Necromancer - Full Wizard Build | Baldur's Gate 3

[@SleepingDog.]

Your weapon of choice for the first act is Melf's First Staff combined with the Spellsparkler, Phalar Aluve or even the Knife of the Undermountain King for more crit chance. The Staff of Arcane Blessing doesn't work with the bless from the Whispering Promise Ring, so it's not a valid option.

[@user-tb6ji7lx3m]

The solo series inspired me to start a new run as necromancer and it was extremely fun. Thank you!

[@isabellawolgoth9447]

1. We like similar character appearances. 2. I suspect we have much in common in music tastes. 3. You make outstanding builds. Thank you.

[@Shiresquad]

Wasted almost 3 hours trying to look like your character just to figure out I can't. Neat.

[@kauliou8310]

Ur comment is how I found out I can't I was on hour 2

[@blackcat2983]

I wish you made this sooner,I watched somebody else when making mine and I've been considerably weak and disappointed and tweaking it to work. This makes me want to play Necromancer in HM just to play your build.

[@kirbyfanta]

I really wanted a cool necromancer guide for a Bride/Husband of Dracula(A.Astarion) run, so happy i found it !

[@tlucnlf]

Thanks for the video man, love your gudies. ❤

[@joshuamaher614]

Its the accent for me. I would listen to your audio books all day

[@joshforthsorare7871]

Just found your channel and finished the solo Necro series and this vid. Superb content. Bravo ser.

[@aethewulf4787]

Wait this music is Yorick theme,took me time :D awesome video

[@Necrosaint]

Very cool looking character and good thematic build.

[@mattheusspoo]

one interesting thing you can do, if you don't want to spend anything to summon your zombies: with the free necromancy spell from life essence harvest, you can summon your level 6 mummy, or casting a level 6 animate dead (for 4 flying ghouls). This can also be useful for many stuff. Like, many spells i didn't realized, were actually from necromancy school. like revivify, and false life. If you finished a fight and have a extra cast for a free necromancy spell, you can just upcast a free level 6 false life for a 32 shield on any character you want, or ressurrect a dead party member. You can use it on bestow curse to make enemies have disavantage on the saving throw of your choice (usually wisdom for hold person), you can use it on contagion, considering you have advantage on applying the disiases, you can use on eyebite for the same reason (high spell save dc + advantage on necromancy spells), making this build also a insanely powerful debuffer, not only a damage dealer.

[@rusevii7168]

I'd love to see a character customization guide for her she looks dope🔥

[@SleepingDog.]

I probably won’t do one, sorry. But I can tell you this: The Skin color I used on her is either Ice 1 or Lichen 1. Don’t let the profile picture fool you, the grey background she gets from being a drow lets her skin color appear more white than it actually is. The tattoo I used is the “From the Deep” tattoo, you should be able to find this tattoo on the fourth row from left, in the seventh slot when you start to scroll down. Assuming you don't have any extra tattoo mods installed. And last but not least I used Vemperen's Other Heads or Faces of Faerun (can't remember which one) for her head preset. Hopefully this helps a bit. Vemperen's Other Heads - www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/2226 Faces of Faerun - www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/429

[@captainbucket983]

@@SleepingDog.what dye did you use on the robes they looked dope

[@SleepingDog.]

@@captainbucket983 In Act 1 and 2 I used the Aether's Black Dye mod. www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/1177 And in the last Act I used the standard Black and White Dye.

[@August_val]

I would love to see it too

[@coldt8700]

Starkes Video Meister!

[@JJ-Okay]

Danke, dass du dir die Zeit nimmst den geilen Build zu erklären! Bin aktuell in einem Honour Run Act 2 mit einer 4er Party -nach dem Video aber richtig Bock einen eigenen Necro Run zu starten! Welche 4er Party du für nen Evil Durge nehmen würdest wurde ja unten zum Glück schon beantwortet

[@JohnGu-k4v]

Love the video! Great content! I was wondering if you could make a Enchantment Wizard CC build?

[@engamohd]

I love this build! It is really satisfying. If you are going to pick some elemental damage for AoE to go with the theme, would you choose fire or ice? Also, how did you deal with your companions in a solo run, especially as an evil durge?

[@evthemev]

You can kill/ignore partners if you want a challenge. Some people recruit them just for camp buffs but a lot of challenge runs won't.

[@engamohd]

@@evthemev I usually ignore/kill them. But in the OP's run video (which is a great watch btw, did an evil durge solo run), I saw Shadowheart in camp at Act 2, and was downed after he fought Halsin in camp, so I was wondering how he dealt with his companions, especially Shadowheart.

[@SleepingDog.]

If I would take some elemental damage I would pick ice, because I think ice/cold damage fits better to the necromancer theme. Though to be fair fire has the better spells. For the companions I mostly ignore them, but I do recruit them all since you get a bit of exp for recruiting them. Sometimes I do their quests to trigger certain events. for example I did Jaheira's quest to save Minsc, just for the cutscene in front of Bhaal's temple. For Shadowheart I probably just picked her up after I killed Halsin in my camp. If you don't want to lose Shadowheart in your solo run, you just have to talk to her and get her up to 35 opinion. This should be enough to take her to Nightsong and she won't kill her on her own.

[@engamohd]

@@SleepingDog. Thank you! And thank you for making these great vids, keep them coming 👏🏼

[@rileys3490]

Are you using any character preset / creation mods? what skin tone and face are you using for her. The look is really cool.

[@SleepingDog.]

I used Vemperen's Other Heads or Faces of Faerun (can't remember which one) for her head preset, but that's it. Her skin tone is either Ice 1 or Lichen 1. Vemperen's Other Heads - www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/2226 Faces of Faerun - www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/429

[@themonkeyking5]

Where did you get the black dye for the clothes? I can't find it.

[@SleepingDog.]

The black dye I'm using is from a mod called Aether's Black Dye. Aether's Black Dye - www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/1177

[@themonkeyking5]

​@@SleepingDog. Thanks

[@Wotansfogal]

Every time I use the cloud of daggers on a group they just immediatly heal back to full health and move. Why is it not working??

[@_minhan9191]

how did the non combat stuff of your solo run went though, seeing as this is a int character and no guidance to help you through ur char checks

[@evthemev]

There is a necklace at the start of the game that gives guidance! Very useful for solo runs

[@SleepingDog.]

Yes, it's called Silver Pendant.

[@aero0812]

Awesome guide! I am on a Spore Druid playthrough and I am just wondering if I can do Druid11/Wizard 1 for a more minion focused build. But also can learn the Necromancy spells and somewhat replicate what you are doing here?

[@SleepingDog.]

You can, but you will do less damage with the ghoul explosion, since without the Undead Thralls: Additional Undead ability you will only be able to summon 4 ghouls, instead of the 5 you see here. I don't know if the explosion itself will also deal less damage without the Undead Thralls: Better Summons passive feature. I don't think so, but can't say for sure, since it's a hidden ability. One thing you should keep in mind though is that the spells you learn from scrolls via your wizard class will count as wizard spells and therefore scale with our intelligence and not your wisdom, so you will have a lower hit chance with these spells.

[@faust8681]

Great guides. No mention of teh Ilithid use though, what did you choose(if anything).

[@SleepingDog.]

I don't use Illithid Powers, that's why you will not see me talking about them in any of my guides. But, if you want to use them I would go for Favourable Beginnings into Cull the Weak. Luck of the Far Realms also can be good in the early game if you have enough parasities for it. For the elite powers you would want to get Mind Sanctuary, Freecast, Black Hole and Psionic Dominance. Other than that you would want to get Mind Blast and Fly, but I believe you get them for free if you become half illithid? Not sure, it's a long time ago since I last used Illithid Powers.

[@GentleBreeze-72]

I just recently did some wizardly fuckery and i gotta say. Necromancers are broken i want to try them. Also yeah, melf's first staff carries you through act 1and2 easy through that + to DC and hit. Love the build. Question. What is the reason behind not using the Necromancy staff from carrion with the Vampriric staff from cazador? It would give lots of sustain combined with your 2nd level feature would be a lot of heals. Are they redundant?

[@SleepingDog.]

I find the heal you get from the necromancy subclass to be enough, since you are a backliner. So preferably you don't want to get hit too much anyway, but instead let your summons take the damage for you. But more important, if you use the Woe you lose access to Arcane Battery, which means you are going to cast one level 6 spell less. And being able to cast one more level 6 spell (or a level 6 upcast) can make a big difference in the outcome of some tougher fights.

[@GentleBreeze-72]

@@SleepingDog. Gotcha. Thanks!! (I love wizards)

[@ShivaMurary]

I like how your character looks and fits the theme. I hate it when people make necromancers and dark urge look like butterflies and barbie dolls.

[@MayHugger]

You hate how other people enjoy making their characters look? That’s really weird.

[@ShivaMurary]

@@MayHugger Yep I hate how you pointed out the obvious essence of my statement as well

[@dj44640]

nice build indeed i dont think you need to necessarily go necro school though as wizards can lean any spell - i d deffo dive into warlock for thematic Hadar spells

[@SleepingDog.]

No not necessarily, but if don't take the necromancy school your summons will be a lot weaker and at least in the early game you need them to keep you alive. The Hadar spells can be a very nice addition to this build, but don't forget that your warlock spells scale with charisma and not intelligence. So your success chances will be a bit lower with these spell than with you intelligence based necromancy spells. You probably would want to put your remaining ability points into charisma and not wisdom, if you want to do that.

[@masterd_flabz7043]

At level 12 you can pick any spell you want, so I guess you can take magic missile I guess...

[@TheBeardyGamer]

Hi man, great guide with lots of info. I was wondering if you are using any mods? That dye you have on your robes seems not to be base game correct?

[@SleepingDog.]

These are the mods I used in this run: Vemperen's Other Heads - www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/2226 Faces of Faerun - www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/429 Tav's Hair Salon - www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/213 New Shadowheart Hair - www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/2524 Assassin's Outfit - www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/954 The specific mod you are looking for is the Aether's Black Dye mod. This mod spawns Black Dye into the Cartilaginous Chest, in the room next to Shadowheart's spawn location on the Nautiloid during the intro. Traders will also sell this dye once you activated this mod, so you don't have to start a new run to use it. Aether's Black Dye - www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/1177

[@soldier9348]

I recognised the music and was confused. Swearing it was what i thought. Yorick gives me ptsd as if i was an American

[@thomasrosendahl2783]

Is it worth it to take 1 dip in Draconic Sorcerer for Constitution saving throws and Armour of Agathys? Or also a Tempest Cleric dip for Guidance and thunder + lightning damage reactions? Or is it better to just go full 12 levels in Necromancer Wizard?

[@SleepingDog.]

Just taking a level in sorcerer won't give you proficiency in constitution saving throws, because only your starting class determines in which two attributes you have proficiency in. And unless you are planning to respec I would not recommend to start as a sorcerer. Armour of Agathys is also not really worth it, because False Life will give you more temporary HP and the ice damage it deals will rarely come into play since you are backline character that preferably always hides behind his undead thralls. And at the end of this run (last act) you even get the Tharchiate Vigour condition, so you don't even need a spell that gives you temporary HP. For the cleric you don't need to take Guidance, because in the first act there is an amulet (Silver Pendant) that gives you the ability to cast Guidance, so you can just equip this amulet whenever you need this cantrip. As for the Wrath of the Storm reaction, I'm not 100% sure if it only hits melee or if it also can hit on range. If its only melee its definitely not worth it for the same reasons as before, because you are a backline character. If it also hit on range you could technically take this as the cleric class also gives you sanctuary, which is an amazing spell. For the reaction itself though I think its still better to use reactions that prevent you from taking any damage. The only time I see this reaction to be worth using over, for example shield, is when it kills the attacker. Overall I would say you can do this, but I don't think it's worth it. Especially, because losing 1 wizard level means your undead thralls will have less HP (Undead Thralls: Better Summons), sure it's not much and a difference you will only notice in the early game, but still worth mentioning. Either way taking one of these two dips will not make your build weaker in a noticeably way, so if you want to have one the benefits these classes give you, go for it.

[@Newt3D]

Hey so i was just wondering, is there a point in having two different staffs in your build if you're only going to use one? I was thinking about the Markoheshkir staff and was wondering if you can use wield both of the cherished necromancer staff and the Markoheshkir, is that a viable option?

[@SleepingDog.]

That's exactly what I'm doing. I'm also using both of their abilities. As for your other question, you always should dual wield. Even if you don't use both abilities of your weapons you will still get the passive buffs from them and this alone makes it worth it.

[@Newt3D]

@@SleepingDog. Oh i get it, thanks! Just one thing, do you use the dual wielding feat? Because i can't do it in my game, only one at a time. Do you get the passive buff just from having it on the inventory?

[@SleepingDog.]

@@Newt3D I use the dual wielder feat, it's the first feat I take. You don't get the buff by just having it in your inventory you need to have it equipped in one of your weapon slots, which is why the dual wielder feat is mandatory.

[@Newt3D]

@@SleepingDog. Oh, i get it, thanks. One last thing, how did you manage to get 3+ actions? I tried using Haste spell and then drinking a potion but it just overrules the effect, not adding the extra action i thought it would. Could this only be achieved by drinking two potions or am i missing something? Shout out for actually answering my questions, i really appreaciate it!

[@SleepingDog.]

@@Newt3D You get 3 actions by combining Haste with the Elixir of Bloodlust after you killed an enemy. You can't use the Haste spell and the Potion of Speed at the same time because it's the same effect, they just have a different duration.

[@mikeshamoun3720]

What skin color, eye color, and hair style did you use?!

[@SleepingDog.]

The Skin color I used on her is either Ice 1 or Lichen 1. Don’t let the profile picture fool you, the grey background she gets from being a drow lets her skin color appear more white than it actually is. Her eye color is Flame White. The hair style is the Trobairitz Knot. The tattoo is the From the Deep tattoo. And last but not least I used Vemperen's Other Heads or Faces of Faerun (can't remember which one) for her head preset. Also, all these options, except the head preset, are from the standard game. Hopefully this helps a bit. Vemperen's Other Heads - www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/2226 Faces of Faerun - www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/429

[@capunderdog]

can i go 10 wizard and 2 paladin (to break an outh for more role playing) or it's not worth it?

[@SleepingDog.]

You can the build would still work. However from a minmax perspective it's not worth doing this, because you intentionally making the build weaker. But if you enjoy the game more by adding a bit of role playing you should definitely do it. As said you're not going to destroy the build by doing this, you're just going to be a bit weaker.

[@capunderdog]

@@SleepingDog. thank you!

[@BluuxP0]

The question is.. how do you play solo? I mean it’s gonna be so hard

[@SleepingDog.]

It's just experience and game knowledge. Over time it then becomes easier and easier to pull off solo or challenge runs in RPG games.

[@ErzaMan14]

what mods did you use to make your characters appearance?

[@SleepingDog.]

I used Vemperen's Other Heads or Faces of Faerun (can't remember which one) for the head preset. Though, if I had to guess it's probably a Vemperen one. Vemperen's Other Heads - www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/2226 Faces of Faerun - www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/429

[@ErzaMan14]

@@SleepingDog.thanks for the response! 🎉

[@luisdunfordgavira]

Awesome build, enjoying my playthrough with it so far!! What ilithid powers would you recommend to take with this build if any?

[@SleepingDog.]

Start with Favourable Beginnings and Luck of the Far Realms. Both are very useful in the early game as your hit chance is not the best at this point and being able to force a crit with Ray of Sickness can also be very good. After that you want to go for Cull of the Weak. This illithid power goes very well with your aoe attacks, as Cull of the Weak can trigger a chain explosion, if your damage is high enough and your targets are close together. If you also want to go half illithid, the first powers you want to go for are black hole, as this allows you to easily set up some big aoe attacks even when you are already in combat. And Freecast for another free level 6 spell or level 6 upcast once per long rest. Then we have of course Fly and Mind Sanctuary, as these two are just in general very good. And last but not least, Psionic Dominance can also be very good, since your Proficiency Bonus is rather high.

[@DevPollo]

Dude I would like to be able to emulate the same look of your pg, it's too good did you use any mod? could you tell me the settings used to create it? thanks

[@SleepingDog.]

I used Vemperen's Other Heads or Faces of Faerun (can't remember which one) for her head preset, but that's it. As for the settings I used for her I can't tell you much, it's already a long time ago when I created her. What I can tell you is that her Eye Colour is Flame White and her Skin Colour is either Lichen 1 or Ice Tone 1, though because she is a drow her skin color appears a lot more white in the portrait than it actually is because of the grey background. Vemperen's Other Heads - www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/2226 Faces of Faerun - www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/429

[@JulianPrz19]

Hey, how can you use a Longbow with a magician? :)

[@SleepingDog.]

You can use any weapon with any class. Weapon proficiency only determines if you can use the special weapon attacks of a weapon, but not its passive features like for example +3 to your initiative rolls. These passive features apply to any character wielding this weapon, regardless of their proficiency.

[@isaacbillanfante5919]

No circle of bones for the build 🤔

[@SleepingDog.]

No, Circle of Bones is overrated it's way better to just take some gear that increases you Spell Save DC.

[@stephend.c.5048]

The cantrip that for some reason tricks a bunch of hostiles to bunch together is the stupidest spell in the game. I'm sorry NPCs are that stupid they all crowd together in a fireball radius because you made a cat meow sound somewhere?

[@Personal327]

Is this strong in tactician?

[@SleepingDog.]

Of course, why wouldn't it?

[@Personal327]

@@SleepingDog. ok

[@corentinperez5255]

Is honnor mode?

[@SleepingDog.]

Yes

[@Nimoot]

1,000 damage huh? ..... Sure . . . Clickbait makes me block content...

[@blaym4271]

Congrats