That was my sorcerer's response! "Dude why did you fireball me again?!" "Because you were doing such a good job drawing enemy attention!" "But I could've died!" "But did you?"
The best thing about pumped up magic missiles is that by having a low cost, powerful spell that only take one action to cast and that upcast fairly well, a new player will often start to seek out more "fun" spells and take risk regarding what do they cast because even if they "lose a turn", the impact isn't this big at the end of the day. That's how I discovered hypnotic pattern, web and sunbeam. I tought they sounded cool and decided to try them out between two magic missiles.
MM also hits all the time without saves. Use it with animate objects, the tiny ones with a large plus to hit, and you'll be dropping foes with high con and dex saves easily.
7:28 funny thing is, in my campaign, the warlock and my wizard use a strategy on larger creatures where we web them up then burn them, as our DM rules that due to their size they are in contact with several 5 foot squares of web, therefore receiving multiple 2d4s based on appropriate dimensions (DM's discretion of course). We did an additional 18d4 fire damage to a hill giant once with this on top of the roughly 30 fire damage from fireball.
Sickening Radiance is an even better spell for an evoker, can have some martials grappling creatures whilst in the area and it is pretty hard to get out after the first level of exhaustion hits the enemy creatures
Sickening radiance is even better for necromancers. Skeletons are immune to the exhaustion condition. Bonus action: have 6-12 skeletons all grapple the same creature, and hold them in place. Action: cast sickening radiance on your victim. Maybe your DM rules that not all 12 skeletons can grapple one target, but I certain feel like you could have at least 5 (one per limb). Rules as written, breaking a grapple takes an action. So even just 2 skele-bois is enough. However, most DMs will call bullshit. In this case, the creature has to roll 5-12 successful strength checks against the skeletons. I don't care how good your strength score is, you'll roll low eventually. And once exhaustion starts to take hold, you'll be rolling with disadvantage. Meanwhile, the wizard can just command the skeletons to re-grapple the person as a bonus action, so even if all your skeletons can't grapple a single target, having some standing by to go in and 'plug the gaps' as it were can be useful. After 6 or more rounds, the victim is dead. Combine with cleric or another wizard for silence, ice storm, force cage, darkness, or another shutdown spell that means that a creature can't see, and suddenly you have a potent way of dealing with spell-caster NPCs. It doesn't work against creatures of huge size or larger, and I'd recommend against employing it against creatures with AOE attacks, unless you can counter spell them or have a friend to cast and concentrate on the shutdown spells. I've never used this combo before, but came very close to doing so in my last run as a necromancer.
in another case of caster martial divide, replacing each of the martials with another caster with a web spell, or some summoned creature, is just flat out better, isn't it
My very first D&D character was a high elf evoker wizard. I had a lot of fun playing her while I got a grip on the mechanics of the game. Admittedly, Wizard may not have been the best place to /start/, but who cares, I had fun. I hope to pick her up again one day.
Toll the Dead is actually fantastic with Potent Cantrip. Despite normally being a save or suck cantrip, you'll still deal decent damage with it, since most of the time it's a d12 cantrip.
Step 1: be goliath for tankiness Step 2: be evoker and max int asap Step 3: take 2 lvl tempest cleric dip after lvl 14 evoker for armor and channel divinity Step 4: metamagic adept for transmuted spell Step 5: profit
@@dylanmckamey7370 With Meteor Swarm that only works with one of the types of damage, sadly. Still awesome to maximize one, but one spell I think is crazier is Incendiary Cloud because it’s more applicable to regular combat
For the true glass cannon experience stack some Death Wards on yourself (or get an Undead Warlock friend to do it for you) and Overchannel to your heart's desire!
why overchannel multiple times when you can just do it once on a spell like storm sphere or bigbys hand, maximizing the damage for the entire duration of the spell!
@@quinnlee-miller9792 Technically you can, you just don't benefit from both at the same time. This has led to a debate about how the rule on overlapping effects interacts with Death Ward, since it would mean that you could stack multiple Death Wards and only one of them will trigger and dispel itself, meaning you can then benefit from the other Death Wards. Personally I think it's a bit cheesy, but it's tactically worse than simply spreading Death Wards out to the entire party, so it's not broken or anything.
@@immortalinferno8809 my groups have us roll damage each turn, so it would need to be over channelled again and again, since it says when you "cast" the spell Though I do like the max damage aspect when it comes to enemies who begin to get magic resistance, legendary saves, and huge ass modifiers. It lets caster deal realistic damage
One of my favourite characters in Pathfinder was a metamagic-focused sorcerer: the fighter and paladin would rush in, aggro the enemies, and my boy would launch fireballs from the sky and exclude the party from the spell's damage. The firstbevoker feature would allow me to re-create that, and i love it.
I know its often considered a really bad spell but when im playing evoker, i really like to run it with Gust of Wind on the early levels, because of the wording of Sculpt Spells it means that the wind simply circles around your friends and doesn't push them even after the initial saving throw, Web is usually better but if I got the space, and I know Im going into a cramped space like a building or a dungeon, I always pick it
"Suck my kobold"... I think that might be my new favorite saying! 🤣 Glad to see I was playing Evoker exactly right with my last one though. "Sometimes you need to cast wall of force" and so I did, both defensively to create a funnelling trap to limit the enemies that came at our party, and also offensively to trap others in a NEARLY sealed box so that I could then lob spells at them with impunity. Once in a while using overchannel more than once is worth the dmg gamble though, just gotta be certain you can take that 65(5th lvl spell) average necrotic hit afterwards is all and have handy healing.
So, I picked Evocation Wizard for my first foray into DnD. I was a Forest Gnome. Level 1. His backstory was that he was thrown out of his university of magic after he caused an explosion there. At first, I played this for comedy. After a few games, I was thinking about where to take his character. At the time, War Mage seemed pretty appealing due to the so-called balance between offensive and defensive magic. It seemed more “survivable.” But then I saw “Sculpt Spells” and completely 180’d myself into becoming an Evocation wizard. Now, given I was playing a Pyromaniac nicknamed “Boomy,” it SEEMS obvious why Evocation would be appealing…but that was the last thing on my mind when I picked Boomy’s traits. He was a Gnome with regrets. He regrets the fact he blew up a building. He may have been obsessed with fire and explosions, but he was largely a pacifist throughout the entirety of his journey. At one point he legit GRIEVED over the fact that he couldn’t talk an enemy down and had been forced to kill him. So when I saw “sculpt spells,” I didn’t see just a neat trick that let me play more fast and loose with my magic… I saw a character learning how to control his magic in such a way that it would never hurt an innocent, or someone who didn’t deserve it. It would be his way of protecting his friends not JUST from his magic, but from the creatures he was defending them against. And I also saw within the limitations one extremely important character trait: based on his abilities at the time, if Boomy had to choose 1 person in our group of friends who would HAVE to eat the Fireball the Spell Sculpting couldn’t reach…it would be himself.
This class becomes the best "slow death" built at level 18. Just cast Invulnerability and spam Magic Missile (you dont need spell slots for this if you choose it at level 18 as one of your special spells) and Toll the Dead. You and your damage are the inevitable.
I play an Evoker and got Faerie Fire from a strixhaven feat. Its an evocation spell and works wonderful with sculpt spell when the party is overrun by enemies.
the spell doesnt have to do damage for sculpt spell to work. "When you cast an evocation spell that affects other creatures that you can see, you can choose a number of them equal to 1 + the spell's level. The chosen creatures automatically succeed on their saving throws against the spell, and they take no damage if they would normally take half damage on a successful save."
I can't recommend falling into the trap that is trying to take advantage of Potent Cantrip and Empowered Evocation at the same time. As it stands, there are currently three evocation cantrips that force saving throws: Frostbite, Lightning Lure and Thunderclap... Two of which require you to be within spitting distance of your target (or pull them into melee range with you), and the third is Frostbite, which is on the low end of damage for cantrips. I think even accounting for "save for half" firebolt will be doing more damage on average than frostbite.
my go to multiclass for evocation wizard is a 3 level dip into assassin rogue this gives me expertise bonus action stealth a simple way to prock advantage and if I manage to hit with a spell round one it's a crit ready to be maximised and with scorching ray having multiple spell attacks it's the perfect choice for this (of course good alternate wizard subclasses would be war/chronurgy and scribes, war/chronurgy for higher initiative (you should also be taking the alert feat) with war being a little more defensive at lower levels and chronurgy being chronurgy wizard, scribes wizard is a good set just for the sole purpose of being able to swap around your damage types among other things as time goes on) (leaving this here in case anyone askes why assassinate works on spell attacks the only prerequisite for assassinate is that it needs to be a attack targeting someone who hasn't acted not weapon attack just attack allowing us to benefit off it)
Unless I'm missing something at 6:34 you mention that Overchannel works on every instance of damage, it seems like RAI this is not what's supposed to happen. Crawford had said: "Overchannel. By RAW, it works as long as the spell lasts. Not exactly the intent (works only on the first turn), but it's functional. #DnD" So your milage may vary with that interpretation when the RAI says otherwise. Though it is functional at the end of the day, so DMs may be fine with it.
I had a 5th level evocation wizard tag along with my party for specifically an unbalanced encounter in a level 2 dungeon. (Decent into Avernus’s Master of Souls encounter if you are familiar with DiA) just because the monster also has fireball, and all in one motion the wizard counterspelled the other’s fireball and cast her own in a small enclosed space. I described how the flames bent around the other two players as the entire room burst into flame. It didn’t end the encounter, but made it manageable for level 2s.
not necessarily the best option but an AMAZING aesthetic option is casting Immolate on someone and maxing the damage. assuming you both survive the whole minute concentration, the target would take 720 fire damage in total and if they DID die in that time they turn to ash! Super flavorful
I just let my players get +1 damage to each spell linked to their draconian type. Eg. Red dragon fireball gets 8d6+1. It's not huge... But it's slightly more satisfying to RP.
I've been scratching my head for days, weeks, trying to think of a reason to play Sorcerer. Every cool build that seems like it could work is usually blocked by one or two lines of specification on Meta Magic or spells themselves or other features of the class. And here, Wizard is once again doing something like the meta-magic concept of careful spell, and just doing it better than the sorcerer. I even went as far as to look through your videos and a few other D&D RUclipsrs to try and find cool sorcerer builds, and the only one that I've seen people talk about is running a Dwarf with Medium Armor Proficiency alongside whatever sorcerer class they feel like playing. Kobold! I implore you! PLEASE do a video on why someone should play Sorcerer with no multiclassing versus any other class for something other than RP flavor! :)
If you take 2 levels in cleric you can use channel Divinity and transmute spell to make any spell, not just 1-5, a max lightning damage spell. For example, meteor swarm for 240 damage to multiple targets (or half to one's that succeed)
Clockwork Soul and Aberrant Mind sorcerers are the reasons. Divine Soul is pretty good too, but moreso as a multiclass with paladin in order to pick up some really nice cleric spells.
@@dylanmckamey7370 See there's lots of cool multiclass options you can run with a Sorcerer... But there's cool builds you can make in monoclass scenarios with every other class. Sorcerer feels like monoclassing isn't viable compared to other classes! You could theoretically summon a ton of Hound of Ill Omen by using your bonus action each turn... Except each one dissipates under such strict conditions that it would be hard to convince me to do that instead of Conjure Animals for 2 direwolves on turn 1 with another class! You could careful spell your fireball around allies using sorcery points... Or you could just play Evocation Wizard and do it better! Wild Magic Sorcerer feels like the best option for a "unique" monoclass option on the Sorcerer class, and I really want to find other things that bring the uniqueness and effectiveness that other classes can do.
@@DreamsInShades ah, gotcha. Well storm sorceror is one of the only ways to get permanent immunity from a damage type (without magic items), and the only one to give 2 immunities
Warning! about the level 14 feature: Technically The Great Kobold is right about the fact that RAW this feature works for DOT spells BUT!!! The Crawford has stated that the intention of the spell was to be for the first round only and therefore for a home game I would consult your DM on the ruling if planning to build around this, have fun with DOTs in Adventure League Play though.
i mean scuplt spell is MASSIVE! like its probably one of the best level 2 wizard abilties , makes it less likely the party will take out back and kill you themselves
@@PackTactics I looked at the feature and it doesn’t look like a saving throw should affect it at all. If you deal damage with fireball, you should always be getting your int mod in damage on the creature. Or maybe half int mod on half on a save debateably. But even in best case scenario for Raw, max damage should be +5 per target. Maybe I’m misunderstanding what the feature actually does?
Theurgist Wizard. Choose Tempest Cleric Template. Choose Elemental Adept: Electric/Thunder Choose Metamagic Adept. Choose Transmute Spell and Hastened Spell metamagic features. In low level combat: Cast FIREBALL. Spend one metamagic point to change the damage type from fire to electric. Spend your Channel Arcana for the effect of Tempest Cleric. Enemy takes 48 damage. Have to succeed in DEX save to take only 24 damage. No dice roll for the damage because of Channel Arcana. No resistance because of Elemental Adept. In late levels: Same process, but cast METEOR SHOWER instead of FIREBALL. Change one of the damage to thunder. Conjure the 4 attacks 20d6(fire or concussive damage)+120 electrical damage EACH HIT OF THE SPELL. The enemy will have to deal with 80D6+480 DAMAGE, making a DEX save to take only half of the damage... I dunno about you... But I think that, whatever the target is, it will probably die or be destroyed.
Or you can spend the Hastened Spell Metamagic to cast 2 lightnings in the early game on the same turn and make your best impression of Palpatine screaming UNLIMITED POWER!.
Going to the Hexvoker article for Empowered Evocation, I didn’t know that rolling once for a multi-target spell was RAW! That’s really weird to think about, honestly, I always just assumed it was a kind of dice-rolling shorthand.
Admit it! If you were a Warlock, this channel _would_ be called Pact Tactics! Also, I think a lot of people call you(r channel) Pact Tactics as a joke of sorts.
ok so, here's a video idea. cleric tier list for damage and support. personally I think death cleric is pretty decent even though it's cantrip aren't focus fire.
I have an idea if the lvl 10 feature provides your Intelligence modifier to any Evocation spells, Eldritch Blast is considered Evocation, paired with Agonizing blast to also add your Charisma Modifier to it as well... hmmmmmm
Assuming you decided to go all in on the idea and find a way to make 20 Int. and 20 Cha. work, you'd effectively have 4 blasts of d10 plus a total of 10 force damage. 80 ish force damage with a minimum of 11 damage per blast
Your videos are great, and I find your assessments of class/subclass abilities to be more logical and thorough than most others who write/present on 5E content (e.g., Treantmonk, RPGBOT). I have two comments on the video. First, while by RAW overchannel should work with damage over time spells like wall of fire, Jeremy Crawford tweeted that this was not intended. Some DMs (like mine, sadly) may side with RAI instead of RAW. Second, the evoker is a master of spread damage when mobs are grouped regardless of the positioning of party members. The efficacy of its abilities is limited by the degree to which a DM elects to throw clustered mobs at the party. Additionally, I would not consider the evoker the best subclass for single target damage, at least not sustained. In my opinion, that honor should go to the bladesinger. For instance, if an evoker expended his (her) high-level slots on magic missile, then he could do an expected DPR of 93.5 at 9th level, 85 at 8th level, 76.5 at 7th level, etc. to a single target. The shield spell would be a potential concern. Conversely, if a bladesinger used shapechange to become a marilith, then he (she) could do an expected 88.3 DPR each round for a single 9th-level spell (assuming proficiency bonus of +6, +4 to hit based on strength, and a 0.55 probability to hit). If the bladesinger had access to magical longswords (say +1), this would rise to 92.5 DPR,. In dim light or darkness, the expected DPR using shadow blade coupled with booming blade (ignoring the damage on move component) would be even greater. Obviously, using a 9th-level spell solely for damage would be suboptimal in many conditions. However, being a marilith would provide numerous resistances (including to spells) and other abilities, and the bladesinger could shapechange into other forms for 1 hour assuming concentration remained unbroken. The evoker is an excellent subclass with or without dipping into hexblade. It provides a good mix of AoE and single-target damage capabilities and synergizes well with wand of magic missiles and especially robe of stars. If your DM interprets overchannel as affecting DoT spells, then wall of fire becomes a monster with a little grappling/retraining help from other party members, though the individuals most capable of grappling mobs (e.g., fighters) would likely be capable of better DPR at high levels.
You can't replace a Marilith multi-attack with a cantrip. Multi-attack is not the extra attack feature. An evoker could shape change into a marilith just as well as a bladesinger. Also, going into melee on purpose is generally just a poor tactical decision.
Couldn't you use an absorbing tattoo from Tasha's to absorb the necrotic damage done to you from Overchannel? I think there's a few other magic items that allow you to absorb necrotic damage to heal as well(
Absorbing tattoos only grant resistance/immunity, which Overchannel specifically states it ignores. It does not ignore necrotic absorb however. The 50% HP return however may not matter much in many situations, as if you hit 0 HP you still fall prone, even if you then bring yourself back up into positive.
Im not sure if wizard gets this as im lazy to google at the moment, But Moonbean upcasted to 5th level with the subclass capstone ability so they never escape max damage
@@bskec2177 darn okay, what about would it work on that spell that turns you into a pseudo melee character dealing force damage every attack, would it all just be max damage?
Why is the careful spell metamagic a worse version of sculpt spells? It lets creatures you choose auto save against your spell, but they still take half damage. If I'm a draconic sorcerer because I want those metamagic options, if I'm all about spells like fireball I'm taking 2 levels into wizard specifically just to get the sculpt spells ability.
sculpt spell let's them avoid making a save and instead take no effects, instead of just auto saving for half. it's better for evocation spells, but careful spells work for things like hypnotic pattern, so they both have their uses.
@@collinw9792 yeah, but when I play a sorcerer I would like my fireball not to kill the wizard. It's fun being able to cast fireball at point blank range and not hurt your party, but only the wizards get to do that.
@@cydude5856 what I'm saying is it isn't a worse version, it's a much more versatile version that does something different. Evoker wizards have spent years and years of intensive research on one specific school of magic, that makes sense they could work those specific spells best. All sorcerer's if they choose can choose to have their allies save any of their save spells. They have an innate spell power, so they can have their friends pass, wizards spent years focusing on one thing, so they can shape it different
They might even thank you. In some ways that was the fun of blasting; when the party is desperate enough to call for those blasts to be dropped on themselves as well as the enemies.
Really the biggest edge that evocation wizard gets is the magic missile thing... and the fact that careful spell is a pale shadow of sculpt spell unless your allies have Evasion. Draconic sorcerer gets access to many of the same features as evocation wizard with the downside of being locked to a particular element, which can be problematic in some situations. (But on the plus side, they get their benefits with schools outside of evocation)
Because an Area of Effect damaging spell is a one damage roll that can damage multiple targets. Let's say you cast a Fireball. You roll 8d6 and add your Intelligence modifier to the roll. So *every target* inside the Fireball's area will take 8d6 + Intelligence modifier.
What sucks is that Evocation Wizards aren't the best blasters in the game. This subclass needs some more damage buffs. This is what I'd do for the Evoker Wizard: Sculpt Spell is decent for avoiding friendly fire, but level 2 needs more! Add your INT MOD damage bonus to all Evocation spells damage when you hit or target fails their save. Meaning that the Level 6 & 10 class features were combined into the level 2, opening slots. Level 6, further increase your Evocation spells damage by your proficiency modifier. Level 10 gets Widen Spell (+50% area of effect) and Empower Spell (+50% damage on hit or failed save), usable a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest. Level 14 gets the Maximized Spell already given (maximum spell damage), but increase its total usage to a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.
HARD disagree. Evocation wizards still have access to great utility and battlefield control otherwise known as _the wizard spell list_ , *they should NOT be the best blasters in the game they are not that specialized for it.* Single target DPR should always be what the martials are good at, that is like their main thing. If wizards are better than even martials for single target DPR, the main thing they have to their name, then that's just sad.
@@AvangionQ Not really? The word "blaster" is used mainly for single target damage dealers from what I see. And besides, the best AOE damage dealer should be the sorcerer. They already have a very specialized spell repertoire and focusing them on dealing aoe damage should be more potent than a wizard doing it, who has the most diverse and powerful spell list available to them.
The Video is Sponsored by Masterscreen: masterscreen.app/
Masterscreen is a free Campaign Manager! Check it out!
Everyone knows all RUclipsrs have a pact with RUclips eldritch being known as the algorithm they all must appease.
Could you do a video on scribes wizard?
But Kobold! What about whenever you play Hexblade!? Isn't that a _Pact_ Tactic?
Eh? Eh? :D
...I'll get my coat.
you could create pockets of safety, or you could respect your party members' ability to withstand your power
ayooooooooooooooooo
Lmao
That was my sorcerer's response! "Dude why did you fireball me again?!" "Because you were doing such a good job drawing enemy attention!" "But I could've died!" "But did you?"
only cowards can't stand my fireballs 😂
Maybe we should teach the wizard cure wounds so he can learn how much it sucks to clean up after him. =P
@@kevingriffith6011 a good Cleric knows to tell the party to use hit dice before using any spells. Only heal when someone drops 😂
#StayToxicClerics
If you hit your party together with the enemies the damage is even higher
The best thing about pumped up magic missiles is that by having a low cost, powerful spell that only take one action to cast and that upcast fairly well, a new player will often start to seek out more "fun" spells and take risk regarding what do they cast because even if they "lose a turn", the impact isn't this big at the end of the day.
That's how I discovered hypnotic pattern, web and sunbeam. I tought they sounded cool and decided to try them out between two magic missiles.
MM also hits all the time without saves. Use it with animate objects, the tiny ones with a large plus to hit, and you'll be dropping foes with high con and dex saves easily.
7:28 funny thing is, in my campaign, the warlock and my wizard use a strategy on larger creatures where we web them up then burn them, as our DM rules that due to their size they are in contact with several 5 foot squares of web, therefore receiving multiple 2d4s based on appropriate dimensions (DM's discretion of course). We did an additional 18d4 fire damage to a hill giant once with this on top of the roughly 30 fire damage from fireball.
Sickening Radiance is an even better spell for an evoker, can have some martials grappling creatures whilst in the area and it is pretty hard to get out after the first level of exhaustion hits the enemy creatures
Sickening radiance is even better for necromancers. Skeletons are immune to the exhaustion condition. Bonus action: have 6-12 skeletons all grapple the same creature, and hold them in place. Action: cast sickening radiance on your victim.
Maybe your DM rules that not all 12 skeletons can grapple one target, but I certain feel like you could have at least 5 (one per limb). Rules as written, breaking a grapple takes an action. So even just 2 skele-bois is enough. However, most DMs will call bullshit. In this case, the creature has to roll 5-12 successful strength checks against the skeletons. I don't care how good your strength score is, you'll roll low eventually. And once exhaustion starts to take hold, you'll be rolling with disadvantage. Meanwhile, the wizard can just command the skeletons to re-grapple the person as a bonus action, so even if all your skeletons can't grapple a single target, having some standing by to go in and 'plug the gaps' as it were can be useful.
After 6 or more rounds, the victim is dead. Combine with cleric or another wizard for silence, ice storm, force cage, darkness, or another shutdown spell that means that a creature can't see, and suddenly you have a potent way of dealing with spell-caster NPCs.
It doesn't work against creatures of huge size or larger, and I'd recommend against employing it against creatures with AOE attacks, unless you can counter spell them or have a friend to cast and concentrate on the shutdown spells. I've never used this combo before, but came very close to doing so in my last run as a necromancer.
@@maxherman3884 The radiant damage would still hit the skeletons unfortunately
in another case of caster martial divide, replacing each of the martials with another caster with a web spell, or some summoned creature, is just flat out better, isn't it
My only long term character was an evoker wizard. This subclass holds a special place in my heart.
Kobold: I haven't made a pact! At least not publicly.
Also Kobold: I make a Persuasion roll to convince you to support my patron, Masterscreen!
My very first D&D character was a high elf evoker wizard. I had a lot of fun playing her while I got a grip on the mechanics of the game. Admittedly, Wizard may not have been the best place to /start/, but who cares, I had fun. I hope to pick her up again one day.
Toll the Dead is actually fantastic with Potent Cantrip. Despite normally being a save or suck cantrip, you'll still deal decent damage with it, since most of the time it's a d12 cantrip.
Step 1: be goliath for tankiness
Step 2: be evoker and max int asap
Step 3: take 2 lvl tempest cleric dip after lvl 14 evoker for armor and channel divinity
Step 4: metamagic adept for transmuted spell
Step 5: profit
Oh my god
Or just go 2 lvl tempest cleric and the rest sorceror. At high level that's a max damage meteor swarm
@@dylanmckamey7370, remember that it's only spells of level 5 or lower.
@@carsonrush3352 not for transmute spell and channel divinity.. this is a non-wizard build
@@dylanmckamey7370 With Meteor Swarm that only works with one of the types of damage, sadly. Still awesome to maximize one, but one spell I think is crazier is Incendiary Cloud because it’s more applicable to regular combat
ok these last two sponsors have been absolute bangers
For the true glass cannon experience stack some Death Wards on yourself (or get an Undead Warlock friend to do it for you) and Overchannel to your heart's desire!
Can't be under the effects of the same spell twice, but it's a good use for the spell slot
why overchannel multiple times when you can just do it once on a spell like storm sphere or bigbys hand, maximizing the damage for the entire duration of the spell!
@@quinnlee-miller9792 Technically you can, you just don't benefit from both at the same time. This has led to a debate about how the rule on overlapping effects interacts with Death Ward, since it would mean that you could stack multiple Death Wards and only one of them will trigger and dispel itself, meaning you can then benefit from the other Death Wards.
Personally I think it's a bit cheesy, but it's tactically worse than simply spreading Death Wards out to the entire party, so it's not broken or anything.
@@immortalinferno8809 my groups have us roll damage each turn, so it would need to be over channelled again and again, since it says when you "cast" the spell
Though I do like the max damage aspect when it comes to enemies who begin to get magic resistance, legendary saves, and huge ass modifiers. It lets caster deal realistic damage
@@immortalinferno8809 Overchannel one of these spells and throw some fireballs on top
Resource conservation be damned, I wanna do beeg dammage
One of my favourite characters in Pathfinder was a metamagic-focused sorcerer: the fighter and paladin would rush in, aggro the enemies, and my boy would launch fireballs from the sky and exclude the party from the spell's damage. The firstbevoker feature would allow me to re-create that, and i love it.
I know its often considered a really bad spell but when im playing evoker, i really like to run it with Gust of Wind on the early levels, because of the wording of Sculpt Spells it means that the wind simply circles around your friends and doesn't push them even after the initial saving throw, Web is usually better but if I got the space, and I know Im going into a cramped space like a building or a dungeon, I always pick it
New warlock channel confirmed? Looking forward for pact tactics
Today's sponsor looks interesting, and I appreciate the overview of the subclass
"Suck my kobold"... I think that might be my new favorite saying! 🤣
Glad to see I was playing Evoker exactly right with my last one though. "Sometimes you need to cast wall of force" and so I did, both defensively to create a funnelling trap to limit the enemies that came at our party, and also offensively to trap others in a NEARLY sealed box so that I could then lob spells at them with impunity.
Once in a while using overchannel more than once is worth the dmg gamble though, just gotta be certain you can take that 65(5th lvl spell) average necrotic hit afterwards is all and have handy healing.
So, I picked Evocation Wizard for my first foray into DnD.
I was a Forest Gnome. Level 1. His backstory was that he was thrown out of his university of magic after he caused an explosion there. At first, I played this for comedy.
After a few games, I was thinking about where to take his character. At the time, War Mage seemed pretty appealing due to the so-called balance between offensive and defensive magic. It seemed more “survivable.”
But then I saw “Sculpt Spells” and completely 180’d myself into becoming an Evocation wizard.
Now, given I was playing a Pyromaniac nicknamed “Boomy,” it SEEMS obvious why Evocation would be appealing…but that was the last thing on my mind when I picked Boomy’s traits.
He was a Gnome with regrets. He regrets the fact he blew up a building. He may have been obsessed with fire and explosions, but he was largely a pacifist throughout the entirety of his journey. At one point he legit GRIEVED over the fact that he couldn’t talk an enemy down and had been forced to kill him.
So when I saw “sculpt spells,” I didn’t see just a neat trick that let me play more fast and loose with my magic…
I saw a character learning how to control his magic in such a way that it would never hurt an innocent, or someone who didn’t deserve it. It would be his way of protecting his friends not JUST from his magic, but from the creatures he was defending them against.
And I also saw within the limitations one extremely important character trait: based on his abilities at the time, if Boomy had to choose 1 person in our group of friends who would HAVE to eat the Fireball the Spell Sculpting couldn’t reach…it would be himself.
Also another great wizard said
"use fireball and only fireball.
nothing but fireball.
just fireball. just fireball.
just fireball."
"What's your point, person within fireball distance?!"
This class becomes the best "slow death" built at level 18. Just cast Invulnerability and spam Magic Missile (you dont need spell slots for this if you choose it at level 18 as one of your special spells) and Toll the Dead. You and your damage are the inevitable.
And then you counterspell them if they ever try to cast shield to induce maximum suffering
Some of the more fun spells I like to use with Over channel are Melfs Minute Meteors and Shadow Blade
I love Evokers! My second favorite class after sorcerer. Fireballs rock!
I love gator coming in to talk about math!
I play an Evoker and got Faerie Fire from a strixhaven feat. Its an evocation spell and works wonderful with sculpt spell when the party is overrun by enemies.
... Faerie Fire doesn't do any damage...
the spell doesnt have to do damage for sculpt spell to work.
"When you cast an evocation spell that affects other creatures that you can see, you can choose a number of them equal to 1 + the spell's level. The chosen creatures automatically succeed on their saving throws against the spell, and they take no damage if they would normally take half damage on a successful save."
@@5Dworld Yeah, you're right. Wow. I had it in my head that it only worked for damaging spells for some reason. That's a great use for it though.
Amazing video! I really enjoyed it.
How about School of Enchantment next? I think it is one of the most underrated wizard subclasses.
I can't recommend falling into the trap that is trying to take advantage of Potent Cantrip and Empowered Evocation at the same time. As it stands, there are currently three evocation cantrips that force saving throws: Frostbite, Lightning Lure and Thunderclap... Two of which require you to be within spitting distance of your target (or pull them into melee range with you), and the third is Frostbite, which is on the low end of damage for cantrips. I think even accounting for "save for half" firebolt will be doing more damage on average than frostbite.
Well said Packt Actics
Perfect timing, I am planning one tonight!
I love the reference to XP to level 3 :D
I remember times when our party wizard threw fireballs in party, making fireball effectively target spell instead of aoe
my go to multiclass for evocation wizard is a 3 level dip into assassin rogue this gives me expertise bonus action stealth a simple way to prock advantage and if I manage to hit with a spell round one it's a crit ready to be maximised and with scorching ray having multiple spell attacks it's the perfect choice for this (of course good alternate wizard subclasses would be war/chronurgy and scribes, war/chronurgy for higher initiative (you should also be taking the alert feat) with war being a little more defensive at lower levels and chronurgy being chronurgy wizard, scribes wizard is a good set just for the sole purpose of being able to swap around your damage types among other things as time goes on)
(leaving this here in case anyone askes why assassinate works on spell attacks the only prerequisite for assassinate is that it needs to be a attack targeting someone who hasn't acted not weapon attack just attack allowing us to benefit off it)
Unless I'm missing something at 6:34 you mention that Overchannel works on every instance of damage, it seems like RAI this is not what's supposed to happen. Crawford had said: "Overchannel. By RAW, it works as long as the spell lasts. Not exactly the intent (works only on the first turn), but it's functional. #DnD" So your milage may vary with that interpretation when the RAI says otherwise. Though it is functional at the end of the day, so DMs may be fine with it.
I wanna cast charm person on the algorithm. Please give me a wis save.
The algorithm rolls a nine, for a total of 11. The algorithm is now charmed and thinks this video needs to be seen by everyone!
*gives the algorithm disadvantage*
The algorithm uses a legendary resistance
Sorry. The algorithm is not a humanoid
@@JoschiChr I'll use stunning strike to burn it's legendary resistances. 24 and 21 to hit and they must make 2 con saves
Good job, Gator!
Create Bonfire is really good with level 6 feature, especially if you have no resources
I had a 5th level evocation wizard tag along with my party for specifically an unbalanced encounter in a level 2 dungeon. (Decent into Avernus’s Master of Souls encounter if you are familiar with DiA) just because the monster also has fireball, and all in one motion the wizard counterspelled the other’s fireball and cast her own in a small enclosed space. I described how the flames bent around the other two players as the entire room burst into flame. It didn’t end the encounter, but made it manageable for level 2s.
not necessarily the best option but an AMAZING aesthetic option is casting Immolate on someone and maxing the damage.
assuming you both survive the whole minute concentration, the target would take 720 fire damage in total and if they DID die in that time they turn to ash! Super flavorful
I don't know much, but I do know that comments help the YT algorithm...
And that fireball has a special place in my tier two heart.
I really wish the Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer could be as good as the Evocation Wizard
I just let my players get +1 damage to each spell linked to their draconian type. Eg. Red dragon fireball gets 8d6+1. It's not huge... But it's slightly more satisfying to RP.
Love your work man! thankyou!
I've been scratching my head for days, weeks, trying to think of a reason to play Sorcerer. Every cool build that seems like it could work is usually blocked by one or two lines of specification on Meta Magic or spells themselves or other features of the class.
And here, Wizard is once again doing something like the meta-magic concept of careful spell, and just doing it better than the sorcerer.
I even went as far as to look through your videos and a few other D&D RUclipsrs to try and find cool sorcerer builds, and the only one that I've seen people talk about is running a Dwarf with Medium Armor Proficiency alongside whatever sorcerer class they feel like playing.
Kobold! I implore you! PLEASE do a video on why someone should play Sorcerer with no multiclassing versus any other class for something other than RP flavor!
:)
If you take 2 levels in cleric you can use channel Divinity and transmute spell to make any spell, not just 1-5, a max lightning damage spell. For example, meteor swarm for 240 damage to multiple targets (or half to one's that succeed)
Clockwork Soul and Aberrant Mind sorcerers are the reasons. Divine Soul is pretty good too, but moreso as a multiclass with paladin in order to pick up some really nice cleric spells.
@@dylanmckamey7370 See there's lots of cool multiclass options you can run with a Sorcerer... But there's cool builds you can make in monoclass scenarios with every other class.
Sorcerer feels like monoclassing isn't viable compared to other classes! You could theoretically summon a ton of Hound of Ill Omen by using your bonus action each turn... Except each one dissipates under such strict conditions that it would be hard to convince me to do that instead of Conjure Animals for 2 direwolves on turn 1 with another class!
You could careful spell your fireball around allies using sorcery points... Or you could just play Evocation Wizard and do it better!
Wild Magic Sorcerer feels like the best option for a "unique" monoclass option on the Sorcerer class, and I really want to find other things that bring the uniqueness and effectiveness that other classes can do.
@@Chrokosaur Why these two classes specifically? What can I get from them that I can't get in a better format from a different class?
@@DreamsInShades ah, gotcha. Well storm sorceror is one of the only ways to get permanent immunity from a damage type (without magic items), and the only one to give 2 immunities
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 fantastic closing! Love xp to level 3!
If fireball doesn’t solve your problem is because you aren’t using enough fireball.
-Fizban probably, I don’t know the lore
This is definitely an opinion Fizban would hold.
"8d6 go brrrr" - Fizban, probably
"8d6 does indeed go brrrr" - Also Fiz... er, Paladine, probably
Elminster would probably also be of similar mind.
All RUclipsrs sign some form of pact. My guess is the algorithm would qualify as a Lovecraftian Eldridge horror
Sculpt spells combined with Metamagic adept (careful spell and empowered spell) allows for more of this playstyle. But, it requires MAD charisma.
Tiefling wizard ftw
Woooo Kobalos Wizard!
Warning! about the level 14 feature: Technically The Great Kobold is right about the fact that RAW this feature works for DOT spells BUT!!! The Crawford has stated that the intention of the spell was to be for the first round only and therefore for a home game I would consult your DM on the ruling if planning to build around this, have fun with DOTs in Adventure League Play though.
i mean scuplt spell is MASSIVE! like its probably one of the best level 2 wizard abilties , makes it less likely the party will take out back and kill you themselves
Sculpt spells lasts until the spell is over, so you could cast wall of flames and everyone in the party can just walk in and be safe
5:30 wait how do you deal an extra 6 damage when max int mod is +5
Half on a save increases the damage on average.
@@PackTactics I looked at the feature and it doesn’t look like a saving throw should affect it at all. If you deal damage with fireball, you should always be getting your int mod in damage on the creature. Or maybe half int mod on half on a save debateably. But even in best case scenario for Raw, max damage should be +5 per target. Maybe I’m misunderstanding what the feature actually does?
Wassup!? Excellent work as always! (I haven't even finished yet lol)
Theurgist Wizard.
Choose Tempest Cleric Template.
Choose Elemental Adept: Electric/Thunder
Choose Metamagic Adept.
Choose Transmute Spell and Hastened Spell metamagic features.
In low level combat:
Cast FIREBALL.
Spend one metamagic point to change the damage type from fire to electric.
Spend your Channel Arcana for the effect of Tempest Cleric.
Enemy takes 48 damage. Have to succeed in DEX save to take only 24 damage. No dice roll for the damage because of Channel Arcana. No resistance because of Elemental Adept.
In late levels:
Same process, but cast METEOR SHOWER instead of FIREBALL.
Change one of the damage to thunder.
Conjure the 4 attacks 20d6(fire or concussive damage)+120 electrical damage EACH HIT OF THE SPELL.
The enemy will have to deal with 80D6+480 DAMAGE, making a DEX save to take only half of the damage...
I dunno about you... But I think that, whatever the target is, it will probably die or be destroyed.
Or you can spend the Hastened Spell Metamagic to cast 2 lightnings in the early game on the same turn and make your best impression of Palpatine screaming UNLIMITED POWER!.
Respect the fireball for Fireball meguming style explosion
can u make a video about divination wizards? They are my favourite subclass just for the amazing "no you"s you can pull off
Going to the Hexvoker article for Empowered Evocation, I didn’t know that rolling once for a multi-target spell was RAW! That’s really weird to think about, honestly, I always just assumed it was a kind of dice-rolling shorthand.
Can also action surge Synaptic Static + max dmg fireball upcast with your best slot below 8 or meteor shower. Super good damage
Action surge doesn’t affect spells sadly. Common misconception.
Beg your pardon? Action surge allows for casting two action spells in a single round.
@@CompletelyNewguy you get a whole new action, no where does it say that it only applies to weapon attacks like haste does
Kabooooooom!!!
As said in the immortal words of Jocrap "Fireball. Just fireball."
It's really Packt Actics.
AHHHAHAHAHA! Loved seeing XPtoLV3 Wizard in this!
Once again my intuition has proven correct. The best status condition to inflict on any monster in D&D is death.
Works with 2nd level Gust of wind, its evocation.
Admit it! If you were a Warlock, this channel _would_ be called Pact Tactics!
Also, I think a lot of people call you(r channel) Pact Tactics as a joke of sorts.
I FVCKING LOVE EVOKERS!
Fireball!
8:08 isn't that the legendary BigDickWizard6969?
Potent cantrip lets you do virtually guaranteed resource-free damage - deceptively useful.
ok so, here's a video idea. cleric tier list for damage and support. personally I think death cleric is pretty decent even though it's cantrip aren't focus fire.
I changed my scribes wizard to an evoker because a DM I'm playing with loves to throw lots of enemies at us.
I have an idea if the lvl 10 feature provides your Intelligence modifier to any Evocation spells, Eldritch Blast is considered Evocation, paired with Agonizing blast to also add your Charisma Modifier to it as well... hmmmmmm
Assuming you decided to go all in on the idea and find a way to make 20 Int. and 20 Cha. work, you'd effectively have 4 blasts of d10 plus a total of 10 force damage. 80 ish force damage with a minimum of 11 damage per blast
the wizard reference XD XD
I prefer clerics and warlocks, but I've been jealous of half damage on cantrips, and I can't believe there isn't an invocation or cleric that gets it.
Evoker wizard? More like Evoker lizard!
If you have a new player that wants to be a wizard make them take this subclass. It will save the other members of the party.
Zelot barbarian 3 Evo wizard 17 have your cleric keep all of his lower level spell slots for reviving bam maxed out cones of cold for everyone!
Could just abuse death ward and healing word instead tbh
@@Casino220 why use a 4th and a first level spell when you can use a third level? Then you can use third
for the level 14 ability why have it deal a damage type if Resistance and immunity can’t help ?
Flavor would be my guess.
is it just me or do i feel like i’m watching the video at 0.75 speed with the pacing of the narrator’s reading HAHAHAHA it’s trippy
Kobold: "So anyway, I started blasting..."
… Oh, I think I get it now!
You’re making the dangerous assumption I care about my allies.
Silly Kobold, it’s their own fault if they get in the way.
this video in a nutshell
Kobold: So anyways, I started blasting.
Your videos are great, and I find your assessments of class/subclass abilities to be more logical and thorough than most others who write/present on 5E content (e.g., Treantmonk, RPGBOT).
I have two comments on the video. First, while by RAW overchannel should work with damage over time spells like wall of fire, Jeremy Crawford tweeted that this was not intended. Some DMs (like mine, sadly) may side with RAI instead of RAW. Second, the evoker is a master of spread damage when mobs are grouped regardless of the positioning of party members. The efficacy of its abilities is limited by the degree to which a DM elects to throw clustered mobs at the party. Additionally, I would not consider the evoker the best subclass for single target damage, at least not sustained. In my opinion, that honor should go to the bladesinger. For instance, if an evoker expended his (her) high-level slots on magic missile, then he could do an expected DPR of 93.5 at 9th level, 85 at 8th level, 76.5 at 7th level, etc. to a single target. The shield spell would be a potential concern. Conversely, if a bladesinger used shapechange to become a marilith, then he (she) could do an expected 88.3 DPR each round for a single 9th-level spell (assuming proficiency bonus of +6, +4 to hit based on strength, and a 0.55 probability to hit). If the bladesinger had access to magical longswords (say +1), this would rise to 92.5 DPR,. In dim light or darkness, the expected DPR using shadow blade coupled with booming blade (ignoring the damage on move component) would be even greater. Obviously, using a 9th-level spell solely for damage would be suboptimal in many conditions. However, being a marilith would provide numerous resistances (including to spells) and other abilities, and the bladesinger could shapechange into other forms for 1 hour assuming concentration remained unbroken.
The evoker is an excellent subclass with or without dipping into hexblade. It provides a good mix of AoE and single-target damage capabilities and synergizes well with wand of magic missiles and especially robe of stars. If your DM interprets overchannel as affecting DoT spells, then wall of fire becomes a monster with a little grappling/retraining help from other party members, though the individuals most capable of grappling mobs (e.g., fighters) would likely be capable of better DPR at high levels.
You can't replace a Marilith multi-attack with a cantrip. Multi-attack is not the extra attack feature. An evoker could shape change into a marilith just as well as a bladesinger. Also, going into melee on purpose is generally just a poor tactical decision.
Just starting 3.5 what book is the evoker in
im so sad, the dnd discord server im in dont allow the magic missile thing, so i only apply it to the first one :(
Why is vitriolic sphere not conjuration? Like MAA
pact of the kobold warlock
Couldn't you use an absorbing tattoo from Tasha's to absorb the necrotic damage done to you from Overchannel? I think there's a few other magic items that allow you to absorb necrotic damage to heal as well(
Absorbing tattoos only grant resistance/immunity, which Overchannel specifically states it ignores.
It does not ignore necrotic absorb however. The 50% HP return however may not matter much in many situations, as if you hit 0 HP you still fall prone, even if you then bring yourself back up into positive.
Gator token!
Remember folks sickening radiance with this subclass you become a walking microwave.
1st Level Enchantment
Casting Time: 1 Action
Algorithm Bump!
Hehe, fireball goes *boom*
And when they die they drop Totum Of Undying.
Which apparently doesn't work for them.
Im not sure if wizard gets this as im lazy to google at the moment, But Moonbean upcasted to 5th level with the subclass capstone ability so they never escape max damage
Moonbeam is Druid only, but it does appear on several subclass expanded spell lists, just not any wizard ones.
@@bskec2177 darn okay, what about would it work on that spell that turns you into a pseudo melee character dealing force damage every attack, would it all just be max damage?
Why is the careful spell metamagic a worse version of sculpt spells? It lets creatures you choose auto save against your spell, but they still take half damage. If I'm a draconic sorcerer because I want those metamagic options, if I'm all about spells like fireball I'm taking 2 levels into wizard specifically just to get the sculpt spells ability.
sculpt spell let's them avoid making a save and instead take no effects, instead of just auto saving for half. it's better for evocation spells, but careful spells work for things like hypnotic pattern, so they both have their uses.
@@collinw9792 yeah, but when I play a sorcerer I would like my fireball not to kill the wizard. It's fun being able to cast fireball at point blank range and not hurt your party, but only the wizards get to do that.
@@cydude5856 what I'm saying is it isn't a worse version, it's a much more versatile version that does something different. Evoker wizards have spent years and years of intensive research on one specific school of magic, that makes sense they could work those specific spells best. All sorcerer's if they choose can choose to have their allies save any of their save spells. They have an innate spell power, so they can have their friends pass, wizards spent years focusing on one thing, so they can shape it different
“I have made no pacts… at least not publicly” yeah same, if the government knew my power they’d have me pumped full of sedatives
Not gonna lie, in the exemple with the 12 ghouls, i would fireball my allies anyways.
Probably not an optimal move tho
They might even thank you. In some ways that was the fun of blasting; when the party is desperate enough to call for those blasts to be dropped on themselves as well as the enemies.
If only the Sorc (3.5 blaster) would have gotten something like this.
Really the biggest edge that evocation wizard gets is the magic missile thing... and the fact that careful spell is a pale shadow of sculpt spell unless your allies have Evasion. Draconic sorcerer gets access to many of the same features as evocation wizard with the downside of being locked to a particular element, which can be problematic in some situations. (But on the plus side, they get their benefits with schools outside of evocation)
Algorithm bump
Since most people are obessed with fireball isn't this like the best wizard classe in some kind of way?
No but it's up there.
wait why does level 10 increase damage per target? Isn't it only one damage roll per spell?
Because an Area of Effect damaging spell is a one damage roll that can damage multiple targets.
Let's say you cast a Fireball. You roll 8d6 and add your Intelligence modifier to the roll. So *every target* inside the Fireball's area will take 8d6 + Intelligence modifier.
What sucks is that Evocation Wizards aren't the best blasters in the game. This subclass needs some more damage buffs. This is what I'd do for the Evoker Wizard:
Sculpt Spell is decent for avoiding friendly fire, but level 2 needs more! Add your INT MOD damage bonus to all Evocation spells damage when you hit or target fails their save.
Meaning that the Level 6 & 10 class features were combined into the level 2, opening slots. Level 6, further increase your Evocation spells damage by your proficiency modifier.
Level 10 gets Widen Spell (+50% area of effect) and Empower Spell (+50% damage on hit or failed save), usable a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.
Level 14 gets the Maximized Spell already given (maximum spell damage), but increase its total usage to a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.
HARD disagree. Evocation wizards still have access to great utility and battlefield control otherwise known as _the wizard spell list_ , *they should NOT be the best blasters in the game they are not that specialized for it.* Single target DPR should always be what the martials are good at, that is like their main thing. If wizards are better than even martials for single target DPR, the main thing they have to their name, then that's just sad.
@@professionalsleeper6281 You do understand that blaster means high widespread area damage, right?
What class do you believe is the best blaster?
@@AvangionQ Not really? The word "blaster" is used mainly for single target damage dealers from what I see.
And besides, the best AOE damage dealer should be the sorcerer. They already have a very specialized spell repertoire and focusing them on dealing aoe damage should be more potent than a wizard doing it, who has the most diverse and powerful spell list available to them.
@@professionalsleeper6281 Single target damage, the terms are DPS, striker and nova.