I will always have a soft spot for "Sentinel," as (despite it being only somewhat effective throughout most of the game), on my first play-through, i had Karlack, Lae'zel, and my Paladin surrounding Orin. Orin made a move for Shadowheart, and despite having about 2/3 of her health, EVERYONE critted, and Orin was killed instantly. A hilarious ending to a fight!
Lol I like the dynamic of having Shadowheart, Karlach, Lae’zel and a male Tav. It’s like a harem isekai. Wish one was a spell caster like a Sorcerer/Wizard/Warlock but your Tav could be. Just kinda hard if he’s the person who initiates combat being in face-to-face range like that.
Any feat that gives you greater control over the action economy, such as sentinek giving you more trigger for reaction attacks, are huge. Additionally controling enemy mobility can be a complete battle changer.
One time I was chasing some Gith that were leaving the Crèche for some reason, entered a “trespassing area” got aggro’d and the group was still running past and the game automatically did their reactions and killed one of them as they left.
31:15 The point of Martial Adept, is to take it on Battle master Fighter. You wouldn't follow this "either, or" line of thinking about a Throwing weapons build, would you? You wouldn't say "Instead of taking Tavern Brawler, just go Berserker Barbarian/Eldritch Knight Fighter", would you? No, of course you wouldn't. Everyone understands that when you're making a throwing weapons build you do BOTH- you pick Berserker Barbarian at lvl 3 AND take tavern brawler at lvl 4. And if you want to make a spellcasting build that focuses on one specific elemental damage (fire sorcerer, lightning cleric, fireball-slinger Warlock etc.) you take BOTH the correct subclass AND elemental adept to make sure nobody can resist your damage type. It works the same way here- if you want to make a "Battlefield controlling martial" you go Battle Master Fighter, AND take Martial Adept. The superiority die you get from the feat is the same as the one from sub-class, meaning that if you take it you have 5/6 superiority dies instead of 4/5, it also gets upgraded to a d10 when you reach lvl 10, and you get to choose another 2 manoeuvrers, for a total of 7 instead of 5. And when you count that many people will automatically take Precision shot, and Riposte on their battle master, because of just how strong those 2 are, it realistically means you only get to 'choose' 1 battlefield-control move. When you take this feat you actually get to choose 3 cool moves- you can take trip, frightening, and pushing attacks for an almost unparalleled, among martials, battlefield control (open hand monk is still better because stunning strike, flurry of blows, and having more ki points than the battle master has superiority dies, but Battle master is a very close second) and still retain the DPR-increasing utility provided by precision strike and riposte. TL:Dr, it makes Battle master even better, even more versatile than it already is- you get to make 25-20% more special moves per short rest, and you have 40-300% (depending on the current level and how we count them) more maneuvers to choose from.
I love my battlemasters and love your argument for the beauty of more maneuvers. But I most often don‘t have enough feats left… It‘s amazing at the start, but later on 5 maneuvers are fine (even in dnd with tasha and stuff). I mostly lack dices, not maneuvers. And one more dice didn’t convince me most of the time. Is it better in bg3 compared to dnd? In dnd I take Lucky or an ASI over it most of the time. But while I am typing, I like the idea. Will start a coop playthough on sunday, I will try it out! :)
@@ZaphodTube It's the same in BG3 as in DnD. BUT, both Lucky and ASI got nerfed compared to tabletop. In BG3 all you get from Lucky is a re-roll, no "super advantage" if your base roll was done with disadvantage thing, no re-rolling if you already had advantage the first time you rolled, and in case of skill checks you have to decide, before you roll the dice, if you want to use the lucky token so in those cases it's literally just "I want an advantage on this roll". Except, BG3 has a lot of other ways of getting advantage that don't require spending one of your precious 3/4 feats, and some very long streaks of rolling the dies at one time (unlike in DnD where the rolls can be much more dispersed) like in Creche Y'llek with the Zaith'isk, or in act 2 when talking with the Thorm brothers- in either of those situations you can choose to use an entire day's worth of lucky tokens, in a single dialogue... or just cast friends on them and have someone else cast "enhance ability" dex/wis on you. (one brother needs dex, the other two need wis, all 3 need friends) and get the same effect. Also, there are items like risky ring and Shadeclinger Armour that give you a blanket advantage on an entire section of dice rolls (attack rolls and saving throws respectively) and there's always "Enhance ability" spell to get advantage on a whole section of skill checks that clerics and sorcerers have access to since lvl 3... and there's almost always a very broody cleric walking around you. If you use those, the Lucky feat becomes completely useless, but Martial Adept is still just as good as it was before. Unlike lucky, ASI still works like in tabletop, but unlike tabletop there are a bunch of ways of improving your attributes outside of ASI: On one character you can improve *any* one ability score to 20, with a single ASI, (base 17 +1 from auntie ethel's fair clump, and +2 from ASI) In case of strength you can get that 20 strength in a single feat thanks to the "potion of everlasting vigour" for a permanent +2 strength from Araj Oblodra- You don't even need to pick ASI in that case: with 17 base strength you can take tavern brawler or heavy armour expert, or some other half-feat to get it to 18, and then top it off with the potion. You can even combine auntie ethel's hair with the potion and get to permanent 20 strength with *no feats at all* or don't even bother, dump strength, boost your other attributes, and just chug elixirs of hill giant's strength for the whole game (or until you get high enough level for potions of cloud giant's strength to start spawning in) Not even mentioning the whole host of items that boost or set your attributes to a specific number. The only characters that really need ASI's in this game are clerics and druids, because there is no way to boost wisdom outside of ASIs and mirror of loss (and Shadowheart can't even use that one) Tl:Dr just take martial adept.
FYI, feats with "+1 Strength" text such as Heavily Armored and Heavy Armour Master, increase your ability score while in shapeshift form. so If you're thinking about doing a full-on shapeshift build, those 2 feats are not a bad condidate (obviously, tavern brawler is a must so they could be your 2nd and 3rd.)
It's not feat related, but one of the very few things that work in wild shape is potion you get in Moonrise Towers if Astarion drinks blood from weird drow woman (permanent Strength +2)
Finding Alert to be as advertised for Honor Mode. Gave all characters it at level 4. The advantage of going first almost every single time with nova builds effectively ends fights before the 2nd turn. And this is before you try for surprise attacks
Something interesting about Magic Initiate is that for some reason when you take Shillelagh with it the cantrip will scale off of the class that was leveled to take the feat. This makes it optimal for Bound Salami Warlock, the most important build in the game since it gives them more charisma scaling on their salami. If you use it with the endgame necrotic torch it's like, almost a build that does something.
You're right, S tier instantly. That's actually kind of cool though! I wonder if there's a real build in there somewhere - triple cha to a club from shillelagh, pact weapon, oathbreaker is a lot of damage!
@@Cephalopocalypse You can mess around with infernal torch. It's technically a little stronger damage wise than Infernal Rapier without shillelagh, but it's not a big difference (3d4+1 vs 1d8+2) and you're taking a pretty horrendous trait to do it. The cool thing is that it comes online at lv 5 to almost max power, since a torch is a completely valid weapon that somehow beats out even late game quarterstaffs in terms of damage without dipping them in fire.
Shillelagh and Blade Pact wouldn't stack I think since both replace the original calculation. I think this feat is better suited for builds not wanting the warlock levels, like Paladin 2 + Sword Bard X. Problem is Hill Giant Potions are better anyway.
If you want to have crits try spells that force them. Sleep, hold, etc. These are generally better, so an asi ability score improvement is more helpful than spell sniper. Which is sad but oh well
@@JessicaMorganitrue but eventually ASI's stop being a choice and depending on your build adding crit to say a sorcerers duel cast disintegrates is god tier
Spell sniper with spells that hit multiple times like scorching ray or magic missile greatly increases your chances to crit and can also be stacked with subclass features and items that lower the dice roll needed to crit. Combined with rider effects that proc per hit you can delete enemies pretty consistently with warlock and sorcerers
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but taking war caster on say a cleric that wants to run in with spirit guardians for example and then actually using the shocking grasp reaction on enemies that are trying to run past into your backline can be quite useful as shocking grasp disables reactions. Especially in honor mode where some enemies actually get kind of annoying reaction abilities.
War Caster in general is great for even the Constitution Saving Throw bonus. But in the situation you pointed out, I couldn't agree more that its so useful. The Con Save helps to not drop your Spirit Guardians and being able to cast as a reaction to fleeing enemies is great.
I think war caster is pretty good, better than using sanctuary more often than not because it seems like they've made sanctuary more strict and easier to break. I'd rather have a general all around defense to concentration than to keep using spell slots on sanctuary, and also you can keep casting other non-concentration spells rather than wasting your turns trying not to break sanctuary. Besides, you can still use sanctuary to protect important concentration spells but it's just not something you need to do that often. Also, I found shocking grasp as a cantrip to be quite useful with spellcasters when it comes to getting away from melee attackers. That is if you don't want to spend higher level spells, you can do some damage and also get some distance. If you have gear that enhances electrical damage, the effect can be pretty decent.
Dual Wielder is actually A tier on, ironically, mage type characters. Dual wielding powerful staffs gives you some pretty insane benefits. It's a must pick on my sorcerer. Think of it like this. Would you rather have an ASI on your charisma/intelligence or the ability to hold a staff that gives you +1 to spell and attack roll DC plus whatever other benefits come with it? Sure, you lose one spell slot by taking dual wield over the ASI in that situation on a wizard, but on a sorcerer it's actually worse than dual wield. Now if you choose a race that can hold a shield you could use ketheric's shield but that's another matter entirely. The point is, on sorcerers it's probably always better to go with dual wield over ASI given you can pick up a staff that gives you all the rational benefits of an ASI + more.
This, except s because it's better than asi on those builds that want it. Also "those" also includes at least ranged sword bards. And also staves that give you +1 are already available in act 1. Eventually you're comparing shields, even ketheric's shield, with stuff like markoheshkir or rhapsody. Even if we pretend you can still take asi, which most builds can't, and can use shield, which most races can't, the tradeoff is basically 1ac for 1dc+1attack. I'd wager most go for the 1 attack, otherwise you wouldn't be considering ketheric's shield over say viconia's fortress (or shield+1, or hope's shield, although 2 ac is probably better in that case) in the first place.
Ngl, all of this is great but sometimes you just like to attack with your offhand when there’s nothing else you need to do with your bonus action. At minimum I believe dual wielder B tier.
Old ass comment but he quite literally mentioned that in the section outlining dual wielded. He pointed out that while the dual staffs are the most useful way to use dual wielder, there aren’t that many builds that can effectively use it compared to the general bonuses of an ASI + a shield
Yeah, to add to this, he outlines the exact use case that I'm in, and the placement is a little weak imo. Drow sorcerer, early game rocking the spell sparkler and the mourning frost along with two hand cross bows gives me so much more flexibility. It may not be the best, but it certainly feels good. Spending that feat to get shields feels so much worse.
War Caster on a tempest cleric is actually a niche case where id says its an S+ tier broken ability and could be worth considering its place going up as a result, because thats a great subclass. Reasons are that; A) The obvious fact you can deal more of your relevant damage type more frequently, but more importantly, B) You get to knock back enemies that are trying to get past you, messing up their movement for their turn significantly, and that is REALLY impactful. Then to a lesser extent there is: C) You can use your cleric charges to maximise this damage, which late in the game means you can really easily finish off low enemies with only a reaction and no spell slot if youre playing a melee oriented character
Spell sniper lowers the threshold to critically hit by 1 on all spell attacks, not just cantrips. Something annoying about Spell Sniper. As of when I posted this (so since the April 10th hotfix, at least) it's bugged such that the cantrip you learn from it will not appear in your spellbook, so there is no way to put it back on your hotbar if you remove if after it appears from taking the feat, unless you type in the name of it in the search bar for it, which is really annoying to say the least. :(
I actually won 100% agree with your list. To add some flavor tavern brawler should be S++++ tier. For Monks, throwing build barbarians and circle of the moon Druids it is a must have feat. Also amazing that you actually listen to your community and are flexible and open minded. Most other content creators would not do that. Bravo!
I only recently started playing, so I don't know how much has changed regarding the Charger feat, but it's absolutely S tier in terms of fun for me. - The feel is "meaty", quite enjoy that - The shove charge can push targets that would normally be too heavy, like with repelling blast. Especially appreciated early game against the owlbear mate. - As you do not have to target a creature directly and can "drive-by" them, you do not have to stay in melee range AND can damage targets under the Sanctuary effect! - This drive-by also opens up an easy way into the enemy backline, while simultaneously finishing off a target on the way. - Having dash, disengage + Shove/+5dmg in one package is quite versatile
I feel like Polarm master is actually better than you give it credit for. The reaction attack comes up quite often, I feel like enemies will walk into range a lot more often than out of range. They don't seem programmed to take Polearm master opportunity attack into account. When combined with a certain Halberd that gives advantage on opportunity attacks, it all comes together quite nicely.
Gave it to Gale on my first run and that was almost useless since he had such a low chance of hitting and even if he did it would do like 2dmg. 😅 Still, i completed the game mostly without looking at guides so im happy enough. Now on my second playthrough im hoping to optimise my characters a little bit more without stressing myself out about it heh
I'd argue Sentinel raises Polearm Master up a tier or two because of how it grants you advantage on opportunity attacks and how absolutely oppressive it allows you to be in locking down large chunks of the battlefied. In theory the extra reach from a polearm should make any approaching melee enemy with 5ft attack range be forced to end their turn without attacking because their movement becomes 0 while you're just out of range, which makes Sentinel even more appealing on a tank character because you are essentially able to tank one extra melee enemy per turn. Unfortunately like the video says the game fudges movement a bit and their movement will only be reduced to 0 AFTER they finish moving within 5ft of you anyways.
I wonder if it combined with sentinel. Enemies take the opportunity attack coming into range of the polearm, and can't come close enough to hit you when being stopped by sentinel
also pairs extremely well with sentinel feat because most polearms have 10ft reach, so your reaction stops them getting into their melee range and they basically lose their turn
I think you’ve hugely undersold dual wielder here. It’s not just about +1 AC and dual wielding staves - which can make for a strong caster build - but there are some other great weapons you can hold in your off hand. Rhapsody, for example, is arguably the best thing that most ranged damage/control casters can be holding in their off hand. Having +3 to attack rolls, spell DC and damage for most of the day is huge. This is especially true of a build focused on eldritch blast or scorching ray. There are some other interesting options too, like the infernal rapier, knife of the undermountain king or duke ravengard’s longsword (for a CHA caster). And on any caster build without shield proficiency, it’s almost negligent NOT to take dual wielder. Then there are just the options it opens up for 2 weapon melee characters, like phalar aluve or the charge-bound warhammer. This is absolutely an A-tier feat.
Dual wielding with Quick Hands and an Extra Attack is better than Paladin smites. +1d 1-4, on gear like gyth boots and justicar gauntlets becomes crazy. +4d 1-4 becomes 16-64 extra damage a turn, plus your weapon damage 4x and your modifiers.
I think this is a good tier list in general, but I think it’s worth noting that some of the feats that would be overshadowed by a single level in another class are not completely useless. Sure, if you just hit level 12 and are choosing to take a feat vs. a single-level multiclass dip, they are just worse. But sometimes you are doing a multiclass split that doesn’t allow that choice. Maybe you want Moderately Armored (Dex) on your Warlock 2/Sorcerer 10, for instance. You don’t want to give up Agonizing Blast by not taking Warlock 2, but you also want that extra 5th level spell slot from Sorcerer 10. This gets you a point of Dex and some useful proficiencies. Probably not optimal, but also not useless. Note: A level in Cleric in this example would get the proficiencies in armor, but you would miss the last sorcery point and the point in Dex, so still not strictly worse. Maybe that bumps it up to “Weak” tier, or maybe it stays in F-tier, but with the caveat that it can be useful in some specific builds that are level-limited, and can’t afford to take a level in some other class. I do appreciate that you framed it this way though; it made me think about feats in a way that I hadn’t before.
The example you named maybe isn't the best, but the argument is still valid in many cases: Spending a point in a different class has the opportunity cost of limiting how many points you can put into your current class, and it also delays your progression within this class. And yes, there are some practical cases where this is relevant.
Performer is indeed very bad, since musical instrument proficiency you can get from just helping Alfira and pass 1 or 2 easy skill checks playing her lute. Instrument proficiency is great on its own as a way to gather NPCs to steal stuff or set up the nice fight opener (with or without explosives cheese). Heavy Armor Master, I feel like could go higher, just because odd 17 stat on character creation exists - having flat damage reduction early + full strength bonus is pretty good. Also nieche use of it as a way to negate damage from jumping off high places in combat and while exploring is nice too. But then Tavern Brawler exists...
Heavy Armour Master is a solid Feat. In Honour Mode, having Heavy Armour Master + the Adamantine Splint Armour grants you a legitimately Tanky character that pretty much means that you can beat Act II no matter what so long as you don't make silly moves.
Something that is a bit unfortunate about defensive traits, gear, consumables etc in BG3 is that a lot of the time taking them can actually cause you to take more damage in the long run. There's not really anything, even on honor mode, that can survive too long if you just go full offense. Thus going for more aggressive choices will actually be the defensive option as well.
i dont realy agree that you can always just take a level in another class. multiclassing isnt free, it costs you a level in your current class. Regardless, great content as always
Yeah taking a 1lvl dip at lvl 4 delays xtra attack and other later game class features so definitely not as simple as strictly comparing a feat to a 1 lvl dip
Elemental adept is really strong for the fire sorcerer build unless you're going all in with the Arsonist Oil archer spam. Since you're pretty locked into your spells other than maybe having Chain Lightning/Lightning bolt, being less useless at a few places in Act 3 is nice. Also scorching ray and fireball spam means rolling quite a few d6s so rerolling 1s is nice.
Quick note on Great Weapon Master's bonus attack... it's better than you think. The "if there is any enemy in range" part is mostly negated since you can move, attack and continue moving. You don't have to activate the bonus attack immediately upon getting a critical hit or killing blow. You can move up to another enemy (assuming you have movement left) THEN activate GWM bonus attack.
Just a little side discussion as a DM Heavy Armor Master would be a lot better in any campaign I run, as imo pierce/bludg/slash damage is almost always physical and not magical. Spike growth in particular I think definitely makes sense to be physical, as you're using magic to create a terrain surface that could just be around without shifting it. You could also determine this by school of the spell too, like transmutation converts normal inert things into other inert things (most of the time), so its probably always physical. Meanwhile I'd imagine any enchantment or abjuration spell could do magical damage in these types, if that even exists. The only other ways I think these damage types might be magical is if the attack was combined with some other element. Like if an enchanted weapon was split between pierce and something else.
I'm currently playing through the game solo as a fighter, used the athlete feat to bump the str up to 18. It's an incredible mobility boost, it often lets me jump right to safety somewhere that would have the enemies dash to reach me. And martial adept is great for battlemaster, which mine is, so I can have more manoeuvres earlier.
Idt it's that niche, I hear this combo a lot. I haven't used it yet because even tho I'm 200 hours into the game, I'm only level 7 lol. So my fighter took gwm first. (Laezel, using sword of the astral plane) But if I find a pole arm I want to use instead or on another character I'm going to take this combo
The last time I tried it (which was a while ago) it had the same issues with buggy movement as sentinel generally - enemies would often just enter melee range regardless of the sentinel attack. Not all the time, but enough to be really annoying. In tabletop obviously that's a sick combo because it actually works, and if BG3 has fixed some of the glitchy movement in recent patches it's worth investigating again.
Is it really fair to say "don't take this feat, just take a level of a class that gives you the same ability and more!" ? You do miss out on your primary class's progression, after all! Even just delaying access to higher level spells or an extra attack is not trivial, imho.
Agreed, it makes sense in the assumption that you're respeccing and making a build at lvl 12, but when leveling I think it gravely underestimates class milestones, lvl 5 for example is huge on a lot of classes
I think he is basing his opinion off the generalization that feats are a more scarce resource than levels. 3 feats, 12 levels. A 11sorc/1warlock gets all the bonuses of lvl 1 warlock as well as 11 sorcerer levels. Level 1 warlock grants a warlock spell slot, refreshing on short rest, namely hellish rebuke which is an excellent spell. Hex is another excellent option for a EB build. Meanwhile, the 12 pure sorcerer gets the 3rd feat that is promptly burnt up on getting Eldritch blast. The only other perk of 12 sorcerer is an extra spell to learn and 1 more sorcery point. There may be some cases where taking the single multi class level would hurt a build, but I can't think of any. Ranger, Sorcerer, Paladin, Fighter... They all get their last power spike at 11, and a 3rd feat at 12.
IMO Dual Wielder is pretty niche, but a must-take on some of the strongest builds in the game. For example, a scorlock that wants to maximize chance to crit on their eldritch blasts can start making use of Dual Wielder as early as act 1 when they get the Undermountain King's Knife - a shortsword, so you need the DW feat to run it and a staff at the same time. Better to take as 2nd feat instead tbh, it's still far from S Tier, but definitely much more viable than fkin Crossbow Expert or Moderately Armored lmao
One thing that makes me like Magic Initiate: it gives my wizard, Gale, access to the warlock spells, "Armour of Agathys" & "Eldritch Blast" while still keeping him monoclassed, for weirdos like me who prefer that, over multiclassing (e.g. for the Abjuration Wizard Tank build). ^.^ Update: Unfortunately, one quicksaved respec on Gale later, and while you *can* get those spells that way, you also aren't able to actually upcast Armour of Agathys; you only get the level 1 version of it from that feat. D: I'd normally be against multiclassing into my playthroughs, but I'd likely make an(other) exception here, if only because one of my biggest concerns with Multiclassing is the loss of feats...but this one confirmed, in fact, to be a net loss, even with that in mind. >.
Finally, weapon master has 1 use: a dex based weapon monk that wants the +3 weapons in the game and can benefit from a half feat. There are probably a few others that can use this too, but a weapon monk is the best use case.
Good catch! I forget about weapon monks because tavern brawler is so ruinous to game balance, but that is a reasonable use case if you're in that position.
I had to take Dual Wielder on Minthara so she could wield both the special Drow longswords at once. She's still a Paladin but I also had her take 1 level of Rogue so she can sneak attack with Phalar Aluve, then she has Kar'niss' longsword in her off-hand. Dual wielding while wearing the Gloves of Belligerent Skies, the Shriek buff, and smiting means she can stack Reverberation super fast while doing very high slashing + thunder + psychic + radiant damage. Restrained targets also get poisoned by her off hand attacks. She is also using the Helm of Arcane Acuity and in Act 3 I plan to give her the Band of the Mystic Scoundrel and go Thief Rogue so she can use Soul Branding, off-hand attacks, and/or Command as bonus actions every turn. Paladins are so strong but i always expend most of their resources in a single fight and end up having to leave them behind for the rest of the day. This time I'm having her drink Hill Giant Strength Elixirs every day so she can go to 18 Charisma but that's a waste of elixirs for only one fight a day. So now im dedicating all my Hill Giant elixirs and Potions of Angelic Reprieve to Minthara alone. Spoiling this girl.
Animal handling got done so dirty as a skill. It's STRICTLY useful if you're NOT using animal speaking potions as those checks tend to get replaced with persuasion and other speaking abilities.
At least it’s not Survival that almost always is irrelevant because you can choose manually use a shovel in the general area. But I agree, that is very stupid.
37:48 polearm master is incredibly useful when paired with the Sentinel feat-give them both to a fighter and plug them into a choke point between your party and the enemy and laugh out loud as they get stopped at the extreme range of your polearm user, unable to close to their melee range.
Question about Defensive Duallist. When I read "add your proficiency" to Armour Class, I thought this meant the +2 (or +4 in later levels) AND your Weapon Proficiency Modifier (e.g 20 Dex, Finesse Weapon = +5) So, a free Shield Spell on EVERY TURN, plus, potentially adds more to AC than the actual Shield Spell. Even +4 to AC every turn is only 1 less than the +5 of the Shield Spell. These thoughts all came about while trying to build a new Pact of The Blade Warlock, with the Legendary Duellists Prerogative (gives you an extra Reaction per Turn), with the permanent +3 Charisma from the Mirror of Loss (22 Charisma on Wyll). The Defensive Duellist almost seems like a no-brainer "must have" for the Pact of The Blade in later levels.
I would probably argue about position of few feats on a list or at least give them a huge asterisk. Savage Attacker is on the verge of S+ for Paladin by the end of the game. Sure early game GWM is better by buy the very end of the game Savage Attacker is Significantly Better than GWM (also can be used together with it for best results). I would pick it over Alert in almost every build. (Similar thing for rouge/gloom stalker builds - however they are likely to use Knife of the Undermoutain Kind which gives them part of the effect). Dual Wielder for caster classes like Mage Warlock Druid is also on the verge of S+ tier by the end of the game. By Sacrificing one ASI we can equip second staff which completely nullifies Spell Attack Roll / Spell Save DC (ok we lose one on ability checks) but gain powerful effects granted by the endgame staffs. This is worth more than any feat listed (with exception of War Caster for Concentrating Characters).
Spell Sniper is best used on an Evocation Wizard to grab Eldritch Blast. You don’t get a good payoff until level 10 but between evo Wizards INT to damage with cantrips and if you build for it CHA to damage with Potent Robes, your evo Wizard basically turns into a massive spike damage resourceless caster. Stack the Reverberation/Radiating Orb items onto it and you have a high damage prone machine that neuters bosses or most other strong enemies.
On paper, Charger looks alright for the Fighter because they don't use bonus actions for much other than Second Wind or chugging a potion, but you can just jump really far with high strength, and the movement benefit is negated just like that.
A bear heart barb could benefit from heavy armour without losing its bonuses, also elemental adept is really only for draconic sorcerers that can’t inflict the wet condition
I think dual wielder is better than you think. Keeping Astarion with dual shortswords is FINE of course, but with dual wielder you can equip two scimitars, higher damage output. Not sure this changes its tier, but it definitely has more utility than what you bring up in the video.
Logically Alert is OP but since many high level opponents have the equivalent its not as absurd as it seems at first when you get to Act 3. I have not always had initiative even when taking Alert.
That's true - and ironically makes it even more important! If the enemies are abusing a broken mechanic to always win initiative, we are even more priced into doing the same just to keep up
That hasn't really been my experience. I just finished a Tactician run and my characters with +7 or +8 Initiative would go first virtually every combat. And there is a ton of gear that buffs initiative. Barbarians and Gloomstalkers get +3. Dex characters are getting up to +5. I had Gale running with +8 from a 14 dex, sentinel shield, and hellrider longbow. He always went first. +6 Initiative characters would start to miss going first a noticeable amount of the time. I think as long as you get your entire team +7 with or without Alert you are golden.
With a full team of characters with alert and at least decent dex, all your characters will go first in roughly 95% of the fights, and in the remaining 5% there's one boss enemy that might go before some of your characters but even then you get to go before allthe adds which makes the fight easier
Longtime D&D fan here. I kinda hate how the Stealth mechanic works. It's too one dimensional focused completely around vision and not at all around hearing. Personally I don't even bother with stealth unless I can stack every possible stealth bonus which includes being a Lightfoot halfling. I'd say it's an A but I'm clearly biased.
I’ve gotten decent use from Weapon Master specifically with characters that needed Finesse weapons but couldn’t use all of them or that wanted one of the two Finesse long swords in the game.
Thanks for the fun tier list! Polearms and great weapons are not the same thing so I don't think it's a bug that Great Weapon Master doesn't effect polearms.
You forgot to factor in that Elemental Adept makes it so that you cannot roll a 1 on any damage die of the choosen element. I still think it is not the best feat, but it deserves a bump up to Narrow. It works especially well on your spell warlocks and they typically only end up having access to fire spells with Fire Walls and Scorching rays doing 6-10 d6 dice rolls. The 'cant roll 1s' clause basically means you have an extra 1.5 damage dice and can guarantee to not have to worry about resistances.
You can nit-pick about exactly how you might personally rank the feats given your playstyles and strategies, but I won't. I will say your rankings, generally speaking, seem pretty solid. After four full playthroughs (two on tactician, one on honor mode) I've only used a feat you've ranked at B-tier or below once, and it was Lucky on my first playthrough on a rogue. After which I just found it sufficiently unimpactful that I never took it again :).
@@Cephalopocalypseim going to be honest, using two staffs like charished necro and rhe legendary one as well as givibg you plus one ac is incredibly good for a caster
Martial adept is not F for battle Master fighters. It gives them another superior die that scales with their finger level and more maneuvers. A for battle Master fighers, F for everyone else
I personally love crossbow expert on Astarion. Butttt I do 4 fighter, 4 rogue, 4 fighter so I get many feats lol. He’s in melee space often enough that it helps!
NB on the question of Resilient (Con) vs. War Caster, which one is better mostly depends on whether the +1 Con from Resilient would let you squeeze out a higher Con modifier in your build than you could swing without. If it is, Resilient is definitely going to give you better odds at keeping concentration (at least once you hit level 9), on top of also helping all your other Con saves and getting you a bit more HP. If you'd wind up with the same Con modifier, War Caster is generally going to preserve your concentration better, except for high-damage hits (dealing more than 30 damage), but it still could be worth taking Resilient for the broader benefits to Con saves outside of concentration. As far as the math goes, advantage is worth just a little over +3 to your average check result: The average result on a straight 1d20 is 10.5, while the average result with advantage is 13.82. So in terms of average result, Resilient is only very slightly weaker at +3 PB and stronger than advantage once you get +4 PB, even assuming you don't end up with a higher Con modifier in a build with Resilient vs. one with War Caster. However, the comparison gets a little skewed because advantage itself skews the spread of outcomes, making lower rolls less likely than higher ones. The average result for adding proficiency is influenced by the possibility of hitting very high DCs that will rarely come up. So while mathematically the average value of advantage is only a bit more than +3, for rolls that don't often hit DCs in the upper teens or more, it's not unreasonable to estimate its value as more like +4.5 as cited in the video.
Mobile is incredibly useful in Act 3, since Steel Watchers have a very dangerous opportunity attack. Movement speed bonuses that any class can take are also super powerful.
Defensive duelist is one of those feats which you so wish was better, because it's really cool thematically for a melee finesse duelist RP but sucks so much in practice. This is because 1) It only works against melee attacks (should remain the case as it pertains to the class fantasy of a duelist fighting in melee), 2) costs a reaction, 3) only works for one attack. Of these, 3) Is the biggest reason this feat sucks. Part of this is because enemies as they level up in this game and in dnd tend to get more and more attacks in a single action, rather than super high damage single attacks, so it doesn't help your survivability that much (as opposed to things like heavy armor master). Additionally, it doesn't do anything to mitigate critical hits, the rare really high damage hits which you would want to mitigate with a defensive oriented feat. Here's how I would homebrew the feat if I had a chance to bring it up to power with other much better feats (learning to mod atm, so stay tuned maybe). 1) This feat doesn't cost a reaction to use. Instead the feat should give you "duelist charges" = (your proficiency bonus -1) that you can use whenever applicable to make an attack miss. The duelist charges replenish every round. 2) Whenever you cause an attack to miss using a duelist charge, you can spend a reaction to make a quick swipe opportunity attack at the enemy which deals half weapon damage and can cause the enemy to become off balanced. 3) The feat reduces the attack roll not just by your proficiency bonus but rather your proficiency bonus + 1 + dex mod/2. This should give it a range of 5-8 extra "AC", depending on your dexterity at the end of the game, which should come up fairly more often than the narrow band of 4 "AC" it provides.
I disagree with Polearm master. Put this on a barbarian with reckless attack and They become the target of the ai due to their disadvantage. I also really like taking this with battle manoeuvres under weapon master in a multi class with barbarian as you can attack people on the way in way out and jump to your heart's content across the battlefield. Add in skin burster and you can stack up Is damage resistance.
This has been great! Doing my first play through right now and (having already taken alert as a first feat for everyone) i was wondering where to go with my next lot of feats. Sounds like ASIs are just the best thing unless you have a specific build in mind.
Great list! The only obvious item I disagree on is Magic Initiate, particularly for Cleric (Guidance, Sanctuary) and slightly for Sorc/Wiz (Shield). Though you could just take that class as a multiclass, putting it at useless is simply incorrect. I'd put it at B.
So ASI = 20% increase in Ability? +2 is 20% of +10, so if the max is +5, 20% of +5 is +1, but ASI is +2? How is it 20%? I can’t math right now. Did anything I say make sense?
To explain this a bit better: Your bonus to hit something is determined by your stats, your proficiency bonus (which grows with character level) and the enchantment of your weapon. At the start of the game at level 1, say you have 16 str and a non-enchanted greatsword. Your total attack bonus is +5 (3 from your 16 in strength since 10 is base, and bonuses increase every 2 ability points, and +2 from your proficiency bonus). At the end of the game, say you took 2 ASI feats to get to 20 str, and no have a +2 greatsword. Your total attack bonus is +11 (5 from your strength modifier, 4 from your proficiency bonus and 2 from your greatsword's enchantment). So in terms of power level, you went from having a +5 to hit to a +11 to hit, an increase of +6. An ASI is equivalent to +1 to hit, and so is roughly 15-20% of your ability to hit things in this example.
DnD is a game around dice rolls. Lucke rerolls dice. Case closed. In my opinion an amazing feat for everybody. Saves your butt and helps in dialogue. Oh, maybe you people reload the game all the time. I play the game and live with it - then lucky is just amazing.
@ 10:16 All my party members have at least 16 or 18 Dex and I use Astarion as Gloom Stalker Assassin. I consider Alert as a C tier feat and would *never* take it.
Defensive duellist is better than you think, disadvantage is only worth a 3.5 swing either way on a d20 roll so at level 10 the feat is more powerful, there’s also a number of ways to impose disadvantage on attackers which won’t stack with warding flare
Heavy armour is way more useful than you stated. Light cleric does not want to multi-class and losing caster levels as a cleric for weapon stuff isn't always desired. Also are you forgetting the typical 17 at creation? There's usually an odd stat. Should have been placed at B, for Narrow use.
Medium armor is better than heavy armor early on straight up and with the exotic armors it maintains its lead by being able to add your entire dex modifier to your ac
@@pirate135246 I usually take alert for the initiative, and take heavy armor for the AC. Maybe I am underrating Dex though, Ill have to try it out on a build and see how it turns out
Thought on dungeon delver. Let's say your party is a darkness group. You blackhole and bring all enemies inside the circle. You then drop runes on the ground that explode. The tool tip says trap. Curious if this works to negate friendly fire.
I’d say drop ASI to A tier. It’s strong but not S tier strong. There are MANY items in the game that mess with your stats, like why waste a feat slot getting ASI for strength when I can just pop an elixir? There’s also a circlet in act 1 for intelligence, a pair of gloves for dex, etc. you can replicate ASI with items, so I say it should be A, not S
Re: Elemental Adept; something else is that even if you can't prepare your spells and such out of combat, it's completely trivial to just respec a character.
Dual wielder is my favorite. Use club of hill giant strength in off hand. Or use phallar aluve for its shriek. Staff of bless is useful for support characters as well.
I think Martial Adept could be usefull on a 2 handed level 6 Magic Knight, to give them Riposte and Precision Attack on top of Great Weapon Master (at level 4). You take Alert at level 8, and 2xASI Strenght for level 12 (to get it to 20). Then you don't use elixirs of strength but use Bloodlust or colossus (bloodlust is better). :) I think it's a pretty solid build. :) Too niche, I know, but it goes up from F to C. Granted, Savage Attacker could be better for a level 6 melee fighter build (any, melee fighter build), but that doesn't mean that you couldn't find a silver lining on a feat for a different type of fighter. :)
In defence of Magic Initiate Warlock vs taking a lovel in warlock. it seems like a pretty cool feat if taken on an Evocation Wizard. If it will make an Eldrich Blast Blast roll of your Intelligence then with Potent Cantrip at level 6 this turns out to be the strongest damaging cantrip there can be on a wizard. That is if Eldrich Blast does roll of Intelligence though... I would definitely take it on a Gale guild.
Sadly Magic Initiate's spells use the casting stat from the class you're getting them from, so MI:Warlock gives you a cha-based eldritch blast. It would be much more interesting if it didn't! (the one exception is MI:Druid for Shillelagh, which for whatever reason uses the casting stat of the class you take the feat with as your attacking stat for Shillelagh)
@@Cephalopocalypse thank you for answering this one!) And kudos on inventive use of Shillelagh on the genious fighter and rizzadin builds. I wonder if Larian will ever patch that use of casting stat in the future...
Bit late to the party, but you still need dual wielder to hold ANY weapon (even a light weapon) in your off hand if your main hand weapon is a staff. A great example of why this feat is powerful is the Rhapsody dagger. Once you’ve killed 3 enemies (by any means) it gives you +3 to attack rolls, spell DC and damage, which is a massive boost from your off hand slot
Dual wielder can be super strong for clerics if they pair it with devotees mace and handmaidens mace and whispering promise, healing aura may be per long rest but for the big boss fights activating it for 10 rounds of bless, blade ward, and deathward later in the game really ups the support aspect
You’re the king of hot takes aren’t you. Selling elemental adept so short. Consistent damage and ignoring resistance let’s you specialize heavily. REALLY good for sorcerer and warlock, where your spell lists are locked, and your subclass is focused. It also removes the biggest downside of fire damage allowing you to take advantage of the larger number dice innate to the class.
I'll advocate for Dual Wielder. I dont necessarilly like it over ASI for a melee character, -but- using it to let Gale wield two staves, sych as melfs and spellsparker, has a huge damage potential increase, and the extra ac on a squishy never hurts. It's belongs in B. As for Alert, i would drop it simply because elixir of vigilance does the same thing. B or C tier. Athlete i out in trash tier, because the jump spell is free. Take an ASI or mobile and cast or drink jump. Id put it in C, its not terrible, but there are better options for the same benefit.
Cleric lawnmower is concentrating and Sanctuary removes Spirit Guardians, so War Caster is a must with that build. Using War Caster and a CON Transmutation stone makes it super hard to break their concentration. On a Cleric, ASI is never a priority unless I'm trying to play some kind of ranged caster build, but I would never use a Cleric for that. For a lawnmower Cleric, Alert > War Caster > ASI. I also wouldn't really consider Sanctuary the be-all-end-all on someone that is just concentrating on a buff either. A Sorcerer that Twinned Haste is what, just supposed to stand in a corner the rest of the right? For Honor Mode at least, this is a huge waste of action economy since Haste is nowhere near as good as it is on Tactician and below. It might make more sense casting Sanctuary on a CC based class, but CC is mostly worthless even in Honor Mode. Then again, CC might be removed too similarly to SG. I've never actually tried it, since CC in general is a waste of turns except in very rare scenarios.
You put both Magic Initiate and Martial Adept into F Tier, but have you considered the following? -Martial Adept: this works too if you already have superiority dice and maneuvers but just want more of them. -Magic Initiate: These can be taken without slowing your spell level progression. If you need an important first level spell, an additional spell slot for it or the cantrips you can take them and still progress just as fast.
I actually did NOT consider taking martial adept on a battlemaster - my bad! That should probably be in C tier for that use. I can't really think of a level 1 spell you'd want to spend a feat on casting 1/day. Maybe Bless, but if the point is to not impact your caster levels you'll hit better concentration stuff anyways. If you have an idea though I'm all ears!
@@Cephalopocalypse I know a certain wizard build that'd need Armor of Agathys, Speak with Animals could be worth it if you don't have anyone with it in your party, an extra casting of shield can be worth it, jump is an excellent mobility spell that clerics don't get (and afaik you shoud be able ritual cast your magic initiate spell), an emergency healing word on a wizard can be quite the relief... And the two cantrips can also be quite interesting, with guidance, resistance (truestrike!) as options.
Resilient should almost be split into multiple places on the tier list because Resilient Constitution is S tier or at least near S tier, Resilient Wisdom is maybe B tier and the rest is probably C tier. You could argue Ritual Caster should be C tier, because it is useful to have if you don't have a character that knows Longstrider.
Durable feat combo nice with song of rest, your barbarian gets healed to full by your bardlock while refreshing your warlock slots Not saying it S teir but i consider it at least narrow
I think Dual Wielder is at least a B tier feat. It depends on the build that you’re making. I find it works best on mages; either for dual wielding staves or on a cleric gish build. I wouldn’t say it’s weak. I’d say its uses are narrow and build dependent.
Alert is the feat I find myself pretty much always dropping from builds. ASI to get primary stat up to max, and sharpshooter/GWM are infinitely more valuable to me.
I don't get the argument 'just take a level in that class''. If you take a level in some class (instead of Magic initiate f.e.) it means you are not getting level in another ('main') class. Less spell progression, later main class features, etc.
It's becomes more valuable the the more imprtant of an enemy you're targeting. For example, if you need an 18 or higher to hit a target, increasing your attack means now a 17 works. Before you had three results that would do damage, now you have four. A relative improvement of 33%. Also, ability scores govern other things in addition to attack rolls. The different skill checks and saving throws, your carry weight capacity for strength, significant HP buffs with constitution, and the number of prepared spells for Prepared Spell Casters.
I’m going to disagree with mage slayer’s ranking. The play with it is having your fighter or barbarian immediately jump into the back line and stand next to the enemy caster. Because the game has enemy caster cast in melee range, it procs at least once per fight against casters. At high levels, those enemy spells are often save or suck for you (confusion, fear, or hypnotic pattern). Because the enemy is forced to immediately make a CON save, the given spell usually won’t take effect, even if your party failed the saves. It’s basically a more reliable counterspell that only costs a reaction that you wanted to use to attack anyway.
Magic Initiate: Druid is the best one because you only want the spell Goodberry and nothing else about the class. Pairs best with a life cleric as the healing bonus triggers when you eat a goodberry. Maybe just that one could be bumped up just one tier as potions are still prevalent enough to make this combo unnecessary.
The only slight divergence I’d have is with weird ass build some of them can help. Like wonky stuff. Using Shield Master and Defense for two characters combining with shields , gear and other buffs and they are barely getting hit at all whilst doing consistent damage playing on tactician and just causing havoc for my enemies
I'm still mildly irritated with the changes they made limiting Crossbow Expert and War Caster. I have a tabletop warlock that I play like John Wick: up close and personal with a gun, I mean Eldritch Blast
I think polearm master should be narrow. I've had some mild success with an eldritch knight with polearm master and sentinel with the ability to cast compelled dual. Even if they don't for some reason attack you, they will at least get disadvantage on another ally. Splash in 3 levels of thief for sneak attack and an extra bonus action, it can be pretty spicy. It also needs to be said that this combo does very well in solo runs though ill admit lockadin darkness shinnanigans are better lol.
The only use I have for durable is on a camp npc that is casting warding bond on the tank. It's not a great use, but you don't want that npc to die and lose warding bond
Great Weapon Master can work really well if you have a certain AoE weapon if playing an Oath of Ancients. Can't remember the handle of the guy who shared that oddly specific build for honor mode, but damn. X3
Resilient's most common use is proficiency in all saves with no items. Ranger, Gloomstalker Iron Mind, Resilient Charisma, Transmuter's Stone. Multiclassing doesn't give you proficiency.
A paladin with heavy armor and a shield has AC around 20-24 endgame with no other buffs considered. If you use them to cast bless then war caster would be an instance where you would rather have that over sanctuary
You aren’t really casting bless in late game and most paladins are gonna be using a 2 hander with savage attacker and or great weapon master. War caster is too high on this list, you can get advantage on con saving throws through items easily
I will always have a soft spot for "Sentinel," as (despite it being only somewhat effective throughout most of the game), on my first play-through, i had Karlack, Lae'zel, and my Paladin surrounding Orin. Orin made a move for Shadowheart, and despite having about 2/3 of her health, EVERYONE critted, and Orin was killed instantly. A hilarious ending to a fight!
Lol I like the dynamic of having Shadowheart, Karlach, Lae’zel and a male Tav. It’s like a harem isekai. Wish one was a spell caster like a Sorcerer/Wizard/Warlock but your Tav could be. Just kinda hard if he’s the person who initiates combat being in face-to-face range like that.
Any feat that gives you greater control over the action economy, such as sentinek giving you more trigger for reaction attacks, are huge. Additionally controling enemy mobility can be a complete battle changer.
Sentenial + PAM + GWM = busted af. Both in BG3, and in TTDnD. :)
One time I was chasing some Gith that were leaving the Crèche for some reason, entered a “trespassing area” got aggro’d and the group was still running past and the game automatically did their reactions and killed one of them as they left.
I may sound like a literature nerd but I can't hear "Shadowheart" without the title "Heart of Darkness" popping in my head.
31:15 The point of Martial Adept, is to take it on Battle master Fighter.
You wouldn't follow this "either, or" line of thinking about a Throwing weapons build, would you? You wouldn't say "Instead of taking Tavern Brawler, just go Berserker Barbarian/Eldritch Knight Fighter", would you? No, of course you wouldn't. Everyone understands that when you're making a throwing weapons build you do BOTH- you pick Berserker Barbarian at lvl 3 AND take tavern brawler at lvl 4. And if you want to make a spellcasting build that focuses on one specific elemental damage (fire sorcerer, lightning cleric, fireball-slinger Warlock etc.) you take BOTH the correct subclass AND elemental adept to make sure nobody can resist your damage type.
It works the same way here- if you want to make a "Battlefield controlling martial" you go Battle Master Fighter, AND take Martial Adept.
The superiority die you get from the feat is the same as the one from sub-class, meaning that if you take it you have 5/6 superiority dies instead of 4/5, it also gets upgraded to a d10 when you reach lvl 10, and you get to choose another 2 manoeuvrers, for a total of 7 instead of 5.
And when you count that many people will automatically take Precision shot, and Riposte on their battle master, because of just how strong those 2 are, it realistically means you only get to 'choose' 1 battlefield-control move. When you take this feat you actually get to choose 3 cool moves- you can take trip, frightening, and pushing attacks for an almost unparalleled, among martials, battlefield control (open hand monk is still better because stunning strike, flurry of blows, and having more ki points than the battle master has superiority dies, but Battle master is a very close second) and still retain the DPR-increasing utility provided by precision strike and riposte.
TL:Dr, it makes Battle master even better, even more versatile than it already is- you get to make 25-20% more special moves per short rest, and you have 40-300% (depending on the current level and how we count them) more maneuvers to choose from.
Yeah - it's a reasonable 3rd or 4th feat for battle master if you're staying mono classed! Should probably be in C tier for that use case.
I love my battlemasters and love your argument for the beauty of more maneuvers. But I most often don‘t have enough feats left… It‘s amazing at the start, but later on 5 maneuvers are fine (even in dnd with tasha and stuff). I mostly lack dices, not maneuvers. And one more dice didn’t convince me most of the time. Is it better in bg3 compared to dnd? In dnd I take Lucky or an ASI over it most of the time. But while I am typing, I like the idea. Will start a coop playthough on sunday, I will try it out! :)
@@ZaphodTube It's the same in BG3 as in DnD. BUT, both Lucky and ASI got nerfed compared to tabletop.
In BG3 all you get from Lucky is a re-roll, no "super advantage" if your base roll was done with disadvantage thing, no re-rolling if you already had advantage the first time you rolled, and in case of skill checks you have to decide, before you roll the dice, if you want to use the lucky token so in those cases it's literally just "I want an advantage on this roll". Except, BG3 has a lot of other ways of getting advantage that don't require spending one of your precious 3/4 feats, and some very long streaks of rolling the dies at one time (unlike in DnD where the rolls can be much more dispersed) like in Creche Y'llek with the Zaith'isk, or in act 2 when talking with the Thorm brothers- in either of those situations you can choose to use an entire day's worth of lucky tokens, in a single dialogue... or just cast friends on them and have someone else cast "enhance ability" dex/wis on you. (one brother needs dex, the other two need wis, all 3 need friends) and get the same effect.
Also, there are items like risky ring and Shadeclinger Armour that give you a blanket advantage on an entire section of dice rolls (attack rolls and saving throws respectively) and there's always "Enhance ability" spell to get advantage on a whole section of skill checks that clerics and sorcerers have access to since lvl 3... and there's almost always a very broody cleric walking around you.
If you use those, the Lucky feat becomes completely useless, but Martial Adept is still just as good as it was before.
Unlike lucky, ASI still works like in tabletop, but unlike tabletop there are a bunch of ways of improving your attributes outside of ASI: On one character you can improve *any* one ability score to 20, with a single ASI, (base 17 +1 from auntie ethel's fair clump, and +2 from ASI)
In case of strength you can get that 20 strength in a single feat thanks to the "potion of everlasting vigour" for a permanent +2 strength from Araj Oblodra- You don't even need to pick ASI in that case: with 17 base strength you can take tavern brawler or heavy armour expert, or some other half-feat to get it to 18, and then top it off with the potion.
You can even combine auntie ethel's hair with the potion and get to permanent 20 strength with *no feats at all*
or don't even bother, dump strength, boost your other attributes, and just chug elixirs of hill giant's strength for the whole game (or until you get high enough level for potions of cloud giant's strength to start spawning in)
Not even mentioning the whole host of items that boost or set your attributes to a specific number.
The only characters that really need ASI's in this game are clerics and druids, because there is no way to boost wisdom outside of ASIs and mirror of loss (and Shadowheart can't even use that one)
Tl:Dr just take martial adept.
FYI, feats with "+1 Strength" text such as Heavily Armored and Heavy Armour Master, increase your ability score while in shapeshift form. so If you're thinking about doing a full-on shapeshift build, those 2 feats are not a bad condidate (obviously, tavern brawler is a must so they could be your 2nd and 3rd.)
That’s pretty cool I didn’t know that
It's not feat related, but one of the very few things that work in wild shape is potion you get in Moonrise Towers if Astarion drinks blood from weird drow woman (permanent Strength +2)
Would tavern brawler unarmed part work too?
@@quasarsword7479 It does
@@quasarsword7479not in honour mode but It does work in tactician and below
Finding Alert to be as advertised for Honor Mode. Gave all characters it at level 4. The advantage of going first almost every single time with nova builds effectively ends fights before the 2nd turn. And this is before you try for surprise attacks
for real, combining it with a surprise atack and you have basically 2 free turns before the enemy can do anything
i have to agree marshal, alert seems to be must 1st feat in honormode for every party member.
Yes, it's incredibly powerful, which makes it feel like it's not a choice but a must have. Not fun.
@@Martin-di9pp brother just dont take the feat, nobody is forcing you.
@@Martin-di9pp Just get d20 initiative
Something interesting about Magic Initiate is that for some reason when you take Shillelagh with it the cantrip will scale off of the class that was leveled to take the feat. This makes it optimal for Bound Salami Warlock, the most important build in the game since it gives them more charisma scaling on their salami. If you use it with the endgame necrotic torch it's like, almost a build that does something.
You're right, S tier instantly.
That's actually kind of cool though! I wonder if there's a real build in there somewhere - triple cha to a club from shillelagh, pact weapon, oathbreaker is a lot of damage!
@@Cephalopocalypse You can mess around with infernal torch. It's technically a little stronger damage wise than Infernal Rapier without shillelagh, but it's not a big difference (3d4+1 vs 1d8+2) and you're taking a pretty horrendous trait to do it.
The cool thing is that it comes online at lv 5 to almost max power, since a torch is a completely valid weapon that somehow beats out even late game quarterstaffs in terms of damage without dipping them in fire.
Shillelagh and Blade Pact wouldn't stack I think since both replace the original calculation. I think this feat is better suited for builds not wanting the warlock levels, like Paladin 2 + Sword Bard X. Problem is Hill Giant Potions are better anyway.
Wow, knowing this has made me realize that bound salami warlock is one of the builds of all time!
This happened!
Spell Sniper actually affects all spells that have attack roll though, it's not limited to just cantrips.
If you want to have crits try spells that force them.
Sleep, hold, etc. These are generally better, so an asi ability score improvement is more helpful than spell sniper.
Which is sad but oh well
@@JessicaMorganitrue but eventually ASI's stop being a choice and depending on your build adding crit to say a sorcerers duel cast disintegrates is god tier
Spell sniper with spells that hit multiple times like scorching ray or magic missile greatly increases your chances to crit and can also be stacked with subclass features and items that lower the dice roll needed to crit. Combined with rider effects that proc per hit you can delete enemies pretty consistently with warlock and sorcerers
@@jake_legyou don't roll for magic missile so it will never crit.
@@GhostofJamesMadisonthat is a save spell, it can never crit dummy
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but taking war caster on say a cleric that wants to run in with spirit guardians for example and then actually using the shocking grasp reaction on enemies that are trying to run past into your backline can be quite useful as shocking grasp disables reactions. Especially in honor mode where some enemies actually get kind of annoying reaction abilities.
War Caster in general is great for even the Constitution Saving Throw bonus. But in the situation you pointed out, I couldn't agree more that its so useful. The Con Save helps to not drop your Spirit Guardians and being able to cast as a reaction to fleeing enemies is great.
why dont you just cast sanctyary after spirit guardians, then you dont need constitution cos immortal...;)
I think war caster is pretty good, better than using sanctuary more often than not because it seems like they've made sanctuary more strict and easier to break. I'd rather have a general all around defense to concentration than to keep using spell slots on sanctuary, and also you can keep casting other non-concentration spells rather than wasting your turns trying not to break sanctuary. Besides, you can still use sanctuary to protect important concentration spells but it's just not something you need to do that often. Also, I found shocking grasp as a cantrip to be quite useful with spellcasters when it comes to getting away from melee attackers. That is if you don't want to spend higher level spells, you can do some damage and also get some distance. If you have gear that enhances electrical damage, the effect can be pretty decent.
Sanctuary isn't possible on a character that uses spirit guardian. Same with invisiblity.
Dual Wielder is actually A tier on, ironically, mage type characters. Dual wielding powerful staffs gives you some pretty insane benefits. It's a must pick on my sorcerer. Think of it like this. Would you rather have an ASI on your charisma/intelligence or the ability to hold a staff that gives you +1 to spell and attack roll DC plus whatever other benefits come with it? Sure, you lose one spell slot by taking dual wield over the ASI in that situation on a wizard, but on a sorcerer it's actually worse than dual wield. Now if you choose a race that can hold a shield you could use ketheric's shield but that's another matter entirely. The point is, on sorcerers it's probably always better to go with dual wield over ASI given you can pick up a staff that gives you all the rational benefits of an ASI + more.
This, except s because it's better than asi on those builds that want it. Also "those" also includes at least ranged sword bards. And also staves that give you +1 are already available in act 1. Eventually you're comparing shields, even ketheric's shield, with stuff like markoheshkir or rhapsody.
Even if we pretend you can still take asi, which most builds can't, and can use shield, which most races can't, the tradeoff is basically 1ac for 1dc+1attack. I'd wager most go for the 1 attack, otherwise you wouldn't be considering ketheric's shield over say viconia's fortress (or shield+1, or hope's shield, although 2 ac is probably better in that case) in the first place.
Ngl, all of this is great but sometimes you just like to attack with your offhand when there’s nothing else you need to do with your bonus action. At minimum I believe dual wielder B tier.
I think you mean prepared spell not spell slot
Old ass comment but he quite literally mentioned that in the section outlining dual wielded. He pointed out that while the dual staffs are the most useful way to use dual wielder, there aren’t that many builds that can effectively use it compared to the general bonuses of an ASI + a shield
Yeah, to add to this, he outlines the exact use case that I'm in, and the placement is a little weak imo.
Drow sorcerer, early game rocking the spell sparkler and the mourning frost along with two hand cross bows gives me so much more flexibility. It may not be the best, but it certainly feels good. Spending that feat to get shields feels so much worse.
War Caster on a tempest cleric is actually a niche case where id says its an S+ tier broken ability and could be worth considering its place going up as a result, because thats a great subclass.
Reasons are that;
A) The obvious fact you can deal more of your relevant damage type more frequently, but more importantly,
B) You get to knock back enemies that are trying to get past you, messing up their movement for their turn significantly, and that is REALLY impactful. Then to a lesser extent there is:
C) You can use your cleric charges to maximise this damage, which late in the game means you can really easily finish off low enemies with only a reaction and no spell slot if youre playing a melee oriented character
Dual wielder is actually S tier.
It's the only way to RP Gandalf.
True! Very important
Not only that, but to dual wield MARKOHESHKIR and MOURNING FROST for Ice builds. Niche, but powerful.
Spell sniper lowers the threshold to critically hit by 1 on all spell attacks, not just cantrips.
Something annoying about Spell Sniper. As of when I posted this (so since the April 10th hotfix, at least) it's bugged such that the cantrip you learn from it will not appear in your spellbook, so there is no way to put it back on your hotbar if you remove if after it appears from taking the feat, unless you type in the name of it in the search bar for it, which is really annoying to say the least. :(
I actually won 100% agree with your list. To add some flavor tavern brawler should be S++++ tier. For Monks, throwing build barbarians and circle of the moon Druids it is a must have feat. Also amazing that you actually listen to your community and are flexible and open minded. Most other content creators would not do that. Bravo!
I only recently started playing, so I don't know how much has changed regarding the Charger feat, but it's absolutely S tier in terms of fun for me.
- The feel is "meaty", quite enjoy that
- The shove charge can push targets that would normally be too heavy, like with repelling blast. Especially appreciated early game against the owlbear mate.
- As you do not have to target a creature directly and can "drive-by" them, you do not have to stay in melee range AND can damage targets under the Sanctuary effect!
- This drive-by also opens up an easy way into the enemy backline, while simultaneously finishing off a target on the way.
- Having dash, disengage + Shove/+5dmg in one package is quite versatile
I feel like Polarm master is actually better than you give it credit for. The reaction attack comes up quite often, I feel like enemies will walk into range a lot more often than out of range. They don't seem programmed to take Polearm master opportunity attack into account. When combined with a certain Halberd that gives advantage on opportunity attacks, it all comes together quite nicely.
Gave it to Gale on my first run and that was almost useless since he had such a low chance of hitting and even if he did it would do like 2dmg. 😅
Still, i completed the game mostly without looking at guides so im happy enough. Now on my second playthrough im hoping to optimise my characters a little bit more without stressing myself out about it heh
@@leolion3323use it on a Paladin like Minthara, with other attack or damage bonus equipment. I promise, it makes most encounters much easier.
I'd argue Sentinel raises Polearm Master up a tier or two because of how it grants you advantage on opportunity attacks and how absolutely oppressive it allows you to be in locking down large chunks of the battlefied. In theory the extra reach from a polearm should make any approaching melee enemy with 5ft attack range be forced to end their turn without attacking because their movement becomes 0 while you're just out of range, which makes Sentinel even more appealing on a tank character because you are essentially able to tank one extra melee enemy per turn. Unfortunately like the video says the game fudges movement a bit and their movement will only be reduced to 0 AFTER they finish moving within 5ft of you anyways.
I wonder if it combined with sentinel. Enemies take the opportunity attack coming into range of the polearm, and can't come close enough to hit you when being stopped by sentinel
also pairs extremely well with sentinel feat because most polearms have 10ft reach, so your reaction stops them getting into their melee range and they basically lose their turn
I think you’ve hugely undersold dual wielder here. It’s not just about +1 AC and dual wielding staves - which can make for a strong caster build - but there are some other great weapons you can hold in your off hand.
Rhapsody, for example, is arguably the best thing that most ranged damage/control casters can be holding in their off hand. Having +3 to attack rolls, spell DC and damage for most of the day is huge. This is especially true of a build focused on eldritch blast or scorching ray.
There are some other interesting options too, like the infernal rapier, knife of the undermountain king or duke ravengard’s longsword (for a CHA caster). And on any caster build without shield proficiency, it’s almost negligent NOT to take dual wielder.
Then there are just the options it opens up for 2 weapon melee characters, like phalar aluve or the charge-bound warhammer. This is absolutely an A-tier feat.
Dual wielding with Quick Hands and an Extra Attack is better than Paladin smites. +1d 1-4, on gear like gyth boots and justicar gauntlets becomes crazy.
+4d 1-4 becomes 16-64 extra damage a turn, plus your weapon damage 4x and your modifiers.
I think this is a good tier list in general, but I think it’s worth noting that some of the feats that would be overshadowed by a single level in another class are not completely useless.
Sure, if you just hit level 12 and are choosing to take a feat vs. a single-level multiclass dip, they are just worse. But sometimes you are doing a multiclass split that doesn’t allow that choice. Maybe you want Moderately Armored (Dex) on your Warlock 2/Sorcerer 10, for instance. You don’t want to give up Agonizing Blast by not taking Warlock 2, but you also want that extra 5th level spell slot from Sorcerer 10. This gets you a point of Dex and some useful proficiencies. Probably not optimal, but also not useless. Note: A level in Cleric in this example would get the proficiencies in armor, but you would miss the last sorcery point and the point in Dex, so still not strictly worse.
Maybe that bumps it up to “Weak” tier, or maybe it stays in F-tier, but with the caveat that it can be useful in some specific builds that are level-limited, and can’t afford to take a level in some other class.
I do appreciate that you framed it this way though; it made me think about feats in a way that I hadn’t before.
You could play a Shield Dwarf or Githyanki.
The example you named maybe isn't the best, but the argument is still valid in many cases: Spending a point in a different class has the opportunity cost of limiting how many points you can put into your current class, and it also delays your progression within this class. And yes, there are some practical cases where this is relevant.
Performer is indeed very bad, since musical instrument proficiency you can get from just helping Alfira and pass 1 or 2 easy skill checks playing her lute. Instrument proficiency is great on its own as a way to gather NPCs to steal stuff or set up the nice fight opener (with or without explosives cheese).
Heavy Armor Master, I feel like could go higher, just because odd 17 stat on character creation exists - having flat damage reduction early + full strength bonus is pretty good. Also nieche use of it as a way to negate damage from jumping off high places in combat and while exploring is nice too. But then Tavern Brawler exists...
Heavy Armour Master is a solid Feat. In Honour Mode, having Heavy Armour Master + the Adamantine Splint Armour grants you a legitimately Tanky character that pretty much means that you can beat Act II no matter what so long as you don't make silly moves.
Something that is a bit unfortunate about defensive traits, gear, consumables etc in BG3 is that a lot of the time taking them can actually cause you to take more damage in the long run. There's not really anything, even on honor mode, that can survive too long if you just go full offense. Thus going for more aggressive choices will actually be the defensive option as well.
That's just generally true about D&D
And most turn based RPGs, I always say "the best CC is death" :D
it’s pretty much always a given that killing something quickly as possible is the best way to avoid dying yourself lol
I’d agree 100%, except the radiant orb builds can be slow to kill solo but effectively turn off enemy damage
i dont realy agree that you can always just take a level in another class. multiclassing isnt free, it costs you a level in your current class. Regardless, great content as always
Not in every case but level 12 is a feat so if you pick a multi class instead of a feat once then you don't lose anything from the other class
@@maugdw Level 6 spells for alot of the caster classes tbh. And some classes like druids -really- want those level 6 spellslots.
@@1ordTakeoyou get the 6th level spells at level 11 though so the 12th level feat is still a free multiclass level if needed
Yeah taking a 1lvl dip at lvl 4 delays xtra attack and other later game class features so definitely not as simple as strictly comparing a feat to a 1 lvl dip
@@padricburke8858 but getting level 5 then multi classing is what you would do in that case
Elemental adept is really strong for the fire sorcerer build unless you're going all in with the Arsonist Oil archer spam. Since you're pretty locked into your spells other than maybe having Chain Lightning/Lightning bolt, being less useless at a few places in Act 3 is nice.
Also scorching ray and fireball spam means rolling quite a few d6s so rerolling 1s is nice.
Quick note on Great Weapon Master's bonus attack... it's better than you think. The "if there is any enemy in range" part is mostly negated since you can move, attack and continue moving. You don't have to activate the bonus attack immediately upon getting a critical hit or killing blow. You can move up to another enemy (assuming you have movement left) THEN activate GWM bonus attack.
The charger attack also prevents opportunity attacks which is pretty nice
Just a little side discussion as a DM
Heavy Armor Master would be a lot better in any campaign I run, as imo pierce/bludg/slash damage is almost always physical and not magical. Spike growth in particular I think definitely makes sense to be physical, as you're using magic to create a terrain surface that could just be around without shifting it.
You could also determine this by school of the spell too, like transmutation converts normal inert things into other inert things (most of the time), so its probably always physical. Meanwhile I'd imagine any enchantment or abjuration spell could do magical damage in these types, if that even exists.
The only other ways I think these damage types might be magical is if the attack was combined with some other element. Like if an enchanted weapon was split between pierce and something else.
I'm currently playing through the game solo as a fighter, used the athlete feat to bump the str up to 18. It's an incredible mobility boost, it often lets me jump right to safety somewhere that would have the enemies dash to reach me. And martial adept is great for battlemaster, which mine is, so I can have more manoeuvres earlier.
Although it’s a bit niche, I think the synergy of PAM with Sentinel is a really good way to negate enemy melee fighter’s turns.
Idt it's that niche, I hear this combo a lot. I haven't used it yet because even tho I'm 200 hours into the game, I'm only level 7 lol. So my fighter took gwm first. (Laezel, using sword of the astral plane)
But if I find a pole arm I want to use instead or on another character I'm going to take this combo
The last time I tried it (which was a while ago) it had the same issues with buggy movement as sentinel generally - enemies would often just enter melee range regardless of the sentinel attack. Not all the time, but enough to be really annoying.
In tabletop obviously that's a sick combo because it actually works, and if BG3 has fixed some of the glitchy movement in recent patches it's worth investigating again.
Is it really fair to say "don't take this feat, just take a level of a class that gives you the same ability and more!" ? You do miss out on your primary class's progression, after all! Even just delaying access to higher level spells or an extra attack is not trivial, imho.
Agreed, it makes sense in the assumption that you're respeccing and making a build at lvl 12, but when leveling I think it gravely underestimates class milestones, lvl 5 for example is huge on a lot of classes
I think he is basing his opinion off the generalization that feats are a more scarce resource than levels. 3 feats, 12 levels. A 11sorc/1warlock gets all the bonuses of lvl 1 warlock as well as 11 sorcerer levels. Level 1 warlock grants a warlock spell slot, refreshing on short rest, namely hellish rebuke which is an excellent spell. Hex is another excellent option for a EB build.
Meanwhile, the 12 pure sorcerer gets the 3rd feat that is promptly burnt up on getting Eldritch blast. The only other perk of 12 sorcerer is an extra spell to learn and 1 more sorcery point.
There may be some cases where taking the single multi class level would hurt a build, but I can't think of any. Ranger, Sorcerer, Paladin, Fighter... They all get their last power spike at 11, and a 3rd feat at 12.
IMO Dual Wielder is pretty niche, but a must-take on some of the strongest builds in the game. For example, a scorlock that wants to maximize chance to crit on their eldritch blasts can start making use of Dual Wielder as early as act 1 when they get the Undermountain King's Knife - a shortsword, so you need the DW feat to run it and a staff at the same time. Better to take as 2nd feat instead tbh, it's still far from S Tier, but definitely much more viable than fkin Crossbow Expert or Moderately Armored lmao
Thanks
Thanks so much for the support! I really appreciate it :D
One thing that makes me like Magic Initiate: it gives my wizard, Gale, access to the warlock spells, "Armour of Agathys" & "Eldritch Blast" while still keeping him monoclassed, for weirdos like me who prefer that, over multiclassing (e.g. for the Abjuration Wizard Tank build). ^.^
Update: Unfortunately, one quicksaved respec on Gale later, and while you *can* get those spells that way, you also aren't able to actually upcast Armour of Agathys; you only get the level 1 version of it from that feat. D:
I'd normally be against multiclassing into my playthroughs, but I'd likely make an(other) exception here, if only because one of my biggest concerns with Multiclassing is the loss of feats...but this one confirmed, in fact, to be a net loss, even with that in mind. >.
Finally, weapon master has 1 use: a dex based weapon monk that wants the +3 weapons in the game and can benefit from a half feat. There are probably a few others that can use this too, but a weapon monk is the best use case.
Good catch! I forget about weapon monks because tavern brawler is so ruinous to game balance, but that is a reasonable use case if you're in that position.
@@Cephalopocalypse Orphic hammer monk chads are great 😂 its great RP if youre a gith, and its such a good monk weapon
I had to take Dual Wielder on Minthara so she could wield both the special Drow longswords at once.
She's still a Paladin but I also had her take 1 level of Rogue so she can sneak attack with Phalar Aluve, then she has Kar'niss' longsword in her off-hand.
Dual wielding while wearing the Gloves of Belligerent Skies, the Shriek buff, and smiting means she can stack Reverberation super fast while doing very high slashing + thunder + psychic + radiant damage. Restrained targets also get poisoned by her off hand attacks.
She is also using the Helm of Arcane Acuity and in Act 3 I plan to give her the Band of the Mystic Scoundrel and go Thief Rogue so she can use Soul Branding, off-hand attacks, and/or Command as bonus actions every turn.
Paladins are so strong but i always expend most of their resources in a single fight and end up having to leave them behind for the rest of the day. This time I'm having her drink Hill Giant Strength Elixirs every day so she can go to 18 Charisma but that's a waste of elixirs for only one fight a day. So now im dedicating all my Hill Giant elixirs and Potions of Angelic Reprieve to Minthara alone. Spoiling this girl.
Here is to hoping that the next video is an illithid power tier list. I'd like to hear your thoughts on them!
Animal handling got done so dirty as a skill. It's STRICTLY useful if you're NOT using animal speaking potions as those checks tend to get replaced with persuasion and other speaking abilities.
At least it’s not Survival that almost always is irrelevant because you can choose manually use a shovel in the general area. But I agree, that is very stupid.
@@MayHugger oh i agree. survival is honestly the most poorly conceived skill in all of bg3
37:48 polearm master is incredibly useful when paired with the Sentinel feat-give them both to a fighter and plug them into a choke point between your party and the enemy and laugh out loud as they get stopped at the extreme range of your polearm user, unable to close to their melee range.
Question about Defensive Duallist.
When I read "add your proficiency" to Armour Class, I thought this meant the +2 (or +4 in later levels) AND your Weapon Proficiency Modifier (e.g 20 Dex, Finesse Weapon = +5)
So, a free Shield Spell on EVERY TURN, plus, potentially adds more to AC than the actual Shield Spell.
Even +4 to AC every turn is only 1 less than the +5 of the Shield Spell.
These thoughts all came about while trying to build a new Pact of The Blade Warlock, with the Legendary Duellists Prerogative (gives you an extra Reaction per Turn), with the permanent +3 Charisma from the Mirror of Loss (22 Charisma on Wyll).
The Defensive Duellist almost seems like a no-brainer "must have" for the Pact of The Blade in later levels.
Dual Wielder on a Magic Missile build to have an extra damage staff and Phalar Aluve equipped. Niche. Powerful.
I would probably argue about position of few feats on a list or at least give them a huge asterisk.
Savage Attacker is on the verge of S+ for Paladin by the end of the game. Sure early game GWM is better by buy the very end of the game Savage Attacker is Significantly Better than GWM (also can be used together with it for best results). I would pick it over Alert in almost every build. (Similar thing for rouge/gloom stalker builds - however they are likely to use Knife of the Undermoutain Kind which gives them part of the effect).
Dual Wielder for caster classes like Mage Warlock Druid is also on the verge of S+ tier by the end of the game. By Sacrificing one ASI we can equip second staff which completely nullifies Spell Attack Roll / Spell Save DC (ok we lose one on ability checks) but gain powerful effects granted by the endgame staffs. This is worth more than any feat listed (with exception of War Caster for Concentrating Characters).
Spell Sniper is best used on an Evocation Wizard to grab Eldritch Blast. You don’t get a good payoff until level 10 but between evo Wizards INT to damage with cantrips and if you build for it CHA to damage with Potent Robes, your evo Wizard basically turns into a massive spike damage resourceless caster. Stack the Reverberation/Radiating Orb items onto it and you have a high damage prone machine that neuters bosses or most other strong enemies.
On paper, Charger looks alright for the Fighter because they don't use bonus actions for much other than Second Wind or chugging a potion, but you can just jump really far with high strength, and the movement benefit is negated just like that.
A bear heart barb could benefit from heavy armour without losing its bonuses, also elemental adept is really only for draconic sorcerers that can’t inflict the wet condition
I think dual wielder is better than you think. Keeping Astarion with dual shortswords is FINE of course, but with dual wielder you can equip two scimitars, higher damage output. Not sure this changes its tier, but it definitely has more utility than what you bring up in the video.
I thought Astarion's limitation with scimitars was martial weapon proficiency. They are already light weapons AFAIK.
@@andrewlau6466 Scimitars are in fact light, hence why Jaheira can dual wield them
The real reason for dual wielder is wielding 2 magic staffs on a wizard or sorcerer :)
Logically Alert is OP but since many high level opponents have the equivalent its not as absurd as it seems at first when you get to Act 3. I have not always had initiative even when taking Alert.
That's true - and ironically makes it even more important! If the enemies are abusing a broken mechanic to always win initiative, we are even more priced into doing the same just to keep up
That hasn't really been my experience. I just finished a Tactician run and my characters with +7 or +8 Initiative would go first virtually every combat.
And there is a ton of gear that buffs initiative. Barbarians and Gloomstalkers get +3. Dex characters are getting up to +5. I had Gale running with +8 from a 14 dex, sentinel shield, and hellrider longbow. He always went first.
+6 Initiative characters would start to miss going first a noticeable amount of the time.
I think as long as you get your entire team +7 with or without Alert you are golden.
With a full team of characters with alert and at least decent dex, all your characters will go first in roughly 95% of the fights, and in the remaining 5% there's one boss enemy that might go before some of your characters but even then you get to go before allthe adds which makes the fight easier
The only honor mode enemy I found who could compete was cazador with +10 everything else and 7-10 initiative boost makes sure you go first.
Longtime D&D fan here. I kinda hate how the Stealth mechanic works. It's too one dimensional focused completely around vision and not at all around hearing. Personally I don't even bother with stealth unless I can stack every possible stealth bonus which includes being a Lightfoot halfling. I'd say it's an A but I'm clearly biased.
I’ve gotten decent use from Weapon Master specifically with characters that needed Finesse weapons but couldn’t use all of them or that wanted one of the two Finesse long swords in the game.
Thank you for the video. Looking forward to your attribute system one
Thanks for the fun tier list! Polearms and great weapons are not the same thing so I don't think it's a bug that Great Weapon Master doesn't effect polearms.
You forgot to factor in that Elemental Adept makes it so that you cannot roll a 1 on any damage die of the choosen element.
I still think it is not the best feat, but it deserves a bump up to Narrow.
It works especially well on your spell warlocks and they typically only end up having access to fire spells with Fire Walls and Scorching rays doing 6-10 d6 dice rolls.
The 'cant roll 1s' clause basically means you have an extra 1.5 damage dice and can guarantee to not have to worry about resistances.
You can nit-pick about exactly how you might personally rank the feats given your playstyles and strategies, but I won't. I will say your rankings, generally speaking, seem pretty solid. After four full playthroughs (two on tactician, one on honor mode) I've only used a feat you've ranked at B-tier or below once, and it was Lucky on my first playthrough on a rogue. After which I just found it sufficiently unimpactful that I never took it again :).
Adding an asterisk about specific scenarios for dual wielder sure sounds like your describing the narrow category
The reason I didn't put it there is just that if you meet all the conditions it's still a bad feat :P
@@Cephalopocalypseim going to be honest, using two staffs like charished necro and rhe legendary one as well as givibg you plus one ac is incredibly good for a caster
I love dual wielder helps get my Rouge to a 25 ac and get the abilities of the weapons 2 of them so it helps for that in my opinion .
Martial adept is not F for battle Master fighters. It gives them another superior die that scales with their finger level and more maneuvers. A for battle Master fighers, F for everyone else
I personally love crossbow expert on Astarion. Butttt I do 4 fighter, 4 rogue, 4 fighter so I get many feats lol. He’s in melee space often enough that it helps!
NB on the question of Resilient (Con) vs. War Caster, which one is better mostly depends on whether the +1 Con from Resilient would let you squeeze out a higher Con modifier in your build than you could swing without. If it is, Resilient is definitely going to give you better odds at keeping concentration (at least once you hit level 9), on top of also helping all your other Con saves and getting you a bit more HP. If you'd wind up with the same Con modifier, War Caster is generally going to preserve your concentration better, except for high-damage hits (dealing more than 30 damage), but it still could be worth taking Resilient for the broader benefits to Con saves outside of concentration.
As far as the math goes, advantage is worth just a little over +3 to your average check result: The average result on a straight 1d20 is 10.5, while the average result with advantage is 13.82. So in terms of average result, Resilient is only very slightly weaker at +3 PB and stronger than advantage once you get +4 PB, even assuming you don't end up with a higher Con modifier in a build with Resilient vs. one with War Caster. However, the comparison gets a little skewed because advantage itself skews the spread of outcomes, making lower rolls less likely than higher ones. The average result for adding proficiency is influenced by the possibility of hitting very high DCs that will rarely come up. So while mathematically the average value of advantage is only a bit more than +3, for rolls that don't often hit DCs in the upper teens or more, it's not unreasonable to estimate its value as more like +4.5 as cited in the video.
Mobile is incredibly useful in Act 3, since Steel Watchers have a very dangerous opportunity attack. Movement speed bonuses that any class can take are also super powerful.
Defensive duelist is one of those feats which you so wish was better, because it's really cool thematically for a melee finesse duelist RP but sucks so much in practice. This is because 1) It only works against melee attacks (should remain the case as it pertains to the class fantasy of a duelist fighting in melee), 2) costs a reaction, 3) only works for one attack. Of these, 3) Is the biggest reason this feat sucks. Part of this is because enemies as they level up in this game and in dnd tend to get more and more attacks in a single action, rather than super high damage single attacks, so it doesn't help your survivability that much (as opposed to things like heavy armor master). Additionally, it doesn't do anything to mitigate critical hits, the rare really high damage hits which you would want to mitigate with a defensive oriented feat.
Here's how I would homebrew the feat if I had a chance to bring it up to power with other much better feats (learning to mod atm, so stay tuned maybe).
1) This feat doesn't cost a reaction to use. Instead the feat should give you "duelist charges" = (your proficiency bonus -1) that you can use whenever applicable to make an attack miss. The duelist charges replenish every round.
2) Whenever you cause an attack to miss using a duelist charge, you can spend a reaction to make a quick swipe opportunity attack at the enemy which deals half weapon damage and can cause the enemy to become off balanced.
3) The feat reduces the attack roll not just by your proficiency bonus but rather your proficiency bonus + 1 + dex mod/2. This should give it a range of 5-8 extra "AC", depending on your dexterity at the end of the game, which should come up fairly more often than the narrow band of 4 "AC" it provides.
From my play the list seems pretty solid, especially the reasoning with some and obviously bugged out ones need a fix.
I disagree with Polearm master. Put this on a barbarian with reckless attack and They become the target of the ai due to their disadvantage. I also really like taking this with battle manoeuvres under weapon master in a multi class with barbarian as you can attack people on the way in way out and jump to your heart's content across the battlefield. Add in skin burster and you can stack up Is damage resistance.
This has been great! Doing my first play through right now and (having already taken alert as a first feat for everyone) i was wondering where to go with my next lot of feats. Sounds like ASIs are just the best thing unless you have a specific build in mind.
Great list! The only obvious item I disagree on is Magic Initiate, particularly for Cleric (Guidance, Sanctuary) and slightly for Sorc/Wiz (Shield). Though you could just take that class as a multiclass, putting it at useless is simply incorrect. I'd put it at B.
So ASI = 20% increase in Ability? +2 is 20% of +10, so if the max is +5, 20% of +5 is +1, but ASI is +2? How is it 20%?
I can’t math right now. Did anything I say make sense?
To explain this a bit better: Your bonus to hit something is determined by your stats, your proficiency bonus (which grows with character level) and the enchantment of your weapon.
At the start of the game at level 1, say you have 16 str and a non-enchanted greatsword. Your total attack bonus is +5 (3 from your 16 in strength since 10 is base, and bonuses increase every 2 ability points, and +2 from your proficiency bonus).
At the end of the game, say you took 2 ASI feats to get to 20 str, and no have a +2 greatsword. Your total attack bonus is +11 (5 from your strength modifier, 4 from your proficiency bonus and 2 from your greatsword's enchantment).
So in terms of power level, you went from having a +5 to hit to a +11 to hit, an increase of +6. An ASI is equivalent to +1 to hit, and so is roughly 15-20% of your ability to hit things in this example.
DnD is a game around dice rolls. Lucke rerolls dice. Case closed. In my opinion an amazing feat for everybody. Saves your butt and helps in dialogue. Oh, maybe you people reload the game all the time. I play the game and live with it - then lucky is just amazing.
Mobile also provides you with an extra 10ft movement speed. That's definitely worth taking into account!
@ 10:16 All my party members have at least 16 or 18 Dex and I use Astarion as Gloom Stalker Assassin. I consider Alert as a C tier feat and would *never* take it.
Defensive duellist is better than you think, disadvantage is only worth a 3.5 swing either way on a d20 roll so at level 10 the feat is more powerful, there’s also a number of ways to impose disadvantage on attackers which won’t stack with warding flare
Dual Wiels is atleast A if not S Tier it allows so many op Builds. Spell Sniper should be higher too. High crit build are insane
Heavy armour is way more useful than you stated.
Light cleric does not want to multi-class and losing caster levels as a cleric for weapon stuff isn't always desired. Also are you forgetting the typical 17 at creation? There's usually an odd stat.
Should have been placed at B, for Narrow use.
Medium armor is better than heavy armor early on straight up and with the exotic armors it maintains its lead by being able to add your entire dex modifier to your ac
@@pirate135246are you adding dex to clerics though? I usually prioritize wisdom and constitution
@@DmoneyS44 16 dex, 15 con, 16 wis. Take resilient con as one of your feats. Dex is ac and initiative, its the best stat
@@pirate135246 I usually take alert for the initiative, and take heavy armor for the AC. Maybe I am underrating Dex though, Ill have to try it out on a build and see how it turns out
Me on my way to definitely not mix sentinel with polearm master (I am mixing sentinel and polearm master, just try and stop me you can't reach me)
An incredible combo in tabletop, though BG3's somewhat buggy movement makes it not work as well as it should in this game :(
Thought on dungeon delver. Let's say your party is a darkness group. You blackhole and bring all enemies inside the circle. You then drop runes on the ground that explode. The tool tip says trap. Curious if this works to negate friendly fire.
I’d say drop ASI to A tier. It’s strong but not S tier strong. There are MANY items in the game that mess with your stats, like why waste a feat slot getting ASI for strength when I can just pop an elixir? There’s also a circlet in act 1 for intelligence, a pair of gloves for dex, etc. you can replicate ASI with items, so I say it should be A, not S
Re: Elemental Adept; something else is that even if you can't prepare your spells and such out of combat, it's completely trivial to just respec a character.
Dual wielder is my favorite. Use club of hill giant strength in off hand. Or use phallar aluve for its shriek. Staff of bless is useful for support characters as well.
I think Martial Adept could be usefull on a 2 handed level 6 Magic Knight, to give them Riposte and Precision Attack on top of Great Weapon Master (at level 4). You take Alert at level 8, and 2xASI Strenght for level 12 (to get it to 20). Then you don't use elixirs of strength but use Bloodlust or colossus (bloodlust is better). :)
I think it's a pretty solid build. :)
Too niche, I know, but it goes up from F to C.
Granted, Savage Attacker could be better for a level 6 melee fighter build (any, melee fighter build), but that doesn't mean that you couldn't find a silver lining on a feat for a different type of fighter. :)
Skilled works really well for a utility Rogue build because of their level 7 ability. It's worth keeping in mind for all you skill monkeys out there.
In defence of Magic Initiate Warlock vs taking a lovel in warlock. it seems like a pretty cool feat if taken on an Evocation Wizard. If it will make an Eldrich Blast Blast roll of your Intelligence then with Potent Cantrip at level 6 this turns out to be the strongest damaging cantrip there can be on a wizard. That is if Eldrich Blast does roll of Intelligence though... I would definitely take it on a Gale guild.
Sadly Magic Initiate's spells use the casting stat from the class you're getting them from, so MI:Warlock gives you a cha-based eldritch blast. It would be much more interesting if it didn't!
(the one exception is MI:Druid for Shillelagh, which for whatever reason uses the casting stat of the class you take the feat with as your attacking stat for Shillelagh)
@@Cephalopocalypse thank you for answering this one!) And kudos on inventive use of Shillelagh on the genious fighter and rizzadin builds. I wonder if Larian will ever patch that use of casting stat in the future...
Leaving out that elemental adept makes 1s on a damage die a 2 is absolutely diabolical.
Dual wielding was very fun for my robe caster full bard.
After taking Dual Wielder I was surprised how few good non-light one handed weapons there are.
That's why you do 2 staff because there are only a few bad staves
Bit late to the party, but you still need dual wielder to hold ANY weapon (even a light weapon) in your off hand if your main hand weapon is a staff.
A great example of why this feat is powerful is the Rhapsody dagger. Once you’ve killed 3 enemies (by any means) it gives you +3 to attack rolls, spell DC and damage, which is a massive boost from your off hand slot
Dual wielder can be super strong for clerics if they pair it with devotees mace and handmaidens mace and whispering promise, healing aura may be per long rest but for the big boss fights activating it for 10 rounds of bless, blade ward, and deathward later in the game really ups the support aspect
You’re the king of hot takes aren’t you. Selling elemental adept so short.
Consistent damage and ignoring resistance let’s you specialize heavily.
REALLY good for sorcerer and warlock, where your spell lists are locked, and your subclass is focused.
It also removes the biggest downside of fire damage allowing you to take advantage of the larger number dice innate to the class.
If you have a minor criticism to make, why are you making it so rudely? Seems counterproductive if you want to engage in a real discussion
Another great video. can't wait to hear your insights on this :)
Thanks very much!
I'll advocate for Dual Wielder. I dont necessarilly like it over ASI for a melee character, -but- using it to let Gale wield two staves, sych as melfs and spellsparker, has a huge damage potential increase, and the extra ac on a squishy never hurts. It's belongs in B.
As for Alert, i would drop it simply because elixir of vigilance does the same thing. B or C tier.
Athlete i out in trash tier, because the jump spell is free. Take an ASI or mobile and cast or drink jump. Id put it in C, its not terrible, but there are better options for the same benefit.
Cleric lawnmower is concentrating and Sanctuary removes Spirit Guardians, so War Caster is a must with that build. Using War Caster and a CON Transmutation stone makes it super hard to break their concentration. On a Cleric, ASI is never a priority unless I'm trying to play some kind of ranged caster build, but I would never use a Cleric for that. For a lawnmower Cleric, Alert > War Caster > ASI. I also wouldn't really consider Sanctuary the be-all-end-all on someone that is just concentrating on a buff either. A Sorcerer that Twinned Haste is what, just supposed to stand in a corner the rest of the right? For Honor Mode at least, this is a huge waste of action economy since Haste is nowhere near as good as it is on Tactician and below.
It might make more sense casting Sanctuary on a CC based class, but CC is mostly worthless even in Honor Mode. Then again, CC might be removed too similarly to SG. I've never actually tried it, since CC in general is a waste of turns except in very rare scenarios.
You put both Magic Initiate and Martial Adept into F Tier, but have you considered the following?
-Martial Adept: this works too if you already have superiority dice and maneuvers but just want more of them.
-Magic Initiate: These can be taken without slowing your spell level progression. If you need an important first level spell, an additional spell slot for it or the cantrips you can take them and still progress just as fast.
I actually did NOT consider taking martial adept on a battlemaster - my bad! That should probably be in C tier for that use.
I can't really think of a level 1 spell you'd want to spend a feat on casting 1/day. Maybe Bless, but if the point is to not impact your caster levels you'll hit better concentration stuff anyways. If you have an idea though I'm all ears!
@@Cephalopocalypse I know a certain wizard build that'd need Armor of Agathys, Speak with Animals could be worth it if you don't have anyone with it in your party, an extra casting of shield can be worth it, jump is an excellent mobility spell that clerics don't get (and afaik you shoud be able ritual cast your magic initiate spell), an emergency healing word on a wizard can be quite the relief...
And the two cantrips can also be quite interesting, with guidance, resistance (truestrike!) as options.
Resilient should almost be split into multiple places on the tier list because Resilient Constitution is S tier or at least near S tier, Resilient Wisdom is maybe B tier and the rest is probably C tier.
You could argue Ritual Caster should be C tier, because it is useful to have if you don't have a character that knows Longstrider.
It's a little niche but worth noting that the synergy of GWM, Polarm Master, and Sentinel is actually really strong from personal experience.
When this was recorded it was pretty buggy - they've since cleaned up the movement a lot to allow that combo to function much better!
@@Cephalopocalypse That is honestly fair. I appreciate the response!
Durable feat combo nice with song of rest, your barbarian gets healed to full by your bardlock while refreshing your warlock slots
Not saying it S teir but i consider it at least narrow
Bro your videos are invaluable!! You've helped me conquer this game!! Thank you!!! 💪💪💪💯
I think Dual Wielder is at least a B tier feat. It depends on the build that you’re making. I find it works best on mages; either for dual wielding staves or on a cleric gish build. I wouldn’t say it’s weak. I’d say its uses are narrow and build dependent.
Alert is the feat I find myself pretty much always dropping from builds. ASI to get primary stat up to max, and sharpshooter/GWM are infinitely more valuable to me.
I don't get the argument 'just take a level in that class''. If you take a level in some class (instead of Magic initiate f.e.) it means you are not getting level in another ('main') class. Less spell progression, later main class features, etc.
It's becomes more valuable the the more imprtant of an enemy you're targeting. For example, if you need an 18 or higher to hit a target, increasing your attack means now a 17 works. Before you had three results that would do damage, now you have four. A relative improvement of 33%.
Also, ability scores govern other things in addition to attack rolls. The different skill checks and saving throws, your carry weight capacity for strength, significant HP buffs with constitution, and the number of prepared spells for Prepared Spell Casters.
I’m going to disagree with mage slayer’s ranking. The play with it is having your fighter or barbarian immediately jump into the back line and stand next to the enemy caster. Because the game has enemy caster cast in melee range, it procs at least once per fight against casters. At high levels, those enemy spells are often save or suck for you (confusion, fear, or hypnotic pattern). Because the enemy is forced to immediately make a CON save, the given spell usually won’t take effect, even if your party failed the saves. It’s basically a more reliable counterspell that only costs a reaction that you wanted to use to attack anyway.
What casters? This game barely has any. Not worth a feat.
Magic Initiate: Druid is the best one because you only want the spell Goodberry and nothing else about the class. Pairs best with a life cleric as the healing bonus triggers when you eat a goodberry. Maybe just that one could be bumped up just one tier as potions are still prevalent enough to make this combo unnecessary.
The only slight divergence I’d have is with weird ass build some of them can help. Like wonky stuff.
Using Shield Master and Defense for two characters combining with shields , gear and other buffs and they are barely getting hit at all whilst doing consistent damage playing on tactician and just causing havoc for my enemies
I'm still mildly irritated with the changes they made limiting Crossbow Expert and War Caster. I have a tabletop warlock that I play like John Wick: up close and personal with a gun, I mean Eldritch Blast
I think polearm master should be narrow. I've had some mild success with an eldritch knight with polearm master and sentinel with the ability to cast compelled dual. Even if they don't for some reason attack you, they will at least get disadvantage on another ally. Splash in 3 levels of thief for sneak attack and an extra bonus action, it can be pretty spicy. It also needs to be said that this combo does very well in solo runs though ill admit lockadin darkness shinnanigans are better lol.
The only use I have for durable is on a camp npc that is casting warding bond on the tank. It's not a great use, but you don't want that npc to die and lose warding bond
Great Weapon Master can work really well if you have a certain AoE weapon if playing an Oath of Ancients. Can't remember the handle of the guy who shared that oddly specific build for honor mode, but damn. X3
Could you please consider making a subclass tier list?
Resilient's most common use is proficiency in all saves with no items. Ranger, Gloomstalker Iron Mind, Resilient Charisma, Transmuter's Stone. Multiclassing doesn't give you proficiency.
A paladin with heavy armor and a shield has AC around 20-24 endgame with no other buffs considered. If you use them to cast bless then war caster would be an instance where you would rather have that over sanctuary
You aren’t really casting bless in late game and most paladins are gonna be using a 2 hander with savage attacker and or great weapon master. War caster is too high on this list, you can get advantage on con saving throws through items easily
@@pirate135246why wouldn’t you be concentrating on bless if making use of great weapon master? Paladin concentrating on something else?