Anyone who has ever said that they can’t be in two places at once clearly isn’t an Echo Knight Fighter!

Harnessing powerful magic to pull “echoes” of themselves from other timelines, these warriors are never truly alone.

Even better, they can quickly command control over positioning on the battlefield. This opens up tons of exciting tactics to use against your foes and to protect your allies.

Are you ready to realize your full potential across numerous timelines?

Then read on!

This is the full guide to the Echo Knight Fighter in D&D 5e!

What is the Echo Knight Fighter in D&D 5e?

An enemy might think they’re looking at just one warrior, but that changes fast if that warrior is an Echo Knight. Before they know it, that enemy can quickly find themselves outnumbered!

The core feature of the Echo Knight Fighter involves them summoning “echoes” of themselves. These echoes come from alternate/unrealized timelines. Attacking together as one, they’re a force to be reckoned with!

This is done with the use of Dunamancy, a unique magic in the Wildemount setting that channels the power of potential and actuality.

As is common with Dunamancy magic, things tend to get a little… “wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey” with the Echo Knight Fighter.

But, seriously, does it get any cooler than bringing versions of yourself from alternate/unrealized timelines to help you in combat?!

The Echo Knight Fighter appears in the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount sourcebook.

Role in the Party

The Echo Knight Fighter favors a playstyle that is offensive but also adaptable. After all, you’re literally able to be in multiple places at once!

These characters shine in combat and you will often be responsible for taking point when the fighting starts. If your group tends to be more strategic, the Echo Knight can also work great as a type of shot-caller.

But don’t ignore the defensive potential of this subclass as well!

Because Echo Knight Fighters can command so much positioning in combat, you should always be able to lend a hand to your squishier teammates.

The trick is to maintain strategic positioning in combat so that you can better influence the flow of the fight.

When it’s time to push, you’re there.

When it’s time to defend or reposition, you’re there.

You want to make sure that you (whether the “real” you or one of your echoes) are always able to be in the right place at the right time.

Echo Knight Fighter Features 5e

The Echo Knight Fighter has a very impressive kit and there aren’t any weak/useless features in it. However, it’s also worth noting that these features will heavily rely on your Bonus Action.

If you’re looking to play an Echo Knight Fighter, make sure that you keep that Bonus Action free!

That means you’re better off avoiding feats like Two-Weapon Fighting or Crossbow Expert which will also require your Bonus Action.

Your features themselves are relatively straightforward. The real trick to mastering this subclass is knowing when and how to use each feature tactically in each situation.

My goal is to help you understand the basics of each feature so that you can make those strategic decisions based on what’s happening in your own game when the time comes.

As always, don’t hesitate to comment if you have questions though!

Manifest Echo (Level 3)

Don’t be intimidated by the huge wall of text that is the Manifest Echo feature. It’s the Echo Knight Fighter’s core feature!

For the sake of simplicity, we’ll break it down into some bite-sized pieces though.

As a bonus action, you magically manifest an echo of yourself in an unoccupied space you can see within 15 feet of you.

This echo is a magical, translucent, gray image of you that lasts until it is destroyed, you dismiss it as a bonus action, you manifest another echo, or you are incapacitated.

Your echo has AC 14 + your proficiency bonus, 1 hit point, and immunity to all conditions.

If it has to make a saving throw, it uses your saving throw bonus for the roll. It is the same size as you, and it occupies its space.

On your turn, you can mentally command the echo to move up to 30 feet in any direction (no action required). If your echo is ever more than 30 feet from you at the end of your turn, it is destroyed.

This is the feature that you use to summon your echoes.

Because they’re all shadowy and gray, these echoes won’t be working for any illusion shenanigans. However, they will prove to be more than capable of dealing with any pesky enemies you encounter!

They have a decent armor class that scales with your proficiency bonus as you level up. However, they do go “poof” after taking any damage so you will want to be mindful of that.

That said, if you keep your echo close by, it can stay out for hours or even the whole day!

Also, note that there isn’t a limit to how many times a day you can summon your echo. If you need to, use this every round!

Using Your Echo

So, you’ve got your echo summoned. Now what?

There are three ways that you can use your echo. Make sure that you’re factoring in how each of these affects your action economy.

There’s a ton of tactical potential here, so it’s wise to plan ahead of your turn.

As a bonus action, you can teleport, magically swapping places with your echo at a cost of 15 feet of your movement, regardless of the distance between the two of you.

Since your echo has to be within 30 feet of you, spending 15 feet of movement for up to a 30ft teleport is fantastic.

This can get you out of some very sticky situations or help you quickly reposition on the battlefield!

Depending on the situation, this can help you quickly fall back to support an ally who is getting overwhelmed or to reengage on the front lines.

When you take the Attack action on your turn, any attack you make with that action can originate from your space or the echo’s space. You make this choice for each attack.

Your echo also gives you yet more angles that you can attack from.

Now you can be tanking on the front lines while using your echo to attack enemies that are trying to flank the party.

However, you want to make note of an important part of the wording here.

The attack is originating from the echo’s space, but it is still you (not the echo) that is attacking. This is important to be aware of when it comes to spells and effects that say things like “when a creature within 5 feet of you hits you with an attack”.

When a creature that you can see within 5 feet of your echo moves at least 5 feet away from it, you can use your reaction to make an opportunity attack against that creature as if you were in the echo’s space.

Lastly, you get more angles that you can take opportunity attacks from.

As before, this is YOU attacking and not the echo. You’re simply able to use your reaction to attack from the echo’s space.

Unleash Incarnation (Level 3)

I’m sure you’re excited about all the possibilities that have opened for you with Manifest Echo. But your other level 3 feature, Unleash Incarnation, sweetens things even more!

Whenever you take the Attack action, you can make one additional melee attack from your echo’s position.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Oh yeah, baby! The Echo Knight is getting extra attacks right out of the gate!

Realistically, you’ll be taking the Attack action A LOT as a Fighter. That means you’ll consistently be getting use out of this feature.

Even better, this additional attack isn’t infringing on your action economy.

If you don’t already have an echo out, you can summon it with your bonus action. Then, when you take the Attack action, you’re all set to get an extra swing in on an enemy!

Investing in your Constitution score is already a good idea for a Fighter. Now you’ve got even more reason to do so!

Being able to use this up to 5 times a day can give a nice bump to your damage output. Not to mention, it’s also useful for getting a cheeky hit in on enemies that are just out of your reach!

Echo Avatar (Level 7)

Using the power of their echo and Dunamancy, Echo Knight Fighters also have a very handy scouting feature.

With Echo Avatar, you get some seriously impressive range when scouting with your echo.

Just make sure that your friends are watching over your body while you use it! While you can still see and hear through your echo, your body is a different story.

As an action, you can see through your echo’s eyes and hear through its ears.

During this time, you are deafened and blinded. You can sustain this effect for up to 10 minutes, and you can end it at any time (requires no action).

While your echo is being used in this way, it can be up to 1000 feet away from you without being destroyed.

Keep in mind that your echo isn’t limited by your own movement options. According to rules-boss Jeremy Crawford, it can move in any direction. That means it can take to the air if you need!

You should absolutely take advantage of this feature when you can. It can be incredibly useful for getting the jump on enemies, eavesdropping/spying, or seeing what kind of traps await you deeper in the dungeon.

Just be aware that there is a bit of an issue with the intent behind this feature that needs to be addressed.

Supposedly this has been fixed in more recent printings of EGtW, but Crawford also confirmed on Twitter that this feature is for scouting only. You can’t do things like switch places or attack with the echo while using Echo Avatar.

Shadow Martyr (Level 10)

With any luck, you won’t need to use Shadow Martyr very often.

But when you’ve got a friend who is about to get squashed into a pancake by an angry giant, you’ll be glad you’ve got this!

Though your friend will probably be even more glad, to be honest…

You can make your echo throw itself in front of an attack directed at another creature that you can see.

Before the attack roll is made, you can use your reaction to teleport the echo to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the targeted creature. The attack roll that triggered the reaction is instead made against your echo.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

This can be an absolute lifesaver.

It’s a seriously fun way to deny an enemy the satisfaction of hitting your ally with something nasty. Laugh as they waste their critical hit or big, nasty spell attack on your echo instead of your ally!

Likewise, if you’ve got an ally that is currently at zero hit points and making death saves, this can buy them some extra time from an enemy that is going for the execution.

Shadow Martyr is great but knowing when to use it is vital.

After all, you’ve only got it once per short or long rest!

Reclaim Potential (Level 15)

Let’s be real: your echoes have a tendency to disappear pretty quickly. With 1 hit point, you’re probably having to use Manifest Echo almost every round.

Sure, that’s a small price to pay considering how much value you get out of them. But wouldn’t it be nice if they left you a nice parting gift before vanishing?

Well, you’re in luck!

When an echo of yours is destroyed by taking damage, you can gain a number of temporary hit points equal to 2d6 + your Constitution modifier, provided you don’t already have temporary hit points.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

This is a ridiculously easy way to greatly improve your durability in combat.

It’s unlikely that you’ll have a single round where you don’t have a pool of temporary hit points to soak up whatever damage your enemies are throwing at you.

As with your Unleash Incarnation feature, a higher Constitution score means that you can use this more times per day.

That said, temporary hit points do tend to cause a fair bit of confusion.

This is an important feature for you, so I strongly recommend checking out my article covering everything you need to know about temporary hit points in D&D 5e.

Note that you can’t use this if your echo is destroyed by anything other than taking damage.

Unfortunately, you can’t just march them over 30 feet away so they disappear while you get your buff. However, it’s unlikely that you’ll have much difficulty getting opportunities to use this.

Legion of One (Level 18)

But at least we come to the Echo Knight Fighter’s capstone feature: Legion of One.

Most of your features up to this point have been pretty freaking cool. But this one is simply epic!

You can use a bonus action to create two echoes with your Manifest Echo feature, and these echoes can coexist. If you try to create a third echo, the previous two echoes are destroyed.

Anything you can do from one echo’s position can be done from the other’s instead.

In addition, when you roll initiative and have no uses of your Unleash Incarnation feature left, you regain one use of that feature.

Now that you’ve had plenty of time to get used to being in two places at once, you’re ready for three. How’s that for crazy?

That’s more positions that you can lock down, more ways to become your enemies’ greatest nightmare, and more ways to protect your allies.

Your ability to keep strategic control over combat positioning has just grown exponentially!

All of the same rules as before apply to your echoes. The only difference is that now there are three of you instead of two!

It’s a simple feature with a truly huge effect on the game.

To make a great thing even greater, you’ll also always have at least one use of Unleash Incarnation at the start of each combat!

Connections

Because of their use of Dunamancy, Echo Knight Fighters can be easily incorporated into the Wildemount setting. However, it doesn’t have to be exclusive to Wildemount.

The type of magic that Echo Knights use is incredibly powerful. Even if Dunamancy isn’t a thing in your world, it could still represent a type of new or experimental magic.

In such a situation, I could definitely see Echo Knights functioning as a kind of Spec-Ops force within a larger military organization.

Of course, you could also take a different approach to it entirely.

A magical explosion or freak accident could have resulted in your character being caught between various timelines. While they are mostly stable, they have learned how to manipulate those timelines to their advantage in combat.

The potential for explaining your Echo Knight’s backstory and connecting them to the adventure is virtually limitless.

You have all of time (both what is and what might have been) on your side!

Of course, there’s also some fun room to add your own flavor to the echoes that you summon. These are from timelines that didn’t happen, so you can definitely have some fun with them.

Maybe one of your echoes has a goatee or picked up a crazy face tattoo in their timeline.

There’s a lot to have fun with here that adds more depth to the whole “different timelines” thing!

Is the Echo Knight Fighter Good?

It’s difficult to overstate how amazing the Echo Knight Fighter is. Everything about this subclass is seriously impressive.

The exact impact of the Echo Knight depends on your eye for strategy and positioning in combat. With the mindful placement of your echoes, you can completely dominate the combat area.

Of course, this is made even more powerful if you are coordinating with your party members.

You’ll also want to pay very close attention to your action economy. Your top priority is keeping an echo on the field which will keep your Bonus Action in high demand.

However, grabbing something like Great Weapon Master will help you deal some awesome damage with your attacks (including those from your echoes!) without putting more demand on those Bonus Actions.

All in all, this is a subclass that has a ton of style, useful mechanics, and exciting ways to play.

But I’ll be honest…

There is more of a learning curve to the Echo Knight Fighter than most of the other Fighter subclass options. However, if you can master your positioning and work tactically with your echoes, it’s crazy what the Echo Knight is capable of.

Once you get familiar with using your echoes and playing strategically, this becomes one of the best Fighter subclasses in D&D 5e to date!

Recommended: Ranking EVERY Fighter Subclass in D&D 5e!

Conclusion – Echo Knight Fighter in D&D 5e

I hope you’ve found this guide to the Echo Knight Fighter in D&D 5e helpful.

It’s cool to see such an interesting and inspired subclass idea brought to the Fighter class. However, it does often get accused of being too confusing or complicated.

Even outside of how interesting Dunamancy is, I think there are a ton of interesting ways that an Echo Knight can be brought into a campaign.

As always, feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions or want to share an Echo Knight character concept.