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Hello Guys,
Welcome to my Arcane Archer Build Guide.
THE LAST JUSTICIAR
The aim of this guide is to fully engage with what I see as the Arcane Archers defining feature and extract as much from it as we can. We are going to build entirely around Piercing_Arrow and will arrive at a very respectable power level.
As we are going all in on Piercing Arrow I'm am going to entirely skim over how to archer. Everything about archer optimisation was basically settled by the legendary and (so far) undefeated Rivington Rat - If you are coming into the game this essential reading.
LETS GET INTO IT
Piercing Arrow is a bit weird. Its not quite a spell, its not quite an attack roll. Its kind of a cleave, its kind of not. Its good in melee, but your an Archer? Why are you in melee!?
Lets take a look at its closest equivalent - For the record this comparison is what got me interested and led to the build.
Hail_of_Thorns is weapon damage plus 1d10 and save for half. It costs a spell slot, a bonus action, and doesn't allow extra attacks. Piercing Strike is the same weapon damage, plus 1d6, dex save on half. It doesn't use a bonus action, allows extra attack, can be used 9/21/30/40 times per long rest. It doesn't crit but the AOE is significantly bigger.
The critical bit here is Piercing Strike Allows extra attack and Arcane Archer gets ALOT of charges, and ALOT of attacks. If we can ramp up the damage, and then drop that damage 6 times times in 1 turn, while being able to do absolutely top tier 'normal' archer stuff, well, then we have a build.
DISCLAIMER
This is a consumable focused build. If your not into consumables there are variants doing the same things but a lot less damage I will note at the end.
ORIGIN
Origin doesn't matter too much but Shars_Spear_of_Evening & Soul_Branding are good optimisations. I haven't checked Ascended Astarions necro damage either but I would expect it to work with piercing arrow thus making an evil run the 'optimal' set up for the build
RACE
For my solo run minor illusion from High-Elf was the one thing I couldn't have done without - It entirely enables what we're trying to do.
CLASS - ARCANE ARCHER
STATS
8/17/14/16/8/8 if Tav/Durge
10/16/14/16/8/8 if companion
Levelling
Fighter 1 & 2 gets us Archery fighting Style & Action Surge
Fighter to 3. Take Piercing_Arrow Shadow_Arrow & Seeking_Arrow. I really value generating advantage and the magic missile'esque guaranteed damage of these picks alongside our main attack. Take guidance, the concentration enables strange conduit ring.
Fighter 4. Take sharpshooter. generate advantage with Shadow Arrow and turn Sharpshooter on for solo. For party play you should be reliably generating advantage for sharpshooter.
Fighter 5. Extra Attack
Fighter 6. ASI dex
Fighter 7. We get curving shot here, it does some very cool stuff with our build.
Fighter 8. Elemental Adept: Fire - This will make sense when you see the itemisation.
Fighter 9. Indomitable is just very very solid, the whole fighter kit is. I played a large part of the game with no risky ring and good saves. Combined with naturally good AC and fighter hit dice you are as durable as a fighter always is.
Fighter 10. We have 10 Arcane Arrows here. Not sure who thought this was a good idea.
Fighter 11. Improved Extra Attack. Fighter go brrrrr
Fighter 12. Crossbow Expert.
Itemisation & Gameplay
I'm only going to make note of items material to the build to stop this turning into a 2000 word wiki dump. Anything your unsure of just ask.
Level 3 - Hunting_Shortbow very solid. Con proficiency helps you keep hunters mark up. For the same reason The_Speedy_Lightfeet are good with a scroll of expeditious retreat. Candles establish the flavour of the build really early, a cheeky dip is always good.
Level 4 - Right this is where we first see the build coming together. Get Cinder_Shoes, Creations_Echo & Void_Bulb from Omeluum. Derryth has lots of Alchemists_Fire aswell.
We are a Heat), Alchemist style build until endgame. Get the gameplay loop locked in early. Heat applies convergence to the entire AOE of piercing arrow & double dips on fire arrows. A solid early turn is to throw an alchemists fire at a void bulb and then discharge your heat with piercing arrow. Creations echo is really important in providing fire resistance because we will take heat damage on enemies turn and quite often will have to walk through our alchemists fire to get the best angle on piercing arrow.
Phalar_Aluve, being the S+ Tier weapon it is just makes everything better. I personally like the fire res from creations echo but Phalar is probably (definitely) better.
Level 5 - Starting to cook now. Bow_of_the_Banshee applies its fear to piercing arrows AOE, and also applies the 1d4 damage bonus to the AOE it also buffs attack rolls for sharpshooter shots, We keep this weapon until very endgame. Its in addition to all of the above, so a full heat piercing arrow is 1d6 + 4 + 1d6 + 2d4 +7 (weapon, dex, piercing arrow bonus, dipped in fire, blood curdling emission, heat convergence) on a failed dex save.
A fire arrow on a frightened target with full heat and a failed dex save is even better - heat double dips, you get plus 7 to your weapons fire damage and the arrows fire damage:
Level 6 - Strange_Conduit_Ring adds another 1d4 to the AOE. Trigger it with your local guidance.
Damage is still modest though, we need more...
level 7 - This is our power spike. Thermoarcanic_Gloves, Hat_of_Fire_Acuity, Oil_of_Combustion, Arrow_of_Many_Targets. Curving shot is awesome with Arrow of fire, the redirect will leave a trail of fire and proc oil of combustion.
Boots_of_Speed are essential for positioning.
Arrow Of Many Targets is our primer. Coat Banshee & spread oil while simultaneously stacking heat and acuity. Quite often you have to turn sharpshooter off for the big booms because enemies will casually die. Converge heat, and use Piercing Arrow as your detonator. Shadow-Cloaked_Ring adds another conditional 1d4.
What does this look like? Something like this:
Ring_of_Mental_Inhibition is a very solid swap for one of your damage rings, which are both conditional. The dex save on Piercing Arrow procs Mental Fatigue, allow banshee fear to more reliably land.
If your feeling suicidal, equip Shield_of_Scorching_Reprisal, use heat convergence which applies to its retaliation damage, ignites oil and detonates with you stuck in melee.
Level 8 - Lets turn up the Heat. Elemental_Adept:_Fire. Bypasses resistance on all our fire damage, rerolls 1. Savage Attacker for our Flamethrower basically.
Level 9 - More Damage with Shar_Spear_of_Evening & Resonance_Stone average piercing arrow looks like this:
But that's before combustion, and while it doesn't seem like alot you have to remember this is in an aoe and we can do it 4/5/6 time sin a turn with bloodlust. With 3 Arrow of Many targets, oil, haste, bloodlust and action surge you can Prime > Detonate > Prime > Detonate >Prime > Detonate.
Lets say we have 4 enemies bunched up. I'll disregard our primer damage and look at what piercing arrow will do to all 4.
Base damage from piercing arrow is (30 x 3) + (3d6 x 4 x 3). That is roughly 200 damage in an aoe at level 9.
And the best part? You can just do it again next turn because...
Level 10 - 10 Arcane Arrows per short rest, followed by
Lvl 11 - Improved Extra Attack and Bhaalist_Armour
Lvl 12 - Gives us Crossbow_Expert and we pick up Fabricated_Arbalest. Illuminating_Shot spreads oil of combustion with our bonus action and a cheeky radorb. Everyone loves a cheeky radorb.
So what does an endgame nova round look like. Lets presume haste, terazul etc.
Get as many as possible under bhaalist with void bulb/blackhole and spread oil with arrow of many targets at point blank range. Apply to a 5th with illuminating shot. Back out the blast radius and detonate. at endgame we can Prime > Detonate > Prime > Detonate >Prime > Detonate > Prime > Detonate
The damage output is so far beyond anything in vanilla the only justification for it really is modded gameplay. This absolutely overwhelms everything. The only limiting factor is number of enemies and their HP pool. All your charges are refreshed on short rest aswell so you can just blow your load every fight
Viconia knows:
And when your not overwhelming everything in a raging inferno, you can go and do everything a stock archer does. Drop a hold Monster, unload slaying arrows under Resi & Bhaalist, one turn Raphael etc.
Combat Showcase & Build Guide - Combat all at the start.
Thanks for Reading Guys :)
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I see people saying 11/1 sorlock can command a huge group of enemies because of the extend spell sorcerers get. However I’m not sure how that would be possible since one level in warlock only gives one warlock spell slot. How would I cast it on more than one target other than using the sorc spell that lets me target two enemies?
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Playing with a friend, he’s going a 6/6 hexblade shadow sorc, his shadow heart is a tempest cleric storm sorc, I’m playing wyll and Karlach is going a 10/2 giants barb.
I’ll be playing as a sorta frontline damage dealer so I’m wondering if pure hex is better than going 5/7.
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I've been tinkering with a fire sorcerer build for another solo honour mode run, and ended up reading the Battlemage gloves new mechanics. Currently, all spell attacks provide arcane acuity if made while holding a flame blade or shadow blade. This got me thinking, the combination of a magic blade and the gloves allow consistent arcane acuity generation, freeing up the helmet slot which is normally reserved for the the fire acuity helmet.
I've never found an actual use for the Pyroquickness hat, but I think this build would potentially be quite viable with it, particularly with the band of the mystic scoundrel to make good use of the bonus actions while avoiding the bug that makes quickened metamagic spells take both bonus actions. The heat from the Pyroquickness hat would also be less of an annoyance as this build would likely want to dual wield markoheshkir anyways and be generating heat charges anyways.
Has anyone tried out these mechanics and seen how they work? Is it worth sacrificing both the glove and main weapon slot for an extra bonus action? Let me know what you all think!
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Evening guys,
Patch 8 made me create again several characters and i fell in love with Arcane Archer. As i like my Tav to be a face and a skill monkey as much as possible, i started as a rogue to get expertise in persuasion and some useful proficiencies. My stats currently at lvl 5 are 8 18 14 16 12 10 (with ASI and Ethel's hair).
My plan was to go 1 rogue 11 AA for improved extra attack and 3 feats but in combat, even if i'm having a blast, i'm a little bit concerned about having "only" 4 buttons to click on, regular arrow or one of my 3 AA special arrows. I'm a fighter so i like to go melee if needed (dual wielding), and i'm wondering how i could give my Tav more options in fights. I was thinking about multiclassing again for a 2 or 3 lvl dip depending on what's needed to get new skills, i'm totally fine with losing a feat (i will make it to 20 dex with mirror of loss, 16 int is enough i guess as i will get items later to get arcane acuity and i just plan to take sharpshooter at fighter 6), and also losing improved extra attack, two attacks*2 with action surge seems enough for me too.
I wish i could dip into fighter again to get battlemaster maneuvers but i can't, so what would be my options in your opinion ? I like the idea of 2 lvl dip into stars druid for dragon/archer but i would need wisdom and i don't want to change my stats or be dependent on a "stat item" like headband of intellect. Bard flourishes are sexy too but do i need charisma for attack rolls ? Hunter ranger for horde breaker ?
Thanks for your time :)
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Since this does not really use anything from P8, it's not anything particularly new but it has been really fun to play.
For an excellent debuff focused character I have a College of Valor Bard using Harold as thier weapon with the Gloves of Baneful Striking. These are two separate instances of Bane(ish) that stack for -2d4 to saving throws. The gloves of Baneful Striking is bugged and/or the tooltip is just wrong - the tooltip for the gear is:
Whenever you deal damage with a weapon attack, the target receives -1d4 penalty to its Saving throw against your next spell.
This is incorrect, noted in the bugs:
Baneful Strike applies a 1d4 penalty to all Saving Throws for its duration, not just the wearer's next spell.
So, it's not exactly Bane since it does not affect attack rolls, but it does give -1d4 to ALL saves, not just your saves, and also not just your spells, for everything. I belive this has no save, you just need to hit, but I could be wrong. So to sum that up they still only have - 1d4 to attack rolls from the two conditions, but they have - 2d4 saves. It works on ranged weapon attacks i.e. Harold.
To highlight something again, these are two separate conditions. That means that if you can also have the Boots of Stormy Clamor equipped and the enemy fails the Harold's saving throw, two conditions are inflicted. So that is 4 turns of Reverberation when Haroldish Doom activates, which is the sweet spot you want for Reverberation because 5 clears the status.
In Act 2 you can make a lot of Oil of Bane weapon coatings. You can choose to coat Harold on Oil of Bane - this doesn't stack, but it's now 2 rolls against CHA to save against the baned condition - functionally similar to disadvantage on the Bane save.
If you're fighting a caster you can instead coat Harold in Wizardsbane Oil rather than Bane. Targets receive a -3 penalty to spell Attack rolls and Spell Save DC, and Disadvantage on Saving throws for maintaining Concentration for 2 turns. If Bane lands from Harold, they will have -4 to -7 on spell attack rolls when inflicted.
Coating effects with Haroldish Doom and Baneful Strike likely clear Reverberation and reset the stacks. But your Second shot cannot re-inflict Bane if all 3 effects land the first time. Meaning, your second attack, will theoretically stack 4 Reverberation again.
With 4 turns of Reverberation if Bane activates and they are inflicted with Wizardbane oil the enemy has enemy has a -1 penalty to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution Saving throws per remaining turn of Reverberation. That means for Concentration they have will have -6 to -12 to thier concentration saving throws (-2d4-4).
You can also try something interesting with the callous glow ring to also try and activate Radiating Orb with a source of radiant damage and light. An interesting proposal for multiclass if you don't need a third feat for this would be 2 Stars Druid. You'd get another ranged attack with a bonus action from Archer Stay form (functionally triple attack) and use Luminous Armor or Gloves for Radiating Orb as well.
As a comp, this goes well with someone using Phalar Aluve too because that also inflicts a stackable Bane-like debuff from shriek, giving them another -1d4 on all attacks and saving throws or yet another stackable form of Bless for an additional +1d4 to attacks and saves.
Since you're a Ranged character you can also take advantage of Arrows of Many Targets to Debuff a whole swath of enemies at once, or use arrows of Arcane Interference to immediately stop an enemy from concentrating on something debilitating.
As for magical secrets, as a Valor Bard you'll only get one at level 10. I am thinking for this build the obvious choice would definitely be Counterspell. You'll be using your attacks to be a debuff machine and you have extra attack, so you'll need a use for your spell slots. You'll now probably just spam counter spell because you're dedicated antimagic. You also have countercharm which is nice, though I don't use it a lot. You also have access to Silence starting at level 3, which is a other nice add but really situational. Apparently Counterspell always uses INT, so the Warped Headband if Intellect might be helpful once you start Counterspelling.
As an interesting interaction, this character is also wearing the Cap of Curing, which heals an ally 1d6 when you give them Bardic Inspiration. The healing is minimal and alone this hat is not that useful, but what this allows you to do is activate Whispering Promise for a 1d4 bless to thier attack rolls/saving throws in addition to your 1d6-1d10 combat inspiration you gave them and also possibly give them Blade Ward as well if you wear Hellriders Pride all with a single bonus action making your bonus action buff super potent. I currently have the Gloves of Archery equipped to assist with landing attacks buf if you want to play on the more support side that is an option(you could also use Oil of Accuracy to the same effect) . Personally with the debuffs I think landing your attacks is more important. Early on there are not a lot of rings so it is cheap and easy to slot the Whispering Promise over anything else available, same with the Cap of Curing.
For Feats they take 16 DEX/17 CHA at level 1 and take actor at level 4 to basically succeed any persuasion check and bring CHA to 18. Feat 2 at level 8 would probably be ASI to bring DEX to 18. Third feat is choice, or two levels of multiclassing. War Cleric is an interesting alternative to Stars Druid since it gives the divine favor spell to add radiant damage to your weapon and the Guided Strike for when you really need to land a hit with Arrow of Arcane Interference to break someone's concentration.
As far as other members in your party I think Divination Wizard could be interesting to add for the rare times an enemy might roll a critical hit and ignore your debuffs to thier attack rolls.
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I really like the idea of playing like mumen rider from one punch man lorewise, but are there any builds that go along with his character? they dont have to be optimal.
All ideas appreciated!
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Finalizing an Astarion build centered around crit-fishing as a Rogue and the level 1 ability on The Great Old One Warlock. The Champion Fighter perk seems almost mandatory to me, but I am now curious about which extra attack (Level 5 Fighter or Level 5 Pact of the Blade) provides better yield for my build. I have since been stuck between two different theorized builds.
1) Warlock 5/Rogue 4/Fighter 3
My thought was to bind the main weapon, leaving the off-hand dagger out to dry but still having solid dex, and then have access to Eldritch Invocations and more reliable ranged damage with Eldritch Blast. My issue is that I don’t think EB, or the later advantages of Warlock, do much of anything to help the build. I moreso am interested in making Astarion some Dex/Cha hybrid and this seemed like the logical route.
2) Fighter 5/Rogue 5/Warlock 2
Definitely not as Charisma heavy as I’d like, but was hoping that someone can clarify if PotB with dual daggers, using Charisma on main, is strictly worse than using Dex with the Two Weapon Fighting style from Fighter. Or would both be better?
I’m honestly wondering if I really even NEED the extra attack at all…I’m guess that I do, and an absence would mean just a strict damage fall off. Any ideas how I can make a “somewhat optimal” Astarion build with Rogue and The Great Old One passive??
Bonus) EITHER Bard 6/Rogue 4/Warlock 2 OR Bard 3/Fighter 3/Rogue 5/Warlock 1
Someone please help me, I need a party face and I want to make this build work I just don’t know what to do!!!
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You might think me crazy and you would not be wrong, but I think I cooked.
Okay so this build is all around "the dancing breeze" (I will call it DB from here on out). For those that do not know it is a +2 glaive with the finesse property, with the finesse property meaning it can sneak attack. So that's the main idea.
My current idea is going at least 2 levels in barbarian for unarmored defence and reckless attack, and then the rest in thief subclass for high sneak attack and extra bonus action. You could go more levels in barb, but for me explaining the idea it just needs two levels.
We want polearm master and great weapon master as feats and then as high dex and con we can get from starting stats and equipment for high AC from unarmored defence and damage with DB. Then something like sevoroks horned helmet for more crit.
So here is, hopefully, how a turn will go. First you sneak attack, with reckless attack if you need to. Then you use polearm master bonus attack, and if any of that kills or crits you can use great weapons masters bonus action. With great weapon masters 10 extra damage on every attack it will hurt and hopefully reckless attack will mitigate the -5 to the attack roll.
More than that we have the famous rogue reaction sneak attack. For those in the dark a rogue can sneak attack on an opportunity attack IF the sneak attack passive is put on "ask". With this build you will not only guarantee a sneak attack on your opportunity attack with the help of reckless attack you will also trigger opportunity attack more often with the help of the polearm master feat.
And lastly we have defence and mobility. With the rogues cunning action nobody will be far away from you, with dash as a bonus action. Then you have evasion and danger sense. Evasion makes it so that you take half damage on a failed dex saving throw and no damage on a successful one, danger sense gives you adventange on dex saving throws. Meaning that something like fireball or chain lighting is really easy to mitigate. Then with unarmored defence you will have around 19 AC (this is an educated guess) with equipment that boosts your attributes.
The problem would be the low hit points of the rouge and the downside of using reckless attack, but more levels in barbarian can fix that. I'm thinking that you either go 3, 4 or 5 levels in barb. 3 for the subclass and getting the bear heart to become more tanky. 4 for ability score improvement. And 5 for extra attack and fast movement for even more mobility at the cost of evasion. Or/and you could disengage to avoid damage, and if that doesn't work they will run into you letting you get off one opportunity sneak attack. What you are truly weak against is ranged attacks, but with your high mobility and damage this build could be the end all be all of your opponents backline.
I just started a new tactician play trough with this idea in mind for my Asterion, there is probably a better fit, but the extra bonus action gives me one more chance to use bite. I plan to pick up phalar Aluve and pick up great weapon master as my first feat. Then go 5 levels as a pure swashbuckler rogue and when I hit level 6 respec for 2 levels in barbarian and 4 rogue thief and have it play out from there.
I haven't gotten to the part where I can actually use this so I only know it in theory. But do you think it would work? More optimization? Is it good enough for honour mode?
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So, I have all the party members teams builds all lined up and ready to go. I just down have shadowhearts. I want her to be the team support/tank (if possible) I want to multiclass life cleric and stars Druid but I don’t know what split I want to go with. I don’t even know if it’s the best multiclass for her to be team wide tank and support. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
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Right I've just finished my first play through on Explorer mode and my Tav was a druid.
I did the play through with no knowledge of d&d and I did not read any forums so had no idea what I was doing.
Likewise I did not fully understand the spells etc so for Gale for example I picked offensive spells only and ignored a lot of the utility spells. I certainly did not understand the environment. I never cast grease once in the entire campaign!
I'm still a novice but looking to start my next playthrough but need help what to pick for Tav 2.0
Below are the things I like with playthrough one. Druid owlbear is awesome for fights. Lazeel damage is nuts Gale aoe damage is great Astarion lock picking and trap detecting is awesome
What I did not like (or more likely did not understand) Shadowheart & Wyll. Just did not get these guys. Karlach just seemed like a less able version of Lazeel. Although owlbear is awesome in a fight having to keep switching back and forth was a pain and I ended up with my Tav staying owlbear 24/7 and got the others to do dialogue. Lazeel is great in a fight but getting her in range was sometimes difficult/slow
So with all the above in mind any thoughts on a new Tav 2.0.
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I’m kinda testing the waters with friends about this build I wanna try out and in theory it takes awhile to fully come online but I feel it might hit like a truck with AOE and buffs in the end. Oath of CrownHammer+Board melee mostly with the option of sword bards flourishes with double hand crossbows for range instead of eldritch blast and dumping strength for charisma for Hexblade. Does it make sense?
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In your opinion out of these two which benefits more from the 2 level dip in paladin? I feel as if bladesinger has more to gain, because despite the name swords bards are best as archers.
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I haven't played since the initial release and really want to dive back into the game does anyone have any suggestions for an resist Durge Honor mode playthrough? I was thinking of running them as a Monk, but I haven't played since the original sub-classes and want to have some fun with some of the newer stuff. What party comps would make for a fun and diverse group, also who should I look to have in the party?
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I'm looking for advice on building a caster (ideally a Warlock) to support a rather "problematic" Honor Mode multiplayer party. This is a weekly co-op run with 3 old friends — 3 of us have finished the game before, but none of us have beat Honor Mode yet.
Edit: I’m not married to the Warlock idea. I’m open to any class or multiclass combination that can help keep the team alive and be strong or useful in this kind of environment. My main goal is to provide consistent value and utility to the group.
The challenge is: the rest of the party is fully melee (Fighter, Assassin, Monk), and they’re very focused on roleplay — meaning, they often dive into chaos, aggro enemies randomly, and sometimes ruin carefully laid plans (like messing up the entrance to the Zhentarim Basement even if we had the chest).
So I need a caster who can help get the team out of trouble, provide party-wide support, or just very powerfull, and ideally doesn’t rely on tight itemization (we might not be able to grab specific gear like the Titanstring Bow in Act 1 if things go sideways).
Right now, I’ve been playing a stealth archer with good mobility (using long jumps to bail the team out when things get dicey). It works decently well, but we really feel like we need a proper caster.
I’ve already completed the game as a Paladin and a Sorcerer (in another multiplayer run), so I’d love to try out a Warlock, especially an Eldritch Blaster-style build — but I don’t have much experience with them.
What I’m looking for:
- A Warlock build that can offer party utility (control, crowd management, or escape tools)
- Something reliable in Honor Mode, even without access to optimal gear
- Preferably not DEX-based (since that overlaps with my team)
- Open to dips/multiclass if it significantly improves survivability or utility
Does a Warlock make sense for this kind of role? Are there any go-to builds or spell selections you'd recommend for someone trying to keep a reckless party alive?
Thanks in advance!
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I noticed that the stipulations for blade song don’t really say much about a ranged weapon. Is it possible to use while singing? If so, how would you build an Archer Bladesinger?
I think it would be an interesting pairing with the band of the arcane scoundrel. Basically the swords bard archer but with a much bigger spell list.
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Background
Since Baldur’s Gate 3’s full launch released with Tactician difficulty and the community began their blind playthroughs, complaints have existed that the game becomes way too easy for those familiar with D&D 5e fundamentals (attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, proficiency, advantage) starting in mid to late Act 2. The game has such strong magic items that after you pay a visit to the merchants in the Creche, Last Light Inn, and Moonrise the difficulty takes a huge nosedive. This lack of difficulty and lack of content for evil playthroughs have been some of the biggest complaints in an otherwise great and generational game. This post intends to highlight some of the biggest balance shattering mechanics as discussed by this community, inform those looking for more balanced playthroughs on what limits to impose, and also provide mod options to help balance these mechanics or balance enemies.
A poll was created to cover some of the most balance shattering mechanics, using community feedback to determine the topics discussed. The following “community opinions” are those where 52.7% of the community decided some restriction should be used to restore a semblance of balance. My goal was 2/3 of respondents agreeing that a restriction needs to be in place, then going with the most popular choice. However some questions (like whether to use Honour mode rules or whether to use camp casting) could be considered ‘courtesy’ questions. These restrictions absolutely must be in place to reach the goals of “rebalanced” when you consider broken combos like DRS which is fixed by honour mode or warding bond camp casting. The 21% of people who voted that ignoring these restrictions is OK are not in tune with the goal of “rebalanced.” So the goal shifted to 2/3 of respondents that are sane, informed on what they are voting on, or voting in good faith. As there are some who feel, “Why is balance necessary in a PvE game?” is a legitimate question. While that is certainly an opinion to have, the people with that opinion are not the people who this topic is intended for. People who want to use broken stuff can use broken stuff. This topic is for identifying what stuff is broken, and what self-imposed rules or mods can be used to restore a semblance of balance.
What is and is not addressed by “Rebalanced?”
This doesn’t cover everything that is OP. Stuff like Gloomstalker Assassin builds that use hit-and-run mechanics are almost a completely different game. It doesn’t cover gimmicks like stacking crates and having an enlarged owlbear jump on enemies over and over and over again. It doesn’t cover powerful but also very tedious builds focused on getting tons of summons and then buffing them. It doesn’t cover things like barrelmancy. The “Rebalanced” discussion is focused on turning a normal playthrough which many would not consider to be tedious, addressing some of the balance breaking mechanics such players have access to, pointing out that their relative strength removes fun from the game for many players, and many people may want to avoid these options.
BG3Builds Rebalanced Restrictions
The following table is listed in order of most strongly opinionated in need of restriction, to least strongly opinionated. It starts with the most egregious violators and goes to less egregious ones that a large portion of the community feels needs some kind of restriction for a balanced gameplay experience.
| Topic | BG3Builds Rebalanced Restriction | Personal comments, not from community | Relevant Mods |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long Rest Spamming | Once a build is “online,” (typically around level 6-8) it should be able to go at least 3 or 4 fights before a long rest. Not including taking a long rest before a boss fight, which is fine. | If you are concerned about missing story points in camp by limiting long rests, then after a long rest take a partial rest (use no food supplies) to see additional camp scenes. | - |
| Honour Mode Rules | Use Honour Mode rules | This includes no builds that focus on DRS bug, no warlock extra attack stacking, no perilous stakes illithid power on enemies. Additionally no extra attack from bloodlust elixirs or haste spell. While the community did not vote to restrict the use of spellcasting with extra actions granted by haste or bloodlust elixirs this is potentially a polling error on my part, and I STRONGLY recommend avoiding this. | - |
| Camp Casting | Do not put allies into your party, have them cast buff spells or other effects, then remove them from your party allowing the buffs to persist | - | - |
| Elixir Chugging | No builds that depend on elixirs | The most egregious outliers are strength based elixirs, bloodlust elixirs, elixirs of vigilance and elixir of battlemage’s power. Using other elixirs on consistent basis likely will not be as bad as those listed above. | In Game Mods: N/a External Mods: Elixir Rebalance by Benenach |
| Consumables Dependence (e.g. scrolls and special arrows) | - | This question was left out by accident. However it goes in the same vein as the above elixir question, regarding farming consumables that your build depends on and therefore should be restricted. | - |
| Tavern Brawler | No using Tavern Brawler if you use Strength Elixirs | I strongly disagree. This does absolutely nothing to fix TB Throw builds. TB Monks can dip into fighter or cleric for heavy armor proficiency and dump Dex anyways. Tavern Brawler is broken at its core. | In-game Mods: N/a External Mods: Tavern Brawler Rebalanced by VoidVigilante. I recommend the “TavernBrawlerFinesse_NoAccuracy” version. This is still pretty strong, and even works with dex based monks, but is not balance shattering; Feats Rebalanced by WoolToque has a nerfs only optional file which also makes changes to Sharpshooter, Great Weapon Master, and Alert |
| Ranged Slashing Flourish | No combining ranged slashing flourish with Arcane Acuity | - | - |
| Abjuration Wizard Arcane Ward | No using exploits (such as spamming Warlock’s Armour of Shadows) to refill the arcane ward | The damage resistance provided by Arcane Ward scales exponentially due to Larian’s changes. At higher levels of wizard it is insane, and I am not sure everyone who voted has seen just how much damage it can mitigate. I recommend not using abjuration wizard if going more than 6 or 7 levels in wizard. | - |
Further Topics
The following are topics which the community did not agree needed restrictions in BG3Builds Rebalanced, but I feel need addressing.
| Topic | My comments | Relevant Mods |
|---|---|---|
| Initiative | There may be a polling error behind why 34% of respondents in the previous question said no elixir dependence at all, then only 19% here say no dependence on Elixirs of Vigilance. Regardless d4 initiative makes the turnbased game balance issue known as “Rocket Tag” extremely easy to pull off. The Alert Feat and Elixirs of Vigilance should be approached with caution if you are not using mods to bring initiative back to a d20. | In-Game Mods: d20 Initiative by Ponsinoumi External Mods: d20 Initiative by Ponsinoumi changes initiative to a d20, which by itself rebalances the Alert feat. Alternatively Feats Rebalanced by WoolToque has a nerfs only optional file which also makes changes to Sharpshooter, Great Weapon Master, and Tavern Brawler but high dex characters will still win initiative far too frequently with this fix. |
| Vulnerability | It is possible to make enemies vulnerable to lightning, cold, psychic, or piercing damage. With some gimmicks you can also make enemies vulnerable to fire damage. Builds that do outright 2x more damage than they are supposed to be able to do against group of enemies are extremely strong. Oftentimes a little bit of setup is necessary, but doing that little bit of setup and then going all in on your strongest option to do double damage is typically way stronger than other build options. This is especially egregious in Act 3 where you can apply piercing vulnerability with no setup, and a well optimized party can almost all do double damage. | - |
| Duergar Invisibility | Technically the problem here extends beyond Duergar. Having a quasit companion (whether through Pact of the Chain Warlock or just through getting permanent access to Shovel) enables the same problem: start every combat while invisible to get a surprise round and thin enemy numbers before they get to go. Duergar just takes this a step further since you have that option on a playable character, letting you do more powerful things while invisible. If you abuse surprise rounds (and unlimited invisibility is the best way to do so) you will make the game significantly easier. | - |
| Arcane Acuity | There are two popular builds that use arcane acuity: swords bard and fire sorc. The sords bard + arcane acuity has been addressed because it depends on swords bard’s very strong ranged slashing flourish which warranted its own question. Fire sorc depends on building up arcane acuity through Scorching Ray, which is not on its own overtuned like ranged slashing flourish. With the community not wanting to restrict arcane acuity, that means fire sorc arcane acuity builds (one of the top 3 strongest builds in the game) are totally fine in rebalanced. While these two are the most popular Arcane Acuity builds, other builds are certainly capable of it such as niche thunder acuity builds, thief rogue builds, action surging fighter builds, and more. Arcane acuity needs to be capped at +2 to maintain a semblance of balance. +3 max. If you are consistently going above this, arcane acuity should only be used to cast cantrips with. | - |
| Radiating Orbs | The strength of radiating orbs has been undermined by how offensively strong you can be. The best defense is a good offense, and if you can kill or crowd control everyone before they get to go then there is limited need to be defensive. If you implement the BG3Builds Rebalanced rules then radiating orbs will become much, much stronger and may still make encounters much easier. Like arcane acuity, radiating orbs need to be capped at +2 or +3 | - |
| Level 1 Wizard Dip | For the most part this is fine in my opinion. The biggest issues come when mixing with Arcane Acuity, but with that off the table there are a few niche spells to be worried about. Such as playing as a full caster class, taking a level in wizard, scribing the Conjure Elemental spell, and using a 6th level slot to buff it into a Myrmidon. | - |
| Ambush Bard Strategy | The "Ambush Bard" build is one that probably is only recalled by those who have been on the sub for a while, and kinda didn't want to give up on it. It's somewhat complicated to explain which is a bit of a letdown, however this 3 minute video covers it best. But with Rebalanced in play it can pretty much just run around and cause balance to desert the game. | - |
Still too easy?
Even with all the above changes and restrictions, those who understand the fundamentals of the game may find BG3 to still be too easy to ensure a challenge. PC users have additional difficulty increasing mods available to them. Most notably Combat extender. While I am a big fan of the default boost to enemy AC, attack roll, saving throws, and damage per attack; I am not a big fan of increasing enemy movement speed or giving some enemies an extra bonus action. And I would actually like to give enemies more health than their default configuration (~40%). But that’s the great thing about the mod. You can change all these little numbers to your liking and they apply to enemies across the game, making the game more challenging. I think that if you go with Combat Extender, d20 initiative, and restrict the mechanics mentioned above then the game finally reaches the challenge many people were hoping for at launch.
Another external mod worth mentioning is Absolute Wrath. It adds random abilities to enemies to make combat a bit more challenging and roguelike all-in-one. If you use this with combat extender, you may want to tone down combat extender from the recommended values.
Unfortunately there do not seem to be any big combat overhaul mods on console yet. One option is to implement an item attunement rule of your own, where you limit yourself to something like as many uncommon items (magic items with a green border) but only up to 3 items of rare or above (blue, purple, or yellow border) per character. Your weapons do not count towards this 3 item limit.
“Rebalanced” and this subreddit
While the goal existed to make “Rebalanced” into a flair, I think given the community’s votes on the topics found in the second table (excluding perhaps the wizard dip) indicates that this wouldn’t change anything. You’d still have fire acuity sorcs. You’d still have radiating orb clerics that win initiative and hit every enemy with a -5 or more to their attack rolls before they even get to go. You’d still have wet+lightning tempest sorcs or Bhaalist Armor + ranged slashing flourish spam. Throwzerker and TB Monks would still exist, just slightly tuned down. So it seems that going through the trouble of implementing a tag or flair is just not worth it.
This post will go into the hall of fame post to provide a reference for the most overpowered mechanics which players should avoid if they want a challenge, and I will update it with mods if people make them to reign some of these mechanics in.
38
I'm not sure if anyone's posted this exact combo before, but you can get ten arcane acuity stacks by expending only a level one spell slot. Note that this was only tested in honor ruleset - this may or may not work in standard ruleset because the handling of damage riders is somewhat different in honor ruleset.
Acquire the following items:
- Phalar Aluve
- Hat of Storm Scion's Power (note that this gives 2 acuity per thunder damage instance despite the quantity not being stated)
- Spellsparkler
- Psychic Spark (optional, allows use of level 1 spell slot)
Simply equip Phalar Aluve on a frontliner and activate shriek at the start of combat, then using a magic boi equipped with the remaining items cast level 1 magic missile to launch four missiles, leaving you with a guaranteed ten arcane acuity because magic missile can't miss. This obviously pairs well with haste, potion of speed, action surge, and/or mind sanctuary so you can get off a strong spell immediately using the acuity.
This works because:
- Phalar Aluve's shriek causes thunder damage procs for each incoming damage instance on an enemy
- Each magic missile projectile is a separate damage instance
- The Spellsparkler builds up six lightning charges before the last missile lands, thus the lightning discharges on the fourth missile because the count is >=5
- The lightning discharge counts as a separate damage instance that procs shriek's thunder damage separately from magic missile, thereby providing the fifth thunder damage instance to get to ten stacks of acuity
108
So I want to know/list, every companion character buff and special thingy. For example:
-Astarion sucks (Literally) and has better rolls and attacks.
-Karlach becomes even hotter(Soul coins).
-Gale can blow himself up for speedruns.
-Laezel is a Githanky (So she can wield Gith-racist weapons better).
-Shadowheart is scared of Wolfies(Not really a buff, more like debuff)
-Wyll… Uh, is Wyll?
-Minsc has a space hamster.
-Halsyn, Jaheira and Minthara???
I am missing something here?
Edit: Double checking, but they ever fixed Karlach extra fire damage when attacking unarmored and using Infernal Fury?
38
I haven’t seen much talk about it, but the free teleport to keep your enemies coming to you is pretty bonkers. I love rangers and this is probably my favorite version yet.
Has anyone else tried this out yet? Any tips to optimize the build besides The Dancing Breeze?
10
So I’ve been kinda going back and forth a lot on my class for my pro-Vlaakith run, with the general theme being that I wanted to have a purely support/control oriented Tav. Derrik started life as a Death Cleric of Vlaakith and since then has visited Withers so often that he’s been at least 6 of the playable classes. Currently he’s a White Dragon Sorcerer 6/Hex 1. I’m just about to save Minthara and feed her some hair to boost her charisma, so I’m thinking about swapping the cold gear over to her, and letting Derrik go back to being support.
So I’m thinking
Star Druid 2 for the better saves, and then Glamour 10 for Magical Secrets
Str 8
Dex 14 (medium armor)
Con 15+2
Int 8
Wis 10
Cha 15+1
Feats Alert/Resilient Con
Gear
Jewelry: Whispering Promise, Shapeshifter’s Boon, and Periapt of Wound Closure
Head: Wampira’s Crown for Combat, Warped Intellect for outside
Armor: Yuanti for now, probably going to switch to Elven Chain in Act 3
Gloves: Wondrous Gloves to keep my Inspirations up outside of combat, Hellrider’s Pride in.
Off Hand: Shield of Devotion
Main hand: Staff of Arcane Blessing (place holder for Markoheshkir in act 3, might be relevant for buffing Minthara)
Boots: Disintegrating Night Walkers for lack of a more relevant option
Is there anyway I could better optimize his healing or control options?
3
YES, it's not as good as Swords Bard. YES it's not as good as doing a multiclass.
But is it viable for tactician, in a party of 4? What would be the best way of building it?
Since I'm playing a Cleric I wanted to respec my Shart into something. I was thinking she could stay in the back, drop a CC spell or two, then rush into melee with her cool spear.
I am doing an all-single-classed run and I have already played a Swords bard so I was hoping to mix it up.
Alternatively, another single class you think fits both this playstyle and Shadowheart as a character (that isn't a cleric, a wizard or a druid since we already have those)
0
Title. I haven't got to play much since patch 8 released but am toying with the idea of a new playthrough (not HM) using only patch 8 subclasses. I'm not opposed to playing an Origin character and was even considering Bladesinger Gale for exactly that (but please don't let that comment inhibit your suggestions, I'm all ears)
Parties don't necessary need to be one homogenous/coherent strategy, but can be. It doesn't have to be the most minmaxed power party ever, just using patch 8 subclasses.
Let's see what you got.
Edit: multiclassing welcome--as long as it is patch 8 stuff
12
No questions today, I'm just excited to be able to figure this on my own lol
So I run Astarion as a typical Gloomstalker/Assassin Archer. This is my 1st playthrough, Tactician mode, so I do check Wiki a lot, but also try to go blind most of the time.
So all of a sudden I figured that: - Happy + Loviathar presence (<30% hp) + Oils of Accuracy completely negates the debuff - it's all available in Act 1 - it can be prepped in camp (bite Tav, cure Bloodless, jump of the cliff to get HP down - done) - bonus action Hide from Gloomstalker almost guarantees Astarion never gets hit - equipping stuff that procs off low health for Momentum, Wrath, no Opportunity attacks etc. feels great
So it's a high risk/high reward playstyle that literally asks a player to "lurk in shadows", and I'm immensely happy I was able to get to it by myself lol
I'm sure there will be better ways to alleviate Sharpshooter debuff, but for Act 1 it worked wonders, making Astarion a lethal killing machine than never got downed or killed.
3
So I'm planning on playing a Hexblade Oathbreaker, I'm starting 1 level Hexblade, then 7 levels of Paladin (I know, I know, the wait from level 5 to 6 for extra attack will suck, but I'm willing.) But what should I do after that. I don't feel the need for more warlock levels, I have no personal qualms with using the permanent shadow blade glitch. I guess going the rest Paladin for Improved smite could be fine, but what would you guys say, I'm open to suggest.
51
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I’ve been wanting to try the abjuration retaliation wizard in a solo honour mode run but I was wondering if the build has changed with patch 8 or more specifically with the addition of booming blade and shadow blade.
From what I’ve gathered it seems to work pretty well on most builds that get acces to it without you having to spec hard into it. Given that you’re going to be spending a lot of time in melee as an abjuration wizard, is it a viable option to use booming blade with shadow blade while you’re not busy shoring up your defences or is the damage too low with you only having acces to one attack?
200
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I've been thinking about a challenge version of the game that falls more in line with some of the "standards" of 5e. The restrictions I've come up with are as follows:
-Origin character gets 0 respecs, companions get 1 -Each character gets 1 magic item (total 4 in the party), +x enchantments don't count for this purpose -The party may only have 1 legendary item in use -No str elixrs -No arcane acuity -No tavern brawler
It seems like a genuinely difficult but still engaging rule set. It helps to make most of the classic broken builds worse, no more stacking max rad orb and reverb in one turn, you have to work for it. I feel like this would bring back the good ol' bounded accuracy without making the characters feel useless.
I'm really struggling to think of a build/set of builds that would be significantly stronger than others, it seems like it would be really even distribution of power across classes. But I want to know if there's something I'm not thinking of/a cool build that would thrive here. Please let me know any criticisms or ideas you have, or thoughts on potential builds.
192
At this point everyone knows the builds that are strong and which classes are strong, but I am curious what subclasses or builds deserve more attention when compared to the usual culprits.
1
My wife and I have started a new honor mode campaign and I wanted some community help with party composition.
I have completed an honor mode play through by myself and I am familiar with meta builds, but not overly concerned with min-maxing. Just need a reliable party that can handle the rougher parts of act 1 and 2.
I’m role-playing as a githyanki pirate. I’m planning to just take 12 levels of swashbuckler rogue to handle conversation and out of combat needs. However, I was thinking about muticlassing into fighter but not sure which level I should make the switch or which subclass to choose.
My wife is playing as a warlock, but she is flexible on the subclass. Right now she’s playing as a hexblade but since it’s new, I was curious about what the community thinks about which are the best builds/spells for it.
We haven’t really decided which companions to bring with us and I’m not really sure how to fill out the party. I’d like all the buffs we can squeeze in but all of them are not necessary.
Thanks in advance for any advice that y’all can give!
0
As in you hand pick which level you are at based on the fight and part of the game. In this case you are solo or 2 man party and you are going up to a max of level 20.
0
Still trying to decide between dual flame blades or shadow blades. I like the latter because I can just build for Dex since the glitched flame blades don't have the finesse property. But I'm a little concerned, double the damage on shadow blades already at 4d8 (and 2d8 for the off hand) seems... excessive no?
I'm using the tactician mods and everything to increase the damage and health of enemies, but even with this I don't see many enemies outside of those immune surviving 4 attacks from this. Is there a catch, like is the accuracy really bad or something? If it makes things too easy I can't see myself using it, those who have what are your thoughts?
215
So, decided to start a new run now that all the patches are out. I've read a lot of hype around booming blade here and in the main sub ... and I dont get it. I know that my perception is heavily skewed by the Pathfinder games, where a d8 of bonus elemental damage is less then worthless since demons have immunity and you have better odds adding flat damage through strength, enhancement, power attack etc.
Now, this is obviously not true in BG3. Nevertheless it just seems like a regular old attack with highly inconsistent secondary damage, since player forced movement like shove doesn't activate it and most enemies wont leave engagement and fear fishing for it doesn't feel worth it.
So is the play to just Booming Blade bonk someone, shove them and let the bonus damage do its work on their turn?
Edit: Thank you all for the input. I had in fact not realized/reached the level where it also starts adding damage to the attack.
438
There needs to be a Build Glazing flair because that's actually what this is about to be.
6/6 Death Domain Cleric/Open Hand Monk is one of the strongest new builds in the game, it has flavour, it has vibes, it's fun to play and it is genuinely strong as hell. Tested it by soloing Sarevok repeatedly on an Honor mode save (shitty form of save scumming) and yeah, showed bro the difference between between being in service to mere Murder and being servant to Death, STRAIGHT UP.
Oh, and his girls? Can't counterspell you if you open with a Blindness upcast alpha strike.
You are so spoiled for choice, half the time, you'll win fights then realize you didn't even use a third of the tools in your box & that there are about 10 other ways you could have won that same fight. Blindness into Hold Person into Inflict Wounds or Spirit Guardians into main action Disengage into Flurry of Blows if you combo Haste/Bloodlust with Wholeness of Body then fly around hitting everyone with Spirit Guardians for free. Step of the Wind Disengage is also right there.
Toll The Dead? Fantastic resourceless way to finish off two weakened opponents, vastly superior to Sacred Flame (it's a wisdom save instead of a Dex save, only enemy clerics and rangers have high Wisdom but high dex is common)
Command upcasted can shut down multiple opponents for a turn (or make them walk into hazards)
Anyway the build:
Death Domain Cleric/Open Hand Monk 6/6 even split. I only played its final form so far but IN THEORY, it comes online at character level 5, specifically OH Monk 3/DD Cleric 2 (you have Touch Of Death and Inflict Wounds and you have the Flurry of Blows variants)
Alternatively, Cleric 3/Monk 2 gives you Hold Person and high mobility. Alternatively, just go straight to 6 in one of them then do the same for the other, arguably the least awkward way to do it.
Feats: either Dual Wielder (you'll see why in the gear section) or -- sigh -- Taveeeeern Braaaawler. That and get to Wisdom 20-22 by any means necessary. 20 at minimum.
Stats: Dex 16 Con 14 Wisdom 20-22. The rest don't matter but of course early game you'll be on Hill Giant Strength.
Head: Horns of the Berserker, Soul Perception or Hood of the Weave. Earlier-game options, I imagine, include Shadespell Circlet, Fistbreaker Helm, Browbeaten Circlet, Kushigo hat (probably the least bad use case for that useless thing)
Torso: Robe of Supreme Defense to keep your Spirit Guardians up even in the face of Armageddon. Graceful Cloth and Soul Rejuvenation also top-tier.
Rings: Whispering Promise and Ring of Regeneration (Bless, attack rolls and for keeping your spirit Guardians up) a case could also be made for Sparkswall if Watersparkers and Feywild Sparks for extra +1 Spell Save DC
Gloves: for necrotic vibes, Dark Justiciar or Flawed Helldusk (better because of Bleeding status effect.) For an actually a differently good choice, Sparkle Hands or Gloves of Crushing. For the perfect balance, true Helldusk Gloves.
Boots: Kushigo of course, although given that Clerics get Create Water, a case could again be made for the Watersparkers. Reverb Boots also nice.
Melee: empty main hand, off-hand Staff of Cherished Necromancy (hence dual wielder feat); earlier-game, Corellon staff, Undermountain King, Club of Hill Giant Strength all good choices
Ranged: whatever you like. Hellrider, Blightbringer, Awareness, Hunter's, Joltshooter, Titanstring etc
Cloak: either Cloak of the Weave, Cloak of Displacement or, my personal favorite, Vivacious Cloak because you're going to be casting a lot of spells at point blank range and we really like temp HP. Great combo with Fire Shield.
Amulet: Amulet of the Devout was forged by the gods themselves for this build (+2 spell save DC AND an extra use of Death Touch? Yes please!) CON Amulet also good, Corvid also nice for extra flying distance (Spirit Guardians), Amulet of Branding (Hold Person+ Flurry of Blows+Crit), Khalid, Sentient Amulet, lots of options
Elixir: on the one hand, Battlemage's is great for this build because it helps your spells land. Elixir of Heroism also works for helping your punches and Inflict Wounds land AND for saving throws. Honorable mention for Peerless Focus again for concentration saves.
But we all know what this build really needs and loves is Bloodlust. The synergy with Toll The Dead (which does more damage if the target DOESN'T have full health) and, for that matter, the Staff of Cherished Necromancy (which basically lets you substitute kills for spell slots) is wild.
What it comes down to is that this is a true spellfist build (lol), you are spoiled for choice on every turn, your bonus actions are just as lethal as your main actions, you can debuff, gain Advantage/grant it to your whole squad and you can do ridiculous damage every single turn even if you didn't take TB.
I solo'd Honor Mode Sarevok with it repeatedly and the variety of beatdowns was seemingly endless. Upcasted Blindness alpha strike so his girls can't counterspell plus Advantage on you, Disadvantage on them AND concentration is still available for Spirit Guardians.
Alternatively, Create Water into Hold Person alpha strike with Haste potion and Wholeness of Body already active, so Inflict Wounds crits plus Flurry of Blows till the end of Forever, all with Touch of Death after Touch of Death stacked on top and Lightning Charges popping off with every blow. Bro was dead in two turns without getting to even leave his chair.
Alternatively, precast Spirit Guardians, Fire Shield Chill and Blade Ward (or drink the 10-turn omni-Resistance elixir) into Create Water into straight up come at me bro. Inflict Wounds and Flurry of Blows. He hits back with his Murderous Strikes bullshit, it goes even worse for him and, thanks to half-damage and Vivacious Cloak (which re-ups again once you cast another Inflict Wounds or reactivate Spirit Guardians if it went down), you come out ahead in the damage stakes. Meanwhile he's still getting pounded by Spirit Guardians every time your turn comes back
Alternatively ... you get the idea. Both sides of the build are stacked, together they are unstoppable.
778
Charm Person is a pretty terrible spell if you have more than one character: while the affected enemy cannot attack you they can attack your other characters. This limitation does not apply to a solo run. You get 10 turns of concentration free hard CC per cast. Upcasting controls one more enemy per spell level.
12 bladesinger (using shadowblade and mystic scoundrel) and 12 fire sorc (using quickened spell) are both pretty ideal users. In either case, regular action + haste + terazul + bonus action gives you up to 6 + 5 + 5 + 4 = 20 enemies charmed in turn one. This is close to the limit of the number of enemies you will meet in a single encounter. So you can focus on killing enemies one at a time while everyone else just stands there unable to attack.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that enemies have advantage on their save against Charm Person, but this can be counteracted with Resonance Stone. This also tilts the balance towards using shadowblade. An interesting build to consider is 1 hexblade / 5 sorc / 6 swords bard. This makes us SAD for Charisma, a full caster, and have extra attack.
14
Just downloaded a hotfix after hotfix 31. Anyone have an idea what’s in it?
To be clear, hotfix 31 was 1.800.304 on PS5, this one is 1.800.305
5
The Knowledge Cleric Tav is purely for roleplaying purposes, but I don't want to feel like I'm handicapping myself completely, so what should I be steering my Cleric towards, and moreover, what should my party be in the post Patch 8 world? I'm at level 3 right now and am having trouble finding direction for this run.
21
There are two passive abilities from items that lend themselves very well to building an entire party composition: Steeped in Bliss/Psychic Damage Vulnerability (from the Resonance Stone in Act 2) and Aura of Murder/Piercing Damage Vulnerability (from either the Bhaalist Armor or Bloodthirst in Act 3).
What's cool about the Swarmkeeper Ranger is that two of the swarm options scale off these damage types: The Wasps (Piercing) and the Moths (Psychic). As a result, this new subclass is a great addition to parties that take advantage of these synergies.
There are some notable items/spells that bring the build together:
The Strange-Conduit Ring from Act 1 adds 1d4 Psychic damage to the Ranger's attacks while concentrating on a spell. This synergizes perfectly with Hunter's Mark, which is a Ranger's bread-and-butter Bonus Action. Extra Psychic damage to be doubled by Steeped in Bliss is always welcome.
The Brain Drain Gloves apply stacks of Mental Fatigue whenever you deal Psychic damage. Pair this with the Boots of Stormy Clamour, and you'll apply tons of debuffing conditions to enemies.
The new Shadow-Blade spell and the Shadow-Blade Ring from Act 2 allow the Ranger to dual-wield Shadow Blades. Both weapons scale off Psychic damage! Simply have a spellcaster in your party upcast SB to level 5/6, move it to the Ranger's inventory, and you get to use a 4d8 Psychic damage blade in your mainhand and a 2d8 blade from the ring in your offhand. This makes a Thief-Rogue multiclass enticing, as it allows the Ranger to cast Hunter's Mark to proc the SC Ring, then get an extra offhand attack right away and every turn afterwards.
Taking advantage of Aura of Murder is pretty self-explanatory: Go dual-hand crossbows or shortswords and go to town!
2
Mods: 5e Monk Subclasses Combined, then either 2024 Player’s Handbook Dragonborn OR Dragonborn with Breath Weapon Enhanced. Your choice
Lv5 Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk
Lv5 Circle of the Stars Druid
Lv2 Fighter
Dragonborn Breath Weapon, Monk Dragon Breath, Dazzling Breath
This is essentially a caster-blaster build. You could do this whole thing 4 times at lv9. Also if you pick Dragonborn with Breath Weapon Enhanced as your race mod then you also get another breath weapon if you chose a metallic Dragonborn, one dealing force damage and the other dealing thunder. But be warned these extra breath attacks will also cost a charge
I’d also recommend getting the Drakethroat Glaive from Moonrise
An example of a build with this:
The Tempest Dragon: go with a Bronze Dragonborn, instead of going lv5 with Druid use 3 of those levels for Tempest Cleric. You could also grab the Gloves of Belligerent Skies from the Creche, Boots of Stormy Clamor from either robbing the mind flayer you meet in the underdark or doing the quest, Thunderskin Cloak from Moonrise, and the Amulet of the Devout from the Tabernacle for a pretty decent reverberation/Destructive Wrath build
I’d personally recommend the Dragonborn with Breath Weapon Enhanced mod for this build specifically
Lightning Breath, Monk Lightning Breath, Dazzling Breath, Action Surge, Rebelling Breath
8 stacks of reverberation + the reverberation stacked on by the boots, 3 chances to use your channel divinitys
73
I always like Mono classing, nothing against multi-classing and its advantages. Some of my most favorite builds are multi-classes. But as someone that really likes Hex blade as a mono class and even a bit as a multi class; I wanted to talk about some of the weapons choices.
Now I know what you're thinking, can't you just use any weapon? You're completely correct. But I just wanted to speak on some of the weapons that stood out to me. In hopes of some people trying things out if they haven't already.
EDIT: I know Shadowblade does exist and I do know of its immense power. I'm just highlighting other weapons that I find fun. Also, I personally find it a little boring even with the high damage it can dish out.
Charge-Bound Warhammer (my Act 2 sweetheart)
Now yes, there are other choices that do great. But when I came into Act 2, Charge-bound Warhammer became my best friend for the majority of Act 2. It gains favored weapon once you bind it and gains the ability to do 1d6 lightning damage added to the weapon. It does pretty good damage, especially with the added damage for leveled up Booming blade.
Hellfire Great Axe (A hot choice)
During act 3, I tried to make a heat build with hellfire great axe on a mono-class of Hexblade (didn't do well) but Hellfire Great Axe can use heat with little to no damage if you heavy armor through multi-classing with paladin. I made Minthara into an 8-4 Hexadin and she did solid damage through axe while continuously gaining heat stacks through the axe and Cinder shoes.
Bloodthirst and Crimson Mischief (Stabbing....like a lot)
I'm sorry bloodthirst and Bhaalist armor, I wasn't familiar with your game. I have to admit I never thought all that much about Aura of Murder but now after experiencing the power of Aura of Murder, it's going to be tough not going back to normal. Crimson Mischief does actually not that bad damage through Redvein Savagery and Prey upon the Weak. Bloodthirst's Aura of Murder does far better than I thought. I dual-wielded with Bloodthirst in main while Crimson Mischief in off-hand on mono class Hexblade. I thought I would a bit disappointed, but the damage was high and consistent.
Duelist's Prerogative (My TRUE Beloved)
Do you like having an extra reaction? Do you like hitting people three times in one turn as a Hexblade warlock? Do you like having the ability to crit on 19? WELL, I have just the item for you. Duelist's Prerogative! Not only does this rapier have the ability to hit people with its bonus action but it gains the ability to do Withering Cut, where you can do 4 necrotic damage as a reaction. Now that's obviously not a lot BUT while messing in my custom honor mode run, I noticed something.
Withering Cut gets the bonus from Potent Robe when you use your reaction after using Booming Blade. So, at 24 charisma, you can do 11 damage rather than just 4.
I personally quite like Duelist's prerogative because I do get the feeling that mono-class Hexblade does like to use its reactions very often. Between, shield, Counterspell, making specters, and the rare Armor of Hexes, having an extra reaction is pretty helpful. Plus, naturally having crit lowering effects is nice.
Now for the big boys
Silver Sword of the Astral Plane (The only sword that makes me wish I chose Gith)
Two of the biggest/powerful great swords aren't bad choices for mono Hexblade but they do have some odd requirements. Silver Sword of the Astral Plane or SSAP for short, does some wonderful damage. When I was using it, I felt like I was making people explode with every Booming Blade I used. I'm sure you are a bit confused by what I meant by odd requirements for mono Hexblade. While you can disguise yourself as a Githyanki to use sword with the added psychic damage, there is a specific downside. You cannot make any specters while in disguise. Since Accursed Specters requires you to not be "Polymorphed" you will either have to play as a gith from the beginning or just give up making ghosts.
Balduran's Giantslayer (Big, Raw and can make you do slightly less damage)
BG is still a totally awesome and immensely scary weapon, but it does have one slight caveat in its ability, Giantslayer :On a hit, double the damage from your Strength modifier. This weapon grants you Advantage on Attack rolls against Large, Huge or Gargantuan creatures. This ability specifically uses your strength modifier and only your strength modifier. which means in some cases, you can end up doing less damage as a full Hexblade (since strength doesn't matter to you). Now this can obviously be completely ignored through Giant Hill Strength and Giant Cloud Hill Strength elixirs but it's something to note. Still hits like a bullet train though.
I'm sure there are better choices and such, but I just wanted to speak on some of my favorite choices to use for mono hexblade. Especially since my custom honor run will probably be my last.
2
Sorry to be so specific but it's for RP reasons, trying to do a kind of evil Drow gish, with a hint of the Night King from Game of Thrones about him, but I want him to be an absolute bastard. Every build I see is for a Bard but I don't think this guy would look right with a massive fucking lute stuck to his back. If anyone can help I'd be very grateful!
3
Hi everyone,
I've been searching around on this sub and while naturally there were cool ideas, I was wondering what the best dual wield melee weapon build would be? Whether it be cha based with hexblade or something like barb/thief/fighter, I feel like I'm having major analysis paralysis.
Thanks:))
11
I‘m trying to build a lighting damage based character and can‘t really think of a „best in slot“ choice for classes. Main damage source should be „call lightning“, since I like the identity of this spell.
Things I already thought of:
6/6 Storm Sorc/Tempest Cleric 10/2 Storm Sorc/Tempest Cleric (maybe 2/10?)
Maybe some multiclassing with 2 Stars Druid for concentration? Evocation Wizard?
Any help is appreciated!
1
Hi, this is my first play through and I’m playing with three of my friends and after a lot of research decided to go Pal/lock, but I’m not sure what spells/cantrips I should take from each list, I’m looking to go hexblade and pact of blade, but this means I’ll have to respec at some point tanking strength in favor of charisma, and also have absolutely no clue what route I should take in regard to how much to level each class before the other. I don’t plan to use eldritch blast so my invocations look to be devils eye and I thought fiendish vigor wouldn’t hurt, I’m gonna try to use both extra attacks or a smite in close range combat with a one handed weapon and a shield. Please give me some advice mainly on spell, cantrip choices aswell as leveling routes.
0
I really wanted to do a solo honor mode as a very thematic karlach. But wanted to be able to have plenty of Soul coins.
I haven't gotten the honor trophy yet, so I'm trying to do it mod-less. But the Soul coin econemy is trash. Idk why it can't at least be a rare vendor item that shows up from time to time.
And trying to make a 25% hp build is like brutal unless I muticlass something weird.
0
Screwing around with mirror of loss and got the +3 charisma. Currently a elixirs based Eldritch Knight 11/war cleric 1 using baldurans greatsword.
Only have Underwater gortash stuff left to do more or less.
After a build to wrap this game up. Weave gear and critical hit stuff is unavailable. Any suggestions tor a quick respec? Honor mode last game did not use mirror.
3
This is my first ever experience playing BG3 or even being exposed to DnD so I am a little confused at building. I have Astarion at level 7 going through the Gloom stalker subclass and he feels incredibly weak compared to me (warlock) or my Battlemaster Karlach. He has "okay" sustained damage with Hunter's mark but it still feels like he isn't doing enough. He has on that cat dexterity gear (forgetting the name), the missile saving gloves, and the poison resistance boots from the Githyanki creche.
These are the attributes I chose for him:
Level 1:
- Bounty Hunter
- Wasteland Fire
Level 2:
- Archery Fighting Style
- Ensnaring Strike
Level 3:
- Gloom stalker
Level 4:
- Sharpshooter feat
Level 5:
- Hail of Thorns
Level 6:
- Keeper of the Veil
- Wasteland Cold
Level 7:
- Spike Growth
- Iron mind
Astarion can do about 10-15 damage per hit but it still feels like he isn't doing enough. Is Gloom stalker supposed to feel this weak? I was thinking of switching him to a different class, as I want to eventually play on tactician mode.
0
Having a blast on my current play through, but I'm also in a side game with friends. It's chaotic and crazy - and I'm thinking about re-spec'ing a bit. One thing. I'm considering is a bit of a gish, but I kinda want to tank a bit. What I'm thinking of pulling together is an Abjuration / Armor of Agathys gish. Something with multiple attacks - as I kinda want to be mixing it up in melee - with an ability to soak and light-carry without overshadowing.
So, Abjurer has to be part of the mix. Looking at a few options - but I'm sure there are others (though oddly, google didn't turn up too many). Anyway, feedback / thoughts / opinions welcome
EK 6 / Abjurer 6 - The Obvious with Acuity
- The easy button and simplest to consider. Combined caster levels, three feats but you burn one on Magic Initiate Warlock. Not a lot of damage mitigation options - classic EK builds AC high. Can land DCs, esp w/ acuity.
- Ward is 6 / 12
- Armor of Agathys is upcast to 4th
- Variants: You COULD drop Abjurer to 5 and lose some ward for EK 7 or Sorc natively.
Bear 5 / Abjurer 7 - The Hedgehog / Polar Bear
- Three rages is likely plenty (everyone's thrower build does this with frenzied), as long as you're monitoring long-rests. Two feats. A bit feat starved as you need Magic Initiate Warlock, but you can elixir or hag-hair your way out of that hole. I kinda like the idea of going CON high and using elixirs.
- Ward is 7 / 14
- Armor of Agathys is upcast to 4th
- Bonus here is resistance to damage, which could be fun. I've not tested the order of ops on reductions. Is it reduced by Bear, then reduced by Arcane Ward, then subtracted by Armor of Agathys?
- Variants: Bear 5 / Abjurerer 5 / Hexblade 2 ... smaller ward / AOA but easier to charge. Could be a CHA barbarian.
- Variants 6/6 - could pick up Honey Badger, for further immunity / impunity.
Bladelock 5 / Abjurer 7 - The All-Rounder
- Two feats, CHA to everything. Blast or stab / ranged or melee. Easy Ward if you worry about that. Easier ward and well-rounded offense offsets the lack of other mitigations.
- Ward is 7 / 14
- Agathys is upcast to 4th
- Simple, clean and likely a decent face.
Paladin 6 / Abjurer 6 - Revenge
- Two feats, and you're going to want STR/DEX and CHA like all paladins. Could stack up heavy armor / shield for reductions.
- Ward is 6 / 12
- Agathys is upcast to 5th
- Big smites here.
- Drop a level for 1 in warlock to go SAD, but you take away a bit from the Ward, Agathys and Smites.
Obviously on the non-INT above you focus on spells w/o DC. Paladin, etc. you don't bother with INT. Ranger would provide decent CL, but I'm not sure is is a good mix. Monk doesn't give much either. I may be missing something though, so call it out if I am.
I'm leaning towards the Barbarian mix. Lots of HP, temp HP and mitigation. Sure, you can also warding bond but I'm trying hard not to do that.
0
I am looking to do a 8 level Paladin 4 level fighter Vengeance Paladin. Not sure what race I should go for so I am open to any suggestions there. Aside from that I have a few questions on what directions would work well for me or if certain mechanics work the way I’m assuming based on what I’ve read online.
I want to run a shield and pole arm, using my Action surge, Extra attack, and pole arm mastery to have essentially up to 6 outputs of damage per turn when using those together. But otherwise three without Action surge. I’ve thought about going for a tavern brawler feat as well to give myself a double strength modifier to thrown attacks and throw lots of javelins or spears and a ranged option for myself. Is this a viable playstyle? We also have a bard/cleric in our 4 player online party so I plan to leave the dialogue mostly to him also so our party doesn’t have to deal with my limitations due to oath. Due to that, I planned to load most of my attributes into strength and con. I planned to use protection and maybe dueling fighting style (if those stack I’m not sure), if they don’t stack please advise me on one or the other. I saw there are ways to have thrown weapons immediately return to your hand, is this worth investing part of a build into, or should I just keep lots of javelins on me? I was looking at taking Religion and athletics from Paladin skill profs, since our bard will take the brunt of persuasion pressure, so what else would be helpful for me to take, perception? We plan to have a sorcerer and another player undecided so we would appreciate any help on that regard of sharing skills.
Thank you
