The Echo Knight: D&D Build #162

okay the last few DND D builds I've done on the  channel have been a lot of fun really high on concept and flavor but arguably a little low on  the damage aspect nothing wrong with that but today I'm in the mood to build something  that just hits like a truck welcome to [Music] D4 hey everybody so here at D4 each week I do a  deep dive into character builds for my favorite role playing games I like to crunch numbers about  them I like to Theory craft about them not so that I can tell you the rig

ht way or even the best way  usually to play a certain character but to explore one potential way to build something that is both  powerful yes but also really fun to play in game so if you enjoy creating characters for your role  playing games almost as much as you enjoy playing the actual game itself or if you're just looking  for tips or ideas on how to build something that you're thinking about playing then welcome home  this is where you belong and I'm so glad you're here so thank you for w

atching my name's Colby if  you enjoy what I do here I would really appreciate it if you would consider joining the channel as  a member there's a little button down there you click join it'll tell you about all the perks  you can get for not very much money you can get access to the library of writeups that I create  for each of these builds to help you recreate the build yourself a little more easily access to the  D4 Community Discord server filled with lots of wonderful kind awesome people a

nd even access to  the monthly live Q&A hangout sessions that we do huge thank you to all of my channel members you  guys are so awesome I could not do this without you and everybody else you are so incredible as  well thank you for just being here watching liking subscribing clicking on the notifications Bell  these are all great ways to support the channel so if you don't feel like joining as a member  that's fine I'm not offended I appreciate the support that you do give so one request that I

  get a lot of on this channel is to do an echo night build typically when those requests come in  I like to point people to the variety of builds that I have done to date that use the echo knite  like the Vengeance Paladin or the crit Lander or the more recent flurry of Darkness to name a few  but I realized recently that I have never so far as I can recall anyways done a build that is  mostly an echo knite and that seems like a bit of a shame since one could argue that they are  the most power

ful fighter subass in the game or at least one of the most powerful this little gem of  a subass comes to us from Matt Mercer and friends over at critical role but make no mistake though  it is wild Mount content do I say that right wild Mount I want to I want to say the E is it just  wild Mount anyways while it is critical roll content it is also considered to be official DND  material unlike say The Blood Hunter or like the Gunslinger subass also player options right  available in D and D beyo

nd the echo knite as well as the chroner G magic and graviter gy Magic  wizard subclasses are official D andd 5e content and as such a lot more DMS the world over tend  to allow them at their tables as opposed to other non-official critical role stuff now I appreciate  that not all tables would allow the subass whether because they just don't like critical rle material  in their campaign setting or even Ebron material or Ravnica material or Dragon Lance Etc or because  they think the subass is o

verpowered and you know there's not much of an argument that I can  make against that first reason for disallowing Echo Knights sometimes DMS just really want their  world to feel cohesive and a little more focused a little less Multiverse right pizza Papa always  gets paid whether they've created a home brew world of their own or are strictly playing like a  fun sword Coast kind of campaign but for those who think the subclass is just playing overpowered I  mean I'm not sure I'd agree with that

to be fair I did write this Preamble before I had crunched  the numbers um but I'm going to stick to it for the most part sure getting some extra attacks  is really strong but since those extra attacks are severely limited to Constitution modifier  number of times per day right I do think it is a lot less potent than say the extra attacks you  get from gloomstalker which I have no intention of also using for this build that would be  Preposterous and while sure echon knites do get other cool an

d useful and potent features too  that we'll get into obviously I don't know that I would argue that this subass is more powerful  than say the hex blade warlock at least if we're talking you know multiclass dips or maybe the blad  singer Wizard or the aforementioned gloomstalker or of course Twilight and peace clerics I mean I  might even argue that a straight classed Paladin regardless of their subass is at least as if not  more powerful than an echo knite I mean keep in mind that as good as t

hey are Echo Knights are  still Fighters mean meaning no spells among other things not saying Fighters are bad surely it is  my most ofus used Class if you look at all of my builds as a whole though more often than not  I'm usually just dipping into fighter right not building mostly Fighter characters and so yeah  that fact alone that they don't have spells might keep Echo knites from ever being considered too  powerful compared to other classes and subclasses so hey why don't we put the idea to

the test let's  build a mostly Echo knite and see how their burst damage capabilities stack up to other burst damage  builds that I've done so far maybe I'll discover that I'm wrong and that the subass is just way  too good maybe I will especially at early levels but I am willing to find out and so I proudly  present DND build number 162 the echo knite fighter but first a word from our sponsor magic  spoon you know I really love it when magic spoon is the sponsor for the video because it means

I  get a great EX excuse to have a delicious bowl of cereal in the middle of my day and with magic  spoon even though today is low carb day I don't have to worry because not only is cereal delicious  but it has 0 g of sugar only 4 to 5 G of net carbs per serving which is crazy low for cereal and 13  to 14 g of protein also amazing and they have so many Fantastic flavors my favorite as you probably  know by now is maple waffle but I also love cocoa peanut butter blueberry muffin fruity frosted uh

  this is a new favorite chocolate chip cookie that I just got all of these flavors seriously bring me  back to when I was a kid watching Saturday morning cartoons but the nice thing about them is that  they have that same kind of nostalgic flavor but with grown-up ingredients no artificial flavors  no artificial dyes I love it oh also in case you didn't know they actually have these fantastic  cereal bar treats as well if you need some low carb high protein snacking on the go 1 g of sugar  1 to

2 G of net carbs and only 130 calories in each serving with the same great taste as their  cereals you've got chocolatey peanut butter blueberry muffin bunch of others so go check  out magic spoon head over to this link here [Music] [Music] if you're in Canada or the UK great news  magic spoon ships there as well as the US so huge thanks to Magic spoon you guys are awesome love  your products and let's get back to the build huge thanks to my good friend Randall Hampton  for the Fantastic artwor

k that he did for this build he does this every week if you guys would  be interested in following him on social media or reaching out to try and commission him to create  some art for your character or maybe your entire party I will put links in the video description  as always on how to do so all right at level one yes uh as I so often do we are going to start  fighter today for our starting class but this time I don't have to feel sheepish about it as for our  race if we're focused on burst d

amage like we are and we're making attacks especially if it's a lot  of attacks like we will be and we don't have any setup round getting in the way of our burst damage  which we won't for the most part then it's almost impossible I think not to go bug bear seriously  this race is so good not so much for the reach they get on melee attacks which is fantastic  and the other nice features they have like Fay ancestry powerful build and sneaky but primarily  because of the surprise attack feature wh

ich tells us that when we hit a creature with an attack roll  they take an extra 2 D6 of damage if they haven't taken a turn in combat yet and no my friends  there is nothing that would indicate that this only happens once on that opening round it's every  attack we make so long as the enemy hasn't gone yet I know I have a hard time believing it too  but there it is if your DM wants to Nerf this to Once on a turn that's their prerogative of course  but in that case I'd probably go a different ro

ute for race here like variant human or custom lineage  for a free feat and I mean at that point you might have to ask your DM is this really what you want  another custom lineage character from me nobody wants that anyways as for ability scores I assume  that we go the point by Method as always and say let's take a 15 strength uh Plus one from our  racial there a 14 Constitution a 13 dexterity plus one there and a 13 wisdom plus one there remember  as per more recent DND books right every race

can decide where to assign their ability score bonuses  and they can either take a plus two and a plus one or three plus 1es we'll do the latter for this  build I mean alternatively we could get up to a 16 Constitution and then just do a 13 dexterity  and a 13 wisdom but as important as Constitution is we will need need both dexterity and wisdom to  be at least out of 13 for multiclassing purposes and will benefit a decent amount from both you  know if we could get them up to 14 having a plus tw

o in each will be nice not just for important  saving throw purposes but for initiative and important skill checks as well I think I'd rather  have each of them at plus two than leaving them at plus one so that I could get one more bump to  Constitution personally but you do you as for equipment here nothing super crazy I'm going  to say you know just take the standard stuff like chain maale you could either go sword and  board right like a d8 weapon and a shield or a big two-hander your great s

words your Ms will want  to get to that point eventually but I don't think it's a terrible idea to go sword and board for the  first few levels anyways you know getting a plus two Armor class from a shield is probably worth  giving up the 2ish more damage on a hit that we'd get from using a great sword or a maul over like a  long sword right especially in those early levels when things are pretty dangerous but either route  is probably fine and yeah sure if you wanted to go scal mail instead of

chain mail with our plus two  bonus to dexterity the AC is the same either way not until we can find plate mail do we really  prefer heavy armor on this build as a fighter one then we get second wi first off which just  lets us use a bonus action once per short rest to heal ourselves for a d10 plus our fighter level  always nice and then we get a fighting style and yeah even though we're building for damage on this  character and I am planning on using a two-handed heavy weapon eventually I'm no

t going to take  the great weapon fighting style here as it's pretty crappy but instead we'll opt for Superior  technique which lets us learn one Battle Master maneuver H we get a single D6 that resets on a  short rest to fuel that maneuver with and we will be taking for our maneuver perhaps predictably a  trip attack which lets us add that D6 in damage on a successful attack and then Force an enemy who  is large or smaller to make a strength save or be knocked prone and of course will have adva

ntage  on attack against prone enemies if we attack them from within 5 ft so we really love this to set  up a strong round of burst damage early on at level two speaking of burst damage at level two  we get the almighty action surge letting us yes once per short rest take two actions on our turn  instead of one which for us of course will mean more attacks lots more attacks eventually lots  and lots and lots because at level three we get our fighter subass our Marshall archetype and  yes of of c

ourse we are going with echo knite echo knits get some really strong features right  here at level three their best features I would argue and that's why I don't think I've ever taken  levels in Echo knite much past this point maybe up to extra attack depending on the build because  everything that we need is right here first up we get manifest Echo this tells us that with a  bonus action we can summon a magical translucent gray image of ourselves it's not technically  a creature and has no stat

block to speak of but it lasts until we dismiss it or is killed or  we become incapacitated or we end our turn 30 ft away from it right it's pretty dang squishy it  only has an AC of 14 plus our proficiency bonus with one single hit point though it is immune to  all conditions and uses our saving throw bonus for its saves importantly and people in the comments  always seem to forget this even if it dies we can just summon it again with a bonus action there's  no limit given on how often we can

do this and there's no no reason we couldn't just summon it at  the beginning of the day right when we wake up and then have it available to us when combat begins  since it doesn't expire after a set amount of time or anything now we're told that when we take the  attack action on our turn any attack that we make can originate from either our space or the echo's  space and we choose for each attack that's really cool and can potentially lead to some fun ping  ponging Shenanigans if we have a nic

e way to do forced movement especially right yes I've got that  on my to-do list I think I'll make a ghost Lance build one day but also when a creature moves away  from our Echo we can make an opportunity attack as though they were moving away from us potentially  really useful and then finally as a bonus action we can magically swap places with our echko at  the cost of 15 ft of move speed regardless of the distance between us that's especially potent  when we remember that though the echo is d

estroyed if it's ever more than 30 ft away from us at the  end of our turn like I said we can move them up to 30 ft on our turn with no action required  by us meaning we could for example move them from 30 ft away from us if they were starting out  at 30 ft away right move them 30 more to be 60 ft away then teleport switch places with them after  which they'd be destroyed yes cuz they couldn't get back into the 30t range of us right but we can  just resummon them with a bonus action it's not a b

ig deal or yeah I mean if they start 30 ft away  from us move them 15 teleport you know 45 ft away and then move them 15 ft to get closer to you  keeping them from getting poofed anyways some fun utility and potential combat tactics to play  with here no question the feature we care about most of course for the sake of numbers anyways is  unleash Incarnation this tells us that whenever we take the attack action we can make one additional  attack from the echo's position now we can only do this c

onstitution modifier times per day so twice  for us right now but it does say that we can do this whenever we take the attack action keep  in mind that if we take the attack action then action surge then take the attack action again we  are taking the attack action twice right we could potentially then get two more attacks out of this  feature on one single turn at least once per day anyways that'll be really great for those of us  who say are adding 2d6 damage to every attack we make on the fir

st round of combat for example as  well as other things that we'll be doing later to add damage to every single attack right speaking  of which at level four we get our first ability score increase or feat and we are going if you  can believe it with great weapon Master shocker I know this feed is so good I am going to miss it  when the new players handbook comes out later this year but to be fair weapon users are getting lots  of other nice Buffs so it's probably a blessing in disguise that thi

s feat is getting nerfed to keep  us from feeling like we always have to be taking it or Sharpshooter on like weapon user builds  right anyways for now it tells us that when we make an attack with a heavy weapon not just when  we make an attack with two hands on a weapon like in balers gate three take a drink that allows for  versatile weapons to potentially take advantage of this feat right and would in D and D anyways  where the weapon exists allow us to use great weapon Master with double-bla

ded Simer I wish they  would make that change for DND D alas anyways when we make an attack with a heavy weapon we can  take a minus five penalty to hit in order to do 10 more flat damage Chev also don't forget as I so  often do that if we get a critical hit or kill an enemy we can make a melee weapon attack as a bonus  action awesome how often is that going to happen I have no idea depends on your table depends on your  campaign what you're fighting etc etc but I think it'll happen fairly regul

arly based on experience  I guess anyways and yes of course if you have been going sword and board up until this point at  this level we want to switch to a two-handed weapon so you know the great sword or the mall is  technically best numbers wise for that 2d6 weapon damage a great ax is fine though to D12 is not a  big difference and now adding 10 to each time we hit at level five we get extra attack so that now  when we take the attack action we can attack twice and if we have a charge of unl

eash Incarnation to  burn three times and if we have action surge yeah that's six attacks in a single round at level five  seven if we crit or kill something which we almost assuredly will right thanks to the bonus action  attack from great weapon Master that's a lot of attack um at level six we get yet another ability  score increase or feat I love Fighters for this and you know you may be thinking that I'm going  to take polearm Master here but you'd be wrong actually I do love the feat gettin

g a bonus action  attack with the blunt end of the weapon is really great but before too long we are going to have  something else to do with our bonus action that's actually going to be better at least for our Nova  round numbers than even a butt action attack would be right believe it or not and I mean yeah the  likelihood of us getting a kill or a crit at least during our Nova round is really pretty dang High  to the point that I just as soon not worry about taking the pole AR Master feet sti

ck to our great  sword or Maul here and just bump our strength with our ability score increase at this level so that  we can increase our hit chance and our damage when we hit which will be really nice not to mention  the DC of our trip attack right keep in mind that uses our strength or dexterity strength for us  and yeah tripping our opponent during our Nova round is going to be really important all right  at level six it is time for our first damage report a combat for us at this level is pre

tty  straightforward we pretty much just hit stuff a lot so yes I'm assuming that we've got our echko  out and on the first round of combat we're going to want to just run up to our Target move our  Ekko up to our Target as well attack them three times burning a charge of our leash Incarnation  right then action surge rinse repeat on the first attack that hits of course we're going to want  to apply our trip attack and try to knock them prone so that we'd have Advantage for the rest  of our atta

cks that round I'm going to assume this is going to upset some of you mostly for the  ease of number crunching that we have advantage on our attacks at least all of the attacks after  the first I know it's not 100% chance that that will be the case in the name of exploring best  case scenario numbers right damage wise and in the name of keeping the math relatively simple  for myself and because this is kind of what I've done on other builds that use trip attack right  and I want to kind of compa

re apples to apples here that's the Assumption I'm going to make  know that the numbers are slightly inflated for that reason as for whether or not we'll get a  bonus action attack thanks to great weapon Master let's assume that we're going to get one 50% of  the time honestly that feels a little low to me but maybe that's fine since we're assuming that  we've got Advantage after the first attacks and we could use something to kind of reel the numbers  in right so six attacks with a 2d6 weapon a

dding 2d6 more thanks to bug bear surprise attack plus  1 D6 on one of those thanks to our superiority die plus four from our strength and 10 from great  weapon Master to each attack means a total of 25 D6 plus 84 damage with a 50% chance for that to  be 29 D6 + 98 holy crap and so against an enemy with a 10 10 Armor class here we would on average  do 164 damage during our burst round Nova round and against an enemy with a 15 armor class it  would be 121 damage on average what the crap flip tabl

e and compared to other burst damage builds  that I've done to date that's yeah that's uh that's absolutely destroying everything else  that I've ever done by like 50 % did I say Echo Knights weren't op okay now hold on just hold on  everyone sit down because yes there are a ton of things that we have to consider with these numbers  here lots of grains of salt to be ingested first off yeah I shouldn't be assuming that we've got  Advantage I mean the creature you're attacking might not be larger

or smaller in which case no  trip you might miss that first attack and then of course not have tripped them or the second  or thirdd attacks even for that matter or they might just make their saving throw against it  I should probably just assume that we've only got Advantage like 50% of the time or something  like I say the biggest problem here is that if I want to compare this to other builds that I've  done in the past yeah I kind of just assume that the enem is prone in these scenarios and I

'd  rather try my best to compare apples to apples than anything but honestly even if we never had  advantage on any of our attacks we would still be beating out any other build that I've done  to date for burst damage at this level in that case it would be just by a little bit but yeah  so it's unquestionably still very powerful but these numbers are also something that we could  only potentially achieve once per day right so the more combat encounters you have between long  rests the less impr

essive this damage becomes sure you can action Surge and trip attack per short  rest but in that scenario the numbers are a lot less crazy and don't forget a ton of our damage is  coming from the bug Bear's surprise attack feature what if we can't get into range of an enemy who  hasn't gone in combat on round one so much for like a quarter of our damage and we only have a  plus two to our initiative roles at the moment we might very well be taking our turn after all  the enemies have already gon

e anyways oh and note we basically don't want to be using great weapon  Master on that very first attack it's so important to hit to try and get them knocked prone right  and on the rest of the attacks that we get that round if they are prone we're still turning  off great weapon Master at an enemy AC of 17 or higher not all that high right and if they're  not prone we don't want to use it above an enemy AC of 15 even so yeah this is one of those things  where it's like if everything works and o

nce per day we are out of this world insane damage wise  but when it doesn't work and or during the rest of our combat encounters we're strong but not  ridiculous but yeah I mean it's going to be a lot of fun when we get to be ridiculous let's  see just how much more ridiculous we can make it shall we so at level seven now that we have our  most important early features from fighter I think it's time to do some multiclassing in particular  we want to find ways to get more attacks on that opening

round since that's when we're going  Nova and perhaps unsurprisingly for some of you I think the best place to go for that is yes  Ranger so our Echo knite ghost and shade focused fighter has now for some reason decided exed to  develop their tracking and survival skills why maybe it's been part of your backstory all along  maybe it's not too far a stretch for a character who's attuned to the shades of their own might as  a cycling swarm of Shadows and Strikes like we're told in the you know fl

avor text uh that describes  the subass maybe that kind of character leaning into that shadow and Gloom aspect of who they are  isn't too far a stretch and kind of makes an easy linkup for this multiclass anyways as a ranger  one we get the Deft Explorer feature canny right which gives us expertise basically in a skill  of our choice that we're proficient in I think I'd probably take perception here maybe Athletics  but pick your favorite and then we get favored foe which lets us proficiency bon

us times per day and  with our concentration unfortunately Mark a Target so that we do an extra D4 of damage to them the  first time we hit them with an attack on our turn not bad if we're not doing anything else with our  concentration but we will be doing that shortly because at level eight we would be a Ranger 2 and  that means we get Ranger spells and while there are plenty of decent utility and Support options  to consider here the one we really want to make sure to grab is yes the quintess

ential Hunter  Mark now this spell is rarely a great spell and often times not even very good arguably but in  the right circumstances like when you're making a boatload of attacks and don't necessarily  have a guaranteed bonus action attack anyways it's pretty dang fantastic it's cast as a bonus  action requires concentration and then simply does an extra D6 of damage to our marked Target  anytime we hit them with a weapon attack and for us that's going to convert to a whole lot of  d6s during

our Nova round especially and yeah you can transfer it to another Target when the first  one dies with a bonus action right on subsequent turns we also get another fighting style here  at Ranger 2 and of all the options available to Rangers I think I'd probably take either defense  to increase our AC by one or maybe blind fighting so that we can essentially have blind sight out  to a range of 10 ft really nice to have when you need it I mean tell your warlock friend to go  ahead and cast Darknes

s if they've got it right it's not going to bother you anyways at level 9 we  would be a Ranger three and that means we get our Ranger archetype our subass and we of course are  going with gloomstalker which is really just so dang strong and pairs so incredibly well with this  character here it felt almost impossible to not do this and I think it's got some nice conceptual  synergies as well gloomstalkers get two really strong features here right off the bat similar to  Echo Knights right first

up dread ambusher gives us a bonus to our initiative equal to our wisdom  modifier which makes me really glad that I went 14 decks and 14 wisdom back at level one giving  us a pretty respectable plus4 to our initiative now which feels a lot better to me we also get  an extra 10 ft of move speed on the first round of combat wonderful and above all if we take the  attack action during the first round of combat we we get to make an extra attack that deals an  extra d8 of damage if it hits important

ly the wording here is similar to our unleash Incarnation  feature in that the extra attack is triggered when we take the attack action meaning that if we  action Surge and take the attack action twice during that first round then yes we will get an  extra attack from dread ambusher both times so this has taken our opening round from six attacks  to eight with two of them getting an extra d8 of damage now sheesh but I think umbrell sight might  actually be my favorite feature to pair with this b

uild Dre ambusher is better for the numbers of  course right but umbrell sight is just flavorful and so cool it increases our dark vision that we  already had by 30 ft nice but then tells us that if we're in the dark and a creature relies on Dark  Vision to see us we are invisible to them a lot of enemies in D and D have dark vision and there are  a lot of scenarios where there might be a patch of Darkness somewhere on the battlefield I mean  darkness is good for any gloomstalker but for us with

our ability to make attacks from our echo's  location it's way better because keep in mind that when we make an attack from our echo's location  even though the attack is originating from the echo's location we are still the ones making the  attack right so let's say for example that we've got an enemy standing in like dim light or bright  light but there's maybe a patch of Darkness 20 or 30 ft away from them like outside of the range of  the torch light or something something well if we put ou

rselves in that darkness and move our Echo  up next to the enemy that enemy is not going to be able to see us even if they have dark vision  and so the attacks we make even if made from our ekko's location will be made with advantage that  might feel a little counterintuitive and I can see some DMS not wanting to rule that way but rules  as written that's how it should work the echo isn't the one making the attack we are from their  location right and we are invisible to the enemy as always go o

ver things with your DM beforehand  to make sure that you're on the same page as to how these mechanics work and I mean I was already  assuming perhaps faultily that we had advantage on most of our attacks at least so this doesn't  really change things for number crunching purposes but it at least makes me feel a little bit better  about assuming advantage since I think it'll be even more likely to happen now depending on the  battlefield of course speaking of number crunching at level 9 it is t

ime for our next damage report  since last check we have gotten rid of that 50% chance at a bonus action attack but have added a  D6 to all of our other attacks thanks to Hunter Mark and also added two more attacks during our  Nova round that each get an extra d8 of damage if they hit to boot we've even picked up a little  bit of utility and support capabilities thanks to our Ranger but at this level with eight attacks  during our Nova round against enemies with a 10 Armor class we would on aver

age do 253 damage  on average and against an enemy with a 16 AC it would be 189 damage and compared to other  burst damage builds that I've done to date at this level that's actually not just blowing  everything else out of the water believe it or not it still has a slight Edge at those really  low enemy armor classes but once you get up to even like middling AC and higher it starts to fall  below some of the other builds which I'm actually kind of relieved to see if I'm being honest and  it act

ually brings up an important consideration here as great as great weapon Master is there's  this kind of funny thing about it where the more ways we have to add damage to each attack the sort  of worse great weapon Master becomes because while sure a flat 10 damage on a hit is great if we're  adding two D6 from bug bear and a D6 from Hunter Mark and a d8 on our dread ambusher attacks plus  our strength modifiers etc etc then that 10 flat damage becomes less and less of the total damage  that we'

re doing and with the very painful minus 5 to hit that it brings we're better better off  not even using it at this level against like an enemy AC of 18 or higher and at level 9 an enemy  AC of 18 might be just considered kind of average or maybe even below average depending on your  table and your campaign right of course that 18 changes if we have a magic weapon increasing  our hit chance and like an ally casting bless on us Etc then again if the enemies is not prone and  we don't otherwise ha

ve Advantage then it's even lower than 18 so just keep this in mind right if  you play at a table where your DM tends to throw some pretty difficult encounters your way on the  regular with enemies that are decently hard to hit you might want to skip the great weapon Master  feat altogether on this build and just beine to a 20 strength or other Feats which we'll talk  about later that said things change outside of our Nova round right once we're not getting that  extra 2d6 from a surprise attack

especially then the 10 flat damage from great weapon Master  becomes a lot more valuable by comparison and so for sustained damage purposes after round  one you might want to have great weapon Master after all just things to consider when you're  building your character build it for your table understanding what things are likely going to look  like in game once you get this character outside of the lab right all right at level 10 I'm going  to say let's take just one more level of Ranger here

that would make us a Ranger four because  there's that ability score increase or feet just right there and I'd love to cap my strength  score taking it to 20 again not only because it increases our hit chance and the damage on a hit  but the D of our trip attack now I will say some of you like to give me grief and rightly so  about constantly ignoring the alert feet on my builds which is really strong it adds five  to our initiative role and keeps us from being surprised to boot and yeah there's

almost nothing  more important than winning initiative with this character for burst damage purposes so I think  you could absolutely make the argument that alert should be taken even before great weapon Master  honestly it just doesn't really do anything for the numbers on the spreadsheets which I am Holden  to after all so that's kind of why you always see me chasing the numbers and ignoring things like  alert but by all means feel free to take the alert feet at some point along the way here

maybe  even right off the bat it's not a bad idea at all if I were playing this character in game I just  might do it if not at level four maybe at level six I don't know anyways at level 11 yes of course  I want to get back to fighter because at fighter 11 we get that sweet sweet third attack with  the attack action right I know it's incredible and yet it is five long levels away from where we  are right now and between here and there there's a bit of a dir of features for Fighters at least  fo

r damage purposes were I playing this character in game I might just suck it up at this point  and get back to fighter take my medicine and hold out for fighter 11 at least if I knew that  the campaign was going to go beyond level like 13 14 15 right but there is something we could do  fairly easily right now instead to give ourselves another nice little damage bump if we really  wanted to maybe especially if we knew that our campaign was going to end at around level 13 and  that would be to tak

e a little Druid detour here it's not perfect it's not without its drawbacks  but let's pretend that our foray into the gloomy side of the natural world with our gloomstalker  levels got our character even more interested in the things that grow in the Dark Places motivating  us to for a Time abandon our Marshall Pursuits in favor of a desire to further increase our magical  Primal abilities especially around death and Decay as a druid one then we learn druidic which is the  special language tha

t Druids know so that they can leave messages for each other in the woods with  twigs and leaves and things and then we get Druid spells and sure good Berry healing word guidance  entangle maybe fog Cloud if we didn't already have it especially if we took blind fighting right  uh and more spells are all worth considering but I'm just going to say if here pick your favor  as nothing that's available to us is going to do anything to increase our burst damage capabilities  but at level 12 we would

be a druid 2 and and this is where we get what we came for first up we get  wild shape all Druids get wild shape letting us transform into a beast of challenge rating one  quarter or lower twice per short rest and that provides some great utility but I'm not going to  spend much time talking about it because we have other uses for our wild shaped charges since  we also get our druidic Circle here our Druid subclass right and yes I think we ought to go with  the circle of spores because as a spor

es Druid we get Halo of spores actually that's not the reason  Halo of spores is pretty crappy it lets us use our reaction to do well a little bit of necrotic  damage to an enemy within 10 ft of us if they fail a constitution saving throw and that's just  so bad that I don't even think I'll add it into my damage calculations I would rather hold on to my  reaction in case I can get an opportunity attack especially since as an echo Knight I can make an  opportunity attack if they move away from me

or from my echo's location right no the real reason  that we're here is for symbiotic entity of course which lets us use a wild shaped charge to grant  us four temporary hit points per Druid level so eight and then while we have at least one of  those temporary hit points do an extra D6 of damage on all of our melee weapon attacks now an  extra D6 of damage is nice but there are several drawbacks here first off as we said we only get  the damage so long as we've got those temporary hit points r

ight they're not going to last very  long but that's kind of the least of my concerns with this ability for this build since we are  building for Nova damage I primarily just really want them on round one anything I get out of them  after that is just gravy and you know temporary hit points are temporary hit points always handy  the bigger concerns are that it takes an action to get symbiotic entity going and that the ability  only lasts 10 minutes unlike in bg3 where it lasts all day so much be

tter take a drink was this  ability really worth a two-l detour you decide if you think you will semi- reliably be able to  get symbiotic entity going before combat breaks out whether because you've got a Great Scout in  your party who often gives a heads up about an encounter just around the corner that you can then  prepare for right or because you might be able to throw a buff on yourself during a villain's  monologue then sure an extra D6 of damage on eight attacks is fantastic and the extra

hit  points and additional utility and Support options from Druid are an okay bonus on the other hand if  reliably being able to buff yourself in this way before a combat encounter happens is rarely going  to fly at your table no worries I'd probably skip through it and just go back to fighter but hey  a 10-minute duration is a lot better than a one minute duration so I do think most of us could get  this going somewhat reliably making the Druid dip at least worth considering I'll assume that w

e've  got it going when I crunch numbers going forward another nice little cherry on top reason for  taking Druid though is that it lets us get the wild companion feature which lets us use a wild  shaped charge to cast the fine familiar spell right and that means we could summon a little  owl it unfortunately only lasts 2 hours for us but this familiar could then grant us advantage  on our first attack and up until now I've been assuming that we didn't have advantage on that all  important first

attack we were making to try and trip our Target so now I feel like I can sleep a  little better at night safe perhaps in my naive assumption that all of our attacks now can be made  with Advantage ignorance is bliss but at level 13 all right fine let's go back to fighter so we can  eventually at least get that sweet sweet extra extra attack that means we would be a fighter  7 now and as an echo Knight that gives us the echo Avatar feature pretty sure this is the first  time I've ever gotten th

is feature on a character build before it's not bad utility it basically  lets us like War into our Echo similar to what we can do with a familiar which we already have it  L but this lets us see and hear through the echo's location here this ability lasts for up to 10  minutes and we can move the Echo and see and hear through their senses when the echo is up to 1,000  ft away from us without the echo being destroyed this provides for some pretty interesting utility  we can swap places with our

echko no matter how far away from us they are right I don't know why  we couldn't move them all the way up to 1,000 ft away like this and then swap places with them now  sure the echo would be destroyed at the end of our turn since it couldn't get back to within 30 ft  of us right but again we can just summon it back with a bonus action this could provide for some  fun utility helping us get into otherwise really hard to reach places maybe even get surprise  on our enemy anyways let me know abou

t some fun ways that you have seen the echo used aside from  just the like I hit stuff more often feature right I'm sure several of you have some really great  stories at level 13 though it is time for our next damage report since last check we have capped our  strength modifier and added yet another D6 to all of our attacks potentially thanks to symbiotic  entity I'm also going to assume that we've got advantage on all of our attacks now like I've  said faulty though that assumption maybe final

ly yeah we've picked up a bit more survivability and  utility and Support options which are always great to have but here against enemies with a 10 Armor  class we would on average do 305 damage during our Nova round and against 17 AC it would be 230  we broke the 300 mark against low enemy armor classes anyways but compared to other burst damage  builds that I've done to date at this level that puts us kind of in like the middle of tier one  now why have we not scaled quite as well as some of t

hose other builds the easy answer is spells  uh spells Andor smites when we have spells with solid scaling damage or smites that scale really  well it is difficult to keep up damage wise when we're just bringing like a non-scaling hunter  Mark to the party I actually thought of trying to get Paladin levels on this build but if you're  going Ranger needing a 13 decks and wisdom you just can't really mix with a paladin who needs  a 13 strength and Charisma right if you wanted to dump Constitution

sure but if we did that  then we couldn't take advantage of the unleash Incarnation so why are we an echo knite right and  yeah I actually crunched the numbers comparing gloomstalker to Paladin and realized that at  least up through this point in the character's career we get a lot more out of our Nova round  from those dread ambusher gloomstalker attacks and Hunter Mark than we would out of a few smites  and most campaigns End by this point in the game anyway so it just yeah felt like the bette

r choice  I mean regardless it's not like we're just limping along here or anything I mean mid tier one is  still amazing damage and we've been cream of the crop up until this point so nothing to be feeling  bad about not by a long shot at level 14 we would be a fighter eight that means we get another  ability score increase or feat and sure if you haven't taken it yet I'd grab alert for reasons  that we've already mentioned you could always consider instead bumping like wisdom or dexterity  for

both defensive purposes and also to increase our initiative but I think alert is our best bet  here that said bumping Constitution wouldn't be a terrible move either both for defensive and  concentration purposes but also to give us one more use of unleash Incarnation per day for a  little more on demand burst damage right I mean I should also mention I suppose that while we have  decided against it for burst damage purposes pole arm Master is a nice feat to have for sustained  damage and thoug

h I kind of think that burst damage is like the king and queen of combat in D  and d5e most of the time sustained damage is both important and Powerful too obviously so yeah you  might want to grab pole arm Master here to get a more reliable bonus action attack outside of your  Nova round especially if you come across a really great glaive or halir and you know for that reason  you might have wanted to do that before trying to cap your strength score at level 15 we would be a  fighter nine and t

hat means we get indomitable my least favorite fighter ability it tells us that  once per day you can roll a saving throw that you fail H maybe we should have taken resilient  wisdom last level instead with that feet right because yeah I mean the problem with indomitable  you're fairly likely to fail that save when you roll it if it's anything other than a strength or  Constitution save honestly now if you're watching this video after the new players handbook comes  out uh later in 2024 congratu

lations it looks like indomitable is getting some very nice Buffs  so you are not quite so sad about this feature at level 16 we would be a fighter 10 and that means  as an echo Knight we get Shadow marker this is a nice little protection support focused feature  letting you sacrifice your Echo throwing them in front of an attack directed at another creature  and taking the hit for them this hit will almost L kill the echko but that's usually a lot better  than having one of your ally PCS take t

he hit so good job bring your Echo back next turn with  the bonus action alas you can only be a martyr like this once per short rest but it's not a bad  little feature but then finally for us at level 17 we would be a fighter 11 meaning that yes we  finally get that vaunted extra extra attack so now during our NOA round we'll get uh yeah 10 great  weapon Master surprise attack attack Hunters Mark symbiotic entity and strength infused attacks  hooray oh and of course on all of our non NOA rounds

having 50% more attacks is incredible and  maybe we should have skipped those Druid levels after all but no sustained damage be damned we're  here for burst and burst we shall for our level 17 damage report since last check we've added two  more attacks to the mix and otherwise picked up some nice support and defensive features and  so against enemies with a 10 Armor class we would here on average do 383 damage during our no  round and against an 18 AC it would be 282 damage almost broke that 40

0 Mark would have been sweet  but compared to other burst damage builds that I've done to date at this level we're kind of like  more near the bottom of tier one actually despite getting those two more attacks even again we just  haven't scaled quite as well as those casters and smiters right not like we're feeling the pain of  our abysmal damage or anything like that so yeah let's um let's wrap it up here with some final  thoughts the tier score for this build if you take the damage that they d

o at each of the armor  classes that we calculate for at each of the four damage reports and just average them all into one  big number we end up with a 198 which puts us not surprisingly if you've been paying attention like  right in the middle of the pack for tier one an incredible place to be and yeah importantly  I think we're at the top or very near the top for those first 10 levels or so where most of us  are actually playing the game making this build unquestionably among the elite of bur

st damage  builds to date from a peer numbers perspective at least but yes like I emphasized early on let's  kind of keep our expectations in check a little bit here shall We There are going to be times  where you will just feel Godlike with this build I think you're going to get a good initiative  rooll make that trip or maybe someone else in your party might be doing something else to give  you advantage or boost your hit chance and you're going to just land every single one of those  incredib

ly hard-hitting attacks on your opening round and in all likelihood kill multiple enemies  before the end of your first turn or put a massive dent in a boss Etc but also if we're being  real sure they're going to be times where you whiff that trip attack or they make their saving  throw and then you decide not to use great weapon because they've got a decent Armor class and  you're going to roll poorly and maybe only land a couple of hits and feel really underwhelmed but  hey I mean yeah this is

D and D right the dice are the dice I don't mind building something that's  amazing sometimes and just kind of okay other times because my goodness when everything lands  yeah everyone at the table is going to have their jaw on the floor and be cheering you on to Glory  everyone except the DM maybe final analysis is the echo op admittedly I am a little more willing  to consider that argument now than I was when I wrote the Preamble it's undoubtedly very very  good arguably still the strongest f

ighter subass but I don't think even that statement is just like  undeniable or anything battl Masters Rune Knights and eldrich knights could all make an argument for  being the best I think depending on how you were building your character what you were looking for  out of your character sinites and Samurai and even Arcane archers and perfect as they are definitely  can be really strong with the right build as I think we've shown on this channel even Cavaliers  are great if you're looking for a

tank especially if your Mount is one of your fellow players as  for Champions and Purple Dragon Knights yeah sorry guys you're kind of poopy but anyways yes Echo  Knights are definitely potent op maybe depending on your table but really powerful and a whole  lot of fun to play unquestionably so I certainly hope that you get to play them someday if you  haven't had the chance to do so yet but that's the build for the week I hope you enjoyed it I  hope that you know how much I love you because I

do thank you for all that you do for me for the  channel you guys are so awesome I hope you have a really fantastic day and a great week and if you  don't please hang in there you got this I hope that you do good and that you be kind and that I  see you again very soon but until then take care bye may your heart keep close may your heart hold High louder louder than the [Music]  echo brighter brighter than the shad oh you are oh you [Music] are that song uh the Echo and the shadow  I mean how co

uld I not sing that song for this episode it's by uh the well pennies they are  a like a little known kind of indie folk pop Duo I think they're out of Iowa they're so  good though they just their music is among the happiest known to mankind if you could use a  little more uh you know happiness in your life and who couldn't right check out the well pennies  they are they are awesome gorgeous music man I am intrigued by the interaction of my little  my little light and like the way it looks in pe

rson versus the way it looks on camera it's  it's kind of a it's kind of a greenish yellow when I look at it with my eyeballs and it's  kind of like a yellow orange I don't know the paint the coloring of the light all just kind  of messes with it oh also in case you hadn't seen you guys like Brandon Sanderson right  you know he's one of my favorite authors he just released um his uh Kickstarter for uh the  volume two of The Stormlight Archive right um my favorite of the books uh Words of Radianc

e  uh the leatherbound Kickstarter for it which I backed and is going to be so awesome this is the  first um this is the first book or at least volume two of the first book check out delanor oh he's  so awesome that's that's same same guy yeah the art the extra art that they have in here is just  so phenomenal um ooh look at Shalon and yasna my crush anyway just lots of like extra art in the  in the book itself too um oh look at one of the uh one of the singers yeah it's kind of a gold  embossed

anyways beautiful and I'm sure that volume two that Words of Radiance is going to  be just as incredible so yeah if you're a fan highly recommend uh backing backing that oh not on  Kickstarter right it's on backer kit interesting so hard not to focus on shepher because she is  so awesome I kind of have to sco scooted up a little bit and the hair today just does not want  to stay out of the face all right um yeah yeah yeah and maybe we should have skipped those Druid  levels after all but okay d

oors so many doors we don't want to use it again first up we get wild  shape all Druids get get wild shape letting