Ranger Subclass Tier Ranking (Part 3) In D&D 5e
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- Опубликовано: 14 июл 2024
- MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarter.com/projects/... We take a look at the two new subclasses added in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and discuss how they stack up against the others. We also look at community rankings and see how they compare.
This episode is SPONSORED by XP to Level 3 and their Quest-o-Nomicon, available on Kickstarter! bit.ly/3CfQLTD
TIME STAMPS
0:00 - Sponsor
0:30 - Intro
2:11 - Fey Wanderer
11:38 - Swarmkeeper
22:43 - Community Rankings
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I multiclassed my Stars Druid with a Swarmkeeper Ranger. Her swarm is a bunch of fireflies that light up the night sky. It felt very thematic. 🙂
That sounds awesome.
Oh my gosh, I adore this.
You would not believe your eyes...
@@tauronmitronion377 well played good sir
Holy shit, this is an amazing idea
Thanks dudes!
Surfer Jake coming through
Hi!!!! Love your channel too!
“Your swarm can be almost anything your DM would allow.”
*dramatic cut to me with my halfling swarm keeper ranger who’s swarm is a dozen corgis with various hairstyles and outfits*
Someone I know played a former magical chef (multiclass wizard/ranger) who's swarm was animated pastries.
I wanted to play a vaquero halfling swarm ranger with tiny horses for a swarm
I thought of a swarm of sand aka Gaara
@@Sheamu5 I think it has to be something considered an actual creature… though a massive swarm of dust mites would have a slightly similar effect on top of being poisonous depending on the species of dust mite used!
Sort of like Gaara and Shino combined!
I thought of a swarm of tressym kittens!
You can use Beguiling Twist when you force a creature to make a saving throw against charmed or frightened, so it's way better than you make it seem, especially with multiclassing
Yep, came here to say the same. This Ranger also has charm person, so you can try to charm someone, see it fail, and twist it into an attempted fear or charm on a different creature.
Definitely! With a single Undead Warlock level, you can bounce around a fear effect pretty much every round
@@eruditecaptain3117 They do miss a little bit of that there too. Even if you don't multiclass its still a good ability and let's not forget you can do it as often as it comes up, there's no limit to it
Was coming here to say this exact thing. It is as useful as the ranger makes it!
@@snazzyfeathers Especially with Summon Fey having an ability to charm or frighten.
Beguiling Twist actually can be applied for spells or abilities that you or your allies use. So like if the Fey Wanderer casts charm person on somebody and it fails, they can apply it to someone else instead. With that in mind it can actually be far more versatile and active than you think
Also, the Summon Fey spell gives you a summon that attempts to charm someone every round.
Plus the Mirthful aspect of Summon Fey. You can twist any save against that ability EVERY TURN, and you can choose Frightened or Charmed...it doesn't have to match the type of condition from the original effect.
Very much think this deserves an A
Honestly these subclasses just prove that Arcane archer is so bad.
Plus, when the enemy eventually succeeds on its saving throw after, you can chain it onto a different enemy! For free! As many times as you want!
I can't wait to play my Triton Swarmkeeper with his swarm of flying fish.
Imagine if swarmkeepers 5th level spell was bigby’s hand, but it still takes the form of your creatures, I would really love that
Big Bee's Hand.
It's been mentioned here a few times, but beguiling twist is way better than you're making it seem. It allows you to stretch your party's spell slots father by redirecting failed spells to other creatures. The spell doesn't have to originate from an enemy.
It doesn’t even need to originate from someone else! (You get charm person as a fey wanderer as well)
If you have a Paladin in your party, you can pretty much proc the reaction almost every turn.
@@thetommyguns1773 yeah, just spam wrathful smite. The stock of that spell goes way up with a fey wanderer
They also give you the summon fey for free, which also can bonus action attempt to charm
I appreciate how Monty has been more receptive lately to Kelly’s input, and even though he didn’t agree initially with the fey wanderer ranking, he did concede the point when examining the community poll.
I've noticed that too. These guys are really a golden example of how to civilly debate with one another.
TBH he probably gave Fey Wanderer a B because he really wanted to use the transition line "speaking of B's..."
@@bobs2044 yeah, other than the mistake on beguiling twist that brought the score down for them, I do agree they wanted the pun.
You missed one important thing about Beguiling Twist: The creature succeeding on the saving throw doesn't have to ne an ally of yours. When you or one of your allies try to fear or charm an opponent, you get a second chance if you fail. It isn't good in every single party but amazing if you have some synergy.
And more so, it even activates from itself. If a creature succeeds in the saving throw on a later turn against the charmed or frightened from it, you can use it to make someone else be affected.
Exactly, since it can be enemies it's easy for you or you party to set it off.
Someone else also pointed out it combines well with the Summon Fey spell since one of the options has charm effects it can apply every round
Very much so. I believe that this ability propels the Fey Wanderer well into A Tier, and with everything else the FW gets in its package, it's arguably bordering on S Tier if not S Tier already.
With Druidic Warrior, Shillelagh and Thorn Whip, you significantly cut down the Ranger's MAD issues and can pour your points into Wisdom and focus on other stats as needed. It's like a Ranger Hexblade almost.
Nice catch. This makes the ability far more usable, though it still requires a reaction and an investment in a good spell saving throw DC to get adequate mileage from it.
I don't think it elevates the class to an S-tier by any stretch -- but it does make the ability much more useful than we expected in the right party or with the right abilities.
Dhampir swarmkeeper that has a swarm of bats sounds like a lot of fun.
This actually inspired me to make a character like that. Thanks for putting the idea in my head!
With the fey wanderer level 7 abilitie you could cast charm person on a target and if they save then target someone els instead. It works when your team mates cast a spell and an opponent passe the save
I would like to point out that swarmkeeper abilities actually carter melee ranger incredibly well
That 5ft move is a free disengage
Pushing (and knocking prone) is great to get into a better position
And +2 ac is a nice addition
wheres the +2 ac?
@@antoniotorres9587 at 11th level using the 5ft move gives you half cover
Now make it Quippers (piranhas)
Agreed; my new Swarmkeeper is definitely best at range, but I love that the swarm + shillelagh makes him viable in melee when needed.
I was thinking of a mele-based swarmkeeper, but I came to the conclusion that this build has one major disadvantage. You want to use Gathered Swarm on your first attack that hits each turn, because otherwise you risk missing on subsequent attacks and not being able to use the ability at all. But that means that if you intend to move your target, chances are you'll move it out of melee range on the first hit. You either then forfeit your second attack or spend half your movement to chase down the enemy you just moved.
Being able to rearrange the battlefield from a distance is far superior.
For the Swarmkeeper’s Flight, I think RAW it might count as something else moving you. Then you’re not incurring opportunity attacks. Even though 10ft is less than ideal, non-provoking movement is definitely a bonus
Writhing tithe does not, since it gives you a flying speed. However - the 5 feet of movement from the 3rd level ability does count as being moved by something else, and *that* doesn't trigger opportunity attacks
Can we just assume that Fey Wanderer found have been A-tier if they realised the extra use of Beguiling Twist (that has already been mentioned many times)?
I think something crucial about the 10 foot fly speed that the swarm gives you is that it gives you the condition of hover. Hover means that if your speed is reduced to 0 you can not be pulled out of the air to fall. If you could stop a twilight cleric where they were flying, they'd take fall damage. Swarmkeeper ranger can not. Its *much* more useful than at first glance.
Genie Lock gets 30' Flying and Hover. At first I thought "Well Swarmkeeper can choose to move themselves or their enemies further with the Gathered Swarm feature" then I remember Warlock can get Repelling Blast invocation and do that better.
@@PiroMunkie Warlock also has negative 2 spell slots and has to rely on eldritch blast to get the most out of the class. Would it be nice if swarmkeeper got 30 feet? Yeah, but warlock also just *needs* more from its subclasses.
There's a few things you overlooked on beguiling twist:
1. You can use the reaction whenever any creature succeeds a saving throw on charmed/frightened. Regardless of an ally or enemy. This can be combined with spells of allies, or your own. Also works well with multiclassing i.e. undead warlock.
2. You get to choose fear or charm when you use the reaction. You aren't dependent on the original status condition. You also get to choose any target within range. So its only really useless when all creatures you're facing are immune to both charmed and frightened.
Its an ability that really works well with allies focussing on the same status effects.
I think its really cool that both new ranger subclasses promote party synergies. Charm/fear effects for the fey wanderer, and area effects for the swarmkeeper.
Also the mirthful option for summon fey can use charm
We have a swarmkeeper in our Icewind Dale campaign, and the amount of damage he can pump out turn one is insane, because he has Gathered Swarm, Crossbow Expert, and Hunter’s Mark. Plus he just got a dope magic weapon that adds even more damage to his hits, it’s so cool.
How to flavor web as a swarmkeeper ranger: Imagine those Army ants that build bridges and other structures from their bodies.
Or if you go with bee's you could flavor it as really dense honey
i would say in regards to both the subclasses, they are much better with the Druidic warrior fighting style, since it allows you to focus more heavily on your wisdom score
Swarmkeeper might be my favorite, and Kelly did a good job of explaining why. Nice features that absolutely play into the subclass theme, which can be flavored in virtually endless ways. I don't mind that the flight feature is not the same as a few others, considering that it is better than the many subclasses that don't get it.
Swarmkeeper says your swarm is a group of small creatures, but there's nothing there that really requires them to be living. You could easily flavor the swarm to be something else, and I love the idea of a Swarmkeeper earth Genasi with a swarm of stones or crystals, or someone with wind, water or sand. You can go full on bender from Avatar, or Gaara from Naruto.
Something cool you can do with the Swarmkeeper is cast spike growth then have your Swarm drag your enemies through the spikes
Druidic Warrior for Thorn Whip + Telekinetic to get another 15ft.
Something yo note about gathered swarm is that it works on all attacks, including cantrip attacks. Allowing you to use druidic warrior for cantrips like produce flame, primal savagery or thorn whip while getting the same damage bonus that hunters mark gave.
A build I liked was making a magic fisherman who used a fishing rod as a spellcasting focus and cast thorn whip using the fishing rod instead. Dealing damage while allowing battlefield control.
Also you can add this to multiclassing cantrip attacks like an Eldritch blast warlock
One of my favorite characters I made recently was dual wielding, thrown dagger, sword swallowing, circus freak, fey wanderer. Just chucking daggers at everything that moved. And against multiple enemies dreadful strikes was a blast.
when you’ve finished this subclass ranking series can you please do a series on fixing the subclasses you put in C and D tier ?!
I honestly would love to see them so builds for these classes as is. There is so much creativity that can be used to elevate these classes.
Like the swords bard?
@@DabzFace I prefer Valor but exactly like the sword bard. Although it rated low as a bard but high for a Gith class
I would really like to see "ideal" builds to get these low ranked subclasses to function well. Not fixes per se, but choosing spells, feats, equipment, and maybe even party comps that help these subclasses do what they're trying to do.
@@TeslaandDragons yeh I agree in theory but what I think they are getting at with these videos is the mechanics need to fulfil a narrative.
For instance the berserker barbarian is iconic, but most players won’t pick it because mechanically they don’t feel like a berserker.
Now feats, race options etc are great but can only take you so far so wouldn’t it be cool if they stayed with the narrative of the berserker and added or changed abilities to make it B or more.
I just say this cause I’ve had players not want to play certain subclasses that are “sub-optimal” out of fear of being the weakest part of the team.
I'm glad to see that Monty has mellowed out a little bit it & not so "harsh" on sub-class rankings. Keep doing that. Honestly I have been more receptive to Kelly's rankings because even with niche and subpar features, he still sees value in them.
And I also agree with them that Rangers are now a really good class. Especially now with the alternate features in Tasha's, I think even the Colossus Slayer and the Hunter from the PHB get a slight boost in efficiency.
I feel like you guys are forgetting that you or your party can force fear or charm saves from the enemy too for beguiling twist
I've been playing a Faun Fey Wanderer in a hb campaign and i'm having a blast! I really like rangers in general and have played so many of them but I think this subclass really cool imo. Between them and our parties Changeling Bard a lot of shenanigans have ensued
Rangers are my favorite class thematically and I was super excited to get your take on the Fey Wanderer. I bet Jill could build and play a really good FW in one of your campaigns. Love your work!
Omg, the swarm keeper makes me laugh and want to play it to have a swarm of {anything i want} heeding my call. And calling it the disney princess of rangers was gut wrenchingly hilarious
A swarm of pixies all dressed up as their favorite Disney princess sounds on brand for that :D
your part 3 subclass series is proving to be some of your best videos. Great job dudes!
A very fun Swarmkeeper Ranger would be a Minotaur or Loxodon with a swarm of oxpeckers. Symbiotic relationships and all that.
I came here for a clarification on beguiling twist and see that everyone already did that
For the Swarmkeeper, the flying speed makes sense because other classes are free flying, but the concept in which the Swarmkeeper is flying, makes it seem like they're being picked up by something and being able to fly that way. so it mnakes sense that you would be moving slower.
And they have hover so they can stay up without needing to keep moving which is something people tend to ignore about flying: if you stop moving, you fall.
@@jeremynadaskay7872 great point!
I kinda wanna add that the swarm keeping you afloat doesn't have endless energy and its picking up something much bigger than it.
Also I would argue that it gives you a free disengage to avoid Attacks of Opportunity since it's not you moving but rather being moved by something else.
'Like a Disney Princess', in regards to the Swarmkeeper. ...Whelp, now I've got to roll up Princess Aurora/Sleeping Beauty with her woodland friends.
When I first voted on Fey Wanderer, I hadn't played one before. I've now been playing one for a couple of months and they've become one of my favorite characters I've ever played. She's a city guard and is good in both combat and social situations.
Couple things I'd love to see you guys delve into would be fighting styles, more monk related videos (subclasses 3, magic items, guides for more subclasses or even multiclassing ideas) and some more dialog about party comp. Thanks for all your hard work!
I totally want to get into a Hyrule based game just so I can create a Cucco Swarmkeeper
Sadist, I approve
Finally! :D Been waiting on this one for ages! :D
monty's shirt: The dark tales of cthulu
Kelly's shirt: Little funny Zyggie pig!
Getting ready to play a Harengon Fey Wanderer Ranger soon. Very excited and I'm glad I spent time to watch through your comments on the subclass.
I loved your take on the swarmkeeper! Its been really fun to see a new player take to it, because yes the roleplay element helps drive the actions. The one issue I see is that it can jam up bonus actions if you take hunters mark as well. It can doubles down on HM damage or give new options, but it can make it a bit more clunky for beginners who arent sure what to do 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. But agitating the swarm at the start of battle will always be cool.
i made a artificer ranger multiclass with swarm keeper and they have tiny mechanical bugs as their swarm and i love them so much
I tell you what, the Rangers ain't stalking the gloom no more, this is their moment in the sun
Rangers being my second favorite class, Tasha’s makes me happy
While I agree with everyone's defense of Beguiling Twist since it is a surprisingly useful feature, I would like to point out something about Fey Reinforcements that no one (including the dudes) seems to be mentioning. If you alter the spell to not need concentration, then you can cast the spell multiple times in a row. In fact, at the level you receive Fey Reinforcements, you can summon up to four fey spirits that will attack at your command every turn. If the Fey Wanderer has just a little prep time (specifically, 24 seconds), their opening turn in a fight can deliver six attacks and then maintain that output for the next six turns provided the fey spirits don't get taken out. Even without the prep time, the Fey Wanderer can just keep putting bodies on the field that will eat up enemy attacks and/or deal their own. A Fey Wanderer brings a potential hit squad with them wherever they go.
Also, one of the fey spirits you can summon with the spell can attempt to charm a creature as its bonus action every turn. Beguiling Twist really just gets better and better.
Once you guys have finished all of the subclasses for every class, i look forward to you guys ranking all the classes as a whole against each other.
Hey great! I was waiting for this
Excellent t-shirts as always
Imagine your swarm being lightning bugs in a dark cave where you slowly walk closer, illuminated every 20 feet like your walking in a strobe light
13:04 I dont think its fair to say the swarmkeeper can already deliver more dmg than the feywanderer. you said it yourself that the feywanderer can deliver the extra d4 dmg multiple times (if he attacks multiple targets). swarmkeeper can only do one d6 once per turn.
To be fair though, one of the things ranger does best is focus down the biggest threat in the target in the room rather than clearing out mooks. That said, in smaller battles with a lot of lower-powered enemies dreadful strikes is stronger.
But the fey wanderer can't move any target it hits 15 feet closer to the great weapon master barbarian's great sword. So who is really dealing more damage at the end of the day?
@@CitanulsPumpkin i was just talking about the 1d4 vs 1d6 dmg die and i think kelly was too. sure the movement stuff you can do with swarmkeeper is pretty nice.
Yeah, if you having hunters mark on a target, drop them on your first attack, you can then move the HM over as your bonus action and then get both a second time on a second target.
Spike Growth + Thorn Whip + Swarm Keeper. Proceed to make Grated c̶h̶e̶e̶s̶e̶ Human.
The Gloom Stalker is a very powerful subclass. But in an underdark campaign such as Out of the Abyss, it is incredibly over-powered. The Umbral Sight feature in particular breaks an underdark campaign. Fey Wanderer and SwarmKeeper are both solid subclasses.
Umbral Sight is the awkward combination of gamebreaking (that amount of easy invisibility...) and easily countered. A DM could just have all the bad guys carry torches, then Gloom Stalker is a lot weaker. But that's not going to be fun for the player. Someone who takes a subclass because they want a certain playstyle shouldn't be railroaded away from that by a DM. To that end, I think it ought to be nerfed. A version of the Gloom Stalker that was more fair under the best case scenarios encourages a DM to let it stand, rather than undermine it.
What if the Gloom Stalker was only invisible outside half someone's Darkvision radius? Within half DV range, maybe just causing disadvantage on sight related checks and not full invisibility. It ends the silly and busted passive invisibility if you were 10 feet in front of someone's face, but still allows a clever player to take advantage of a powerful ability.
@@thebitterfig9903 Torches can't do it cause they only have a 20 ft radius of bright and another 20 ft of dim. The Gloom's got minimum of 60 ft darkvision but probably 90 (cause of the bonus 30) or even 150 if you're a drow. You can take the full benefit if you remain in the darkness outside the range of their torches. That's not always possible in tight areas but it happens often enough to wreck encounters in bigger areas.
@@fortunatus1 I think a lot of my point remains, tho. If a DM wants light enough, they can get light. But getting that light by brute force ruins the game for the Gloomstalker. The extreme nature of that earliest-level ability fundamentally breaks things. But a less powerful ability has potential to be more fun for everyone.
my first dnd character was an eladrin fey wanderer and i love everything about it, the class give amazing mobility and i feel Beguiling Twist is more useful than what you guys said and can be active more reliablily like a lot of cmt already said. Teleporting in and out of the battleflied to sp allies or deal dmg is great, and the flavor that come with the class is great as well
I am just about to get to a level three ranger so your timing was perfect! I was debating swarmkeeper.
I have two ideas for the Swarmkeeper: a butterfly swarm who's wing color changes with the characters emotions (probably gnome), and one with a bunch of puppy's/pups who is the "leader of the pack"
Nice video again guys.
I would love a subclass video on the blood hunter he got left out so far
New camera? You guys look great! Spending that Kickstarter money! :)
Love the swarmkeeper. Made an Armorer Artificer multiclass with it and I imagined the swarm to be made out of lighting wisps that power my armor's special gimmicks, feeding it electricity and such :D
I played a super ill character with 2 levels into spore druid and the rest (8) into Swarmkeeper ranger. his swarm.....his swarm was a giant swarm of mucus and phlegm would surround him and his sword and attack/get all over the enemy. It grossed everyone out (and they laughed) and was hilarious. He was a big hit and at the end said he had to go find a doctor and thus he left on his quest. Great times. I LOVED the swarmkeeper!
I played the most absurd Swarmkeeper. I was a swarm of pigeons inside of a sentient "warforged" trenchcoat. Took the ritual caster feat and made a familiar that was a larger pigeon that served as my head. They were collectively named Kevin. It was totally ridiculous, 10/10 definitely would play again
All of my attacks were reflavored to be birds flying out of my sleeves and pecking people, while using the bow mechanics
One time my ranger Miggo Vortensen was so upset that his halfling friend was kidnapped that he kicked an orc helmet and broke his toe.
This video makes me very happy because I just started playing Swarmkeeper and have been feeling a little bad that his swarm is bees-felt like I “should” come up with something more creative. Your mutual delight in BEES brings me joy.
(The bees live in his bagpipes.)
With the Battle Manouver 'Pushing Attack' and the Crusher feat, you could move a creature 35 feet....
My Fey Wanderer harvested the flowers on his head every morning... and then he made drugs with them.
My DM was on board with the idea and allowed me to imitate the effects of certain potions with said drugs. Everybody was high in my party.
bão demais mano, Excellent video guys. thanks a lot, cheers from Brasil!
Im playing a Swarm Keeper ranger in an icewindale campaign and my swarm is ice and snow.
A small gentke blow of snow constantly circles him in general, it turns inti a more stronger wind and snow when he is emotional and it turns i to a blizzard around him when he is livid.
When i use mage habd the swarm detaches a small part and covers my hand making a snow glove which slips off and does its thing.
Farie Fire creates a beautiful aroura borialis effect with the beautiful northen light effects surrounding the targets.
For the flying/hover ability it turns into a small platform shaped like a oversozed snowflake
Normal use of mage hand: "I pull the lever with mage hand."
Swarmkepper mage hand: "Chippers, go pull that lever! Yes that lever! Don't give me that look! Fine, 3 acorns! But later, now pull the lever dammit! Oh look, now you've made Fluffers, Poofy, Nibbles, Sqeaks, and Darla jealous... ok fine, acorns for everyone later, NOW PULL THE LEVER!" *many squeaks of delight*
Love my swarmkeeper! Paired it with Druidic Warrior and a Quarterstaff, and I'm rocking a squirrel theme!
I just want to drop some love for the Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure shirt. You are clearly a man of culture and taste.
Hi DDudes! Nice vid.
A quick comment: I think you 've got Beguiling twist wrong. Let me explain:
1. Beguiling twist doesn't rely only on the enemy succeding a saving throw against you or your allies. It relies on just a creature within 120 ft succeding it.
The creature can be also be you, your allies or an enemy; you can potentially target with charm person a high wisdom saving throw party member on purpose to impose a frightened condition on an enemy. On the other hand you can be the one forcing the enemy to roll a ST against a charm or fear effect and bounce it back on another enemy (see point 3 for a built in the subclass easy combo). The potential uses are many
2. Keep in mind that when you use the ability and the target fails its saving throw is now "charmed or frightened by you (your choice)". You can use it to transform a charm effect into a fear effect. The frightened condition is much more impacting than the charmed condition. Moreover since you can swich the two conditions you will have better chances to use the ability. Enemies immune to both conditions at the same time are fewer.
3. Remember that you can combo it with your spells in particular "Summon Fey". "Mirthful Fey" allows you to use it every turn.. add it to Fey reinforcements and you will not run out of chances to use it any soon, I can grant you that. Maybe you missed this combo.. I did miss it in my first read.
4 Many other classes have charm or fear imposing abilities. Just few examples: Conquest paladins, Way of the Long Death monks, Undead warlocks and many spellcasting classes just to name a few.
5. Multiclassing with some of the classes at point 4 will grant some nasty combos.
Said that these are just my opinions of course, love your work! Keep it up! Cheers^^
And please please by all means, proove me wrong if you feel I am mistaken.
No you are correct. Maybe they misread it? I've seen it in action and it comes up constantly.
Swarmkeeper just *sounds* amazing and I like it. And I agree with the crazy cat lady, that sounds hilariously awesome. "Go, my pretties!"
Currently playing a Swarmkeeper Ranger... He's a tabaxi sailor who was cursed to have a flock of seagulls constantly following him around (stealing his food, causing chaos in establishments around town, pooping on him at inopportune times)... but now that he's level 3 he's found he can actually command the seagulls to do things for him, which has been super fun.
Swarmkeeper is one of if not the coolest subclasses thematically imo
„Speaking of Bees…“ had me in tears 😂
d4: D&D Deep Dive has a great fey Wanderer concept that is worth checking out. It definitely moved fey wanderer up my list of classes to try
Have you guys considering doing some kind of collaboration with Treantmonk? He’s currently doing his own tier list of all the subclasses in the game but with very different criteria. Perhaps you could have him on to do one of your episodes and join him for one of his? I’d love to hear his opinion on some subclasses using your criteria and vice versa
I think they have very different ways of analysing things. I'm not sure it would work.
It would not work; Tmonk is brutal in his listings. He also judges a class vs every class available while the Dudes judge a class against its own kind.
That would be like mixing skittles with m&m's. Both are good at their own, but they taste weird when combined.
@@robmongar7933 that’s the point, to see how their rankings might change using the other’s criteria
@@moonlight2870 but maybe it would be a good weird
Evil Overlord: I say, what's the matter with your faces?
Captain Minion: Oh, the party's ranger summoned a swarm of bees to attack us.
Mook Lieutenant: That's why we had to abandon the McGuffin. Too many of us kept getting stung.
Captain Minion: Sergeant Killgore died from his stings, same with a few others.
Evil Overlord: I see. Find an insect exterminator. They can deal with the bees.
Swarmkeeper really excels at Str based reach rangers for duelist builds with gwm. You can do a lot with control and if you pick up sentinel(in place or together with gwm) you start encroaching on S-tier with spike growth and other battlefield control
Swarm has such cool flavor. Thanks for the video
I can't wait to see how the drakewarden turns out in a couple weeks
Now I want to make sandman as a swarmkeeper/Dao warlock. As always, great video guys.
The fey wanderer is one of my favourite subclasses now, just for the wis mod boost to charisma. I absolutely love the idea of building a character with unnaturally powerful charismatic ability. It's not optimized, but imagine having 20 wisdom and 20 charisma, and proficiency in all cha stats. You can even have double proficiency in something with the new ranger class features. Imagine having a +22 to persuasion. That's insane, and I love it.
Idk if you guys will see this comment, but the best fun I had with Swarmkeeper was playing as a Water Genasi who had a Flock of Seagulls hairstyle, and his swarm was (to no one's surprise,) a flock of seagulls. Best part is I named the leader bird of the swarm as C. Gulliver, and the initial was because his father was Ra's al-C-Gull.
Also, I totally understand the beekeeper fantasy of the Swarmkeeper. I think you might want to play a Fierna Tiefling Swarmkeeper to have your character be a constant Bioshock reference.
"Would you kindly get stung by bees?"
Primary benefit of the Swarmkeeper's flight?
Is Hover.
If someone hits you with an entangling ability or spell? You don't fall to the ground. If someone hits you with a Command? You grovel in mid air.
If your movement speed is ever dropped to 0? You don't fall to the ground.
It counters one of the primary weaknesses of flight: Falling.
My first character was a wingless/flightless Aarakocra swarmkeeper; his 'swarm' was a flurry of his own feathers.
I'm super excited to play a Feywanderer ranger/Monk of some sort where I just focus on Dex/wisdom/cha in that order.
I have a Bugbear Swarmkeeper and I love playing him. The rp of the Swarmkeeper is super fun. It felt good when I used the hover ability, and a high enough intimidation check, to frighten an entire goblin camp. Or have a firefly rest on my allies nose as I cast Cure Wounds.
Some Swarmkeeper stuff: Use the forced movement on attacks with Spike Growth! Also the 2nd level Blindsight feature fits well with a magical swarm (for a melee build), and take Fog Cloud for similar combat advantage the Gloomstalker has.
I love elves and this makes me love them even more. This makes you want to play an ranger with how they fixed alot of things.
I like the idea of an origami swarm keeper
I love watching your clips on the many subclasses. I do wonder which class be next to get part 3 rating?
Bee swarm web spell: a splurge of super sticky honey.
Great video! I would be very interested in how you'd rank the Hunter using the optional class features from Tasha's.
One thing i don't see people talking about with the Beguiling Twist is that it also works on itself. If one target succeeds a subsequent save on their turn, you can use your reaction to re-up it on another target.
I think you missed a lot about Beguiling Twist. The ability has unlimited use, and it essentially triggers itself, so you can keep bouncing it around making sure that you have at least one enemy with a very nasty debuff. And if they save, then you just do it again and again and again, because its unlimited. Imagine ticking a dragon's legendary resistance with a unlimited use ability
Neat catch, but it is still a reaction to use this ability. So you can only bounce it once per round, and it must be a different creature.
@@DungeonDudes still very Potent and not quite as limiting as Monty made it out to be.
An archer with a +2 to AC and a flying speed is pretty powerful. If you add the +2 every turn, we're talking about a 15 feet flying speed. I really like it and I always picture the swarm as a fog or a mist that turns into a flying nimbus.
With beguiling twist something I didn’t see mentioned in the comments yet, it’s also important to know that after you redirect the charm, if they repeat the saving throw on their next turn and succeed it you can then again redirect that charm again creating a constant cycle of charms or frightens given that the enemy doesn’t succeed the beguiled effect and you’re reaction is still available to do that since there isn’t a limit of its uses
I have a Harengon Ranger swarm keeper that the swarm is multicolored Japanese Cherry Blossoms, he uses a whip and has a fedora
21:59 Speaking of roleplay, i have an aasimar ranger in a campaign im running right now who's reflavored his swarm as feathers, so he gets flightless wings at level 3 (with radiant awakening granting his wings holy energy and energy to fly once per day) where the feathers disassemble to assist him on the battlefield, it's a really cool theme so i just let him run with it even though the swarm probably has to be alive (not RAW though) which combined with the level 7 flight just really meshes well with his vision of his aasimar. I really like how here being a crazy cat lady and what's basically a renaissance demigod can both be the same subclass, and that's why this along with the horizon walker are my favorite subclasses for the ranger
Andy from outside Xbox made a really cool swarm keeper ranger out of a vampire concept. His swarm was bats and was to kill Strad to proves that he is the ultimate vampire!