I want to be an Anti-Mage, but am not sure how.

[Mr.Wizzard]

Got another game I recently joined. Seemed like a lot of fun, but I'm trying to noodle out another character concept. I've been trying make a good Mage Slayer, that is someone who takes out enemy mages.

The campaign I'm apart of is West Marches style, it's going to be PVE in the early levels, then PVP at the later levels. I unfortunately did not roll the best stats. Not the worst either, but not the best.

15,14,12,10,10,6

We are limited to only the PHB and the DMG, written as is. No homebrew or special rulings. I'm leaning towards Eldritch Knight, but I find a lot of people arguing against it on other forums.

On a side note, I am interested in modeling this character after the style of the Dragon Age Blood Mage or Knight enchanter. Carrying around a sword staff, heavily armored and casting spells. That could easily be replicated by Magic Initiate though, if going Eldritch knight was that bad.

Your thoughts?

[Naanomi]

Might you consider an Ancients Paladin? They've got great anti-Magic capabilities and still fit the otherall asthetics

[CantigThimble]

V-Human Fighter 1/Fey Bladelock X
Str: 15+1
Dex: 6
Con: 12
Int: 10
Wis: 10
Cha: 14+1

Wear heavy armor and a shield, take dueling style. Take mage slayer at level 1 and maybe shield master later on.

Step 1: Get past meatshields. (using the feylock 6th level ability or misty step)
Step 2: Keep filthy wizard scum from doing anything. This is accomplished by A. being in melee so his ranged attack rolls suck. B. Having advantage against spells with saving throws thanks to mage slayer. C. Using mage slayer to break his concentration (sometimes as soon as he casts the spell). D. Counterspell.
Step 3: Stab the wizard while party wipes out his guards unhindered by magic.

However, one big thing you want to ask your GM about is whether or not you can identify what spell is being cast before deciding to use counterspell. That changes the effectiveness of this build significantly.

[Mr.Wizzard]

V-Human Fighter 1/Fey Bladelock X
Str: 15+1
Dex: 6
Con: 12
Int: 10
Wis: 10
Cha: 14+1

Wear heavy armor and a shield, take dueling style. Take mage slayer at level 1 and maybe shield master later on.

Step 1: Get past meatshields. (using the feylock 6th level ability or misty step)
Step 2: Keep filthy wizard scum from doing anything. This is accomplished by A. being in melee so his ranged attack rolls suck. B. Having advantage against spells with saving throws thanks to mage slayer. C. Using mage slayer to break his concentration (sometimes as soon as he casts the spell). D. Counterspell.
Step 3: Stab the wizard while party wipes out his guards unhindered by magic.

However, one big thing you want to ask your GM about is whether or not you can identify what spell is being cast before deciding to use counterspell. That changes the effectiveness of this build significantly.
Let us say that the GM is super strict about following the way things are worded in the book to the letter.

[CantigThimble]

Let us say that the GM is super anal about following the way things are worded in the book to the letter.

There is literally not a single mention of whether or not you can identify a spell as it is being cast in the DMG or PHB. Even a hardcore, anal RAW GM MUST make a ruling on that issue.

[Mr.Wizzard]

There is literally not a single mention of whether or not you can identify a spell as it is being cast in the DMG or PHB. Even a hardcore, anal RAW GM MUST make a ruling on that issue.

He said yes apparently. huh. He's been shutting me down on other things. He mentioned something like a DC 15 spell check for unkown spells. He also mentioned putting his own homebrew spells in.

[Mr.Wizzard]

V-Human Fighter 1/Fey Bladelock X
Str: 15+1
Dex: 6
Con: 12
Int: 10
Wis: 10
Cha: 14+1

Wear heavy armor and a shield, take dueling style. Take mage slayer at level 1 and maybe shield master later on.

Step 1: Get past meatshields. (using the feylock 6th level ability or misty step)
Step 2: Keep filthy wizard scum from doing anything. This is accomplished by A. being in melee so his ranged attack rolls suck. B. Having advantage against spells with saving throws thanks to mage slayer. C. Using mage slayer to break his concentration (sometimes as soon as he casts the spell). D. Counterspell.
Step 3: Stab the wizard while party wipes out his guards unhindered by magic.

However, one big thing you want to ask your GM about is whether or not you can identify what spell is being cast before deciding to use counterspell. That changes the effectiveness of this build significantly.

Could I got 2 handed Greatsword with Great Weapon Fighting and War Caster?

And how is this different from Eldritch Knight? Not meaning to sound rude, curious what the different mechanics are.

[Naanomi]

If you are willing to explore different routes... monks are good anticasters (stun is one of the only ways to preemptively shut down spellcasting); rogues do big damage in one blow to break concentration (an assassin with a bow, or a melee swashbuckler... the later *really* able to punish spellcasting with Mage Slayer); and if you are looking for a more traditional counterspell/dispel type, I like Lore Bards (expertise in Intimidation, Arcana, Investigation, Perception: a great 'inquisitor' witch-finder package)

[RickAllison]

Could I got 2 handed Greatsword with Great Weapon Fighting and War Caster?

And how is this different from Eldritch Knight? Not meaning to sound rude, curious what the different mechanics are.

The big one is Counterspell. The suggested build will start shutting down spellcasting at level 6, twice per short rest. The EK will get that at 13. The warlock also gets a variety of other ways to shut casters down, including Darkness+Devil's Sight.

The short rest recovery itself is an anti-mage tactic! The warlock is able to take short rests while sending out different servants (high Charisma) to report on the target. The Warlock can come in, burn through some of the target's slots, and make a calculated retreat and be back up in short order. A dedicated eight hours of rest can become very hard to come by.

[Socratov]

The best anti-caster is someone who can cast silence, and who does a decent Counterspell. The best counterspellers are Abjuration wizards, and they, too, can cast silence, but that would be a bit like fighting fire with fire, right?

Well, enter the bard.

You take lore bard, at lvl 6 pick Counterspell, along the way you pick up Suggestion, Silence, Hold Person, Phantasmal Force, Tasha's Hideous Laughter and Invisibility and you will be able to take out every caster.

You will be a counterspelling ace with Jack of All trades (half your proficiency on your caster check to counterspell), you can cast silence to eliminate vocal components, cast suggestion to cast their spells on themselves or do other stuff, the rest is just back-up disables.

Oh, and to make sure they fail their saves you can use cutting words to slash their attempts. Easy as pie.

[Corran]

Well, your rolls aren't great, so that takes away a lot of weird multiclass options tha would be tailored to your purposes.

So... I would say, fighter 1/ wizard (abjurer) X, perhaps throwing a second fighter level somewhere late in your career (after level 14 most likely).
The fighter level is there just for your flavour purposes (armor clad).
Dont wear a fullplate. It aint worth sparing a good score on str not to be slow in armor, and you dont want to be slow in armor if you are going against mages. Wear a halfplate, to fit the flavour you are looking for, or even better, a breastplate (stealth is important against casters!). That will allow you to have a better dex, and better dex means better dex saves, better stealth, and most of all, better initiative. All of these are very important when going against casters (especially initiative). Go with a halfplate if it fits that mucg better the imagery you have in mind and you dont mind sacrificing stealth (which again, itt is important). Dont grab a shield, to avoid warcaster in favor of bumping your int faster and of feats like alert (initiative is crucial) and resilient (wisdom if you start as a fighter, con if you stat as a wizard; with which class you'll start, depends on the race you'll choose; if you choose gnome for example -so that you can cover cases that the 14th level abjuration ability does not cover-, you should start as a wizard and take resilient con along the way to even out your stats nicely).

Edt: Bard could be a good option too, for the better counterspelling/dispel magic (them and abjuration wizards are kings in that area; pick counterspell as one of your magical secrets), and for magical secrets (picking up some spells that are great against spellcasters, like circle of power). Lore bard would probably work better because of additional magical secrets, but you would have to take a fighter level for the armor, as in the wizard's case above (perhaps a second for action surge, but again, dont rush this second level, definitely after bard 10 and magical secrets).

[Drackolus]

A shame, if you had scag, a swashbuckler with sentinel and mage slayer would be devastating. Once you get next to them, they can't leave.
Ancients paladin with the same feats will be pretty hard to deal with too.

[Foxhound438]

My DM's don't really do much in the way of throwing casters at me, but here's my 2 cents

1) ancients paladin has a lot of stuff in the mid levels that do way more than EK does. Starting at level 5, you get to use misty step 2 levels earlier. It's not the biggest thing in the world, but it lets you escape the classic wall of force, as well as bypass the frontline really easy. Right after that, you have aura of protection- all of the nastiest spells offer a save for at least reduced effect, and having an extra +4 to all saves is going to do a lot of good. Then at level 7 you pick up aura of warding, which halves all damage from spells to you and nearby allys. All of that on top of divine smite being great for breaking concentration makes ancients pally probably the best choice overall

2) shadow monks are great as well. Thanks to unarmored movement, you can easily get to them, and once you're there, you have great ways to shut them down: stunning blow (casters aren't generally known for massive con save bonuses), flurry of blows (more hits means you're more likely to break concentration), and some of the spells are pretty good for it as well (silence prevents verbal components, and darkness won't let them cast a spell that they need to see the target of).

3) worst case scenario, abjuration wizard. Basically the plan here would be to use various illusions to break LOS, and counterspell where that fails.

[Rhynear]

I can think of two different builds for this, one I think is easier with your stat array, however the other fits your character concept better.

Thief/Battlemaster
The first build is a Thief/Battlemaster build, either 14/6 and 12/8 depending on how many ASI's you want and how much you value Blindsense and an extra Sneak Attack die. If you are allowed Volo's (which is an official, published splatbook) then pick either Goblin or Tabaxi, otherwise pick between Half Elf and Stout Halfling depending on whether you want Darkvision and an odd ability score or not. You want mainly Dexterity, then Constitution, then Wisdom with Strength as your dump stat. Start with either Fighter or Rogue depending on which saving throws you want to be proficient in and how many skills you want (I think Fighter has better saving throws as you'll have lower Strength than Int and lower Con than Dex, but Rogue gets more skills).

Starting Fighter
If you start Fighter then go straight to 5 so that you don't fall behind on damage. Take the Mage Slayer Feat at level 4 and pick Disarming Attack and two others as your Battlemaster Maneuvers, I recommend Tripping Attack and Riposte. This should allow you to disarm a Mage of their Arcane Focus and then kick it away from them, or, if you have a free hand, pick it up. Use your bonus action to attack unless you need to try to disarm them again, however, since its a strength save it's unlikely they'll succeed their throw. Then take 4 levels of rogue before taking 6 Fighter and finishing it up however you want. Take +2 Dex as your level 4 Rogue ASI and Sentinel as your level 6 Fighter ASI. At this point if you kick away their Arcane Focus then when they try to retrieve it you can take your opportunity attack and stop them from retrieving it at all. After this I would recommend going to Rogue 8 for Uncanny Dodge, Evasion and another ASI' but its up to you.

Starting Rogue
If you start Rogue then go to 4 as quickly as possible to take the Mage Slayer Feat. With Fast Hands this should allow you to steal component pouches from enemy mages, stopping them in the same way as Disarming Attack does against mages with an Arcane Focus. Once you've stolen it they should be unable to cast spells, this is particularly good if you can steal spell books from recurring enemies and your party wizard will love you. After Rogue 4 go to 6 fighter straight away, taking +2 Dex and Sentinel in that order for the same reasons as above. I would then recommend taking Rogue to at least 8 for Uncanny Dodge, Evasion and another ASI. After that take whichever you would like until you reach your desired split between them.

Finishing up
There are two major ways to finish this build and they are, 14/6 and 12/8:

14/6 - Pros: 7d6 Sneak Attack, Blindsense
Cons: 1 less ASI
12/8 - Pros: 1 more ASI
Cons: Only 6d6 Sneak Attack, no Blindsense

There are a bunch of spare ASI's as well, you want to get your Dex up to 20 relatively quickly, and you also want Resilient:Wisdom to improve your weakest major save, particularly against mages, but after that it is up to you, you could buff your Constitution or pick up some more feats like Alert and Lucky which are probably the strongest ones for this build.

Ancients Paladin/Thief/Battlemaster
The second build is an Ancients Paladin/Thief/Battlemaster build, it does all of the same things as the build above, plus it has the auras however this option is a lot more MAD as you need at least a 13 in 3 different ability scores. I would recommend playing as a Half Elf as you need the points and going with a 15/12/10/6/10/14 stat arrangement (16/13/10/6/10/16 post racial bonuses). Start with Paladin for the Wisdom Saves and wear Heavy Armour, use a rapier, with strength, and a shield go up to level 8 for the auras and the ASI's, which should probably be spent on Mage Slayer and +2 Strength before switching out to Rogue to get to level 4, losing the shield at Rogue 3, and then take Fighter to level 4 before finishing up with whatever you want.

Finishing up
There are a couple of different ways to finish up, either 12/4/4 or 8,8,4:

12/4/4 - Pros: Level 3 Spells and Slots, Aura of Courage and Improved Divine Smite
Cons: No Evasion or Uncanny Dodge, Lower Sneak Attack damage
8/8/4 - Pros: Evasion, Uncanny Dodge and 4d6 Sneak Attack
Cons: Only Level 2 Spells and Slots, No Aura of Courage or Improved Divine Smite.

You will also want to take +2 Strength and +2 Constitution pretty much exclusively as you don't have much health and want to max out your attack stat. The only feat you can really justify in this build is sentinel for the same reason as the build above.

[jaappleton]

Valor Bard

Mage Slayer feat

Counterspell

Expertise in Arcana

[PeteNutButter]

The problem with the praised counterspell strategy is, most casters worth their salt also have counterspell. They can indeed RAW counterspell your counterspell. The only work arounds are to bait out their reaction, cast your spell at a higher level, which is still a crap shoot as they can roll high enough to beat you, OR to use subtle spell. Can't counter subtle spells.

So if you really want to be an ultimate blue deck, you have to be a sorcerer.

[JumboWheat01]

Assassin Rogue, best way to prevent a mage of any sort from casting spells is to kill it before it can. Expertise in Stealth will help a lot as well.

[DivisibleByZero]

There is literally not a single mention of whether or not you can identify a spell as it is being cast in the DMG or PHB. Even a hardcore, anal RAW GM MUST make a ruling on that issue.

Nope.
There is literally no mention of it, which means that there is no way within the rules to do it.
Identifying a spell as it is being cast is not a thing that exists in 5e, unless your DM houserules it to be so.

[JellyPooga]

Most of the best ideas have been spoken for, but just my 2p;

- Lore Bard 6 for Jack of All Trades, Silence, Counterspell and Dispel Magic.
- Rogue (at least) 2 for Cunning Action to navigate past any minions. Hitting 3 to go Arcane Trickster is probably a good idea.
- Warlock 10 for 5th level Pact Magic. The Invocations don't hurt either.
- Fill out the rest of your levels as you see fit.

- Mage Slayer, Mobile and Resilient (Wisdom) are your Feats of choice.
- You'll probably want to bump Charisma for the rest of it.

- Expertise goes in Survival (tracking), Investigation (clue finding), Arcana (just 'cos) and Acrobatics (to navigate control spells).

Is it the "best" Mage Hunter? Perhaps not, but it'll be a fun build and will definitely do the job.

[tieren]

My favorite anti-mage was a forest gnome ancients pally/ fey lock MC.

Racial gave adv to all mental saves against magic, auras gave +cha to saves and magic resistance. Had racial minor illusion and invocation for unlimited silent image to screw with their sight lines, would misty step up behind them and wail with the smites (or repelling blast them towards our front liners), if got unlucky could misty escape back out of there, was a lot of fun.

[Corran]

The problem with the praised counterspell strategy is, most casters worth their salt also have counterspell. They can indeed RAW counterspell your counterspell. The only work arounds are to bait out their reaction, cast your spell at a higher level, which is still a crap shoot as they can roll high enough to beat you, OR to use subtle spell. Can't counter subtle spells.

So if you really want to be an ultimate blue deck, you have to be a sorcerer.
Hmm, good point. Sorcerer with subtle could work. Or just being a gish with access to counterspell (perhaps an ancients sorcadin, or ancients paladin/lore bard for the better check at counterspelling and at dispel magic; and for quicker access to circle of power/ and for expertise in arcana to match that DC 15 more easily). If he spends his reaction to counterspell your counterspell on his turn, you proceed on your own turn (if you are still alive), and smite the heck out of him (cant spend his reaction to shield himself as he spent his reaction to counterspell in order for his spell to work). The only problem I see here is that it would take some levels to come online for this specific purpose of owning casters (but hey, who said that going after casters should be an easy thing to do, it takes time to master this....emm... job).
Hmmm, the more I think about it, the more I am attracted to lore bard for some reason (7 levels in paladin is a good addition for both aura of protection and aura of warding, and moves towards the direction the op wants flavour wise (ie armor/ knightly figure), though it would take 12-13 levels of play for the whole thing to come at full speed. Bard 6 for counterspell, paladin 6-7 for the auras. Circle of power even more delayed). Bad news is that it would have such a build wouldnt have good dex and int (at least in the case of the op's stats), so that would hurt initiative, stealth, and his arcana check (to identify spells veing cast, as per his dm's houserules).

[Citan]

Got another game I recently joined. Seemed like a lot of fun, but I'm trying to noodle out another character concept. I've been trying make a good Mage Slayer, that is someone who takes out enemy mages.

The campaign I'm apart of is West Marches style, it's going to be PVE in the early levels, then PVP at the later levels. I unfortunately did not roll the best stats. Not the worst either, but not the best.

15,14,12,10,10,6

We are limited to only the PHB and the DMG, written as is. No homebrew or special rulings. I'm leaning towards Eldritch Knight, but I find a lot of people arguing against it on other forums.

On a side note, I am interested in modeling this character after the style of the Dragon Age Blood Mage or Knight enchanter. Carrying around a sword staff, heavily armored and casting spells. That could easily be replicated by Magic Initiate though, if going Eldritch knight was that bad.

Your thoughts?
Hi!
Well, it's "easy".
To be a good Mage Slayer, you need...
- general resilience.
- enough mobility to reach the casters.
- special resilience against spells.
- and of course Mage Slayer because it helps that much.

With your stats, I'd say the easiest choice is the following: Half-Elf Ancients Paladin (Vengeance as an alternative in some cases). Easily the best "no-cost, low-level" defensive package: heavy armor and shield, Wisdom proficiency, Aura of Protection, Aura of Warding, Bless/Shield of Faith.
Beyond that you have several choices.

1) Pure Paladin
Start with 16(15+1) in STR and CHA(14+2), 13(12+1) in CON. Grab Resilient: Constitution ASAP, just cast Bless to ensure you survive, pick up Mage Slayer next.

2) Barbarian option
Just 3 levels in Bear Barbarian will make you crazy good. Bad thing is that rage prevents any spellcasting, so you will "have to" spend most on smites. Not that bad though.
Very good with a starting 16 in STR. Half-redundant with Aura of Warding though.

3) Rogue option
This one is more tricky but can be great: 3 level in Swashbuckler gives you better Initiative, Expertise in Athletics to Shove better and great mobility. Which means you can either...
- use this array: STR 15+1, DEX 12+1, CON 10, INT 6, WIS 10, CHA 14+1
- or swap STR and DEX and use finesse weapons (speed penalty is compensated by Cunning Action, Athletics "penalty" is compensated by Expertise).

4) Warlock option
Three levels in Warlock provide you good defensive abilities (Armor of Agathys, Mirror Image, Blur) and ability to go SAD (Shillelagh).
This means you could "dump" STR to 13 and instead get a starting 16 in Constitution for that extra beefiness.

5) Eldricht Knight option
Three levels in Fighter will give you the neat Shield spell and Action Surge. Don't forget though that Shield will eat at the reaction you would like to keep for Mage Slayer, so it may or not be difficult to exploit both efficiently.

6) Battlemaster option
Manoeuvers for extra precision and Action Surge.

7) Lore Bard option: Expertise, Healing Words, Cutting Words, Jack of all Trades, Heat Metal and Blindness makes a mean package. :)

If you start level 1, just choose if you intend to multiclass later (so you can decide on starting stats) and focus on taking Paladin up to 7.
Whatever your end build is, take Athletics proficiency unless you dump STR, keep Bless and Command always prepared (Commanding a Wizard to throw his focus away or come into reach is always as fun as it is efficient).
With Bless as your go-to spell, you can afford to keep a 16 in attack stat until level 12, so you can pick up Mage Slayer and either Sentinel, Polearm Master or Tough...

You can always pick a multiclass later if you feel it needed.

If you don't mind heavy multiclass with all the drawbacks during leveling (otherwise don't bother reading because these are crazy builds ;)) and expect lengthy campaign, the end build I'd suggest would be:
Vengeance Paladin 7 / Barbarian 4 / Battlemaster 4 / Swashbuckler 5: very martial, starting STR 16, DEX 13, CON 10, CHA 16. You will count on your rage and Auras to survive the few hits you take, but you will have crazy mobility and to-hit (Swashbuckler + Vengeance) to hunt that dangerous caster foe of yours. More a "crazy hit-and-run nova" kind of character.

Ancients Paladin 8 (Bless, Shield of Faith, Command, Extra Attack, Aura of Protection, Aura of Warding) / Fiend Tome Warlock 3 (Shillelagh, Thorns Whip, Agonizing Blast, Repelling Blast, level 2 short rest slots) / Fighter 2 (Action Surge) / Sorcerer 1 (Shield, Magic Missile, weapon cantrips) / Swashbuckler 3 (+CHA to Initiative, free disengage on attack, / Lore Bard 4 (Healing Words, Blindness, Heat Metal, ASI).
You can hardly make more SAD than that. Grab Mage Slayer ASAP, bump your CHA when you get your other ASI. You don't really need more than that really (although if you don't care about Shield or Action Surge, you could also drop Sorcerer/Fighter for another ASI or two to get Sentinel / Polearm Master >>> increasing the chances of getting opportunity attack).

Thanks to Rogue, you get great initiative and mobility: added to Fighter's Action Surge, you can either prebuff yourself or chain 2*Extra Attacks or 2* Agonizing Eldricht Blast if your target is too far out to reach melee range.
You also get a fairly decent amount of spellcasting between short rest and long rest slots, which you can use on smites, helping allies or preventing enemies to act (Command, Blindness, etc).

"Good thing" UA is not allowed, because you would get extremely crazy builds.
The best would probably be Hexblade Warlock + Arcane Archer: since Mage Slayer's second benefit works on all weapon attacks, you'd become the worst nightmare of casters, shutting off their spells from a very safe distance. ;)

[Socratov]

The problem with the praised counterspell strategy is, most casters worth their salt also have counterspell. They can indeed RAW counterspell your counterspell. The only work arounds are to bait out their reaction, cast your spell at a higher level, which is still a crap shoot as they can roll high enough to beat you, OR to use subtle spell. Can't counter subtle spells.

So if you really want to be an ultimate blue deck, you have to be a sorcerer.

The thing is, you regain your one and only reaction on your turn, so if you counterspell their spell and they counterspell that counterspell, then you will have all opportunity to save-or-suck them on your turn, especially considering your ability to slash their saves with Cutting words. Once they are laughing hysterically on the ground you can tie up their hands, take away any materials/componentpouches/arcane foci and murder them to death.

[PeteNutButter]

The thing is, you regain your one and only reaction on your turn, so if you counterspell their spell and they counterspell that counterspell, then you will have all opportunity to save-or-suck them on your turn, especially considering your ability to slash their saves with Cutting words. Once they are laughing hysterically on the ground you can tie up their hands, take away any materials/componentpouches/arcane foci and murder them to death.

Well assuming you're alive/not CCed. :smallbiggrin:

[jaappleton]

The problem with the praised counterspell strategy is, most casters worth their salt also have counterspell. They can indeed RAW counterspell your counterspell. The only work arounds are to bait out their reaction, cast your spell at a higher level, which is still a crap shoot as they can roll high enough to beat you, OR to use subtle spell. Can't counter subtle spells.

So if you really want to be an ultimate blue deck, you have to be a sorcerer.

Can you elaborate on that a bit?

[PeteNutButter]

Can you elaborate on that a bit?

Foe Casts Kill Target PeteNutButter.

PeteNutButter Casts Counterspell using his reaction. *whew*

Foe uses reaction on their turn to cast Counterspell on PeteNutButter's Counterspell.

PeteNutButter is no more. :smalleek:

[Geodude6]

Does the DM allow Volo's monstrous races? If so, play a Yuan-Ti Pureblood. They get Magic Resistance.

[jaappleton]

Foe Casts Kill Target PeteNutButter.

PeteNutButter Casts Counterspell using his reaction. *whew*

Foe uses reaction on their turn to cast Counterspell on PeteNutButter's Counterspell.

PeteNutButter is no more. :smalleek:

Sorry I wasn't clear;

I meant on the 'Sorcerer's are superior at it' bit.

[Corran]

Sorry I wasn't clear;

I meant on the 'Sorcerer's are superior at it' bit.
It's for the subtle spell metamagic. If you use it along with your counterspell (or with any spell in general), then the other caster cannot counterspell your owncounterspell against his spell, so you have a chance to actually counterspell the spell targeting you.
(You could still upcast your own counterspell and hope for the enemy to not upcast theirs, and then have a check of his counterspell against yours, but all this is very unlikely to happen, or at the very least you wont be able to use this tactis reliably and for a prolonged adventuring day, without gimping yourself because of how quickly you spend resources.

[TundraBuccaneer]

wood elf monk way of the shadow
16 dex and wis
take mages slayer
Cast silence
????
proffit

[PeteNutButter]

It's for the subtle spell metamagic. If you use it along with your counterspell (or with any spell in general), then the other caster cannot counterspell your owncounterspell against his spell, so you have a chance to actually counterspell the spell targeting you.
(You could still upcast your own counterspell and hope for the enemy to not upcast theirs, and then have a check of his counterspell against yours, but all this is very unlikely to happen, or at the very least you wont be able to use this tactis reliably and for a prolonged adventuring day, without gimping yourself because of how quickly you spend resources.

Also I would add that for most PCs, it seems NPCs usually have higher level spell slots than you do. The Archmage NPC has 9th level slots when he is only CR 12. This same trend is duplicated throughout the Monster Manual, for every monster that is a primary caster. Lizardfolk Shaman, 3rd level spells, CR 2. Drow Mage, 5th level slots, CR 7. Kuo-Toa Archpriest, 5th level slots, CR 6 etc...

[Specter]

Seconding anything with Silence and Counterspell (I say Lore Bard with a Fighter dip). But other good spells should also be mentioned:

- Evard's Tentacles: Range of 90 feet means yu can go beyond the Counterspell range and blast them. Mages are bad in DEX saves, so they should be caught, and there they lose much of their mobility. "They can just Misty Step!" Then Counterspell.
- Freedom of Movement: Keep it in your pocket in case mages web you or something.
- Circle of Power: advantage on all saves? no damage if passing one? Don't mind if I do!
- Disintegrate: Mages usually have low HP, so if you get them good, they'll be dead in one ray.

[Socratov]

Well assuming you're alive/not CCed. :smallbiggrin:

That;s entirely true, but still you will win in spell economy: he uses 2 slots to make his effect happen, if he does he won't be able to keep it up and as a bard you have a better hitdie then the enemy. In fact, he gets one chance to force his counterspell over you and he will need to make it count. If he does not get you (assuming you don't get power word kill'd or something like it, but at that tier of play why are you sneaking up on a caster anyway?) down immediately, you will get him the round afterwards.

Also, that is assuming he gets to go first, despite your Jack of All trades and dex as a favourable abilityscore for you, does not notice you with Invisibility up (and likely proficiency stealth maybe even expertise).

I mean, as a lorebard your chances at this are considerable.

[Foxhound438]

The thing is, you regain your one and only reaction on your turn, so if you counterspell their spell and they counterspell that counterspell, then you will have all opportunity to save-or-suck them on your turn, especially considering your ability to slash their saves with Cutting words. Once they are laughing hysterically on the ground you can tie up their hands, take away any materials/componentpouches/arcane foci and murder them to death.

you actually can't. CW hits attacks, checks, and damage rolls, but not saves.


It's for the subtle spell metamagic. If you use it along with your counterspell (or with any spell in general), then the other caster cannot counterspell your owncounterspell against his spell, so you have a chance to actually counterspell the spell targeting you.
(You could still upcast your own counterspell and hope for the enemy to not upcast theirs, and then have a check of his counterspell against yours, but all this is very unlikely to happen, or at the very least you wont be able to use this tactis reliably and for a prolonged adventuring day, without gimping yourself because of how quickly you spend resources.

the whole "subtle spell makes it uncounterable" thing is a house rule. Yes, there was a sage advice tweet in which someone said it can work, but the OP says the DM in this case is RAW intensive, and nothing about subtle spell, by RAW, makes the spell uncounterable.

[Paeleus]

I've always thought that Monks were great anti-mages. Especially Shadow Monks. Shadow Arts costs Ki (can a monk get Counterspelled??) but gives Silence and Darkness and Shadow Step will eventually make it easier to hit the back line. Plus, Stunning Strike comes online at monk 5, and ho boy, will the Mage not be an issue then.

I recommend a min of 2 levels in rouge for the Cunning Action and Expertise.

The Mobile feat further gaurantees you can always reach the squishes.

[RulesJD]

Okay so you have to decide, whether you want to be an actually effective Anti-Mage, or do your character concept. Here are the important bits you need to know:

1. Silence is King, if you can restrict movement (more on this later)

2. Counterspell is Queen (super important but not vital)

3. Spellcasters (by and large) have terrible Con saves.

4. War Caster feat is pointless.



There are only TWO builds that are worth a crap at Anti-Mage. They have been posted already, but not correctly. So here we go:

A. Shadow Monk.

Shadow Step for hypermobility that isn't spell based so it can't be counterspelled, short rest recharge castable Silence, Stunning Strike, and Sentinel feat.

Steps to killing a Mage as a Shadowmonk:

Round 1 -> Cast Silence centered on the mage and Shadowstep to them. Mage has no way to move besides either using Disengage, or eating an Opportunity Attack. Either works because Sentinel ignores the Disengage and Opp Attack = = Stunning Strike + Sentinel to stop movement. Oh and Shield and Misty Step both require Verbal components, so not an option.

Round 2 -> Beat the crap out of the mage who can't leave the Silence area.

B. Lore Bard/Abjuration Wizard

These are effectively the same build. Lore Bard has the SLIGHT edge early on with having both Silence and Counterspell, but loses its edge to Abjuration Wizard in the later game due to the Wizard having Contingency and Simulacrum. ***NOTE: WIZARDS DO NOT GET SILENCE*** What everyone has gotten wrong so far is ignoring the rules of Counterspelling (one poster got close but not quite there).

RulesJD's Guide to Counterspelling:

1. You need to SEE your target to Counterspell them.

2. Don't be seen. Use Invisibility or (later) Greater Invisibility at the start of the fight (cast 65ft away to be out of range and then move in to Counterspell off-turn).

3. Advanced Tactics: Use Contingency with "If I am about to be Counterspelled, cast Greater Invisibility" and Simulacrum to dominate the Action economy.

Really that's about it. What that means is you need a class with spell slots to burn, which means Warlock is out of the question. Sorcerer is okay (depending on Subtle metamagic ruling), but not as good without the Prof bonus to Counterspell check. Once you get Greater Invisibility, unless the enemy mage has a way to see Invisible creatures, you can Counterspell them but they can't Counterspell you.

[Specter]

you actually can't. CW hits attacks, checks, and damage rolls, but not saves.

the whole "subtle spell makes it uncounterable" thing is a house rule. Yes, there was a sage advice tweet in which someone said it can work, but the OP says the DM in this case is RAW intensive, and nothing about subtle spell, by RAW, makes the spell uncounterable.

Without somatic or material components, you don't see any spell being cast. That's what it says on Counterspell. How else would you be able to do anything against it? It's like saying you can use Shield while surprised.

[Potato_Priest]

Oh, and to make sure they fail their saves you can use cutting words to slash their attempts. Easy as pie.

Cutting words cannot be used on saving throws. Just attack rolls, ability checks, and damage rolls.

[DivisibleByZero]

the whole "subtle spell makes it uncounterable" thing is a house rule. Yes, there was a sage advice tweet in which someone said it can work, but the OP says the DM in this case is RAW intensive, and nothing about subtle spell, by RAW, makes the spell uncounterable.

Read counterspell and make note of what it says.
Then read subtle spell and make note of what it allows you to remove from your casting.

A spell cast with subtle metamagic cannot be countered.

[Malifice]

If your DM allows unearthed arcana the 'Slayer' Ranger archetype does it well. Grab the mage slayer feat.

Target a mage with your slayer ability, and you get +1d6 to your saves (and if youre adjacent to the wizard also get advantage).

As you level up you can stop him from teleporting away, can counter his spells, get reaction attacks against him (even with ranged weapons) if he casts a spell, on you etc.

Ask your DM for favored enemy 'Arcane spell casters'.

I'd allow it.

[Talionis]

This is one of the best Mage slayer builds I've seen its from KTKenshinX.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150916164939/http://community.wizards.com/forum/player-help/threads/4142801

Build 2: The Mage Slayer (Bard/Fighter/Rogue)
Some players just hate Wizards. You don't know what it is about Wizards that you hate, but boy do you hate them. Probably those pointy hats or their scrawny arms. Whatever the reason, when it comes to massacring mages at all levels of the game, accept nothing less than the Mage Slayer grappler. This is an extremely narrow build that, although useful against a variety of enemy types and classes, is at its best against those pesky magic users. There are tons of ways to build an antimage grappler (Wizard with Antimagic Field is another route), but this build will be the most relevant at all levels of the game, and is most likely to give your DMs magic practitioners a serious head/neck/throat ache.

The build functions around the almighty Silence spell, a no-save-allowed way to stop most magic cold. Your main class is College of Lore Bard, which gets you access to an arsenal of mage-murdering spells and gives you the highest possible single grapple checks of any class. It is critical to have high single grapple checks as a Mage Slayer because that initial grapple in the area of Silence is the most important. Once they are stuck there, they just can't do anything. Setting up that Silence will require a few different combinations of features, actions, and spells. As wizards scale up their power, your combos will scale with them. But because each engagement is so resource intensive, the build is heavily dependent on rests in between engagements, That play style might not suit everyone, but for those who want to give mages (and your DM) nightmares, this is the build for you.

As a final note, I emphasize this again: the build really is a single target, mage killing optimization. It's narrow, it's a nightmare for wizards, and it's a bit...strange, as far as grapplers go...

Starting Race: Human
Although you can go Mountain Dwarf in this build, Human is a better option because of how feat intensive the build is, especially at early levels.

Ability Scores: Here's your 27 point buy array assuming shameless optimization choices.
Str: 15 (Human +1 - Show those wimpy Wizards how it's done)
Dex 13 (Required for the Rogue multiclass)
Con 10 (This is a single-target, glass-cannon build. We can't afford to max out HP at the expense of other stas)
Int 8 (Int saves just aren't all that common, and those you do have to worry about shouldn't even work in an area of Silence)
Wis 10 (Never dump this; Wisdom saves tend to govern fear, and you do not want to be frightened as a grappler)
Cha 15 (Human +1 - More Charisma means more Cutting Words attempts)

Fighter 1
Human level 1 feat: Tavern Brawler
As with many grappling builds, start in Fighter to get the Heavy Armor Proficiency without spending a Feat. We get Warcaster both to concentrate on our spells in the fight, and to cast spells while wielding. We are also going to get the Dueling fighting style, and Tavern Brawler so we can grapple after making an attack (we will need that attack eventually to cause damage to trigger Mage Slayer).
Fighter 1 / Bard 1
With Heavy Armor acquired, we go straight for our Bard features/spells at level 3.
Fighter 1 / Bard 2
Fighter 1 / Bard 3
Expertise? Check. Cutting Words? Check. Silence? Check. Enhance Ability? Check. You now have access to your most basic combo. Cast Enhance Ability on yourself before the fight. At the beginning of the fight, walk over to the target and grapple them with advantage. Next turn, cast Silence on the area. We will defnitely do better than that later, but it's only level 4.
Fighter 1 / Bard 4
Level 4 Feat: Mage Slayer
Here's our next piece of the combo. Starting at level 5, you will encounter more situations where enemies have preexisting concentration-based spells before you grapple them. Those often need to go away if you are to win the fight, and Mage Slayer is going to get that done.
Fighter 1 / Bard 4 / Rogue 1
To break concentration, we need big damage rolls on a single attack at the start of the fight. Rogue is going to get that done. Level 1 gets you Sneak Attack; you already have Expertise from Bard..
Fighter 1 / Bard 4 / Rogue 2
Cunning Action normally rocks at this level, but you generally won't use it because of Tavern Brawler. We are really going into Rogue to get the next class feature.
Fighter 1 / Bard 4 / Rogue 3
Assassinate plus Mage Slayer plus surprise equals impossible concentration saves. Now that we have finished out the Mage Slayer feature tree, we can change our combo to really ruin a mage's day. For your pre-fight buff, you have two options from the Bard 2 spell list. You can either stick with Enhance Ability and use Stealth to approach a target, or you can use Invisibility. Either way, you just want to make sure your target is surprised. Walk up to them and stab them with your improvised weapon short sword; it shouldn't take too much DM convincing to improvise a short sword. The attack will automatically score a critical hit for 6d6+5 damage (2d6 short sword, 4d6 sneak attack, 3 strength, 2 dueling). That assumes no magical buffs that add damage die, and you are already at an expected DC 13 Concentration save that they must make with disadvantage. Then grapple them and hold them in place until next turn when you can Silence.
Fighter 2 / Bard 4 / Rogue 3
Action Surge. What an imbalanced ability. Now you can do the same combo as above but ALSO cast Silence in the same turn you stab and grapple.
Fighter 3 / Bard 4 / Rogue 3
Getting to Fighter 3 gets you Battle Master, which will almost always be a Trip Attack applied to your opening stab. It's also an added 2d8 damage (1d8 doubled) on your automatic critical hit, which ups that Con save to DC 17 with disadvantage on the roll. Now your combo looks like this: Sneak up and stab to force a concentration save. As part of that sneak, apply a trip attack to get them prone. Then take a bonus action to grapple off Tavern Brawler. Now Action Surge, drop your improvised Short Sword, and cast Silence.
Fighter 4 / Bard 4 / Rogue 3
Level 4 Feat: Warcaster, Lucky, Magic Initiate
Bunch of different feat options here. Go Warcaster to guarantee that Silence doesn't get cracked. Go Lucky for an added guarantee on the initial grapple check. Or go Magic Initiate to gain Find Familiar, which you can use to take the Help action on that initial grapple (freeing up your pre-battle spell for Invisibility).
Fighter 5 / Bard 4 / Rogue 3
Extra Attack is the next evolution of your mage-murdering combo. Now that you have two attacks, you can replace one with a shove attempt, and modify the opening stab with Menacing Attack instead of Trip Attack. Stalk up to your target and take the attack action. Apply Menacing Attack to the stab and force a DC 17 (average) save with dsiadvantage. If they fail the wisdom save on the Menacing Attack, now they have disadvantage for the rest of the turn. Use shove in place of your second extra attack, and grapple with Tavern Brawler as a bonus action. Drop the sword, action surge, cast Silence, and watch your DM and his wizard cry.
Fighter 5 / Bard 5 / Rogue 3
Fighter 5 / Bard 6 / Rogue 3
The big bonus here is Magical Secrets through College of Lore. And boy, there are a lot of options to pick from, so this is a great way to round out your skillset. Two standout options I want to discuss are Blinding Smite and Counterspell. Counterspell is a somatic-only spell that will work even with Silence, and it's the best way to guarantee that your caster is totally locked down. Blinding Smite is a Paladin spell that requires concentration (so no invisibility), but adds 3d8 damage to your attack roll and forces a save to avoid blindness. If you connect with Assassinate on that opening hit and auto crit, your save will be basically impossible to match: an AVERAGE save of DC 31 made with disadvantage. Even if you don't automatically crit, it's still a DC 17 average save with disadvantage. Those are just two options you can take at this level.
From Level 14 onward, I recommend that you continue progressing in Bard to get that level 10 Magical Secrets feature. Then you can paly with those last two levels wherever you want.

One key to this build is beating the scariest spell of them all: Freedom of Movement. It's actually not that hard, but it just requires a combo modification. You will still open with your massive damage spike, still grapple the target with Tavern Brawler, and still shove them with your attack. But instead of casting Silence, you will cast Dispel Magic and try to strip the buff away. The DC is 14, and your bonus will be 3 + 1/2 of your proficency bonus (thanks Jack of all Trades). If you have the presence of mind to Enhance Ability (Charisma) yourself beforehand, you will have advantage on that check. After you remove it, just have a Counterspell ready for the intervening turn to stop anything your opponent tries. Then just Silence at the beginning of your second round.

That description should give you some idea of how narrow this build is, but also how powerful it is at shutting down a single spellcasting target. Despite this narrowness, there are lots of ways to increase your flexibility; Bards have so many useful spells in that regard, and you definitely aren't a shabby grappler even your target isn't a Mage. Just figure out ways to adapt your combo and you will be ready for grappling anyone, whether scrawny-armed and pointed-hatted or not.

[Specter]

Very nice build up here! If I may throw in some commentary, you really don't need Assassin; most spells cast before a fight (if any) are non-concentration, like Mage Armor and Mirror Image. As a matter of fact, you don't even need rogue levels if you pick up Expeditious Retreat with MagicalSecrets, but if you go Rogue, Arcane Trickster and Swashbuckler will give you more solid tools.

[Talionis]

Very nice build up here! If I may throw in some commentary, you really don't need Assassin; most spells cast before a fight (if any) are non-concentration, like Mage Armor and Mirror Image. As a matter of fact, you don't even need rogue levels if you pick up Expeditious Retreat with MagicalSecrets, but if you go Rogue, Arcane Trickster and Swashbuckler will give you more solid tools.

It's not my build and it was done as an optimization build so it wanted to create a super high concentration breaker. Assassination does that well. But your right it's mostly overkill and there are solid ways to tweak it to your taste.

[EvilAnagram]

I'm going to bring Ancients Paladin back into the mix. Add Charisma to all saves, resistance to spell damage, Mage Slayer brings advantage on saves, and your damage will be more than enough to force truly nasty concentration checks.

[Citan]

Okay so you have to decide, whether you want to be an actually effective Anti-Mage, or do your character concept. Here are the important bits you need to know:

1. Silence is King, if you can restrict movement (more on this later)

2. Counterspell is Queen (super important but not vital)

3. Spellcasters (by and large) have terrible Con saves.

4. War Caster feat is pointless.



There are only TWO builds that are worth a crap at Anti-Mage. They have been posted already, but not correctly. So here we go:

A. Shadow Monk.

Shadow Step for hypermobility that isn't spell based so it can't be counterspelled, short rest recharge castable Silence, Stunning Strike, and Sentinel feat.

Steps to killing a Mage as a Shadowmonk:

Round 1 -> Cast Silence centered on the mage and Shadowstep to them. Mage has no way to move besides either using Disengage, or eating an Opportunity Attack. Either works because Sentinel ignores the Disengage and Opp Attack = = Stunning Strike + Sentinel to stop movement. Oh and Shield and Misty Step both require Verbal components, so not an option.

Round 2 -> Beat the crap out of the mage who can't leave the Silence area.

B. Lore Bard/Abjuration Wizard

These are effectively the same build. Lore Bard has the SLIGHT edge early on with having both Silence and Counterspell, but loses its edge to Abjuration Wizard in the later game due to the Wizard having Contingency and Simulacrum. ***NOTE: WIZARDS DO NOT GET SILENCE*** What everyone has gotten wrong so far is ignoring the rules of Counterspelling (one poster got close but not quite there).

RulesJD's Guide to Counterspelling:

1. You need to SEE your target to Counterspell them.

2. Don't be seen. Use Invisibility or (later) Greater Invisibility at the start of the fight (cast 65ft away to be out of range and then move in to Counterspell off-turn).

3. Advanced Tactics: Use Contingency with "If I am about to be Counterspelled, cast Greater Invisibility" and Simulacrum to dominate the Action economy.

Really that's about it. What that means is you need a class with spell slots to burn, which means Warlock is out of the question. Sorcerer is okay (depending on Subtle metamagic ruling), but not as good without the Prof bonus to Counterspell check. Once you get Greater Invisibility, unless the enemy mage has a way to see Invisible creatures, you can Counterspell them but they can't Counterspell you.
"There are only TWO builds that are worth a crap at Anti-Mage. They have been posted already, but not correctly. So here we go..."

You know, when you plan on being ridiculously arrogant, at least make sure you have an actual strategy backing it...

Like, your "demonstration" of killing caster with a Monk using Shadow Step at first turn which implies...
1. That the caster is already in dim light or darkness (because you are using your action to cast Silence, so obviously you are supposing being in a dungeon or cavern of sorts, otherwise it's not the 1st turn -or you got help for friends, which kinda ruin the point of your demonstration: nearly any class can be efficient against a caster with another ally helping).

2. But that you can see the caster meaning...
- You didn't cast Darkness on/around it before (because it's magical darkness, so darkvision doesn't help unless Warlock 2 for Devil Sight),
- And that if it is in an heavily obscured area you already knew the general direction in which he were before starting running towards it (because racial darkvision is 30 feet max usually).
- And that the caster didn't cast any spell blocking vision (Invisibility) or everything (Wall of Force)...

3. Also, that no allies of his will be able to act before his turn to block you, push you away or worse case trying to entice you to waste reaction on them.

4. And that the caster won't take any action against you before moving (that's not metagaming really, many casters would try to avoid opportunity attack: and Disengage is not the only way: Repelling Blast, Shocking Grasp, Gust, Command, many spells could force you to move: of course all requiring verbal component are out, but there are still probably several options. You are proficient in all saves, but there will still be many saves which are low compared to a high-level caster's DC).

5. And that you will succeed on your attack (between Blur, Mirror Image, Shield, Shield of Faith, Sanctuary, Greater Invisibility, Contingency, or even Glyph of Warding, potential proficiency in heavy armor, class features such as Cutting Words or the like, there are many things that can have prepared by the caster to make you miss your attack).
Granted though, at level 18 you get Empty Body which would cover the to-hit neatly against most defenses as long as you know where the creature is. At *level 18*.

6. And that caster has no other meaning to escape: granted, that one should be easy enough, apart from a few select class features (Subtle from Sorcerer, Fey Escape from Warlock) I see only Misty Escape which requires verbal component.

7. And that no allies of the caster has any way of shutting down the Silence, shielding him from you or just grabbing him out of the zone, or ganging up on you up until you have to fall back quickly to avoid being overrun. Remember, you are a MONK. You have great AC, and great reaction against ONE ranged attack or spell, but that's it. You cannot stay in the middle of enemies for a long time.

So, it really is not an "easy win" as you like to imply. The only true benefit of Shadow Step is to be (IIUC) bypass some natural / magical obstacles since it's a plain teleport.

Meanwhile, any Monk (provided obviously the minimum requirement of any situation, which is knowing where the caster is and being able to reach it with normal speed) could easily rush and blow 4 attacks (Extra Attack + Flurry of Blows) with Stunning Strike attempts onto it, meaning a very good chance of effectively Stunning the opponent. And a stunned opponent cannot take any action or reaction and can't move, so even if DM would allow Misty Step (in spite of "being able to speak only falteringly") the caster will just teleport 30 feet away, which is not a big deal for you.
Worst case, you spend your normal speed to close in (so usually only half your movement at level 20), you spend your first attack to hit & Stun him again, then you use your second attack to grapple him then you bonus action Dash to move him away from enemies and towards your friends so that everyone can cover you and gang up on him.

Any Sorcerer with Heightened could try and succeed on a Hold Person/Monster at a distance (sure, it costs resources so it's not his "bread and butter"). Worse case, he made opponent waste a slot on Counterspell.

Any properly built Sharpshooter Battlemaster Fighter could unleash 8 arrows with potential Precision in case the caster did have a defense up (except Warding Wind which would be very efficient here).

Any properly built Devotion/Vengeance Paladin (with maybe a multiclass in Battlemaster or Swashbuckler Rogue) will be largely more effective than a Monk between levels 6 and 14, around which Monk gets 20 AC and proficiency in all saves. At highest level, it's less efficient than a Monk offense-wise (unless Oath capstone), but could for the biggest fight sustain Circle of Power to be extra effective at sticking in the middle of enemies to keep caster in check.

Etc etc, not even taking the somewhat OP new UA options...

Also, Lore Bard totally beats Wizard on the "magic-disabling spells" departments.
1. He can get Contigency and Simulacrum through Magic Secrets so there is that.
2. He can also get any proper concentration buff he has, including Circle of Power.
3. While Abjuration Wizard can add his proficiency bonus (up to +6) to his own Counter spell, Lore Bard can...
- Increase his Counterspell check with an amount up to 12 (average +6,5) (Peerless Skill)
- Decrease the check of an enemy Counterspell (Cutting Words)
ALL AT THE SAME TIME (provided you have enough Bardic Inspiration yet obviously).

SO, all things even (=no taking multiclass/feats) the Wizard generally beats Lore Bard in terms of resilience (Ward + permanent advantage on saving throws + permanent resistance to magic damage) because Lore Bard can only match it by using many spell slots and Magic Secrets, but not on disabling efficiency.

[Naanomi]

Cutting words can't help your own counterspell (both use your reaction), but can help someone else's... peerless skill still works, and I agree Lore bards are great 'witch-hunters'

[Malifice]

Seriously - the Slayer Ranger.

It's the best mage slayer out there. The entire archetype is specifically designed around killing wizards.

[Squiddish]

I'd like to note, if you can get eight level spells and have decent martial abilities, you can just cast Antimagic Field and obliterate them.

If you're going to have the opportunity to fight them on your terms, make a base in a dead magic zone.

As for build advice, I once easily defeated a wizard using a fighter. Sharpshooter feat, archery fighting style, longbow, and warhorse. Stay far away and shoot them, using your horse's action to dash. The only thing that can actually get them close to you is spells, and even dimension door can't close the gap immediately.
If you're at maximum range, they can at best get to within 40 feet of you. Then you can get 120 feet farther (160 ft) and still attack, and they would have to use another dimension door to get you within range of most spells. Then you can repeat, always at least 120 feet away.

I would recommend a class with spellcasting for this, so either a paladin or a EK would work best.