D&D 5E Best War Cleric?

[Scott Steven Bell]

GWM works well for the War clerics second level ability, he gets a +10 to hit then uses GWM feat and ends up with a +5 to hit and +10 damage AND can attack another guy if he drops this one.

 

[Gladius Legis]

GWM works well for the War clerics second level ability, he gets a +10 to hit then uses GWM feat and ends up with a +5 to hit and +10 damage AND can attack another guy if he drops this one.

Still not worth it.

 

[FrogReaver]

GWM works well for the War clerics second level ability, he gets a +10 to hit then uses GWM feat and ends up with a +5 to hit and +10 damage AND can attack another guy if he drops this one.

And the feat is nearly useless for him later?

 

[FrogReaver]

I do like the 2nd level ability and inflict wounds though. Basically a sure hit with a chance to do 20-30 damage. It's really impressive at those levels!

 

[Zardnaar]

War clerics really need two high stats. With standard point buy this is probably not achievable. However, if you can start with 18 wisdom and 18 str you should be a force to be reckoned with. Get Warcaster and Resilient Con ASAP.

At level 1:
You have one fight a day where you will dominate. You get 4 bonus action attacks per long rest. That's generally enough to last for 1 whole combat encounter. That means you will be doing 2d6 + 4 + 2d6+ 4 damage at level 1 for one while encounter. Add onto this total 2 uses of divine favor per day and you are basically the most damaging level 1 character in 3 combats per day. You also have some added utility in being able to heal or increase your defense etc if needed.

Level 2:
Basically the same as level 1 except 1 attack per day is a guaranteed hit.

Level 3:
You now have spiritual weapon. You can use this twice per day. It's not quite as good as your bonus action attacks but it's still solid and basically makes the war cleric dominate 3 combats per day.

Level 4:
Take resilient con or warcaster. You will need concentration buffs soon.

Level 5:
Spirit Guardians is amazing. It can be used in conjunction with your bonus action attack or spiritual weapon. We are talking about damage numbers that really surpass almost every other character at this point. Sure you won't be able to do this kind of stuff but maybe 2 combats per day. But it's well worth it! The war cleric still surpasses other clerics here as his 4x per day bonus action attack can be used on every subsequent turn after a casting of spirit guardians.

Past level 5:
Spirit guardians and spiritual weapon both continue to scale with spell levels. Your weapon damage scales with divine strike. You even get the ability to basically cause an ally to hit and depending on the situation that can be amazing!

Honestly I'm more impressed with pure War Cleric now that I've looked into it than I was before. He relies on 3-4 abilities that he gets by level 5 and just scales them.

I guess the only issue is that his subclass doesn't appear as strong later as some of the others.

This is what I am thinking as well. War cleric benefits more from higher stats than most classes.

Thinking about it I do kind of like the Warcaster and resilient combo it might be a bit overkill though. Our original war cleric did not take either so had spirit guardians interrupted a lot. I think I would want two 16s and a 14 to have a decent war cleric, anything over that is a bonus if you had rolled stats.

Default array just take a light cleric or another one.

 

[FrogReaver]

This is what I am thinking as well. War cleric benefits more from higher stats than most classes.

Thinking about it I do kind of like the Warcaster and resilient combo it might be a bit overkill though. Our original war cleric did not take either so had spirit guardians interrupted a lot. I think I would want two 16s and a 14 to have a decent war cleric, anything over that is a bonus if you had rolled stats.

Default array just take a light cleric or another one.

With racial bonuses a 16 16 14 should be achievable. I think?

 

[Zardnaar]

With racial bonuses a 16 16 14 should be achievable. I think?

Nope. Variant human can get 14,15,16, half elf can get 14,16,16 charisma.

 

[FrogReaver]

This is what I am thinking as well. War cleric benefits more from higher stats than most classes.

Thinking about it I do kind of like the Warcaster and resilient combo it might be a bit overkill though. Our original war cleric did not take either so had spirit guardians interrupted a lot. I think I would want two 16s and a 14 to have a decent war cleric, anything over that is a bonus if you had rolled stats.

Default array just take a light cleric or another one.

The reason a say you need both is that unlike most other classes, spirit guardians is really going to be your bread and butter! If it gets interrupted the combat you were going to dominate just turned into a huge resource expenditure for little gain. I was thinking Variant human with resilient con to start with. Then at level 4 take warcaster.

 

[Zardnaar]

The reason a say you need both is that unlike most other classes, spirit guardians is really going to be your bread and butter! If it gets interrupted the combat you were going to dominate just turned into a huge resource expenditure for little gain. I was thinking Variant human with resilient con to start with. Then at level 4 take warcaster.

Then you still have 14, 16, 15 as your stats. You need two 15s and a 13.

Default array best 3 stats are 13,14,15 best you can do is 14,15,16 with resilient con.

Half Elf can get 14,16,16 onl race that can do it with default array and even then limited to charisma as one of the 16's.

Even with rolled stats Arcane and Nature might still be better as you can key everything off wisdom and still use spirit guardians. Short of rolling double 17s+ I suppose.

 

[Greg Benage]

Paladin?