This guide provides expert advice on the best spells for DnD 5e Eldritch Knight Fighters, focusing on the best 4th-level spells among all Wizard spells. The best defensive spells for an Eldritch Knight include shield, absorb elements, blur, and mirror image. Spell selection is crucial, especially if you plan to use offensive magic beyond melee cantrips.
The Eldritch Knight is a fighter subclass that combines the class’s martial prowess and survivability with spellcasting abilities borrowed from other classes. Abjuration spells grant an Eldritch Knight additional protection in battle, while evocation spells deal damage to many foes at once, extending the fighter’s reach.
The two most important spells for an Eldritch Knight are absorb elements and shield to shore up defenses. Other good spells include Mage armor (Dex), Firebolt (STR), Minor illusion, Mage hand, Message, Poison Spray (if you can pick warcaster feat), and Chill.
There are a total of 50 official spells that one can choose after restricting themselves to abjuration and evocation wizard spells of level 1-4. They focus their study on two of the eight schools of magic: abjuration and evocation.
In summary, the Eldritch Knight is a fighter subclass that combines their martial prowess and survivability with spellcasting abilities. Spell selection is essential for optimizing their abilities and maximizing their effectiveness in battle.
📹 Top 10 Eldritch Knight Spells In DnD 5e
An Eldritch Knight combines the martial capability of a fighter with powerful offensive and defensive magic to create an excellent …
Can Eldritch knight cast two spells?
As an Eldritch Knight, you have learned to cast spells and follow the rules outlined in the Player’s Handbook. You have two cantrips of your choice from the Wizard spell list, which can be replaced with another one when you gain a Fighter level. The Eldritch Knight Spellcasting table shows the number of spell slots you have to cast your spells of level 1 and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher.
You prepare a list of spells of level 1 and higher available for you to cast with this feature. You start by choosing three level 1 spells from the Wizard spell list and increase the number as you gain Fighter levels. You can change your prepared spells whenever you gain a level in this class.
You learn a ritual that creates a magical bond between yourself and one weapon. This ritual can be performed over an hour during a Short Rest, and the weapon must be within your reach. The bond fails if another Fighter is bonded to the weapon or if the weapon is a magic item to which someone else is attuned.
Once you have bonded a weapon to yourself, you cannot be disarmed of it unless you have the Incapacitated condition. If the weapon is on the same plane of existence, you can summon it as a Bonus Action, causing it to teleport instantly to your hand. You can have up to two bonded weapons, but can only summon one at a time with your Bonus Action. If you attempt to bond with a third weapon, you must break the bond with one of the other two.
What do Eldritch knights use for spellcasting?
Eldritch Knights are a subclass of the Fighter that focuses on mental and physical strength when battling enemies. They gain the ability to cast spells using Intelligence as their casting stat, with DCs for spells being 8 + Intelligence modifier + proficiency. They can select new spells from the Wizard spell list and gain proficiency with the Arcana Skill. Starting at 3rd level, they augment their martial prowess with the ability to cast spells. This includes three subclass features: Equipment Bond, Lesser Martial Casting, and Spell Casting.
Equipment Bond allows players to bond with a piece of equipment, which can be worn or weapon. This allows them to summon and equip it a bonus action, and any equipment bonded with counts as a spellcasting focus for them.
What does Eldritch knight use for spells in BG3?
Eldritch Knights are subclasses of Fighters, specializing in spellcasting and using their martial skills and magic to attack enemies or support allies. They use Intelligence as their Spellcasting Ability and learn spells from the Wizard spell list, favoring Evocation and Abjuration schools. These warriors weave incantations to supplement their martial expertise, obtaining all features from their base class, Fighter.
Can Eldritch knight cast Fireball BG3?
Eldritch knights are versatile combatants who study martial and arcane arts, using fireballs and sword drawn charges. They excel in using spells against physically tough foes and force of arms against spellcasting enemies. They divide their time between physical training to become better soldiers and arcane study to learn powerful spells. They are driven individuals who dedicate immense time and effort to perfecting their spellcasting and combat prowess. Their required skills include weapon proficiency (martial).
Does Eldritch knight need Arcane Focus?
In the 2024 DnD 5e rules, certain subclasses, such as the Eldritch Knight Fighter and Arcane Trickster Rogue subclasses, can now use an Arcane Focus. These are rare exceptions. Multiclass characters can use an Arcane Focus if they have levels as a Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard. However, the focus applies only to the spells of the relevant class. For example, a Warlock/Bard would use an Arcane Focus for Warlock spells and a musical instrument for Bard spells.
Additionally, a multiclass character can use an Arcane Focus if they have adopted one of the new 2024 subclasses, such as the Eldritch Knight subclass for Wizard spells and the Arcane Trickster subclass for Wizard spells.
What spell should Eldritch knight use?
The Eldritch Knight is a Fighter subclass that combines the Fighter’s martial prowess with the knowledge of protective and destructive magic from the Wizard. They can easily put themselves on the front lines, with their features and best spell options encouraging them to cast and dish out melee attacks in the same turn. However, due to their limited spellcasting in terms of overall spell level and amount of spell slots, proper spell choice is crucial to get the most out of them.
In addition to their abilities, Eldritch Knights have specificities to Ability Score allotment, ideal feat options, and suitable species choices during character building. This is to keep the guide up-to-date ahead of the upcoming One D and D release, which is meant to be the next step of D and D 5e. The Eldritch Knight’s spell choices are limited to two schools (Abjuration and Evocation), but they have spell options that synergize well with a Fighter’s usual approach to combat.
Can Eldritch Knight change spells?
At the third level, Eldritch Knights are able to learn three first-level spells, two of which must be of the Abjuration or Evocation type. Upon attaining a subsequent level, they are permitted to substitute one of their known wizard spells with another spell from the wizard spell list.
Do Eldritch knights need to prepare spells?
The Eldritch Knight Spellcasting table indicates the number of spell slots available for casting 1st-level and higher spells. To cast a spell, expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. All expended spell slots are regained after a long rest. To prepare a list of wizard spells, choose a number equal to your Intelligence modifier and half your fighter level. The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For instance, a 7th-level fighter with an Intelligence of 16 can have six 1st or 2nd-level spells in any combination.
Casting a 1st-level spell magic missile doesn’t remove it from your list. You can change your list of prepared spells after a long rest, but it requires time spent studying your spellbook and memorizing the incantations and gestures required to cast the spell.
Can Eldritch Knights cast fireball?
The Eldritch Knight class is a half-caster, meaning some of its levels count towards the caster level, impacting spell levels gained. For example, if you wanted a fighter/wizard with 6 levels in each class, you would not have access to any 4th level wizzy spells. However, if you wanted 8 levels of fighter and 4 wizzy, you would get 2 instead. The Eldritch Knight version can cast 3 fireballs, while the others cannot. You can drop the fireball on your allies or cast haste on yourself.
If you go 10/2, you only have 2 3rd level spells but can hit an enemy and cast a spell on them at a disadvantage. This class is either for mobility or to MC in something else, possibly wizzy. The creator of this class may not have done a very good job.
Can Eldritch knight cast spells with a shield?
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How many Eldritch blasts can I cast?
The Eldritch Blast, with a character’s one-action casting time, allows a Warlock to cast it only once per turn.
📹 You Might Be an Eldritch Knight | Fighter Subclass Guide for DND 5e
#dnd #echoknight #fighter Hey! Guess what. You’re Awesome and thanks for watching. I promise this is the best DND tutorial …
It’s interesting to see how different people value damage on eldritch knights. I’m currently playing one and I usually only use defensive or buff spells and just use weapons for damage. Mirror image/blur are great self buff spells and you can’t leave home without both shield and absorb elements. I think the only damage spells I’ve used are thunderwave for CC and shatter for some ranged damage.
As someone playing as an Eldritch Knight in a campaign, probably one of the coolest things I’ve personally set up combines two things: Mind Sliver (cantrip, does Xd6 scaled Psychic damage and -1d4 to the next save it makes on a failed INT save), War Magic (allows a weapon attack on a bonus action if a cantrip is used for your action), and Eldritch Strike (forced disadvantage on a saving throw vs a spell you cast upon landing a weapon attack). Takes 10 levels in the subclass, sure, but by that point, you can effectively string together a combo that – provided saves are failed and hits are landed – forces a failed psychic attack (disadvantage – 1d4 to the roll) followed by a weapon attack that, in total, loops the combo again. Keep it up, and you might as well be dealing near-guaranteed damage every turn.
Personally I think Greater Invisibility deserves a spot. For one minute, enemies have disadvantage on you, you have advantage on them, and assuming no one has blindsight or truesight, it’ll be harder for them to target you. And if you don’t want to give up tanking, give it to the rogue; who just became damgerous.
I honestly value spells that take an action to use very little on Eldritch Knight. The Fighter’s bread and butter is weapon attacks, so anything that gets in the way of using your attack action has a very hefty opportunity cost. It’s why I don’t take spells like fireball or burning hands, and instead opt for defensive & buff spells (shield, absorb elements, to an extent Find Familiar). Usually if I take an action spell, it’\\s because I’m confident that using it as part of an action surge or some such is worth not just taking the attack actions- things like Haste which give you a variety of buffs (including an extra attack) or blur to become extra defensive.
Shield is an ESSENTIAL for any eldritch knight. Itll really help you fulfill the tank role to the fullest. Once had a DM lose his shit because I tanked 5 creatures attacking, with multi attack, thanks to ONE shield cast. Also, even though its incredibly situational, protection from evol and good is a great spell as well! It may not ALWAYS come up, but when it comes up you’ll be INCREDIBLY thankful you went for it!
Jim’s magic missiles is my favorite spell! I’m glad you also see it’s value my guy Consider the following: Hold person! The paralisation condition makes you insta crit if you are within 1,5m of your target. And you have advantage on all of the spell attacks! So, the chance of rolling a 1 goes from 5% per beam to 0,25% per beam. The advantage alone is enough justification to spend a 9th level on Jim’s magic missiles, because the blow up chance of 11 darts with advantage combined is 2,75%, that’s nearly half than a single dart without advantage. There is also a lot of things that combo with this spell, like improved critical from champion, Overchannel from Evocation wizard, and Lucky from Halfling. Not to mention Spirit shroud (wich on it’s own combos with Jim’s magic missiles, but if you also have a friend that can cast Hold person… Damn! At the cost of a coin, you get a Disintegration railgun, Misaka Mikoto style)
Warding Wind might be a good control spell for Eldritch Knights. Granted, it would also have some negative effects on allies depending on party composition, but it might be a good way to lock enemies into melee while the party pelts the enemies with ranged spell attacks, which wouldn’t have disadvantage from Warding Wind.
Underrated take I hardly see anyone mention is Shadow Blade. A 2d8 weapon that can be conjured as a bonus action, viable with strength or dex builds, and can be melee or ranged. Most importantly though, it will clean up enemies with the amount of multi attacks fighters get, and you’ll rarely lose concentration with your proficiency in con saves.
Spirit Shroud seems to be made for Eldritch Knights. A bonus action cast with concentration. 1d8 damage (radiant, necrotic or cold) each time you hit a creature 10 feet of you. It synergises well with fighter’s many extra attacks. Preventing the one’s you hit from gaining hit points until the start of your next turn and slowing enemies within 10ft you by 10 ft are extra boons.
Elditch knight is like the one of the few rare times blade ward is actually good even then situational. Like the saying goes I’d rather have it and not need than need it and not have it. Like if you wanna cast blade ward just dodge. Honestly 9 times outta ten this is the way to go. Would you rather take half damage from an enemy that hits like a truck or no damage from an enemy that hits like a truck
Haste could have been on the list. By the time you get it you can get four attacks off without Action Surge, seven with it, and if you have a Bonus Action attack that’s eight attacks per turn. You could also get Booming Blade + Haste Attack + War Magic Bonus Attack, which makes up for losing an attack. If you have War Caster to go with CON Save proficiency, short of a Dispel Magic it’s going to be a nightmare to get you to drop concentration.
I myself won’t take any damage spells for a couple reasons, #1 like you said there saving throw won’t be very high so it’s not likely that you’ll get full damage from it, I also usually won’t take any debuff spells for that same reason. #2 by the time you get access to those spells you can already deal much more damage then those spells without costing any resources.
I think this list overemphasizes the blasting spells. Blasting becomes much less viable at high levels, and by the time eldritch knight gets fireball, it’s no longer super impactful. The enemies will also make their saves, since your DC is going to be low. So that’s even less damage. Shield and the attack cantrips were good picks, but how about – absorb elements – counterspell – fireshield – protection from energy – blur/mirror image/misty stepas 8th level choice – fly/haste/ashardalins stride/thunderstep (14th and 18th level) Eldritch knight is a poor mans blaster, but a defensive powerhouse.
I think maybe if you highlighted the selection of their selections you would pick as a free School of magic picks as what you would pick that could add a lot of value. Say haste, feather fall, fly, find familiar. Spells that don’t require an attack roll might be the best choice. I can’t imagine having a high spell save dc. Counter spell and dispel magic would have made my personal list too.
I think all of those caveats you mentioned earlier in the article should eliminate alot of spells from your list. the EK will have a low spell save dc/spell attack so imo that should eliminate all spells that have a spell attack roll or forces saves. EKs are likely to miss those spell attacks or enemies are likely to save, especially those that force con saves. All 3rd and 4th level spells should be excluded as well imo as you said they are gotten too late. here’s my own top 10 list in no particular order: 1. find familiar 2. shield 3. absorb elements 4. rope trick 5. pyrotechnics 6. false life 7. longstrider 8. mirror image 9. invisibility 10. misty step
I gotta say, this is a pretty weak list. Damage dealing spells are by far the worst things to get as an Eldritch Knight, as being 1/3 casters you get them waaaay later in the game, and not to mention EKs shouldn’t be focusing on increasing their intelligence past ~14, so your to hit and DC are abyssmal. Other comments have said, but here are actual optimal spells for an EK (granted, the article did cover some of them): Booming Blade, Green Flame Blade, Absorb Elements, Shield, Find Familiar, Misty Step, Shadowblade, Mirror Image, Blur, Haste, Fly, Fire Shield, Polymorph
This was a very interseting list, I want to play an Eldricht Knight someday but keep wondering about the best spells to use, since you are more of a melee front liner player than a range magic user. It would be also pretty interesting to see a list for sub-classes that aren’t really magic focus, like the Arcane Trickster Rouge or Rangers and Bards
Fireball just isn’t a good spell on EK, by the time you unlock it, it will do pitiful damage compared to just attacking 3 times and letting the full caster handle CC. Don’t try to be a blaster caster as a Eldritch Knight, you just are not built for it. Focus on reactions, buffs, and debuffs instead. In particular look for spells with a casting time of a bonus action or reaction, so you can preserve you action for attacks.
This character class sounds like if Lovecraft were to start writing romance novels in his cosmic horror universe: “Eldritch Nights” Or maybe even a phone sex commercial: “All alone in Dunwich? Well don’t you worry. We have plenty of Cthulus waiting to hear from you…” camera pans past Cthulu laying on his side in women’s lingerie, with a phone on the night stand and a bowl of strawberries on the bed “Just pick up that phone and call Eldritch Nights…”
So, hypothetically, if you’re a high-level Eldritch Knight with Plate +3 and a Shield +3. You could cast the Shield spell and end up with an AC of 31. 21 (Plate: 18+3) + 5 (Shield: +2 +3) = 26 + 5 (Shield Spell) = 31. Granted you’d need at least 3 levels in Sorcerer to get the subtle spell metamagic to cast without somantic components, but still that’s one tough bastard to hit. Feel free to correct me if I’m mistaken on something.
I’d ditch all of the blasting spells, they just don’t scale in 5e. Fireball is basically worthless at level 13. The question with the Eldritch Knight is which spells to choose at levels 8, 14 and 20 when you can choose from any school. You definitely want to focus on defense and buff/debuff. Haste, Slow, or Thunderstep should be your level 14 choice.
Would a ring of spell storing be good for a Eldritch Knight? If the EK used all of their 1st level spell slots and find an empty ring of spell storing would they be able to cast shield into it using their 2nd lvl spell slots? Also what spell would be good for a EK multi classed with a sorcerer? Lunar, Divine, or Bronze Draconic?
The chapters and description are kinda screwed up towards the end. Such as listing Absorb Elements as 4th even though that spell isn’t actually on your list? You also say Shield “beats out” Absorb Elements when… Absorb Elements still isn’t even on the list? So it’s a lil’ weird to namedrop it like that. I’m guessing you cut it from the list at some point for…. Blade Ward???
I’m sorry but I really gotta disagree with half this list. No Haste? Find Familiar? Any other buffing spells? Even Absorb Elements is something I’ll take 9 times out of 10 over Shatter on Eldritch Knights. Drakewarden Rangers even get a pseudo fireball at 11th level (2 levels earlier than EKs) and it’s already a horrid option for damage using a 3rd level slot. The upper half of the list is fine, though, and Magic Missile is great because no rolls = no need to pump int for the dc/attack bonus.
Sorry, but the article doesn’t take the level at which you are and likely CR of the enemies into consideration. Fireball? You need to be 13th-level to cast that. Single CR 13 monsters have 250+ hit points and even group of 6 CR 8 creatures could have 150hp each. Doing 36hp damage (on a failed save and if they don’t have magic resistance) is pointless. Shatter? You need to be 7th-level to cast it. Single CR 7 monsters hit 150hp, and a group of 6 CR 4s are still 75+ hit points. Again 13.5 damage (if they fail a save) and you’d be lucky to get a pair of large creatures in a 10′ radius. In almost all cases you are better off with spells which are defensive (sure shield, but also protection from good and evil, absorb elements, etc.), which boast attacks or damage (enlarge/reduce, haste, etc.), a backup get-out-of-jail spell (fog cloud, invisibility), or which are extremely long lasting (find familiar). IMO, you are way too behind the level for spell damaging spells (outside of maybe a ranged cantrip). Finally, blade ward is almost always inferior to just using your action to fight defensively. You typically have a high AC and (since almost all piercing/slashing/bludgeoning damage requires an attack roll), you are better of just having them miss 50% of the time. That also works against all forms of damage needing an attack roll — including attack cantrips and spells, critical hits, and secondary effects such as elemental weapons, poison bites, etc. It also frees a cantrip for something else.
Half that list was trash. Eldritch knights that focus on spells that can be cast as a bonus action, reaction, or have long durations are what an Eldritch knight should focus on. Absorb elements Shield Expeditious retreat Feather fall Magic weapon Dragons breath Find familiar Misty step Shadowblade Ashardalons stride Counterspell Spirit shroud Action casts of Control spells can be nice because their impact scales with how strong the creatures you are fighting. The AOE damage spells loose efficacy by the time you unlock them.
I’ve loved weapon bond ever since it shocked our ‘forever dm’ into silence when he finally got a chance to be a player character….and immediately decided to steal everyone’s equipment and treasure because “it’s what my character would do” and he thought that meant he could fight off two angry but unarmed, unarmoured, empty spell-slot characters.
I’ve always viewed the fighter class in general as the “intellectual melee class”. Barbs are good at fighting because they’re pissed and they’re strong, fighters are good at fighting because they take an academic approach to studying martial arts and strategy. Historical masters of arms were extremely educated people who were often the one of the few in their communities that could read, write, draw, and understand geometry (sword fighting is largely just applied mathematics combined with athletic aptitude).
In my current game I am a level 15 Eldritch Knight and honestly its a blast but 6-11 was rough compared to other classes. But now I feel on par with even our Bladesinger. Eldritch Knight is really self sufficient, and quite fun. Adding Magic Initiate, and Fey Touched gave me more of a spellcaster vibe at early levels which eld can lack.
I think for the Eldritch Knight, its biggest strength is being a solid first introduction to all the fundamental mechanics of DnD 5e. You have the user friendly Fighter with all the extra attacks and ability score improvements, and then add just a smidge of magic to get the new players feet wet while not overwhelming them with the sheer amount of spells an actual Wizard gets. Me personally, I’ve kinda fallen in love with the Psi Warrior, since it basically makes you a Jedi Knight, but taking Magic Initiate or a dip into Wizard still feels like a logical choice.
I agree that making the EK a half caster would be a lot more fun to level in lower level campaigns. Something that I think makes the EK feel great around levels 8 and 9 is the Shadow Blade spell. Being able to use that and throw the shadow blade helps you feel like a ranged spellcaster. It also leaves things like concentration on a spell like haste with another spellcaster that can avoid the mess on melee combat. You don’t want to drop concentration on it in combat just because you caught a couple hits from the enemy with a warhammer and now you’re effectively paralyzed in front of said enemy with no means to defend yourself. Something that does make the EK feel like a smiter is multiclassing with battlesmith artificer for the smite spells or you could take the armorer and be the warrior who calls his weapon and armor when he needs them.
Ah yes, Eldritch Knight, the Fighter’s 1st Christmas Present from those Beach Mages, until the favorite child threw enough tantrums to get a better one the next year- with the oft ignored Warlock getting a similar but more unique and flavorful gift so no one could say the Land-To-Sea-Boarder Casters had a favorite child.
WotC’s UA for the Eldritch Knight for the 2024 PHB improved the war magic feature to make it similar to the Bladesinger’s extra attack, so it looks like the EK’s disparity with the other gishes will be partially fixed. Don’t sell this subclass short because it gets 7 ASIs and practically adds up to 7 levels of wizard spell casting to its 20 fighter levels without having to multiclass. All the customization from feats taken with those ASIs makes it very customizable and fun to play.
I do enjoy Eldritch knight but with some power creep having happened I would make 2 small changes to it, first is change War magic to function like the Bladesingers extra attack allowing you to replace an attack with a cantrip, and later on improved war magic would do the same but for a leveled spell so that a 20th Eldritch knight can, Attack, Attack, Attack, Attack, Action surge, Attack, Attack, Fireball or Gravity Sinkhole, Cantrip, using their attack actions. While this would be a lot do remember that Bladesingers at this level still gets 9th level spells and can do some far more ridiculous things with their own haste such as High level spell, Attack, Cantrip, while thanks to blade song rocking their own AC comparable to the Eldritch knight, especially if they’ve gotten their hands on the Robe of the Archmagi.
My first longterm character (as in one I played in a multi-year campaign) was an eldritch knight. I did multiclass into paladin because were playing a Ravenloft campaign, but eldritch knight’s abilities are so much fun to play around with and the flavour is fantastic. War Magic + a weapon cantrip like Green Flame Blade is a simple, but effective combo. There was also the time my boi was surrounded by cultists, so I dropped a Shatter spell on myself, tanked the damage, and mulched almost every cultist around him. That was fun.
Honestly you made me want to pick up Eldridge knight and it is a blast, i decided to go more spell so i picked up wizard and got more spells to buff myself and deny enemy spell casters with counter spell, it still comes online late but damn does it feel good to drop blur and use mirror image with the cartomancer feat
The Eldritch Knight is a better arcane archer than the Arcane Archer. And using a bow with the Eldritch Knight makes that sweet Eldritch Strike + Action Surge + Fireball combo much easier to pull off at level 13. The War Magic feature also makes this basically the only class that can make True Strike marginally useful… until level 11, at least. But honestly, WotC should have just borrowed the Bladesinger’s extra attack feature for the War Magic. Consider: by 7th level both the Eldritch Knight and the Bladesinger can do a booming blade and an attack… but the Bladesinger still has their bonus action free (for, e.g., two-weapon fighting with a Shadow Blade, or just noping out of melee range with a Misty Step) and has 4th level spell slots, so they could do this while under the effect of Greater Invisibility, Stoneskin, or just separating the enemies with Wall of Fire. (Or while flying.) Unfortunately WotC’s caster-favoritism is showing here because the Bladesinger, the Hexblade, Paladins, and even the more combat-oriented artificers are eating the poor Eldritch Knight’s lunch. As far as third-casters go, the Arcane Trickster is quite definitely the better one.
NGL my favorite homebrew rule for the sake of spellcasting sanity is simplifying the bonus action spell rule to just 1 levelled spell per turn no matter what kind of action, but giving the Eldritch Knight dishing out an Action Surge and only using spells known through the subclass the sole exception.
My favorite Eldritch Knight combo is to take Blind Fighting, pick up the Sentinel Feat, and cast Fog Cloud or Darkness around you and an enemy. You get the the nice combo of advantage on attacks, and the enemy has disadvantage. Then, when you’re out of spell slots, cast Bonfire under an enemy and get in their face. Hopefully with the Sentinel Feat, the enemy can’t run away. It works really nice at low levels.
This class feels great if you can multiclass it with a full Wizard. Regardless of what you do, unless you go mostly Wizard, you won’t get those super powerful spells until late into character progression, but doing, say, Eldritch Knight 7/ Wizard 13 allows you to wade into battle as a frontline while also casting up to 7th level spells with 8th level slots available to use.
I love my Eldritch knigt. Hits like a truck and can finish off fleeing enmys with a Javein without picking it up afterwords. Also tanky as hell with shield and absorb elements. Also combos great with our wizard, grouping up all the enemys and then tanking the friendly fireball thanks to fire resistance and absorb elements. 10/10 super fun 👍
Eldritch Knight is an incredible 3 level multiclass for Bard College of Swords. Not only does it fill out your weapon and armor proficiencies, it gives you the Shield spell, Absorb Elements, Action Surge, and Weapon Bond. And you get a second fighting style. It’s so juicy. My favorite build is 14 in Swords Bard, 3 In Eldritch Knight, and 3 in Paladin. My lvl 14 Magical Secrets always includes Tenser’s Transformation, so he turns into a violent, magical juggernaut, as while Tenser’s blocks spellcasting, it doesn’t say anything about blocking Paladin Smite. There’s a reason Majora is one of the most feared Bards to ever live.
The EK CAN be the best gish! (keep reading) First off, THANK YOU for this amazing article. This is my fav subclass, but not for dealing damage (at first). If you’re an EK, then you are the best tank in the game. Instead of Duel wielding or GWF, pick up the Defensive style, Plate armor (asap), a shield, and the Shield Spell. Boom. You now have a walking AC of 26. If you can take a feat at the beginning of the game, take Fey touched touches to boost your INT, get misty step early, and Bless or Compel Duel to protect your team. WAR CASTER FEAT IS ESSENTIAL AT LEVEL FOUR! Fighter will feel pretty good till level 7. War Caster + Booming blade gives you sticking power. Extra attack and war magic are big power spikes. But then consider taking five levels in wizard. Divination for portent or war wizard to boost initiative and saving throws. Get ritual spells for utility, ANY wizard spells with no restriction, and haste and fireball one level early. Consider the Tough feat to keep your hp in line with other fighters. From here go back to fighter till 11 to get another attack, or till 13 for the wombo combo. And now the SECRET SAUCE! Rn you are the perfect blend of defense and utility. But if you can get your CHA high enough with ASI’s or if you rolled for stats…take a 2 level dip into paladin. All those extra spell slots you get from wizard are now smite slots. Save one third level to cast Haste at the start of the fight, run towards the enemy, action surge, smite four times, and smack em with a reaction booming blade when they try to run past you.
Fixing the eldritch knight : Your bonded weapon can be your spellcasting focus starting from level 3 Scrap the lvl7 ability and make it so that your bonded weapon is magical and when holding it, you have advantage to resist the charmed condition. Buff the lvl10 by making so that after you successfully made an attack against a creature, you have advantage on saving throws you might do to resist the creature’s spell it casts on you until the end of their next turn. Scrap the lvl 18 and make it so that a number of times per day equal to your int. mod you can cast a spell that usually costs an action to cast, of a lvl equal to half tour proficiency bonus as a bonus action With this, you can go 8 attacks AnD a fireball in a turn, making you basically the best crowd killer in the game !
Regarding the eldritch knight, I really love the access to abjuration spells that it gets because I believe it rounds out fighter insanely well. The problem, however, is that a lot of the spellblade cantrips like “booming blade” mean you don’t get to do multiple attacks, and Arcane Charge kinda isn’t nearly as strong for a 15th level feature when spells like misty step (2nd level spell accessible to anyone who takes fey touched feat or Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard otherwise) and far step (accessible to Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard), or just playing echo knight and getting echo at level 3 are options in the game. A 30 ft teleport that requires that you burn a resource you only get once or twice per long rest just feels bad, but it does certainly feel relatively good being able to cast fireball, action surge to teleport in front of someone and just behead them lmao. So as an augmentation it’s nice but as an overall 15th level feature, it’s kinda meh
Im playing a EK using spear and shield. Custom lineage, taking feats polearm master, war caster, and crusher. Every time an enemy comes up to me, once per round obviously, im hitting them with booming blade. This is somewhat reliant on the DM, but i cant really think of a reason not to allow it, i hit the with the blunt side like my bonus action polearm master attack, send them 5 feet back, and now they have to set off the extra damage if they want to get back into melee range. And for 7-10 you use booming blade as your action, then hit em with the bonus action blunt, knock em back 5 ft. On their turn they move up, trigger the booming blade damage, then trigger your op attack again!
A player of mine played an Eldritch Knight that Dipped into Wizard for The bladesinger subclass and bladesingers extra attack. He had up to sixth level spell slots. His nova round essentially looked like Attack, Cantrip, Attack, Bonus action attack (yes sage advice confirmed it works with the bladesingers extra attack), Action surge, cast An upcast Fireball that he took metamagic adept so he could change the damage type on. It was nauseating at high levels the damage this character could nova for.
Im seriously hoping this subclass gets some love in one dnd. Its got some amazing ideas, but like everyone says, those dead levels really kill the experience. Another issue is that it feels like those dead levels dont work for the class. From the get go, we are not a “blaster caster”, we’re a fighter with self supportive spells. I think an ideal way to change the idea of this class in later levels is to allow for faster progression, like mentioned, and maybe eventually casting spells like haste as a bonus action? Its a lot, but its also the bread and butter.
I’m looking to get back into Forgotten Realms and I’m trying to help my friend set up a campaign. Never played the game and for my very first character I’ve chosen to be Gelroos Kenafin a Drow Eldritch Knight that fights with sword and dirk with the dirk doubling as my wand. He likes to stab people and cast acid mist while the dirk is still inside the victim. He tried that with lightning once, but he, umm, he doesn’t do that anymore .
Eldritch Knight is probably my favorite subclass from the 5e corebook, and I ended up making a fun character to play it with. That being said, I’m also a huge fan of overhauls to Eldritch Knight that give you some of the better abilities like war magic a bit earlier, and giving you access to higher levels spells by making them a half-caster. The spell restrictions never really bothered me because I liked the flavor behind it, and you can get different ones after a few levels. TL;DR Eldritch Knight holds a special place in my heart, and while it does have problems, I do like homebrewing alterations to maintain that fantasy I’ve always aspired to while playing it.
Hot take: Booming Blade / Greenfire Blade are not the bread and butter cantrips for Eldritch Knights. Blade Ward is. I am not being ironic or intentionally inflamatory, because I think people are sleeping on this cantrip. Now, I am not saying Blade Ward is useful on any other class, but it is useful on Eldritch Knights. The key thing about EKs isn’t that they do all that much damage for a Fighter, and they can’t match the utility and control of a spellcaster. But they can take advantage of the combination of solid base stats, access to defensive spells and not being particularly reliant on concentration. Blade Ward + Shield + War Magic will let you be a very flexible frontliner that can swap between tanking and damage dealing at a moments notice. Add in a Polearm Master+Sentinel setup and you can add a a bit of control to the mix. Because you don’t use nearly as many concentration spells as Wizards, Swords Bards and Bladelocks, you don’t have to worry about going in to HP+resistance tank against enemies who have high to hit values. Of course, Blade Ward looks like it could be a lot stronger in OneD&D than 5e for the EK, since they fixed War Magic to match the Bladesinger feature, so it doesn’t get messed up by the improved Extra Attack at lvl 11.
So, I LOVE the Eldritch knight. Not my favorite class. Not even my favorite fighter subclass. But it is AMAZING for stacking AC. I’m currently playing a human Eldritch knight with a giant foundling background with the strike of the giants feat and a shield master feat because variant human. Right now I’m running half plate and a shield. Putting my AC pretty high. Then I multiclasses 2 levels into abjuration wizard (my dm let us pick one magic item for the start of the campaign, I chose the headband of intellect, putting my int at 19) with abj wizard, I have a lex luthor style forcefield shield equal to my int mod, and my wizard level and whatever level I last cast my highest abj spell. He has homebrew plus 3 shields (instead of plus 2) and I’ve been saving for full plate mail. For spells, I use shield as a reaction, mirror image, and an ally can caste haste on me. I’m not the strongest damage dealer, but I stay in the fight longer than anyone else to win. I forgot to mention why the strike of the giants feat was so important. At 4th level, I can upgrade it with the storm giant related fest that slows enemies near me, and gives them disadvantage to hit. Last I checked when I was thoery building, I had like a 32 AC (anyone can run these numbers and let me know what they get) and if I somehow get hit, absorb elements as a reaction to absorb the damage and hit them back with that and stack strike if the giants to it. The idea of this build is supposed to be the knight in shining armor.
i have a lot to say about this. Not only is it inrecible but the altorighm also loves long comments becayse that means that you love it so this is definatly because I have a message and not at all to feed the algotithm and so on and so forth et cetera and following if you know what I mean – or what my drift is. With a wink and a nudge and all of that. And I have definately made a huge work of correctung spelling misakes and errors etc so that I dont use words which tahke more leterters than noramal. I love your articles,
Im Running an Eldritch Knight tank at lv 8, shield of faith, Shield, and absorb elements are my mains but i picked up mirror image at 8. My ac can get up to 29. hoping to get blur next. I Let the 2 rogues 0ne of which is combining elven accuracy with sharp shooter do most of the damage while i stand in the way. But i like the idea of a more offensive build for it.
The only reason I’ve never liked Eldritch Knight is because War Magic is so, so much worse than Bladesinger’s Extra Attack. It’s why I’m so excited to try the new EK in the UA that makes it the same as that, but also makes it so that the capstone for the subclass lets you replace 2 attacks with a spell instead. That means a level 20 fighter can drop 2 fireballs and 4 attacks in a single turn, and still have a bonus action left over. Can’t wait to try it out
I guess you got pretty good into my problem with Eldritch Knights. IT’S SO GOOD, ITS SO FLAVORFUL, and it comes Online SO LATE… It’s one of those subclasses that has really fallen down due to power creep. Weapon bond is so flavorful, but so clunky to work with. However, I’ve started to get how to use them in a sneakier way. Eldritch Knights are the Glue to making every class a Gish. Yeah, Eldritch Knights use intelligence as a Spellcaster, except… No, they don’t. Their most important spells do not require a high Int to work (Booming Blade, Haste, Magic Missile, Shield). Drop Intelligence, and bump any other Caster Stat like Wis or Cha and welcome to your Druid Gish! Or Cleric Gish! Or Sorcerer Gish! (without considering Hexblade). Honestly, Swords Bard, Draconic Bloodline and Shepard Druid are Subclasses that fit weirdly well with Eldritch Knight once you look at their snynergies.
Thing is, assuming point buy and no TCL, Eldritch Knight fighter can get a capped INT sooner than a Wizard. Set your Strength and Intelligence to 16 after racial stat boosts. (15 10 14 15 10 8) Vuman with a feat that doesn’t boost an AS. Up Intelligence at 4, then again at 6. Something that Wizards have to wait till 8th level to do
I can’t over state the value of Ritual Caster and Fey Touched for the class. The thing that gets you is the lack of spells and slots. Fey Touched gives you more movement and Gift of Alacrity as an option (if you go first then the other guy dies ;)) . Ritual caster can make you a bit more of a secondary support for the team and having Phantom Steed on line means you can get a lot more advantage in your life. ((And for a original 5e class it is not so bad even if not as powerful as the other two that usually are taken before this one))
If you’re comparing gishes then I think fighters having 2 more ASIs is worth noting. Magic initiate, fey touched, ritual caster, war caster, elemental adept… Eldrich knight lets you be more or less caster, flavored to taste. Even if you consider war caster manditory, it’s just as manditory on the other gishes, no?
I feel like focusing on fireball or other damage spells will always make the subclass seem worse. The main thing that sucks is eldritch smite not coming til 10 as that is the main feature that matters as you can attack round one 2nd round hold person they have disadvantage on save then action surge for auto crits of they failed or just cast the spell again.
Eldritch knight is best fighter subclass just like bladelock is best spellblade class, no scratch this, bladelock is the best mele class in the game, bloody absurd. Arguably best lvl1 spell is absorb elements, nothing says badass like eating wizards fireball and slapping him back with it. As for lvl3 spells you may not have fireball(cause it is for nerds) but you have pulse wave that can suck enemies into your smacking distance and deals fireball worth of force damage that can’t be stopped by being a demon and shit like some crappy fireball, damn what an OP spell, oooh right, Wildemount. Aside from that you can have melf’s meteors orbiting around you looking cool AF that you can yeet at people as bonus action like mini fireballs.
Last time I played. I was an One of these guys. And I got captured by a group of fish merpeople guys sehogwin? Anyway I was tried in a net when I had an idea. I tell the dm I focus as I call my sword to me. And as it flashes to my hand it cuts the netting free. But I NEVER THOUGHT TO USE IT FOR CHEATING MERCHENTS!
RAW, something very important was overlooked in this article and in the class itself. Material and somatic components for spells. This class technically can’t use a spellcasting focus and therefore must acquire a components pouch (as it isn’t in starting equipment). It also means you’re gonna have to have a hand free in order to cast spells, so no dual wielding or sword and board allowed. Even if you take war caster, still no way to perform the material components as you don’t have a holy symbol.