"If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight!"
Sun Tzu said that, and I'd say he knows a little more about fighting then you do, reader, because he invented it. Though, I'm assuming you're here not to hear quotes from a dead man, correct? You're here to learn how to Rocket Jump. Well then, you've come to the right place! In this post, I will detail what exactly a Rocket Jump is, and a build that allows for such mobility.
What is a Rocket Jump?
In shooter games, rocket jumping is the technique of using the knockback of an explosive weapon, most often a rocket launcher, to launch the shooter into the air. The aim of this technique is to reach heights and distances that standard character movement cannot achieve. Although the origin of rocket jumping is unclear, its usage was popularized by the game Quake. Rocket jumping is used often in competitive play, where it can allow the player to gain quick bursts of speed, reach normally unobtainable heights, secure positional advantages, or in speedrunning. However, a potential consequence of rocket jumping is that it can injure the player, either from the blast or from fall damage.
How do we Rocket Jump in D&D?
In order to actually Rocket Jump, we need six levels in Zeal Cleric, and at least one in Storm Sorcerer. Any race works for this build, but it is important to keep both your Constitution and Charisma high. The features we get from Cleric will only be used to compliment our Rocket Jumps.
The main features we get from Zeal Cleric aren't necessarily that useful, but can help with increasing the power of our shovel melee weapons, but the main feature we are taking from Zeal Domain is Resounding Strike, which we receive at 6th level. Resounding Strike lets you push a Large or smaller creature up to 10 feet away from you when you deal thunder damage to it. Now, this feature isn't useful without the use of our signature spell, which we'll get to in just a moment... but a Large or smaller creature could include yourself, correct?
Now here's where we get to jumping. First level Storm Sorcerers get Tempestuous Magic, which allows you to, as a bonus action, to fly up to 10 feet without provoking Opportunity Attacks immediately before or after casting a 1st level or higher spell. Now... what spell will we be casting?
Why, thunderwave, of course! Each creature within a 15-foot cube coming from you must make a Constitution saving throw, taking 2d8 thunder damage and, once again, be pushed away 10 feet. To make this more consistent, you may have to ask your DM to give yourself disadvantage on the Saving Throw to maximize effectiveness.
With these features, now we can properly Rocket Jump. Use your action to cast thunderwave, dealing damage and pushing yourself 10 feet upwards. This would now trigger your Resounding Strike, pushing you another 10 feet up. Lastly, if you want extra height, use your bonus action to trigger Tempestuous Magic, letting you fly up 10 feet for a grand total of...
30 feet of height!
Making our Rocket Jump better.
Now that we have the absolute basics of a Rocket Jump, what are some options we can take to make it better? Firstly, for our Metamagics, we can take Quickened Spell to make your thunderwave cost a bonus action, allowing for a 20 feet rocket jump as a bonus action.
The first major improvement we can take is the sixth level feature of Storm Sorcerer, Heart of The Storm. Any of you who know TF2, you can call this feature our built-in Gunboats. Not only does it give us resistance to thunder damage, but allows us to deal more thunder damage to creatures within 10 feet of us, once again including ourselves if our DM allows it when we start casting a spell. So, with this extra damage, it triggers our Resounding Strike once again and allows for an extra 10 feet of height, totaling out to a 40-foot rocket jump with an action or a 30-foot jump when casting thunderwave as a bonus action.
Conclusion
If you took a look at this, thanks for reading! If you have any suggestions to make this Rocket Jump better, let me know in the comments below!
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"If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight!"
Sun Tzu said that, and I'd say he knows a little more about fighting then you do, reader, because he invented it. Though, I'm assuming you're here not to hear quotes from a dead man, correct? You're here to learn how to Rocket Jump. Well then, you've come to the right place! In this post, I will detail what exactly a Rocket Jump is, and a build that allows for such mobility.
What is a Rocket Jump?
In shooter games, rocket jumping is the technique of using the knockback of an explosive weapon, most often a rocket launcher, to launch the shooter into the air. The aim of this technique is to reach heights and distances that standard character movement cannot achieve. Although the origin of rocket jumping is unclear, its usage was popularized by the game Quake. Rocket jumping is used often in competitive play, where it can allow the player to gain quick bursts of speed, reach normally unobtainable heights, secure positional advantages, or in speedrunning. However, a potential consequence of rocket jumping is that it can injure the player, either from the blast or from fall damage.
How do we Rocket Jump in D&D?
In order to actually Rocket Jump, we need six levels in Zeal Cleric, and at least one in Storm Sorcerer. Any race works for this build, but it is important to keep both your Constitution and Charisma high. The features we get from Cleric will only be used to compliment our Rocket Jumps.
The main features we get from Zeal Cleric aren't necessarily that useful, but can help with increasing the power of our
shovelmelee weapons, but the main feature we are taking from Zeal Domain is Resounding Strike, which we receive at 6th level. Resounding Strike lets you push a Large or smaller creature up to 10 feet away from you when you deal thunder damage to it. Now, this feature isn't useful without the use of our signature spell, which we'll get to in just a moment... but a Large or smaller creature could include yourself, correct?Now here's where we get to jumping. First level Storm Sorcerers get Tempestuous Magic, which allows you to, as a bonus action, to fly up to 10 feet without provoking Opportunity Attacks immediately before or after casting a 1st level or higher spell. Now... what spell will we be casting?
Why, thunderwave, of course! Each creature within a 15-foot cube coming from you must make a Constitution saving throw, taking 2d8 thunder damage and, once again, be pushed away 10 feet. To make this more consistent, you may have to ask your DM to give yourself disadvantage on the Saving Throw to maximize effectiveness.
With these features, now we can properly Rocket Jump. Use your action to cast thunderwave, dealing damage and pushing yourself 10 feet upwards. This would now trigger your Resounding Strike, pushing you another 10 feet up. Lastly, if you want extra height, use your bonus action to trigger Tempestuous Magic, letting you fly up 10 feet for a grand total of...
30 feet of height!
Making our Rocket Jump better.
Now that we have the absolute basics of a Rocket Jump, what are some options we can take to make it better? Firstly, for our Metamagics, we can take Quickened Spell to make your thunderwave cost a bonus action, allowing for a 20 feet rocket jump as a bonus action.
The first major improvement we can take is the sixth level feature of Storm Sorcerer, Heart of The Storm. Any of you who know TF2, you can call this feature our built-in Gunboats. Not only does it give us resistance to thunder damage, but allows us to deal more thunder damage to creatures within 10 feet of us, once again including ourselves if our DM allows it when we start casting a spell. So, with this extra damage, it triggers our Resounding Strike once again and allows for an extra 10 feet of height, totaling out to a 40-foot rocket jump with an action or a 30-foot jump when casting thunderwave as a bonus action.
Conclusion
If you took a look at this, thanks for reading! If you have any suggestions to make this Rocket Jump better, let me know in the comments below!