The ELDRITCH ARCHER - Bg3 Lae'zel Honour Build Guide

Want the simplest to build and easiest character to play in the game? Want to actually cast spells and make weapon attacks? Want to never, ever be in danger of dying? Look no further!
This character uses Eldritch Knight Fighter to get great damage, powerful utility, and unparalleled survivability!
Full detailed honour level guide from 1-12, including stats, feats, items, and abilities!
0:00 Intro and Build Goals
2:19 Level 1
5:33 Level 2
6:01 Level 3
10:10 Level 4
12:29 Level 5
13:11 Level 6
14:05 Level 7
17:06 Level 8
19:12 Level 9
20:40 Level 10
22:37 Level 11
23:52 Level 12 and Final Build
24:56 Items and Gear
29:11 Typical Combat Turn

[@marjase9172]

Eldritch knight is seriously underrated one of the best builds to solo the game with especially honour mode

[@gaigeriel]

somewhat related, but Arrows of Many Targets give a stack of arcane acuity per hit when using the helm of AA. Being able to pop one of them at the beginning of combat is super super helpful

[@dimKiriyenko]

Eldritch strike is actually one the game's “poor tooltips”, or maybe a bugged implementation: it gives enemy disadvantage for any saving throw you inflict during its duration, not just one spell. This makes Eldritch knight Archer the best of proccing things with fixed save DC. Here are the ones I usually use with my ek archer: - Harold crossbow and Banshee bow - Weapon coatings!!! - Special arrows effect - Encrusted with frost - Reverberation Really love this simple build.

[@YouWantIt1Way]

Bow of banshee is cracked with the ice gear and the drakethroat glaive

[@br4690]

Thanks for your videos! Really love your channel :) There is a very underrated combo for eldritch knights that is available at level 3: (and it's better, cheaper and available earlier than magic weapon at lvl 8) Get expeditious retreat with the extended spell list and get bonus action dashes for free all day long. This spell is awesome on any fighter build on is own !! But on top of that, you'll be able to use "the speedy light-feet" boots to gain 3 free lightning charges every turns. (which is also arguably a better buff than magic weapon +1) Besides, these boots are medium armor, which make them very hard to use for rogues that also get bonus action dash and for mages with expeditious retreat. It's like these boots were literally made for eldritch knights !! And no one speaks about them ! (Btw, the water sparklers are also great for the same effect, but are less reliable) On a side note, I think you should abuse more the replace spell option in the early lvls: replaced spells are drawn for the extended spell list. Jump, feather fall and even summon familiar are imo better (and funnier) options than any other lvl1 spells besides shield, not even mentioning theses are rituals and are free to use. So you can get more lvl1 spell charges for more shields (which anyway, is almost never used if you alfa strike everything to death! lol) War magic is also great DPRwise in honor mode for eldritch knigths with one level in warlock and EB+potent robes (or spell initiate warlock feat). (Actually this mechanic arguably makes them one of the best DPR weapon users for honor mode due to restrictions on attacks per action not applying on the quantity of EB bolts) And another option for one level multiclassing is, like battlemasters, 1lvl WPriest and swaping INT to WIS to get better a saving throw to our greatest weakness and to proc diadem of arcane synergy from it while having access to command spell and more. Getting background/races that give access to lock-piking and stealth makes wonders for solo exploration on an EK with jump, feather fall and expeditious retreat. You are able to fight and retreat, your weapon accuracy and damage are godlike and you have crazy sustainability. But mostly it's sooooo fun to feel that freedom of movement and security through the game !! Love your builds and the way you think about them! Started brotato madness few weeks ago thanks to you ;)

[@lakisoo]

I am so happy that you still post those

[@Mike-v5y]

Keep up the great videos! Came for brotato, now I'm watching these.

[@Ddotsattack]

Loving your BG3 content!

[@hrolnir]

After 1,000 hours, I'm starting my first Honour Mode run, and I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out what to do with Lae'zel, to avoid being a generic Battlemaster. I fell in love with the Eldritch Knight during my modded playthrough, using 5e Spells for Booming / Green Flame Blade and War Magic. Super happy to see another incredible Eldritch Knight build. Love your content dude, every video is a must-watch.

[@giannig5258]

Same, modded eldritch knight is super cool.

[@user-en1hr9nq5n]

😂 same i always make her a great sword wielding battle master

[@alexw4482]

I’m planning to build her 4 paladin 8 warlock next run. Let her get the silver sword and smash everything.

[@Daggoth65]

@@alexw4482 if not in Honor Mode you want 5 Paladin for the stacking extra attack with Bladelock to get 3 attacks

[@GonzaloMenaFuenzalidacl]

Thanks for the shoutout! And excellent pronunciation of my last name. Friends of years don't pronounce it as well as you

[@Chris_the_Nerd]

Stoked to see a video about my favorite Honour build! On mine I boosted Intelligence and use the Gloves of Dexterity so that I can cycle in Ray of Frost with the necklace that boosts cantrips, the Ring of Arcane Synergy and the Helmet of Arcane Acuity so I can be a bad ass scroll caster.

[@ashleysigmon1223]

Going to try this with Minsc, taking advantage of Boo's eldritch might.

[@jakeloewen533]

He finally made that true strike build

[@joshforthsorare7871]

Loved this build! As always very well thought out and explained. A couple of thoughts I had is that early game Expeditious Retreat and The Speedy Lightfeet boots work really well to stack lightening charges dealing additional damage. Also I like using my Eldritch Archer as a frost archer, with Drakethroat Glaive cold buff, Winters Clutches gloves, Snow Burst ring and Mourning Frost staff, you can spread ice surfaces and inflict mass encrusted with frost/frozen/chilled condition with many target arrows which can be really powerful. Also get a free Ray of Frost with the staff and +1 cold damage for that free Cantrip use!

[@cunninghamrobin]

This was approximately what I played on my first playthrough. It was great, even though I had no idea how to optimize.

[@MagpieMcGraw]

Oh man I just made a build like this for my recent HM run. I'm gonna watch this video now and see how close it matches to what I was going to do. EDIT: I have now watched the video. Very interesting. On my build I was going to go Stats: 17 int, 16 dex, 14 con, 10 wis. Feats: sharpshooter, athlete, ASI dex+int, ASI int. Gear: Harold enchanted with draconic elemental weapon cold, snowburst ring, encrusted with frost gloves, boots of stormy clamor, diadem of arcane synergy, club of strength, ketheric's shield, graceful cloth. This all gives me 20 dex, 20 int, 21 AC with mage armor, and all enemies being proned, baned, encrusted with frost and reverberating. Nobody's going anywhere. I was going to have Lae'zel use this build. With astral knowledge giving her a total of +9 to int skills, she really does understand much beyond our comprehension.

[@andreww3025]

I have watched so many of your vids but to my surprise not subscribed. Thank you for helping me with my golden dice

[@thevigilmain6628]

Hello Cephalo. Could you please do an illithid powers tierlist?

[@gregoberski5897]

One of the best Illithid Powers for this character is one which is normally trash; Ability Drain. Ability Drain is a passive (though it doesn't appear in your passive tab). Once per turn, when you make an attack roll against an enemy, the Ability you used for that attack roll will be substracted by 1 on the enemy. Dex based characters are really the only ones who benefit from this meaningfully. Once per round, as long as any of your attacks connect, the enemy will permanently lose 1 Dexterity. This is amazing because it will begin chipping away at their AC, weakening their Dexterity saving throws, and of course reducing the damage of enemy archers and rogues. This ability is right next to an Illithid Power you were probably going to take anyways, Psionic Overload, and so also doesn't cost anything more than 1 parasite, so you can have this very early in the game, for the rest of the whole game.

[@InnocentLock-er6et]

I love Eldritch knight. My favorite build is 11 fighter - 1 war cleric. This lets you have bonus action attacks before you get level 7 and lets you function as a ranged holy warrior if you don’t have a radiant orb cleric in your party. Eldritch knight uses special arrows better than anyone else, so divine favor + arrow of many targets makes a very powerful damage dealer and support by being able to hit every enemy on the field with radiant damage applying radiating orb and/or reverberation (which Eldritch strike gives disadvantage on the prone save btw)

[@JulesBrunoJjBaggy]

Thank you I love bae'zel it's hard to not just steal the silver sword in act 1 for me personally.

[@mikedickens848]

Good video.

[@ianwinter514]

with the vital conduit boots and the strange conduit ring equipped one can cast true strike when hasted and gain 8 temp hp and 1d4 psychic damage for one attack or with the band of mystic scoundrell cast hold person as bonus action

[@wladib8770]

On my very first playthrough iafe Lae'Zel my double Handbow single class Archer Fighter. She was an absolute beasts. Of course, far from perfect, but still, very strong.

[@zorlix130]

Have you considered making a comparison video between all the different builds focusing on a certain play style? As in, a comparison between all the archery builds (or at least the most popular ones or the ones you consider the best), a comparison between all the close-quarters melee builds, all the damage-focused spellcasters etc. You've done a lot of build guides, but I think a lot of people might struggle to choose between them. For example, if you want to make an archery build, should you go for Swords Bard, Rogue, Ranger, Fighter, or some kind of multiclass? It could be an interesting and useful video.

[@tunarulesatca]

I don't think it's very useful or relevant. If you want to min max, this isn't the game for it. Either pick the build that works for your team or the one that stands out to you.

[@MarkSpirals]

Awesome build! This is also easily tweaked for a Melee version

[@djglxxii]

Yeah I'm wondering if there's a good tank Eldritch Knight build.

[@YouWantIt1Way]

@@djglxxiiEldritch knight is the tankiest fighter due to shield spell if you go heavy armor and get heavy armor master you’ll be unkillable

[@mobinaji]

Nice

[@Alexander_0385]

you could use Tashas or find familiar for the raven or drakness if you get the devil sight items... i also always think about the Gloves of Baneful Striking, but havn't been able to test them yet. you can also upcast magical weapon to level 4 by drinking the Supreme Elixir of Arcane Cultivation

[@bananadane]

Dwarves and dice made a very good case for not taking sharpshooter, highly recommend checking out their video on the subject. When you map it out, it really does not add to damage as much as you might think and is outclassed by taking an ASI in many situations. One possible exception is a gloomstocker assassin

[@Cephalopocalypse]

I'll check it out, but to be honest I'm very skeptical - the math on this has been examined *extensively* by the community. I'd be very surprised if they overturned what we've known for decades to be true! It's also worth considering that average damage per attack is really a shortcut from the stat that actually matters, which is number of actions required to kill enemies. Sharpshooter increases your maximum damage dealt with a single attack, making it easier to drop enemies to 0 in fewer actions.

[@talesfromapartment8497]

Always take Thunderwave! ;-) I just finished the fight with Orin and I used Thunderwave to push four of her Sanctuaried attendants off the ledge. It's also excellent for killing Scrying Eyes.

[@joshhobbs4862]

🔥🔥🔥

[@YouWantIt1Way]

I really like morning frost staff with this build with war magic and using the drakethroat glaive on the bow of the banshee with the snow burst ring to freeze or frighten enemies

[@SashaBaych]

An inspiring build as always! I have been looking for a way to fit together a barbarian Karlach and Leazel in a party without leaning to much into melee and this seems to be it! There is one thing that remains unclear about the build though. So is this one ludicrously powerful or is it more ridiculously overpowered?

[@jpof05]

Just make Laezel as a eldritch thrower and karlach a berserker thrower. This way your party stays ranged and both builds are decent from the get go and will do great damage in honour mode

[@PierrePsst]

Eldritch Knight is such a hard cary. Good damage output, consistent offensively and defensively, some panic buttons. The only downside is that they're becoming rather boring to play long term ! I like Mirror Image on them, just to maximise AC on an already unkillable character. Love the explanation on War Magic + Eldritch strike and Arcane synergy combo. Never thought of that.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Yeah, the tragedy of the class is it doesn't do what you'd think it's supposed to do, but fighter is so conceptually powerful that "fighter, with some extra defenses" is just an incredible thing to be. Mirror Image is a good spell for them for sure! I also meant to talk about which scrolls were good for them but ran out of time when recording

[@greex1024]

I need a tanky archer build for Lae'zel ... and you post a new video.

[@steveherman9419]

Do you have a stealth party video? It didn't seem like it. I was thinking of trying a shadow monk, gloom stalker ranger, some sort of rogue multiclass (bard?), and then... I'm not sure. Probably something tanky or just let Shadowheart stay a trickery cleric.

[@quasarsword7479]

In my table top game I found a +2 quarter staff that can give true strike on a bonus action. With some other stuff . Staff of the reverent warrior.

[@mittag6326]

Hah, I chuckled when I heard true strike takes concentration. Obviously I never used it, so I never noticed it. They took the worst, most useless cantrip in the game, and made it use one of the most important resources xD

[@kingofgrim4761]

Doing a 2 player HM run, planned to use abjuration wizard and potentially swords bard, do you think this build would be more favorable? I figure bard fixes the charisma issue, but this just seems so much more versatile

[@jpof05]

Swords bard will be great. It’s probably the second best build for solo HM only second to a gloomstalker assassin. Good luck with it

[@pal7316]

I think another good bow option would be one of the haste bows to self cast haste, even if they deal less damage

[@Nerocrossius]

Should do an archer build tier list.

[@skullkrusher-dx4kg]

I four using a player character is it better to get high charisma instead of intel?

[@doloresabernathy9809]

Ceph this is very timely for me because i was about to add an eldritch knight build to my party since ive never played it. one thing that puzzles me: to get the benefit of eldritch strike you attack with a weapon attack. since extra attack does not work for spells, you have to cast any spell with advantage the next turn. but the spell will use your entire action, unless its a cantrip. so when would I want to spend my entire action to cast Hold Person or a damage spell instead of a minimum of three weapon attacks plus one cantrip? I am not saying its never worth it, if you are hasted for example so can still attack that turn. but i don’t see an obvious use case for it. any thoughts?

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Good question! The trick here is to use hasted or bloodlust actions to cast spells - with those, you can land the spell in the same turn as the weapon attack and gain the benefit of eldritch strike

[@doloresabernathy9809]

@@Cephalopocalypse aha makes sense! Especially if you add Terazul on top which stacks even in Honor Mode. i learned about Terazul from this channel.

[@InnocentLock-er6et]

Even for non spell casting eldritch knights, Eldritch strike does more than the tooltip suggests. It causes disadvantage against any condition you apply to that creature including things like the bow of the banshee fear or encrusted with frost if you enchant your bow with cold while holding the mourning frost staff. It’s a lot more versatile than the tooltip suggests and can even work well on a mostly utility spell casting Eldritch knight

[@doloresabernathy9809]

@@InnocentLock-er6et good to know!

[@bentrieschmann]

Hey, what are the tricks for Arcane lock? I get the uses for Pen and Paper. But what about for BG3?

[@MagpieMcGraw]

One time I attacked Gortash during the coronation. I managed to carry him out of the main hall, and into the hallway. And then I arcane locked the doors. The enemies broke them down in a few turns, but it was enough time to solo Gortash.

[@p.d.waltman9451]

i also noticed that it was showing Wisdom for the ability of spells - is that just a display bug of BG3?

[@comebackqing8452]

Is anyone else getting a glitch where spells affect one less target than they are supposed to? For example I target the whole party with longstrider but it never hits the last character i target. I target 3 bodies for Summon Undead but it only summons 2 zombies ect.

[@Pennji]

Is using haste necessary here? I want to make this build in my multiplayer world and I don’t think any my three friends will have the spell

[@c4b-bage]

Rhapsody is too good to pass up.

[@iagomarques5998]

Can you do a guide to a dual-wielding minthara build, using mostly paladin? Im trying to get one that wirks, but i'm struggling Also i think that a build like this can fit her looks when we first met her

[@PixiePulse_]

This build is really cool. Its super close to something I spent a while theory crafting for Honor mode. The main idea was finding a build that could make use of Magic Weapon on a bow, so I settled on Eldritch Knight. I then figured "Well if I'm primarily using Dex, lets go for Medium armor". Then I saw EK also gets Shield so I went with a High AC Archer with some magic mixed in. Very fun to play so far and very interesting to watch somebody come to a lot of the same conclusions!

[@jkfoxworth17]

How about a 2 level dip in to Warlock for Eldridge Blast, agonizing blast and devil sight (for darkness) or (repelling blast). Now you can take advantage of War Magic with Eldritch Blast (spell sparkler), along with your bonus attack. Maybe even 3 levels of rogue for assassin or thief for additional fun.

[@kingofgrim4761]

Only issue is then you need to find a way to get enough points in charisma to make it worth, but I like the idea and use of war magic

[@jkfoxworth17]

@@kingofgrim4761 I think you are dumping Intelligence (using non int spells and possibly strength, could do titan string with str elixirs). If you took some rogue now you can hide in darkness.

[@kingofgrim4761]

This is partially unrelated, but have you (and others) noticed that Shield does not block magic missile for Player characters? It does block it for enemies, but shield does not block magic missile. (I Lost an HM run on the final boss fight due to this)

[@kinggamereon653]

My condolences. Idiotic if that's the case with how the art for the spell is literally it blocking a magic missile.

[@kingofgrim4761]

@@kinggamereon653 thankfully it wasn’t my first HM run, but it was the first with my friends in coop :(

[@Bward888]

Do a vid with a great balanced honor mode party with builds that dont compete for gear. Maybe there is one and I missed it. I know there's the vid about the top tier builds for honor mode, but I'm always worried about party balance and gear competition.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

I've done several! Check out the Full Party Builds playlist on my channel

[@AidenKelley-ih4ep]

Do A Chunky + Demon + Ghost Scepter GMO Run In Brotato!

[@Streptospondylus]

Probably the only build where true strike can be slightly useful, even tho you can use war magic to cast a better cantrip... XD

[@omgopet]

I think you just made a swords bard. All jokes aside, the cantrip gimmick is cool and all, but it's such a marginal thing it's not worth building around. Band of the mystic scoundrel + helm of arcane synergy is pretty great, though. The problem is that you can't upcast hold person (does getting wizard at 12 unlock lvl 3 slot?) or get hold monster for bosses, so bard will always be better.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Sure, but if you choose not to build any character because swords bard does it better you will play a lot of 4 bard parties :P

[@omgopet]

@@Cephalopocalypse Not necessarily, sometimes i throw in a sorc or a TB monk, I'm whimsical like that.

[@The_Real_Kitsune]

As someone new to bg3 / d+d stuff would a drow work with this build or is there a better class they would fit. Thanks 😊

[@p.d.waltman9451]

i don't understand, isn't magic weapon a melee only attack spell

[@InnocentLock-er6et]

Maybe you are thinking of spiritual weapon? Magic weapon is a concentration spell that adds +1 to attack and damage of your equipped weapon. As long as you are holding the bow when you cast it, it will apply to the bow

[@jaycamacho6746]

If this was your Tav, wouldn’t you be missing a bunch of dialogue rolls? Asking for a friend 😊

[@private69xd59]

When he was picking skills why did it say wisdom at the top and not int

[@private69xd59]

Sorry spells not skills

[@Rheiss]

Is the thumbnail a naddpod reference for anyone who gets that; I doubt it but lmao if it is

[@unplaya_able5809]

I got 4 ads in 5 minutes… Had to just close the vid

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Sadly I have almost no control over how many ads you see - it's based mostly on your viewing history and location and is determined by youtube

[@unplaya_able5809]

@@Cephalopocalypse thats why i still give you a like :( But im mad at the overlords right now

[@alexrawlings541]

9 views in 2 minutes. You're doing great, king

[@izzysantiago9714]

141 in 14

[@Mike-v5y]

543 in 42 minutes

[@AustinCampion]

617 @ 49!

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Haha, thanks! Fun fact: the public viewcount actually only updates when people pause or exit the video (and maybe some other conditions, like when they hit an ad), so when you check right away you're not seeing the real count. My videos usually get ~50 views in the first minute from people who watch from notifications or just refresh the page at 10AM, though that drops off pretty sharply for the second minute. This particular one got 111 in the first 5 minutes, going up to 146 by 10 minutes. 1100 exactly in the first hour. Overall it's doing better than most, and is 4th out of 10 for viewcount at the current time since posting of my last 10 videos (though this has been a very good couple weeks for viewcount thanks to the top 11 builds video and the swords bard video - in a different ten day period this would probably be #1 or 2).

[@AustinCampion]

@@Cephalopocalypse these tasteless masses have no appreciation for a 45-minute Pocket Factory search??

[@miked2232]

True Strike build!

[@-AytaL-]

I've watched some of your build video, while they are good quality content I believe it's missing a in combat showcase part. It could be a short teaseing at the beginning of each video and then last video part could be the build in action during some turns.

[@tylermauro3621]

He did them for a little bit a while ago but his engagement dropped significantly for those parts of the videos. He also just purports that other people do that type of video better. Shrug.

[@micahisonYT]

First 30 views 🎉

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Nice!

[@jakeparkinson8929]

I was thinking literally just a 8/4 split between EK and thief; then just cast truestrike as a main action and use both bonus actions with hand crossbows.

[@KeAlHa]

True Strike is still a bad cantrip with this build. It is pretty much always better to just do 2 attacks (and definitely 3 attacks) instead of getting advantage on 1 attack. True Strike + 1 attack gives you 2 attack rolls and the possibility of 1 hit, while 2 attacks gives you 2 attack rolls and the possibility of 2 hits, so attacking twice has the same chance of hitting once but can also hit twice for more damage on average.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

That's why I don't suggest using it instead of an attack - watch the sections on True Strike and War Magic again :)

[@KeAlHa]

​@@CephalopocalypseAh, I missed the part where you said hasted/bloodlust attack instead of normal attack. That's not something that normally works in tabletop. The benefit of this is still pretty marginal, at this point I usually have a lot of other things competing for my bonus action. Also with the archery fighting style, archers usually don't have as much trouble hitting. This would probably be more effective for a melee fighter. I really wish they put the melee cantrips (booming and greenflame blade) in the base game, war magic is actually good with those.

[@CharlesHallESP]

Truestrike forever

[@threadbearr8866]

Under 30 seconds gang 😮

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Nice!