While Shadowheart can typically be a decent healer (though her base kit does make her worse at it than she should be), you might have another dedicated healer and your party. If that’s the case, but you still want her in the party, this build is a fun way to turn her into a great damage dealer that can still provide some backup healing.
Summary
Shadowheart becomes a powerful DPS with this build, harnessing the power of Lightning. She will mainly be using Call Lightning when possible, dealing damage to an area, and allowing her to cast it for up to 10 turns for only a single spell slot. She will also have Lightning spells for situations where this spell can’t hit enemies, such as Shocking Grasp, Witch Bolt, and Lightning Bolt.
While this build will mostly focus on Lightning spells to damage enemies, she will still be able to provide backup healing when needed.
Character Respec and Leveling
As Shadowheart starts off as a Trickery Domain Cleric, you will need to go to Withers to reset her Class and Abilities. Once she’s reset, you will want her to be in the Tempest Domain.
You will then want to multiclass her, putting her second Class as a Sorcerer in the Storm Sorcery Subclass, doubling down on her new Lightning powers. You can level both Classes evenly, putting them both at level 6 eventually, which will not only give Shadowheart a wide variety of Lightning spells but will also enhance them, make her resistant to the element, and even give her a Lightning counterattack with Wrath of the Storm.
- Class 1 – Cleric
- Subclass – Tempest Domain
- Class 2 – Sorcerer
- Abilities
- 9 Strength
- 9 Dexterity
- 8 Constitution
- 15 Intelligence (14 + 1)
- 17 Wisdom (15 + 2)
- 15 Charisma
Spells and Abilities
Between the choices you can make for spells while leveling and what her Classes teach her automatically, Shadowheart can have access to all of her Lightning damage spells at all times. This frees up her spellbook to grab healing spells and some utility, allowing her to be supportive when needed. Her Feats will help increase this build’s damage even further.
Feats
While Shadowheart will only get two Feats with this build, they will greatly increase the effectiveness of her Lightning magic.
- Elemental Adept (Lightning)
- This is huge for this build’s effectiveness, causing all of Shadowheart’s Lightning spells to ignore Lightning resistance. This means that she can safely focus on this element without having to worry about enemies shutting her damage down completely.
- War Caster
- On top of allowing Shadowheart to maintain Concentration on spells more easily, it will also allow her to hit enemies running out of her melee range with Shocking Grasp, rather than just a melee attack.
Spells
As stated earlier, Shadowheart will be able to have access to her Lightning spells at all times once she is level 5 on Sorcerer. This allows her to grab plenty of healing spells for her spellbook to be a backup healer and support, but just keep in mind that she won’t heal for much compared to a dedicated healer.
- Sorcerer Level 1 Choice
- Witch Bolt – allows Shadowheart to consistently deal damage to a target if she can stay in range of them
- Sorcerer Level 2 Choice
- Chromatic Orb – this gives her a cheap and effective method of dealing area damage
- Sorcercer Level 5 Choice
- Lightning Bolt – a powerful attack that hits anyone in front of Shadowheart. With its massive range, you can potentially hit a lot of your enemies at once.
- Spellbook Level 1
- Cure Wounds – a straightforward heal if Shadowheart is close to an ally
- Healing Word – Shadowheart’s primary source of healing
- Shield of Faith – can help make an ally take less damage if needed
- Spellbook Level 2
- Aid – while not as powerful a heal as Healing Word, this can heal multiple allies, and the temporary heal is always useful
- Spiritual Weapon – effectively puts another ally on the field to help attack enemies
- Spellbook Level 3
- Revivify – in case something goes really wrong and a teammate dies
- Mass Healing Word – a great heal if the entire party is getting low on health
Metamagic
Your metamagic choices will help Shadowheart be more effective with her magic, as well as prevent enemies from stopping her from casting them.
- Sorcerer Level 2 Choices
- Metamagic: Distant Spell – if an enemy is just out of reach, using this will allow Shadowheart to hit them
- Metamagic: Twinned Spell – allows her to cast her spells that only target 1 creature twice, making single-target spells much more powerful when needed
- Sorcerer Level 3 Choice
- Metamagic: Subtle Spell – allows her to cast a spell if she is Silenced
Equipment
While there are a couple of great pieces to look out for, you can be pretty flexible with Shadowheart’s gear for this build. The main things you want to look out for are anything that boosts Lightning or general damage, or pieces that increase her healing if you want those to be more effective.
Here are a few notable pieces that will be great choices by the end of the game:
- Shield – Shield of the Undevout
- On top of giving you an extra level 1 spell slot, it will also give Shadowheart the option to knock enemies Prone when they attack her in melee range. If you happen to give her spells that inflict Fear, this will allow those spells to land easier as well.
- Helmet – Mask of Soul Perception
- A straightforward helmet that makes Shadowheart’s Attack Rolls, Initiative Rolls, and Perception Checks better by 2.
- Cloak – Cloak of the Weave
- This helps Shadowheart survive more easily against magic attacks. It will allow her to take half damage from a single element (whichever one she’s attacked with) per short rest, and deal extra damage of that same element with her next attack.
- Gloves – Gemini Gloves
- A great piece of gear for conserving Shadowheart’s spell slots. It essentially lets you double-cast all of your Cantrips that target an enemy or ally.
- Amulet – Amulet of Greater Health
- This is an incredible piece of gear for Shadowheart (and any caster). Setting her Constitution to 23, this will make it very hard for enemies to break her Concentration on spells. As an added bonus, the extra health gained from such a high Constitution will help her survivability.
- Ring – The Sparkswall
- A simple but helpful ring for a Lightning build. It will make her resistant to Lightning damage and make her immune to being Shocked.
