Max amount of melee attacks in a round

[Spacehamster]

So what’s the max amount of possible attacks in melee? From the top of my head it would be 11 echo knight, 4 gloom stalker, 3 barbarian from Tasha’s with natural attacks, 2 monk for flurry, then have somebody haste you on top of it all. This nets 4 from echo knight, 1 in first round from gloom, 1 from barb if using claws and two claws from flurry twice per short rest and 1 haste.

All in all 6 attacks that doubles from action surge and 2 from bonus action, so 14 attacks, 15 with haste.

Anyone else can think of anything that gives more attacks than this?

Edit: meant attacks against a single target.

[Pyrophilios]

A fairy hunter ranger 11/ rune knight 3 can turn huge and use multiattack: whirlwind to attack every creature within 5 ft. that's 16 attacks all around, but can be increased to 25 if you just fly over a densly packed throng of enemies. If you go 3d because you are assailed from all 6 sides, it rises to 98 attacks.

Now the only thing you need is something that forces 64 flying opponents to swarm you...

[Spacehamster]

A fairy hunter ranger 11/ rune knight 3 can turn huge and use multiattack: whirlwind to attack every creature within 5 ft. that's 16 attacks all around, but can be increased to 25 if you just fly over a densly packed throng of enemies. If you go 3d because you are assailed from all 6 sides, it rises to 64 attacks.

Now the only thing you need is something that forces 64 flying opponents to swarm you...

Yeah sorry should have clarified, against a single target I meant. :) Post now edited to include that.

[Pyrophilios]

In that case, samurai fighter 20 with PAM and haste.

Basic 6 attacks per round, action point another 4 attacks
Strength before death gives you a complete turn for another 6 attacks and action point for another 4

in total 20 melee attacks.

[Spacehamster]

In that case, samurai fighter 20 with PAM and haste.

Basic 6 attacks per round, action point another 4 attacks
Strength before death gives you a complete turn for another 6 attacks and action point for another 4

in total 20 melee attacks.

Not sure how you get 20? 5 for trading advantage(once per turn so not working with action surge) 4 attacks action surge and 1 bonus attack, I get that to 10 attacks in your turn not 20? :)

[Pyrophilios]

4 basic attacks through extra attack, 1 bonus action, 1 haste + action point another 4 basic attacks=10

Strength before Death gives you a full turn, so you can repeat the same maneuver with your second action point

[Keravath]

4 basic attacks through extra attack, 1 bonus action, 1 haste + action point another 4 basic attacks=10

Strength before Death gives you a full turn, so you can repeat the same maneuver with your second action point

It is a bit tough to combine them all since it requires taking damage on your own turn that reduces you to zero hit points AFTER you have completed taking your first round of 10 attacks but before your turn ends.

"Strength before Death: Starting at 18th level, your fighting spirit can delay the grasp of death. If you take damage that reduces you to 0 hit points and doesn’t kill you outright, you can use your reaction to delay falling unconscious, and you can immediately take an extra turn, interrupting the current turn."

In terms of more reliable ... probably something like the following that could be done once/short rest.

11 fighter, 3 gloomstalker ranger, 2 monk

2x( 3 attacks fighter + 1 gloomstalker (1st rd of combat) ) (action surge) + 2 bonus action (monk flurry of blows) + 1 (haste) = 11 as suggested above.

More might be possible for attacks triggered by a reaction on your turn (like Strength before death) but I wouldn't count those unless there is a way the character can directly trigger it.

----

On the other hand, a samurai with strength before death who was at 1 hit point could use their last attack for ritual suicide and trigger the ability netting 19 attacks on the round against another target and one against themself :) ... so under the right circumstances :) ... I would say 19.

[JackPhoenix]

Purely theoretically.... with UA: Tunnel Fighter allows you to make opportunity attack without using your reaction. Polearm Master allows you to take opportunity attack when an enemy enter your reach. Quick googling (without checking the math) says the maximum possible speed is 4200' per turn. Assuming movement in 5' increments, if the character with 4200' of movement keeps moving in an out of the PAM/TF character's reach, it's 1 attack per 5' moved, or 840 (opportunity) attacks in the runner's turn. Plus as many attacks the attacker can get on their turn, as that's still a single round.

[Mastikator]

Fighter 11 echo knight, ranger 3 gloom stalker, barbarian 3 beast, total levels is 17.

Attack from fighter 11 = 3, + 1 from echo knight, +1 from gloom stalker, +1 from beast claws = 6. + action surge 12, + 1 from haste = 13 against single target on first turn. Pole arm master doesn't help because beastbarian's rage uses bonus action

on subsequent turns only 5, assuming 14 CON.

[Amechra]

I feel like Strength Before Death really stretches the "in a round" part of the challenge. Also, Rapid Strike is explicitly limited to only work once per turn, just like the Beast Barbarian's claws.

I think the maximum number of melee attacks you can make within a single turn comes from a (Subclass doesn't matter) Monk 4/Gloom-Stalker Ranger 4/Echo Knight 12 with Constitution 14+.

You get...


Three attacks per Attack Action from Echo Knight. You can up this to four attacks with Unleash Incarnation.
On the first round of combat, you get +1 attack per Attack action (from Dread Ambusher).
Both Dread Ambusher and Unleash Incarnation don't have a per-turn limit, so we can double the number of attacks they give us with Action Surge.
Flurry of Blows gives you 2 attacks. Yes, they have to unarmed strikes, but we only care about the maximum number of attacks, right?


That comes out to 12 melee weapon attacks in a single turn, or 13 with Haste. Note for anyone doing something like this: Haste's special Attack action only lets you make a single attack, so you can't combine it with features that boost the number of attacks you make per Attack. So no using Unleash Incarnation on your Haste Attack.

Also, as a general point, it's really important to keep track of which actions you're using. For example, a Beast Barbarian/Gloom Stalker/Monk combination can only get all of the bonus attacks from those classes if your DM lets you rage before combat starts — otherwise, you'd be trying to both enter rage and use flurry of blows on the first turn of combat.

...

If you didn't specify that they had to be melee attacks...

Fighter 2/(a full-caster that learns Haste and Scorching Ray) 18

Start the round with Haste active. Cast Scorching Ray from a 9th level spell slot as your Action, cast a second Scorching Ray from an 8th level slot as your Action Surge, use your Attack action from Haste to stab the poor guy, then make an attack with your off-hand weapon with your bonus action.

This comes out to a grand total of 21 attacks against a single target, who can, in theory, be in melee with you.

[GloatingSwine]

I feel like Strength Before Death really stretches the "in a round" part of the challenge.

As long as you have a target that has some kind of revenge damage mechanic and few enough HP to hit 0 on your last attack of your turn, you can interrupt your own turn into another turn.

[Amechra]

As long as you have a target that has some kind of revenge damage mechanic and few enough HP to hit 0 on your last attack of your turn, you can interrupt your own turn into another turn.

I meant more in the colloquial sense, where most people use "turn" and "round" interchangeably.

I agree that, in the challenge-as-given it's totally valid (and pretty cool, because it doesn't involve stupid multiclassing shenanigans to work)... but I'm just worried that the OP is going to come back and clarify that they meant "turn".

EDIT: If we're looking for the maximum attacks per round... a Cavalier 20 with a bunch of 13th-level Mastermind Rogue friends takes the cake.


Have someone cast Enemies Abound on you. Use a reach weapon.
Take your turn, making your nine attacks against the poor guy right next to you.
On each of your friends' turns, they move into the space right behind the guy you actually want to hit.
You have to take an opportunity attack against your friends... which they can then redirect using Misdirection.
Oh hey, you hit your original target! Sweet!
If you still have a friend who hasn't gone, go back to step #3.

[ender241]

I meant more in the colloquial sense, where most people use "turn" and "round" interchangeably.

Do most people really use the two interchangeably? They have very distinct definitions within the 5e ruleset.

[Saelethil]

Do most people really use the two interchangeably? They have very distinct definitions within the 5e ruleset.

A couple months ago I played a rogue in a one-shot and my DM was adamant that I couldn’t Sneak Attack on an AoO. I explained in brief when it came up without results and in more detail after the session ended. A couple days later he texted me to let me know that he had come around to my reading of the rules and now saw the distinction.

[Pyrophilios]

Can't help it if people keep shifting the goal posts - the topic clearly states "within a round"

But if we go for reinterpretation of the rules:

Half Elf Artificer 1/ Warlock Hexblade 2/Wizard Bladesinger 6/Fighter Eldritch Knight 11
Equipment: Illusionist's Bracers, All Purpose Tool
Feats: Warcaster, Gunner, PAM,
Spells: Eldritch Blast, Haste

Setup:
Use the All Purpose Tool to get Eldritch Blast as one of your cantrips
You let an opponent enter your reach and use Warcaster to fire off 4 Eldritch Blasts as pseudo melee spell attacks through the gunner feat
On your Turn, you attack 2 times with extra attack, turning one into Eldritch Blasts with Bladesinger lvl 6 feature for another 4 Blasts + 4 Blasts from a Bonus Action (Illusionist's Bracers) and finally 1 Haste Attack
Action Point to do it again for another 2 + 4 EB and 1 Haste attack

Total of 22 attacks - though somewhat mad

[Xetheral]

The maximum number melee attacks in a round against a single target that doesn't rely on opportunity attacks or UA material I believe is 25. The character is a Rogue (Thief) 17/Fighter 2. Using the Thief's Use Magical Device ability the character uses scrolls of Glyph of Warding and Haste to get concentration-free Haste. The character then uses a scroll of Shapechange to turn into a Marilith while keeping all their class abilities. The character then picks up 5 Longswords and a Longsword of Speed. Then combat begins. On the first round of combat, on the character's initiative, the character takes the Multiattack action for 7 attacks, the special Attack action via Haste for an additional attack, and the bonus action attack from the Longsword of Speed, then uses action surge to Multiattack again for 7 more attacks. That's 16 attacks so far. Then, on the character's initiative count-10, the Thief's Reflexes feature triggers and the character gets another complete turn. The character is out of Action Surges, but otherwise repeats the above routine for 9 more attacks, bringing the total for the round to 25.

[Damon_Tor]

In that case, samurai fighter 20 with PAM and haste.

Basic 6 attacks per round, action point another 4 attacks
Strength before death gives you a complete turn for another 6 attacks and action point for another 4

in total 20 melee attacks.

If you want to be able to trigger strength before death on your own, you can swap out two levels of fighter for two levels of moon druid. Fly 10 feet into the air (be able to fly) then transform into an animal with 1 HP and fall. the 10-foot drop deals you 1 point of damage and drops you to 0 HP, triggering SbD and reverting you to your humanoid form. Then you can take your entire second turn no problem.

[stoutstien]

Can't help it if people keep shifting the goal posts - the topic clearly states "within a round"

But if we go for reinterpretation of the rules:

Half Elf Artificer 1/ Warlock Hexblade 2/Wizard Bladesinger 6/Fighter Eldritch Knight 11
Equipment: Illusionist's Bracers, All Purpose Tool
Feats: Warcaster, Gunner, PAM,
Spells: Eldritch Blast, Haste

Setup:
Use the All Purpose Tool to get Eldritch Blast as one of your cantrips
You let an opponent enter your reach and use Warcaster to fire off 4 Eldritch Blasts as pseudo melee spell attacks through the gunner feat
On your Turn, you attack 2 times with extra attack, turning one into Eldritch Blasts with Bladesinger lvl 6 feature for another 4 Blasts + 4 Blasts from a Bonus Action (Illusionist's Bracers) and finally 1 Haste Attack
Action Point to do it again for another 2 + 4 EB and 1 Haste attack

Total of 22 attacks - though somewhat mad
-AOs don't work when they enter reach.
-Haste attack action is a single weapon attack.

[Amechra]

Can't help it if people keep shifting the goal posts - the topic clearly states "within a round"

I was mostly hedging our bets a bit. Since the OP didn't mention anything about OAs, it's entirely possible that they meant "in a turn" instead of "in a round".


But if we go for reinterpretation of the rules:

Half Elf Artificer 1/ Warlock Hexblade 2/Wizard Bladesinger 6/Fighter Eldritch Knight 11
Equipment: Illusionist's Bracers, All Purpose Tool
Feats: Warcaster, Gunner, PAM,
Spells: Eldritch Blast, Haste

Setup:
Use the All Purpose Tool to get Eldritch Blast as one of your cantrips
You let an opponent enter your reach and use Warcaster to fire off 4 Eldritch Blasts as pseudo melee spell attacks through the gunner feat
On your Turn, you attack 2 times with extra attack, turning one into Eldritch Blasts with Bladesinger lvl 6 feature for another 4 Blasts + 4 Blasts from a Bonus Action (Illusionist's Bracers) and finally 1 Haste Attack
Action Point to do it again for another 2 + 4 EB and 1 Haste attack

Total of 22 attacks - though somewhat mad

This only gets you 21 attacks — Action Surge doesn't give you an extra action from Haste.

...

OK, here's an idea, operating off of two assumptions:


We're actually asking to maximize melee attacks from a single character within a single round.
We are allowed to get a little help from our friends.


Let's give our Samurai friend (let's call 'em Sam) a buddy:

Ellie The Enabler
Order Cleric 1/Valor Bard 14 with the War-Caster feat.

Set-Up:
Sam has a reach weapon, is 10ft away from the guy we're attacking, and is at 1 HP.
Ellie must go after Sam in the initiative order.

The Round Of Death

Sam makes his 10 attacks (8 from two attack actions, +1 from Rapid Strikes, +1 from dual-wielding).
Ellie goes. She casts Enemies Abound on herself, then uses the bonus action attack from Battle Magic to attack Sam. This would drop Sam, except...
Sam spends his reaction to use STRENGTH BEFORE DEATH! He steps forwards to make some more attacks, and Ellie is forced to take an opportunity attack against Sam... which she uses to cast Haste on Sam (thanks, War Caster!)
Sam makes 12 attacks (8 from two attack actions, +1 from Rapid Strikes, +1 from dual-wielding, +1 from Haste, +1 from Voice of Authority).


By the end of the round, Sam has made 22 attacks. We could up that to 23 attacks if there's a third person casting Haste on Sam.

(As far as I know, Order Cleric + War-Caster is the only way to grant an ally a Reaction Attack when it isn't your turn.)


The maximum number melee attacks in a round against a single target that doesn't rely on opportunity attacks or UA material I believe is 25. The character is a Rogue (Thief) 17/Fighter 2. Using the Thief's Use Magical Device ability the character uses scrolls of Glyph of Warding and Haste to get concentration-free Haste. The character then uses a scroll of Shapechange to turn into a Marilith while keeping all their class abilities. The character then picks up 5 Longswords and a Longsword of Speed. Then combat begins. On the first round of combat, on the character's initiative, the character takes the Multiattack action for 7 attacks, the special Attack action via Haste for an additional attack, and the bonus action attack from the Longsword of Speed, then uses action surge to Multiattack again for 7 more attacks. That's 16 attacks so far. Then, on the character's initiative count-10, the Thief's Reflexes feature triggers and the character gets another complete turn. The character is out of Action Surges, but otherwise repeats the above routine for 9 more attacks, bringing the total for the round to 25.

Hmm...

On the one hand, this works (and is probably the highest you can hit). On the other hand, I feel like "my character uses multiple magic items to stack buffs" is a little cheap. :smalltongue:

[Damon_Tor]

The maximum number melee attacks in a round against a single target that doesn't rely on opportunity attacks or UA material I believe is 25. The character is a Rogue (Thief) 17/Fighter 2. Using the Thief's Use Magical Device ability the character uses scrolls of Glyph of Warding and Haste to get concentration-free Haste. The character then uses a scroll of Shapechange to turn into a Marilith while keeping all their class abilities. The character then picks up 5 Longswords and a Longsword of Speed. Then combat begins. On the first round of combat, on the character's initiative, the character takes the Multiattack action for 7 attacks, the special Attack action via Haste for an additional attack, and the bonus action attack from the Longsword of Speed, then uses action surge to Multiattack again for 7 more attacks. That's 16 attacks so far. Then, on the character's initiative count-10, the Thief's Reflexes feature triggers and the character gets another complete turn. The character is out of Action Surges, but otherwise repeats the above routine for 9 more attacks, bringing the total for the round to 25.

I can take it up a notch by being the best kind of correct: the OP never specified that the target of the attack must be a creature. As such, this rather elaborately well prepared thief could get off a whole lot more attacks by also employing a scroll of Time Stop, and making his attacks against an object, rather than a creature, allowing him to take an additional 5 turns in a row (assuming a well-rolled 1d4+1) in place of his second turn. This brings the total to 61 attacks. This is kind of silly, but let's be real, it was already silly.

[kazaryu]

So what’s the max amount of possible attacks in melee? From the top of my head it would be 11 echo knight, 4 gloom stalker, 3 barbarian from Tasha’s with natural attacks, 2 monk for flurry, then have somebody haste you on top of it all. This nets 4 from echo knight, 1 in first round from gloom, 1 from barb if using claws and two claws from flurry twice per short rest and 1 haste.

All in all 6 attacks that doubles from action surge and 2 from bonus action, so 14 attacks, 15 with haste.

Anyone else can think of anything that gives more attacks than this?

Edit: meant attacks against a single target.

beast barbarian only works 1/turn so action surge wouldn't double it. you'd get 6 attacks from 1 of the actions, then 5 from the other. also, for the echo knight you'd need at least a 14 con to get 2 unleash incarnartion attacks (perfectly doable, just pointing out that it is a limiter).



Setup:
Use the All Purpose Tool to get Eldritch Blast as one of your cantrips
You let an opponent enter your reach and use Warcaster to fire off 4 Eldritch Blasts as pseudo melee spell attacks through the gunner feat
On your Turn, you attack 2 times with extra attack, turning one into Eldritch Blasts with Bladesinger lvl 6 feature for another 4 Blasts + 4 Blasts from a Bonus Action (Illusionist's Bracers) and finally 1 Haste Attack
Action Point to do it again for another 2 + 4 EB and 1 Haste attack

Total of 22 attacks - though somewhat mad

action surge gives you an extra action, not a whole turn. so what you actually have is
off turn: EB (4)
first action: weapon attack+EB (5)
second action: weapon attack+EB (5)
BA: EB (4)
haste: weapon attack (1)

for a total of 19.

however, you could instead grab metamagic adept for quicken, and instead of using you BA for EB you can use it for scorching ray, which would (at 5th level) be 6 attacks instead of 4. which brings your total up to 21. you could also use a 5th level slot to cast scorching ray with your OA, which would get you up to 23. that is...if we're ignoring the fact that most of those aren't actually melee attacks. (yeah, i know you're not at disadvantage, but there are other reasons why melee vs ranged can be important.


If you want to be able to trigger strength before death on your own, you can swap out two levels of fighter for two levels of moon druid. Fly 10 feet into the air (be able to fly) then transform into an animal with 1 HP and fall. the 10-foot drop deals you 1 point of damage and drops you to 0 HP, triggering SbD and reverting you to your humanoid form. Then you can take your entire second turn no problem.

a level 2 moon druid can't turn into a creature with a fly speed...think you need like...8 levels of druid to be able to fly? moon druids ignore the max CR, not the swim/fly speed restrictions.

[Frogreaver]

Animate Dead Command them to ready attack to target nearest enemy when you attack.

You can have as many melee attacks as you can have skeletons from animate dead.

Conjure animals could also work similarly. Using a 9th level slot on it to summon cr 1/4th creatures. Then have them ready attacks as well.

I'm not sure the exact number of attacks that would be, but it would be alot.

Throw in a simulcarum to do the same thing. I'd say we've topped 100 attacks in a round.

[Hael]

Wasn't there a thread on this recently?

The number of attacks is essentially infinite. True polymorph into a hydra, and have someone cut of heads to produce as many melee attacks as desired.

[Khrysaes]

9the level spell shapechange, so 17 levels in relevant class, and you can turn into a marilith. They have multi attack for 7 attacks. 2 fighter action surge for 14. Add in a bonus attack for 15. Im not sure if or how unleash incarnation would work, but 17 wizard 3 fighter would work. You also get one reaction per TURN so potentially as many attacks as there are things provoking reactions, limited to once per turn.

[Mastikator]

You only get 1 reaction per round, not turn. "When you take a Reaction, you can’t take another one until the start of your next turn"
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Combat#toc_8

[Kane0]

I know it isnt the MOST, but I do find Beast Barb/Ranger to be a good option that is functional as a build without cluttering your action economy and feat choices plus has room to throw in extras like Haste, Bugbear, fighter dip, etc

[ender241]

You only get 1 reaction per round, not turn. "When you take a Reaction, you can’t take another one until the start of your next turn"
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Combat#toc_8

That is the general rule but the marilith has a feature that lets it take one per turn.


Reactive. The marilith can take one reaction on every turn in a combat.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/16952-marilith

[JackPhoenix]

That is the general rule but the marilith has a feature that lets it take one per turn.



https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/16952-marilith

Which is useless, because one opponent only gets one turn, which means only one opportunity attack, no better than anyone else.

[ender241]

Which is useless, because one opponent only gets one turn, which means only one opportunity attack, no better than anyone else.

For the purpose of this exercise, yes. I was merely addressing the comment of "you only get one reaction per round." And I wasn't the one who originally brought up the marilith.

[Damon_Tor]

a level 2 moon druid can't turn into a creature with a fly speed...think you need like...8 levels of druid to be able to fly? moon druids ignore the max CR, not the swim/fly speed restrictions.

You fly 10 feet up before you wildshape.

[Eldariel]

Hydra form through True Polymorph + healing goes arbitrarily large. Hydra + Extended Shapechance caps out at about 1000ish with Action Surge.

Hydraless is at least 14 from AS Marilith and 1 from bonus action, 1 from Reaction. So 16. And you get reaction each round so technically 1/creature in encounter if they all proc OA or similar (mebbe wield a Polearm and PAM).

[Khrysaes]

You only get 1 reaction per round, not turn. "When you take a Reaction, you can’t take another one until the start of your next turn"
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Combat#toc_8

The Marilith explicitly gets a reaction each turn.

To revise my previous thought on the marilith though

Echo knight says that the unleash incarnation activates when you take the attack action, so the marilith's multi attack action probably doesn't work

ergo,

17 wizard Shapechange/2 fighter action surge

7 multi attacks
7 action surge multiattacks
1 bonus action attack
1 attack from haste
so 16.

[JackalTornMoons]

Chronolometer can get you two more actions on your turn if you roll well and finagle a way to take some damage (fall damage, attack of opportunity, hit yourself, ymmv).

That brings a level 20 Echo Knight with PAM up to 21.