D&D 5E [GUIDE] NADRIGOL's Melee Bladesinger Guide

Currently playing a bladesinger in a campaign that is so far Storm King's Thunder.

Multi-classed into fighter.

Going a bit deeper into fighter that I had intended for story reasons. Hoping to only do like 5 or six. (already at 4)

While I have done some excellent damage in the front lines and can be difficult to hit, a lot of this AP has seen my fighting at range. So my Magic Missiles and Longbow have been put to work.

Enjoying it so far.

Had a particularly good laugh when I was discovered by a Giant and his Hobgoblin minions, and with expeditious retreat cast, it was a mad dash to get out of Rock and Longbow range. Best was that moment I zoomed past the rest of the party who had stayed a bit behind, shouting RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN!

I want to thank you for taking the time to make this. I absolutely love the Bladesinger, but would constantly flip-flop in my head between pure Bladesinger or EK / Bladesinger. It's great to see all the benefits and drawbacks laid out like this!

EDIT: I'm reading the guide now, and I'm sure you touch on this later on in it. But everyone always mentions the SCAG Cantrips and rate them so highly, often forgetting that it's one attack. Yes, it scaled VERY well. Yes, at higher levels, it often out-damages normal attacks. But with dual wielding and normal attacks, you get multiple opportunities to strike. If you miss with a SCAG cantrip, that's it. Swing and a miss. You get multiple swings with more traditional combat.

Dasem said:

I want to thank you for taking the time to make this. I absolutely love the Bladesinger, but would constantly flip-flop in my head between pure Bladesinger or EK / Bladesinger. It's great to see all the benefits and drawbacks laid out like this!

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Thank you very much

Dasem said:

EDIT: I'm reading the guide now, and I'm sure you touch on this later on in it. But everyone always mentions the SCAG Cantrips and rate them so highly, often forgetting that it's one attack. Yes, it scaled VERY well. Yes, at higher levels, it often out-damages normal attacks. But with dual wielding and normal attacks, you get multiple opportunities to strike. If you miss with a SCAG cantrip, that's it. Swing and a miss. You get multiple swings with more traditional combat.

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Yes, I have a section outlining these trade-offs in the "At-Will Damage Options" section within the "Bladesinger Math" section. It's very much what you outlined here. And on top of clumping the damage together, they're also condition specific damage. The trade-off of course is a very high damage cap. The only exception is that with the Haste+Off-Hand trick, you still have the opportunity for two attacks if your SCAG cantrip misses. One of the reasons I love the combo so much.

gah its driving me insane reading these post about bladesingers and dual wielding. You CANT dual wield and bladesing, it ends the bladesing stance as soon as you attack twice. if you use a 1handed weapon 2handed to attack you end it. you attack with 2 weapons you end it. Both times you have used 2 hands to make an attack with a weapon. Bladesingers need 1 free hand to cast they Always have, that's why they learn a 1handed weapon not any weapon

Brian Williams said:

gah its driving me insane reading these post about bladesingers and dual wielding. You CANT dual wield and bladesinger,

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Hi Brian! SCAG reads:
"Starting at 2nd level, you can invoke a secret elven magic called the Bladesong, provided that you aren't wearing medium or heavy a rmor or using a shield. It graces you with supernatural speed, agility, and focus.
You can use a bonus action to start the Bladesong, which lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are incapacitated, if you don medium or heavy armor or a shield, or if you use two hands to make an attack with a weapon. You can also dismiss the Bladesong at any time you choose (no action required)."

Brian Williams said:

it ends the bladesing stance as soon as you attack twice. if you use a 1handed weapon 2handed to attack you end it. you attack with 2 weapons you end it. Both times you have used 2 hands to make an attack with a weapon. Bladesingers need 1 free hand to cast they Always have, that's why they learn a 1handed weapon not any weapon

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You'll note there is nothing explicit about having a hand free. Nor anything explicit about dual wielding or holding two weapons. Nor anything explicit about types of weapons. Nor anything explicit about number of attacks. The only weapon related rules we get are "if you use two hands to make an attack with a weapon". Note that that explicitly states "two hands" with "a weapon". That's two hands with a single weapon. This could be a two handed weapon used with two hands, a versatile weapon used with two hands, or for some reason a one handed weapon held with two hands. This rule is defined not by weapon property related rules, but by how you choose to use a weapon. When dual wielding, nothing about this rule is violated.

In case you don't believe my interpretation, let Mr. Jeremy Crawford make the decision for you. These are his rules after all.
http://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/11/28/is-bladesong-compatible-with-two-weapon-fighting/

Hope you can learn to live in a world filled with dual wielding Bladesingers!

Brian Williams said:

gah its driving me insane reading these post about bladesingers and dual wielding. You CANT dual wield and bladesing, it ends the bladesing stance as soon as you attack twice. if you use a 1handed weapon 2handed to attack you end it. you attack with 2 weapons you end it. Both times you have used 2 hands to make an attack with a weapon. Bladesingers need 1 free hand to cast they Always have, that's why they learn a 1handed weapon not any weapon

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I think you strongly undercounted Protection From Evil And Good. Not only is the spell a level lower than Blur/Mirror Image, its big advantages are A.) it prevents the Frightened and Charmed condition from those creatures (big deal with your low Wisdom) B.) It lasts for 10 minutes instead of 1, making it harder for you to be caught with your pants down and most importantly C.) Unlike Mirror Image and Blur and Improved Invisibility, it foils sight. It's really a shame it doesn't do anything against humanoids and especially dragons, but providing disadvantage that can't be foiled short of dispelling it is really nice for a first-level slot.

Also, I know Bladesingers need ASIs like crazy, but it feels like Polearm Master (with a quarterstaff held in one hand) and Warcaster is a interesting combo for them. Someone tries to get up next to you and you smack them with a Rapier Booming Blade that does 6d8 + 4 damage at level 12. That's single-target Fireball damage! If you have a level of Monk you can even get the non-save benefits of being a TWF fighter for the cost of two hp and some weapon proficiencies. Even if you don't want to MC monk, you could just hold a quarterstaff in one hand.

Finally, I think the third level cleric deserves a bit more consideration. If your DM lets you cast Warding Bond on yourself it's by itself a reason to take your third level in cleric. Not only is it non-concentration AC and save bonus, but making two concentration checks at a much lower DC is much better than making one that's 50% higher than either once you start taking 30+ damage from critical hits.

More of a question than a suggestion: do you have any experience with using Simacrulums in actual play? How did that go?

Second question: What other spells besides Misty Step are good for Spell Mastery? Mirror Image seems like a great candidate. Just keep throwing it up every minute and you don't have to worry about preparing it.

Finally, the guide strongly pushes for a level of fighter multiclassing for DPR and even defensive purposes. While I feel that the level is most helpful in the medium-term (levels 6-10, when you're not rationing every spell-slot and passive bonuses become more helpful) I also think that rating it sky blue instead of regular blue is a bit much.

As a wizard, I think delaying anything by a level or more really hurts in the low levels (2 - 5; Fighter 1 / Bladesinger 2 had an easier first level than Bladesinger 3) and becomes insufferable in the higher levels -- because the stuff you get from even levels is often as good as anything you'd get from an extra top-level spell slot. Especially once it means delaying access to spells like Contingency, Maze, Simulacrulum, Mind Blank, Mass Suggestion, and Reverse Gravity. +5 damage per round, Str/Con Saves vs. Int/Wis Saves., and 4 extra hit points can still be a bargain if it just means one fewer casting of Fireball, an ASI, and Banishment (comparing Fighter 1 / Bladesinger 7 to Bladesinger 8). But being behind a level on Song of Victory, Contingency, Antipathy/Sympathy, Spell Mastery, and especially 9th level spells? Ooof. Which is ironic, because wizard spell access slows greatly after level 12. But still.

The Fighter level looks even worse once you start throwing in Magic Item access. The marginal utility of Con Save proficiency and +5 damage per round is big if you assume no magic items, but start throwing even small beer items like Bracers of Defense and Flametongue -- let along Big Poppa Pump items like Belts of Cloud Giant Strength and Staves of Power -- and the marginal utility starts looking worse. When you get an extra potential 6d6 (average 21) damage per round with your Flametongue, how much is a potential 5 extra damage going to be noticed?

Maybe as a compromise, rate it Sky Blue for the first half, Regular Blue for the second half? And then rate straight Bladesinger as Blue for the first half, Sky Blue for the second?

Dual Wielding and Haste

Dual Wielding and Haste:

I am have been reading through all of the post and trying to understand why or how Dual Wielding is augmented by Haste and that taking the spell is only gold if you are a Dual Wielding. You do realize that Haste does not provide an additional off-hand attack, which is derived by a bonus action. It only provides the following (see below). It even removes the Extra Attack feature as it explicitly states (one weapon attack only).

Haste:
Choose a willing creature that you can see within range.
Until the spell ends, the target's speed is doubled, it
gains a +2 bonus to AC, it has advantage on Dexterity
saving throws, and it gains an additional action on each
of its turns. That action can be used only to take the
Attack (one weapon attack only), Dash, Disengage, Hide,
or Use an Object action.
When the spell ends, the target can't move or take
actions until after its next turn, as a wave of lethargy
sweeps over it.

Dual-wielding can only proc if you use the Attack action. Meaning, using the SCAG cantrips will not trigger Dual-wielding.

So the idea is to use your regular action for a SCAG attack. You can't use dual-wielding at this time, sadly. But THEN you use the additional action from Haste to take the Attack action. Then you may use your bonus action to dual wield.