How to Play an Eldritch Knight in Dungeons & Dragons 5e
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- Опубліковано 19 чер 2024
- MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarter.com/projects/... We take an in-depth look at the Eldritch Knight Fighter subclass in Dungeons & Dragons 5e. We discuss their class abilities, combat tactics, and spell and feat options to help your Eldritch Knight master the battlefield with sword and spell!
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TIME STAMPS
1:31 - Spellcasting
3:37 - Weapon bond
4:34 - War Magic
4:57 - Eldritch Strike
5:29 - Arcane Charge
5:47 - Improved War Magic
6:23 - Swords & Sorcery
9:29 - Spells
10:24 - Cantrips
12:21 - 1st Level Spells
14:36 - 2nd Level Spells
16:39 - 3rd Level Spells
17:59 - 4th Level Spells
19:14 - Feats
22:49 - Conclusion
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"Why do they call you, Sellsword?"
"I ride in to a town, sell my sword, leave town, and then summon my sword back to my hand. Profit!"
Totally stealing this.
I did this once
(The only problem was that the merchant was also a scammer)
I love it hahaha
@@wellfolks9096 when you sell your weapon to a merchant who turns out to be a transmutation wizard, and instead of 25g you get 25 rocks.
Tim Lewis
Jokes on him
I still gained 25 rocks
The Eldritch Knight, Bladesinger, Arcane Archer, and Hexblade are my favorite subclasses to play. I love the magic & melee blend.
Have you tried Arcane Trickster? I play now with AT and like it very much
Have you tried Eldritch Knight/Hexblade Warlock?
@@gromaxe I haven't yet, but it does look fun.
@@magicman3354 As a multiclass? No, but I have done a Hexblade Warlock/Crown Paladin multiclass.
@@zachbrown9350 Minor Illusion, Tasha's Hideous Laughter and Booming Blade are my favourite spells
One of the coolest EK character concepts I played with was a "sentry" style character who used a large longbow for his Weapon Bond, and his shtick was using Mold Earth & Stone Shape to give himself half cover at will, like castle battlements for archers. I thought it was such a neat idea.
It is. Also, you can dig People in with Modl Earth - my Favourite. You can move 5ft-side cube.can move it up to trice that way. So, move it out under an Enemy and then in again pressing him down, digging him in snug and firm.
This Spells are the ones I mostly always pick aside the Theurgy/Prestedigitation-Stuff for fluff-Effects.
eldrich knights are just overpowered humans right?
that's dope
@@jmgonzales7701 ???
@@youtubecensorship842 they are just humans
🗡️ Eldritch Knight: Abjuration & Evocation
💰 Arcane Trickster: Enchantment & Illusion
So, when are we going to see more blends for the other schools of magic? Conjuration, Necromancy, Transmutation & Divination.
We see some Divination with the Barbarian's Ancestral Guardian.
I allow EK's and AT's to select from any school. Their spell selections are already limited enough.
Barbarian with divination/necromancy spells for divine raging alongside some undead buddies.
Monk with conjuration/transmutation spells to make things with your ki
Transmutation fighter needs to be it's own thing
Necromancy + Transmutation sounds rather Frankenstein, warping the world and unnatural life.
Bard has a any Necromancy and Divination spell from any school prepaired caster.
9:10 "The Eldritch Knight doesn't have a way to cast a spell as a bonus action."
Misty Step, Dragon's Breath, Shadow Blade, Expeditious Retreat: Am I a joke to you?
Eldritch Knight subclass restriction of most spells to evocation/abjuration: Yes
Thanks for listing some great options! For flavor and utility I will definitely pick up Dragon’s Breath!
Just multiclass with wizard
Eldritch Knights get up to 4 spells from other schools over the course of their game. Magic Weapon, as a transmutation spell, is also a nice choice since it's cast with the bonus action (and thus doesn't interfere with multi attack).
You forgot Flaming Sphere, which is an excellent choice for your 8th level spell pick.
Big time, Misty Step helped me escape the grasp of a snake-like being.
Wait a minute. Are they actually in the same room? Mind blown.
Ikr?! I'm a lot happier than I expected to see that.
Omg, they are!!!
What kind of sorcery is this?
Glad to see you back together
Yup, based on Monty casting a shadow onto Kelly, they are indeed in the same room; no green screen trickery.
Its awesome to see the boys back together in the studio
I have loads of fun playing my Eldritch Knight character. His theme is as a drop out from a wizard’s apprenticeship who was more interested in getting into punch ups than writing essays on arcane literature. It gives lots of roleplaying potential, eg his familiar, Vardamir, resents him (he could have served a mighty sorcerer but got stuck with the class dunce) and the character has to pass a persuasion check to get him to do anything.
Great review, guys. Looking forward to the next one!
I rp an EK high elf (dex fighter) who was rejected from Bladesinger school, and disowned by her family. She's now a bounty hunter, and not particularly polite. Surprisingly, having charisma as a dump stat is actually fun to RP. When someone asks for help, my character is always the one who interrupts the water works with "how much are you paying?". Need a drink refill? you could wait, or just let my character yell for a waiter. The opportunities to RP giving terrible relationship advice are pure gold. And prisoner interrogations? You only need charisma to intimidate if it's theoretical harm. If you just get the paladins to leave the room, and say "feel free to share the info we want whenever you like" and start on the torture ...suddenly it doesn't matter how convincing you are! Plus, upside, bad guys statistically commit less crime the fewer fingers they have.
Ok guys... 9/10 EKs I’ve seen are Wizard school dropouts. It’s played out.
M0ebius - Ha! Really? Oh well, I thought it was cool. Evidently I should spend more time on Reddit threads and the like...
@@Chruff I played a bladesinger with a similar concept. He just wanted to be a duelist but his family forced him into magic school
@@Chruff you absolutely shouldn't because it IS cool and sensible until you get desensitized to it. That's why it's so popular.
So keep enjoying your interesting backgrounds and don't bother competing with a million people for originality
Another good choice for second level is shadow blade. They mentioned it in the arcane trickster spell list but I think it's even better on a fighter because a fighter gets more attacks as they level up meaning that they'll be dealing that 2d8 damage more times per turn. Also Fighter's have proficiency in constitution saves so even if they choose to be front liners they can still use this spell and will more likely than not still maintain concentration. It's also another one of those spells that doesn't use your intelligence.
My thoughts exactly - Shadow Blade also scales a little with your level - it starts as a 2d8 sword that deals psychic damage, and when you pick up 3rd level spell slots it deals 3d8. 3 or 4 attacks per round with a psychic 2d8 or 3d8 weapon is pretty potent indeed!
It's 2d8 + strenght or dexterity,
@@taragwendolyn its also adds you strenght or dexterity on the damage
I think you can also use your Shadow Blade when making attacks using the SCAG cantrips - 2 or 3d8 + the extra damage GFB or BB offer is phenomenal. And if you take the War Caster feat, you could do this all as an opportunity attack as well and make your DM sigh heavily, mumble about needing to take a minute, and walk away from the table.
And you can throw it
One abjuration spell that may have been overlooked for 1st level casting is Protection from Evil and Good. This spell is concentration, so with only one spell slot an EK gets continuous utility out of it. It gives some of the most common enemy types disadvantage on their attacks against you, making it arguably as good as shield in many circumstances, and a lot easier on ye' old spell slot economy.
Especially great because it also makes you immune to becoming frightened (unfortunately the list does not include dragons)
So with this and Shield, you can basically be as durable as a Bladesinger but with the option to wear medium armor and use a greatsword?
I think thunderwave can be a viable pick because of the feature that has the foes have disadvantages from your spells, so what you do is attack everyone around you using the attack action, and then action surge for thunder wave, and boom they all have disadvantage
Just keep in mind the area of effect can't really hit "everyone around you" since it only goes in a single direction. Not everywhere around you. Common misconception of the spell
@@adamkaris it literally says 15-foot cube around you
@@balpreetsingh753 The cube manifests in front of you, not around you. Your location is one corner of the cube.
@@akileshkale1788 I see. I did not realize that
@@balpreetsingh753 Yeah, I thought that first as well. Its a kind of a weird name for a spell if you think about it.
With the new UA Feats the 2nd level Darkness could work really well with the feat that grant 1 Eldritch Invocation
taking Devil's Sight.. Now just cast darkness on yourself and have 'concentration/permanent advantage'
With the new feats you'd want to take metamagic instead so your cantrip could be twin booming blade and later on quickened haste
@@kmoustakas True, but only 2 point per long rest is just 1 extra use most of the time, and EK dont have many spell to begin with.. i belive the metamagic feat works best for normal casters that want to spice the spells a bit, not for melee to build around.. its great for sorcerers though
Κωνσταντίνος Μουστάκας You only get two points. The metamagic feat is only as awful as Martial Adept.
I'm playing a Hexblade 5/Rogue 1 in our campaign right now, and casting darkness on myself and getting into melee has been so broken that I've tried to stop using it so much so our DM doesn't get tired of it. Darkness being concentration is the only thing that kinda stinks.
Hello, this is the future. That Feat is not an Unearthed Arcana anymore: It's in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.
B) Some feedback from an eldritch knight every Tuesday for the past two years - just reached level 15. War magic is awesome if you use sword and board fighting style. The extra damage from green flame blade will generally be equal or even higher to what you would do with your second attack plus you'll get a bonus action attack. As such, I would argue the whole subclass is more suited to this style of fighting. Booming blade + warcaster is an insane combo at all levels: enemies will never want to move away from you. On first level spells, you guys really missed the spell that gives all DMs fits when used correctly: protection from good and evil. Against nearly all the important enemies of the game, with the already high armor class you have you turn into a veritable juggernaught. I have been using it since level 4 and has turned many an impossible fight into loop sided victories for me and my group. For second level, I can't believe you guys didn't mention shadowblade. It's really what makes this class come together. It makes all your attacks - and you are a fighter, you have the most attacks out of anyone in the game - into 2d8+modifiers and most of the time you'll have advantage too! Once you get third attack or third level spells and you can upcast it into 3d8+modifier, it's borderline unfair easily surpassing sharpshooter or gmw and having better accuracy too!
One thing about Booming Blade + Warcaster - you can add in Polearm Master which grants an opportunity attack when enemies enter your reach, and juice a bunch of extra damage that way and soft-lock targets.
I've played with 3/4 different DM's that consider cantrips that are cast as part of the attack action (Booming Blade/Green Flame blade/Freezing blade(homebrew cantrip that that forces the target of your next attack to make a con save or have disadvantage on their next attack roll (lvl 1) and gets 1d8 damage every cantrip level up after that)) as the 'first attack' allowing the players to attack as many times as they can adding the bonus damage to the first attack only. I dont know if its specified in the rules that you cant do that but they allow it, and i think its a fun rule to implement, since it allows the Eldrich knight to use their attackst to their fullest and still cast.
Shadow blade is also a finesse weapon, so if you want to multiclass into arcane trickster, you can stack sneak attack on your one melee attack when you use war magic, which can make war magic actually outpace three or four melee attacks because it can only be used once per turn.
Then add in lvl 2 blur for nearly everything else and you can't be touched 😂 I'm. Lvl 15 too and my DM always gets salty in combat because he can never hit me 😂 don't forget the advantage on concentration checks from war caster as well as the bonuses to con from being a fighter and you usually never drop concentration on any spell you cast it can be an amazing class
@@M0ebius I had that and sentinel too but my DM ruled I could use warcaster with neither so I used our (homebrew) rules of retraining feats to take them out for more con (and the healer feat, healer feat on a fighter is broken)
I literally gasped when I saw you guys back together! It's so good to watch Monty watch Kelly!
Eldritch knight rocks at high levels. Nothing quite like being able to just *cast* haste on yourself without having to bum it off wizard and then also using action surge. Also eldritch strike + blindness is a pretty reliable combo. My suggestion for 2nd level out of school is enlarge reduce. Makes you do extra damage, and be automatically decent at grappling which is usefull
....ever thought of mixing 8 Levels Sorcerer with 12 Levels of another Fighter Class? Like a Rune Knight? Or combining an Echo Knight with Shadow Sorc for having Advantage on Attacks and Spells while a doubled you and a shadowy Wolf with his 8 worldly Pals rip into a Guy?
Running one now! He is part of an organization that hunts cultists. An inquisitor of sorts.
Thats a pretty idea to rob thx
@@gabrielcassemiro9741 have a list of prohibited magic acts you are to enforce, otherwise your character will just be a thug.
@@wyopaul82 thats a good point to mantain the order in the pc got it and thx again
I always dump-stat charisma on an EK. it goes well with any bounty-hunter style role.
@@kathrynck I dumped dex and took the shield master feat to give +2 to dex saves and 1/2 spell damage. I like the extra charisma because my character is a detective of sorts who needs the buff for social interaction.
Darkness is good for an EK even without being able to see in it. Simply throw darkness onto the ranged enemies to flush them out since they will likely not be able to see in it either.
I mean, if both sides can’t see then the attack rolls are just made as normal since advantage to attacking a blinded target and disadvantage to being blinded cancel out. Really what Darkness should be used for is on opposing casters, since unlike attack rolls most spells require line of sight.
Get the UA feat Eldritch Adept to get Devil Sight to fight in your own darkness with advantage
@@SirButterlegs
Or take Blind Fighting Style to see everything within 10ft... Even invisible people.
I was super not aware that using War Caster to cast a spell instead of an opportunity attack wouldn't trigger Sentinel's movement reduction. Not only does that make sense, but it's insanely helpful for something like an Eldritch Knight. Great bit of knowledge I can tuck away for later. Thanks!
You can combo Polearm Master with Warcaster and gain a free Booming Blade everytime an enemy enters your reach.
Not unless you have Spell Sniper. Booming Blade only has a range of 10 feet
Watchface Actually Booming Blade has a range of 5ft, not 10ft, but I assume thats a typo. You don’t need Spell Sniper to use PAM + Warcaster + Booming Blade, you can run a spear/quarterstaff with a shield and still qualify for Polearm Master.
Personally I think unless you want to use Great Weapon Master later on, spear/staff + shield + Dueling Fighting Style is just a superior setup than using a polearm with reach. You get roughly the same amount of damage (1d6+7 vs 1d10+5) but with a higher AC, and although you lose reach (which really only matters 1st round of combat), you are more likely to trigger normal opportunity attacks with a 5ft reach than a 10ft reach.
@@M0ebius TBH, it was a typo.
And in my defense, I forgot that QS and Spear can work work Polearm Master, as most people at my table using Polarm Master are using a Glaive or Halberd. Just slipped my mind.
Watchface No worries. I play a lot of Hexblads gish builds, and when I play STR based builds, PAM + Arcane Focus Staff + Shield + Dueling FS tend to be my go-to setup, followed-up with Warcaster + Booming Blade. It makes your character a legitimate tank with a way to actually soft-lock targets.
For Hexblade/EK multiclass in particular, I also add in Crossbow Expert (no disadvantage when range attacking into melee) so that instead of Booming Blade, I can straight up Eldritch Blast + WarMagic and PAM + Warcaster + Eldritch Blast into melee. I also take Repelling Blast as one of my invocations so I can reset the PAM + Warcaster combo over and over. The number of attacks you make more than makes up for the delayed stat bumps.
Once I have all three feats and a charisma bump at EK8/Hexblade 2, I transition into Divine Soul Sorcerer going into tier 3, eventually taking up Spirit Guardians and combo it with Twin Booming Blade + WarMagic + Eldritch Strike. You basically soft-lock multiple targets at the same time within your Spirit Guardians, give them disadvantage to saves while you melt their face with Spirit Guardians. Here’s the actual build breakdown:
cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/671379654686277645/676870356954382367/Ronins_Hexblade_Forcelance_build_breakdown.pdf
It's great to see you guys sitting next to each other! Hope all is well! Thanks for the video!
I personally like to take Shadow Blade as one of your wildcard choices as an Eldritch knight. The base damage of the weapon and the number of attacks a fighter can make can be pretty amazing.
Nice to see you guys back in one studio!
I never was a big fan of mixing magic and melee, but now for some reason I desperately want to try to.
Jill's use of firebolt has had a surprising amount of utility in your Shadows of Drakkenheim campaign not only to hit flying enemies but hit fleeing foes and start fires in the right places. Though to be honest Rudi is a powerful grandma that gets out of the craziest situations I've seen. I think Monty has nearly TPK'd the group twice now but the dual axe wielder eldritch knight has been instrumental to the group's survival.
YAYYYYYY OMG THANK YOU!!!! I had been searching forever for help on playing my Eldritch Knight that I am playing for a Level 17 one-shot!! SO PERFECT! ❤
Read the comments if you haven't there are some good remarks that are made
Enjoy! As someone playing an EK, I'd suggest Warcaster to ensure you don't need a free hand. Booming blade and Shadow blade are quite useful for damage dealing. Consider what you want for your weapon bonds, you can get into options like a thrown weapon (i.e Javelin) and have a back-up damage dealer like a greatsword/Polearm (consider GwM or PaM). There are many options
@@aksilver47 hey thanks!! I did take War Caster and Booming Blade with opportunity attacks is going to be amazing! My DM wants us to be super OP for this one shot, so he is letting me have a Dancing Longsword in one hand and a Longsword of Sharpness in the other...so yeah it's pretty crazy! I also have an Alicorn to ride lolll
I love the subclass guides that you guys are releasing recently! Thank you! I look forward to more.
I started playing D&D a few months ago and my very first character is an Eldritch Knight.
Same!
I was waiting for this to happen thank you so much
Loved playing my Tiefling Eldritch Knight, Reverence. I adapted him from a previous 4E swordmage. Gotta say, being able to Shield up to AC26 (think we're at Lv14 now) is pretty sweet. I absolutely love playing this character. And having a critical counterspell at the right moment is awesome.
Regarding 4th level spells: How could you not mention Polymorph?! It's an adventuring staple. Need to fly? Polymorph. Need to heal the tank? Polymorph. Need to infiltrate an area? Want to terrorize the townspeople? Polymorph. The list is really extensive.
Anyway, my current Eldritch Knight took a two level dip into Warlock; Celestial patron and it's been working great (although I won't get Polymorph). Devil's Sight invocation will allow me to cast Darkness on myself to impose disadvantage on my melee foes and effectively make me invisible to them, and having two level 1 spell slots that refresh on a short rest let's me cast Shield/Absorb Elements with impunity during combat. Plus I get Sacred Flame as a crappy ranged spell attack for free, and healing light as a bonus action to pick up allies who fall from 60' away.
It feels really nice to be the Utility Tank of the party, and let the main casters focus on the more heavy duty spells. All my other cantrips and spells have been niche creative spells (Prestidigitation, Minor Illusion et. al.), rather than damage dealing, because it's usually just better to hit with an attack (as you guys pointed out). Plus, our campaign has had tons of Roleplay situations, so the ability to do wacky magic stuff has been great to play around with.
From a pure mechanics stand point, Eldritch Knight is not the best subclass for fighter, buts it's interesting, creative, and a lot of fun; fighter's core features are strong enough to carry the shortcomings of a gimped caster.
Edit: I'd like to point out the item Ruby of the War Mage from XGtE is a common magic item that lets characters use their weapon as a spell casting focus. It's like having 1/3rd of the War Caster feat in exchange for an attunement slot. For EKs like me that have it on one of their bonded weapons, it means they're never more than a bonus action away from being fully operational.
3 levels of fighter eldrich knight then pure hexblade warlock really works, esp when you hit level 8 total.
Polymorph is a spell a DM could quickly write off its usefulness, its not a wild shape so you take on the mental stats of what your transforming into, and alot of creatures you can turn into have a intellect of > 3 meaning thre is a good chance you will simply forget what you doing and begin acting on some basic instinct
@@TheSilverPhoenix100 Mental stats do change to the new form, however, according to the PHB, "[the target] retains its alignment
and personality." so it's not like they just become a brute animal, they become an animal that still knows who it really is, who it's allies are, and stuff like that.
*Now witness the arcane power of this fully armed and operational Eldritch Knight!*
@@Rick_Harper ha! "wow, the barbarian is almost down, better polymorph him into an Eldritch Knight!"
Kelly my friend, you have the perfect on air voice!👍
Odd that shadow blade didn't get a mention for 2nd level spells - it's one of my favorites.
It's because it's an illusion spell it think
and because it gets outshined by magic gear
This is exactly the content I'm here to see! Been waiting to see the Dungeon Dudes take on the Eldritch Knight since the Hexblade video came out. Love this!
The usual content you guys put out is pretty good but I feel like this one is a cut above them all. Very clear explanation on every part. I've never played an eldritch knight myself yet but just by watching I already had many ideas coming from what you guys been talking during the video. Glad you guys can record from the same place again. Cheers!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the video!
I like using the Shield, Misty Step, and Haste spells for my Eldritch Knight.
Also maybe something like the Firebolt cantrip with a greatsword in order to have a ranged option (since according to Sage Advice/errata you can cast spells with a two-handed weapon without needing the War Caster feat, as you hold the weapon with one hand like a staff when you cast, leaving one hand free).
YO, you guys are back in the dungeon! Glad things are safe enough for you guys to get back at it. Hoping Shadows of Drakenhiem comes back soon.
So good to see you two together again in the same place!! Great video as always!
I'm so glad y'all are back in the same room!
I’m playing an EK right now with 2 levels in War Magic Wizard. The Arcane Deflection with a shield, +1 plate, and Defense fighting style gives a consistent 24AC. Ain’t never gonna get hit
Perfect timing! I'm just building an EK for a campaign!
I'm so happy to see you guys together again!
This is a great video, thanks so much! I just rolled one up in session 0 today, mostly because I just wanted to hit things with swords and spells. But this video has made me really excited for the possibility of a support EK, who casts counterspell and banishment and darkness (we have a warlock in the party!). Thanks for the great tips!
On the note of that Action Surge double-casting a spell rule, I had a player playing a Sorcerer decide to take 2 levels in Fighter so they could get armor, weapons, and Action Surge, just cause being able to dump out a 5th and a 6th level spell in one turn was worth it to them.
By RAW you can't do that unless you have spelldriver, and even that's limited.
PHB p202 Under Casting Times and Bonus Action
You can’t cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action.
@@KiinyoWest Action Surge is the exception to that restriction. As they already said in the video. The EK could Cast fireball, action surge, cast it again. www.sageadvice.eu/2014/09/23/action-surge-spell-2/
@@KiinyoWest As Asqmo said, and the video printed out, that restriction *only occurs* as a consequence of casting using a bonus action action. Outside of that specific circumstance, your action(s) and reaction can be used for casting as many spells as you can.
@@KiinyoWest "When you cast a spell with a casting time of a BONUS action, you can't cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action."
Reading is hard.
You can use Eldritch Strike and stuff like Hold Person and Hold Monster to potentially lock down single enemies and guarantee crits for yourself and your allies. It’s a very, very powerful combo that generates turn advantage
I'm actually running an eldritch knight in the current campaign I'm in and alot of the advice you guys gave was extremely helpful, I'm mostly using the same functions you guys listed but I prefer to utilize Blade Ward as my other can cantrip since it offers a resistence to all piercing, slashing and bludgeoning damage during its duration. I plan on using your suggestion for Find Familiar during my next game session to spice things up. Great job on the video guys.
Great to see you fellas back together again!
No mention of the infamous EK Annihilation? Hold person, action surge, obliterate opponent with a flurry of guaranteed crits.
Omg
Hold person is enchantment not abjuration or evocation
@@charleswatson4549 You can take it at 8th level or retrain the 3rd level out-of-school spell to get Hold Person
I remember them getting alot of stick in the past for not being amazing casters but tbh as they are amazing tanks it really doesnt matter just use shield and get in their and stab things with your sword everything else is just gravy.
played one in a game that started at 13, and I was new to 5th ed. I took fire bolt and it did save our butts once because the target was immune to nonmagical attacks, also feather fall proved itself a number of times,( I had my find familiar through the ritual casting feat). I found that yes the three first level spells shield, absorb elements and feather fall where the most usefull, however made good use of some others along the way including tidal wave. I selected "poorly" on a lot of my spells but I have found that it is more about learning to use the spells you have than always counting on having the right obvious spell.
I have a lvl 14 Dex-based Deep Gnome Eldritch Knight. For out of school spells I choose Mirror Image and Shadow Blade. Make sure to get Sentinel to work with Mirror Image. When a enemy hits a target other than you (like your illusionary self) you get a opportunity attack. Shadow Blade is a great way to boost your damage. Jeremy Crawford has ruled that in addition to the 2d8 damage you get to add your attribute bonus as well. You can also upcast to increase the damage even more. This will mean you can out damage a sword and board Battlemaster. Also, pick yourself up a ring of spell storing. Personally, I load it up with shield spells to always boost my AC when needed. A magic shield is also nice to have. You do have to use a component pouch for spells like fireball and lightning bolt. If you want an focus you'll have to get ruby of the war mage. But I use shadow blade so I can drop it, cast a AOE with components then recall the shadow blade for a bonus action.
Love the shirts gentlemen! 😊
I feel like Magic Initiate is a nice feat to get for this subclass, allowing you one more spell and more cantrips.
I think Magic Missile is also a good first lvl spell to pick up for EK. Yeah, you can do more damage with a bow, but if you're not a high dex build, can you even hit with it? Magic Missile is 120 foot range auto hit. Magic Missile is always useful.
Edit: Grammar and forgot a word.
I wanna start off by saying that my wife and I absolutely love watching your videos. We learn a lot and we always come away better than we were when we first started watching them. We were sitting here talking and we were wondering if you guys could do a video about the best reaction spells? We would be very grateful. Thank you for your consideration and have a good day.
I’m really glad you guys made a video on the ek. I feel like it’s a class that is way too overlooked with not enough videos on it
Eldritch knight with the magic weapon spell also make stupidly great archers.
The Eldritch Knight seems to gets buffed every time the spells are added to the wizards spell list.
-absorb elements
-green Flame Blade/booming blade/roll the dead/swordburst
-shadow blade(switch schoolless spells at 7th level)
-melfs minute Meteors
I've never heard of Melfs meteor what does it do?
@@heavenlyknightoftheholyord7993
Source: Xanathars guide to everything, page 161. Also found in Elemental evil players companion , page 20
Melfs minute meteors:
3rd-level evocation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S, M (niter, sulfur, and pine tar formed into a bead)
Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes
You create six tiny meteors in your space. They float in the air and orbit you for the spell's duration. When you cast the spell-and as a bonus action on each of your turns thereafter-you can expend one or two of the meteors, sending them streaking toward a point or points you choose within 120 feet of you. Once a meteor reaches its destination or impacts against a solid surface, the meteor explodes. Each creature within 5 feet of the point where the meteor explodes must make a Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 2d6 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the number of meteors created increases by two for each slot level above 3rd.
Classes: Sorcerer, Wizard
Subclasses: Arcane Trickster Rogue, Eldritch Knight Fighter
@@heavenlyknightoftheholyord7993 small AoE damage on a bonus action, and ig you could think of it as some grenades you're lobbing while doing your regular attacks (like snipe snipe snipe boom boom)
Thanks, I just made level 5 with my EK. I can't wait to try some of these ideas out in the campaign. Zoom session next week!
The fighter in my dnd group always casts shield when hit, and with a 17 AC is pretty good, having a total of 22
Playing one now as well. Love the blend of combat and magic. When War Magic kicks in at 7th level, Blade Ward is a great cantrip option. If the character finds themelves outclassed in combat, then they can Blade Ward ever round to gain resistance and still get one poke in with their bonus action. This is particularly nice if a monster has multi-attack. The benefit of this option tapers off at 11th level when Extra Attack (2) makes this less desirable, but it is a nice battlefield tactic for a few levels.
I agree. Especially if you're multi-classing and only have 8 levels of Fighter...so you're not sacrificing more than one attack.
Unfortunately it is not possible with extra attacks in your example, because you take the ‘Cast a spell’ action and not the ‘Attack’ action.
For more information see PHB page 192
@@rasmusmller6210 I did not explain clearly above. The character can use War Magic to Blade Ward and then take one poke as a bonus action. They get no benefit from Extra Attack in this scenario. But the character has plenty of options in combat. Need to sink damage for the party? Blade Ward and do one bonus action attack for a little damage. Need to dole out damage, skip the Blade Ward and use Extra Attack or spells. Flexible!
My favorite character ever is an Eldritch Knight I've played from levels 1-9, sword and board.
Recommended magic items:
Ruby of the War Mage (Common) to make your weapon a magic focus and avoid needing a free hand for material/somatic components.
Headband of Intellect(Uncommon) to increase your INT spellcasting ability score to 19/+4 modifier.
Ring of Spell Storing (Rare) for extra spell slots.
Consider starting with a very early multiclass for 2 levels in Evoker Wizard to get Sculpt Spell for your AOE spells, allowing you to cast them more often without hitting your friends.
I was waiting for this video for a long time 😭
I am just starting a campaign and I asked my DM (and he agreed) to replace the Evocation restriction with Transmutation. Like you I believe the damage centric nature of evocation is wasted on an EK. whereas Transmutation offers so many utility and support without unbalancing the class IMHO. This definitely helps make the level 2 spells so much more useful and meaningful. I am curious if you think the feats Ritual caster or Magic Initiate are worthwhile choices to add to the utility or address some of the limitations.
I cried when Steelwind Strike came out in Xanathar's and realized it was one spell level too high for Eldritch Knights. It seems like it would be such a great spell for them. :(
So nice to see you guys together and not split screen
Great rundown per usual, I just played an 8th level eldritch knight and built him almost exactly like you recommended. Being in that sweet spot where GFB did more damage combined with a BA attack, that was always the best attack option for me in that game. I did take protection from evil and good as my one C spell, and burning hands to have AOE. As a High Elf I took Toll the Dead as my free cantrip to give a ranged attack that is a save vs attack roll, otherwise, you can have trouble vs those AC tank monsters.
so i like artificer and i been wanting to make a fire genais artificer battlesmith/ eldritch knight so i could main int get the awesome find familiar so could advantage of having 2 pets on the battlefield on giving adv. the other disadv to my enemies though I dont know if that multi class would be worth it being I haven't been able to test.
also nice to see you guys back in the same room. XD
I'm finishing up a campaign with Variant Human E K, and I took "Ritual Caster" as my Lv 1 Feat. This really gave me some versatility with the spells that I choose, and some uses for them outside of combat.
Amazing choice!
Awesome breakdown. In regards to using a pole arm with Booming blade, you can take the Spell Sniper feat so that you can use booming blade from 10ft, you also pick up a cantrip too.
Just who I’ve been watching to create my first campaign!!!
I wonder how many times Monty can say the words "One-Two Punch" in a single video :)
My idea for a new Blade cantrip.
Distant Blade.
Level: Cantrip
Casting time: 1 Action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, M (a weapon)
Duration: Instantaneous
You enforce your strike with magic, increasing its strength and range.
As part of the action used to cast this spell, you must make a melee attack with a weapon against one creature within spell's range, ignoring the weapon's range. On a hit, the target suffers the attack's normal effects.
At a higher level:
At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 damage of weapon's damage type to the target. additional damage increases to 2d8 at 11th level and 3d8 at 17th level.
So basically you are sacrificing your damage from an extra attack, much like with the other Blade cantrips, but not for a potential of more damage, but for an increased range. It's not something you would use often but gives you additional flexibility on a battlefield, especially if you are not going for a Dex based character.
Definitely something I'd take after all it's basically the energy beam from the old legend of Zelda games
This is useful very situationally, but boy it will be satisfying using this in those situations
A) I'm so glad you guys are back in the same room again! I missed your awesome chemistry
Glad to see you guys are back in the same room. Btw I like your thumbnails.
Almost 200k subs!
They are reunited!!! YEEESSS! That made my day!
A fun combination if you're willing to take a few points of damage is using green flame blade, targeting yourself with the flames, then casting absorb elements. You take maybe 4 points of damage in exchange for war magic kicking in with an extra couple of d6's of fire damage tacked onto the bonus action attack.
I can't believe I never thought of that. I thought a fireball in the middle of a crowd with absorb elements would be fun but this Green Flame Blade trick deals less damage to yourself and can make GFB more worth it even if you don't have a second target to hit.
@@matthewmiller1847 If you're feeling extra ballsy, GBF -> Absorb Elements -> Action Surge -> GFB -> Bonus Action attack
@@alarosebaster2626 I love it. When I play my EK I hope to take Elemental Adept Fire to ignore resistance and treat all 1s as 2s for more consistent damage. But I guess if I do that Absord Elements wouldnt have the damage? Not sure how that would work out but I can talk to my DM about it
Well, my whole plan fell apart. I forgot absorb elements states the first attack on your NEXT turn.
@@alarosebaster2626 oof. Still a good combo. Just doesnt work with war magic or action surge. Still gets that extra damage next turn and some fire resistance until your next turn. Does even deadlier damage if you upcast Absorb Elements. I plan on multiclassing wizard so I have more spell slots to work with for that
I always wanted to play an Eldritch Knight but I could not figure out how to play them correctly. Thank you this put everything into perspective for me and I cant wait to play the class!
My favorite 2nd level spell on my eldritch knight is Hold Person. Just imagine you restrain your enemy giving every attack against it advantage and every attack that hit does critical damage. Now action surge and boom you're swinging 4-6 times all at advantage and all doing CRIT! MASSVIVE DAMAGE! 😆😆
I'm surprised you guys didn't mention feats that grant more spells like Magic Initiate since this subclass gets so few of them.
I built my Eldritch Knight to take Magic Initiate and dip into the Cleric spell list for Bless spell, and a couple more cantrips.
Honestly, I only ever take magic initiate on classes that dont have any spells by default. Being able to grab the best 2 utility cantrips along-side rare use spells like mage armor, find familiar, feather fall, good berry, identify... Seems way better than grabbing the 3rd and 4th best cantrips and a single extra level 1 spell.
Do you find these handful of extra spells very useful?
@@___i3ambi126 Rember that the EK can cast cantrips and follow up with melee attacks as a bonus action (at level 5 or 7) and later on can cast any spell followed up by bonus melee so the more cantrips and spells you know the greater the potential for damage output, tanking or crowd control or party buffing. Magic Initiate let's you pick from any class, so you could pick a heal cantrip (usually unavailable as EK picks from Wizard list) and heal yourself before every attack. Even fucking Blade Ward becomes a decent cantrip at that point!
@@matiskrawiec But there are no healing cantrips in 5e.
And you already gain access to the best damage dice cantrip by default as an ek. The only way magic initiate will improve it is by dealing force damage instead of fire. Knowing more spells doesnt mean you get to cast more, its just more versatility. This is definitely good, but learning the 5th best spell isn't as much of a bonus as a full martial building learning the best spell through this feat. (Remember that you can still only cast the magic initiate first level spell once per day even if you have spell slots).
Blade ward is not bad with the eldritch knight.
@@___i3ambi126 Totally my bad, I was thinking of the low level healing spells, my friend has dipped into cleric to get a few casts of those.
Not all cantrips have to be about straight up damage. You can always use more crowd control ones or lower damage but more targets ones.
Thank you for making these guides, Dudes :D
Never thought about playing an Eldritch Knight, now I will. Thanks Dungeon Dudes!
I say: throw out the eldritch knight spell casting table, and use the warlock one instead. Switch from int to char.
Play that. It's better. Just make sure not to give too many short rests.
I say: Just take two levels of Hexblade with your EK, then transition into Divine Soul Sorcerer after EK8/Hex2. You get the best of all worlds. Here’s a build breakdown:
cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/671379654686277645/676870356954382367/Ronins_Hexblade_Forcelance_build_breakdown.pdf
So just play a hexblade
@@katherineminor3402 hex blade is weak. And makes no sense. What are those spectres all about?
I personally don't believe that either is strong. I think that putting the warlock slots on an eldritch knight would make them on par with paladin in strength.
One thing to note is that the secondary effect of Booming Blade only triggers if the target continues moving after they get hit with it, which nothing requires that they do. It's not automatic damage, and if the target is savvy enough to recognize Booming Blade, they may decide it's better to not move than to take the extra damage. Really, this is what the spell is designed for, to disincentivize moving away. It's a tank spell, not a damage spell.
It does an additional 1d8 of thunder damage at 5th level
I really thought they had made a video on this before but O well, happy I can see it again
I find the eldritch knight very interesting, especially if you multiclass into wizrd. With more cantrips and more access to spells, this fighter build becomes much more intimidating. I had a character I took up to level 20. He was a Half orc 14 Eldritch Knigh/ 6 War Magic. With a staff of defense as one of his bonded weapons, and a warhammer as his other, the number of reaction choices, though staggering, made him a tank on the field with the dual wielder perk and plate armour. Finally if you take Haste as a wizard spell and become a war caster, you finally have this savagely attacking war caster who can use 3 attacks as his multi, use his additional attack to be a damage dealing cantrip like firebolt or poison spray (taking advantage of eldritch strike), then use his bonus action to make another attack, run 60 ft, and throw up a shield as his reaction to bump his AC to 25 using charges from the staff. And that wasnt even taking into account Action Surge. He was great fun to play in combat and out of combat he was still amazing. TThe Eldritch Knight deserves more love.
My plan for my eldritch knight is to take 3-4 levels of wizard so that I can access the non-abjuration/evocation 2nd level spells. I agree with the Dungeon Dudes that the options for 2nd level spells for eldritch knights kinda suck, but there are a lot of great 2nd level spells that an eldritch knight can't access, so just taking a few levels of wizard is a really great way around that.
I think this subclass is a little bit missnamed since its more of an arcane knight and you have not much to do with Eldritch beings or knowledge or anything eldritch in nature.
In Portuguese we call this class arcane knight (cavaleiro arcano) and I totally agree eldritch knight is not a pretty accurate name
wotc is famous for not knowing what eldritch means
@@jarlsnake6023 Lol in Spanish we also call it arcane knight. I don't know why it's eldritch in English when arcane is more accurate. Maybe to make it different from the arcane trickster? It's the only thing I can think of
@@maid_of_heart3261 In Polish they named it Mystic Knight to make things even thing-ier
@@andruloni Omg that's just perfect. I'm gonna start calling it the mystic knight
I have a question
Can you do grapples when you do attacks as a bonus actions?
Because i have an idea
With a burly enough eldritch knight
Cast invisibility
Go behind an enemy
And start to wedgie em
XDDD
RAW you have to swap an attack you make with the attack action for a grapple. So you can't use the War Magic/Improved War Magic bonus action attack to make a grapple
I love eldritch knights, and I especially like them with a 1-2 level dip into wizard. It gives you extra cantrips for damage/roleplay/etc., extra spells and spell slots, arcane recovery (which only is 1 first level slot, but after a long dungeon that extra slot for shield or absorb elements could come in handy). It does especially well with the spellbook which allows you to pick up different spells from different schools, both initially when you first grab it, and along the way, because you never are gonna be the main magical damage dealer, but it gives you the opportunity to have a lot more utility or strategic spells (and help the main casters save some of their lower slots if needed), and to be able to cast ritual spells to save even more spell slots. If you decide to pick up a second level of wizard eventually for more slots or spells known then I like going divination for portent, because it is just a nice ability to have especially if you are on the front lines making sure you hit or the enemies miss that killing blow or saving throw.
Glad to see you boys back together.
"...blend sword and sorcery like few other classes can..." Besides hexblades, and artificers, and bladesingers, and bards, and arcane tricksters....
I found that funny too. In fact, Ek doesn't blend sword and magic nearly as well as the ones you just mentioned.
Uhhh yeah... that's what they said...
depends if you want a mage that can fight, or a warrior than can do magic. Eldritch knight and hexblades are the only one that truly do the second. For arcane magic, at least.
Eldritch Knights are the best gish at melee. They are fighters after all.
@@jacobjensen7704 Except they're not. They can melee, but after level 11 if they cast then they're losing multiple attacks. They're better off just being a battlemaster at that point. EK's spellcasting doesn't synergize well with their melee. They also don't get to use INT for their melee attacks, so they're splitting stats like crazy to gish, where someone like a battlesmith or hexblade use their casting mod for attacks. EK only really stands out when you MUST cast and MUST get an attack in during the same round, and for action surge.
fighters have low intelligence huh
meanwhile me having a fighter wild leonin in which my rolled stats were
18, 18, 17, 14, 14, 15,
96 total stats? If you rolled 4d6d1 that's REALLY lucky
OP, plz nerf.
Those are wonderful rolls, and I hope you enjoy playing your character. However, we base our metrics on the assumption that players will have to balance out a more average spread of stats. In our own games we use a fixed array. Pretty much every single class kicks into overdrive with a pair of 18s, and doubly so when you don't have any ability scores with negatives or no bonus. High base stats tend to conceal the weaknesses/ disadvantages/ trade offs when building a character since you can just power through it.
Mine usually end up as:
14, 12, 13, 7, 11, 10
I usually end up with one 18 and nothing below 12
Glad u guys are back in the same room
My 12 yr old niece playing in her first campaign is playing an Eldritch Knight and this will be so helpful to her. Thank You. Also I almost exclusively play Gishes so this was very helpful to me as well.
Recently got into playing a lot more Fighters and Eldritch Knight is really fun. Built a Dex-focused one with Defensive Duelist and the backstory of being a pirate with a cursed magical tattoo. All their magic is based around swords, like Burning Hands being flavored as throwing a large blade of fire, and so I- for the first time ever- took the largely ignored cantrip Sword Burst.
I'm running the Shadowblade Eldritch Knight build and I'm enjoying it. I've mixed war wizard in the past with it for the extra cantrip damage from counter spelling and having the improved initiate.
I just started a new campaign and I'm planning on playing EK!! We JUST hit level 3, I'm so excited.
I love the Booming Blade but it loses part of it's amazingness after you gain your 2nd extra attack and even more the 3rd but it still worth having if you choose the war caster feat cause of the opportunity attack situation. Very good video especially cause you cemented the ideias I already had.
I have been waiting for this video. I’ve been working on an EK Tabaxi for a while. An odd one I wanted to see if I could make work. Combine the subclass’s teleport, misty step, and feline mobility to double movement for a turn and you have an absurdly mobile character.
One of my players has taken a two level dip into wizard to gain the blade singer features. I feel this really brings the class to a higher level of viability since you get a spell book where you can learn almost any spell of a level of a level you could cast while also giving you those higher spell slots much sooner.
My first character in D&D was an Eldritch Knight when I played my first 2 campains, Mines of Phandelver then went into Storm King's Thunder, this lasted until my party was level 20 lol, my character was a Red Dragonborn ex Gladiator named Orinus, I wanted to be a strict melee Fighter at first cuz I wanted to be the tank of the party, as soon as I got to 3rd level I had a ton more fun lol
The Spells/Cantrips I took were these
Cantrips- Firebolt, Light, Mage Hand
1st level- Magic Missile, Shield, Absorb Elements, Burning Hands
2nd level- Scorching Ray, Shatter, Acid Arrow
3rd level- Fireball, Counterspell, Sleet Storm, Fly
4th level- Wall of Fire, Banishment
I fell in love with this character and was sad when I had to let him go when we started up new characters, but hey, at least Orinus will always be known as that one crazy Dragonborn who took on a freaking Terrasque at level 11 and managed to kill it lmao 😂😂
how the fuk did you manage that?
@@horvathlaszloetele3558 Help......a lot of help lol, but I was the one who landed the killing blow by getting a nat 20 and bashing into the damn thing's skull and scorching its brain with my fire breath lmao 😂
I've really never been too interested in playing an eldritch knight but now I'm sold! I think I'd build it to have war caster w/ booming blade and then the mobility feat.
Blue Dragonborn Eldritch Knight, got lots of lightning stuff going on. Throw an axe at a foes face only to summon it back before it hits, quite nice intimidation tactic. Also, my DM and rule of cool allowed me to channel shocking grasp through my great axe after hitting a foe (Action Surge). Finished them off. Love this subclass, and dragonborn for that matter! Love your show guys.