Best Martial in the Game Contest(No magic rule!)

[ImSAMazing]

The thread has been moved, please go to the new thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?439399-Best-Martial-in-the-Game-Contest-Revised!(Please-move-your-builds-to-this-post-)&p=19774303#post19774303). May the damage be with you!

[Submortimer]

I will be participating with my favorite warlock/paladin build.

[CNagy]

Looks fun, I'll be participating.

[Naanomi]

What can we assume about battlefield? Stuff to hide behind? 'Natural environment'? Etc?

Does an animal companion invalidate the 'must use a weapon' rule?

[ImSAMazing]

What can we assume about battlefield? Stuff to hide behind? 'Natural environment'? Etc?

Does an animal companion invalidate the 'must use a weapon' rule?

If the animal companion attacks, it counts for that rule yes. Asume an arena of 60' diameter nothing to hide behind.

[Naanomi]

Ok, probably won't win but I'll give it a go with a strength rogue/fighter build

[ImSAMazing]

I will be participating with my favorite paladin build.

Looks fun, I'll be participating.


Ok, probably won't win but I'll give it a go with a strength rogue/fighter build


Great. Good luck all, may the damage be with you.

[MrStabby]

I am interested - but what it the AC of the target used for average damage and Nova damage?

This may determine if I enter my Assassin Champion or not...

[ImSAMazing]

I am interested - but what it the AC of the target used for average damage and Nova damage?

This may determine if I enter my Assassin Champion or not...

Good question. Let's say you autohit but never crit naturally. Except features like Champion (improved crit) mean that every 10 attacks one is a crit, I'll remember that in my calculations.

[MrStabby]

Good question. Let's say you autohit but never crit naturally. Except features like Champion (improved crit) mean that every 10 attacks one is a crit, I'll remember that in my calculations.

Ah, ok. Champion is probably out then.

How do rogues work? Are they assumed to have someone hostile next to their enemy to be able to sneak attack? Is the assassinate ability giving surprise? Once per each encounter?

[ImSAMazing]

Ah, ok. Champion is probably out then.

How do rogues work? Are they assumed to have someone hostile next to their enemy to be able to sneak attack? Is the assassinate ability giving surprise? Once per each encounter?

Rogue's always have sneakattack on, the assassinate ability will be ruled as nova damage 1 / encounter.

[MrStabby]

Ok, seems reasonable - so no benefits from things like the alert feet to get a second round of nova attacks...

Just one more thing... Is the target assumed to have infinite hitpoints so no issues about overkill or having to split attacks (and also a single target so whirlwind attack is pretty much worthless)?

[ImSAMazing]

Ok, seems reasonable - so no benefits from things like the alert feet to get a second round of nova attacks...

Just one more thing... Is the target assumed to have infinite hitpoints so no issues about overkill or having to split attacks (and also a single target so whirlwind attack is pretty much worthless)?

The enemy is optimal for your build. For example:
1. Harry the lvl 17 Fighter is fighting and is a Strength-Based Battlemaster. He chooses to fight ONE enemy because that's the best for his build.
2. Larry the lvl 17 Ranger is fighting and is a Dex-Based Hunter. He chooses to fight multiple enemies because that's the best for his build.


You get to choose how many you are fighting, the creature(s) has(or have) infinite hitpoints, and their positions is always optimal for you.

[Giant2005]

Let's say you autohit but never crit naturally.

I was going to enter but this rules is a deal-breaker for me. It screws up the results too much for the exercise to have any value, and therefore isn't worth my time - it completely erases the value of advantage/disadvantage and removes variable damage's advantage over static damage.

[ImSAMazing]

I was going to enter but this rules is a deal-breaker for me. It screws up the results too much for the exercise to have any value, and therefore isn't worth my time - it completely erases the value of advantage/disadvantage and removes variable damage's advantage over static damage.

Hmm true. How would you do it then?

[ImSAMazing]

I could add in a special section for your grade called: "Damage on crits"?

[Giant2005]

Hmm true. How would you do it then?

I would essentially get rid of everything you have written under "your grade" and I would invent an enemy that has infinite hitpoints, give it a to-hit value, an average damage value and an AC value and see how much damage the build inflicts against it before that enemy reduces them to 0 HP.

[ImSAMazing]

I would essentially get rid of everything you have written under "your grade" and I would invent an enemy that has infinite hitpoints, give it a to-hit value, an average damage value and an AC value and see how much damage the build inflicts against it before that enemy reduces them to 0 HP.

Allright. Well, lets do that then!


You are fighting 1, ONE, enemy with 16 AC, infinite HP, 18 on all scores, has +10 to hit on his 1 attack that deals 10 damage. The more damage you do to it before it kills you, the higher your grade.


That's the new way how your grade will be calculated! Good luck guys, may the damage be with you.

[Giant2005]

Allright. Well, lets do that then!


You are fighting 1, ONE, enemy with 16 AC, infinite HP, 18 on all scores, has +10 to hit on his 1 attack that deals 10 damage. The more damage you do to it before it kills you, the higher your grade.


Will that be sufficient?

Kind of.
It is a good metric but the values seem awfully low for the level. This (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?387385-Monster-Stat-By-CR-(58-Done)) thread would help you a lot. It lists the average AC, damage and to-hit of monsters of any given CR, so just choose whatever CR you think is relevant and take the stats from that.

[ImSAMazing]

Kind of.
It is a good metric but the values seem awfully low for the level. This (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?387385-Monster-Stat-By-CR-(58-Done)) thread would help you a lot. It lists the average AC, damage and to-hit of monsters of any given CR, so just choose whatever CR you think is relevant and take the stats from that.

Allright. It's updated to 18 AC, and it now has 2 attacks with each +10 to hit each deal 15 damage. Tell me if you are still interested, because this is how it's gonna be I think.

[Ralanr]

I think I'll give it a shot. What if your build is placed by someone else first?

[ImSAMazing]

I think I'll give it a shot. What if your build is placed by someone else first?

First, Good Luck! Second, you may have the same build(for example same race + same mc combo), but as long as you aren't a total copy it doesn't matter that much. For example, 2 17 mountain dwarf barbarian builds are allowed as long as their choices aren't exactly the same(same fighting style, same archetype, same archetype choices). For example:
1. Orgu is a lvl 17 Mountain Dwarf Bear totem barbarian.
2. Ringu is a lvl 17 Mountain Dwarf Eagle totem barbarian.

Both are allowed in the contest.

1. Orgu is a lvl 17 Mountain Dwarf Bear totem barbarian
2. Ringu is a lvl 17 Mountain Dwarf Bear totem barbarian

In this case, Ringu is not allowed because it is exactly the same as Orgu and Orgu was first.

So yes, it's smart to be as fast as possible.

[Giant2005]

Allright. It's updated to 18 AC, and it now has 2 attacks with each +10 to hit each deal 15 damage. Tell me if you are still interested, because this is how it's gonna be I think.

Yep, I'm in.

[ImSAMazing]

Yep, I'm in.

Great. May the damage be with you!

[AvatarVecna]

I'll probably submit something to this. Probably a barbarian.

[Giant2005]

Is the Mythweaver's sheet really necessary? It doesn't seem set up in a way to easily display multiclassing and you can express all of the relevant info in just a couple of lines fairly easily without it.

[SharkForce]

for shoving-related reasons, it is probably relevant to state the size of the infinite-HP target.

[ImSAMazing]

Is the Mythweaver's sheet really necessary? It doesn't seem set up in a way to easily display multiclassing and you can express all of the relevant info in just a couple of lines fairly easily without it.

If you can make sure everyone(inclusive me) can read the sheet easily(no password required for example), it's ok. I do want to see a character sheet in some way.

[ImSAMazing]

for shoving-related reasons, it is probably relevant to state the size of the infinite-HP target.

You are right. It's Large.

[Mara]

Level 17 is pretty high. What's the grade of a wizard who true polymorphed into an adult gold dragon?

[ImSAMazing]

Level 17 is pretty high. What's the grade of a wizard who true polymorphed into an adult gold dragon?

A lvl 17 wizard doesn't count as Martial.

[Giant2005]

Okay, I have an entrant and you can feel free to disqualify it if you like because the result feels like I have cheated.

Eldritch Knight 8, Warlock 4, Arcane Trickster 5.
Race: Variant Human
Stats: Str: 10, Dex: 15 (+1 Racial, +4 via ASIs = 20), Con: 15 (+1 Racial, +2 via ASIs = 18), Int: 8, Wis: 10, Cha: 13
Feats: Heavy Armor Master, Defensive Duelist
Invocations: Devil's Sight, Fiendish Vigor
Fighting Style: Defense
Relevant spells: Darkness, Blade Ward
Armament: Rapier, Shield +1, Adamantine Plate

The basic idea is to not get hurt. Start the fight with Darkness for Advantage on all attacks and disadvantage on all incoming attacks, use Fiendish Vigor to gain temp HP, and use Blade Ward every turn (Unless Fiendish vigor needs renewed) while relying on the EK's bonus action attack for damage. The build has an AC of 22, imposes disadvantage on all attacks and treats incoming critical hits as ordinary hits. If a hit manages to get through that then Defensive Duelist will most likely turn it into a miss. If an attack will get through Defensive Duelist, then you use the Rogue's Uncanny Dodge to bring the incoming damage down to 3 which is below the minimum value of Fiendish Vigor. If that lowers Fiendish Vigor's temp HP to 3 or less, reapply Fiendish Vigor and repeat.
The end result is a character that has just as many HP as the infinite HP enemy, and can inflict damage while doing so.

[AvatarVecna]

I have a feeling that, if a Wizard using spells to pretend to be martial is disallowed, a build with three separate spellcasting classes is probably also disallowed (since it's using spells to power their offense/defense, which a martial couldn't do). Which brings up an interesting question: do paladin smites break the "martials only" rule, since they're powered by magic?

Or not, I guess.

[ImSAMazing]

Okay, I have an entrant and you can feel free to disqualify it if you like because the result feels like I have cheated.

Eldritch Knight 8, Warlock 4, Arcane Trickster 5.
Race: Variant Human
Stats: Str: 10, Dex: 15 (+1 Racial, +4 via ASIs = 20), Con: 15 (+1 Racial, +2 via ASIs = 18), Int: 8, Wis: 10, Cha: 13
Feats: Heavy Armor Master, Defensive Duelist
Invocations: Devil's Sight, Fiendish Vigor
Fighting Style: Defense

Relevant spells: Darkness
Armament: Rapier, Shield +1, Adamantine Plate

The basic idea is to not get hurt. Start the fight with Darkness for Advantage on all attacks and disadvantage on all incoming attacks, use Fiendish Vigor to gain temp HP, and use Blade Ward every turn (Unless Fiendish vigor needs renewed) while relying on the EK's bonus action attack for damage. The build has an AC of 22, imposes disadvantage on all attacks and treats incoming critical hits as ordinary hits. If a hit manages to get through that then Defensive Duelist will most likely turn it into a miss. If an attack will get through Defensive Duelist, then you use the Rogue's Uncanny Dodge to bring the incoming damage down to 3 which is below the minimum value of Fiendish Vigor. If that lowers Fiendish Vigor's temp HP to 3 or less, reapply Fiendish Vigor and repeat.
The end result is a character that has just as many HP as the infinite HP enemy, and can inflict damage while doing so.
Accepted. Great work.

[ImSAMazing]

I have a feeling that, if a Wizard using spells to pretend to be martial is disallowed, a build with three separate spellcasting classes is probably also disallowed (since it's using spells to power their offense/defense, which a martial couldn't do). Which brings up an interesting question: do paladin smites break the "martials only" rule, since they're powered by magic?

First, Smite doesn't count as magic. Second, a martial is someone who can use magic, but as secondary thing. So no 6th level+ slots, since you aren't a full-caster.

[AvatarVecna]

So straight Bladelock or Valor Bard wouldn't count, since they're capable of 9ths, even though they're designed to use magic specifically to enhance their combat capabilities? Sure, okay.

[ImSAMazing]

So straight Bladelock or Valor Bard wouldn't count, since they're capable of 9ths, even though they're designed to use magic specifically to enhance their combat capabilities? Sure, okay.

True. Those are exceptions. Thanks for pointing out.

[Paeleus]

I believe I'll be participating.

Fighter/sorc.

(Is favored soul available? If so, I'll be altering my build.)

[Ruslan]

Clarification: how does Defensive Duelist work? It is:

(a)
"Your enemy hit AC 20"
"Well, my AC is 18, so I use Defensive Duelist to negate the hit"

or, (b)
"Your enemy hit"
"Which AC did he hit?"
"I'm not saying exactly. He beat your current AC, that's all you know"
"I use defensive Duelist"
"Sorry, he hit AC 24, which means that even with Defensive Duelist it's still a hit"

[ImSAMazing]

I believe I'll be participating.

Fighter/sorc.

(Is favored soul available? If so, I'll be altering my build.)
It's allowed.


Clarification: how does Defensive Duelist work? It is:

(a)
"Your enemy hit AC 20"
"Well, my AC is 18, so I use Defensive Duelist to negate the hit"

or, (b)
"Your enemy hit"
"Which AC did he hit?"
"I'm not saying exactly. He beat your current AC, that's all you know"
"I use defensive Duelist"
"Sorry, he hit AC 24, which means that even with Defensive Duelist it's still a hit"
I believe A.

[AvatarVecna]

Are we rolling HP, assuming average, or assuming maximum?

[Ruslan]

Okay, I have an entrant and you can feel free to disqualify it if you like because the result feels like I have cheated.

Eldritch Knight 8, Warlock 4, Arcane Trickster 5.
Race: Variant Human
Stats: Str: 10, Dex: 15 (+1 Racial, +4 via ASIs = 20), Con: 15 (+1 Racial, +2 via ASIs = 18), Int: 8, Wis: 10, Cha: 13
Feats: Heavy Armor Master, Defensive Duelist
Invocations: Devil's Sight, Fiendish Vigor
Fighting Style: Defense
Relevant spells: Darkness, Blade Ward
Armament: Rapier, Shield +1, Adamantine Plate

The basic idea is to not get hurt. Start the fight with Darkness for Advantage on all attacks and disadvantage on all incoming attacks, use Fiendish Vigor to gain temp HP, and use Blade Ward every turn (Unless Fiendish vigor needs renewed) while relying on the EK's bonus action attack for damage. The build has an AC of 22, imposes disadvantage on all attacks and treats incoming critical hits as ordinary hits. If a hit manages to get through that then Defensive Duelist will most likely turn it into a miss. If an attack will get through Defensive Duelist, then you use the Rogue's Uncanny Dodge to bring the incoming damage down to 3 which is below the minimum value of Fiendish Vigor. If that lowers Fiendish Vigor's temp HP to 3 or less, reapply Fiendish Vigor and repeat.
The end result is a character that has just as many HP as the infinite HP enemy, and can inflict damage while doing so.
This is a wonderful build. I had an idea similar to this one, that can deal a huge amount of damage simply by means of not dying for a very long time, but your build is better, since your guy will actually never die, and damage is all but infinite. Well done. TBH, you already won.

[AvatarVecna]

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the apparent winner of the "best martial character" contest is the Eldritch Knight/Arcane Trickster/Warlock focused on being unkillable in a 1v1 fight while still being able to deal damage.

[Jamesps]

I came up with a similar idea that uses Foresight instead. It ends up doing more damage just because Foresight has a longer duration than Darkness.

[Naanomi]

Yeah being unkillable won the last time someone did robot boxing

Is the target's attack melee, ranged, or either? Does it have reach? What is its move speed and can it fly or burrow?

[BranMan]

Yeah being unkillable won the last time someone did robot boxing

Is the target's attack melee, ranged, or either? Does it have reach? What is its move speed and can it fly or burrow?

Yeah, this is pretty important, otherwise I could just make a ranger 3/ warlock 2 and be a halfling riding a vulture and simply ping with Eblast for infinite damage as well.

[Naanomi]

Yeah, this is pretty important, otherwise I could just make a ranger 3/ warlock 2 and be a halfling riding a vulture and simply ping with Eblast for infinite damage as well.

Eblast breaks the rules but yeah in principle this sort of thing

[Gnomes2169]

This looks like a fun mental exercise, so I'll bite. Though it is odd how a "martial" competition allows spells of any kind (even if level locked).

[AvatarVecna]

Race: Dark Elf
Class: Valor Bard 17
Attributes (lvl 1): 12/14/14/8/8/16
Attributes (lvl 17): 10/18/14/8/8/20
Lvl 4 ASI/Feat: Cha +2
Lvl 8 ASI/Feat: Cha +2
Lvl 12 ASI/Feat: Defensive Duelist
Lvl 16 ASI/Feat: Dex +2

The only spell this build absolutely, positively needs is Bestow Curse.

Basic "Battle" Plan
1. Target my enemy with a lvl 5 Bestow Curse, with the intended curse being "disadvantage on Wisdom Saves".
2. Repeat step 1 until either I run out of lvl 5 spell slots, or my enemy has disadvantage on Wisdom Saves"; if I'm out of lvl 5 spell slots, I use my level 6 spell slot instead.
3. Target my enemy with a lvl 9 Bestow Curse, with the intended curse being "Wisdom Save to avoid wasting your action every turn".
4. Target my enemy with a lvl 8 Bestow Curse, with the intended curse being "Wisdom Save to avoid wasting your action every turn".
5. Target my enemy with a lvl 7 Bestow Curse, with the intended curse being "Wisdom Save to avoid wasting your action every turn".
6. Target my enemy with a lvl 6 Bestow Curse, with the intended curse being "Wisdom Save to avoid wasting your action every turn".
7. Target my enemy with a lvl 5 Bestow Curse, with the intended curse being "Wisdom Save to avoid wasting your action every turn"; if there are no lvl 5 slots left, ignore this step.
8. Take a long rest. When you wake up, start over at step 1, mixing and matching between the two curses and the various spell levels 5th level and up.
9. Once the enemy has enough permanent curses on them (one giving disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws, and the rest forcing a save to avoid wasting your action), proceed to whip out your magic rapier and deal infinite damage to the target.


Unless the enemy gets extraordinarily lucky during the early rounds of this, you'll still be very much alive, and the enemy will have disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws. At that point, you start pouring on the action wasting curses, and once you've got 3-5 of those up, you can basically guarantee that they'll waste enough actions in a row for you to get an uninterrupted
Barring some extreme luck on the part of our boxing robot friend, even if they never tire of fighting, they'll virtually never get a chance to attack you, even while sleeping. Those 9th lvl Bestow Curses? Those don't ever wear off; stack up enough of them, and the odds of actually getting to act during a round has become basically impossible. Sucks to be them...

Thoughts? I will admit, I haven't added magic items to this yet.

[Jamesps]

Just for kicks I made a totally nonmagical variant (except with the magic items):


Class: Barbarian 1/Fighter Champion 5/Rogue (Whatever) 11
Race: Variant Human
Relevant Stats: Strength 14, Con 20, Dex 20, AC 24, hp 183
Skills: Athletics (with expertise) +14, can't roll below 10 (minimum roll 24 is equal to opponent's max roll)
Equipment: Rapier, Bracers of Defense, Ring of Protection? (Don't have my DMG, is this an uncommon item?). 39 healing potions.
Relevant Feats and Abilities: Sneak Attack 6d6, Rage 2/day, Critical 19-20, Mariner Fighting Style, Defensive Duelist feat.

Battle Tactics:
Round 1: Go first (probably). Rage, move up and use the first attack to shove opponent to the ground, then grapple them.
Round 2: They can't escape. You have advantage to attack (sneak attack) they have disadvantage to hit you. Use defensive duelist to and the fact that they are at disadvantage on a difficult roll to avoid most of their damage. Use uncanny dodge instead of duelist if they crit you.

Attack twice per round for 2d8+6d6+10 with a not insignificant chance to crit each round (which may add sneak attack dice!). You only miss 9% of the time, which is roughly cancelled out by crits meaning over the long haul you'll be doing about 40 dmg/round.

Don't worry about them escaping! Once you grapple them they quite literally can't change the situation as the best they can do is tie your athletics roll.

Round Much later: Use second wind to replenish hp. When you get pretty low, use your second rage. Average damage taken for non-rage rounds is 0.168. For rage rounds it will be a little under half that (0.084)

This strategy should keep the fight going for about 1162 rounds before you need to dip into your healing potions (that includes an average roll for second wind, and damage reduction for 20 of the rounds). Healing potions will slightly slow your damage, but give you another 1625 rounds. Of which you'd be able to use 1585 rounds for attacking.

Total damage is (1162+1585) * ~40 = 109,880 damage for a fight that lasts 4.58 hours or thereabouts.


It should be competitive with an invincible mage build that relies on foresight, even if it doesn't actually emerge victorious.

[Giant2005]

Well done. TBH, you already won.

That isn't actually true.
Eldritch Knight 7, Warlock 2, Arcane Trickster 5, Sorcerer 3 would do the same thing but better. It loses 2 ASIs/feats but I didn't actually bother taking the Variant Human feat in my build, so that is one of them gained already and it can afford to lose 2 Con and still be immune to losing Concentration, so losing two ASIs/Feats is pretty much irrelevant for the build. What it gains is more spell slots for Darkness as well as the Extend Spell Metaamagic to get more mileage out of 3 of those Darkness castings. It essentially does the same thing but for a longer amount of time.

[Naanomi]

When you have to start reading exahstion rules to decide how long your tactic can continue...

While we may refine the build (by increasing per-round damage or extending duration of limited resources), it will win unless we can avoid damage entirely by evading combat with the target (which probably requires knowledge of its mobility amongst other things) and focusing fully on offense we won't best it

[AvatarVecna]

None of these super-stupid magic tactics would be viable if magic was totally banned. Giant2005's build got approved when it had magic B.S., and mine just took that a step further to become a literally unfightable mage. But it's all magic bull****, when it's obvious this contest isn't meant for that kind of stuff (even though one of those builds got approved by the OP).

[Jamesps]

None of these super-stupid magic tactics would be viable if magic was totally banned. Giant2005's build got approved when it had magic B.S., and mine just took that a step further to become a literally unfightable mage. But it's all magic bull****, when it's obvious this contest isn't meant for that kind of stuff (even though one of those builds got approved by the OP).

To be fair, if the level limit was set to 18 Champion would be doing pretty well in the invincible build scheme.

[AvatarVecna]

Oh definitely, that would make a straight fighter much more competitive. Hell, if we went all the way to 20, we'd have unlimited rage barbarians with 24 Str/Con to deal with as well. The level limit almost seems arbitrary; the only good thing about it is that you can't get 9th level spells as well as a Fighter dip; if we'd had even a single other level to work with, Fighter 1/Bladelock 17 could work wonders.

[tgva8889]

I guess since they've been brought up: what save bonus does the enemy have? How do they respond to being asked to make saving throws?

[AvatarVecna]

I guess since they've been brought up: what save bonus does the enemy have? How do they respond to being asked to make saving throws?

The OP states that they have 18s in every stat. It made no mention of save proficiencies or proficiency bonus, though. That said, calculating it from his attack bonus, I can assume that it's a +6 proficiency bonus, although that doesn't change the lack of saves declared as proficient.

[tgva8889]

The OP states that they have 18s in every stat. It made no mention of save proficiencies or proficiency bonus, though. That said, calculating it from his attack bonus, I can assume that it's a +6 proficiency bonus, although that doesn't change the lack of saves declared as proficient.

A +4 bonus on saves is...low, isn't it?

[AvatarVecna]

A +4 bonus on saves is...low, isn't it?

It's high for a non-proficient save. It's really low for a proficient save, unless you're level 1.

[ImSAMazing]

First, the enemy moves with 40' and also has the same ranged attacks.

Second, I am thinking to completely ban magic for the sake of being Martial. What do you guys think?

[AvatarVecna]

Second, I am thinking to completely ban magic for the sake of being Martial. What do you guys think?

Loving it.

[ImSAMazing]

Loving it.

Allright. Let's change the rules then. Paladin is allowed if he uses his slot for smiting, not for spells.

[ImSAMazing]

Okay, I have an entrant and you can feel free to disqualify it if you like because the result feels like I have cheated.

Eldritch Knight 8, Warlock 4, Arcane Trickster 5.
Race: Variant Human
Stats: Str: 10, Dex: 15 (+1 Racial, +4 via ASIs = 20), Con: 15 (+1 Racial, +2 via ASIs = 18), Int: 8, Wis: 10, Cha: 13
Feats: Heavy Armor Master, Defensive Duelist
Invocations: Devil's Sight, Fiendish Vigor
Fighting Style: Defense
Relevant spells: Darkness, Blade Ward
Armament: Rapier, Shield +1, Adamantine Plate

The basic idea is to not get hurt. Start the fight with Darkness for Advantage on all attacks and disadvantage on all incoming attacks, use Fiendish Vigor to gain temp HP, and use Blade Ward every turn (Unless Fiendish vigor needs renewed) while relying on the EK's bonus action attack for damage. The build has an AC of 22, imposes disadvantage on all attacks and treats incoming critical hits as ordinary hits. If a hit manages to get through that then Defensive Duelist will most likely turn it into a miss. If an attack will get through Defensive Duelist, then you use the Rogue's Uncanny Dodge to bring the incoming damage down to 3 which is below the minimum value of Fiendish Vigor. If that lowers Fiendish Vigor's temp HP to 3 or less, reapply Fiendish Vigor and repeat.
The end result is a character that has just as many HP as the infinite HP enemy, and can inflict damage while doing so.
The thread has been moved, please go to the new thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?439399-Best-Martial-in-the-Game-Contest-Revised!(Please-move-your-builds-to-this-post-)&p=19774303#post19774303). May the damage be with you!

[ImSAMazing]

Just for kicks I made a totally nonmagical variant (except with the magic items):


Class: Barbarian 1/Fighter Champion 5/Rogue (Whatever) 11
Race: Variant Human
Relevant Stats: Strength 14, Con 20, Dex 20, AC 24, hp 183
Skills: Athletics (with expertise) +14, can't roll below 10 (minimum roll 24 is equal to opponent's max roll)
Equipment: Rapier, Bracers of Defense, Ring of Protection? (Don't have my DMG, is this an uncommon item?). 39 healing potions.
Relevant Feats and Abilities: Sneak Attack 6d6, Rage 2/day, Critical 19-20, Mariner Fighting Style, Defensive Duelist feat.

Battle Tactics:
Round 1: Go first (probably). Rage, move up and use the first attack to shove opponent to the ground, then grapple them.
Round 2: They can't escape. You have advantage to attack (sneak attack) they have disadvantage to hit you. Use defensive duelist to and the fact that they are at disadvantage on a difficult roll to avoid most of their damage. Use uncanny dodge instead of duelist if they crit you.

Attack twice per round for 2d8+6d6+10 with a not insignificant chance to crit each round (which may add sneak attack dice!). You only miss 9% of the time, which is roughly cancelled out by crits meaning over the long haul you'll be doing about 40 dmg/round.

Don't worry about them escaping! Once you grapple them they quite literally can't change the situation as the best they can do is tie your athletics roll.

Round Much later: Use second wind to replenish hp. When you get pretty low, use your second rage. Average damage taken for non-rage rounds is 0.168. For rage rounds it will be a little under half that (0.084)

This strategy should keep the fight going for about 1162 rounds before you need to dip into your healing potions (that includes an average roll for second wind, and damage reduction for 20 of the rounds). Healing potions will slightly slow your damage, but give you another 1625 rounds. Of which you'd be able to use 1585 rounds for attacking.

Total damage is (1162+1585) * ~40 = 109,880 damage for a fight that lasts 4.58 hours or thereabouts.


It should be competitive with an invincible mage build that relies on foresight, even if it doesn't actually emerge victorious.

This. Is. Awesome. Please move this build to the other thread, you make a great chance to win!