Advice on Arcane Trickster
Advice on Arcane Trickster
Hi all, I'm not sure if I'm playing Arcane Trickster wrong, or of that subclass just isn't for me, so I'd love some advice.
I'm level 4 now, and I find myself never using my spells in combat. I love trying to figure out the best ways to gain advantage for my sneak attacks, but since all my spells take a whole action to cast, I never feel like they are worth using for this purpose, when I can try to hide or go to an ally to help them fight in melee. Is there some neat way to use Arcane Trickster in unison with all the sneaking and backstabbing, or do the two objectives not quite work together?
Worth noting, if you're dual-wielding, you can sneak attack with a bonus action. (Go into your reactions and make sure Sneak Attack is set to always.)
AT is mostly about adding control and utility abilities to the Rogue; options to take enemies out of the fight, and aid/supplement your sneaking. Sleep, Colour Spray, Hold Person, Invisibility, etc, are your mainstays. Your unrestricted spells (ie, ones that don't have to be enchantment or Illusion) should probably be geared towards defence and mobility. (Shield, Misty Step, etc.)
To me the arcane trickster spells are more about utility out of combat.
But it depends on your party in the end. I combat, you need damage and controle, and some lvl1 spells are very good for control already. Fog cloud for example. Or grease, color spray and sleep. If no other spellcaster is casting this kind of spell, it can be handy.
But usually you'll prefer either defenses (at lvl7 the arcane trickster can get blur or mirror image), buffs (longstrider is exceptional for example), or other utility (disguise self, misty step, invisibility, charm person...)
Ahh, okay! Our Warlock has some utility, but it does feel like we could use more of that, maybe that's something I should look more into! I think perhaps I haven't been thinking much about control, but we've had a few rough fights recently and I realise now that it actually could be very useful. Just recently a couple enemies ran away to get reinforcements, if I hadn't only been thinking about damage I could have maybe put them to sleep. Really thanks a lot!
Yeah I've always felt like Arcane Trickster is cool flavor wise but in game it just sucks. I assume when you do get second levels it picks up tremendously, though even then using your own action to setup sneak attacks isn't worth it either, for general skullduggery those spells will be a massive boon at least.
Maybe it would be better not to use combat spells at all? This is a balance of the regular features of a Rogue vs what is actually useful to them. The rogue deals a fair bit of damage in melee combat. No reason to need the shocking grasp cantrip.
Having the dash, disengage, or hide bonus action is great so long as you have for instance a spell that might augment one of those. For instance a spell like Fog Cloud or minor illusion to create an effect that would give you something to hide behind.
You're not high enough level yet to do this with other spells that are higher level on the spell list, but I think this is a matter of thinking about which spells work in conjunction with being a rogue.
Rogues are a bit squishy so using something for extra HP or a spell for protection might be in order (mage armor?). Find familiar might work just to do extra buffs/damage, and give you flanking.
You don't tell us what your race or background is so we can't tell if you have anything extra going for you, but I think you could have fun with this possibly if you change your intent from dealing damage with spells in combat to using spells to augment your class features in combat. Or those of the rest of your party.
Thank you, that sounds like some very good advice! I'll have to take a closer look at the spell list, I think it's just like you say and that I've been focusing too much on the combat spells. I'm a Tiefling with Urchin background in case that gives any more context :)
I don't know if you're familiar with rpgbot but I generally recommend at least taking a look at it. It's got some really good advice and the creator is super nice (I've talked to them on reddit). https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/classes/rogue/
Your race gives you dark vision and some fire resistance so a spell like dark vision isn't useful to your PC personally but might be useful to your party members if they don't have dark vision. Also, shield may be useful to you because it's a reaction not an action. Things like this might actually up your versatility in and out of combat.
I know I know you're not like... Playing D&D tabletop but still might be useful to have a look.
As Arcane Tricker you absolutely want to dual wield, that off hand bonus action attack will be your best friend. Sleep + bonus action sneak attack is pretty much a guaranteed kill. Pick crowd control and defensive spells, Shield is an amazing insurance if you really do not want to be hit by a certain attack, Magic Missile is your go-to ranged finisher, Hold Person and Blur are both great offensive and defensive options, Misty Step for incredible mobility. And let's not forget Invisibility! Arcane Tricksters are also great enablers for other melee characters, let your wizard concentrate on Haste or other powerful spell while you handle Hold Person so your Fighter/Barbarian/Paladin can kill that unfortunate guy who failed his save in a single turn with guaranteed crits!
I haven't done a ton with Arcane Trickster, but I think you've got the general idea, at least at lower levels. Shield, Mirror Image, etc will increase your survivability. Invisibility is nice to deliver a sneak attack when you otherwise couldn't sneak up. In general, the AT's magic is utility-focused.
At level 9, though, you get Magical Ambush--enemies have disadvantage on saving throws when you're hidden. That's huge for spells like Hold Person, which can be hard to land. So you might end up doing more combat magic at later levels.
Ah, good point, I really should keep that mind when I reach level 9, that sounds really fun. Thanks a lot!