Which way to go with my EK?

[Grillbuster]

Hey guys. Looking for some veteran opinions. Currently playing a mountain dwarf Fighter/war cleric, and planning on going EK. Roleplaying hooks are there, 1 level in cleric was also for roleplay/backstory (it's unconventional, but he's an unwitting pawn of some minion of tempus, who tattoo'd holy symbols all up his arm when he was drunk, which is where his clerical and EK powers come from) everything's lined up, loving the character the way I'm playing him, so I'm pretty much set on EK. Was originally going to go a ways into war cleric, but then our group picked up a life cleric, so now I'm back to theory crafting. Current level is 2 fighter, 1 war cleric.

Stats from point buy:

Str 17 Dex 10 Con 17 Int 8 Wis 13 Cha 10

Party consists of a rogue, warlock, cleric, ranged ranger, and a druid, so I'm pretty much the meat shield. I have defensive fighting style, and have been switching from 2 handed to S&B depending on the fight. As we level up though, I'm trying to prioritize what I want to do with my ASIs and feats and when.

Thinking of going all out on EK, and just keeping the 1 level of war cleric for the free bonus action attacks, cantrips, and upcasting heals, bless, protection from evil, or whatever else.

Thinking of doing (in no particular order):
Resilient Wis for +1 wis and saves
STR and Con to 18, then STR to 20
then I'm stuck between GWM, Warcaster, Sentinel and possibly even picking up some cantrips from feats. Not sure if I'll be more effective focusing on 2 handed weapons or S&B...
Would love some feedback/advice on what would compliment the build most and when.

probably going to spend most of the play time between levels 5 and 15, (Doing lost mine, tyranny of dragons, dragon queen) and trying to figure out whats going to work best on a purely mechanical level. RP and all the fun stuff is already worked out

Spell list will be mostly utility to start, Shield, absorb elements, blur... the EK biscuits and gravy, and spoke to the GM about buying magic items, and something like a headband of intellect that's uncommon, could be found in a city, or be ordered sometime down the line when gold is more plentiful from a specialist or crafted by a mage, which would take me from 9 to 19 int, at which point i'll probably pick up a couple dmg evocations for goblin roasting and whatnot.

Any thoughts and feedback would be very helpful

[Man_Over_Game]

S&B is good with EK, as Shield + shield is some ludicrously high AC that is hard to get past, while also giving your level 1 slots a little more sustainability. The catch is that it's a big investment. You need Warcaster + Ruby of the War Mage to make it work properly for all of your spells.

Two handed is the preferred option for EK, as it means that you don't need much investment and you can focus strictly on damage.

I think you should ask yourself: Are you the sole person being attacked, or is damage being split up?

If you're the sole person being attacked, using a shield is going to be very helpful. Otherwise, tack on as much damage as you can.

Considering the War Cleric also works best with big weapons, you'd probably want to sway more towards the Two handed option.

[Grillbuster]

If I do end up going two handed, would it be the worth it to pick up heavy armor master?

[Man_Over_Game]

If I do end up going two handed, would it be the worth it to pick up heavy armor master?

Probably not.

AC is more effective against swarms than bosses, and Damage Reduction (as with Heavy Armor Master) is also better against swarms than bosses.

The boss has an 80% chance to hit, and the mooks have a 50% chance to hit. With Shield, the boss has a 55% chance to hit (a 31% decrease in hit chance), and the mooks have a 25% chance to hit (a 50% decrease in hit chance).
The boss deals 15 damage per hit, and the mooks deal 6. With Heavy Armor Master, the Boss now deals 12 damage (20% loss) and the mooks deal 3 damage (50% loss).

Shield and Heavy Armor Master effectively do the same thing: Stop Swarms.


So you'd have two solutions to the same problem. I'd only get Heavy Armor Master if you didn't plan on using Shield or having a high AC.

So you could do something like this:


Two Handed Weapon, Heavy Armor Master, No Shield, Absorb Elements. - Unique EK, saves spell slots for boss fights.
Two Handed Weapon, Shield, Damage Feat - Classic EK, combination of damage and defense, sacrifices sustainability for damage.
Sword+shield, Shield, War Caster - Defensive EK, expects to be focused on regularly and is the party's main melee lineup. Sacrifices damage for defense.
Sword+shield, ASIs, No Shield - Sustainable Defensive EK, uses less defense but has more utility as you use your spell slots for utility (e.g. Expeditious Retreat) rather than straight defense (Shield/Absorb Elements). This option probably isn't advised for the War Cleric, due to the competition for the Bonus Action.

[Grillbuster]

Good to know. Thanks. Also, when discussing the backstory with the GM, the tatoos from Tempus can act as a holy symbol and an arcane focus, so I wouldn't need the ruby, as the arcane focus is burned into my skin. So maybe that makes the S&B more attractive?

Maybe I'll do the Str & Con at four, then warcaster at 6, as the concentration and spell reactions could be really nice with booming blade and S&B or Two hander, then Str to 20.... then figure out whether to focus on S&B or Two hander from there depending on how the party dynamics are working out...

Would there be any reason to put more levels into war cleric if I'm looking to be more of a front line melee char? Definitely going to 11 in fighter for the third attack.

[Man_Over_Game]

Good to know. Thanks. Also, when discussing the backstory with the GM, the tatoos from Tempus can act as a holy symbol and an arcane focus, so I wouldn't need the ruby, as the arcane focus is burned into my skin. So maybe that makes the S&B more attractive?

Maybe I'll do the Str & Con at four, then warcaster at 6, as the concentration and spell reactions could be really nice with booming blade and S&B or Two hander, then Str to 20.... then figure out whether to focus on S&B or Two hander from there depending on how the party dynamics are working out...

Would there be any reason to put more levels into war cleric if I'm looking to be more of a front line melee char? Definitely going to 11 in fighter for the third attack.

The classic reason to put in 2 levels into War Cleric would be to fuel your GWM attack. -5 to hit, +10 to damage, and +10 to hit is a combined +5 to hit and +10 to damage. That's a lot of pain.

With what you suggested with the tattoos, there are two things I'd recommend with all of this considered:

Heavy Weapon: 2 War Cleric, GWM, Heavy Armor Master. Your goal is to hit things hard, and you use magic to make sure things don't get in your way of doing just that.

Heavy Armor: 1 War Cleric, Sentinel, Sword+shield. Your goal is to protect your team by being the most obnoxious enemy your foe has ever faced.

I wouldn't bother going too far into War Cleric, as the War Cleric will become more and more dependent on casting spells the further you go into it. Personally, I try to avoid using many Concentration spells as a melee combatant, and the Cleric uses a ton of them.

[CTurbo]

I would bump Str and Con, take GWM, and take Res(Wis) in any order with your first 3 options. That's going to make a beast of a character. Probably either max Str or take Sentinel after that.

[viaFAMILIAR]

I played a level 9 Orc-Drow EK in Curse of Strahd. Took a 2 level dip into wizard school of war magic for arcane deflection and tactical wit. GWF, GWM and green-flameblade but ran it wrong and rerolled elemental dice. Absorb Elements came up a lot, and I made use of Protection from G/E. The DM hated when I used arcane deflection on my saving throws, which I usually made. We ended up TPK in the amber temple..