Max Damage: Surprise Evoker

a 5th Edition D&D Build

by Steve & Matt

One of the key goals of any high damage build is that the character be able to quickly eliminate opponents with insurmountable damage. But what if an opponent has more hit points than the average goon? Especially at late levels, it behooves any character who relies on violent resolution of conflicts to be able to dispatch even the mightiest of foes as quickly as possible (preferably to the chagrin of the DM). One extreme example of this sort of ‘glass cannon’ is an Evocation Wizard with dips into Rogue and Sorcerer. 

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Mechanic: Use either a high level spell slot or Overchannel to improve the damage of a Quickened Scorching Ray during the surprise round. Follow up on the same target (if necessary) with a Fire Bolt. If there is a second round, use Disintegrate to finish the fight.

Damage Type: Single target fire (burst).

Strengths: Very high burst damage.

Weaknesses: Weak defenses, lower hit point total, multiple ability score requirements, reliance on one damage type.

Other Features: Draconic Resilience, Metamagic, Wizard spells.

End Goal: Wizard (Evocation) 14, Rogue (Assassin) 3, Sorcerer (Draconic) 3

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Oddly enough, you’ll probably want to start out in the non-caster class, Rogue. Why? One more skill proficiency. The other considerations that might sway your decision are the types of skills that can be chosen at character creation and the types of saves that each class is proficient in. If you plan on having a low Constitution, Sorcerer might be the better choice, or you might prefer to start as a Wizard if you dump Wisdom. In any case, your initial goal should be getting 3 levels of Rogue, specializing in Assassin, and 3 levels of Wizard (School of Evocation).

What does this do for you? You’ll have the ability to Assassinate during the surprise round, granting advantage on attack rolls and inflicting automatic criticals with successful hits against surprised targets. But if your first hit against a target means that it is no longer surprised, that’s not so impressive, right? This is where Scorching Ray comes in. Take that spell when you reach Level 3 in Wizard and you’ll be able to inflict up to 3 simultaneous hits against a target. For every 2 levels of a caster class you take after that, you’ll be able to increase the spell slot of your surprise round Scorching Ray by 1, which grants another ray and another potential critical hit.

But wait, there’s more! After going to Level 4 in Wizard (for a late Ability Score Improvement to Intelligence), you can improve your surprise round damage further by grabbing 3 levels in Sorcerer and the Quickened Spell Metamagic. By character level 10, you will be able to launch a Quickened 4th level Scorching Ray during the surprise round and then follow it up with a Fire Bolt if your target is still standing. That’s about 81 damage against a single target within a single round (assuming everything hits) by level 10.

You’ll want to take the rest of your levels in Wizard. The damage will continue to improve as you use higher and higher level spell slots on that first Scorching Ray. At Level 10 in Wizard (character level 16), you’ll get Empowered Evocation for extra damage on each casting of Scorching Ray and Firebolt. By this point, your surprise round damage is approaching 140 against a single target.

This build’s capstone, however, is staggering. At Level 20, you finally get both Overchannel and 9th level spell slots. By using Overchannel on a Quickened 5th level Scorching Ray (targeting a surprised enemy), you can inflict up to 149 damage. Follow that up with a Fire Bolt and you’re doing 194 damage in a single round. If this is a beefy BBEG and he’s still alive after the surprise round, try finishing him off with a 9th level Disintegrate. That puts your 2-round total up around 300 damage. And if he’s still not dead? Use your bonus action to sacrifice a 3rd level spell slot for sorcery points. The following round you’ll be able to cast an 8th level Disintegrate and another Fire Bolt. If your original target is still alive… sorry, your DM is a sadist.

Don’t forget to grab Elemental Adept at some point to ignore resistance to fire damage, and remember to stay away from creatures that are outright immune to fire. Stick with the simple plan of murdering unwary opponents and you’ll be the star of the party in the hardest boss fights, from level 6 to level 20.