I have this image of a happy go-lucky Halfling skipping down the path with a swarm of butterflies slaughtering all the Goblins that try and ambush them.
The 1d6 extra damage from swarm keeper isn’t insanely powerful, but it’s also not trivial. It’s helped by the fact that it costs no resources, no bonus action, nothing. It can be stacked with things like Hunter’s Mark.
Sure. But the extra damage is by far the worst of all the options for your swarm. I mean, if you have nothing better to do, extra damage is better than nothing. And, unlike the fey wanderer, you deal the damage only once per round. The fey wanderer does it for each target so you can deal the damage several times per round if you attack more than 1 creature. - The Innkeeper
@@TwistedTentacleInn It's not an attack, so it will be reliable against enemies that resist/are immune to non-magical attacks. Remember that in 5e, an attack has an associated d20 roll. The swarm damage isn't part of the attack roll like, say, Hunter's Mark. The downside is, of course, no critical hit damage. Still, being able to hurt a werewolf when you don't have a magic/silvered weapon at your disposal is a good thing. It's scratch damage, but better than no damage. I do agree that it'll usually be the least effective thing you can do with the feature, though. Moving yourself out of danger or moving an enemy into danger are fantastic. Especially if the DM has you fighting near, say, a cliff...
@@TwistedTentacleInn, whether it’s the worst thing is situational. Very often it will be the best thing you can do. The Fey Wanderer does a d4 vs d6, and “several times” is a tall order. At level 5 it’s typically twice (thrice at most) with a hand crossbow and CBE. In that scenario you’re also doing d6 weapon damage instead of d8, and you’re creating more competition for your bonus action in a class that uses it often. Again, I’m not arguing that the swarmkeeper damage option is better, but it’s far from trivial. 2 successful attacks from the Fey Wanderer damage = 1.5 more average damage than 1 successful attack from the Swarmkeeper.
@@Sean-fo8kg sure, when you're not fighting things with resistance to non magical attacks, which at lower levels is common, but beyond 5th is far less common. And in terms of your comment about it being the worst option being situational, that's effectively what I said too. "if you have nothing better to do..." means that yeah, it's the best option if the others aren't viable. - The Innkeeper
@@TwistedTentacleInn "The worst option on my free ability is to deal extra damage". OK... the point is you get options. None of the options are bad just more situational, there is always going to be a general best use option. Saying that the worst option for this ability is terrible compared to the fey wander's ONLY ability is kind of pointless and dumb; if all the options were better that would not be fair. You usually have to sacrifice some power for versatility.
Something you didn't consider is that you are being moved 5 feet, not moving 5 feet, so it's a free disengage in many situations. That's why it pairs with half cover. This makes the 5 foot option every bit as good as the 15 foot one
@@birchtree14 if i had to guess its because its supposed because it dosent proc oppptunity and any readyed attacks for moving are less likely to hit. Most likely wrong though
@@birchtree14 you move away 5ft, which does not provoke an opportunity attack, so you can still move away from tough enemies on your turn, and gives your plus 2 to your armor class until your next turn. Also, it's not a limited resource. You can do this every turn if you want.
I made a crazy cat lady halfling urban swarm keeper ranger who grew up as an urchin on the streets of Sharn. She was kind to feral cats and they all came back to serve her after death.
I think a Wisdom based Swarmkeeper taking the drudic warrior style to get thorn whip and shillelagh has a lot of potential as a defender character, especially in a heavy ranged party. Would have the ability to both pull enemies towards them and throw them around. Lots of ways to abuse web, plant growth etc. Would be a real pain in the ass for the GM! Also the mighty swarm enables them to knock a flying enemy out of the sky if they dont have a hover ability, fly spell etc which wont always come up but can be real clutch when it does.
Exactly what I’m doing for an upcoming game! Playing our own Unsleeping City but as kids. Playing the book worm kid who likes bugs and history. Carrying around a hollowed out quarter staff that stores silk moths. I’m absolutely ready for that shillelagh combo
Yup. Add in telekinetic for more movement. Though later on spirit guardians or any of the damaging wall spells would.do better..or mayb evards black tentacles.
I’m absolutely loving this. Dropping spike growth and punting enemies back into it once they get out just makes my soul sing. In later levels you get to knock them prone too! Sign me up. If going melee I can use that fly ability to hover or fly over the spike Growth itself for cheese. (Speaking of that, this flight also negates the need for Athletic rolls. So a centaur Ranger need no longer fear climbing.)
Treantmonk should optimize a built that only uses one die type, for hit dice, damage and all ability. Like a wizard that uses a greatsword and casts fireball, or a barbarian with a battle axe.
Having played an Alchemist, I’ve found the 10’ flying speed really useful in exploration and even combat. It is really slow but Longstrider keeps it concentration free and bumps the speed to 20’ which is enough to really get off the ground in round 1. For a Ranger, I might even consider grabbing the Mobile feat at higher levels. Like Longstrider it also boosts both walking and flying speeds. I don’t use it every adventuring day but several times it’s had a very major impact.
With the 5 ft movement and Swarming Dispersal, all I can think about is Bayonetta. Bat Within and her dodge mechanic all feel absolutely excellent when used as this class. Your standard swarm can just be a swarm of bullets.
I'm currently playing a Swarmkeeper that grows his own tobacco (background is Guild Artisan lol). The swarm is his own smoke, which is conjured directly from his lit cigarette, that he smokes during the battle.
If only the fly speed and extra damage progression of the swarm weren't so shitty I would nothing to complain about. Still the kit gets big points for flavor and it would be a lot of fun knocking around enemies and shoving them back into webs and masses of angry holy spirits.
Very nice to hear how good a tactical class it is! I just rolled one up a Grung Ranger this morning and I think a bunch of bugs will be perfect for him.
That Writhing Tide at 7th level sounds more like a save my character from fall damage than let me fly! It seems better used as a jump extender or fall safety net than a separate form of movement.
I love using the piercing feat to make the damage for the swarm 3d6. And getting to choose the better of the damage isn’t too bad either. Love it so far
Yeah I built Gara as soon as swarmkeeper and genie patron for warlock came out. Eldritch blast/ gathered swarm (sand bullets) and the gourd for the genie vessel.
I've been eagerly waiting for this specific review. My anticipation was really high when this subclass first hit UA, but I was pretty let down with the printed version. I knew you would have some useful insight to make me feel a little better about it though, and you did.
The swarmkeeper's 1d6 damage with no actions is a straight upgrade from the monster slayer's requirements of a bonus action and 60ft range. Monster slayer and hunter still need upgrades to bring them up to par.
Hunter isn’t shit but it also isn’t amazing My main complaint is that all of it’s features give you either an option or another kinda forcing ranger into even more of a specialist
Take 4 lvls of swarmkeeper and one of wizard. Take Booming blade and use a spear. Go custom lineage or variant human. Take polearm master and warcaster feats. Use your familiar to give yourself advantage on your first attack. After you hit, move yourself back 5ft. When they move to attack you they get hit with booming blade damage, then initiate an attack of opportunity from you that is another booming blade and you move back another 5 ft. Add hunters mark on top of that for extra damage.
Thank you for those amazing videos! I prefer the Fey Wanderer, but indeed the Swarmkeeper is interesting. I have so much hype for your sorcerer video ^^
Something you didn't mention, the swarm can move you five feet for free which means you have a free disengage. I think this might be unique to this class, rogues get disengage for a bonus but they don't get it for free. I'd possibly dip that swarmkeeper ranger for the free disengage on a rogue or barbarian especially since I think you can use this to pull a squishy into your deadly embrace. As a rogue, throw a dagger drag that squishy caster in close then wallop them with a sneak attack. I also like the idea of swarm carrying a thrown weapon to it's target enveloping the target and dragging it to me.
this subclass is pretty cool, but i wonder if the warlock, e.g. fathomless w/ Evard's BT, wouldn't manage to do the exact same thing but better. If we compare, hand crossbow swarmkeeper w/ CBM+SS vs. warlock w/ moderately armored + CBM, with invocations for control repelling blast + grasp of hadar, the warlock version has several advantages: no saving throw on displacements, multiple repels per round, +2 AC (shield), more flexible use of bonus action, no dependency on 2 main stats, much better at keeping concentration, especially for fathomless' EBT. Movement, misty step, etc can still be used to compensate for the less flexible direction of displacement. And way more choice of AoE hazard spells. On the other hand, SK gets more flexible direction displacement, and potential for more damage on restrained enemies using SS, archery FS which negates the effect of the dual stat build. All other features from both classes are different and provide various advantages, but not at the core of power level comparison. Web and EBT are roughly the same spell with the same power level. All in all, both builds are cool mechanically speaking, but i would still give a slight edge to warlock due to no saving throw required on moving ennemies, only hit.
I accidentally got a taste of this with my Paladin of vengeance when my DM allowed me to tame a swarm of bats. Can't wait to make one and have The Plagues on repeat lol.
I do just want to point out the words are written on gathered swarm as “when you hit an attack” so you could use a cantrip or spell on that if it’s an attack roll
I am considering the option of a strenght ranger, with polearm master sentinel to move myself out of melee range of enemies with 5 ft or move them away and force them to re approach, also moving one's self for the +2 ac is even better as a melee hold the line type character and the control spells work well with the playstile, keeping emenies in the area thanks to sentinel, and last but not least flying can be very good for getting some pesky enemies in polearm range (as with ur reach being 10 and 10 ft flying you can reach 20 feet up and it can catch some enemies off guard) and even the resistance feature can ake you tankier and move you away from an enemy who you just sentinelled therefore making you immune to all other melee attacks they may want to make and likely all attacks since monsters can almost never mix up their attacks Edit. Of course the same suggestions treantmonk has given when making a str ranger apply, take lvls into fighter first, 2 or even 3 with how good knocking people prone with battlemaster may be with sentinel and other control spells)
Swarmkeeper build I'm working on, a high Wis build to max save DC. I grabbed Druidic fighting style, and took Shilaleigh and Magic stone, which allow me to use Wis for my weapon attacks, and went Firbolg to boost Wisdom. As I level up I intend to max out Wis as fast as I can, and focus on Ranger spells that allow saves, Hail of thorns, Searing smite, Web is from the Swarmkeeper list, and Healing spirirt keys of Wis as well. I'm a little worried that I have too much B.Action stuff, and might be a slower build up in combat.
Sentinel and PAM is great for this class. You can stop an approaching enemy. And even if they can still attack you the first attack you can disperse and teleport away to waste the rest of its attacks. I think this subclass has lots of potential for either frontline or as a ranged archer and can be built in so many ways.
okay, now I somewhat see what I got wrong. Its not JUST a "once a turn 1d6 damage". Either the class has other things that make up for it, or that is not the main application. But I dont think either of those cases hold true for the rune knight or the psi knight.
It’s obviously not gonna come up in most campaigns, but Insect Plague has great synchronicity with Feral Senses at 18th level. You trap the enemy in this 20 foot radius, heavily obscured sphere that’s difficult terrain, AND you don’t have disadvantage to attack them! A great combo. Combine it with plant growth, transmute rock or spirit guardians. Just keep smacking ‘em back into the middle of the sphere.
Spike Growth is a nice spell you have access to that synergizes well with the 15 ft "shove". Up to 6d4 damage on the initial push, then forcing the enemy into difficult terrain that will deal even more damage if they want to get back to where they were.
yup. Telekinetic feat adds more pushing. The dmg is a bit meh for this type of build but it does look fun. Would definitelu be better with multiclassing. At least 2 fighter imo so you can do the combo on the 1st round of combat (the spike growth + atk spell for save vs. Push and telekinetic save vs. Push).
Great background art on this one, by the way. I find online art really inspiring for character creation, you often have good art elements but top-notch on this one for sure. Any chance of crediting some of the artists? I'd love to see more.
Twilight cleric 17/ Swarmkeeper 3 is control beast! Pop Spirit Guardians,use thorn whip, combine it with teammates AoE abilities if any and unleash the mayhem on the battlefield, while being tanky, supportative and yet damaging character. This will most likely put the target on your head XD
This is how i'd probably go as well using spell attack cantrips to trigger gathering swarm. However i'd put in 2 levels of fighter as well for action surrge so you can setup the spirit guardians + spell attack combo on round 1. You can also add the telekinetic feat to move one more creature.
@@TheRobversion1 Oh yeah, Forgot to mention Telekinetic Feat . That's a great addition to the whole shtick. Also, druidic warrior can make you pretty SAD, using Shillelagh for some melee goodness .
@@Andrija722 yeah though imo not as integral.if you can get good cantrips from rhe cleric plus good spell attacks like guiding bolt. Thoufj fighting style wise, yeah might as well take it. It just that at least you arent shoehorned into it if you wanted to take something else like defense fighting style.
Yeah ranger is very interesting now! But I'm playing a Changeling Aberrant Mind Sorcerer! Can't wait to see what sort of build you do with Sorcerer and those new feats.
I feel like Swarmkeeper here has untapped potential as a crit fishing build. Just using half-orc as a race and favored foe you can get your weapon dice, orc dice, swarm dice, and favored foe dice all doubled. Multiclass into this after 3 levels of Champion Fighter and just take all your following levels in this and you would be very scary from 6th overall level onwards. Especially if there is any party synergy with giving advantage out
Swarm dice doednt work with crits. It doesnt happen on the attack. It is delivered by your swarm after a successful attack. Gloomstalker works best for crit fishing due to extra attack and always on advantage.
@@KarmaEpsilon well you could if you want. IMO the way i understand it RAW wise is the extra dmg is delivered by the swarm (kind of like a pet delivering dmg) and not actually you (so if you crit it's not included). The dmg isnt a magical part of your weapon (or your spell attack if you are using that to trigger it) or due to a maneuver you do nor is it a spell buffing you or cursing your opponent. It comes from a different source. But if your DM allows you to do it, why not? extra dmg is always good.
@@TheRobversion1 No I went back and reread it it definitely happens after the attack "hits" but whether that is separate or with damage seems totally up to the dm. "immediately after the attack hits" is both specific and vague at the same time, i was just letting the algorithm tell me what the ruling was since I'm playing online with the pandemic and everything. As a dm I should really keep a closer eye on this stuff. Personally I will let it keep applying as such, (because damage happens immediately after an attack hits too you know?) but I definitely understand the other viewpoint.
@@KarmaEpsilon imo its not a big deal if it doubles on a crit. just an extra 3.5 points of dmg that happens rarely. The gloomstalker still will be the better critfisher especially if multiclassed into fighter and using elven accuracy (6 attacks at level 8 on round one without using bonus action, all with advantage). That's 18 d20 rolls on round 1 to hopefully land a crit. IMO the swarmkeeper lends itself more to a caster type control ranger over a martial critfisher.
I was looking at this because I wanted to try this out, but seeing we have 1 maybe 2 rangers in our group (one might've dropped out), I'm going to try this in a different group. At level 17, adding insect plague to swarm dispersal is going to be wicked.
My main issue with the 10ft flight is that you can't use it after moving. By RAW whenever you switch movement types you subtract distance already moved, so after moving 5ft you have 25ft walking or 5ft flying. After moving 10ft you have no flying, 20ft walking. It would've been better if the feature stated you could fly 10ft in addition to your regular movement. That way you could run to a wall, fly straight up, and continue waking. There would be niche uses for it. As it is written you basically have to be within 10ft of wherever you want to fly at the start of your turn.
Very interested in making a melee swarmkeeper build that can utilize BA attacks to flit around the battlefield. One option would be Ranger X/Monk 1 using a spear or quarterstaff with Dueling fighting style & PAM to get the most out of martial arts Dex & unarmored AC. Another option could be TWF style with Dual Wielder feat to get +1 AC and maintain the BA attack, maybe using a whip for reach Kind of a bummer that the swarm damage is never said to become magical, so the additional d8 on hits is likely to be much less useful from level 5 onwards
Good vid. The tactical options i agree are nice but not a major draw for me. Dpr is still king imo. No need to control or be tactical if the opponent is dead on round 1-2 (gloomstalker). I like that you made it cool like batman though mechanically for me i"d still play gloomstalker or fey wanderer ahead of this. I'd probably pick this is as my 3rd ranger subclass to play (and thats because i want to make an arcane archer build work well and it seems gathered swarm works well with grasping arrow). Anyway looking forward to your review of the new sorcerers, 1 of my fave spellcasting classes. Keep.up the good work chris!
Imagine Jester from Critical Role multiclassing as a swarm keeper. Cadueces seems more likely, but Jester and her fey unicorn pixies are right there, too. Since the swarm hits with an attack, be it weapon or spell, she can cause even more trouble on a battlefield. That regular gnoll is just out of Yasha’s reach? Guiding bolt. The gnoll is now in reach, damaged an extra little bit, and is now bright and shiny for Yasha.
May be useful info, there should be mechanics for failing saves, as in page 184 of storm king's thunder (official module) it says the elemental magerna voluntarily fails the safe forced by the magical item iron flask, and the magic item doesn't even specify that you can do that Yes there have been tweets even by game designers saying that there are no rules about it, but they're lying as apparently there are if monsters are doing it in official modules or idk
@@TreantmonksTemple normally yes, but neither the item not the creature have a special mechanic or ability, the book just says he does it as if it were a normal thing
So what does this subclass bring? It is not BA heavy - so it is ideal for PAM, XBE or Dual wield builds. It can move the ranger 5ft away after the attack - so ideal for melee character, especialy with reach weapon, because you can use the Gathering Swarm feature on first hit and don't need to risk, that you will miss on the last hit and waste this ability, or waste some attacks. From lvl 7, he can levitate 10 ft above ground for BA - ideal for reach weapon (enemy cannot attack you, but you can attack him and he will also get AoO of he leaves). From lvl 11, he can knock enemy prone with any attack - ideal for melee build - especialy GWM! From lvl 15, he can teleport up to 30 ft when he takes dmg - equaly good for ranged and melee char. Summary - this subclass is ideal for PAM build! Especialy if you can also take GWM and maybe even Sentinel. On first attack, knock enemy prone, then attack him twice with -5/+10 from GWM - this is like improved shield master feat. Or hover as BA over the enemy and don't let him escape thanks to sentinel. Or use hit-and-run technique by disengaging freely without any feat. What do you think, is there any better solution for swarm keeper, than PAM+GWM build?
Okay, here's my next character: I'm making a Dhampir Swarm Ranger just like in Dracula Untold. So I'm going all the way to the lvl 17 flight/teleport. But what do I multiclass in for 3 other levels and when, to make this the best it can be? Rangers already do some of the best damage in the game, but what do I mix this with to put it over the top with my concept? Hexblade for the curse? Arcane Trickster for the SA damage and stealth? College of Whispers for the Psychic damage? WHat does the crowd or Treantmonk think?
Edit. Does it mean it's magical piercing on that d6, also, does the d6 become added on a spell attack too? Halfling ranger with a swarm of hummingbirds!! While going further into ranger here does gain benefits. I had been thinking of mixing this with wildfire druid. Action move with swarm and bonus action teleports with fiery teleport. Tactical hummingbird ranger/druid.
There are actual several featrues that explicitly state that the saving throw can be voluntarily failed (i.E. the telekinetiv deat) so the assumption would be that by default a saving throw must be taken, except when the feature or spells states a voluntary faulire is an option. Any yeah, my Chessbrain is salivating on pushes and pulls on will. I know why my bard took Telekinethtik, despite it being a highly contested bonus action. Although I must introduce the slight Caveat to your "move enemeis aroudn for free every round" that you still need to hit and the enemy has to fail an STR saving throw, wich tend to be quite high for a lot of monsters. All in all the swarmkeeper sounds pretty good and flavorful. The RTanger class has come a long way since the PHB, although I still am not a fan of "fix a bad class with extremely pweorful subclasses", although the Tasha Options did help. Keep up the Good work crhis.
The perfect swarm creature for your dark, brooding ranger? Butterflies, of course.
I mean the mothman sound terrifying
I have this image of a happy go-lucky Halfling skipping down the path with a swarm of butterflies slaughtering all the Goblins that try and ambush them.
THE MIGHTY MONARCH!
Calyptra = the vampire moth.
Moths
I love the idea of setting up spike growth then having a bunch of butterflies drag a creature through it with no remorse
Bruceman, the Batwayne, hunter of evil-doers.
The 1d6 extra damage from swarm keeper isn’t insanely powerful, but it’s also not trivial. It’s helped by the fact that it costs no resources, no bonus action, nothing. It can be stacked with things like Hunter’s Mark.
Sure. But the extra damage is by far the worst of all the options for your swarm. I mean, if you have nothing better to do, extra damage is better than nothing.
And, unlike the fey wanderer, you deal the damage only once per round. The fey wanderer does it for each target so you can deal the damage several times per round if you attack more than 1 creature.
- The Innkeeper
@@TwistedTentacleInn It's not an attack, so it will be reliable against enemies that resist/are immune to non-magical attacks. Remember that in 5e, an attack has an associated d20 roll. The swarm damage isn't part of the attack roll like, say, Hunter's Mark. The downside is, of course, no critical hit damage. Still, being able to hurt a werewolf when you don't have a magic/silvered weapon at your disposal is a good thing. It's scratch damage, but better than no damage.
I do agree that it'll usually be the least effective thing you can do with the feature, though. Moving yourself out of danger or moving an enemy into danger are fantastic. Especially if the DM has you fighting near, say, a cliff...
@@TwistedTentacleInn, whether it’s the worst thing is situational. Very often it will be the best thing you can do.
The Fey Wanderer does a d4 vs d6, and “several times” is a tall order. At level 5 it’s typically twice (thrice at most) with a hand crossbow and CBE. In that scenario you’re also doing d6 weapon damage instead of d8, and you’re creating more competition for your bonus action in a class that uses it often.
Again, I’m not arguing that the swarmkeeper damage option is better, but it’s far from trivial. 2 successful attacks from the Fey Wanderer damage = 1.5 more average damage than 1 successful attack from the Swarmkeeper.
@@Sean-fo8kg sure, when you're not fighting things with resistance to non magical attacks, which at lower levels is common, but beyond 5th is far less common.
And in terms of your comment about it being the worst option being situational, that's effectively what I said too. "if you have nothing better to do..." means that yeah, it's the best option if the others aren't viable.
- The Innkeeper
@@TwistedTentacleInn "The worst option on my free ability is to deal extra damage". OK... the point is you get options. None of the options are bad just more situational, there is always going to be a general best use option. Saying that the worst option for this ability is terrible compared to the fey wander's ONLY ability is kind of pointless and dumb; if all the options were better that would not be fair. You usually have to sacrifice some power for versatility.
Something you didn't consider is that you are being moved 5 feet, not moving 5 feet, so it's a free disengage in many situations. That's why it pairs with half cover. This makes the 5 foot option every bit as good as the 15 foot one
How does it pair with half cover?
@@birchtree14 if i had to guess its because its supposed because it dosent proc oppptunity and any readyed attacks for moving are less likely to hit. Most likely wrong though
@@birchtree14 you move away 5ft, which does not provoke an opportunity attack, so you can still move away from tough enemies on your turn, and gives your plus 2 to your armor class until your next turn. Also, it's not a limited resource. You can do this every turn if you want.
Love this class. Playing it right now, as swarkeeper fisheman, that collects souls of every fish i ever fished, and add them to the swarm.
- heh, that is a really fun sounding theme!
I love making fishermen with this build by taking thornwhip via the druidic warrior fighting style
@@fullmetalpotato1258take shilelagh as the other cantrip for the rod, take crusher too and be able to push em back or reel em in
@@epitaph4606 yeeee love that!!!
I made a crazy cat lady halfling urban swarm keeper ranger who grew up as an urchin on the streets of Sharn. She was kind to feral cats and they all came back to serve her after death.
Just to point out with the moving the ally, might be worthwhile getting yourself a blowgun because then its so terrible damage is fantastic!
With the ammo flavored as amphetamine syringes.
@@andrewzachar bruh I'm just seeing and I died on the spot
I think a Wisdom based Swarmkeeper taking the drudic warrior style to get thorn whip and shillelagh has a lot of potential as a defender character, especially in a heavy ranged party. Would have the ability to both pull enemies towards them and throw them around. Lots of ways to abuse web, plant growth etc. Would be a real pain in the ass for the GM! Also the mighty swarm enables them to knock a flying enemy out of the sky if they dont have a hover ability, fly spell etc which wont always come up but can be real clutch when it does.
Exactly what I’m doing for an upcoming game! Playing our own Unsleeping City but as kids. Playing the book worm kid who likes bugs and history. Carrying around a hollowed out quarter staff that stores silk moths. I’m absolutely ready for that shillelagh combo
Kobold with a Swarm of Velociraptors. That is all
*Flying* velociraptors. >:)
Not necessarily. The Velociraptors just juggle you in the air
Heh, that was my theorized pathfinder hunter build lol
@@BR4IN1N4J4R That is hilarious.
Character idea. Auntie edna Crazy old cat lady who throws shoes with a swarm of cats and tressyms (winged cats).
Not the bees! Not the bees! Aaaaaagh, my eyes!
@@kel8923 Beard'o'Bees, fully adjustable disguise, even on a centaur.
Spike growth can also boost dmg early on at the very least by just dragging enemies back and forth through it
Yup. Add in telekinetic for more movement. Though later on spirit guardians or any of the damaging wall spells would.do better..or mayb evards black tentacles.
Nanomachines, son!
"Mage hand is a very handy spell"
I've failed the tasha's laughter save....
I’m absolutely loving this. Dropping spike growth and punting enemies back into it once they get out just makes my soul sing. In later levels you get to knock them prone too! Sign me up. If going melee I can use that fly ability to hover or fly over the spike Growth itself for cheese. (Speaking of that, this flight also negates the need for Athletic rolls. So a centaur Ranger need no longer fear climbing.)
I love the idea of being a beekeeper who can control their bees
Pigeon man from “hay Arnold”
Treantmonk should optimize a built that only uses one die type, for hit dice, damage and all ability. Like a wizard that uses a greatsword and casts fireball, or a barbarian with a battle axe.
Knocking the enemy back through my spike-growth seems like a good earlygame combo.
Since the appearance is purely aesthetic, I'm fond of a small cloud that ebbs and flows around the character.
Having played an Alchemist, I’ve found the 10’ flying speed really useful in exploration and even combat.
It is really slow but Longstrider keeps it concentration free and bumps the speed to 20’ which is enough to really get off the ground in round 1. For a Ranger, I might even consider grabbing the Mobile feat at higher levels. Like Longstrider it also boosts both walking and flying speeds.
I don’t use it every adventuring day but several times it’s had a very major impact.
With the 5 ft movement and Swarming Dispersal, all I can think about is Bayonetta. Bat Within and her dodge mechanic all feel absolutely excellent when used as this class.
Your standard swarm can just be a swarm of bullets.
I was just thinking, hey I hope he does the swarmkeeper vid today lol
Next video sorcerers? Yeeeeessssssssssssssssssssss! I cannot wait! Already starting the countdown.....
I'm currently playing a Kenku Swarm keeper who has ravens for his swarm. One of my favorite classes so far.
A year later, how has the build gone? I’m about to start a campaign and want to do Kenku SK as well. Instead of ravens I’m going with Shrikes.
I'm currently playing a Swarmkeeper that grows his own tobacco (background is Guild Artisan lol).
The swarm is his own smoke, which is conjured directly from his lit cigarette, that he smokes during the battle.
I used to read your build guides, and ever since I found your youtube page I've loved watching your videos. You're great!
Thank you!
If only the fly speed and extra damage progression of the swarm weren't so shitty I would nothing to complain about. Still the kit gets big points for flavor and it would be a lot of fun knocking around enemies and shoving them back into webs and masses of angry holy spirits.
My first character is level 4 swarmkeeper and a level one bard that is gonna be a college whispers bard. I'm gonna have some fun.
If you take mobile then the fly speed is 20
Disney Princess who sends swarms of songbirds by singing to them
Swarmkeeper + bard multiclass would be perfect then.
Gettin' mad Shrek vibes, my dude.
This was a fun video. I loved "you be Peter Pan... I'M BATMAN!" That made my day. Thanks for the introduction to this subclass.
Very nice to hear how good a tactical class it is! I just rolled one up a Grung Ranger this morning and I think a bunch of bugs will be perfect for him.
That Writhing Tide at 7th level sounds more like a save my character from fall damage than let me fly! It seems better used as a jump extender or fall safety net than a separate form of movement.
I love using the piercing feat to make the damage for the swarm 3d6. And getting to choose the better of the damage isn’t too bad either. Love it so far
My new favorit Ranger subclass, can’t wait to try it out 🙂 Was actually hoping for something similar for the Circle of Spores Druid, but sadly no.
But the multiclass is thematic and fun and effective! (A little bonus action heavy tho)
Other suggestions for swarm flavor
- A swarm of moving living sand (Gaara)
- A magical spectral hand
Oooo loving the Gaara reference
A swarm of scarab beetles for that Egyptian flair. Play it on an Aarakocra wielding a spear and now you're Azir!
Yeah I built Gara as soon as swarmkeeper and genie patron for warlock came out. Eldritch blast/ gathered swarm (sand bullets) and the gourd for the genie vessel.
Shikigami.
I've been eagerly waiting for this specific review. My anticipation was really high when this subclass first hit UA, but I was pretty let down with the printed version. I knew you would have some useful insight to make me feel a little better about it though, and you did.
The swarmkeeper's 1d6 damage with no actions is a straight upgrade from the monster slayer's requirements of a bonus action and 60ft range. Monster slayer and hunter still need upgrades to bring them up to par.
Hunter isn’t shit but it also isn’t amazing
My main complaint is that all of it’s features give you either an option or another kinda forcing ranger into even more of a specialist
Hunter is very decent but its kinda outdated, they should've gotten an expanded spell list in tasha's
Take 4 lvls of swarmkeeper and one of wizard. Take Booming blade and use a spear. Go custom lineage or variant human. Take polearm master and warcaster feats. Use your familiar to give yourself advantage on your first attack. After you hit, move yourself back 5ft. When they move to attack you they get hit with booming blade damage, then initiate an attack of opportunity from you that is another booming blade and you move back another 5 ft. Add hunters mark on top of that for extra damage.
Thank you for those amazing videos! I prefer the Fey Wanderer, but indeed the Swarmkeeper is interesting. I have so much hype for your sorcerer video ^^
Any fans of the Uutak Mythos or Worm will love this one.
For anyone looking for a fun Holiday themed character, you could be the pigeon lady from Home Alone 2 with your swarm as pigeons. Youre welcome
Something you didn't mention, the swarm can move you five feet for free which means you have a free disengage. I think this might be unique to this class, rogues get disengage for a bonus but they don't get it for free. I'd possibly dip that swarmkeeper ranger for the free disengage on a rogue or barbarian especially since I think you can use this to pull a squishy into your deadly embrace. As a rogue, throw a dagger drag that squishy caster in close then wallop them with a sneak attack. I also like the idea of swarm carrying a thrown weapon to it's target enveloping the target and dragging it to me.
I'm wanting to make a kobold swarm keeper. Maniacally laughing as he unleashed the bugs
Swarm makes me think of Taylor from the webnovel Worm. She can be scary, even with butterflies.
this subclass is pretty cool, but i wonder if the warlock, e.g. fathomless w/ Evard's BT, wouldn't manage to do the exact same thing but better. If we compare, hand crossbow swarmkeeper w/ CBM+SS vs. warlock w/ moderately armored + CBM, with invocations for control repelling blast + grasp of hadar, the warlock version has several advantages: no saving throw on displacements, multiple repels per round, +2 AC (shield), more flexible use of bonus action, no dependency on 2 main stats, much better at keeping concentration, especially for fathomless' EBT. Movement, misty step, etc can still be used to compensate for the less flexible direction of displacement. And way more choice of AoE hazard spells. On the other hand, SK gets more flexible direction displacement, and potential for more damage on restrained enemies using SS, archery FS which negates the effect of the dual stat build. All other features from both classes are different and provide various advantages, but not at the core of power level comparison. Web and EBT are roughly the same spell with the same power level. All in all, both builds are cool mechanically speaking, but i would still give a slight edge to warlock due to no saving throw required on moving ennemies, only hit.
I accidentally got a taste of this with my Paladin of vengeance when my DM allowed me to tame a swarm of bats.
Can't wait to make one and have The Plagues on repeat lol.
No range limit on gathered swarm attacks. With the improved swarm knocking the target prone, a longbow or similar vs fliers will be lethal.
Finally I can play Skitter from Worm. Have all the bugs covered in capsaicin ready to follow your command!
I do just want to point out the words are written on gathered swarm as “when you hit an attack” so you could use a cantrip or spell on that if it’s an attack roll
I am considering the option of a strenght ranger, with polearm master sentinel to move myself out of melee range of enemies with 5 ft or move them away and force them to re approach, also moving one's self for the +2 ac is even better as a melee hold the line type character and the control spells work well with the playstile, keeping emenies in the area thanks to sentinel, and last but not least flying can be very good for getting some pesky enemies in polearm range (as with ur reach being 10 and 10 ft flying you can reach 20 feet up and it can catch some enemies off guard) and even the resistance feature can ake you tankier and move you away from an enemy who you just sentinelled therefore making you immune to all other melee attacks they may want to make and likely all attacks since monsters can almost never mix up their attacks
Edit. Of course the same suggestions treantmonk has given when making a str ranger apply, take lvls into fighter first, 2 or even 3 with how good knocking people prone with battlemaster may be with sentinel and other control spells)
Swarmkeeper build I'm working on, a high Wis build to max save DC. I grabbed Druidic fighting style, and took Shilaleigh and Magic stone, which allow me to use Wis for my weapon attacks, and went Firbolg to boost Wisdom. As I level up I intend to max out Wis as fast as I can, and focus on Ranger spells that allow saves, Hail of thorns, Searing smite, Web is from the Swarmkeeper list, and Healing spirirt keys of Wis as well.
I'm a little worried that I have too much B.Action stuff, and might be a slower build up in combat.
Sentinel and PAM is great for this class. You can stop an approaching enemy. And even if they can still attack you the first attack you can disperse and teleport away to waste the rest of its attacks. I think this subclass has lots of potential for either frontline or as a ranged archer and can be built in so many ways.
I’m starting a new campaign with a swarmkeeper. I’m starting off with a bag of tricks so, this is gonna be fun!
That's the first Ranger subclass I really like. Thanks for the video!
The thing for a Swarmkeeper ranger to do with the Conjure Animals spell is, of course, to conjure swarms ...
okay, now I somewhat see what I got wrong.
Its not JUST a "once a turn 1d6 damage". Either the class has other things that make up for it, or that is not the main application.
But I dont think either of those cases hold true for the rune knight or the psi knight.
It’s obviously not gonna come up in most campaigns, but Insect Plague has great synchronicity with Feral Senses at 18th level. You trap the enemy in this 20 foot radius, heavily obscured sphere that’s difficult terrain, AND you don’t have disadvantage to attack them! A great combo. Combine it with plant growth, transmute rock or spirit guardians. Just keep smacking ‘em back into the middle of the sphere.
"I like my rangers like I like my coffee: covered in bees!"
Spike Growth is a nice spell you have access to that synergizes well with the 15 ft "shove". Up to 6d4 damage on the initial push, then forcing the enemy into difficult terrain that will deal even more damage if they want to get back to where they were.
yup. Telekinetic feat adds more pushing. The dmg is a bit meh for this type of build but it does look fun. Would definitelu be better with multiclassing. At least 2 fighter imo so you can do the combo on the 1st round of combat (the spike growth + atk spell for save vs. Push and telekinetic save vs. Push).
Great background art on this one, by the way. I find online art really inspiring for character creation, you often have good art elements but top-notch on this one for sure.
Any chance of crediting some of the artists? I'd love to see more.
Twilight cleric 17/ Swarmkeeper 3 is control beast! Pop Spirit Guardians,use thorn whip, combine it with teammates AoE abilities if any and unleash the mayhem on the battlefield, while being tanky, supportative
and yet damaging character.
This will most likely put the target on your head XD
This is how i'd probably go as well using spell attack cantrips to trigger gathering swarm. However i'd put in 2 levels of fighter as well for action surrge so you can setup the spirit guardians + spell attack combo on round 1. You can also add the telekinetic feat to move one more creature.
@@TheRobversion1 Oh yeah, Forgot to mention Telekinetic Feat .
That's a great addition to the whole shtick.
Also, druidic warrior can make you pretty SAD, using Shillelagh for some melee goodness .
@@Andrija722 yeah though imo not as integral.if you can get good cantrips from rhe cleric plus good spell attacks like guiding bolt.
Thoufj fighting style wise, yeah might as well take it. It just that at least you arent shoehorned into it if you wanted to take something else like defense fighting style.
@@TheRobversion1 I agree, there is a lot of versatility here.
Batman? Sold.
Hunter has been left in the dust with the 5e powercreep but its good ranger now has competitively good subclasses
I wish hunter was more powerful, because some of its abilities are very nice
I'm thinking of playing Madmartigan and the swarm is gonna be those awesome little sprite aholes
this is a blast from the past, They were called brownies, I loved the amount of shit they talked.
Bees dude! You can be the Candyman!
So you can force-move enemies. And Spike Growth is a Ranger spell. Now it's not just Dao Warlocks who can play cheese-grater...
I just built mine and played it last Friday.
Triton race and my swarm is lampreys. Gross awesomeness
I know I’m late to the party here, but appreciate the pun at 6:33
Yeah ranger is very interesting now! But I'm playing a Changeling Aberrant Mind Sorcerer! Can't wait to see what sort of build you do with Sorcerer and those new feats.
I feel like Swarmkeeper here has untapped potential as a crit fishing build. Just using half-orc as a race and favored foe you can get your weapon dice, orc dice, swarm dice, and favored foe dice all doubled. Multiclass into this after 3 levels of Champion Fighter and just take all your following levels in this and you would be very scary from 6th overall level onwards. Especially if there is any party synergy with giving advantage out
Swarm dice doednt work with crits. It doesnt happen on the attack. It is delivered by your swarm after a successful attack.
Gloomstalker works best for crit fishing due to extra attack and always on advantage.
@@TheRobversion1 We're gonna have to tell DNDBeyond and Roll20 this if its true, it's been rolling those on crits
@@KarmaEpsilon well you could if you want. IMO the way i understand it RAW wise is the extra dmg is delivered by the swarm (kind of like a pet delivering dmg) and not actually you (so if you crit it's not included). The dmg isnt a magical part of your weapon (or your spell attack if you are using that to trigger it) or due to a maneuver you do nor is it a spell buffing you or cursing your opponent. It comes from a different source. But if your DM allows you to do it, why not? extra dmg is always good.
@@TheRobversion1 No I went back and reread it it definitely happens after the attack "hits" but whether that is separate or with damage seems totally up to the dm. "immediately after the attack hits" is both specific and vague at the same time, i was just letting the algorithm tell me what the ruling was since I'm playing online with the pandemic and everything. As a dm I should really keep a closer eye on this stuff. Personally I will let it keep applying as such, (because damage happens immediately after an attack hits too you know?) but I definitely understand the other viewpoint.
@@KarmaEpsilon imo its not a big deal if it doubles on a crit. just an extra 3.5 points of dmg that happens rarely. The gloomstalker still will be the better critfisher especially if multiclassed into fighter and using elven accuracy (6 attacks at level 8 on round one without using bonus action, all with advantage). That's 18 d20 rolls on round 1 to hopefully land a crit.
IMO the swarmkeeper lends itself more to a caster type control ranger over a martial critfisher.
Nurgle vibes! Love it! Make a build based on Nurgle 😍👌
Half cover also adds +2 to dex saves
Im running a skyship campaign with floating islands. This subclass is extremely broken in my setting. But also a lot of fun!
Fun for 3D flying adventures..Squirrel suits , gliders & parachutes could add tons of possibilities..
I was looking at this because I wanted to try this out, but seeing we have 1 maybe 2 rangers in our group (one might've dropped out), I'm going to try this in a different group. At level 17, adding insect plague to swarm dispersal is going to be wicked.
My main issue with the 10ft flight is that you can't use it after moving. By RAW whenever you switch movement types you subtract distance already moved, so after moving 5ft you have 25ft walking or 5ft flying. After moving 10ft you have no flying, 20ft walking. It would've been better if the feature stated you could fly 10ft in addition to your regular movement. That way you could run to a wall, fly straight up, and continue waking. There would be niche uses for it. As it is written you basically have to be within 10ft of wherever you want to fly at the start of your turn.
spike growth; scorching ray or jim's magic missile
Wait a minute......There are other Ranger subclasses than GloomStalker?!? 🤣
I run a swarmkeeper ranger with a swarm of cats. Basically, I'm a crazy cat-dad. I love it.
Great guide bro🤘🏿
Thanks for that!
Very interested in making a melee swarmkeeper build that can utilize BA attacks to flit around the battlefield. One option would be Ranger X/Monk 1 using a spear or quarterstaff with Dueling fighting style & PAM to get the most out of martial arts Dex & unarmored AC. Another option could be TWF style with Dual Wielder feat to get +1 AC and maintain the BA attack, maybe using a whip for reach
Kind of a bummer that the swarm damage is never said to become magical, so the additional d8 on hits is likely to be much less useful from level 5 onwards
If this subclass had a feature where you could Frighten a lot (like the Fey Wanderer does), it would be very Batman.
You can officially make Squirrel Girl now.
Ok this is great. I have an idea for a Swarmkeeper, Wildfire druid. But I am not sure how to optimize it.
I like snake swarms.
If I were to multi class, it would be with druid. Circle of spores might be interesting
I had a 3 level forge dip. My swarm was a cloud of embers.
Thanks for another great vid. Do an echo knight/swarm keeper optimization build vid, plz.
swarm caller with a maul, might be the best ranger lol
Good vid. The tactical options i agree are nice but not a major draw for me. Dpr is still king imo. No need to control or be tactical if the opponent is dead on round 1-2 (gloomstalker).
I like that you made it cool like batman though mechanically for me i"d still play gloomstalker or fey wanderer ahead of this. I'd probably pick this is as my 3rd ranger subclass to play (and thats because i want to make an arcane archer build work well and it seems gathered swarm works well with grasping arrow).
Anyway looking forward to your review of the new sorcerers, 1 of my fave spellcasting classes. Keep.up the good work chris!
Stirges!
A flock of stirges.
1d6 piercing damage from stirges embedded in your enemies!
A Swarmkeeper/Echo Knight multiclass that can turn his swarm into a human-like creature
Imagine Jester from Critical Role multiclassing as a swarm keeper. Cadueces seems more likely, but Jester and her fey unicorn pixies are right there, too. Since the swarm hits with an attack, be it weapon or spell, she can cause even more trouble on a battlefield. That regular gnoll is just out of Yasha’s reach? Guiding bolt. The gnoll is now in reach, damaged an extra little bit, and is now bright and shiny for Yasha.
May be useful info, there should be mechanics for failing saves, as in page 184 of storm king's thunder (official module) it says the elemental magerna voluntarily fails the safe forced by the magical item iron flask, and the magic item doesn't even specify that you can do that
Yes there have been tweets even by game designers saying that there are no rules about it, but they're lying as apparently there are if monsters are doing it in official modules or idk
Specific items, spells or creatures that include a failed save mechanic is quite different than a general rule that saves can be voluntarily failed.
@@TreantmonksTemple normally yes, but neither the item not the creature have a special mechanic or ability, the book just says he does it as if it were a normal thing
*The* Bat-Man, get it right!
The Motherf&%(#ing Bat-Man!
Rogue (Scout) + Ranger (Swarm Keeper) could be a fun mobility style of character.
So what does this subclass bring?
It is not BA heavy - so it is ideal for PAM, XBE or Dual wield builds.
It can move the ranger 5ft away after the attack - so ideal for melee character, especialy with reach weapon, because you can use the Gathering Swarm feature on first hit and don't need to risk, that you will miss on the last hit and waste this ability, or waste some attacks.
From lvl 7, he can levitate 10 ft above ground for BA - ideal for reach weapon (enemy cannot attack you, but you can attack him and he will also get AoO of he leaves).
From lvl 11, he can knock enemy prone with any attack - ideal for melee build - especialy GWM!
From lvl 15, he can teleport up to 30 ft when he takes dmg - equaly good for ranged and melee char.
Summary - this subclass is ideal for PAM build! Especialy if you can also take GWM and maybe even Sentinel.
On first attack, knock enemy prone, then attack him twice with -5/+10 from GWM - this is like improved shield master feat.
Or hover as BA over the enemy and don't let him escape thanks to sentinel.
Or use hit-and-run technique by disengaging freely without any feat.
What do you think, is there any better solution for swarm keeper, than PAM+GWM build?
I think whimsical elf with a swarm of tiny colorful birds could be cool
Okay, here's my next character: I'm making a Dhampir Swarm Ranger just like in Dracula Untold. So I'm going all the way to the lvl 17 flight/teleport. But what do I multiclass in for 3 other levels and when, to make this the best it can be? Rangers already do some of the best damage in the game, but what do I mix this with to put it over the top with my concept? Hexblade for the curse? Arcane Trickster for the SA damage and stealth? College of Whispers for the Psychic damage? WHat does the crowd or Treantmonk think?
I'd love to play Princess Mononoke with a bunch of forest spirits (chwingas) around me
Literally doing it now its awesome.
Edit. Does it mean it's magical piercing on that d6, also, does the d6 become added on a spell attack too?
Halfling ranger with a swarm of hummingbirds!!
While going further into ranger here does gain benefits. I had been thinking of mixing this with wildfire druid. Action move with swarm and bonus action teleports with fiery teleport. Tactical hummingbird ranger/druid.
There are actual several featrues that explicitly state that the saving throw can be voluntarily failed (i.E. the telekinetiv deat) so the assumption would be that by default a saving throw must be taken, except when the feature or spells states a voluntary faulire is an option.
Any yeah, my Chessbrain is salivating on pushes and pulls on will. I know why my bard took Telekinethtik, despite it being a highly contested bonus action.
Although I must introduce the slight Caveat to your "move enemeis aroudn for free every round" that you still need to hit and the enemy has to fail an STR saving throw, wich tend to be quite high for a lot of monsters.
All in all the swarmkeeper sounds pretty good and flavorful. The RTanger class has come a long way since the PHB, although I still am not a fan of "fix a bad class with extremely pweorful subclasses", although the Tasha Options did help.
Keep up the Good work crhis.