Eldritch Archer

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

This is a very abstract build guide for an Eldritch Knight-11/Light Cleric-1 Archer. I'll only go over high level details and leave the rest to you.

Ability Scores: 17 Str, 16 Dex, rest into Con. We'll get either Hag's Hair or Heavy Armor Mastery later to increase Str to 18, and we're beelining for the Titanstring longbow. Alternatively, you could swap Str and Dex for slightly higher Initiative - it won't affect our AC since we'll be wearing heavy armor.

Background/Skills: Doesn't matter too much, but getting Athletics or Acrobatics and Stealth doesn't hurt with our ability score spread.

Fighting Style: Archery, obviously.

Leveling: You definitely want to start as Fighter for Heavy Armor and all Weapon Proficiencies. Then you probably want to get to lvl 5 as Fighter first for the power spike, then grab Cleric-1, then Fighter the rest of the way. Obviously, pick Eldritch Knight and Light as your subclasses.

Spells:

Cantrips: Doesn't matter too much as we won't really be attacking too much with cantrips, so you could go for utility if you want. Remember you will get Light for free as a Cleric, so don't pick that one. Acid Splash is thematically appropriate as we'll be making use of Melf's Acid Arrow later, but it doesn't leave a surface so it will probably see very limited use. Minor Illusion is a good choice.

Lvl 1: For Cleric spells we mostly want Bless to increase our accuracy. If we got a second choice then Command is also excellent. For the EK spells, the most important lvl 1 spell is Shield, then take whatever (Magic Missile, Thunderwave).

Lvl 2: Since we'll concentrate on Bless most of the time, lvl 2 concentratipn spells are secondary to non-concentration spells, however you may occasionally choose Cloud of Daggers or Blur. First, however, pick up Melf's Acid Arrow and Gust of Wind. MAA leaves an acid surfave which will improve our accuracy. Gust of Wind is used both for defense in pushing enemies away from us as well as keeping as much distance between us and them because we fight at range, and pairs well with other characters that use fixed AoE spells such as Spike Growth, Cloud of Daggers or Moonbeam. The rest is up to you, but Misty Step is another great choice.

Feats: Shield Master (you'll be swapping to melee set each turn for added defense), Sharpshooter, and either Alert or Heavy Armor Master. Note that HAM let's you raise an odd ability score (Str or Dex) so plan this choice ahead of time during character creation. Of course Alert is also nice, and you can get +1 to any ability score from the Hag's Hair.

Gear: We're going to pick up the Gloves of Archery and Titanstring longbow, and we'll be using heavy armor and a shield. The Ring of Blink can also come in really handy as well.

For everything else, use whatever makes the most sense as you find it, the above is the bedrock of the build, as we're focused on accuracy and putting out consistent damage with a bow. We're not doing anything fancy here, just shooting every turn as many times as we can for as much damage as we can. Support from party members helps - Bardic Inspiration for more accuracy, movement CC to rurn enemies into sitting ducks, Haste for more attacks or the ability to attack up to three times (at lvl 11) and also cast Melf's Acid Arrow (for better accuracy as well as damage) in the same turn. Bless the party, sit back, and shoot things, while being incredibly tanky (at bare minimum you should be wearing plate + shield, Blessed, and maybe Blinked or Mirror Imaged, plus you've got access to Shield, Warding Flare and Shield Master to further reduce any potential damage or concentration checks.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Pan Darius Loveless:

Eldritch Archer
This is a very abstract build guide for an Eldritch Knight-11/Light Cleric-1 Archer. I'll only go over high level details and leave the rest to you.

Ability Scores: 17 Str, 16 Dex, rest into Con. We'll get either Hag's Hair or Heavy Armor Mastery later to increase Str to 18, and we're beelining for the Titanstring longbow. Alternatively, you could swap Str and Dex for slightly higher Initiative - it won't affect our AC since we'll be wearing heavy armor.

Background/Skills: Doesn't matter too much, but getting Athletics or Acrobatics and Stealth doesn't hurt with our ability score spread.

Fighting Style: Archery, obviously.

Leveling: You definitely want to start as Fighter for Heavy Armor and all Weapon Proficiencies. Then you probably want to get to lvl 5 as Fighter first for the power spike, then grab Cleric-1, then Fighter the rest of the way. Obviously, pick Eldritch Knight and Light as your subclasses.

Spells:

Cantrips: Doesn't matter too much as we won't really be attacking too much with cantrips, so you could go for utility if you want. Remember you will get Light for free as a Cleric, so don't pick that one. Acid Splash is thematically appropriate as we'll be making use of Melf's Acid Arrow later, but it doesn't leave a surface so it will probably see very limited use. Minor Illusion is a good choice.

Lvl 1: For Cleric spells we mostly want Bless to increase our accuracy. If we got a second choice then Command is also excellent. For the EK spells, the most important lvl 1 spell is Shield, then take whatever (Magic Missile, Thunderwave).

Lvl 2: Since we'll concentrate on Bless most of the time, lvl 2 concentratipn spells are secondary to non-concentration spells, however you may occasionally choose Cloud of Daggers or Blur. First, however, pick up Melf's Acid Arrow and Gust of Wind. MAA leaves an acid surfave which will improve our accuracy. Gust of Wind is used both for defense in pushing enemies away from us as well as keeping as much distance between us and them because we fight at range, and pairs well with other characters that use fixed AoE spells such as Spike Growth, Cloud of Daggers or Moonbeam. The rest is up to you, but Misty Step is another great choice.

Feats: Shield Master (you'll be swapping to melee set each turn for added defense), Sharpshooter, and either Alert or Heavy Armor Master. Note that HAM let's you raise an odd ability score (Str or Dex) so plan this choice ahead of time during character creation. Of course Alert is also nice, and you can get +1 to any ability score from the Hag's Hair.

Gear: We're going to pick up the Gloves of Archery and Titanstring longbow, and we'll be using heavy armor and a shield. The Ring of Blink can also come in really handy as well.

For everything else, use whatever makes the most sense as you find it, the above is the bedrock of the build, as we're focused on accuracy and putting out consistent damage with a bow. We're not doing anything fancy here, just shooting every turn as many times as we can for as much damage as we can. Support from party members helps - Bardic Inspiration for more accuracy, movement CC to rurn enemies into sitting ducks, Haste for more attacks or the ability to attack up to three times (at lvl 11) and also cast Melf's Acid Arrow (for better accuracy as well as damage) in the same turn. Bless the party, sit back, and shoot things, while being incredibly tanky (at bare minimum you should be wearing plate + shield, Blessed, and maybe Blinked or Mirror Imaged, plus you've got access to Shield, Warding Flare and Shield Master to further reduce any potential damage or concentration checks.

I just see here that even as an archer the Eldritch Knight subclass for Fighter works horrible.

[Mojo]

If you are wanting to play archer just go Gloomstalker/Thief. Even Bard 9(College of Swords) / Ranger 3 would work better

[jonnin]

Interesting ideas! I made a sort of arcane archer too, but its item based. Using rogue 3 and hand xbows, the idea is 4 shots/round and as much stuff that adds damage to weapons as possible. If you went that route, you would have to choose when to pick up cleric 1 as it delays something (4th shot and maybe a feat).

I am not sure if there is a meta for the 4 shot dual xbow ideas since so much of it is tied to itemization. Fighter gets your feat back (lost at rogue 3, picked up at fighter 6). Bard gives you higher level spells at the cost of a 1 level delay for that final shot. You lose the EK ability to spell and shoot main hand weapon, but...

Your way ... I see how cantrip + 2 shots works at EK level 7 (cantrip unlocks attack which unlocks 2nd attack?). But you said you don't use cantrips much, and that leaves me a bit confused: are you mostly just shooting, and spells here & there? Using the xbows for the spell & 2 shots idea, bard/rogue3 still looks better to me, giving you glyph of warding at 8th level and past that more and more magic power, and the option to shoot 4x instead of casting is retained.

Not sure how I feel about titanstring.
far as items go, kagha's necklace is good for at least the first 2/3 of the game. Eat a goodberry or as a bard, various things can heal you like the hat when you inspire or the one where you heal someone, you get a heal too, all those trigger it and those hand xbows become 2d6 for 3 rounds.

[Kamuizin]

If EK did the same as warlock, change attack modifier to spellcaster, for bound weapons, i would still see some value in the class.

Anything attempted with an EK will be better provided by a Ranger. Hells, even a warlock pact of the blade (if it work with short bow) will be better. Just do a warlock 5 / pally or sorc 7.