Hey, you said Arcane Trickster uses Intelligence as magic souce but it shows Charisma traid with the little star on it. I am so confused. Am I missing something? 14:58 Edit: and how does this work with a magical enchanted weapon?
Doing my first full playthrough as a Wood Elf Assassin Rogue/Gloomstalker Ranger. Sneak into anything, pick any lock, and massacre packs of enemies before they knew what hit them. Absolutely loving it.
thief + monk is definitely a must try. With enough ki, guaranteed 4 punch per turn just from bonus actions is so fun and scales the tiny additional damage you get from monk equipments into absurdity
have to say having only a very cursory knowledge of D&D and playing bg3 since launch....i have been finding your videos very informative over otheres. good job mate
The arcane trickster feature for enemies getting disadvantage on saves vs hidden rogue really shines when you realize scrolls are a thing, and you can dominate or hold enemies more easily. Just need to spend gold on it with consumables.
The Thief 3 multiclass can be so broken when you combine the cunning actions and 2 bonus actions. On tabletop, rogue multiclasses can be pretty OP too so it's definitely a feature of the system.
rogue 4 barbarian 8 is what I ended up with on Karlach, great weapon master and sentinel with that Halberd from moonrise was absolutely monstrous. caste haste for best results
Sentinel for a melee rogue lets you sneak attack with your reaction. Side by side with a protection fighter lets the fighter protect the rogue and the rogue retaliate for attacks against the fighter.
@@ScytheNoireI prefer starting with ranger to pick up the proficiencies and fighting style early on. I also don't think you'll want to delay the extra attack. I went 5 levels in ranger/gloom stalker -> 4 levels in rogue/thief -> 2 levels of fighter (to gain another fighting style and action surge) -> final level in rogue/thief. This build is more about getting max attacks than sneak attacks, though sneak attacks are always welcome when you can get them set up.
I think it is better to go 4 thief because your off habd attack get +10 dmg but no attack penalty. Turns out you deal much more dmg wit off hand weapon so it looks to be better to get 2 bons actions early.
I'm going Wood Elf / Urchin with a Rogue starter into Rogue/Ranger with 16dex, 16wis, 12con, 14cha, 8int, 8str - This can get you +7 Sleight, +7 Stealth, +5 Perception, +4 to all four dialogue skills, longbow proficiency, medium armor proficiency. Literally good at everything. With a Gloomstalker ranged build the 12 con is fine.
Started a playthrough as a Wood Elf Rogue/Thief Ranger/Gloomstalker and has probably easily become my favorite build so far. It's also such a great build if you want the get rich very easily without ever having to spend much gold and can easily pickpocket all my gold back after i buy something from merchants. I can also just easily stack and collect a ton of special arrows and offensive items like grease bottles and alchemist fire for the extra elemental damage or utility when needed, basically becoming a "Magic Archer". At lvl 10 in act3 i raided the castle with all the Steel Watchers and could usually take one out within 3-4 Lightning Arrows.
Cool guide! I'm currently playing Monk Four Elements 6 and Thief 3, and I'm quite satisfied with how it's performing. It's really cool how many moves I can make.
I made Astarion into a Shadow Monk with 3 levels in Thief. With shadow step it means 4-6 attacks with extra 2d6 damage on 1 of them coming soon to a shadow near you!
Half Orc for the x3 critical multiplier instead of x2 for melee is a solid choice you didn't mention. Plus all their other goodies like not dying on the first would be death.
No matter how you multiclass it I think 3-4 of rogue then dipping off to other jobs is the way to go, especially in the case of thief where other jobs could greatly bemefit from the 2 bonus actions.
Not sure it’s wise to list every way to grant a type of modifier. You’ll always miss things. I didn’t hear faerie fire. Or the illithid 100% crit. Or the ring with a 100% crit. Lots of fun ways to get advantage. Faerie fire is definitely a favorite. AOE advantage that lasts until concentration is broken and only grants one save (rather than a save per round, or only lasting 2 rounds). Also a big fan of the gloves you find in act 2 that summon a raven with one hit point who has an attack that blinds. The raven. And be summoned any time blasts until killed/dismissed/long rest. And, the blind attack doesn’t cost any of your players anything to do (other than someone needs to have put them on to cast, and then can take them off).
I’ve seen a lot of people struggle with Sneak Attack needing advantage, and this is an excellent resource on how to get it! Also, you torturing your camp mates is hilarious
I imagine it's probably going to be covered in the Monk video since there is a lot of nuance to how thief/monk works, but that mostly involves Ki economy which is very monk-centric.
@@coolfish420 PARCOUR! Also monk's primary feature is to attack twice with a bonus action. Just finished a run with a rogue + monk. With everything setup properly you can get 2 actions + 4 bonus actions per turn. AKA 12 attacks per turn. Which for me averaged 25 damage per hit with full gear. Also when you combine monk infinite jumps per turn with rogue extra dashes, you can litterally cross the entire map in a single turn. For the final battle my PC took out half the enemies on the way up and then proceeded to 2 round the final boss.
@@coolfish420monks have lots of uses for bonus actions and the thief subclass for the rogue provides an additional bonus action. Additionally, both classes are dexterity based, and by starting with rogue (instead of monk), you gain additional skill proficiencies/expertise and proficiency with longswords which will then qualify as a monk weapon when you choose monk, allowing you to use dex for attack/damage while 2-handing a longsword, AND still being able to flurry of blows/unarmed attack as a follow up.
You missed a really important debuff here for advantage which is Faerie Fire. It provides advantage, setting up Sneak Attack. It's very powerful and has a fairly large aoe. Also, a lot of your videos sac STR. Players may want to consider not going below STR 14 unless they want to use the Enhance Leap spell a lot. There's many areas, especially in Chapter 1, where even STR 12 is not enough to make a jump. It may be especially important for Rogues who want to be super mobile depending on the map layout.
I've been having a lot of fun/success with 3 levels in Rogue for thief and 9 in College of Sword Bard if you're going for a more charismatic Rogue. At level 3 bard, College of Swords gains you proficiency with medium armor, either the duelist or 2 weapon fighting style, and 3 special flourishes for both ranged and melee attacks that each use 1 bardic inspiration. The first lets you hit multiple enemies, a short cone for melee and 2 targets for ranged. The second, allows you to push an enemy back and then as a free action teleport to the target if they are still alive within 18m. The best one, Defensive Flourish, lets you add 4 AC to yourself if you hit with it. At level 5, Sword bard you can extra attack like most martial classes so you can sneak attack an enemy them follow up with another attack. On top of all this, bards are full casters so you'll have access to more spells and spell slots than if you pick the arcane trickster subclass.
There is another synergy with assassin and great old one warlock. 3R/1W gives Frighten all nearby enemies with the suprise critical constant. 2nd level warlock an grant darkvision and beguiling speech freeing up a proficiency. Or you can grab any other invocation
my favorite combo is 3 rogue assassin, 5 ranger gloomstalker, 4 fighter battlemaster or maybe even champion This combo makes me able to nuke bosses and high priority targets on the first round of battle, with 4 high damage attacks before enemies have time to act. -Assassin gives me a free attack before the fight, advantage on all enemies that didn't take a turn so free sneak attack, almost never miss and guaranteed crits on surprised enemies which as a mechanic has weird interactions sometimes, but if you do learn how to get it reliably, it's HUGE. -Gloomstalker gives me extra dmg and inititive so i can go before the enemies for that advantage (not to mention useful spells), an extra attack and feat like sharpshooter to boost the dmg even further -Battlemaster gives me that huge action surge to use on the first round and maneuvers that you can use to straight up boost your dmg and for some utility and another feat. It's pretty insane as far as single target damage can go.
Good guide. But you forgot to mention one more important way to get advantage against the enemy: attacking while obscured. In essence, if you're out of enemy's vision and are in lightly or heavily obscured area, that will give you advantage on the said enemy. That sadly won't work against creatures who don't rely on sight or have superior darkvision. Regular dark vision - depends on the distance between you and the enemy. When you have the ability to grab that advantage, it doesn't even take action, just a careful planning of positioning and regular use of the "SHIFT" key.
Praise Mephistopheles, this one has seen the way! Which race did you pick? I went tiefling for fire resistance (plus poison from ranger) and mage hand potion shenanigans.
Im fully addicted to this game & havent even played it yet. Larian is the new CDPR after they came out with the witcher. I cant fucking wait to play this. Love the videos btw. You dropped the bard classed and i was like "oh im definitely playing a bard" Watched the sorcerer video like "fuck bard im doing sorc" I fully expect to be like "fuck sorc im doing rogue" after this video 😂
I usually make a High Dex Rogue... But.... In Neverwinter Nights I made what I called the Super Rogue. High STR Dualwielding Bastard Swords. It was a pretty powerful build. ;)
Gloom Stalker (5) + Assassin(3) is insane one turn killer. sneak attack + 4 critical attacks on first turn + 2 extra if potion of speed is used. Thus, all if enemy can be surprised. Also, long stride insane utility and even protection from poison situationally good. And all of it with all proficiencies available.
So I'm working on lvling this build now, was going to go to 5 ranger first for the extra attack then into assassin, but I'm unsure what the best split is after that. Do you go 9/3 or 8/4?
@@talmanes4589 I would say that there is not much you can get from ranger after level 5. So I either would pick 7 levels of roque or 5 levels of roque and 2 levels of fighter for action surge.
And you can get sharpshooter to boost the dmg even further since the chance to hit isn't really an issue because we have advantage and even get 4 levels in fighter battlemaster lastly to get even more dmg, utility, another feat and action surge for one more attack with crit. This is my rogue's build, the single target damage is actually insane.
@@talmanes4589 the split up to 5 is preference based, i personally think the crits, advantage and free attack before fight from assassin is better than the extra attack from level 5 ranger so i went 1 ranger for proficiencies 3 rogue and then 5 ranger. Also going 9ranger 3rogue only really gives you the fear spell which is not bad but all the other features are niche and not worth it imo, and the 8ranger 4rogue only gives you an extra feat, which again not bad but not worth it unless you really need it. In your situation i would either go with my prefered fighter multiclass that i listed above to boost dmg even further beyond or you can go 5ranger 7rogue to upgrade sneak attack 2 more times and get dodge and evasion that'll make you way tankier and 2 more expertises which are always nice to have. But at the end of the day what you need depends on your party's needs, i personally wanted as much dmg as possible so i came up with the rogue/ranger/fighter combo.
This is a bit of a hot take on the dual-crossbow builds discussed below, such as by combining with gloomstalker, but I like picking up 2 levels of Spore Druid early. You have to wait on thief for some more levels (probably starting after 2 druid/5 ranger), but you are stronger at low levels with the 1-6 necrotic damage, plus you get a lot of useful spells, including the all-powerful fog cloud, and also create water which allows you to use the spark ring and boots. Arguments can be made for all sorts of combos with thief, gloomstalker, and hand crossbows with sharpshooter (my build gets sharpshooter at lvl 6), but I am enjoying the druid variant.
I actually have a plan to do a rogue with three levels in Land Druid for the infiltration. Wild Shape Cat with some Misty Step backup. Just sounds fun to me.
Not sure if it's a tip but I spent MUCH too much time thinking about a build last night that I figured I should put here. I was looking at Open Hand Monk and saw Manifestation of Body/Mind/Soul and realized how well all of these works well with Fast Hands from Thief Rogue. So idea is "currently" 6 levels of Open Hand Monk, 3-4 levels of Thief Rogue, and 2-3 levels of Ranger (probably Gloom Stalker). With Fast Hands, you can activate Flurry of Blows twice in one turn to absolutely destroy someone (or a group of weaker someones). So each punch ends up being 1d6+Dex Mod+1d4+Wis Mod+1d6 from Hunter's Mark (or between 9-22 damage in a single punch) with the ability to do 6 attacks in a single turn (and you can initiate a 2d6 Sneak Attack after using Flurry of Blows Topple by knocking them prone). Just sweep the leg, shive them, and then just ORA ORA ORA ORA them until they stop moving. Let me know what you guys think if you have any advice about the build, I haven't pick up BG3 yet and I literally just thought this up last night but this could be a fun build.
One thing to keep in mind is that so much of your actual play time in BG3 is lower levels, so theorycrafting about how your character is at high levels is fun to think about, but ignores much of how the actual game tends to play out.
If you have the guts.....dump Dex as low as you're comfortable, get up to the requisite gold (300, or 860 in Heroic), get to the Gith'yanki Creche, buy the Gloves of Dexterity from A'jak'nir Jeera (sets it to 18, gives an additional +1 to attack). Besides certain builds, you can pretty readily get by with them for the rest of the game. Get The Graceful Cloth from Lady Esther outside the Creche, you'll have 20 dex in Act 1.
I use duel hand crossbows with sharpshooter. Ive found that my off hand attacks benefit from the damage, but it doesnt get the aim penalty like your main hand attack. Went with thief with 2 bonus shots and at the moment I do massive consistent damage with my 3 shots
Exellent breakdown!👍🏾 There's also an interesting interaction with Great Weapon Master bonus action attack. For people interested in Tiger Style Barbarians 😉
There is a cloack you can buy in act 3 at the barn yard It allows you to Make a smoke cloud when ever you disengage which almost always blinds targets save enemies that can't get blinded
Arcane trickster + wizard (9:3) is the way to go. Did my own research and came for the same conclusions (I am new to dnd), still needed to hear the confirmation. They can do everything: invis, change appeareance, misty step etc. so much potential and versatility.
Not really sure what arcane trickster brings to the table there unless you still get 6th level spells and want cunning actions and expertise? The way multiclassing in bg3 isn't like dnd so it could be that you don't lose 6th level spell slot.
@@joshholmes1372 You are creating a half-caster rogue this way. If You played Dishonored you will get a slight idea of what this multiclass can do. You are basically getting all the "unique" abilities of other rogue subclasses, much earlier. And "misty step" on top of the rogue's mobility. Mirror image and blur on top of evasion and dex modifier. Google BG 3 scrolls and You got yourself a handy roster (but only those wizard can learn). If it is possible for AT to learn lvl 3 spells from scrolls. If not, you'll still have lvl 3 slots.
using astarion 5 rogue 5 ranger at the moment mainly focussing on ranged attacks with savage attacker + sharpshooter (basically a free +10 damage if i am right) (still got 18 dex from gauntlets which makes it extra nice) perma steal attacks, almost never get hit either edit: if sharpshooter + savage attacker doesn't work together let me know
Underrated? Ive pretty much exclusively read about Thief when people argue how good rogue is. I didnt even know what the other subclasses were named lol.
Everyone talks about assassin rogue + gloomstalker ranger but Thief Rogue + Gloomstalker Ranger is so much better. The bonus action does so much more than people realize. The sharpshooter feat (+10 Dmg, -5 Roll) doesn't effect just bows it also effects crossbows. What gets better is you can dual wield light crossbows (No dmg change, just loses 3m of range) So Level 5 Gloomstalker Ranger + Lvl 3 Thief Rogue with Sharpshooter feat can easily do 80+ Dmg a turn (Plus an extra 20-30 on the first turn)
Thank you for the breakdown on how to gain sneak attack. That is/was the only reason I dont touch Rogue. In Pathfinder KM/ WoTr its easier to understand (Just Flank). On BG3 I guess its the same I must be doing something wrong, it always says I "cant have Disadvantage" (something along those line) even if Im NOT under any negative effects or difficult terrain. Guess I'll give Rogue another look.
I'm doing 11 rogue 1 fighter, to gain proficiency in mediums armor, since some can still add dex, and gain two weapon fighting to deal more damage with my bonus actions.
Arcane trickster is huge at low levels for grease and sleep. The spell thief bow is available for astarion (elf let’s him use a long bow) so he even gets back spell slots. As soon as you get modifiers to offhand damage go thief. Two bonus attacks every round is a very big deal in melee. My Astarion is level 9 and the +14 damage per round from adding his dex modifier to offhand attacks (gloves in act 2 grant this) and a +2 offhand weapon is huge. Taking out one enemy when the fight starts using assassin is big. That can be matched with some spells at low level. But, lots of scripted fights mean in the fights that matter you don’t get the assassin benefit … and no one should be proud of killing garbage in a random non boss fight (it’s mundane and meaningless and those fights aren’t a challenge anyhow).
The problem I find with this game is that by the time you get all your guys maxed out and start optimizing them, you are at the end of the game. I really think this game needed some type of post game dungeons that can be repeated with increased difficulty and random loot so that you can play around with optimizing your builds and party, and still have something to do with it.
yea and you still have 10-20 hrs of campaign still to do. I am max 12 in act 3 and still a ways to go. I don't even feel like playing to be honest anymore
@@Raguel1984 crpgs have some of the best customization and build variety, bg3 limits this due to their exp curve, games like wotr are superior when it comes to roleplaying your character build fantasy. You are showing your ignorance
@@juanbonfiglio I think I used zealot barbarian and swashbuckler rogue. Not sure what I’m going to do for baldurs gate. Definitely thief rogue, and I’m not sure for barbarian yet.
A possible combination is also Thief/Barbarian. Berserker can make an additional attack as an bonus action, so why not 2? The Wild Magic barbarian (in tabletop) can trigger the wild magic effect on each turn as a bonus action, so again why not twice? Plus, you can still use Sneak Attack with high Str as you only need to use a finesse weapon, but not the dex stat. Also Conan was a barbarian/thief, and who would argue with him?
I picked Astarion as my Origin character and wanted to do the dialogues with him. So I went down the charisma route, changed him from Arkane Trickster to Assassin (because I like to start fights like this) and multiclassed him with Bard. I am not sure how very sensible this is from a combat point of view but the combination has given me so many nice dialogue options, that I am very happy with it. (Also having a bunch of spells to make fun of everyone seems very much in character for him. 😅 )
Rogue+Bard can be extremely powerful! I think taking thief instead of assassin makes more sense for the bard multi class, but you can definitely make either of them work!
@@zacharycallaghan7016 Can't argue with you there. 😄 The Assassin is fun, when you have the upper hand in a situation but when you are thrown into chaos yourself that second Bonus Action would be very helpful for your own character or for handing out some inspiration to party members.
That's also a solid build for covering skills. You get expertise with both rogue and bard so you can be great at stealth/sleight of hand and persuasion/perception
Risky Ring...is the best advantage enabler for combat there is. The hit to saves never mattered, the advantage for my fighter in every fight mattered every time.
you can also go 4 fighter instead of 5 assassin, you lose out on dodge so you're a bit squishier but you so get much utility and dmg from the battlemaster maneuvers.
Going 3 rogue/9 other class will result in you losing the entire feat, which is a limited but valuable resource. I'm playing 4 rogue (assasin)/8 ranger (gloomstalker) which allows me to keep my precious 3 feats and get my dex to 20 and sharpshooter for big damage numbers. Not getting level 9 in ranger means you lose access to lvl 3 spells which i found underwhelming on ranger since damage dealing spells require high DC. At any rate, you have to consider going 3 or 4 on rogue depending on what you value more: extra feat or extra spell slot or extra class feature at lvl 9. Regardless, pure rogue is kinda lacking and falling behind in terms of damage when compared against other martial classes like ranger, fighter etc. Sneak attack 5d6 at lvl 12 don't make up for extra attack or two extra attacks other classes get. So imo rogue is best multiclassed to get a grab on extra attack one way or another.
Love the videos but it looks like you missed going over the "Background" section! Thank you for these vids!- also it is not possible to allocate all of the ability points that you've stated for "Dialogue" rogue-- you run out of points and can only take CHA to 13
I would absolutely recommend AGAINST Short Kings races (halfings, gnomes and dwarves) if you want your rogue doing any kind of scouting ahead because of Jump. Jump is based on your distance per turn and your Strength bonus. If you're either small or have a malus in Strength you won't be able to access many platforms that allow you to complete many non combat infiltrations. A good Jump distance will also help staying in the shadows. There is a way to fix it with the Athletics Feat that offers +50% jump distance but you're sacrificing a feat that you could use elsewhere. The Jump spell or Githianki abilty can help too but duration is limited and won't stay for a whole exploration session.
I've been looking at starting as a sorceror when I finally have the hard drive space to reinstall the game after I started playing early access a couple years ago. You make a very good point about dipping into rogue for the extra bonus action.
I picked Thief as that’s what most online sources were suggesting at the initial character build stage… now I’m at a loss as to where to go with Arcane or Assassin. Unless I’m not playing the game right, Thief just seems quite lacklustre!
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Hey, you said Arcane Trickster uses Intelligence as magic souce but it shows Charisma traid with the little star on it. I am so confused. Am I missing something? 14:58
Edit: and how does this work with a magical enchanted weapon?
Pushing shift to see enemy sight lines was the biggest win for me out of this video. Thank you for this so much!!!
Same
Press down right joystick for anyone on controller
It's also useful out of combat cause it shows you what items are on the ground
@@chocomilkfps1264I was legit looking for this answer! Thank you :D
@@LM-cx4sj glad it helped! :)
Ah yes, 12 years later and I'm still playing stealth archer.
Lmao same
I feel this hahahaha Skyrim has broken my want to play anything other than a stealth archer
It never ends my friend, it never does.
23 years later and I'm still Assassin 😂
Time to try something new, ahh what's this has stealth, need a bow, damnit I made it again lol should try new things tho
Doing my first full playthrough as a Wood Elf Assassin Rogue/Gloomstalker Ranger. Sneak into anything, pick any lock, and massacre packs of enemies before they knew what hit them. Absolutely loving it.
fighter 2 dip makes this one of the wildest turn one builds in the game
Same, but half elf drow 👍🏻
add in pickpocketing gear from npcs and you might have the best character in game lol
@@DODUCKA you can cast 6 spells with a thief sorc and haste in a single round 7 if you get the item that give a extra bonus action
Same but I multiclassed into the shadow monk
These class guides are very good. Can't wait for Cleric!
thief + monk is definitely a must try. With enough ki, guaranteed 4 punch per turn just from bonus actions is so fun and scales the tiny additional damage you get from monk equipments into absurdity
have to say having only a very cursory knowledge of D&D and playing bg3 since launch....i have been finding your videos very informative over otheres. good job mate
The arcane trickster feature for enemies getting disadvantage on saves vs hidden rogue really shines when you realize scrolls are a thing, and you can dominate or hold enemies more easily. Just need to spend gold on it with consumables.
Does it actually work in the game right now? I didn't see disadvantage in the log.
The Thief 3 multiclass can be so broken when you combine the cunning actions and 2 bonus actions. On tabletop, rogue multiclasses can be pretty OP too so it's definitely a feature of the system.
rogue 4 barbarian 8 is what I ended up with on Karlach, great weapon master and sentinel with that Halberd from moonrise was absolutely monstrous. caste haste for best results
what does thief 3 and rogue 4 barbarian 8 mean?
@@gosugosu1280levels into each class I'm pretty sure
Sentinel for a melee rogue lets you sneak attack with your reaction. Side by side with a protection fighter lets the fighter protect the rogue and the rogue retaliate for attacks against the fighter.
I am loving Rogue! They hit so hard and are very accurate since they consistently attack at Advantage.
It doesnt seem like many people are talking about this but dual wield handcross bows as a gloomstalker + thief provides crazy damage!
Yeah, and with the Sharpshooter feat its +10 dmg to all 3 attacks :D
does it? i wanted to try it but theres not many good hand crossbows in the game and im using them on my drow lol
Is it better to start Ranger or Rogue as first class?
@@ScytheNoireI prefer starting with ranger to pick up the proficiencies and fighting style early on. I also don't think you'll want to delay the extra attack. I went 5 levels in ranger/gloom stalker -> 4 levels in rogue/thief -> 2 levels of fighter (to gain another fighting style and action surge) -> final level in rogue/thief. This build is more about getting max attacks than sneak attacks, though sneak attacks are always welcome when you can get them set up.
I think it is better to go 4 thief because your off habd attack get +10 dmg but no attack penalty. Turns out you deal much more dmg wit off hand weapon so it looks to be better to get 2 bons actions early.
I'm going Wood Elf / Urchin with a Rogue starter into Rogue/Ranger with 16dex, 16wis, 12con, 14cha, 8int, 8str - This can get you +7 Sleight, +7 Stealth, +5 Perception, +4 to all four dialogue skills, longbow proficiency, medium armor proficiency. Literally good at everything. With a Gloomstalker ranged build the 12 con is fine.
Did you take assassin or thief?
@@Sharethewealth2020 Thief. They each have pros and cons. Assassin good for the initial burst damage. Thief is better for prolonged, tough fights.
These separate class guides are a great idea. Thank you.
I've been waiting on this Rogue guide since release! So worth the wait! Absolutely loving my rogue playthrough. Keep up the great content
Ahh the breath of fresh air that is fextralife. Thanks for being awesome.
Finally! Always loved rogues/assassin types in every crpg and mmo and used to play rogue in bg1 and 2 😁
Beastmaster Ranger has good synergy with Thief Rogue since you can have a giant spider put down webs then make 4 attacks with dual hand crossbows
Started a playthrough as a Wood Elf Rogue/Thief Ranger/Gloomstalker and has probably easily become my favorite build so far. It's also such a great build if you want the get rich very easily without ever having to spend much gold and can easily pickpocket all my gold back after i buy something from merchants. I can also just easily stack and collect a ton of special arrows and offensive items like grease bottles and alchemist fire for the extra elemental damage or utility when needed, basically becoming a "Magic Archer". At lvl 10 in act3 i raided the castle with all the Steel Watchers and could usually take one out within 3-4 Lightning Arrows.
Cool guide! I'm currently playing Monk Four Elements 6 and Thief 3, and I'm quite satisfied with how it's performing. It's really cool how many moves I can make.
I made Astarion into a Shadow Monk with 3 levels in Thief. With shadow step it means 4-6 attacks with extra 2d6 damage on 1 of them coming soon to a shadow near you!
Half Orc for the x3 critical multiplier instead of x2 for melee is a solid choice you didn't mention. Plus all their other goodies like not dying on the first would be death.
This was the guide I needed two days ago after re-rolling my main. Thank you!!!
No matter how you multiclass it I think 3-4 of rogue then dipping off to other jobs is the way to go, especially in the case of thief where other jobs could greatly bemefit from the 2 bonus actions.
I found a longsword in the underdark that is a finesse weapon. It's been pretty funny to be sneaking around with a big sword
My bard uses it
Yeah the war cleric getting to attack using bonus actions with thief's extra bonus actions was insane early on
Not sure it’s wise to list every way to grant a type of modifier. You’ll always miss things. I didn’t hear faerie fire. Or the illithid 100% crit. Or the ring with a 100% crit.
Lots of fun ways to get advantage. Faerie fire is definitely a favorite. AOE advantage that lasts until concentration is broken and only grants one save (rather than a save per round, or only lasting 2 rounds).
Also a big fan of the gloves you find in act 2 that summon a raven with one hit point who has an attack that blinds. The raven. And be summoned any time blasts until killed/dismissed/long rest. And, the blind attack doesn’t cost any of your players anything to do (other than someone needs to have put them on to cast, and then can take them off).
I've been waiting for this since release 😃😃
I’ve seen a lot of people struggle with Sneak Attack needing advantage, and this is an excellent resource on how to get it! Also, you torturing your camp mates is hilarious
It is absolutely criminal you didn't mention Thief/Monk in the multi-class section.
what's so good about it?
I imagine it's probably going to be covered in the Monk video since there is a lot of nuance to how thief/monk works, but that mostly involves Ki economy which is very monk-centric.
@@coolfish420 PARCOUR! Also monk's primary feature is to attack twice with a bonus action. Just finished a run with a rogue + monk. With everything setup properly you can get 2 actions + 4 bonus actions per turn. AKA 12 attacks per turn. Which for me averaged 25 damage per hit with full gear. Also when you combine monk infinite jumps per turn with rogue extra dashes, you can litterally cross the entire map in a single turn. For the final battle my PC took out half the enemies on the way up and then proceeded to 2 round the final boss.
@@coolfish420monks have lots of uses for bonus actions and the thief subclass for the rogue provides an additional bonus action.
Additionally, both classes are dexterity based, and by starting with rogue (instead of monk), you gain additional skill proficiencies/expertise and proficiency with longswords which will then qualify as a monk weapon when you choose monk, allowing you to use dex for attack/damage while 2-handing a longsword, AND still being able to flurry of blows/unarmed attack as a follow up.
@@ismount oh awesome, good to know, thanks!
You missed a really important debuff here for advantage which is Faerie Fire. It provides advantage, setting up Sneak Attack. It's very powerful and has a fairly large aoe.
Also, a lot of your videos sac STR. Players may want to consider not going below STR 14 unless they want to use the Enhance Leap spell a lot. There's many areas, especially in Chapter 1, where even STR 12 is not enough to make a jump. It may be especially important for Rogues who want to be super mobile depending on the map layout.
If you play the Dark Urge, you get a really good item early on for a rogue. I'm still using it at level 10 on my rogue.
I've been having a lot of fun/success with 3 levels in Rogue for thief and 9 in College of Sword Bard if you're going for a more charismatic Rogue.
At level 3 bard, College of Swords gains you proficiency with medium armor, either the duelist or 2 weapon fighting style, and 3 special flourishes for both ranged and melee attacks that each use 1 bardic inspiration. The first lets you hit multiple enemies, a short cone for melee and 2 targets for ranged. The second, allows you to push an enemy back and then as a free action teleport to the target if they are still alive within 18m. The best one, Defensive Flourish, lets you add 4 AC to yourself if you hit with it. At level 5, Sword bard you can extra attack like most martial classes so you can sneak attack an enemy them follow up with another attack. On top of all this, bards are full casters so you'll have access to more spells and spell slots than if you pick the arcane trickster subclass.
Thank you for doing these guides! Looking forward to Druid!!
There is another synergy with assassin and great old one warlock. 3R/1W gives Frighten all nearby enemies with the suprise critical constant. 2nd level warlock an grant darkvision and beguiling speech freeing up a proficiency. Or you can grab any other invocation
Both of Theif's bonus actions can be used for off-hand attacks, giving them 3 attacks at level 3.
Would recommend 1 lvl of fighter/ranger first so you can have additional weapon scaling on your off-hand and still have 3 attacks at lvl 4.
my favorite combo is 3 rogue assassin, 5 ranger gloomstalker, 4 fighter battlemaster or maybe even champion
This combo makes me able to nuke bosses and high priority targets on the first round of battle, with 4 high damage attacks before enemies have time to act.
-Assassin gives me a free attack before the fight, advantage on all enemies that didn't take a turn so free sneak attack, almost never miss and guaranteed crits on surprised enemies which as a mechanic has weird interactions sometimes, but if you do learn how to get it reliably, it's HUGE.
-Gloomstalker gives me extra dmg and inititive so i can go before the enemies for that advantage (not to mention useful spells), an extra attack and feat like sharpshooter to boost the dmg even further
-Battlemaster gives me that huge action surge to use on the first round and maneuvers that you can use to straight up boost your dmg and for some utility and another feat.
It's pretty insane as far as single target damage can go.
I’m really intrigued by your guides and builds. Well done Fextra
This is the best thief guide out there. Thx a lot! I want to make a combat base rogue/fighter dual wielding dagger and short sword.
Good guide. But you forgot to mention one more important way to get advantage against the enemy: attacking while obscured. In essence, if you're out of enemy's vision and are in lightly or heavily obscured area, that will give you advantage on the said enemy. That sadly won't work against creatures who don't rely on sight or have superior darkvision. Regular dark vision - depends on the distance between you and the enemy.
When you have the ability to grab that advantage, it doesn't even take action, just a careful planning of positioning and regular use of the "SHIFT" key.
I’m having a ton of fun, and success with Thief/Gloomstalker. I’m 4/5 right now and plan to go 7/5 to get the 4d6 on sneak attack, and evasion
Praise Mephistopheles, this one has seen the way!
Which race did you pick? I went tiefling for fire resistance (plus poison from ranger) and mage hand potion shenanigans.
@@Oniphire I went Woodelf for movement, longbow, and Fey Ancestry
@@lifes2short4bs73 That was pretty high on my list of choices. Your opening round movement must be pretty crazy 😁
Im fully addicted to this game & havent even played it yet. Larian is the new CDPR after they came out with the witcher. I cant fucking wait to play this. Love the videos btw. You dropped the bard classed and i was like "oh im definitely playing a bard"
Watched the sorcerer video like "fuck bard im doing sorc"
I fully expect to be like "fuck sorc im doing rogue" after this video 😂
I usually make a High Dex Rogue...
But....
In Neverwinter Nights I made what I called the Super Rogue.
High STR Dualwielding Bastard Swords.
It was a pretty powerful build. ;)
Gloom Stalker (5) + Assassin(3) is insane one turn killer. sneak attack + 4 critical attacks on first turn + 2 extra if potion of speed is used. Thus, all if enemy can be surprised. Also, long stride insane utility and even protection from poison situationally good. And all of it with all proficiencies available.
So I'm working on lvling this build now, was going to go to 5 ranger first for the extra attack then into assassin, but I'm unsure what the best split is after that. Do you go 9/3 or 8/4?
@@talmanes4589 I would say that there is not much you can get from ranger after level 5. So I either would pick 7 levels of roque or 5 levels of roque and 2 levels of fighter for action surge.
And you can get sharpshooter to boost the dmg even further since the chance to hit isn't really an issue because we have advantage and even get 4 levels in fighter battlemaster lastly to get even more dmg, utility, another feat and action surge for one more attack with crit. This is my rogue's build, the single target damage is actually insane.
@@talmanes4589 the split up to 5 is preference based, i personally think the crits, advantage and free attack before fight from assassin is better than the extra attack from level 5 ranger so i went 1 ranger for proficiencies 3 rogue and then 5 ranger. Also going 9ranger 3rogue only really gives you the fear spell which is not bad but all the other features are niche and not worth it imo, and the 8ranger 4rogue only gives you an extra feat, which again not bad but not worth it unless you really need it. In your situation i would either go with my prefered fighter multiclass that i listed above to boost dmg even further beyond or you can go 5ranger 7rogue to upgrade sneak attack 2 more times and get dodge and evasion that'll make you way tankier and 2 more expertises which are always nice to have. But at the end of the day what you need depends on your party's needs, i personally wanted as much dmg as possible so i came up with the rogue/ranger/fighter combo.
What skills order are you using to get 4 critical hits off first turn?
This is a bit of a hot take on the dual-crossbow builds discussed below, such as by combining with gloomstalker, but I like picking up 2 levels of Spore Druid early. You have to wait on thief for some more levels (probably starting after 2 druid/5 ranger), but you are stronger at low levels with the 1-6 necrotic damage, plus you get a lot of useful spells, including the all-powerful fog cloud, and also create water which allows you to use the spark ring and boots. Arguments can be made for all sorts of combos with thief, gloomstalker, and hand crossbows with sharpshooter (my build gets sharpshooter at lvl 6), but I am enjoying the druid variant.
I actually have a plan to do a rogue with three levels in Land Druid for the infiltration. Wild Shape Cat with some Misty Step backup. Just sounds fun to me.
Woof Elf gives both Stealth AND Perception. Also Drow gives perception too.
Drow are best rogues by far
Not sure if it's a tip but I spent MUCH too much time thinking about a build last night that I figured I should put here. I was looking at Open Hand Monk and saw Manifestation of Body/Mind/Soul and realized how well all of these works well with Fast Hands from Thief Rogue. So idea is "currently" 6 levels of Open Hand Monk, 3-4 levels of Thief Rogue, and 2-3 levels of Ranger (probably Gloom Stalker). With Fast Hands, you can activate Flurry of Blows twice in one turn to absolutely destroy someone (or a group of weaker someones). So each punch ends up being 1d6+Dex Mod+1d4+Wis Mod+1d6 from Hunter's Mark (or between 9-22 damage in a single punch) with the ability to do 6 attacks in a single turn (and you can initiate a 2d6 Sneak Attack after using Flurry of Blows Topple by knocking them prone). Just sweep the leg, shive them, and then just ORA ORA ORA ORA them until they stop moving. Let me know what you guys think if you have any advice about the build, I haven't pick up BG3 yet and I literally just thought this up last night but this could be a fun build.
One thing to keep in mind is that so much of your actual play time in BG3 is lower levels, so theorycrafting about how your character is at high levels is fun to think about, but ignores much of how the actual game tends to play out.
If you have the guts.....dump Dex as low as you're comfortable, get up to the requisite gold (300, or 860 in Heroic), get to the Gith'yanki Creche, buy the Gloves of Dexterity from A'jak'nir Jeera (sets it to 18, gives an additional +1 to attack). Besides certain builds, you can pretty readily get by with them for the rest of the game. Get The Graceful Cloth from Lady Esther outside the Creche, you'll have 20 dex in Act 1.
I use duel hand crossbows with sharpshooter. Ive found that my off hand attacks benefit from the damage, but it doesnt get the aim penalty like your main hand attack. Went with thief with 2 bonus shots and at the moment I do massive consistent damage with my 3 shots
Exellent breakdown!👍🏾 There's also an interesting interaction with Great Weapon Master bonus action attack. For people interested in Tiger Style Barbarians 😉
There is a cloack you can buy in act 3 at the barn yard
It allows you to Make a smoke cloud when ever you disengage which almost always blinds targets save enemies that can't get blinded
Awesome! Need to find it 😊
You can have that cloack in Act 2 already if you buy it from the Tiefling-Kid-Vendor at the Last Light Inn :)
Need that cloack
Id love to see the barbarian next!
Arcane trickster + wizard (9:3) is the way to go. Did my own research and came for the same conclusions (I am new to dnd), still needed to hear the confirmation. They can do everything: invis, change appeareance, misty step etc. so much potential and versatility.
Not really sure what arcane trickster brings to the table there unless you still get 6th level spells and want cunning actions and expertise? The way multiclassing in bg3 isn't like dnd so it could be that you don't lose 6th level spell slot.
@@joshholmes1372 You are creating a half-caster rogue this way. If You played Dishonored you will get a slight idea of what this multiclass can do.
You are basically getting all the "unique" abilities of other rogue subclasses, much earlier. And "misty step" on top of the rogue's mobility. Mirror image and blur on top of evasion and dex modifier.
Google BG 3 scrolls and You got yourself a handy roster (but only those wizard can learn). If it is possible for AT to learn lvl 3 spells from scrolls. If not, you'll still have lvl 3 slots.
I love taking pop shots from the shadows before combat even begins. I can drop back into stealth and repeat enough times to kill 1 or 2 enemies.
Ah, me with my rogue wood elf
Skyrim follows me everywhere I go with the stealthy archer wood elf over a decade later 😂
You can also do a rogue-thief 3/ warlock 2/ sorcrer 7 build to be able to quicken spell and fire 3 eldrich blasts in one round.
Man, no love for my Thief/Monk multiclass? Sneak attack plus Flurry of Blows is too good! Shadow Monk gets darkness spell and shadow walk also!
using astarion 5 rogue 5 ranger at the moment mainly focussing on ranged attacks with savage attacker + sharpshooter (basically a free +10 damage if i am right) (still got 18 dex from gauntlets which makes it extra nice) perma steal attacks, almost never get hit either
edit: if sharpshooter + savage attacker doesn't work together let me know
The Thief subclass is underrated. The extra bonus action is super useful in most situations.
Underrated? Ive pretty much exclusively read about Thief when people argue how good rogue is. I didnt even know what the other subclasses were named lol.
Everyone talks about assassin rogue + gloomstalker ranger but Thief Rogue + Gloomstalker Ranger is so much better.
The bonus action does so much more than people realize. The sharpshooter feat (+10 Dmg, -5 Roll) doesn't effect just bows it also effects crossbows. What gets better is you can dual wield light crossbows (No dmg change, just loses 3m of range) So Level 5 Gloomstalker Ranger + Lvl 3 Thief Rogue with Sharpshooter feat can easily do 80+ Dmg a turn (Plus an extra 20-30 on the first turn)
Thank you for the breakdown on how to gain sneak attack. That is/was the only reason I dont touch Rogue. In Pathfinder KM/ WoTr its easier to understand (Just Flank). On BG3 I guess its the same I must be doing something wrong, it always says I "cant have Disadvantage" (something along those line) even if Im NOT under any negative effects or difficult terrain. Guess I'll give Rogue another look.
I'm doing 11 rogue 1 fighter, to gain proficiency in mediums armor, since some can still add dex, and gain two weapon fighting to deal more damage with my bonus actions.
I was today years old when I found out you could change ability points in character creation 😩 how did I miss that
Love these vids! Druid next please!
Arcane trickster is huge at low levels for grease and sleep. The spell thief bow is available for astarion (elf let’s him use a long bow) so he even gets back spell slots.
As soon as you get modifiers to offhand damage go thief. Two bonus attacks every round is a very big deal in melee. My Astarion is level 9 and the +14 damage per round from adding his dex modifier to offhand attacks (gloves in act 2 grant this) and a +2 offhand weapon is huge.
Taking out one enemy when the fight starts using assassin is big. That can be matched with some spells at low level.
But, lots of scripted fights mean in the fights that matter you don’t get the assassin benefit … and no one should be proud of killing garbage in a random non boss fight (it’s mundane and meaningless and those fights aren’t a challenge anyhow).
so useful omg. Subbed for sure
The problem I find with this game is that by the time you get all your guys maxed out and start optimizing them, you are at the end of the game. I really think this game needed some type of post game dungeons that can be repeated with increased difficulty and random loot so that you can play around with optimizing your builds and party, and still have something to do with it.
I just make them all fight eachother lol
yea and you still have 10-20 hrs of campaign still to do. I am max 12 in act 3 and still a ways to go. I don't even feel like playing to be honest anymore
Most builds can be more or less fleshed out at lv8. I'm at the start of act 2 and am at lv8 right now.
This is Baldur’s Gate not diablo 😃
@@Raguel1984 crpgs have some of the best customization and build variety, bg3 limits this due to their exp curve, games like wotr are superior when it comes to roleplaying your character build fantasy.
You are showing your ignorance
Playing a Gloomstalker 5 Thief 3 with dual hand crossbows and sharp shooter and oh BOY does it do a lot of damage, especially on the first round
Another great video!
One of my favorite characters I played in tabletop was a Half-Orc Rogue/Barbarian multiclass. Think I'll try to recreate that character.
I'm trying to make it work too haha which subclasses did you pick?
@@juanbonfiglio I think I used zealot barbarian and swashbuckler rogue. Not sure what I’m going to do for baldurs gate. Definitely thief rogue, and I’m not sure for barbarian yet.
Was dissappointed I didn't get to hear "and THIS is why {insert name of class} is the best class" like y'all did with the Elden Ring weapon guides :D
There's an error at 2:05. The middle number total is higher than the other 2.
A possible combination is also Thief/Barbarian. Berserker can make an additional attack as an bonus action, so why not 2? The Wild Magic barbarian (in tabletop) can trigger the wild magic effect on each turn as a bonus action, so again why not twice?
Plus, you can still use Sneak Attack with high Str as you only need to use a finesse weapon, but not the dex stat.
Also Conan was a barbarian/thief, and who would argue with him?
3 Thief + 3 Lore Bard makes a great starting base for a skill monkey build. It also provides decent damage and support for combat.
12 levels of Thief Rogue is all you need!
Finally! My class
Drow Rogue for me when my PS5 version is playable! Can't wait!
In EA, I would often give Astarion the Club of Hill Giant Strength, to increase his jumping ability & carrying capacity.
Love this series thanks.🙏
I picked Astarion as my Origin character and wanted to do the dialogues with him. So I went down the charisma route, changed him from Arkane Trickster to Assassin (because I like to start fights like this) and multiclassed him with Bard. I am not sure how very sensible this is from a combat point of view but the combination has given me so many nice dialogue options, that I am very happy with it. (Also having a bunch of spells to make fun of everyone seems very much in character for him. 😅 )
Rogue+Bard can be extremely powerful! I think taking thief instead of assassin makes more sense for the bard multi class, but you can definitely make either of them work!
@@zacharycallaghan7016 Can't argue with you there. 😄 The Assassin is fun, when you have the upper hand in a situation but when you are thrown into chaos yourself that second Bonus Action would be very helpful for your own character or for handing out some inspiration to party members.
That's also a solid build for covering skills. You get expertise with both rogue and bard so you can be great at stealth/sleight of hand and persuasion/perception
Phalar Aluve sneak attacks on a Drow Rogue just feels so right .
I’ve never liked turn based games but this actually looks like fun
You did great here
Risky Ring...is the best advantage enabler for combat there is. The hit to saves never mattered, the advantage for my fighter in every fight mattered every time.
my fave multiclasses are
-5 gloomstalker 5 assassain 2 fighter
-9 barbarian 3 thief rogue
-9 monk and 3 thief
you can also go 4 fighter instead of 5 assassin, you lose out on dodge so you're a bit squishier but you so get much utility and dmg from the battlemaster maneuvers.
At the third act i used gloves giving you advantage on all dex throws, since you have constant advantage you can proc suprise attack without stealth
Going 3 rogue/9 other class will result in you losing the entire feat, which is a limited but valuable resource. I'm playing 4 rogue (assasin)/8 ranger (gloomstalker) which allows me to keep my precious 3 feats and get my dex to 20 and sharpshooter for big damage numbers. Not getting level 9 in ranger means you lose access to lvl 3 spells which i found underwhelming on ranger since damage dealing spells require high DC.
At any rate, you have to consider going 3 or 4 on rogue depending on what you value more: extra feat or extra spell slot or extra class feature at lvl 9.
Regardless, pure rogue is kinda lacking and falling behind in terms of damage when compared against other martial classes like ranger, fighter etc. Sneak attack 5d6 at lvl 12 don't make up for extra attack or two extra attacks other classes get. So imo rogue is best multiclassed to get a grab on extra attack one way or another.
Love the videos but it looks like you missed going over the "Background" section! Thank you for these vids!- also it is not possible to allocate all of the ability points that you've stated for "Dialogue" rogue-- you run out of points and can only take CHA to 13
I would absolutely recommend AGAINST Short Kings races (halfings, gnomes and dwarves) if you want your rogue doing any kind of scouting ahead because of Jump. Jump is based on your distance per turn and your Strength bonus. If you're either small or have a malus in Strength you won't be able to access many platforms that allow you to complete many non combat infiltrations. A good Jump distance will also help staying in the shadows. There is a way to fix it with the Athletics Feat that offers +50% jump distance but you're sacrificing a feat that you could use elsewhere. The Jump spell or Githianki abilty can help too but duration is limited and won't stay for a whole exploration session.
Made a half Drow Rogue, [SPOILER] but the hag in act 1 took my eye and now I have very bad perception… I don’t know how to work off of it lol
I decided to go 4 rogue/8 ranger as to not lose the feat. Starting off with sharpshooter when I switch to ranger at level 5 felt really good.
Well now I know I need to respec my Asterion. I had heard rogues were frontloaded but didn’t realize the later benefits were that underwhelming
Great video!
I've been looking at starting as a sorceror when I finally have the hard drive space to reinstall the game after I started playing early access a couple years ago. You make a very good point about dipping into rogue for the extra bonus action.
No love for Thief/Monks? So many uses for those bonus actions!!
I picked Thief as that’s what most online sources were suggesting at the initial character build stage… now I’m at a loss as to where to go with Arcane or Assassin. Unless I’m not playing the game right, Thief just seems quite lacklustre!
Stealth Archer builds are my favourite in any game there an option ngl
I really like these class centric guides, thank you :)
Very Good 👍👍🔥🔥☘☘
Getting 2 bonus actions as thief is so much fun
Thief is so good!!!! yes Assassin gets that first great strike and round but that is it.. as combat continues Thief blows it out of the water