Dungeons & Dragons let us embody heroes in a fantastic world of sword and sorcery where cosmic entities collide, dragons terrorize kingdoms and far too many rats lair in basements.

While most adventurers must compromise between martial skill and spellcasting prowess, some, known as “gish”, blend magic and swordplay to beat insurmountable odds.

Seldom seen on the front lines, wizards are known to be powerful glass canons who control the battlefield from afar, but alas, some of them incorporate swordplay and dance into their kit.

A tradition created by elves, bladesinging has been adopted by non-elf practitioners who honor and expand on the elven ways.

In combat, bladesingers use elegant maneuvers to channel magic into devastating attacks and a cunning defense.

While Eldritch Knights are fighters who complement their combat style with magic, Bladesingers are wizards who can waddle into melee with powerful hit-and-run tactics.

Thanks to the rework found in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything (TCoE), they are now one of the best wizard subclasses to try your hand at.

Put down your grimoire and raise your rapier, for tonight we discuss the best builds for bladesingers in 5th edition D&D!

5. Elven Dancer.

Elves are a magical people of otherworldly grace, magic is as much a part of them as is breathing, eating, and frolicking.

It is no surprise that it was they who invented the tradition of bladesinging, and thus that they excel at bringing the most out of it.

The “Elven Dancer” focuses on making the most out of the bladesinging tradition by picking the best spells that compliment your playstyle.

First of all, this will be a purely wizard class, you won’t need to multiclass at all. You’ll prioritize Dexterity and Intelligence over all other ability scores and rely on spells like Booming Blade and Green-Flame blade to complement your melee prowess.

If your game uses feats, take Mobile before Warcaster. For all of their combat skill, bladesingers are still wizards, thus they are fairly squishy, picking Mobile early on means you can get in and out of melee safely.

Full build details:

Race: High elf.

Class: Wizard (Bladesinging) from levels 1 to 20.

Feats: Mobile, Warcaster.

Stats: Dexterity and Intelligence > Constitution > Everything else.

Equipment: Light armor and rapier.

Main Spells: Booming Blade, Green-flame blade, Haste, Shield.

4. The Walking Stick.

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything made bladesingers an amazing multiclass choice thanks to their front-loaded kit.

Since the tradition was developed by elves, we can’t avoid thinking of it as a Dexterity-centric class, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

That’s where the “Walking Stick” comes in. By multiclassing Battle Smith Artificer with Bladesinging wizard, you can have a Single Attribute Dependant combatant who whacks the life out of their enemies with their cane.

Take three levels in Battle Smith Artificer. With these changes, you gain the ability to enchant your weapon of choice (a quarterstaff for this build), a powerful companion in the form of the Steel Defender, and the ability to make your melee attacks use Intelligence!

But wait, there’s more! By picking up the Polearm Master feat you can now attack with your bonus action with your quarterstaff as well as the ability to make opportunity attacks against foes who enter your reach.

By the time you grab warcaster, enemies will fear even going near you since you can now strike them with spells when they come close to you!

Full build details:

Race: Variant Human for the bonus feat at 1st level.

Class: Battle Smith Artificer from levels 1 to 3, then take your first level in wizard. From here on, you’ll only be taking levels in the wizard class.

Feats: Polearm Master, Warcaster.

Stats: Intelligence > Everything else.

Equipment: Light armor & Quarterstaff.

Main Spells: Booming Blade, Green Flame blade, Spirit Shroud.

3. The MAD Mage.

Some seekers of knowledge are willing to make pacts with mysterious beings as long as it draws them nearer to their goal.

Going in a completely different direction from our previous build, the “MAD Mage” is a Multiple Attribute Dependent build that focuses on making the most out of the bladesinger’s 6th level feature.

We’ll be taking three levels in Hexblade Warlock before dedicating ourselves to an ancient elven tradition.

Build for Charisma as your primary Ability Score. If you focus on spells without saves or attack rolls (Like haste, Booming Blade, Spirit Shroud, mirror image, etc) you don’t need to worry about Intelligence beyond meeting the multiclass requirements.

This lets you fire off a Charisma Based attack melee attack and a full barrage of Eldritch blasts with your attack action!

Considering how Warlocks get the ability to add their Charisma bonus to Eldritch Blast damage and how Hexblades can also add their proficiency to it, we’ll be hitting hard.

Full build details:

Race: Half-Elf.

Class: Hexblade Warlock 3, then take your first level in wizard. From here on, you’ll only be taking levels in the wizard class.

Feats: Warcaster, take the Ability Score Increases beyond this.

Stats: Charisma > Intelligence > Everything else.

Equipment: Light armor & a one-handed weapon of your choice.

Main Spells: Booming Blade, Eldritch Blast, Green-flame Blade, Armor of Agathys.

2. Arcane Champion.

Another twist on an existing build option. This has gotten noticeably better in more ways than one. 

A Champion Fighter who takes up the mantle of a wizard has amazing roleplay potential, besides the fact that the class combos well with your main play style.

Three levels in fighter grants you more Hit Points, the dueling fighting style (for more one-handed damage), self-healing with Second Wind, and ever-useful action surge!

An exceedingly simple build, we’re geared towards making Dexterity our main ability, playing around with making as melee weapon attacks as we can to capitalize on our increased critical chance.

Spells like Haste and Shadow blade mix well with this build thanks to the fact that they give us another attack or a really powerful weapon.

Full build details:

Race: High Elf.

Class: Champion Fighter 3, then take your first level in wizard. From here on, you’ll only be taking levels in the wizard class.

Feats: Warcaster.

Stats: Dexterity > Intelligence > Everything Else.

Equipment: Light armor & Finesse weapons.

Main Spells: Booming Blade, Green-flame Blade, Haste, Shadow blade.

1. The Holy Dip.

Have you ever wished you had more spells to spend on smite as a paladin? Well, we got the build for you.

By multiclassing Paladin with Bladesinger, we get a frontline warrior who can Heal, cast spells, and obliterate foes with magically empowered attacks!

Your charisma need only be high enough to meet the multiclass requirements, and, if you focus on spells without saves or attack rolls you don’t need to worry about Intelligence.

We’ll make Dexterity our main ability, burning through our spell slots from both classes to melt our foes.

After all, smite doesn’t require the Spell slots to be from the Paladin Class!

Full build details:

Race: Half-Elf.

Class: Paladin 2, then take your first level in wizard. From here on, you’ll only be taking levels in the wizard class.

Feats: Warcaster, Mobile.

Stats: Dexterity > Intelligence > Charisma > Everything else.

Equipment: Light armor & Finesse weapons.

Main Spells: Booming Blade, Green-flame blade, Haste, Shield, Spirit Shroud.

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