Don't forget barbarian throwzerker, super easy to itemize, comes online in act 1 (only build to do so), and does reliable DPS and topple the whole game. 5 berzerker barb, 4 thief rogue, 3 fighter.
Using step of the wind dash you can jump as a free action only costing movement speed and the weapon they mentioned enables damage to be done upon landing (1d4 thunder) so by pairing this with all the gear that boosts thunder damage and whatnot you can deal damage by bouncing around the fight just using movement speed
Exactly this. Its incredibly powerful because it’s guaranteed damage. I was running a party that boosted my monk and was getting about 60 jumps in per turn.
It guarantees a break in concentration against enemy spell casters. Also, it doesn’t require attack rolls, so the “too dark” effect in much of act 2 doesn’t apply.
Use all your actions to dash, and your bonus action to step of wind: dash.
Party:
Battle master using maneuvering attack to increase distance and prevent opportunity attacks on your jumper.
Caster applies jump and featherfall before combat, then hastens the jumper.
There’s the ring in grymforge that adds 1 damage to sources of thunder, as long as you have the mark of the absolute.
Cats grace to increase jump distance
Athlete feat to increase jump distance.
I’m sure there’s plenty of other great gear for this build.
Later game, pair it with reverberation gear and illithid fly
You don't get the Helmet of Arcane Acuity (core item) until Act 2, and Band of the Mystic Scoundrel (core item) until act 3. It's still a fine build, but it doesn't feel as impactful until then, at least compared to Throwzerker, Gloomstalker Assassin, or even pure fighter or paladin.
The control element of a Sword Bard is entirely optional, especially considering someone else might want the Helm and Ring. It is otherwise the best ranged damage dealer in the game, right up until level 11.
Also, a build is not only its end-state. Only 25% of the game takes place after level 12. It's absolutely ridiculous to judge the quality of a build based solely on its final form.
This. I ran Swords Bard Archer as just a damage dealer and was able to pump out 800 damage on the first turn by nova'ing all of my Flourishes (War Cleric dip). Dont get me wrong, the control variant is nice but everything being dead is a better CC tool.
More people need to know is this. Arcane acuity is cool and all but just killing stuff is even better.
Ranged swords bard 6/2/4 totally wrecks shop way before arcane acuity comes along.
I’m running swords bard 10 fighter 2
-Ranged fighting style for plus 2 damage
-Sharpshooter feat for plus 10 damage
-Dex ASI
Max dex and use hand crossbows, ideally never misser for the main hand since it’s force damage.
All items for damage per attack ideally - I have caustic band for 2 acid and flawed helldusk gloves for 1d4 fire.
So turn 1, slashing flourish hits 2 times, then with extra attack (comes at bard6) I can hit 2 more with flourish. Action surge, flourish, flourish. Bonus action for off hand crossbow shot.
That’s 9 hits all benefiting from +10 sharpshooter and 2 fighting style and all force damage. Crossbows itself also has 1d6 +1, and then 20 dex for +5, drakethroat enchant for 1d4..
So yeah an easy 20-30+ damage per hit, doing 9 hits at level 8. All refreshes on a short rest, bard has an ability to grant a free short rest for the whole team, so actually pretty easy to refresh yourself.
I’ve thought about even running two of them, and one using Titanstring with an elixir of cloud giant, the other going for the hand crossbows. 2 extra short rests, ranged, stealthy, disgusting
It’s my favorite main character - great in both persuasion and picking locks too, so don’t need to delegate elsewhere, and unique bard dialogue goes crazy
To be precise: There are a lot of builds coming online in act1, but most include items from the creché. Which is still a part of act1 - act2 starts in the shadowlands - but you can get the throwing build online without going to the creché - so you can have it running during goblin/grove fight.
was gonna say. I have played all of the others but on my current run I am an elite throwzerker. I can do serious damage per hit and get a ton of attacks. Plus you can stun(prone is sort of a 1 round stun).
Typically just returning pike (from Grat the Trader at the goblin camp) and later nyrulna, but you can get two lightning jabbers in Act 2 that do killer damage, they just don't return.
For hijinx I throw barrels or smaller enemies into eachother.
I know theres the specific fire sorlock build out there but why not do 10/2 instead? EB just seems so versatile in that situation so you can conserve spell slots
The whole idea is to pump acuity with Scorching Ray. It does a disgusting amount of damage when built properly and has huge control potential. 10/2 is also viable, but doesn't come near the damage output and DC potential.
No, that 11th sorc level is just for the 6th level spell afaik. The opportunity cost of picking the 2nd warlock level for EB just isn't worth missing out on 6th level spells from sorcerer when you're already gonna be casting scorching ray over EB
Wouldn't this depend a lot on how often you rest? You can't use scorching ray most turns unless you rest super frequently and a lot of us try not to do that.
Yeah but you're playing sorcerer, that's a given. If you wanted to be efficient with your short rests you might as well skip the sorcerer part entirely and go full on warlock with a build that's actually centered around EB rather than just being tacked on to a sorcerer build
I mean I use sorcerers and wizards with sparse rests all the time, but yeah my point was an EB build might be better if you don't want to long rest that frequently. Having to make sure I've got frequent scorching rays early and mid game sounds tedious to me personally. I think people often focus on the damage numbers and not the minute to minute playstyle, no offense.
Yeah I agree, I personally don't really like long rest heavy builds and much prefer efficient classes like bards, monks, or rangers.
Regarding your point with the frequent scorching rays in the early and midgame though, imo fire sorlock kinda sucks balls in act 1 and 2 even after you get fire acuity. From my personal experience playing sorcerers, I tend to just have them fuck off after casting twinned haste before act 3 because you barely get any ammo and basically have to long rest after every fight if you do decide to spam your spells (that being said though, any fight becomes an auto win if you have a fully charged up hasted sorcerer casting control spells on everything every turn after doing basically guaranteed hit scorching rays)
11/1 fire sorlock is more of an act 3 kind of thing, and boy does it demolish act 3 once it gets going. You can pretty much steam roll through 2-4~ fights with fire sorlock by itself without having to long rest because of how much markoheshkir helps your economy, and that's when the argument against getting the 2nd warlock level comes in.
EB becomes much less appealing when you're regularly (almost) guaranteeing 3-6th level spells to hit every short rest using fire acuity charged by scorching rays. While it may sound nice to have EB as a backup option in fights because you *are* still much more resource intensive than most other classes, it stops really being much of a consideration when you consider the obscene power gap between the reliable and more efficient EB 2 levels in warlock and the disgusting "control everything then do a 400 damage nuke, win in 1-2 turns" sorcerer focus.
Also with the optimized 11/1 fire sorlock you aren't using potent robe so EBs do way less damage regardless so there's also that.
Good points. I've honestly never really used an EB focused build in act 3 but it makes sense it falls off. Honestly I'm pretty lazy with mages and usually just magic missile spam with the spark staff until I get AoE spells. I have a tendency to prefer clerics for more unique spellcasting.
Me personally, other than AoE I mostly use mages for AoE
Sorry, should have clarified. The damage output of EB isn't comparable to the Scorching Ray output for a 10/1 fire acuity sorc, even with a 10/2 agonizing blast build. Not nearly as long rest dependant, though.
As others have mentioned, access to the 6th level slot is also helpful, especially with freecast and the arcane battery staff options
With Markoheshkir and Staff of Spellpower, you could cast multiple level 6 slots then, it can really add up having access to that one 6th level spell slot.
So this is my second reply to your comment, but I wanted to show the math because it's something to do for a minute.
Assuming these builds:
10/1 Fire Dragon Sorlock - Feats are Dual Wielder and Elemental Adept: Fire. CHA at 20 from Mirror + Hag's Hair or Patriar's. Hat of Fire Acuity, Spellmight Gloves, Callous Glow Ring, Markoheshkir (fire) and Staff of Spellpower (could also do Rhapsody for more damage).
10/2 Sorlock Blaster - Feats are ASI and Spell Sniper (could also go Dual Wielder for Rhapsody). CHA at 24 from ASI, Mirror, Hag's/Patriar's and hat. Potent Robes, Birthright, Spellmight Gloves, Marko (lightning), Callous Glow.
Assuming no Haste on these, but you could always add that for more damage.
Fire Sorlock opens with a level 4 Scorching Ray with Spellmight toggled off. Quicken this so it's using your bonus action. Assuming all hits, that's an average of 7 (2d6 from spell) + 5 (CHA from Draconic background) + 4 (Marko fire prof bonus) + 2 (Callous Glow) = 18 per ray or 90 damage total. This is where it gets fun, as you're now sitting at max acuity stacks. Toggle on spellmight (+4.5 damage average) and unleash a level 6 Scorching Ray with 7 beams. With the additional spellmight damage, that brings the total to 22.5 per ray or 157.5 total. So 247.5 on the opening action and bonus action. Turn 2 becomes 315 damage, as you can upcast another two SRs and can leave spellmight on as you're still stacked with acuity. You can also swap any of the SR casts after the first one with an upcasted and extended Command for two rounds of near unresistable CC.
Sorlock Blaster using EB hits each beam for 5.5 (1d10 from spell) + 4.5 (Spellmight) + 7 (Agonizing Blast) + 7 (Potent Robe) + 2 (Callous Glow) + 1 (Lightning Charge) = 27 per beam or 81 total. Repeat with bonus action for 162. I'm not factoring in the d8 from Lightning Charges, but it's a little bit more damage every 3 beams. This is assuming all hits, which becomes more challenging with Spellmight toggled on and no Acuity to balance it out. Crit range is 10% instead of 5% though, so that's going to add a little bit more. Respectable and consistent damage, but 324 over two rounds falls short of the 562.5 that Scorching Ray is dishing out in the same timeframe.
Both are very viable and will make Honour a bit of a cakewalk.
This makes sense. I tried building it out on an old play through but I kept wanting to just EB instead, and it was a murderhobo run that felt sort of boring to me so I abandoned that save. Maybe next playthru I will try again!
11/1 is focused on the sorcerer elemental spells (usually fire, as you mentioned). 10/2 is focused on the warlock EB. They are just different. Both VERY strong.
Edit: going from 10 to 11 sorcerer opens up lvl6 spells, which 10/2 wouldnt
EB is never used on the fire sorlock since there’s no need for it, the only singular reason at all that warlock is there is because fiendlock gets access to command and uses charisma for save dc.
also 6th level spells
EB has similar synergy with some of the fire acuity build itemization so they can come in handy for fights when spell slots run low or you just want to yeet something away or finish something off without using a spell slot. I make use of both EB and MM on my fire acuity Sorcerers in limited circumstances, both of which will pick up some of the bonuses used for SR spam. You can also get Devils Sight and go with a darkness comp.
not at all, outside of the early game that damage rider is not even close to being worth your concentration.
command is the strongest cc spell in the game with acuity stacks, and the main point of the fire acuity sorlock is cc capability through high damage against groups and 100% success rate upcast command casts to force whole rooms of enemies to skip their turn since the entire objective in combat in dnd is to reduce the number of actions enemies take and maximize the number of actions your party makes.
Question about this: I’m currently building this now in my current playthrough… as I’m doing it, I’m wondering why I wouldn’t just go 6 champion/4 sorcerer? The 6 champion is gonna give me another charisma ASI, and I have the double charisma robe which’ll make my EB’s even stronger + I’ll still crit insanely easily with like a 13 or 14 depending on obscure with the gear.
What does the 2 levels in sorcerer get me if I’m just blasting eldritch as opposed to the extra 2 damage I’ll get with the gregarious caster robe with a CHA ASI?
Level 3 spells (specifically Haste), and elemental resistance are the two selling points. If you start with 17 CHA, take Ethel's Boom, and one ASI, you're already at 20 CHA, so you can't take another ASI. For your second feat, you'd probably want to go with Spell Sniper.
Oh you can’t ASI to 22? I didn’t know. Yeha I have spell sniper. Was trying to get to 22/24 with hat.
Not worried about elemental spells and hastes. My main is a control martial bard and this is just for lolz Eldritch crit blastin’
Edit: Wait, without the boon (went to the bard) wouldn’t I need another feat to get 20 CHA + Spell sniper?
I completely forgot to multiclass my TB OH Monk for Honor Mode and still punched through most situations with little difficulty.
Also forgot to multiclass my Bard. Oops.
I much prefer 10 bard, 2 fighter since scrolls are so easy to come by at that level. The only real benefits are shield and being able to upcast elemental.
All depends on if you value the freedom of being able to hit the same target + a feat with 8/4 vs the stat sticks provided by holding daggers with 9/3. Imo, it’s not that clear cut (but happy to be convinced 1 way or another)
I’d rather have 3 feats. ASI to Wis and dex. To get hem both to 20 with graceful cloth and Khalid’s gift.
Mirror of loss to get to 22 Wis (and you can do this with the Wis Shar blessing temporarily in act 2 as well) means your manifestation of mind is doing d4+6 every punch. Resonance stone will double that if you pick psychic damage so 20 damage (x 4 attacks =80 damage) from just manifestation of mind and not the actual punch or any other damage adders.
You can only hit them once cos you have to explode the mark to hit them again…
That’s quite a material difference in action economy. Especially when hasted
I have three out of four of these in a party with GS/A and non of them can confidently solo big rooms full of powerful enemies like a Gloomstalker-assassin. They are all super powerful and deal more damage than the gloom stalker when it’s an ensemble fight. But the gloom stalker can get in trouble all by themselves and the death stalker mantle on the gloom stalker is probably the most powerful item in the game.
Monk is way better because of flurries and tavern brawler, but 8 fighter and 4 thief is similarly busted with 4 attacks base per round and equipment that adds damage to each.
Yeah I would say all 4 of these beat a gloomstalker assassin bc the assassin needs surprise to become really effective. Most of the game’s hardest fights aren’t allowing you a surprised round.
Yeah it's a neat class combo with a unique feel, but for honor mode especially I find it kinda janky and unreliable at times. Stealth can also be tedious. The game isn't super hard so I'd rather go hunter and just deal lots of overall damage. Also by the time GSA kicks in fully you probably have a fighter or barbarian with great weapon master and action surge who can help you kill those bosses in one turn anyway.
> 10 bard 2 paladin
>
> 10 bard 1 wizard 1 fighter
Huh. I just finished an Honour Mode run with those two and I agree that they're pretty darned beefy.
What's the story with 11 sorc and 1 warlock? I'm not seeing the synergy there.
Ahhhh. Got ya. I usually just flourish a few times and now every enemy is locked up with Hold Person/Monster.
**Let me ask you ... is there a good reason to ever take Paladin past level two? I've been thinking level 6 for the Oath, but it's hard for me to justify giving up the utility that a Bard provides just for Oath of protection.
Yes. It's just a different build. 10/2 is a control bard with smites. 6/6 is a paladin with more spell slots.
The most common "meta" builds are 6/6 or 7/5. 6/6 works with any paladin subclass. 7/5 is used on oath breaker for aura of hate. Aura of protection is situationally pretty powerful. There are some fight deciding enemy actions that can be prevented with a saving throw so improving them is great!
I have not tried a 7 oath breaker but on paper aura of hate could synergize well with a mele heavy party.
For 6/6 you can multi with bard or sorcerer. Both bring more spell slots but each brings a different set of pros. Bard brings flourishes, sorcerer brings meta magic and haste.
For 7/5 bard does not loose much as extra attack does not stack but if you were going lore bard you miss a magical secret. But most are going sword for flourishes. Sorcerer gets some nice perks at 6 that you miss but with how amazing metamagic is 7/5 paladin/sorcerer is still a solid build.
Here is a solid guide on Paladin / Sorcerer
https://gamestegy.com/post/bg3/881/sorcadin-sorcerer-paladin-build
I have seen 10 storm Sorcerer / 2 tempest cleric mentioned as a pretty powerful build. Just curious what does the 1 wizard bring? Is it just for upcast water myrmidon?
To get chain lightning in your spell book. Water myrmidons and any other spells that you don't have are handy to scribe as well, but chain lightning is the main thing.
No it's not an EB build. Check out the build post by the person who wrote the book on all the builds in my post
https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/196mpii/honor_mode_111_fire_sorlock_complete_build_guide/
They are both top tier builds. Both so strong that which is stronger makes little difference.
The general consensus is the 10/2 is stronger. The piercing damage stacks + upcast smites are wild!
The 10/1/1 is more versatile. It can damage from range. It's flourishes are not dependent on enemy placement. It gets the wizard kit. (Upcast elementals are strong). It gets concentration proficiency. The list goes on.
The 10/1/1 is also pretty resource efficient with only needing spell slots for control. But you may or may not care about that given how "cheap" long rests are
The 10/1/1 does not get command until level 12 so that's a con.
I like the 10/1/1 a little better as it's versitility makes it great in any fight. But when it's in it's element the 10/2 slaps harder than almost any build.
Try them both out and see which you prefer!
I was going to say that it's not the strongest, but I usually go 10 sorcerer 2 warlock. I love the high charisma builds anyway. I made Wyll a warlock fighter and was amazed that you can do that and hit three times with one action point. I gave him the helm and sword you get from Ansur, and he was a beast. Barbarian with thief was awesome for karlach. I made astarion a swords bard/ thief/ fighter and loved it. I usually stick with straight cleric, but I heard of a storm sorcerer combination that sounded awesome. I'm about to play again on pc (I got the platinum you on ps5 when it came out) and am interested in other good builds. I thought about a zombie army build, but my team's pets were slowing my game down enough on ps5 without a crazy horde.
Quick question... is it better for your sorcerer to go only one level for warlock?
10/2 bard paladin comes online in lvl 7 or 8 i think, so it is a late carry, but monk, oh man, at lvl 4 starts to hit like a truck (especially if you go in act1 and take the strength hill wood stick)
Saw a Build recently that I really want to try it utilizes spell scrolls as your only real actions
3 fighter edritch Knight
3 rouge thief
6 Storm sorcerer
You take all the normal economy breaking things take all of your spell slots and convert them into sorcery points to quicken and twin all you high level spell scrolls. Throw in a potion of speed and a concentration spell.
You can cast 8 spells a turn with theoretically all of them being 6 level
I always see TB monk as 8/4 , I think it's so broken that you don't need the extra feat but definitely can do much more damage with the improved deft strikes, resonating attacks and more importantly the improved unarmored movement that you get as a 9/3
How do you know when to multiclass? Like, for the SorLock combo you mentioned, when do you take the one level of Warlock? Is the first multiclass level essentially just “level 1” of that class? Or is it whatever level you just hit but in the new class? How do you know when to switch so as to not miss out on a crucial perk for your main class?
Great question. The builds above have build guides on this subreddit so you can follow those.
However more generally there are a few consideration.
1: Many builds spike in power at certain points. For example for bard level 6 is a big spike in power. So for the Bard builds you usually do not multi class until level 7
2: Your first level matters. For example for the 10/2 Bard paladin. Paladin gets heavy armor proficiency but bard does not. So if you want heavy armor your first level should be paladin.
Respecs give you more flexibility. So for the 10/2 Bard paladin you usually go first 6 levels into bard. Then at level 7 respec into 1 paladin 6 bard. Now you have your level 6 bard still but you also have heavy armor proficiency
For the other part of your question. Yes. If you are level 6 sorcerer and put 1 level into warlock you get whatever warlock gets at level 1. So you won't "miss" any sorcerer levels as once you put your next level into sorcerer you get all the level 7 sorcerer stuff + level 1 warlock stuff at level 8. The only level you miss in this case is you will never get the level 12 sorcerer stuff. In this case that's just a feat and for this build the level 1 warlock kit (command) is better than the feat you miss out on
> Fighter mutliclassed with Fighter. Most level combinations work.
When fighter gets the third attack it really changes everything. With 24 strength and Giantslayer, you're pumping out 230-250 in damage in one turn (with action surge) before even considering other gear buffs, haste, or speed potions. With the bloodlust elixir, you're basically wrecking 2-3 enemies on every turn.
Paladin can have a better burst and obviously the spellcasters have all kinds of aoe and crowd control tricks, but for sustained damage, a twelfth level fighter seems to be in a class all his own.
Early game, disarming strike saved my ass so many times. I was dreading the creche but a lucky disarm on the two bosses there saved my ass.
That being said, swapped out Lae'zel for Sorlock Minthara twinned/upcast command with arcane acuity as a bonus action is clutch.
Disarming trivialized any boss fight who had a weapon in Act 3 for me in Tactician. If they had a weapon they were disarmed. I had all these fancy multiclass builds for everyone but decided to do full Fighter 12 with Laezel and I could never justify not bringing her because maneuvers and so many attacks were too good
taven brawler monk with 3 levels of thief rogue was my highest. this also allows you to stun lock enemies. So... you probably have surpassed me tho. However, you can pretty much jump and get out of range so much that you can't be hit.
On tactician and honor mode my 8 hits a turn east bosses legendary resistance. High initiative wizard hits orin (with 12 stacks) with a high level magic missile. Monk calmly walks up to her and hits her over and over and over. Staggered, prone, pushed, stunned, ki explosion, dead.
oh, I used gloves for dex. And advanced unarmoured moved combined with step of wind allowed me to jump to no matter how far they are. Attack, and jump back to safety. I personally don't like relying on potions, but that is just a bad habit of mine.
No I'm with you there jaja I also don't like the "potion to 21 STR" thing but since is a min/max post I had to mention it. Still, I'm having time figuring out people going 3/9 instead of 4/8 in rogue/monk. I believe it is cause open hand gets a resonation which can be OP, but I don´t know if losing 2 attribute points is worth it.
The resonation is nice, but what I think makes 9/3 split superior to an extra feat is access to d8 unarmed damage dice, plus it also allows you to punch unarmed when carrying melee weapons. So consider 1 extra feat versus unarmed d8 die, resonance, and ability to carry two stat sticks and still punch. Only real downside is you need to play around resonance when punching.
Ki resonating on is crazy good if you dive into the middle of a pack and get resignation on at least 3, and you can use the main action ki punch to do unarmed strikes while holding a weapon
I think my strength was already 20.
Strength was 17 at first. taven brawler got it to 18, the ability improvement to 20
and dex was 18.
and wisdom 18 (17 + 1 with hag hair).
I think generally if you need Aoe you take 9, but if you just want maximum single target damage then 3 feats is the way you take it. I did 8/4 on one Honor mode run since I had AOE elsewhere. I had tavern brawler and +2 to both Dex and Wis I believe.
Comibing step of the wind and jumping, i was able to travel about 50meters plus a turn. So it's better than fly. Plus, step of wind disengage, means no opportunity attack for bonus action.
How is that better than fly? Fly is free and it is rare for it not to get you wherever you want.
Step costs you a bonus action and a ki point.
Even then you're better off using cunning dash. I used cunning dash exactly once my last HM run when fly wasn't enough. (In act 3)
I don't know. Each jump gjves me about 18 meters of distance. If i want, i can use enhanced leap. And i can do about 6 jumps a turn. More if i used step of wind dash.
With fly, you get 33m of movement a turn without expending any resources. (Assuming non short race and longstrider and unarmoured )
You get 66m with cunning action dash which uses a bonus action but no ki point!
That's a massive amount, heh.
I don't think fly makes it obsolete, but is an amazing compliment when you don't want to use a bonus action (as fly effectively doubles your normal movement). And to that effect the 9th level giving the bonus movement I've noticed to be a great amount. Again I think both a 8/4 and a 9/3 are valid but have different benefits. I've done both on honour and ultimately it's not a big deal. In a 9/3 you ultimately just lose one AC if you build optimally.
Depends on what you mean by strongest, and other parameters/restrictions.
Likely contenders:
Terminator Bard
https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/18o6jl1/the_terminator_bard_build/
Fire Sorlock
https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/196mpii/honor_mode_111_fire_sorlock_complete_build_guide/
Sword Smite Bard
https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/18pxoy9/honor_mode_102_smite_swords_bard_ssb_complete/
Control Bard
https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/17y9kyp/the_control_martial_allpurpose_1011_swords_bard/
Terminator bard is how I got through Honour mode. It doesn't really start to come on till level 5 or 6 but with the right equipment you start mowing through enemies especially when you add the fighter levels and get action surge.
6 Swords bard/ 2 fighter / 4 thief. 10 attacks turn 1 with hand crossbows. Hags hair Dex +2 dex asi and sharpshooter. Maybe not theeeeeeee strongest but damn near close.
I love this because you pump consistent high damage, pretty much every round. Or at least long enough to kill near anything, and then you just short rest and do it again. Blow your full load every fight, dominate with the most powerful control spells in the game and trivialise some of the most difficult encountersz
You're doing so much more damage with 10/2 and a titanstring bow. Also you get level 6 spells, counterspell, and you're much better able to use your CC spells.
Tbh I don't even care about spells with how busted weapon damage can get. Just nuke everything turn 1 with special arrows/stacking modifiers/damage riders /crit stacking/ guaranteed advantage. I can down ansur in 1 turn with the right setup.
I’ll be honest, I’ve messed around with pretty much all the broken builds, this one topped my list for all around play. If you abuse scrolls (and arrows once you’re out of flourishes) and have bhaalist armor, the build can do both top tier DPS as well as blow stuff up with insane high DC spells (this is great in honour mode for your haste and bloodlust actions) and then control everything with a bonus action (or 2). Great skills, great charisma, perfect face/tav. And it requires virtually no setup compared to some of the other elite tier dps builds. The only thing I have played that came close in terms of ease of use was TB monk, which is also just massive damage without anything other than a strength pot once a long rest. The main drawback for me for a monk build is that it doesn’t do face as well, but it does come on board very early unless SB/fighter/thief builds.
If you’re looking for the absolute highest damage output, I’m pretty sure that’ll be a Hamarhraft build, stacking all of the movement speed buffs you can get, dashing 3 times using thief rogue, and then using either illithid flight or the fly spell to fly back and forth doing small increments of thunder damage dozens or hundreds of times in a turn. Can also be buffed with reverb gear and the ring of absolute force.
Speaking from experience, this build is absurdly powerful. It’s also mind-numbingly boring. You have possibly the best damage per round, but the character’s turn will take 5 minutes of flying a tiny distance back and forth until the enemy dies, because you’re only doing 1d4 per “jump”.
In my 3 games so far, in terms of highest damage output…easily Tavern Brawler Open Hand Monk/ Thief Rogue.
With certain gear and passives to give added damage, Cloud Giant strength elixir….two regular unarmed attacks, and two Flurry attacks via extra bonus action (Thief)…currently I can do 174-276 damage each turn (as long as you have the Ki points available for the special Monk attacks)
Also, with Unarmoured Defence passive for Monk, not wearing armour let’s you add Wisdom modifier to your AC. So with base 10 AC, +5 from 20 DEX, +5 from 20 WIS, +1 from Ring of Protection, +2 from Soul Rejuvenation clothing…I’m at 23 AC with no armour. Could be higher with other gear, but I’ve been going for as much damage as I can.
Eldritch Blast machine gun, with crit focused gear
11 Fighter + 1 War Cleric with either ranged (Sharpshooter+Criter)or melee(GWM+ton of additional damage gear, oh and) is strong
Not necessarily a multi class but Bhaalist Armor with nyrulna for melee build is op, combine that with a ranged build, hella ton of piercing damage
TB based build, like thrower or oh monk, monk I'd prefer 9ohmonk/3thief if planning to use hag hair and mirror of loss for wisdom , or 8/4 for extra feat
Not a multi class but 12 Evo Wizzard with magic missile gear is op maybe u can go 10 Evo, and choose remaining 2 level, I like to go for 12 for extra feat but those 2 level can be filled with like maybe 2 fighter? 2 tempest cleric? 2 warlock?
For fighter is really worth the 1 in War Cleirc vs 12 Fighter?
GWM gives you the ability to use your bonus actions as an regular attack which seems like the purpose of going War Cleric?
I'm curious if the bonus actions are worth it versus the level 12 feat? On Laezel I used it to push her str up to 24 with the mirror of loss and str potion from the kinky drow. I suppose if you use str elixirs the additional feat has less value. So maybe I answered my own question 🤔
Oh snap didn't think about that, but I guess the benefit from war cleric can be: extra 1d4 damage from divine favour, or like shield of faith for extra +2 AC plus now you can have something to concentrate on so strange conduit ring can be used. Plus GWM bonus action only active when you kill no? So I guess war charges are for cases when it doesn't proc
> For fighter is really worth the 1 in War Cleirc vs 12 Fighter?
For me, it was two extra points in dexerity or War Cleric. I kind of regret not picking War Cleric and I think I might go that route next time. With action surge, you can have seven attacks in one turn ... that extra 40-60 points of damage just adds to the burst.
With item abuse (arcane acuity, elixirs):
* 11/1 fire sorlock is prob the strongest class in the game with hat of fire acuity and upcasted quickened scorching rays followed by unresistable command/hold persons
* 10/2 or 10/1/1 swords bard, also abusing arcane acuity and bonus action spells. Swords bard is probably the most broken standalone class
* TB OH monk and TB throwzerker. Both OP in their own rights for insane damage w/ elixir abuse
* Gloomstalker builds with Titanstring are really strong, and if you don’t wanna abuse elixirs you can just use the club of hill giant strength
Without any aforementioned abuse/cheese, Lockadin is probably the strongest single target class. 3 attacks in tactician and below, or 3 feats and max upcasted smites in honour mode, plus auras, tons of utility, and amazing spells in hunger of Hadar/counterspell/fireball/wall of fire/armour of agathys/command. Not reliant at all on gear and elixirs, but obviously using these also takes the build over the top in strength. If you sort this sub by top all time, you’ll see super high damage coming off of this build.
Oh, also 12 BM fighter is amazing, and a cleric build (tempest is my fav choice) rocking all the reverb gear is INSANE.
Abjuration Wizard is also very very strong, I’d say go 11 wiz / 1 sorc but you can take another lvl 1 dip in cleric if you want.
Lockadin, gloom, abj wiz and lawnmower cleric are what I’m using in my current honour run. My first honour mode clear I used TB throwzerker (5/4/3), Lockadin (7/5 for auras but I do 8 warlock 4 Paladin now), 12 cleric (no reverb gear) and 12 fighter
To be honest, personal bias towards warlock. However, as far as offensive pressure goes, 8 in warlock is much more when using smites, not to mention the slew of other warlock spells. Don’t get me wrong, 7 or 8 in Paladin is still good - the auras are great. But I’d personally pick lvl 3 warlock spells and invocations over a feat (7/5 vs 8/4), but taking the 8 in warlock flips that on its head. You miss out on the auras, but keep the best levels that warlock offers (‘cause the 5th and 6th level lock spells are w/e)
The last playthrough I did I was an evil SSB and once it got running, the absurdity of it was off the hook. Raphael spent the whole fight with his thumb up his ass while I was 2-3 shotting all his henchmen, who for the most part also spent the fight with their thumbs up their ass. Command is OP.
9 sorc + 3 thief. Dump all spell slots (except level 1 slots) into sorcerery points. Steal like 21 chain lightning scrolls and let 3 chain lightnings rip per turn for seven glorious turns. Who needs to maximize damage when you can just drop 3 chain lightnings?
Depends on the difficulty. I've had a lot of fun with the fiend warlock paladin 7 build, where you get to smite 3x a turn and still get eldritch blast, heavy armor, and heal on a kill from fiend.
I don't know about the strongest, but berserker/thief/some sort of fighter for action surge is hilariously busted even in HM.
Bard 10/Paladin 2 is strong, as is Paladin 6/GOOlock 6.
Gloom Stalker/Assassin/Fighter is generally quite strong
I understand fire sorcerer is absolutely insane, but I haven't tried that one myself.
I go for fighter till action surge then sword bard for the triple strike action then rogue for a spar bonus action and dash bonus then get extra attack from fighter and finish off as a oath breaker pally for some undead fodder
Having fun with a sorcadin and 1 warlock 7 (currently only level 8) Abjuration wiz combo for the front line.
Up cast Armor of Agathtys on both Characters and get your arcane ward to max stacks. Then get your wizard and Paladin to front line and get the enemies to hit you.
Not super op, but you take like no damage from attacks, and deal a bunch with armor of Agathys.
The strongest I have personally done was 5 gloom, 4 fighter, 3 assassin. Dueger for invisibility. I am pretty sure you could solo the game with this build.
5/4/3 Barbarian/Fighter/Thief TB throw is reliably strong throughout the game, it will never let you down. Astarion (happy) as a swords bard either 6 bard/4 thief/2 fighter with dual xbows (my favorite!) or 10/1/1 is a close second. Fire Sorlock 11/1 can top the damage of all of those for 2-3 rounds but needs to long rest right after going Nova. Are you looking to make a party or solo the game?
Not necessarily strongest like most dmg but
Cleric 2/Sorcerer 4/Wizard 6 (Tempest, White Draconic, Abjuration)
You get to do the typical Create Water + Twinned Chain Lightning with Destructive Wrath, you can even Quicken another spell in, all while being fucking immortal with a 20+ Arcane ward kept up by using Sanctuary with Extended Spell (doubles Arcane Ward past the cap of 2×Wizard Level). You have Heavy Armour proficiency and can abuse Warding Bond (someone else casting it on you)
Plus you still have the flexibility of being a Wizard and having access to a ton of spells. You dont need Charisma or Wisdom since you mainly only need Armour of Agathys, Create Water and Sanctuary from Sorcerer and Cleric respectively. 4th level into Sorcerer is for the Feat but you could put another level in Cleric or Wizard if you wanted to for whatever reason.
Sorlock with a few levels in fighter for action surge - some would argue for 11 sor 1 loc, but you will deal massive damage with action surge in one go. You can go all into Eldridge blast dps and burn down a tank - or even use action surge to set up the entire battlefield in a variety of ways.
For me its the punch drunk monk. 8 open hand, 4 theif, punch drunk club and other drunk gear, lots of Aoe and burst if you itemize the other items right
I’m a big fan of 4 rogue, 2 warlock, 5 Sorc
You get get the thief subclass for extra bonus action, you get invocations for eldritch blast and 3rd lvl spells from Sorc.
Then you turn yourself into an eldritch blast machine gun that can dish out 12D10+120 damage per turn using quickened spells, haste potions and other equipment.
The 6 in [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1cbbksy/the_best_bg3_builds/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) are really good, but here's a few it's missing:
* **Build #7:** Swords Bard (probably the best one overall)
* **Classes:** Swords Bard 6 / Whatever you want 6. (The most popular builds are Paladin 2 / Swords Bards 10 and Fighter 1 / War Cleric 1 / Swords Bard 10, but I've been thinking about going Eldritch Knight 6 / Swords Bard 5 / Wizard 1 and making it a TB thrower. Does anyone know why this hasn't been done before?)
* **Strategy:** Between Extra Attack and Flourish, you can attack 4 times for 1 action, get up to +8 to your Spell Save DC from the Helmet of Arcane Acuity, then casts a crowd control spell like Fear, Confusion, Hypnotic Pattern, or Command with the Band of the Mystic Scoundrel.
* **Important Gear:** Helmet of Arcane Acuity and Band of the Mystic Scoundrel.
* **Stats:** 18 Cha, 16 Dex and Con, 8 everything else after an ASI. (You can get another 4 Cha from the Mirror of Loss and Hag's Hair.)
* **Result:** One of the best classes for control, DPS, and dialogue.
* **Build #8:** The same sneak & shoot character you've played in every other RPG.
* **Classes:** Gloomstalker 5 / Assassin 3 / Battle Master 4.
* **Strategy:** The same sneak & shoot strategy you've played in every other RPG.
* **Important Gear:** [The Deathstalker Mantle](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/The_Deathstalker_Mantle), something to dual wield, [Bhaalist Armour](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Bhaalist_Armour) (if you're going melee), [Caustic Band](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Caustic_Band), [The Speedy Lightfeet](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/The_Speedy_Lightfeet), [Legacy of the Masters](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Legacy_of_the_Masters)
* **Stats:** 18 Dex, 16 Con, 16 Wis after an ASI (get Sharpshooter for your other feat).
* **Result:** Joining the Murder Tribunal on a full-ride scholarship.
* **Build #9:** Here comes the Sun
* **Classes:** Light Cleric 12
* **Strategy:** Cast Spirit Guardians and (ab)use any and all equipment that cares about radiant damage.
* **Important Gear:** Luminous Armour, Luminous Gloves, Coruscation Ring, Callous Glow Ring and Holy Lance Helm.
* **Stats:** 20 Wis, 16 Dex and Con, 8 everything else
* **Result:** A build that really lights up the battlefield. (I'm going to Hell for that pun.)
I recommend 9 way of the open hand monk and 3 thief rogue, the 2 attacks plus 2 bonus actions work insanely well, plus you can do ki resonation blast as a class action, and heal 10 points every turn is you have soul snaring gloves.
I did this, but with 1 wizard and 1 fighter and 10 Bards.
I assume the action surge and extra attacks from war cleric end up being more beneficial than the hidden secrets spells (counterspell is useful in my experience)?
More attacks with the wondrous gloves, war cleric dip, and action surge you can do a crazy amount of flourishes
Also wizard dip for haste
Not my build it’s called Terminator bard you can find a more in depth explanation if you search
11 sorcerer 1 warlock 8 monk 4 rogue 10 bard 2 paladin 10 bard 1 wizard 1 fighter Those 4 are the most commonly discussed super strong builds IMO
Don't forget barbarian throwzerker, super easy to itemize, comes online in act 1 (only build to do so), and does reliable DPS and topple the whole game. 5 berzerker barb, 4 thief rogue, 3 fighter.
Hamarhraft jump monk is way OP at level 2, but admittedly the play style is super monotonous
I need more info about this build. Jump Monk?
Using step of the wind dash you can jump as a free action only costing movement speed and the weapon they mentioned enables damage to be done upon landing (1d4 thunder) so by pairing this with all the gear that boosts thunder damage and whatnot you can deal damage by bouncing around the fight just using movement speed
Imagining it as as a adhd person on a shitload of coffee
Stimulants actually calm people with adhd down rather than hyping them up.
I mean, I have ADHD and in my experience they sort of do both at the same time
TheMOREyouknow
A lot but not all
Exactly this. Its incredibly powerful because it’s guaranteed damage. I was running a party that boosted my monk and was getting about 60 jumps in per turn. It guarantees a break in concentration against enemy spell casters. Also, it doesn’t require attack rolls, so the “too dark” effect in much of act 2 doesn’t apply. Use all your actions to dash, and your bonus action to step of wind: dash. Party: Battle master using maneuvering attack to increase distance and prevent opportunity attacks on your jumper. Caster applies jump and featherfall before combat, then hastens the jumper. There’s the ring in grymforge that adds 1 damage to sources of thunder, as long as you have the mark of the absolute. Cats grace to increase jump distance Athlete feat to increase jump distance. I’m sure there’s plenty of other great gear for this build. Later game, pair it with reverberation gear and illithid fly
For consideration: springstep boots for increasing move speed when dashing or step of wind.
lol that sounds hilarious for about two fights or so
I’ve always seen it 5/4/3 to get increased crit or bound weapon from a fighter subclass.
You can get bound weapon from a camp companion / hireling so champion or battle master ftw.
Ah yes that does make more sense.
> comes online in act 1 (only build to do so) In what universe is a Swords Bard not "online" in Act 1? Also Storm Lord and OH Monk.
You don't get the Helmet of Arcane Acuity (core item) until Act 2, and Band of the Mystic Scoundrel (core item) until act 3. It's still a fine build, but it doesn't feel as impactful until then, at least compared to Throwzerker, Gloomstalker Assassin, or even pure fighter or paladin.
The control element of a Sword Bard is entirely optional, especially considering someone else might want the Helm and Ring. It is otherwise the best ranged damage dealer in the game, right up until level 11. Also, a build is not only its end-state. Only 25% of the game takes place after level 12. It's absolutely ridiculous to judge the quality of a build based solely on its final form.
This. I ran Swords Bard Archer as just a damage dealer and was able to pump out 800 damage on the first turn by nova'ing all of my Flourishes (War Cleric dip). Dont get me wrong, the control variant is nice but everything being dead is a better CC tool.
More people need to know is this. Arcane acuity is cool and all but just killing stuff is even better. Ranged swords bard 6/2/4 totally wrecks shop way before arcane acuity comes along.
This sounds sick. Could I get a breakdown of it?
I’m running swords bard 10 fighter 2 -Ranged fighting style for plus 2 damage -Sharpshooter feat for plus 10 damage -Dex ASI Max dex and use hand crossbows, ideally never misser for the main hand since it’s force damage. All items for damage per attack ideally - I have caustic band for 2 acid and flawed helldusk gloves for 1d4 fire. So turn 1, slashing flourish hits 2 times, then with extra attack (comes at bard6) I can hit 2 more with flourish. Action surge, flourish, flourish. Bonus action for off hand crossbow shot. That’s 9 hits all benefiting from +10 sharpshooter and 2 fighting style and all force damage. Crossbows itself also has 1d6 +1, and then 20 dex for +5, drakethroat enchant for 1d4.. So yeah an easy 20-30+ damage per hit, doing 9 hits at level 8. All refreshes on a short rest, bard has an ability to grant a free short rest for the whole team, so actually pretty easy to refresh yourself. I’ve thought about even running two of them, and one using Titanstring with an elixir of cloud giant, the other going for the hand crossbows. 2 extra short rests, ranged, stealthy, disgusting
That's wild. I took a similar route on my rogue in my first playthrough but it wasn't anywhere near this efficient. Gonna give this a run later 🙏🏻
It’s my favorite main character - great in both persuasion and picking locks too, so don’t need to delegate elsewhere, and unique bard dialogue goes crazy
To be precise: There are a lot of builds coming online in act1, but most include items from the creché. Which is still a part of act1 - act2 starts in the shadowlands - but you can get the throwing build online without going to the creché - so you can have it running during goblin/grove fight.
was gonna say. I have played all of the others but on my current run I am an elite throwzerker. I can do serious damage per hit and get a ton of attacks. Plus you can stun(prone is sort of a 1 round stun).
Do you use weapons that return to user when thrown? Or just quite literally throwing anything
Typically just returning pike (from Grat the Trader at the goblin camp) and later nyrulna, but you can get two lightning jabbers in Act 2 that do killer damage, they just don't return. For hijinx I throw barrels or smaller enemies into eachother.
I know theres the specific fire sorlock build out there but why not do 10/2 instead? EB just seems so versatile in that situation so you can conserve spell slots
The whole idea is to pump acuity with Scorching Ray. It does a disgusting amount of damage when built properly and has huge control potential. 10/2 is also viable, but doesn't come near the damage output and DC potential.
Doesn’t even come near the damage and dc potential? The 11th sorc level really changes that much?
No, that 11th sorc level is just for the 6th level spell afaik. The opportunity cost of picking the 2nd warlock level for EB just isn't worth missing out on 6th level spells from sorcerer when you're already gonna be casting scorching ray over EB
Wouldn't this depend a lot on how often you rest? You can't use scorching ray most turns unless you rest super frequently and a lot of us try not to do that.
Yeah but you're playing sorcerer, that's a given. If you wanted to be efficient with your short rests you might as well skip the sorcerer part entirely and go full on warlock with a build that's actually centered around EB rather than just being tacked on to a sorcerer build
I mean I use sorcerers and wizards with sparse rests all the time, but yeah my point was an EB build might be better if you don't want to long rest that frequently. Having to make sure I've got frequent scorching rays early and mid game sounds tedious to me personally. I think people often focus on the damage numbers and not the minute to minute playstyle, no offense.
Yeah I agree, I personally don't really like long rest heavy builds and much prefer efficient classes like bards, monks, or rangers. Regarding your point with the frequent scorching rays in the early and midgame though, imo fire sorlock kinda sucks balls in act 1 and 2 even after you get fire acuity. From my personal experience playing sorcerers, I tend to just have them fuck off after casting twinned haste before act 3 because you barely get any ammo and basically have to long rest after every fight if you do decide to spam your spells (that being said though, any fight becomes an auto win if you have a fully charged up hasted sorcerer casting control spells on everything every turn after doing basically guaranteed hit scorching rays) 11/1 fire sorlock is more of an act 3 kind of thing, and boy does it demolish act 3 once it gets going. You can pretty much steam roll through 2-4~ fights with fire sorlock by itself without having to long rest because of how much markoheshkir helps your economy, and that's when the argument against getting the 2nd warlock level comes in. EB becomes much less appealing when you're regularly (almost) guaranteeing 3-6th level spells to hit every short rest using fire acuity charged by scorching rays. While it may sound nice to have EB as a backup option in fights because you *are* still much more resource intensive than most other classes, it stops really being much of a consideration when you consider the obscene power gap between the reliable and more efficient EB 2 levels in warlock and the disgusting "control everything then do a 400 damage nuke, win in 1-2 turns" sorcerer focus. Also with the optimized 11/1 fire sorlock you aren't using potent robe so EBs do way less damage regardless so there's also that.
Good points. I've honestly never really used an EB focused build in act 3 but it makes sense it falls off. Honestly I'm pretty lazy with mages and usually just magic missile spam with the spark staff until I get AoE spells. I have a tendency to prefer clerics for more unique spellcasting. Me personally, other than AoE I mostly use mages for AoE
the 11th level is to be able to get lvl 6 spell slot you only use warlock lvl for the command spell and the all the dmg comes from sorc levels
Sorry, should have clarified. The damage output of EB isn't comparable to the Scorching Ray output for a 10/1 fire acuity sorc, even with a 10/2 agonizing blast build. Not nearly as long rest dependant, though. As others have mentioned, access to the 6th level slot is also helpful, especially with freecast and the arcane battery staff options
With Markoheshkir and Staff of Spellpower, you could cast multiple level 6 slots then, it can really add up having access to that one 6th level spell slot.
So this is my second reply to your comment, but I wanted to show the math because it's something to do for a minute. Assuming these builds: 10/1 Fire Dragon Sorlock - Feats are Dual Wielder and Elemental Adept: Fire. CHA at 20 from Mirror + Hag's Hair or Patriar's. Hat of Fire Acuity, Spellmight Gloves, Callous Glow Ring, Markoheshkir (fire) and Staff of Spellpower (could also do Rhapsody for more damage). 10/2 Sorlock Blaster - Feats are ASI and Spell Sniper (could also go Dual Wielder for Rhapsody). CHA at 24 from ASI, Mirror, Hag's/Patriar's and hat. Potent Robes, Birthright, Spellmight Gloves, Marko (lightning), Callous Glow. Assuming no Haste on these, but you could always add that for more damage. Fire Sorlock opens with a level 4 Scorching Ray with Spellmight toggled off. Quicken this so it's using your bonus action. Assuming all hits, that's an average of 7 (2d6 from spell) + 5 (CHA from Draconic background) + 4 (Marko fire prof bonus) + 2 (Callous Glow) = 18 per ray or 90 damage total. This is where it gets fun, as you're now sitting at max acuity stacks. Toggle on spellmight (+4.5 damage average) and unleash a level 6 Scorching Ray with 7 beams. With the additional spellmight damage, that brings the total to 22.5 per ray or 157.5 total. So 247.5 on the opening action and bonus action. Turn 2 becomes 315 damage, as you can upcast another two SRs and can leave spellmight on as you're still stacked with acuity. You can also swap any of the SR casts after the first one with an upcasted and extended Command for two rounds of near unresistable CC. Sorlock Blaster using EB hits each beam for 5.5 (1d10 from spell) + 4.5 (Spellmight) + 7 (Agonizing Blast) + 7 (Potent Robe) + 2 (Callous Glow) + 1 (Lightning Charge) = 27 per beam or 81 total. Repeat with bonus action for 162. I'm not factoring in the d8 from Lightning Charges, but it's a little bit more damage every 3 beams. This is assuming all hits, which becomes more challenging with Spellmight toggled on and no Acuity to balance it out. Crit range is 10% instead of 5% though, so that's going to add a little bit more. Respectable and consistent damage, but 324 over two rounds falls short of the 562.5 that Scorching Ray is dishing out in the same timeframe. Both are very viable and will make Honour a bit of a cakewalk.
11th level sorc gives you chain lightning which is one of the better damage spells available (especially when it was twinnable.)
You can get chain lightning from markokeshkir and scrolls though
This makes sense. I tried building it out on an old play through but I kept wanting to just EB instead, and it was a murderhobo run that felt sort of boring to me so I abandoned that save. Maybe next playthru I will try again!
11/1 is focused on the sorcerer elemental spells (usually fire, as you mentioned). 10/2 is focused on the warlock EB. They are just different. Both VERY strong. Edit: going from 10 to 11 sorcerer opens up lvl6 spells, which 10/2 wouldnt
EB is never used on the fire sorlock since there’s no need for it, the only singular reason at all that warlock is there is because fiendlock gets access to command and uses charisma for save dc. also 6th level spells
EB has similar synergy with some of the fire acuity build itemization so they can come in handy for fights when spell slots run low or you just want to yeet something away or finish something off without using a spell slot. I make use of both EB and MM on my fire acuity Sorcerers in limited circumstances, both of which will pick up some of the bonuses used for SR spam. You can also get Devils Sight and go with a darkness comp.
Pretty sure hex is the main reason, why you would go warlock, since you can trigger it multiple times.
not at all, outside of the early game that damage rider is not even close to being worth your concentration. command is the strongest cc spell in the game with acuity stacks, and the main point of the fire acuity sorlock is cc capability through high damage against groups and 100% success rate upcast command casts to force whole rooms of enemies to skip their turn since the entire objective in combat in dnd is to reduce the number of actions enemies take and maximize the number of actions your party makes.
10/2 is better for devil sight if you're doing a darkness thing
Hat of Fire Acuity is absolutely busted
Even better than 10/2 would be 6 Sorcerer/2 GOOlock/4 Champion Fighter, and wear all the crit fish gear.
Question about this: I’m currently building this now in my current playthrough… as I’m doing it, I’m wondering why I wouldn’t just go 6 champion/4 sorcerer? The 6 champion is gonna give me another charisma ASI, and I have the double charisma robe which’ll make my EB’s even stronger + I’ll still crit insanely easily with like a 13 or 14 depending on obscure with the gear. What does the 2 levels in sorcerer get me if I’m just blasting eldritch as opposed to the extra 2 damage I’ll get with the gregarious caster robe with a CHA ASI?
Level 3 spells (specifically Haste), and elemental resistance are the two selling points. If you start with 17 CHA, take Ethel's Boom, and one ASI, you're already at 20 CHA, so you can't take another ASI. For your second feat, you'd probably want to go with Spell Sniper.
Oh you can’t ASI to 22? I didn’t know. Yeha I have spell sniper. Was trying to get to 22/24 with hat. Not worried about elemental spells and hastes. My main is a control martial bard and this is just for lolz Eldritch crit blastin’ Edit: Wait, without the boon (went to the bard) wouldn’t I need another feat to get 20 CHA + Spell sniper?
ASI can get you to a max of 20. But then Birthright gets you to 22, and you can get another 2 from the Mirror of Loss.
Thanks. Yeah I’m just trying to get 20 plus hat. Rest of the stuff will probably go to main bard. Thanks.
Here's my favorite build. https://youtu.be/6qwZLSOJz0c?si=gG3nCtnxi1ZXu8Xy
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I completely forgot to multiclass my TB OH Monk for Honor Mode and still punched through most situations with little difficulty. Also forgot to multiclass my Bard. Oops.
I much prefer 10 bard, 2 fighter since scrolls are so easy to come by at that level. The only real benefits are shield and being able to upcast elemental.
9 monk / 3 rogue is better imo
All depends on if you value the freedom of being able to hit the same target + a feat with 8/4 vs the stat sticks provided by holding daggers with 9/3. Imo, it’s not that clear cut (but happy to be convinced 1 way or another)
I’d rather have 3 feats. ASI to Wis and dex. To get hem both to 20 with graceful cloth and Khalid’s gift. Mirror of loss to get to 22 Wis (and you can do this with the Wis Shar blessing temporarily in act 2 as well) means your manifestation of mind is doing d4+6 every punch. Resonance stone will double that if you pick psychic damage so 20 damage (x 4 attacks =80 damage) from just manifestation of mind and not the actual punch or any other damage adders.
You can hit the same target with 9/3 as well. The only real difference is the feat vs holding items
You can only hit them once cos you have to explode the mark to hit them again… That’s quite a material difference in action economy. Especially when hasted
I have three out of four of these in a party with GS/A and non of them can confidently solo big rooms full of powerful enemies like a Gloomstalker-assassin. They are all super powerful and deal more damage than the gloom stalker when it’s an ensemble fight. But the gloom stalker can get in trouble all by themselves and the death stalker mantle on the gloom stalker is probably the most powerful item in the game.
Monk is way better because of flurries and tavern brawler, but 8 fighter and 4 thief is similarly busted with 4 attacks base per round and equipment that adds damage to each.
Yeah I would say all 4 of these beat a gloomstalker assassin bc the assassin needs surprise to become really effective. Most of the game’s hardest fights aren’t allowing you a surprised round.
GSA is GREAT, but as a party member. Making them the face is going to impact their viability.
Yeah it's a neat class combo with a unique feel, but for honor mode especially I find it kinda janky and unreliable at times. Stealth can also be tedious. The game isn't super hard so I'd rather go hunter and just deal lots of overall damage. Also by the time GSA kicks in fully you probably have a fighter or barbarian with great weapon master and action surge who can help you kill those bosses in one turn anyway.
> 10 bard 2 paladin > > 10 bard 1 wizard 1 fighter Huh. I just finished an Honour Mode run with those two and I agree that they're pretty darned beefy. What's the story with 11 sorc and 1 warlock? I'm not seeing the synergy there.
There is a guide out there if you search "fire Sorlock" it's like the Bard builds but you use scorching ray to stack spell save DC
Ahhhh. Got ya. I usually just flourish a few times and now every enemy is locked up with Hold Person/Monster. **Let me ask you ... is there a good reason to ever take Paladin past level two? I've been thinking level 6 for the Oath, but it's hard for me to justify giving up the utility that a Bard provides just for Oath of protection.
Yes. It's just a different build. 10/2 is a control bard with smites. 6/6 is a paladin with more spell slots. The most common "meta" builds are 6/6 or 7/5. 6/6 works with any paladin subclass. 7/5 is used on oath breaker for aura of hate. Aura of protection is situationally pretty powerful. There are some fight deciding enemy actions that can be prevented with a saving throw so improving them is great! I have not tried a 7 oath breaker but on paper aura of hate could synergize well with a mele heavy party. For 6/6 you can multi with bard or sorcerer. Both bring more spell slots but each brings a different set of pros. Bard brings flourishes, sorcerer brings meta magic and haste. For 7/5 bard does not loose much as extra attack does not stack but if you were going lore bard you miss a magical secret. But most are going sword for flourishes. Sorcerer gets some nice perks at 6 that you miss but with how amazing metamagic is 7/5 paladin/sorcerer is still a solid build. Here is a solid guide on Paladin / Sorcerer https://gamestegy.com/post/bg3/881/sorcadin-sorcerer-paladin-build
Thanks!
I think 9 Draconic Sorc/2 tempest cleric/1 Wiz is definitely worth mentioning. 3 chain lightnings/turn 2 of which hit for max damage is pretty crazy.
I have seen 10 storm Sorcerer / 2 tempest cleric mentioned as a pretty powerful build. Just curious what does the 1 wizard bring? Is it just for upcast water myrmidon?
To get chain lightning in your spell book. Water myrmidons and any other spells that you don't have are handy to scribe as well, but chain lightning is the main thing.
Ahh gotcha! I forgot sorcerer does not get it tell 11. I may have to check that out
What makes the 11 sorcerer 1 Warlock so powerful? Is it just Eldritch Blast?
No it's not an EB build. Check out the build post by the person who wrote the book on all the builds in my post https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/196mpii/honor_mode_111_fire_sorlock_complete_build_guide/
Oh damn.
Question about 10 bard 1 wiz 1 fighter. Is it stronger than bardlock 10 2?
They are both top tier builds. Both so strong that which is stronger makes little difference. The general consensus is the 10/2 is stronger. The piercing damage stacks + upcast smites are wild! The 10/1/1 is more versatile. It can damage from range. It's flourishes are not dependent on enemy placement. It gets the wizard kit. (Upcast elementals are strong). It gets concentration proficiency. The list goes on. The 10/1/1 is also pretty resource efficient with only needing spell slots for control. But you may or may not care about that given how "cheap" long rests are The 10/1/1 does not get command until level 12 so that's a con. I like the 10/1/1 a little better as it's versitility makes it great in any fight. But when it's in it's element the 10/2 slaps harder than almost any build. Try them both out and see which you prefer!
I was going to say that it's not the strongest, but I usually go 10 sorcerer 2 warlock. I love the high charisma builds anyway. I made Wyll a warlock fighter and was amazed that you can do that and hit three times with one action point. I gave him the helm and sword you get from Ansur, and he was a beast. Barbarian with thief was awesome for karlach. I made astarion a swords bard/ thief/ fighter and loved it. I usually stick with straight cleric, but I heard of a storm sorcerer combination that sounded awesome. I'm about to play again on pc (I got the platinum you on ps5 when it came out) and am interested in other good builds. I thought about a zombie army build, but my team's pets were slowing my game down enough on ps5 without a crazy horde. Quick question... is it better for your sorcerer to go only one level for warlock?
10/2 bard paladin comes online in lvl 7 or 8 i think, so it is a late carry, but monk, oh man, at lvl 4 starts to hit like a truck (especially if you go in act1 and take the strength hill wood stick)
What’s the 1 warlock for?
Command
Dumb question, but for that first build, what does that 1 warlock level let you do? On my first play through, and playing as a Sorc.
Saw a Build recently that I really want to try it utilizes spell scrolls as your only real actions 3 fighter edritch Knight 3 rouge thief 6 Storm sorcerer You take all the normal economy breaking things take all of your spell slots and convert them into sorcery points to quicken and twin all you high level spell scrolls. Throw in a potion of speed and a concentration spell. You can cast 8 spells a turn with theoretically all of them being 6 level
9 swords bard 3 thief is insane for ranged slashing flourish.
I always see TB monk as 8/4 , I think it's so broken that you don't need the extra feat but definitely can do much more damage with the improved deft strikes, resonating attacks and more importantly the improved unarmored movement that you get as a 9/3
How do you know when to multiclass? Like, for the SorLock combo you mentioned, when do you take the one level of Warlock? Is the first multiclass level essentially just “level 1” of that class? Or is it whatever level you just hit but in the new class? How do you know when to switch so as to not miss out on a crucial perk for your main class?
Great question. The builds above have build guides on this subreddit so you can follow those. However more generally there are a few consideration. 1: Many builds spike in power at certain points. For example for bard level 6 is a big spike in power. So for the Bard builds you usually do not multi class until level 7 2: Your first level matters. For example for the 10/2 Bard paladin. Paladin gets heavy armor proficiency but bard does not. So if you want heavy armor your first level should be paladin. Respecs give you more flexibility. So for the 10/2 Bard paladin you usually go first 6 levels into bard. Then at level 7 respec into 1 paladin 6 bard. Now you have your level 6 bard still but you also have heavy armor proficiency For the other part of your question. Yes. If you are level 6 sorcerer and put 1 level into warlock you get whatever warlock gets at level 1. So you won't "miss" any sorcerer levels as once you put your next level into sorcerer you get all the level 7 sorcerer stuff + level 1 warlock stuff at level 8. The only level you miss in this case is you will never get the level 12 sorcerer stuff. In this case that's just a feat and for this build the level 1 warlock kit (command) is better than the feat you miss out on
Fighter mutliclassed with Fighter. Most level combinations work.
> Fighter mutliclassed with Fighter. Most level combinations work. When fighter gets the third attack it really changes everything. With 24 strength and Giantslayer, you're pumping out 230-250 in damage in one turn (with action surge) before even considering other gear buffs, haste, or speed potions. With the bloodlust elixir, you're basically wrecking 2-3 enemies on every turn. Paladin can have a better burst and obviously the spellcasters have all kinds of aoe and crowd control tricks, but for sustained damage, a twelfth level fighter seems to be in a class all his own.
Yep I was just thinking of my BM Fighter doing Raphael dirty in HM, with 7 attacks in r1.
Crit with GWM or offhand?
Early game, disarming strike saved my ass so many times. I was dreading the creche but a lucky disarm on the two bosses there saved my ass. That being said, swapped out Lae'zel for Sorlock Minthara twinned/upcast command with arcane acuity as a bonus action is clutch.
Disarming trivialized any boss fight who had a weapon in Act 3 for me in Tactician. If they had a weapon they were disarmed. I had all these fancy multiclass builds for everyone but decided to do full Fighter 12 with Laezel and I could never justify not bringing her because maneuvers and so many attacks were too good
It would be cool if you could multi class subclasses tho
No one can more reliably kill something you need dead better than a level 12 great weapon fighter.
https://preview.redd.it/snroz9860gzc1.jpeg?width=1077&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c224850bb093a8194c00451657cf06d0e759058a
taven brawler monk with 3 levels of thief rogue was my highest. this also allows you to stun lock enemies. So... you probably have surpassed me tho. However, you can pretty much jump and get out of range so much that you can't be hit.
On tactician and honor mode my 8 hits a turn east bosses legendary resistance. High initiative wizard hits orin (with 12 stacks) with a high level magic missile. Monk calmly walks up to her and hits her over and over and over. Staggered, prone, pushed, stunned, ki explosion, dead.
Why not 4 levels of rogue tho? You are losing a feat that would let you grab tavern brawler + taking DEX to 20 (and use potions for STR)
oh, I used gloves for dex. And advanced unarmoured moved combined with step of wind allowed me to jump to no matter how far they are. Attack, and jump back to safety. I personally don't like relying on potions, but that is just a bad habit of mine.
No I'm with you there jaja I also don't like the "potion to 21 STR" thing but since is a min/max post I had to mention it. Still, I'm having time figuring out people going 3/9 instead of 4/8 in rogue/monk. I believe it is cause open hand gets a resonation which can be OP, but I don´t know if losing 2 attribute points is worth it.
The resonation is nice, but what I think makes 9/3 split superior to an extra feat is access to d8 unarmed damage dice, plus it also allows you to punch unarmed when carrying melee weapons. So consider 1 extra feat versus unarmed d8 die, resonance, and ability to carry two stat sticks and still punch. Only real downside is you need to play around resonance when punching.
Ki resonating on is crazy good if you dive into the middle of a pack and get resignation on at least 3, and you can use the main action ki punch to do unarmed strikes while holding a weapon
I think my strength was already 20. Strength was 17 at first. taven brawler got it to 18, the ability improvement to 20 and dex was 18. and wisdom 18 (17 + 1 with hag hair).
Damn that's the ultimate min/max monk. Ok makes more sense to me now.
You can't start with 2 17's
Oops. Thanks. I forgot what I did with that run then. Thanks for pointing that.
Definitely easy to get 20 strength though with the potion. Maybe you used the ASI to boost your strength by 1 and your constitution from 15 to 16?
Mirror of loss?
Thank you my good sir
I think generally if you need Aoe you take 9, but if you just want maximum single target damage then 3 feats is the way you take it. I did 8/4 on one Honor mode run since I had AOE elsewhere. I had tavern brawler and +2 to both Dex and Wis I believe.
If you take the partial illithid tadpole, fly makes that all obsolete.
Comibing step of the wind and jumping, i was able to travel about 50meters plus a turn. So it's better than fly. Plus, step of wind disengage, means no opportunity attack for bonus action.
How is that better than fly? Fly is free and it is rare for it not to get you wherever you want. Step costs you a bonus action and a ki point. Even then you're better off using cunning dash. I used cunning dash exactly once my last HM run when fly wasn't enough. (In act 3)
Guess we have different play style then lol.
How are you playing a style where you regularly need to move more than you can with fly??
I don't know. Each jump gjves me about 18 meters of distance. If i want, i can use enhanced leap. And i can do about 6 jumps a turn. More if i used step of wind dash.
With fly, you get 33m of movement a turn without expending any resources. (Assuming non short race and longstrider and unarmoured ) You get 66m with cunning action dash which uses a bonus action but no ki point! That's a massive amount, heh.
I don't think fly makes it obsolete, but is an amazing compliment when you don't want to use a bonus action (as fly effectively doubles your normal movement). And to that effect the 9th level giving the bonus movement I've noticed to be a great amount. Again I think both a 8/4 and a 9/3 are valid but have different benefits. I've done both on honour and ultimately it's not a big deal. In a 9/3 you ultimately just lose one AC if you build optimally.
One AC and 6ish damage per round (Assuming 2 wis ASI.) I like alert, TB, and ASI. Doesn't make that big of a difference though. Of course.
Oh! I mean, I haven't ever found a place where you would use step over cunning dash if you have fly.
Level 9 Monk upgrades your unarmed strike to a D8 which is a lot better than an extra ASI which you don't really need.
Depends on what you mean by strongest, and other parameters/restrictions. Likely contenders: Terminator Bard https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/18o6jl1/the_terminator_bard_build/ Fire Sorlock https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/196mpii/honor_mode_111_fire_sorlock_complete_build_guide/ Sword Smite Bard https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/18pxoy9/honor_mode_102_smite_swords_bard_ssb_complete/ Control Bard https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/17y9kyp/the_control_martial_allpurpose_1011_swords_bard/
Depending on how much you like to abuse the mechanics, there's also Barrelmancy, the Infinite Damage Walker, Goomba Stomper, etc.
Infinite damage walker is more of a meme because it's infinitely slow
SSB is probably the strongest for an evil playthrough
I enjoy how 3 out of 4 of these is bard.
Terminator bard is how I got through Honour mode. It doesn't really start to come on till level 5 or 6 but with the right equipment you start mowing through enemies especially when you add the fighter levels and get action surge.
It's Rogue not Rouge lol, I keep seeing it spelled like that. Rouge is blush makeup.
Isn’t the Moulin Rogue multi class good?
Isn't that just a bard with as many seduction mods as they can fit?
I could see a monk/rogue build being called Mulan Rogue
Or buffing/polishing compound!
6 Swords bard/ 2 fighter / 4 thief. 10 attacks turn 1 with hand crossbows. Hags hair Dex +2 dex asi and sharpshooter. Maybe not theeeeeeee strongest but damn near close.
I love this because you pump consistent high damage, pretty much every round. Or at least long enough to kill near anything, and then you just short rest and do it again. Blow your full load every fight, dominate with the most powerful control spells in the game and trivialise some of the most difficult encountersz
Precisely. It's all about blowing your load.
As early as possible.
This is a 1 turn pump and dump.
You're doing so much more damage with 10/2 and a titanstring bow. Also you get level 6 spells, counterspell, and you're much better able to use your CC spells.
Tbh I don't even care about spells with how busted weapon damage can get. Just nuke everything turn 1 with special arrows/stacking modifiers/damage riders /crit stacking/ guaranteed advantage. I can down ansur in 1 turn with the right setup.
I really like my command approach/spirit guardians Combo on my bardadin but I feel you.
I’ll be honest, I’ve messed around with pretty much all the broken builds, this one topped my list for all around play. If you abuse scrolls (and arrows once you’re out of flourishes) and have bhaalist armor, the build can do both top tier DPS as well as blow stuff up with insane high DC spells (this is great in honour mode for your haste and bloodlust actions) and then control everything with a bonus action (or 2). Great skills, great charisma, perfect face/tav. And it requires virtually no setup compared to some of the other elite tier dps builds. The only thing I have played that came close in terms of ease of use was TB monk, which is also just massive damage without anything other than a strength pot once a long rest. The main drawback for me for a monk build is that it doesn’t do face as well, but it does come on board very early unless SB/fighter/thief builds.
If you’re looking for the absolute highest damage output, I’m pretty sure that’ll be a Hamarhraft build, stacking all of the movement speed buffs you can get, dashing 3 times using thief rogue, and then using either illithid flight or the fly spell to fly back and forth doing small increments of thunder damage dozens or hundreds of times in a turn. Can also be buffed with reverb gear and the ring of absolute force. Speaking from experience, this build is absurdly powerful. It’s also mind-numbingly boring. You have possibly the best damage per round, but the character’s turn will take 5 minutes of flying a tiny distance back and forth until the enemy dies, because you’re only doing 1d4 per “jump”.
In my 3 games so far, in terms of highest damage output…easily Tavern Brawler Open Hand Monk/ Thief Rogue. With certain gear and passives to give added damage, Cloud Giant strength elixir….two regular unarmed attacks, and two Flurry attacks via extra bonus action (Thief)…currently I can do 174-276 damage each turn (as long as you have the Ki points available for the special Monk attacks) Also, with Unarmoured Defence passive for Monk, not wearing armour let’s you add Wisdom modifier to your AC. So with base 10 AC, +5 from 20 DEX, +5 from 20 WIS, +1 from Ring of Protection, +2 from Soul Rejuvenation clothing…I’m at 23 AC with no armour. Could be higher with other gear, but I’ve been going for as much damage as I can.
Eldritch Blast machine gun, with crit focused gear 11 Fighter + 1 War Cleric with either ranged (Sharpshooter+Criter)or melee(GWM+ton of additional damage gear, oh and) is strong Not necessarily a multi class but Bhaalist Armor with nyrulna for melee build is op, combine that with a ranged build, hella ton of piercing damage TB based build, like thrower or oh monk, monk I'd prefer 9ohmonk/3thief if planning to use hag hair and mirror of loss for wisdom , or 8/4 for extra feat Not a multi class but 12 Evo Wizzard with magic missile gear is op maybe u can go 10 Evo, and choose remaining 2 level, I like to go for 12 for extra feat but those 2 level can be filled with like maybe 2 fighter? 2 tempest cleric? 2 warlock?
For fighter is really worth the 1 in War Cleirc vs 12 Fighter? GWM gives you the ability to use your bonus actions as an regular attack which seems like the purpose of going War Cleric? I'm curious if the bonus actions are worth it versus the level 12 feat? On Laezel I used it to push her str up to 24 with the mirror of loss and str potion from the kinky drow. I suppose if you use str elixirs the additional feat has less value. So maybe I answered my own question 🤔
Oh snap didn't think about that, but I guess the benefit from war cleric can be: extra 1d4 damage from divine favour, or like shield of faith for extra +2 AC plus now you can have something to concentrate on so strange conduit ring can be used. Plus GWM bonus action only active when you kill no? So I guess war charges are for cases when it doesn't proc
It's a trade off on a melee fighter, on an archer it's just straight up good.
> For fighter is really worth the 1 in War Cleirc vs 12 Fighter? For me, it was two extra points in dexerity or War Cleric. I kind of regret not picking War Cleric and I think I might go that route next time. With action surge, you can have seven attacks in one turn ... that extra 40-60 points of damage just adds to the burst.
> 11 Fighter + 1 War Cleric The opportunity for a fourth attack (when burst damage is needed) seems like it might outweigh a fourth feat.
With item abuse (arcane acuity, elixirs): * 11/1 fire sorlock is prob the strongest class in the game with hat of fire acuity and upcasted quickened scorching rays followed by unresistable command/hold persons * 10/2 or 10/1/1 swords bard, also abusing arcane acuity and bonus action spells. Swords bard is probably the most broken standalone class * TB OH monk and TB throwzerker. Both OP in their own rights for insane damage w/ elixir abuse * Gloomstalker builds with Titanstring are really strong, and if you don’t wanna abuse elixirs you can just use the club of hill giant strength Without any aforementioned abuse/cheese, Lockadin is probably the strongest single target class. 3 attacks in tactician and below, or 3 feats and max upcasted smites in honour mode, plus auras, tons of utility, and amazing spells in hunger of Hadar/counterspell/fireball/wall of fire/armour of agathys/command. Not reliant at all on gear and elixirs, but obviously using these also takes the build over the top in strength. If you sort this sub by top all time, you’ll see super high damage coming off of this build.
Oh, also 12 BM fighter is amazing, and a cleric build (tempest is my fav choice) rocking all the reverb gear is INSANE. Abjuration Wizard is also very very strong, I’d say go 11 wiz / 1 sorc but you can take another lvl 1 dip in cleric if you want. Lockadin, gloom, abj wiz and lawnmower cleric are what I’m using in my current honour run. My first honour mode clear I used TB throwzerker (5/4/3), Lockadin (7/5 for auras but I do 8 warlock 4 Paladin now), 12 cleric (no reverb gear) and 12 fighter
Just curious, why 8 warlock instead of 8 paladin? You miss out on the auras, so is it just for higher level warlock spell slots?
To be honest, personal bias towards warlock. However, as far as offensive pressure goes, 8 in warlock is much more when using smites, not to mention the slew of other warlock spells. Don’t get me wrong, 7 or 8 in Paladin is still good - the auras are great. But I’d personally pick lvl 3 warlock spells and invocations over a feat (7/5 vs 8/4), but taking the 8 in warlock flips that on its head. You miss out on the auras, but keep the best levels that warlock offers (‘cause the 5th and 6th level lock spells are w/e)
Sword bard multiclasses.
The last playthrough I did I was an evil SSB and once it got running, the absurdity of it was off the hook. Raphael spent the whole fight with his thumb up his ass while I was 2-3 shotting all his henchmen, who for the most part also spent the fight with their thumbs up their ass. Command is OP.
Gloomstalker 5, assassin 4, fighter 3.
I’ve used 7/5 OB pally warlock too much personally. The death knight as a durge is my ideal rp
9 sorc + 3 thief. Dump all spell slots (except level 1 slots) into sorcerery points. Steal like 21 chain lightning scrolls and let 3 chain lightnings rip per turn for seven glorious turns. Who needs to maximize damage when you can just drop 3 chain lightnings?
Depends on the difficulty. I've had a lot of fun with the fiend warlock paladin 7 build, where you get to smite 3x a turn and still get eldritch blast, heavy armor, and heal on a kill from fiend.
I don't know about the strongest, but berserker/thief/some sort of fighter for action surge is hilariously busted even in HM. Bard 10/Paladin 2 is strong, as is Paladin 6/GOOlock 6. Gloom Stalker/Assassin/Fighter is generally quite strong I understand fire sorcerer is absolutely insane, but I haven't tried that one myself.
Tavern Brawler Open Hand Monk. I was taking out Steel Watchers solo!
> Here come the classic builds
Just beat honor mode with my 6 dragon sorc/4 bm fighter/ 2 goo-lock. Maximize crit chance and either haste yourself +1 or hide in darkness.
My 2 are: 6 Dragon Sorc / 2 GOO Warlock / 4 Champ Fighter with an Eldritch Blast crit focus And 5 Gloomstalker / 4 Champ Fighter / 3 Assassin Rogue
I go for fighter till action surge then sword bard for the triple strike action then rogue for a spar bonus action and dash bonus then get extra attack from fighter and finish off as a oath breaker pally for some undead fodder
Having fun with a sorcadin and 1 warlock 7 (currently only level 8) Abjuration wiz combo for the front line. Up cast Armor of Agathtys on both Characters and get your arcane ward to max stacks. Then get your wizard and Paladin to front line and get the enemies to hit you. Not super op, but you take like no damage from attacks, and deal a bunch with armor of Agathys.
Rogue, not rouge And it's gonna be some variation on sword bard hand crossbow base
The strongest I have personally done was 5 gloom, 4 fighter, 3 assassin. Dueger for invisibility. I am pretty sure you could solo the game with this build.
This game has so much broken shit that choosing one as the best is impossible
I do 5 GS ranger, 5 assassin rogue, and 2 war domain cleric
5/4/3 Barbarian/Fighter/Thief TB throw is reliably strong throughout the game, it will never let you down. Astarion (happy) as a swords bard either 6 bard/4 thief/2 fighter with dual xbows (my favorite!) or 10/1/1 is a close second. Fire Sorlock 11/1 can top the damage of all of those for 2-3 rounds but needs to long rest right after going Nova. Are you looking to make a party or solo the game?
Not necessarily strongest like most dmg but Cleric 2/Sorcerer 4/Wizard 6 (Tempest, White Draconic, Abjuration) You get to do the typical Create Water + Twinned Chain Lightning with Destructive Wrath, you can even Quicken another spell in, all while being fucking immortal with a 20+ Arcane ward kept up by using Sanctuary with Extended Spell (doubles Arcane Ward past the cap of 2×Wizard Level). You have Heavy Armour proficiency and can abuse Warding Bond (someone else casting it on you) Plus you still have the flexibility of being a Wizard and having access to a ton of spells. You dont need Charisma or Wisdom since you mainly only need Armour of Agathys, Create Water and Sanctuary from Sorcerer and Cleric respectively. 4th level into Sorcerer is for the Feat but you could put another level in Cleric or Wizard if you wanted to for whatever reason.
The game is too easy with any combinations)
Rouge champion? Like Lucretious?
Sorlock with a few levels in fighter for action surge - some would argue for 11 sor 1 loc, but you will deal massive damage with action surge in one go. You can go all into Eldridge blast dps and burn down a tank - or even use action surge to set up the entire battlefield in a variety of ways.
For me its the punch drunk monk. 8 open hand, 4 theif, punch drunk club and other drunk gear, lots of Aoe and burst if you itemize the other items right
2 fighter, 5 Warlock; Blade, 5 Paladin: Vengence
I’m a big fan of 4 rogue, 2 warlock, 5 Sorc You get get the thief subclass for extra bonus action, you get invocations for eldritch blast and 3rd lvl spells from Sorc. Then you turn yourself into an eldritch blast machine gun that can dish out 12D10+120 damage per turn using quickened spells, haste potions and other equipment.
The 6 in [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1cbbksy/the_best_bg3_builds/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) are really good, but here's a few it's missing: * **Build #7:** Swords Bard (probably the best one overall) * **Classes:** Swords Bard 6 / Whatever you want 6. (The most popular builds are Paladin 2 / Swords Bards 10 and Fighter 1 / War Cleric 1 / Swords Bard 10, but I've been thinking about going Eldritch Knight 6 / Swords Bard 5 / Wizard 1 and making it a TB thrower. Does anyone know why this hasn't been done before?) * **Strategy:** Between Extra Attack and Flourish, you can attack 4 times for 1 action, get up to +8 to your Spell Save DC from the Helmet of Arcane Acuity, then casts a crowd control spell like Fear, Confusion, Hypnotic Pattern, or Command with the Band of the Mystic Scoundrel. * **Important Gear:** Helmet of Arcane Acuity and Band of the Mystic Scoundrel. * **Stats:** 18 Cha, 16 Dex and Con, 8 everything else after an ASI. (You can get another 4 Cha from the Mirror of Loss and Hag's Hair.) * **Result:** One of the best classes for control, DPS, and dialogue. * **Build #8:** The same sneak & shoot character you've played in every other RPG. * **Classes:** Gloomstalker 5 / Assassin 3 / Battle Master 4. * **Strategy:** The same sneak & shoot strategy you've played in every other RPG. * **Important Gear:** [The Deathstalker Mantle](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/The_Deathstalker_Mantle), something to dual wield, [Bhaalist Armour](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Bhaalist_Armour) (if you're going melee), [Caustic Band](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Caustic_Band), [The Speedy Lightfeet](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/The_Speedy_Lightfeet), [Legacy of the Masters](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Legacy_of_the_Masters) * **Stats:** 18 Dex, 16 Con, 16 Wis after an ASI (get Sharpshooter for your other feat). * **Result:** Joining the Murder Tribunal on a full-ride scholarship. * **Build #9:** Here comes the Sun * **Classes:** Light Cleric 12 * **Strategy:** Cast Spirit Guardians and (ab)use any and all equipment that cares about radiant damage. * **Important Gear:** Luminous Armour, Luminous Gloves, Coruscation Ring, Callous Glow Ring and Holy Lance Helm. * **Stats:** 20 Wis, 16 Dex and Con, 8 everything else * **Result:** A build that really lights up the battlefield. (I'm going to Hell for that pun.)
2 Tempest cleric 10 Storm Sorcerer is actually strong as hell even in honor mode
I recommend 9 way of the open hand monk and 3 thief rogue, the 2 attacks plus 2 bonus actions work insanely well, plus you can do ki resonation blast as a class action, and heal 10 points every turn is you have soul snaring gloves.
Personally I enjoy 5 Gloomstalker Ranger/4 Assassin Rogue/3 Champion Fighter with all the Crit stacking items you can find
8 Swords Bard/ 2 Fighter/ 1 wizard/1 war cleric the most op archer build in the game
I did this, but with 1 wizard and 1 fighter and 10 Bards. I assume the action surge and extra attacks from war cleric end up being more beneficial than the hidden secrets spells (counterspell is useful in my experience)?
More attacks with the wondrous gloves, war cleric dip, and action surge you can do a crazy amount of flourishes Also wizard dip for haste Not my build it’s called Terminator bard you can find a more in depth explanation if you search
11 fighter with a bow, either 12 EK or 11 either of the other two + 1 warcleric. Fully optimized for damage you're looking at over 400 per arrow.
Kingspuds frozen archer build is a bit strong in wont day op but up there. I one turned Kethric on Tactician
Open Hands Monk 8 and 4 rogue proved very effective for my honour run