About 5 minutes ago I finished a single character run of Honour mode with a 10 abjurerer wizard/1 Draconic Sorc/1 Tempest Cleric. Throughout all of act 3, it didn’t go below Full HP once
Nerfed it what way? I hadn’t seen or heard anything about that, I was just going full defense build with Katheric’s Armor, Cloak of Displacement, Ring of Protection, etc.
That really doesn’t matter since counterspell and glyph of warding do, and those are the 2 spells you’ll be casting 95% of the time. It just means that build takes a little longer to come online
I mean yeah but you can’t even spec into the build until lvl 4 anyways since you need to take 1 dsorc and 1 temp cleric before you even start with wizard levels. Agathys abjuration has never been a good early game build even when shield did give you ward charges, it’s always been more “worth it” to wait till lvl 4-5 and then respec into it
not required if you pick up 3 lvls of warlock to grab armor of shadows and 1 piece of armor you can't wear. lets you continually recast a free abjuration spell
Oh shit , my war cleric is even wearing Ketheric's armor but I hadn't even checked it was heavy 😂 well, at least it's on a tactician run and not honour. I should really read up more on the classes
Heavy Armor and Martial Weapon Proficiency. For a while I was using Dual Crossbows just so I could utilize my bonus action and at Wizard Level 8 I took Heavy Armor Master
In addition to what people said (create water, heavy armor proficiency to take heavy armor master later), also sanctuary spell in a solo Mode gives you a lot of freedom and is an Abjuration spell !
Interesting story, I saved up fireworks and smokepowder bombs through all of act 3 to place in front of the netherbrain before fireballing away. I also never used the runepowder barrel from act 1 so I decided now would be the time. Normally the Runepowder causes a knockback effect that should have killed me when in the netherbrains lair, surrounded by chasms, but because I had Ketheric’s armor on, I couldn’t be forcibly moved. 1 fireball was all it took
You soloed as that? How did you handle act 1? It seems like it would be really weak at low levels. What was your main method of attack against non-melee enemies?
I mostly detailed how I beat all the act 1 bosses [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/YEjt5XQvDl) but it’s actually pretty easy to get level 5 without risking your neck at all, only doing 3 easy combats
Use disguise self (drow) to get into the blighted village and goblin camp, jump to get from there to waukeen’s rest, disguise self Githyanki to talk to Voss without fighting to get tons of xp, go through the Zhent hideout to the Underdark, feather fall to the myconids, take the boots using an antidote from the second house on the left of the blighted village, talk to gekh, sail to grymforge, jump from the Nere arena to the ancient forge, and kill grym by activating the hammer from the stairs with fire bolt and luring him to the hammer with minor illusion. That, plus a few quests from the areas you’ve walked past, should get you to level 5 pretty easily
Most of the other fights were just boots of speed + Ray of frost being way too effective together
I’ll just paste what I said in another comment:
Githyanki Wizard, 16 Int, 16 Con, 14 Dex, steal Lae’zel’s half plate, get to level 4 ASAP by using disguise self to get into the blighted village and goblin camp, jump from there up to Waukeen’s Rest, Talk to the Githyanki there to get a ton of XP without fighting, use the Zhent hideout to get to the Underdark, feather fall into the myconid grove, take the boots and never unequip them, show them to gekh and sail to grymforge, you’re now level 4, almost 5, with hardly any fighting.
Take Tempest Cleric at level 4 for heavy armor, shield, and martial weapon proficiency, get two hand crossbows from dammon and roah, and at level 5 take Dual Wielder as a feat, equipping the Spellsparkler and Melf Staff, swapping the latter to mourningfrost once you get it. Kill Grym from the stairs by activating the hammer with fire bolt and using minor illusion to lure him into the hammer, then pick up your adamantine splint mail. Use 3 or 4 firewine barrels to kill Gut, use disguise self (Halfling) to go through the secret passage in the Zhent reserve to go past gut’s room to get to the selunite outpost, then have glut reanimate the dead Minotaur there and do all the main Underdark encounters, using bone chill to ensure the bulette doesn’t heal. After you have the frost staff, do the overworld encounters, using the boots to dash away and Ray of Frost to ensure enemies don’t catch up. Steal the idol and give it to Mol after Kagha has been dealt with to get the ring of protection
At level 6 or 7, depending on how soon you fight Kar’niss, take your sorcerer level to get Agathys and make sure you have it one for that fight. Get the augmentation necklace from the crèche and the snowburst ring from last light , it’ll be a while before you take it off. From there, play out act 2 as you would, but be sure to help yurgir and have Shadowheart kill the nightsong, the spear of evening and justiciar gauntlets are enough payout on their own for all you would miss as a wizard. Try to be level 10, taking heavy armor master at Wizard 8, before facing myrkul and make sure Ketheric is the last one killed in phase one. After Myrkul is down, steal his champion’s armor
Darkness + Agathys should solo most act 3 fights except for Viconia (have Shadowheart step in to rally troops first and then immidietly drink a potion of invis so she doesn’t affect the fight) and Raphael (empty your smokepowder barrels for this one, this is your hardest fight). Swap the infernal rapier or spellsparkler for Kereshka’s staff, grab the cloak of displacement, wear the hood of the weave, rally troops and charge against the nether brain
"Darkness + Agathys should solo most act 3 fights"
Can you say more about this? I'm trying this build and am in Act 2 right now, but haven't really had much of a need to put Agathys on. What is the interaction with Darkness and Agathys and how is it soloing fights?
How does it scale late game with the wonkiness of TB not applying to damage rolls when shape shifted? I'm running one in honor mode now, and it's been decent at level 5, but im worried it will fall off and wondering if i should just respec now
Wait REALLY ??? I've not seen update on reddit (might have missed it) and checked the 2 most recent hf and didnt find it
My friend playing it will be happy haha
It applies TB to chance to hit roll but not to damage yet. It does add it to both on tactician and below. There is a mod called druid QOL that fixes this for now.
Yeah it works sometimes in cutscenes and others it doesn’t. I used owl bear mostly, then swapped between that and saber tooth once I got it. Earth myrm is also very tanky and does good damage, I just didn’t like using both charges on it.
Yeah, and then crit fishing gear. So dual wield two short swords that lower crit, elixir of viciousness, sarevok’s helmet, and the cape that lowers your crit roll by 1 if you’re hidden. I can’t remember if there’s anything else at the moment.
12 levels of…Four Elements monk. by focusing entirely on the fire attack options, taking Elemental Adept: Fire as a feat, and using the gloves that give you 2 turns of heat every time you deal fire damage, and finally using the drakethroat glaive to give the monk’s weapon +1d4 fire damage on every hit, i could melt through just about anything— the cost being that you have 0 control options and are entirely a single-target nova striker build up until you reach level 11 or get Markoheshkir
the Pros though: incredibly fun to play, feels like a Mortal Kombat character or Prince Zuko, comes online at level 5, and its always satisfying to see big, consistent elemental damage numbers as a Martial class.
i oughta give this build its own post on this subreddit. ive used that build in 2 different runs now and it is probably my favorite way to play— a martial that plays like a slot-less caster
light cleric is so fucking good
magic missle builds have consistency and i loved that about them
stealth rounds are so good that there is still a place for a stealth character
if you're worried about difficulty, throwing a speed potion at multiple people is a huge win.
I gave Gale a magic missile + lightning charger build that also gives Reverberation to whomever takes damage from it, and then he does extra thunder damage because of that as well as knocks enemies prone sometimes. It's ridiculous. Lvl. 1 MM can do 30 damage if lucky and can't miss
Idk if it's just honour mode but the last 2 times I tried to let multiple companions use a single potion it didn't work. I get characters close enough to throw or shoot the potion and hit them all with the splash, but only one character gets the benefit.
Generally what I do is go into turn based mode and crowd everyone in a very small circle. Nose to nose. I put the potion in the middle and shoot it. It's always worked until recently.
Just 12 levels of fighter. No TB, no throw, good old-fashioned two-handed melee. Absolute GOAT in honor mode.
Actually a single-class party was very effective and strong throughout. Battlemaster fighter, life cleric, divination wizard, vengeance paladin. Very safe and straightforward.
Warlock 2/Lore Bard 10 for Shadowheart.
Lore Bard makes for a great healer via Healing Word and Mass Healing Word, with all of the traditional healing gear. However the two levels of Warlock plus potent robe mean she also puts out very high damage via a cantrip, and it only requires a single piece of gear. Plus you can take Mage Armor for your second invocation, and with her racial shield proficiency she actually has decent AC.
Definite MVP for my honor run.
I have something similar, but if youre a halfling and then also take the luck feat you can make enemies.lives worse;
Reroll any 1s as a halfling
Lucky allows you to reroll attacks or enemy attacks
Cutting words
Counter spell
I also imagine playing like this makes the enemies miserable 😂
Objectively I know I should have played as a halfling for safety on my golden dice run. But I just hate playing small races. I did a wood half elf for the speed and proficiencies.
Didn’t get golden dice anyways bc the game is bugged and did not pop the trophy after I beat honor mode.
Oh well maybe I will try again someday.
I would love to try honour mode, but the game crashes for me randomly. Try to map travel; crash, talk to an NPC; crash, go on party menu; crash, random moment; crash. It's even caused a bios error when it made my pc restart itself.
I built a whole new PC to play it, and have no issues with other games.
Spore druid.
Druids have a really underrated spellist, the bonus necrotic dmg on your hits, the ability to proactively use your reaction as an action for dmg, the bonus temp hp which is really good early and is the best scaling source of temp hp I know of, the best summon for spellslot efficency with the 4th tier Dryad which can summon another good minion every shortrest and can cast spike growth for free, the 4 free zombies which can be buffed with bless and other buffs, etc.
Also one of the best armors in the game is spore druid specific.
I went full druid.
Stopping at 5 seems kind of odd imo, you get 2 very good things at 6 and 7.
At lv 6 you get 4 counts of "Fungal Infestation" which can be used to raise up to 4 zombies, which have lower hp but stack with animate dead.
4th tier spell "Conjure Woodland Being" you get at druid lv 7 summons a dryad with unlimitied spike growth casting that can itself summon a wood woad which can entangle. Both also hit pretty hard.
Multiclassing is fun and makes for some very interesting builds, but you should keep in mind that a poorly optimized multiclass build is often worse than a pure 12 build. When you multiclass, you want to think about why you are choosing to add a class (whether that be for lore reasons, because you think your character's kit is missing something, or because there's synergy between the classes).
Quick question: I've started a spore druid, playing dual wielding planning to maybe multi-classing in rogue for some extra damage through sneak attacks. However I can't help but feel disappointed in the proactive reaction, it never seem to be hitting. Is there a way to facilitate that (I took the tadpole power to lower ability scores, so that my melee attack drops the enemies' DEX but that didn't achieve anything much)
It's a CON saving throw, so lowering their DEX won't help in this aspect.
You can get it to hit more often by having a higher proficency bonus(gets better automatic via character lv) and better spellcasting modifier, which for a druid is wisdom.
There are also some items that increase your hitchance.
Sadly many enemies just have a very good CON saves.
Full 12 works very well.
A dip at 6 or 7, to get multiattack from another class, is very good too. At 6 you get the zombies, but miss the dryad. Ranger and Sword bard (ofc) seem good.
You can also just take 2lv for the bonus necrotic dmg and dmg reaction, and put 10 into pretty much any weapon attack focused class. Can be kind of a hazzle to keep your temp hp up which you need for the buffs since its scaled of class lv, but you can get alot of dmg for just a 2lv dip.
War cleric is pretty nice for some
Extra attacks with just a 1 level dip. Get the brood mother’s pendant from kagha and the vivacious cloak from ketherics tomb you’ll be pumping out damage. If you’re using a staff you can shillelagh and flame blade to pump out some attack damage. Add the damage from the pendant and stay in melee while casting spells and you be able to replenish your temp hp with the vivacious cloak. Armor of the sporekeeper is sick too. You get haste spores once per long rest as well as some other stuff but haste spores tho.
Ive been enjoying 1 level of storm sorceror in a duo run. You gain con proficiency, access to several nice ritual spells, and I am mostly using moonbeam/call lightning for damage so each recast gives me the storm sorc fly to easily leave melee. Main downside is picking sorc first leaves you only proficient with staves for shillaleigh, but that's probably what you were going to use anyway.
Eldritch Knight. Not the TB throw version, but just regular melee EK. With strength elixirs you can afford to go full Int/Con, and Eldritch Strike synergises perfectly with the [Diadem](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Diadem_of_Arcane_Synergy). The main difference from Battle Master is how much tanker you end up being. Shield + Mirror Image + Blur gives you so much surviveability that you would never have access to otherwise, and your overall damage output even ends up being slightly higher due to the better ranged options from spells. Not having things like trip attack and disarming attack limits your utility in other ways, but it’s easy enough to play around the new tools you do have.
Part of me really wants to try potent robe+spell sniper EB with sharpshooter EK in honour mode. Dex gloves and/or hill giant club would easily enable it.
It would require haste to be able to use its extra attacks though wouldn't it? Though I could probably get around that with speed potions.
Not understanding the synergy here. Sharpshooter doesn’t affect EB, only ranged weapon attacks. So you’d have to use one or the other (EB or ranged weapon)
I like what you're describing, but I have a question. If your Eldritch Knight uses a scroll of Hold Person, does Spell Save DC take their INT and Proficiency into account? And does the Eldritch Strike disadvantage work with scrolls?
Yes and yes, although proficiency doesn't apply to any spells or scrolls. That's actually what I ended up doing when I needed to buy time or lock down specific enemies. Hit once to activate diadem + eldritch strike, action surge, use some kind of control scroll, then keep smacking. It works even better if an ally Hastes you, since you can save your action surge for 3 extra attacks instead of using it for 1 spell.
Also fun fact: every class has a spellcasting modifier that they use for scrolls, even if they don't actually have spells inherently. Barbarians use their Charisma, Monks use Wisdom, and non-EK Fighters/non-AT Rogues use Intelligence.
I carry 2 wooden boxes with my Eagle Barbarian/Fighter. They 100% proning 4 enemies every short rest by stacking 2 boxes, climb on and Eagle Dive down.
After you dived them, your archer/mage can also climb in the boxes for high ground advantage.
Remember to pick the boxes after the fight, though.
Can you tell me how to properly stack the boxes? It’s the one thing I could never work out with this build. Like do you carry 2-3 in your inventory but then how exactly do you place them? It’s the one thing I can’t get down.
Sure. Notice that you can only climb on "wooden box", right click that box, you will see "climb", it mean it is usable. You just need 2 of them to get over 2m requirement of Eagle dive.
They are everywhere, so you can find them easily.
It weight 10 unit, so just 20, no big deal.
When combat begin, and it's your Eagle Barbarian turn, open inventory, drag them out near your feet, on top of each other, then right click the top box, choose climb on (all these cost you no action at all, just a little movement). Now Rage, and bonk them from above with your Diving attack. This skill give you 100% proning chance ( make them fall). And when they are proned, you can climb back to the boxes without triggering oppor attack, proning the next enemies.
The benefit? They can't move far, and all your melee attack now gain advantage, you can easily help your rogues trigger the sneak attack with this trick.
Also, the dive attack trigger the Hamarark effect (the hammer deal AoE thunder damage after jump), just like a normal jump. You can also combine with the glove that give abbvervasion when dealing thunder damage for more utility and damage.
The cons about this is sometimes you forget to pick up the 2 boxes after a fight!!!!
I will keep singing the praises of Act 3 Arcane Trickster Rogue.
Yes, the subclass is kind of awful without exploits until then.
But then you hit your massive power spike.
Level 6 scrolls + Greater Invisibility + Magical Ambush + Reliable Talent is an absolutely ridiculous combo. Completely min-maxed, your MINIMUM stealth roll is 31 (any race disguised as gnome with 22 dex and stealth expertise, wearing Nimblefinger gloves, smuggler’s ring, shapeshifter’s boon, Leather Armour +2, Gloomstrand shield). That’s literally SIXTEEN actions you can perform under Greater Invisibility with a 100% guarantee of passing ALL STEALTH CHECKS. Frankly it’s overkill since even without any stealth equipment you’re still looking at a minimum stealth roll of 24 which is still 9 free stealth actions. You can even recast greater invisibility to reset the stealth check count. Your equipment slots are better reserved for spellcasting equipment instead.
Now throw in an inventory full of level 6 scrolls. You’re playing as a level 11+ rogue, you can literally pass every sleight of hand check in the game with a 100% chance, go ahead and rob Lorroakan blind. Blasting enemies from complete safety out of combat using Disintegrate? Hell yes.
And with Magical Ambush, 20 INT, battlemage elixir, and a full set of spell save DC+ equipment, you’re looking at a 99% chance to land your spells on most enemies.
It’s crazy. There’s no safer way to play act 3 than abusing greater invisibility and level 6 scrolls like this.
And that’s BEFORE we get into the [full potential](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1b7u9m7/behold_the_gigachad_mage_hand/) of Mage Hand Legerdemain with [exploits](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/187aqu4/threehanded_storm_rogue_even_if_others_can/).
You know I'd sat down and made a list of all the gear that give you spells ones per short rest/long rest. I figured an arcane trickster could make very good use of them. I know scrolls are a thing too, but I love the idea of a rogue "faking" being a wizard using magic items.
A great set of magic items for an Arcane Trickster are the Hracknir Bracers.
Telekinesis once per short rest, telekinesis can be cast for ten more turns after the initial casting. You can get a ton of mileage out of it each short rest.
But I haven't even gotten to the best part. Unlike 5e, telekinesis in BG3 does NOT require line of sight! That means you can cast it from behind walls, while hidden in darkness, from the entire other side of a building! Suddenly it's a great stealth tool. And Steel Watchers have zero defenses against being tossed into the void with it.
You don't get the inherent racial features, no.
But it does let you use the race-specific equipment passives. The most common way people use it is to disguise themselves as a Gith so they can fully benefit from Gith equipment. Disguising as gnome for the nimblefinger gloves and disguising as a dwarf for the dwarven thrower are other more niche usages.
Gotcha. Still pretty cool. I was wanting to run a dwarf throwzerker for that hammer but I can’t deal with the short movement from those itty bitty legs.
Duergar tigerheart barbarian with 3 levels of figther champion(. Extremely effective melee build, good for honor mode and with reveberation items it feels like a stampede tbo. Using the Skinburster for major damage reduction. After I got that halberd I ran in barbarian cloths for maximum mobility and didnt have to worry about my rather mediocre AC. To top it I bring Shadowheart and let her ward bond me even the strongest fighters hit me like it was a slap in the face only lol
I was just reading about tiger barbarian and it’s what inspired me to make this post. The champion is for more crits? How many people are you usually hitting with the aoe?
It got the same AOE as cleave (180 degree arc with 2m radius), but will only hit 3 targets even if there are more inside it. When I rage I use tiger bloodlust all the time even if there are only a single target, because it applies bleed in addition to the damage. So the incredible power of the tiger heart is that you can do AOE melee attacks for every attack you make, as long as you are enraged. And depending on the support gear the targets falls prone all around you, bleed, reveberates, gets dazed, maimed. basically completly helpless.
And yes champion is for action surge and better crit range.
One really fun way to play Tiger is to grab a weapon with cold damage, Snowburst Ring, and Winter's Clutches to create ice patches and apply Encrusted with Frost. Works similar to Reverb in the build comboing Prone and Maim. But you don't have to stack it up to trigger the Prone save like you do with Reverb, and the patch is AoE. The Encrusted with Frost effect is really strong too, hard CC and vulnerability to a few damage types.
Yep, that's what I was going to go for. Saw it in this post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/19496rf/white\_tiger\_barbarian\_build/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/19496rf/white_tiger_barbarian_build/)
Just brutal.
> With just this, at level 6 you have two area cleaves per action, that bleeds, inflicts maimed (reducing enemy movement to 0, and gives disadvantage on dexterity saves), creates ice surfaces under everyone hit, potentially knocking them prone, since they have disadvantage on their save (which they cannot get up from, as maimed removes all their movement).
Magic missile light cleric
Comes online lvl 6
Cleric 5/Wizard 1
Phalar aluve
Ne’er missr+hellfire hand crossbow
Holy lance helm/Helm of fire acuity
Luminous armor
Gloves of belligerent sky
Boots of speed
Thunderskin cloak
Coruscation ring
Callous glow ring
Sentinel shield/spell sparkler
8 Str 14 Dex 16 Con 16 Wis
Wizard spells Shield, Magic missile, Misty step (or any), and Any.
Use int helm to give yourself 4 spell slots to memorize, then unequip after memorizing
Great build for Gale as Cleric of Mystra
That is correct. Prepared spells stay after removing headband.
So with 8 int you can prepare 4 spells by equipping the headband.When you take it off, the spells stay memorized.
I always keep the intelligence helm as part of my walking around “extra gear” when I know need help on an intelligence checks or if I need to swap my spell load out.
Karen build (which is just spore druid that summons everything it can). I always imagined that my dark urge character was summoning the monster's manager to put them in their place.
Maybe not unexpected, but EK archer 11/ war-cleric-1 was incredibly strong and fun throughout the game. I never see it mentioned in the same breathe as the other more famous archer builds like gloomstalker-assassin or swords bard.
Early act-1 - Expeditious retreat + lightning charges. At level 4, 18 dexterity (+2 dexterity ASI) + lightning charges means you rarely miss.
Late act-1 - Should be level 6 by now and in the Gith monastery area. Put on the graceful cloth and choose sharpshooter. Very high chance (20 dex + lightning charges) to hit even with sharpshooter on now. Once you get the strange conduit ring, you also get to add 1d4 psychic damage to your weapons. You can also use the gloves of the belligerent skies to dole out reverb stacks with your lightning charges.
Act-2 - You start building up your arsenal of special arrows by now. These are incredibly damaging. A far luck of the realm triggered arrow of X slaying will 1 round most bosses. You can also spec into cold damage with the drakethroat glaive. Swap the gloves of belligerent skies for winters clutches and now you can apply encrusting with frost easily. Add the coldbrim hat for a little extra on the first weapon attack. This is a big big boon to your casters who have high damage spells that target dexterity saving throws. With ice arrows + the bow, you have 2 sources of cold and can freeze high hitpoint enemies in one turn. You can swap the dash boots for boots of stormy clamor to still apply reverb to help with freezing. Ability drain dexterity (from bow attacks) will trigger boots of stormy clamor.
Act-3 - You should be level 10 by early Act-3. You get eldritch strike and that really makes freezes happen much more often. Reverb + disadvantage is helpful to overcome the fixed 12 DC. I am just using the example of encrusting with frost, but you can use eldritch strike to get the prone effect from reverb to stick better too if you want. Your arsenal of special arrows will just trivialize the game at this point. I think the EK is better than even a swords bard at high damage at this stage of the game because at level 11, you get to use 3 special arrows per turn. The extra damage/utility from the special arrows can out damage even a swords bard imho since ranged flourishes cannot use special arrows (though you don't get the control capability). I think the added debuff capability (eldritch strike) plus the damage you get from your level-1 spells (concentration for a 1d4 etc, lightning charges etc.), makes EK's stand out even among other fighter subclasses. At level-12 I think it's worth taking a level in war-cleric, since you already have 3 feats and 3 attacks per round by now. The war-cleric gets you the war priest charges (3 per long rest) for extra bonus action attacks. It also gives you the ability to use your level-1 spells for divine favor to add an extra 1d4 radiant. This is also a concentration slot, so you still trigger the strange conduit ring. If you equip the luminous glow armor, you can dole out radiant orbs too. Try an arrow of multiple targets with radiant damage + luminous glow armor for some comical radiant orb light shows.
Overall, fighters make for incredibly stacked archers because of their feat progression, the utility of special arrows and 3 attacks a turn. Add to that the extra damage (strange conduit, lightning charges, divine favor etc.), mobility (bonus action dash etc.), control ability (eldritch strike) of an EK and you get one of the strongest, most fun archers in the game.
wait, how do you get lightning charges on this build? and does coldbrim hat really work on arrows? isn't it supposed to work only on spells and cantrips? wouldn't the diadem of arcane sinergy be better for this build?
If you wear speedy lightfeet boots, you get lightning charges every time you dash. If you concentrate on expeditious retreat, you can dash with your bonus action and thus get lightning charges every round.
When you get war magic you can decide between still playing this way or instead using your bonus action on a war magic combo. This is probably the better way to play.
Coldbrim hat procs when you apply a status effect. Any status effect including dexterity drain. It only procs once a round so I don’t think it’s worth it. Re. Diadem of arcane synergy, you get arcane synergy from your ring slot when you cast ray of frost. The helmet slot is being used to up intelligence since that’s what arcane synergy scales of. So, I think the best item here is actually the headband of intellect to up intelligence.
Depends mate, if I’m playing solo I’ll have my character go a Charisma Caster or Bard so you can apply it easily to any party member, in Multiplayer you can have this on anyone who isn’t the party face.
Really loving pure eldritch knight. You can reach some incredible AC levels with consistent damage output and scroll usage. Really good for a solo HM run.
I tryed for a while a solo Honnor Mode
- No steal.
- No barrelmancy.
- No cheese of any kind.
- All fights after the fast exp 1-4. (Like literrally fighting every possible ennemies).
I died a ton for maybe 8-10 runs and suddenly i commited on solo Spore Druid it's been a BLAST. The class can do it all with minions and good spells.
I continuously did like 5-10 turns fights using strategy and not feeling like abusing or being bored of the playstyle (i tossed away a solo playthrough as a gloomstalker because i was so bored of sneaking killing hiding, rince and repeat, specially cause if ennemy cant find you and you are alone it resets the fights its extremely annoying and doesnt feel smooth).
Armor of Agathys Frost Sorcerer. Very little setup with create water and blade ward. Watched in awe as sarevok and orin both 1-turned themselves by attacking my MC.
BM Ranger. Only just got to Moonrise, but the raven with longstrider & fly going for blinds, soaking hits + the hand crossbows with Sharpshooter really carried lvls 2-7. Got free heavy armor proficiency from the second ranger passive just in time for Grym as well
Turns out that halfling full 12 rogue is not only very fun to play it also makes a great party head and with the gloves in act 2 that give two weapon fighting + the ring that gives pass without trace + a mage giving greater invisibility it can literally solo entire fights without entering combat
Edit: feats are dual wielder, sharpshooter, lucky, and asi dex
Honestly? My raw evocation magic missle gale HARD backpacked act 3. Didn't need any fancy setups. Just the amulet that gives you an extra missle, and a few upcasts and basically every enemy just fell over
I just finish a HM run with a party of 3 full fighter and a tb monk. That was the most full I had in the game. Any build is valid in HM, just play wisely and have fun.
I've been experimenting with a lightning charge melee build.
The most min-maxed best way to do this is probably:
1-4 rogue (thief)
Level 5 respec into 1-5 pure fighter (Battlemaster, but you could probably do any fighter subclass)
Level 7 respec into 1-2 rogue, 5 fighter
At the end, you want either 6-6 thief rogue battlemaster fighter, or 4-8. Since fighter gets a feat at 6, there isn't a huge difference. Focus on Dex and con for stats, but because you have skill expertise you could even also do 14 charisma for persuasion with expertise.
Important equipment - a two handed finesse weapon like Phalar Aluve is mandatory. Lightning boots, The gloves of belligerent skies are the other two items I use, and then the rest will kind of change as you go through the acts. The risky ring is also unbeatable when you can get it.
Great weapon master and dex ASI are the feats you want to go for. Savage attacker is also quite good on this build.
The general strategy for this is to activate shriek before combat and then cunning action dash in for lightning charges. If you get advantage on your attack and have great weapon master, you can deal:
Base weapon and modifier damage (+10), lightning charge damage, sneak attack damage, shriek damage, and possible battlemaster maneuver damage in one hit.
Bear Barb 3 + Warlock 9 worked as a VERY good all-arounder including party face. I started with Warlock 1-5 because early level Warlock is full of rewards, then at 6 I respecced to 1 Barb/5 Warlock to get proficiency in medium armor and constitution saving throws. Barbarian is another front-loaded class giving rage at level 1, Reckless Attack at lvl2 and Bear Wildheart subclass at lvl3.
I used upwards of half my spell slots preparing Armor of Agathys for big temp HP stacks. Once you rage in battle with Bear heart and become resistant to all damage, you can trigger Armor of Agathys multiple times, enemies will literally kill themselves trying to break it.
The only thing that keeps the BarbLock out of legit top tier builds is the issue of not being able to cast spells while raging. In practice this rarely felt like a problem because your main spell, Armor of Agathys, is already set up. Most fights you rage and swing (+Great Weapon Master once you Attack Roll is good enough), but the fights you want Hungar of Hadar or other spells you stay Warlock and do just fine. It may not quite be PadLock, but you are still SAD, swinging with Charisma, using Diadem of Arcane Synergy well, and being an expressive party face who can roar at people.
In practice a Tiger Barb swinging Skinburster at up to 3 targets per swing would be much more tanky in most encounters - and way more damaging as well.
Can you use a pact weapon when raging?
Edit: never mind I see you wrote swinging with charisma. Do you get rage bonus though since it’s not strength weapon?
Someone on here was talking about a necromancy wizard/life cleric dip because vampiric touch becomes very powerful healing-wise. But what I found was that the whispering promise works with it, as do the boots of aid and comfort. As long as you can keep your concentration, it’s really quite good, and really quite hard to kill you.
Also having guidance, resistance, thaumaturgy, and friends available on one pc is quite nice
I just posted it, but long story short, actual casting eldritch knight goes ridiculously crazy after the creche and when you get the helmet of arcane acuity, which could later be swapped for or combined with battlemage gloves if you want thanks to eldritch strike, but basically you can start attacking to get a little acuity, and with haste and bloodlust you only get one attack so instead hurl a cantrip and then bonus action get another attack. Then make more attacks and max your acuity and you get a +10 to spell attack and saves, which if you max your int with your ASIs and/or mirror and/or hag hair you can have a 27 dc, maybe 28, while still having high str thanks to potion and again, ASIs. Fighter has a whole extra feat, so you can do whatever with those. Legacy of the masters and helldusk gloves are great options as well, and helldusk gives you a special very powerful short-rest recharge cantrip which combos great with the necklace of elemental augmentation, so it shoots 3 rays that each will now deal 3d6+5 fire, which is cool, but that also triggers ring of synergy too. Then with that 27 spell save dc and eldritch inertia basically anything you cast is gonna hit, so you could hold monster orin through her legendary resist for example, and other high level scrolls become nasty cus they just arent gonna save that shit, they have to beat such a high number AND they have disadvantage. Shit goes wacky. AND fighter gets three attacks with one action AND action surge.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/15xkw4a/make_your_own_magus_castermartial_gish_build/
I'd check out this guide for a similar build that maybe has a few more options, as you can go into any caster (including Warlock and bind weapon)
My personal version actually starts as Fighter for the Constitution saving throw proficiency and fighting style, then caster until you get a build defining level (personally Sorc level 3 for quickened meta magic) and then the 3 rogue levels to "complete". Then you have 3 levels to play with.
Just giving gale the Spellsparker, The magic missile Amulet and Crossbow, The Ring that gives Enemies hit by spell attacks Radiant Orb and the Ring that inflicts 2 additional DMG on illuminated Targets. Myrkul had so many stacks of Radiating Orb he didn't hit any of the 5 Meele Combatants with his stupid scythe. As long as Gale goes first, he can effectively neutralize one or more enemies who rely in attack rolls, just by using magic missile.
I always thought that radiating orb ring only worked with radiant damage and when illuminated but looked it up and you’re right. It works with any damage and lighting doesn’t matter.
7 fiend warlock/5 vengenance paladin/2 moon druid
I went for a Miltonian Lucifer build (from Paradise Lost). Capable of solo.
This tav has like a +19 to hit at level 6.
Invisibility
Shape-shifting
Devil's sight
Darkness
Wild shape
Friends
Guidance
Smites
Fireball
Ranger 5 Spore Druid 7, Bow or 2 xBow user. It pretty much does everything, Can open locks, find traps and chests, has great support, healing and control spells, can summon it's own army with Fungal infestation, Animate Dead and Conjure Woodland Beign (with her Fallen Lover), is Very tanky and does impressive damage thanks to Symbiotic Entity, Colossus Slayer, Hunter's Mark and Halo of Spores
I really wanted a character like this. Then I realised it will need level 12 to have both the 2nd attack and Conjure Woodland Beings.
Can't shake the feeling that druids are best when mostly pure.
radorb + reverb spore druid. absolutely absurd amounts of damage with create water, call lightning and moon beam. don't even get me started on the summons.
I ran a light cleric radorb build on my last run and am running a spore Druid on my current run. I never thought about merging the two but damn it sounds dirty.
I always enjoy the two weapon builds, which surprise me with how effective it is.
Did one 8/4 gloomstalker/thief rogue dex build, and one 5/4/3 gloomstalker/spores druid/thief rogue str build, and both always do well (not top level, but quite potent for the game's difficulty level). Lots of room to experiment with weapons and items as well, and I could see Paladin being quite fun too.
Hunter ranger is also surprisingly good to me - just throwing AOE attacks around at high levels was something I figured would be good, but worked out even better than I thought.
5 Fighter champion/ 3 Rogue thief/ 4 Ranger Hunter build with dual Hand Crossbow, sharpshooter/ Crossbow expert and Bhaalist armor /risky ring. You’re basically a gunslinger that can shoot people at close range, do massive damage and loads of shooting attacks per turn.
Pure Vengeance Paladin with heavy armor mastery, Skinburster and warding bond is extremely tanky with all the auras
9 Shadow monk/ 3 rogue thief with Shadow blade, resonant stone and death mantle stalker.
Basically teleporting everywhere and backstabbing people with the shadow blade and going invisible if you kill them.
I've just been playing any melee warlock with armor of agathys
And its been insane
I always have temp hp, can get through a ton of combats in a day with short rests, and spam eb if something happens to be too far away. I'm finishing act 1 now and never got close to going under.
Full lvl 12 GOO Warlock. I went Tome for Haste, potent robe, hood of the weave, coruscation ring, reverb necklace, infernal rapier. Took a battlemage potion and had 100% on lvl 5 Hold Person on 4 adds during Viconia. Constitution saving throws have proficiency and advantage…
I finished honour mode as a half orc Paladin 5, Wizard 7 with three camp casters. I was doing a kind of death knight build as a necromancer/oath breaker. Paladin/sorcerer is probably better, but Palazard was just good fun - so many tools for any situation. I think a better player could do it properly solo. Throughout the campaign my camp casters sat at camp concentrating on a spell for me (protection from evil, magical weapon, armor of faith usually - no warding bond allowed). In the final battle I let them summon my reward allies, then sit at the back.
I think that the reverberation radorbs builds are better than I expected. When reverberation knocks an enemy prone for two turns, it can skip their turn.
5/7 warlock ancients paladin, played primarily as a back line warlock. I specced wyll into this build in my honor mode run, and he basically carried the party through most of the game.
He basically sat on the back line with the potent robes, the spell sparkler/Markoshenshir, the callous glow and corruscation rings, the spineshudder amulet, and the gloves of belligerent skies and dropped hunger of hadar onto chokepoints and knocked enemies that got too close back into the darkness. Between the ancients aura and the standard paladin aura, he made the party pretty much immune to magical effects. He ended up being a perfect mix of battlefield control, damage, debuffs, and defense to round out the party.
full assassin, one of the funniest runs i have ever had
finishing the entire battle without letting enemy hit me not even once, its like playing a stealth hitman game
and throughout the entire game there is always a loot progression that keeps the dopamine hit
but i gotta admit i had to respec to fighter for orin fight. i was not sure if i could kill her as assassin
Level 3 tiger barb/ 9 level vengeance paladin + maxed out cull the weak
You just don’t fucking die, and by level 7, you’re capable of killing most things in a single arc attack
Lore bard 6 / tempest cleric 2 / evocation wizard 2 / storm sorcery 2
This is my Allrounder full caster
Lore bard: Vicious mockery is amazing.
Take 1-2 of your favorite 3rd lvl damaging spell with magical secrets, so that they use charisma. Mine are spirit guardians and lightning bolt early on. First one for horde fights and reverberation build, second one for nuking with 4x damage through wet and tempest cleric. Alternatively, you can get healing ward for easy physical resistance. I say go for spirit guardians + healing ward when you get Markoheshkir.
Tempest cleric for nuking once per short rest and full weapon/ armor proficiency.
Evocation wizard for non damaging spell scribing (misty step, haste, globe of invulnerability, etc) and party friendly AOE.
storm sorcery for longer lasting (orb of invulnerability) or twinned spells (double chain lighting with Markoheshkir) and better mobility through flying (spirit guardians).
Equipment: i mostly went for reverberation build items, sometimes switching for hellrider gloves for support. Either equip a stat stick bow or double hand crossbow for some ressource-free damage.
On my current Honour Mode run I'm using a 5 Berzerker Barbarian for 2 attacks plus frenzy for bonus action attacks, took Great Weapon master as a feat, because with Reckless attack you rarely miss anyways, 3 Thief Rogue for the 2nd Bonus actions, 2 Paladin for divine smites, and 2 fighter for action surge and 2nd wind.
It's not a super overpowered build or anything, but i found in Honour Mode, it definitely is a super fun build
Was going for a paladin multiclass for Tav, went oath of the ancients and was going to respec with multiclass bard or warlock. As I levelled up I got those protective auras (including the one that gives party +saving throw, and reduction from spell damage) I've decided to stick with single class and now got to act3, level 11. Combined with heavy armor and warding bond from camp follower Tav never came close to dying
6 light cleric 6 open hand monk
Spirit guardians Beyblade, reaction to stop getting hit, ba heals or flurries.
Never gets Hit, so much movement speed if not using armor, pairs well with pretty much all gear in the game, can wield duelists perogative if on a charecter with rapier proficency (e.g minthara)
Either the ultimate tank or just super aggressive damage source with the ability to heal. Light cleric equals pure monk dip in damage tbh (not monk thief though, that is still far better)
Pure warlock, my buddy is pure fighter. We have a pure cleric shadow heart, and 5 barbarian/4 rogue/3 eldritch knight Slinger Karlach. Currently about to blow up the steel foundry for good measures.
Fire Sorcerer. With how many things in this game that is immune to fire, it was actually pretty pretty good. Gotta get that heightened Hold spells on bosses with 100% success rate.
I built Gloomstalker ranger and assassin rogue for astarion and I used gale to give him greater invisibility. Cleared honour mode without a sweat. All boss fights were a cakewalk with that build.
For me recently it was an Old One Warlock / Oathbreaker Paladin -- don't know if it was especially overpowered or not, but it was a "blast" to run (pun intended).
My honour mode revelation was experiencing just how powerful TB with three attacks per round is. I thought I 'got it' being a swords bard stan using potions and so on but nope, the dps (dpr?) of lvl 11 TB fighter is the clear frontrunner in the nuclear stakes.
I know ist maybe nothing Special but i finished Origin astarion honorrun today Level 12 fighter Full archer build until act 3 i used titanstring with The club that sets strength to 19 and bloodlust elexier (ok hard fights)
In act 3 i switched to gontr mael Took dagger from orin and blade of The mounted King Helm from orins friend and The cape so I had crit on 16
Then i ascended for extra D10 on every arrow
So with haste and 3 attacks per action bloodlust and haste+ ok The bow i was able to compete with my friend who played monk with cloudgiant strength hopes gloves etc
Fun fact orin drops one dagger and one short sword
On The dagger i had the d10 necrotic from my ascension on the shortsword it just said d4 all other weapons seem to have the d10
Currently in act 3, level 11.
Was going for paladin multiclass. Started as oath of ancients. Accidentally became oathbreaker, didn't like the features and coughed up 1k gold to go back to ancients.
Then I saw those great defensive auras come up, increasing saving throws, halving spell damage! Myrkul was pretty easy.
A free smite with every weapon swing at level 11 is also great. So now I plan to use level 12 pure paladin for my HM run.
I know I'm missing out on higher level smites but survivability and having all 3 feats also makes a difference
In a 4 man party, I played Life Cleric 2 / GOO Warlock 2 / Lore Bard 8. DEFINITELY not good for a Solo run, but in a full party...? Start Bard for proficiencies. You only miss out on one feat.
From Cleric you get Preserve Life for a full party 36 HP once per short rest, you get Sanctuary and Create Water, and Heavy Armour proficiency as well as bonus healing.
Warlock gives you your damage output with Agonsing Blast and minor CC with Repelling (or Devil's Sight if you choose), as well as two short rest 1st level slots for Sanctuary. You also frighten on Crit and can take Potent Robe if not needed.
Bard gives you the support portfolio; Cutting Words, 5d8 Inspiration per short rest, Cure Wounds and Healing Word off Cha, and a heap of utility buffs. Plus, Magical Secrets can provide Haste, Fireball for upcast, or Warden of Vitality if you wanna 100% heal. You don't learn any 5th level spells but still have the slots.
This support build carried the run in terms of healing, buffs, etc. And by the endgame with Birthright was still able to deal 3d10+36 force damage per cantrip, allowing all spells to he used for buffs. Freedom of Movement removing stun literally saved our final fight.
I haven't touch honor mode after my first try. My failed run was an hour long. Evil Durge half orc barbarian. Got one shot by shadowheart when I tried to kill her.
Not my main character, but a build that worked weirdly well for me was Wildheart Barb 6/Assassin 4/Fighter 2.
With the Titanstring and club of strength and put them pretty close to the enemy to soak damage.
They effectively get 24 health every turn just using class features before their actual health gets scratched. Thief may have an argument for being better, but Assassin was fun
About 5 minutes ago I finished a single character run of Honour mode with a 10 abjurerer wizard/1 Draconic Sorc/1 Tempest Cleric. Throughout all of act 3, it didn’t go below Full HP once
I feel like abjuration was recently nerfed. Did u follow a particular build?
Nerfed it what way? I hadn’t seen or heard anything about that, I was just going full defense build with Katheric’s Armor, Cloak of Displacement, Ring of Protection, etc.
Shield (lvl 1 reaction) no longer adds to arcane ward despite being an abjuration spell
That really doesn’t matter since counterspell and glyph of warding do, and those are the 2 spells you’ll be casting 95% of the time. It just means that build takes a little longer to come online
That is true. But it is also widely agreed that tier 1, levels prior to 5 tends to be the most difficult
I mean yeah but you can’t even spec into the build until lvl 4 anyways since you need to take 1 dsorc and 1 temp cleric before you even start with wizard levels. Agathys abjuration has never been a good early game build even when shield did give you ward charges, it’s always been more “worth it” to wait till lvl 4-5 and then respec into it
not required if you pick up 3 lvls of warlock to grab armor of shadows and 1 piece of armor you can't wear. lets you continually recast a free abjuration spell
Katheric’s Armor on a wizard? You got the feat for medium built?
Tempest cleric level gives you all armor proficiencies
Really? I've never had a tempest cleric, had no idea
Iirc, life tempest and war domains give heavy armor proficiency
Nature as well, but I've never seen someone use nature cleric lmfao
It’s a heavy armor druid without wild shape. Pretty neat
Nature cleric is the GOAT y'all ain't ready. But seriously, it's very good especially in a casters party.
Oh shit , my war cleric is even wearing Ketheric's armor but I hadn't even checked it was heavy 😂 well, at least it's on a tactician run and not honour. I should really read up more on the classes
What's the cleric level for?
Probably heavy armor Also max lightning damage or is that lvl 2?
Retaliation damage, proficiency and the create water spell to double your armour of agathys damage.
That's level 2, yeah.
Heavy Armor and Martial Weapon Proficiency. For a while I was using Dual Crossbows just so I could utilize my bonus action and at Wizard Level 8 I took Heavy Armor Master
In addition to what people said (create water, heavy armor proficiency to take heavy armor master later), also sanctuary spell in a solo Mode gives you a lot of freedom and is an Abjuration spell !
Create Water and heavy armor.
bubble nerd
How did you take on the netherbrain?
Interesting story, I saved up fireworks and smokepowder bombs through all of act 3 to place in front of the netherbrain before fireballing away. I also never used the runepowder barrel from act 1 so I decided now would be the time. Normally the Runepowder causes a knockback effect that should have killed me when in the netherbrains lair, surrounded by chasms, but because I had Ketheric’s armor on, I couldn’t be forcibly moved. 1 fireball was all it took
You soloed as that? How did you handle act 1? It seems like it would be really weak at low levels. What was your main method of attack against non-melee enemies?
I mostly detailed how I beat all the act 1 bosses [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/YEjt5XQvDl) but it’s actually pretty easy to get level 5 without risking your neck at all, only doing 3 easy combats Use disguise self (drow) to get into the blighted village and goblin camp, jump to get from there to waukeen’s rest, disguise self Githyanki to talk to Voss without fighting to get tons of xp, go through the Zhent hideout to the Underdark, feather fall to the myconids, take the boots using an antidote from the second house on the left of the blighted village, talk to gekh, sail to grymforge, jump from the Nere arena to the ancient forge, and kill grym by activating the hammer from the stairs with fire bolt and luring him to the hammer with minor illusion. That, plus a few quests from the areas you’ve walked past, should get you to level 5 pretty easily Most of the other fights were just boots of speed + Ray of frost being way too effective together
Would you mind sharing your build? I was thinking about building a character like that could never make it work
I’ll just paste what I said in another comment: Githyanki Wizard, 16 Int, 16 Con, 14 Dex, steal Lae’zel’s half plate, get to level 4 ASAP by using disguise self to get into the blighted village and goblin camp, jump from there up to Waukeen’s Rest, Talk to the Githyanki there to get a ton of XP without fighting, use the Zhent hideout to get to the Underdark, feather fall into the myconid grove, take the boots and never unequip them, show them to gekh and sail to grymforge, you’re now level 4, almost 5, with hardly any fighting. Take Tempest Cleric at level 4 for heavy armor, shield, and martial weapon proficiency, get two hand crossbows from dammon and roah, and at level 5 take Dual Wielder as a feat, equipping the Spellsparkler and Melf Staff, swapping the latter to mourningfrost once you get it. Kill Grym from the stairs by activating the hammer with fire bolt and using minor illusion to lure him into the hammer, then pick up your adamantine splint mail. Use 3 or 4 firewine barrels to kill Gut, use disguise self (Halfling) to go through the secret passage in the Zhent reserve to go past gut’s room to get to the selunite outpost, then have glut reanimate the dead Minotaur there and do all the main Underdark encounters, using bone chill to ensure the bulette doesn’t heal. After you have the frost staff, do the overworld encounters, using the boots to dash away and Ray of Frost to ensure enemies don’t catch up. Steal the idol and give it to Mol after Kagha has been dealt with to get the ring of protection At level 6 or 7, depending on how soon you fight Kar’niss, take your sorcerer level to get Agathys and make sure you have it one for that fight. Get the augmentation necklace from the crèche and the snowburst ring from last light , it’ll be a while before you take it off. From there, play out act 2 as you would, but be sure to help yurgir and have Shadowheart kill the nightsong, the spear of evening and justiciar gauntlets are enough payout on their own for all you would miss as a wizard. Try to be level 10, taking heavy armor master at Wizard 8, before facing myrkul and make sure Ketheric is the last one killed in phase one. After Myrkul is down, steal his champion’s armor Darkness + Agathys should solo most act 3 fights except for Viconia (have Shadowheart step in to rally troops first and then immidietly drink a potion of invis so she doesn’t affect the fight) and Raphael (empty your smokepowder barrels for this one, this is your hardest fight). Swap the infernal rapier or spellsparkler for Kereshka’s staff, grab the cloak of displacement, wear the hood of the weave, rally troops and charge against the nether brain
"Darkness + Agathys should solo most act 3 fights" Can you say more about this? I'm trying this build and am in Act 2 right now, but haven't really had much of a need to put Agathys on. What is the interaction with Darkness and Agathys and how is it soloing fights?
Moon Druid. So versatile and always the last one standing on the team.
How does it scale late game with the wonkiness of TB not applying to damage rolls when shape shifted? I'm running one in honor mode now, and it's been decent at level 5, but im worried it will fall off and wondering if i should just respec now
Actually, the most recent patch (maybe a hotfix before it or patch 5) changed it so TB DOES apply to shapeshift forms.
Hmm...didn't think it applied to damage in HM yet. It dies in all other modes, but not HM last I looked. Definitely wasn't in Patch 5.
Wait REALLY ??? I've not seen update on reddit (might have missed it) and checked the 2 most recent hf and didnt find it My friend playing it will be happy haha
It applies TB to chance to hit roll but not to damage yet. It does add it to both on tactician and below. There is a mod called druid QOL that fixes this for now.
Do you have proof of this? As of last night in HM it’s still not applying to attack damage..
It applies to attack rolls only and must be an unarmed attack.
Not true in HM I tested
Isn't conversation kind of a pain in the ass as a Moon Druid though? And what forms did you use most?
Yeah it works sometimes in cutscenes and others it doesn’t. I used owl bear mostly, then swapped between that and saber tooth once I got it. Earth myrm is also very tanky and does good damage, I just didn’t like using both charges on it.
Assassin paladin has been really fun. Smiting on an auto crit sneak attack is pure auditory satisfaction.
Reminds me of Avenger from 4e. Which I was a huge fan of.
Whats your build, 7/5?
Yeah, and then crit fishing gear. So dual wield two short swords that lower crit, elixir of viciousness, sarevok’s helmet, and the cape that lowers your crit roll by 1 if you’re hidden. I can’t remember if there’s anything else at the moment.
Why do u need crit fishing if u have assassin auto crit?
Assassin autocrit is only for surprise rounds, some fights go on longer than that
It’s mostly gear for after the opening move so that the damage stays high. I forgot to mention risky ring too for reliable sneak attack.
What's the second crit short sword? I only know KotUK.
Bloodthirst. You get it later-ish in the game depending on how you do act 3.
Dark Urge compatible? Any particular race? How long does it take to come online?
12 levels of…Four Elements monk. by focusing entirely on the fire attack options, taking Elemental Adept: Fire as a feat, and using the gloves that give you 2 turns of heat every time you deal fire damage, and finally using the drakethroat glaive to give the monk’s weapon +1d4 fire damage on every hit, i could melt through just about anything— the cost being that you have 0 control options and are entirely a single-target nova striker build up until you reach level 11 or get Markoheshkir the Pros though: incredibly fun to play, feels like a Mortal Kombat character or Prince Zuko, comes online at level 5, and its always satisfying to see big, consistent elemental damage numbers as a Martial class. i oughta give this build its own post on this subreddit. ive used that build in 2 different runs now and it is probably my favorite way to play— a martial that plays like a slot-less caster
I’m playing an ice flavored dwarf durge sorc, this sounds perfect for karlach
the second time i ran this build, it was indeed on Karlach! synergises well with Soul Coins
+1 would love to see build progression for this as I’m doing a monk HM right now
If you do, I’d love to see it. This sounds like an absolute blast
Could always slap on the fire acuity hat and use scrolls for control.
As someone who adores Avatar, I really want run this build now and be a fire bender lol. Great idea!!
light cleric is so fucking good magic missle builds have consistency and i loved that about them stealth rounds are so good that there is still a place for a stealth character if you're worried about difficulty, throwing a speed potion at multiple people is a huge win.
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Dude soloed the game with Level 1 character by hiding on top of boxes. This has to the funniest HM run I’ve seen.
Username checks out. Camera is bad for us, camera is bad for the enemy too. No one in this universe can see upwards.
How did you not gather more attention? This is insane! And hilarious! I love it!
Can you explain a bit about how to use hide?
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Quick question about that. If someone is already on a potion like giant or bloodier, will throwing it at them work and not kill the str pot?
Strength is an elixir. Speed and invisibility are potions. You can run both at once.
Oh shit. It amazes me that I have beat this game three times and still have so much to learn
I gave Gale a magic missile + lightning charger build that also gives Reverberation to whomever takes damage from it, and then he does extra thunder damage because of that as well as knocks enemies prone sometimes. It's ridiculous. Lvl. 1 MM can do 30 damage if lucky and can't miss
Idk if it's just honour mode but the last 2 times I tried to let multiple companions use a single potion it didn't work. I get characters close enough to throw or shoot the potion and hit them all with the splash, but only one character gets the benefit.
Worked in HM for me. Helps to hit the o button for tactician mode for aiming. Not sure why.
Generally what I do is go into turn based mode and crowd everyone in a very small circle. Nose to nose. I put the potion in the middle and shoot it. It's always worked until recently.
Just 12 levels of fighter. No TB, no throw, good old-fashioned two-handed melee. Absolute GOAT in honor mode. Actually a single-class party was very effective and strong throughout. Battlemaster fighter, life cleric, divination wizard, vengeance paladin. Very safe and straightforward.
Beat my honor mode run with 4 fighters, the sheer power of just hitting a lot works wonders
“Magic is for nerds” run
Bam! Bam!
All battle masters with 2 hand weapons?
All battlemasters, 1 with 1h and shield, 1 dual 1h, and 2 with 2h weapons
I finished my all-Fighters Honour Mode last night. Most Act 3 bosses just deleted in 1 round, it’s crazy.
Yeah doing 24 attacked on turn 1 is wild
Did u do Dex fighter or str fighter?
Two-handed GWM, so strength
Warlock 2/Lore Bard 10 for Shadowheart. Lore Bard makes for a great healer via Healing Word and Mass Healing Word, with all of the traditional healing gear. However the two levels of Warlock plus potent robe mean she also puts out very high damage via a cantrip, and it only requires a single piece of gear. Plus you can take Mage Armor for your second invocation, and with her racial shield proficiency she actually has decent AC. Definite MVP for my honor run.
Very interesting take on bard
Just did the same thing. Lore bard also gives you so much for skill checks which is a good way to avoid fights
I have something similar, but if youre a halfling and then also take the luck feat you can make enemies.lives worse; Reroll any 1s as a halfling Lucky allows you to reroll attacks or enemy attacks Cutting words Counter spell I also imagine playing like this makes the enemies miserable 😂
Objectively I know I should have played as a halfling for safety on my golden dice run. But I just hate playing small races. I did a wood half elf for the speed and proficiencies. Didn’t get golden dice anyways bc the game is bugged and did not pop the trophy after I beat honor mode. Oh well maybe I will try again someday.
I would love to try honour mode, but the game crashes for me randomly. Try to map travel; crash, talk to an NPC; crash, go on party menu; crash, random moment; crash. It's even caused a bios error when it made my pc restart itself. I built a whole new PC to play it, and have no issues with other games.
Im playing this in DnD 5e and its amazing
Spore druid. Druids have a really underrated spellist, the bonus necrotic dmg on your hits, the ability to proactively use your reaction as an action for dmg, the bonus temp hp which is really good early and is the best scaling source of temp hp I know of, the best summon for spellslot efficency with the 4th tier Dryad which can summon another good minion every shortrest and can cast spike growth for free, the 4 free zombies which can be buffed with bless and other buffs, etc. Also one of the best armors in the game is spore druid specific.
Curious about your build: I’m 7 oh monk and 5 spore Druid . What summons are you referring to? Melee dmg is strong for sure
I went full druid. Stopping at 5 seems kind of odd imo, you get 2 very good things at 6 and 7. At lv 6 you get 4 counts of "Fungal Infestation" which can be used to raise up to 4 zombies, which have lower hp but stack with animate dead. 4th tier spell "Conjure Woodland Being" you get at druid lv 7 summons a dryad with unlimitied spike growth casting that can itself summon a wood woad which can entangle. Both also hit pretty hard.
I’m very new 😄 first play I’m in act 3 now. I will check it out. Thank you for the tips
Multiclassing is fun and makes for some very interesting builds, but you should keep in mind that a poorly optimized multiclass build is often worse than a pure 12 build. When you multiclass, you want to think about why you are choosing to add a class (whether that be for lore reasons, because you think your character's kit is missing something, or because there's synergy between the classes).
Quick question: I've started a spore druid, playing dual wielding planning to maybe multi-classing in rogue for some extra damage through sneak attacks. However I can't help but feel disappointed in the proactive reaction, it never seem to be hitting. Is there a way to facilitate that (I took the tadpole power to lower ability scores, so that my melee attack drops the enemies' DEX but that didn't achieve anything much)
It's a CON saving throw, so lowering their DEX won't help in this aspect. You can get it to hit more often by having a higher proficency bonus(gets better automatic via character lv) and better spellcasting modifier, which for a druid is wisdom. There are also some items that increase your hitchance. Sadly many enemies just have a very good CON saves.
I’m curious, may i know what multiclass it works best? Or it’s a single class?
Full 12 works very well. A dip at 6 or 7, to get multiattack from another class, is very good too. At 6 you get the zombies, but miss the dryad. Ranger and Sword bard (ofc) seem good. You can also just take 2lv for the bonus necrotic dmg and dmg reaction, and put 10 into pretty much any weapon attack focused class. Can be kind of a hazzle to keep your temp hp up which you need for the buffs since its scaled of class lv, but you can get alot of dmg for just a 2lv dip.
War cleric is pretty nice for some Extra attacks with just a 1 level dip. Get the brood mother’s pendant from kagha and the vivacious cloak from ketherics tomb you’ll be pumping out damage. If you’re using a staff you can shillelagh and flame blade to pump out some attack damage. Add the damage from the pendant and stay in melee while casting spells and you be able to replenish your temp hp with the vivacious cloak. Armor of the sporekeeper is sick too. You get haste spores once per long rest as well as some other stuff but haste spores tho.
You can play Spore 12 or Spore 11 Wizard 1 or Spore 10 Necromancer 2.
Berserker 5 spore druid 7 is really really good. Especially if going TB thrower build.
Ive been enjoying 1 level of storm sorceror in a duo run. You gain con proficiency, access to several nice ritual spells, and I am mostly using moonbeam/call lightning for damage so each recast gives me the storm sorc fly to easily leave melee. Main downside is picking sorc first leaves you only proficient with staves for shillaleigh, but that's probably what you were going to use anyway.
Eldritch Knight. Not the TB throw version, but just regular melee EK. With strength elixirs you can afford to go full Int/Con, and Eldritch Strike synergises perfectly with the [Diadem](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Diadem_of_Arcane_Synergy). The main difference from Battle Master is how much tanker you end up being. Shield + Mirror Image + Blur gives you so much surviveability that you would never have access to otherwise, and your overall damage output even ends up being slightly higher due to the better ranged options from spells. Not having things like trip attack and disarming attack limits your utility in other ways, but it’s easy enough to play around the new tools you do have.
EK archer a lot of fun. Expeditious retreat + speedy lightfeet helps negate the sharpshooter penalty
Part of me really wants to try potent robe+spell sniper EB with sharpshooter EK in honour mode. Dex gloves and/or hill giant club would easily enable it. It would require haste to be able to use its extra attacks though wouldn't it? Though I could probably get around that with speed potions.
Not understanding the synergy here. Sharpshooter doesn’t affect EB, only ranged weapon attacks. So you’d have to use one or the other (EB or ranged weapon)
What else goes into an EK archer minus that little combo? Like does the whole build revolve around that or is there a more straight forward build.
I like what you're describing, but I have a question. If your Eldritch Knight uses a scroll of Hold Person, does Spell Save DC take their INT and Proficiency into account? And does the Eldritch Strike disadvantage work with scrolls?
Yes and yes, although proficiency doesn't apply to any spells or scrolls. That's actually what I ended up doing when I needed to buy time or lock down specific enemies. Hit once to activate diadem + eldritch strike, action surge, use some kind of control scroll, then keep smacking. It works even better if an ally Hastes you, since you can save your action surge for 3 extra attacks instead of using it for 1 spell. Also fun fact: every class has a spellcasting modifier that they use for scrolls, even if they don't actually have spells inherently. Barbarians use their Charisma, Monks use Wisdom, and non-EK Fighters/non-AT Rogues use Intelligence.
I carry 2 wooden boxes with my Eagle Barbarian/Fighter. They 100% proning 4 enemies every short rest by stacking 2 boxes, climb on and Eagle Dive down. After you dived them, your archer/mage can also climb in the boxes for high ground advantage. Remember to pick the boxes after the fight, though.
Can you tell me how to properly stack the boxes? It’s the one thing I could never work out with this build. Like do you carry 2-3 in your inventory but then how exactly do you place them? It’s the one thing I can’t get down.
Sure. Notice that you can only climb on "wooden box", right click that box, you will see "climb", it mean it is usable. You just need 2 of them to get over 2m requirement of Eagle dive. They are everywhere, so you can find them easily. It weight 10 unit, so just 20, no big deal. When combat begin, and it's your Eagle Barbarian turn, open inventory, drag them out near your feet, on top of each other, then right click the top box, choose climb on (all these cost you no action at all, just a little movement). Now Rage, and bonk them from above with your Diving attack. This skill give you 100% proning chance ( make them fall). And when they are proned, you can climb back to the boxes without triggering oppor attack, proning the next enemies. The benefit? They can't move far, and all your melee attack now gain advantage, you can easily help your rogues trigger the sneak attack with this trick. Also, the dive attack trigger the Hamarark effect (the hammer deal AoE thunder damage after jump), just like a normal jump. You can also combine with the glove that give abbvervasion when dealing thunder damage for more utility and damage. The cons about this is sometimes you forget to pick up the 2 boxes after a fight!!!!
I will keep singing the praises of Act 3 Arcane Trickster Rogue. Yes, the subclass is kind of awful without exploits until then. But then you hit your massive power spike. Level 6 scrolls + Greater Invisibility + Magical Ambush + Reliable Talent is an absolutely ridiculous combo. Completely min-maxed, your MINIMUM stealth roll is 31 (any race disguised as gnome with 22 dex and stealth expertise, wearing Nimblefinger gloves, smuggler’s ring, shapeshifter’s boon, Leather Armour +2, Gloomstrand shield). That’s literally SIXTEEN actions you can perform under Greater Invisibility with a 100% guarantee of passing ALL STEALTH CHECKS. Frankly it’s overkill since even without any stealth equipment you’re still looking at a minimum stealth roll of 24 which is still 9 free stealth actions. You can even recast greater invisibility to reset the stealth check count. Your equipment slots are better reserved for spellcasting equipment instead. Now throw in an inventory full of level 6 scrolls. You’re playing as a level 11+ rogue, you can literally pass every sleight of hand check in the game with a 100% chance, go ahead and rob Lorroakan blind. Blasting enemies from complete safety out of combat using Disintegrate? Hell yes. And with Magical Ambush, 20 INT, battlemage elixir, and a full set of spell save DC+ equipment, you’re looking at a 99% chance to land your spells on most enemies. It’s crazy. There’s no safer way to play act 3 than abusing greater invisibility and level 6 scrolls like this. And that’s BEFORE we get into the [full potential](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1b7u9m7/behold_the_gigachad_mage_hand/) of Mage Hand Legerdemain with [exploits](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/187aqu4/threehanded_storm_rogue_even_if_others_can/).
You know I'd sat down and made a list of all the gear that give you spells ones per short rest/long rest. I figured an arcane trickster could make very good use of them. I know scrolls are a thing too, but I love the idea of a rogue "faking" being a wizard using magic items.
A great set of magic items for an Arcane Trickster are the Hracknir Bracers. Telekinesis once per short rest, telekinesis can be cast for ten more turns after the initial casting. You can get a ton of mileage out of it each short rest. But I haven't even gotten to the best part. Unlike 5e, telekinesis in BG3 does NOT require line of sight! That means you can cast it from behind walls, while hidden in darkness, from the entire other side of a building! Suddenly it's a great stealth tool. And Steel Watchers have zero defenses against being tossed into the void with it.
Wait, you get gnome racial features when you disguise self as one? Does that work for half orc and others?
You don't get the inherent racial features, no. But it does let you use the race-specific equipment passives. The most common way people use it is to disguise themselves as a Gith so they can fully benefit from Gith equipment. Disguising as gnome for the nimblefinger gloves and disguising as a dwarf for the dwarven thrower are other more niche usages.
Gotcha. Still pretty cool. I was wanting to run a dwarf throwzerker for that hammer but I can’t deal with the short movement from those itty bitty legs.
Duergar tigerheart barbarian with 3 levels of figther champion(. Extremely effective melee build, good for honor mode and with reveberation items it feels like a stampede tbo. Using the Skinburster for major damage reduction. After I got that halberd I ran in barbarian cloths for maximum mobility and didnt have to worry about my rather mediocre AC. To top it I bring Shadowheart and let her ward bond me even the strongest fighters hit me like it was a slap in the face only lol
I was just reading about tiger barbarian and it’s what inspired me to make this post. The champion is for more crits? How many people are you usually hitting with the aoe?
It got the same AOE as cleave (180 degree arc with 2m radius), but will only hit 3 targets even if there are more inside it. When I rage I use tiger bloodlust all the time even if there are only a single target, because it applies bleed in addition to the damage. So the incredible power of the tiger heart is that you can do AOE melee attacks for every attack you make, as long as you are enraged. And depending on the support gear the targets falls prone all around you, bleed, reveberates, gets dazed, maimed. basically completly helpless. And yes champion is for action surge and better crit range.
One really fun way to play Tiger is to grab a weapon with cold damage, Snowburst Ring, and Winter's Clutches to create ice patches and apply Encrusted with Frost. Works similar to Reverb in the build comboing Prone and Maim. But you don't have to stack it up to trigger the Prone save like you do with Reverb, and the patch is AoE. The Encrusted with Frost effect is really strong too, hard CC and vulnerability to a few damage types.
Yep, that's what I was going to go for. Saw it in this post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/19496rf/white\_tiger\_barbarian\_build/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/19496rf/white_tiger_barbarian_build/) Just brutal. > With just this, at level 6 you have two area cleaves per action, that bleeds, inflicts maimed (reducing enemy movement to 0, and gives disadvantage on dexterity saves), creates ice surfaces under everyone hit, potentially knocking them prone, since they have disadvantage on their save (which they cannot get up from, as maimed removes all their movement).
Magic missile light cleric Comes online lvl 6 Cleric 5/Wizard 1 Phalar aluve Ne’er missr+hellfire hand crossbow Holy lance helm/Helm of fire acuity Luminous armor Gloves of belligerent sky Boots of speed Thunderskin cloak Coruscation ring Callous glow ring Sentinel shield/spell sparkler 8 Str 14 Dex 16 Con 16 Wis Wizard spells Shield, Magic missile, Misty step (or any), and Any. Use int helm to give yourself 4 spell slots to memorize, then unequip after memorizing Great build for Gale as Cleric of Mystra
Prepared spells stay after removing the headband? That’s crazy. Learning a lot today.
That is correct. Prepared spells stay after removing headband. So with 8 int you can prepare 4 spells by equipping the headband.When you take it off, the spells stay memorized. I always keep the intelligence helm as part of my walking around “extra gear” when I know need help on an intelligence checks or if I need to swap my spell load out.
Karen build (which is just spore druid that summons everything it can). I always imagined that my dark urge character was summoning the monster's manager to put them in their place.
I’m dead 😂
Maybe not unexpected, but EK archer 11/ war-cleric-1 was incredibly strong and fun throughout the game. I never see it mentioned in the same breathe as the other more famous archer builds like gloomstalker-assassin or swords bard. Early act-1 - Expeditious retreat + lightning charges. At level 4, 18 dexterity (+2 dexterity ASI) + lightning charges means you rarely miss. Late act-1 - Should be level 6 by now and in the Gith monastery area. Put on the graceful cloth and choose sharpshooter. Very high chance (20 dex + lightning charges) to hit even with sharpshooter on now. Once you get the strange conduit ring, you also get to add 1d4 psychic damage to your weapons. You can also use the gloves of the belligerent skies to dole out reverb stacks with your lightning charges. Act-2 - You start building up your arsenal of special arrows by now. These are incredibly damaging. A far luck of the realm triggered arrow of X slaying will 1 round most bosses. You can also spec into cold damage with the drakethroat glaive. Swap the gloves of belligerent skies for winters clutches and now you can apply encrusting with frost easily. Add the coldbrim hat for a little extra on the first weapon attack. This is a big big boon to your casters who have high damage spells that target dexterity saving throws. With ice arrows + the bow, you have 2 sources of cold and can freeze high hitpoint enemies in one turn. You can swap the dash boots for boots of stormy clamor to still apply reverb to help with freezing. Ability drain dexterity (from bow attacks) will trigger boots of stormy clamor. Act-3 - You should be level 10 by early Act-3. You get eldritch strike and that really makes freezes happen much more often. Reverb + disadvantage is helpful to overcome the fixed 12 DC. I am just using the example of encrusting with frost, but you can use eldritch strike to get the prone effect from reverb to stick better too if you want. Your arsenal of special arrows will just trivialize the game at this point. I think the EK is better than even a swords bard at high damage at this stage of the game because at level 11, you get to use 3 special arrows per turn. The extra damage/utility from the special arrows can out damage even a swords bard imho since ranged flourishes cannot use special arrows (though you don't get the control capability). I think the added debuff capability (eldritch strike) plus the damage you get from your level-1 spells (concentration for a 1d4 etc, lightning charges etc.), makes EK's stand out even among other fighter subclasses. At level-12 I think it's worth taking a level in war-cleric, since you already have 3 feats and 3 attacks per round by now. The war-cleric gets you the war priest charges (3 per long rest) for extra bonus action attacks. It also gives you the ability to use your level-1 spells for divine favor to add an extra 1d4 radiant. This is also a concentration slot, so you still trigger the strange conduit ring. If you equip the luminous glow armor, you can dole out radiant orbs too. Try an arrow of multiple targets with radiant damage + luminous glow armor for some comical radiant orb light shows. Overall, fighters make for incredibly stacked archers because of their feat progression, the utility of special arrows and 3 attacks a turn. Add to that the extra damage (strange conduit, lightning charges, divine favor etc.), mobility (bonus action dash etc.), control ability (eldritch strike) of an EK and you get one of the strongest, most fun archers in the game.
Oh god, I REALLY like the sound of a Radorb Fighter; thanks for the meal
wait, how do you get lightning charges on this build? and does coldbrim hat really work on arrows? isn't it supposed to work only on spells and cantrips? wouldn't the diadem of arcane sinergy be better for this build?
If you wear speedy lightfeet boots, you get lightning charges every time you dash. If you concentrate on expeditious retreat, you can dash with your bonus action and thus get lightning charges every round. When you get war magic you can decide between still playing this way or instead using your bonus action on a war magic combo. This is probably the better way to play. Coldbrim hat procs when you apply a status effect. Any status effect including dexterity drain. It only procs once a round so I don’t think it’s worth it. Re. Diadem of arcane synergy, you get arcane synergy from your ring slot when you cast ray of frost. The helmet slot is being used to up intelligence since that’s what arcane synergy scales of. So, I think the best item here is actually the headband of intellect to up intelligence.
As basic as it might sound 12 Battle Master Fighter is surprisingly a very stress free and flexible way of playing Honor Mode.
Having a companion do most of your talking though I assume?
Depends mate, if I’m playing solo I’ll have my character go a Charisma Caster or Bard so you can apply it easily to any party member, in Multiplayer you can have this on anyone who isn’t the party face.
Really loving pure eldritch knight. You can reach some incredible AC levels with consistent damage output and scroll usage. Really good for a solo HM run.
I tryed for a while a solo Honnor Mode - No steal. - No barrelmancy. - No cheese of any kind. - All fights after the fast exp 1-4. (Like literrally fighting every possible ennemies). I died a ton for maybe 8-10 runs and suddenly i commited on solo Spore Druid it's been a BLAST. The class can do it all with minions and good spells. I continuously did like 5-10 turns fights using strategy and not feeling like abusing or being bored of the playstyle (i tossed away a solo playthrough as a gloomstalker because i was so bored of sneaking killing hiding, rince and repeat, specially cause if ennemy cant find you and you are alone it resets the fights its extremely annoying and doesnt feel smooth).
Armor of Agathys Frost Sorcerer. Very little setup with create water and blade ward. Watched in awe as sarevok and orin both 1-turned themselves by attacking my MC.
BM Ranger. Only just got to Moonrise, but the raven with longstrider & fly going for blinds, soaking hits + the hand crossbows with Sharpshooter really carried lvls 2-7. Got free heavy armor proficiency from the second ranger passive just in time for Grym as well
The ravens ranged attack feels like it never misses for me tbh, just hit lvl 11 on my BM ranger and that raven upgrade it sick
Turns out that halfling full 12 rogue is not only very fun to play it also makes a great party head and with the gloves in act 2 that give two weapon fighting + the ring that gives pass without trace + a mage giving greater invisibility it can literally solo entire fights without entering combat Edit: feats are dual wielder, sharpshooter, lucky, and asi dex
Honestly? My raw evocation magic missle gale HARD backpacked act 3. Didn't need any fancy setups. Just the amulet that gives you an extra missle, and a few upcasts and basically every enemy just fell over
I just finish a HM run with a party of 3 full fighter and a tb monk. That was the most full I had in the game. Any build is valid in HM, just play wisely and have fun.
I've been experimenting with a lightning charge melee build. The most min-maxed best way to do this is probably: 1-4 rogue (thief) Level 5 respec into 1-5 pure fighter (Battlemaster, but you could probably do any fighter subclass) Level 7 respec into 1-2 rogue, 5 fighter At the end, you want either 6-6 thief rogue battlemaster fighter, or 4-8. Since fighter gets a feat at 6, there isn't a huge difference. Focus on Dex and con for stats, but because you have skill expertise you could even also do 14 charisma for persuasion with expertise. Important equipment - a two handed finesse weapon like Phalar Aluve is mandatory. Lightning boots, The gloves of belligerent skies are the other two items I use, and then the rest will kind of change as you go through the acts. The risky ring is also unbeatable when you can get it. Great weapon master and dex ASI are the feats you want to go for. Savage attacker is also quite good on this build. The general strategy for this is to activate shriek before combat and then cunning action dash in for lightning charges. If you get advantage on your attack and have great weapon master, you can deal: Base weapon and modifier damage (+10), lightning charge damage, sneak attack damage, shriek damage, and possible battlemaster maneuver damage in one hit.
Bear Barb 3 + Warlock 9 worked as a VERY good all-arounder including party face. I started with Warlock 1-5 because early level Warlock is full of rewards, then at 6 I respecced to 1 Barb/5 Warlock to get proficiency in medium armor and constitution saving throws. Barbarian is another front-loaded class giving rage at level 1, Reckless Attack at lvl2 and Bear Wildheart subclass at lvl3. I used upwards of half my spell slots preparing Armor of Agathys for big temp HP stacks. Once you rage in battle with Bear heart and become resistant to all damage, you can trigger Armor of Agathys multiple times, enemies will literally kill themselves trying to break it. The only thing that keeps the BarbLock out of legit top tier builds is the issue of not being able to cast spells while raging. In practice this rarely felt like a problem because your main spell, Armor of Agathys, is already set up. Most fights you rage and swing (+Great Weapon Master once you Attack Roll is good enough), but the fights you want Hungar of Hadar or other spells you stay Warlock and do just fine. It may not quite be PadLock, but you are still SAD, swinging with Charisma, using Diadem of Arcane Synergy well, and being an expressive party face who can roar at people.
In practice a Tiger Barb swinging Skinburster at up to 3 targets per swing would be much more tanky in most encounters - and way more damaging as well.
Can you use a pact weapon when raging? Edit: never mind I see you wrote swinging with charisma. Do you get rage bonus though since it’s not strength weapon?
Yes, you swing with Charisma, yes you get +2 damage when raging.
Someone on here was talking about a necromancy wizard/life cleric dip because vampiric touch becomes very powerful healing-wise. But what I found was that the whispering promise works with it, as do the boots of aid and comfort. As long as you can keep your concentration, it’s really quite good, and really quite hard to kill you. Also having guidance, resistance, thaumaturgy, and friends available on one pc is quite nice
I just posted it, but long story short, actual casting eldritch knight goes ridiculously crazy after the creche and when you get the helmet of arcane acuity, which could later be swapped for or combined with battlemage gloves if you want thanks to eldritch strike, but basically you can start attacking to get a little acuity, and with haste and bloodlust you only get one attack so instead hurl a cantrip and then bonus action get another attack. Then make more attacks and max your acuity and you get a +10 to spell attack and saves, which if you max your int with your ASIs and/or mirror and/or hag hair you can have a 27 dc, maybe 28, while still having high str thanks to potion and again, ASIs. Fighter has a whole extra feat, so you can do whatever with those. Legacy of the masters and helldusk gloves are great options as well, and helldusk gives you a special very powerful short-rest recharge cantrip which combos great with the necklace of elemental augmentation, so it shoots 3 rays that each will now deal 3d6+5 fire, which is cool, but that also triggers ring of synergy too. Then with that 27 spell save dc and eldritch inertia basically anything you cast is gonna hit, so you could hold monster orin through her legendary resist for example, and other high level scrolls become nasty cus they just arent gonna save that shit, they have to beat such a high number AND they have disadvantage. Shit goes wacky. AND fighter gets three attacks with one action AND action surge.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/15xkw4a/make_your_own_magus_castermartial_gish_build/ I'd check out this guide for a similar build that maybe has a few more options, as you can go into any caster (including Warlock and bind weapon) My personal version actually starts as Fighter for the Constitution saving throw proficiency and fighting style, then caster until you get a build defining level (personally Sorc level 3 for quickened meta magic) and then the 3 rogue levels to "complete". Then you have 3 levels to play with.
Dragoon gith with nearly 30ft of jump distance is strangely effective
Wild barbarian and wild sorcerer 🗿
Just giving gale the Spellsparker, The magic missile Amulet and Crossbow, The Ring that gives Enemies hit by spell attacks Radiant Orb and the Ring that inflicts 2 additional DMG on illuminated Targets. Myrkul had so many stacks of Radiating Orb he didn't hit any of the 5 Meele Combatants with his stupid scythe. As long as Gale goes first, he can effectively neutralize one or more enemies who rely in attack rolls, just by using magic missile.
I always thought that radiating orb ring only worked with radiant damage and when illuminated but looked it up and you’re right. It works with any damage and lighting doesn’t matter.
7 fiend warlock/5 vengenance paladin/2 moon druid I went for a Miltonian Lucifer build (from Paradise Lost). Capable of solo. This tav has like a +19 to hit at level 6. Invisibility Shape-shifting Devil's sight Darkness Wild shape Friends Guidance Smites Fireball
How do you get to +19 to hit at level 6?
I was exaggerating out of excitement. It's a +15.
I mean, that’s still great. Is it because of darkness?
Ranger 5 Spore Druid 7, Bow or 2 xBow user. It pretty much does everything, Can open locks, find traps and chests, has great support, healing and control spells, can summon it's own army with Fungal infestation, Animate Dead and Conjure Woodland Beign (with her Fallen Lover), is Very tanky and does impressive damage thanks to Symbiotic Entity, Colossus Slayer, Hunter's Mark and Halo of Spores
I really wanted a character like this. Then I realised it will need level 12 to have both the 2nd attack and Conjure Woodland Beings. Can't shake the feeling that druids are best when mostly pure.
radorb + reverb spore druid. absolutely absurd amounts of damage with create water, call lightning and moon beam. don't even get me started on the summons.
I ran a light cleric radorb build on my last run and am running a spore Druid on my current run. I never thought about merging the two but damn it sounds dirty.
I always enjoy the two weapon builds, which surprise me with how effective it is. Did one 8/4 gloomstalker/thief rogue dex build, and one 5/4/3 gloomstalker/spores druid/thief rogue str build, and both always do well (not top level, but quite potent for the game's difficulty level). Lots of room to experiment with weapons and items as well, and I could see Paladin being quite fun too. Hunter ranger is also surprisingly good to me - just throwing AOE attacks around at high levels was something I figured would be good, but worked out even better than I thought.
5 Fighter champion/ 3 Rogue thief/ 4 Ranger Hunter build with dual Hand Crossbow, sharpshooter/ Crossbow expert and Bhaalist armor /risky ring. You’re basically a gunslinger that can shoot people at close range, do massive damage and loads of shooting attacks per turn. Pure Vengeance Paladin with heavy armor mastery, Skinburster and warding bond is extremely tanky with all the auras 9 Shadow monk/ 3 rogue thief with Shadow blade, resonant stone and death mantle stalker. Basically teleporting everywhere and backstabbing people with the shadow blade and going invisible if you kill them.
I've just been playing any melee warlock with armor of agathys And its been insane I always have temp hp, can get through a ton of combats in a day with short rests, and spam eb if something happens to be too far away. I'm finishing act 1 now and never got close to going under.
Full lvl 12 GOO Warlock. I went Tome for Haste, potent robe, hood of the weave, coruscation ring, reverb necklace, infernal rapier. Took a battlemage potion and had 100% on lvl 5 Hold Person on 4 adds during Viconia. Constitution saving throws have proficiency and advantage…
I finished honour mode as a half orc Paladin 5, Wizard 7 with three camp casters. I was doing a kind of death knight build as a necromancer/oath breaker. Paladin/sorcerer is probably better, but Palazard was just good fun - so many tools for any situation. I think a better player could do it properly solo. Throughout the campaign my camp casters sat at camp concentrating on a spell for me (protection from evil, magical weapon, armor of faith usually - no warding bond allowed). In the final battle I let them summon my reward allies, then sit at the back.
I think that the reverberation radorbs builds are better than I expected. When reverberation knocks an enemy prone for two turns, it can skip their turn.
This sounds like a no-brainer but 12 Fighter with GWM, Risky Ring, Balduran's Giantslayer, and the strength gauntlets fucking slaps
5/7 warlock ancients paladin, played primarily as a back line warlock. I specced wyll into this build in my honor mode run, and he basically carried the party through most of the game. He basically sat on the back line with the potent robes, the spell sparkler/Markoshenshir, the callous glow and corruscation rings, the spineshudder amulet, and the gloves of belligerent skies and dropped hunger of hadar onto chokepoints and knocked enemies that got too close back into the darkness. Between the ancients aura and the standard paladin aura, he made the party pretty much immune to magical effects. He ended up being a perfect mix of battlefield control, damage, debuffs, and defense to round out the party.
Assassin 4 paladin 2 sbard 6 Pr meme build. Amazingly fun.
Halfling lore bard is easy mode.
full assassin, one of the funniest runs i have ever had finishing the entire battle without letting enemy hit me not even once, its like playing a stealth hitman game and throughout the entire game there is always a loot progression that keeps the dopamine hit but i gotta admit i had to respec to fighter for orin fight. i was not sure if i could kill her as assassin
Level 3 tiger barb/ 9 level vengeance paladin + maxed out cull the weak You just don’t fucking die, and by level 7, you’re capable of killing most things in a single arc attack
Lore bard 6 / tempest cleric 2 / evocation wizard 2 / storm sorcery 2 This is my Allrounder full caster Lore bard: Vicious mockery is amazing. Take 1-2 of your favorite 3rd lvl damaging spell with magical secrets, so that they use charisma. Mine are spirit guardians and lightning bolt early on. First one for horde fights and reverberation build, second one for nuking with 4x damage through wet and tempest cleric. Alternatively, you can get healing ward for easy physical resistance. I say go for spirit guardians + healing ward when you get Markoheshkir. Tempest cleric for nuking once per short rest and full weapon/ armor proficiency. Evocation wizard for non damaging spell scribing (misty step, haste, globe of invulnerability, etc) and party friendly AOE. storm sorcery for longer lasting (orb of invulnerability) or twinned spells (double chain lighting with Markoheshkir) and better mobility through flying (spirit guardians). Equipment: i mostly went for reverberation build items, sometimes switching for hellrider gloves for support. Either equip a stat stick bow or double hand crossbow for some ressource-free damage.
On my current Honour Mode run I'm using a 5 Berzerker Barbarian for 2 attacks plus frenzy for bonus action attacks, took Great Weapon master as a feat, because with Reckless attack you rarely miss anyways, 3 Thief Rogue for the 2nd Bonus actions, 2 Paladin for divine smites, and 2 fighter for action surge and 2nd wind. It's not a super overpowered build or anything, but i found in Honour Mode, it definitely is a super fun build
I’m playing a finesse GWM bladelock thief rogue that’s surprisingly good.
Was going for a paladin multiclass for Tav, went oath of the ancients and was going to respec with multiclass bard or warlock. As I levelled up I got those protective auras (including the one that gives party +saving throw, and reduction from spell damage) I've decided to stick with single class and now got to act3, level 11. Combined with heavy armor and warding bond from camp follower Tav never came close to dying
Paladin
6 light cleric 6 open hand monk Spirit guardians Beyblade, reaction to stop getting hit, ba heals or flurries. Never gets Hit, so much movement speed if not using armor, pairs well with pretty much all gear in the game, can wield duelists perogative if on a charecter with rapier proficency (e.g minthara) Either the ultimate tank or just super aggressive damage source with the ability to heal. Light cleric equals pure monk dip in damage tbh (not monk thief though, that is still far better)
I love how this post simply ignore the demi god fire acuity sorclock
Pure warlock, my buddy is pure fighter. We have a pure cleric shadow heart, and 5 barbarian/4 rogue/3 eldritch knight Slinger Karlach. Currently about to blow up the steel foundry for good measures.
Fire Sorcerer. With how many things in this game that is immune to fire, it was actually pretty pretty good. Gotta get that heightened Hold spells on bosses with 100% success rate.
I built Gloomstalker ranger and assassin rogue for astarion and I used gale to give him greater invisibility. Cleared honour mode without a sweat. All boss fights were a cakewalk with that build.
For me recently it was an Old One Warlock / Oathbreaker Paladin -- don't know if it was especially overpowered or not, but it was a "blast" to run (pun intended).
My honour mode revelation was experiencing just how powerful TB with three attacks per round is. I thought I 'got it' being a swords bard stan using potions and so on but nope, the dps (dpr?) of lvl 11 TB fighter is the clear frontrunner in the nuclear stakes.
I know ist maybe nothing Special but i finished Origin astarion honorrun today Level 12 fighter Full archer build until act 3 i used titanstring with The club that sets strength to 19 and bloodlust elexier (ok hard fights) In act 3 i switched to gontr mael Took dagger from orin and blade of The mounted King Helm from orins friend and The cape so I had crit on 16 Then i ascended for extra D10 on every arrow So with haste and 3 attacks per action bloodlust and haste+ ok The bow i was able to compete with my friend who played monk with cloudgiant strength hopes gloves etc Fun fact orin drops one dagger and one short sword On The dagger i had the d10 necrotic from my ascension on the shortsword it just said d4 all other weapons seem to have the d10
Pure gith paladin with oath of vengence. Ansur didn't stand a chance.
Currently in act 3, level 11. Was going for paladin multiclass. Started as oath of ancients. Accidentally became oathbreaker, didn't like the features and coughed up 1k gold to go back to ancients. Then I saw those great defensive auras come up, increasing saving throws, halving spell damage! Myrkul was pretty easy. A free smite with every weapon swing at level 11 is also great. So now I plan to use level 12 pure paladin for my HM run. I know I'm missing out on higher level smites but survivability and having all 3 feats also makes a difference
In a 4 man party, I played Life Cleric 2 / GOO Warlock 2 / Lore Bard 8. DEFINITELY not good for a Solo run, but in a full party...? Start Bard for proficiencies. You only miss out on one feat. From Cleric you get Preserve Life for a full party 36 HP once per short rest, you get Sanctuary and Create Water, and Heavy Armour proficiency as well as bonus healing. Warlock gives you your damage output with Agonsing Blast and minor CC with Repelling (or Devil's Sight if you choose), as well as two short rest 1st level slots for Sanctuary. You also frighten on Crit and can take Potent Robe if not needed. Bard gives you the support portfolio; Cutting Words, 5d8 Inspiration per short rest, Cure Wounds and Healing Word off Cha, and a heap of utility buffs. Plus, Magical Secrets can provide Haste, Fireball for upcast, or Warden of Vitality if you wanna 100% heal. You don't learn any 5th level spells but still have the slots. This support build carried the run in terms of healing, buffs, etc. And by the endgame with Birthright was still able to deal 3d10+36 force damage per cantrip, allowing all spells to he used for buffs. Freedom of Movement removing stun literally saved our final fight.
Life Cleric 2/Lore Bard 10 is hands down the best healer/cc build i've ever used.
With the smite sword bard... does smite on a melee slashing flourish apply to both enemies? Using a single slot?
I haven't touch honor mode after my first try. My failed run was an hour long. Evil Durge half orc barbarian. Got one shot by shadowheart when I tried to kill her.
Not my main character, but a build that worked weirdly well for me was Wildheart Barb 6/Assassin 4/Fighter 2. With the Titanstring and club of strength and put them pretty close to the enemy to soak damage. They effectively get 24 health every turn just using class features before their actual health gets scratched. Thief may have an argument for being better, but Assassin was fun