The Echo Knight: D&D Build
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- čas přidán 6. 08. 2024
- Are Echo Knights OP? No! Well ok... maybe? Depends on how you build 'em :).
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Intro 0:00
Magic Spoon 5:53
Level 1 7:59
Level 2-6 12:08
Level 7-9 24:03
Level 10-13 32:42
Level 14-17 42:26
Final Thoughts 46:03
Outtakes 49:29
Math/Graph for this episode: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Master Nova Damage Comparison (5 tabs):
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Pinned comment was posted 1 day ago, but the video was posted 23 minutes ago? YOU HAD THIS VIDEO READY FOR _HOURS_
Every minute you postpone content is a wasted minute😂😢
I actually record 2 weeks ahead ;) @@pencilbender
- The Echo IS basically a Creature.
It has 1HP - thus has Stats and thus grants all advantages of an "Ally". You have basically ALWAYS Advantage. And that Bitch Echo can Grapple for you.
- Tavern Brawler is a absolute necessity as Feat for all Fighters and especially for "Smiters" - making your Shield a "Blunt Weapon" and allow you to be always be "armed" and thus not can be "disarmed" similar to a Caster. Also, you can Smite now with Fists - and if your GM bitches, wear Gloves. Hold some Stick in your Fist to claim it be a "Bracer".
-"Crusher" is also a fun Feat as it grants knockback when using your Fists or Shield. Not too great at first look, but a Fighter can knock back constantly an Enemy with its Shield+Tavern Brawler, resulting in a possible 40ft knockback at Echo Knight(12) while immobilizing the Enemy.
- And - please - do not forget "Magic Initiate" as Feat allowing the "nonmagical Char" to use Spellscrolls as well as to recharge a Ring of Spell Storing who basically ups the "Uses" of that Spell by 5. Much better than any "Battle Master"-Feat that can not be upped (if your GM is not sensible enough to allow for a modified "Ring of Spell Storing" upping the Uses.
"Mold Earth" allows for some "insta-bury" Enemys - or at least to have them dug 5ft into the Earth. Message is AWAYS very Useful. And Shield is insaneley good (or, when you get the Tavern Brawler Feat, the Hex).
Echo Knight+Gloomstalker+Spores=Flurry of Darkness 2.0 :D
Bugbear Echo knight+gloomstalker+assassin+lvl2 paladin+any sorcerer class. A bugbear that bonus action summon shadowblade with eight attacks with all having divine strike. Big damage
Colby: "Echo Knight is not broken"
Also Colby: "so anyway. You get free unlimited teleports right at level 3"
Is that broken? Arguably every martial subclass should get something similarly
@@darkestlight660 The problem here is not the "teleport" itself, but rather the ability to first "pop" the Echo *anywhere* within range & line of sight (and then discard it with another bonus action, replacing it with another one). In 3 rounds you can move silently anywhere 60 feet around [or even farther, if you can also walk/climb/jump & hide].
. Very thick (impenetrable even, without destroying it) wall of thorns in a forest/bog can be bypassed like if you casted a 2nd level spell ("Misty Step"). Same thing with a series of "hops" 30 feet up into higher branches/walls [at no real cost other than time]. All at level 3.
-> Then there is the combat stuff.
He's still right
@@adolfodef moving silently doesn't mean much? I mean if you're hiding sure, but otherwise yeah- it's sorta a free misty step in a lotta ways
That's fine
Check out the official playable races in Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse. Half of them can TP 30 ft silently as a Bonus Action from level 1 (admittedly, only Proficiency Bonus times per long rest).
Unlimited teleportation is not unheard of either. Shadow Monk can TP 60 ft as a Bonus Action as long as they are not in bright light (from level 6).
Hyped for this Echo Knight build, let's go! Also adding my obligatory request, day 9009 requesting a Sun Soul Monk build. Once again if anyone can make it viable, it's you.
Yes! Let's get this Goku build going!
New players handbook will do wonders for it
@@kennycolburn4109For Toriyama-san!
I feel like the aamisar works really well with this build theme wise and the flying or area damage is perfect for it
I'm here for this
48:40. i'll take the bait, Colby.
Make something good with Purple Dragon Knight 😜
Lore bard, purple dragon knight together? Job is to record the escapades of one's party, and make sure they get to their natural death. Then, these books are placed into an evergrowing space for a death god, so he has consistent new experiences to read about.
I did! Of course, that depends on your definition of "good"... czcams.com/video/_Am28IWw3-s/video.html
@@DnDDeepDive It seems like out of all your videos this is the one i haven't watched yet. My bad.
Is it too much to ask for another PDK build? Just to prove the point xD
I miss 3.5. Stacked Purple Dragon Knight with Platinum Knight on a Fighter base, with a lot of combat shenanigans(tm) to create an actual Final Fantasy style lancer with so much jump it took multiple rounds to land for hundreds (thousand+ on a crit) of damage as long as your target didn't move.
@@garyboyles5762I know you said “natural”, but I love the idea of a character that thinks of themselves as the companion to doomed champions, but doesn’t get how their own skills, or lack of them, contributes to every party’s demise. They sing of their many fallen friends, making their current party less and less comfortable as things progress
The Echo Knight: D&D Build #162
Level 01: (see above) [fighter 1, fighting-style & race]
Level 02: (see above) [fighter 2]
Level 03: (@12:23) [fighter 3 & subclass]
Level 04: (@12:52) [fighter 4 & ASI]
Level 05: (@17:34) [fighter 5]
Level 06: (@19:04) [fighter 6]
Level 07: (see above) [ranger 1]
Level 08: (@25:29) [ranger 2]
Level 09: (@26:39) [ranger 3 & subclass]
Level 10: (see above) [ranger 4 & ASI]
Level 11: (@33:46) [druid 1]
Level 12: (@35:33) [druid 2 & subclass]
Level 13: (@39:01) [fighter 7]
Level 14: (see above) [fighter 8 & ASI]
Level 15: (@43:31) [fighter 9]
Level 16: (@44:10) [fighter 10 & ASI]
Level 17: (@44:41) [fighter 11]
Love hearing the old intro music again!
You could honestly take out the Druid levels and take a one level dip in War Domain Cleric. A fairly consistent BA attack based on Wisdom for nova rounds, Guided Strike to compensate for GWM's -5 to hit on one attack and if you don't want Hunter's Mark, grab Divine Favor for 1d4 radiant damage.
This comment needs to get some recognition
War Cleric is a terribly underrated dip for the martials who already economize their BA with "enough" things to not beg for Polearm Master (or Crossbow Expert) but would appreciate having the button to hit in select situations. That said, Channel Divinity: Guided Strike requires both levels. 🙂
I think the Spores dip is fine for first round nova, and probably will get mileage on round 2 or 3 thanks to attacking from the Echo. Divine Favor does have a lot of potential over Hunter's Mark though. Since most enemies under the gun of this build will not have enough health to reach the potential damage report. While that's partially true for every DPR calculation, we're getting a lot of value on paper from Trip Attack and Hunter's Mark.
As soon as the first target dies, there goes advantage potentially, and extra d6s. Maybe all of them! While I don't think it's critical to "win Initiative"--we'll usually beat multiple enemies with a modest bonus--if we've only beaten one or two, and kill those with attacks to spare, then a lot of DPR gets left behind. Divine Favor can more easily spread out damage to multiple enemies for the whole fight. It also allows us to take advantage of BA attacks again from GWM procs or War Priest. Speaking of advantage, once the Tripped target is down, GWM will often work against all the extra d6s. Hunter's Mark is still great to have for big boss fights and dungeon crawls, and Symbiotic Entity could be viewed the same way. Two uses per rest means it'll often be up whenever we can anticipate combat. Easily done come Echo Knight 7 where we get an even better scouting tool than Wild Companion.
I'm not sure I'd invest a 2nd level for Guided Strike. One more guaranteed hit per rest is nice, but not much in the grand scheme of this nova. If it bumps up our spell slot progression then maybe. Harness Divine Power scales nicely at every other PB bump. We don't have anything too exciting to upcast...aside from maybe an 8hr duration Hunter's Mark! Gasp...it was a love story all along.
I think an important note for this build is that you can spread the nova damage overmultiple combats, meaning you can decide that just pulverising an enemy is enough - you don't need to liquify them - and thus you can pulverise another enemy the next combat.
For me, the power of Echo knight is not from the extra attack, which war domain gets a version of at level 1, but the infinite damage sponges. As a bonus action you can create a 1 hit shield as many times as you want. It's minimal against a horde, and creatures usually have 2 attacks, maybe 3, but each attack made to kill it is an attack you or your allies aren't taking, every turn.
Not only that, there are so many things that just straight up don't affect it. You could argue that it's a creature or an object, but it doesn't say that it's either. It calls itself an image. Therefore, things that target creatures or objects don't, RAW, interact with it.
Coming from Balders Gate where you can just summon your spiritual weapon to be a damage sponge to attract attention, I would definitely use the Echo the same way. Even attacking at Range, and positioning the echo away from us and the party, to try and make an enemy chase after your echo and away from the party
Its kind of a perfect parry in practice costing a bonus action.
My favourite fighter subclass finally represented here 🎉 Thank you so much Colby ❤
I had an idea for a character that was an Echo Knight/Bladesinger multiclass and instead of the Echo being a version of the character it was the ghost of his brother who helps in combat because hes on a quest to avenge his brothers wrongful killing. Great video as always.
Had an echo knight Tabaxi where her echo was her brother she didn't know. Kind of like Aiden in Beyond Two Souls
Vengeance Paladin + echo knight + Pact of blade Warlock = One Man Army.
I certainly love the paradigm of the one man army...
How you would you breakdown the leveling for this character?
That's the same t-shirt you wore in the very first video of yours I watched Colby, and also that got me into D&D even more (The Pamlock video if i recall correctly)
For a second, I got confused thinking why is youtube showing me an old video in the feed! 😅
I think i'll try this one in my next campaign. Thank you for the content! 🤗
Nice, I have been curious about your take on this. I definitely didn't go this optimal in my build but still feel it was rather strong. I started fighter, took bard level 2 for spells, continued fighter till 6 for extra attack and sharpshooter, then took bard to 8 for swords bard.
The only reason I did this was to pull off something fancy which was: Precast the echo before the fight, move the echo to a safe spot (some sort of cover preferably up high), attack once with a long bow, use mobile flourish to move to the target for free doing some bonus damage and pushing them 5 feet + bard die, swap with the echo, attack again, draw a weapon (in this case for flavor reasons I went thri-kreen so I have a short sword in the offhand), use unleash incarnation. If you really need the target to die you can action surge, attack 2 more times and then use another unleash incarnation.
This is strictly worse than just using Gloomstalker for damage but it has more strong spell options and has access to defensive flourish for tough fights. Also just the image of pulling off this combo is really cool to me.
Loved this build! Bugbears get steath proficiency, so you could be in the darkness all the time, using your echo to move yourself from one shadow to the other (moving it to another shadow and then swaping places with him). That way you could potentially be aways hidden and with advantage on your attacks thanks to gloomstalker.
Besides that, I would pick the alert feat at level 6 too, blind fighting style and the flog cloud spell as insurance policies.
At last, all of thease hiding could make my halo of spores last more.
Would love to see a OneDnD dual-wielding version of this, two additional attacks on action surge and potential for topple
I'm actually planning an accestral guardian / echo knight character in my next campaign, being able to 'taunt' with the echo, which isn't technically you so they'll get disadvantage to attack it afterwards, just feels like playing the system a bit.
Sounds like Treantmonk’s “Guardian” build, super cool, flavorful, and powerful combo
@@chillycharizard5985I've watched Treentmonk's build loads of times since deciding on the character, not sure I can be bothered with the wizards dip and such, as despite my tendancy for optimising, I play at a very very RP heavy table, but it's informed a lot
I made an assassin build recently with Echo Knight as the primary class: Changeling Echo Knight Assassin. High Dex, CHA, and CON, dump all else. Expertise Deception and Stealth.
Why Changeling? Because the Echo looks like you when you make it, so shift into someone you don't like or that the target Does like, make an echo, shift into someone else, have your echo attack the target with a fairly good shot of no consequences for you! Or just take over the Echo with the 7th level feature and keep running into a group of enemies and keep ambushing them. I had fun using deception to make it out that the echo was the ghost of someone there for revenge and causing havoc.
I've been fortunate enough to play as a mostly straightclassed echo knight in a long term campaign and yeah, the limit on Unleash Incarnation is killer. This burst combo is legitimately a once-or-twice-per-day rarity. It's ok in that particular campaign since we usually only have one combat per day but those few times we've done dungeon crawls or multi-combat days it's super rough
Love your videos sir! I'm going to be that guy and bug you about that Genie Warlock/Wizard combo we talked back and forth on a while back in the comments of a previous video 😁. Using the bottled respite feature combined with Glyph of warning to potentially stack insane concentration buffs in a turn. Anyway, keep doing what you doing!
Awesome build! I’ve been silently waiting for the Echo Knight Build. And as I had said back when I asked how you would build it, I also ended up making mine for my buddies one shot, only I went Echo Knight 7/ Bladesinger 13. And man, that epic encounter was awesome! I was able to cast Simulacrum on myself, essentially dealing 2x my normal damage. You always thank us for just viewing, but I want to thank you sir, for inspiring me to really enjoy the art of character creation. I always leave an episode thinking what can I do next or how differently would I build the character.
If you end up doing a ghost lance build you should look at the genie (dao) subclass
You can get spike growth, flight, and get to deal bludgeoning damage and could take the crusher feat to push people even more
Next you should do a strait Artillerist build but instead of going AoE damage, you should go full single target damage with Scorching Ray, force ballista, and using spell Wrought tattoos with the spell Hex. Allowing you to have high DPR and higher min damage with things elemental adept, which also bypasses resistances.
I'm currently playing a Path of the Beast Barbarian (lvl 6) and a Echo Knight fighter (lvl 3) with the unarmed fighting style. Getting 5 attacks per round with unleash incarnate at level 8 when raging with the claws. Attack action for 3 attacks (2 from lvl 5 feature +1 from the Beast claws), bonus action to off hand claw, unleash incarnation. It's pretty crazy to action surge and get 9 attacks at level 8.
We could reflavor those teleports as super leaps and blinding fast dashes that are timed perfectly to not trigger opportunity attacks. Martials need something :P
Love the build! If anything, I think this might say more about bug bears being op, I’d guess the variant human/ custom linage version of this build would be a lot worse
Fun build. Thanks, Colby...I look forward to "Welcome Home." It makes my day better.
I unironically was in a call yesterday where we discussed the next campaign and i wanted to play some kind of echo knight. You are the best man💪
Anytime the snowbird shirt is out, you know the build gonna be super strong.
My bugbear Gloomstalker 5 Echo knight 3 Assassin 3 (in that order) has proven to be the most practical, and makes the first round of combat insane and has a minimum of a +13 to initiative. Great build Colby, Echo knight is broken in so many ways and is super fun to min max!
Didn't know Homelander played D&D. Jokes aside, I'm building a war cleric / echo knight for my next campaign and I'm so excited to play it! The flavor is that the echo is not a magic item but a projection of my own soul that helps me fight, favor granted by my god to help me conquer my battles and protect those who fight alongside me. I love the concept and can't wait to start playing it next monday!
Loved this one, really tempted to try it out, and I love the cool shadow/echo theme. Love the outtakes, always enjoy them. I would love a Horizon Walker build, have had an idea of a Shadar Kai, using a katana/ two scimitars. Great video see you soon!
Colby is such a relaxed, mellow number cruncher. He crunches not to win, but because he cares. Even when using something he suspects is overpowered.
Im in a Wildermount campaign right now. I originally wantedto play Samuari, but my DM convinveced me to try Echo Knight. It took me a bit to figure out how to use positioning to my advantage, but once I did I started having fun. It wasn't until lvl 6 that I realized I was constantly getting hammered by range enemies, and since I had a decently high CHA (when the story took a weird turn) for RP reasons I went Hexblade. I have been having an absolute blast, I have EB to smash ranged stuff, my echo and I can absolutely truck things. I use my spells for shield/darkness to keep me alive in those emergency situations and my invocations (Mask of many faces for dodging the law and devil sight). I didn't think it would work, but boy was I wrong.
It's pretty easy to roll the Echo Knight into any campaign setting. Instead of Dunamancy, you have a weird connection to the shadow realm and you can make a shadow clone. I love the idea of my shadow jumping off the wall and kicking ass. Especially when you get to seventh level, when you can send the echo 1000 ft away from you to wreck someone's shit. Throw in some Rogue or Warlock and you could RP as a assassin the murders their targets while ensuring someone sees you somewhere else (albeit close but not right there).
More damage than Shepherd Druid at level 6?
I like to imagine that you always have a few builds that would be ready, but you still need to find a song for the outtakes before you film the episode
🤣
Thanks, Colby. I've been mentally building an Echo Knight, but couldn't decide between 3 levels of gloomstalker or hexblade.
2 build i like most from you are Law and Disorder Cleric and Street fighter, technically both the Hexblade aswell (but i love multiclassing stuff so they kinda do not count)
Keep do those cool stuff :D
that said, other builds are cool aswell :3 just kinda less interesting?
Cheesecrater and spore monk are interesting in their way
hmmm... hard to describe, but anyway!
you are amazing :)
and yes, i tryed Law and Disorder on Table, it works amazingly even without a rouge and with a warrior who refuses to use her reaction for an attack.
i have a pretty weak ranger, but she has her reaction always ready so i gave her, even tho it does not make a huge diff, it is fun to see.
outside of that, we are very powerful with Heavy Armor and running around with the Spirit Guardian（sadly my DM has a very smol range for SG, basically 3 blocks to the edge without walking diagonally）
everytime we make a long rest, i am able to make a 16 hours Aid with the greatest spell slot remain, i did save a 6th spell slot accidently and that was a big shield
then of course, the "quickendspell" and double cantrip, damn, it was good and a full completed build, fun all around
@DnDDeepDive obviously the video was great once again. Thank you so much. As important, thank you for the Well Pennies suggestion in this video. My family and I went to listen to them after the video and fell madly in love with their sound. I think that we could be friends. If you want to play DnD in the north Western part of the US sometime let me know. Cheers!
Regarding the talk about how you need everything to go right in order to do the big damage, there are plenty of ways to add reliabiltiy. Alert at level 6 and using your first turn bonus action to create an echo to provide flanking. Both cut down the topend by a little but make it come together a little better as well.
Also brings the flavor out extraordinarily, I'd say. Imagine thinking you saw a shadow move...you look--it must have been a trick of the torchlight. And seconds later you are surrounded by two (furry?!) shadows rushing you from either side. Sounds like spooky fun to me!
L-l-l-loove the channel and your energy! We can bum up the numbers even higher if we include Pali and Warlock. Starting attributes: str 15, dex 13, con 13, wis 13, int 8, cha 11. Take + 1 to str, dex and con from race bonus to str 16, dex 14, con 14. Take the following feats: lvl 4 + 2 str; lvl 6 great weapon something😂 (the +10 damage -5 attack feat); lvl 11 + 2 cha. You take vengeful Pali, all the way to 16th lvl. Take alert at lvl 15. Take hexblade warlock at 17. Extra smites + booming blade can add a lot of damage to the build + you get 12 attacks in the first round of combat. On top of that you get a lot of great features from Pali and warlock, including a way to guarantee advantage on attacks and better criticals. All those require bonus actions, but you can chose when to use which and it also gives you great options for post round 1 damage. The negative is 1 less point in wisdom, which impacts initiative and saves. But a minor magic item, that buffs wis for 1 point solves all those issues. When you crunch the numbers, you get probably 2nd or third place in the nova spreadsheet. You definitely get 2nd place vs enemies of ac 10😂, only second to stealth bomber and only because they get a huge bump in the later levels, but you will be way ahead of them through most of the progression. Might be very well worth it to go warlock lvl 12 and then go pali till the end, i can see that working out better.
9:12 My question to most DMs when they squint at the mid-OP stuff (without shenanigans!) that interests me to play is "would you rather I be a Twilight Cleric? Or a Divination Wizard? Or a Shepherd Druid?" Then they remember that simply NOT picking the weak classes/subclasses in D&D makes you OP on its own, and the rest need some help to get up to par. lol I love really interesting builds that still hold up to the solid straight-class choices.
I also really love the Echo Knight. In my opinion, it's the single best Fighter subclass. It makes the character unique, lets them do things other classes can't, and yet makes them even more Fightery(tm). I know Battlemaster is great, but what does it ever do for you OUTSIDE of combat? ... Exactly. An Echo Knight is a near-constant asset to the party during exploration in a way that's normally reserved for casters.
Would love to see a psi rogue/pally build. Dex pallies never get the love they deserve
I’ve been cooking up a nova Echo Knight/Paladin for an upcoming campaign for the last few weeks, having this come out simultaneously is a godsend. Completely overlooked Bugbear as a race in favor of Custom Lineage’s feat… this is gonna be fun.
Oh, and the +superiority die fighting style for Trip Attack is a great idea as well hehehe
Old rock music for a build that hit hard with metal :)
My table is playing with the new indomitable rules and it comes in clutch now and feels so much more powerful
My favorite Echo Knight multi is the "Ghost Lance" build using a splash of Undead Warlock. But I am partial to Warlocks.
Hey Colby! I love seeing your various builds involving the Echo Knight. Idk if you've done an Echo Knight with Arcane Trickster, but if not then I'd love to see how resourceful you could make it. I'll leave all the creative touches to you, you give great tips and ideas! Wish you all the best 😁👌
If anyone is wary on how OP the spam summoning that this build effectively uses, an easy solution is to make the summon a battle master/ bardic insp. resource for said class, giving them a limited number that per DM aggression to be rest on short or long rest.
I know the math takes a while, but now you have me curious about the oaladin version with bless up instead of hunters mark. Obviously not a bonus action cast but extra accuracy with your GWM attacks can be great. You can also get your choice of hex or hunter's mark from the fey touched feat and swap wisdom and charisma... The joys of theory crafting and needing to actually finish a build
Finally Echo Knight dedicated Build! THANKS COLBY!!!
I love this build, and have played it a few times before (to my DM's chagrin). My group has dubbed this as the Blade Barrier Build. Though tbh, I'd do Echo Knight 11/Gloomstalker 3/Assassin 3. Much like Colby's build Echo Knight first till 5 or 6, Ranger till 3, Assassin 3, then go back to fighter till level 11.
Been trying a "Crossbow slinger" build in BG3. 4 lvls of Rouge into Thief for the extra bonus action and Sharpshooter feat. After that go into Battlemaster Fighter for trick shots. Exclusively fighting with hand crossbows, you can take 4 shots every round with Sharpshooter.
Dude I have had a hard month and the final thoughts made me smile for the fist time in a while, appreciate the videos and thank you man.
Yeah I made almost this exact build on a level 9 one shot. Bugbear, Echo6, Gloom3, two weapon fighting. We were using the OneDnD rule on twf that time that allows you to attack with the 2nd light weapon without using a bonus action.
On the 1st round of the final boss battle of the oneshot, I casted HM and did 5 attacks on one of the boss hags, all with the Bugbear sneak damage. 1 out of 3 boss hags was dead in one go. And I haven't used Action Surge yet!!
I decided to reserve my Action Surge in respect to my DM. I realized playing such a strong character when your friends are just chilling isn't so fun and could also spoil the DM's fun.
The boss fight turned out to be super fun and my character even almost died.
I really love this, both for the damage potential but also for the RP potential. I could see so many cool ideas coming from an echo knight/gloomstalker/druid combination!
Also, love that song you sang at the end. I immediately went and looked them up and added them to my "running in the woods" playlist.
Will I use this song combined with this build as inspiration for a new character? Signs point to yes!
I'm playing an Eladrin, 5 fighter EK, and 11 Ranger Horizon Walker. I can haste myself, pop action surge, and use distant strike to bounce around the battlefield dishing out 12 attacks in a single round.
This build gets even stronger in dnd 5.5e with the nick weapon property. Best weapon for this, imo, is the scimitar. You get to make the dual wield weapon attack as part of the same attack action instead of a bonus action.
Just today I was making an Echo Knight/Hex Blade build, I was trying to make Vergil from DMC so Echo Knight for Doppleganger, then thought wait maybe D4 guy has some suggestions, lets check...but you went in a totally different direction than mine, I did not expect with that bugbear and the trip lol
I was in a game with an echo knight and two dips in barbarian and it was nutty.
Just listening to this build makes it feel like a final boss encounter. It is a fighter at the end of the day so still limited to control spells and etc. It is just the amount of attacks is ridiculous.
I have blade mastery on my echo knight. As the advantage on opportunity attacks with the echo out is great fun. And the +1 is great
Colby, you are insane in the most lovely way. Keep it up!
Awesome build!
I'm currently playing a dual wielding echo knight bloodhunter. The moment I got my echo I felt a huge power jump. Love the subclass
You remembered the ghost lance! Thanks Colby 😄
I would love you to build around the Fiend Warlock, specifically around the 14th level Hurl the Hell feature. I know it’s real late game, but would be a blast to play. I mean who wouldn’t want to say “Go to Hell!!” and actually able to do it😂
What I came up with is to take 2 levels of Grave Cleric/14 Fiend warlock and an extra level to use however. You also need to have 2 feats of metamagic to quicken 2 spells.
First quicken the Level 6 spell Mental Prison and do 5d10 and use your action to use Path of the Grave. Next round quicken 7th level Finger of Death that has vulnerability (14d8+60) and cast Eldritch blast with Repelling Blast to push them out of the circle to do 10d10 damage. By hitting them you activate Hurl Though Hell making them disappear till the end of your next round. Next round cast Cloud of Daggers on the spot they disappeared from. When they appear they take 10d10 psychic damage from the trauma of going through the 9 Hells only to end up in your Cloud of Daggers. They then take 8d10 of damage when they appear and another 8d10 when they start their turn!!!
If they happen to survive they are going to have a very bad day. You could even have a pet Imp for more flavor and potential extra damage.😆
I am as of now playing a Dhampir Echo Knight / Gloom Stalker in our spelljammer campaign and i can 100% recommend this very much. There are so many ways to use the Echo, you almost forget the fact that you can not cast spells. BUT be prepared to make your DMs jaw drop with all the burst damage.
@Colby I really love your builds. I would love to see your build on a mark of healing halfling necromancer. I used the yen yang of life and death.
Super great timing after I watched your dhampir vid I created an dex/con based echo knight and let me tell you he is doing amazingly in our games
I'm glad he didn't go two-weapon, the bonus action to do extra damage is much more useful on maneuvering the echo. When discussing the Echo itself, it's VERY important to remember that it is NOT a creature. My DM keeps trying to tell me the Echo is hit by this or destroyed by that affect and I ask him again and again. Does this attack or ability target only creatures or does it target Magic Objects, there's a separate rules set for the Echo as a Magic Object that prevents it from being targeted or damaged by random effects. Not quite to the level of a Spiritual Weapon, but still, it generally takes a deliberate action wasting an action to get rid of it. I play a Dhampir Shadow Sorcerer / Echo Knight. Playing with shadows gives me plenty of places to hide and I can use my Echo and Spider Climb ability to hide on walls and roofs :P It's a great utility build.
Since Echo Knight works with Constitution I usually go Damphir. Its a great combo.
I had an Echo Knight in the game I ran for 2 years, really made me intentionally plan every door in my dungeons. Can the EK see 3in. through the crack under the door? How about the keyhole? If so, their echo appears inside your safely locked room and swaps with the character. Very proud frustration lol
Currently playing an Half-Orc Echo Knight Fighter with a 2 level dip (so far) into Barbarian. Currently level 7, so Fighter 5, Barbarian 2.
The Reckless Attack allows for reliable Advantage and because the attacks are coming from me, my foes don’t gain advantage against my Echo.
As we are playing within Faerun, I’ve flavoured my echo to be an avatar of my tribal deity, a shadow bear named Umbra. The plan is eventually to take an extra 2 levels into Barbarian, taking the Totem Bear as my subclass for thematic reasons as well as the half damage while raging.
These will likely come in after taking level 8 Fighter so as best to maximise Feats progression 😊
Alert should add damage because it'll increase your chance of going first in combat. That bugbear surprise damage should really be at about 25% before you have alert with such a bad initiative bonus.
Colby would you be willing to do a shorts series for some of your favorite builds vs monsters? Like take your favorite build at any level and put it against monsters you think appropriate and just demonstrate how it’s done? Think that’s be sweet!
38:00 for stuff like Symbiotic Entity and other preps spells and features, I have found a lot DMs amenable to "can I just have (x) held as an action if we roll initiative, provided we're not surprised?"
As long as it's not a spell with a spell slot, I find this kind of O.K. If you're on guard anyway, it kind of makes sense that you'd have something like this ready. It's kind of like walking with your weapons at the ready vs in sheaths, holsters, whatever.
it really shouldn't come as a surprise that when combining all the strong first turn / surprise features would produce a nova monster.
Nice build
Colby, what would you do to optimize around the spell steel wind strike?
For the flavor alone I would love to see how you would build an Oath of open seas paladin multiclassed with Fathomless warlock
I love the vow of poverty, vow of chastity monk build. One of the first builds i ever made, and even used it in my first 'evil' campaign as the final boss and my players were almost not able to kill it, I had to fudge a few rolls so they could finally take it down. lol
Fun trivia: Matt Mercer used to play Warmachine by Privateer Press (maybe still does? not clear). I can't help but feel like the Echo Knight and the Chronurgist are nods to Victoria Haley from that game, since she's a time mage who summons echoes of herself from other timelines.
Would haste work with the lvl 3 extra attack from the echo? If so, would 6 bladesinger and 3 echoknight be fun for nova damage?
Surprised the build wasn’t 11 Echo Knight/3 Gloomstalker/3 Assassin. Crits on all those openers would be a pretty valuable add.
I've sort of already done that build :). More than once...
I’m curious how many bonks a single character can get … war cleric X gloom stalker x echo knight?
You could also add beast barb +1 bonk and replace war cleric whit monk For 2 bonks instead
I'm pretty sure one of Colby's videos goes into this idea, ends up with 11+ attacks on the nova round or something crazy like that?
I could be pulling all that from nowhere though as I couldn't say which vid it was.
Love it. Although, I would say that the Bugbear contributes to the brokenness of this build. Bugbear just puts the damage of this build over the top with the extra 20d6 they all.
I prefer the Ambush maneuver for the extra initiative bonus since almost 40% of my damage comes from making sure those bugbear attacks land. GWM I don't think is needed at my table, it only makes it harder to deliver those extra d6's.
Also, consideration for Barbarian 2 for Reckless attack and Rage (no hunters Mark of course but much better survivability when the surviving enemy decides to retaliate.)
I always find the hype around Unleash Incarnation to be very silly.
Like...one use of Unleash Incarnation is basically the same as one use of Precision Attack from a battlemaster. It lets you land another attack, usually. But Echo Knight gets like 2-3 uses of Unleash Incarnation depending on your CON, and Battlemaster gets 8 uses of Precision Attack (assuming one short rest).
(Echo Knight is an absurdly powerful subclass, don't get me wrong. But that's mostly because of Manifest Echo. Not because of Unleash Incarnation, which is more of a nice bonus rather than the main course).
Thanks for the video Colby! I enjoyed your analysis.
I wish I could combine echo Knight with clockwork sorcorer so I can make a "lost in time" character.
Currently Playing an Echo knight and at level 4. So lol lets see what you got Colby!
Love marital builds!
This is a fun one!
Came for the build, stayed for the book club.
I appreciate all the ideas you post for builds. Hoping to get your opinion on a personal idea of a Rogue/Sorcerer build that can still do decent damage role-playing as a jester? Is it possible to still be strong with that combo or will I just be standing around most of the time doing nothing? If this is rude, I'm sorry, you don't need to respond.
You do pronounce Wildemount right, Colby! This is a great build, Echo Knight was an awesome dip for my Bladesinger wizard, especially since my DM gave us 1 high-level artificer infusion each, and an Amulet of Health is huge for the Echo Knight
ghostlance in the to do list confirmed let's gooooo
Great Video.. was curious on what you would think about a ghostslayer, phantom rouge kind of build. was also thinking Gloomstalker mixed in.. but didn't want to go to multi-class and MAD
What if you went 6 fighter, 4 ranger, 5 cleric, 2 druid? If you can get spores and spirit shroud up before combat you'd have a 5th level slot to get 2d8 spirit shroud dmg + the 1d6 from spores per hit. Is that better than the 2 extra attacks? 12d8(ss) + 6d6(spores) + 12d6 (bugbear) + 12d6 (weapon)+ 90 (gwm + 20 str) if all attacks hit w/ no crit.
Sorry, I left damage on the table. It's 8 attacks. So 16d6 (weapon) + 16d6 (bugbear) + 16d8 (spirit shroud) + 8d6 (spores) + 2d8 (gloomstalker) + 80 (gwm) + 40 (20 str).
I'm still curious to see a build centered around Grappling an opponent, Jumping(not flying) as high as possible, and dealing massive fall damage to an enemy. I think about of the theming of the character as a Ninja using the Izuna Drop or like a wrestler tossing their opponents in the air.
I'm working on a mutliclass barbarian/rogue and it just doesn't do a lot of damage, having to use a finesse weapon. I'm thinking of using echo knight or battle master to give them a bit more burst but I'm torn on which one to choose. Unleash incarnation is nice for a couple of rounds of burst about four times per long rest. The unlimited teleportation is also fantastic even though I have more movement speed that the echo. On the other side, the battle master has a lot of utility in their maneuvers, but the die will never get too high. But it would come back on short rests and we have a rogue in the group so using commander's strike would do wonders for them. Any thoughts? I can make either work thematically.