The BEST SORCERER in Baldur's Gate 3 - Detailed Tactician Build Guide

[@ThinkingCap_]

Man I've been trying to do a few day's worth of research before starting the game and after such a deep dive I've concluded that I'm just gunna pick a damn Fighter and get as far as I can and obsorb as much of the game instead of trying to plan this out ahead of time lol

[@SkorianDnb]

That is the best approach imo. Also leaves room for cool runs in the future.

[@bubbag8895]

Really any class works

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Honestly, that's the way to do it - I think you'll have the most fun that way! You will be able to respec your build at any time during the game too (starting pretty early on), so just experiment and have fun and then if you want to switch things up, these guides will still be there :D

[@qetoinfinity2086]

Duergar Fighter Eldritch Knight throw build can solo most of the game on tactician after level 4, extremely powerful !

[@deadfisher0000]

Yes, it's more or less cheating to use a bunch of guides to solve the game.

[@OakandIV]

Enjoying this. Once you play a sorcerer, it’s hard to fully enjoy any caster without twin and quicken spell. I tend to like taking one level of Wizard and all the Int I can manage to fix the problem of not having enough spells to choose from. Particularly utility spells. But if you are willing to use feats and Ethel’s boon to boost both Int & Cha, you end up with five or six Wizard spell slots you can prepare by the end of the game. You never feel like you lack options.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks very much! :D I should definitely have mentioned the wizard dip since it's so strong, but I'm trying to steer clear of it for these simple class builds since it's based on a bug, and Larian have said it's likely to be patched out at some point. That said, I don't think it's at all problematic for sorcerers and adds a really fun dimension to the character (getting the unique familiar alone is worth it). You can also just wear the headband of intellect and not worry about building INT - that will get you 4 spells prepared, which is enough for a number of utility spells and doesn't cost you anything else from the build.

[@OakandIV]

@@Cephalopocalypse I’ll hate to see it go! It enables so many fun builds. Still, I get it. It devalued the Wizard schools a bit (Though I would argue the schools are still worth taking for the right build).

[@kylevanderwolf4446]

Can I get some info on this? I wanted a wizard dip maybe just 1 or even 2 for the spell sculpting inherent so I don’t fireball my Allie’s. But, someone said you can ONLY learn lvl 1 wizard spells if you have a lvl 1 dip and not any of the higher spells

[@OakandIV]

@@kylevanderwolf4446 in BG3, just one level of Wizard lets you learn spells from any scroll so long as you have total caster levels high enough to have the spell slots to cast the spell. For example, a level 4 Sorcerer / 1 Wizard has 5 total caster levels, giving access to level 3 spell slots, and can learn up to level 3 spells from scrolls. This is not how it works in tabletop D&D, but right now it works this way in BG3.

[@blackhat4206]

​@kylevanderwolf4446 Respec as full wizard, learn the high level scrolls, then respec back to sorceror with 1 level in wizard and you keep all the spells you learned previously.

[@cert2b]

Something else to consider as I've used it a lot with twinned is ice dagger. Since its initially a single target spell it works with twinned. Then its secondary effect is a small radius of cold that can freeze water in two different areas. Potentially cause even more battle control.

[@aaronhumphrey2009]

Turn big areas into skating rinks for enemies to fall on and loose thier turns with Create Water + Ice Knife.😂

[@HelgtheExecutor]

If you multiclass StromSorcerer into Cleric - you should choose Storm domain and 2nd level cleric.

[@aaronhumphrey2009]

Agreed. Get the area Wet , cast the best magic burst dmg in the game - Chain Lightning. Devastating on Steel Watchers..

[@alanvaladez559]

Any possible recommendations for a wild magic sorcerer? I'm thinking of taking one for honor mode, which could be hilariously funny or horrible bad at the same time.

[@blacklake13]

Starting lvl 1 as a fighter as a 1-level dip is also good for concentration due to constitution proficiency. Also provides heavy armor and (admittedly probably not very useful) weapon proficiency. (Obviously some cleric classes provide heavy armor as well, but I don't personaly care for cleric dips for mostly RP reasons,. Mechanically they're sound enough).

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Very true! Less important for sorcs because they get it anyways, but a good way to grab heavy armor if you want to avoid cleric. Another one worth considering is actually Barbarian - you don't get heavy armor, but still get CON proficiency and also Unarmored Defense, which can be nice for some of the very powerful robes in the game.

[@effusivemind]

sorcs already have constitution saving throw proficiency @blacklake13

[@TimNorton]

Thank you. I found the the highlighting of meta magic uses to be helpful, as I pretty much have no idea what I'm doing with this class. I liked the explination of each choice while leveling, and I'd have liked more gamplay examples, as I'm a "visual learner" (that's code for "kinda slow.").

[@shanti1z]

I learned a lot from this. Thanks!

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Awesome - thank you! :D

[@BLiTZnTWiCE]

I think first feat would be better to buff charisma with ability improvement and also get hag’s hair which adds one to any ability you choose so you’ll be at 20 then. Good video though. Sorcerer is definately awesome

[@Cephalopocalypse]

For sure - I mention this as a possibility in the video, if you're taking ethyl's deal with this character you can either get more WIS by starting 16 CHA and still taking Actor, or save a feat and pick up Alert or War Caster, especially if you don't value the dialogue skill expertise.

[@BLiTZnTWiCE]

@@Cephalopocalypse Agree 👍🏻. On tactician alert is def my go to so you can kick off fights well in your advantage. Have you tried 2 level dip into warlock to get Devils sight to take advantage of darkness spell? I know Eldridge blast is OP scaling. I know this way you lose final level spells for sorc but I found it worth it in harder fights although it is a little cheesy if you know how to abuse it.

[@nicholasriha2039]

So, how is this not the best build and class in the game? I must learn the ways plz lol.

[@eldritch4470]

hey - thanks for these videos! would you still recommend rolling out your assassin, support cleric and fighter with this sorcerer build or are there any other companion compositions that you would recommend with sorcerer?

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Those will do very well! The fighter build is one of the best targets in the game to twin haste on, and if you want even more of that the ranger build I just posted yesterday is a perfect haste recipient as well. Sorcerer is great in part because it fits so well into any party because of the awesome support potential.

[@marcusbrown3880]

lvl 4 feat, war caster or AP's, why choose actor EVER?~

[@Cephalopocalypse]

For the reasons given in detail in the video :)

[@skaterock420]

Looks like the French girl from inglorious bastards

[@joshbarker76]

Can you not use extended spell mm on haste to make it longer than 10 turns? I could see that being the only benefit over distant or heightened spell mm in the long run

[@Cephalopocalypse]

You definitely can! I think it's very rare that you need more than 10 turns of combat buffs though, most encounters should be over sooner. Also if you think about it, twinned haste *also* gives you 20 turns of haste, it just gives you the second half up front.

[@acavaglia]

@@Cephalopocalypse honestly, i end most of the fight in 2-3 turns 1 or 2 required 4 ... The first round of combat is Enter the combat with my bowman in TBM so i can benefit from a free shot that sometimes take out 1 squishi enemy, if so i usually get a second free hit then the actual combat start with him going first so the rest of the party can get in position without many problems and also take a free shot. Then there is the surprise round, then the few remaining enemies start counterattacking but they are basically screwed

[@joshbarker76]

@@Cephalopocalypse right, I know it’s overkill but when you were specifically talking about that in the build and it wasn’t touched on, it made curious if it wasn’t possible for some odd reason, thanks!

[@Scarlet-Dragon]

Fire bolt miss 97.5% of all times

[@Frankenstec]

Its because its hit chance is based on intelligence, produce flame works better

[@Scarlet-Dragon]

@Frankenstec I give her the headband for intelligence n she still ever attack. Also she miss 70% of her weapon attacks.

[@kevingreen7330]

Why are you making weapon attacks with a sorcerer?

[@ravakahr]

In all your videos you never ever give a demo. And I find most of the builds don't perform. Give a demo thanks.

[@davidmills1520]

Kudos for going halfling. So many build recommenders sleep on Halflings. If you want to maintain conc, especially, they are so excellent. I also prefer halflings for Gloomstalker, which is my vote for best single-class solo tactician no reload choice (see below for a long post if you wish.) I do wonder at not going Fire Dragon sorc, specifically because of what I would think is the single biggest item for sorcs, which would be the Fire Acuity Hat. I guess you could try and kick off Thunder Acuity, although I'm not sure you're headed down that route. You might be. I learned something new... I didn't know that their Fly added 30 ft of move. Wow! Oh, this is a multiclass build, not a sorc build.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks! :D Yes, I also think halfling is tragically slept on, especially for the synergy with sorc. The acuity hat is incredible of course, but one thing I try to do in these builds is keep them gear-agnostic. It's easy to miss specific pieces of gear, so especially if it's someone's first time through I don't want the build to be reliant on specific items, unless it's core to the effectiveness of the character (ie, the build isn't possible without a certain item, usually strength elixirs)

[@BastardZombieKiller1]

I've got a crew running an honor mode playthrough right now and I'm the caster. Absolutely went halfling and I've checked out combat logs frequently. The whole "you can't roll a 1" has paid off so many damn times it's really not funny. They're amazing casters for that reason alone. It's amazing.

[@FoxQuiet1985]

Thank you, only thing is I refuse to play halflings lol Sun Elves all the way.

[@glenn5506]

I think the two best class for tactician mode and even solo runs are : the sorcerer and the battlemaster fighter (a lot people are sleeping on how broken the manouvers like disarming attack/precision strike are ) *sorry for bad english not my first language

[@davidmills1520]

See my detailed post about Gloomstalker, above, if you want. I believe it is superior to both unless we are talking about only late Act 3.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

You'll find no argument here! I love battlemaster, and it makes an appearance in just about every martial build I've posted :D Your english was great!

[@bobnewkirk7003]

I think starting out as Tempest Cleric makes the most sense for an early Sorcerer, you pick up Destructive Wrath and a lot of sturdiness from cleric and though it delays Twin Haste you can start dealing some really savage damage on witchbolt by 3rd level and have free access to Wet. I could also see the merit on taking pure sorcerer to 7th then swapping back to a 5/2 split of either Tempest or Warlock depending on how you plan on dealing damage. Personally I play in a pretty spell slot conservative way so having Agonizing EB to lean on for damage lets me freely use Twin Haste on every encounter, while playing back in a concentration-preserving way.

[@TheEliadventure]

Love the videos man! I just had a baby and don't have much time to play the game itself, but loads of time on my commute to watch videos. Probably watched more hours of your build guides than I have hours in bg3, keep up the great work!

[@acavaglia]

Here is me not liking spellscasters but the more i look into spellcasters builds the more i want to like them. There is just a short list of encounters in this game where i really feel like i need AOE damage, none of them is in act 3 ... well maybe 1 who require a bit of prepping to pull a nice chunk of damage in a single round ... and all the enemies are immune to fire lol The other two i'm talking about are both in act 2 and you are probably guessing which since there are tons of enemies with low health (the first) and just a ton of enemies (the second), perfect for a twin AOE for the first and for the second ... well yeah the same xD Truth to be told i managed to pass both with a single target team + spirit guardians (which is a cleric / lore bard spell) the first, and a lot of arrows the second ... same for act 3 (withoust spirit guardians because thoose devils are nasty against Radiant damage!) Casters get to shine a lot after lev 12 IMHO while before, with a good setup and some battlefield swimming, anything can be handled by single - target characters without too much swet. I have to admit that casting disintegrate on that final boss and whatching it become dust, is pretty satisfying!

[@Cephalopocalypse]

I'm biased because I love spellcasters, but I think they're really worth exploring! So many fun options. Yeah the two fights you're talking about are almost certainly the same that I said Wall of Fire instantly solves - especially the shadow portal fight at Last Light, all the enemies come from the same direction and it stops the archers from getting close enough to attack the portal.

[@acavaglia]

​@@Cephalopocalypse there are two more that wall of fire istantly solve then ... In illithid colony where you fight a lot of strange things that looks like demons but probably aren't you can set a wall of fire, if i remember correctly, and they simply die- Same thing for the "murder tribunal" fight if you agree to become unholy assassin but then you kindly declyine after discovering what is about. Same thing go back set the wall of fire across the door and the only thing remaining is a sorry horned elm man that will die badly right after he emerge from the flames. I never tought about wall of fire for the LLI fight near the shadow portal lol ... i just struggle a lot because the best AOE spell i have is gliph of warding which doesn't do much in that situation. I also tryed a big pool of water with my bard/cleric, a lot of effort salivating while doing that, just to get 1 damage each enemy during the fight and only if they enter the area, not if they spawn inside of it ... well spirit guardians solve almost everything so ... xD My first Tactician PT i had a monk ... it was so satisfying swimming the battlefield while punching everything and mostly killing everything ... who needs aoe when you have a monk in your party? xD

[@climhazzard115]

Tbh, I haven't been able to bring myself to play a sorcerer after learning that a draconic sorcerer can use the spell sparkler to apply their casting modifier to magic missile. Forget Sorlock and Eldritch blast, magic missile is where it's at if you want to easily break the game. Even without using Draconic sorcerer, there are ways to make magic missile absurd. I really love storm sorcery though, so I do indeed have a storm sorcerer character. She's a level 4 half wood elf. I like wood elf because then you can fly even farther and higher with tempestuous magic. And half wood elf gets shield proficiency so that's nice too. I've just been playing my monk instead after learning how broken magic missile is. I hate having to purposely gimp myself in order to keep the game fun. P.S. On tactician difficulty everyone will get mad at you for using friends, so just forget it. Even Scratch attacked me for using it. Take blade ward, you can quicken it or extend it, it's more useful on a sorcerer than other classes.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Does Wood Elf actually increase the flight distance from tempestuous magic? That would be really interesting, since halfling doesn't *decrease* it!

[@climhazzard115]

@@Cephalopocalypse Idk I'm pretty sure it's distance is determined by your movement speed, even longstrider will increase it. I also played a gnome storm sorcerer for a few levels and it was definitely less. Between that and shield proficiency is why I swapped to half wood elf.

[@TheDoctorEnigma]

I do like the halfling lucky ability. I think if I was fully min-maxing on race for combat I would also strongly consider deep gnome because if there is one save I hate failing as much as concentration then it would be wisdom as that can sometimes game over a combat right there. I also like the double distance Darkvision, it doesn't come up that often, but when it does I have found it to be a decent tactical advantage. That said I think for my Dark Urge sorc run I will probably go Githyanki. Combat wise it wont be as good, but being able to put on the dex gloves or int helmet combined with ancestral knowledge lets me cover multiple skill checks. Every nat 1 will leave me cursing not choosing halfling though!

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Yeah, gnome is incredibly strong as well, and one I should mention more often for sure. Halfling's somewhat unique interaction with sorcerer is one I really wanted to highlight here though. You can definitely never go wrong with githyanki! It's a pretty rare build it's not in the top 3 for, and it's often the best outright.

[@dd7aa]

Surely extending the spell if your using ice would be better than distance, no?

[@TheLimitTester]

Wouldn’t it be better to just use potion of speed as a bonus action and have other concentrating spells as an option?

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Sure - that gets expensive in potions though! But for important fights it's great, and we have other concentration spells you can use in those cases.

[@YggLart]

Also potions only last for 3 rounds so big fights can be a problem

[@iAndo-]

Will you be releasing a Storm Sorcerer build soon by any chance? I was thinking 8 Sorcerer / 2 Tempest Cleric / 2 Divination Wizard. But I’m not too sure about ability scores with the wizard scribed spells being Int based. Do I split both Int and Cha or do I choose non damaging spells for either wizard/sorcerer and go straight into one of Int/Cha? Are Portent Dice from Divination worth it over just choosing to put those last 2 levels into Sorcerer? So many questions!

[@Cephalopocalypse]

I already have! Check out "The One Shot Lightning Lord" :D

[@quaffie]

help me, i cant stop playing bg3

[@Cephalopocalypse]

No help is coming, they will find our bodies under a pile of health potions

[@bukaji2184]

mage 6, sorc 4, tempest cleric 2 in my opinion is better. In first turn, make all enemy wet then cast lighting chain dealing 160 dmg or ~300 dmg in single target using witch bolt.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

I mention the versions with tempest cleric in the video - I'll do a full guide on that build soon!

[@Needcoffeenow682]

O how I wish palemaster was a playable option… neverwinter nights had so many build combos available…I hope bg3 has expansions that really allows for near endless choice

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Yeah - I understand why they removed prestige classes in 5e, but I miss them :(

[@Darkkamikazegirl]

ok so combat starts. double haste bonus create water double chain lightning encounter won ?

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Yep!

[@OhhLuffy]

Any chance you will remake your sorcerer build now that twinned haste is gone? Or is this still essentially the meta build?

[@Cephalopocalypse]

twinned haste still works just fine afaik!

[@OhhLuffy]

@@Cephalopocalypse you are correct. I was misreading some commentary on patch 6 haste changes.

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

why actor fear?? hags gift adds 1 cha, and then use abb improve to add 2 cha to 20 at lvl 4.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

I talk about this in the video - if you're using ethyl's deal you can either start 16 CHA and still take Actor for the expertise, or start 17 CHA and get an extra feat for something like War Caster or Alert (I recommend Alert).

[@jmroz311]

Quick question since I'm new to the game.... does anyone know if using reactions uses up one of your sorcery/ spell points? Or if you just have it slotted in your kit you get to use it for free when it pops up?

[@MapacheMalo]

I know this is late but no, reaction does not use sorcery point or spell slot

[@IsThatKris]

I hate spell slots :(

[@Cephalopocalypse]

You certainly don't need to play a spellcaster - the game is completely doable on any difficulty without using any at all! If you do want to use one, you can also try a warlock (I have several builds for those up) - they don't use spellslots the way other casters do, instead just getting their highest level spells every short rest.

[@R7AWSUM]

Can we get your most brain-dead pick? Like, the best performance-to-lazy ratio. I dont like sleeping very much.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Haha, sure! Any of my fighter or barbarian builds should fit the bill - for the genuinely simplest, probably the simple fighter build ("The Best Fighter in BG3") is your best bet, but those are pretty much all designed to hit things hard and take minimal long rests.

[@R7AWSUM]

@Cephalopocalypse will check them out. Gunna stack em high

[@paulbennett6914]

You didnt mention slow, but with a high mobility character especially, it's one of the best control spells in the game. With the nerf to Haste in Honor Mode, it will definitely be a worthy use of your concentration, especially against a crowd of melee fighters.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Slow is a level 3 concentration spell so it competes with Fear, Haste, and Hypnotic Pattern among others - that's the best spell slot in the game basically. It's powerful in some encounters but since they get to save every round against it I'd usually prefer the control spells that only allow one save.

[@effusivemind]

Slow may be the best lvl 3 spell, but a wizard, or certain subclasses, can also cast Slow. where sorcs specifically shine is with spells like Twin Haste. Haste is still great in honor mode, especially with particular comps. for example a lock can still get off 6x Eldritch Blast hits per turn while hasted

[@nicholasriha2039]

That true strike snub was a funny reward for those of us that watched the whole vid lol

[@themonkeyking5]

What about a 1 level dip for wizard to get more spells? Does that exploit work still, or was it patched?

[@Cephalopocalypse]

That does still work (currently) and is extremely powerful! I don't like to recommend it for these basic build guide though, since it's an exploit and they've said it probably *will* be patched.

[@themonkeyking5]

@Cephalopocalypse I hope they don't. To me it actually makes sense. Sorcerers have a natural talent for magic, but should be able to study more if they wish to get more spells like a person who is a natural at a specific talent, but can go to the library or online or school to get even better.

[@Esbear]

Yup, twin chain light combine with staff of markoheshkir, select more lightning and you just fry everything

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Yeah for sure. There is one hidden downside to this build because of the weird way BG3 handles save DCs from items, which is that markoheshkir's actual spells will use your wisdom rather than charisma. For whatever reason it calculates save dcs from scrolls and items based on your most recent *new* class, so it always uses cleric for us with this build. I think that's narrow enough that it's not worth changing stuff for but it's worth mentioning because of how dumb it is.

[@purgedsoy9518]

@@Cephalopocalypse i was wondering why my intimidation checks were done by strength, could that be because i got 2 levels of fighter after 10 levels of sorcerer?

[@insomniac0095]

Like your points, especially on halfling and storm sorcery movement. I really want the best build for a lightning sorcerer. I want my charisma modifier to count toward chain lightning while also having destructive wrath from level 2 tempest domain cleric, but seems like that's impossible. If I go 10 sorcerer, 2 cleric and use Markoheshkir, the chain lightning item spell will use wisdom since cleric was my last unique class. If I go 11 sorcerer, 1 cleric, I dont get wrath of storm. If I go 9 sorcerer, 2 cleric, 1 wizard, chain lightning will use intelligence (from wizard). If I start with cleric or wizard and then go sorcerer, I dont get the constitution proficiency. Guess you can't have it all...

[@insomniac0095]

What do you think of going 9 sorcerer, 2 cleric, and 1 warlock at the end? Just to get the character back to charisma modifier. And then use Markoheshkir or scrolls for chain lightning.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

If you want to cast off charisma, one thing you could try is to go cleric 2 / sorc 10, starting with 17 CHA and 15 CON. Use Ethyl's hair and an ASI to hit 20 CHA, and take Resilient (con) to still get con save proficiency and 16 CON. The Wizard build is very close to what my eventual lightning sorcerer build will probably look like, so stay tuned for that!

[@insomniac0095]

Nice. Doing it that way does tie up my second feat in Resilient though as opposed to using it on Warcaster or Alert. Do you think that's still better than throwing a level into Bard at the end? One more level into Sorcerer as opposed to Bard basically just grants an extra sorcery point right? (And another metamagic I probably wont use) Going halfling plus having the constitution proficiency probably reduces need for warcaster anyway. But alert is always nice. (EDIT: I realized Warlock doesnt work because its slots are different)

[@ToasterTweeter]

Another awesome build!! I'd love to see a guide on sorcerer and bard to see if they mesh well together!!

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks so much! Pretty much any of the charisma classes can mesh well together (bard warlock sorc paladin), though bard and sorcerer play less nicely than the others overall since you give up some spell progression. For those two particularly, you could probably do something fun with a sword bard and self-casting haste, though it would come online pretty late. I'll give it some more thought!

[@BastardZombieKiller1]

Bardlock is absolutely a thing. But any of the casters pair nicely with bards.

[@raine_dead]

doing this build in a honor mode run! lets see how it goes.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Nice! This should be excellent for honour mode. The only major difference is you're more incentivized to cast haste on spellcasters rather than melee characters thanks to the honour mode nerf on extra actions, but it's still an incredibly strong spell, and just as good for casters (and especially warlocks) as it used to be.

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

I do have a question i cant seem to find a clear answer to. I know that draconic sorcerer and dragonborn being the same dragon type doesn't stack but can I get the bonuses if I choose different dragon types?

[@Cephalopocalypse]

I'm not certain exactly what wouldn't stack - dragonborn gives you a breath attack and resistance to an elemental type, draconic sorcerer gives you a spell, charisma to damage on your elemental type, and the option to gain resists for a sorcery point when you cast a spell. Both should always give you everything, though the resistance from draconic sorcerer will be redundant if you choose the same element for both - luckily that's a pretty weak feature so you should be able to ignore it if you want to take both from the same element. Hope that helps!

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

@@Cephalopocalypse That resistance is the question. It would be redundant if it's the same element type but what if it's not. Say I choose a fire dragonborn but an ice draconic sorcerer. I get the fire resistance by default but would I also get the ice defense from the sorcerer? Most of my questions I could easily test myself but getting to level 6 takes time I don't want to spend if I can just find someone else that did.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

@@Blasted2Oblivion Sure! Yes, if you cast a spell of your sorcerer element type and spend the sorcerery point, you'll get the second resistance.

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

@@Cephalopocalypse Awesome. Thank you for your help.

[@milotickz]

I’m so happy I chose sorcerer!

[@MichaSennin]

Great stuff! Thanks alot Sir.

[@Михайло-д2п]

This build is complete nonsense. You have a storm sorcerer. All lightning/cold magic deals +100% damage to wet targets. You cast to create water (does not take away the magic slot if you do not increase the level) by a sorcerer or another member of the party and throw lightning. What the hell is a fireball? Why?

[@FaIIenSkater91]

Gotta go tempest for 2 levels

[@Cephalopocalypse]

I talk about that option a little in the video - full guide on that version coming soon!

[@FaIIenSkater91]

@@Cephalopocalypse playing it rn, its pretty nuts, especially w the lightning charge items and staff, stacks up very fast and u get bonus damage damn near every turn using the bonus action fly + a casting

[@NotDeadYetJim]

Since sorcerer spells drop off after 5 sorc levels (ie after level 3 spells), have you considered taking the remaining 7 levels all in cleric. You could twin haste on party members, then cast sanctuary on yourself to virtually guarantee your concentration. You can still damage without breaking sanctuary, glyph of warding for example, plus you can summon

[@Suikojunkies]

very smart

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Definitely a solid option! The main downside will be lack of sorcery points - you'll end up converting a lot of your spell slots to points to keep using Twin Spell every fight. Sanctuary is a great option and one you could actually use even with only one cleric level as well :D

[@andrewcarter9649]

They don't drop off though, they have access to some of the most powerful spells in the game. You're also creating a character that is entirely MAD (multi ability score dependent) as it'll be heavily reliant on Charisma, Constitution and Wisdom and that only has access to 4th level spells which for a spellcaster with no melee capability is rubbish.

[@NotDeadYetJim]

⁠that’s not necessarily true. You would respec to maximize wisdom but since twin haste is what you want from sorcerer, you don’t need high charisma. You don’t need particularly high con as you’ll be in sanctuary. And since cleric is a full caster you will have access to level 6 spells which are very powerful for cleric. Also once you have hasted your party (recommend two battle masters) and you are in sanctuary you then have all the heals and buffs and statues removal spells to keep them fighting. And as an FYI, wall of fire which you can learn as a light cleric doesn’t break sanctuary

[@cuddlebear7132]

You have a really fantastic explanation of things, would be cool to see you do some combat encounters to see how your brain works on the fly! Best builds on the net x

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks so much! I really appreciate that! I did do a few episodes of a playthrough so you can definitely check those out - sadly I had to put it on hold because of low views, but I'm working on ways to bring more gameplay back to the channel soon(tm).

[@cuddlebear7132]

No worries! I'll defo check them out. Yeah that's fair, this YT stuff seems very tricky....maybe you could demonstrate with some of your builds but maybe title something g provocative like "why you suck at BG3 combat" haha@@Cephalopocalypse

[@andrewcarter9649]

Personally, if you're only taking a 1 level dip into Cleric I'd go Light over Life. Sure, you're giving up Heavy Armour but Warding Flare + Shield is going to see you through pretty much all encounters, I find healing beyond the occasional potion, even on tactician, to be mostly irrelevant. Of course if I was maximizing this build I'd go Storm Sorcerer 9/ Tempest Cleric 2/Wizard 1, you get your 6th level spells and Channel Divinity for a max damage Twinned Chain Lightning.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Light cleric is also a great option! I have found that shield by itself is enough defensive reactions, but a resource-free way to stop attacks is also excellent of course. One reason I like getting heavy armor is just the truly excellent Dwarven Splint and other broken heavy armors, +2 CON is so valuable for this build - life cleric coming with bless is also nice. I mention the tempest cleric version in the video - full guide on that coming soon!

[@boohoohoohoo]

Does chain lightning fully twin? E.g. if there are 5 mobs... you hit two with initial lightning blow, can both chain lightninged mobs spread their 3 bolts to the same 3 mobs?

[@Cephalopocalypse]

I'm honestly not sure! In tabletop D&D, you can't twin chain lightning at all (you can see in the video I'm a little surprised the game lets you). I would assume since you can in BG3, it will let you double up on the extra hits, but would have to test that further!

[@doomrot]

Helldusk Armour prevents fire damage from Burning. You'll still have the Burning effect, but it'll 0 dmg each turn.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Good idea! Definitely a solid pick if you want to use the fire hat.

[@doomrot]

@@Cephalopocalypse PSA: the Pyroquickness Hat is bugged, but there's a trick. Say you cast your 1st fire spell and get the extra bonus action. If you use your 1st bonus action to quickened spell another fire spell, it'll eat both your bonus actions about 90% of the time (I could not figure out a pattern, just seemed randomly bugged). Therefore, your 1st bonus action has to be anything other than a fire spell (Fire Bolt cantrip is ok because it's not a "spell"). Then your 2nd bonus action can be whatever, fire away.

[@davidmills1520]

I play solo tactician single-class without reloading (except perhaps in rare story cases like for Arabella or Rolan early on), and mostly stop the run if a character dies even once. No barrels, of course. I can almost guarantee you that taking the run as a whole, all 3 acts, Gloomstalker is likely best (assuming pure class - of course multiclassing makes this mostly moot, but even then Gloomstalker is still the best base, then you can go thief, bard, 2 fighter, whatever). Besides easily not dying, ever, on solo tactician, I was able to do things like kill Yurgir and all of his Meregons before they could act (1 was left with 15 hps, technically), without even using perilous stakes or multi-target arrows, just a haste potion and my normal gear. Every fight was basically utter death before the enemy could act. You hit for about 40 damage per hit, non-crit, with essentially no chance of missing (I play as a halfling), and can get full use of a bloodlust potion, since you don't need any of the other elixers much, and you never need to rest, so you can keep all 4 massive buffs you get in Act 1 and 2 (as long as you don't have Laezel so Voss doesn't come make you rest) all the way until the force you to rest between 2 and 3. (Blessing, Morninglord, Shars, and Bliss) Gear for Act 1 is Titan bow, club of hill giant str, caustic ring, bracers of archery, and whatever else. Then, as you get the Arcane Circlet, Drakethroat Glaive, and Strange Conduit ring, your damage is complete until you change things up however you want in Act 3. You also have very nice AC and proficiency in many saves (I do ASI dex, Sharpshooter, and Con Resilience at lvl 4, 8 , 12). Lvl 7 Gloomstalkers get Int and Wis save proficiency. As nice as a sorc or fighter is, they don't have anywhere near the pure dominance that a Gloomstalker has. Act 3 is trivial for most classes because of the silly gear there, if you know what you are doing (which I actually mostly don't, as I haven't done Act 3 much). Another class that worked very well, surprisingly, was shadow monk (pure class, which sucks at later levels when you basically get nothing). But a shadow monk is basically a really really bad gloomstalker. If we are ONLY talking about after you have mostly finished Act 3, are lvl 12, and have all the best end game gear, then yeah, of course a fighter or sorc are probably the best. If multiclassing, the I assume that a Paldin/Warlocks also great at the very end as well, along with pretty much everything else.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Good points, and appreciate the deep dive! It's definitely true that for solo runs, the ranged stealth builds are strongest. That's a pretty specific use case though, and not really the target for this simple builds series. By "best" here I don't necessarily mean "absolutely most powerful" but the class that will provide the most options and most interesting first play experience, while giving players great tools for beating tactician (eg, one focus is dialogue skills, which are mostly irrelevant to challenge runs).

[@davidmills1520]

@@Cephalopocalypse Ahh nice. Definitely a great build then, for a first play experience. And nice point (from your other post) about making equipment-neutral builds for the first time experience builds. Ranged stealth is actually frustrating in bg3 if you aren't solo, because of how all of your other characters don't enter combat when it starts (and leave turn-based on top of that), so Sorc is extra nice for that reason.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

@@davidmills1520 Cheers! I also totally forgot this was going up tomorrow because I record these several days in advance, but you may want to check out tomorrow's guide ;)

[@busty1985]

I certainly understand that for utility and optimization early at least the tempestuous flight is amazing, but I do think there's an argument to be made for draconic ancestry later. If for whatever reason (rp or whatnot) you opt away from the story choice that grants you the ability to fly, the subclass feature for draconic at lvl 11 give you that and the base 13 ac makes mage armor irrelevant and you can get pretty decent ac without any armor proficiencies (going human or half elf is a good option for shield proficiency as the +3 initiative shield, or spell save dc one are both really strong options and +2 ac for free is too good to pass up). Fire ancestor of whatever sort and scorching ray with the charisma modifier as bonus dmg does ridiculous amounts of dmg

[@Cephalopocalypse]

For sure, CHA to damage is super powerful, especially with certain combos (Build guide on one of those coming soon)! This build won't really use the AC, since we get heavy armor and shields from the cleric dip anyways, but it's handy if you want to wear a robe, of which there are of course a few excellent ones.

[@OutlookJonas]

A couple things you got wrong here. You can't cast mage armor on anyone else, it's a self cast only spell. You can't have your sorcerer cast haste first if one of your party members wins initiative. You can only do this if your sorcerer and another party member are first in the turn order. This is a pretty lousy solo tactician build as you are incredibly squishy and have terrible wisdom saving throws. People overrate Lucky as the best racial in the game, natural 1s are only a 5% chance whereas rolling a 2 or 3 is often just as bad and likely to fail for you. Gnome has the best racial in the game giving you advantage on int/wis/cha saving throws. The best solo build is 100% the paladin 6/ warlock 6 build for 3 attacks per turn, smites for days and insanely strong defensive capabilities.

[@sorenjensen3863]

I mean, Pallock may be the best, but so many are viable. I've currently done 5 solo runs and my assassin was the most difficult (in act 1)

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Yes, I misspoke regarding mage armor - should be use a scroll or have a party member cast barkskin. Didn't really read the rest of your comment since it seemed rude.