How To Be An OVERPOWERED Cleric At EVERY LEVEL In Baldur's Gate 3 (Ultimate Cleric 1-12 Guide)
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2024
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In this video we go over Baldur's Gate 3 potentially strongest class: the Cleric. We go over how to be an overpowered Cleric at every level, whether it's 1, 5, 8 or 12. We discuss spells, spell selections, leveling strategy, synergies, best gear, best items and just in general how to play a (Tempest) Cleric and be successful in Baldur's Gate 3.
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Thanks for watching guys, hope you liked the video!
What class would you like to see next?
Something with Bard or Paladin! Love ur vids bro!
waiting for the druid build!!
Trevor Belmont from Castlevania. I'm thinking Fighter/Monk. So far I'm liking it, but your expertise is always welcome oh wise one. :D
Fighter!
Druid of spore :D
Character Creation:
Class - Cleric
Cantrips - Produce Flame, Guidance, Sacred Flame
Subclass - Tempest Domain
Abilities - 16(15+1)/10/15/8/16(14+2)/8
Level 2:
Guiding Bolt, Healing Word, Inflict Wounds, Bless, Create or Destroy Water
Level 3:
Spiritual Weapon
Level 4:
Cantrip - Blade Wade
Spell - Aid
Feat - Resilient > Resilient: Constitution
Level 5:
Spirit Guardians
Level 6:
Revivify
Level 7:
Death Ward
Swap Inflict Wounds for Mass Healing Word
Level 8:
Guardian of Faith
Feat - Ability Improvement > 2 Wisdom
Level 9:
Greater Restoration, Mass Cure Wounds
Level 10:
Cantrip > Resistance
Any spell (Will swap it for Hero Feast/Planar Ally at level 11)
Level 11:
Heroes Feast
Planar Ally
Level 12:
Spells - Heal
Feat - Ability Improvement > 2 Wisdom
God bless you good sir
Thanks
Goat
ty goat
What did you pick for Background ?
I don't think cleric is underpicked, it's just that everyone like romancing shadowheart so nobody picks cleric as TAV :). Btw War caster might be a better alternative than resilient due to the low levels at which we play and the free shocking graps as a reaction.
I was about to post this very thing. I always respec Shadowheart to a different subclass but I always have her in my party. Clerics can do decent damage and make excellent tanks.
That’s what I think. A lot of people in clips use Shadowheart. So why make one? I tried double cleric out as a start and that’s just a bad idea. I can see double cleric being great late game, but you still lack big punishment numbers for one single target.
This is so true. Everyone is jumping on dumb-wagon with that post... two things matter. One is everyone wants shadowheart in their playthrough so they didn't take cleric. And cleric does not make the best party-face (but paladin does with charisma). Paladin + cleric shadowheart can pretty much own most stuff on balanced.
I was also going to say that.
duuh
Part of it could be that Shadowheart is (one of) the most obvious companions to pick. You get her early on, she can go with any allignment, she's pretty well-stat'ed. So unless you're absolutely dedicated to a chaotic-asshat playthrough there's no reason not to have her in the party
There's the most obvious reason not to have her around, which is: she's just soooo annoyin lol
@@LuizH.Lady SHart. But atleast is better than Lazael.
@@LuizH.take that back! But I get she is kind of generic if you aren’t into that, but damn is she actually OP.
Basically this, I will likely never make a party w/o Shdowheart.
@@isaacgarcia9234 Couldn't be more wrong. Lae'zel is the best companion.
Because someone already wrote out Character Creation, I'll just do gear. Possible spoilers, obviously.
Act 1
> Hellrider's Pride gloves. Reward for quest "Investigate Kagha" from Zevlor in the grove.
> Boots of Aid and Comfort. Sold by Grat the Trader in the Goblin Camp.
> Blood of Lathander mace. Found in Crèche Y'llek, unlocked by following the Find the Blood of Lathander quest.
> The Whispering Promise ring. Sold, or stolen from, by Volo while in the grove.
> Luminous Armour Found in a locked and trapped Opulent Chest in the Selûnite Outpost area of the Underdark X: 176 Y: -247.
The chest is behind a hidden door revealed by a Perception check, or it can be accessed by jumping from the room with the waypoint.
Act 2
> Callous Glow Ring. Inside an Opulent Chest in the vault room near Balthazar, inside the Gauntlet of Shar. Pretty sure it has a high DC check.
Act 3
> Cloak of Displacement. Sold by the trader Entharl Danthelon in Danthelon's Dancing Axe in Wyrm's Crossing.
> Amulet of the Devout. Looted from the main Offering Chest in the basement of Stormshore Tabernacle in Lower City. Enter the Ornate Wooden Hatch at X: 105 Y: -26.
> Helm of Balduran. Found on an altar X: 636 Y: -964 next to Ansur in the The Dragon's Sanctum.
> The Reviving Hands. Bought from Vicar Humbletoes in Stormshore Tabernacle, Lower City.
> Viconia's Walking Fortress shield. Looted from Viconia DeVir during the quest Daughter of Darkness.
The motive why paladins , sorcerer , and warlocks are first is because they are the charisma class that you use to talk .
90% of the time you main character is selected and if you enter an area an talk that is the one that is selected.
And paladin because he is the tank and he will be front line if you go first and get surprised in a dialogue section then a fight.
My favourite classes are all non-charisma classes and it sucks lmao. I really want a mod that makes other classes, casters, optionally, charisma based.
@@igggaming9871yeah I started with wizard cause I have 0 D&D knowledge. To be honest, the difficulty makes it more fun or atleast i am enjoying it. So does all my failed charisma checks lol, things go south so often it's hilarious. And every success is surprise in itself. 😂
My paladin/cleric only runs 8 charisma. I picked paladin for reaction smite charisma be damned
Reality : people picks Paladin because big sword goes boom boom with Divine Smite
@@igggaming9871 Consider taking one level in Rogue and putting an expertise in Persuasion. That will greatly help offset low charisma.
If you want to turn that up to eleven, make the other expertise intimidation, then take the actor feat for free proficiency and expertise in deception and performance.
But Persuasion itself should be enough.
I think the fact that you showed this on Shadowheart shows why Cleric is the least picked origin class. There is little reason to choose Cleric yourself when you get an amazing character right from the start that is already a Cleric and most people see Cleric as a role which you only need one of.
Me who respec all my characters to clerics 😅
shadowhearts literally the worst domain of cleric there is in the game, and her starting stats are less than desirable.
@@aylictal Still you can respect her like 1 hour in game
@@12345678966666666661 yeah but the ops point was that you 'get a great cleric out the gate' which isn't the case. just because you can make anyone a cleric isn't the point.
@@aylictal At "out of the gate level", you don't get much difference between each domains of cleric as you don't have access to heavy armor or most martial weapons and most level 1-2 cleric buff aren't that amazing yet (except maybe light...)
Soooo yeah. The point still stand : you have a great, not perfect, cleric out of the gate and you shouldn't feel the difference before the moment you can respec her if you want. If you do, you're just being unnecessarly picky, oh and most (all?) the origins characters don't have perfect starting stats but versatiles ones, because they don't want to confide newers players who don't know DnD to a specific playstyle... but I guess that's the kind of fact you couldn't even manage to process by yourself as most of the others characters are SAD classes and don't require to be "as specialized" if they want to be strong as cleric.
Plus trickery cleric by itself may not be that great, but it's a good subclass for multiclassing. Try it with 3 to 5 level in cleric and with, for exemple, Thief and/or Ranger, for exemple. Congrats, you know have a magical assassin who can dish out less first turn damage than the gloom stalker/assassin, but still pretty reliable damages overall. You may want to build a dex based cleric tho'. It may not be the most optimal set up, but it's still pretty strong, versatile and can still get the job done. Oh, and with the Exotic material armor, you can also be on of the best tank in the game, considering what spells trickery gives already at level 3. (Nb: you can still make the Gloom stalker / Assassin build with it, but I'm not sure that would be really that efficient...)
Im actually really enjoying playing shadowheart as an origin character,its a totally unique experience the narrator puts you inside her head and you really start to understand her.
Cleric is underpicked as a PLAYER character - BECAUSE you have Shadowheart who is already a cleric and rather well liked companion. There is little point to pick cleric yourself, and unlike some other classes - multiple clerics are not exactly adding much to the table, like say... barbarians throwing each other around.
And Paladins, Sorcerers and Warlocks rule the day because they are charisma classes who are also good at combat. So you are not missing on dialogue options, and you are not gimped in encounters.
Rogues and Bards are skillmonkeys with insane amounts of versatility to them, so they are also relatively high.
I agree with your statement but: its because player play BG3 as most rpg, despite most class have special dialogue option, making them as good as the other one.
double warding bound+heavy armor specialist make for a super strong front line, a spell not mention in this video.
gityanky have an additional god selection possible, with some unique dialogue option.
Two clerics just chew through the undead plus I use a lot of healing spells.
Respecc Shadowheart into C1/R5/Monk6, and she kicks ass plus it fits even better to her background: She had hard training like associated with monks, she is only an initiate Cleric of Shar, and she was chosen to steal something, which explains her training as a rogue. And now there´s room for Tav being a full Thor, ahem, Cleric.
@@falkenherz1708 in vikonias place, you learn the composition of the team to retraive the artefact. as mention in it, shadowhearth was the team healer (even tho she break some teeth during her training)
but i think ranger suit her best than rogue, since she love animals. (just dont invoque a wolf :p)
but from all my playthrough and testing, around 300h, cleric is a very strong class.
I hate her as a companion but deal with it for the heals.
Instead of Inflict Wounds, I go with Command. Command is such a powerful spell that benefits the party as a whole, especially in the early game when it's beneficial to stop an Ogre from one shotting your teammates.
Plus, with save scumming, it's the most reliable way to get the Everburn Blade off the commander early on.
@@Kytseolol I love save scumming tho I int proud of it 😭😭
I feel like one of the last gamers that doesn't save scum, doesn't cheat and generally plays blind. Congratufuckinglations, I know.
@@thepancakemann respectable
I agree that Shadowheart is the main reason people don't pick cleric.
Also Nature is amazing as you get heavy armor and access to spike growth. That's a fantasic spell you can use when not using Spirit guardians.
Clerics are pretty awesome. I had shadowheart as a life cleric in my group pretty much the entire game. The heals were insane, especially with good gear, and having her summon Djinn and spirit guardian made her exceptionally valuable
ALWAYS respect the healer!
You want to be necromancer, cleric. You want to be healer, cleric. You want to be a tank, cleric. You want to be damage dealer, cleric.
I actually did a sorta tank/healer/cleric i mean it worked :')
What battle strategy would u use
@@urfavartist79 Light cleric 6 then multi-class to Shadow monk 6. Teleport and fireball:)).
This man just made me start a cleric playthrough with one utube video, what a champ
Great video, these are some tactics I didn't know. One minor suggestion: Clerics can respec spells at any time, just like Druids, and they get access to their whole spell list for a level once they unlock that level of spells. Unlike Bards, Sorcerors, or Warlocks (who need to select at level up) or Wizards (who can select at level up or scribe from scrolls). So if you need to swap out, you've got all the options, all the time (outside of combat), without any fear of picking the wrong spell and getting locked in.
I love my Wizard pairing with the Clerics so much omg ❤❤❤
Except for your cantrips
I have watched many BG3 build videos and I gotta say, yours are definitely the best! Thank you.
its underplayed because we have Shadowheart
Ah Shadowheart the blind. She can never hit her target in any of my runs.
Shadowmiss
@@zacheryduerksen6371yeah her starting stats have to be reallocated to hit anything lol
Fr@@dalmnationtwitch7931
@@zacheryduerksen6371 get one level of druid for shillelagh and use quarterstaff and shield with the war spec. Congrats, you got another tank, a decent dmg dealer and an amazing support. No need to put points on dex so feel free to buff your constitution
Tip on bless: Always include your cleric into the spell. Set one of your damage dealers aside, if your casting it without upcast. Why? Concentration saving throws. As Bless gives 1d4 to ST, it is best to increase your chances of holding concentration the greedily risking it for a little more damage. Actually, considering clerics can actually slap some nice damage here and then, you're not exactly losing anything by buffing them.
My first playthrough was: Warrior, Sorcerer, Thief and Cleric. Seemed the most balanced in general, although a pure Thief is probably the worst class in the game and they are better off multiclassing. My current playthrough is using: Paladin/Warlock, Bard/Warlock (Astarion that can do all Thieving abilities with ease), Sorcerer/Warlock and a Gale as a Necromancer. The only thing I'm actually missing is having easy access to Bless outside of a once per long rest use.
The staff of Arcane Blessing changes the Bless spell to also apply "Mystra's Blessing", which does everything normal Bless does while also adding additional bonus to spell attack rolls, and most importantly doesn't require concentration. You can even cast it before combat and then switch to another weapon.
@@castarritt Switching to another weapon uses your action, and besides that, it's a long rest only spell, which makes it not great other than one big fight at a time vs normal Bless.
If your point was only that the buff remains when swapping out, yeah, there's that. The rules regarding buffs staying or leaving when you swap items isn't very consistent.
@@Neonmirrorblack You can cast normal Bless as a cleric spell and still proc the Mystra's Blessing while the staff is equipped, and you can do this and swap out to your other weapon before entering combat so it doesn't cost you an action. For bonus points, cast a long duration concentration spell like Spirit Guardians before starting the combat encounter as well.
TY!! 2:17 i needed to pause and post this one.
> *Tempest Celeric & Paladin* combined with for example:
*"Gloves of Belligerent Skies"* > Thunderous Conversion: When the wearer deals Thunder Damage, *Lightning Damage, or Radiant Damage,* inflict *2 turns of Reverberation* upon the target(s).
> *Reverberation:* Affected entity has a -1 penalty to Strength, Dexterity, and saving throw per remaining turn.
When the entity *has 4 or more turns of Reverberation,* it takes *1~4damage Thunder damage* and possibly falls *"prone"*
IF you dun see it:
> Lightning Dmg = 1x 2 Rounds
> Radiant Dmg = 1x 2 Rounds
> = Instant 4x Rounds = Instant falls prone
If your Tempest Paladin is standing with his *"Boots of The Watersparkers"* Electrify Water: When the wearer *stands in water during combat, it becomes electrified.*
> Watersparks: If the wearer starts their turn on an electrified surface, they gain *3 Lightning Charges.*
So your Tempest Paladin, standing in a huge pool of water, with all hi auras,...has his *"Spirit Guardians"* on,..which does *Radiant Dmg* and there are foes "trying" to jump from outside electro-water to the paladin,...
> They get hit bei AoE Radiant Dmg from Spirit Guardians and then get electro Dmg bc...there is everywhere water,...
> They get just like that passive 2 times dmg from 2 sources, which then also drops them falt down on earth so you can hit them save and weakend with Advantages like flys.
You can also cast Lvl6 Water,... then freez all,..then water back frozen area BUT only with a Lvl2/3 AoE which now means,..enemies have first to pass outer slippery slip ice outscourt then inside oass electro-water.
> In one of your feats you simple use *"Anti-Resistances "* Feat vs Electro-Dmg so NEVER dealing 0 dmg or can not instant stack 4 rounds to any foe.
> I used Race Dragon > Blue (Broze) Dragon, to gain already 50% electro resistance. And with the Ring *"The Sparkswall"* which gives you another 50% resistance vs Electro
> *"Blade Ward"* works perfectly with Paladins Aura reducing dmg...2x "half dmg" perk and 1x "half dmg from spells" ...yaaa kinda.. OP
> And then we bind this Tempest Celeric/Paladin with our Celeric of the Light Domain with Wizard Abjuration School, with *"Protecting Band/Ward"* to add all resistances, increasing AC (Armor Class by +1 and above) and add advantages to saving throws,..now let just one on team buff your tempest Paladin with size increase,... and ended up smt with AC 32 haha. And sine _"in this setup"_ we have 2x Celerics... we can use *"Protecting Band/Ward"* on all 4 team members,...
You see,... *IT IS* insanly great to have *TWO* Celerics within the team ;)
So Tempest Celeric/Paladin, with all his *Auras* and creating with *water skill* (which imo is the stronges element since it can be transformed into 3 forms: water, ice (solid ground) & gas! ... and then back to water)
> Your Char is a untouchable sitting electro-water Duck, throwing anything trying reach him back into the electro-water-pool and leave them fk'ing prone to your feets with doing simple,..nothing but standing still ^^
> If you get a Celeric of *Light Domain* with Wizard SubClass *"Abjuration School"* .. you get the best *"Anti-Spell"* breaker/caster ingame...STOPING casters from doing ANYTHING to you oor your paladin xD
You can Even *stack* Abjuration School into one more of your teams chars and you simple get a Anti-Magic Team,..which allows foes only to atack with melee or wasting each round, which makes your Tempest Paladin simple,..untouchable ^^
PS: You can make with *"water"* skill even a melee range cast "Electro Hands" to a huge *AoE range Damage Spell* !! So dun sleep on NOT using water skill,... USE IT ^^
I honestly think Cleric is primarily unpopular because everyone pretty much plays with Shadowheart in their party.
Druids are better so shes basically useless after you get halsin and jaheira
@@sixgm227 You can respec her to druid, before you meet either of them. She is a better character that gets your better gear through her story.
@sixgm227 druids are just tankier, I prefer cleric spells overall, nothing beats planar ally
If you are not really going that far into the Lightning damage route, and prfering this kind of playstyle, i would recommend picking light domain, which is really slept on!
light > tempest IMO.
Yeah, you get the lightning reactions as tempest, but fireball is just too good. Warding flare is greater utility over pushback.
Slap Elemental adapt -> fire on.
Lightning and thunder look cooler than fire and radiant @@XaadeTheBlade
1. Remove points from STR and move them into DEX. Cleric must go before other party members in order to bless them. 16 str is bonkers, just use cantrips instead.
2. Clerics need a lot of long rests as they spend 2 spell slots per round, so you should prepare accordingly.
can you just send shadow heart to camp and then reinvite her back to reset long rest requirement
just bless before the fight
That's a reasonably strategy, but STR has its advantages in BG3 too. Being able to shove well and jump far are things that are useful, especially if no one else in your party can do that.
@@lufasumafalu5069no, you have to actually LR
This guy gets it. When I played tabletop D&D with my buds, we were all new and used the essentials kit, which only offered 5 classes, of which I picked Cleric, not knowing just how potent it was. Now 15 sessions in at Level 5, my Light Cleric is a war machine of destruction. Radiance of the Dawn nukes everyone with every Channel Divinity charge. The vast amount of spells prepared is extremely useful. I've avoided a TPK more than once with Healing Word / Aid. My AC was 18 from level 1 (Scale Mail + 14 DEX + Shield). Warding Flare has saved my ass many a time.
An in Baldur's Gate 3? Warding Flare got massively buffed - you can use it as much as you want, so long as you have a reaction, and you can trigger it AFTER an attack would otherwise hit (by comparison, Warding Flare is donkey shit in 5e). And Spirit Guardians is just unbelievable. It's an outstanding spell in 5e, and they buffed the ever living hell out of it in BG3. Instead of only dealing damage to enemies that enter the aura or start their turn in it, it now ALSO (on TOP) triggers every time you RUN INTO an enemy with the aura. Can't put into words just how beyond busted this is. They took a powerful class with a lot of variety and turned them into machines in BG3. They're almost too good, probably ARE too good thanks to Spirit Guardians.
Just be glad they didn't give us a dodge mechanic. Clerics would just run around with spirit guardians up, then when out of movement, do their 1 or 2 attacks and use dodge as a bonus action to become harder to hit on the enemy's turn 😂😂😂
Everyone thought the Twilight & Peace Clerics were busted as hell I'd love to see them in BG3. 😂 I'm so glad my favorite class is even better in BG3.
Shadowheart is the only companion that has been in my party all the time, she has carried me and even finished fights as the only character left standing. I've not respecced her, she remains a trickster subclass, she is tanky, does decent melee damage, dps, healing, and once she can summon planar beings she's a one woman army.
Level 1 wizard/Level 11 Cleric with the 17 intellect helm is awesome. Learn all the spells you want from scrolls and lets you summon minor/greater elementals along with your planar ally and guardian of faith. Also, it let's you learn stuff like lightning bolt/chain lightning which is awesome with your destructive wrath. So much more versatility for the cost of a feat/head slot.
Yeah not a bad trade off as the only thing you lose is one feat. If you have war castor and con resilience , that's pretty much all you need. Alternatively just use them to max out WIS. This allows you to have a one caster to do it all so you can fill out your party with more muscle or vanity builds without feeling so much crunch. Lets be honest though, you don't even really need INT boosts. The only spell we care about is Ice Storm and it comes on Tempest Domain Clerics standard always preped. The rest of the stuff we want from wizard is like, long-strider, gaseous form, fly, invisibility etc etc. All the utility stuff that the stat really doesn't matter.
as someone who has always cherished healer playstyles in video games, its so nice to finally have options on how to spec a healer class. really blows restoration as a valid school of magic out the water, i finally have a party to HEAL...
ugh i cant express how satisfying that is to see outside of mmos
The editing quality and the information of your build video are trully amazing ! Every time i learn a lot, thank you for your great job !!! :))
Warlock: I cast eldritch blast. Dwarf war cleric: I cast a warhammer in your phase.
I swear the way you laid out the information would have me hyped about white bread
I disagree with the resilient feat at 4, there are so many that are a much better choice. I would go with War Caster, the best thing you can do as a cleric is keep spirit guardians up and running. Good video other than that one and this is only in my own opinion, it doesn't mean i'm right, it is just what I think.
Many people want to use Shadowheart on their team, so don't play as clerics themselves.
This is good but I would do two things differently:
1. Dump strength for something else, probably dex. You don't need to build for strength when hill giant strength elixir's exist and you can buy them every long rest. Thats 21 strength without a single point invested. Later on there is an elixir that gives 27! You can start out with strength and re spec later once you've found the merchant that sells the elixir (she's in the underdark)
2. Warcaster instead of Resilient. Advantage on concentration saves is just better and you get a shocking grasp reaction that synergizes with your tempest subclass.
Everyone who has played some 5e knows that Cleric is very strong - arguably the best spelcaster.
My first playthrough I went War domain Cleric. Since I had heavy armor I could get away with 10 dexterity and intelligence was a dump stat. This gave me enough stat points to get 14 charisma while stil having 15 strength to wear plate and max wisdom. Either I or Shadowheart was giving guidance and the other had thaumaturgy, which gives you advantage on intimidation and performance checks so I put an proficiency point into persuasion.
That was more than enough to pass any dialog option in the game. You don't need crushing bunuses to dialog options to pass checks, you just need to pass them.
Shadowheart I respec'd to have high dexterity since she wasn't going to be using heavy armor. A level into Rogue gave her expertise in sleight of hand so I didn't have Asterion's constant disapproval for not being an asshole to people.
Having two Clerics made a mockery of every combat encounter. That's double the spirit guardians, double the spiritual weapons and double the guardians of faith.
My other party members were Karlach for when I needed something dead right that second and Gale as a Divination Wizard to constantly change dice rolls.
At lvl10 you can get Devotee’s Mace (or use a hireling to get it, to save Divine Intervention) which heals every turn without requiring concentration.
Works extremely well with The Whispering Promise
Never thought about this,lol😂😂😂😂.
While all of this is true, the *problem* with Cleric is that it is so gods damn SLOW. Because of the focus on STR, WIS, and CON, DEX suffers and so does initiative order, meaning most things are DEAD by the time the cleric gets its turn (if it even gets enough movement to run into the battle on its first turn, which it doesn't).
So just use the strength elixir that puts you at 21 str and dump str for dex. There's actually no reason to increase your strength in this game since you can just keep re buying that elixir and it lasts until long rest.
Your builds are the best man, in depth detail and sick editing, been using ur last two builds and having a blast, cant wait to put this on my shadow heart
Wouldn't it be better to give a cleric in MEDIUM armor instead of 16 strength - 12 strength and 14 dexterity? Is it so important that a cleric hits a little harder with his hands than that he has a higher armor class, higher initiative and higher shooting?
And does the resilience in the constitution give more concentration protection than the combat spellcaster ability?
Remember Christian Bale in "Equilibrium"? If not, check it out. He's an all powerful sigma Cleric in that one.
This guide is really well made, easy to understand and in depth as well.
Much appreciated for the guide.
Thing is, most people who play BG3 do not play DnD. Those of us who play DnD know how overpowered Clerics are. Not to mention they have the most powerful subclass in all of DnD. Twilight Domain. Even though that subclass is never getting added into BG3, they still have Light, Life and Tempest. All S tier subclasses. Most people who play this game are clueless when it comes to Clerics.
Cleric is so nice, I played it twice. Cleric+Bard hybrid is amazing tank+support+healer with x2 fighters and a warlock in a team. This class has so many builds, and your Cleric build looks very interesting and fun
It really is because you already have shadowheart though. Clerics aren't misunderstood people just think you you already have one.
Excellent guide again! I totally agree with you on almost every point. Just a small thing, if I read it correctly the ring only gives bless to the caster of the healing spell, so it doesnt really replace thz bless spell in your list, which you might rather want to cast on the other party members. I also always thought the trickery domain was the worst, may be I will respec Shadowheart in another domain. I didnt want to change her completely for RP reasons but I think just changing her domain still fits her story.
The rings tooltip is wrong. It gives to anyone you heal not to caster.
It gives 2 turn bless to everyone getting healed by the wearer. Using it on my paladin
Combine it with hellriders gloves (2 turns of bladeward) and other on heal effects. Use Sorrow (or dualwielding handcrossbows) for a bonus action potion break. And you've got a nice combo for support using only your bonus action and a potion to buff people :-)@@vacuuz
Real DND players know how powerful clerics are. Newbies to the system think clerics are final fantasy white mages. Clerics are the second-best front liners up until 5e where they fall to 3rd or 4th depending on subclass.
if i remember it correctly, both BG1&2, NWN1&2, PF:KM, PF:WOTR, PoE1&2, meaning since AD&D, cleric have been one of the most powerful class. So i in fact kinda shocked at the time i read it from larians post saying cleric being the least popular class in BG3 >)
My guess as to why people don't pick Cleric that much is because most people will just have Shadowheart in the party. Especially with how we can simply respec for a mere 100G at Withers you can even get rid of the Trickery stuff and turn her into a veritable healing machine by picking the Life domain if you want (which also matches up nicely if you make certain choices for Shadowheart throughout her personal quest). I gave my Shadowheart all those healing items (rings, armor, etc) and now every time she heals; she also applies Blade Ward, removes poisons, and more. So in addition to healing she also cleanses and buffs.
So yeah, I can see why very few people pick Cleric as you don't really need two Clerics in a party. As such I suspect that a lot of players would choose to go Paladin instead and simply take Shadowheart as their healer if they feel they need more healing than a Paladin can provide. 😉
Not only that, but people want their main character to have high CHA like the Paladin/Warlock/Bard/Sorcerer so they can have a better chance at persuasion/intimidation rolls in dialogue. A Wis based class like the cleric can't get high CHA since they are already multiple ability dependent (MAD) via Str, Con, and Wis. Everything they have left has to go to Dex so they aren't getting hit as often as they are melee characters when not casting spells.
@@davidcrawford5324 Yeah, that plays a very big part too. In my game I have 2 custom characters (Paladin and Ranger) plus 2 NPCs but my Paladin is always the one talking (while my Ranger is sneaking around and robbing the place). 🙂
Counterpoint to that, get both Spirit Guardians (a better AoE than Fireball) and Bless (one of the best combat buffs, mathematically) at once, or can trade in one for Hold Person, as well as two Spiritual Weapons.
idk but imo the only reason cleric is so under played, by the Avatar, is that Shadowheart exist and everyone loves Shadowheart so she is just their cleric, I know she's my cleric =P
I did dark urge 10/2 Tempest/oathbreaker paladin. Thunderous Smite + Divine smite with the double damage and guaranteed crit from variety of different abilities. Basically let's you one shot anything you want in the game. It is also a very strong frontline character and you can heal, buff, do massive aoe dmg with it. I enjoyed it very much.
That guy just threw a water bottle at me. What a wierdo.
Was there supposed to be thunder in the forecast?
Bzzzzzzzzt!
This is the way. Pala/tempest goes brrrr.
For those who don’t play dnd, Cleric is infamously one of the most powerful class pre lvl 11, the only complaint people have about the class is that they’re higher level spells lack impact, but due to the level 12 cap this isn’t a issue.
Spells like: guiding bolt, inflict wounds, healing word, spiritual weapon and the BIG gun that is spiritual guardians.
Due to the lack of spell restrictions in the game cleric are even more impactful, playing a melee, high ac cleric with heavy armor and war caster is probably one of the best play styles in early bg3.
There is an argument for war caster before resilient (constitution) due to advantage on the concentration check giving 4.5 on average. Resilient won’t catch up to that with the level cap, both getting both is definitely powerful on casters, war caster first. But the counter argument is that there is an abundance of CON save spells and traps that are sent towards your party which war caster doesn’t affect, but cause of how short rest work I think those have less of an impact.
Cleric(or priest/healer) has been underplayed in single player crpg's since dawn of time. Its not bg3 specific. Its just thematically players tend to pivot towards a "carry" class that can solo the game or at least be the star of the party.
That being said clerics in dnd are a bit misunderstood, those choirboys can blast and murder with the best of them and are overall the most versatile class in this system.
It's mostly because of Shadowheart.
I played Healer/Battlemage in DA:O and I almost always played a Healer in MMOs.
I think a big reason for the lack of PC Clerics is 1. Shadowheart and 2. Talking is way more important in this game and Paladin is the most versatile class to do that with.
I would blame some games like WoW to where priest classes did nothing but heal.
One big reason Cleric is always under-represented is that so many people have the entirely wrong pre-conception that "clerics are the healer class and I don't want to be the boring healer"
Clerics _can_ be _a_ healer, but they very much don't have to be. In fact, Clerics are one of the most versatile classes, and Druids and Bards can also be quite good healers.
Yes, Life clerics heal, but Light or Tempest clerics do big spellcasting damage, War is big melee smashy, Nature or Knowledge have a lot of CC; and these are just the BG3 domains, in full 5e or One there's a bunch more domains.
Excellent build! I have Shadowheart as a light cleric and myself as a tempest cleric. We absolutely wrecked Act1
Cleric has been one of my fav. Light domain build or Life Doman build. It’s just so good as a support overall
Literally every person who has ever played ANY rendition of Dungeons and Dragons walked into this know that clerics were going to be game breakingly good.
Well, is not as if they are the broken class since 2e right? I even had a DM tell me: "If you cleric, you the target of any and all enemies with INT 6 or more" Hahaha
BEST CLERIC BUILD... Add just one level of wizard, and you can then cast ALL wizard spells that you can learn from scrolls, including level 6 spells, AND still have the full range of cleric spells. Combined with tempest domain you'll be able to maximize spells like Chain lightning and such. Just make sure to pick up the headband of intellect. This trick works well with the Druid and Bard classes too. Sorcerers benefit by gaining access to their full range of spells.
P.S. If you're willing to give up 6th lvl cleric spells (but still be able to cast 6th lvl wizard spells), starting your build with a single level of fighter gives you proficiency in Constitution saves which will make it much harder to interrupt concentration spells. Also, while having a shield equipped and taking the "Protection" fighting style as a 1st lvl fighter, you have the huge benefit of using a reaction to create disadvantage for attacks against members of your team you're standing next to. It's Very powerful.
From playing a Pally in a team, the MVPs in the game are the Rogue and the Cleric (Astarion and Shadowheart). They are passing checks, stealing sh*t and disarming traps and saving the party, meanwhile I'm here just wacking stuff with a sharp stick.
Yep, my pally misses attacks sometimes too and it frustrates the crap out of me. Meanwhile Astarion out of stealth one shots with his bow
Who knew clerics were that powerful? Anyone that's played D&D table top as a cleric, that's who. Well that's if your with a party that knows what they are doing, and don't need constant healing.
I really love how balanced the classes are in this BG, in the other 2 there's some imbalance in some classes that made the game a little harder when you choose them
But in this one it's really a matter of choosing what you like and going to play, it'll work!
Don't feel pressed to choose the OVERPOWER MEGA SUPER BUILD that someone says to you to play, play what you like and have fun with it
I like this feature too. In Diablo 3 I felt kind of forced to pick an exact set, but with this game I can keep changing my play style with the only penalty being to find that gear or figure out that strategy ❤❤❤
"Clerics are simply misunderstood"
FUCKING THANK YOU! everyone is shocked to hear that I have my Life Cleric in the melee line with my barbarian so often but forget that :
I am a Dwarf Life Cleric in heavy armor, holding a shield and a morningstar, constnatly striking people for free with radiant damage, constnatly blessing my team, summoning spirutal weapons to assist the frontline with my and my barb, and if push comes to shove just saying fuck it and channeling a massive aoe heal to all around me
Life Clerics aint a heal bot, IM A FUCKING GUARDIAN!
Why not 'Warcaster' as one of the feats? Advantage to maintain concentration on Spirit Guardians or any of the myriad of other spells.
You are still getting advantage with concentration but you also get a +1 stat. Now talking about getting shocking grasp as a tempest cleric from war caster could be great
At Level 4 you took a feat with wisdom still at 16, then at level 8 you got your wisdom to 20 by raising attribute from 18. How?
I'm curious as to why you wouldn't pick up War Caster feat for advantage on concentration since that is such a pivotal part of the build.
Resilient Con does similar things and gets you a +1. Without booming blade or green flame blade, and rules around casting with full hands, war caster is less powerful in BG3 than in TT 5e.
You could get both of course, but then you are gimping your spellcasting a bit hard imo.
I think The Whispering Promise ring has changed. It no longer "Blesses" everything you heal... it only "Blesses" yourself, when you heal a creature. The old wording says "when you heal a creature it also receives..." but the new wording, which is shown in the video at 14:22 says "when you heal a creature YOU gain a..." The ring is still good, but definitely not the powerhouse it use to be, considering it's just attack rolls (not so important to healer clerics) and saving throws (good for your defense for the next 2 turns).
While the tooltip HAS changed, the actual effect has not. I used it last night and it blessed the character that was healed. So either its not working as intended still, or the tooltip is now incorrect after the latest patch.
The cleric is awesome in this game. I’ve been playing since 1st edition. (NOT FOURTH). The reason why so few pick the cleric is because (DUH) Shadowheart fills that role perfectly. 😊
It is a well known fact in the D&D community that WotC jumped from 3.5 to 5e. So, I don't know what is this Fourth you are referring to...
Altho I have been wanting to recreate the Ardent Champion since 5e came out... W/O homebrew. So far Hex-Ladin is the closest thing.
@@kapcomgaming100 yes. It’s called “Fourth Edition.” Evidently so popular, that you haven’t heard of it. 😂
@@leftyzappa Hahaha the Ardent Champion is a "prestige class" of the 4thE Avenger. I even play tested it 😭
I couldn't even try 4th dude. :P The reason I love AD&D and current D&D is the *complexity*. The old school ability score and alignment system are worth the price of the books alone to me :D The jury was out on 5th until I played BG 3. Now I feel like shelling out the ridiculous amounts of cash for the current series of books. If nothing else, just to add to my collection. @@kapcomgaming100
Man, with giving her frozen illithid powers, you just fly past mobs and hurt them badly. She's so good and underraterd
I think the problem with cleric has to do with the overall spread on concentration spells. For example you could defintely use guardian, but then you'd be unable to use guidance, or other utility based spells so it just becomes a sitback and become a meat shield at choke points and heal allies.
If the cleric were to be able to make up for not having successive actions, perhaps applying more buffs (stacked concentration capped to two if pure cleric) would not only make the cleric heavily reliant on bolt, but also give other spells like warding bond and guardian some really cool synergies
Even with spirit guardians up, you can still use a number of offensive spells like guiding bolt, thunder wave, or shatter.
And if you use the recommended ring in the video, you won't need to cast bless directly. Just use healing word or mass healing word, and boom, two turns of bless with no concentration needed.
@@anonj.9440 ik ik im talking about things like hold person along with other things such as protection good & evil.
Might I add, once you get to level 10 cleric, you can use a channel divinity to summon a permanent legendary mace that does 1d6 + 3 bludgeoning 1d8 radiant, and once per long rest you can activate a 30 ft 1d4 heal for 10 turns at the start of your turn that stacks with buffs to healing from armor and rings.
Another thing you can do is take an armor with magical plate, and the heavy armor or feat for -5 dmg done to you, then cast warding bond on your party members, which gives resistance to all dmg, but you take the same dmg as them (transferring half to you) but it’s reduced by the -5, then use the periapt of wound closure to max healing done to you and spam heals or potions while running around with spirit guardians. Healing effects from items also apply to healing potions, so you’ll get the 3 temp hp from boots, along with blade ward, and bless, and you can get a ring that does +2 healing…. The flat 5 off reduces in value as you get higher level, but you can get adamantine armor before act 2, and blade ward is really broken for a 2nd level spell, if you know how to abuse it.
Also, if you want total cheese, you can reclass gale into a cleric, and cast blade ward on all your party members, as if he’s not in your party he infinitely heals himself because of plot reasons, but warding bond isn’t concentration so it doesn’t end once you switch him out, thus granting you permanent resistance to all damage till long rest, unless you are dumb and group your entire party enough to get hit with a fireball and it instability him lmfao
I noticed that all of your guides so far were part of one team (probably one of your playthroughs).
So as someone who has the exact same team (even companions) i really wait for the fighter build.
I guess it's not that complicated of a class, but still there might be something interesting to cover (like dual wielding staffs on sorcerer).
Thanks for your guides!
Because most people use Shadowheart and shes already a cleric. Make her tempest or light and she is AMAZING. Knowledge is garbage too. HIgh elf cantrip scales with int not wis, wood elf or drow is best,you never need revivify for 2 reasons you get an abundance of scrolls laying around and you can pickpocket Withers.
man this is a great review... also don't forget to get that Longstrider ritual on your cleric for extra movement distance with that Guardian
Act 2 with a cleric and the Blood of Lathander is laughably easy. Pop on Spiritual guardians and dash through the waves of fillth that the game throws atr you there.
Like this build but would rather take the life domain. Heals will be much more efficient and she can still benefit from all the spells mentioned apart from the thunder ones.
IMO either you make full Tempest damage dealer cleric (thus changing quite some things from this build cause you will spend your actions making water etc, not doing something else), or you make her a very good dealer with all the side useful spells she'll still get.
as someone who has never played anything like this game before i thank you. Your videos have helped me understand how to play this game better so as a noob thank you so much
Nah, this idea that Cleric is unpopular due to it being last in the rankings is false. Almost everyone has been playing with a Cleric for their run. Shadowheart is very popular, and the utility as a side character is nicer than having it for your main. No one is sleeping on cleric. Some of the subclasses like Life for healing, or Light for damage, are insanely strong. Not to mention the options you have for multiclassing too.
First thing I do is respec Shadowheart to Life domain. 1) To give her heavy armor. 2) To boost her heals to the max and give her MORE heal spells available, and also the side perk of gaining HP whenever she heals others at level 6+
100%. Life Cleric for support build, Light for damage caster, War/Tempest work well for damage too if you multiclass them right. ON it's own, cleric can be pretty meh, but its certainly not bottom tier and holds up well all the way to level 12. @@davidcrawford5324
Cleric is the least picked claw because of Shadowheart. Why create a cleric when you plan to use and romance Shadowheart?
The fact that people do not know Bless is one of the best spell is just mind blowing.
It’s good in Act 1. In act 2 onwards people get access to higher skills and +2, +3 weapons that allow them to hit reliably so bless is less useful. People would rather have their support concentrated on twin Haste rather than bless.
@@YogKaim I think there is a bless ring and a bless staff in the game. Mystras Blessing I think it's called. Doesn't take concentration to use. Altough the bless ring only works on you i think.
@YogKaim even if you get all the buff in the world, that 1d4 buff is still massive. It's like 10 to 20% higher hit chances. Haste is great but I prefer every character casting Haste on themselves instead of a cleric doing it for them since I just can't live without that Bless.
@@juusovuolle8251 Yeah. This just makes it more unlikely anyone will play Cleric. Mechanics like twin Haste, spells like Hold Monster that you need to spec into War Cleric to access. You can multi class Cleric, but once you multi class, it’s the other class abilities that is more preferred.
@@haesung2148 It is, but 9 times out of ten when I’m fighting Raphael or Ansur for example, I prefer the raw damage and cc that other class offers.
Some points about the video:
- Low Dex means low Initiative unless you fix that with gear, and especially as a supportive character you want to go first so the rest of your group profits on the same turn (although this version is probably more of a standalone cleric)
- No mention of Sanctuary? It's situational, yes, but so is Death Ward. I think Sanctuary is one of the best Cleric lvl 1 spells
- I'd honestly still take Bless as a slot despite the ring so you have a good concentration spell when you don't want to or can be in the midst of your enemies
- Callous Glow Ring is nice, but also used by a lot of other builds (like 10/2 Sorlock), often in combination with Coruscation Ring. Alternatives include Ring of Salving (+2 to all heals) or Band of the Mystic Scoundrel (After hitting a creature with a weapon attack, you can cast illusion or enchantment spells as a bonus action - This includes Bless, Command, Silence, Fear, Confusion...)
- The Dark Justiciar Half-Plate and Helmet (HelmET, not Helm!) are really nice for Clerics built to maintain concentration and available somewhat early in Act II
- Cloak of Displacement is also used by a lot of other builds, alternatives are Cloak of Elemental Absorption (somewhat similar effect, but for spells) and either Cloak of Protection or Vivacious Cloak (for "frontline" Clerics)
- Another nice Weapon that's available in Act I is Staff of Arcane Blessing (Bless grants an additional 1d4 to Saving Throws and Weapon Attack Rolls, and an additional 2d4 to Spell Attack Rolls)
Great video. really helpful. there's also a ring that makes you deal 2 extra damage to illuminated enemies, which synergizes with the Blood of Lathander. Not a huge amount of extra damage but helpful for those times when normally an enemy is left with just 1 hit point by chance.
You can re-spec Shadowheart to Paladin if you wanna go cleric and still keep her theme somewhat accurate. That's what I did.
I really wish you could make Tav into a cleric of Bhaal. Would make an incredible character for an evil Dark Urge run.
i played cleric (multiclassed) on table D&D, play it in BG3, always loved it, lore wise and for abilities :)
Few seconds in and I already learned two things that 100+ hrs of play, many videos, and lots of wiki havent taught me. Subscribed! Btw had no idea that was a lvl 1 Tempest Cleric ability, only knew of the max lighning damage ability. Had no idea about sacred flame targeting rules either, I though it was just way worse than firebolt.
This video really shows how strong a cleric can be. Spirit Guardians is a staple skill across any of the subclasses, but if you wanna take the power further, you can use Destructive Wave.
Despite the wording in the spell's description, Destructive Wave only hits enemies, not all creatures in general.
One gripe I have though is recommending Sacred Flame for a cantrip. It's probably one of the worst cantrips in the game, because the dex saves succeed in quite a bit. I rather see a "miss" from firebolt, instead of holy fire that does no damage.
It's only bad if you use it wrong: Don't use it against high dex enemies. It's great against heavy targets.
trickery domain is the most offensively capable cleric class but it requires a play style similar to rogue. You can proc sneak attacks with invoke duplicity, assist your rogues and monks by granting blessing of the trickster and pass without a trace to sneak by traps with armor on, warding glyph is op at crowd clearing and they get mirror image and fear, possibly the best CC in the game. I went 5 trickery, 2 paladin, 5 swords bard and I've created an oath of conquest paladin essentially. you can go 5 thief rogue with that and make an awesome dark judicator type of build that protects like a paladin but does so in unorthodox ways, buffing and debuffing foes from the darkness.
Tempest is great, but if I am going the lightning route, I would rather do 10 sorc / 2 tempest cleric. Charisma means you win all the social encounters. Sorc lets me twin my concentration spells. I merely use the channel to max my damage as a sorc. I am currently doing this build. I picked Mystera and Drow, the dialogue options seem to be consistent.
Now, what is interesting to me is the War cleric. Keep a stock of haste potions, pick wood elf, boots of speed if you need to close the distance more. Hit twice a turn, channel to hit an additional time. Give yourself 10 accuracy. Keep Spirit Guardian up. Beastmode - it is a shame that the divine strike at level 8 only works once a turn. With the right gear, I bet it gets even better. Like the gauntlets that raise str to 23. Lets me focus on raising wisdom, and I can always buy pots to raise my str the rest of the game.
Another epic guide . My shadowheart now dominates combat , healing/tank and support too
The Cleric gets all the beer every time. They keep us bards and rogues alive. Since Friar Tuck to whatever if any creative world. Clerics rock even if I'm not nice enough to be one.
Cleris is underpicked because the most popular romance option is a cleric. Not to mention clerics aren't charisma based so doesn't make the best party face.
Cleric is the least classe created for the MAIN Character, not the least popular...Mostly of the people just use shadowheart as a cleric in the party, this is why.
I played an Enchanter in EQ1. Nobody wanted to play one, but they were sought after for groupwork. I could solo with mezz spells and really benefit a party with the very best mana building spells. I miss EQ but I kinda don’t also.
First, I just discovered your channel and really like your vids. Informative and entertaining. Thanks! A couple things: Revivification isnt worth a spell slot since the scrolls are easy and can be cast without a spell slot, even after battle. Or you can just do a lvl 1 Healing Word for the same effect.
Second, War Domain cleric is really nice for Battle Priest which allows you to do another attack for a bonus action. Since I have adamantine shield on Shadowheart midgame and higher AC than Lae'Zel, I need to be frontlines attacking (twice) every turn, not standing in the back where casters should be while doing more damage. Sorrow is a nice spear for a second attack if you dont go war domain and want consistent dps output from Bonus actions early to mid game without taking up spell slots.
The healing spells are often just for emergencies and post combat heals with Prayer of healing, which is often arguably better than Aid unless you have glass cannons. If you dont want to go War domain, a 2 level dip into fighter for Action surge can make sure you have a tanky fighter with highest ac of party, who can switch to aoe and party Support, or healing during or after combat.
Healing Word doesn't have the same effect as Revivify. If the character you use healing word on is dead they won't come back.
I think the fact you have one of the best fleshed out characters at the very beginning being a cleric plays a major par in people not playing one.
With only 4 spots in a party, 2 clerics might be too much and people might not want to drop SH.
6 months late but jumping back into BG3 and man… these edits go so hard I have trouble focusing sometimes. 🔥 - only thing missing is a Leeroy Jenkins reference for spirit guardians. 😂
Okay 9 months too late, but i just started power grinding this game 3 weeks ago.
The biggest problem with cleric is: Paladin does more dmg and throwing 2 healing pots per turn heals the same amount, without expanding spellslots xD
Edit: the only good thing about cleric imo is spirit guardian which is useful in act 2 and sometimes 3 (rats)
I never understood why so many ppl lament that it is so hard to build a melee/fighter spellcasting class, and wan to "Gish"; but have not figured out that it already exists and is called a Cleric. Especially War domain, or Tempest domain.
"who knew the class that has been one of the most versitile and op classes in pretty much every D&D video game would be strong?"
THANK YOU SENSEI!!!! Been waiting for this.
gotta love it when people discover that the classes aren't just based off the memes from dnd. And actually kick ass in their own scenarios.
I think there are a variety of reasons why clerics aren't played much:
1) Sacred Flame sucks. Dex save = 0 damage, and that happens a ton in the early game, so right out the gate, leaves them feeling lackluster. There's a reason why the first thing I do for Shadowheart is give her a bow, because ranged attack priority at the start of the game is bow, followed by firebolt.
2) Shadowheart exists, so everyone has a cleric buddy to play with already.
3) Concentration spells. It's annoying to have concentration broken, but also annoying that you can only have one concentration spell active at a time. It just doesn't do much to inspire people to build them to do wacky things.
Cleric isn't the least favorite class in the game, but only the least created one. Pretty much everyone has Shadowheart in their group, so why would you create another one...