Armor of Agathys optimization guide: D&D 5e

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Bilbron's Armor of Agathys video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g4TYhJduo61ga5I

[@aw6881]

Chris, you are the gentleman of KZbin. You ALWAYS give a shoutout to other creators that inspire you or cover the same topic as you will address in your video. You are always veeery respectful and kind even though you might diverge in the opinion of other creators regarding the topic. It is a pleasure to see such sportsmanship here on KZbin. Thank you!

[@keeganmbg6999]

Chris, one thing you didn’t mention was that Battle Smith Artificers can get Warding Bond Cast upon them by using their spell infused item at lvl 11. It takes a bit to get to, but it is a sufficient way to have it on you without needing an ally casting it.

[@Bilbrons-and-Dragons]

You're the best, bro... many thanks!

[@LowDeeHum]

I'd never heard of him before, but now I'm several videos in and he seems pretty quality. Thank you kindly for recommending his channel.

[@rexbosworth2869]

The Rune Knight's Hill Rune also grants resistance to bludgeoning/slashing/piercing

[@maybevoldemort8995]

Great shout, sir

[@shaneharper4477]

And a reaction to make an enemy reroll a crit

[@hamsterratje]

You will need 7th level in rune knight to do that, thas a heavy investment where you don't get spellslot levels

[@PiiskaJesusFreak]

I think earth genasi deserves a special mention for being able to cast blade ward as a bonus action. It can combine with uncanny dodge and abjurer ward nicely, without blocking you from recasting Armor of Agathys like barbarian rage does.

[@elliotbryant3459]

one issue that may come up is if you need to first cast AoA [or another leveled spell], you can't cast the bonus action blade ward on the same turn due to the bonus action casting rules.

[@bradley6471]

@@elliotbryant3459 should be affected due to blade ward being a cantrip right?

[@shapshane8241]

arcane ward does not gain blade ward resistance. still cool combo!

[@elliotbryant3459]

@@bradley6471 since you're casting a spell [leveled or cantrip] as a bonus action, casting any other spell with your action is limited to another cantrip.

[@atomictree5000]

@@elliotbryant3459 so just cast AoA first, no? Or am I reading that wrong?

[@texteel]

Honestly, I like Heavy Armor Master with Armor of Agathys. Even at high levels, there is a surprisingly high number of enemies that deal non-magical damage. Dragons come to mind. But also many fiends, I in particular remember a glabrezu getting hurt more AoA than I did from his punch, precisely because of HAM. At low, or somewhat low levels, that -3 damage can easily be worth more than an increase in CON. At level 8, increasing con gives 8 HP. The tough feat gives 16 HP. If a frontliner gets hit 3 times / day, HAM is more useful than an increase in CON. If a frontliner gets hit 6 times / day, HAM is more useful than the toughness feat.

[@dungeondorcs7328]

That's interesting, I never would have thought about heavy armour master... that adds a nice bit of longevity to the spell :)

[@Wouldyoukindly4545]

And if you're using Abjuration wizard, you can't reduce the damage done to your shield with resistance, but you can reduce it with HAM. Though the resistance still effects the damage that breaks through your shield and hits the AoAg temp hit points. I will keep in mind your HAM vs. Toughness argument in general. And HAM is nearly busted at low levels.

[@WhyYouMadBoi]

if the monster doesn't have the magic weapon trait HAM is good on it. Which only 80 monsters in the game have magic weapon traits.

[@dungeondorcs7328]

@@WhyYouMadBoi didn't notice that awesome, I'll keep that in mind

[@Meichrob7]

Oh man, great to see Bilbron’s stuff even just briefly mentioned here. Of all the optimization channels I watch I feel like you two specifically would come up with cool stuff together. Just feels like you both have comparable optimization styles and values but retain different enough viewpoints to not be redundant.

[@Bilbrons-and-Dragons]

Hey, thanks for the shout out, bro! Very much obliged 👊

[@pietran5832]

The abjuration wizard ward and the armor of shadows invocation are amazing together

[@exqueue3813]

I think the best option is clockwork soul. As a CHA caster it meshes well with warlock and you can still get 9th lvl spells. And sorcery points make up for the fact that you're burning high level slots on Agathys.

[@dungeondorcs7328]

I've played this and it is good

[@VvDOPAMEANvV]

Agree. This is a very powerful option, and it addresses our deepest insecurity--the fear of DM retaliation. You are still a powerful caster with many options.

[@sillvvasensei]

I made a Totem Barbarian/Fiendlock based around the spell. It's a fun build. Their patron is Zariel and they're a former Hellrider.

[@Just_som_Ottur]

Holy shit that’s awesome

[@jchagasla]

I do run a Goliath Barbarian/Celestial warlock (which I call Shaman) with that intent, although he is not at all optimized: also very fun. My very adversarial DM usually finds ways to eat up the tempHP whenever he can through ranged attacks, but it does work sometimes.

[@lavendergrey2357]

my backup idea for a high-danger campaign I'm playing in is a totem barbarian/celestial warlock who intimidates the gods into granting her greater power. my head cannon of these two meeting is sending me. 😂

[@codydwyerify]

Also, moon druid elemental forms have lots of resistances, including nonmagical piercing, slashing, and blugeoning, plus other types depending on the form. A great option if you want to be a full caster tank.

[@randyfool2065]

Order of Scribes: One with the Word feature lets you use a reaction if you take damage while your spellbook's mind is manifested, you can prevent all of that damage to you to dismiss the spectral mind, using its magic to save yourself. Then roll 3d6. The spellbook temporarily loses spells of your choice that have a combined spell level equal to that roll or higher. Until you finish 1d6 long rests, you are incapable of casting the lost spells, even if you find them on a scroll or in another spellbook. After you finish the required number of rests, the spells reappear in the spell book. Once you use this reaction, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

[@mhelvens]

10:27 For the Order of Scribes solution, you actually need a damaging spell with a good type *on the level of the slot you expend,* not the base level of the cast spell.

[@EmanueleCappello]

As I'm playing an OotS Wiz right now, I wanted to point this

[@mhelvens]

@@EmanueleCappello Yep, me too. I've been casting Fireball (Thunderball) at 3rd level because I have no useful 4th level damage formulas. It's actually an interesting limitation. When I run out of 3rd level slots, my Fireballs will become _less effective_ cast at 4th level, for many enemies we've been running into.

[@tomm35]

@@mhelvens There's a spell for most levels that covers many of the damage types: 2nd level has Dragon's Breath 3rd level has Glyph of Warding 4th level has Elemental Bane 7th level has Prismatic Spray 8th level has Illusory Dragon 9th level has Prismatic Wall 1st, 5th, and 6th levels don't have a multi-type, but they (and many of the other levels also) have Force and Psychic, which are more than valid substitutes.

[@ASUbuckaroo15]

@@tomm35 1st level Chromatic Orb

[@tomm35]

@@ASUbuckaroo15 Huh. How did I miss that one, I wonder?

[@TheBlueDude71]

I know you said you read your comments for a few hours after you post a video. I just wanted to let you know I don't actually play D&D, but I stumbled upon your channel and have watched probably every video you made. It's interesting content, your direct with a strong opinion. I'm more interested in game design and game mechanics, and that is what this channel talks about. I watched your start a youtube video and just wanted to express support and thank you for putting that much effort into your craft. Have a great day.

[@thomaswalz2890]

If your dm allows it, this spell works well with blood hunter. Profane soul gets the spell, and the brand of castigation feature is another source of retaliation damage. Multiclassing into abjuration wizard after level 6 is a great way to make a tanky gish frontliner build imo

[@voxelescent]

You beat me to it; this class does really well with the spell.

[@BW022]

A few additions, I found with my cleric (nature) 1 / warlock (fey, blade)... 1. At low levels, going defensive with a high AC makes this useful. Yet, creatures miss a lot, but even when they hit you are protected and they take damage. 2. At higher levels this can be useful in combos with concentration spells, especially ones you might not use without it. (i.e. polymorph, displacement, improved invisibility, etc.) 3. Don't forget the physiological effects of this. Unintelligent creatures (say beasts) or those not familiar with magic might (after getting blasted by this) simply choose not to attack you. A wolf taking 10hp from biting you might not do it a second time. 4. You can use #3 to your advantage, say by not attacking something you suspect is low on hit points -- making them either try to get to another target, disengage, or otherwise ignore you. 5. With #3, even with intelligent creatures, this can be a moral default and/or time waster. I once tanked a pair of hill giants for several rounds -- going defensive. One hit me, I took 13hp, he took 20hp. Another round of misses and then the other hits me, I take 14hp, he takes 20hp. I then recast the spell. The DM groaned as the giants decided to try to focus on other targets, knowing I was hard to hit, and even after 4 rounds they weren't doing much while taking damage themselves. 6. As others have said, this is a time when blade ward might be helpful. 7. The spell can be extremely effective in darkness, due to #3. 8. There is typically no reason not to cast the spell before a short rest if you have a spell slot available. 9. With #3, if you get spell slots from multiple sources (say a warlock/bard or warlock/sorcerer or even warlock/paladin) consider using a low level non-warlock slot to put it up or mix. Even 5hp or 10hp at higher levels protects from an arrow hit.

[@1442168]

I was googling this all day yesterday and hardpressed that you did not have something up to date to reference. You work in mysterious ways; God bless you sir.

[@thunderdragonish]

I really like the idea of a Warding Dwarf Arcane Trickster/Bladesinger, though all of its key abilities aren’t available until higher level, and spell progression suffers pretty heavily. Uncanny dodge paired with the bladesinger extra attack to cast blade ward is a consistent and resource-free way to quarter damage from an attack.

[@TheRobversion1]

I think the key for AOA sustaining is to be able to stack alot of free action dmg reducers. this makes the clockwork soul particularly attractive as they can: 1. gain dmg resistance via blade ward in combat or stoneskin out of combat 2. gain a dmg reduction shield via bastion of law out of combat 3. easily pick a race or feat that gives me a dmg reduction reaction like goliath and martial adept/superior technique-parry after clock 7, we can stock up on more free action dmg reducers. next stop should be the abjurer. with the scaling of arcane ward, we can pretty much stick with abjurer for the rest of the levels. of course there are interesting triple class options

[@willjcus]

It's very nice of you mentioning another KZbinrs channel. I just can't give my time to someone who is so full of themselves. Boasting about how other aren't as smart as him because of his college degrees and how he is the absolute number one optimizer ever. He has a pampas attitude and belittled, not just other content creators, but all other people that aren't him. I'll watch your video, because as always I'm going in knowing it will be great educational and entertaining content.

[@Aaron-pj3ky]

Mark of Warding Dwarf on a Tier 3 Artificer isn't necessarily optimized or that strong, but does have some interesting utility. Since it counts as an Artificer spell, you'd be able to put it in the Spell Storing Item. Spell Storing Item doesn't require attunement, so you can hand it around the party and let each person get the 5 HP boost and then go into combat. Pretty decent if you don't have someone else in your party who hands out temporary HP.

[@benjaminholcomb9478]

Might make for a fun group of goons to throw against the party. Not that it would do much, but describing a bunch of thugs as glowing and having them do damage when they inevitably get oneshotted has some entertainment potential.

[@Trial88]

Actually you could put it in as a second level spell for 10 temp hp for a little bit better damage. Still not amazing, but that’s actually a really fun idea.

[@Wouldyoukindly4545]

It would be amazing in the hands of the Barbarian. Or better yet, Barbarian/Rogue.

[@jeffdietz630]

My two favorite KZbin optimizers, Treantmonk and Bilbron Bafflestone with honorable mention to Packtactics. Kudos.

[@matthewhsu4510]

Thanks Chris...I've tried this strategy with my Do It All Mage and agree that to make this work, you probably need to design your build around this tactic. However, I've had DMs who simply refuse to attack my character with a high-level armor of agathys which sucks if you've burned a high-level spell slot to get this set up.

[@cfalkner1012]

As a DM, I try to run the bad guys in a convincing way. So anyone who has an intelligence over 6 can tell that it hurts to attack this target, and likely switch. But outright refusing to attack a character built to soak damage is un-fun.

[@Giant2005]

Just build your character in a way where the enemies are screwed if they attack you or not. Your highest slot is for Spirit Guardians and your second highest is for AoA. That way, if they don't attack you they are getting nailed by Spirit Guardians without any potential for a failed Concentration Save. Whether they attack you or not, you are sitting happy.

[@StateOfWellBeing]

Thanks!

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Thanks so much!

[@StateOfWellBeing]

@@TreantmonksTemple it was about time I did something for you. I have been reading you for a while and enjoying the work you do. I was excited for you when you revealed you are a full time you-tuber. Congrats and keep up the great work

[@ZoroarkChampion]

I've been looking into building a character around Armor of Agathys as well, and I think Barbarian 1/Fathomless warlock 6 to Ancestral Guardian 3(4?)/Fathomless warlock X with low DEX and high CHA is the way to go. AC will be low, but that's fine since you want to get hit. Race doesn't really matter, but Goliath will give a lot of damage reduction until level 7 when Guardian Coil activates. Barbarian rage effectively doubles the temp HP, and Ancestral Guardian nicely solves the problem of how to get enemies to target you. Tentacle of the Deep brings a ranged(!) weaponisable bonus action (which, going off a 16 CHA, should be effective enough) as well as reduction. So competitive damage all around, as well as a nice gimmick. Oh, and as soon as you get to Barb level 3 and have the tentacle, you can attack at range as a bonus action, and as long as it's the first attack you make on your turn, Ancestral Protectors activates to give that enemy disadvantage on anyone but you, which can be very handy if they can't reach you. And if you really want to go bonkers, you can multiclass to Clockwork Soul Sorcerer after level 10-ish for extra reduction, but I never build past level 14 since campaigns never go there anyway. Since I'm a sucker for story and I always want to have a concept/story to go along with mechanics, I also wrote a little story of who this character is. During a storm, a Goliath hailing from a viking-like culture got blown overboard and nearly drowned. Accepting his demise and praying for Walhalla, he found something else answering the call. The murmors of hundreds of men, whispering and whimpering as one, cursed drowned sailors stemming a nearby wreckage of a long lost vessel carrying a reality warping cargo. As punishment for their greed, they can't live, but can't die either, bound to the ship forever under the crushing weight of the ocean. 'Help us, free us!' they call out. With his last moments of conciousness, he accepts, and suddenly he's able to breathe underwater. He wakes up a certain amount of time later on a cold rocky beach, with a burning sense for the pact he just made in his mind: in exchange for the protective, spiritual powers their collective has bestowed upon him, he has to undo their curse and finish whatever business they had...

[@fortunatus1]

In terms of classes, I think that only the Hex Blade warlock is incentivized into optimizing this spell. The Warlocks have the added benefit of their spells always being cast at the highest level (max 5th) but only the Hex Blade is likely to be in melee combat consistently enough that building around this spell is a decent option.

[@Krimson51]

You can make a very effective Hexblade / Paladin tank build in this way, it's my favorite way of playing a "martial" character. If you invest heavily into paladin (enough to get 4th level spell slots) you can use your armor of agathys on yourself and a mounted Greater Steed which is really nice to keep them alive in combat. It makes for a very strong mounted character, especially if you can choose which one of you takes the hit like with the Saddle of the Cavalier.

[@garethnaude1175]

Oath of conquest paladin + sorcerer loves this spell - especially because you can get it on your steed as well. The upcast is available because of high level spell slots

[@crimfan]

I'll take it to let my warlocks tank in extremis, which can be really useful sometimes--back in 2020 when I was playing a lot of AL online it often ended up being necessary if the party tank was lower level than me. It's not a go-to thing you'd do all the time, of course, but it can really help and adds to the flexibility of the character. Low damage multiattackers really suffer, especially if you have something that gives you damage resistance so AoA lasts a long time.

[@Giant2005]

I actually think that Warlocks are the worst caster for AoA, which is ironic considering it is supposed to be their unique spell. Not being able to upcast higher than a level 5 spell slot is a pretty big limitation if you are playing a game that will reach high levels. The Clockwork Sorc is the new king of AoA.

[@crimfan]

@@Giant2005 I agree. It's a pity Arcane Secrets couldn't be used to upcast various lower level spells, for example.

[@DakobaBlue]

I play a Mark of Warding Abjuration wizard. Somehow, this wizard became the party's tank and is crazy good at it. So far the only weakness I encountered was ranged attacks. Even at level 5, I'd have 37 HP, and per day can get 45 - 75 temp HP easily and a Ward of 13HP that I can keep refilling via Eldritch Adept > Armor of Shadows. I even have a low AC on purpose. 9 at the start of day, 12 after Mage Armor, 17 with Shield if need be. I found myself triggering attacks of opportunity when appropriate so even losing your action to casting AoA isn't a big deal. And, because dwarfs have proficiency with warhammers, I can still dish out damage via Booming Blade. Having enemies choose to either attack me and take damage, or walk away and take damage from Booming Blade and an attack of opportunity. And in a white room scenario. if you already have AoA up, walk to melee enemy > Booming Blade > step back to trigger AoA > enemy now has to step closer to hit you triggering BB > on hit that's another AoA trigger. Even if the DM gets savvy and has enemies stop attacking you, guess what? You're a wizard, that's totally fine. If I'm down on my last spell slots I try to mitigate the damage by recasting Mage Armor to fill the ward a bit, and Blade Ward when I expect to take damage. All in all, a very solid damage dealer and damage sponge.

[@milesarmstrong2990]

I have a suggestion for this style of play and that is the spell Suggestion (or command or Compulsion or Dominate Person). This is only good against weapon wielders, but enchanting them so they will just punch you instead of using a weapon, will greatly reduce their damage out put.

[@exoticspoon6117]

Im rocking a paldin with find steed. Conquest for armor of agathys. Level 5 goliath, free feat @ character creation. Armor of agathys when cast while mounted effects me and the mount, doubling it. Goliath can reduce damage by 1d12+con 3 times a long rest. Heavy armor master reduces physical by 3. Mounted combatant feat allows me to take hits for my mount. Ill have armor of agathys up twice every cast, witht he ability to reduce damage or swap targets. This makes it better dpr per spell slot than my smite (if it works ya know), and also adds 20 temp hp as a level 2 spell slot.

[@jimwolford7294]

Order of Scribes' Awakened Spellbook can be used to give your wizard damage immunity. The text reads, "...you can temporarily replace its damage type with a type that appears in another spell in your spellbook..." It doesn't mention a limit tot he number of damage types that you can change, and it doesn't mention that the damage type must be the damage dealt. Thus you should be able to change the damage types for spells that grant a damage immunity or resistance. For a Scribes wizard with sufficient spells of the appropriate level: Investiture of Ice grants one damage immunity and one resistance, difficult terrain and a cone attack. Investiture of Fire grants one damage immunity and one resistance, a line attack and passive damage. Tasha's Otherworldly Guise grants two damage immunities. Investiture of Wind does bludgeoning damage, so it is possible with one of the first three spells to get immunity to all bludgeoning damage. Fire Shield grants one resistance and retaliatory damage for 10 minutes and no concentration. Absorb Elements gives resistance to one damage type until the start of your next turn I would suggest adding three levels of Armorer Artificer with thunder gauntlets, booming blade and war caster to lock down the enemy.

[@alanschaub147]

I cast Haste and watch these videos at 2x speed to achieve Turbo Treantmonk! ❤️

[@Staff7]

nice work chris. appreciate ya calling out ways to imrpove d and d.

[@cmccbuilds8229]

Props for giving Bilbron a shout out

[@alastairwhite1248]

Interesting video, really looking forward to the final build

[@gigglestomp5403]

One thing not mentioned is the new Grapple mechanic may synergize well. Its going to restrict movement but also provide an incentive to hit the grappler. I think this would synergize well with armor of agathys, especially if you want to force melee attacks.

[@purpleniumowlbear2952]

I wish more people recognized how powerful the Interception fighting style was, especially when someone in the party has the AoA spell. Totally worth the Fighting Initiate feat for everyone in the party, especially up to Level 5. I just wish it stacked better with Blade Ward. I was really sad when I learned damage resistance takes affect AFTER subtractions to damage.

[@arcticwiz2249]

Ah yes PEMDAS, division first.

[@Meichrob7]

I feel like I’m general it’s something of a trap to over optimize for Armor of Agathys. It depends on your DM but I think the real sweet spot for investment into this tactic is one where you’re okay with your DM deciding it’s not worth hitting you. If you invest your whole build into this tactic then it feels really bad to have your DM ignore you, and if you don’t invest much into this tactic then your DM can usually just cleave through your spell easily enough. So ideally you want this to be enough of a pain for your DM to deal with, but not so heavily invested that if your DM decided not to hit you, that it’d mess you up. I think spending a race option and a couple levels of multi class on your Abjuration Wizard isn’t a heavy investment to have a non-concentration pre combat spell that effectively reads “enemies won’t attack you with melee attacks.” It lets you somewhat ignore many defensive aspects of positioning since you’re fine taking opportunity attacks or having enemies rush you, letting you position to best be able to sling spells. I think the balance point for this is different based on your DM and if you’re melee or ranged. If your DM tends to target back line fighters a lot then this becomes inherently more advantageous to invest into as a ranged character like a Wizard. If your DM generally avoids ever provoking opportunity attacks or disengaging and just has enemies hit whoever’s closest, it becomes inherently more advantageous to invest into as a melee character like a hexblade.

[@insertphrasehere15]

You are acting like the DM is optimising their tactics. The Dm should be doing what makes sense for the monsters. If the monsters know how well protected you are (and they might after the first couple of attacks at you, then they might avoid you. If the DM is just avoiding you because of metagaming... well I feel sorry for you having a DM like that.

[@dustinmccollum7196]

Just pick your target and get into melee. It's just that simple if they try to run you have options 1. Use Booming blade, they run they take damage. 2. You can make a grapple as a AoO.

[@brannenpfister2579]

This is why clockwork soul sorcerer will always be the best option for AoA. Either that, or a bard.

[@Meichrob7]

@@insertphrasehere15 Super late reply to this lol, but I'm not really saying that the DM is going to metagame the situation, I'm saying different DMs have different playstyles just like players do, and some are more or less inclined to have monsters learn from player actions. Even if every DM played all monsters perfectly lore and stat-sheet accuratley, the DM's "playstyle" still emerges through the types of enemies they populate the world with.

[@dungeondorcs7328]

I love this spell, I think that abjuration magic is undervalued in 5e... currently playing a clockwork soul who uses this regularly... it makes a great tank!

[@OnionJuiceEnjoyer]

Finally my favourite spell gets some spotlight Its one of my top spells because its like the handy tool in the toolbox to use against melee oriented encounters. I often if possible combine this with fire shield or shadow of moil if I wanted to overkill a melee reliant enemy. Additionally its a deterrant to target me, especially if I'm a damage role or squishy role; additionally there have been times where there was no frontliner in the party and I just used this spell constantly along with blade ward/blessing of the raven queen to essentially buy time for allies. It's great because not only am I buying time for my allies by being a 'squishy' punching bag, I'm also doing damage if they're not resistant/immune to cold. When I take the backline role, it just serves as a deterant or leeway. I find the key to make use of this spell if your purpose is to tank and reflect damage, is to have low AC on purpose and give the DM a reason to target you over your allies, only if you have damage mitigation on-hand of course (Blessing of the raven queen, song of defense, blade ward, absorb elements, etc), having high AC will have mixed results instead. On the low level encounters when I'm playing hexblade bladesinger, I don't have enough resources to do much so I rely on Armor of Agathys with blessing of the raven queen to scout out enemy tactics, then Bladesong once I'm done with scouting my enemy and determining if AoA tanking won't be ideal. When multiclassing a hexblade, its often the shield + armor of agathys pickup instead of shield + hex. I use it that much lololol. Only drawback is ofc ranged or aoe damage sources which is sad but it happens.

[@stefanoanselmi12]

A couple of years ago I had fun playing a divine soul sorcerer/hexblade warlock that was pretty much a fanatic of Ilmater seeking martyrdom. His standard tactic was using Armor of Agathys (and stacking it with fire shield at higher levels) and then being an absolute sticky annoyance to the enemy with spirit guardians limiting movement around him plus Grasp of Hadar-empowered eldritch blast and/or "approach" command spells to force them to stay near. One of his favourite trick against melee enemies attempting to flee from him was casting a 1st level command spell in lieu an attack of opportunity due to combat casting (that's pretty much a requirement in this sort of builds since you want to be hit).

[@agilemind6241]

Doesn't Command specify it happens on their next turn? And since Command forces them to end their turn after doing the command it wouldn't actually force the enemy to attack you.

[@stefanoanselmi12]

@@agilemind6241 Yeah, but that was ok. Enemies ended up adjacent to the character having already Lost One entire turn and taking Spirit Guardians damage. What would they do? Waste another turn to flee (and probably getting pulled back to me) moving through the movement penality spirits Guardians or trying to hit the annoying caster? If they chose to play ping-pong (them being the ball) our party was going to win big time in the action economy department, including free attacks of opportunity. It was a catch-22 for the enemies.

[@matthewbouboulis4840]

Great video!! Really gets me thinking. I almost want to lean towards having find steed or find greater steed to help output more uses. Looking forward to what you make.

[@Vashna]

The answer is *Deep Gnome* Abjuration Wizard with the *Svirfneblin Magic* feat. *1)* Assuming you dip 1-3 levels into another class to pickup the Armor of Agathys, your wizard's Arcane Ward will offer a maximum of about 40 hit points. *2)* Svirfneblin feat lets you cast the "Nondetection" spell on yourself at will, with no material cost (normally 25gp worth of diamond dust, consumed on cast). This level 3 abjuration will restore 6 points to your ward per cast, so just spam it outside of combat to make sure your Arcane Ward is maxed out for every combat. It also offers once/day bonus spells like Blindess/Deafness and Blur for additional defense against melee attackers when your barriers run out. *3)* Gnome also has "Gnome Cunning" which grants advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saves against magic. Level 14 Abjuration grants "Spell Resistance" against all spell damage, and advantage against all spell saves (which covers spells that require a CON or DEX save, like Fireball, that are not covered by your racial trait). Deep gnome abjurer is very persistent against both melee and magic attacks: -- Melee attackers will need to cut through both your Arcane Ward and Armor of Agathys shield before they can hurt you, and they will be taking significant cold damage in the process. Since Armor of Agathys is an abjuration spell, if it runs out mid-combat, you can simply recast it again using a high level spell slot and refresh your Arcane Ward at the same time for another 14-16 hit points. -- Casters will find most their effects fail on you, or inflict half damage at best (or one-quarter damage in cases like Fireballs). Abjurers even make life difficult for casters by adding their proficiency bonus to ability checks for spells like "Counterspell" and "Dispel Magic". And if you use the new One D&D rules for Gnome racial, then "Gnome Cunning" could provide advantage on *all* Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma skill checks. This means Gnome Abjurers would also get advantage on countering and dispelling magic on top of the proficiency bonus. For the dip, I would probably take 2 levels in warlock to get: -- Eldritch Blast cantrip -- Invocation #1: Armor of Shadows -- cast "Mage Armor" at will (another abjuration spell) -- Invocation #2: Eldritch Mind -- advantage on CON saves to maintain concentration (especially for things like "Stoneskin", conveniently another abjuration spell) -- Otherworldly Patron: Celestial -- for access to Sacred Flame cantrip, Cure Wounds, revivify, restoration spells, and the "Healing Light" ability (3d6 hit dice pool) (Given the abjurer's high defenses, he may often be the last one standing. You can use a *bonus action* to restore 1d6+ health to a downed player up to 60 feet away, up to 3x per long rest.)

[@dienezdarcprowlyr9406]

Colby at D4, DnD Deep Dive, did a great build around the spell. Episode 37, the Thornlock

[@YotamGalli]

I love it that my favourite d&d creators intersect. I'll pay hard-earned cash to see Bilbron play an optimized martial on a Treantmonk's one-shot. FYI

[@muriomoira]

I'd like to also point out that the undeadlock's spirit projection also gives them resistance to PBS damage

[@darrenromanko2414]

Great video as usual. Please do a full Wall of Force video.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I'll add that to the list of potential video topics

[@saintpaulsnail]

The order of events at about 4:30 appears to be wrong according to a D&D rules group on Facebook. If you have any temporary hit point from AoA when you are hit, the damage to the attacker is triggered regardless of how much damage. The AoA might be exhausted by the damage to the player character, but the attacker's damage is already set.

[@0num4]

Good looking out, TM! I had an Abjuration wizard with Armor of Agathys--it was really effective when used smartly. Saved our party from an encounter more than once by being the "tank."

[@jag519]

I'd love to see Bilbron in a high lvl oneshot the next time you all do it. I feel like his ultimate defense optimizing with a lot of the damage and control optimizing you all do would be great

[@parkerpope1163]

I've been playing a abjuration wizard with 1 level of warlock and eldritch adept (or you could go 2 levels of warlock) and that worked out really well. I was the tankiest in the party until we got a pally at level 6. Notably, armor of agathys works on HIT not on damage so it procs from arcane ward. That + armor of shadows for infinite ward makes me an amazing dungeon crawler (we are playing waterdeep -> dungeon of the mad mage)

[@dhaas4698]

Fantastic video. I have played earth genasi warlock combo for that bonus action blade ward. I like abjurer / Mark of Warding Dwarf too. Never tried scribes /warding dwarf though

[@QuantumPolagnus]

One thought I had was to play an Eldritch Knight with a couple levels of Abjurer wizard, as it goes well with the spell-slinging Fighter (who could easily justify staying in melee). The extra spell slots, ritual casting, gaining a 1st lvl spell slot back on a short rest (once/day), and added cantrips/spells known are definitely appreciated. Then, a single level dip into Dao Genie Warlock (to get AoA and Sanctuary) would allow you to cast Sanctuary to help avoid ranged attacks while running into melee (which also charges the Abjurer Wizard's arcane ward a little). Another thought I had was to use an Earth Genasi (for bonus action Blade Ward) with a Hexblade/Clockwork Soul multiclass. Hexblade, of course, pushes you into melee, while Blade Ward and Bastion of Law decrease your actual damage taken, helping you to get the most out of Armor of Agathys (which the Sorcerer multiclass can net you transmuted spell). This seems, to me, like a high-risk/high-reward play style, as you'd be in quite the pickle if your Armor of Agathys ran out while solidly in melee.

[@AgentForest]

My first method of maximizing this spell was to make a Fighter/Barb/Warlock hybrid. Start fighter for the heavy armor proficiency and Action Surge, get Rage from Barbarian, then get the spell from Warlock. You could also go Sorcerer most of the way for the higher spell slot progression, and in that case, go Clockwork Soul to skip out on having to dip Warlock. This lets you upcast the spell massively, while having resistance and flat damage reduction, though I prefer Warlock since it lets you grab Shadow of Moil and Hellish Rebuke too. With this combo, if they can hit you at all, you'll be doing more damage in retaliation than you do on your own turns. The other build I had for Armor of Agathys was an Abjuration Wizard. You get the slots to upcast it beyond 5th level, as well as Arcane Ward, which lets you absorb damage without actually damaging the Armor of Agathys temp HP. This gives it a TON of longevity. The downside being that you're otherwise relatively frail, and lack good front-line potential. I would probably rely on strong control magic, and melee cantrips. Hold Person and Shocking Grasp, for example. Concentrating on spells will draw enemy attacks, especially from smarter foes.

[@Serkesh77]

I'm planning to play a campaign with a build around AoA and one tactic I find very funny is to sit on the ground at the enemy's feet, basically imposing the prone condition on yourself. This way this opponent's Melee attacks have advantage against you, while all ranged attacks of his potential allies will have disadvantage against you. I'm thinking of using Earth Genasi, for the Blade Ward bonus action, and going HexBlade 2 / Abjuration Wiazard X. This way I can get Armor of Shadows to infinitely recharge my Arcane Ward, and Elditch Mind for the constitution saves. Another advantage of this combination is the synergy of HexBlade Curse with Magic Missiles, for a more reliable damage source. I haven't decided what my feats will be yet, but I'm quite inclined to get Fey Touched with Compelled Duel.

[@inamecomeunico8935]

I was just wondering on how to abuse armor agathys, and this video pops up in my recomandation feed noice!

[@Sirxeko]

I did a armor of agythas build during a One DnD playtest. AoA in 5e works on paper, but not in practice, because you cant reliably make enemies attack you. An enemy sees that you have the ice armor up, and they'll just target another character instead. But with One DnD's changes to grappling, you can make a high strength abjuration wizard (AoA on arcane spell list in the One DnD playtest) and then just grapple everything, forcing them to target you. It's not perfect, ranged attacks and creatures that cant be grappled still exist. But you also are still a wizard. You have other options for those situations. It worked well for the level 3 game I used it in. But of course, cant really rely on playtest material remaining unchanged in final release.

[@benhuntsman6753]

This inspired me to make a armor of agathis build. I did a bunch of research and did a full circle and ended up using a version of Treantmonk's Knight in shining armor! Lol

[@ericpowell8563]

I think the Earth Genasi is a great option for your Hexblade 1, Abjuration Wizard X because of the bonus action blade ward working with abjuration ward and armor of a

[@Giant2005]

The Earth Genasi ability is just a worse version of the Shadar-Kai ability. Although both are good.

[@ericpowell8563]

That is really solid! Well, translucent but solid.

[@neonate6211]

According to multiclassing rules, If you have both the Spellcasting class feature and the Pact Magic class feature from the warlock class, you can use the spell slots you gain from the Pact Magic feature to cast spells you know or have prepared from classes with the Spellcasting class feature, and you can use the spell slots you gain from the Spellcasting class feature to cast warlock spells you know. So, if you multiclass 1 level into warlock, you can cast AoA using a spell slot from another class.

[@VileProject]

As others have pointed out, Barbarian for Rage and Reckless Attack is pretty nice, and you don't need to concentrate on AoA so it'll kinda synergize. If you go heavy, you could do a Earth Genasi Psi Warrior and Heavy Armor Master to go along with it. I think the Sorcerer option is the way to go here, though. There's lots of good stuff in there and you benefit from pretty much all of it.

[@devin5201]

I got inspired to make a melee Warlock literally like three days ago and now this video comes up, must be divine intervention... or maybe fiendish intervention.

[@jamesalgeo9104]

Conquest Paladin is one of the best candidates for AoA. They get it for free, and have heavy armour, so HAM is an option, in addition to being natural melee characters. If you combine AoA with Find Steed, you can almost double it's effectiveness, as the spell will affect both you and a steed. You can also use the 7th lvl fear aura to lock down enemies near you, helping draw attacks (at disadvantage) towards you. In addition, higher level Conquest features also follow a thorns damage theme. The biggest hurdle is spell slots, because you are a half caster, but multiclassing with sorc/bard is a viable option.

[@ridiculous1328]

In a game I played in, we got our hands on a ring of spell storing. I was a conquest paladin/sorcerer, and started casting armor of agatys into the ring for the (bear totem) barbarian to wear. Ressitance to basically everything made it brutal.

[@sarjurastormblade953]

When I recently played a bladesinger, celestial warlock multiclass in a recent oneshot (1lvl of warlock and 10lvl of wizard), I was able to utilize the bladesinger's song of defense to spend a 4th level slot reduce the critical damage from a Glebrezu's pincer attack to a point where my mostly depleted Armor of Agathis was able to stay up. This was the last of its four attacks, the first and the third missed me but the second and fourth hit with the fourth being the pincer crit. (Incase your curious about the out of order attacks, our dm rolled a d4 to determine which order the Glebrezu attacked with its pincers and fists.)

[@theFunkyThumb]

Currently playing a zealot barb 3/ undead warlock x and this is exactly what im working towards. Even at lower levels its put in some serious work

[@dracoshield2344]

The Mounted Combatant feat would allow you to cast Armour of Agathys on both you and your mount, giving both of you temp HP... and warding bond would allow you to half all damage you or your mount takes, effectively doubling the amount of temp HP.

[@elliotbryant3459]

It is a good combo, just had one correction. The benefits of warding bond only apply to the other creature, not the caster.

[@benry007]

One edge case would be to use this with find greater steed. Cast this on yourself and it would duplicate to your griffon. You have now potentially doubled its effectiveness. You could also more easily justify casting bladeward since that would effect your mount as well and your mount could still do damage. I did a build a while back that was a bard focused on buffing his mount, needs to be high level to work though as you need bard levep 10 magical secrets, a hexblade dip helps to.

[@Argosodyssey]

Might be a bit ridiculous, but using Command on an enemy and saying "punch" or something similar is a great way to reduce damage while triggering an attack. I recently did this with a sorcerer build that would often twin "Command" in this way and it worked great with AoA. Obviously can be done on any build with the command spell.

[@Jimbob1337]

The Agathys Juggernaut Wizard is one of the best optimizations I can see. You start in Abjurer Wizard, and take two levels of Warlock (Celestial) for AoA and Armor of Shadows

[@purpleniumowlbear2952]

I’ve been trying to find a way to stack this spell with Find Steed for a long time. Maybe a small character who can take cover on the far side of the steed and keep it protected by Blade Ward, Armor of Agathys, and Interception fighting style. I know there is a build in there somewhere, but I still haven’t my gotten to the bottom of it. Probably a bard of some kind.

[@JosephLRutledge]

Any bard. If you're willing to burn magical secrets, you can get both AoA and find greater steed from the pally list far earlier than a pally can. It's really effective with lore bard for the damage reduction of cutting words or with swords bard for movement, damage, or avoiding attacks yourself

[@zephyr_gg]

The Earth Genasi is able to cast Blade Ward as a bonus action to help reduce damage as well.

[@jettblade]

Recently had a debate on this very topic. I was planning on trying to do a Fathomless Warlock/Path of Beast Barbarian going for more of a melee build. Path of Beast has the same d8 reaction(doesn't scale) the Fathomless has but it only requires being in Rage, so there is a little redundancy. Fathomless also gives you ignoring Cold Resistance so it does cover a lot of the issues brought up. I was going with a Fire Genasi but other races would be better Earth Genasi would be great before multiclassing or if you don't want to go Barbarian with the new changes in Multiverse, Goliath for the really high damage reduction, or if you want something really interesting a Gith and go Totem Barb for full damage resistance.

[@chrisframe2227]

A pretty good combo is fathomless warlock blade pact with the moderately armored feat. Single class. Nearly one stop shopping.

[@afrosamurai3847]

I'm going with a 3 way mc of 3-5 levels armorer artificer with thunder gauntlets for the incentive to attack me as well as the heavy armor, being a human or custom lineage for the ham feat, 1-3 levels of clockwork sorc for the spell still undecided on the metamagic access being needed, and rounding it out with abjuration wizard to taste for the ward.

[@Krimson51]

The new Hadozee also have acces to a feature that lets them reduce damage they take equal to 1d6+Prof a number of times a day. Very similar to the Goliath but on what I would consider a more interesting race.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Yes, this video was actually made before Spelljammer came out, the damage reduction is probably inferior to the goliath's though.

[@ChickenSoupMusic]

Mark of Warding Dwarf Abjuration Wizard. Upcast Agathys, stack with Fire Shield, run through a bunch of small enemies letting them hit you and then turn around and AOE nuke them with a fireball. Anyways I had fun with that combo. If your DM lets you build however take that Ravnica background that gives you Spirit Guardians as well 😂 This isn’t good vs a single enemy and is best against many small enemies. There is diminishing returns when enemies start hitting really hard. One thing to note is you don’t make concentration checks while your Arcane Ward is up.

[@cp1cupcake]

Something to note, enemy damage per hit doesn't scale that much once it hits around 30 damage. With no reductions, a seventh level AoA has a good chance of absorbing two hits.

[@escosenator]

It's hard to use in a build since it comes online quite late but a Stars druid gets resistance to BPS damage at 14th level, even if it's magical. This also increases the appeal of Blade Ward over the Dodge action and the earth genasi's ability to cast it as a bonus action creates some opportunities.

[@DrXtoph]

great review!

[@afasdfasafd314]

armor of agathys are great for builds of "dont touch me" for example, a fire genie warlock with fire shield, armor of agathys, hellish rebuke and shadow of moil, if he gets hit, the attacker receives 2d8+2d8+2d10+20 of damage in return

[@slamwalad]

Peace cleric. Protective bond. All the allies bonded can use their reaction to take the damage.. all the damage… from another bonded target that is hit with a melee attack. So AofA still deals damage and it is untouched. And Agathys user loves a Peace cleric ally.

[@elliotbryant3459]

Wow, that is a really efficient way to preserve the THP! A lesser version is also available to Redemption and Crown Oath Paladins.

[@flandarz1]

I think a solid option could be: Barbarian 1 Paladin 2 Clockwork Sorcerer 17 Damage Resistance to the most common types of melee damage, high slot smites, 9th level Armor of Agathys, and when you run out of Rages, you still got your spellcasting to fall-back on. You'll need to "settle" for Medium Armor, but that's actually good since you *want* to be hit. And if you start with Barbarian, you'll have Proficiency in Con Saves, making it easier to keep Haste, Fly, or whatever Concentration spell you're feeling at the moment up and running.

[@delilahfox3427]

I think you would either want more Barbarian or no Barbarian. Extra Attack really helps this character, so taking Paladin or Barbarian to 5 is really important. Because a tank that does nothing to encourage its enemies to hit them is just going to sit there and not accomplish anything. If you're going Sorcerer, just play a Sorcadin and ignore Rage, sorcadins want to cast spells. Rage really inhibits your usefulness in combat as a Sorcadin. Guardian Barbarian 5, Paladin 2, Sorcerer X would deal decent damage with their potent Smite slots and extra attack, while also protecting allies. Alternatively, Paladin 6, Guardian Barbarian 3, Sorcerer X is also good. But not getting extra attack and also not getting the Ancestral Guardian taunt feature makes you pretty useless tank in my opinion.

[@flandarz1]

@@delilahfox3427 I think you'll be plenty threatening, even without Extra Attack, because you got *Rage Smites* on every attack. Grab Polearm Master if you really need another one (or use the Haste Spell, but you can't do that while Raging), but you'll miss out on 9th level spells if you take more than 3 levels outside of Sorcerer, and that's a *hefty* loss when we're trying to max out Armor of Agathys. Sentinel can also help "lock" people into melee with you.

[@flandarz1]

We also want Barbarian for Damage Resistance, to stretch out that Armor of Agathys, and it's basically the only way to grab it at early levels. That is pretty much all we're grabbing Barbarian for, but it's a pretty big thing.

[@norfemignissius4936]

I'll allow myself to mention "Ray of Enfeeblement" as damage reduction. - *Effect* : halves the damage of STR based attacks of the target. - *Requires* : 2nd level spell slot, a successful ranged spell attack, target failing CON saves at the end of it's turns to maintain the spell. Since it's a rare effect that reduce the damage of the attack itself (not the damage you receive, so before any resistance & dmg reduction), it stacks with everything mentionned in the video. Bonus point for being appropriate against those heavy hitting giants, minus point for being a CON save :x. If you can delete your ennemy with that 2nd level spell slot of course you should do so rather than cast Ray of Enfeeblement.

[@delilahfox3427]

Fathomless Warlock tentacle also reduces damage on yourself, which is really good because it lasts a full combat, and is on the warlock, the class that actually has Armour of Agathys. I feel like a melee Goliath Fathomless Warlock is probably the best way to maximise the damage of Armour of Agathys. Stone's Endurance is better than Guardian Coil until Warlock level 10, where it becomes about even, assuming a 14-16 CON score. You could also dip 1 level of Sorcerer for Absorb Elements for a more potent damage reduction ability against high damage effects, like a dragon's breath weapon.

[@ericlambert1354]

I played a Halfling Fathomless warlock up to level 12. My favorite tactic was to already have Armor of Agathys on me. Then work my way near melee. I would then, on my turn cast Blade ward with Action, move tentacle into a group of enemies with bonus and hit one. I would then take off running and screaming for help, through the horde of minions. Most of the time, especially with lower int opponents, they would attack me with an attack of opportunity. I'd take half damage from Blade Ward, and if I got hit hard, use the tentacle to reduce the damage from one. Also, most of the time I would do this before anyone had hit me yet so they didn't know that it would hurt them. I was doing 25 damage per minion and usually a bigger opponent too. It was a fun tactic.

[@shawntoups2454]

I played a Mark of Warding Dwarf, Armorer Artificer 3, Abjuration Wizard X. Took Heavy Armor Master. It was insane. Considering Counterspell is a Abjuration spell, my ward was full most of the time. There was one encounter where I killed two swarms because when they would finally drop my ward, I would cast Shield and refresh it. The whole time they were taking 25 cold damage from a level 5 AoA.

[@robertparshall9807]

AGAIN I AM PUTTING IN A CORRECTION ON THE " ORDER OF SCRIBES WIZARD". THIS IS A DIRECT QUOTE FOR THE FEATURE. "• When you cast a wizard spell with a spell slot, you can temporarily replace its damage type with a type that appears in another spell in your spellbook, which magically alters the spell's formula for this casting only. The latter spell must be of the same level as the spell slot you expend." Notice what it says in the last line of the quote. The latter spell must be of the same LEVEL as the SPELL SLOT YOU EXPEND. This says if it's a first level spell and you cast it at 5th level, THEN THE DAMAGE TYPE MUST BE FROM ONE OF YOUR 5th LEVEL SPELLS, BECAUSE YOU USED A 5th LEVEL SPELL SLOT. THIS IS THE RULE OF THE FEATURE. It's not a first level spell so I change it to another type of damage of first level. THIS IS WRONG. I apologize for being so rude, but anyone corrupting the rules this way ticks me off. Especially when they put it off as Rules as Written. Treantmonk is wrong in this. PLEASE READ BEFORE MAKING VIDEOS.

[@davidkelvon7936]

Lore bardbarian comes online later than some options but is a blast to play. That being said, if you can’t use the Warding Dwarf, a one level Warlock dip is worth considering for an Abjurer or Bladesinger.

[@junsonofjack3740]

IIRC, and I better because I am playing one now, the clockwork soul has access to this spell. It’s a huge part of the play style. There’s a video by another friend of the channel whose name I can’t remember right now! The dude with the smooth voice! Lol. (If he weren’t a friend of this channel I wouldn’t mention it).

[@Falafelhumding]

I think it might be possible to build the new Earth Genasi from MMotM around armour of Agathys. Using a similar blueprint for your do-it-all god-mage and combining clockwork sorcerer with forge cleric. Running strength & charisma you could first round armour of agathys (traumsmuted metamagic if needed) and bonus action blade ward. Following that we pick up warcaster for booming blade reaction and cast flaming sphere and use our bonus action on subsiquent rounds to bash them with flaming sphere whilst maintaining our blade ward using our action. If they stay near us we bonk them with flaming sphere each round. If they run away we use a reaction to get a booming blade attack of opportunity. Either way we become a stick in the mud and when we reach level 7 and get Bastion of Law we really become an annoyance. If they run, well they'd better dash away unless.. owait misty step helloo again. Optimised? Nah, annoying to deal with? Probably. If we're fighting a ranged enemy, Vortex warp.

[@agilemind6241]

Clockwork Sorcerer-Forge Cleric with STR & CHA would simply be better off using something like Spirit Guardians or doing damage the old fashioned way, because your AC is going to be so nutty that you're DM would be foolish to target you with attacks.

[@elliotbryant3459]

Rules for bonus action casting prevent casting AoA and Bladeward on the same turn unfortunately

[@Falafelhumding]

You might be right. I guess casting blade ward as a bonus action overrides the casting time of one action because we are in practicality changing the casting time. On the inverse, casting AoA using quickened spell as a Bonus Action and Blade Ward as an action would hypothetically work. Weird huh?

[@Falafelhumding]

@@agilemind6241 True, but that's metagaming on the DM's part unless it's an intelligent enemy, or an enemy that knows the character! We could instead take sentinel instead of warcaster and force them to be best friends.

[@elliotbryant3459]

@@Falafelhumding ya, they kinda bent over backwards to limit the spell casting action economy. Considering the rarity of bonus action spells that have been put out, to me it seems like that rule was primarily written as a preemptive measure to reign in quickened spell.

[@MrThedowd]

Really like the earth Genasi Hexblade combo. You get a lot of value out of AoA without sacrificing anything. And then you can multiclass swords bard to get insane AC after the temp hp are spent

[@spencerbibby5797]

I played a mark of warding dwarf bearbarian 5 / abjuration wizard X and had quite a blast doing it. Probably the lowest intelligence on a wizard that I have ever played but that actually made it easier for me to stick with my plan - apart from Armour of Agathys his spells were all focused on utility. So I basically ended up with a a front line damage dealing barbarian who outside of combat was an amazing utility character as well.

[@JosephLRutledge]

Not sure why you didn't mention bard for magical secrets. It certainly isn't the best use of magical secrets but it is an option. Paladin can't go as high on spells but bard can get into higher level spells. Couple that with also taking paladin's find greater steed and you can AoA yourself and your steed at the same time while riding. So AoA applying to your mount for free is a great way to keep your mount healthy. Using the damage resistance options with either paladin or bard and there's a fair bit you can do too. Warding bond is one of my favorites. The abjurer's arcane ward can also be used on you by a high level ally abjurer so party optimization is a thing there too.

[@purpleniumowlbear2952]

Chris, what’s your ruling on generating higher than usual spell slots with Sorcery points? Assuming it’s allowed, seems to me a Clockwork Sorcerer with Metamagic Initiate is hands down the way to do this. From Lv 2 to Lv 5 you have spell slots of the same level as your character level.

[@crossc1988]

So, one way to reliably trigger AoA on...less than genius enemies (at least once, doubt they fall for it twice): Race: Mark of warding dwarf. Class: Levels 1 - 3 are in Fighter, go Battlemaster. After that, put every level into Wizard, School of Abjuration. At level 4 wizard, pick up the feat Heavy Armor Master for the -3 dmg to non-magical physical attacks. All other ASI's place as you see fit. Strength should be focused on first, though. One of you spells you choose is the Alarm spell, allowing you to ritually cast it, and fill your Abjuration Ward with minimal effort. If a fight is known to be approaching, cast AoA on yourself at the highest level possible. In the fight, while wearing your heavy armor, and wielding your shield and weapon, with your defense fighting style (so around, 21 ac in full plate with no magic items), you are going to get into melee range of an enemy and make your attacks (booming blade, since you do not have extra attack, try to save your higher level spell slots thought). You must make a melee weapon attack though! because you are going to be using the maneuver: "Disarming Attack". If successful, the target is now disarmed of their weapon. Now is the fun part. If your table allows some "free talking", as most do, make sure you shit talk your opponent "OH LOOK HOW WEAK, CANT EVEN HOLD A SWORD" as you turn your back and intentionally walk away...drawing an attack of opportunity...Now, unless they are a dual-wielder, they will likely not have another weapon in their hand, and they cannot recover or draw another weapon until their turn, so...the Attack of opportunity is an unarmed strike or improvised weapon in the cast of a shield strike, this does VERY LITTLE damage compared to weapon strikes, most of the time. ITS DM FIAT TIME!!! With an ac of 21, you are unlikely to be struck with an improvised weapon. However, if you convince your dm to "allow yourself to be hit", as in, you are not actively trying to dodge it, or bracing for impact, or even trying to allow yoru armor to absorb the damage...then your golden, the enemy will strike you and take upwards of 40 cold damage, followed by a hellish rebuke. The best part is, with your Abjuration Ward, your temp hp is untouched, but due to the WORDING of AoA , they will still take the cold damage. So your ward absorbs the reduced damage and the enemy takes cold and fire damage from aoa and hellish rebuke. They will likely not make that mistake again though. IF YOUR DM DOESNT ALLOW YOU TO "let yourself be hit" then you got to play the odds, go prone before you leave the enemys range, crawl out. This will give them advantage to hit you. Hell, you could even flavor it to be that your hands are full so you go prone to grab the ENEMIES dropped weapon with your mouth. (which would force the enemy to remain unarmed or find a new weapon)

[@rcschmidt668]

Great video for a seemingly simple spell. Did I miss where the Lore Bard also has access to it?

[@cristotheranger4263]

Before watching: my swords bard at level 11 has blade ward, armor of agathys, healing ward and find greater steed. It allowed me to defend the party air ship until the rest could arrive. Precast the spell at max level and waded through minions while blade warding and deliberately provoking AoOs. It was great

[@UncleBBQ]

Making this comment before the upcoming "ways to reduce the damage taken" part of the video, and I'm throwing out the idea of the Shadar Kai being able to teleport as a bonus action, and gain resistances to every damage type for the next round. This also gets your AOA character into melee range to benefit from it more.

[@nathanielberele9174]

Awesome video as usual. 1) Rune knight also gets a way to reduce damage. I dont remember you mentioning it 2) Do you think ray of enfeeblement deserves a mention for AoA?

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Hill Rune does provide resistance to bludgeoning/piercing/slashing - though it does require a 7 level investment.

[@nathanielberele9174]

@@TreantmonksTemple Thank you for replying to my comment! You mentioned uncanny dodge as a level 5 feature. I wasn't sure if that list you made was intended to be inclusive or just those with a reasonable level investment.

[@agilemind6241]

Consider a 7 level investment = reduced spell level progression by 4 levels. So you are trading resistance to bludge/pierc/slash for 20 thp and dmg meaning this is only a net improvement over going full caster if you already have at least 7 levels of full caster, and it is costing you 6 levels of being worse than a full caster in exchange for 6 levels where you will be better than a full caster if the enemies are ONLY doing melee attacks that deal b/s/p (which at level 14+ is almost certainly not going to be the case). Therefore in terms of optimization you are almost certainly better off going full-caster than taking 7 levels of Rune Knight.

[@agilemind6241]

Note that a Rogue 5 level dip has the same problem! In this case you're looking at 5 levels of full caster then 4 levels or being worse than a full caster, for 11 levels of being better than a full caster if and only if you are hit exactly once each round. But considering those 11 levels are for player levels 9-20 every enemy you'll be facing is going to have extra attack and many are going to have legendary actions. So it is extremely unlikely you will only be hit once in a round. For halving damage, only Barbarian is a viable option since it requires only a 1 level dip. Yes this only gets you 2 rages per day, but since the optimization here depends on you upcasting the spell, you'll probably only be doing that a couple times per day anyway.

[@scottcombs3882]

Might be fun on a bladesinger once they get their extra attack. Since they can cast a cantrip after making a weapon attack they could blade ward every turn. Since their concentration is free they could pair it with shadow blade or animate objects and they might not be missing out on that much damage.

[@chrismoore8177]

Conquest Paladin/ Divine Soul (Evil) w/ Armor of Agathys, Aid, Mirror Image is a decent set of buffs before charging into melee. Throw in a Quicken Blade Ward with a BA, or be a Earth Genasi.