Zephyr Strike vs Misty Step

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Let me know what you have to ad or think differently on.

To compare the two:

Zephyr Strike:
1st-level transmutation
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: Self
Components: V

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You move like the wind. Until the spell ends, your movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks.
Once before the spell ends, you can give yourself advantage on one weapon attack roll on your turn. That attack deals an extra 1d8 force damage on a hit. Whether you hit or miss, your walking speed increases by 30 feet until the end of that turn.

Misty Step:
2nd-level conjuration

Casting Time: 1 bonus action

Range: Self
Components: V
Duration: Instantaneous
Briefly surrounded by silvery mist, you teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space that you can see.



Misty step's advantage seems to be the teleportation. Want to end up 30 ft up there on top of the dragon with your sword out? Sure. Want on top of that wall? Easy enough.

Zephyr Strike Has a couple advantages. It is a lower level spell. It gives advantage to your next weapon attack. It causes another 4.5 points of damage.


For my Lore Bard:

A Misty Step turn would probably consists of me using it to get out of combat then either firing my Oath Bow or casting Vicious Mockery which does ~5 points of damage save dependent plus the disadvantage it gives.

A Zephyr Strike turn has me backing up 65 feet (wood elf) and firing the Oath Bow @ +4.5 damage or casting Vicious Mockery as my Action so about the same. Having the option to not provoke opportunity attacks is a nice thing, like 2 dimensional teleportation in fact, not sure how often I'd maintain Concentration on it though.


My conclusion is a martial character with a better weapon attacks would probably benefit more from Zephyr Strike. For a Lore Bard, especially one with Fly and Dimension Door, probably should STRONGLY consider the lower level spell slot Zephyr Strike uses but its not a clear cut decision.

[Gignere]

Misty step has a lot more utility than zephyr strike although in combat they may serve a similar purpose.

In addition to bonus action movement, misty step allows you to break grapples, ignore hazards, difficult terrain, and even move to areas that are inaccessible otherwise.

As long as you have LoS you can teleport there which is a huge advantage that Zephyr strike lacks.

One time the party fell for a trap that had us in a cage with 2 umber hulks. Everyone was like ****e what to do I just misty step out of the cage and stood safely out of reach and slowly cantripped the two umber hulks to death and basically single handedly saved the group from a wipe since the umber hulk wrecked the party already and I managed to kill them while the rest of the party was making death saves.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Misty step has a lot more utility than zephyr strike although in combat they may serve a similar purpose.

In addition to bonus action movement, misty step allows you to break grapples, ignore hazards, difficult terrain, and even move to areas that are inaccessible otherwise.

As long as you have LoS you can teleport there which is a huge advantage that Zephyr strike lacks.

One time the party fell for a trap that had us in a cage with 2 umber hulks. Everyone was like ****e what to do I just misty step out of the cage and stood safely out of reach and slowly cantripped the two umber hulks to death and basically single handedly saved the group from a wipe since the umber hulk wrecked the party already and I managed to kill them while the rest of the party was making death saves.

Yes it does!

In my particular case I already have Dimension Door. That muddies the situation though because if I took Misty Step I could MAYBE drom Dimension Door and get Silence where with Zephyr Strike I probably keep Dimension Door.

Hmmmmm.

[diplomancer]

Zephyr strike requires concentration. As a Bard, you will probably be concentrating on an awesome spell, you don't want to break that just to get away from your opponents.

[Chaos Jackal]

Moving around without provoking AoOs is nice, but unless you find yourself doing that a lot in a fight it's just not worth the concentration. Even if you cast and end it immediately for the advantage it will break whatever concentration you have.

Now, of course, a ranger's spell list and spells known isn't exactly amazing, and there's not as much competition for concentration as there is for other casters.

But Zephyr Strike, while not as situational as other spells, still might not be needed more than once or twice in a fight, so concentrating on that rather than Hunter's Mark, a summon spell or, later on, something like Swift Quiver, is most likely not worth it, and neither is it worth it breaking concentration on one of these spells just to run away unless you're fairly certain you're gonna die.

And of course there's the issue with grapples, walls, heights, cages and all manners of obstacles that still affect you when using Zephyr Strike.

Zephyr Strike isn't a bad spell, but it's not a go-to one either. For a ranger it might be worth learning, since they don't get Misty Step and an emergency exit button can prove useful, even with so few spells known. But for a bard, and a Lore one at that, who are likely to be concentrating on like ten better spells and might just wanna get out of trouble if the enemy mooks decide to swarm them, Misty Step is much, much better.

Also, if you already have Dimension Door, there's some redundancy there.

[ShikomeKidoMi]

Bards have a LOT of concentration spells. Zephyr Strike is not worth the Concentration.

I'd probably drop Dimension Door at some point, to diversify a bit, though.... Probably. Dimension Door has the major advantage of not requiring you to see where you're going which can be a lifesaver in some situations, especially in Dungeons, where one is often dumped down a pit that closes after them or finds the door they entered through locked behind them.

[HiveStriker]

Let me know what you have to ad or think differently on.

For my Lore Bard:

A Misty Step turn would probably consists of me using it to get out of combat then either firing my Oath Bow or casting Vicious Mockery which does ~5 points of damage save dependent plus the disadvantage it gives.

A Zephyr Strike turn has me backing up 65 feet (wood elf) and firing the Oath Bow @ +4.5 damage or casting Vicious Mockery as my Action so about the same. Having the option to not provoke opportunity attacks is a nice thing, like 2 dimensional teleportation in fact, not sure how often I'd maintain Concentration on it though.


My conclusion is a martial character with a better weapon attacks would probably benefit more from Zephyr Strike. For a Lore Bard, especially one with Fly and Dimension Door, probably should STRONGLY consider the lower level spell slot Zephyr Strike uses but its not a clear cut decision.
Hi! Well...


Misty step has a lot more utility than zephyr strike although in combat they may serve a similar purpose.

In addition to bonus action movement, misty step allows you to break grapples, ignore hazards, difficult terrain, and even move to areas that are inaccessible otherwise.

As long as you have LoS you can teleport there which is a huge advantage that Zephyr strike lacks.

One time the party fell for a trap that had us in a cage with 2 umber hulks. Everyone was like ****e what to do I just misty step out of the cage and stood safely out of reach and slowly cantripped the two umber hulks to death and basically single handedly saved the group from a wipe since the umber hulk wrecked the party already and I managed to kill them while the rest of the party was making death saves.

Zephyr strike requires concentration. As a Bard, you will probably be concentrating on an awesome spell, you don't want to break that just to get away from your opponents.
This & that sum it up.
The fact that one is concentration when you're a Bard is already a dealbreaker as it is...
But on top of that you're a bow user apparently, so you should usually rarely risk OA (meaning the true problem would be that someone imposes on you one of the effects Gignere lists). And OAs are things you can simply deny with a Disengage if really you are low on resources and in danger.

If you want a low level buff, maybe consider Longstrider? As a bow user you don't care moving away, it's one hour long so lasts several encounters, and is non-concentration.
Honestly, I'd just go with Misty Step and be done with it. :)

[Keravath]

If you are trying to choose between these two then Misty Step.

1) Zephyr Strike is a concentration weapon attack spell. A lore bard doesn't typically use weapons (Swords or Valor maybe but a lore bard is all about spells ... even vicious mockery will eventually do more damage than this).

2) The lasting effect of Zephyr Strike is the disengage effect. However, as a lore bard you should probably never be in melee range if you can avoid it and if you want to get out of melee range and move farther away to avoid opportunity attacks, Misty Step is a much better option.

3) Zephyr strike is concentration. Bards have a lot of VERY good control spells that require concentration. I can't imagine many situations where it would be worthwhile for a lore bard to concentrate on zephyr strike over other options like hypnotic pattern, slow, suggestion, phantasmal force ... all of these can take one or more opponents out of the combat entirely, not just do an extra 4.5 damage. For a lore bard, in my opinion, Zephyr Strike is useless.

If you are looking at spells for magical secrets then I am not sure even Misty Step is worthwhile for that. It is a good escape spell but you mentioned already having dimension door which can be used similarly in a tight situation (which you should be trying to avoid anyway).

Magical secrets are great for the spells that will make a difference ... counterspell and fireball (and other good choices), wall of force, bigby's fist, circle of power, maybe banishment (there are so many good level 4,5 spells for the 10th level magical secrets), level 14 and 18 offer so many additional choices as well (like Wish at level 18). I am not a fan of using magical secrets for a cantrip or a spell like Misty Step though I can see the reasoning behind it.

These other spells can be encounter changing, even game changing in some cases, upcast banishment and take two or more tough creatures out of the fight for a minute (or send them back to their home plane permanently ... great for fiends/elementals and such) ... compare that to doing an extra 4.5 damage and moving 30'. Banishment is just far more useful ... and at level 10 you will be dealing with much more dangerous creatures and encounters.

Anyway, just something to think about, if I had to choose one of these two it would be Misty Step. If I was picking a magical secret it would be neither.

P.S. If you are looking for more damage options then taking Magic Intiiate wizard will give you better sustained damage than your oathbow, 2 levels of hexblade warlock will give you damage that is comparable to many martial classes using agonizing blast.

Oathbow looks surprisingly bad to be honest. You get advantage to hit and d8+3d6 damage on one target/day since you only get to declare one sworn enemy/day. The rest of the time it is a regular long bow. It doesn't even have a bonus to hit.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

If you are trying to choose between these two then Misty Step.

1) Zephyr Strike is a concentration weapon attack spell. A lore bard doesn't typically use weapons (Swords or Valor maybe but a lore bard is all about spells ... even vicious mockery will eventually do more damage than this).

2) The lasting effect of Zephyr Strike is the disengage effect. However, as a lore bard you should probably never be in melee range if you can avoid it and if you want to get out of melee range and move farther away to avoid opportunity attacks, Misty Step is a much better option.

3) Zephyr strike is concentration. Bards have a lot of VERY good control spells that require concentration. I can't imagine many situations where it would be worthwhile for a lore bard to concentrate on zephyr strike over other options like hypnotic pattern, slow, suggestion, phantasmal force ... all of these can take one or more opponents out of the combat entirely, not just do an extra 4.5 damage. For a lore bard, in my opinion, Zephyr Strike is useless.

If you are looking at spells for magical secrets then I am not sure even Misty Step is worthwhile for that. It is a good escape spell but you mentioned already having dimension door which can be used similarly in a tight situation (which you should be trying to avoid anyway).

Magical secrets are great for the spells that will make a difference ... counterspell and fireball (and other good choices), wall of force, bigby's fist, circle of power, maybe banishment (there are so many good level 4,5 spells for the 10th level magical secrets), level 14 and 18 offer so many additional choices as well (like Wish at level 18). I am not a fan of using magical secrets for a cantrip or a spell like Misty Step though I can see the reasoning behind it.

These other spells can be encounter changing, even game changing in some cases, upcast banishment and take two or more tough creatures out of the fight for a minute (or send them back to their home plane permanently ... great for fiends/elementals and such) ... compare that to doing an extra 4.5 damage and moving 30'. Banishment is just far more useful ... and at level 10 you will be dealing with much more dangerous creatures and encounters.

Anyway, just something to think about, if I had to choose one of these two it would be Misty Step. If I was picking a magical secret it would be neither.

P.S. If you are looking for more damage options then taking Magic Intiiate wizard will give you better sustained damage than your oathbow, 2 levels of hexblade warlock will give you damage that is comparable to many martial classes using agonizing blast.

Oathbow looks surprisingly bad to be honest. You get advantage to hit and d8+3d6 damage on one target/day since you only get to declare one sworn enemy/day. The rest of the time it is a regular long bow. It doesn't even have a bonus to hit.

You have some good points. Zephyr Strike is off my radar now. I'm probably taking Conjure Woodland Beings instead of Misty Step.

Think of the Oathbow in one of two different ways.

1: think of it like a spell which has advantage on my spell attack modifier to hit up to 600 feet away and does D8+3D6 damage. This spell in practice gets to be cast 2 or 3 times a day.

or

2: Consider my (character's) situation. Lore Bards are primarily spell casters. My main focus is spell casting and I'll never get a 2nd attack unlike my party's archery based fighter who primarily shoots arrows all day long. Almost once an adventuring day I find SOME use for that bow. Last time some Giants were rowing a boat towards us and I could contribute by unloading with the bow on them. After they closed we ended up caught between them and the other giants they were meeting. The giant I was firing on was dead but as they were within reasonable range it was time for Animate Objects.

For our fighter who might go through 20 arrows a day at a half dozen different targets the Oath Bow would not be as great a thing. For me, it has advantage so its like a plus 4 to hit weapon with plus 10.5 (3D6) damage. Even Blackrazor is only +3 if I recall.



Optimization wise it doesn't matter but back 8 levels ago when spell slots were more scarce shooting arrows from a regular long bow seemed really right for my Wood Elf Lore Bard also.

So it has positives and negatives but I think it works for my situation.

[Keravath]

You have some good points. Zephyr Strike is off my radar now. I'm probably taking Conjure Woodland Beings instead of Misty Step.

Think of the Oathbow in one of two different ways.

1: think of it like a spell which has advantage on my spell attack modifier to hit up to 600 feet away and does D8+3D6 damage. This spell in practice gets to be cast 2 or 3 times a day.

or

2: Consider my (character's) situation. Lore Bards are primarily spell casters. My main focus is spell casting and I'll never get a 2nd attack unlike my party's archery based fighter who primarily shoots arrows all day long. Almost once an adventuring day I find SOME use for that bow. Last time some Giants were rowing a boat towards us and I could contribute by unloading with the bow on them. After they closed we ended up caught between them and the other giants they were meeting. The giant I was firing on was dead but as they were within reasonable range it was time for Animate Objects.

For our fighter who might go through 20 arrows a day at a half dozen different targets the Oath Bow would not be as great a thing. For me, it has advantage so its like a plus 4 to hit weapon with plus 10.5 (3D6) damage. Even Blackrazor is only +3 if I recall.



Optimization wise it doesn't matter but back 8 levels ago when spell slots were more scarce shooting arrows from a regular long bow seemed really right for my Wood Elf Lore Bard also.

So it has positives and negatives but I think it works for my situation.

Just a quick comment but Oathbow is only usable 1/day unless your DM changed it. Though, you could mean that you get to use it 2 to 3 times against the one target.

"The target of your attack becomes your sworn enemy until it dies or until dawn seven days later. You can have only one such sworn enemy at a time. When your sworn enemy dies, you can choose a new one after the next dawn."

What do you do for the rest of the combat encounters in a day (if there are any? - it can be very DM dependent), do you just use the regular long bow?

As for lower level, I completely agree, before level 5, a long bow makes total sense for a bard since it does comparable damage to most other classes at that level. However, using a bow is fun and its a role playing game :) .. I think it is cool :)

P.S. Conjure woodland beings is a good spell there are a number of good choices without resorting to summoning polymorphing pixies (which your DM might just ban anyway :) ).

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Just a quick comment but Oathbow is only usable 1/day unless your DM changed it. Though, you could mean that you get to use it 2 to 3 times against the one target.

"The target of your attack becomes your sworn enemy until it dies or until dawn seven days later. You can have only one such sworn enemy at a time. When your sworn enemy dies, you can choose a new one after the next dawn."

What do you do for the rest of the combat encounters in a day (if there are any? - it can be very DM dependent), do you just use the regular long bow?

As for lower level, I completely agree, before level 5, a long bow makes total sense for a bard since it does comparable damage to most other classes at that level. However, using a bow is fun and its a role playing game :) .. I think it is cool :)

P.S. Conjure woodland beings is a good spell there are a number of good choices without resorting to summoning polymorphing pixies (which your DM might just ban anyway :) ).

Correct, one enemy a day for the Oathbow. Sometimes I count rounds of combat as uses. If you can maintain Concentration you can really get a lot out of some spell slots.

For the rest of the encounters in a day I use the Bard spells. You gotta think about which to use but being a Bard I get things to do with Bonus Action activities, Actions for the spell slots and reactions with Cutting Words or Counterspell. Its a different character than this Eldritch Blast Warlock I played by far.

Bards are neat. If you see metal, heat it up, figure an enemy is dumb or has low Wisdom or Constutition or whatever, I probably have a spell for that.