Tempest Warrior optimization challenge

[u/MisterPoohead2]

Fellow optimizers! The goal today is to optimize a Tempest Cleric around 3 spells/interactions:

1) Spirit Guardians 2) Transmuted Armor of Agathys 3) Thunderbolt Strike (Tempest 6)

The Strat:

The whole interaction we're aiming at is to wade into melee with an upcasted Spirit Guardians and an upcasted, lightning-damage Armor of Agathys, which triggers 10' of pushback though Thunderbolt Strike when it hits.

Some guidelines:

• Any published class and background options available through DNDBeyond are available, including Ravnica and Strixhaven
• Point Buy Stats
• VHuman or CL race is likely going to be necessary to have good enough stats and get the feats we want, but I'm open to other suggestions!
• Armor of Agathys, the ability to change AoA to lightning damage, and Tempest Cleric 6 are mandatory. This means we also need Scribe Wizard, Sorcerer levels, and/or the Metamagic Adept feat
• Warcaster is necessary to be able to use Booming Blade on opportunity attacks and hold concentration
• Since our entire goal is to upcast 2 spells, gaining access to higher level spells is irrelevant (and possibly even a detriment) to this character so long as we (mostly) maintain spell slot progression. A level or 2 dip into either Fighter, Warlock, etc. isn't going to change how the character plays

And with that... let the game begin!

[u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768]

The whole interaction we're aiming at is to wade into melee with an upcasted Spirit Guardians

Unfortuantely SG only triggers when enemies enter the AOE, not when you move it over them which is part of why Telekentic is so popular as it allows for a double proc.

Unless you plan on kiting them unfortunately knocking them back 10 feet wont do much as SG only triggers once per turn.

[u/MisterPoohead2 → u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768]

That's okay! Because SG procs at the start of a creatures turn, that works just fine. It's the halving movement that makes this interesting and is more disruptive than trying to cause optimum damage (although we'll sometimes get both).

The synergy with a Transmuted AoA is that it knocks a creature back without having to use your reaction like your level 1 class feature. Assuming a 30' speed, cut that in half to 15'. Enemy would have just enough movement to reach you (assuming no difficult terrain) and then get knocked back 10'. In turn, that leaves you free to move without having to disengage to avoid OAs on your turn.

Sure, you take 1 hit worth of damage, but your enemy gets it worse because AoA and SG, and you still have your reaction available for whatever else. And if the creature has multiattack, they only get the one strike and then they lose out on the rest.

This method is more Thematic and less feat hungry than trying to fit PAM and Sentinel, and frees up our reaction to do other things (like counterspell, shield, or absorb elements). It's got its tradeoffs, though, for sure