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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ashkelon" data-source="post: 6982947" data-attributes="member: 6774887">Battlemaster is the best for damage overall. But EK is best for utility (both in and out of combat), and defense (mage armor, shield, etc).The build only needs 2 feats to to work. So level 8 is the earliest point when it can have them and a 20 main stat as a human. Level 12 for a non human. Of course in a game where rolling for stats happens frequently, you only need a to roll a single 16 to have this combination available to any race with a +2 DEX by level 8. That will occur in over 60% of games where rolling is the preferred method used for character creation.Of course, until the point where you have a 20 DEX, either scale male or a breastplate can serve just fine. At a fraction of the cost of plate armor, they are much easier to come by. Both provide an AC of 16 which is the same as a fighter would have in chainmail. Either way, the archer will lag behind the melee fighter by 1 AC for the first few levels (assuming the melee fighter can get his hands on splint armor reasonably early). You keep saying that the archer is a champion one second and an EK the next. I have only ever used champion in relation to hemlock's analysis for ease of compution. Assume when I talk about the archer, I am never talking about the champion.So..you are gimping your damage even more by taking defensive fighting style? Further putting archery in the lead for dealing damage. I thought you already thought a 20% damage disparity was large. Take out the great weapon fighting style and the disparity jumps to over 30%. Of course the melee fighter is welcome to trade off his offense for defense if he so desires, but the comparison I am making is using two warriors who are putting their resources toward a similar goal. It would be disingenuous to compare two fighters who are devoting their resources in drastically different ways toward different goals and then try and make a meaningful comparison between the two. That is why the comparisons I have been making are using two characters both devoting the entirety of their available character options toward achieving their goal.On top of that, due to the fact that PC AC scaling doesn't really exist in 5e, the one or two extra AC won't make much of an impact at high level. When monsters have +15 to hit you, it will matter very little if your AC is 20 (they hit you 80% of the time) or 18 (they hit you 90% of the time). At that point, a 2 AC difference means you take about 12% more damage from attacks against AC.And let us not forget the defensive advantage the archer already has innately due to having a higher Dexterity. He has better initiative, meaning he is more likely to start the battle in an advantageous position or to kill enemies before they get a chance to attack as frequently. He has better Dex saving throws, meaning he takes less damage from some of the most common spells and monster abilities.As a melee fighter, I would gladly trade 2 AC for for 30% increased damage and +5 to both initiative and Dex saves.</blockquote>

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