What is the most damage that can be done in a single melee attack without features that double damage?

Question

I've been trying to come up with builds that maximise burst damage recently, but I'm not much of an optimiser, usually preferring themes and/or roleplay.
I'd come up with something along the lines of a Paladin 3/Warlock 5/Bard 12, which could combine Eldritch Smite, Divine Smite and Psychic Blades (assuming College of Whispers) for a total of 9d8+8d6+7 damage (assuming maxed out CHA, Hexblade warlock to use that on the weapon, Dueling Fighting Style from Paladin, a maul as the Pact Weapon, and that Hex had been cast beforehand). This is before I started considering races and other aspects, then that's when I started to feel out of my depth...
I looked up this question for inspiration: What is the most damage that can be done in a single melee attack?
However, I am disappointed with how many of the answers rely on an Assassin rogue's Death Strike and/or a Grave Domain cleric's Path to the Grave feature to double the damage; I mean, don't get me wrong, they're good answers, and I've even upvoted some of them, but they're not what I'm looking for today. Given that I do not want to use those routes of doubling damage or getting reliable critical hits via Assassinate, I thought I'd ask the question again, but with a few extra restrictions.
So, what is the most damage that can be done in a single melee attack, within the following restrictions:

No features that flat out double damage, so the aforementioned Assassin rogue's Death Strike and Grave Domain cleric's  Path to the Grave features are considered invalid for this build.
Nothing that relies on critical hits, so although it might be interesting to know what the damage would be on a natural 20 as an aside, I otherwise don't want the build to optimise for critical hits, such as an Assassin rogue's Assassinate or a Champion fighter's Improved Critical; hence assume the hit is not a critical hit, but assume that it is a hit.
No Unearthed Arcana or third party or homebrew; only official 5e material.
Multiclassing, feats and Epic Boons are allowed.
No help from allies, this should be the damage that can be done by yourself.
No polymorph/wild shape, the damage must be by a playable race in its true form.
Any class, race, feat, spell or magic item is allowed so long as they are from official 5e material.
Assume that the build is for a 20th level character.
You can assume that the target creature is whatever is convenient to the build, such as undead for the purposes of Divine Smite, but you may not take advantage of damage vulnerabilities, since that's basically the same as Path to the Grave, but built into the creature; either way, the target must be an official creature.
You can assume infinite convenient luck on things like Wild Magic, but nothing that can be used in an infinite loop to create infinite damage, as that defeats the purpose from my point of view.
You can have a round to prepare, so if you needed to cast a spell on the previous turn to set yourself up, that's fine, so long as it doesn't have a "flat out double damage" effect like Death Strike, Path to the Grave, etc.

GcL · Answer

Time stop, wish cheese, and glyph spam sandwich
The damage that can be triggered on a melee attack is limited by the number of wishes the attacker has.  This unlikely confluence of edge cases yields an extra 12d8 damage per wish spell. E.g. seven wishes available would add: 378 ave and 672 max damage
Requirements

A bunch of wishes and the ability to cast them.
Having horrid wilting prepared and ability to cast it from a scroll.
Ability to cast time stop from a scroll.
A sufficient number of time stop and horrid wilting scrolls.

The Loop
Given sufficient scrolls of time stop, and horrid wilting (12d8 dmg) a 17th level caster could set up as many glyphs of warding storing horrid withering to trigger on attack as they have number of wishes.  They should probably use the first wish they have to make themselves immune to horrid wilting though.
The loop is thus:

time stop
wish to instant cast glyph of warding to trigger when a creature is hit
scroll of horrid wilting for the glpyh. (the caster must have this spell prepared)
time stop & repeat

Average damage added per cycle: 54
Maximum damage adder per cycle: 96
Not an infinite loop
A character would have to be "infinitely lucky" to have come into possession of such a wealth of magic scrolls and wishes.  They'd also have to be "infinitely lucky" to be able to keep casting wish.  But hey, that's one of the things that makes this question fun.
The described cycle terminates when the caster runs out of wishes with which to create glpyhs of warding as a single action.  So the cycle could go on for quite a while, but it definitely terminates.

Thomas Markov · Answer

Average 414.5, Max 678; with a variant rule, average 512, max 858.
Class and Equipment
Scourge Aasimar
5 Whispers Bard: 3d6 psychic blades
2 Paladin: Divine Smite
9 Hexblade Warlock: 9 gets a 5th level pact slot for Eldritch Smite.
3 Fighter: For Action Surge, Battle Master.
1 Wizard: to have time stop on our spell list.
Feat: Great Weapon Master
Gurt's Greataxe
Hand of Vecna with Major Beneficial Property 31-40 (deals extra 1d6).
Banishing Smite spell scroll
Purple Worm Poison
Branding Smite Spell Scroll (9th level)
Searing Smite spell scroll (9th level)
Blinding Smite spell scroll
Thunderous Smite spell scroll
Staggering Smite spell scroll
2 x Ring of three wishes
2 x Time stop spell scroll
Ioun Stone of Mastery +1 proficiency bonus
Potion of Maximum Power
Epic Boons to get 30 Str.
Assume target is a human.
Round 1.0
Bonus Action: Hexblade's curse
Action: Cast Time Stop from scroll, gain 2 - 5 rounds of prep time.
Round 1.1
Action: Use wish from ring. Use wish to cast: Glyph of warding as an action with no material cost. Add Searing Smite 9d6 from scroll (no concentration required to Glyph.)Set to go off upon casting of Banishing Smite
Round 1.2
Action: Use wish from ring. Use wish to cast: Glyph of warding as an action with no material cost. Add Branding Smite 9d6 from scroll (no concentration required to Glyph.)Set to go off upon casting of Banishing Smite
Round 1.3
Action: Use wish from ring. Use wish to cast: Glyph of warding as an action with no material cost. Add Blinding Smite 3d8 (no concentration required to Glyph.)Set to go off upon casting of Banishing Smite
Round 1.4
Action: apply poison
Round 2.0
Action: Time Stop Spell Scroll
Round 2.1
Action: Drink Potion of Maximum Power, apply to booming blade
Round 2.2
Action: Drink Potion of Giant size (triple damage dice for Gurt's Greataxe)
Round 2.3
Action: Use wish from ring. Use wish to cast: Glyph of warding as an action with no material cost. Add Staggering Smite 4d6 (no concentration required to Glyph.)Set to go off upon casting of Banishing Smite
Round 2.4
Action: Use wish from ring. Use wish to cast: Glyph of warding as an action with no material cost. Add Thunderous Smite 2d6 (no concentration required to Glyph.)Set to go off upon casting of Banishing Smite
Bonus action: Cast Banishing Smite 5d10
Action Surge: Booming Blade to make a weapon attack. Let's break down the damage:
Booming Blade (PoMP): 24, avg 24, max 24
Gurt's Greataxe: 15d12 + 21, avg. 119.5, max 201
Psychic Blades: 3d6, avg. 10.5, max 18
Banishing Smite: 5d10, avg. 27.5, max 50
Divine Smite: 5d8, avg. 22.5, max 40
Eldritch Smite: 6d8, avg. 27, max 48
Blinding Smite: 3d8, avg. 13.5, max 24
Branding Smite: 9d6, avg. 31.5, max 54
Searing smite: 9d6, avg. 31.5, max 54
Staggering Smite: 4d6, avg. 14, max 24
Thunderous Smite: 2d6, avg. 7, max 12
Hand of Vecna: 2d8 + 1d6, avg. 12.5, max 22
Battle Master: 1d8, avg. 4.5, max 8
Purple Worm Poison: 12d6, avg. 42, max 72
Hexblade's Curse: 7
Radiant Consumption: 20
Total: 39d6 + 17d8 + 5d10 + 15d12 + 47, avg. 414.5, max 678
Thanks to Sam Lacrumb for the idea to use time stop to load glyphs of warding up with smite spells.
If using the Variant: Mixing Potions rule, and you roll a 91-99 on the potion miscibility table when you drink the potion of giant size, it seems this would add another 15d12 to Gurt's Greataxe, for a total average 512 damage, and a total max of 858 damage.

BlueHairedMeerkat · Answer

Cribbing heavily from my answer on the previous question, but if it ain't broke... (Goal is to maximise average damage on a weapon attack, without Time Stop/Wish shenanigans)
Average 254.5, max 345
Let's go for a goblin Tempest Cleric 9/Whispers Bard 7/Fighter 2/Paladin 2, casting Booming Blade with a Holy Avenger greatsword, fighting an undead creature. 'Any magic items' means we can assume any relevant stat is at 30, and we have three feats to play with.
Our prep round, we're going to cast Shatter on ourselves to deal us thunder damage, reacting with a 9th-level Absorb Elements.
Go time, we use an action to apply Purple Worm Poison to our sword. Bonus action, cast Searing Smite at 8th level. Then action surge, attack.

Our greatsword does 2d6+13 slashing damage (average 20, max 25)
Holy Avenger versus an undead creature adds 2d10 radiant damage (average 11, max 20)
Tempest Cleric's Divine Strike deals 1d8 thunder damage (average 4.5, max 8)
Booming Blade does an additional 3d8 thunder damage. We're going to use Destructive Wrath to maximise these dice, so 24 damage.
Goblin's FURY OF THE SMALL does 20 damage.
Absorb Elements triggers for 9d6 thunder damage. We'll use our second Destructive Wrath to maximise this, so 54 damage.
Searing Smite deals 8d6 fire damage (average 28, max 48)
Purple Worm Poison deals 12d6 poison damage, assuming a failed save (average 42, max 72)
Expend a spell slot to use Divine Smite against our undead foe, dealing 6d8 radiant damage (average 27, max 48)
Expend a use of Bardic Inspiration on Psychic Blades, dealing 3d6 psychic damage (average 10.5, max 18)
Our first feat will be Great Weapon Master, for 10 more damage.
Our second feat is Martial Adept, letting us use one of many maneuvers to deal an addition 1d6 damage (average 3.5, max 6)

Sam Lacrumb · Answer

401 Max Damage,
248 Avg Damage
Race:  Scourge Assimar, Radiant Consumption +20
Feat: Great Weapon master +10
Skill: Poisoners Kit
Ring of 3 Wishes
Ioun Stone of Mastery +1 proficiency bonus
Scroll of time stop
Scroll of Staggering Smite 4d6
Scroll of Blinding Smite 3d8
Flame Tongue Great axe 1d12, +2d6 (+1 improved pact weapon)
Belt of storm giant strength +9
Purple worm poison (12d6)
...
Lv2 Paladin: Divine Smite 5d8
Lv8 Hexblade: Eldritch Smite 5d8, Improved pact weapon +1, Hexblade's Curse +7
Lv 10 Bard: whisper college psychic blade, 5d6 dam, secrets for Banishing smite 5d10, Booming Blade.
Prep round
Action:  Activate radiant consumption +20
Bonus action:  Hexblade's Curse +7
Round 1
Action: Cast Time Stop from scroll, gain 2 - 5 rounds of prep time.
Round 1.1
Action: Use wish from ring. Use wish to cast: Glyph of warding as an action with no material cost. Add Staggering Smite 4d6 from scroll (no concentration required to Glyph.)Set to go off upon casting of Banishing Smite
Round 1.2
Action: Use wish from ring. Use wish to cast: Glyph of warding as an action with no material cost. Add Blinding Smite 3d8 from scroll (no concentration required to Glyph.)Set to go off upon casting of Banishing Smite
Round 1.3
Action: Use wish from ring. Use wish to cast: Glyph of warding as an action with no material cost. Add Branding Strike 6d6 (6th lv slot) (no concentration required to Glyph.)Set to go off upon casting of Banishing Smite
Round 1.4
Action: apply poison
Round 1.5
Bonus action: Cast Banishing Smite 5d10
Action: Cast Booming blade, great axe 1d12+20, +2d6 fire, +3d8 Thunder
Psychic blade: 5d6
Radiant Consumption: 20
Hexblade's Curse: +7
Eldritch smite: 5d8
Divine Smite: 5d8
Purple Worm Poison: 12d6
Staggering Smite: 4d6
Branding Strike: 6d6
Blinding Smite: 3d8
96-401
248 Avg damage

What is the most damage that can be done in a single melee attack without features that double damage?

4 Answers

Time stop, wish cheese, and glyph spam sandwich

Requirements

The Loop

Not an infinite loop

Average 414.5, Max 678; with a variant rule, average 512, max 858.

Class and Equipment

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question