D&D 5E Your best Eldritch Knight?

[Stormonu]

Straight off, I don't like the Eldritch Knight, I think it's a horrible subclass. I've seen some rumblings otherwise, so I wanted to see what other folks might be using or doing to enjoy the class.

RULE #1: NO MULTICLASSING
RULE #2: NO ASSUMPTION OF MAGIC ITEMS

This is about the subclass itself, without having to augment it with another class or through magic items. I'd like to see people's level-by-level build for their "best" or most enjoyable way to build the class. I'm mostly approaching this from the DM's side of things, just to see if I'm misunderstanding the subclass. Doesn't have to be built all the way to 20th, I'm really just interested in how it plays up to 8th level, maybe 12th level at most. Any good tricks/combos/insights that help understand it better I'd really appreciate.

 

[J-H]

Note: Magic items are a much bigger part of the growth and breadth of power for Fighters, Barbarians, and Rogues. They do the same thing at 20 that they do at 10, just with more hitpoints and better defenses of various sorts. Casters, on the other hand, go from Fireball, Banishment, and Mass Cure Wounds to Sunburst, Meteor Swarm, Gate, and Mass Healing Word over the same time period.
I recently decided that I like the idea of handing out 1-2 epic boons around level 13-18 to bring some more "special" online in terms of rogues becoming nearly invisible, barbarians ignoring DR, etc.

I have a 10th level EK built right now applying for a PBP campaign. Here's what I have.

Vuman, at level 10, 20 str, 16 con, 14 int, other stats not particularly important.
Class Features
Fighting style: Blind Fighting. Now I can fight in fog or magical Darkness or while blinded by Prismatic Wall or Sunburst without caring.
Weapon use: I'm using a one handed weapon and an open hand. I can either two-hand a versatile weapon for 1d10, or attack as normal and always have a hand free for grappling with my +13 Athletics score. The only way to easily get away will be teleportation, and that costs spell slots. Reasonably good lockdown potential.
War Magic: I can Booming Blade and then make a bonus action attack. This is the same as making two weapon attacks, but with BB damage on top. At level 11, it gets a bit trickier as I give up 2 attacks, but if I don't have any magic weapons that do + damage, BB's +2d8/+3d8 damage is better than an additional 1d8+5 damage. I can disengage for free thanks to Mobile, so I can BB melee enemies then move away, forcing them to chase me or use inferior ranged options.
Feats:
Mobile: Now my speed is 40' and I get free disengage, allowing me to maneuver around the battlefield nearly at will. Str 20 means I have a pretty good running jump for minor obstacles. I can reach most enemies in 1-2 rounds to hit them with my weapon or to grab them and keep them from escaping.
Heavy Armor Master: Most weapons do -3 damage. It's worthwhile for most of the game against most foes.
Skill Expert: Athletics. Bonus proficiency Religion because I expect undead.
Spellcasting
Cantrips:
Booming Blade for more melee lockdown and mobility constraint, + extra damage.
Lightning Lure, because if I can't quite reach an enemy, I may be able to make him GET OVER HERE. If he fails the save and comes closer, EK lets me attack (weapon or grapple) him as a bonus action since i used a cantrip.
Blade Ward, because I tank up and still make one attack as a BA with this cantrip.

Spells: I don't have a lot of these.
Reactions: Absorb Elements & Shield. Good if I'm really going to get hit hard, like dragon breath. Too few slots to last through the day. The "AC X high with Shield!" problems always come with a 1-battle adventuring day.

Defensive:
Protection from Evil and Good (Concentration) because undead are around.
Warding Wind (Concentration) because it's good against archers, gas/cloud spells, and it makes the area around me difficult terrain, which helps keep enemies from running away.

Offensive:
Magic Missile, so I don't have to mess with a bow.
Tasha's Hideous Laughter (Concentration), although it doesn't pair well with hitting enemies so I don't know if I'll use it much. It's great a breaking Concentration, though.
Darkness (Concentration), because I have blindsight.

That's all.

Damage output with Booming Blade and BA attack at level 11 is 4d8+10 + 3d8 if the enemy moves, or a full attack is 3d8+15, plus anything added by a magic weapon.
That's 28+13.5 with BB or 28.5 on a full attack with no magic weapons. The added cantrip damage is that good.
At level 11 a rogue is attacking for 7d6+5 (29.5) and an EB Warlock for 3d10+15 (31.5), so the at-will damage is pretty much in line with everyone else assuming I'm just attacking and not doing any crowd control.

Weaknesses: Mental saves, Dex saves (Indomitable is only once per day), and a pretty low AC (18 without magic items). Low spell slot count (7) means I can only do 1-2 spells per battle.

Enemies with "free" teleportation can easily get away, and being good at grappling won't be so helpful if the rest of the party is casting ranged attack spells (although I can pick up a shield pretty easily). I want to fight enemies near pits of lava that I can shove/throw them into. A 200' wide featureless plain with no terrain features is my worst environment.

 

[ECMO3]

Straight off, I don't like the Eldritch Knight, I think it's a horrible subclass. I've seen some rumblings otherwise, so I wanted to see what other folks might be using or doing to enjoy the class.

RULE #1: NO MULTICLASSING
RULE #2: NO ASSUMPTION OF MAGIC ITEMS

This is about the subclass itself, without having to augment it with another class or through magic items. I'd like to see people's level-by-level build for their "best" or most enjoyable way to build the class. I'm mostly approaching this from the DM's side of things, just to see if I'm misunderstanding the subclass. Doesn't have to be built all the way to 20th, I'm really just interested in how it plays up to 8th level, maybe 12th level at most. Any good tricks/combos/insights that help understand it better I'd really appreciate.

I love the Eldritch Knight. It is my favorite fighter class. Here is how I would build it of I was making a character for a combat focused game. If it was not combat focused and was more balanced, I would start with 13 Wisdom and 12 Constitution but otherwise the same.

Female Drow
S16 D8 C14 I8 W10 CH17 (on point buy)
Trade weapon proficiencies for tools

Level-by-level:
1. Fighting Style - Superior Technique - Menacing Attack
3. Eldritch Knight - Shield, Protection from Evil and Good, Silvery Barbs, Booming Blade, Blade Ward
4. Drow High Magic Feat, Absorb Elements
6. Magic Initiate - Warlock (Green Flame Blade, Eldritch Blast, Armor of Agathys)
7. Arcane Lock
8. Shadowblade, Fey Touched Feat (Charisma - Hex and Misty Step)
10. Alarm, Friends or Prestidigitation or Message or Minor Illusion
11. Gust of Wind
12. Shadow Touched Feat (Charisma - Cause Fear and Invisibility)
13. Counterspell, Lemund's Tiny Hut, Remove Gust of Wind
14. Fly, ASI +1 Wisdom (11) and +1 Charisma (20)
16. Resilient Feat (Wisdom), Gust of Wind
19. Fire Shield either Warcaster Feat or Mage Slayer Feat
20. Dimension Door

I love this build. It is my favorite single class fighter!

Your fighter spell selections are really limited, so for me the trick is to play a Drow, get Drow High Magic and get more spells on feats. Your offensive spells should be based on Charisma. This helps two ways first at 12th level I have 9 leveled spells I can cast for free once a day plus Detect Magic at will (and being able to do it at will is a lot better than as a ritual). Then I can use slots to cast those spells too, since they are known and the EK is a known spell caster and they are all on a charisma save DC.

My Wizard/fighter spells provide stuff that does not need Intelligence (Shield, PEG, Silvery Barbs, Absorb Elements) plus some ribbon spells.

levels 8-12 is where this really shines. War Magic is online and is not yet outclassed by extra attack. You have a good ranged attack with Eldritch Blast, which you can combine with a thrown weapon attack through Warmagic, your low level offensive spells are still potent.

 

[jmartkdr2]

I love the Eldritch Knight. It is my favorite fighter class. Here is how I would build it of I was making a character for a combat focused game. If it was not combat focused and was more balanced, I would start with 13 Wisdom and 12 Constitution but otherwise the same.

Level 1:

Female Drow
S16 D8 C14 I8 W10 CH17 (on point buy)
Trade weapon proficiencies for tools

1. Fighting Style - Superior Technique - Menacing Attack
3. Eldritch Kinght - Shield, Protection from Evil and Good, Silvery Barbs, Booming Blade, Blade Ward
4. Drow High Magic Feat, Absorb Elements
6. Magic Initiate - Warlock (Green Flame Blade, Eldritch Blast, Armor of Agathys)
7. Arcane Lock
8. Shadowblade, Fey Touched Feat (Charisma - Hex and Misty Step)
10. Alarm, Friends or Prestidigitation or message or minor Illusion
11. Gust of Wind
12. Shadow Touched Feat (Charisma - Cause Fear and Invisibility)
13. Counterspell, Lemund's Tiny Hut, Remove Gust of Wind
14. Fly, ASI +1 Wisdom (11) and Charisma (20)
16. Resilient Feat (Wisdom), Gust of Wind
19. Fire Shield either Warcaster or Mage Slayer Feat
20. Dimension Door

I love this build. It is my favorite single class fighter!

Those stats seem a bit high for point buy - how are you starting with an 18 Intelligence?

 

[Stormonu]

Those stats seem a bit high for point buy - how are you starting with an 18 Intelligence?

It's an 8, actually

 

[J-H]

That's an 8... dump stat on EK because the spell slots are just fueling feat-acquired CHA spells. Interesting approach.

 

[Kurotowa]

Are we allowed to consider the playtest version of the Revised 5e Eldritch Knight? Because the 2014 version is deeply flawed, but like the Berserker Barbarian the Revised PHB update promises to make it a far more functional subclass.

 

[ECMO3]

Those stats seem a bit high for point buy - how are you starting with an 18 Intelligence?

It is an 8

9 points strength (+1 race) = 16
9 points Charisma (+2 race) = 17
7 points Constitution = 14
2 points Wisdom = 10
0 points Dex = 8
0 points Int = 8

total points 27

 

[ECMO3]

That's an 8... dump stat on EK because the spell slots are just fueling feat-acquired CHA spells. Interesting approach.

Yep and the defensive EK/Wizard spells where intelligence does not matter.

 

[Weiley31]

Are we allowed to consider the playtest version of the Revised 5e Eldritch Knight? Because the 2014 version is deeply flawed, but like the Berserker Barbarian the Revised PHB update promises to make it a far more functional subclass.

No joke, the Revised Eldritch Knight is better simply for the fact they were straight up cooking with the idea/concept of sacrificing a number of Extra Attacks to cast something more than a Cantrip. All it needs is Tasha's Bladsinger update to Extra attack and swappable spell schools and it's probably all set.

And with Second wind you could probably Novaish a bit by spending all your Extra Attack and then going spells on the refresh.

All that would actually make the Eldritch Knight a lot more worthwhile compared to the 2014 version.