I strongly disagree with this video (I’m 47 seconds in) because I have a sinking suspicion the “Ring of Being Really Invisible” won’t be on this list. Top tier item.
Not trying to glaze, but I just wanted to say you’ve quickly become my favorite BG3 RUclipsr. You never bullshit or engagement farm the way a lot of other BG3 “guide” channels do; your info is always easily digestible and you have a great tactfulness with your words- all to say many props and I hope your channel grows and grows and grows.
Funnily enough, I think the Adamantine armor and shield are undervalued, just because the way the critical hit immunity works is that it turns All critical HITS into critical MISSES, effectively giving you an additional ac, as it reduces the number the enemy can roll to hit you by one. I found this while using a light cleric, so if it's still in the game, you can confirm for yourself
@@nguyendi92 it probably isnt itended, but i guess they could have made it a normal hit, but with the armor and shield working the way it does, it means the scale mail is 17 ac, the splint is 19, and the shield is +3, if you dont stack the critical immunity effect, either way, it makes giving a single piece to each party member significantly stronger
One thing I like about BG3 is that you can sleep on many of the most powerful items and still have plenty of viable options available. I've never used that +1 breastplate, the broodmother's revenge, the adamantine shield, the protecty sparkswall, or the boots of stormy clamour. Rarely used hellrider's pride or whispering promise either. Still so many ways to beat Act 1, even in honor mode. But I always appreciate your take on the game, because you're clearly better at it than I am.
I thought rank 1 would have been the bard's starting instrument, as picking the wrong one at character creation would instantly ruin your playthrough. With that joke out of the way, awesome ranking.
I just wanted to leave a comment that I got my golden dice today and the information and builds in your videos were extremely helpful, I basically breezed through most of the encounters including fights that are considered difficult (Myrkul, Raphael, Elder Brain) and I wanted to thank you for the great quality and amount of work you put into them! I had Swords Bard Tav, Lae'zel as an Eldrith Knight thrower, Shadowheart a Tempest Cleric and Gale as Abjuration Wizard.
@@GAMER32231 bro game's been out for over a year... also, I did not spoil the final boss fight. I did not say anything about the final boss fight, I listed 3 fights that some people found difficult, there is nothing in my comment that indicate which of these (or if any of them for that matter) is the final one.
🐐🐐🐐 graceful cloth is the reason I have to make sure I have at least one very cool looking camp clothes set in every playthrough because holy heck that robe looks a bit silly
I don't like crafting chests from Grym anymore, because he is typically my very last stop in Act 1, so I'll be getting Yuanti Scale Mail basically 15 minutes after the fight is over. While it's true having a 2nd medium armor user could benefit from this, it's typically going to be a cleric wearing Luminous Armor. I've simplified my runs by just crafting double shields. I like the 4 shield user party for honor mode, and there just aren't enough good shields to go around until you reach act 3. Being able to freely move crit immunity around to half your party regardless of what type of armor they want to equip, makes it very easy to get crit immunity on 3 members of your party for the rest of the playthrough. You could technically have the whole party immune once you get the Helm of Balduran, but at that point my caster really wants the helm of the weave and ketheric's shield, so they usually bite the bullet and be the odd man out for crit immunity.
It is just depend of your build, man. Laezel wouldnt use it in place of a Gith sword. If you have a low Dex character, Splint armour is the best for a while
Hey!! My girlfriend and I are traveling abroad right now and all our hotel offers on the TV is RUclips and we initially thought that would be awful, but then we found your channel and we have entirely changed our minds we have watched all your bg3 class tiers, spell tiers, and multiclass tiers, plus a handfull of others including this video and we can't wait to watch more when we get to our next destination !! And in one of those videos you mentioned you upload everyday which is CRAZY IMPRESSIVE we love your channel we love the way you make videos you seem like such a cool guy and I hope you keep making videos as we will continue to watch (and maybe you'll inspire me to try an Honor playthrough of BG3 someday Hahah) anyway, thank you for making these videos, you made a hotel that has otherwise been awful, amazing to end the day to ♡
There are multiple consumable in Act 1 that have no action economy use that can trigger Broodmother's Revenge like raspberries and treacle tarts. Raspberries, in particular, are really easy to find around the Blighted Village.
And add in the periapt with those on characters that don't otherwise have a great necklace (or already used up the effect) and it's a great defensive tool as well.
How the Smugglers Ring and Gloves of Belligerent Skies aren’t on this list is beyond me. Tho I suppose he’s not into stealth archery too much, or theft 😂
Well, it's a list of top 20. So, many items can't make the list without pushing something else off the list. There's also the risky ring which didn't make the cut, and that's pretty good for stealth archers.
He ranked both of those A tier, not S tier, so they were never going to make the cut. There’s a lot of competition for gloves and rings in Act 1. Of the 8 sets of gloves he rated S tier, only 2 appear in this list. 6 of the 8 rings made it though.
No worries Ceph, so long as my obsession with BG3 persists (been 10 months now, cannot get myself to be interested in picking up a different game) I will be watching your videos. I’m trying to beat HM right now so this video in particular (among all the other videos) is very much needed for me. Keep up the great work!
Nice list, would have loved to see the Warped Headband of Intelect and the Periapt of Wound Closure here though! The headband is GREAT early game and you can get it fairly easily. It saves A LOT of stat points just like the gloves but for a wizard character and you can easily take alert or war caster with it, then respec when you get to the arcane acuity items. I feel like it's simply best in slot. Then for the periapt, it removes a lot of nasty RNG for your playthrough. When you get to the creche you can just buy infinite super healing potions, stick the periapt on your wildheart barbarian or something and heal for 40 EVERY TURN with just a simple bonus action. VERY surprized that neither of these items made it on the list. I think they easily replace the Ring of flinging, haste helm, protecty sparkswall, boots of speed, etc. I think the BOS is massively overrated with things like expeditious retreat, enchance leap and potion of glorious vaulting being in the game and definitely becomes a worse use of a bonus action in comparison to a 40 HP heal. Heck, even Crusher's Ring/Spurred Band is better and it's not on the list either! Also, imagine not including Ring of Resistance to Ants!💀
Absolutely love these lists and greatly appreciate a summary (including the screenshots!). Thanks so much for all the consistently clear & helpful BG3 info!
What about that Diadem of Arcane Synergy? Carried by one of the Inquisitors goons, gives you two stacks of Arcane Synergy? There's so many casting builds that mostly smack enemies with weapon attacks, Warlocks, Paladins, certain Clerics and such. Basically permanently adds your Spellcasting Modifier to your damage, as it's super easy to proc. Always felt hideously broken to me. I was SURE that was going to be first place. But maybe I'm overlooking something, or there's just that much better stuff in the slot?
I feel like Arcane Synergy has issues because, ironically given its name, it has significant anti-synergy with other optimization choices. Feats like Great Weapon Master and Sharpshooter compete with Ability Score Improvement. Using Ethel's Hair to give a +1 to a spellcasting ability means not giving a +1 to Dex, the best ability. You can't wear Birthright and Diadem simultaneously. And the competition of the Helmet of Arcane Acuity + Band of the Mystic Scoundrel combo is intimidating. There IS some synergy between Diadem and the actual best item, the Gloves of Dexterity, but then the Dex bonus to Initiative is capped at +4, causing Initiative items like Mask of Soul Perception to be attractive, competing with Diadem - either that or Alert, which also competes with ASI. Overall, I feel like the commitment to spellcasting ability, with real opportunity costs in other areas, makes it easier said than done to get more than +3 damage from the item. I think that can still be good enough, but it feels more like an A tier item to me than S tier.
See, that's actually funny because I toss that thing the instant I get it in every single run I do, because I simply never play any build that ever uses it. That diadem and the ring are the most "sounds like it should be good, but really isn't" in my runs.
@@dowfreak7 it's fun, try it. Put it on any blade warlock, heavy armor cleric, sword bard, especially paladin, or any other melee fighter that sometimes casts or inflicts status, and watch them go megaton
The bg3 wiki is an excellent resource for figuring out where items are! It gives very detailed information on where to find the items, down to the XY coordinates on the map.
I appreciate using the wiki to show the actual item. I certainly know them. But, from a usability perspective, for anyone who doesn’t this is a WAY better way to do it.
the Boon ring with dex gloves actually carried a LARGE portion of my playthrough. I'd shapeshift into my desired race(usually the same one I played for it's dialogue, or Gith if i needed specific items), and then dump my intelligence for headband to make up for it, and popped my charisma to the max so i passed every single dialogue i came across while hoarding so many resources i was never unprepared for forced combat encounters.
Why I'm loving screenshots with descriptions even though I know what most of those items do... It satisfies worm in my brain I guess? Thank you for the another great video! I just left my 3rd run's first act but oh well. 4rd is bound to happen one day anyway
I *love* your content, but I wanted to point out you would increase your watch time if you included a quick run down where/how two get the items you list. even just a 'found in a box in x area, or given as a reward for X
Karlach in boots of speed swinging the biggest twohanded weapon you can find is just awesome... Luminous armor on Shadowheart flinging radiant attacks left right and center is just broken...
I feel like the Haste Helm being available THAT early and filling an item slot that takes a very long time to fill out 4 good useful ones makes it better. Crushers ring is great, but especially so for melee characters and they typically have other rings they really want as well. Ranged units dont care as much about it.
@@johanfredriksvendsen8482 You can get both crusher's ring and haste helm without combat roughly at the same point but your point is a good one, there are very few good helms in A1.
Ring has a lot of competition in act 1, where helmet really doesn't, and movement is most valuable in the first round of combat where you need it to reach melee contact (or get far enough away to kite). Crusher's Ring is still excellent though and I had it at number 21 on this list, just barely missed the cut
@@lendial but can you get it without combat and without sacrificing your dignity? In any case, I think the point about the helms goes both way because the ring space isn’t going to be tightly contested either. After Act 1, I think you’re much more likely to still be using the ring than the helm. I think that the haste helm does provide an additional 1.5 m on the first turn of combat (and 1.5 m less on the third turn, and no additional movement thereafter). The fact that it all goes away if you get knocked prone or become restrained though is a significant downside.
Was wondering where the spellsparkler or staff of arcane blessing were on the list, but realized that’d be on the weapon tier list! Would love to see one of those in this same style
If it wasn’t clear in the video the boots of speed double your current move speed, meaning for a solo run if you desperately need to get out of an encounter you can dash once, and then click heels with the boots which effectively gives you 4x movespeed for that turn, and also doubles effects like haste, long strider and wood elf move speed
I would personally replace the Adamantine Splint with the Gloves of Belligerent Skies. The issue with heavy armor in Honour Mode is that DEX is so valuable that even Fighters and Paladins will likely have enough for the +2 DEX cap of Medium Armor, and there are so many good Medium armors available that I hardly ever bother making the Adamantine Splint; Adamantine Scale and Adamantine Shield are so much better and I wouldn’t recommend making the Splint over either of those two.
You are absolutely right about most good builds building around 16 dex but splint has 2 distinct advantages, one additional damage reduction which gets crazy when combined with heavy armor master. -5 damage taken from physical hits is incredible. It really depends on your party comp and if you plan to take heavy armor master on one of your characters.
even with capped dex the only medium armors that compete are the yuan ti scale, which is better but you only have 1 of, and scale +2, trading defense for initiative but not needed for now if you have alert. depends on the armor proficiencies of your party. if you can fit it in over adamantine scale, you should.
I’m a freak for the Titanstrong Bow, but I think the hype for it in act 1 is insanely overhyped. You burn through pots for very little gain and the bow needs items for act 1.5/2 to really start becoming a threat. Dual handbows outdamages the Titanstrong Bow in act 1. Yet, in act 2, the Titanstring does like 5x the damage of dual handbows. There is a reason why people skip to act 2 when doing a TS bow run and then go back to act 1.
It's worth noting that you don't have to kill Strange Ox to get Shapeshifter's Boon. If you attack him and then run away from combat, you will be able to buy this ring from him for around 200 gold. The best way to run away is to go into Mol's hideout immediately after starting the combat.
Killing him in act 1 is a big mistake, you lose the hat of fire acuity that drops from him in act 2, that's one of the strongest items in the entire game
Phalar Aluve is amazing if you rush for it, then flee back out of the Underdark. Returning pike is your Throwing Monk (Karlach thanks to her coin operated mode)'s ranged weapon.
@@boopdabeep5300 wait fr? i mean i guess thats kind of expected but i just wanted to use some qol mods like easy longstrider and getting rid of the half illithid visuals.
Regarding stacking crit immunity, damage resistance and flat damage reduction. How strong would you rate a party with something like the following characters, all with Heavy armor mastery feat: 1) ? classes with adamantine splint armor #1(crit immunity #1) 2) ? classes with adamantine splint armor #2 (crit immunity #2) 3) ? classes with armor of persistence/emblazoned plate of the marshal/reaper's embrace and helldusk helmet (crit immunity #3) 4) cleric 12 warding bond maintainer, source of aid and heroes feast: helmet of balduran (crit immunity #4) helldusk armor (3 flat damage reduction, fire resistance) the reviving hands (apply bladeward (slash, pierce, bludgeoning resistance to self with heal) Varsh Ko'kuu's Boots (acid resistance) whispering promise (apply bless equivalent with heals) the sparkswall (lightning resistance) absolute's protector (1 flat magic damage reduction) dakrfire shortbow (fire and cold resist)
I often use a dedicated healer cleric, it is not as uneffective as you would believe. Heavy armor mastery, periapt if wound closure, adamantine splint into armour of persistance, wapiras crown, warding bond on everyone. Additional resistance items/flasks as needed. It's amazing what you can recover from with that setup, one mass healing word is often enough to top the cleric back to near 100% at lvl 12, while the rest of the party takes only half damage from everything.
Would give some of the underdark items a boost since you can get them basically from the get go, especially if you run through goblin camp with drow up you dont even need checks. The mountain pass items you need to have resolved the Tiefling problem, and the related fights are some of the hardest honour mode fights for a more casual player. Especially the caustic ring +2 dam at lvl 3-4 without fighting any hard fights is massive value. The same with adamantine armor since its super easy to cheese that fight. Does require some odd pathing but is a massive boost to make the tiefling problem a joke
Shattered flail is a monster on melee builds early on when you don't have a lot of healing spells. Maybe not better than the ones you listed but it's like number 21 for me
I dismissed the Gloves of Dex because the characters that I would equip them on were already 18 dex or higher. It never occurred to me that I could use the gloves and then respec to use the extra ability points on other stats.
Whispering Promise is really good for AoE heals. Everyone gets the Bless buff. Pair it with a Life Cleric that has an AoE heal divinity charge and the regular AoE heal (IDK the name) It's nuts. Shadowheart immediately gets respecced to Life cleric when I get Withers. Plus, I need to fix her random stats. So repeccing all your companions, or at least the main three you plan on keeping in full time. (If you're into min/maxing)
Yep! My favorite ability to use it with is the Ancients Paladin's heal - it's a bonus action and it lasts two turns, so it retriggers all the buff on heal items a second time as well!
@@Cephalopocalypse It's a mainstay in my party. It's always for SH to wear. I never played Ancients Paladin. I always went Vengeance because I don't have to worry about breaking the Oath as easily as the other Oaths. Maybe after I've played enough of the game to know what's evil or not, because in this game. Looks don't matter at all in terms of who is actually evil or not. This game has a lot of shades of grey and not black and white. I never played DnD before. BG3 is my first taste of it. So I'm unaware on the general morality of the universe it set's in. Any other games that have Paladin (equivalent) are usually more black and white. So you know if someone is evil right out. But here, if you don't know what you're doing. One dialog choice could cost you 1000gp
This video would be infinitely more useful if you mentioned where to find these items. I know there are resources where you can look this information up, but to have a handy in one place would be very helpful.
As always, awesome video, though, one nitpick.... Ring of Flinging is excellent, obviously. However, I'd replace it with Crusher's Ring. That's an extra 3 feet of Movement, which stacks with the Haste Helm. Moreover, *everyone* benefits hugely from increased movement, while additional damage to throwing is more specifically beneficial to ….well.. throwing builds. I totally agree re: The Gloves of Dexterity, Awesome item. They also, in addition to some rogue levels, allow my current barbarian to have social skills, so she can say something beyond, "Me Crush." Anyway, that aside, I just want to take the opportunity to say how much I enjoy your videos; they've become my go-to for reliable, well-researched BG3 info. So thank you for everything. Seriously! :)
Surprised the Sparkle Hands didn't make the list. Or get an honourable mention. For characters that like throwing things, these gloves do extra lightning damage (which can be doubled by tossing a water bottle at a group of enemies at the start of combat). These lightning charges stack and eventually discharge, dealing an extra 1d8 damage against an unfortunate enemy (or 2d8 damage if that unfortunate enemy happens to be wet). If you like turning wet enemies into dead enemies, theses gloves help you do that. On top of that, the wearer gains advantage against enemies wearing metal armour. Although there aren't a lot of enemies in metal armour in Act 1, those that have it are in some of the tougher fights at this part of the game--namely Bernard and friends at the top of the Arcane Tower in the under dark, the Death Shepards in the Mountain Pass, lots of Githyanki warriors in the creche, and the massive metal golem in Grymforge.
@@ProbeAway I think the Sparkle Hands are actually best in slot for a throwing builds. When you factor in the average damage per hit with both items, the Gloves of Uninhibited Kushigo gets you a tiny bit more, about 0.5 damage more per hit against dry targets. But getting an additional half a hit point of damage per throw comes at the cost of giving up gaining advantage against all enemies with metal armour (like all the guards and True Soul Paladins in Moonrise Towers or Shar's undead or Constructs like the Steel Watch). But if you are consistently throwing things at wet targets, you'll be doing double damage with the Sparkle Hands, 2 lighting damage per throw plus a 2d8 burst on every 4th toss, for an average damage output that is close to +4 damage per hit. Berserker Barbarians wearing the Sparkle Hands that hit emeries standing in a puddle of water with their bonus action rage toss can knock them prone in that water and create an electrified surface that will then apply the shocked and electrocuted conditions (for an additional 1d4 lightning damage the next turn). Other enemies that move across that surface can become shocked or electrocuted too. So this one subclass can use the Sparkle Hands for some occasional crowd control tactics. Anyway, against dry targets, both gloves do comparable damage. Against wet targets, the Sparkle Hands outclass the Gloves of Uninhibited Kushigo.
@@wfdmount I mean if you want to go to the effort of getting targets wet consistently then sure. Otherwise, advantage is pretty easy to get for a thrower anyway (especially a barb). And while the dry target damage might be similar over the course of several attacks, it’s generally better to to more consistent damage per attack. Knowing all attacks will do the 1d4 is going to be more appealing to most players than keeping track of whether an attack will do +1 or +1d8. It’s not me you need to convince though, it’s Ceph! ;)
@@ProbeAway "If you want to go to the effort of getting targets wet" ... LOL! ... Just rage and throw a bottle of water on the opening turn of a fight. Between the Tavern Brawler feat and the Ring of Fling, that initial water bottle toss does considerable damage. But, yes, I totally get it. Some people really hate the menu that pops up when selecting throwable items and just want to use returning weapons with their throwing builds and never ever want to be bothered with tossing other things like grenades or water bottles ... or goblin warriors. But there are also lots of party compositions built around storm sorcerers and tempest clerics or land druids with call lightning and wizards with water myrmidon summons and chain lightning spells that require getting enemies wet in the opening round of a fight in order to do their thing. The Sparkle Hands lets us add a tough martial character to that group.
Hey Cephalo with your valor bard build video the other day i think Wild Magic barbarian is the only character subclass you havent made a video on! Either that or i cant find it. Hope u make one soon.
I personally like the gloves of dexterity most on spellcasters. They can't otherwise afford more than about 14 dexterity and there is very little competition in the gloves slot for them. Whereas monks and weapon users have damage boosts in the gloves slot in late act 1/early act 2 so there's more good options. Although, I now use mods to remove all stat-setting items from the game and make them boost your stats instead. It always rubbed me the wrong way that a character with dexterity as their main stat doesnt benefit the most from the glives of dexterity.
If you were to start Honour mode after a balanced playthrough today, is there one video or guide that you would recommend? I guess I'm looking for a walkthrough of a general route you could go. Maybe when making my Act 1 route, I could use this video and then reorder the items, and add in any gear pieces I need specifically for my build.
So personally my recommendation for a guide would be my party build "The best Party in Baldur's Gate 3." I myself wouldn't worry about a specific route or order - my advice would be to go in with strong builds and then you can play the game in whatever order you want! That said I think a few creators have done routing videos that can get you to level 4 or 5 without fighting, if you're looking for the strongest possible start
I'm also going to to preach about the Gloves of Belligerent Skies which later combined with ring of spiteful thunder creates one of the strongest item combos in the game.
hi i like the video, but i have a suggestion for a place swap the medium adamantine armmor is better then the heavy one in my oppinion, for the reason that you get the helmet anyways for your heavy armor user and the medium armor is much more generaly usable since medium armor proficiency is way easier to obtain then heavy armor proficiency but that might just be my bias
From the perspective of a normal playthrough, why are mountain pass items grouped as act 1 and not in the same place as items available in early act 2? You fail save the refugees the moment you enter the pass or take the elevator from grymforge to act 2, so the natural groupings seem to be to be "items you can get before failing the first major story quest" and "items you can get any time after goblin camp, but before the shadowfell." Especially for creche shop items, how are they differently placed than last light / moonlight towers merchant items?
Grove defense is kind of a joke with just a few grease bottles, smokepowder bombs, 1 bloodlust elixir, and 2 or 3 haste potions which you can get in a chest next to astarion right as you come off the ship lol. So easy infact that you can do it without much trouble solo. Really I think rating items based on how deep they are into any act is kind of moot given virtually no good item in the game is locked behind a meaningful amount of forced combat. Many examples where you can even steal overpowered items while ignoring combat like the 23 constitution necklace from the house of hope by simply using a darkness arrow.
@@cHaMp630 Sure, it's just a question of how to divide items into acts, if it's to be done at all. I feel like the two points of no return in the game mark the cleanest division.
@@missing_links completely agree! If you are in the creshe, you might as well shop around in Last Light and Moonrise. It makes no difference in story. Things you have to do to not fail them before Mountain Pass: goblin leaders, Barcus Windmill, Waukeens Rest. All of the rest of act 1 can be done before you enter the Shadowfell
@@formatomi Yup. It you made a spreadsheet of "Quests this item can be used in," every quest-related item would obviously be locked for its own quest, and there would be four utterly obvious groupings aside: (1) "true act 1" items based on the events you mention, (2) act 2 items that can be applied to act 1, (3) the handful of post-shadowfell items that can be applied to many but not all act 2 events but no act 1 events, and (4) act 3 items. Considering that the post-shadowfell parts of act 2 are by far the hardest parts of act 2, I don't really see a reason to maintain group (3), but I see even less of a reason why creche items don't belong in group 2.
Could you make an up-to-date Video about the worst magical Items? Because I need to feed my Tamagotchi, called it Gale. He doesn't want Rain Dancer or the Hags Staff of Crowns anymore 😩 And I want to give Arabella Kormiras Locket back. Now Im struggeling 6h in Act 1 with early Items for Gale 🤔 Other tutorials say, I should give him the speaking with dead people Necklace, or the guidance Amulet, but I use this so often and would miss it! I gave him the Spred Colours Ring from the Harpies Nest. But what next?
It drops from Crusher, the goblin that is bragging to his entourage in the goblin camp. You can also suck it off his toe if you don't want to kill him.
If I had to guess, it's probably #21 and just barely doesn't make the list, because the ring slots are a lot more contested for melee characters than the helmet slot is. I think Crusher's Ring and Gloves of Belligerent Skies are two omissions that would probably make most people's top 20.
Wondering about the placement of caustic band vs strange conduit. Strange conduit gives you an average of 2,5 on attacks, while CB gives 2. Psychic damage doesn't feel much better than acid, I dont think i saw a lot of acid resistance act 1. SC is also only accessible by the end of Act 1,5, while caustic band can be basically rushed Ievel 1. Is there something I'm missing that makes SC THAT much better than CB?
I've heard that the Idol of Silvanus's aura counts a inflicting a condition. Haven't tested this myself, but if true, that would be great together with the Boots of Stormy Clamour.
It does! Though I think that may not work in honour mode anymore - they fixed the threatened condition counting for those items so may have fixed some other edge cases
I’m not convinced the Ring of Protection is worse than the Ring of Flinging. I used that Ring of Flinging until the end on my first game. I had a thrower if it was Karlach or Minsc. Never again have I used it. I had no Ring of Protection my first game. I’ve since had it every time.
Question! Since there are limited use of these items one obv have to prioritise who uses what. Disintegrating nightwalkers is one that is great for several of the builds I have currently in my honor run. I am doing a storm sorcery ice focused silver Dragonborn as my Tav, archer/gloomstalker Astarion, monk/thrower Lae’zel and paladin oath of vengeance Minthara. (This is an evil run). So, between these characters who would be most important to have the disengaging nightwalkers, and what would be good alternatives to make up the lack of them in others? (I have Shadowheart in my party too, but I’m having her be the healer with boots of aid and comfort)
I'd probably give it to the Dragonborn. He's a sorc, so he's gonna have the lowest AC of the party and the lowest number of hit points. So, having a panic button of being able to escape dangerous situation is important. Archer and thrower will both have higher AC and are purely ranged character, plus Eldritch Knight will have access to Misty Step later on (while also having access to it once per long rest as Gith). And Paladin is just pretty hard to kill in general. Though, if your sorc isn't using their second level spell slots too much, you might just want to take Misty Step as a spell, and then you'd probably give it to Minthara. As for alternative, there's an amulet with once per short rest misty in Act 1, too. It's in the goblin temple, in Gut's private rooms.
@@zorlix130 thank you for your lengthy reply! I was more thinking of the preventing the character from falling prone aspect than the misty step. What are your thoughts on that?
Shouldn't Lae'zel's githyanki half-plate also be on this list? It's available the earliest by far, and it's as good as the honorable mention +1 breastplate that you get in the grove. Also, Losiir's armor that you only get in a Lae'zel playthrough, since character-specific gear is on this list. The ring that origin-Gale gets on his first long rest is also pretty good considering how early and easy it is to get it in his playthrough. You're supposed to eat it, but there are plenty of other items you can grab before you sleep for the first time.
@@Cephalopocalypse I’m surprised you had them that high based on your gloves tier list! They were only A tier but 6 of your S tier gloves didn’t make the cut
Honest question. If we can only get two Mithral Ores in the game, is it more important to get armor, weapons, or the shield? I get they're all good for different reasons, but I'm unsure if, say, it's more important for my Paladin to get the Splint, than it is for my Cleric friend to get the Shield and/or Scale. Or if all those options are less important long term than getting weaponry that ignores resistances.
I'd say grab the medium armor and the shield. The weapons are occasionally useful for one-shotting mimics and doors, but the medium armor can be put on half your dudes and so can the shield, and there's limited overlap. Gale, Wyll (and Shadowheart, but sssh) want that shield, and both Lae'zel and Shadowheart can use the armor. So can some Karlach builds. And that's not mentioning your party lead.
How many times is Tavern Brawler actually supposed to apply? Because in my game it seems to behave differently every times it's used. From my understanding, it's supposed to do the 1d10 Piercing Damage of the Pike, +4 from 18 Strength, and then +4 again from Tavern Brawler. The Ring of Flinging should then just do 1d4 of damage without any bonuses. But like 75% of the time, it also triggers Tavern Brawler. And sometimes I get some mysterious extra damage on top of that. Like, at level 4 it's not uncommon for me to do with one throw of the Pike 15+11 points of damage.
It has to do with the way the game calculates damage riders and damage instances. A lot of things in the game count as separate damage instances which can reproc damage riders, so that multiplies the value of damage riders when you start getting more instances of damage in that one attack. From my research, Tavern Brawler acts as an additional instance of damage, and Ring of Flinging acts as a rider on top of that. So you get the initial damage from the attack, plus Ring of Flinging's 1d4 on the base damage, plus TB's 4 damage, plus Ring of Flinging's 1d4 on the TB additional damage. Naturally this gets even more ridiculous as you add on more things; besides TB + Ring of Flinging, another notorious combo is Titanstring Bow with elemental arrows, as well as Phalar Aluve with Shriek. iirc Honor Mode reworks this mechanic entirely so you aren't dealing a ridiculous amount of additional damage on every proc; it's just the flat additional damage per attack rather than per instance of damage.
@@SunSun-sk4si Thanks for the answer! Strangely, this is happening to me on HM. Titanstring bow works just fine and as I'd expect it to. Tavern Brawler works as it should, but only sometimes. Often it still procs several times. In several different ways. Sometimes one attack more or less acts as two attacks, or at least two damage instances. But for some reason only against some enemies. Currently, I'm in the Creche. Most of the time everything is as you'd expect, normal damage, but the Inquisitor went down in three attack actions from my thrower because the first two triggered two damage instances and the third three damage instances.
I strongly disagree with this video (I’m 47 seconds in) because I have a sinking suspicion the “Ring of Being Really Invisible” won’t be on this list. Top tier item.
There's invisible, and then there's really invisible. Huge difference
If its The One Ring you might be on to something
Along with 'magic' ring. This kid gave it to me it to me and said its lucky
@@benross9174cc
That ring is op and will carry you through from act 1 to the final fight.
I would die laughing for a tier list of what items to feed Gale in act 1. You're amazing Ceph
Wouldn't that just be every other ranking video, but upside down?
The item from the quest for saving arabella is the best. And then the minoutaur drop
Not trying to glaze, but I just wanted to say you’ve quickly become my favorite BG3 RUclipsr. You never bullshit or engagement farm the way a lot of other BG3 “guide” channels do; your info is always easily digestible and you have a great tactfulness with your words- all to say many props and I hope your channel grows and grows and grows.
NW gang you ain't glazing your giving a man his praises
Lmao "glaze". Gen Z is fxxked.
Funnily enough, I think the Adamantine armor and shield are undervalued, just because the way the critical hit immunity works is that it turns All critical HITS into critical MISSES, effectively giving you an additional ac, as it reduces the number the enemy can roll to hit you by one. I found this while using a light cleric, so if it's still in the game, you can confirm for yourself
I did notice getting more critical misses on a party that had 2 adamantine shields and the grym helmet
That's busted, in a way I don't think the dev intended LOL.
@@nguyendi92 it probably isnt itended, but i guess they could have made it a normal hit, but with the armor and shield working the way it does, it means the scale mail is 17 ac, the splint is 19, and the shield is +3, if you dont stack the critical immunity effect, either way, it makes giving a single piece to each party member significantly stronger
How do you get ,2 shields ?@@midnightoceans
@JR-hr3qc there are 2 mithril ores in the grymforge. I assume they just made 2 shields
One thing I like about BG3 is that you can sleep on many of the most powerful items and still have plenty of viable options available. I've never used that +1 breastplate, the broodmother's revenge, the adamantine shield, the protecty sparkswall, or the boots of stormy clamour. Rarely used hellrider's pride or whispering promise either. Still so many ways to beat Act 1, even in honor mode. But I always appreciate your take on the game, because you're clearly better at it than I am.
Yeah, the awesome thing about this game is just how expansive it is - room for tons of different strategies and approaches!
I thought rank 1 would have been the bard's starting instrument, as picking the wrong one at character creation would instantly ruin your playthrough.
With that joke out of the way, awesome ranking.
I just wanted to leave a comment that I got my golden dice today and the information and builds in your videos were extremely helpful, I basically breezed through most of the encounters including fights that are considered difficult (Myrkul, Raphael, Elder Brain) and I wanted to thank you for the great quality and amount of work you put into them! I had Swords Bard Tav, Lae'zel as an Eldrith Knight thrower, Shadowheart a Tempest Cleric and Gale as Abjuration Wizard.
@@GAMER32231 bro game's been out for over a year... also, I did not spoil the final boss fight. I did not say anything about the final boss fight, I listed 3 fights that some people found difficult, there is nothing in my comment that indicate which of these (or if any of them for that matter) is the final one.
Greetings! Your tav was paladin bard or full swords?
@@christakisandreas341 10 swords bard/2 Fighter
🐐🐐🐐 graceful cloth is the reason I have to make sure I have at least one very cool looking camp clothes set in every playthrough because holy heck that robe looks a bit silly
Omg, never thought about that. You're a genius
Real, it’s so ugly 😭
I don't like crafting chests from Grym anymore, because he is typically my very last stop in Act 1, so I'll be getting Yuanti Scale Mail basically 15 minutes after the fight is over. While it's true having a 2nd medium armor user could benefit from this, it's typically going to be a cleric wearing Luminous Armor. I've simplified my runs by just crafting double shields. I like the 4 shield user party for honor mode, and there just aren't enough good shields to go around until you reach act 3. Being able to freely move crit immunity around to half your party regardless of what type of armor they want to equip, makes it very easy to get crit immunity on 3 members of your party for the rest of the playthrough. You could technically have the whole party immune once you get the Helm of Balduran, but at that point my caster really wants the helm of the weave and ketheric's shield, so they usually bite the bullet and be the odd man out for crit immunity.
Crit Immunity is so good but the Adamantine Armor is just inferior to Act 2 armors.
But the shields are great.
It is just depend of your build, man. Laezel wouldnt use it in place of a Gith sword.
If you have a low Dex character, Splint armour is the best for a while
@@chuckchan4127 What armors in a2 are better than adamantine armors?
@@lendial Yuan-Ti Scale Mail
Dwarven Splint Mail
Off the top of my head.
@@chuckchan4127i wouldnt use Dwarven over Splint but i do agree Adamantine Scale isnt worth it because you get better ones soon
Love the lists, will you do weapons?
Yeah when the video said he’s covered every equipable item I had to go back and check if I missed a weapons tier list. Would love to see that list.
Hey!! My girlfriend and I are traveling abroad right now and all our hotel offers on the TV is RUclips and we initially thought that would be awful, but then we found your channel and we have entirely changed our minds we have watched all your bg3 class tiers, spell tiers, and multiclass tiers, plus a handfull of others including this video and we can't wait to watch more when we get to our next destination !! And in one of those videos you mentioned you upload everyday which is CRAZY IMPRESSIVE we love your channel we love the way you make videos you seem like such a cool guy and I hope you keep making videos as we will continue to watch (and maybe you'll inspire me to try an Honor playthrough of BG3 someday Hahah) anyway, thank you for making these videos, you made a hotel that has otherwise been awful, amazing to end the day to ♡
Titanstring Bow is really incredible, I always go for it. Titanstring + hill giant potion is too fun.
I wanted the screenshots and i’m very impressed and grateful, thank you ❤️
There are multiple consumable in Act 1 that have no action economy use that can trigger Broodmother's Revenge like raspberries and treacle tarts. Raspberries, in particular, are really easy to find around the Blighted Village.
And add in the periapt with those on characters that don't otherwise have a great necklace (or already used up the effect) and it's a great defensive tool as well.
Thank you for the item descriptions. Really. It is much appreciated.
Your timing is impeccable... just started a new playthrough after about 6 months of not playing. Love your videos!
How the Smugglers Ring and Gloves of Belligerent Skies aren’t on this list is beyond me. Tho I suppose he’s not into stealth archery too much, or theft 😂
Well, it's a list of top 20. So, many items can't make the list without pushing something else off the list. There's also the risky ring which didn't make the cut, and that's pretty good for stealth archers.
@@surfingeagle784 risky ring is an act 2 item
He ranked both of those A tier, not S tier, so they were never going to make the cut.
There’s a lot of competition for gloves and rings in Act 1. Of the 8 sets of gloves he rated S tier, only 2 appear in this list. 6 of the 8 rings made it though.
@@shinkamui Ah, so it is. Forgot this was limited to act 1 items.
No worries Ceph, so long as my obsession with BG3 persists (been 10 months now, cannot get myself to be interested in picking up a different game) I will be watching your videos. I’m trying to beat HM right now so this video in particular (among all the other videos) is very much needed for me. Keep up the great work!
Nice list, would have loved to see the Warped Headband of Intelect and the Periapt of Wound Closure here though! The headband is GREAT early game and you can get it fairly easily. It saves A LOT of stat points just like the gloves but for a wizard character and you can easily take alert or war caster with it, then respec when you get to the arcane acuity items. I feel like it's simply best in slot. Then for the periapt, it removes a lot of nasty RNG for your playthrough. When you get to the creche you can just buy infinite super healing potions, stick the periapt on your wildheart barbarian or something and heal for 40 EVERY TURN with just a simple bonus action. VERY surprized that neither of these items made it on the list. I think they easily replace the Ring of flinging, haste helm, protecty sparkswall, boots of speed, etc. I think the BOS is massively overrated with things like expeditious retreat, enchance leap and potion of glorious vaulting being in the game and definitely becomes a worse use of a bonus action in comparison to a 40 HP heal. Heck, even Crusher's Ring/Spurred Band is better and it's not on the list either!
Also, imagine not including Ring of Resistance to Ants!💀
Absolutely love these lists and greatly appreciate a summary (including the screenshots!). Thanks so much for all the consistently clear & helpful BG3 info!
What about that Diadem of Arcane Synergy? Carried by one of the Inquisitors goons, gives you two stacks of Arcane Synergy? There's so many casting builds that mostly smack enemies with weapon attacks, Warlocks, Paladins, certain Clerics and such. Basically permanently adds your Spellcasting Modifier to your damage, as it's super easy to proc.
Always felt hideously broken to me. I was SURE that was going to be first place. But maybe I'm overlooking something, or there's just that much better stuff in the slot?
It is tough ranking "niche" items but I definately would have had it on the list considering it will be best in slot for many powerful builds.
That and repelling blast 🙏🙏
I feel like Arcane Synergy has issues because, ironically given its name, it has significant anti-synergy with other optimization choices. Feats like Great Weapon Master and Sharpshooter compete with Ability Score Improvement. Using Ethel's Hair to give a +1 to a spellcasting ability means not giving a +1 to Dex, the best ability. You can't wear Birthright and Diadem simultaneously.
And the competition of the Helmet of Arcane Acuity + Band of the Mystic Scoundrel combo is intimidating.
There IS some synergy between Diadem and the actual best item, the Gloves of Dexterity, but then the Dex bonus to Initiative is capped at +4, causing Initiative items like Mask of Soul Perception to be attractive, competing with Diadem - either that or Alert, which also competes with ASI.
Overall, I feel like the commitment to spellcasting ability, with real opportunity costs in other areas, makes it easier said than done to get more than +3 damage from the item. I think that can still be good enough, but it feels more like an A tier item to me than S tier.
See, that's actually funny because I toss that thing the instant I get it in every single run I do, because I simply never play any build that ever uses it.
That diadem and the ring are the most "sounds like it should be good, but really isn't" in my runs.
@@dowfreak7 it's fun, try it. Put it on any blade warlock, heavy armor cleric, sword bard, especially paladin, or any other melee fighter that sometimes casts or inflicts status, and watch them go megaton
For future videos, it’d be really helpful to mention where the items are located. Some were mentioned, but not all always.
The bg3 wiki is an excellent resource for figuring out where items are! It gives very detailed information on where to find the items, down to the XY coordinates on the map.
Getting shapeshifter's boon ring in act 1 locking you out of the fire acuity hat is a big downside for me. Arcane acuity is just so powerful
You can get it without killing the Strange Ox
Il continue to ask for a playlist for these untill you make one!
There is one - linked in the description!
Thank you! @@Cephalopocalypse
GREAT!!!
Very much appreciate showing the items! Thanks for the screen shots
I appreciate using the wiki to show the actual item.
I certainly know them. But, from a usability perspective, for anyone who doesn’t this is a WAY better way to do it.
the Boon ring with dex gloves actually carried a LARGE portion of my playthrough. I'd shapeshift into my desired race(usually the same one I played for it's dialogue, or Gith if i needed specific items), and then dump my intelligence for headband to make up for it, and popped my charisma to the max so i passed every single dialogue i came across while hoarding so many resources i was never unprepared for forced combat encounters.
7:33 I was just saying to myself that I appreciate the screenshots from the Wiki right before you mentioned it :D
Why I'm loving screenshots with descriptions even though I know what most of those items do... It satisfies worm in my brain I guess? Thank you for the another great video! I just left my 3rd run's first act but oh well. 4rd is bound to happen one day anyway
I *love* your content, but I wanted to point out you would increase your watch time if you included a quick run down where/how two get the items you list. even just a 'found in a box in x area, or given as a reward for X
Karlach in boots of speed swinging the biggest twohanded weapon you can find is just awesome...
Luminous armor on Shadowheart flinging radiant attacks left right and center is just broken...
I am surprised that you included the Haste Helm but not Crusher’s Ring. Isn’t Crusher’s ring just more movement, more consistently?
I feel like the Haste Helm being available THAT early and filling an item slot that takes a very long time to fill out 4 good useful ones makes it better. Crushers ring is great, but especially so for melee characters and they typically have other rings they really want as well. Ranged units dont care as much about it.
@@johanfredriksvendsen8482 You can get both crusher's ring and haste helm without combat roughly at the same point but your point is a good one, there are very few good helms in A1.
Ring has a lot of competition in act 1, where helmet really doesn't, and movement is most valuable in the first round of combat where you need it to reach melee contact (or get far enough away to kite). Crusher's Ring is still excellent though and I had it at number 21 on this list, just barely missed the cut
@@lendial but can you get it without combat and without sacrificing your dignity?
In any case, I think the point about the helms goes both way because the ring space isn’t going to be tightly contested either. After Act 1, I think you’re much more likely to still be using the ring than the helm.
I think that the haste helm does provide an additional 1.5 m on the first turn of combat (and 1.5 m less on the third turn, and no additional movement thereafter). The fact that it all goes away if you get knocked prone or become restrained though is a significant downside.
@@smncameron well it depends if you consider murdering a goblin while hes taking a leak "combat" 🤗
Assuming that you include in list Crèche Y'llek, you cannot leave outside Holy Lance helm, periapt of wound closure, gloves of belligerent skies
Was wondering where the spellsparkler or staff of arcane blessing were on the list, but realized that’d be on the weapon tier list! Would love to see one of those in this same style
I would say that the baneful is one of the most underated weapons in bg3. With the helmet of arcane acuity and scrolls you can smash bosses.
If it wasn’t clear in the video the boots of speed double your current move speed, meaning for a solo run if you desperately need to get out of an encounter you can dash once, and then click heels with the boots which effectively gives you 4x movespeed for that turn, and also doubles effects like haste, long strider and wood elf move speed
@@benthomann9736 Double even that on a Thief!
Thanks for adding the wiki images!
I would personally replace the Adamantine Splint with the Gloves of Belligerent Skies.
The issue with heavy armor in Honour Mode is that DEX is so valuable that even Fighters and Paladins will likely have enough for the +2 DEX cap of Medium Armor, and there are so many good Medium armors available that I hardly ever bother making the Adamantine Splint; Adamantine Scale and Adamantine Shield are so much better and I wouldn’t recommend making the Splint over either of those two.
You are absolutely right about most good builds building around 16 dex but splint has 2 distinct advantages, one additional damage reduction which gets crazy when combined with heavy armor master. -5 damage taken from physical hits is incredible. It really depends on your party comp and if you plan to take heavy armor master on one of your characters.
even with capped dex the only medium armors that compete are the yuan ti scale, which is better but you only have 1 of, and scale +2, trading defense for initiative but not needed for now if you have alert. depends on the armor proficiencies of your party. if you can fit it in over adamantine scale, you should.
Even with 14+ dex the Scale Armor is strinctly worse on a Fighter and a Paladin. Why would you want that?
Great video, have to agree with the other comments, Crushers ring is a mainstay for my melee character. Can’t wait for the next video.
I had crusher's at number 21, it was a really difficult cut to top 20
i think crushers ring needs to be here. and titanstring bow
I’m a freak for the Titanstrong Bow, but I think the hype for it in act 1 is insanely overhyped. You burn through pots for very little gain and the bow needs items for act 1.5/2 to really start becoming a threat. Dual handbows outdamages the Titanstrong Bow in act 1. Yet, in act 2, the Titanstring does like 5x the damage of dual handbows.
There is a reason why people skip to act 2 when doing a TS bow run and then go back to act 1.
@@AnimationPB there's the stool of hill giant strength that works incredibly well with it.
It's a list for equipment other than weapons
@@AnimationPBdon't you miss story if you skip to act 2? I thought things get locked that way.
It's worth noting that you don't have to kill Strange Ox to get Shapeshifter's Boon. If you attack him and then run away from combat, you will be able to buy this ring from him for around 200 gold. The best way to run away is to go into Mol's hideout immediately after starting the combat.
Killing him in act 1 is a big mistake, you lose the hat of fire acuity that drops from him in act 2, that's one of the strongest items in the entire game
Very surprised the Gloves of the Growling Underdog, Phalar Alive, and the Returning Pike all missed the list.
the two weapons will be in another "weapons video"
Yeah, those gloves are definitely in the Top 20. In my book Top 10 even.
Phalar Aluve is amazing if you rush for it, then flee back out of the Underdark.
Returning pike is your Throwing Monk (Karlach thanks to her coin operated mode)'s ranged weapon.
The screenshot idea is amazing!
Thank you very much for this Video ^^ (now i knew which items i keep far away from Gale!)
One idea for a video is going over some of your favorite or most interesting encounters throughout each act.
This is a great help, if you do more can you just briefly mention where you get the items?
Just in time for my looming Honour mode run! (when the mods drop on console that is)❤
If mods are like the are on PC, you won’t be able to get the achievement if you have mods on
@@boopdabeep5300 wait fr? i mean i guess thats kind of expected but i just wanted to use some qol mods like easy longstrider and getting rid of the half illithid visuals.
@@jeffreydenenberg7101 Yeah :/. Even QoL mods block achievements
@@boopdabeep5300 man, thats unfortunate, i really dont want to restart again
Regarding stacking crit immunity, damage resistance and flat damage reduction.
How strong would you rate a party with something like the following characters, all with Heavy armor mastery feat:
1) ? classes with adamantine splint armor #1(crit immunity #1)
2) ? classes with adamantine splint armor #2 (crit immunity #2)
3) ? classes with armor of persistence/emblazoned plate of the marshal/reaper's embrace and helldusk helmet (crit immunity #3)
4) cleric 12 warding bond maintainer, source of aid and heroes feast:
helmet of balduran (crit immunity #4)
helldusk armor (3 flat damage reduction, fire resistance)
the reviving hands (apply bladeward (slash, pierce, bludgeoning resistance to self with heal)
Varsh Ko'kuu's Boots (acid resistance)
whispering promise (apply bless equivalent with heals)
the sparkswall (lightning resistance)
absolute's protector (1 flat magic damage reduction)
dakrfire shortbow (fire and cold resist)
I often use a dedicated healer cleric, it is not as uneffective as you would believe. Heavy armor mastery, periapt if wound closure, adamantine splint into armour of persistance, wapiras crown, warding bond on everyone. Additional resistance items/flasks as needed. It's amazing what you can recover from with that setup, one mass healing word is often enough to top the cleric back to near 100% at lvl 12, while the rest of the party takes only half damage from everything.
Would give some of the underdark items a boost since you can get them basically from the get go, especially if you run through goblin camp with drow up you dont even need checks. The mountain pass items you need to have resolved the Tiefling problem, and the related fights are some of the hardest honour mode fights for a more casual player. Especially the caustic ring +2 dam at lvl 3-4 without fighting any hard fights is massive value. The same with adamantine armor since its super easy to cheese that fight. Does require some odd pathing but is a massive boost to make the tiefling problem a joke
Was just thinking oh wow, the Luminous Armor didn't make the cut! Trying it out on my fourth playthrough currently so apparently it's pretty great.
The master has done it again, praise be to Lord Cephalopocalypse!
Shattered flail is a monster on melee builds early on when you don't have a lot of healing spells. Maybe not better than the ones you listed but it's like number 21 for me
That might show up in the weapon list! :D
I really enjoyed the production on this.
the old high school powerpoint vibes
I dismissed the Gloves of Dex because the characters that I would equip them on were already 18 dex or higher. It never occurred to me that I could use the gloves and then respec to use the extra ability points on other stats.
Whispering Promise is really good for AoE heals. Everyone gets the Bless buff. Pair it with a Life Cleric that has an AoE heal divinity charge and the regular AoE heal (IDK the name) It's nuts. Shadowheart immediately gets respecced to Life cleric when I get Withers. Plus, I need to fix her random stats. So repeccing all your companions, or at least the main three you plan on keeping in full time. (If you're into min/maxing)
Yep! My favorite ability to use it with is the Ancients Paladin's heal - it's a bonus action and it lasts two turns, so it retriggers all the buff on heal items a second time as well!
@@Cephalopocalypse It's a mainstay in my party. It's always for SH to wear. I never played Ancients Paladin. I always went Vengeance because I don't have to worry about breaking the Oath as easily as the other Oaths. Maybe after I've played enough of the game to know what's evil or not, because in this game. Looks don't matter at all in terms of who is actually evil or not. This game has a lot of shades of grey and not black and white. I never played DnD before. BG3 is my first taste of it. So I'm unaware on the general morality of the universe it set's in. Any other games that have Paladin (equivalent) are usually more black and white. So you know if someone is evil right out. But here, if you don't know what you're doing. One dialog choice could cost you 1000gp
This video would be infinitely more useful if you mentioned where to find these items. I know there are resources where you can look this information up, but to have a handy in one place would be very helpful.
As always, awesome video, though, one nitpick.... Ring of Flinging is excellent, obviously. However, I'd replace it with Crusher's Ring. That's an extra 3 feet of Movement, which stacks with the Haste Helm. Moreover, *everyone* benefits hugely from increased movement, while additional damage to throwing is more specifically beneficial to ….well.. throwing builds.
I totally agree re: The Gloves of Dexterity, Awesome item. They also, in addition to some rogue levels, allow my current barbarian to have social skills, so she can say something beyond, "Me Crush."
Anyway, that aside, I just want to take the opportunity to say how much I enjoy your videos; they've become my go-to for reliable, well-researched BG3 info. So thank you for everything. Seriously! :)
I had crusher's ring at number 21 on this list - was a really difficult cut to top 20!
@@Cephalopocalypse Fair enough! It may have been easier to create a list comprised of 25 items. :D
Great thank you :)
Cant wait for the weapons vid
Great video I hope the algorithm treats you well
Surprised the Sparkle Hands didn't make the list. Or get an honourable mention.
For characters that like throwing things, these gloves do extra lightning damage (which can be doubled by tossing a water bottle at a group of enemies at the start of combat). These lightning charges stack and eventually discharge, dealing an extra 1d8 damage against an unfortunate enemy (or 2d8 damage if that unfortunate enemy happens to be wet).
If you like turning wet enemies into dead enemies, theses gloves help you do that.
On top of that, the wearer gains advantage against enemies wearing metal armour. Although there aren't a lot of enemies in metal armour in Act 1, those that have it are in some of the tougher fights at this part of the game--namely Bernard and friends at the top of the Arcane Tower in the under dark, the Death Shepards in the Mountain Pass, lots of Githyanki warriors in the creche, and the massive metal golem in Grymforge.
Because they’re only second best in slot for a throwing build, behind the gloves of uninhibited kushigo (which do +1d4 on every attack)
Sparkle Hands are not even close to a top 20 item
@@ProbeAway I think the Sparkle Hands are actually best in slot for a throwing builds.
When you factor in the average damage per hit with both items, the Gloves of Uninhibited Kushigo gets you a tiny bit more, about 0.5 damage more per hit against dry targets. But getting an additional half a hit point of damage per throw comes at the cost of giving up gaining advantage against all enemies with metal armour (like all the guards and True Soul Paladins in Moonrise Towers or Shar's undead or Constructs like the Steel Watch).
But if you are consistently throwing things at wet targets, you'll be doing double damage with the Sparkle Hands, 2 lighting damage per throw plus a 2d8 burst on every 4th toss, for an average damage output that is close to +4 damage per hit.
Berserker Barbarians wearing the Sparkle Hands that hit emeries standing in a puddle of water with their bonus action rage toss can knock them prone in that water and create an electrified surface that will then apply the shocked and electrocuted conditions (for an additional 1d4 lightning damage the next turn). Other enemies that move across that surface can become shocked or electrocuted too. So this one subclass can use the Sparkle Hands for some occasional crowd control tactics.
Anyway, against dry targets, both gloves do comparable damage.
Against wet targets, the Sparkle Hands outclass the Gloves of Uninhibited Kushigo.
@@wfdmount I mean if you want to go to the effort of getting targets wet consistently then sure. Otherwise, advantage is pretty easy to get for a thrower anyway (especially a barb). And while the dry target damage might be similar over the course of several attacks, it’s generally better to to more consistent damage per attack. Knowing all attacks will do the 1d4 is going to be more appealing to most players than keeping track of whether an attack will do +1 or +1d8.
It’s not me you need to convince though, it’s Ceph! ;)
@@ProbeAway "If you want to go to the effort of getting targets wet" ... LOL! ... Just rage and throw a bottle of water on the opening turn of a fight. Between the Tavern Brawler feat and the Ring of Fling, that initial water bottle toss does considerable damage.
But, yes, I totally get it.
Some people really hate the menu that pops up when selecting throwable items and just want to use returning weapons with their throwing builds and never ever want to be bothered with tossing other things like grenades or water bottles ... or goblin warriors.
But there are also lots of party compositions built around storm sorcerers and tempest clerics or land druids with call lightning and wizards with water myrmidon summons and chain lightning spells that require getting enemies wet in the opening round of a fight in order to do their thing. The Sparkle Hands lets us add a tough martial character to that group.
Cant wait for the weapons tier list
Hey Cephalo with your valor bard build video the other day i think Wild Magic barbarian is the only character subclass you havent made a video on! Either that or i cant find it. Hope u make one soon.
i made one by accident! it is so much fun that I am going to do a wild magic run with barbs and wizards!
I personally like the gloves of dexterity most on spellcasters. They can't otherwise afford more than about 14 dexterity and there is very little competition in the gloves slot for them. Whereas monks and weapon users have damage boosts in the gloves slot in late act 1/early act 2 so there's more good options.
Although, I now use mods to remove all stat-setting items from the game and make them boost your stats instead. It always rubbed me the wrong way that a character with dexterity as their main stat doesnt benefit the most from the glives of dexterity.
If you were to start Honour mode after a balanced playthrough today, is there one video or guide that you would recommend? I guess I'm looking for a walkthrough of a general route you could go. Maybe when making my Act 1 route, I could use this video and then reorder the items, and add in any gear pieces I need specifically for my build.
So personally my recommendation for a guide would be my party build "The best Party in Baldur's Gate 3." I myself wouldn't worry about a specific route or order - my advice would be to go in with strong builds and then you can play the game in whatever order you want!
That said I think a few creators have done routing videos that can get you to level 4 or 5 without fighting, if you're looking for the strongest possible start
great videos man, keep it up
Thanks! More every day!
Larian should pay you a monthly retainer for making their game more enjoyable!
Screenshots from the wiki? Aw yeah, this one's a banger.
I'm also going to to preach about the Gloves of Belligerent Skies which later combined with ring of spiteful thunder creates one of the strongest item combos in the game.
I had those at 22 on this list, mostly because they don't come fully online until later acts. Was a really difficult cut to top 20!
@@Cephalopocalypse Fair enough, would love to see best 20 items across ALL acts once this series is done
exactly what i was looking for
"15 dollars from cunning linguist" cracks me up 😂 i see what you did there sir
is good man I will keep watching even if I dont "need" to
already completed honor run so i watch just so I can judge you.... 8/10
no way you rated haste helm over protection ring
lol cool story
Enter the Gungeon is a great game that is similar to Brotato I’d love to see you play and plan for it
hi i like the video, but i have a suggestion for a place swap the medium adamantine armmor is better then the heavy one in my oppinion, for the reason that you get the helmet anyways for your heavy armor user and the medium armor is much more generaly usable since medium armor proficiency is way easier to obtain then heavy armor proficiency but that might just be my bias
Great list. Love your videos. Now I just need to work out how to find these great pieces…
the dex gloves are in the cresh if you are wondering.
Warped Headband of Intellect is TOP 4 at least, opening up 1 level dip Wizard with 4 spells.
I'm gonna assume you missed it.
From the perspective of a normal playthrough, why are mountain pass items grouped as act 1 and not in the same place as items available in early act 2?
You fail save the refugees the moment you enter the pass or take the elevator from grymforge to act 2, so the natural groupings seem to be to be "items you can get before failing the first major story quest" and "items you can get any time after goblin camp, but before the shadowfell." Especially for creche shop items, how are they differently placed than last light / moonlight towers merchant items?
Grove defense is kind of a joke with just a few grease bottles, smokepowder bombs, 1 bloodlust elixir, and 2 or 3 haste potions which you can get in a chest next to astarion right as you come off the ship lol. So easy infact that you can do it without much trouble solo. Really I think rating items based on how deep they are into any act is kind of moot given virtually no good item in the game is locked behind a meaningful amount of forced combat. Many examples where you can even steal overpowered items while ignoring combat like the 23 constitution necklace from the house of hope by simply using a darkness arrow.
@@cHaMp630 Sure, it's just a question of how to divide items into acts, if it's to be done at all. I feel like the two points of no return in the game mark the cleanest division.
@@missing_links completely agree! If you are in the creshe, you might as well shop around in Last Light and Moonrise. It makes no difference in story.
Things you have to do to not fail them before Mountain Pass: goblin leaders, Barcus Windmill, Waukeens Rest.
All of the rest of act 1 can be done before you enter the Shadowfell
@@formatomi Yup. It you made a spreadsheet of "Quests this item can be used in," every quest-related item would obviously be locked for its own quest, and there would be four utterly obvious groupings aside: (1) "true act 1" items based on the events you mention, (2) act 2 items that can be applied to act 1, (3) the handful of post-shadowfell items that can be applied to many but not all act 2 events but no act 1 events, and (4) act 3 items.
Considering that the post-shadowfell parts of act 2 are by far the hardest parts of act 2, I don't really see a reason to maintain group (3), but I see even less of a reason why creche items don't belong in group 2.
Could you make an up-to-date Video about the worst magical Items? Because I need to feed my Tamagotchi, called it Gale. He doesn't want Rain Dancer or the Hags Staff of Crowns anymore 😩
And I want to give Arabella Kormiras Locket back. Now Im struggeling 6h in Act 1 with early Items for Gale 🤔
Other tutorials say, I should give him the speaking with dead people Necklace, or the guidance Amulet, but I use this so often and would miss it!
I gave him the Spred Colours Ring from the Harpies Nest. But what next?
where is crusher's ring?
It drops from Crusher, the goblin that is bragging to his entourage in the goblin camp. You can also suck it off his toe if you don't want to kill him.
If I had to guess, it's probably #21 and just barely doesn't make the list, because the ring slots are a lot more contested for melee characters than the helmet slot is. I think Crusher's Ring and Gloves of Belligerent Skies are two omissions that would probably make most people's top 20.
I had crusher's ring at number 21 on this list - was a really difficult cut to top 20!
Recently i am watching your video more than actual playing the game xd. And I'm at 1500h. Anw keep it up
the item info is a nice addition! but can you also show the location part too ;)
Wondering about the placement of caustic band vs strange conduit.
Strange conduit gives you an average of 2,5 on attacks, while CB gives 2.
Psychic damage doesn't feel much better than acid, I dont think i saw a lot of acid resistance act 1.
SC is also only accessible by the end of Act 1,5, while caustic band can be basically rushed Ievel 1. Is there something I'm missing that makes SC THAT much better than CB?
I love these videos by you sm!
I've heard that the Idol of Silvanus's aura counts a inflicting a condition. Haven't tested this myself, but if true, that would be great together with the Boots of Stormy Clamour.
It does! Though I think that may not work in honour mode anymore - they fixed the threatened condition counting for those items so may have fixed some other edge cases
@@Cephalopocalypse I'll try it if I do end up stealing the Idol next Honour Mode playthrough.
Not related but I feel like a tier should be used for items that are technically best in slot when you find them, but not overwhelmingly strong.
Gotta remember to say the locations of the items. Even just a quick reminder.
the dex gloves are from the gith merchant in the gith cresh in the mountain
I’m not convinced the Ring of Protection is worse than the Ring of Flinging. I used that Ring of Flinging until the end on my first game. I had a thrower if it was Karlach or Minsc. Never again have I used it. I had no Ring of Protection my first game. I’ve since had it every time.
Question! Since there are limited use of these items one obv have to prioritise who uses what. Disintegrating nightwalkers is one that is great for several of the builds I have currently in my honor run. I am doing a storm sorcery ice focused silver Dragonborn as my Tav, archer/gloomstalker Astarion, monk/thrower Lae’zel and paladin oath of vengeance Minthara. (This is an evil run). So, between these characters who would be most important to have the disengaging nightwalkers, and what would be good alternatives to make up the lack of them in others? (I have Shadowheart in my party too, but I’m having her be the healer with boots of aid and comfort)
I'd probably give it to the Dragonborn. He's a sorc, so he's gonna have the lowest AC of the party and the lowest number of hit points. So, having a panic button of being able to escape dangerous situation is important. Archer and thrower will both have higher AC and are purely ranged character, plus Eldritch Knight will have access to Misty Step later on (while also having access to it once per long rest as Gith). And Paladin is just pretty hard to kill in general. Though, if your sorc isn't using their second level spell slots too much, you might just want to take Misty Step as a spell, and then you'd probably give it to Minthara. As for alternative, there's an amulet with once per short rest misty in Act 1, too. It's in the goblin temple, in Gut's private rooms.
@@zorlix130 thank you for your lengthy reply! I was more thinking of the preventing the character from falling prone aspect than the misty step. What are your thoughts on that?
I'm pretty sure boots of speed allow you to move 120 ft if you dash and use them
as a new player, would be really helpful to add where to find these items imo.
The Boots of Speed bug only lasts when you use the bonus action, or does it hinder you always?
Shouldn't Lae'zel's githyanki half-plate also be on this list? It's available the earliest by far, and it's as good as the honorable mention +1 breastplate that you get in the grove. Also, Losiir's armor that you only get in a Lae'zel playthrough, since character-specific gear is on this list. The ring that origin-Gale gets on his first long rest is also pretty good considering how early and easy it is to get it in his playthrough. You're supposed to eat it, but there are plenty of other items you can grab before you sleep for the first time.
Periapt of Wound Closure? The old woman also always drops it when she dies, no need to buy or steal.
No Melf's first staff? +1 DC and attack roll staff easily bought in the Myconid colony
I feel like not including Gloves of Belligerent Skies on here is an oversight rather than on purpose.
I had those at 22 on this list, mostly because they don't come fully online until later acts. Was a really difficult cut to top 20!
@@Cephalopocalypse I’m surprised you had them that high based on your gloves tier list! They were only A tier but 6 of your S tier gloves didn’t make the cut
Honest question. If we can only get two Mithral Ores in the game, is it more important to get armor, weapons, or the shield?
I get they're all good for different reasons, but I'm unsure if, say, it's more important for my Paladin to get the Splint, than it is for my Cleric friend to get the Shield and/or Scale. Or if all those options are less important long term than getting weaponry that ignores resistances.
I'd say grab the medium armor and the shield. The weapons are occasionally useful for one-shotting mimics and doors, but the medium armor can be put on half your dudes and so can the shield, and there's limited overlap.
Gale, Wyll (and Shadowheart, but sssh) want that shield, and both Lae'zel and Shadowheart can use the armor. So can some Karlach builds.
And that's not mentioning your party lead.
That's why you should use REL for fair game
How many times is Tavern Brawler actually supposed to apply? Because in my game it seems to behave differently every times it's used. From my understanding, it's supposed to do the 1d10 Piercing Damage of the Pike, +4 from 18 Strength, and then +4 again from Tavern Brawler. The Ring of Flinging should then just do 1d4 of damage without any bonuses. But like 75% of the time, it also triggers Tavern Brawler. And sometimes I get some mysterious extra damage on top of that. Like, at level 4 it's not uncommon for me to do with one throw of the Pike 15+11 points of damage.
It has to do with the way the game calculates damage riders and damage instances. A lot of things in the game count as separate damage instances which can reproc damage riders, so that multiplies the value of damage riders when you start getting more instances of damage in that one attack. From my research, Tavern Brawler acts as an additional instance of damage, and Ring of Flinging acts as a rider on top of that. So you get the initial damage from the attack, plus Ring of Flinging's 1d4 on the base damage, plus TB's 4 damage, plus Ring of Flinging's 1d4 on the TB additional damage.
Naturally this gets even more ridiculous as you add on more things; besides TB + Ring of Flinging, another notorious combo is Titanstring Bow with elemental arrows, as well as Phalar Aluve with Shriek. iirc Honor Mode reworks this mechanic entirely so you aren't dealing a ridiculous amount of additional damage on every proc; it's just the flat additional damage per attack rather than per instance of damage.
@@SunSun-sk4si Thanks for the answer! Strangely, this is happening to me on HM. Titanstring bow works just fine and as I'd expect it to. Tavern Brawler works as it should, but only sometimes. Often it still procs several times. In several different ways. Sometimes one attack more or less acts as two attacks, or at least two damage instances. But for some reason only against some enemies. Currently, I'm in the Creche. Most of the time everything is as you'd expect, normal damage, but the Inquisitor went down in three attack actions from my thrower because the first two triggered two damage instances and the third three damage instances.
What about the ring of evasion? Or is Gale origin compared to durge just too rare to make it into the list?
"They don't need to watch my videos..." Need and want are something I was taught as a kid. I may not need to, but i sure want to.