Duergar 5e: Stat Block, Enlarge, Invisibility and Tactics

This is the duergar monster stat block, the gray dwarf the DM runs, not the playable duergar. A duergar is a CR 1 Medium Humanoid (dwarf) worth 200 XP, with AC 16, 26 hit points and a 25-foot speed. Two once-per-rest actions define it: Enlarge, which makes it Large for a minute and doubles its weapon damage dice (a war pick goes from 6 to 11 damage), and Invisibility, which lasts up to an hour or until it attacks. Its Duergar Resilience gives it advantage on saves against spells, poison, illusions, charm and paralysis, so casters have a hard time with it. There is no duergar in the 2024 rules (SRD 5.2.1); this page uses the 2014 block.

Table of Contents

• •Duergar Stat Block (2014)
• •Is There a 2024 Duergar Stat Block?
• •How Duergar Fight
• •How Many Duergar for Your Party?
• •How Players Beat Duergar
• •Duergar Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Duergar Stat Block (2014)

This is the duergar from the 2014 rules (SRD 5.1).

Read it as a soldier with two tricks. Scale mail and a shield give it AC 16, which a +5 attacker hits only half the time. 26 hit points and Constitution 14 mean it survives three average hits. Its attacks are ordinary (+4 to hit) until it uses Enlarge.

The details that change how you run it:

• •Enlarge and Invisibility are actions, and each recharges on a short or long rest. A duergar gets one of each per fight, and using either takes its action for the turn.
• •Using Enlarge, attacking or casting a spell ends Invisibility. The duergar can't be both invisible and giant.
• •Invisibility works "as if concentrating on a spell." Losing concentration ends it.
• •Duergar Resilience grants advantage on saves against poison, spells and illusions, and on saves to resist being charmed or paralyzed. It also has resistance to poison damage.
• •Sunlight Sensitivity gives disadvantage on attack rolls and sight-based Perception checks in sunlight.
• •Darkvision 120 feet and a slow 25-foot speed.

Is There a 2024 Duergar Stat Block?

No. SRD 5.2.1 (the 2024 rules) has no duergar stat block and no duergar player species. Duergar appear only in passing, in the Belt of Dwarvenkind description. Use the 2014 block in a 2024 game. If you want 2024 formatting, its initiative is +0 (Dexterity 11).

How Duergar Fight

The duergar's decision every fight is the order of its two actions. Get that right and a single duergar plays above CR 1.

Enlarge damage. Against a target with AC 16, the duergar hits on a 12 or higher (45%):

Enlarge costs the duergar's action and lasts 1 minute (10 rounds). It catches up with an unenlarged duergar on round 3 and is ahead from then on. In a fight that will last three or more rounds, Enlarge early.

The best opening: walk in invisible, then Enlarge. The duergar turns invisible before the fight, which can last up to an hour, and walks unseen into position next to the party's weakest character. On its first turn in combat it uses Enlarge. Invisibility ends, but the duergar is already in place, now Large, and the wizard has a 10-foot-wide gray dwarf in front of it. From round 2 it hits for 11.

The alternative: one strong hit. If the fight will be short (a single duergar guarding a door, say), skip Enlarge and attack from Invisibility. Advantage takes the hit chance from 45% to about 70% for one attack. After that the duergar is an ordinary soldier.

Large is more than damage. While enlarged the duergar has advantage on Strength checks and Strength saves. That makes it good at shoving characters prone or off a ledge, and at breaking or resisting grapples. Its Athletics is only +2 (no proficiency), but advantage closes most of the gap against a level 3 fighter. It also occupies a 10-foot square, which can block a corridor. If there isn't room to become Large, it grows as large as the space allows. In a 5-foot tunnel it stays Medium but still gets the extra damage.

Spells don't stop it. Advantage on saves against spells changes a lot. Against a DC 13 Wisdom save, a duergar with +0 fails 60% of the time on one roll but only 36% with advantage. Hold Person is covered twice over, as a spell and as paralysis, but advantage doesn't stack: the duergar rolls with advantage once and fails about 36% of the time against DC 13.

Fight in the dark. Darkvision 120 feet lets duergar see a torch-carrying party from three times the 40 feet that a torch lights. Sunlight gives them disadvantage on attacks, so they don't fight on the surface by day.

Rest and come back. Both tricks recharge on a short rest. Duergar that lose the first round of a fight should fall back, rest an hour behind a sealed door, and come back invisible again. The slow 25-foot speed makes running hard, so they withdraw behind traps or a portcullis, not across open ground.

How Many Duergar for Your Party?

Using the 2024 XP budget (SRD 5.2.1) for four characters:

The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines, which our encounter calculator uses, apply a group multiplier. Two duergar are 400 XP multiplied by 1.5 to 600: Hard for level 2, Medium for level 3. Three are 600 doubled to 1,200: past Deadly (800) at level 2 and Hard at level 3.

Fit by level:

• •Level 2: one or two duergar, and the party will feel each Enlarge.
• •Level 3 and 4: a squad of 3 to 5, ideally with something that isn't a duergar.
• •Level 5 and up: duergar stop threatening a party with Extra Attack on their own. Use them as a garrison, in bigger numbers, or under a stronger leader.

Magmins suit a duergar forge. A magmin explodes for 2d6 fire damage when it dies (DC 11 Dexterity save for half). Duergar have advantage on saves against spells and poison but not against a magmin's fire, so keep the magmins away from them.

How Players Beat Duergar

Duergar Resilience is the problem. The answer is to stop asking it for saving throws.

• •Use attack rolls, not saves. Duergar Resilience only covers saving throws. Spell attacks like Eldritch Blast and Guiding Bolt roll against AC 16 normally, and Magic Missile hits automatically.
• •Avoid poison. Poison damage is halved, and saves against poison are made with advantage.
• •Watch for Invisibility. An invisible duergar still makes noise and leaves tracks. Faerie Fire outlines an invisible creature, though the duergar makes its Dexterity save with advantage. Flour, dust or a party member with good passive Perception can locate it. Any damage forces a concentration save that can end the Invisibility.
• •Make it waste a turn. Enlarge and Invisibility each take an action. A duergar that enlarges in round 1 has dealt no damage that round. Hit it hard while it grows.
• •Kite it. Its speed is 25 feet. A party moving 30 feet a round can stay out of melee, and its javelin is the only ranged attack it has.
• •Wait out Enlarge. It lasts 1 minute and recharges only on a rest. Ten rounds of defensive fighting removes the extra damage for the rest of the fight.
• •Bring sunlight. The 2024 Daylight spell makes real sunlight, which gives duergar disadvantage on attack rolls.

Duergar Encounter Ideas

The empty ore carts. A dwarf mining town is losing a cart of ore every few nights, and the guard swears nobody came past him. Two duergar go invisible at the bottom of the shaft, walk past the guard and push the cart into a side tunnel. The clue is in the dust: invisible creatures still leave footprints. The duergar are paying a miner inside the town to tell them which carts carry silver.

The bridge holder. A stone bridge 10 feet wide crosses a chasm in the deep tunnels. One duergar stands in the middle, enlarges as the party steps on, and fills the whole width. It doesn't need to win, only to shove. With advantage on Strength checks, it pushes characters prone or toward the edge while two more duergar throw javelins from the far end.

The night market. Duergar traders come up to a frontier town's market after sunset, sell iron cheaply, and leave before dawn. The town wants the iron and hates the traders. When a trader is found dead at sunrise, still in the market square, the town expects the party to find the killer before the duergar come back the next night to collect their own.

Duergar campaigns tend to involve a lot of deals, factions and grudges. Loreify's session recorder keeps track of who promised what to whom. For names, the dwarf name generator works for duergar too.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a duergar in 5e?

The duergar is CR 1 (200 XP) in the 2014 rules (SRD 5.1). It has AC 16, 26 hit points and a 25-foot speed.

Is there a duergar stat block in the 2024 rules?

No. The 2024 SRD (5.2.1) has no duergar stat block and no duergar player species. Use the 2014 stat block in a 2024 game.

How does duergar Enlarge work?

As an action, the duergar becomes Large for 1 minute along with its gear. While enlarged it doubles the damage dice of its Strength-based weapon attacks (war pick 2d8 + 2, javelin 2d6 + 2) and has advantage on Strength checks and saves. It recharges after a short or long rest.

Can duergar turn invisible?

Yes, once per short or long rest. Invisibility lasts up to 1 hour, as if the duergar were concentrating on a spell, and ends when it attacks, casts a spell or uses Enlarge.

Why are duergar hard for spellcasters?

Duergar Resilience gives them advantage on saving throws against spells, illusions and poison, and against being charmed or paralyzed. A spell that forces a save fails against them much more often. Spell attack rolls and Magic Missile are not affected.

Is this the same as a playable duergar?

No. This page covers the monster stat block the DM uses. The playable duergar is not in either SRD.

Stat block: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.