Eldritch knight Archer or melee build

[Whit]

I’m interested in the concept but feel that the spells are so limited And what would Be better range or melee At level 15 here are my three options

1. Range high elf gives +2 Dex, +1 int.
Str 8, Int 15(16) , Wis 10, Dex 14(16), Con 14, Cha 10 AC 17 studded + dex
1. Fight style archery +2 range
Lvl 4 sharpshooter
Lvl 6 +2 Dex (18)
Lvl 8 +2 Dex (20)
Lvl 12 +2 Int (18)
Lvl 14 feat or + 2 stat
Lvl 15. Done
Spells 3 cantrips Mending(arrows) Minor Illusion, Toll the dead. (10) Spells known 3 of which can be any school. Casting 4x lvl 1, 3x lvl 2, 3x lvl 3. * is the 3 any school spells.
#1 absorb element ,Shield.
#2 *Blind/deaf vs Con, *Hold person vs Wis, *Mirror image
#3 Counterspell, Dispel Magic, *Fly , Tiny Hut, Fireball

2. Melee tank with fight style armor sword and shield which at that lvl should be plate for AC 21+ shield spell (26)
Race mountain dwarf +2 str/con
Str 15(17) Int 13, Wis 10, Dex 10, Con 14(16) Cha 10
Lvl 1 Fight style armor
Lvl 4 Warcaster
Lvl 6 +2 str 19
Lvl 8 +2 con 18
Lvl 12 str 20 con 19
Lvl 14 dwarves resilience +1 con 20 or toughness or martial adept or shield master
Cantrips gfb, bb, fire bolt or toll dead.
Spells same as above

3. Melee damage same as dwarf 2 stats but ac will be plate 18 plus shield spell
Lvl 1 Fight style great weapon style
Lvl 4 gwm
Lvl 6 pole arm master
Lvl 8 Heavy armor master +1 str (18)
Lvl 12 sentinel
Lvl 14 +2 str (20), or toughness, martial adept

Am I missing something good from these 3 options

[Christew]

Melee EKs should never sleep on Shadow Blade.

[Specter]

Martial Adept would simply be 1 maneuver used per rest, which is simply not worth it compared to things like Tough and Lucky.

Also remember that as an archer you can take Levitate at level 8, which should easily get you out of melee range.

[LudicSavant]

For many Fighter subclasses I think Ranged is markedly better, but Eldritch Knight overcomes a few of the hurdles that hurt the melee prospects of, say, Champion Fighters.

They actually have some abilities that help their mobility and get past CC. And even if they fail to get into melee range, they have other actions they can take besides attacking (like casting a buff).

They’re the tankiest Fighters, and their damage doesn’t go down much from using a Dex shield build instead of using feats on GWM / PAM, thanks to abilities like Shadow Blade.

They have a strong OA to make them sticky (Warcaster Shadow Booming Blade).

Personally I don’t advise Mountain Dwarf for a melee EK.

[Deathtongue]

1) Are you starting at level 15 or do you plan to get to level 15?

2) What does the rest of your party look like?

3) What kind of magical items do you expect to drop? In particular, do you expect to see a Headband of Intellect, a Pearl of Power, Belts of Giant Strength, or magical weapons besides +1/+2 items?

4) What are you doing in your campaign between dungeon crawls? Do you expect to spend a lot of time in the city or exploration?

Without knowing the answers to those particular questions, though, I'd say push your Eldritch Knight in a ranged direction. It's much easier to go from ranged to melee (since you have Shadow Blade and finesse weapons) than it is from melee to ranged. There's always the option of going rapier + shield if you're forced into melee. And in average-case scenarios, Action Surge + Ranged Sharpshooter + Initiative Boost is very, very good for sniping enemies in the backline before they get to attack. Dexterity is also very useful for skills during downtime. However, if you expect to get your hands on magical items like Belt of Fire Giant Strength and your party is hurting for frontline meat, going in a melee direction is prefectly fine.

[Whit]

Made correction on stats for elf.
Now spells is the issue.

If I get 10 spells and 3 of them can be outside abjure/evoc. What to do?
Lvl 1 absorb element and shield is fine.
Lvl 2. *Blind/deaf vs con and *hold person vs wis is huge for giving disadvantage saves with eldritch strike. Hold person vs fighters and blind vs spell casters. Add * mirror image for melee. to keep from getting hit and that’s your 3 spells

Lvl 3 counterspell, dispel magic, fireball, tiny hut, prot from energy, *Fly for range instead mirror image. That’s the 10 spells.

Now shadowblade levitate are all out of box spells so they would have to replace either fly, blind, hold or mirror image.

What would you do? The big part of eldritch knight is eldritch strike to give disadvantage vs your save spell so keeping blind and hold is huge.

So confusing

[Specter]

Assuming archer:

Level 3: Shield, Absorb Elements, Expeditious Retreat
Level 4: Mage Armor
Level 5/6: --
Level 7: Shatter
Level 8: Hold Person
Level 9: --
Level 10: Warding Wind
Level 11: Protection from Good and Evil
Level 12: --
Level 13: Fireball, Counterspell (unlearn Shatter)
Level 14: Fly
Level 15: --
Level 16: Magic Circle, Dispel Magic (unlearn Protection from Good and Evil)
Level 17: --
Level 18: --
Level 19: Fire Shield
Level 20: Greater Invisibility

If you want both Hold Person and Blindness, you'd have to trade Expeditious Retreat for it, but ER is also very good, so...

[Vogie]

I'd do both. Since you're an EK, you can summon weapons from anywhere, so you'll always have your rapier or Longbow in hand, and donning a shield is an action.

Some other combos

Scag-Trips work well with War magic at close range, allowing you to still get 2 attacks in while getting the benefits of BB or GFB
As strange as it sounds, War Magic allows you to make actual use of True Strike, if your campaign uses things like poison, +1 arrows, and the like.
As you mentioned, Eldritch Strike works great with the low-level saving throw spells, such as toll the dead, Charm Person and the aforementioned Blindness.
Your predominant 3rd level spell would probably be Haste, increasing your AC and generating more attacks earlier.
Once you hit 4th level spells, that'd be supplanted with Greater Invisibility, giving you advantage on all the things.