Arcane Assassin Archer: A Multiclass Character Build for D&D 5e

Featured art for the Arcane Assassin Archer is “Archer Elf” by Yanporfirio, CC Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License

Obscured in the shadows, thick foliage covers your perch. A bandit camp breaks for the night below, unaware of your dooming presence. As you nock your arrow on your trusty bow, you weave an incantation of ancient magic into the tip and choose your target. Ready, aim, release. Your magic arrow misses its first target and redirects to the next, piercing the unaware bandit through the leg, and bursts into a ten-foot radius of force energy. With the precision of a hawk, you nock a second arrow and release onto your next target. He falls dead in his tracks. You are the ultimate Arcane Assassin Archer.

In this build, your Arcane Archer/Assassin will deal maximum damage of 422 (average 319) by the end of the second round (first round without the surprise condition) of combat.

Here’s the breakdown:

Race

As an Arcane Assassin Archer, you will want to have the ability to position yourself at heights without drawing attention. Choose a race with an inherent climbing or flying speed, and possibly one with bonuses to Dexterity. These options may include:

• Tabaxi (20 ft climb, +2 Dex)
• Aarakocra (50 ft fly, +2 Dex)
• Simic Hybrid (Ravnica, Nimble Climber, +1 Dex)

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A Fighter First

Your main class will be the Fighter, taking 17 levels in this build.

Stats:

Remember with multiclassing into a Rogue, you will need Dexterity 13. It would be most beneficial to make Dexterity your main stat so that you can have a greater bonus to Stealthing to surprise your opponents.  Next, focus on Constitution, as being out and away from battle can sometimes lead to one-on-one combat.

Equipment:

Choose leather armor (for stealth), a longbow, two martial weapons, a light crossbow, and whichever pack you prefer.

Fighting Style (level 1):

If allowed by your DM, take the Close-Quarters Shooter (UA) Fighting Style. This allows you to avert disadvantage with melee-range ranged attacks. This Fighting Style will also give you +1 to attack rolls made with ranged weapons. You also ignore up to 3/4 cover against targets within 30 feet of you.

Another choice for Fighting Style would be Archery, which gives you a +2 bonus to attack rolls. This will be helpful when taking the Sharpshooter feat.

Second Wind, Action Surge (levels 1 and 2):

Action Surge will be very important in the first round with surprise, in which you will auto-crit with the Assassinate feature (Rogue Assassin level 3). At level 17, you will gain another use of Action Surge, but it cannot be used in the same turn as your first use. Second Wind will be beneficial later in battle if you are secluded and need to heal a bit.

Fighter Archetype:

Arcane Archer will be the crux of this build. Between Arcane Shot options and Curving Shot, your character will have incredible utility in battle with many chances to hit.

Arcane Shot (level 3):

When you make your first shot in the round with surprise, in order to gain the Assassinate bonus as a Rogue, you will need to make an attack roll. This means you will need to choose Arcane Shot options that allow you to make an attack roll, opposed to the ones that auto-hit. This is also the case with the Sharpshooter bonus.

Arcane Shots that require attack rolls can do a myriad of things, including banishing, charming, bursting, enfeebling, grasping, and blinding. The other options that don’t require attack rolls seek out the target. All of these options do additional damage, which will amplify your surprise Assassinate abilities.

Magic Arrow (level 7):

Your arrows are magic for the purpose of overcoming resistances, and the magical aspect fades after use.

Curving Shot (level 7):

If you miss your first target with an attack roll, you can redirect your arrow to hit another target within 60 feet with another attack roll. This is a vital feature of the Arcane Archer when combined with the Assassin, as you only have one round with surprise per combat, so you need to make it count. Plus, with the Sharpshooter feat, you can take a -5 penalty to your attack roll for an additional 10 damage. If your first arrow misses, you can choose to not take the penalty and get another chance to hit.

Ever-Ready Shot (level 15):

With this ability, you gain another use of Arcane Shot at the beginning of combat if you have no uses remaining. The mechanics of the round with surprise can be debated based on the Rules As Written (RAW), which are a bit ambiguous, but most DM’s agree that initiative is not rolled until after the round with surprise, or rather, that the round with surprise doesn’t use an initiative roll. Ever-Ready Shot states “your magical archery is available whenever a battle starts. If you roll initiative and have no uses of Arcane Shot remaining, you regain one use of it.” Discuss with your DM if you receive an additional use of Arcane Shot before the round with surprise or after.

Ability Score Improvements and Feats (levels 4, 6, 8, 12, 14, and 16):

Improving your Dexterity and Constitution will always be beneficial to your build, but consider the following feats:

• Sharpshooter: Long range doesn’t impose disadvantage, you ignore up to three-quarters cover, and you can take a -5 penalty to attack rolls to add +10 damage.
• Martial Adept: Learn two Battle Master maneuvers and one superiority dice (d6). We recommend taking the Riposte maneuver so that your Rogue part can use Sneak Attack in your reaction with a finesse (melee) weapon once per short rest.
• Lucky: With three luck points per long rest, you can reroll an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw.
• Crossbow Expert: Ignore loading quality of crossbows, being within 5 feet of a target doesn’t impose disadvantage on any ranged attack rolls, and you can use a bonus action to reload your crossbow while taking the Attack action.
• Skulker: Can try to hide when lightly obscured, missing your ranged attack does not reveal your position, and dim light doesn’t impose disadvantage on your Perception checks relying on sight.
• Athlete: Increase Strength or Dexterity by 1, standing from prone only uses 5 feet of movement, climbing doesn’t halve your speed, and you can make a running long jump or high jump after moving only 5 feet instead of 10.
• Alert: Gain +5 to initiative, you can’t be surprised, and other creatures who are hidden from you don’t gain advantage against you.

Extra Attack (level 5):

At level 5, you can make two weapon attacks instead of one per Attack action. At level 11, you can make three weapon attacks.

Indomitable (level 9):

Reroll a save you fail. You will get another use of this at level 17.

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A Rogue Second

We’ve built out our Fighter levels, now we will focus on the Rogue aspect. Of course, you should start building up to level 3 Rogue as soon as possible, perhaps after receiving your Fighter Martial Archetype. By taking 3 levels of Rogue, you will gain Expertise, a bit of Sneak Attack, Thieves’ Cant, Uncanny Dodge, and a Rogue Archetype, the Assassin.

Expertise (level 1):

Because your character focuses on sneakily climbing into position for a surprise of arrows, I recommend applying your Expertise to Stealth and Athletics. Your Strength score may not be very high, and climbing into position could prove to be difficult despite your climbing speed. Thus, Expertise in Athletics could be vital to getting the upper hand for the round with surprise. Plus, if you only have one hand free while holding your bow, your DM may require you to make an Athletics check while climbing.

Cunning Action (level 2):

Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a bonus action. When you’re isolated in a range-beneficial position, foes may try to approach, ambush, or tag-team you while your allies are unable to help. This is where dashing and disengaging come in handy. Plus, when you shoot an arrow, you give away your location. So moving and hiding will help you gain advantage against your next target, and thus Sneak Attack.

Assassin Archetype (level 3):

Choosing the Assassin archetype at level 3, you will gain two features: Bonus Proficiencies and Assassinate.

Bonus Proficiencies:

Gain proficiency with the disguise kit and the poisoner’s kit.

Assassinate:

Here’s where our build really comes together. With Assassinate, you have advantage on attack rolls against a target that hasn’t taken a turn yet in combat. And here’s where the magic happens: any hit you score against a creature that is surprised is a critical hit.

The mechanics of “surprised” are:
“The GM determines who might be surprised. If neither side tries to be stealthy, they automatically notice each other. Otherwise, the GM compares the Dexterity (Stealth) checks of anyone hiding with the passive Wisdom (Perception) score of each creature on the opposing side. Any character or monster that doesn’t notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter.

“If you’re surprised, you can’t move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can’t take a reaction until that turn ends. A member of a group can be surprised even if the other members aren’t.”

With expertise in Stealth and a high Dexterity score, you’re bound to surprise your targets regularly throughout a campaign, so long as your allies are on board. Thus, before combat even begins, you can reap that sweet critical hit reward.

Learn more about stealth, hiding, and surprise in Flutes’ article on the subject.

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Combat Example: The First Round with Surprise

Here’s what your first round (with surprise) of combat may look like at level 20. Let’s assume level 17 Arcane Archer, level 3 Assassin with Dexterity maxed out at 20. Take the Sharpshooter bonus and assume all hits are successful.

Attack 1: Choose an Arcane Shot option that requires an attack roll.

• Longbow (magical): 1d8 x2 (critical hit)
• Dexterity Modifier: 5
• Sneak Attack: 2d6 x2 (critical hit)
• Sharpshooter: 10
• Grasping Arrow: 2d6 x2 (critical hit)

Attack 2:

• Longbow (magical): 1d8 x2 (critical hit)
• Dexterity Modifier: 5
• Sharpshooter: 10

Attack 3:

• Longbow (magical): 1d8 x2 (critical hit)
• Dexterity Modifier: 5
• Sharpshooter: 10

(Action Surge)

Attack 1:

• Longbow (magical): 1d8 x2 (critical hit)
• Dexterity Modifier: 5
• Sharpshooter: 10

Attack 2:

• Longbow (magical): 1d8 x2 (critical hit)
• Dexterity Modifier: 5
• Sharpshooter: 10

Attack 3:

• Longbow (magical): 1d8 x2 (critical hit)
• Dexterity Modifier: 5
• Sharpshooter: 10

Total Damage: 12d8 + 8d6 + 90
Maximum Damage: 234
Average Damage: 172

The First Round without Surprise (Round 2)

You still have one use of Arcane Shot. Use your bonus action to hide to gain advantage (and thus Sneak Attack). We will also assume the Martial Adept feat was taken and the Riposte maneuver was chosen.

Attack 1: Choose an Arcane Shot option that requires an attack roll to get the Sharpshooter benefit.

• Longbow (magical): 1d8
• Dexterity Modifier: 5
• Sneak Attack: 2d6
• Sharpshooter: 10
• Shadow Arrow: 2d6

Attack 2:

• Longbow (magical): 1d8
• Dexterity Modifier: 5
• Sharpshooter: 10

Attack 3:

• Longbow (magical): 1d8
• Dexterity Modifier: 5
• Sharpshooter: 10

(Action Surge)

Attack 1:

• Longbow (magical): 1d8
• Dexterity Modifier: 5
• Sharpshooter: 10

Attack 2:

• Longbow (magical): 1d8
• Dexterity Modifier: 5
• Sharpshooter: 10

Attack 3:

• Longbow (magical): 1d8
• Dexterity Modifier: 5
• Sharpshooter: 10

Reaction: Utilize Riposte. Drop your bow and pull a finesse melee weapon on your foe as a free action.

• Melee Weapon (assume rapier here): 1d8
• Riposte: 1d6
• Sneak Attack: 2d6

Total Damage: 7d8 + 7d6 + 90
Maximum Damage: 188
Average Damage: 147

Thus, by the end of the first round of combat, your Arcane Assassin Archer will have dealt a maximum damage of 446, or an average of 333.

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Need help multiclassing? See our Ultimate How To Multiclass Guide.

See other Multiclass Combinations here.

Also, check out our Ultimate 5e Rogue Fighter Multiclass Guide to see how other Fighter/Rogue archetypes synergize.

See our other multiclass builds:

The Hexarcher: Ranger/Warlock/Fighter
Aasimar Paladin/Warlock/Rogue
Monkey Fist: Druid/Monk
Assassin of the Grave: Rogue/ClericMaster Assassin: Rogue/Fighter