I have found that I prefer to use hex now. I take the fey touched feat and take Misty Step and Hex. I use a great sword. At 5th level that's 6d6 + x2 modifier with re-rolls on 1s and 2s on the weapon damage. I then use my 8th level spell on Blur instead of shadow blade. I like the variety better than going just shadow blade.
That is the only question you should ask yourself.
Ps... The answer is no...
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I have an 8th level fighter-eldritch knight and I'm considering the lev 2 Shadow Blade. It is particularly well adapted to my fighting style, as
1- I have hi AC, Shield spell and Warcaster, so concentration is well supported
2- as an eldritch knight, choosing direct damage spells is never convenient, as your spell level is ridiculous (2nd at 7th char level) AND your saving throw is low, because you cannot max out Int, you are a fighter after all, so you better focus on spells that enhance melee combat and have no saving throws
3- Compared to a paladin or ranger, my wizard spell list contains almost no spells you can cast as a bonus action so more often than not you will prefer to make two weapon attacks instead of wasting your round on a weak invocation spell
Comparing it with my +2 Battleaxe, I get -2 to hit and damage, but deal 2d8 of damage instead of 1d8. So damage-wise I get better damage on average AND better damage output on a crit.
Hit-wise, the shadow blade strikes with advantage in dim or no light, and that's the real plus! if you can profit of such a situation, this is a lot better than the +2 to hit I'm losing by giving up my magic weapon. You should have Darkvision, always move without a torch, put out the lights when possible, etc.
Finally as of to hit probability, let's say that the enemy is really really tough (like 20+ AC) and you need a 12 to hit it with the +2 weapon:
- +2 weapon attack will have 45% of success
- shadow blade, so without +2 to hit, has a 35% of success
- but shadow blade with advantage has a 57.6% of success
Comparing it with my +2 Battleaxe, I get -2 to hit and damage, but deal 2d8 of damage instead of 1d8. So damage-wise I get better damage on average AND better damage output on a crit.
Shadowblade can be a fantastic spell option for some people but not for you, or this character. Spending a limited resource to learn non evocation/abjuration spells, and your highest level slots to basically drop your hit by 2 and increase your average damage by 2.5 is just a bad trade.
You got better spell options to choose from.
Mobility:
Misty Step
Kinetic Jaunt
Levitate
Vortex Warp
Control/CC:
Web
Hold Person
Earthen Grasp
Defense:
Blur
Mirror Image
Your normal spell choices need to be abj/evoc so you should have plenty of damage dealing options for these. Spending one of your very exclusive non-evoc known spells on a spell to increase your average damage by roughly 2.5 and lower your hit by 2 is not a good move. If all you wanted was more damage just pick up Enlarge/Reduce. This, at least, serves as utility while also increasing your damage by an average of 2.5 but without sacrificing your hit modifier to do it.
I'm a huge fan of shadowblade, it can be great. But if you're rockin a +2 battleaxe, as an eldritch knight, you have way better options. You can't even use it with your booming blade or green-flame blade cantrips. Which, for you, with War Magic, is kind of a big deal.
Thanks a lot for the advices, you make great points. I did not see the incompatibility with Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade, and it is too bad for the eldritch knight.
As I'm playing a tank build Blur would be a much more solid choice but I DO also want to have a little fun with my measly any-school slots, so sometimes I forego the best choice and take a walk on the weird side. :D
I still think that, for a fighter, having a bonus action which gives you advantage on every attack roll for up to 10 rounds is not too bad, but in any situation other that a fight in the dark it really goes from awesome to bad really quickly.
In response to the OP: No, it doesn't make regular weapons obsolete. SB is a spell that only certain classes can use. So, for all those classes that don't have access to SB, the question doesn't make sense anymore. On the other hand, it is a spell that takes up concentration, which prevents you from using other options that also use concentration. Depending on the situation, you'll probably find it more useful to wield a regular weapon, and use your concentration on another spell (like haste, for example). And it obviously costs you a 2nd-level spell slot (or higher), which you might want to spend on something else.
So regular weapons are still useful even if you're a class that can cast Shadow Blade, and you're built for melee (if you're not going to melee, SB is pointless).
In my opinion, SB is a very good spell to build a character around it. For example if you are an elf with the feat, and you want to make sure you almost always hit with advantage (with three dice to catch crits). But even then, you have plenty of other options to catch criticals with that character, so it's not a must either.
The answer is yes, haste only lets you use 1 more weapon attack (it's not like action surge where you can use your extra attacks, it's just 1 weapon attack, in RAW you can't extra attack with haste as your new action, many dms allow it but by RAW you can't), so shadow blade ends up being a better dpr increase, so yes, shadow blade is better then haste in RAW. Since a upcast shadow blade is more avarege damege even with power attack (i calculated with accuracy in the dpr calculation, since power attack decreases accuracy i also used the accuracy of each attack to calculate avarege damege).
Obs: i won't use fighting styles into account, but i will use great weapon master damege calculations to show the difference betwen regular attack avarege dpr, and i will use 2 enemies in these exemples, one with relative low ac so great weapon master can show how usefull it can be and other with high ac. AC = armor class, dpa = damege per attack, dpr = damege per round. Note that after the complicated equasions i have a symplified version right after, so if you start to get confused by the full equasion go to the symplified one. Here is how the calculation goes:
Hit chance × avarage dpa on hit = true avarage dpa.
I will use an enemy with 15 ac, the attacker will be a level 10 eldritch knight fighter with +5 strengh modifier on this first example, you normaly have to hit a natural 6 or higher to hit this enemy [6 + 5 (STR MOD) + 4 (PROD BONUS) = 15] that's a 75% chance of hit, with great weapon master you decrease your roll by 5, so you'd have to hit a natural 11 to hit, so a 50% chance to hit.
The avarage damege on hit is with each weapon is the (minimal damege of the attack + maximum damege of the attack) ÷ 2. So on a greatsword, with a +5 strengh modifier, without great weapon master's power attack, it would be the {["minimum dice rolls" (2d6 can roll 1 two times, so it would be 1+1=2) + all damege modifiers (STR MOD = 5)] + ["maximum dice rolls" (2 d6 can roll 6 two times, so it would be 6+6=12) + all modifiers (STR MOD = 5)]} ÷2; Simplifying it, the equastion becomes: {[(1+1)+5]+[(6+6)+5]}÷2; Symplifying again it becomes [2+5+12+5]÷2; wich becomes 24÷2 wich becomes 12, so now we have an avarege of 12 damege per hit, now we calculate the avarage damege per attack with it's hit chance:
0,75 (75% chance to hit) × 12 = 9
So a regular great weapon attack for this fighter without power attack have a 9 avarege dpa.
Now with the power attack:
The power attack avarege damege per hit is "mimimal damege" [(1+1)+5+10(from power attack)]=17; + "maximum damage" [(6+6)+5+10]=27÷ 2; so simplifying it will become: (17+27)÷2; wich become 44÷2= 22; so power attack with greatsword have an avarege dpa of 22 on hit, now we will calculate with it's hit chance:
0,5×22= 11; so the avarage dpa for power attack is 11.
Now we will use shadow blade:
2d8+STR MOD.
So it becomes: minimum damege + maximum damege ÷2. Which is:
{[(1+1)+5]+[(8+8)+5]}÷2=; Symplifying:
(2+5+16+5)÷2=; symplifying:
28÷2=14.
Now with hit chance, since shadow blade have no power attack, it becomes this:
0,75×14= 10,5; so on a low ac enemy, greatsword with power attack wins.
Now on an enemy with higher ac, let's say 21 AC, now the regular attack have to hit a natural 12 to hit (45% chance to hit), and a power attack would have to roll a natural 17 to hit (20% chance to hit), let's see how they go now:
Regular great sword attacks:
0,45×12=5,4
Power attack:
0,2×22=4,4
Shadow blade:
0,45×14=6,3
So... yeah, when you fight enemies with high ac you deal more damege with shadow blade, and since it doesn't need 2 hands to hold it you can hold a shield or a spellcasting focus on your other hand, the damege becomes even greater when you unlock level 3 spell slots when you hit level 11, and instead of getting great weapon master you could get war caster or defensive duelist to get a feat that synergises better with one handed weapons and your spellcasting, since it's only 1 hand with the blade you could even have a rapier on your other hand and get the dual wielder feat to get a bonus action 2d8 and switch fighting styles on your next asr level.
Now let's compare shadow blade with haste:
Haste let's you get 1 more weapon attack with your current weapon. So let's see the level 10 eldritch knight avarege damege with haste:
We will calculate avarege damege per turn with your regular attacks and power attacks per turn with a greatsword on the high ac enemy, and we will use a shadow blade with another weapon as your off-hand weapon (i will use the cimitar, without dual wielder feat, but with two weapon fighting style to add damege mod, so only the fighting style, assuming the fighter with shadow blade have 20 dex so the modifier is the same), since we will use the high ac enemy, the dpa for the cimitar is:
0,45×[(1+5)+(6+5)]÷2; symplifying:
0,45×(6+11)÷2; symplifying:
0,45×17÷2=3,825 dpa
The normal attack have a 5,4 avarege damege per attack (with hit chance into account), a level 10 fighter with haste can do 3 attacks regularly, and 5 attacks with action surge, so the dpr is:
Regular attack (RA) with haste (H)
3×5,4=16,2
RA with H with action surge:
5×5,4=27
Now with power attack (PA) with H:
3×4,4=13,2
PA with H with action surge:
5×4,4=22
Now with shadow blade + cimitar (SBC):
(2×6,3)+3,825=16,425
Now SBC with action surge:
(4×6,3)+3,825=29,025
Once again, shadow blade wins, and the gap only becomes bigger with the next level since a level 11 eldritch knight not only can attack once more with shadow blade, he also gets level 3 spell slots, wich he can upcast shadow blade to deal 3d8 per hit, an it's psychic damege, which is rarely resisted, and you evem get to choose to either have an off-hand weapon to deal more damege or use a shield and get the defensive duelist feat, to get somo more ac without having to use a spell slot on shield, basicaly shadow blade is much better then a greatsword (unless you have a +3 magic greatsword, then they compete on equal footing... if you use the level 2 shadow blade, the upcasted version still wins).
But that's assuming you don't concentrate on other spells, as some peaple mansioned on previous replies, you have other spells you can concentrate on, and those spells can have a better effect on the battlefield, you can get web, enlarge/reduce, hold person, or on level 11 you can even get the slow and hypnotic pattern, shadow blade may be a damege boost, but is a pretty selfish spell, it doesn't synergise well with your teammates, so going for a regular weapon + other spells that require concentration and synergize well with your party's kit is more optional, then in the end shadow blade ends up becoming obsolete even with this damege boost per turn, it's better to pick other concentration options since they're better at crowd control and damege (not haste tough, unlike what many peaple think, you can't use your action you get from haste to do more then 1 weapon attack).
Shadow blade is a very well designed spell for Rogues. Lots of concentration spells do more damage. What makes Shadow Blade special is instead:
simple melee weapon with which you are proficient. It deals 2d8 psychic damage on a hit and has the finesse, light, and thrown properties
This lets it work with Sneak Attack. "The attack must use a finesse or a ranged weapon". That makes it a mostly unique spell and lets Rogues do unique things, in particular move their damage to psychic and defeat issues such as resistance and immunity to piercing damage (Treant)
For any other use, you need to compare other spells and with magic items, and with combinations of those. Particularly in a high power game where the players are getting artifacts. Most likely Shadow Blade will not be worth it. There will always be better spells and/or items available.
Thanks a lot for the advices, you make great points. I did not see the incompatibility with Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade, and it is too bad for the eldritch knight.
As I'm playing a tank build Blur would be a much more solid choice but I DO also want to have a little fun with my measly any-school slots, so sometimes I forego the best choice and take a walk on the weird side. :D
I still think that, for a fighter, having a bonus action which gives you advantage on every attack roll for up to 10 rounds is not too bad, but in any situation other that a fight in the dark it really goes from awesome to bad really quickly.
blur is a bad spell ! it uses concentration which other more powerfull spell do not. use mirror image instead, literally can stop any attacks and doesn't need concentration. which means you can actually use your concentration on spells like shield of fate or things like that which adds further defense to your tank. look at what you can do and drop blur as soon as you find a better combo of spells.
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Thanks a lot for the advices, you make great points. I did not see the incompatibility with Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade, and it is too bad for the eldritch knight.
As I'm playing a tank build Blur would be a much more solid choice but I DO also want to have a little fun with my measly any-school slots, so sometimes I forego the best choice and take a walk on the weird side. :D
I still think that, for a fighter, having a bonus action which gives you advantage on every attack roll for up to 10 rounds is not too bad, but in any situation other that a fight in the dark it really goes from awesome to bad really quickly.
blur is a bad spell ! it uses concentration which other more powerfull spell do not. use mirror image instead, literally can stop any attacks and doesn't need concentration. which means you can actually use your concentration on spells like shield of fate or things like that which adds further defense to your tank. look at what you can do and drop blur as soon as you find a better combo of spells.
Yo, Mirror Image and Blur both have their uses for defense. Neither is strickly better since they work differently they're both better and worse than each other depending on the situation.
Eg. Say you got a ton of lower CR mobs swarming you. Blur wins hands down. You got dozens of attacks coming at you per round the disadvantage applies to each one.
But vs a single heavy hitter making just one or two attacks? Mirror Image wins. Because it only block a couple attack if those attacks ain't big ones it was a waste of energy and time to even use it.
They both have their uses, and knowing when to use your abilities is important.
PS. Shield of Fate[sic] is a cleric/paladin spell, not an EK spell.
Blur: Major weakness = illusion. Too many creatures have blindsight or truesight. Also disadvantage cancels advantage. Too often it ends up being worthless. Concentration is also a weakness. Only 2nd level spell.
Blink: 3rd level. 50% of the time does nothing. 50% of the time is immune. No concentration needed, cancels advantaged attacks entirely. Lets you move an extra 10 ft, ignoring obstacles - can go right through doors. No issue with illusions/blindsight, etc.
Mirror Image: 2nd level, no concentration. Ignores advantage issues. Has blindsight/truesight etc. problems. Usually only saves you from 3 hits.
Blink is so much better than the other two it is no contest. Till you get Blink, Mirror Image is a better spell for short battles IF you have a party to take some hits. Without a party tanking for you, Mirror Image will go away in a single round, so Blur, even with the chance of losing a concentration check, is a better deal.
Often, Darkness and Web are a better idea for 2nd level defensive spells, despite not being directly protective.
This is some good working out! I just wanted to share some points and my own analysis comparing the two.
Here are some improvements you can make:
First off it isn't really a fair comparison with the GWM fighter not having the Great Weapon Fighting Style. Calculating the new average damage is a little trickier, but you only need to do it once. For a 2d6 weapon the new average is 2[(3.5+3.5+3+4+5+6)/6] = 2(25/6) = 25/3, or approximately 8.333 instead of the normal 7.
Your calculations neglect damage from critical hits. Usually the extra damage from critical hits is so small that it isn't worth it, but as you upcast Shadow Blade it will have more of an impact.
You should also look at how each build's damage improves with advantage. Shadow Blade potentially gives advantage and for the GWM fighter it may be worth it to use your first attack to shove your target prone so the rest of your attacks have advantage.
So lets see how these factors change the results. This is the formula I like to use to calculate an attacks expected damage: [(1 - chance to miss)(avg. dice damage + static damage bonuses)] + [(1 - chance to not crit)(avg. dice damage)]
The first set of brackets calculates the expected damage on a normal hit while the second set of brackets calculates the additional damage on a critical hit. You might ask "Why use (1 - chance to miss) instead of just (chance to hit)?" The reason is because it makes factoring in advantage or Elven Accuracy as simple as squaring or cubing the chance to miss. If you want to calculate your chance to hit with disadvantage that is just squaring or chance to hit on a straight roll.
Using this approach here are the results I get against the 21 AC target without using Action Surge:
So still pretty close, but if the target's AC were any lower it would be worthwhile for the GWM fighter to start using the -5 to hit for +10 damage and the gap widens as we reduce the targets AC as a result. Also we are still missing out on something in or calculations. GWM grants the ability to attack with your bonus action if you kill a creature with a melee weapon or score a crit with a melee weapon. We can't represent when a creature will die from one of our hits without guessing or estimating, but we can calculate the chance that we crit during one of our previous attacks. Here is what the GWM fighter's expected damage looks like after factoring that in:
Hopefully this was helpful and you can run the numbers for when you get 3 attacks per action at level 11 or what it looks like if you upcast Shadow Blade for more damage. Just remember that these calculations can only tell you about what you put into them and some things are simply not easily quantified.
Thanks a lot for the advices, you make great points. I did not see the incompatibility with Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade, and it is too bad for the eldritch knight.
As I'm playing a tank build Blur would be a much more solid choice but I DO also want to have a little fun with my measly any-school slots, so sometimes I forego the best choice and take a walk on the weird side. :D
I still think that, for a fighter, having a bonus action which gives you advantage on every attack roll for up to 10 rounds is not too bad, but in any situation other that a fight in the dark it really goes from awesome to bad really quickly.
blur is a bad spell ! it uses concentration which other more powerfull spell do not. use mirror image instead, literally can stop any attacks and doesn't need concentration. which means you can actually use your concentration on spells like shield of fate or things like that which adds further defense to your tank. look at what you can do and drop blur as soon as you find a better combo of spells.
Yo, Mirror Image and Blur both have their uses for defense. Neither is strickly better since they work differently they're both better and worse than each other depending on the situation.
Eg. Say you got a ton of lower CR mobs swarming you. Blur wins hands down. You got dozens of attacks coming at you per round the disadvantage applies to each one.
But vs a single heavy hitter making just one or two attacks? Mirror Image wins. Because it only block a couple attack if those attacks ain't big ones it was a waste of energy and time to even use it.
They both have their uses, and knowing when to use your abilities is important.
PS. Shield of Fate[sic] is a cleric/paladin spell, not an EK spell.
EK can take spells once in a while from other types of spells. but you are right, its not as if you couldn'T take a single level of cleric to the spell either. i mean, 1 single level gives you access to tons more spells.
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Shadow blade is a light weapon. Great Weapon Master can only be used with heavy weapons.
So you need to subtract 5 x 10 damage from your calculation.
I have found that I prefer to use hex now. I take the fey touched feat and take Misty Step and Hex. I use a great sword. At 5th level that's 6d6 + x2 modifier with re-rolls on 1s and 2s on the weapon damage. I then use my 8th level spell on Blur instead of shadow blade. I like the variety better than going just shadow blade.
Consider this...
Is shadow blade better then haste !
That is the only question you should ask yourself.
Ps... The answer is no...
DM of two gaming groups.
Likes to create stuff.
Check out my homebrew --> Monsters --> Magical Items --> Races --> Subclasses
If you like --> Upvote, If you wanna comment --> Comment
Play by Post Games
--> One Shot Adventure - House of Artwood (DM) (Completed)
I'll leave here my 2 cents:
I have an 8th level fighter-eldritch knight and I'm considering the lev 2 Shadow Blade. It is particularly well adapted to my fighting style, as
1- I have hi AC, Shield spell and Warcaster, so concentration is well supported
2- as an eldritch knight, choosing direct damage spells is never convenient, as your spell level is ridiculous (2nd at 7th char level) AND your saving throw is low, because you cannot max out Int, you are a fighter after all, so you better focus on spells that enhance melee combat and have no saving throws
3- Compared to a paladin or ranger, my wizard spell list contains almost no spells you can cast as a bonus action so more often than not you will prefer to make two weapon attacks instead of wasting your round on a weak invocation spell
Comparing it with my +2 Battleaxe, I get -2 to hit and damage, but deal 2d8 of damage instead of 1d8. So damage-wise I get better damage on average AND better damage output on a crit.
Hit-wise, the shadow blade strikes with advantage in dim or no light, and that's the real plus! if you can profit of such a situation, this is a lot better than the +2 to hit I'm losing by giving up my magic weapon. You should have Darkvision, always move without a torch, put out the lights when possible, etc.
Finally as of to hit probability, let's say that the enemy is really really tough (like 20+ AC) and you need a 12 to hit it with the +2 weapon:
- +2 weapon attack will have 45% of success
- shadow blade, so without +2 to hit, has a 35% of success
- but shadow blade with advantage has a 57.6% of success
Shadowblade can be a fantastic spell option for some people but not for you, or this character. Spending a limited resource to learn non evocation/abjuration spells, and your highest level slots to basically drop your hit by 2 and increase your average damage by 2.5 is just a bad trade.
You got better spell options to choose from.
Mobility:
Control/CC:
Defense:
Your normal spell choices need to be abj/evoc so you should have plenty of damage dealing options for these. Spending one of your very exclusive non-evoc known spells on a spell to increase your average damage by roughly 2.5 and lower your hit by 2 is not a good move. If all you wanted was more damage just pick up Enlarge/Reduce. This, at least, serves as utility while also increasing your damage by an average of 2.5 but without sacrificing your hit modifier to do it.
I'm a huge fan of shadowblade, it can be great. But if you're rockin a +2 battleaxe, as an eldritch knight, you have way better options. You can't even use it with your booming blade or green-flame blade cantrips. Which, for you, with War Magic, is kind of a big deal.
I got quotes!
Also remember that shadow blade deals psychic damage, which may be an issue for some creatures.
Thanks for the heads-up!
Thanks a lot for the advices, you make great points. I did not see the incompatibility with Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade, and it is too bad for the eldritch knight.
As I'm playing a tank build Blur would be a much more solid choice but I DO also want to have a little fun with my measly any-school slots, so sometimes I forego the best choice and take a walk on the weird side. :D
I still think that, for a fighter, having a bonus action which gives you advantage on every attack roll for up to 10 rounds is not too bad, but in any situation other that a fight in the dark it really goes from awesome to bad really quickly.
In response to the OP: No, it doesn't make regular weapons obsolete.
SB is a spell that only certain classes can use. So, for all those classes that don't have access to SB, the question doesn't make sense anymore. On the other hand, it is a spell that takes up concentration, which prevents you from using other options that also use concentration. Depending on the situation, you'll probably find it more useful to wield a regular weapon, and use your concentration on another spell (like haste, for example). And it obviously costs you a 2nd-level spell slot (or higher), which you might want to spend on something else.
So regular weapons are still useful even if you're a class that can cast Shadow Blade, and you're built for melee (if you're not going to melee, SB is pointless).
In my opinion, SB is a very good spell to build a character around it. For example if you are an elf with the feat, and you want to make sure you almost always hit with advantage (with three dice to catch crits). But even then, you have plenty of other options to catch criticals with that character, so it's not a must either.
The answer is yes, haste only lets you use 1 more weapon attack (it's not like action surge where you can use your extra attacks, it's just 1 weapon attack, in RAW you can't extra attack with haste as your new action, many dms allow it but by RAW you can't), so shadow blade ends up being a better dpr increase, so yes, shadow blade is better then haste in RAW. Since a upcast shadow blade is more avarege damege even with power attack (i calculated with accuracy in the dpr calculation, since power attack decreases accuracy i also used the accuracy of each attack to calculate avarege damege).
The calculation is as follow:
Obs: i won't use fighting styles into account, but i will use great weapon master damege calculations to show the difference betwen regular attack avarege dpr, and i will use 2 enemies in these exemples, one with relative low ac so great weapon master can show how usefull it can be and other with high ac. AC = armor class, dpa = damege per attack, dpr = damege per round. Note that after the complicated equasions i have a symplified version right after, so if you start to get confused by the full equasion go to the symplified one. Here is how the calculation goes:
Hit chance × avarage dpa on hit = true avarage dpa.
I will use an enemy with 15 ac, the attacker will be a level 10 eldritch knight fighter with +5 strengh modifier on this first example, you normaly have to hit a natural 6 or higher to hit this enemy [6 + 5 (STR MOD) + 4 (PROD BONUS) = 15] that's a 75% chance of hit, with great weapon master you decrease your roll by 5, so you'd have to hit a natural 11 to hit, so a 50% chance to hit.
The avarage damege on hit is with each weapon is the (minimal damege of the attack + maximum damege of the attack) ÷ 2. So on a greatsword, with a +5 strengh modifier, without great weapon master's power attack, it would be the {["minimum dice rolls" (2d6 can roll 1 two times, so it would be 1+1=2) + all damege modifiers (STR MOD = 5)] + ["maximum dice rolls" (2 d6 can roll 6 two times, so it would be 6+6=12) + all modifiers (STR MOD = 5)]} ÷2; Simplifying it, the equastion becomes: {[(1+1)+5]+[(6+6)+5]}÷2; Symplifying again it becomes [2+5+12+5]÷2; wich becomes 24÷2 wich becomes 12, so now we have an avarege of 12 damege per hit, now we calculate the avarage damege per attack with it's hit chance:
0,75 (75% chance to hit) × 12 = 9
So a regular great weapon attack for this fighter without power attack have a 9 avarege dpa.
Now with the power attack:
The power attack avarege damege per hit is "mimimal damege" [(1+1)+5+10(from power attack)]=17; + "maximum damage" [(6+6)+5+10]=27÷ 2; so simplifying it will become: (17+27)÷2; wich become 44÷2= 22; so power attack with greatsword have an avarege dpa of 22 on hit, now we will calculate with it's hit chance:
0,5×22= 11; so the avarage dpa for power attack is 11.
Now we will use shadow blade:
2d8+STR MOD.
So it becomes: minimum damege + maximum damege ÷2. Which is:
{[(1+1)+5]+[(8+8)+5]}÷2=; Symplifying:
(2+5+16+5)÷2=; symplifying:
28÷2=14.
Now with hit chance, since shadow blade have no power attack, it becomes this:
0,75×14= 10,5; so on a low ac enemy, greatsword with power attack wins.
Now on an enemy with higher ac, let's say 21 AC, now the regular attack have to hit a natural 12 to hit (45% chance to hit), and a power attack would have to roll a natural 17 to hit (20% chance to hit), let's see how they go now:
Regular great sword attacks:
0,45×12=5,4
Power attack:
0,2×22=4,4
Shadow blade:
0,45×14=6,3
So... yeah, when you fight enemies with high ac you deal more damege with shadow blade, and since it doesn't need 2 hands to hold it you can hold a shield or a spellcasting focus on your other hand, the damege becomes even greater when you unlock level 3 spell slots when you hit level 11, and instead of getting great weapon master you could get war caster or defensive duelist to get a feat that synergises better with one handed weapons and your spellcasting, since it's only 1 hand with the blade you could even have a rapier on your other hand and get the dual wielder feat to get a bonus action 2d8 and switch fighting styles on your next asr level.
Now let's compare shadow blade with haste:
Haste let's you get 1 more weapon attack with your current weapon. So let's see the level 10 eldritch knight avarege damege with haste:
We will calculate avarege damege per turn with your regular attacks and power attacks per turn with a greatsword on the high ac enemy, and we will use a shadow blade with another weapon as your off-hand weapon (i will use the cimitar, without dual wielder feat, but with two weapon fighting style to add damege mod, so only the fighting style, assuming the fighter with shadow blade have 20 dex so the modifier is the same), since we will use the high ac enemy, the dpa for the cimitar is:
0,45×[(1+5)+(6+5)]÷2; symplifying:
0,45×(6+11)÷2; symplifying:
0,45×17÷2=3,825 dpa
The normal attack have a 5,4 avarege damege per attack (with hit chance into account), a level 10 fighter with haste can do 3 attacks regularly, and 5 attacks with action surge, so the dpr is:
Regular attack (RA) with haste (H)
3×5,4=16,2
RA with H with action surge:
5×5,4=27
Now with power attack (PA) with H:
3×4,4=13,2
PA with H with action surge:
5×4,4=22
Now with shadow blade + cimitar (SBC):
(2×6,3)+3,825=16,425
Now SBC with action surge:
(4×6,3)+3,825=29,025
Once again, shadow blade wins, and the gap only becomes bigger with the next level since a level 11 eldritch knight not only can attack once more with shadow blade, he also gets level 3 spell slots, wich he can upcast shadow blade to deal 3d8 per hit, an it's psychic damege, which is rarely resisted, and you evem get to choose to either have an off-hand weapon to deal more damege or use a shield and get the defensive duelist feat, to get somo more ac without having to use a spell slot on shield, basicaly shadow blade is much better then a greatsword (unless you have a +3 magic greatsword, then they compete on equal footing... if you use the level 2 shadow blade, the upcasted version still wins).
But that's assuming you don't concentrate on other spells, as some peaple mansioned on previous replies, you have other spells you can concentrate on, and those spells can have a better effect on the battlefield, you can get web, enlarge/reduce, hold person, or on level 11 you can even get the slow and hypnotic pattern, shadow blade may be a damege boost, but is a pretty selfish spell, it doesn't synergise well with your teammates, so going for a regular weapon + other spells that require concentration and synergize well with your party's kit is more optional, then in the end shadow blade ends up becoming obsolete even with this damege boost per turn, it's better to pick other concentration options since they're better at crowd control and damege (not haste tough, unlike what many peaple think, you can't use your action you get from haste to do more then 1 weapon attack).
Shadow blade is a very well designed spell for Rogues. Lots of concentration spells do more damage. What makes Shadow Blade special is instead:
This lets it work with Sneak Attack. "The attack must use a finesse or a ranged weapon". That makes it a mostly unique spell and lets Rogues do unique things, in particular move their damage to psychic and defeat issues such as resistance and immunity to piercing damage (Treant)
For any other use, you need to compare other spells and with magic items, and with combinations of those. Particularly in a high power game where the players are getting artifacts. Most likely Shadow Blade will not be worth it. There will always be better spells and/or items available.
blur is a bad spell !
it uses concentration which other more powerfull spell do not.
use mirror image instead, literally can stop any attacks and doesn't need concentration.
which means you can actually use your concentration on spells like shield of fate or things like that which adds further defense to your tank.
look at what you can do and drop blur as soon as you find a better combo of spells.
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Yo, Mirror Image and Blur both have their uses for defense. Neither is strickly better since they work differently they're both better and worse than each other depending on the situation.
Eg. Say you got a ton of lower CR mobs swarming you. Blur wins hands down. You got dozens of attacks coming at you per round the disadvantage applies to each one.
But vs a single heavy hitter making just one or two attacks? Mirror Image wins. Because it only block a couple attack if those attacks ain't big ones it was a waste of energy and time to even use it.
They both have their uses, and knowing when to use your abilities is important.
PS. Shield of Fate[sic] is a cleric/paladin spell, not an EK spell.
I got quotes!
Blur vs Blink vs Mirror Image.
Blur: Major weakness = illusion. Too many creatures have blindsight or truesight. Also disadvantage cancels advantage. Too often it ends up being worthless. Concentration is also a weakness. Only 2nd level spell.
Blink: 3rd level. 50% of the time does nothing. 50% of the time is immune. No concentration needed, cancels advantaged attacks entirely. Lets you move an extra 10 ft, ignoring obstacles - can go right through doors. No issue with illusions/blindsight, etc.
Mirror Image: 2nd level, no concentration. Ignores advantage issues. Has blindsight/truesight etc. problems. Usually only saves you from 3 hits.
Blink is so much better than the other two it is no contest. Till you get Blink, Mirror Image is a better spell for short battles IF you have a party to take some hits. Without a party tanking for you, Mirror Image will go away in a single round, so Blur, even with the chance of losing a concentration check, is a better deal.
Often, Darkness and Web are a better idea for 2nd level defensive spells, despite not being directly protective.
Yeah hands down Web is the winner. It is my auto-pick for any spellcaster that has access to it.
I got quotes!
This is some good working out! I just wanted to share some points and my own analysis comparing the two.
Here are some improvements you can make:
So lets see how these factors change the results. This is the formula I like to use to calculate an attacks expected damage:
[(1 - chance to miss)(avg. dice damage + static damage bonuses)] + [(1 - chance to not crit)(avg. dice damage)]
The first set of brackets calculates the expected damage on a normal hit while the second set of brackets calculates the additional damage on a critical hit. You might ask "Why use (1 - chance to miss) instead of just (chance to hit)?" The reason is because it makes factoring in advantage or Elven Accuracy as simple as squaring or cubing the chance to miss. If you want to calculate your chance to hit with disadvantage that is just squaring or chance to hit on a straight roll.
Using this approach here are the results I get against the 21 AC target without using Action Surge:
GWM+Haste: 3[(1 - 0.55)(8.333 + 5) + (1 - 0.95)(8.333)] = 19.2495 DPR
TWF+Shadow Blade: 2[(1 - 0.55)(9 + 5) + (1 - 0.95)(9)] + [(1 - 0.55)(3.5 + 5) + (1 - 0.95)(3.5)] = 17.5 DPR
Here are the results with Action Surge:
GWM+Haste: 5[(1 - 0.55)(8.333 + 5) + (1 - 0.95)(8.333)] = 32.0825 DPR
TWF+Shadow Blade: 4[(1 - 0.55)(9 + 5) + (1 - 0.95)(9)] + [(1 - 0.55)(3.5 + 5) + (1 - 0.95)(3.5)] = 31 DPR
Now lets look at the Action Surge results if both have advantage:
GWM+Haste: 5[(1 - 0.55^2)(8.333 + 5) + (1 - 0.95^2)(8.333)] = 50.5612 DPR
TWF+Shadow Blade: 4[(1 - 0.55^2)(9 + 5) + (1 - 0.95^2)(9)] + [(1 - 0.55^2)(3.5 + 5) + (1 - 0.95^2)(3.5)] = 48.84 DPR
So still pretty close, but if the target's AC were any lower it would be worthwhile for the GWM fighter to start using the -5 to hit for +10 damage and the gap widens as we reduce the targets AC as a result. Also we are still missing out on something in or calculations. GWM grants the ability to attack with your bonus action if you kill a creature with a melee weapon or score a crit with a melee weapon. We can't represent when a creature will die from one of our hits without guessing or estimating, but we can calculate the chance that we crit during one of our previous attacks. Here is what the GWM fighter's expected damage looks like after factoring that in:
(no Action Surge)GWM+Haste: 3[(1 - 0.55)(8.333 + 5) + (1 - 0.95)(8.333)] + (1 - 0.95^3)[(1 - 0.55)(8.333 + 5) + (1 - 0.95)(8.333)] = 20.1647 DPR
(Action Surge)GWM+Haste: 5[(1 - 0.55)(8.333 + 5) + (1 - 0.95)(8.333)] + (1 - 0.95^5)[(1 - 0.55)(8.333 + 5) + (1 - 0.95)(8.333)] = 33.5340 DPR
(w/ Advantage)GWM+Haste: 5[(1 - 0.55^2)(8.333 + 5) + (1 - 0.95^2)(8.333)] + (1 - 0.95^10)[(1 - 0.55^2)(8.333 + 5) + (1 - 0.95^2)(8.333)] = 54.6188 DPR
Hopefully this was helpful and you can run the numbers for when you get 3 attacks per action at level 11 or what it looks like if you upcast Shadow Blade for more damage. Just remember that these calculations can only tell you about what you put into them and some things are simply not easily quantified.
EK can take spells once in a while from other types of spells. but you are right, its not as if you couldn'T take a single level of cleric to the spell either. i mean, 1 single level gives you access to tons more spells.
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