Hiya Everybody! My goal for this build was max damage to 1 target in one round with an easy to achieve gear and setup for level 20. No infinite wishes/ stat tomes. No elaborate tactics or spell stacks. Just a simple killer anyone could achieve to become the world’s deadliest sniper at lvl 20. Enjoy!
Race: pick bugbear for an extra 2d6 per attack since attacking first in combat. Roll for stats till you get an 18 and a 17. Use Origin +2 to dex (17 base) and +1 to wis (18 base) maybe you’ll gain a wisdom point in your travels. Need these stats for extra damage (+5 at 20 dex) and initiative (+5 from 20 dex/ and +4 or 5 from 19/20 wis and dread ambusher. Class 17 (rogue) assassin/ 3 (ranger) gloom stalker. Skills: In ranger take fighting style archery for +2 to hit (you REALLY don't want to miss your shots). Dread ambusher gives a 2nd shot and extra 1d8. Umbral sight so you can be invis in darkness waiting for your target. For rogue feats: fighting initiate archery (not same skill as above) for +2 more to hit. Sharpshooter so you can use max range without disadvantage and +10 damage (also don't want to cancel advantage from hide/invis from possible range disadvantages). Piercer (+dex), you are going to crit and roll with advantage due to assassinate skill so extra weapon damage die (will be using Oathbow so 1d8). Take alert for the extra +5 initiative bonus. Finally lucky to get a 3rd roll to hit. In addition to the Oathbow mentioned before for equipment you'll need arrows of slaying x2, bracers of archery, purple worm poison, and any weapon with "of warning" (just need to carry it on you). Attune to Oathbow, bracers, and of warning weapon. Bracers give an extra +2 damage. Oathbow gives extra 3d6 vs sworn target. Of warning weapon gives you advantage on initiative rolls. You ready your attack with the condition when your cleric of the grave buddy raises his hand in a gesture of prayer (casts path of the grave on target) you attack. Now the fun part: the damage breakdown. For the first arrow you get doubling from crit, then double again from death strike, then double again from path of the grave for: arrow of slaying (6d10), bugbear racial (2d6), piercer feat (1d8), longbow (1d8), purple worm poison (12d6), Oathbow (3d6), sneak attack (9d6); the following don't benefit from crit doubling but DO from death strike and path of grave doubling: bracers of archery +2, dex bonus +5, sharpshooter +10.
48d10 / 12d8 / 104d6 / + 68
For bonus shot from dread ambusher only get doubling from crit and death strike on: another arrow of slaying (6d10), bugbear racial (2d6), piercer feat (1d8), longbow (1d8), purple worm poison (12d6), Oathbow (3d6), and dread ambusher’s 2 shot (1d8). Then death strike double bonuses from bracers of archery +2, dex bonus +5, and sharpshooter +10.
24d10 / 12d8 / 68d6 / +34
For a max damage of: 2046 in one round to a single target.
Hiya Everybody! My goal for this build was max damage to 1 target in one round with an easy to achieve gear and setup for level 20. No infinite wishes/ stat tomes. No elaborate tactics or spell stacks. Just a simple killer anyone could achieve to become the world’s deadliest sniper at lvl 20. Enjoy!
Race: pick bugbear for an extra 2d6 per attack since attacking first in combat. Roll for stats till you get an 18 and a 17. Use Origin +2 to dex (17 base) and +1 to wis (18 base) maybe you’ll gain a wisdom point in your travels. Need these stats for extra damage (+5 at 20 dex) and initiative (+5 from 20 dex/ and +4 or 5 from 19/20 wis and dread ambusher. Class 17 (rogue) assassin/ 3 (ranger) gloom stalker. Skills: In ranger take fighting style archery for +2 to hit (you REALLY don't want to miss your shots). Dread ambusher gives a 2nd shot and extra 1d8. Umbral sight so you can be invis in darkness waiting for your target. For rogue feats: fighting initiate archery (not same skill as above) for +2 more to hit. Sharpshooter so you can use max range without disadvantage and +10 damage (also don't want to cancel advantage from hide/invis from possible range disadvantages). Piercer (+dex), you are going to crit and roll with advantage due to assassinate skill so extra weapon damage die (will be using Oathbow so 1d8). Take alert for the extra +5 initiative bonus. Finally lucky to get a 3rd roll to hit. In addition to the Oathbow mentioned before for equipment you'll need arrows of slaying x2, bracers of archery, purple worm poison, and any weapon with "of warning" (just need to carry it on you). Attune to Oathbow, bracers, and of warning weapon. Bracers give an extra +2 damage. Oathbow gives extra 3d6 vs sworn target. Of warning weapon gives you advantage on initiative rolls. You ready your attack with the condition when your cleric of the grave buddy raises his hand in a gesture of prayer (casts path of the grave on target) you attack. Now the fun part: the damage breakdown. For the first arrow you get doubling from crit, then double again from death strike, then double again from path of the grave for: arrow of slaying (6d10), bugbear racial (2d6), piercer feat (1d8), longbow (1d8), purple worm poison (12d6), Oathbow (3d6), sneak attack (9d6); the following don't benefit from crit doubling but DO from death strike and path of grave doubling: bracers of archery +2, dex bonus +5, sharpshooter +10.
48d10 / 12d8 / 104d6 / + 68
For bonus shot from dread ambusher only get doubling from crit and death strike on: another arrow of slaying (6d10), bugbear racial (2d6), piercer feat (1d8), longbow (1d8), purple worm poison (12d6), Oathbow (3d6), and dread ambusher’s 2 shot (1d8). Then death strike double bonuses from bracers of archery +2, dex bonus +5, and sharpshooter +10.
24d10 / 12d8 / 68d6 / +34
For a max damage of: 2046 in one round to a single target.
Sadly you have many errors in your build. I only have time to go over a few of the more glaring ones. First off Fighting Styles do not stack. Just because you take the Fighting Initiate feat does not mean you can take the Archery Fighting Style twice.
Second point when you Ready your Action to make an Attack you are not taking the Attack Action so Dread Ambusher will not trigger.
Third point, you forgot to mention that your Grave Cleric buddy must also surprise your enemy otherwise your Assassins' Dread Strike ability will not trigger. While this is not impossible it does increase the difficulty as a Cleric will most likely not be as sneaky as a Rogue/Ranger multiclass.
Fourth point. Rerolling stats until you get a 18 and a 17 requires a very generous DM and should not be the expected from most DMs.
That is all I have time to critique, I hope you have a nice day.
Ty for the critique; I've learned some things and have grown stronger from it! lol DnD Beyond character builder allowed for the double archery so thought that worked; after reading nope. Learned readying an action is not just waiting to use an action; but ends your turn and makes it a reaction. Magi do you really consider path of the grave as something that would start initiative? (I don't) Doesn't do any damage or noticeable effects till target is attacked. Guess up to your DM. 4th point don't be a stingy DM lol. But since we aren't taking archery twice; can use an ability improve slot for +2 dex; +2 from origin, +1 from piercer; now you just need a base 15 and could get that even if your table plays point buy. Further revision: drop the gloom ranger. go 17 rogue/ 2 fighter/ 1 war cleric. Now you get action surge from fighter and a bonus attack per attack action from war priest. Will need 2 more arrows of slaying and 2 more doses of worm poison. But now you don't have to ready an action, don't need a priest friend, you get your archery skill from fighting style fighter vs feats and you can do 4 attacks in 1 round, all crit, all death strikable (only one gets the sneak damage though). Best of all..... the new damage max is now 3136 ! :)
Ty for the critique; I've learned some things and have grown stronger from it! lol DnD Beyond character builder allowed for the double archery so thought that worked; after reading nope. Learned readying an action is not just waiting to use an action; but ends your turn and makes it a reaction. Magi do you really consider path of the grave as something that would start initiative? (I don't) Doesn't do any damage or noticeable effects till target is attacked. Guess up to your DM. 4th point don't be a stingy DM lol. But since we aren't taking archery twice; can use an ability improve slot for +2 dex; +2 from origin, +1 from piercer; now you just need a base 15 and could get that even if your table plays point buy. Further revision: drop the gloom ranger. go 17 rogue/ 2 fighter/ 1 war cleric. Now you get action surge from fighter and a bonus attack per attack action from war priest. Will need 2 more arrows of slaying and 2 more doses of worm poison. But now you don't have to ready an action, don't need a priest friend, you get your archery skill from fighting style fighter vs feats and you can do 4 attacks in 1 round, all crit, all death strikable (only one gets the sneak damage though). Best of all..... the new damage max is now 3136 ! :)
How do you get 4 attacks? By my count you get 1 attack from your Action, 1 from Action Surge and 1 more from your Bonus Action. Also the issue about Path of the Grave triggering initiative will be a question for the DM. All I can say is in my experience from both playing and DMing, a debuff generally provokes a negative reaction (and hence trigger initiative rolls if combat has not already begun) and Path of the Grave is most definitely a debuff in my books lol (its literally a curse).
Yeah I agree, average damage is a better metric of how much damage a build actually does. Post minimum, average, and maximum together for a more complete picture if you want. But average damage matters more than a maximum that will never be rolled.
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Level 20 wizard who casts wish to give something infinite hp and then casts it again at some point to get rid of that thing. Technically infinite dpr since infinity/x = infinity with x in this case being rounds since you casted that wish spell.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
[roll]7d6[/roll]
Every post these dice roll increasing my chances of winning the yahtzee thread (I wish (wait not the twist the wish threa-!))
vHuman Battlemaster 11+ / Gloomstalker 4. Crossbow Expert, Sharpshooter. Dread Ambusher + Action Surge + Precision Strike maneuver if needed. 9 attacks in a row in the first round and then 4 consistent attacks every round.
Ideal breakdown is CBE from vHuman, Fighter 5-6 to get Sharpshooter and/or increase DEX. Then 3-4 levels of Ranger. Being effective since level 1.
A lot of people loves Assassin Rogue. It’s nice. But the truth is that surprise is not so easy to get, specially if your party is full of heavy armor users. Ranger 5 mitigates that with Pass without Trace spell, but it’s a high investment.
Why are you guys talking about theoretical max damage? In most of these builds the chances of ever actually seeing that damage in game is about the same as your chance to get hit by lightning. Also SPOILER! the maximum damage that any build can do RAW in one round is to a single target is : 676 because that is the highest HP of any monster in the game.
Also PS the highest total damage build is a pure Druid that uses Tsunami against a packed coastal city. In the first round it fills a 300x300x50 foot area potentially hitting 36000 different medium sized creatures each for theoretically 60 bludgeoning damage = 2,160,000 damage on the first round.
The wave also last for 6 rounds which if we assume every 5ft cube that the wave moves through is filled with a medium sized creature, and we roll max damage each time gives a total damage for the spell of: Round 1: 2,160,000 Round 2: 1,500,000 Round 3: 960,000 Round 4: 540,000 Round 5: 240,000 Round 6: 60,000 For a grand total of: 3,516,000 damage from a single spell.
Actually since Tsunami is a 8th level spell, anyone with Wish can cast it as a single action where ever they want. For more realistic DPR from Tsunami...
Assumptions: "enemies" are commoners (+0 save), you are a 20th level character with spell DC = 20, so they have to roll a crit to save.
The settlement you are targeting is entirely made up of houses, and each house is 20 ft x 50 ft in size and houses an average sized family of 4 people. For convenience, people are all inside their houses and are asleep so they can't run to escape the wave.
Footprint of the wave is 50 ft x 300 ft = 15 houses
Round 1: average damage per failed save = 6*5.5 = 33 damage, chance to save is 0.05, so damage per target is 32. Average DPR = 32*4*15 = 1920 (57 people are caught in the wave and remain within it) Round 2: damage per target is 27, number of targets = 57+4*15 = Average DPR = 3137 (111 people are caught in the wave) Round 3: 21 damage per target, number of targets = 111+4*15 = Average DPR = 3668 (162 people are caught in the wave) Round 4: Average DPR = 3571 (210 people caught) Round 5: Average DPR = 2896 (256 people caught) Round 6: Average DPR = 1695 (300 people caught)
Total DPR across 6 rounds = 16887 = highest total DPR per "combat"
Alternatively, Meteor Swarm targeting the same settlement: 40 ft radius area = 4 houses per meteor = 64 targets x 136 damage per target = 8736 DPR = highest achievable DPR in 1 round.
If you want a ranged build that doesn't rely on surprise entirely or magic items (though they would be helpful) then here's one I think everyone knows:
Variant Human Hexblade Warlock 2/Gloom Stalker Ranger 3/ Assassin Rogue 3/ Battle Master or Champion FIghter 12
At level 1 you get crossbow expert feat and start as a hexblade warlock who takes the Hex spell
At level 2 take your second warlock level; technically not necessary for the build but I like to do this so that I can take Devil's Sight for darkvision on my human and if you have another recommendation that'd be nice
At level 3 you multiclass into Fighter for 6 levels getting you archery fighting style, action surge, precision strike/improved critical depending on subclass, extra attack, and 2 ASI; first ASI for +2 cha getting it to 18 with point buy, second one for sharpshooter
At level 9 you get your first Ranger level giving you Hunter's Mark which will replace Hex for most situations; you continue in Ranger to get Gloom Stalker's first ability which I learned on this thread can be exploited to get two additional attacks with an extra 1d8 damage due to action surge
At level 12 you get your first Rogue level and I know that above I say that I won't rely on surprise but it's still nice to have that option for crits with Assassin by level 14 and you do get the reliable 2d6 sneak attack on one attack each turn
You go Level 15-20 in fighter to get two more ASI and another extra attack getting your cha to 20 with the first ASI and the second can be alert to exploit the assassin advantage by going first
Using a Hand Crossbow with this at level 20 it does have some set up required. Turn 1 for Hexblades Curse as a bonus action, Turn 2 for Hunter's Mark bonus Action, then Turn 3 you can go all out.
Assuming the above thing for Gloom Stalker Action Surge is true use action surge turn 1 but if not use it turn 3 when everything is up
If we assume that you set up before taking your first turn then the damage would look like this
First Attack: Hand Crossbow 1d6+5 (8.5 avg.)+Hunter's Mark 1d6(3.5 avg.)+Hexblade's Curse 5 damage+Sneak Attack 2d6(7 avg.)
Second Attack(Gloom Stalker): Hand Crossbow 1d6+5(8.5 avg.)+Hunter's Mark 1d6(3.5 avg.)+Hexblade's Curse 5 damage+Gloom Stalker 1d8(4.5 avg.)+Sneak Attack 2d6(7 avg.)
Third Attack is same as first
Fourth Attack is same as first
Fifth Attack as a bonus action is same as first
Action Surge to do 4 more attacks one of them getting the d8 from gloom stalker
Total Avg Damage: 28.5(2)+23.5(7) = 221.5 avg. damage on turn 1
By far not the strongest build but it does pretty well for itself and does pretty good in low levels as well
If you want a ranged build that doesn't rely on surprise entirely or magic items (though they would be helpful) then here's one I think everyone knows:
Variant Human Hexblade Warlock 2/Gloom Stalker Ranger 3/ Assassin Rogue 3/ Battle Master or Champion FIghter 12
At level 1 you get crossbow expert feat and start as a hexblade warlock who takes the Hex spell
At level 2 take your second warlock level; technically not necessary for the build but I like to do this so that I can take Devil's Sight for darkvision on my human and if you have another recommendation that'd be nice
At level 3 you multiclass into Fighter for 6 levels getting you archery fighting style, action surge, precision strike/improved critical depending on subclass, extra attack, and 2 ASI; first ASI for +2 cha getting it to 18 with point buy, second one for sharpshooter
At level 9 you get your first Ranger level giving you Hunter's Mark which will replace Hex for most situations; you continue in Ranger to get Gloom Stalker's first ability which I learned on this thread can be exploited to get two additional attacks with an extra 1d8 damage due to action surge
At level 12 you get your first Rogue level and I know that above I say that I won't rely on surprise but it's still nice to have that option for crits with Assassin by level 14 and you do get the reliable 2d6 sneak attack on one attack each turn
You go Level 15-20 in fighter to get two more ASI and another extra attack getting your cha to 20 with the first ASI and the second can be alert to exploit the assassin advantage by going first
Using a Hand Crossbow with this at level 20 it does have some set up required. Turn 1 for Hexblades Curse as a bonus action, Turn 2 for Hunter's Mark bonus Action, then Turn 3 you can go all out.
Assuming the above thing for Gloom Stalker Action Surge is true use action surge turn 1 but if not use it turn 3 when everything is up
If we assume that you set up before taking your first turn then the damage would look like this
First Attack: Hand Crossbow 1d6+5 (8.5 avg.)+Hunter's Mark 1d6(3.5 avg.)+Hexblade's Curse 5 damage+Sneak Attack 2d6(7 avg.)
Second Attack(Gloom Stalker): Hand Crossbow 1d6+5(8.5 avg.)+Hunter's Mark 1d6(3.5 avg.)+Hexblade's Curse 5 damage+Gloom Stalker 1d8(4.5 avg.)+Sneak Attack 2d6(7 avg.)
Third Attack is same as first
Fourth Attack is same as first
Fifth Attack as a bonus action is same as first
Action Surge to do 4 more attacks one of them getting the d8 from gloom stalker
Total Avg Damage: 28.5(2)+23.5(7) = 221.5 avg. damage on turn 1
By far not the strongest build but it does pretty well for itself and does pretty good in low levels as well
the gloomstalker dread ambusher attack won't have the hunters mark and hexblade curse both unless you set those up before combat began. which is not impossible mind you.
High elf for race. Choose booming blade for your cantrip. Or Variant Human and get booming blade with your wizard levels (take Defensive Duelist for extra AC). Or some other race that does extra damage. Not really important for the build.
Use point buy + racial bonuses for STR 8 | DEX 16 | CON 14 | INT 16 | WIS 12 | CHA 8
The only important stats are DEX and INT, so you can swap things around to suit your needs. Just don't dump CON.
As an 8th level multiclass caster, you have 4 1st level slots, 3 2nd level slots, 3 3rd level slots and 2 4th level slots.
Get Expertise in Stealth and the Dueling Fighting Style.
With studded leather and a shield you can get 19 AC without magic items.
You have 4 ASIs. Use them for DEX to 20, Alert, and Metamagic Adept (Quickened Spell)
You should have +17 to Stealth and +13 to initiative. Use Action Surge, Attack 6 times, Divine Smite on each of them, Sneak Attack on whichever ones you want, maneuvers also on whichever ones you want. Finally, Quickened Spell a booming blade and smite on that as well. Everything will crit because of Assassin.
Damage is 14d4 + 42d12 + 62d8 + 4d6 + 49. Plus 4d8 if they move. Let's assume they don't. Minimum 171, Average 653, Maximum 1129.
You can add purple worm poison for even more damage.
High elf for race. Choose booming blade for your cantrip. Or VHuman and get booming blade with your wizard levels (take Defensive Duelist for extra AC).
Use point buy + racial bonuses for STR 8 | DEX 16 | CON 14 | INT 16 | WIS 12 | CHA 8
The only important stats are DEX and INT, so you can swap things around to suit your needs. Just don't dump CON.
Learn any maneuvers that add the superiority dice's roll to the damage.
As a 4th level multiclass caster, you have 4 1st level slots and 3 2nd level slots.
Get Expertise in Stealth and the Dueling Fighting Style.
With studded leather and shield you can get 19 AC without magic items.
You have 4 ASIs. Use them for DEX to 20, Alert, and Metamagic Adept (Quickened Spell)
You should have +17 to Stealth and +13 to initiative. Use Action Surge, Attack 6 times, Divine Smite on each of them, Sneak Attack on whichever ones you want, maneuvers also on whichever ones you want. Finally, Quickened Spell a booming blade and smite on that as well. Everything will crit because of Assassin.
Damage is 14d4 + 42d12 + 44d8 + 4d6 + 10d10 + 49. Minimum 163, Average 624, Maximum 1085.
You can add purple worm poison for even more damage.
Might be a little hard to get Paladin levels when you only have 8 STR and 8 CHA.
Bugbear, 3 ftr bm 5 rngr gloom 3 rogue assn 5 clr grave 4 pal devot, piercer, gift o chrom dragn, you have low con but dex is 20, a +3 shortsword and another regular shortsword, you're going to hide, use sacred weapon, then next round cast lvl 5 spirit shroud and use gift o chrom dragon, next round us Path to the Grave. Then next round you jump out and stab the tarrasque 7 times because gloom stalker action surge dual weapons, for: (6d6 shortsword + 12d6 bugbear + 12d8 shroud + 5d4 chrom +10d8+12d8+3d8 smites)x2 crit +6d6 piercer+ 45 shortsword + ((1d6 short +2d6 bug +2d6 sneak +1d4 chrom +5d8 smite)x2 crit +1d6 piercer +8 short)x2 grave = 677 average dpr.
Just put a level 20 bugbear rogue assassin with flame tongue shortsword against a guy thats restrained, prone, paralized...
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Hiya Everybody! My goal for this build was max damage to 1 target in one round with an easy to achieve gear and setup for level 20. No infinite wishes/ stat tomes. No elaborate tactics or spell stacks. Just a simple killer anyone could achieve to become the world’s deadliest sniper at lvl 20. Enjoy!
Race: pick bugbear for an extra 2d6 per attack since attacking first in combat. Roll for stats till you get an 18 and a 17. Use Origin +2 to dex (17 base) and +1 to wis (18 base) maybe you’ll gain a wisdom point in your travels. Need these stats for extra damage (+5 at 20 dex) and initiative (+5 from 20 dex/ and +4 or 5 from 19/20 wis and dread ambusher. Class 17 (rogue) assassin/ 3 (ranger) gloom stalker. Skills: In ranger take fighting style archery for +2 to hit (you REALLY don't want to miss your shots). Dread ambusher gives a 2nd shot and extra 1d8. Umbral sight so you can be invis in darkness waiting for your target. For rogue feats: fighting initiate archery (not same skill as above) for +2 more to hit. Sharpshooter so you can use max range without disadvantage and +10 damage (also don't want to cancel advantage from hide/invis from possible range disadvantages). Piercer (+dex), you are going to crit and roll with advantage due to assassinate skill so extra weapon damage die (will be using Oathbow so 1d8). Take alert for the extra +5 initiative bonus. Finally lucky to get a 3rd roll to hit. In addition to the Oathbow mentioned before for equipment you'll need arrows of slaying x2, bracers of archery, purple worm poison, and any weapon with "of warning" (just need to carry it on you). Attune to Oathbow, bracers, and of warning weapon. Bracers give an extra +2 damage. Oathbow gives extra 3d6 vs sworn target. Of warning weapon gives you advantage on initiative rolls. You ready your attack with the condition when your cleric of the grave buddy raises his hand in a gesture of prayer (casts path of the grave on target) you attack. Now the fun part: the damage breakdown. For the first arrow you get doubling from crit, then double again from death strike, then double again from path of the grave for: arrow of slaying (6d10), bugbear racial (2d6), piercer feat (1d8), longbow (1d8), purple worm poison (12d6), Oathbow (3d6), sneak attack (9d6); the following don't benefit from crit doubling but DO from death strike and path of grave doubling: bracers of archery +2, dex bonus +5, sharpshooter +10.
48d10 / 12d8 / 104d6 / + 68
For bonus shot from dread ambusher only get doubling from crit and death strike on: another arrow of slaying (6d10), bugbear racial (2d6), piercer feat (1d8), longbow (1d8), purple worm poison (12d6), Oathbow (3d6), and dread ambusher’s 2 shot (1d8). Then death strike double bonuses from bracers of archery +2, dex bonus +5, and sharpshooter +10.
24d10 / 12d8 / 68d6 / +34
For a max damage of: 2046 in one round to a single target.
Sadly you have many errors in your build. I only have time to go over a few of the more glaring ones. First off Fighting Styles do not stack. Just because you take the Fighting Initiate feat does not mean you can take the Archery Fighting Style twice.
Second point when you Ready your Action to make an Attack you are not taking the Attack Action so Dread Ambusher will not trigger.
Third point, you forgot to mention that your Grave Cleric buddy must also surprise your enemy otherwise your Assassins' Dread Strike ability will not trigger. While this is not impossible it does increase the difficulty as a Cleric will most likely not be as sneaky as a Rogue/Ranger multiclass.
Fourth point. Rerolling stats until you get a 18 and a 17 requires a very generous DM and should not be the expected from most DMs.
That is all I have time to critique, I hope you have a nice day.
Ty for the critique; I've learned some things and have grown stronger from it! lol DnD Beyond character builder allowed for the double archery so thought that worked; after reading nope. Learned readying an action is not just waiting to use an action; but ends your turn and makes it a reaction. Magi do you really consider path of the grave as something that would start initiative? (I don't) Doesn't do any damage or noticeable effects till target is attacked. Guess up to your DM. 4th point don't be a stingy DM lol. But since we aren't taking archery twice; can use an ability improve slot for +2 dex; +2 from origin, +1 from piercer; now you just need a base 15 and could get that even if your table plays point buy. Further revision: drop the gloom ranger. go 17 rogue/ 2 fighter/ 1 war cleric. Now you get action surge from fighter and a bonus attack per attack action from war priest. Will need 2 more arrows of slaying and 2 more doses of worm poison. But now you don't have to ready an action, don't need a priest friend, you get your archery skill from fighting style fighter vs feats and you can do 4 attacks in 1 round, all crit, all death strikable (only one gets the sneak damage though). Best of all..... the new damage max is now 3136 ! :)
How do you get 4 attacks? By my count you get 1 attack from your Action, 1 from Action Surge and 1 more from your Bonus Action. Also the issue about Path of the Grave triggering initiative will be a question for the DM. All I can say is in my experience from both playing and DMing, a debuff generally provokes a negative reaction (and hence trigger initiative rolls if combat has not already begun) and Path of the Grave is most definitely a debuff in my books lol (its literally a curse).
Also, don't use max damage unless you can guarantee it with a feature/item, use average damage.
Average damage shows how impactful flat bonuses are and gives a realistic expectation in play. Max damage just incentivises bigger dice.
Yeah I agree, average damage is a better metric of how much damage a build actually does. Post minimum, average, and maximum together for a more complete picture if you want. But average damage matters more than a maximum that will never be rolled.
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Level 20 wizard who casts wish to give something infinite hp and then casts it again at some point to get rid of that thing. Technically infinite dpr since infinity/x = infinity with x in this case being rounds since you casted that wish spell.
[roll]7d6[/roll]
Every post these dice roll increasing my chances of winning the yahtzee thread (I wish (wait not the twist the wish threa-!))
Drummer Generated Title
After having been invited to include both here, I now combine the "PM me CHEESE 🧀 and tomato into PM me "PIZZA🍕"
vHuman Battlemaster 11+ / Gloomstalker 4.
Crossbow Expert, Sharpshooter. Dread Ambusher + Action Surge + Precision Strike maneuver if needed. 9 attacks in a row in the first round and then 4 consistent attacks every round.
Ideal breakdown is CBE from vHuman, Fighter 5-6 to get Sharpshooter and/or increase DEX. Then 3-4 levels of Ranger. Being effective since level 1.
A lot of people loves Assassin Rogue. It’s nice. But the truth is that surprise is not so easy to get, specially if your party is full of heavy armor users. Ranger 5 mitigates that with Pass without Trace spell, but it’s a high investment.
Why are you guys talking about theoretical max damage? In most of these builds the chances of ever actually seeing that damage in game is about the same as your chance to get hit by lightning. Also SPOILER! the maximum damage that any build can do RAW in one round is to a single target is : 676 because that is the highest HP of any monster in the game.
Also PS the highest total damage build is a pure Druid that uses Tsunami against a packed coastal city. In the first round it fills a 300x300x50 foot area potentially hitting 36000 different medium sized creatures each for theoretically 60 bludgeoning damage = 2,160,000 damage on the first round.
The wave also last for 6 rounds which if we assume every 5ft cube that the wave moves through is filled with a medium sized creature, and we roll max damage each time gives a total damage for the spell of:
Round 1: 2,160,000
Round 2: 1,500,000
Round 3: 960,000
Round 4: 540,000
Round 5: 240,000
Round 6: 60,000
For a grand total of: 3,516,000 damage from a single spell.
Actually since Tsunami is a 8th level spell, anyone with Wish can cast it as a single action where ever they want. For more realistic DPR from Tsunami...
Assumptions: "enemies" are commoners (+0 save), you are a 20th level character with spell DC = 20, so they have to roll a crit to save.
The settlement you are targeting is entirely made up of houses, and each house is 20 ft x 50 ft in size and houses an average sized family of 4 people. For convenience, people are all inside their houses and are asleep so they can't run to escape the wave.
Footprint of the wave is 50 ft x 300 ft = 15 houses
Round 1: average damage per failed save = 6*5.5 = 33 damage, chance to save is 0.05, so damage per target is 32.
Average DPR = 32*4*15 = 1920 (57 people are caught in the wave and remain within it)
Round 2: damage per target is 27, number of targets = 57+4*15 = Average DPR = 3137 (111 people are caught in the wave)
Round 3: 21 damage per target, number of targets = 111+4*15 = Average DPR = 3668 (162 people are caught in the wave)
Round 4: Average DPR = 3571 (210 people caught)
Round 5: Average DPR = 2896 (256 people caught)
Round 6: Average DPR = 1695 (300 people caught)
Total DPR across 6 rounds = 16887 = highest total DPR per "combat"
Alternatively, Meteor Swarm targeting the same settlement:
40 ft radius area = 4 houses per meteor = 64 targets x 136 damage per target = 8736 DPR = highest achievable DPR in 1 round.
If you want a ranged build that doesn't rely on surprise entirely or magic items (though they would be helpful) then here's one I think everyone knows:
Variant Human Hexblade Warlock 2/Gloom Stalker Ranger 3/ Assassin Rogue 3/ Battle Master or Champion FIghter 12
At level 1 you get crossbow expert feat and start as a hexblade warlock who takes the Hex spell
At level 2 take your second warlock level; technically not necessary for the build but I like to do this so that I can take Devil's Sight for darkvision on my human and if you have another recommendation that'd be nice
At level 3 you multiclass into Fighter for 6 levels getting you archery fighting style, action surge, precision strike/improved critical depending on subclass, extra attack, and 2 ASI; first ASI for +2 cha getting it to 18 with point buy, second one for sharpshooter
At level 9 you get your first Ranger level giving you Hunter's Mark which will replace Hex for most situations; you continue in Ranger to get Gloom Stalker's first ability which I learned on this thread can be exploited to get two additional attacks with an extra 1d8 damage due to action surge
At level 12 you get your first Rogue level and I know that above I say that I won't rely on surprise but it's still nice to have that option for crits with Assassin by level 14 and you do get the reliable 2d6 sneak attack on one attack each turn
You go Level 15-20 in fighter to get two more ASI and another extra attack getting your cha to 20 with the first ASI and the second can be alert to exploit the assassin advantage by going first
Using a Hand Crossbow with this at level 20 it does have some set up required. Turn 1 for Hexblades Curse as a bonus action, Turn 2 for Hunter's Mark bonus Action, then Turn 3 you can go all out.
Assuming the above thing for Gloom Stalker Action Surge is true use action surge turn 1 but if not use it turn 3 when everything is up
If we assume that you set up before taking your first turn then the damage would look like this
First Attack: Hand Crossbow 1d6+5 (8.5 avg.)+Hunter's Mark 1d6(3.5 avg.)+Hexblade's Curse 5 damage+Sneak Attack 2d6(7 avg.)
Second Attack(Gloom Stalker): Hand Crossbow 1d6+5(8.5 avg.)+Hunter's Mark 1d6(3.5 avg.)+Hexblade's Curse 5 damage+Gloom Stalker 1d8(4.5 avg.)+Sneak Attack 2d6(7 avg.)
Third Attack is same as first
Fourth Attack is same as first
Fifth Attack as a bonus action is same as first
Action Surge to do 4 more attacks one of them getting the d8 from gloom stalker
Total Avg Damage: 28.5(2)+23.5(7) = 221.5 avg. damage on turn 1
By far not the strongest build but it does pretty well for itself and does pretty good in low levels as well
the gloomstalker dread ambusher attack won't have the hunters mark and hexblade curse both unless you set those up before combat began. which is not impossible mind you.
Blank
I hope this isn't necroposting, but here's my build. You need high initiative and stealth, both of which the build can have.
Rogue Assassin 3 / Fighter Eldritch Knight 11 / Chronurgy/War Magic Wizard 4 / Paladin 2
High elf for race. Choose booming blade for your cantrip. Or Variant Human and get booming blade with your wizard levels (take Defensive Duelist for extra AC). Or some other race that does extra damage. Not really important for the build.
Use point buy + racial bonuses for STR 8 | DEX 16 | CON 14 | INT 16 | WIS 12 | CHA 8
The only important stats are DEX and INT, so you can swap things around to suit your needs. Just don't dump CON.
As an 8th level multiclass caster, you have 4 1st level slots, 3 2nd level slots, 3 3rd level slots and 2 4th level slots.
You need the red wizard blade and nothing else.
Get Expertise in Stealth and the Dueling Fighting Style.
With studded leather and a shield you can get 19 AC without magic items.
You have 4 ASIs. Use them for DEX to 20, Alert, and Metamagic Adept (Quickened Spell)
You should have +17 to Stealth and +13 to initiative. Use Action Surge, Attack 6 times, Divine Smite on each of them, Sneak Attack on whichever ones you want, maneuvers also on whichever ones you want. Finally, Quickened Spell a booming blade and smite on that as well. Everything will crit because of Assassin.
Damage is 14d4 + 42d12 + 62d8 + 4d6 + 49. Plus 4d8 if they move. Let's assume they don't. Minimum 171, Average 653, Maximum 1129.
You can add purple worm poison for even more damage.
Might be a little hard to get Paladin levels when you only have 8 STR and 8 CHA.
Oh shoot. Yeah, this build is very MAD...
I have no idea what to do about that... I think I'll put 8 in WIS, maybe adjust CON to 12 or 10.
Okay, new stats (with racial bonuses): STR 13 DEX 16 CON 12 INT 14 WIS 8 CHA 13
Your build can be improved by shifting 2 levels of Paladin into Wizard to gain an additional two 3rd spell slots to smite with.
Posted here from the Assassinate the Tarrasque thread:
Bugbear, 3 ftr bm 5 rngr gloom 3 rogue assn 5 clr grave 4 pal devot, piercer, gift o chrom dragn, you have low con but dex is 20, a +3 shortsword and another regular shortsword, you're going to hide, use sacred weapon, then next round cast lvl 5 spirit shroud and use gift o chrom dragon, next round us Path to the Grave. Then next round you jump out and stab the tarrasque 7 times because gloom stalker action surge dual weapons, for:
(6d6 shortsword + 12d6 bugbear + 12d8 shroud + 5d4 chrom +10d8+12d8+3d8 smites)x2 crit +6d6 piercer+ 45 shortsword + ((1d6 short +2d6 bug +2d6 sneak +1d4 chrom +5d8 smite)x2 crit +1d6 piercer +8 short)x2 grave = 677 average dpr.
Good idea. And I can still keep the ASI.