Do You Need War Caster for Booming Blade? A Comprehensive Guide
The short answer is no, you do not need the War Caster feat to use Booming Blade. While War Caster and Booming Blade are often discussed together, they function independently. Booming Blade is a powerful cantrip that can significantly enhance a melee character’s damage output, while War Caster offers benefits that extend beyond just this particular spell. This article will delve into the nuances of both, clarify their relationship, and answer common questions about their combined use and limitations.
Understanding Booming Blade and War Caster
Booming Blade Basics
Booming Blade is a cantrip that imbues a melee weapon attack with additional thunder damage. When you cast Booming Blade as part of the ‘Cast a Spell’ action, you make a melee weapon attack. If the attack hits, the target suffers the normal weapon damage, plus a little thunder damage. The real kicker comes into play if the target willingly moves before the start of your next turn; if it does, it takes extra thunder damage. This spell scales with your level, increasing in both immediate and subsequent thunder damage at certain milestones. Crucially, Booming Blade requires a melee weapon; you can’t cast it unarmed or with an improvised weapon.
War Caster Essentials
War Caster is a feat that provides several key advantages to spellcasters. Most notably, it allows you to perform the following:
- You gain advantage on saving throws to maintain concentration on a spell while taking damage.
- You can perform somatic components of spells even when you have weapons or a shield in one or both hands.
- When a hostile creature’s movement provokes an opportunity attack from you, you can use your reaction to cast a spell at the creature, rather than making a melee attack. The spell must have a casting time of 1 action and must target only that creature.
It’s the third bullet point where the relationship with Booming Blade becomes relevant.
The Interaction – Not a Requirement
The common misconception arises from the fact that War Caster can allow you to cast Booming Blade as a reaction when an enemy provokes an opportunity attack from you. However, this is only one narrow use case of War Caster. You can cast Booming Blade just fine using the Cast a Spell action without having War Caster.
Booming Blade requires a melee weapon attack as part of the ‘cast a spell’ action. War Caster allows you to take this same action as a reaction instead of an action when a creature provokes an opportunity attack. This reaction replaces the normal opportunity attack, you wouldn’t get the opportunity attack and also cast the spell.
In other words, War Caster isn’t necessary to cast Booming Blade; it merely provides a way to sometimes cast it outside of your normal turn. This use of War Caster often surprises and discombobulates enemies expecting a standard melee attack, making it tactically useful. It offers versatility by allowing you to react offensively against enemies trying to move away from you.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Does Booming Blade work with War Caster?
Yes, Booming Blade works perfectly with War Caster. War Caster allows you to cast Booming Blade as a reaction when an enemy provokes an opportunity attack by moving out of your reach. This does not require you to have the War Caster feat to cast booming blade normally, it is just an additional option you have access to with the feat.
2. Can you cast Booming Blade as an attack of opportunity?
Yes, War Caster enables you to cast Booming Blade as an opportunity attack. Normally, you would make a melee weapon attack as an opportunity attack. With War Caster, you can instead cast a spell with a casting time of one action, like Booming Blade, against the creature provoking the attack.
3. Can you cast Booming Blade and attack?
Yes, specifically, a Bladesinger Wizard can combine these, they are a special case. They can use their Attack Action and replace one of their attacks with a casting of Booming Blade. They can also make an extra attack as a Bonus Action using Two-Weapon Fighting in the same turn.
4. Can you sneak attack on a Booming Blade?
Yes, Sneak Attack works with Booming Blade. The wording of Sneak Attack specifies “when you make a melee attack,” making it compatible. Similarly, abilities that trigger on “when you hit a creature with a weapon” can apply to Booming Blade.
5. Is Booming Blade a spell attack or melee attack?
Booming Blade is a melee weapon attack, not a spell attack. It uses your standard melee attack ability modifier (Strength or Dexterity), not your spellcasting modifier.
6. Can Booming Blade be used unarmed?
No, Booming Blade requires a weapon. It specifies that you must make a melee weapon attack, so you cannot use it with unarmed strikes.
7. Can you cast Booming Blade with thunder gauntlets?
No, you can’t cast Booming Blade with thunder gauntlets. Thunder gauntlets, as improvised weapons, do not have the melee or ranged type that Booming Blade requires.
8. What is the best use of War Caster?
War Caster is intended to give spellcasters a way to be more active in melee combat. It allows you to use your reaction to cast spells, particularly at enemies trying to move away, rather than just performing weak melee attacks. It’s also very useful to retain concentration, especially for casters who want to be closer to the fray.
9. Is War Caster a good feat?
War Caster is a valuable feat for many spellcasters, especially those who engage in melee combat or rely heavily on concentration spells. For a Paladin, it can be situational unless you have a specific spell in mind for your opportunity attacks and plan to use it often. Its concentration benefit is very useful for almost any paladin though.
10. What is the War Caster reaction in Booming Blade?
The War Caster reaction involving Booming Blade replaces your opportunity attack. When a foe moves out of your reach, you can cast Booming Blade as your reaction to take the place of your normal melee opportunity attack.
11. Does Booming Blade deal damage?
Yes, Booming Blade deals thunder damage in two ways: initial thunder damage and additional damage if the target willingly moves before the beginning of your next turn. The damage scales with your level.
12. Can you use Shillelagh and Booming Blade?
Yes, Shillelagh and Booming Blade can be used together, especially for characters using Wisdom as their melee ability modifier, such as Druids or nature clerics. The shillelagh cantrip makes a club, quarterstaff, or both capable of being used with the spell.
13. Can you do two-weapon fighting with Booming Blade?
Generally, no, you can’t combine Booming Blade with abilities that trigger off the Attack Action like two-weapon fighting, because casting Booming Blade requires the Cast A Spell action, which is not the Attack Action. The exception is if you are a Bladesinger Wizard as described above.
14. Can you apply Booming Blade twice?
No, the effects of Booming Blade do not stack. If you cast Booming Blade multiple times on the same target, it will still only trigger the secondary thunder damage once if the target moves.
15. What modifier for Booming Blade?
Booming Blade uses your normal melee attack modifier, which is your Strength or Dexterity modifier. It does not use your spellcasting modifier.
Conclusion
While War Caster is not necessary to use Booming Blade, it offers the strategic advantage of being able to cast it as an opportunity attack. This adds tactical flexibility but isn’t the core function of the War Caster feat itself, which is primarily to boost spellcasting performance in melee range and improve concentration saving throws. Understanding the interplay between these abilities allows players to make informed choices on how to build their characters effectively. You can cast Booming Blade just fine without War Caster, you only need it if you want to cast the cantrip as an attack of opportunity.