The INSTANT OBLITERATOR - BG3 Honour Mode Astarion / Bard Archer Assassin Build Guide

[@George_K.]

Thank you for explaining so well the details around your builds, it makes a big difference as I'm new to the channel and still inexperienced in the game even after nearly 200 hours. However there's one thing I wish was in every build guide - an example with a couple of fights that show the ways the build works and mistakes to avoid in order to make it work.

[@BidElden]

Literally everyone says the is and the channel says no lol- only reason I remain un subbed

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks! The reason I don't usually do this is twofold: first, it's a ton of extra work, and second, people don't watch it. When I've included gameplay sections, viewership for those sections has dropped dramatically - which makes sense when you think about it! By including gameplay, I'm suddenly competing with professionally-edited Let's Plays from studios with entire teams behind their scripting, editing, and mixing - and production lead times of weeks rather than daily videos like I do. On the other hand, when it comes to builds I have world-class knowledge so that's something people can't easily get elsewhere.

[@crimsonbard8929]

@@CephalopocalypseI’m usually listening and not watching, only checking the screen here and there, so it’s awkward when you do do the battle examples. You tend to talk a little less when you do them, so it causes a massive disconnect for me in those moments as I only hear random battle noises. I love your videos just the way they are

[@antonyfaulkner8649]

@@Cephalopocalypse I hear you. I was thinking less about choreographed "Battle Videos", and more about "this build will help get through the XYZ Battle"..... in your **normal** format. You can put all the spoiler disclaimer warnings at the beginning of each video, then its their choice to continue watching. No bad juju on you. I thought this particularly since many of your videos have Honour Mode optimisation at their core. I haven't attempted Honour Mode yet, but I can't think of anything less deflating than spending 200 hrs getting through it, only to get destroyed in one of the last fights of the game... e.g. Dragon, Submarine, Vampire, Devil, Cult etc. Summarising... build guides, in your standard format, to get beyond some of the more tricky obstacles in Act 3 would be very welcome. At least from me. :)

[@johnwalker1322]

I learned a lot on this one. My first honour win was with my tav as halfling 10 swords bard, 2 fighter. Hand crossbows. I never thought of or have seen this combination with 3 classes.

[@DamnSpiders666]

Love this build with 10 bard + 2 fighter levels. Get (almost) full spellcasting + magical secrets and play with Helm of Arcane Accuity and Band of the Mystic Scoundrel. Recommend grabbing Command, you basically do Command: Halt on every enemy every single turn. Against Rafael I did this and popped off turn 1, not a single enemy, including Rafael himself, got a single turn the whole encounter. Halfling makes this build completely fool proof, especially if you also use Disguise Self + Shapeshifter Boon Ring. Dark Urge also gives you your BiS cloak which is incredible for this build

[@abmelonhead4]

Awesome build! I’ve always liked just a simple Gloomstalker + assassin combo, but this combines that with swords bard (which I’m currently experiencing for the first time in HM) cranking the fun and insanity to the max!

[@randyrose6625]

Thanks for the video- great and very detailed as always! I'm happy to have come up with a very similar build myself in a previous run. I'd say that it's worth mentioning to respec in later levels so that Bard is the third class that you take so that you can make your item and scroll save DC use your charisma instead of wisdom or intelligence if Ranger or Rogue was your last class. This helps you use scrolls like Hold Monster more easily. This build made the Raphael fight in particular very easy.

[@crimsonbard8929]

I remember back when I wasn’t sure if picking the wrong instrument would destroy my play through or not

[@alexmashkin863]

I ran a variation of this build for my first solo tactician playthrough, used two crossbow setup - crazy powerful

[@leisuresuitlink]

Literally what I came here to say. My first character was a two crossbow version of this. So good; so powerful.

[@wandererswanderingdaughter1756]

I actually liked the 2 crossbow version more because I felt like the assassinate feature didn't pair well with being the party face since enemies will never be surprised when combat starts after dialogue

[@kacpiwal]

Did you use greater invisibility? How do you get access to it with that variant

[@kacpiwal]

Btw did you ascend?

[@alexmashkin863]

@@kacpiwal I didn't, sometimes I initiated from invis, but only potion. I was running Strange Conduit, so I was usually concentrating on Protection from Good and Evil or Haste. On the other hand I played deep gnome durge, I had a cloak of ultimate cheat :-)

[@psylockeer]

I did think about the possibility of this build before but I never tried it because the lack of feats bums me out. Still, I feel vindicated! Nice video!

[@Bruno-lr9lm]

Mod that shit in.

[@itsmeakali1241]

Best builds as always! Great explaining. Its a bit sad that its so many items in the game but a lot of builds use the same iteams. And i wish the feats was better use of then just a few that being used in every build. maybe a mod will show up for it. Ty for great vid as always!

[@Arianrhod3]

Thank you for this build. Perfect timing. I was just looking for a build for my friend who loves playing archer characters, but would like to do something a little different than standard gloomstalker for our new playthrough.

[@mysecretavatar]

I like this build a lot but prefer a variation of your other stealth archer for the end game: Assassin Rogue 4, Gloom Stalker 5, Draconian Cold Sorcerer 1 and Spore Druid 2. That build gives two feats, more safety from temporary hit points and damage that matches or exceeds this bard variation by using special arrows. And you don’t have to invest in Charisma and can invest instead in Wisdom for spell casting, which is substantially better for saving throws against dangerous enemy control spells. While the Bard slashing flourish ability is great on early levels when access to special arrows is limited, by the time you get to late act 2 and act 3, special arrows (which cannot be used with slashing flourish) can come close to duplicating damage of slashing flourish on single targets. If there are multiple enemies, you would almost never use slashing flourish once you get access to arrows of many targets. I like to add two levels of spore druid for symbiotic entity damage buff that approximates bardic inspiration damage bonus and can be used with arrows of many targets and special arrows. The Draconian Cold Sorcerer dip allows the use of Graceful Cloth without mage armor and helps protect Spore Druid symbiotic entity with higher temporary hit points at level 3 (15) or level 4 with supreme elixir of arcane cultivation (20).

[@deeross3002]

You beat honor mode with this one ?

[@Ryo39]

Will definitely try this one out soon, thanks!

[@xbbyCiTRUS]

Just when I thought I’d tried all sword bard combos! I’ll have to give this one a spin next time. Thanks Ceph! Btw, your reaction to Astarion posing at 8:30 made me giggle 😂

[@Zero_Zone.]

Very awesome build, I'm using a similar one but with the mod that allows leveling to 20. Just get essentially make ranger and rogue to level 4 and 12 levels of sword bard for the most feats. This building hits so many times and like a truck with crits.

[@13christbane]

any build going to level 20 is going to be easy mode

[@ThePhysicalReaction]

The best part about playing a bard is you have a speaker and a thief, and an area of effect concentration magic user. It allows you to have silly parties like triple warlock, or oath breaker paladin double warlock, double warlock Druid etc.

[@antonyfaulkner8649]

Surprise Attacks in Act 3 are pretty rare. Most of the big battles always start with a cutscene and/or forced dialogue. The only way to get Surprise Attacks in the whole game, is when you know passing through an area will trigger a fight, so you can then set up an Ambush/Surprise. These types of fights are usually only "content filler", so convoluting a character build for max damage in "filler" fights is overkill. A "normal" basic config party would ace those fights anyway. Example in this case is Gloomstalker. It seems fairly contrived to provide advantages that you can't use when you really need them, and otherwise, more than you need. I know you don't like doing spoilers, but +12 months into Baldurs Gate 3, and all the videos available, there's nothing left to spoil. Since Character Rebuilds are basically Free, and the points in the game where you really need to optimise are the "Big Event" or "Big Boss" fights, I would welcome "Encounter Specific" build guides. Since I appreciate everything you do regardless, I am sending you a big $$thanks.

[@joshhobbs4862]

It's redundant to use "sexy" and "Astarion" in the same sentence

[@Cephalopocalypse]

He was certainly vamping hard in this video, the midriff was really featured

[@TheDuckMaster12]

Late Act 1/Act 2 I’ve had the Club of Hill Giant Strength in my offhand to help the Titanstring Bow. Lets me still use Bloodlust Elixirs 😁

[@Synthia17]

You can fix the 20 dex graceful cloth issue with Shar's mirror in act3 too, then give him armor of agility for that sweet 23 AC and before that just hoard scrolls of mage armor, can also skip the assassin level, get a feat in ranger and just use risky ring. Can also skip rogue and put 2 fighter for surge, damn, this is incredibly versatile!

[@GonzaloMenaFuenzalidacl]

Thanks for the awesome build! As usual, not only efective but pretty fun to play. One question, what do you recommend as next levels when using the 13-20 level mods? Any recommendations?

[@theta1672]

If you don't use any other elixir you can also use the bloodlust elixir for another action. That would of course mean not to go STR elixir with Titanstring Bow, but if going more vs going harder is your goal, that'd be how :D

[@morganwells1984]

I used a similar build for my solo honour, 2 fighter 10 swordsbard, not as big of a first round but still get 8 attacks with action surge, plus I still get access to magical secrets for counterspell

[@nicholaslindroth9307]

Awsome like always :)

[@kato0122]

Swords Bard Archer Gloom Ass? Yes, please!

[@chuckchan4127]

Shake that Gloom ass!

[@Cephalopocalypse]

asstarion

[@TheGladGolem]

@@CephalopocalypseWhile the build is not optimal, I prefer the Ass-Stalker Champion. Just for the awesome name!

[@sjw7345]

It would be very cool if you made some walkthroughts with these builds

[@doloresabernathy9809]

Great guide. I don’t see Astarion as a Bard but you’re pretty convincing that Bard makes the best rogue/archer type if you are also a party face - so perfect for an an Astarion origin playthrough. But one question .. you often refer to talking multiple dialogue skills, but I’ve never noticed a situation where you need any option other than persuasion or where other options are easier. Are there definite instances where you would choose a non-persuasion instead of persuasion for other than role playing reasons (which I respect)? Assuming equivalent proficiency or expertise in both. I like to use deception for Astarion because that’s his personality, but not because it’s better than persuasion in any scenarios, so far as I know, What do you think?

[@kabo88]

Persuasion is the best, but many times in dialogue you have insight hidden rolls, history, religion, arcana or medicine checks. Most of the times, yes, persuasion is all you need, but in a character like this one with so many expertises and proficiencies, you will find yourself having more skills than you know what to do with, so picking other conversation skills won't hurt at all

[@doloresabernathy9809]

@ yes history, religion etc have uses for sure. I was referring yo deception and intimidation as redundant to persuasion. just like agility is redundant to strength in BG3, although strength does more than agility . So unless there is something I don’t know - which i am asking to find out - I would take every other skill before those two redundant convo skills, it have persuasion. And as a bard party face I would take expertise in persuasion.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Honestly mostly for roleplaying! I think there are a couple dialogue options where you get deception but not persuasion, but all the ones that give you mechanical advantages (like skipping the act 2 boss fights) are persuasion afaik

[@SpookyGman]

Cool build!

[@RaiKov]

@13:48 - There it is! HE CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH IT! 😂

[@cannyvalley8522]

Apparently he can

[@gregtrump8905]

Hear me out. 10 bard 2 fighter 17(+1 Ethel’s hair) 16 strength(+2 potion of everlasting vigor) 2 feats sharpshooter and plus 2 strength for a total of 20 strength and cats cloth plus 2 dex total of 20 dex. Titan string bow of course and this also allows you to use blood lust elixirs.

[@soanthegreat]

Random question, do you just not like the Rhapsody dagger? I feel like you never bring it up, but especially for a build like this that just has an empty off hand, it’s quite good, giving a bonus to hit, damage and spell save dc

[@AkshansYoutubeAccount]

do you have walkthroughs for bg3 honour / plans on doing?

[@cannyvalley8522]

Now I want to know what costumes did other characters wear on Halloween! 😅

[@antonyfaulkner8649]

Thanks

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thank you so much for the extremely generous support! I really appreciate it - it really means a lot :D

[@coryjuelke836]

Do you recommend dual wield hand crossbows or a longbow?

[@JeremyAndersonBoise]

Yesterday Astarion (pure thief archer build) dealt the final blow to the Netherbrain in my first HM win. Even though a fatal glitch at the brainstem actually made it so I don’t get the golden dice, I know I did it, even if PS5 is bugged to shit since patch 7. I walked into the brainstem room at the top of the high hall as Orpheus first and it immediately said “your party has been defeated.” Is that an undocumented “feature” or what?

[@michaelbayley9432]

I think your better off going 4 assassin and taking 2 fighter instead alertness covers most of what gloomstalker gives you and action surge gives significantly more economy. You loose umbral shroud but generally most archery builds will be using deathstalker mantle.

[@Thewindiest11]

Would bard 8 ranger 4 be better if you dont try to suprise your enemies? 3 feats and more spells.

[@royalslimee]

could also use this build but go thief rogue and run two hand crossbows

[@surfingeagle784]

I'm currently running that build for MC 8 bard/4 rogue except rogue thief for the extra bonus action for off hand attack and mobility. Ceph's build here probably hits harder in the first round but it necessitates that you generally initiate combat with surprise. That's fine but it restricts you to a certain play style. If you want to go through dialog and initiate combat in a role playing style, you can't really do that and get surprise all the time. It seems like a good solo build though.

[@royalslimee]

@@surfingeagle784 why not go ranger for the Archery skill?

[@Thewindiest11]

@@surfingeagle784 tbh I think if youre going archer bard you shouldnt pick hand crossbows because first of all you already get 4 attacks because of slashing florish. and band of the mysthic scoundrel. casting control spells with bonus actions is better because those will help all your party. but if youre a ranger rouge, use offhand crossbows all the time because rangers and rouges dont have bonus actions better than more crossbow bolts.

[@Thewindiest11]

@@royalslimee tbh I think if youre going archer bard you shouldnt pick hand crossbows because first of all you already get 4 attacks because of slashing florish. and band of the mysthic scoundrel. casting control spells with bonus actions is better because those will help all your party. but if youre a ranger rouge, use offhand crossbows all the time because rangers and rouges dont have bonus actions better than more crossbow bolts.

[@andrews6013]

After my 10th reset of honor mode 30 hours in its time for some WotR for a bit. Go figure that Bg3 has made me a better pathfinder player though

[@TheSaniwaa]

I run this as thief rogue instead of assassin, with the dual crossbow setup. The number of attacks per turn is driving my discord friends absolutely mad

[@lef1970]

I use astarion archer, with my tav monk kicking everything like Peter griffin in roadhouse to clean up the stragglers.

[@IDYNI]

Did the tier list for Honour Mode got any changes now that you tried new different builds? I'm trying to decide on new team compositions but still unsure

[@volllollpsxd5978]

Yeah an updated list for full honor mode parties in one video would be something that would help us very much...

[@travisretriever7473]

@@volllollpsxd5978 Along with an honorable mention/quick/dirty thoughts on some modded classes/builds (e.g. Spellsword wizard, for example).

[@arturb5152]

Finally 🙂 Archer with Bard . Why took You so long ...or use " Feat on Even levels "

[@gianlucamorelli]

You often mention that Duergars have this invisibility thing going on, but I just started a new run as one, lev. 3 at the moment, and I see no invisibility ability yet. Is it something that comes along later at higher levels, or am I missing something?

[@Cephalopocalypse]

they get it at level 5!

[@gianlucamorelli]

@Cephalopocalypse thanks 😂

[@slugstory]

tyyy

[@c3n5i]

can this 1 round ansur like morgana evelin did with her version of a stealth sniper?

[@jrh63200]

Which Archer do you enjoy playing the most?

[@arnorr7089]

I am going to need to see a true strike build.

[@danielcharles93]

Would it be ideal to start off with your first Swords Bard Archer build and then respect into this one in Act 3?

[@Bufos.G]

You and sim tee did the same build almost together

[@dvxAznxvb]

i been trying bard but for some reason just not my kind of play style maybe too much variety in one build hard to choose

[@mikedickens848]

👍🏻

[@cannyvalley8522]

I used Fighter 2/Thief Rogue 4/Swords Bard 6 for ascended Astarion with pair of hand crossbows for endgame, can't be bothered with trying to set up surprise rounds

[@chuckchan4127]

The best status effect for enemies is dead!

[@JoMo-BiEy]

Thank you very much for your content, again! I wanted to spend 10 Euros again (after 7 days) for your helpful build bit can't do that every week because of my recently explained chronic illness (complex PostTraumatic Stress Disorder because of severe abuses over many years since early childhood until become adult) and because of that being unable to work at the moment und therefore don't have much money to spend. Sorry. I'm still extremely thankful for your efforts! By the way, you didn't mention my donation (10 Euros 7 days before, like in every video - just kidding). Please, keep up creating new builds :-) Sadly, I can't play my actual BG3 run anymore because there's newly any problem with some mod that was working well before. That's very frustrating for me because I really loved these mods. Because I'm new to BG3 I really loved to experiment with some mods. My favourite mods (third party mods, Nexus mods) are: - "Dragonbreath Unleashed" with "Triforce of the Dragonborn" to improve Dragonborn Race, - "Drakewarden" (Subclass of Ranger) for Dragon-Companion , - "Camp Event Notifcations" for not missing story events, - "Party Limit Begone" to increase party limit to 16 (Single Player), - "Level 20 (Multiclass): Instant Rate", - "Recruit any NPC" to transform NPCs into a playable character with full customization oprions to make a full custom character party with no party limit, My favourite mods (integrated in the BG3 Mod Manager in the game main menu) are: - Carry Weight Extra (massively extended Carry Weight), - "Conjure Animals & Summon Beast Spells" for adding two new Spells with a total of 16 new animals to summon, - "Conjure Infinite Gold" as a new ritual Spell (every cast: 5000 gold), - Druid: Speak with animals always prepared - Elemental Adept Enhanced (Immunity to chosen element), - Experimental Alchemy as feat - Faerun Colors (just for fun to colour any clothing f.e. in the colours of cleric deity), - Free Respecs and Hirelings - Level Up for gaining a feat every LevelUp - Metamagic Adept as feat (if not putting 12 levels in Sorcerer and you need more Metamagics) - Mystra Spells (Mod "5e Spells" isn't balanced in BG3 = f.e. spell lasts for 100 turns, this mod fixes this issue) - Paladins have Gods (just for fun/lore) - Ring of Knocking (instead of wasting a spell slot), - Upcastable Elemental Weapon for Druid/Ranger - Weightless Gold - Wild at Heart Feat I know this one is massively overpowered. But it's fun to experiment with. Until yesterday these mods work perfectly in game, even in combination. Again: Thank you for your efforts! I really appreciate that! At the moment, this is saving my life given the known circumstances (I mentioned before) ...

[@christianwilke305]

Could you possibly get more damage by instead of 3 levels of ranger doing 2 levels of fighter for action surge and 1 level of war cleric for a bonus action attack?

[@christianwilke305]

I just realized that hunters mark is probably a better use of a bonus action.

[@ian59]

@@christianwilke305 One nice, non combat, benefit of the war cleric is getting thaumaturgy and guidance specifically for being the party face. So even if you take a slight combat hit it could be a nice benefit to skill checks if you're not able to get it from party sources for example.

[@christianwilke305]

@@ian59 something else I was thinking of is that you could also go 2 points into fighter and 4 into rogue for another feat. Making it easier to hit 20 dex or you can take alert on this character. From what I can see the only reasons we are taking gloom stalker ranger is for plus to initiative, longbow proficiency, and an extra attack at the beginning of combat. With the bard 6 rogue 4 fighter 2 combo you get all of that but you get 2 extra attacks each combat instead of 1. I could be missing something though.

[@Toasty1308]

Wish they didn’t make astarion so much stronger than every other origin or race.

[@formatomi]

Karlach is stronger as an OH Monk until Astarion Ascends but generally agree

[@Toasty1308]

⁠@@formatomiyou’re right soul coins are crazy good with oh monk.

[@travisretriever7473]

When I first saw the thumbnail, I thought it was gonna be the solo stealth archer build from 'ol miss Mommy Milkers. n.n Here's to stealth archery (esp. with swords bards' slashing flourishes) being the single most busted stuff in all of fantasy, at least in bg3 & Skyrim. "Must have been the wind." indeed.

[@joshhobbs4862]

True strike bullied me when I was a kid cause my parents were poor 😠😠😠

[@SashaBaych]

It's so annoying that other bard build guides never pay to the matter of choosing the starting instrument the attention it truly deserves. Sigh...

[@Cephalopocalypse]

It's really a massive oversight in the community

[@Bufos.G]

Yeah because nobody really like bards if not for their abilities

[@Elderfallsimmer]

👍