Rate my build. Tempest Cleric / Champion

[Edgerunner]

LvL 18 One-Shot. Hill Dwarf, 21 AC, Tempest Cleric 10 / Fighter Champion 8

Stats; 19 STR (Gauntlets), 14 DEX, 16 CON, 12 INT, 20 WIS, 10 CHR

Feats; Polearm Master, Mobile, Resilient CON

Magic Items; Animated Shield, Gauntlets of Ogre Power, Staff of Thunder and Lightning


Strategy: +2 DEX gets us better Initiative. I went Champion for Extra Attacks, Improved Crits and a lack of Bonus Action abilities except Second Wind. Cleric abilities will be using most of my bonus actions. PAM is for the bonus action attack but mainly because of the Reaction attack when they enter your reach. This build has two very solid Reactions so should be able to use it every round.

This build allows me to Attack at least twice with a +2 weapon or cast a 1 Action spell. Bonus Actions are various and plentiful. Resilient CON and being next to a Paladin's Aura gives me proficiency in CON Saves and a +? for those concentration saves.

Animated Shield allows me to wield the staff two handed for extra damage.

I can see lots of Spiritual Weapon, Spirit Guardians while getting 2 attacks going on.


How the Staff of Thunder and Lightning synergizes with Tempest Cleric:


Thunderbolt Strike; Any time you do Lightning damage
At 6th level, when you deal lightning damage to a Large or smaller creature, you can also push it up to 10 feet away from you.

The Staff does have a couple abilities that can add a Lightning damage effecting the 10' Push then.

Wrath of the Storm however works Very nicely with it (up to 5 times per/Long rest) and is a Great use for your Reaction for a Yo-Yo effect. It does conflict with PAMs Reaction for the attack but having two options means you can use your Reaction Every Round to good effect.

Call Lightning has Excelent use here if you must control a single enemy and can hold concentration. If the storm is already present you add 1d10 extra damage. This spell is Situational at best.


Destructive Wrath; Channel Divinity 2 per/Long rest
You can use your Channel Divinity to wield the power of the storm with unchecked ferocity. When you roll lightning or thunder damage, you can use your Channel Divinity to deal maximum damage, instead of rolling.

Lightning Strike(via the staff) is a solid use for this ability if targets line up. Can add Wrath of the Storm for a 10' Push, to all of them maybe?? DC 17 DEX save vs half damage of 9d6 Lightning.

Destructive Wave and Call Lightning may be a good use here but it feels like using Channel Divinity is under productive for damage done. I would love to hear another good use of this ability.


Divine Strike;
Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 thunder damage to the target.

With Extra Attack I see this being used every round.


If I have missed any Combinations, Ideas or if I am interpreting something incorrectly, Please feel free to comment and make a suggestion.

[stoutstien]

LvL 18 One-Shot. Hill Dwarf, 21 AC, Tempest Cleric 10 / Fighter Champion 8

Stats; 19 STR (Gauntlets), 14 DEX, 16 CON, 12 INT, 20 WIS, 10 CHR

Feats; Polearm Master, Mobile, Resilient CON

Magic Items; Animated Shield, Gauntlets of Ogre Power, Staff of Thunder and Lightning


Strategy: +2 DEX gets us better Initiative. I went Champion for Extra Attacks, Improved Crits and a lack of Bonus Action abilities except Second Wind. Cleric abilities will be using most of my bonus actions. PAM is for the bonus action attack but mainly because of the Reaction attack when they enter your reach. This build has two very solid Reactions so should be able to use it every round.

This build allows me to Attack at least twice with a +2 weapon or cast a 1 Action spell. Bonus Actions are various and plentiful. Resilient CON and being next to a Paladin's Aura gives me proficiency in CON Saves and a +? for those concentration saves.

Animated Shield allows me to wield the staff two handed for extra damage.

I can see lots of Spiritual Weapon, Spirit Guardians while getting 2 attacks going on.


How the Staff of Thunder and Lightning synergizes with Tempest Cleric:


Thunderbolt Strike; Any time you do Lightning damage
At 6th level, when you deal lightning damage to a Large or smaller creature, you can also push it up to 10 feet away from you.

The Staff does have a couple abilities that can add a Lightning damage effecting the 10' Push then.

Wrath of the Storm however works Very nicely with it (up to 5 times per/Long rest) and is a Great use for your Reaction for a Yo-Yo effect. It does conflict with PAMs Reaction for the attack but having two options means you can use your Reaction Every Round to good effect.

Call Lightning has Excelent use here if you must control a single enemy and can hold concentration. If the storm is already present you add 1d10 extra damage. This spell is Situational at best.


Destructive Wrath; Channel Divinity 2 per/Long rest
You can use your Channel Divinity to wield the power of the storm with unchecked ferocity. When you roll lightning or thunder damage, you can use your Channel Divinity to deal maximum damage, instead of rolling.

Lightning Strike(via the staff) is a solid use for this ability if targets line up. Can add Wrath of the Storm for a 10' Push, to all of them maybe?? DC 17 DEX save vs half damage of 9d6 Lightning.

Destructive Wave and Call Lightning may be a good use here but it feels like using Channel Divinity is under productive for damage done. I would love to hear another good use of this ability.


Divine Strike;
Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 thunder damage to the target.

With Extra Attack I see this being used every round.


If I have missed any Combinations, Ideas or if I am interpreting something incorrectly, Please feel free to comment and make a suggestion.

id drop champion and go eldritch knight. you gain 2 utility cantrips, a handful of more spell slots and some great spells to stay alive. shield, absorb element, find familiar, blur, mirror image, and darkness all dont care what your int score is.

[MeeposFire]

Also using war magic with booming blade makes so much thematic sense as a melee option on a tempest cleric.

[djreynolds]

And skip the feat, 5th level for champion or 7th level for EK.

Also at least consider 14th level tempest cleric. 2d8 divine strike.

[CTurbo]

I would also go Eldritch Knight Fighter instead of Champion and I'd consider taking at least 11 levels of Fighter for 3 attacks. War Magic and Eldritch Strike would both be great for you. When you have several enemies in front of you, hit them all with your staff and they'd have disadvantage on the next save you make them attempt on your next turn. Perfect time to max an upcasted Thunderwave.

Call Lightning is the go-to far away ranged spell and Destructive Wave is great because it can literally hit like almost 100 enemies because its range is so huge. Perfect for battlefields and is ally friendly too.

Shatter and Thunderwave are your bread and butter spells IMO. Both scale decently.

[Edgerunner]

I would also go Eldritch Knight Fighter instead of Champion and I'd consider taking at least 11 levels of Fighter for 3 attacks. War Magic and Eldritch Strike would both be great for you. When you have several enemies in front of you, hit them all with your staff and they'd have disadvantage on the next save you make them attempt on your next turn. Perfect time to max an upcasted Thunderwave.

Call Lightning is the go-to far away ranged spell and Destructive Wave is great because it can literally hit like almost 100 enemies because its range is so huge. Perfect for battlefields and is ally friendly too.

Shatter and Thunderwave are your bread and butter spells IMO. Both scale decently.

But for a LvL 18 character I can't have Destructive Wave and Eldritch Strike.

I can get my head around War Magic @ 7 and Tempest 11. That gets me access to 6th lvl spells and an Upcast 7th lvl slot. Is Booming Blade my now go to attack or continue with PAM for three?

[Keravath]

But for a LvL 18 character I can't have Destructive Wave and Eldritch Strike.

I can get my head around War Magic @ 7 and Tempest 11. That gets me access to 6th lvl spells and an Upcast 7th lvl slot. Is Booming Blade my now go to attack or continue with PAM for three?

You can't cast booming blade and use PAM since PAM requires you to take the attack action and not the cast a spell action.

[Edgerunner]

You can't cast booming blade and use PAM since PAM requires you to take the attack action and not the cast a spell action.

It says OR not AND

[thrdeye]

I can get my head around War Magic @ 7 and Tempest 11. That gets me access to 6th lvl spells and an Upcast 7th lvl slot. Is Booming Blade my now go to attack or continue with PAM for three?

I would pick one and stick to it.

If you're going to make the Attack action for three attacks with PAM then War Magic is somewhat wasted and I would consider going 11 into Fighter for four attacks. You would lose the Tempest's Divine Strike from level 8 but that would be outweighed by the extra attack plus other Fighter goodies. Your level 10 EK ability would give the enemy disadvantage on the next saving throw from a spell cast before the end of your next turn. So if you're fighting something with high AC you could hit with a weapon attack, then next turn Toll the Dead for 4d12 with disadvantage on the save, use bonus action for another weapon attack and repeat. Or just use another spell on it.

If you go with BB, you can keep 7 EK for War Magic but then you have three options for a bonus action attack (PAM, War Magic, Spiritual Weapon) which you really don't need. I would go up to 8 EK for the ASI or drop down to 3/4, get your level 14 Divine Strike and use Spiritual Weapon or PAM for your bonus action attack. EK 3 would give you 8th level spells, EK 4 would give you another ASI.

Whatever you do, War Caster is a very good option for a melee cleric of any description. Concentration spells like Bless or Spirit Guardians are your bread and butter and you want to keep them up as long as possible. This will also allow you to use BB for opportunity attacks to keep enemies right where you want them or at least punish them for moving. Very useful when you can apply BB when something approaches you or walks away from you, and you can use Mobile to hit something and back off.

Finally, I think you're underestimating Destructive Wave. With Channel Divinity, it does 5d6+30 of two uncommonly resisted damage types with the ability to choose the second, in an area 60 feet across while avoiding friendly fire and knocking enemies prone. It's a bit situational but even at level 18 it will make quite a dent in a large group of enemies.

Have fun! Tempest is one of my favorite subclasses in the game.