Looking for help optimizing a samurai archer!

[tw0jaye]

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I have been invited to a oneshot where the party will be fighting their way through a gauntlet of monsters. There will be several short rests but I'm not sure about any long rests. Characters are level 16 and get a very rare, a rare, and three uncommon magical items. I know I want to take elven accuracy and sharpshooter, as well as at least eleven fighter (samurai) levels for extra attack x2.

However, I'm not sure what to do with the other five levels. I'm considering a gloomstalker dip for dread ambusher, but also picking up more fighter levels for up to 3 additional ASI's and an extra use of indomitable. What do y'all think?

[Mastikator]

Ranger is good for gloom stalker. Hexblade is also good for hexblade's curse, it's another source of advantage and it increases crit range (goes really well with elven accuracy), and of course extra damage per attack, I'd pick up eldritch smite for the crits.

Another option is 5 levels of war magic wizard, arcane deflection is really strong for saving throws and you can buff yourself with spells like haste.

[tw0jaye]

War wizard is a great suggestion! Definitely will look into that. Hexblade is also an attractive option for hex curse, though the hex warrior feature feels wasted as I'd rather have high dex for saving throws I think.

Also, further fighter levels have gotten a lot more attractive than I thought because I misunderstood how Rapid Strike works. I was under the impression it was trading 3 advantage hits for 2 adv. 2 regular hits, but since nothing in the text states that the additional attack granted doesn't also gain advantage from fighting spirit (or whatever else is granting advantage) it's strictly better to use than not even with elven accuracy.

[Dork_Forge]

Personally, I like the sound of Fighter 12 Gloomstalker 4. Dread Ambusher is a hefty boost, you get a second fighting style to round out your PC, and access to spells (I'd recommend taking Cure Wounds, Longstrider, and Hunters Mark).

5 ASIs should be plenty to grab the feats you mentioned, max Dex, and have one left over for rounding out scores or another feat. You might want to consider Piercer, since with Fighting Spirit and Elven Accuracy on three+ attacks you'll likely get your fair share of crits.

[tw0jaye]

Piercer is a great suggestion, especially if I end up going with the hexblade dip. Thanks!

[RogueJK]

Something like this:

Shadar-Kai Fighter 12/Hexblade Warlock 4
STR 9
DEX 14+2
CON 14
INT 10
WIS 13+1
CHA 13
ASIs: Elven Accuracy (17 DEX) at Fighter 4, Piercer (18 DEX) at Fighter 6, Sharpshooter at Fighter 8, 20 DEX at Fighter 12, and Lucky at Warlock 4
Invocations: Devil's Sight, Eldritch Mind
Archery Fighting Style

Use your Warlock spell slots to cast Darkness on yourself, and cheese the Darkness+Devil's Sight combo for near-constant Advantage. Take something like a Pearl of Power as one of your uncommon items, for a bonus Darkness slot per day. And you still have Fighting Spirit to fall back on for easy Advantage, in situations where Darkness isn't available for whatever reason.

Between Indomitable, Lucky, and your STR/CON/WIS saving throw proficiency, you have a good shot at making any critical saving throws.


I actually wouldn't go all the way up to Warlock 5 and take Eldritch Smite... While the nova potential of rolling a handful of dice on an Eldritch Smite is fun, a second casting of Darkness each short rest for another 10 minutes of Advantage on all attacks is worth way more than burning that slot on a one-time +4d8 (or 8d8 on a crit) damage. It'd only take a couple more Triple Advantage Sharpshooter hits facilitated by more Darkness to exceed the one-time added damage of Eldritch Smite.


Or, if you want to get even cheesier... You could go Fighter 15/Hexblade 1. Same stats and ASIs. Take a Staff of Swarming Insects as your Rare item. The staff's Insect Cloud ability effectively gives you up to 10x "Darkness" castings per day, which you can see through without an invocation, and which doesn't require Concentration. The lone Warlock level not only qualifies you for staff attunement, but you also still get Hexblade's Curse for the added damage and crit range.

[tw0jaye]

Or, if you want to get even cheesier... You could go Fighter 15/Hexblade 1. Same stats and ASIs. Take a Staff of Swarming Insects as your Rare item. The staff's Insect Cloud ability effectively gives you up to 10x "Darkness" castings per day, which you can see through without an invocation, and which doesn't require Concentration. The lone Warlock level not only qualifies you for staff attunement, but you also still get Hexblade's Curse for the added damage and crit range.

OOH, the staff of swarming insects is a fantastic pick. I was already considering fighter 15/hexblade 1 to grab the second indomitable use and rapid strike, and while I like the defensive abilities of war wizard the allure of near-endless triple advantage and single-target 19-20 3d8 damage crits is so appealing...

[tw0jaye]

though, if i go with staff of insects is it even still worth it to be a samurai fighter? the primary reason we're taking hexblade dip is so we can get 19-20 crits, but if we have advantage all the time anyway can't we get the best of both worlds by grabbing improved critical from champion fighter 11 and war wizard 5?

[RogueJK]

You'd have to decide if that was worth giving up Rapid Strike. With your near-constant Advantage, the fourth Sharpshooter Longbow attack is really nice. Making two attacks is a straight upgrade to making one attack at Advantage, provided that Advantage isn't needed to counteract Disadvantage. You'd also be giving up Samurai's additional WIS save proficiency, and nearly all of the really nasty save-or-suck enemy effects are WIS-based.

So if you were planning to go with Samurai just for the easy Advantage from Fighting Spirit, then yes, there are much better ways to get longer-lasting and more frequent Advantage than Samurai Fighter's mere 2x turns per day or 1x turn per fight. But while Fighting Spirit itself is a little lackluster overall, the Samurai package as a whole does have other things going for it.

[solidork]

I think Hexblade is absolutely not worth it - Hexblade's Curse against one target in a small number of fights is barely anything, and trying to use Darkness + Devil's Sight has a high likelihood of screwing the rest of your party over.

I think you had the right of it with Gloomstalker - your first rounds will be incredible at 8 attacks with advantage. If you're talking with the other players at all, and one of them is planning on bringing something that will regularly give you advantage on attacks then getting Rapid Strikes is worth it.

I'd start with 17 Dex, then take Piercer, Elven Accuracy and Resilient: Dex to get up to 20. Sharpshooter, obviously, and then a half feat to bump up Wisdom.

[King Owlbear]

For a long time I've wanted to play a samurai multi classed with a hunter ranger and use a two bird sling. With hoard breaker you get up to 8 attacks a round without spending resources. When you action surge you get up to 14 attacks and with fighting spirit they can all be at advantage.

Add in elven accuracy, sharpshooter, and maybe crusher and you're in business.

[RogueJK]

and trying to use Darkness + Devil's Sight has a high likelihood of screwing the rest of your party over.

Much less of a concern on a ranged build. You can typically hang back, with Darkness cast on yourself (or Insect Cloud from the staff), and avoid interfering with most allies. It's only a concern if you're stuck in tight quarters, without the means to gain distance. And in those cases, you have other means to generate Advantage, like Fighting Spirit.

[DruidAlanon]

My 2 cents:

If you multiclass with Hex and exploit the Darkness+devil's sight combo, then Samurai's fighting spirit becomes irrelevant (even after the timeless spirit).

So if what you're after is crit fishing, any other build that focuses on archery and takes a few warlock levels will do the job better than 11 Samurai levels.

Consider the following:
8 levels in Gloomstalker Ranger: Favored Enemy (ask your DM), Archery style, Goodberry, Absorb Elements+ all the nova damage from gloomstalker
If 9 levels: Conjure Animals, Plant Growth

3 levels in fighter: You take Defense style (+1 AC), Second Wind for free healing / short rest Battle Master for nova (Superiority Dice - Precision Attack).


4 levels in Hexblade: Shield spell, Darkness, Evil's sight, Hexblade Curse, Eldritch Blast, Pact Magic (to cast lifeberries per short rest!), Improved Pact Weapon (longbow/crossbow whatever you use), misty step

1 level dip in cleric will give you: Bless, cure wounds, healing word, guidance


Features and strategy:
So you get Extra Attack, a healthy stack of bonuses through pact weapon, hex curse, ranger and fighter levels, tripple advantage through Darkness+Evil's Sight+Elven Accuracy. If you drop the cleric level take 5 levels in Hexblade for Eldritch smite and even higher nova damage.

On top of that you spam Goodberries in every short rest due to Pact Magic, being awsome to you and your party, you have Shield spell (good also to keep concentrating in Darkness if you take dmg) and absorb elements, a good AC despite not holding a shield, and most spells and abilities recharge with short rest.

You also have flexibility with your spells. If you go 9 levels in Ranger you have a powerhorse (conjure animals) or plant growth for control, if you dip into cleric you have bless, guidance if you need to pull off a difficult acrobatic, of course, more healing.

I'm not saying you shouldn't play a Samurai (ok I am saying this), but unless you want the Samurai for thematic reasons, this build or similar has similar mechanics but is more potent. And even then, you can reflavor such a build to be a Japanese style Samurai trained in this secret empire, wearing kimonos, having a full Irezumi armor and whatnot. My 2 cents.

[RogueJK]

That Ranger/Fighter/Warlock/Cleric amalgamation has half the number of attacks in most rounds as the Samurai 15/Warlock 1. Just 2 versus 4. Even when you don't have Advantage to trigger Rapid Strike, the Fighter/Warlock still has 3 vs. 2.

Your R/F/W/C can have as many as 6 in the first turn of combat (2 + 1 Dread Ambusher + Action Surge 2 + 1 Dread Ambusher), but the Samurai 15/Warlock 1 can have up to 7 with the same Action Surge, and it's not limited to just doing it in the first turn alone. Whereas if your R/F/W/C wants to trigger their full Dread Ambusher+Action Surge nova, it must do it in Turn 1, meaning you won't have the opportunity to get your Darkness/Insect Cloud up for Advantage on all those 6 attacks...


Also, Fighting Spirit isn't totally irrelevant, as you will have situations in which Darkness/Insect Cloud won't be available due to it being dispelled, or suppressed in an anti-magic field, or your Concentration broken, or being out of castings, or fighting an enemy with long-range blindsight/truesight, etc. Fighting Spirit still gives you a backup easy means to generate Advantage, besides your primary "cool trick".

While there are certainly other options for making a powerful non-Samurai Fighter/X archer build, don't sell Samurai short.

And I wouldn't advise attempting a quadruple multiclass like that, as it will be noticeably less powerful than a build with 11-16 levels in a single class. In Tier 3 and 4 play, a multi-multiclass build that dipped around to grab lots of different low-level abilities basically never makes up for their lack of high level abilities. Martials are already behind the curve in Tier 4... Watered-down martials even more so.

[DruidAlanon]

That Ranger/Fighter/Warlock/Cleric has half the number of attacks in most rounds as the Samurai 15/Warlock 1. Just 2 versus 4.

It can have as many as 6 in the first turn of combat (2 + 1 Dread Ambusher + Action Surge 2 + 1 Dread Ambusher), but the Samurai 15/Warlock 1 can have up to 7 with the same Action Surge, and it's not limited to just doing it in the first turn.


I hear you; my concern with Samurai 15 is that he won't crit fish enough to justify 15 levels in one of the weakest fighter subclasses and won't contribute enough as a pure nova built.

Regarding ranged attacks, the build stacks: Crossbow Expert+Sharpshooter+Umbral Sight+Dread Ambusher+Extra Attack+Action Surge+battlemaster manuveurs+ crit fishing (darkness+devil's sight+elven accuracy).

So it gives first turn nova plus control, plus healing, plus sturdiness (AC & spellcasting), plus versatility (misty step), plus more nova & control (Conjure animals) with most of these things having long enough duration (eg conjure animals or darkness) to push through multiple encounters or/and are recharging with short rests.

I haven't done the maths but 1) I'm not convinced that damage/round/encounter is much lower 2) the more encounters the oneshot has the more this build will be more useful.

[DruidAlanon]

Whereas if your R/F/W/C wants to trigger their full Dread Ambusher+Action Surge nova, it must do it in Turn 1, meaning you won't have the opportunity to get your Darkness/Insect Cloud up for Advantage on all those 6 attacks...

That assumes 1 encounter. My line of thought here was a oneshot with only short rests. Pressumably you will be concentrating on one darkness spell for the first few encounters. You may also get Advantage from your party (eg through a faerie fire, pass without trace) or environment (there's darkness and can hide) so you could even save your spell slots for later or whatever the situation calls for.

Btw, with a dip in life Cleric you can heal houndreds of HP utilising enough short rests. This alone is worth considering. A one-turn nova is also quite useful assuming surprise as you can one-shot a spellcaster quite easily.

[RogueJK]

The summons from a Level 3 Conjure Animals absolutely cannot hang against high level Tier 4 enemies. They'll be wiped out in a turn. Not worth the Action, spell slot, or Concentration.

[DruidAlanon]

The summons from a Level 3 Conjure Animals absolutely cannot hang against high level Tier 4 enemies. They'll be wiped out in a turn. Not worth the Action, spell slot, or Concentration.

It depends on what you fight. There will be encounters that it could be worth it. Even if for filling the battlefield with extra meatshields. You can always cast plant growth for control if conjure animals is not what the situation calls for.

[DruidAlanon]

Your R/F/W/C can have as many as 6 in the first turn of combat (2 + 1 Dread Ambusher + Action Surge 2 + 1 Dread Ambusher), but the Samurai 15/Warlock 1 can have up to 7 with the same Action Surge, and it's not limited to just doing it in the first turn alone. Whereas if your R/F/W/C wants to trigger their full Dread Ambusher+Action Surge nova, it must do it in Turn 1, meaning you won't have the opportunity to get your Darkness/Insect Cloud up for Advantage on all those 6 attacks...


A further point on that is that one could start with pass without trace at the beggining of the adventure, stack goodberries during short rests, and keep the more potent darkness for more difficult encounters towards the end.

Edit: For some extra cheese, if the party can take a downtime the day before the encounters occur, the player can cast 2 goodberries upcasted at 2nd levery 2 hours for 16 hours (8 in total) and then for the long rest: 2 upcasted from warlock, 2 from cleric, 4 at 1st from Ranger, 3 upcasted at 2nd again from ranger =19 goodberry spells = 190 goodberries.

From these, 60 heal for 4 each (240HP) and the rest 130 heal for 5 each (650HP) for a total of 890HP. And that's before we even consider the goodberries he will be (up)casting during short rests on the day of the encounter.

The first 80 upcasted goodberries will dissipate at a rate of 20 goodberries /2 hours,but nevertheless this is insane healing for an archer character that focuses on nova.

[tw0jaye]

Thank you all for the ideas! I'm trying to avoid more than 2 classes for personal preference reasons, and I'm avoiding crossbow expert since the magic item limitations would mean my offhand crossbow would have to be worse than my mainhand one which just feels bad. The temp HP and more reliable when it's needed advantage from Fighting Spirit is definitely nice, and I'll miss the proficiency in wisdom saves, but the build I'm currently looking at is champion fighter 12/war wizard 4 for max ASI's to pick up lucky, crits on 19-20 and powerful defensive abilities with access to shield, silvery barbs, indomitable, lucky, and arcane deflection. Dragon's wrath longbow and staff of swarming insects enable some insane burst and sustained DPR. Gloomstalker is attractive for stronger burst, but in a situation where my job is to outlast the other party members, I prefer the stronger defensive options.

[RogueJK]

I'll miss the proficiency in wisdom saves, but the build I'm currently looking at is champion fighter 12/war wizard 4

If you're not going to be relying on Concentration spells (and it doesn't appear that you are), then just take Wizard as your 1st level to grab INT/WIS save proficiency instead of the Fighter's STR/CON. You don't have to start Fighter since you don't need Heavy Armor proficiency on a DEX-based character. The only other thing you're giving up is 4 HP from starting Wizard instead of Fighter at Level 1.


I'm avoiding crossbow expert since the magic item limitations would mean my offhand crossbow would have to be worse than my mainhand one which just feels bad

XBE doesn't require you to wield two different hand crossbows. It isn't TWF. You can use XBE while wielding just a single hand crossbow, and still benefit from the additional BA attack: "When you use the Attack action and attack with a one handed weapon, you can use a bonus action to attack with a hand crossbow you are holding." A hand crossbow is a one-handed weapon, and attacking with it fulfills the initial criteria, which then triggers the second half that allows you to use your BA to fire a (the same) hand crossbow you are holding (again).

In fact, you normally CAN'T wield two hand crossbows, since you need your other free hand in order to load your hand crossbow to make multiple attacks in a turn. XBE lets you ignore the Loading property, but it doesn't let you ignore the Ammunition property, which itself states: "Drawing the ammunition from a quiver, case, or other container is part of the attack (you need a free hand to load a one-handed weapon)"

But the much shorter range and fewer special magic item options for hand crossbows compared to bows are certainly significant limitations.

[DruidAlanon]

Thank you all for the ideas! I'm trying to avoid more than 2 classes for personal preference reasons, and I'm avoiding crossbow expert since the magic item limitations would mean my offhand crossbow would have to be worse than my mainhand one which just feels bad. The temp HP and more reliable when it's needed advantage from Fighting Spirit is definitely nice, and I'll miss the proficiency in wisdom saves, but the build I'm currently looking at is champion fighter 12/war wizard 4 for max ASI's to pick up lucky, crits on 19-20 and powerful defensive abilities with access to shield, silvery barbs, indomitable, lucky, and arcane deflection. Dragon's wrath longbow and staff of swarming insects enable some insane burst and sustained DPR. Gloomstalker is attractive for stronger burst, but in a situation where my job is to outlast the other party members, I prefer the stronger defensive options.

You could also consider a monoclass 16th lvl archer Eldritch Knight, mostly for shield & absorb elements, maybe misty step, haste, thunderstep. Arcane charge is also quite neat. Between sthese spells and arcane charge, you'll be quite safe and mobile, most of the time. The 16th level gives you nothing so you could dip Wizard for 2 more spells (gift of alarcity, silvery barbs, shield, absorb elements). Another option that will exploit the short rests and will work fine I think, is 1 level of Hexblade, for an extra hexblade curse and hex/shield per short rest. From the two options, I think hexblade is more appropriate for your one shot, but a gift of alarcity will be a potent addition.

I think Crossbow expert is essential; you will get stuck in melee eventually, and with a magic crossbow you'll have something to do with your bonus action. 7 attacks with action surge/4 with haste is quite good and I think closer to what you had on your mind initially.

[RogueJK]

I think Crossbow expert is essential; you will get stuck in melee eventually

Being "stuck" in melee isn't that big of an issue for an archer like this...

They're already planning to utilize Elven Accuracy, so by picking a race like Shadar Kai that I recommended earlier, they can still get away from an adjacent melee enemy if needed via a BA racial teleport. And if going with one of the caster options with at least Level 2 spells, Misty Step is also on the table.

Or, considering they're likely going to be leaning heavily on Insect Cloud, simply moving away and taking the risk of a Disadvantaged OA (with further mitigation potentially available from stuff like Shield or Silvery Barbs or Arcane Deflection) is also a reasonable option.

But a better option is to simply use your abilities like mobility, obscurement, flight, and long range to prevent yourself from ending up in those situations whenever possible. Enemies can't be adjacent to what they can't catch.

[tw0jaye]

If you're not going to be relying on Concentration spells (and it doesn't appear that you are), then just take Wizard as your 1st level to grab INT/WIS save proficiency instead of the Fighter's STR/CON. You don't have to start Fighter since you don't need Heavy Armor proficiency on a DEX-based character. The only other thing you're giving up is 4 HP from starting Wizard instead of Fighter at Level 1.



XBE doesn't require you to wield two different hand crossbows. It isn't TWF. You can use XBE while wielding just a single hand crossbow, and still benefit from the additional BA attack: "When you use the Attack action and attack with a one handed weapon, you can use a bonus action to attack with a hand crossbow you are holding." A hand crossbow is a one-handed weapon, and attacking with it fulfills the initial criteria, which then triggers the second half that allows you to use your BA to fire a (the same) hand crossbow you are holding (again).

In fact, you normally CAN'T wield two hand crossbows, since you need your other free hand in order to load your hand crossbow to make multiple attacks in a turn. XBE lets you ignore the Loading property, but it doesn't let you ignore the Ammunition property, which itself states: "Drawing the ammunition from a quiver, case, or other container is part of the attack (you need a free hand to load a one-handed weapon)"

But the much shorter range and fewer special magic item options for hand crossbows compared to bows are certainly significant limitations.

Thanks for the clarification on XBE! At this point I think I'll stick with the longbow for 600ft range + broom of flying, but it's good to understand the options. Level 1 as Wizard is also a great call!


You could also consider a monoclass 16th lvl archer Eldritch Knight, mostly for shield & absorb elements, maybe misty step, haste, thunderstep. Arcane charge is also quite neat. Between sthese spells and arcane charge, you'll be quite safe and mobile, most of the time. The 16th level gives you nothing so you could dip Wizard for 2 more spells (gift of alarcity, silvery barbs, shield, absorb elements). Another option that will exploit the short rests and will work fine I think, is 1 level of Hexblade, for an extra hexblade curse and hex/shield per short rest. From the two options, I think hexblade is more appropriate for your one shot, but a gift of alarcity will be a potent addition.

I think Crossbow expert is essential; you will get stuck in melee eventually, and with a magic crossbow you'll have something to do with your bonus action. 7 attacks with action surge/4 with haste is quite good and I think closer to what you had on your mind initially.

Arcane charge is indeed sweet and 16 levels of 1/3 caster > 4 levels of full caster for sure, but sacrificing both the damage boost of 19-20 crits from champion and the defense of Arcane Deflection isn't worth it for a build that's mostly focused on martial damage IMO.

XBE is definitely better than I thought, but between the higher damage and range of the longbow and the extra HP from the CON boost I'm planning on not using it for this build. I'm not too worried about getting stuck in melee with the bonus action teleport 5x per long rest from Shadar Kai, and even if I'm out of those I'm prepared to eat an attack of opportunity as it'll likely have disadvantage from swarm of insects and if not I have shield, arcane deflection, lucky, and silvery barbs to keep me safe. Thanks for the suggestions though!

[Gignere]

Being "stuck" in melee isn't that big of an issue for an archer like this...

They're already planning to utilize Elven Accuracy, so by picking a race like Shadar Kai that I recommended earlier, they can still get away from an adjacent melee enemy if needed via a BA racial teleport. And if going with one of the caster options with at least Level 2 spells, Misty Step is also on the table.

Or, considering they're likely going to be leaning heavily on Insect Cloud, simply moving away and taking the risk of a Disadvantaged OA (with further mitigation potentially available from stuff like Shield or Silvery Barbs or Arcane Deflection) is also a reasonable option.

But a better option is to simply use your abilities like mobility, obscurement, flight, and long range to prevent yourself from ending up in those situations whenever possible. Enemies can't be adjacent to what they can't catch.

No OAs you don’t get OA unless you can see. So if enemies go into the cloud of insect to attack, you can freely move away.

[tw0jaye]

No OAs you don’t get OA unless you can see. So if enemies go into the cloud of insect to attack, you can freely move away.

Even better!

[Damon_Tor]

Much less of a concern on a ranged build. You can typically hang back, with Darkness cast on yourself (or Insect Cloud from the staff), and avoid interfering with most allies. It's only a concern if you're stuck in tight quarters, without the means to gain distance. And in those cases, you have other means to generate Advantage, like Fighting Spirit.

I find a gloomstalker rarely has a need for this: you negate any dark vision used to spot you, and it's fairly trivial to find shadows to sit in as an archer, as you can attack from anywhere. If for some reason every corner of the dungeon has a lit torch in it, a damp cloak can easily snuff out a torch using an item interaction.

[DruidAlanon]

Being "stuck" in melee isn't that big of an issue for an archer like this...

They're already planning to utilize Elven Accuracy, so by picking a race like Shadar Kai that I recommended earlier, they can still get away from an adjacent melee enemy if needed via a BA racial teleport. And if going with one of the caster options with at least Level 2 spells, Misty Step is also on the table.


Completely missed that earlier. Yep, sounds cool.

[Ir0ns0ul]

Half-Elf Samurai 12 / Gloomstalker 4 is the perfect combination. Archery and Blind Fighting styles.

DEX 20, WIS 16, CON 16.

Elven Accuracy, +2 DEX, Sharpshooter, Alert, Lucky.

Longbow +3, Studded Leather +1, Bracers of Archery, Cloak of Protection, Luckstone.

Absorb Elements, Goodberry, Fog Cloud.

It’s the most powerful warrior ever. Insane nova opening turn combining Fighting Spirit, Action Surge and Dread Ambusher for 8x attacks with triple advantage with +20 damage bonus each attack. You’ll probably always go first with a +13 initiative bonus. Your defenses are also amazing. Respectable AC for a light armor fighter, but outstanding saves with DEX +7 (and Absorb Elements), CON and WIS +10, Indomitable and Lucky. Fog Cloud and Blindsight as an alternative backup way to get advantage whenever you have time to prepare and want to save Fighting Spirit.

[da newt]

I like BM 11, GS 4, Twilight Cleric 1 - it will cost you one ASI, but the one level of cleric gets you 300' of dark vision which combos excellently w/ SS - if it's dark and you have room you can stay out of most foes blind sense / tremor sense / light source etc to attack w/ near impunity (the GS +30' is nice but 300' is way better) and ADV on initiative really helps that first NOVA round, plus some really nice 1st level spells (bless, HW, protection from G&E, etc).

Sami is great, but with TC and GS and staff of bugs you won't need that often and the BM moves are always handy - but it's just personal preference.

The broom is great for this build but I have an illogical love for the slippers of spider climb - floors are for suckers, people never look at the dark corners of the ceiling, and some DMs like to knock folks off their brooms when they are using both hands to fire bows ...

Shadar Kai is a great race choice. EA, Lucky, +Dex, SS should set you up really well. Also spamming Zephyr Strike can be handy too.

[Frogreaver]

If IÂ’m doing this I really want to get plant growth for my 600 ft range archer.

#1 itÂ’s permanent super difficult terrain in a large radius.

#2 thereÂ’s no duration - meaning it will impact multiple waves of enemies if fighting in the same area.

Personally I think youÂ’ll find more value in having some 3rd level spells for control effects than a little more damage. So even if you donÂ’t go plant growth, being a warlock for short rest casts of counterspell and hypnotic pattern would be good.

Wizard/sorcerer would be similar but gives you some nice uses if low level slots silvery barbs/shield/absorb elements.

Bard might be the better caster pick with combining silvery bards, plants growth, hypnotic pattern, healing word and bardic inspiration.

But all have some pros and cons.