OUTRAGEOUS SAMURAI BUILDS | The Character Forge - D&D 5th Edition

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

CORRECTIONS: 1. In order for the Melee build to work, please switch your Wisdom and Strength scores at character creation. 2. Start level 1 Fighter for Heavy Armor Proficiencies, then Warlock 1-3, then back to Fighter.

[@shathori]

For ranged, use a heavy crossbow with the "Crossbow Expert" feat. This causes you to ignore loading and you effectively have a longbow with 1d10 damage. The damage per turn will bump up to 189

[@larryhocken1924]

shathori Crossbow expert specifies “a weapon you can hold in 1 hand”. Hand Crossbow is the only one-handed crossbow.

[@marcos2492]

That's just for attacking as bonus action

[@Nikolias007]

Why do you switch wisdom and strength?

[@TTDundee]

For the Melee build you forgot to include hexblade's curse, prof. Bonus to damage of all attacks and crit on 19-20

[@imhulki463]

The archer build can be even better now cause you can get the "piercer" feat, I think it's called, from tasha's cauldron of everything which is similar to a barbarians brutal critical.

[@NidoKnight]

I took at look at the samurai subclass once and thought it was rather lacking. I was a fool of a Took

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

We did too at first... It's okay, friend!

[@garyco766]

It's probably the most overlooked/underrated subclass. And this video shows why. The burst damage makes you the ultimate boss killer, even better than paladin.

[@KINFIN123]

“Longbow has the highest damage of ranged weapons” Heavy Crossbow: “Am I a joke to you?”

[@Blind8K]

This is a common misconception. The Longbow is in fact the highest damage ranged weapon due to the Heavy Crossbow having the “Loading” property, which prevents more than one attack with the weapon in the same attack action. So if your class has the Extra Attack feature, they may only shoot once with the heavy crossbow and then have to unarmed strike or some other form of attack for their Extra Attack, where as bows lack this limiting property. This allows them to attack with the bow for as many attacks as they have.

[@KINFIN123]

Matt Lowber Crossbow Expert exists

[@Blind8K]

KINFIN123 1d10 vs 1d8 is on average a 1 dmg increase. You’re saying to use a feat to make a 1 dmg increase. An increase which would be more than offset by taking +2 stat instead of the feat and using the bow anyways. Speaking mechanically, longbow is better than heavy xbow in all cases involving extra attack unless there is an artificer involved adding the repeating shot infusion.

[@KINFIN123]

Matt Lowber Dude. It’s a fighter. They have extra ASIs anyway. There’s no difference in where your stats are going to end up. Also, keep in mind that people decide their weapons of choice based on .5 average damage differences (that being the difference between a Greatsword and Greataxe) and considering that 1 damage increase over the lifetime of a campaign can easily add up to hundreds of points of damage difference, your argument isn’t nearly as valid as you’re making it out to be. Hell, in the terms of a single session, the one average increase can be 10 more damage. And that’s one session.

[@garyco766]

@@Blind8K You'll want crossbow expert anyway so you can fire without penalty when enemies are adjacent to you. That's the more important thing the feat gives you. But then, yes, you can use x-bow for some extra damage (don't worry about the bonus attack, you'll want the bonus action for fighting spirit anyway).

[@Psalms23119]

I don't know if this is too much of an issue but Hex and Eldritch blast have somatic requirements which require a free hand to cast. The warcaster feat works around this by allowing you to cast when weilding a two handed weapon. Also Improved Pact Weapon invocation lets you use your weapon as a spell focus, bypassing most component issues.

[@LupineShadowOmega]

Actually they've come out and said that two handed weapons don't take two hands to hold, just two hands to attack with. Warcaster tends to be if you want to go sword and board or two weapon fighting. www.sageadvice.eu/2017/03/02/2-weapon-casting/

[@kvothe2144]

Melee option starts at 9:10

[@DarkCipher-1]

Thank you so much my guy

[@Punkhunter25]

For the Melee build, it only really grants you 1 extra attack, causing 1 to lose advantage and at high level. I think it's much more beneficial to take 3 levels of fighter (samurai) and the rest in Hexblade. The hexblade abilities at higher level are much more useful, and the warlock spells you get can make you incredibly versatile. You can even get a level 9 spell so you can cast Foresight for advantage all the time!

[@markthemighty3]

But if you're going for a melee build and you can only attack with your sword once. Idk if it becomes a melee build anymore

[@KaiCreed]

Would love to see an updated breakdown of the melee samurai hexblade guide

[@criticalsuccess9926]

This is awesome! I’d love to see an episode about one of the new artificer subclasses.

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

Thanks! We'll see what we can do! Since the Artificer isn't official yet, anything we say is subject to change.

[@Dhiro]

@@DungeonsDeepRPGs The Artificer is official now ! I would love to see your take on the new class !

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

@@Dhiro I have been so preoccupied with the podcast that I haven't though about character forge for a bit. I would like to put out a new video soon. Artificer is definitely on the list of builds!

[@flareinc7413]

Woow this is freaking awesome. You guys took two archetypes most people feel are underwhelming and combined them into an awesome powerful characterbuild. :P

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

Thanks for the high praise!

[@marcos2492]

Underwhelming? Hexblade is hands down *the best* Warlock subclass. Why would people think otherwise?

[@sadsackkvisling9694]

Went for a lvl6 hexblade warlocke, lvl6 oath of vengeance paladin, that I would play as a finesse fighting charisma-based limited-magic combat support pc. A "Doomsworn Samurai" that at least was easier to build up at one class or other than if I'd picked Eldritch Knight. I chose Path of the Blade: Bonded weapon was a finely serrated silver plenilune twohanded light axe (throwable, versitile, light, bleeding dmg, can't be disarmed, recallable, weightless), main backup weapon was a blackened iron avengers deathfrostbanewave longsword (reach 8.6ft, versitile, at lvl12 can cast cold necrotic psi or eldritch wave as one free and also one bonus opportunity attack with any added dmg type from cold, necro, poison, acid, bleeding dmg). That was the only major advantage, the edgy weapon combo. Two short swords became worthwhile replacements to a spiked screaming skull targ shield, after spending downtime meditating in two solo martial errantry and ascetic survival exercise missions, the short light swords became an option for duelling or perhaps defense of a hallway or courtyard, boosted with a medium-expensive series of runic inscriptions to give, when activated by the paladin's CHA roll after taking melee atk dmg after combat has begun: 'Sworn Vigil Defender's Gauntletsword' temp +1AC/toHit/Dex/Str/MaxHP/Con/HP/CritHitDmg/Mov/Thrown Ranged Dmg from any attacks made with the other hand, which remains free for spellcasting armed or not. 'Bladesnagger': Advantage in defensive throws and saving throws against any opportunity or side/back/adjacent atks attempts to weapon grapple or parry, multiatks or counteratks. Biggest concern is not having a bunch of bonus action options but no down n' dirty simple combat utility. Armor prof lvl capped at medium lamellar 36 lbs., Shadow Splintiron Blightscale: AC6, +1DEX/CON/HP, weightless, +1toHit, +2toHit +2DEX +2AC Mounted or casting any spell without a shield. It got hardest in player development when the party couldn't rely on my guy to be a more typical healing/smiting paladin. A good roll could crush, but I found it necessary to rely on potions and had a few hard battles where the limited spells forced me to play this character very conservatively and even kinda selfishly to avoid calling on the patron's favor to restore spell slots. Race and Patron was a Celestial Feygiant Patron and the Variant Human respectively. STR 13 DEX13 CON8 WIS8 INT8 CHA14

[@maticeballos2857]

You forgot the hex blade course that add your proficiency to de damage so it's 42 more damage

[@ultimateninjaboi]

An interesting way to take the Ranged option could be by snagging Crossbow Expert, and opting for a heavy crossbow. Youll lose a bit of range, and have to take an extra feat, but that d10 over the d8 could definitely be a benefit. Plus, with a more hefty ability to crit with Elven Accuracy and Fighting Spirit, that extra dice power really helps out. On top of that, youll have the ability to fire from prone with no penalty, and reduce the penalty for underwater combat (situational as they may be). Plus, theres definitely precedent if you like accuracy, as Japan definitley embraced firearms HARD when they finally took them on. And a heavy crossbow is a common fantasy stand in for firearms.

[@jinxtheunluckypony]

I just stumbled upon this, great work! I didn’t think the Samurai subclass had much potential but you proved me wrong. I thought the Aasimar Zealot getting 102.1 damage round 2 was pretty good but this blows that out of the water.

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

Samurai has tons of potential! Some comments below have suggested ways to make it even more powerful.

[@SoundVillageChunin17]

Holy shit, this is boderline op!! And I love it! So friggin cool. "If you want to taste the ground then go ahead and fight me." -Ruroni Kenshin

[@sjpetrson3260]

Been thinking about making a Jetstream Sam inspired Samurai who likes hanging out with the party but can hold up on his own if needed

[@Guest-xz9wg]

You could do even more ridiculous amounts of damage by casting branding smite instead of hex. Branding smite lasts for a minute and does and extra 2d6 radiant damage per weapon attack. Compared to hex’s extra 1d6 necrotic damage, this is a substantial difference.

[@garyco766]

Branding smite is only good for 1 attack. The concentration means you don't lose the spell until you successfully hit: "The next time you hit a creature with a weapon attack before the spell ends". But you can up the damage by adding hexblade's curse letting you add proficiency to damage against 1 target.

[@ItzumiMario]

It's not bad, but for the Warlock + Fighter combo, you get two eldritch invocations of your choice. Take agonising blast, and Devil's sight (which would come in handy if you ever encounter magical darkness). First round's Hexblade's curse would allow you to crit on 19s and 20s, adding your proficiency modifier to damage as well. Elven accuracy, along with crits on 19s and 20s will nett you an average 2/20 x 3 = 30% chance to crit ON EVERY ATTACK. That would significantly increase damage output. Also, Hexblade's curse is an ability that doesnt require concentration :)

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

Thanks for the addition! We try not to put EVERY option in the video because we want the build to be customizable to an extent.

[@lloyddodgen]

Swashbuckler Samurai is awesome

[@squirrelking5203]

Combining these types of concepts with some levels in rogue can also be rewarding since you get sneak attack and cunning action. Not sure how it compares damage wise but it does help you get advantage more consistently. Assassin is an obvious choice for subclass in this build, but it's hard to go wrong here.

[@PvPNecrash]

I use elven acc on my Dex attacking Monk and its so frustrating for the GM to see the insane amount of crits... i get Adv from doing Aoe Fear with long death the 1v20 is real!!!!

[@Mouhaamin]

Thought creature that have fear effect on them don't take advantage attacks only have disadvantaged rolls

[@billbenedict4664]

I like the builds, good stuff. However, the average value of a d8 is 4.5, not 5. After rolling 18 dice per burst round, that adds up to 9 points overage in your calculations. It's not hugely significant, but if you're doing math to compare against other builds, it matters.

[@peacepeace2205]

You can't get a 4.5 on a d8 so you round up to the nearest whole number which is 5

[@michaelbrandow9619]

I think you miss calculated some damage for the melee build. To start, Eldritch Blast is 4 beams at level 17+ and can be enhanced by the Agonizing Blast invocation, adding your +5 Charisma bonus to each beam of Eldritch Blast. That means Round 1 = (4 x (1d10+5)) + (4 x 1d6), using your averages: 44 + 16 = 60. I am also not understanding how you have 8 attacks in your 2nd and 3rd rounds. Unless I am missing something, you get 3 attacks normally, and can drop advantage on one of them to gain one more attack. Action surge will net you only 3 attacks, since you can only use Rapid Strike once per turn. That means Round 2 = (4 x (2d6+5+10)) + (4 x 1d6) for your first three attacks and your Rapid Strike attack, with another 3 attacks (3 x (2d6+5+10)) + (3 x 1d6) from Action Surge. Using your averages: 92 + 16 + 69 + 12 = 189 60 + 189 = 249 over 2 rounds / 124.5 per round 291 + 189 = 438 over 3 rounds / 146 per round Hexblade's Curse can be used as a bonus action on the second round, which adds damage to each attack made against the target equal to your proficiency bonus, which would be +6 at level 20. It also allows you to score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20. Obviously you would lose an attack during your 2nd round if you did this, unless you had advantage from another source. You would also miss out on having advantage on every attack that round, but your 3rd round you would have triple advantage, 42 bonus damage from Hexblade's Curse, and you would be scoring a critical hit on a 19-20. Another option would be to use Hexblade's Curse round 1, and not bother with Hex. An attack that does not score a critical hit would do more damage with Hexblade's Curse, doing +6 per hit (guaranteed) vs +4 per hit (average) and you would score critical hits more often. However your critical hits would have more potential damage with Hex at 2d6, so it is kind of dealer's choice. I feel like using Hexblade's Curse works better with the critical hit focus, but I know some people would want to throw more dice, even if the damage is only +6 max per critical hit and has the potential to be lower. If I am mistaken about the 8th attack, please let me know where it is coming from.

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

It may be that we miscalculated, as this build was concieved in the very early hours of the morning and as a one-sentence suggestion. Not a whole ton of planning went into this video. Future builds are not quite so hastily written. Regardless, there are plenty of options with this build, and your Curse Suggestion would potentially make up for lost damage from 1 Rapid Strike attack.

[@michaelbrandow9619]

@@DungeonsDeepRPGs No worries. Just a minor change to the damage numbers. I figured I would post so others might be able to reference it.

[@Halfgnomen]

This was great but the lack of DEX for the medium armor or heavy armor makes me nervous.

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

Thanks for watching! I thought the same, however, that's why this build is actually fairly flexible when it comes to where you place your ASI's and such. So, instead of increasing Wisdom for the face abilities, you can increase your Dex. Alternatively, you can change around the initial ability scores as long as you leave Charisma alone. You could put 13 to your Strength and wear plate armor if you wanted. There are a number of ways to decrease your chance to be hit with this build.

[@Anton_Jermakoŭ]

@@DungeonsDeepRPGs can't you use kensei to make true archer/swordsman hybrid that uses dex for both melee and ranged?

[@NobodyDungeons]

You know instead of going into warlock for the charisma ability you could just use a finesse weapon like a rapier although it wouldn't hit nearly as hard it would still work well if you duel wielded

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

Agreed. But the goal of the build was to achieve maximum damage and attack per round potential.

[@garyco766]

The point is to use great weapon master for the ridiculous damage. No great weapons have finesse.

[@DICEBOY22]

i could see Palidan-Samurai multi being an omni-range demi-god of combat.

[@Error-5478]

I'm a discord group focused on 5E pvp, a guy with a magic sword can do roughly 3k damage a turn and regain 1500k hp. Its freaking bonkers.

[@1AmGroot]

Excuse me? 3,000 damage per round? Regain 1,500,000 HP? That seems impossible. Can you please explain?

[@Error-5478]

@@1AmGroot the server is heavily homebrew oriented. The guys said gets a critical hit on a 18-20 and the dice are tripled instead of doubled. When he hits he regains hp equal to half the amount of damage done And his sword does something like 4d8+6d6 damage. I've watched him roll damage for it when all of his attacks crit. He can do some insane shit.

[@MoonClawx]

What if you want to combine range and melee? Like a samurai who uses a katana and a longbow like a more traditional Samurai.

[@KenshinXO]

Wont work very well, too much conflict with feats and stats, but just take bits and pieces from each build that you want

[@cyruslupercal9493]

A one handed katana could be like rapier aka a finess weapon. Though samurai used polearms in the first place.

[@CyclopsWasRight]

Also Artificer Battle Smith 3 for Int focused build.

[@ZipperonDisney]

Good vid man! I'm looking forward to another

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

Hey thanks! You can check out the Guardian Druid video in the meantime!

[@cyruslupercal9493]

In mele can't you use a rapier (one handed katana)? It's a finess weapon. Also a less optimised and more historical build would need a polearm, a one handed sword as a side arm and the mounted combatant feat too.

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

Yes, both of these things are true. However, we were going for maximum optimization with this build. Unfortunately many historical accuracies were sacrificed in the making of this video.

[@cyruslupercal9493]

Ofc, D&D is not historycal to begin with, so no problem. Would like to play a historycal samurai but I'll still use your optimisation if my DM kills another character of my ;) Edit: This also made me realise how good the samurai is.

[@mythrilsentinel1]

A Katana counts as a Longsword, not a rapier, as a true katana in D&D terms would be considered a Versatile weapon (i.e. usable one or two handed). The Wakazashi is a short sword (or Arming sword, if you prefer), and a Tanto is a Dagger.

[@Skolrein]

Also there is 2 forms of great swords or 2 handed long katanas used by true samurai mainly on horse back called a ōdachi and nodachi so it is historically proper for you to use a greatsword and flavor it as one of the two noted above.

[@RogueHippie13]

Small correction on the melee build’s Turn one, but Eldritch Blast gets 4 beams once you hit Level 17. Or are you assuming one of those misses since you can’t give yourself advantage for those?

[@bladethefourth]

When calculating average damage for an attack (In this video a d8) the average is 4.5 not 5 per damage die.

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

Correct. The damage change is very little, as a result, however. So ballpark figures are fine here. Besides, you are likely to get even better damage than what is discussed here.

[@harleycriswell8504]

Also there is no 4.5 on a dice it ends up rolling 5 more than 4 so the math for that was right

[@icarusunited]

@@harleycriswell8504 The average of a d8 is 4.5 because out of 100 1d8 rolls you will get a numbers 4, and 5 more often than not. 4.5 +- 0.5 is the actual average. Most people say 4.5 because its easier.

[@1AmGroot]

@@harleycriswell8504 huh? What do you mean it rolls 5 more than 4? The average roll on a d8 is, in fact, 4.5

[@OlaMyki]

You say that the melee option has higher damage, but if you take "magic initiate warlock" and choose eldritch blast and hex, u can use the same tactic on the archer build and get the same amount of damage.

[@rasmusmller2716]

Question regarding the feat "Crossbow Expert" + Hand Crossbow for a level 20 figther. Please check my calculations to see if they are correct. SEQUENCE: Bonus action: Fighting Spirit (adv. on all weapon attacks until end of turn) Activate "Rapid Strike" Action: 3 x Attacks with Advantage + 1 normal Attack + 1 normal Attack (rapid strike) //ACTION SURGE// Action: 4 x Attacks with Advantage Bonus action: 1 x Attack with Advantage (feat) Hand Crossbow avr. dmg: 10 x 3,5 = 35 Dexterity modifier: 10 x 5 = 50 Average weapon damage = 85 Sharpshooter: 10 x 10 = 100 Total average damage = 185 (and 8/10 Attacks has advantage) Conclusion: - Average damage is only 5 (choose your weapon based on your backstory not damage output) - Using a hand crossbow limits the range to 120 ft. but you don't get disadvantage on attacks within melee range. - Using a hand crossbow gives the opportunity for an extra attack using a bonus action.

[@briantjokroadiguno4566]

u alrd used the bonus action on fighting spirit, action surge does not refresh bonus action. Thus crossbow expert does nothing...

[@rasmusmller2716]

@@briantjokroadiguno4566 PHB states otherwise on page 72: "On your turn, you can take one additional action on top of your regular action and a possible bonus action."

[@briantjokroadiguno4566]

@@rasmusmller2716 "additional action" on top of your regular action (which was taken for attack) and a possible bonus action (which was also taken for fighting spirit). It does not grant additional bonus action.

[@rasmusmller2716]

@@briantjokroadiguno4566 thank you for clarifying

[@2nd-breakfastclub]

@@rasmusmller2716 ur welcome

[@Treblaine]

The math is a bit iffy, even without Sharpshooter advantage will only let you hit about 75% of the time. Advantage basically cancels out the penalty of Sharpshooter. And the adverage of d8 is 4.5 damage. I know you can't deal half a point of damage, but this how math works, if 1 truck passes ever 2 minutes that's 0.5 trucks per minute, estimate the number of trucks by multiplying by number of minutes.

[@mythrilsentinel1]

Sorry, I was looking at the wrong line. I was actually trying to build it, and I confused myself

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

No problem! This build seems too good to be true to most people. I have no issues with people questioning it.

[@crossb0wkid44_6]

This is an amazing built, really wondering why you don’t have more subs?😂

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

Eh, probably because I don't release videos regularly as I'm more focused on my Podcast.

[@buffwarriors]

Does "strength before death" allow using of 2nd action surge? If so, a samurai with different race (proly variant human, half-or or hill dwarf) and gwm can deal more damage in a single round and possibly create a heroic moment. I mean is it possible to make 18 attacks with action surge and strength before death in a single round?

[@OriginalRagingSquirrel]

Is there a written breakdown levelling guide for this build?

[@eafigarella]

I may be wrong, but i believe you misscalculated the melee DMG output. You considered 8 attacks, but there should be 7 attacks 1 attack + 2 extra attacks + 1 rapid strike Action surge gives you 1 attack + 2 extra attacks, total of 7. Also we could consider using Hexblade curse (for adding prof bonus to dmg instead of the 1D6 from hex curse) and also gives 19-20 crit range, increasing your possibilities for more DMG. It would be GreatSword (8x7) = 56 Ability bonus STR (5x7) = 35 Hexbade Curse (6x7) = 42 GreatWeapon Feat (10x7) = 70 Meaning 203 Dmg per round with action surge, vs 189 if we take the 8th attack in your calc. Could be higher if you stack hex curse with it waiting 1 round or at the same rithm but shoving the target with a maneuver if you take the feat to do so. Still juicy dmg.

[@garyco766]

You can use rapid strike on each attack action (action surge gives you another action), so 8 attacks is correct. Also, you'd get advantage on 6 of those (2 at advantage, give up advantage on 3rd, then rapid strike at advantage, then repeat).

[@eafigarella]

​@garyco766 It can be confusing but what you said as RAW is wrong. You can forgo one advantage on one of the attack with rapid strike, it allow you to do so only once per turn. Action Surge gives you another action on your turn, not another turn so you can't bypass that once per turn rapid strike limitation with action surge... so there can be a total of 7 attacks. Only if action surge is treated as another turn can that happen to do rapid strike again in your second array of attacks.

[@garyco766]

@@eafigarella Shoot, you are correct, I missed the "no more than once per turn" part at the end of the description, my bad. I assumed people thought once/turn because of action economy, not realizing that the extra attack is part of the attack action (which you can obviously do twice with action surge).

[@eafigarella]

@garyco766 yeah. I mean , the build is still good, but the math is a bit less than what's shown. I thought I missed something to be able to make 8 attacks, but apparently, it's not possible still.

[@silentcomedyW5]

The builds are great but when using standard array you need a 13 dex or str to multiclass with fighter

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

Check pinned comments. We ran across that issue many moons ago.

[@silentcomedyW5]

@@DungeonsDeepRPGs lol yes then my apologies, just didnt see Any comments stating it.

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

No problem! Glad you enjoy!

[@zedzknight]

I think you have some issues with your math in the end. I'm also going to include some upgrades. First - You only get 5 Attacks per turn with Rapid Strikes, your giving 8 Attacks, Rapid Strikes can only be used once per turn, so Forgo ADV on attack 1, TRIADV Extra 1, TRIADV Rapid, TRIADV Surge Attack, TRIADV Surge Extra. Second - Hex is not as good as the Hexblade Curse. Your Prof Mod is 6 by Level 20. Meaning each hit will get an extra 2 Damage. In addition you are Criting on 19s. Third - although small and probably better Eldritch Invocations to choose for this build, you could add Agnonzing Blast. Fixing DPR for yours would look something like this {Inside these brackets denote the dice} Round 1 is still correct (6{1d10}*3)EB + (4{1d6}*3)HEX=30 Round 2 is corrected to (8{2d6)*5)GS=40 (5{CHRMOD}*5)=25 (4{1d6}*5)=20 (10*5)GWM=50 For a Total of 135 after Round 3 you probably only did 300 DMG Improving it you just count all the Hex damage as Hex Blade Curse which is equal to your Prof. At level 9 it becomes better as you are always guaranteed a 4 DMG. Round 1 is still correct (11{1d10+5}*3)AgonizingEB=33 + (6*3)HBC=18 For a Total of 51 Damage or 6 more. Round 2 is corrected to (8{2d6)*5)GS=40 (5{CHRMOD}*5)=25 (6(HBC*5)=30 (10*5)GWM=50 For a Total of 145 Damage or 10 more Round 3 you average 341 DMG or 41 more Damage.

[@EKhan89]

I saw the errors too and wasn't sure if it was just me but your math is off too unless I'm mistaken. First Round: You get 4 beams of E.B. by the time your character is at 20th level so actually 6*4=24 (E.B.) then add 4*4=16 (Hex) giving you 40 dmg. Second Round: You actually get 7 attacks if you action surge. Each attack action gives us 3 attacks by default. Use of Fighting Spirit combined with Rapid Strike will give us 4 attacks on the first attack action (At 17th level fighter we attack 3 times in one attack action and rapid strike will give us an extra attack once per turn as you said). If we surge we get another attack action which gives us 3 more attacks for a total of 7 attacks. So then 8*7=56 if we use a GS. Add in our +5 Cha per attack for 5*7=35 then 4*7=28 for Hex then 10*7=70 for GWM, totaling 189 dmg. Round 3: We do it all again for another 189 dmg. Total: 418 dmg in 3 rounds. Optimization options: We could take Agonizing Blast and Improved Pact Weapon for our invocations while also casting Hex Blade Curse instead of Hex. A.B. will boost our damage output by 20 in the first round 4*5=20. I.P.W. will give us an extra 7 damage per round for rounds 2 and 3, increasing our dmg by 14 overall. Givingus 456 overall. H.B.C. would replace all those instances of Hex's avg of 4's with automatic 6's meaning we could squeeze out another 36 damage. If all our attacks connect in this 3 round period then we hit 18 times (4 from E.B. and 7 from each weapon round) and so we can simply take 2*18=36 and add that to our total giving us 492. Though the flaw with H.B.C. is that once the target goes down you can't transfer the curse to a new target. Hex shares a similar problem in that it requires a bonus action to shift it from one opponent to another so neither of these damage buffs will remain up 100% of the time unless your opponent has several hundred HP. It can be argued that the boosts in damage output by A.B. and I.P.W. are ultimately uneeded due to the already absurdly high damage here and that those invocation slots may be better used for more utility purposes but that's a whole different argument.

[@zedzknight]

@@EKhan89 where are we getting 3 attacks from in 1 action? Level 20 Fighters are getting the 3 attacks becuase that's the level 20 ability. You get your Attack Action and an Extra Attack with 17 fighter/3 warlock. You are only getting the Attack Action + Extra + Action Surge Attack + Action Surge Extra + Rapid Strike. I don't see how you're getting that 3rd and 6th attack, you would have to point me to a rule that says otherwise. You are right 1st round I only had 3 Eldritch blasts instead of 4. So it actually looks more like 11*4 + 4*6 for 62 AVG Damage. That's using Agonizing Blast and Hex Blade Curse. As for Round 2, I think my math is all correct as you do not get 3 attacks. I also leave I.P.W out because at level 20 you are going to have a pretty Badass sword that could have +3 or other effects and I.P.W would be useless. Thank you for pointing it out!

[@EKhan89]

@@zedzknight In 5e in the fighter class features of the PHB it specifically says "Beginning at 11th level, you can attack three times, instead of twice, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.The number of attacks increases to four when you reach 20th level in this class." Witht his build which you are achieving level 17 fighter as your maximum you are getting 3 attacks per attack action. Meaning you can action surge for 6 and if you use rapid strike you can up that to 7 attacks in a single around if you action surge. I do agree that I.P.W. might be useless for the +1 bonus as you'd likely have a better weapon by then but also consider that IPW allows you to use your weapon as a spell casting focus. Otherwise you'd need to bother with using another focus and depending on how strict your DM is with that (the ones I play with tend to be strict) I wanted that ability to simply just use my sword for the focus.

[@zedzknight]

@@EKhan89 You are right, i have never had a Fighter in my games so i just thought it was just like every other class with Extra and at 20 they get a 3rd strike. So Really are total DMG looks a bit more like Round 1 Bonus Hexblade Curse(6dmg) + Eldritch blast(6DMG) + Mod (5CHR) x 4 Hits = 68 avg dmg Round 2 is Attacks (8dmg) + Mod (5CHR) + Hexblade curse (6dmg) + GWM (10dmg) x 7 hits = 203 avg dmg Round 3 is the same as last. so 474 Avg dmg with out IPW. with a +3 Weapon, is 516

[@EKhan89]

@@zedzknight Yup.

[@ascendantking34]

Quick Question, how do you get 8 attacks with action surge if Rapid Strike can be used only once per turn?

[@briantjokroadiguno4566]

for lv20 fighter normal atk + rapid strike + 3 extra attack + action surge atk + 3 extra atk = 9 atk for lv17 fighter normal atk + rapid strike + 2 extra atk + action surge atk + 2 extra atk = 7 atk 8 is in between, should not be possible

[@garyco766]

@@briantjokroadiguno4566 It would actually be 10 attacks at level 20: rapid strike doesn't take a bonus action, it's part of the attack action, which you can do twice a turn with action surge. So attack 5 times (4 at advantage), then surge and attack 5 more times (4 at advantage). For the melee build it's 8 times (3+1, 3+1).

[@mauri7963]

Why can you choose Eladrin as a subrace if it only gives you +1 in cha? Where you can get the other +1 needed?

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

You can get it from Elven Accuracy.

[@mauri7963]

​ DungeonsDeepRPGs Still dont see it You have 15 base + 1 for Eladrin + 1 for Elven Accuracy + 2 for stat boost in lvl 11 = 19 total cha

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

At level 11, you are 9th Fighter. That still leaves 3 possible ability score improvements. You can do whatever you want with them, so one of them can be used boosting Charisma and another score. With Eladrin, your max damage potential wouldn't come online until a few levels later, but you make up for that by having Fey Step.

[@Reed81195]

Hey everyone, what level would you say the melee build comes online? O mean if you go fighter1 and then 3 warlock, then back to fighter, you aren't even getting your 2nd attack till lvl 8. Would this build still be viable for a campaign ending near lvl 15?

[@mythrilsentinel1]

How do you get 3 eldritch blasts at 20th level? I'm trying to wrap my head around this. Is the spell character level dependant, and not caster level? I will do some more reading.

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

Cantrips level with your character, not your class While it never explicitly states this anywhere in basic or the PHB, it only states the level at which the cantrip increases in power. One of the design goals of 5e and one of the things it imported from 4e was that there should never be a time where a magic user is forced to resort to making a weapon attack that they are ill-suited for. Cantrips act like 4e's At-Will spells and as such level with each "tier" in 5e to maintain their usefulness. Tying this to character level means that players who multiclass or for example start off with a free cantrip (such as High Elves) are still able to make use of those cantrips throughout the whole of the game. A clarification was added to the Sage Advice Compendium. Cantrips If a character has levels in more than one class, do the character’s cantrips scale with character level or with the level in a spellcasting class? Cantrips scale with character level. For example, a barbarian 2 / cleric 3 casts sacred flame as a 5th-level character. (Sage Advice Compendium V_2.0; page 11)

[@jasonmed2119]

Nice build

[@mythrilsentinel1]

What if I took Agonizing Blast as my other invocation? Add Charisma Bonus to the damage (+5) for each blast. Another 15 damage in round one. Bumping the average to 45 dmg. For 3 rounds of combat that would bump your average to 484 dmg. And that would be without using a magical great sword at level 20. Over Kill. My Sam's name will be Max Overkill. ;oP

[@MFinGonzo]

I had to relisten to why we used hexblade like three times

[@LynessRogers]

Wait. How.do you get "tri-advantage"? I was always told it's max 2 dice no matter what

[@LynessRogers]

Nevermind. I got my answer towards the middle.

[@6271996purple6]

Make more of these!!

[@harleycriswell8504]

There is one thing you got wrong fighting spirit is a bonus action already you can't use it and rapid strike in the same turn.

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

Sorry, but that's incorrect. Read carefully: Rapid Strike Starting at 15th level, you learn to trade accuracy for swift strikes. If you take the Attack action on your turn and have advantage on an attack roll against against one of the targets, you can forgo the advantage for that roll to make an additional weapon attack against that target, **as part of the same action**. You can do so no more than once per turn

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

It counts as part of the same attack action. It is not a separate bonus action.

[@harleycriswell8504]

Ah I see the copy I was looking at was incorrect. I apologize.

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

No apologies needed! :)

[@richardmillan2226]

@@DungeonsDeepRPGs at 6:55 is where you say it is an extra attack as a bonus action for using Rapid Strike. Whilst you are correct that it is actually part of the same action (in this comment), does this affect any of your calculations that you carried out for the ranged build?

[@JW-jf7yp]

What invocations would you recommend for the melee build?

[@buffwarriors]

How do you use fighting spirit and rapid strike in the same turn? Both of them need bonus action!

[@garyco766]

Rapid strike doesn't: "Starting at 15th level, you learn to trade accuracy for swift strikes. If you take the Attack action on your turn and have advantage on an attack roll against against one of the targets, you can forgo the advantage for that roll to make an additional weapon attack against that target, *as part of the same action*. You can do so no more than once per turn."

[@mochmaster45]

Wouldn't it be better on the ranged variety to go crossbow + crossbow expert. That way in turns when you either get advantage other ways, or are out of fighting spirit you can take an extra shot?

[@crownlessking6436]

And also if you can get Dual Wielder (for melee sets) thats 10 attacks in one round at Lv. 20 with Action Surge burnt. Meaning close up thats possibly over 210 damage with 8/10 attacks being at advantage for that one turn

[@garyco766]

No. First, all weapons that have the heavy property, and therefor can use the power attack portion of great weapon master, are 2-handed. Second, you are using your bonus action for fighting spirit to gain advantage, and therefor can't use it to make your offhand attack.

[@redx1170]

For my campaign, i guess i must have cheated. Did longsword versatile/finese (katana).

[@FuryenLT]

The math doesnt add up on melee build, can someone explain? 3 Attacks per action + 1 attack for Fighting/Relentless > Then Action Surge > 3 Attacks per action. You have 7 Total attacks and Elven accuracy does nothing, because it does not give you advantage, rather it gives you additional re-roll if you already have advantage?

[@elt5560]

English is not my native languaje and i dont understand the "Party Face" thing. Any answers will be appreciated.

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

A "Party Face" is the Charismatic/Persuasive character in the adventure group. Usually a Bard.

[@mythrilsentinel1]

Think "Face Man" from the A-Team.

[@droman608]

Can also be like a spokesperson or the group representative.

[@riccardofoti2372]

I actually didn't get it. How is it possible in round 2 (speaking about the melee build) to make 8 attacks? Rapid strike is only once per turn so it can apply only on one attack, right? May someone explain this to me please?

[@riccardofoti2372]

maybe because you count the attack with GWM as a bonus action on top of rapid strike?

[@thekirbycrafter7229]

Action surge?

[@riccardofoti2372]

@@thekirbycrafter7229 yeah, after one year I actually understood.

[@senseiblizzard]

Then dms have to balanse monsters to be able to deal with you and the whole party dies

[@jameswilson3272]

The ranged build looks strong. The melee looks good too but the 1st round calculations don't make sense. The way I see it as rule written in round 1 damage would be 10hp damage not 30. Eldritch blast's cast time is 1 action. So only 1 eldritch blast not 3. The extra attacks gained are all part of the attack action which cost your action and are melee or ranged attacks not spells. Better off using bonus action for hex to get going and just hit with great sword for the extra attacks.

[@sabtheclown]

"[...]The spell creates more than one beam when you reach higher levels: two beams at 5th level, three beams at 11th level, and four beams at 17th level. You can direct the beams at the same target or at different ones. Make a separate attack roll for each beam." - PHB.237 under the Eldritch Blast Spell I am actually more confused as to why the video says 3 Eldritch Blasts instead of 4

[@leaflotus6726]

Tacos

[@therealmingal]

You can also take the Magic initiate feat with the Ranged build To pick up Hex or Hunters Mark and boost your damage

[@garyco766]

You can, but it conflicts with Fighting Spirit for use of your bonus action.

[@therealmingal]

@@garyco766 cast hunters mark first, then use fighting spirit 🤯

[@garyco766]

@Miguel Borges which wastes your first turn of combat and lasts until you switch targets. Not convinced it's worth it.

[@therealmingal]

@@garyco766 doesn't waste your first turn, attack normally and use the bonus action to cast hunters mark, what are you on about? Is free d6 of damage for every attack untill it ends, not a waste by any means, what better would you do if a bonus action?

[@garyco766]

@Miguel Borges Depends on how long you expect the fight to take. Most people would want to fighting spirit on round 1 and the actuon surge, then repeap that on round 2. If you're expecting a long fight then it makes sense to put up hex/mark, otherwise, that bonus action is better spent on fighting spirit. It's the same reason you might avoid PAM or hand crossbow on this build: the bonus action economy conflicts.

[@notcats2139]

There is a problem- hex blade ability doesn't let you use two handed weapons

[@destroyerinazuma96]

Bold of you to talke such a low con.

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

Where we're going: we don't *need* Con!

[@destroyerinazuma96]

@@DungeonsDeepRPGs as long as you shoot those wizards/poisonous creatures fast enough...

[@milahuchna]

Да блядь , почему таких видов нет на русском Ютубе . Я же английский через слово понимаю .

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

Прости, друг. Я не говорю по-русски.

[@milahuchna]

@@DungeonsDeepRPGs It's ok. I am angry to myself and my english level.

[@mrsmarvelousjonas]

I Walter to multi to rogue trickster

[@reedmagliano7944]

cant u jus make ur race a tashas custom lineage and be considered a elf or half elf to get the exra feat and have elven accuracy

[@Assasins666Creed]

Suppose so, but Tasha's wasn't out when we made this video lol.

[@reedmagliano7944]

@@Assasins666Creed oh no i was just wondering whether or not its possible, your character is great

[@andresmarrero8666]

Shouldn't you be using a polearm instead of a great sword? Because swords weren't used that very often dispite media depiction.

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

I suppose if you're going for a stylistic choice, then sure, but that wasn't the goal of our build. We wanted max damage and attack per round potential for the Samurai subclass. The only polearm that matches the damage potential of the great sword is a Lance, but it lacks the heavy property so it's out of the question. 2d6 is far better than the 1d10 you're getting from other polearms.

[@cyruslupercal9493]

Yes, traditionaly samurai used polearms, though a greatsword could be a nodachi wich were also used as anti cavalry. Like from For Honor, the Kensei.

[@Blobby3822]

AC15 for a melee fighter? (No heavy armor unless you want to be slow as fuck, no shield and no dex modifier) Prepare to die a lot!

[@cyberfunkr]

One big problem I see with the melee build is that if you start with a Warlock, you also start with a Warlock's equipment. So you're looking at leather armor (not good for a front-line fighter), a crossbow (you have no dex), daggers, (no damage), and a "simple" weapon (so a quarterstaff two-handed for 1d8). Even though you are proficient in martial, you don't start with any. If you're lucky you can sell off everything but the leather and buy a real weapon. Better to take 1 level Fighter for the starting stats/equipment, then 3 Warlock, and finish up with 16 more Fighter.

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

However, you do get starting gold you could purchase a martial weapon with.

[@cyberfunkr]

@@DungeonsDeepRPGs, since you were careful to make this an Adventure League legal build, I am taking the point that you intend to follow all the AL rules. That means you don't start with gold. You MUST use the starting equipment from the list.

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

@@cyberfunkr You do get background gold. Besides, you can literally go to one AL module and have enough gold by the end to purchase your martial weapon. No need to switch around the build just because you don't start with the martial weapon. Just use Eldritch Blast until you can afford your sword. If you take fighter as first level, you put off when the build comes online by a level. No need to do that.

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

@@cyberfunkr the only reason to really take fighter at 1st is for heavy armor proficiencies.

[@hibiki54]

You are better off being 100% fighter to get 5 attacks at 20th level.

[@DungeonsDeepRPGs]

That isn't even close to the point of the build. The point of the build is guaranteeing ourselves advantage whilst also being able to roll 3 die on advantage for a significantly higher chance to crit. You can't use strength with Elven Accuracy, so you HAVE to take warlock to be able to attack with charisma and benefit from Elven Accuracy.