D&D 5E How to deal 500+ damage (average) in one round

[faria]

Lightning Dragon Sorcerer 13/Assassin Rogue 3/Tempest Cleric 2/Fighter 2

Action: Level 8 Chromatic Orb (lightning) deals 10d8 + 10d8 again (Assassinate's auto-crit and advantage), kick in Channel Divinity for max damage and add +5 (Elemental Affinity), then double it (Twinned Spell). So (20d8 maxed +5)*2 = 330 exact damage.

Bonus Action: Convert a level 2+ slot into 2+ Sorcery points. I suggest a higher slot because you want more points for Empowered Spell rerolls on the next attack...

Action Surge: Level 7 Chromatic Orb (lightning) deals 9d8 + 9d8 again (Assassinate's auto-crit and advantage) and add +5 (Elemental Affinity), then double it (Twinned Spell). So (18d8+5)*2=~172 average damage (higher with Empowered Spell).

330 exact damage + ~172 average damage = ~502 average damage in one round. Happy bursting!

 

[faria]

HotDQ SPOILER
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Tiamat has only 615HP, so if you roll well enough (especially with Empowered Spell), you can easily one-shot her. She's immune to Lightning magic though, so just swap the Chromatic Orbs to Thunder damage and viola. Tell your DM you wanna solo Tiamat at level 20.

 

[Dragonsbane]

While I find great amusement in this build and its ability to kill anything the DM can produce, I think this post is a great reference for my house rule against munchkin builds, namely all classes need 5 levels by 20th level.

 

[Raunalyn]

Problem with this build is that, according to the PHB, you can only cast one non-cantrip spell per round. So, casting Chromatic Orb twice is out of the question...it would need to be Chromatic Orb and a cantrip.

 

[Voort]

Problem with this build is that, according to the PHB, you can only cast one non-cantrip spell per round. So, casting Chromatic Orb twice is out of the question...it would need to be Chromatic Orb and a cantrip.

According to Jeremy Crawford, Action Surge is an exception to that rule.

http://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/04/17/action-surge-spell-3/

 

[Ohillion]

Lightning Dragon Sorcerer 13/Assassin Rogue 3/Tempest Cleric 2/Fighter 2

Action: Level 8 Chromatic Orb (lightning) deals 10d8 + 10d8 again (Assassinate's auto-crit and advantage), kick in Channel Divinity for max damage and add +5 (Elemental Affinity), then double it (Twinned Spell). So (20d8 maxed +5)*2 = 330 exact damage.

Bonus Action: Convert a level 2+ slot into 2+ Sorcery points. I suggest a higher slot because you want more points for Empowered Spell rerolls on the next attack...

Action Surge: Level 7 Chromatic Orb (lightning) deals 9d8 + 9d8 again (Assassinate's auto-crit and advantage) and add +5 (Elemental Affinity), then double it (Twinned Spell). So (18d8+5)*2=~172 average damage (higher with Empowered Spell).

330 exact damage + ~172 average damage = ~502 average damage in one round. Happy bursting!

While I can appreciate the effort and imagination and number crunching to get this sort of damage out in one round, what fun is it? I enjoy min/maxing somewhat, but not to the tune of one-shotting the toughest monsters in the book. But, if that's your goal, so be it.

 

[psiconauta_retro]

I'm very impressed with what you did here, I have never had a character that leveled much and of course I have never expected to be able to defeat a dragon without help, much less a draconic goddess...

If she has 615HP then you need at least 2 rounds to defeat her and she surely hits hard, but hard enough to kill you? How much damage can she do per round? How many HPs do you have? Which is your AC?

 

[Wojorides]

Twin spell targets a SECOND creature. Not the same one.

Lightning Dragon Sorcerer 13/Assassin Rogue 3/Tempest Cleric 2/Fighter 2

Action: Level 8 Chromatic Orb (lightning) deals 10d8 + 10d8 again (Assassinate's auto-crit and advantage), kick in Channel Divinity for max damage and add +5 (Elemental Affinity), then double it (Twinned Spell). So (20d8 maxed +5)*2 = 330 exact damage.

Bonus Action: Convert a level 2+ slot into 2+ Sorcery points. I suggest a higher slot because you want more points for Empowered Spell rerolls on the next attack...

Action Surge: Level 7 Chromatic Orb (lightning) deals 9d8 + 9d8 again (Assassinate's auto-crit and advantage) and add +5 (Elemental Affinity), then double it (Twinned Spell). So (18d8+5)*2=~172 average damage (higher with Empowered Spell).

330 exact damage + ~172 average damage = ~502 average damage in one round. Happy bursting!

 

[Mallus]

One nit-pick: how do you reliably surprise high-level foes like Tiamat? Most of them have extraordinary senses and really high passive Perception scores. Assassinate only works against surprised opponents.

 

[Zaruthustran]

Yes, that is a very good polish job on what I posted on the Wizards forum last year.

http://community.wizards.com/comment/51667121#comment-51667121

Bravo!