Help support the channel by buying D&D Stuff: Xanathar's Guide to Everything amzn.to/3fwtgt0 Mythic Odysseys of Theros amzn.to/3gxoU6j Explorer's Guide to Wildemount amzn.to/3gwbuHr Eberron: Rising from the Last War amzn.to/2XuZ4bw Volo's Guide to Monsters amzn.to/33vSG7Q Player's Handbook amzn.to/33vrRQT Dungeon Master's Guide amzn.to/3i4u6Pg Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes amzn.to/2PqclOj Monster Manual amzn.to/3i4uRYC
The strength of the Eldritch Knight fighter is adding defensive magic and spells to the fighter. Fighter has high AC and combining the Shield spell as a Reaction or Absorb Elements. Later on Blur will make a fighter very hard to hit and high con saves will keep concentration up. War Magic the level 7 feature is one of the best mechanics in 5e. If you want to weave spells in with weapon attacks as a gish, swordmage , spellblade this feels great to use. Eldritch Strike makes up for a low spell save DC. Very fun class to play. Cantrips: Green-Flame Blade, Booming Blade, Toll the Dead/Lightning Lash 1st lvl spells: Shield, Absorb Elements, Find Familiar/Protection from Evil and Good. 2nd lvl spells: Scorching Ray/Shatter, Blur/Hold Person. 3rd lvl spells: Fireball/Lightning Bolt, Haste/Slow.
You sir, know all about the Eldritch Knight. The only quibble I have are the Blade cantrips, depending in what levels you hit. Once you hit level 11, those cantrips are barely useable.
@@scook9999 how are they not usable? hitting someone with your weapon damage then adding 2d8 fire damage than sending 2d8 fire damage+ spell mod to a new target, and taking another weapon attack as a bonus action. So overall one attack you're doing 2d8 + x2str mod + 2d8 fire damage to one target and another 2d8 fire damage+spell mod to another target. So have the potential to do 42 damage to your main target and 20 damage to a secondary target at lvl 11. That's not too shabby. Also with the war caster feat, you can cast green flame blade or booming blade on attacks of opportunity to keep them from rushing past you with booming blade or they take extra damage. All while causing them to have disadvantage on their next turn because you make an attack strike on them.
I rather like the idea of taking Green-Flame Blade and Fire Bolt for the Cantrips, then Fireball when third level spells are available. It's the opportunity to say, "He's on fire" a lot. Possibly on a Half-Orc. Start with 17/8/14/15/10/10 and then use the first ASI to make Strength and Int 18/16. Wizards will typically be Intelligence 18 at level 4, so you're not far behind and you have something they don't. The ability to rip off heads. War Caster at level 6, then pump strength and intelligence. Fighter gets enough ASIs that you should be able to easily max them out.
First round you clock 3 or 4 enemies, depending on if your two weapon fighting. Next turn you Swing swing swing, possibly another swing. Move into position, let loose the mother of all lightning bolts or fireballs.
Eldritch Knight is one of those subclasses you really can mess up. I'm playing one at the moment and the spellcasting is really underwhelming at first, but the strength of the fighter is the multiple attacks it can dish out in its main action. With that, there are 2 types of spells to consider: non main action spells and buffs/debuffs. Things like fireball are nice, but they're really not what to focus on. Reaction spells like shield and absorb elements make you a scary foe to tackle 1 on 1 and a bonus action spell like misty step is interesting. I'm more into buffs/debuffs, with proficiency in CON saves, precasting haste on yourself or hitting the foes with a slow will turn the tide. Spells should be adding to the fighter's arsenal, not replacing it. Fun combo with eldritch knight abilities I found recently, bonded weapon and the catapult spell. I catapult my handaxe at people (my DM allows weapon damage on top of the catapult damage) and then bonus action to bring it back to your hand.
If you want a bit more blasting, try picking up _dragon's breath_ (from Xanathar's Guide to Everything) at level 8. You can cast it on your familiar and have it try to douse your foes in flames or other things. It isn't an attack roll, so it is entirely legal for your familiar to do.
Nice except if you cast it then it uses your int-mod to determine the DC of the target's dex save, that's a spell that's best left to the wizard to cast.
So my thing is Dex based Feral Tiefling Eldritch Knight. Wis and cha is ur dump and con and strength is your average stat, spam Dex and Int up to 20, multiclass 2 levels in War Mage Wizard. Lose 1 asi for 4th level slots and a +5 to initiative. I love the character to death because she’s so glass canon it’s awesome
Green flame blade and booming blade make you a wonderful tank and able to stop people from getting past you. Taking war caster at 4 and sentinel at 6 can keep anyone from getting past you to go after your spell casters. At level 1 I have an AC of 19 in medium armor. Absorb elements and shield can make you extremely beastly. Taking the tough feet later down the line will ensure your hp gets up 280. I'm going to start playing mine at the end of this month and I'm really excited about it.
the best eldritch knight I ever build was an eladrin with the two weapons combat style, took the dual wielder and war caster as soon as possible, max dex and int. in no time, I used a rapier and payed an outrageous amount of money for a throwing weapons with finess and a chain so I can use it lile a ranged weapon while fighting close combat at the same time, over used the combos like attack 4 times, use fey step, attack, action surge, cast a spell, attack again and teleport again. that eldritch knight was unbeatable
@@URGE I like videos like that but most of the time people don't show how it can be used properly what's the loop hole you can use or what is the best way to optimize even the worst subclass/archetype. you should do that because no one on youtube is doing it
Eldritch Knight is interesting because it lends itself very well to a specific type of fighting, that fighting, thrown weapons. Use tridents or other versatile weapons to throw, casting ranged cantrips. Cast cantrip(higher levels throw spell) then throw your weapon, summon back afterwards, and repeat. Versatile weapons then get useful as they melee pretty well. And don't forget every time you gain more spells you can switch out known restricted spells for any other spell. This becomes incredibly useful and has high utility later. However, your fighter is relegated to mob combat specialist so you aren't going to be the God killer type. Int, Dex, Con, are also super helpful for RP and dungeon crawling. Grab an alchemist set and suddenly you're tossing alchemist fire everywhere.
Wouldn't you do better just throwing 3 knives? It also takes a bonus action to summon your weapon so you actually wouldn't be able to repeat this every turn.
Best thing about Eldritch Knight is that it can cast any wizard scroll and use the DC/attack of the scroll even if you have a tiny int score. Scrolls are cheap, Cantrip scrolls are 15gp, level 1 scrolls are 25gp, though level 2 scrolls are 250gp that's still cheaper than a typical single-use magic item that replicates a level 2 spell.
You don't need intellect on an EK. Take buff spells. Shadow blade on an EK+tje Warcaster feat or even resilient (constitution) makes it so you can deal 3d8 per hit PSYCHIC damage and never fear of breaking concentration. And when you fail a con save, indomitable. Don't think if something doesn't look perfect that it isn't good, there are obvious ways to break nearly every class. Also don't ignore a fighters d10 hit die, potential magic weapons/armor (something most wizards have multiclass to get), and 7 asi. Ignore int, take con everytime and have an unkillable, teleporting, sniper with the sharpshooter feat or take GWM as a half-orc flying while blinking in and out of existence popping up long enough to unleash the FUCKENING! Also as always god damn fireball.
Dustin Smith there are always ways to break things :) good points although if you don’t take int wouldn’t your DC for fireball be low ? Thanks for watching!
@@URGE it would be low, but that's permissible on account of how much damage fireball can do. With an 8 int your spell save on fireball is still a 12. With 20 Dex a creature has to roll at least a seven if it doesn't have proficiency in Dex saves. That is worst case scenario. In any case fireball is great and worth taking because of the 48 fire damage potential. You don't HAVE to cast it though it's just a great AOE option.
People get fixated on capstone powers which are a destination, while the game is a journey. But Christian Swensen is right, the two bonus stat ups/feats add much versatility to the character and they are spread through progression at 6th and 14th. +4 stats is nice, but I think a couple of feats really brings out the Eldritch Knight. The trick here is to choose to forgo high strength or high dexterity, keeping the other plus intelligence and constitution. I would take the answer from the name and go with the knightly part, keep high strength, drop dexterity down to 10 and keep it there. You suffer on initiative checks but you can have everything. Boost strength, you can get chainmail from the start. Remember your ranged attacks use intelligence, so past 2nd level you never need to wield a bow again, choose one ranged cantrip and that is your primary ranged attack. Even with the 27pt build you can start with 14 in your three primary skills and 10 in the rest. A higher dex 'dodge tank' also can work, but really you should be looking at arcane archer, arcane trickster or a ranger build. You have better synergy with high strength and high intelligence builds. The main question for an Eldritch Knight is whether to multiclass. Unless you have role play reasons not to the best multiclass option is wizard as it synergises better. Likewise a wizard multiclassing into fighter is best served by being an Eldritch knight. Sure Battlemaster has some nice powers, but every three levels of Eldritch Knight counts as one virtual level of wizard. The optimal blend is to go for twelve levels of Eldritch Knight, enough for the third attack, and remember again you only get the fourth when your character is ready to retire to the shelf. You miss out on the level 14 stat boost, and on the bonus action surge, and your free teleport. But in return you get up to seven cantrips without feats, a six level spell slot, though you can only cast up to level four spells, but you get a wide variety of those, more than a full single class wizard. If you boost your wizard levels higher to 11th Wizard/9th Eldritch Knight you lose more hit points maximum, lose Indomitable and the third attack (so its time to think about whether you want fighter at all). You can now cast 6th level spells (with two slots to cast from) when you can out, but have precious few spell slots to do so with and 6th level spells become your new capstone anyway. Eldritch Knight is one of the best arcane spellcasters, as explained on their own they can out as a level seven Wizard, which is nothing to laugh at, especially as this doesnt take away a jot of the high level fight abilities. If you go pure Eldritch Knight strongly consider the ritual Caster feat. It adds a number of spells (choose Wizard) for role playing purposes. Alarm to protect you while you sleep, Unseen Servant to clean your armour, Phantom Steed for travel and Detect Magic and Identify for sagely looking at enchanted objects and wards. There are others but those are the main ones. If you multiclass to Wizard you are in cantrip heaven, and can generate an obscene number of spells known, admittedly none higher then fourth level, but depending on how you plan your journey you can get to fourth level spells from as low as eighth level, keep and expand them.You can become enormously versatile as a primary spellcaster, with as many spells learned as an archmage, if not more, and missing only the top five spell slots. No Wish spell for you, but in return you are a hard as nails warrior with three attacks, and a respectable Wizard in your own right. If you multiclass consider Divination for the rerolls, or Abjuration for the ablative hit point shield. Also consider at least one feat. For character development either go straight up the Eldritch Knight chain, or progress as a fighter to third level, unlock Eldritch knight then switch to Wizard for either five or seven levels to unlock 3rd and 4th level spells as early as possible. Then return to Eldritch Knight so that your third attack does not become a capstone, progress to level eleven or twelve before completing as a Wizard. An alternate approach is to take one level if Wizard after third level to unlock extra feats and a wider spell selection, then soldier on as Eldritch Knight to unlock your third attack at twelfth level, then continue in any order. This will delay your progression to fourth level spells, but will give you a larger access to lower level spells early, give you a large array of cantrips and make you a very powerful utility focused spellcaster with melee or cantrips for offense. Once you move beyond Platers Handbook and unlock spells that boost melee damage the Eldritch knight becomes a powerhouse and one of the most powerful builds in the game. Spells like Shadow Blade cast on a fighter with extra attacks is brutal, normally this requires party synergy, but the Eldritch Knight can do this on his own, and become both a defensive tank and a primary melee damage dealer. Add some mobility and defensive spells into the mix, say Shield, Blink, Haste and Mirror Image, and the Eldritch Knight becomes exceptionally dangerous.
As others have said, try not to be a wizard, there is a class specifically for this. I’m building as a tank, lightning lure and booming blade for cantrips, shield, absorb energy and likely find familiar for 1st level spells. As a variant human starting off with Sentinel, war caster at level 4 (I am planning to play a 2h weapon level 3 to 4 to be able to reaction my spells) and I think it’s off to a very decent start! No damage spells nonsense, so no need for high intellect.
I think you should revisit this subclass. And really give an in-depth though process here. There’s a LOT that an Eldritch Knight can do and a reason why it’s my favorite subclass for fighter.
cheeky work-around to attack before the spell hits with improved / war magic: 1. burn your reaction to ready action to cast cantrip/spell after your next weapon attack 2. spell is cast as normal (see Ready, Actions in Combat, PHB) 3. since spell is cast, you may now use your bonus action to make a weapon attack 4. allow your ready action to trigger 5. ... 6. PROFIT
To ready an action you spend an action to describe and wait for specified circumstances to happen. If circumstances happen, you can then choose to use your reaction to react. What you tried to explain doesn’t work, need to use action surge.
I'm playing an EK right now. I am not entirely sure I am optimising him because I took PAM (Variant human) at level 1 which runs on reaction and bonus action but the amount of options I have at level 3 are crazy. I have protection from evil when fighting undead, I have shield when I'm being hit and find familiar to give me advantage on an attack and scout. I play the role of 'tank' fantastically. Soon I will also get absorb elements. The idea is at level 7 to use blade ward cantrip and make an attack so I get half damage if I get hit. At some point I will also grab spell sniper or magic initiate to add sword burst and green flame blade or booming blade.
So the whole question of “why not just multiclass 7 levels into wizard & pick a different fighter subclass.” Is an extremely good argument & topic of discussion. For sake of a conducive discussion we have to choose a standard levels of multiclass in both or else the conversation could easily go on forever. Let’s list the pros & cons for both: Multiclassing: You get the benefits of choosing a different martial archetype & a wizard subclass. One of my players said if they were to make a fighter/wizard again they’d go battlemaster + war wizard instead of eldritch Knight. Let’s think out feature-wise what this means. You have access to a lot more spells due to the wizard class. You have a reaction +2 to AC or +4 to saving throw, that limits you to using cantrips. Which might motivate you to attack with your weapon on the following turn. You also have your int added to initiative, which is undoubtedly useful. There is Arcane surge where you sometimes are able to add 3 force damage to a spell. You have access to the whole wizard spell list. This part is immeasurably good because of the versatility it adds to the character. From Fighter you get up to 13th level. So: Action Surge Second Wind heals 1d10+13 7 battle master maneuvers 5 superiority dice (d10s) Know your Enemy 2 uses of Indomitable In total you will have 5 ability score improvements. Now let’s see how the eldritch Knight stacks up. It will have more hitpoints due to no levels in wizard 7 ability score improvements Second wind heals 7 more 2 Action Surges You have 4 attacks 3 uses of Indomitable Impossible to lose 2 of your weapons (unless on other plane) Make an attack after casting any spell After attacks the opponent has disadvantage on saves. Teleportation 30 ft on an action surge The largest benefit is this: with going eldritch Knight you’ll never miss important points in the game because you’re a multiclass. For example. At level 5 with eldritch Knight you have 2 attacks and 3 first level slots. Which can be accomplished in a multiclass with 5 levels in fighter and 2 levels in wizard. In my opinion, you will be more on pace with the curve of the game & closer to the power levels of the rest of the party if you choose eldritch Knight.
You could also multiclass and be Eldtritch Knight and War Wizard. Synergizes much better than another fighter subclass. More spell slots due to multiclass rules (you get will get spell slots higher than spells you can learn but you can always upcast lower level spell). You also get more cantrips and more spells prepared because you can prepare your wizard spells and have fighter spells. Eldritch knight can also make use of the SCAG cantrips plus the level 7 War Magic ability. The damage from Green Flame Blade or Booming Blade plus a bonus action attack is comparable to damage from a regular multi attack since you get the damage from 2 attacks plus the elemental damage (and cantrips get stronger with total level). Also works well with Arcane Deflection because casting only cantrips is not really a bad thing for this build.
@@matthewmiller1847 In my current campaign i plan on going 8ek and 12 paladin, with booming blade and green flame blade as my 2 cantrips. Between fire and thunder damage you can hit anything and later on apply max smites to both hits. This is a lot of damage to deal as someone who will probably have over 20ac and massive hp. Only bad thing is I won't get any 5th level spells if it lasts until level 20 but that's fine. Taking war caster, shield master, resilience in dex, and tough as my first feats will make him a powerhouse in defense and damage. At max level with the right magic items and another target within 5 feet you can put out over 200 damage in a turn with action surge.
@@ccgod that sounds awesome! That damage output sounds insane. Especially with a crit. I do plan to make an EK mixed with War Wizard. While the damage can still be good, I'm going more for tank that just can't get hit lol, plus utility casting. Either EK 11/Wiz 9 or EK 10/Wiz 10 if I can get to level 20 (which I might). Level 10 War Magic gives you plus 2 to AC and all saving throws when concentrating on a spell. So with 20 AC (or more with defensive fighting style or magic armor/shield), plus haste, plus durable magic I could be at 24 AC which can be boosted to 26 with arcane deflection or 29 with Shield spell. Plus I would have a +2 bonus to all saves which can be boosted to +6 with arcane deflection. I would probably only do EK 11 if I knew for sure I wasnt going to level 20. 3 attacks is always nice but the cantrip damage is about the same with the war magic bonus attack. Your build doesnt get level 5 spells but you should be fine without it. The main reason I want level 5 spells is for Steel Wind Strike because it just sounds awesome and there's a teleport attached to it. Another interesting EK build I saw from Nerd Immersion was an EK mixed with Tempest Domain cleric.
While all the criticism against the class is justified, it's the retaining the full Fighter class benefits that sells it. And if the chips are down and everyone's temporarily Silent most lose a good chunk of their strength but not you :)
@@marcos2492 it's 4 spells (one at 3rd, 8th, 14th and 20th), I don't really mind the restriction, if you want better spellcasting maybe *fighter* isn't the right choice, you aren't a spellcaster that can fight you're a fighter that can cast spells (there is a substantial difference), there is the college of swords bard and the bladesinger wizard both are superior casters, both are inferior warriors.
It's such a pointless limitation, I don't enforce it in my games. It's not as if you can ONLY have Abjuration/Evocation... it's just that it's MOSTLY those. So what's the point? It doesn't actually rule out any particular spell being picked, you can still - possibly - have any 2nd-level wizard spell once you reach level 7. It's a hangover from older editions that really doesn't serve much purpose. At level 7 the wizard is casting things like Dimension Door.
I'm starting a campaign with an Eldritch Knight as a Variant Human with Magic Initiate feat with the Warlock cantrips of Mage Hand and Eldritch Blast and the Hex spell. If I Hex a creature and then use my two weapon fighting, each hit provokes the additional Hex damage. That's very helpful for boss fights.
Playing an eldritch knight now... Just saying that having the multiple attacks plus spells makes you a killing machine especially if you take on attack spells Also the lvl 7 war magic if you use eldritch blast for your cantrip you're basically giving yourself a +d10 buff to every attack you take, it's actually starting to screw the balance in my group since I'm making the most hits lol
@@joelsasmad That's the way you'd expect it to work, except then it might be a tad too powerful. There'd be little reason to not cast Booming Blade every round in melee combat and get effectively 3 melee attack per turn or always have Blade Ward active for resistance to most forms of damage.
@@Treblaine I'd argue that you can get that same bonus action attack as a fighter using two weapon fighting, polearm master, or crossbow expert, but I get that you mean greatsword attacks and you would be getting a bit more damage from green flameblade/booming blade. I just don't see enough reason to actually use war magic most of the time. It bugs me.
I made an eldritch knight who first took 3 levels of monk, for whom I chose way of the kensei. So he centered around kensei shot with thrown weapons and then could retrieve them easily, it limited his necessary stats by rolling off of dex only for attacks with his monk weapons. He's only up to level 10 currently but the combination of kensei weapons with bonuses EK gets for their chosen weapons, plus the limited useful spells and ability to use ki are synergizing well so far
@@CheefChaos mainly ranged, the combo of kensei shot and being able to return my weapons to my hand along with spells gives me that option often, but at close range I can flurry or us ki to disengage to regain range
Ummm… You guys are aware that FIghters get 2 more ASIs than most classes, right? So the ability dilution you mention, which would be the same for any gish type class (Paladin, Ranger, and various other subclasses and multiclasses) actually affects the EK less. I mean, the extra 2 ASIs can bump INT up 4pts. That goes a long way towards synergy. If you were to focus on DEX attacks, you could dump STR and have plenty of ASIs and still take a feat or two... I feel like nit picking each feature, rather than addressing the whole class, is a theme in every review of yours. Knocking down the highest performing (this isn't that one) subclasses in the game doesn't build credibility...
That also assumes campaign reaches 20th level, which is rarely the case. Also again, we are just looking at each ability individually and giving our input based on that. The other thing is we just wanted to make sure to mention that multiclassing is an OPTION, that may or may not meet what you’re trying to do (but it is definitely worth considering!) Certainly people will disagree and that’s fine :) we’d love to discuss these and I’m sure we will over rate and underrate some things from time to time, but we are basing most of the things on the abilities collectively added and if for example 3/5 abilities don’t do anything combat related, it’s probably not going to get a good combat score. Same goes for the other categories. Again, just our opinions and I’m sure people will disagree which is the case in any “rating” or “review” of something :) thanks for watching!
@@URGE I would argue the worst feature is the one at level 18, and the best are levels, 3, 10, 15, and 7, in that order. If you are in a campaign that goes no higher than 10, then level 7 class feature might be the best, as you (on average) will get more damage of cantrip + bonus attack vs 2 attacks. Edit: Btw, I am pretty sure Battlemaster is your highest rated, and I agree. It's all subjective and agree also! Just....try it and think warrior and do everything in your power to enhance it and....oh, yes, my Precious, we hides in the darks and schemes, yes, you'll see!
URGE TV The extra feats come at level 6 and 14. Well before 20 level. the synergy is there with the subclass, it just takes a bit more games mechanics knowledge to make it work. You have this problem with all spells “known” classes/subclasses. Btw dex based elven accuracy Eldritch knight with shadow blade is ridiculous.
I would love to play in your group and show you how it really works. They are not a gish at all. You can make them a gish, but....18 levels and 2 Action Surges with this bad boy....Mmmmmm, approaching Nirvana.
I’ve considered adding warlock spells to my eldritch Knight like hex, create bonfire, and friends but I wish magic initiate would give the spell back on a short rest like the class does.
I love the Eldritch Knight subclass!!! I'm currently making a Dragonborn Eldritch Knight for the campaign my friends and I are going to start in a couple of days, he is a half Red half Silver Dragonborn named Draygar 😁
@@niekesselbrugge1132 What? No, my character is not gay, he's straight, my character and my friend's female Tiefling character are a thing currently lol
Yes exactly, it is meant to supplement/Augment/support your fighting style not be the staple of it, people see that an eldritch knight can cast spells and forget they are still a fighter at their core.
It is really cool. Same with the arcane trickster rogue where not primarily being a spellcaster means that there are different options that are really good for you.
My first run with Eldrich Knight is going well: I have poked multiple magical things and I lost my left pinkie and after most recent session got cursed! xD Now I have negative int and wisdom but magic dmg x2. Plz send some help :----D My wolf is sitting on it's ass pissed at the most of the time.
To play the Eldritch Knight properly you need to use your action to do Fighter stuff and your Bonus action and reactions to do wizard stuff. Also look for defensive spells that don't require concentration like mirror image. So you can use Shield, Absorb elements, with a reaction and Mirror image or Blink at the start of combat. Misty Step as extra mobility. At higher levels you can hit someone with a sword three times on one turn. then hold person on them the next turn and they have disadvantage on their save. and you get to make a melee attack against the held person as a bonus action. When your opponent is held that is the time to action surge. Kill it too soon? hey you got a free teleport with that actions surge go get a new target.
I do understand the Appeal of Eldritch knight, with being one of the ways you can build a spellblade and it’s cool etc. however, I feel that it and it’s counter part arcane trickster, are starting to lose a bit of their relevancy rp and game play wise. What I mean is specifically for Eldritch Knight, it was that fighter that took and interest in magic and specialized into complementary schools of magic, those being evocation and adjuration via learning like the wizard right? Yet WOTC kind of retread the same water by going back and making a literal wizard school that combines both of the same magics again for the wizard with a few more thematic abilities than what was the original war mage, war magic, etc that the Eldritch Knight was. At this point I thinks it’s a possibly they’ll do the same thing again to the arcane trickster by making another wizard school for enchantment and illusion together thus the archetype losing some of its uniqueness. I mean original I thought they were going to continue the trend by giving the other martial archetypes a archetype with two magic schools like barbarian with limited magic called the shaman warrior and give him limited access to divination and necromancy magic, or a monk with transmutation and conjuration and call it way of the sage or something but because the way the schools split it and the way it would work with having only those spells of that school it falls apart. So just a strait caster with no limitations on their magic just ends up being a better pick. I mean as Eldritch Knight is an the way they seem to be making schools that tread old water.. I’d rather just change the Eldritch Knight to not have that school limitation and call him arcane knight if anything.
I agree. I think it would have been pretty cool and more flavorful to have a magic knight that chooses a school they are restricted to with slightly more chance to grab spells of other schools. That way I could be a necromancy using death knight or a abjuratikn using templar dedicated to defensive magic, ect.
Building characters for a new game, with an "old school" DM from the early days. He made us roll 5 instead of 4 ability score dice, but we had to put them in order and cant rearrange them (not a fan) But i ended up with an 18 in STR, CON, and INT at level one. Trying to decide between an Eldritch, or the new Psi Warrior, both are normally held back by struggling to get enough INT, so i wonder which would benefit more from an INT boost?
can u help me understand how the spell choosing works for EK? i have a low level EK (lvl 3) and ive read it over a bunch of times but the wording confuses me. am i limited by in what school i can use? that was my understanding. i thought i could only use evocation and abjuration for most of them. i dont quite know how that works
I'm also pretty new but from what I understood you can only take spells from two schools (evoc and abj), except when you reach some specific higher EK Levels. For instance at EK Level 8 you can pick a Divination spell.
As a moderator if any sort of martial character, not evil especially & not adept in the ways of self is in for absolute horror.....those evil on borrowed time only horror remains unless redeemed.
I might be alone, but in my opinion Eldritch Knight is really bad. I'm already upset about them being something called a 1/3 caster? But the Arcane Trickster pulls it off because they have awesome abilities like Spell Thief, Magic Ambush, and more. But the Eldritch Knights abilities just kind of suck, I mean they're better than nothing but...really? Would you rather cast a spell and make one attack, or use that action to make 4 attacks? Eldritch Strike is probably the only ability I think is actually really really good, I wish they expanded more on the Weapon Bond, like at higher levels you could make that weapon magical and give it bonuses or something I don't know! Anything is better than this!
You guys seriously missed the mark with your analysis of this Fighter subclass. You don't add Intelligence as an additional needed stat, because if the player is smart they aren't choosing spells that have their success based on INT. No, instead you're a Fighter who is throwing around a number of spells which don't require a high INT to be potent, and which accentuate your melee capabilities and your Fighter stats and capabilities. Cantrips such as True Strike or Shocking Grasp play well with a martial caster. Casting Shield rather than Hideous Laughter might be wise, etc.
First time I ever used shocking grasp was on a pair of nuts belonging to the initial quest giver surrounded by his guards. stunned the dude to assert my authority, but the guards knocked me unconscious before I could do that. :’(
True strike does not. It exclusively gives advantage to a single attack on your next turn at the cost of your action. Even if your action only gets one attack you could have just attacked twice over those two turns for the same effect bit a chance of higher damage. This doesn't synergize with war magic becuase it specifies an attack on your next turn, not your next attack. It actually gets worse when that same action could have given you multiple attacks at level 5+.
@@joelsasmad Thanks for the clarification. Having played 3.5 for so long I often confuse the spell effects, and in 3.5 True Strike gave you a +20 Insight bonus to your next attack, which is not only a significant bonus but stacks with almost everything else since Insight bonus wasn't terribly common.
I'm not good at writing thing so here's an idea for a subclass for the fighter that I've had four age is called the siegebreaker focused on heavy hitting offensive attacks can someone write it and then send a link to me by the comments so I can use it in my next game please.
Help support the channel by buying D&D Stuff:
Xanathar's Guide to Everything amzn.to/3fwtgt0
Mythic Odysseys of Theros amzn.to/3gxoU6j
Explorer's Guide to Wildemount amzn.to/3gwbuHr
Eberron: Rising from the Last War amzn.to/2XuZ4bw
Volo's Guide to Monsters amzn.to/33vSG7Q
Player's Handbook amzn.to/33vrRQT
Dungeon Master's Guide amzn.to/3i4u6Pg
Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes amzn.to/2PqclOj
Monster Manual amzn.to/3i4uRYC
Instablaster
I would highly recommend grabbing the shield spell, it helped my fighter become a super tank.
Shield and Shadow blade are both excellent for an EK.
The strength of the Eldritch Knight fighter is adding defensive magic and spells to the fighter. Fighter has high AC and combining the Shield spell as a Reaction or Absorb Elements. Later on Blur will make a fighter very hard to hit and high con saves will keep concentration up.
War Magic the level 7 feature is one of the best mechanics in 5e. If you want to weave spells in with weapon attacks as a gish, swordmage , spellblade this feels great to use.
Eldritch Strike makes up for a low spell save DC.
Very fun class to play.
Cantrips: Green-Flame Blade, Booming Blade, Toll the Dead/Lightning Lash
1st lvl spells: Shield, Absorb Elements, Find Familiar/Protection from Evil and Good.
2nd lvl spells: Scorching Ray/Shatter, Blur/Hold Person.
3rd lvl spells: Fireball/Lightning Bolt, Haste/Slow.
You sir, know all about the Eldritch Knight. The only quibble I have are the Blade cantrips, depending in what levels you hit. Once you hit level 11, those cantrips are barely useable.
The ability to slap hold person on someone with disadvantage to the safe is awesome.
@@scook9999 how are they not usable? hitting someone with your weapon damage then adding 2d8 fire damage than sending 2d8 fire damage+ spell mod to a new target, and taking another weapon attack as a bonus action. So overall one attack you're doing 2d8 + x2str mod + 2d8 fire damage to one target and another 2d8 fire damage+spell mod to another target. So have the potential to do 42 damage to your main target and 20 damage to a secondary target at lvl 11. That's not too shabby. Also with the war caster feat, you can cast green flame blade or booming blade on attacks of opportunity to keep them from rushing past you with booming blade or they take extra damage. All while causing them to have disadvantage on their next turn because you make an attack strike on them.
I rather like the idea of taking Green-Flame Blade and Fire Bolt for the Cantrips, then Fireball when third level spells are available.
It's the opportunity to say, "He's on fire" a lot.
Possibly on a Half-Orc. Start with 17/8/14/15/10/10 and then use the first ASI to make Strength and Int 18/16. Wizards will typically be Intelligence 18 at level 4, so you're not far behind and you have something they don't. The ability to rip off heads. War Caster at level 6, then pump strength and intelligence. Fighter gets enough ASIs that you should be able to easily max them out.
First round you clock 3 or 4 enemies, depending on if your two weapon fighting. Next turn you Swing swing swing, possibly another swing. Move into position, let loose the mother of all lightning bolts or fireballs.
The interesting part of the Eldritch knight, just dump intelligence and take spells that are either defensive or don't require spell attack or save.
Eldritch Knight is one of those subclasses you really can mess up. I'm playing one at the moment and the spellcasting is really underwhelming at first, but the strength of the fighter is the multiple attacks it can dish out in its main action. With that, there are 2 types of spells to consider: non main action spells and buffs/debuffs. Things like fireball are nice, but they're really not what to focus on. Reaction spells like shield and absorb elements make you a scary foe to tackle 1 on 1 and a bonus action spell like misty step is interesting. I'm more into buffs/debuffs, with proficiency in CON saves, precasting haste on yourself or hitting the foes with a slow will turn the tide. Spells should be adding to the fighter's arsenal, not replacing it.
Fun combo with eldritch knight abilities I found recently, bonded weapon and the catapult spell. I catapult my handaxe at people (my DM allows weapon damage on top of the catapult damage) and then bonus action to bring it back to your hand.
If you want a bit more blasting, try picking up _dragon's breath_ (from Xanathar's Guide to Everything) at level 8. You can cast it on your familiar and have it try to douse your foes in flames or other things. It isn't an attack roll, so it is entirely legal for your familiar to do.
Yeah zeebashew did a thing on it with firebreathing rats
Nice except if you cast it then it uses your int-mod to determine the DC of the target's dex save, that's a spell that's best left to the wizard to cast.
Tressyms from Storm King's T are damn good choice for this. Int 11.
@@draxthemsklonst It doesn't use the int of whoever breathes the fire, it uses the Int of whoever casts the spell on the target.
@@Treblaine
Ah, I stand corrected
I’m a Warlock/Eldritch Knight multiclass combo. I get 3 weapons I can summon at will along with pushing people with Eldritch Blast. It was fun.
So my thing is Dex based Feral Tiefling Eldritch Knight. Wis and cha is ur dump and con and strength is your average stat, spam Dex and Int up to 20, multiclass 2 levels in War Mage Wizard. Lose 1 asi for 4th level slots and a +5 to initiative. I love the character to death because she’s so glass canon it’s awesome
Green flame blade and booming blade make you a wonderful tank and able to stop people from getting past you. Taking war caster at 4 and sentinel at 6 can keep anyone from getting past you to go after your spell casters. At level 1 I have an AC of 19 in medium armor. Absorb elements and shield can make you extremely beastly. Taking the tough feet later down the line will ensure your hp gets up 280. I'm going to start playing mine at the end of this month and I'm really excited about it.
the best eldritch knight I ever build was an eladrin with the two weapons combat style, took the dual wielder and war caster as soon as possible, max dex and int. in no time, I used a rapier and payed an outrageous amount of money for a throwing weapons with finess and a chain so I can use it lile a ranged weapon while fighting close combat at the same time, over used the combos like attack 4 times, use fey step, attack, action surge, cast a spell, attack again and teleport again. that eldritch knight was unbeatable
patrick N sounds like an interesting build :) thanks for watching!
@@URGE I like videos like that but most of the time people don't show how it can be used properly what's the loop hole you can use or what is the best way to optimize even the worst subclass/archetype. you should do that because no one on youtube is doing it
Eldritch Knight is interesting because it lends itself very well to a specific type of fighting, that fighting, thrown weapons. Use tridents or other versatile weapons to throw, casting ranged cantrips. Cast cantrip(higher levels throw spell) then throw your weapon, summon back afterwards, and repeat. Versatile weapons then get useful as they melee pretty well. And don't forget every time you gain more spells you can switch out known restricted spells for any other spell. This becomes incredibly useful and has high utility later. However, your fighter is relegated to mob combat specialist so you aren't going to be the God killer type. Int, Dex, Con, are also super helpful for RP and dungeon crawling. Grab an alchemist set and suddenly you're tossing alchemist fire everywhere.
Wouldn't you do better just throwing 3 knives? It also takes a bonus action to summon your weapon so you actually wouldn't be able to repeat this every turn.
Best thing about Eldritch Knight is that it can cast any wizard scroll and use the DC/attack of the scroll even if you have a tiny int score. Scrolls are cheap, Cantrip scrolls are 15gp, level 1 scrolls are 25gp, though level 2 scrolls are 250gp that's still cheaper than a typical single-use magic item that replicates a level 2 spell.
You don't need intellect on an EK. Take buff spells. Shadow blade on an EK+tje Warcaster feat or even resilient (constitution) makes it so you can deal 3d8 per hit PSYCHIC damage and never fear of breaking concentration. And when you fail a con save, indomitable. Don't think if something doesn't look perfect that it isn't good, there are obvious ways to break nearly every class. Also don't ignore a fighters d10 hit die, potential magic weapons/armor (something most wizards have multiclass to get), and 7 asi. Ignore int, take con everytime and have an unkillable, teleporting, sniper with the sharpshooter feat or take GWM as a half-orc flying while blinking in and out of existence popping up long enough to unleash the FUCKENING! Also as always god damn fireball.
Dustin Smith there are always ways to break things :) good points although if you don’t take int wouldn’t your DC for fireball be low ? Thanks for watching!
@@URGE it would be low, but that's permissible on account of how much damage fireball can do. With an 8 int your spell save on fireball is still a 12. With 20 Dex a creature has to roll at least a seven if it doesn't have proficiency in Dex saves. That is worst case scenario. In any case fireball is great and worth taking because of the 48 fire damage potential. You don't HAVE to cast it though it's just a great AOE option.
@@URGE Fireball is something that the Wizard in your group can cast and cast more often and cast things even better than Fireball.
People get fixated on capstone powers which are a destination, while the game is a journey. But Christian Swensen is right, the two bonus stat ups/feats add much versatility to the character and they are spread through progression at 6th and 14th. +4 stats is nice, but I think a couple of feats really brings out the Eldritch Knight. The trick here is to choose to forgo high strength or high dexterity, keeping the other plus intelligence and constitution. I would take the answer from the name and go with the knightly part, keep high strength, drop dexterity down to 10 and keep it there. You suffer on initiative checks but you can have everything. Boost strength, you can get chainmail from the start. Remember your ranged attacks use intelligence, so past 2nd level you never need to wield a bow again, choose one ranged cantrip and that is your primary ranged attack. Even with the 27pt build you can start with 14 in your three primary skills and 10 in the rest. A higher dex 'dodge tank' also can work, but really you should be looking at arcane archer, arcane trickster or a ranger build. You have better synergy with high strength and high intelligence builds.
The main question for an Eldritch Knight is whether to multiclass. Unless you have role play reasons not to the best multiclass option is wizard as it synergises better. Likewise a wizard multiclassing into fighter is best served by being an Eldritch knight. Sure Battlemaster has some nice powers, but every three levels of Eldritch Knight counts as one virtual level of wizard. The optimal blend is to go for twelve levels of Eldritch Knight, enough for the third attack, and remember again you only get the fourth when your character is ready to retire to the shelf. You miss out on the level 14 stat boost, and on the bonus action surge, and your free teleport. But in return you get up to seven cantrips without feats, a six level spell slot, though you can only cast up to level four spells, but you get a wide variety of those, more than a full single class wizard.
If you boost your wizard levels higher to 11th Wizard/9th Eldritch Knight you lose more hit points maximum, lose Indomitable and the third attack (so its time to think about whether you want fighter at all). You can now cast 6th level spells (with two slots to cast from) when you can out, but have precious few spell slots to do so with and 6th level spells become your new capstone anyway.
Eldritch Knight is one of the best arcane spellcasters, as explained on their own they can out as a level seven Wizard, which is nothing to laugh at, especially as this doesnt take away a jot of the high level fight abilities. If you go pure Eldritch Knight strongly consider the ritual Caster feat. It adds a number of spells (choose Wizard) for role playing purposes. Alarm to protect you while you sleep, Unseen Servant to clean your armour, Phantom Steed for travel and Detect Magic and Identify for sagely looking at enchanted objects and wards. There are others but those are the main ones. If you multiclass to Wizard you are in cantrip heaven, and can generate an obscene number of spells known, admittedly none higher then fourth level, but depending on how you plan your journey you can get to fourth level spells from as low as eighth level, keep and expand them.You can become enormously versatile as a primary spellcaster, with as many spells learned as an archmage, if not more, and missing only the top five spell slots. No Wish spell for you, but in return you are a hard as nails warrior with three attacks, and a respectable Wizard in your own right.
If you multiclass consider Divination for the rerolls, or Abjuration for the ablative hit point shield. Also consider at least one feat.
For character development either go straight up the Eldritch Knight chain, or progress as a fighter to third level, unlock Eldritch knight then switch to Wizard for either five or seven levels to unlock 3rd and 4th level spells as early as possible. Then return to Eldritch Knight so that your third attack does not become a capstone, progress to level eleven or twelve before completing as a Wizard. An alternate approach is to take one level if Wizard after third level to unlock extra feats and a wider spell selection, then soldier on as Eldritch Knight to unlock your third attack at twelfth level, then continue in any order. This will delay your progression to fourth level spells, but will give you a larger access to lower level spells early, give you a large array of cantrips and make you a very powerful utility focused spellcaster with melee or cantrips for offense.
Once you move beyond Platers Handbook and unlock spells that boost melee damage the Eldritch knight becomes a powerhouse and one of the most powerful builds in the game. Spells like Shadow Blade cast on a fighter with extra attacks is brutal, normally this requires party synergy, but the Eldritch Knight can do this on his own, and become both a defensive tank and a primary melee damage dealer. Add some mobility and defensive spells into the mix, say Shield, Blink, Haste and Mirror Image, and the Eldritch Knight becomes exceptionally dangerous.
Good advice. I'm thinking of a Variant Human EK with Ritual Caster from the get go.
As others have said, try not to be a wizard, there is a class specifically for this. I’m building as a tank, lightning lure and booming blade for cantrips, shield, absorb energy and likely find familiar for 1st level spells. As a variant human starting off with Sentinel, war caster at level 4 (I am planning to play a 2h weapon level 3 to 4 to be able to reaction my spells) and I think it’s off to a very decent start! No damage spells nonsense, so no need for high intellect.
I think you should revisit this subclass. And really give an in-depth though process here. There’s a LOT that an Eldritch Knight can do and a reason why it’s my favorite subclass for fighter.
cheeky work-around to attack before the spell hits with improved / war magic:
1. burn your reaction to ready action to cast cantrip/spell after your next weapon attack
2. spell is cast as normal (see Ready, Actions in Combat, PHB)
3. since spell is cast, you may now use your bonus action to make a weapon attack
4. allow your ready action to trigger
5. ...
6. PROFIT
To ready an action you spend an action to describe and wait for specified circumstances to happen. If circumstances happen, you can then choose to use your reaction to react. What you tried to explain doesn’t work, need to use action surge.
I'm playing an EK right now. I am not entirely sure I am optimising him because I took PAM (Variant human) at level 1 which runs on reaction and bonus action but the amount of options I have at level 3 are crazy. I have protection from evil when fighting undead, I have shield when I'm being hit and find familiar to give me advantage on an attack and scout. I play the role of 'tank' fantastically. Soon I will also get absorb elements. The idea is at level 7 to use blade ward cantrip and make an attack so I get half damage if I get hit. At some point I will also grab spell sniper or magic initiate to add sword burst and green flame blade or booming blade.
So the whole question of “why not just multiclass 7 levels into wizard & pick a different fighter subclass.” Is an extremely good argument & topic of discussion. For sake of a conducive discussion we have to choose a standard levels of multiclass in both or else the conversation could easily go on forever. Let’s list the pros & cons for both:
Multiclassing:
You get the benefits of choosing a different martial archetype & a wizard subclass. One of my players said if they were to make a fighter/wizard again they’d go battlemaster + war wizard instead of eldritch Knight.
Let’s think out feature-wise what this means.
You have access to a lot more spells due to the wizard class.
You have a reaction +2 to AC or +4 to saving throw, that limits you to using cantrips. Which might motivate you to attack with your weapon on the following turn.
You also have your int added to initiative, which is undoubtedly useful.
There is Arcane surge where you sometimes are able to add 3 force damage to a spell.
You have access to the whole wizard spell list. This part is immeasurably good because of the versatility it adds to the character.
From Fighter you get up to 13th level. So:
Action Surge
Second Wind heals 1d10+13
7 battle master maneuvers
5 superiority dice (d10s)
Know your Enemy
2 uses of Indomitable
In total you will have 5 ability score improvements.
Now let’s see how the eldritch Knight stacks up.
It will have more hitpoints due to no levels in wizard
7 ability score improvements
Second wind heals 7 more
2 Action Surges
You have 4 attacks
3 uses of Indomitable
Impossible to lose 2 of your weapons (unless on other plane)
Make an attack after casting any spell
After attacks the opponent has disadvantage on saves.
Teleportation 30 ft on an action surge
The largest benefit is this: with going eldritch Knight you’ll never miss important points in the game because you’re a multiclass. For example. At level 5 with eldritch Knight you have 2 attacks and 3 first level slots. Which can be accomplished in a multiclass with 5 levels in fighter and 2 levels in wizard. In my opinion, you will be more on pace with the curve of the game & closer to the power levels of the rest of the party if you choose eldritch Knight.
You could also multiclass and be Eldtritch Knight and War Wizard. Synergizes much better than another fighter subclass. More spell slots due to multiclass rules (you get will get spell slots higher than spells you can learn but you can always upcast lower level spell). You also get more cantrips and more spells prepared because you can prepare your wizard spells and have fighter spells.
Eldritch knight can also make use of the SCAG cantrips plus the level 7 War Magic ability. The damage from Green Flame Blade or Booming Blade plus a bonus action attack is comparable to damage from a regular multi attack since you get the damage from 2 attacks plus the elemental damage (and cantrips get stronger with total level). Also works well with Arcane Deflection because casting only cantrips is not really a bad thing for this build.
@@matthewmiller1847 In my current campaign i plan on going 8ek and 12 paladin, with booming blade and green flame blade as my 2 cantrips. Between fire and thunder damage you can hit anything and later on apply max smites to both hits. This is a lot of damage to deal as someone who will probably have over 20ac and massive hp. Only bad thing is I won't get any 5th level spells if it lasts until level 20 but that's fine. Taking war caster, shield master, resilience in dex, and tough as my first feats will make him a powerhouse in defense and damage. At max level with the right magic items and another target within 5 feet you can put out over 200 damage in a turn with action surge.
@@ccgod that sounds awesome! That damage output sounds insane. Especially with a crit. I do plan to make an EK mixed with War Wizard. While the damage can still be good, I'm going more for tank that just can't get hit lol, plus utility casting. Either EK 11/Wiz 9 or EK 10/Wiz 10 if I can get to level 20 (which I might). Level 10 War Magic gives you plus 2 to AC and all saving throws when concentrating on a spell. So with 20 AC (or more with defensive fighting style or magic armor/shield), plus haste, plus durable magic I could be at 24 AC which can be boosted to 26 with arcane deflection or 29 with Shield spell. Plus I would have a +2 bonus to all saves which can be boosted to +6 with arcane deflection. I would probably only do EK 11 if I knew for sure I wasnt going to level 20. 3 attacks is always nice but the cantrip damage is about the same with the war magic bonus attack. Your build doesnt get level 5 spells but you should be fine without it. The main reason I want level 5 spells is for Steel Wind Strike because it just sounds awesome and there's a teleport attached to it. Another interesting EK build I saw from Nerd Immersion was an EK mixed with Tempest Domain cleric.
While all the criticism against the class is justified, it's the retaining the full Fighter class benefits that sells it. And if the chips are down and everyone's temporarily Silent most lose a good chunk of their strength but not you :)
The worst part of this class wasn't mentioned. Spell school limitation.
Agreed
You have like 2 spells you can learn from any school, the rest have to be abujaration or evokation
Yup, unless one frees all schools through a houserule. I'd do that just for the lulz and to encourage the player to be more creative.
@@marcos2492 it's 4 spells (one at 3rd, 8th, 14th and 20th), I don't really mind the restriction, if you want better spellcasting maybe *fighter* isn't the right choice, you aren't a spellcaster that can fight you're a fighter that can cast spells (there is a substantial difference), there is the college of swords bard and the bladesinger wizard both are superior casters, both are inferior warriors.
it'd not be funny: false life ->attack ->actian surge ->fire ball->attack it'd not be balanced.
It's such a pointless limitation, I don't enforce it in my games. It's not as if you can ONLY have Abjuration/Evocation... it's just that it's MOSTLY those. So what's the point? It doesn't actually rule out any particular spell being picked, you can still - possibly - have any 2nd-level wizard spell once you reach level 7. It's a hangover from older editions that really doesn't serve much purpose. At level 7 the wizard is casting things like Dimension Door.
I'm starting a campaign with an Eldritch Knight as a Variant Human with Magic Initiate feat with the Warlock cantrips of Mage Hand and Eldritch Blast and the Hex spell. If I Hex a creature and then use my two weapon fighting, each hit provokes the additional Hex damage. That's very helpful for boss fights.
Playing an eldritch knight now...
Just saying that having the multiple attacks plus spells makes you a killing machine especially if you take on attack spells
Also the lvl 7 war magic if you use eldritch blast for your cantrip you're basically giving yourself a +d10 buff to every attack you take, it's actually starting to screw the balance in my group since I'm making the most hits lol
Remember that War Magic doesn't let you use Extra Attack, so you're effectively trading a weapon attack for casting a cantrip.
Did you use Magic Initiate for Eldritch Blast? Normally EB is only Available through Magic Initiate, Spell Sniper, Warlock, and Magical Secrets.
@@Treblaine Honestly war magic should have been the other way around letting you use the cantrip as a bonus action so you keep the multiple attacks.
@@joelsasmad That's the way you'd expect it to work, except then it might be a tad too powerful. There'd be little reason to not cast Booming Blade every round in melee combat and get effectively 3 melee attack per turn or always have Blade Ward active for resistance to most forms of damage.
@@Treblaine I'd argue that you can get that same bonus action attack as a fighter using two weapon fighting, polearm master, or crossbow expert, but I get that you mean greatsword attacks and you would be getting a bit more damage from green flameblade/booming blade. I just don't see enough reason to actually use war magic most of the time. It bugs me.
I made an eldritch knight who first took 3 levels of monk, for whom I chose way of the kensei. So he centered around kensei shot with thrown weapons and then could retrieve them easily, it limited his necessary stats by rolling off of dex only for attacks with his monk weapons. He's only up to level 10 currently but the combination of kensei weapons with bonuses EK gets for their chosen weapons, plus the limited useful spells and ability to use ki are synergizing well so far
Are you ranged mostly or mixed?
@@CheefChaos mainly ranged, the combo of kensei shot and being able to return my weapons to my hand along with spells gives me that option often, but at close range I can flurry or us ki to disengage to regain range
Ummm… You guys are aware that FIghters get 2 more ASIs than most classes, right? So the ability dilution you mention, which would be the same for any gish type class (Paladin, Ranger, and various other subclasses and multiclasses) actually affects the EK less. I mean, the extra 2 ASIs can bump INT up 4pts. That goes a long way towards synergy. If you were to focus on DEX attacks, you could dump STR and have plenty of ASIs and still take a feat or two...
I feel like nit picking each feature, rather than addressing the whole class, is a theme in every review of yours. Knocking down the highest performing (this isn't that one) subclasses in the game doesn't build credibility...
That also assumes campaign reaches 20th level, which is rarely the case. Also again, we are just looking at each ability individually and giving our input based on that. The other thing is we just wanted to make sure to mention that multiclassing is an OPTION, that may or may not meet what you’re trying to do (but it is definitely worth considering!) Certainly people will disagree and that’s fine :) we’d love to discuss these and I’m sure we will over rate and underrate some things from time to time, but we are basing most of the things on the abilities collectively added and if for example 3/5 abilities don’t do anything combat related, it’s probably not going to get a good combat score. Same goes for the other categories. Again, just our opinions and I’m sure people will disagree which is the case in any “rating” or “review” of something :) thanks for watching!
@@URGE I would argue the worst feature is the one at level 18, and the best are levels, 3, 10, 15, and 7, in that order. If you are in a campaign that goes no higher than 10, then level 7 class feature might be the best, as you (on average) will get more damage of cantrip + bonus attack vs 2 attacks.
Edit: Btw, I am pretty sure Battlemaster is your highest rated, and I agree. It's all subjective and agree also! Just....try it and think warrior and do everything in your power to enhance it and....oh, yes, my Precious, we hides in the darks and schemes, yes, you'll see!
URGE TV
The extra feats come at level 6 and 14. Well before 20 level.
the synergy is there with the subclass, it just takes a bit more games mechanics knowledge to make it work. You have this problem with all spells “known” classes/subclasses.
Btw dex based elven accuracy Eldritch knight with shadow blade is ridiculous.
would be cool to get one of these for the samurai subclass for fighter
Yes.
I would love to play in your group and show you how it really works. They are not a gish at all. You can make them a gish, but....18 levels and 2 Action Surges with this bad boy....Mmmmmm, approaching Nirvana.
I’ve considered adding warlock spells to my eldritch Knight like hex, create bonfire, and friends but I wish magic initiate would give the spell back on a short rest like the class does.
I wish it actually added the spell to your list so you could cast it more than once.
I love the Eldritch Knight subclass!!! I'm currently making a Dragonborn Eldritch Knight for the campaign my friends and I are going to start in a couple of days, he is a half Red half Silver Dragonborn named Draygar 😁
Did he make it
Do I see a Draygar on my gaydar?
@@niekesselbrugge1132 What? No, my character is not gay, he's straight, my character and my friend's female Tiefling character are a thing currently lol
@@ancientreddragon5617 dude calm down its a pun.
@@niekesselbrugge1132 I know haha, I'm not mad bro, don't take it personally hahaha 😊
I love the Eldritch Knight kinda reminds me of a Witcher lol not a master of magic but skilled enuf
Yes exactly, it is meant to supplement/Augment/support your fighting style not be the staple of it, people see that an eldritch knight can cast spells and forget they are still a fighter at their core.
It is really cool. Same with the arcane trickster rogue where not primarily being a spellcaster means that there are different options that are really good for you.
My first run with Eldrich Knight is going well: I have poked multiple magical things and I lost my left pinkie and after most recent session got cursed! xD Now I have negative int and wisdom but magic dmg x2. Plz send some help :----D My wolf is sitting on it's ass pissed at the most of the time.
To play the Eldritch Knight properly you need to use your action to do Fighter stuff and your Bonus action and reactions to do wizard stuff. Also look for defensive spells that don't require concentration like mirror image. So you can use Shield, Absorb elements, with a reaction and Mirror image or Blink at the start of combat. Misty Step as extra mobility.
At higher levels you can hit someone with a sword three times on one turn. then hold person on them the next turn and they have disadvantage on their save. and you get to make a melee attack against the held person as a bonus action. When your opponent is held that is the time to action surge. Kill it too soon? hey you got a free teleport with that actions surge go get a new target.
This is specifically why War magic, which uses your action for a cantrip, is bad.
I do understand the Appeal of Eldritch knight, with being one of the ways you can build a spellblade and it’s cool etc. however, I feel that it and it’s counter part arcane trickster, are starting to lose a bit of their relevancy rp and game play wise. What I mean is specifically for Eldritch Knight, it was that fighter that took and interest in magic and specialized into complementary schools of magic, those being evocation and adjuration via learning like the wizard right? Yet WOTC kind of retread the same water by going back and making a literal wizard school that combines both of the same magics again for the wizard with a few more thematic abilities than what was the original war mage, war magic, etc that the Eldritch Knight was. At this point I thinks it’s a possibly they’ll do the same thing again to the arcane trickster by making another wizard school for enchantment and illusion together thus the archetype losing some of its uniqueness. I mean original I thought they were going to continue the trend by giving the other martial archetypes a archetype with two magic schools like barbarian with limited magic called the shaman warrior and give him limited access to divination and necromancy magic, or a monk with transmutation and conjuration and call it way of the sage or something but because the way the schools split it and the way it would work with having only those spells of that school it falls apart. So just a strait caster with no limitations on their magic just ends up being a better pick. I mean as Eldritch Knight is an the way they seem to be making schools that tread old water.. I’d rather just change the Eldritch Knight to not have that school limitation and call him arcane knight if anything.
I agree. I think it would have been pretty cool and more flavorful to have a magic knight that chooses a school they are restricted to with slightly more chance to grab spells of other schools. That way I could be a necromancy using death knight or a abjuratikn using templar dedicated to defensive magic, ect.
Building characters for a new game, with an "old school" DM from the early days. He made us roll 5 instead of 4 ability score dice, but we had to put them in order and cant rearrange them (not a fan)
But i ended up with an 18 in STR, CON, and INT at level one.
Trying to decide between an Eldritch, or the new Psi Warrior, both are normally held back by struggling to get enough INT, so i wonder which would benefit more from an INT boost?
I’m making a Drow Ek because I like to Roleplay
I am building a Githyanki eldritch knight, the only problem I'm gonna have is playing a Githyanki!
can u help me understand how the spell choosing works for EK? i have a low level EK (lvl 3) and ive read it over a bunch of times but the wording confuses me. am i limited by in what school i can use? that was my understanding. i thought i could only use evocation and abjuration for most of them. i dont quite know how that works
I'm also pretty new but from what I understood you can only take spells from two schools (evoc and abj), except when you reach some specific higher EK Levels. For instance at EK Level 8 you can pick a Divination spell.
As a moderator if any sort of martial character, not evil especially & not adept in the ways of self is in for absolute horror.....those evil on borrowed time only horror remains unless redeemed.
Hey guys just want an opinion on playing an Aldrich knight flavoured as a Paladin
I might be alone, but in my opinion Eldritch Knight is really bad.
I'm already upset about them being something called a 1/3 caster? But the Arcane Trickster pulls it off because they have awesome abilities like Spell Thief, Magic Ambush, and more. But the Eldritch Knights abilities just kind of suck, I mean they're better than nothing but...really? Would you rather cast a spell and make one attack, or use that action to make 4 attacks? Eldritch Strike is probably the only ability I think is actually really really good, I wish they expanded more on the Weapon Bond, like at higher levels you could make that weapon magical and give it bonuses or something I don't know! Anything is better than this!
You guys seriously missed the mark with your analysis of this Fighter subclass.
You don't add Intelligence as an additional needed stat, because if the player is smart they aren't choosing spells that have their success based on INT. No, instead you're a Fighter who is throwing around a number of spells which don't require a high INT to be potent, and which accentuate your melee capabilities and your Fighter stats and capabilities.
Cantrips such as True Strike or Shocking Grasp play well with a martial caster. Casting Shield rather than Hideous Laughter might be wise, etc.
First time I ever used shocking grasp was on a pair of nuts belonging to the initial quest giver surrounded by his guards. stunned the dude to assert my authority, but the guards knocked me unconscious before I could do that. :’(
True strike does not. It exclusively gives advantage to a single attack on your next turn at the cost of your action. Even if your action only gets one attack you could have just attacked twice over those two turns for the same effect bit a chance of higher damage. This doesn't synergize with war magic becuase it specifies an attack on your next turn, not your next attack. It actually gets worse when that same action could have given you multiple attacks at level 5+.
@@joelsasmad Thanks for the clarification. Having played 3.5 for so long I often confuse the spell effects, and in 3.5
True Strike gave you a +20 Insight bonus to your next attack, which is not only a significant bonus but stacks with almost everything else since Insight bonus wasn't terribly common.
Do arcane trickster and archer next
So, yeah I just made my Eldritch knight...he's human and Abit of a clutz..this is also the first champagne and my second character..am I gonna die???
Nahhhh
Man I just played a Cleric in my first game in years. You'll be fine, starting is the hardest part.
I'm not good at writing thing so here's an idea for a subclass for the fighter that I've had four age is called the siegebreaker focused on heavy hitting offensive attacks can someone write it and then send a link to me by the comments so I can use it in my next game please.