Sustained Damage Spells - D&D: Optimized #10
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- Опубликовано: 22 сен 2020
- Have you ever wanted to know which spells were most efficient for sustainable damage per round in D&D 5e? Well, wonder no longer! This episode, we break down which spells are going to give you the most damage out of your precious spell slots for both area and single target damage.
Math/Graphs for this episode:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Master Sustained Damage Comparison:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
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Come join the conversation at reddit.com/r/DnDoptimized/
The idea for an optimized party would be an awesome video!
working on it! (ok fine, it's just a duo for now... :) )
There are a number of problems to consider when optimizing a party.
1: What are you optimizing for?
2: How many players are in the party?
3: Will any group of players actually let you tell them what to play for an "optimal" party?
If you aren't optimizing purely for DPR, the number of players in the party significantly changes what each character should be able to do. The more players you have, the more narrow each character's optimization can be. But the less players, the more generalized each character needs to be in order for the party to maintain the same level of utility. The optimization is easier if you're looking purely at combat optimization, but that is only 1/3 of the game so some would argue that you're only 1/3 optimized.
Got to follow that up with the optimized DM then...
@@KatanaKamisama
1.) Survive and fight and kill everything
2.) it's just one person controlling all characters. 100% teamwork efficiency possible
3.) see #2 lol
@@adamkaris Optimizing for combat is easy, and has been done. Optimizing for all aspects of game play isn't nearly as easy, and may have been done, but isn't frequently done as far as I know.
In no game I've ever played in, does one person control all the players. If you assume that, then the build would be 100% theoretical and probably never used.
I think it would be more productive to derive general principles that can be applied to a wider range of characters and party sizes.
Would be awesome to have a “revisited” or “revised” version of this video given new spells added since this video released. Or even if your opinion has changed on some spells since!
Damn. 100 subscribers here. Now sitting at 150k. It’s really great seeing you make it this far.
You can move Moonbeam. On each of your turns after you cast this spell, you can use an action to move the beam up to 60 feet in any direction.
Thanks for that reminder! About to record the next episode where I will potentially be using this spell, so it was timely :).
Indeed, that probably make moonbeam straight better than Call lightning. Unless u are fighting for for more than a minute in the same area.
@@tiradentes4525 also a con save as opposed to a dex save, and con saves are generally easier for monsters. I would still take moonbeam though since it isn't restricted by environment
This use of the spell reasserts your control over up to four creatures you have animated with this spell, rather than animating a new one.
I just want you to know that you are awesome! Thank you for doing all this work. you even made the spreadsheets freely available which is so cool. so once again thank you !
Animate dead and cloudkill together make a great combo, skeletons and zombies being immune to poison.
It's worth mentioning plant growth as a non-concentration, non-damaging but massive area of effect for slowing enemies down and getting the most out of the sustained damage spells.
The spores druid is probably worth covering as a sustained damage dealer, with animate dead, cloudkill, fungal infestation and spreading spores on top of all the usual druid options.
Don't sleep on animate dead and sickening radiance.
6 levels of exhaustion kills almost anything
I think your difficulty with the podcast is your voice is to calming. I may fall asleep or stop exercise when listening to you.
ha ha!
Watching this and seeing you say you reached 100 subscribers. How far you have come!
Came back just for a rewatch, always good to re-familiarize for new builds!!!
Doing my boy Illusory Dragon dirty there. Didn't even mention the fear effect that prevents creatures from approaching it (and you) to break your concentration. It's not limited in range either. Any creature that can see it has to save against fear.
I would LOVE to see your mind going at the task of making the most insane combo-setup of four mates with the best possible synergies... Thanks for great and inspirational content
This channel is awesome and im glad you gained like 32k subs since this came out
Holy shit, I love this channel. Subbed!
Ha ha - thanks friend!
Also, thanks for the shoutout! Frank is just fine. One last thing, at lvl 17, I always liked prismatic wall. Use telekinesis to fling a creature in and out of it. That's like 50d6 + potential petrification + potential banishment every round.... for 10 minutes. (provided you can win the contest to move said creature)
Of course! I debated mentioning Prismatic wall, but the challenge with it, I think, is that you first have to cast the wall, then you have to cast Telekinesis, and succeed on the Telekinesis against their Strength check... I was kind of going for just one spell slot here, but it's undoubtedly a strong combo *if* you can get it to work :).
@@DnDDeepDive its even better if you are 2 casters doing it together
@@Mr911superstar See my "Brainy and the Beast" episode for number crunching :)
Would be cool to have an updated, level-by-level version of this. Just to mix things up a little.
You had a question on how druids manage keeping track of conjured animals. I found 2 solutions I use.
#1 is an app called mighty dice. You can choose your die type and number and roll them all at once. Works great for quick attack and damage rolls.
#2 I got a 6x8 dry erase board with a marker from Walmart to keep track of their HP.
In conjunction it makes combat fluid and tracking pretty easy.
Thanks for all your content.
Oh and the dry erase board was about $3 and the app is free
Older video but I wanted to mention that I DO listen to this in my car, I just still use RUclips shrug 🤷♂️. Great show man 🙏🤙
Ha ha thanks and glad to know!
I think Melf's Minute Meteors is pretty good for Wizards/Sorcerers at 3rd level spells. It does take concentration (which is its biggest weakness, imo), but you get 4d6 in a 5' radius, dex save for half every round, and you can use a bonus action to toss the meteors, so you get a full action to go with it. It's more controllable than something like a fireball and does 12d6 in a (small) area. It's a very nice mix between single target and AoE dpr, and also between burst and sustained dpr. It also scales *really* well, dicewise - you get 2 more meteors per level, which basically just extends the duration, but in total, it's +4d6 damage per spell level, which is absolutely crazy scaling. For reference, that's 36d6 with a 9th level slot, which is almost as good as actual Meteor Swarm, at least in terms of raw dice.
Cheers, yet another excellent episode! I'm inspired about the dragon's breath and will cast it on my owl. Owl can fly up to 60 feet so I can cast a cone on enemy and fly back and repeat 10 times. That's some some serious damage. And I'm not even using actions myself. xD
Ooo... I love this idea - I completely forgot that Dragon's Breath had a range of touch, thus qualifying it! One thing, though... you might want to clear with your DM to make sure it doesn't take your action here... I can see it being interpreted as costing your action since the find familiar spell says: "when *you* cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell." I think my DM would probably say "well, you're casting the spell on your turn as your action, the familiar just happens to be delivering it." Regardless, can be a great way to position the cone more efficiently if you're not lined up right and don't want to take an attack of opportunity to position yourself etc. Great idea.
I think they will get shot out of the air very quickly unless the terrain gives it the chance to take full cover after the flyby.
@@PowderKeg3838 ofc you won’t use familiar against ranged mobs. But good notice.
Situationally, I've found Spike Growth to be devastating. For instance, if your party is on the other side of a bridge (or down a long dungeon hallway) from, say, 8 non-ranged enemies, it will a.) cause on average 320 HP of damage* (8 monsters X 5 damage per square X 8 squares), and b.) give your ranged party members a chance to rain hell on them as they creep toward you at half speed.
Edit: *With no save (they cross the spike field or they just stand there taking damage) :)
I think Spike Growth is *especially* strong if you can couple it with another caster that has a good Area Effect damage over time spell like Dawn or Cloud Kill - put them in the middle of the briar patch and now they take damage if they try to escape *or* stay :).
@@DnDDeepDive Combine Plantgrowth and spike growth and you can basically make movement irrelevant as it is 20 feet of movement for 5 feet of distance
Mega props if you have a repelling blast warlock to keep them where you want them.
Great job on these videos, just found them yesterday, probably going to watch them all in the next couple days :D
U can take off armor in 6 seconds if you have cast off armor (common item), though I have never seen a dm actually hand it out, or had a player ever try to buy it. But overall, great analysis of most the best DoT/sustained damage spells!
Thank you! And yeah, I've never seen that item in game either, but it would be pretty cruel for a DM to give it to his monsters just to nerf heat metal :P.
My new favorite RUclipsr!
I have a ranger that just got access to summon animals and since we play on Roll20 atm it's not a huge deal to just drag and drop some tokens onto the map and use the digital dice roller to roll 8 or 32 d20 and then the appropriate damage dice. If we were in person, I would probably put a ring on the enemies being attacked and require it to be in groups of 4 or something like that.
Man you are incredible with your research and data
Hey thanks!
@@DnDDeepDive thank you for responding and sorry I couldn't put it in better words. Your talent is one a cant comprehend and thank you for doing the math for me.
@@theprisonerofthegoldenhead4030
Just as a quickie, you mentioned moonbeam, but aaid it was limited and the caster needs to find a way to keep the enemy in the beam. Except moonbeam can be moved. “ On each of your turns after you cast this spell, you can use an action to move the beam up to 60 feet in any direction”. Additionally, both this and Dawn can be used tactically to block off a hallway or an entire area and limit which direction an enemy can approach you from. In on fight I used Dawn to melt a huge number of enemies for 2 rounds at a distance and then positioned it on our left flank. After watching many of their buddies have their faces melted off, the remaining enemy forces refused to go into the area and all grouped up on our right flank in tight formations that were then decimated by synaptic static and fireballs etc. So even though after round three the direct damage done by dawn was negligible, indirectly the battlefield control allowed us to win a fight that the DM thought we would get trumped in and taken prisoner. It was an awesome battle 😀
Thanks for the helpful video
You're welcome!
Why can I listen to this for hours on end? 😅 Definitely makes me want to try a Druid. Just not sure I can ever give up the bladesinger.
You talked about the Elk with Conjure Animals, which is great, but the best one on paper (unless the opponent is resistant or immune to poison damage), and by far, is the Giant Poisonous Snake, since the extra poison damage is save for half. It's totally bonkers actually how strong it is.
I'm going to reach lvl 6 soon on my Lore Bard, and I think I will voluntarily not pick Conjure Animals because I don't want to ruin everyone's good time. I don't know what the designers thought, I think this spell should be redesigned.
agreed!
Loved the video! :)
Paul Miller thanks!
Hi Coby, thank you for the great content. You mention another one for burst damage, but I can't seem to find it. Is it an oversight, or haven't you made it yet?
You're welcome! And no, I never got around to making that video! It's on my to do list but, frankly, due to the fact that this one got (relatively) few views and my focus has really been on just doing builds each week, I'm not sure if I ever *will* get to that second video in this series! :P
@@DnDDeepDive That's too bad, I was certainly interested in it! But on the other hand understandable, I surely won't mind seeing build video's instead :)
Conjure animals is strongest with giant owl. Flyby attacks each round outdo fireball easy. The way I DMed it was in Roll20 and used a character to make an attack card macro to invoke it's main attack. The player picks targets and clicks the attack 8 times. Determine which hit and for each roll damage (single click per hit). Add up and subtract from HP.
hey colby. since tasha's came out, have you considered updating this (or maybe even just the tables) with the new spells from tashas? it seems here like shadow blade is king for lower levels assuming you don't have a nice DM for conjure animals but with the new summon spells/spirit shroud, i'm not so sure if they'd retain their top spot. you could also add in stuff you missed the 1st time around like tiny servant, wall of fire, etc.
I think I'm probably done with full episodes dedicated to spell analysis like this. For one, I don't have as much fun putting them together, and for two, they perform *really* poorly by comparison :).
@@DnDDeepDive i see. too bad. i really liked those 2 episodes. i understand though. it's alot of work and it's not about finding synergies or mechanics interactions.
What about Faerie Fire, Web, Black Tentacles, which grant advantage for the whole party?
Animate object: if we spæit them in 2 groups, how do we DMs handle a crit? Do all of them crit?
Super late with this, but at our table our druid built a bot for discord. The player rolls a d20 with the modifier and then whatever is rolled is put into the bot along with the AC of the target and the number of attackers. The bot runs the numbers and gives us a number of the creatures that hit based on the roll. Then we roll damage as normal.
nice!
I really appreciate your thoughts and the time it must have taken to do this. Be well.
Thanks and same!
Here is how I handle group combat. I start by grouping all like attackers. This step isn't used commonly but it is a step. Then I have whoever is in control of the attackers roll an attack. I then take half the number of attackers -1 rounded up and add it to that number and the other half that was rounded down and subtract it to give me a range of numbers. I then compare the range to the targets ac and every number in that range that hits the ac is a hit. For example using 10 tiny objects from animate object that have a +8 to hit attacking an ac 17 target and a roll of 11 give me a range of 24 to 15 means all but two of them hit (the 15 and the 16). If they have any of them have advantage you adjust the range up by 1 for every 2 of them with advantage so if they all have advantage you just add all of them to the number and the same with disadvantage except for subtracting them. On a nat 20 treat the whole group as if it had advantage and if they already did have advantage roll a d4 to determine how many do double damage. on a 1 treat the whole group as if it had disadvantage and if they already were all at disadvantage kill one member of the group.
It seems complex but isn't really once you get the hang of it. Well that is just my method as you asked for.
I love the podcast
I can't seem to find the burst damage spell episode, did you forget to make it?
More like I just haven’t gotten around to it yet! 😬 But thanks for the reminder - need to do that soon.
A new spell, blade of disaster, in the rime of the frost maiden module is a 9th level wizard spell which is a supercharged spiritual weapon dealing 4d12 on a hit, crits on 18+ and deals 3x crit damage. A bladesinger with a bonus actions that does 12d12 damage
Yep! I mention it at 46:13 :). IF you have a good way to guarantee yourself advantage, it's particularly strong!
quick questions did Flaming Sphere not make the cut?
Powerful Druid build would be cool
Moonbeam is great in 10ft wide choke points. Used the same way Bonfire is for 5ft choke points.
I've heard of people casting Dragon's Breath on their familiar, and then it just takes concentration and not your action. Owls with flyby and dragon's breath, kind of nasty.
If I was using Conjure Animals, out of respect for the table I would summon 1 CR 2 instead of 8 CR 1/4. I realize this is vastly weaker, but I think the new spells from Tasha's kind of resolve this issue.
Hot Take: Heat Metal on a metallic dragon in an Evil Campaign.
44:44 DAAAARRRGOOON!!!
Just kidding.
Looking forward to the single use spell list.
I was hoping to build a sustained DPR Wizard but it seems they're not really made for that.
They are! It's called the Bladesinger :P. I really need to get to the second half of this - keep getting interrupted by other builds and Tasha's :).
In one of my games, the party got into a fight vs 32 fire giants at lvl 12. We knew we couldn’t take them in a straight fight so the wizard cast sleet storm in between us and the giants, the cleric cast dawn inside the sleet storm and the warlock threw sickening radiance into the mix as well. They took 8d10 per round running through the storm and were in difficult terrain and had to make saves to avoid falling prone. As each one came out, they were badly injured and our barbarian, fighter, monk and hexblade were tearing them up as they came out. We must have delt thousands of damage in that fight. Good times.
That's some serious Dragon Age: Origins / Divinity Original Sin 2 stuff right there! Ha ha - wait, this wasn't Storm King's Thunder was it? I'm in the middle of that campaign right now but the idea of 32 fire giants terrifies me... >.>
D&D: Optimized it was a home brew campaign where our party was obnoxiously overpowered and the DM was just trying to keep us challenged
A few things about Conjure Animals. 1st, my table rolls each one. I roll all at the same time if targeting one guy, or break them up by opponent.
2nd. I find a pack of wolves to be the best because of pack tactics, or sharks if in the water. 3rd, we roll their initiative separately from the Druid, but as a pack.
4th, efficiency depends greatly on the dm as some rarely insist on choosing your summons. As always work that out with your DM ahead of time. Finally, Circle of the Shepherd is AMAZballs. I've played the Moon Druid to level 17 and the Shepherd pretty much outpaces it from lvl 5 to lvl 19. At lvl 20 Moon Druid with unlimited wildshapes is a beast. But being able to grant temp hp, granting the magical weapon property to your beasts, and using these summons to absorb hits as well as command the field of battle makes this an extremely effective and versatile build
no storm sphere was mentioned. did the spell not exist at the time of this video?
It takes 5 minutes to doff heavy armor. Heat metal is great
But it only takes 6 seconds to break your concentration.
@@KatanaKamisama But with no maximum range after the spell is cast, just spend a few gold and get a horse then move away 120' a turn
@@KatanaKamisama thats why you always find a way to get better con saving throws
@@jerryturgin6583 True, but nothing is free.
You could get Blade of Disaster at level 17 as a wizard, and then multiclass to rogue for assassin. It's a long term build but a solid one, especially with the multiple ways you can get a bonus to your initiative and super stealth as a wizard.
For conjure animals, just from a possible damage output perspective, even considering and factoring in to-hit percentages, 8 or more animals is almost too much. It’s certainly more than other options for other classes. I tend to use 2 or 4 animals, typically brown bears and war horses, at this spell’s base level. The damage output is great. They are large creatures so you get even more cover and “meat shield” perks. But the dice rolling is quite a bit less. I let the animals roll for attacks individually, but deal average damage instead of rolling damage. I find skipping damage rolls saves more time than skipping attack rolls. Even at higher levels, I’ll still conjure only 2 or 4 creatures but of a stronger CR type. Occasionally I will conjure many smaller creatures, but when I do I typically go for flying creatures like blood hawks or flying snakes, and this would specifically be for tying to get to and break concentration on an enemy caster. Also, if you have to or want to conjure that many (8, 16, etc.) animals, have them “help” one another for less attacks but a better chance to hit due to advantage. This helps a lot for stronger ACs too. As a DM and as a player, I have found that the more reasonable you are as a player the more the DM will let you conjure what you want.
When I played a druid I purchased little my little pony and care bear cake toppers along with two each of the same color d20 dice in a bunch of solid bold colors to match the color of the creatures. That way I could roll all of the attacks at one time, even at advantage or disadvantage, and knew which roll was for which creature (blue dice for the blue creature, yellow for yellow, etc.). I could roll it before my turn and everything. Super fun! If you are conjuring 8 creatures, that’s 8 or 16 d20! Lots of clacky dice rolls!!!
I have a shitload of D20s and I roll all 10 attacks for animate objects or whatever at the same time. I will also roll damage with d20s if I can color code to know what goes with what. Speeds up combat a ton to roll damage and to hit at the same time.
Conjure animals option: using a table of statistics so you always do average damage. Wonky, but it speeds it up at the table.
For later videos you maybe should mention that you upcast some of the spells to the highest level. (Or maybe I missed something and you mentioned it.)
Also:
There are rules for taking of Armor. I don't know what page, but they should be in the PHB. (Important for Heat Metal)
Cloudkill mooves 10ft. away from you at the start of your turn. You can't choose which direction it goes.
I'm pretty sure I do mention the upcasting when I discuss spells in other episodes, but I'll keep the feedback in mind! As for taking off armor, yes, most takes a minute :). And while you *can't* choose which direction it goes, you *can* (potentially) choose where *you* are standing, and thus "guide" the cloud somewhat - that is what I meant (and in episode 14, when I discuss a lot of cloud spells), that's how I talk about it, so thanks for helping me remember to clarify!
@@DnDDeepDive Thanks for the quality reply!
Sanctuary plus spiritual guardians is awesome
For 32 animals, I'd just figure out their % to hit against a target's ac and say x% hit.
Do you know if spike growth and plant growth stack to make movement near impossible?
I believe they would, barring DM intervention of course :).
throw in movement reduction like lance of lethargy, slasher, etc. and you'll have an immobile target.
hey why didnt you go over Tasha's Caustic Brew i thought it was a pretty solid DOT. I guess the issue with it is the ability to save after every turn ??
And also, this video came out before Tasha's Cauldron of Everything ;).
Nightcrawler, teleportor extraordinaire
Excited to make a divine Soul Sorcerer utilizing this list. focusing on Cleric and Sorcerer spells mentioned. Spiritual Guardians with Distant spell for a 30 ft radius, spiritual weapon on bonus action, twinning ray of frost to anyone coming near me.
Don't you want enemies to come near you due to spirit guardians? I think looking for push/pull effects to work in with spirit guardians is better.
ב"ה
Just like we roll all 11 dice of flame strike at once, we also roll all 10 attacks of animated objects at once, then we count hits and roll for damage. It doesn't take that long.
Colby: Can you look at an optimized battlefield control Tomelock with the Crusher feat at Level 1 (using the new Custom Lineage rules in Tasha’s) and a Dao Genie Patron? They get the Spike Growth for free at Level 3!
I have been looking at Eldritch Blast with Agonizing Blast, Grasp of Hadar, and/or Repelling Blast Eldritch Invocations. This would push / pull targets 10 feet through a Spike Growth area of effect. You also add bludgeoning damage from Genie’s Wrath, and thus moving them an additional 5 feet from the Crusher feature.
You can take Shillelagh with Pact of the Tome at Level 3, knocking opponents back into the area of effect from Spike Growth.
I also like the idea of taking Mage Hand as a Cantrip, and then the Telekinetic feat at Level 4. This would allow you to keep everyone on the battlefield right where you want them.
The image that comes to mind is a cheese shredder. 🧀
It all seems pretty strong, as well as being thematic, but I need your graphs! 📈
Shillelagh cast on a club with another club for offhand attacks would allow you two chances to move an opponent 5 feet! 😃
sounds interesting... added to the list!
@@DnDDeepDive Thank you! ❤️
Imo shilelagh is not needed once you hit level 5. Stick with eldritch blast for more chances to push. I wouldnt bother getting it and going pact of the tome. I'd prefer pack pact of the chain to get yourself an advantage generator in the familiar.
A better option actually once you get spike growth is to multiclass fighter 2 for action surge so you can do fhe combo round 1. 2 fighter, 5 dao lock gets this combo done at level 7, custom lineage for another feat.
3 levels of gloomstalker can be added later for always on advantage (though that requires some solo play and party willing to play in darkness). If the party doesnt want to do that, go with divine soul sorc 3 to get access to seeking spell metamagic and favored of the gods just to give you more chances to hit with EB (to get.those pushes). if you go thise route, you could switch the telekinetic feat with metamagic adept and get quicken spell. Quicken spike growth then use eb 2x with your action and action surge.
With the sorc option above, you can generate alot of movement in the spike growth on round 1 at level 10:
action=eb 2 hits=20 ft movement
grasp=10 ft
crusher=5 ft
action surge=eb 2 hits=20 ft
that's 55 ft of movement (11x2d4 no save) on round 1 plus the usual eldritch blast and dao dmg
What about Hunger of Hadar and Wall of Fire?
I was just thinking about hunger of hadar. 9 times out of 10 the people inside run into walls and stay stuck in the spell.
If you’re a Druid using conjure animals on a regular basis make a deal with your DM:
1. When you conjure animals you will have the animal statistics ready to go and track the damage yourself
2. You will have enough dice to roll all their attacks/damage all at once
3. The animals will be environmentally appropriate adding to the role play as much as possible
4. Have all the animals go on the same initiative
5. Most of the time you will restrain your inner munchkin and limit the conjuration to one or two CR 1 or 2 animals
However, YOU the Druid get to pick the animals. Seems fair, right?
Here’s the perfect dice bag for a Druid summoning 8 wolves all attacking with advantage using pack tactics for only $20 on Amazon:
www.amazon.com/Pack-Dungeons-Dragons-Dices-Different/dp/B083JK32KX/ref=asc_df_B083JK32KX/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=459731236738&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10065514147499520004&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1013962&hvtargid=pla-906839104528&psc=1
Here’s how you do it:
1. Put eight different colored d8s on the board each representing a wolf 1 thru 8.
2. When the wolves attack roll 16d20s and 16d4s all at once (it feels amazing!). You have 2 sets of 8 colors with this bag. The colors you roll correspond to the colors of the d8s on the board. Call out your best hits and add the 2d4+2 of the corresponding color for each hit.
3. To save even more time you can preroll the dice before your turn starts to have all the attacks and damage sorted and ready to go once you’re up.
The first one or two times you cast this spell and roll all the dice it’s a neat party trick and the other players will enjoy the spectacle, but they will quickly tire of your theatrics if your turns start taking 15 minutes each. So do everything you can to speed the process up. Another idea is to let the other players each control a couple animals and roll the dice on their turn if that makes them feel more engaged.
fantastic ideas! Thanks for sharing.
I agreewith most of your points, except rolling so many dice at once, but I especially agree with the lesser number of summons and sharing the control of the animals.
These are my favorite spells for Thornlock/Abjuration builds. Cast blade ward or dodge each turn as your action and still keep damage/control up
there are better things to do with your action than these unless you're playing with a DM who likes to challenge you by draining resources and tons of combat over sending deadly+ challenge instead. for a controller, spells like tasha's mind whip, blindness, catapult + net/ball bearings, etc are great ways to amp the control with your action while you sustain a concen spell.
@@TheRobversion1 for your average control build yes, you are generally correct. However, if I have a build that relies on sustaining temp hp of Armor of Agathys and and Abjuration Ward on top of that, I want to be on the frontlines and to be hit but not have it do much damage, thus blade ward.
@@fjwald ah if built around armor of agathys, again there are better options but i do agree blade ward is now a valid pick. Dodge is counterproductive. Fire shield, re-casting armor of agathys, tashas mind whip (again), etc may be better uses of your action.
Storm Sphere is worth mentioning at lvl 7.
Storm Sphere can be great - I really like that you get both area *and* single target out of it. For me, the thing that makes other options at that level stronger are the benefit of not having to use your action for the damage, thus allowing you to cast another non-concentration spell on your turn, or make weapon attacks etc. Definitely worth considering though!
Concerning Conjure Animals, Giant Poisonous Snakes are better than Elks for damage provided no poison resistance. If you want more information for Druids, feel free to reference my Druid guide: docs.google.com/document/d/1xXgYqPxkEHaCisQ0tteFF-KtsmfJxkOQojeWwHf22n4/edit?usp=sharing
I also have tips for managing the Conjured Creatures in it, as you mentioned.
Damn mate you blew up a lot in 10 months!!
It feels a little crazy...
Good on you! I am working my way through this video at the moment and so far so good! Will have to pick it up again soon though because I probably should have gone to sleep a long while ago :)
Dragon’s breath is a bonus action, is twinable and uses your bonus action every turn leaving your action open every turn as well. Dragons breath yourself and your familiar and use burning hands in the same turn, 3d6 fire times 3 each turn while you have 1st level slots, massive nova there at low levels.
Just got to find a way to get both those abilities since sorcerers don't get FF naturally
Oh and of course dragons breath is an action to do the whole "breathe fire" portion.
So it's not leaving your action open
@@adamkaris only the first turn is it an action. It lasts 1 min. Find familiar via ritual caster wizard makes a great sorcerer.
@@commentary4298 or get it via magic initiate/ritual caster feat or 2 levels of druid or 3 levels of warlock.
With conjure animals, regardless of the type of animal, you can attack any size target with all of your animals. If your animals haven't used all their movement in order to attack then just have the animals run away after attacking. You might lose one or two to opportunity attacks, but the damage would be worth it.
Ok hear me out, cleric with sentinel using blade barrier, but before that using sentinel to abuse spirit gaurdians, you could even use polearm master too, though it might not be the right call giving up spiritual weapon.
like running through a blender filled with molasses :)
I love moonbeam and call lightning for my spores druid. The problem is, she prefers to use her actions on Shileilegh and symbiotic entity. And she has so many fun utility spells, that she only prepares DPR spells when her allies specifically request it. Even then, she is regularly shut down by enemies with high con.
I personally like blindness from the spore druid list. to avoid being shutdown you need ways to make your spells harder to save against aside from pumping wisdom. The #s are simply not with you if that's all you're doing. Here are ways you can improve your odds as a caster.
1. perhaps request from your dM those magic items from tasha's that increase save dc (moon sickle i think was the one for druids)
2. take 2 levels of fighter for action surge to force another save via another casting
3. take 3 levels of bard to apply unsettling words as a penalty to their save
4. Take 3 levels of sorcerer for quickened spell (so you can quicken the spell you want them to fail and mind sliver before hand to add a penalty to save) or heightened spell for disadvantage. Taking it to level 6 if you're a wild magic (reaction based penalty via bend luck) or shadow sorcerer (bonus action disadvantage) is also a great option.
5. Take 2 levels of diviner wizard for portent for a chance to set the save roll of an opponent.
@@TheRobversion1 does blindness cause disadv on CON saves?
@@jamesmullen3068 nope. Its just a great spell to shutdown casters and provide disadvantage to your party without using concentration.
as a dm i have run 3 campain as a gm and have always have a druid in the party and never have see conjure animal seen... because my player dont wanna lose all day rolling dice for one combat... PS: as a aasimar cleric my glory moment was when i got ambush alone and i cast dawn on my head and dodge XD
Can you do a vídeo about clerics?
I think that might be next on my list!
Were you hoping for a damage-dealing cleric or wanting to maximize healing?
Damange, the ultimate healing combo is life cleric + Magic initiate goodberrys, but for damange are more things
@@manuelroldan9500 Right, my impression is that there's just not as much to explore with the "who's the best healer?" question :).
@@DnDDeepDive healing is also important, but i think that the majority of players do healing after the battle, so there is more space tho do a lot of things.
If you took the healing theme, maybe is most important the strategy about were is the time to heal, and not so important the spells (there is a lack of healing spells).
Sorry for my grammar, i speak spanish but i understaing you perfectly. ( my brain freeze when i try to speak in english xd)
I burn through my spell slots like race car drivers and gas. I need a good concentration one or two.
Can you cast Dragon’s Breath on a familiar?
yes. best use of the spell.
No sickening radiance? It's really OP, dropping this on a chokepoint.
Why didn't you cover Haste? Twinned Haste + command to flee(divine soul) + Booming Blade has amazing sustained DPR. As Haste piggybacks on any GWM in the party, so would Command piggyback on Opportunity attack on the GWM ally, possibly a second frontline character.
was a little too difficult for the exercise, as the damage you get from it depends so heavily on who you're casting it on, what weapon they're using, what feats they have, what class they are, etc. But of course an amazing buff for a strong melee character, no doubt.
@@DnDDeepDive that would be true to be accurate. Approximate is simply 1d10+3 damage with 16 main stat with GWM should put you at +10 dpr, more for lower AC. This fits many frontline fighters, likely to find at least 1 in the group. But I understand that it would be hard to justify with so many conditionals. Command would need to hit, and the opportunity attack would too.
wow when this video came out you had less than 1% of the subscribers you do now. Only 8 months for some solid target market penetration, not bad at all
Thanks! And I still never have done the "burst damage" version of this episode... :/ - one day...
@@DnDDeepDive yeah colby. been waiting on that. *pokes*
I play 40k astra militarum, what I do is just take groups of 5 d20 and just roll them all at once. yes, no the hits.
People consider that sorta meta gaming for sifting out the enemies AC, well, meh, it’s pretty fast in my opinion.
I can't find any Errata saying that you can't use Legendary Actions with True Polymorph, and it's not included as part of the spell on DNDBeyond. I know that you can't use them with Shapechange, but as far as I can see they are still useable with True Polymorph.
Also, don't forget that with True Polymorph you can transmute an object into a CR 9 Monster, which means you can create your own Abjurer (or Necromancer) and have your own 13th (or 12th) level apprentice for an hour.
Or you could create one of several Young Dragons. Or turn a boulder into a beholder using either Lorthuun, or Thaxalia as your model.
Or if you're feeling super ambitious, and think your DM would let you get away with it ... you could turn a snowman into the Auril's First Form ... and then hope the real Auril doesn't take offence. :'D
one of the major drawback of most (even all) summon spell, and the reason why I never use them:
They slow down the game, even me an experiened player, I knwo my spell, I know what I want to do, I do my turn pretty quickly, controlling 8 elk, trying to figure out the best path so all 8 of them can charge, then rolling all 8 attack rolls, and all damages rolls then additing all that together (even if I'm good at mental math and can add number quickly) take a lot of time. and if you up cast it to get even more creature (or use more lower CR creature) it can quikly get out of hand, specially if you start getting a druid with hi army, the wizard with his undead army, the bard with his cohort of ensalve follower etc...
Then when the new druid player, who is still learning the game listen to your show and take summon [whatever] since you told him it was the best spell... then the game stop to an alt. I'm not trying to be mean here, but I witnessed it, a new player wanting to play a druid, requireing 5 minute everyrond to read his spell, and the day he used summon fey, it took him 30 minutes selecting the ability that each fey creature would do. He's a new player, so you don't want to rush him, but 30 minutes for a single turn... we didn't complete the adventure that night as it was intented.
An effective use of Heat Metal against an enemy not wearing metal is to bury a dagger into them, then cast the spell on the dagger. And you don't have to stay in range or see them once it's been cast.
True but for a humanoid enemy pulling the dagger out wouldnt even be a roll tbh
true polymorph into a planetar angel for more damage with a martial character!
Giant Poisonous Snake CL 1/4
+6 to hit
Range: 10ft
Average Damage:
(13,5) considering 50% of the enemies failing the poison SV part of the damage.
Since the range is 10ft you can easily make 16 snakes attack the same target. (Druid lvl9)
That is an average of 216 damage, if all connect... and if you wanna go crazy, get the talent Fey Touched for +1WIS and mainly Dissonant Whisper, so you can make the enemy run and give you creatures + 1atk each doing a total of 432 damage.
conjure animals? lucky you have a DM who lets you choose. our DM plays it RAW and picks what he thinks is appropriate to the environment (usually the weakest ones too as CR 0 is fair game). other DMs i've played with have a table. never played with a DM who allowed me to choose.
@@TheRobversion1 Well, I am currently playing on 2 tables, both as Druids (Moon/WildFire) and on both I can choose. AFAIK it's pretty commum to DM do let the play select the monster, I mean even streamer like Mercer from critical role do this way.
With that been said, I know some DM like to pick(Even that meaning more work for them) and mostly I am ok with that since basically no monster CR 1/4 deal less then 5 damage. So It wouldn't be 432 but still be 160 (On perfect scenario).
But a DM that not only doesn't let the player choose but on top of that choose monster that is on lower CR...
He is just a straight bad DM. I can only think he doesn't want to deal with the spell and if that is the case he suppose to talk about it before you get to the point to use it.
PS: It's indeed a strong spell, but it suppose to be that way, like Fireball. And on the end, there are Animate Objects (for some classes) that is basically the same without DM choosing.
@@tiradentes4525 yup. majority of the tables i've seen though the DM picks, the player controls so it's not more work for them. actually since they pick weaker/useless options, it actually is less work as they can either get rid of them easily with an aoe spell or they are irrelevant/not a threat on the field to actually to do anything (like picking 8 cats).
my own DM though isn't a bad DM. he just likes playing things RAW and encouraging players to look at other options such as the animate objects you mentioned, giant insect or the new summon spells from tashas.
either way for theorycrafting purposes, imo, it's not realistic to assume the DM will let you choose. if he does great, go nuts with 8 wolves or something. if he doesn't, it shouldn't be the main point/tactic of a build.
@@TheRobversion1Well, I respect your opinion. But I really dislike the idea of a DM that pick lower CR creatures. I mean, picking weak 1/4 creatures is ok, now choosing Cats/Rats are, for the very least, weird.
With that been said, if you are not playing a Shepard druid it's an option to just do not use this spell and go for other options like Tasha's. I mean, if you have combined this with ur DM before, I guess it's ok, but personally I probably would just play another subclass or even class.
@@tiradentes4525 personally, i think WOTC should've just reworked the spell. Anytime the DM gets to choose, this causes conflict at the table as the player will want to choose the most optimal options while the DM will want to balance his encounter by picking weaker options (as conjure animals is very powerful for its level if the player gets to choose) or picking environment appropriate options (8 cats make sense inside a building, 8 wolves dont).
Personally, i never select this spell anymore given the issues above i encountered the 1st time i got it. I've been happy though with giant insect and the new tashas spells.
As far as druid goes, our table doesnt really enjoy playing druids anyway but for a different reason (the whole druid not wearing metal armor/using metal weapons thing). We just get our druid spells/nature fix from playing rangers, nature clerics or lore bards.
What about the grand daddy of single target spells......inflict wounds?
No mention of bigby's hand? Wow..
possibly because it's meh sustained dmg at that point when animate objects is at the same level. this is an assessment of dmg only, not utility or control of the spell.
You can move moonbeam.
Hunger of Hadar for level 6 AOE.
Determine how many elk will hit each enemy, you will find that lots of elk won't be able to attack a small group. Find the chance to hit for the elk versus each enemy's armor class determine the average damage, then multiply that by the number of elk attacking each target. Sloppy, but it works.
Animate Dead: When you recast the spell to control them, you control 4 per spell. One of the best uses I have found for Animated Dead is for them each to carry a pavis (which is a mobile wall that was used by crossbowmen and early firearm users). Up to 5 ' tall, the pavis would provide 3/4 or full cover to those who are behind it.
Doffing Armor: By the rules it takes at least a minute to remove any armor except for a shield. Heavy armor takes 5 minutes. The new common magic item Cast-Off Armor solves this problem
Crown of Stars averages 224 points of damage if all seven stars hit. The problem comes from the fact you can only attack with one per turn, with an average damage of 32 if you hit.
Treeentmonk HATES Tenser's transformation, with good reason IMHO.
Storm of Vengeance: According to a Sage Advice I just found, SoV's effects are not cumulative each round. That means you're casting a 9th level spell that, with one round of exception, essentially does 1d6 damage per round for the majority of rounds you can maintain it. Great if you want to kill a crowd or a small army, not so good if you want to kill an ancient red dragon.
What Happened to Meteor Swarm? It's the best Aoe spell in the game! Bad moderator; no cookie.
Shape change is POWERFUL you still have your own spellcasting and the creature inate spellcasting
the most powerful shape is a pit fied more hitpoints more resistance and imunities Four attacks + posiond + ton of damage !!! or fireball at well
it lack the legendery resetance but have instead magic resistance and attacks are magical
what I hate is . it is an action to cast and an action to change shape so you will lose a turn
it is concentration and worst a melee range concentration any one sees you cast it will single you out either breaking your concentration or dispelling your shape so wasting your turn and 9th level spell is a BIG red alert
Storm of vengeance !!!!! if the lighting struck happened at first turn then we would be talking HECK strat with 2 or 3 lighting struck and every turn increase the lighting struck by 1 as the storm is getting more fierce !!!!!
ALSO LIKE REALLY THE THUNDER DAMAGE HAPPEN FIRST THEN THE LIGHTING .... SOMEBODY DOESN'T KNOW WHO LIGHTING WORKS WIZARDS !!!!
I love druids they are my favoraite but maaan they got such a sh#tty spell list and the wild shape barding them from using half of their class is BS !!!!
I'm surprised tiny servant didn't get a mention here for 3rd level spells. IMO it's a better version for animate dead (especially for RP purposes). In the same vein, I'm also surprised you glossed over find steed from the paladin.
Other notables for low level spells include melf's minute meteors, tasha's caustic brew, flaming sphere and maximillian's earthen grasp (this is how you do control + dmg at low level in one spell).
for mid-levels, evard's black tentacles i think deserves a mention as just like earthen grasp it's the way to control and dmg at the same time without needing ally help. Find greater steed also deserves a mention as an upgrade of find steed.
IMO as well for the arcane summoner options, fireball isn't too scary as you can always just counterspell (though yeah your opponent can counterspell too). If I'm playing a summoner and my summons somehow survive round 1, I make a beeline for spellcasters and take them out (along with peppering them with mind whip or dissonant whispers to take their ability to counterspell out).
Every spell is available to lore bards as well…
Homelander?
😂
Spirit guardians then bonus action for spiritual weapon. Next round auto SG the bonus action spiritual weapon then ur attack for toll of the dead... 2d12... get wrecked
I think you’ll like my Death Cleric episode of you haven’t seen it 😉
Gasp!! I will he looking for it in a second now lol. Thanks for replying and great content sir.
Can’t cast spirit guardians and spiritual weapon both on the same turn. Only one spell can be cast regardless of being an action or bonus action unless one is a cantrip.
So... first round SG, next round SW and Toll.
the damage of spells in d&d is WAYY lower than a melee class considered all saveings
True, but damage spells are often more reliable. You’ve got an enemy in front of you that’s on deaths door but is about to murder the whole party. You could rely on the fighter to swing 4 times and ideally it meets the ac once, or you could toss out one sorcerer to fireball, and even on a fail you’re doing some amount of damage
you missed stormsphere.
Faithful hound is pretty good... within it's limitations. 4d6/round for 8 hours.. no concentration..
I *almost* included it. The greatest weakness, I think, is the teeny range. If only you could make the hound move! It's like Cloud of daggers with more damage and single target. Definitely in enclosed spaces it can be really nice, or guarding a chokepoint, and don't forget, it's actually 4d8 :P.
@@DnDDeepDive You could move it around with 3 levels in Psi Warrior, although it would cost an action (and potentially a psionic energy die) to do so. Still sounds like it might be fun :)
@@DnDDeepDive the hound doesn’t occupy its space. Also, the hound is not required to be placed on the ground.
You can place the hound directly above the caster and it will do respectable damage, especially since it has advantage from being invisible. This works well in tight spaces where movement is limited, and can potentially deter would be attackers when they end up taking damage.
It’s much better if your an abjuration wizard who has found a way to wear armor of some sort. Perhaps a cleric or artificer dip. Since it’s an abjuration spell it charges up your ward a bit.
It’s also useful to place it over or directly on where your wizard sleeps. Even if your wizard is surprised, the hound is not, and attacks accordingly on your turn even if you can’t. If you have any slots left anyways.
If you are somehow the most targeted character then you can burn those slots up and have multiple around you.
Maple druid with elk. Well, elk can be dangerous creatures, sorry.
Dragons breath 3d6 not 4