D&D 5R: Four Attacks per Turn at Level 5. Yes! Really?

 It appears that Wizards has managed to make a real hash out of two weapon fighting in the 2024 rules.  I'll link some relevant videos that discuss the issues, gather the rules snippets that apply and give my understanding of what they mean, especially (and likely only) to my table below. 

TLDR: It seems possible for a character who has the Dual Wielder Feat and is using light weapons to attack twice with what used to be referred to as an off-hand weapon. 

What Does All This Mean?

Attacking with multiple light weapons allows the weaponization of the bonus action for an additional attack without the ability modifier added to the damage roll; the ability modifier does add to the attack roll.  

Using a Nick property weapon with Nick Mastery allows that additional attack to happen as part of the basic action, leaving the bonus action free.

The Dual Wielder feat allows an additional attack to be made as a bonus action this is different than the attack granted by using a Light weapon in that it can be any melee non-two-handed weapon.  This can be an additional attack beyond the attack added by utilizing the Nick property. This is the core of the rules issue.

The two weapon fighting style is gravy added to any of the other weapon attacks.

Apparently multiple people reported that Jeremy Crawford verbally confirmed these rules interpretations at the most recent GenCon.  The most noted reported being Monty Martin of the Dungeon Dudes.  Jeremy of course isn't a 100% consistent and the reports might be wrong, but I think the above is correct at this point.

So, a Ranger or Fighter can make 4 attacks a round at level 4:

1. Regular Attack (with a Light, Nick Weapon)
2. Nick attack with a different light weapon (previously an off-hand weapon)
3. Extra Attack from the extra attack feature gained at level 5
4. Bonus action attack granted by Dual Wielder feat and the use of light weapons.

Rules Snippets

The 2024 revision of D&D 5E (which I refer to as 5R for 5E Revised and brevity) has managed to smear the rules that define multiple weapon attacks across several sections and includes feats that can modify the mechanics.  This section is my attempt to gather the relevant snippets into one place so they are easier to find.

Light Weapon Property (2024 Free Rules)

Here's the relevant rules portion:

When you take the Attack action on your turn and attack with a Light weapon, you can make one extra attack as a Bonus Action later on the same turn. That extra attack must be made with a different Light weapon, and you don’t add your ability modifier to the extra attack’s damage unless that modifier is negative.... 

This rule allows anyone who has at least two light weapons to use their bonus action to make one attack with what 5E referred to as an off-hand weapon.  The term off-hand has vanished from the rules, but typically it would be a second light weapon held in the other hand. 

 Nick Weapon Property (2024 Free Rules)

Accessing this requires a character to have the nick weapon mastery and to be using a weapon that has the nick property, e.g: dagger, light hammer, sickle, scimitar. Here's the rule extract:

When you make the extra attack of the Light property, you can make it as part of the Attack action instead of as a Bonus Action. You can make this extra attack only once per turn.

This mastery allows a character to not use their bonus action and still get that tasty light weapon attack from a second weapon.  

Dual Wielder Feat (2024 PHB)

This feat grants a stat improvement and two items relevant to this discussion.

Enhanced Dual Wielding. When you take the Attack action on your turn and attack with a weapon that has the Light property, you can make one extra attack as a Bonus Action later on the same turn with a different weapon, which must be a Melee weapon that lacks the Two-Handed property....

Quick Draw. You can draw or stow two weapons that lack the Two-Handed property when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.

Two-Weapon Fighting Style (2024 Free Rules)

This is a fighting style feat, so it is limited to characters who have access to the Fighting Style feature (i.e. Fighters, Rangers, those with the Fighting Initiate feat from Tasha's)

Fighting Style Feat (Prerequisite: Fighting Style Feature)

When you make an extra attack as a result of using a weapon that has the Light property, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of that attack if you aren’t already adding it to the damage.

This simply allows the attacker to add the appropriate ability modifier to the damage roll of light weapon attacks if it isn't already added. Notice the use of the word "an" in front of extra attack, this allows the effect to be used multiple times per turn. 

Relevant Videos

Here are embedded videos that address this topic as of early March, 2025.  

JNJ TableTop: Why You Get 4 Attacks a Round by Level 5 in Dungeons & Dragons 2024

 

Ned Immersion: ALL THE ATTACKS! Light, Nick, and Dual Wielder in D&D 5e 2024