Holy shit, every single combination!?????? I thought you were just going to at most look at all 12 classes as a core, as a split, and as a dip, but you've gone the extra (thousand) miles and tried to rank all 70 or so dual class combinations! I am in fucking awe Edit: AND MENTIONING THE TRIPLE CLASS ONES TOO ON OCCASION!! I can't imagine how much effort has gone into this video alone, and the pacing of these videos too being an hour or so long and coming out so close together every few days, starting to get scared you might burn yourself out with how fast and how high quality you're pumping these out
I actually only decided to do all of them like five minutes before sitting down to do the video, and the process was basically just "why not? WHO CAN STOP ME??"
@@Cephalopocalypse I am convinced this must have been the thought process of the developers when they sat down and pondered romancing the emperor and other spicy features of the game
I've actually been stressing about my plan to make Halsin a Barbearian (because his bear form is so iconic I want him to be able to keep using it), so I'm grateful to hear your thoughts on the combo (and doubly grateful that it isn't just an awful idea).
Wouldn't work on honour mode obvs but had a fun run with a barb-lock Karlach not long ago. Go Barb 5 / Warlock 7 and get 3 attacks per turn and fear on crit, use the spell slots for firey rebuke and agathys.
I've found that any charisma scaler synergizes disgustingly in some way with warlock. Bardlock with duelists prerogative gets like 4 attacks per round plus the pact weapon making it scale on your charisma. Pallylock with oath breaker gives you double charisma scaling smites with aura of hate and pact weapon. And one of my personal favorites is Warceror with the buff to fire damage from red dragon bloodline and all the fire spells out of the fiend war lock your fireballs absolutely smack.
Honestly, just put 2 levels in fighter for any class that you use for damage. You can put it on your life cleric or abjure wizard too, but there's really no need. Action surge is broken and you should abuse it.
You're kinda sleeping on the Ranger Hunter Horde Breaker synergy with Tiger Heart Barbarian! Not to mention the outside mobility of Enhance Leap with Ranger spell slots
I'd say warlock and barbarians can work together just because of armor of agathys. Your barbarian is the most likely to get attacked because they are reckless attacking, and your temporary HP will last twice as long because you're raging. So your armor of agathys lasts twice as long and you'll be getting attacked more often. There are also subclass features that aren't spells that could be useful. Misty Escape for the Archfey Warlock, and being able to fear all of the enemies you crit against is not only on theme but would be strong for a barbarian because they're usually the most often to crit because of constant advantage.
I think you are underestimating the Barbarian Warlock, even in honour mode. Temp HP is twice as good on a barbarian, and you have to consider the ONLY spells you are casting to be AoA and Fire Shield (before combat); then you rage. Barbarians also loves killing things, so you get even more temp HP (Fiend) and you get something out of short rests. Its way better than Barbarian 12
I had a College of Swords/Pact of the Blade bardlock as my Dark Urge and she very quickly became my most powerful character I'd ever played. I then proceeded to break her even further by using some cheese to get the deva mace (steal from the gods for fun and profit!) and she ended up absolutely *smoking* Orin in the duel in under two turns after knocking back a speed potion. I am now a bardlock supremacy truther.
Swords bard + pact of the blade warlock is such a fun build. In honor mode where the extra attacks don't stack, you can just take 2 levels of fighter for action surge and end up with better burst damage, CON save proficiency, and more AC in exchange for a little less sustained damage. It's arguably the best arcane synergy user, which isn't an effect you see people talk about very often, and it's also one of a handful of builds that manages to squeeze a lot of value out of the dual wielder feat. Arcane acuity is pretty broken on any caster, but this one is uniquely good at using the items that give stacks with weapon attacks.
I'm watching this particular video with interest. I confess I have a silly party theme that I'd like to explore: "Getting the Band Back Together," in which every character has at least 1 level in Bard so that they can play instruments together. Plus, it gives the opportunity to hear every voice actor's taunts.
I’m doing this right now and it’s a blast. Started with crossbow kings but gradually adjusted the builds as I got more equipment and now I have four mostly bards with wildly different playstyles that I have jam out after their actions and bonus action. Don’t forget to perform for Lihala with a party member who isn’t multiclassing bard to always have a back up guitarist for other runs.
I'm actually (almost) playing that right now. There are only 3 bard classes and valor bard is quite disappointing compared to the other 2, so instead of playing the probably optimal 2-3 sword 1-2 lore bard I'm playing 1 of each bard with... a bodyguard I guess. This isn't what I'm playing but better since I've fixed a few things that I'm too lazy to re-optimize in game: - ranged 1 fighter 1 wizard 10 sword bard. It's more or less the 10/1/1 build from reddit. This is my party face. Uses fire acuity hat + (flawed) helldusk glove to stack acuity, and either fire off bonus action mindblasts/illithid powers or combine with ring of mystic scoundrel to bonus action cc in general. Other differences include stacking dex to 22 and dual wielding daggers, and generally using deadshot and crit fishing since I'm playing origin astarion w/ the d10 necro. - melee 2 paladin 10 valor bard. Uses helm of arcane acuity and sometimes the ring for ba cc same as above. Other times use luck of far realm/executioner/paralyze to guarantee crit for big numbies. Banishing + lv4 divine smite crit is quite a humorous 10d10+10d8damage. Combat inspiration can't be cast on self which is very sad, but that's valor bard for you... (combat inspiration for ac might be bugged and seems usable multiple times, which might be op) - 2 warlock 10 lore bard. Uses eb mostly for comfort. Radorb + mental fatigue ring for funzies, spineshudder + stormy clamour + markoheshkir thunder to full stack reverberation per beam. Otherwise wears general dc stuff. In honor mode fish for patriar + bard memory from mirror; whichever companion lands it gets to be this guy. For me it was minthara, which has the added benefit of soul branding for thrower. - 11 ek 1 -warpriest- ...base bard? General sub-optimal tb throw build. Throws nyrulna and so works with thunder acuity hat? ek for shield and hold person I guess? Can't be bad between acuity and advantage; you can even put ring here? Soul branding applies to, but is not consumed by, throws. As a result you get 2d4+1 fire damage every throw for 3 rounds straight. What value! It's a mess of a party but good enough for base game. 1-2 round most fights. With 5 short rests per long rest they subsist on songs and barely need to sleep (althou bardadin can blow like 7 spell slots a turn with edge of darkness + smite). I've also added some darkness synergy in there between eversight, spear of evening, devil sight, and ...nothing for the thrower (although you can use helm if not for acuity meme).
Wow you're the BG3 Great Class Master. Amazing work. I finally figured out how to become a member of your channel -- click the button that says "Join" -- so I did.
Thanks so much! I should definitely add a link to the descriptions, the join button seems to just not show up sometimes or be hidden on mobile. Really appreciate all your support and comments!
you know what i really love about this? you are taking this tierlist to its absolute limit. not just because of the sheer amount of classes you're covering but also because you're looking at it with so many considerations in mind, "what if you make play mistakes! like you came home tired or you drank beer before playing"... WHO DOES THIS, YOU ARE A LUNATIC AND I AM ENTERTAINED.
I'm trying to build something tasty. Both lifebringer and warlock temp hp can refill symbiotic entity, im trying to make a spore druid berserker barbarian build centered around keeping symbiotic entity active. Three flavors - 6/5/1 Druid/Barbarian/warlock or 6/3/2/1 Druid/Barbarian/paladin/warlock. 8/3/1 Druid/Barbarian/warlock. Halo of spores can replace bonus action healing by breaking potions placed at your feet, so while raging a 3/2 berserker spore druid has the same attacks for round as a level 5 fighter since you use your bonus action in place of extra attack. The lifebringer circlet with sparky points trident regains 3 temp hp for symbiotic entity upon gaining lightning charges and dark ones blessing from fiend warlock does the same on kill. I tried the lifestealer shortsword and confirm that it doesn't regain temp hp for symbiotic entity, it replaces symbiotic entity. I have tested it for majority of act 1 doing a 3/3 split between druid/berserker and its pretty tanky. Once you get gloves of dex, you can drop dex investment for making wisdom and cha 16 each, con 14, strength 12. In a party, you can have two builds that work like this with great weapon master as there are two finesse longswords in act 1 being larethians wrath and phalar aluve. For the second spore berserker, you can use a combination of the dex cloth and bracers of defense and a dex stat of 16, 8 strength, 14 on wisdom and con, 12 on charisma for an ac of 18. Although once you dip into warlock, the temp hp won't be as much as the gloves of dex spore berserker. But it can be remedied with hags hair, patriahs memory and birthright to buff it to 16. Shield of thralls can actually completely refill symbiotic entity which is an interesting thing i discovered, but it does prevent warlock temp hp from being added back. All the spore druid actions besides spell casting work while raging hence my confidence to only have 3 levels in berserker as halo of spores is powerful if you are creative, i.e break alchemy flask with halo of spore to set of an explosion. Or have a lit candle then break grease with halo of spores to set of fire wine barrels, or break a heal potion next to a downed ally to heal them (with halo of spores)... You get the point, halo of spores turns your reaction into a more useful resource in the action economy. Tell me what you think.
It’s better to swap the levels of fighter and barbarian around. A barbarian rogue really wants the berserker subclass and all you want from fighter for that class combo is action surge.
This amount of quality content is worth way more than 15$. "Non sum dignus", as we say ! Thank you so much, you're making this game even better than it already is. Hope your channel will continue to thrive !
I was shit before your channel. Now I’m one shotting bosses on tactician, getting ready for honour mode, and even comfortable making my own builds. In MTG I’m what is called a Timmy - I’m sure you’re familiar with this concept. I am just not inherently creative with combos and builds because I get so caught up in the fantasy. Thank you for making me better and making me more confident in my RPG play!
Thanks so much for the support! That's awesome to hear - glad you're finding the videos helpful! I think everyone should try to keep in touch with that inner Timmy - it makes games so much more fun. Good luck with the honour mode run!
Just to add a bit of info to the wizard multiclass: if you take a wizard level and then a charisma caster, all wizard spells learned through scrolls will use charisma instead. Did this on my storm sorc/tempest cleric to get access to chain lightning.
I like the idea of barbarian/warlock because Warlocks only have 2 spell slots per short rest so you can throw out two non-concentration spells (fireballs?) and then jump into rage with your charisma based two handed pact weapon.
Or Armour of Agathys and Fire Shield (both non concentration spells) since they both synergieses with Reckless attack and Rage. You have to cast them before combat though
@@benross9174which is perfect since whenever you rage, you can't cast the spells anyways. Bear Heart Barbarian would be a good subclass choice for this combo
Hunter Ranger as a 3 level dip is one of the best in the game for any class that wants to hit stuff with a weapon. I used a 4 ranger 8 barbarian on my first honor run and it was incredible throughout the entire game as a dual wielding melee barbarian.
We're all know that 1 level in each class is a true S++ tier rank, global government try to hide it. Everything went to hell since Bogdanoff brothers "passed" away
I would like to mention with barb/paladin that the wolfheart rage in particular synergises extremely well with paladin auras, since both of them are good for supporting other front-line strikers nearby. Oath of the ancients is particularly happy because of healing radiance letting you stack on-heal effects and just having one of the strongest auras with aura of warding, meaning any characters on the front-line with the Barbadin are getting turbo buffed, though this does introduce some item dependency to make the most of healing radiance
I like how you made this layout of taking each class and looking at how it combines with each other class. It would be even more intesting if you'll also make a final tier list that compares best (S and A, maybe B) combos plus best solo classes or specs. For example, would Swords Bard stay S tier if compared to let's say Barbarian/Warrior or Bardlock, etc.
Oh and ps I don't know if you'll read the comments but I feel compelled to say that I've used many of your insights to help shape my own builds and they never disappoint. Your video on the best healer build was really great, I basically never leave camp without a bard/cleric in the party.
Grappling rules in 5e is essentially a Strength contest between the grappler and their victim. When grappled, you cannot willingly move at all. Since Bardbarian (lets say Barb 9 (Bear) /Bard 3 (Lore) or Barb 8 (Bear) /Bard 4 (Lore) ) would have high points in Athletics check (especially if they took expertise on athletics), and Rage gives advantage on strength checks; you are essentially a walking bearhugging machine to your enemies, while your allies can hit the enemy with ease (since they're busy with you). Technically in Baldur's Gate 3, I can replicate the experience by constantly throwing enemies to the ground (Barbarian raging with Cloud Giant elixir makes most enemy throw checks trivial, except Huge enemies) and let my allies pound on them like a bongo (Prone in BG3 doesn't give disadvantage on ranged attacks unlike in 5e), but it's not really the same (more akin to a painful shove). If you want to ask, I did the throw and let my allies beat their ass to almost all of the bosses in this game. It's a rather silly yet pretty ok strategy to use as a barbarian. I might not do as much damage, but then again; barbarian dps at higher levels aren't that great anyhow.
@@hquwhjher I couldn't remember what bard brought to the table, but I remember now, it's Cutting Words. Cutting Words lets you give your target a penalty to their Athletics check (and you could also give yourself that same bonus if you need it to win the check).
Addendum to Bard/Monk: Swords Bard and Shadow Monk pair excellently together. However, you're not relying on STR and/or unarmed combat. You instead go with dual-wielding shortswords/daggers. Shadow Monks essentially have little utility past Level 6, so you have 6 free levels to rock everyone's shit. Shadow Monk 6/Swords Bard 3 is a fantastic stealth combination that can serve as a party face, so would highly recommend it. If you decide to add two levels of Fighter for action surge or 3 levels in Rogue, you have a build that can potentially solo honour mode. Heck, go 6 Shadow Monk, 2 Paladin, and 4 Swords Bard, and voila: you have Shadow Strike at home, except you have a lot more in the form of utility spells.
Further to affirm bard/rogue thief as S tier but 2x off hand attacks to build arcane acuity with the helmet of arcane acuity and using main action to CC has freed the band of the mystic scoundrel for another character to use
I think you’re a bit too generous for many of these multiclasses, particularly the 1-level dips. The question isn’t whether a dip adds something (as you’ve described, usually it does) but is that better than the opportunity cost of a feat. That’s obviously situational, but it’s rare that you don’t have a strong feat left to get. I’m also personally pretty careful with 1 level dips as the last class taken, since it messes with item DCs (and with certain abilities like GOO mortal reminder). Edit: You can especially damage the ability of your main / highest DC caster (and thus likely your default scroll user) to effectively use scrolls by taking a 1 wizard dip as their last level
Idea: Backlash Barbarian/Warlock combo with Hellish Rebuke & Armor of Agathys. Plus the Illithid powers Psionic Backlash and Dominance. 5 Barbarian for Extra Attack / & 7 Fiend Warlock for Fire Shield and Counterspell.
I’ve mostly been consuming your content as audio only. If you haven’t uploaded these on podcast platforms I think it’s worth considering. Ty so much for your excellent content!!
Why dial in on Tiger Totem for Swords Bard? One out of the more than half dozen subclasses for Barb gets a cleave, and now an extra cleave is redundant and barb isnt offering anything to Swords Bard? Bear totem and Berserker are frequently considered solid goodstuff choices, and they absolutely don't get cleaves as part of their barb kit. Sure, you dont want to hit a needless level of redundancy, but you simply dont have to.
"Secretly" the best Bg3 videos in RUclips as it is out of all related contents balance and provide more information than the community can handle. Definitely S+ tier , broken understanding, true strike.
I think the channel was Puffin Farms or something, did a video detailing a lvl20 character they made called 'abserd' in DnD that had one level in every class. He was... completely and utterly worthless lol.
my favorite is RRFP (Ranger/Rogue/fighter/priest), 5 ranger, 4 rogue, 2 fighter, 1 war Priest. another option is to drop the war priest at the end and take 5 rogue instead. my favorite Barbarian build is Barbarian/rogue/fighter. With this you either go 3 levels in fighter and take eldrich knight to be able to bind your weapon so you can throw any weapon you want. Barbarian throwing build is very fun. Alternatively, for Min/maxing, you just have a hireling at camp who binds your weapon for you so you don't need 3 levels in fighter, you still want 2 though, then 3 in rogue to get thief
I think it would be a little easier to sort through if, for example, Barb/Bard meant Barb had more levels, and Bard/Barb was considered separately. Getting proficiencies and Action Surge from Fighter is way different from Fighter picking up levels of wizard. Potentially, one-point dips could get a high tier just because the dip came first in the alphabet, even if it would be weak as the primary. The only real downside is that every pair has twice as many configurations to consider, so "there's no reason for your barb to take Wizard levels" wouldn't be enough to go to D tier, which feels misleading when you just look at the tiers.
Barblock does Rock Armor of Agethys + Bear Totem DR (in 5E but sadly not in BG3 Warlocks can get their own version of smite. making this a legit underrated multiclass)
I so desperately wish barbarians extra rage damage worked on ranged weapons, imagine an 11 ranger spamming volleys in rage with titan string bow getting + 2 damage to all attacks, in medium armour and with rages damage reduction, it probably wouldn’t be amazing but it would be so fun
It's strange that you don't take into account the role-playing aspect at all. I mean - barbarian and monk - what a schizophrenic build that would be. In previous editions of DnD, you couldn’t even multiclass a barbarian with a monk because of their alignment, but here - any perversions are welcome I guess.
Barbarian -can- work at ranged tbh, thanks to the titanstring bow. Depending on the Barbarian path you took, it even solves the Bonus-Action issue Rangers often face. But Barbarian and Gloomstalker are somewhat redundant with their features.
I'm not a fan that Bard is good in basically everything 😂, for support I'm ok but for offense and support at the same time is a little jarring, when I think im a Bard I only thing in Volo and the dudes from avatar
I can't believe people long rest more than like 3 times per act. Action surge? That's used up in first fight so what to do for rest of act lmao. I'm not buffing 30 minutes after long rest and messing up timed events for skills
You’ve been pumping out some bangers recently. Keep it up. Maybe a future list, tier list of the hardest honor mode bosses? Saying their weaknesses and maybe which of your builds are good against them etc
Only thing I wish was in Baldur’s Gate is swashbuckler rogue just to cross class it with sword bard and be the smack talkingest one of one fighter ever.
I'd say barbarian 10 + 2 fighter is the best split unless you're doing a barbarian that isn't tiger bleed build. You need the 2 beast aspects that give you advantage and maim on hitting bleeding targets. The extra feat isnt as valuable with a barbarian tiger bleed build
Yessss, found ur channel a few days ago and been binging all subclass vids and the soloclass, but been waiting for this banger. Checked ur channel multiple times per day to see if u dropped any multiclass content. U made me excited to install BG3 again, played the shit out of it on release (3 playthroughs). Going for a more multiclass heavy run on honor mode now. thx!
Great video! For subsequent entries, it would be cool if you started the tier list with the previously completed classes already in place. That way my screenshot of all the cleric combos will include your ranking for barbarian/cleric and bard/cleric, for example.
my only issue with multi-classing spellcasters is the alternating spellcasting modifier. its all well and good to say 'this class adds this and this class makes up for that' but you start 17 wisdom multiclassing into a charisma caster is a waste as you're attack rolls are going to be abysmal especially in the late game? why is no mention of this made
Adding "Part 1: Barbarian" would clarify the scope of this video. As it reads it implies that you are taking on 'Every Combo' in this one video. It will also let people know that this will be a series.
Annoyingly, if you put "part 1" in a video title before part 2 is out, youtube seems much less likely to recommend it. It's stupid but you gotta play the game you're given
I appreciate your knowledge and I respect the fact that you know it all by heart, but!: Please write a script to read from or rerecord/edit your takes when you misspeak so much?
I've seen countless tier lists of BG3 classes by now, and every single one of them was too scared to get into multiclass combinations. This is equal parts interesting conversation and absolute callout to every content creator without the sheer force of will to give the people what they really want. Bravo
I feel like without the wizard cheese, intelligence would be an extremely awful stat outside of the wizard class. Only one terrible spell has a saving throw for it, checks like nature and history are basically only flavor. At least with this, there’s some incentive to have int for other spellcasters to have a few more utility spells, and can have fun / interesting builds
INT being useless in 5E is a weird design issue that's sort of baked into the system. In older D&D editions, your intelligence determined how many skills you could learn, which made it a great stat for every character, though that did come with its own issues. Of course in tabletop, a good DM will make skills like arcana and history matter more if it's something their players are interested in.
Hi everyone, i have nice idea for Zen Archer build: Stats: Dex - 17 Con - 16 Wis - 14 1-5 lvl - Gloom stalker 6-7 lvl - Wizard (Divination school) - for Zen prediction dices, and shield. 8 lvl - Cleric war domain, for sanctuary, and a bit another roleplay options(mb 2 lvl for Guided strike) 9-12 - Battlemaster, for melee options, presicion strikes(Zen aim) and feat. Pls if u can - optimize this build, maybe somehow with monk(for more roleplay Zen option)
I'm a Big fan of Wildheart Barb 5/ Battle Master Fighter 4 / Thief Rogue 3. Dump all your points into Dex and Con, take Two-Weapon Fighting, now you get 4 attacks per turn, 2 bonus actions, MASSIVE AC. Just damn good.
Barbarian isn't "backloaded". When multiclassing barbs, you usually take 3 or 5-6 levels, because higher levels are just not worth it. Ranger is a bit "backloaded" in BG3, mostly because the level 11 abilities you get as a beastmaster / hunter. You can always dip 3 levels of gloomstalker (hunter works too) to almost any martial build.
Warlock barb is surprisingly good. Eldritch blast can still be used while raging, but armor of agathys actually works really well in tandem with raging. Also it suddenly becomes SAD (Charisma) with weapon attacks, e-blast, and armor of agathys, rage, and the worst part is you don’t get to use hex and of course hunger of hadar, but I don’t think it’s super bad.
In my most recent playthrough, my party face was 8 levels Swords Bard and 4 levels Champion fighter, and she was awesome. Dex focused, dueling fighting style from swords bard paired with Duelist’s Prerogative and archery fighting style from fighter paired with Gontr Mael, not to mention my assortment of spells. She was a Swiss Army knife, equipped for any situation
Disagree on the 8/4 Barbarian/Fighter split. Split Barbarian 9/Fighter 3. Yes, you lose a feat, but you get the Barbarian brutal critical. Pair that with Champion 3, which results in a build that crits more often.
I really love Barbarian 9 and Champion Fighter 3. There is the big downside of missing a feat, but you get better criticals at level 9 Barbarian and Champion of course increases crits as well. Play an Orc as well and you get even more benefit off of crits.
I can say already that Abjuration Wizard is top of the class. This will solo, particularly mid/late game and doesn't need equipment to be effective. Essentially, knowing if a build is equipment dependant in my book would be thinking if you could have 4 of the same build in a party and they all be equally effective. You put 4 Abjuration Wizard in a party and you're untouchable and each one is walking through!!!
Holy shit, every single combination!?????? I thought you were just going to at most look at all 12 classes as a core, as a split, and as a dip, but you've gone the extra (thousand) miles and tried to rank all 70 or so dual class combinations! I am in fucking awe
Edit: AND MENTIONING THE TRIPLE CLASS ONES TOO ON OCCASION!! I can't imagine how much effort has gone into this video alone, and the pacing of these videos too being an hour or so long and coming out so close together every few days, starting to get scared you might burn yourself out with how fast and how high quality you're pumping these out
The good thing is that he has an easy marker for when he's done. It makes racing to the finish line easier when you know where the finish line is.
I actually only decided to do all of them like five minutes before sitting down to do the video, and the process was basically just "why not? WHO CAN STOP ME??"
@@Cephalopocalypse the process was basically just "why not? WHO CAN STOP ME??"
I like your attitude.
@@Cephalopocalypse I am convinced this must have been the thought process of the developers when they sat down and pondered romancing the emperor and other spicy features of the game
😂😂😂😂
I've actually been stressing about my plan to make Halsin a Barbearian (because his bear form is so iconic I want him to be able to keep using it), so I'm grateful to hear your thoughts on the combo (and doubly grateful that it isn't just an awful idea).
Wouldn't work on honour mode obvs but had a fun run with a barb-lock Karlach not long ago. Go Barb 5 / Warlock 7 and get 3 attacks per turn and fear on crit, use the spell slots for firey rebuke and agathys.
I've found that any charisma scaler synergizes disgustingly in some way with warlock. Bardlock with duelists prerogative gets like 4 attacks per round plus the pact weapon making it scale on your charisma. Pallylock with oath breaker gives you double charisma scaling smites with aura of hate and pact weapon. And one of my personal favorites is Warceror with the buff to fire damage from red dragon bloodline and all the fire spells out of the fiend war lock your fireballs absolutely smack.
The explanation for people who skipped the intro floored me lmao
Honestly, just put 2 levels in fighter for any class that you use for damage. You can put it on your life cleric or abjure wizard too, but there's really no need. Action surge is broken and you should abuse it.
You're kinda sleeping on the Ranger Hunter Horde Breaker synergy with Tiger Heart Barbarian! Not to mention the outside mobility of Enhance Leap with Ranger spell slots
Barbwizarian- "My goals are beyond your comprehension."
My goals are beyond my comprehension.
My goals are beyond comprehension.
"I may be out of spell slots but I'm not out of options" - Gale squaring up
I'd say warlock and barbarians can work together just because of armor of agathys. Your barbarian is the most likely to get attacked because they are reckless attacking, and your temporary HP will last twice as long because you're raging. So your armor of agathys lasts twice as long and you'll be getting attacked more often.
There are also subclass features that aren't spells that could be useful. Misty Escape for the Archfey Warlock, and being able to fear all of the enemies you crit against is not only on theme but would be strong for a barbarian because they're usually the most often to crit because of constant advantage.
big agree
Every video has so much info... I have no idea how you get all these out so quickly. Great job!
Thanks very much! I really appreciate the support :D
The secret is all I've done for 20 years is think about dungeons and dragons :P
Thanks for supporting their channel for those of us who can't afford to!
Halfling 10 Lore Bard + 2 Divination Wizard, now you can control all the dice rolls and ability checks.
Imagine the amount of times everything stops for you to react.
@@dimKiriyenkoDivination Wiz is strong but those dice rolls may make me go insane LOL
Take the Lucky feat for even more dice manipulation shenanigans
I think you are underestimating the Barbarian Warlock, even in honour mode. Temp HP is twice as good on a barbarian, and you have to consider the ONLY spells you are casting to be AoA and Fire Shield (before combat); then you rage. Barbarians also loves killing things, so you get even more temp HP (Fiend) and you get something out of short rests. Its way better than Barbarian 12
I had a College of Swords/Pact of the Blade bardlock as my Dark Urge and she very quickly became my most powerful character I'd ever played. I then proceeded to break her even further by using some cheese to get the deva mace (steal from the gods for fun and profit!) and she ended up absolutely *smoking* Orin in the duel in under two turns after knocking back a speed potion. I am now a bardlock supremacy truther.
This sounds awesome! What was your level split? 9/3 in favor of bard? (as extra attack doesn’t stack in HM)
he didnt mention honor mode tho @@EnragedPotato26
Swords bard + pact of the blade warlock is such a fun build. In honor mode where the extra attacks don't stack, you can just take 2 levels of fighter for action surge and end up with better burst damage, CON save proficiency, and more AC in exchange for a little less sustained damage.
It's arguably the best arcane synergy user, which isn't an effect you see people talk about very often, and it's also one of a handful of builds that manages to squeeze a lot of value out of the dual wielder feat. Arcane acuity is pretty broken on any caster, but this one is uniquely good at using the items that give stacks with weapon attacks.
I'm watching this particular video with interest. I confess I have a silly party theme that I'd like to explore: "Getting the Band Back Together," in which every character has at least 1 level in Bard so that they can play instruments together. Plus, it gives the opportunity to hear every voice actor's taunts.
Considering that Bard is amazing, this party will be awesome in theme and combat ability both. Great Idea!
I’m doing this right now and it’s a blast.
Started with crossbow kings but gradually adjusted the builds as I got more equipment and now I have four mostly bards with wildly different playstyles that I have jam out after their actions and bonus action.
Don’t forget to perform for Lihala with a party member who isn’t multiclassing bard to always have a back up guitarist for other runs.
I'm actually (almost) playing that right now. There are only 3 bard classes and valor bard is quite disappointing compared to the other 2, so instead of playing the probably optimal 2-3 sword 1-2 lore bard I'm playing 1 of each bard with... a bodyguard I guess.
This isn't what I'm playing but better since I've fixed a few things that I'm too lazy to re-optimize in game:
- ranged 1 fighter 1 wizard 10 sword bard. It's more or less the 10/1/1 build from reddit. This is my party face. Uses fire acuity hat + (flawed) helldusk glove to stack acuity, and either fire off bonus action mindblasts/illithid powers or combine with ring of mystic scoundrel to bonus action cc in general. Other differences include stacking dex to 22 and dual wielding daggers, and generally using deadshot and crit fishing since I'm playing origin astarion w/ the d10 necro.
- melee 2 paladin 10 valor bard. Uses helm of arcane acuity and sometimes the ring for ba cc same as above. Other times use luck of far realm/executioner/paralyze to guarantee crit for big numbies. Banishing + lv4 divine smite crit is quite a humorous 10d10+10d8damage. Combat inspiration can't be cast on self which is very sad, but that's valor bard for you... (combat inspiration for ac might be bugged and seems usable multiple times, which might be op)
- 2 warlock 10 lore bard. Uses eb mostly for comfort. Radorb + mental fatigue ring for funzies, spineshudder + stormy clamour + markoheshkir thunder to full stack reverberation per beam. Otherwise wears general dc stuff. In honor mode fish for patriar + bard memory from mirror; whichever companion lands it gets to be this guy. For me it was minthara, which has the added benefit of soul branding for thrower.
- 11 ek 1 -warpriest- ...base bard? General sub-optimal tb throw build. Throws nyrulna and so works with thunder acuity hat? ek for shield and hold person I guess? Can't be bad between acuity and advantage; you can even put ring here? Soul branding applies to, but is not consumed by, throws. As a result you get 2d4+1 fire damage every throw for 3 rounds straight. What value!
It's a mess of a party but good enough for base game. 1-2 round most fights. With 5 short rests per long rest they subsist on songs and barely need to sleep (althou bardadin can blow like 7 spell slots a turn with edge of darkness + smite). I've also added some darkness synergy in there between eversight, spear of evening, devil sight, and ...nothing for the thrower (although you can use helm if not for acuity meme).
@@jakeinfactsaid8637did you mean Alfira?
"You can't lie to a nun"
Wow you're the BG3 Great Class Master. Amazing work. I finally figured out how to become a member of your channel -- click the button that says "Join" -- so I did.
Thanks so much! I should definitely add a link to the descriptions, the join button seems to just not show up sometimes or be hidden on mobile. Really appreciate all your support and comments!
you know what i really love about this? you are taking this tierlist to its absolute limit. not just because of the sheer amount of classes you're covering but also because you're looking at it with so many considerations in mind, "what if you make play mistakes! like you came home tired or you drank beer before playing"... WHO DOES THIS, YOU ARE A LUNATIC AND I AM ENTERTAINED.
I'm trying to build something tasty.
Both lifebringer and warlock temp hp can refill symbiotic entity, im trying to make a spore druid berserker barbarian build centered around keeping symbiotic entity active.
Three flavors - 6/5/1 Druid/Barbarian/warlock or 6/3/2/1 Druid/Barbarian/paladin/warlock. 8/3/1 Druid/Barbarian/warlock.
Halo of spores can replace bonus action healing by breaking potions placed at your feet, so while raging a 3/2 berserker spore druid has the same attacks for round as a level 5 fighter since you use your bonus action in place of extra attack.
The lifebringer circlet with sparky points trident regains 3 temp hp for symbiotic entity upon gaining lightning charges and dark ones blessing from fiend warlock does the same on kill.
I tried the lifestealer shortsword and confirm that it doesn't regain temp hp for symbiotic entity, it replaces symbiotic entity.
I have tested it for majority of act 1 doing a 3/3 split between druid/berserker and its pretty tanky. Once you get gloves of dex, you can drop dex investment for making wisdom and cha 16 each, con 14, strength 12.
In a party, you can have two builds that work like this with great weapon master as there are two finesse longswords in act 1 being larethians wrath and phalar aluve.
For the second spore berserker, you can use a combination of the dex cloth and bracers of defense and a dex stat of 16, 8 strength, 14 on wisdom and con, 12 on charisma for an ac of 18. Although once you dip into warlock, the temp hp won't be as much as the gloves of dex spore berserker. But it can be remedied with hags hair, patriahs memory and birthright to buff it to 16.
Shield of thralls can actually completely refill symbiotic entity which is an interesting thing i discovered, but it does prevent warlock temp hp from being added back.
All the spore druid actions besides spell casting work while raging hence my confidence to only have 3 levels in berserker as halo of spores is powerful if you are creative, i.e break alchemy flask with halo of spore to set of an explosion. Or have a lit candle then break grease with halo of spores to set of fire wine barrels, or break a heal potion next to a downed ally to heal them (with halo of spores)... You get the point, halo of spores turns your reaction into a more useful resource in the action economy.
Tell me what you think.
I just had a playthrough with a Barbarian 2/Fighter 6/ Rogue 4.
The combo is absolutely bonkers
What does rogue do for this build? Sneak attacks?
@@oskarszymanski6529 a lot actually: sneak attack, cunning action and a second bonus action.
@isacsln Yeah but I wasn't commenting on thrower build, but this particular without berseker in it...
It’s better to swap the levels of fighter and barbarian around. A barbarian rogue really wants the berserker subclass and all you want from fighter for that class combo is action surge.
This amount of quality content is worth way more than 15$. "Non sum dignus", as we say ! Thank you so much, you're making this game even better than it already is. Hope your channel will continue to thrive !
Thanks very much! I really appreciate the support and the very kind words - it means a lot! :D Glad you're enjoying the videos!
I was shit before your channel. Now I’m one shotting bosses on tactician, getting ready for honour mode, and even comfortable making my own builds. In MTG I’m what is called a Timmy - I’m sure you’re familiar with this concept. I am just not inherently creative with combos and builds because I get so caught up in the fantasy. Thank you for making me better and making me more confident in my RPG play!
Thanks so much for the support! That's awesome to hear - glad you're finding the videos helpful! I think everyone should try to keep in touch with that inner Timmy - it makes games so much more fun. Good luck with the honour mode run!
Just to add a bit of info to the wizard multiclass: if you take a wizard level and then a charisma caster, all wizard spells learned through scrolls will use charisma instead. Did this on my storm sorc/tempest cleric to get access to chain lightning.
I like the idea of barbarian/warlock because Warlocks only have 2 spell slots per short rest so you can throw out two non-concentration spells (fireballs?) and then jump into rage with your charisma based two handed pact weapon.
Or Armour of Agathys and Fire Shield (both non concentration spells) since they both synergieses with Reckless attack and Rage. You have to cast them before combat though
@@benross9174 OH good point! I always forget about Agathys because I cast it in the morning and leave it on all day lol
Charisma based barb? Sounds pretty cool actually, sign me up! They do get intimidation proficiency, giving some neat thematic synergy.
@@benross9174which is perfect since whenever you rage, you can't cast the spells anyways. Bear Heart Barbarian would be a good subclass choice for this combo
@@thomashightower7881 True, you also get Temp HP when you kill from Fiend, which is twice as good on a barbarian.
Hunter Ranger as a 3 level dip is one of the best in the game for any class that wants to hit stuff with a weapon.
I used a 4 ranger 8 barbarian on my first honor run and it was incredible throughout the entire game as a dual wielding melee barbarian.
We're all know that 1 level in each class is a true S++ tier rank, global government try to hide it. Everything went to hell since Bogdanoff brothers "passed" away
What an "abserd" idea
Yeah, those some players, always making mistakes...
I would like to mention with barb/paladin that the wolfheart rage in particular synergises extremely well with paladin auras, since both of them are good for supporting other front-line strikers nearby. Oath of the ancients is particularly happy because of healing radiance letting you stack on-heal effects and just having one of the strongest auras with aura of warding, meaning any characters on the front-line with the Barbadin are getting turbo buffed, though this does introduce some item dependency to make the most of healing radiance
I like how you made this layout of taking each class and looking at how it combines with each other class. It would be even more intesting if you'll also make a final tier list that compares best (S and A, maybe B) combos plus best solo classes or specs. For example, would Swords Bard stay S tier if compared to let's say Barbarian/Warrior or Bardlock, etc.
Oh and ps I don't know if you'll read the comments but I feel compelled to say that I've used many of your insights to help shape my own builds and they never disappoint. Your video on the best healer build was really great, I basically never leave camp without a bard/cleric in the party.
Thanks very much! I do indeed read the comments (and reply to as many as I can) - glad the guides are helping!
Bardbarian is really good in D&D 5th Edition because of something to do with grappling, but I forget how it works actually.
Grappling rules in 5e is essentially a Strength contest between the grappler and their victim. When grappled, you cannot willingly move at all.
Since Bardbarian (lets say Barb 9 (Bear) /Bard 3 (Lore) or Barb 8 (Bear) /Bard 4 (Lore) ) would have high points in Athletics check (especially if they took expertise on athletics), and Rage gives advantage on strength checks; you are essentially a walking bearhugging machine to your enemies, while your allies can hit the enemy with ease (since they're busy with you).
Technically in Baldur's Gate 3, I can replicate the experience by constantly throwing enemies to the ground (Barbarian raging with Cloud Giant elixir makes most enemy throw checks trivial, except Huge enemies) and let my allies pound on them like a bongo (Prone in BG3 doesn't give disadvantage on ranged attacks unlike in 5e), but it's not really the same (more akin to a painful shove).
If you want to ask, I did the throw and let my allies beat their ass to almost all of the bosses in this game. It's a rather silly yet pretty ok strategy to use as a barbarian. I might not do as much damage, but then again; barbarian dps at higher levels aren't that great anyhow.
@@hquwhjher I couldn't remember what bard brought to the table, but I remember now, it's Cutting Words. Cutting Words lets you give your target a penalty to their Athletics check (and you could also give yourself that same bonus if you need it to win the check).
Oh and also Peerless skill, thought that doesn't come online until Bard level 14
Huzzah! Looking for Swords Bard 6 / Abjuration Wizard 6 for the win!
(Or Tempest Cleric 2 / Storm Sorcerer 9 / Wizard 1 if you’re sparky)
Addendum to Bard/Monk: Swords Bard and Shadow Monk pair excellently together. However, you're not relying on STR and/or unarmed combat. You instead go with dual-wielding shortswords/daggers. Shadow Monks essentially have little utility past Level 6, so you have 6 free levels to rock everyone's shit. Shadow Monk 6/Swords Bard 3 is a fantastic stealth combination that can serve as a party face, so would highly recommend it. If you decide to add two levels of Fighter for action surge or 3 levels in Rogue, you have a build that can potentially solo honour mode. Heck, go 6 Shadow Monk, 2 Paladin, and 4 Swords Bard, and voila: you have Shadow Strike at home, except you have a lot more in the form of utility spells.
Further to affirm bard/rogue thief as S tier but 2x off hand attacks to build arcane acuity with the helmet of arcane acuity and using main action to CC has freed the band of the mystic scoundrel for another character to use
This guy can't be stopped.
Next I demand a min-max tier list of all possible clothing combinations
I think you’re a bit too generous for many of these multiclasses, particularly the 1-level dips. The question isn’t whether a dip adds something (as you’ve described, usually it does) but is that better than the opportunity cost of a feat. That’s obviously situational, but it’s rare that you don’t have a strong feat left to get. I’m also personally pretty careful with 1 level dips as the last class taken, since it messes with item DCs (and with certain abilities like GOO mortal reminder). Edit: You can especially damage the ability of your main / highest DC caster (and thus likely your default scroll user) to effectively use scrolls by taking a 1 wizard dip as their last level
YYYEEEESSSSSS was just looking to see if youd uploaded this lmao
Idea: Backlash Barbarian/Warlock combo with Hellish Rebuke & Armor of Agathys.
Plus the Illithid powers Psionic Backlash and Dominance.
5 Barbarian for Extra Attack /
& 7 Fiend Warlock for Fire Shield and Counterspell.
I’ve mostly been consuming your content as audio only. If you haven’t uploaded these on podcast platforms I think it’s worth considering.
Ty so much for your excellent content!!
Cepha with the Illithid IQ tierlists, goddamn
Why dial in on Tiger Totem for Swords Bard? One out of the more than half dozen subclasses for Barb gets a cleave, and now an extra cleave is redundant and barb isnt offering anything to Swords Bard? Bear totem and Berserker are frequently considered solid goodstuff choices, and they absolutely don't get cleaves as part of their barb kit. Sure, you dont want to hit a needless level of redundancy, but you simply dont have to.
"Secretly" the best Bg3 videos in RUclips as it is out of all related contents balance and provide more information than the community can handle. Definitely S+ tier , broken understanding, true strike.
I think the channel was Puffin Farms or something, did a video detailing a lvl20 character they made called 'abserd' in DnD that had one level in every class. He was... completely and utterly worthless lol.
You failed to mention barb5/warlock fiend 7 utilizing armor of agathys and fire shield.
Also honorable mention:
- 2paladin / 6sword bard / anything (druid, barb, fighter, warlock, sorcerer, etc)
- 5paladin / 4 gloomstalker / 3 assasin
my favorite is RRFP (Ranger/Rogue/fighter/priest), 5 ranger, 4 rogue, 2 fighter, 1 war Priest. another option is to drop the war priest at the end and take 5 rogue instead. my favorite Barbarian build is Barbarian/rogue/fighter. With this you either go 3 levels in fighter and take eldrich knight to be able to bind your weapon so you can throw any weapon you want. Barbarian throwing build is very fun. Alternatively, for Min/maxing, you just have a hireling at camp who binds your weapon for you so you don't need 3 levels in fighter, you still want 2 though, then 3 in rogue to get thief
I think it would be a little easier to sort through if, for example, Barb/Bard meant Barb had more levels, and Bard/Barb was considered separately. Getting proficiencies and Action Surge from Fighter is way different from Fighter picking up levels of wizard. Potentially, one-point dips could get a high tier just because the dip came first in the alphabet, even if it would be weak as the primary.
The only real downside is that every pair has twice as many configurations to consider, so "there's no reason for your barb to take Wizard levels" wouldn't be enough to go to D tier, which feels misleading when you just look at the tiers.
Barblock does Rock Armor of Agethys + Bear Totem DR (in 5E but sadly not in BG3 Warlocks can get their own version of smite. making this a legit underrated multiclass)
- Not you, but ‘some’ players will make mistakes..
Yep, definitely not me 🙃
I so desperately wish barbarians extra rage damage worked on ranged weapons, imagine an 11 ranger spamming volleys in rage with titan string bow getting + 2 damage to all attacks, in medium armour and with rages damage reduction, it probably wouldn’t be amazing but it would be so fun
It's strange that you don't take into account the role-playing aspect at all. I mean - barbarian and monk - what a schizophrenic build that would be. In previous editions of DnD, you couldn’t even multiclass a barbarian with a monk because of their alignment, but here - any perversions are welcome I guess.
I haven't watched the video yet, I'm interested in Barbarian/Warlock Weapon lock like that must be fucking OP right?
Barbarian -can- work at ranged tbh, thanks to the titanstring bow.
Depending on the Barbarian path you took, it even solves the Bonus-Action issue Rangers often face. But Barbarian and Gloomstalker are somewhat redundant with their features.
I'm not a fan that Bard is good in basically everything 😂, for support I'm ok but for offense and support at the same time is a little jarring, when I think im a Bard I only thing in Volo and the dudes from avatar
I can't believe people long rest more than like 3 times per act. Action surge? That's used up in first fight so what to do for rest of act lmao. I'm not buffing 30 minutes after long rest and messing up timed events for skills
You’ve been pumping out some bangers recently. Keep it up. Maybe a future list, tier list of the hardest honor mode bosses? Saying their weaknesses and maybe which of your builds are good against them etc
Only thing I wish was in Baldur’s Gate is swashbuckler rogue just to cross class it with sword bard and be the smack talkingest one of one fighter ever.
I'd say barbarian 10 + 2 fighter is the best split unless you're doing a barbarian that isn't tiger bleed build. You need the 2 beast aspects that give you advantage and maim on hitting bleeding targets. The extra feat isnt as valuable with a barbarian tiger bleed build
if only the game had a grapple mechanic instead of attacking... the bard-barian pro-wrestler is fun to play!
Bard has 6 classes in S tier in terms of multiclass. Such a strong class
Any charisma class is just automatically a good class...
Thumbnail Karlach must be Frenzy Thief thrower, or my name's not MTaur.
I think barbarian and warlock can be better with the great old one peek of crits making freighted status with tiger cleave could be good.
So came back to see if possible. There has to ba a way to get full spell casting and barbarian with smites.
Oh my god you're insane and I love it. Goddamn
9 levels of oathbreaker paladin with 3 levels of fiend warlock is what I'm doing
Just slapping Barbarian 2 on Paladin for infinite free advantage is grea combo on its own.
I’ve been waiting for this! I’ve probably watched all of your other videos 6 times over. So excited to hear your thoughts.
Yessss, found ur channel a few days ago and been binging all subclass vids and the soloclass, but been waiting for this banger. Checked ur channel multiple times per day to see if u dropped any multiclass content.
U made me excited to install BG3 again, played the shit out of it on release (3 playthroughs). Going for a more multiclass heavy run on honor mode now. thx!
Wish you had added single class as reference or is it the same assessment scale as your single class video?
Imagine the dev changed the level cap just to mess with you today :P
Gale just sneaked onto the thumbnail for some mysterious reasons..
Great video! For subsequent entries, it would be cool if you started the tier list with the previously completed classes already in place. That way my screenshot of all the cleric combos will include your ranking for barbarian/cleric and bard/cleric, for example.
Yep, that's how I'm doing it for sure
gloom stalker assasin soloing honor mode with arrrow of many targets lmao
Bard + Any other Class: Look at me i am the MVP now
my only issue with multi-classing spellcasters is the alternating spellcasting modifier. its all well and good to say 'this class adds this and this class makes up for that' but you start 17 wisdom multiclassing into a charisma caster is a waste as you're attack rolls are going to be abysmal especially in the late game? why is no mention of this made
Spells will always use the casting stat of the class you learned them from, so that's not really an issue
S tier multiclass: Fighter + literally anything else 😂
Pretty sure Barb does not give Con proficiency.
Adding "Part 1: Barbarian" would clarify the scope of this video. As it reads it implies that you are taking on 'Every Combo' in this one video. It will also let people know that this will be a series.
Annoyingly, if you put "part 1" in a video title before part 2 is out, youtube seems much less likely to recommend it. It's stupid but you gotta play the game you're given
I appreciate your knowledge and I respect the fact that you know it all by heart, but!:
Please write a script to read from or rerecord/edit your takes when you misspeak so much?
nah
I've seen countless tier lists of BG3 classes by now, and every single one of them was too scared to get into multiclass combinations. This is equal parts interesting conversation and absolute callout to every content creator without the sheer force of will to give the people what they really want.
Bravo
I feel like without the wizard cheese, intelligence would be an extremely awful stat outside of the wizard class. Only one terrible spell has a saving throw for it, checks like nature and history are basically only flavor. At least with this, there’s some incentive to have int for other spellcasters to have a few more utility spells, and can have fun / interesting builds
INT being useless in 5E is a weird design issue that's sort of baked into the system. In older D&D editions, your intelligence determined how many skills you could learn, which made it a great stat for every character, though that did come with its own issues. Of course in tabletop, a good DM will make skills like arcana and history matter more if it's something their players are interested in.
The absolute madlad
I skimmed through this video. I don't understand how all combinations are covered here. Just seems to show all combos for Barb and bard
This is part one of a series, other classes are in the other videos in the series
What a shame they didn't make this game level 20 cap.
Just found you uploaded this, made my day!
Another video by you, and even better, it's 1+ hour. ❤ Pure bliss.
God tier work
Bar-bear-ian.
Classic game.
Waiting for the fighter video where everything is S tier
What about Abserd multiclass character? One level in EVERY class?
Check out my build guide! ("One of EVERY class? On Tactician?!")
You crazy legend
Hi everyone, i have nice idea for Zen Archer build:
Stats:
Dex - 17
Con - 16
Wis - 14
1-5 lvl - Gloom stalker
6-7 lvl - Wizard (Divination school) - for Zen prediction dices, and shield.
8 lvl - Cleric war domain, for sanctuary, and a bit another roleplay options(mb 2 lvl for Guided strike)
9-12 - Battlemaster, for melee options, presicion strikes(Zen aim) and feat.
Pls if u can - optimize this build, maybe somehow with monk(for more roleplay Zen option)
Oh, this is gonna be insane.
I'm a Big fan of Wildheart Barb 5/ Battle Master Fighter 4 / Thief Rogue 3. Dump all your points into Dex and Con, take Two-Weapon Fighting, now you get 4 attacks per turn, 2 bonus actions, MASSIVE AC. Just damn good.
Barbarian isn't "backloaded". When multiclassing barbs, you usually take 3 or 5-6 levels, because higher levels are just not worth it. Ranger is a bit "backloaded" in BG3, mostly because the level 11 abilities you get as a beastmaster / hunter. You can always dip 3 levels of gloomstalker (hunter works too) to almost any martial build.
let's go!
Warlock barb is surprisingly good. Eldritch blast can still be used while raging, but armor of agathys actually works really well in tandem with raging. Also it suddenly becomes SAD (Charisma) with weapon attacks, e-blast, and armor of agathys, rage, and the worst part is you don’t get to use hex and of course hunger of hadar, but I don’t think it’s super bad.
In my most recent playthrough, my party face was 8 levels Swords Bard and 4 levels Champion fighter, and she was awesome. Dex focused, dueling fighting style from swords bard paired with Duelist’s Prerogative and archery fighting style from fighter paired with Gontr Mael, not to mention my assortment of spells. She was a Swiss Army knife, equipped for any situation
Disagree on the 8/4 Barbarian/Fighter split. Split Barbarian 9/Fighter 3. Yes, you lose a feat, but you get the Barbarian brutal critical. Pair that with Champion 3, which results in a build that crits more often.
Rogue / Monk Astarion is super fun
I really love Barbarian 9 and Champion Fighter 3. There is the big downside of missing a feat, but you get better criticals at level 9 Barbarian and Champion of course increases crits as well. Play an Orc as well and you get even more benefit off of crits.
I can say already that Abjuration Wizard is top of the class. This will solo, particularly mid/late game and doesn't need equipment to be effective. Essentially, knowing if a build is equipment dependant in my book would be thinking if you could have 4 of the same build in a party and they all be equally effective. You put 4 Abjuration Wizard in a party and you're untouchable and each one is walking through!!!