Fighter 101: A Guide to the Echo Knight From Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2024)

Ever wanted tobe in two places at once? Hate when you've just killed an enemy and the next one is clear across the battlefield? The Echo Knight fighter is the answer to your woes. Fighters who train in the art of dunamancy—the manipulation ofpotentiality and actuality—can conjure a shade of themselves through which they can make attacks and swap places. This makes for amobile, melee powerhouse.

The subclass was introduced in the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount. Keep reading for a breakdown of how the subclass works andtips for building one:

• Echo Knight fighter features
• Pros
• Cons
• Building an Echo Knight fighter
• Sample build

Echo Knight fighterfeatures

The Echo Knight relies on its 3rd-level feature Manifest Echo, whichallows you to summon an image of yourself elsewhere on the battlefield. Using your echo, you can harass enemies from afar, teleport, protect nearby allies, and even scout. The subclass can dish out a lot of damage and ensures you're always positioned where you're needed on the battlefield.

• Manifest Echo (3rd level):As a bonus action, you conjure a semitransparent image of yourself within 15 feet. You can move the image freely, swap places with it, and make attacks through it, including opportunity attacks. Although your echo can be attacked and only has 1 hit point, you can resummon it as a bonus action.
• Unleash Incarnation (3rd level):While your echo is up, you can make an additional attack through it whenever you take the Attack action. The number of times you can use this feature scales off of your Constitution modifier.
• Echo Avatar (7th level):Scout ahead using your echo! You can see and hear through your echo but are blinded and deafened when you do. While using your echo in this way,the maximum distance it can be from you increases from 30 feet to 1,000.
• Shadow Martyr (10th level):See an ally about to take a hit? Once per short or long rest, you can spend your reaction to teleport your echo beside them. The attack targets the echo instead of your ally.
• Reclaim Potential (15th level):When your echo is destroyed, you gain temporary hit points. The number of temporary hit points you gain and your uses of this feature scale off of Constitution.
• Legion of One (18th level):What's better than having an echo? Two of them!

Pros

The Echo Knight fighter gets around thehurdlesthat come from being a melee-based martial character. Do you have an archer firing down on you from above? Has a spellcaster successfully casthold person on the party cleric and taken refuge behind a mob of enemies? Drop your echo beside them and go to town.

The subclass also offers nice burst damage with its Unleash Incarnation feature, whichallows you to make an additional attack through your echo when you take the Attack action. Theoretically, a 3rd-level fighter could get four attacks off in one turnby combiningtheir Action Surge with Unleash Incarnation.

Fighters aren't known for their ability to scout—that'soften a job left to the party rogue or ranger. But Echo Avatar allows you to fill this niche nicely. If you come to a crossroads in a dungeon, you don't need to split the party. Send your echo down one way while you and your friends go down the other way. Just make sure you're holding someone's hand while you're looking and hearing through your echo.

Cons

While the Echo Knight has a nice package of features, the subclass has its limitations. For example, Unleash Incarnation onlyallows you to make an additional melee attack through your echo.So, you might want to ditch that bow.

For all of its versatility, the echo is fragile.It has just 1 hit point. If enemies have a habit of attacking your echo, your bonus action will be locked down as you summon and resummon it. This harms the viability of a two-weapon build. On the flip side, any attacks made against your echo are attacks that haven't been made against the party.

Building an Echo Knight fighter

Ability scores

Strength or Dexterity should be your highest ability score. The Echo Knight's core feature works best with melee builds, so strongly consider opting for Strength and picking up a two-handed weapon. Dexterity can be a viable pick if you'd prefer having a bow in reserve for enemies that are especially far away or you're keen on a two-weapon build. Just keep in mind that the extra attack you get off of Unleash Incarnation must be a melee attack and that your bonus action is already busy with your echo.

Prioritize Constitution second. Your uses of Unleash Incarnation and Reclaim Potential scale off ofit.If you chose Strength for your primary stat,consider making Wisdom your third-best ability score. There are quite a number ofspells that target it. Chances are, you'll have heavy armor, so Dexterity won't be as important for you, though having just a +1 modifier will be nice for the occasionalsave you need to make.

Races

If your table uses theoptional rulesfromTasha's Cauldron of Everythingforcustomizing your origin, you won't need to worry about which races offer Strength or Dexterity, since you can choose your own ability score increases. The following recommendations assume you won't be using that optional rule:

• Half-orc:The half-orc offers two features that complement your typical fighter. Relentless Endurance keeps you on your feet when the tides of battle turn against you and Savage Attacks makes your critical hits more brutal.
• Halfling:If you're going a Dex-based build, the stout halfling offers a bonus to both Dexterity and Constitution, each of which is important for you. The Lucky trait also lets you reroll 1s, while Brave gives you advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
• Goliath: The goliath was built for frontline combatants. It lets you shrug off damage. Proficiency in Athletics is nice, too.
• Human: If your Dungeon Master permits the variant human, you'll be swimming in feats as a fighter. This is a great raceif youwantmore customization options for your character. For example, Ritual Caster gives you more options out of combat and is handy when the party is missing a wizard, andSkill Expertis a good pickupfor classes with few skill proficiencies, like the fighter. Of course, you could just go all-in on feats that make you better in combat.
• Warforged: The warforged offers a lot. Notably, you get +1 AC and don't need to sleep, allowing you to keep watch through the night.

Shout out to the metallic dragonborn

The Echo Knight fighter isn't great at dealing with mobs. The metallic dragonborn variant introduced inFizban's Treasury of Dragonshelps patch that weakness. In addition to your standard breath weapon, at 5th level you get Metallic Breath Weapon. This trait adds two new breath options. Onelets you push back enemies and knock them prone. The other can incapacitate them.

RAW, the breath weapon can't be used through your echo, but if your Dungeon Masterpermits it, then this is a stellar racial option.

Feats

The fighter class benefits from two additional Ability Score Improvements (at 6th and 14th level), allowing them to max out their core stats while picking up a feat or two along the way. Look to feats that help you make the most of your echo.

• Great Weapon Master:The quintessential feat for fighters that want to hit things hard, Great Weapon Master gets more value out of yourUnleash Incarnation feature so that you can hit things harder more often!
• Mage Slayer:This feat capitalizes onthe increased mobility your echo offers. While you position yourself between enemies and your squishy allies,move your echo to theenemy's backline so that you can attack any spellcasters concentrating on spells.
• Martial Adept: Squeeze more value out of your echo with a couple of Battle Master maneuvers.If you choose this feat, considerthe Superior Technique fighting style.
• Sentinel: An iconic feat for martial builds,Sentinel pairs especially well with the Echo Knight. You can make opportunity attacks against a creature moving away from your echo, meaning that you can lock down enemies near both you and your echo.

What about Polearm Master?

Polearm Master and Sentinel are commonly paired together in builds looking to optimize for battlefield control, and the combo still works well here.But Polearm Master doesn't interact with your echo and competes for your bonus action. For the above list, I wanted to focus more on featsthat, at least in some way, workwith your core subclass feature. If you like the feat, by all means take it! It's a solid pick, just not a favorite of minefor this subclass.

Echo Knight fighter build

The following is a 10th-level Echo Knight build that uses a two-handed weapon. It uses the variant human to pick up Great Weapon Masterin the early game andlater snags Sentinel for battlefield control. Although the build uses heavy armor, I invested some points in Dexterity for those pesky Dex saves.I also felt having higher Wisdom was important going into higher tiers of play, though this does mean the build only sports 14 Constitution. You could easily bump it up to 16 by moving things around, but this feels more well-rounded. At higher levels, you can throw a couple more Ability Score Improvements at Constitution, anyway.

How will you build your Echo Knight?

The Echo Knight is a solid fighter subclass.Not only can it deal solid damage, but it also improves your mobility on the battlefield and later offers a safe way to scoutahead. With this subclass, you're unlikely to be forced to spend your turn moving into position before attacking.However, the echo is easy to take down and can lock down your bonus action. Nevertheless, the subclass shakes up how you approach combat and can make for good roleplayif your echo suddenly develops its own personality!

Michael Galvis (@michaelgalvis) is a tabletop content producer for D&D Beyond. He is a longtime Dungeon Master who enjoys horror films and all things fantasy and sci-fi. When he isn’t in the DM’s seat or rolling dice as his anxious halfling sorcerer, he’s playing League of Legends and Magic: The Gathering with his husband. They live together in Los Angeles with their adorable dog, Quentin.