The Eldritch Blademaster - D&D: Optimized #67

hello my friends how's it going welcome to  another episode of d d optimized part of the   d4 network this is the show where each week  we take a deep dive into one sometimes two   specific character builds for dungeons and dragons  fifth edition and we try to create a character   not necessarily that's the best way to build  it or the right way to build it but we explore   one option of how to build a particular character  in a way that is both really fun to play in game   but also really powerful so if you enjoy creating  characters for d d almost as much as you enjoy   playing the game itself then welcome home this is  where you belong and i am really happy that you're   here so thanks for being here my name is colby and  i'll be your host before we jump in to the episode   today let me just throw out a quick reminder that  if you like the content or think you might like it   um that would be awesome if you would  click the like button down there in   the corner and even maybe more importantly  consider subscribing to the channel because   i like subscribers and i think you would  enjoy subscribing anyway many months ago   i did a short for me which was really  like 30 minutes long video on why using   two weapons in combat in dnd as a martial  character is inferior to either ranged attacks   or two-handed heavy weapons in dnd at least from  a mechanics perspective if you want to see that   video it's right there and ever since that date i  have wanted of course to do a build that focuses   on using two weapons in combat because as you guys  probably know sometimes on this channel i like to   say for example take a sub class and try to make  like the best character i think that i can out of   using primarily that subclass right but then  other times the weekly build is motivated by   more of a theme or a concept for a character  if i'm going to play a martial character in   game speaking personally my favorite archetype has  always been the fast attacking dexterous flurry of   blades or blows kind of character for example even  if it didn't always make the most sense from a   numbers perspective and i know that's shocking for  some of you considering that it's coming from me   i would always like dual wield lightsabers  in every star wars video game where that   was an option rather than a single blade or  even a two-handed double bladed lightsaber i   just really love the image of a character going  into a fight with two weapons a character who is   quick agile like a whirling blender of precision  and death as opposed to like a big heavy-hitting   brute personal preference but i'm willing to bet  that based on the number of requests i get to do   a character that uses two weapons in combat a lot  of you find the concept similarly attractive but   there's also another request that i've had a lot  of over the months and it is to build an eldritch   knight fighter now i've dipped into eldritch  night in the past but i've never really given   an eldritch knight like a build of their own and  i've been meaning to do so for a very long time   because who doesn't love the concept of like  a spell sword right a gish character one who   waits in to battle with both swords and sorcery  i do and i know that a lot of you do as well   so so for the build this week i'm going to combine  both of these things an eldritch knight who   focuses on using two weapons in combat we might  take a dip into my favorite subclass along the way   to bolster both our magical prowess and also for  a fun little synergy trick at higher levels but   this character is slicing their dicing they're  dodging they're dancing and they are empowered by   the arcane to buffet enemy attacks hit harder hit  faster and even throw out a control or blast spell   once in a while if they need it we're going to try  to optimize them for sustained damage per round   meaning this character will be doing very solid  damage per round every round without expending   a lot of resources to do so and so i proudly  present episode 67 the eldritch blade master   big thanks to my friend randall hampton for the  art that he did for this particular episode i   absolutely love it as always i love the tiefling  that's not something that i've seen him do before   and the the outfit in particular is spot-on  it's so perfect for the way that i imagined   this character he does fantastic work if you  guys are interested in following him check out   the video description for links on how to do so  all right let's jump into the build at level one   for our class even though we're going to be  dipping into another class later i think starting   fighter makes the most sense with this build  particularly since we will be using concentration   spells through most of our career and starting  with constitution saving through proficiency   is just really important for those concentration  checks so we're starting off as fighter as for our   race i'm gonna recommend custom lineage there is  a really important feat that we want and it's hard   to beat starting with a free feet plus two and  an ability score of our choice plus dark vision   and then we get all of that from custom lineage  right go another route if you really want to if   you don't like custom lineage i think my second  best pick for a race would probably just be   good old-fashioned mountain dwarf for a plus two  in two ability scores we're gonna benefit a lot   from a high dexterity and intelligence i know it's  a little boring what can i say i like big numbers   and i cannot lie well i'm so ashamed as for the  free feet that we get from going custom lineage   i'm gonna recommend that we go dual wielder now  this is not a feat that i recommend often i think   it kind of pales in comparison frankly power wise  anyway mechanics wise to great weapon master and   sharpshooter for those other weapon type users  and that's largely why i think two weapon fighting   suffers a little bit when you make a comparison  but i do think that this is a pretty solid feat   if we're going to commit to two weapon fighting  like i've said we're going to do i really like the   fact that we get both an offensive and a defensive  benefit to this feat so first we get a plus one to   our armor class when we are wielding a weapon in  each hand and that's almost as good as the plus   two to ac that we'd get from using a shield so  that's nice and by the way for the record this   build is going to end up being really quite  tanky we're not gonna really try and create a   tank character per se but being really hard to  hit is fantastic for any character and especially   for one who is wielding into the thick of the  fight as we will be doing then of course with   the dual wielder feat we get to wield non-light  one-handed weapons in each hand when we do two   weapon fighting so for those who don't know if you  want to make attacks with a weapon in each hand   they normally have to be light weapons right so  things like short swords daggers etc the biggest   damage die you can get on a light weapon is a d6  so now with the dual wielder they don't have to   be light though of course they do still have to  be one-handed weapons you can't go in with like   two greatswords or anything so we can use say a  long sword or a battle axe or a warhammer or a   rapier in each hand which all use a d8 for their  damage that's not a huge damage increase of course   we're talking one damage per round per weapon  on average but this character is being built for   sustained dpr and so the relatively minor damage  increase is welcome especially when coupled with   a solid defensive boost as well as for our  ability scores as always i assume that we're   going with the point by method and so i'm going  to recommend going with a 15 dexterity and taking   your plus two from custom lineage there so we have  a 17 then a 15 intelligence and a 14 constitution   so yes we are building a dexterity based fighter  today if that wasn't already apparent again the   image that i have in my head for this character  is a quick whirling dervish of death this means   of course that for our equipment we're going to  want to go with the gold buy method and pick up   two rapiers as rapiers are one-handed but they're  also the only d8 weapon with the finesse property   meaning we can use them to make attacks using  our dexterity modifier to hit and to damage   instead of strength then i would buy some scale  male armor scale male is medium armor meaning   that we can only add a max of plus two to our  armor class from our dexterity modifier right but   scale male being a 14 ac you add two now we're at  16 plus one from dual wielder that puts us out of   17 ac to start off if you would have gone started  leather instead which is light which lets us add   our full dexterity modifier studded leather is  only a 12 plus three from our decks would only put   us at a 15 16 with dual wielder now when you get  your dexterity capped at 20 you would then have a   plus five from your dexterity bonus at that point  with studded leather we would be 17 plus one from   the feet but at that point you probably want to  make the switch on the other hand you could pick   up the medium armor master feet eventually if you  wanted and that would then give the advantage to   the half plate wearer because it lets you add a  total of plus three from your dexterity modifier   and you don't have disadvantage on stealth checks  with that feat it's nice to have options know what   they are you might find a suit of magical armor  that's one or the other and it will be good to   have the versatility to wear either if you need  to and then as a fighter at level one we do get   the second wind feature which gives us a 1d10  plus our fighter levels in healing we do that as   a bonus action once per short rest a self heal on  a fairly hard to hit character just makes us that   much tougher to kill so that's nice and then we  do get a fighting style and of course i think on   this character we've gotta go with the two weapon  fighting style if we want to make the best two   weapon fighter that we can so as you probably  know typically if you want to make an attack   with a weapon in each hand you take the attack  action you attack with one and then as a bonus   action you attack with the other but typically  you don't get to add your ability score modifier   to the damage from that bonus action attack if  you take the two up in fighting style you do get   to add that bonus so now both our main hand and  off hand attacks get to add our dexterity bonus   modifier to the damage and right here at level one  to be honest even though i have complained about   two weapon fighting being sub-optimal numbers-wise  in the long run this is almost as good a level one   character as we can get i think for sustained  100 resource-free damage per round at level two   we get action surge of course um i am not building  this character with a burst or nova damage   focus but the reality is they're going to do some  very strong burst damage thanks to action surge   maybe when i crunch the numbers i will tell you  where they compare to other nova builds when we do   the damage report just for fun at level three we  get our martial archetype our subclass and we are   of course going with the eldritch knight here  is what we read about the eldritch knight the   warrior's hands gloved in fine leather flex over  the jeweled hilts of the rapiers on his belt   veins of gold snake up from his fingers along his  arms shoulders and neck the magic visible through   his sleeves and jerkin this phantasmal filigree  ends at his temples flushing his eyes with power   they beam like molten stars captured in flesh  with incredible speed he unsheathes the swords   and hurtles toward his mark his movements are  a mystifying flurry of ducks weaves and dodges   his blades flickering tongues of steel vying  for purchase typically at this point i read the   text from the official content when describing  the subclass but today i wanted to read from   the sponsor for this week's video describe so you  guys know the box text that sometimes shows up in   official dnd content to describe like a location  or something it's pretty good right i've always   enjoyed hearing it read to really kind of set  the scene the only problem in my opinion is that   there's not enough of that box text in official  wizards of the coast content wouldn't it be great   if you could have that really well written super  descriptive mood setting bit of writing for pretty   much any scene or character or even action or  even item in your game well that is basically what   describe is it's a searchable library of people  places and things that might show up in your dnd   game that you could use to help you set the scene  or paint a picture for just about anything that   you might want to include in your game i actually  opened up an account myself last week i've been   playing around with it for a bit and you guys  i'm not gonna lie i seriously love this tool   i love wordsmithing myself i don't doubt your own  creative and wordsmithing skills but describe has   several professional writers creating content and  even some ex wizards of the coast writers on their   team and the stuff they create is just fantastic  and it's not just for dms either there are plenty   of things that as a player i'd love to have like a  description of a spell that i cast or like a coup   de gras that i make on an enemy when my dungeon  master asks me how do you want to do this right   anyone can create a free account and get access  to a pretty significant portion of the library   that is free but if you upgrade to a paid account  you can get access to the entire library and even   submit requests to the writers for a  particular scene or character you can even   get a professionally written description of your  character in fact that bit that i just read about   the eldritch knight i actually submitted that  request i submitted it for a spell sword because   eldritch knight is a copyrighted term by wizards  of the coast so they couldn't use that necessarily   but that description is what they came up with and  it was so good and now it's part of their library   so cool you can look it up so i actually had this  idea that i ran past the founder of the company   who i met last week really cool guy of doing a  little like giveaway for describe so here's what   i want to do go to describe.com d4 right there  and i'll put it in the video description as well   a link to it use that link because that's how  they know that you came from me sign up for a free   account and then make a comment in the comment  section for this video in the next 24 hours that   you've done so so basically that gives you until  wednesday november 17th at 10 a.m after the 24   hours are up i will randomly pick one commenter to  get a free upgrade to a hero level account for one   year which normally costs 80 and basically gives  you access to their entire library of thousands   of descriptions which by the way is growing by  300 to 400 a month i seriously love this tool   i think you guys will too so give it a try let me  know again it's described.com d4 and also if you   do decide to buy an upgraded account at checkout  you can put in a coupon code just use the code   d4 at checkout you'll get 10 off your order so  anyway give them some love they're fantastic and   let's move on so as an eldritch knight at this  level at level 3 we get the weapon bond feature   basically it tells us that over the course of an  hour you can magically bond with up to two weapons   perfect and can thereafter not be disarmed from  them unless you are incapacitated and you can   summon them one at a time to your hand with a  bonus action so long as they are on the same   plane of existence you know what even though this  is mostly flavor stuff it is really cool flavor   i think but also i can honestly think of more  than one time in my campaigns that this would   have been a really great feature to have entering  a noble's house and they demand that you leave   your weapons at the door no problem locked in  a dungeon with nothing but your underwear hey   at least you can have your weapons once you  find your way out of the cell pretty handy   in certain situations and then of course as  an eldritch knight we also learn spells spells   from the wizard list here though we are pretty  limited on how many and which ones we can learn so   first up make sure that you understand that if  rangers and paladins and artificers are like   half casters because their spell levels and their  spell slot progression proceeds at half the speed   of other spell casting characters then eldritch  knights and arcane trickster rogues as well are   kind of like one-third casters right they progress  at a third of the speed of like a full caster of a   wizard warlock sorcerer bart so eldritch knights  don't get second level spells until level seven   and if we multi-class into a spell casting class  later spoiler alert we take the levels in this   class and divide them by three when we're trying  to decide what level of spells we have access to   as per the multi-class spell casting rules for  now we get two cantrips so pick your favorites   nothing that we're going to use in combat yet but  then we also get three first level wizard spells   although two of them have to be from the adoration  or evocation schools of magic now that's not bad   there are plenty of really good spells from those  schools most of the blasting spells are evocation   so you could grab a magic missile or chromatic  orb or something if you wanted a decent ranged   spell attack for example if it were me i would  probably get absorb elements which is abduration   that would give you resistance to elemental damage  as a reaction plus a little extra damage of that   elemental type that i resisted on my turn and i  think more importantly shield in fact some people   like to joke that eldritch knight is basically  just a regular fighter with the shield spell   shield as reaction gives us a plus five to our  armor class until your next turn when you're   hit with an attack it's one of the best defensive  spells in the game and it's level one now as for   the non-abduration evocation school spell that  you get i think it's got to be fine familiar   you get to summon you're familiar probably should  be an owl you know you could obviously go with   something else if you're tired of owls maybe you  could reskin it as a different bird but the flyby   feature that i always get is really strong it lets  them swoop in take the help action and swoop away   without taking an opportunity attack and that's  primarily what we would be using or familiar   for here at least in combat so now you can get  yourself or potentially an ally advantage on one   attack per turn not to mention the other great  utility that you get from having a pet familiar   you can scout with and cast spells with a range of  touch etc etc really great spell at level four we   get our first ability score increase or feet we're  sitting on odd numbers for both our dexterity   and our intelligence right here 17 and 15 and so  i think it makes the most sense to take a plus   one in each of those so that we can be at 18 and  16 respectively and the dexterity bump is going   to help our damage it's going to help our armor  class if and when we don light armor it's going   to help our initiative of course and then the  intelligence is going to benefit our spell to hit   end spell dc's etc plus we'll get some additional  benefits from it later so for those reasons to   me it's more important to get our intelligence up  than to take a half feet that would give us a plus   one to our dexterity right at level five we get  extra attack so now we're getting three attacks   per turn right two with the attack action and then  one as a bonus action with our second rapier we're   slicing and we're dicing at level six man it feels  good to be a fighter we get another ability score   increase for feet so soon capping our decks at  20 at level 6 feels fantastic so we're almost   definitely in studded leather at this point unless  we've already found ourselves like some magical   half plate studded leather is a lot easier on  the budget and it doesn't impose disadvantage   for stealth checks like i've said plus it's  just so much more comfortable and stylish   leather okay time for a damage report so things  are pretty straightforward for us at this point   we simply make three attacks per turn i'm  going to say that we're getting advantage on   our first attack thanks to our familiar but each  attack is made at a plus eight to hit and it does   one d8 plus five damage from our dexterity for  a total of 38 plus 15 if everything lands and so   against an enemy with a 10 armor class we would be  doing 28 damage per round on average and against   an enemy with a 15 armor class it would be  23 damage per round okay compared to other   builds i've done that are focused on sustained  dpr that's not amazing i'll admit here's where   the criticism of two weapon fighting becomes  apparent i think without that plus 10 damage per   hit that the great weapon master and sharpshooter  builds of the world get the damage just has   a hard time being competitive and yet while we're  close to the bottom of the list when compared to   other like tier 2 sustained damage builds that  i've done again check the video description   although i'm probably going to have to split those  two into three tiers soon i was hoping to do it   this week i don't think i'm gonna have time anyway  that's coming soon we're not at the very bottom   when when we do that comparison not only that but  again we have a very respectable 18 armor class   with access to the shield spell which would bump  us to 23 armor class when we needed it we have   a decent amount of hit points we have some really  nice additional defensive capabilities and utility   capabilities thanks to our spells and hey if we  wanted to blow action surge we could be making   five attacks in a single round for decent nova  damage too we're talking like kind of middle of   the pack tier 2 nova builds by comparison i feel  pretty good we have lots of options we're decently   tanky we're pretty well rounded not to mention  sexy as hell and from here on things are going   to get a lot better at level seven the arcane  power that has been growing within our eldritch   knight causes them to shift in their path they are  realizing that they could be doing even more with   this magical potential that is being unlocked from  within them they may have met someone who has more   to teach them about the arcane they may have read  something in a book that piques their interest   they may have simply heard a magical whisper on  the wind that's urging them to focus their mind   and their energy and even their body on training  in a slightly different way so whatever your   reasons we're taking wizard levels now so as  a wizard level one we get spells of course and   we get full access to all wizard spells now so i  would just say pick your favorites whichever first   level spells and can trips that were missing from  your arsenal before just keep in mind that thanks   to our six levels in eldritch knight we now have  second level spell slots to upcast any of those   spells if we need or want to at level one wizards  also get the arcane recovery feature which allows   us to recover a spent spell slot equal to half our  wizard level rounded up once per day at the end of   a short rest i love me some spell slot recovery at  level eight we would be a wizard level two and we   get our wizard subclass our arcane tradition  and we're going as you may have predicted or   well because you saw the video thumbnail  we're going blade singing hmm feels like home   yes my favorite character that i've ever played in  d d was a blade singer and yes i usually shy away   from multi-classing with blade singer because  i don't want to delay the blade singer extra   attack feature and more importantly i think higher  level spells and other higher level blade singer   features but if our goal is to be the best two  weapon wielding eldritch knight we can possibly be   i think this is absolutely the perfect class to  multi-class into one of the greatest weaknesses   and even frustrations almost with eldritch knight  is the snail-like spell level and spell slot   progression taking wizard levels really helps  that but what's more the blade singer is going   to give us a really nice bump to our defensive  capabilities as long as we follow the rules and   as a frontline fighter defensive bumps are always  super important finally there is some really fun   and fantastic synergy between these two subclasses  that comes later which we'll mention but i don't   want to spoil that just yet in case you don't  know about it so as a blade singer we get the   blade song feature which gives us lots of great  benefits so as a bonus action proficiency bonus   times per day so three for now for next level  should be enough to get most of us through most   if not all of our daily combats we can start our  blade song you close your eyes and let out a sigh   feeling the magic simmering in your veins energy  tingles in your sword arm floods your feet and   relics in your temples you open your eyes in total  clarity the skirmish before you now a dance to   which you know all the steps with a flourish  you ready your rapier you step one two swish   clang as others clumsily dash around you you dodge  perry and strike in perfect time thanks describe   so yes we invoke our blade song and so long as  we're not wearing medium or heavy armor check   definitely be instead of leather at this point or  wearing a shield check or using two hands to make   a weapon attack check and by the way this doesn't  mean that we can't make weapon attacks with both   our hands just that we can't use both our hands to  make an attack with one weapon capiche then if we   do all those things or don't do any of those  things we get the following benefits a bonus   to our armor class equal to our intelligence  modifier aren't you glad you bumped it to 16   that's 21 ac now not including any magic items  magnifique plus 10 to our move speed advantage on   acrobatics checks and a bonus to our concentration  checks equal to our intelligence modifier as well   giving us at this level a plus eight to our  concentration checks which means we will   almost never fail them that's going to very much  come in handy starting next level especially if   you're going to be a whirling dervish of dextrous  dancing death i can't imagine a better subclass   to pair yourself with than the blade singer both  thematically and mechanically it is perfection but   at level 9 we're a wizard 3 and this is where it  gets really good because at wizard 3 we get second   level spells and that means fantastic spells like  mirror image for added survivability and misty   step for better movement but the most important  spell for us you guys know where i'm going with   this right of course you do it's shadow blade i  think it's still my favorite spell in the game   yeah i can't think of anything else that i love  more now up until this point we haven't had a   fantastic use for our concentration at least  in combat there aren't any can trips or first   level spells that i think i'd use in combat when  compared to the damage that we get just by taking   the attack action and using our bonus action for  weapon attacks now however the shadow blade cometh   so as a bonus action you weave together threads  of shadow to create a sword of solidified gloom   in your hand it has the finesse property yay and  also the light and throne properties and on a hit   it does psychic damage plus if you're in dim light  or darkness you make the attacks with advantage   so yes going forward as usual i like to assume  best case scenarios when i crunch numbers so i   am going to assume that we're in dim light  or darkness and that will have advantage at   least on the two attacks that we're making  right now with our shadow blade each round   of course that won't always be the case but do  keep in mind that if you have your familiar that   was previously giving advantage at least on one  of those two attacks even if you're not in dim   light or darkness the difference in the numbers  isn't going to be huge now as a second level spell   the shadow blade does 2d8 damage but it  scales in damage by 1d8 at third level   and then every two levels thereafter man if  only we had third level spell slots oh wait we   do thanks six levels of eldritch knight so yes  as soon as we get shadow blade we can up cast it   to third level for 3d8 damage each swing now you  might have a magic rapier at this point that would   cause you to think shadowblade is not as good as  you think dude but i have a hard time believing   that most of us are going to have access to a  weapon that's better than 3d8 damage per swing   even a flametongue rapier would be slightly worse  and even if you did have a great magic rapier well   you've still got that bonus action offhand weapon  attack that you're making right put that rapier in   your other hand and for that matter if you're  playing at a table where your dm gives you a   little like flexibility with magic items maybe you  can purchase them or have select items crafted etc   i think for this character i would prioritize  things like magic armor like a cloak of   displacement so good a cloak of protection a ring  of protection or of course if you're less boring a   magic item that does something cool and fun and  doesn't just improve your numbers you know not   needing a great magic weapon is kind of a nice  luxury to have so at level 9 for our damage   report then we are making two attacks with our  3d8 shadow blade adding plus 5 from our dexterity   to each attack and i'm assuming advantage on  both just accordingly if you find yourself   in bright light but then as a bonus action  making a rapier attack for another 1d8 plus 5   for a grand total of 78 plus 15 and against  an enemy with a 10 armor class we would do   49 dpr on average now and against an enemy with a  16 armor class it would be 43 damage per round so   that's a lot better by comparison than where we  were at level 6. we are now in the upper half of   like t2 sustained damage dealers as for our nova  damage capabilities with a simple action surge   we are still comfortably in the middle of tier  2 compared to other nova builds without hardly   trying and one more thing that i always like to  mention with my gish builds right make sure that   you don't forget that you can do more than just  hit stuff so throw out those web spells when the   situation calls for it that's why you wanted to  be an eldritch knight and not just some boring   old regular knight right at level 10 we would be  a wizard of four and we get another ability score   increase or feet i think with our dexterity capped  moving on to intelligence as our best move here   to improve our armor class our concentration  checks and of course most of our spells and then   at level 11 we'd be a wizard five and we get third  level spells let's talk about their level spells   obviously there are some fantastic ones some of  the most quintessential and and powerful spells   that wizards can get are found at third level  and i would say you know grab the usual suspects   pick up fireball when you need an area  of effect damage option of course grab   counterspell dispel magic hypnotic pattern  but what about spells to increase our damage   in my blade singer 2.0 video i guess i'll link  to it there i got and probably still get a lot   of comments from people who want to contend that  haste and or maybe even spirit shroud are better   options for our concentration than shadowblade  the truth is they might be but it depends on what   magic weapons you may or may not have access to  so sure if you can get a flametongue rapier for   example then yes using our concentration for  haste is going to give us an extra attack each   turn not to mention the armor class bump and the  extra move speed and so at that point you would   get more mileage out of haste both offensively  and defensively unless you were in dim lighter   darkness and didn't have a way to get advantage  otherwise just using haste and the enemy armor   class was pretty high so again it's important  to know your options and alter your play based   on the situation this is a good thing it it keeps  things interesting right as for spirit shroud it's   good but it just doesn't compete with other spells  i think at this level for concentration it gives   us an extra 1d8 per weapon attack right now so  3d8 total potentially but we'd be better off with   either an extra weapon attack if we've got a good  magic weapon or the much better weapon damage from   shadowblade we do at this level get fourth level  spell slots now thanks to our multi-classing but   none of our offensive concentration based options  benefit from being upcast to fourth level still   it's nice to have another use of shadow blade  or haste if we need it or if you really want to   upcast fireball or counterspell etc it's good to  have the option at level 12 we are a wizard 6 and   blade singers get extra attack and for once  i'm not mad about redundancy here because we   already had extra attack but the blade singer  extra attack is a little better because now   we're told when we take the attack action we can  replace one of those attacks with a cantrip and so   of course for us that means we're going to attack  and then use a cantrip that will be like booming   blade or i'm going to say green flame blade here  because this build is not really doing a lot to   encourage or force enemy movement so i think we're  going to get more mileage out of green flame blade   which tells us that as part of the spell we make  a weapon attack and then we do some additional   damage right now it's an additional 2d8 of damage  on hit and then we can cause an enemy within five   feet of the one we initially hit to take fire  damage the fire damage from the green flame   blade bounces essentially to another target doing  also 2d8 damage plus our intelligence modifier   i've seen people talk about making yourself  the target of this green flame blade   extra damage and then using a reaction absorb  elements to reduce that damage because the nice   thing about absorbent elements is that like i've  mentioned on your first attack on your next turn   you get to add a d6 of that damage type on your  hit and you can up cast absorb elements for you   know 2d6 or 3d6 or whatever i don't know if it's  necessarily worth taking the damage even if you   can get resistance to it in order to on the next  round do a little bit additional damage you might   want to you might be in a situation where you're a  little bit desperate if the extra damage that you   got from absorb elements didn't come on your next  turn i think it would be a little more useful if   it were just like your next attack but anyway it's  it's an option and it's it's it's a neat trick if   you need it so yes be sure that up to this point  at some point you've grabbed the green flame blade   cantrip up until now we again we haven't really  wanted to use these cantrips because like i   said we're better off taking the attack action and  then making two weapon attacks and then an offhand   bonus action weapon attack but now we are  going to use it as our cantrip for a little   bonus damage i'm probably forever going to have  to be addressing this question when it comes to   booming blade and green flame blade can i use  either of those cantrips with shadowblade since   the material component for both of those spells  is a weapon that's worth at least one silver piece   i'm not going to get too far into the weeds here  i've done it already in my bladesinger nova build   that i did a few months ago in a nutshell i will  just say this based on polls that i've conducted   amongst my viewers and actually others that i've  read and seen online it would appear that the   vast majority of tables allow either for you  to just simply use booming blade or green flame   blade with shadow blade even jeremy crawford said  that he would allow this at his table or make your   attack with shadow blade and then cast the booming  blade or green flame blade cantrip with your   offhand rape here as your second cantrip attack  that you can now do thanks to the bladesinger's   extra attack feature and then make your bonus  action attack with your shadowblade i'm not   going to get into the semantics of why this will  or won't work rules as written i'm just going to   say that when i crunch the numbers i'm assuming  that you're still using shadow blade and getting   to cast booming blade as well i think only a very  small percentage of tables won't allow one or the   other of the above options that i've mentioned  if you want to argue about in the comments please   feel free i will just say also don't forget that  there are other can trips we could be casting here   as part of our attack action if we wanted to blade  ward comes to mind as a particularly strong option   if we needed to like boost our tankiness and we're  willing to forgo some damage mind sliver to throw   like an alley-oop to an ally who is going to be  casting a big spell on their turn maybe lightning   lure if we're just out of reach of our enemy and  we don't have any more move speed left we could   can trip lightning lure bring them close to us and  then you know take the rest of our turn make our   attacks again know your options but level 13 is  the level that i have been most excited about now   to be clear i don't think that this build hinges  on getting to level 13. it's totally viable and   strong before now so if you are playing a  campaign that's going to end before this as   most probably do i wouldn't change the way i've  built it but if you are one of the happy few that   get to play into late game you are super happy  about level 13. so at this point i think it's   time to leave behind bladesinger our blademaster  feels that they have learned the most important   things from their focus on the arcane and that  the time has come to sort of shift their focus   back a little more towards the martial side of  their training i know we're almost at fourth level   wizard spells to say nothing of the uber powerful  fifth level wizard spells that are kind of on the   horizon but remember our goal with this build was  to create the best two weapon fighter possible and   to create a character who is primarily an eldritch  knight a character who uses magic primarily to   enhance their martial prowess and not the other  way around so we're going back to fighter and   at eldritch knight level 7 we get the war magic  feature which tells us that when we use our action   to cast a cantrip we can make an additional weapon  attack as a bonus action now up until this point   that feature wouldn't have been super amazing i  don't think we could have say cast green flame   blade as our action cast a cantrip right as our  action made a weapon attack with that little extra   damage and then as a bonus action we get another  weapon attack but that's obviously worse in most   scenarios than just making three weapon attacks  on our turn like we've been doing up until now   but now that we've hit blade singer level 6. when  we take the attack action we can replace one of   those attacks with a cantrip and since we used  our action to cast a cantrip among other things   it will trigger this war magic feature and thus  we can make a weapon attack as a bonus action that   doesn't have to be from like our offhand weapon  right if you doubt that this actually works rules   as written look it up jeremy crawford ruled on  this somewhat recently and said it works now we   were already making of course a weapon attack as  a bonus action but it wasn't with our shadow blade   it was again with our offhand rapier now we should  be able to attack green flame blade cantrip attack   and then bonus action attack all with our shadow  blade so all three attacks with a superior damage   weapon or of course if you have a really good  magic weapon and you're using haste on yourself   instead of shadowblade all four attacks with that  really great magic weapon that is really fun oh   yeah and we have action surge so potentially two  more attacks with that weapon when we need it so   for a damage report at level 13 i'm assuming that  you're making three attacks with your 3d8 shadow   blade and that you are in dim light or darkness  we're adding plus 5 from our dexterity to each and   2d8 damage from green flame blade to one of  them as well that's a total of 178 plus 15   if everything lands and so against an enemy  with a 10 armor class we would be doing 69   damage per round on average and against an enemy  with a 17 armor class it would be 64 dpr so we   are creeping up those charts um right now we're  kind of we've kind of moved into the upper half   of the tier 2 builds now particularly at the  average and higher enemy armor classes and again   we have a fantastic nova option that would put us  at over 100 damage on average against most enemy   armor classes at this level not to mention our  ability to control counter-spell do aoe damage   and our really strong survivability we're sitting  on a resting ac of 21 right now with blades hung   up and we should almost always have the shield  spell available for shield when we need it   that's the great thing about building a sustained  damaged character right is you typically have your   resources available for you when you need them and  again that's without any kind of defensive magic   items or armor we're amazing at level 14 we would  be a fighter level eight we get another ability   score increase our feet so speaking of our amazing  armor class let's take it up a notch by capping   our intelligence and putting it at 20. having two  capped ability scores by level 14 feels amazing   thanks fighters one thing to know at this level  you may have noticed that we're not actually using   two weapons to attack anymore now hopefully this  doesn't throw off your groove too much or your   concept of how this character should work in  game but yeah that third attack per round with   the shadow blade was just too good to pass on now  this doesn't mean that we should forego equipping   a second weapon in our other hand and continuing  to have a second weapon in our other hand we   do still get the plus one ac benefit from having  that second weapon thanks to the dual wielder feat   and frankly i kind of love the image of a blade  master who uses one weapon primarily for attacks   and then another primarily for defensive  purposes like to parry deflect blows etc   maybe that second weapon is notched right  so that you can catch an enemy weapon in it   we're not getting much benefit from our two weapon  fighting style anymore regardless fortunately for   us since tasha's cauldron of everything came out  we now have the marshall versatility feature which   lets us change our fighting style any time  we gain an ability score increase or feed   from fighter levels which we've just done so at  this point i would suggest dropping two weapon   fighting style and picking up something else  what you replace it with is entirely up to you   if you really wanted to maximize your damage  of course you could drop your offhand weapon   take the ac hit and pick up the dueling fighting  style so you'd get two more damage to each hit   you'd probably expect me to do that but yeah  i committed to two weapon fighting with this   character and i'm not changing that now in  fact if it were me i'd probably go the other   way doubling down on armor class by picking up  the the defense fighting style for an additional   plus one to our armor class with the intelligence  bump that we just got at this level that puts us   at a resting 23 armor class with bladesong active  sheesh you know i've got a bladesinger tank build   almost already built i'd tweak a few things but  i just need to wait long enough for all of you   to forget about this video so it seems fresh  and interesting when i present it in 2022.   there are other great fighting style options  though blind fighting if you think you need   it could be cool um interception if you really  want to be a team player or superior technique   for a once per short rest battle master maneuver  i'm just going to say pick your favorite at level   15 we would be a fighter 9 and we get indomitable  so now once per long rest you can re-roll a   saving throw that you fail that's nice but also  important to note we do get fifth level spell   slots now thanks to multi-classing right six from  wizard plus basically three from eldritch knight   meaning we are a 9th level caster now for spell  slot purposes and that's fantastic as it means   our shadow blade could do 4 d8 per hit for the  record even if you had a flame tongue rapier   using concentration for haste now and getting  that fourth attack would still mean less damage   than making three attacks with a 4d8 shadow blade  especially if using shadow blade would give you   advantage that you otherwise wouldn't have of  course you might have a different magic weapon say   like a plus three rapier or something at that  point it gets a little more tricky a plus three   rapier would take the lead at like higher enemy  armor classes for example but that's also going to   be impacted by whether or not you had advantage  with that rape here or if you would have had   advantage were you using shadow blade i definitely  don't have time to go through each magic rape here   and do like a side by side comparison to like  using that magic weapon with four attacks versus   shadow blade with three but you guys fortunately  can use the exact same calculator that i do   to check the damage yourself it's a great tool i  link to it in every video description it's a dpr   calculator done by ludic savant shout out to him  so yeah play around with it i'm going to assume   that we're sticking with shadow blade at level 16  we would be a fighter 10 and we get the eldritch   strike feature from eldritch knights so this tells  us that when you hit an enemy with an attack it   has disadvantage on a saving throw against a spell  you cast against it until the end of your next   turn i just kind of have a hard time imagining  that we're going to use this all that often   i mean we can cast a can trip when we take the  attack action that doesn't have to be green   flame blade like i've said but like told the dead  would do 3d 12 at this level if they failed their   wisdom safe but i would rather have a 48 shadow  blade plus a 2d8 from green flame blade plus 5   from dexterity then 3d 12 right the place i see  this may be getting used is if you wanted to say   use all of your weapon attacks and you hit three  different enemies right and then you action surge   and throw out say hypnotic pattern because you  want to put a powerful control spell down and now   all three of them that you hit because there's  no limit to how many enemies you can impact with   eldritch strike so all three of them would have  disadvantage on that hypnotic pattern spell or   fireball or you know whatever else that you might  be casting i mean you could also i suppose like   take your two attacks action surge use whole  person and now they have disadvantage right   and then you get at least a bonus action still  attack to make a weapon attack against that enemy   you probably would have done more damage if you're  gonna action surge make weapon attacks but the   rest of your team is gonna benefit from them being  held also not only can the enemy not do things but   attacks against them have advantage for everybody  your melee allies are gonna auto crit etc anyway   you guys let me know what you think the best  use for eldritch smite is in the comment   section i'd love to hear your thoughts there's  probably something that i'm not thinking about   but then finally for us at level 17 we are a  fighter 11 and we have reached the promised land   because fighters at level 11 get extra extra  attack right now we get to make three attacks   when we take the attack action one of which can  be a cantrip thanks to bladesinger and when we   use our action to cast a cantrip we get a  fourth attack as a bonus action for four   shadowblade attacks one of which is made with a  green flame blade rider that does an additional   3d8 of damage at this level at level 17. so  now you could action surge for seven attacks   two of which get the green flame blade rider so  wheat for our final damage report then again i'm   assuming advantage on our attacks thanks to dim  lighter darkness we're using a 4d8 shadow blade   for all four of our attacks plus green flame blade  for one of them adjust accordingly if need be   and thus against an enemy with a 10 armor class we  would be doing 114 damage per round on average and   against an enemy with an 18 armor class it would  be 106 dpr on average we have broken the century   barrier for sustained damage and even against an  enemy ac of 18. we've kind of crept up into the   middle of the pack compared to other t1 sustained  damage builds now and we are strutting with our   belayed master and we're probably harder to hit  by the way than any of those other t1 sustained   dpr builds so let's sum up with final thoughts  the final tier score for this character is a 59   putting it in the bottom half of all tier 1 builds  at the time of this recording anyway i'm impressed   i love the way this character just kept getting  better and better compared to the competition as   they leveled and honestly even if you're only  playing this character until level 8 or 10 or   12 they're still going to be a really strong and  viable character and fun character to play now   keep in mind that those other sustained dpr builds  that i have been comparing this to right they were   all intentionally built to do solid sustained dpr  right so even if you're kind of in the bottom half   of tier 2 sustained dpr builds you're still doing  really well but more important than that for me is   the way that this character really lets me feel  like an awesome gish spellsword blademaster they   might not do quite as much damage as the pure  blade singer i'll admit but they also just play   purely with two weapons their entire career maybe  just a little bit more of a true martial character   who is augmented by their spells then even the  blade singer alone can be who starts to rely   less on their weapons and more on things like  animate objects and summon creatures and things   like that as they level up plus the additional  defense you bring here with the fighter levels the   dual wielder feet just made it feel that much more  fun i think you are going to be almost impossible   to pin down and will bring really solid damage and  a ton of control and utility to the fight as well   when you need it it is a gish's gish and so that's  the build for the week i hope you guys enjoyed it   as much as i enjoyed creating it i can't wait to  play it and hope to do so at least in a one shot   or something sometime soon who knows this might  become a longer term character for me in a future   longer campaign but i love you guys i  think you're fantastic i'm so grateful for   all of your support and please do check  out the other content in the channel   please like and subscribe and consider joining  the channel as a member if you really want to   go the extra mile to support us and get a little  write up for each episode that gives you kind   of a step-by-step guide for how to recreate the  character in-game if you wanted to but regardless   i hope you have a fantastic day i hope to see you  again really soon and until then take care bye fighter world problems mute that's going  to come in that's going to that's going to drink of water consider we can cause that flame to  we can we can we can cause where was i where was i also 2d8 damage plus our  uh oh intelligence modifier proficiency bonus   that's too much that's too much i don't  wanna yeah that's too much so anyway   thanks for coming to my ted talk on the on  the best sustained damage level 1 character   can i cross that off my to-do list  now i'm crossing it off my list

Channel: d4: D&D Deep Dive

Views: 175,186

Keywords: D&D Optimized, dnd, dungeons & dragons, eldritch knight, bladesinger, dpr, how to, guide, 5e, multiclass, two weapon, dual wield, eldrich, blade singer

Id: Jf1Q22-2_nc

Length: 53min 21sec (3201 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 16 2021