D&D 5E Best Non-GWM, Non-SS, Non-PM, Non-CE Damagers

[FrogReaver]

The thread title says it all. I want to see all the high damage dealers you can come up with that don't use those feats. Pick any character at any level you think is impressive for that level. Personally I don't care so much about level 20 builds but if that's your thing then post all those you want. I'm going to focus more on builds in the 5-13 level ranges myself. Make whatever assumptions you feel are justified. I don't really care about "at-will" DPR.

I generally assume a day consists of 6 combats that are 4 rounds each for a total of 24 combat rounds and 2 short rests.

Have fun!

 

[guachi]

Barb 2/Rogue X

Get GFB from being an Elf or an AT.
Take Elven Accuracy (or not if you're aren't an elf or half elf)
Take Sentinel at some point.
By level 12 you can have a 20 Dex and both feats.
Constantly Reckless Attack to roll three dice on your one attack.
You'll hit a ton. If you need an 8 to hit at level 12 you will hit 95.7% of the time and crit 14.3% of the time.
The damage if you a) get the GFB rider onto a 2nd foe and b) trigger Sentinel is quite high. You hit basically all the time so it's about as consistent as can be.
If you're an elf, be an assassin and enjoy surprise crits of 87 damage on average.

The typical damage breaks down like this:
target 1: 38.9
target 2: 11.8
Sentinel: 29.0
Total: 79.7

I'm sure there are others that can do more but I plan on playing this in AL (all of level 3 now!) and hope that Elven Accuracy makes it to Xanathar's though I suspect the module will finished before I get to level 10 (Barb 2/Rogue 8) and can get both Sentinel and Elven Accuracy. However, I've got Gauntlets of Ogre Power and have a few other options from one more DM's Reward (I'll probably take the Rapier +1).

If need be, you can always wield a whip and disengage and hide behind other front line melee to avoid getting easily attacked at advantage from your reckless attack while also making it easier to get a Sentinel attack in.

It so happens this is at-will but if you can attack in melee every round and get each of GFB on a second target and Sentinel 50% of the time you'll do 1423 damage after 24 rounds. It's 1912 with 100% up-time. I assume at least some of those 6 combats you'd get a surprise attack crit in, but I'm not willing to guess what that possibility is.

So... 1423 damage.

 

[FrogReaver]

Barb 2/Rogue X

Get GFB from being an Elf or an AT.
Take Elven Accuracy (or not if you're aren't an elf or half elf)
Take Sentinel at some point.
By level 12 you can have a 20 Dex and both feats.
Constantly Reckless Attack to roll three dice on your one attack.
You'll hit a ton. If you need an 8 to hit at level 12 you will hit 95.7% of the time and crit 14.3% of the time.
The damage if you a) get the GFB rider onto a 2nd foe and b) trigger Sentinel is crazy. It's about 75 damage and you hit basically all the time so it's about as consistent as can be.
If you're an elf, be an assassin and enjoy massive surprise crits of 87 damage.

The typical damage breaks down like this:
target 1: 38.9
target 2: 11.8
Sentinel: 29.0
Total: 79.7

I'm sure there are others but I plan on playing this in AL (all of level 3 now!) and hope that Elven Accuracy makes it to Xanathar's though I suspect the module will finished before I get to level 10 (Barb 2/Rogue 8) and can get both Sentinel and Elven Accuracy. However, I've got Gauntlets of Ogre Power and have a few other options from one more DM's Reward (I'll probably take the Rapier +1).

If need be, you can always wield a whip and disengage and hide behind other front line melee to avoid getting easily attacked at advantage from your reckless attack while also making it easier to get a Sentinel attack in.

It so happens this is at-will but if you can attack in melee every round and get each of GFB on a second target and Sentinel 50% of the time you'll do 1423 damage after 24 rounds. It's 1912 with 100% up-time. I assume at least some of those 6 combats you'd get a surprise attack crit in, but I'm not willing to guess what that possibility is.

So... 1423 damage.

1. I should have included elven accuracy in the list of things I don't care about. It's UA stuff and extremely broken. On a side note Elven Accuracy is even crazier on GWM stuff.
2. Reckless attacks only works on str attacks. Though that doesn't matter as much because you can sneak attack off str attacks. So you just go str instead of dex.
3. GFB splits your damage which is huge downside. I don't include aoe damage in my comparisons because its just not the same or the same usefulness. Personally I'd note it's single target DPR and then include a note that it also does a small amount of AOE damage. I guess different people calculate things differently though.

I'm also kind of surprised you didn't throw fighter 3 on there for riposte or champions enhanced crit ability. Both would be amazing with your elven accuracy setup. and you wouldn't lose much sneak attack damage for that.

 

[guachi]

GFB does split your damage. It's why I explicitly separated it out.

I had earlier in the day looked at doing this build and already had possessing Gauntlets of Ogre Power in mind when doing the math. I blanked that you have to use Strength with Reckless attack and not Dexterity.

Be that as it may, if you remove Elven Accuracy from the equation and play basically anything that can get you a 20 STR with 2 ASIs. Your damage at level 12 is:
target 1: 34.6
target 2: 10.5
Sentinel: 25.8
Total: 71.0

It's not much lower and since your preferred level limit is 13 you can go Barb 2/Rogue 11 and get one more d6 of sneak attack for:

target 1: 38.0
target 2: 10.5
sentinel: 29.3
total: 77.8

This assumes a 14 intelligence so the target 2 damage is lower or higher depending on what your actual intelligence is. By level 17 when you get your next increase for GFB you are reaching close to 100 damage in total.

EDIT: To reply to your edit. One of the first things I thought of was taking Champion 3 for MOAR crit. But, surprisingly, you do less damage. I haven't tested it with Battlemaster 3. You can take Precision and use it the 1 or 2 times you'll be missing on your regular attack and you'll end up hitting about 99% of the time. This means, as you said, that you can Riposte to your heart's content. This probably makes up for losing some sneak attack dice. It's certainly more worthwhile if the enemy are likely to attack you and you can't hide behind allies. You'll hit so much you can use your action surge to run at the opponent. Move (30'), bonus action dash (30'), action surge dash (30'). The mobility certainly means more up time.

 

[mellored]

Aarakocra Fey warlock 7/ rogue 2. With booming blade, greater invisibility, stealth expertise, and warcaster.

Turn 1: Turn invisible, hide as a bonus action, and move next to an enemy, possibly straight above them.
Reaction: There's a good chance they will move. Hit them with booming blade.
Turn 2+: Boomblade, hide as a bonus action, and move next to an enemy, possibly a different one.
Reaction: There's a good chance they will move. Hit them with booming blade.

Assuming they move = 2d8+3 + 2d6 intitial attack + 2d8 secondary. * 2 attacks per round (except the first turn).
= 56 * 75% chance to hit (advantage) = 42 DPR

With 2 more levels of rogue and 1 more of warlock for 20 dex. (12 total).

(3d8+5+3d6+3d8) * 2
= 85 * .84 chance to hit = 71.4 DPR.


You lose a few attacks for casting greater invisibility. But you'll probably also get some surprise rounds being invsibilie and sneaky. As well as some crits.

 

[FrogReaver]

Using the 50% uptime assumption for sentinel. I can see a ranger 5 / rogue 1 with sentinel being a beast.

1d8(rapier)+7(stat and duelist)+1d8(colossus slayer)+1d6(hunters mark) + 1d6(sneak attack)= 23 damage. 15 dmg (if colossus slayer has sneak attack both cannot be used).

That's about 776 damage per day. (assuming a 65% chance to hit).

 

[guachi]

Aarakocra Fey warlock 7/ rogue 2. With booming blade, greater invisibility, stealth expertise, and warcaster.
Reaction: There's a good chance they will move. Hit them with booming blade.

Are you using the Ready action to cast Booming blade if they move?

 

[Volund]

17th level, EK with War Magic for bonus weapon attack when casting a cantrip, which of course is Eldritch Blast because you took levels of Warlock (Hexblade Warrior) for Agonizing Blast and Hex. Your fighting style is Close Quarters Shooter so you are blasting up close without disadvantage and your Cha score is 20. With Hex and Hexblade Curse you can do 99 DPR.

Agonizing blast with HB Curse and Hex = 4 (d10 + d6 + 11) = 4 (5.5 + 3.5 +11) = 80
War Magic bonus weapon attack = d8 + d6 +11 = 4.5 + 3.5 + 11 = 19
Total = 99
Action Surge = 80 + 80 + 19 = 179
Actual average is slightly higher since you have a 90% chance to crit with at least one of your 9 attacks using Action Surge.
If you use Kiss of Mephistopheles to cast Fireball with your bonus action instead of making a weapon attack, using a 5th level pact magic slot for 10d6, you can substitute 35 fire damage.

Total with Action Surge = 80 + 80 + 35 = 195

 

[clearstream]

The thread title says it all. I want to see all the high damage dealers you can come up with that don't use those feats. Pick any character at any level you think is impressive for that level. Personally I don't care so much about level 20 builds but if that's your thing then post all those you want. I'm going to focus more on builds in the 5-13 level ranges myself. Make whatever assumptions you feel are justified. I don't really care about "at-will" DPR.

I generally assume a day consists of 6 combats that are 4 rounds each for a total of 24 combat rounds and 2 short rests.

Have fun!

You should really rule out GFB, or impose a ratio for bounces (how often is a second foe within 5' of first foe?). And a ratio for SA conditions and Sentinel conditions being met by having allies nearby, and SA conditions being met for advantage (or does poster need to specify how they're yielding or not requiring advantage?) Also target AC, saves, Athletics and HP. And opening distances (could be a random point with in a range with a flat distribution, or a normal distribution.)

I see a lot of theory-crafting around damage-dealing that ignores applicability. A better abstract construct for force will identifies that "For damage to be effective, we must apply it". When you write that down you think - "That's hardly rocket science!" - don't you?! Think of the contrary construction, "For damage to be effective, we need not apply it". Application requires awareness of target, range to target, ability to move to target: our ability to dominate in those dimensions will act as force multipliers. What would be really great would be to have an improved construct.

Most people seem to simply go

damage*accuracy

the elements that I think we need to see in the estimate are

damage*accuracy
a construct for distance, range and movement
constructs for satisfying a few major preconditions (e.g. Sneak Attack, cleave, advantage, Sentinel, Riposte, GFB bounce) which of course some builds will be able to demonstrate are obviated and treat as some pre-decided fraction

I like that you specify a "day". I am finding 4 combats with 5 rounds each, with 1 short rest between them, more common. Maybe just because it fits my real world constraints better, but I've heard other DMs say something similar. Still - it's very right minded to assert it because it caps superiority dice per combat etc.

 

[mellored]

Are you using the Ready action to cast Booming blade if they move?

No. You hide (invisibility + cunning action +stealth expertise), so they have no idea where you are. They then provoke an OA when the move, and warcaster let's you make it booming blade.

And since aarakocra have a high fly speed, you can hide next to anyone.