Armor of Agathys Builds!

[Ashuan21]

Hello!!!
I am building a level 11 character (PHB, UA, VGtM, SCAG) and somehow wanted to focus on Armor of Agathys, which I find a wonderful spell, both for its taste and for its mechanics.
Now I'm looking for the help of some serious optimizer!!!

Now, considering that I can get AoA from at least 3 sources (Warlock, Bard's Magical Secrets and Paladin Oath of Conquest (ignoring Magic Initiate)), how do we get the best out of this wonderful spell??

random thoughts:
- Seeker Warlock11: It is very appealing for my AoA!!! Shielding Aurora gives me resistance to all damage types for 1 round protecting the AoA at the cheap cost of a bonus action (!), Far Wanderer gives me 2 Elemental resistances(!!) and Astral Refuge gives me the possibility to cast AoA together with.... What?? Have you found a way to exploit this ability? It seems wasted for this Warlock, but multiclassing at Warlock 6 would render AoA useless

- LoreBard6/DraconicSorcerer5: Assuming that from the next level Elemental Affinity will empower my AoAthis seems a cool build. Are the enemies prone to a real tavern brawl? Go for AoA and enter in melee, ready to reduce damage with Cutting Words, Absorb Elements (the other Magical Secret), Quickened Blade Ward and (possibly) Goliath's resilience. Are the enemies coward spellcasters/RangedInclined? Go for Twinned Buffs and Bardic Inspirations! After all you're one of the best buffers around... Is this effective? What would be a way to keep the enemies interested in hitting me after finding out how painful is it?
An even crazier variant would add 1 Warlock Seeker level at the expense of 1 Sorcerer level, to gain AoA and Hellish Rebuke (you will regret having hit me... xD) from the Warlock spell list and free Magical Secrets for Absorb Elements and the almighty Inflict Wounds (or something similar), to get the best possible damage out of your Action and keep the enemies interest in killing you!

- LoreBard8/Bearbarian3: This is cool! AoA and rage on your first turn and you have a strong and resistant pool of THP boosted by Cutting Words and (possibly) Goliath resilience! Then go for Inspirations with your Bonus Actions and Grapple things with your Action!! Is this ok? If the enemy is not going to fight in melee this build is going to feel particularly useless but hey... 8 level of Bards anyway

- Oath of Conquest??? Is there a way to make it work? I would really like to... Paladin should be abandoned after level 3 (or probably 4) to get the most out of AoA progression but where to? Warlock? So which was the point of Paladin's levels? Sorcerer? Sorcadin is wonderful, but is there space for AoA? It wouldn't be boosted by any resistance and even lacks Absorb Elements...

- Warlock1/Abjurer10: Solid build (I want to avoid Armor of Shadow cheese) with damage reduction and high spell slots, but is it the best one?

I think a big problem is to keep the enemies focused on you... One way to circumvent this is to be too strong to be overlooked, something the Sorcadin is good at, or a Bard with Inflict Wounds or similar strong spells (but Absorb Elements is competing!!).
So what are your thoughts? What's the best way to optimize AoA? Have you had any direct experience with such builds?

Thank you!!!

 

[Blue]

One thing to remember is that AoA only comes into play when you are hit. So you need to be careful about relying on any concentration spell. The builds where you reduce damage (except barbarian, since rage precludes concentration) will help with this to some degree, but if you want to use concentration spells reliably then starting with a class that is Proficient in CON saves (like Draconic Sorcerer) is useful, as well as the Warcaster feat.

Also, AoA is multiplicative with level cast at - it survives more hits, and does more damage per hit. A low level casting might only survive a single hit, and not be worth it in terms of damage returned for your action. So depending on your DM you need to think about number of combats between long or short rests (depending on classic caster or warlock resource model) so that you feel confident you have a reasonable number of high level castings. I think Warlock may excel there if your DM gives out an average number of short rests.

Along the same lines - Paladin/Warlock have separate casting, if you wanted with Paladin then Paladin 4/Sorcerer 7 might work better - slots as a 9th level character, 4th level sorcerer spells known.

 

[Ashuan21]

Yes these are all important points!
First of all I feel that this adventure is not going to make a Warlock shine, as sheer power is much more important than long term reliability during the day (few short rests and 7 of us playing) so yes Sorcerer levels are probably advisable!

They also address, as you said, the first problem, especially if combined with 6 Paladin levels (it's a lot...).

Paladin4/Sorcerer7 is probably very solid and possibly the way to go, but another option may be Paladin6/Sorcerer5, to avoid any Concentration problem and gain access to Find Steed, which can be quite interesting when combined with AoA!

 

[tglassy]

You could always do Valor Bard, grab the Heavy Armor feat at level 4, then Heavy Armor Master at level 8, coupled with Blade Ward. Cast AoA, then run in to combat and spam Blade Ward. The HAM reduces all nonmagical melee damage by 3, and Blade Ward further reduces it by half, but they still get hit the whole amount. A level 5 AoA does what, 25 points of damage? If you get hit or 25 damage, it's reduced to 22, the halved to 11. You could get hit three times like that, taking 33 damage and doing 75 damage to the enemy.

Grab a Melee weapon for attacks to finish off weakened enemies.

 

[Ahrimon]

I've been planning on a character that uses AoA a lot. My plan was fighter 1 for heavy armor, con saves, heavy weapon style, and a small HP boost. From there I would go infernal warlock till the end. If I go human I'll grab heavy armor mastery at level 1. If not, level 4. Infernal warlock gives you temp hp for when the AoA runs out since they don't stack, but it also gives you a floating resistance. Make that slashing since that is the large majority of monster attacks and you get the reduction from the armor and 1/2 damage. Once you hit level 7 warlock you can have AoA and Fire shield running at the same time for an extra 2d8(6?) damage per hit.

 

[Caliban]

I've got a Goliath Fighter 1/Warlock X that I'm playing up in Adventure League right now. Racial ability to negate 1d12+Con damage once per short rest, Heavy Armor Mastery for DR 3 on every hit, casting Blade Ward at appropriate times. The idea is to make the Temp HP from AoA last as long as possible, and cast it the highest level he can.