10-12 Eldritch Knight/8-10 ?

[ZenBear]

If you go 10 levels into EK you get Eldritch Strike, and with 2 attacks per action (or 3 if you take EK to 11) and Action Surge you can nail up to 4 targets in one turn with a potent save-or-suck spell. What caster class is the best to multiclass into for the other 12-13 levels?

Furthermore, should you go EK 12 for the ASI or 10-11 in the other class?

Off the cuff my guess is Bladesinger would be a great combo to keep the same casting stat but greatly expand the spell list and available slots. Perhaps there is some bad feature overlap though? I don't know much about the Bladesinger.

[Dimers]

?? :smallconfused: The save-penalizing feature comes at 10th, not 7th -- and at that point, you're one level away from another Extra Attack, so 10th would be an odd place to stop. And once you're at 11th, you're one level away from another ASI, which you want if you intend to hit with weapon attacks and spells, unless maybe you're going melee with shillelagh (ooh, that's got rhyme and rhythm!), trying to be Wisdom-focused. Sooooo ... druid or cleric?

Or yes, some wizard subclass for Intelligence synergy. Bladesinger is heavy on defense, but you already have plenty of that as an EK, so I'd go for Enchantment for a nice full list of save-or-sucks.

EDIT: Derp, right, this isn't 3.X, your subclass in no way limits your list of spells known. Enchanter 10 / EK 10 would indeed be nice to play at 20th level ... Before that point, how about abjurer, conjurer or necromancer for combat benefits, illusionist for utility?

[ZenBear]

Whoops! Got it mixed up with War Magic. :smallredface:

[Dralnu]

Arcane Tricksters are even better than EK at this tactic because Magical Ambush can affect way more foes at once, since you just have to be hidden from them.

AT 9 / Wizard 11. Use your Cunning Action to Hide from all the enemies. Pop out of hiding to cast Hypnotic Gaze / Fear / Fireball / whatever. All the enemies you were hidden from save at disadvantage. Great success.

[ZenBear]

Arcane Tricksters are even better than EK at this tactic because Magical Ambush can affect way more foes at once, since you just have to be hidden from them.

AT 9 / Wizard 11. Use your Cunning Action to Hide from all the enemies. Pop out of hiding to cast Hypnotic Gaze / Fear / Fireball / whatever. All the enemies you were hidden from save at disadvantage. Great success.

A good point, but as I pointed out in another thread hiding may not be as easy as just hitting your target. Some DMs are hard on Stealth and won't allow a character to Hide in combat, which means you get one chance to cast that spell assuming you get the drop on your opponents. Still, AT's should be added to the conversation.

[Klorox]

If you have 10 levels of EK, 11th level is a no brainer, since you get that 3rd attack.

There's a lot of different ways you can multiclass here for effectiveness: adding rogue adds a lot of sneak attack damage, adding paladin can give you some nice smites, wizard adds lots of spells.

It really depends on what your stats are.

[joaber]

divination school for portant. This can be better than disadvantage.

[Arkhios]

Warlock has the best save or suck spells, in my opinion. At least they are the nastiest. You could take Tome Pact and add shillelagh to your cantrips that way. As EK, you could pick cantrips that care little about your intelligence, such as booming blade, so you won't have to invest much or at all on intelligence. Your EK spells could be purely abjuration + magic missile. Since you have proficiency in heavy armor, you won't need high dex either, and could easily drop/leave it at 8. The only abilities you really need would be Strength, Charisma, and Constitution, in that order.

Fighter is the best class for multiclassing after 6th level due the extra ASI, so I wouldn't worry much about lvl 12. 9 levels in warlock gets you your maximum 5th level slots. which you can use for spells from either class. Plus, they refresh at short rest.

[bid]

EK 11 / caster 9 for 5th spells is a nice breaking point.

You may do EK 10 / caster 10 if:
- you mostly use a scag weapon cantrip,
- you need eldritch strike,
- caster 10 feature is too nice to miss.

Otherwise, you might as well EK 8 / caster 12.


AT 10 is your 5th ASI and uses the same split.

[MaxWilson]

If you go 10 levels into EK you get Eldritch Strike, and with 2 attacks per action (or 3 if you take EK to 11) and Action Surge you can nail up to 4 targets in one turn with a potent save-or-suck spell. What caster class is the best to multiclass into for the other 12-13 levels?

Furthermore, should you go EK 12 for the ASI or 10-11 in the other class?

Off the cuff my guess is Bladesinger would be a great combo to keep the same casting stat but greatly expand the spell list and available slots. Perhaps there is some bad feature overlap though? I don't know much about the Bladesinger.

Sharpshooter EK 11/Rogue 2/Necromancer 7 is quite fun--I just rolled one up for a test party. Enjoy uber healing with Grim Harvest + Vampiric Touch V; spend some of your spell points on some uber skeletons and zombies to go with your Sharpshooting; throw down a Greater Invisibility and abuse Cunning Action in between full attacks for both offensive boost and defense; Haste yourself if you want the standard 4 attacks per round of a Fighter 20. You'll max out at 64 spell points and 5th level slots, which can easily maintain a full set of dozen skeleton archers (cost: 14 spell points to raise, or 12 to renew) in addition to whatever Roguish archer shenanigans you're interested in.

Depending on your mood you might go Fighter first, or Rogue/Necromancer first. I'm planning on Fighter 1-5, Wizard 1, Rogue 1-2, Necromancer 2-7, Fighter 6-11. Max Dex, leave Int at starting value (16 IIRC), take Sharpshooter, Warcaster, Resilient (Wis), Mobile. (Mobile may seem redundant on a rogue but I like the idea of being able to exploit difficult terrain for free. Also, False Fetters (a.k.a. Booming Blade).)