Tempest cleric+ eldrich knight how bad is it?

[Trandir]

I was beginning to think about a build to use tempest cleric in melee and the answer I got to was to not play (just) as a cleric.

Something like cleric 13/2 fighter 7/8 to get war magic and spam booming blade in the face of everything.

How bad is this?

[Trandir]

Ok nevermind this combo is mhe. A lot. Probably straight eldrich knight is better

[Petrocorus]

I was beginning to think about a build to use tempest cleric in melee and the answer I got to was to not play (just) as a cleric.

I saw this thread and you're quite paraphrasing here.

It was said that Tempest Cleric, despite their proficiencies, will never be as good in melee damage as a Fighter or a Paladin. Which is true.
But, OTOH, this is not their job.
I second what some people have told you there, Tempest Cleric is one of the most versatile subclass and is very solid. They notably are good tanks.

Now, concerning the topic of this current thread, the answer depends on how much you want to make melee damage and what costs you're ready to pay for it.

It also depends on the level range of the campaign you're playing. Don't plan on a MC combo that will come online at level 10 if the campaign is going to stop at level 8, or even 10 or 11.

[Laserlight]

Eldritch Knight wants to get into melee and stab things. Tempest wants to get into melee and cast spells. They don't overlap much.

[MrStabby]

The mix does have some benefits, but it takes quite a long time to really get some of the good stuff.

One question worth asking is whether you are doing the multiclass for RP reasons or mechanical reasons. RP reasons has less to productively discuss so will focus on the mechanics.

Within the mechanics there are two broad things a multiclass gives you - being good at more things or achieving more of a focus in doing one thing well. This MC does a bit of both but the former happens before the latter.

In terms of being more versatile you can think of doing something like fighter to 5 then dipping in cleric. With 5 fighter and 1 cleric it will be like you took a feat to be able to cast bless, healing spells and get some more cantrips. When your party might want a bit of a hand in tough fights and if you were not always using your concentration this type of versatility brings a bit of power.

As you add more cleric you get new tricks. Turn undead may never have an impact as destroy undead but at whatever level you face undead at it is fantastic powerful crowd control.

At level 5 you get access to spirit guardians, absolutely devastating for a character with heavy armour proficiency and proficiency in concentration saves and that wants to be in people's faces. By this time you are well into the game though at about level 10.

One thing of note is that all of these are available to clerics, not just tempest clerics. From an optimising perspective you might want a different domain that gives stuff other than heavy armour proficiency and martial weapons. Even the domain spells are more damage focussed which doesn't tend to scale well if you are stepping outside of your class.

Adding more EK after level 5 also works well. A feat at 6 is always nice, war magic at 7, another feat at 8, undercutting saves at 10. My temptation would be EK to 5, cleric to 4, EK to 7(hitting war magic when your cantrip level up) then cleric to 5, EK to 10, cleric to 6 and then whatever you fancy after that. EK 11 is a bit flat because of war magic so I would probably push cleric then. Banishment never goes out of style.

So yeah, I think it is a good multiclass but you need to accept there will be a pretty broad range of levels where your character will be awesome in more subtle ways.

[Gignere]

It depends on what you want out of the fighter levels, and what you want to achieve with your character. If it is more burst melee damage to supplement your awesome in your face casting then I would suggest dipping Paladin would be better for you to get the smite damage. But fighter tempest is not an easy mix and gets going quite late so unless you’re starting high levels I wouldn’t recommend it.

[CTurbo]

Tempest Clerics are awesome, but I don't see much to gain by going EK Fighter too. Two levels of Fighter adds a lot to a Tempest Cleric though with Defense Style and Action Surge.


I think 6 levels of Forge Cleric would work well with some EK levels as you could have an AC of 23 in Plate + shield. The Domain spells fit Fightering too.

[JakOfAllTirades]

If you just want to drop a really big BOOM once per short rest, Tempest Cleric 2/Eldritch Knight 18 isn't a bad idea. Load up on lightning/thunder spells and lay down the hurt with a maximized spell once per short rest. Or take Cleric 6 and make it twice per short rest.

[rbstr]

Really, if you're just gonna booming blade a lot the time, being a tempest 2, fighterX is probably best. If you want to use leveled spells I don't think the EK archetype really doesn't bring much to the table. Particularly at low levels.
Like level 3 is pretty eh - a caster level and bonded weapon? Ehhh...you can learn shield and absorb elements, though.
Then when you get to lots of EK levels - Bonus attack when you cast a cantrip? I don't think it's gonna be as useful as you might want it to be. For combat I see you mostly either blasting with leveled spells or wading in casting spiritual weapon and attacking.

Fighter itself is pretty good though. Fighting Style, Action Surge, Extra Attack, extra ASI if you keep going.

A different archetype might actually serve you better:
Battlemaster - Level 3: make your attack count! Level 7 feature is pretty meh.
Cavalier - Tanky Tanky! Level 3: Now you're able to punish the enemy regardless if they attack you or someone else! Level 7 is also really good.
Samurai - Level 3: THP and advantage on weapon attacks so not so great.

In general, I'm not a huge fan of caster/martial MCs that go much more than like 5/15. Too much good stuff at higher levels that you delay until after your campaign is long over.

[Waazraath]

I was beginning to think about a build to use tempest cleric in melee and the answer I got to was to not play (just) as a cleric.

Something like cleric 13/2 fighter 7/8 to get war magic and spam booming blade in the face of everything.

How bad is this?

If you want to gish it out in melee, either single class is better than the combo. Just go single class eldritch knight, or optimize your tempest cleric round booming blade (get it through race from lvl 1 onwards). The latter will be more about 'casting in melee' (as another post mentioned), but build properly you can smash some face there as well.

[MikeRoxTheBoat]

My in your face melee Forge Cleric went EK3/Forge Cleric X. Gave access to shield, absorb elements, booming blade, find familiar. Made me a pretty sticky tank with Spirit Guardians, Spiritual Weapon, Booming Blade ± Warcaster.

You really, REALLY, start to feel the spell progression, though. The whole thing came online at level 8 for me and even though it felt awesome and thematic, at that level our wizard was just beginning to chuck lightning bolts and fireballs willy nilly, along with other nonsense. I also went down a lot and had to rely on my half-orc trait to stay up more often than I liked.

It was fun making a burly meat shield with our barbarian, but if I had to do it again, I'd probably just take a level of Wizard or Sorc and call it a day. Or just go straight Cleric.

I'd assume Tempest Cleric would run into to the same problem. You're a blasty cleric that won't get immediately wrecked in melee, but your best option is usually just to blast.

I'd go with the advice that I heard a lot when I asked around, but ignored. Optimizing your melee damage on a cleric is a bit of a trap option. It was fun, but you won't be as good as those that are focused on it and you'll suffer in your spells, what you're actually supposed to be good at and bringing to the table.