The Abjuration Wizard Tank - D&D: Optimized #32
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 มิ.ย. 2024
- So, we have a new reigning champion of survivability. And they're a Wizard.
Table of Contents of all D&D Builds to date: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
/ colbypoulson
Math/Graph for this episode: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Master Tank Comparison: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Character Concept:(0:00)
Level 1:(6:55)
Levels 2-6:(12:55)
Levels 7-9:(36:13)
Levels 10-13:(50:32)
Levels 14-17:(55:06)
Final Thoughts:(1:02:00)
Thanks to LudicSavant for the amazing DPR calculator! forums.giantitp.com/showthrea...)
Music Credits:
Achaidh Cheide - Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Angevin 120 loop by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Celtic Impulse - Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Fiddles McGinty by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Master of the Feast by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Colby: A dead monster does 0 damage
Necromancer: Hold my beer
lol!
Zealot Barbarian: WAAAAARRRGGHH!
Actually necromancer summons called undead 🤓
Mark of warding dwarf has armor of agathys as part of their spells of the mark, making it another way to grab that spell without multiclassing.
I second this comment. Mark of Warding adds armor of Agythys, as well as 8 other spells known, bonus spell slots for alarm, mage armor, arcane lock 1/day, and +1d4 on investigation and thieves tools rolls and dark vision.
At the cost of 1 AC and immunity to disease, and a need to sleep, eat and breathe
Not to mention the option to pick up more mark related character options. (If your DM uses the non WotC keith Baker stuff)
I would point out that the 1 level you don't take in warlock can be spent in Artificer for an ASI or wizard for 9th lvl spells. The ASI means a feat, making up for the AC drop at minimum.
Right! I did actually look at this and gave it consideration. I should have mentioned it. I think ultimately I decided against because of the AC bump and disease immunity from War Forged (plus I just really loved the idea of a War Forged Artificer for RP purposes) but not discussing in the vid was a fail!
@@DnDDeepDive I can see how not mentioning it made the video easier to lay out.
Also worth noting, getting anti life shell on your tank is an amazing tool for stopping enemies from getting past you. Mark of Warding adds that to your wizard list, and allows your clerics to concentrate on other things.
@@patrickbarley4716 It also would allow the level 17 report to include spell resistance!
@@ClintonJohnson1 My biggest regret :)
A smart barbarian? A smarbarian!
A paladin reveller? A paveller!
A ranger of the city? A ritty!
A wizard tank? A w...wicked idea for a build. Can't think of a name.
ha ha
a Tizard
A Wankard?? 😂😂😂
A wank?
Wank :D
Biceps, pecks, chiseled chin line, university diploma, photos of his kid on the wall. Respect for different cultures and religions visible in the souvenirs from his travels around the world. Yep - definitely a wizard player
Ha ha!
Lol. How is that a wizard? i'd wager hes a ranger. Travel, cultures, physical build (homelander!), knowledge about creatures... that screams ranger to me. If we factor in that he has a guitar and iirc likes to write stories then another pick (or multiclass) would be bard. So i'd say colby is a ranger/bard multiclass.
@@TheRobversion1 🤔 You know... that kinda makes sense...
@@DnDDeepDive might be a good discussion/community post? everyone can share what class/classes they are based on their life experience/lifestyle/job/skills/talents. :)
@@TheRobversion1 Yeah, he's both too ripped and too sociable for a wizard.
New big brain idea. For the Warlock part go Genie and Dao for the bludgeoning damage, now when you hit with the booming blade you can choose to add your proficiency bonus in bludgeoning damage, now if you have taken Crusher you can move them 5 feet (dealing bludgeoning) so you can move them away from you AND your friends. Meaning if they want to attack anyone (unless they have reach/ranged) they are going to trigger the booming blade damage to come into melee again.
Yes. But the most important thing about going genie is the bottle. Its a free item that lets you stack an huge number of glyph of wardings.
Useful Abjurer tip, courtesy of Treantmonk. Alarm is an abjuration ritual one can use to top the ward out of combat without using spell slots. It's slow and tedious, but it works.
id say thats an out dated optimal thing it was ok in the past but NOW with eldtrich initiate you get at will mage armor granting you a two minute charge time for the ward at level 20 and you can get this early if you play varient human
@@christophercrafte Genius!
@@christophercrafte Yeah but that costs a feat that you could spend on another feat.
@@godminnette2 a feat that lets you always keep your ward up instantly after every fight. feats are meant to make you stronger this makes you stronger, plus for a wizard you dont need a ton of feats
@@christophercrafte it won't be instantly if the character is wearing heavy armor. You have to be unarmored to cast Mage Armor, otherwise, yeah, the feat works.
I realise that the controls are only meant to represent how much damage you can survive, but if you cast Armour of Agathys with a 7th level spell slot the Adult Red Dragon would die twice over before it managed to kill you which makes this build even more insane XD
Just got to the part about War Caster, and you'll get no arguments here. In fact, it's actually even less restrictive than you mentioned for artificers specifically. From the basic rules:
"A spellcaster must have a hand free to access a spell's material components -- or to hold a spellcasting focus -- but it can be the same hand that he or she uses to perform somatic components."
Because artificer spells all require a material component even a Battle Smith with a sword and shield doesn't need War Caster to cast their artificer spells as long as said sword is infused, and thus counts as a spellcasting focus.
While true warcaster is fantasic on armourers. Adv and ability to use booming blade och opprtunity attacks is glorious.
Level 1:(see above) [artificer 1 & race]
Level 2:(see above) [artificer 2 & infusions]
Level 3:(@14:16) [artificer 3 & sub-class]
Level 4:(@19:26) [wizard 1]
Level 5:(@22:14) [wizard 2 & sub-class]
Level 6:(@25:04) [warlock 1]
Level 7:(see above) [wizard 3]
Level 8:(@38:23) [wizard 4 & ASI]
Level 9:(@42:49) [wizard 5]
Level 10:(see above) [wizard 6]
Level 11:(@51:16) [wizard 7]
Level 12:(@52:05) [wizard 8 & ASI]
Level 13:(@53:17) [wizard 9]
Level 14:(see above) [wizard 10]
Level 15:(@56:08) [wizard 11]
Level 16:(@57:58) [wizard 12 & ASI]
Level 17:(@59:05) [wizard 13]
Talks about wizard level 14 in Final thoughts.
Thanks buddy
Effing MVP! Thank you.
These are super helpful, thank you. Or Tank you.
You cant ignore celestial warlocks healing ability which adds an additional 2d6 that can be healed as a bonus action to you or an ally. It makes it the clear choice for this build.
Guardian thunder gauntlets aren't simple melee weapons. They are armor that count as simple melee weapons. So somatic components definitely work.
I second! HERE HERE
Just playing devil's advocate here, but saying something isn't a simple melee weapon, but it counts as a simple melee weapon isn't really a clear argument against treating it as a melee weapon for purposes of restrictions. The more salient argument is that the thunder gauntlet is treated as "a simple melee weapon while you aren't holding anything in it," clearly indicating that you can use it to hold things, and while you do so, it isn't a simple melee weapon. This clearly allows for using the gauntlet hand to interact with your component pouch, and a single hand free to interact with the component pouch can also perform the somatic components for a spell.
@@1217BC somatic components only use your hands- no pouch or materials (those would be material components). So somatic components definitely work
@@bulldozer8950 I was referring to the fact that one free hand allows you to meet both the somatic and material component requirements simultaneously. Both a material component and a somatic component require a free hand, but a spell that requires both only needs one free hand for casting. PHB pg 203, last paragraph under Material Components
Honestly I would listen to this man read the phone book
and so easy on the eyes, hubba hubba XD
Ha ha, well thanks - :blushy face:
@@MrNemitri it’s true and you should say it
Didn't see this mentioned yet, but...
If you either take a second level of warlock or just go for the eldritch adept feat, you can take armor of shadows to get Mage Armor at will and constantly be able to refill your arcane ward to maximum.
I'm pretty new to your channel man, and I've got to say, as a long time dnd min-maxer myself, I love seeing other peoples builds and not needing to do the work myself 😂😂. Big love man, you've got yourself a new loyal viewer
@@DnDDeepDive no problem man, you'll be glad to hear you've got major fans across the pond too :)
I've got a lot of experience with this type of character, It's my favourite to play. Heres my essay
There are a few cheesy things you can do with arcane ward, deep gnome gets at-will casting of non-detection, and warlock 2 (Or eldritch adept) gets at-will casting of mage armour, which both heal your ward really fast. I don't really like either but it's there.
Couple of things I do differently/ advice:
First off, use your roleplaying to taunt, abuse the monsters, pretend to show weak points, boast about how much impact you're having. This will help make you a target and it's spell slot free and fun to do. Especially effective against melee opponents that speak your language.
A lot of people have talked about it but Mark of Warding I think is easily the best choice here (AoA, give away a mage armour and set up your ward. That's a whole level you took for warlock).
I personally went 1 Artificer/ X Wizard instead of 3 artificer levels, obviously, armourer is still a good choice but I'm not a huge fan for a few reasons.
1) I was quite concerned with keeping spell slot progression, I really felt it when I was testing with warlock when other party members had 3rd/ 4th level slots and I didn't, and 2nd level artificer delays your spell slots a level.
2) The temporary hit points are redundant with Armor of Agathis (AoA) but obviously, It's just a small bonus anyways.
3) Heavy armour only adds a +1 AC which is good but not worth delaying upcasting of AoA or a bigger ward imo (In practice you have much more hit point survivability and against melee opponents I often let them hit me to deal damage from AoA so I think bolstering that adds more to your survivability than AC)
4) The guardian attack will always be worse than casting a spell, however I think it is better than a lot of your cantrip options, but only because of the disadvantage, which is only against 1 enemy once per turn and takes a whole action, not worth it in most cases imo. But I'd still prefer setting up things like total cover for a ranged attacker with minor illusion. And any leveled spell you'd otherwise be casting is a better option.
5) Also delays wizard levels by 2 for great spells including defensive ones like haste, and features like spell resistance and improved abjuration. Just the 1 level in artificer is enough to totally start playing the tank roll.
If you are sold on the armourer though I highly suggest delaying level 2 and 3 until you're at least a level 5 wizard, this gets you're arcane ward and AoA up and running earlier and will make you much tankier, not to mention other defensive spells (Shield etc) that you get access to. Also take replicate magic item with an infusion and get a spellwrought tattoo, you can get a 1st level spell to everyone, so over a few days you can give everyone in the party familiars, and on following days tattoo one of the familiars with a bless for concentration free buffing.
Other things:
Think about places your defences don't cover (Grapples, saves etc)
Blade ward is a useful spell for the first time ever, if you're being targeted by B/P/S melee opponents it doubles the 'hp' of AoA, we play that resistance works on arcane ward so it also doubles that. It's basically used when you'd otherwise dodge so not often but it's still good to have.
Thorn whip is better than lightning lure, use that instead.
Alarm gives you a way to heal your ward for free outside of combat (ritual, 2HP/ 10m so it's quite slow)
Fog Cloud is a great defensive tool in a pinch, lots of spells can't be cast when obscured and is a really effective way for your party to hide/scatter when shit hits the fan, also gives disadvantage to hit against any party members with Alert.
Misty Step avoids grapples and forced movement (A tactic for getting you out of the way to deal with the party)
I like warcaster more than usual because otherwise an opportunity attack from you is very weak and a monster can just run past you to your party and barely take a scratch. I use grease if you've got concentration up, Hideous laughter if you don't, could always booming blade as well.
Use summons to increase the things your enemies need to get to before they reach your friends, these can be large and imposing. Summon greater demon is my favourite.
Bigbys hand is also great for stopping people reaching the squishys, and getting them away once they do.
Also focus on Crowd Control as it's another way to protect your friends. (Web, fear etc)
Also your simulacrum is much harder to kill than normal because your arcane ward and AoA still have full hitpoints
Level 6 Damage Report: You have 46 Hp, 3rd level AoA (15), 14 Arcane Ward (+Int ASI) 4/3/3 Spell slots 24 AC (Half Plate + Shield + Shield) if using all of them for AoA (you didn't, but you could've haha) gives 193 max hp! Doing it your way is 113.
I think you calculated your DTPR wrong, the dragon would need a 20 to hit, which is (55[crit])*.05 = 2.75 I'm assuming you did (37)*.1. I think crits are important because a large majority of hits you take will be crits. Anyways this takes 8 dtpr and so survives 14 rounds which is a lot less, but the gap lessens significantly with higher and lower to hit rolls and any other form of damage that doesn't go through AC. Obviously you can't cast shield 20/14 times, but I'll concede this point haha. Against berserker your dtpr is 6 including crits, mines 9 so that's 13.3 vs 12.6 so much closer (would round both to 13). dtpr is 14 vs fireball for both which is 6 vs 8 rounds (To me :) ). I prefer being tanky in a wide range of scenarios. I could've also used blur or haste here which makes my numbers much better (I'm guessing higher than yours in all cases but I haven't run the numbers) but that's never something I'd actually do unless I had something like a ring of spell storing to offload my concentration. And also ignoring other defensive spells like mirror image that I'm likely to be casting which close the gap.
Is it happening?? It’s happening! I’ve been waiting excitedly for this one!
I remember when we were talking about this one in the comments 👍
Ah yes we were! 😊
another use of haste that's pretty good: use the dodge action as your main action, hit with your other attack, and now the enemy has disadvantage vs everyone
While giving an opponent disadvantage against everyone is kinda fun, there's a few flaws with this. 1) having Armor of Agathys up makes you the LEAST attractive target if they have disadvantage against everyone. 2) Disadvantage doesn't guarantee a miss. Tied in with the first point, that means everyone who doesn't have over 20AC and a big beefy wall of magic and temp HP between you and their real HP suddenly become much more appealing to swipe at meaning you're suddenly a far less effective target. 3) You're passing on a lot of damage. If you're not taking hits, you're not clapping back with the armor. You're also giving up extra damage from the second attack itself.
Lol. Loved the sad music with the Crawford Tweet behind it.
Right? My friend Mr. Rogers actually edited this time, so that was all him :)
When you said that the ward and the temp HP of Armor of Agathys work together i had to go look it up. Wow!
I have always loved armor of agathys, but as a warlock only spell it seemed there was always a better use of the precious spell slot.
This is like the best of both worlds.
Deep Gnome w. Svirfneblin Magic feat can cast Nondetection at will. Not amazing, until you combo it with the abjurer’s ward, then recharging that for free is pretty awesome. You can do it much more slowly with ritual casting alarm spell.
Randomly got recommended this video and i am now subscribed! Man your voice is so soothing, and you know your stuff about character building, presenting it in a clear and satisfying way. Time to binge your videos.
Horray! Thank you and welcome :)
Colby, I found a little mistake, the artificer multiclass matter of fact adds half your levels rounded UP, so with 3 artificer levels plus 2 levels wizard you'll have slots like a 4th level full caster
Correct! Good catch :)
Hey man, reading Pg 164 of the PHB it says multiclassing spell casters are rounded down so taking the extra level in artificer than warlock will give the extra spellslots and ASI and get Mark of Warding Dwarf for the Armour of Agathys
@@DnDDeepDive Correct me if I'm wrong, otherwise, it's an amazing character dude, keep it up :)
@@cofiwright2589 Thanks! Tasha's specifies that Artificer levels are rounded up, oddly :)
Damn, okay, I stand corrected lol but either way that only makes the build better!
I've been waiting so much for an abjuration wizard build!! Thanks!! 😄
You should make the character sheets on dnd beyond it would be cool to have the references
I think is a necessity, makes everything clearer, can even make different sheets at different levels, when feels that the character gets something important that makes the build work, or at the different tiers. But I more than agree with you.
@@flash1face1 more than true, but still, would be an improvement. Imho
@@federicomassai8927 A $2/month channel membership comes with the perk of character write ups for most of his builds. They are simple and straight forward bullet point style level guides. It isn't DND beyond character sheets, but well worth it to support the channel. Also makes me feel less bad for ad blocker. :)
If you subscribe to the community for 1.99 $ monthly, you get the sheets
@@flash1face1 It's an hour long video so is it really?
At levels 1 and 2 you could use magic stone with a sling to attack with intelligence
This! Thanks man
I had a light domain cleric/abjuration wizard even split multiclass whose main job was “make sure that neither I, nor my allies get hurt”. Start in cleric to get medium armor/shield access. The arcane ward for abjuration wizards does not say that it needs to be wizard spells that recharge the ward; and clerics have great abjuration spell options to recharge the ward. Multiclassing into dual full-casters is also great for recharging the ward - as it regains HP based on (twice) the spells’ level, and you don’t lose out on spell slot levels (you can up-cast something like Aid that scales quite well).
Having stumbled upon this channel today, I'm very impressed. Enough detail given for any newcomers to the game and still engaging enough for those that have played the game for a long time. Keep up the great work!
Thanks very much and welcome! I try hard to think about keeping it *somewhat* applicable for a broad audience (though I worry that my regular viewers get annoyed when I stop for a brief explanation about a spell or ability for the umpteenth time :P )
@@DnDDeepDive in my opinion you can't go wrong with reiterating rules and class features for clarity sake especially with these in depth builds and character concepts
This build is my favorite of all so far. Absolutely amazing work. I'm truly impressed.
Wait, you just merged two classes that I find super boring and made a build that I'm extremely interested in. What sort of sorcery is this? Keep up the good work.
Ha ha thanks ;)
@@DnDDeepDive As cool as this would be. Unfortunately RAW and Sage advice make Armor of Agathys a warlock only spell. Meaning it can only be cast with warlock slots, at the warlock slot level.
Also, booming blade has a material component requirement of a weapon valued over 1silver and since your armor is not a "weapon" worth over 1 silver you cannot cast the spell.
All in all, those two hurdles kinda take the wind out of the sails.
The temporary hit points will be far lower than assumed. The DTPR would be much higher in all scenarios. Sadly RAW breaks this build to nothing.
@@hundrow "Pact Magic. If you have both the Spellcasting class feature and the Pact Magic class feature from the warlock class, you can use the spell slots you gain from the Pact Magic feature to cast spells you know or have prepared from classes with the Spellcasting class feature, and you can use the spell slots you gain from the Spellcasting class feature to cast warlock spells you know."
As for the Booming Blade issue, there's definitely an argument to be made that the gauntlet, which counts as a weapon, and is part of the armor, which has a cost of over 1 sp, qualifies for the Booming Blade requirement (as others in these comments have mentioned), but even if your DM decides otherwise, it's definitely not imperative to the build working.
@@DnDDeepDive My mistake. PHB 164 for anyone else interested. I tip my hat good sir. I am now in awe.
The Abjuration Wizard barrier really reminds me of the barrier spell from Dragon Age Inquisition. I now want to make a Knight Enchanter build in DnD
What are you waiting for? DO IT! *closes hand into fist*
That is exactly I am looking for! The enchanter knight build and IT SOUNDS QUITE SIMILAR!
THANK YOU DND OPTIMIZED
@@ajmacewan7285 I got 2 builds right now that I want to try. This and a Pally2/Swords Bard x. I'm going to start a new campaign soon and will have to choose between the two.
Like a suped up Rune Knight???
Fantastic build. I think this is probably one of the, if not the most well rounded build to face pretty much any situation defensively. Great job.
Thanks!
WoW ... Very well thought out and I am very impressed. Well done and thank you for sharing. /encore!
Thanks friend! Glad you enjoyed :)
What an absolutely legendary build for a character. I love the idea of some automaton or construct defending the party throwing shields and spells left and right like some new age Iron Man defense mechanism. Absolutely phenomenally made :D
One of my favorite builds that I’ve made is similar to this. It’s a Conquest Paladin (5 or 6 depending on your preference) and the rest in abjuration wizard. You get pretty good spell progression, the interception fighting style, the find steed spell, armor of agathys, medium and heavy armor proficiency, healing spells, and the ability to smite on top of being a wizard. I call the multiclass a Frost Knight. I made them a Goliath to fit the theme better, but you can go whatever.
Hey, I know this is super late and there's a low chance of you responding, but how did you juggle stats? did you prioritize Intelligence or Charisma or something else?
@@schorfactor7000 Strength and Charisma were highest with 13 INT. I wasn't using many attack or save spells so all INT really helped with was a few extra points of ward health.
@@theeruler7963 thanks a bunch!
Holy shit I’m 1 minute in and 90% of the way to subscribed. I think you might be my new favourite DnD TH-camr! I love the longer form content too!
Ha ha - thanks Tyler and welcome! :)
Great video Colby! My favorite one yet
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed :)
For characters developed with the intention of multiclassing into wizard I like the idea of working out a rational explanation for an acquisition of a spellbook. One good option may be to take the inheritor background which might also account for a variety of a character's tinkering shit. Alternatively, a DM may have a story that could allow discovery of a spellbook but, even if this was the case, if you already had one spellbook, then you'd have two.
Infusions can be changed when you level up, not on a long rest. Also consider two levels of Clockwork Soul Sorcerer instead of Warlock. At level 2 you can replace the bonus Alarm spell with Armor of Agathys. It does delay gaining Wizard levels by one, but your spell slot progression isn't shorted.
This only requires a one level dip as you are gaining a sorcerer level at the outset for the multiclass. It’s only if you start sorcerer that you cannot switch out a spell.
Just found your channel and I enjoy this greatly
Thanks and Welcome!
A year after this video I come looking for an abjuration wizard since I’ve never played one and OF COURSE our D4 master has a build (and a perfect one to my taste, I must say). Your videos always are the best
Ha ha thanks! Glad you enjoyed :)
Armor of Agathys works really well with warlock. Because of pact magic. it's harder for other classes to use because you need to sacrifice higher and there spell slots for it.
Necroposting but my swords bard with 1 lvl dip in Hexblade had easier time spending 4lvl slot on AoA than my straight Hexblade
You hit the nail on the head about tanking sometimes being hard to quantify.
The current character I'm playing in our main campaign is a Bladesinger Wizard with the Mobile feat that zips around the battlefield using Haste. Zipping 50 feet across the battlefield to make 3 (sometimes 4, when I have my dagger out) attacks at an enemy (One of them being Booming Blade) and then immediately sprinting 50 feet away without provoking opportunity attacks is so much fun. But quantifying something like that seems almost impossible to me.
I enjoy this type of build more than simply optimizing damage output! 😊👍🏻
Oh it's the one I've been looking forward to. Thanks for the video and keep up the good work Colby
Thank you! Will try ;)
I remember requesting this build a few months ago on my other account dizzywithlogic. I knew the numbers would end up being crazy.
Colby! This is my second youtube comment ever. You've made a tank that can help keep his/her party up and running and can also blast and counterspell ... I love it! Starting with Artificer was inspired, good AC, con saves and better HPs than wizard, so a tanky start. I may actually play this build in my next campaign , as one of our DMs has a heavy hand when it comes to encounter building.
Awesome! Glad you liked it :P.
Tortles get crazy AC, buddy of mine playing in a game I'm running is a level 3 fighter with a 19 AC thanks to his shield. With artificer you could end up w a 20 AC at level 2. Great vid!
Thank you!
This video has been extremely helpful. I'm starting my first campaign and rolled awful stats and decided to go down the War magic/Armorer route.
Very nice build mate. Well presented.
Thanks!
for amour of Agathis, clockwork soul sorcerer lets you take it at first level, and also really fits with the war forged-artificer flavour.
Hey, just a heads up that WOTC changed the wording of Arcane Ward after Rules Answers: July 2015 by Jeremy Crawford was published.
It now reads as: "The ward has a hit point maximum equal to twice your wizard level + your Intelligence modifier."
Realy awsome build though and super tanky even with the lower ward HP.
Extract from Rules Answers: July 2015 by Jeremy Crawford.
Does casting alarm as a ritual heal Arcane Ward? Any abjuration spell of 1st level or higher cast by an abjurer can restore hit points to his or her Arcane Ward. As is normal for healing, the ward can’t regain more hit points than its hit point maximum: twice the wizard’s level + the wizard’s Intelligence modifier.
As for multiclassing purposes, artificer levels are rounded up when you take them into account for your total spell caster level. So at Level 6 your build is a 4th level spellcaster +1 into Warlock.
Wow great guide! Really shows how to maximize tankiness in a way I never thought of with abjurer (which is my main played wizard style).
The way I like to do it is a hybrid for some tankiness and also potential for huge dmg. I also like to play in a relatively simple way as I don’t like to multiclass/overcomplicate things, or have to go into long explanations with other players or the DM.
This is how I do abjurer:
At lvl 1 (always taking wizard levels):
Githyanki for medium armor and greatsword proficiency.
Prioritize str highest (16), con 2nd (16), dex to 14 (for +2 on med armor), and remaining points into int (12) (because you don’t need much int with my build, having greatsword for dmg).
Along the lvls, grabbing these spells most notably:
shield/magic missile for lvl 1 spells, which gives you a ranged dmg option that isn’t effected by having low int.
magic weapon/mirror image for lvl 2 spells, offense and defense which again isn’t effected by low int.
haste/fireball for lvl 3 spells, with fireball as a backup ranged/aoe option that you likely won’t use often. Haste is your bread and butter with my build.
At lvl 4 I get the feat Great Weapon Master for potential to do huge burst dmg.
So now, at lvl 5 you have ac 14+2 from scale mail, + 2 from haste, which is base 18, or 23 with shield. 19 and 24 if half plate obtained. Not insane but also very high.
You have 37 hp with 16 con, plus 11 for arcane ward, = 48 effective hp (if I calculated that right).
So if your typical big battle goes like this:
turn 1: caste haste, melee attack
turn 2: cast mirror image, melee attack
turn 3: cast magic missile, melee attack
If you simply do medium dmg, it will look like this:
Turn one: 2d6 + 3 + 10 for GWM feat
= about 20 dmg
Turn 2 the same
= about 20 dmg
Turn 3 is 20 + magic missile (about 10 dmg)
= about 30 dmg
I know it’s possible to miss, but if hitting your attacks, you are going to avg 70 dmg on your first 3 turns in every big encounter, while having 23 ac with shield spell, 48 hp, mirror image which makes you damn near invincible in many battles anyway, and the guaranteed dmg of magic missile if your attacks do end up missing.
Plus, because of the Great Weapon Master feat, your max dmg potential on those first 3 rounds is huge by getting to attack again with your greatsword using a bonus action when critting (hold person spell casted by a friendly teammate would be ideal) or when killing an enemy on each main attack swing.
So, max dmg with that standard combo in 3 turns:
Turn 1: 12 + 12 + 3 + 10 is 37 on main action, hit again for a max of 37 on bonus action by critting again is 37:
= 74 max
Turn 2 is the same = 74 max
Turn 3 adds magic missiles for a max of +15
= 89 max dmg
To sum it up, with an avg dmg of 70 over 3 turns and max potential dmg of 237 over 3 turns, and quite a bit of tankiness, and with fireball in your pocket when needed, that’s how I like to play tanky abjurer.
Feel free to tell me your thoughts!
Suprised you didn't take 2 Warlock levels or the Eldritch adept feat to get that juicy Armor of Shadows invocation to recharge the Ward outside of combat.
That's what a certain PC just did in critical role calamity lol
@@efrainlopez3782 Laerryn the GOAT.
I'v been waiting for this kind of build, I'm so happy. BUT I have a challenge for you. Make an optimized necromancer build. I have no idea how to do it if it should be more support by multi-classing into like idk twilight domain after level 6 necromancer or go full damage and go full wizard necromancer. I would LOVE to see the number crunching on it, possibly the hardest class to optimize in my opinion.
twilight domain doesn't help optimize animate dead. Maybe you were thinking of the peace domain?
Yes! Sorry the one that allows the player to move around, balm of peace I think it is, but I honestly don't even know how to optimize necromancer at all
@@v1talsign393 check my reply to your other comment. Gave 3 suggestions for optimized builds.
@@TheRobversion1 gotcha, sickening radiance would also effect the necromancers undeads as well yes? Would that last strategy be sustainable if not?
@@v1talsign393 they are immune to exhaustion but yes they will die to the dmg if they are within the radius. A good way to place this is basically to put it on the opposite side of the grapplers and the bbeg is at the edge of the radius. So that at least 3 grapplers (assuming bbeg is medium size) are untouched by the sickening radiance.
Just found the channel, and having hung around with a lot of min-maxers in my time, I *really* appreciate how you refrain from making the "this is the only option" comments. You built a functional build that shines and you still managed to not just allow, but to encourage and highlight, the points where RP could shine through as well! Thank you!
Thanks for the feedback and happy to have you here! :)
Mate I love your videos! And this one is JUST AMAZING!
You have created the the class I have always play, I have breaking my head to do the Enchanted Knight of Dragon Age inquisition
ha ha thanks :)
Fighter 2/ wizard 18
Tortle with shield and protection fighting style. Ac 25 with shield spell. Shield master feat.
Walk up to a dragon and say " Kneel before me worm, or I will ride your corpse by the end of this minute."
Cast meteor swarm, action surge, cast disintegrate.
That's how you tank as a wizard!
If it counts as a weapon, then your hand is full. If your hand is full, it isn't empty. If your hand isn't empty, then the gauntlet can't count as a weapon. If the gauntlet doesn't count as a weapon, then it's just part of your armor. If the gauntlet is just part of your armor, then your hand is empty. If your hand is empty, then the condition is satisfied for the gauntlet to count as a weapon. If it counts as a weapon...
Haha awesome build showing the versatility of the mage with multi-classing. Keep them coming.
I love the idea of the genie warlock. Having your worckshop inside your vessel feels awesome
Thoughts on delaying 1 level into wizard, taking a 4th level in Artificer to get the AIC at 4, take the heavy armor Master Feat, then wizard for 5-6, warlock at 7, wizard on 8-9. We get 1 more AIC and one significantly earlier
Worth considering - I hate delaying the Wiz levels and AoA from Warlock, etc., but I don't mind difficult and interesting choices :). And there are ways to get AoA outside of a Warlock dip, as many have pointed out.
This was a missed opportunity for Tortle!
Tortle is very good at low level, but the static 17AC can be a bit restrictive at later levels if magic items are in play.
17 AC is the equivalent to half plate with a 14 dex/+2 mod. The static 17AC means you can put the dexterity points into another attribute, but the trade off may not be worth it. Especially with other race features available.
+2 mod to dex helps saves against damage, levels 1-4 damage with your light crossbow, and gives a bonus to initiative which is powerful.
Tortle does give that same AC while not imposing disadvantage vs stealth rolls which is still a slight buff. Wearing magic armor is restricted though.
@@binolombardi my idea was Tortle enables you to go straight wizard. Go straight con and intelligence.
Not having armor proficiency then not wearing armor is fine. From there just work with higher levels of wizard spells to protect you.
I bet some combination of multi class could get more for a tortle sure.
@@joshuapicaro8726 the way I think of it, a tortle can only have 17AC+ a shield, if that shield is +3 that’s a 22AC, which sounds nice until you consider that you’d be giving up the ability to wear +3 armor as well...+3 heavy armor and a +3 shield could get you an AC of 26 as any other race, 27 as a warforged, 28 if you somehow had the defensive fighting style as well (probably not worth it on this build tho), tortle is a good race and that starting AC is nice but in the higher levels with magic items I just don’t think they’d keep up quite as well...sure, you could get bracers of defense to add 2 to your AC but that takes up an attunment slot that you might prefer to have something more powerful taking up
Tortle I think is best for builds that don’t allow a shield and/or heavy armor, maybe a high level battlesmith artificer would be cool as a tortle since even if you wanted the bracers of defense you’d be getting more attunment slots anyways so it feels like less of a sacrifice
@@HybridHerps for a person with armor it stinks. I rather go full 20 into wizard and not multi class. In some respects that misses some key points in regards to being a tank. But the power from full wizard is to much to deny in my opinion
@@joshuapicaro8726 the only thing is, unless you take a feat you’re not getting proficiency in con saving throws, which kinda sucks tbh. Personally I think a 3 level dip into artificer doesn’t cut into the power of a Wizard too heavily since you’d still have the spell slots of a wizard who’s level 18 when you’re 20th level, and even the mind sharpener infusion is nice for those times where your con save fails. Heck, even just going 2 levels into artificer here you that and you can keep your 18th level wizard ability
Really awesome video! I love wizards and this sounds like so much fun to play! I’ve never played it but I like the idea of an eldritch knight build with defense fighting style, magic initiate feat for Shield of Faith, with full plate armor and a shield, and the spells Absorb elements and Shield!
Thank you for this, I’m joining an Eberron campaign, and really look forward to trying this out for myself.
6.17K... 👀
10k here we come! :)
Creates unkillable wizard, recommends not taking simulacrum because it’s too easy to kill...
I think your bias is showing lol
The king has returned
Quick tip if you don’t want to sit around for hours ritual casting Alarm to charge your ward.
You can hook yourself up to the Tesla Supercharger that is taking the Eldritch Adept feat.
With Armor of Shadows you can spam cast Mage Armor and power up your ward in around a minute.
Armor of Shadows only allows you to cast mage armor on yourself, and mage armor cannot be cast on a creature that is wearing armor.
So it will take most characters in heavy armor 15+ minutes to charge up their ward by spamming mage armor (doff armor, cast mage armor a bunch, don armor), but it will take a little more than an hour for warforged, in particular.
Just using magic initiate isn't worth it because you can only cast the spell at its 1st level.
Depends on the spell, for mage armour or spells like find familiar it's fine because it doesn't hurt too much in the long run in terms of getting it once per day.
@@quendi5557 In context to the build.
@@Moleje1337 True. Personally I rule that you can still cast it with your spell slots since it says you learn the spell. But hey, that's me being picky with the word choice.
@@quendi5557 I rule it similarly in my games as well for the same reason.
@@Moleje1337 And if you look at it in artificer initiate it says that you can do that with that spell so, I think that you should in that context be able to too.
Treantmonks abjuration wizard starts woth a level of warlock and the rest wizard
If you look at his Graviturgist build guide, he specifically states that going forward, he'd take Artificer for his Wizard builds.
@@thedude0000 you just need to get the armor of agugaga (horrible name) somehow. Else you need two multiclass which leaves you so far behind with your wizard spells that they lost most of their power. Take fly is great at level 5 but almost useseless at 8 cause the monsters are written with flying enemies in mind. I read in another comment that the mark of warding would solve that problem. Then i agree but i am not sure about three levels of aritficer. Heavy armor has 1 AC more than medium armor and for this you lose two levels of wizard. And usually you find a spare +1 shield untill level 10? But as said in my post have to listen to the video again withouth doing something else have to see if my problems would have been asressed.
@@CaitSith87 I'm not specifically commenting about the video's build.
I'm just responding how Treantmonk said he'll make Wizard builds going forward.
@@thedude0000 i ask him when artificer hit which of his build he would change and he said the diviner. No mention of the other builds.
Can i somewhere see all my posts the i could show you his answer.
@@CaitSith87 Here's the time stamp in his video:
th-cam.com/video/r8Of0dJaJf8/w-d-xo.html
Always happy to see a new take on a Wizard. Awesome class, but aside from a few subclasses, Wizards in 5e often feel very similar.
Been playing a similar character in my current campaign for a while, We started at level 1 so I started as a level 1 Hexblade warforged and I am now level 5 with 1 level Hexblade and 4 levels in Abjuration Wizard. AoA + Arcane ward is really cool and I mostly use BoomingBlade / GFB / Sword burst / Firebolt and upcast AoA. Its been a lot of fun to play, the only problem is it feels kind of bad to sometimes be a spell slot level below the other casters, adding artificer seems really neat, but being even further behind in spell levels could really hurt, Artficer wasn't available when I made my character but I see it could add some really neat stuff. These videos are really cool, keep up the good work!
Thanks!
Happy day! Another video!
I would reccomend adding Fire Shield (cold) to your spells when you get 4th level spells.
Not concentration, long term fire resistance which is one od the most common types of damage. You have so many things to spend your reaction on, casting Absorb Elements a little less often at this point should help a lot. Also because your build has some decent "soft taunts" it will trigger the best part of the spell more often. Adding more "Agathys" to your Armor of Agathys.
So, not sure if you mentioned it, but for an extra action you could also cast fire shield, and get an external fire or cold resistance, because it’s a field AROUND you arguably, and do an extra 2d8 damage when hit. The scenario I have up now is as follows,
Level 11 (Same break out as you have currently)
1. Cast armor of Agathys at 5th, giving, 25 temp +25 damage when hit.
2. Ward procs, due to AoA, giving you arcane ward bonus’ (19 at 20int).
3. Cast Fire Shield, gives you fire resistance/ or cold, plus an additional 2d8 damage of said type when hit.
4. When hit, you would deal up 27-41 damage. Have fire/cold resistance, halving incoming damage of that type, then reduce 3 for armor (not sure if before or after), then ward gets hit, then AOA gets hit. Whew. You’d be dealing more damage by being hit than by attacking. You could walk into the middle of a middling army and watch as they all die by hitting you.
Like the ward layering. Pretty fun.
Your voice is so calm and soothing, it's put me to sleep a few times xD (the content is very good though!)
Fantastic build Colby, I love the way your mind works. If I were building this to play I think I'd have gone Pure Blood for the magic resistance and poison immunity but I agree that Warforged is better thematically and the ac bump is nice. Warforged Artificer is also a nice dip for a crossbow expert build, using the repeating infusion on your hand crossbow allows the use of a shield. I picture it like Boba Fett's grapple thrower and that makes me happy.
Thanks Tom! I love the Boba Fett shout out!
If you think you might be tempted to pick up Lightning Lure, don't. Instead, grab Thorn Whip with your Artificer cantrips. Despite having double the range of Lightning Lure (and not relying on the target ending the forced movement adjacent to you in order to deal damage) is a melee attack. And outside of Swarms, the number of enemies that will be resistant (or immune!) to it's damage is quite a bit smaller, which imo nicely counterbalances the drop from d8 to d6.
I recently played an abjuration wizard (although just straight wizard so not optimized or tanky like this one). One feature I love about it is the improved abjuration feature at level 10 which adds proficiency to checks for spells like counterspell and dispel. Really helps in protecting the party from magical damage. Plus if you ever make it all the way to lvl. 20 and get unlimited super counterspell, I guarantee you your DM will hate you.
I've been flerting with this build a long time, and i find it amazing. One quick change i would do: Since you are using Eberron Stuff, i prefer to go with the Mark of Warding Dwarf instead of Warforged. Yes, you loose 1 AC, but you gain the ability to use heavy armor without the need of STR, AND on top of that, you get Armor of Agathys added to your list, which would make you skip the Warlock dip and the 13 CHA. I think at the end, is a better build overall.
Totally using this build for my next D&D game, though I will use a Dragonborn for flavor. Less optimal, certainly, but fits my concept better. Thank you for this. Love your channel!
Your welcome, glad you enjoyed, and thanks!
Super cool. Using a lot of this for a pure wizard build. DM is giving us one free feat and I'm picking variant human. Going Eldritch Adept (armor of shadows) and Magic Initiate (Warlock) for Armor of Agathys. Not a tank, but should give extra cantrips starting out and quicker access to higher level wizard spells.
Shield spell is also an abjuration spell which procs Arcane Ward.....so much synergy! I love it
Very nice video. I like that it shows how the character build can be useful in all levels, rather than just a minmaxed hack designed for level 20 wielding 80 rare specific magic items.
It was very useful as I was considering a tanky construct wizard myself :) Probably evocation though.
Thanks - glad you enjoyed!
Forge adept artificer gets armor of agathys. Sure you don't get the special armor you get with the subclass you picked but it keeps you from dipping that level into warlock which will help with spell progression and gives you a +1/+1 magic weapon infusion that doesn't count towards the number of infusions you can have.
Will soon be starting our second campaign. Apparently it's a level 1-18 multi quest campaign. Looking for a new built. This is my favourite so far. Like he said, a tank that can rain fire on our enemies. Sounds great.
Much of what is said in this video can actually be applied to a Clockwork Soul Sorcerer (with a bit of Fighter/Paladin/Cleric for heavy armor) due to the Bastion of Law feature. It swaps a bit of bulk for Metamagic and is slightly less versatile (known v prepared spells) but overall is similarly good.
what a magnificent analysis!! my boy here is a straight up actual wizard XD XD
Ha - thanks!
A more support backline focus Alternate Build in 2024.
Start Tasha's Custom Lineage: Take any Feat that boosts INT. Preferably Fey Touch for Bless and Misty step. This lets you start at an 18 INT. +2 from TCL and +1 from half feat.
Take the Rune Carver Background which gives you the Rune Shaper Feat. This allows you to have Armor of Agathys to start, and the other spells later down the road.
Start with artificer. Take booming blade and mending.
(Take Sanctuary, Absorb elements, and Cure wounds at a higher lv)
at LV2, Take the armor infusion on your shield. (Maybe bag of holding, up to you)
3rd LV, Take the Artillerist Subclass. (You use this to utilize your bonus action to give 1d8 + INT temporary HP to all your allies within 10 feet of it. This is an unlimited use feature as long as your cannon is alive and well. So each turn you can effectively give all your allies better heroism as a bonus action) (You also have other forms it can take for more DPS if needed. flamethrower, [burning hands], Force Cannon, to knock creatures away from your enemies and deal 2d8 force damage up to a range of 120 feet.
Make sure you cast Sanctuary on yourself after you take an action that effects an enemy.
Then take 17 levels of Abjuration Wizard. Make sure to take Tasha's otherworldly guise for additional AC , Flying, and Damage immunities, + extra attack. (If you can find this spell at an earlier level, even better.)
And fizbans platinum shield 🛡
ASI>> 1. INT+5, | 2. +2 CON (16), | 3. +2 CON (18), +2 CON (20)
Starting Attributes with Point Buy:
Strength
10
Dexterity
14
Constitution
14
Intelligence
15
Wisdom
10
Charisma
8
hey man, i would also mention that you have to pass the arcane armor spell casting focus feature with your DM, as RAW it says that it's for your *artificer* spells, not wizard nor warlock spells.
i personally wouldn't mind, but i pretty much bend the rules a bit for the rule of cool (like this spellcasting focus thing)
Also, from the wizard spellcasting feature:
- Each time you gain a wizard level, you can add two wizard spells of your choice to your spellbook. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots, as shown on the Wizard table.
the important part is "Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots", and the "as shown on the Wizard table" part makes reference to the spells slots you have at each lvl, so you could have taken earlier lvl 3 spells (when you obtained lvl 3 spell slots)
Using this build for our Witchlight campaign! The colloquial nickname for our party's beloved TA-0 AKA Tao is "Iron Man Dad". I didn't take Warlock since it didn't fit the feel I was going for, but man did I roll well with stats. With a 20 Int and 18 Con and plenty of defensive options, Tao beats out both our Barbarians in terms of tankiness while still competing with our Sorcerer in spellcasting. Fantastic build with so much flavour.
Brilliant video!
The 4 levels behind the wizard's spell progression hurt too much for my taste. I would just go Hexblade 1 / Wizard 19. Yes the enemy could just ignore me, *if* they could afford it. Apart from Armor of Agathys, Shield and Fire Shield, I would rely heavily on Slow and Tasha's Mind Whip. Slow uses my concentration while crippling up to 6 enemies with one save per round. The ones that make the save get targeted with the upcasted mind whip. Re-cast Slow once enogh enemies have shaken it off and repeat with mind whip. Meanwhile, most enemies can't use reactions and can't move and attack on the same turn, so the rest of the party can just kite them to death while I stand near one or two enemies and can position myself freely.
With 16 con, Tough, lvl7 AoA and Arcane Ward I'm looking at 267 HP, which is pretty much on par with a Fighter.
Slap a Mirror Image, Blade Ward, Absorb Elements or Ray of Enfeeblement on it if I'm feeling fancy.
Come to think of it, with all those reasons to attack me the 18 AC (23 with Shield) does start to sound a bit meager...
If I could make a recommendation for another tank!
5 levels of bear totem barbarian (just for extra attack. 3-4 would also work)
coupled with 15-17 levels of celestial warlock.
Using the celestial healing dice is possible while raging.
Armor of agathys cast before combat works phenomenal with rage (5 thp takes 10 damage to eat)
Pact of the tome (since barb gives you weapons and extra attack) taking the gift of the ever living ones invocation. Having an invisible imp within 100' of you means you always heal max when rolling.
Meaning those celestial light dice heal 6 hp each, rather than 1d6.
And for nova protection, tomb of levistus coupled with rage and the fact your rage won't end when entombed, and it won't end when the ice melts away.
I'm playing a dragonborn one right now.
I’m currently playing an adjuration wizard. I used Goliath as my race, and he managed to pick up a staff of defense and bracers of defense, so my AC without armor(I use mage armor) is 21. I found the stones endurance to be a fantastic addition to the character. I am straight wizard, no multi class, and I probably won’t now that I am one level away from magic resistance, but for a straight up no multi class character, this character is the strongest and most versatile character I have ever played.
As the DM of our group, I like using these builds vs my PCs! Feels kinda like espionage though.... Thx Colby!!
Ha ha - all apologies to your players! 😉
I'm doing this build right now in my campaign (only diff is that I took a 4th level in artificer to get the ability score increase early), and this is the most OP character I've ever played at level 8 (4 artificer, 1 warlock, 3 wizard). Full plate armor (+1 with infusion), +2 shield, Armor of Agathys, arcane ward, absorb elements, and defensive field make the the character monstrously tanky. And on top of that a simple level one shield spell brings his on-demand AC up to 28! The DM can't just ignore him either, because he made the mistake of giving the character access to a pair of Illusionist's Bracers that turn him into an Eldritch Blast machine gun.
the mark of warding (as pinned already) for agathys, plus take eldritch adept @4th level for the mage armor feat. you always have your abjur ward at full out of combat that way. it actually could let you stay single classed depending on items obtained.
Taking meta magic adept if you can, and focusing on twin spell, makes for epic play with twin spelling haste or polymorph.
Alternative build: Take mark of warding dwarf, take first level in Forge cleric and then rest wizard. The only downside is you have to get 13 wisdom and you cant wear thunder gauntlets which are admittedly very good so you will have to rely on cantrips other than booming blade for damage. Other than that you still get +1 to AC and you can wear heavy armor still but you get some awesome spells and 2 levels faster spell progression and access to higher level spells.