Fighter Martial Archetype: Eldtritch Knight 5e
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
I’ve written a lot about the pity I have for the half-casters when it comes to their spellcasting, and let me say this: the third casters (being Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster) get an even more raw deal. Still, Eldritch Knight in the earlier tiers is a pretty excellent expansion for fighters, and while you only cap out on 4th level spells when your full-caster buddies are getting 9th level spells (OOF), you can have a lot of fun playing the hybrid martial/caster warrior here.
3rd Level: Spellcasting and Weapon Bond
Spellcasting gives Eldritch Knight two cantrips from the wizard spell list, and three 1st level spells known, two of which have to be either abjuration or evocation spells. As you gain levels, you learn more spells, but they’re limited to just abjuration or evocation spells most of the time with exceptions happening at 8th, 14th, and 20th level.
Most of the magical power you’re getting you’re getting right now. From this point forward, the division between your magical capabilities and your full-caster allies is only going to grow, but two 1st level slots with two cantrips for a 3rd level character is pretty reasonable, and feel pretty great.
Some big options for abjuration/evocation spells to note are Shield, Absorb Elements, Burning Hands, Magic Missile, and Thunderwave. Taking a reaction spell like Shield here is particularly potent, as with your fighter heavy armor access, you can easily be pumping up your AC to ludicrous levels with access to +5 for a round when you need it.
Other major considerations are out of combat high utility spells, namely Find Familiar. That level of magical boon that doesn’t actually ask you to spend spell slots on it is the exact kind of spell characters with limited spell slots tend to want.
Your cantrip selection normally will reward non-damaging utility options like Mage Hand and Message. The weapon attack cantrips are pretty excellent as well up until the point you’re making multiple attacks, which then they suddenly become a lot worse than just attacking twice. This is a major issue, especially because you’re never given an opportunity to replace them; you can only ever replace 1st level or higher spells known when you gain levels, and won’t get a new cantrip until 10th level. I’d highly recommend avoiding Green Flame Blade and Booming Blade and just sticking with regular attacks with utility cantrips here for this reason.
Eldritch Knight excels as a fighter archetype in how it covers a lot of base fighters glaring out of combat exploration failings. Having a handful of cheap ways to magically engage with the world will help you feel like you’ve got a high quantity of opportunities to support the group in creative, magical ways as the game progresses.
Weapon Bond is the other feature you get at 3rd level, which acts similarly to warlock’s Pact of the Blade. It comes with the niche upside of preventing you from ever being disarmed, and lets you spontaneously summon your bonded weapons from anywhere, which is pretty neat. It's important to remember that you still need to have an open hand for Somatic component spells, so if you’re taking spells that have anything beyond verbal components, what you’re holding matters a lot in combat. This makes weapon bond ultimately a pretty luke-warm ability, but when it's stapled to two first level spell slots, three known spells, and two cantrips, it's a fine little extra.
7th Level: 2nd Level Spells and War Magic
2nd Level Spells are opened up to you at seventh level, which is when the full-casters are getting their 4th level spells (your highest level possible). Still, with Invisibility accessible at 8th level, and there being reasonable abjuration and evocation 2nd level options like Darkness and Rime’s Binding Ice, you’re getting a decent expansion of power with just the new slots and spells known.
War Magic is a trap feature, trying to encourage you to cast cantrips instead of making attack rolls. The reality of the fighter class is you’re going to have better ranged options pretty regularly than this, and are able to make two attacks instead of one anyway. Bonus action off-hand thrown weapons can take the same bonus action you’d be using after the cantrip, meaning you're forgoing two attacks for one cantrip cast. That’s not worth it, and it's only getting worse as you start having to forgo more attacks the higher level you get.
This feature feels backwards to me; I’d expect to be making attack rolls with the base class, and be rewarded by the subclass with a bonus action cantrip cast, but alas, that’s not what the feature does.
10th Level: Eldritch Strike
Eldritch Strike reads like a potentially interesting ability, but then you remember the context of your spellcasting rules. You’re limited to evocation and abjuration spells with two exceptions up until this point, and at this level, you’re working with 2nd and 1st level spells. If you’re already making attacks, you probably want to keep attacking, because you’re a fighter with extra attacks. If you’re using War Magic, the cantrip cast has to happen first, meaning it won’t be until your next turn that you could impose disadvantage on the cantrip cast. This means you’re using your attacks to set up a future potential save or die that’s locked to 1st or 2nd level on the following turn, which seems like it's challenging to set up at its best.
There’s a pretty good chance, as an Eldritch Knight, you’re not even taking spells that require a creature make a save to enable your attacking stat and Constitution to be higher. A lot of your best options are high utility or defensive improvements anyway like Absorb Elements and Darkness; there is a real chance that this feature will have no actual saves it can empower, and that’s a huge bummer.
13th-15th Level: 3rd Level Spells and Arcane Charge
3rd Level Spells open up some real bangers to your arsenal that can empower you in some big ways; even at 13th level, Fireball still is going to hit like a bus, and getting access to it on a character that’s also great at attacking is great. Haste competes for your precious few non-abjuration/evocation spells, but on a ranged character that can defend their concentration can feel like a stapled on extra attack. Counterspell and Dispel Magicc are iconic and important 3rd level abjuration spells at your disposal now.
Third level wizard spells are really good, and they carry a huge amount of the load when it comes to scaling up this option as the game progresses, but because you’re also getting more attacks as you go and feats to support a martial build, this will feel like a free way to multi-class wizard. That’s honestly quite good.
Arcane Charge attaches a Misty Step to your Action Surge, which is pretty slick. I’m a big fan of it thematically. Is it worth your fifteenth level feature? Probably not, but because you also have a bunch of spell slots you’re getting along the way, it's not carrying all that weight on its own.
18th-19th Level: Improved War Magic and 4th Level Spells
Improved War Magic is actually a major boon to the option I really wish was just regular war magic. You’ll actually want to cast 1st level and higher spells in combat; you’re not regularly going to want to be casting cantrips. Improved War Magic makes the cost of forgoing weapon attacks lessened, which is a pretty great boon. It's really late, and not outrageously powerful compared to a lot of other options happening in this tier, but hey, it's not an unnoticed quality of life upgrade.
4th Level Spells at 18th level are just not good. Where 3rd level wizard spells are so good that even getting them at 13th level can still feel excellent, getting access to Ice Storm while your wizard starts granting Wishes is demoralizing. Of the available options I like Fire Shield and Stoneskin well enough, but honestly I have such a hard time envisioning myself ever getting here when multiclassing probably offers more potent character enhancements.
All Together
Eldritch Knight is at its finest from 3rd-5th level, with decent enough scaling with its spell roster alongside base fighter you’ll never be terribly disappointed with it. Its core features are pretty terrible outside the spellcasting, though, meaning you’re going to have to lean very heavily on your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level wizard spells alongside extra attack to get power out of this option. It can be a blast to play if you enjoy the spells you’re selecting and are aware of the limitations concentration and spell components present in your character’s ability to engage. If you want to be a fighter with just a hint of wizard magic, and aren’t committing to an adventure you’re expecting to go on for 20 levels, I think Eldritch Knight may be the subclass for you.
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