Feats for a Fighter EK Tank

[HermanTheWize]

Hey Everyone,

I was wondering what feats you guys think are critical/high utility for a EK Fighter trying to be a tank? I'm playing a Dex EK Lizardfolk using Sword and Board.

Also, elaborate when you would get them (IE after maxing DEX....etc)?





Any other tips are welcome (fighting styles, spells...etc)

[nickl_2000]

Hey Everyone,

I was wondering what feats you guys think are critical/high utility for a EK Fighter trying to be a tank? I'm playing a Dex EK Lizardfolk using Sword and Board.

Also, elaborate when you would get them (IE after maxing DEX....etc)?

Any other tips are welcome (fighting styles, spells...etc)

If your DM is worried about hands being free for casting. Warcaster is absolutely required for a sword and board user. Also, it would be great to be able to use Booming Blade for attacks of opportunity.

[Vogie]

If you're using a finesse weapon as your sword, Defensive Duelist will give you an undersized Shield spell with no spell slot requirement.

[Derpldorf]

Ritual Caster would greatly increase your out of combat role.

Bard has a lot of information gathering, Wizard has a bunch of utility, Druid and Cleric are... Druid and Cleric, I don't actually use them often enough to give a broad overveiw. You can probably guess my general favorites by the order I gave them in.

Anyway, Ritual Caster would greatly expand your options and relieve some stress from your precious any school spell slots.

[Corran]

I would take warcaster, so that I can use shield or absorb elements with my reaction without having to drop my sword. I don't want to drop my sword, as I want to have the option to use my reaction with an OA, which not only sometimes is the best tactical option, but also it does not use spell slots. And since I can opt for strong OA's via warcaster + booming blade, that's another reason for taking this feat. Lastly, it boosts your concentration checks, which is very much necessary despite having con save proficiency, since as a frontliner, you can expect to get hit very often. So, ideally, I would want warcaster at level 3, when I get access to shield, absorb elements, BB, and concentration spells, but I guess level 4 is just as a good point for taking it.

I would also take resilient wisdom, for sure. Fighter gets you con save proficiency, dexterity saves profit from the fact that you are dex based and those who deal damage (ie most of them) profit also from you having absorb elements, so that leaves your wisdom saves wanting (which I would say are almost as important as con saves). Enter resilient wisdom. Start with an odd con score so you can round it up when you take this feat. As for when to take it? Not sure. Berserkers get mindless rage at 6, stalker rangers get wisdom save prof at 7 (if I am not mistaken), paladins get aura of protection at 6, but then you have rogues and monks that get slippery mind and diamond soul at levels 15 and 14 respectively. Fighters get indomitable at 9. I think level 8 or 12 is a good level for you to take resilient wisdom (instinctively I would say 12 is a bit too late and I would feel far more comfortable getting resilient wisdom at level 8, but I cant really make a good judgement on that).

I also like the lucky feat. I think it's a very strong feat, as it allows you to spike your effectiveness (mostly survivability through rerolling saves I would say, in your case). Granted, its best uses for you are situational ones, and the ideal scenario is that you would never have to use lucky, but I think this kind of extra layer of protection (through rerolling very important rolls), is very nice to have. With lucky, resilient wisdom, con save prof, dex as the attack stat and absorb elements, and indomitable, I think your saves would be as much covered as you could reasonably manage. I would take lucky after I got resilient wisdom, warcaster, and maxing my dex to 20; or perhaps as my stating feat if human variant (though resilient wis would compete for a vhuman pick, if only for allowing me to bump my dex faster without leaving my wisdom saves unproficient until level 12).

[ImproperJustice]

For an EK Tank I would go with the previously mentioned Resilient (Wisdom).
Then I would honestly focus on getting ASIs as an EK with high str, int, con in that order is a force to be reckoned with.

Yes, if your GM cares about arcane focus stuff, Warcaster is a tax you have to pay to play your class as it was intended. Just grin and bear it.

Near the end of your run, you might consider toughness. Those extra hit points do pile up.
Or take something fun like the previously mentioned Ritual Caster, or one of the cool racial feats from Xanathar’s.

Lucky, Alert, Keen Mind can all be handy at times.

[CTurbo]

+2 Dex at 4, Sentinel at 6, Warcaster at 8, Res (Wis) at 12, +2 Dex at 14, Defensive Dualist at 16

[Biggstick]

Resilient Wisdom needs to be picked up by level 8. I'd also recommend grabbing Warcaster if you have BB or GFB as a cantrip (and if your DM is being stringent on casting Shield/Absorb Elements). Here would be my recommended leveling order.

Level 4: +2 Dex.
Level 6: Warcaster/Resilient Wisdom (Either).
Level 8: Warcaster/Resilient Wisdom (Whichever you didn't take at 6).
Level 12: +2 Dex.
Level 14: Lucky/Alert (Either).
Level 16: Lucky/Alert (Whichever you didn't take at 14).

The point here being is that you're a defensive minded individual. Warcaster is only put in there with the assumption that you're in melee with the enemy quite often and will be able to trigger reaction attacks using GFB or BB. If you're not able to regularly get off one of those, I'd recommend picking up Lucky or Alert in it's place.

While Dexterity is a god stat in 5E, feats almost always feel better to pick up. In the case of Lucky or Alert, those are fun feats to stack on top of a Dexterity-based EK. Alert will have you going first way more often, while Lucky will allow you to cancel out nasty critical hits from the DM against your EK. Both of those would be more valuable to me then +1 Dexterity in the expanded strengths they bring to the character.

[ciarannihill]

It's worth noting that if you're intending to Tank, ie pin down enemies, it might be worth having the Sentinel feat as well. Lizardfolk is unfortunately not an amazing race for this type of build, meaning you'll need to invest more into your ASIs than a usual EK would.

I think it's an important piece of information whether your table is using point buy, standard array or rolling for stats, because that changes how much you might need to invest in attribute scores vs feats. Your core stats being maxed is going to be important, and knowing how long that will take changes how many feats you'll eventually gain access to.

[Deathtongue]

Don't neglect your hit points. Unless you're doing something like splashing in barbarian levels, I wouldn't feel confident having a constitution + hit point stack of less than 100 by level 10. Which means an 18 constitution and 'average' hit points, or 14 CON + Tough + Average Hit Points. Eldritch Knights get a lot of great defensive tools, but you still don't want to get turned into paste in one round just because the two Frost Giants decided to double-team you.

[HermanTheWize]

What do you guys think of skipping resilient wisdom and just picking up lucky later instead?

Having 14 wisdom (which is probably what I would have) with indomitable seems not bad and having lucky later on top of that seems like it would be strong enough.

[CTurbo]

Res(Wis) is not mandatory. You'd be fine without it with a 14 Wis.