The BEST ARCHER in Baldur's Gate 3 - [Updated] Honor Mode Build Guide

[@iRideMB]

L1 - Rogue 8 / 17 / 16 / 8 / 15 / 8 Slight Of Hand - Stealth L2 - Ranger Bounty Hunter Wasteland Wonderer: Fire Survival L3 - Ranger Archery Hunters Mark Ensnaring Strike L4 - Ranger Gloom Stalker Longstrider L5 - Ranger Feat: Sharpshooter L6 - Ranger Spike Growth L7 - Rogue L8 - Rogue Assassin L9 - Rogue Ability Improve: +1 Dex, +1 Wis L10 - Fighter Defense L11 - Fighter L12 - Fighter Battle Master -Disarming -Menacing -Precision Gear Act 1 Gloves of Archery - Goblin Camp: Bought or stolen from Grat the Trader. The Graceful Cloth - Rosymorn Monastery Trail: Bought or stolen from Lady Esther, north-east of the Trielta Crags waypoint Knife of the Undermountain King - Crèche Y'llek: Can be bought or stolen from A'jak'nir Jeera. Strange Conduit Ring - Crèche Y'llek: Inside an elegant chest in the Inquisitor's Chamber Act 2 Cloak Of Protection - Last Light Inn: Bought or stolen from Quartermaster Talli Sentinel Shield - Moonrise Towers: Bought or stolen from Lann Tarv Marksmanship Hat - Moonrise Towers: Bought or stolen from Roah Moonglow on the main floor. Drakethroat Glaive - Moonrise Towers: Bought or stolen from Roah Moonglow on the main floor. Act 3 The Dead Shot - Stormshore Armoury: Sold by Fytz the Firecracker Shade-Slayer Cloak - Guildhall: Sold by Sticky Dondo, next to Mol. Martial Exertion Gloves - Angleiron's Cellar: Bought or stolen from Bumpnagel in a cellar. Helldusk Gloves - House of Hope: Dropped by Haarlep in the Boudoir.

[@Shaiya-Jin]

I love you brother thanks listing the items as well 🙏🏾

[@JoseHerradez]

Hopefully this gets pinned

[@Wownothingelsetodohuh]

you're a fucking hero

[@DanielaDavilaS]

I love youuuuu

[@Adam1984_]

Giving this more engagement to keep it high on the Top Comments. Thank you for this!

[@joerundell8197]

Waiting for patch 7 to release so I can start another honor run and this character will definitely be in my party. Thanks again for the outstanding support and build guides.

[@estebanhelguero669]

I was thinking the same. My 3rd run would be the first in Honor Mode and i Want Astarion in my party

[@kazukomatsu7197]

I’d recommend the Ne’er Misser as the weapon of choice for any archer just because a lot of important enemies are resistant to magical piercing (Steel Watchers, Raphael, Cazador, Myrkul, Balthazar)

[@cold_ay_]

Raphael does’t resist it, and I think Cazador only does in mist form? Just killed both of them yesterday on Honor as an archer bard. I agree that ne’er misser is a nice tech choice to have on hand, especially in Act 2, but once you get stuff like Bhaalist Armor and Bonespike Gloves, piercing from something like the Dead Shot or Gontr Mael is the way to go IMO.

[@lendial]

@@cold_ay_ Yeah its weird how few enemies in the vanilla game actually have physical resistance. Ne'er misser is best in slot if you run mods that make bosses harder though.

[@kazukomatsu7197]

@@cold_ay_ Hmm I guess just the soul pillars resist it 😮

[@feircy]

Would dual hand crossbiws work better as gloomstalker/theif instead of assassin?

[@kazukomatsu7197]

@@feircy I like Ne'er Misser even if you're not dual wielding just because force damage is so good.

[@Spindlyskit]

Worth mentioning that dolor amarus works extremely well with guaranteed critical. You can easily get two and dual wield in an evil playthrough. With craterflesh gloves (damage rider source works in honor) they can add 28 damage per shot without vulnerability or special arrows

[@edwardtherhea6818]

perfect for patch 7 release and my evil run! You're the only reason I got my golden dice on my first try, thanks for always explaining things so well :)

[@renyk4903]

I am so proud of me for having come up with this build on my own!! Had a ranger first playthru and a rogue and I said waaaaaait a minute. then chose BM fighter for the last 4 levels

[@zero11010]

Not having to rest is HUGE! The fighter stuff and a couple of ranger spells are the only real resources this uses. Once you're doing 1 or fewer long rests per level it's amazing how effective the elixirs are.

[@JohnSmith-ez5pw]

Bardadin + this Gloomstalker Assasin build is interesting for a duo run. Open fights with the assasin triggering suprise, run in your bardadin with scoundrel ring / arcane acquity helm and disable the important enemies. Pick off the rest. You get melee DPS, ranged DPS, smites, stealth and spells all in one duo.

[@athytee]

Can confirm, this duo can be very successful, at least it was for me. Did Dex Bardadin so in early game was mostly playing ranged on both.

[@JohnSmith-ez5pw]

​@athytee makes sense to go dex in the tough early levels. Later Act 1 Gloves of Dex on the Bardadin with Str base stat let's you use a 2 hander and bow. Flourishing attack either via the melee cleave or two target ranged. Plus you can get Str to 20 early in Act 2 with Ethel and astarian's Potion. 20 str 18 dex bardadin charging at you is scary stuff. So many options to attack or control

[@Shinesprk]

Bardadin? My brother, the proper term is “Balladin”

[@alexmashkin863]

My solo honour run build was 6/3/3 Fighter/Gloomstalker/Assassin archer with Ethel hair and Graceful Cloth, incredibly powerful. I took Eldritch Knight though for all ritual utility since I wasn't using companions for anything. Also in one of my party runs I played Shadowheart as 5/3/4 Gloomstalker/Assassin/Trickery Cleric. More than once she was initiating and finishing encounters on her own. So that basic combination can't be recommended enough 👍

[@nathanmoreau7077]

Swords bard 10 fighter 2 is a better archer imo

[@alexmashkin863]

@@nathanmoreau7077 Depends how you play it, I played this kind of build too. It's great, but I prefer not to rely on bardic inspirations for my burst damage. It's a matter of playstyle though. Swords Bard is definitely more powerful than any ranger, fighter or rogue or combination of those :-)

[@raff_spriggles_tfn5910]

Tell me more about this shart build please

[@josegarcia593]

what level progression did you choose for your solo honour run?

[@alexmashkin863]

@@raff_spriggles_tfn5910 Not much to tell, started her as a rogue with high wisdom, then 5 ranger levels, then 2 more rogue levels, 4 trickery levels in the end for flavour. Rogue of the party, dex based, stealth scout and devastating combat initiation plus cleric utility later. Roughly appropriate for her lore too :-))

[@andrewklang809]

"If you prefer your prey fresh, Astarion, why are you focusing on ranged attacks?" Astarion: "Darling, one does prefer letting their red breathe a little before the first sip."

[@JoeyIsGaming]

Honestly for classes that go for the greedy attribute spread I would suggest going for even numbers and put the points in what you'd rather do before you get your first ASI. 17 points is basically 16 & 15 is basically 14 until you get the ASI, I would just respec when you know you will take it on that level. That way you can either have better wisdom saves, better carrying weight/jump distance or better dialogue checks at the cost of basically nothing before your 2nd feat. Great build as always😎

[@johanfredriksvendsen8482]

I agree, unless avoiding respeccing for role playing reasons I dont see many compelling reasons to greed it. Possibly if you are really adept at the game and have a solid plan for the early act one events rushing to level 4 with next to no battles and taking the ASI at level 4 I could see it, otherwise it is free and quick to respec at withers. You can even combine it with visiting Ethel for a healthy stack of strength elixirs.

[@vincent4805]

Solid build. I'd make a couple of suggestions. For solo runs, deathstalker mantle from picking dark urge background is amazing for this build. Kill something, go invisible from the cloak, disengage, exit combat, rinse and repeat. Duergar background guarantees surprise round with unlimited invisibility, though using a certain familiar that has invisibility can achieve same result. Surprise round from stealth alone is finnicky, but using invis character up close guarantees it against enemies who are already hostile.

[@chuckchan4127]

Attacking while in turn based mode seems to help guarantee Surprise Rounds.

[@eirh]

Since you did choose the defence fighting style later on, but mostly recommended using cloth armor, I think it's worth to mention that it requires you to wear some piece of light medium or heavy armor for the full bonus. Just meant as a reminder for anyone trying this build (though it's not a big deal if you don't always get the +1AC bonus).

[@Axcito]

Club of the hill giant strength and the titanstring bow, and knife of the undermountain king is the only weapons you'll need in a stealth archer build. I wish you mentioned what you could be doing with hill giant strength club.

[@jmcdowall15]

This is what I use early on in the game. In the later part of the game, I replace the club with bloodthirst dagger from Orin and use gloves of hill giant strength from the house of hope. I also use Serevok's horned helmet along with shade-slayer cloak, and Killers sweetheart ring for more crit chance. You could also add strange conduit ring for extra damage.

[@svrcinamarek]

dont forget the Durge cloak, you dont need AC when your enemies dont know where the damage is coming from :)

[@DBoss1009]

@@jmcdowall15 this is what I used to run but with assassin's guaranteed crits on surprised targets, twin dolor amarus and craterflesh gloves creates enormous burst damage that far outdoes the crit fishing. Also crit fishing seems to be a suboptimal way to get damage and you're almost always better off taking straight damage buffs or CC options if you get the option

[@jmcdowall15]

@DBoss1009 I have a new run-through going, so I'll give this a try.

[@jamenjefferson914]

Probably because you can have more than 20 stolen hill giant strength potions for a plus 5 rather than a plus 5 with club, well before you get into the under dark.

[@timothydog76]

With the release of patch 7 I started my first Dark Urge Solo Honour playthrough yesterday as Duegar. Already had assassin/archer in mind and then you dropped this little gem. The streamer Luality did a Solo Honour run with almost this exact build but she didn't short or long rest or buy from merchants. It was wild! I would love to see some content in the future specifically about what classes are best for Soloing and possibly without rests. Cheers!

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks so much for the support! I really appreciate it :D Solo content is definitely something I'd like to do more of!

[@zero11010]

Love your content. When you speak about halflings you always sell them short (puns!). When most people think about rerolling ones they only think about the usages in combat (that likely isn't you, but it'll be most people who hear it). Rerolling 1s is big in combat to turn critical misses into hits and ALSO into critical hits. It makes a build +0.25% more crit per crit range number. So, crit on 19 or 20 instead of 10% crit chance with any other race, the halfling has 10.5%. Plus it's also rerolling 1s on saving throws meaning you get hit by fewer effects. Out of combat it means you notice more stuff. Not huge, but you're more likely to notice traps and other hidden goodies. You're more likely to succeed on a disarm or a picking locks and pockets. Plus in addition to rerolling 1s the lightfoot halfling has advantage on stealth. For any other race it's 1 in 20 chance of a 1 on a stealth roll (1 in 400 for the deep gnome), and it's like 1 in 1,380 for the lightfoot halfling (thanks ChatGPT). Out of combat this ALSO impacts every single dialog choice in the whole game! All of them. No race in the whole game does as much for out of combat as the halfling. Plus it has all the combat benefits (more attacks per round means you get more benefit out of the reroll 1s). In the pen and paper game it also impacts initiative, but apparently in BG3 they do it differently which is why initiative modifers are SO powerful. Technically it should also impact death saves, but that's pretty rare.

[@Cebollaverde]

Also early game crushers ring fixes their movement speed, then as soon as you can have a camp caster transmutation wizard make a movement speed transmutation stone and give it to them to free up both ring slots

[@zero11010]

@@Cebollaverde Do you find you run into movement speed issues on ranged characters very often? Longstrider certainly helps on everyone! I mostly save things like crusher's ring and the haste helm for melee characters.

[@Cebollaverde]

@@zero11010 not really but people act like the movement speed is such a bad trade off for playing a smol character, I’m just saying it’s easy to offset and the perks are so worth it

[@victor1756]

Exactly this type of build was popularised by many youtubers few months ago, mainly for honor solo runs with Titan string bow and better equipment sections like special rings, even divided by acts. This archer is the best damage dealer in any party. Regarding Astarion Cephalopocalypse forgot to tell that Astarion gets happy bonus (for better attack hit chance) and much later can have Necrotic 1d10 Damage from his story event. Otherwise Astarion is not special comparing to characters with more speed movement (1/2 wood elf).

[@adamskeans2515]

when you consider all the damage riders you can pile on an attack, wouldn't dual wielding hand crossbows be better?

[@fishyboy2140]

@@adamskeans2515titanstring adds ur str mod (+5 in act 1 with elixir and +4 with club if ur gonna be using bloodlust.) and it lets you use your special arrows more often (arrow of many targets with damage riders is insane, especially when u use lotfr for the free crit). Hand crossbows are good if you don’t need your bonus action but with some builds the bonus action has good uses for other things. Like if you cast enhance leap before combat you can jump around and never get caught lacking. Different weapon types for different builds.

[@adamskeans2515]

@@fishyboy2140 you can't use special arrows with hand crossbows?

[@fishyboy2140]

@@adamskeans2515 you can it’s just better with titanstring or other long bows since they have higher base damage. Plus the titanstring gets the str modifier.

[@adamskeans2515]

@@fishyboy2140 my question though, was, is the STR modifier enough to overcome the fact, that with an extra attack, you get not only the damage from the attack, but also, an extra 2 from the caustic ring, 1d6 from the quarry's mark, fire damage from flawed helldusk gloves, etc., etc., etc. I don't it's more.

[@gwen-lily]

I love this one. Very quickly when getting into bg3 we came across this and it came to be known offhand as "perfect class". nobody needed to specify, we all knew what was meant. Eventually we liked messing around with it, and also it led to a funny meta where I started playing good monoclasses and calling them "perfect class." My first origin character was over 1000 hours into play and I chose astarion. When I saw his natural skills & stuff I had an "oh my god astarion was the perfect class all along" and then I had a very fun time with that playthrough. The vampire drip come act III is insane too, just lovely stuff.

[@gwen-lily]

+ the one level rogue dip up front is something I've been doing more recently (thanks to you pointing out that expertise is accessible via the 1 lvl dip), especially in a run where I wanted to actually see the 11th lvl ranger features for the first time. Historically I always rushed 5 ranger because I'm a sucker for pwt & spike growth but I agree the upfront dip seems very wise.

[@shinkamui]

Been watching for so long, so a little contribution is long overdue, thanks for yet another idea for a playthrough o7 currently having fun with 2 characters, a 1 nature cleric 11 beastmaster with shillelagh and high wis for ensnaring, ice surfaces and commands, even lightning arrows are kinda buff for this and the other a 11 EK 1 goolock batman cosplay that has advantage on mortal reminder and on his utility belt tools (scrolls, poisons, throwables) and high charisma for intimidations Both of which were ideas that came from your item guides and multiclassing series. Really appreciate how your videos help make my playing seshs more fun, ty for your work, sir!

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks so much for the support! I really appreciate it - really glad the videos are helping! That's always the hope for me, that these can inspire cool character ideas

[@mysecretavatar]

I have used battlemaster archer, eldritch knight archer and this multiclass. They all have their pluses and minuses but the most fun for me is the eldritch knight for its consistent damage and its ability to reliably apply hold monsters and hold person scroll spells without helm of arcane acuity because of eldritch strike.

[@Zero_Zone.]

I actually rewatched your old version of this build yesterday. What coincidence that you just updated the build.

[@Cyberlucy]

Killer's Sweetheart and Risky Ring really makes big difference with my archer builds

[@cyborgtemplar1989]

it does . . . but they tend to go on my paladin. an extra little bit from my ranged dps, vs one shotting lvl 6 full auto crit smites. . . . (killers sweetheart at least). . . I can give him risky ring, as my paladins have advantage from easier sources.

[@katharinajansen329]

Stealth archery has allowed me to actually start to enjoy strategizing combats - thank you so much ❤️ If you can, I would love to see a cold damage focused build that isn't the tank wizard (which is excellent but a very specific flavour of cold damage focused)

[@grubbygeorge2117]

Ice Sorcerer is a blast. Pick white draconic sorcerer, pick up all the gear that has something to do with ice, the potent robe and the necklace from the creche that boosts elemental cantrips. Ray of Frost is your main source of damage, you can twin-cast it to get more enemies out. Keep up armor of agathys for survival and take whatever spells seem useful.

[@devowra]

personally i prefer 8 ranger/ 4 rogue. the extra feat gives the additional +2 dex that will give the AC from defence fighting style and +1 to hit. most of the other stuff is fairly inconsequential, though additional spell slots for more fog clouds can trivialise some encounters is useful

[@sauromatae9728]

I believe fighter is actually the best class for archer. Fastest 20 dex, fastest sharpshooter, action surge.

[@ethanpeeples6187]

I play an eldritch knight archer. Quite fun

[@FarZeroDark]

Yeah EK12 or EK11+ war priest outdamages anything. As an archer you want to use special arrows so any weapon action that doesn't allow special arrows is worse.

[@ethanpeeples6187]

I put in 1 level of wizard so I can learn the magic weapon spell since you are ranged you'll never lose concentration on it.

[@danboyd6180]

Yea my wood elf fighter is the best archer on the sword coast

[@danboyd6180]

I just hit level 4 and with the hags plus 1 to dex I’m at 20 I’m chapter 1

[@SpookyGman]

Archer builds are fun in this game. I'm a fan of Sword Bard 5/Thief 3/Fighter 2 Maximum hand crossbow shots. It's just fun.

[@ProbeAway]

You mean Bard 6? You won’t get extra attack otherwise! But yeah, bard 6/thief 4/fighter 2 is pretty absurd

[@SpookyGman]

@ProbeAway You right. My mistake.

[@jameskelsea6048]

6/4/2 is prettty insane with assassin as well. You get a bunch of auto crits from the slashing flourishes and action surge. Just cant use special arrows with those

[@SpookyGman]

@@jameskelsea6048 That does sound cool.

[@ProbeAway]

@@jameskelsea6048 yeah there are a few good variants of the barcher. My fav is probably 10 bard 2 fighter so I have magical secrets and 5th level spells, but assassin would work great too

[@jcheatham67]

Great job as always we need more full party builds though

[@darthnihilus6211]

Yes! Especially themed ones! - (see in magical) Darkness - Fire (Heat/Fire Acuity/Burning...) - Lightning & Ice (because of wet condition) - Thief's Guild (Rogue Thief multiclass for all 4 members) - Status effects galore! (Reverberation/Radiating Orb...)

[@Zorpalod_Gaming]

@@darthnihilus6211he made a darkness party already

[@darthnihilus6211]

@Zorpalod_Gaming must have overlooked it. I only saw variations of "crush honor mode"

[@westonsalinas3148]

been loving the builds and tier list man! Keep up the great work

[@wfdmount]

For straight up simplest archer builds, 12 levels in Ranger, Hunter subclass is very simple to play and is incredibly powerful too. At the moment, I'm doing an honour mode challenge run (no respecs, no multi-classing, no elixers, no barrelmancy, no stealth cheese, etc.) and -- after failing a number of honour mode attempts as a swords bard early in Act -- I went in as a Ranger, Hunter subclass and am now in the early part of Act 3 (Rivington) at level 11. I found that the power of the Hunter subclass scales up with itemization really well. And the Colossus slayer perk also helps tremendously since it adds an additional 1d8 damage against enemies that have already taken damage. I still remember one fight in the early game where I rolled a critical miss with my bow shot and out had one bonus action available--a 1d4 flourish with my rapier. I ran into melee range thinking I'd knock the enemy off balance and set up my next turn, but the Hunter's Mark and Colossus Slayer damage stacked and I ended up hitting for 15 damage, killing the enemy outright and ending that encounter. Colussus Slayer is nice for all the consistent damage it adds, but the core of the build is the Hunter's Mark spell, which, as you undoubtedly know, adds 1d6 damage against marked targets. Hunters mMark is pretty much the only spell Ranger Tav needs. Just cast it on the first target and recast it on the next target--and maintain concentration in it all day. The Strange Conduit Ring, as you mentioned, synergizes, well with this build adding 1d4 psychic damage to every hit while concentrating on Hunter's Mark. And the Huntress' Circlet (for sale from the blood trader in Moonrise Tower) is the best helmet for archers since it adds 1d4 to attack rolls against targets marked by spells like Guiding Bolt, Faerie Fire, and--you know it--Hunter's Mark. The Archery Fighting Style (+2 to attack rolls) and the Huntress' Circlet (averaging +2.5 to attack rolls) almost offset the -5 attack roll penalty from the Sharpshooter feat. In terms of game play, if I have a high ground advantage, I can turn Sharpshooter on and still get 95% hit chance against most enemies. I also picked up the Gloves of Archery at the Goblin gamp (+2 damage) and the Caustic Band ring (+2 acid damage) from Meredith Bonecloak in the Underdark. For Bows, I bought the the Hunter's Bow from Damon in the Grove (+1 bow with an extra cast of Hunter's Mark and advantage against monstrous enemy types, which proved to be rather handy when fighting the Bulette). Later in Act 1, I upgraded it to the +2 Short Bow of the Banshee, which often applies Fear on a hit and then deals an additional 1d4 damage to frightened targets). This short bow is absolutely fantastic. Solid damage with the option to use it for some crowd control attacks as well. The much vaunted Titanstring bow stayed on the store shelves. Anyway, for those looking to actual play the game (instead of just blitzing down every encounter before the enemies get a chance to move) the Ranger, Hunter subclass is another strong archer build.

[@patrickdavidreiner]

Amazing build, thanks for the highly detailed explanation (as in all your videos)

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks so much for the support! Really glad you're enjoying the videos - definitely appreciate when people enjoy the detail :D

[@HermesHall]

Swordsbard 6/Assassin 3/Gloomstalker 3 is also amazing for archery. You loose the amazing action surge from fighter, but ranged slashing flourish doubles your #of attacks which more than makes up for it. Another option is Swordsbard6/Assassin 4/Fighter 2 (feat) or Swordsbard6/Assassin 3/Champion 3 for action surge. Means loss of extra attack from gloomstalker, but allows to use all slashing flourishes in the surprise round.

[@Trapslick]

Nice build, especially for a solo durge run. 1st level in rouge really only makes sense if you have the deluxe edition. Level 3 disquise self from gloomstalker is sooo nice early game

[@jameshealan2881]

You forgot to mention the penalty for The Graceful Cloth: -10 Drip for wearing the ugliest, most horrendous-looking chest slot item in the game

[@JeremyCuddles]

This is why balanced is the only way to play for me. Fashion > meta.

[@Daily-Bugle24]

Facts -10 because of horrible drip

[@DieGurke_]

@@JeremyCuddles That why the ugly Races (Gith / Half Orc / Halfling) are so powerful

[@Peppermint_747]

You can just pick a good outfit and hide armor

[@danielbattle7620]

Whats an alternative? I murked lady Esther

[@Mephisto03061989]

My ranged build character is made for a darkness party. He stays in the Darkness with the Sorlock and Bardlock. I go Rogue Assassin 5 lvls+Ranger Gloomstalker 5 lvls+Warlock Great old one 2lvls . I start and finish as rogue which at level 5 has sneak attacks deal 3d6. Ranger level 5 for the extra attack and for gear proficiency. I go 2 levels in warlock, 1st the great old one that inflicts fear when landing a critical ( which is always thanks to gear, potions and class feats and actions to hide) and 2nd level i take invocation for devil's sigh when standing in darkness. So imagine a party in Darkness, and now add a ranged marksman assassin which always stays hidden, has advantage and constantly crits with arrow of many targets and inflict fear on any who survived the crits. I migh as well name him "Machine Gun" because he chews through enemies like they are made of butter.

[@jameskelsea6048]

Darkness is so sweet

[@johanfredriksvendsen8482]

This type of character was my first in the game. It may just have been because I was new to the game and making a lot of mistakes etc. But I found the midgame to be way way way more enjoyable and playable when I respecced my character into Thief rather than Assassin which I was to begin with. There were just so many encounters where my squishy assassin would get focus fired probably because the rest of the team had pretty high armor class. Getting the extra bonus action made it all much more fun to play that character as you could always start get into a good position and do damage. Maybe If I had been better at using specialty arrows or elixirs, it would have not been necessary, but getting the double bonus action to always fire whilst hiding was something I preferred. Doing it again as a now much more experienced player maybe using more of the resources and really destroying that first round would feel better, what is how I am getting through the more difficult honor mode fights. AOE speed potion and nuke the boss before lethargy comes into play.

[@Fusako8]

In your recent gear tier-listings you often commented about powerful gear that simply appeared too late to be fully utilized. I'd love a vid talking about such gear, and where you think it would fit in BG3's chronology.

[@aaronsmith8699]

I would recommend Mask of Soul Perception, +2 to hit+ detect thoughts for strange conduit ring

[@brooksington4696]

I used a similar character build in one of my runs, but ended up going for 8 gloomstalker/4 assassin. My reasoning was essentially: the character is already ridiculously powerful, I could gild the lily and throw in battlemaster, and that would definitely be more offensively capable, or stick with ranger for iron mind and innate resistance to another damage type. All that said, your build is definitely the stronger of the 2 as battlemaster just brings so much to the table. It does, however, say a lot about just how good Gloomstalker and Assassin are in synergy that you don't need fighter levels to still be broken. If you're playing on anything less than honor mode, the fighter levels are complete overkill, and even on honor mode i'd consider them unnecessary.

[@alteredvector6701]

Surprised the Circlet of Hunting was not mentioned from a certain drow vendor and Astarion super-fan in Act 2. It grants 1d4 bonus to attack rolls against enemies with Hunter's Mark, Guiding Bolt, Faerie Fire, or True Strike (and doesn't have to be your mark either). Also, early game, prior to access to Elixirs of Cloud Giant Strength, the Club of Hill Giant Strength as an off-hand to get max Str for Titanstring Bow is superior. Broodmother's Revenge+ Poisoner's gloves+ chucking a potion on yourself at the start of combat is great too.

[@fogdance]

Perhaps a big upgrade to the third level of fighter is a single level of war cleric. The extra attack is great and the ability to cast shelter is just patently absurd.

[@ThePhysicalReaction]

This build absolutely destroys. Being able to get 3 sharpshooter shots off at the beginning of combat, plus Cephalo's advice of making sure your characters win initiative, its extremely strong upfront power.

[@normy6801]

5 gloomstalker 4 assassin 2 fighter 1 war domain cleric is the best combination here, killing enemies in stealth, dolor force damage sets, four attacks on first round, use special arrows to deal double damage which makes it the same as sword bard archer

[@Prometheusforliberty]

Plus, adding radiation to bow damage is great in boss fights

[@zero11010]

titanstring bow with club of hill giant strength in offhand and an elixir of bloodlust. I'd MUCH rather get two additional attacks almost every single round than have a couple AC from a shield. That set up will carry you through virtually all of act 2 and beyond. Starting at level 6 this build gets two attacks per attack action. So, the bloodlust is going to give you two attacks per round in most rounds starting with level 6. This also include the first round of combat with those 100% critical attacks. That's your assassin extra attack action, your gloomstalker extra attack action, your regular attack action, plus the bloodlust attack action. The combination also works well with a pair of hand crossbows until you get that titanstring bow, which gets you an extra attack in the first round from your bonus action (though, you need two weapon fighting style, or the gloves that grant it to apply your DEX mod to the damage). Because this will do SO MANY attacks per round the extra +4 damage per attack adds up massively. It falls off after the first round. But, the sustain is still solid with extra attack plus the bloodlust elixir.

[@advitus8948]

A reference for how much damage sharpshooter provides is that 10 damage is about the same as an average d20 roll (technically it’s .5 lower, as a d20 average is 10.5)

[@DesaMii]

Thank you for this video. It was helpfull to hear what lv in wich class are the best in the first 5 early game levels. For Items in future videos would it be helpfull to know where to find them. But all in all a very good build and very good tutorial ^^ Thanks!

[@meekrab9027]

Like crabs, D&D characters evolving into the stealth archer is inevitable

[@joeking3057]

My recent honor mode has been getting carried pretty hard by a pure assassin rogue. Stealth archery is too strong on it because of your single hit burst potential. Take out an enemy on the furthest edge of combat and you can bonus action dash to get out of range to flee if you get caught in combat. A pure stealth archer does not rely on being in combat so extra attack doesn’t matter. Hit and run is an insane tactic. I pretty much have gale cast shovel to get a surprise combat round and let astarion set up to hit and run. There’s been a few encounters where I think I am wiped but Astarion breaks free from combat to wipe out the enemy team completely.

[@charlesbryson7443]

Eldritch Knight Tavern Brawler is my “archer”. I get one feat that increases damage with the bonus attack bonus. More damage than sharpshooter, and I don’t get a -5 to hit. Mine is a dwarf fighter 6/paladin 4 right now, going to change to Champion 6/paladin 2/cleric 4 after I get the dwarves thrower. That gives me spells and smites for when enemies do get in range.

[@johnbryant6690]

Yes, throwing builds are broken. Probably the 3rd strongest behind fire sorcerers and sword bards abusing arcane acuity. (Maybe lightning lords with Tempest cleric and storm sorc) TB is just so broken it trivializes the game. Like using arcane acuity. Although, abusing the stealth mechanic like this does something similar. You do not have to constantly break combat using stealth and reset encounters.

[@ZoldZsolt]

I'd consider going for dolor amarus in act3 (either in offhand or even dual wield 2, coz their +7dmg stacks) for maximum frontloaded damage, since you don't really need the shield to boost your initiative for most encounters. Really nice build, if you mastered the stealth mechanich in the game.

[@mikedickens848]

Always great vid.

[@Z200a]

Now that we have all these awesome Archer builds, I wonder if we should think about an all-archer party? What would be the 4 best archers that could cover everything a party needs? The first time I realized how devastating archers could be was when Minsc hit 11th level and got Volley, right before I started the fight against Rafael in House of Hope.

[@SophSleepyTimes]

You should absolutely be doing the thief subclass for the bonus action and use dual hand cross bow the dps outpaces assassin by such a large amount. Try harder.

[@johnbryant6690]

There are so many ways to build an archer. EK. Champion Fighter. BM fighter. Sword Bard. Most of these can be combined in some way. A pure ranger is quite effective as well. Volley is quite powerful.

[@Balorian]

Thank you for another great video, so many fun ideas to try. You are funding Withers retirement with all my respecing.

[@ballysillansown632]

You can make a really powerful archer with a collage of swords bard multiclass build.. the blade flourishes work on bow attacks also so youbcan multi shot enemys knock them from ledges etc

[@MrMeh23]

I used to be one of the guys that thought rangers were weak and boring. Then just yesterday I managed to kill Raphael in a single turn using a ranger build I ripped from a friend out of curiosity.

[@ProbeAway]

I’m curious as to why you never seem to mention Rhapsody on builds like this. Having a flat +3 to all attack rolls and damage for most of the day is a pretty huge boost!

[@jootpepet]

You can use Titanstring bow + Club of hill giant strength and use any elixir you want

[@AtypicalWarrior]

Fighter 11 plus arrows of multiple targets is insane just want to put that out there

[@luketripipo2140]

Another great build! would consider making a minion/summoning build? I suppose focusing on getting as much minions as possible is not ideal for honor Mode, but i think it could be fun.

[@kahwigulum]

dual crossbows on a ranger with horde breaker arguably does more damage than a crit build with dead shot you only get 1d8 extra on a crit ~15% of the time while horde breaker adds it every round plus you get two attacks per attack, 1d6+1d6+dex+other+1d8 for one use of attack is arguably better add a single level of rogue for sneak attack and add another 2d6 per attack per round

[@logancashen7736]

Astarion lookin like George Washington in that coat 🫡🦅🇺🇲

[@doloresabernathy9809]

Great video again! i love these updated builds. One additional thought: If respecss are allowed I would stay in mostly rogue until lvl5 then switch to full ranger for extra attack and when you get to six respec again to start with 1 lvl rogue and then add up to 2 or 3 rogue as you level up. Too much cheese and time with Withers I guess.

[@michaeltromer9003]

Thank you for another great video! So the ultimate question is: gloomstalker multiclass with a long bow vs. swords bard multiclass with dual hand crossbows?

[@lendial]

I Usually run thief + dual crossbows and risky ring. Kind of carries the party.

[@fk7818]

Thanks for this Video and all your effort🙏 Why you dont recommend the handCrossbows?

[@evenmoor]

I'm not sure on Cephalopocalypse's personal reasons, but I can see a couple advantages of the longbow for this particular build. The longbow has greater range, giving you more flexibility to set up your ambush and gain the surprise round (critical for the assassin abilities). The longbow also has higher base damage and therefore does higher crit damage (assassin's alpha strike crits being a key feature of the build). Also, the Titanstring bow in particular can get very high damage output when combined with strength elixirs or the Club of Hill Giant Strength, which means even _more_ insanely powerful alpha strike crits (particularly earlier in the game). Hand crossbows benefit more from a different setup than the one used here (thief instead of assassin, for instance, for the extra offhand attack). With the build in this video, your bonus action will probably be used for Hide if you don't take out all the enemies in your alpha strike and you aren't actively using/abusing Greater Invisibility (or have the Durge cloak), or for sprint. The way I see it, the hand crossbow setup is probably better for consistent damage, while the longbow is all about that sweet opening crit burst damage, which will hopefully mean that no followup is even necessary. Hope that helps!

[@awiseman93]

In the late game wouldn't this character prefer swap to the Dolor Amarus for that sweet 7 base additional damage on critical hits? Love this build I played it in table top and I can't wait to explore BG3 with it.

[@Cebollaverde]

I like to make Minthara a cleric so she can bonus action soul brand my archer to add even more damage (stacks with dipping in fire)

[@chuckchan4127]

No Sword Bard levels? Must be an early April Fools!

[@Jewgubu]

Hey man, I love all your content. I've beaten honour mode 7 times, each time setting increasing challenges for myself. (Hardest run was no illithid powers, no multiclassing, no scrolls at the same time) When patch 7 comes out, I am finally going to take the plunge into doing a solo run. (probably going to do Shadowheart origin) I love bards so much and we all know how great swords bard archer is. It has even more utility than the build here, and it's true that it is rest dependent but let's just assume I don't care about that. How does it compare to this build for a solo honour mode run?

[@netplayer4765]

What are youre thoughts on combining this build with the Eversight Ring and Cloak of Cunning Brume?

[@zero11010]

Love your content. You go over how to level them up. But, when you talk about gear you pretty much only talk about end game gear. It would be great if when you spoke about gear you spoke about it act by act. Maybe with roughly a midway through the act type set up. Only about 50% of players have gotten out of act 1. I'm guessing more than 50% of your viewers are out of act 1. But, still ... that means telling people which act 3 items are awesome doesn't really matter for MOST players who may start the game and try to follow along with this but not make it very far before the see something shiny and move on away from the game. Just a thought. 👍

[@DeaftJoe]

Could you make a vid showing how to initiate surprise rounds on certain combats throughout honor mode? During my run I tried to start the ground floor of the moonrise assault on my gloomstalker and Zrell decided to give me a stern talking to after my invis attack -- nullified the surprise and made things tremendously more difficult.

[@danking1668]

Excellent, as always!

[@ati8153]

is this better than sword bard archer build? what do you all think?

[@Prometheusforliberty]

I like this , but I trade out 1 lvl of Fighter for War Cleric. Also, since it's all bow attacks instead of potions, I equipe the Club of Hill Giant Strength with the Titan String Bow.

[@CSDragon]

So this vs the swords bard archer, which is better?

[@HypnotiKSykotiK]

Swords bard gets better damage and control after first turn. Arcane acuity is too blame for this

[@orshefer1467]

Bards aren't as resilient, require more rests, and withiut respecs you lack either the extra attack or gloom/assassin features

[@Trapslick]

Gloomstalker is better at stealth kills, swordbard at everything else

[@FinalOven_Mint]

Gloom stalker assassin is better first round than any build but falls off after that

[@cold_ay_]

@@HypnotiKSykotiKBetter control on turn 1 as well with Band of the Mystic Scoundrel IMO, especially if you can speedrun to 10 acuity stacks with Arrows of Many Targets. Two Slashing Flourishes/AoMTs, bonus action drop a Glyph of Warding/Hypnotic Pattern/Confusion/Hold Monster/etc with a near-impassible DC.

[@AshGreen359]

I would have taken two weapon fighting for dual crossbows

[@tristanwilliams583]

Do you value the Fighter subclass that much more than the extra sneak attack die from opting for 5 levels in Rogue and a 2 level dip into Fighter?

[@SophSleepyTimes]

You should absolutely be going the thief subclass for the bonus action and use dual hand cross bow the dps outpaces assassin by such a large amount. Try harder.

[@adamskeans2515]

especially if you had damage riders to your attacks, like caustic ring

[@arhidontos]

u can take club of giant steght and use titanstring bow

[@dawnanddusk8755]

Hey, great build as always ! Can I ask you what do you think of an archer 6 fighter and 6 lore bard ? Main character party face - skill access. Bardic inspiration to balance sharpshooter, and my party is short rest-dependent. I'm sure it will deal less damage than a pure 12 fighter archer or the build you just presented, but a great jack of all trades doable for honor mode ? Thanks by advance !

[@Yeldarb091094]

Just wondering if it makes any sense to add a level of GOO Warlock? Ya know, cause crits everywhere n all that

[@jimjasutis5046]

I am running an archer with the Titanstring bow for now. Something I noticed yesterday. With my Strength at 8 I did something with a strength check involved. I got the +5 from the elixer, but I noticed that I also had a -1 because of the 8 strength. Does this only show up on skill checks or is that -1 also averaged in on the damage?

[@Gibb0n85]

Thanks

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks very much for the support! I really appreciate it :D

[@pokemonk4678]

Pair this with bloodlust elixirs… cracked

[@pokemonk4678]

The way I’m running this also is 5 rogue 5 ranger 2 fighter, the extra dmg from sneak attack is doubled and hit chance is so high precision attack is redundant to me. Uncanny dodge to increase survivability without defense fighting style too

[@DieGurke_]

I never played assasin before do i need to attack the enemys first? What i as a casual play walk into an fight will this build still work?

[@RexZShadow]

No risky ring for more crits after first volley?

[@darthnihilus6211]

We could replace Assassin subclass for Thief subclass, if we use 2 Handcrossbows (more attacks, because of Off-Hand)

[@johannsigursson5319]

I've been wondering about that a lot. Assassin with hand crossbows skips one attack per turn but keeps the action reset, the advantage and the auto crit during round 1, the most important round. I'm not so sure the extra bonus action is worth the loss in R1 burst

[@darthnihilus6211]

@@johannsigursson5319 guaranteed crits are probably better, but I love the flexibility of the extra bonus action. And we could change our damage type to force with the Ne'er Misser

[@johannsigursson5319]

@@darthnihilus6211 oh I absolutely agree dual hand crossbows with Ne'er Misser is the loadout of choice, I'm just not sure if the thief subclass is as good as the assassin. I respect the flexibility but I feel like round 1 burst is just so overpowered

[@ironbar2009]

Hi Ceph, can I get a 2/10 tempest/sorcerer build or a 6/6 cleric sorcerer multi (support type). Thanks!

[@LordAryu]

Personally, I would simply go Ranger 5 first. It's never a good idea to delay Extra Attack on a Martial class

[@adamskeans2515]

then definitely respec at level 6

[@jrh63200]

I've noticed that you never mention the Risky Ring as a recommended item for any build? Have I missed one or am I correct? thanks

[@johnbryant6690]

Risky ring is risky. As he stated, one of the few ways to take this character down is to fail a mental save. You will have disadvantage then. The surprise and stealth mechanisms will give you advantage frequently.

[@jrh63200]

@@johnbryant6690 I understand the point but what do they numbers/odds/stats say? You can roll a 1 anytime not just with this ring. But 4-6 attacks a round with advantage have to outweigh 1 or 2 spells per round at disadvantage, right?

[@johnbryant6690]

@@jrh63200 probably, but if you are stunned or held or take a massive crit from a spell and die, you aren't making any attacks.

[@adamskeans2515]

@@johnbryant6690 make them a gnome, won't that offset this?

[@johnbryant6690]

@adamskeans2515 it will. You lose the other possible benefits of duergar invisibility, wood elven speed etc. But it does let you use the ring without concerns.

[@ChaosmanOne]

I love this build. Is there any reason not to take the 15 in Str?

[@lufasumafalu5069]

will the build ok for story / explorer mode ? i am 1 rogue 3 ranger now just fell in underdark

[@poetic_movement]

can you please do a rogue/wizard build

[@darthnihilus6211]

Do you have a PAM & Sentinel build?

[@piotrbujak3688]

Swords bard 6, fighter 2, ranger 4 - better ?

[@Karnage420111]

We don’t use dual crossbows anymore? Why?

[@xZydraHx]

what auntie ethel hair would be good foir this character?

[@josegomez-rivera92]

Why is this a better archer than a swords bard ?

[@erysecret]

The bonus to initiative is like a free feat