Wildhunt Shifter with Reckless Attack

[Morrison]

It was recently pointed out to me that the Wildhunt Shifter pairs very nicely with the Barbarian's Reckless Attack feature, essentially getting all the positives and skipping the downsides (under most circumstances), so I'm trying to figure out a build to make the most of that. One good way to do that, I think, would be to maximize my number of attacks in a given turn.
What are some good ways for a Barbarian to get as many attacks as possible? Any particular subclasses that would be well-suited? Or would I be better off multiclassing to Fighter or something once I've unlocked Reckless Attack?

[RogueJK]

What are some good ways for a Barbarian to get as many attacks as possible? Any particular subclasses that would be well-suited? Or would I be better off multiclassing to Fighter or something once I've unlocked Reckless Attack?

Wild Hunt Shifter Barbarian 2 or 3/Echo Knight Fighter X with Great Weapon Master and Polearm Master, wielding a Halberd or Glaive.

This will let you maximize the number of attacks you can generate in a turn. Starting at Fighter 11, you're looking at up to 10 attacks in a round: 3x Attack + Unleash Incarnation + Action Surge 3x Attack + Unleash Incarnation + Bonus Action GWM/PAM attack + Reaction OA or PAM attack. All able to utilize GWM.

For level progression, I'd do Fighter 6 to get your base Echo Knight abilities, Extra Attack, and those two feats online ASAP, then Barbarian 2 (or 3 if you want an additional daily Rage and a subclass like Ancestral Guardian or Bear Totem), then back to Fighter taking Sentinel and boosting STR and CON with your further ASIs at 8/12/14/16.


There's a whole lot of synergy here: The Reckless Attack Advantage offsets the GWM attack penalty, and being Shifted prevents you from suffering the same in return. GWM gets you some full power BA attacks at times. PAM gets you some lesser BA attacks when GWM doesn't trigger and full power Reaction attacks when an enemy approaches. Fighter eventually gets multiple attacks, plus can Action Surge to double that number. Echo Knight can Unleash Incarnation CONMOD times per day for an additional attack in a turn (or two if you Action Surge, since it's usable any time you take the Attack action, and Action Surge lets you take the Attack action again).

The only issue is BA clog, with Shifting, Raging, PAM/GWM bonus attack, manifesting your Echo, and teleporting to swap places all competing for your Bonus Action. But that's manageable, especially if you only take 2 Barbarian levels mainly for Reckless and don't plan on Raging all that often. You can have your Echo already manifested going into most combats, and from there not every combat will justify Raging and/or Shifting.

You can even ignore Rage altogether, if you want to just take 2 levels of Barbarian strictly for Reckless Attack, by dumping DEX and wearing Heavy Armor. Reckless Attack still works in heavy armor, even if Rage doesn't.

And honestly, PAM is optional, if you want to cut down further on the BA clog. You can achieve nearly the same effect with that progression without taking PAM and just using a Greatsword or Maul. You'll just be giving up some Reaction and Bonus Action attack opportunities from PAM, but you'll still have the occasional ability to make a Reaction Opportunity Attack or a Bonus Action GWM attack if you crit/down an enemy. And you'll be gaining slightly higher damage output thanks to Greatsword/Maul's 2d6 vs. Halberd/Glaive's 1d10 (avg. 7 vs 5.5). And that opens up your Fighter 6 ASI to get a STR/CON boost online sooner if you need it for your stats, take Sentinel sooner, or even take an alternate feat like Crusher or Resilient WIS if you have an odd STR/CON/WIS score you need to even out.

[Morrison]

Wild Hunt Shifter Barbarian 2 or 3/Echo Knight Fighter X with Great Weapon Master and Polearm Master, wielding a Halberd or Glaive.

This will let you maximize the number of attacks you can generate in a turn. Starting at Fighter 11, you're looking at up to 10 attacks in a round: 3x Attack + Unleash Incarnation + Action Surge 3x Attack + Unleash Incarnation + Bonus Action GWM/PAM attack + Reaction OA or PAM attack. All able to utilize GWM with Advantage from Reckless.


I'm not sure if the flavour of the Echo Knight fits the character concept I have in mind. I also feel like this might be too many things competing for my Bonus Action. Are there any other Fighter subclasses (or even Barbarian subclasses if I want to keep the Rage) that might synergize at all?
Path of the Beast can get me extra attacks.

[RogueJK]

You're really better off pairing Reckless with GWM. Advantage is roughly equivalent to +5 to attack, so the +10 damage boost with effectively no penalty is what makes this Constant-Advantage schtick worth building an entire character around.

Beast Barbarian does get you one extra attack per turn with a Claw, but that's only doing 1d6+STR+Rage damage. So you're looking at a maximum of 3d6+3(STR)+3(Rage), compared to a generic Greatsword GWM Barbarian doing 4d6+2(STR)+2(Rage)+20, or a generic Greatsword GWM Barb/Fighter 11+ doing 6d6+3(STR)+3(Rage)+30 and occasionally 12d6+6(STR)+6(Rage)+60 with Action Surge. And the Claw is also only available when Raging. Whereas Reckless and GWM don't rely on being Raging, and are usable at any time, and will result in significantly higher damage output.


Fighter 11, regardless of subclass, gets you a third Extra Attack. Action Surge is also useful to double the number of attacks you get in a turn, once per short rest. There aren't any Fighter subclasses other than Echo Knight that straight up give you additional attacks. (Unless you're counting the Cavalier's extremely situational Bonus Action attack usable STRMOD times per day, which competes with your GWM and/or PAM bonus attacks, and besides, the Cavalier subclass as a whole doesn't have a whole lot going for it.)


Or, if you can swing the multiclass stat requirements of 13+ DEX and WIS in addition to your primary STR and CON stats, Gloomstalker Ranger 3 gets you an additional attack only in the first round of combat alone. But like Unleash Incarnation, this can be paired with Action Surge to gain a second additional attack from the second iteration of the Attack Action, if you're taking at least two Fighter levels too.

So that might look something like a Gloomstalker Ranger 3/Bear Totem Barbarian X, or a Barbarian 2/Gloomstalker Ranger X, or a Gloomstalker Ranger 3/Barbarian 2/Battlemaster Fighter X.

[Morrison]

You're really better off pairing Reckless with GWM. Advantage is roughly equivalent to +5 to attack, so the +10 damage boost with effectively no penalty is what makes this Constant-Advantage schtick worth building an entire character around.


Okay, I'll consider the Echo Knight build. Throwing in a dip into Ranger is probably a bit more elaborate than I want to go, and aside from a single extra attack per fight, it doesn't really offer much that this character would have use for.
If I do indeed go for the Barbarian/Echo Knight Fighter build, I'll probably want to play this in a campaign that I know will get to reasonably high levels, just so I have a chance to actually use all the features.

[RogueJK]

The great part about this Wild Hunt Shifter Echo Knight/Barbarian build is that it can come fully online as early as Level 7: Echo Knight Fighter 5 -> Barbarian 2, taking GWM at Fighter 4, is all it needs to fully do its thing. So it doesn't require going to high levels in Tier 3/4 to get all of its synergy online. Anything that comes online past that, like the next ASI to consider taking PAM, or the third Extra Attack at Fighter 11, is just gravy, improving upon what it's already capable of doing.

And even before Fighter 5/Barbarian 2, you're still an extremely effective melee fighter dishing out a ton of damage, in addition to all the nifty tricks that an Echo Knight gets to do with its Echo (not just in combat... It's a game changer for exploration too).

[Unoriginal]

It was recently pointed out to me that the Wildhunt Shifter pairs very nicely with the Barbarian's Reckless Attack feature, essentially getting all the positives and skipping the downsides (under most circumstances), so I'm trying to figure out a build to make the most of that. One good way to do that, I think, would be to maximize my number of attacks in a given turn.
What are some good ways for a Barbarian to get as many attacks as possible? Any particular subclasses that would be well-suited? Or would I be better off multiclassing to Fighter or something once I've unlocked Reckless Attack?

Beast Barbarian is thematically fitting and gives you the option to make 3 attacks per turn at lvl 5, without additional efforts.

There's then a bunch of ways to get an attack (or more) as a bonus action. Ex: taking Monk levels (even one level giving that build 4 attacks).

[NeffariasBredd]

I'm not sure if the flavour of the Echo Knight fits the character concept I have in mind. I also feel like this might be too many things competing for my Bonus Action. Are there any other Fighter subclasses (or even Barbarian subclasses if I want to keep the Rage) that might synergize at all?
Path of the Beast can get me extra attacks.

If you are taking Echo Knight, you are probably better off dropping Polearm Master, to reduce Bonus Action clog. You can always use your Echo Knight class ability when you need a Bonus Action attack in a pinch. Between that and GWM you will be fine in BA attacks.

Can't do anything about flavor though.

[Hytheter]

IYou can always use your Echo Knight class ability when you need a Bonus Action attack in a pinch. Between that and GWM you will be fine in BA attacks.

Echo Knight doesn't attacks as a bonus action, though?

[RogueJK]

They may have just meant the "bonus" (additional) attack from Unleash Incarnation, and their fingers got ahead of them.