One cool trick I never see talked about is using the club of hill giant strength in the monk's off hand (with nothing in their main hand) for a free 19 strength. To do this just equip another light weapon in the monk's main hand and the club in their off hand. Then take another character with no weapons equipped, go into their inventory, and equip the weapon from the monk's main hand. It has saved me so many strength potions and made this one of my favorite builds.
Monk was my first and favorite class. It also made me confused why people struggled with the game until I realized the class was carrying me. Having a character who can basically make all their weapons finesse weapons, insane mobility, good short rest resource use, many good single class AND multiclass synergies without the need for items but amplified even further by having them, a spellcasting ability that boosts their AC with one of the most common saving throw stats in the game? Chefs kiss
@@korakys to be fair, Grim actually IS an easy fight. His mechanics don't actually require you to have any game or map knowledge. Just have to hit him and the levers in the right order and timing to crush him twice. I had a much harder time with Ethel on honor mode because her legendary reaction counters the usual magic missile cheese
The amulet of greater health sets your constitution to 23, which makes you much more durable and single attribute dependent. It also allows you to take a 1 level dip in barbarian at level 12, and have a MUCH higher AC. I was using the non elixir build and had 19 AC, but started using the amulet and now i have 23 AC and 137 health while still having 18 str, 16 dex, 16 wis, 8 levels in monk and 3 in rogue.
@@Cephalopocalypse was playing dark urge, first time playing, killed all the npc's or party members and ended up having nobody until act three, now I have a level 10 githyanki withers summon that just beat up the steel titan with me in 3 turns.
I always go Rogue first for the final build. You get an extra skill, and intelligence save proficiency is more useful when you already have high STR, esp with elixirs Edit: It really tells you how busted elixirs are on monk, that this 'best' build doesn't hold a candle to actually min-maxing a monk in BG3. Say you start as 8 STR / 16 DEX / 15 CON / 8 / 17 WIS / 8 and pump yourself to 27 STR with elixirs, 16 CON with TB, and 22 WIS with stat increases. It's pretty easy to do this if you commit to the min-max and prepare for the relevant story events, though you might need to skip out on alert and go for the +3 initiative bow if, say, your companion is the monk. Karlach's soul coins are still bugged and scale ridiculously with open hand monk. Then you can but a 1h in your offhand, like -1 crit range sword, while keeping your main hand free (not that critting matters that all that much with how much base damage you deal). At that point, congratulations, you can pretty much solo the game on honor mode. And if you buy a few potions of angelic reprieve at Moonrise, you can even do it all in one long rest!
@@thecrazypotato7268 Initiative and AC is consistently useful, whereas INT and CHA saves are very rare. If you could get more than 17 WIS, then there'd be an argument for less DEX... This min-max monk build is all about quickly killing enemies with high damage and mobility. You should usually be killing enemies with the most dangerous spells/abilities before they act anyway
You do not need to be raging or be below 25% to benefit from soul coin's extra fire damage, it just works all the time for unarmed attacks and is 2d8 instead of 1d4. No idea why this is but its working that way on my current honour mode playthrough
Well if it gets fixed in patch 7 hopefully it just goes down to 1d4, feels right for Karlach to have an upside to slowly burning alive. If she can't be touched by anyone without getting burned it just makes sense. Also not a fan of raging monk, really makes your most important turn less impactful. Her Heart of Iron passive you get later is also so good because if your tb monk gets charmed it's lights out for your nearest party member. @@Cephalopocalypse
@@jareddumond6639 I agree honestly - I'm hesitant to recommend it as is because it's based on a bug, but I'd rather they just decided the bug was working as intended and clarified the tooltip
I recently completed my honor mode run with a OH Monk/Thief Rogue, I used a Duergar and I used Resonance Stone & Psionic Overload with Manifestation of Mind to double my psychic damage. Plus Duergar has Infinite Invisibility outside of combat which means most of my encounters are surprise, and enlarge boosts my damage even further.
I don't care what anyone else says- I love it when you explain Bounded Accuracy because it is so easy to forget about, and that anything that circumvents it is fantastic
Hill Giant Strength Elixir (30 gold) is cheap enough to use regularly in Act 1 and 2 between long rests. And at 160 gold, Cloud Giant Strength Elixir is more expensive but you can respec for 100 gold and retain that elixir effect for a long time until another party member needs long rest. So there is no reason to use attribute points on strength unless you want to use Bloodlust Elixir instead. Using attribute points on Dexterity and Wisdom is key for optimizing OH monk build in Act 3 after you get the must-have boots. So after getting TB, I would use feats to increase Wisdom first and Dex second. Alert is great for Act 1 & 2 but in Act 3, you get Mask of Soul Perception and Hellrider Bow to get +5 initiative and then you can get rid of alert and use AI on Wisdom. I would also get Mirror of Loss on Wisdom too.
I love using this character as a radiating orb tank. go light cleric 2 for warding flare and radiance of the dawn, monk 6 rogue 4. you can apply radiating orb so easily and cheaply, on top of the insane monk damage, it's great
Not sure if this is a bug or not, but I’ve noticed that you can use the Vest of Soul Rejuvenation to get an additional attack. If you proc the reaction attack on your turn (eg: by having an enemy make an opportunity attack against you and miss), the game counts it as valid for the Extra Attack feature, and you can make another attack for free.
Some items you didn't mention for early builds are the lighting charge sets, like the gloves, boots and armor, with those you can easily keep yourself safe while dishing out tons of lightning damage.
I went 7/3/2 monk/rogue/fighter just to have those two extra attacks for the tough bosses. I could have went an extra level of fighter, but didn't really want battle master feats or extra crit chance over evasion.
I personally prefer the version where u multiclass into fighter and get heavy armor and shield (going 6-4-2 or something similar). 24+ ac seems too good to miss ngl (and obv u dont care about movement distance becuase u jump 30 yards)
(before watching, based on the lack of her in the char selector) But what about Karlach's 1d4 extra for each of the 27000 hits we do per turn? :( I may be biased and just love adding her soulcoin fire to it :)
@@Cephalopocalypse yeah, I know, which is why I mentioned it was an instant reaction before even watching. :) I'm happy it got the honourable mention, hardly as if the damage is required anyway.
Wondering if you could do a build for me if you want to your choice and that build is a monk/bard and subclass for monk is way of the open hand and for the bard subclass your choice that goes well with it
Personally I still love the Open Hand multiclassing with the spores druid. It's so much fun especially if you get the right gear to just be basically the touch of death.
@@Wyvernmir usually I'd do the 6/6. I'd take the first 6 levels in the monk, though I'd usually take 1 lvl in druid early on for dialogue and story, then finish it off with the rest being druid. The big thing for what I did is it was a Dex and Wis build, so I didn't need much Str or tavern brawler, and thus I had a larger ac than most monks and thus lack of damage early on wasn't a concern.
@@Wyvernmir yeah that's the one problem with the 6/6 is I lose out on some great Monk features but in exchange I get both Animate dead and fungal infestation from lvl 5 and 6 in druid.
so if I don't play honor mode and have high dex (18) or 20 because of equipment, because I play with elixiers and ethel's hair, is Alert still the best choice with no alternative or are there other viable options?
Those odd points should not go into INT if you're building an open-hand monk. Open hand subclass scales directly with WIS via Ki-Empowered Strikes at level 6. Classical TB OH monk with elixir support dumps STR all the way to 8, and has both DEX and WIS at 20 by the end of the game.
You can't get an additional wis bonus with only 2 points there - we certainly would if we could. You're right that in the elixir version of the build, we'll have higher dex and wis, as I discuss in the parts of the video about that.
I just finished the 2nd highest difficulty and was going to do honor mode. I'm definitely about to do a monk class, this is actually nuts how good it is. I wonder how many people actually just decimated the game with this lol. Could you apply haste to a monk and have another additional action or does it not stack?
You definitely can give a monk haste! Just be aware that in honor mode the haste action (and any you get from bloodlust) don't work with the Extra Attack feature, so you'll only get one additional attack, as opposed to the two extra you'd get on tactician or lower difficulty
well in the start you still get 21 minimum armor, you really dont need armor, use the spells its way better, for the start of the game. and dont put anything is strenth, theres so many ways to have 20 str. dex and con maxed with wisdom to :) its OVERKILL , but still very good video friend your monk is amazing to :) at the end its the same hahah
I’m about to try a 6 level Shadow Monk throw build with 3 levels of Eldritch Knight and Tavern Brawler. Also 2 levels of Warlock for Devil’s Sight. I have a feeling this build is going to be pretty fun.
idk how you feel about bug abuse, but for some reason if you play as a body type 1 character (excluding short races and big races), use only a non versatile weapon in the main hand (empty off hand), and use the shadowstrike ability, the entire attack will hit twice. it will be have as though you simply used it twice. very very strong with resonance stone and crit chance/guaranteed crits. 3d8 turns to 6d8 with the bug and then 12d8 with the stone and 24d8 on a crit for the base psychic dmg alone.
I remember seeing a Shadow Monk build that dual-wields those Redcap Sickles that do 2d4 damage a while ago. They're usually Monk 6, Rogue 3 and then the rest is up to you. 2 levels in Spore Druid can also be helpful for the temp HP + extra necrotic damage, and then you still get the 4th level in Rogue for the second feat. Eversight Ring is also nice if you want to fight inside the clouds of Darkness without taking Warlock. If you want to take at least 9 levels in Monk, the unique sickles can be better than the Redcap ones.
I did 6 shadow monk, 3 rogue assassin and 3 fighter champion. Just did it as a dex build and got hag’s hair so my dex was 20 and I could get away with only one feat. I recommend going one level in fighter after level six for two weapon fighting style and then pick up the 3 rogue levels and finish the build with the last two fighter levels 😊
I might have misunderstood something, but on my shadow monk/assassin rogue hybrid build, it looked like my Stunning Strike save DC was affected by my CON score? I tried re-speccing a couple times between 16 CON/14 WIS and vice versa, checking the Stunning Strike save DC, and it looked like it went up by 1 when my CON was higher. Please correct me if I'm wrong
It's an incredibly irritating display bug in bg3. For some reason the DC previews in the tooltips etc calculate using the TARGET stat rather than the CASTING stat - so stunning strike will always show the calculations as though it uses con since it targets con. When you actually use it, it will calculate correctly though
I just restarted my second honor mode run because monk was just too op and just trivalised every single boss in act one and act 2. Im a strong believer that monk is the best or second best build in the game if you account for all 3 acts. Imo what makes it better than the throwing tavern brawler builds is the stunning strike. The fact that you can stun an enemy for a single ki point whilst being readily available at lvl5 is just ridiculous. The only downside is the low ac, but it literally doesnt matter when you just kill or stun the enemy before it even does anything.
Monk is way more fun when played as a dex monk imo! Without the broken nonsense from tavern brawler and elixirs, you get to enjoy the actual mechanics of the class a lot more. That's not surprising really since that's the way the class was designed to be played, Larian just broke the game balance with their house ruled tavern brawler feat :P
@@Cephalopocalypse is unarmed dex monk fun? I want to play into the unarmed martial-artist power fantasy, but I don't necessarily want to interact with broken mechanics like tavern brawler. Banger video as always!
@@exemplify6593 Personally, that's my favorite way to play monk - check out the build guide "the classic monk" for more on that version! (can also be easily adapted to shadow monk as well)
What about something like monk 6, Fighter 5 and Cleric 1 for two extra attacks from fighter plus action surge, 1 extra atk from monk plus more radiant skills and then armor as the cherry on top?
@@drahcir7x23 Awe that sux, what is the benefit of being so high cleric, I don't play cleric and didn't use Shadowheart outside of some required spots?
@@enigma2483Clerics are an awesome Class, they are not just healbots and depending on their subclass can become Blasters. they have access to awesome buff spells like Bless, Aid, Warding Bond, access to powerful spells that can easily be upcasted for consistent damage like inflict wounds, guiding bolt, Spiritual Weapon and Spirit Guardians. Their Light & Tempest Domain turn them into blasters with spells like Fireball and Call Lightning. My version is set to give you access to second ASI and not have 2 Extra Attacks that do not stack. Personally, I would make mine OH Monk/ Light Cleric 6/6.
@@enigma2483 level 3 spells, spells like Spirit Guardians are worth the 5 level investments, it creates an aoe field that continously deals damage to people who enter its field and those who start their turn in this field. As well as other really great cleric spells like Revivify, Light Cleric's Fireball, Glyph of Warding.
Dumb question but in dialogue, the speaking character is the only one that makes insight checks right? So its not wortth it to give Wis based characters insight incase they can pass insight checks even if they are not the one speaking?
Correct, unless I'm missing insight checks made outside of dialogue. However a vast majority if not all are made in dialogue, the only reason to give a non face party character a dialogue skill is a thief type character who you're planning to have commit crimes, in case they get caught and need to smooth talk their way out of it.
It can be if you use that character for a specific interaction, i.e. have Shadowheart heal the poisoned gnome while wearing the poison removing gloves, then she rolls the Insight check to tell the gnome is lying.
Yep! That's also true of the intelligence skills (they come up slightly more often outside of dialogue, but mostly are used in conversation) so you want the charisma skills, int skills, and insight all on the same character if possible. It's imo a bad system (why can gale not tell me about an arcana thing when he's *right there*) but it's the one they chose to go with.
There's no reason to take that much strength for initial stats. In fact you can dump it to 8. That's because you can literally buy three elixers of giant strength per long rest from Auntie Ethel in the Grove until you trigger her to leave. In theory you should be able to get enough to see you through until you get into the underdark and get the club of hill giant strength which you can have in your offhand giving you a strength of 19 when you aren't using an elixir of giant strength.
Say, am I trippin, or didn't Larian change rhe potions of strength to 10 turns duration? I've been using the Club of Hill Giant Strength from arcane tower in left hand, to boost my monks strength to 19. Its light, so you dont need any double weapon perks. Dunno how this interacts with bonuses from the hag hair, or the tavern brawler, pretty sure it stays 19. And I dont think, you can wield an offand without the main weapon, so you have 2 weapon attacks + 1 unarmed flurry or hit. BUT! You hit like a truck even on low lvls, save a million stat points on strength, and you 100% can ge this item as soon as you want to. I randomly jumped into the abyss near the spider my first walktrough, and do it every run now, cant stop :D The only real danger is a mandatory bulleit/minotaurs encounter, but it provides space to run away, and is entirely manageable for a lvl 4 party. After that you'll have to pass the turrets any way you want, and carefully explore all of the tower, thats it. Your monk is now a machine of death. Hell, if you manage to run away from minotaurs and bulleit, the rest is cakewalk even for a lvl 1. And you get to meet Omeluum and Blurg early, to steal/buy a great lot from them. And you get an ally - Sovereign Glut, who is great by himself, but can resurrect the strongest thing you've killed yet in the underdark to fight for you, and keep doing it😮🎉
Just to clarify because the comments here are a bit contradictory: - elixirs last all day if drunk from your inventory - if thrown at an ally, elixirs last 10 turns (the ones that can be thrown, not all of them can) - if you drop them on the ground and *then* drink them, they can sometimes bug out and only last 10 turns
Does 9 monk outweigh taking a 4th rogue for the extra feat? I find I never use AOE because taking enemies out with flurries or stuns is much more effective
There are several answers here I believe. But if you never wanna Monk AoE I guess 8-4 wins, even with pots and dex gloves. Since you can just pump Wis.
@@MattiasHenriksson-sw7xw Ki Resonance is fun but way way too situational. An extra WIS ASI from 4 rogue is definitely just better in BG3, since it's +2dmg/hit (with the boots) and +1 AC, not to mention saves/skills, vs. the +1 damage of 1d6 becoming 1d8 from monk 9
The real answer is it depends! If the ki resonance is chaining through and applying cull the weak, reverb, etc, it's more powerful. Without the rider effects the passive damage upgrade from wis is better
8 STR ability points are enough as you can use potions. +1 point from Tavern Brawler gives you 9 STR (not that it matters if you use potions). Those 4 extra ability points are better to have in DEX, CON, and CH for dialogue checks. No need to respec later in game. Also Mobile is better than Alert imho for this build (I know you like Alert). Personally I'd pick: STR 8 (-1) | DEX 16 (+3) | CON 16 (+3) | INT 8 (-1) | WIS 14 (+2) | CHA 12 (+1)
Why mobile? You're going to be regularly knocking enemies prone and stunning them so they can't react. Going the earliest in initiative and abusing the monk's high burst and mobility to either delete squishies or stun high priority targets to buy your squad an extra turn to set up. It's not bad, but definitely not optimal.
Just build the one with strength elixirs, they’re SO easy to get. Plus, I get we’re all slaves to the RU-vid Algorithm, but any class that doesn’t rely on items can’t possibly be the “best”, monks specifically.
@Cephalopocalypse so it involves heading into act 2 early but you can always return as long as you haven't completed the gauntlet of shar. But 18 dex 18 wisdom (ASI) from 17 dex 16 wis. Hags hair to wisdom. Using the infernal robe. bracers of defense ring of protection. And the protection cape from last light in also the evasion boots.
![The BEST MONK in Baldur's Gate 3 - [Updated] Honour Build Guide](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
