D&D 5E Does the Eldritch Knight suck?

[Zardnaar]

Other than a bladesinger, doesn't every single other gish get access to heavy armor, like paladin, war domain and tempest domain cleric?

I guess, then, any disappointment from EK might come from the fact that people would expect something close to a 50/50 fighter/wizard?

No the blade lock and valor bards lack heavy armor.

 

[bid]

Problem is gishs kind of suck in 5E due to things like the concentration mechanic and opportunity cost of taking warcaster to more or less function over something like SS/GWM.

Gish works fine with a 2-hander, no tax.

 

[Zardnaar]

Gish works fine with a 2-hander, no tax.

Depends on the type of gish. Without the warcaster feat you can't cast shield as a reaction with a two handed weapon for example although the Fighter1/Warlock XYZ doesn't care to much about that.

 

[Celtavian]

Depends on what you want to play. The Eldritch Knight can have one of the very best ACs in the game if you build a defensive tank. Shield spell with heavy armor, shield, and defensive fighting can get up to 26 AC quite a few times per day once you get plate armor. You also do the best damage for a tank type with SCAG cantrips and one attack. You can booming blade to hold creatures in place if they don't want to take more damage. Eldritch Knight is most versatile fighter archetype, it only gets better as you reach higher level.

 

[77IM]

Shield alone is worth the price of entry.

 

[krakistophales]

So if you wanted to go two hander EK, does it pay to boost your INT at all or is that a trap stat? I know it affects your save DCs and ranged attack spell attacks, but if mostly people are just gonna haste and stuff anyway, isnt there no need for INT?

 

[ninjayeti]

I played one to level 10 and found them to be pretty solid. The direct damage spells felt kinda meh. Every once in a while it was nice to spray a cluster of weak enemies with burning hands or nail a hard to hit target with magic missiles, but I could usually deal more damage just whacking stuff in melee.

Where they shine are defensive and utility spells. Shield is fantastic when you are already rocking full plate. Taking Expeditious Retreat as your "free" first level choice is a huge maneuverability bump but there are some other interesting utility choices also. At 8th level you can pick up Blur - plate armor plus Blur and the occasional Shield spell make you virtually untouchable against lower level enemies. There are plenty of other cool options but those worked well for me.

So yeah, if you expect a true Fighter-Mage blasting enemies with spells you are going to be underwhelmed. But if you are smart I think the EK more than holds its own.

 

[Zardnaar]

So if you wanted to go two hander EK, does it pay to boost your INT at all or is that a trap stat? I know it affects your save DCs and ranged attack spell attacks, but if mostly people are just gonna haste and stuff anyway, isnt there no need for INT?

It helps at range ans TWF tend to suck at that. RAW you can't switch to a bow in the same round where an EK can just put the sword away as a freebie and cast firebolt.

 

[ninjayeti]

Without the warcaster feat you can't cast shield as a reaction with a two handed weapon for example although the Fighter1/Warlock XYZ doesn't care to much about that.

The PHB errata states that the two-handed property is "relevant only when you attack with the weapon, not when you simply hold it." So you still have a free hand for purposes of taking a reaction.

 

[miburo99]

People seem to forget (ignore?) the fact that Eldritch Knights are, mostly, limited to spells from the Abjuration and Evocation schools. The exceptions are at 1st, 8th, 14th and 20th level.

Didn't forget or ignore. Shield is Abjuration, and one of the best "Gish" spells out there (honestly I think we need to start redefining what Gish means for 5e, as stacking buffs is just no longer a thing). The other two were different schools, but since nearly a third of your spells can be from any school, you have more than enough leeway a decent utility set. I do think Find Familiar makes a great 1st level universal choice and Haste makes a good one for 3rd level (though Fly is also nice for 3rd level). For 2nd level, Blur/Mirror Image/Misty Step are all great defensive choices. For 4th level, Dimension Door is a great choice.

If anything, the limited schools means that there are only a few "optimized" choices which could get boring. Some folks have suggested house ruling that one or both of your limited schools for EK could be something other than Abjuration/Evocation, which is a good way to add some variety.

If you want more spells, go play a Bladesinger or Valor Bard. But if you want to hit things hard and still have some magic to play with, the EK certainly doesn't "suck."