Some optimisation for the early game/ set up: auntie Ethel sells (either at the druid's grove or even at her hut as long as you don't advance her quest arch) a monk specific early game staff and has 3 elixirs of giant strength per day in her wares, so 3 times faster than the trader in the underdark and more easily accessible
Was looking for this comment before making it myself. Also, that's a massive waste of barrels that can be used for tougher fights, just finish the Khaga quest in the swamp, then use invis/darkness to steal the idol and immediately go to camp. Also, you need to be nice to Mattis and his accomplice... don't be mean to any of the Tiefling kids.
as soon as you hit level 4 and can take TB corellon’s grace staff is mostly useless since your attack bonus and damage will be significantly better just unarmed. the saving throw bonus is kinda nice so i suppose you could keep it equipped and then remove it when you want to make a main hand attack since it costs no action to unequip a weapon.
@@InvaderTroy The staff is simply to get you to level 4. You can throw it away after that. But low levels in BG3 kinda suck, so any little advantage you can get is good.
(I think) most traders refresh their stock each time you level up as well, so you could just pay 100 gold to change class and get as many refreshes as times you level back up
Not even joking, I literally just decided today to research this build to play a second run through with friends. Then bam, pally is like i got you fam!
Being a monk while playing with friends is the funniest part. Especially with first timers. You see people getting excited from getting new weapons and then see their jaws on the floor when you just slap a guy to death in 1 turn.
I can't help but milticlass and found this to go wonderfully with a druid. Gain magic, make...zombies(?), and not responsible for talking so free to relax on stats.
if you cross that bridge into the act 1.5 Gith monastery area BEFORE you resolve the goblin camp/Halsin quest when you come back to act 1 you'll find all the teiflings will be slain on the road by the goblins
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but Auntie Ethel in the Druid Grove sells Hill Giant Elixir X3 every day and has a perfect weapon for Monk early game.
Yep this is a bad guide. You can even kill Karlach and get the +1 AC Fire Robe from Mizora which you will use until you get the the Monk Robe in Act III.
With the new Raphael Helldusk Armor Glitch which you can get at Act I, breaks Monks even harder because Monks can wear that Legendary 21 AC Armor piece. You can just make a regular Fighter with Str and Tavernbrawler. @@patrykszczepanski773
@@axo4383 Keshigo Robe or whatever its called is not bad either if you're doing a solo run. Being able to counter attack through Patient Defense ain't a bad deal for just a bonus action. Especially with Thief3 for Fast Fingers.
@@ckirk7317 Wanna know what is more better for solo? The Helldusk Armor that Raphael drops in Act I. You don't even need Dexterity or Wisdom at that point because it's a heavy armor with 21 AC. Then you can make an Human or Half-Elf to get Shields for whopping 23 AC.
I missed a couple of these items on my playthrough as a Monk, and while it can affect the run in the moment, the Monk is SO strong, it makes little difference. SUCH a strong, fun build.
You left out a very nice item from the Druid's Grove, Corellon's Grace. That gives you a +1 to attack and damage rolls on unarmed attacks as well as +2 to saving throws as long as you aren't wearing armor. You buy it from Aunt Ethel in the Grove. She also stocks 3 Hill Giant Strength Elixirs per day. as long as you don't go south of the Blighted Village, she'll be there to stock up. What a nice old lady ;-) It might even be better to go to the Grove before you go to the crypt for just that reason. I think it's better than the staff you get from Roah. Then in the goblin camp you want to talk to Crusher and then ambush him when he goes to relieve himself. The ring you loot gives plus 3m to your movement rate. However, while dealing with Araj, not only does she sell the Risky Ring, she also sells the Ring of Free Action. The latter is basically a better version of The Disintigrating Night Walker boots minus Misty Step. Not having to ever worry about difficult terrain, paralysis, or ensnaring is a huge advantage for the party member likely to be the main frontline fighter.
It’s actually hilarious how OP this build is. I tried this twice, and out of my 14 other play throughs with numerous different classes chosen, my Tavern Brawler Monks have always been by far the most OP
I'm doing a variant of this build that is a little more 'all in' on the damage, forgoing the bracers of defense for the charged gloves you can get from the swamp in Act1. Between my monk and my buddy's barbarian, both rocking the Hill Giant potions, we are trivializing Act I, even on Tactician.
Random side note, if you keep shadowheart out of the hag fight hidden by the tree at the top of the hill, you can have her hit the hag with guiding bolt after the hag throws the hair down to get the hair and save her victims if the bolt kills her.
14:00 Traders' stocks also reset level up. Considering your party is level 4 at that point, you can respec at Withers each of them, giving 12 restocks. Either steal after each separate level up per character, or donate 400 gold as a level 1 character for maxed out attitude and then buy the elixirs even cheaper. Also, something to keep in mind, at some point (I think I heard starting at level 5) she can also sell fingers of CLOUD giants to brew the elixir that sets Str to 27 instead of 21.
13:30 theres an easier way to refresh trader inventories, pay withers to re-spec a character, then go to the trader and buy what you want then level up the re-spec'd character to lvl 2, then trade again, lvl 3, trade again, leveling up refreshes the inventory the same way a long rest does :D then just take your 100g back from withers, he doesnt get mad if you fail pickpockets so you can just try over and over till you get it
You can also just do a long rest at camp with no supplies selected and restock vendor inventories for free, no need to use camp supplies that way. Much less tedious than respeccing.
Holy shit man i remember you from like 11 years back doing your first playthrough of dark souls its crazy to see how far you have come well done and great build :D
While in the Grove, Ethel also has Hill Giant elixirs. If I remember right, she has about 3 per long rest available. I just made sure to stop and grab them as I went. If you don't plan to use Gale, consider making him Transmutation. You can craft double potions if you pass a check. I also went for more of a Captain America build, going fighter for Heavy Armor and Shield proficiency. I don't think my build is fully min/max'd, but my armor/cape do damage if people hit me 1d4 fire/acid respectively. Not that I plan to get hit much, but I really like the fook of this armor so I kept it, just got to beginning of Act 3 too. *This allowed me to give a lot of the gear Pally references to Karlach who I have in my party, which is why I went with some difference choices.
To big things, especially combined, you could use Pally: The Tavern Brawler feat adds twice your strength to both damage AND chance to hit. Essentially, you no longer need advantage after you pick it up (so The Risky Ring is 95% of the time not actually helping you). It also makes throwing god tier since it's the same double strength to hit and damage. The item that pairs well with this is the Returning Pike, which you can buy in the courtyard of the goblins camp. It makes you into the best ranged AND mele fighter out there and you don't even need to have it equipped to use it to its full potential 😉 Otherwise, absolutely loved the vid. This was one of my all time viscerally favorite builds and I'm hyped to see others enjoying it too!
Just gets annoying because it equips the pike every time it returns. On my thrower build for Karlach I really wanted to use a different melee weapon for close enemies and throw the pike but since it costs an action to equip a different weapon when the pike returns kinda made that Strat impossible. For this build it would just be a mild inconvenience though
@@triplethreatgaming8583 Not an issue on a monk though, just remember to unequip. Also, returning weapons don't always return, so remember to pick them up after the fight if it doesn't.
@@garyco766 yea that’s why I said on my thrower build. And they always return. Sometimes they are just slower. Just wait a few seconds before ending your turn
There is a certain legendary trident that removes fall damage, has the same returning power as the pike, DOUBLES your jump range, and has an aoe lightning effect. Throwing point blank has never been so op and fun.
A few corrections/tips to improve this already good guide: 1) take monk to 8, then at 9 respec to 3 thief (take these levels first), 6 monk 2) in the creche pick up the diadem of arcane synergy. Your casting stat as a monk (this is why we took monk second above) is Wisdom, so this will let you add your wisdom to damage any time you inflict a condition (your flurry of blows always inflicts a condition, so you should have this up all the time). By the end of act 1 you should have +4 from wis, and by end game +6 with mirror of loss. Entering act 3 you get another set of boots (boots of uninhibited kushigo) to add wisdom AGAIN, so + 12 damage at end game 3) as someone else posted, Auntie Ethel in the grove sells 3 potions of giant strength per rest and a monk specific staff, so you can equip up much earlier. She'll disappear when you go to swamp side of map, so farm it right away
Inventory resets also happen at each level up, so If you level up each team member individually (just exit after the first one) and then have the leveled up member speak to Auntie Ethel you will get additional inventory resets, as to build your potion counts faster, or to say get 2 hand crossbows from Dammon quicker.
@jamesdeer3129 Respec means to change the specifications of your character. In act 1, if you find Withers he'll join your camp and allow you to "change your class" for 100 gold. This allows you to completely rebuild your character from scratch except for you race, background, and any permanent buffs you've acquired. My way is more efficient because the first 2 levels of rogue do almost nothing for you, whereas 7 monk gets you evasion and 8 gets you a feat. When you reach 9 you can be 3 rogue/thief, getting you the extra bonus action for flurry of blows, and 6 monk, getting you all the essential monk abilities. The last 3 levels are preference: 9 monk gets you a feat and the explosive flsts thing (I found it of limited use), 8 monk/4 rogue gets you 2 feats, 6 monk/4 rogue/2 fighter gets you a feat, a fighting style, and action surge, but you lose evasion. How many monk levels you have also determine your ki points, which is a factor, but any of those splits will be great.
Hey. For Tactician, what do you think of 6 Monk, 3 Thief and 3 Champion for the extra Crit? I really don't know what's the safest bet between this and a 1 Paladin and 11 Fighter for Tactician (a 100% physical resist build using Heavy Armor Master and Skinburster) , seeing as I'm afraid it's gonna be too hard and frustrating for me @@garyco766
Did you actually test if getting Diadem will let you do more damage than a different helmet build? Like an actual damage comparison? You are the only person that has mentioned this in any monk build. Also what are you giving up by not taking Monk levels first? DId you test this in Honor mode as that mode stops things from stacking like that?
If you have a companion (or even just a hireling) that can cast mage armor, it lasts until long rest and will give you an even higher AC You can bolser it even more by adding sheild of faith and warding bond
Best option is abuse the hags shop in Druid grove before you kill her, she sells 3 for about 250 gold and you can easily stack up 20-40 before you encounter the hag later. It’s more efficient than 2 at a time.
Hell yeah. This got me back into BG3. Like others said, the hag has the strength pots and a staff early doors at the grove. I already feel like I'm playing the strongest melee character I've ever played and I'm only lvl 3.
Dont forget the gloves you can get really early in the south in the swamps jumping from island to island last island has some tree monsters and flying bombers. But after that theres a chest with gloves that give you spark charges each unarmed attack you make.
I kind of run the same, but my gear is this. 3 rogue thief subclass, 3fighter champion subclass, 6 monk open hand subclass. any race will do. Prioritize dex and wisdom. farm for hillgiant strength and also get the tavern brawler feat. level up monk first until level 6 then subclass to the desired class you want to prioritize. Covert Cowl - While obscured, the number you need to roll a Critical Hit while attacking is reduced by 1. This effect can stack. Cloak of Cunning Brume - When the wearer Disengages, they also create a foggy cloud with 2 m / 7 ft radius that lasts for 1 turn. Craterflesh gloves - 1d6 force damage on critical hit Boots of unhibited kushigo - wearer deals additional damage equal to their Wisdom Modifier with unarmed strikes. Surgeon's subjugation amulet - chance to paralyze on critical 1 ring of your choice + Eversight ring helps to make you immune to being blinded. They are only for utility. Find these equipment and how to get them using the bg3 wiki. This monk can deal a lot of damage and this does crits easily lol Steel watchers in honor mode are his punching bags
Just a gamechanging tip in general for every run: levelling resets ALL vendor inventories. Do not waste time or worse resources, resting for any period of time. Hire a hireling. Pickpocket gold back. Level the hireling one time. Buy/pickpocket what you want. Level it again. Repeat. Do this until they are max level. Then respec them. All the way back to level one. Rinse and repeat the levelling. This is the way to get infinite gold and any resource you want from the very beginning of the game. Bonus points for hiring brenna and making her your dedicated throwaway pickpocket. Slap all your theiving and movement speed gear on her along with say temporarily letting her use haste helm for the heists. By level 6 or so shes at 11-13 in both stealth and slieght of hand WITH advantage assuming thieving gloves, shapeshift ring, smugglers ring. You can steal literally everything the vedor has, level your other hireling, and repeat. Its broken as fuck. Do not long rest to vendor reset. Its absurd. Do thisbwith ethel before venturing south and losing her from the grove. 3 easy hill giants every level up for free.
Other early game gauntlets are the sparkle hands(2 lightning charges per hit)! Located in the wetlands in act 1. The “kill kagha” quest takes you there.
If you don't want to juice on elexirs there is a pair of gloves that pump your dex to 18 in the creche. It does take your glove slot so you can't get the extra unarmoured 2 AC but it lets you dump dex for strenght. Eventually there is other gloves that might change the balance but for early game it might cut it!
An Alternative gear set up is you can buy the Gloves of Dex from the trader in the githyanki creche. This allows you to dump dex as a stat and put points into strength instead so you don't have to rely on potions. Trade off is lower AC (I am at 18 right now with the Ring of Protection) and the Graceful Cloth wont work; but you still have 18 str and 18 Dex. So you are still folding enemies like an oragami expert.
A few people commented that Ethel sells 3 elixirs per inventory rest. Also worth noting inventory will reset on a character leveling up. I did so next to her in case that mattered. Every level up bring the party to Ethel, buy elixirs, level up, and repeat for all companions
If you dont go south at the blighted village, Aunt Ethyl has 3 each long rest. How i farm them is gather as much wares as possible, LOOT EVERYTHING, no matter the worth. Barter them for nothing, to increase approval with Ethyl, then use a high Chrisma character to buy them
She still sells them in her home if you apologize upon meeting her there. You can buy the potions at your convenience and kick her quest off whenever. Not as convenient as the grove, but there is a fast travel point there.
When you walk through to the monastery there definitely are act1 quests that get messed up. I won't say more as it's a spoiler to reveal them but there is 1 in particular that you want to do so i would recommend you finish everything you want to finish in act 1
When you're levelling during your playthrough I would go monk until lvl 5 and take lvls 6/7 in fighter to get an extra action, then respec at level 9 to get monk 6 and rogue 3. This way you don't get the extra damage types but you *do* get action surge for another strike. The only decent thing you'll miss out on at lvl 6 monk is the extra movement speed, but you can mitigate that with crusher's ring and the boots you get from Thulla in the Underdark Myconid Colony that give the click heels bonus action if you need it. Plus, you get a bit extra hp I think.
He didn’t mention this but Auntie Ethel sells three hill giant potions at a time which you can buy for 90 gold with a high persuasion character like wyll. Every time you level up the inventory resets so if you get several characters to level 3 and don’t level them up you can buy like 15 at a time lol. I did this for my monk build and ended up with 47 potions😭
when you find the person the laughing monk is looking for, do not accept the curse. Choose to fight him and you get a beefed up version of the original amulet. I'm currently using the regen ring + the blur ring and my openhand monk is absurdly powerful, hard to hit, and functionally immortal. Prior to that, I really rate the Reverberation setup for a monk.
Tavern Brawler Monk got me through Act 3. Lae'zel absolutely PUMMLED a good number of the later bosses, including absolutely annihilating the final boss when she wasn't getting downed. One of the most broken aspects is Stunning Strike. At level 11, Monk's get two opportunities to do it per around, more if they're hasted/have an Elixir of Bloodlust. Which would essentially mean the chances of an enemy, even a high level one, passing every check, is low. And Stunned is an EXTREMELY powerful condition. I used it to essentially trivialize the Cazador fight, as he only got one turn in before Lae'zel slapped him silly and kept him stunlocked for the rest of the fight while my party beat him down.
A tip for restocking merchants, they restock every time you lvl so if you respec with withers and only lvl one at a time you get a bunch of restocks for the price of 100gold that way you dont progress time
Auntie Ethel has 3 of these Hill-Giant Strength Potions in her inventory - as long as she resides in the Druid Grove. Also, she sells an interesting staff. Makes a Monk more tankie. My approach is to give Lae'zel 5 level of Ranger (Gloom-Stalker), and THEN 7 level of Monk (Open Hand). The additional Bonus action of Rogue (Thief) is VERY nice - but I guess, overall the Stalker (Ranged) may be even better. One finds some gloves for 18 DEX - and Withers into a Strength-Build at that point. Initially 10STR, 17DEX, 15KON, 08INT, 14WIS and 10CHA - respec around lvl 5 into 18STR, 08DEX, 16KON (TB), 08INT, 14WIS and 10CHA. (I will NOT eat an Aunties Hair in my Play-Through(s)!) I eat delicious... Aunt.... ehm, Apples. Whole. With this Build, wearing Armour is possible. See what you like best. I don't LIKE building Chars around items - but these gloves... well, I make an exception for these suckers. The club of Hill-Giant Strength is also an option, and if you want to stay with using potions, don't respec 18STR, put it into WIS and CHA, maybe even into INT, if you prefer the helmet to the Ogre-Smarts. (An enlightened Ogre is found right next to the Helmet.) This build also works the other way around: First Monk, then Stalker - but the Stalker gives stuff I really like... Disguise Self, Talk to Animals, Initiative and more. Your way of "stealing" the idol is fun - but the deed can be done much easier... with less slaughter. But do as you please :). Very nice video. Thank you for making it.
Amazing video! Surely I'll be following this guide in my next run: dark urge Gith'zerai monk. For who doesn't know, the Gith'zerai are monk counterparts of the Gith'yanki people, very interesting lore.
This build is nuts. Very nice, to make even slightly stronger, do this same build, but with the vampire Ascended Asterion. So you get the extra on hit necrotic damage per hit. It equates to like another 40-50 damage per few actions. If you get another party member to use Haste on Astarion at the fight start. And pop the big Hill giant strength pot (there is actually one pot which gives 27 strength, it's not as readily available as the 21 str one, but it's insane op). You can do over 1000 damage in one turn. It's absolutely gross. Not to mention the monk is doing mostly elemental damage so it just hits through everything without any damage mitigation from armored targets etc
I’ll be honest, I’m disappointed that the tavern brawler only uses your strength modifier and not just your unarmed modifier. But I accept that this is the balance for this extreme damage build. Only really kicks in at special circumstances. On the table top, I’d happily allow the monk to proc it from dex instead of strength. Basically basing its damage increase doubling a characters unarmed/improvised damage modifier.
You can speed up the Hill Giant potion buying if you buy them from the hag in the grove before encountering her in the wild. She sells 3 at a time as opposed to 1 at a time the dwarf in the underdark sells them.
@jamesdeer3129 rogue skills at 1-2 are not that impressive, you basically do all 3 levels to get fast hand at rouge lv3. If you don’t care for it, just stay with monk and respec after lv9. Not more efficient, but personal preference
Way to cheese the idol, get a barrel and “place” it on the idol, for some reason the game causes them to merge and then u can move the crate to the elevator with the idol stuck on it. Ride it up and easy steal without needing to kill anyone.
Also for the idol you can have it for its buff forever if you want you steal the idol back after you finish the quest from the girl. And as long as you put the idol in your camp storage before you long rest you can keep using it.
Throwing weapons count as unarmed for the tavern brawler fyi. Contents of chests don't ever get damaged when you break them, that is a baldurs gate 2 mechanic that came as a myth into bg3 (/this has been tested with 100 trapped chests)
Heads up about stealing the idol of Slvanus, you can do a questline south of auntie Ethel’s house to find out Kaga is in leave with shadow druids if you confront her you will have a little fight then you can steal the idol without the grove blowing up.
Helldusk Armor counts as wearing no armor rather than just simply giving you proficiency, meaning with only that as a chest piece you could have high AC and use the remaining equipment slots for more damage or utility
If you wanna be sweaty then get medium armor and shields proficiency with a fighter multiclass. Wearing the Luminous Armor once you are level 6 with radiant damage on every strike makes you apply huge minuses to hit on enemies you attack. Also being able to wear an Adamantine Shield is insanely good for not getting crit. I’m playing a solo run with just a monk and anti crit is super important cause that’s one of the few ways to unluckily have the run ended
And if you’re wearing armor then the gloves are useless so wear the Sparkle Hands for raw damage obtained from the swamp or wear the Gloves of Uninhibited Kushigo for damage and gives minuses to CON saves so you can easily stun enemies
Getting hill giant potions can be done much earlier at Auntie ethel in druid camp where she holds 3. recruit a gith hireling and respec them. each level you will be able to buy (or steal) 3 pots of hillgiant strength. note if you go into the swamp you can no longer use this.
If you don’t immediately turn her down/fight her at the swamp, she’ll still have them available. She was the last boss I fought in act 1 and, without cheesing the day cycle, went into act 2 with about 30 elixirs. Still had about 10 by act 3 but then I started using cloud giant elixirs.
You're such a genius dude, I'm 60 hrs in and still haven't finished act 1 😅 I swear I'm just exploring everything looking in every chest and pickpocketing every trader
Cool guide, you obviously put a lot of work into this. I'm a bit sad that so many builds on RUclips are based on dumping STR and using elixirs - I can't help but feel that's too cheesy for me. From even just a very mild RP point of view, this relies on your character knowing that you will find essentially an endless supply of these elixirs in the world, which is not realistic. Getting them through the trade reset "exploit" doesn't make that better. The game was obviously not designed with these kinds of builds/exploits in mind, so to me it amounts to the same as using a lower difficulty setting. No judgment though, everyone should play this wonderful game the way they enjoy it the most of course :)
U can farm the giant hill potion from auntie Ethel at the Druid grove, 3 each long rest. She will stay the until u defeat the goblin leader or u don't go to her house.
i use 2 levels spore druid instead of rogue to get symbiotic entity. gives you 1D6 additional damage each punch. keep shield of faith on him for AC so he doesnt lose his temp hp. cats grace robe for dex boost plus the club of hill giant strength from arcane tower plus colossus elixir is a pretty good mix
fyi if you hoard early on you can just buy the elixir from ethel in the grove. so don't trigger ethel to leave and you can do the rest and buy method from ethel she has 3. just need to hoard everything early for the cash.
Not sure if you know this but auntie ethil in the Druid grove if you trade with her she sells a monk weapon called Corellions grace wich is absolutely amazing
An easier way to steal the idol in camp talk to Withers and recruit any hireling then solo travel the hireling to steal the idol and when combat starts go to inventory and send the idol to you then let the hireling die. Total cost 100 gold (maybe 300 if you want Withers to resurrect the hireling)
stealing the idol needs either Halsin's return OR Kagha investigated. If you figure out something it wrong with Kagha like.... rummaging through her belongings and finding letters signed by what appears to be one of the rats running around next to her... requires a trip to the swamp and a possibly rough fight with Mephits. Afterwards you get some irrefutable proof to throw in her face and another fight. But after proving Kagha unfit, the ritual is ended and you are able to more easily snatch the idol WITHOUT causing a race war to break out. Edit: alternatively you can do a cloud of fog and chuck the idol into a contained and send it to camp before.... and move yourself to camp before someone runs up on you... but if they're trying to do the ritual it will cause the war as well.
A better way to get unlimited hill giant potions is to used the gold glitch with vendors, and then hire a whole team of new hirelings. And each level them up one level at a time because each level resets the shop. So you could theoretically get whatever level you are times 3 hill giant potions per person
For the graceful cloth you can just kill her and loot it if she doesn’t have anything else you want. Or buy the gloves then take her out if you want them
There is many ways to reset the vendors items to get the potions… if you respec any characther, EACH level up for any char resets it… so 4 char in lvl for respec are at least 16 potions on only that vendor… well, all of them reset at every single lvl up… is like 20-30 min set up, but least till act 3 when we the better one…
Awesome work as always paly. Now that my wife and I have beaten the game I plan on watching your playthroughs. This is the type of game I wanted no spoilers in the first playthrough.
Still on the fence of which way to go. Respec for Dex main at 18 and Wisdom 18 at level 8. Bracers of defense, robe giving +2 Dex up to 20 with Cat’s Grace and protection cloak +1 AC for 22 AC. Wisdom modifier impacts the magical damage from Open Hand unarmed attack; Necrotic, Psychic or Radiant
It annoys me so much that Larian refuses to properly write tooltips. Unarmored Defense simply needs to say you get the benefit unless wearing armor OR SHIELDS. How hard is that? Also, tell us exactly what the "small chance" of something happening is.
@@azervakmonocasco4092 In 5e D&D, armor and shields are two different things. Armor has an encumbrance category (light / medium / heavy) and shields are a separate thing that does not have a category. Feats affect each differently. Historically in 3e, the "bonus type" of the AC bonus can be either Armor or Shield (there are more, of course). Two different things. If you wield two shields, you cannot get two Shield bonuses. They do not stack. But armor stacks with a shield, because they are different. Going back through earlier editions of D&D to 2e, 1e, B/X, and Original D&D, a shield is different from armor. Armor is a suit you wear, giving a base AC value, and then a Shield is a wielded piece of equipment which gives a bonus. You can't wear two suits of armor. Armor affects base MV rate, while shields do not. So, since 1974, shields have been well-established as different from armor. Going back through Chainmail and earlier wargames, a figure's type would be determined by their equipment, which would largely be based on armor. Heavy Foot troops wielding two-handed swords would be slightly different mechanically from Heavy Foot wielding sword and shield - but crucially, they are both Heavy Foot. Even BG3 differentiates between "armor" and "shield" in its feats and proficiencies. I am saying that this tooltip needs to read "armor or shields" because that's how the game actually works, and because those are two different things. "Shields" are not "Armor". So when I say it's clear and incontrovertible that "Armor" and "Shield" are two different things, it is because THE GAME ITSELF, and the tabletop game it grew from, and a lineage of games before that, for over half a century in my examples alone, prove me so right and you so wrong that you should skulk and tremble in shame for trying to argue with me. You lose. Good day, sir.
So I've yet to beat the game with my main character because I'm savoring it but I'm building Laezel like this. My DURGE is a throwing weapon barbarian which is nuts. Shart as a life cleric and soon to be Minthara as a vengeance >:)
You can cast fog over the idol area so nobody can see you and steal it then go directly to camp. Once you cast travel back nobody suspects you. Easier but your way looks way more fun 😂
If anyone wants a good ranged option I think in the basement if you deliver the unopened shipment brem can sell you a bow that I believe multiples damage on strength I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure
Some optimisation for the early game/ set up: auntie Ethel sells (either at the druid's grove or even at her hut as long as you don't advance her quest arch) a monk specific early game staff and has 3 elixirs of giant strength per day in her wares, so 3 times faster than the trader in the underdark and more easily accessible
Was looking for this comment before making it myself. Also, that's a massive waste of barrels that can be used for tougher fights, just finish the Khaga quest in the swamp, then use invis/darkness to steal the idol and immediately go to camp. Also, you need to be nice to Mattis and his accomplice... don't be mean to any of the Tiefling kids.
as soon as you hit level 4 and can take TB corellon’s grace staff is mostly useless since your attack bonus and damage will be significantly better just unarmed. the saving throw bonus is kinda nice so i suppose you could keep it equipped and then remove it when you want to make a main hand attack since it costs no action to unequip a weapon.
@@InvaderTroy The staff is simply to get you to level 4. You can throw it away after that. But low levels in BG3 kinda suck, so any little advantage you can get is good.
(I think) most traders refresh their stock each time you level up as well, so you could just pay 100 gold to change class and get as many refreshes as times you level back up
Ethel in the Grove has never had any staff for me
Not even joking, I literally just decided today to research this build to play a second run through with friends. Then bam, pally is like i got you fam!
Me too! I'm having a lot of fun with Monk in my second playthrough!
I went looking today and was wondering where part 2 was... Then I realized this vid came out yesterday lol. What a coincidence
Being a monk while playing with friends is the funniest part. Especially with first timers. You see people getting excited from getting new weapons and then see their jaws on the floor when you just slap a guy to death in 1 turn.
I can't help but milticlass and found this to go wonderfully with a druid.
Gain magic, make...zombies(?), and not responsible for talking so free to relax on stats.
if you cross that bridge into the act 1.5 Gith monastery area BEFORE you resolve the goblin camp/Halsin quest when you come back to act 1 you'll find all the teiflings will be slain on the road by the goblins
Good tip
can't get the owl bear cub either if you care about that (well it happened in my last play through anyway)
i got the cub on my run, i think depends on long rests or somethin@@davidbocock7679
happened to me sadly
And Halsin might die in prison 😅
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but Auntie Ethel in the Druid Grove sells Hill Giant Elixir X3 every day and has a perfect weapon for Monk early game.
Yep this is a bad guide. You can even kill Karlach and get the +1 AC Fire Robe from Mizora which you will use until you get the the Monk Robe in Act III.
@@axo4383 It's not a bad guide, he clearly said it's a description of his RP path
With the new Raphael Helldusk Armor Glitch which you can get at Act I, breaks Monks even harder because Monks can wear that Legendary 21 AC Armor piece. You can just make a regular Fighter with Str and Tavernbrawler. @@patrykszczepanski773
@@axo4383 Keshigo Robe or whatever its called is not bad either if you're doing a solo run. Being able to counter attack through Patient Defense ain't a bad deal for just a bonus action. Especially with Thief3 for Fast Fingers.
@@ckirk7317 Wanna know what is more better for solo? The Helldusk Armor that Raphael drops in Act I. You don't even need Dexterity or Wisdom at that point because it's a heavy armor with 21 AC. Then you can make an Human or Half-Elf to get Shields for whopping 23 AC.
I missed a couple of these items on my playthrough as a Monk, and while it can affect the run in the moment, the Monk is SO strong, it makes little difference. SUCH a strong, fun build.
You left out a very nice item from the Druid's Grove, Corellon's Grace. That gives you a +1 to attack and damage rolls on unarmed attacks as well as +2 to saving throws as long as you aren't wearing armor. You buy it from Aunt Ethel in the Grove. She also stocks 3 Hill Giant Strength Elixirs per day. as long as you don't go south of the Blighted Village, she'll be there to stock up. What a nice old lady ;-) It might even be better to go to the Grove before you go to the crypt for just that reason. I think it's better than the staff you get from Roah. Then in the goblin camp you want to talk to Crusher and then ambush him when he goes to relieve himself. The ring you loot gives plus 3m to your movement rate. However, while dealing with Araj, not only does she sell the Risky Ring, she also sells the Ring of Free Action. The latter is basically a better version of The Disintigrating Night Walker boots minus Misty Step. Not having to ever worry about difficult terrain, paralysis, or ensnaring is a huge advantage for the party member likely to be the main frontline fighter.
It’s actually hilarious how OP this build is. I tried this twice, and out of my 14 other play throughs with numerous different classes chosen, my Tavern Brawler Monks have always been by far the most OP
I really like this guide because its for people actually playing through the game, not an Act 3 meta build.
14:46 Poor Gale. Feed that man a shoe already.
I'm doing a variant of this build that is a little more 'all in' on the damage, forgoing the bracers of defense for the charged gloves you can get from the swamp in Act1. Between my monk and my buddy's barbarian, both rocking the Hill Giant potions, we are trivializing Act I, even on Tactician.
Random side note, if you keep shadowheart out of the hag fight hidden by the tree at the top of the hill, you can have her hit the hag with guiding bolt after the hag throws the hair down to get the hair and save her victims if the bolt kills her.
14:00 Traders' stocks also reset level up. Considering your party is level 4 at that point, you can respec at Withers each of them, giving 12 restocks. Either steal after each separate level up per character, or donate 400 gold as a level 1 character for maxed out attitude and then buy the elixirs even cheaper.
Also, something to keep in mind, at some point (I think I heard starting at level 5) she can also sell fingers of CLOUD giants to brew the elixir that sets Str to 27 instead of 21.
You can also dismiss your party members and get 3 hirelings and their level ups also refresh the inventory.
13:30 theres an easier way to refresh trader inventories, pay withers to re-spec a character, then go to the trader and buy what you want then level up the re-spec'd character to lvl 2, then trade again, lvl 3, trade again, leveling up refreshes the inventory the same way a long rest does :D then just take your 100g back from withers, he doesnt get mad if you fail pickpockets so you can just try over and over till you get it
You can also just do a long rest at camp with no supplies selected and restock vendor inventories for free, no need to use camp supplies that way. Much less tedious than respeccing.
Holy shit man i remember you from like 11 years back doing your first playthrough of dark souls its crazy to see how far you have come well done and great build :D
While in the Grove, Ethel also has Hill Giant elixirs. If I remember right, she has about 3 per long rest available. I just made sure to stop and grab them as I went.
If you don't plan to use Gale, consider making him Transmutation. You can craft double potions if you pass a check.
I also went for more of a Captain America build, going fighter for Heavy Armor and Shield proficiency. I don't think my build is fully min/max'd, but my armor/cape do damage if people hit me 1d4 fire/acid respectively. Not that I plan to get hit much, but I really like the fook of this armor so I kept it, just got to beginning of Act 3 too.
*This allowed me to give a lot of the gear Pally references to Karlach who I have in my party, which is why I went with some difference choices.
She also has a GREAT staff for Monks for sale.
To big things, especially combined, you could use Pally:
The Tavern Brawler feat adds twice your strength to both damage AND chance to hit. Essentially, you no longer need advantage after you pick it up (so The Risky Ring is 95% of the time not actually helping you). It also makes throwing god tier since it's the same double strength to hit and damage. The item that pairs well with this is the Returning Pike, which you can buy in the courtyard of the goblins camp. It makes you into the best ranged AND mele fighter out there and you don't even need to have it equipped to use it to its full potential 😉
Otherwise, absolutely loved the vid. This was one of my all time viscerally favorite builds and I'm hyped to see others enjoying it too!
Just gets annoying because it equips the pike every time it returns. On my thrower build for Karlach I really wanted to use a different melee weapon for close enemies and throw the pike but since it costs an action to equip a different weapon when the pike returns kinda made that Strat impossible. For this build it would just be a mild inconvenience though
Advantage gives additional chance to crit, not just to hit.
@@triplethreatgaming8583 Not an issue on a monk though, just remember to unequip. Also, returning weapons don't always return, so remember to pick them up after the fight if it doesn't.
@@garyco766 yea that’s why I said on my thrower build. And they always return. Sometimes they are just slower. Just wait a few seconds before ending your turn
There is a certain legendary trident that removes fall damage, has the same returning power as the pike, DOUBLES your jump range, and has an aoe lightning effect. Throwing point blank has never been so op and fun.
A few corrections/tips to improve this already good guide:
1) take monk to 8, then at 9 respec to 3 thief (take these levels first), 6 monk
2) in the creche pick up the diadem of arcane synergy. Your casting stat as a monk (this is why we took monk second above) is Wisdom, so this will let you add your wisdom to damage any time you inflict a condition (your flurry of blows always inflicts a condition, so you should have this up all the time). By the end of act 1 you should have +4 from wis, and by end game +6 with mirror of loss. Entering act 3 you get another set of boots (boots of uninhibited kushigo) to add wisdom AGAIN, so + 12 damage at end game
3) as someone else posted, Auntie Ethel in the grove sells 3 potions of giant strength per rest and a monk specific staff, so you can equip up much earlier. She'll disappear when you go to swamp side of map, so farm it right away
Inventory resets also happen at each level up, so If you level up each team member individually (just exit after the first one) and then have the leveled up member speak to Auntie Ethel you will get additional inventory resets, as to build your potion counts faster, or to say get 2 hand crossbows from Dammon quicker.
@jamesdeer3129 Respec means to change the specifications of your character. In act 1, if you find Withers he'll join your camp and allow you to "change your class" for 100 gold. This allows you to completely rebuild your character from scratch except for you race, background, and any permanent buffs you've acquired. My way is more efficient because the first 2 levels of rogue do almost nothing for you, whereas 7 monk gets you evasion and 8 gets you a feat. When you reach 9 you can be 3 rogue/thief, getting you the extra bonus action for flurry of blows, and 6 monk, getting you all the essential monk abilities. The last 3 levels are preference: 9 monk gets you a feat and the explosive flsts thing (I found it of limited use), 8 monk/4 rogue gets you 2 feats, 6 monk/4 rogue/2 fighter gets you a feat, a fighting style, and action surge, but you lose evasion. How many monk levels you have also determine your ki points, which is a factor, but any of those splits will be great.
@@johnmccorkle1694 Yes, I'll respec characters just to farm the best vendors when there is something I need.
Hey. For Tactician, what do you think of 6 Monk, 3 Thief and 3 Champion for the extra Crit? I really don't know what's the safest bet between this and a 1 Paladin and 11 Fighter for Tactician (a 100% physical resist build using Heavy Armor Master and Skinburster) , seeing as I'm afraid it's gonna be too hard and frustrating for me @@garyco766
Did you actually test if getting Diadem will let you do more damage than a different helmet build? Like an actual damage comparison? You are the only person that has mentioned this in any monk build. Also what are you giving up by not taking Monk levels first? DId you test this in Honor mode as that mode stops things from stacking like that?
I did not know you could pass time without using camp supplies! I know i came for the monk build but THAT info was the real mvp. lol
If you have a companion (or even just a hireling) that can cast mage armor, it lasts until long rest and will give you an even higher AC
You can bolser it even more by adding sheild of faith and warding bond
Best option is abuse the hags shop in Druid grove before you kill her, she sells 3 for about 250 gold and you can easily stack up 20-40 before you encounter the hag later. It’s more efficient than 2 at a time.
100% this. I don't go south of the Blighted Village until I have 10+ Hill Giant Elixirs.
You can get them for 180, or 60 each, if you use Wyll with his higher charisma to make the purchases.
Hell yeah. This got me back into BG3. Like others said, the hag has the strength pots and a staff early doors at the grove. I already feel like I'm playing the strongest melee character I've ever played and I'm only lvl 3.
Dont forget the gloves you can get really early in the south in the swamps jumping from island to island last island has some tree monsters and flying bombers. But after that theres a chest with gloves that give you spark charges each unarmed attack you make.
while stealing the idol with the exploding barrels was funny, it's a lot easier just to have someone cast darkness and steal in the cover of darkness.
I kind of run the same, but my gear is this. 3 rogue thief subclass, 3fighter champion subclass, 6 monk open hand subclass. any race will do.
Prioritize dex and wisdom. farm for hillgiant strength and also get the tavern brawler feat. level up monk first until level 6 then subclass to the desired class you want to prioritize.
Covert Cowl - While obscured, the number you need to roll a Critical Hit while attacking is reduced by 1. This effect can stack.
Cloak of Cunning Brume - When the wearer Disengages, they also create a foggy cloud with 2 m / 7 ft radius that lasts for 1 turn.
Craterflesh gloves - 1d6 force damage on critical hit
Boots of unhibited kushigo - wearer deals additional damage equal to their Wisdom Modifier with unarmed strikes.
Surgeon's subjugation amulet - chance to paralyze on critical
1 ring of your choice + Eversight ring helps to make you immune to being blinded. They are only for utility. Find these equipment and how to get them using the bg3 wiki. This monk can deal a lot of damage and this does crits easily lol
Steel watchers in honor mode are his punching bags
Just a gamechanging tip in general for every run: levelling resets ALL vendor inventories.
Do not waste time or worse resources, resting for any period of time.
Hire a hireling. Pickpocket gold back. Level the hireling one time. Buy/pickpocket what you want. Level it again. Repeat. Do this until they are max level. Then respec them. All the way back to level one. Rinse and repeat the levelling.
This is the way to get infinite gold and any resource you want from the very beginning of the game.
Bonus points for hiring brenna and making her your dedicated throwaway pickpocket. Slap all your theiving and movement speed gear on her along with say temporarily letting her use haste helm for the heists. By level 6 or so shes at 11-13 in both stealth and slieght of hand WITH advantage assuming thieving gloves, shapeshift ring, smugglers ring.
You can steal literally everything the vedor has, level your other hireling, and repeat.
Its broken as fuck.
Do not long rest to vendor reset. Its absurd.
Do thisbwith ethel before venturing south and losing her from the grove. 3 easy hill giants every level up for free.
Other early game gauntlets are the sparkle hands(2 lightning charges per hit)! Located in the wetlands in act 1. The “kill kagha” quest takes you there.
If you don't want to juice on elexirs there is a pair of gloves that pump your dex to 18 in the creche. It does take your glove slot so you can't get the extra unarmoured 2 AC but it lets you dump dex for strenght. Eventually there is other gloves that might change the balance but for early game it might cut it!
An Alternative gear set up is you can buy the Gloves of Dex from the trader in the githyanki creche. This allows you to dump dex as a stat and put points into strength instead so you don't have to rely on potions. Trade off is lower AC (I am at 18 right now with the Ring of Protection) and the Graceful Cloth wont work; but you still have 18 str and 18 Dex. So you are still folding enemies like an oragami expert.
A few people commented that Ethel sells 3 elixirs per inventory rest. Also worth noting inventory will reset on a character leveling up. I did so next to her in case that mattered. Every level up bring the party to Ethel, buy elixirs, level up, and repeat for all companions
Also, dang. Playing honor mode and missed out on ring of protection by stopping the rite of thorns before accepting the quest from Mol
with 95% hit chance monk I fcking critical miss A LOOOOOOOT
If you dont go south at the blighted village, Aunt Ethyl has 3 each long rest.
How i farm them is gather as much wares as possible, LOOT EVERYTHING, no matter the worth. Barter them for nothing, to increase approval with Ethyl, then use a high Chrisma character to buy them
She still sells them in her home if you apologize upon meeting her there. You can buy the potions at your convenience and kick her quest off whenever. Not as convenient as the grove, but there is a fast travel point there.
When you walk through to the monastery there definitely are act1 quests that get messed up. I won't say more as it's a spoiler to reveal them but there is 1 in particular that you want to do so i would recommend you finish everything you want to finish in act 1
Yeah, listen to the warning that pops up guys!
When you're levelling during your playthrough I would go monk until lvl 5 and take lvls 6/7 in fighter to get an extra action, then respec at level 9 to get monk 6 and rogue 3. This way you don't get the extra damage types but you *do* get action surge for another strike. The only decent thing you'll miss out on at lvl 6 monk is the extra movement speed, but you can mitigate that with crusher's ring and the boots you get from Thulla in the Underdark Myconid Colony that give the click heels bonus action if you need it. Plus, you get a bit extra hp I think.
He didn’t mention this but Auntie Ethel sells three hill giant potions at a time which you can buy for 90 gold with a high persuasion character like wyll. Every time you level up the inventory resets so if you get several characters to level 3 and don’t level them up you can buy like 15 at a time lol. I did this for my monk build and ended up with 47 potions😭
Just get three hirelings and level them up, and have astarion steal the money to respec them each time
when you find the person the laughing monk is looking for, do not accept the curse. Choose to fight him and you get a beefed up version of the original amulet.
I'm currently using the regen ring + the blur ring and my openhand monk is absurdly powerful, hard to hit, and functionally immortal.
Prior to that, I really rate the Reverberation setup for a monk.
Tavern Brawler Monk got me through Act 3. Lae'zel absolutely PUMMLED a good number of the later bosses, including absolutely annihilating the final boss when she wasn't getting downed.
One of the most broken aspects is Stunning Strike. At level 11, Monk's get two opportunities to do it per around, more if they're hasted/have an Elixir of Bloodlust. Which would essentially mean the chances of an enemy, even a high level one, passing every check, is low.
And Stunned is an EXTREMELY powerful condition. I used it to essentially trivialize the Cazador fight, as he only got one turn in before Lae'zel slapped him silly and kept him stunlocked for the rest of the fight while my party beat him down.
A tip for restocking merchants, they restock every time you lvl so if you respec with withers and only lvl one at a time you get a bunch of restocks for the price of 100gold that way you dont progress time
and stealing from withers will never aggro him, so basically free
I just found out you do BG3 Tutorials, I'm so happy, used to watch your channel daily when HotS was still a thing, glad I can rejoin you :)
Auntie Ethel has 3 of these Hill-Giant Strength Potions in her inventory - as long as she resides in the Druid Grove.
Also, she sells an interesting staff. Makes a Monk more tankie.
My approach is to give Lae'zel 5 level of Ranger (Gloom-Stalker), and THEN 7 level of Monk (Open Hand).
The additional Bonus action of Rogue (Thief) is VERY nice - but I guess, overall the Stalker (Ranged) may be even better.
One finds some gloves for 18 DEX - and Withers into a Strength-Build at that point.
Initially 10STR, 17DEX, 15KON, 08INT, 14WIS and 10CHA - respec around lvl 5 into 18STR, 08DEX, 16KON (TB), 08INT, 14WIS and 10CHA.
(I will NOT eat an Aunties Hair in my Play-Through(s)!) I eat delicious... Aunt.... ehm, Apples. Whole.
With this Build, wearing Armour is possible. See what you like best.
I don't LIKE building Chars around items - but these gloves... well, I make an exception for these suckers.
The club of Hill-Giant Strength is also an option, and if you want to stay with using potions, don't respec 18STR, put it into WIS and CHA,
maybe even into INT, if you prefer the helmet to the Ogre-Smarts. (An enlightened Ogre is found right next to the Helmet.)
This build also works the other way around: First Monk, then Stalker - but the Stalker gives stuff I really like... Disguise Self, Talk to Animals, Initiative and more.
Your way of "stealing" the idol is fun - but the deed can be done much easier... with less slaughter. But do as you please :).
Very nice video. Thank you for making it.
Amazing video! Surely I'll be following this guide in my next run: dark urge Gith'zerai monk. For who doesn't know, the Gith'zerai are monk counterparts of the Gith'yanki people, very interesting lore.
Mod? Or Githyanki and suspension of disbelief?
@@anythingcloseeither way works.
This build is nuts. Very nice, to make even slightly stronger, do this same build, but with the vampire Ascended Asterion. So you get the extra on hit necrotic damage per hit. It equates to like another 40-50 damage per few actions. If you get another party member to use Haste on Astarion at the fight start. And pop the big Hill giant strength pot (there is actually one pot which gives 27 strength, it's not as readily available as the 21 str one, but it's insane op). You can do over 1000 damage in one turn. It's absolutely gross. Not to mention the monk is doing mostly elemental damage so it just hits through everything without any damage mitigation from armored targets etc
I’ll be honest, I’m disappointed that the tavern brawler only uses your strength modifier and not just your unarmed modifier.
But I accept that this is the balance for this extreme damage build.
Only really kicks in at special circumstances.
On the table top, I’d happily allow the monk to proc it from dex instead of strength. Basically basing its damage increase doubling a characters unarmed/improvised damage modifier.
Using a hireling to cast warding bond, gives you an additional +1 to AC and saving throws, and gives resistance to ALL damage.
Thank you very much for this video, i watched 8 guides,and it is the best video guide for monk on youtube
You can speed up the Hill Giant potion buying if you buy them from the hag in the grove before encountering her in the wild. She sells 3 at a time as opposed to 1 at a time the dwarf in the underdark sells them.
Just a quick note, you can level to monk 9 and then respec to monk 6 + rogue 3
@jamesdeer3129 rogue skills at 1-2 are not that impressive, you basically do all 3 levels to get fast hand at rouge lv3. If you don’t care for it, just stay with monk and respec after lv9. Not more efficient, but personal preference
for the idol quest, i had used a mage hand to throw the idol where the druids would see me taking it
Way to cheese the idol, get a barrel and “place” it on the idol, for some reason the game causes them to merge and then u can move the crate to the elevator with the idol stuck on it. Ride it up and easy steal without needing to kill anyone.
The hill giant potions is what breaks tavern brawler as you can stat dump Str. Also works for throwing barb builds.
Also for the idol you can have it for its buff forever if you want you steal the idol back after you finish the quest from the girl. And as long as you put the idol in your camp storage before you long rest you can keep using it.
I'm half way through my second playthrough and I didn't even realize partial resting was a thing O.o the button is literally right there! wow
Throwing weapons count as unarmed for the tavern brawler fyi.
Contents of chests don't ever get damaged when you break them, that is a baldurs gate 2 mechanic that came as a myth into bg3 (/this has been tested with 100 trapped chests)
Heads up about stealing the idol of Slvanus, you can do a questline south of auntie Ethel’s house to find out Kaga is in leave with shadow druids if you confront her you will have a little fight then you can steal the idol without the grove blowing up.
Helldusk Armor counts as wearing no armor rather than just simply giving you proficiency, meaning with only that as a chest piece you could have high AC and use the remaining equipment slots for more damage or utility
Uh, it's heavy armor
If you wanna be sweaty then get medium armor and shields proficiency with a fighter multiclass. Wearing the Luminous Armor once you are level 6 with radiant damage on every strike makes you apply huge minuses to hit on enemies you attack. Also being able to wear an Adamantine Shield is insanely good for not getting crit. I’m playing a solo run with just a monk and anti crit is super important cause that’s one of the few ways to unluckily have the run ended
And if you’re wearing armor then the gloves are useless so wear the Sparkle Hands for raw damage obtained from the swamp or wear the Gloves of Uninhibited Kushigo for damage and gives minuses to CON saves so you can easily stun enemies
You don't need to buy the graceful cloth... when you kill her, you can just take it. Some items dissapear when taking from dead vendors, not this one.
Getting hill giant potions can be done much earlier at Auntie ethel in druid camp where she holds 3. recruit a gith hireling and respec them. each level you will be able to buy (or steal) 3 pots of hillgiant strength. note if you go into the swamp you can no longer use this.
If you don’t immediately turn her down/fight her at the swamp, she’ll still have them available. She was the last boss I fought in act 1 and, without cheesing the day cycle, went into act 2 with about 30 elixirs. Still had about 10 by act 3 but then I started using cloud giant elixirs.
Build is great but I’d say one thing to make it better is starting as the evil guy to get the cloak which makes you invisible after every kill
Best monk build on the Internet
You're such a genius dude, I'm 60 hrs in and still haven't finished act 1 😅 I swear I'm just exploring everything looking in every chest and pickpocketing every trader
Idk how you missed the uninhibited kushigo armor pieces. Specifically for this exact build.
Nice! I had been thinking about doing a monk play through!
Cool guide, you obviously put a lot of work into this. I'm a bit sad that so many builds on RUclips are based on dumping STR and using elixirs - I can't help but feel that's too cheesy for me. From even just a very mild RP point of view, this relies on your character knowing that you will find essentially an endless supply of these elixirs in the world, which is not realistic. Getting them through the trade reset "exploit" doesn't make that better. The game was obviously not designed with these kinds of builds/exploits in mind, so to me it amounts to the same as using a lower difficulty setting. No judgment though, everyone should play this wonderful game the way they enjoy it the most of course :)
U can farm the giant hill potion from auntie Ethel at the Druid grove, 3 each long rest. She will stay the until u defeat the goblin leader or u don't go to her house.
This build is literally how I build 5e characters for the trrpg (get as much AC as possible and then just go crazy), so this is a must build for me.
i use 2 levels spore druid instead of rogue to get symbiotic entity. gives you 1D6 additional damage each punch. keep shield of faith on him for AC so he doesnt lose his temp hp. cats grace robe for dex boost plus the club of hill giant strength from arcane tower plus colossus elixir is a pretty good mix
fyi if you hoard early on you can just buy the elixir from ethel in the grove. so don't trigger ethel to leave and you can do the rest and buy method from ethel she has 3. just need to hoard everything early for the cash.
Finally a guide that isnt complete garbage. Thanks, really useful
Please do a part two for Act 3 I just started a monk playthrough and want be hitting like a truck so a part two would help
Not sure if you know this but auntie ethil in the Druid grove if you trade with her she sells a monk weapon called Corellions grace wich is absolutely amazing
I believe you get sneak attack to proc on advantage, meaning if the enemy is toppled, you get the bonus sneak attack damage. Its not useless!
And you can use it as a reaction no? Meaning you should be able to use it with flurry of blows or whatever that attack is called
This build is insane... now you've got me wanting to try monk
An easier way to steal the idol in camp talk to Withers and recruit any hireling then solo travel the hireling to steal the idol and when combat starts go to inventory and send the idol to you then let the hireling die. Total cost 100 gold (maybe 300 if you want Withers to resurrect the hireling)
stealing the idol needs either Halsin's return OR Kagha investigated. If you figure out something it wrong with Kagha like.... rummaging through her belongings and finding letters signed by what appears to be one of the rats running around next to her... requires a trip to the swamp and a possibly rough fight with Mephits. Afterwards you get some irrefutable proof to throw in her face and another fight. But after proving Kagha unfit, the ritual is ended and you are able to more easily snatch the idol WITHOUT causing a race war to break out.
Edit:
alternatively you can do a cloud of fog and chuck the idol into a contained and send it to camp before.... and move yourself to camp before someone runs up on you... but if they're trying to do the ritual it will cause the war as well.
A better way to get unlimited hill giant potions is to used the gold glitch with vendors, and then hire a whole team of new hirelings. And each level them up one level at a time because each level resets the shop. So you could theoretically get whatever level you are times 3 hill giant potions per person
For the graceful cloth you can just kill her and loot it if she doesn’t have anything else you want. Or buy the gloves then take her out if you want them
Yeah theres a way to equip a weapon offhand and there a staff in the Grove that increases unarmed attacks which can be used as a stat stick
Thats actually nuts. I appreciate the effort it took to make the vid!
There is many ways to reset the vendors items to get the potions… if you respec any characther, EACH level up for any char resets it… so 4 char in lvl for respec are at least 16 potions on only that vendor… well, all of them reset at every single lvl up… is like 20-30 min set up, but least till act 3 when we the better one…
Would going 4 levels in rogue for the extra feat be helpful?
Just a godly monk walking around 😂
You can actually buy 3 giant potion at a time from the old lady vendor in druids Grove instead of 1 at a time 😊
Btw the best fan for get hill giant elixir is auntie Ethel in the refugee camp. She sells 3 at a time every long rest(partial rest possible)
I've been pickpocketing them off auntie Ethel in the swamp house. Pick them then go to camp right away and reset the day and she has 3 more to pick.
Awesome work as always paly. Now that my wife and I have beaten the game I plan on watching your playthroughs. This is the type of game I wanted no spoilers in the first playthrough.
5:04
or... just break a chair get it's leg, and done you are at strength 21 constantly, you just gotta hold the chair leg constantly.
Still on the fence of which way to go. Respec for Dex main at 18 and Wisdom 18 at level 8. Bracers of defense, robe giving +2 Dex up to 20 with Cat’s Grace and protection cloak +1 AC for 22 AC. Wisdom modifier impacts the magical damage from Open Hand unarmed attack; Necrotic, Psychic or Radiant
Sparkle hands is really good for this type of build and available super early in act 1
It annoys me so much that Larian refuses to properly write tooltips. Unarmored Defense simply needs to say you get the benefit unless wearing armor OR SHIELDS. How hard is that? Also, tell us exactly what the "small chance" of something happening is.
Shields are armor so idk what you're misunderstanding
@@azervakmonocasco4092 In 5e D&D, armor and shields are two different things. Armor has an encumbrance category (light / medium / heavy) and shields are a separate thing that does not have a category. Feats affect each differently.
Historically in 3e, the "bonus type" of the AC bonus can be either Armor or Shield (there are more, of course). Two different things. If you wield two shields, you cannot get two Shield bonuses. They do not stack. But armor stacks with a shield, because they are different.
Going back through earlier editions of D&D to 2e, 1e, B/X, and Original D&D, a shield is different from armor. Armor is a suit you wear, giving a base AC value, and then a Shield is a wielded piece of equipment which gives a bonus. You can't wear two suits of armor. Armor affects base MV rate, while shields do not.
So, since 1974, shields have been well-established as different from armor.
Going back through Chainmail and earlier wargames, a figure's type would be determined by their equipment, which would largely be based on armor. Heavy Foot troops wielding two-handed swords would be slightly different mechanically from Heavy Foot wielding sword and shield - but crucially, they are both Heavy Foot.
Even BG3 differentiates between "armor" and "shield" in its feats and proficiencies.
I am saying that this tooltip needs to read "armor or shields" because that's how the game actually works, and because those are two different things. "Shields" are not "Armor".
So when I say it's clear and incontrovertible that "Armor" and "Shield" are two different things, it is because THE GAME ITSELF, and the tabletop game it grew from, and a lineage of games before that, for over half a century in my examples alone, prove me so right and you so wrong that you should skulk and tremble in shame for trying to argue with me.
You lose. Good day, sir.
So I've yet to beat the game with my main character because I'm savoring it but I'm building Laezel like this. My DURGE is a throwing weapon barbarian which is nuts. Shart as a life cleric and soon to be Minthara as a vengeance >:)
So, 3 lvls of rog for 2 skill expertise and a bonus action is better than the last 3 monk lvls?
Imagine using a staff instead of unarmed strikes
Dont forget, first kevel of rouge gives you expertise which is hard to get otherwise!!
Also wanted to add that their is a club of hill giant strength in underdark tower. And also another monk helmet in last light in!
Your build videos are amazing. I hope you do one showing your party.
You can cast fog over the idol area so nobody can see you and steal it then go directly to camp. Once you cast travel back nobody suspects you. Easier but your way looks way more fun 😂
Aint no way this dude commited druid 911 just to steal an idol
Thank you for this awesome build! Where can i get the cool look of your character? Because your armor and everything looks really nice
If anyone wants a good ranged option I think in the basement if you deliver the unopened shipment brem can sell you a bow that I believe multiples damage on strength I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure
What background do you suggest?
Love your content, Pally!