The Ultimate Honor Mode Party: BG3 #10

[@DnDDeepDive]

Check out The Seeker's Guide to Enchanting Emporiums here! www.kickstarter.com/projects/eldermancy/the-seekers-guide-to-enchanting-emporiums?ref=bzlr8m

[@KnicKnac]

Already backed it because I enjoyed the first book of the taverns

[@reginaldkelly7809]

do you have a plce where we can submit build ideas?

[@DnDDeepDive]

@@reginaldkelly7809 this is as good a place as any :)

[@reginaldkelly7809]

@@DnDDeepDive Man you answered that quickly :D ur awesome! I have been trying to perfect a pacifist support build. Utilizing the Warlock Genies lvl 10 bottle respite mechanic and 2 lvls of moon druid. I use wild shape to hide while holding concentration. normally the build goes best with setting up beforehand. Taking advantage of my ability to use my pact of the chain Familiar and being able to still sense things while still inside my Genie bottle. also pacifist only in the sense i didnt want to be doing damage in combat, becuz i find combat one of the most boring aspects, only cuz of how long it takes. so being a character who tries to end combat situations in out of the box ways was my goal. If you could also include any magic items you would look out for. I notice u never do that in your builds for good reason, but im just curious is all. The more i write this out it seems like a dumb idea. But i love it and hope u can make it even better. especially becuz you take your builds to high level.

[@reginaldkelly7809]

@@DnDDeepDive I laos made this comment...... not realizing this was a BG3 video lol. I wanted you to do it for a DnD5e build video. i apologize for that mix up lol

[@xandroy1273]

Regarding the balancing around haste and pact of the blade etc: I think Larian understand that broken features are fun and that they are not really problems in single player games. Just play the game like you want to. But since they want to make Honor Mode a real challenge, they changed it for this mode only

[@dylanboczar999]

see, as a powergamer, I don't find broken features fun when replaying things. I want to feel okay choosing other things, which I won't do if one option for the build (cough Great Tavern Weapon Sharpshooter Master Brawler) is the obviously-best pick.

[@hemogoblin6789]

But that just seems like it's harder to do, coding it specifically for Honor Mode. And more confusing for the players, having to remember that it works differently in different game modes. It seems like it would have been better to fix it for all.

[@dirzz]

@@dylanboczar999 I disagree, there's no real absolute best pick for everything. I play a super OP optimized party and I'm constantly shifting things and finding even better ways to deal with different fights, I challenge myself with ending every fight in 2 turns max - the optimization never ends. You can make so many things "broken" - I'm really enjoying finding those combinations. Yet I see way more people struggling with just a normal difficulty than people that think it's too easy, so with those people in mind I think having a lot of possibilities for stumbling onto an OP solution really makes the game more fun for a general audience.

[@ducky36F]

I think both arguments are valid for this one. Thing for me is I’m going to feel like I’m cheating using those builds in tactician in the future knowing they patched them out of honour mode :/

[@MrKimvidard]

​@@hemogoblin6789 keep in mind that 90% of players won't touch honour mode. So changing for everyone would have impacted the experience of a vast majority who won't care about that change. So making the effort is appreciated, but I'm happy they keep it to the users who will actually appreciate it.

[@GhostWriter520]

For BG3 allowing certain mechanics to work in every mode except Honor Mode, it's purely because they know people love it and put fan enjoyment over intention. They made the bugs a feature. And then they take them away in Honor Mode BECAUSE it's supposed to be THE hard mode. They get to have their cake and eat it too

[@loop4x454]

you say that but all the bugs are still in the game, you can beat the game in a few hours with jump skipping in any mode, including honour mode.

[@GhostWriter520]

@@loop4x454 right, so I very clearly didn't mean every bug. My comment was directly in response to something he says in the video

[@sackara]

@@loop4x454 jump skipping is not something that takes enjoyment from somone who wants the whole experience. It's much harder to resist broken gamne mechanics than to resist some "skip the whole game and you win" bug.

[@PlayfulOtter]

So many of the BG3 builds have equipment requirements, and often, those builds don't truly come online until act 3. I appreciate the work you do to make these itemless builds. Certain equipment will help each and every single one of these builds, but they are solid on their own. Thank you.

[@PlayfulOtter]

@Scribbinge I do not recall saying these were the best builds. However, when you do finally have access to the end game items, these builds do become stronger from having strong equipment. I appreciate your candid response, and I sincerely hope that one day we can play together in the same party.

[@ntyhurst]

agreed but it would be great to get at least a few recommended items for each build.

[@PlayfulOtter]

@ntyhurst solid recommendations would be any items that either suit your playstyle or bump up the power of what you already doing. I know that doesn't help your situation, but there are a plethora of items in bg3.

[@mchadwilson]

Thank you so much for not just telling me what choices to make at the various levels for these builds, but also how to play them, as well. So many build guides leave out the tactics and just present a list of stats and feats, rather than explain why we’re taking them.

[@Lumppytaters]

I ran a short rest team for a run. Monk, Fighter, Bard, Warlock. All with 2 levels or more of Bard & they all took durable. It seems silly but getting 6 Short rests where everyone gets back to full health REALLY helped the team survivability.

[@snek8421]

but why not just long rest more?

[@Ikaxas]

@@snek8421 Because long rests costs camp supplies, and in tactician mode (and I assume also honor mode) they cost twice as many camp supplies (80 per long rest). Camp supplies aren't that hard to come by, so it's not like you can never long rest, but if you long rest *too* much you will run low on camp supplies. Being able to fully reset on a short rest means you don't have to worry about that at all.

[@KhoiBoa]

thats weak. game way too easy. @@Ikaxas

[@Longshot-qv8is]

I love the idea. It's a great resource saver. I needed to long rest more often in order to trigger companion story events. At one point, I long rested 8 times in a row and got a cutscene every time

[@Douglas-nt7jd]

I had a bardlock team for this exact reason. Lots of darkness all over the place that doesn't hinder my team at all with 6 short rests

[@windi7125]

"If burst damage is the way then action surge is the road" could work I think :D

[@Rolo7Shooter]

“Instead of trying to inflict the feared, or restrained, or stunned, or paralyzed condition, just … try to inflict the dead condition on everything … as soon as possible. Thats the worst condition.” Two best lines imo

[@alexsamurai1230]

Read in the voice of Malus Thorm :)

[@RobThePrincess]

I was JUST thinking yesterday... "man it's actually been a little while since Colby has made a BG3 video..." haha

[@nutterbuddertec3838]

Exact same thought

[@Phantom-jt3xc]

Same

[@PalleRasmussen]

I had a similar if not identical thought two days ago.

[@fatilumkins8730]

I’m now realizing that there is no individual experience in this life. I was thinking the SAME THING

[@melvolume5870]

Just wanted to say this party guide just works so well. Makes the end game totally doable. The insights about how to max single target burst damage are invaluable. All that d&d experience just made this noobie one happy camper on his second playthrough. The difference with an optimised and smart party setup like this is night and day. Went from tense encounters to actually laughing sometimes at how fast tough enemies went down. The combo of that thrower and the killer bard by lvl 12 is just nuts. Thanks man.

[@mcbiohazard892]

The Whispering Promise helps solve the Bless dilemma for the light cleric because it lets you buff the equivalent of Bless whenever you heal. With Mass Healing Word, you can apply Bless to the whole party with just a bonus action. You can find it in Act 1 so you can have it in your back pocket for when you get 3rd level spells and Spirit Guardians comes online.

[@Marabcd315]

whispering promise + hellrider's pride is probably the most effective way to do healing in bg3, healing on its own is still too miniscule an amount to make it worth it all the time but that healing also giving two pretty sizeable buffs is super powerful in the early game when you can get them and stays potent all the way through act 2 by the time you've probably found better equipment

[@GiveMeTheRice]

Whispering Promise only gives the buff to the caster, no?

[@thaesimir]

​@@GiveMeTheRice It applies to anyone you heal. There is another item that only affects the caster, but it isn't whispering promise. I can't recall what it is rn, though

[@GiveMeTheRice]

@@thaesimir The wiki says the whispering promise is the caster only one

[@thaesimir]

​​@@GiveMeTheRice"Blessed Mercy: When you heal a creature, it gains a +1d4 bonus to Attack rolls and Saving throws for 2 turns." From the wiki🤙🤙

[@ironkrieg3368]

Thanks! Your BG3 videos have increased my enjoyment of the game more than I can describe.

[@DnDDeepDive]

Hey thanks!

[@jakeinfactsaid8637]

Please keep doing builds for this game! Even if it’s just here and there for updates or if the mood strikes you. I hope your channel blows up like those biceps did in just a few short years. Went from BG3 to tabletop so you’re evil conversion scheme is working; I failed the charisma save.

[@jtfike]

Hi there, I have a tweak for you. You recommended light cleric 11, druid 1 for the thornwhip. Rather than taking the 1 druid, go full light cleric, and for the feat that you would have missed by taking druid, just take the druid feat. It gives you two cantrips and thornwhip is one of them.

[@gustavblackwell1494]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. People always forget about feats!

[@joshuaclendenon]

Came for the builds, stayed for the pocket full of kryptonite. Good stuff, Colby.

[@lordptk4115]

My MVP for Honor Mode has been Shadowheart as a Gloomstalker Ranger Sharpshooter. Multiclassed into Swords Bard for the Flourishes and later greater Invisibility (for permanent Advantage). It's absolutely brutal at initiating combat and laying waste to enemies early on. Btw, for ranged characters don't sleep on the amazing special arrows there are in the game, mainly: Arrows of many targets. They hit 3 more targets within reach for half dmg (though only the base weapoin dmg gets halfed, sharpshooter +10 and other bonuses stay for more like 100% dmg on main target + 60% on 3 more.)

[@taznkid1730]

For Killer Bard, I recommend the 16 CHA. Even after changes and nerfs, you can use arcane acuity helmet and a ring in Act 3 to cast control spells with (I think it is now) 26 DC as a bonus action. So pew pew flourish, stack arcane acuity, into a DC 26 control spell.

[@IliumGaming]

you can get a free +3 DC from Rhapsody dagger (Cazador), and another from cloak of the Weave for an easy DC30 (higher if you have more CHA). Battlemage elixir also stacks AA for free

[@PsychicFusionReactor]

This is the way.

[@jeffsmith3818]

This was the team comp that I was considering for my honor run with the slight change, being a sorcerer paladin instead of the holy warrior. Hearing you endorse that party comp gives me much more confidence.

[@perryvanderveen7226]

I love how uou actually start to speak faster after discussing the challenges of bringing four builds into one video again. Now to enjoy the rest. Thanks for all your awesome content.

[@platypus547]

The glaive with thornwhip is a bonus action version of the cantrip. It’s a seriously awesome act 1 weapon.

[@hangover89]

Spirit guardians is just too much fun. Toss in the luminous armor and all the other orb and reverberation gear, after running around the battlefield once every enemy has a -10 to hit and is probably knocked prone

[@jam34786]

It's so disgusting. My solo HM war cleric became a god once I hit lvl 5. I'm about to go into Act 2 Gauntlet and I'm sad I have to respec... But I'm going right back to Light Bulb/ Reverb build as soon as I'm done 😅

[@daveyfunk]

If you sacrifice the gloves slot for hellriders pride and a ring slot for whispering promise you also become the best support character as you can bless the party and give blade ward using mass healing word. That solves the bless complication and makes your party resistant to weapon damage. You don't lose out too much but gain a massive amount

[@Sarkhan69]

@@daveyfunk not really. the blade ward only lasts 1 turn and mass healing word uses up a lv 3 slot.

[@VikCachat]

​@@Sarkhan69there is a amulet that has one healing word and mass healing word cast per LR and with the ring concentration free bless. With an optimized party two rounds should be enough time to wipe out almost all bosses even on honour mode while freeing up concentration slot for spirit guardians for example and at later levels 3rd level spell use isnt an issue.

[@daveyfunk]

@@Sarkhan69 Still worth it for bless. To be able to bless your party for 2 turns and also keep spirit gaurdians up is OP. You only give up a ring slot that way

[@KhanConComedy]

Super excited for this. I've been going through all of your Baldur's Gate 3 videos for builds for my parties. Can't wait to see the ultimate party. 😄

[@kyletoast3319]

I remember the 5e blade singer video was my first exposure to your channel and ended up always enjoying your videos. Glad to see you show up on my feed again for BG3. One thing I want to say is about control. It can be very overpowered in almost every setting of BG3. Using quickened scorching ray on a 11/1 sorlock to stack arcane acuity via the hat of fire acuity and then using your action to cast command is absolutely wild. Can render whole rooms of trash mobs to very powerful bosses useless.

[@terence1432]

This is legit the best build video I've watched for bg3. Well done. Staying for more.

[@nickrubin7312]

Indeed, preparing myself for the challenge, very informative and to the point.

[@alexsamurai1230]

For an alternative way to deal with bless, consider that the Whispering Promise ring gives bless on heal. Put it on the cleric and have them cast group healing word at the start of combat to auto-bless your entire party. That way, the bard can be concentrating on either hunter's mark (from an early game bow), or hex from the feat that adds a warlock spell.

[@doloresabernathy9809]

Wow thank you for this!! Please keep up the BG3 content. And thanks for posting the summary of this for your supporters! “The Dead condition is the worst condition.” So true!

[@justinsanity501]

On build two regarding the eldritch knight weapon bond - currently if you have a hireling you can use them to cast weapon bond and it will still work. For some reason, it will return to whoever was wielding it when it was thrown, not the original bond owner. So you can free up those levels to take the champion subclass like you said or go another route. Its a little gamey, but if we are taking every advantage we can get…

[@shiftythemuse]

I just discovered this channel, and boy howdy am I glad I did. The way he describes things just resonates so well with my weird brain. I look forward to listening to more of his videos

[@schelsullivan]

3rd honor mode attempt here. Had to run for my life last night from a 3rd chapter boss fight! Learned a lot from this video. Thanks dude!

[@peterhstadt1081]

Your Karlach-build is absolutely amazing! :-) I've used it on my first tactician run and Karlach killed Grym nearly single-handedly, knocking him prone every turn. So I even got the achievement. Can't wait to try your honor mode party.

[@Krota28]

For a cleric i love a 1 level storm sorc dip, popping spirit guardians and using that to get a free fly across the battlefield, you also get shield reaction and thats amazing.

[@desertrose0027]

I love the Spin Doctors reference at the end! As someone who was a teen in the 90s, they have a special place in my heart. I'm always interested in your Baldur's Gate build ideas, and these are no exception. I haven't tried Honor Mode yet, but I have been thinking about who I might bring. One thing I haven't seen you mention is the usefulness of the Alert feat, especially in Honor mode. From what I've heard Larian changed the initiative from a d20 to a d4, so taking Alert pretty much guarantees that you will go first. And in Honor mode, where burst damage on turn 1 is key, I would think that would be very important.

[@squishycc9402]

This is a really good and comprehensive video, I’m honestly super impressed. I’m 100% going to try this out in my next playthrough.

[@ryansharrar8795]

Just finished honor mode with this party! Thanks so much for the guide, it reallymade the game pretty much stress free. The only thing that was close for me was cazador, but after that Ascended astarian as the swords bard with 9 attacks would basically kill anything in one round.

[@nathanmclaughlin2179]

Killer Bard on Tav is doubly good because it's also very good for dialogue checks.

[@robertclarke71]

The Face who can also fight is handy in and out of combat. I quite like a Sword Bardadin for this :D

[@joeracer302]

I feel like the Lucky ability is more important in Honor Mode, just to help make those pivotal dialogue checks.

[@juliendrainville7131]

I run it on Astarion as a companion. He's perfect for it, and now I want to play him as an Origin character so I can take full advantage of this build's all-around greatness!

[@helgenlane]

I'm doing a play through right now where my Tav is going to take one level in each class (Jack of All Trades achievement) on honour difficulty. Got through act 1 just fine, have proficiency in every skill except for wisdom skills, but they are covered by other party members. Expertise in persuasion and deception help a lot.

[@Keykey70]

@@joeracer302 honestly I just take enhance ability on one of my spellcasters for when I really need that advantage. imo alert is significantly more important than any other feat for honor mode just because you really want to be winning initiative with your whole party to kill the enemies before they get any chances to move

[@thomas7949]

Thank you so much for this video! I just beat honour mode today with this party. You’re amazing!!

[@ThatDudeGuru]

Dude thank you so much! Amazing video! The only thing I can really question here early on is the Light Cleric Level 6 Druid Dip for Thorn Whip. My only question having never used it is, post act 1 (i.e. from my experience post level 6 lol) in how many situations will I actually be able to pull an enemy *within range* off of a ledge with said spell to really maximize that use-case? My intuition says the 2 levels of fighter with Cleric 10 is better. But, that being said, is there a meaningful dip we can make here to improve our group healing in combat? rather than leaning into potential spirit guardians? as i prefer to keep my Cleric concentrating on Bless.

[@ThatDudeGuru]

maybe Wizard 3 to gain the Transmutation School subclass which doesn't slow down our spell slot progression, will let us recover a spell slot up to level 5 outside of combat and gives us a chance at doubled potion brewing and an extra feat, maybe heavy armor proficiency so that we can wear the Armor of Persistence?? or just go Wizard 2 and Cleric 10 for the Channel Divinity...? idk im new to this lol

[@xTeeFive]

For build #3, you mentioned the weapon that gives you Thorn Whip, a fun thing about that weapon is that the spell is a bonus action instead of a full action, so you can cast Spirit Guardians, and Thorn Whip on the same turn, once per short rest, which is a pretty great upside to using it.

[@jordy6292]

My Christmas break from work just started, so perfect timing for me!

[@jordy6292]

Just before BG3 launched I found your channel, I was playing the early access and just rewatching your first BG3 video over and over again. I love BG3 and since a 1,5 year or so I also DM a DnD campaign, I've learned a lot by watching your video's! I encourage my players to watch your guides. I've used some builds from your first video for my first BG3 play through. Finished it on Tactician with a (bugged short rest spell slots) Sorlock without really trying (jump head first into any fight, straight up attack everyone, no disable guards first etc.) and unlocked a lot of steam achievements in the process for killing bosses before they use special powers. Yesterday I became a member to appreciate you and for the ability to find the written versions of the builds in this video. I've played for some hours yesterday and today, and I've got to say: great builds and play style philosophy so far. I've seen a lot of builds from different creators on KZbin that are strong, but also feel niche, come online late game and are very dependent on items. On the bg3builds subreddit, and especially the honour mode topics, people seem to focus way too much on "survivability". Your approach is simple and effective: kill the enemies before they can hurt you, and you'll survive. And if everything goes wrong: I still have a few invisibility potions that I can pop, and I'll just run. Only had to do it once though, when I forgot about the "escape prison mechanic" and aggro'd the whole grove when running out with my party. I love the bard Tav build. I've played dual xbow before on a few classes, but I kind of brushed them off as boring. Lately I really started to warm up to the CC side of bards, and this build is the perfect combination! You're so right: a dedicated support character isn't what you need in this game (goodbye life cleric 1/ bard x). It kind of hurt to change the backstory of my Sorcerer Tav (man you're right, Sorcerers suck in single target damage) a bit, but I think I made a good choice picking the killer bard. The light cleric I haven't tried yet, but I picked up the armor that synergizes really well, and my life cleric bard (Gale) will be respecced soon! I've played similar clerics before and know them to be strong. The holy warrior is smacking right now, even though I haven't even reached the Paladin levels yet. In the video, you're talking so much about bless, it did help me to get my priorities straight and (re)started using it every battle! With the Holy Warrior I picked up some gloves that give advantage when 2 enemies are near, so just positioning yourself in the middle of monsters is so strong! Gives me my advantage and zone of control, and I don't have to use reckless attack every turn. The thrower I haven't tried yet, I did use your first tavern brawler thrower on a play through, but I got annoyed when fighting in dungeons and such, sometimes it is really hard to hit someone with a throwing weapon. Right now I am using the half wood elf hireling as a tavern brawler monk, she kind of fulfills the same role as the thrower, but just melee instead. I can see I miss a lot of potentially fun plays when not playing a thrower, because it would be awesome to just throw enemies around again. Super long message without a point really, just wanted to let you know I really enjoy the builds for BG & DnD! And after finishing a video, I'm also motivated to go to the gym first & play video games later!

[@dyanpanda7829]

Regarding bless: the ring that makes healing cause bless is a 2 round bless but doesn't require concentration. you can start your opening round with a prayer and bless your allies with it. Bonus value if you use the gloves that give healing blade ward too, and so your heal all is both bless and bladeward.

[@Dezmante2]

PSA: idk if everybody knows those but if you play honor mode and lose. You can continue the same campaign with the bosses having legendary actions still having them. So if you just wanted to experience this you could start an honor campaign, die, then you can adjust all the mechanics as you like and still enjoy the new legendary actions

[@Flusher]

Thank you for your positivity and overall good vibes ❤ They're even better than your builds.

[@trentmcnabb3470]

Just died yesterday on Honor Mode so, yes, I am excited to watch this

[@jonathansiegel435]

Didn’t read all the comments, but used your light cleric build, and that one level dip into Druid also gives you Farstrider, which made a MASSIVE impact every battle. There were times where I forgot to ritual cast it at the beginning of the day, and the difference was stunning.

[@ryansharrar8795]

Just finished act 2 in honor mode and honestly... this guide has made the game trivially easy with decent preparation for hard fights. Great Guide!

[@Bassjunkie56]

Funnily enough I beat honour mode yesterday with a slight variation of this party, I had the abjuration tank in place of the holy warrior, but then the light cleric, Astarion as swords bard (ascended vampire adds +1d10 necrotic damage on every crossbow attack), and the blaster for twinned haste. Only fight that give it trouble was Ansur (and mainly because I didn't notice his new ability! :D). Love the builds and trying them out in game has been a blast.

[@ericgonzales419]

The divine intervention legendary mace from cleric provides 10 rounds of healing without concentration to all party members, coupling that with the items that automatically bless and blade Ward your party is *chefs kiss*

[@NimbleFlicks]

Thanks for this video. I understand the trepidation about investing so much time into something like this. I hope this video ages like wine! This is exactly the video I needed!

[@steve-ru9sy]

I put watching this off until after Christmas because I knew it was going to make me want to get back into BG3 and as a father I just don't have the required energy to do something the week of Christmas that is not children focused. I was right to wait.

[@smitaaay]

I've ignored other creators' vids on Honor Mode Teams because I hoped you'd make a vid on it. Thanks for making this!

[@matthewlaird5235]

I hope that Larian doesn’t nerf my favorite character. I have an idea that will instantly fix the COS bard, and Larian doesn’t have to even do anything. Every single one of us can just not make that build. You have just fixed the game and can play it the way you want, and I can still play my way.

[@Favilludo235]

For the wizard dilemma: I just put a level of wizard into my party face for scrolls and that's good

[@tortura8853]

Thank you so much, just accomplished game in honor mode with 3 characters built by yours guide. Huge hug!

[@raoulpechler]

cant believe you actually made this video! lovely stuff Colby :D

[@IMaLpa]

hey, that was an excellent showcase of very strong builds! Just wanted to throw my 2 cents after finishing honor mode myself. 1. For the entire game I played with life cleric in my party. I rather keep my party top health than raise them from the brink of death with one bonus action. On top of that heroes feast, aid, and death wards carried my away through act 3 boss fights (you can probably cheese this with hirelings instead but I've not tested that). 2. Optimising for bonus actions is great just remember that you will also need them to jump, push or drink potions. So I would not focus that much on super optimising ways to get that bonus attack since you will always forced to do trade offs. 3. My main character was a draconic sorcerer (with 1 lvl dip into wizard) and I would say it was a great choice. Metamagic can do wonders, and it also works on spells added by items or by your wizard multiclass. Hold monster with forced disadvantage or extended globe of invulnerability (6 turns) can make for a safe and easy encounter. When it comes to damage I focused on ice (with elemental adept feat) but it was also more about adding ice surfaces to the battlefield giving you some chance for even big bosses to just skip their turn slipping on the ice. From wizard dip you also get summons which are great help, some utility spells like globe, haste, invisibility, longstrider, jump, mirror image, shield, the list goes on. Did I also mentioned that draconic sorcerers can just fly on demand? 4. Persuasion/Deception is also nice in few moments on honor mode, I would not ignore the things outside of the combat and having huge boost to charisma helps a lot. 5. In general I totally agree that high damage potential is the key to combat in honor mode but in my experience I always forget about something and having the utility of some spellcasters got me out of some very nasty situations along the way.

[@ZoneZero253]

Colby, you built the exact team I was thinking of! I’ve tried different builds for different plays but I’ve found this is a very balanced team with heavy nova ability. Kudos!

[@MatrixMarvel0079]

Just got my gold die last night. Watched this to see if any of my builds were mentioned. Epic game, even better content!

[@Whatyoudexpect]

Heya, just wanted to quickly comment and let you know how much value I've gotten out of the builds you've brought up in this video, specifically the killer bard! Great for persuasion checks, and there's also a pair of gauntlets near Grymforge via some Mimics that gives you +1 usage of Bardic Inspiration & +1 AC. Fantastic addition to an already great build, and I have a feeling it'll carry me to the pearly gates and that golden D20. Thank you so much! Looking forward to anything you end up putting out in the future!

[@Chronoanime666]

Decent gloves, you can find several others better for your bard than this though. You don’t really need extra bard points when you can basically have unlimited long rests.

[@Juzam777]

Personnaly in honor mode I use: Tav as the Critlander Laezel as the Non-Bear Tank Gayle as the Wizard Tank Shadowheart as the AOE cleric from the previous videos

[@gregrussell1787]

I love how this video arrives as I start my "Non-Ultimate Honor Mode Party"... I basically went the opposite of everything you'd said ;) Moon Druid Bear Tank Tav Bear Barbarian Tank Karlach Necro Wizard - Shadowheart Beast Master Ranger - Jaheria

[@SouvenirSpices]

just started honor mode with my friend and i decided to go throw build, and I never thought in a million years to go thief rogue with it. Thank you for the idea and I will be doing that

[@ankhuri1353]

Playing through Honor Mode ... and your builds are working great! The priestess (SH) and the "Tav" (the Bard build) are slow to come online, but careful play and Karlach rocking the thrower build have carried. I can tell that everything is gonna be beautiful when it fully comes online. For everyone out there trying this: MAKE SURE YOU GET THE STAFF IN THE BASEMENT OF THE WIZARD'S TOWER IN THE UNDERDARK! The whole build comes together (even before it's fully optimized) perfectly with it giving you Bless x2++!

[@ankhuri1353]

... and it's crazy to think the Bard'll be wielding the staff (and a shield) in the endgame. Seriously: ... crazy!

[@artemislove2941]

off topic your voice is so soothing

[@henryjones3232]

the balance changes being for Honor Mode only is likely so that somebody's casual build doesn't get randomly nerfed halfway through their playthrough.

[@ShengFink]

It’s actually so based but it should maybe be in tactician as well. Keep the jank in for the low difficulty, make the hard modes actually challenging and engaging!

[@awakenedtarot7306]

So I actually beat Honour Mode successfully using this comp. I have some feedback lol: - Personally, I actually found the dip into Druid for the Light Cleric kind of useless and that's because, believe it or not, most of the time I found it better to concentrate on Bless than Spirit Guardians the majority of the time. I maybe used the whip to pull an enemy towards me once the entire playthrough even though I really wanted to. In Act 2 certainly there are times when it's better to go for that AoE damage, but generally speaking, Bless is just too great of a spell through the first two acts. In the end game, though, for this party comp, you actually need a companion (any companion really) who is going to be the utility concentrator on whatever spell makes you win that particular fight. For example, when you fight Ansur in Honour Mode, most surefire way to not have a full party wipe is the globe of invulnerability, so having Shadowheart concentrate on that is the most low risk way to ensure you win that fight. There are other fights where it just makes sense for her to be the one to use a scroll or spell to concentrate on the exact thing you need to win the fight so the other companions can go full burst mode. I actually recommend just going 12 levels of cleric here to get the third feat. Also, the star of this build are actually all the pre-fight buffs. Fully upcasted Aid and Hero's Feast prevented full party wipes multiple times. - That brings me to Sword Bard, so I went back and forth here and respecced a bunch of time. For most of the game dual hand xbows is the way to go and you want to maximize the number of attack actions per round, but in the late game, I found that things changed a little. For some of the biggest, riskiest fights I found the best way to play Sword Bard is to abuse the Helm of Arcane Acuity and the best way to do this is actually to prioritize weapon accuracy over number of attacks. This means going with +2/3 bow like Deadshot along with Risky Ring and using arrows of many targets. You want to reduce the chance of missing a shot to near zero and you also want to take advantage of range. Your ideal turn goes like this: 2 weapon actions with arrow of many targets, pop a speed potion with bonus action, choose your favorite Bard stunlock spell of choice, make scary boss skip their turn. To really ensure this strategy works, you do need extra feats and I found ensuring you get that second feat to pick up something like Alert is really important. It's also worth bumping Dexterity passed 18 if you can manage. You can do this by using the hag hair and then a third feat to get your Dex to 20. I found getting 3 feats worth doing here to mitigate the risks in the late game, so going Bard 8/ Fighter 4 ended up being the spec I used to take down the scariest late game bosses. The rest of the spec worked great as written. The burst Pally/Barb/Fighter build is amazing, especially once you're on Cloud Giant Potions permanently. And Throw Barb is broken still, even with the nerfs to Tavern Brawler; you never miss and you're creating advantage opportunities, and doing massive amounts of damage , especially once you get everyone's favorite trident (free AoE). It's bonkers strong. Anyway, great video, loved this party comp and felt like Honour Mode was a breeze with some minor adjustments.

[@maplekidns]

One of the great things about BG3 is because you have more party members than you can bring you can have apecialized party members tailored for dealing with specific challenges. The only one who needs to be universally applicable is the MC. I think a controller/nuke caster hybrid in particular is good to fill that role, particularly a sorcerer who can make use of some old favorites like hypnotic pattern if you extend spell it. Throw 2-4 levels of warlock for eldritch blast for your dps and youll be golden.

[@Bonanzalol]

I don't think druid dip is worth it for light cleric at level 12. Is thorn whip worth losing a feat? ASI or Resilient (Constitution) seems way better. At level 12, two Levels in fighter loses the 6th level spell slot and a feat. Planar ally is incredibly good for the Deva summon. It has 21 AC, 136 HP, and a 26 average damage wrathful smite per turn.

[@calebharding8221]

I love the insane amount of build diversity in this game, I've beaten honor mode twice and I'm nearing the end of act 1 on a 3rd run where I only ever have 3 party members. What I find really interesting though is how many of my builds are very similar to yours in concept, but with differing executions. My mainstay build is a sharpshooter battlemaster, possibly dual wielding hand crossbows with 4 levels of thief, and going crit fishing, but my 2 favorite builds that I've used are a tempest cleric multiclassed with 2 levels of evocation wizard to abuse the spell book to still get access to 6th level spells, and there are few stronger things to do on turn 1 than drink a potion of speed so you can cast create water and chain lightning, or lightning bolt if you don't have 6th level spells yet. The other build started with the idea of a dual wielding paladin to multiclass into swords bard, and ended with 2 levels of paladin, 6 of bard and 4 of fighter, 6 attacks on the first turn with 38m of movement, a 57% critical chance and 11 spellslots for smiting. I dueled Orin as Durge while I only had a 45% crit chance, and I killed her in slayer form before she took a turn with an attack to spare

[@yharnamiyhill787]

My disappointment about bg3 is thst it doesnt have the basic tank, healer, mechanic, flank mechanic I thought it was going to be like xcom but with dnd elements. Alas, best strategy is to be the highest dps as possible.

[@thefetherd]

One thing to point out here is that all of the builds have a decent dex. Which really helps with high initiative and bursting. For those who don't know, in bg3 initiative is rolled by a d4+dex so the modifier positive or negative is a lot more impactful

[@TinMan445]

I got my golden d20 this weekend. Was definitely more fun having to seriously consider all of your choices and I ended with a pretty evil dark urge run. Based on my run I think you nailed it, best to kill a boss on turn one with as much burst as possible. I ran a lockadin, eldritch knight thrower, hand x bows ranger rogue and a light cleric, and was able to turn 1 kill most bosses. Will definitely have to give some of these builds a try on my next one😊

[@Sarkhan69]

either BS or you need to touch grass. honor mode only just released and you already beat it?

[@TinMan445]

@@Sarkhan69real nice comment bud, you seem like a well balanced individual. But yea I did beat it, if you know what you’re doing and boss rush act 3 for key items it’s pretty breezy.

[@Mr_Giraffe989]

​@@Sarkhan69 skill issue

[@JohnSmith-vk9ds]

20:12 For anyone else out there who gets concerned about the -5 penalty to attack, here's some quick math: Take one of the most popular early game weapons, the Everburn Blade: on a 16 STR character your damage is 2d6+1d4+3 = 12.5 average damage per hit. With GWM you add 10 and it becomes 22.5 average damage per hit. Against most creatures you'll have a 70%-65% chance to hit, which is 25% less with the GWM penalty. So just multiply your hit rate by your weapon damage to get your average damage per round: 0.70*12.5 = 8.75 damage/round 0.50*22.5= 11.75 damage/round. Basically, unless your hit rate with GWM is 35% or less, your average damage output will be higher over the long term with it turned on. With Advantage on attack rolls it's not even question that it's superior.

[@illbean1337]

As some who recently beat Honour mode despite the bugs. I was using very simple character builds, but possibly somewhat complex item builds. The one build I would like to emphasize is my Wizard build. Because he was mainly using a few very simple items (like 5-6 greens) and in combat he was always landing his saving throw spells because he had a Spellsave DC of 31. Yes. 31. There's this very fancy hat that says "when you deal thunder damage, gain 1 (or 2?) turn(s) of Arcane Acuity". Now, the best spell to deal thunder damage with is... *drumroll...* MAGIC MISSILE! I at some point had Gale but moved it to some1 else later on. (the wizard in question). The sword Plahar Aluve, and have it shriek. If the sword is shrieking, each enemy inside the AoE will cause affected unit to take another 1d4 thunder damage. Each dart will proc the thunder damage. Each dart will now apply the Arcane Acuity. Lv1 Magic Missile with the necklace from Underdark is 4 missiles, thus lv2 is 5 missiles. Another item that also deals damage on every dart is the radiant ring that deals 2 radiant damage to illuminated targets. If you have Arcane Charge that boosts spell damage by 2 while threatened, that also works. I did use the reverberation gloves as it caused enemies to have to fail a very high DC check or fall prone. it's multiple enemies falling prone with 1 cast of Magic Missile. Yes, I was using 2 Hand Crossbows, 1 being the one that casts Magic Missile. I also much later on started experimenting and picked up Dual Wielder feat to wield 2 staves. Specifically the staff from Lorroakan (legendary) and the staff from the Mummy Lord (when slain). Very nice spamming free lv6 blight and Circle of Death while also being able to freecast at least one Invulnerability bubble

[@williampadgett9423]

Just figured you should know, I beat honor mode yesterday with this party setup. Only alteration was that Gale joined in the final fight instead of Shadowhart since I was having no issue with HP or AOE. I owe my golden die to you, friend.

[@Macpatcher64]

Even though I'm not planning to touch honor mode I wanted to watch the video regardless. The way you explain BG3 builds is just the best

[@andrewcornelio6372]

I'm so excited to try out honor mode with some of the ideas in this video. Thank you for brightening up my year with your build videos and I wish you very happy holidays and new years.

[@yodaleiaheehoo9960]

I started my Honour Mode recently and decided to go with your builds; I was interested to see how things would go. I am only lvl 5 at the moment but I am having a freaking blast. Thanks for the ideas and just being awesome, positive and just really great. I always look forward to watching your videos each week.

[@michaelabrahams3131]

That killer bard build is my main character and so much fun. Karlach is my ragey throwy queen! Thank you for all your videos. Such a big help for a noob

[@sketchedflora]

Thanks for the builds! Just got those sweet, sweet golden dice using this party. I made a few changes in my run (most notably, getting the Alert feat on everyone), but the core mechanics of these characters are very powerful and very fun.

[@JohnSmith-vk9ds]

Another note regarding Paladins. At level 3, Oath of Vengeance Paladins get Vow of Enmity. The paladin targets an enemy and then gets Advantage on all attacks against them for 10 rounds. As of Patch 6, if you instead target yourself when activating Vow of Enmity, you gain Advantage on _all_ attacks against _all_ enemies for the duration. Also, it's a bonus action to activate, so you can use it on the first round in combat and still have your Action left to attack that round.

[@cornycornsnake]

You did a full party build! I feel like my request was heard! Thank you! Also, I hope you had a lovely holiday with your family. (And possibly still are, at the time of this posting)

[@Nokus416]

I just realized your Stormlight Archive art on the wall and now I love this channel even more

[@BrunoAlmeidaSilveira]

OMG! The best person to discuss precisely what I was looking for! Thanks a lot, Colby!

[@Blazingbeard]

Another Sword Bard I want to try out is the Bardadin. 10 Bard/ 2 Paladin. Slashing Smite Flourish. Love to try the Light Cleric Bablade go bzz, and add radiant orb debuffs. Thanks for the in depth guide and focussing on low levels (which are the hardest), in stead of late game gear heavy builds, that can only fully be used in the last couple of fights.

[@heyokah]

Having completed honor mode, you are absolutely correct in regards to a dedicated healer or "tank". It is all about alpha strikes, pure dps...and invisibility potions. Oh, and longstrider. You really want longstrider preferably via a dual xbow bard. My composition was a travern brawler monk, xbow bard, reverberation barbarian, and 11 battlemaster fighter/1 war cleric. I never used haste nor felt a need to. Karlach, the reverb zerker barb, simply wrecked everything. With enough healing potions, invis potions, and strength elixers honor mode is actually not as daunting as it seems. Your pally/barb sounds very good, the tavern brawler throw barb is great due to causing prone and with thief you get to rage AND throw during the same turn, per your cleric use the luminous armor for radiating orbs with spirit guardians, and of course you hit the nail on the head with the bard! I would replace the cleric with the 11 battlemaster/1 war cleric but otherwise a great group composition. Great, well thought, video!

[@ghipsandrew]

Regarding that lack of Bless when the cleric is concentrating -- I always make it a point to get the staff from the mage tower secret level, it's a 3 person 2d4 unique version of bless that is really helpful on tough early game encounters.

[@nickrubin7312]

After hearing Swen Vincke answer questions about “balance” and “exploits” during DOS2 presentation in Game Developers Conference years ago (like almost 6 year?), I'm pretty certain that specific fixes for feats and spells are for Honor Mode only, just to make it “harder”. They do like when players break their games, cheese and exploit. Not saying it is good or bad game design, but most of “broken” feats (most, no all) and how thing work together making OP builds (most of the time ;)) are kind of by design. Or at least they know that it happened even tho they didn't intended, but since players mostly having fun with it while “breaking” the game, Larian kind of allows it. Edit: Btw, very informative video and to the point. Genuinely feel like I've learned something and prepared for the challenge. Although, I don't think it would be that hard, just more of a Tactician+, and Tactician isn't hard.

[@Wyarak]

As always, really good content. As for my future team, wanted to go with one of these compos : Comp 1 (which I've totally stolen :p ) : - Lore Bard that can do anything you need, skillmonkey, buff, heal and have skyrocketing AC. => Tav - TB Monk or TB Thrower (because too much dmg and consistency. Really insane) - Warlock Blaster - Tiger Barbarian build with much attack, much advantage, much debuffing gear (classical radiant/thunder debuff combo item) Comp 2 (which is more what I planned before seing you video, as I've notably understand how broken is a light cleric with the right stuff): - Light Cleric with all the funny control gear for debuffing all the world while stomping on it - Sword Bard turret (which is exactly what you did here. With the right items, he can also be tanky with an easy 25 AC really fast, skillmonkey, good tav) - TB Monk or TB Thrower (because too much dmg and consistency. Really insane) - Warlock Blaster OR Holy Smiter OR Some freakin' archer build (some are really insane, like furtive one or just volley) In both cases, I aim to have : - some jerk that run around debuffing passively things while stomping them (of note, one other build, acid knight, is kinda fun in this part too) - some guy who is there only to do consistent and late game brutal physical damage. And can throw enemies in pit. Cause it's fun AND downright lethal. - some guy that can be the party face+skillmonkey and buff/tank OR do dmg (because as said, dead people are no more to be feared)=> BARD+ANYHTING ELSE (because bard are just too good as support and polyvalent things) - some other guy that can be a lil' more... anything. But dmg dealer. I think it depends on what I take on the others slots, the fourth is to make/synergyze with the other 3. But well, it does damage, obviously. (of note, the warlock is consistent too in this category... but a good assassin to decimate a room even before you start combat, or a good meatshield if you don't already have is also a good spot) I could have gone with some classical other build, like Gloomstalker (but I need party face, so If I go with it, I'll pick a blaster warlock with high charisma to compensate) or Tempest Cleric (but I hate the mechanics for this build xD). I feel, from an external point of view, that a bard with good dex and college sword is more useful overall than the gloomstalker. They are both same niche, but one offer more... maybe less damage, but more attacks, and the initiative can be compensated with high dex and some good armor (like the medium armor that give bonus ini and let full dex apply to AC). Bard for the win èoé (and bard have just so much useful choices during the game as Tav).

[@jensenmcjens4029]

While closing the game with alt+F4 does indeed trigger an autosave, force closing the game via task manager does not. Feel free to do with this info what you want.

[@sintanan469]

That sounds like the actions of someone without honor. Without honor! No honor! Honor! No!

[@Jimbob1337]

Dishonor on you! Dishonor on your ancestors! Dishonor on your cow!

[@Internet_Enjoyer]

hi, interesting video. may i ask why you emphasize medium armour so much over heavy armor?

[@DnDDeepDive]

Only when I don't take a class that has Heavy Armor proficiency at level 1 :). Or if you're a Barbarian, or something.

[@Internet_Enjoyer]

@@DnDDeepDive ah i see, i went for 2 fighters for my first run, will test the barbarians later:)

[@Internet_Enjoyer]

​@@DnDDeepDive im now done with most of act 2 and actually feel the different classes are super out of balance. barbarians and fighters just clean house in turn 1-2 while others are bystanders. generally fights feel very repetitive and I miss the surface/swapping/terrain usage of divinity 2 - while not perfect dos2 fights seemed like true experience and seldom turned out the same way even after reloading, while bg3 fights have somewhat of a stale feeling to them.

[@alexw4482]

Some changes I’d make for the bard build specifically for late game. Stick with sword bard 8/ champion or battlemaster 4 (if not on honor mode use sword bard bard 7 blade warlock 5 for the extra attack) Use the band of the mystic scoundrel, diadem of arcane synergy, and legendary bow. You can use your bonus action to cast crowd control spells and trigger arcane synergy for more damage on your flourishes.

[@robertnixon1557]

I loved my team/group/girls club and it was phenomenally over-powered. took your advice and made shadowheart a storm cleric/wild magic sorcerer, lae'zel went full champion fighter, and karlach (my boo) went 100% berserker. the linch-pin was a halfling (female) eldritch-knight 3/lore bard 9. i picked up counterspell and eldritch blast via my college and and while i might have had too many reactions, the 3 hit from eldritch blast + action surge was so critical in locking up and putting down a few bosses, raphael never got to move. Also having most of your party with a 20+ac while karlac just flies around and decimates people was so increadibly satisfying that i kinda forgot to summon allies against the BBEG.

[@richardkraus1305]

Really fun video’ I’ve been running Karlach as a Tavern Brawler berserker/thief rogue but with a twist; I’m dual wielding with a finesse weapon and that returning trident. What I do is first toss the trident as a bonus action for damage and to knock the enemy prone. Then I make 3 attacks against the prone enemy, one with 4d6 sneak, all at advantage all without having to use frenzy strain

[@vigilviglantie8613]

LETS GO! I've been waiting for more BG3 from my favorite tabletop character builder!

[@RJrevenger]

One tip for the cleric build... At level 10 you can respec your other characters (including withers's mercs) as full cleric, then spend their use of divine intervention (1per char) to get the devotee's mace a legendary with a big healing aura for 10 turns/long rest... After you can respec back and the weapon stays...

[@Ouch193]

I’m gonna attempt Honor Mode with: Champion 3 / Berserker 9 Karlach Necromancer Wizard Goostarion 9 Shadow Monk / 3 Thief Rouge Shart. And GOO Warlock 2 / Lore Bard 10 for my Tiefling Tav. Wish me luck!

[@djcowell91]

I'm going very similar. Holy warrior, thrower, my Light cleric is mixing in some more fighter, and a gloomstalker in place of the bard. If/when this one fails I'll take your choices under advisement. Thanks for the well thought out advice!

[@moonknightnerd]

Colby you are the GOAT, this is the most timely video for my needs. Cheers! Keep up the baller content.

[@evidicus]

Never understood the need to caste Haste in BG3. Not only are there consumables that can serve the same function, but the opportunity cost never made sense to me. Haste on one ally vs Slow on up to six? I choose Slow all day.

[@josechacon9939]

You are one of the top creators. You’ll be recognized one day and have your own kickstarter 💪🏽 animo!

[@starrunner2838]

Killer bard is so much fun to play, and it is good at every level- right now I’m running it, tavern thrower, gloomstalker thief, and a war cleric that needs some work