In thisSolasta Crown of the Magister Fighter GuideI’m going to discuss mySpellblade Fighter Build, and show you what works in terms of choosing the best Ancestry orRace,Background,Abilitiesand a lot more. If you’ve been looking for a way to play as a Fighter that does massive damage with Weapons and Spells, then this Guide is for you.
Solasta Crown of the Magister Fighter Build Guide - (Spellblade)
Fightersare superior warriors because of their familiarity with severalFighting Styles. Strength-based Fighters rely on a number of Weapons to deal substantial Melee Damage while some are Dexterity-based who wield Bows for Ranged Attacks. Meanwhile, others are hybrids who incorporate their knowledge of magic to castSpellson top of using theirMeleeorRanged Weapons. TheirProficiencywithSimpleandMartial Weaponsand allArmor,which includes the Shield, are some of the reasons why they’re well-rounded inCombat.
As a Spellblade Fighter, you’ll focus onStrengthandIntelligenceto increase hit chances with Melee Weapons and Spells, respectively. Furthermore, you’ll be dropping Ranged Weapons since you need to free up your Secondary Equipment Set in order to cast Spells with the Somatic Component, which requires a free hand to do so.
When you fight enemies who are resistant or immune to non-magical attacks, yourWeaponbecomes magical because of theMagic Weapon Featuretherefore disregarding the Disadvantage imposed by said enemies. Disadvantage is a mechanic, which makes you roll a D20 or 20-sided die twice for an Attack Roll, Ability Check, or Saving Throw. Having Disadvantage means you’ll be using the lower value. In this instance, your hit chance will not be negatively impacted.
Fighter Character Creation
In this section, we’ll discuss the best Fighter’s Ancestry, Background, Abilities,Skills, andLanguageto choose in Character Creation.
Humansare the supreme choice for Spellblade Fighters because they receive +1 to all of their Ability Scores. The additional +1 Intelligence is important to increase the chances of landing your Spells. Note that you won’t be needingDexteritysince you’ll fully rely on Spells to deal damage at range. Furthermore, this won’t increase your Armor Class (AC) when you equipHeavy Armor.
Background
When it comes to Background, I recommend choosingAcademic. This makes you proficient inArcana,NatureandInsight, with Arcana being the most useful among the three. Arcana allows you to craftScrollssuch as theScroll of Magic Missileto preserve your Spell Slots for more essential Spells. These slots are diminished every time you cast a Spell. You’re also considered aRunaway Antiquarian, which further improves your reputation with theAntiquarian Factionin order to buy uniqueEquipmentfrom. Lastly, you have Proficiency with theManacalon Rosary, which you can use to enchant Weapons and Armor.
In this guide, I’ll be making use of the Point Buy Ability Generation System instead of Dice Rolls so I can control the points I allot for each Ability. With the Spellblade Fighter, what you would want to focus on is to raise your Strength to 16 since you’ll primarily use a Melee Weapon to attack and to deal huge amounts of burst damage when you’re near enemies. Additionally, your carrying capacity becomes bearable, which is good considering the Heavy Armor, One-Handed Weapon, and Shield you’ll be taking with you.
Next, you’ll have to increase Intelligence to a moderate score of 14 since you can acquire the Headband of Intellect, which boosts this Ability to 19 later on in the game. At earlier levels, 14 Intelligence is sufficient in ensuring that the Spells you cast will land on your enemies. In order to improve your character’s durability, you’ll need to raise your max HP by increasingConstitutionto 16. This puts your starting HP at 13.
Lastly, since you don’t need to increase your Dexterity that much, you can set it to 10 to reduce the chances of going last in combat. This prevents you from losing a bit of momentum in quickly eliminating enemies. The rest of your points can then be distributed betweenWisdomandCharisma.
With Point Buy, your Ability Score spread should look like this:
Fighting Style
Fighters being versatile warriors, get to choose aFighting Styleto specialize in. I recommend selectingDuelingsince you’ll be using a One-Handed Weapon and a Shield. This will give you the highest damage possible because of the +2 bonus you get for all of your Melee Damage Rolls. On the other hand, if you feel like your AC is low and you keep getting hit because of it, you can chooseDefenseto receive a +1 bonus to AC.
For Skills, I recommend choosingAthleticsandHistory. Athletics increases your jump range so you’re able to leap across longer distances. You can also climb on hazardous terrain with ease. Meanwhile, History helps you recall lore about historical events, places and people, which are useful when you’re trying to decipher clues in quests.
You can choose any Language you want.
Fighter Level 1 Second Wind
You gainSecond Wind, which provides a bonus of 1-10 HP plus your current level, to your total HP. This is an excellent burst heal that can save your butt if you’re in trouble.
Fighter Level 2 Action Surge
At Level 2, you gainAction Surge, which allows you to perform another Main Action during your turn. It’s best to use this during crucial turns, like when you’re close to finishing off an enemy, in order to at remove a dangerous threat. You can only replenish this after every Short or Long Rest so use it wisely, and don’t waste it when you will be fine without it.
Fighter Level 3 Martial Archetypes, Cantrips, and Spells
Martial Archetype
Level 3 is the most essential level for your Fighter because you’ll finally choose your desiredMartial Archetype. Let’s go through these Archetypes one by one. TheMountaineerheavily relies on how well you offensively and defensively utilize your Shield, which doesn’t considerably raise the damage you deal. You gain Advantage when you attempt to Shove enemies with it. You also get an additional +2 AC when you’re near a wall. But since you won’t be next to a wall all the time, you cannot rely on this bonus. This brings us to the second Archetype, which isChampion.
Champion improves the chances of landing Critical Hits with theImproved Critical Feature. Champions are able to attack with a Critical Hit if their roll is equal to 19 or 20. When you trigger this, you’ll get to perform an extra damage roll, which can sometimes double your damage or more.
This brings us to our chosen Archetype, which isSpellblade. Unlike Champions, Spellblades are stable and consistent because they don’t rely on Critical Hits to deal massive amounts of damage. As a Spellblade Fighter, you can cast some Spells from the Wizard Spell List, which contains a lot of good Melee and Ranged Spells. As mentioned previously, this Archetype imbues your Weapon with magic when you hit enemies who are immune to non-magical attacks allowing your attack to push through. Note that Spells need to be “Prepared”, otherwise, you won’t be able to use them in combat. In Solasta, you can only prepare Spells once after every Long Rest.
Additionally, you can select two more Cantrips and three Level 1 Spells.
As a Human at Level 3, you can choose twoCantrips. Cantrips are cast without expending any Spell Slot, which means that you can these every turn if you wish. Remember to switch to your Secondary Equipment Set so you have a free hand to cast a Cantrip or Spell. Switching between Primary and Secondary Equipment Sets is a freeActionin combat, but you can only do this once per turn, so plan accordingly.
I highly recommend picking theDancing Lights Cantripbecause the bulk of encounters take place in the dark. It lets you summon a wisp of light, which you can control for 1 minute to illuminate enemies. Since you’ll be able to clearly see them, you won’t incur a Disadvantage when you attack them, which can really hurt your potential damage.
Additionally, this Cantrip requires Concentration to remain active. Concentration is broken if you cast another Cantrip or Spell that also requires Concentration. For example, if Dancing Lights is active and you decide to castHideous Laughter, then Hideous Laughter will be the active Spell. Moreover, when you take damage while a Cantrip or Spell that requires Concentration is active, you’ll need to make a Constitution Saving Throw and succeed to maintain its effect, otherwise you’ll have to recast it. This is where a high Constitution comes in handy to increase your Saving Throw’s success rate.
When casting Dancing Lights, make sure to have a Material Component such as theComponent Pouchequipped. Otherwise, you won’t be able to cast this Cantrip. you may purchase the pouch from Gorim Ironsoot at Caer Cyflen.
Next isRay of Frost, which is a Ranged Spell that deals 1-8 Cold Damage and inflicts Hindered, which reduces the target’s Speed by 2. This is a good Spell to have when you cannot reach an enemy, or it would be better to finish off a weak enemy you are not engaged with.
For Spells, I suggest selecting the following:
Magic Missiledeals 2-5 Force Damage via the three projectiles being thrown at one or multiple targets. Note that these don’t miss, making this one of the best overall spells in the game early on.
Burning Handsis an AoE Spell that deals 3-18 conal Fire Damage. It’s perfect for a Spellblade that uses melee because you’ll be in range to hit enemies often. Just be careful not to cast this when your allies are in front of you, otherwise, they can also be damaged by this Spell.
For the third Spell, you can chooseJump,Expeditious Retreat,orThunderwave. Jump lets you touch a party member to increase their jumping distance. This is particularly useful if they need to escape from enemy attacks or if they intend to get loot that’s too far away. Expeditious Retreat is a Bonus Action that gives you additional Movement with Dash for 10 minutes to rush towards and to attack enemies with your Melee Weapon or to cast Burning Hands. You can also use this to avoid them should you need to preserve your remaining HP.
Meanwhile, Thunderwave is another AoE Spell that deals 2-16 Thunder Damage, which pushes targets 2 cells away from where you’re standing. Be careful when casting this Spell if your party members are beside the targets, otherwise, you’re able to hit and damage them by mistake.
Fighter Level 4 Ability Score Choice and Spells
At Level 4, you’re given two options to further enhance your character. First is with theAbility Score Choice, which allows you to allocate two points on an Ability or one point each to 2 Abilities. Second is with the Bonus Feat, which is part of a set of special Abilities available to almost all of theClasses. You’ll need to fulfill certain requirements before selecting a specificFeat. Some have a caution symbol beside them to warn you that that Feat is not recommended as you are already reaping some, if not all, of its benefits.
Since you’ll also get this option when you reach Levels 6 and 8, which is far better compared to the other Classes who only gain this bonus at Levels 4 and 8, you’ll need to prioritize the Ability Score Choice now. Because you’ll be wearing theBelt of Giant Strength (Fire)to boost Strength to 25, it’s best to focus on increasing Constitution to 18 to raise your max HP to 44, as well as boost your Saving Throws with this Ability by a further +1. Your improved Ability Score spread should look like this:
Furthermore, you’re able to choose one more Level 1 Spell, which can either be Jump, Expeditious Retreat, or Thunderwave, depending on what you didn’t pick in the previous level.
Fighter Level 5 Extra Attack
At Level 5, you unlockExtra Attack, which allows you to use two Attack Actions per turn. The second attack is triggered after you make your first attack. Note that this is only applicable to Melee and Ranged Weapons. So for example, you have aBattleaxeequipped and you use it as your first Attack Action to hit an enemy. Because of this, you gain a second Attack Action to use your Battleaxe again. Extra Attack is also triggered when you use Shove.
You can activate Action Surge to gain an additional Main Action. You can then use another Attack Action to trigger one more Extra Attack. In total, you can attack enemies four times in a single turn with your Melee Weapon. Using your Spell will not trigger Extra Attack because this is considered as a “Cast Spell” Action instead of an Attack Action.
Fighter Level 6 Bonus Feat
At Level 6, I suggest choosing thePowerful Cantrip Feat. Powerful Cantrip lets you deal half of the Cantrip’s damage even if the enemy manages to successfully Dodge or rolls a Saving Throw. It doesn’t however apply any additional affects if this triggers.
Fighter Level 7 Into the Fray and Spells
At Level 7, you gain Into the Fray. Into the Fray allows you to cast Spells with the Somatic Component without using your free hand as long as you use a Melee Weapon. Because of this, you no longer have to switch to your Secondary Equipment Set in order to cast Spells, and you can keep your Shield in your off-hand. Furthermore, when you’re near an enemy and you cast a Ranged Attack Spell, you won’t incur a Disadvantage making you much more versatile.
At this level, you also unlock Level 2 Spells but you may only choose one. I highly recommendAcid Arrow. Acid Arrow deals high Acid Damage and inflicts enemies with Acidified to take extra damage at every turn until it expires. This is a powerful Spell because you do two types of damage, namely burst damage and damage over time.
Fighter Level 8 Bonus Feat and Spells
At Level 8, I highly suggest choosing Bonus Feat again. Since you’ve already maximized your damage in previous levels, you’ll have to further strengthen your defenses.Armor Masterraises your AC by one even when you have Heavy Armor equipped, helping to prevent damage to you.
At this level, you can also learn one Spell. I recommend selectingScorching Ray, which is similar to Magic Missile but it uses fire rays instead of projectiles. Scorching Ray inflicts massive Fire Damage against multiple enemies. Unlike Magic Missile however, this Spell can Miss.
Fighter Level 9 Indomitable
At Level 9, you gain access to Indomitable, which lets you reroll a Saving Throw should you fail the first time. This can only be used once per Long Rest, and is really good for this Build because you may really need to maintain Concentration and not want to have to spend a turn casting a Spell or Cantrip again when you could be attacking twice or more.
Fighter Level 10 Spell Tyrant and Spells
At Level 10, you unlock Spell Tyrant where you can move a creature out of range from the party when they unsuccessfully roll a Strength Saving Throw. You also get to choose a Cantrip and Spell to your liking.
For your One-Handed Weapon, I recommend getting Morningstar +2. This Weapon allows you to deal high Piercing Damage with bonuses to both Melee Attack and Damage. As such, you’re more likely to hit and damage enemies at close range.
For your Offhand, Shield +2 gives you +4 AC, which in combination with your Heavy Armor, will make enemy attacks Miss you nearly 100% of the time.
In terms of Armor, you can purchase the Dwarven Plate Heavy Armor from Joriel Foxeye of theCircle of Danantar Faction. The Dwarven Plate sets your base AC to 20. Between this and your Shield you’ll be extremely tanky, and hard to kill.
When it comes to Accessories, I highly recommend obtaining the Headband of Intellect so that your Intelligence Score increases to 19, which raises its corresponding modifier to +4. As a result, you’re nearly always able to hit enemies with Ranged Spells. Note that this Headband requires Attunement, which is limited to a total of three pieces of Equipment per character. You can only attune one piece of gear per Long or Short Rest.
Next, to boost your Strength to 25, you’ll need the Belt of Giant Strength (Fire), which you may purchase from Halman Summer of the AntiquarianFaction. In order to buy this gear, you have to attain the Living Legend relationship with them, and you can do this by redeeming artifacts. With this Belt you’ll be able to hit enemies with your Melee Weapon 100% of the time and you can inflict the maximum Melee Damage possible. Note that this Belt also requires Attunement.
Final Tips
As a Spellblade Fighter, you need to be mindful of Spells like Ray of Frost that are considered Ranged Attacks, meaning they gain Advantage when you are elevated above the target. While not always possible, consider using this when you know you can gain this Advantage.
Conversely, if an enemy is at a higher vantage point than you, and there is no way of reaching them regardless of your Movement, you’ll want to use Magic Missile because this Spell cannot Miss. You also don’t gain Disadvantage and your enemy will still receive the same amount of Force Damage regardless of your position.
I highly recommend crafting a lot of Scrolls of Magic Missile at earlier levels so you’re able to preserve your Spell Slots for more important Spells. You can also initiate Surprise Attacks with it to have one full round to your party without enemies attacking you.
Lastly, Action Surge doesn’t allow you to use Spells twice in one turn. Because of this, if you trigger this Feature after casting a Spell to kill an enemy, make sure that you’re ready to attack with a Cantrip or Melee Weapon depending on your position.
Stay tuned for moreSolasta Crown of the Magistercontent as we take a look atClassesandBuilds, and be sure to drop by ourTwitch channelif you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out ourSolasta Wiki.
