Wonderful video; I look forward to more like this! You explain the way the effects synergize really well. Am def looking forward to the summons-focus build you mentioned before and how that plays.
The way I like to run this build is 1 sorc/ 1 cleric (tempest, create water), 10 wizard. I use scrolls between combats to top off wards if a short rest doesn't work. Duel wielder feat with the act 1 ice staff and markoheshgir. Warding bond cast with a camp cleric and the build is fully immortal, and can use heavy armor if I ever want to completely survive in solo honour runs
I played a version of this build with 2 warlock, obv you don't get the lvl 6 spells but getting access to armor of shadows to give yourself max arcane ward for free by putting armor on and taking it off, was pretty fun
Yes, I used that version on the build for the post I made for BG3Builds subreddit. Its linked in the description. It comes online earlier, but late game its much worse. After level 10, you pretty much always have enough Arcane Ward stacks, so you don't need to refresh after every battle really, and losing Globe of Invulnerability is tragic.
It depends on if you use the Wizard scribe scroll bug. I try to not to assume folks are using it, and if you don't taking a Cleric level will lose you Globe of Invulnerability.
@@Aestus_RPG wizard scribe scroll bug? 10 wizard/1 cleric/ 1 sorc scribing glove of invulnerability doesn’t feel like a bug to me you’re still primarily a wizard
@@kevin8499I mean they did remove that for Honor Mode though. Not sure which bug Aestus is taking about with scrolls, but it could be that they haven’t gotten around to removing it yet
One of my favorite builds. It has spawned some wacky variations. One fun looking one was combination of Sorc for Armor of Agathis, Bear Heart Barbarian for resistance to all damage and melee attack power, Abj wizard for the arcane ward.
This is why I love playing Duergar if im not running the Quasit. That and stealing as many scrolls of globe as possible when not playing as Wizard. Also, have you tried something like this with Warlock+Barbarian? Its kind of fun doing 8 Warlock 4 Barbarian for Bear Heart, heavy armor specialization, adamantine plate (you still get the 50% mitigation from Bear Heart), Skinburster and of course extra attack from pact weapon.
Aestus, what do you think about this idea? A super difficult honor mode run using (and optimising) the rarest and least used classes and builds? I think it would be awesome to watch! I would easily watch a whole series of videos, a lets play or a walkthrough.
So far the full run I posted has done very poorly for views, so its not really worth the time for me to make them. Build videos do alright, so I will probably stick to those. I have more coming, I'm just making some Pillars of Eternity content right now do to the upcoming release of Avowed. Some day I'd like to try streaming, but its not really feasible with my living situation at the moment.
Great build, very unique idea. But what's the reason for the 1 level in sorc over 12 in wizard and then taking magic initiate Warlock as the feat? You could squeeze out another 2 max ward stacks. Sorry if I'm missing something obvious.
Magic initiate in bg3 unfortunately is not like tabletop. I believe that you only get to cast armor of agathys in this way once per long rest and at first level. It doesn't actually add the spell to your spell list properly so you can up cast or even use your level 1 spell slots.
I love this build, and I think I'm actually going to use it! I've been thinking through the weapon choices, and I feel like I must be missing something: two of the weapons you consider are a shortsword (Crimson Mischief) and a rapier (Duellist's Prerogative), and it doesn't look like the character has proficiency in either weapon. Humans don't get it, Sorcerers don't, Wizards don't. Am I missing something? Edit: I think I figured it out. The video has the build on Gale, but the spreadsheet has Drow as the race, which is where you get the weapon proficiencies. I like making this a gish build, but it is pretty hard to figure out what weapons would be useable if I build it on Gale. I'm planning to use the 5e spells mod to get Booming and Green-Flame Blade.
I am pretty sure this build would be considerably more op with a cleric dip for the dumb armor of persistance to make physical damage types become a joke
I have a question for spead sheet. You choose to go wizard and take Resilience feat. And ad sorcerer later. If you switch this and start as sorcerer, you get con saving throws right from the start and You can use the feat for warcaster. And you end up with better character for concentration. Or there is a some bigger benefit to start as wizard?
I assume Sorc is chosen over Warlock for the CON save proficiency? Curious as to whether you think a Warlock/Wizard version of this build would have legs to stand on. Warlocks get more weapon and armour options - however, I understand this build is not really meant to be doing melee stuff so much as simply be in melee and take damage.
What do you think about going 1 level in warlock instead of drac sorc? You can get both AoA and Hellish Rebuke, both of which you can upcast using normal spell slots. Has a bit of an anti-synergy when optimizing wet damage though.
I don't think you can upcast pact magic with other magic. Meaning a level 1 Warlock and 11 Wizard will only give you level 1 Armor of Agathis at 5 cold damage. You would need more levels of Warlock to get a higher-level Armor of Agathis. But then you would lose out on the high-level wizard spells.
@@giantmonkee1199 I thought I was getting psyoped by youtube comments so I retested on a level 12 save and rerolled. At the very least if you start Warlock you can upcast both AoA and Hellish Rebuke with 1 level in warlock and x levels in wizard.
Hi all, just test running this build and I get the gist of what it's doing. Really clever - this wouldn't have even crossed my mind. Quick question though regarding equipment - it states that you're wanting to load it up with the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength on the sheet, and for the life of me I just can't figure out the Str interaction in this. Is it literally just for saving throws?
Its for making attacks with your weapons. In the video I discuss how you can actually get decent weapon damage out of this build. I like it when my builds have efficient, non-spell actions because I like to minimize long rests as much as possible. If you prefer not to attack, then you can swap the Guantlets out.
@@Aestus_RPG Ah right, you know I'm an idiot and thought that "Finess weapons" forced you to use Dex as opposed to picking which was higher between the two. Makes total sense. Cheers!
White draconic is a great dip, do you think a 2 level dip into warlock for armour of shadows would be comparable? Assuming you can scribe scrolls Mage armour could be cost resource free meaning you could enter every encounter with full abjuration stacks
I have a link to that version of the build in the description. Its good, but I prefer this one at the moment. Maxing stacks after every fights gets old, and its not actually that needed late game.
Is there a reason for going 1 sorc over 1 warlock? There doesn’t seem to be much difference but with warlock you get an extra level 1 spell slot that refreshes on a short rest. You also have innately lower AC if unarmoured, to guarantee more hits on you
Interesting build. Personally I have found wizard and sorc to both under perform hard. I enjoy playing wild Sorc, and Enchanter, but Druid and Cleric variations will end up doing the same thing better in my experience. Sleep in my opinion is the single most over rated spell in the game, it's value falls off so quick, and the ease of beating any encounter it works on means you can easily beat them with only cantrips, hell minor illusion and a firebolt/arrow will often clean up any fight sleep works in just as easily. I do also agree Fireball is overrated, I feel Glyph of Warding is just a better spell IMO.
@@Aestus_RPGshars spear is so good so id expect building everything else around it would be. Also you cant apply the +5 charisma from dragonic sorcerer in any way can you?
5:00 begs the question: when will you ban globe from your ruleset? Or would that be too challenging/risky for honor mode? Right now i am on my own completionist mindset honor run in act 3. 125 hrs in. I had to use both globe and divine intervention: revive on my BALANCED run for the final fight... And i dont want to sacrifice our favorite waterdeep wizard. So im nervous to consider ignoring globe to say the least. Almost got wiped by a lightning eagle statue randomly and that would have been soul wrenching. Glad for another upload!
I don't think it would be to challenging, but I like Globe. I think it's a well designed spell. I'd rather increase difficulty some other way if it came to that
@@Aestus_RPG i think given how best-in-slot the spell is considered, it's worth a ban for the sake of diversity. I'm not gonna break sweat arguing whether 5e/bg3 is well designed and balanced in general in all aspects, but I think the final encounter changes a lot without globe and that's worth exploring. Thanks! Also frees up my 6th level slot for Sunbeam, the coolest thematic spell in the game :D
Quick question is there a timer on the final fight in Honor Mode or can I take my time and actually have fun killing the dragon? I know there's a timer until nautiloid bombardment starts but it is any different than Tactician?
I think it's a four turn timer once you make it to through the portal to the brain but can't find confirmation on that everyone rushes it 😅 which very valid
Idk if this is mentioned in the video but warding bond is absolutely broken for this build. you could even cast it with a companion if you don't want to use camp hp pigs. because of the arcane ward and the hp person will pretty much never take the warding damage
kinda unoptimised, 6lvl slots are overrated cuz we can just buy scrolls. 2 lvls of warlocks are better cuz you can get on demands spammable mage armour, to replenish stacks of arcane ward between battles. whatever. try more with "3 years of development"
I beat the game on Tactitican without any CC and only Shadowheart's 9cleric/3rogue and my Tav's 5warlock levels for spell power so I'm working on a more magic based group for another run. It feels really bad at low levels. Like... anything where there's a save dc is just wasting a turn. Hopefully taking advantage of some of this helps. Lol.
I still prefer the warlock armor of shadows varient only because it lets you get a max level abjuration shield without using a spell slot by swapping to an armor piece, then clothing using mage armor, then swap to armor swap to clothing use mage armor you can get a max level abjuration shield before every combat without using a spell slot
Can you please explain to me why you have a 9/11 instead of 10/10 for the CON/CHA split? I know Resilient CON at lvl 8 makes the 9 no worse but is the 11just optimizing for if you get the Mirror of loss +1 CHA?
I’m new to gaming, played my very first video game about a year ago. I was just looking to have some fun while also learning this game, I’ll probably play on balanced mode. I was choosing between this build and wild magic sorcerer. Which one would you recommend for a new player? Thank you for the video!
The battle/duel against Orin is for me the most difficult part of Act 3. So for me it’s one of the last battles in the game. to get a decent chance to use her weapons I think you would have to do that fight at least before the Steel Watch and Gortash. Aestus - I am wondering when is the earliest you recommend taking on Orin in the level and story progression? other folks gave any recommendations?
Tbh, I consider Orin to be one of the easiest late game bosses. I often rush her. That said, I rarely play Dark Urge. She's more difficult in Orin form then in Slayer form. The secret to Orin for me is Contagion: Slimy Doom. I've been saying it for ages, but people massively overlook this spell.
Hey Aestus! Love your videos, part of what makes baldur's gate 3 so fun is how creative you can get with the builds and itemization, and you always post great ideas! I wanted to ask - when I've tried to make something similar to this build, the shield spell never adds to the arcane ward. Do you have a workaround for this? What spells are you using to build up your arcane ward, particularly in the early game? Mostly just armor of agathys?
That is strange, it worked for me I think. I cast Mage Armor every rest, but that's pretty much it besides shield. Honestly, Arcane Ward is just a slow starter, so don't sweat trying to get a ton of value out of it early is my advice.
@@Aestus_RPG That’s fair, but making spell scrolls worse and having to spend a feat on Resilient Con seems worth the short-term cost, as the Wizard can still scribe on-level scrolls.
