good build focused on off-turn sneaks. an alternative for ranged is to pick up quick toss. use quick toss sneak on your turn with a bonus action then ready an attack for an off-turn sneak. pick up martial adept and fighting initiate for extra dice. i've played a melee fighter/rogue once but it played totally different as it was triple classed as a daolock and focused on alpha striking (half-orc battlemaster daolock assassin). I'd probably revise that build now to switch to the new bugbear from monsters of the multiverse.
If I was playing the new Bugbear, I'd probably want one of the subclasses that adds a second Ability bonus to Initiative ... Gloom Stalker fairly leaps to mind, as do War Wizard and Swashbuckler Rogue. In fact, I *REALLY* like the idea of Fighter 2/War Wizard X with the Scorching Ray spell. If you concentrate on INT (and later DEX) for Initiative purposes, then Scorching Ray suddenly becomes a damn good and really upcastable spell ... and you can cast it TWICE the first combat round using Action Surge, potentially doing 32d6 damage with two second-level spells. AND you get all the reality-changing power of the Wizard class as well. 😈
@@morganpetros9635 I think while those help and make for great builds, they are by no means a pre-requisite. you can easily make up for the lack of initiative bonus by picking up alert, lucky, feytouched-gift of alacrity, martial adept-ambush and/or switching your fighting style to superior technique-ambush. i dont think scorching ray suddenly becomes good and i mean this as a compliment. scorching already was the best single target dmg spell before MOM and scaled well. the bugbear just made it better. yeah the war wizard is a good chassis for it. i think diviner does it well as well and so does the chronurgist. there's of course other subclasses in other classes that do it well too. my own scorcher pre-MOM was a fighter 2, hexblade 1, clock sorc. i'd probably retain it as is (i already has superior technique-ambush) and just switch the race from shadar-kai to bugbear and it's feat from elven accuracy to feytouched-gift of alacrity. or if i needed more ways to boost initiative, i'd switch to wild sorc for tides of chaos and bend luck.
Definitely agreed on the skirmishing play style, but if you're taking 3 levels in Swashbuckler you don't really need the feat. Between Fancy Footwork and Cunning Action you've got multiple methods of negating Opportunity Attacks. I'd rather take Sentinel for the extra chance to Sneak Attack on the opponent's turn, maybe Defensive Duelist for the bonus AC, or just the plain old ASI.
@@Deris87 agreed. mobile is redundant on a swashbuckler. off-turn sneak attack ways are more important. i'd skip defensive duelist personally and just get the asi/sentinel. martial adept, fighting initiate, magic initiate: booming blade + find familiar are all solid options as well.
I learned this recently. 12 Rogue 8 Fighter keeps the 7 ASIs you get as a fighter if you want max stat and feat usage. Swashbuckler / Samurai means you have advantage a lot of the time without having to use your limited time per rest from Samurai. They both use charisma. A redundant Rune Knight, arcane trickster. You always have the Battle Master Riposte when they miss or Rogue Uncanny dodge when they hit. I do wonder what happens when you use uncanny dodge, then parry. Not that you can as both cost reactions. These two meld really well.
while i agree they synergize well, i'd disagree with the level split. if you're going past fighter 4, might as well just go fighter 12 at least if not more for 3 attacks. imo the 2 ideal level distributions if you don't have a tertiary class is: 1. fighter main (multiattacker)=fighter 12, rogue 8 or fighter 14, rogue 6 or fighter 16, rogue 4. going fighter 12 or fighter 14 will net you just 6 asis though. 2. rogue main (one-shot)=rogue 16, fighter 4 swashbuckler and samurai may have an ability that both uses charisma but it doesn't mean their abilities generally synergize well. swashbucklers are one-shot skirmishers and would synergize more with something that helps that such as EK with booming blade. Samurais are best as multiattackers which rogues don't tend to be and is best multiclassed with a different class. rune knight arcane trickster indeed works especially with the booming blade + crusher + giant's might setup one-shot skirmisher setup. battlemasters work well with a rogue's sneak attack as it gives them 3 more options for off-turn sneak attack in riposte/brace and the quick toss + ready action.
I agree with Riposte and Precision attack but I would go with Brace instead of Feigning Attack if you're a swashbuckler. - Brace: When a creature you can see moves into the reach you have with the melee weapon you’re wielding, you can use your reaction to expend one superiority die and make one attack against the creature, using that weapon. If the attack hits, add the superiority die to the weapon’s damage roll. It's basically option for getting another sneak attack.
Is it even worth taking Precision Attack and Feigning attack as a Rogue/Fighter anymore, if you play at the table that allows Steady Aim feature? It both grants you advantage and makes you land a hit in majority of the times you'd use it.
I like disarming attack, then use donus action slight of hand to catch the opponents falling weapon, and use second attack with said dropped weapon, leaving the opponent empty handed.
I think I'd prefer to take Swashbuckler for Rogue levels. First, it's more of an "action hero" style subclass, and second, Rakish Audacity gives you so many additional opportunities to sneak attack on your own turn that you'll rarely need Feinting Attack. And I frankly don't see either Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade as all that effective at low levels; I think I'd rather take Magic Initiate at 4th or even 8th level, or maybe a couple levels of Sorcerer or Warlock at some point. Nah. Magic Initiate. Wouldn't want to lose that extra sneak attack die ... 🤣😜
because it's newer? there's also some DMs who don't like sending minions (which is how this subclass shines, it's more bookkeeping for a DM) i'd say though that it's in contention for the best rogue subclass especially at level 9 onwards.
@@indigo_tribe not just unhittable but untargetable by spells. just basically merge into the ground before you end your turn every time and take the 1d10 force dmg. you also attack with advantage on your turn since you're coming from an unseen area in the ground. i was dipped fighter on my own recent play with phantom (i posted the build in dungeon rob's phantom vid) so i used second wind to heal a bit of that dmg. we played from 10-16 in that short campaign and i can definitely say it's the best rogue at these levels. only challenger really is an assassin if the DM is not anti-surprise but that wouldn't even be an assassin main and just a dip for some other multiclass. main class ATs and swashbucklers arent as good as the phantom at late tier 2 to end game. phantom also shines better when you have renewable creatures to kill for soul trinkets such as taking the ritual caster feat and killing your phantom steed/familiar or magic items than bring out creatures like in my case my dm allowed me to get hat of vermin (common) and bag of tricks (uncommon).
good build focused on off-turn sneaks. an alternative for ranged is to pick up quick toss. use quick toss sneak on your turn with a bonus action then ready an attack for an off-turn sneak. pick up martial adept and fighting initiate for extra dice.
i've played a melee fighter/rogue once but it played totally different as it was triple classed as a daolock and focused on alpha striking (half-orc battlemaster daolock assassin). I'd probably revise that build now to switch to the new bugbear from monsters of the multiverse.
If I was playing the new Bugbear, I'd probably want one of the subclasses that adds a second Ability bonus to Initiative ... Gloom Stalker fairly leaps to mind, as do War Wizard and Swashbuckler Rogue. In fact, I *REALLY* like the idea of Fighter 2/War Wizard X with the Scorching Ray spell. If you concentrate on INT (and later DEX) for Initiative purposes, then Scorching Ray suddenly becomes a damn good and really upcastable spell ... and you can cast it TWICE the first combat round using Action Surge, potentially doing 32d6 damage with two second-level spells. AND you get all the reality-changing power of the Wizard class as well. 😈
@@morganpetros9635 I think while those help and make for great builds, they are by no means a pre-requisite. you can easily make up for the lack of initiative bonus by picking up alert, lucky, feytouched-gift of alacrity, martial adept-ambush and/or switching your fighting style to superior technique-ambush.
i dont think scorching ray suddenly becomes good and i mean this as a compliment. scorching already was the best single target dmg spell before MOM and scaled well. the bugbear just made it better.
yeah the war wizard is a good chassis for it. i think diviner does it well as well and so does the chronurgist. there's of course other subclasses in other classes that do it well too. my own scorcher pre-MOM was a fighter 2, hexblade 1, clock sorc. i'd probably retain it as is (i already has superior technique-ambush) and just switch the race from shadar-kai to bugbear and it's feat from elven accuracy to feytouched-gift of alacrity. or if i needed more ways to boost initiative, i'd switch to wild sorc for tides of chaos and bend luck.
I am actually playing this build on my Saturday eve group. I am lvl 5 swashbuckler/lvl6 battlemaster
Nice - very strong combination.
Great video. I really like the mobile feat for this type of build. Get in get out.
Definitely agreed on the skirmishing play style, but if you're taking 3 levels in Swashbuckler you don't really need the feat. Between Fancy Footwork and Cunning Action you've got multiple methods of negating Opportunity Attacks. I'd rather take Sentinel for the extra chance to Sneak Attack on the opponent's turn, maybe Defensive Duelist for the bonus AC, or just the plain old ASI.
@@Deris87 agreed. mobile is redundant on a swashbuckler. off-turn sneak attack ways are more important. i'd skip defensive duelist personally and just get the asi/sentinel. martial adept, fighting initiate, magic initiate: booming blade + find familiar are all solid options as well.
I learned this recently. 12 Rogue 8 Fighter keeps the 7 ASIs you get as a fighter if you want max stat and feat usage.
Swashbuckler / Samurai means you have advantage a lot of the time without having to use your limited time per rest from Samurai. They both use charisma.
A redundant Rune Knight, arcane trickster.
You always have the Battle Master Riposte when they miss or Rogue Uncanny dodge when they hit.
I do wonder what happens when you use uncanny dodge, then parry. Not that you can as both cost reactions.
These two meld really well.
while i agree they synergize well, i'd disagree with the level split. if you're going past fighter 4, might as well just go fighter 12 at least if not more for 3 attacks. imo the 2 ideal level distributions if you don't have a tertiary class is:
1. fighter main (multiattacker)=fighter 12, rogue 8 or fighter 14, rogue 6 or fighter 16, rogue 4. going fighter 12 or fighter 14 will net you just 6 asis though.
2. rogue main (one-shot)=rogue 16, fighter 4
swashbuckler and samurai may have an ability that both uses charisma but it doesn't mean their abilities generally synergize well. swashbucklers are one-shot skirmishers and would synergize more with something that helps that such as EK with booming blade. Samurais are best as multiattackers which rogues don't tend to be and is best multiclassed with a different class.
rune knight arcane trickster indeed works especially with the booming blade + crusher + giant's might setup one-shot skirmisher setup.
battlemasters work well with a rogue's sneak attack as it gives them 3 more options for off-turn sneak attack in riposte/brace and the quick toss + ready action.
I agree with Riposte and Precision attack but I would go with Brace instead of Feigning Attack if you're a swashbuckler. - Brace: When a creature you can see moves into the reach you have with the melee weapon you’re wielding, you can use your reaction to expend one superiority die and make one attack against the creature, using that weapon. If the attack hits, add the superiority die to the weapon’s damage roll. It's basically option for getting another sneak attack.
I think I made this video before Tasha's came out, but yes - Brace is amazing in a build like this. I completely agree - this is almost a must-have.
Is it even worth taking Precision Attack and Feigning attack as a Rogue/Fighter anymore, if you play at the table that allows Steady Aim feature? It both grants you advantage and makes you land a hit in majority of the times you'd use it.
I helped my friend build a similar character when he joined our campaign, tiefling assassin 4/ battle master 3. I'm gonna show him this video lol
Thanks! I really like this mix. Sneak attacking as much as possible is really just great on a rogue :) So much fun too.
im going to do 15 swashbucler 5 champion
Nice build good video. +1 sub. Good luck with the channel
Appreciate it!
I like disarming attack, then use donus action slight of hand to catch the opponents falling weapon, and use second attack with said dropped weapon, leaving the opponent empty handed.
Haha, that's pretty funny, and effective. I can't believe I didn't see this comment earlier.
you don't need to waste a bonus action. your free 1 object interaction per turn willl allow you to pick up that weapon from the ground.
Depends on the weapon in question. You still have to obey the light offhand rules if you don’t have Dual weapon fighting
I think I'd prefer to take Swashbuckler for Rogue levels. First, it's more of an "action hero" style subclass, and second, Rakish Audacity gives you so many additional opportunities to sneak attack on your own turn that you'll rarely need Feinting Attack. And I frankly don't see either Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade as all that effective at low levels; I think I'd rather take Magic Initiate at 4th or even 8th level, or maybe a couple levels of Sorcerer or Warlock at some point.
Nah. Magic Initiate. Wouldn't want to lose that extra sneak attack die ... 🤣😜
Also a very strong suggestion. I like Swashbuckler quite a bit.
Phantom. Why does the phantom get ignored so often?
because it's newer? there's also some DMs who don't like sending minions (which is how this subclass shines, it's more bookkeeping for a DM) i'd say though that it's in contention for the best rogue subclass especially at level 9 onwards.
@@TheRobversion1 and at level 13 you are almost completely unhittable.
@@indigo_tribe not just unhittable but untargetable by spells. just basically merge into the ground before you end your turn every time and take the 1d10 force dmg. you also attack with advantage on your turn since you're coming from an unseen area in the ground. i was dipped fighter on my own recent play with phantom (i posted the build in dungeon rob's phantom vid) so i used second wind to heal a bit of that dmg.
we played from 10-16 in that short campaign and i can definitely say it's the best rogue at these levels. only challenger really is an assassin if the DM is not anti-surprise but that wouldn't even be an assassin main and just a dip for some other multiclass. main class ATs and swashbucklers arent as good as the phantom at late tier 2 to end game.
phantom also shines better when you have renewable creatures to kill for soul trinkets such as taking the ritual caster feat and killing your phantom steed/familiar or magic items than bring out creatures like in my case my dm allowed me to get hat of vermin (common) and bag of tricks (uncommon).