Wizard/Artificer High AC Bladesinger Build
The Why:
What’s the highest AC you can passively get to? It’s not the easiest calculation to come up with. There are many approaches and possiblities, magic items and AC calculations that make the process difficult to pin down. Would it surprise you to hear that we can get there as a squishy wizard? Introducing: the Tortle Bladesinger.
The Tortle is unique among the many Dungeons and Dragons races in that it has a resting AC of 17. The Tortle cannot wear any armor to increase this, that’s just the power of the shell it wears. For reference, that starts us at the second best base heavy armor value in the game. To see how we take this value to the next level, let’s get into the build!
The Build:
*As with all my builds, please note that my breakdown will mostly highlight the important stuff. If I don’t specify a choice, feel free to customize as you see fit 😊
Level 1 Artificer 1 (1AR): Yes… I know… our wizard is not yet a wizard… There is a compelling argument for going full wizard all the way to level 20, but from my perspective the main reason doesn’t come online until 18th level when you get to pick your signature wizard spells. If that’s important to you, go straight wizard and grab Shield as one of your signature spells for an essentially permanent +5 to your AC. The route I’m taking hits a pretty cool inflection point at level 9, which I’ll get into then. Our main reason for taking Artificer 1 now is to get that sweet CON save proficiency. Also, a little extra health is nice since we’re so squishy.
Point Buy Stats: Strength 12 / Dexterity 10 / Constitution 15 / Intelligence 15 / Wisdom 9 / Charisma 8. With our natural Tortle selves, our Strength gets bumped up to 14 and our Wisdom hits 10. We’ll pick a background that gets us proficiency in Acrobatics since that will help with our Bladesinging powers later down the road. For starting equipment, we trade our unusable armor for a good ol’ Rapier. For now, we’re using Strength to hit things. We will also use a regular shield until we can bladesing, making our AC 19 at level 1 (Nice!)
Roleplaying alert: our Tortle’s name is Diego de Armas, he dresses like Zorro, and he flirts terribly with every lady he comes across. When he activates his bladesong, it sounds like castanets and Spanish guitar and the magic follows him like rose petals.
Level 2 Wizard 1 (1WZ/1AR): Now we’re a wizard! These first two levels are a little weird while we’re still growing as a wizard. The Bladesinger in particular is such a stark change from the standard wizard gameplay that until we’re singing, we’re awkward. We’ll pick up Green Flame Blade or Booming Blade (probably both), anything that can amplify our basic attacks. Right now those are still being made with just a +2 Strength, but that’ll change in the future. We also grab Shield so that our AC can jump up to 24 in a pinch. At level 2, we basically won’t get hit unless the enemy crits 😊
Level 3 Wizard 2 (2WZ/1AR): As a level 2 wizard, we finally get to activate our bladesinging abilities! Immediately, we gain proficiency in that rapier we picked up at the start of the game. Also, we get access to our signature ability: the bladesong. As a bonus action, we can activate the bladesong to gain a bonus to our AC equal to our Intelligence modifier (+2 for now), our walking speed increases by 10 feet, we have advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks, and we gain a bonus to any Constitution saving throw made to maintain concentration on a spell equal to our Intelligence modifier (again, +2). Small caveat, we can’t be wearing armor or wielding a shield or using two hands on our sword while singing, lest we lose all the benefits. However, because of our clever building choices, we just need to drop the shield and we still get +2 to our AC (still 19 while singing).
Levels 4 thru 7 Wizard 3 thru 6 (6WZ/1AR): At this point, we’re going full wizard to get to that Extra Attack that Bladesingers get at Wizard 6. Along the way, we hit an ability score increase at level 5. Bump up our Constitution and Intelligence scores to a nice clean 16 each. Now, while our bladesong is active, we will have an AC of 20, 25 with the Shield spell! Spell choices are whatev. Our build actually doesn’t require much in the realm of spell slot utilization, so pick spells that match the needs of the party. At Level 7, we get Extra Attack and one of our attacks can be a cantrip. Slam down Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade as the situation requires every turn for max damage!
Levels 8 thru 9 Artificer 2 thru 3 (6WZ/3AR): We’ve had to work very hard to get to this point, but our patience is about to pay off. At Level 9, we hit level 3 Artificer and get to choose our artificer subclass. We’re going Battle Smith! With the Battle Ready ability, we can hit things with our big brains, not just Strength or Dexterity. Statwise, we are now locked in on Intelligence and Constitution almost exclusively. As a Battle Smith, we also get a steel defender, though it’s underpowered as a fighter and will continue to be so since we’re done collecting Artificer levels. For our flavor, we’re thinking of this defender as more of a pack mule. Note: we can cast Enlarge on it and ride it into battle, which fits the Zorro aesthetic, but that’s not particularly necessary.
A note on Artificer Infusions: at level 8 (2AR) we pick up some Artificer Infusions. There are many iterations that work for this build, but I would suggest Enhanced Weapon assuming we don’t have a +1 sword by now (unlikely). Other honorable mentions include Mind Sharpener and Replicate Magic Item for Goggles of Night (roleplay as Zorro’s mask) or whatever other common magical item suits the campaign.
Levels 10 thru 20 Wizard 7 thru 17 (17WZ/3AR): Now we ride the wizard train for the rest of our playthrough. This lets us bump our Intelligence to 18 at level 11 and 20 at level 15. We get one more ASI at level 19, which we can use to bump up CON. Alternatively, we could grab a feat like Warcaster, Tough, or Dual Wielder to further add flavor to the build. I’m going Tough, strictly for the health gain. Also, at level 17 we get the final Bladesinger ability that allows us to add our Intelligence modifier to our damage rolls, which stacks with our Battle Ready ability to give us +10 to each attack. Finally, we still unlock level 9 spells at level 20, so we are crazy powerful even without a sword. When all is said and done, our Bladesinger will have an AC of 27 when his bladesong and shield spell are active, he’ll be doing +10 damage for each attack, and he can cast a cantrip as one of the Extra Attacks each turn. That’s a beefy wizard 😊
Honorable Mentions – Spells: Haste allows us to have an extra attack each turn as well as increasing our AC to 29. Since our concentration is so high, it’s unlikely we’ll ever drop the spell before its natural expiration. Shadow Blade makes for a great replacement to our rapier and can be upcast for crazy amounts of damage. Mirror Image helps keep us even more untouchable by potentially siphoning off hits to our mirror images.
Honorable Mentions – Items: Since we’re not using armor, let’s get some Bracers of Defense, adding 2 to our overall AC. In combination with the 2 we get from the Haste spell, this puts us at an AC of 31! That’s insane! For reference, a tarrasque, one of the biggest baddies out there, would have to roll a natural 12 or higher on a d20 to touch us.
