The Ice Breaker: BG3 Episode #11

[@ApothecaryAlyth]

Glad to see a build that is more item-oriented. I agree with you that the fixed nature and intersting features available on many magic items in BG3 is just ripe for fun/powerful/interesting builds.

[@carlosh9476]

Definitely, this is an appreciated updated just for BG3. I only dislike videos when they include items that aren’t available early. I’d say the cutoff is early, no fights required act 3…. like Nyrulna.

[@UltimateGamer-dc9vf]

​@carlosh9476 I feel like high level items should be used in builds when they just add to it, not if the build works at level 11 when you get the item.

[@Kirk9019]

​@@UltimateGamer-dc9vfI don't mind if someone is making a high level build, provided they state that it is a high level build. Very annoying if someone posts something like "highest damage bg3 build I've ever seen" then you find out that it only works in late act 3 with certain magic items

[@CAiNiAC]

​@@carlosh9476nothing about Nayrulna would make or break a build. Plenty of substitutes until you reach it.

[@ewilson92]

@@Kirk9019 I saw a "highest AC" build on Reddit that required a shield that literally drops in the final fight lol.

[@DanParker933]

Came into BG3 with absolutely no prior DnD knowledge and I must say, your builds and videos have not only been entertaining but have also been so informative in blooding me into this crazy and wonderful world; cheers for being accessible and positive, mate.

[@DSTkunn]

Fun part of this build to make it even more gishy, the diadem of arcane synergy. When you inflict a condition such as wet or chilled, you gain arcane synergy which will add your spellcasting mod of the last casting class you recently leveled into to your weapon attacks

[@loadedcouchpotato6567]

I changed my Shadowheart to Tempest and discovered that you can use the Tempest Cleric's Channel Divinity to do max lightning damage with scrolls. So... yeah... stack those Chain Lightning and Lightning Bolt scrolls when you find them.

[@1621lionheart]

I hope Larian watches all of these build videos and release them in a DLC... AS ENEMIES

[@starrunner2838]

Don’t give the any ideas

[@oliorogue]

I agree, let some of the fans make some bosses

[@jensenmcjens4029]

Wait a minute. I know how to insert custom enemies into BG3 via mods (or better said, where to learn it). Give me some ideas where to place them and I try to write a "d4 - Fallen legends of Faerun" mod :D If Colby is fine about name/using his builds of course. Thing is, not 100% that they will use the builds perfectly right away. There maybe someone with experience on Larians AI has to help out.

[@gethriel]

Yeah, no. They should START by making the game they promised. Can fun be had? Sure. DESPITE such a trash game.

[@codymarshall587]

@@gethriellmfao, you’re ridiculous but good bait

[@TheBritishPoro]

I was literally thinking the other day, "I wish Colby would make BG3 builds that discuss the magic items in the game, things like the extra missile per Magic Missile cast item are cool!", and here you are!! I remember you having 4k subs, so glad your channel has reached this size. The quality of your builds is unlike anything else on the platform. Keep it up!!!

[@TheUncleJason]

Crafting builds around magic items could be a very popular playlist for Colby.

[@havasimark]

The amulet + Spellsparkler for saving Florrick in Waukeen's rest, replaced by Markoheskir late game. Gloves of belligerent skies from the Inqisitor's room in the Creche. Stormy clamour boots from Omeluum. The basic build is set up by level 3, can be any spellcasting build that you can put magic missile on. It's not dependent on your spellcasting stat, just make sure your spell level progression is unbroken. Follow up with the Ring of absolute force from the Grymforge duergar, Ring of spiteful thunder and the Ne'er misser from Roah in Moonrise, replace absolute force with Callous glow from the vault near Balthazaar's room in the Gauntlet. The Thunderskin cloak from Araj is thematic but doesn't do much, it's okay as long as you don't get anything better. Dual wielding Phalar aluve and using shriek (preferably before combat, because it's an action) or having it another character in the party adds an extra level of depth to the character. You might want to have quickened spell and a few sorcery points to power it for nova capability. Perfectly viable on an agathis/arcane ward build, in that case you might want to add the Lifebringer from Blurg. You have your cloak, helmet, armour and ranged slots free to expand to your taste. If you are running a radiating orb build parallel with this, the enemies get so many debuffs that they just can't hit anyone. These were two of my honour run party.

[@The_LaughingHyena]

When you released your Abjuration build, there was nothing more satisfying than running toward a bunch of melee enemies and forcing them to attack by running past them dealing damage with just movement and then re-casting armor of agathys.

[@seamonkey8435]

6:07 I feel that! All I do when I’m at work is think about Baldurs gate 3. When I go home, all I do is play BG3. My wife hasn’t been too happy for a couple months.

[@toddparker514]

I'm glad I'm not alone I feel your pain lmao

[@ducky36F]

My wife plays BG3 almost as much as me 😂

[@jbonez7456]

I never thought I would love to replay a game over and over with different characters but this game blows me away. Your videos help me out so much. I'm also a first-time DnD player.

[@MrDavidKord]

You never played Baldur's Gate 2, did you?

[@davidgriffith1552]

Some of this is D&D, some of it is Larian’s twist. I loved the hell out of BG and BGII, but DOS and DOSII are some of the most replayable games ever made. The different origin stories, different build possibilities, impact of every choice… it’s as much Larian as D&D. I’m STILL not done with my first playthrough of BG3, but I’m already excited about my next!

[@MavMaestro]

If you go the bard route, and pick up the gauntlets of giant strength then i suggest picking up in act 1 the diadem of arcane synergy to be consistently adding be your spellcasting modifier to melee weapon damage.

[@justsharki]

Thing is...when Colby says "Welcome home." I do feel at home. Thank you Colby!

[@smills8]

Would love to see a build incorporating illithid powers!

[@vladm2364]

Critlander is already there

[@TJPavey]

Fun build. I’d love to see a “quick” summary of your favorite party at end level including items.

[@darkshowlp]

Hey Colby Just wanted to say i really appreciate your intro. Makes me feel welcome every time i watch a video of yours

[@richardsego]

I actually showed it to my brother just as an example that genuine, honest sincerity is possible on YT!

[@matthewharding584]

I prefer the cold draconic sorc 1, war Cleric 1, Abjuration Wizard 10

[@ehsanrahee7411]

War cleric for the Channel Divinity? I'm considering this idea for my Gale.

[@kingofnerds7693]

i would reccomend grapping the gloves of missile snaring, it mostly fixes your ranged enemy issue

[@PrinsB]

To hear you reflect on why you choose a particular feat based on wich items you already have and how you acquire specific proficiencys has deepened my understanding of the game and multiclassing so significantly. Thank you Coby ❤

[@dragondragondragon]

In the other hand, agathys+ward IS soooo damaging that I usually do far more damage using my action to dash (and bonus action to activate the gnome boots of running) and provoking 2 or 3 more oportunity attacks, than with tridente and flail

[@DnDDeepDive]

Indeed - I mention this in a short recap I'll release Thursday but more and more I'm finding it to be more important to intentionally provoke opportunity attacks than just about anything else I can do - especially if they're wet. Haste is fantastic for this (I just wish it didn't increase my AC in this case :). And of course if you get knocked prone it's a real bummer, but often worth the risk).

[@jyabriel08]

More of these please, this will be a good series. This came just in time because I decided to replay the other day with durge

[@saturnineyyy]

Yes, I’m so excited to see this! Most guides that mention items mention the same handful of generic optimal ones (don’t get me wrong I love those items they’re good for a reason) But seeing you take a more unique magic item you like and really going in on it is so fun. Really appreciate your videos always!!

[@DaraelDraconis]

Why would anyone have suggested "Alwayswinter" when "Foreverwinter" is an equivalent but far superior joke?

[@furiosomalus]

Hey love your videos. I use your Karlach throw barbarian build, then I use enraged throw and have carafe/bottle of water as the weapon. This does damage, knocks your opponent prone, AND makes them wet. You then get double damage from loghtning/cold and advantage (str/dex saves) to hit cos of the prone condition.

[@daveyfunk]

Just thinking this build would be even crazier if you added 2 Paladin and 1 War Cleric. So changing it to 8 Wizard/1 Sorc/1 War Cleric/2 Paladin. Using Haste you'd get extra attack action and you'd also get 3 bonus attacks each long rest with War Cleric and also create water doubling all cold damage. You lose the 6 level spell slot but you get smites on your weapon attacks and so makes your weapon attacks much more damaging. You'd get two feats and so maybe savage attacks and dual wielder. If you used the ring of mystic scoundrel you could hit first attack (with smite), create water bonus action, attack extra bonus action, hasted attack action. That's some decent damage on your turn and then the enemies you hit with create water are wet for double when they hit you

[@jsung19]

Love seeing an item oriented build! Items are so strong in this game I think it's legitimately better to have no feats with perfect gear than a perfect build with average items. Would definitely love to see more build videos like this

[@Legolasrocket]

PSA to everyone in the comments: you can get elemental weapon earlier from the drakethroat glaive (or just have someone else use the spell). Also, these can be cast on other weapons, so you can use any weapon you want

[@Jamisen22]

They must've nerfed the Trident of Waves in patch 6, bc I too was really excited to make an enemy wet without a spell slot, but alas all it does now is create a water surface under the enemy :/ womp womp. I guess they could still slip and fall prone or be electrocuted, but not really what we're going for...

[@jeffadams9807]

Please, Please, Please, Make A 2024 ELVEN BLADESINGER Build...

[@labmouse42]

I love this approach. Magic items can completely change a BG3 build.

[@MrFirefan1234]

Fun Fact: Some classes (Cleric, Druid, and Storm Sorc) that get Create/Destroy Water get the ability to cast a variant of it when they get 2nd lvl spells. They can cast it for free like a cantrip but the wet condition from it only lasts 2 rounds instead of 3 and half the Radius from 4 meters to 2 meters. Still, an AoE way to give enemies the Wet condition with no save or needing to hit is very valuable. I had a very similar Idea for my Honor Mode run which was 1 lvl of White Dragon Sorc/1 lvl of Light Cleric/10 lvls of Abjuration Wizard to maximize Ward and keep full spellcasting progression

[@bryanimre4992]

The can trip version was a bug and it’s been fixed sadly

[@oziejah]

The trident doesn't seem to freeze enemies anymore, it still seems to create the water surface and even freeze it at times but not the enemy itself, bummer. Edit: nevermind, i was using the woe weapon instead of the flail since i could transfer the elemental age but didn't realize that the chill effect was from elements of the epoch which is not transferrable lol.

[@cdoerner224]

Fiend Warlock-2, Abjurer Wizard-10 using create water and Armor of Agathys was my first build at launch once I saw the wet condition. I laughed so hard as I tanked my own AC so bosses would melt to it 😂

[@Shizekage_james]

I have used you companion builds and whoa are they insane. My party has everything it needs and Asterion in particular is unstoppable on sleight of hand skill checks. So glad I've stumbled onto your channel

[@vindaloo1993]

You could also have another character add the Draconic Elemental Weapon buff from the Drakethroat Glaive, it would add a +1 enchantment to your weapons and +1d4 cold damage to your Tav. In case you need more damage.

[@kittydaddy2023]

getting enemies wet that have resistance removes the resistance. There's no point in taking the elemental adept feat if the strategy is to get them wet first. If you were trying to get hit, you could do 8 Dex, 14 Str for staff hit and damage with Alert for initiative.

[@EldritchNight]

Once you freeze the target you could have another character use disintegrate since it's now force damage

[@richardsego]

I was also thinking about his ultimate blaster build; Sorlock doing 9 beams of eldritch blast per round on a frozen target!

[@twi1ightknight]

grab mahoksir(?) and staff of power for your inventory to give you free max level spell slots. Even if you just use it for your first AOA or summons. then just swap them out.

[@FruitScrap]

Alternatively you could try: 1 Sorcerer, 1 War Cleric, 4 Wizard, 6 Bard. You loose out on 2 stacks of Arcane Ward, but get access to heavy armour, martial weapons, and 3 bonus action attacks per long rest. Wear heavy armour with Magical Plate and take the Heavy Armour Master feat. This will give you a flat -5 to incoming damage and increase your strength by 1. You'll have a total of -13 to incoming damage vs -10 (lv 5 Wizard), and a constant -5 when arcane ward runs out. Plus you can still take the Dual Wielder feat!

[@DnDDeepDive]

My favorite has actually been playing a Battle Smith 5 but... that requires mods ;)

[@DayDreamingDude]

Ooh, excited to see what BG3 shenanigans you are getting up to this time. Just in time to completely overhaul my honour mode party :D

[@Tupadre97]

18:40 create water can also be used infinitely as a ritual by picking the third option when you cast it so you don't actually need the rain dancer staff at all

[@twokingsofold]

It may not work for a video (not sure how many people out there are into modding) but for your own personal enjoyment you should get the Bladesinger subclass mod and 5e spells mod so you can do one of your shadow blade bladesinger builds that you love so much. (Yes shadow blade is in the game, but being able to cast it with spell slots instead of a ring is so much better. Also 5e spells adds booming blade and green flame blade, which happen to work with shadow blade)

[@richardsego]

Yup, he did a video on mods and Bladesinger, just search the channel

[@twokingsofold]

@@richardsego hmm, somehow I missed that one. Guess I'll go look for it

[@twokingsofold]

Haha, found it and it was exactly what I was hoping for. Excellent! So weird that I somehow missed it. I watch every d4 video that pops up, but somehow I missed that one and his one about modding bg3 in general. Guess that's why I should turn on notifications

[@Wintermute909]

For anyone who laughed along with Colby at the very end to his rendition of 'Ice Ice Baby', and then laughed again just from pure nostalgia...... *must* , absolutely MUST watch "Fear of a Black Hat" (1994) It's a satirical documentary style film like "Spinal Tap" Where a sociologist/film student follows the meteoric rise & fall of a rap band called N.W.H. Super funny on its own, but is utterly hilarious when you start to recognise all the irl incidents, controversies & rumours from back then. (obviously NWA & Public Enemy are the main inspiration for the band itself, but it is sooooo worth a watch for those interested. Even a Vanilla Ice follows them around.

[@scratchly8178]

i just made a white dragonborn sorcerer yesterday, this video came at the PERFECT time!

[@vladm2364]

I see what you did there Durge.

[@cyrussmith5242]

Also, if you can stomach it, if you kill Karlach in Act 1 to fulfill Mizora's mission for Wyll, you get a Robe with resistance to Fire damage and a free cast of Chill Shield. Could be a really good early game piece, at a high cost

[@kevlar427]

How reliably do the enemies fail the dc 13 con saving throw on flail of ages to be chilled? It feels really bad to me that the late game damage combo hinges so much on that failed saving throw

[@Drakkart]

Hey colby, i love your builds and all but this one - not so much. Your are lossing 12 arcane ward levels, 24 damage buffer with bladeward. So i prefer the endgame build to be drac sorc + tempest cleric create water and bladeward + 10 ab wizard levels + gear means unless you take more than - think it is about 50 - damage the temp HP from AoA are not scratched. Yes i am wearing heavy armor on him giving me a flat 2 damage reduction and additional 1d4 acid damage back to the attacker from a - cloak? that is where it really becomes fun like fighting steelwatchers with him and using the duelists provogative as only weapon. Cool thing is it still is a full blown wizard with access to level 6 spells. and the fireshield chill shield ofc so you can safe a level 4 spellslot. the taunt on the provogative + provoking opportunity attacks from casters that is when the build really shines and poking ranged with the rapier which also does spell damage if you wear an arcane synergy item that is when it really becomes fun.

[@Juzam777]

19:40 you can also create a hireling with Withers which will stay at the camp but who will cast Warding Bond on your character

[@ZoneZero253]

Can also bite the hireling with Astarion as well.

[@Juzam777]

@@ZoneZero253 I don’t use Astarion at all but you’re right. They can make the game (especially honor mode) way easier. I’ve got 3 hirelings : one cleric and 2 transmutation wizards (1 with some druid levels also) so after each long rest I can cast warding bond, 2 transmuters stone, longstrider, darkvision and protection from poison on all the group, 16 goodberries, freedom of movement and death ward, heal for free between fights, and crafting the potions twice

[@scottcombs3882]

I've used a similar strat with Gale (re-spec'ed into cleric) that worked just as well. I haven't tested it with the other companions, but Gale just won't die no matter how much damage I take.

[@Juzam777]

@@scottcombs3882 i don’t get how it’s similar with the hireling strat

[@scottcombs3882]

@@Juzam777 Lol my bad. That's because I totally forgot to mention that you leave Gale in camp and just pre buff at the start of each day.

[@wootenblatz]

Snow Plow is a great build name.

[@paulinhomei]

You can also get Armour of Agathys from Bard's Magical Secret, Magic Initiate: Warlock (lvl 1 only) and Icebite Robe (lvl 3 only)

[@Yobolight]

Yeah, but I’d consider upcasting basically mandatory.

[@EtomidateEnjoyer]

what a fantastic video! you've just got such wonderful screen presence, and it's a lot of fun watching you nerd out.

[@nellylongarms]

This is an absolutely wild build! I had a fun time trying to guess which items and class levels you were going to pick throughout. Since you're open to doing item-oriented builds, I'd love to see something based on radiating orb and reverberation - two conditions which dovetail quite snugly together. Luminous armor + phalar aluve + spirit guardians is a fantastic package right from level 5, and gets even better when you add the boots of stormy clamor and gloves of belligerent skies to start knocking enemies prone left and right. As well as for a cleric, it's a great build for lore bards with dissonant whispers, since frightened + prone is effectively the same as stunned.

[@Rank-B-Wizard]

If you take a race that gets light armor proficiency, you can grab Mintharas(sp.) armor which gives you advantage on concentration checks.

[@FastForward025]

This is definitely one of the most interesting builds in the game I've seen. And I'm constantly scouring the subreddit for good ideas. So now I have another build of yours to add to the list thanks Colby!

[@collzach]

Only real weakness for this build is that it relies on anything from Act 3 which, canonically, does not exist. As i understand it the game ends after you beat Ketheric and then the system crashes and you start Act 1 again with a new character

[@courier4289]

Hi there! Would you recommend this in place of say your divine warrior from your honor mode party?

[@DnDDeepDive]

I think it'd be a good substitute. Especially if you're intentionally provoking opportunity attacks, like I've been trying to do in game :)

[@courier4289]

@@DnDDeepDive I see. Thank you very much, I’ll try to keep that in mind. Amazing work as always sir

[@themightymoose5047]

Colby, you gotta stop. I can only respec so many times before Withers starts judging me 😂 Edit after watching - i was making a joke about gow often i respec to try new builds - i think respecing as you play the game and the character grows makes total sense

[@Yobolight]

Okay, this build is nuts. Super creative.

[@Lyscian420]

2:41 I appreciate this part of your content! I’ve even used your older builds for 5e to brainstorm and get inspiration for cool BG3 builds.

[@YamatoForever]

After playing this build I find it hard to get foes to attack it even with my AC lower than my other team mates (19). I came across the Paladin spell "Compelled Duel" and thought this would be a perfect fit for this build. So I'm going to go 2 Sorcerer (Allows you to twin the spell), 2 Paladin, and 8 Wizard. Wish me luck.

[@largegroupofmales]

Tried an eldritch knight build that used Mourning Frost as its main weapon to encrust enemies with frost and create ice surfaces at their feet to control them. It was an amazing all around build and disturbingly potent for a quarter staff wielding fighter

[@yodaleiaheehoo9960]

One of the best outtakes ever you shouldn't be at all ashamed. I was thinking at the start there should def be some Vanilla Ice in the outtakes glad I wasn't disappointed. 😂

[@qaendelivery3636]

I swear this guy is psychic, I've been looking for ice build all day yesterday and then BLOP here it is

[@carolxs]

Haha So funny how guys dislike Astarion's personality but are usually ok with Laezel (or even love her). They are different, I know, but as much as Laezel has a justification for being a nuisance in early to mid game, Astarion does too. And they both evolve as you get to know their reasoning. Even Shadowheart starts out really b**chy. Is it because he's a guy? Or because of his sexuality? Curious. Not that I think everyone should like him, of course, I initially hated him, but his witty and sarcastic comments and story development won me over as much as the other "difficult" characters - I just don't see a reason to dislike him more than others. It feels like it's just angst against popularity, honestly (or even against his popularity with women)

[@eldoriath1]

It's just a Tuesday Colby, have mercy on people's livers! (Didn't know about the drinking game before you mentioned it, abd bow imm comdtamtly drybk....)

[@Swizz12]

If you want an easier time casting at wet enemies, you can get a headpiece from the Nexus mod 'Basket Full of Equipment', which allows you to cast 'Create Water' as a bonus action (and at no spell cost). Now, even at early levels you can get an enemy wet (bonus action) and in the same round cast a cold or electric based spell (as an action) like Witch Bolt or Chromatic Orb or even the Ray of Frost or Shocking Grasp cantrip. Later on when you have more spells you might feel this is too overpowered, dump the headpiece for something else and revert to casting Create Water as a first level spell, but early on you could certainly switch up to Tactician difficulty to keep up the challenge of playing if your normal difficulty is the default option, Normal. WARNING. The Basket of Equipment mod works just fine if you get what you want from it right at the start of the game, where it is almost just above your head from where you start. However, since it is not a Larian mod-manager mod, it will tend to freeze your game if you try to access it when you are not on the nautiloid. This will probably get fixed at some time to appear among the Larian mods, but it isn't there at this time.

[@maharai23]

My only issue with this... you're talking about taking 5 levels of bard for martial weapons and extra attack, but reject 1 level of cleric instead (war domain or tempest) because you need wizard levels... at the time you said this, it's a level 8 build with 2 levels of wizard. Like... really?

[@Zaragosia]

How / which spells are you using to power the Arcane Ward? Warlock 2 levels you would use Armour of Shadows invocation cast multiple times to keep it powered, when first preping and between combats. Casting Armour of Agathys will give the Arcane Ward one stack (or 2 stacks with AoA cast at 2nd level, 3 at 3rd etc). So not to go through all your spell slots just to power the ward, question stands, which spells to power it?

[@GodCaliban1307]

I love it that you are using wepons i never seen befor on another channel❤ pls make more of these bg3 build guides!!!!

[@richardjones4527]

Thanks for the post. At level 4 now with this build and struggling to get my abjuration stacks maxed out. Am I missing something? Strongly considering respecing for 2 levels of warlock for armour of shadows.

[@tommasomichetti9499]

26:45 killer bard you say, I know where you are going with this: Sword Bard 6 Thief 3 Champion 3 and a bunch of Improved Critical magical items to destroy almost everything: and yes, I'm not ashemed of it.

[@lukefisher6]

I changed my current build to use some of these features but I went tempest cleric instead of Bard. While I'm sacrificing extra attack I get better ranged options with their spells, (cleric is my favourite class) and I have the adamantine splint further reducing the damage taken by 2. The cleric proficiency with martial weapons means I didn't need the weapons master feat and I get the wrath of the storm lightning which is also doubled when they are wet adding to the retribution damage. I am currently 1 sorcerer, 2 wizard, 3 cleric. Its so much fun and is making my honor mode run a cake walk (so far... I'm still in act 1)

[@The_Judge300]

Personally I would rather spec into Tempest Cleric than Bard for this build. I think it gives a way better synergy overall where you exploit all the advantages of making the enemies wet, cold or frozen. Specially if you run solo.

[@The_Judge300]

I would like to know if I ever get tired of playing BG3. I am trying new builds and new paythroughs all the time. I have not been this blown away by a game since I played the original FF7 when it was launched. I have played very many good and great games in my life, but this is on a different level. Specially because of how extremely many hours you can play it and still want to play it a lot more. I am at almost 900 hours and I know I am going to play it for many hundreds of hours more.

[@karanshade488]

4d8 x 2 is statiscally different from 8d8 , just being a bit picky :) in average sure they are, but the former is more 'explosive' (can do very few or very large damage) while the latter will tend to stack around the average. Just saying :)

[@foxtrotxray42]

The concept of this build is rockin, but i dont love the hit to arcane ward that 6 levels of bard takes. To me, the core needs of the build are: 3 attacks per turn, high level spell slots for agathys, and a juiced arcane ward. Best way to spam the ward is two levels of warlock to spam armor of shadows with the don armor/remove armor trick. As such, my build here would be warlock 2, temepst cleric 1, wizard 9. To get the extra attack, you haste yourself (you dont need concentration for fire shield or agathys). Now ive got the martials i need from tempest, the armor of shadows to spam my arcane ward to max with no spell slots, three attacks per turn from haste, and the icing on the cake is that having concentration up will mean more people targeting me, and thus more blasts from agathys.

[@jasonm.6442]

If it's any consolation to you having to stop playing BG3 to record a video, I had to stop playing to watch it! :P There's a lot of items that revolve around lightning charges, stacking them on another character would synergize real well with this. I'm literally in the middle of my playthrough with a party made up of your Honor mode video and now you have me wanting to quit and start a new one :D

[@vimzim8576]

You shouldn't need elemental adept, when something gets the wet condition they lose resistance to cold and lightning damage whilst they are wet. They wont be vulnerable but it has the same effect as elemental adept. Larian knows about this so I am not sure it is a bug, as they would have patched it by now... but if you put some cleric levels into Gale and use him to cast warding bond, then leave him in the camp and out of the party after a long rest, he will heal up whenever he takes damage and can't die whilst he is in the camp and the warding bond remains on whomever he cast it on. I like this build, in one playthrough I had Gale as a 10 abjuration wizard/2 warlock and he was quite tanky. His invocations were devil's sight and armour of shadows, the later allowed me to cast mage armour without expending a spell slot, which is a level 1 abjuration spell. There is a weird "feature" in BG3 with devil's sight and darkness, ranged mobs can't shot into it and most mobs seem unwilling to go into the darkness and get the blind condition. You can still get hit with thrown things or area effect attacks, and some npcs can see in magical darkness. It is quite strong though. I never thought about scaling up fire shield and armour of agathys as reactive damage, it looks interesting.

[@coreymcnaught]

Maybe I'm missing something but how do you stack the arcane ward up out of combat without having the armor of shadows/armor on/off trick from warlock like you did in the tank wizard build? does the blade ward cantrip work and you just wait a few seconds between applications?

[@Snipergoat1]

Ok this is awesome and possibly the most unique base strategy I have seen in a D&D game. Defense in D&D has always been based on avoiding damage, not on mitigating it. This not only mitigates well it included a built in counter punch. This is the only build I have ever seen that doesn't want to get too high of an armor class. What I want to find out is does the ward interact with wildheart barbarian? Does it apply before or after it or does it even apply at all. It should apply since the ward does not actually reduce damage but transfers half of it. How much can this concept be stretched? Well off to test. Eventually I might even make some progress on the game. I have been spending so much time playing with builds that I never quite seem to get around to actually doing much.

[@Jestylor6]

Doesn't Chromatic Orb, lightning, also create a water surface thereby making stuff wet. Because if that's still the case you don't gotta rely on create/destroy water...

[@polywags]

This is very similar to my first character i played in bg and i wanted to try it to solo honor mode. Going well so far. I started bard 4 for proficiencies and to grab duel wielder and two weapon fighting early enough to be able to deal with the early game. Picked up sorc at 5 then gonna go wiz 2, start scribing scrolls and get all the spells i need. Then bard to 6, rest wizard. Planning on using the transmuters stone from the hirling for con proficiency. Worried about wis save those. Planning on using the helm of autonomy till i get wizard lvls and need the int from the circlet.

[@acadiangeek8483]

Love your videos, I've been messing around with this build, I just got to the creche and I was looking at the "Daredevil Gloves" that turn ranged spells into melee and it got me wondering if instead of going gish full melee caster build would be viable.

[@darthmacabre8311]

You could also get the snow burst ring in the floorboards of the inn in act 2 if you pass a perception check. It creates ice around the targets.

[@Mike-r4h]

It also creates ice around the enemy that hits you in melee range because of Agathys, which means ice under your own feet. Only use this combo with NightWalkers or Hoarfrost boots, unless you like falling prone all the time.

[@MasterZenII]

Drakethroat Glaive elemental weapon to add another +1 and a die of more cold damage is the only thing I can think about that was missed. But that's just me being beyond nitpicky.

[@carolxs]

I think you never talked about magic initiate: warlock feat as an alternative to get armor of agathys. Why? I understand that for ice breaker it might be a waste of a good feat, but how about the "wizard tank" build?

[@gongolongo1]

please correct me if im wrong but wouldnt it be better to take 1 level of cleric who gets heavy armor and martial wepons instead of 6 levels of bard? the heavy armor could reduse between 1 and 3 damage of all kinds additionally to the arcane ward. you would maybe get hit less if you have a too high armorclass

[@swiing444]

Here me out guys: The Polar Bear Build Druid 2 Sorc 1 Wizard 9 Goading roar=aoe agathys procs

[@travelinlance]

Love the videos as always. Always stay to the end to watch the outtakes! Priceless! Keep up the great work.

[@jaxkommish]

I love my friends, but I hated trying to play BG3 with them. It took forever and was not nearly as fun as playing around a table would have been

[@Zedacuequinha]

Using 1 draconic sorc/ 5 or 6 paladin/ 5 or 6 wiz sounds a good alternative U lose slot progression and flourish and gain the proficiencies needed without feat, divine smite and either one more lvl in wizard or the paladin aura

[@BobHerzog1962]

Did they patch out that makeing enemies wet breaks their resistance straight into vulnerability to cold and lightning? With that I never felt the need to take any elemental adept. I mean yes immune enemies still exsist but that is why you keep other options around.

[@shazamsanders4901]

Any chance you are thinking about going back to the older builds and giving item recommendations? Amazing videos!

[@catchingphoenixrtr]

Sooooo if you like playing BG3 so much but need to make videos…why not stream? 😀

[@Sara-df5xi]

And I just killed Orin on HM (as a redeem durge) with two water bottles and a speed potion LOL.

[@globaltrickster]

Does anyone know how to deal with ice control, causing your allies to fall constantly? (Also yourself) Thanks

[@Restributordevill]

I’d love to see you try out Arelith, to be honest 😅 there’s so much to do (that’s a neverwinter nights 1 private roleplaying server)

[@brianseagrave9111]

Not applicable here, but… Bard Magical Secrets can give Armor of Ag.

[@gustavomedeiros8384]

Do you have a build for melee cleric, i want Shadowheart to use the Spear she gets from trying to kill that spoiler stuff

[@DnDDeepDive]

A mostly cleric build? Will put it on the to do list :)

[@Mike-r4h]

Fighter1/Thief Rogue3/whatever Cleric 8 for a Shar Shadowheart. Take Dual wielder, put the quest spear in your off hand, take no concentration spells, spam Shar's darkness, enter the darkness and spam your off hand attacks. Use the Shar set.

[@feltron]

One question why do the respecs? Instead of just starting out as a bard then multiclass into wizard?

[@thefetherd]

as a small addition to this build, afaik the spell of the flail targets the weapon in the main hand! so you could cast the spell on lets say the staff from act 1 and just equip the trident afterwards. you loose a few points to hit but get more cold damage d4. and the staff would also be bludgeoning! Also the same "weapon swap trick" can be used to get essentially more lvl6 spellslots. there are a lot of staffs and amulets that either let you refill a spellslot or to let a cast not consume a slot, this works great with armour of agathis being cast out of combat most of the time.

[@DnDDeepDive]

I didn’t know this… thanks for the tip!

[@TheMeanDM]

And the Dragonthroat Glaive from Moonrise also let's you enhance a weapon on the ground with an extra 1d4 Elemental damage (and Thunder too) So you could have both Cold and Thunder on that Flail to get *both* x2 Bludgeoning and x2 Thunder. Though we would want to test to see how things proc and if the vulnerability is cleared/broken immediately after being hit by something or if it stays applied for any other length of time.

[@Sara-df5xi]

So a respec to bard isn't necessary if you are playing this on an evil Dark Urge character. Yeah.