EK Warrior underwhelming?

[Whale hunter]

Hey guys, I wanted to recapture the fun I had paying 1&2 as a multi class fighter/mage so I decided to go EK thinking it would be similar .. how wrong was I!

Hit level 7 last night, thinking I’ll be casting haste, mirror image, glove of invul, blur, stone skin etc, then charging enemies with melee weapons.

Turns out I can cast magic magic missle, summon a bird that has 5 HP and couple of other low damage abilities. Bit underwhelming. I basically haven’t used magic in the last 2 levels because with the amount of mobility we get already, I just hit stuff much harder. It was useful for the first 1-4 levels when a good spell would save your ass, but I’m so tanky now that it’s better to just charge people.

Soooo, any tips on what makes a crazy OP fighter build? Cleric looks like to has way better spells to combine with a fighter?

Thanks guys :)

[x_equals_speed]

So EK gets the ability to cast a cantrip as an action and make a melee attack as a bonus action (Possibly at level 8) which can be pretty good because cantrips scale with level to try to keep them meaningful so tends to hit harder than a single attack.

I reckon you could get something good out of doing warlock for 2 levels to get pact of the blade (Letting you use charisma in place of strength for weapons and giving you the best cantrip in the game and an ability allowing you to add your charisma to that cantrip's damage) and then go EK the rest of the way (So you can eldritch blast and melee attack in a round, using the same stat for all of it so you only need to boost one thing).

[Whale hunter]

I really thought I would get some defensive utility from it but all I have found so far is range. It’s handy, but it’s not really needed when you can just smash away with a sword. I think barbarian would be a much stronger fighter build then EK. I’m loving shadowhearts spells, but only having one action per round is really killing it. That ability that summons the little souls that spin around you is AMAZING!

[Calculus]

Originally posted by Whale hunter:

I really thought I would get some defensive utility from it but all I have found so far is range. It’s handy, but it’s not really needed when you can just smash away with a sword. I think barbarian would be a much stronger fighter build then EK. I’m loving shadowhearts spells, but only having one action per round is really killing it. That ability that summons the little souls that spin around you is AMAZING!

Yea, in tabletop version the main reason why you go for EK is weapon summoning, just to troll GM who wanted to get your team somewhere, where you won't have weapons.
It has some other benefits, but is underwhelming.

Instead i recommend going for blade warlock, very simillar build, but just better.

[Whale hunter]

I’ll test that out tonight, I actually picked up wyll last night after 70 hours of messing around in act 1 to test him out and his spell list is epic! I was so shocked. Even just having haste was great.

[Whale hunter]

So are warlocks a melee/caster class? I was just using him as a pure caster. Maybe I need to rethink.

[Snake_In_The_Eye]

EK is a buffer, he buffs himself, you give him jump, longstrider, feather fall (all rituals that cost you no spell slots and you can cast outside of combat) and watch him leap around the battlefield as super-mobile melee train. And with shield you can get +5 AC. You can use the other spells but you shouldn't because intelligence will never be your stat for melee damage and in the end you are a melee hitter.

War magic is the only way to make true strike decent. Weapon bond is nice for throwing builds otherwise not really useful.

It is not a bad class compared to champion you get a lot of mobility and can combine true strike with a melee attack as a bonus action getting the same crit probability of the champion at level 7.

Battle Master gets more utility like putting people prone, disarming them, scaring them, plus extra damage, but you can move much much more.

[Sentient_Toaster]

Pact of the Blade specifically is targeted at melee.

EKs suffer a bit with Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade not being implemented in BG3. Those are cantrips which let you make a melee weapon attack using your usual ability score (strength or dexterity, as appropriate) instead of intelligence, and add some extra juice. But even with those, they're not great.

[Whale hunter]

Originally posted by Snake_In_The_Eye:

EK is a buffer, he buffs himself, you give him jump, longstrider, feather fall (all rituals that cost you no spell slots and you can cast outside of combat) and watch him leap around the battlefield as super-mobile melee train. And with shield you can get +5 AC. You can use the other spells but you shouldn't because intelligence will never be your stat for melee damage and in the end you are a melee hitter.

War magic is the only way to make true strike decent. Weapon bond is nice for throwing builds otherwise not really useful.

Ahh ok, I’ve not been doing ANY of that lol. I’ll make that my priority tonight and should enjoy it a lot more! I overlooked shield spell as it only lasts 1 attack right? I thought it seemed a bit “meh”

[Snake_In_The_Eye]

If you want a fighter that casts spells pick Paladin. If you are willing to multiclass FIghter/warlock blade is good. Or Paladin/warlock blade. It allows to dump strength and push charisma as your melee hitting and damage stat, While keeping the heavy armour of Fighter and Paladin and the weapon specialisation. Plus paladin gets to smite on warlock slots.

[Xorce]

6 level sword bard and 1 level wizard. You have extra attack and full spell slot. Learn spell through scrolls.
At max level 6 sword bard/ 5 wizard/ 1 fighter for fighting style and weapon armor proficiency.

[Whale hunter]

Originally posted by Sentient_Toaster:

Pact of the Blade specifically is targeted at melee.

EKs suffer a bit with Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade not being implemented in BG3. Those are cantrips which let you make a melee weapon attack using your usual ability score (strength or dexterity, as appropriate) instead of intelligence, and add some extra juice. But even with those, they're not great.

I think I’ll respec wyll and use him as my Guinea pig. Just him having haste was a game changer. Having my fighter run around with 6 attacks was just nuts.

[Snake_In_The_Eye]

Originally posted by Whale hunter:

Originally posted by Snake_In_The_Eye:

EK is a buffer, he buffs himself, you give him jump, longstrider, feather fall (all rituals that cost you no spell slots and you can cast outside of combat) and watch him leap around the battlefield as super-mobile melee train. And with shield you can get +5 AC. You can use the other spells but you shouldn't because intelligence will never be your stat for melee damage and in the end you are a melee hitter.

War magic is the only way to make true strike decent. Weapon bond is nice for throwing builds otherwise not really useful.

Ahh ok, I’ve not been doing ANY of that lol. I’ll make that my priority tonight and should enjoy it a lot more! I overlooked shield spell as it only lasts 1 attack right? I thought it seemed a bit “meh”

Shield lasts until your next turn. And effectively +5AC means enemies have 25% less chances to hit you rolling a d20. But since you have few spell slots it is better to use it when you need and not every turn. It also blocks magic missiles from enemy casters

[ProestUnicorn]

Id recomend going Pally 5, warlock blade pact 5 if You want OP, 2 lvlels You can put wherever, can be pally 7, warlock 7, fighter 2.. doesn't matter much, You will 2hit bosses.

[Whale hunter]

Originally posted by Snake_In_The_Eye:

Originally posted by Whale hunter:

Ahh ok, I’ve not been doing ANY of that lol. I’ll make that my priority tonight and should enjoy it a lot more! I overlooked shield spell as it only lasts 1 attack right? I thought it seemed a bit “meh”

Shield lasts until your next turn. And effectively +5AC means enemies have 25% less chances to hit you rolling a d20. But since you have few spell slots it is better to use it when you need and not every turn. It also blocks magic missiles from enemy casters

But I’m losing an action by casting it so often? That was my main concern. But it definitely sounds better then what I’ve been doing and not using it at all lol.

[Whale hunter]

Originally posted by ProestUnicorn:

Id recomend going Pally 5, warlock blade pact 5 if You want OP, 2 lvlels You can put wherever, can be pally 7, warlock 7, fighter 2.. doesn't matter much, You will 2hit bosses.

Really? That sounds pretty fun! This might be top of the list so far