AL Character: BB or Elven Accuracy for my dex EK?

[DnDegenerates]

Hey DnDers,

I am playing a Dexterity EK in Adventurer's League at the moment. I intend on pureclassing.

I have enough DM rewards to bump him to level 11 (I may just play him to 11). I also can pick any magical item I've rewarded as a DM for him, I've 8 uses of this accumulated at the moment.

The plan was to take BB as my high elf racial cantrip. Then get Elven accuracy. However, I failed to realize that this exceeds the PHB+1. I don't like the idea of ritual caster as a feat, so I'm choosing one or the other.

Just to give you an idea of my intention for this characters item build:

He currently is level 3 with boots of flying.

Then to have his 3 attuned items to be Winged boots, Cloak of Displacement, and Bracers of Defense. With a +3 rapier at tier 3(level11).

Which do you think is more important to have for a character with this build, BB or EA?

Thanks in Advance,

Dungeons & Degenerates

[itsemery]

Do you have a reliable source of advantage for elven accuracy? Usually it's a better feat if you have a mechanic to guarantee that consistently.
On the other hand booming blade can be used every round, and with War Magic you become arguably the best user of the cantrip.

[Hesh]

Do you have a reliable source of advantage for elven accuracy? Usually it's a better feat if you have a mechanic to guarantee that consistently.
On the other hand booming blade can be used every round, and with War Magic you become arguably the best user of the cantrip.

Hold Person, usually being an EK, I'd have though, but that defeats the point of Accuracy.

[the secret fire]

I think this thread reminds me why I find Adventurer's League to be such a turn-off. That's quite the Christmas tree you've got going there.

[Willie the Duck]

Neither seem like they define the build. A cantrip is cheaper than an ASI/Feat. I'd probably go with BB just because if you end up using neither one all that well, it is less of an expenditure.

What does the rest of the character, party, and role look like-- feats/stats/hp and the like (synopsis is fine, of course)?

[solidork]

Something to keep in mind is that from level 5-6 and after level 11 and get 3 attacks, Booming Blade is going to stop being something you use every round.

That being said, I'm also not a huge fan of Elven Accuracy.

[RSP]

How often will you use BB+1 BA attack vs 3 attacks + potential BA?

I think you've moved past the general usefulness of BB, unless you have a means of regularly getting the movement damage.

I'm afb, at the moment, but doesn't EA also still give a +1 to Dex? Would that help you? Doesn't it also apply to spell attacks with Int? So if you use ranged spell attacks, it would be useful there as well.

Edit: also, Shadow Blade could be a very good spell to pair with EA and as a Dex-based EK, and that would require X as your +1 anyway, right?

[strangebloke]

Booming blade and warcaster.

[GlenSmash!]

BB if you plan on multiclassing between level 7 and 11. EA if you go 11 in fighter.

In the first case War Magic is going to be better than extra attack so BB will see more use. In the second case Extra attack(3) gains ground against War Magic so EA to buff all 3 of those attacks.

[Snowbluff]

BB if you plan on multiclassing between level 7 and 11. EA if you go 11 in fighter.

In the first case War Magic is going to be better than extra attack so BB will see more use. In the second case Extra attack(3) is gains ground against War Magic so EE to buff all 3 of those attacks.

This. Booming Blade competes with your attack action. I would say multiclass out of EK at 7 for this reason. So Elven Accuracy is probably better.

[DarkKnightJin]

Elven accuracy.
Then pick Toll the Dead instead of Booming Blade as your attack cantrip.
Starting at 7th level, it will start synergizing, because you can take the BA attack before the spell goes out. Same as Shield Master.

This way, you nick the baddy make him lose some HP.. and then ring his bell for 2d12 Necrotic.
Starting at 10th level, said baddy then also gets Disadvantage on the save vs TtD.

[Snowbluff]

Toll the dead is very, very bad. It's like if poison spray if poison spray didn't do all of it's damage if you attacked first.

[Zene]

Toll the dead is very, very bad. It's like if poison spray if poison spray didn't do all of it's damage if you attacked first.

Wisdom save instead of con save=lands more often. Necrotic damage instead of poison damage = resisted/ignored less often. 60 ft range instead of 10 foot range.

Fair tradeoffs, I’d say. At least. And it’s way better than many other cantrips you could compare it to.

[MxKit]

Toll the dead is very, very bad. It's like if poison spray if poison spray didn't do all of it's damage if you attacked first.

It's a total of one round where you're "only" doing xd8 damage rather than xd12, and necrotic damage is much, much less resisted than poison damage is. (Even worse, actually. Necrotic damage is resisted by 11 monsters and 11 monsters are just flat out immune to it. Poison damage is resisted by only 5 monsters but 95 monsters are immune to it. And I think that's just from the Monster Manual itself; I wouldn't be surprised if over 100 monsters are immune to poison damage after Volo's.)

I wouldn't call that "very bad." Hell, fire bolt isn't a bad cantrip, much less a "very bad" one, despite only ever doing xd10 damage and also being one of the most resisted/immune-to damage types in the game. I wouldn't even call acid splash a bad cantrip, given that it can hit two different enemies, and it's got 18 resistant monsters/15 immune monsters. The fact that for most of the battle—all of it, if even one of your allies goes before you—you'll be doing xd12 damage of a not incredibly resisted type is nothing to sneeze at.

(Fun fact: When it comes to weaknesses and resistances of the enemies you'll be facing, only force, psychic, and radiant are better damage types to use. Which means eldritch blast, vicious mockery, and word of radiance are three of the best cantrips in the game. High Elves don't get access to any of those, so toll the dead is probably their best bet since they don't plan on multiclassing. Chill touch, ray of frost, and shocking grasp aren't bad for their riders, either. Booming blade would also be good, given its damage type and rider, but...)

THAT SAID, an EK really does benefit from having a melee cantrip. War Magic makes it really cool! However, they are also still pretty damn cool with ranged attack cantrips, letting you attack in melee and someone out of your melee range in the same turn. However-however, Eldritch Strike also makes it very cool to have a melee cantrip; counter-however, picking a spell that has a rider they have to save against also meshes well with this feature.

OP, what I'd recommend is: Take a look at the 1st-4th level Wizard spells from Xanathar's Guide, and the Fey Teleportation feat. If, after reviewing those, the only thing you think you'll really end up wanting to take from Xanathar's Guide is Elven Accuracy, take booming blade and pick up a different feat instead, or just bump your stats. But if Fey Teleportation or any of those spells sound like something you might want to get your hands on (absorb elements is a standout, as are Melf's minute meteors, sickening radiance, the wall spells, and the sphere spells), take Elven Accuracy and go with either shocking grasp (melee cantrip!) or toll the dead (good damage type and sizeable damage dice!) for your High Elf cantrip.

[DnDegenerates]

Phew so much good advice, so much advice I general.

Seeing all if my options laid out, as well as knowing that I should be looking beyond cantrips before deciding, makes it just as difficult to decide. At least I know my options now, and for that I thank all of you .

For those who asked about things like party composition and combat role.

This is an Adventurer's League character. I play or run adventures two to three times a week on average, almost always with a different player or character composition.

The other weekend I went to an epic, with 80+ players all tackling the same adventure at 7 player tables. One party ended up with no caster meleers, another was 3 bards and 4 barbarians.

The intention is to play a typical magically augmented meleer. To assist in the front line by eating damage and smacking things; while providing crowd control or damage wherever available.

So far my use of booming blade has been fun. It feels good at these early levels. It seems that this comes and goes as far as optimization is concerned depending on which tier/level range I am at. Which makes me even more torn.

One thing that seems certain is that it's all viable. Definitely different playing styles depending on which decision I make, but I just need to never look back once I do it!

Thanks again. This is becoming a much more complicated decision than I expected!

-Dungeons & Degenerates

[DarkKnightJin]

I don't have the restriction of PHB+1 for most of my characters, which is a massive boon.
Still, I would almost always go for XGtE as my +1 for the sheer amount of added stuff you get from it.

Unless I want to play an Arcana Cleric or something.
Or I really needed Booming Blade on my character.

I don't usually like save-or-suck spells, but for Cantrips they're alright, especially if you are going to be at variable ranges. Since you don't get Disadvantage on attack rolls with something like Toll the Dead, it's in my eyes a pretty nice backup to something like BB if you can't get that for whatever reason.

[Chugger]

Elven Ac really only shines if you can smite or if you got sneak attack - big handfuls of dice dropping on the table.

For EK why bother? Go for more steady and guaranteed damage, like form BB or GFB.

[Solzak]

Don’t bother with the SCAG cantrips...

Instead use XGE to get Elven Accuracy and Shadowblade.

At lvl 11 that’s 3 attacks a round doing 2d8 + DEX. With shadowblade’s advantage in dim light you should be triggering Elven Accuracy way more.

Then I’d be switching to a full caster class to upcast Shadow Blade...

[Snowbluff]

EDIT: I’d be tempted to make the MC Trickery Cleric... Invoke Duplicity for even more advantage :)
It uses concentration. Trickery is bad, and we should feel bad about that.

[Solzak]

It uses concentration. Trickery is bad, and we should feel bad about that.

Yep... wow, I missed that first pass. So lame!

[Willie the Duck]

Elven Ac really only shines if you can smite or if you got sneak attack - big handfuls of dice dropping on the table.

I feel like the optimal use of Elven Accuracy is a elven or half-elven rogue-champion* with shield master and expertise in athletics-- knock them down and smack them with your rapier until crits fall out.

*or rogue-barbarian, if you want to ensure the shove more than you want to ensure the crit