*_Cephalopocalypse - Abjuration Wizard Tank_* *Viewer Note* Cephalopocalypse spends a great deal of time creating these videos for his channel and our enjoyment. Please Like, Subscribe and Comment to help him out, boost his RUclips metrics, and encourage him to continue making this awesome content! The text below is by me, for an easy-to-return-to build reference, but it can _never replace_ watching the entire video as a great deal of his How & Why choices aren’t explained, nor are the Tips he’s sprinkled in throughout the video. _Level 1_ Race: Half-Wood Elf, Human, Githyanki, Halfling Stats: 8/14/16/16/12/8 Skills: Your choice Sorcerer 1 Draconic Bloodline: White (Cold) for Armour of Agathys (required) Cantrips: Blade Ward, Mage Hand, Minor Illusion, Light Spells: Shield, Magic Missile _Level 2_ Wizard 1 Cantrips: Ray of Frost, Fire Bolt, Bone Chill Spells: Longstrider, Enhanced Leap, Grease, Chromatic Orb, Fog Cloud, Disguise Self Prepare Spells: Chromatic Orb, Grease, Longstrider, Fog Cloud *_Wizard’s Spellbook Note_* With one level of Wizard you can now scribe scrolls into your spellbook, and should do so every chance you get. Outside of combat you can swap Prepared Spells as needed, making a spell in your spellbook far better than a scroll in your inventory. Extra scrolls can and should be used as needed to conserve spell slots! Therefore the “Spells” and “Prepare Spells” shown below are suggestions, as you should learn spells you haven’t found scrolls for yet, and you should prepare spells as needed based on your party composition, play style and/or the area you’re adventuring within. _”Familiar: Cheeky Quasit” Scroll_ _(Note: Patch 7 removed having two people get the quasit.)_ There is only one copy of this scroll in the game, and should _always_ be copied into your spellbook. After learning it and _the very first time_ you summon the Quasit, named Shovel, select “1” in the dialog options until done. Then have another Wizard 1 speak to Shovel and they’ll learn to summon her as well! (Just respec any other PC into Wizard 1, speak to her _after_ the summoner has, then respec back to their original class. Her summon appears on their “Common” tab.) _Level 3_ Wizard 2 Subclass: Abjuration Spells (recommended): Find Familiar, Ice Knife Prepare Spells (recommended): Not shown _Level 4_ Wizard 3 Spells (recommended): Cloud of Daggers, Arcane Lock Prepare Spells (recommended): Chromatic Orb, Grease, Longstrider, Fog Cloud, Cloud of Daggers and Arcane Lock _Level 5_ Wizard 4 Cantrips (recommended): Shocking Grasp Spells (recommended): Flaming Sphere, Web Prepare Spells (recommended): Not shown Feat: Alert _Level 6_ Wizard 5 Spells (recommended): Glyph of Warding, Counterspell (Required, no in-game scrolls exist.) Prepare Spells (recommended): Not shown _Level 7_ Wizard 6 Spells (recommended): Sleet Storm, Haste Prepare Spells (recommended): Chromatic Orb, Longstrider, Fog Cloud, Cloud of Daggers, Arcane Lock, Glyph of Warding, Counterspell, Hypnotic Pattern and Haste _Level 8_ Wizard 7 Spells (recommended): Conjure Minor Elemental, Fire Shield Prepare Spells (recommended): Not shown _Level 9_ Wizard 8 Spells (recommended): Ice Storm, Banishment Prepare Spells (recommended): Not shown Feat: ASI (INT + 2 = 18) _Level 10_ Wizard 9 Spells (recommended): Conjure Elemental, Hold Monster Prepare Spells (recommended): Not shown _Level 11_ Wizard 10 Cantrips: Your choice (True Strike as a cantrip is a running gag on this channel.) Spells (recommended): Your choice Prepare Spells (recommended): Not shown _Level 12_ Wizard 11 Spells (recommended): Globe of Invulnerability, Wall of Ice Prepare Spells (recommended): Not shown *_Gear_* This PC doesn’t require any specific items to function. Suggestions (Items that increase Spell Save DCs, and any items that reduce incoming damage): Fistbreaker Helm, Bonespike Garb, Mourning Frost, Ring of Regneration, Snowburst Ring, Disintegrating Night Walkers, Markoheshkir (for a 6th-level spell slot recharge after casting 6th-level Armour of Agathys). True Love’s Caress (Warding Bond) for resistance since this PC will hardly ever take damage that affects the other caster. *_Playing Notes/Combat Strategy_* You’re a Wizard with no downsides, so play as a regular Wizard. The combat A.I. won’t usually target this PC. You can change that by lowering AC or provoking Attacks of Opportunities. You can also place this PC in front and others behind them to force foes to attack.
One small change I make to this build is right at that first sorc level instead of magic missile I take expeditious retreat. It's always prepared and lets you bonus action dash any turn you want to force enemy opportunity attacks. It takes concentration but that just makes the enemies more likely to target you as well.
@@feircy My very first playthrough was almost ruined because of that elevator.... if I hadn't had a short rest to pick them up, my very first game would have been over. (couldn't go back to an older save, it was honor mode). I wasn't happy when I fell through the elevator..... Took me an hour to realize I could short rest so I could warp out. Haven't trusted an elevator since.
Shield and CounterSpell are both Abjuration spells, but the reason they don't give stacks isn't because of a bug, but because they are reactions. You aren't casting them, you are reacting with them, so the game doesn't count them as cast. :) It's also the reason you can use them both under barbarian rage or when close to an antimagic flower. :)
The reason people think of them as bugs is because we play D&D and in D&D they are supposed to heal your Arcane Ward, and casting as a reaction is still casting a spell. So for a D&D-based game to do this so very differently confuses us.
This is my favorite build you've made and once I saw that you made an updated one it was an instant watch for me. Thanks for the great content as always!
Saved this build from months ago, for my honor mode run that I started yesterday. Now to wake up and find it get updated! Thank you this will help out so much.
Isn't this a bit of theory crafting? I mean, how do you get arcane stacks inside the Battle, if multiple enemies attack you, you just get 1 stack per turn and you spend as many as the opponents that damage you
@@aggmp6958 arcane ward lasts all day so precast adjuration stuff after a long rest for stacks, then just recast armor of agathys in combat, or spells like protection from evil and good.
Because of your videos and those from ItalianSparticus, i went from struggling in Balanced Mode to always playing on Honour Mode without struggling. Build videos are also a great way to learn the game when you start playing, because many game mechanics are explained in the process. Keep making bg3 videos, bc you and ItalianSparticus are really the only 2 guys that make quality BG3 videos. there are a few others, but they lack the quality and professionalism. Jay Dunna is starting to make some good videos also.
This was the very first character I ever played when the game first came out and has remained my favorite build. Nice to see my favorite BG3 build maker covering it.
I've been playing this on my current run. Despite it's issues I still think it's my favourite build in the game because return damage is such a fun mechanic. Through the elephant in the room is that the AI goes completely insane when you have this character in combat. Even if you have the lowest possible AC on this character (15) and all of your allies have 22+ AC, you STILL won't be targeted. One time I was in a 1v1 and an enemy CANCELLED THEIR TURN INSTEAD OF HITTING ME. It's very annoying to say the least. Also, Boots of Speed are goated on this character, cast Dash as a bonus action and just run through the whole encounter eating Opportunity Attacks left and right. It's the most reliable way of getting off reflect damage.
Oh yeah so annoying for enemies to avoid attacking you in a fight😂maybe do 4 wizard, 2fighter, 6 warlock so that you can just darkness hex and murder them before they even knew what happened😂😂
Thank you so much for continuing to put out and update these builds. I'm still obsessed with this game, and you're by far the best content creator for it ❤
gale carried and tanked my honor mode party until mid act 2 with this build. then i switched to halsin following your paladin-spore druid guide. i got the dice thanks to your wisdom 🙏 now i see this video and im like "well, time to start the 13th playthrough" 🤭
"And take True Strike to annoy the people in the comments". 🙂 Great. On top of that I really like the idea of a "Wizard Tank". Currently I have to swap the Wizard for the Tank, so having both in one sounds great. And perfect timing - just started a play through. Love it!
Thanks for this update. I have been playing with various iterations of this build and had settled on 1 tempest cleric/ 2 warlock/ rest wiz, as the invocation of shadows made it easy to build ward without using spell slots. I think you explain well how to overcome this, especially as I am only lv 7 so your build gives more wiz lvls and you mention many ways of rebuilding arcane ward using spells. I was confused why blade ward/ shield didn’t work, but now I know, and getting glyph of warding and mage armour will help. Much appreciated!
Abjuration scrolls can be used to get arcane ward charges. There are lots of those sold by merchants for low prices. No need to spend spell slots. Also, I added a one level dip into Tempest cleric for heavy armor and Create Water spell.
@@olioroguethis would take away from spiked garb. You don’t care about ac with this build necessarily. You wanna get hit sometimes. I’d say like 15-18 ac is best
I made a slight adjustment to this in my last HM run: I took one level of monk + dual wielder for Mourning Frost and Markoheshkir. It gives you a secondary way to deal damage if you need (and utilise your bonus action) + makes your attacks of opportunity more effective. A question for you: why Ice Storm over Cone of Cold? Ice Storm always felt less effective to me, whereas Cone of Cold on wet targets is basically a super powered shotgun. Plus you're in melee range a lot where CoC shines. Love your builds and guides. Thank you so much for all the hard work!
Having watched this now, I think I’m still going to go one level of cleric for the armor and weapon proficiencies. I think I’ll need the AC for ranged attacks. I’m also thinking I might go headband of intellect and just stack spell save DC items so I can put those stat points in charisma since I’m solo.
I like going Warlock 2 early to stack using armor of shadows. Also gives Eldritch Blast and Agonizing blast for a great default attack. Great old one for frighten. Constitution Proficiency is good but you are correct, the chances that you even have to take a concentration save is minimal. I'm wearing the Spidersilk armor that gives my advantage on con saves. Currently 2/5 wizard. Once you are at lvl 7 you could respec full Abjuration, you will so rarely take damage concentration isn't a concern. Warlock gives you access to armor of Agathys as well, though not free the way white drac sorcerer does. I think the builds are very, very similar in strength. It really depends on what you want to focus on.
⭐️Important ⭐️ If you use Shield or Projected ward it uses your reaction, so you can’t use Counter spell !! This catches me out a lot ! Where I save some damage then get hit with the mother of all spells as counter spell is down.
29:40 hoarfrost boots help with this. I actually have like a frost druid build that uses these along with mourning frost & shillelagh, snowburst ring, and the necklace of elemental augmentation.
Great intro on this video, if u could showcase gameplay of the builds maybe during dead space when ur talking or explaining what spells / ability’s to take that would be fantastic. A fair bit more effort into the videos but I feel would definitely be worth it.
Pretty much exactly what I'm currently doing with my solo honour mode, no camp-casting current run. Only difference is I took my second level as Tempest Cleric for the heavy armor mainly. You _can_ get your defenses overpowered in solo play, so the higher AC and various immunities (crit and stun most importantly) some heavy gear gives helps me remain standing.
currently running something like this, but with 1 in cleric for bless, water, and shield/armor proficiency, and 2 sorc for twin haste. my friend and i are just doing a duo honor mode run so he's the damage and i'm the tank/cc/support/ice wizard. being so hard to kill, making all the enemies prone with ice and reverb, bless/haste, ice/wet combo, i feel so unstoppable. can't wait for act 3 and the armor of persistence.
I changed Wyll to a bard....I think I am going to try THIS instead. Thanks for the idea. I HATE gear dependent builds, I prefer enhancements to the build vs relying on the gear. Thank you SO MUCH for showing how to enhance. Your builds are pretty cool.
It's very good you won't regret it. Just having someone who doesn't die on the battlefield is invaluable. Of course you can't play completely reckless still.
I finished my first ever playthrough of the game, as dark urge, decided to play another playthrough as Gale (since i killed him in my first playthrough), and instantly get this in my home page!
Literally about to start another co-op run with my brother, finally playing as the good guys (first was all funny choices, second was evil DUrge). Planning on rocking a paladin and this.
This is great!! I'm actually looking at maybe playing a third playthrough after a year. So been looking at some different classes to play. Looking at all your updated builds! Think i might try a Wizard and a Druid for the first time.
Just wanted to say this build is amazing and actually very much on flavour from what I remember of high level mages in AD&D with their magic shields, spell sequencers and such. This build saved me from a wipe after catastrophic error in Auntie Ethel act 3 encounter. Basically delt with her solo.
I do miss the old wizard meta. It definitely made wizards really powerful and required the player to use their own intelligence effectively as well the char stat. It also made pure wizard compete with sorcerers well.
I think it's always good to bring up that you can find all 4 of the standard damage cantrips on scrolls easily in act 1 so I often only take Ray of frost and/or shocking grasp and then learn the cantrips permanently off scrolls
Might just give this a go for the next run; thank you! (Act 3 Spoiler below) Have you ever considered making a build for a character that plans on going full-illithid for the final stretch of the game? It might not warrant a full-length video, but your take on how best to use its strengths would be interesting to see. Since the character benefits from Permanent Mind Sanctuary, I would imagine that 3 levels in Rogue would be nice for that extra bonus action. As always, thank you for taking the time to share your builds.
From what I know, you retain class features. Rage, Ki, Spell Slots (maybe), etc. Your stats are Str: 13 Dex: 12 Con: 14 Int: 20 Wis: 18 Cha: 18 And these stats can be influenced by permanent stat changes, like Araj’s potion granting a +2 to strength, and the mirror of loss. These stats can also be influenced by items that increase stats, like the Birthright, Khalid’s gift, Duke Ravenguard’s sword, etc. As well as stat setting items and potions, like the Gloves of Dexterity or a potion of Giant Strength, or the Amulet of Greater Health One more thing is that you can no longer use the base “unarmed strike” since your base attack is a mindflayer tentacle. So if you’re doing a TB monk or an open hand monk, that’ll be pretty incompatible With all this in mind, here are some tips: Load up on feats. Your actual stats don’t matter, so you don’t gotta invest in ASIs, so this is the time to go feat crazy. Some good ones all around are Alert, Lucky, Mobile, Durable, etc. Casters grab War-Caster, Spell Sniper, Resilient, Dual Wielder, etc. Martials grab Savage Attacker, Mage Slayer, Martial Adept, etc. If you’re doing a melee build, make sure to equip the Gloves of Dexterity or a Cloud Giant Strength. Honesty a Flayer-Barbarian sounds hilarious. If you’re going the Dex route, make sure to have your +3 weapon ready. Casters make sure you have your permanent stat increases from the Mirror of Loss. 18 as your spellcasting stat isn’t terrible, but you wanna boost it if you can. Wisdom casters have your Khalid’s gift, and Charisma casters make sure to have Birthright and the Duke’s sword if you can grab it. Intelligence casters are the ones you probably wanna have on this character, however. Happy Illithid-ing!
Alsooooo! The Illithid is an AMAZING user of the “1 level wizard dip” feature bg3 has. Assuming you don’t raise your intelligence by any more and if you take 11 levels in another (full caster preferably) class and one level into wizard, you’ll be able to prepare 6 wizard spells from scrolls, and also you’ll have great other mental stats. That means you could (I hope) be a full-cleric while also having access to some amazing arcane spells of both 1st-6th level. Or you can be a bard with access to wizard spells, not needing to use a whole bunch of magical secrets on that. Sorcerer with 6 extra added spells and full metamagic capabilities, the possibilities are a lot!
One thing worth of note: you don't need to go one level into sorcerer if you don't want to. Yes, armor of agathys is very good, but if you don't care about retaliating damage and just want the survivability while damaging with your normal spells, you can get 12 levels of wizard to get another feat, and another 2 stacks of your ward. You can replace the shield from armor of agathys for false life, that wizard learns at level 1, will give you actually 2 more points of extra health. You'll loose the concentration saving throw proficiency, but in exchange for that, you can get a third feat, that could potentially something like a dual wielding feat to hold two staves, or another ASI, and do a more offensive build. If your objective is to survive, not retaliate, you can precast mirror image and use your reactions to cast shield so you almost never get hit, and when you do get hit, take 0 damage. Then, as you said, this build doesn't require any items, so you can build your wizard entirely offensive after that, and be a powerhouse in everything you do. ah, and if you really want to be immune to more stuff: get the amulet from raphael's house of hope that gives you 23 con and con saving throw advantage (to make up for the lost saving throw proficiency, plus have a +6 nat bonus on con checks), and then dump all of your con into dex and wisdom (like base build being 16 dex, 16 int, 14 wisdom, 12 charisma, 8 con(23 with the amulet) and 8 str). With a couple of items to incrase your saving throws, you'll be untouchable.
Armor of Agathys, proficiency in Constitution saves, and your base AC being 13 are all VERY good for this build. Wizard scroll learning removes the downside of being one level behind on auto learning spells. So even though you can't choose Cloud of Daggers at level 3, you can get a scroll to still learn it.
@@chuckchan4127 I mean, the 13 AC is easily fixed by casting mage armor, and the con proficiency is not needed if you don't take any damage, that's the main purpose of the build. I'd rather having a extra feat and a stronger ward, honestly. I mean, going one level into sorcerer is fine, i'm just saying that going 12 levels into wizard has it's own advantages and it's not worse, it's just a different way of playing. Playing counter wizard is cool, but gets boring fast, and you have to keep repleninshing your ward constantly. Playing the way i said, you rarely take a hit, so your ward stays untouched most of the time, and you can cast whatever you feel like, being more versatile and not struggling vs enemies resistant/immune to cold damage.
Just a thought. Since this build isn't gear dependent, I wonder what it would be like to run this build with the Coruscation Set? You would need to start as Githyanki for medium armor or take it as a feat with Human or Half Elf. Not only would you be nearly undamageable, but enemies would be massively nerfing their hit chance every time they try to hit you with the radiating orbs.
As a build question, wouldn’t it be better to take a level in Warlock over Sorcerer? I understand the importance of the Con prof, but if you pick 1 lvl Warlock, you could still grab the AoA and other patron benefits, and if you wanted to get lvl 2 warlock, get the boon that allows you to cast mage armor for free. Sure you’ll lose a stack of Arcane Ward, but wouldn’t you be strong enough to not need that last stack?
What spell did he cast in order to stack the Arcane Wards? I have a similar build (2 warlock/10 wizard). I had to cast mage armor repeatedly (from warlock Invocation Armour of Shadows) to max stack the Arcane Wards. Without the warlock invocation this build would need to spend bunch spell slot just to get to max stack of Arcane Ward.
Love the content, your build and party guides have been so helpful and really improved my understanding of the game mechanics etc. But I have to say, whatever change you made to your microphone setup or settings lately hasn't been for the better. Comparing it to your older videos, they sound way much better to me. The new mic sounds really tinny and harsh by comparison. Not trying to hate, just letting you know. Maybe it's just me! Anyway, love the videos, awesome channel.
Is there an argument to be made to dump dexterity on this build and get good initiative from Alert and items to increase the odds that enemies can hit you and take retaliation damage? You could invest in Wisdom further for better saving throws too.
Wow such a great build! I wouldn't normally choose Gale but with this build I might just do so. Keep up the the excellent work my friend. In my opinion you are the best BG3 build creator. I look forward to future builds from you. I know you concentrate on Honour mode builds but would it be possible for you design a Balanced mode build for a Bardadin (Swords bard) with a single level of Wizard. Maybe this would give 3 attacks a round but without Magical Secrets but getting the extra ability of Wizard spells and scroll learning? I am new to the game and I don't want to jump into Honour mode from the start.
One thing I will say here, there’s a reason you assume resistance in the examples of damage you give. Just finished my honor mode, and I can say confidently (swapping an abjuration wizard in and out) without halving damage, it starts to break down. This is significantly important for fights where enemies are not dealing a singular damage type (so like enemy spellcasters for example). Additionally, enemies that deal single-instance heavy damage (like the Bulette) really counter this as you not only don’t want to get hit, but don’t want to be provoking opportunity as well. It was a strong character, but there were more than a few fights where he needed to be benched.
I can see what you're saying, but even in these cases, you still have an 11th level wizard with 6th level spell slots. I think in the cases you're speaking about, it just a change of tactics is needed. So instead of playing as a tank, you're playing as any wizard in the group would play in these scenarios.
Tanks protect the party, tanking isn't just being invulnerable yourself Projected ward is a reaction, so you can only use it once per turn The only true tanking ability in the game is warding bond. (or bear dr00d) Its passive once it's cast, it always works, theres no range, no action economy. You can be knocked on your aas or asleep and you're still protecting your party. In a game without economic aggro, there is no other tanking ability. There is only warding bond. Abjuration ward is just a personal invulnerability ability. Projected is only on a reaction. You only get one of those. So this is a neat invincible wizard build, but its not an effective *tanking* build. Need some way to taunt like druid bear form, otherwise warding bond
I love an arcane wall knight I go for 6/6 fighter wizard with tavern brawler, heavy armor master, and heavy weapon/war caster. I opt for eldritch knight for returning weapons and spell slots (typically magic missile, shield, haste, glyph) nyrulna and reverb is a match made in heaven but early game can be a breeze with sparky hands (lighting charges on throw advantage vs armored) spell sparkler (lighting charge on magic missile) and a bunch of random thrown weapons. Early early game the vision of the absolute is a fantastic option which lets you blind enemies if youre lucky and its throwable. You don't need any int investment but 12 is good for proficiencies.
Wow 😮 this is impressive. But I had Gale in my last play through. My plan was to try something new! I mean , my Gale had so much AC last time, the most of my whole party! But this is too woah!
Used this on my Honor Mode clear earlier this week. Just the not updated version. Wyll didn't die a single time lol, and yes I used Wyll for this. Doesn't really matter who.
I wonder if going Wizard 8/ Sorcerer 4 would be worth it. You are giving up Improved Abjuration but getting a third feat and metamagic plus other sorcerer goodies.
Awsome build, i just started a few weeks ago with a normal run with my girl, and i am defenitly going to play this build in our honor mode. When do you thonk is a good run number to attempt honor mode love the vid❤
Please can you do some more good "Point & Click" Builds? By that, I mean builds that need very little "high maintenance" aka "micro management". What I have in mind is this... 1) Wake Up. 2) Leave Camp. 3) Explore. 4) Win Encounters. 5) Go home and go to bed. I realise this is not what D&D or BG3 is about, but would help first players to BG3 and D&D. I learned a lot from my first playthrough. I learned even more from watching your vids after my first, and adopted many of your strategies in my second play through. However, by Act 3, I found some of the micro-management, although winning/optimised, a little taxing on my enthusiasm. There's a lot of preparation "hoops to jump through" before settling down and just playing. Sure, you can just play "as is" accepting Larian's defaults, but, this is even further south of sub-optimal than I'd like. I don't know of anyone else on RUclips who could design winning strategies that do not require the "hoops" that D&D sometimes expects. Of course, I don't mean the abuse of Bugs, or exclusive use of accidental "broken" mechanics introduced by Larian.
This might seem weird but what are thoughts on 2 levels in warlock for free mage armor to stack arcane ward and then 10 wizard? Would mean you miss out on high level spells but would mean you can easily stack arcane ward all the time with removing mage armor by equipping armor and recasting it for free.
This is a very smooth solo experience imo (though you may need to approach the initial fights carefully or route around them until level 3 or so). For best results you'll most likely want to take a level of tempest cleric at level 2 for heavy armour, that gives you a lot more gear flexibility!
Thanks for the video! Video suggestion: Can you rank the Boss Fights on difficulty using the same Act 1 versus Act 3 progression? Just started my first Honor Mode playthrough and was shocked that there were 2 Owlbears in the cave, lol. Got lucky with a Thunder Wave that kept the game alive but would love to see your rankings on the Boss Battles. Thanks!
There is a modification I make to this build, if I get Ethel’s Hair. You make two good points, (1) you don’t need INT 20 and (2) you want a low AC. I will get Dual Wielding so I can walk around with both Morning Frost and Markoheshkir. Your build showed a shield, which raises AC. Both staffs may be better than one staff and one shield. I use the hair to have 18 INT. What do you think?
Can't remember if you mentioned it in the video or not (I was half asleep, cancel me. :P), but another armor that works insanely well with this build, would be the Act One armor, Helldusk, that you get from 'ol Raph. XP That flat damage reduction & fire resistance scales extremely well with your arcane ward. :)
I wish BG3 had trigger spells like in BG2:) Also It would be nice if they had a way to save a bunch of casts on all my crew so I don't have to re-cast after every rest. For example, I could save a crew cast of longstridder, and bless and arcane ward from another character. then after my next rest just select the saved protocol:)
Love this build in my honor mode atm! Only issue I have is enemies seem to target my higher AC characters over Gale quite often, even if I position him forward.
How does the damage reduction result in them having to do over a thousand damage in a single hit to damage you? It seems more like 45+ damage would hit you with max stacks of arcane ward? Less if you dont have full stacks? Still unlikely, but in act 1 and 2 i feel you will likely still take damage here and there
Question? Would it be worth it, if I go 2 lvls in Wizard for the Abjuration skill? I am currently 6 lvls in Sorcer then 4 lvls in warlock. Would that add more good defance? or would my Intel be a problem? Planing on going for the intel circlet. Currently I have 8/8 St 16 Dex 16 Con 10 Intel 12 Wisdom and 20 Char (I can recall wrong, with the Widsom) Might be less.
So, what is the strategy for charging Arcane Ward with this build? At the end of the video Gale has 2. What does he do in camp for prep, pre battle, during fights?
It would be nice to know how you 'set up' in terms of how you get your abjuration stacks up - previously there was a warlock dip using free mage armor to accomplish this, but I didn't see anything about how you get your initial stacks to full (obviously casting max level Armor of A. gets you 1/2 your max stacks)
So you get 6 from armor of agathys, then I usually use my level 2 and 4 spell slots as those are generally the least useful in the lategame - 6 + 3x4 + 2x2 gets you to 22 for example. Depends on what slots you want to conserve to cast in combat and which ones you can easily refresh with your item setup though!
No Wall of ice is bugged : ice wall initial DC of 15 then Icy cloud DC of 16 instead of spellcaster save DC. Icy cloud also does only 5d6 damage instead of 10d6 (probably a tooltip error for the damage of icy cloud as in dnd it does 5d6 for icy cloud)
I haven't encountered bugs with the save dc, but yeah the ice fog is bugged - but since it triggers on entry and at the start of their turn, it's still 10d6 total before enemies act. I could have specified that more clearly though!
![The ONE SHOT LIGHTNING LORD - [Updated] BG3 Patch 7 Honour Mode Build Guide](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yGcfb0_dAEY/mqdefault.jpg)
*_Cephalopocalypse - Abjuration Wizard Tank_*
*Viewer Note*
Cephalopocalypse spends a great deal of time creating these videos for his channel and our enjoyment. Please Like, Subscribe and Comment to help him out, boost his RUclips metrics, and encourage him to continue making this awesome content!
The text below is by me, for an easy-to-return-to build reference, but it can _never replace_ watching the entire video as a great deal of his How & Why choices aren’t explained, nor are the Tips he’s sprinkled in throughout the video.
_Level 1_
Race: Half-Wood Elf, Human, Githyanki, Halfling
Stats: 8/14/16/16/12/8
Skills: Your choice
Sorcerer 1
Draconic Bloodline: White (Cold) for Armour of Agathys (required)
Cantrips: Blade Ward, Mage Hand, Minor Illusion, Light
Spells: Shield, Magic Missile
_Level 2_
Wizard 1
Cantrips: Ray of Frost, Fire Bolt, Bone Chill
Spells: Longstrider, Enhanced Leap, Grease, Chromatic Orb, Fog Cloud, Disguise Self
Prepare Spells: Chromatic Orb, Grease, Longstrider, Fog Cloud
*_Wizard’s Spellbook Note_*
With one level of Wizard you can now scribe scrolls into your spellbook, and should do so every chance you get. Outside of combat you can swap Prepared Spells as needed, making a spell in your spellbook far better than a scroll in your inventory. Extra scrolls can and should be used as needed to conserve spell slots!
Therefore the “Spells” and “Prepare Spells” shown below are suggestions, as you should learn spells you haven’t found scrolls for yet, and you should prepare spells as needed based on your party composition, play style and/or the area you’re adventuring within.
_”Familiar: Cheeky Quasit” Scroll_
_(Note: Patch 7 removed having two people get the quasit.)_
There is only one copy of this scroll in the game, and should _always_ be copied into your spellbook. After learning it and _the very first time_ you summon the Quasit, named Shovel, select “1” in the dialog options until done. Then have another Wizard 1 speak to Shovel and they’ll learn to summon her as well! (Just respec any other PC into Wizard 1, speak to her _after_ the summoner has, then respec back to their original class. Her summon appears on their “Common” tab.)
_Level 3_
Wizard 2
Subclass: Abjuration
Spells (recommended): Find Familiar, Ice Knife
Prepare Spells (recommended): Not shown
_Level 4_
Wizard 3
Spells (recommended): Cloud of Daggers, Arcane Lock
Prepare Spells (recommended): Chromatic Orb, Grease, Longstrider, Fog Cloud, Cloud of Daggers and Arcane Lock
_Level 5_
Wizard 4
Cantrips (recommended): Shocking Grasp
Spells (recommended): Flaming Sphere, Web
Prepare Spells (recommended): Not shown
Feat: Alert
_Level 6_
Wizard 5
Spells (recommended): Glyph of Warding, Counterspell (Required, no in-game scrolls exist.)
Prepare Spells (recommended): Not shown
_Level 7_
Wizard 6
Spells (recommended): Sleet Storm, Haste
Prepare Spells (recommended): Chromatic Orb, Longstrider, Fog Cloud, Cloud of Daggers, Arcane Lock, Glyph of Warding, Counterspell, Hypnotic Pattern and Haste
_Level 8_
Wizard 7
Spells (recommended): Conjure Minor Elemental, Fire Shield
Prepare Spells (recommended): Not shown
_Level 9_
Wizard 8
Spells (recommended): Ice Storm, Banishment
Prepare Spells (recommended): Not shown
Feat: ASI (INT + 2 = 18)
_Level 10_
Wizard 9
Spells (recommended): Conjure Elemental, Hold Monster
Prepare Spells (recommended): Not shown
_Level 11_
Wizard 10
Cantrips: Your choice (True Strike as a cantrip is a running gag on this channel.)
Spells (recommended): Your choice
Prepare Spells (recommended): Not shown
_Level 12_
Wizard 11
Spells (recommended): Globe of Invulnerability, Wall of Ice
Prepare Spells (recommended): Not shown
*_Gear_*
This PC doesn’t require any specific items to function.
Suggestions (Items that increase Spell Save DCs, and any items that reduce incoming damage): Fistbreaker Helm, Bonespike Garb, Mourning Frost, Ring of Regneration, Snowburst Ring, Disintegrating Night Walkers, Markoheshkir (for a 6th-level spell slot recharge after casting 6th-level Armour of Agathys).
True Love’s Caress (Warding Bond) for resistance since this PC will hardly ever take damage that affects the other caster.
*_Playing Notes/Combat Strategy_*
You’re a Wizard with no downsides, so play as a regular Wizard. The combat A.I. won’t usually target this PC. You can change that by lowering AC or provoking Attacks of Opportunities. You can also place this PC in front and others behind them to force foes to attack.
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Do you have your own channel we could help you with?
This Character Outline is super helpful!
Christ, I just wrote down exactly the same summary. Could just copy it from you… thanks anyway
goat
GOAT comment.
Why every single build guide doesn't have this type 'print version' comment posted by the OP i'll never know. Many thanks.
ah so this is th fabled Think Tank
made me chuckle
One small change I make to this build is right at that first sorc level instead of magic missile I take expeditious retreat. It's always prepared and lets you bonus action dash any turn you want to force enemy opportunity attacks. It takes concentration but that just makes the enemies more likely to target you as well.
Good idea
I appreciate the example of the build at the beginning to showcase what you will be building towards
Impossible to lose *laughs in gauntlet of Shar elevator*
If I hadmt had a short rest to pick up my character who death saved after falling through the floor that thing would have ended my run
Elevator: before we get started...does anybody wanna get off?
@@feircy same my tav got glitched down there and i got so scared till i realized i could short rest
@@feircy same, had to respec SH since my tav was glitched into the wall
@@feircy My very first playthrough was almost ruined because of that elevator.... if I hadn't had a short rest to pick them up, my very first game would have been over. (couldn't go back to an older save, it was honor mode).
I wasn't happy when I fell through the elevator..... Took me an hour to realize I could short rest so I could warp out. Haven't trusted an elevator since.
“And we’re going to take True Strike to annoy people in the comments“
Truly the character build GOAT
Why make two jokes when the same one is funny every time
Shield and CounterSpell are both Abjuration spells, but the reason they don't give stacks isn't because of a bug, but because they are reactions. You aren't casting them, you are reacting with them, so the game doesn't count them as cast. :)
It's also the reason you can use them both under barbarian rage or when close to an antimagic flower. :)
Oh so that's how that works. Thanks for the info.
That makes me so sad to hear 😭😭😭😭😭😭
Actual giga-brain comment, just learned something new that’s been right in my face this whole time.
Ohhhh that explains why Counter spell cannot be counter spelled too
The reason people think of them as bugs is because we play D&D and in D&D they are supposed to heal your Arcane Ward, and casting as a reaction is still casting a spell. So for a D&D-based game to do this so very differently confuses us.
Your videos are super helpful and have helped me throughout my honor mode play through. Keep up the good work.
Thanks very much for the support! Glad you're enjoying the videos!
This is my favorite build you've made and once I saw that you made an updated one it was an instant watch for me. Thanks for the great content as always!
Thanks very much!
Saved this build from months ago, for my honor mode run that I started yesterday. Now to wake up and find it get updated! Thank you this will help out so much.
Awesome, good luck with the run!
Isn't this a bit of theory crafting?
I mean, how do you get arcane stacks inside the Battle, if multiple enemies attack you, you just get 1 stack per turn and you spend as many as the opponents that damage you
@@aggmp6958 arcane ward lasts all day so precast adjuration stuff after a long rest for stacks, then just recast armor of agathys in combat, or spells like protection from evil and good.
Because of your videos and those from ItalianSparticus, i went from struggling in Balanced Mode to always playing on Honour Mode without struggling. Build videos are also a great way to learn the game when you start playing, because many game mechanics are explained in the process. Keep making bg3 videos, bc you and ItalianSparticus are really the only 2 guys that make quality BG3 videos. there are a few others, but they lack the quality and professionalism. Jay Dunna is starting to make some good videos also.
This was the very first character I ever played when the game first came out and has remained my favorite build. Nice to see my favorite BG3 build maker covering it.
Really appreciate your BG3 content!
Thanks so much for the support! I really appreciate it - glad you're enjoying the videos :D
I've been playing this on my current run. Despite it's issues I still think it's my favourite build in the game because return damage is such a fun mechanic.
Through the elephant in the room is that the AI goes completely insane when you have this character in combat. Even if you have the lowest possible AC on this character (15) and all of your allies have 22+ AC, you STILL won't be targeted. One time I was in a 1v1 and an enemy CANCELLED THEIR TURN INSTEAD OF HITTING ME. It's very annoying to say the least.
Also, Boots of Speed are goated on this character, cast Dash as a bonus action and just run through the whole encounter eating Opportunity Attacks left and right. It's the most reliable way of getting off reflect damage.
You could also spend a spell slot to cast expeditious retreat, and use hoarfrost boots to prevent falling down on icy surfaces.
Oh yeah so annoying for enemies to avoid attacking you in a fight😂maybe do 4 wizard, 2fighter, 6 warlock so that you can just darkness hex and murder them before they even knew what happened😂😂
I always love your builds. You give just the right level of detail and your delivery is spot on.
Many thanks
Thank you so much for continuing to put out and update these builds. I'm still obsessed with this game, and you're by far the best content creator for it ❤
gale carried and tanked my honor mode party until mid act 2 with this build. then i switched to halsin following your paladin-spore druid guide. i got the dice thanks to your wisdom 🙏 now i see this video and im like "well, time to start the 13th playthrough" 🤭
15:26 running thin on useful cantrips?! TRUE STRIKE IS RIGHT THERE! 🥳
i can't keep restarting the game every week, Ceph.
i'm so excited to use this build for my honor mode run! Genius! Wouldn't have thought of it!
"And take True Strike to annoy the people in the comments". 🙂 Great. On top of that I really like the idea of a "Wizard Tank". Currently I have to swap the Wizard for the Tank, so having both in one sounds great. And perfect timing - just started a play through. Love it!
Thanks for this update. I have been playing with various iterations of this build and had settled on 1 tempest cleric/ 2 warlock/ rest wiz, as the invocation of shadows made it easy to build ward without using spell slots. I think you explain well how to overcome this, especially as I am only lv 7 so your build gives more wiz lvls and you mention many ways of rebuilding arcane ward using spells. I was confused why blade ward/ shield didn’t work, but now I know, and getting glyph of warding and mage armour will help. Much appreciated!
I wish there was a frost cleric like there is a tempest cleric. It would make AoA build so much better lol
Really great explanation. This build looks like a lot of fun. I've built it and I'm gonna try it out today. Thanks again for sharing.
This build (and three more of yours) got me through honor mode, and it was such a fun run. Thank you!
Awesome, congrats on the win!
Abjuration scrolls can be used to get arcane ward charges. There are lots of those sold by merchants for low prices. No need to spend spell slots. Also, I added a one level dip into Tempest cleric for heavy armor and Create Water spell.
Monk is a good dip as well for unarmored defense. Dual wield is a great feat for this build.
@@oliorogue Since you have a level of draconic sorcerer you don’t need Unarmored defense
You don’t want high AC though, because you need enemies to hit you!
@@olioroguethis would take away from spiked garb. You don’t care about ac with this build necessarily. You wanna get hit sometimes. I’d say like 15-18 ac is best
I made a slight adjustment to this in my last HM run: I took one level of monk + dual wielder for Mourning Frost and Markoheshkir. It gives you a secondary way to deal damage if you need (and utilise your bonus action) + makes your attacks of opportunity more effective.
A question for you: why Ice Storm over Cone of Cold? Ice Storm always felt less effective to me, whereas Cone of Cold on wet targets is basically a super powered shotgun. Plus you're in melee range a lot where CoC shines.
Love your builds and guides. Thank you so much for all the hard work!
About to start a solo run with an abjuration wizard build. Excited to watch this first
Having watched this now, I think I’m still going to go one level of cleric for the armor and weapon proficiencies. I think I’ll need the AC for ranged attacks. I’m also thinking I might go headband of intellect and just stack spell save DC items so I can put those stat points in charisma since I’m solo.
What do you mean by solo? Isn't every run without co-op friends solo?
@@ashihtaka It means no companions in the party. Just your tav/durge. A party of 1.
@@ashihtaka yup, just tav and no one else. Might use a camp cleric but no one on the map with me.
I like going Warlock 2 early to stack using armor of shadows. Also gives Eldritch Blast and Agonizing blast for a great default attack. Great old one for frighten.
Constitution Proficiency is good but you are correct, the chances that you even have to take a concentration save is minimal.
I'm wearing the Spidersilk armor that gives my advantage on con saves.
Currently 2/5 wizard.
Once you are at lvl 7 you could respec full Abjuration, you will so rarely take damage concentration isn't a concern. Warlock gives you access to armor of Agathys as well, though not free the way white drac sorcerer does. I think the builds are very, very similar in strength. It really depends on what you want to focus on.
⭐️Important ⭐️
If you use Shield or Projected ward it uses your reaction, so you can’t use Counter spell !!
This catches me out a lot ! Where I save some damage then get hit with the mother of all spells as counter spell is down.
One of my favorite build types... it is super fun and hilarious. I recommend it for anyone trying Honour mode for the first time.
29:40 hoarfrost boots help with this. I actually have like a frost druid build that uses these along with mourning frost & shillelagh, snowburst ring, and the necklace of elemental augmentation.
Using the previous iteration on my current run, just got to act II! Will definitely be updating, appreciate the upload!
Great intro on this video, if u could showcase gameplay of the builds maybe during dead space when ur talking or explaining what spells / ability’s to take that would be fantastic. A fair bit more effort into the videos but I feel would definitely be worth it.
Pretty much exactly what I'm currently doing with my solo honour mode, no camp-casting current run. Only difference is I took my second level as Tempest Cleric for the heavy armor mainly. You _can_ get your defenses overpowered in solo play, so the higher AC and various immunities (crit and stun most importantly) some heavy gear gives helps me remain standing.
Also a great source of wet!
currently running something like this, but with 1 in cleric for bless, water, and shield/armor proficiency, and 2 sorc for twin haste. my friend and i are just doing a duo honor mode run so he's the damage and i'm the tank/cc/support/ice wizard. being so hard to kill, making all the enemies prone with ice and reverb, bless/haste, ice/wet combo, i feel so unstoppable. can't wait for act 3 and the armor of persistence.
I changed Wyll to a bard....I think I am going to try THIS instead. Thanks for the idea. I HATE gear dependent builds, I prefer enhancements to the build vs relying on the gear. Thank you SO MUCH for showing how to enhance. Your builds are pretty cool.
It's very good you won't regret it. Just having someone who doesn't die on the battlefield is invaluable. Of course you can't play completely reckless still.
I finished my first ever playthrough of the game, as dark urge, decided to play another playthrough as Gale (since i killed him in my first playthrough), and instantly get this in my home page!
Literally about to start another co-op run with my brother, finally playing as the good guys (first was all funny choices, second was evil DUrge). Planning on rocking a paladin and this.
This is great!! I'm actually looking at maybe playing a third playthrough after a year. So been looking at some different classes to play. Looking at all your updated builds! Think i might try a Wizard and a Druid for the first time.
LETS GOOOO I was hoping you'd get to updating this one soon!!
Just wanted to say this build is amazing and actually very much on flavour from what I remember of high level mages in AD&D with their magic shields, spell sequencers and such. This build saved me from a wipe after catastrophic error in Auntie Ethel act 3 encounter. Basically delt with her solo.
I do miss the old wizard meta. It definitely made wizards really powerful and required the player to use their own intelligence effectively as well the char stat. It also made pure wizard compete with sorcerers well.
@@catocall7323 I have no idea what wizards now get past level 12. Do they have any old goodies apart from Power Word X and Wish spells?
Just finished my Honor mode run with the “outdated” version. Can’t speak highly enough of this build
Thanks!
Thanks so much for the support! I really appreciate it
I think it's always good to bring up that you can find all 4 of the standard damage cantrips on scrolls easily in act 1 so I often only take Ray of frost and/or shocking grasp and then learn the cantrips permanently off scrolls
Can someone explain the arcane lock to me? He said you could spam click it for stacks for you can only cast it once and then dismiss it?
Cool update video. Keep up the good work!
Damn, that's a fantastic intro, poor mama K
Might just give this a go for the next run; thank you!
(Act 3 Spoiler below)
Have you ever considered making a build for a character that plans on going full-illithid for the final stretch of the game? It might not warrant a full-length video, but your take on how best to use its strengths would be interesting to see. Since the character benefits from Permanent Mind Sanctuary, I would imagine that 3 levels in Rogue would be nice for that extra bonus action.
As always, thank you for taking the time to share your builds.
From what I know, you retain class features. Rage, Ki, Spell Slots (maybe), etc.
Your stats are
Str: 13
Dex: 12
Con: 14
Int: 20
Wis: 18
Cha: 18
And these stats can be influenced by permanent stat changes, like Araj’s potion granting a +2 to strength, and the mirror of loss.
These stats can also be influenced by items that increase stats, like the Birthright, Khalid’s gift, Duke Ravenguard’s sword, etc.
As well as stat setting items and potions, like the Gloves of Dexterity or a potion of Giant Strength, or the Amulet of Greater Health
One more thing is that you can no longer use the base “unarmed strike” since your base attack is a mindflayer tentacle. So if you’re doing a TB monk or an open hand monk, that’ll be pretty incompatible
With all this in mind, here are some tips:
Load up on feats. Your actual stats don’t matter, so you don’t gotta invest in ASIs, so this is the time to go feat crazy. Some good ones all around are Alert, Lucky, Mobile, Durable, etc. Casters grab War-Caster, Spell Sniper, Resilient, Dual Wielder, etc. Martials grab Savage Attacker, Mage Slayer, Martial Adept, etc.
If you’re doing a melee build, make sure to equip the Gloves of Dexterity or a Cloud Giant Strength. Honesty a Flayer-Barbarian sounds hilarious. If you’re going the Dex route, make sure to have your +3 weapon ready.
Casters make sure you have your permanent stat increases from the Mirror of Loss. 18 as your spellcasting stat isn’t terrible, but you wanna boost it if you can. Wisdom casters have your Khalid’s gift, and Charisma casters make sure to have Birthright and the Duke’s sword if you can grab it. Intelligence casters are the ones you probably wanna have on this character, however.
Happy Illithid-ing!
Alsooooo! The Illithid is an AMAZING user of the “1 level wizard dip” feature bg3 has. Assuming you don’t raise your intelligence by any more and if you take 11 levels in another (full caster preferably) class and one level into wizard, you’ll be able to prepare 6 wizard spells from scrolls, and also you’ll have great other mental stats. That means you could (I hope) be a full-cleric while also having access to some amazing arcane spells of both 1st-6th level. Or you can be a bard with access to wizard spells, not needing to use a whole bunch of magical secrets on that. Sorcerer with 6 extra added spells and full metamagic capabilities, the possibilities are a lot!
Darth Revan is one of my favorite Star Wars characters ever
I was waiting for this update, thanks.
One thing worth of note:
you don't need to go one level into sorcerer if you don't want to.
Yes, armor of agathys is very good, but if you don't care about retaliating damage and just want the survivability while damaging with your normal spells, you can get 12 levels of wizard to get another feat, and another 2 stacks of your ward. You can replace the shield from armor of agathys for false life, that wizard learns at level 1, will give you actually 2 more points of extra health. You'll loose the concentration saving throw proficiency, but in exchange for that, you can get a third feat, that could potentially something like a dual wielding feat to hold two staves, or another ASI, and do a more offensive build. If your objective is to survive, not retaliate, you can precast mirror image and use your reactions to cast shield so you almost never get hit, and when you do get hit, take 0 damage. Then, as you said, this build doesn't require any items, so you can build your wizard entirely offensive after that, and be a powerhouse in everything you do.
ah, and if you really want to be immune to more stuff: get the amulet from raphael's house of hope that gives you 23 con and con saving throw advantage (to make up for the lost saving throw proficiency, plus have a +6 nat bonus on con checks), and then dump all of your con into dex and wisdom (like base build being 16 dex, 16 int, 14 wisdom, 12 charisma, 8 con(23 with the amulet) and 8 str). With a couple of items to incrase your saving throws, you'll be untouchable.
Armor of Agathys, proficiency in Constitution saves, and your base AC being 13 are all VERY good for this build.
Wizard scroll learning removes the downside of being one level behind on auto learning spells. So even though you can't choose Cloud of Daggers at level 3, you can get a scroll to still learn it.
@@chuckchan4127 I mean, the 13 AC is easily fixed by casting mage armor, and the con proficiency is not needed if you don't take any damage, that's the main purpose of the build. I'd rather having a extra feat and a stronger ward, honestly. I mean, going one level into sorcerer is fine, i'm just saying that going 12 levels into wizard has it's own advantages and it's not worse, it's just a different way of playing. Playing counter wizard is cool, but gets boring fast, and you have to keep repleninshing your ward constantly. Playing the way i said, you rarely take a hit, so your ward stays untouched most of the time, and you can cast whatever you feel like, being more versatile and not struggling vs enemies resistant/immune to cold damage.
Just a thought. Since this build isn't gear dependent, I wonder what it would be like to run this build with the Coruscation Set? You would need to start as Githyanki for medium armor or take it as a feat with Human or Half Elf. Not only would you be nearly undamageable, but enemies would be massively nerfing their hit chance every time they try to hit you with the radiating orbs.
More great content. It's my typical Gale build. Thanks.
As a build question, wouldn’t it be better to take a level in Warlock over Sorcerer? I understand the importance of the Con prof, but if you pick 1 lvl Warlock, you could still grab the AoA and other patron benefits, and if you wanted to get lvl 2 warlock, get the boon that allows you to cast mage armor for free. Sure you’ll lose a stack of Arcane Ward, but wouldn’t you be strong enough to not need that last stack?
What spell did he cast in order to stack the Arcane Wards? I have a similar build (2 warlock/10 wizard). I had to cast mage armor repeatedly (from warlock Invocation Armour of Shadows) to max stack the Arcane Wards. Without the warlock invocation this build would need to spend bunch spell slot just to get to max stack of Arcane Ward.
I’ve heard some people, who are insane IMO, respec every time they want max stacks (and have no more spells) because you get max stacks at lvl up
I use a variant of this build in all my full party playthroughs...Same as here, except I roll with 4 levels sorc so I can twin Haste.
Love the content, your build and party guides have been so helpful and really improved my understanding of the game mechanics etc. But I have to say, whatever change you made to your microphone setup or settings lately hasn't been for the better. Comparing it to your older videos, they sound way much better to me. The new mic sounds really tinny and harsh by comparison.
Not trying to hate, just letting you know. Maybe it's just me!
Anyway, love the videos, awesome channel.
Is there an argument to be made to dump dexterity on this build and get good initiative from Alert and items to increase the odds that enemies can hit you and take retaliation damage?
You could invest in Wisdom further for better saving throws too.
Wow such a great build! I wouldn't normally choose Gale but with this build I might just do so. Keep up the the excellent work my friend. In my opinion you are the best BG3 build creator. I look forward to future builds from you. I know you concentrate on Honour mode builds but would it be possible for you design a Balanced mode build for a Bardadin (Swords bard) with a single level of Wizard. Maybe this would give 3 attacks a round but without Magical Secrets but getting the extra ability of Wizard spells and scroll learning? I am new to the game and I don't want to jump into Honour mode from the start.
One thing I will say here, there’s a reason you assume resistance in the examples of damage you give. Just finished my honor mode, and I can say confidently (swapping an abjuration wizard in and out) without halving damage, it starts to break down. This is significantly important for fights where enemies are not dealing a singular damage type (so like enemy spellcasters for example). Additionally, enemies that deal single-instance heavy damage (like the Bulette) really counter this as you not only don’t want to get hit, but don’t want to be provoking opportunity as well. It was a strong character, but there were more than a few fights where he needed to be benched.
I can see what you're saying, but even in these cases, you still have an 11th level wizard with 6th level spell slots. I think in the cases you're speaking about, it just a change of tactics is needed. So instead of playing as a tank, you're playing as any wizard in the group would play in these scenarios.
Tanks protect the party, tanking isn't just being invulnerable yourself
Projected ward is a reaction, so you can only use it once per turn
The only true tanking ability in the game is warding bond. (or bear dr00d) Its passive once it's cast, it always works, theres no range, no action economy. You can be knocked on your aas or asleep and you're still protecting your party.
In a game without economic aggro, there is no other tanking ability. There is only warding bond.
Abjuration ward is just a personal invulnerability ability. Projected is only on a reaction. You only get one of those.
So this is a neat invincible wizard build, but its not an effective *tanking* build. Need some way to taunt like druid bear form, otherwise warding bond
Been playing college of valor hard and loving it! I know swords bars outshines it but would love a college of valor honor mode build ❤
Guess it’s finally time to try this wizard
Which abjuration spells are considered ritual that you can cast to build up stacks out of combat? Or isn't there any?
I love an arcane wall knight I go for 6/6 fighter wizard with tavern brawler, heavy armor master, and heavy weapon/war caster. I opt for eldritch knight for returning weapons and spell slots (typically magic missile, shield, haste, glyph) nyrulna and reverb is a match made in heaven but early game can be a breeze with sparky hands (lighting charges on throw advantage vs armored) spell sparkler (lighting charge on magic missile) and a bunch of random thrown weapons. Early early game the vision of the absolute is a fantastic option which lets you blind enemies if youre lucky and its throwable. You don't need any int investment but 12 is good for proficiencies.
Wow 😮 this is impressive.
But I had Gale in my last play through. My plan was to try something new! I mean , my Gale had so much AC last time, the most of my whole party! But this is too woah!
Used this on my Honor Mode clear earlier this week. Just the not updated version. Wyll didn't die a single time lol, and yes I used Wyll for this. Doesn't really matter who.
I wonder if going Wizard 8/ Sorcerer 4 would be worth it. You are giving up Improved Abjuration but getting a third feat and metamagic plus other sorcerer goodies.
One of my favourite builds
Awsome build, i just started a few weeks ago with a normal run with my girl, and i am defenitly going to play this build in our honor mode. When do you thonk is a good run number to attempt honor mode love the vid❤
Please can you do some more good "Point & Click" Builds?
By that, I mean builds that need very little "high maintenance" aka "micro management".
What I have in mind is this...
1) Wake Up.
2) Leave Camp.
3) Explore.
4) Win Encounters.
5) Go home and go to bed.
I realise this is not what D&D or BG3 is about, but would help first players to BG3 and D&D.
I learned a lot from my first playthrough. I learned even more from watching your vids after my first, and adopted many of your strategies in my second play through.
However, by Act 3, I found some of the micro-management, although winning/optimised, a little taxing on my enthusiasm. There's a lot of preparation "hoops to jump through" before settling down and just playing.
Sure, you can just play "as is" accepting Larian's defaults, but, this is even further south of sub-optimal than I'd like.
I don't know of anyone else on RUclips who could design winning strategies that do not require the "hoops" that D&D sometimes expects.
Of course, I don't mean the abuse of Bugs, or exclusive use of accidental "broken" mechanics introduced by Larian.
This might seem weird but what are thoughts on 2 levels in warlock for free mage armor to stack arcane ward and then 10 wizard? Would mean you miss out on high level spells but would mean you can easily stack arcane ward all the time with removing mage armor by equipping armor and recasting it for free.
This build is definitely OP. In my last honor run Gale hasn’t died once.
🔥🔥🔥 I might make this my first solo HM character!
This is a very smooth solo experience imo (though you may need to approach the initial fights carefully or route around them until level 3 or so). For best results you'll most likely want to take a level of tempest cleric at level 2 for heavy armour, that gives you a lot more gear flexibility!
@@Cephalopocalypse aw man I was going to fumble the early game and then post an angry comment with multiple points of misinformation and ad hominem 😞
Thanks for the video! Video suggestion: Can you rank the Boss Fights on difficulty using the same Act 1 versus Act 3 progression? Just started my first Honor Mode playthrough and was shocked that there were 2 Owlbears in the cave, lol. Got lucky with a Thunder Wave that kept the game alive but would love to see your rankings on the Boss Battles. Thanks!
There is a modification I make to this build, if I get Ethel’s Hair. You make two good points, (1) you don’t need INT 20 and (2) you want a low AC. I will get Dual Wielding so I can walk around with both Morning Frost and Markoheshkir. Your build showed a shield, which raises AC. Both staffs may be better than one staff and one shield. I use the hair to have 18 INT. What do you think?
Can't remember if you mentioned it in the video or not (I was half asleep, cancel me. :P), but another armor that works insanely well with this build, would be the Act One armor, Helldusk, that you get from 'ol Raph. XP
That flat damage reduction & fire resistance scales extremely well with your arcane ward. :)
you get that in act 3
Would 1 level of white draconic sorcerer be better than 2 in warlock for armour of Agathist and con save?
Looks like Gale is going to have a makeover
I love this build! Thank you 🤩
I wish BG3 had trigger spells like in BG2:) Also It would be nice if they had a way to save a bunch of casts on all my crew so I don't have to re-cast after every rest. For example, I could save a crew cast of longstridder, and bless and arcane ward from another character. then after my next rest just select the saved protocol:)
doing this in my honour run (followed your BEST party to avoid raging) and am in act 2 obliterating fights. thank you sir 🫡
respeccing gale as we speak, will go well with the spellblade polearm master.
Why does your Arcane Lock just cost an action? While mine cost and action + level 2 spell slot?
Has this been changed? Currently level 4 wiz Protection for Evil and Good doesnt stack up my Arcane ward :(
Actually maybe it does lol? Im so confused, I just hope its not changed build looks funny as hell
What about adding cleric to this for create water? Where would you add it if at all? I hate throwing water bottles lol
great video, thank you
Which of your other builds would work well with this as a party? I was thinking Tempest Cleric, but what would you fill the other slots with?
If you grab resilient INT, does the saving throw proficiency add to your wizard spellcasting modifier?
Could duel wielding staffs with the feat be better? Morning frost and markoheskir seem like a good combo
I love your builds but I need demos on how to utilize it.
Love this build in my honor mode atm! Only issue I have is enemies seem to target my higher AC characters over Gale quite often, even if I position him forward.
This is a good thing. That means your wizard can go ham!
32:43 This is addressed here. Thank you for being so comprehensive with your videos!!
How does the damage reduction result in them having to do over a thousand damage in a single hit to damage you? It seems more like 45+ damage would hit you with max stacks of arcane ward? Less if you dont have full stacks? Still unlikely, but in act 1 and 2 i feel you will likely still take damage here and there
I'm going to mix this with Bladesinger build!
Question? Would it be worth it, if I go 2 lvls in Wizard for the Abjuration skill? I am currently 6 lvls in Sorcer then 4 lvls in warlock. Would that add more good defance? or would my Intel be a problem? Planing on going for the intel circlet. Currently I have 8/8 St 16 Dex 16 Con 10 Intel 12 Wisdom and 20 Char (I can recall wrong, with the Widsom) Might be less.
Great work as always tho!
So, what is the strategy for charging Arcane Ward with this build? At the end of the video Gale has 2. What does he do in camp for prep, pre battle, during fights?
Please do Tempest Cleric 2/Land Druid 10 if you take requests
It would be nice to know how you 'set up' in terms of how you get your abjuration stacks up - previously there was a warlock dip using free mage armor to accomplish this, but I didn't see anything about how you get your initial stacks to full (obviously casting max level Armor of A. gets you 1/2 your max stacks)
So you get 6 from armor of agathys, then I usually use my level 2 and 4 spell slots as those are generally the least useful in the lategame - 6 + 3x4 + 2x2 gets you to 22 for example. Depends on what slots you want to conserve to cast in combat and which ones you can easily refresh with your item setup though!
No Wall of ice is bugged : ice wall initial DC of 15 then Icy cloud DC of 16 instead of spellcaster save DC. Icy cloud also does only 5d6 damage instead of 10d6 (probably a tooltip error for the damage of icy cloud as in dnd it does 5d6 for icy cloud)
I haven't encountered bugs with the save dc, but yeah the ice fog is bugged - but since it triggers on entry and at the start of their turn, it's still 10d6 total before enemies act. I could have specified that more clearly though!