The Revenant Blade Rogue: A Unique High Damage Rogue Build for D&D 5e

The Revenant Blade Rogue is a niche use of the Double Bladed Scimitar that takes it to the max with the Revenant Blade feat. This build is a multiclass between the Swashbuckler Rogue and the Battle Master Fighter that gives us extremely consistent sneak attack damage along with several bonuses putting us in a great position as a rogue.
📱SOCIALS📱
Patreon: / dnddaily
🎵MUSIC🎵
Song: sharp edges
Artist: half.cool
Available in KZbin Studio Audio Library
#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #5e #dms #dndcharacter #characterbuild #charactercreation #rogue #roguebuild #multiclass #battlemaster #swashbuckler #revenantblade #doublebladedscimitar

[@dougcarlson2862]

Way to use a niche feat, niche weapon, and a sub par fighting style to make something awesome. You are awesome, keep up the fun builds!

[@tucker3306]

I think the extra attack is definitely better than the extra sneak attack die. One more attack is an average of 12 damage each turn (2d4 + 4 + reroll 1s and 2s) but the extra 1d6 is only 4 damage each turn for your sneak attack, at max is 8 per turn if you sneak attack twice. And we're using our action to attack anyways so we might as well take it. And if we have more consistency on our action attack, we can then not have to use our bonus action to attack, opening up our optionality for cunning action

[@warmwaterpenguin]

I tend to agree even though the math isn't quite right. A d4 with reroll 1&2 is (2.5+2.5+3+4)/4 for a total of 3 average damage, so 2d4+4+rerolls = 10 damage per turn. The extra d6 is correct though at (3.5+3.5+3+4+5+6)/6=4.xx. The main argument for sneak attack damage here over extra attack is chance to hit and maybe those braced opportunity attacks. Like if you have a 75% chance to hit a monster your extra attack will fail a quarter of the time, while your sneak attack has a 94% success rate since it only needs EITHER your action OR bonus action attack to hit. If you care about consistency over squeezing out maximum average DPR, sneak attack makes sense. I still agree with you though, that the overall damage is better from the extra attack (and we get the versatility to split damage more if we want to).

[@philippcostrau7577]

Was going to say the same

[@jameswebb4545]

I think the 5 lvls in fighter don’t cause you to sacrifice much more in sneak attack if you’re already going 3 lvls in. The extra attack give you a guaranteed 7-13 points of damage if you land the attack on top of the attack that has sneak attack. You are sacrificing 1-6 sneak attack damage so you are easily doing more damage.

[@Razdasoldier]

Had this fight on the facebook Raw group. There is a tweet from Jeremy confirming that YES sneak attack is weapon damage so it does work.

[@YourBoyNobody530]

So, one of my favorite rogue build was a Eladrin 3rd echo knight fighter with the rest into assassin rogue. I also took the magic initiate feat for a familiar, and access to booming blade which gave me consistent advantage and a amazing damage boost. The game plan for this rogue was to remain hidden preferable behind full or 3/4ths cover then use the echo to get a surprise attack on an enemy every single turn making it a critical hit. Additionally, I had teleportation for days making it near impossible to pin me down with any degree of regularity. Add in the mobile, and elven accuracy feat then your basically got a crit spamming death machine with insane accuracy that cannot be readily pinned down or readily found. In case there is no cover to hide in I would make a hiding place using minor illusion also gotten from the magic initiate feat.

[@silentsnail3728]

Great weapon fighting style reroll should work with sneak attack flawor-wise because SA its not an additional sourse of damage (like smite) but modifier to an attack, it is the specific way you make your attack that make it more powerful (also it should work with extra damage from BM maneuvers for the same reason)

[@aquartertwo]

I would agree with rerolling the damage as long as it's the same damage type as your weapon. e.g. works with Sneak Attack, but not with Booming Blade, Green Flame Blade, or Smites

[@akmi1931]

Swashbuckler is probably the more “optimal” subclass for this build, but I went Phantom Rogue for my Doublebladed Scimitar rogue. I also took a few levels into Warlock for flavor Also went Shadar-Kai too

[@JackkReaction]

One of my players is a Phantom Rogue using a reskinned DBS as a scythe! I was happy to work with his concept, and allowed him to be a Skeletal Bugbear, so his first turns can be huge.

[@NmanStully]

Such a creative build. Idk how you come up with these! Maybe a video about your process of build building?

[@Gafizal1]

I hear you about level 5 fighter... I'd probably go for it, so that cunning action for example can be used as needed while still consistent with sneack attack.

[@mr.e822]

This build looks like so much fun to play. I’d absolutely allow it.

[@aquartertwo]

Another variant for this build is High Elf or Moon Elf Descendant Half-Elf with the Booming Blade cantrip for additional Thunder damage that scales by character level and punishes enemy movement while you kite them. The downside is you still want sources of advantage to avoid missing your Sneak Attack, because BB counts as casting a spell, so it can't be followed up with a Bonus Action.

[@SLlNKl]

BB doesn't count as taking an attack?

[@GreyGramarye]

Re: sneak attack and great weapon fighting, personally I would rule it works for the same reason you gave - GWF is already pretty bad, any reason to have a character take it instead of Archery is good. But I doubt my DM would, because the RAI guidance is pretty clear it’s not intended.

[@Comicsluvr]

I love your channel! Here's a challenger for you: An Armorer Artificer/Barbarian multiclass. I'm thinking a 4/16 split.

[@aqueousconch1103]

I was literally thinking of doing a revenant blade build recently

[@arcanerecovery2567]

I just went and checked, the rules for divine smite and they say... in addition you do radiant damage. This is both 'in addition' and a different type of damage than the weapon damage. But for sneak attack it says... extra damage... this implies it is 'extra damage' of the weapon you use and therefore should work. It will ultimately be up to each DM on how they rule but I can see most agreeing to allow it once it is calmly and reasonably explained. Some might not but as I noticed below someone mentioned Jeremy Crawford agreed. He is probably not your DM (he is for a few) but is one of the lead designers of the game.

[@Gafizal1]

I'm a huge fan of this weapon as a non-feat dependent way to weaponize bonus actions at low levels... an other benefit of this vs 2 weapon fighting is that your modifier is applied to he bonus action attack....

[@DnD_Daily]

Very true 👍

[@garyboyles5762]

A multiclass of DS Sorcerer (3), undeadlock (3), grave cleric (2), Necrowizard (2). This build uses pact of chain to apply distance to spells, twin casting inflict wounds for an explosive necromantic healer. This combo is rarely pulled out because he is a helper for his team, applying buffs and control for allies, but can annihilate specific targets when things go south.

[@angelovianelli5593]

Fighter is crearly a better choice, 1d6 damage each turn is way lesser than an additional attack that deal 2d4+dex+other, the only alternative is by non doing the attack action using booming blade, but this should remain an alternative of the 3 attack since doing that negate the bonus action attack of the build and lower the chance of dealing the sneak attack because we missed, deal those 3 attack if possible, booming blade if in danger, is even possibile freeing the bonus action to cast an hunter's mark by deeping in ranger. My best level progression is Rogue 4/fighter 6/rogue or ranger. Sorry if i made some mistakes writing but english is not my first language

[@davidcarroll2968]

Can I make a suggestion of a build, a rune knight fighter, Tavern brawler feat, unarmed fighting style, Goliath who uses a bag to grab enemies into the bag use them as the weapon

[@RK9th]

Action Surge also lets you hold an action to land sneak attack with your reaction if you ran out of maneuver die

[@elliotbryant3459]

I would have to opt for fighter 5 here. +1 attack [2d4+5 w/ GWF reroll and a 60% chance to hit is +6.6 damage -double when using action surge], which is greater damage than +1d6 (+3.5, or 4.2 if you can use GWF to reroll) to 1 attack. And the swashbuckler capstone essentially gives you an extra attack with advantage after a miss once per short rest, which is basically just worse compared to the opportunity cost.

[@mysticaleco7646]

I did something similar to this, but instead of lucky I took elven accuracy, and instead of fighter I went Paladin. Start off 5 levels in Oath of Vengeance, then 9 in rogue (I went assassin, though really any rogue would work) (then if the campaign lasts longer 3 more in Paladin [aura + extra channel divinity use + ASI] and the rest in rogue). If your table allows it dip 1-3 into HBW and pick up crit chance, SAD rather than MAD, and Eldrich invocations + Eldrich smite. You are now a crit god. 30% per attack along with being able divine smite, Eldrich smite, sneak attack, weapon damage all in one turn (and hunters mark). I only have done this to the poor DM as I am a forever DM. It also helps we have a battle master fighter who has commanders strike, meaning more sneak attack damage. (I let him roll the attack and damage and everything to make up for the attack and bonus action he had to forgo). It’s very much single target DPS though, not multi target. Love the build

[@laneledford7383]

Hey I could use some advice if you could. I'm working on a build that is something similar to Sebastian Michaelis from black butler but using ranger as a base class. A friend suggested this idea and I've had no luck so far

[@ethanj8728]

The revenant blade feat opens some unique character styles like a proper dex paladin or the great weapon rogue shown in this video.

[@DnD_Daily]

My thoughts exactly!

[@Ruby____-vb7qg]

Build suggestion tabaxi inquistive rougue and any monk subclass I liked the flavor of astral self because the tabaxi is small but it’s astral self is a giant tiger and it’s close connection to its astral self gives it insight on where to strike it’s opponents Leveling structure 9 levels inquisitive rogue 6 levels any monk Any feats normal rougue/monk stats

[@squidjob]

Also u can take Elven accuracy feat to roll 3D20

[@jeffreyweevers3919]

what makes text in gwf makes it work with sneak attack but not with smites

[@jacobyullman5005]

Mathmatically speaking, a Double-Bladed Scimitar with the Great Weapon Fighting style does more damage on average than a Greatsword or Maul with the same fighting style. At least if the Great Weapon Master feat isn't a factor in your build. Average damage for a Greatsword with Great Weapon Fighting, a +5 damage modifier, and Extra Attack, is 26 damage per turn if all attacks hit. A Double-Bladed Scimitar with those same allowances does an average of 30 damage per turn. I find that the Double-Bladed Scimitar with the Revenant Blade feat is particularly good on non-Hexblade, Pact of the Blade, Warlocks.

[@ibervang]

is there a specific reason why you didn't use the race, in the book the weapon and feat came in? One of them can get proficiency in the weapon

[@tomcoxon8713]

I would allow the great weapon master to affect the 2D4 weapon damage but not the D6 sneak attack damage. Even this way you are more likely to roll ones or 2's on D4 than you are on D6

[@Avigorus]

Random thought: what about predicating SA/GWM combo on Elven Accuracy? Since they're taking one elf-only feat already...

[@belrevan1986]

Am I blind? I can't seem to find the Double-bladed scimitar under the Trance list. Or must i pick scimitar on the list?

[@TheIlluvatar619]

is the second attack from this scimitar add you modifier? if this is the case, its like having a free dual weapon master feet isnt it?

[@DnD_Daily]

I believe it does, but good clarification 👍

[@Miguel-bk3yo]

Hey, although I left the discord, I know ya'll have a pretty good rules lawyer team going on. I have a question: I was fiddling with a build, warlock(won't matter for the question but either archfey or fathomless) multiclass diviner wizard. Expert divination recovers a lower level spell slot than the one used to cast a divination spell. "Regain one expended spell slot". Pact magic says pact slots are spell slots. So a) if I use a pact spell slot to cast said divination spell, can I regain a lower-level pact slot? I'm certain I could regain a wizard spell slot, but what if I don't have a 4th level slot and cast scrying, for example ? The warlock class says all my (pact) slots are of the same level, so maybe i can't recover them. I search SA for pact, diviner, expert, no dice...

[@supermanfanboy475]

I'm relatively new on the channel, but does someone ever tell you that you look like Magnus Carlsen? LuL btw I'm loving the builds

[@btsg7935]

Shadar Kai doesn’t have proficiency in DBS even if you trance Scimitar. Is that’ correct?

[@Goteiii]

I was planning to play a hexblade/swashbuckler multiclass. I imagined the character a sort of corny and demented person that wields a blade with a totally edgy name like "Dark Star" or smth, who loves 1v1 competition be it combat or other games and devoted every victory to the blade. But I couldn't find an edgy enough weapon to use with the character, so I thought of going with a scimitar or a rapier and a shield but this double scimitar is exactly what I was looking for. The idea is to play it like 2 scimitars glued together by a lunatic that thinks it's a mythical weapon at lvl1 hexblade, then go 4 levels into sb to get the scimitar feat and the sneak attack damage and play booming blade/green flame blade+hexblade's curse+hex (before the feat I'll play it like a normal scimitar). Then I'd go 5 more levels hexblade to take the thirsting blade and improved pact weapon invocations and gain access to the shadow blade spell. And by level 9, everyone will learn to fear the "DAAAARRRRRKKK SSSSTTAAAAAARRRRRRR." Unless my team-mates/DM decide to kill me irl before I get there to stop me from spouting corny/edgy lines all the time.

[@TheLegendaryLegacy]

“First” Anyway this it’s pretty dope I may use it later for a boss.

[@SLlNKl]

would this do more damage than your double edged vengeance build?

[@lucapalese475]

Maybe also fighter 6 for the ASI😅

[@vitordias3250]

I dont now If It is the most optimezed but i would take arcane trickster over the swashbuckler. An emo shadar-kai with his Raven familiar running across the Battlefield enchanting enemies looks pretty fun to me

[@firehitter9983]

Also booming blade for your action adds a lot of damage (10.5-24.5) along with raven using help action for guaranteed sneak attack

[@LifeLongMETALHead83]

Problem is this build is Eberron only. If your DM is excluding Eberron content, it makes it difficult.

[@williamwooley2693]

I would take elven accuracy over lucky

[@williamwooley2693]

I would allow GWM to work, its not that broken

[@calebchurch9826]

Day one can you do a gear 5 luffy build

[@JoBobHogan]

D&D Beyond does not let you add weapons to your shadar-kai trance proficiencies that are not in the PHB, so you could not do this build via that service, unfortunately :(

[@DnD_Daily]

That is unfortunate for sure 😔

[@jeffreyweevers3919]

@@DnD_Daily inst a double-bladed scimitar a martial weapon? cus you go into fighter so you gain proficienty in them

[@TASK360]

I don’t know how complex of a build you could do, but how about just a path of the beast barbarian with a major focus on claws and not much else

[@calebchurch9826]

Day 2 can you make gear 5 luffy joyboy

[@calebchurch9826]

Day 3 can you make gear 5 luffy joyboy please

[@calebchurch9826]

Day 5 can you make gear 5 luffy joyboy please

[@calebchurch9826]

Day 4 can you make luffy gear 5 joyboy please

[@LordNerfherder]

The build was kind of fine until you also stacked lucky on this dm buy-in build. Causing needless frowns on the table is always a big turnoff for me. Questionable feat, asking dm for the weapon in a shop and and also asking for things like the great weapon style working on sneak.. like it is so dm dependant and usually banned.

[@sordid_rose4847]

Hmmm... I think I am fully behind allowing the great weapon fighting style to interact here. WOTC not having their hand on the pulse of the game here isn't a good enough reason to not allow a solidly justifiable area of gameplay that is this unique. It is such a niche within a niche, and so specific in its limiting factors, its hard to deny this build a little wiggle room. I think that in the spirit of giving love an edition WOTC is ramping down production on, it would be a shame to not encourage the creative and unique ways it still might have to surprise and delight. What bends without breaking rules as written is more worthy of allowance at this point in 5e, intention be damned.

[@rebelhyperion1741]

Hey, fun video idea. In 5e, what would be the best Omniclass build if level capping was taken off? I know It doesn't matter since eventually you’ll just have LV 20 in every class, but: This is just for fun. Try and think of this from the POV of an OCD player who, by compulsion, HAS to maximize their player build as much as possible, slowly going through a VERY long campaign (Think multiple premade campaigns, settings and one shots strung together through an interconnected storyline that the DM artificially jacks up the difficulty on) which practically forces them to Omniclass but their still going to be crunching away harder than they need to at what order to take the classes in, which subclasses to take, which race, feats, and background to take, which spells to take, which feats, which skills to invest in, etc., etc.

[@LeakysTV]

That fighting style is so weak i allow my players to reroll any damage dice (booming blade, sneak, smite, ecc). My players love do big boom, i will just add more monster if the fight end too quickly