"Why do they call you, Sellsword?" "I ride in to a town, sell my sword, leave town, and then summon my sword back to my hand. Profit!"

The Eldritch Knight, Bladesinger, Arcane Archer, and Hexblade are my favorite subclasses to play. I love the magic & melee blend.

One of the coolest EK character concepts I played with was a "sentry" style character who used a large longbow for his Weapon Bond, and his shtick was using Mold Earth & Stone Shape to give himself half cover at will, like castle battlements for archers. I thought it was such a neat idea.

🗡️ Eldritch Knight: Abjuration & Evocation 💰 Arcane Trickster: Enchantment & Illusion So, when are we going to see more blends for the other schools of magic? Conjuration, Necromancy, Transmutation & Divination. We see some Divination with the Barbarian's Ancestral Guardian.

9:10 "The Eldritch Knight doesn't have a way to cast a spell as a bonus action." Misty Step, Dragon's Breath, Shadow Blade, Expeditious Retreat: Am I a joke to you? Eldritch Knight subclass restriction of most spells to evocation/abjuration: Yes

Its awesome to see the boys back together in the studio

I have loads of fun playing my Eldritch Knight character. His theme is as a drop out from a wizard’s apprenticeship who was more interested in getting into punch ups than writing essays on arcane literature. It gives lots of roleplaying potential, eg his familiar, Vardamir, resents him (he could have served a mighty sorcerer but got stuck with the class dunce) and the character has to pass a persuasion check to get him to do anything. Great review, guys. Looking forward to the next one!

Wait a minute. Are they actually in the same room? Mind blown.

Another good choice for second level is shadow blade. They mentioned it in the arcane trickster spell list but I think it's even better on a fighter because a fighter gets more attacks as they level up meaning that they'll be dealing that 2d8 damage more times per turn. Also Fighter's have proficiency in constitution saves so even if they choose to be front liners they can still use this spell and will more likely than not still maintain concentration. It's also another one of those spells that doesn't use your intelligence.

One abjuration spell that may have been overlooked for 1st level casting is Protection from Evil and Good. This spell is concentration, so with only one spell slot an EK gets continuous utility out of it. It gives some of the most common enemy types disadvantage on their attacks against you, making it arguably as good as shield in many circumstances, and a lot easier on ye' old spell slot economy.

I literally gasped when I saw you guys back together! It's so good to watch Monty watch Kelly!

B) Some feedback from an eldritch knight every Tuesday for the past two years - just reached level 15. War magic is awesome if you use sword and board fighting style. The extra damage from green flame blade will generally be equal or even higher to what you would do with your second attack plus you'll get a bonus action attack. As such, I would argue the whole subclass is more suited to this style of fighting. Booming blade + warcaster is an insane combo at all levels: enemies will never want to move away from you. On first level spells, you guys really missed the spell that gives all DMs fits when used correctly: protection from good and evil. Against nearly all the important enemies of the game, with the already high armor class you have you turn into a veritable juggernaught. I have been using it since level 4 and has turned many an impossible fight into loop sided victories for me and my group. For second level, I can't believe you guys didn't mention shadowblade. It's really what makes this class come together. It makes all your attacks - and you are a fighter, you have the most attacks out of anyone in the game - into 2d8+modifiers and most of the time you'll have advantage too! Once you get third attack or third level spells and you can upcast it into 3d8+modifier, it's borderline unfair easily surpassing sharpshooter or gmw and having better accuracy too!

With the new UA Feats the 2nd level Darkness could work really well with the feat that grant 1 Eldritch Invocation taking Devil's Sight.. Now just cast darkness on yourself and have 'concentration/permanent advantage'

I think thunderwave can be a viable pick because of the feature that has the foes have disadvantages from your spells, so what you do is attack everyone around you using the attack action, and then action surge for thunder wave, and boom they all have disadvantage

Eldritch knight rocks at high levels. Nothing quite like being able to just *cast* haste on yourself without having to bum it off wizard and then also using action surge. Also eldritch strike + blindness is a pretty reliable combo. My suggestion for 2nd level out of school is enlarge reduce. Makes you do extra damage, and be automatically decent at grappling which is usefull

Darkness is good for an EK even without being able to see in it. Simply throw darkness onto the ranged enemies to flush them out since they will likely not be able to see in it either.

Nice to see you guys back in one studio! I never was a big fan of mixing magic and melee, but now for some reason I desperately want to try to.

It's great to see you guys sitting next to each other! Hope all is well! Thanks for the video!

I personally like to take Shadow Blade as one of your wildcard choices as an Eldritch knight. The base damage of the weapon and the number of attacks a fighter can make can be pretty amazing.

I was super not aware that using War Caster to cast a spell instead of an opportunity attack wouldn't trigger Sentinel's movement reduction. Not only does that make sense, but it's insanely helpful for something like an Eldritch Knight. Great bit of knowledge I can tuck away for later. Thanks!

Running one now! He is part of an organization that hunts cultists. An inquisitor of sorts.

Jill's use of firebolt has had a surprising amount of utility in your Shadows of Drakkenheim campaign not only to hit flying enemies but hit fleeing foes and start fires in the right places. Though to be honest Rudi is a powerful grandma that gets out of the craziest situations I've seen. I think Monty has nearly TPK'd the group twice now but the dual axe wielder eldritch knight has been instrumental to the group's survival.

I started playing D&D a few months ago and my very first character is an Eldritch Knight.

Kelly my friend, you have the perfect on air voice!👍

Loved playing my Tiefling Eldritch Knight, Reverence. I adapted him from a previous 4E swordmage. Gotta say, being able to Shield up to AC26 (think we're at Lv14 now) is pretty sweet. I absolutely love playing this character. And having a critical counterspell at the right moment is awesome.

Odd that shadow blade didn't get a mention for 2nd level spells - it's one of my favorites.

I love the subclass guides that you guys are releasing recently! Thank you! I look forward to more.

YAYYYYYY OMG THANK YOU!!!! I had been searching forever for help on playing my Eldritch Knight that I am playing for a Level 17 one-shot!! SO PERFECT! ❤

I was waiting for this to happen thank you so much

I like using the Shield, Misty Step, and Haste spells for my Eldritch Knight. Also maybe something like the Firebolt cantrip with a greatsword in order to have a ranged option (since according to Sage Advice/errata you can cast spells with a two-handed weapon without needing the War Caster feat, as you hold the weapon with one hand like a staff when you cast, leaving one hand free).

This is exactly the content I'm here to see! Been waiting to see the Dungeon Dudes take on the Eldritch Knight since the Hexblade video came out. Love this!

The usual content you guys put out is pretty good but I feel like this one is a cut above them all. Very clear explanation on every part. I've never played an eldritch knight myself yet but just by watching I already had many ideas coming from what you guys been talking during the video. Glad you guys can record from the same place again. Cheers!

Perfect timing! I'm just building an EK for a campaign!

I’m playing an EK right now with 2 levels in War Magic Wizard. The Arcane Deflection with a shield, +1 plate, and Defense fighting style gives a consistent 24AC. Ain’t never gonna get hit

I'm so glad y'all are back in the same room!

So good to see you two together again in the same place!! Great video as always!

Regarding 4th level spells: How could you not mention Polymorph?! It's an adventuring staple. Need to fly? Polymorph. Need to heal the tank? Polymorph. Need to infiltrate an area? Want to terrorize the townspeople? Polymorph. The list is really extensive. Anyway, my current Eldritch Knight took a two level dip into Warlock; Celestial patron and it's been working great (although I won't get Polymorph). Devil's Sight invocation will allow me to cast Darkness on myself to impose disadvantage on my melee foes and effectively make me invisible to them, and having two level 1 spell slots that refresh on a short rest let's me cast Shield/Absorb Elements with impunity during combat. Plus I get Sacred Flame as a crappy ranged spell attack for free, and healing light as a bonus action to pick up allies who fall from 60' away. It feels really nice to be the Utility Tank of the party, and let the main casters focus on the more heavy duty spells. All my other cantrips and spells have been niche creative spells (Prestidigitation, Minor Illusion et. al.), rather than damage dealing, because it's usually just better to hit with an attack (as you guys pointed out). Plus, our campaign has had tons of Roleplay situations, so the ability to do wacky magic stuff has been great to play around with. From a pure mechanics stand point, Eldritch Knight is not the best subclass for fighter, buts it's interesting, creative, and a lot of fun; fighter's core features are strong enough to carry the shortcomings of a gimped caster. Edit: I'd like to point out the item Ruby of the War Mage from XGtE is a common magic item that lets characters use their weapon as a spell casting focus. It's like having 1/3rd of the War Caster feat in exchange for an attunement slot. For EKs like me that have it on one of their bonded weapons, it means they're never more than a bonus action away from being fully operational.

YO, you guys are back in the dungeon! Glad things are safe enough for you guys to get back at it. Hoping Shadows of Drakenhiem comes back soon.

This is a great video, thanks so much! I just rolled one up in session 0 today, mostly because I just wanted to hit things with swords and spells. But this video has made me really excited for the possibility of a support EK, who casts counterspell and banishment and darkness (we have a warlock in the party!). Thanks for the great tips!

played one in a game that started at 13, and I was new to 5th ed. I took fire bolt and it did save our butts once because the target was immune to nonmagical attacks, also feather fall proved itself a number of times,( I had my find familiar through the ritual casting feat). I found that yes the three first level spells shield, absorb elements and feather fall where the most usefull, however made good use of some others along the way including tidal wave. I selected "poorly" on a lot of my spells but I have found that it is more about learning to use the spells you have than always counting on having the right obvious spell.

Love the shirts gentlemen! 😊

Eldritch knight with the magic weapon spell also make stupidly great archers.

I'm so happy to see you guys together again!

My favorite character ever is an Eldritch Knight I've played from levels 1-9, sword and board. Recommended magic items: Ruby of the War Mage (Common) to make your weapon a magic focus and avoid needing a free hand for material/somatic components. Headband of Intellect(Uncommon) to increase your INT spellcasting ability score to 19/+4 modifier. Ring of Spell Storing (Rare) for extra spell slots. Consider starting with a very early multiclass for 2 levels in Evoker Wizard to get Sculpt Spell for your AOE spells, allowing you to cast them more often without hitting your friends.

On the note of that Action Surge double-casting a spell rule, I had a player playing a Sorcerer decide to take 2 levels in Fighter so they could get armor, weapons, and Action Surge, just cause being able to dump out a 5th and a 6th level spell in one turn was worth it to them.

No mention of the infamous EK Annihilation? Hold person, action surge, obliterate opponent with a flurry of guaranteed crits.

I'm actually running an eldritch knight in the current campaign I'm in and alot of the advice you guys gave was extremely helpful, I'm mostly using the same functions you guys listed but I prefer to utilize Blade Ward as my other can cantrip since it offers a resistence to all piercing, slashing and bludgeoning damage during its duration. I plan on using your suggestion for Find Familiar during my next game session to spice things up. Great job on the video guys.

I remember them getting alot of stick in the past for not being amazing casters but tbh as they are amazing tanks it really doesnt matter just use shield and get in their and stab things with your sword everything else is just gravy.

You can use Eldritch Strike and stuff like Hold Person and Hold Monster to potentially lock down single enemies and guarantee crits for yourself and your allies. It’s a very, very powerful combo that generates turn advantage

I have a lvl 14 Dex-based Deep Gnome Eldritch Knight. For out of school spells I choose Mirror Image and Shadow Blade. Make sure to get Sentinel to work with Mirror Image. When a enemy hits a target other than you (like your illusionary self) you get a opportunity attack. Shadow Blade is a great way to boost your damage. Jeremy Crawford has ruled that in addition to the 2d8 damage you get to add your attribute bonus as well. You can also upcast to increase the damage even more. This will mean you can out damage a sword and board Battlemaster. Also, pick yourself up a ring of spell storing. Personally, I load it up with shield spells to always boost my AC when needed. A magic shield is also nice to have. You do have to use a component pouch for spells like fireball and lightning bolt. If you want an focus you'll have to get ruby of the war mage. But I use shadow blade so I can drop it, cast a AOE with components then recall the shadow blade for a bonus action.

A) I'm so glad you guys are back in the same room again! I missed your awesome chemistry

The Eldritch Knight seems to gets buffed every time the spells are added to the wizards spell list. -absorb elements -green Flame Blade/booming blade/roll the dead/swordburst -shadow blade(switch schoolless spells at 7th level) -melfs minute Meteors

The fighter in my dnd group always casts shield when hit, and with a 17 AC is pretty good, having a total of 22

I wanna start off by saying that my wife and I absolutely love watching your videos. We learn a lot and we always come away better than we were when we first started watching them. We were sitting here talking and we were wondering if you guys could do a video about the best reaction spells? We would be very grateful. Thank you for your consideration and have a good day.

I’m really glad you guys made a video on the ek. I feel like it’s a class that is way too overlooked with not enough videos on it

Playing one now as well. Love the blend of combat and magic. When War Magic kicks in at 7th level, Blade Ward is a great cantrip option. If the character finds themelves outclassed in combat, then they can Blade Ward ever round to gain resistance and still get one poke in with their bonus action. This is particularly nice if a monster has multi-attack. The benefit of this option tapers off at 11th level when Extra Attack (2) makes this less desirable, but it is a nice battlefield tactic for a few levels.

I cried when Steelwind Strike came out in Xanathar's and realized it was one spell level too high for Eldritch Knights. It seems like it would be such a great spell for them. :(

Here is a really strong build for an Eldritch Knight: Make a DEX based fighter using the High Elf subrace. You get a +2 DEX, a +1 INT, the strong racial features of the Elf, as well as gaining an additional Cantrip. Said Cantrip uses INT so that works out well. Your main weapon will either be a Scimitar or a Rapier. Get the Dueling fighting style so you can use a shield for that tasty +2 AC. Once you get to 4th Level, I suggest picking up War Caster. For that Advantage on Concentration checks. For the rest, bump up your DEX and INT whenever you get an ASI Your key spells will be: Cantrips: Green Flame Blade Booming Blade 1st: Shield Absorb Elements (Situational but handy) Protection from Evil and Good Magic Missile 2nd: Magic Weapon (if you don’t have an actual Magical Weapon) Misty Step Mirror Image 3rd: Dispel Magic Counterspell Haste/Thunderstep (your choice) And if you’re feeling spicy: your choice of either Fireball or Thunderbolt 4th: Banishment/Polymorph (your choice)

So nice to see you guys together and not split screen

so i like artificer and i been wanting to make a fire genais artificer battlesmith/ eldritch knight so i could main int get the awesome find familiar so could advantage of having 2 pets on the battlefield on giving adv. the other disadv to my enemies though I dont know if that multi class would be worth it being I haven't been able to test. also nice to see you guys back in the same room. XD

I'm finishing up a campaign with Variant Human E K, and I took "Ritual Caster" as my Lv 1 Feat. This really gave me some versatility with the spells that I choose, and some uses for them outside of combat.

Great to see you fellas back together again!

Just who I’ve been watching to create my first campaign!!!

I feel like Magic Initiate is a nice feat to get for this subclass, allowing you one more spell and more cantrips. I think Magic Missile is also a good first lvl spell to pick up for EK. Yeah, you can do more damage with a bow, but if you're not a high dex build, can you even hit with it? Magic Missile is 120 foot range auto hit. Magic Missile is always useful. Edit: Grammar and forgot a word.

I wonder how many times Monty can say the words "One-Two Punch" in a single video :)

Thanks, I just made level 5 with my EK. I can't wait to try some of these ideas out in the campaign. Zoom session next week!

Never thought about playing an Eldritch Knight, now I will. Thanks Dungeon Dudes!

I am just starting a campaign and I asked my DM (and he agreed) to replace the Evocation restriction with Transmutation. Like you I believe the damage centric nature of evocation is wasted on an EK. whereas Transmutation offers so many utility and support without unbalancing the class IMHO. This definitely helps make the level 2 spells so much more useful and meaningful. I am curious if you think the feats Ritual caster or Magic Initiate are worthwhile choices to add to the utility or address some of the limitations.

My idea for a new Blade cantrip. Distant Blade. Level: Cantrip Casting time: 1 Action Range: 30 feet Components: V, M (a weapon) Duration: Instantaneous You enforce your strike with magic, increasing its strength and range. As part of the action used to cast this spell, you must make a melee attack with a weapon against one creature within spell's range, ignoring the weapon's range. On a hit, the target suffers the attack's normal effects. At a higher level: At 5th level, the melee attack deals an extra 1d8 damage of weapon's damage type to the target. additional damage increases to 2d8 at 11th level and 3d8 at 17th level. So basically you are sacrificing your damage from an extra attack, much like with the other Blade cantrips, but not for a potential of more damage, but for an increased range. It's not something you would use often but gives you additional flexibility on a battlefield, especially if you are not going for a Dex based character.

Great rundown per usual, I just played an 8th level eldritch knight and built him almost exactly like you recommended. Being in that sweet spot where GFB did more damage combined with a BA attack, that was always the best attack option for me in that game. I did take protection from evil and good as my one C spell, and burning hands to have AOE. As a High Elf I took Toll the Dead as my free cantrip to give a ranged attack that is a save vs attack roll, otherwise, you can have trouble vs those AC tank monsters.

I was waiting for this video for a long time 😭

Almost 200k subs!

They are reunited!!! YEEESSS! That made my day!

I love eldritch knights, and I especially like them with a 1-2 level dip into wizard. It gives you extra cantrips for damage/roleplay/etc., extra spells and spell slots, arcane recovery (which only is 1 first level slot, but after a long dungeon that extra slot for shield or absorb elements could come in handy). It does especially well with the spellbook which allows you to pick up different spells from different schools, both initially when you first grab it, and along the way, because you never are gonna be the main magical damage dealer, but it gives you the opportunity to have a lot more utility or strategic spells (and help the main casters save some of their lower slots if needed), and to be able to cast ritual spells to save even more spell slots. If you decide to pick up a second level of wizard eventually for more slots or spells known then I like going divination for portent, because it is just a nice ability to have especially if you are on the front lines making sure you hit or the enemies miss that killing blow or saving throw.

Glad to see you guys are back in the same room. Btw I like your thumbnails.

I say: throw out the eldritch knight spell casting table, and use the warlock one instead. Switch from int to char. Play that. It's better. Just make sure not to give too many short rests.

My favorite 2nd level spell on my eldritch knight is Hold Person. Just imagine you restrain your enemy giving every attack against it advantage and every attack that hit does critical damage. Now action surge and boom you're swinging 4-6 times all at advantage and all doing CRIT! MASSVIVE DAMAGE! 😆😆

Recently got into playing a lot more Fighters and Eldritch Knight is really fun. Built a Dex-focused one with Defensive Duelist and the backstory of being a pirate with a cursed magical tattoo. All their magic is based around swords, like Burning Hands being flavored as throwing a large blade of fire, and so I- for the first time ever- took the largely ignored cantrip Sword Burst.

Glad to see you boys back together.

One thing to note is that the secondary effect of Booming Blade only triggers if the target continues moving after they get hit with it, which nothing requires that they do. It's not automatic damage, and if the target is savvy enough to recognize Booming Blade, they may decide it's better to not move than to take the extra damage. Really, this is what the spell is designed for, to disincentivize moving away. It's a tank spell, not a damage spell.

I'm surprised you guys didn't mention feats that grant more spells like Magic Initiate since this subclass gets so few of them.

Awesome breakdown. In regards to using a pole arm with Booming blade, you can take the Spell Sniper feat so that you can use booming blade from 10ft, you also pick up a cantrip too.

I always wanted to play an Eldritch Knight but I could not figure out how to play them correctly. Thank you this put everything into perspective for me and I cant wait to play the class!

I think this subclass is a little bit missnamed since its more of an arcane knight and you have not much to do with Eldritch beings or knowledge or anything eldritch in nature.

I have a question Can you do grapples when you do attacks as a bonus actions? Because i have an idea With a burly enough eldritch knight Cast invisibility Go behind an enemy And start to wedgie em XDDD

The main attraction for me regarding eldritch knight is how it makes throwing weapons and returning them possible. So fun with my barbarian/fighter spear and shield "spartan" character.

I'm running the Shadowblade Eldritch Knight build and I'm enjoying it. I've mixed war wizard in the past with it for the extra cantrip damage from counter spelling and having the improved initiate.

"...blend sword and sorcery like few other classes can..." Besides hexblades, and artificers, and bladesingers, and bards, and arcane tricksters....

fighters have low intelligence huh meanwhile me having a fighter wild leonin in which my rolled stats were 18, 18, 17, 14, 14, 15,

You are together in the same place

Chill touch for ranged choice and to stop any possible healing any possible healing someone may want. Booming blade to punish anything that considers running away without wanting to burn an action to disengage or spell slot.

Thank you for making these guides, Dudes :D

I love the Booming Blade but it loses part of it's amazingness after you gain your 2nd extra attack and even more the 3rd but it still worth having if you choose the war caster feat cause of the opportunity attack situation. Very good video especially cause you cemented the ideias I already had.

My 12 yr old niece playing in her first campaign is playing an Eldritch Knight and this will be so helpful to her. Thank You. Also I almost exclusively play Gishes so this was very helpful to me as well.

I really thought they had made a video on this before but O well, happy I can see it again

One of my favorite ideas for an Eldritch Knight is the Buff/Debuff Caster Knight. Expeditious Retreat, Shield, Longstrider, Haste, and cantrips like Chill Touch (denying heals + disadvantage to undead), Ray of Frost (reduce speed), etc.

One of my players has taken a two level dip into wizard to gain the blade singer features. I feel this really brings the class to a higher level of viability since you get a spell book where you can learn almost any spell of a level of a level you could cast while also giving you those higher spell slots much sooner.

Glad u guys are back in the same room

Cantrips: - Booming Blade (for opportunity attacks) - Shocking Grasp (to give you party a chance to escape) - Blade Warding (to become the ultimate frontliner) Or - Firebolt (decent long range damage) . 1st Level Spells - ShIeld - Burning Hands (low lvl AOE) / Change for anything you want at higher lvls - Project from Evil and Good / Change to Absorb Elements when you get 3rd lvl spells (you want to be concentrating on Haste) . 2nd level spells: - Misty Step - Mirror Image - Blindness/ Deafness Or Anything for RP, like Find Familiar, Detect Thoughts, Alter Self, etc . 3rd Level Spells: - Haste - Counterspell - Fireball - Glyph of Warding or Magic Circle, depends on the Campaign - Here you can change that burning hands, for Lightning Bolt for exemple. . 4th Level Spells: - Storm Sphere (Offense) / Fire Shield (Defense) - Banishment

I've really never been too interested in playing an eldritch knight but now I'm sold! I think I'd build it to have war caster w/ booming blade and then the mobility feat.