Just wanted to say how much I appreciate you putting the information upfront in the video! This wasn't the info i was looking for, so it was nice not having to watch the whole video to find out this wasn't what I was looking for. I did give the video a "like" though, because you put the info right at the beginning, and I will be checking out other videos of yours later.
For the bow, I would recommend Titanstring Bow (which you can get quite early in Act 1) in tandem with Club of Hill Giant Strength (can also be found in Act 1, in Underdark). These two items used together give an additional +4 to your ranged damage and +4 to your ranged sneak damage. It is a really nice alternative to the Sharpshooter feat allowing your character to deal meaningful damage without spending a Feat and then amassing a lot of bonus to hit items to offset -5 modifier from Sharpshooter.
+1 on this. It makes it a really tough call whether or not to use dual hand crossbows. The hand crossbows still do SLIGHTLY more damage- but only if you use all your bonus actions on off hand attacks- which is not always where you want to be.
My first playthrough was with a pure gloomstalker build and I didn't optimize much, used longbow, and it still ended up feeling OP by the end of act 2. I was breezing through battles that others were saying were impossible. I have TTDnD experience, but not with rangers, so I didn't really know what I was doing. I can't imagine how crazy a min/max'ed gloomstalker would be. I chose Drow, it was very flavorful, and in act 3 I made Jahiera be my panther 😂🐈⬛
It gets even crazier if you go to level 11 in hunter ranger because you can get an aoe attack roll (like 5-10ft radius that hits everything in the radius) that sharpshooter applies to and you can buff the hell out of the dmg on the attacks. (Or you can just use arrows of many targets with a regular bow build and just ricochet everything in the room, but that costs special arrows so meh)
Titanstring(from the zents in Waukeen's Rest) + set Str to 19 Club (from the top floor of tower in the underdark, break the chair you find there to get it) carried my Drow Gloomstalker for a good chunk of the game. Always brought some candles with me so I can start a fight with FREE actions of dropping the candle>light it up then Bonus Action: Dip for a nice additional 1d4 fire damage then using a concentration spell next turn or the other way around. BTW Fem Body Type 1 Drows got a beautiful bow shooting animation. 😁
I agree with the Bow vs Crossbow. I really want to build a sort of Hawkeye themed character, leaning on all the variety of special arrows the game has.
Dark Urge Wood Elf let's you get a whopping 11 skill proficiencies and 4 expertise (taking Sleight of Hand and Investigation from Ranger features), including all dialogue skills, letting you be both a combat assassin/infiltrator, and a viable face. My starting stats were Str 10 (becomes 12) Dex 17 (Becomes 22 with feat and +3 permanent bonuses) Con 12 Int 10 Wis 14 Cha 13 (becomes 14 with save scumming). Definitely recommend going Thief for the extra bonus action, it really makes a difference. Certainly other backgrounds can give you that many as well, but Dark Urge did it the easiest without overlap, and fit such a build thematically.
Went swordsbard 6, gloomstalker 3, thief 3 to do something similar. The Flourishes doubling up attacks again on your alpha strike turn are hard to walk past.
There's a Bow of Awareness you can buy from Roah Moonglow in Goblin Camp in Act 1. It's a +1 Shortbow doing 1d6+3 - so 1 less point than a +1 Longbow - but also gives +1 to Initiative. Something to think about if Initiative is going to be a factor for you. It's also useful to slot on people who don't normally use bows/ranged weapons just to get the +1 Initiative bonus.
Don’t sleep on the joltshooter when combined with the lightning dash boots. Use your additional bonus action to activate the boots and you’ll do a ton of extra lightning damage every turn.
Whenever I play an RPG where I can create a character I always use the same characteristics if possible; name, class, race, etc. and I just roleplay as if it’s the same character continuously getting isekai’d/reincarnated to different worlds. For my first playthrough in BG3 I roleplayed him getting tired of the cycle, so he deviated from the usual class he would be (Rogue/Assassin Archer) and chose Vengeance/Oathbreaker Paladin instead and he essentially became a wrecking ball of fury and killed everything regardless of if they were good or bad characters. I say all of that because this video gave me a good idea for a new storyline for him for my second playthrough. So thanks and have a like. ❤️
hmm, maybe the Durge playthrough could be an interesting one to do with that idea. Isekai'd as the chosen of a god of murder. Would a normal person give in, or embrace their new place....would the beginning for Durge make them forget their isekai'd nature until later?
Yo, this is my third attempt to enjoy a play through. Thanks to this build I am having a blast. I also learned a lot about how these systems work in bg3 at the same time. Great work
Yes, 100% and it isn't even close. Duergar are just the best race in the game for on demand unlimited invisibility. Against any combat encounter where the enemy can be surprised, it guarantees you and your team a free round.
I am doing my first run-through as this build and really love the video. Also, I am subbed because of BG3 I can't get enough content and your videos are really the best.
Shar trials in act2 has a short bow with haste spell if I remember correctly. Easy to miss though the container is hidden behind a table you just normally run past if you're not looking.
Didn't even mention the Yuan-Ti Scale Mail medium armor you can get as soon as you get to the Inn in Act 2. Essentially the same as the Armour of Agility with 2 less AC, and +1 to Initiative instead of +2 to Saving Throws.
Pretty similar to an idea I was cooking up. The only thing different was that I planned around all the crit reduction gear first. So I picked up assassin for sneak attack, and then 5 levels gloom, then 4 levels champion for increased crit range. Theres an elixir too that reduces it further. You could also upgrade the covert cowl into sarevoks helm later
My new favorite combo with gloomstalker ranger is going trickery domain to level 5 (best level imo to multiclass it) and gloomstalker all the way. dropping an invoke duplicity clone at the start of combat before popping dread ambusher usually guarantees I'm gonna hit my shot and it sets up the whole party for sneak attacks and spell slinging 😊
Thank you for the amazing videos you put out, both in terms of the quality content and the great presentation. My run with a rogue was waning until I found your video, now I'm having so much more fun with more options on what to do. Looking forward to more quality videos in the future
I feel like the fact hand crossbows are so strong compared to bows and crossbows is not only you get to dual wield them BUT ne'er misser hand crossbow is just busted its deals pure force damage and pretty much nothing resists it or has weakness to it and you can get it relatively early in act 2
It’s a decent weapon, but it’s literal garbage compared to all the different bows in the game. Hand Crossbows having comparatively mediocre enchantments is the one thing even coming close to holding them back. Edit: for clarification to cut some of these replies off at the source, I am not saying Hand Crossbows as a weapon type are bad. I’m saying the additional magical abilities listed on them are, on average, significantly worse than those found on Bows. That’s ALL.
@@ChunkyTheClownlol what bow availabile at the same time is better? It gives magic missile too, and don't forget you get to add a whole ass nother hand crossbow as well
@@chipskylark5500 The Titanstring Bow, Darkfire Shortbow, Bow of the Banshee, Least Expected, and maybe even the Joltshooter are all available before or during Act 2, and I would argue that they are all significantly superior to the Ne’er Misser. More importantly, though, the REAL issue is that you don’t get anything better in Act 3, unlike your other ranged weapon options. In comparison to endgame ranged weapons like the Gontr Mael or Deadshot, the Ne’er Misser is overwhelmingly outclassed. At the end of the day, a once per long rest spell (which doesn’t synergize with any extra attack features you might have), +1 enchantment, and unique damage type just aren’t very game changing abilities. They’re USEFUL, don’t get me wrong, but other stuff is just way better.
"literal garbage" is a bit overzealous. The darkfire for example, is a shortbow, which only does 1d6 to begin with. Being able to fire 2 hand crossbows, gives you 3 shots with extra attack. So you'll generally do more damage. And enchantment level at end game isn't a big deal. It's a +/- 1-2. My ranger currently has +18. A small difference. Damage and special abilities/synergies are more important.
@@fiveforbiting I am not comparing which is the better weapon archetype. Hand Crossbows are pretty much the objectively best ranged weapons in the game due to the ability to attack as a bonus action when dual wielded (which is commonly used to great effect in coordination with builds featuring classes such as Thief Rogues and Sword Bards). What I am doing is making the argument that Hand Crossbows get comparatively bad special abilities. This is why I say “even remotely close to holding them back.” In my original comment. They aren’t being held back. They’re extremely powerful. Potentially overpowered, even. That being said, their main downside is not having any unique, standout options like every single other build in the game does
@ItalianSpartacus : Shove resist depends on Athletics OR Acrobatics (defenders choice/highest), for that purpose Acrobatics are often the preferred skill pick for a dex build. I'm super onboard with the idea though, all humanoids in BG3 can shove as a bonus action (deviates from 5'd rules), so the AI can get really annoying at times.
Another great video. I like your approach bringing a suboptimal build to light for the sake of role playing or even just visuals. I'm tired of the min/max builds and I enjoy seeing that even if you're not gaming the game you can be very successful anyway.
I like this build a lot, I've been playing a slight variation. I go 3 rogue assassin, 5 hunter gloom stalker, and 4 fighter champion for the improved crit on the initial opening shot
@@aaronmole2301 I mean he hits like a truck with that initial gloom stalker ambush attack. I don't worry about the sneak attack too much unless I'm overwhelmed.
in my first playthrough, i got the titanstring bow, which adds your strength AND dex to ranged attacks. then I just equipped the club of hill giant strength in my offhand to get 19 strength, the knife of the undermountain king to increase crit chance in my main hand, and bracers of dexterity for 18 dex. i was hitting for no less than 20 every shot on a normal shot not including sneak attack or dread ambush very early on, and I just tweaked the build as I went. it broke so many encounters because I just stealth killed them before the fight could start...
I feel like Halfling, Humans or Gith would be the best. Hear me out, you’ll automatically get Superior Darkvision at level 3 Gloomstalker. Might as well use a race without and with other useful skills.
I know this video is 8 months old for anyone who watched till the armour pieces, if you're looking for something like the Armour of Agility- Quartermaster Tillie in Last Light (Act 2) sells an armour piece called "Yuan-Ti Scale Mail" Which does the exact same thing as the Armour of Agility, It's also medium armour and you even get +1 to initiative rolls :]
Glad I’m not the only one who was wishing panthers were in the game, it would be such an iconic build to have in the game. Unless he’s extremely hard to find BG3 is the first game he isn’t in since you could get him to spawn in BG2
Small correct: 30:03 - Bloodthirst is from Orin* quest chain not Asterion. Rhapsody however is from Asterion's quest chain, so I would assume you actually *can* miss it but highly unlikely
you forgot the short sword from the Gethyankee base :) that you can buy or get for free *wink wink* as a rogue :) specially as a dwergar rogue since they cast inviz for free
Broken Bow Build 5 Gloomstalker 3 Thief 3 Champion 1 War Cleric You do only get 1 feat but, I feel like my character is continuously growing until mid-late Act III and at that point you’re popping 5-7 shots a round. I have theory crafted a 2 Fighter 5 Assassin 5 Gloomstalker, but it seems so vanilla
Correct. The perfected formula of this build is: Gloom stalker 5 Thief 3 Battle master 4. Less reliant on surprise and yields way better sustained dps compared to assassin.
There's definitely merit to both. One gives you Action Surge which is arguably bonkers, and BM options or Better Crits from Champ. The feat isn't worth mentioning because you'd get it from just taking another level in Rogue anyways. As far as going Rogue 7, you get a better sneak burst which you are building towards anyway, and a number of better defensive options, as well as 2 additional choices for expertise.
So i have a very similar build the only difference is that I have put two levels into fighter so you can get an additional attack on top of the attacks and bonus actions with thief so if you want to sacrifice some of that d6 damage to sneak attack and trade it in for an attack it gets pretty crazy. also if you start as the fighter you also get proficiency in heavy armor as well so if you find a heavy armor piece like the grymforge helmet or any that has a stat that you like you can use it. That heavy armor proficiency is obviously not necessary but sometimes you want to mix up your builds so ill keep some armour pieces i like in camp and switch them out if i get bored
You can’t have a Panther as a Beast Master companion, no. But you *can* have a Druid Wild Shape into one if they take Circle of the Moon. And then later upgrade it to Displacer Beast.
Really cool build, i did something similar, but used titanstring bow and giant hill elixir to get the bonus str damage, a headband that gives arcane synergy when you apply a condition (that being hunter´s mark), so with 16 wis thats another +3, the strange conduit ring that gives 1/4 psy damage when your concentrating on a spell (hunter´s mark again), and risky ring to get advantage on attack rolls.
The best race is single-handedly the Duerger. After each kill in turn based mode - with an action you can go invisible and dash away as a Rogue completely cheesing fights with a one-shot-kill OSK rogue.
Halfling is probably the best race for this build. Halfling luckily means you never roll a one thus never a critical failure, halfling advantage stealth is the equivalent to plus five to stealth. Deep gnome also has advantage stealth but I find lucky outweighs the dark vision given you pick that up for free off of gloomstalker. If you're willing to use respect via Withers then final build rogue thief 3/ranger gloomstalker 5/ Swords Bard 4 offers outstanding utility/expertees with all of the DPS you could ask for with bows.
I feel like rogue is not worth for level 1. I’d rather have sharpshooter and an extra attack earlier. I’d either respec at lvl 4 or wait until 6 personally
Italian Spartacus you are stupiiiiidddd goooood 😅 I’m in my 1st play through and a beginner to BG and D&D. Your videos are so good man!! Very helpful. I just re~classed my Ranger to this mc Rouge spec (only lvl 9 so far) but loving it and crushing some gloom stalker sneak attacks!! “Where’d you go, you coward?”……BAM 💥 💥 💥 3D6 proficiency bonus up your ass MF’er!! 😂 It’s So much fun and great stuff. I Cant wait to finish the Shar Temple soon and keep plowing thru this EPIC game. Keep up the great content, thanks for all the hard work!!
The best armor for this is the : "The Graceful Cloth (Cat)" -Cat's Grace: You gain Cat's Grace and increase your Dexterity score by 2, to a maximum 20. -Nimble As a Cat: You gain a +1 bonus to Dexterity Saving Throws and also increase yourJump distance by 1.5m. +2 in dex means +1 AC, +1 Initiative, +1 to Attack Rolles, +1 to Damage, +1 to dex Profiecencies and Saving Throws. So you whanna get 20 dex with this, always. Best Builds are: -5 Gloom 5 Assa/Thief 2Fighter -5 Gloom 3 Assa/Thief 4Fighter -6 Swordsbard 4 Assa/Thief 2 Fighter -6 Swordsbard 3 Assa/Thief 3 Gloom/Battlemaster Feats: always Sharpshooter, Ability Improvement if not at 20 Dex, Savage Attacker as 2nd Feat if your at 20 dex, (Alert is okay if you play Assasin without Gloom)
Not a huge fan of the whole hand-crossbow thing myself. I've been carrying around the Ne'er Misser and Yurgir's hand-crossbow forever, but I've kept my Bard/Fighter-Tav on his trusty old Bow of the Banshee. For one thing, I do like the fact that he can, in theory, put Fear on four to eight enemies per round with that thing (gotta love those flourishes), but for another, I just feel the whole dual gunslinger-thing looks and feels a bit cheezy in this setting. Plus they *do* have shorter range (should be shorter still, IMO). Getting very close to the end of Act III, so he's now on that legendary bow from the Foundry. Love the Gloomstalker sub-class, BTW. I've used Minsc like that last run and now in this one and he can do a crap-ton of damage per turn. I went with a CRIT-fishing build when it came to gear and it's so nice to be able to score even strings of CRITS when using an Arrow of Many Targets on a tight group of enemies. I haven't compared it precisely, but I'd say with Minsc on the team it's not really a big deal to not have a super hard-hitting character like Karlach in the party. He's doing a ton of damage from range. Plus I've seen his hamster, so how could I not keep him active? :D One Elixir of Viciousness per day, Dead Shot Bow, Sarevok's helmet, Elegant Leather Armor, Bhaal amulet, Killer's Sweetheart, Ring of Regen, Shade Slayer Cloak, Legacy of the Masters gloves (if Jaheira isn't in the party). I don't think the Crit-advantage from swords counts when you're doing ranged attacks, so I gave him Orin's short-sword and one of the many Uber-shields (Adamantine, prolly) instead of the Knife of the Undermountain King. But melee is purely for emergency situations with this build.
@@chipskylark5500 I should probably start putting arrows into my companions in camp while checking the combat-log to be 100% sure. But I *think* it says somewhere in the description that you'll get the bonus "while wielding" the blade.. or something like that. Which made me think I wouldn't get the bonus when using a bow. Descriptions in the game can be a bit vague at times and what actually happens in combat might not always be what it says on the tin, so.. yeah.. I should probably test this. :) OTOH, I do know for a fact that some effects from *bows* will be available to your character even while using melee weapons. Like Hunter's Mark from the Hunting Shortbow - or fire and cold resistance from that other shortbow whose name I forgot. So... maybe you do get the crit-bonus, after all.
It seems the Knife of the Undermountain King has been updated in the recent patch. Instead of it saying you score a critical hit on a 19 like in your video, it now says the number needed to score a critical hit is reduced by one, and the effect can stack.
I've been trying tactician solo (no companions), just to see how difficult it would be, and I'm basically doing this build, although I started as a ranger. I want to get extra attack at level 5 before going to Rogue. So far, I've been doing decent with it. I'm almost to level 4 with it. So far, the main struggle is getting surrounded by enemies. If that happens, I'm pretty much guaranteed to die. My main strategy when going against multiple enemies is to lure them to a place where they have to come through one at a time or using things like explosive barrels to blow up a bunch of enemies with a fire arrow. I want to do Honor mode eventually, so I'm trying to challenge myself with tactician solo. If I do Honor Mode, I would have companions
Honestly this build is probably my biggest gripe in the transition between DOS2 and BG3. In DOS2 Archer builds were awesome because they could imbue their arrows with nearby surfaces which really bumped the versatility of the bow; coating an arrow in grease ended up dealing fireball-level damage without the spell slot. RE the build, I wonder if running 5 Rogue, 5 Ranger and 2 fighter might not get you more value. Most of your sneak attack damage is going to add up first round, so leaning into the "Nova" playstyle with Action Surge fits the build thematically. alternatively you could run even fewer rogue (3) and open up 4 points to put into some other subclass: Battlemaster, Wildheart or Swords each have some advantages, and I could even see some value in the raw DPR with Champion. Thief 3, Gloom 3 is such a powerful and versatile split to build from.
i would probably dip level 1 cleric in war domain instead of fighter. it would let you attack using a bonus action as well as giving access to bless for a nice concentration + a little healing for some clutch moments.
A pure Hunter subclass after lvl 11 can use Volley AOE attack every turn is something that might be worth looking at, if you dont want to multiclass, or want to be able to do AOE without spellslots reliably. Unfortunately hunters are not good before getting volley. it's definitely better than a single attack at the start of every combat, I'd say. Still, a pure dex ranged fighter (battlemaster) with 4 feats will outperform this build in combat, only you'll be lacking in skills. but fighters are insane in this game. gontr mael, armor of agility, bonespike gloves, 22AC+. Sneak attack falls of lategame if you're not playing a pure rogue (they get +1d6 to sneak attack every odd level) you can use the Risky Ring to offset the need for advantage to trigger sneak attacks. Having a melee rogue in your group with bhaalist armor giving piercing vulnerability to your dex ranged fighter means you're able to kill ansur in 2 turns. that's 600 damage.
and I have like an always option invisibility as a duergar playing through with a couple friends, my friend is Durge, I'm a Duergar that's supposed to keep him alive for his fight with Orin and ensure his...urges...are kept only where there are no witnesses, besides party members. least until he fulfills his destiny we also have a githyanki druid with us. They're...strange, and we're very certain they are clueless about everything that being said, there's a scale mail available at last light in act 2, yuan ti scale mail. it also has the armor of agility no cap of dex modifier and no disadvantage on stealth. Instead of the saving throw bonus you get +1 initiative.
the jolt bot with the boots that give u 3 on a dash u can dash as a bonus action with lvl 2 Rouge and at lvl 3 go thief and u can dahs 3x charges hide with the 2ed Bonus action then sneak attack ganing u 2 more charges with the jolt shot naw u are at 5 then u use the 2ed attack as Hord breaker trigring the 5 staks for extra d8 damage and a theard attack on a deferent target ganing u 2 more staks for next turn u can also go colossus slayer insted for gust an extra d8 so u start the turn with dash then hide nas u sneak attack ranged for 3d6 + 1d8 + 1d6(Huntes mark) + 1d4 from the bis help (Circlet of the hunt) and 1d6 from (Strange Conduit Ring) all act one itoms BTW and by naw u shoulkd have 20 dex with the (The Graceful Cloth) so +5 and the bow give a flat +1 and thats gust the first attack all achevable with lvl 4 and act 1 and u dont rilly shar anyt gear with other people
Very good video. I would just like to add that Legacy of the Masters gloves will replace gloves of archery once you reach a3 unless you are using those on another character.
Yuan-Ti Scale Mail is also good and you can get it in Act 1. It’s Armor of Agility but with plus 1 to initiative instead of +2 to saving throws in AOA. Not too shabby although a Gloom Stalker doesn’t need the initiative help so AOA is better for a gloom stalker or if you have the Alert feat.
I can't wrap my head around the feats that give you -5 to hit to trade off for damage. Seems like you would be missing left and right on tougher enemies.
You can negate hit penalties pretty easily if you know what you're doing. My end game archer has a 90+% to hit enemies even with 19 AC- 22 AC with sharp shooter turned on. Moreover, it is a toggleable passive. So if you ever want to ensure you don't miss, you can always turn it off before taking the shot. The highest AC I've ever seen an enemy have in game is a boss in act 3 who has a super mode that gives him 28 AC. Now that's a difficult target to hit and I'd turn off sharp shooter for enemies like this. But you can always then instead rely on forcing saving throws instead, or magic missile depending on your party setup.
Wouldn't it be great if we get thiefs extra bonus attack earlier? Going stealth again after sneak attack is so op i think. Enemy cant see you when their turn come so they cant attack and you keep attacking them until they are dead. I destroyed some camps alone as a rogue by doing this with full hp. For example Yurgir is really hard to kill. I go stealth and place myself right upon him where they don't have vision. The place is soo good that you can get range and stealth to kill all of them. All my friends stayed behind and watched me killing them for 30 minutes one by one :D
If by support you mean a healer + buffer, imo the best possible combination is going to include 6 lore bard + 3 thief and then either 1 level in life cleric + 2 levels in sorcerer or 3 levels in life cleric. 6 lore bard gives you access to magical secrets, which allows you to get warden of vitality, which is a no concentration aura that allows you to heal yourself or an ally for 2d6 hitpoints using a bonus action for 10 turns (dipping into thief allows you to double this healing since you get 2 bonus actions), and haste (one of the best buff spells that you can put on your strikers). 1 level in life cleric gives you access to the preserve life passive which would make all your healing spells (including warden of vitality) give additional healing = spell slot level used + 2, as well as sanctuary to prevent yourself from being targeted at all as long as you don't do anything that will harm the enemy in battle (no cutting words unfortunately since that breaks the condition). 2 levels of sorcerer gets you metamagic twinned spell to allow you to twin haste 2 party members instead of one. This is how your combat is essentially gonna go: you're gonna twin haste two of your primary damage dealers, hide with sanctuary and then cast warden of vitality to allow you to heal your allies for free for 10 turns using your bonus actions. For those 10 turns, you're gonna be spending your actions getting to your allies via dash so that they are in range of your healing, or to cast cure wounds/ lesser restoration on them as needed or to use the help action if they become ensnared or prone or something else. If you go 3 life domain, you lose out on twinned haste (can still use regular haste on one ally), but 3 levels of life domain gives you access to your preserve life channel divinity which heals for 3*character level hit points all allies in a 9m radius (36 healing at max level), aid, which allows you to increase the HP maximum of all allies (including summons) and is really strong for increasing party survivability when upcasted, warding bond (to give your primary striker even more survivability) and spiritual weapon (just to have a way of still getting some way to do damage even while you're under the sanctuary condition). 3 life domain is preferred if you're running a more "summoner" comp. or if you're not running a lot of primary strikers (i.e. character's whose entire role is high burst and sustained DPR over rounds of combat to eliminate threats quickly) while 2 sorcerer path is recommended if you're running a party of 4 where 2 of them are just built for striking (examples: tavern brawler throw build, or evocation magic missile wizard or eldritch blaster sorlock etc.).
@@common_undead mainly I want to fit gale into my party, but I’m already a warlock, I have shadowheart as a cleric and karlach as a barb. I’d like to bring gale too, but I’m not sure what role to make him. I’d to make him a class that kinda makes sense for his character I just can’t decide what to change him to, and I’m new to dnd stuff so not sure what to make of a bard
@@yellowtubes4180 Bards are pretty good skill monkeys and can basically fulfill any role in your party. They are good at dialogue checks, they can disarm traps, they can heal allies, they can dish out a decent chunk of single target damage, they can use crowd control spells like hold person, etc, so you don't really have to worry about fitting a bard into your party. Though I would say, with Shadowheart as a cleric already being a support I think, Gale could work excellently as more of a striker (evocation wizard, draconic bloodline sorcerer, etc.), but bards can also fulfill that role petty well. I think it depends on how are you playing your warlock? If you're playing it a melee character, it makes more sense for Gale to take up a shoots spells from the back roll. If you're the shooter relying on Eldritch Blast and your warlock spells, then you want Gale to be a bit of both, damage dealer + damage mitigation/support. If you want to keep him a wizard (since you're keeping Shadowheart as Cleric and Karlach as Barbarian), then abjuration wizard works pretty well.
To tell the truth people are too focused on number of attacks. 12 level of Ranger Hunter gives you 2 attacks and with haste potion it will be 3 attacks and with good positioning and using Volley you can hit 3 or more enemies with each of the attacks especially later when you have black hole illithid ability making you as much damage as attacking 9 times.
I could tell this guy doesn't actually know anything about playing an archer by the fact that he didn't have any Arrow of many on his character in act 3. He "shows off" his build by killing a guard and wounding another in 1 round of combat.... there are much better builds for an archer.
Excellent tutorial, thank you. Am new to this game, so am wondering can you change to your build if you have already started the game, without having to start from beginning again?
hehe im tbh in a split hate/love mentality when it comes to these vids :) vids are so amazing i feel tempted to start a new playthought right away to try these builds out, only problem is i never realy make it past act 1 before starting a new playthough.... and yeah yeah i could just reroll my class, but i wanna try them out from beginning to end (not like im making it ot the end anytime soon) xP ... keep up the amazing work m8, love the vids :)
Deep Gnome 5 gloomstalker, 3 assassin, 4 BattleMaster. 17 dex, 14 con, 16 wis, 10 Cha. +1dex hag hair, +2 dex asi feat, +2 dex mirror, +2 Dex gloves. This gives you 24 dex. Titanstring Longbow + hill giant club for early game. Drakethroat glaive buff on deadshot + rhapsody + sentinel shield late game.
@@common_undead yeah my bad I replied to my own comment to add Sharpshooter because I forgot to put it innmy first. You get 2 feats with this build so 1 can be Sharpshooter and the other ASI dex to maximize your dex late game.
nice build! re: drizzt build, i would just do a druid/ranger duo and have the druid be your panther. This leaves you open to choosing other classes than beastmaster for drizzt. I would probably just do a champion fighter/ranger/monk combo on him. There is also a fantastic mod that adds in the panther and some specific gear for him
Did a build like this with champion multi class. My crit was like 25%. Sure, the range of a longbow is nice, but DW handys is better sustained dps. Also with how many dummy 2h in the late game personally feel like a party of frost giant str exilers and spamming action surge is the true way to cheese dps.
I appreciate a ranged build that doesn’t revolve around hand crossbows. I understand the potential they have but the lack of range they have compared to bows keeps screwing me over. I could probably get used to it after a while but given the best hand crossbows are mid to late act 2 I’m already used to the range of bows so keep mis-positioning my ranged fighters
Never see people using Titanstring bow with the club of hill giant in melee slot. Iv been hitting easy 30+ per arrow without sneak attacks on my ranger/fighter archer.
TBH after Sharpshooter ASI for Dex is >>>>>> Crossbow Expert. Gloomstalker assassin was my first run and crossbow expert is super niche and mostly unnecessary.
if you Dual wield Xbows, you pick the dual wield fighting style, right? not Archery, but that said, pick archery and go with titan string bow + club of hillgiant's strength combo and pick any shield you find for some extra AC
Slight of hand expertise seems so redundant since it's incredibly easy to boost that skill with equipment when exploring. Not only that but bludgeoning locked doors or chests works just as well as picking a lock. Disarming traps is the only thing you may need to do but for that I'd rather have expertise in perception so you spot the traps easier, nothing worse than everyone failing a perception check and now you're walking around knowing there's a trap somewhere near you.
does this really need 16 wisdom? im new but i fail to see the reason for this other than than 1 more spell slot? none of those ranger spells seem to benefit from wisdom when casting
would going fighter for lvl 11 and 12 be better than evasion? since you get an extra attack every short rest could be really good to assasinate tough bosses in 1 turn
is giantbreaker the best option in 1st area? it does the most solid damage. my other class bard is dual wielding crossbow and im not impressed so far even as college of swords it doesnt hit hard for some reason only 16 dex though but idk
Just wanted to say how much I appreciate you putting the information upfront in the video! This wasn't the info i was looking for, so it was nice not having to watch the whole video to find out this wasn't what I was looking for. I did give the video a "like" though, because you put the info right at the beginning, and I will be checking out other videos of yours later.
What were you looking for? If u don't mind me asking
For the bow, I would recommend Titanstring Bow (which you can get quite early in Act 1) in tandem with Club of Hill Giant Strength (can also be found in Act 1, in Underdark).
These two items used together give an additional +4 to your ranged damage and +4 to your ranged sneak damage. It is a really nice alternative to the Sharpshooter feat allowing your character to deal meaningful damage without spending a Feat and then amassing a lot of bonus to hit items to offset -5 modifier from Sharpshooter.
That's a great idea!
+1 on this. It makes it a really tough call whether or not to use dual hand crossbows. The hand crossbows still do SLIGHTLY more damage- but only if you use all your bonus actions on off hand attacks- which is not always where you want to be.
Game changer 🙏
I came here to say this, this combo is so good. I put the club in my off hand so I could still use a short sword in my main.
I mean I use a shield in off hand for the AC because I'm trying to NEVER melee but I can see doing this.
@@heathengypsy
My first playthrough was with a pure gloomstalker build and I didn't optimize much, used longbow, and it still ended up feeling OP by the end of act 2. I was breezing through battles that others were saying were impossible. I have TTDnD experience, but not with rangers, so I didn't really know what I was doing. I can't imagine how crazy a min/max'ed gloomstalker would be. I chose Drow, it was very flavorful, and in act 3 I made Jahiera be my panther 😂🐈⬛
It gets even crazier if you go to level 11 in hunter ranger because you can get an aoe attack roll (like 5-10ft radius that hits everything in the radius) that sharpshooter applies to and you can buff the hell out of the dmg on the attacks. (Or you can just use arrows of many targets with a regular bow build and just ricochet everything in the room, but that costs special arrows so meh)
Rogue/Ranger is what I use for Astarion and it’s amazing! I always love your videos and builds man!
Titanstring(from the zents in Waukeen's Rest) + set Str to 19 Club (from the top floor of tower in the underdark, break the chair you find there to get it) carried my Drow Gloomstalker for a good chunk of the game.
Always brought some candles with me so I can start a fight with FREE actions of dropping the candle>light it up then Bonus Action: Dip for a nice additional 1d4 fire damage then using a concentration spell next turn or the other way around.
BTW Fem Body Type 1 Drows got a beautiful bow shooting animation. 😁
I agree with the Bow vs Crossbow. I really want to build a sort of Hawkeye themed character, leaning on all the variety of special arrows the game has.
Dark Urge Wood Elf let's you get a whopping 11 skill proficiencies and 4 expertise (taking Sleight of Hand and Investigation from Ranger features), including all dialogue skills, letting you be both a combat assassin/infiltrator, and a viable face. My starting stats were Str 10 (becomes 12) Dex 17 (Becomes 22 with feat and +3 permanent bonuses) Con 12 Int 10 Wis 14 Cha 13 (becomes 14 with save scumming). Definitely recommend going Thief for the extra bonus action, it really makes a difference.
Certainly other backgrounds can give you that many as well, but Dark Urge did it the easiest without overlap, and fit such a build thematically.
Went swordsbard 6, gloomstalker 3, thief 3 to do something similar. The Flourishes doubling up attacks again on your alpha strike turn are hard to walk past.
I did this same exact build with dual hand bows on my first run, it was strong….
There's a Bow of Awareness you can buy from Roah Moonglow in Goblin Camp in Act 1. It's a +1 Shortbow doing 1d6+3 - so 1 less point than a +1 Longbow - but also gives +1 to Initiative. Something to think about if Initiative is going to be a factor for you. It's also useful to slot on people who don't normally use bows/ranged weapons just to get the +1 Initiative bonus.
Huh, I don't remember seeing this one, seems like a decent stack stick for other classes
Yup, nice early pick for a paladin or other strength based EKs for the initiative. Gets replaced by the hellrider longbow in act 3.
worth noting if you miss her in act 1 she's in moonrise in act 2 still selling it
Don’t sleep on the joltshooter when combined with the lightning dash boots. Use your additional bonus action to activate the boots and you’ll do a ton of extra lightning damage every turn.
My first playthrough was this build with a heavy crossbow and the knife of the undermountain king. Had an AC of 26 as a human...
Whenever I play an RPG where I can create a character I always use the same characteristics if possible; name, class, race, etc. and I just roleplay as if it’s the same character continuously getting isekai’d/reincarnated to different worlds. For my first playthrough in BG3 I roleplayed him getting tired of the cycle, so he deviated from the usual class he would be (Rogue/Assassin Archer) and chose Vengeance/Oathbreaker Paladin instead and he essentially became a wrecking ball of fury and killed everything regardless of if they were good or bad characters.
I say all of that because this video gave me a good idea for a new storyline for him for my second playthrough. So thanks and have a like. ❤️
hmm, maybe the Durge playthrough could be an interesting one to do with that idea. Isekai'd as the chosen of a god of murder. Would a normal person give in, or embrace their new place....would the beginning for Durge make them forget their isekai'd nature until later?
Yo, this is my third attempt to enjoy a play through. Thanks to this build I am having a blast. I also learned a lot about how these systems work in bg3 at the same time. Great work
Fuck yeah man! Stoked to hear it
Imo, Lvl 5 is a such massive power spike for martial classes, I'd rather just go straight gloom stalker 5 then level rogue
Duegar are by far the best race. They get a free unlimited use of invisibility at level 5 that works really well with gloom stalker.
Yes, 100% and it isn't even close. Duergar are just the best race in the game for on demand unlimited invisibility. Against any combat encounter where the enemy can be surprised, it guarantees you and your team a free round.
I am doing my first run-through as this build and really love the video. Also, I am subbed because of BG3 I can't get enough content and your videos are really the best.
Shar trials in act2 has a short bow with haste spell if I remember correctly. Easy to miss though the container is hidden behind a table you just normally run past if you're not looking.
Didn't even mention the Yuan-Ti Scale Mail medium armor you can get as soon as you get to the Inn in Act 2.
Essentially the same as the Armour of Agility with 2 less AC, and +1 to Initiative instead of +2 to Saving Throws.
Pretty similar to an idea I was cooking up. The only thing different was that I planned around all the crit reduction gear first. So I picked up assassin for sneak attack, and then 5 levels gloom, then 4 levels champion for increased crit range. Theres an elixir too that reduces it further. You could also upgrade the covert cowl into sarevoks helm later
This guide is excellent, I am excited to try this with Asterion in honor mode
I upvoted before the 2 minute mark for telling me the plan.
loving this, and the rest of your build videos, not meta, but fun and that's what i look for
My new favorite combo with gloomstalker ranger is going trickery domain to level 5 (best level imo to multiclass it) and gloomstalker all the way. dropping an invoke duplicity clone at the start of combat before popping dread ambusher usually guarantees I'm gonna hit my shot and it sets up the whole party for sneak attacks and spell slinging 😊
Thank you for the amazing videos you put out, both in terms of the quality content and the great presentation. My run with a rogue was waning until I found your video, now I'm having so much more fun with more options on what to do. Looking forward to more quality videos in the future
Act 1 longbow combo:
Titanstring Bow with the Club of Hill Giant Strength.
Stacks Strength damage modifier with Dex modifier.
By act 3, level 11 a fighter archer is better as you get 3 attacks and action surge. Not to mention battlemaster skills.
I feel like the fact hand crossbows are so strong compared to bows and crossbows is not only you get to dual wield them BUT ne'er misser hand crossbow is just busted its deals pure force damage and pretty much nothing resists it or has weakness to it and you can get it relatively early in act 2
It’s a decent weapon, but it’s literal garbage compared to all the different bows in the game. Hand Crossbows having comparatively mediocre enchantments is the one thing even coming close to holding them back.
Edit: for clarification to cut some of these replies off at the source, I am not saying Hand Crossbows as a weapon type are bad. I’m saying the additional magical abilities listed on them are, on average, significantly worse than those found on Bows. That’s ALL.
@@ChunkyTheClownlol what bow availabile at the same time is better? It gives magic missile too, and don't forget you get to add a whole ass nother hand crossbow as well
@@chipskylark5500 The Titanstring Bow, Darkfire Shortbow, Bow of the Banshee, Least Expected, and maybe even the Joltshooter are all available before or during Act 2, and I would argue that they are all significantly superior to the Ne’er Misser.
More importantly, though, the REAL issue is that you don’t get anything better in Act 3, unlike your other ranged weapon options. In comparison to endgame ranged weapons like the Gontr Mael or Deadshot, the Ne’er Misser is overwhelmingly outclassed.
At the end of the day, a once per long rest spell (which doesn’t synergize with any extra attack features you might have), +1 enchantment, and unique damage type just aren’t very game changing abilities. They’re USEFUL, don’t get me wrong, but other stuff is just way better.
"literal garbage" is a bit overzealous. The darkfire for example, is a shortbow, which only does 1d6 to begin with. Being able to fire 2 hand crossbows, gives you 3 shots with extra attack. So you'll generally do more damage. And enchantment level at end game isn't a big deal. It's a +/- 1-2. My ranger currently has +18. A small difference. Damage and special abilities/synergies are more important.
@@fiveforbiting I am not comparing which is the better weapon archetype. Hand Crossbows are pretty much the objectively best ranged weapons in the game due to the ability to attack as a bonus action when dual wielded (which is commonly used to great effect in coordination with builds featuring classes such as Thief Rogues and Sword Bards). What I am doing is making the argument that Hand Crossbows get comparatively bad special abilities.
This is why I say “even remotely close to holding them back.” In my original comment. They aren’t being held back. They’re extremely powerful. Potentially overpowered, even. That being said, their main downside is not having any unique, standout options like every single other build in the game does
@ItalianSpartacus : Shove resist depends on Athletics OR Acrobatics (defenders choice/highest), for that purpose Acrobatics are often the preferred skill pick for a dex build.
I'm super onboard with the idea though, all humanoids in BG3 can shove as a bonus action (deviates from 5'd rules), so the AI can get really annoying at times.
Another great video. I like your approach bringing a suboptimal build to light for the sake of role playing or even just visuals. I'm tired of the min/max builds and I enjoy seeing that even if you're not gaming the game you can be very successful anyway.
5 Ranger GS/ 3 Rogue AS / 2 FT is absurdly overpowered
you can take some dip into swords bard for shooting twice
I like this build a lot, I've been playing a slight variation. I go 3 rogue assassin, 5 hunter gloom stalker, and 4 fighter champion for the improved crit on the initial opening shot
I've thought about this, but what about the sneak attack dice?
@@aaronmole2301 I mean he hits like a truck with that initial gloom stalker ambush attack. I don't worry about the sneak attack too much unless I'm overwhelmed.
in my first playthrough, i got the titanstring bow, which adds your strength AND dex to ranged attacks. then I just equipped the club of hill giant strength in my offhand to get 19 strength, the knife of the undermountain king to increase crit chance in my main hand, and bracers of dexterity for 18 dex. i was hitting for no less than 20 every shot on a normal shot not including sneak attack or dread ambush very early on, and I just tweaked the build as I went. it broke so many encounters because I just stealth killed them before the fight could start...
I feel like Halfling, Humans or Gith would be the best. Hear me out, you’ll automatically get Superior Darkvision at level 3 Gloomstalker. Might as well use a race without and with other useful skills.
I know this video is 8 months old for anyone who watched till the armour pieces, if you're looking for something like the Armour of Agility- Quartermaster Tillie in Last Light (Act 2) sells an armour piece called "Yuan-Ti Scale Mail" Which does the exact same thing as the Armour of Agility, It's also medium armour and you even get +1 to initiative rolls :]
nothing is better than a Dwarven Crossbow shooter psssst! its all about the Beard
Great vids and guides bro!!! Life saver!! Can you do a total psychic/tadpole build?
Glad I’m not the only one who was wishing panthers were in the game, it would be such an iconic build to have in the game. Unless he’s extremely hard to find BG3 is the first game he isn’t in since you could get him to spawn in BG2
Panthers are in the game, druid shape shift. Just put a druid in your party and keep them in panther form all the time.
I'd love to see a Drizzt Do'Urden Ranger/Monk build like he is in the newer books.
That's kind of what I'm doing with my open hand monk atm.
Drizzt is a 5 Ranger/10 fighter/1 barbarian multiclass
Small correct: 30:03 - Bloodthirst is from Orin* quest chain not Asterion. Rhapsody however is from Asterion's quest chain, so I would assume you actually *can* miss it but highly unlikely
It's not hard to miss astarion mission things, I stabbed the prick on the first night in camp. I could have rerolled but I trust the dice
Gloves of Archery are supposed to be available from the Goblin camp merchant, so that is Act 1 instead of Act 2 as stated in the video.
Thank you for the correction bro!
@@italianspartacus Always glad to help the community. :) Great job with the video anyways!
you forgot the short sword from the Gethyankee base :) that you can buy or get for free *wink wink* as a rogue :) specially as a dwergar rogue since they cast inviz for free
That short sword is also really thematic if you're a duergar. S+ roleplay potential.
Broken Bow Build
5 Gloomstalker
3 Thief
3 Champion
1 War Cleric
You do only get 1 feat but, I feel like my character is continuously growing until mid-late Act III and at that point you’re popping 5-7 shots a round.
I have theory crafted a 2 Fighter 5 Assassin 5 Gloomstalker, but it seems so vanilla
I traded r rogue levels for 4 fighter levels. The surge and battlemaster options are way better than the extra sneak attacks in my opinion.
Correct. The perfected formula of this build is: Gloom stalker 5 Thief 3 Battle master 4. Less reliant on surprise and yields way better sustained dps compared to assassin.
There's definitely merit to both. One gives you Action Surge which is arguably bonkers, and BM options or Better Crits from Champ. The feat isn't worth mentioning because you'd get it from just taking another level in Rogue anyways. As far as going Rogue 7, you get a better sneak burst which you are building towards anyway, and a number of better defensive options, as well as 2 additional choices for expertise.
Great video my only con is that you showcase it against actual people in the game instead of enemies that would have been surprised as you mentioned.
So i have a very similar build the only difference is that I have put two levels into fighter so you can get an additional attack on top of the attacks and bonus actions with thief so if you want to sacrifice some of that d6 damage to sneak attack and trade it in for an attack it gets pretty crazy. also if you start as the fighter you also get proficiency in heavy armor as well so if you find a heavy armor piece like the grymforge helmet or any that has a stat that you like you can use it. That heavy armor proficiency is obviously not necessary but sometimes you want to mix up your builds so ill keep some armour pieces i like in camp and switch them out if i get bored
You can’t have a Panther as a Beast Master companion, no. But you *can* have a Druid Wild Shape into one if they take Circle of the Moon. And then later upgrade it to Displacer Beast.
Really cool build, i did something similar, but used titanstring bow and giant hill elixir to get the bonus str damage, a headband that gives arcane synergy when you apply a condition (that being hunter´s mark), so with 16 wis thats another +3, the strange conduit ring that gives 1/4 psy damage when your concentrating on a spell (hunter´s mark again), and risky ring to get advantage on attack rolls.
30:02 rhapsody is from a sidequest
Really well done video, but some of the misinfo about where things are found is insane and hilarious 😂
Rhapsody is not associated with a main quest. It’s at the end of Astarion’s companion quest line
The best race is single-handedly the Duerger. After each kill in turn based mode - with an action you can go invisible and dash away as a Rogue completely cheesing fights with a one-shot-kill OSK rogue.
Halfling is probably the best race for this build. Halfling luckily means you never roll a one thus never a critical failure, halfling advantage stealth is the equivalent to plus five to stealth. Deep gnome also has advantage stealth but I find lucky outweighs the dark vision given you pick that up for free off of gloomstalker. If you're willing to use respect via Withers then final build rogue thief 3/ranger gloomstalker 5/ Swords Bard 4 offers outstanding utility/expertees with all of the DPS you could ask for with bows.
I feel like rogue is not worth for level 1. I’d rather have sharpshooter and an extra attack earlier. I’d either respec at lvl 4 or wait until 6 personally
Italian Spartacus you are stupiiiiidddd goooood 😅 I’m in my 1st play through and a beginner to BG and D&D. Your videos are so good man!! Very helpful. I just re~classed my Ranger to this mc Rouge spec (only lvl 9 so far) but loving it and crushing some gloom stalker sneak attacks!! “Where’d you go, you coward?”……BAM 💥 💥 💥 3D6 proficiency bonus up your ass MF’er!! 😂
It’s So much fun and great stuff. I Cant wait to finish the Shar Temple soon and keep plowing thru this EPIC game. Keep up the great content, thanks for all the hard work!!
Aw man thank you so much for watching!!
The best armor for this is the : "The Graceful Cloth (Cat)" -Cat's Grace: You gain Cat's Grace and increase your Dexterity score by 2, to a maximum 20. -Nimble As a Cat: You gain a +1 bonus to Dexterity Saving Throws and also increase yourJump distance by 1.5m.
+2 in dex means +1 AC, +1 Initiative, +1 to Attack Rolles, +1 to Damage, +1 to dex Profiecencies and Saving Throws.
So you whanna get 20 dex with this, always.
Best Builds are:
-5 Gloom 5 Assa/Thief 2Fighter
-5 Gloom 3 Assa/Thief 4Fighter
-6 Swordsbard 4 Assa/Thief 2 Fighter
-6 Swordsbard 3 Assa/Thief 3 Gloom/Battlemaster
Feats: always Sharpshooter, Ability Improvement if not at 20 Dex, Savage Attacker as 2nd Feat if your at 20 dex, (Alert is okay if you play Assasin without Gloom)
It's insane how early you can pick up that armor.
Not a huge fan of the whole hand-crossbow thing myself. I've been carrying around the Ne'er Misser and Yurgir's hand-crossbow forever, but I've kept my Bard/Fighter-Tav on his trusty old Bow of the Banshee. For one thing, I do like the fact that he can, in theory, put Fear on four to eight enemies per round with that thing (gotta love those flourishes), but for another, I just feel the whole dual gunslinger-thing looks and feels a bit cheezy in this setting. Plus they *do* have shorter range (should be shorter still, IMO). Getting very close to the end of Act III, so he's now on that legendary bow from the Foundry.
Love the Gloomstalker sub-class, BTW. I've used Minsc like that last run and now in this one and he can do a crap-ton of damage per turn. I went with a CRIT-fishing build when it came to gear and it's so nice to be able to score even strings of CRITS when using an Arrow of Many Targets on a tight group of enemies. I haven't compared it precisely, but I'd say with Minsc on the team it's not really a big deal to not have a super hard-hitting character like Karlach in the party. He's doing a ton of damage from range.
Plus I've seen his hamster, so how could I not keep him active? :D
One Elixir of Viciousness per day, Dead Shot Bow, Sarevok's helmet, Elegant Leather Armor, Bhaal amulet, Killer's Sweetheart, Ring of Regen, Shade Slayer Cloak, Legacy of the Masters gloves (if Jaheira isn't in the party). I don't think the Crit-advantage from swords counts when you're doing ranged attacks, so I gave him Orin's short-sword and one of the many Uber-shields (Adamantine, prolly) instead of the Knife of the Undermountain King. But melee is purely for emergency situations with this build.
I think the undermountain knife does work , check to see if it has "melee" in the tooltop or "weapon" attack.
@@chipskylark5500 I should probably start putting arrows into my companions in camp while checking the combat-log to be 100% sure. But I *think* it says somewhere in the description that you'll get the bonus "while wielding" the blade.. or something like that. Which made me think I wouldn't get the bonus when using a bow. Descriptions in the game can be a bit vague at times and what actually happens in combat might not always be what it says on the tin, so.. yeah.. I should probably test this. :)
OTOH, I do know for a fact that some effects from *bows* will be available to your character even while using melee weapons. Like Hunter's Mark from the Hunting Shortbow - or fire and cold resistance from that other shortbow whose name I forgot. So... maybe you do get the crit-bonus, after all.
It seems the Knife of the Undermountain King has been updated in the recent patch. Instead of it saying you score a critical hit on a 19 like in your video, it now says the number needed to score a critical hit is reduced by one, and the effect can stack.
YUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
It also affects your ranged attacks. It is best in slot for act 2 for sure.
I wonder how Gloomstalker works with Sword Bard.
if you go bard 6 ranger 3 rogue 3 you can essentially double your damage output with the ranged flourish from bards:)
I've been trying tactician solo (no companions), just to see how difficult it would be, and I'm basically doing this build, although I started as a ranger. I want to get extra attack at level 5 before going to Rogue. So far, I've been doing decent with it. I'm almost to level 4 with it. So far, the main struggle is getting surrounded by enemies. If that happens, I'm pretty much guaranteed to die. My main strategy when going against multiple enemies is to lure them to a place where they have to come through one at a time or using things like explosive barrels to blow up a bunch of enemies with a fire arrow. I want to do Honor mode eventually, so I'm trying to challenge myself with tactician solo. If I do Honor Mode, I would have companions
I think my next run I'll go with this build and Dark Urge origin because of the cloak. Great synergy.
Gonna start this rn
Honestly this build is probably my biggest gripe in the transition between DOS2 and BG3. In DOS2 Archer builds were awesome because they could imbue their arrows with nearby surfaces which really bumped the versatility of the bow; coating an arrow in grease ended up dealing fireball-level damage without the spell slot.
RE the build, I wonder if running 5 Rogue, 5 Ranger and 2 fighter might not get you more value. Most of your sneak attack damage is going to add up first round, so leaning into the "Nova" playstyle with Action Surge fits the build thematically. alternatively you could run even fewer rogue (3) and open up 4 points to put into some other subclass: Battlemaster, Wildheart or Swords each have some advantages, and I could even see some value in the raw DPR with Champion. Thief 3, Gloom 3 is such a powerful and versatile split to build from.
i would probably dip level 1 cleric in war domain instead of fighter. it would let you attack using a bonus action as well as giving access to bless for a nice concentration + a little healing for some clutch moments.
A pure Hunter subclass after lvl 11 can use Volley AOE attack every turn is something that might be worth looking at, if you dont want to multiclass, or want to be able to do AOE without spellslots reliably. Unfortunately hunters are not good before getting volley. it's definitely better than a single attack at the start of every combat, I'd say.
Still, a pure dex ranged fighter (battlemaster) with 4 feats will outperform this build in combat, only you'll be lacking in skills. but fighters are insane in this game. gontr mael, armor of agility, bonespike gloves, 22AC+. Sneak attack falls of lategame if you're not playing a pure rogue (they get +1d6 to sneak attack every odd level) you can use the Risky Ring to offset the need for advantage to trigger sneak attacks.
Having a melee rogue in your group with bhaalist armor giving piercing vulnerability to your dex ranged fighter means you're able to kill ansur in 2 turns. that's 600 damage.
and I have like an always option invisibility as a duergar
playing through with a couple friends, my friend is Durge, I'm a Duergar that's supposed to keep him alive for his fight with Orin and ensure his...urges...are kept only where there are no witnesses, besides party members. least until he fulfills his destiny
we also have a githyanki druid with us. They're...strange, and we're very certain they are clueless about everything
that being said, there's a scale mail available at last light in act 2, yuan ti scale mail. it also has the armor of agility no cap of dex modifier and no disadvantage on stealth. Instead of the saving throw bonus you get +1 initiative.
the jolt bot with the boots that give u 3 on a dash u can dash as a bonus action with lvl 2 Rouge and at lvl 3 go thief and u can dahs 3x charges hide with the 2ed Bonus action then sneak attack ganing u 2 more charges with the jolt shot naw u are at 5 then u use the 2ed attack as Hord breaker trigring the 5 staks for extra d8 damage and a theard attack on a deferent target ganing u 2 more staks for next turn u can also go colossus slayer insted for gust an extra d8 so u start the turn with dash then hide nas u sneak attack ranged for 3d6 + 1d8 + 1d6(Huntes mark) + 1d4 from the bis help (Circlet of the hunt) and 1d6 from (Strange Conduit Ring) all act one itoms BTW and by naw u shoulkd have 20 dex with the (The Graceful Cloth) so +5 and the bow give a flat +1 and thats gust the first attack all achevable with lvl 4 and act 1 and u dont rilly shar anyt gear with other people
Very good video. I would just like to add that Legacy of the Masters gloves will replace gloves of archery once you reach a3 unless you are using those on another character.
Or Helldusk Gloves.
Yuan-Ti Scale Mail is also good and you can get it in Act 1. It’s Armor of Agility but with plus 1 to initiative instead of +2 to saving throws in AOA. Not too shabby although a Gloom Stalker doesn’t need the initiative help so AOA is better for a gloom stalker or if you have the Alert feat.
Yuan-Ti is in Act 2. You get it at the Last Light Inn.
Well shit. I never considered using disguise self to use race specified items.
I can't wrap my head around the feats that give you -5 to hit to trade off for damage. Seems like you would be missing left and right on tougher enemies.
You can negate hit penalties pretty easily if you know what you're doing. My end game archer has a 90+% to hit enemies even with 19 AC- 22 AC with sharp shooter turned on. Moreover, it is a toggleable passive. So if you ever want to ensure you don't miss, you can always turn it off before taking the shot.
The highest AC I've ever seen an enemy have in game is a boss in act 3 who has a super mode that gives him 28 AC. Now that's a difficult target to hit and I'd turn off sharp shooter for enemies like this. But you can always then instead rely on forcing saving throws instead, or magic missile depending on your party setup.
Wouldn't it be great if we get thiefs extra bonus attack earlier? Going stealth again after sneak attack is so op i think. Enemy cant see you when their turn come so they cant attack and you keep attacking them until they are dead. I destroyed some camps alone as a rogue by doing this with full hp. For example Yurgir is really hard to kill. I go stealth and place myself right upon him where they don't have vision. The place is soo good that you can get range and stealth to kill all of them. All my friends stayed behind and watched me killing them for 30 minutes one by one :D
Would be awesome to see a video specifically on like a support bard character, thinking about respecing Gale
If by support you mean a healer + buffer, imo the best possible combination is going to include 6 lore bard + 3 thief and then either 1 level in life cleric + 2 levels in sorcerer or 3 levels in life cleric.
6 lore bard gives you access to magical secrets, which allows you to get warden of vitality, which is a no concentration aura that allows you to heal yourself or an ally for 2d6 hitpoints using a bonus action for 10 turns (dipping into thief allows you to double this healing since you get 2 bonus actions), and haste (one of the best buff spells that you can put on your strikers).
1 level in life cleric gives you access to the preserve life passive which would make all your healing spells (including warden of vitality) give additional healing = spell slot level used + 2, as well as sanctuary to prevent yourself from being targeted at all as long as you don't do anything that will harm the enemy in battle (no cutting words unfortunately since that breaks the condition). 2 levels of sorcerer gets you metamagic twinned spell to allow you to twin haste 2 party members instead of one.
This is how your combat is essentially gonna go: you're gonna twin haste two of your primary damage dealers, hide with sanctuary and then cast warden of vitality to allow you to heal your allies for free for 10 turns using your bonus actions. For those 10 turns, you're gonna be spending your actions getting to your allies via dash so that they are in range of your healing, or to cast cure wounds/ lesser restoration on them as needed or to use the help action if they become ensnared or prone or something else.
If you go 3 life domain, you lose out on twinned haste (can still use regular haste on one ally), but 3 levels of life domain gives you access to your preserve life channel divinity which heals for 3*character level hit points all allies in a 9m radius (36 healing at max level), aid, which allows you to increase the HP maximum of all allies (including summons) and is really strong for increasing party survivability when upcasted, warding bond (to give your primary striker even more survivability) and spiritual weapon (just to have a way of still getting some way to do damage even while you're under the sanctuary condition).
3 life domain is preferred if you're running a more "summoner" comp. or if you're not running a lot of primary strikers (i.e. character's whose entire role is high burst and sustained DPR over rounds of combat to eliminate threats quickly) while 2 sorcerer path is recommended if you're running a party of 4 where 2 of them are just built for striking (examples: tavern brawler throw build, or evocation magic missile wizard or eldritch blaster sorlock etc.).
@@common_undead mainly I want to fit gale into my party, but I’m already a warlock, I have shadowheart as a cleric and karlach as a barb. I’d like to bring gale too, but I’m not sure what role to make him. I’d to make him a class that kinda makes sense for his character I just can’t decide what to change him to, and I’m new to dnd stuff so not sure what to make of a bard
@@yellowtubes4180 Bards are pretty good skill monkeys and can basically fulfill any role in your party. They are good at dialogue checks, they can disarm traps, they can heal allies, they can dish out a decent chunk of single target damage, they can use crowd control spells like hold person, etc, so you don't really have to worry about fitting a bard into your party.
Though I would say, with Shadowheart as a cleric already being a support I think, Gale could work excellently as more of a striker (evocation wizard, draconic bloodline sorcerer, etc.), but bards can also fulfill that role petty well.
I think it depends on how are you playing your warlock? If you're playing it a melee character, it makes more sense for Gale to take up a shoots spells from the back roll. If you're the shooter relying on Eldritch Blast and your warlock spells, then you want Gale to be a bit of both, damage dealer + damage mitigation/support. If you want to keep him a wizard (since you're keeping Shadowheart as Cleric and Karlach as Barbarian), then abjuration wizard works pretty well.
To tell the truth people are too focused on number of attacks.
12 level of Ranger Hunter gives you 2 attacks and with haste potion it will be 3 attacks and with good positioning and using Volley you can hit 3 or more enemies with each of the attacks especially later when you have black hole illithid ability making you as much damage as attacking 9 times.
Arrow of many targets plus your best poison and risky ring = lots of dead enemies
I could tell this guy doesn't actually know anything about playing an archer by the fact that he didn't have any Arrow of many on his character in act 3. He "shows off" his build by killing a guard and wounding another in 1 round of combat.... there are much better builds for an archer.
Excellent tutorial, thank you. Am new to this game, so am wondering can you change to your build if you have already started the game, without having to start from beginning again?
Yup!! Go to Withers and you can "respec" :)
You can use acrobatics or athletics to resist being shoved
hehe im tbh in a split hate/love mentality when it comes to these vids :) vids are so amazing i feel tempted to start a new playthought right away to try these builds out, only problem is i never realy make it past act 1 before starting a new playthough.... and yeah yeah i could just reroll my class, but i wanna try them out from beginning to end (not like im making it ot the end anytime soon) xP ... keep up the amazing work m8, love the vids :)
Thanks for the video
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Let’s change that metric 😂😂
Deep Gnome 5 gloomstalker, 3 assassin, 4 BattleMaster. 17 dex, 14 con, 16 wis, 10 Cha. +1dex hag hair, +2 dex asi feat, +2 dex mirror, +2 Dex gloves. This gives you 24 dex. Titanstring Longbow + hill giant club for early game. Drakethroat glaive buff on deadshot + rhapsody + sentinel shield late game.
Also Sharpshooter feat. If you go dark urge the cloak allows for permanent ambushes.
Better to take sharpshooter than dex ASI since you'll be having 22 dex regardless, and deadshot completely negates sharpshooter's penalty.
@@common_undead yeah my bad I replied to my own comment to add Sharpshooter because I forgot to put it innmy first. You get 2 feats with this build so 1 can be Sharpshooter and the other ASI dex to maximize your dex late game.
Can you do an Aragon build next?
nice build! re: drizzt build, i would just do a druid/ranger duo and have the druid be your panther. This leaves you open to choosing other classes than beastmaster for drizzt. I would probably just do a champion fighter/ranger/monk combo on him. There is also a fantastic mod that adds in the panther and some specific gear for him
Fun fact, scimitars are light weapons in 5e just so Drizzit can dual wield without feats cause feats are technically optional rules
Did a build like this with champion multi class. My crit was like 25%. Sure, the range of a longbow is nice, but DW handys is better sustained dps. Also with how many dummy 2h in the late game personally feel like a party of frost giant str exilers and spamming action surge is the true way to cheese dps.
I appreciate a ranged build that doesn’t revolve around hand crossbows. I understand the potential they have but the lack of range they have compared to bows keeps screwing me over.
I could probably get used to it after a while but given the best hand crossbows are mid to late act 2 I’m already used to the range of bows so keep mis-positioning my ranged fighters
I think maybe next time i will choose not to save Mayrina in her cage, seems like everyone just saves her or kill the hag...
Never see people using Titanstring bow with the club of hill giant in melee slot. Iv been hitting easy 30+ per arrow without sneak attacks on my ranger/fighter archer.
TBH after Sharpshooter ASI for Dex is >>>>>> Crossbow Expert. Gloomstalker assassin was my first run and crossbow expert is super niche and mostly unnecessary.
if you Dual wield Xbows, you pick the dual wield fighting style, right? not Archery, but that said, pick archery and go with titan string bow + club of hillgiant's strength combo and pick any shield you find for some extra AC
In act 3 you can buy a pair of gloves that give +2 dexterity to gnomes, and you can disguise yourself as a gnome. Does that work?
Slight of hand expertise seems so redundant since it's incredibly easy to boost that skill with equipment when exploring. Not only that but bludgeoning locked doors or chests works just as well as picking a lock. Disarming traps is the only thing you may need to do but for that I'd rather have expertise in perception so you spot the traps easier, nothing worse than everyone failing a perception check and now you're walking around knowing there's a trap somewhere near you.
imo ranged fighter is more appropriate for a Legolas build. He wasn't really the sneaky type.
does this really need 16 wisdom? im new but i fail to see the reason for this other than than 1 more spell slot? none of those ranger spells seem to benefit from wisdom when casting
Gloves of archery are in act 1
I killed Auntie Ethel too quickly and didn’t get her scalp 😢
would going fighter for lvl 11 and 12 be better than evasion? since you get an extra attack every short rest could be really good to assasinate tough bosses in 1 turn
I did 5 lvs in fighter to get precision strike and action surge with rogue. Think it works better then gloomstalker
is giantbreaker the best option in 1st area? it does the most solid damage. my other class bard is dual wielding crossbow and im not impressed so far even as college of swords it doesnt hit hard for some reason only 16 dex though but idk
Have you considered doing battlemaster fighter after getting attack sneak attack doesn't get as strong but you are much stronger Nova build
Gloom 8 Thief 2 Fighter 2 perfect build using magic arrows and poisons so strong solo.
If you only go rogue 2 you won't get thief.
@@garion046or Assassin.
One thing about Crossbow expert though is it removes the close in penalty. Is there way to remove that for bows?