The Ranger: The Swarmkeeper D&D 

The perfect swarm creature for your dark, brooding ranger? Butterflies, of course.

I love the idea of setting up spike growth then having a bunch of butterflies drag a creature through it with no remorse

Bruceman, the Batwayne, hunter of evil-doers.

The 1d6 extra damage from swarm keeper isn’t insanely powerful, but it’s also not trivial. It’s helped by the fact that it costs no resources, no bonus action, nothing. It can be stacked with things like Hunter’s Mark.

Love this class. Playing it right now, as swarkeeper fisheman, that collects souls of every fish i ever fished, and add them to the swarm.

I made a crazy cat lady halfling urban swarm keeper ranger who grew up as an urchin on the streets of Sharn. She was kind to feral cats and they all came back to serve her after death.

Something you didn't consider is that you are being moved 5 feet, not moving 5 feet, so it's a free disengage in many situations. That's why it pairs with half cover. This makes the 5 foot option every bit as good as the 15 foot one

I think a Wisdom based Swarmkeeper taking the drudic warrior style to get thorn whip and shillelagh has a lot of potential as a defender character, especially in a heavy ranged party. Would have the ability to both pull enemies towards them and throw them around. Lots of ways to abuse web, plant growth etc. Would be a real pain in the ass for the GM! Also the mighty swarm enables them to knock a flying enemy out of the sky if they dont have a hover ability, fly spell etc which wont always come up but can be real clutch when it does.

Nanomachines, son!

Just to point out with the moving the ally, might be worthwhile getting yourself a blowgun because then its so terrible damage is fantastic!

Kobold with a Swarm of Velociraptors. That is all

"Mage hand is a very handy spell" I've failed the tasha's laughter save....

Not the bees! Not the bees! Aaaaaagh, my eyes!

Pigeon man from “hay Arnold”

Spike growth can also boost dmg early on at the very least by just dragging enemies back and forth through it

I’m absolutely loving this. Dropping spike growth and punting enemies back into it once they get out just makes my soul sing. In later levels you get to knock them prone too! Sign me up. If going melee I can use that fly ability to hover or fly over the spike Growth itself for cheese. (Speaking of that, this flight also negates the need for Athletic rolls. So a centaur Ranger need no longer fear climbing.)

I love the idea of being a beekeeper who can control their bees

Treantmonk should optimize a built that only uses one die type, for hit dice, damage and all ability. Like a wizard that uses a greatsword and casts fireball, or a barbarian with a battle axe.

Knocking the enemy back through my spike-growth seems like a good earlygame combo.

I was just thinking, hey I hope he does the swarmkeeper vid today lol

Since the appearance is purely aesthetic, I'm fond of a small cloud that ebbs and flows around the character.

Having played an Alchemist, I’ve found the 10’ flying speed really useful in exploration and even combat. It is really slow but Longstrider keeps it concentration free and bumps the speed to 20’ which is enough to really get off the ground in round 1. For a Ranger, I might even consider grabbing the Mobile feat at higher levels. Like Longstrider it also boosts both walking and flying speeds. I don’t use it every adventuring day but several times it’s had a very major impact.

Disney Princess who sends swarms of songbirds by singing to them

With the 5 ft movement and Swarming Dispersal, all I can think about is Bayonetta. Bat Within and her dodge mechanic all feel absolutely excellent when used as this class. Your standard swarm can just be a swarm of bullets.

Next video sorcerers? Yeeeeessssssssssssssssssssss! I cannot wait! Already starting the countdown.....

If only the fly speed and extra damage progression of the swarm weren't so shitty I would nothing to complain about. Still the kit gets big points for flavor and it would be a lot of fun knocking around enemies and shoving them back into webs and masses of angry holy spirits.

I'm currently playing a Swarmkeeper that grows his own tobacco (background is Guild Artisan lol). The swarm is his own smoke, which is conjured directly from his lit cigarette, that he smokes during the battle.

This was a fun video. I loved "you be Peter Pan... I'M BATMAN!" That made my day. Thanks for the introduction to this subclass.

I used to read your build guides, and ever since I found your youtube page I've loved watching your videos. You're great!

I'm currently playing a Kenku Swarm keeper who has ravens for his swarm. One of my favorite classes so far.

Thanks for doing these videos!!! Ranger is my favorite class and imop under appreciated.

Thank you for those amazing videos! I prefer the Fey Wanderer, but indeed the Swarmkeeper is interesting. I have so much hype for your sorcerer video ^^

That's the first Ranger subclass I really like. Thanks for the video!

That Writhing Tide at 7th level sounds more like a save my character from fall damage than let me fly! It seems better used as a jump extender or fall safety net than a separate form of movement.

Very nice to hear how good a tactical class it is! I just rolled one up a Grung Ranger this morning and I think a bunch of bugs will be perfect for him.

I've been eagerly waiting for this specific review. My anticipation was really high when this subclass first hit UA, but I was pretty let down with the printed version. I knew you would have some useful insight to make me feel a little better about it though, and you did.

The swarmkeeper's 1d6 damage with no actions is a straight upgrade from the monster slayer's requirements of a bonus action and 60ft range. Monster slayer and hunter still need upgrades to bring them up to par.

Great guide bro🤘🏿 Thanks for that!

I love using the piercing feat to make the damage for the swarm 3d6. And getting to choose the better of the damage isn’t too bad either. Love it so far

My new favorit Ranger subclass, can’t wait to try it out 🙂 Was actually hoping for something similar for the Circle of Spores Druid, but sadly no.

Swarm makes me think of Taylor from the webnovel Worm. She can be scary, even with butterflies.

Batman? Sold.

Other suggestions for swarm flavor - A swarm of moving living sand (Gaara) - A magical spectral hand

this subclass is pretty cool, but i wonder if the warlock, e.g. fathomless w/ Evard's BT, wouldn't manage to do the exact same thing but better. If we compare, hand crossbow swarmkeeper w/ CBM+SS vs. warlock w/ moderately armored + CBM, with invocations for control repelling blast + grasp of hadar, the warlock version has several advantages: no saving throw on displacements, multiple repels per round, +2 AC (shield), more flexible use of bonus action, no dependency on 2 main stats, much better at keeping concentration, especially for fathomless' EBT. Movement, misty step, etc can still be used to compensate for the less flexible direction of displacement. And way more choice of AoE hazard spells. On the other hand, SK gets more flexible direction displacement, and potential for more damage on restrained enemies using SS, archery FS which negates the effect of the dual stat build. All other features from both classes are different and provide various advantages, but not at the core of power level comparison. Web and EBT are roughly the same spell with the same power level. All in all, both builds are cool mechanically speaking, but i would still give a slight edge to warlock due to no saving throw required on moving ennemies, only hit.

I’m starting a new campaign with a swarmkeeper. I’m starting off with a bag of tricks so, this is gonna be fun!

The thing for a Swarmkeeper ranger to do with the Conjure Animals spell is, of course, to conjure swarms ...

No range limit on gathered swarm attacks. With the improved swarm knocking the target prone, a longbow or similar vs fliers will be lethal.

For anyone looking for a fun Holiday themed character, you could be the pigeon lady from Home Alone 2 with your swarm as pigeons. Youre welcome

I'm wanting to make a kobold swarm keeper. Maniacally laughing as he unleashed the bugs

Take 4 lvls of swarmkeeper and one of wizard. Take Booming blade and use a spear. Go custom lineage or variant human. Take polearm master and warcaster feats. Use your familiar to give yourself advantage on your first attack. After you hit, move yourself back 5ft. When they move to attack you they get hit with booming blade damage, then initiate an attack of opportunity from you that is another booming blade and you move back another 5 ft. Add hunters mark on top of that for extra damage.

Nurgle vibes! Love it! Make a build based on Nurgle 😍👌

Great vid! Keep it up.

"I like my rangers like I like my coffee: covered in bees!"

Something you didn't mention, the swarm can move you five feet for free which means you have a free disengage. I think this might be unique to this class, rogues get disengage for a bonus but they don't get it for free. I'd possibly dip that swarmkeeper ranger for the free disengage on a rogue or barbarian especially since I think you can use this to pull a squishy into your deadly embrace. As a rogue, throw a dagger drag that squishy caster in close then wallop them with a sneak attack. I also like the idea of swarm carrying a thrown weapon to it's target enveloping the target and dragging it to me.

Finally I can play Skitter from Worm. Have all the bugs covered in capsaicin ready to follow your command!

I do just want to point out the words are written on gathered swarm as “when you hit an attack” so you could use a cantrip or spell on that if it’s an attack roll

Swarmkeeper build I'm working on, a high Wis build to max save DC. I grabbed Druidic fighting style, and took Shilaleigh and Magic stone, which allow me to use Wis for my weapon attacks, and went Firbolg to boost Wisdom. As I level up I intend to max out Wis as fast as I can, and focus on Ranger spells that allow saves, Hail of thorns, Searing smite, Web is from the Swarmkeeper list, and Healing spirirt keys of Wis as well. I'm a little worried that I have too much B.Action stuff, and might be a slower build up in combat.

Any fans of the Uutak Mythos or Worm will love this one.

I am considering the option of a strenght ranger, with polearm master sentinel to move myself out of melee range of enemies with 5 ft or move them away and force them to re approach, also moving one's self for the +2 ac is even better as a melee hold the line type character and the control spells work well with the playstile, keeping emenies in the area thanks to sentinel, and last but not least flying can be very good for getting some pesky enemies in polearm range (as with ur reach being 10 and 10 ft flying you can reach 20 feet up and it can catch some enemies off guard) and even the resistance feature can ake you tankier and move you away from an enemy who you just sentinelled therefore making you immune to all other melee attacks they may want to make and likely all attacks since monsters can almost never mix up their attacks Edit. Of course the same suggestions treantmonk has given when making a str ranger apply, take lvls into fighter first, 2 or even 3 with how good knocking people prone with battlemaster may be with sentinel and other control spells)

Spike Growth is a nice spell you have access to that synergizes well with the 15 ft "shove". Up to 6d4 damage on the initial push, then forcing the enemy into difficult terrain that will deal even more damage if they want to get back to where they were.

Half cover also adds +2 to dex saves

Sentinel and PAM is great for this class. You can stop an approaching enemy. And even if they can still attack you the first attack you can disperse and teleport away to waste the rest of its attacks. I think this subclass has lots of potential for either frontline or as a ranged archer and can be built in so many ways.

So you can force-move enemies. And Spike Growth is a Ranger spell. Now it's not just Dao Warlocks who can play cheese-grater...

Yeah ranger is very interesting now! But I'm playing a Changeling Aberrant Mind Sorcerer! Can't wait to see what sort of build you do with Sorcerer and those new feats.

okay, now I somewhat see what I got wrong. Its not JUST a "once a turn 1d6 damage". Either the class has other things that make up for it, or that is not the main application. But I dont think either of those cases hold true for the rune knight or the psi knight.

I accidentally got a taste of this with my Paladin of vengeance when my DM allowed me to tame a swarm of bats. Can't wait to make one and have The Plagues on repeat lol.

I just built mine and played it last Friday. Triton race and my swarm is lampreys. Gross awesomeness

Thanks for another great vid. Do an echo knight/swarm keeper optimization build vid, plz.

Bees dude! You can be the Candyman!

I'm thinking of playing Madmartigan and the swarm is gonna be those awesome little sprite aholes

Hunter has been left in the dust with the 5e powercreep but its good ranger now has competitively good subclasses

i was underwhelmed by this at first glance, but I played a dhampir swarmkeeper in curse of strahd and the thing you caught and pointed out - that the movement power pairs so well with the spell list - turned out to be crushing. Literally, since i paired it with dao/genie warlock and the crusher feet so that my swarm of scarab beetles emerging from the earth on hit could move them a little more. Another thing i initially overlooked is that there is no size limit on the movement or the prone, failing the str save is the only condition.

Great background art on this one, by the way. I find online art really inspiring for character creation, you often have good art elements but top-notch on this one for sure. Any chance of crediting some of the artists? I'd love to see more.

spike growth; scorching ray or jim's magic missile

I know I’m late to the party here, but appreciate the pun at 6:33

It’s obviously not gonna come up in most campaigns, but Insect Plague has great synchronicity with Feral Senses at 18th level. You trap the enemy in this 20 foot radius, heavily obscured sphere that’s difficult terrain, AND you don’t have disadvantage to attack them! A great combo. Combine it with plant growth, transmute rock or spirit guardians. Just keep smacking ‘em back into the middle of the sphere.

I was looking at this because I wanted to try this out, but seeing we have 1 maybe 2 rangers in our group (one might've dropped out), I'm going to try this in a different group. At level 17, adding insect plague to swarm dispersal is going to be wicked.

Twilight cleric 17/ Swarmkeeper 3 is control beast! Pop Spirit Guardians,use thorn whip, combine it with teammates AoE abilities if any and unleash the mayhem on the battlefield, while being tanky, supportative and yet damaging character. This will most likely put the target on your head XD

Very interested in making a melee swarmkeeper build that can utilize BA attacks to flit around the battlefield. One option would be Ranger X/Monk 1 using a spear or quarterstaff with Dueling fighting style & PAM to get the most out of martial arts Dex & unarmored AC. Another option could be TWF style with Dual Wielder feat to get +1 AC and maintain the BA attack, maybe using a whip for reach Kind of a bummer that the swarm damage is never said to become magical, so the additional d8 on hits is likely to be much less useful from level 5 onwards

Good vid. The tactical options i agree are nice but not a major draw for me. Dpr is still king imo. No need to control or be tactical if the opponent is dead on round 1-2 (gloomstalker). I like that you made it cool like batman though mechanically for me i"d still play gloomstalker or fey wanderer ahead of this. I'd probably pick this is as my 3rd ranger subclass to play (and thats because i want to make an arcane archer build work well and it seems gathered swarm works well with grasping arrow). Anyway looking forward to your review of the new sorcerers, 1 of my fave spellcasting classes. Keep.up the good work chris!

I had a 3 level forge dip. My swarm was a cloud of embers.

Ok this is great. I have an idea for a Swarmkeeper, Wildfire druid. But I am not sure how to optimize it.

Stirges! A flock of stirges. 1d6 piercing damage from stirges embedded in your enemies!

I think whimsical elf with a swarm of tiny colorful birds could be cool

Im running a skyship campaign with floating islands. This subclass is extremely broken in my setting. But also a lot of fun!

Finally, Sorcerers!

A Swarmkeeper/Echo Knight multiclass that can turn his swarm into a human-like creature

I like snake swarms. If I were to multi class, it would be with druid. Circle of spores might be interesting

I feel like Swarmkeeper here has untapped potential as a crit fishing build. Just using half-orc as a race and favored foe you can get your weapon dice, orc dice, swarm dice, and favored foe dice all doubled. Multiclass into this after 3 levels of Champion Fighter and just take all your following levels in this and you would be very scary from 6th overall level onwards. Especially if there is any party synergy with giving advantage out

My main issue with the 10ft flight is that you can't use it after moving. By RAW whenever you switch movement types you subtract distance already moved, so after moving 5ft you have 25ft walking or 5ft flying. After moving 10ft you have no flying, 20ft walking. It would've been better if the feature stated you could fly 10ft in addition to your regular movement. That way you could run to a wall, fly straight up, and continue waking. There would be niche uses for it. As it is written you basically have to be within 10ft of wherever you want to fly at the start of your turn.

Feels a bit like the ranger version of the tactical/utility rogue subclasses. I'm also imagining what could have happened if the twins in Vox Machina swapped classes.

Rogue (Scout) + Ranger (Swarm Keeper) could be a fun mobility style of character.

I run a swarmkeeper ranger with a swarm of cats. Basically, I'm a crazy cat-dad. I love it.

You can officially make Squirrel Girl now.

If this subclass had a feature where you could Frighten a lot (like the Fey Wanderer does), it would be very Batman.

Makes me think of the Mummy with swarms of scarabs.

Imagine Jester from Critical Role multiclassing as a swarm keeper. Cadueces seems more likely, but Jester and her fey unicorn pixies are right there, too. Since the swarm hits with an attack, be it weapon or spell, she can cause even more trouble on a battlefield. That regular gnoll is just out of Yasha’s reach? Guiding bolt. The gnoll is now in reach, damaged an extra little bit, and is now bright and shiny for Yasha.

Edit. Does it mean it's magical piercing on that d6, also, does the d6 become added on a spell attack too? Halfling ranger with a swarm of hummingbirds!! While going further into ranger here does gain benefits. I had been thinking of mixing this with wildfire druid. Action move with swarm and bonus action teleports with fiery teleport. Tactical hummingbird ranger/druid.

I already have my Ranger ready, Vulcan Raven from metal gear ooooo probably do goliath race

*The* Bat-Man, get it right!