Even if you think it’s cheesy, I think it’s important to note that this is one of THE best builds to abuse the absolutely busted Helm of Arcane Acuity + Band of the Mystic Scoundrel combo. Two slashing flourishes = +8 to Spell Save DC, on a bonus action cast of Command on round 1…
I think a cool video would be about an honour mode party comp, with characters that work well together. Example characters would be two that uses darkness well or Bard+Warlock stuff for the short rests
I'm using this build for my bard and I'm still on my first playthrough. I stumbled upon Duellist's Prerogative rapier during Act 3 and it really fits with this build. This rapier lets you take an extra attack by using a bonus action which lets you attack 3 times in a row which equals to 3 smites in a row! This is insanely good. It even has a reaction attack of 1d4 necrotic, it's not as good as smites but it can always be useful if you' re out of spell slots, which can happen easily because this rapier lets you spam smites. This sword+ helmet of arcane accuity makes you the biggest smite menace Faerûn has ever seen.
Great build! I've opted to dump dex after getting the gloves of dex for more strength, grabbed the scale mail from last light, the cape of protection and the harpers amulet to give me shield, I now have an AC of 23 that's not including ritual spell buffs. All that with multiple smites and high charisma to pass most speech checks with ease, yeah this build is nuts!
The necklace from the doctor is also great for this build. Being able to add paralysis on a critical hit means that every hit after will also be critical. So you Luck of the Far Realms the first attack, guarantee paralysis, then use your remaining attack to crit again. Smite on both.
Great vid and cool take on SSB. For those that are like me, and prefer to keep str as primary stat over dex, this can be solved by grabbing the gloves of dexterity from a merchant at the gyth crèche in act 1.
I'm 20 mins into the video so dont know if this was pointed out later: There's a finesse glaive available in Act 3's Rivington Blacksmithy called The Dancing Breeze. Its the only two-handed polearm that scales with DEX if DEX>STR. It also has some really cool class abilities, and feels like the perfect weapon for a DEX Bardadin build!
Just found your channel and loving the content! I’m on my 2nd play through and didn’t kill Minthara. The only way valid atonement is building her so she can express herself via “serene sounds of slaughter”. 💜
For gear I would probably want to use dex gloves so I can dump dex to boost cha. 18 with +1 is plenty. Then late game I would run the band of the mystic scoundrel so that after i hit something i can cast command/hold person as a bonus action. This allows you do great damage with smite and crowd control. Act 2 you also have the opting, if you have wyl in your party for it - to get a good rapier that uses your cha for attack allowing you to swiggle some stats around as well (if you didnt want to use dex gloves). I know people prefer gear agnostic builds but gear is a big part of the game.
For sure! You can get a lot of extra flexibility with the stat items. That lets you pick up CHA for save DCs and also Savage Attacker, Alert, or Actor which can all be very nice for this build!
I started playing around with this split when I picked up Honor Mode and changed from my Oathbreaker/GOO frontline. I really enjoy being a full spellcaster who has the option to dump a ton of slots on smite or just support the party with Bard utility. Personally I play mine as 2h with GWM, heavy armor, Alert and STR elixer, but whatever sinks your ship.
Yeah, that's also a great way to do it. One of the great things about this archetype (that's sadly kind of hard to convey in a build guide) is just how versatile it is. You can take basically any level split between 2-9 paladin and 3-10 bard, use any combo of weapons/shields and about 8 different feats, and all end up with an extremely strong build!
This is a build I have not thought to try. Looks great. I tend to default to Paladin/Warlock since it's just really nice to have 2 max level smites per short rest. But it's also a fairly one-dimensional build and I prefer flexible characters as a general rule. Subbed.
The ranged version of this one is even more flexible, 1 fighter, 1 wiz, 10 swords bard It takes sharpshooter and does the dual crossbows until mid-late when titanstring takes over It stacks arcane acuity via flourishes w/ act 2 gear and as soon as early act 3 it gets to cast control spells with its bonus action Fighter gives con save proficiency, 1wiz lets you scribe spells from scrolls. Bard levels take hold person to guarantee crits for you and your martials and eventually Command as a magical secret. Command is non concentration and upcast can hit 5 enemies to prone or approach while concentrating on something else
@@grimlok3487 Does scribe scroll still work for higher level spells? I thought it was locked based on wizard spell level? Regardless, sword bard is really good with paladin. I played around a bit with it and it's extremely good. I like that it has a really good ranged option (ranged flourish), which paladins tend to lack. I recently stumbled onto a build that isn't super intuitive but works surprisingly well on Minthara specifically, and that is the paladin/thief. You lose spell slots, but double bonus actions for her unique Soul Branding ability (2D4+1 fire to next weapon attack) means she can double this up on her turn - either use both for herself or buff herself and another character. That second double bonus action just has so many uses too. Start combat, soul branding + vow of enmity - that is just a great start to most any fight. You also get dash as a bonus action without giving up either vow or soul branding, so ranged weapons matter a lot less for this build - there is almost nowhere you can't get to with a double move action. And you still have excellent burst (sneak + smite + soul branding on a crit is 100+ damage). It's my go-to build now for Minthara.
I just finished a tact run with the build using a wood elf for the extra movement! I highly recommend equipping the legendary rapier with no off hand weapon so you can get an extra attack and an extra reaction so you can use counterspell twice if you need to! I had a blast with it!
@@Jakepf i believe he's talking about the one in act 3 after rescuing a child from auntie ethel. if you arent aware of that, apologies for the minor spoiler
I would recommend starting as Bard instead of Paladin. You lose Heavy armor, but you gain another 2 skills (do not take Deception or Performance). In addition, I would go with an odd score for charisma (15), and do first 4 levels as Bard and take Actor feat which boosts charisma by one and gives you Deception and Performance with expertise (even you you don't have either before). You could do the two levels of Paladin at this point, then resume going up as Bard after. This maximizes you ability as Face for the party.
My first ever full playthrough was a Bardadin. Oathbreaker 6 / Swords 6. It was so good and I did not even think about the synergy with Dance Macabre which Wizard Gale got. I fulfilled my Bard and Summoner preferred playstyle and it was Glorious!!
Just two days ago I experimented and made a similar build for main character) But I invested more in Paladin, but your option is even better, due to the greater number of spell slots and bardic inspirations. So I'll respec later like you did)
One of the great things about this archetype is that you can take pretty much anywhere between 2-9 paladin levels and between 3-10 Bard levels and end up with a great character!
If and when I finally get around to playing honour mode, I’ll definitely have a bardadin in my party. It looks so fun. (And I would be so tempted to take spirit guardians via magical secrets, middling CHA be damned lol.) If you’re taking duelling then I think duellist’s prerogative is going to give you the best bang for your buck, even if it means forgoing a shield. You could also take the infernal rapier and roll with a cambion. Another option is to take the GWM feat and use one of the few 2H/versatile finesse weapons in the game. Phalar Aluve in Act 1 & 2, then the Dancing Breeze from the start of Act 3. +10 damage to each slashing flourish hit will potentially be +40 per turn.
I am seriously considering this for my next Tav. I would go two weapon fighting style and make this a version of the machine gun bard. On the negative side, this Tav would not get as many attacks as the true machine gun bard, losing that bonus attack every round. on the plus side, while you do lose that attack up close, you can smite.
I am planning this for my honor run. Go dual xbows with sharpshooter and do the pally dip for melee nova. Helm of Arcane Acuity + Band of Mystic Scoundrel for some CC ability. Not the best at any one thing but truly good at everything.
For anyone wanting absolute easy mode then add 1 level of wizard to this to learn blur and use whispering promise to add bless from heals without using concentration. Once you get high enough you can respec to 10th level Bard to get blur from magical secrets, but using blur as a 2nd level spell just adds ridiculous amounts of survivability. You can use TWF to deal more damage and with blur, heavy armour, defence and defensive attack you're virtually untouchable. With bless on heals you can keep up advantage on hits
The only thing I would change is starting Bard so as to not delay extra attacks, grab Pali at 7-8, that's about the time you'll be in act 2 when you need to start really pushing damage anyway. with such high dex, med armor is better anyway, though the best armor and weapon combo would be light armor and a Raiper. though im still not 100% convinced that melee bard beats archer bard since slashing can target the same thing.
That build definitely will work well! The levelling order here is very flexible. Smites are worth a ton of damage (usually more than Extra Attack without them) so I wouldn't worry too much about getting to that feature early - Bard 1 / pal 2 / bard 9 is my pick if you want to have the extra skills from bard. This definitely won't be as strong damage-wise as an archer bard, since as you say the ranged slashing flourish is broken (personally I wish they would change that, but c'est la vie)
@@Cephalopocalypse Agreed, there is a mod that changes it but with the way it is currently the damage is just insane. Even more so if you take X-box Expert and use the Bhalist armor. I used the Dualist Prog with bahlist armor. made act 3 a complete joke.
I used elixir of cloud giant strength and gloves of dex so I could dump those stats and max Con/Cha, with 14/12 in Wis/int. Also keep in mind divine smite damage caps at level 4, you can use 5/6 spell slots but they wont do additional damage. Personally I went with a 6/6 Pali/Bard split so I could still get the aura of protection buff giving +3 to saving throws.
@@gchristopherklugLarian has posted player stats a few times, probably on their website or Twitter? I’m not sure when the last class popularity thing was posted, so could be outdated.
If you like this build, but want to lean more into the party face and don't mind relying on items, you can start with a 17 Charisma Bard until level 6, taking Actor along the way, then pick up the gloves of dexterity from the Creche.
It's also worth noting that if you're smiting on react rather than casting smite you're never missing smites. Better to miss the attack and not spend a spell slot than spend the spell slot and miss the attack.
Once you reach act 3 I like to steal the heart shaped necklace from the house of hope (not stealing the orphic hammer) and drop constitution to 10 in order to keep more balance the other stats, continue through all the act 3 until you are ready to face Raphael.
Seems like late game 4 oath of vengeance paladin + 8 swords bard would be better. Three feats and bonus action vow of enmity cast on yourself for ten rounds of advantage against everything is cracked. You could even go 3/9 and get a level five spell if you didn’t need the third feat.
I enjoy starting this build with bard for the skills. But if you go with a Gith character, you'll be able to use the racial to get prof in other skills you might have an okay skill in like the Int or wis ones.
For sure! Gith make excellent main characters for that reason imo, you can grab all the knowledge skills alongside the circlet of intellect and just have decent knowledge skills more or less for free. Bard gets half that bonus on all skills so it's *slightly* redundant for bards, but still very nice
I didn't realize I needed to activate smite's reaction... I saw someone previously said you can smite on crit only and I thought that was cool, but I didn't see how to do it... 😅
I would say go two weapon fighting because certain weapons you get when you kill someone scantily dressed in red plus risky rings and Bhaalist armor can make you essentially 1 shot bosses
When you get to act 3 as soon as you get the 5k gold buy the statue of your character from stoney in the fair it gives your character a blessed buff after every long rest until your next long rest so essentially for 5k you can have a permanent bless buff on your main character. Also take the necromancy of thay book in act one if you can pass the saving throws you get a good permanent buff from it then in act 3 you get access to a quest related to the book best to look up a video about it hard to explain how to do the quest but at the end of it you get a book that if kept in your inventory you get 20 additional hit points after every long rest
For this build, if you are running this as a main Tav, who are the other 3? I really like Wizard for the flexibility as well as Throw Barb and the Ranger/Rogue duel wielding multiclass (though I like those classes I worry they are too "glass cannon-y"). Advice?
I was thinking 2 levels of fighter, but this is definitely better. Action surge is pretty nice - but smite all day long is better. Although, for me, I'll put it at the end (yeah I know, I'm missing out on all that smite goodness) but it's my Bard. I could see seeking it in just after level 6 and second attack.
Definitely a good option! You can go bard 1 /pal 2 /bard 9 if you want better skill access. One small downside is you get dex save proficiency from bard rather than wis from paladin, which is overall a less useful save
You got yourself another sub! One question: Paladin at lvl 3 gains the kinda broken Vow of Enmity, that gives you advantage on every hit if cast on yourself (if it's a bug they never fixed it), is there a way to make this build work by picking that 3rd Paladin level? Was thinking maybe 3 Pal, 6 Bard and last 3 in something else, maybe Rogue or Fighter (Action Surge also synergizes with our bard's extra short rests), or perhaps 1 lvl in Light Cleric for Warding Flare.
you want 10 bard for the Magical secret spells which gives you Counterspell(best reaction spell in the game and nothing came close to it) and the secret banish spell. You can get advantages on your attack using Risky Ring from Araj(doesn't matter if you get disadvantage on attack roll against you when they are dead lol)
Hi. Don't know if you will see this, but I will try. I always wanted to make a Dark Urge Oathbreaker main character and I was wondering if it could work with this build. And how would you go about it. Thanks for the amazing builds my friend, I have been enjoying all your videos for a while now!
I would like a little bit more info on these builds, like here the lithid powers and probably how to play them from the begining. like at very early levels this build feels particularly reliant on bows
The spell is cool, but I'm not sure it's as good as going bard 8/paladin 2/Fighter 2 and just having an action surge. you do so much damage using your bard flourish to attack and smite 2 targets at once, and basically every fight in act 3 lasts 1 round when you have 4 very well made characters so I'm not sure how useful the banish actually is, I'd rather just make the enemy dead
For sure, you can definitely do that - or go pal 4 for Savage Attacker to boost your average smite damage significantly. I just really like the secret spell :P
is this build better or worse by using cloud giant elixir + a heavy weapon? I'm wondering if at that point if i'm running a 2H weapon i shouldn't just go something like 2 pally 5 warlock 5 lore bard and not waste a fighting style from the sword bard, and make it more controlly though all the low level spell bloat also feel weird to take
Would you recommend this over your lore friendly wyll build? I'm currently respeccing and gearing up my companions for the last leg of act 1/underdark. Currently running the dark urge lockadin, consistent killer laezel, immortal tank karlach, assassin astarion. Working on respeccing the rest of the party so I can slot them in and out for convenience.
The only reason I want to stay in Paladin to level 3 is Vengeance can cast Vow of enmity on himself for advantage against every target That’s so strong for a dual wield
I am curious if PLD2 / Bladelock 3/Swords 7 would make for an overall better main character. It would allow you to shift all offense to Cha, gives access to the Devil Sight/Darkness combo, full power EB, has stupid conversation skills (esp with Illithid expertise, should you go that route), and Cha is the stat that can be upped the highest overall. The biggest problem I see is that the build only truly comes online at level 11. Also only one feat, so you are counting on the hair for baseline Cha20.
Would you think Phalar Aluve is viable in the Endgame? Shriek is extremely Powerful ...i am at the End of Act 1 and with a Shield,Phalars Shriek and a AC of 19-21 even Bosses miss most Attacks
Is this the best tank build for Honor? I'm missing build like that in my party, good job. What race is the best , beside Draw Minthara? Orc might be a good one? I've noticed on Honor I need a party where each one member can finish the honor on its own. It is hard to win with a dice roll of 90%+. So far over strength / damages characters can do that to some extend (monk, tavern brawler thrower) for me.
would be cool to see a cleric build that focuses on lone wolf honor mode play, seems like to me that pretty much all classes got builds that can solo honor mode with but cleric. I'm excluding tempest cleric as I see it more of a complementary subclass for sorcerer. any ideas for that kind of build with other subclass than tempest?
Off the top of my head, Light Cleric using Radiating Orb stacking is probably the best solo honour cleric - cool idea though, I'll think about it more!
its so funny that those classes are the most popular and its the two classes I play the least by far xD Both in DnD and BG3 I find them kind of booring, especially the paladin. Bard can be fun thou
Could you alternatively for weapons consider subbing in the club of str from act 1 to use with titanstring bow so you could use a different elixir than str elixir? Perhaps viciousness for more crits?
Ya I dont know if it is bugged or what but you can not use smites as a reaction on your flourish attacks. Im doing this build for honor mode and im leve five and everytime I use one of my flourishes I can never use a paladin smite on it and ive used it over a dozen times
Make sure smites are turned to ask in the reaction tab. I've never had it not work unless I've miss-aimed slashing flourish and not actually hit them in the cone.
With a Sorlock as Main and with the wish to include a Bard into the Group What would you choose? This one and giving Laezel a throwing build? Supportbard mixed with cleric on shadowheart? What would be your Teamsetup? Sorlock Laezel Astarion Shadowheart or at least no cleric with this Bardardin?
One of the great things about this build is it fits pretty well into any party - alongside a sorlock you've got a lot of your bases covered! My instinct would be to have this character be your lockpicker since it can also cover the dps role of a rogue, and go with a divine caster (cleric or druid) and a melee character - throwing would also work though!
@@Cephalopocalypse thx! I am very new to BG3 and Overall to D & D...learning a Lot . Fighter,Sorlock and a Cleric (thinking of the Tempest) should Work ..will give it a try in my Tactician-Run working on towards Honour
Quickspell Gloves True Strike Gang. I don't know, I think AoA is the best spell in the game. Enemies rarely even attack my AoA tank Gale. Also, if you're using this character as the Face, you should take Friends. This seems to be broken on Minthara. Can't get the melee slashing flourish to work.
Going to be gimped on damage a little by not going straight fighter. Battlemaster gives you a wider variety of attacks compared to swords bard flourishes, and straight fighter gives you three extra feats compared to any other class. Mixing in bard for some more support probably means concentration spells, which are risky when you’re melee, especially if you’re not using a shield.
Kind of confused. You seemed to be going dual wielding rather than sword/board when you picked "Defense" over "Protection (7:22)" but when you got to "Fighting Style" you picked Duelling (17:23) which you said goes better with sword/board.
This build can use either depending on your preference! Defense style will work for either setup. The picks in the video are just an example - choose dueling if you want to be sword and board, or two weapon fighting if you want to dual wield
Question, since in this build we don't actually need a shield and our Dex is higher than our strength, would Duellist's Prerogative in Act 3 work well with this?
I'd never play a bard IF they were not OP as hell and my MC experience waasn't so good as a CHA class. It's a 5e game tough, so those are facts of life (considering BG3 has a single character on conversations), so pally+CHA caster is basically the obvious path. One of my favorites in my current run is the Dex pally+lore bard. Great caster, great at range and really hard to kill in melee. Of course, it's Astarion, so the insane ascendant vampire bonuses are not wasted...
The only time True strike can be useful if you are intentionally walking into combat and you have no other concentration spell that you can prebuff with.
![The INVINCIBLE TANK WIZARD - [Updated] Gale Abjuration Honor Build Guide](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/N2hgyD8BcFw/mqdefault.jpg)
![The INVINCIBLE TANK WIZARD - [Updated] Gale Abjuration Honor Build Guide](/img/tr.png)
Even if you think it’s cheesy, I think it’s important to note that this is one of THE best builds to abuse the absolutely busted Helm of Arcane Acuity + Band of the Mystic Scoundrel combo.
Two slashing flourishes = +8 to Spell Save DC, on a bonus action cast of Command on round 1…
I think a cool video would be about an honour mode party comp, with characters that work well together. Example characters would be two that uses darkness well or Bard+Warlock stuff for the short rests
I think it would be cool to think for yourself and find things out on your own because that’s half the fun
@@dilhancongar-pn1ndbruh why are you watching a build video then?
I'm using this build for my bard and I'm still on my first playthrough. I stumbled upon Duellist's Prerogative rapier during Act 3 and it really fits with this build. This rapier lets you take an extra attack by using a bonus action which lets you attack 3 times in a row which equals to 3 smites in a row! This is insanely good. It even has a reaction attack of 1d4 necrotic, it's not as good as smites but it can always be useful if you' re out of spell slots, which can happen easily because this rapier lets you spam smites.
This sword+ helmet of arcane accuity makes you the biggest smite menace Faerûn has ever seen.
Great build! I've opted to dump dex after getting the gloves of dex for more strength, grabbed the scale mail from last light, the cape of protection and the harpers amulet to give me shield, I now have an AC of 23 that's not including ritual spell buffs. All that with multiple smites and high charisma to pass most speech checks with ease, yeah this build is nuts!
This guy gets it lol. Throw GWM in there and ASI +2 Str and the +2 Str potion from Araj. And Titanstring bow. You’re cooking
The necklace from the doctor is also great for this build. Being able to add paralysis on a critical hit means that every hit after will also be critical. So you Luck of the Far Realms the first attack, guarantee paralysis, then use your remaining attack to crit again. Smite on both.
True! Excellent item for any smite build, especially alongside killer's sweetheart or luck of the far realms
Enjoy your build video formula. Very specific accurate step by step info. Probably my favorite Bg3 channel rn
Thanks very much! Appreciate the kind words :D
For me this is also the best bg3 channel, thanks for your great builds@@Cephalopocalypse
Great vid and cool take on SSB. For those that are like me, and prefer to keep str as primary stat over dex, this can be solved by grabbing the gloves of dexterity from a merchant at the gyth crèche in act 1.
Yeah. If only there were more of those around.
More ways to increase strength throughout bg3 as opposed to the very very few dex boosters
Tbh this is what I need for my most recent role play. I think I'll go with his build till can get these. Bless your soul.
I'm 20 mins into the video so dont know if this was pointed out later:
There's a finesse glaive available in Act 3's Rivington Blacksmithy called The Dancing Breeze. Its the only two-handed polearm that scales with DEX if DEX>STR.
It also has some really cool class abilities, and feels like the perfect weapon for a DEX Bardadin build!
True! Great item choice if you want a 2-hander, and one I don't see mentioned that often. Good call!
Oh man that would be so good with GWM! Thank you
Would it be worth picking the Polearm-specific talents if you go with that one you reckon?
Just found your channel and loving the content! I’m on my 2nd play through and didn’t kill Minthara. The only way valid atonement is building her so she can express herself via “serene sounds of slaughter”. 💜
For gear I would probably want to use dex gloves so I can dump dex to boost cha. 18 with +1 is plenty. Then late game I would run the band of the mystic scoundrel so that after i hit something i can cast command/hold person as a bonus action. This allows you do great damage with smite and crowd control. Act 2 you also have the opting, if you have wyl in your party for it - to get a good rapier that uses your cha for attack allowing you to swiggle some stats around as well (if you didnt want to use dex gloves). I know people prefer gear agnostic builds but gear is a big part of the game.
For sure! You can get a lot of extra flexibility with the stat items. That lets you pick up CHA for save DCs and also Savage Attacker, Alert, or Actor which can all be very nice for this build!
you left out the greatest part of playing bard: the absolute hilarity of the dialogue options you get
Very true! The barn one is a personal favorite :P
I feel bard would fit Minthara lore wise since you get the spider lyre from her
Exactly!
Didn't think about that, but she does also fit the obsessed aloof musician vibe too.
you know she was jammin' on her off time
@@threadbearr8866 Never got her in act 2 or what?
You don't need minthara for spider lyre. There's more than one way to play@@mitchellwilliam95
I’d still argue that a full charisma BardLock is even more of a main character, but this one right here might be my next playthrough! :) ty
Fantastic run through of the build I really appreciate it! Going to give it a shot in honor mode!
adding comment because we need more of this person's content!
Thanks very much!
I started playing around with this split when I picked up Honor Mode and changed from my Oathbreaker/GOO frontline. I really enjoy being a full spellcaster who has the option to dump a ton of slots on smite or just support the party with Bard utility. Personally I play mine as 2h with GWM, heavy armor, Alert and STR elixer, but whatever sinks your ship.
Yeah, that's also a great way to do it. One of the great things about this archetype (that's sadly kind of hard to convey in a build guide) is just how versatile it is. You can take basically any level split between 2-9 paladin and 3-10 bard, use any combo of weapons/shields and about 8 different feats, and all end up with an extremely strong build!
This is a build I have not thought to try. Looks great. I tend to default to Paladin/Warlock since it's just really nice to have 2 max level smites per short rest. But it's also a fairly one-dimensional build and I prefer flexible characters as a general rule. Subbed.
The ranged version of this one is even more flexible, 1 fighter, 1 wiz, 10 swords bard
It takes sharpshooter and does the dual crossbows until mid-late when titanstring takes over
It stacks arcane acuity via flourishes w/ act 2 gear and as soon as early act 3 it gets to cast control spells with its bonus action
Fighter gives con save proficiency, 1wiz lets you scribe spells from scrolls. Bard levels take hold person to guarantee crits for you and your martials and eventually Command as a magical secret. Command is non concentration and upcast can hit 5 enemies to prone or approach while concentrating on something else
@@grimlok3487
Does scribe scroll still work for higher level spells? I thought it was locked based on wizard spell level?
Regardless, sword bard is really good with paladin. I played around a bit with it and it's extremely good. I like that it has a really good ranged option (ranged flourish), which paladins tend to lack.
I recently stumbled onto a build that isn't super intuitive but works surprisingly well on Minthara specifically, and that is the paladin/thief. You lose spell slots, but double bonus actions for her unique Soul Branding ability (2D4+1 fire to next weapon attack) means she can double this up on her turn - either use both for herself or buff herself and another character. That second double bonus action just has so many uses too. Start combat, soul branding + vow of enmity - that is just a great start to most any fight. You also get dash as a bonus action without giving up either vow or soul branding, so ranged weapons matter a lot less for this build - there is almost nowhere you can't get to with a double move action. And you still have excellent burst (sneak + smite + soul branding on a crit is 100+ damage). It's my go-to build now for Minthara.
I just finished a tact run with the build using a wood elf for the extra movement! I highly recommend equipping the legendary rapier with no off hand weapon so you can get an extra attack and an extra reaction so you can use counterspell twice if you need to! I had a blast with it!
Woah when do you get that legendary rapier?
@@Jakepf i believe he's talking about the one in act 3 after rescuing a child from auntie ethel. if you arent aware of that, apologies for the minor spoiler
@@zzFlare ohhh, I knew of that quest option. Thanks for letting me know. Glad I didn't miss it or anything haha
Thoroughly enjoyed the level of detail on reasoning for choosing things, thought-process and alternative options
I would recommend starting as Bard instead of Paladin. You lose Heavy armor, but you gain another 2 skills (do not take Deception or Performance). In addition, I would go with an odd score for charisma (15), and do first 4 levels as Bard and take Actor feat which boosts charisma by one and gives you Deception and Performance with expertise (even you you don't have either before). You could do the two levels of Paladin at this point, then resume going up as Bard after. This maximizes you ability as Face for the party.
❤l 6:04 😊
My first ever full playthrough was a Bardadin. Oathbreaker 6 / Swords 6. It was so good and I did not even think about the synergy with Dance Macabre which Wizard Gale got. I fulfilled my Bard and Summoner preferred playstyle and it was Glorious!!
Doesn't the oathbreaker aura for undead happen at level 7?
Just two days ago I experimented and made a similar build for main character) But I invested more in Paladin, but your option is even better, due to the greater number of spell slots and bardic inspirations. So I'll respec later like you did)
One of the great things about this archetype is that you can take pretty much anywhere between 2-9 paladin levels and between 3-10 Bard levels and end up with a great character!
@@Cephalopocalypse
yes, luckily it is)
My first 2 playthroughs were Paladin so I was planing on playing some thing else but this build is so good I kinda just have to use it
3 playthroughs and all of them are paladin. You must really like this class
If and when I finally get around to playing honour mode, I’ll definitely have a bardadin in my party. It looks so fun. (And I would be so tempted to take spirit guardians via magical secrets, middling CHA be damned lol.)
If you’re taking duelling then I think duellist’s prerogative is going to give you the best bang for your buck, even if it means forgoing a shield. You could also take the infernal rapier and roll with a cambion.
Another option is to take the GWM feat and use one of the few 2H/versatile finesse weapons in the game. Phalar Aluve in Act 1 & 2, then the Dancing Breeze from the start of Act 3. +10 damage to each slashing flourish hit will potentially be +40 per turn.
I am seriously considering this for my next Tav. I would go two weapon fighting style and make this a version of the machine gun bard. On the negative side, this Tav would not get as many attacks as the true machine gun bard, losing that bonus attack every round. on the plus side, while you do lose that attack up close, you can smite.
I am planning this for my honor run. Go dual xbows with sharpshooter and do the pally dip for melee nova. Helm of Arcane Acuity + Band of Mystic Scoundrel for some CC ability. Not the best at any one thing but truly good at everything.
I found this build a few days ago and you video explains it perfectly for me to decide if I want to implement it or not. Thank you!
Yet another fantastic build @Cephalopocalypse! Running this one right now on tactician and it's a-maz-ing!!
For anyone wanting absolute easy mode then add 1 level of wizard to this to learn blur and use whispering promise to add bless from heals without using concentration. Once you get high enough you can respec to 10th level Bard to get blur from magical secrets, but using blur as a 2nd level spell just adds ridiculous amounts of survivability. You can use TWF to deal more damage and with blur, heavy armour, defence and defensive attack you're virtually untouchable. With bless on heals you can keep up advantage on hits
Thanks this is exactly what I was looking for. Everything else I’ve come across used strength which feels wrong.
The only thing I would change is starting Bard so as to not delay extra attacks, grab Pali at 7-8, that's about the time you'll be in act 2 when you need to start really pushing damage anyway. with such high dex, med armor is better anyway, though the best armor and weapon combo would be light armor and a Raiper. though im still not 100% convinced that melee bard beats archer bard since slashing can target the same thing.
That build definitely will work well! The levelling order here is very flexible. Smites are worth a ton of damage (usually more than Extra Attack without them) so I wouldn't worry too much about getting to that feature early - Bard 1 / pal 2 / bard 9 is my pick if you want to have the extra skills from bard.
This definitely won't be as strong damage-wise as an archer bard, since as you say the ranged slashing flourish is broken (personally I wish they would change that, but c'est la vie)
@@Cephalopocalypse Agreed, there is a mod that changes it but with the way it is currently the damage is just insane. Even more so if you take X-box Expert and use the Bhalist armor. I used the Dualist Prog with bahlist armor. made act 3 a complete joke.
I used elixir of cloud giant strength and gloves of dex so I could dump those stats and max Con/Cha, with 14/12 in Wis/int.
Also keep in mind divine smite damage caps at level 4, you can use 5/6 spell slots but they wont do additional damage.
Personally I went with a 6/6 Pali/Bard split so I could still get the aura of protection buff giving +3 to saving throws.
For sure! With stat items you can have better save DCs, allowing you to use Command and other powerful save effects. Always nice as well!
bard is actually fairly low - sorcerer is the second most poular class
Where can one find these stats?
@@gchristopherklugLarian has posted player stats a few times, probably on their website or Twitter? I’m not sure when the last class popularity thing was posted, so could be outdated.
@@gchristopherklug apparently my link got removed but larian posted the most recent stats on their twitter on december 5th
@@iAmEnenra thank you
My bad! I misremembered the stats. Woops
You HAVE tricked me in putting true strike lmao
My work here is done
We need a Minthara starter character :D
If you like this build, but want to lean more into the party face and don't mind relying on items, you can start with a 17 Charisma Bard until level 6, taking Actor along the way, then pick up the gloves of dexterity from the Creche.
Great build. I appreciate your work on these :)
Probably going to respec my tactician Bard main to this build…seems rad!
I love that your disp pic is the original support ward item lol
Crappy wiki screenshot borders and all!
good old Sightstone
It's also worth noting that if you're smiting on react rather than casting smite you're never missing smites. Better to miss the attack and not spend a spell slot than spend the spell slot and miss the attack.
Kind of agree but im pretty sure that you dont use a spell slot unless you hit the attack.
Rolling a new Tav and 100 using this build!
Awesome, good luck!
Just started this build and it feels incredibly op, just landed, level 2 and my lightfoot halfling has 19 ac immediately….
Once you reach act 3 I like to steal the heart shaped necklace from the house of hope (not stealing the orphic hammer) and drop constitution to 10 in order to keep more balance the other stats, continue through all the act 3 until you are ready to face Raphael.
Your builds are really good. Thank you a lot.
savage attacker should be really good for your smites. may be worth dropping an asi for.
Seems like late game 4 oath of vengeance paladin + 8 swords bard would be better. Three feats and bonus action vow of enmity cast on yourself for ten rounds of advantage against everything is cracked. You could even go 3/9 and get a level five spell if you didn’t need the third feat.
Running this build with the gloves of power and phalar aluve so saving throws should be quite manageable
I enjoy starting this build with bard for the skills. But if you go with a Gith character, you'll be able to use the racial to get prof in other skills you might have an okay skill in like the Int or wis ones.
For sure! Gith make excellent main characters for that reason imo, you can grab all the knowledge skills alongside the circlet of intellect and just have decent knowledge skills more or less for free. Bard gets half that bonus on all skills so it's *slightly* redundant for bards, but still very nice
@@Cephalopocalypse I call it the chosen one style main character because of how many skill checks you'll be able to pass on your own.
Warlock/Bard or Paladin/Warlock pact of the blade let's you focus Charisma as your attacking stat
I didn't realize I needed to activate smite's reaction... I saw someone previously said you can smite on crit only and I thought that was cool, but I didn't see how to do it... 😅
I would say go two weapon fighting because certain weapons you get when you kill someone scantily dressed in red plus risky rings and Bhaalist armor can make you essentially 1 shot bosses
When you get to act 3 as soon as you get the 5k gold buy the statue of your character from stoney in the fair it gives your character a blessed buff after every long rest until your next long rest so essentially for 5k you can have a permanent bless buff on your main character. Also take the necromancy of thay book in act one if you can pass the saving throws you get a good permanent buff from it then in act 3 you get access to a quest related to the book best to look up a video about it hard to explain how to do the quest but at the end of it you get a book that if kept in your inventory you get 20 additional hit points after every long rest
you don't need to pass the saves. If you fail just use remove curse or long rest and its gone
Can you break your oath and become an Oathbreaker? Or is the build then broken?
You can! This will work just fine as an oathbreaker
For this build, if you are running this as a main Tav, who are the other 3? I really like Wizard for the flexibility as well as Throw Barb and the Ranger/Rogue duel wielding multiclass (though I like those classes I worry they are too "glass cannon-y"). Advice?
I was wondering the same thing.what build would for those three work best together with this Tav build?
Please do a build guide inspired by Magic Man from Adventure Time.
Thanks for this great video :) no specific race is best for this build ?
I was thinking 2 levels of fighter, but this is definitely better. Action surge is pretty nice - but smite all day long is better. Although, for me, I'll put it at the end (yeah I know, I'm missing out on all that smite goodness) but it's my Bard. I could see seeking it in just after level 6 and second attack.
If we are gonna take just medium armor, why not start as a bard, so you hace more skills and you can choose whathever you prefer?
Definitely a good option! You can go bard 1 /pal 2 /bard 9 if you want better skill access. One small downside is you get dex save proficiency from bard rather than wis from paladin, which is overall a less useful save
You got yourself another sub! One question: Paladin at lvl 3 gains the kinda broken Vow of Enmity, that gives you advantage on every hit if cast on yourself (if it's a bug they never fixed it), is there a way to make this build work by picking that 3rd Paladin level? Was thinking maybe 3 Pal, 6 Bard and last 3 in something else, maybe Rogue or Fighter (Action Surge also synergizes with our bard's extra short rests), or perhaps 1 lvl in Light Cleric for Warding Flare.
you want 10 bard for the Magical secret spells which gives you Counterspell(best reaction spell in the game and nothing came close to it) and the secret banish spell. You can get advantages on your attack using Risky Ring from Araj(doesn't matter if you get disadvantage on attack roll against you when they are dead lol)
Hi. Don't know if you will see this, but I will try.
I always wanted to make a Dark Urge Oathbreaker main character and I was wondering if it could work with this build. And how would you go about it.
Thanks for the amazing builds my friend, I have been enjoying all your videos for a while now!
This should work just fine as an oathbreaker! The paladin levels are mostly for smites - whichever subclass is your favorite will work perfectly
@@Cephalopocalypse Thanks for answering! Have a good one.
Great video. Thank you
Can you do an Oath breaker Paladin build? Possibly a Dual Wielding one.
Yes! I already have an oathbreaker lockadin build up ("Break the Lock(adin)") but will be doing a more straight-up version soon as well
Great work!
Thanks!
I would like a little bit more info on these builds, like here the lithid powers and probably how to play them from the begining. like at very early levels this build feels particularly reliant on bows
The spell is cool, but I'm not sure it's as good as going bard 8/paladin 2/Fighter 2 and just having an action surge. you do so much damage using your bard flourish to attack and smite 2 targets at once, and basically every fight in act 3 lasts 1 round when you have 4 very well made characters so I'm not sure how useful the banish actually is, I'd rather just make the enemy dead
For sure, you can definitely do that - or go pal 4 for Savage Attacker to boost your average smite damage significantly. I just really like the secret spell :P
Spirit Shroud from 5e spells would be epic
is this build better or worse by using cloud giant elixir + a heavy weapon? I'm wondering if at that point if i'm running a 2H weapon i shouldn't just go something like 2 pally 5 warlock 5 lore bard and not waste a fighting style from the sword bard, and make it more controlly
though all the low level spell bloat also feel weird to take
Ah yes, Astarian the dashing paladin 💀
I really like your build videos
Thanks very much!
Btw, what are your recommended items for this build?
Would you recommend this over your lore friendly wyll build? I'm currently respeccing and gearing up my companions for the last leg of act 1/underdark. Currently running the dark urge lockadin, consistent killer laezel, immortal tank karlach, assassin astarion. Working on respeccing the rest of the party so I can slot them in and out for convenience.
The only reason I want to stay in Paladin to level 3 is Vengeance can cast Vow of enmity on himself for advantage against every target
That’s so strong for a dual wield
That’s good until you get risky ring. Then bard 10 will end up being better.
Great video! Any chance of a build for using the slayer form?
Good idea! I'll add that to the list
Awesome vid
You can pry my greatsword from my cold dead hands.
Would you do 15 CHA if you plan on using ethels hair?
I'd go with 17 dex, that way you can still hit 20 while saving a feat!
Great great video.
Thanks very much!
I am curious if PLD2 / Bladelock 3/Swords 7 would make for an overall better main character. It would allow you to shift all offense to Cha, gives access to the Devil Sight/Darkness combo, full power EB, has stupid conversation skills (esp with Illithid expertise, should you go that route), and Cha is the stat that can be upped the highest overall. The biggest problem I see is that the build only truly comes online at level 11. Also only one feat, so you are counting on the hair for baseline Cha20.
The arsonist had oddly shaped feet
I think it's funny how the recurring bit about True Strike keeps coming back in each video
I like using gloves of Dex so you can have more charisma.
wow you can even use your secret at level 12 to get spirit guardians... das good
Would you think Phalar Aluve is viable in the Endgame?
Shriek is extremely Powerful ...i am at the End of Act 1 and with a Shield,Phalars Shriek and a AC of 19-21 even Bosses miss most Attacks
I must admit this does look like fun, but I'm still disappointed that Larian did not add in the ring of human influence.
Thanks I was waiting for that
Glad to hear it!
cit. "take true strike for the haters".
Genius 🤣
Is this the best tank build for Honor? I'm missing build like that in my party, good job. What race is the best , beside Draw Minthara? Orc might be a good one? I've noticed on Honor I need a party where each one member can finish the honor on its own. It is hard to win with a dice roll of 90%+. So far over strength / damages characters can do that to some extend (monk, tavern brawler thrower) for me.
would be cool to see a cleric build that focuses on lone wolf honor mode play, seems like to me that pretty much all classes got builds that can solo honor mode with but cleric. I'm excluding tempest cleric as I see it more of a complementary subclass for sorcerer. any ideas for that kind of build with other subclass than tempest?
Off the top of my head, Light Cleric using Radiating Orb stacking is probably the best solo honour cleric - cool idea though, I'll think about it more!
Have you done any Sorc/paladin build? I am debating between Sorcerer and Bard for my first durge playthrough
its so funny that those classes are the most popular and its the two classes I play the least by far xD
Both in DnD and BG3 I find them kind of booring, especially the paladin.
Bard can be fun thou
Could you alternatively for weapons consider subbing in the club of str from act 1 to use with titanstring bow so you could use a different elixir than str elixir? Perhaps viciousness for more crits?
why would you do that on a melee smite build?
Is 2 levels paladin, 2 levels warlock, and 8 levels bard viable? I want to make an entire party that can fight from inside darkness…
Ya I dont know if it is bugged or what but you can not use smites as a reaction on your flourish attacks. Im doing this build for honor mode and im leve five and everytime I use one of my flourishes I can never use a paladin smite on it and ive used it over a dozen times
Make sure smites are turned to ask in the reaction tab. I've never had it not work unless I've miss-aimed slashing flourish and not actually hit them in the cone.
Does smiting with slashing flourish make up for delaying extra attack SO far?
With a Sorlock as Main and with the wish to include a Bard into the Group
What would you choose?
This one and giving Laezel a throwing build?
Supportbard mixed with cleric on shadowheart?
What would be your Teamsetup?
Sorlock
Laezel
Astarion
Shadowheart or at least no cleric with this Bardardin?
One of the great things about this build is it fits pretty well into any party - alongside a sorlock you've got a lot of your bases covered! My instinct would be to have this character be your lockpicker since it can also cover the dps role of a rogue, and go with a divine caster (cleric or druid) and a melee character - throwing would also work though!
@@Cephalopocalypse thx!
I am very new to BG3 and Overall to D & D...learning a Lot .
Fighter,Sorlock and a Cleric (thinking of the Tempest) should Work ..will give it a try in my Tactician-Run working on towards Honour
Good video
Thanks!
Quickspell Gloves True Strike Gang.
I don't know, I think AoA is the best spell in the game. Enemies rarely even attack my AoA tank Gale. Also, if you're using this character as the Face, you should take Friends.
This seems to be broken on Minthara. Can't get the melee slashing flourish to work.
Any suggestions for a great weapons fighter paladin / bard? Was trying to focus on strength and be a front line tank / damage / support.
Going to be gimped on damage a little by not going straight fighter. Battlemaster gives you a wider variety of attacks compared to swords bard flourishes, and straight fighter gives you three extra feats compared to any other class.
Mixing in bard for some more support probably means concentration spells, which are risky when you’re melee, especially if you’re not using a shield.
Kind of confused. You seemed to be going dual wielding rather than sword/board when you picked "Defense" over "Protection (7:22)" but when you got to "Fighting Style" you picked Duelling (17:23) which you said goes better with sword/board.
This build can use either depending on your preference! Defense style will work for either setup. The picks in the video are just an example - choose dueling if you want to be sword and board, or two weapon fighting if you want to dual wield
Question, since in this build we don't actually need a shield and our Dex is higher than our strength, would Duellist's Prerogative in Act 3 work well with this?
It definitely would!
I'd never play a bard IF they were not OP as hell and my MC experience waasn't so good as a CHA class. It's a 5e game tough, so those are facts of life (considering BG3 has a single character on conversations), so pally+CHA caster is basically the obvious path.
One of my favorites in my current run is the Dex pally+lore bard. Great caster, great at range and really hard to kill in melee. Of course, it's Astarion, so the insane ascendant vampire bonuses are not wasted...
The only time True strike can be useful if you are intentionally walking into combat and you have no other concentration spell that you can prebuff with.
Exactly! That comes up more often than people say, but still not very often