This spell is probably the most broken in patch 5, especially when paired with a thrower build. Nearly infinite fire damage and it's completely free too...
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Timestamps
00:00 Soul Branding
01:12 Hirelings
03:53 Refresh Trader's Stock
04:40 Never Lose on Honor Difficulty
05:27 Hidden Patch 5 Changes
08:02 Loot Meat Off Unconscious Animals
First up is Soul Branding. Soul Branding is a Bonus Action only available to Minthara which increases the target’s movement speed by 1.5 meters and its next attack deals an additional 2d4 +1 fire damage. This condition ends upon landing a successful attack, otherwise it lasts 3 turns.
However, what makes this actually incredibly overpowered is that when used on a thrower, Soul Branding does not end after a throw, and the throw gets the bonus fire damage each time. This is essentially bonus fire damage on up to seven attacks on turn 1, and each with the potential to crit. And even after the first round of throws on the thrower, Minthara can cast Soul Branding on another thrower and both of them can have Soul Branding at the same time, throwing with bonus fire damage. You could theoretically get 3 throwers all with Soul Branding since it lasts 3 turns and have it up on all 3. It’s pretty insane because you wouldn’t think the fire damage would apply to a thrown weapon, but it does, and it doesn’t get removed when you throw, which makes this incredibly powerful.
Number 2 is using your hirelings to buff your entire party. Go to your camp and talk to Withers to recruit a hireling. Change their class to cleric and when you do, make sure to dump as many points as possible into constitution. The reason for this is because we’re going to cast Warding Bond. Warding Bond grants the target resistance to all damage, which means they take half damage, and grants a +1 bonus to armor class and saving throws. And each time the target takes damage, the spellcaster takes the same amount of damage. So we’ll cast Warding Bond on a character, and then dismiss the hireling after. They will still take half the damage while in camp, and can even die from it, so we want it to last as long as possible. So while leveling up your hireling, make sure to also choose the Tough feat for +2 health points per level, and ability improvement to put even more points into constitution. But besides Warding Bond, this cleric hireling can also be used to cast Protection from Poison which grants Advantage on saving throws against being poisoned and resistance to poison damage - meaning they take only half as much. That’s not all though - the cleric hireling can also cast Death Ward which protects your character from death - the next time damage would reduce it to 0 hit points, it remains conscious with 1 hit point left. Your hireling can also cast Freedom of Movement making it so that difficult terrain cannot slow them down, and they can’t be magically Paralyzed or Restrained. And then there is also Heroes Feast. Heroes’ Feast makes it so that you cannot be Poisoned, Diseased, or Frightened, and it increases your maximum hit points by 12, and they make Wisdom Saving Throws with Advantage. And the craziest part about this spell is that you can cast it 3 times - each one stacking, granting total bonus maximum hit points of 36 to your entire party.
Cleric isn’t the only class that has some amazing Hireling benefits though - you can also go half cleric and half transmutation wizard. You’ll lose out on a Heroes’ Feast, but gain Transmuter’s Stones and Experimental Alchemy. Transmuter’s Stones like Speed which increases the carrier's movement speed by 3 meters and Transmuter Stone: Constitution which grants the carrier Proficiency in Constitution Saving Throws can be extremely beneficial to either get into position or to keep concentration on an important spell. And Experimental Alchemy makes you brew TWO alchemical solutions instead of one when combining extracts. Elixirs are so incredibly powerful in Baldur’s Gate 3 that this is totally worth doing once you get ingredients like Worg Fang to brew Elixir of Bloodlust.
You can also use other companions than hirelings for buffs. Gale for example is the best target for Warding Bond because for some reason he actually heals himself when he’s not an active party member. So if you change his class to cleric, he can be the ideal stay at camp companion for buffs.
#baldursgate3 #bg3 #baldursgate
25 июл 2024
