Lookging for some help on making a lvl 5 warforged that will do the most damage per a

[Gydian]

Lookging for some help on making a lvl 5 warforged that will do the most damage per attack. What class? Multi class? Weapon?

New to this forum but have already gotten so much help already. So thanks in advance.

[Vorpalchicken]

Most damage with one blow would be with a sharpshooter rogue. However, that would be only one pretty inaccurate shot each round- especially for a warforged.

You are probably better off being a great weapon master barbarian. Making reckless attacks offsets the -5 attack roll penalty to help land heavy weapon blows with +10 damage. Plus two attacks! And one more if you crit. Totem barbarian sounds a little weird but it would likely be the most effective. If your dm allows non dwarves to be battleragers, that would an extra attack while raging even if you don't crit. Plus cool spiked armor!

A berserk robot with a greatsword sounds fun.

[Foxhound438]

Most damage with one blow would be with a sharpshooter rogue.

pretty sure it would be GWM paladin actually, granted it takes a spell slot to get there.

[Specter]

If you mean literally per attack, you need to add dice damage to your attacks. Maybe Ranger with Hunter's Mark and Colossus Slayer, or Fighter with Hex (Magic Initiate).

[Drackolus]

pretty sure it would be GWM paladin actually, granted it takes a spell slot to get there.

At first, but paladins cap out while rogues don't.

[Vorpalchicken]

pretty sure it would be GWM paladin actually, granted it takes a spell slot to get there.

Assumed the OP was talking about consistent damage, each round. Otherwise you're right- could throw a bonus action thunderous smite on there too I suppose.

Or just use a fireball if we're talking about spell slots.

[Sariel Vailo]

Get down pn your knees ro suck the life out of him three be a succubus kill with one mighty blow

[Quoxis]

Get down pn your knees ro suck the life out of him three be a succubus kill with one mighty blow

[clash]

I have looked into this. Rogue always comes out at the best core option for doing this as it is kinda there thing. Paladin can do it some, but rogue can do it all day.

If ua is allowed then the artificer gunsmith workls well also and they actually multiclass fairly well together given that they both focus on one attack and sneak attack applies to the thundercannon. If you go this route you will want to take elf or half elf for elven accuracy from the feats for races. This will allow you to get super advantage (best of 3 dice). Go to at least artificer 6 for the pet and have it take the help action each round for constant super advantage. Then when artificer abilities drop off at higher levels you can multi into rogue to get some of the low level rogue goodies and with constant advantage you have sneak attack every round.

[Vogie]

I think the OP's looking for more of a One-Punch-Man approach

Perhaps starting off each battle building up a series of self buffs that builds up to a single deadly attack?

[NecroDancer]

An open hand monk can kill a person with a single punch if the target fail a saving throw at level 14.

[Easy_Lee]

An open hand monk can kill a person with a single punch if the target fail a saving throw at level 14.

That's level 17, not 14, but yes. If you want to be dirty, combine it with diviner wizard's portent.

[DivisibleByZero]

Best single blow? Probably Arcane Trickster with a Paladin 2 dip using either GFB or BB.
1d8+5 weapon +3d8 cantrip +9d6 sneak attack +5d8 smite = 4.5+5+13.5+31.5+22.5 = 77 base
Nothing on a miss.

Most consistent upper tier damage? Sharpshooter Crossbow Master Rogue.
11d6+15 = 53.5 if the first attack hits
48.5 if it misses and the second one hits.
(TWF melee, subtract 10 damage, but hit even more reliably)

The first is bigger, but the second wins over the long run unless you only ever fight mooks.

Edit:
Didn't catch the lvl5 WF req.
GWM Pally wins the biggest.
TWF Rogue still wins the most consistent.

[coolAlias]

That's level 17, not 14, but yes. If you want to be dirty, combine it with diviner wizard's portent.

Only the dead fight fair, right? :P

[Quoxis]

Maybe not necessarily what you have in mind (+MAD as hell), but a fun idea nonetheless:

Variant human (feat: magic initiate warlock - take hex and two cantrips of choice) - or you simply take the feat later on when you're at level 4 of rogue
Paladin 2
Monk 1-2
Rogue (Arcane trickster) 16-17

You attack with a shortsword, get both sneak attack and smite, attack unarmedly for your bonus action, and that way you're at a maximum of 12d6*+4d8**+1d4 per round (or 11d6+4d8 on your main attack).

* 9d6 sneak attack, 2d6 from hex on two attacks, 1d6 from your shortsword
**as an arcane trickster 17/pally 2 you get to a "full caster level" of 6, meaning you get 3 slots of 3rd level which you can feed your smites with.

If you can get your hands on 13 each in charisma, strength, dexterity and wisdom, this build would do 2d6+2d8+1d4 as a 5th-level non-hex-character.


Another method (which will probably be more to your taste):
Barbarian 2/fighter (champion) 3

The strategy is simple: you spam "reckless attack", get advantage on every attack and land a crit on every 19 or 20 you roll. The simplest way to build a critfisher.
Doing this with a maul seems tempting, but don't. Get a 13 in dex and go the rest of the way rogue, forget about multiattack and focus on brutal hits with a shortsword (or rapier, though that seems dumb).
Sneak attack dice get included in crits.

A normal blow from this guy (barb2/champ3/rogue15) is worth 9d6***+2****, but the chances are 1:5 to get a crit on this one attack.

***1d6 from shortsword (because barbarians don't use rapiers. They just don't.), 8d6 from rogue
****from the "dueling" fighting style you take because you're not a moron and despite your low dex can get a high ac with heavy armor (rage? Pfff, that's for the guys who don't care if they get hit, which you should given your mostly d8 hit dice) and a shield.

Edit: can't wait to see what about the math i did wrong, because i can basically feel people are already calculating and fact-checking this

[Sariel Vailo]

Nah i wont feel bad because zoidberg told me to

[GlenSmash!]

Killing with one blow is something that would be very difficult to have control over in this edition. It would really require going up against low hp monsters, which is not always guaranteed.

However, there are lots of ways to do a lot of damage in a single blow.

[Douche]

I would suggest an alternate way to incapacitate your foes with optimal speed.

Become a MASTER GRAPPLER and carry a bunch of rope/manacles.

If you can get Dimensional Shackles, the DC to escape is 30 & can only be performed once a month. So you use your grappling ability to subdue your foes, and shackle them so they can do nothing.

Then you can imprison, free, or execute them to your hearts content.

[DivisibleByZero]

The obvious answer is actually Assassin.
But Assassin sucks donkey balls as a subclass, so there's that.

[CaptainSarathai]

For pure, unbridled damage in a single round, yeah - you want 3 levels of Rogue and you want to go Assassin, and then plead with your DM to get surprise rounds.

Half Orc w/ GreatAxe
Rogue 3 (Assassin), Paladin2, Sorcerer 3, Fighter (Eldritch Knight) 12
Feats: Great Weapon Master, Alert(?), Savage Attacker(?)

You have spell levels as an 8th level caster:
4x Lvl1
3x Lvl2, Lvl3
2x Lvl4
Burn down all your spells into 7, 4th level slots and 2 Sorcery Points.

On your surprise round, all your attacks have Advantage, and AutoCrit. You have 7, 4th level spell slots for maximum Smiting. You've had 4 ASIs, and should have 20 Str in addition to GWM. With Half Orc, you add an extra weapon die to Crits, so each hit you score should be:
3d12+10d8+15 = 79.5 damage.
At Fighter 11, you make 3 attacks. You also have Action Surge, to take an additional Attack Action. So you're making 6 attacks, Smiting on each.

As your bonus action, with your 2 Spell Points you use Quicken and cast Green Flame Blade from the SCAG. As part of the spell you make an additional weapon attack, and at 17th level and higher, the attack does an extra 3d8 damage. So GFB Crit will be:
3d12+16d8+15 = 106.5

So in a single turn you have burned out all of your daily spell slots, and used a Short Rest fighter feature. Total damage for turn:
79.5x6
+106.5
583.5 average damage.

That is enough damage to 1-shot any Ancient Dragon, and nearly 1-shot a Terrasque (676hp, you're 92.5 short).
Actually 1-shotting the Terrasque is well within your range of possibilities. If your dice are loaded and you roll max on everything, that's going to be a whopping 765 damage.

You cannot get single-target damage that high on a ranged build, because they can't Smite at range to make up the extra 8d8 per attack. There is a build however that I like to call "Pvt. Ryan's Crossbow" after the scene in 'Saving Private Ryan' where the Germans use an MG42 in a field, to ambush Tom Hanks and his guys. For that, you need levels of Ranger with Horde Breaker.

Wood Elf w/ Heavy Crossbow
Ranger (Hunter) 3, Rogue (Assassin) 5, Fighter (Battle Master) 12
Feats: Crossbow Expert, Sharpshooter

So you're going to have 3 attacks per action, each of which can double into another attack against a target within 5' of the first. With Action Surge, you're going to lay down 6/12 attacks. Each shot looks like
2d10+15 = 26
with the auto crit.
On top of that, you're throwing 5d10s downrange as Superiority Dice, also doubled by the Crits into 10d10.
Additionally, you have a 3d6(6d6) Sneak Attack to apply somewhere in there.
Finally, Hunter's Mark as a Bonus Action and as long as you nominate each initial attack against the same target, that's another 12d6.
So the point-man that you pile your Hunter's Mark and Sup Dice into is taking
26x6
+18d6
+10d10
274 damage

And the people around him get to share another 156 damage.
What's scary about this build is that it's largely repeatable. You're not going to get Sup Dice (55 damage) and maybe not your Mark (42 damage) but you can still spread 312 damage between two or more targets.

If you want to make this build a little more scary, trading a little damage for the ability to pile it all on a single target, and repeat it once per short rest, you go with Warlock2, Fighter2, Sorcerer3, Assassin3 as your base.
Same strategy, essentially. You're throwing
2d10+5
per Auto-Crit Eldritch Blast, with 4 shots per Action, then Action Surge, then Quicken as your bonus. Total damage is 192, on a single target or divided among 12 targets.

[lperkins2]

What's with all the l20 builds? He wants to know what works well at level 5...

v2 mystic is probably one of the better choices, 1d8+3+5d10 is kinda hard to beat, especially since it only burns power points on a successful hit. And you can do it twice a round, on the same target even. Of course, you're limited to 14d10 total per day, so you can't really keep it up very long.

For more sustained goodness, an half elf stone sorcerer 2, tomelock 3 works pretty well. 18 AC (13 + 3 CON + 2 shield). 17 + 8 + 2d8+2d6 HP. Grab shillelagh via the tome feature, and your main attack is thunderous smite + booming blade for 2d8+2d6+3 (19 damage avg). The target then has to make a strength save or get sent flying and knocked prone. If they move (like back toward to you attack again), they take an extra 2d8 damage (28 total). Unfortunately, it doesn't stack with hex, since smites are also concentration.

[CaptainSarathai]

What's with all the l20 builds? He wants to know what works well at level 5...

In that case, some of the best consistent, non-resource or light resource use is probably between:

VHuman with Crossbow Expert and Sharp Shooter, with a pair of Hand Crossbows (depends on DMs rules about loading) for
3d6+30+3dex = 49.5
And Action Surfing into 82.5, once per short rest.

You can also do that with GWM and PAM for melee, getting
2d10+1d4+30+3Str = 52.5
And Surfing into 86.5 once per short rest.

Also Warlock 2, Sorc 3 for getting Agonizing Eldritch Blast and Quicken. Burn all your non-hex slots into Sorcery Points. Ends up
R1: Hex + Cast
2d10+2Cha = 13
R2+: Cast + Quicken
4d10+4d6+4Cha = 40 damage or 26 without Hex
You can do that all day long.

[Citan]

Looking for some help on making a lvl 5 warforged that will do the most damage per attack. What class? Multi class? Weapon?

New to this forum but have already gotten so much help already. So thanks in advance.

Only one build is sure to achieve that (barring Legendary Resistances and actions).

Open Hand Monk 18 / Fighter 2, with Luck feat.
With Empty Body activated beforehand, hide and approach: Attack your target, Action Surge "activate the effect", use Lucky to ensure it fails the Constitution save: done.

Power Word Kill is not a "blow" so out of the game, so I don't see any other build that would achieve your "one blow one kill" (at least in a single turn).

EDIT: Ok, your actual question is VERY different from the thread title. You may consider swapping your current title with your first sentence. XD
To answer, I'd say the best is a plain Arcane Trickster for sustained damage by combining Sneak Attack and Booming Blade.
For plain nova attack, AT 3 / Paladin 2 so you can blow a slot to smite on top of that.
For "sustainable" nova, Tempest Cleric 2 / Arcane Trickster 3 so you can maximize your damage once per short rest.

[Vorpalchicken]

Lucky can't be used on another person/monster's saving throw.

[Citan]

Lucky can't be used on another person/monster's saving throw.

Dang, I'm aggravating my case of bad PHB memorization tonight. XD
Then I guess you just have to rely on luck if you want to end it in one turn, or dip into Diviner Wizard instead (well, it's still relying on luck, but you have more control on it).

[Gydian]

Thanks guys for the suggestions. Have any of you seen the new arcane archer?

4d6 with +3 to roll and +1 to attack

[Finger6842]

I have looked into this. Rogue always comes out at the best core option for doing this as it is kinda there thing. Paladin can do it some, but rogue can do it all day.

If ua is allowed then the artificer gunsmith workls well also and they actually multiclass fairly well together given that they both focus on one attack and sneak attack applies to the thundercannon. If you go this route you will want to take elf or half elf for elven accuracy from the feats for races. This will allow you to get super advantage (best of 3 dice). Go to at least artificer 6 for the pet and have it take the help action each round for constant super advantage. Then when artificer abilities drop off at higher levels you can multi into rogue to get some of the low level rogue goodies and with constant advantage you have sneak attack every round.

I keep hearing about super advantage but it's clearly stated that advantage cannot stack. How is this supposed to work?

[DivisibleByZero]

I keep hearing about super advantage but it's clearly stated that advantage cannot stack. How is this supposed to work?

There's a racial great for elves in UA that gives them an extra d20 (making it 3d20 keep best) for advantage. It isn't stacking.
It's basically useless except for crit fishing.

[CaptainSarathai]

One of the major pieces of advice that I give to people is that if you are going to attempt to "powergame," that you stick to the PHB+1 rule, and avoid UAs. This is to keep DMs from banning other sources of material. The UAs are fun, and add options for players who want to just mess around with extra options.
Can a Hexblade be broken with Multiclassing and the right build? Absolutely! But I'm not going to ban it just because one player took what was intended as a fun fix for "melee Warlock" and mixed in some unusual exploit to make their character overpowering.
Much harder to start throwing that "ban hammer" around when the players can point to official material like AL and prove that their character is legal at all levels of play.

[Finger6842]

There's a racial great for elves in UA that gives them an extra d20 (making it 3d20 keep best) for advantage. It isn't stacking.
It's basically useless except for crit fishing.

Thanks. I begin to feel like I can't keep up with all the UA ramifications. My current DM doesn't allow most of it and I rarely DM since his skill and experience levels are light years past mine. I essentially provide him with a 1 shot break every few weeks.