Baldur's Gate 3 | Way of the Shadow Monk build | Level + Item + Ability Guide

[Music] a greetings this is a guide for a dual wielding melee Shadow monk build that I used to solo tactician specializing in high Mobility instead unlike other popular builds this multiclass is Reliant in knowledge of enemy AI Behavior stealth mechanics and strategic positioning as you do not have the benefit of high AC and high damage at least not until act three thanks to a special late game armor which will be discussed later in the video along with other core items and since this is a melee build you would not enjoy the safety that comes from playing a ranged character now on to the most important part of the video the level guide there are two ways to start a shadow monk in my opinion start as a thief if you're open to respecting or start as a monk either way there's not much variance in classes this early in the game but if you're going solo with a shadow monk character you would rely heavily on making ranged attacks either with dagger coupled with Tavern brawler or with your ranged weapon as going melee Solo in tactician is almost always a death senss now for the beginning stats I'd highly recommend maxing dexterity and Constitution for deck 17 and const 14 and spreading the points to other stats to however you see fit dexterity obviously as this build will dual wield short swords Rolling High initiative in combat is also a priority and the constitution for the concentration saving throws for whenever we're casting Darkness or other concentration spells like haste moving on to level two you get patient defense step of the wind Dash and step of the wind disengage useful tools for when the situation calls for Mobility especially useful in Solo runs for when enemies engage you in melee allowing you to escape without provoking attack of opportunity I should note that the main strategy in Solo runs with this build this early in the game is to waste the enemy's action points dashing towards you while you cut away more on this later on to level three we pick Shadow monk you get high as a bonus action the darkness spell a silence spell and pass Without a Trace you also get the passive ability to deflect missiles as a action Additionally you also get minor illusion as a can trip which is extremely useful in luring enemies in advantageous locations on to level four you get your first feat picking Savage attackers grants you nice consistent damage throughout the entire game another competitive choice is alert to ensure you always go first if you're doing a solo run and don't have trouble respecing you may want to go Tavern brawler PA with strength Elixir for throwing daggers or sharp shooter for plus 10 on ranged attacks just make sure to take back Savage attacker for whenever you hit the cre onto level five Shadow Monks get an extra attack as well as two new abilities stunning melee strike and stunning unarmed strike these are especially useful both in a party and a solo run for disabling targets for a turn in level five Shadow Monks also get a Core ability cloak of Shadows this is probably one of the most powerful skills in the entire game this allows the shadow monk to sneak into advantageous positions trespass into heavily guarded areas and most overpowered of all to exit combat which wastes all enemies turns all with just an action point just make sure to be mindful of shadows as this skill only world when you are lightly or heavily obscured and make sure to move away from the spot you use the shadow cloak from so you won't lose invisibility from detect presence on to level six this would be our last level for shadow monk by this time you should be finishing Act One Shadow Monks get Shadow step another core skill that makes this build work later I will discuss how to use this effectively onto level 7 The Shadow monk is finally online we multiclass into Rogue to get sneak attack by this time you should be already at chisha Clear giving you access to the braceful cloth and knife of the under Mountain King these two items would serve you until the end of act two on to level eight another point to Rob we get Dash disengage and hide as a bonus action but these are pretty much useless when we have Shadow step just make sure to always be obscured on to level 9 we we get to pick our subass for Rog the thief subass is great for our build as it gives us two bonus actions going assassin is the best option if you want to abuse cloak of Shadows to exit and re-enter combat for level 10 we put another level into Rogue giving us another feat there are a couple of good options if you want to stick to melee dual wielding I recommend alert as it guarantees you go first against High initiative enemies in the late game at long last the file two levels would be spent on Two fighter mods allowing you to have two weapon fighting and action [Music] surge now for the items I'll be discussing the items per Act starting with the First Act once you reach the mountain pass area the shadow monk should finally be online with cloak of Shadows and Shadow step if you're doing a solo run with this build this means you can finally let go of the ranged kiing and finally be a Melee character these would be the ideal items you should end up with most of these should last the shadow monk the final parts of act one all the way until the end of act two with few substitutions along the way starting off with the knife of the under Mountain King equipped in the main hand this should be a huge power Spike to the damage output the monk thanks to its passive that lowers critical ranges and allows for a roll on damage rolls of two and Below you can't dual wield at this point yet so off hand weapon doesn't matter as much however short sort of First Blood should provide a nice off-hand attack should you need it shadow of menzo baranin looks cool and would allow you to cast invisibility without the obscured conditional that shadowcloak has this should provide some fail safes should you find yourself in dangerous positions the graceful cloth helps with a nice stat boost as well as give the Nimble as a cat passive if you're running a durge character death stalker mantle is insanely overpowered for the build as it gives you invisibility upon enemy kill if you're fine with trivializing most fights this should be a must have in your place through bracers of Defense are good if you don't want to equip the shadow of menzo banen as it gives you extra AC gloves of inhibited cigo paired with elixir of strength are good for making ranged attacks with throwing weapons like daggers boots of speed are great as you don't really have access to Dash as a bonus action this early in the game disintegrating night Walkers are redundant as you already have Shadow step but are good early game if you don't have Shadow step yet Smuggler ring for pickpocketing and stealth checks is always welcome sentient amulet for when you want to restore some key points and you don't want to consume a short rest charge Moon drop pendant is good early game so that you could always escape from melee enemies when you are below 50% HP Amulet of Misty step again redundant with Shadow step but very good escape and positioning tool early game when you don't have access to Shadow step step yet finally we move on to act two items you want to rush getting gloves of the balanced hands so that you could finally dual wield and attack with your offhand cloak of protection for extra AC and saving throw this is acquired from the last Light in area along with the gloves of balanced hands justicier Scimitar is extremely good as it can blind enemies on hit giving disadvantage in their attacks against you as well as abling you to run away without triggering attacks of opportunity Amulet of Harpers is extremely good for survivability especially in Solo runs eversight ring one of the core items for the build it gives you immunity to the blind that your Darkness gives allowing you to fight inside it without dipping two levels in warlock very very good this ring should last you the entire game and finally the risky ring another core item this allows you to sneak attack every single round even without crouching another keeper that would last the entire run finally moving on to act three the helmet of grit is insane as it gives you a bonus action when you are below 50% HP without the thief subclass this is a crucial item as it gives you the option to switch your Rogue subass into assassin allowing for an explosive Alpha strike round that should wipe out scores of enemies this is up to you palast armor is the armor from the quest line investigating the murders I suggest rushing this core item after you get into the lower city as this makes it so any enemies within 2 m of you are vulnerable to piercing damage with this armor and the Assassin subass you can finally outdamage even the Paladin builds remember vulnerability doubles every damage roll not total damage but every damage roll complete Game Cher cloak of displacement for when you are caught out in the open this offers very good survivability as it imposes a disadvantage on the first attack roll towards you Amulet of Bal allows you to inflict bleeding which helps the success rate of your stunning strikes Delora marus goes hard with the Assassin subclass dealing an extra seven damage which is doubled with the polished armor dealing an extra 14 damage when you defeat Orin you should finally get the final pair of weapons you'll ever need in this build Crimson Mischief is an insane piercing weapon with four whole damage rolls remember the vulnerability from poist armor now you get to double every single damage roll from Crimson Mischief now pair that with the guaranteed Critical Strike from the Assassin subclass and you'll one-hot anyone with one hit extremely powerful bloodthirst is another drop from Orin this increases your crit range by one and increases your armor class by one when wielded in the off hand when wielded in the main hand it gives vulnerability to piercing damage pretty redundant with Bist armor finally the hell dusk gloves for another damage roll of fire damage on melee attacks that's pretty much it with the items if I missed a better option in any stage of the game I apologize but these are the items I used in my solo tactician Run for the the ithd powers the only ones that are relevant for this build are luck of the far Realms and cull the weak with those concluded we move on to the most fun part of the guide the shadow Monk's abilities I'll try to be quick and concise with the strategies and tactics of this section Shadow step kiting utilizing the immense range of Shadow step the shadow monk is able to teleport to extreme distances so long as the location is obscured the main combo with this is to hit someone for as much as you can while reserving a bonus action for a shadow step to safety and then running away until your movement has run out this would waste the enemy's actions to use Dash to catch up to you leaving them with nothing else else to do there are exceptions to this mainly enemies that can Dash as a bonus action or Misty step to you hasted enemies or ranged enemies in general so be sure to save up bonus actions accordingly ranged enemies are especially dangerous be sure to utilize cover as they will still be able to hit your Shadow monk even with the massive Gap you've made with a single shadow step in these cases either Reserve both your bonus actions to double Shadow step away or utilize Corners so that the AI would decide to just use Dash wonder if the gods are watching me a for for next up shadowcloak fight resets this is a broken combo that you can use to trivialize most fights in the game first start by initiating a surprise round this basically gives you an extra turn to turn invisible after you made all your attacks in the initial turn then use cloak of Shadows to turn invisible and then walk away from the spot you use cloak of Shadows from as enemies will try to use detect presence in the spot you were last seen if you're near enough when they use this they will be able to remove your invisibility also be mindful of Shadows a stepping into the light will also remove your invisibility once they use detect presence and they fail to find you the combat will end you can then repeat the process and initiate a surprise round again rinse and repeat until everyone is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] dead you can also use minor illusion as a great setup tool to group up enemies so that you can hit them all in the first [Music] turn [Music] [Music] yeah [Music] sry [Applause] [Applause] a darkness is a powerful spell especially combined with the eversight ring from act two this gives you a pocket of safety in locations that have no Shadows you can also use this to bug out the enemy AI as they will sometimes fail to path find towards you when you're inside the Darkness Darkness also pretty much makes ranged enemies pass their turn when you're in inside it with these properties you can use Darkness to block out passageways and entrances to dissuade enemy AI giving you and your party members a safe haven from [Music] attacks tring fast I must [Music] heal [Music] [Music] yes [Music] [Music] yeah [Music] for the rest of the skills I admit I haven't used them as much as cloak of Shadows Shadow step and darkness pretty much makes them irrelevant with how these three skills manipulate enemy AI they are however good support Tools in a fourman parties silence is a good tool on a fourman party playthroughs to disable enemy casters stunning strikes are a good stalling abilities that would disable priority targets and pass without Trace as a great way to surpass stealth checks that pretty much sums up everything about this Shadow Monk guide I hope you learn something and maybe even be enticed to try the subass yourself if you'd like to see a specific fight take a gander in my YouTube channel as I did post almost all relevant fights in their Posta one anyway I hope you enjoyed the video I'll let this fight play out until the video ends take care for I'll catch break something on my mind you were witness assaulting someone for B take you first for for what does it feel like for h it for for is

Channel: unbidden

Views: 39,187

Keywords: bg3, baldurs gate 3, shadow monk, solo, tacitcian, baldur's gate 3, build, monk, way of the shadow, tactician

Id: XVWAqq9qMK4

Length: 32min 45sec (1965 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 13 2023