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Wondering how to Multiclass a Ranger in BG3? Check out…

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In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Ranger Multiclassing & Ranking Guide, we delve into the intricacies of Multiclassing with a focus on the Ranger Class in Baldur’s Gate 3. We’ll explore how combining the Ranger with other BG3 Classes can enhance your Build, depending on your strategy and the unique Features of each class.

Understanding Ranger Multiclassing in BG3

Rangers are particularly interesting for Multiclassing in Baldur’s Gate 3 due to their significant early gains, especially in the Hunter or Gloomstalker subclasses, which receive potent bonuses at level three. This makes them attractive for players looking to only dip into the Class for a few levels. However, the Beast Master subclass tends to benefit less from Multiclassing as its strength relies heavily on continuing Ranger progression to improve its Animal Companion’s effectiveness.

Spellcasting for Rangers is based on their Wisdom Ability, which is important for players utilizing hostile Ranger’s spells effectively. This might not synergize well with some Classes that use different Spellcasting Abilities like Charisma, but can often be worked around to surprising results.

Let’s take a look at how each Class benefits from Multiclassing from Ranger, and where the best places to Multiclass are in terms of Level by Level comparison. Note that these Ranger Multiclassing recommendations are presuming that you are playing predominantly a Ranger. If you’re looking at how to “dip” just a few levels into Ranger see our Multiclassing Guide for that specific Class. And also note that Green means it is a very successful breakpoint, Yellow can be good but also bad depending on your exact setup, and Red is not recommend.

Barbarian and Ranger – Frontline Fury (B)

Pairing Ranger with Barbarian suits a melee-focused style of play. Since Barbarian’s Rage and Reckless Attack features only benefit melee combat, this combination is less suited for Rangers who prefer fighting at a distance. The trade-offs at different levels, like gaining Unarmored Defense or Rage, depend on personal build preferences and whether the Ranger’s spellcasting or Barbarian’s physical prowess is more valued. If you don’t intend to spell cast much on your Ranger, this could be a great pairing for you.

Barbarian Ranger Breakpoints:

  • 11 Ranger / 1 Barbarian: Gains Unarmored Defense and Rage, suitable for melee combatants, though at the cost of a Feat.
  • 10 Ranger / 2 Barbarian: Offers Reckless Attack and Danger Sense, boosting melee prowess in exchange for a subclass feature. Better on Gloomstalkers than Hunter, since Volley and Whirlwind Attack are deadly.
  • 9 Ranger / 3 Barbarian: Provides a Barbarian subclass feature and an extra Rage charge, outweighing the loss of Ranger utility and spell slots.
  • 8 Ranger / 4 Barbarian: A third Feat is reacquired, and is a decent trade-off if Ranger spellcasting is not a priority.
  • 7 Ranger / 5 Barbarian: Not recommended due to minimal benefits compared to other breakpoints.
  • 6 Ranger / 6 Barbarian: Balances out with a Barbarian subclass feature, outweighing Ranger losses, suitable for a balanced martial focus.

Bard and Ranger – Versatile Virtuoso (B-)

Bards bring versatility and support to the Ranger’s toolkit. With Bardic Inspiration and a variety of useful Class Features, a Ranger-Bard multiclass character can forgo Wisdom in favor of Charisma if Bard spells are more aligned with your strategy. This combination is particularly effective for players looking to enhance their utility and support capabilities, which Bards are famous for.

Bard Ranger Breakpoints:

  • 10 Ranger / 2 Bard: Introduces useful Bardic abilities like Bardic Inspiration and Jack of All Trades, compensating for the loss of a Feat and Ranger subclass feature. Better on Gloomstalker than Hunter, since Volley and Whirlwind Attack are great.
  • 9 Ranger / 3 Bard: Elevates the build with second-level Bard spells and a Bard subclass feature, justifying the loss of some Ranger abilities.
  • 8 Ranger / 4 Bard: A strategic choice offering a balance between spells and combat utility, while retaining 3 Feats.
  • 7 Ranger / 5 Bard: For those leaning towards a caster-hybrid, providing significant Bard spell capabilities as you unlock level 3 Bard spells.
  • 6 Ranger / 6 Bard: A strong option for those valuing a mix of utility, spells, and martial prowess, offering a Bard subclass feature. Not useful if you went College of Swords or College of Valour. Only go this far if you went College of Lore.

Ranger and Cleric – Divine Guardian (A-)

The Cleric class shares the Wisdom spellcasting modifier with Rangers, offering a smoother multiclassing transition than some other spellcasting Classes in BG3. This combination allows players to access powerful Cleric spells and Domain Features without compromising the effectiveness of Ranger spellcasting. Deciding between Ranger and Cleric levels primarily depends on the desired balance between martial prowess and divine spellcasting.

Cleric Ranger Breakpoints:

  • 11 Ranger / 1 Cleric: A minimal dip offering Cleric spells and potentially Heavy Armour Proficiency, losing a Feat.
  • 10 Ranger / 2 Cleric: Channel Divinity and a powerful subclass feature can outweigh the loss from Ranger features, though this is much better on Gloomstalker than Hunter.
  • 9 Ranger / 3 Cleric: Offers a blend of utility and offensive capabilities with second-level Cleric spells.
  • 8 Ranger / 4 Cleric: Provides a balance between Ranger and Cleric strengths, adding versatility while maintaining 3 Feats.
  • 7 Ranger / 5 Cleric: Leans more towards Cleric, offering third-level spells and compensating for the loss of Ranger features.
  • 6 Ranger / 6 Cleric: An even split, good for those seeking balanced combat and spellcasting.

Druid and Ranger – Naturalist (B)

Both Druids and Rangers utilize Wisdom for their spellcasting, making this a compatible multiclassing option. However, the synergy might not be as strong for players looking to maximize offensive spellcasting. The choice between Druid and Ranger levels typically reflects a player’s preference for spellcasting versus physical combat. Note that Circle of the Moon is not recommended if you wish to Multiclass, so we’re only considering Circle of the Land and Circle of Spores from the Druid Class.

Druid Ranger Breakpoints:

  • 10 Ranger / 2 Druid: Offers basic Druid spells and Wild Shape, a fair trade unless you are going for Hunter, in which case this is not recommended.
  • 9 Ranger / 3 Druid: Provides second-level Druid spells and subclass spells, enhancing the Ranger’s versatility.
  • 8 Ranger / 4 Druid: A balanced mix, good for those who want to retain some martial abilities while gaining Druidic power.
  • 7 Ranger / 5 Druid: A strong choice for creating a true hybrid character, blending spellcasting and martial capabilities effectively.
  • 6 Ranger / 6 Druid: Offers significant enhancements to Druidic powers while retaining a solid Ranger foundation.

Fighter and Ranger – Battle-Tested Warrior (B+)

Since both Ranger and Fighter Classes offer similar martial capabilities in BG3, this multiclassing route is best for those looking to enhance their combat versatility without focusing too much on spellcasting. Strategic level distribution between Ranger and Fighter can optimize the character’s effectiveness in combat.

Fighter Ranger Breakpoints:

  • 11 Ranger / 1 Fighter: Gains a Fighting Style and Second Wind, suitable for enhancing combat capabilities without sacrificing significant Ranger features.
  • 10 Ranger / 2 Fighter: Provides Action Surge, a powerful tool for burst damage or utility actions.
  • 9 Ranger / 3 Fighter: Introduces a Fighter subclass, adding depth to combat strategies.
  • 8 Ranger / 4 Fighter: Another balanced breakpoint, offering a third Feat for increased customization.
  • 7 Ranger / 5 Fighter: Less recommended due to overlapping Extra Attack features; better options exist.
  • 6 Ranger / 6 Fighter: A deep dive into the Fighter class, suitable for those wanting to strengthen their martial prowess significantly.

Monk and Ranger – Agile Defender (A)

Monks and Rangers can synergize well, especially for characters focusing on stealth and agility. The Monk’s martial arts and mobility focus complements the Ranger’s tracking and combat skills, making for a highly versatile and mobile combatant. Additionally, both Monk and Ranger use Wisdom for their “spells”, making them synergize a bit better than some other Classes.

Monk Ranger Breakpoints:

  • 11 Ranger / 1 Monk: Provides key Monk features like Unarmored Defense and Martial Arts, exchanging a Feat.
  • 10 Ranger / 2 Monk: Adds mobility and defensive options with Unarmored Movement and Ki features. May not be recommended for Hunters who have to give up Whirlwind Attack and Volley.
  • 9 Ranger / 3 Monk: Strengthens the build with a Monk subclass and increased unarmed capabilities.
  • 8 Ranger / 4 Monk: Balances martial and utility skills, offering another Feat for customization.
  • 7 Ranger / 5 Monk: Not as beneficial due to the overlapping Extra Attack feature.
  • 6 Ranger / 6 Monk: A solid choice for those seeking a balanced approach between Ranger capabilites and Monk prowess.

Paladin and Ranger – Holy Avenger (C+)

The combination of Ranger Paladin can face some challenges due to differing spellcasting attributes (Charisma for Paladins versus Wisdom for Rangers). Players interested in this mix need to carefully balance their attributes and may find better synergy with other classes unless focusing on non-spellcasting features. Still, Divine Smite can more than make this pairing deadly if properly setup.

Paladin Ranger Breakpoints:

  • 10 Ranger / 2 Paladin: Adds Divine Smite and a Paladin Fighting Style, useful for combat-focused builds. May not be good for Hunters who lose Volley and Whirlwind Attack.
  • 9 Ranger / 3 Paladin: Introduces Paladin subclass features and Divine Health, offsetting Ranger losses.
  • 8 Ranger / 4 Paladin: A good breakpoint for adding a Feat without losing too much Ranger utility.
  • 7 Ranger / 5 Paladin: Generally not recommended due to limited synergy and overlapping features.
  • 6 Ranger / 6 Paladin: Offers Aura of Protection, a powerful defensive ability, making it a worthwhile trade for certain builds.

Rogue and Ranger – Cunning Striker (A+)

The Rogue’s Sneak Attack and utility capabilities pair well with the Ranger’s tracking and survival capabilities, creating a character proficient in ambushes and exploration. This combination is ideal for players looking to excel in stealth, damage and who want a character that excels outside of combat, as well as inside it.

Rogue Ranger Breakpoints:

  • 11 Ranger / 1 Rogue: Provides Sneak Attack and skill enhancements, a good trade for one Feat.
  • 10 Ranger / 2 Rogue: Adds Cunning Action, enhancing mobility and action economy. Not recommended to Gloomstalkers who have this capability already, or Hunters who lose Whirlwind Attack and Volley.
  • 9 Ranger / 3 Rogue: A significant upgrade with a Rogue subclass feature and improved Sneak Attack damage.
  • 8 Ranger / 4 Rogue: Balances utility and combat, offering an additional Feat.
  • 7 Ranger / 5 Rogue: Enhances defensive capabilities with Uncanny Dodge, a solid choice for survivability.
  • 6 Ranger / 6 Rogue: Offers further Rogue skills and features, suitable for a stealth or skirmish-focused build.

Sorcerer and Ranger – Magic Archer (C)

Rangers and Sorcerers are a both Classes that have a lot of utility in BG3, and Sorcerers can bring offensive fire power that Rangers lack in the spell department. If you’re looking for a hybrid Build that can attack or cast select spells effectively, this might be the Multiclass for you. Just keep in mind you will have to focus on Charisma rather than Wisdom, or you won’t be able to.

Sorcerer Ranger Breakpoints:

  • 11 Ranger / 1 Sorcerer: A minimal investment for basic Sorcerer spells and subclass features.
  • 10 Ranger / 2 Sorcerer: Introduces Sorcery Points and Metamagic options, enhancing spellcasting flexibility. Not advised on Hunter due to the loss of Whirlwind Attack and Volley.
  • 9 Ranger / 3 Sorcerer: Provides more Sorcery Points and second-level Sorcerer spells, offering significant spellcasting enhancements.
  • 8 Ranger / 4 Sorcerer: A balanced choice for those seeking to combine martial prowess with some spellcasting.
  • 7 Ranger / 5 Sorcerer: Offers third-level Sorcerer spells, ideal for those focusing more on spellcasting.
  • 6 Ranger / 6 Sorcerer: Balances between Ranger utility and Sorcerer spell power, with added subclass features.

Warlock and Ranger – Eldritch Hunter (A-)

Warlocks and Rangers have a good dynamic, mostly because Warlocks can not only add spellcasting, but also martial prowess as well. This makes this pairing a good choice for those that want a different mix of spells, while also maintaining combat dominance. Focus on Charisma when multiclassing Ranger with Warlock in order to take advantage of their Spells and Pact of the Blade.

Warlock Ranger Breakpoints:

  • 10 Ranger / 2 Warlock: Provides basic Warlock spells and Eldritch Invocations, offering a new dimension to the Ranger’s capabilities. Not recommended for Hunters.
  • 9 Ranger / 3 Warlock: Enhances the character with Pact Boon and upgraded Warlock spells, trading off some Ranger spells and capabilities.
  • 8 Ranger / 4 Warlock: A good mix, offering an additional Feat.
  • 7 Ranger / 5 Warlock: Leans more towards Warlock, offering third-level spells and deeper Pact features, suitable for those embracing the Warlock’s eldritch powers.
  • 6 Ranger / 6 Warlock: Balances Warlock and Ranger features, potentially offering a compelling mix of martial and magical abilities.

Wizard and Ranger – Arcane Ranger (C+)

Wizards and Rangers can Multiclass just fine as long as you are willing to sacrifice Wisdom for Intelligence and focus more on Wizard spells. Wizards have more utility and flexibility than Sorcerers, because they can use many more spells, and they can learn spells from scrolls, giving them potentially higher caliber spells. If you want even more utility on your Wizard, with some offensive spellcasting potential, this is a solid pairing.

Wizard Ranger Breakpoints:

  • 10 Ranger / 2 Wizard: Adds Wizard spellcasting and subclass features, trading off a Feat and Ranger subclass feature. Better suited for Gloomstalkers than Hunters.
  • 9 Ranger / 3 Wizard: Provides a good balance with second-level Wizard spells and Arcane Recovery, enhancing the Ranger’s versatility.
  • 8 Ranger / 4 Wizard: Offers a balanced approach with an additional Feat, suitable for those looking to maintain martial abilities while gaining significant spellcasting power.
  • 7 Ranger / 5 Wizard: Prioritizes Wizard spellcasting with third-level spells, for those focusing more on their magical prowess.
  • 6 Ranger / 6 Wizard: A balanced split, giving substantial Wizard subclass features while retaining Ranger core elements.

BG3 Ranger Multiclassing – Final Thoughts

When multiclassing as a Ranger in Baldur’s Gate 3, consider how each Class’s features complement or enhance your primary objectives. While Rangers offer strong early-dip benefits, the choice to multiclass should align with your desired playstyle and campaign needs. If you’re taking many levels in Ranger (6 or more), you are probably playing in the minority when it comes to Multiclassing, but you can still be successful.

As always, experimentation and adaptation are key to finding the perfect build for your adventure in Baldur’s Gate 3. Thankfully you can respec as much as you need, so you can tinker your build until you get it right.

If you enjoyed this Baldur’s Gate 3 Ranger Multiclassing Guide, and want further information or help, be sure to check out our other Multiclassing Guides, and the BG3 Wiki.

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Best Lae’Zel Build Guide – Baldur’s Gate 3 https://fextralife.com/best-laezel-build-guide-baldurs-gate-3/ https://fextralife.com/best-laezel-build-guide-baldurs-gate-3/#respond Tue, 28 Nov 2023 17:41:25 +0000 https://fextralife.com/?p=266528 The post Best Lae’Zel Build Guide – Baldur’s Gate 3 appeared first on Fextralife.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Lae'Zel Build Guide sets her up as…

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The post Best Lae’Zel Build Guide – Baldur’s Gate 3 appeared first on Fextralife.

In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Lae’Zel Build Guide, I’ll be showing you how to play Lae’Zel in Baldur’s Gate 3 if you want to make her into a Fighter/Wizard that is extremely hard to kill and has a lot of flexibility. Eldritch Knights combine the martial prowess of Fighters with some Wizard spells anyway, and Wizards have the flexibility to change spells when things aren’t working for them. In this Lae’Zel Build Guide I’ll also cover Ability Scores, Class Features, Equipment, and I will provide tips on how to get the most out of Lae’Zel when played this way.

Best Lae’Zel Build Guide – Baldur’s Gate 3

Eldritch Knights are arguably the strongest Fighter subclass in BG3, because not only do they gain all things regular fighters gain like Extra Attack, an extra Feat, and all the weapon and armour proficiencies, but they can also use several spells that make them even more effective in combat. These include: Shield, Magic Missile, Burning Hands, Acid Splash, Blur and Misty Step.

By taking some levels of Wizard, Lae’Zel can also make use of higher level spells like Haste, Fireball and Lightning Bolt, while also being able to learn spells from Scrolls. If you take the Evocation School you can also cast AoEs without worrying about harming yourself, and if you take Divination you have more battlefield control. In this Guide we’ll discuss why you might select either of these.

Additionally, I’ve added a way for Lae’Zel to gain Arcane Acuity somewhat easily, which makes her Spells more difficult to Save against, allowing her to attack the first turn or two, and follow up with devastating spells afterwards. Since Lae’Zel is a Githyanki, having some spellcasting talent makes sense for her character.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Lae'Zel
Lae’Zel

BG3 Lae’Zel Build Guide – Ability Scores

Since Lae’Zel begins BG3 as a Fighter, her Ability Scores are in line with what a typical Fighter might have. However, you will want to respec her eventually to get the most out of her, otherwise she will not be optimized for much of the game.

Starting Ability Scores

  • STR 17
  • DEX 13
  • CON 15
  • INT 10
  • WIS 12
  • CHA 8

Ideal Ability Scores

  • STR 16
  • DEX 14
  • CON 16
  • INT 12
  • WIS 8
  • CHA 8

You can see that we’ve evened out many of her Abilities to provide more benefit. I’ve set DEX to 14 in order to get the most of Medium Armour and to provide some Initiative, and I’ve increased Intelligence to 12 to help with Spell DC and to be able to slot an additional Wizard Spell. You can dump Intelligence early on in the game if you plan to use the Warped Headband of Intellect, but you will eventually need to slot a different helmet, so if you do this you’ll want to respec eventually.

Also note, that you can play this Build as a DEX Fighter if you want, and you can dump STR, increase DEX to 16, and pump up INT to 16. However, if you do this you will limit yourself to Finesse Weapons, which means you essentially need to use Phalar Aluve, since making use of Great Weapon Master is a big part of this Build.

BG3 Lae’Zel Build Guide – Skills

Lae’Zel has Proficiency in Athletics and Intimidation from her Background, so you cannot change these. Athletics is good for pushing and resisting being pushed. What other Skills you choose is not particularly important, since Lae’Zel won’t be handling many dialogue checks, but Acrobatics is a good pickup for even more push resistance, and History because Lae’Zel should have decent Intelligence.

  • Intimidation
  • Athletics
  • Acrobatics
  • History

BG3 Lae’Zel Build Guide – 8 Eldritch Knight Fighter

I like to keep my Companions at least the Class they begin the game with, since it feels like that is how Larian intended for them to be played, and it’s no exception with Lae’Zel. Lae’Zel begins the game as a Fighter, but he does not yet have a subclass, and here we’ll be choosing Eldritch Knight. This provides Lae’Zel with some spellcasting, which fits well with her story and race.

Level 1 – Fighter

  • Weapon & Armour Proficiencies
  • CON Saving Throw Proficiency
  • Second Wind
  • Fighting Style
Baldur's Gate 3 - Fighter
Fighter

The two main benefits of taking Fighter first for this Lae’Zel BG3 Build, is that she gains all Weapon and Armour Proficiencies, and that she gains CON Saving Throw Proficiency. This allows Lae’Zel to use any Weapon or Armour in the game, and also allows her to add her Proficiency Bonus to Concentration Saving Throws, making her more likely to succeed in them. This helps if she plans to use Blur, Haste, or any other spell that requires Concentration.

She will also gain Second Wind at this level, allowing her to heal as a Bonus Action for 1D10 + Fighter Level once per Short Rest, as well as a Fighting Style. For Fighting Style I recommend selecting Great Weapon Fighting, which allows her to get more consistent damage from her two-handed weapon. Defence is also an acceptable choice.

Level 2 – Fighter

  • Action Surge

At level 2 of Fighter, Lae’Zel will gain Action Surge, allowing her to take a second Action once ever Short Rest. This really shines later on when Lae’Zel gains Extra Attack, allowing her to attack 4x in a given turn, and 6x if she is using Haste.

Using Action Surge at the beginning of combat is a great way to gain full stacks of Arcane Acuity once Lae’Zel has gotten the proper gear.

Level 3 – Eldritch Knight

  • Spellcasting
  • Weapon Bond

At level 3 of Fighter, Lae’Zel will get to choose a Fighter Subclass. We’ll be taking Eldritch Knight in order to gain access to some Wizard Spells. I highly recommend selecting Shield and Magic Missile at this point, as well as Acid Splash.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Eldritch Knight
Eldritch Knight

Shield will allow Lae’Zel to use her Reaction and a Spell Slot to increase her AC by +5 for a round, which can make her extremely difficult to hit.

Magic Missile is a great ranged option that can hit multiple targets and doesn’t rely on Intelligence to connect, since it cannot miss its target and cannot be Saved against.

Acid Splash gives Lae’Zel an AoE that can be used even point blank to hit multiple enemies, and once she’s level 7 she will be able to use this when surrounded and then attack with her Bonus Action thanks to War Magic.

She will also gain Weapon Bond at this level, allowing her to throw her weapon and have it return to her, and prevents it from being knocked out of her hand.

Level 4 – Eldritch Knight

  • Feat

At level 4 of Eldritch Knight, Lae’Zel will get to choose a Feat. Here we’ll take Great Weapon Master in order to deal more damage with her weapon which will be two-handed, and also give her an option for her Bonus Action to make another attack if she Crits or kills an enemy with a melee attack.

Level 5 – Eldritch Knight

  • Extra Attack

At level 5 of Eldritch Knight, Lae’Zel will gain Extra Attack, allowing her to attack a second time each turn if she uses her Action to attack. This is an extremely important level for her, as she will become much more effective in combat, essentially doubling her damage potential.

Level 6 – Eldritch Knight

  • Extra Feat

At level 6 of Eldritch Knight, Lae’Zel will gain an extra Feat, one that all Fighters gain at this level. Here she will increase her Strength for more hit chance and damage. The hit chance is the more important of the two, since Great Weapon Master will penalize her hit chance. If you made her a DEX Fighter, then you would select DEX here instead.

Level 7 – Eldritch Knight

  • Level 2 Spells
  • War Magic

At level 7 of Eldritch Knight, Lae’Zel will gain level 2 Spells and War Magic. Level 2 Spells allow her to use things like Blur and Misty Step. Blur makes her damn near impossible to hit in combat, and Misty Step provides good mobility when she needs it.

War Magic allows Lae’Zel to cast a Cantrip and then attack with a Bonus Action. This is a lot better on paper than it is in practice, since generally you want to attack twice every turn if you can. However, this allows you to use Acid Splash to hit many enemies when they are grouped up, which can often out perform two attacks from a weapon.

Level 8 – Eldritch Knight

  • Feat

At level 8 of Eldritch Knight, Lae’Zel will get to select her 3rd Feat. This will allow her to either choose STR (or DEX) for more accuracy, or INT for better spellcasting. Either of these is a good option, and whichever you go with you will want to do the opposite with her fourth Feat at level 12.

BG3 Lae’Zel Build Guide – 4 Evocation or Divination Wizard

Level 9 – Wizard

  • Wizard Spells
  • Arcane Recovery

At level 1 of Wizard, Lae’Zel will get to select some more Spells. Here I recommend taking several Ritual Spells that don’t consume spell slots when used outside of combat, as well as Thunderwave for its knockback effect. She will also get to learn Spells from Scrolls at this level, so keep that in mind.

Arcane Recovery will allow her to gain 1 level 1 Spell Slot back every Long Rest at this level, so be sure to use it when needed.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Wizard
Wizard

Level 10 – Evocation or Divination Wizard

  • Subclass Features

At level 2 of Wizard, Lae’Zel will get to select a magic school. I suggest either Divination or Evocation here. Divination will allow Lae’Zel to control some outcomes on the battlefield, while Evocation protects friendlies from her AoEs. She won’t have many AoEs, if any at this point, so it’s better once she gains Fireball or Lightning Bolt than before. You can select either.

Level 11 – Evocation or Divination Wizard

  • Level 2 Wizard Spells
  • Level 3 Spell Slots

At level 3 of Wizard, Lae’Zel will get to choose level 2 Wizard Spells, but more importantly she will have level 3 Spell Slots. This will allow her to learn level 3 Spells from Scrolls like Fireball, Lightning Bolt and Haste, so make sure you buy these and have her learn them.

Level 12 – Evocation or Divination Wizard

  • Feat

At level 4 of Wizard, Lae’Zel will gain her fourth and final feat, which is made possible by 8 level of Fighter. Here she should select INT or STR/DEX depending on what was chosen at level 8. Capping at 14 INT may seem too low for hostile spells, but we do have a way of increasing Spell DC with Arcane Acuity, which I will discuss in the next section.

BG3 Lae’Zel Build Guide – Equipment

Lae’Zel Armour

Since Lae’Zel is a Fighter, she has access to all Armour in the game. You want to look for Armour with the highest possible Armour Class in order to avoid taking damage. Since she should have 14 DEX, either Medium or Heavy Armour is fine. One Armour I can recommend later on is Dark Justiciar Half-Plate, which also provides Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws, which will allow her to maintain Concentration on spells like Haste, Blur or Hold Person more easily.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Dark Justiciar Half-Plate
Dark Justiciar Half-Plate

Lae’Zel Weapon

Lae’Zel will need to use a Heavy or Versatile Weapon for this Build in order to get the most from Great Weapon Fighting and Great Weapon Master. If you got the Everburn Blade at the very beginning of the game this is a great weapon for her, otherwise really any two-handed weapon will work. If she went DEX instead of STR though, you’ll need to get the Phalar Aluve Longsword from the Underdark.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Phalar Aluve Longsword
Phalar Aluve Longsword

For ranged weapon, she won’t really be using this all that often, but look for Ranged Weapons that benefit her in some other way, like The Deadshot.

Lae’Zel Accessories

One really important accessory for this Build, is the Helmet of Arcane Acuity. This allows Lae’Zel to gain 2 stacks of Arcane Acuity each time she hits an enemy. Arcane Acuity lets her add +1 to Spell Attack Rolls or +1 to Spell DC for each stack. If on turn 1 she attacks twice, then Action Surges and attacks twice again, she will have max stacks of this on her second turn, allowing her to cast a hostile spell with +7 to Spell Attack Roll or DC.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Helmet of Arcane Acuity
Helmet of Arcane Acuity

As I mentioned earlier though, you can use the Warped Headband of Intellect early on, but eventually you’ll want to replace it with the Helmet of Arcane Acuity.

Cloak of Protection is a good choice for Cloak, since it provides 1 AC and +1 to Saving Throws, and I like Gloves of the Growling Underdog for Gauntlets because they give Lae’Zel Advantage on Melee Attack Rolls when engaged with 2 or more enemies. This really helps with accuracy, which is needed when using Great Weapon Master’s toggle.

Evasive Shoes are good for boots because they also provide an additional AC, helping to protect Lae’Zel further.

For Rings I like Caustic Band and Ring of Arcane Synergy. Caustic Band simply adds damage to Lae’Zel’s attacks, and Ring of Arcane Synergy increases damage after hitting an enemy with a Cantrip. This is nice for after casting Acid Splash, and following up with a bonus attack thanks to War Caster.

Caustic Band

For Necklace, I like Necklace of Elemental Augmentation to increase Cantrip damage, but another good choice is the Physic Spark, which makes Magic Missile fire an extra dart each time you cast it.

Lae’Zel Build Final Tips

The general idea with this Lae’Zel Build is to build up Arcane Acuity by attacking on the first and/or second turn of combat, and then fire off a hostile spell that is unlikely to be Saved against. Spells good for this are Burning Hands, Thunderwave, Fireball, Lightning Bolt or Scorching Rays. Note that none of these spells require Concentration.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Scorching Rays
Scorching Rays

Try to save Concentration Spells on Lae’Zel for Blur, Haste, Hold Person or something like Hypnotic Pattern. You won’t always need these, but make sure to use them for harder fights, and make sure not to overwrite them with other Concentration Spells. For instance you cannot use Haste and Hold Person together.

Remember that Acid Splash can be a great spell when Lae’Zel is surrounded if you want to save a Spell Slot or she’s running low. Because of War Caster she can attack again after casting it on the same turn.

You don’t have to play this Build with 8 Fighter and 4 Wizard. You can play with 6 Fighter and 6 Wizard or 7 Fighter and 5 Wizard if you’d prefer. The downside is that you’ll miss out on a fourth Feat, but the upside is that you will gain access to level 4 Spells.

Lastly, hang on to Scrolls you come across that you’ll want to learn with Lae’Zel so that you can do so once she takes a level of Wizard. And consider taking 1 level of Wizard earlier in order to make this happen faster, like after level 5 of Fighter.


That wraps up our Baldur’s Gate 3 Lae’Zel Build Guide! Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content as we update the other Builds, and be sure to drop by our Discord if you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wiki which is being worked on night and day, as well as our Baldur’s Gate 3 Guides.

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Best Gale Build Guide – Baldur’s Gate 3 https://fextralife.com/best-gale-build-guide-baldurs-gate-3/ https://fextralife.com/best-gale-build-guide-baldurs-gate-3/#respond Sat, 28 Oct 2023 06:05:39 +0000 https://fextralife.com/?p=264476 The post Best Gale Build Guide – Baldur’s Gate 3 appeared first on Fextralife.

Best Gale Build Guide transforming him into a flexible Wizard.…

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In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Gale Build Guide, I’ll be showing you how to play Gale in Baldur’s Gate 3 if you want to make him into a Wizard who can handle any situation thrown at him. Wizards have the flexibility to change spells when things aren’t working for them, and they can also learn spells from Scrolls, so they have an advantage over Sorcerers in some ways. In this Gale Build Guide I’ll also cover Ability Scores, Class Features, Equipment, and I will provide tips on how to get the most out of Gale when played this way.

Best Gale Build Guide – Baldur’s Gate 3

Being a Wizard, Gale has a large selection of Spells he can learn, and it allows him to have the right Spell for the situation. The reason this is an Elementalist Build, is because he can swap Spells when needed to the right damage type to avoid Resistances and Immunities, making him more effective than a 1 or 2 element caster would be some of the time.

The general strategy with this Build is to build up Reverberation or Radiating Orb stacks on enemies with Gale’s AoE Spells, so that enemies take more damage and hit your party less often. Additionally, I’ve added a way for Gale to gain Arcane Acuity easily, which makes his Spells more difficult to save against, which makes him particularly deadly in combat.

Best Gale Build Guide - Baldur's Gate 3

I decided not to Multiclass Gale for this Build, giving him the most possible Spells as quickly as possible, and the Evocation School has some nice benefits at levels 2, 6, and 10. You could actually Multiclass Gale with a Fighter for 2 levels to pick up Action Surge if you wanted to, but I don’t think it’s necessary for this Build.

BG3 Gale Build Guide – Ability Scores

Since Gale begins BG3 as a Wizard, his Ability Scores are in line with what a typical Wizard might have. However, you will want to respec him eventually to get the most out of him, otherwise he will not be optimized for much of the game.

Starting Ability Scores

  • STR 8
  • DEX 13
  • CON 14
  • INT 17
  • WIS 10
  • CHA 13

Ideal Ability Scores

  • STR 8
  • DEX 16
  • CON 14
  • INT 16
  • WIS 10
  • CHA 10

You can see that we’ve evened out many of his Abilities to provide more benefit. I’ve set CON to 14 here because we don’t really use many Concentration Spells, and Gale does not tend to get hit much with this Build. The extra DEX allows him to go sooner in combat by increasing his Initiative, and gives him an additional Armour Class to help protect him from being hit.

BG3 Gale Build Guide – Skills

Gale has Proficiency in Arcana and History from his Background, so you cannot change these. However, he’s an Intelligence-based Class so these are actually good for him to have. I suggest taking Investigation, Nature and Religion to round out his Skills, giving him Proficiency in all 5 Intelligence Skills. It’s not likely if you’re playing with Gale that you will be using another Intelligence-based character, so this is great.

  • Arcana
  • History
  • Nature
  • Religion
  • Investigation

BG3 Gale Build Guide – 12 Evocation Wizard

I like to keep my Companions at least the Class they begin the game with, since it feels like that is how Larian intended for them to be played, and it’s no exception with Gale. Gale begins the game as a Wizard, but he does not yet have a school of Wizardry, and here I’ve selected Evocation. This is an extremely new player friendly school that boosts Evocation Spell Damage, and allows you to fling hostile Evocation AoEs in to friendlies (including Gale) without damaging them.

Level 1 – Wizard

At level 1 of Wizard Gale will gain his first Spells and Cantrips. I really like a mix of offensive Cantrips like Fire Bolt, Ray of Frost and Shocking Grasp, but eventually you’ll want Acid Splash as well. This sets you up nicely with 3 different damage types, and gives you a melee range spell incase enemies get close.

Shocking Grasp - Baldur's Gate 3
Shocking Grasp

For Level 1 Wizard Spells I recommend the following:

  • Mage Armour
  • Shield
  • Magic Missile (Evocation)
  • Thunderwave (Evocation)
  • Ice Knife
  • False Life

Mage Armour is a staple for increasing Gale’s AC through out the game and you only need to cast it once each Long Rest. Shield will protect him if he gets attacked in combat, and can be a lifesaver. False Life is used to buff Gale with Temporary HP before a tough fight, and you won’t use it all the time.

False Life - Baldur's Gate 3
False Life

Magic Missile cannot miss and does Force Damage giving you yet another damage type, and Thunderwave can knock things to their death or away from you and deals Thunder Damage (another damage type). Ice Knife does Piercing Damage and Cold Damage, and is an Attack Roll that targets AC.

Arcane Recovery allows Gale to replenish a Spell Slot without Resting, which can be a great way to keep him going without using valuable Supplies. The higher level he gets in Wizard the higher level Spell Slots he can recover.

Level 2 – Evocation Wizard

At level 2 of Wizard, Gale will get to select a school of magic for his Subclass. Evocation is what we’re going with in order to pick up Sculpt Spells which prevents Gale’s Evocation Spells that hit in an area from damaging friendlies. This is a lot stronger than you would think and makes life playing Gale a lot easier, particularly if you’re a new player.

You can pick up Burning Hands here, as well as something like Chromatic Orb, both are Evocation Spells.

Level 3 – Evocation Wizard

  • Level 2 Wizard Spells and Spell Slots

At level 3 of Wizard, Gale will gain access to Level 2 Wizard Spells, and gain Level 2 Spell Slots. He can also upcast Level 1 Wizard Spells using these Slots for increased effect. Magic Missile generates another Missile, Thunderwave, Ice Knife, Chromatic Orb and Burning Hands do more damage, and False Life gives you more Temporary Health. Shield and Mage Armour cannot be upcast, so try to avoid using higher level Spell Slots to cast them.

For Level 2 Wizard Spells I recommend the following:

  • Blur
  • Scorching Ray (Evocation)
  • Melf’s Acid Arrow (Evocation)
  • Misty Step

Blur is probably going to be the only Concentration Spell you use with this Build, and that’s because it makes enemies have Disadvantage when they attack you. This helps make them miss, which prevents the need for a Concentration Saving Throw a lot of the time (not all). Misty Step is used for positioning and is a Bonus Action, so you can use it and still cast another Spell on the same turn.

Scorching Ray is excellent at hitting many targets, but also triggers Hat of Fire Acuity for each beam that connects, drastically increasing the chance for your Spells to deal full damage and not Miss. Melf’s Acid Arrow is a good Acid Damage spell, giving you a reliable Acid Spell.

Level 4 – Evocation Wizard

  • 1 Wizard Cantrip
  • Feat

At level 4 of Wizard, Gale will get to select another Wizard Cantrip, and I recommend taking Acid Splash here if you didn’t take it earlier.

You’ll also get to select Gale’s first Feat, and I highly recommend taking Alert here. This will improve his Initiative significantly, allowing him to go earlier in combat. His big damage spells later on can change the outcome of combat very often, so by going sooner he has a chance to prevent damage to his team.

Level 5 – Evocation Wizard

  • Cantrip Damage Increase
  • Level 3 Wizard Spells and Spell Slots

At level 5 of Wizard, Gale’s Cantrip damage will increase, allowing him to do more damage with them by about double. This helps somewhat him keep up with martial Classes, though they can usually attack twice at this level of the game.

He will also gain access to Level 3 Wizard Spells and Spell Slots, and I recommend the following Spells:

Fireball and Lightning Bolt both hit for damage in large areas, dealing damage even if enemies save, and both are Evocation Spells. Counterspell can be used as a Reaction to shut down hostile Spells if you need to.

Level 6 – Evocation Wizard

At level 6 of Evocation Wizard, Gale will gain Potent Cantrip. This allows Acid Splash and Poison Spray (if you have it) to deal at minimum, half damage even if the target Saves against them. Gale won’t take advantage of this much, but it’s still good to have.

Level 7 – Evocation Wizard

  • Level 4 Wizard Spells and Spell Slots

At level 7 of Wizard, Gale will gain access to Level 4 Wizard Spells and Spell Slots and I recommend the following Spells:

  • Ice Storm (Evocation)
  • Blight
  • Conjure Minor Elemental

Ice Storm is a huge AoE that creates and Icy Surface that enemies can slip on for 2 turns, and does Cold and Bludgeoning Damage. Gale will use this one because of its large size quite often, and the fact it applies damage twice allows him to take advantage of gear that adds damage when spells deal damage too.

Ice Storm - Baldur's Gate 3
Ice Storm

Blight is good for a large Necrotic Damage AoE when you need it. Conjure Minor Elemental can be used to get another body or two onto the battlefield, and doesn’t require Concentration, which we are trying to avoid.

Conjure Minor Elemental - Baldur's Gate 3
Conjure Minor Elemental

Level 8 – Evocation Wizard

  • Feat

At level 8 of Wizard, Gale will gain his second Feat and I highly recommend taking Ability Improvement and increasing Intelligence. You want his Spells to connect more often, so this helps a lot. Additionally, he will be able to Prepare an additional Spell and once he’s level 10 that Intelligence will help contribute to Spell Damage.

Level 9 – Evocation Wizard

  • Level 5 Wizard Spells and Spell Slots

At level 9 of Wizard, Gale will learn level 5 Wizard Spells and Spell Slots, and I recommend the following Spells:

  • Cone of Cold (Evocation)
  • Conjure Elemental

Cone of Cold is a high-damage Cold Spell that hits in a cone in front of you. Better for smaller groups than Ice Storm, but you will probably use it less. Conjure Elemental is a Spell that helps get you another body onto the battlefield, one that can be used in conjunction with Minor Elementals, and again doesn’t require Concentration.

Level 10 – Evocation Wizard

  • Cantrip Damage Increase
  • 1 Wizard Cantrip
  • Empowered Evocation

At level 10 of Evocation Wizard, Gale can select another Wizard Cantrip and I recommend either Bone Chill or Poison Spray. His Cantrips also increase in damage once again, making them more effective.

He will also gain the Empowered Evocation passive feature that will automatically add his Intelligence Modifier to the damage of all Evocation Spells he casts (including Cantrips). This will further boost the damage of these Spells and is particularly good on Evocation Spells that hit multiple times like Magic Missile, Scorching Ray, Ice Storm and Ice Knife.

Level 11 – Evocation Wizard

  • Level 6 Wizard Spells and Spell Slot

At level 11 of Wizard, Gale will gain access to Level 6 Wizard Spells and 1 Spell Slot. I recommend the following Spells:

  • Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere (Evocation)
  • Chain Lightning (Evocation)
  • Sunbeam
  • Disintegration

Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere and Chain Lighting are both high damage Evocation Spells, so Gale will make great use of them and safely! Sunbeam gives Gale a good Radiant Damage option, and even though it does use Concentration, you will not need it often. Disintegration is a high damage single target Force Damage Spell for those times you need it.

Otiluke's Freezing Sphere - Baldur's Gate 3
Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere

Level 12 – Evocation Wizard

  • Feat

At level 12 of Wizard Gale will gain his final Feat, and I suggest taking Ability Improvement once again to get his Intelligence to 20. This will allow him even more success with casting Spells, and further improve his damage.

BG3 Gale Build Guide – Equipment

Gale Armour

As a Human Wizard, Gale will only have access to Clothing, Light Armour, and Shields. For Armour you’re really looking for anything that increases his Spell DC like The Protecty Sparkswall. This one is particularly good as it provides him with +1 to AC and Saving Throws when he has Lightning Charges, and also can be used with Mage Armour.

Gale Weapon

I tried a lot of different Quarterstaffs with this Build, and any with an increase to Spell DC are good to have, as these make his spells more difficult to Save against. However, we have other ways to make his Spells more effective so I opted for a Staff that boosted his damage and that was The Spellsparkler.

This Staff gives him Lightning Charges when he casts Spells, and this adds damage to the Spells he casts. It’s not a ton, but it adds up over time. It can also help to trigger Reverberation when using Gloves of Belligerent Skies, which reduces the Saving Throws of enemies.

Gale Shield

I have Ketheric’s Shield for this Build as it increases Gale’s Spell DC even further, making his Spells even harder to Save against while also providing Gale some extra AC.

Gale Accessories

For helmet, I like Hat of Fire Acuity. This allows you to boost Gale’s Spell DC by up to +7 by simply casting Scorching Ray on an enemy. This will make it much harder for enemies to Save against subsequent Spells, though he will lose a stack of Arcane Acuity each turn.

For cloak, I like Cloak of Protection. This is good on any character, but the extra AC is great for him, since he’s not really wearing any on his chest slot. The extra +1 to Saving Throws is also nice.

For gloves he’ll be using either Luminous Gloves OR Gloves of Belligerent Skies. Luminous Gloves makes it so when Gale deals Radiant Damage the target gains a stack of Radiating Orb, reducing their hit chance by 1 for each stack. This maxes out at +7, which can make enemies really struggle to hit your party.

Radiating Orb - Baldur's Gate 3
Radiating Orb

Gloves of Belligerent Skies makes it so whenever Gale deals Thunder, Lightning or Radiant Damage enemies gain stacks of Reverberation. Reverberation penalizes Saving Throws to CON, STR and DEX by -1 for each stack (up to 7). This allows Gale to seriously debuff enemies so that they are far less likely to save against his deadly AoEs.

If you have a more martial-focused party, use Luminous Gloves. If you have a more caster-focused party, use Gloves of Belligerent Skies.

For necklace I recommend Necklace of Elemental Augmentation. This allows Gale to add his Intelligence Modifier to his Cantrip Damage, and this stacks with Empowered Evocation, so his Cantrips will hit harder.

Necklace of Elemental Augmentation - Baldur's Gate 3
Necklace of Elemental Augmentation

For rings, I like Coruscation Ring and Callous Glow Ring. Coruscation Ring makes it so when Gale deals Spell Damage while illuminated by a light source, he adds 2 stacks of Radiating Orb to the target. This happens quite often, and as enemies get Radiating Orb they will also start to become light sources, so this gets easier and easier over time.

Coruscation Ring - Baldur's Gate 3
Coruscation Ring

Callous Glow Ring makes it so Gale adds 2 Radiant Damage to his damage when hitting enemies that are illuminated. Radiating Orb illuminates them, and this applies to each source of damage. So if you hit with Magic Missile for instance, it would do 2 additional Radiant Damage for each Missile, which would then also apply 2 Radiating Orb for each Missile you hit with. This turns Gale not only into a nuker, but also a debuffer simultaneously, which helps prevent party damage.

Magic Missile

Gale Final Tips

Make sure that you buff Gale with Mage Armour after every Long Rest if he is not using Light Armour. This will help increase his AC by +3, which is significant.

Don’t be afraid to use False Life before tough fights and Upcast it with higher level slots so that Gale is protected from a good chunk of damage. You can replenish the Slot with Arcane Recovery, which you will likely not want to use during combat anyway, since it consumes an Action.

Blur is Gale’s way of avoiding most direct attacks, so you’ll want to either cast this before combat, if it’s predictable or decide when during combat would be a good time. A lot of times you’ll be better off using an AoE first, but it really depends on the fight.

Use Misty Step to reposition Gale if needed. Sometimes he can reach more enemies if he teleports, or maybe he’s surrounded and you need to get him out of there. It’s a Bonus Action, so he can still cast on the same turn.


That wraps up our Baldur’s Gate 3 Gale Build Guide! Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content as we update the other Builds, and be sure to drop by our Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wiki which is being worked on night and day, as well as our Baldur’s Gate 3 Guides.

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Best Wyll Build Guide – Baldur’s Gate 3 https://fextralife.com/best-wyll-build-guide-baldurs-gate-3/ https://fextralife.com/best-wyll-build-guide-baldurs-gate-3/#respond Tue, 24 Oct 2023 13:23:39 +0000 https://fextralife.com/?p=264358 The post Best Wyll Build Guide – Baldur’s Gate 3 appeared first on Fextralife.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Wyll Build Guide taking advantage of multiclassing…

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In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Wyll Build Guide, I’ll be showing you how to play Wyll in Baldur’s Gate 3 if you want to make him into a true Blade of Frontiers. To do this I’ll be Multiclasssing Warlock with Fighter, and I’ll explain why that is in this BG3 Wyll Guide. I’ll also cover Ability Scores, Class Features, Equipment, and I will provide tips on how to get the most out of Wyll when played this way.

Best Wyll Build Guide – Baldur’s Gate 3

Being a Warlock, Wyll is a very versatile character. He has some spellcasting ability, can use melee weapons effectively if he wishes, and has a fantastic ranged attack in Eldritch Blast. However, Wyll is The Blade of Frontiers, so for this Build I decided to lean into that persona and Multiclass him with Fighter.

By doing so he gains a Fighting Style, Action Surge, Medium and Heavy Armour Proficiency, an Extra Attack that stacks with the Pact of the Blade’s Extra Attack, and he still gains 3 Feats, and this is a very Feat hungry Build. These things help better set him up for melee combat, as a true The Blade of Frontiers.

Eldritch Blast - Baldur's Gate 3
Eldritch Blast

BG3 Wyll Build Guide – Ability Scores

Since Wyll begins BG3 as a Warlock, his Ability Scores are in line with what a typical Warlock might have. However, you will want to respec him eventually to get the most out of him, and this will allow you to save valuable Feats on Ability Improvement, when they are needed elsewhere.

Starting Ability Scores

  • STR 8
  • DEX 13
  • CON 14
  • INT 13
  • WIS 10
  • CHA 17

Ideal Ability Scores

  • STR 10
  • DEX 14
  • CON 16
  • INT 8
  • WIS 10
  • CHA 16

You can see that we’ve evened out many of his Abilities to provide more benefit, especially with CON which will not only give him more HP, but help him pass Concentration Saving Throws. We’ve also made sure he can get +2 AC when wearing Medium or Light Armour by rounding up his DEX, which will improve his Initiative as well.

BG3 Wyll Build Guide – Skills

Wyll has Proficiency in Animal Handling and Survival from his Background, so you cannot change these. However, ideally when respeccing Wyll we’d take 1 level of Fighter before taking a level of Warlock in order to have CON Proficiency, which helps with Concentration Saving Throws.

This means ideally you’d select Persuasion and Intimidation so that he can handle dialogues effectively. Acrobatics is a good solid third choice since it helps prevent Wyll from being Shoved, but you could select Athletics for the same reason.

BG3 Wyll Build Guide – 1 Fighter

I like to keep my Companions at least the Class they begin the game with, since it feels like that is how Larian intended for them to be played, and it’s no exception with Wyll. However, because Fighters have CON Proficiency, and Medium/Heavy Armour Proficiency when selecting them as your starting Class, it is a better fit for this Build. For this reason, when you respec, make sure Fighter is Wyll’s first level chosen, before selecting Warlock second.

Level 1 – Fighter

As you can see you get quite a bit from selecting Fighter first. Medium or Heavy Armour is what you want Wyll to use with this Build, since he won’t have very high Dexterity. He will also have better Concentration Saving Throws since his Constitution will be added when calculating it, and Warlocks have a LOT of Concentration Spells.

Lastly, Wyll will gain a Fighting Style. There are a couple of good options here. Defence just gives him a flat +1 Armour Class. Duelling gives him +2 damage when he’s using a one-handed weapon, even if he uses a Shield. And Great Weapon Fighting can significantly boost his damage, as well as prevent the need for the Savage Attacker Feat if you don’t mind less Armour Class. Any of these are acceptable.

Great Weapon Fighting - Baldur's Gate 3
Great Weapon Fighting

BG3 Wyll Build Guide – 5 The Great Old One Warlock

Since you can’t respec until you’re at least level 2 anyways, you’ll be able to keep Wyll as a Warlock, even if it’s his second Class, by taking Warlock immediately after selecting 1 level of Fighter. We’ll take 5 levels of Warlock in a row here, in order to pick up the important Warlock aspects.

Level 2 – The Great Old One

The Great Old One - Wyll - Subclass - Warlock - Baldur's Gate 3
The Great Old One

At level 1 of Warlock, Wyll will be taking The Great Old One Subclass. This is because he will gain access to Mortal Reminder, which makes it so when Wyll Critically Hits with a Weapon or Spell, the target and nearby targets must make a Wisdom Saving Throw or become Frightened. We have a huge focus on Critical Hits with this Build, so this will trigger often.

Wyll will also gain his first Warlock Spell Slot, which replenishes after Short Rest, and will get to select two level 1 Warlock Spells. I suggest taking Armour of Agathys and Arms of Hadar. You won’t end up using these all that often later in the game, but you will use them early on before you’ve gained Darkness.

And finally, Wyll gains Eldritch Blast this level, giving him a reliable ranged attack every round. He will rely on this a lot until he reaches level 3, and gains Pact of the Blade, since he will have poor melee accuracy until that point. Note that Eldritch Blast gains an extra beam at Character Levels 5 and 10, so Multiclassing does not hurt its effectiveness.

Darkness - Wyll - Baldur's Gate 3
Darkness

Level 3 – The Great Old One

At level 2 of Warlock, Wyll will get to select two Eldritch Invocations from a list. I highly advise taking Agonising Blast, which will boost the damage of Eldritch Blast by Wyll’s Charisma Modifier (this is added to each beam). And also selecting Devil’s Sight, which will allow Wyll to see inside the Darkness Spell, which he will gain at the next level.

Level 4 – The Great Old One

  • Level 2 Warlock Spells and Spell Slots
  • Second Warlock Spell Slot
  • Pact Boon

At level 3 of Warlock, Wyll will gain a second Warlock Spell Slot, and both Spell Slots will increase to level 2 Spell Slots, meaning they can be used to cast level 1 or 2 Spells. He will also gain access to Warlock level 2 spells, allowing him to select Darkness, which is vital for this Build.

Darkness Blinds enemies within, which automatically makes attacks against them have Advantage, while Blinded enemies have Disadvantage on their attacks. And since Wyll has Devil’s Sight he can enter the Darkness and not be Blinded, using this to his Advantage, as long as he maintains Concentration on Darkness. This is why Fighter at level 1 comes in handy, in case he does get hit while inside, which can happen.

Also at level 3, Wyll will get to choose a Pact Boon, and we will be selecting Pact of the Blade, since Wyll is the Blade of Frontiers after all! This allows Wyll to summon a melee weapon and use his Charisma Modifier for Attack and Damage Rolls with it. OR, to bind any weapon to him, allowing him Proficiency with it and to use his Charisma Modifier for Attack and Damage Rolls with it. This gives Wyll the flexibility to melee or Eldritch Blast each turn with the same effectiveness.

Pact of the Blade - Baldur's Gate 3
Pact of the Blade

Level 5 – The Great Old One

  • Feat
  • Eldritch Blast (2nd Beam)

At level 4 of Warlock, Wyll will get to select his first Feat. Here I highly recommend selecting Great Weapon Master. This will allow Wyll to use his Bonus Action to make another attack if he kills an enemy or Critically Hits an enemy with a melee attack. He is more likely to kill than Critically Hit at this point of the game, but it will become more useful when his Critical Chance is higher. Additionally, if he is using a Two-Handed Weapon, then he can gain a huge damage boost as well, and the hit chance can be somewhat offset by the Advantage he gains while attacking Blinded enemies standing in Darkness.

Wyll will also gain a second Beam to Eldritch Blast at this level, making it outperform his melee attacks until the next level of Warlock, so you will likely once again rely on it here for a short stretch of the game.

Level 6 – The Great Old One

  • Level 3 Warlock Spells and Spell Slots
  • Deepened Pact
  • Eldritch Invocation

At level 5 of Warlock, Wyll will gain level 3 Spells and his Warlock Spell Slots will improve to level 3 Spell Slots, allowing him to cast level 3 Spells with them. Hunger of Hadar is not a bad choice here, but it doesn’t work the same way as Darkness so Wyll is not effective inside of it.

Wyll will also gain an Extra Attack from Deepened Pact at this level of Warlock, allowing him to melee twice per turn in combat with his pact weapon. This DOES stack with Extra Attack from Fighter, which will give him three attacks at Fighter level 5. This puts Wyll’s melee on par with his Eldritch Blast once again.

And finally, he will gain one more Eldritch Invocation, and I highly recommend selecting Repelling Blast in order to make the beams of Eldritch Blast knock enemies backwards. This can often result in their death if knocking them off a cliff or high elevation.

BG3 Wyll Build Guide – 7 Champion

After taking 5 levels of The Great Old One Warlock, it’s time to switch back to Fighter to pick up many benefits from it and the Champion Subclass.

Level 7 – Fighter

  • Action Surge

At level 2 of Fighter, Wyll will gain Action Surge, allowing him to perform a second Action in combat. This allows him to cast Darkness, and then attack twice on the same turn, since he will have the Extra Attack from Warlock. This will eventually be three times, once he gains Extra Attack from Fighter.

Level 8 – Champion

  • Champion Subclass
  • Improved Critical Hit

At level 3 of Fighter, Wyll will get to choose a Subclass. I’ve selected Champion here because it reduces the number he needs to roll in order to Critically Hit with both Eldritch Blast and melee attacks by 1. This is roughly a 5% increase to Critical Hit chance, but since we typically attack with Advantage, it is closer to 10%, making Wyll’s Critical Hit Chance when attacking with Advantage close to 20% at this point of the game. Note that this effect stacks, and we’ll be using equipment to help increase this further.

Improved Critical Hit - Baldur's Gate 3
Improved Critical Hit

Level 9 – Champion

  • Feat

At level 4 of Fighter, Wyll will gain a second Feat. Here he will either take Savage Attacker or Ability Improvement depending on what Fighting Style you chose for him. If he’s using Great Weapon Fighting then Savage Attacker is not needed, and he should select Ability Improvement for better Accuracy and Damage.

If Wyll is using Duelling or Defence, then Savage Attacker is the play here. Note that Savage Attacker applies to all damage rolls made when making a melee attack, even those added by equipment, Critical Hits or Sneak Attacks, so is very important to this Build if not using Great Weapon Fighting.

Level 10 – Champion

  • Extra Attack
  • Eldritch Blast (3rd Beam)

At level 5 of Fighter, Wyll will gain Extra Attack, allowing him to attack 3x in combat when using his pact weapon. This can even be 4x if he Critically Hits or kills an enemy with his melee attacks, which is a huge amount.

Also at this level, Wyll’s Eldritch Blast will add a third and final beam, allowing it to hit 3 different targets or to attack the same target multiple times. Remember that each beam has its own chance to Critically Hit, and that enemies hit with it can be Frightened thanks to Mortal Reminder.

Level 11 – Champion

  • Feat

At level 6 of Fighter, Wyll will gain a third Feat. With it, he should select Ability Improvement and take Charisma up to 18 or 20 depending on what Feats he selected before. This extra Feat comes in very handy for this Build, and should not be overlooked.

Level 12 – Champion

  • Remarkable Athlete: Proficiency
    Remarkable Athlete: Jump

At level 7 of Champion, Wyll will gain Remarkable Athlete: Jump, allowing him to Jump 3m further, and will also gain Remarkable Athlete: Proficiency allowing him to use half his Proficiency Bonus when making STR, DEX and CON Checks he is not Proficient in. Initiative is one such Check, so he will gain improved Initiative (+2 at this level), allowing him to act sooner in combat.

BG3 Wyll Build Guide – Equipment

Wyll Armour

Wyll has the option to use either Medium or Heavy Armour thank to his starting level in Fighter, and one that I like for this Build is Dark Justiciar Half-Plate. This is a Medium Armour that provides Advantage on Stealth Checks while Obscured, but also Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws, which is essentially the equivalent of having the War Caster Feat for all intents and purposes. This Armour also has incredibly high base Armour at 16, giving Wyll a total of 18 AC just for wearing it.

A good alternative is the Adamantine Splint Armour, which has the same AC, but reduces damage by 2 and prevents Critical Hits. Critical Hits are often one of the few ways Wyll can get hit while in Darkness, and this Armour prevents that.

Adamantine Splint Armour

Wyll Melee Weapons

For choice of weapon for this Build, I really wanted to try to stick to some sort of bladed weapon since Wyll is The Blade of Frontiers. Weapons that work well with this Build are any that add an additional damage type that can roll, since this will be improved with Savage Attacker or Great Weapon Fighting, and doubled with Critical Hits. However, there are a couple of exceptions that help increase our Critical Hit Chance. Some that I have found to work well are:

Knife of the Undermountain King is an exceptional weapon for this Build because not only does it reduce the number you need to roll to Critically Hit by 1 for all attacks, but it also applies a similar effect to Great Weapon Fighting, rerolling your damage dice if they are two or lower for your attacks. This can remove the need for the Savage Attacker Feat if you use this weapon.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Knife of the Undermountain King
Knife of the Undermountain King

Charge-Bound Warhammer is also exceptional for this Build, though it is not a blade. It deals an extra 1-6 Lightning Damage if pact bound, which it will be, allowing you to really crank the damage. It can also be two or one-handed since it is versatile.

Wyll Ranged Weapons

The Dead Shot is also great for this Build in the ranged weapon slot, since it further reduces your Crit number by 1, even when not using it at all! Consider slotting it on Wyll if you don’t have an archer in your group.

Wyll Shield

If you’re not two-handing then you will most certainly want a Shield. Some good ones are:

  • Justiciar’s Greatshield (+2 AC)
  • Safeguard Shield (+2 AC)
  • Iron-Banded Shield (+3 AC)
  • Ketheric’s Shield (+2 AC)

Justiciar’s Greatshield allows you to create Darkness around you for 2 turns as a Bonus Action, and is a great way to lead off combat. Iron-Banded Shield has high AC, and Ketheric’s Shield has some nice bonuses as well. Since we are using our Bonus Action to make a normal attack, there is no need to dual wield with this Build unless you want bonuses of the second weapon.

Wyll Accessories

Dark Justiciar Helmet is perfect for this Build. Not only does it boost Concentration Saving Throws, but it also reduces the number needed to Critical Hit by 1 while Obscured, further boosting Critical Chance while in Darkness. Covert Cowl is a solid alternative if you don’t have this one, though less effective.

Cloak of Protection is excellent for this Build as it adds +1 to both AC and Saving Throws. Not a must, but very nice to have.

Dark Justiciar Gauntlets are a nice addition as well, since they add Necrotic Damage to your weapon attacks, and boost Strength Saving Throws by +1. Flawed Helldusk Gloves or Helldusk Gloves also work well, so consider using either of these.

Evasive Shoes are nice for the added Armour Class, but you can really use any shoes you want for this Build. These are probably the least important part.

For Amulet, there aren’t too many good ones for this Build unfortunately. I’m using the Surgeon’s Subjugation Amulet, but you can really use whatever you like here.

For Rings there are a few solid choices:

Strange Conduit Ring and Shadow-Cloaked Ring are my two go-tos since they add rolled damage which can be increased via Crits.Ring of Twilight adds AC, and Ring of Arcane Synergy can boost damage if you strike with Eldritch Blast first, and then attack afterwards using Action Surge or on the next turn.

Ring of Arcane Synergy - Baldur's Gate 3
Ring of Arcane Synergy

Final Tips

The general strategy with this Build is to go in turn 1 and drop Darkness in the middle of as many enemies as possible, and then pop Action Surge and then begin meleeing them to death. You can use your second Spell Slot to reposition Darkness as needed if ranged enemies or casters move out of it. Keep in mind that you can use Eldritch Blast from inside the Darkness as well to attack enemies outside safely.

Try to maintain Advantage on all of your attacks as this will drastically increase your chances of Critically Hitting enemies, which will further boost your damage.

Action Surge and Warlock Spell Slots both replenish with Short Rests, so be sure to do this between combats when possible. It’s also not a bad idea to have a Bard in your group that can use Song of Rest to allow you to do this even more before needing to Long Rest.

The Favourable Beginnings tadpole power is great to have on Wyll (really any character), since it further helps with his hit chance, especially if he’s using a two-handed weapon and Great Weapon Master. Great Weapon Master makes it easy to Miss and anything you can do to help hit chance is a good idea. This only requires 1 tadpoll to use, so it’s a no-brainer on this build, you’ll just have to convince Wyll to use Tadpoles first.


That wraps up our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wyll Build Guide! Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content as we update the other Builds, and be sure to drop by our Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wiki which is being worked on night and day, as well as our Baldur’s Gate 3 Guides.

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Best Astarion Build Guide – Baldur’s Gate 3 https://fextralife.com/best-astarion-build-guide-baldurs-gate-3/ https://fextralife.com/best-astarion-build-guide-baldurs-gate-3/#respond Thu, 28 Sep 2023 12:09:21 +0000 https://fextralife.com/?p=263341 The post Best Astarion Build Guide – Baldur’s Gate 3 appeared first on Fextralife.

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In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Astarion Build Guide, I’ll be showing you how to play Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3 if you want to add a bit more combat prowess to him than just what Rogue itself provides, by adding either the Gloomstalker or Hunter Subclasses of Ranger. I’ll cover Ability Scores, Class Features, Equipment, and I will provide tips on how to get the most out of Astarion when played this way.

Best Astarion Build Guide – Baldur’s Gate 3

Being a Rogue, Astarion is both good at ranged and melee attacks (using Finesse Weapons) due to high Dexterity. Rogues also gain Sneak Attack Damage when Attacking with Advantage or when Attacking a creature standing near a friendly character (as long as you don’t have Disadvantage). This can result in huge damage once per round, but Rogues never gain an Extra Attack like Fighters, Rangers, Monks, Barbarians or Paladins, which is why I decided to Multiclass Astarion with the Ranger Class.

Best Astarion Build Guide Baldur's Gate 3 Cunning Action Hide

BG3 Astarion Build Guide – Ability Scores

Since Astarion begins BG3 as a Rogue, his Ability Scores are in line with what a typical Rogue might have. However, you will want to respec him eventually to get the most out of him, and this will allow you to take Sharpshooter for your first Feat without having serious Ability Score issues that need correcting.

Starting Ability Scores

  • STR 8
  • DEX 17
  • CON 14
  • INT 13
  • WIS 13
  • CHA 10

Ideal Ability Scores

  • STR 8
  • DEX 16
  • CON 14
  • INT 12
  • WIS 16
  • CHA 8

You can see that we’ve given him more Wisdom and dropped his Charisma a bit. This is because Rangers use Wisdom to determine the effectiveness of their hostile Spells, and we want to be able to use them effectively. It also boosts Wisdom Skill Checks like Perception and Survival, which are both great for spotting traps and hidden objects/loot.

BG3 Astarion Build Guide – Skills

Astarion has Proficiency in Perception, Deception and Sleight of Hand by default so you won’t need to choose any of those when respeccing him.

You’ll minimally want to select Stealth and Acrobatics, but Insight and Athletics are also not bad choices. Athletics and Acrobatics help Astarion resist being Shoved, and Insight can be used to deduce what other characters are thinking. Make sure to select Expertise in Sleight of Hand and Stealth to further boost Stealth Checks and Disarming Traps/Lockpicking.

  • Stealth
  • Acrobatics
  • Insight
  • Athletics
  • Stealth Expertise
  • Sleight of Hand Expertise
  • Investigation (1st Ranger Level taken)
  • Survival (1st Ranger Level taken)
Best Astarion Build Guide Baldur's Gate 3 Perception Check

BG3 Astarion Build Guide – 3 Rogue Thief

I like to keep my Companions at least the Class they begin the game with, since it feels like that is how Larian intended for them to be played, and it’s no exception with Astarion. So we go Rogue to begin with and pick up a lot of nice things from this. At level 1, Rogues gain:

Level 1 Rogue

  • Sneak Attack (Ranged)
  • Sneak Attack (Melee)

Sneak Attack deals 1D6 extra damage at this level when Attacking with Advantage or when Attacking a creature standing near a friendly character (as long as you don’t have Disadvantage). Rogues must use a Finesse Weapon if making a Melee Sneak Attack, though they can use whatever Ranged Weapon they want for a Ranged Sneak Attack.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Melee Sneak Attack
Melee Sneak Attack

Level 2 Rogue

At level 2, Astarion can Hide, Dash or Disengage as a Bonus Action, allowing him to use any of these each turn and still Attack. Hiding as a Bonus Action is particularly good for him, since it allows him to meet the criteria for Sneak Attack reliably each turn.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Cunning Action: Hide
Cunning Action: Hide

Level 3 Thief

  • Fast Hands
  • Second-Story Work
  • Sneak Attack Damage (2D6)

At level 3, Astarion will get to choose a Subclass, and we choose Thief here in order to pick up Fast Hands and Second-Story Work. Fast Hands provides Astarion with a second Bonus Action each combat, which allows him to Hide, Attack and then Hide again. He can also cast Hunter’s Mark, Hide and then Attack to gain the benefit of its extra damage once he Multiclasses.

Also at this level, Astarion’s Sneak Attack Damage will increase to 2D6, roughly doubling the damage he will gain when triggering it.

BG3 Astarion Build Guide – 5 Ranger Gloomstalker OR Hunter

At this point Astarion will Multiclass with Ranger in order to pick up a Fighting Style, Proficiencies, as well as some more Skills. You can also choose either Hunter or Gloomstalker for your Subclass and I’ll explain why you might choose either once you get to level 3 Ranger.

Level 4 Ranger

  • Natural Explorer
  • Favoured Enemy
  • 1 Skill Proficiency
  • Martial Weapon Proficiency
  • Medium Armour Proficiency
  • Shield Proficiency

At level 1 of Ranger, Astarion gains a lot of things. Not only can he now use any Weapon in BG3, but he can also use Medium Armour if he wishes. And even though he might still use Light Armour since he will have high Dexterity, there are many Boots, Gloves, Helms, etc that are Medium Armour that he may wish to use.

He’ll also gains one Skill Proficiency, which I recommend taking Survival with, but he can also choose 1 Natural Explorer and 1 Favoured enemy. I like Bounty Hunter here for more Ensnaring Strike success, as well as Investigation Proficiency, and I like Wasteland Wander: Fire for Fire Resistance.

Level 5 Ranger

  • Level 1 Ranger Spells (Ensnaring Strike, Hunter’s Mark)
  • Fighting Style

At level 2 of Ranger, Astarion will get to select a Fighting Style and will gain access to Level 1 Ranger Spells. Ensnaring Strike should be one of these Spells, especially if you chose Bounty Hunter.

Ensnaring Strike allows Attacks against the Ensnared target to be made with Advantage as long as you maintain Concentration, which makes triggering Sneak Attack easier to do.

Hunter’s Mark should be the other Spell you select. This allows Astarion to mark a target and deal 1D6 extra damage to it each time he makes a Weapon Attack against it, as long as he maintains Concentration. This means you cannot keep a target Ensnared and Marked at the same time, but that you will have to choose. Because Astarion is a Thief, this allows him to Mark a target, Hide and then Sneak Attack for even more damage.

For Fighting Style I highly recommend Archery, as this further increases Astarion’s chances of landing attacks when using a Ranged Weapon, and it’s a bit easier to trigger Sneak Attack at range with this setup.

Level 6 Gloomstalker

  • Dread Ambusher
  • Superior Darkvision
  • Dread Ambusher: Hide
  • Umbral Shroud
  • Disguise Self

Level 6 Hunter

  • Colossus Slayer

At level 3 of Ranger, Astarion will get to choose a Subclass and I suggest either Hunter or Gloomstalker here because they will both increase the damage he deals each combat.

Gloomstalker will grant him more Initiative, allowing him to go first in combat more often, and will also allow him to move further and gain a free Attack on the first turn of combat that does +1D8 damage on top of whatever damage he would deal from the weapon and Sneak Attack. This can boost his burst damage, allowing you to wipe out 1 target rather quickly. Gloomstalker also allows him to go Invisible once per Short Rest, and provides Misty Step at level 5 which is great for positioning.

Hunter grants Astarion more consistent damage if you select the Colossus Slayer Hunter’s Prey. This adds 1D8 damage to his Weapon Attacks once per turn if the target is below maximum HP. This is almost always the case, especially since Sneak Attack will trigger Colossus Slayer if the target is at max HP when you attack it. So essentially you have to decide if you want an extra 1D8 damage each turn, or you want better burst at the start of each combat.

Level 7 Gloomstalker or Hunter

At level 4 of Ranger, Astarion will gain his first Feat and I highly recommend he select Sharpshooter here to eliminate low ground penalties when shooting at enemies higher than him, but also because he can take a -5 Attack Roll penalty to gain +10 Damage every ranged Attack. This typically doubles Astarion’s damage, and the penalty is somewhat offset by gaining Advantage from Hiding, and because we’ve taken the Archery Fighting Style. Remember that you can always toggle this ON or OFF depending on how hard the target is to hit.

Level 8 Gloomstalker or Hunter

  • Extra Attack
  • Level 2 Ranger Spells (Pass Without Trace)
  • Misty Step (if Gloomstalker)

At level 5 of Ranger, Astarion will gain Extra Attack, allowing him to Attack a second time each turn if he uses his Action to Attack (which he will 99% of the time). This further boosts his damage, and if he’s a Gloomstalker this means the first turn of combat he can Attack 3x.

He will also gain Level 2 Spells, and Level 2 Spell Slots at this level. Pass Without Trace is extremely good here as it gives him and nearby allies +10 to Stealth Checks while he maintains Concentration. This is great for keeping him Hidden during fights, just remember that you cannot use this and Hunter’s Mark or Ensnaring Strike at the same time.

BG3 Astarion Build Guide – 4 Rogue Thief

Level 9 Thief

  • Feat

At level 4 of Rogue, Astarion will once again be taking levels in Thief in order to pick up another Feat. For this one I recommend taking Ability Improvement in order to increase Dexterity for Hit Chance and Damage. This will further offset some of the -5 Attack Roll penalty from Sharpshooter.

Level 10 Thief

  • Sneak Attack Damage (3D6)
  • Uncanny Dodge

At level 5 of Rogue, Astarion will gain more Sneak Attack Damage and will also acquire Uncanny Dodge. This will allow him to use his Reaction once per round to reduce the damage he takes from an Attack that hits him by half. This is great at keeping him alive.

Level 11 Thief

  • Expertise in 2 Skills

At level 6 of Rogue, Astarion will get to choose 2 more Skills to double his Proficiency Bonus in. I recommend one of these being Perception, so he’s even more likely to spot traps and hidden objects. Survival is also good for similar reasons, but you could select Investigation as well.

Level 12 Thief

  • Sneak Attack Damage (4D6)
  • Evasion

At level 7 of Rogue, Astarion gains more Sneak Attack Damage, and gains Evasion. Evasion makes it so when Astarion is forced to make a DEX Saving Throw against a Spell or effect, he takes no damage if he Saves against it, and half damage if he fails.

BG3 Astraion Build Guide – Equipment

Astarion Armour

Astarion can use either Light or Medium Armour, whichever makes the most sense depending on its bonuses. Two Armours I can recommend are Spidersilk Armour and Yuan-ti Scale Male.

Spidersilk Armour

Spidersilk Armour can be acquired from killing Minthara in the Shattered Sanctum. It’s a Light Armour that gives +1 to Stealth and Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws. This helps should Astarion take damage while using Hunter’s Mark, Ensnaring Strike or Pass Without Trace so he doesn’t lose Concentration.

Yuan-ti Scale Male also allows him to apply all of his Dexterity Modifier to his Armour Class, despite it being Medium Armour, and doesn’t apply Disadvantage to Stealth Checks like a lot of Medium Armour do. It also gives +1 Initiative, which helps him act sooner in combat.

Astarion Weapons

For melee weapons, Astarion will likely use Shortswords of some kind, since he needs to use a Finesse Weapon for Sneak Attacks when meleeing. I like both Ambusher and Sword of Clutching Umbra, but there are other good ones as well. Look for things that increase his damage.

For ranged weapon, I like Least Expected since it has +2 to Attack and Damage Rolls, and adds 1D4 to Attack Rolls when firing it while at least Lightly Obscured. You’ll be Lightly Obscured if you are Hidden in any area that is not well lit. These two things help to further offset the Sharpshooter Attack Roll penalty, making it even more likely Astarion will connect with his Attacks from range.

However, you can use Hand Crossbows if you want for more overall damage, as long as you can find some decent ones and you can still hit your target with Sharpshooter on.

Astarion Accessories

Gloves of Dexterity are not a bad choice for this Build, since Astarion won’t reach 18 Dexterity until very far into the game. This will improve his Accuracy and Damage early on, and they also add +1 to Attack as well, further boosting his hit chance. If you plan to use these all game, which you can, you can dump Dexterity on Astarion and put points into Intelligence and Constitution instead for better Skill Checks and more HP.

Stalker Gloves are another good choice for increased Sneak Attack Damage if you aren’t having any issues hitting your enemies.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Covert Cowl
Covert Cowl

Covert Cowl is a good choice of Helmet to further boost your Critical Hit chance, and I like Strange Conduit Ring to further boost damage while Concentrating. Astarion is always Concentrating on something with this Build, so this is great.

BG3 Astarion Build Guide – Final Tips

The general strategy with this Build is to use a Bonus Action to cast Hunter’s Mark if Astarion is not using Pass Without Trace. Then move to a location you can Hide easily enough, and Hide with his second Bonus Action. Then use the free Attack from Gloomstalker or just Attack the target you Marked with Hunter’s Mark dealing Sneak Attack Damage. Then you can Attack it again until it’s dead or you’re out of Attacks.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Hunter's Mark
Hunter’s Mark

Once the target is down, use your free cast of Hunter’s Mark for your next target and begin this process again. If you’re dealing with a hard to kill enemy then you can spend your extra Bonus Action Hiding at the end of your turn to avoid damage, or you can move in and melee with your offhand. Don’t be afraid to melee with this build when the situation calls for it, because you can still deal great damage as long as you can trigger Sneak Attack.

The Favourable Beginnings tadpole power is great to have on Astarion (really any character), since it further helps with his hit chance. Sharpshooter makes it easy to Miss and anything you can do to help hit chance is a good idea. This only requires 1 tadpoll to use, so it’s a no-brainer on this build.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Shadow Blade Ring
Shadow Blade Ring

Lastly, the Shadow Blade Ring is not bad for this build if you want to lean more towards the melee side of things. This gives you a Shortsword that always has Advantage as long as you are at least Lightly Obscured, so you can always trigger Sneak Attack. The drawback is that it does require Concentration to use, so you can’t use it and Hunter’ Mark together.


That wraps up our Baldur’s Gate 3 Astarion Build Guide! Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content as we update the other Builds, and be sure to drop by our Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wiki which is being worked on night and day, as well as our Baldur’s Gate 3 Guides.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Cleric Builds https://fextralife.com/baldurs-gate-3-best-beginner-cleric-builds/ https://fextralife.com/baldurs-gate-3-best-beginner-cleric-builds/#respond Mon, 25 Sep 2023 12:46:05 +0000 https://fextralife.com/?p=263396 The post Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Cleric Builds appeared first on Fextralife.

Baldur's Gate 3 Cleric Build Guide, 3 Best Beginner Cleric…

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In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Build Guide, I’m going to be showing you the 3 Best Beginner Cleric Builds that you can use to put together an effective Cleric early on in the game. I wanted to give some early-game Builds for those of you who are near the beginning of the game. This is going to reach up to Level 6 and then for late-game Builds, it’s going to be from Levels 7 to 12.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Cleric Builds

Two of the Cleric Builds are Single Class ones while the other is a Multiclass Build. I’ll talk about why that is but I won’t be going through every Subclass since there are 7 Cleric Domains. The ones that I’ll be focusing on absolutely devastate enemies in Combat

Baldur’s Gate 3 Tempest Domain Cleric Build

Baldur's Gate 3 - Shatter

So first up is 6 levels of Tempest Domain Cleric and what I really like about this BG3 Build is it allows you to focus on Wisdom. You’ll be casting Spells most of the time to crank Wisdom. This means that you won’t pay attention to Strength or Dexterity too much. You can also use Heavy Armor if you want as well as any Weapon early on in Baldur’s Gate 3. Because of this, you’re able to make use of Weapon Attacks until you get more Spell Slots.

Level 5 Tempest Domain Cleric Build

Baldur's Gate 3 - War Caster

Once you gain Call Lightning, things will start to significantly open up for this Baldur’s Gate 3 Tempest Domain Cleric Build. It can be cast every turn as long as you maintain Concentration without having to use more Spell Slots. This will be your primary attack. We’ve also taken the War Caster Feat at Level 4 in order to give us an Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws so that we can keep Call Lightning up for every possible turn. 

Front-Line Cleric

Baldur's Gate 3 - Call Lightning

There are a few other things I love about this Cleric Build. On top of the Heavy Armor, you can wield a Shield since you have Shield Proficiency as a Cleric. So you’re going to have a fairly high Armor Class even early on. This will allow you to avoid damage that’s going to help keep your Concentration up because you’ll roll fewer Constitution Saving Throws. But it also makes enemies come up and attack you since you’ll position yourself on the front lines. They’ll end up missing quite often and when they do hit you, you’ll be able to retaliate with lightning or thunder damage for every Reaction once per round, which is good.

It’s a decent amount of damage and you’ll get more out of that than you would Attacks of Opportunity because targets don’t normally run up to you to melee and then move out of range to attack something else. It does happen sometimes but it’s not very common. 

Level 6 Tempest Domain Cleric Build

This Build also has a good amount of AOE damage between Thunderwave, Shatter, and Call Lightning so you’ll be able to deal a lot of damage each turn. 

And because of the Channel Divinity Ability of the Tempest Domain Cleric, where you gain an extra charge at Level 6, you can make sure that this does maximum damage twice every Short Rest. So you’ll be able to wipe out groups of enemies regularly and rest in between combat to do it again.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Thunderbolt Strike

At this level, you also gain Thunderbolt Strike, allowing you to push targets backward when you hit them with thunder or lightning damage. This isn’t the most useful thing but sometimes, enemies are positioned right near a cliff’s edge and you can knock them off by dealing damage to them, which is great. A lot of times, you’ll kill them outright, and this is another reason to go to Level 6 in my opinion.

Looking Ahead at the Tempest Domain Cleric Build

Baldur's Gate 3 - Tempest Look Ahead

Moving forward with this BG3 Tempest Domain Cleric Build, you could take 5 levels of Circle of the Land Druid in order to gain Lightning Bolt to give you another option for your Spellcasting. This does a long straight line of lightning damage that works very well when used with Channel Divinity. It would still give you access to a lot of Spell Slots that you could upcast so you’d still be very strong.

And then you could take 1 level of another Class like a Fighter, for instance, in order to gain a Fighting Style like Defense to give you an extra Armor Class as well as Second Wind. Or you could take Monk to allow you to add your Wisdom to your Armor Class when you’re unarmored. Those are both really good options for this Build.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Light Domain Cleric Build

Baldur's Gate 3 - Scorching Ray Cleric

The next Build I want to show you is 6 levels of Light Domain Cleric. I really like this one because similar to the Tempest Domain Cleric, it’s very offensive. It allows you to focus more on dealing fire damage whereas the first Build lets you deal effective lightning and thunder damage. As a result, you have a lot of fire-based Spells and you’ll probably want to pick up Elemental Adept as a Feat at some point to help you overcome fire resistance and immunities. This also makes it so that you can’t roll a 1 on your Damage Rolls for your Fire Spells so you’ll essentially deal more damage with them. 

Baldur's Gate 3 - Elemental Adept - Fire

Because we go at least Level 5 here, you’re going to gain access to Fireball, which is a fantastic AOE Spell. Moreover, at Level 6, you gain an extra Spell Slot so you’ll actually be able to throw 3 Fireballs before you have a Long Rest

Warding Flare

BG3 - Warding Flare

Another thing that I really love about this Light Domain Cleric Build is that at Level 1, you gain Warding Flare, which allows you to impose a Disadvantage on an enemy that’s going to hit you in combat once per turn. You can do this every turn so it means that you’ll be pretty tanky for a Spellcaster. It’ll be highly likely that they’re going to miss, particularly during the beginning of BG3. 


Once you get to Level 6, you can also use this on nearby allies should they get attacked. It’s really good at mitigating the damage your party is going to take for every round. 

Channel Divinity of the Light Domain Cleric

BG3 - AoE Light Domain

The Channel Divinity of this Light Domain Cleric lets you inflict radiant damage AOE that hits enemies within the line of sight so they shouldn’t hide behind something for this to take effect. Although, in my opinion, it kind of falls off later on in the game but it’s still a decent one to have. Plus, this Channel Divinity doesn’t hit friendlies. 

Looking Ahead at the Light Domain Cleric Build

Moving forward, I would take this Baldur’s Gate 3 Light Domain Cleric Build up to at least Level 9 in order to gain Flame Strike and Wall of Fire. This is going to give you even more Fire Spells at your disposal, particularly a lot of damage if you have Elemental Adept. You could then multiclass with 3 levels of another Class such as a Fighter or Monk to pick up some Martial Features.

Baldur’s Gate 3 War Domain Cleric Fighter Build

BG3 - War Domain Fighter Cleric

And the last Build I want to showcase is 5 levels of War Domain Cleric and 1 level of Fighter. I would highly recommend that if you’re going to do this setup to take Fighter first and then War Domain Cleric. This will give you Proficiency with Constitution, which will greatly benefit your Constitution Saving Throws because you have a lot of Spells that use Concentration. 

The Baldur’s Gate 3 War Domain Cleric Fighter Build is really devastating and it’s a proper hybrid because you can deal decent damage in melee or at range while casting powerful Spells. And since you have War Domain, you can attack with your Bonus Action 3x at Level 1 and then it’ll become 4x at Level 5. 

Level 5 War Domain Cleric Fighter Build

BG3 - War Domain Fighter Cleric Combat

A good reason to get to Level 5 here is to gain extra charges in between Long Rest. You can attack as a Bonus Action if you attack with your main Action 4x in combat. And then you also have Heavy Armor, Medium Armor, Light Armor, and Shield Proficiency as well as all Weapon Proficiencies so you can use whatever you want. But I highly recommend using a Shield with either Heavy Armor or Medium Armor with higher Dexterity and a Finesse Weapon so that when you go into melee combat, you’re very protected. 

Spirit Guardians Spell

Baldur's Gate 3 - Spirit Guardians

You can also use the Spirit Guardians Spell, which is absolutely devastating because it casts an AOE around you to hit enemies when you move into them. And then you deal additional damage at the start of your turn. So you can tank because of your high Armor Class, you can melee while enemies are sitting inside this, and it’s going to deal tons of damage for every round. Remember to attack with your Actions and Bonus Actions in between.

The only thing is that you have to maintain Concentration for the Spirit Guardians Spell so taking the Fighter first helps with it. If you took War Caster, it’ll let you get in the middle of enemies without having to worry as much about breaking your Concentration.

Other Spells

Baldur's Gate 3 - Guiding Bolt

You’ll also be able to use other Spells such as Sanctuary to protect yourself. You have Healing Word to heal you or allies as a Bonus Action, Guiding Bolt to range down enemies, Inflict Wounds if they get close to you. Because of your high Wisdom, there are a lot of things you can do. Second Wind is another option to heal yourself even for a little bit. And then you can keep Bless on your group.

This BG3 War Domain Cleric Fighter Build has a lot of versatility and it’s extremely deadly early on in the game.

Looking Ahead at the War Domain Cleric Fighter Build

Moving forward with this Build, I would probably take Fighter up to Level 5 in order to get Extra Attack and then finish taking War Domain up to Level 7 to give you more Spell Slots to deal even more damage. 

Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Builds: Final Thoughts

Baldur's Gate 3 - Cleric Fireball

So that wraps up our 3 Best Beginner Cleric Builds. We’ll have some proper Companion Builds coming because we know a lot of people have been wondering about that. We already did one but I want to get those done, and then we’ll continue to mix them with other Guides and Builds.

As always, if you have more tips or questions, please leave them in the comments below. I will try and answer them.

Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Barbarian Builds https://fextralife.com/baldurs-gate-3-best-beginner-barbarian-builds/ https://fextralife.com/baldurs-gate-3-best-beginner-barbarian-builds/#respond Mon, 25 Sep 2023 12:45:17 +0000 https://fextralife.com/?p=263414 The post Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Barbarian Builds appeared first on Fextralife.

Baldur's Gate 3 Barbarian Build Guide, the 3 Best Beginner…

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In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Barbarian Build Guide, I’m going to be showing you the 3 Best Beginner Barbarian Builds that you can use to put together an effective Barbarian early on in the game. I wanted to give some early-game Builds for those of you who are near the beginning of the game. This is going to reach up to Level 6 and then for late-game Builds, it’s going to be from Levels 7 to 12.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Barbarian Builds

Baldur's Gate 3 - Barbarian Combat

We’re going to have 1 Build for each Subclass to best utilize the Barbarian Class. A couple of these are Multiclassed and one of them is not. 

Baldur’s Gate 3 Wildheart Barbarian Build

Baldur's Gate 3 - Wildheart Barbarian

So the first Baldur’s Gate 3 Build that I want to show you is 6 levels of the Wildheart Barbarian, and I like this for a couple of reasons. First, is that you gain Extra Attack at Level 5. All of the Barbarian Builds here have at least 5 levels because of this. It’s the best way to go before multiclassing with another Martial Class. 

Level 6 Wildheart Barbarian

Baldur's Gate 3 - Aspect of the Stallion

Second, when you take 6 levels of the Wildheart Barbarian, you’ll gain an Animal Aspect from a list of 10 and some of these are quite strong. For instance, I really like Stallion because it allows you to gain temporary hit points when you Dash and you’ll even gain 2 hit points per character level. This means that at Level 12, it would be 24 but at this point in the game, you’ll have 12 temporary HP. 

Baldur's Gate 3 - Eagle Heart

For the Bestial Heart, we’ve taken the Eagle Heart because it gives enemies a Disadvantage on Opportunity Attacks, which is okay but more importantly, it makes Dash a Bonus Action or gives us the option to Dash as a Bonus Action so when used in Combat, you’ll gain those temporary HP and still be able to attack 2x on the same turn. 

Now keep in mind that on the first turn, you’re going to have to decide what you want to do because Rage is also a Bonus Action so you can’t Dash and use Rage at the same time. However, you could use Dash as an Action if you want and then Rage as a Bonus Action depending on what your setup is. Or you could Dash on the second turn to gain the temporary HP. Barbarians tend to get hit very often so this is a great way to give them a health bubble that they can continuously use and it doesn’t cost any resources to do so. 

Level 4 Wildheart Barbarian

Baldur's Gate 3 - Wildheart Combat

At Level 4, I take the Great Weapon Master in order to use Reckless Attack to kind of offset some of the hit chance you’re going to lose from this Feat. We’re using a Two-Handed Weapon to get that extra damage in exchange for the hit change penalty. You absolutely hit like a truck with this Build and that also gives you the option to make a bonus attack with your Bonus Action if you kill an enemy or critically hit so you’ve got a lot of things you can do. 

By the time you hit Level 6, you’ll be able to perform 3 attacks, gain extra HP for a lot of survivability, and while you’re Raging too, you have damage resistance to physical damage.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Berserker Monk Build

Baldur's Gate 3 - Barbarian Monk

Next, we’ll look at 5 levels of Berserker and 1 level of Monk. The reason that I decided to multiclass here is that Berserkers basically get their best Class or Subclass Feature at Level 3 when they gain Frenzied Strike and Enraged Throw. After these, what they gain won’t be as great in my opinion so typically, if you’re talking about a Level 12 Build, you would probably take 3 levels of Berserker and then 9 levels of something else unless it’s not a Martial Class.

Level 1 Monk

If the other Class isn’t a Martial one, which gives you an Extra Attack, then you might take 5 levels of Berserker and 7 levels instead. Why I like Monk is it makes it so that when you attack with a non-Two-Handed Weapon that you’re Proficient with, you’ll be able to use your Bonus Action for an unarmed attack. 

BG3 - Flurry of Blows

You also gain Flurry of Blows, allowing you to use your Ki to attack with an unarmed attack, hitting 2x so that’s really nice.

Looking Ahead at the Berserker Monk Build

As you level this Build up, I would suggest taking more levels of Monk in order to gain more Ki Energy and use Flurry of Blows more. You also want to definitely take Tavern Brawler if you’re setting up for this Build for your first Feat and that’s because it’ll give you 1 Strength or 1 Constitution, which is good. It’ll make it so that when you execute an unarmed attack, use an Improvised Melee Weapon, or throw something, your Strength Modifier will be added 2x to your Attack and Damage Rolls

BG3 - Tavern Brawler

Keep in mind that whenever you’re using Flurry of Blows, you hit 2x so then the damage is going to be added even more, which is really nice. You have a really good synergy here and you hit like an absolute truck. Plus, you have a very low chance of missing at this point.

As you take this Build higher, if you choose Way of the Open Hand, you eventually gain Manifestation of Body, Mind, and Soul to be able to add even more damage to your unarmed attacks so the Build just gets stronger and stronger.

Gear for the Berserker Monk Build

BG3 - Unarmed Strike

Remember too that there’s a lot of gear that buffs your unarmed attacks in this game. Stat-wise, you’ll want to focus on Strength, Constitution for Tavern Brawler, and some Dexterity in order to boost your Armor Class

However, you won’t get as much Advantage out of some of the things that Monk would gain from their Dexterity like Deflect Missiles. Although, there are Gloves of Dexterity that really work well for this Build to give you 18 Dexterity, giving you a lot of Armor Class if you’re unarmored. 

Baldur’s Gate 3 Wild Magic Druid Build

BG3 - Wild Magic Rage

For the last BG3 Barbarian Build, I’m doing 5 levels of the Wild Magic Barbarian and 1 level of Druid. What I love about this Subclass is that at Level 3, every time you Rage, you’ll gain a positive effect from Wild Magic, which you’ll want to take advantage of. There are 8 effects and you won’t experience the same thing with the Wild Magic Sorcerer where the effect you get may be good or bad. 

Now, I do recommend moving up to enemies before using Rage because sometimes, you get hostile AOES that deal damage around you. 

Level 6 Wild Magic Barbarian & Druid

BG3 - Wild Magic Surge!

You do gain some good things at Wild Magic Level 6, which you’ll want eventually but what I love about those is they give you Spell Slots so you probably want to multiclass with a Spellcaster or just use those for the other casters in your group. 

I looked through it and chose the Druid because it allows you to use Shillelagh on your Club or Staff in order to make your Attack and Damage Rolls use Wisdom. So you can dump Strength with this Build, pump Wisdom, and then as you increase your Druid levels, which you should do as you move forward, you’ll be able to cast Spells effectively because of your high Wisdom. You also have Extra Attack, Rage, and Reckless Attack from the Barbarian. Doing so will let you deal decent damage even in melee combat.

Selecting Spells

BG3 - Shillelagh

But one thing that I want to mention is that I highly recommend taking Spells that don’t have Concentration because while you’re Raging, remember that you won’t be able to Concentrate on them. So if you throw it in, and then Rage, the effect will end. You also can’t cast Spells so you need to manage your character well. 

I like to take Spells such as Thunderwave, Ice Knife, or Healing Word for this Baldur’s Gate 3 Build that you can use before Raging so you can use these as a setup in combat before Raging. And then go to town to attack. 

Looking Ahead at the Wild Magic Druid Build

Baldur's Gate 3 - Wild Magic Druid Combat

Moving forward, I would highly suggest going for either the Circle of Spores to further boost your melee damage and give you some Spells or Circle of the Land in order to pick up special Spells that don’t require Concentration and hit hard. Examples include Lightning Bolt or Melf’s Acid Arrow. It’s really up to you if you want more martial damage with Circle of Spores or if you want to cast better Spells with Circle of the Land.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Barbarian Builds: Final Thoughts

Baldur's Gate 3 - Push them Off!

So that wraps up our 3 Best Beginner Barbarian Builds. I hope you guys enjoyed it and I hope I gave you an idea of how you can play your Barbarian in the early game. We’ll have some more Endgame Builds later. So the way you would play Builds in this game at the beginning is not necessarily the same later on because you only have limited levels now. I hope you guys can see why I made these decisions, particularly taking the Barbarian up to Level 5 in order to gain Extra Attack.

As always, if you have more tips or questions, please leave them in the comments below. I will try and answer them.

Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Ranger Builds https://fextralife.com/baldurs-gate-3-best-beginner-ranger-builds/ https://fextralife.com/baldurs-gate-3-best-beginner-ranger-builds/#respond Sat, 23 Sep 2023 10:32:40 +0000 https://fextralife.com/?p=263247 The post Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Ranger Builds appeared first on Fextralife.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Ranger Build Guide, 3 Best Beginner Ranger…

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In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Ranger Build Guide, I’m going to be showing you the 3 Best Beginner Ranger Builds that you can use to put together an effective Ranger early on in the game. I wanted to give some early-game Builds for those of you who are near the beginning of the game. This is going to go to Level 6 and then for late-game Builds, it’s going to be from Levels 7 to 12.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Ranger Builds

Baldur's Gate 3 - Ranger Combat

All 3 of these Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Ranger Builds are basically 5 levels of one of the Subclasses of the Ranger and 1 level of something else because Rangers gain Extra Attack by then. Additionally, their Subclass at Level 3 doesn’t seem enough for Multiclassing.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Hunter Druid Multiclass Build

Baldur's Gate 3 - Hunter's Prey

The first Build we’re going to take a look at is 5 levels of the Hunter Ranger and 1 level of Druid. What I really like about this is that Hunters gain one of their best features at Level 3. Here, they’ll be able to pick either Colossus Slayer, Horde Breaker, or Giant Killer but among these three, you’ll want to choose Colossus Slayer or Horde Breaker. You can select anything you want here if you prefer the added AOE or if you’re looking for something that automatically triggers in order to deal d8 damage every turn since you only have one attack early on in the game.

Best Hunter Features

This is really the best feature of Hunters besides getting Volley or Whirlwind Attack at Level 11. The Level 7 passive you gain won’t be as strong, in my opinion. So if you’re playing this Subclass, you’ll want to go 3 levels or 11 levels in to gain Volley and Whirlwind and then multiclass with something else. 

But remember that it doesn’t really make sense to cut out of Hunter after Level 3 and miss out on Extra Attacks so we’re taking 5 levels of Ranger. If you had more levels say at Level 8 or 9, you could take 3 levels of the Hunter and then 5 or 6 levels of the Monk or Fighter and still gain the Extra Attack. 

Level 2 Ranger Spells & Druid

Baldur's Gate 3 - Shillelagh

Also, at Level 5 of the Ranger, you’ll gain access to Level 2 Ranger Spells, which is great. There are some good ones that pair well with the Druid because it gives you access to Shillelagh. Shillelagh allows you to buff your melee Weapon if it’s a Staff or a Club, making it use your Wisdom Modifier for its Attack and Damage Rolls. This prevents you from going crazy with Dexterity or Strength on your Ranger and instead focuses more on Constitution and Wisdom while still using your melee attacks and Spells very effectively.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Hunter Druid Thunderwave

It’ll also allow you to upcast any Level 1 Druid Spell such as Thunderwave since you’ll have Level 2 Spell Slots. Moving forward, if you took something like 7 levels of Druid, you’d have a lot of different Spells that you could cast and you’d have a lot of Spell Slots. Plus, you’d still be able to get 2 attacks with Extra Attack and still make use of Colossus Slayer or Horde Breaker every time you’re in Combat

So essentially, what you’re doing here instead of taking 1 more level of Ranger in order to gain another Natural Explorer and Favored Enemy, is you’re basically getting the stuff you’d gain from the Druid, which includes access to more Spells and being able to upcast them. 

Baldur’s Gate 3 Beast Master Monk Multiclass Build

Baldur's Gate 3 - Beastmaster Summon

On the next Build, we’ll look at 5 levels of the Beast Master and 1 level of Monk. If you saw our Baldur’s Gate 3 Ranger Class Guide, you’ll know that the Beast Master is a tough Subclass to multiclass because your Ranger’s Companion gets stronger as you level up. If you take half your levels here and half of them somewhere else further on into the game, your Companion’s level will drop off but your enemies become stronger. So it’ll die easily and its damage and abilities will be underwhelming. Because of this, you either need to go all in on Beast Master or close to it in order to get the most benefit from it. 

Level 5 Beast Master Ranger

Baldur's Gate 3 - Companion's Bond

At Level 5, you gain other things like Extra Attack, Level 2 Spells, and Companion’s Bond. Companion’s Bond will add your Proficiency Bonus to the Armor Class and Damage Rolls of your Companion to make them a lot stronger. They’ll also gain more HP as well as another Class Feature.

Level 1 Monk

BG3 - Ranger Monk

Why I like the Monk here is that it gives you Martial Arts: Dextrous Attacks, which allows you to use any melee Weapon except for Two-Handed and Heavy Melee Weapons with your Dexterity or Strength. So this gives you more options if say, you prefer to wield a Longsword, Warhammer, or Staff. Note that you can still use your Bow or Crossbow at range because of your high Dexterity. 

On top of that, it’s going to let you use your Wisdom Bonus for your Armor Class if you’re not wearing Armor. Having high Dexterity and high Wisdom might actually be better if you’re unarmored depending on the Armor selection you have. 

Next, you gain Ki points as well as access to Flurry of Blows for your Bonus Action and deal more damage for every Short Rest

Looking Ahead at the BG3 Beast Master Monk Multiclass Build

BG3 - Ranger Monk Combat

What you’d probably want to do with this Build over time is to take Beast Master up to Level 9 and then finish fleshing it out with the Monk say, by choosing the Way of the Open Hand Subclass in order to have more Ki and execute more Flurry of Blows. You’ll also eventually gain Patient Defense, Step of the Wind, and Deflect Missiles. You’ll also gain a pretty strong Companion.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Gloom Stalker Cleric Multiclass Build

Baldur's Gate 3 - Dread Ambusher

So next, we’re going to take a look at 5 levels of Gloom Stalker, again for the Extra Attack, and 1 level of the War Domain Cleric. We also have Dread Ambusher, which gives us higher Initiatives to go first in combat while giving us a free attack at the beginning. This is extra damage so you’re actually going to have 3 attacks once you have Extra Attack at Level 5.

Level 1 War Domain Cleric

Baldur's Gate 3 - Invest in War Domain

Because we’ve taken 1 level of War Domain, you can use your Bonus Action for an attack so theoretically, at the very first turn of combat, you could make 4 attacks. That’s a lot of attacks at this point in the game! It’s going to allow you to shell out tons of damage.

Another reason why Rangers and Clerics have good synergy is that they use Wisdom to cast their Spells so Cleric Spells are going to benefit from the same stat as Rangers. So this would be more of a Wisdom-focused Build. 

Looking Ahead at the BG3 Gloom Stalker Cleric Multiclass Build

Baldur's Gate 3 - Gloomstalker Cleric

If you went higher with this Build, you would probably continue to increase War Domain to gain access to more offensive and defensive Cleric Spells and Channel Divinities, giving you lots of attacks. But remember that you don’t have to go with the War Domain Subclass but I do like it because of the bonuses you get. 

A good alternative is the Light Domain Cleric if you want more offense or the Tempest Domain if you want somewhere in the middle and if you prefer casting Lightning Spells. The general idea is you’re a hybrid Spellcaster that has lots of attacks per turn, making you extremely deadly.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Ranger Builds: Final Thoughts

Baldur's Gate 3 - More Ranger Combat

So that wraps up our 3 early-game Ranger Builds. I hope I’ve extrapolated them enough so you can see where I would go with them if I went higher. I also hope I’ve made a good case here on why you would at least need to reach Level 5 for the Ranger to gain Extra Attack, particularly with Beast Master due to the Subclass Features they gain. Plus, their Companions become stronger.

The general nature of Martial Classes is to gain an Extra Attack at the beginning of the game when you don’t have as many levels. Once you have it, you can see what to do next.

Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content. We have more Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Builds coming up like the Druid, Cleric, and Barbarian!

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Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Druid Builds https://fextralife.com/baldurs-gate-3-best-beginner-druid-builds/ https://fextralife.com/baldurs-gate-3-best-beginner-druid-builds/#respond Sat, 23 Sep 2023 10:32:08 +0000 https://fextralife.com/?p=263263 The post Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Druid Builds appeared first on Fextralife.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Druid Build Guide, showing you the 3…

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In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Druid Build Guide, I’m going to be showing you the 3 Best Beginner Druid Builds that you can use to put together an effective Druid early on in the game. I wanted to give some early-game Builds for those of you who are near the beginning of the game. This is going to reach up to Level 6.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Druid Builds

Baldur's Gate 3 - Druid Combat

For each of the Druid Subclass, you can level them up to Level 6. Two of them are Single Class Builds and one is slightly Multiclassed, which I’ll explain when we get further into this Baldur’s Gate 3 Build Guide.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Circle of Spores Druid Build

Baldur's Gate 3 - Fungal Infestation

First, let’s take a look at 6 levels of Circle of Spores, which is a single Class Build. The reason is that we want the benefit we’d gain at Level 6, particularly, Fungal Infestation. Fungal Infestation works very similarly to Animate Dead. It’s going to allow you to raise a corpse to create a fungal zombie to then create more of their species by killing creatures. Doing so lets you grow your army larger than ever before. 

Level 5 Druid – Fungal Infection

Baldur's Gate 3 - Zombies

But what’s great about Fungal Infection compared to Animate Dead is you can use 4 charges to immediately raise 4 zombies before taking a Long Rest. Or if you’re a Necromancer Wizard, you’ll only be able to raise 2 corpses. The downside though is that these fungal zombies have far less health than the ones you gain from Animate Dead. However, if they get killed or take enough damage, instead of instantly dying, they won’t go down once. They’ll be immune to being killed from one killing blow. So they’re a little bit harder to kill. 

Additionally, you get to control them individually except for any of the other zombies they create. What’s really nice about this is that you can use Animate Dead with this as well since you’ll gain the Animate Dead Spell at Level 5. Doing so will allow you to pick up a regular zombie and 4 Fungal Infestations minimally, that are running around as part of your group. 

Symbiotic Entity

Baldur's Gate 3 - Symbiotic Entity

Other things you can do in this BG3 Circle of Spores Druid Build is to use Symbiotic Entity to give yourself damage protection or temporary HP. This will also let you deal more damage if you make melee attacks plus, it’ll improve the damage of your Halo of Spores, which you can use as a Reaction every turn. Typically, enemies aren’t going to get to you because your zombies will block them so you shouldn’t take too much damage.

Because of this, you’ll be able to cast Spells from the back line while your zombies move up and attack your enemies. But one thing I would say is that I don’t recommend this Baldur’s Gate 3 Circle of Spores Druid Build for co-op play because you’ll end up controlling all these minions yourself or at least the ones you summoned directly from corpses. Players in your group won’t probably wait for you to take 5 or 6 turns every round.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Circle of the Moon Druid Build

Baldur's Gate 3 - Wild Shape - Owlbear

The next BG3 Build we’re going to take a look at is Circle of the Moon Druid. I have 6 levels here and I’ve decided not to multiclass because of the Panther and Owlbear Wild Shapes, which you gain no matter which Subclass you take. But it’s really important if you’re focusing on Wild Shape because these are very very strong.

You’ll gain an HP increase while you’re in Wild Shape form, making you more durable. There’s also Primal Strike, which is going to allow you to make your attacks magical for the purposes of overcoming Physical Resistance in Combat. So if an enemy has Physical Resistance of some kind, your attacks will cut through that to deal full damage. 

How the BG3 Circle of the Moon Druid Build Works

Baldur's Gate 3 - Shapeshifting at the Start

So there are a couple of ways you can play this Baldur’s Gate 3 Circle of the Moon Druid Build at the start of combat. You can either shift immediately with your Bonus Action to enter the Wild Shape form and then go attack 2x because you’ll have Wild Strike at this point. 

Or what you could do is throw out some sort of Concentration Spell such as Spike Growth, Moonbeam, or Entangle, enter Wild Shape using your Bonus Action, and then get ready for the next round where you’ll be able to attack. You could then use your Bonus Action for Lunar Mend or something else. Keep in mind that you’ll have to maintain Concentration by making Constitution Saving Throws when you get hit. Druids have a lot of Concentration Spells so being able to cast one while you’re fighting can be really nice. 

Baldur's Gate 3 - Owlbear Attack

When you have a group, you’re not the only target attacked at every round so you generally need to move forward by pressing the enemy with your Owl Bear or Panther over and over to keep the pressure up. Remember that once your health pool is gone, you’ll just have to shift back into your regular form so you don’t have to worry about dying. The worst case scenario is if you shapeshift with 2 charges left and you get pulled out of your form, you can enter the Wild Shape form again with a Bonus Action and then keep attacking. You’ll essentially get a lot of damage out of this Build.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Circle of the Land Monk Druid Build

For the last Build, I have 5 levels of Circle of the Land and 1 level of Monk, and the reason for this instead of taking 6 levels is that at Level 6, you basically gain the ability to move through Difficult Terrain without being Slowed by half your movement speed. And as a Baldur’s Gate 3 Circle of the Land Druid, you’re usually casting from the back line so you don’t really need to worry about this so much. The benefits that you gain from the Monk are more important than gaining that. 

The Benefits of Being a Monk

2 Ki points here are going to give you 2 uses of Flurry of Blows as a Bonus Action. This is nice if an enemy comes up to you and you want to deal some extra damage but you don’t want to use a Spell Slot

BG3 - Unarmored Defence

Your Wisdom will also be added to your Armor Class if you’re not wearing Armor. This can be really huge because, on a Druid, you tend to have a lot of Wisdom, particularly if you’re primarily Spellcasting like we are with Circle of the Land. You’ll probably have 18 or 20 Wisdom as you move through the game and that can add up to 5 Armor Class on top of what you already have from your Dexterity Modifier. You can also use a Shield to add more to your Armor Class to become a very, very tanky Druid with this setup. 

Looking Ahead with the Druid and Monk Multiclass

BG3 - Druid Monk Combat

Again, at this level, there’s no real reason to take Druid to 6 other than the difficult terrain although if you’re at Level 7, there might be more. But what I really want to do with this Build eventually is to go for 9 levels of Circle of the Land and then 3 levels of Monk. 

That’s going to give you all the Circle of the Land Druid Spells that you can possibly get while gaining things from the Monk such as Step of the Wind and Patient Defense at Level 2. Those are really strong and you also gain Unarmored Movement so you can move faster if you’re not wearing Armor. This is good for positioning when casting Spells.

Also at Level 3, if you take Way of the Four Elements Monk, you’ll get to pick some Spells you can use with your Ki that also makes use of your Wisdom Modifier to eventually gain even more Spellcasting. These will be replenished on a Short Rest so you could probably lead with those in combat, save your Spell Slots, and then take a Short Rest in between encounters. 

Baldur’s Gate 3 Druid Builds: Final Tips

Baldur's Gate 3 - Wildshape

So that wraps up our 3 early-game Druid Builds. I hope you guys found this useful and I hope you can see why it’s not really great to multiclass a couple of Druid Subclasses early on, particularly at Level 6. Remember that at every odd level of the Circle of the Land Druid, pretty much up through Level 9, you’re going to gain more Spells, making Level 6 the best level to multiclass. 

Baldur's Gate 3 - Druid Against Darkness

But if you were making this a Level 7 Build, you might just want to go all the way with Circle of the Land Druid. You can either take some Monk as you level up or wait until the end to take it. I think getting 1 level of Monk early on would be better, which would delay your later Spells by just a little bit, to gain the extra Armor Class from Wisdom because as a Circle of the Land Druid, you’re really going to crank up Wisdom to make sure that your Spells connect. Having a higher Wisdom also increases the amount of Prepared Spells that the Druid has.

As always, if you have further tips, please leave them in the comments below for other players for anything I might have missed. If you have questions, leave them there as well and I’ll get to them as soon as I can.

Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Monk Builds https://fextralife.com/baldurs-gate-3-best-beginner-monk-builds/ https://fextralife.com/baldurs-gate-3-best-beginner-monk-builds/#respond Wed, 20 Sep 2023 07:54:50 +0000 https://fextralife.com/?p=262944 The post Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Monk Builds appeared first on Fextralife.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Monk Build Guide, 3 Best Beginner Monk…

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The post Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Monk Builds appeared first on Fextralife.

In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Monk Build Guide, I’m going to be showing you the 3 Best Beginner Monk Builds that you can use to put together an effective Monk early on in the game. I wanted to give some early-game Builds for those of you who are near the beginning of the game. This is going to go to Level 6.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Beginner Monk Builds

Baldur's Gate 3 - Monk Combat

We’ll be doing proper Advanced Build Guides later on but for now, each one of these Builds is going to show a different Subclass of the Monk. These aren’t Multiclassed because you’re better off reaching 5 levels for this Class to also get Extra Attack. There aren’t a lot of reasons to go with 3 levels of Monk combined with something else.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Way of the Four Elements Monk Build 

Baldur's Gate 3 - Way of the Four Elements

So the first BG3 Build we’re going to take a look at is 6 levels of Way of the Four Elements Monk. The reason why it’s good to take this is to gain access to three more Monk Spells that you wouldn’t have access to if you only took 6 levels. What I really like about it is that you get everything else you’d gain with a Monk such as an Extra Attack, Stunning Strike, Deflect Missiles, and Patient Defense to give enemies a Disadvantage on their attacks.

There are a lot of melee stuff you can still do as the Monk but you can also throw out an AOE Spell every now and then if you need one. If you get surrounded, and in this case, enemies become grouped together, you can execute an AOE attack most Martial Classes don’t have. That’s the downside of playing a Martial Class in Baldur’s Gate 3 because they typically don’t have a lot of AOE options.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Flurry of Blows - Push

Now since you can still spend your Ki on Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, or Step of the Wind, you continue to have options. You’re not limited to casting a Spell every time and instead, you can perform melee Actions in Combat. So it really gives you several different things with the Way of the Four Elements Monk, making this Build fantastic.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Way of Shadow Monk Build 

Baldur's Gate 3 - Way of Shadow

So next let’s take a look at 6 levels of Way of Shadow Monk. A good reason to go with 6 levels instead of 5 plus something else here is that you gain Shadow Step at Level 6. This is going to allow you to teleport as a Bonus Action from a lightly obscured place to another lightly obscured place and then your next melee attack for 1 turn is going to gain an Advantage. Shadow Step is arguably one of the best Class Features in the game because it’s basically a free teleport for every turn as long as you’re not situated in the most well-lit place.

You can stay away from enemies and they’ll never really be able to catch you because of your swift movement speed and teleportation ability. And since it’s a Bonus Action, you could theoretically attack with Stunning Strike and then teleport away. 

Hide and Cloak of Shadows

Another thing that I really love about BG3 Way of Shadow Monks is their ability to Hide as a Bonus Action like Rogues or Gloom Stalker Rangers can. So you can make an attack to kill an enemy and then move away and Hide so you can’t be attacked when it’s not your turn. This is a great way to prevent from taking damage.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Cloak of Shadows

Next is Cloak of Shadows, which is another good Subclass Feature you gain at Level 5. This allows you to become Invisible for 10 turns as long as you’re lightly obscured and it has no rest requirement, which means that you can go Invisible almost anywhere you want. Cloak of Shadows is very strong other than the fact that you have to be lightly obscured when using it. Alternatively, you can always move into a lightly obscured area and then cast this if you need to, especially when you’re sneaking around like in the Shadow Cursed Lands.

Way of Shadow and Rogue

The Way of Shadow pairs very well with the Rogue in order to get Sneak Attack Damage because you can use Shadow Step to position yourself next to an enemy to gain an Advantage on your attack. But at this point in the game, you don’t want to sacrifice your Extra Attack for Sneak Attack Damage and besides, you won’t gain Shadow Step at Level 6 so you really can’t multiclass well until you reach Level 7. From there, you could start taking levels of Rogue for the Sneak Attack. 

Baldur’s Gate 3 Way of the Open Hand Monk Build 

Lastly, we come to Baldur’s Gate 3 Way of the Open Hand Monk Build, which again has 6 levels. You’ll also want Extra Attack and Stunning Strike at Level 5. Remember that this Subclass gains Manifestation of Mind, Manifestation of Body, and Manifestation of Soul at Level 6, allowing them to add different damage types to their unarmed attacks.

BG3 - Wholeness of Body

Additionally, they gain Wholeness of Body, which can heal them, give them an extra Bonus Action for 3 turns, and give them 1 Ki point per turn. Half of their Ki is even replenished, making it really strong in combat because you’ll be able to use Flurry of Blows or unarmed attack 2x for every turn on top of your regular attack. 

Flurry of Blows Modifications

BG3 - Way of the Open Hand

For the Way of the Open Hand Monks, you want to use the modified Flurry of Blows as a result of this Feature’s modifications to stagger an enemy because there is no Saving Throw. And so, they won’t be able to take Reactions. You’ll then hit them a couple of times and then run away since they can’t trigger Attacks of Opportunity

Baldur's Gate 3 - Flurry of Blows - Push

Flurry of Blows: Push does have a Saving Throw and so does the Topple Action. Push targets the Strength of the character while Topple targets Dexterity. The Saving Throws of these is equal to 10 + Strength or Dexterity Modifier. This I believe has changed a little bit from the way it’s handled in D&D 5th Edition tabletop where it would use your Proficiency Wisdom Modifier + 8. The higher you crank your Dexterity or Strength depending on what type of Monk you are is going to make it even more likely to pull off these attacks, which is great because then, you don’t have to worry about Wisdom if you’re playing a Way of the Open Hand Monk.

Way of the Open Hand Monk Multiclassing

For this Subclass, I would see multiclassing with a Thief in order to gain an extra Bonus Action. It means when you’re using Wholeness of Body, you have 3 Bonus Actions for 3 turns and if you attack, then you gain your Extra Attack so you could theoretically get 5 attacks there. Keep in mind that you can use Stunning Strike too as your first attack and free attack, which you gain from Extra Attack. So you can stun, kill, and push a lot of things, making this a strong pairing. 

And it doesn’t even factor in the potential Sneak Attack Damage you deal. Just remember that you won’t start multiclassing until you hit Level 7.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Monk Builds: Final Thoughts

Baldur's Gate 3 - More Monk Combat

So that wraps up our 3 early-game Monk Builds. I hope you can see why I didn’t multiclass them because there are a lot of good Features to gain at Level 5. And then each Subclass gets something special at Level 6. So for most Monk Builds, you’re either going to take 3 levels and go 9 levels with something else or you’re going to reach Level 6 Monk first followed by Level 6 from another Subclass. The benefits you gain are really strong.

Again, if you have more tips or questions, please leave them in the comments below. I will try and answer them.

Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content.

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