Homebrewed Eldritch Knight/Battlemaster Archer

[KingWhipsy]

First things first, our DM has a homebrew rule in place that let's you multiclass into the same class and go down a different subclass tree, the only downside to this is that your level split has to be 10/10. For all intents and purposes it's just like leveling a normal fighter, you still get 4 attacks, two uses of action surge, all of the features at their levels; the difference is that instead of getting class features at their normal levels you might get them at different points. For instance, this character is starting at level 5 and i'm planning on being 3 EK/2 plain fighter, therefore at level 6 i'll be 3 EK/3 Battlemaster and will also get a feat. At level 7 fighters normally get a subclass feature, however since i'm going to be level 4 in one of the subclasses I won't get anything at level 7. Now, onto the character.

He grew up on a farm and was always stronger, smarter, faster, etc. than the other children his age. When he reached his early teens his parents took him to the nearby city where he was recruited into the military and began training as an archer. He excelled in this regard and became deadly with a bow. He also trained with melee weapons, but not being very strong he took to using a rapier only when he had no choice at ranged combat. After awhile in the military his talent was noticed by a local order, The Jade Hunters. This order was led by one of the world leaders and sought to teach him the ways of magic in order to enhance his natural abilities as a scout. He ran Intel missions, tracked important individuals, and was an overall great asset to the order. He joins the party next week and will be accompanying a lord to the parties town on a diplomacy mission and will find a way to stick around.

The optimization comes in as i'm uncertain as to what feat to take for Vhuman. I'm saving sharpshooter for level 6 when I get Precision Attack and at level 4 my ASI went into +2 DEX to reach 20. I initially thought the best would be to take Magic Initiate: Warlock for Hex, Booming Blade, and Minor Illusion with my EK spells being Mage Hand, Message, Find Familiar, Shield, and Absorb Elements. However, now i'm thinking it might be better and make more sense for my character to go Ritual Caster: Wizard for Find Familiar as a ritual and free up my "school free" EK spell for misty step when I get level 2 slots. It also makes sense that my character would have begun learning magic through a book and only after intense study can he now cast spells without his book. My question is, what other ritual should I take with Find Familiar and what should be "school free" EK spell be until I reach level 2 spells/misty step? Or should I just stick with Magic Initiate as Hex will outweigh free casts of find familiar?

TL:DR; Taking Ritual Caster on ranged fighter, which ritual should I take alongside Find Familiar and what should be "school free" EK spell be?

Thanks!

[ImproperJustice]

I’m running a level 5 EK, but using a heavy armor build.

For an archer I think you could get a lot of mileage out of expeditious retreat.
Cast as a bonus action and strafe to your hearts content. Combine with the athlete feat to climb trees and keep going.
Fog Cloud would be an honorable mention.

As far as rituals go:
Identify is nice for getting detailed info from objects while exploring.
Same with detect magic and comprehend languages.

Our party seems to find creative uses for tenser’s floating disk all the time. Mostly to move heavy objects and obstacles about.

[KingWhipsy]

I’m running a level 5 EK, but using a heavy armor build.

For an archer I think you could get a lot of mileage out of expeditious retreat.
Cast as a bonus action and strafe to your hearts content. Combine with the athlete feat to climb trees and keep going.
Fog Cloud would be an honorable mention.

As far as rituals go:
Identify is nice for getting detailed info from objects while exploring.
Same with detect magic and comprehend languages.

Our party seems to find creative uses for tenser’s floating disk all the time. Mostly to move heavy objects and obstacles about.

I like the thought of Expeditious Retreat as it gives me more options for my bonus action, I also like Disguise Self as it fits the character thematically and is just overall useful. I was leaning Comprehend Languages as the second ritual as well so i'm glad you said the same to reaffirm that thought.