you can regain one of on a Short Rest, you are unlikely to ever run out of uses of this during the course of a normal adventuring day. This makes it surprisingly spammy. 

The only real downside here is that Spiritual Weapon directly competes with War Priest, and in many instances, outright outclasses it in terms of versatility and damage output. However, there are ways to still make War Priest the better option, and if you use War God’s Blessing to cast Shield of Faith, you do not run into this issue at all.

War God’s Blessing is overall, one of, if not the best, War Domain Cleric features, and one every War Domain Cleric should be making ample use of.

Blessed Strikes - Level 7

Pulling back for a moment, Blessed Strikes is another core Cleric feature, rather than one exclusive to the War Domain Cleric. However, the choice you make here is nonetheless extremely important, since the option you choose is meant to enhance your primary damage-dealing method, so we will be discussing it.

The first option is Divine Strike, which lets you add an additional 1d8 Radiant or Necrotic damage to the damage roll of one weapon attack you make per turn. This option is somewhat niche, and similarly to War Priest, runs into the issue of it relying on your off stat to do damage.

However, there is a way to make this work and, in some cases, make this the better choice for your Blessed Strikes.

But unless you go that specific route, I would recommend going with the other option in  Potent Spellcasting, which lets you add your Wisdom modifier to the damage of your Cleric cantrips. This is a nice, reliable damage boost to what should be your main source of damage.

Improved Blessed Strikes - Level 14

Whichever option you choose for Blessed Strikes at level 7 is enhanced here. 

Divine Strike goes from 1d8 to 2d8, which is solid, but still runs into the same issues that baseline Divine Strike does.

Potent Spellcasting now makes it so that whenever you do damage with your cantrips, you can give yourself or another creature within 60 feet Temporary Hit Points equal to twice your Wisdom Modifier, which at this point comes out to 10 Temporary Hit Points per successful cantrip. This is incredible, and more reason to choose Potent Spellcasting at level 7.

Avatar of Battle - Level 17

For your final War Domain feature, you get Avatar of Battle, which gives you resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. Since these are the three most common damage types in the game, gaining a flat resistance to all of them is nothing short of fantastic.

Overall, War Domain Clerics are a strong Cleric subclass largely defined by their ability to get up close and personal with enemies, tank a lot of hits with their heavy armor and resistances, and do heavy damage with features such as Guided Strike, War Priest, and War God’s Blessing. However, they do run into some issues with making the most efficient use out of features such as War Priest, but these can be fixed.

Ability Scores for War Domain Clerics

Like all Clerics, War Domain Clerics want to heavily emphasize two stats: Wisdom and Constitution. Wisdom is your primary casting stat, as well as the fuel for features such as War Priest and Potent Spellcasting, so you want to get this as high as possible as quickly as possible. Constitution on the other hand, is what makes you the tank you’re meant to be, providing you not only with all the health you’ll need to be a frontliner, but the ability to maintain concentration on important spells such as Bless and Spirit Guardians, and make the ever present Constitution saves.

However, there is one more stat that you should be paying attention to as a Cleric: Strength. As a frontliner Cleric with access to Heavy armor, you need at minimum 13 Strength to wear Heavy armor without dealing with any speed or spellcasting penalties (Increased to 15 for the likes of Splint and Plate). You can boost your Strength further to do more damage with weapon attacks, but this should only come after you max out your Wisdom and get your Constitution fairly high (I would say 18 is a good place to stop, though the hard minimum in my opinion is 16).

Dexterity is something you can invest in if for some reason you want to make a Dex-based Thaumaturge build, but that’s very niche. It is worth at least having a +1 modifier in Dexterity, if possible, for the sake of initiative and Dex saves, but otherwise it is one you can ignore.

Backgrounds for War Domain Clerics

In D&D 5e 2024, your initial Ability Score Improvements, Skill Proficiencies and Feats are determined by your Background, so we will be discussing the relevant pre-written ones here. You can also build your own Background to mix and match Ability Score Improvements and Feats, so there are more possibilities than are discussed here. However, for the sake of simplicity, we will be sticking to the prefabricated ones.

Acolyte

While this Background is thematically fitting, it is suboptimal. A Wisdom increase is good, but Intelligence and Charisma are irrelevant stats to boost. Not only that, but Magic Initiate (Cleric) does not do a lot for you that other feats do not do better. The same could also be said for the given Insight and Religion proficiencies.

Charlatan

If for whatever reason you want to go with a Dex-based build, this is certainly an option. Increases to Dexterity and Constitution are solid, and the combination of the Skilled feat and Deception and Sleight of Hand helps patch up the Cleric’s low amount of Skill Proficiencies. However, the lack of a Wisdom boost is tough to deal with, especially given how many of the War Domain’s features rely on it, and in general, Dex-based builds are suboptimal for this Domain.

Farmer

If you are looking to make a “No-nonsense,” basic, “simple but effective” War Domain Cleric, look no further than the Farmer Background. Increases to Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom are ideal for a Domain that relies on all three Ability Scores, the Tough Feat is a simple but effective Feat that makes you even more durable than you already are, and Animal Handling and Nature proficiencies, though not incredible, are still good to have.  

If you are a newer player or want to play something very straightforward, then Farmer is by far the best Background.

Guard

This is another simple, but effective one. Though you will not find much use with the Intelligence increase, you will appreciate the Strength and Wisdom increases. In addition, the Alert feat gives you a much appreciated, scaling boost to your Initiative, which also has the added utility of being able to swap your Initiative score with your allies, making it easier for you to start combat with your Spirit Guardians + Shield of Faith/Spiritual Weapon combo, or having your spellcaster allies get off a powerful spell at the start of combat. However, the real prize here is the dual proficiencies in Athletics and Perception. Athletics is fantastic if you are wanting to lean into the grappling aspect of War Priest, and Perception is by far the best Skill in the game. 

This is another very solid Background and a good, straightforward alternative to Farmer.

Guide

If you are looking for a Background that adds a bit more mechanical complexity whilst fixing the key issues War Domain has, look no further than the Guide Background. While the Dexterity boost will not matter too much, the boosts to your two main stats in Constitution and Wisdom are vital. The Stealth and Survival proficiencies, though not as good as say, Guard’s Perception Proficiency, are still solid, and can patch up the War Domain’s struggles with Stealth, owing to their use of Heavy armor, and boosting their already solid Survival. However, the real prize here is in the feat Magic Initiate. This feat gives you access to two Druid cantrips and a single 1st level Druid spell. This 1st level Druid Spell can be cast once per Long Rest without a spell slot, can be cast normally with spell slots you have, and can be changed out every time you gain a level. 

This feat gives you access to powerful 1st level spells that Clerics normally would not get access to such as Entangle, Faerie Fire, Fog Cloud, and Thunderwave, all of which are very solid options. 

However, while this on its own is solid, the real prize comes in the cantrips. Starry Wisp provides the Cleric with a rare attack roll cantrip, which does solid radiant damage. Thorn Whip not only gives you a solid melee cantrip, but also a way to pull far away enemies into range of weapon attacks and Spirit Guardians, and even a way to pull allies out of dangerous situations. But by far the best cantrip this feat provides is Shillelagh. As a Bonus action, you can make all your weapon attacks do Force damage instead of their normal damage, and changes their damage dice to a d8, which scales to a d10, a d12, and even 2d6 as you level. But more importantly, this cantrip makes it so that all your weapon attacks scale off your Wisdom. 

This single cantrip fixes every issue with War Domain, and though it means having to forego fancier weapons such as maces or battleaxes in favor of clubs and quarterstaffs, it also means that features like War Priest and Divine Strike work significantly better. Instead of having to rely on an off stat to do weapon damage, you can instead do solid, consistent damage that scales. When combined with Divine Strike as well as certain racial abilities, this makes you an absolute monster with a weapon, letting you compete with even the martial classes in terms of raw power per swing. 

Because it’s a cantrip that lasts for a minute, you could in theory cast this continuously so that whenever you get into combat, it is already up, and you can start swinging. 

For this reason and this reason alone, Guide is arguably the single best Background you can take as a War Domain Cleric, but it is one that requires a bit of forethought and planning and makes you forego a Strength increase, so if you’re looking for something simpler, Farmer may just work better for you.

Hermit

This is an alright Background. Though the Charisma boost is all but wasted, the Constitution and Wisdom increases certainly aren’t. The base proficiencies in Medicine and Religion, however, do not necessarily add a lot, especially since you can already get those with base Cleric, but they are not unwelcome. The Healer feat can certainly be useful, but it is better used with a Domain that is more focused on healing and support rather than one that emphasizes direct combat such as War Domain. This is a Background you take to patch up holes in your potential build rather than one you take to make yourself stronger.

Merchant

The Constitution boosts and access to the Lucky Feat make this tempting, but there is not much else here the Cleric can take advantage of. Intelligence and Charisma increases are unneeded, and Animal Handling and Persuasion, though occasionally useful as a Cleric, are not enough to justify foregoing more useful Skill Proficiencies and Ability Score Increases granted by other Backgrounds.

Sage

If you are wanting to upgrade your repertoire but you don’t feel like taking Guide, this is a very solid alternative. Constitution and Wisdom increases are obviously good, though you will not find much use from the Intelligence boost. However, Arcana and History are two especially useful skill proficiencies, so getting those is welcome, even if they are working off an off-stat. However, the real prize here is Magic Initiate (Wizard). 

This feat works the exact same way that Magic Initiate (Druid) does, but you get a lot more spells at your disposal. In terms of cantrips, Fire Bolt is an excellent attack cantrip that can provide a damage type the Cleric often doesn’t get access to in Fire, Mind Sliver gives you access to the rare, devastating INT save based spell, which combos very well with your save based spells such as Spirit Guardians and Banishment, Minor Illusion is an incredibly versatile cantrip that lets you do so, so much, and finally, True Strike gives you yet another way to make weapon attacks with your WIS instead of your STR, and also works with Divine Strike. However, this cantrip does not work with War Priest, so you may still run into issues making use of that.

The real boon of this feat, comes in the Wizard’s unreal 1st level spell list. Alarm, Burning Hands, False Life, Feather Fall, Find Familiar, Fog Cloud, Magic Missile, Sleep, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, and even Thunderwave are all exceedingly good options. Mage Armor is even good for the rare Dex-based build since it scales off your Dex! 

But if you want the absolute best 1st level spell you can get from this, it must be Shield. Recall earlier that Shield of Faith + full Plate + a Shield can get you to 22 AC. With Shield, you can bump this into an absolut 27 AC. Considering that as you level, 1st level spell slots become easier to burn on spells like this, and that you get a free cast of this once per Long Rest, you can walk into most fights with a disgustingly high AC, making an already tanky Cleric Domain into an absolutely nightmare for even the toughest monsters to conquer. Even without full Plate, you can still get up to 26 AC with Splint, or 25 with Chain Mail.

If you want to take your War Domain Cleric to the next level and are willing to deal with a lot more decision-making to get there, then Sage might just be the Background for you. Guide is arguably more consistent in terms of making use of your Domain features and Farmer is one of the easiest ways to boost all your relevant stats and make yourself tougher, but Sage is still an extremely strong choice for those willing to put in the time and effort to utilize its to its fullest potential.

Sailor

This is a simply okay Background. Strength and Wisdom increases are good, the Dexterity increase is okay, Acrobatics and Persuasion are very niche for you, and Tavern Brawler does not do a lot for you unless you are really into the grappling and shoving side of things.

Scribe

This is just slightly better Charlatan. The Wisdom increase is good, the Dexterity and Intelligence increases are not worth much, Skilled is alright for giving you access to more skills, and Investigation and Perception proficiencies are solid. You can do a lot worse, but you could do a lot better.

Do not take this unless you are trying to go for a weird Dex build and even then, there’s better options.

Soldier

Mediocre. Strength and Constitution are good increases, but Dexterity is merely alright. Savage Attacker is an incredibly middling feat, and Athletics and Intimidation are middling proficiencies. Looks tempting, but it is not worth it.

Wayfarer

The last Background and another alright one. Dexterity and Charisma bonuses are not worth much, but Wisdom is welcome. Lucky is a good feat, and the Skill Proficiencies in Insight and Stealth round out to alright. It is worth checking out if you want to play a Dex build or a differently flavored Cleric but otherwise skip it.

Overall, there are a plethora of Backgrounds you can choose for your War Domain Cleric, but the three best ones by far are Farmer, Guide, and Sage. I would say that overall, Guide is the best one, followed by Farmer and then Sage.

Lineages for War Domain Clerics

While Lineages in D&D 5e 2024 no longer provide Ability Score Increases, they still serve to heavily define how you play your War Domain Cleric. Unlike with Backgrounds, I will be going over all the Lineages present in the 2024 Player’s Handbook.

Aasimar

If you want to be a literal angel of divine weather and vengeance, Aasimar is the lineage for you. They are not only thematically appropriate, but their traits help accentuate War Domain’s inherent strengths.

Their inherent resistance to Radiant and Necrotic damage are fantastic, making you much tankier than you already are, especially against Undead, which Clerics already do fantastically against. Darkvision is always good to have, and one of the most important things you can have when building a character, especially one so reliant on always holding their weapon and shield.

Healing Hands provides a solid, scaling pool of healing that not only complements the class’s inherently strong healing capabilities, but helps you save your spell slots and Channel Divinities for more offensive purposes. Light Bearer gives you access to a useful cantrip that can be used to help your Darkvision-less friends.

Finally, Celestial Revelation gives you a once per day heavenly transformation that not only does solid damage, but depending on the option you choose, can do anything from giving you a Flying Speed to giving you an aura that Frightens people, to turning yourself into a living, divine flashlight that does radiant damage to everything around you 

The only major downside of choosing an Aasimar is that Celestial Revelation gives you yet another feature that takes up your bonus action, which competes with War Priest and War God’s Blessing. It can be very awkward to use all these features at once, so be warned. 

Overall, Aasimar is a very solid lineage to go with for your War Domain Cleric.

Dragonborn

This is another solid lineages pick. Your Draconic Ancestry not only gives you a plethora of choices when it comes to picking not only your free damage resistance, but also the damage of your versatile breath weapon. A free damage resistance is great, and a free breath weapon that can be shaped into a 30 ft line or 15 ft cone that has uses that scales off Proficiency bonus and damage that scales with your level is even better. However, it should be noted that this feature does not work with War Priest, so no bonus action Breath Weapons for you. 

Once again, Darkvision is really good, and finally, a once per Long Rest Flying Speed that lasts up to 10 minutes is very solid.

Overall, Dragonborn is another very solid pick for your War Domain Cleric.

Dwarf

The stereotypical Cleric lineage, Dwarves are one of the best options for a War Domain Cleric. 

120 feet of Darkvision is better than almost every other lineage in the Player’s Handbook, resistance to Poison and advantage on saves vs the Poisoned condition is fantastic, and free, albeit conditional Tremorsense is also great.

But what makes the Dwarf really shine as a pick for a War Domain Cleric is Dwarven Resilience. Getting your own version of the Tough Feat makes you significantly harder to kill, and if you forewent the Farmer Background to go with Sage or Guide, you could easily go with Dwarf to make up for that lack of an HP increase. You could also go with Farmer to make yourself even harder to kill! 

Dwarf is an extremely straightforward, but extremely strong pick for War Domain Clerics, sacrificing the versatility of other lineages for sheer toughness. If you are looking to make a straightforward War Domain Cleric build, this is one of your best options.

Elf

Though not the most common choice for a War Domain Cleric, picking an Elf is still a solid choice.

Free Darkvision and advantage on saves vs the Charmed Condition are great. A free Skill Proficiency in Insight, Perception, or Survival is also solid. Trance is also a neat, if niche option that makes it easier for you to complete Long Rests faster and gives you immunity to magical sleep.

However, if you are picking Elf, you are picking it for the spells. Similarly to the Magic Initiate feat, and depending on the Elven Lineage you pick, you get access to cantrips and leveled spells you can cast for free once per day and cast with spell slots normally otherwise.

Of the Elven Lineages, I would recommend High Elf for the ability to swap out the given Prestidigitation for another Wizard cantrip of your choice, and access to free Detect Magic and the ever-useful Misty Step. The Drow’s access to Farie Fire and Darkness as well as the Wood Elf’s access to Pass Without Trace are tempting, but the High Elf is just the best option overall.

To conclude, Elves are another solid choice for War Domain Clerics.

Gnome

Gnomes are a decent choice for a War Domain Cleric, though perhaps not the most optimal ones. 

Access to Darkvision and automatic Advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma Saves are fantastic, but the Gnomish Lineages are very niche. Even the Forest Gnome’s free casting of Speak with Animals and Rock Gnome’s device tinkering will not find much use, especially compared to the features of other lineages.

Gnomes are alright. Not great, not terrible, just alright.

Goliath

If Dwarves are the best pick for a simpler War Domain Cleric build, then Goliaths are one of, if not the best lineages to pick if you want something with a bit more complexity.

Giant Ancestry gives you access to a bevy of powerful, Prof Bonus-based abilities. From the Cloud Giant’s Cloud Jaunt that gives you a unique form of Misty Step, to the Fire Giant’s Fire’s Burn that lets you add a d10 of Fire damage to any attack roll based attack you make (this includes True Strike, Guiding Bolt, and even Shillelagh), to the Hill Giant’s Hill’s Tumble letting you knock Larger and smaller creatures Prone with attacks, to even the Stone Giant’s Stone’s Endurance which lets you use your Reaction to reduce the damage done to you by an absurd amount, the applications of this feature are near endless. You can do so much with this.

But it gets even better, for your Large Form ability makes you bigger, which increases the size of your auras such as Spirit Guardians and improves your reach with melee cantrips and weapon attacks, as well as making you better at STR checks, so if you wanted to do War Priest grappling shenanigans, you could do that as well!

Powerful Build and a 35 ft movement speed are just the icing on the cake here, letting you carry so much on your proverbial (and literal) back, you might make the Barbarian jealous.

The only downside of Goliath is their lack of Darkvision. But that, too is fixed with the Light cantrip. 

Overall, Goliath is an excellent choice for War Domain Clerics, especially those looking for more mechanical complexity.

Halfling

This is another mediocre pick. While the ability to reroll Natural 1s and Advantage on saves vs the Frightened condition is good, there is not much else here for you. I would advise skipping this, especially since, unlike Gnomes, you do not even get Darkvision.

Human

This is an interesting lineage's pick. Free Inspiration per Long Rest and a free Skill Proficiency are solid, but nothing extremely spectacular, and the lack of Darkvision hurts. But a free Origin Feat can add a lot to your build and help you patch up holes you may have created by picking a specific Background. Tough with Guide or Magic Initiate (Druid) with Farmer are obvious choices here. Overall, a decent pick if you are looking to fill holes or make a weird build, but players looking for lineages with a bit more impact should look elsewhere.

Orc

Orc is another solid choice. Adrenaline Rush gives you a prof bonus-based bonus action. Dash is great for getting in or out of tight spaces, especially with the bonus Temp HP. 120 feet of Darkvision is fantastic as well, and Relentless Endurance is very nice to have in a pinch, being able to stop yourself from going down once per Long Rest.

It is another simple but effective lineage. Not quite as good as Dwarf or Goliath or even Aasimar, but it is one you cannot go wrong with.

Tiefling

Tiefling is just a worse Elf. You get Darkvision, which is good, but you don’t get their skill proficiencies or Trance. Not only that, but Fiendish Legacy is worse in terms of options presented. Infernal Legacy is decent for free Fire Bolt, Hellish Rebuke, and Darkness, but even that is underwhelming compared to High Elf.

Tiefling is an okay pick, but there are definitely better lineages to pick.

Overall, there are good lineages to pick from for War Domain Cleric. Dwarves are best for players looking for something simple, Goliaths are best for players looking for a bit more complexity, and Aasimar are good as an in-between or alternative to them.

Feats for War Domain Clerics

Since most of the Origin Feats have been gone over already, I will be focusing on the General Feats you get access to from Level 4 and beyond, and even then, only the truly relevant ones.

Ability Score Increase

You should take this feat at every level you can until your Wisdom hits 20 and your Constitution is at minimum a 16.

Chef

Wisdom increase is good, and the replenishing meals you can make that give boosts to Short Rests and extra Temp HP are also good. It is also a flavorful (heh) Fear. Worth taking if your Wisdom is at an odd number, or if you want to add just a bit more to your healing capabilities.

Crusher

It is tempting, given the Strength or Con boost and the ability to shove enemies around, but your best option for weapon combat is Shillelagh, which makes them do Force damage. You should skip this one.

Durable

This is solid. The advantage on Death Saves and the ability to give yourself a quick, spell slot-less heal is strong. It does compete for your Bonus Action, so watch out for that, but otherwise, this is another solid feat.

Elemental Adept

This is tempting for the increase of wisdom, but you are not casting enough spells with the associated damage types to make this worth it.

Fey Touched

This is one of the best Feats you are going to get access to. Misty Step is an incredible spell, and you get it for free. Not only that, but you get a choice of other fantastic spells such as Dissonant Whispers, Detect Magic, Comprehend Languages, and others, you also get for free, and you get to add to your spell list. This is the gold standard for Cleric feats, and if you are taking any General Feats, this should be near the top of your list.

Grappler

If you are looking to get into War Priest grappling shenanigans, this is solid. Advantages on attacks vs Grappled creatures are great, the STR increase is great, and being able to move them much more freely is also good. But outside of that idea, this usually is not worth it.

Great Weapon Master

STR increase is good, but fighting with a Heavy weapon is nearly impossible for you since you must give up both a Shield and the hand/Holy Symbol you need to cast spells. This is not worth it.

Heavily Armored

If you took Thaumaturge, this is how you are getting Heavy armor. You should not have taken Thaumaturge to begin with. There are better ways to get a Strength increase. 

Heavy Armor Master

A Constitution or Strength increase is great. Getting flat damage reduction to Bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing based off your prof bonus is even better. This should not be your first choice of feats, but it is a very solid second choice.

Inspiring Leader

The Wisdom boost is great. The ability to give your party a minimum of 9 Temporary Hit Points per rest is even better. This is fantastic, and up there is one of the better feats you can take, though it is not one of the best ones you can take.

Mage Slayer

This is solid. Strength increase is good, being able to more easily break concentration on opponents is highly valuable, and being able to automatically succeed on an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma Save once per Long Rest is fantastic, especially at higher levels where those saves can make or break an entire combat. Worth taking, though I would save this for higher levels where you are facing more spellcasters and devastating effects that rely on those saves.

Mounted Combatant

The Strength and Wisdom increases are good, but this is too niche to consider taking. You are not a Paladin; you are not going to be using mounts.

Observant

This is great. The Wisdom increase is good, and a free Skill Proficiency or even Expertise in Perception can go an extraordinarily long way. Perception is the best skill in the game, and Passive Perception is the most used Passive skill. Being better at both is nothing short of spectacular. This is very much worth taking.

Polearm Master

Strength Increase is good, but you are not getting a lot out of this, especially since you are already using your Bonus Action for many different things.

Resilient

Take Resilient Constitution and become an unshakeable tank. Proficiency in Constitution Saves is the reason for taking this, and it is an incredibly good reason.

Ritual Caster

The Wisdom increase is good, as is being able to grab more Ritual spells and casting them for free. But this should not be at the top of your priorities. You already have access to many of the best Ritual spells and there’s plenty of other ways for you to get access to the ones you do not have outside of the higher levels ones like Leomund’s Tiny Hut, which is more likely than not covered by another caster. I would advise against taking this unless you are somehow the only person in your party that can cast Ritual Spells.

Sentinel

Alright on its own, but exceptional when paired with War Caster. Only take this after taking that. Otherwise, do not bother since it is just kind of okay on its own.

Shadow Touched

This is just worse Fey Touched. Invisibility is good, but the spelling list overall is much worse, and it is hard to beat free Misty Step in terms of free spells. 

Shield Master

The Strength increase is good, but the ability to knock creatures prone with any weapon attack, including True Strike or Shillelagh attacks is the real reason to take this, giving you a lot more utility and ways to keep enemies up close and personal. The bonus to Dexterity Saves is just the cherry on top. Worth taking.

Skill Expert

You cannot really go wrong with a free Ability Score Increase, a free Skill Proficiency, and free Expertise. Grappler builds benefit so much from taking this, and every other build also benefits from the bevy of utility this gets you. Very solid.

Speedy

The Constitution bonus is nice, as is the 10 extra feet of movement speed. The other parts, such as the better Dash and Disadvantage on Opportunity Attacks against you, while not as good, are still nice to have. Taking this as a Goliath can make you one of the fastest people in the party, which can be very funny and very useful. But picking this means you give up Feats with more utility or which add spells to your spell list, so I would not pick this first or even second unless you really feel you need that speed.

Spell Sniper

The Wisdom increase is good, and the range bonus and ability to ignore cover and disadvantage on ranged spells within 5 feet is even better. But you are going to be up close and personal most of the time anyways, and many of your best spells have a decent range to begin with, including Guiding Bolt, which has a range of 120 feet. Most of the time, that is good enough, so I would advise against this unless you think you really need it.

Telekinetic

The Wisdom increase is good, and being able to shove enemies towards you, allies away from enemies, or even showing enemies into dangerous terrain is good, but you are already using your Bonus Action for so much anyways. Good, but not great

Telepathic

The Wisdom increase is good, and telepathy is neat, but you are not getting a lot out of this.

War Caster

This is one of, if not the best feat for a War Domain Cleric. The Wisdom increase and Advantage on Constitution Saves would be more than enough to make this a top-tier Cleric feat, but what puts it over the edge is being able to use spells as Opportunity Attacks. While the intended use is using cantrips like Toll the Dead or True Strike to catch a fleeing enemy, this also technically works on allies, meaning you can hit an ally with a Cure Wounds or Healing Word as they pass by you, giving you a significant and very abusable utility boost.

Combine this with Sentinel and you can lock down enemies, boost passing allies, and serve as a massive, unpassable wall of buffs and damage. 

For these reasons, I believe this, and Fey Touched to be the two best War Domain Cleric feats, and the ones you should consider taking above all others.

Weapons for War Domain Clerics

In terms of weapons for your War Domain Cleric, the choice is simple. If you are not going for a Shillelagh build, take a Mace or Longsword. If you are, go for a Club or Quarterstaff. Dexterity builds should go for a Rapier.

Final Thoughts on War Domain Clerics

The War Domain Cleric is a Domain that defies the typical expectations of what a D&D Cleric should be. It is a subclass that relies heavily on getting in close to enemies and hitting them with hard-hitting weapon attacks, blocking hits with their extremely high AC, and tanking those few attacks that go through their armor with their massive health and bevy of resistances.