Corrosive Touch | Wizard Druid | Baldur's Gate 3

so I think I've worked out one of the best ways to play an acid-based spellcaster in Baldur's Gate 3. let's Dive In hello everybody and welcome back to the channel so disclaimers first this is a concept first and optimized second style build building around a concept rather than the best possible damage this build looks like it should be a heap of fun to play though and I hope you enjoy it if you want to hang around to the end I will quickly run through what changes I would make to the build to make it a bit more optimized if that's all you're after check the timestamps so today we are doing our best to create an acid-based Caster in Boulder skate 3. if you want to check out the backstory for the character here's the short linked Above So acid damage comes with a few hurdles and I just want to set the expectations from the get-go so as is the case in D and D this build does suffer a little in comparison to Pure damage builds this will never be as potent damage wise as a lightning or Firebase Caster however the strength of this build is in making fantastic use of your resources action bonus action reaction and concentration all in the same turn add in a few really great items and spells and this is a fantastic build just following on from that if it wasn't clear from the short if you take on this backstory your mind is broken the experiments along with the long-term exposure to mushrooms has left you unbalanced you are brilliant and pick up new spells and knowledge quickly but you often make decisions on a whim not caring for the consequences you cared little for anyone actually and you just want to see the world burn now let's get into the build level by level so for character creation we are of course playing a dragon board for this build I'm really happy to be finally doing a Dragonborn build I've put it off for ages due to poor scaling of dragon breath but it's being patched somewhat and it isn't completely terrible now so here we are we are an acid-based caster and so we are taking black Dragonborn who gets the acid breath which is a 5 meter cone with a dexterity save dealing a pretty decent 2d6 on level one this increases to three to six at level 6 and 46 at level 11. so it does still fall off damage wise but is AOE so if you can hit a few Targets this is still a great way to deal damage we also get draconic ancestry for being in it a Dragonborn making us resistant to acid damage this is exactly what we needed and a great way to start our build for our class we are starting wizard Having learned many secrets in the drow Library many you didn't yet understand you took the Scrolls and tomes with you when you ran hopefully your half-broken mind can still bear the knowledge however you are quite bright and of course as a Dragonborn your very essence is infused with magical energies you picked up the basic cantrips and shielding spells quite easily and were of course drawn to the incantations that were more acidic in nature and so for our can trips we are starting with the obvious acid Splash this is a one-of-a-kind AOE can trip in a small area however it has two limitations firstly the AOE is quite small and second it isn't based on an attack roll it is a dexterity saving through this combined with the low damage of 1d6 makes this a difficult cantrip to build around however we shall make it good if it is the last thing we do the other two we are taking are magehand for the utility and dancing lights which can help us illuminate any Targets that are shrouded in darkness since we don't have dark vision four spells there are two we definitely need to pick up here chromatic orb for the acid variant and shield for the bonus to Armor class which we would definitely need from here on I am focusing on effects that feel either mind-altering like fog cloud or Tasha's hideous laughter as an effect of our intimate knowledge of spores and mushrooms or generally useful skills like grease and longstrider for our background I see an argument for urchin here however we are not the stealthy type of Mage so we are taking Outlander once again gaining proficiencies in athletics and survival varability scores we are taking 18 strengths 12 in dexterity 14 Constitution 15 intelligence plus two here 13 wisdom plus one here and finally 10 in charisma or app proficiencies we are taking Akana of course and I really like medicine here as a byproduct of all your time handling the goods okay Splash your way off the ship and on to level two on level 2 we get our Wizard subclass and we are going with evocation now evocation Wizards excel at destructive Magics and their class feature sculpt spells allows them to dish out damage without fear of harming their allies this skill makes it so our allies automatically succeed on any saving throws for evocation spells that you cast taking no damage this is a great feature that we will make use of but not till a bit later four spells there are no real standouts here so I am taking sleep and find familiar I like to think that as a byproduct of the experiments done to you you have spent a lot of time alone and have started to enjoy the company of animals often more than humans you speak to them although you cannot understand them you feel like understanding is just on the cusp of your awareness back to find familiar though and you now have a toad named Trevor Trevor could be a fantastic addition to your comrat prowess though as buffotoxin his main attack imposes disadvantage on dexterity saves your first step to acid Splash being okay level three and we get second level spells here there are a few good ones but we have to pick up Misty step here giving us an easy escape from close range combatants the other spell is of course melf's acid Arrow another evocation spell their spell is an interesting one and I think it's a good time now to talk about the acid debuff you already had access to it from chromatic orb at character creation but basically it just reduces your enemy's Armor class by two this effect as far as I'm aware only comes from Acid surfaces though and not acid damage itself but it's a fantastic debuff to try and keep on as many enemies as possible to give your attack rolls a higher chance to land so back to acid Arrow it deals 4d4 initial damage then 2d4 on the end of the target's turn it is an attack roll however if it misses the Target still takes half the initial damage finally it leaves an acid surface on the ground debuffing All Creatures allies included this does slightly higher damage than chromatic orb as a level 2 spell and it still deals some damage on a save so let's use it now as if we're planning to burn a level 2 spell slot on to level 4 and I think our extended use of acidic Magics has resulted in a certain amount of Mastery over the element you feel the gifts of your ancestors pulsing through you as you melt away anything in your path however the effects of long exposure to mushrooms still plague you greatly and you find yourself completely lost at moments confused and angry so we get another can trip on this level and I think true strike is a good pickup as we Melt Away armor the flesh underneath becomes exposed presenting a perfect Target to strike for spells we are taking crown of Madness as you descend further you are also more capable of inflicting this condition upon your enemies driving them to attack at random and hold person allows you to restrain an enemy in your pools of acid preventing them from moving as they slowly melt away finally on this level we are taking the elemental Adept feat choosing acid this means our spells completely ignore any resistance to acid damage and also prevent us from Rolling A1 whenever doing acid damage you have likely returned to your birthplace at this point maybe you felt it cold to you but the underdark welcomes you home the spores spreading throughout this realm speak to you and on level 5 we are taking our first Druid level you are making decisions now that you are completely sure are the right course of action but your companions are always telling you you need to rethink your plans all except minthara that is they keep telling you that this is madness but they know nothing of the madness that dwells inside okay so can trips on this level and we are taking guidance and resistance being a Divine Caster we get access to all our spells but I think we have just barely cheated over the edge into understanding the animals around us taking the speak with animals ritual some other good choices are animal friendship verify and healing word as a druid we also gain proficiency with shields and up to medium armor so if you want to Don something a bit sturdier now you can as we become more accustomed to our environment we start to relax maybe you let down our guard a little for the first time since being captured this place holds so many memories for you and as you settle into sleep you pull out one of the druidic texts you took what feels like a lifetime ago you reread how The Druids shift their shape at will and some Druids even directed their studies on the cycles of death and rebirth but sing on fungal growth these Druids harness necrotic energies to Shield themselves and learn to master the spores They Carried with them so on level 6 we get our Druid subclass and we are taking this circle of spores Druids also get access to the wild shape feature on this level giving them a variety of forms they can transform into these of course cost a wild shaped charge which we have two of at this level these forms for us are the badger cat spider and wool forms gaining various advantages depending on the form these will sell to be used for us outside of exploring though since we want our wild chip charges for our circle of spores features so firstly as a Sportster would we get the Halo of spores feature letting us actively use our reaction to unleash a cloud of spores onto our enemies dealing 1d4 in necrotic damage not much but it does let us weaponize our reaction and Target who we want with it which is very useful a second feature adds to this which is symbiotic entity which allows us to use a charge of wild shape and grants us four temporary hit points per Druid level when we cast it it also lets us deal one D6 additional necrotic damage with melee attacks and causes Halo of spores to hit twice while we maintain those temporary hit points we won't make much use of the melee component with this build however that weaponized reaction just doubled to 2d4 which is pretty decent half time break and firstly I just want to mention poison Ed as you might think acid and poison go hand in hand and in many ways they do however there are many enemies especially in Act 2 that are resistant or immune to poison there is no method that I know of to bypass that resistance except for once per long rest so we are sticking to acid and control spells with dips into a few other areas coming up now I just want to go straight into items as this build is very item dependent so if you are planning to play this build tune back in now I will let you know which Maps these are available in but I'll leave anything more than that out for spoiler reasons if you want more info take a look on the wiki the progression of this build is fairly simple we need to increase our spell DC for acid Splash and a few other spells coming up while also increasing our Attack rules for chromatic orb and acid Arrow and also augmenting our cast with various additional effects with that in mind we have the early game Staples of the build the protective spark wall is a great place to start and it pairs well with the spell sparkler giving you an early bonus to attack roles and saving through DC's the necklace of Elemental augmentation adding our intelligence modifier to our acid Splash damage and the shade Spell circuit adding plus one to save DC's while obscured next to Mid game items ring of mental inhibition again reducing saving throws callus glow ring which is the reason we took dancing lights and can be very potent with all our damage sources adding two radiant damage this can be up to four to five times a turn adding up quickly boots of Arcane bolstering flesh melter cloak brow beaten circlet and Icarus gloves this last one can be really great and really problematic use with caution and crowd control next some end game items you really want to try and end with spell mic gloves adding a lot of damage for free to acid Splash since it is a deck save and not an attack roll armor of the Spore keeper this is a must-have adding a heap of Versatility to your spores and super thematic hay spores give you or an ally haste while in the spores with no downsides tin mask spores damages and befuddles enemies making them wander aimlessly and bibabang also deals damage and leaves a stationary noxious fumes to damage enemies cloak and hood of the weave are perfect adding to your attack and save DC finally we have the staff of spell power and if you can find it Marco heshkia both great quarter Stars giving you a free spell and we will discuss the legendary a bit more later in the optimization section okay enough equipment torque and on with the build level 7 now and we are continuing on with our druidic forays here this level is a short one gaining level two Druid spells a fourth level spell slot and the blindness and detect thought spells for being a spores druid four spells on this level there are some great thematic options lesser restoration protection from Poison even dark vision but I think I'm going to prepare Spike growth here [Music] main abilities in acid Splash and acid Arrow don't require our concentration so that frees us up for other options previously that has been control however Spike growth is an interesting one it has a fairly decent sized long range and it doesn't require a saving throw from the enemy this is important since this is a druid spell and our wisdom is quite low but once they are in the spikes they are stuck there they have to move out of them or continue taking damage with no save so use what you like most here acid tip spikes is my go-to during the time you spent in the underdark you encountered many creatures many you had seen before and whilst you contemplate the aftermath of moonrise you think on a new Druid form you wish to test okay level 8 and our final Druid level and we get another wild shape form in the Deep growth Bay these creatures native to the underdark gain the ability to cast the dancing lights now I wish this worked with callous glowing alas your item effects are disabled in Wild shape also on this level we get another can trip pick your favorite here I am taking Thorn whip finally we get an ability score Improvement and you guessed it we are taking intelligence hopefully bumping into 20 depending on your campaign choices level 9 and we are going back to wizard as a level 5 wizard we finally get level 3 spells and my favorite here is stinking Cloud replacing fog in Your Arsenal this makes our enemies nauseous preventing them from taking actions while they remain inside there are so many other spells I want on this level gaseous form blink counterspell hypnotic pattern but I have to take a step back here and take mirror images in order to maintain our temp HP from symbiotic entity but if you want to take something else go for it after all your time spent mastering your single can trip you are so Adept at firing off your acid splashes now that your speed surprises your enemies catching them out even if they manage to Dodge in time since on level 10 we get the potent cantrips feature this causes enemies who manage to succeed in their saving throw to avoid acid Splash to still take half the damage unlike an attack roll which most can trips get acid Splash and poison spray are the only ones to benefit from this passive aren't we lucky that this is our main cantrip or spells on this level I will just take some from last level that I wanted to pick up hypnotic pattern and blink as you become more and more unbalanced twisted and desperate your crazed desires start to spill out into the world around you manifesting in a variety of forms from Mass confusion to Wild Black tentacles smothering everything they touch you have reached a point of no return and burning everything down is all that is left for you embrace it so level 10 and I love confusion and Everett's black tentacles here these both add a reliable way to mass CC your enemies Everett's black tentacles also Smothers the enemies giving you advantage on attack rolls and the enemies get disadvantaged on dexterity savings throws also on this level we get our first level 6 spell slot definitely upcast your chromatic orb or acid arrow with this slot finally level 12 and your desire to watch everything burn and melt away has manifested in a culmination of acid acid grease and raw destructive power as we finish the build off with Fireball and Wall of fire a fun way to end the build off although if you want to go acid all the way go for it with maybe gaseous form and blight for our final feat we are taking another ability score Improvement here and there are a few options for us dexterity would increase our armor class by one and initiative slightly Constitution would increase our hit points by around 24 up to 102. intelligence if you are uncapped for whatever reason or wisdom if you want to increase your spell DC for Druid spells you might be using phew another build done I love that our intellect-based spelled DC with this build reaches 22 and even our low wisdom safe reaches 19. along with that we reach plus 13 to hit on attack rolls this build truly exceeded my expectations especially when you account for the items hold on though as optimization makes it even Wilder so I chose wizard for this build as that was the narrative decision that I wanted for this character but there is also the option to play as a draconic bloodline sorcerer at level 6 you gain Elemental Affinity allowing you to add your charisma modifier to the damage of all acid spells you cast double dipping this with the necklace of Elemental augmentation I mentioned earlier and potent robes means you get a plus 15 to damage with your cantrips with no downsides and a plus five to all of your leveled acid spells we also get some more AC and hit points and of course meta magic allowing you to Twin and Quicken spells this is especially potent for this build giving you even more options for your bonus action the only price you pay for this is melts acid Arrow since it's not in the source of a spell list and the potentials feature of evocation Wizards however your saving through should be high enough with this build the majority of the time for it to not be too painful the legendary staff Marco heshkia does also give you the Mel's acid arrows spell along with Hunger of hater if you apply the acid variation of koreshka's favor this does require you to hold out till act 3 however chromatic orb is just barely behind acid Arrow ink damage anyway so honestly you are gaining much more than you lose here finally for your final feat I would consider taking dual wielder weird I know but it allows you to wield two weapons one in both hands gaining the benefits of both just a heads up before you try I did try this with staff of spell power and Marco heshkia and you only get one free spell slot per long rest other options could be woe or my preference Rhapsody still gaining the plus to attack roles and spell DC but also on three stacks of scarlet remittance you gain the Scarlet Feast effect which you can consume to give you the option to guarantee a critical hit with your next melee melee attack give enemies disadvantage on saving throws or heal you for 3D 10. you can only do this once per long rest but added to the plus three to hit and this is a great addition to the build that's it folks I hope you enjoyed the build this week I slaved over this one for a while to make it actually decent so I'm sorry for all the item requirements I tried to keep them spread throughout all stages of the game but this world will be a blast to play good luck and until my next video see ya [Music]

Channel: MrSoulbound

Views: 15,514

Keywords: baldurs gate 3, bg3, baldurs gate 3 gameplay, character creation, official release, balders gate 3, baulders gate 3, boulders gate 3, rpg, rpg 2023, upcoming rpg baldurs gate 3, crpg, larian studios, mrsoulbound, soulbound, ideas, fun build, excited, hype, characters, world, guide, multiclass, mushroom, spore, druid, circle, wizard, evocation, acid, poison, corrosive, touch

Id: JtpKVWOu2MM

Length: 22min 9sec (1329 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 29 2023