War Cleric/Battlemaster build suggestions

[joshcw2011]

I’ve started playing my first game and chose the Cleric of the War Domain because I liked the idea of a battle type cleric before I knew that they really kind of suck martially past level 5 when other classes get their extra attack. I started looking into multi classing options and really loved the idea of going 6 levels into battle master and found a lot of abilities that really synergized nicely. However, I then learned about the booming blade cantrip that can be learned with magik initiate and created a couple other possibilities that I am struggling to chose between.

Current Character (Hill dwarf/war priest lv5)
Str 15(19) Dex 11 Con 16 Int 10 Wis 17 Ch 6
Feats/magic items: War Caster, gauntlets of ogre strength, boots of striding

Party comp: Druid, Barbarian, and a bard/warlock multiclass

Option 1: go straight to fighter till level 12
Level 1 fighter take defensive fighting style
At level 4 fighter pick up great weapon master
Level 6 fighter increase wis and con
Level 8 cleric resilient (con)
Level 12 cleric max wis

Option 2: go to level 8 in cleric first
Level 8 cleric take magic initiate (booming blade&shield)
Level 1 fighter take defensive fighting style
Level 4 fighter GWM
Level 6 fighter wis+ and con+
Level 12 cleric resilient (con)

Option 3: pure cleric with magic initiate for booming blade/shield at level 8

To expound on the abilities that I believe that I believe synergies well we have

War Priest+GWM+Guided Strike+Precision+Extra atk
With this combination I can use the bonus from great weapon master with 2 different ways to make up for the accuracy. Additionally I can go in expecting to use my bonus action for a 3rd attack often granted for free with GWM or by using a WP slot.

Booming Blade+pushing attack
With this combo I can force a melee focused opponent to take the penalty for moving under BB or forgo a chance to make a melee attack

Booming Blade+War Caster+Spirit Guardians
Opponents may be tempted to run from SG but would have to suffer a BB opportunity attack if they did

Arguments for each option

Option1: pros: gets the most out of the 3xGWM attack synergy, lv 10-12 dmg is best
cons: no booming blade, slowed spell progression, level 8 dmg is worse

Option2: pros: adds the most combat options
cons: BB not great from 13-16 (extra atk is generally better, lv 17+ makes it viable when GWM is not applied)

Option3: pros: 8&9 lv spells, avatar of battle, divine intervention
cons: worst damage, fewest combat options

[Chugger]

If going magic init get green flame blade, too. Sometimes it's the better choice - better than bb.

I've yet to decide if vahu war cleric gwm or magic init is better. Both have strong points. If you choose the SCAG cantrip route it will work - I think you'll like it.

[Paeleus]

I’ve been intrigued by Spell Sniper+Booming Blade for a war cleric. Gives you reach to help offset your 25 ft move and pairs with WC nicely in conjunction with PAM. That’s 3 feats though... which is almost as bad as some obscure nova focused multiclass abomination. But spamming Spirit Gaurdians with Booming Blade and forcing the enemy to decide what type of damage they want to take sounds almost worth it.

[joshcw2011]

If going magic init get green flame blade, too. Sometimes it's the better choice - better than bb.

I've yet to decide if vahu war cleric gwm or magic init is better. Both have strong points. If you choose the SCAG cantrip route it will work - I think you'll like it.

Good idea, I overlooked GFB because the secondary dmg used your intelligence mod where I have a +0 but giving it a second look the higher level additional dice does still make it a better option a lot of times.


I’ve been intrigued by Spell Sniper+Booming Blade for a war cleric. Gives you reach to help offset your 25 ft move and pairs with WC nicely in conjunction with PAM. That’s 3 feats though... which is almost as bad as some obscure nova focused multiclass abomination. But spamming Spirit Gaurdians with Booming Blade and forcing the enemy to decide what type of damage they want to take sounds almost worth it.

Just finished reading up on that combo, sounds very effective. I think I would definitely do it if I take option 3 (Spell sniper instead of magic initiate and PAM at lv 12). Don’t think I could fit it in the first 2 build options though.

[Paeleus]

Just finished reading up on that combo, sounds very effective. I think I would definitely do it if I take option 3 (Spell sniper instead of magic initiate and PAM at lv 12). Don’t think I could fit it in the first 2 build options though.

Don’t forget that Tripping attack, if target is successfully knocked prone, draws BB’s secondary damage if target stands up, since standing up constitutes movement.

[BobZan]

Don’t forget that Tripping attack, if target is successfully knocked prone, draws BB’s secondary damage if target stands up, since standing up constitutes movement.

Per RAI, it doesn't trigger.

And PAM bonus attack doesn't work with GFB or BB.

[solidork]

I got Booming Blade from a magic item, but I'll at least confirm that a single class War Cleric with BB feels good and strong up through level 12.

[Throne12]

Using BB or GFB is a casting a spell action. So if you went fighter for extra attack. You can make a extra attack, because you didn't take the attack action. But also I'm AFB but I believe the war clerics bonus action attack. You need to take the attack action.

[BobZan]

Using BB or GFB is a casting a spell action. So if you went fighter for extra attack. You can make a extra attack, because you didn't take the attack action. But also I'm AFB but I believe the war clerics bonus action attack. You need to take the attack action.

Those are correct. BB has no sinergy with War Cleric bonus attack ability, Polearm Master bonus attack or Extra Attack.

Although, you can cast Spiritual Weapon and use BB or GFB, an Arcana Cleric with GFB can be a nice melee with decent DPR and all the Cleric juice. You can always Upcast Spiritual Weapon for more DPR. By lv 8 your weapon damage with GFB will be [W]+1d8+Str+Wis / +1d8+Wis | 1d8+Wis+xd8 if upcast SW, not optimal, but decent for a full spellcaster tank, spending few resources.

It has a good action economy. If you grab a level of a class that has the Shield spell, you can AC tank a lot with Shield of Faith, Shield spell, heavy armor and a shield (20+2+5). While doing some damage that won't let your enemies ignore you in melee.

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Another way to build this is a Ranged War Cleric/Fighter.

V. Human - Start with Sharpshooter
Fighter 1 - for Str and Con saves, Archery Fightning Style.
War Cleric 6 - Cool spells, specially Bless (c), Spiritual Weapon and Spirit Guardian (c). All good combat spells. 2 uses per rest of your divine smite, meaning you can do some nova on the bosses.
Battlemaster 2-6 - will net you 2 asis, Action Surge, Precision maneuver that will allow you to net more Sharpshoots and Extra Attack.

After that go Cleric 9 to get Holy Weapon.

[joshcw2011]

Per RAI, it doesn't trigger.

And PAM bonus attack doesn't work with GFB or BB.

I believe the PAM synergy is with the opertunity attack and the booming blade with spell sniper. The PAM bonus attack would probably never be used by a cleric anyway since there are so many better options for a bonus action then a d4 attack.

[BobZan]

Afaik, PAM and SS doesn't sinergize aswell, per RAI.

[joshcw2011]

Using BB or GFB is a casting a spell action. So if you went fighter for extra attack. You can make a extra attack, because you didn't take the attack action. But also I'm AFB but I believe the war clerics bonus action attack. You need to take the attack action.

Right which is why I mentioned in option 2 that BB looses its effectiveness from levels 13-16 after extra attack comes online. However, with GFB you still have a viable option in that range when GWM isn’t ideal (chanel divinity and battle dice used up) and a second opponent is in range. I actually really like the idea of having to chose between different options like that as long as each provides situational advantages over the other.

[joshcw2011]

Afaik, PAM and SS doesn't sinergize aswell, per RAI.

Sorry I’m not sure I understand, you saying you can’t use booming blade as the opportunity attack?

[BobZan]

Sorry I’m not sure I understand, you saying you can’t use booming blade as the opportunity attack?

The one provided by Polearm Master you can't, per RAI.

[joshcw2011]

The one provided by Polearm Master you can't, per RAI.

That’s too bad, thanks for the info.

[holywhippet]

I've been thinking of a similar build but I can't decide between battlemaster fighter and some kind of paladin. The fighter class gets action surge which can help end a battle quicker and can be used once in just about every battle since it recovers with a short rest. The paladin though can expend spell slots to do extra damage with smiting. Main problem with that is those spell slots won't recover until after a long rest.

[SirGraystone]

You do know that warrior can do an extra attack at level 5, but cleric get an extra attack at level 3 by using Spiritual Weapon...

[holywhippet]

That isn't quite the same. The extra attack of the fighter is using their weapon, abilities and bonuses. So if you were attacking and used the great weapon master feat then managed to hit you'd do your weapon damage + bonuses + 10 damage. The spiritual weapon does 1d8 + spell casting stat modifier.

For a war priest spiritual weapon is for when you either don't want to use your power to get an extra attack or when you've used all of them up.

[joshcw2011]

You do know that warrior can do an extra attack at level 5, but cleric get an extra attack at level 3 by using Spiritual Weapon...

Yes the real problem is that the war cleric doesn’t really get anything extra to make them function martially. War priest is pretty much superseded by spiritual weapon. Divine strike is fine but still worse at many levels then clerics that just add their wis to sacred flame and not really specific to the war cleric. At least when I hear “War Cleric” I get the idea of a cleric who is more martially inclined and I am just not happy with their performance in that regard. But this post wasn’t about trying to convince others about the problems I have with the domain, I found a few solutions that I believe would work for me and I was simply looking for help choosing between the options.

[joshcw2011]

I've been thinking of a similar build but I can't decide between battlemaster fighter and some kind of paladin. The fighter class gets action surge which can help end a battle quicker and can be used once in just about every battle since it recovers with a short rest. The paladin though can expend spell slots to do extra damage with smiting. Main problem with that is those spell slots won't recover until after a long rest.

Ya the Paladin was probably more in line with what I was expecting when I chose the war cleric but I didn’t fully understand the dnd classes at that time. I’m kind of glad I made that mistake though cause it has been fun coming up with these solutions and seeing what they can do. With the fighter cleric hitting 3 attacks and hitting 2 people with spirit guardians (without upcasting) they can deal an average of 99 dpr not counting misses (3x(2d6+14)+2d8+6d8). A pure Paladin also using GWM and the same 2d6 weapon only deals an average of 98 damage with 2 max level smite attacks 2x(2d6+14+6d8). Of course they also have a chance of triggering their third attack but the battle cleric has more ways of ensuring this happens and has resources to do it more frequently. So pretty comparable damage and I really like a lot of the additional options that you get in the multiclass.