D&D 5E Why do people think elven accuracy is so great?

[Ancalagon]

I would not consider any of those are "on demand" as they require a spell and use an action which is a big cut into their damage output over a combat as compared with attacking that first turn. If we are looking at DPR, sure this will bring it up, but it requires an entire turn of combat (and lost damage that turn) to get it up. Over the course of most combats I think you will do less damage overall.

Now if you are playing a fighter with blind fighting and your party wizard is going to throw down darkness regularly then sure.

It is a frequent flaw in these analysis that opportunity cost is not considered. GWM's damage bonus is only about 2-4 per attack in reality, for example.

 

[Dausuul]

Assume a base accuracy of 60%, and an attack dealing, say, 1d8+4 damage.

Attack with advantage:

• Chance of a hit: 84%
• Chance of adding crit damage: 9.75%
• Average damage: 7.14 (0.84 x 8.5) + ~0.44 (0.0975 x 4.5) = 7.58

Attack with elven accuracy and advantage:

• Chance of a hit: 93.6%
• Chance of adding crit damage: 14.2625%
• Average damage: ~7.96 (0.936 x 8.5) + ~0.64 (0.142625 x 4.5) = 8.6

So, if you can reliably get advantage on your attack, EA gives you about a 13.5% damage boost. Not bad, not spectacular. If you need to even up your attack stat, and you're only interested in Moar Damage rather than spells or combat tricks, EA will do you fine. But wait; what if you also have Sharpshooter and you're using the -5/+10?

Attack with advantage and SS:

• Chance of a hit: 57.75%
• Chance of adding crit damage: 9.75%
• Average damage: ~10.68 (0.5775 x 18.5) + ~0.44 (0.0975 x 4.5) = 11.12

Attack with elven accuracy and advantage and SS:

• Chance of a hit: 72.5375%
• Chance of adding crit damage: 14.2625%
• Average damage: ~13.42 (0.725375 x 18.5) + ~0.64 (0.142625 x 4.5) = 14.06

Now the benefit is much more pronounced, a solid 26%. And this is for a feat that comes with a +1 stat boost, so you don't generally have to choose between leveling your attack stat and EA; you can have your cake and eat it too. As for whether you can get advantage in the first place... if you're using a Sharpshooter build, you're already grabbing advantage any way you can get it. You aren't going to be investing any more resources to get advantage for EA.

(I might add that when I started writing this post, I thought I was going to be demonstrating that EA isn't very good. Turns out... in the right build, it really does live up to the hype.)

 

[ECMO3]

So, if you can reliably get advantage on your attack, EA gives you about a 13.5% damage boost. Not bad, not spectacular. But wait; what if you also have Sharpshooter and you're using the -5/+10?

Agree but this assumes you can get advantage for free.

If you can hit for 60%, after you are in turn 3 you are barely ahead at all.

 

[Dausuul]

Agree but this assumes you can get advantage for free.

If you can hit for 60%, after you are in turn 3 you are barely ahead at all.

No. It assumes that you have advantage without spending any resources you wouldn't have spent anyway. That is quite different from "free."

If you build a warlock using the Devil's Sight/darkness combo, you're going to be using DS/darkness whether you have Elven Accuracy or not--because advantage, all by itself, is super powerful and worth a hefty price tag. So, if you're already paying that price tag, EA is pure gravy.

Taking EA just because everyone else is doing it won't get you very far. It is a feat for certain builds. But, in those builds, it does serious work.

 

[Blue]

I would play a bladesinger as a striker rather than a tank, using Misty Step or Invisibility to withdraw.

Mechanically the bladesinger natively makes a better tank than a striker. Well, when I played mine (1st to 13th) it was pre-Tasha's, so melee damage was never at striker levels except the one combat I did Tenser's Transformation - but I really missed out on Misty Step, Shield, Absorb Elements and the like, so I'm not sure that spell was a net positive. Even with one attack getting switched to a cantrip I don't see them at striker damage levels.

On the other hand, between the blandesinging bonus to AC and Shield you can have/generate a very high AC considering bounded accuracy. Mix in Absorb Elements and Counterspell for other times and you've got tankiness. And that's before things like blur, greater invisibility, and the like.