Author: Haen the Heretic
We are back with a new series of character builds here at Tabletop Builds. For our Flagship Build Series, we are publishing what we believe to be the seven most powerful character builds in D&D 5E.
Flagship Build Series
Bard: College of Eloquence (HexElo / DSSElo)
Cleric: Twilight Domain (LunarTwilight)
Druid: Circle of the Shepherd (LifeShep)
Paladin: Oath of the Watchers (HexWatchers / UndeadWatchers)
Ranger: Gloom Stalker (HexStalker)
Sorcerer: Clockwork Soul (HexClock)
Wizard: Chronurgy Magic (PeaceChron)
What is a Flagship Build?
Each Flagship Build we have built under the assumptions that the game is…
- Allowing feats. We will be using the optional feats variant rule. For games that don’t use feats, if there is enough interest we may develop builds for feat-less games in the future, but our own personal experiences with 5E indicate feats are nearly universal in their usage, and we like them too.
- Allowing all content from published sourcebooks, except for backgrounds from the Magic: the Gathering books. Backgrounds from Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica and Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos are not being considered here as they are not widely available at most tables. Dragonmarked races from Eberron: Rising from the Last War are considered for variant versions of the builds, but not the main progression. This means that content from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount is assumed to be available to the player at character creation.
- Using Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything optional rules. All optional and variant features present in official content are considered to be on the table. This means that we are assuming all optional class features from TCoE are allowed. Many of the optional rules in XGtE are helpful clarifications of vague rules interactions from the Player’s Handbook, and so we are assuming that they are all in play. The only exception will be the optional rule on identifying spells as they are being cast, which in our experience is not as widely adopted. We will make note of considerations to make if playing with this variant.
- A high encounter-density, high difficulty game. Similar to a point made in our Core Tenets, for our Flagship Builds series we are assuming a high number of challenging encounters (6-8, as per the original guidelines) per adventuring day. We operate with the understanding that the DM will run monsters intelligently should they have the capability to do so, and that player characters do not have “plot armor” and that death can lurk around any corner.
- Running the game from levels 1 to 20, as per the XP guidelines. This means that Flagship Builds are powerful and viable at every level, and that we highly value the overall progression of the build over being some sort of endgame-only spherical white-room monstrosity.
As a result, every Flagship Build is…
- Multiclassed. Between dips to acquire especially potent low level spells and features, gain specific save or equipment proficiencies, or multiclassing out of their main class after getting key features to get better spells and a stronger spell list, every single one of these builds has levels in at least two classes. Does this mean we skip out on capstones? Yes, but as noted above, getting to level 20 is significantly more playtime than being at level 20, and we value the level to level progression from 1 to 20 more highly. Additionally, most capstones are uninspiring and weak, so nothing of value was lost.
- Optimized to perfection. We will not only showcase what the build can do, but also do our best to explain why we believe they are the best in the game. Each build must excel in every tier of play and individually they should be capable of substituting for multiple unoptimized party members. We do not assume the entire party is made up of similarly optimized characters. Finally, our primary focus is on optimizing for surviving and winning combat encounters, not roleplay or exploration. This isn’t because we think optimization and roleplay are at odds—quite the opposite, actually—but because combat is the pillar of the game that is most rigidly defined by the rules in addition to having the most relevant content dedicated to it. Combat is adjudicated more similarly between different tables than exploration or roleplay, and there’s really no right or wrong way to roleplay (or, at the very least, it isn’t our place to tell you how to roleplay!). We rarely include any information on how to roleplay these builds because that is up to you! These are builds that you can then turn into vibrant, interesting, and fun characters for your games, that you can roleplay however you like.
- A spellcaster. Spellcasting is by far the strongest feature in the game, and as such all the top builds can cast spells. We’ll have some more dedicated martial builds in the future, but for the best-of-the-best, we have to leave about half of the classes in 5E behind as a primary class. The strength and diverse coverage the Spellcasting provides is, at least in 5E, impossible to match.
To make these builds as useful as possible to you, the reader, they are…
- All in the same format. To make things easier to read, our group of contributors have done their best to adhere to a common format for presentation. We’ve made some minor tweaks based on feedback from the Basic Build Series to our standard Tabletop Builds template. Hopefully, our builds are not just informative but also pleasant and easy to read!
- Customizable. In a departure from most of our past builds, each Flagship Build will be presented with at least one “variant” provided so you can choose your own adventure(r). While we believe the primary build we presented will be your best overall option, these variants are often very close, or possibly even better in different use cases, such as filling out gaps in your parties spell line up. As always, we encourage the use of our builds as a starting point for your own personalized build creations.
When making major decisions (such as subclass) for each Flagship Build, our evaluation differed from our Basic Build Series.
This time around, we are not evaluating “Generalizability” or “Accessibility.” The features in the Player’s Handbook are not given any higher value due to being more commonly available to players, and each feature stands on its merits alone. Though many aspects of the builds can be modular, we have not constrained our choices and will be taking full advantage of the powerful abilities of specific subclasses.
Unlike our Basic Builds series, these are geared towards games with much higher difficulty levels, and are aimed primarily at an audience of veteran players with a high degree of rules familiarity and comfort with complexity. We also are assuming a game that mostly adheres to Rules As Written, and doesn’t incorporate any house rules. We may make note of certain considerations to keep in mind certain popular house rules.
We evaluate options in terms of their expected value, which averages what they do when they work with what they do when they don’t, weighted by how likely each is. At Tabletop Builds our aim is not to fall into common stereotypes or beliefs, but to evaluate everything at face value and as rigorously and quantitatively as possible.
We assume you are playing as part of a team, and therefore made these builds with cooperation between party members in mind. You do not need to play alongside other Flagship Builds to be effective, though of course any kind of force-multipliers will be best with more of a force to multiply.
Been looking forward to these, thanks guys.
Paladin: Oath of the Watchers is a flagship build????
Indeed! Aura of the Sentinel is a massive boost for the whole party that’s relevant in every encounter. Going before an enemy in initiative is equivalent to having free extra turns over them – a significant force multiplier that generates tactical advantage.
Their aura bonus at level 7 is hands down the best aura in the game. Going first in initiative is crucial to shaping the battlefield the way you want it and creating areas of control, debuffing, repositioning, and setting the pace for the rest of the encounter. The fact that it’s party-wide is just phenomenal, going first reliably is almost like a pseudo surprise. The fact that it can be stacked with other effects like gift of alacrity, Alert feat, Jack of All Trades, and the initiative bonuses for Chronurgy and War Magic Wizards allows it to snowball into guaranteed control right away. We cannot understate how good this buff is.
Any chance to add Genie Warlock to the flagship builds?
Being the few warlocks that get access to Wish, as well as having vessel for many purposes, free non concentration flight, damage boost / resistance, 10-min short rest and some more. I think it has the potential to be one of the strongest characters for sure if optimally built especially with multiclass on top.
Genie is very strong, and I bet we will be doing a Genie build at some point, but falls a bit short of what we would consider a “Flagship” because its power is primarily as a single-character, and less of a “force-multiplier” than the other Flagships. In our conception, a Flagship has to be strong on its own, but also critically make the entire team much stronger as well with some unique capabilities.
If we had arbitrarily set a limit at 8 different builds, a Warlock-primary build would’ve likely been the next pick (either Undead or Dao Genie). With Warlock being present on other Flagships as a dip, and a couple other Warlocks already in our archive (Death Warden, Ghostlance) we decided it wasn’t critical to make it part of this particular series.
I noticed your builds work under a few assumptions that aren’t widely available at every table: ie rest casting, it’s RAW and it’s generally well received in the optimisation community while it’s quite uncommon at the “regular” table; full ranged party is another common sight in optimised groups, not so much elsewhere and I could name a few others.
I get that the site is more geared toward these kind of groups but I’d like to remind you to do builds for different kind of games as well. Reading about weaponising your familiar/tiny servant/homunculus in every build with magic stones gets boring when you know many DMs won’t buy in.
The builds would probably work well anyway but you got the point 😉 thanks for the great work you’re doing
I understand your concern with catering to other play styles – expected table variance is always a consideration during our writing process. You can see how it’s handled with tech box or providing alternative options directly.
Where we don’t necessarily write for every table, the situation tends to fall into one of the following:
– The interaction is inessential to the build’s core conceit, it’s a “either you have it or you don’t” situation.
You can easily ignore it if that’s not how your table plays and lose very little in the process.
– The interaction has such a massive table variance that it’s both inefficient and untenable to cover fully. Things like major house rules, unintuitive, unamenable party playstyles, or simply differing personal preferences.
For the latter situation, the guides we make can easily be trimmed to fit your personal limits and still perform abundantly well, or the table variance is so great that it’s best to ask for individualized input, which is what our Discord server is great for.
I love these Flagship Builds, they are cutting edge of optimization!
I would like to see how/when you should play these builds. Such as what full party composition gets the most out of the build or needs the build to truly shine. Or what would be an all Flagship Build Party consist of?
Keep up the amazing work!
The flagship builds are intended to be able to go into any party and perform at peak capacity. As for when to play a particular build, I think that wholly depends on your other party members and their optimization level (check out the Standards of Optimization article for more information).
In terms of how to play the builds, there are certainly plenty of decision points that are difficult to elaborate upon here. I think that between the strategy blurbs at each level, and for each spell, that should give you a good idea of how they should be played. You’re always welcome to ask specific questions on our Discord server!
A “Flagship Build Party” is something we might detail further in a full article in the future, but I’ll briefly discuss it here. At minimum, you would want a Chronurgy Wizard and Watchers Paladin. The individual power of the Chronurgy Wizard is the highest among the flagships, and is the quintessential provider of control magic. The Watchers Paladin provides invaluable force multipliers in the form of Aura of Protection and Aura of the Sentinel, keeping all of your other spellcasters’ saving throws boosted and giving them extra turns in the form of initiative bonus. The rest of the party can be any of the other Flagship Builds, but at least one of the following will be helpful in making sure your combats do not take too long: Shepherd Druid, Twilight Cleric, and Gloomstalker Ranger.
There are some minor considerations to think about in terms of general party optimization, but especially so in High Optimization level games where a Flagship Build Party would exist. For example, a wizard may make different spells learned choices at level-up if another spellcaster can provide that spell to them through a spell scroll. Some builds which we recommend taking Fey Touched for Gift of Alacrity may change that half-feat to Telekinetic instead, if someone else already has access to Gift of Alacrity.
These builds all seem like back line party members. But there is so much control that I was wondering if a frontline is needed?
Excited for the All Flagship Build Party article!!!
Keep up the great work!!!
We actually do have a few articles on this very topic! From our “Party Roles” section of “Theory and Analysis,” The Myth of Party Roles and Two Problems with Tanks explain why “frontline” is a bit of a misnomer in 5E. Player characters are best off trying to keep themselves away from monsters as much as possible through the various methods of battlefield control available to casters of all varieties, but especially flagship builds. In the event that a monster does reach you, every flagship is very durable as a result of being fully armored, with access to the shield spell. The “Squishy Caster” Fallacy article goes into more depth about how properly built spellcasters are the most survivable builds in the game, if their access to powerful control magic puts them in harm’s way at all.
I wanna ask what to take for damage, my party lacking damage on single target, we have only one strong character Twilight cleric and he deals with hordes. Funny enough we got realy tough encounters and my party almost die evety time except barbarian(almost no opt, uses wild magic subclass and have GVM with out polarm master) and cleric i mentioned before.
But its just my case and i wanna ask in general what is best consistant damage dealing builds i can play?
No Gloomstalker build yet. I am guessing you start as V.H., get archery style, XB expert, SShooter, then max out DEX. Maybe it has 3 levels of Assassin and a lot of battle master (or maybe Samurai?).
I know that casters are generally JUST BETTER than martials (higher survivability, more utility, more total damage, etc). But I’m curious how Tabletop Builds rates the Bearbarian. The basic setup is Druid (Moon) 2 / Barbarian 1 so that you can turn into a bear and then rage for resistance and bonus damage on your claw attacks. However late game as you gain levels in Druid it scales up pretty nicely so that by Druid 12 / Barbarian 5 (the start of tier 4) you can turn into a Giant Coral Snake and take advantage of Barbarian’s Extra Attack and a Bear Totem to make two attacks and take half damage from all sources.
When I tried out this build in a campaign I found that I could survive longer than our 21 AC shield-wielding Defensive fighting plate-wearing Fighter – just because my effective HP was so astronomically high. At level 3 you’re looking at 34 HP (Bear) times two (half damage while raging) times two again (you have two Wild Shapes) plus about 28 (12 for starting Barbarian, 5 for each level of Druid, 6 more for 14 CON) also times two (rage). This means 192 effective HP at level 3. By level 17 you’re rocking closer to 600 effective HP. Even a Tarrasque only averages 148 damage per round if it focuses all of its fire on a single person and every attack hits. That means you can survive 4-5 rounds against a Tarrasque while soaking up ALL of the damage. Best yet: since Druids get their Wild Shape back on a short rest, it’s essentially a free full heal every time you rest (lol what are hit dice?)
Finally, if your DM approves, there’s nothing in the rules that prevents a bear (or other beast that you choose to transform into) from wearing plate armor and wielding a shield – you just need a smith to custom-make a suit that fits you. Wild Shape explicitly says that you can choose whether or not your equipment merges with your form. So maintaining high AC is still viable.
Does a build like this have any place among the Flagship class if properly tweaked and optimized? (I usually take it to Druid 12 / Barbarian 8 so I don’t miss out on any feats, and since Druids are full casters this still leaves lots of room for utility and battlefield control)
Not a full caster or a good halfcaster hits so hard it’s not close to viable in high op. Not a WIZARD means it’s not close to viable in Sil op.
Have you thought about making “semi-flagships” or something similar for the other five classes? I feel like it would be interesting to try to find the best builds for classes that are usually seen as weaker.
Posting optimized, multiclassed builds for all classes is definitely on the roadmap; it’s basically always only a question of if authors get around to actually doing it since the website runs 100% off of the free time and work of its authors.
So I have a question, is heavy armor more valuable then medium armor? And how much does not investing in strength with heavy armor really hinder you? Especially with something like misty step
Flagship artificer?
The Flagship series is what we consider the 7 best builds, and all of these articles have been completed. Artificer doesn’t meet the power level of the rest of these builds.
The Mark of Passage variant human get +2 to Dex not Wisdom. I’m wondering how to balance this out. I can put the +1 on wisdom which starts me out at 16.
The Customizing Your Origin rule in _Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything_ allows us to put the +2 in Wisdom. If that rule is not available to you, you are sadly either just worse off ability score wise. Personally, I don’t really think Cleric can juggle _pass without trace_ and _spirit guardians_ very well, so you could consider playing Satyr with that variant instead if you so desire, they are pretty funky.
If you could only pick the top four characters from the Flagship Builds, what other two characters would you pick? (You said in a previous reply that Wizard and Paladin were required)
If I were to guess, I’d assume you’d pick one of three from Sorcerer, Cleric, and Druid, and then Ranger, or just Sorcerer and Cleric or Druid.