Bladesinger Wizards are Super Fun in Dnd 5e! - Advanced guide to Bladesinging
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Another good "Gish" build is an Abjuration Wizard, with a 3-5 level dip in Battle Smith. One of the requirements for this particular build, however, is getting your hands on Armor of Agathys. However-however, even though we're not going Warlock for any of our levels, we can easily gain the spell by either going Mark of Warding Dwarf, Vuman, or Custom Lineage, grabbing Magic Initiate (Magic Initiate can be acquired via normal feat acquisition as well, but it takes up valuable ASIs). Personally, I'd recommend Custom Lineage, as you can then start off the campaign as the best race in the entire game: The "Cast-Bold." :D
The first pillar of this build to discuss is Armor of Agathys itself. Any time you cast this spell, you gain 5 temporary HP, multiplied by the spell slot. If you get hit with melee damage, you deal 5 X spell-slot damage to the opponent. While it may not be optimal to max-cast this at later levels, you can still technically gain up to 45 temporary HP from this, and deal up to 45 "thorns" damage to melee enemies. The only downside to this is that you have to have at least _one_ temporary hit point left from Armor of Agathys, and overwriting it with any other form of temporary HP (such as Armorer's Defensive Field) causes you to lose out on the benefits of Armor of Agathys (one of a couple reasons why we're not going Armorer for this). (Bonus point: This spell can be pre-cast, and requires no concentration, so some time before the fight starts, you can armor yourself up with this spell, and concentrate on anything else you might need.)
The next pillar to discuss is the Abjuration Wizard side of things. Specifically, Arcane Ward. Any time you cast an Abjuration Spell, you gain a ward over your HP (and, more specifically, over your _temporary_ HP) that's equal to twice your Wizard level, plus your Int mod. Plus, every Abjuration spell you cast replenishes the ward. Now, on paper, this doesn't seem that impressive, as you can only recharge your shield by up to 9 points per cast, and late-game enemies can easily chunk their way past that. However, there's a few caveats that need to be taken into account: First off, anyone who attempts to chunk your HP in melee range is going to get backhanded by Armor of Agathys. Secondly, even with this build, that's still up to a 39-HP shield, which is taking damage before your up-to-45-HP Armor of Agathys, which _in turn_ is taking any and all damage before your _actual_ HP. This alone can easily grant you more survivability than most other classes. Thirdly, Abjuration spells are among the most damage-preventing spells in the game, and usually do a fine job of making you tankier. Shield, Absorb Elements, Mage Armor, Sanctuary, _Counterspell,_ to list a few. Most of these listed spells are staple spells for the Wizard, and not only can you add them to your spellbook at a discount (due to Abjuration Savant), but by proxy, each cast further extends the shelf life of your Armor of Agathys. Finally, the Abjuration Wizard capstone grants you not only resistance to spell damage, but it also gives you advantage on spell saves. It's a long shot to reach this level, but this essentially doubles Armor of Agathys' shelf life against spells (if not more so, due to the advantage on saves).
The final pillar to discuss is Battle Smith. There are several reasons to take this subclass. First off, _any_ magical weapon you wield now uses your INT mod for attack and damage rolls, thanks to Battle Ready. This is a feature that Bladesong could have really used, since this allows for more accurate weapon attacks, due to making your general build Single-Attribute Dependent. (Bonus point: There's no weapon restriction for this feature, beyond "magical weapon." As such, magical bows and crossbows are just fine. Battle Ready gives you access to whatever Martial weapons you might want, so even more bonus point.) The second reason is access to Medium Armor and Infusions. Enhanced Defense, if applied to your armor AND a shield, can give even better AC than Mage Armor and Bladesong. With Half-Plate and the previously mentioned Battle Ready feature, this build can get away with having a 14 in Dex, while Bladesong might require quite a few more points, if they want more accurate weapon attacks as a Gish. This can, in turn, result in a higher early Intelligence score for this particular Multiclass, in comparison to Bladesinger, since Intelligence is really all you need to max, with this build.
Now, five levels in Battle Smith is optional, but it grants you access to Extra Attack, which is always good for those who want to slice, shoot, and/or stab enemies twice as often. This is optional, however, as spellcasting takes priority. As such, three is all that's required.
Regardless, the final reason to take the Battle Smith subclass is the Steel Defender, which can provide disadvantage towards attacks towards you, so long as it's nearby. This, paired with your unnaturally high AC, Arcane Ward, Armor of Agathys, Spell Resistance, and numerous Abjuration spells, all culminate into this Gish build being sturdy as hell. One additional, albeit massive, bonus caveat to this? There's a reason why I recommended going Custom Lineage "Cast-Bold" for this build. Any small race (such as Cast-Bold) can use their Steel Defender as a mount, since the Steel Defender's technically a Medium creature. This means that your Steel Defender is not only helping to deflect attacks, but it's also loaning its 40-foot movement speed to you. This can easily allow the player to kite enemies just as effectively as a Bladesong, and can also force enemies to pick between two targets, instead of one.
(Of course, the Steel Defender has the added bonus that it _doesn't_ wear down after only a minute. ;3)
On a side-note, the Steel Defender also has a few other bonuses over your average mule. For instance, the Steel Defender usually has more health/AC, can be patched up with a Mending cantrip, gets stronger with your Proficiency Bonus, and, if it dies, you can bap the corpse of your Steel Defender with a hammer or wrench, and convert a 1st-level spellslot into a jury-rigged Revivify for your mount. Furthermore, your Steel Defender can look like whatever you want, so long as it has two or four legs (unless your DM is lenient enough to let your have a mount with wheels/wings/thrusters/etc.). As such, instead of going with a boring mule mount, you can be a Cast-Bold that's carried around by an even _bigger_ mecha-Kobold. That's _two_ kobolds, for the price of one! :D
Either that, or if your DM's lenient and lets your Steel Defender have wheels, you can go Biker Kobold. That's just me though. >:3
Now, some may argue that Multiclassing like this is a severe detriment to the Wizard side of things, due to Artificer being a Half-Caster. However, Artificer is the only half-caster class where, while calculating Multiclass spell slots, the player rounds _up._ As such, a three level dip in Artificer still counts as two levels of full-caster, when calculating available spell slots. Sure, you'll still gain access to spells a level slower than a straight Bladesong, but you'll only be _one_ level slower, especially if you take into account how readily Wizards can scribe new spells into their books. (Bonus point: If your DM's being extra-stingy with magic items, Artificer's Infusions can give you instant access to Enduring Spellbook, thus making your _spellbook_ sturdier as well.)
Now, major question: Is this build better than a Bladesinger? Debatable, as both sides have their strengths. Is it a viable Gish build? Absolutely. At the end of the day, you're one level away from having the same number of spell slots as a full Wizard, you have around the same casting potential as any other Wizard, albeit with a _lot_ more tank in the bank. Either way, up to you how you want to have fun.
instead of mending could use mold earth as it would be more useful in more situations
Bladesong ends when you equip a shield. It was on screen and everything. So you can't get the AC bonus from a shield.
@@jay.hartman1789 Pack is using the Shield _spell,_ not the Shield equipment.
i ssaw guy dip into artifice for extra spell slot once or twice for something
I’m going to be playing a Tortle Bladesinger in a campaign soon. I showed my DM my character sheet and he already hates how high my AC is.
Lol. Best part is you can dump dex as well and have at it with warhammers and the crusher feat.
True
Make sure that what your character sings is opera.
Name him Pavlo Tortellini
This is when the DM starts throwing more than one encounter a day at you. Bladesinger is not amazing in the context of multiple fights a day
Everybody, get your comments in before he fixes the title from "Bladeinging"
7 min and it's already been fixed!
Gosh dang it
nooo I was late
Damn, I wish I saw it
I didn't have time. Was returning home from work
Played this in Curse of Strahd. It was awesome.
My GM insisted on rolling for stats (witch I don't like), I rolled two 17s.
Half-elf, 17+1 DEX, 17+1 INT.
17 AC in Mage Armor. 21 with Bladesong. And then there goes Shield Spell.
I was better at tanking than our tank - while still being full caster. Glorious.
Rolled stats in "horror campaign" and got a 90 overall, 18,17,15,14,14,12(DM made me dump because too high ;()
Currently playing a Battlesmith Scribe wizard (3/3 split at level 6 currently
(Yes I'm aware it's not that optimized but it's fun)
@@ltphantomknight8942 If a DM sees you roll and says you did too good then that's a massive red flag I'd imagine, but how are they in actuality?
I made a Battle Smith Artificer Bladesinger and also rolled some wacky stats, getting 6 Str/16 Dex/16 Con/18 Int/14 Wis and 18 Cha after modifiers. My backstory is that my Zariel tiefling comes from a family of bladesingers that use flametongue rapiers for their duels and performances, and are called the Fire Dancers. My bladesinger meanwhile was born with Muscular Dystrophy, so his family didn't let them perform alongside them. So to prove how wrong they were to look down on him the way they did, he is setting out to be the best bladesinger anyone has ever seen. The multiclass itself is actually 3 Battlesmith/3 College of Swords/14 Bladesinger for even more AC and combat options. It also gives me expertise in acrobatics and performance so I can further play into the fantasy of a performer.
until enemy lands a critical strike :)
(I was playing bladesinger and 1 crit was enought to drop me to 0 at 3rd lv)
@@einkar4219 Heh, exactly that happened... Twice in a row. Two damn owlbears got me with a crit, in the same round.
And that was exactly the one time I was down to zero HP in the whole campaign. My GM was soooo happy he finally hit me with something.
I love Bladesinger, purely because I can play as a Wizard, and be able to handle myself if I/my party messes up
Nothing funnier than hearing the screams of confusion when my Wizard suddenly becomes a tank and is filling people full of holes with a rapier :D
Ashardalon's Stride is an amazing spell for a bladesinger. Increased movement, free disengagements, and free fire damage without a save. As long as you plan your path right so you don't hurt your party, you can deal a lot of damage in a single turn while also taking out the mob enemies faster. It pairs well with Booming Blade as it makes it easy for them to stay locked. Pairs super well with Mirror Image, Bladesong, and Shield as you make it nearly impossible for them to hit you to even break your concentration. Warcaster makes it even better as long as the creature you are melee'ing with is either a caster or somebody with low AC. Ashardalon's Stride's fire damage is enough to make them want to flee, but a Booming Blade opportunity attack reaction will punish them for it. Have an ally with Haste and...
Look. There is a reason why my DM gave my character the nickname of Hellsinger lately.
plus the speed boost from bladesong stacks with the speed boost from the spell itself (and longstrider if you are willing to risk having 1 less shield cast), making it easier to trigger the effect more often and kite more effectively
Consider going Mobile feat. It gives you static +10 movement, (so 50ft. movement while bladesinging) AND gives you static immunity to opportunity attacks. That frees up your concentration for other better spells.
I was really interested in Ashardalons stride at first, but the above combo is what I'm currently playing, and trust me I'm loving it much more now that I can cast hypnotic pattern or slow WHILE zipping around the battlefield.
Van Helsinger?
@@RedCoolade I actually have both Mobile and Ashardalon's Stride (I don't use it every fight, but if I do, 70ft movement). The latter is especially fun when there are a lot of minions around.
And evading Opportunity attacks and having high movement speed makes for nice hit and run with Booming Blade.
In practice I've found it's not that good because rarely is there enough enemies that 1d6 per one of them amount to a lot of damage.
I’m glad to hear “where everyone has advantage” back even though they stole it from Kobolds.
We don't talk about 'they'... :>
Who are you talking about? I'm not very involved in TH-cam drama, so I missed it entirely
@@BeatPeet wizards of the coast removed pack tactics from kobolds recently, trust me if it was TH-cam drama I wouldn’t know either
I love this, I have a friend who his favorite wizard style is this one, even from older editions. Hilariously he actually built his to be a front line monster, while I'm not as rules savvy as most with D&D, my buddy is one of those terrifying lawful good rules lawyers. This mad lad made a literal glass tank, insane armor, insane damage, IF something did manage to get past his armor he'd just cast shield and make his armor even more disgusting, or bounce out of danger with one of his various spells, and of course melt entire fields of enemies at later levels cause freaking wizard. 😄
Literal bulletproof glass
sure, it breaks, but not easily
Ah, Kobold... you always get me laughing with your literal RAW interpretations. "Attack the ground for a quick Mending cast." Yes, I'll go theorycraft a sick combo with my Artificer Battle Smith pal and heal his pet. Thank you!
They're kind of funny, but your group also needs to think its funny... Consistently.
DnD isn't a video game, after all. If something seems stupid and clearly unintended, people can just say no.
I've tried to use War Caster to opportunity attack an ally with a healing spell. It wasn't allowed unfortunately
I also made a Battle Smith Artificer Bladesinger, but I rolled some wacky stats, getting 6 Str/16 Dex/16 Con/18 Int/14 Wis and 18 Cha after modifiers. My backstory is that my Zariel tiefling comes from a family of bladesingers that use flametongue rapiers for their duels and performances, and are called the Fire Dancers. My bladesinger meanwhile was born with Muscular Dystrophy, so his family didn't let them perform alongside them. So to prove how wrong they were to look down on him the way they did, he is setting out to be the best bladesinger anyone has ever seen. The multiclass itself is actually 3 Battlesmith/3 College of Swords/14 Bladesinger for even more AC and combat options. It also gives me expertise in acrobatics and performance so I can further play into the fantasy of a performer.
@@snazzyfeathers just cast friends before lol
9:53 this mending trick have been disproved by the ask the sage dnd celebration 2021in the 36:11 by Jeremy Crawford
i've bought the book, read the bladesinger stats, and made a custom race, just to be able to play in the universe of "songs of war" . my DM watched the movie like 7 times, and it was really fun when i quoted a character, and he responded EXACTLY like it was in the movie dialogs.
my absolute favorite wizard subclass by far. Nothing else compares to being a spell-blade of this caliber in D&D, especially when you're able to act as controller, single-target damage dealer, and potentially even AC Tank for literally any combat.
An absolute recommendation that I have for builds is to go a single level into Artificer right at the beginning for the following:
- CON save Proficency for free
- Armor & Shield Proficiency (good to have at low levels, but you can drop it once you get Bladesong)
- More WEAPON proficiencies (Not much, but it's still better than the wizard's spread of weapons)
- INT- Based Spellcasting (+2 extra cantrips = Guidance is a must-have for utility characters, the other one's free. AND Cure Wounds as an emergency heal based on INT - everyone who can get healing of any kind definitely should for emergency purposes.)
- FULL spellcasting (the way spellcaster levels are calculated, 1 level of Artificer technically counts as a full-caster class if you only have 1 level in it since they get spellcasting at level 1 anyway, so you're not giving up 9th level spellcasting to get this stuff!)
- BIGGER hit die at lower levels = more hit points starting out (you're gonna be playing a wizard for most of the game, you'll take what you can get for the most part.)
- TOOL proficiencies so you can hog the spotlight even more outside of combat when it comes to doing downtime stuff (Thieves Tools, Tinker's Tools, and one of your choice means you might just make the perfect back-up rogue!)
The only thing you might be giving up is delaying your key features by 1 level, and then the Wizard Capstone of "Signature Spells" - which honestly, is kinda lackluster once you reach that level IMO.
TL;DR,
1 level of Artificer right at the very beginning of your Bladesinger build allows you to trade far-off wizard features for immediate and early-game utility, defense, and support, which will all be useful throughout your career LONG before you get close enough to 20th level to even consider if it was worth it or not.
I've been playing a Bladsinger just about every weekend for over 2 years now. It has been one of the most fun character I've played in years. I'm level 16 now. Here's what I've learned: The Tough feat is a very good pick up but only if you can get Warcaster and max both Int. and Dex. first, Song of Defense is almost never worth using, Warcaster + Booming Blade is a better movement punish then Polearm Master + Sentinel, Song of Victory is nice but it comes way too late in the classes life cycle to see much use, obtaining a Staff of Power breaks your AC even further and helps with saves, Moonblades are very heavily tied to the lore of Bladesingers in the FR, and finally a 2 level dip into Fighter is better than level 19 and 20 Wizard; however, you should NOT take that dip before level 19 because it slows your spell progression.
Most overpowered character I ever played was a bladesinger with a 2 level dip into paladin. 3 lvl 4 smites and a booming blade per turn turned any big bad into pulp in 2 turns. His only weakness was strength and con saves. You also need to get resistance to poison and necrotic since they are the most common damage type that absorb elements doesn't cover. By the end of the campaign my wizard had to eat a finger of death per encounter.
It depends when I play a wizard or a spellcaster in general. I personally do not want 9 level spells till level 20 specifically because I feel like they're just too broken and they break the game even 8th and 7th level spells and some of the six level spells are just too much if you ask me.
I feel like many people forget Mountain Dwarves when they want to be an armored spellcaster. THEY GIVE YOU MEDIUM ARMOR. And dwarves already get a bunch of weapon proficiencies so they are perfectly set up to be great Gish builds. Not the best for Bladesingers specifically but I just wanted to mention it.
One of my favorite wizards to make is a mountain dwarf necromancer. You get the armor, smithing proficiency, and then you can make weapons and armor to graft into your undead!
Plus then the extra Str is great for hauling corpses and the extra Con is great for maintaining concentration and taking hits you can heal with the otherwise shitty necromancy life drain stuff.
@@monsieurdorgat6864 you can ply those weapons into their cold, dead hands
@@monsieurdorgat6864 just be careful of smelling like death, the party paladin will make you have to bathe for being a smelly fucker lol
My favorite race for gish is magic jar spell
Mountain dwarf conjurer, you get AC even more with shield get a +2 dex to be effective, you get CON and INT thx to tasha and then you sit on the battlefield while your evocations do the work and you can focus on being cost efficient with cantrips or using instantaneous spells. At lv10 is very funny literally incinerating hordes of enemies with a fire elemental that doesn't disappear
I remember someone suggesting getting several +1 silvered long swords and casting Animate Object on them, and having them float around you. The image that puts in my head is just…. So cool
Animate objects only works on nonmagical objects, so they could be silvered longswords but not +1/magical.
become versus xiii noctis
This is a fantastic guide, thanks for doing that. And extra kudos for continuing to clearly state “do what is fun, it’s ok to not be optimal, you will be fine”. The optimization community historically often shot itself in the foot while intending to hand out helpful advice, and it’s great to see the more positive focus of optimizers lately. This is your best video since the wholesome New Years video. 👍🏻
Hey Kobold, awesome video as always. I'm playing a bladesinger who fights with a blade that turns into a bow when he cast spells at range (like simons bowblade from bloodborne) and I reflavor all my spells into arrows. This class is massive fun 😀
However there is another class I would really like you to take a look at in terms of optimization. And that is the Astral Self Monk. I still can't figure out what would be better. High Wisdom or Dexterity.
Commenting on this because not only is that a neat bit of flavor, But mainly because I've also been needing that answer on Astral Self.
Wisdom 100%
🤣 Gator blowing off steam in the background made my day! Thank you.
To be honest, I ound funny that a subclass of a full caster deal more Melee damage than many regular Martial class, but it's still more optimal to just cast spells.
(Extra Attack with a cantrip & Song of Victory, Many Martial don't have free damage like that)
One trick you can do is start with three levels in Artificer, taking the Battle Smith specialty to get Battle Ready, which allows you to use your Intelligence modifier for your attack and damage rolls (that's already better than the Bladesinger's capstone, _at level 3),_ and then multiclass into Bladesinger. Sure, you lose three levels of Wizard spell progression, but you're basically a spellcaster version of the Hexblade Paladin.
Another fun build is my "non-copyright samurai space wizard" (coughJedicough) in a Star-Wars-inspired campaign using the Dark Matter setting by Mage Hand Press (this build uses exactly none of the options from that setting). It's a Variant Human with the Telekinetic feat, and started with 4 levels of Kensei Monk to get Unarmored Defense, Unarmored Movement, Agile Parry, Deflect Missiles, and some Ki Point tricks, then went straight Bladesinger for Bladesong and spells to use as my "Force powers". Currently at level 12, not counting any magic items, my casual walking-around AC is 18 from Unarmored Defense, the same as if I'd cast _mage armor,_ then I have Bladesong and potentially Agile Parry and _shield_ for a possible total 29 AC (and my Bracers of Defense (+2 AC) and Ioun Stone of Insight (+2 Wisdom) boost that total to 32 AC), not to mention Deflect Missiles to potentially just say "no" to an attack. I'm a _monster_ in melee; one of the other players started calling me "M'Lady Cuisinart". Is this character optimal? Heck no. I'm 4 levels down in spell progression, only have 4 Ki Points and a 1d4 Martial Arts die, and if something _does_ manage to hit me I can go down pretty quick (which to be fair _is_ thematically appropriate, Jedi canonically tend to get taken out in one or two direct hits). Is this character fun? Aw heck yeah.
[Edit: Fixed some formatting, and I accidentally a word.]
I think you are highly underestimating wizard spell progression. Not just because of dpr but because you miss out on early control spells that can make an encounter feel way easier
@@Typical7 Sure, but if it's a fun character... I mean that's the whole point right?
@@JacopoSkydweller "a trick you could do" sounded to me like op wanted to make something powerful
@@Typical7 You don't _have_ to start as an Artificer, you can easily wait until 5th level when you get access to 3rd-level Wizard spells. That's if you even choose to multiclass at all; as mentioned in the video, Bladesinger is good as a single class progression. The Artificer dip is good for some SADness, a few proficiencies, some Infusions, proficiency with Constitution saves if you start with it, and a (low powered) Steel Defender, which are all nice things to have, and being a half-caster means you only lose one level worth of spell slots, but it's not some OP combo like some people have been making it out to be. It's just a neat bit of synergy between the two subclasses.
I’d love to get a video on the Order of the Scribes subclass, it’s one of my favourites.
I personally think order of the scribes is one of the best wizard subclasses in the game
@@justinpedrazaful due to the drone strike or why?
@@CaitSith87 because just being able to change out the damage type alone is amazing
@@justinpedrazaful Currently playing a Battlesmith Scribe wizard 3 3 split multi class and most of the element changes are for flavor as not many enemies have vulnerability or is nice for bypassing resistance, but higher class level features are awsome
@@ltphantomknight8942 also I don't think you can permanently loose your spell book either which is awesome and being able to cast a ritual spell as normal can be huge if your short on time and slots
Hey Kobold, actually Elven Bladesinger was originally released in AD&D 2nd edition as an elf only class in the Elves Handbook.
Something thing to note: eldritch knight’s 9th (11th?) level feature also works with blade singer extra attack since you can attack cantrip then bonus action attack. You might say it makes you a weaker bladesinger but I say it makes you a stronger eldritch knight.
I had a player, incredible luck, rolled 3 17s and a 16 (plus other stuff), took human and a half feat (we started with one) level 3; wizard 2 monk 1 18 ac butt naked 22 with bladesong 27 with shield. It was an unprecedented build that only works if you roll crazy good (it also works with barbarian 1).
Optimizing fun is how I make every character. If I make a multiclass character in 5e, I first look at the idea for what the kind of character it’ll be or their inspiration. Then how that inspiration or idea would translate to classes and subclasses, usually informed by RP ideas and then LASTLY I look at how I optimize the classes that combined while still keeping the OG feel or inspiration at the heart of the gameplay. It’s made all my multi classes and even mono class characters with unique feat/item combos REALLY fun in every aspect of the game usually. Love the videos, very informative and now I have ideas for a Bladesinger!
Gator in the background : '' shadow blade , shadow blade , shadow blade ....'' 😆
I couldn't help but lose my crap when I heard Gator in the background just going Shadoblade over and over. Lol. I would love an animated d&d session between all your characters.
Level 11 Bladesinger with 3 levels Swashbuckler Rogue. Flametongue Rapier, with Greenflame Blade for Cantrip of choice.
So for just the first attack I’m dealing 1d8+4 Piercing, 2d6 Fire, 2d6 Sneak, and 3d8 Fire (with limited AoE)
Then add another 1d8+4 Piercing and 2d6 Fire for the second attack and I’d say that’s a pretty good chunk of damage for a single target. Not to mention the extra 10 damage from level 14 Bladesong.
As fo being a “squishy wizard”, just take Tough. Your AC is going to be super high with Bladesong, Mage Armor, and Shield, so get Tough to flesh out your HP and get to gishing.
I know Haste is a bad word, but add that and your AC shoots up again, and you get another attack to deal at minimum another 1d8+4 and 2d6 Fire. Not to mention Bladesong is built to keep concentration. Add War Caster and now you have even better concentration AND you can use Booming Blade to lock them down as a reaction for damage and CC.
Gish may not be “optimal”, but it most certainly isn’t weak if you build a bit for it
If you play a bugbear, you can use their extra reach to make melee attacks and then back away to safety!
If you get a hold of eldritch blast, you can combine it with a light crossbow to make a comedic amount of attacks each turn.
I could see myself playing this subclass several times with different characters.
I was thinking of combining this with a warlock dip to get free Mage Armor
@@sullivan108 or just take one level of artificer for con and int saves for additional plus to con saves for spells and getting lucky you could find a artificers multi tool magic item which makes one cantrip of any spell list an artificer cantrip for Eldritch blast. Also the one level doesn't delay spell progression on the low end or if you want to run completely off of int maybe Battlesmith for the battle ready feature but strongly delays progression for a bit of tank and support to you're kit 😎
If reach is your thing, the oft-neglected whip is also a solid choice -- finesse, one-handed, reach... what's not to love? (Piddly d4 damage die notwithstanding)
I'm working on this right now. Xbe+EB+spirit shroud
9:48 Today I've learned that Bladesingers make the best repairpeople lol
Bladesinger is probably far and away my favorite Wizard subclass. I know you can play some funny number games with some of the other subclasses but Bladesinger is good to the point of being almost OP without demanding you game the system.
Soo...at 7:09 onward was gator just yelling, "SHADOWBLADE, SHADOWBLADE, SHADOWBLADE" 🤣
Casting blade ward also grants you a ton of extra
Resilience
For the hasted action, JC has confirmed in a livestreamed sage advice panel that bladesinger's extra attack does NOT change the casting time of mending. You can *start* casting mending with it, but you'll need to concentrate and continue to cast it each turn afterward for the full casting time.
Also, Haste has limited synergy with bladesinger's extra attack. Haste is the specific feature limiting what you can do with the action, but there are a couple loopholes. Namely, that Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade are both... *drumroll*... weapon attacks. So yeah, you can cast THOSE spells with it for your hasted action, but you won't be able to cast other cantrips that do not have a weapon attack.
whoa wait you can cast booming/gfb with hasted action? woah, you should not have told me that
@@comet9864 maybe, check with your DM. And only with bladesinger's extra attack.
The best part about Bladesinger is that you are a Wizard, the best class in the game, that can also mix it up in melee competently. That by itself is awesome. You can build to be a melee striker as a primary role, but my favorite way is to play like a Wizard that can surprise enemies when they charge at the "vulnerable Wizard".
This is why I like Abjuration, it's simple, yes, but I just like the Ward to be honest XD
I don't think the Mending bit would work as you described. Just because you can use it in place of one of your attacks, doesn't mean the casting time would get reduced to the duration of one attack. Neither Actions nor Attacks have a specific durations set for them in the first place, as far as I'm aware anyways. Even if they did though, I don't think there's anything to indicate that the casting time of Mending would get reduced to the "casting time" of an attack.
And why would the casting time of an action be reduced to one attack then?
How would it work instead of this?
So how would it work? RAW you are allowed to cast a cantrip, including Mending, in place of an attack.
If you need to complete the minute of casting for Mending, by the same logic you need to complete the casting of an action or bonus action for the other cantrips. That makes the feature completely useless.
If you bypass the original casting time and complete the casting as part of the Attack action, you get the situation described in the video.
A middle ground would be that Mending takes one minute to take effect. You can still cast it once per round, but it doesn't heal the Steel Defender of your Battle Smith immediately.
@@pandanielxd I'm not sure what you're referring to, but Actions don't get "reduced" to Attacks. You can attack using an Action, however as stated before, I don't think Actions have a specific duration or "casting time" associated to them
@@spookwoop1295 so how would a normal action cast spell work?
Bit of an error with the mending casting time; the bladesinging extra attack ability doesn't say it changes the casting time of a spell, and things only do what they say they do. Spells with a casting time longer than 1 action require your action and each subsequent action to cast. You can satisfy using your action to initially cast it, because nothing in the rules says it has to be your _whole_ action, just your action, which you're using when you cast it as part of extra attack.
It's just the same as how the extra attack ability doesn't let you cast bonus action or reaction spells; extra attack is an action and thus can only cast action spells using (part of) your action.
Easy enough mistake to make, just remember that things do what they say and nothing more, nothing less.
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You are the first TH-camr I've heard that isn't on the full-melee bladesinger train, and I dig it. Who would have thought a wizard is strongest casting spells from a distance. Thanks for the video
Well, the whole idea of a Bladesinger is that he combines magic with melee attacks (which is why he has Bladesong). If you're not going to melee, then why choose Bladesinger instead of any other school? It's like being a Evoker that doesn't use Fireball and similar spells.
@@carlosbarreto4695 He said it in the video lmao. Their main subclass feature is faster spell progression.
@@FallenFromGlory What do you mean by "faster spell progression"? Bladesinger's spell progression is the same like any other Wizard.
It's not, actually,It's not, actually. Any optimized wizard is going to armour dip- something which a bladesinger can substitute their Bladesong for- leading to getting spells one level before other wizards.@@carlosbarreto4695
No, any other optimized wizard would armour dip in something like hexblade, peace cleric, or artificer. This wizard doesn't need to for shorter encounter days, and if you play your cards right you're effectively a whole level ahead.@@carlosbarreto4695
“I’m just a lawful evil lizard with strong opinions” could go on a Tshirt
A solid combo, if multiclassing was on the table, would be the synergy of the Eldritch Knight Fighter with Bladesinger Levels, cause things like War Magic (paired with Bladesinger's extra attack) and Eldritch Strike (causing disadvantage on spell saves to anyone you hit with your attacks) can be a fun blend overall.
build order aside, this would possibly only be marginally better than a pure-classed Eldrich Knight. As a Eldrich knight 7 Bladesinger 6 you would make one booming blade / green flame blade, one regular weapon attack and one BA weapon attack, while just barely casting 3rd level spells. By contrast a pure-classed eldrich knight 13 is also casting 3rd level spells, and they can do three attacks when taking the attack action on their turn if they aren't going for GFB / BB.
That said it would be quite satisfying to be able to make 3 attacks in total AND be able to light your sword on fire
im fairly certain war magic and BS extra attack dont interact. War magic says: "'when you use your action to cast a cantrip". With bladesinger, you are taking the Attack action, and replacing 1 attack with a cantrip. Those are not the same
I played a BladeSinger as the tank of a group; took 2 levels of Fighter. Action Surge shelled out the damage: 2 attacks and 2 cantrips, or drop Slow and then start wailing. Loved it.
@@texteel they do interact. It doesn't say "take the cast a spell action to cast a cantrip", just that you use your action to cast a cantrip. Taking the attack action to cast a cantrip uses your action to cast it.
You can also use a hand crossbow or pistol with bladesinging w/o ending the bladesong if you have the weapon proficiencies with those weapons. While may not be optimal, I really like paring booming blade with the mobility feat. Go in, hit and move away w/o provoking attacks of opportunity.
It's really fun on how the Bladesingers are able to pull a Barbarian/Monk to add their main Ability Score to their AC, mixing with Mage Armor at that too. It had me come up with a unique/fun Multiclass idea.
What happens when you have a student with a fierce anger problem? Bladesinger Wizard with Barbarian Multiclass~? Casting Mage Armor first, can make the AC 13+Dex+Con, and when needing a boost, Int with Shield for extremes. That's a Wizard that is NEVER getting hit outside of Nat 20's~. Another one would be going Monk instead of Barbarian, since no spells while Raging. No double HP but still a nice boost
For fun went 3 lvls in lycanthrope blood hunter before going wizard. We're lvl 5 and between silvery barbs for critical, shield for non crits(26 ac), lycanthrope resistance, he deals on average 17 if he hits (+8 if they move) and typically is the tank of the party
Bladesong's uses per Long Rest is like Barbarian's uses of Rage per Long Rest (until 20 when the latter gains unlimited power), so if you know how to effectively use the latter, you can handle the former as well.
As a complete tangent that has nothing to do with that except Barbarians, you can get the highest HP in the game solely from the PHB if you take a Bear Totem Hill Dwarf Barbarian with the Tough Feat, 20 Constitution, and have the maximum die roll of HP per level. It's 440 HP at level 20 since your Con is boosted to 24, but the total is effectively 880 during Rage against all but Psychic damage. Even before then, the hit point pool is monstrous, sometimes rivaling creatures of the CR you may find as bosses of those levels.
You can increase that further whith inspiring leader whith 20 charisma wich gives you like 25 temp hp for a whole day to boost it further
you could also combine all this nonsense with the perhaps "unconventional" option of Dwarven Fortitude + the normally useless Durable feat for a total of between 14 and 19 hit points regained each time you take Doge, thus letting you get away with doorway doging potentially forever between that and your existing AC. Of course all builds that take barbarian and then focus entirely on Constiution eventiually run into the problem that yes they have hit points, but they can't really "tank" in the MMO sense the way more conventional barbarians can by focusing more heavily on CON and using Reckless Attack to convince enemies they need to be targeted
actually getting proefficiency in shortsword is optimal because you can dual wield with a shadow blade while also meeting the requirement for booming blade. And melee is still very much viable if you use phantom steed. Move in 50ft, attack and disengage 50 ft. if your steed dies, who cares, you're a wizard, you can fight at range and it's only a ritual so you can recast-it right afterward at no ressource cost. A great way to economies bladesongs for non-important fights. Proefficiency in whip also allow you to attack away for enemy reach meaning you don't need to disengaue you can dash away.
Oh I had a little halfling arcane trickster attending strixheaven I got headband of intellect and a dip in bladesinger. Got whip for that extra martial weapon proficiency. A booming blade/green flame blade, a whip, sneak attack, blurr/mirror image, 22AC + shield spell, expertise in arcana. Once that guy, started to whistle his Indiana jones tunes he was hard to shut up
Can we get one like this but im swords and/or valor bard? I wanted some actual guides or explanation on them, but most min Max places Just say that they are not the best and move on to talk about another feature
A good multiclass for bladesingers is the Battlesmith Artificer. It doesn't slow down your spell progression too much, you don't have to worry about taking the shield spell, and it allows you to use int for weapons, so you don't have to focus on dex as much. I personally wouldn't do more than a 3 level dip if you mainly want to be a Bladesinger, though I could see taking more levels in Bladesinger if you mainly want to be a Battlesmith (6 levels would be good).
• You can cast mending as part of the Attack action by replacing one of the attacks, but that doesn't change the casting time. It still takes 1 minute to cast the spell. Quote: [PHB, Chapter 10] _"When you cast a spell with a casting time longer than a single action or reaction, you must spend your action each turn casting the spell, and you must maintain your concentration while you do so."_
You're not taking a cast a spell action. You are taking an attack action and extra attack says you cast the cantrip. So then you cast the cantrip.
It doesn't say you follow the casting time in the extra attack, nor does it say you follow the "cast a spell" action.
Features say what they do. Nothing more, nothing less.
@@PackTactics don't know man sounds like rules lawyering to me...
@@PackTactics Question? Is tortle the best race to play bladesinger? If not, what is?
@@ghostbonepunk1683 I've played bladesinger High-Elf, was pretty fun and useful with the extra martial proficiencies.
Nt sure if you'll get notified @ghostbonepunk
But the best races for bladesinger are going to be goblin (bonus action disengage & hide), harengon (initiative bonus, limited bonus action hop), faerie (flight, faerie fire on a straight wizard), and custom lineage/variant human (lots of useful feats, especially newer half feats), shadar kai & eladrin for their limited teleport out of melee. Tortle can be good, but I'd suggest looking to cover your weaknesses over unnecessarily boosting one element where youre already strong.
I loved my bladesinger. My spellbook was a mind flayer skull (that talked to him) total Jekyll and Hyde vibes. So when I would bladesong I would actually RP going insane. I would thunder step into combat and then melee it up! I eventually re-classed into Order of Mutant Blood hunter. I miss spells, but blood maladies are cool too.
About the Mending part, that's... wrong. Yes, Specific beats General, but you need to remember one thing: most cantrips work with the Extra Atttack interaction because they have a casting time of 1 Action, having both its start and ending at the same action. With Mending's 1 minute, you will still need to keep going with the verbal and somatic components during its time. Replacing your extra attack with the casting replace it with the start of casting, not with the full casting of a spell, so in a game, you replace your melee attack with the casting Mending and then... you spend 10 rounds doing nothing while repairing an object. You can however replace the first attack with True Strike and get advantage on the second attack! It's useless, but it's better useless than True Strike in general!
Well, that's an interpretation of the rules, not specifically stated. The wording is you can replace one attack with a casting of a cantrip, it doesn't say whether or not that's just the start or the full casting. It's technically ambiguous, so what's in the video isn't wrong, it just isn't guaranteed to be right.
True strike only works on your first attack roll on the next turn, so using it and then attacking on the same turn does not grant you any benefit.
@@michael_betts ah yeah, right. Well, that's even worse.
this interpretation is not really consistent with how similar effects work, ususally when a given action / bonus action / legendary action says that "[the creature] casts [the spell]", the spell will have finished casting as part of this action. Take for instance this lair action that the demon lord Bahomet has:
"Baphomet casts mirage arcane, affecting a room within the lair that is no larger in any dimension than 100 feet. The effect ends on the next initiative count 20."
mirage arcane has a casting time of 10 minutes. The effect simply says that Bahomet casts the spell as part of this action, and then Bahomet does so, on initiative count 20. Same principle here, the effect says we cast the spell as part of the attack action, so we cast the spell as part of the attack action.
@@defensivekobra3873 Lair actions follow a entirely different structure than, for example, replacing an extra Attack with a cantrip. They presume a creature is being powered up by the place they are in, and due to this power up, they can bend the general rules of the system. There is really no real reason except a very literal RAW interpretation of rules that the Mending Extra Attack stuff follows the same logic.
I have played and really enjoyed a blade singer rogue. You rush the 6 levels of wizard then go rogue. I found if you play it with high mobility hit and run style, you save the blade song for encounters where you can't get away or take cover.
Even more effective with glide abilities and climb speed.
Haste was my first thought when I read the Tasha’s bladesinger, but I was disappointed after the haste reading (though it is dm dependent). Though it is cool that I’m not the only one who thought of it
Also it might just be me, but I think it’s hilarious that gator mentioned shadow blade and you just dismissed it. As a fan of d4: D&D Deep Dive I’ve always thought his shadow blade favoritism was way over the top
Why cast shadowblade, which increases your damage by a d8 per turn and gives you advantage, when you could cast web which gives everyone advantage and stops enemy attacks?
@@naturalkind5591 D4 does optimized builds, and a lot more than 1 attack per turn, and you can throw shadow blade, and if you don’t have a magic weapon (which he assumes you don’t since it’s dm dependent) and does builds purely for the numbers. He usually mentions that you might not use the pure damage options in all situations, but it is undeniably nice to have them
@@naturalkind5591 Like anything, it depends on the situation. Web as an example isn't a "choice" spell. It affects all creatures who enter into that area, including your own party members, meaning that you risk restraining them and not the enemy.
Sorry I don't fully agree with you on your judgement of Shadowblade. Elven 7th lvl BS, with a decent roll and Booming Blade as second attack, I deal as much damage as a Fireball, AC 21 (26 with Shield) makes it difficult to get hit, and if you do the bonus to Con saves prevents you from losing your Shadowblade... damage increasing if you cast it at a higher level... sounds like a win-win to me!
@@cristiananao294 I completely understand that it’s a great spell when used correctly, I have seen the numbers before. But fireball hits multiple targets, no concentration, and wizards get this without any special build. Then they can still concentrate on web, fly, hypnotic pattern or some other spell. (Also it’s debatable whether or not shadowblade + booming/green flame blade work, I allow it but not all dms will)
And it is very situation dependent, for example while in darkness and if you have elven accuracy you gets way more damage. Sometimes you might not want to fireball since it’d hit your ally’s, or maybe it’s a big boss monster that probably has legendary resistances, in which case attack rolls are better anyways.
grab a whip? it's one handed, got reach and finesse, and 1/2 of the time it's doing as much damage as a rapier without putting you into reaction range of certain enemies. add poison spray and you have a snake themed character who could use expedient retreat to move in, deal damage, and move out. then grab spell sniper and you can booming blade and attack with reach.
Actually Booming blade and green flame blade was errataed to not work with spell sniper anymore. It's stupid, but its raw as of the moment. Still, definitely sounds like a fun Snakey wizard!
or, if you don't want to be called kinky, grab spell sniper, or really want a sword, just throw darts at the enemy.
gator yelling shadowblade in the back gives me life.
Gator was channeling Colby from D4 when he was calling for Shadow Blade, lol
About the topic of defensive mechanic for spellcasters, a video about War Magic (or Swords vs Valor Bards!) would be great!
What’s very fun is my player’s character who has 33 AC completely legally
If curious:
Wizard: Bladesinger
Monk: kensei
They rolled really good stats, have unarmored defense from monk, blade song bonus, +2 bonus from using kensei weapon, and +5 from shield spell.
They still take damage from saving throws, and have a shit charisma, so they aren’t as OP as one might think.
I like the idea of the Mountain Dwarf War Mage with the Heavily Armored feat for high ac as a wizard
I love my bladesinger. Just a few things. I just double checked my character on d&d beyond. You lose bladesonger if you wear medium armor or use a shield. Other then that a great break down. Mine is disgusting with mage armor. Dex 20, Mirror image, bladesong. 13+5+4=22 . I'm generally the tank on the team. With shield bumping me to 27. Love the idea of 1 level of artificer I've been seeing
actually its 3 levels of Artificer and you need to take the Battle Smith subclass, as that will give you the ability to make attack and damage rolls with Intelligence, making you pretty much a SAD (Single Ability Dependant) class.
Had a one shot (that turned into 4 sessions), played a tortle blade singer as a melee focused wizards with bladesong, was amazing :D
You know, there are rules for spellcasting.
Bladesingers feature doesn’t affect spellcasting time, it just says that you cast it. Just like in “Cast a spell” action. Because casting 1 spell can take several turns to cast, you must invest every turn’s action in to it. So even if you use an action to cast a spell, that doesn’t mean spell is done and takes effect - because some spells take longer than 1 action to cast.
Bladesinger’s “Extra Attack” combines casting of a cantrip within 1 action. Even if you choose to cast mending with it, you have to continue to do so for next 9 turns on same thing to finish casting, just like with any other spell that has long casting time.
You're not taking a cast a spell action. You are taking an attack action and extra attack says you cast the cantrip. So then you cast the cantrip.
It doesn't say you follow the casting time in the extra attack, nor does it say you follow the "cast a spell" action.
Features say what they do. Nothing more, nothing less.
7:12 if you use a fire bolt with extra attack at 6th level you get 2d10 x2 as a cantrip
You didn't talk about shadow blade 😞
Tbh I kinda agree with gator, the excuse for not discussing shadow blade is kinda bull considering you discussed booming blade and haste for how they interact with the subclass, and you said it's a spell not a feature but previous said the blade song feature is essentially 'get durability AND full spell progression' which would make spells that scale pretty well like shadow blade very much relevant to that
Gator sounds like one of the annoying kids from Home Movies.
After carful consideration I decided that being a wizard is too good to try and make this a melee class. Sure you use melee, but it's only part of your wizard kit. There's a sweet spot around levels 6-10 where you use melee more, but once you can polymorph or shapechange then you can't justify using bladesong as your bread and butter.
Wizards are great and bladesinging is just another tool in your kit. Don't try to make it your whole identity and expect to out DPS a REAL melee class like a fighter or paladin.
It's worth noting that you can't use Shadow Blade with Booming Blade due to the lack of a monetary value on the conjured weapon. That said, if you want just pure damage output, try Summon Fey at 4th level for a fuming fey spirit. The fuming fey gets two attacks, one at advantage. Add Help from your familiar and you have advantage on Booming Blade each turn. Not only are you outpacing the melee at melee, you still have all the strengths any wizard would have and all the AC of a barbarian doing it.
With the performance proficiency you could probably use dex instead of charisma to dance like how the PHB says to use strength to intimidate through a show of force or what a Pantera fan might fall a Vulgar Display of Power
I built a Bladesinger x Bloodhunter multiclass and it's the most fun melee build I've ever had. Later on when I hit lvl 16 (which the campaign will get too), cause I chose wizard first, my saves for Cha will be the only ones beneath +6, my AC is "haha, try again", I have silvery barbs AND Shield for further preventing dmg, and get to run around with two hammers and smash things. As a side note, I'm EXTREMELY happy for my stupid high AC... I ended up being party tank
One of my favorite characters I've played was a Bladesinger in a seafaring campaign. His main role was singing sea shanties to boost morale on the ship, and he'd sing more aggressive shanties in combat.
I made a bladesinger dwarf. Fuck the rapier, I used a Warhammer. My blade song was "when the hammer falls"
Kobold I am sad my campaign started 4 weeks ago why didn't you warn me how strong blade Singer wizard was ? The one in my game is overcoming everything !
But honestly good video kobold keep it up.
I'm playing a bladesinger controller and it feels really nice, (I also picked up shadowtouched to get inflict wounds and use my familiar on my turn to have it go in, use help and then deliver the spell with advantage)
Half Elf Wizard Bladesinger 8/Warlock Hexblade Pact of the Blade 12 build. Standard array 8 12 13 15 10 14, +1 Con +1 Int +2 Cha. ASIs: Crossbow Expert, Sharpshooter, +2 Cha, +2 Cha, +2 Int. Get a hand crossbow (magic preferable, dragonwing optimal), make it your pact weapon. At level 8 (6/2) you’re doing hand crossbow and eldritch blast x2 (agonizing blast) plus bonus action hand crossbow every round, all at your Charisma modifier to attack and damage. With advantage with Devil’s Sight invocation under darkness spell. You’re welcome.
Hrm Subclass is not a gish.
Reminds me on a Hexblade Warlock, which I play as a Range Caster, picking up Tome and yeah .. Lots of free spells from race and feats
"Bladesinger is best played in the backline" me currently being the main tank of the party as a bladesinger
And that is as it should be. You'd be wasting your full potential by staying in the back and not using any of your abilities whatsoever most of the time.
Treantmonk's Bladesinger build is also straight wizard, with a goblin for BA hide to protect concentration. I kinda like to get a level of rogue to start with for the expertises (esp stealth) and hand crossbow proficiency, and if you have decent dex then you can fill the party's rogue skills as well.
always loved how Drow actually interacts with Bladesingers, giving you hand crossbow which is technically one handed so Bladesong is usable with it.
even crossbow expert is nice, giving you a bonus action attack at low level and once you have the spells to replace that, it still leaves you with that nice no disadvantage to ranged attack in melee range feature.
(especially if your DM does like you take a feat at level one, it really helps with the whole "surviving being a low level wizard" thing)
I was looking it up as I thought you must be wrong but you are not wrong
I’m playing a drow bladesinger right now and I love it. The other proficiencies of rapiers and shortswords also go really good with bladesinger. It gives you options in addition to what weapon you pick for the class feature to maybe get a cool sword in the future. This is why elf used to be the only race for bs since they got weapon proficiencies that could open up bladesinger more than some races/lineages
kobold, it's next year now. the people demand shadow blade
Yes, bladesinger is better being a wizard on the backline, but this isn't the reason people pick this subclass, you have to be extremely boring to play a bladesinger to just be a regular wizard but safer
You have angered the Tam o' Gator! XD
A while ago I put together a Fighter/Sorcerer build into my D&D interpretation of a Red Mage from Final Fantasy. After seeing this video, I'm beginning to wonder if it would be better to try again using Bladesinger as the foundation.
Attacking with light crossbow would end the Bladesong feature, because you used two hands for a weapon attack.
Ohhhh Heck yes, been playing a Dragonborn blade singer in a longer campaign and it’s been one of the most fun experiences I’ve had. Let’s just say having the DM start making enemies who have only saving throw attacks because I can get up to 31 AC is very satisfying.
hows that? Dragonborn doesn't add anything to your AC to my knowledge.
@@Dave004 Thanks to a home rule that is a little controversial, Mage armor 13 + Dex 4 + int 5 + magic item 2 + shield 5 + platinum shield/haste 2 = 31.
Technically you don't use two hand to make the attack with hand crossbow, you just need the second hand to reload after the shot so it works with that weapon, elven bladesinger, i'm talking to you
yeah i didn't understand that bit either. if you needed two hands to make the attack then why does it have the "light" property?
I plan to cast haste and go into melee as my bladsinger.
In my games, players always get a replacement proficiency if a feature gives them a proficiency they already have. I also have some alternatives to the rapier on my weapons table, a finesse slashing weapon called a "saber" for example, and a finesse bludgeoning called a "chain".
I had a bladesinger once in my games, he was doing fantastic, but for some reason he was always dissatisfied with not being as good at melee combat as other players, it was strange.
But Kobold, mage armor is really only good in tier 1. The moment your DM starts putting out +1 studded leather it is now just as good as mage armor but doesn't cost a spell slot, that's a free shield/fog cloud/absorb elements. Plus if the armor has any benefit no matter how niche that is just free cheddar for the build, no matter how situational like +1 mariners armor, or how asthetic like +1 studded glamour leather, or even as silly as a free cape of billowing, or as great as a resistance to an element like fire, cold, or acid. Most games can reasonably see items like this starting to show up between levels 7 and 9.
Kobold specifically said Mage Armor beats any "non-magical" light armor.
My Bladesinger uses Bracers of Defense, which require no armor / no shield. I found them around Level 6 in "The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan". With Mage Armor, my AC is 15+DEX, the equivalent of +3 Studded Leather. I'm Level 8 now and still using this!
You're right though, in general, as soon as your wizard finds good enough magic light armor it's time to start saving that spell slot.
If you take Elderitch Adept fear and the warlock invocation that lets you cast mage armor at will is decent for a long time. I prefer that since magic item speculation is kinda dm dependent and it’s still ok if you have at least a +2 or +3 dex. Also I like the utility of being able to take warlock invocations since it frees up slots from casting spells like detect magic and disguise self not to mention the other invocations from other levels.
i genuinely cannot believe my brother let me play this, it is so overpowered
Not sure if Agonizing Blast is going to get nerfed into the dirt or given a level requirement with One D&D/PHB 2024 yet, but if it isn't you can do some really nasty stuff with dips and Bladesinger if you let yourself be a MAD caster. The interesting note is that the RAW of Bladesinger doesn't actually require you to use a melee weapon for use of the feature, it just stops you from using two hands to make an attack with a weapon and heavily incentivizes using a melee weapon by giving native proficiency from the class and the 14th level ability only working on melee attacks. You can instead ignore all that and use a hand crossbow [confirmed the intention of crossbow expert is that hand crossbow can be solo wielded and fire bolts on both the attack and bonus action since it ignores its loading quality], start variant human Fighter 1 to pick up Crossbow Expert and Mariner or Archery, then Hexblade Warlock 1 for your hand crossbow to scale off Cha instead of Dex and pick up Agonizing Blast [you get an invocation at level 1 Warlock now, ew] and Eldritch Blast, then go straight Bladesinger from there. You can use Warlock 1st level spell slot on Mage Armor to ensure it's up at all times as long as you have at least one short rest every 8 hours, then assuming you're +2 Dex you have AC 19 in Bladesong with Mariner active if you took it, otherwise 18.
As soon as you hit level 8 total for the extra attack option off Wizard, assuming you took +2 Cha at level 6 you deal 2d10+2d6+16 using just an action and bonus action plus ammunition with no spell slot resources or 2d10+1d6+12 with just the attack option, eventually allowing you to use your attack and a bonus action for 4d10+2d6+30 without sharpshooter or 4d10+2d6+50 with Sharpshooter split between up to 6 targets at character level 17 with 20 Cha, losing only an average 4 DPR not accounting for accuracy vs the crossbow meta fighter at level 20 while only doing 2/6 shots at -5 instead of 5/5. Accounting for accuracy, the level 17 Fighter 1/Warlock 1/Wizard 15 Hexbladesinger Wizlock using hand crossbow + Eldritch Blast actually has better "resourceless" [gag] DPR than a level 20 Fighter while also getting to be a level 15 caster [18 at level 20] with a random short rest 1st level spell for infinite Mage Armor. You do give up two ability score increases for the multiclassing and sharpshooter, forcing max 18 Int [or 16 if you want to pick up spell sniper or war caster], but I think that's worth it to flex on the Martials at the table. Also, Wizard 18 is kinda perfect since Signature spells Shield + Misty Step as at-wills is a stellar capstone.
it got given a two level requirement i think
I mean you don’t HAVE to dip but there is still a lot to get. Plus bladesinger is probably the sweetest level 6 base for a melee based NOVA build post Tasha’s.
Think you could potentially do a video for a multi class build of a Bloodhunter Wildmage Barbarian?
what you say is mostly correct from the pure optimazing, but if you want to stay a range and use your spell there are better subclasses to do that and more optimal, if you pick this class you pick it for his flavor (at least most people do)... and that mean use your wizard at mele but you never has to lose to that mind set because you are a full wizard and with that you may end an encounter early if you play smart with your spell slots...
29ac, blur for disadvantage to attack me and mirror image for even less chance to hit the real me! I love Blade singing.
And when you run out of fight dances, you're still a full blown wizard.
Playing a astral self monk with this, with what my dm has set up I'm a ac tank of the party so far by mistake.
You know, I think Gator has bit of a point. Should have talked a bit about the Shadowblade spell. Can be really powerful with a Bladesinger. How so? Its a spell that takes a Bonus action to cast and conjures a simple weapon for the deration (Concentration: 1 minute). The weapon has the Simple, Light, Finesse and THROWN properties. You have to use the Attack Action to attack with it and deals 2d8 (upcasting ads more d8s). Throwing it is an attack, but it disappears after the turn it is thrown, so how can you you make use of the Extra Attack? Replace second attack with ranged cantrip (Fire bolt for example.). Next turn, Bonus action to summon the blade back while spell persists and throw it again with another follow up cantrip. Maybe add the Sharpshooter Feat to throw the Shadowblade the full 60ft without disadvantage.
But what if you get caught into melee after throwing it? Well, Shadowblade is a Light weapon, so have a second light weapon with you and use your Bonus Action to use Bladesong instead of summoning the blade back. You next turn, if still in melee, summon the Shadowblade and go to town on the pesky melee fighter with both your light and finesse melee weapons. Add in the Duel Wielder feat for that +1 to AC while dual wielding.
All that said though, I do have one question about the Shadow Blade spell. Being a Weapon Attack to deal damage with it, does it add your ability mod to the attack and damage as with normal weapons. As in dealing 2d8+Dex, or is it just flat 2d8?
You add your Dex or Str mod, Jeremy Crawford dixit: once summoned it becomes solid, so you treat it as an ordinary melee weapon with which you are proficient (you use your melee attack mod, not spell attack, and add your Dex or Str mod to damage).
I used this for a previous campaign. I was a rock gnome, and we flavored him learning it by finding a spell book that explained how to do it. I later multiclassed into artificer because that character was the crafter of the group.
Have you ever considered updating your character sprites? I just now noticed how awkward your head looks on that body in the thumbnail.
Is there a video on this channel or some good article compering all wizard subclasses?
I played a pre-Tasha's Bladesinger in Tomb of Annihilation, and it was the most fun I've had as a player. At his strongest (level 15), he had an AC 26 with Disadvantage (16 Dex + studded leather armor + 20 INT + Shield + Ring of Defense + Cloak of Displacement) and +13 with Advantage on Concentration checks (14 Con + 20 Int + proficiency thanks to Resilient + Ring of Defense + Warcaster). There were also many options with damage mitigation to balance out the lackluster hit points associated with squishy wizards. Attack rolls? Shield rarely goes wrong. Elemental save-based damaging effects such as a red wizard's Lightning Bolt or a red dragon's fire breath? Absorb Elements halves it. Save-based damaging effects that bypass Absorb Elements such Valindra's Disrupt Life? Song of Defense. There was a contingency for everything.
The major challenge was option paralysis: you only get one reaction per turn and concentrate on one spell at a time, so I spent a lot of time weighing pros and cons as to whether or not I wanted to, for example, maintain concentration on Sunbeam against the atropol or drop it in favor of Telekinesis to save the Warlock who fell into the lava. If I used Absorb Elements against Valindra's Fireball, I'm screwed if she decides to use her Legendary Action Disrupt Life, since I can't use Song of Defense. But that's the same drawback for any other wizard or spellcaster anyway.
The way I played Bladesinger, and probably the most optimal way, is to focus a bit more on melee at lower levels in order to extend the longevity of your spell slots, and once you hit Level 5-7, start transitioning to being a dedicated caster. Because the other casters in my party were a sorcerer and a warlock (the cleric couldn't play most of the time due to work obligations, and the sorcerer's player became a bard after their character died in the Tomb), I filled the role of utility, control, and support while the others focused on DPR. Depending on the campaign and party, your mileage may vary.
What about if you have proficiency with a hand crossbow for one reason or the other. It would allow you to do firebolt and then crossbow while you're concentrating on a spell. It's an interesting way to bypass the loading property of crossbows.
Hand crossbows have the loading property, what are you talking about?
@@norandomnumbers since you can fire a cantrip for one of those attacks you only fire the crossbow once. And since it's one handed you don't go out of bladesong.
i didn't hear it at first but then I listened closer and then I could hear Gator saying shadow blade on repeat in the background :')