FIXING the Companions - BG3 Honour Mode Build Guide
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- Опубликовано: 10 июл 2024
- Baldur's Gate 3's companions are good at many things, but having optimal starting builds isn't one of them. Let's fix them as soon as possible!
Tutorial for fixing and optimizing the best builds for Shadowheart, Astarion, Wyll, Gale, and Lae'zel as soon as you get access to respecs.
0:00 Intro and Goals
2:07 Shadowheart
11:58 Astarion
15:26 Lae'zel
20:12 Wyll
27:35 Gale 
Игры
i love that fixing shadowheart is instantly getting her tf out of her deity's most canon magic lol.
Well...trickery is shit for combat, it's good for RP. This is a game with combat and RP while influential, rarely cause you Honor over, as you'll be doing the RP with your main🤷♂️
call that storytelling through gameplay
@@momqabt Definitely the best domain spells, but it has nothing else really relevant. It's even more true in 5e with blink, dispel magic, PHB's polymorph and modify memory. Although having fear in bg3 is nice even if it is hard nerfed compared to 5e.
@@momqabt I kept my shadowheart as trickery domain even for honor mode and always kept her in the party... but it was for RP reasons. I only felt like respeccing her after the Viconia fight. Sort of feels like a reward to unlocking a better domain :p.
Although, there were times where the prepared spell fear was very handy for the early gith/creche fights, I was still mostly using spirit guardians or upcasted command/hold
The way they implemented (or rather, didn't implement) trickery domain is honestly one of my few real disappointments with this game - for my full rant, you can check out my Shadowheart Lore-Friendly build ("Shar's Shadow") where I go on a long tangent about it :P
Something to point out is that respeccing is actually completely free. You can pickpocket your 100 gold back from withers, and he doesnt get mad if you fail.
To be fair, pickpocketing so far imo is borderline exploit unless you self impose some restrictions. There are lots of traders (i.e Volo) that don't really care if you get caught pickpocketing so you can essentially clean them out every long rest or respec. Everything is free with pickpocketing.
@@welkingunther4298 Plus even with "real" traders who get mad about it you can quicksave after each successful steal and reloading just dumps you out of the pickpocket mechanic with all your illicit gains. Have the pickpocketer dash away and hide for a while, then the trader accuses the party face of theft and you can just say you don't know what they're talking about since you haven't got their stuff. All the items in the game are free :)
I think withers should just do it for free cause we’re already getting our money back, same with resurrections
@welkingunther4298 I don't really see how it's an exploit when the game itself tells you to do it in loading screen tooltips. Baldur's Gate 3 has had a lot of people trying to say that core game mechanics are exploits.
Using explosive barrels even though the game goes out of its way to make sure explosive barrels are around near certain bosses.
Exchanging camp supplies to refresh Trader inventories.
Using other party members in camp (or hirelings) to cast buffs or perform other actions. That's part of why they exist!
None of these things are exploits. The word exploit has been thrown around so liberally that it doesn't even mean anything anymore.
If you don't want to use them, that's fine! But that doesn't make it an exploit just because you don't like how it feels.
@@GuiltyKit yeah i agree with you, an exploit should mean something that wasn't an intended part of the game that people exploit, not just busted strategies that are intended.
i think the previous commenter might mean exploit in for honour, because its not honourable, or what you would normally do in a run through. its kind of a metagame thing that we as players perceive but the characters in game don't.
but like, why would withers take your money? this guy is a god and can resurrect party members, he has no use nor need for money. the fact that after 4 patches, the devs don't make him hostile to you for pickpocketing him should tell us that withers being easy to take money back from is an intended and lore relevant choice. he's a very helpful being, but he'll also say you don't get bitches if you don't romance someone, makes some of the best dry jokes in the game, and takes your money only to not care when you take it back.
the last spell for shadowheart should definitely be sanctuary imo
a bonus action that pretty much makes you invulnerable for 10 turns is so powerful for an honour build - allows you to flee pretty much all encounters as long as she's alive
I love how larian gives us the illusion that clerics arent busted by making Shadowheart the weakest cleric by far, while keeping all those insane domain abilities from other clerics away from us
Jokes on them: I was a Light Cleric in my first playthrough! :P
@@NataliaNeeSama Ye, i love how Trickery cleric gets very situational advantage for allies and light clerics get a nuke
Very balanced and fair
@@Savaris96 "Fireball"
@@nosnibormailliw5122 not even that, dawn of radiance dunks on the first two acts as well
@@Savaris96 To me, spirit guardians are better up until act 3. And then at that point, upcasted command beats them all or glyph of warding targetting weaknesses.
But dawn of radiance does honestly make act 1 and especially 2 free.
Honor mode is the most fulfilling way to play bg3. Everything matters. Potions, scrolls, resting, rationing supplies. Wins feel so much more satisfying when you cant save scum. Its the best update they've made to the game
Agreed! This is the game mode I wanted from the beginning
Ye it’s also amazing when ur autosave gets bugged
I made it like 5 hours into my 2nd playthrough and when I loaded my save the next day I was starting the game all the way from the beginning at the nautiloid, like wtf game, I made a save like 20 times in that space and it decided to take me all the way back to the beginning 😭😭
Regarding spells... This is arguable, but I consider Silence to be a must have level 2 spell on at least one member of your party. It's technically situational, but the situations where it's useful are all over the place.
Sanctuary is another must have -- and I don't consider it debatable, especially on honour mode.
Finally, these low level build guides are SO important and there aren't enough of them. You're doing the Moonmaiden's work here.
Thank you for focusing on how to make them good even when you don’t have specific gear or are low level. I know the optimal build changes as the game progresses, but so many build videos hinge upon late game only stuff. I’m trying to better understand things so I can optimize even when I don’t have all the levels/gear, so thanks for your videos!
Yeah lmao. So many "build guides" start out by going "so first thing you wanna get this act 3 item" 💀
Once you get to act 3 the characters are so strong that the game gets too easy, normally mid act 2 the game is already easy.
Hells yeah mate! Been watching build videos for a week now, and this is the first that has solid advice for beginners.
I haven’t beaten honor mode, but in general I want to make an argument for two cantrips better than Fire Bolt: Chill Touch and Ray of Frost.
Yes, Fire Bolt does a D10. Meaning that it will do 1 more damage on average (and 1 additional average damage whenever it scales) - but the other two cantrips have amazing rider effects that require no save.
Ray of Frost slows an enemy by 10 feet when it hits. This can absolutely save your bacon with good positioning. This could require a melee based enemy to need to dash to get up to you, wasting their action and saving you from damage for a full turn. Chill Touch (or Bone Chill?) has TWO fantastic riders. First, in addition to damage, it prevents the enemy from regaining HP, or being healed. This is fantastic against enemies that regenerate or in battles against healers. The other rider to bone chill is that if you hit an undead, they will have disadvantage on attacks. It’s important to note which undead are resistant or immune to necrotic damage - but it’s also important to note which enemies are resistant or immune to fire damage, and fire bolt gets no additional effects. Honestly, Fire Bolt is like my third pick for damaging cantrips.
As a new player in the D&D/BG3 sphere, your guides have been an integral part of my learning of the game's spells and mechanics. They're really well put together and easy to understand, and this guide is no exception! Boss encounter guides would be awesome! It's always cool to see what strategies people use for the major encounters in the game. You could combine tactician/lower difficulty strategies with strategies for tackling the new legendary actions, or you could have honour mode encounters be their own separate series. Thank you for putting in the effort for experienced and new players alike. It is greatly appreciated :)
Also, congratulations on the very well deserved 1.2k additional subscribers since hitting 5k and glad to hear you're recovering in time for the holidays! o7
PSA: You can pickpocket Withers to get back the gold you pay him.
Loving these guides, using your Monk build for my main for my first honor mode, so far so good, level 4 and nothing to hard so far. Thank you so much and keep em coming, subbed!
Thanks for a video like this! Sometimes you want to keep characters lore accurate but you might need some pointers as to how to tune them up a little for the harder difficulties.
Thank you so much for this! As soon as I respec'd everyone, it made an immediate difference. I beat the Harpies in the first attempt! Astarion resisted the Luring Song the whole time, though not sure if that was a result of respec! I also changed him to Ranger Class at Lv. 4. Following your brilliant guide on how to build Astarion through to Lv. 12. I'm a first time player at these D&D video games too.
You should've made this guide with Karlach (since you can just cross the river north of the owlbear cave entrance and get her without any extra fights after getting wyll) and at lvl 4 since we get the feats because that's a very important aspect of the builds. But ive gotta say, this video idea is amazing and extremely helpful, thanks a lot friend
Feats are easy to choose. Ranged weapon users pick Sharpshooter, two handed weapon users pick great weapon master and everyone else picks 2 ability score increases into their main stat.
@@OutlookJonas And Paladins pick Savage Attacker.
Karlach as a throwing zerker with tavern brawler is pretty op. Just start her with 17 str to even it to 18 with tavern brawler. By that time you should have been to the goblin camp and can buy the spear that returns after being thrown. Now you just reck attack then enrage throw after and it's going to hit pretty much every time and knock the enemy prone
@@phatymcdaddy Barb is kinda ass though. If you're going for a throwing build, just run with Eldritch Knight as soon as you can pick subclasses.
@@skeletonwar4445This is beginner stuff, so we're keeping people their own class, and throwing Barbarian is perfectly fine.
Your the best at this stuff. I've been following your build guides and so far I only party wiped once on Honour mode to the wretched Owl Bear! This is my first playthrough so It's pretty much a blind honour mode run and I've been doing pretty well so far with your ranger/gloom stalker build.
Remember that when 2 party members die, run like hell!
Just Subed....congrats....right now at 9.99k ! :)
This is great.
Very few people are probably really playing Honour Mode so addressing that fact is probably a good idea as well, meaning what you might do different for the rest of us just playing the game.
I just used your guides to respec my 4 characters at level 4 (playing as Astarion) --really helpful and appreciated. Thank you!
Did Lae'zel as Eldritch Knight (throwing build).
Used your tank guide for Gale.
First battle was the sheep mages in the swamp (whatever they are called) -- was tough but fun, lost Gale right at the end. Will take a bit to learn to best play the different strengths but looking forward to it.
Thanks again!
I did this for a lot of companions + gave some of them 8/10 strength and have definitely noticed it as a hindrance. I need to bring them up to 12. Thanks for the tips !!
Subscribed just because you’re grateful to have subscribers. Keep it going, man. Good video and content.
Thanks! Welcome to the channel :D
I think that what you said about about Evocation Wizards and damage spells not being that good is certainly true for the early- to mid-game, but the passive feature that the Evocation subclass gets at level 10 is actually really good and gives you access to some of the highest single-target damage with pretty minimal effort. I think it's worth a respec later on.
these were incredible! thank you for all your 5e knowledge
For Lae’zel I’d actually make a suggestion, if you keep her straight fighter.
17/14/14/8/13/8
I’d might seem strange to give her 2 odd numbers, but here’s my reasoning.
Fighter gets more feats than any other class in the game. At level 4 you can give her athlete, which rounds Strength to 18 and also gives her 50% longer jump. This with enhanced leap gives he the ability to jump approximately 2 screens for insane mobility. At 6 pick great weapon master for her synergy with the Githyanki Greatswords and at 8 pick resilient Wisdom. This rounds her wisdom to 14 and also helps with wisdom saving throws, which become really important around that time. Finally at 12, max out her STR to 20.
Works for all of her subclasses, and the 14 Dex lets her still use medium armor, if you haven’t found good heavy yet, keeps her initiative high and lets her use ranged options, if she needs to.
tbh id more recommend respeccing into this as you get the levels instead of starting with that stat spread if your in honour mode if you wanna do that
I agree, those early levels in honour mode are brutal and it's better to use even stats and then respec at level 4 when a lot of builds come online with their first feat.
Tbh all that would really achieve would be something like 16/14/16/8/12/8, which at the end of the day is 4 HP more by the time you rebuild and level 4 is reached fast, but i see your point. @@ForeverTraitor
Make her an Eldritch Knight thrower with the Ring of Flinging, Dragon's Grasp, and Hunter's Shortbow. It carried me through the Harpies fight.
I know I'm late to this party but I am letting you know that, yes I liked this video and the format and I, for one, want more!! I really appreciate that you explain the reasoning behind choices that might not seem obvious (like higher CON and WIS points for better concentration and saving throws)- well, you explained your reasons for all your choices efficiently and intelligently. Also THANK YOU for not basing your builds around specific items AND not basing builds on constant respecs with Withers (not just this honor mode video, but the other videos of yours that I've watched) AND for considering how players (especially the ones looking for help rather than just new builds to try) will be strong/skilled enough to even get to acts 2 & 3 for the higher level items/spells/skills!! Subscribing with notifications now! Oh, and having videos about synergizing the party as a whole rather than the best op build for each character (which often use the same items or don't work well together) fits my play style perfectly.
I always wondered how gale was changing die rolls on my first play through and then couldn't be bothered on my second. Thank you lol!
Awesome video, hope you continue to provide great content! I would make an argument that Aid is a really great spell at low level, you increase the total parties health pool by 20 and it's not temp hp so this gets refilled on short rests. 3rd level is certainly better as you're now getting 40 extra hit points among the party but I wouldn't sleep on Aid in the early game. Peace and Love!
20hp at level 3 is most of another party member, so not bad. If it works on pets too, you can get even more out of it with a beast master or two
Good stuff dude, i'm just commenting to jump on the bandwagon to ask that you make videos to upgrade the rest of the companions as you get them.
mucho grassy ass!!
Now that i have cheesed my way to foehammer, ill use this to see if i can actually manage Tactician the correct way, and then maybe give a real Honormode a try. Thanks so much for the guide, it got you a sub :D
FINALLY! ❤❤❤ A video that builds 3rd level characters with foresight and intelligence. Bravo mate!
One thing Honour mode has taught me is to always use all my resources available to me.
-With Wyll as a Warlock, I gave him Devil's Sight and Minor Illusion. When enemies are grouped it, someone else shoots an arrow of darkness into the group and I send Wyll in to get some advantage.
-With Gale, I use Clour Spray, Sleep, and Scorching Ray all the time now, Scorching Ray especially after I throw a web grenade or have my Sword Bard use Arsonist Oil on their crossbow followed by Ranged Slashing Flourish to spread fire vulnerability.
-When when Shadowheart or anyone else has something like 50% to hit, I just use ice arrows to maybe cause a trip. Got one of the Minotaurs from the Underdark to trip from a missed ice arrow.
-If there is absolutely nothing left to do but attack with disadvantage, actually use those scrolls instead of banking them. Magic Missle, Ice Knife, Sleep, Blur, Mirror Image, and Cloud of Daggers are instant buys for me when I see them. Oh, and especially Protection from Evil and Good against Auntie. Quick tip on the Auntie Honour fight; give your melee characters either a Misty Step scroll or use the Arrow of Teleportation. It makes it a lot less frustrating, at least in my run. It was a good thing I was hoarding them in my inventory to spread around.
I’m definitely guilty of hoarding all my stuff in my balanced playthrough, so I gotta remember to use stuff in my honor mode run, which I’ve added even more challenges onto (I’ll be doing it as lore-accurate as possible, AND with a significant disadvantage on my Tav-he is going to be permanently on 9 constitution, meaning I will have a significant HP disadvantage at all stages. Is this a mistake? Maybe. But I’m committed to it)
the arsonist oil is kinda busted, first i use the arrow that jumps on enemies to coat everyone with the oil and then a fire arrow to produce a chain reaction
Another auntie fight tip is to use hold person on her if she shapeshifts into the girl, the fight is pretty much over once you cast the spell😂
Evocation wizard is extremely strong in Act 3 if you have an excellent thief (or lots of money) and easy access to Sunbeam scrolls. Sunbeam being a bigger area fireball every turn with the ability to blind and give your part advantage is nutty strong and becomes available as soon as you can start stealing the scrolls.
When you start stealing things, everything is OP. There's like 0 penalty to stealing from most traders.
For sure! There's actually lots of cool uses for evocation wizard (the coolest is standing inside Wall of Fire imo, but that's kind of risky since there's so many bugs with that spell). I do wonder if having it as the default has taught players bad habits though - the stats from near release showing the most common death for players was their own fireballs was very funny to me.
I did not know about that stat lol. Probably bad habits, but being able to sunbeam right into your melee fighters to give them advantage is a beautiful thing@@Cephalopocalypse
@@Cephalopocalypseyou can stand in Wall of Fire as Evocation Wizard WHAAAAAT? 😮🤯
i mean, sunbeam is a beam, and targets a save that I would expect to be stronger... Im not sure I would could on anything failing a consave with the +2 bonus of later diffs.
Thanks so much for this guide it helped a lot
Good video. You should have way more subscribers!
Great Video to watch, get well soon. 😊
I love your vids. Your Bard vid is my goto setup!
Thanks so much!
Shadowheart was weak as hell before I respec her to tempest.
Astarion is the most useful until the fight starts.
And for tank/warrior I went Karlach over LaeZel solely for personality traits
thanks for you work man! and please, make a build for karlach and halsim 😀
And Minthara too, please. Thanks for putting these out.
Hey, thanks so much for the support! :D I'll definitely do fixes for them when they show up in this playthrough. There's also several full build guides for each on the channel already if you haven't seen those yet!
Just wanna note for wyll that pact of the chain means you have an invisible scout that is absolutely excellent at starting a battle for the first few levels.
Invisible, go up to enemy, weak if possible, then attack, enemies will be surprised and locked into combat. Sneak and move up with the rest of the party, one by one and pick your targets. Chain pets also get extra attack soon and the imp has fly and poison for extra dmg.
This is of course very strong in honor mode since you can even take a turn and let enemies run towards the imp for grouping and such too.
You can get a ritual spell for "Shovel" in the blighted village & gale can learn it & permanently have it. Pact of Blade is my favorite for wyll, any weapon that you bind to, you get proficiency in so there's more versatility because he can be effective with any weapon in the game & after I use up my spell slots I'm not limited to Eldrich Blast
@@nosnibormailliw5122 I made a party with Bardlock, Sorlock, and Lockadin for interesting utility but I just ended up EBing everything
@@nosnibormailliw5122
And if you have Gale summon Shovel, then talk to her outside the mirror door, then talk to her inside the door, she will use the term "spellshite" and your main (provided they're a Wizard, Warlock, or Sorcerer) will gain the class ability to summon Shovel (apparently you can't change her name for this to work) so you can have two Shovels running around.
Also a Duergar main and Kree the Duergar hireling give you racial invisibility on two characters at level 5.
@@freman007 I didn't see any duergar hirelings lol
Only person to properly rate Tempest Cleric. Thank you
Could you so this for the other companions as well please?
This was a great video!
What has worked quite well for me is playing a Duergar draconic bloodline sorcerer. As a level 5 duergar you can always become invisible for free which lasts until your next long rest and as a sorcerer you can be the face of the party, you get access to misty step so during a bad combat you can just teleport away and then become invisble, you also get access to magic missile which is incredible. The subclass then gives you natural armor 13 + dex, and basically the though feat. I also recommend the gold ancestry as it gives you disguise self helping you through social encouters and the bonus to fire damage spells at level 6 is also great especially for firebolt and scorching ray (yes each ray gets a bonus equal to your charisma). During act 2 you can also get the potent robe from Alfira which then allows you to add your charisma to the firebolt cantrip a second time plus your AC gets raised by one and at the start of your turn you get temporary hp. Picking up the elemental adept: fire feat also helps you overcoming resistances.
As for the rest of the party I use Astarion as a seondary damage dealer and Shadowheart as support similarly to the ones in this video. The last member is Lae'zel with sentinel and in the future polearm master as she will take a big part in battlefield control. Also I'm not 100% sure but I might take Gale with me during the end in case exploding is a viable option.
Spoiler Alert for Gale’s backstory/the reason he eats artefacts. When he goes nova he wipes the entire party, ending the game.
Just a small note on Expeditious Retreat, it doesn't help you escape a fight. Your dash distance doesn't change. It just gives you the ability to dash with a bonus action. It's good in combat for in and out tactics, like run out from a corner, blast, and run back, but for flat out retreating, Long Strider is the most important for early game.
You can also use it for blast and kite strats, making sure they have to dash at you to get close, and you can blast and run away each turn, so they can never hit you.
you can dash as both an action and a bonus action though, iirc, to triple your movement speed that turn.
@@deffdefying4803 No, I don't think in core rules, but definitely not in Balder's Gate. The dash action is treated as a buff, or a state, that's either on or off. The spell, Expeditious retreat, just changes what action can be used to give you that state.
@@RadishAcceptable Just double checked with Sage Advice. You 100% can Dash with both actions as long as you have something that lets you Dash as a bonus action. That's the point of Cunning Action, Step of the Wind, and _expeditious retreat._
And I've just tested _expeditious retreat_ in an unmodded BG3, the same is the case there.
Dash increases your speed for that turn by an amount equal to your base speed plus modifiers. The action description does not state a maximum number of times you can do this except implicitly through the number of actions you can take.
@@deffdefying4803 Well damn, I stand corrected then. I could have sworn I tested this myself when the game released. My bad!
Reminder: Hirelings can give your entire team Longstrider
Solid advice here. Should cerdit Treantmonk for the definition of Hex+EB on an aginising blast warlock as the baseline damage.
Your point of using the darkness as a safe base for the rest of the party is exactly why the darkness + devil's sight build is valid all the way (contrary to the tabletop where you'd need some familiar shenanigans to move the darkness around). Repelling blast is still in the race though, and it's a tough choice between the two if the build only has two levels of warlock.
Right on point with the Light cleric, adding that there is very good gear support for it as well for a specific build.
For the generic wizard Divination trumps all as in tabletop. Here the higher number of characters on the battlefield make evocation a bit more viable, so I'd still recommend it as the second option, while agreeing that an abjuration specific build slays.
Treantmonk! There's a name I haven't heard since Gleemax. Glad to know they're still doing charop!
Thanks very much! Glad you enjoyed the video
I would very much recommend enhance ability for shadowheart, you cast it once and can swap the ability used as the moment demands, free advantage on any check you want
Enchantment wizards are also really strong in act 3 since they can cast Dance on 2 targets, and I assume it is still irresistible on the 1st round even in honour mode.
I gave Astarian wisdom and dex and made him a rogue/monk build since they are really awesome.
My honour mode starting party(up to lvl 5-6):
1. Tav as a face caster class with CHA(warlock, sorcerer)
2. Laezel as Eldrich knight - shield, magic missiles, crow(that gives advantage on strikes), bond weapon(that obliterates Grym with trowing hammers at him), magic cantrips. Battle master? No, thank you.
3. Shart as life cleric(the amount of heal at starting lvls is absurd). Give her Hellrider's Pride and The Whispering Promise(bless and blade ward on heals) and the mode is not hard anymore. Later on she is a light(act 2) and tempest(act 3)
4. Astarion is a thief up to lvl 4. Then a ranger beastmaster(sharpshooter of course) with a spider. Lvl 6 - bard.
I actually spec shadowheart as life domain and stripped off sacred flame in favour of resistance, taumaturgy and produce flame. I like having taumaturgy and resistance for some dialog options later and i always wanted to try produce flame zD. I plan to spec shadowheart as lore bard 10 - life cleric 2 later, so i'll respec her at level 7 in life1 and bard 6 to still gain spirit guardians and also haste :P
PS: Actually i have an episode to share with Gale using Ray of frost ... I was going to chase Anders and his crew to get some easy XP ( well to me it's normally an easy fight! ) so i went for the house, started by robbing the lady upstairs as usual and .... got cought in the act ... my bad ok reload time! oops i'm in Honor Mode, not allowed :( Anders come out and smash astarion in 1 hit then the pther guy come out and smasgh lae'zel in 1 hit ( WTF! ) so i flee with Shadowheart and Gale to ... well regroup and start properly but lae'zel and astarion both stabilized and the AI refusing to kill them was a problem. Then i went back in with Shadowheart and Gale and i was able to take all 3 with ray of frost and a normal crossbow while making them dash all the way around the House (Fire Bolt don't do a lot of damage to them ... who knows why? xD) and i was also out of spells slots for the day on both Gale and Shadowheart ... After that i was pretty proud of myself :)
PPS: I actually went as evocation wizard on Gale! I wanted to try it xD
Ha ha oh fuck…ha ha ha. EPIC story! Glad you got out alive and thanks for sharing.
I love this....and i'm using these honour mode builds to get my golden dice...
Some quick notes about gale and mage armor. Mage armor may be worth picking up early on if you aren't doing a light/tempest cleric dip on him for medium armor because the best act one light armor is the +1 padded (13 ac+ dex which equals mage armor) which is only available to buy once you reach level 5. so scribe a scroll or respec to remove it later. If you're doing camp-casting having a companion/hireling who can cast mage armor on all your summons is a very big increase to their survivability.
Thanks, really helpful.
I think that Pact of the Chain is pretty handily the best Warlock subclass, just because of how valuable your imp is. By having your imp go invisible, you can have it start combats and enemies will always be surprised (surprise procs if you start combat by attacking an enemy outside of their line of sight). Assuming that there aren't any enemies around who can't be surprised (e.g. Auntie Ethel), you're guaranteed to get a free round of combat for your whole party, which is of absolutely incredible value. When you pair that with an Assassin, you get two free massive crits that are perfect for trimming enemy numbers or for chunking a boss down to low, or even dead with a little luck. Tome's free haste is probably better for attrition battles like Raphael, but for fights where enemies don't have a huge amount of HP, I'd say that the free round can't be beat.
Making Shart a light domain cleric is just hilarious, considering she worships the goddess of darkness
Really helpful video
Odd numbered stat values are useful for future growth of a character, a single point increase on an odd numbered stat represents a +1 to the modifier
Lae'zel, Eldritch Knight thrower, Ring of Flinging, Hunter's Shortbow (as stat stick) and Dragon's Grasp.
Shadowheart, Life Domain Cleric.
Astarion, Thief Rogue.
Gale, Divination Wizard for the portents.
Karlach, Wild Heart Barbarian, for resistance to everything.
Wyll, Fiend Bladelock.
Main, Duergar Guild Artisan. Sword Bard.
Hireling, Brinna Brightsong, Sword Bard, expertise in persuasion and sleight of hand, Shapeshifter's Boon Ring, Smuggler's Ring Gloves of Power/Thievery, Hide Armor +1, Silver Pendent. At level 4 take the Actor feat to give expertise in Performance and Deception.
She's the party face and the primary thief.
To get the Shapeshifter's Boon Ring without killing the Strange Ox, have a character with Mage Hand send it to attack the Ox while your party hides in the prison area. After the hand is dead have the character go up and talk to the Ox. He'll open a trading screen so you can give him gold to improve his opinion of you, but his ring is right there and you can buy it for about 200 gold.
Ugh THANK YOU!! I've been searching for over a week for a companion build guide that isn't heavily reliant on gear to bring them online. A- in HM I want my own gear to take priority so if two companions both need the same pieces it's a problem, and B- It's HM sometimes stuff ups happen and maybe I accidentally got two NPC's killed that break most gear based builds before Act 3 *sorry Dammon and the the entire Zentarim gang* 👀😬🤣
first off all the build channel i saw your is probably the best and i watched alot (every time i want to build something i look at youtube to get inspired)
but here is one thing, you say how imporant it is to pass checks and people have to pick guidence wouldnt enhace ability (=advantage) not equal imporant? you do know you can cast it like guidence on a check right?
Just turn shadow heart into shadow-bard and watch all your problems disappear.
thanks for this, gonna see how well i go with this guide in honour mode. this is like my 4th attempt at it lol
Glad you liked it! I believe in you :D
well that wyll bugged spoiler got me, you in fact did forget to cut it out 😭
Shoot I see this was only posted a couple weeks ago. Hope your COVID recovery went well !
Thanks! Yes, we're doing well - still taking it easy on my voice but mostly back to normal. It's been really bad this winter though - stay safe out there!
Damn, that sucks about the COVID. I hope it's mild and passes quickly for you. Thank you for still putting out this video.
Thanks very much! So far I've been very lucky
I respec'd Shadowheart into war domain and I don't regret it, she's a beast now.
Light domain cleric of Shar is not something I was expecting to see. Also I suspect Shadowheart initially had that 12 CHA because of her backstory.
Something I like to do with Shart before I have access to Withers, just so she doesn't feel useless, is multiclass her into druid. Her beginning stat spread leaves her physical dpr severly lacking and, despite having 17 wisdom at the start, her opponents can saving throw against her spells. That's where Druid comes in. You have access to the cast flame cantrip and the ice knife spell for ranged damage, and you'll have access to shillelagh for melee damage once you get a torch or quarterstaff. Keep in mind, this only to last you until you unlock Withers and respecs.
Agree mostly with these except that you can chug elixir of hill giant str after each long rest and invest in other stats
I did like the whole grove quest line before going into the ruins and Withers just like showed up. I’m playing blind so my reaction was just “Well… this is new.”
With the difficulty curve in Honor Mode, I'm finding a lot of success leaning into first round Nova; deleting the priority target before they can take any actions. To that end I've swapped my Support slot (cleric) with a second Gloomstalker (shart + asterion) and it feels really good. I suggest giving it a try.
How do you build the gloomstalkers? And also with a rogue or fighter dip?
@@noamto ya I went pure Gloom till 5 then worked towards rogue. They compete for gear somewhat but you can go Assassin-Bow and Theif-2xbow to diversify them somewhat. I'm also looking at 2xbow Swords Bard as they are really strong starting at 6, but its a work in progress.
Fighter dip to 2 is really strong for Action surge, especially on the Assassin in Honor, but then you are stuck resting after every important encounter and it changes the group dynamic; almost requiring a Bard for SOR. Either way I would get G5 then 1 point in rogue before going fighter 2, so its somewhat late-game.
That sounds pretty nice, although I do want to do a melee 2 weapon fighting build (for tactician, not honour) even though I know archery is stronger @@bobnewkirk7003
which encounter protection from good and evil is useful for?
What a guy, this is great
I always liked the War Domain for a cleric. Keeps them front line capable and offers extra attacks.
I like war domain's channel divinity the most (giving allies +10 on attack roll) as a reaction. Easily one of the most useful usage of the channel points. However, the stat spread requirement of keeping war domain useful in terms of utilizing the extra attack is meh
@@welkingunther4298 yeah. Have to sacrifice con and dex to keep str higher
@@fabregas115 not the most ideal but can be worked around as multi classing at least one level into monk and using a simple weapon, like a spear.
Monks allow dex rolls for simple weapons as level one. And you have 14 dex for bonus AC in medium armor anyway. But of a waste to not use the heavy armor proficiency from war cleric but for one level it's not a bad sacrifice.
If you want the rest of the level to 4 to get some defense and movement and a feat isn't a bad deal.
@@welkingunther4298 Wait, you don't need a specific stat spread to use war priest charges do you? I just equip war domain shart with a scimitar, shortsword or rapier and am able to use the war priest extra attack just fine when building for dex, con and wis.
But you didn't finish the assassin build and when I look at your other vid it tells me differently to start building as a ranger not assassin first then switch to assassin. So which is it?
Shart needs to back that dumper up on me and heal like a truck: Life 2/Pally of Ancients 1. Bard 2 later for extra short rest and so she can play in the band
Gale: I did the Abjurer/Sorc 1 White Dragon for AoA and can never go back. Lock 1 is an alternate because you get AoA and (weak) EB. Your invincible tank wizard is a game changer
If you're doing Light Domain Cleric for shadowheart I recommend Produce Flame strongly over Sacred Flame.
Attack roll Cantrips are much more likely to hit early game, and without Int Shadowheart's Firebolt Cantrip is pretty much useless. (No idea why they didn't give her Mage Hand or something better)
The Channel Divinity from Light Domain can deal your Radiant Damage instead and quite a lot more than you'd get from 2-3 turns of casting Sacred Flame. But you could pick it up later as your 4th cantrip.
i wonder, does great weapon fighting apply to thrown weapons too?
Bro it's not an issue if you mess up respec'ing a character because you can simply pickpocket Withers for free and he doesn't care about it or aggro even if you fail meaning you can respec for free. For best result pickpocket him every time right after the respec so that the gold that withers is holding doesn't get too high which would make the check you need to clear higher until you need a Nat 20 roll. Either way respecing is basically free. Enjoy.
Wouldn't it be better to take Shadowheart's Constitution to 15 instead of 16? You're going to want the Resilient-Constitution feat as a Cleric, and leaving it at 15 means it becomes 16 at Level 4 with the feat vs 17.
You don't need resilient on clerics. If you plan on respeccing later on, you can get proficiency CON through sorc 1, which also gives you shield, the best lv 1 spell in the game for a front-liner. And if you feel like you need concentration checks asap, it's better to get war caster. Advantage > proficiency, especially early on since proficiency CON scales with level.
Also, if we're minmaxing, 14 CON is more than enough while having 16 DEX is a way bigger boost early game, especially when you're not even lv 4 yet. Having 14 Dex against the gith patrol and the rest is a death sentence. 16 DEX gives you a chance to act first and also ensure acting first for the earlier parts of act 1. 16 CON vs 14 CON would only give you 3 more hp and +1 saving throw at lv 3 as well. Not worth compared to 16 DEX
I don't know if you read comments anymore with the video being older, but as a new viewer could you explain why things aren't as good later on in the game? You mentioned with shadowheart that life isn't as good end game compared to tempest and light, but didn't elaborate why. Does it have to do with the gear problem you said a few seconds prior? I thought cleric was weak, because healing overall in these games is weak (like DoSII if you ever played that) since you can never get meaningful healing numbers compared to the damage you're taking. So it would be better to smash them before you turn into a pancake yourself, but you said it's a good class. Is it because of the buffs or utility you get that make a difference for honour mode specifically? I beat DoSII on honour mode, but I went full damage.
Other than that, thanks for the video. I liked the in-depth takes you had
The only reason to start a stat in an odd number is if you intend on adding points that stat. You only need a +1 for the next even tier.
Precision Attack seems kinda weird when Feint Attack is right there, i know it takes a bonus action but having adv is mathematically superior to just 1d8 extra, plus Feint does 1d8 extra damage
you mentioned that you were streaming your honour mode playthrough on twitch? could you link it to me please? I would love to watch your gameplay.
Actually not on twitch but right here on youtube! check the honour mode dark urge warlock playlist on the channel :D
Astarion Druid/Necro… Shadowheart Storm Sorc/Tempest…Gale Enchanter 12 Wiz…Me 5 GS 4Ass 3BM.
That's exactly what I needed. Please do Karlach. Also, I assume you don't kill Astarion when he does his thing in camp (he annoys the crap out of me, so I always end our relationship right then - I suppose I'll hang onto him for the next playthrough.)
Also:
I'd like to watch the rest of that honor mode playthrough. will be watching that livestream shortly.
I would also love to see a video on the mechanics behind lightning charges, force charges, etc., and if those items are even worth the effort.
Are there like level by guides for further into the game?
I have dozens of level-by-level guides for whatever builds you're looking to make ;)
What is your suggested stat spread for a fixed Karlach?
Check the next video in the series :D
Is Karlach complete as she is? She is not in this video, therefor I wonder.
12:50 i have a simmilar saying its Sad to be mad and mad to be sad
Oh a D4 viewer
Can you not pickpocket withers in honor mode?
what about putting the starting points at an odd number for the feats? :)
You certainly can if you know there's a feat you're going to take! You can also respec into an odd number when you hit level 4 - that will give you more power for this level.
You can just pickpocket Withers for the respc gold. He doesn't care if you steal it back and he won't do anything if you get caught.
Is Withers limited in honour mode?
I think evocation is really strong. Maybe it is a crutch, but there aren't a lot of other good AoE sources until you unlock Hunger for Warlock, and because Gale has low initiative it makes it extremely difficult to position your party properly.
Ray of frost is prob better than fire bolt as a damage cantrip, the ability to double its dmg pretty easy and freeze surfaces/slow enemy speed is awesome. Friends its pretty good too (Only use in encounters that you will have to fight if you fail the dialogue)
Here is a tip you can always pickpocket Withers to get your gold back.
I became skeptical the moment I noticed you didn't mention Life Domain for Shadowheart. Having a dedicated healer is immensely handy. However, I freely admit I have zero honour mode experience and so maybe things work differently there such as relying more exclusively on potions.
Although...I feel like if not looking at her as a healer, then Shadowheart could easily be switched out for someone else. Maybe even one of the druids (yes, I know that comes later.) I just know on my regular difficulty playthroughs I switch her to Life Domain and never look back. Mass AOE burst heals are immensely handy.
4:30... Light domain on a Cleric of Shar? Err... nope.
It's everyone's own decision of course, but my usual route for SH is Life early, then Light. Haven't tried Tempest yet, but I might do so on my next run.
She did save my (still ongoing) Honour-run at least twice so far ... because I had respecced her to Life. I'm now in Act III, she's changed her hair and now she's a Light-Cleric. I'm kinda, sorta tempted to try Tempest with her even now, but I'm not sure I should be experimenting on an Honour-run.. :)
Sadly, Life domain on a Sharran cleric is also not very lore-friendly (Shar's domains are Trickery and Death) :|
Thanks, I didn't know you can reset the class by using change class
The game doesn't make it obvious!
Evocation Wizards gets MUCH MUCH more than just being able to safely use AoE spells. They get huge damage increase on their Evocation spells like Magic Missile and Cantrips.
🤓you can pickpocket Withers for your gold back and he won't care. But kinda defeats the challenge of carefully doing things without exploits in honor mode :p
Also, I almost always go for 16 DEX, especially early on, to ensure acting first in early act 1. And having low initiative against the githyanki is most certainly a death sentence relative to having more initiative.
agh i really wish this included halsin and minthara, i just got minthara in my tactician playthrough and im having trouble understanding how paladin works
nevermind he has a video on it LOL
Ice knife is a trap spell guys. Take chromatic orb instead.