The favorite is probably a crossbow expert/sharpshooter. Variant human gloomstalker ranger fighting in the dark for always on advantage due to invisibility. You could also go battlemaster fighter for the extra feats and then multiclass warlock for darkness+ devils sight. The fighter will have four attacks with Xbow expert by level 11. Archery fighting style helps offset the -5 from sharpshooter. Gloomstalker is good because they pick up wis saves at level 7 and have an auto re-roll on a miss at level 11 once/turn. Variant human is usually recommended for both to get ahead of the curve in terms of feats/ASI. Take Xbow expert at level 1 since the extra attack helps far more at levels 1-4 than sharpshooter.
Another pure DPS build is a GWM barbarian/fighter ... it can be either fighter 11 for 3 attacks/round + barbarian for reckless/rage or more barbarian and just fighter 3 (often champion for crits but battlemaster also works). Resilient wisdom is usually mandatory by late tier 2 for these builds since they are very vulnerable to mind affecting spells.
Both of these really start to do a lot of single target DPS by late tier 2/early tier 3 depending on the AC of the target and whether using Sharpshooter makes sense.
A different type of option would be a Knowledge cleric 1/evoker wizard X - good damage while avoiding damaging your party while dropping fireballs on top of them.
Classic sorlock is an option - 2 hexblade warlock / X sorcerer ... often divine soul but shadow sorcerer works well if you go variant human and pick up resilient con at level 1 starting as a hexblade warlock. Agonizing blast + quickened eldritch blast spam ... doesn't really get going until level 11.
Paladin smite builds also work well for DPS. PAM - paladin to 6 for aura - 7 for aura depending on oath, 8 for ASI and 11 for IDS are good break points. PAM + IDS is very effective at level 11 + rest of levels in sorcerer or sorcerer/warlock for spell slots and other abilities. Sometimes a level of hexblade early for SAD. Use spear or quarterstaff with shield.
This is an AL legal (lvl 20 one shot) character concept that can defiantly break the game. (Note this character concept may annoy others at the table as it involves summoning a bunch of creatures which inevitably extends your turns significantly)
Race Race is mostly up to you, doesn't affect it too much.
Attributes: Point buy example recommendation: 8STR ; 14DEX ; 14CON ; 14INT ; 13WIS ; 9CHA (+ whatever racial attribute bonuses you get). (+ potentially other ability points from the 4 ASI/Feat options this class will get. Might recommend ASI boost Int to 20)
1: Take 6 levels in Shepard Druid. Key features for this build being:
***Conjure Animals Spell
*+2 HP per hit die to summoned creatures (for this build it'll likely be between +6 - +10)
***Summoned creatures have magic damage attacks (really important for high level play)
*Spirit Totem for bonus action AOE buff
*Can wildshape and maintain concentration while trying to hide away to avoid damage.
2: Take 14 levels cross classed in Conjuration Wizard. Key Features for this build being:
***Gain access to high level, including lvl, 9 spell slots (note only will know up to lvl 7 spells).
***Can't drop concentration on conjuration spells.
***All Summoned creatures gain +30 temporary HP.
*Gain a situational free teleport.
**Can recover up to 7levels worth of spell slots on a short rest.
**Gain access to useful non-concentration. (Examples Listed below)
This combination will allow you to summon tons of High health beasts with magical attacks to chip away at most enemies. When summoning them it's recommended to summon the 1/4 CR creatures to benefit most. If cast at lvl 9 you can multiply the results below by X32. Here's some examples of creatures you can use: (combined HP & Temp HP for simplicity)
Velociraptor: CR 1/4 ; AC 13 ; HP 46 ; Speed 30 ; Size Tiny (4 can fit per 5ft square, more around a single target to attack); Pack Tactics(basically advantage on all attacks) ; Multi Attack(uses 2 different attacks) ; Attack +4 ; Damage #1=1D6+2 Magical Piercing ; #2=1D4+2 Magical Slashing.
Pteranodon: CR 1/4 ; AC 13 ; HP 49 ; Speed 10 ; Fly 60 ; Size Medium (1 per 5ft square); Flyby (no opportunity attacks, so hit & fly away spaced out to stay safe from melee and AOE) ; Attack +3 ; Damage 2D4+1 Magical Piercing
Giant Bat: CR 1/4 ; AC 13 ; HP 60 ; Speed 10 ; Fly 60 ; Size Large (1 per 10ft square, fewer around each individual target, but they will block sight better and by nature of being so big less will find into AOE effects); Blind Sight 60ft ; Attack +4 ; Damage 1D6+2 Magical Piercing
Good non-concentration Wizard spells options: (Note "D" means druid gives it)
(disclaimer: I don't play AL, and after posting this I saw another thread saying SCAG isn't allowed in the current season of AL. But I really like this build for a PHB + 1, so I'll leave it up in case it's usable elsewhere)
Role: scout/striker
Sources: PHB & SCAG
Race: Half-Elf(High-Elf heritage: taking Booming Blade as cantrip)
Class: Rogue
Subclass: Swashbuckler
Background: City Watch
This character can almost guarantee sneak attack damage every turn, and combine that with Booming Blade to deal extra damage (if the target moves before your next turn, and at L5 also when they're initially hit) This coupled with the swashbuckler's ability to strike and then move away without provoking attacks of opportunity (even against enemies with the sentinel feat) allows the Rogue to deal out and avoid a lot of damage. And having great skills make the character equally relevant outside of combat.
I play mine as a noble fighter with a distinctive fighting style, rather than as a sneak-thief.
(disclaimer: I don't play AL, and after posting this I saw another thread saying SCAG isn't allowed in the current season of AL. But I really like this build for a PHB + 1, so I'll leave it up in case it's usable elsewhere)
Role: scout/striker
Sources: PHB & SCAG
Race: Half-Elf(High-Elf heritage: taking Booming Blade as cantrip)
Class: Rogue
Subclass: Swashbuckler
Background: City Watch
This character can almost guarantee sneak attack damage every turn, and combine that with Booming Blade to deal extra damage (if the target moves before your next turn, and at L5 also when they're initially hit) This coupled with the swashbuckler's ability to strike and then move away without provoking attacks of opportunity (even against enemies with the sentinel feat) allows the Rogue to deal out and avoid a lot of damage. And having great skills make the character equally relevant outside of combat.
I play mine as a noble fighter with a distinctive fighting style, rather than as a sneak-thief.
Swashbuckler was reprinted in Xanthar's Guide to Everything making this entirely AL legal (since AL has to use the latest printing of a class anyway so it could not use the SCAG version of swashbuckler even if there were differences).
The best DPS builds are either PAM+GWM or Xbow Expert+Sharpshooter on characters that have a reliable method to obtain advantage on attack rolls.
Advantage-
- barbarian reckless attack
- warlock - darkness+devils sight OR after level 7, shadow of moil
- Gloomstalker invisibility in darkness vs creatures using darkvision
- greater invisibility
- faerie fire
- familiar using help action (again works best for characters with one attack - however, if you are using either of the above combinations then you want as many attacks as possible typically).
The most common options are reckless attack and darkness+devils sight.
Barbarian/fighter multiclass makes a powerful melee DPS build for PAM+GWM (or even just GWM).
Fighter/warlock 3 gets darkness+devils sight option - works for either PAM+GWM or Xbow Xpert+SS (Archery fighting style is very useful)
Blade pact Warlock -
Gloomstalker ranger Xbow Expert+SS .... sometimes multiclassed with rogue (assassin) for additional damage (archery fighting style is very useful).
In addition, a paladin with PAM using a one handed weapon like spear or quarterstaff + dueling fighting style will be able to use a shield (for better AC), gets the additional attack from PAM and will come close to the damage from GWM due to not having the -5 to hit penalty.
These can all be quite high DPS builds and all are AL legal. They also come online earlier than the quickened EB+ EB sorlock builds since using quicken every round for the extra EB costs significant sorcery points and doesn't really get effective until character level 11 when each EB is three bolts. On the other hand, the sorlock has access to a nice selection of sorcerer spells as well as metamagics. The Aberrant mind sorcerer X/hexblade warlock 2 works particularly well with the number of class spells that can be cast using sorcery points using no components (which is effectively like have subtle metamagic for these spells).
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any good damaging builds that are legal in AL
Lots.
The favorite is probably a crossbow expert/sharpshooter. Variant human gloomstalker ranger fighting in the dark for always on advantage due to invisibility. You could also go battlemaster fighter for the extra feats and then multiclass warlock for darkness+ devils sight. The fighter will have four attacks with Xbow expert by level 11. Archery fighting style helps offset the -5 from sharpshooter. Gloomstalker is good because they pick up wis saves at level 7 and have an auto re-roll on a miss at level 11 once/turn. Variant human is usually recommended for both to get ahead of the curve in terms of feats/ASI. Take Xbow expert at level 1 since the extra attack helps far more at levels 1-4 than sharpshooter.
Another pure DPS build is a GWM barbarian/fighter ... it can be either fighter 11 for 3 attacks/round + barbarian for reckless/rage or more barbarian and just fighter 3 (often champion for crits but battlemaster also works). Resilient wisdom is usually mandatory by late tier 2 for these builds since they are very vulnerable to mind affecting spells.
Both of these really start to do a lot of single target DPS by late tier 2/early tier 3 depending on the AC of the target and whether using Sharpshooter makes sense.
A different type of option would be a Knowledge cleric 1/evoker wizard X - good damage while avoiding damaging your party while dropping fireballs on top of them.
Classic sorlock is an option - 2 hexblade warlock / X sorcerer ... often divine soul but shadow sorcerer works well if you go variant human and pick up resilient con at level 1 starting as a hexblade warlock. Agonizing blast + quickened eldritch blast spam ... doesn't really get going until level 11.
Paladin smite builds also work well for DPS. PAM - paladin to 6 for aura - 7 for aura depending on oath, 8 for ASI and 11 for IDS are good break points. PAM + IDS is very effective at level 11 + rest of levels in sorcerer or sorcerer/warlock for spell slots and other abilities. Sometimes a level of hexblade early for SAD. Use spear or quarterstaff with shield.
Thanks, might try the sorlock
If you have a Tasha’s Artificer around to give the Gloomstalker a Repeating Shot infusion, it gets ugly very quickly. Lol
Yes it does. Especially in Icewind dale.
No Gaming is Better than Bad Gaming.
This is an AL legal (lvl 20 one shot) character concept that can defiantly break the game. (Note this character concept may annoy others at the table as it involves summoning a bunch of creatures which inevitably extends your turns significantly)
Race Race is mostly up to you, doesn't affect it too much.
Attributes: Point buy example recommendation: 8STR ; 14DEX ; 14CON ; 14INT ; 13WIS ; 9CHA (+ whatever racial attribute bonuses you get). (+ potentially other ability points from the 4 ASI/Feat options this class will get. Might recommend ASI boost Int to 20)
1: Take 6 levels in Shepard Druid. Key features for this build being:
2: Take 14 levels cross classed in Conjuration Wizard. Key Features for this build being:
This combination will allow you to summon tons of High health beasts with magical attacks to chip away at most enemies. When summoning them it's recommended to summon the 1/4 CR creatures to benefit most. If cast at lvl 9 you can multiply the results below by X32. Here's some examples of creatures you can use: (combined HP & Temp HP for simplicity)
Good non-concentration Wizard spells options: (Note "D" means druid gives it)
(disclaimer: I don't play AL, and after posting this I saw another thread saying SCAG isn't allowed in the current season of AL. But I really like this build for a PHB + 1, so I'll leave it up in case it's usable elsewhere)
Role: scout/striker
Sources: PHB & SCAG
Race: Half-Elf(High-Elf heritage: taking Booming Blade as cantrip)
Class: Rogue
Subclass: Swashbuckler
Background: City Watch
This character can almost guarantee sneak attack damage every turn, and combine that with Booming Blade to deal extra damage (if the target moves before your next turn, and at L5 also when they're initially hit) This coupled with the swashbuckler's ability to strike and then move away without provoking attacks of opportunity (even against enemies with the sentinel feat) allows the Rogue to deal out and avoid a lot of damage. And having great skills make the character equally relevant outside of combat.
I play mine as a noble fighter with a distinctive fighting style, rather than as a sneak-thief.
NOVA or Sustained damage?
NOVA damage you can't go wrong with Elven Samurai Fighter Archer with Elven Accuracy: https://ddb.ac/characters/51545077/rYEwlo
Sustained I would go Zealot Barbarian with PAM+GWM: https://ddb.ac/characters/51545525/jT5Jzo
Zealot will pump out 1d10+21 (+7 STR/+4 Rage/+10 GWM) with advantage to hit (reckless) and brutal critical twice then 1d4+21 on the BA PAM attack.
Swashbuckler was reprinted in Xanthar's Guide to Everything making this entirely AL legal (since AL has to use the latest printing of a class anyway so it could not use the SCAG version of swashbuckler even if there were differences).
The best DPS builds are either PAM+GWM or Xbow Expert+Sharpshooter on characters that have a reliable method to obtain advantage on attack rolls.
Advantage-
- barbarian reckless attack
- warlock - darkness+devils sight OR after level 7, shadow of moil
- Gloomstalker invisibility in darkness vs creatures using darkvision
- greater invisibility
- faerie fire
- familiar using help action (again works best for characters with one attack - however, if you are using either of the above combinations then you want as many attacks as possible typically).
The most common options are reckless attack and darkness+devils sight.
Barbarian/fighter multiclass makes a powerful melee DPS build for PAM+GWM (or even just GWM).
Fighter/warlock 3 gets darkness+devils sight option - works for either PAM+GWM or Xbow Xpert+SS (Archery fighting style is very useful)
Blade pact Warlock -
Gloomstalker ranger Xbow Expert+SS .... sometimes multiclassed with rogue (assassin) for additional damage (archery fighting style is very useful).
In addition, a paladin with PAM using a one handed weapon like spear or quarterstaff + dueling fighting style will be able to use a shield (for better AC), gets the additional attack from PAM and will come close to the damage from GWM due to not having the -5 to hit penalty.
These can all be quite high DPS builds and all are AL legal. They also come online earlier than the quickened EB+ EB sorlock builds since using quicken every round for the extra EB costs significant sorcery points and doesn't really get effective until character level 11 when each EB is three bolts. On the other hand, the sorlock has access to a nice selection of sorcerer spells as well as metamagics. The Aberrant mind sorcerer X/hexblade warlock 2 works particularly well with the number of class spells that can be cast using sorcery points using no components (which is effectively like have subtle metamagic for these spells).