Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 - tips, tricks & helpful information

[Fedora Master]

Have you reached the second act yet?

 

[Rhobar121]

At level 10 your spells are level 5 which means that anything that hits you takes 25 pts (or 50 if its wet, which kind of makes it worth arranging that, which the rest of your party can make use of as well) and your Armor of Agathis eats 25 pts of damage, which is quite a bit if you keep phys resist up which is a good idea anyway.

Are you just ignoring this to troll me? Okay great, you got me. But newbs and players asking for help aren't in on the joke. If you aren't you really need to get some help. We get it - you were abused with shitty games growing up. The people who hated that are the ones designing games now. They're different. Enjoy it!

How much am I doing with EB? From melee? Not much. It's not what the subclass is designed to do. Respc into a different one if you want to do that, but actual spells will do a lot more and you can spam short rests.

Good idea. So your tactic to make Wyll good at melee is to make him take dmg? For this to make any sense you have to intentionally keep it at extremely low AC otherwise the whole tactic is pointless.
I'm assuming you're obviously not going to cast Blade's Ward on Wyll every second turn and then and waste action to soak every enemy in the game?
Because if so, it really doesn't make sense as you might as well do anything else. You might as well cast Scorching Ray and deal similar damage.

You don't have to pick a pact of blade on Wyll if you don't want to (not that other pacts have anything interesting for him). Apart from that, you can pick up some crappy cantrips or a pet (which is quite good).

ps. There is always warding bound but not without cost.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

Have you reached the second act yet?

Yes, but first was better.

 

[Fedora Master]

Have you reached the second act yet?

Yes, but first was better.

I was talking to Desiderius. No idea how you got into this convo but apparently I pinged you. Excuse moi.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

Have you reached the second act yet?

Yes, but first was better.

I was talking to Desiderius. No idea how you got into this convo but apparently I pinged you. Excuse moi.

Pas de problème.

 

[Desiderius]

I’ve done Warding Bond (the static bonus to AC and Saving Throws is solid) but it triggers Concentration checks on SH so usually not great. I guess once she has the bonus on heal items she can switch to healbot instead of Concentration spells but that’s a pretty high price. Likewise I’ll be looking at CON Resilience + War Caster down the road for her since Warding Bond is a nice effect to keep up, and I like keeping her in the middle of the action so she gets a good many Concentration checks already. Invoke Duplicate isn’t the easiest to take advantage of but it does help Wyll and SH connect (along with other melee that might be tagging along, Raven Familiar etc) if I have her fighting and can get Bless from the ring.

One of those items you get from Investigating Kagha gives Phys Resist on Heal so that’s probably main source once I get there. Until then I Blade Ward on pre-combat round and not above re-upping it on a positioning turn if attacks are incoming since I’ll get damage on the attacks themselves.

I’m sure there are other sources of phys resist as the game progresses and Missile Catching gloves are a big help since ranged attacks don’t trigger the Cold damage, though they do turn on Rebuke.

As far as AC getting too high that’s win/win. I’m happy with opponents wasting turns whiffing my tank.

As long as he’s using best available two-hander instead of a Shield and/or Mirror Image he’ll take some hits. Sorrow is nice to pull things closer to increase the odds they’ll attack him. Ray of Enfeeblement on big hitters is no save if you can get Gale to High Ground or even better Astarion (from AT/scroll) from High Ground and Hidden.

 

[Desiderius]

BTW Gale has Shield Proficiency from Human and equipping a Shield just turns whatever Staff you’re using into a Wand (they’re versatile) which is no big deal since he’s not attacking with it anyway. Along with Mage Armor he can get decent base AC which supplemented with Mirror Image/Shield spell makes him pretty resilient and a less tempting target for attacks.

 

[Desiderius]

You don't have to pick a pact of blade on Wyll

He’s the Blade of Frontiers. Everybody wanting to re-invent the wheel around here.

It’s not my idea, it’s Larian’s. I’ve got enough on my plate without redesigning every goddamned game the week it comes out and thinking I know more than the people who designed the game already. And you give me shit for getting ahead of myself.

 

[Rhobar121]

I’ve done Warding Bond (the static bonus to AC and Saving Throws is solid) but it triggers Concentration checks on SH so usually not great. I guess once she has the bonus on heal items she can switch to healbot instead of Concentration spells but that’s a pretty high price. Likewise I’ll be looking at CON Resilience + War Caster down the road for her since Warding Bond is a nice effect to keep up, and I like keeping her in the middle of the action so she gets a good many Concentration checks already. Invoke Duplicate isn’t the easiest to take advantage of but it does help Wyll and SH connect (along with other melee that might be tagging along, Raven Familiar etc) if I have her fighting and can get Bless from the ring.

One of those items you get from Investigating Kagha gives Phys Resist on Heal so that’s probably main source once I get there. Until then I Blade Ward on pre-combat round and not above re-upping it on a positioning turn if attacks are incoming since I’ll get damage on the attacks themselves.

I’m sure there are other sources of phys resist as the game progresses and Missile Catching gloves are a big help since ranged attacks don’t trigger the Cold damage, though they do turn on Rebuke.

As far as AC getting too high that’s win/win. I’m happy with opponents wasting turns whiffing my tank.

As long as he’s using best available two-hander instead of a Shield and/or Mirror Image he’ll take some hits. Sorrow is nice to pull things closer to increase the odds they’ll attack him. Ray of Enfeeblement on big hitters is no save if you can get Gale to High Ground or even better Astarion (from AT/scroll) from High Ground and Hidden.

It's hard for me to imagine a sensible use of Ray of Enfeeblement in this game. This only works on weapon damage, which automatically makes it pretty lame. Shouldn't work against most of the worst effects.
It's much better to just kill the enemy, which is not difficult because of the amount of HP they have.
Eldritch blast is 1d10+10 per ray which is much better than he can do with melee (even assuming the weapon's special effects).

The problem with resitance items is that there's always something better, especially for a character that only wears light armor.
Although I don't know any item that I give it directly

Of course you can build Wyll for melee, the problem is that he has extremely crappy dex and evidently his stats were designed for blaster.

 

[Desiderius]

It's hard for me to imagine a sensible use of Ray of Enfeeblement in this game.

Yes, I know. But don’t sell yourself short. You’ll get there. But only if you get over your hang-ups. No save spells are good.

Eldritch Blast isn’t +10 per ray until later on in the game, and you don’t get that third Ray until level 10. That Owlbear took 20 damage per hit *at lvl 3*. Only question was (the Armor) surviving it. Enter Ray of Enfeeblement. Wyll wasn’t hitting him with EB anyway if he was tanking him. Gale was 91% on Ray I think and Wyll 100% on the Cold Damage, or if Owlbear whiffed that would give me a whole new set of turns.

Seriously, you guys are brainlocked on grinding gear for endgame raids. Enjoy the journey. At lvl 10 stuff gets more damage and takes 50 per hit. It… doesn’t get worse, it gets better.

 

[Desiderius]

Wait, it didn’t work on Owlbear and that’s still all the damage it did?

Sad. Ok, Ray sux for now. But that has to be bug. Corner spells for corner cases, but there are few spells that don’t have at least one or two of those.

 

[Orud]

Pas de problème.

Your proper use of the 'accent grave' makes me fear you might actually be French. Condolences.

 

[notpl]

I'm trying so hard to make Wyll viable but damn he's so mediocre lol. Once I help him with his dad he's out of the party

Step 1: Agonizing Blast
Step 2: Forceful Blast

There you go, Wyll is viable.

Remember, forced movement triggers environmental damage a second time, which is as broken as it sounds. Forceful blast goes from being a nice little perk to the main feature of the warlock class thanks to Larian's barrelmancy bullshit.

 

[Yosharian]

Haha, trying to optimise Armor of Agathys =D Yeah, I had that idea too, when I first started thinking about builds... then you quickly realise that eating damage is just not a viable main strategy. Not only because it's the last thing you want to do, you want to hit the enemy and kill them preferably before they have time to do damage to you.. but also because the enemy isn't necessarily going to choose to hit YOU. They might ignore you, and target your allies.. then your entire build is pointless.

AoA is still a great spell for boosting your HP though. It's just not a spell around which you base your entire build. Not in BG3, anyway.

 

[Yosharian]

I'm trying so hard to make Wyll viable but damn he's so mediocre lol. Once I help him with his dad he's out of the party

Step 1: Agonizing Blast
Step 2: Forceful Blast

There you go, Wyll is viable.

Remember, forced movement triggers environmental damage a second time, which is as broken as it sounds. Forceful blast goes from being a nice little perk to the main feature of the warlock class thanks to Larian's barrelmancy bullshit.

Pretty sure its called Repelling Blast

 

[Yosharian]

the problem is that he has extremely crappy dex

If only we could fix that

 

[Desiderius]

Haha, trying to optimise Armor of Agathys =D Yeah, I had that idea too, when I first started thinking about builds... then you quickly realise that eating damage is just not a viable main strategy. Not only because it's the last thing you want to do, you want to hit the enemy and kill them preferably before they have time to do damage to you.. but also because the enemy isn't necessarily going to choose to hit YOU. They might ignore you, and target your allies.. then your entire build is pointless.

AoA is still a great spell for boosting your HP though. It's just not a spell around which you base your entire build. Not in BG3, anyway.

Always enjoy a Yosharian challenge. There are ways to manage everything you say, and the key element to make it worthwhile is Wet condition that already has a lot of other benefits.

Gale had just hit level 4 here I think, Witch Bolt picks up another d12 (doubled by Wet) the next level.

Wet turns on the whole Subclass if you can tackle the other issues. I do really like the flexibility that comes with being able to use any weapon in the game with CHR stat too. Withers is there if you want more DEX.

Karlach is in this fight for her Inspiration - still learning the ins and outs of Barb. She has the Wolf Rage here that's gives advantage to nearby allies. I think Gale got his advantage from his Raven landing the Blind.

 

[ferratilis]

 

[janior]

tryrespecing karlach into berserker, much better damage, worth checking out

 

[Haplo]

Still, I'm having trouble getting as much juice out of Wizard as I'd like.

If you are just trying to do damage, play a Sorcerer/Paladin for burst, or Fighter/Warlock for sustained beatings.
Wizard isn't the master of damage, they are the masters of utility and control. And of casting a level 6 upscaled summon elemental.

Can someone explain what Fighter levels add to Warlock? Fiend already gives you Proficiency with any weapon (and CHR as atk/dam stat) and the extra attack at lvl 5. Isn’t the whole point getting the upcasts as high as they can go to max the HP and damage of Armor of Agathis and Hellish Rebuke, Scorching Ray etc?

Action Surge, possibly cool Battlemaster moves or Champion improved crit rate (synergizes with Great Old One fear on crit). Currently also another attack (might get fixed). More feats/ASI if you invest more levels.

Then what is Warlock getting you as opposed to more Fighter levels or some other splash? The more upcasts per Long Rest seems like distinguishing class feature of Warlock and that scales directly on class level.

Most important thing would be 3rd spell slot at level 11. That's really kind of a big deal. Plus 1 per Long Rest extra level 6 spell.
Oh, and Lifedrinker. Moar damage in melee.

Also higher level slots, yeah. Upcast on something like Cloud of Daggers, Shatter, Armor of Agathys or Fireball (if Fiend) is really powerful. Possibly Hunger of Hadar too, although I don't know how it scales.
Plus some cool new spells, like Create Undead or Eyebite (putting someone to Sleep every round sounds pretty cool - hopefully its not a full Action to proc).
If Fiend, who likes damage shields, Fire Shield could also be neat. Although then you're allocating TWO slots to damage shields (and Fire Shield doesn't last very long, as opposed to AoA).

Pretty cool stuff overall. Problem is, it comes late. After level 5, you feel a significant boost to Warlock power at level 11...
Meanwhile You'd get Action Surge at level 7, cool Battlemaster abilities at 8, then Extra Attack at 10 (as long as its there).

 

[Haplo]

Haha, trying to optimise Armor of Agathys =D Yeah, I had that idea too, when I first started thinking about builds... then you quickly realise that eating damage is just not a viable main strategy. Not only because it's the last thing you want to do, you want to hit the enemy and kill them preferably before they have time to do damage to you.. but also because the enemy isn't necessarily going to choose to hit YOU. They might ignore you, and target your allies.. then your entire build is pointless.

AoA is still a great spell for boosting your HP though. It's just not a spell around which you base your entire build. Not in BG3, anyway.

Hence I picked Sentinel. And am not working too hard on optmizing AC - my MC currently has lowest AC in the party.
Of course such tactics don't really work vs ranged enemies or more spellcaster heavy encounters.
But melees killing themselves is very welcome - its a ton of action-less, "free" damage - particularly if you arrange for them to be Wet.

 

[apostrophe]

Cheat engine speedhack works like a charm so the game is not a tedious time-wasting simulator.

Best build obviously Storm Sorcerror + 2lvl Tempest Domain Cleric. Finish with 2lvl Fighter for Action Sure and/or 2lvl Divination Wizard for Portend dice. Create water, guarantee a crit with Illithid power, max damage roll with Tempest Domain, cast quicken spell, and do it again. Use Portend dice when needed. No gear is required, you can run around naked.

For the rest of the party, I like to take Gale, spec him as Storm Sorcerror + 2lvl Tempest Domain Cleric. Finish with 2lvl Fighter for Action Sure and/or 2lvl Divination Wizard for Portend dice. Create water, guarantee a crit with Illithid power, max damage roll with Tempest Domain, cast quicken spell do it again. Use Portend dice when needed. No gear is required. For my third party member I usually take Shadowheart, I spec her as Storm Sorcerror + 2lvl Tempest Domain Cleric. Finish with 2lvl Fighter for Action Sure and/or 2lvl Divination Wizard for Portend dice. Create water, guarantee a crit with Illithid power, max damage roll with Tempest Domain, cast quicken spell do it again. Use Portend dice when needed. No gear is required. The last party member is usually Wyll, I spec him as Storm Sorcerror + 2lvl Tempest Domain Cleric. Finish with 2lvl Fighter for Action Sure and/or 2lvl Divination Wizard for Portend dice. Create water, guarantee a crit with Illithid power, max damage roll with Tempest Domain, cast quicken spell do it again. Use Portend dice when needed. No gear is required.

On rare occasion this super secret, only found out after 100000 hours of gameplay, Larian does not want you to know about it, etc. tactics does not work (there is one late in the game), just use 12 lvl of fighter armed with a bow/Nyrulna, pot of Bloodlust, Martial extortion gloves, Mind sanctuary power for 20+ attacks and kill it. A lot of gear is required.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I used Will Smith as a melee lock till act 3, with all AC upgrades I can put on him. Once I had even 26 AC on him. While he can dish lots of pain, he was the main target most of the time. He got focused fire so much, it became unfunny after a while. Dunno why I don't really know. My MC and Astarion got much more lower AC but AI ignored them for a reason and went BRRRR on Wyll.

And when AI tries that hard, it actually manages. Either by some spell effect or luck crit Wyll goes down, even with all those armor and extra HP spells.

 

[Haplo]

I used Will Smith as a melee lock till act 3, with all AC upgrades I can put on him. Once I had even 26 AC on him. While he can dish lots of pain, he was the main target most of the time. He got focused fire so much, it became unfunny after a while. Dunno why I don't really know. My MC and Astarion got much more lower AC but AI ignored them for a reason and went BRRRR on Wyll.

And when AI tries that hard, it actually manages. Either by some spell effect or luck crit Wyll goes down, even with all those armor and extra HP spells.

Well, Darkness + Devil's Sight could help him big time in survival.

 

[Cyberarmy]

That is the main thing helps him to survive with Hunger of Hadar, yeah. Wyll with Astarion equipped with Blind immunity ring, inside any cloud is pain train.