Shocking isn't it? I felt stupid for ignoring them and wonder if I should take a look at poison a little more even though I probably only ever use it twice lol both times tp poison someone's beer
@tristanwillcox4011 don't even get me started on scrolls lol found out during my current hm run that I just casually had 3 scrolls of globe of "screw your damage I said no" which helped me when I choked during my fight against cazador
The fact that they give you the ingredients for colossus elixir right before Grymforge tells me that owlbear off the top rope is the INTENDED solution for the Grym fight.
idk bout THE solution but AN "intended" "solution", what i loved bout this game of dnd. is the amount of possibilities only limited by our own creativity, it's insane the things that one can pull off by just thinking outside the box a lil bit. (if we were to discuss *the* intended solution it'd be obiously using the hammer for grym)
I disagree. A big part of what makes BG3 such a great game is that there's so many different solutions to every problem. Adding ingredients is just offering another.
This makes me have so much respects for the larian devs thou. As a developer myself, it's insane that they coded in so many branching paths and various possibilities to finish quest throughout the game. Like poisoning the goblin food, etc. It's pretty incredible what they achieved here.
You use the elixers of strength to cheese the stats system. I use the exliers of strength to increase my carry weight so I can sell vendors more tin cups at once. We are not the same. (Meme aside great video, really helpful! Going to be starting honor run soon and I will need to keep this stuff in mind)
For a while that was the only way I was willing to use elixirs, then I thought why don't I just use a mod for extra carry weight and save myself some clicks
@@Cephalopocalypsesame for aoe/permanent longstrider and you mjght aswell use a mid for camp supplies since if you loot all containers you get more than enough camp supplies for the whole game so it just saves tooons of clicking
@@Cephalopocalypsesame for aoe/permanent longstrider and you might aswell use a mod for camp supplies since if you loot all containers you get more than enough camp supplies for the whole game so a mod just saves tooons of clicks
@@Cephalopocalypse Ha! and here I am, banning the 'send to camp' feature because it breaks immersion and makes it too easy. No 'send to camp' and no Fast Travel makes you decide what you really want to collect and what stuff you can just leave behind!
There is something strangely relatable about waking up with barely enough strength to put on your favourite set of armor and your backpack, and then you need your elixir to actually go on with your day :')
I use the arrows on almost every ranged attack unless the damage is already enough to kill. 'Scroll'-ing through Tav's inventory to find a scroll to cast instead of just using a cantrip is a pain in the butt though lol.
Something about elixirs of darkvision that makes them even more useless: in the rare cases that you might want darkvision (ranged humans in the Underdark and Shadow-Cursed lands pretty much), scrolls of darkvision give you the exact same buff without taking up your elixir slot. It's just straight up invalidated by the scroll.
@@pokenoobmx3445 Not in game. It just lasts until Long Rest so you can use a Druid or Wizard in camp to cast it on the few characters that don't have Darkvision.
I've done 3 full runs of BG3, 1 being honor mode and I have never decided to use battle mage's power because I assumed the arcane acuity stacks would go away like normal stacks, that is so incredibly broken lmao
Yep, it's imo kind of goofy they had it use an existing mechanic with an established different effect and then wrote an exception to that effect, rather than just saying +3 to DCs and attacks
My Swords Bard/Gloomstalker Ranger considers Bloodlust to be S+ tier, cuz I can do 10 Attacks in the first turn of combat WITHOUT even using Haste as well. Add the +10 dmg from Sharpshooter and up to 25 less hit points per enemy from Cull The Weak, and my one character can pretty much kill all the lesser enemies in a big fight in one round.
You’re telling me the Battle Mage Elixir DOESN‘T reduce stacks upon taking a hit? I knew they wouldn’t tick down with time, but that is ridiculous. Absolutely going to abuse that to hell and back next playthrough! 😂
Fun one! Switching between elixirs of Arcane Cultivation and other elixir's is one of the available increased Sorcery Points tricks. In practice, it's expensive, but viable.
This. I can just about double my Sorcery Points every long rest on my Fire Sorc. Drink a level 1 elixir, 1 sorc point, level 2 elixir now I have 3 sorc points and a quickened level 6 spell.
Don't do it, I warn you. I came up with this idea just before the final fight (playing honour as my first full playthrough - not knowing what's to come). "Great power comes with great disappointments" - Uncle Alaundo
@@lena.bezcyferek that’s interesting. Did something change in Patch 6? Last time I used this, here is the pattern that worked - 1 - Elixir of Arcane Cultivation 2 - Create Sorcery Points 3 - Elixir of Greater Arcane Cultivation (you must use a different elixir; if you use the same arcane cultivation elixir, it won’t work) 4 - Create Sorcery Points 5 - Repeat I do know that they closed up some of the sorcery point tricks, but this one did work for me last time I tried it
@OakandIV That's exactly how it works. You can also trade those sorcery points for extra high level spell slots. As I said, don't do it. There's nothing exciting in blowing up the universe every single turn.
There's an old saying that originated in the halcyon days of D&D 3rd edition optimization from the old Gleemax forum and its predecessor the 339 boards that went like this: "Initiative: because going first often means your opponent does not get the opportunity to go second."
Hmm, but I think it's okay that so many of them are so broken since we only use them very rarely. After all, we have to save them for later, right? ... Right? But seriously, I still haven't managed to completely get rid of that old Skyrim habit of stockpiling all consumables instead of using them. And so I barely use them which results in me barely knowing that they do. Which apparently results in me missing out on some truly OP effects.
Good info but my man loves to add words that don’t bring anything to the video except extra time. Couldn’t help but skip most of the video because it’s like listening to that one friend who loves to show you how smart he thinks he is. Seems like a script could cut these videos in half and not sacrifice any content.
I would agree, it's a bit too long, especially if you are someone who is experienced in the game already. But to someone very new like me, it helps that he is explaining in a very detailed way in terms of why stuff works. I agree there are things he simply repeats as well.
I think he just explains all his decisions in length, for what build they are useful, for what situation, what classes and how the elixirs interact with other game mechanics making them better or less useful and repetition to summarize his points are fine. That said, more focused scripting could have made the video shorter perhaps
One note about purchasing elixirs from merchants: every time a character levels up, merchant inventories reset. So, you can have a party member reset their level at withers, then trade. Close the trade window, switch to your leveling character, level up one level, then re-open the trade window. Each level you can purchase elixirs, potions, etc from the merchant. Also, for an early source of Hill Giant Strength, Auntie Ethel will sell you three every time you reset her.
I'm doing a splitscreen campaign with a friend, and every time I log in as player 2 I get a new adventurers starting pack which comes with 1 giant strength potion. My gnome with Base 8 strength has never gone a day without downing a potion and jumping to 21 strength
I used colossus on the bulette after having Glut resurrect it. I had to make it jump over a lot of narrow spots on the map to stay with the party, but it was awesome and it was nice to go back and visit its giant corpse at the duergar camp.
Notably, the main character can use tadpole powers as a bonus action, if you get the awakened buff in the creche. Advantage on a bonus action (especially in combination with something like perilous stakes in tactician) is pretty nice
Advantage is mathematically similar to a 3.325 increase to the roll. In that sense, it's very literally mathematically superior to the battlemage and giant strength elixirs when not cheesing character creation with them.
Might want to consider how some of the elixirs can be used to buff summons. While I suspect that that it wouldn’t change your rankings, this ability to use them on summons provides good uses for bad elixirs. For example, bark skin can be good on Shovel or Hill Giant can be useful with the Deva. :)
with the arcane cultivation elixirs you can just regain all spell slots in a fight or out of combat by switching between optimally two different arcane cultivation elixirs making you up to level 4 spellslots only gold dependant and not long rest dependant
Two great spots for resistance elixirs: 1. Psychic is great for the Githyanki Inquisitor in the Crèche. 2. The last fight of act 2 is all necrotic damage, if all characters have resistance through elixirs, warding bond, Abdirak’s mace, or the Plate armor in house of healing, it turns a very hard fight into a very manageable fight.
I think you are underselling the best use of level 1 arcane cultivation. The ability to cast hex as a warlock without using a higher level warlock spell slot is quite good.
He also got info wrong on those arcane cultivation elixirs. You don't have to use a spell before drinking another elixir. As long as you swap the type of arcane cultivation, you will keep your spell slots. I just did this with Minthara a few days ago. I filled up all of her Paladin spell slots from empty by swapping between arcane cultivations just before the Myrkul fight.
I keep forgetting I have elixirs and potions. As someone with no previous knowledge of D&D this video has helped me better understand not just the effect of elixirs but also how to use them in context of different builds. I will make sure to use them more in the future now.
Bah. Resist potions belong in at LEAST A tier. We have a warped perspective, and all fights are pretty easy for us no matter what cause we know what to expect. But if you're playing through your first time, the corresponding resist elixir is probably your best choice on most boss fights. Even if you have to wait to see what the boss uses INSIDE the fight before you use the resist potion, it's STILL amazingly powerful.
On my second playthru right now, have 2 questions. 1: why is initiative rolled on a d4 instead of a d20 like tabletop? And 2: what’s the most effective way to reset vendors to stock up elixirs/potions? I’ve never tried, would think that early on camp supplies would be an issue
I don't know if they've ever said why they switched it to a d4 - my theory is they wanted to make it more consistent since they removed a lot of the other ways to manipulate initiative that exist in tabletop (delayed turns, readied actions), but I'm not certain why they made that change and even less certain why they didn't rebalance the numbers given that they did make that change! You can rest without camp supplies! You won't get your spell slots etc back, but you won't have used any anyways. Also they restock whenever you respec or level a character, which can be fewer clicks and won't progress story events if you want to avoid doing that
In Larian's previous game, which heavily influenced BG3, they used a fixed initiative system. They would have chosen that for a good reason (to them) and they probably wanted to maintain that mechanic as much as possible.
@@Cephalopocalypse I'm almost certain the initiative is 1d4 to increase the likelihood that multiple characters take their turns together. Makes it easier in multiplayer for everyone to move at once and lets you have characters combo together. Their original plan was to have the entire side roll initiative together so your whole group would act as one.
@@trengilly01 Since they use shared initiative for characters acting without enemies in between though I don't think they needed to change the numbers to produce that effect - that would make a lot of sense if characters acting on different initiatives had discrete turns though!
@@Cephalopocalypse That's the point. With d20 initiative rolls it would be a lot less likely to have your characters be together. They would more often be mixed with in with the enemies. You get lots more 'ties' with the 1d4 system and in case of ties they group the players up and enemies separately.
It says in the wiki that the barkskin elixir can be thrown so does that mean you can apply on summons with low AC? Obviously not game breaking but probably could be useful for more summon heavy builds.
In that case don't throw an elixir, simply drop or put it on the ground, then select your summoned creature, hover the cursor over the elixir and you will have an option to drink it with a summon. Any summon you can directly control can enjoy the benefits of an elixir :p
Could you make a build optimized for making/handing out elixirs and potions? Has transmutation wizard levels, maybe bonus action thows with berserker levels to toss potions at your opponents and allies... like a witch doctor type of character
Look up CRPG bro video 'best honour mode party'. He talks about a '5th member' which is an alchemist build which he leaves at camp just to make potions
Drop potions just outside of battle initiation range. Mage hand. Throw potions you dropped near the fight on characters / enemies who need them. Easy and no need to spec someone into a potion person except a camp person.
@@SoI_Badguy huh? You then just give the potions to your party and any party member can throw them. He literally outlines a build to make an alchemist and so just follow that build to make an alchemist and then change it to suit your needs. You only need a bit of strength to throw potions, which you can build into or use an elixir to boost strength. Done!!!
@EdgeKisaragi Or you could have both? No need to do any annoying setup laying a bunch of potions on the ground and using a once-per-short-rest cantrip to throw them, but it's an option for big fights. Yeah I know it isn't optimal but this is an RPG, not a math test. Being a potion chucking alchemist is a fantasy I want to play and I'm interested in hearing how it could be optimized within that playstyle.
Colossus potions in DnD are such a giant fail. Organically, physically speaking, if you had a human that size, in order for it to exist, it's strength would be MASSIVELY high. It would translate to a lot more bonuses than the elixir gives.
Darkvision elixir does actually belong in F tier, because by virtue of taking up the elixir slot, it is actually detrimental. It takes the place of an actually useful elixir. It's also worth noting that resistance elixirs are literally worthless if you set up warding bonds effectively with camp casters.
My ultra-super-secret tech is to keep a transmutation wizard in camp with a maxed wisdom and expertise in medicine. Gotta double up on potions and elixirs.
I do one of those for mage armor and longstrider but then make a separate character for potion brewing: pick the halfling hireling, go 2 in transmutation wizard, 3 in bard with medicine expertise. Cast enhance ability wisdom and get guidance cast on them, for advantage and 1d4 bonus plus double proficiency to your checks, and rerolling 1's.
Omg the battle mages power lasts all day? 3 extra arcane acuity?! I always left it somewhere in my elixir pouch because I thought to myself how 3 arcane acuity for one turn then having it decrease is too niche of a use case. All day is absolutely busted beyond belief lol. Guess I gotta go back to Withers for two characters now… I would feel guilty for using it but… so much power 🤤
@@twoshu8940 sure but you can use this on literally any character for an extra 15% chance to hit a spell attack roll or a save or suck spell which doesn’t limit you to: helm of arcane acuity or fire acuity hat. Also do keep in mind this +3 will persist through every turn regardless of use or getting hit and on the start of encounters before even building up stacks. It’s easier to think of this as just a flat 15% increase to attack and save dc for an entire day rather than arcane acuity since it functions a bit differently. In that case there’s just unrivaled flexibility with gear and the increase is easily justifiable of an S+ tier slot.
Arcane acuity is overrated because meta mage builds generally have their hit chance from just gear alone at = yes. Most meta spells also still do at least halved damage even if you miss or are guaranteed to hit like magic missiles or cloud daggers. Hill giant, cloud giant, bloodlust and occasionally vigilance are the only worthwhile elixirs so this is otherwise a pretty accurate list.
I use vigilance on shovel to guarantee surprise rounds in every combat for the whole day. The extra initiative gives shovel the chance to go invisible before the enemies get a chance to hit. If there was one elixir that deserves s++ it would be vigilance.
@@twoshu8940 check my other reply. I've been going at a solo warlock honor run and sometimes not getting a surprise round makes all fights way more dangerous
Yt didnt like my reply ig but the method is you proc surprise with an attack and you get first go next round so shovel stays alive without getting hit.(You go invis)
The resistance elixirs are completely overshadowed by hirelings that just cast warding bond on you, +1 to AC and saving throws and resistance to all damage.
The Hireling Cleric batteries is the ultimate BG3 cheese yeah. Life Clerics all dropping all of their non-concentration, last all day spells, super OP. It takes a bit every day to re-up it but ridiculously powerful. Great to feel secure on Honour. Once you get Freedom of Movement especially.
I pretty much sleep on every elixir except the giant strength ones. Never even used battle mage, vigilance or bloodlust. I probably will if I ever go back to my honor run, but for tactician there's no need for them.
You can have fun with bloodlust. My buddy and I are doing a splitscreen campaign, he's a dwarf barbarian and I'm a gnome rogue. He chugs bloodlust, I cast haste on him and hide at the back of the battle sniping. He does 8-10 attacks per turn, and I pick off whatever survives lol
Big agree on the tadpole elixirs. I have to imagine whoever designed it didn’t know a lot about the other items/features in the game because there are SO many other ways to get advantage. You get gloves of the growling underdog pretty soon in act 1, and that basically gives you advantage on melee attacks every big fight
It's nice to see this rating in a structured way with arguments behind it. Whenever I do a run on Honour Mode or Tactician, I mostly use the same elixirs. Strenght if the character needs it, peerless focus on my cleric, if I have one, and Bloodlust on the good DDs. If I don't want to use the "good" elixirs, I use the Collossus or heroism, with some characters Viciousness or (spoiler!) the vigilance with my sorc in the orin fight in order to get rid of her charges. And sometimes in the Counting House I actually use "see invisibility". Since I started using a 4 Transformation Wizard/4 Bard Halfing Hireling as my master alchemist, I can afford to be a little bit more excessive in the elixir use. Thanks again.
Thank you for that tier-list! I'm finishing my first run today, and I only realized recently that I was always relying on the same ones, and not in an optimal fashion. Your explanations gave me a new perspective for my next run!
Resistance Elixirs should have their own stack slot such that you can trade off between being resistant to some one type of damage. Some elixirs also really need to be potions (e.g. See Invisibility or Heroism) while others really need to be elixirs (e.g. Potion of Speed). The Arcane Cultivation potions also really need to be potions, as they're basically just doing what food does with full rest: they regen spell slots, except in the most expensive way. Furthermore, some spells really should be temporary with potions that should last all day; I'm thinking here specifically of some of the Ritual Spells, like Long Jump, Feather Fall, or even Speak with Animals or Mind Reading.
the problepm with potion of speed being an elixir is the duration. Having it last all day would be way too strong. Honestly, just removing it completely would be ok.
@@isaz2425 Especially when the spell Haste regularly gets interrupted faster than the potion of speed would. Having a readily available stockpile of something that's generally BETTER than one of the best spells in the game is nonsensical. AND, potions take a bonus action instead of an action. So potions of speed really are just better versions of the Haste spell in most cases.
This video could have been 10 minutes long. Asking your viewers to set aside a whole hour of their day for a ranking of 13 elixir’s, 4 of which are essentially the same thing (so 10) is absurd. Skipped to the end and got the information i needed in one minute instead of 1 hour. Writing a script and editing videos isn’t much to ask, if you want to ramble for an hour and hit upload i suggest streaming and not whatever this is.
@@Cephalopocalypse being unable to handle constructive criticism online after being on youtube for close to a decade now is an achievement. Would you prefer me lie to you and tell you if you waste another decade of your life and upload 1000 more 30-1 hour 30 minute long rants you’ll average more than 4-40k views per video?
I 100% agree with your reasoning on all of these elixirs. This is effectively a broken mechanic in the game... but broken mechanics can be fun. That said, for rebalancing purposes, I feel that the Hill Giant Elixir should give a +3 to Strength, and the Cloud Giant Elixir should give a +6 to Strength. For Strength Based characters, it would put those stats at about those same points as the Elixirs Currently set your Strength at in the first place. Vigilance should give advantage to Perception checks, and a +2 to Initiative. Arcane Acuity should be completely overhauled as a buff in the game. It should function like Arcane Synergy. With Arcane Synergy, regardless of how many times you proc the effect, you can never have more than 2 stacks of the effect. It provides a flat bonus to your weapon damage rolls, equal to your spellcasting modifier. Arcane Acuity should be an effect that, when triggered, is given for 2 turns and can't stack higher than 2 turns. The bonus should be that you get a bonus to spell attack and spell save DC equal to 2. No more, no less... and the Elixir for Arcane Acuity simply shouldn't exist. Bloodlust is pretty powerful. I would nerf it so that the extra action is limited to a single weapon attack (as it is in honor mode) or a single cantrip (so no leveled spells... ie. you can cast Fire Bolt with it but not Fireball). The rest I wouldn't really change.
Sane people: Larian, please nerf these overpowered near game breaking elixirs. People that break everything they can because they suck: ""Don't you dare touch my basically unlimited stash of strength elixirs. My 8/8/16/8/15/17 (if Charisma main) would break. Don't take away my +18dex gloves, circlet with 17 int, and strength elixirs. My character won't be: 21(27)/18/16/17/15/17 (not to mention all the other + attributes)"". Just saying characters with basically +16 all stats is just silly. They need to change these items and elixirs to +gains instead of setting attributes(+1-3?)
In the early game, I view arcane cultivation as + spell points for sorcerers instead of an extra spell. I have a whole system: cultivation pots go to sorcerers, bloodthirst to barbarians, colossus to Battlemasters, hill giant strength to monks, heroism to archers, etc.
So I know I'm late to this video but I just jumped back into bg3 after a break. The battlements power elixir and arcane acuity buff is so broken. You may know that on honor mode raphael cannot be paralyzed more than 1 turn due to his legendary powers. However, bestow curse has an option where the target has to pass a saving throw or lose its turn. Well at 10 stacks of arcane acuity my bard locked him down for the entire fight. He took 0 turns and it was funny.
Might I suggest that Darkvision elixir is actually harmful as it uses up an elixir slot that could be used by anything else that would give you a benefit, thus depriving you of that benefit?
I think the Elixir of Hill Giant's Strength you put in S, should be in A. Since the Str Character using it would probably have either +3 or +4 Str Mod, it effectivly turns into either a +1 or +2 increase to hit/dmg. Were as the Cloud Giant obviously provides more. The Colossus obviously doesn't provide + to Hit, and averages a +2.5 dmg bonus. But it does provide the utilitarian bonus of being large and the Str Check/Saves which I think is a fair balancing of a +2 to Hit from the Hill Giant elixir This was my excessive comment for the day.
Hard disagree on a few of these elixirs' tiers, because you overlooked a key mechanic: any controllable creature can drink elixirs, including Mage Hand. This is true on PC, at least. Not sure if the interface on consoles allows this. This dramatically increases the value of Barkskin elixirs, for starters. I'd easily place them at A, or even S. Why? Because many summons have ACs that are significantly lower than 16. Barkskin elixirs dramatically increase your summons' survivability, and allowing you to benefit from their action economy for far longer. Even more so if at the start of the day you summon your army, throw on Barkskin Elixirs or Mage Armor on them, then stack it with Aid and later Heroes' Feast. Similarly, Hill Giant Elixirs (and up) are common enough to always feed to Zombies, which makes it far easier to create a horde. They can also be fed to Mage Hand to allow it to suddenly be able to hurl entire creatures around. This brings these already great elixirs to S+ tier, easily. Colossus and Heroism Elixirs are also handy for a few summons, but don't have nearly as major of a bump in usefulness when considering applying them to a summon. By contrast, I would actually place the Darkvision Elixir in F tier. Why? You say it has no downside, but this is actually false. It comes with an opportunity cost that prevents you from using other far more useful elixirs. Meanwhile, you can get the exact same effect by casting Darkvision with a scroll, which doesn't require concentration and lasts all day as well. Darkvision scrolls are also sold by vendors very commonly, and so are easy to stay stocked up on.
In my opinion the resistances elixirs are pretty much useless, unless you are using it for its invulnerability on a condition, because you can simply use the spell Warding Bond with a camp follower or hireling which gives resistace to all types of damage AND +1 to AC, and you don't even need to take the camp follower with you, you can pretty much have a full resistant party, all you need to do is cast Warding Bond on everyone after each long rest ( better done if you have 1 companion and 3 hirelings at camp using Warding Bond with each only on 1 party member so they don't die with the shared damage)
barksin is also usefull for no0duration summons/ like woodland being, since u wouldn't want to spend more valuable elixirs on them anyways, and barkskin is realy cheap f
thank you for featuring the dreaded elixirs! I love them and enjoy making them in bulk with a transmutation wizard. great video … but there is something you left out on the elixirs of arcane cultivation. if you have an empty spell slot when you use it then you can use another elixir and not lose the replaced slot. The wiki explanation is below and I have tested it - it works. you can replace all your expended spell slots if you have enough elixirs and cycle through them properly. heres the wiki: “When the effect of this elixir is removed (i.e. when drinking a different elixir), you will lose a level 1 spell slot, prioritizing an already expended slot. If you have expended at least one level 1 spell slot, there is no harm in replacing this elixir (or benefit in keeping it).”
Thanks very much! I actually do talk about that for the arcane cultivation elixirs - mostly for extra day-long buffs before switching to a different one, but also can be used to cheese tons of extra sorcery points for example
@@Cephalopocalypse sorry I guess I misunderstood what you were saying. I’ll listen again! I think what confused me was when you said if you use the spell slot then you can use another elixir without losing another slot. That's absolutely true, but I thought you meant that is the only time you get a "free slot." You have to use it or lose it if you have no other free slots at that level (but as long as you have one free, then replacing the elixir will take the empty slot). Thanks again for covering elixirs -- I hope you will tackle potions, coatings and other consumables at some point too. I always end up with a pile of throwables that seem under-powered and virtually useless after level 1 -- except for water of course, and sometimes grease -- but maybe I am missing something?
Arcane cultivation is identical to a scroll of any spell you have prepared, with the added downside of occupying an elixir slot. That's literally it, mechanically.
Idk why a strength character would take a strength elixir. Seems like a waste. Might as well use no elixirs at that point. Like if you’re not going to use your best elixir when we’re talking about best elixirs why use any?
This is why my number 1 hireling is a transmutation wizard, with one level of rogue for medicine expertise. You can very consistently get double elixirs when you craft them. So I just add the transmuter to my party when I craft alchemy things and to cast longstrider on my party, and then leave him in camp.
It's hard to believe how strong this single element of the game is. Even honour mode is nowhere near enough to challenge players who are fully utilizing things like elixirs or tavern brawler.
Does anyone else feel the Arcane Cultivation elixirs should have just been potions that restore a corresponding level of spell slot? Feels very odd having them be all day elixirs, tbh.
I noticed a frustrating bug (hopefully a bug) with the Bloodlust Elixir. If you already have temp hit points, the elixir will not trigger. This might not come up often, but if you're a Spore Druid Fighter (very fun build), it's quite a disappointment to not get that extra action, especially on Honor Mode.
Odd, maybe it's an Honor Mode thing but my bloodlust characters always got their bonus action even with temp hp from shield of thralls when I used them in tactician.
i think Honor Mode shuts down the extra action from Bloodlust sometimes. to me it seems like there is a limit to how many extra attacks you can get in a battle. there are some vague parts of the Honor Mode description that suggest hidden changes like that. But could be I just can’t figure out why its not working.
As much as I love this game it has some serious balancing issues. Question about putting Vigilance in S+ tier though as it basically replaces the alert feat and thus frees up a feat spot: are there any feats that are better than what the other S+ tier elixers grant? Because there is of course the opportunity cost to all the elixers in that you can't use another one.
An absolutely perfect ranking for Elixirs. And great discussion of them all. The only things you missed talking about are the thrown benefits of Elixirs and applying them to summons. I think the most fun (and non-abusive) way to use Elixirs is to just use the ones you find along the way. Don't buy or craft any. You find a nice random mix that let you get nice buffs, but never so many that you can abuse the game and you will have to pick and choose your days and use some of the 'lessor' elixirs because you don't have enough of the S-tier ones.
Thanks so much for the support! It's true - I definitely could have gone into that more for sure. To be honest I haven't experimented with it much myself because I usually don't play with summons OR elixirs, so I'm definitely pretty likely to overlook the combination!
Here's my idea for an elixir rebalance mod: *Battlemage's Power:* +1 spell attack roll, +1 spell save DC. *Giant Strength:* +[2/4] STR. *Vigilance:* +2 initiative and can't be surprised. *Bloodlust:* +1 action on kill _per battle._ *Arcane Cultivation:* +2 level [1/2/3/4] spell slots. *Colossus:* no change. *Heroism:* no change. *Viciousness:* no change. *Guileful Movement:* Immune to difficult terrain, +1 unit movement speed. *Peerless Focus:* Same, but also +2 to constitution saving throws. *Resistances:* Resistance to [X], then -3 damage from [X] sources. *Barkskin:* +2 to AC. *Darkvision:* Darkvision range to 24m, +1 reaction. *See Invisibility:* See Invisibility, +1 reaction. *Tadpole Elixir:* Gain advantage on all tadpole powers. Suffer disadvantage on constitution and intelligence saving throws. (Assuming no mechanic abuse: don't cycle spell slot elixirs, don't splash apply resistance elixirs. Taking into account the rarity of each elixir.) Feedback welcome.
One small criticism. Battlemage's Power is just an effective +3 to a stat that only applies to combat rolls and not skill checks or out of combat uses, and is ranked above Cloud Giant Strength when used on characters with max Strength despite that also being a +3 to a stat but is useful outside of combat as well, and also applies to skill checks that use the stat. The only way this makes sense is if you're asserting that simply being a caster is such a massive combat advantage that all elixirs should be losing points simply because they buff a non-caster. So no matter what, it flat out doesn't make any sense to have both Battlemage's Power and the Giant Strength Elixirs ranked the way they are, no matter how you break down the logic. Either you recognize that the mage elixir is mathematically inferior to the giant strength elixirs, or you assume that being melee is too big a disadvantage to rank highly in the first place.
This is a good analysis, but there's are good reasons those two things are evaluated differently. In D&D, there are lots of ways to increase your attack (most notably, attacking with advantage, magic weapons, and the archery fighting style amongst many others). There are very few ways to increase your save DC - Baldur's gate is extremely generous with items that do this, but in normal 5e those items would be extremely rare. Even given BG3's generosity, an equivalent bonus to save DC is *much* more valuable than a bonus to attack, because the former is much more difficult to obtain. The effect of increasing it is also vastly greater - a spell is a heavy resource investment, usually with a very powerful effect on success, so the expected value from an increased chance of success is much greater than the expected value of a small damage increase.
Bloodlust is not in S+ ? That's surprising. Vigilance > Bloodlust? There's a feat that gives you Vigilance effect, but there is no feat for the Bloodlust effect.
Alert uses the numbers from a completely different game unaltered, so it just falls outside the intended balance of the game. Extra actions are obviously insanely powerful, but are something you're at least supposed to be able to do in D&D - and of course bloodlust has a real requirement to make use of it; people like to think of it as permanent haste but there are lots of times you won't get a bloodlust action on your turn
There are! Basically any item that's available from merchants is infinite, because you can refresh their inventories by resting/respeccing and just keep buying them until you have enough
"Elixir of Peerless Focus; I assume this is just coffee." Well, thank DOG I wasn't drinking any at the time, or I'd be down one gaming laptop, OP. Holy shit.
9:18 Meanwhile, I've gotten so many scrolls that my Gale's 3rd and 4th level slots (jusf reached level 7 in my first ever Honor mode run) are purely for Counterspell, with 1st and 2nd just being for Shield.
![[Fixed] The 20 BEST ITEMS in Act 2 - Baldur's Gate 3 Honour Mode Guide](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yQLYmv9AQPg/mqdefault.jpg)
Are you telling me these are more useful than just weighing down my Tav all game???
My 50 pound pouch of consumables that I will always carry but never use
RIGHTTT i’m always like “i shouldn’t sell this, i’ll definitely use it at some point” and then end the game with 80 unused elixirs
Shocking isn't it? I felt stupid for ignoring them and wonder if I should take a look at poison a little more even though I probably only ever use it twice lol both times tp poison someone's beer
@tristanwillcox4011 don't even get me started on scrolls lol found out during my current hm run that I just casually had 3 scrolls of globe of "screw your damage I said no" which helped me when I choked during my fight against cazador
Y'all are weird
The fact that they give you the ingredients for colossus elixir right before Grymforge tells me that owlbear off the top rope is the INTENDED solution for the Grym fight.
Exactly!
idk bout THE solution but AN "intended" "solution", what i loved bout this game of dnd. is the amount of possibilities only limited by our own creativity, it's insane the things that one can pull off by just thinking outside the box a lil bit. (if we were to discuss *the* intended solution it'd be obiously using the hammer for grym)
I didn't have a druid so I went with the giant hastened Karlach bonking him to death with a hammer solution.
I disagree. A big part of what makes BG3 such a great game is that there's so many different solutions to every problem. Adding ingredients is just offering another.
This makes me have so much respects for the larian devs thou. As a developer myself, it's insane that they coded in so many branching paths and various possibilities to finish quest throughout the game. Like poisoning the goblin food, etc. It's pretty incredible what they achieved here.
You use the elixers of strength to cheese the stats system. I use the exliers of strength to increase my carry weight so I can sell vendors more tin cups at once. We are not the same.
(Meme aside great video, really helpful! Going to be starting honor run soon and I will need to keep this stuff in mind)
For a while that was the only way I was willing to use elixirs, then I thought why don't I just use a mod for extra carry weight and save myself some clicks
a friend laughed at me for picking up all the rotten fruit. Dammon still bought it, though, and I'm 120 gold richer, so who's laughing now?
@@Cephalopocalypsesame for aoe/permanent longstrider and you mjght aswell use a mid for camp supplies since if you loot all containers you get more than enough camp supplies for the whole game so it just saves tooons of clicking
@@Cephalopocalypsesame for aoe/permanent longstrider and you might aswell use a mod for camp supplies since if you loot all containers you get more than enough camp supplies for the whole game so a mod just saves tooons of clicks
@@Cephalopocalypse Ha! and here I am, banning the 'send to camp' feature because it breaks immersion and makes it too easy. No 'send to camp' and no Fast Travel makes you decide what you really want to collect and what stuff you can just leave behind!
There is something strangely relatable about waking up with barely enough strength to put on your favourite set of armor and your backpack, and then you need your elixir to actually go on with your day :')
Lol truth
My no strength bard is getting to the point where I can only loot a couple bodies before I'm over encumbered and I'm considering it...
Mind Blown within three minutes after learning that Elixir of Universal Resistance is not an Elixir....
Those potions clogging up my inventory have a purpose!? Lol I always forget to use them, and arrows, and scrolls.
I don't necessarily forget, but there's that persistent "I might need it later" feeling...
@@alexmashkin863yeah, hoarding consumables is a staple of all RPG’s
What are you talking about? They don't get to leave camp without their morning dose and a few rituals)
@@cannyvalley8522Hey honey, time for your daily giant finger soup
I use the arrows on almost every ranged attack unless the damage is already enough to kill. 'Scroll'-ing through Tav's inventory to find a scroll to cast instead of just using a cantrip is a pain in the butt though lol.
Something about elixirs of darkvision that makes them even more useless: in the rare cases that you might want darkvision (ranged humans in the Underdark and Shadow-Cursed lands pretty much), scrolls of darkvision give you the exact same buff without taking up your elixir slot. It's just straight up invalidated by the scroll.
yep exactly - there's so few characters that would ever want it and there's much better ways to get it for those anyways
doesn't darkvision use concentration tho? maybe the elixir is intended for casters and the scroll is intended for martials
@@pokenoobmx3445 Not in game. It just lasts until Long Rest so you can use a Druid or Wizard in camp to cast it on the few characters that don't have Darkvision.
@@TheThreeHeadedDragon oh, interesting, i'm not the type to use camp characters but it sounds cool nonetheless
Holy cow I didn't know Elixir of Colossus stacks with Enlarge! New playthrough group composition unlocked :D
Use potion of colossus. Wild shape into owl bear. Use enlarge. Profit.
@zephyrprime does wildshape still benefit from tavern brawler?
I've done 3 full runs of BG3, 1 being honor mode and I have never decided to use battle mage's power because I assumed the arcane acuity stacks would go away like normal stacks, that is so incredibly broken lmao
Yeah it's pretty crazy
Yep, it's imo kind of goofy they had it use an existing mechanic with an established different effect and then wrote an exception to that effect, rather than just saying +3 to DCs and attacks
Same! I never considered using them over Cultivation or Bloodlust, but this changed it all!
Same thing over here. Nearly fell of my chair
My Swords Bard/Gloomstalker Ranger considers Bloodlust to be S+ tier, cuz I can do 10 Attacks in the first turn of combat WITHOUT even using Haste as well. Add the +10 dmg from Sharpshooter and up to 25 less hit points per enemy from Cull The Weak, and my one character can pretty much kill all the lesser enemies in a big fight in one round.
Just a note, the Cloud Giant elixirs are not super late game, the ingridients are available starting at level 6 in act 1 Myconid Colony venddors
You’re telling me the Battle Mage Elixir DOESN‘T reduce stacks upon taking a hit? I knew they wouldn’t tick down with time, but that is ridiculous. Absolutely going to abuse that to hell and back next playthrough! 😂
Fun one! Switching between elixirs of Arcane Cultivation and other elixir's is one of the available increased Sorcery Points tricks. In practice, it's expensive, but viable.
This. I can just about double my Sorcery Points every long rest on my Fire Sorc. Drink a level 1 elixir, 1 sorc point, level 2 elixir now I have 3 sorc points and a quickened level 6 spell.
Don't do it, I warn you.
I came up with this idea just before the final fight (playing honour as my first full playthrough - not knowing what's to come).
"Great power comes with great disappointments" - Uncle Alaundo
@@lena.bezcyferek that’s interesting. Did something change in Patch 6?
Last time I used this, here is the pattern that worked -
1 - Elixir of Arcane Cultivation
2 - Create Sorcery Points
3 - Elixir of Greater Arcane Cultivation (you must use a different elixir; if you use the same arcane cultivation elixir, it won’t work)
4 - Create Sorcery Points
5 - Repeat
I do know that they closed up some of the sorcery point tricks, but this one did work for me last time I tried it
@OakandIV That's exactly how it works. You can also trade those sorcery points for extra high level spell slots. As I said, don't do it. There's nothing exciting in blowing up the universe every single turn.
@@lena.bezcyferek ah! Got it. And I get it. It definitely breaks the action economy.
There's an old saying that originated in the halcyon days of D&D 3rd edition optimization from the old Gleemax forum and its predecessor the 339 boards that went like this: "Initiative: because going first often means your opponent does not get the opportunity to go second."
Hmm, but I think it's okay that so many of them are so broken since we only use them very rarely. After all, we have to save them for later, right? ... Right?
But seriously, I still haven't managed to completely get rid of that old Skyrim habit of stockpiling all consumables instead of using them. And so I barely use them which results in me barely knowing that they do. Which apparently results in me missing out on some truly OP effects.
Yep I am exactly the same way. What if I need it later????
Good info but my man loves to add words that don’t bring anything to the video except extra time. Couldn’t help but skip most of the video because it’s like listening to that one friend who loves to show you how smart he thinks he is. Seems like a script could cut these videos in half and not sacrifice any content.
I would agree, it's a bit too long, especially if you are someone who is experienced in the game already. But to someone very new like me, it helps that he is explaining in a very detailed way in terms of why stuff works.
I agree there are things he simply repeats as well.
I think he just explains all his decisions in length, for what build they are useful, for what situation, what classes and how the elixirs interact with other game mechanics making them better or less useful and repetition to summarize his points are fine.
That said, more focused scripting could have made the video shorter perhaps
One note about purchasing elixirs from merchants: every time a character levels up, merchant inventories reset. So, you can have a party member reset their level at withers, then trade. Close the trade window, switch to your leveling character, level up one level, then re-open the trade window. Each level you can purchase elixirs, potions, etc from the merchant. Also, for an early source of Hill Giant Strength, Auntie Ethel will sell you three every time you reset her.
I'm doing a splitscreen campaign with a friend, and every time I log in as player 2 I get a new adventurers starting pack which comes with 1 giant strength potion.
My gnome with Base 8 strength has never gone a day without downing a potion and jumping to 21 strength
Which variety of Win Juice is your favorite?
He said his favourite party builds was Swords Bard, Light Cleric, Abjuration Wizard and Bardadin/ Hero adventurer main character.
I used colossus on the bulette after having Glut resurrect it. I had to make it jump over a lot of narrow spots on the map to stay with the party, but it was awesome and it was nice to go back and visit its giant corpse at the duergar camp.
Notably, the main character can use tadpole powers as a bonus action, if you get the awakened buff in the creche.
Advantage on a bonus action (especially in combination with something like perilous stakes in tactician) is pretty nice
Advantage is mathematically similar to a 3.325 increase to the roll. In that sense, it's very literally mathematically superior to the battlemage and giant strength elixirs when not cheesing character creation with them.
Might want to consider how some of the elixirs can be used to buff summons. While I suspect that that it wouldn’t change your rankings, this ability to use them on summons provides good uses for bad elixirs. For example, bark skin can be good on Shovel or Hill Giant can be useful with the Deva. :)
with the arcane cultivation elixirs you can just regain all spell slots in a fight or out of combat by switching between optimally two different arcane cultivation elixirs making you up to level 4 spellslots only gold dependant and not long rest dependant
Which is even more broken for sorcerer :-)
Yeah! I should definitely have mentioned that use case as well - incredibly powerful, of course!
Two great spots for resistance elixirs:
1. Psychic is great for the Githyanki Inquisitor in the Crèche.
2. The last fight of act 2 is all necrotic damage, if all characters have resistance through elixirs, warding bond, Abdirak’s mace, or the Plate armor in house of healing, it turns a very hard fight into a very manageable fight.
Or just have your Tav to tell the boss to kill themselves.
@@Czesnek still have to fight Myrkul
I need to use Elixers more often lmao, I just keep them in my bag just in case, only to never use them, not even for the final battle.
The classic RPG experience!
I think you are underselling the best use of level 1 arcane cultivation. The ability to cast hex as a warlock without using a higher level warlock spell slot is quite good.
He also got info wrong on those arcane cultivation elixirs. You don't have to use a spell before drinking another elixir. As long as you swap the type of arcane cultivation, you will keep your spell slots.
I just did this with Minthara a few days ago. I filled up all of her Paladin spell slots from empty by swapping between arcane cultivations just before the Myrkul fight.
I keep forgetting I have elixirs and potions. As someone with no previous knowledge of D&D this video has helped me better understand not just the effect of elixirs but also how to use them in context of different builds. I will make sure to use them more in the future now.
You can also give your barkskin elixir to the barky boy scratch.
Bah. Resist potions belong in at LEAST A tier. We have a warped perspective, and all fights are pretty easy for us no matter what cause we know what to expect. But if you're playing through your first time, the corresponding resist elixir is probably your best choice on most boss fights. Even if you have to wait to see what the boss uses INSIDE the fight before you use the resist potion, it's STILL amazingly powerful.
On my second playthru right now, have 2 questions. 1: why is initiative rolled on a d4 instead of a d20 like tabletop? And 2: what’s the most effective way to reset vendors to stock up elixirs/potions? I’ve never tried, would think that early on camp supplies would be an issue
I don't know if they've ever said why they switched it to a d4 - my theory is they wanted to make it more consistent since they removed a lot of the other ways to manipulate initiative that exist in tabletop (delayed turns, readied actions), but I'm not certain why they made that change and even less certain why they didn't rebalance the numbers given that they did make that change!
You can rest without camp supplies! You won't get your spell slots etc back, but you won't have used any anyways. Also they restock whenever you respec or level a character, which can be fewer clicks and won't progress story events if you want to avoid doing that
In Larian's previous game, which heavily influenced BG3, they used a fixed initiative system. They would have chosen that for a good reason (to them) and they probably wanted to maintain that mechanic as much as possible.
@@Cephalopocalypse I'm almost certain the initiative is 1d4 to increase the likelihood that multiple characters take their turns together. Makes it easier in multiplayer for everyone to move at once and lets you have characters combo together. Their original plan was to have the entire side roll initiative together so your whole group would act as one.
@@trengilly01 Since they use shared initiative for characters acting without enemies in between though I don't think they needed to change the numbers to produce that effect - that would make a lot of sense if characters acting on different initiatives had discrete turns though!
@@Cephalopocalypse That's the point. With d20 initiative rolls it would be a lot less likely to have your characters be together. They would more often be mixed with in with the enemies. You get lots more 'ties' with the 1d4 system and in case of ties they group the players up and enemies separately.
It says in the wiki that the barkskin elixir can be thrown so does that mean you can apply on summons with low AC? Obviously not game breaking but probably could be useful for more summon heavy builds.
I was thinking the same thing.
@@twoshu8940 Well that sucks.
In that case don't throw an elixir, simply drop or put it on the ground, then select your summoned creature, hover the cursor over the elixir and you will have an option to drink it with a summon. Any summon you can directly control can enjoy the benefits of an elixir :p
You can also just drink it from the inventory with a summon if you have them selected.
The only real use for barkskin
Could you make a build optimized for making/handing out elixirs and potions? Has transmutation wizard levels, maybe bonus action thows with berserker levels to toss potions at your opponents and allies... like a witch doctor type of character
Look up CRPG bro video 'best honour mode party'. He talks about a '5th member' which is an alchemist build which he leaves at camp just to make potions
@@daveyfunk Not really what I'm asking for, you can't exactly toss potions at people from camp. Also too gamey.
Drop potions just outside of battle initiation range. Mage hand. Throw potions you dropped near the fight on characters / enemies who need them. Easy and no need to spec someone into a potion person except a camp person.
@@SoI_Badguy huh? You then just give the potions to your party and any party member can throw them. He literally outlines a build to make an alchemist and so just follow that build to make an alchemist and then change it to suit your needs. You only need a bit of strength to throw potions, which you can build into or use an elixir to boost strength. Done!!!
@EdgeKisaragi Or you could have both? No need to do any annoying setup laying a bunch of potions on the ground and using a once-per-short-rest cantrip to throw them, but it's an option for big fights.
Yeah I know it isn't optimal but this is an RPG, not a math test. Being a potion chucking alchemist is a fantasy I want to play and I'm interested in hearing how it could be optimized within that playstyle.
Colossus potions in DnD are such a giant fail. Organically, physically speaking, if you had a human that size, in order for it to exist, it's strength would be MASSIVELY high. It would translate to a lot more bonuses than the elixir gives.
I think that's why they call it magic ;)
Are you going to make a Race/subrace tier list?
I'm sorry bro but I can't watch this with the almost ASMR wet clicking sound from every word you speak :(
Darkvision elixir does actually belong in F tier, because by virtue of taking up the elixir slot, it is actually detrimental. It takes the place of an actually useful elixir.
It's also worth noting that resistance elixirs are literally worthless if you set up warding bonds effectively with camp casters.
Neither Guileful movement nor Freedom of movement protects you from spike growth. I tested it multiple times and you still take the damage.
Woops - you're right! I was thinking of the land's stride difficult terrain immunity from class levels, which does prevent the damage.
Potion of mind reading works all day, but doesn't overwrite an elixir. Not the most useful effect, but hey, all day benefit for free is gravy
Yep, the potions that last all day are in an interesting spot - I may cover those soon ;)
My ultra-super-secret tech is to keep a transmutation wizard in camp with a maxed wisdom and expertise in medicine. Gotta double up on potions and elixirs.
I do one of those for mage armor and longstrider but then make a separate character for potion brewing: pick the halfling hireling, go 2 in transmutation wizard, 3 in bard with medicine expertise. Cast enhance ability wisdom and get guidance cast on them, for advantage and 1d4 bonus plus double proficiency to your checks, and rerolling 1's.
@@montezuma0000 Take the Lucky feat for added success.
Well analyzed and explained.
Thanks!
Omg the battle mages power lasts all day? 3 extra arcane acuity?! I always left it somewhere in my elixir pouch because I thought to myself how 3 arcane acuity for one turn then having it decrease is too niche of a use case. All day is absolutely busted beyond belief lol. Guess I gotta go back to Withers for two characters now… I would feel guilty for using it but… so much power 🤤
@@twoshu8940 sure but you can use this on literally any character for an extra 15% chance to hit a spell attack roll or a save or suck spell which doesn’t limit you to: helm of arcane acuity or fire acuity hat. Also do keep in mind this +3 will persist through every turn regardless of use or getting hit and on the start of encounters before even building up stacks. It’s easier to think of this as just a flat 15% increase to attack and save dc for an entire day rather than arcane acuity since it functions a bit differently. In that case there’s just unrivaled flexibility with gear and the increase is easily justifiable of an S+ tier slot.
I was watching something else THEN I SAW THIS LETS GO!!
Thanks! Wish I would have found you sooner, really like your videos.
Thanks so much for the support! I really appreciate it - it really means a lot!
Arcane acuity is overrated because meta mage builds generally have their hit chance from just gear alone at = yes. Most meta spells also still do at least halved damage even if you miss or are guaranteed to hit like magic missiles or cloud daggers. Hill giant, cloud giant, bloodlust and occasionally vigilance are the only worthwhile elixirs so this is otherwise a pretty accurate list.
I use vigilance on shovel to guarantee surprise rounds in every combat for the whole day. The extra initiative gives shovel the chance to go invisible before the enemies get a chance to hit. If there was one elixir that deserves s++ it would be vigilance.
Initiative doesn’t matter in surprising enemies though
@@challah_back_femme9857 first turn you attack an enemy, after surprise round you go invis, your shovel doesnt die
@@twoshu8940 check my other reply. I've been going at a solo warlock honor run and sometimes not getting a surprise round makes all fights way more dangerous
Yt didnt like my reply ig but the method is you proc surprise with an attack and you get first go next round so shovel stays alive without getting hit.(You go invis)
How does surprise work? Can you surprise enemies after combat initiates if you are invisible?
Spam resting to buy or steal potions is kinda cheesy
The resistance elixirs are completely overshadowed by hirelings that just cast warding bond on you, +1 to AC and saving throws and resistance to all damage.
The Hireling Cleric batteries is the ultimate BG3 cheese yeah. Life Clerics all dropping all of their non-concentration, last all day spells, super OP. It takes a bit every day to re-up it but ridiculously powerful. Great to feel secure on Honour. Once you get Freedom of Movement especially.
The Giant Strength potions on a tavern brawler monk is hilariously op
I pretty much sleep on every elixir except the giant strength ones. Never even used battle mage, vigilance or bloodlust. I probably will if I ever go back to my honor run, but for tactician there's no need for them.
You can have fun with bloodlust. My buddy and I are doing a splitscreen campaign, he's a dwarf barbarian and I'm a gnome rogue. He chugs bloodlust, I cast haste on him and hide at the back of the battle sniping. He does 8-10 attacks per turn, and I pick off whatever survives lol
Big agree on the tadpole elixirs. I have to imagine whoever designed it didn’t know a lot about the other items/features in the game because there are SO many other ways to get advantage. You get gloves of the growling underdog pretty soon in act 1, and that basically gives you advantage on melee attacks every big fight
It's nice to see this rating in a structured way with arguments behind it.
Whenever I do a run on Honour Mode or Tactician, I mostly use the same elixirs. Strenght if the character needs it, peerless focus on my cleric, if I have one, and Bloodlust on the good DDs. If I don't want to use the "good" elixirs, I use the Collossus or heroism, with some characters Viciousness or (spoiler!) the vigilance with my sorc in the orin fight in order to get rid of her charges.
And sometimes in the Counting House I actually use "see invisibility".
Since I started using a 4 Transformation Wizard/4 Bard Halfing Hireling as my master alchemist, I can afford to be a little bit more excessive in the elixir use.
Thanks again.
Wizard 6 is better cause he gives you free constitution saving throws proficiency.
The tier list I didn’t know I needed! Thank you!!!
Awesome, glad it helped!
Thank you for that tier-list! I'm finishing my first run today, and I only realized recently that I was always relying on the same ones, and not in an optimal fashion. Your explanations gave me a new perspective for my next run!
Resistance Elixirs should have their own stack slot such that you can trade off between being resistant to some one type of damage. Some elixirs also really need to be potions (e.g. See Invisibility or Heroism) while others really need to be elixirs (e.g. Potion of Speed). The Arcane Cultivation potions also really need to be potions, as they're basically just doing what food does with full rest: they regen spell slots, except in the most expensive way. Furthermore, some spells really should be temporary with potions that should last all day; I'm thinking here specifically of some of the Ritual Spells, like Long Jump, Feather Fall, or even Speak with Animals or Mind Reading.
the problepm with potion of speed being an elixir is the duration.
Having it last all day would be way too strong.
Honestly, just removing it completely would be ok.
@@isaz2425 Especially when the spell Haste regularly gets interrupted faster than the potion of speed would. Having a readily available stockpile of something that's generally BETTER than one of the best spells in the game is nonsensical. AND, potions take a bonus action instead of an action. So potions of speed really are just better versions of the Haste spell in most cases.
@@dontmisunderstand6041 Most fights outcome is decided in the first few turns too. So 3 turns is enough to make you win most of the time.
Bloodlust should be s+ tier
This video could have been 10 minutes long. Asking your viewers to set aside a whole hour of their day for a ranking of 13 elixir’s, 4 of which are essentially the same thing (so 10) is absurd. Skipped to the end and got the information i needed in one minute instead of 1 hour. Writing a script and editing videos isn’t much to ask, if you want to ramble for an hour and hit upload i suggest streaming and not whatever this is.
this comment could have been 0 words long
@@Cephalopocalypse being unable to handle constructive criticism online after being on youtube for close to a decade now is an achievement. Would you prefer me lie to you and tell you if you waste another decade of your life and upload 1000 more 30-1 hour 30 minute long rants you’ll average more than 4-40k views per video?
@@jonathanm3446 uh oh what will I do without your expert advice
I 100% agree with your reasoning on all of these elixirs. This is effectively a broken mechanic in the game... but broken mechanics can be fun.
That said, for rebalancing purposes, I feel that the Hill Giant Elixir should give a +3 to Strength, and the Cloud Giant Elixir should give a +6 to Strength. For Strength Based characters, it would put those stats at about those same points as the Elixirs Currently set your Strength at in the first place.
Vigilance should give advantage to Perception checks, and a +2 to Initiative.
Arcane Acuity should be completely overhauled as a buff in the game. It should function like Arcane Synergy. With Arcane Synergy, regardless of how many times you proc the effect, you can never have more than 2 stacks of the effect. It provides a flat bonus to your weapon damage rolls, equal to your spellcasting modifier.
Arcane Acuity should be an effect that, when triggered, is given for 2 turns and can't stack higher than 2 turns. The bonus should be that you get a bonus to spell attack and spell save DC equal to 2. No more, no less... and the Elixir for Arcane Acuity simply shouldn't exist.
Bloodlust is pretty powerful. I would nerf it so that the extra action is limited to a single weapon attack (as it is in honor mode) or a single cantrip (so no leveled spells... ie. you can cast Fire Bolt with it but not Fireball).
The rest I wouldn't really change.
Sane people: Larian, please nerf these overpowered near game breaking elixirs.
People that break everything they can because they suck: ""Don't you dare touch my basically unlimited stash of strength elixirs. My 8/8/16/8/15/17 (if Charisma main) would break. Don't take away my +18dex gloves, circlet with 17 int, and strength elixirs. My character won't be: 21(27)/18/16/17/15/17 (not to mention all the other + attributes)"". Just saying characters with basically +16 all stats is just silly. They need to change these items and elixirs to +gains instead of setting attributes(+1-3?)
In the early game, I view arcane cultivation as + spell points for sorcerers instead of an extra spell. I have a whole system: cultivation pots go to sorcerers, bloodthirst to barbarians, colossus to Battlemasters, hill giant strength to monks, heroism to archers, etc.
So I know I'm late to this video but I just jumped back into bg3 after a break. The battlements power elixir and arcane acuity buff is so broken. You may know that on honor mode raphael cannot be paralyzed more than 1 turn due to his legendary powers. However, bestow curse has an option where the target has to pass a saving throw or lose its turn. Well at 10 stacks of arcane acuity my bard locked him down for the entire fight. He took 0 turns and it was funny.
Might I suggest that Darkvision elixir is actually harmful as it uses up an elixir slot that could be used by anything else that would give you a benefit, thus depriving you of that benefit?
I think the Elixir of Hill Giant's Strength you put in S, should be in A. Since the Str Character using it would probably have either +3 or +4 Str Mod, it effectivly turns into either a +1 or +2 increase to hit/dmg. Were as the Cloud Giant obviously provides more.
The Colossus obviously doesn't provide + to Hit, and averages a +2.5 dmg bonus. But it does provide the utilitarian bonus of being large and the Str Check/Saves which I think is a fair balancing of a +2 to Hit from the Hill Giant elixir
This was my excessive comment for the day.
came in, fast forwarded to end, saw bloodlust was behind hill/cloud giant strength, booed, left.
Hard disagree on a few of these elixirs' tiers, because you overlooked a key mechanic: any controllable creature can drink elixirs, including Mage Hand. This is true on PC, at least. Not sure if the interface on consoles allows this.
This dramatically increases the value of Barkskin elixirs, for starters. I'd easily place them at A, or even S. Why? Because many summons have ACs that are significantly lower than 16. Barkskin elixirs dramatically increase your summons' survivability, and allowing you to benefit from their action economy for far longer. Even more so if at the start of the day you summon your army, throw on Barkskin Elixirs or Mage Armor on them, then stack it with Aid and later Heroes' Feast.
Similarly, Hill Giant Elixirs (and up) are common enough to always feed to Zombies, which makes it far easier to create a horde. They can also be fed to Mage Hand to allow it to suddenly be able to hurl entire creatures around. This brings these already great elixirs to S+ tier, easily.
Colossus and Heroism Elixirs are also handy for a few summons, but don't have nearly as major of a bump in usefulness when considering applying them to a summon.
By contrast, I would actually place the Darkvision Elixir in F tier. Why? You say it has no downside, but this is actually false. It comes with an opportunity cost that prevents you from using other far more useful elixirs. Meanwhile, you can get the exact same effect by casting Darkvision with a scroll, which doesn't require concentration and lasts all day as well. Darkvision scrolls are also sold by vendors very commonly, and so are easy to stay stocked up on.
Paladin
Killer's Sweetheart
Luck of the Far Realms
Elixir of Bloodlust
Haste (or Potion of Speed)
Utter annihilation
In my opinion the resistances elixirs are pretty much useless, unless you are using it for its invulnerability on a condition, because you can simply use the spell Warding Bond with a camp follower or hireling which gives resistace to all types of damage AND +1 to AC, and you don't even need to take the camp follower with you, you can pretty much have a full resistant party, all you need to do is cast Warding Bond on everyone after each long rest ( better done if you have 1 companion and 3 hirelings at camp using Warding Bond with each only on 1 party member so they don't die with the shared damage)
"Regularly going to purchase..." uh...i think it's pronounced "pickpocket"
barksin is also usefull for no0duration summons/ like woodland being, since u wouldn't want to spend more valuable elixirs on them anyways, and barkskin is realy cheap f
You can actually stack the Elixer of Heroism with one other Elixer depending on the order you drink them ,so it should be rated higher imo
thank you for featuring the dreaded elixirs! I love them and enjoy making them in bulk with a transmutation wizard.
great video … but there is something you left out on the elixirs of arcane cultivation.
if you have an empty spell slot when you use it then you can use another elixir and not lose the replaced slot. The wiki explanation is below and I have tested it - it works. you can replace all your expended spell slots if you have enough elixirs and cycle through them properly. heres the wiki:
“When the effect of this elixir is removed (i.e. when drinking a different elixir), you will lose a level 1 spell slot, prioritizing an already expended slot. If you have expended at least one level 1 spell slot, there is no harm in replacing this elixir (or benefit in keeping it).”
Thanks very much! I actually do talk about that for the arcane cultivation elixirs - mostly for extra day-long buffs before switching to a different one, but also can be used to cheese tons of extra sorcery points for example
@@Cephalopocalypse sorry I guess I misunderstood what you were saying. I’ll listen again! I think what confused me was when you said if you use the spell slot then you can use another elixir without losing another slot. That's absolutely true, but I thought you meant that is the only time you get a "free slot." You have to use it or lose it if you have no other free slots at that level (but as long as you have one free, then replacing the elixir will take the empty slot). Thanks again for covering elixirs -- I hope you will tackle potions, coatings and other consumables at some point too. I always end up with a pile of throwables that seem under-powered and virtually useless after level 1 -- except for water of course, and sometimes grease -- but maybe I am missing something?
They should definitely patch the strength elixirs to make them less available. Also for heaven sake, some wisdom items would be nice.
Arcane cultivation is identical to a scroll of any spell you have prepared, with the added downside of occupying an elixir slot. That's literally it, mechanically.
Idk why a strength character would take a strength elixir. Seems like a waste. Might as well use no elixirs at that point. Like if you’re not going to use your best elixir when we’re talking about best elixirs why use any?
You’re a filthy league player aren’t you? I see that Sightstone pfp. Good job playing a better game.
I'm Hill Giant's Strength elixir junkie at this point, can't play without getting 60+ of them in act 1
This is why my number 1 hireling is a transmutation wizard, with one level of rogue for medicine expertise. You can very consistently get double elixirs when you craft them. So I just add the transmuter to my party when I craft alchemy things and to cast longstrider on my party, and then leave him in camp.
Dont forget to cast owls wisdom and guidance before your make the elixers, gives it an almost 100% success rate
It's hard to believe how strong this single element of the game is. Even honour mode is nowhere near enough to challenge players who are fully utilizing things like elixirs or tavern brawler.
Does anyone else feel the Arcane Cultivation elixirs should have just been potions that restore a corresponding level of spell slot? Feels very odd having them be all day elixirs, tbh.
I never realized that the battlemage’s power elixir AA stacks didn’t tick down.
I noticed a frustrating bug (hopefully a bug) with the Bloodlust Elixir.
If you already have temp hit points, the elixir will not trigger. This might not come up often, but if you're a Spore Druid Fighter (very fun build), it's quite a disappointment to not get that extra action, especially on Honor Mode.
Oh that’s not good
Odd, maybe it's an Honor Mode thing but my bloodlust characters always got their bonus action even with temp hp from shield of thralls when I used them in tactician.
i think Honor Mode shuts down the extra action from Bloodlust sometimes. to me it seems like there is a limit to how many extra attacks you can get in a battle. there are some vague parts of the Honor Mode description that suggest hidden changes like that. But could be I just can’t figure out why its not working.
Interesting. Maybe it is an honor mode only issue then. 🥲
@@obee08 oh also, it doesn't trigger from cull the weak kills, could it be that?
As much as I love this game it has some serious balancing issues. Question about putting Vigilance in S+ tier though as it basically replaces the alert feat and thus frees up a feat spot: are there any feats that are better than what the other S+ tier elixers grant? Because there is of course the opportunity cost to all the elixers in that you can't use another one.
38:15 It's not like the game is balanced around haste and Freedom of Movement disables it anymore.
I have a horrible video idea for you:
ranking all weapons. probably separated into multiple vids.
I've considered it!
Can colossus elixir protect you from being shoved?
Heroims Elixir is S for my defensive build it helps me to get additional Saving throw
Heroism plus mystras bless on spells is 4d4 to attacks which is kinda crazy
An absolutely perfect ranking for Elixirs. And great discussion of them all.
The only things you missed talking about are the thrown benefits of Elixirs and applying them to summons.
I think the most fun (and non-abusive) way to use Elixirs is to just use the ones you find along the way. Don't buy or craft any. You find a nice random mix that let you get nice buffs, but never so many that you can abuse the game and you will have to pick and choose your days and use some of the 'lessor' elixirs because you don't have enough of the S-tier ones.
Thanks so much for the support! It's true - I definitely could have gone into that more for sure. To be honest I haven't experimented with it much myself because I usually don't play with summons OR elixirs, so I'm definitely pretty likely to overlook the combination!
I had no idea what the Battlemage’s Power and Arcane Acuity did.
The only time I've used an elixir of resistance is the poison one when going to fight the spider queen in act 1
TIL bg3 initiative is rolled on a d4.
as someone more used to tabletop 5e, may i just say:
mom holy FU K
Yep, it's a huge change!
Here's my idea for an elixir rebalance mod:
*Battlemage's Power:* +1 spell attack roll, +1 spell save DC.
*Giant Strength:* +[2/4] STR.
*Vigilance:* +2 initiative and can't be surprised.
*Bloodlust:* +1 action on kill _per battle._
*Arcane Cultivation:* +2 level [1/2/3/4] spell slots.
*Colossus:* no change.
*Heroism:* no change.
*Viciousness:* no change.
*Guileful Movement:* Immune to difficult terrain, +1 unit movement speed.
*Peerless Focus:* Same, but also +2 to constitution saving throws.
*Resistances:* Resistance to [X], then -3 damage from [X] sources.
*Barkskin:* +2 to AC.
*Darkvision:* Darkvision range to 24m, +1 reaction.
*See Invisibility:* See Invisibility, +1 reaction.
*Tadpole Elixir:* Gain advantage on all tadpole powers. Suffer disadvantage on constitution and intelligence saving throws.
(Assuming no mechanic abuse: don't cycle spell slot elixirs, don't splash apply resistance elixirs. Taking into account the rarity of each elixir.)
Feedback welcome.
Viciousness full rogue is better than bloodlust rogue . 🎉
With cull of the weak max illithid and blood lust elixir on my barb is so op
Potion of animal speaking last all day and can be used alongside all of these. So its a free buff
One small criticism. Battlemage's Power is just an effective +3 to a stat that only applies to combat rolls and not skill checks or out of combat uses, and is ranked above Cloud Giant Strength when used on characters with max Strength despite that also being a +3 to a stat but is useful outside of combat as well, and also applies to skill checks that use the stat. The only way this makes sense is if you're asserting that simply being a caster is such a massive combat advantage that all elixirs should be losing points simply because they buff a non-caster. So no matter what, it flat out doesn't make any sense to have both Battlemage's Power and the Giant Strength Elixirs ranked the way they are, no matter how you break down the logic. Either you recognize that the mage elixir is mathematically inferior to the giant strength elixirs, or you assume that being melee is too big a disadvantage to rank highly in the first place.
This is a good analysis, but there's are good reasons those two things are evaluated differently. In D&D, there are lots of ways to increase your attack (most notably, attacking with advantage, magic weapons, and the archery fighting style amongst many others). There are very few ways to increase your save DC - Baldur's gate is extremely generous with items that do this, but in normal 5e those items would be extremely rare. Even given BG3's generosity, an equivalent bonus to save DC is *much* more valuable than a bonus to attack, because the former is much more difficult to obtain.
The effect of increasing it is also vastly greater - a spell is a heavy resource investment, usually with a very powerful effect on success, so the expected value from an increased chance of success is much greater than the expected value of a small damage increase.
58:35 It is rolled on a d4, but it's also determined by your DEX modifier, as well. So not *as* broken as that, but still. Holy cow. XD
For those wondering, I didn't know that until fairly recently. >.>;;;
I'm still new to all of this stuff.
Bloodlust is not in S+ ? That's surprising. Vigilance > Bloodlust? There's a feat that gives you Vigilance effect, but there is no feat for the Bloodlust effect.
Sure but vigilance means you can take a different feat which is often really nice for multiclass builds where you get less feats
Bloodlust is nerfed in Honour mode is why.
Alert uses the numbers from a completely different game unaltered, so it just falls outside the intended balance of the game. Extra actions are obviously insanely powerful, but are something you're at least supposed to be able to do in D&D - and of course bloodlust has a real requirement to make use of it; people like to think of it as permanent haste but there are lots of times you won't get a bloodlust action on your turn
so you're gonna do each slot of armor next right
Are there really enough resources in game to be able to make the cloud giant strength elixir a daily thing? I have trouble finding enough fingers.
There are! Basically any item that's available from merchants is infinite, because you can refresh their inventories by resting/respeccing and just keep buying them until you have enough
"Elixir of Peerless Focus; I assume this is just coffee."
Well, thank DOG I wasn't drinking any at the time, or I'd be down one gaming laptop, OP. Holy shit.
9:18 Meanwhile, I've gotten so many scrolls that my Gale's 3rd and 4th level slots (jusf reached level 7 in my first ever Honor mode run) are purely for Counterspell, with 1st and 2nd just being for Shield.