D&D 5E [GUIDE] Raven Soul : thematically optimising Shadow Blade for insane damage

[Fevvers]

[MENTION=20564]Blue[/MENTION] & [MENTION=170]RogueJK[/MENTION]

These are both enviably excellent builds!

I hadn't thought of going Celestial - interesting idea! Getting Revivify at 6th level is awesome and you've built up the SB damage beautifully. Very nicely balanced! When I'd been considering Warlock, Hexblade seemed to be the logical choice. I like how you've got the Extra Attack in. For quite a while I tried to shoehorn this build into Obliza's outstanding Sorlock build, indeed that was the initial inspiration for it, substituting SB/BB for EB/Hex. It just sort of grew from there.

Oh yes, the Bladesinger+ builds - so seriously crunchy! I love how you've reached 20 DEX at 8th, and taking Tough at 10th alleviates the Bladesinger glass cannon problem, and at a reasonable stage in the character's adventuring life!

I have a Paladin 2/Bladesinger x character, who attempts to force the SB/BB opp attack by sticking close to an opponent and Smiting. She's a bit of a beast... thematically I treat her as though she has taken an 'Oath of the Sword Dancer' in service to Eilistraee at 3rd level.

Thanks for these. I'm glad you've both found the central concept sufficiently interesting to be inspired to write up these excellent alternate routes to it.

 

[Fevvers]

Counting damage from oa’s And enemies moving away is a terrible way to talk about damage.

also multitarget dpr isn’t the same thing as single tartget dpr. It would help your build if you acknowledged this.

Did I not? I thought I did...

Pretty sure I included a line in each damage section to describe "realistically probable" damage.

Thank you fro your input.

 

[FrogReaver]

Did I not? I thought I did...

Pretty sure I included a line in each damage section to describe "realistically probable" damage.

Thank you fro your input.

All you said was...

Tl;dr? Why this build?

Potentially 75d8+70 action surge damage [145-670, 407.5av.] at 20th level, not including critical hits, which have a 15-30% probability.

Potentially 51d8+60 damage without action surge [111-468, 289.5av.] at 20th level, ditto criticals.

There is nothing here about "realistically probable" damage

 

[Balfore]

@RogueJK
Thank you, for both your praise and very pertinent feedback!

I did wonder about 5th level: whether to take DS1 or EK5. Two attacks would seem pretty essential to an EK build. And that would strongly influence taking EK6 next for Mobile as well as rounding up the spell slot boost for DS by two levels when DS1 is eventually taken (i.e. 3rd level casting at DS1).

So I ran a play-test, comparing EK4/DS2 build with taking pure EK to 6th level.

And soon discovered that a single attack with advantage (from owl familiar help action) doing 1d8+3 non-magical piercing, plus 1d8 thunder, plus either 2d8 triggered thunder damage or that opponent unable to move, is not only slightly more statistical DPR than two attacks, only one with advantage doing 1d8+3 non-magical piercing damage each, but also slightly more fun.

Bear in mind that DS1 allows you to pick up Inflict Wounds for excellent opportunity damage, and Shield of Faith and Favoured by the Gods allows a nice degree of Tanking. Possibly even tanky enough to deliberately trigger opportunity attacks, opening the field for other members of the party. Shield + Shield of Faith = +7AC.

So, you are off-setting Second Attack and Mobility for increased AC, excellent opportunity attack damage, improved emergency save 1/short rest, two excellent combat cantrips, the ability to boost everyone's ability checks using Guidance delivered via owl fam - you don't even need to be next to the party member. Your party's rogue could be stuck halfway up a sheer wall, trying to disable a trap, and you can still Help...

6th level gives extra hp with False Life - not ordinarily available to EK, and immediately can be cast at 2nd level, and an extra first level slot. However, it has to be admitted, 6th level is the closest this build has to a dead level. However, EK doesn't get a second level slot until level 7. Pure EK6 gets four 1st level slots. Raven Soul 6 gets five 1st level slots and two 2nd level. 5-7 Shield/Absorb Elements is almost twice as effective as EK's 4.

7th is where the fun starts. The first time I was able to Action Surge a double twincast SB/BB it changed to course of the combat. I had to burn a Shield spell to escape the four opportunity attacks made against me, however, four opponents took major damage, some didn't move or attack and died the following round, some did, and died this round. Everyone else could melee swarm these four opponents and move away without taking opportunity attacks! Plus my familiar was able to give another PC advantage because I was getting mine from SB (it yielded one critical in this Action Surge round) I didn't personally kill any of these opponents, but, adding together the damage inflicted over the turn, definitely made it easier for the rest of the party to finish this fight remarkably quickly. It was at this point that I started to think that this build might have some legs to stand on.

8th-13th: personally I think this is the most fun part of the build's development! Every level you get something to boost that thing you do best. If anything, I think the build loses momentum after 13th, although the TPK management spells and chunky damage boosts alleviate that somewhat. However, 9th is definitely contender for most dead level even though that's where Second Attack is picked up.

See, having two attacks is kind of irrelevant when you are using Twincast Booming Blade to get two much more powerful and potentially Controlling attacks in. This then becomes three attacks with War Magic.

As to the envy the Raven Soul might feel towards pure casters with their 3rd and 4th level spells - remember you are a magical fighter, not a wizard or cleric. It's about boosting the EK chassis' magical fighting abilities by harnessing it to the Divine Soul engine. That's why you won't see Fireballs or Spirit Guardians anywhere in this build. They're great spells but completely irrelevant to this build. Note that Raven Soul does get 3rd level slots five levels earlier than EK, and that 3rd level Shadow Blade is the maximum level casting for an EK.

Gosh, I have gone on a bit; sorry about that! Hope my reply isn't too tedious. Also, must admit a terrible personal weakness for using italics!

Question: why do people multiclass? Is it worth throwing away 9th level magic and 3rd level specialty spells @ will...like infinite counterspells, shields or misty steps...or even fireball?

 

[FrogReaver]

Question: why do people multiclass? Is it worth throwing away 9th level magic and 3rd level specialty spells @ will...like infinite counterspells, shields or misty steps...or even fireball?

What if I told you that in all liklihood you aren't going to get to 9th level spells.

 

[Esker]

Question: why do people multiclass? Is it worth throwing away 9th level magic and 3rd level specialty spells @ will...like infinite counterspells, shields or misty steps...or even fireball?

Also, wizards don't get 3rd level spells at will. They get short rest refreshing castings of two of them that don't use spell slots. So more like 3 extra counterspells and fireballs per day even if you do play at 20th.

 

[Markh3rd]

What if I told you that in all liklihood you aren't going to get to 9th level spells.

If you play AL you can take a character to 20. So it's more feasible. Especially with season 9 giving a level per game played.

 

[Blue]

Question: why do people multiclass? Is it worth throwing away 9th level magic and 3rd level specialty spells @ will...like infinite counterspells, shields or misty steps...or even fireball?

I don't plan a build for a hypothetical 1/20th of their adventuring career. I plan them to be fun and effective for as much of their effective life as I can.

Also, I don't play AL, so I plan up through somewhere in top Tier 2 through Tier 3 - that's as high effectively as I expect in the games I'm in.

Though to be truthful, I more do builds for theoretical fun. My actual characters in ongoing campaigns I usually just have a rough idea where they are going and when I level I advance thinking about party synergy more than anything else.