THE MOST OP HONOR MODE Party Comp for Baldur's Gate 3

[@chrisalmenas6236]

Hey, so. I've tested and verified this for honor mode. You can reliably use giants str potions for all your characters for the entire game. Every time you rest, level up, or respec, auntie Ethel in the druid grove restocks three giants str potions. So if you get as much gold together as you can, you can have 50+ giants str potions before you finish the goblin camp

[@chrisalmenas6236]

You just can not go near the swamp area while grinding gold, it will progress ethels quest and remove her from the grove. Note you can still purchase potions at the tea house with the right dialog

[@Uzabi]

yeah but thats just abusing exploits, takes away the fun if your party is unbeatable due to exploits

[@wolfbrother9025]

​@@Uzabinot an exploit it's coded into the game that merchants restock when u lvl up there is literally nothing else you have to do except play the game and it happens because it's supposed to lol

[@basedbear1605]

​@Uzabi lol you think coding is exploits? No. Not at all.

[@Uzabi]

@@basedbear1605 well sure, but isn't this making the game way too easy? Abusing str potion restock really feels like an exploit. Just like camp buffing or 2x bonus attacks felt with paladin and blade of the pact (which was fixed in honor mode like many other exploits). Also there are many unintended interactions that developers did not test and are open for abuse. Exploiting unintended interactions really feels like cheating, just like cheating in a tabletop game, taking away the fun imo

[@andrewcole3762]

PSA on the Hag's Hair: Her Legendary Ability procs on spellcasting. This is still true when you reach her surrender at low HP dialogue check! If you cast Level 1 or higher buffs like Enhance Ability, it will proc her ability and force you back into combat with no choice but to finish her off and miss your chance for the hair. I learned this the hard way so you don't have to!

[@natpin745]

Just had this happen to me 😭 I was super confused why, at least now I know

[@mustafamustermann3859]

Alert is an extremly valuable Feat if you have it on all four characters. Other than in the tabletop version, you can switch between characters during their actions and movements when there are no enemy or neutral entities between them in the turn order. This unlocks countless synergies.

[@TheGoddamazon]

Alert is so clutch. Getting that jump on initiative is so crucial. Also not being surprised.

[@mustafamustermann3859]

@@TheGoddamazon Moving First is very helpful, but I found it almost more important that - other than in the original dnd rules - you can freely switch between party members during their move. One could make countless videos about exploits. Just a few: decide who deals the final blow to maximise additional actions from Elixier of Bloodlust or Great Weapon Master, upcast Hold Person on some enemies, kill them with autohits/crits and cast another concentration spell with the same character. Move in and out of auras and areas of effect. Act with one character and protect it with invisibility or sanctuary from someone else afterwards and countless other options. It opens a hole new dimension of teamwork.

[@TheGoddamazon]

@@mustafamustermann3859 yooooo I never even thought about using hold person that way. I usually use it on the most powerful enemy and send my tank after it. Depending on which fight, I can go two tanks, a cleric, and me (I usually play a rogue or monk), and once I did an “oops! All spellcasters” run and we just annihilated in the first round with abjuration spells after taking a bunch of haste potions 😂 I’m still working my way through the various difficulty settings but I love how this game is designed for teamwork it’s so satisfying to try new strategies and pull stuff off.

[@mustafamustermann3859]

@@TheGoddamazon My best "Party Alert" Setup so far was a Lore Bard with 3 Battlemaster Fighters with 2h weapons. Those get the most out of Song of Rest and can make the most out of extra actions, because at lvl 11 they get 3 swings per action and have 4 action surges + 20 Battle Dice each per long rest. With action surge, Elixier of Bloodlust and some speed effect (potion, haste or otherwise) each gets up to 4 actions with 3 attacks. Precision Strike + Trip attack can make an enemies prone to get advantage on all follow-up attacks. Maneuver Strike gets you another 5 meters of movement in case you need it. Riposte is also useful sometimes. They really need items to increase their movement with their bonus action for an extra misty step or dash though. The bard needs a lot of items to increase his DC and volos ring to bless everyone with mass healing words. He also gets counterspell. Lore bards are great because they can decrease the saving throw of their target with inspiration and get some crucial extra spells. Whenever I can, I open the fight with a lvl 5 or 6 hold monster or person. Otherwise he can still cast tashas laughter or hypnotic pattern when the fighters have done their thing. Dimension door is also key to help the fighters with movement. Getting those three blenders to their targets is often the most difficult thing.

[@rudimentarvonhinten3218]

@@mustafamustermann3859exactly this is the reason why I like the combat so much more than in OS2

[@firefly5677]

Just wanted to give an update. I'm almost done with my honor mode playthrough, and I used this party for the whole game (my only fight left is the final fight and the nether brain). Having this experience, easily the weakest member of the team was the throw barb. They did great getting me through act 1 and did fine in act 2, but in act 3, they are almost useless now. They don't do AoE damage, except the piddling amount from the legendary trident, they can't cast spell scrolls cause rage, and their single target damage has fallen off a cliff compared to other characters, even when they do hit their crits. I'd highly recommend running another spellcaster instead of the throw barb. A tempest cleric/storm sorcerer would be a huge compliment to this team, and you get plenty of items to have 2 spellcasters decked out in good gear

[@mikey102ish]

I'm literally subscribing because you didn't waste my time. That is such a crazy smart way to start videos and I really appreciate that you did that

[@paulbennett6914]

For the early game, fiend warlock is super useful for the huge pool of temp hit points. I agree that great old one is really good later on, especially on a dip, but early game, getting 4 or 5 temp hp every round or so can save a fight that would've otherwise gotten away from you.

[@fullcolorspectrum]

just completed my honour mode runthrough following this build, can vouch for its output potential all the way act 1-netherbrain. I made changes to the gear I was using based on how i felt combat was going/fuck ups i had in my playthrough. Thank you for making this, feels good to be in the club!

[@digifan02]

So to further explain legendary actions, at least in the table top. The boss has a resource pool that recharges every round (as in once everyone has gone) that allows them to do actions, some of which are unique, in between player rounds. Its for allowing a single enemy (like a dragon for example) to stand against a full party of characters That said, a little anxious personally seeing those here as there are very few bosses in the game that battle you by themselves. Not to say its impossible to fight those kind of enemies and mobs at the same time

[@sokar_rostau]

Honour Mode Gale is my first Tactician run. I was prepared for enemies to have new skills and stuff but I was not ready to fight two adult owlbears at level 3. Yet one more "WTF?" moment from BG3. Shadowheart spent most of the fight rezzing everyone else but we got there eventually. Anders & Co. were a much easier fight. I'm assuming that's normal for Tactician... which makes me terrified of Legendary Actions. [Also, I somehow made it all the way through the fight without procing Shield, despite Gale facetanking Daddy Owlbear for half the fight and getting downed twice.]

[@digifan02]

@@sokar_rostauThe first levels are famously dangerous in d&d. A high damage roll can down pretty much anyone. Id avoid all difficult encounters in the first act till you are as close to level 5 as possible. Things like that make me both anxious and excited to at least try it honestly

[@JT-en6ui]

Me in my first honour run, ended me @@sokar_rostau

[@joppiseni3710]

So basically special actions that can be used at any point in between character turns in a round, but they have only a single resource which means once its spent they cant legendary action untill the next round?

[@zhaneshirkey6788]

​@@joppiseni3710it depends, without spoiling some bosses get legendsry actions that can be used multiple times if a condition is met

[@tristenlively89]

First honor mode run ended at the gith inquisitor fight. Yeah those legendary actions really got me lol

[@theblite32]

My 1st ended with 3 Intellect Devourers 😅. 1st fight after crashing the Nautiloud😢

[@lemonpi9466]

same lmao@@theblite32

[@justinskelly2514]

That Owlbear fight got me the first time, did not expect that extra bit of spicy feathers!

[@MayHugger]

@@justinskelly2514They really looked at the 2nd Guardian Ape fight in Sekiro and decided to copy a bit of homework.

[@joshuawade8505]

i made it thru 99% of act 1, then died to blowing myself up against the lava golem in the forge with smokepowder lol

[@supah_papalicious]

Thank you so much, ItalianSpartacus. I finished my first first honour mode run today with these builds at the second time of asking (we don't talk about the first 60 odd hours I sunk into my first attempt only to wipe during a certain jailbreak in act 2 - still a sore point). Suffice to say I couldn't have done it without you! Thanks again (again!) and please keep up the great work :)

[@davynox5245]

Great vid. Knife of the Undermountain King (can be bought in Act 1 from the creche quartermaster) is another good main/offhand for the rogue. Crit hit requirement reduced by 1 and reroll if damage roll is 2 or less.

[@Mr.Pawsitive]

For the Gloomstalker Assassin i recommend using Firestoker as your off-hand hand crossbow. It does 2-10 piercing damage compared to the 2-7 from Ne'er Misser and it provides you with Burned Alive: Deals an additional 1-4 Piercing damage to Burning targets. Yes it requires your target to be burning but with the Hellfire Hand Crossbow that should almost always be the case. I know it's RNG based but the extra damage is just huge. Tried it in two playthroughs and it helped out a lot!

[@seb2750]

Do you spec archery or dual wield for this?

[@arose8053]

@@seb2750 Since they are still hand crossbows you'd still dual wield :)

[@seb2750]

@@arose8053 I know, I just want to know his build. Go +2 attack hit or 2 weapon spec for increased dmg output on offhand. should have worded that better

[@arose8053]

@@seb2750 ohh in that case my bad! Merry Christmas

[@coldven0m]

But basically no enemies have resistance to force damage, so it's actually one of the best hand xbows in the game.

[@matthijskuijpers1378]

Personally I fit a healer build in the team, which can be set up extremely early in game. 1 point in Paladin - Oath of the Ancients. 2 points in Life cleric. (starting class doesn't make a difference as both paladin and cleric have the same wisdom and charisma saving throw proficiencies.) Paladin's channel oath: healing radiance and cleric's channel divinity resets on short rests. - Hellrider's pride gloves (from zevlor, can be pickpocketed if knocked out 1st visit to grove) that gives resistance to physical from all weapon attacks for all targets healed - Boots of aid and comfort (bought from grat the trader, goblin camp) gives 3 temporary hit points to target(s) healed - The whispering promise (ring) (bought from volo, grat, roah moonglow - I usually am able to buy from volo immediately at druid grove) gives a 2 round blessing (+1d4 to attack rolls and saving throws) for all targets healed. - Ring of salving (ring) (underdark, purchaseable from the hobgoblin after doing the side quest) adds another 2 healing on a heal. So at level 3 you can already get 3 party wide heals hat each gives blessing, physical resistances, bonus healing and temporary hitpoints. and they reset on every short rest.

[@willrich2497]

Ok, but which of the video did you replace?

[@erixon8382]

Thank you!! I managed to finish my playthrough with this party. In the fight with Orin I had to switch my Astarion for lvl. 11 Wizard Gale to upcast Magic Missile cause otherwise there was no way to get through her Unbreakable buff. Bardlock was so fun to play!!

[@oneverymadlad1124]

Makes sense you’d respec Halsin into a rapid punching monk seeing as how he’s already built like a Jojo character

[@GCHero]

Githyanki does not have shield proficiency. They do have medium armor.

[@mattgreen7692]

They need half githyanki. Get that Gith training + civil militia

[@justincampbell5987]

​@@mattgreen7692if it was Pathfinder 2 lol

[@italianspartacus]

Yup complete error on my part! I lumped it into with the discussion about half elves! Thanks for keeping me honest bro!

[@GCHero]

Np Keep up the awesome content.@@italianspartacus

[@chipskylark5500]

​@@mattgreen7692truly the humans are the rabbits of faerun

[@HuyNguyen-ck7hl]

Don’t sleep on the Blindness spell. Doesn’t require concentration and it’s a good effect (there’s a reason the Warlock/Darkness/Devil’s Sight is so good).

[@xxFusilado]

For the Spellcrux Amulet you can equip it only to use the spell slot restoration and then equip something else.

[@jimjasutis5046]

Thanks for all the work. I see many builds that look interesting but often they share equipment needs. It was nice to see a whole group like this to see where to best use the gear. One thing that really surprised me was the lack of a real caster. I had always been under the impression that spell casters did the most damage and I would have thought that a group in super hard mode would have at least one. Just realized there is no real healer either. Several pieces of gear you mentioned come from Origin Character quest lines so not having them in the party seems to hurt.

[@Yobolight]

IIRC, you can only duplicate a single weapon per playthrough. Good point.

[@doomrot]

I agree, all build guides use Hag Hair when there's only 1, and often use the same items. Been looking for a full group build video!

[@Cyrsztof]

I just entered Act 3 with this party, it was smooth sailing so far. There are still some tough fights before me, but at level 10 I already can tell how powerful this composition is. If you are always prepared for the fights (which you should if it's not your first playthrough) you just can't loose. At no point in the game I was in the danger of dying so far, fingers crossed for the Act 3. Also, I don't think I can paly this game ever again without my main character being a bard, you can skip so many fights with just talking, it's insane.

[@tytryzgaming1395]

Awesome was looking to see if someone tried it and how it worked I’m thinking about doing this…but this is my first game like this/dnd type thing so with 1 1/2 playthrough so may do a tactician run 1st then do this

[@6foot7dad]

Do miss out on XP if you don't fight?

[@miiio8628]

@@6foot7dad Nah, it gives you XP for talking your way out aswell. Not 100% sure if it's the exact same, but it's close enough in my experience.

[@DevinHandleyy]

Why the 2 warlock? Shouldn’t you go straight bard to make it quicker??

[@Kwehliam]

The most deadliest encounters in the game that can end any honor mode run... the bugs.

[@huskrzfan024]

Getting Hags hair is a little spicier in Honor mode

[@Da_bul215]

Thanks! You make playing this game so much fun also, you make ppl think 💭 on builds GREAT WORK!!

[@italianspartacus]

Aw man thank you so much! This is very generous of you!!

[@thoughtgaming492]

Liked literally just for the TLDR. Watched every second as well and leaving a comment for the algorithm just for how much I appreciated the TLDR.

[@Mohumasta]

WARNING: I just beat Honor Mode following this video and it worked fantastically, but it fell apart at the end. My advice for anyone watching this: write down where to get all the gear, I forgot about some incredible pieces or got unlucky with dumb AI. There is one potential honor mode killing flaw in this team comp, unless I'm missing something: Throwing Berserker is incredible, but was absolutely useless in the final boss fight! I was unable to damage the boss with my throwing weapons and when I tried the weapons straight up fell into oblivion (also doing 0 damage). My berserker had to resolve to casting scrolls until the last turn when I was able to use Aberration Slaying Arrows to get the killing blow. Super lucky I didn't wipe, it was down to the wire.

[@Colt-yx2ow]

I FOUND THIS OUT THE HARD WAY! I sat there for a solid minute with my jaw open and was so sad...

[@loneirregular1280]

I am now on the 6th level, finished Grymforge, and got to Last Light Inn... now going to the Mountain Pass. Enjoying it a lot!

[@basedbear1605]

You cannot go to mountain pass once you have reached Last Light Inn....sorry!😢

[@Deathwindgames]

⁠@@basedbear1605you can.

[@hamishblair8853]

@@basedbear1605you can

[@ellaworkman2454]

​@basedbear1605 i don't think that's true, you can go back and do it. You just can't have found the nightsong, as that is the point of no return for act 2.

[@basedbear1605]

@@ellaworkman2454 Indeed. I never tried to go back and didn't notice. Seems you can... but certain quests will auto complete.

[@hawtsumikatsuki7682]

thanks for making this not just for honour mode but just getting a party composition together is nice for bg3

[@Neonmirrorblack]

You are not guaranteed to get the Hag's hair due to RNG (death), so you need to actually plan your build around NOT getting it, and if you happen to get it, reevaluate and respec. Also, having Invisibility on an Assassin does nothing for crits. The auto crits only happen when you first initiate (surprise) enemies. It also makes more sense to put 12 into STR for the extra jump distance for the Gloom/Ass and just dump CHA.

[@UmbraOrbis]

she will surrender at around 20hp it shouldn't be that difficult to ensure that it happens its pretty hard to deal 20-30 dmg in a single hit that early

[@joppiseni3710]

Should remember that house of grief is reliant on rolls, which means its safe to expect you aint getting them, best not to rely on getting it

[@kennyhuynh530]

If they're really desperate to get that buff, you can reclass with Withers, pump intelligence and choose a class that gives you expertise in a skill, i.e. religion. While it's still not 100%, if you do that along with all the temporary bonuses (guidance, bardic inspiration, enhance ability), it becomes much more likely.

[@Lankpants]

You can stack religion checks up to the point where you're almost guaranteed to pass. I just respeced my Jaheira (who I don't think has religion bonuses) ro a cleric/bard to see what I could get her religion up to. Right now she's +13 to religion checks. Add in mages friend (+1), shapeshifters boon, (+1d4) bardic inspiration (+1d10) and guidance (+1d4) and that's at least +17. Take in advantage and at least one inspiration and you'd have to have cosmically bad luck to not win the roll. If you just roll average on those bonuses it's +23, so you literally clear on 2.

[@danishrover6984]

Remember to always bring a box with you thrower so the get high grounds if the terrain at least is flat

[@henrychen1835]

Huh, didn't think of this. How many standard boxes stacked = high ground bonus?

[@milange1094]

Its 3@@henrychen1835

[@OakandIV]

Lots of fun listening to this. I’m fond of the 3 Warlock 1 Wizard 8 Lore Bard as a main character. You lose that level 10 magical secrets, but you gain Darkness as an always prepared spell at Warlock level 3 and access to all scrolls to grab all of the Wizard ritual spells and buffs.

[@project_ronin4789]

Oooo I didn't think about the ability to learn spells that's a good one, question tho if you change classes after Learning them do you forget the spells?

[@imurdered]

@@project_ronin4789 If you swap class you lose all the spells you learned as wizard from scrolls, but if you swap BACK to wizard, you will relearn all the spells you learned from scrolls.

[@OakandIV]

@@project_ronin4789 keep one level of Wizard. All spells from scrolls remain, and can be cast using your spell slots from other classes (if you have high enough level slots)

[@HuyNguyen-ck7hl]

I think this would work as long you grabbed Counterspell for your lvl 6 Secrets. I feel like that’s a must have spell.

[@zakhunt]

Don’t you need to be at a specific WIZARD CLASS level to learn spells via scrolls? Like I don’t think you can learn level 5 Wizard spells via scroll if you’re only a level 1 Wizard. Or am I mistaken?

[@Valcohound]

Thank you for this build, I was able to finish honor mode with this comp! works and it's a super fun builds to use!

[@italianspartacus]

Yussss!!

[@alexpushilin6120]

Just finished my HM run, huge thanks to you! Besides that these are very solid builds, you've explained some game mechanics that I had no idea existed during my tactician run.

[@DavionAngeles]

People... pls stop sleeping on Mage Hand. Dropping items does cost an action. Drop those potions and have the mage hand throw them. All those weapons clogging up your inventory... drop those and throw them also. This will significantly improve you action economy. Use those oils, keep a candle in your inventory so you can dip it into fire, use invisibility potions at the end of combat etc. Darkness arrows are so good. They are probably one of the best CC’s in Baldurs Gate 3, you can cast it offensively to shut down ranged enemies. If you cast it between yourself and an enemy, they can't shoot you through it, you can also cast it so enemies are just on the edge of it, allowing your melee team members to hit with advantage due to blindness, or you could use it as a mini globe of invulnerability, dipping your ranged users and spell casters in and out to shoot at enemies.

[@HarryFernandes15]

For throwing barabarian going thief rogue is great for 2nd BA giving u another throw with beserker

[@Kingsey-of4rg]

Managed to beat honor mode with this exact party! Thanks for the guide!

[@kutayaktas6672]

that team is a pure monster, thank you for sharing

[@basedbear1605]

Except 0 heals....

[@your_average_content190]

​@@basedbear1605Bard heals

[@dangdaniel4988]

Thanks for the build. Really helped out during my honor run. Golden dice obtained.

[@yannanzhu4407]

Pulled thru my first honor mode attempt with this guide! Thanks so much!❤

[@thedragonslibrary]

You can also grab dual-wielder for almost any caster once you reach act 3. If you get both the legendary staff and the necromancy staff, it let's you basically spam level 6 necro spells. This includes reanimation spells. Honestly, in my run, I plan on respecing a character into a necromancy wizard, learning all the necro spells. It can be really powerful to have unlimited Circle of Death and Level 6 Blight! Not to mention the undead horde!

[@VangolaGear]

17:30 honestly I like Bless and either Mass Healing Word or Conjure Elemental for the magical secret at level 10 bard. Bless is great and it opens up no longer needing a Paladin or Cleric to cast it and you don’t have too many concentration spells on par with your entire party being blessed. Not to mention you can get a staff which doubles Bless’ effect and since you’re not really going to be attacking with a melee weapon it’s not half bad

[@iosefkasclinic7283]

Githyanki Do not give you proficiency with shields. Just a heads up to anyone following his bardlock build

[@notjosh1]

love this guide! i've used a throwing build before, and my go-to build is actually 5 levels of Berzerker, 4 levels of Thief and 2 levels of Fighter, so you can throw up to 8 times in a turn lol

[@joannespluym6109]

It probably doesn't mean much but I finally beat honour mode with your help today! The party was super OP and a lot of your other guides on how to deal with combat and stuff honestly genuinely saved me multiple times. The closest I got to a full party wipe was the final fight I had at the courtyard. I originally wanted to just invisibility cheese my way through it, but for some reason chose to use dimension door because I was getting impatient... and got super punished for it. It was even worse because all my people were scattered along the middle and literally every enemy aggroed lol. Then for some reason I decide to not leave gale behind and fought everyone. (Dame Aylin helped so much by drawing tons of aggro) I still chose to blow up Gale at the end though because I was way too nervous😂.

[@firefly5677]

Thanks for the time and effort it took to make this. Will definitely be using this for my honor mode run A couple things I'm sure other people have mentioned by now: Most everyone knows about the Hill Giant Elixirs that can be bought 3 at a time from Ethel in the Grove, and her stock resets on a long rest, so long as you don't trigger her quest or go south, but also the hobgoblin and the alchemist in the myconoid colony in the underark both sell fingers of hill giant and the alchemist will sell 1 Elixir of Hill Giant strength, which also resets on long rest. If you stay to the north of the map and go into the Underdark via the temple in the Goblin camp this gives you 4 and 2/3 elixirs every long rest as long as you have gold and camp supplies. For that reason, I would dump strength on either the throw barb or monk, with monk being the better choice imo. This lets you give the monk 16 dex, 16 wisdom, and 15 con. Bump con with tavern brawler. You could even stock up enough elixirs for both characters if you loot everything you find, but tbh I prefer to play it safe and keep it on one There's a few good items you can get very early on for your bardlock, too. Volo sells The Whispering Promise Ring and there's a chest near Alfira that gives you Cap of Curing. There are also Boots of Aid and Comfort (though I don't remember where you get them off the top of my head). The bless doesn't work with the bardic inspiration heal, but having extra healing and buffs is amazing for early game and getting those hit percentages and survivability up until you start getting gear There's also the Silver Pendant on a skeleton next to the fire at the Harper Stash which gives you the Guidance centrip. Since we're not running a cleric, this is invaluable for passing skill checks and can be used for most of the game until you get end-game gear The Bracers of Defense and Haste Helm can both be found in the blighted village, both amazing for the monk or throw barb The Graceful Cloth can be bought at the very beginning of the mountain pass from the lady who asks for the gith egg, amazing for the monk. She also sells gloves that give unarmed attacks 1-4 Fire dmg for your monk Gloves of Dexterity can be bought in the Gith Creche. I'd recommend giving them to throw barb. These let you dump dex and put more points in con, str, and wis. 17 str boost to 18 with Tavern Brawler, 16 Con, 14 Wisdom. Act 2 at last light inn you can buy clothing that gives you +2 str up to 20, put on throw barb (or monk if throw barb is using elixirs). This gives you 20 str with no ASI if you have the Gloves of dexterity, too I'm sure there are a ton more items I'm missing, but these early game items can make all the difference and help you actually get to act 3 to make the builds fully come online

[@GoodMorningButch]

Bardlock is my class composition in actual D&D play so I love seeing it in game as well!

[@ziadalaeddin3521]

Honestly subscribed for the amazing beginning and transparency

[@benl3115]

I crushed everything in the game and instantly wiped to Cazador. Oh well time to run it back

[@jungshin87]

three clerics (Hirelings). all with divine intervention. blow them all up on the hard bosses. hire new clerics. repeat.

[@TheRedAzuki]

For Bard, I just prefer 100% Bard of Swords, get the Helmet of Arcane Acuity (+2 arcane Acuity per damage with a weapon), since it's in act 2, you'll bascially be lvl 5, so you can use this with your flourish to get 4 hits, that's +8, aka max amount. Then just cast hold person next turn for 100% chance to succeed, (Use other CCs for non-humanoids) and then in act 3, you can easily get the Weapon Attack = Illusion/Enchantment bonus action. All your CC as a bard is those two, so now, you can do on turn 1, CC everyone and just win. (Also Arrow of Many-hits also works for this) Then get deadshot for your bard because their damage will mostly be auto attacks and since it doubles your proficiency bonus for attacks. Get Alert as your feat so you always go first. Your other 3 can be a paladin (With hold person you have 100% crit, so that means Crit-smite) and then just whatever you want. You don't need more in Act 3.

[@KyleHead]

I may have just misunderstood what you were saying around 6:00 in regarding Disguise Self, but I’m pretty sure they patched out being able to get the race specific damage bonuses by Disguising into the race (Gith Greatsword, Dwarven Thrower, etc bonus damage). That does mean you can shapeshift OUT of those races and keep the bonus though.

[@doomrot]

Yep Disguise Self was patched (nerfed). It will not give you race specific bonuses.

[@basedbear1605]

Yeah, it's basically only good for the ring you get from the ox and getting into tiny spaces now. 😢

[@SMandrell]

Everytime i see these build guides it's so close to what i chose to do my first honour mode run with. I started with throwing Barb and at level 8 respecced into a 1 sorc/1 cleric/ 10 Abj Wiz and it certainly saves my run several times with shitty roles.

[@jnt2804]

Thank you so much, I finished my honor run with this team, making some changes in Astarion build

[@wldnrkls]

the friends drawback works the same way pickpocketing does. if you quickly ditch whoever you enchanted before the spell wears off (i.e. go to camp) you can drop the spell and leave camp without consequence

[@brunomarzipan7894]

I wanna say, this guide is fantastic. You are very thorough and I reallllly appreciate your methodical layout which makes it so much easier to reference things as a player goes along in game. Extra props for not mentioning redundant gear and one time buffs to every member. I get kinda annoyed when someone recommends the hags hair for all 4 of your members like many do. Finally thank you for timestamps. I wish all bg3 content was this well laid out. Sub'd!

[@brunomarzipan7894]

Annnd I forgot to buy the returning pike from the vendor before doing the poison brew barrel gobo quest so now I cant buy it. Welp cya throw barb.

[@adamnowicki1425]

The most efficient way of healing (outside of combat) I found was to ball up entire party, so everyone is standing close to the others and throw potions in the middle of grouping, if you place them well you can heal entire party with each potion, ring that makes you heal others for extra 2 works, helmet that heals you when you heal others also works

[@basedbear1605]

Oh and don't forget..ALWAYS leave one person in camp when fighting a boss battle....you can always rez if one person lives. 😊

[@teomosu]

Big brain move that one. Thank you

[@basedbear1605]

@@teomosu No problem.

[@NoBodyNoCrime758]

thats just dumb youre making harder on ur self with 3 this is fucking pointless dont do this who ever reads this

[@leivaslt666]

My party just got to Act 3 on Honor mode: Half Orc Sorlock pact of blade Minthara Paladin Fighter Astarion Gloomstalker Assassin (this one rocks omg) Shadowheart Shar (killed Nightsong) Cleric with her special gear

[@HuyNguyen-ck7hl]

Think there are other things based on what people are saying. Haste doesn’t give martials an extra action, just an extra attack. A lot of damage riders got nerfed. So on and so forth. Also be careful about ASI buffs like Hag’s Hair and Mirror of Loss. Not 100% you secure those.

[@olle3308]

Yeah, forget mirror of loss on any char that is not INT based

[@milange1094]

u can use 17 int from helmet u got by killing Ogrs in act 1 + 1d4 guidance + ring with metamorph 1d4 + 1d8 bardic inspiration so :) @@olle3308

[@onurbayramoglu880]

Few downsides with the comp: 1-No counterspell before level 10 2-Secondary at best with intelligencr and wisdom checks which cant be savescummed 3-No cleric to give utility with aid, warding bond etc also no sanctuary to prepare to escape battles which in honour mode matters (having a cleric is also important for the entire act 2) I found the most op comp as Tavern brawler monk (8 monk+ 4 thief) Sharpshooter Swords bard (arcane acuity build, 10 swords bard 1 fighter 1 wizard) Pure support life cleric Armor of agathys based abjuration wizard tank (1 white draconic sorcerer+ 1tempest cleric +10 abjuration wizard) Either abjuration wizard or life cleric can be replaced with the famous light cleric tank build thats using radiating orbs mechanic all are top tier.

[@taelion]

I always go for the caustic band with double hand crossbow characters. That one crit the ring gives is nice and all but having every shot do an extra 2 damage with not really any other beneficial rings available anyway is so huge. When you open as thief gloomstalker thats 8 damage in your first rotation without blood elixier

[@chrishoppner150]

I usually do too, but then I saw the price of that ring in Honor Mode lol

[@emilyorter3661]

Be careful at near end act 1 if you choose wrong answer in a certain dialogue, vlaakith is gone smite your entire group and honor mode is over.

[@burns0100]

Use a guide for dialogue choices, it's way to much information to remember on the fly whilst preparing for combat encounters. You'd hate to spend 10 minutes setting up a fight, taking potions and positioning your party just to hit the conversation, press the wrong button and wipe like that.

[@bobnewkirk7003]

I really appreciate your build and philosophy. I have been doing my own theory crafting and came up with a pretty similar format. 1) A Lore Bard split for Song of Rest and support utility is pretty pivotal and crossing it with warlock for empowered EB made for a really solid backline. 2) Personally I like my frontline to be a little bit more sturdy so I went with Oathbreker/GOO blade lock (with GWM). this will be the primary haste target for more swings/turn 3) Any Rogue multiclass for the utility slot works. Personally I like 2x hand crossbows, and it might give more damage, but I have been seeing a lot of new builds with Longbows, archery style and the rare arrow types (look into the interaction of Pass without Trace and Greater Invis). Either way this character will be the one to initiate combat, likely detached from the group. 4) For my last slot, I don't think the value of Haste can be undersold, early on Twin Haste on a Sorcerer is probably the best source, however once you have access to the armor of the Sporekeeper I think Spore Druid might be as viable an option; and spore will likely be able to survive better on its own and contribute summons. You will have access to haste elsewhere (Lore) so you could slot in more damage, however having backup support for my Bard will likely build party toughness overall. Edit: I've also been looking into Moon Druid as a frontline. The Build has many of the same percs as a standard frontline, but you come online early and your HP is all temporary so you may end up being able to last longer. The build doesn't fight for gear, and with the recent Tavern Brawler change the damage is solid without a crazy weapon.

[@remortisgaming]

Haha, alot of the builds and philosophy are from yours truly :). I’ve been burnt out on bg3 but my boy Sparty hits me up for advice on different builds and such. I suggested the sorc for twin haste too :p I’m glad I’m able to help folks through him, as he’s able to keep pumping these guides out! I just don’t have the energy lol.

[@StrickenBiged]

From what I have read, Tavern Brawler does not buff Wild Shape forms’ unarmed damage, just their attack rolls, in honour mode. This is apparently because honour mode has the tougher rules.

[@bobnewkirk7003]

@@remortisgaming the community is what keeps people going, learning from each other is only going to improve content as a whole. Glad to hear that you are collaborating, Sparty is a monster when it comes to turning out truly massive videos. Have you had a chance to try out honor mode yet? I'm interested in seeing if the difficulty curve lends itself to a glass-cannon playstyle or a more slow CC-centric playstyle. I've been swamped so I don't even think I booted up the game in November, though this patch may well adjust my priority.

[@remortisgaming]

@@bobnewkirk7003 not yet! I’m debating on coming back to it after my vacation coming up. It sounds sound like fun.

[@bobnewkirk7003]

@@remortisgaming Interested in your take: in the above I have a full support caster and a caster with off-support. I've been playing with splits and have a pretty compelling Sorc 7 + Lock 3 + Bard 2 that runs Song of Rest, Twin Haste and Boosted EB spam. As that fills all of my support rolls, I can roll in a TB OH/T3 monk. My question is: do you think the OH monk is going to be too squishy for Honor mode?

[@tjizzle293]

41:00 ne’er miss is nice to have in as an offhand crossbow bc you can swap it to primary to change ranged sneak attack to force dmg when enemies resist piercing. I also like MM + cull the weak to clean up a few enemies once per long rest. Both are situational but can make a big difference :)

[@nikfarrell1395]

The gloves of archery come from the goblin trader in the goblin camp in Act 1

[@bentmercer]

All stealth gloomstalker / thief party works well to cheese the majority of fights, and run away from combat when needed

[@nikkal5642]

nice guide. I would add the knife of the undermountain king as a weapon for the Gloom Stalker assassin. Its like Bloodthirst but adds a re-roll damage if you roll 2 and below.

[@TinMan445]

Thanks Sparti, going to trade out my thrower build for yours. Tried Eldridge knight but it feels so weak in act 1 compared to berserker, and I’ve had to many close calls in my honour run so far. Thx for the great concise content as always.

[@zelandakhniteblade5436]

Start with 5 levels of Zerk, then at level 6 respec to take Thief as the first level. 2 levels of Thief gets you Rogue and then 2 levels of Fighter gets you surge. The final 2 levels you can choose EK, BM or even just 2 more levels of Rogue and it doesn't make all that much difference.

[@Athen-cz1zs]

Additional tip for honor mode: have all of the companions that you’re not using respec into bard. At level 3 they gain an ability that gives you a free short rest per companion.

[@lordastrea2765]

comments section of youtube is a lifesaver. thank you for this. :D

[@karllong]

Great stuff, I'm contemplating my honour mode party and this is some good thinking. I've played a lot with the swords bard & if I really want it OP i'll add 2 levels of paladin. An item really good for the bard is the band of mystic scoundrel which you can get from cheating the gene at the circus, allows you to cast a spell as a bonus action after making a weapon attack. Also another interesting combo with the monk is a few levels of spore druid just for symbiotic entity which adds d6 necrotic to your attacks (weapon & unarmed). Spore druids also get wis & int proficiency saving throws. I also wanted to second your recommendations for resilient as a feat, it is absolutely outstanding & I have it on any caster.

[@Notarealusersname]

Upvote for front loading the builds overview

[@msdunkel]

Regarding honour mode difficulty, for the streamers who can't cheese totally valid. For the average PC user just before a wipe: ctrl-alt-delete, end process, and reload last save. It's a hassle but beats starting over and it will get those with less experience over the finish line.

[@vtubersubs3803]

Why not just use the 3rd party cheat program to unlock the Steam achievement if you're going to cheat? It's not any different

[@msdunkel]

@@vtubersubs3803 you're not wrong. I used it for misclicks in dialog or physical errors caused by my ailing mouse (now replaced) In my particular case Gyrm 1-shot my entire party so I had to start over anyway. That said, why do you care what someone else does in a 1-player game? I just put the info out there for others to use if they wish.

[@NoBodyNoCrime758]

cheating in honor mode lmao

[@mpajonk]

throwing Karlach

[@pilgrimgirl3182]

Love your vids! Love the way you organize them in different chapters too!😁🖤👌 A request- please make a full bardlock build vid.🙏 Please continue making awesome BG3 content!😁✌️

[@CalebBeckner-x6k]

first timer to the channel, love that you frontload the vids! literally made me like comment and subscribe bc its so helpful

[@italianspartacus]

Thanks so much for watching dude!!

[@RosaSawyerCinque]

i wasnt actually planning on using these builds but youve convinced me to respec someone into a monk lmao

[@Ryan-sn3uo]

Gemini gloves do not affect EB the way you think it does. It just adds one extra beam, making it 4 beams.

[@italianspartacus]

Yap! I believe I said that! I mainly said they HELP EB More than anything :)

[@Ryan-sn3uo]

​@@italianspartacus Ah gotcha, my bad. I thought you meant 6 beams. Because usually these gloves are good for single target cantrips like frost bolt that now gets extra 100% damage with two target option, whereas EB just gets a 30% increase in comparion. Still, not a bad choice, but the bonus action gloves definitely had better action economy effect for me.

[@Toadsomniac]

For the gloomstalker build, why choose two weapon fighting over archery for your fighting style, is the bonus to off hand damage that much more valuable to a +2 to hit on all your ranged attacks?

[@StudlySoldier]

Throwbarian is my favorite class. You can actually benefit from great weapon master so long as a two handed weapon is in your hands when the damage is applied. So once you have multiple weapons that return when thrown, always throw one that isnt equiped.

[@jesserebelo3583]

If you throw an unequipped returning weapon it equips itself on you when it returns

[@StudlySoldier]

@@jesserebelo3583 yes, you rotate through them. If I'm holding the returning pike, and then throw dwarfen thrower, dwarfen thrower deals damage, with the bonus from great weapon master because I'm holding the pike. Then it equips the thrower in your hands, so you throw the pike next.

[@remortisgaming]

Y’all throw weapons, I throw my teammates. We are not the same.

[@StudlySoldier]

@@remortisgaming my favorite is throwing an alchemist fire and then a smokepowder barrel into the flames

[@remortisgaming]

@@StudlySoldier now we’re talkin!

[@Set8060]

My tav was half orc 6 swords bard/3 fighter (champion)/ 3 rogue (assassin). You can get your crits down to 14/15. You get heavy armor from fighter and just equip the risky ring so you can use sneak attack every turn. You don’t really cast spells in combat so every spell slot can be used for utility/buffing. With defensive flourish I was getting up to 26 AC. Pretty crazy build imo

[@Set8060]

I also turned Wyll into a 2 fighter/2 warlock/8 sorcerer. He can equip a shield because he is human and gets heavy armor from fighter. This is my sustain damage character so I use a lot of the items that buff magic missile and fall back on eldritch blast when I’m out of slots. Use him to twinned spell haste as well

[@MarcosGarcia-et1qu]

Oh man I had made an eldritch thrower just for the weapon return. Thank you for this video

[@davefawcett4894]

My son-in-law helped me build a dark urge fighter; that along with his monk and bard, killed Raffell and all but one minion on the first turn. The fourth character was a Cleric who just buffed...Honor Mode

[@RoxyLuffer]

Gloves of Archery you get in Act 1, Pretty sure it's from the Goblin Merchant, but if I'm wrong, you can get them from the Zhentarum Merchant guy, where you get the Titanstring bow

[@jaxsonfanta5420]

Stealing from the gnome in the goblin camp the following scrolls: mirror image, blur, fireball, haste, invis potions, darkness arrows, fire arrows, scorching ray scrolls, magic missile scrolls, warding scrolls, oil of accuracy, poisons, elixir of hill giant strength, bloodlust elixir…. And then stealing much of the same stuff from Volo at level 3 is the only way I’m making it through honor mode.

[@joeking3057]

The most OP build I have found is actually a beast master ranger with the spider pet. Run up to boss on karlach, place booze around boss, web boss and booze with spider, fire bolt the web and profit.

[@theusernameicoodfind]

I think the knowledge gith cleric/lore bard build might be better for conversion checks since it gives you so much proficiency. Add rogue or ranger and it’s so much proficiency.

[@InnerFire6213]

I always equip my monk with a weapon, just to give them bonus abilities. Like theres a quarterstaff you can get in moonrise that gives you free enlarge spell.

[@Sooch900]

I think if Gith had built body types they would be picked way more. The male body types look skinny and weak (physically) everyone wants a buff super hero avatar. Just my thoughts on it.

[@tofu6465]

Sword Bard archer Bard10/Fighter 2 is a stronger archer. You basically get all the damage of gloomstalker with all the benefits of bard. Get the arcane acuity helmet in act2 and the titanbow with strength boosting club in act 1. Finally in act 3 get the mystic scondral ring. Now you get around 30 damage per arrow with a 18 dex and strength boosted with the club or elixir. You get 2 arrows per florish and with extra attack that can be up to 8 attacks with action surge. as a bonus action you can cast hold person/hold monsters with a DC 30ish DC as a bonus action if its still alive.

[@Pyroific]

great tip about the bound weapon with hirelings! i didnt know that one

[@jacobstalls1159]

4 Tavern Brawler Monks

[@XFizzlepop-Berrytwist]

Woo Bardlock! XD Or my prefferred term, War Bard! I’m currently doing a run with that build. EB plus Hex, and Agonizing blast just hits sooo hard, its better than some level 1, 2 or even level 3 spells at times, which is crazy! Then fun Bard spells, is fun.

[@jakesherwood1551]

Thank you so much for this video I feel like I have a chance at Honour mode now.

[@nicholaskarlsson4218]

oh and the cloak of displacement is just a vendor item in act 3 from a shop to the left of the bridge just before gortash's ceremony some dwarf's adventuring shop, cant remember the name

[@Fyeenix]

After completing honor mode I check to see what others are doing and this is almost my exact run. Only difference is I went full warlock early on to get hadar early. Then in act3 lv11 with all the items available I switched the barbarian and assassin to a CC sorc and hand crossbow aura of murder, even though I really didnt need to

[@marshallwilver8831]

I used a similar build on minsc for that monk build. I went 8 monk 4 rogue though. I put the gloves of strength on him instead of the monk legendaries an took tavern brawler and two asi’s in wisdom and mirror of loss buff on wisdom to have a final stats of 23 str 14 dex 18 con 8 int 22 wis 8 cha. The damage is cray cray

[@JLJhippotype]

i like dark urge so you get the invisibility after a kill. saves casting or using a potion

[@aockrewshi7480]

Do you guys think its possible to do a solo honor mode run?

[@andybodle7560]

Some people are already trying

[@kevinanderson1642]

Dude didn't even mention the REAL reason to pick githyanki, free misty step. So powerful.

[@ivazdranoel4609]

Mage hand as well. Use jump before battle. Use mage hand before as well. It costs no action to drop a potion so you can drop it and have the mage hand throw it if you need to save your bonus action/action

[@eatschmitt4265]

With a very similar party I took out ansur last night in less than 2 rounds. He didn’t even get to use an attack. Took him out mid air and got the achievement. Shocked myself how OP my party is 😂