Will Horde Breaker apply to a thrown weapon?

Question

The feature states "a weapon attack" in general, What if the weapon attack is a thrown one like a spear or a javelin?

The full text states:

Once on each of your turns when you make a weapon attack, you can make another attack with the same weapon against a different creature that is within 5 feet o f the original target and within range of your weapon. (PHB p.93)

Answer 1

Yup, but it's a little tricky.

Your spear or javelin is a weapon, so it qualifies for horde breaker. The tricky bit is that you've got to make your second attack with the same weapon. Not another instance of that type of weapon, but with the same weapon. So after throwing the spear or javelin you've got to retrieve it and attack with it again against another target within 5 feet of your first target.

Answer 2

I think this is really into the realm of DM prerogative. I see two ways of looking at this.

1. Making a second attack requires you to choose a target and thus interact (again) with your weapon. Thus once you have thrown your weapon for the first attack you cannot control it to make an additional attack. Especially for a spear or javelin, there's no simple way for a thrown javelin to attack an additional creature short of lining them up and piercing both of them.
2. The Hoard Breaker feature is clearly designed with both ranged and melee weapons in mind. If the question was whether it allowed you to use a bow to attack twice, the answer would clearly be yes. Therefore, if we consider a javelin or spear to be ammunition along the lines of arrows, then it's reasonable to assume if you have two javelins or spears you could throw both of them.

Answer 3

I treat thrown weapons as ammunition similar to an archer's arrows. This is a case where the spirit of the law outweighs the letter. It doesn't make sense to preclude using throwing daggers or javelins yet allow an archer's bow.