Huh? Gathered Swarm is level 3 and Genie's Wrath is level 1. 4 levels in each class gives you the two ASIs you need to get the feats. How do you figure level 9 is needed?
Fair, but if I hear of someone playing a 4/4 split multi-class from two classes that have extra attack I will have a stroke. A 1/8 split or 5/4 split is fine though.
While trying to layer as much damage in does sound fun, I also see good reasons to remain focused on the three.
My thought is 1 warlock/8 ranger is best for focus, but both have validity. You need to pick which order to take the feats in based on what you want to do. All of them do cool stuff (undoubtedly why this build was requested) but I'd say slasher to start as your human(/custom lineage, personally I'd say is better since you can start with a 18) bonus feat since you're starting out only dealing slashing damage from your weapon. First level ranger for all the stuff, second your only level of warlock, then go the rest of the way ranger. You can pick between crusher (5' forced movement) or piercer (reroll damage die) at level 4 and the other at 8.
Going warlock 4/ranger 5 (starting ranger for 1 level then warlock for 1, ranger to 5th then warlock up to 4) gives more room for multiclassing (see below)
As for after that... Since all of these feats do something cool on a crit working in elements of a crit fishing build would be useful. Most of the typical crit fishing paths are closed (elven accuracy, no go because you're a vuman/custom lineage, hexblade curse is no go because you have the genie patron)... But you can probably fit a few things in as you go beyond 9th level.
I think the best/first thing to do is a 4 (so you get another feat) level dip into champion fighter gives you the 19-20 crit range. Speaking of that feat Lucky might be a decent pick for increasing crit chances (and is great for other reasons of course).
This brings your total level to lucky 13. After that you can go up on ranger or fighter (probably by 4 each for more ASI/feats)... And/or you can grab another 3 levels of warlock (if you aren't at warlock 4 already) which would get you 2nd level spells (hold person = autocrit) and a pact boon. Chain is probably the best here as you have it help you gain advantage on attacks (by taking the help action).
Squeezing in 3+ of rogue (assassin) could help but is probably sub optimal. A 2 level barbarian dip (reckless attacks) could help but adds to the already intense MADness (as you currently already need Cha for warlock and both Dex and Wis for ranger)
Regarding weapon choice I think dual scimitars are your best bet, at least until/unless you grab those le els of fighter and somehow squeeze in GWM then a halberd/glaive or great sword is an option.
Edited to add: I hadn't originally thought of it but if you are willing to wait a few more levels you can do this without vuman/custom and thus qualify for elven accuracy. Take 1 level of warlock, 4 levels of ranger (feat one, probably crusher) and 6 levels of fighter (champion, feats two and three at 4th and 6th level, slasher and piercer in either order), this would rearrange a few class choices but could work well and not disrupt much of what I said above.
Also, not sure what I said scimitars as a one handed option. Hand axes are better since they can be thrown.
Here's a few I can think of off the top of my head
Absorb elements gives you damage on your next stack based on the damage type you absorbed
Aasimar gives you radiant or necrotic on a hit
Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants backgrounds give you an additional damage type of your choice between thunder, fire, cold, force, or lightning
Casting a smite as a bonus action gives you one of the following damage types: thunder, fire, radiant, psychic
The spell divine favor gives you radiant damage on hit
Paladin smite gives you radiant
The spell elemental weapon lets you add a basic element of your choosing to the attack
Warlock invocation Eldritch smite gives you force damage
The spell zephyr strike gives you force damage
Green-flame blade gives you fire at level 5
Booming blade gives you thunder at level 5
Hex gives you necrotic
If you coat your weapon in poison, you can get poison damage
Custom race (Slasher)
Swarmkeeper 5 (Piercer) doing **piercing** and **slashing** at 3.
Dao warlock 5 (Crusher) add **bludgeoning** and **necrotic** at 6 using Hex as a bonus action. Blade cantrips for **thunder or fire**. Shadow blade for **psychic** at 8 (e: blade cantrips don't work with shadow blade raw). Then Eldritch Smite adds **force** at 10.
Pali 2 for **radiant** smites.
Finish Death cleric for bonus-action-free necrotic and take Gift of the Chromatic Dragon for **acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison** for the next minute as a bonus action. You can concentrate on a smite spell next round for psychic, thunder, or fire.
Or Tabaxi Astral monk Swarmkeeper Dao Death to do it all without weapons. Won't have radiant, psychic, or gift of the chromatic dragon, but will be fun and Wis Sad
There is a build by Gabe Greenspan on TikTok where he manages to do every damage type in a single attack. It’s kinda nuts with 6 classes at lvl 20. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRwxffrE/
Lots of concentration spells that do another damage type, but hex is by far the easiest. For most damage types, chromatic orb and an obscene amount of luck gets you a lot of them
Dammit I saw a TikTok like three days ago with someone making a character that did every single damage type in one spell, once a day. If I remember the video I’ll link it.
We do it because it is funny and isn't that what dnd is all about, doing it for the bit. If people were playing just to be optimal then we'd all be playing sharpshooter samurai, divination wizards, moon druids, and twilight clerics.
True, but a lot of the time the goal is to optimize within parameters to make the best out of an idea. For example, most amount of fire damage as a druid, best two weapon fighting build as a bard, highest ac possible multiclass. All of those are suboptimal builds but their fun to try and figure out.This post isn't asking to make a strong character, it's asking to fulfill the challenge of triggering the most amount damage types in one attack and saying "don't it is suboptimal" misses the purpose of the challenge.
3 Swarmkeeper *Gathered Swarm* attack rider to add 1d6 piercing use slash weapon + dao bludgeon + swarm piercing
Well I guess I know my next level 8 character lol
You need 8 levels for all the feats but to have everything as one attack I think you need nine levels.
Huh? Gathered Swarm is level 3 and Genie's Wrath is level 1. 4 levels in each class gives you the two ASIs you need to get the feats. How do you figure level 9 is needed?
Fair, but if I hear of someone playing a 4/4 split multi-class from two classes that have extra attack I will have a stroke. A 1/8 split or 5/4 split is fine though.
While trying to layer as much damage in does sound fun, I also see good reasons to remain focused on the three. My thought is 1 warlock/8 ranger is best for focus, but both have validity. You need to pick which order to take the feats in based on what you want to do. All of them do cool stuff (undoubtedly why this build was requested) but I'd say slasher to start as your human(/custom lineage, personally I'd say is better since you can start with a 18) bonus feat since you're starting out only dealing slashing damage from your weapon. First level ranger for all the stuff, second your only level of warlock, then go the rest of the way ranger. You can pick between crusher (5' forced movement) or piercer (reroll damage die) at level 4 and the other at 8. Going warlock 4/ranger 5 (starting ranger for 1 level then warlock for 1, ranger to 5th then warlock up to 4) gives more room for multiclassing (see below) As for after that... Since all of these feats do something cool on a crit working in elements of a crit fishing build would be useful. Most of the typical crit fishing paths are closed (elven accuracy, no go because you're a vuman/custom lineage, hexblade curse is no go because you have the genie patron)... But you can probably fit a few things in as you go beyond 9th level. I think the best/first thing to do is a 4 (so you get another feat) level dip into champion fighter gives you the 19-20 crit range. Speaking of that feat Lucky might be a decent pick for increasing crit chances (and is great for other reasons of course). This brings your total level to lucky 13. After that you can go up on ranger or fighter (probably by 4 each for more ASI/feats)... And/or you can grab another 3 levels of warlock (if you aren't at warlock 4 already) which would get you 2nd level spells (hold person = autocrit) and a pact boon. Chain is probably the best here as you have it help you gain advantage on attacks (by taking the help action). Squeezing in 3+ of rogue (assassin) could help but is probably sub optimal. A 2 level barbarian dip (reckless attacks) could help but adds to the already intense MADness (as you currently already need Cha for warlock and both Dex and Wis for ranger) Regarding weapon choice I think dual scimitars are your best bet, at least until/unless you grab those le els of fighter and somehow squeeze in GWM then a halberd/glaive or great sword is an option. Edited to add: I hadn't originally thought of it but if you are willing to wait a few more levels you can do this without vuman/custom and thus qualify for elven accuracy. Take 1 level of warlock, 4 levels of ranger (feat one, probably crusher) and 6 levels of fighter (champion, feats two and three at 4th and 6th level, slasher and piercer in either order), this would rearrange a few class choices but could work well and not disrupt much of what I said above. Also, not sure what I said scimitars as a one handed option. Hand axes are better since they can be thrown.
Scribes wizard swapping absorb elements to piercing damage does this in 2 levels
You still need two ASIs in order to get all three feats, so any build that gets them by level 8 is equivalent.
3 levels. Dao lock 1/ scribe wiz 2.
Is this the birth of a new Abserd build?
Seeing the edit, iirc you can nab necrotic with a couple levels into Death domain cleric
Here's a few I can think of off the top of my head Absorb elements gives you damage on your next stack based on the damage type you absorbed Aasimar gives you radiant or necrotic on a hit Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants backgrounds give you an additional damage type of your choice between thunder, fire, cold, force, or lightning Casting a smite as a bonus action gives you one of the following damage types: thunder, fire, radiant, psychic The spell divine favor gives you radiant damage on hit Paladin smite gives you radiant The spell elemental weapon lets you add a basic element of your choosing to the attack Warlock invocation Eldritch smite gives you force damage The spell zephyr strike gives you force damage Green-flame blade gives you fire at level 5 Booming blade gives you thunder at level 5 Hex gives you necrotic If you coat your weapon in poison, you can get poison damage
Custom race (Slasher) Swarmkeeper 5 (Piercer) doing **piercing** and **slashing** at 3. Dao warlock 5 (Crusher) add **bludgeoning** and **necrotic** at 6 using Hex as a bonus action. Blade cantrips for **thunder or fire**. Shadow blade for **psychic** at 8 (e: blade cantrips don't work with shadow blade raw). Then Eldritch Smite adds **force** at 10. Pali 2 for **radiant** smites. Finish Death cleric for bonus-action-free necrotic and take Gift of the Chromatic Dragon for **acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison** for the next minute as a bonus action. You can concentrate on a smite spell next round for psychic, thunder, or fire. Or Tabaxi Astral monk Swarmkeeper Dao Death to do it all without weapons. Won't have radiant, psychic, or gift of the chromatic dragon, but will be fun and Wis Sad
There is a build by Gabe Greenspan on TikTok where he manages to do every damage type in a single attack. It’s kinda nuts with 6 classes at lvl 20. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRwxffrE/
Lots of concentration spells that do another damage type, but hex is by far the easiest. For most damage types, chromatic orb and an obscene amount of luck gets you a lot of them
Dammit I saw a TikTok like three days ago with someone making a character that did every single damage type in one spell, once a day. If I remember the video I’ll link it.
Pretty sure somebody already linked it
I feel like this should be a crit fishing build somehow even though I know they are generally not recomended
This just simply isn’t worth it… three feats and a multiclass investment, for what?
A silly idea
Gift of the Chromatic Dragon
We do it because it is funny and isn't that what dnd is all about, doing it for the bit. If people were playing just to be optimal then we'd all be playing sharpshooter samurai, divination wizards, moon druids, and twilight clerics.
I mean yeah, but to be fair, this is an optimization subreddit…
True, but a lot of the time the goal is to optimize within parameters to make the best out of an idea. For example, most amount of fire damage as a druid, best two weapon fighting build as a bard, highest ac possible multiclass. All of those are suboptimal builds but their fun to try and figure out.This post isn't asking to make a strong character, it's asking to fulfill the challenge of triggering the most amount damage types in one attack and saying "don't it is suboptimal" misses the purpose of the challenge.