The BEST CHARACTER in Baldur's Gate 3 - Swords Bard Archer Honour Build Guide

The most powerful build in the game, this one truly does everything! Better casting than the casters! Better damage than the damage dealers! Better skills than the skill users! All in a single package.
This build uses College of Swords Bard Fighter to become the most powerful character in Baldur's Gate 3!
Full detailed level guide from 1-12, including stats, feats, items, and abilities!
0:00 Intro and Build Goals
2:57 Level 1
8:55 Level 2
10:08 Level 3
13:16 Level 4
16:33 Level 5
17:56 Level 6
18:55 Level 7
20:20 Level 8
21:28 Level 9
22:53 Level 10
24:52 Level 11
25:42 Level 12 and Final Build
28:40 Items and Gear
33:42 Typical Combat

[@jainz84]

8:51 I picked Hand Drum as my starting instrument and got into a Drum off in the Goblin camp, lost and died of shame, ending my honor run. Thanks for nothing 🥲

[@williamking7800]

What an absolute madman

[@rubymaes9006]

Jesus how clear can the instructions be? Pick the right instrument. That one's on you my friend

[@JustThatDude589]

Lute All the way

[@Cephalopocalypse]

This is why I try to warn people - it's dangerous out there! Thanks so much for the support!

[@sneezyfido]

Lyre! I rather like using the swanky quest item with its own tune

[@michaelpurdon7032]

Bard: Jack of all trades, Master of.. all trades

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Exactly!

[@mundelbert5315]

Thank you

[@drewrok78]

Ive gotten my arse handed to me in 4 honour mode runs and couldn't figure out why. Bards supposed to be OP. I had a damn flute everytime... Now im breezing through with my violin. Thanks bro 🙏

[@Satskap83]

Recap: Ranged swords-bard (bard 10/fighter 2) Level 1 Stats first Str 8 Dex 16 14 con Int 8 Wis 12 Cha 16 Respecc after gloves of dex Str 10 Dex 8 16 con Int 8 Wis 14 Cha 17 Skills Dialogue and Slight of hand (optional + stealth and less dialogue) Cantrip Minor illusion and Friends Spells Healing word Dissonent wispers Longstrider Speak with animals Level 2 Song of rest Tashas hideous laughter or Disguise self Level 3 Collage of swords Two weapon fighting Spells Cloud of daggers Slight of hand Persuation Level 4 Feat Sharpshooter Vicious mocary (synergy with band of scoundrel) Hold person Level 5 Hypnotic power (awsome cc) Level 6 Extra attack Enhance ability Level 7 (multiclass - Fighter lvl1) Shields Archery Level 8 (Fighter lvl2) Action surge Level 9 (Bard lvls again) Spells Confusion or greater invisibility Level 10 Feat Alert Spells Any will do Level 11 Spells Hold monster (enchantment + band of mystic scondrel basically a free action) Level 12 Non important picks but I prefer true strike Mystical secrets Counterspell Command (enchantment, bonus action) Items Gloves: of dex (mandetory) Bow: Titanstring/Deadshot Armor of agility/elegant studded leather 1hand: knife of the undermountain king 2hand: club of str/sentinel shield Head: Helmet of arcane acuity (together with scoundrel) Ring1: Band of mystic scoundrel (together with arcane) Ring2: Boots/amulet/cloak: Something that gives misty step or statboosts Elixir: Str/Bloodlust

[@sol-qe8dl]

thank you so much

[@sneezyfido]

You forgot the instrument 😢

[@ironbar2009]

One thing ab this build is that their hit rate is abysmal early game until at least level 7 if you want to keep sharpshooter on. You don’t get archery fighting style for a while since you need bard level 6 for ex attack so you need to stack up on oils of accuracy and or keep bless on them.

[@MichaelCampbell01]

Don't turn on SS unless your hit chance is over 75% or 80% with it.

[@SashaBaych]

It is just so responsible that you always point out the importance of choosing the right instrument. Thank you for not letting us ruin our honour runs!

[@jakobm.4183]

And do not forget to pick up True Strike at some point, also a really crucial part of every charcter build.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Every video is a public service

[@williamking7800]

The true measure of a quality of a run is how many True Strikes you can cast during boss battles.

[@bloodgodalucard4769]

I always fail here since there is no saxophone in BG. 😢lol jk

[@joerundell8197]

Have been using your swords bard archer and after failing honor mode 6 times have made it to act III and really think I'm gonna make it this time! Thanks as always for the great videos.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Nice - good luck!

[@SpencerARodgers]

I started my first honour mode run yesterday and happened to be doing swords bard archer. So this timing couldn't be better! Your videos have been immensely helpful in helping me (someone new to DnD) learn about the mechanics and systems in the game. There is SO much to know! Your videos condense down the information into a concise and witty format! Keep up the excellent work and I look forward to learning more!

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks so much for the support and the kind words - I really appreciate it! Good luck with the run :D

[@rolancritz1853]

I've been playing this build for my honor mode run and it really does trivialize most combats as well as give all the awesome conversation skills. Awesome build, thanks for sharing it again!

[@lexus134]

Just wanted to thank you for your videos. After finding your channel, I think I've spent more time watching all your videos than playing the game. I've now respecced my whole party about 3 times 😂. I definitely need to start playing again, 30 hours in act 1 and doing every side quests. I'm having so much fun! Thanks again for your build videos, they're great and very informative. Thanks!

[@spyrochick101]

I finally got Minthara in my honour mode run (first time getting her) and decided to make her a swords bard. I saw your video about the best 11 builds for honour mode and saw the build there. Thank you for making this video, it's extremely helpful to have a visual on how to build the character, especially when there are a lot of spell choices to make. I've watched a lot of your build videos to get ideas or to see how I should build a certain party member, which has inspired me to keep on trucking with this run (currently in Act 2). Thank you.

[@paulywaulywauly]

Completed my first playthrough the other week, since then I have taken a few of your builds in an attempt to beat an honour mode run. Going well so far! Your explanations are concise and very helpful, keep up the great work

[@SeanCaissey5]

I wanted to start a bard TODAY for my first honour mode playthrough and here we are. Love it

[@infpdreams]

I want to say thank you for all the builds you've done-especially the lore-friendly ones for companions. My first playthrough is a Wild Magic sorcerer, and I use a custom difficulty to set as many things close to honor mode as possible, but with the ability to see conversation rolls in advance and (especially) the ability to reload a save. It seems like the best way to experience the story the first time. I just really enjoy upping the difficulty on these games, even if I'm only just learning them, and as someone with next to no experience with DnD, these guys have taught me... everything I know thus far. It saddens me to see people ask you to "be less wordy", since the way you explain your choices in great detail and explain how to use the builds in practice is invaluable! I'm someone who learns best by getting a thorough explanation of something first, then being able to use that knowledge to do stuff for myself later on. But this game has such complex leveling, plus a lot of unhelpful/incomplete tooltips, so having someone who creates such thorough guides is, once again, invaluable. Is there any way to make a good melee bard? I really would love to have a bard with a rapier, in particular; the stereotypical flashy, dashing roguish figure as my first Dark Urge character. I'm not big on the archery style for my bard, but I'd like to have fun and still be viable on even honor mode. Thanks for all the guides you've done. You've helped ease me into the game and stopped me from starting off on the stupid foot with my builds.

[@DieGurke_]

Little thing i would Change is the Startig Class. Starting as a Fighter(or respeccing at level 7) give you proficency in Con Saves which helps with Concentration Spells

[@gildartsclide]

I love that you are going over your top 11 builds now!! I was going to ask about that

[@gaigeriel]

I did a swords bard archer for my 2nd playthru on Balanced and didn't know just how absurd it was. Passing every dialogue check you'll ever get on top of everything else this build does without a doubt makes it #1 in my book aswell

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Yeah it's really strange they went with "all upsides, no downsides" as a class design

[@thomasrosendahl2783]

Even better with a Halfling, the other races have more failures with dice rolls and ability checks. Gythianki is the second best choice.

[@bshockfan]

You know it's funny I was just messing with a Bard multiclass for funzies when the algo recommended me your videos. Lotta similar gear, but I took a different approach, more like your Tactician archer build. 6 Bard (Swords), 4 Ranger (Gloom), 2 Fighter. Allows me to pick up 3 Fighting Styles (Dueling, Archery, Defense). If you use Hunter's Mark for surprise, it's amazing. You got Dread Abusher kicking your tires, plus your action, extra action, action surge, and then your surprise round. You can get off 13 shots before anyone does anything by using the gloves that get you an extra bardic inspiration (total of 5). Throw in the Ambusher, with 1-6 Necro on first round, Caustic Band for 2 Acid, and you have a monster first turn once per short rest. Don't need Alert, you get +3 Initiative from Dread Ambusher, and you just pump your Dex to 18/20, Con at 16, Cha at 14/16. You don't get the awesome spells of this build, But you can pick up a couple utility spells from Ranger and you get a couple Level 4's off Bard. Probably godly on an Astarion playthrough to add another 1-10 Necro to each weapon attack after ascending.

[@nnniom]

thanks for the info. Recently discovered your content and its been really useful!

[@ecbrown6151]

My last run was swords bard 8/ Wizard 4, scribe everything and with the headband of intellect you get 7 swappable spell slots. This also gives you summons (useful). Three feats are obviously solid. Gear is about the same, especially band of the mystic scoundrel. Being able to slot in Otto’s irresistible dance at will for boss fights is super clutch.

[@cyrylkowalczyk9392]

Make it 6/6 split and you get sharpshooter necromancer ;)

[@ecbrown6151]

@@cyrylkowalczyk9392 you could but I like the feats and get the same functionality being a full spell caster, as he said in the video, swords Bard is pretty OP

[@cyrylkowalczyk9392]

@@ecbrown6151 It is quite funny how taking most levels as Mood Druid, Swords Bard or Cleric effectively makes interesting wizard subclass :)

[@FinStarcrafter]

Hey been watching your videos for a while now! Great content as always, hoping for more like these :D Before the dex gauntlets I found success by running 16 dex start, taking API in dex at lvl 4 and respeccing after gloves to the 8dex variant, early game felt more reliable for me that way. I also ran hand crossbow +1s (sold by merchants quite reliably) until later in the game when better bows become available, though the lightning charge bow is obviously very strong as well if want to switch off earlier. Not a big elixir enjoyer but the strength bow also comes online early on with the use of elixirs

[@alissaholiday3724]

Thank you for this. I wondered about the build

[@bruceflyingsolo3977]

Your builds got me through honor mode on the first try (after tons of tactician practice, that is). Thanks much!

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks so much for the extremely generous support! I really appreciate it - congrats on the win! Awesome to hear :D

[@insomniac0095]

Swords bard is my favorite. There are so many ways to take this build like you said. I love leaning fully into archer and forgetting about control spells, because why bother controlling if you can just kill everything instead? I also love the lightfoot halfling here and maxing out stealth stat with their advantage on those checks, and then taking a wizard level and learning greater invisibility to wipe out rooms before they even know you're there. Especially for a solo run, I run: 6 swords bard 1 war cleric (war charges, sanctuary, guidance) 1 wizard (learn greater invisibility, mirror image, haste) 4 fighter (archery style, action surge, champion class, feat) Max skills: Sleight of hand Stealth Intimidation Feats: Sharpshooter Ability improvement (gets dex to 20 with hag hair and starting at 17) Early game gear: Helmet: Haste helm (helps offset reduced halfling movement) Armor: Graceful Cloth Bow: Titanstring Weapon: Club of hill giant strength (to boost strength for Titanstring) Gloves: Archery Rings: Caustic band, Whispering promise (collect tons potions and heal yourself just before battle or as a bonus action to bless and improve accuracy) Amulet: Broothmother's revenge (coats your weapon for more damage every time you heal, synergizing nicely with whispering promise) Boots: Speed (click heels is extremely useful) Late game equipment leans into a crit build: Head: Sarevok horned helmet (crits) Armor: Bhaalist (get close to enemies to trigger aura of murder, also boosts initiative) Cloak: Durge Gloves: Flawed helldusk / Helldusk gloves (does fire damage, pair this with oil of combustion on your bow for groups of enemies) Rings: Caustic band, risky ring Amulet: Amulet of greater health (respec, dump con, add to wisdom or strength) Weapons: Knife undermountain king, bloodthirst (crits) Bow: Deadshot (crits, improved hit chance) Boots: Speed Elixir: Bloodlust (use a transmutation wizard hireling to make sure you always have plenty of these) Oils: Oil of accuracy (especially early game), Oil of sharpness, Oil of combustion (once you have flawed helldusk gloves) Arrows (steal tons of these all game): Many targets is your AOE. Specialty arrows should be used on appropriate enemies to conserve slashing flourishes. Elemental arrows for everything else. Strategy: Every encounter in Act 2 and 3 you decide if it's a haste fight or a greater invisibility fight depending on how many enemies there are and if it's a good opportunity for stealth. Cast mirror image for fights you expect to take hits. Use sanctuary to avoid surprise attacks and take a breather. This build can solo encounters throughout the game without needing to bother with control spells.

[@Parkjoonho18]

An updated version is really nice. Sometimes i hear things have been patch out and am not sure with videos what is currently still able to be use. Like "two handed weapon" style. So thank you :)))

[@bloodgodalucard4769]

This build seems amazing. I've never used a bard before in BG3. I've been missing out clearly. Going to run this in my next playthrough for sure. :D

[@BastardZombieKiller1]

I'm literally at Baldur's Gate and if you pair this (bardic inspiration specifically) with Minthara (or any vengeance pally)... It's unfair to the game. Advantage, on smites, with crit smites, with multiple attacks, bless from cleric... Unfair to the game. Spoiler: I just finished moon rise towers and Minthara one shot Ketherick on the roof. With like 38% chance to hit.

[@bloodgodalucard4769]

​@BastardZombieKiller1 Holy crap. I need that kind of damage in my life. Merkel is the worst part of Honor Mode for me. Hoping this will nuke him too. Thanks for the suggestion. 🙂👍

[@michaeltromer9003]

I’m a big fan of your channel, although I’m hoping you will continue to make videos about fun builds/interesting party compositions. I get it, people will always be interested in watching another video describing super powerful College of Swords Bard/Fighter/Gloomstalker or TB OH Monk/Berserker but this game has been released enough long time ago that there is a pretty big crowd of players like myself who finished it at least once and are looking for some inspiration to enjoy their 2nd/3rd/4th run :-) I got really inspired by your “objective fun rating” video series and darkness party composition. I’m hoping to see more of this kind of content in the future ❤

[@Sangheillioz]

Great minds think alike! This is the build I've been running for my first Honour Mode. I'm about halfway through Act 2 with only one "close call" moment so far when my hand twitched and I picked the wrong dialogue option, causing the Zhentarim to fight me and blow up my party. (My swords bard tav won initiative and managed to get far enough away right before the explosion to flee combat and return to camp). Every fight has been legitimately fun with this build!

[@k1inza]

Omg, thanks! I just thought about my first Honour Hode run. I`m planing to take Dark Urde and make him nice

[@Th3Gam1ngCh4nnel]

I just lost my honor mode run to the lift of the gauntlet of shar not working properly. Starting up a new save and wanted to try something different than monk or fighter. This video was timed perfectly!

[@OakandIV]

Fun build! This is pretty close to my preferred build for Astarion. it is what he wants to be based on his lore. Skills, stealth, charm, and spells. I go two divination Wizard as levels seven and eight, since Astarion has that whole thing of wanting to get a look at magical books. I do prefer the lightning lord for my main character. It is probably less powerful over time, but destroying absolutely everything on the field with gigantic blasts of lightning is just too fun.

[@Astral_Incarnate]

Im using a slightly modified version of this build that is less focused on spells and moreso on weapon damage. The main difference is swapping out 2 of the bard levels with paladin levels. This gives a 3rd fighting style (probably defense) and smite and you still get a 5th level spell slot to play with so basically no matter where you are on the battle field or how far away an enemy is youll always be able to destroy someone

[@alexsamurai1230]

Great vid as always! One thing to not sleep on is just because you have slashing flourishes doesn't mean its not worth picking up a few Arrows of Many Targets. They can be situationally better than flourishes for weaker enemies but also help make your bard charges go further into a fight.

[@williamking7800]

The appropriate Arrow of Slaying is almost directly equivalent to a Flourish. I guess it's technically -1d8 and can't split targets but still, decent at going longer between rests.

[@alexsamurai1230]

@@williamking7800 Aye, theres also damage riders that the arrows would give 4 instances of, rather than 2. Rougly I'd say use the arrow for low health horde types because just-about killing 4 enemies is much better than overdamaging 2. Use the flourish for mid tier enemies with higher health pools. It's situational but worth having as an option, as we said gives you more staying power as well.

[@blaizebriggs]

Great video

[@chiekohoki]

Although not 100% optimal, I'd also like to give a shoutout to 2 levels of paladin instead of fighter. The bonus action heal is awesome (with Oath of the Ancients), being able to smite if you get into combat is awesome, and also it makes dual wielding more fun because it's more chances to smite. I did that instead of fighter for my first run through, and it was extremely fun! Also it's another way to get command for the band of the mystic scoundrel.

[@shayhearn4250]

YES THANK YOU I LOVE YOU

[@Turantula]

"Any party" ......LEGEND OF ZELDA FOUR SWORDS BARDS

[@tomdowney37215]

I tried this. I didn't feel there was enough good equipment to go around

[@williamking7800]

Two is the perfect number

[@Norrieification]

@@williamking7800Plus two lockadins (one oath of ancients, one oath breaker). You’ve got four short rests in the day, might as well use them, and the extra front line help is real nice.

[@williamking7800]

@@Norrieification nah. I'd go with 1. Swords Bard Archer (Titanstring) 2. Swords Bard Archer (Dead Shot) 3. "Lightning Lord" 4. Tavern Brawler I view the Lightning Lord more as an early support character focusing on Twin metamagic. Whispering Promise, Wapira's Crown and Healing Word mean bonus action Bless on two characters + self with no concentration, and Magic Weapon is great on both Bards all game long. For the last party slot you just want someone who doesn't need outside bonuses to attack, because you're just twinning the Magic Weapon and Drakethroat Glaive, not tripling them. So just any Tavern Brawler build really. Monk works, thrower E-Knight works, I'd imagine Moon Druid works.

[@MrRonV]

First of all thanks for showing this build. I've played 5 Honour Mode runs with at least one swords bard in my groups (first two runs failed at level 6 & 7, first successful run felt cheesed because I only did 1 bossfight in Act 3, second one went better, killed most of the bosses, but the game crashed at two points and one of them was during an important fight that wasn't going well, so it felt like cheating, even though I didn't crash the game on purpose.) Swords bards are so mighty. My fifth HM run had one Bardadin (2/10 Pal/Bard) with the Bhaalist Armour, Nayruna and the Band of the mystic scoundrel, who just went in, dished out unholy amounts of damage and then two dual hand crossbow Swords Bards and one OH TB Monk picked up everything that wasn't dead. Smoothest run ever. Why do I write this? Because my approach to the builds changed with every run (from 6 Bard/ 3 Rogue /3 Fighter to 6 Bard/6 Fighter to 10 Bard/2 Fighter) and I enjoy the explanations you give. Guess I've gotta try another run with a longbow at some point. What I want to say is that this build is extremly strong and lots of fun. The only thing I realised is that (and this is obviously not true) while there are certain meta races, somehow your character gets better when you enjoy looking at them. Failed my first two HM runs with half-elves, succeeded my first HM run with a Tiefling, the second one with a Halfling (okay, they are objectivly strong) and had the best experience with a shield dwarf. Sorry for the wall of text, I just love the game and sharing experiences. Thanks for the video again!

[@jasonpetropoulos8820]

I actually made this build as my tactician build long before honour mode and let me tell you it is a beast. I did it slightly differently though. I started as a wood elf, With using the hags hair I got dex to 18 then used the graceful cloth to get it to 20 so I could get sharpshooter as my first feat. Allows me to keep using the Corellon's Guiding Hand gloves till act 3. This allows me to drink a potion of hill giant strength and use the titan string bow till you upgrade this with a potion of cloud giant strength. Then if you want to get alert just keep the graceful cloth on, if not take ability improvement for dex and use heavy amour. I also went 9 swords bard 3 fighter to get champion, as I use the knife of the Knife of the Undermountain King allowing me even more crits. Overall this build is crazy and I recently solo’ed honour mode with it

[@jamesstephenson1983]

Great build video, what would you say is the ideal party setup if I went with this for my Tav? Also, do you think a Half Wood Elf would be viable for this since you can get Longbow prof when multiclassing into Fighter? Could use dual crossbows until then? Also seen your video for the top builds for honor mode, are some of them in there good to run alongside this build?

[@LuizOtavioZen]

Isa you go bard 6 Rogue 4 and Fighter 2 you get even better damage as you could potentially have all your 5 flourishes hit in a single round of guaranteed crits, 2 from Extra attack, 1 From AS, 1 From haste and the last one from Bloodlust, this gives you an extra 20d8 damage with an average of 180 damage from florish alone. This max out the Arcane Acuity and with the Djin ring lets you be the ultimate main character, being able to dish a huge amount of damage and still disable all of the straglers. Oh there is also the double expertise and an extra skill.

[@alexw4482]

The 10/2 build has amazing crowd control and is generally more useful, but if you want a silly damage build with less cc: 6 swords bard/3 gloomstalker/3 assassin. Duergar for free invisibility to start every combat for an easy surprise round. Titanstring with cloud strength elixirs is +7 damage per hit vs dead shot. Diadem of arcane synergy +5 damage per hit (once cha is 20 from mirror and hag’s hair). Band of the mystic scoundrel, caustic band. Rhapsody is amazing for more hit chance, spell dc, and +3 damage. Shield with +initiative in the offhand (this build only gets sharpshooter, not alert, but gloomstalker and +initiative shield make up for it) extra crit isn’t very important since you’ll probably kill everything with automatic crits on turn 1. Bonus action can still be used on crowd control spells with band of the mystic scoundrel, or you can pick up the ascended buff in the crèche and use your bonus action on illithid powers (for even more damage).

[@meekrab9027]

I like this build for the endgame but its pretty underwhelming before you get to level 12 to get all three subclasses, for levels 7-11 the 10/1/1 or 10/2 or gloomstalker assassin will all feel more powerful.

[@alexw4482]

@@meekrab9027 agreed, it’s definitely an endgame build, but by around level 6 it can still be quite solid once you have the slashing flourishes and extra attack.

[@GolompReformed]

I played similar build from „stealth” it was 6 bard 3 rouge-assasin, and 3 ranger bloodsalker. Very fun to play very high dmg. Highly recommand

[@marjase9172]

So what is the right instrument I don't want my bard run ruin please respond 😢😢😢

[@williamking7800]

What do you expect him to do, just give away all of the secrets? Or do you just think the meme will be even funnier the fourth time?

[@NathanT_Performer]

I used this build in tactician game I just finished. I really like using the Gontre Mael longbow from the boss at the Steel Watch Foundry in the end game

[@Victor-iz5dw]

I beat honour mode with this as my main char. halfling was an amazing choice, I think over the entire run I had only 2 critical fails on anything. Went straight to the circus in act 3 and pretty much every boss fight after that I killed the boss before they even had a turn. I had some small issues with the steel watcher titan because hitting 40 dmg minimum was difficult even with a bunch of disintegrate scrolls. I never want to use this build again because it kinda takes the fun out of combat but that is kind of the point of course.

[@annemowdy391]

I'm running an HM Astarion origin loosely based on your last Swords Bard/Fighter build. I'm just about to the Myrkul fight, so I can't wait to see what I can learn here to finesse my party lead. He's already incredible tho 😍

[@nnniom]

let us know how it went ;; I'm just behind you in the tower fight

[@annemowdy391]

I have to work this weekend, so I won't know until Mon or Tuesday, but I'm excited now that I see I'm not screwing up my build so far lol

[@annemowdy391]

@@nnniom OK life got in the way, so I just beat him last night. It was intense but so rewarding! I had only beat him twice on Tactician before and I refused to look it up, so I forgot he was resistant to piercing damage...that made me do way less damage with my arrows and thrown spear, but we whittled him down soon enough :D

[@itme7685]

This was my first character and I had no idea how powerful it would be for a while. 12 lvs of bard though. I kept charisma at 16 and went full dual crossbow early on. I used some kind of construct gloves for a long time to get advantage with sharpshooter. I had 24 dex in the end. Using the mirror of what was it again, I’ve forgotten? And also being a deep gnome there was a pair of gloves that boosted dex +2 only for gnomes. I got lucky on my race choice. Advantage on stealth worked great with greater invisibility, though I probably should have taken proficiency in it and I didn’t. 2 Ranged flourish, arcane acuity, hold person/monster/confuse etc as a bonus action with 100% accuracy or close! You know I went first with 24 dex. No shield as gnome but that’s a 7 AC dex boost on medium armor of agility.

[@thethirdrichard7787]

I did this for astarion in my own way, and also made my whole party bards of lore and astarion bard of swords!

[@collinmcgoldrick8468]

This got me my first honor run clear

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Nice, congrats!

[@timothydog76]

This is my current Tav in my first Honour Mode run (3rd playthrough). I'm using your "Crush Honour Mode" party build from a couple months ago and it is just running over everyone in Act 3. I just killed Orin before she could take an action by using hold person from my Bard. She turned into the Slayer and was still held (Who needs Hold Monster? Not me.) We killed her in one turn with nearly a full health bar and Unstoppable 12. It was one of my favorite single turns in the entire game. Just bananas. Not sure if you've done these yet but i have suggestions for new videos: Best Build for a Solo Honour Mode Best Build for Solo Honour Mode with No Resting (inspired by the streamer Luality's latest solo honour mode run)

[@comebackqing8452]

Weapons and equipment tier list next. It's the last tier list i can imagine lol

[@masterdna117]

You are also forgetting a very important part the character can also made use of. Special arrows. If you ran out of bardic points you can use special arrows to do basically the same (albeit with some exceptions). There are humanoid, undead, dragon, monstrosity, aberration, construct, and beast killing arrows that do 2 instances of damage to the correct enemy type. You are gonna be doing 2 instances of damage per attack that dont cost basically anything (only the consumable itself). Overall they do a little less damage because they dont have the additional 1d10 of flourish attack, but still pack a punch and can be of use to finish an enemy without wasting valuable resources. Arrow of many targets is specially useful because if the first attack is ciritical, all the other ones will be as well.

[@ozzuna5748]

I started an astarian honor mode playthrough after watching this

[@grittywaffle]

hell yeah

[@adrianchase9399]

Ranged slashing flourish should get -5 to attack roll to compensate it damage early.

[@TheBprez]

When you respec to make use of the dexterity gloves, any reason not to take the fighter levels first for heavy armor proficiency?

[@mikedickens848]

Bests builds never leave home without true strike.

[@manleteater1970]

Can you do a full party build video with a necromancy theme? I did a darkness based party for my good leaning playthrough (for whatever reason lol) and now I'm trying to figure out what kind of party I should do for an evil run and I feel like necromancy would be cool

[@c.f.m.8133]

Hi, can you plz make best item combinations by acts analysis. Im in the middle of a run on honor mode and cant experiment freely and youtube is full of outdated/not working cobinations.

[@bkg5494]

would this build be good for a solo playthrough? I haven’t done one before and am trying to pick a good build

[@lapushka9388]

I feeli like 6 bard, 2 fighter, and 4 rogue also works. I could forgo the high level spells for the extra bonus action, extra proficiencies, and feat.

[@Zasurein]

Im addicted to using the Graceful Cloth for sleight of hand checks. How detrimental to a build is using that over say the Gloves of Dexterity slot? I know it'll result in much lower AC, but I could put something else in the gloves slot potentially.

[@ssap620]

I’ve been using Graceful cloth and currently in Act 3. I have a shield on him which boosts his defense. I also have heavy damage party and a healer when necessary in a pinch. He went down once so far in my entire playthrough and that was user error lol.

[@DieGurke_]

would you say this build is stronger than the old dual x bow maschninegun bard you posted a few month ago?

[@lakisoo]

Hello! I have an idea. Maybe you will test some kind of multiclass with wild magic sorcerer? For example with rogue?

[@jamesstephenson1983]

Would it not be better to respec at level 7 to take Fighter first for Con save? Also the last class you take from what I remember is what influences your spells stat?! I think.

[@oreolamp5676]

As powerful as arcane acuity and the dead shot are i actually think by using those two you miss the two best pieces of gear for this character: The ne'er misser and the diadem of arcane synergy. The diadem of arcane synergy lets you add your spellcasting modifier to your weapon damage after you inflict a condition (which you will be able to do with basically every attack that hits, either via illithid powers or a weapon coating, say the oil of combustion), and since this character gets 18 dexterity and can use the sentinel shield to get additional initiative, you can actually not take alert and just get +2 to charisma instead which is just a flat +1 damage to attacks. As for the ne'er misser, i think there are two reasons why it is the best weapon for this character. First of all, it does force damage with its weapon attacks, which alone IMO makes it a stronger pick than even the titanstring bow with a cloud giant strength elixir for so many encounters, because so many enemies are resistant to nonmagical piercing damage. The other reason is that i find the helm of arcane acuity + the band of the mystic scoundrel to be much more heavily contested by characters that can't just get offhand weapon attacks for essentially free and don't have great uses for their bonus actions, such as lockadins. This character already gets two-weapon fighting for free, so why not make use of the bonus action attacks with another attack, when other characters would benefit from those specific items so much more.

[@jbean24]

is this updated version of The BARDIC MACHINE GUN build? i will eat eitherway though

[@christinehede7578]

I have completed this game many times and even one honour mode run and a couple of tactician and I have never used minor illusion.

[@doloresabernathy9809]

Ceph, what is "Astarion's unique ability" that you mentioned? His bite? Can you explain how that helps this build and when would you use it?

[@SpartanAltair15]

Bite gives you a +1 to all skill check and attack rolls until long rest when you bite a humanoid. The rest is completely self explanatory.

[@williamking7800]

Spoiler warning Astarian also has an optional side quest in Act 3 that can give him a 1d10 necrotic bonus to weapon damage. Constant, works on every hit.

[@petermullins3935]

Is it cheating that my favorite class/build is the strongest 😅. I loved the more in-depth breakdown of gear at the end.

[@zion5637]

Doesn't Astarion start as a Rogue? How is he a Level 1 Bard in this video? I'm sorry I'm a bit new to this, but how do you start these Companions all at level 1 for this party comp? Don't they come with thier pre made stats when you mean them in game, and at least have level 1 stats etc?

[@thevigilmain6628]

Hey Cephalo could you please swing your lute sword in an illithid powers ranking?

[@tripleaarcade]

Respec at level 8 and take fighter first? You get access to heavy armor. Yes you lose stealth but with crowd control ability and upping survival for honor mode. Not sure if that’s viable since it’s a build only in my head

[@bigwi7613]

Does Ethel hair bonus disappear if i respec later in the game?

[@mogwaidimanno5639]

Great. Jeep It on

[@hitman5422]

Can I play Honour solo with this build or is there a stronger one for solo?

[@theusernameicoodfind]

-Astarion feels like the best character in the game because of that bite. For the majority of the game he gets a bonus to hit chance and ability check that nobody else does. -Lae’zel feels second to me because she’s gith and gets all the best items in the game just about. So many items have “if gith gain X” on them. -Then Karlach gets like an extra 1d8 to her damage from coins but there are 19 coins in the game total and many are in act 3 so you won’t be using that all the time. The rest just dwindle down after that imo. Like Shart could be really powerful but I’ve never gone evil with her, and even then that’s just an item and nothing that shart gets that others can’t. Wyll doesn’t feel like he gets anything good. Gale has his bomb I guess but is that reusable? Halsin’s bear form doesn’t feel useful after level 6. Does Jaheira even get anything? And Minsc has Boo I guess but realistically Boo doesn’t do that much. I have yet to she Minthara’s ability since I’ve only had her in my party once and I keep forgetting to use it.

[@SerAlthur]

I personally prefer my own version of swords bard multiclass: 1 Wizard 1 War Cleric 10 Swords bard It's truly have been the perfect control martial, jack of all trades for me.

[@MichaelCampbell01]

I'm not sure I'm ready to ditch my 2 hand crossbow gunslinger here, tbh.

[@williamking7800]

Hand crossbows don't have Brace. Use this weapon action one time, and you'll never hand crossbow again

[@tunarulesatca]

​@@williamking7800brace is mid compared to hand crossbows

[@MichaelCampbell01]

@@williamking7800 I have used it. It's OK I guess; trading a 1 time small burst for overall more agility of target selection isn't a win _for me_, but everyone has different styles.

[@YouWantIt1Way]

Do you think this version is stronger than the 6/4/2 thief version or the 10/1/1 with wizard and fighter? 🤔

[@Jdvalentine13]

I love the one with wizard to get access to 6th lv spells

[@williamking7800]

8 levels of Bard is optimal, because you'll often be able to make 5 attacks (Haste, etc) so you want 5 Slashing Flourishes not just 4. In other words, +2 levels of Bard does more than all 3 levels of Rogue.

[@YouWantIt1Way]

@@williamking7800 one extra flourish vs 2 offhand sharpshooter attacks every round?

[@williamking7800]

@@YouWantIt1Way hand crossbows do not have Brace and are an extra target for Drakethroat Glaive/Magic Weapon. War Cleric 1 with a two hander makes more sense.

[@YouWantIt1Way]

@@williamking7800 you can use the drakethroat glaive on two weapons with a sorcerer And the only reason to add thief is to abuse the bonus attacks with hand bows if you’re using the titan string the 10 bard splits are better

[@MarkSpirals]

Any chance for a melee Ranger (preferably STRanger) or melee Eldritch Knight Fighter build?

[@alexsitaras6508]

I've had a lot of fun with a polearm master/sentinel EK. A fun lockdown character with misty steps and multiple attacks is a lot of fun. The halberd of vigilance and the gloves of dexterity is a nice combo.

[@poatrykdas]

can you make a lore bard guide for honour mode?

[@PoppinDBZ]

I was wondering if i can use heavy armor like helldusk and sword & shield New player btw😅

[@seanjohnblaise820]

Lore bard video next 👀???

[@meerpirat3418]

hm in general this build videos share one big issue all the time: they never go into detail on how to start a run with that build. This starting stats is defined by: without the items i will never hit anything.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

I go into pretty extensive detail about this - watch the stats section again :)

[@veryfallible]

Swords Bard is like if Tavern Brawler was a class. Just unreal in how strong it is. It also makes me sad that they put Swords and Valour as two of the subclasses in BG3, as even though Valour is a perfectly playable subclass on its own (and actually REALLY strong!), it's so overshadowed by Swords Bard being the same thing but better that it's hard to justify playing Valour. I wish they went with something that was a departure from both Swords and Lore, like Creation or Whispers.

[@jakeparkinson8929]

Counter point for level 6 and up, 2 levels in ranger to pick up enhanced leap and ensnaring strike and then 4 levels in sorcerer to use twinned metamagic on ensnaring strike (ranged). Ensnaring strike can give you advantage on your next attack, and with metamagic it essentially turns into extra slashing flourishes. There are potions that can be used to restore first and second level spells slots available in act 2, effectively meaning infinite sorcery points and infinite spell slots thus infinite "flourishes".

[@williamking7800]

That's interesting, but it's definitely not worth losing Action Surge. Instead of spending 6 levels on that combo, you can spend 3 levels to get Bard 8 (+1 Flourish per short rest) and War Cleric 1 for a bonus action Flourish with main hand. Admittedly this is limited to 3 per long rest, though. This also gives you a way to cast Command (upcasts very well, Band of Mystic Scoundrel compatible) and still leaves room for Fighter 2.

[@MassiveCarbonFootprint]

Sharp shooter never works well for me... Tavern braller.... Now, there is a combat feat! It just works.

[@Radxas]

Why not take haste with magical secrets?

[@zzxp1]

"as a general rule if your chance to hit is around 30% don't try" Brother anything below 70% is a 100% chance to miss for me, the dice gods hate me.

[@thiago.c123]

13:44 Brother, you really didn't play picking sharpshooter at lvl 4. You probably respec and build this from lvl 12. Sharpshooter at lvl 4 is a serious drawback because you do not have many means to improve your hit chance at that spot in the playthrough. If you pick sharpshooter that early in the game you will miss most of your shots, making the progress significantly harder.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Yeah you're right, I lied just to mess with you, good thing you were smart enough to see through my trick!

[@DieGurke_]

Why Bow over 2 Hand Crossbows?

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Because slashing flourish lets you make 2 attacks with one action, we just want those attacks to be as strong as possible - we get more damage out of 8 stronger attacks than 9 weaker attacks. We also need our bonus action for the band of the mystic scoundrel spellcasts

[@MassiveCarbonFootprint]

Hold person is resisted all the time

[@Lash1001]

Bard 10 vs fighter 3? Bard gets magical secrets but fighter gets champion and when paired with the deadshot bow and that Act 1 sword thats a crit on a 17. That math might outweigh level 10 bard.

[@williamking7800]

They're roughly equal actually. Bard 10 increases the Inspiration Die to d10, so +1 damage per hit, +2 for a guaranteed crit (ex: Luck of the Far Realms, paralysis). Extra crit threshold is about 5% of the dice portion of damage, so that averages to +1 damage if the average dice damage is 20, and +0 damage to guaranteed crits. Plus, crits are less consistent. So we'd want significantly over 20. 2d8+1d10+1d4 averages to 17, so you'd need to itemize hard to get significantly above 20 average dice damage even on ascended Astarian, and no extra damage on a guaranteed crit. I think the only thing that Champion has going for it is that Bard 10 is two levels from Bard 8/Fighter 2, while Champion is just one level. So if you're going strictly two classes, it's Bard 10/Fighter 2, but if you're dipping a third class (like War Cleric) then Champion becomes an option.

[@williamking7800]

Oh and I forgot to mention that Bard 8/Champion 4 gets 1 feat over Bard 10, so depending on how much you like Alert and where your Hair is going, you might want to go 8/4 for the extra ASI. Personally I think +9 to Initiative is enough, and that's pretty achievable with Initiative gear and no Alert, but if you want higher or more itemization freedom then 8/4 makes more sense.

[@lisale67]

well i cant equip longbows

[@robertbuchanan7609]

My swords bard Seluna Gnomez faoled honor mode in act 2. Im sure it had nothing to do with me forgetting about an encounter that i stumbled into with very low health. Lol. Seluna Gnomez JR seems to be fairing better on her run

[@common_undead]

I love that name

[@dododimitrov9657]

I like this , but with Astarion bite I feel to more mele oriented build for him

[@drewb.8059]

"as a general rule if your hit chance is less than 30% don't try it".....unless it's Shadowheart. She could still miss on a 110% chance to hit.

[@Metrack2]

Actually Astarion is the most cringe "character" in the game. Guy try to kill you 2 times whenever he can (before recruiting and at night in camp if you act passive) and people act like its not a big deal cuz he was a "sex slave" 'sadface' XD