What classes are good to play to level 6?

[Shatterphim]

So I only play at the Adventurer League at my local store 2 hours every Wednesday. From playing Dragon Queen and Elemental Evil it looks like we only progress to level 6-7 by the end of season, not counting Expeditions.

What classes especially melee class are fun in this range? My Druid was cool because wildshape is a little OP at lower levels and gets weaker later. But I found my Bard didn't get interesting until I reached lvl6. The sad thing is most guides are theory craft and talk about lvl20.

[JAL_1138]

I've been having good luck with my bards in AL as casters, faces, and skillmonkeys in that level range, but they do get more interesting in combat around 10th.

Hard to go wrong with Fighters, Paladins, Barbarians (can take a little longer to really kick in though), Monks (if you play them as highly-mobile controllers and caster-neutralizers rather than frontline DPR), or Rogues. Hunter Rangers are good, but, as the name implies, better at range than melee.

...basically pick a martial, any martial, and they work pretty well. I'd lean toward Paladin or Rogue, I think, as they fit better into *any* party composition you might run into in AL.

[Inevitability]

I'd say either a rogue (if the campaign will be mostly non-combat) or a paladin (if the campaign will be mostly combat).

[JAL_1138]

I'd say either a rogue (if the campaign will be mostly non-combat) or a paladin (if the campaign will be mostly combat).

AL tends to be a mix, at least the various one-shots (we don't do more than a few early parts of the main modules like HotDQ or PotA at the store I play at). A skillmonkey has been extremely helpful on plenty of occasions, but so has combat effectiveness and healing. Rogues do fine in combat-heavy sessions; it's kind of rare not to get Sneak Attack most rounds in AL combats.

Rather than trying to guess which has more useful abilities for the session, pick whichever looks more appealing. Both work very well.

[Gwendol]

Ranger (hunter) is quite strong during the lower half of the game. I've played a wood elf ranger and it worked very well.

[pibby]

Although not a pure melee class Warlocks are pretty good once they get Pact of the Blade (and yes I know there's an entire thread about it right now but I want to talk about how they are at early levels). You can even have the same stats that you'd have for a Fighter fit for a Bladelock, the trick is getting there. But one thing you can do is level a character to level 3 and then turn them into a full Bladelock since you can still change you're character within tier 1. Give it Medium Armor proficiency with the Variant Human and then pick up Heavy Armor proficiency if you want to at level 4 if you're going with a strength build and then there you go.

Aside from the spells, the blade from your pact is a magical weapon so it gets over nonmagical weapon resistances. No longer do you need to fight for a magic weapon that may not even be your preferred type, you can just make it! You can even change its form too.

[D.U.P.A.]

I would go for Paladin because of the aura

[EvilAnagram]

Rangers, Paladins, Fighters, and Rogues all have a ton going on at those levels. Ranger and Fighter for DPS, Paladin and Rogue for combined DPS/Utility.

[Corey]

Those who say Bard isn't good in combat until Level 6 or 10 or whatever -- how are you playing that? I ask because multiple possible approaches come to mind (and they overlap):


Good control spells, 1 per encounter, some at spells levels at least 2-3. (Which?)
Valor Bard getting a second attack.
Lore Bard taking another class' attack cantrip (presumably Eldritch Blast, lack of Agonizing Blast notwithstanding).

[djreynolds]

Any martial is great at 5th level for the second attack and you can multiclass for 1 level in something else. This is an easy level to start at, to gain utility and not feel like you have to wait. The question should be we are staring at 6th and ending about ____?

If you say 11th, then I'll stop and go that's too long to play a fighter a wait for that 3rd attack. Perhaps I'll stop at 5th and go rogue or whatever. 11th level is a key point for martial types.

[Shatterphim]

Those who say Bard isn't good in combat until Level 6 or 10 or whatever -- how are you playing that? I ask because multiple possible approaches come to mind (and they overlap):


Good control spells, 1 per encounter, some at spells levels at least 2-3. (Which?)
Valor Bard getting a second attack.
Lore Bard taking another class' attack cantrip (presumably Eldritch Blast, lack of Agonizing Blast notwithstanding).


The thing is that the Valor 2nd attack and Lore's Additional Magical Secrets kick in at level 6 and last season, I leveled to 6 after the final battle.


The question should be we are staring at 6th and ending about ____?


Start at level 1 end at level 6.

Today is the first day of the new season and I made a Goliath Rogue modeled after Batman. He's got secret identity background is is called The Orc Knight. :D I might change to Paladin before lvl4

[djreynolds]

See, that's cool.

Fighter will have two ASI by 6th level, so he may not be worth it if the game ends at 6th, but if it continues 3/4 of the way to 7th he'll be nice to have.

5th level for 3rd level spells, yeah casters.

Druid, dire wolf

Ranger is sweet at low levels. Archery style and sharpshooter, forget the ASI. Colossus slayer is an extra 1d8 to all wounded enemy and then there is hunter's mark. Would be my pick. If you rolled well, SPBI at 5th level +3 proficiency bonus, +2 archery style, lets say 16-17 dex (wood elf why not Legolas is cool) +3. Plus 8 to hit at 5th level. Sharpshooter will give you -5, still +3 to hit and 1d8 and possibly + damage from dex and +10 from sharpshooter. Cure wound spell. Ranger is often overlooked.