Nice build and great explanation of War Magic! You could dual wield and add Trident of Tides from vault #4 in the counting house. This weapon bestows the wet status on your target. Wet+Chill = Frozen! Also, the Snow Burst Ring found at Last Light Inn creates a patch of frozen ground. Add haurfrost boots (Inquisitor's Chamber, Crèche Y'llek) and you have another form of control.
For anyone coming here much later, you can also pick the feat for Druid cantrips and grab shaleilagh. That way, you can boost your intelligence instead of strength for your attack modifier as long as your weapon is a staff. That way your eldritch knight can also be a top tier scroll caster. Or get a significant attack boost from arcane synergy or even get a super high save on the save for prone with the ring that creates an ice surface on cold damage dealt. I know aestus doesn’t use scrolls but they’re a less busted mechanic than arcane acuity imo.
At this stage in the games life cycle there aren’t many channels I come back to to learn new things but yours, cephalopocalypse and one or two others that focus more on theming than optimization will sometimes help me solve build puzzles. Thank you for all that you do.
My take on this build. 11 ek and 1 war priest archer sharpshooter build with Harold crossbow, winters clutches, helm arcane acuity, snowburst ring, Rhapsody and Ambusher as stat sticks, Amulet Bhaal. Drakethroat glaive cold on Harold. Oil of freezing on Harold. You will be ranged attacking 4 times per turn for 3 turns war priest charges. Action surge for another 3 attacks. Each hit has advantage to stack bleeding and Eldritch strike disadvantage on saves and 2 bane and 4 encrusted frost. Every 2 hits will have chance to freeze. Every target will have ice around it and movement thru ice will have disadvantage saving throw for 2 stacks of prone with helm arcane acuity added usually 23 to beat. Arrow of many targets are usable on all 4 attacks and all conditions apply to each target hit. I usually open with 2 attacks arrow many targets and freeze at least 2. Then just focus 1 down at a time.
I stumbled upon a similar idea a few months ago, in part inspired by your praise on the Eldritch Knight. Near the end of the first part of the final fight, while my mind flayer was trying to cast that special spell, he was being harrassed by another mind flayer, right next to him. Then my fighter, using a a snowburst ring and hoarfrost boots, attacked the enemy. The enemy died, but my ally slipped and fell. I keep imagining the legends told of this fantastic final battle, where one of the main heroes falls on his ass during such a climatic moment lol
You have have no idea how excited I was getting the notification for this upload! Since launch I've been looking to do a melee & ice spell hybrid based off of a nearly decade old character of mine! Very excited to try this out :)
I'd love to see more builds from you. I really like your presentation and the way you explain things and I'd love to see this applied to more builds. Also, I'd be curious to learn about how you come up with builds like what your process is for formulating unique ideas
Great work! The EK is slept on and the most interesting fighter to me. I really like how you can get so much damage out level 1 spell slots. An early game example is that with the lightning charges boot and expeditious retreat, you get easy dash + lightning charges every round. When you find the strange conduit ring, this same level 1 spell gives you 1d4 psychic damage too. I have been playing an EK archer focused on encrusted with frost and have been using most of the combos you talked about. I want to point out a few things I found out while playing this build: 1. Bow + drakethroat glove is extremely potent because of special arrows. An arrow of many targets for example could be used to freeze a bunch of enemies. 2. If you use a regular attack (or special bow) first to get a couple of encrusted with frost stacks, you can also use a frost arrow on the second attack to quicken the cycle. That is a second source of cold damage and triggers the winters clutches gloves a second time. It's worth doing it as a second attack since encrusted with frost has already been applied and the cold damage of frost arrows is applied on failing a dexterity saving throw. Encrusted with frost on the first attack provides a dex saving throw disadvantage. 3. I really want to use the ring of elemental fusion, but as worded it only applies to one damage. The strange conduit ring which requires concentration (easy with expeditious retreat) does 1d4 damage on all attacks. Have you found it worth the ring slot? A few notes on reverb: 1. Stormy clamor boots are somewhat inconsistent like you said. But an easy way to consistently proc it is to use ability drain illithid power. With bows this is actually super useful since you reduce dexterity. This triggers reverb but also reduces dex saving throws which helps with getting ice arrows to stick. The combo of dexterity drain and dex saving throw disadvantage is super potent even without the freeze effect since it sets up your casters for massive damage. 2. If your 5 stacks of reverb get triggered just when you freeze the enemy, you will break the freeze with the extra thunder damage from reverb. This is rather unfortunate and has to be watched out for. I typically have to time it really well to make sure I freeze the enemy and then give my warlock a change to get vulnerability on EB. Even outside of reverb/encrusted with frost, the EK archer is one of the best builds for spreading status effects like you mentioned. Radiant damage (from divine favor or callous glow ring) + arrow of many targets + luminous armor will light up a room like it's christmas :) Other archers can do it too, but the extra damage from lightning charges, strange conduit ring etc. really makes this build shine IMHO.
Great points here! I learned some things! On whether Elemental fusion is worth taking over strange conduit. Yes, it is worth taking for the simple fact that you can always give strange conduit to someone else. It's a very coveted item in acts 1-2. If for some reason no one else can use it, then yeah, it's a bit better than Elemental fusion.
@@Aestus_RPG Makes sense.Though, are there any classes that can make better use of the strange conduit ring than the fighter that attacks 3x a round? The ring of elemental fusion is in a weird place. All attacks for 1 round would be OP as hell, but then 1 attack per round feels kinda weak for a ring slot. Have you tested if it counts as an independent source of cold damage for the winter’s clutches gloves? That could make it worth it
This is nice, I was thinking about a making an EK archer and glad to know that someone found success with it. Did you go monoclass? I was considering 11/1 with war domain.
@@spuzzter I did try 11/1 war domain, but mostly for divine favor to add more radiant damage to the build. War magic keeps the bonus action busy so war domain’s bonus action attack wasn’t that useful. I went back to 12 EK and picked up alert instead. I used the Gontr Mael bow to get consistent radiant damage instead.
Just one thing I noticed with this video: You described vunerability as doubling the dice rolled like a critical (3d4+1 becoming 6d4+2), but that’s not what vunerability does. Vunerability rolls damage as normal, then doubles it all (3d4+1 x 2)
Wow, nice build! I took one look at BG3 Eldritch Knight, saw that there was no Booming Blade / Green-Flame Blade cantrips, and said "Oh well, it's useless." But with Haste allowing cantrips and the wonky way they programmed Eldritch Strike, it actually seems really good!
finally a EK build that is about EK perks and not just throwing stuff. I'm trying this with the Flail of Ages, as soon as I reach act 3, perhaps with a level in war cleric or wizard, since the fourth feat seems a bit pointless.
Reaching the end of my current playthrough with this build and really loving it, just some tips that I figured out: The boots of Stormy Clamour worked properly for me, but the issue is that the thunder damage from Reverberation breaks your freezing instantly when applied, so its better to stick to other boots on the late game (when you start applying lots of freezing with Eldritch Strike) More important, there is a secret staff on act 3 called Markoheshkir that gives you extra spell DC and also the ability to infuse your character with an element until long rest. For frost, it gives you extra damage based on Int, two more stacks of Incrusted Frost on spell damage, and allows you to cast Cone of Cold and Ice Storm once per SHORT REST, so using this with Action Surge is very OP. You need to keep it equipped, so just grab the Dual Wielder feat and use this staff and Mourning Frost, really pumps up all of your main damages. You dont attack with your offhand weapon, its just there to buff you
I think a great niche for you would be single class builds; the vast majority builds involve dips and multiclassing and I personally prefer single class if possible.
Yo love your vids bc of how much detail you put into them. I know it can be hard to come up with novel optimization paths so im super impressed by your ingenuity here. Ive wanted to have a cool eldritch knight build but couldn't figure it out bc i always focused on the spellcasting side of things, until i would ask myself "why dont i just play a spellcaster with a fighter multiclass or something." This build takes the features of the subclass and makes them shine and for a monoclass thats super neat!
its still just so much worse than sorlock left build, or any sorcerer build with arcane acuity, or any build with the mystic scoundrel ring (since this only comes online at lv 10 anyways... lol). Its a cool build. But you can be doing much stronger things, much earlier, that feels just as "gish" as this.
It’s actually impressive how much knowledge goes into this game. I barely made it through on beginner with the most trash build and gear 😂 this build looks awesome
Currently doing my first run of the game using a party based on the wet condition and was struggling to find a frontline build, this is literally perfect
Eldritch bladelock that has maxed charisma, potent robes, agonizing blast, and the spine shudder amulet. Triple Eldridge blast for high damage and causing prone, then into the weapon attack with advantage
Awesome guide. One thing I would consider is Warped Headband of Intellect as an alternative to Helm of Arcane Acuity. AA is incredibly busted and this character isn’t the best user of it, so this way it can go to another party member, and you still get +3 INT alongside 16 CON and 14 DEX. I also believe the saves against Chilled and Frozen are static, so AA is only helping with your BotMS bonus action.
I'd say EK is one of the top 5 users of Helmet of Arcane Acuity, so it's a VERY good candidate for the item. However, there are builds that are better with it, so if you have one of them in your comp, then yeah, there are good alternatives. I recommend Coldbrim Hat, Diadem of Arcane Synergy, or Helm of Balduran.
Eldritch Knight tends to be what I use the lightning charge items on, early game (expeditious retreat+speedy lightfoot is great), but mid and late game, I felt it fall off compared to other more cohesive builds. This seems very strong by comparison, so I'm looking forward to trying it out on a run. Thanks!
Great video! Love your content. You have made me so much better at the game!! Never imagined I would play Honor mode but it’s pretty much all I play now.
Eldritch innertia also make the E.K. an amazing candidate for bonus action illithid powers, stack up arcane acuity and your mind blast becomes an aoe bonus action stun that hurts (plus a stacked up cull the weak on a striker is a gas)
You could possibly go for an 11 fighter/1 full caster split to get 2x Level 3 spell slots. Wizard is an obvious choice so you can scribe scrolls, but War or Light Cleric are great options as well. War Cleric would allow you to do an extra attack as a bonus action, 3 times per long rest, allowing up to 4 hits in a single round. Light Cleric would give you Warding Flare, which is a great defensive reaction, allowing you to save spell slots you might otherwise have used on Shield for defensive purposes. Love the build!
I'm wondering your thoughts on using the Warped Headband of Intellect for the head slot. This lets Tav respec Con up 16 and Wisdom to 10. Tav went from having fewer hit points than Wyll to having the most in the party.
The Helmet of Arcane acuity is too valuable to give up. However, if you have another member of your party that can get efficient use out of Helmet of Arcane Acuity, then Warped Headband of Intellect is a decent alternative.
cheers. this single video converted me into a EK abuser when I used to think EK wasn't very good. it turns out, through itemization, you can still buff your attacks and add CC similar to a battlemaster, but you also have access to busted defensive and utility options (shield, mirror image, leap, etc). trading the superiority dice for war magic feels way better after the haste nerfs in HM too i found i could sub the elemental infusion ring with risky ring once you're able to cold enchant your weapon-- helps with both the weapon accuracy AND ray of frost since fishing for chill procs with just 65% accuracy is kind of painful. i eventually settled on a EK archer build so i could spam conditions, but the build as presented in the video is way more baller-- you pop the bludgeoning vulnerability yourself and you look like a complete psycho running up to people with your magic cane
Oh awesome build! I was trying something slightly different that revolved around different elements basically, but this looks slightly better. I looked at your guide and saw the feats, I don't know if you'd want to change anything but just so you know polearm master DOES work for quarterstaffs. Might be worth considering next to the other two feats at level 12!
I appreciate this video which is full of excellent information. The deep dives sound good. I would hope that at some point you discuss a full group that compliment (different roles/items. E.g. what other three would you bring along. Which one would be your main and which would be NPC e.g. this build could be Laezel.
I love it when people find ways to make all these unheralded abilities and conditions work. Do you think you can find a way to make something strong out of the heat mechanic (if you haven’t already)?
This is so fire. I haven't played an honor mode run yet but the fact that this build is good at every level and pulls ahead of other hasted fighters is epic
Very nice idea. Frozen enemies will be vulnerable to bludgeoning, thunder and force damage, which means that your other 3 members can build around those types of damage to maximize the dmg output. I wonder if you can freeze the bosses like Myrkul though. In honour mode, it matters a lot, at least to me.
Just took this build after seeing this video for my honor mode run! I missed the Scoundrel ring and can’t go back and was using a dual wielding EK/Wizard build with the Helm of Acuity that was lagging behind in ACT 2. But with this video, along with remembering the staffs use Strength not Dex, I now just brought it online after a respec! Still dual-wielding but now my CC comes from the snowburst ring and Tasha’s. Thinking about adding the ring that ignores difficult terrain as well since the boots I got won’t prone me on Ice but still slows me down.
Regarding the Boots of Stormy Clamour, I haven't tested it too extensively, but it seemed to me that conditions such as Ability Drain or Encrusted with Frost do trigger it, but *only* when they're initially applied and subsequent hits that just add more stacks unto existing conditions don't seem to trigger the boots.
That may be why it seemed weird to me. It seems like the better to Night Walkers on the Ice Knight and have a different member of the party stack Reverberation.
I have pretty much used this exact build (in terms of items) for my frost mage.... devastating. Boots worked fine on my mage but i had a brand new download on a brand new pc so never had any of the earlier stuff on my pc.
Great video and explanation and I appreciate the google doc guide too! I played at solo honour mode EK and focused on a tanky Throwing build. I didn't realise the spell swap thing was unintended or cheese-y I thought you just got narrowly restricted spells at first and were allowed to change them to a wider selection on later levels. I'm still not convinced by War Magic cantrip-use, I tried to make use of it but just had more luck using attacks or better spells!
My recommendation is at least one wizard level. A neglected feature is the ability to learn spells and cantrips from scrolls. There is no limit to cantrips number like it is with spells ( Shovel "companion" spell) This means that you can learn almost everything in the game. Plus as Feat I recomend, Spell Sniper and learn Eldritch blast (dependent on intelligence and not charisma).
I played with 14 con, but after playing through the game that way I realized 14 dexterity would be better, so I put 14 dex in the build guide. Its not that much a difference though, both are fine. Yes, if you don't get the hag hair then there is no reason to have 17 strength.
@@Aestus_RPG Thanks for the reply - I'm enjoying the build by the way - I put 14 in to stam - does feel like it would be better in dex - bit too easy to hit, plus occasional bow shots
Tried an ice knight the other day after seeing your videos, completely overlooked mourning frost. Have you tried splashing in one level of wizard after hitting level 11?
Dope! I’ve been running something like this with Gale but I use dual weilder instead of great weapon master so I can use the trident of the waves in the off hand for wet
Surely Ring of Arcane Synergy is a great item for this character. You get to cast Cantrip every round and add your Spellcasting modifier to all attacks for 2 rounds. Not just one attack.
@jstabler881 It isn't better. Honestly that ring isn't really best in slot either, it's just thematically perfect, and synergizes well with the theme of the build.
I made a cool eldrich knight 12 lvls but mine does poision that heals itself and gives bless to itself and I went high intelligence so I use lots of damage Spells so much fun
So I've been trying this out lately and the synergy with all the items and everything is great but I feel like my chance to hit on melee strikes with mourningfrost is very low? I've just started act 2 and I'm level 7 so the build hasn't come completely online yet but I have very low accuracy typically, especially with Great Weapon Master
Had the same problem with my run (currently level 8, so not too far off from you), but it's easy to have your other party members set you up for successful strikes. I personally use Karlach as an OH monk and stunning strike enemies one-by-one so they both miss their turn and make them easier to hit. Bless, invisibility (using the Durge cloak for this), etc help a lot!
@@Zivko_ I am also using Karlach as a monk lol. Realized I was not taking advantage of stuff like bless aswell! Thank you for suggestion on using stun strike
making enemies frozen is always fun. however it does not work if they're wet first. they must be chilled first, then made wet. don't ask me why, doesn't make sense but hey. great build!
i am doing something similar with lvl12 beast master dual wilding with savage attacker, you ensare them then you beat sht out of them, then when they get frozen, (with all those attacks they are almost dead) the wolf finish them with the force slash move since the debuff makes them weak to force damage. then on act 3 you get a mace that inflics the chilled debuff meaning than you get more dmg. it's so fun to play
Would it be worth adding a sorcerer/warlock lvl 1 dip for armor of agathys? Also do you think this build would still work with a regular frost enchanted weapon rather than the staff?
can't you just put 7 into eldritch knight and 5 into barb, equip bhallist armor to give enemies vulnerability to piercing damage, then use a shield+Nyrulna with added damage from gear like the acid ring along with the elemental infusion to get up to 5 attacks and with an action surge up to 4? > enraged throw > throw > throw > cantrip > throw
this build its cool but u went the wrong way, this sinergices way better with way of the four elements monk in so many ways, u have the hardest bludgeoning damage kit on the game called fist of the unbroken air (push strng save),water whip (prone or pull bouth dex save),stunning strike (con save).i combined this monk with a branded thief duergar stacking reverberation and bane and this two toguether make for such a nice assasin team and its really fun and versatile unlike eldritch knight where the only thing u do its smack in the face and cast a spell. honestly i sleep for so long on the way of the four elements monk but its strong and more importanly its fun.
@@blaym4271 -For abilities u can go with 16 dex 16 wis 14 con although the half feat athlete its the best feat u can get for monks so u might want to change these and for the other feat u can go whatever u want. - Go full monk up to lv 9 and then i will go for 3 thief for the extra bonus action (having that extra will aloud u to use patience defense and step of the wind way more often ) - The items are the same as in the video, the only thing that changes its that u go unarmored and that u dont need the hat of arcane acuity so u can put the coldbrim hat for faster stacking of encrusted with frost or the Diadem of Arcane Synergy for more damage -for the rest of the items u can go for whatever u want and fits your party, some good ones are: the sentient amulet, the boots form nere.
No snowburst ring for on-hit prone chance? What about Flail of Ages if not GWM? Would also be interested if you see room for War Caster on this build, maybe with ring of arcane synergy (although I guess casting stat is maybe not high enough to make arcane synergy very relevant). Good stuff as always, thanks.
Superb guide ser. I'm presuming this build would benefit from using Hill/Could Giant Elixirs or Warped Headband of Intellect to allocate stats elsewhere? Could go 8/16/14/16/10/8 if using the elixirs for instance for better AC/Initiative and Con saves is my thinking. Negates the need for using ASI + 2 Str so could use a different feat (Tough, Elemental adept Cold, Mage Slayer, Mobile, Savage attacker)
i tried this build and i kinda ran into an unexpected issue.. the enemies die before you get them to freeze. Pretty consistently too On enemies with a lot more health and maybe some few bosses that can be disabled, it truly works wonders and is very fun to control the fight with it. But 95% of the time i feel like the fight is already over by the time i can freeze something. Ofc it's not really the build's fault tho
i honestly like "frost knight" builds as a dual wielder with a flail of ages and that trident that puts wet condition, buff them both with dragon glaive with ice, buff flail with acid, auto attacking with this as dual wielder will freeze targets consistently.
whenever I hear "the wiki is wrong"... dude, it's a wiki! if you find something wrong, it's your obligation, as a user and citizen of the internet, to change it!
@@Aestus_RPG wtf kinda answer is that? of course not to the internet at large, but to everyone who has donated their time or resources to keep the bg3.wiki - a community effort you clearly use, reference and derive work from - up to date while only ever asking for corrections, should you find them. I don't think to presume too much by asking you, who has written a script for a video, to write "tooltip erroneous, works on more than 1 saving throw and on more than spells, ie. on-hit item effects. scope unclear as of patch x.y.z" after taking the 15 seconds to create an account and making the wiki better for everyone (including you from the future, btw).
@ddublu Chill please. I wasn't being that serious with my comment. Obviously pitching in is a great thing to do, but no one is obligated to do it. For what it's worth, I've corresponded with the BG3.wiki folks. They asked me to help them with something I was suited for, and I did! It wasn't big, but it's not like I haven't pitched in.
Thanks for another great video. Question: For War Magic can you use the Extra Attack as a cantrip and then use BA for a weapon attack? Sounds like the answer is “No” but I don’t think you said so explicitly. Have you tried that?
@@Aestus_RPG I mean that when figthers get “Extra Attack” the second or third weapon attack is referred to in tooltips as “Extra Attack.”. In War Magic the cantrip can be substituted for an “Attack” but it’s not crystal clear to me whether that means only the first weapon attack (probably) or a later “Extra Attack.” Basically the question is can you cast a cantrip as an Extra Attack? The tooltip for Extra Attack is ambiguous: “You can make an additional free attack after making an unarmed or weapon attack.”. It doesn’t say extra weapon attack, just “attack.”. But in practice I don’t know how that works. In DnD a spell or cantrip js never an “Attack” action even if it rolls D20 against AC. But in BG3 I don’t know if that’s the case. The wiki says “Attack” can be a spell that rolls a D20: see bg3.wiki/wiki/Attacks
@@doloresabernathy9809Ah, ok. In that case, no, you can't use extra attack to cast a cantrip. How it works is that "Attack" and "Cast a Spell/Cantrip" are two, mutually exclusive things you can spend your action on. What Extra Attack and Improved Extra Attack do is give allow you to make more attack rolls whenever you choose the "Attack" action. So in order to use your extra attacks, you must choose the Attack action, and by choosing the Attack action, your block yourself from choosing to cast a cantrip. Hopefully that makes sense.
Unrelated to bg3, but the 2024 5e update will almost certainly change war magic to allow you to replace an attack with a cantrip. Similar to the bladesinger wizard feature. Additionally improved war magic allows replacing an attack with a 1st or 2nd level spell.
Hey aestus this got be thinking with fighter 7 to get war magic you get your 2 standard attacks from fighter, haste cantrip ( frost for this or triple eldritch blast) attack, bonus action attack, then with 5 levels pact of the blade you get pact weapon attack reliably every turn. I think this is the most possible melee attacks in the game. Sounds pretty cracked to me. This also gives you a third feat from fighter.
It does sound cracked! Sadly, the pact weapon attack does not work on Honour Mode, which is mostly what I play. But for Tactician or lower, its a very strong build!
@@Aestus_RPG wasnt aware of that im working my way through honour mode with your hardcore ruleset. Im mostly a pokemon nuzlocker and the comparison in one of your other videos made me try it. Is there a resource for changes to honour and stacking/non stacking bonuses in the game?
@@nathanhole9868 Patch Notes for Patch 5 list many of the changes. For everything else, consult this: bg3.wiki/wiki/Guide:Undocumented_Patch_5_updates I enjoy Nuzlocking a lot! I am currently Nuzlocking Brilliant Diamond.
@Aestus_RPG I checked, and it's a long rest now. I'm not sure if patch 6 caused this. I'm pretty sure it's also locked to tav now since cut scenes now favor the avatar character. I'm guessing you could kill your tav and then do the quest to get the spell on a companion character.
band of the mystic scoundrel and concentration CC doesn't work well on eldritch knight. it's a reach. i found that with helm of arcane acuity, eldritch knights are far outclassed by swords bards because they can potentially start off with 4x attacks (2x slashing flourish) for +4 spell save DC, and then they also have extra spells such as hold monster that give much more value than a prone concentration status on 1 target. an eldritch knight should just stick to on-hit effects and ignore the cantrip because even then an attack is usually better, not even considering the intelligence stat cost if you take damage spells seriously.
EK is one of the best classes to utilize Band of the Mystic Scoundrel. Yes, they are not as good at it as Swords Bards, but so what? You using Swords Bard in every single run? As I explain in the video, casting a cantrip is better than making an attack when you are hasted.
