Optimizing Every Companion in Baldur's Gate 3 (Part 1)

if you have been wanting to Respec and like  optimize every companion character in your   Baldur's Gate 3 party but do it in a way that's  both really powerful but also feels on point   for that character thematically then I think  you're gonna enjoy this video Welcome to D4 [Music]   hey everybody so here at D4 every week I take a  deep dive into character builds for my favorite   role-playing games usually that means Dungeons  and Dragons lately we've had a healthy heaping of   Baldur's Gate as well but I like to Theory craft  about character builds crunch numbers about them   not so that I can tell you the right way or the  best way to play a certain character but just to   explore one potential way to build something that  is both really fun but also really powerful to   play so if you enjoy creating characters for your  role-playing games almost as much as you enjoy   actually playing the game itself or if you're  just looking for tips or ideas on how to build   something that you're thinking about playing then  welcome home this is where you belong and I am so   glad you're here so thank you for watching  my name is Colby really quick if you would   be interested in getting a written step-by-step  guide to help you recreate these characters or   any of the characters that I build on my channel  without having to go back and re-watch the video   or take notes I'd appreciate it if you would  consider joining as a channel member there's   a little button down there that says join for  just a couple of bucks a month you get access   to the library of write-ups that I create for  each one of these builds and it's just a nice   way to lend some additional support to me and  to the channel huge shout out and thank you to   all my channel members you guys are fantastic  I could not do this without you for everybody   else you are also fantastic just watching liking  subscribing commenting clicking the notifications   Bell these are also great ways to support the  channel and so I thank you for doing any and or   all of them so yes as I mentioned at the beginning  of my last Baldur's Gate 3 video right over there   a lot of you have been asking me to do like an  optimized build for our NPC companions that feels   like it's still true to their story and concept  I mean sure you could turn Carlock into a burst   damage sorcerer if you wanted and actually I've  been guilty of doing that myself but that might   feel a little off for who that can companion  character is like supposed to be right and I   mean for some characters making even a fairly  mild change can be a little jarring I can't   imagine Shadow heart waxing nostalgic about  the glories of the dark Embrace of Shar after   being respect to be a light cleric for example  as tempting as that may be and so that is the   goal for this video respect those companions  to maximize their mechanical Power while doing   my best to stay true to like their story and  background to that end I'm going to give myself   these rules they have to have at least as many  levels in their original class as they do in   any other class and if we're going to change their  subclass it can't feel like too big of a departure   from who they are and where they come from that  second rule admittedly will be a bit subjective   I know and I might make some changes with some of  these characters that you think are like too far   off their intended path I'm okay if we agree to  disagree but no I'm not not going to just commit   necessarily to just using whatever their starting  subclass is because the trickery domain sucks   now having conversations about a character's  story might potentially get us into some spoiler   territory so whenever I feel like I might be  flirting with even mild spoilers I'm going to   change the video to black and white like this  and put up big floating text at the bottom that   says spoilers like this once I'm done with any  spoiler territory we'll go back to normal and   drop the text so you can just mute the video  and wait until we're done and then see when   we're finished cool let me also say this although  the builds that I'm doing here are geared towards   our companion characters any and all of them  would absolutely work great as a build for   your own player character people have been asking  me to do a swords bar pact of the blade warlock   for example we'll get there today but sure you  could use that build that I'm going to present   for either your companion or for your tab right  one last and important note I'm only going to   plan on doing builds for these 6 origin character  companions here I know there are others that you   can potentially pick up depending on conversations  you have quests that you do namely mild spoilers   give them a second to hit that mute button house  in johera Minsk and even menthara but I mean I   killed mintara and actually failed to do houseen's  Quest before it was too late in act 2. and you   know I'm sure a lot of us are in a similar boat  so I decided to just focus on the six that were   basically all going to have for sure and also this  is going to upset some of you six builds is a lot   of builds I am just not comfortable trying to cram  all of that into a single video so yes sorry I'm   actually splitting this one up into a two-parter  with part two coming out next week doing the   builds the way I like to with proper explanation  and reasoning would just make for a super long   video if I tried to cram all six into one and  while I appreciate that many maybe most of you   would have no problem with say a 90 minute video  the YouTube algorithm doesn't seem to like it as   much and more importantly my own sanity and work  life balance would suffer drastically from trying   to get all of that done in a single week so thank  you in advance for your patience and understanding   okay Preamble done let's jump into Baldur's Gate 3  episode number five optimizing the companions part   one but first I am thrilled to have obvious mimic  as a sponsor for the video yet again this week was   game night canceled are you the forever DM at your  table or do you just really want to test one of   the characters that I've made on this channel in  an actual d d game maybe you're new to d d you've   come to it from Baldur's Gate you're curious about  checking it out but you don't yet have anybody to   play with well I've got some great news obvious  mimic makes DND 5e solo Adventures for anyone who   wants to play more or play at all but might not  always have people to play with or maybe they they   could just use a break from people for that matter  the Wolves of Langston was obvious mimic's first   murder mystery solo Adventure which I talked about  last time they sponsored a video a few months   ago I played it it was so cool and now they have  just successfully kick-started their second it's   called the crystals of zeleph and it is currently  available for pre-order the crystals of zeleth is   a classic adventure of exploration Discovery and  survival where you uncover the mysteries of a   hidden city and hopefully Live to Tell the tale  take your own path through an interactive story   designed to replicate tabletop gameplay where your  decisions have real consequences fight Monsters   cast spells and find treasure just like in a DND  campaign that you're playing with your friends   with an original story that has real Stakes you  make progress you gain experience level up you   even gain loot that if your DM were okay with it  anyway you could potentially bring to your actual   tabletop game best of all yeah this would let  you play all those character rebuilds that as a   viewer of my channel I know you've been dying to  take for a test drive so check out obvious mimic   at this URL please that's how they will know  that I sent you I will put a link to that in   the video description of course and also if  you use the discount code Colby at checkout   oh man that's so sweet usually my sponsors  give me a D4 discount code this feels a lot   more personal anyways say my name and you'll get  five bucks off either the Wolves of Langston or   the crystals of zeleph pre-order so nice so huge  thanks to obvious mimic I love what you guys are   doing and let's jump into those builds I think we  ought to kick things off with everyone's favorite   goth princess Shadow heart I think of all the  companions shadowheart might actually be like   the most sensitive to subclass changes I mean I  don't think it makes a huge impact on who Gail is   as a character if you make him an enchanter Wizard  or an abduration wizard instead of an evocation   wizard right but I guess mostly due to the nature  of certain domains and deities that they tend to   worship it's tough to make too far of a departure  with cleric when they already have a specific God   that they worship but the problem is like I said  trickery domain just isn't that good I mean you   can make it work of course course and sure there  are some benefits to having bonuses to stealth   and getting a little illusory duplicate to give  people some small advantages but I think we get   a lot more out of other cleric subclasses now I  think my favorite mostly cleric build for this   game at least that I've come up with thus far is  the light cleric that I actually laid out in that   last vg3 builds video number four but yeah again  that doesn't work all that well for a worshiper of   char that said spoiler warning depending on how  things play out for her at the end of act two I   think that you could totally respect her at that  point into light cleric and feel great about the   decision from my story and like Redemption Arc  perspective yeah so if you decided to make the   good girl decision there like I did then I would  I think totally respecker into that light AOE   cleric build that I did last time at that point  okay and spoilers so what is our best option   we don't want to go light cleric or like a life  cleric to be a fantastic healer in order to stay   true to Shadow heart's character but we don't  want to stay trickery because it's a lackluster   subclass here's what I would do respect her to  be the goddess of the storm I think channeling   anger and pain the darkness of a thunderstorm as  a tempest cleric feels like a lot better fit for   a follower of char than most other options and  Tempest cleric has a lot of potential for big   damage so yes the build that I'm going to present  here does have a lot in common with the Wrath of   the storm build that I did in my third Baldur's  Gate 3 video but there's some major differences   here that we need to incorporate in order to make  it work as a mostly cleric build for shadowhard   generally it's going to move the build from  like a pure burst damage focused build to one   with some decent burst damage potential but better  sustained damage too here's how at level one for   our starting class yeah we're starting as clear  of course but then as soon as you meet Withers I   would Respec her if for no other reason then to  clean up those terrible starting stats make sure   that you get her a 16 wisdom a 16 intelligence  and a 14 Constitution what's the deal with larian   giving like every single companion character a  bunch of odd numbered stats to start off with   it's like they're just begging you to respect  these characters as for the 16 intelligence   I'll explain about that later at level 1 clerics  get their subclass and like I said we're going   to change it to Tempest as a tempest cleric we  get heavy armor proficiency so we don't have to   worry about our dexterity as much which is nice  eventually then be sure to grab the best heavy   armor possible and a shield not too worried about  weapons here as a tempest cleric we get Wrath of   the storm it's a nice little way to like return  damage on an enemy attacker with our reaction and   then we get cleric spells Tempest clerics get  Thunder Wave and fog Cloud for free both are   decent spells but other than those I'd say just  go with the usual suspects here at level one but   less one of the best Buffs in game guidance one  of the best utility spells in game healing word   one of the best healing spells in game and then  most important of all create or destroy water   as a reminder in bg3 when a creature gets the  wet condition then cold and lightning damage   is doubled against them they're vulnerable to it  right there are several ways to cause a creature   to get wet throw a bottle of water at them or near  them for example but another great and easy way is   via the create water spell it creates a nice  puddle of water that can get multiple enemies   wet a couple of notes Here casting the spell  won't cause non-hostile enemies to suddenly   attack you so you can potentially set up combat  by going into turn based mode casting this waiting   around and then opening combat with your cold or  lightning damage if you know that you're going to   be fighting those enemies however if the enemy is  already hostile it might be tricky to get create   water off without starting combat and thus wasting  your first turn because you've got to get pretty   close here's one potential way around it hide  around a corner or behind a pillar or something   and then up cast the spell if need be the higher  level you cast it the bigger the area of water   created this can potentially let you get enemies  wet without even starting combat and then you can   Engage The Enemy with your lightning or cold spell  for double damage without wasting that first round   at level 2 clerics get channel Divinity they get  one charge of Channel Divinity which resets on a   short rest and they can use this to either turn  Undead right and make Undead enemies flee from   you if they fail their save or as a tempest cleric  destructive wrath which is our bread and butter   burst damage ability letting us do full maximum  damage on a lightning or thunder spell instead of   rolling for it that's huge especially if the enemy  is wet letting you do double Max damage it ends up   being almost four times what you'd get on average  without destructive wrath and the wet condition   now at level 3 original only for that wrath of the  storm build I went with storm sorcerer levels to   get access to Quicken Spell among other things so  that we could throw out create water as a bonus   action and then follow up with a lightning spell  for big burst all in a single round or if the   enemy was already wet casts two lightning-based  spells in a single turn I'm going to adjust the   shadow heart version of the build for a couple of  reasons one I don't want to invest three levels   into another class at least not right away since  I wanted to feel like mostly a cleric throughout   and that build by the way that I did ended up  being mostly a sorcerer I kept going I wanted   to get lightning bold but that was a five level  investment and it meant I was making Charisma my   main stat as opposed to wisdom and again that  doesn't feel very clericy or Shadow hearty but   another reason that I felt like I ought to change  it for this build is because I've kind of learned   that it tends to be a lot easier to get enemies  wet before combat begins without triggering combat   like I've explained and or use an ally to toss a  bottle of water and will have a great build for   an ally to be able to do that without sacrifice  facing much by the way so quick and spell didn't   feel quite as necessary plus there are some  really nice mechanical benefits to getting more   cleric levels that said we don't currently have a  good lightning based damage spell and we want one   remember wet doubles cold and lightning damage and  destructive wrath does Max damage on thunder and   lightning so we've got to go with a lightning  spell to take advantage of both right and the   best level one lightning based spell for damage  is chromatic orb so we need to dip into another   class to get it because it's not available  to clerics but if we're not as worried about   Quicken spell then I think instead of sorcerer I  would grab a level of wizard at this point to get   chromatic orb now that we've got destructive wrath  frankly Shadow heart has never felt particularly   charismatic to me anyway I mean she can be pretty  prickly right there's a bit of a wall there   but intelligent cerebral calculating for sure so  let's do a level of wizard here to get access to   Chromatic orb instead of sorcerer thus as a wizard  one we would get Arcane recovery and that's a nice   way to get some spell slots back and then yes  we get wizard spells we get cantrips level one   spells just make sure to grab chromatic orb which  we'll do as a level 1 spell 2d8 lightning damage   or other damage types if we really wanted to  plus with lightning it will cause the ground   and the entire puddle of water if you have one and  they're standing in it to become electrified for   a couple of rounds meaning enemies that touch the  area get the electrocuted condition which deals a   little lightning damage to them every round for a  couple of rounds plus it'll knock them back when   they're first trying to enter the area so at this  level if we upcast chromatic orb as a second level   spell which we could do thanks to multi-classing  two full spell casters together right we've got   second level spells if the enemy were wet and we  use destructive wrath we would hit for 48 damage   on a single Target at level three not bad of  course arguably the best reason to take wizard   here is because of this thing that a ton of you  have been commenting about in my videos I kind of   feel like it's cheating so I haven't talked about  it thus far I kind of feel like learning is gonna   fix or patch this but it's worth mentioning at  the time of this recording at least if you take   a single level of wizard then you can permanently  learn a wizard spell from a spell Scroll of any   level so long as you have access to spell Slots of  the appropriate level right so for example right   now we have second level spell slots but as a  cleric 2 Wizard one we don't have any second level   spells well if you were to find a spell Scroll  of say Misty step you could learn that since it's   a wizard spell and have permanent access to that  spell for the rest of the game this is definitely   not how it works in DND and like I say I'm willing  to bet that Lorraine is going to fix this in a   future patch hopefully not before this video comes  out but if it's working as intended I mean keep   your eye out for those juicy wizard spells tools  and get ready to scribe them into your Spellbook   permanently hello a lightning bolt anyway once  we've got chromatic orb let's go back to cleric   I think feel free to get a second level of wizard  to grab a subclass but I would rather get more and   better cleric spells plus some good Tempest cleric  options if we're not going to be trying to beeline   for lightning bolt so as a cleric 3 we get second  level cleric spells Tempest clerics get shatter   and gust of wind for free both situationally  useful some nice AOE damage on shatter and it's   thunder so you could double it with destructive  wrath but it won't benefit from wet Beyond those   free spells go for the usuals here aid for a nice  buff and heal lesser restoration for a little   cure-all spiritual weapon if you need a weaponized  bonus action not bad at level 5 we would be a   cleric 4 and that means we get our first feat and  we are absolutely going to bump our wisdom to 18   to make our spells harder to resist and hit more  regularly at level 6 we would be a cleric five   and that means we get destroy Undead this causes  turn Undead to also do for D6 damage in addition   to trying to turn them right which is nice and  then we get third level cleric spells now Tempest   clerics get sleet storm for free to make a big ice  patch and force casters to make a concentration   check which is nice but then best of all call  lightning this spell is typically only available   to Druids and storm Sorcerers and is really  fantastic for this build I think I overlooked   it when I was first creating this character  because in d d it's a good spell but it's not   great but in bothers Gate 3 it's stronger and we  have things like the wet condition that doubles   lightning damage so it's a really fantastic spell  it's great for both burst and sustain damage so   the spell requires concentration and then it calls  down a lightning bolt that affects creatures in   a pretty small 2 meter or seven foot radius  it's big enough to hit two Targets if they're   standing somewhat close together otherwise you're  probably just gonna be hitting one with it now   that initial straight break does 3D 10 damage but  then again so long as you maintain concentration   each round thereafter you can continue to call  another lightning bolt down for the same effect   by just using your action to do so not spending  any more spell slots 3D 10 damage every turn at   the cost of Your Action and your concentration  is situationally decent but if you can easily   get targets wet and now we're talking 6 d10  in an AOE every single round with a massive   Wallop of 60 flat damage if you use destructive  wrath that's pretty fantastic now in DND when you   upcast this spell the initial lightning bolt  does an extra d10 of damage for every level   above third that you upcasted at but in Baldur's  Gate 3 it continues to do the increased amount   of damage every single turn when you upcast it  as well yeah this spell is really good in this   game and especially for this build at level 7 we  would be a cleric 6 and that means we get to use   Channel Divinity twice for short rest and this is  one of if not the biggest advantages that a mostly   Tempest cleric has over say a storm sorcerer  or Tempest cleric being able to use destructive   wrath twice per combat encounter assuming you're  taking short rests after each fight right that's   some massive burst damage capabilities especially  when we're using a spell like call lightning that   we only have to use one single spell slot for  right tempus clerics also get Thunderbolt strike   here which lets us push enemies up to 10 feet  when we do lightning or thunder damage that's a   lot of fun it will be super useful a lot of times  in order to keep enemies at Bay or yeat them off   cliffs or maybe back into your electrified water  etc etc at level eight we'd be a cleric seven and   we get fourth level cleric spells tempus clerics  get ice storm and freedom of movement for free   ice storm is like sleet storm but it does cold and  bludgeoning damage in addition to making a big ice   patch on the ground and freedom of movement is  a nice concentration-free buff that gets allies   out of stunned and keeps them from being slowed  or restrained or paralyzed alright it is at or   about this point in the game where I personally  would consider respecting Shadow heart into a   light cleric depending on how things go for you  what decisions that you make but you don't have   to regardless of the decisions that you make right  and if you don't sure at this point feel free to   grab some sorcerer levels so that you can Quicken  end twin spell or go back to wizard to get I think   the evocation subclass so that you don't have  to worry about hurting your allies with your AOE   spells we've probably found a scroll of lightning  bolt at this point or sure even just stick with   cleric to pick up more and better cleric spells  and features any of those options are good ones   and regardless you are going to love playing this  version of Shadow heart I have respect her to this   build in my game and it is so fun alright on to  the second build for the week carlak uh karlak my   favorite companion it's too bad learning didn't  give her a little more story right because her   personality is just the best she's so awesome  and I think for her star to burn brightest   pun intended we need to just Channel her inner  Berserker Barbarian and let her wreck stuff and   so to that end this is what I would consider to be  the ultimate karlak Barbarian Build at level one   starting class Barbarian then let's respect those  ability scores to a 17 strength a 16 Constitution   and a 14 dexterity for equipment here we're going  to be looking for throne weapons medium armor and   any equipment that adds damage to throne weapon  attacks because yes we are making carlak a raging   thrower and it's going to be glorious so as a  barbarian one we are going to get Rage which we   can use twice per day for now as a bonus action to  get an extra 2 damage on melee improvised weapons   and Throne weapon attacks very nice we also get  resistance to bludgeoning piercing and slashing   damage while raging and as I'm so fond of saying  that is most of the damage that we will be taking   in game so that's wonderful just keep in mind the  big drawback to rage is that we can't concentrate   on or cast spells while raging right no worries we  don't need them we do also get unarmored defense   at this level as well which lets our Armor class  be equal to 10 plus our dexterity modifier plus   our constitution modifier but most of the time  that's still going to be a lower Armor class   than if we just had some good medium armor  so until you find some really Stellar like   Barbarian specific non-armor armor just go with  regular armor at level 2 we get danger sense   which basically gives us advantage on dexterity  saving throws and then we get what is in my mind   the barbarian's best feature Reckless attack which  just straight up lets us have advantage on our   attacks at the cost of giving enemies advantage  on their attacks against us it's totally worth it   especially if and when we're raging so we'll have  resistance to most of the damage that we're taking   anyways now here's the tricky thing about Reckless  attack on this build it's only supposed to work on   melee attacks unlike in d d when it's on strength  based attacks and thrown weapon attacks are not   considered melee attacks right however currently  in the game if you make your first attack on the   round with Reckless attack turned on then all the  rest of your attacks that round will still have   Advantage even if you're throwing stuff that's  going to be really useful on particularly hard to   hit enemies especially but we are shortly going  to have such a huge buff to our hit chance that   I'm not going to miss Advantage quite as much  on this character as I do on other builds if   you decide that you don't want to like make a  melee attack first and then start throwing as   level three first up we get a third rage charge  per long rest and that's actually a pretty big   deal letting us rage just about every fight if  we're short resting after each combat and then   long resting after three fights or so which is  kind of the norm for me it seems to be what most   people are doing based on what I'm hearing and  seeing but then yes barbarians get their subclass   at this level and yes we are totally going with  Berserker super fitting for a hot-headed barely   keeping it under control sometimes frenzied fire  goddess is it getting hot in here is it just me   so Berserkers don't get just regular rage but  frenzied Rage which tells us that when raging we   can make an improvised weapon attack with a bonus  action which is nice actually but then also we   have access to two new abilities frenzied strike  which lets us make an additional attack each round   with our bonus action that's great but it comes  with a pretty hefty price tag of giving us a stack   of frenzied strain frenzied strain gives us a  minus one to hit for each stack of it that we   have on us and those Stacks don't go away until we  stop raging so yes we're going to want to use this   with caution as it can quickly get our hit chance  down to an unacceptable level in a long fight the   other new ability that we get is our bread and  butter ability for this build enraged throw   this tells us that we can basically use a bonus  action to throw stuff that can mean something   lying around nearby or something already in your  inventory that we have equipped it can even be   an enemy standing nearby that you can pick up and  throw but there are some some additional benefits   here if we hit our Target with enraged throw they  have to make a strength save or they're not prone   that's awesome but also at least currently in  the game it's adding our strength modifier twice   to the damage if we're throwing an actual Throne  weapon I'm assuming this is a bug but either way   it's a big damage bump and it makes using thrown  weapons here a really great idea so Stack Up on   javelins and hand axes and daggers or better yet  find the returning spear that's for sale early   on in the game in the goblin camp that will just  return to you automatically every time you throw   it one other thing that may or may not be a bug  with enraged throw currently using it also adds   a stack of frenzied strain though the tool tip  in the game doesn't say that it will what's worse   if you pick up another creature and use them to  throw at the enemy something that's both potent   and hilarious as it does damage to both the  one you're throwing and the target you throw   them at and can knock both of them prone but  when you do that it actually puts two stacks   of frenzied strain on you so I would only do that  with enraged throw if you had like one enemy that   only had a hit point or two left and you wanted to  kill them by throwing them and do some damage to   the enemy that you're throwing them at yeah but at  level 4 we get our first feat and yeah the thing   that really makes this build shine is that Tavern  brawler feat that we would take here this feat is   arguably the most overpowered feat in the game at  the moment bumping our strength by one to a nice   even 18 and then telling us that when we make an  unarmed strike an improvised weapon or a throne   weapon attack then we get to double our strength  bonus for both our hit chance and our damage   and yes for those counting that means that if we  enraged throw with a throne weapon we're going to   be tripling our strength modifier for the damage  when we hit what's more the rage damage seems to   be getting doubled here as well so until they  patch this out if they patch it out enjoy that   crazy damage and yeah with such a high bump to  our hit chance it makes frenzied strain hurt a   lot less especially if we can get Advantage via  a reckless attack by maybe making a melee attack   with our action than using enraged throw for our  bonus action though to be fair you might just be   better off throwing with your action too doing so  will still at least double our strength modifier   and damage thanks to Tavern brawler it won't  triple it because enraged throw is only usable   as a bonus action right but it's still really good  so Choose Wisely at level 5 barbarians get fast   movement that gives us an extra 10 feet of move  speed when we're not wearing heavy armor always   welcome but more importantly we get extra attack  here so that we can attack twice with our action   potentially making a reckless melee attack and  then in Rage throwing with our bonus action and   just doing a boatload of damage on our turn but at  level six it's time to leave Barbarian behind for   greener pastures because yes we want some Rogue  levels now as a rogue one we get expertise first   off this lets us double our proficiency bonus for  two skills of our choice and if it were me I would   take perception for sure as I think it's the most  used skill in the game and probably Athletics to   just make karlak that much better at things you  need a good athletic skill for jumping shoving   Etc we also get sneak attack here which lets us do  extra damage once per turn it's a D6 for now if we   make an attack with a finesse or ranged weapon  if you have advantage or the enemy is standing   next to one of your allies and while no Throne  weapons aren't the same thing as ranged weapons   there's one weapon I can think of that has both  the throne and finesse property the dagger and   yeah in my testing when I had advantage and then  through a dagger it applied sneak attack in fact   when I was testing it that throw that I made crit  and ended up doing 37 damage with a single bonus   action thrown non-magical dagger and then a  knocked him prone so yeah it might be worth   keeping a good dagger on you to take advantage of  sneak attack here at level 7 we would be a rogue   2 and that means we get cunning action so we can  Dash disengage or hide as a bonus action instead   of an action always useful and then at level 8 we  would be a rogue three and that means we get our   Rogue subclass and you know what we're doing we're  going thief and this is the main reason that we   came Rogue right you knew that because thieves get  fast hands and fast hands lets us take two bonus   actions every single turn which is just insane and  that means for us two enraged throws every single   turn and enemies are just going to melt under all  that Throne weapon deliciousness don't forget just   in case we are throwing a dagger once in a while  sneak attack does scale at this level two up to   2d6 from this point on levels nine plus after we  got Thief under our belt I'd probably go one more   level of Rogue to get another feat and then get  our strength up to 20. and then I think I would   actually go Fighter for those last three levels  Not only would that get us action Surge and a nice   fighting style but you could even at Fighter 3  take the Eldritch Knight subclass and Eldritch   Knights In addition to learning some handy  wizard spells get this cool little feature   called weapon bond which lets you magically Bond  a weapon any weapon so that when you throw it it   automatically returns to your hand so now if you  find a throne weapon that's better than something   you already have that was like an automatically  returning weapon well now that new weapon can be   a returning weapon too and that is just perfect  all right for our final companion of part one we   are going to dive into will I know I know you  all wanted a Starion well too bad you're gonna   have to wait until part two for your favorite  trampy Vamp I can't put all of the favorites in   part one part two is not gonna get as many views  as is part two of two parters never do right so   will honestly I think will might be the easiest  of all the companions to do a super awesome and   optimized build for that is one hundred percent on  point for him thematically everything we need to   know is in his moniker the blade of the frontier  so at level one yes will starts out as a warlock   and of course we're keeping him that way but  then we're going to make sure to respect his   ability scores to a 16 Charisma a 16 Constitution  and a 14 dexterity as for equipment just look for   the best Rapier that you can get a shield and the  best light armor you can find though we will be   swapping that out for medium later on warlocks get  their subclass right at level one and there's no   need for us to change will from fiend minor early  spoiler warning it wouldn't make much sense for us   if we did anyway since his Patron is well a devil  or half devil anyways as a fiend then will get   Stark one's blessing which gives some temporary  hit points whenever we kill a creature not bad   and then as for warlock spells that we get here  fiends get burning hands and command for free both   situationally useful but beyond that I'd make sure  to grab Eldritch blast that best offensive cantrip   in the game warlock staple as well as hex for a  little extra damage on your target when you hit   them with either a weapon attack or spell like  Eldritch blast it's perfect for us at level 2   we get Eldritch invocations and there are two  must-have invocations for this build agonizing   blast is going to add our Charisma modifier to  the damage of each beam of Eldritch blast that   we fire and remember it starts firing two beams  at character level five and then three at level   11. and Devil's sight is going to let us see  in magical Darkness you know where I'm going   with this don't you at level 3 warlocks get their  packed Boon and we absolutely have to go with pact   of the blade let's make will actually represent  his nickname right pact of the blade is fantastic   in bg3 it lets us either Bond our equipped weapon  as a packed weapon or lets us some common a   magical packed weapon of our choice and afterwards  if we make attacks with that packed weapon we can   use our spell casting modifier both to hit and  to damage I love being sad single ability score   dependent so now we can just focus on our Charisma  and have it benefit both our spells and our weapon   attacks hooray also importantly at third level  we get second level warlock spells and that means   that we can get among other great options the  darkness spell now in my very first bg3 video   over here I talked about how this wasn't working  properly in Early Access but whether it was or   not they fixed it for a final release and I love  it darkness is both stronger and weaker in bg3   than it is in DND on the one hand in Baldur's Gate  you can't cast it on an object only on the ground   meaning that you can't like cast it on your weapon  and then have the darkness move around with you   but just like Indian D in Baldur's Gate 3 if you  have Devil's sight and are inside that Darkness   then your enemy can't see you but you can see them  so you've got advantage on attacks against them   and they have disadvantage on attacks against you  this is fantastic but what's even better is that   if you're in the darkness and an enemy outside of  it is trying to attack you with a ranged attack   the attack just straight up Fails Like There's  not even an attack roll made it's as though the   thick darkness is impenetrable to missiles they  just bounce off doesn't work that way in DND but   it's great for this game now the area of Darkness  itself is smaller in bg3 than it is in d d but   I actually see that as a good thing it makes  Darkness a lot less disruptive for your other   allies so from this point on I'd use will like  this cast Darkness on your first Target and then   on subsequent turns make Rapier attacks against  them with Advantage enjoying relative safety in   the meantime since you're inside that warm dark  Embrace once any and all Targets inside of the   darkness are dead just stay inside as best you  can firing out Eldritch blast beams from within   enjoying continued advantage and safety pick  taking off your targets one by one it makes will   feel like a true spell sword super gishy you're  both making weapon attacks and casting spells   and it's awesome at level 4 we get our first feat  and as sad as we are we are 100 bumping Charisma   here to 18 to benefit pretty much everything we  do now alternatively we could do something like   say take the great weapon Master feature and then  make our packed weapon a great sword or something   and enjoy that plus 10 to damage at the expense of  a minus five to hit if you're using darkness and   getting Advantage it's not a bad idea the big  problem with going that route I think is that   again Darkness doesn't travel with you so after  the enemies inside it are dead you're gonna have   a much tougher time hitting your enemies unless  you're getting Advantage from some other source if   you are and you'd prefer to make will more blade  than Caster go for it for me I think I keep it   simple here and just leave him in that Darkness  it's just a lot of fun conceptually to run in   make melee attacks against enemies inside that  darkness and then stay there firing out beams from   within at level 5 in Baldur's Gate 3 warlocks get  deepened packed which strengthens our packed Boon   and gloriously in pg3 that means our pact of the  blade grants us extra attack and that's perfect   we also get a third invocation at this level and I  think I'd probably go with repelling blast here so   that my Eldritch blast can knock enemies back 10  feet you don't always need that turned on but you   can toggle it on and off and having the option  to knock back is super fantastic when you've   got great reason to be pushing your targets off of  things or into things or if nothing else away from   you or a squishy Ally and we love warlock level  5 because we also get third level spells here   now and fiends get both stinking cloud and the  illustrious Fireball as options for some nice AOE   damage but you could also grab a strong control  option like fear or hypnotic pattern I think I'd   be sure to grab hunger of Hadar as it's Unique  to warlocks and it makes a big 20-foot radius of   Blackness on on the battlefield that does damage  and blinds enemies inside and causes the ground   to be difficult to rain so it's just a nice way  to make a bunch of enemies miserable if you can   get it on him but at level 6 it's time to leave  warlock behind because you see there's more to   being the blade of the frontier than just killing  things with sword and spell any old Adventurer   can do that what makes the blade the blade is the  stories that grow up around this folk hero right   and what class excels at embellishing Grand  stories that the common fault can look to and   receive inspiration from The Bard of course so yes  we're taking Bard levels here and honestly I feel   like doing so is way more on point thematically  for will than just staying straight warlock I   mean come on look at the way he's always trying to  like charm and sweet talk your other party members   during those like passive conversations that  they have with each other right as you're running   around the world the guy is probably more barred  than warlock he just accidentally got trapped into   a raw deal with a devil anyway as a Bard won then  we get first up Bardock inspiration this lets us   three times per long rest as opposed to Charisma  modifier times prolonged rest in d d use a bonus   action to inspire our allies they then have a D6  that they can add to an ability check an attack   roll or a saving throw of their choice in the next  10 minutes it's a fantastic support ability that   makes everyone better we do get Bard spells here  as well and I'm just gonna say pick your favorite   vicious mockery unique to bards is a fun can trip  to do a little damage and cause an enemy to have   disadvantage on their next attack roll if they  fail their save against it it's worth using once   in a while if for no other reason than just to see  the awesome lines of dialogue that get shouted out   when you cast it they're hilarious I'd probably  grab healing word for some emergency healing maybe   fairy fire to give you Advantage outside of your  Darkness especially if you went the great weapon   Master route but yeah nothing otherwise that I'm  gonna plan on using regularly in combat so pyf   at level 7 we'd be a barred two and that means  we get a song of rest which is way better in b   3 then D and D as it just straight up gives us a  third short rest per day which is always handy we   also get Jack of all trades which is just such  a great feature especially for like our main PC   character I think since it just adds half of our  proficiency bonus when we're making a check with   an ability that we're not proficient in at level  eight we would be a barred three and that means   we get our barred subclass our college and as the  blade of the frontier of course we're going with   College of Swords we can't but go with College of  Swords here and it's a fantastic subclass first   of all it gives us medium armor proficiency so  go ahead and grab your favorite medium armor now   then we also get a fighting style but there are  only two options available to swordsbards Dueling   and two weapon fighting since our packed weapon  can only apply to a single weapon at a time we're   going to be sticking with a single Rapier here and  so we'll take the dueling fighting style giving us   an extra 2 damage with each hit that we make with  that Rapier nothing crazy but a nice little bump   more importantly we get Blade flourish at this  level which functions kind of like Battle Master   Maneuvers we essentially get to spend a use of  our bardic inspiration now if we wanted to not   to inspire our allies but to enhance our weapon  attacks in one of three ways these are quite a bit   different than they are in D defensive flourish is  nice it makes a weapon attack but then if it hits   it both adds your bardic inspiration die in damage  and then increases your armor class by just a flat   four until your next turn it's not bad but it does  have to hit or you get no AC bump mobile flourish   pushes your target not five but a whopping 20 feet  away if it hits that's kinda crazy and then after   you push them it lets you just teleport to them  without having to spend a reaction or a bonus   action or anything slashing flourish maybe got the  biggest bump from its DND counterpart it just acts   like a full cleave it lets you do damage to two  separate targets and now here's the thing like in   DND in bg3 you can use these flourishes on ranged  weapons but here since it just like lets you make   two attacks against enemies within range if  you're using a ranged weapon you could just   Target any second enemy that's within range  of your ranged weapon they don't have to be   standing next to each other and yeah I mean if  you have the Sharpshooter feet that's kind of   crazy feels a little broken but maybe it's working  as intended if so I'm sure I will have a ranged   swords Bard built out before too long we also get  second level Bard spells here and while there are   a ton of great ones cloud of daggers hold person  crown of Madness lesser restoration invisibility   there's nothing I'm necessarily planning on using  during combat sticking probably with Darkness or   hex for concentration depending on how hard our  enemies are to hit so go ahead and pick your   favorite at level 9 we would be a barred four and  yeah I think at best if we just bump that Charisma   up to 20 here to make both our weapon attacks and  our spells more potent if you went great weapon   Master last time you might want to consider taking  pole arm Master here once they fix the feet at   least so that you can make a great weapon master  infused bonus action attack with the butt of the   pole arm right it leaves us with a 16 Charisma all  this time if we went that route so I'd probably   advise against it unless you've got some gear  that's increasing your charisma or at least   your hit chance significantly but yeah at the time  of this recording polar Masters broken it doesn't   apply the extra damage from great weapon Master  even though you're using that same two-handed   weapon to make the attack it really should I hope  larion fixes it if not it's not a great feat for   this build at level 10 we would be a barred five  and that means we get improved bardic inspiration   this tells us that our bardic inspiration is  now a d8 instead of a D6 nice little bump and   we also now get four of them per rest instead of  three but better yet we get font of inspiration   which resets those bartic Inspirations on a short  rest now meaning lots more flourishes among other   things and that is but yeah this is the level  that just keeps on giving because we also get   third level Bard spells here hypnotic pattern and  fear are probably the best option for some strong   control if you didn't grab them as a warlock and  the nice thing about pairing Bard and warlock here   of course is that both use Charisma as their spell  casting stat right so our Bard spells are going   to benefit from that Charisma just as much as our  warlock spells do anyway pick your favorites here   take the ones you think are best and then at  level 11 we would be a Bard 6 and that means   as a swords bar we finally get extra attack wait  a second we already had extra attack from Back to   the blade right that's correct we did but again as  of this recording at least extra attack from pact   the blade actually Stacks with extra attack from  other sources so maybe it'll be patched out soon   maybe by the time this video comes out but if not  enjoy lots of attacks on your turn now with three   attacks when you use your attack action speaking  of three attacks at the exact same time level 11   here Eldritch blast will now fire three beams  so regardless of whether you're making weapon   attacks or beam attacks you get three of them with  your action so good for level 12 just pick your   favorite class I mean you could go back to warlock  to get the dark one's own luck feature from fiend   warlocks which just lets you add a d10 to an  ability check once per short rest not bad from a   utility perspective but Bard 7 would get us fourth  level Bart spells and I think that's the better   route here that said I'm not necessarily dying  to have any of those fourth level Bart spells   though they're all useful greater invisibility  is worse than it should be unfortunately since   it forces you to make an increasingly difficult  stealth check every time you cast a spell or make   an attack while you're invisible instead of just  straight up letting you stay invisible so yeah if   you're looking for Advantage just stay in your  Darkness dimension door though is a great way   for a big teleport for you and a friend always  nice to have in your back pocket polymorph does   not let you turn your best friend into a T-Rex  like it does in DND but it still can make your   enemy a sheep wait what is this world Warcraft  anyway pick your favorite fourth level spell and   that is it for the blade of the frontier going  this route makes will a fantastic Gish I think   so if you love gishes feel free to use this on  your own character as well I'm confident that   you'll love it either way but that does it for  this week's video I hope you enjoyed it I really   hope that you'll turn in next week to part two  where we will dive into asterian Lazelle and Gail   I love you guys thank you so much for all that  you do for me for this channel I hope you have   a fantastic day and a really great week and if  you don't hang in there but I hope you will also   be kind and stay safe and that I see you again  very soon but until then take care bye [Music]   spread the news cause there's an angel in  Manhattan call out the paparazzi and the   television Cruise and me I choose what a little  faith come to harm me print the headlines up in   the New York Daily News it was just another day  like any other other day A Tuesday afternoon [Music] Ellis Paul anybody he's a good one a nice kind  of folky mellow musician I'm feeling that today   I'm feeling a little folky a little mellow um hey  check out the silver play button I'm so excited   about it I can't not display it but I don't  really know where to put it I got rid of the fern   but that just feels a little awkward I don't  know interior decorators of the world let me   know where does this thing need to go it's like  I can't I don't want to put it back there it's   gonna like reflect that light too much um maybe  I'll just leave it where it's at if you use   the discount code if you use the discount  code if you use the discount code hmm hmm the AC just came on can you guys hear that I  have a feeling that Mike's gonna pick that up   oh I can't turn it off though because then  I will boil sorry about the background noise   time for part two but I can't just like do  it in the exact same shirt with the exact   same hair I gotta make it seem like  it's a different day I could just nah oh I know this oh shoot what should we do how about a  nice like like yellow orange yeah there we go   that works that works with the maroon tea  I think there we go totally different day

Channel: d4: D&D Deep Dive

Views: 499,841

Keywords: bg3, baldur's gate, D&D, dnd, dungeons & dragons, companions, origin, character, build, concept, guide, how to, min max, optimize, tips, tricks, spell, shadowheart, karlach, wyll, cleric, tempest, wizard, barbarian, tavern brawler, bard, warlock, swords

Id: YOgipqWEUV0

Length: 50min 13sec (3013 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 19 2023