I think a better question would be, "Is the Eldritch Knight any good?" And, yes, they are. That said, weapon selection is a factor. If we use Polearm Master to set the stage, then polearms include glaives, halberds, quarterstaves, and spears. The first two are Two-Handed, and the second two are Versatile. The big question is, "How does your weapon selection impact your spellcasting?"
Regardless of which weapon you choose to attack with, you'll want a free hand for spellcasting. A not insignificant number of your spells have somatic components, and you cannot perform them if both hands are occupied. If you're using both hands to attack, then you only need both hands when you Attack with your weapon. You can take one hand off to [Tooltip Not Found], or even just between attacks, and you absolutely should. If you want to cast the shield spell, then you need a free hand. But doing so means either not wearing a shield or constantly sheathing and drawing your weapon so you can cast it.
You can circumvent some of the above with the War Caster feat; which should probably be your first choice anyway. And, depending on how your DM rules, you may not even be allowed to wield a Two-Handed weapon and cast spells with somatic components without the feat. How they interact is worth talking over with your DM. You don't want to have a fight at the table because of two competing ideas.
But regardless of whether or not you have War Caster, a free hand will still be desirable for interacting with your material components; most likely via a component pouch. Fortunately, most of your early spells don't require material components. You can start at 3rd-level as an Eldritch Knight, with no extra gold for gear, and not lose too much power. And if you're able to acquire a ruby of the war mage, along with the aforementioned feat, then you have zero issues wielding both a weapon and shield.
If you're asking about the feat and how it works with an Eldritch Knight, then we'll go over the bullets one-by-one.
The bonus action attack Isn't a lot, and once War Magic becomes available from 7th-level onward it might not even be desirable. Compare the 1d4 + Strength modifier with the (conservative) 2d8 of booming blade and green-flame blade and it'll always be behind in pure numbers. If you can trigger their rider effects, then the gap grows even larger. (You also cannot extend the range of those spells, so the added reach of the larger polearms won't help you there.) Even with something like acid splash, hitting two targets for 2d6 each, you're not far off. And you can always cast blade ward without sacrificing all of your attacks that turn.
Expanding when you can get an Opportunity Attack certainly increases your wide power, but will it make you stronger? You can't halt movement without Sentinel, and you cannot cast a spell without War Caster. Even if you could cast a spell, the effective reach of booming blade and green-flame blade is only 5 feet, and they cannot see that reach increased. And I would not recommend all three.
The Eldritch Knight has a lot to juggle. You just need to be aware of how everything interacts.
EDIT: Caught and corrected a formatting error
Personally, if I were thinking of specializing with polearms, I'd prefer an eventual shield and spear combination. The Dueling fighting style keeps damage comparable to the larger polearms, but with better AC, and I can use it with the SCAG cantrips all day long. Relying on War Magic, hitting two targets with green-flame blade, will always deal more damage Extra Attack with a glaive or halberd and the bonus action afforded by Polearm Master. And booming blade as an Opportunity Attack (via War Caster) hits for tremendous damage. But that's both of your starting cantrips, and you're only allowed three total. I'd want Magic Initiate, and possibly Spell Sniper, to gain more and bring some utility to the party. But that also limits my ASIs, so...again, juggling.
As mentioned by Jounichi1983, the big issue is juggling the TWO hands with a weapon. A lot of DM's I've played with have ruled that even though a weapon is TWO Handed, you only need one hand to hold the weapon, and can switch to a single hand to cast a spell, but you are not longer eligible to make a Reaction Attack with that weapon. This makes a lot more sense with a Bow (which is actually a good Eldritch Knight archetype) rather than a polearm when casting Shield or a Reaction Spell, but I don't know if this is RAW. If your DM follows that mind-set, then a Two Handed EK FIghter is feasible, but otherwise Warcaster is obviously a Feat you are going to want to aim for
In my opinion, the better melee Eldritch Knight is the Sword and Board Eldritch Knight and using Abjuration defensive spells. Your limited use of spell slots and most likely lower Intelligence stat until later in the game, makes offensive Evocation spells less appealing... but that's not to say they aren't usable. Having the higher AC from your physical Shield, ontop of being able to cast the SHIELD spell (assuming you have Warcaster or a free-hand) is super useful. I would say Sentinel + Warcaster and a Sword and Board EK Fighter is an excellent Tank, especially if you throw in the BladeWard Cantrip with War Magic... and while you can do this with a Polearm build, the weapon Reach of pole arms does not really come into play very often. Take Polearm Master (third feat) and you become even better at Zone Tanking than Sword and Board build, but now you've dedicated Three Feats (as opposed to two) to the build when you could have taken Great Weapon Master instead. Luckily as a Fighter, you get a lot of options to grab Feats vs ASI's... but whether that's worth the build is questionable.
One Build I have seen that makes use of Booming Blade as a Polearm build is throwing Mobility into the build. After you attack the target at the 5-foot range (remember Reach does not affect Booming Blade), they don't get an opportunity attack when you move away from them, which will usually force them to either stay out of melee range, use a ranged attack, or take Booming Blade Damage. This won't however prevent them from attacking someone else who they are already adjacent to, but it will certainly piss them off.
Polearm EK is doable, but because melee Reach of a Polearm does not really benefit the class as much as other builds. Aesthetically and in terms of RP though, its a great concept to visualize, but other builds tend to work better, at least IMHO.
My first EK, which I've taken to lvl 18, was one that got PAM, GWM, and Sentinel for their lvl 4, 6, and 8 ASIs after obtaining a belt of hill giant strength. It's OP! The only conflicting issue is that by using your bonus action, you're not making use of your lvl 7 ability. But, that's okay, cause you're better off using your multiple attacks and bonus attack with GWM instead of using one booming blade/green flame blade with a bonus action attack.
I'm currently playing an EK that just reached level 4, picked up PAM. I don't use booming blade/Green fire. I've decided not to focus on those cantrips as they are in opposition to multi-attack, and thus I don't see enough value in them.
I'm having a lot of fun, I've not made this character to optimize damage, but to optimize my build theme "idea", which to me is very fun. My dude is a fighter that can run in, summon a spear out of the air and throw i at people, then rush in and grapple and prone the enemy mage while the rogue sneaks him to death. He can also swing his halberd in his own created fog field while utilizing his blind fighting style to great effect against his enemies.
Later on, if he ever reaches high level, I might multiclass him to cleric after level 12.
Perhaps you should ask whether a polearm wielding fighter is good, and to that the answer is yes I think.
So that right there, Fog cloud + Blind fighting, is an excellent approach of an Eldritch Knight ... course, the question becomes, how do your allies deal with Fog Cloud, as unless the rogue has Blindsight himself, he can never land a Backstab while in it. That being said, the aesthetics and mechanics are a good pairing.
So that right there, Fog cloud + Blind fighting, is an excellent approach of an Eldritch Knight ... course, the question becomes, how do you allies deal with Fog Cloud, as unless the rogue has Blindsight himself, he can never land a Backstab while in it. That being said, the aesthetics and mechanics are a good pairing.
If everyone is blinded, then rogues can still use their Sneak Attack. They just need an ally who's adjacent to the same enemy and fight in melee.
Yes. Using a two-handed weapon is much easier with an EK than getting sword and board working properly with spells like Shield. Polearm Mastery has excellent synergy with Eldritch Strike. Just don't obsess over Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade unless your Polearm is a Spear.
***sorry to get off topic*** Jounichi, its a questionable ruling.. but it specifically says for the rogue backstab:
You don’t need advantage on the attack roll if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it, that enemy isn’t incapacitated, and you don’t have disadvantage on the attack roll.
In a heavily obscured area, such as Darkness or Fog Cloud two things happen. 1) You have Disadvantage on all attacks, unless you have a means of mitigating Blindness from Heavy Obscurity. 2) Your target grants advantage to all incoming attacks, unless they can mitigate Blindness.
Because the rules for fighting in Heavily Obscured areas is kind of stupid, the Advantages and Disadvantages cancel out in terms of paper, regardless of how many situations of Advantages or Disadvantages you have. (The target could be prone, stunned, and restrained, all providing Disadvantage... but because both the attacker and defender are blind, it nets out to a ZERO advantage/disadvantage in terms of rolling dice).
The argument that I've commonly seen is that even though your Advantages and Disadvantages cancel out (you only roll once), you are technically still Disadvantaged on the Attack Roll and do not get the benefit to Backstab someone, even with an ally 5-feet of you and are not technically having to Roll Twice Take the Lower.
Now, I've certainly seen people argue that you are only rolling ONCE, therefore it is NOT at Disadvantage and is treated as a normal Attack roll (and Disadvantage is not counted), but I think it would come down to a DM choice. I don't think I've ever seen a SAGE ruling over this, but I'll glance around to look.
***sorry to get off topic*** Jounichi, its a questionable ruling.. but it specifically says for the rogue backstab:
You don’t need advantage on the attack roll if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it, that enemy isn’t incapacitated, and you don’t have disadvantage on the attack roll.
In a heavily obscured area, such as Darkness or Fog Cloud two things happen. 1) You have Disadvantage on all attacks, unless you have a means of mitigating Blindness from Heavy Obscurity. 2) Your target grants advantage to all incoming attacks, unless they can mitigate Blindness.
Because the rules for fighting in Heavily Obscured areas is kind of stupid, the Advantages and Disadvantages cancel out in terms of paper, regardless of how many situations of Advantages or Disadvantages you have. (The target could be prone, stunned, and restrained, all providing Disadvantage... but because both the attacker and defender are blind, it nets out to a ZERO advantage/disadvantage in terms of rolling dice).
The argument that I've commonly seen is that even though your Advantages and Disadvantages cancel out (you only roll once), you are technically still Disadvantaged on the Attack Roll and do not get the benefit to Backstab someone, even with an ally 5-feet of you and are not technically having to Roll Twice Take the Lower.
Now, I've certainly seen people argue that you are only rolling ONCE, therefore it is NOT at Disadvantage and is treated as a normal Attack roll (and Disadvantage is not counted), but I think it would come down to a DM choice. I don't think I've ever seen a SAGE ruling over this, but I'll glance around to look.
If circumstances cause a roll to have both advantage and disadvantage, you are considered to have neither of them, and you roll one d20. This is true even if multiple circumstances impose disadvantage and only one grants advantage or vice versa. In such a situation, you have neither advantage nor disadvantage.
And it's Sneak Attack, not Backstab. I don't know where you're getting that from.
It's right there in black and white in the rule book. That's even what Dan Dillon cites. You don't need a Sage Advice article to tell you how they interact.
As mentioned by Jounichi1983, the big issue is juggling the TWO hands with a weapon. A lot of DM's I've played with have ruled that even though a weapon is TWO Handed, you only need one hand to hold the weapon, and can switch to a single hand to cast a spell, but you are not longer eligible to make a Reaction Attack with that weapon. This makes a lot more sense with a Bow (which is actually a good Eldritch Knight archetype) rather than a polearm when casting Shield or a Reaction Spell, but I don't know if this is RAW. If your DM follows that mind-set, then a Two Handed EK FIghter is feasible, but otherwise Warcaster is obviously a Feat you are going to want to aim for.
The Two-handed property specifically states that you only need to hold a two-handed weapon with two hands when you attack with it. So if you want to cast Hex as a bonus action and then attack with your action, you can!
Another viable option if you like the Polearm Master feat is to take Magic Initiate Druid to get Shillelagh and wield a quarterstaff with a shield. The cantrip scales your weapon damage regardless of whether you use one hand or two, and you still have the option of using your strength or casting modifier for the attack and damage rolls. Eventually that one-handed quarterstaff will do 2d6 damage per hit, and it still qualifies for the Pole Strike and Reactive Strike features, not to mention keeps you in range for Booming Blade. It's a really nice choice for Eldritch Knights, especially at higher levels when you get your third and fourth attacks that you can stack damage from Spirit Shroud on each hit.
The downside of spells like Shillelagh is, because it cannot be prepared with the Spellcasting feature, the EK cannot use a staff for the material component. This means, RAW, they're reliant on a Component Pouch; or Sprig of Mistletoe if the DM is feeling generous.
The downside of spells like Shillelagh is, because it cannot be prepared with the Spellcasting feature, the EK cannot use a staff for the material component. This means, RAW, they're reliant on a Component Pouch; or Sprig of Mistletoe if the DM is feeling generous.
Meh, carrying a component pouch is at worst a very minor inconvenience.
The downside of spells like Shillelagh is, because it cannot be prepared with the Spellcasting feature, the EK cannot use a staff for the material component. This means, RAW, they're reliant on a Component Pouch; or Sprig of Mistletoe if the DM is feeling generous.
Meh, carrying a component pouch is at worst a very minor inconvenience.
It means you can't cast the spell and wield a shield at the same time unless you have at least 3 hands.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
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Hey everyone,
Pretty much as the title suggests really - is an Eldritch Knight wielding a polearm any good?
Cheers.
I think a better question would be, "Is the Eldritch Knight any good?" And, yes, they are. That said, weapon selection is a factor. If we use Polearm Master to set the stage, then polearms include glaives, halberds, quarterstaves, and spears. The first two are Two-Handed, and the second two are Versatile. The big question is, "How does your weapon selection impact your spellcasting?"
Regardless of which weapon you choose to attack with, you'll want a free hand for spellcasting. A not insignificant number of your spells have somatic components, and you cannot perform them if both hands are occupied. If you're using both hands to attack, then you only need both hands when you Attack with your weapon. You can take one hand off to [Tooltip Not Found], or even just between attacks, and you absolutely should. If you want to cast the shield spell, then you need a free hand. But doing so means either not wearing a shield or constantly sheathing and drawing your weapon so you can cast it.
You can circumvent some of the above with the War Caster feat; which should probably be your first choice anyway. And, depending on how your DM rules, you may not even be allowed to wield a Two-Handed weapon and cast spells with somatic components without the feat. How they interact is worth talking over with your DM. You don't want to have a fight at the table because of two competing ideas.
But regardless of whether or not you have War Caster, a free hand will still be desirable for interacting with your material components; most likely via a component pouch. Fortunately, most of your early spells don't require material components. You can start at 3rd-level as an Eldritch Knight, with no extra gold for gear, and not lose too much power. And if you're able to acquire a ruby of the war mage, along with the aforementioned feat, then you have zero issues wielding both a weapon and shield.
If you're asking about the feat and how it works with an Eldritch Knight, then we'll go over the bullets one-by-one.
The Eldritch Knight has a lot to juggle. You just need to be aware of how everything interacts.
EDIT: Caught and corrected a formatting error
Personally, if I were thinking of specializing with polearms, I'd prefer an eventual shield and spear combination. The Dueling fighting style keeps damage comparable to the larger polearms, but with better AC, and I can use it with the SCAG cantrips all day long. Relying on War Magic, hitting two targets with green-flame blade, will always deal more damage Extra Attack with a glaive or halberd and the bonus action afforded by Polearm Master. And booming blade as an Opportunity Attack (via War Caster) hits for tremendous damage. But that's both of your starting cantrips, and you're only allowed three total. I'd want Magic Initiate, and possibly Spell Sniper, to gain more and bring some utility to the party. But that also limits my ASIs, so...again, juggling.
As mentioned by Jounichi1983, the big issue is juggling the TWO hands with a weapon. A lot of DM's I've played with have ruled that even though a weapon is TWO Handed, you only need one hand to hold the weapon, and can switch to a single hand to cast a spell, but you are not longer eligible to make a Reaction Attack with that weapon. This makes a lot more sense with a Bow (which is actually a good Eldritch Knight archetype) rather than a polearm when casting Shield or a Reaction Spell, but I don't know if this is RAW. If your DM follows that mind-set, then a Two Handed EK FIghter is feasible, but otherwise Warcaster is obviously a Feat you are going to want to aim for
In my opinion, the better melee Eldritch Knight is the Sword and Board Eldritch Knight and using Abjuration defensive spells. Your limited use of spell slots and most likely lower Intelligence stat until later in the game, makes offensive Evocation spells less appealing... but that's not to say they aren't usable. Having the higher AC from your physical Shield, ontop of being able to cast the SHIELD spell (assuming you have Warcaster or a free-hand) is super useful. I would say Sentinel + Warcaster and a Sword and Board EK Fighter is an excellent Tank, especially if you throw in the BladeWard Cantrip with War Magic... and while you can do this with a Polearm build, the weapon Reach of pole arms does not really come into play very often. Take Polearm Master (third feat) and you become even better at Zone Tanking than Sword and Board build, but now you've dedicated Three Feats (as opposed to two) to the build when you could have taken Great Weapon Master instead. Luckily as a Fighter, you get a lot of options to grab Feats vs ASI's... but whether that's worth the build is questionable.
One Build I have seen that makes use of Booming Blade as a Polearm build is throwing Mobility into the build. After you attack the target at the 5-foot range (remember Reach does not affect Booming Blade), they don't get an opportunity attack when you move away from them, which will usually force them to either stay out of melee range, use a ranged attack, or take Booming Blade Damage. This won't however prevent them from attacking someone else who they are already adjacent to, but it will certainly piss them off.
Polearm EK is doable, but because melee Reach of a Polearm does not really benefit the class as much as other builds. Aesthetically and in terms of RP though, its a great concept to visualize, but other builds tend to work better, at least IMHO.
My first EK, which I've taken to lvl 18, was one that got PAM, GWM, and Sentinel for their lvl 4, 6, and 8 ASIs after obtaining a belt of hill giant strength. It's OP! The only conflicting issue is that by using your bonus action, you're not making use of your lvl 7 ability. But, that's okay, cause you're better off using your multiple attacks and bonus attack with GWM instead of using one booming blade/green flame blade with a bonus action attack.
I'm currently playing an EK that just reached level 4, picked up PAM. I don't use booming blade/Green fire. I've decided not to focus on those cantrips as they are in opposition to multi-attack, and thus I don't see enough value in them.
I'm having a lot of fun, I've not made this character to optimize damage, but to optimize my build theme "idea", which to me is very fun. My dude is a fighter that can run in, summon a spear out of the air and throw i at people, then rush in and grapple and prone the enemy mage while the rogue sneaks him to death. He can also swing his halberd in his own created fog field while utilizing his blind fighting style to great effect against his enemies.
Later on, if he ever reaches high level, I might multiclass him to cleric after level 12.
Perhaps you should ask whether a polearm wielding fighter is good, and to that the answer is yes I think.
Altrazin Aghanes - Wizard/Fighter
Varpulis Windhowl - Fighter
Skolson Demjon - Cleric/Fighter
So that right there, Fog cloud + Blind fighting, is an excellent approach of an Eldritch Knight ... course, the question becomes, how do your allies deal with Fog Cloud, as unless the rogue has Blindsight himself, he can never land a Backstab while in it. That being said, the aesthetics and mechanics are a good pairing.
If everyone is blinded, then rogues can still use their Sneak Attack. They just need an ally who's adjacent to the same enemy and fight in melee.
Yes. Using a two-handed weapon is much easier with an EK than getting sword and board working properly with spells like Shield. Polearm Mastery has excellent synergy with Eldritch Strike. Just don't obsess over Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade unless your Polearm is a Spear.
***sorry to get off topic***
Jounichi, its a questionable ruling.. but it specifically says for the rogue backstab:
You don’t need advantage on the attack roll if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it, that enemy isn’t incapacitated, and you don’t have disadvantage on the attack roll.
In a heavily obscured area, such as Darkness or Fog Cloud two things happen. 1) You have Disadvantage on all attacks, unless you have a means of mitigating Blindness from Heavy Obscurity. 2) Your target grants advantage to all incoming attacks, unless they can mitigate Blindness.
Because the rules for fighting in Heavily Obscured areas is kind of stupid, the Advantages and Disadvantages cancel out in terms of paper, regardless of how many situations of Advantages or Disadvantages you have. (The target could be prone, stunned, and restrained, all providing Disadvantage... but because both the attacker and defender are blind, it nets out to a ZERO advantage/disadvantage in terms of rolling dice).
The argument that I've commonly seen is that even though your Advantages and Disadvantages cancel out (you only roll once), you are technically still Disadvantaged on the Attack Roll and do not get the benefit to Backstab someone, even with an ally 5-feet of you and are not technically having to Roll Twice Take the Lower.
Now, I've certainly seen people argue that you are only rolling ONCE, therefore it is NOT at Disadvantage and is treated as a normal Attack roll (and Disadvantage is not counted), but I think it would come down to a DM choice. I don't think I've ever seen a SAGE ruling over this, but I'll glance around to look.
There's nothing questionable about what I said.
And it's Sneak Attack, not Backstab. I don't know where you're getting that from.
sorry, Backstab is an older term from 2nd edition~~
and you are correct... found an old reference ... its the latter where advantage + disadvantage = NULL
https://www.sageadvice.eu/2019/12/15/wait-wait-wait-you-can-sneak-attack-when-you-have-both-advantage-and-disadvantage/
It's right there in black and white in the rule book. That's even what Dan Dillon cites. You don't need a Sage Advice article to tell you how they interact.
The Two-handed property specifically states that you only need to hold a two-handed weapon with two hands when you attack with it. So if you want to cast Hex as a bonus action and then attack with your action, you can!
PAM Eldritch Knights rejoice!
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Another viable option if you like the Polearm Master feat is to take Magic Initiate Druid to get Shillelagh and wield a quarterstaff with a shield. The cantrip scales your weapon damage regardless of whether you use one hand or two, and you still have the option of using your strength or casting modifier for the attack and damage rolls. Eventually that one-handed quarterstaff will do 2d6 damage per hit, and it still qualifies for the Pole Strike and Reactive Strike features, not to mention keeps you in range for Booming Blade. It's a really nice choice for Eldritch Knights, especially at higher levels when you get your third and fourth attacks that you can stack damage from Spirit Shroud on each hit.
The downside of spells like Shillelagh is, because it cannot be prepared with the Spellcasting feature, the EK cannot use a staff for the material component. This means, RAW, they're reliant on a Component Pouch; or Sprig of Mistletoe if the DM is feeling generous.
Meh, carrying a component pouch is at worst a very minor inconvenience.
It means you can't cast the spell and wield a shield at the same time unless you have at least 3 hands.
They could get a ruby of the warmage
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha