Need help with Gloomstalker build

[Raven Darkcloud]

Hello all I am going to be starting a new campaign and was thinking of creating a Gloomstalker Ranger. We will be starting lvl 1 in a West March campaign, and I was thinking Human Varient and taking xbow expert.

I have never played this type of char and was trying to fully understand the feat. Does this mean while wielding just one hand xbow I am allowed to make two attacks?

I was thinking of going 5 lvls Gloomstalker and running with assassin there after any ideas or suggestions are welcome.

[Rfkannen]

Great pick! gloomstalker is a ton of fun!

Human is a great pick, gloomstalker gives darkvision which gets rid of one of the humans main weaknesses. Crossbow expert means that when you get extra attack, you can indeed attack twice without reloading! In addition, you can attack with it as a bonus action, so at level 5 you will be able to attack 3 times in a round (4 if it is the first round of combat because of the level 3 gloomstalker feature)

5 levels of gloomstalker and rest assassin looks like a ton of fun! The min-max thing to do would be to also take 2 levels of fighter, but that really isn't nececary, you will be plenty powerful enough already (5 levels of gloomstalker makes you EXTREMELY powerful)

One suggestion I would have is to get sharpshooter at some point, attacking in darkness gives you basically permanent advantage, which combos very well with that feat.

Also if your dm gives out magic items that you ask for, try to get one of your melee allies a frostband weapon, turning off the lights can be great! (a frostbrand dagger you use just to turn off the lights would be good, but a bit overkill)

[Raven Darkcloud]

Thanks for the input I was thinking of taking sharpshooter as my next feat then using ASI increases then on we rarely get above lvl 14 in our games. The DM said we can use all published material just no UA.

Will have to look at frostbrand weapons and what they do thanks for the idea.

[Droppeddead]

Hello all I am going to be starting a new campaign and was thinking of creating a Gloomstalker Ranger. We will be starting lvl 1 in a West March campaign, and I was thinking Human Varient and taking xbow expert.

I have never played this type of char and was trying to fully understand the feat. Does this mean while wielding just one hand xbow I am allowed to make two attacks?

I was thinking of going 5 lvls Gloomstalker and running with assassin there after any ideas or suggestions are welcome.

Unless there is something in particular that you really want from Assassin I suggest going with Rogue Scout instead. It merges a lot better with Ranger (and especially Gloom Stalker). If you start as a Rogue you'll get an extra skill in the end but that's not really that important.

I would suggest getting three levels of Ranger and then three levels of Rogue. Sure, that will slow your ranger process slightly but since you have Crossbow Expert you still get two attacks per round. After that I would keep going Ranger until level 7 and after that as many Rogue levels as you can fit, at least if you are going only to level 14. Gloom Stalker 7/Scout 7 is a deadly combination and also very useful in pretty much any situation depending on what skills you have.

[5eNeedsDarksun]

I played a Gloomstalker until 14th. 9 levels of Gloomstalker to get the 3rd level spells and the rest Fighter and Rogue. It worked; still a shame that the class is such that people are trying to figure out where the best off-ramp is.

[Raven Darkcloud]

I have a rule question about the Dread Ambusher ability.

You add your WIS modifier (+2) to initiative rolls. At the start of your first turn of each combat, your walking speed increases by 10 ft., which lasts until the end of that turn. If you take the Attack action, you can make one additional weapon attack that deals an extra 1d8 damage of the weapon’s damage type on hit.

If I am lvl 4 and I take an attack action with a hand xbow with the xbow expert feat will my attack go as what follows?

Attack / Bonus action attack / Dread Ambush attack +d8 / Bonus action attack?

So two attacks with 2 bonus action attacks in summary.

[Damon_Tor]

Gloomstalker Assassin is a lethal combination for sure.

Those suggesting levels on fighter are right to do so. Consider 11 levels of echo fighter, 3 levels of assassin rogue, 3 levels of gloomstalker ranger, then 3 levels however you like them. Go 12/4/4 if you want the Asis. 12/4/3 with 1 level in war cleric would work well if you want to bonus action attack with a bigger weapon to make the best possible use of your crits and piercer. Precast divine favor before combat for your concentration. An opening round of 11 attacks, all of which auto crit is quite a nice way to say hello.

Crossbow Mastery for the bonus action is fine, since the extra attack is worth it early on, but later you'll want to use your bonus action to cast/move Hunter's Mark most turns, and you'll be better off with a heavy crossbow for the bigger damage dice as the number of attacks you make per round increases. The longer range is also very relevant since it allows you to attack from outside the range of most special senses, while the hand crossbow requires you to get closer. After your big opening round you can switch back to the hand crossbow again, like a sniper pulling his sidearm.

[da newt]

You only get ONE BONUS ACTION per turn so no matter how many extra attacks you get, you still only get one BA to attack (from XBE) or any other BA (Hunter's Mark, Hide, etc).

Rogue MC is great for cunning actions and sneak attack damage, but assassin is weak unless your DM is very generous with surprise. Fighter MC is great for action surge and all the other good stuff that fighter offers. BM is one of the best fighter subclasses to combine w/ gloomstalker.

In my opinion (a fairly unpopular one), XBE is a frustrating feat for a gloomstalker ESPECIALLY if you plan to MC Rogue. I prefer to skip it and go longbow SS and max dex sooner. I find this makes it easier to capitalize on all of the other good BA options.

[Damon_Tor]

You only get ONE BONUS ACTION per turn so no matter how many extra attacks you get, you still only get one BA to attack (from XBE) or any other BA (Hunter's Mark, Hide, etc).

Rogue MC is great for cunning actions and sneak attack damage, but assassin is weak unless your DM is very generous with surprise. Fighter MC is great for action surge and all the other good stuff that fighter offers. BM is one of the best fighter subclasses to combine w/ gloomstalker.

In my opinion (a fairly unpopular one), XBE is a frustrating feat for a gloomstalker ESPECIALLY if you plan to MC Rogue. I prefer to skip it and go longbow SS and max dex sooner. I find this makes it easier to capitalize on all of the other good BA options.

At early levels you get a lot of mileage out of the XBE bonus attack. And at later levels with a build like this all the [W] you throw around will benefit from having a Heavy Crossbow over a Longbow. For example, in the build I outlined above where you have an opening round of 11 attacks which all autocrit with piercer, the difference between a Longbow and a Heavy Crossbow is 33 points of damage. In other words, the feat is worth it, I think, even once you start having better things to do with your bonus.

[Droppeddead]

So two attacks with 2 bonus action attacks in summary.

No, since you only have a single bonus action.

[Raven Darkcloud]

Thank you all for your inputs.

[Contrast]

One thing to note is that it specifically has to be a hand crossbow to benefit from the bonus action attack.

Also, while the feat gets rid of the loading property, the crossbow does still have the ammunition trait. This means you still need a free hand to load the crossbow so no dual wielding hand crossbows or having a hand crossbow in one hand and a shield in the other unless your DM decides to rule otherwise.