Kemptock
2018-02-11, 07:47 PM
I've been mostly in love with the Bladesinger class for it's versatility and reliability for a while now, which in my opinion has the best of both worlds from both marital and spellcasting disciplines, if you know how to use it. I thought I would share a few tips concerning the Bladesinger's capabilities, especially in the realm of speed and surprisingly potent even at low levels, for those who are interested. Since this is not a generic Wizard instruction, I won't be talking about everything you could possibly do to make yourself more effective, in case anyone thinks I missed something, just about what pertains to the Bladesinger.
Feats
There are four feats which are particularly relevant to the Bladesinger, these are the "Mobile", "Mounted Combatant", "Spell Sniper", "Warcaster" and Dual Wielder. Out of those, seem may seem more obvious than others. It is advisable to pick only two feats, and reserve the rest of the ASI's to maximize Intelligence and Dexterity. Some of these work very well in pairs, such as Mounted Combatant and Spell Sniper, or Mobile and Dual Wielder, depending on personal choice. We'll review how each of these can work with spells and tactics at our disposal in the next section.
Multiclassing
In my experience, the best Multiclassing choices you can make as a Bladesinger do not exceed a dip of 2 levels, either 18 Bladesinger/ 2 Fighter for Two-weapon Fighting and Action Surge, or 18 Bladesinger/ 2 Hexblade for Hexblade's Curse, Eldritch Spear and something else of your choice, but Fiendish Vigor is advised.
Spells and Abilities
Now how to find out how everything interacts with each other, depending on the preferred combination:
Multi-attack - At his peak, a Bladesinger can deliver 4 melee attacks, using Two Weapon Fighting. Attack as an action, Extra Attack, bonus action attack with your second weapon, and Hasted Attack from an Haste spell. These are all augmented from Two-Weapon Fighting Style ( Fighter Multiclass ), Dual Wielder ( Ideal weapon is the Rapier ) feat and at high levels, the Song of Victory.
Ballistic Fury - Starting right from Level 5 ( Or 7th if Multiclassing ), a Bladesinger can reach the extraordinary combat speed of 120 feet per turn, using Longstrider
, Bladesong, The Mobile feat and the Haste spell. If foregoing an Hasted attack, an Hasted Dash can be taken for 240 feet on a turn. In addition to that, if you chose the Mobile feat, you are never going to provoke opportunity attacks ( By the way, you should already have very high AC from Mage Armor and Bladesong ) from a target as long as you strike it in melee, whether you hit or not. This is essentially, at level 5, a free license to perform your melee attacks, or spell attacks if you want to against ground foes, and vanish from any conceivable range in open environments or interiors in which you can trace back your steps to somewhere else. Lastly, should you want to, Spell Sniper and Warlock MC/Eldritch Spear makes your enormous speed even more useful than ever before, should you choose them. On the other hand, the melee benefits of Fighter MC and Dual Wielder are also equally worthy.
Supersonic Rider - This combination, despite it's drawbacks ( And well, not actually being supersonic ) offers an even more preposterous mobility on the battlefield even against a Quickling at a Dash. It relies on the spell Phantom Steed which can be easily summoned through a ritual should you lose it in combat, and works best of all with the Mounted Combatant feat, which will require some sacrifice on your part and reduce versatility in comparison to other ASI's. But some folk just gotta go fast, so this is for you. The Phantom Steed is defined as a creature, with the same statistics as a riding horse save for the obvious differences, speed included. According to Mounted Combat rules, the steed can act on your turn as you direct it's movement and actions, while Mounted Combatant is almost mandatory to ward off opportunity attacks ( Directing them against yourself for free ) to ensure the steed takes no damage. Equipped with Longstrider and Haste, the Steed has a base speed of 220 feet. Using it's action to Dash, it is 440 feet, and the additional action granted to it by Haste to Dash ( Which the steed can use an action for ), 660 feet on a turn with no expenditure on your part except for the concentration. Farther than the reach of a Longbow. Naturally, the biggest threat against your mount is likely to be, if you ever choose to engage in close range on your turn, enemies holding their actions against you. Which is where, if you can see that an enemy has not used his action on his turn, Spell Sniper and Eldritch Spear could come in. When in doubt, blast away from a distance. This could be risky, limited and siphoning your ASI, but it's here if you always wanted to be an incredibly fast Arcane Cavalier. Lastly, Mounted Combtant will also give you constant melee advantage against any foe smaller than your mount, which is Large. You can also forego Haste if you choose in favor of Enlarge/Reduce, elevating your steed to Huge, with advantage against Large creatures and 220 feet of movement.
Aerial Superiority - So I know what you're thinking, these are all useless against airborne foes, although luckily you might not have to deal with too many at these levels, but still, nothing can be perfect. For aerial purposes, you'll almost certainly want to go with Ballistic Fury which is the most versatile option, trading Haste for Fly. With Longstrider, Bladesong and Mobile you will have to settle for the "meager" flying speed of 90 feet on a turn. On the other hand, if you have the prerequisites for Supersonic Rider, casting Fly on your steed along with Longstrider is going to provide it with a base flying speed of 70 feet, but 140 feet when using it's action to dash. Slightly faster than the Roc, and not too bad at level 5, if I do say so myself. It will also last for an hour, so might prove useful out of combat as well.
Conclusion
And that's pretty much it. There's a whole array of other spells, including at higher levels, which can further augment your experience, but I've wanted to cover the elementary perks of the Bladesinger fresh out of the box rather than all the powers of a Wizard, so I'll leave it at that. Strike fast, strike hard, and flee like a coward, that's my mantra. Enjoy.
Feats
There are four feats which are particularly relevant to the Bladesinger, these are the "Mobile", "Mounted Combatant", "Spell Sniper", "Warcaster" and Dual Wielder. Out of those, seem may seem more obvious than others. It is advisable to pick only two feats, and reserve the rest of the ASI's to maximize Intelligence and Dexterity. Some of these work very well in pairs, such as Mounted Combatant and Spell Sniper, or Mobile and Dual Wielder, depending on personal choice. We'll review how each of these can work with spells and tactics at our disposal in the next section.
Multiclassing
In my experience, the best Multiclassing choices you can make as a Bladesinger do not exceed a dip of 2 levels, either 18 Bladesinger/ 2 Fighter for Two-weapon Fighting and Action Surge, or 18 Bladesinger/ 2 Hexblade for Hexblade's Curse, Eldritch Spear and something else of your choice, but Fiendish Vigor is advised.
Spells and Abilities
Now how to find out how everything interacts with each other, depending on the preferred combination:
Multi-attack - At his peak, a Bladesinger can deliver 4 melee attacks, using Two Weapon Fighting. Attack as an action, Extra Attack, bonus action attack with your second weapon, and Hasted Attack from an Haste spell. These are all augmented from Two-Weapon Fighting Style ( Fighter Multiclass ), Dual Wielder ( Ideal weapon is the Rapier ) feat and at high levels, the Song of Victory.
Ballistic Fury - Starting right from Level 5 ( Or 7th if Multiclassing ), a Bladesinger can reach the extraordinary combat speed of 120 feet per turn, using Longstrider
, Bladesong, The Mobile feat and the Haste spell. If foregoing an Hasted attack, an Hasted Dash can be taken for 240 feet on a turn. In addition to that, if you chose the Mobile feat, you are never going to provoke opportunity attacks ( By the way, you should already have very high AC from Mage Armor and Bladesong ) from a target as long as you strike it in melee, whether you hit or not. This is essentially, at level 5, a free license to perform your melee attacks, or spell attacks if you want to against ground foes, and vanish from any conceivable range in open environments or interiors in which you can trace back your steps to somewhere else. Lastly, should you want to, Spell Sniper and Warlock MC/Eldritch Spear makes your enormous speed even more useful than ever before, should you choose them. On the other hand, the melee benefits of Fighter MC and Dual Wielder are also equally worthy.
Supersonic Rider - This combination, despite it's drawbacks ( And well, not actually being supersonic ) offers an even more preposterous mobility on the battlefield even against a Quickling at a Dash. It relies on the spell Phantom Steed which can be easily summoned through a ritual should you lose it in combat, and works best of all with the Mounted Combatant feat, which will require some sacrifice on your part and reduce versatility in comparison to other ASI's. But some folk just gotta go fast, so this is for you. The Phantom Steed is defined as a creature, with the same statistics as a riding horse save for the obvious differences, speed included. According to Mounted Combat rules, the steed can act on your turn as you direct it's movement and actions, while Mounted Combatant is almost mandatory to ward off opportunity attacks ( Directing them against yourself for free ) to ensure the steed takes no damage. Equipped with Longstrider and Haste, the Steed has a base speed of 220 feet. Using it's action to Dash, it is 440 feet, and the additional action granted to it by Haste to Dash ( Which the steed can use an action for ), 660 feet on a turn with no expenditure on your part except for the concentration. Farther than the reach of a Longbow. Naturally, the biggest threat against your mount is likely to be, if you ever choose to engage in close range on your turn, enemies holding their actions against you. Which is where, if you can see that an enemy has not used his action on his turn, Spell Sniper and Eldritch Spear could come in. When in doubt, blast away from a distance. This could be risky, limited and siphoning your ASI, but it's here if you always wanted to be an incredibly fast Arcane Cavalier. Lastly, Mounted Combtant will also give you constant melee advantage against any foe smaller than your mount, which is Large. You can also forego Haste if you choose in favor of Enlarge/Reduce, elevating your steed to Huge, with advantage against Large creatures and 220 feet of movement.
Aerial Superiority - So I know what you're thinking, these are all useless against airborne foes, although luckily you might not have to deal with too many at these levels, but still, nothing can be perfect. For aerial purposes, you'll almost certainly want to go with Ballistic Fury which is the most versatile option, trading Haste for Fly. With Longstrider, Bladesong and Mobile you will have to settle for the "meager" flying speed of 90 feet on a turn. On the other hand, if you have the prerequisites for Supersonic Rider, casting Fly on your steed along with Longstrider is going to provide it with a base flying speed of 70 feet, but 140 feet when using it's action to dash. Slightly faster than the Roc, and not too bad at level 5, if I do say so myself. It will also last for an hour, so might prove useful out of combat as well.
Conclusion
And that's pretty much it. There's a whole array of other spells, including at higher levels, which can further augment your experience, but I've wanted to cover the elementary perks of the Bladesinger fresh out of the box rather than all the powers of a Wizard, so I'll leave it at that. Strike fast, strike hard, and flee like a coward, that's my mantra. Enjoy.