D&D 5E The Best Gish (Spell-Sword)

[Merchant of Shadows]

I am currently playing favored soul (war domain) sorcerer 6/pact of the tome warlock 3/oath of the ancients paladin 6
My saves and AC are through the roof and I usually run a twinned haste on me and the rogue plus spiritual weapon and shillelagh. That leaves me at 4 attacks for 1d8+4 and smite for adjacent enemies or 3 eldritch blasts for 1d10+4 while closing on the enemy, followed by 2 attacks for 1d8+4 and smite.
In full artilery mode I can go with hex and spiritual weapon instead and unleash 3 eldritch blasts for 1d10+1d6+4 each, 6 scorching rays for 3d6 per ray and a smack from the spiritual weapon for 1d6+1d8+4.
If probably doesn't match the more optimised sharpshooter and great weapon builds, but I find it much more fun and gish-y.

 

[CapnZapp]

Something something green fire something.

There you have the best gish in the game, come November

 

[mellored]

Something something green fire something.

There you have the best gish in the game, come November

EK7/arcane trickster.
with green flameblade.'

Though i don't see a need to wait.

 

[MoocowTG]

Something something green fire something.

There you have the best gish in the game, come November

Sadly Green Flameblade only allows you to get one weapon attack even if you have extra attack, but it does open up some interesting possibilities for a Dragon Sorcerer gish rather than a Favoured Soul, since after level 5 it's an extra d8+mod of damage which is almost equivalent to another weapon attack. Of course, it also allows you to quicken it to get three melee attacks as a Favoured Soul, for a really pretty piece of damage. All of this assuming Sorcerers can even get this cantrip.

 

[CapnZapp]

I see it from the other direction: with green flame, you can reach something approaching the 2 attacks per round that is standard (for physical combat classes, excepting the Fighter) even if your build does not give you Extra Attack!

Nothing sadly about that!

 

[Zardnaar]

Best one I have seen is a Fighter 1/Warlock XYZ Bladelock with Fiendpact.

 

[renevq]

Was rather fond of playing a High-Dex Pal2/Sorc3.
Decent AC (16; 21 with Shield spell) and a killer nova strike (quickened Scorching Ray + Smite).
Felt very Gish-y in play.

 

[Z. H. Darkstar]

Arcana Clerics from the SCAG can be gishy. Start with a Fighter dip for proficiencies and Dueling. Potent Spellcasting adds your Wis to cantrip damage, including the primary damage of Greenflame Blade and Boom Blade. Grab a ranged attack as your other free Wizard cantrip to give yourself a reliable ranged attack. Fire Bolt, Ray of Frost, and Chill Touch are all worthwhile choices, depending on your preference of damage type and rider.

 

[Ahrimon]

Best one I have seen is a Fighter 1/Warlock XYZ Bladelock with Fiendpact.

I just played that this last weekend for a 17th level one shot. It was a blast. I did go F3/W14 for the extra crit range from champion but alas, I never rolled a crit. /shrug.

With the SCAG coming out I'm tempted to work towards a F8/Sor X build. It'll come into into it's own more in the later half of the game but with those new blade spells it could get nasty. Green Flame Blade (twinned for 1 pt since it's a cantrip) and you're attacking 4 times.

I'm not really spun up on sorcerers and how they can use their points but if you can twin a quickened GFB that allows 6 attacks in a round and then if you action surge another twinned GFB you would be making 8 attacks in a round but at the whopping cost of 5 spell points. That's one heck of a nova though.

 

[Z. H. Darkstar]

I just played that this last weekend for a 17th level one shot. It was a blast. I did go F3/W14 for the extra crit range from champion but alas, I never rolled a crit. /shrug.

With the SCAG coming out I'm tempted to work towards a F8/Sor X build. It'll come into into it's own more in the later half of the game but with those new blade spells it could get nasty. Green Flame Blade (twinned for 1 pt since it's a cantrip) and you're attacking 4 times.

I'm not really spun up on sorcerers and how they can use their points but if you can twin a quickened GFB that allows 6 attacks in a round and then if you action surge another twinned GFB you would be making 8 attacks in a round but at the whopping cost of 5 spell points. That's one heck of a nova though.

First off, GFB can't be twinned because it can target multiple enemies. However, Boom Blade is capable of being twinned. Second, you can't combine quicken and twinned. So the most BB that you can pull off in a single turn is 5: 1 quickened, 2 via twinned as action, and 2 via twinned as action surge.

If you want to reduce the MAD nature of GFB, mix Fiend Tomelock 3 with Fire Draconic Sorc 6. Grab Shillelagh as one of your free cantrips. This combo allows you to use Cha for weapon attacks and damage, while also adding Cha to the primary fire damage of GFB and gaining 3+Cha THP per kill. Unfortunately, there's no Thunder Draconic Sorc, so BB only benefits from the Tomelock levels.

Depending on the level of the campaign, you may not want to go more than two levels into Fighter. For another 17th level one-shot, I'd recommend going F2/W3/S12 as a variant human. You'd be able to max Cha and grab Polearm Master + War Caster. Use Dueling as your Fighting Style to add to damage or Defense to boost your AC.