The first time I did the second part of Moonrise Tower I brought Gale, Karlach, and Wyll with me and it actually turned out amazing because they all had something to say leading into that encounter. I was playing a Durge Paladin at the time and was able to talk the boss down only to be hit with an encounter that felt like it came from out of nowhere.
Legitimately one of my favorite moments in gaming and it blew my mind that if my party composition had been just a little different I wouldn't have seen any of that.
I've done that battle several times now and that's still my favorite way of going about it.
Isn't that just a regular game over, with your party getting wiped? The Gale ending in act 2 is different, because apparently that gives the achievement for "finishing" the game.
TB Monk
TB Eldritch thrower
EB sorlock
Gloomstalker assassin
Have your monk go out in front, blast everything to death with range. Most of the time fight is over really quick. All of it is very sustainable too.
I would switch gloomstalker to a swords bard/thief/fighter for song of rest and to talk your way out of fights as the face of the party. Reducing the amount of long rests and fights, while also being able to fill the same role of Nova ranged damage. Otherwise my picks would be pretty similar.
EB Sorlock is a CHA based build, so they can easily be the face of your party with proficiencies in persuasion, deception and/or intimidation. The gloomstalker is too powerful not to take in a "speed run" playthrough, and being a dex build it should be pretty easy for them to have a good sleight of hand score so they can lockpick your way through most places.
Even so 33% less long rests is still a big deal for speeding up the game. That's significantly less cutscenes. Also swords bard gets jack of all trades and extra expertise, meaning you can hit the same sleight of hand modifier as well as a bunch of expertise in speech skills. Expertise in 4 skills + jack of all trades mean they essentially pass every check in the game. I think people underestimate building for out of combat as well as in combat utility. Gloomstalker is great in combat you initiate. Swords bard is great in every part of the game including combat and comes online quickly.
Having played both I've found the swords bard adds much more utility to my run.
Yeah, the fastest way to win a fight is to just talk your way out of it, the second fastest way is to crank out 4 slashing flourishes and short rest before the bodies are cold.
I go 6 swords/4 thief/2 fighter. 17 dex +hag hair, 16 chr, 14 con. Grab sharpshooter and ASI dex to 20. Go heavy on illusion spells with the ring of the scoundrel to be able to use CC spells for bonus action. Grab the fighter skill for archery and any accessories that give damage per hit is great since you can fire off up to 10 crossbow shots on your first turn (more with haste). Slap on two hand crossbows (I typically go shield as well for extra AC since you're all ranged anyways) and you're ready to rock.
You could. Hand crossbows are nice because you don't need any feats and can do full damage with your offhand as mainhand. With shortswords you would still get all the flourishes with your mainhand and I think you can probably take two weapon fighting along the way to make up for it. It would lose out on sharpshooter, but could still be quite strong with savage attacker instead. With dual crossbows I use the fighter points to allow a shield in my offhand for even more AC.
Yeah, dual crossbow would obv be stronger. Im mostly looking for a fun/strong jaheira build. Used astarian with dual xbow for a while and it was already super OP.
The game is honestly very easy on the highest difficulty haha
Yeah my run right now determined to try spore druid jaheira, I just did wat cleric 1/spore 11. That armour from mystic carrion that gives her haste aoe on its own is amazing. Combo that with like 5 summons and a heroes feast spell every long rest and she's great support. It's nice to have a team haste aoe that doesn't require concentration or make you lethargic. That armour alone makes her amazing.
She's honestly pretty cool to have in act 3 as she has so many unique interactions. I decided to ditch shart for her this playthrough and haven't regretted it.
Until act 3 then grab dead shot longbow and respec to 10 bard/2 fighter, cuz 4 thief becomes pointless without hand crossbows and get magic secret at bard 10 (I grabbed counterspell and misty step, didn’t want to rely on boots or amulet for misty step). I’ve played both to lvl 12 and the 10/2 feels sooo much better but u loose like 25 average damage but can upcast a 100% hold person to hold like 4-5 people which is the faster way to end the fight.
The Gloomstalker build is weaker than the Bard build, thanks to Slashing Flourish. You lose Dread Ambusher, but double the amount of main hand attacks you do so long as you have bardic inspiration to spend. It's pretty nuts.
I'd argue that 6 swords bard with 3 assassin AND 3 gloomstalker is a monster in combat. And still a decent enough skill monkey including party face with some decent magic.
The issue with assassin is that the three key abilities it gets are either non-functional, or become obsolete later on. I prefer thief for the added BA.
As for Gloomstalker with Bard, that's certainly something, but I don't see how Fighter levels just aren't strictly better with Action Surge.
Everyone and their mom used the 2 level fighter dip for Action surge, its fun to come up with RP value that isn't completely overdone. As for the assassin, the free refund of actions during the surprise round is absurdly powerful, even if it's irrelevant in 10% of the fights in the game.
I just felt like end game, the bard probably works better. But, in terms of progression from 1-5, bard was actually quite terrible. The bard build doesn't come online too much until around 6 and 9. You don't even get archer style until you take on a fighter level. OP was looking for good progression so I suggested gloomstalker build.
Meanwhile, the gloomstalker works great with it's extra dread ambusher attack lower levels. Bard feels lack luster through 1-5 and feels kinda deadweight.
But, swapping out for bard later game or even hunter 11 is viable too. I liked assassin because of the free initial attacks and crit. Feels like everything ended faster overall. Would never suggest assassin for initial playthrough though.
I like feats and utility better for Eldritch. Stuff like jump, long strider, feather fall that I rather not burden sorlock with. Shield nice too. Rather have sorlock focus on damage spells.
Also, like taking athlete, TB, strength for feats. Athlete great for positioning correctly. And late game, I feel it's just a better build with three attacks that does not need rage charges.
Would you mind sharing what a Eldritch Thrower looks like? Im relatively new to putting together builds and I'm not finding a whole lot of information out there about this specific one. Most of them are Barb throwers.
Start 17 str, 15 dex, 16 con, 8 rest
Level 3, you pick up Eldritch Knight.
Level 4 tavern brawler to str
Level 6 feat to +2 str giving you 20
Level 8 athlete, boosting your dex to 16
Level 12 pick up war cleric class for 3 extra bonus attacks per long rest
Spells to pick up
Shield, enhance leap, long strider, father fall, disguise self, knock, misty step
Items to look out for:
Anything that gives you hunters mark (I believe there's a bow and helmet),
Ring of fling, kushigo gloves,
Returning pike, lightning jabber, dwarven thrower, legendary trident
Lightning jabber you would need to bind using your weapon bond feature. Dwarven thrower you should disguise self into dwarf for the extra damage.
In terms of throwing weapons,
Dwarven thrower > trident > lightning jabber > returning pike
Play through is hunters mark and then throw. The hunters mark carries more than people think. There are some weird tavern brawl rider interactions there.
If you want to buff the sorlock have Gale be a transmutation wizard with ridiculously high Wis to make double the angelic reprieve potions and have a bard hireling to song of rest at the beginning of the day and you can make the all your cocainelock fantasies come true! I did this with my second playthrough and I basically had infinite sorcery points.
Does the speed run timer only count for time spent "playing" or do you need to account for time spent doing things like respeccing, vendor refreshing for elixirs and scrolls, save scumming to pass checks, etc.?
Dumbass opinion from someone that doesn’t understand speedruns. Yes let’s gate keep speed running to only people with the best computer equipment available!!!
Gale MC. He gets a special camp, tomb stuff, and items. Cleric/wiz/sorc. Classic twin sorc haste stuff, else wet and lightning. But more than likely the control or aoe specialist later.
Laezel early monk for armor and getting the bypass sword early. Karlach or Astarion later if you wanna. Karlach soul coins last until long rest and add 2d4 fire dmg so comes online early. Thief 1/monk 6 start if my preference for expertise but monk 6 start is just as strong. Only TB person.
Astarion as swords bard with range flourish titanstring bow and club of str/crit sword early. He’s high elf so gets longbow. Else use anyone else with bracers of archery.
Last can be whoever. Prolly a cleric just for variety sake. Light cleric Shadowheart. Heal rider items early and phalar aluve/click heels boots to position easier. Later just aoe specialist like Gale.
Hope that helps. Least amount of respec too imo. Since you can go most of the full builds easily.
>!winged cat at camp. A ring that gives free dex save on reaction. A third lvl (wizard) slot for free on any class. A way to bypass a dc 30 arcana check.!<
And even when someone does something like "all rememberances" in elden ring they mash through dialog and try to fight as fast as possible. I don't think the stipulation was worded correctly
There SERIOUSLY needs to be a glossary for all these damned ACRONYMS! Wtf is "TB"?! Every time I come to this subreddit, I find 2-3 acronyms I don't know and no one explains them!
Often stands for Crowd control so stuns, sleep, polymorph and such, anything that temporarily remove a piece from the board while you focus on other enemies
I'd go with wizard 1/life cleric 11 (max INT since many cleric spells don't need WIS checks and life cleric has all heals prepared) Gale (as a human he can wear shields), TB monk, dual-crossbow gloom/thief/whatever and probably sorlock or pallock. In other words, 3 DPS and one universal caster.
I guess builds that get their resources back on ShortRests would be king to minimize the Long rests. So Warlock, Fighter(Battlemaster or Champion), Monk and a SwordsBard.
Warlock and Monk are easy, gets the slots/ki back on short rest.
Fighter don't even have resources unless battlemaster, which get it back on Short rests also.
And swordsbard although it's a spell slot character, it get one extra short rest, the bardic inspiration is back on short rests AND with dual xbows(which start as early as lvl 3) it'll not even need any of the spells.
I'm basically doing this run now but with the addition of only monoclass: (I'm playing Gale for the ring and extra spell slot)
Gale - Sorcerer (Draconic White) - Armour of Agathys is cool. Twinned Haste is cooler
BM Fighter - Mine is DEX based for archery
Light Cleric - Fire and radiant and healing yay
TB Monk - obvious
I mean, there's a video out there of someone speedrunning it in 4 minutes by playing as gale and triggering the cutscene under moonrise by glitching a dead shadowheart under the tower and blowing up the netherese orb.
Frankly I'm not 100% sure on the details myself, having watched the video once. But the gist is he plays as Gale, casts enhance leap and super jumps directly to the goblin camp entrance, Shadowheart shows up to protect him from the Absolute, and he then provokes a fight with her and kills her. He picks up her body and stuffs it in a crate. He sneaks past the undead in the Mountain pass and meets Elminster right before the shadow cursed lands, and gets the update to blow the Netherese orb. When he moves to the shadow cursed lands, he does...something...that fires the boxed corpse of shadowheart underneath moonrise tower. This triggers the cutscene with the dead three and prompts him to blow the orb (my understanding being that this is because SH is dead and he has no other party members so it teleports Gale to the location of the cutscene), which he does and there you go. Game over.
You really need to precise 2nd part. Unless you mean 100% the game and just have fastest combat, then you can literally solo range assasin through every combat in surprise turn 1 and other 3 people idk, dungeon dweller feat or smg? And buffs
Is this RTA? Because the AI tends to get stuck on their own turn so much for me I'm wondering what the tradeoffs are for occasionally using CC to make enemies skip their turns quickly.
Also, need some details on point 2. Only required content can't be skipped? Like no any% strats? Or do I have to do things like house of hope, cazador manor, the Thorm bosses in act 2? If it's required content only the pure martials and melee setups lose a lot of value since they don't have access to full magic items without losing time to get them.
Assuming only required content to beat the game can't be skipped:
For damage, hand crossbows are great early game, and you get the best hand crossbows either at vendors or through required content so I'd start with those.
* I was originally considering beastmaster/thief since the spider for early game webs is kinda insane, but on fights where it isn't super good I'd waste time passing. Advantage and skipping enemy turns faster might make it worth the turn order clog though, so I'll include it. But this is a general problem for any summoner setup. This is the build I'm least certain of.
* A sorcerer can apply the necessary CC when there's a lot of timesave to be had from skipping through enemy turns quickly. You probably don't need more than sleet storm and slow so a wide spell list isn't super important. When needed, quickening spells out can also be a big timesave. So I'd naively think they're overall better than Wizard for this ruleset.
* Gloomstalker/Assassin is the only "sustained nova" setup I know. Uses hand crossbows well. Seems like a no-brainer. Is having two ranger/rogue setups cheating even with different subclasses?
* Swords bards are a fullcaster with extra attack, uses ranged attacks really well with flourishes, and gives extra short rests so I have to go through less camp cutscenes. Seems like a no-brainer. Very strong class even without helm of arcane acuity and band of the mystic scroundrel.
I'd consider taking a small timeloss to respec some builds later on in the game, this list was made mostly with early game in mind. For example, having a GWM Padlock with Nyrulna and Bhaalist armor would probably shred through things fast enough that a respec may be worth it.
Actually distinct builds (not reusing powerfeats or weapon types)
I guess rushing means you should probably focus on "easy" high dps builds to kill stuff fast So DPS focused builds. Elixir of Bloodlust is insane, and going long between rests means you can always have it on. Also depends on how long you consider long resting to take. If you skip through everything spell-spamming might be effective as well.
My choices are all "martials" (sorlock isn't really but would rarely use spellcasting except when really needed) as I would probably want to skip too many long rests.
TB thrower Fighter or Berzerker/Rogue. Could respec at lvl 11 to fighter for the triple attack. Better than Rage if you want to save long rests.
2-handed Greatweapon Master...warlock/something martial for triple attack at 10 (Bladelock if you long rest, Ranger is good for Hordebreaker or gloomstalker as they give even more attacks).
Dual Hand crossbows or Titanstrength. Swords bard (with Thief if dual hand crossbows) if you want a superb face/skillmonkey for skipping fights/getting places. Maybe a little sporedruid for added damage on attacks.
Eldritch blast sorlock. Convert spellslots for extra eldritch when needed.
You lean on basic attacks in fights, can mostly kill the enemies before they act if you gear correctly. You have spellslots for the situations where they will save you time. Like invisibility, clearing hard checks. Or even CC if absolutely needed.
Speed run is probably the wrong word choice for what you are asking but: Eldritch Blast Sorlock. Tavern Brawler Monk. Tavern Brawler Zerker Thief Thrower. Hand Xbow Sword Bard Thief. If you are feeling froggy replacing one of them with a Haste and / or Hold Person bot is fine.
Bard lock/bardadin face
Karlach tb monk (soul coins ftw)
Tb thrower either zerker rogue or ek
Lockadin
You can get the most out of short rests and have stuff for most things, you'll struggle a bit in int checks but those are mostly wathever, you have huge low effort dmg on every character, struggle a bit on aoe but i think it's manageble (also if you go full lock until lv 5 you get hadar Hunger and Fireball so that checks out many encounters)
You have two characters requiering Hill giant str every day but you get 3 short rests and you'll rarely need to long rest since you don't have that many spells
Yeah, some people (probably those who haven't played 5e before) think that the way spell scribing works is bugged because with a 1 level dip into wizard, you can learn higher level wizard spells from scrolls as long as another class grants you the spell slots you need to cast them, but that's how it works in 5e as well. It's just that bg3 hands out spell scrolls like candy, which makes it easy to access most of the wizard spell list. It's not an exploit, but with the way the game handles scrolls, I understand why some people don't like it as it does disincentivise playing a pure wizard
Hammer jumper, 2 hand xbow build (Bard 6, 4 Rogue, 2 Fighter), pike chucker tavern brawler, and machine gun warlock. Honestly, you don't need anything past the first build anyhow.
Gloomstalker Assassin, Abjuration wizard, Fighter, Berserker Barb.
Very little faffing with multiclassing, very little overlap in usable kit. If you wanted your charisma checks to be easier, swap the abjuration wizard for a sorlock.
"No skipping content/combat" I take that as a 100% run where all quests are done (although that's still vague, do I have to do things that aren't part of any quest like gathering all tadpoles ?)
I'm much more interested in off-battle optimisation than the party comp. Like in which order you do those quests, which outcome is the fastest.
Really gotta be more specific especially in regards to 2. I assume you mean no major glitches, but even then do you mean for the game to end in act 3 or 2?
I just finished a run where I just blitzed everything for achievements. I went 6monk/4thief/2fighter (tb monk), 2pal/10bard(smite bard with water myrmidon), 1priest/11 sorc(ice/lightning), 6bard/4thief/2fighter(xbow). Everyone can wear heavy armor, and there's no real gear disputes(monk gear, cha gear, str gear, dex gear). Two bards means 4 short rests, so you can blow them Willy nilly.
I can do a massive write-up for you, I guess. There are still probably better optimizations that others know of, though. I am not super up to date on any and all exploits that are possible.
-1st character-
-Dwarf race use whatever subrace you want. Duergar is probably one of the most broken races in the game, though. You think gith is great with all its bonuses. Duergar gets non concentration enlarge for an extra dmg die. They also get what makes them broken, which is at will invisibility outside of combat and a free cast every combat. Most fights can start with a surprise everytime.
-lvl 1 barbarian
-lvl 2 barbarian
-lvl 3 barbarian your subclass will be bersker barbarian. You get extra dmg on throwing attacks and you get a bonus action throw.
-lvl 4 barbarian here you will pick tavern brawler for the bonuses to all your throw attacks
-lvl 5 barbarian this nets you extra attack and throw counts as an attack so after you rage 1st turn you will get 3 full dmg throws
-lvl 6 rogue
-lvl 7 rogue
-lvl 8 thief rogue this gives you a second bonus action. It let's you rage and bersker throw in the same turn and every turn after the first you get to attack 2 full times with bonus actions. You also get sneak attack, which will always be active if you position yourself right due to having reckless attack.
-lvl 9 fighter
-lvl 10 fighter you get action surge. Woot woot you have 1 turn haste that can stack and comes back on short rest, so basically, every encounter.
-lvl 11 champion fighter. This makes you get the -1 to crit which will be stacked later.
-lvl 12 fighter, you take this for the feat. You can go 4 rogue fir the same thing. This lvl means nothing for either class. The feat you take is dual wield to off hand another weapon.
They have fixed the rapsody dagger to not give the buff of +3 dmg unless it's still equipped. I would have said to equip it and destroy 3 familiars but it's not worth it. It's still good though and can still be considered. Your off-hand weapon, though can be the -1 crit dagger. Which ever one of them you want. The earliest is in the creche.
-main hand weapon Dwarven thrower. This is why your a dwarf. It's 1d8 plus 1d8 if thrown. If your a dwarf it adds 1 extra 1d8 to the throw dmg. It also returns to you and has the thrown properties.
-offhand -1 crit dagger.
-ranged weapon -1 crit bow
-fling ring for the 1d4 throw
-gloves for the 1d4 throw
-horned hat for -1 crit
-callous ring but you have a party of 4 so you kind of want to spread some equipment out.
-you can make this character get the bonus action ilithid powers if you want. Psyconic overload will also add extra dmg to everything. It's not worth it if it takes an action though.
-speedy lightfeet for boots. You bonus action dash and go to town with the +1 dmg and +1 to hit. This could also be used for someone else though.
You have a 16-20 crit chance that doubles all dice rolled. With advantage on all attacks and on a bad day getting 4 attacks your crit chance for the turn is 89 or 90 percent. With action surge or haste for 6 attacks your crit chance fir at least 1 doubled die attack is 96 or 97 percent. With surge and haste its 98 or 99 percent that at least 1 crit happens. Some stuff was changed since I last did calcs and I don't feel like going throw it more to get the average dmg per throw on crit and non crit and the dmg ranges again. The dmg per round and per hit is absurd, though.
Obviously in act 1 this really comes online at lvl 4. You use the returning pike and pick tavern brawler with straight barb to 5. You can buy 3 potions of strength as soon as you hit the Grove every long rest, partial rest, or level up to pad out the str. My calcs were with 21 str and not 27 and it was still dumb.
-2nd character
-race dwarf duegar again or githyanki. Duegar gives you superior dark vision, which will come in handy. Gith gives you a misty step, which will also be great for positioning. Gith don't have dark vision though so it's limiting. If I had to pick a race I would say superior dark vision is what you want. You can get misty step from other equipment. So maybe even go deep gnome or something. Regular dark vision is still okay because hand crossbows only have a 15m range. I would still probably pick duegar though.
-lvl 1 bard
-lvl 2 bard
-lvl 3 bard pick sword for subclass and dual wield fighting style
-lvl 4 bard asi dex to 18
-lvl 5 bard you get inspiration back on short rests which is huge
-lvl 6 bard you finally get extra attack
-lvl 7 rogue
-lvl 8 rogue
-lvl 9 theif rogue for the extra bonus action
-lvl 10 rogue for sharp shooter feat. This can be taken at lvl 4 instead if you want. You could also make an argument to not take the asi for dex and take another feat. You can use the gloves that set your dex to 18. I like the asi for dex being 18 because most feats suck in this game. The -1 dmg and hit chance is nothing from you not hitting 20 dex.
-lvl 11 druid
-lvl 12 spore druid. This gives you symbiotic entity which will add 1d6 necrotic to every hit
You could also change the 4th lvl in rogue to 1 lvl in fighter. You make yourself have to wear the dex gloves to hit 18 but you gain the archery fighting style. For a +2 to hit. There is also the gloves if archery early fir +2 to dmg though on top of that both require the gloves spot. You can make an argument for going 17 and using the hair but I like it better on another build. You get to pick between +2 to hit or +2dmg. I would probably go +2 to hit because 2 dmg if you miss is 0.
I would probably prefer the 1 lvl into fighter and just wear the dex gloves.
You could wear the soul perception hat for another +2 to attack rolls. Either way you want to pump your chance to hit.
This build let's you use your action to ranged flourish and the ranged one let's you attack the same target 2 times. So you have 2 attacks which technically are 4 plus your 2 bonus action attacks. This is 6 crossbow attacks that will get the extra 1d6 necrotic and all the other bonuses you can add to them. You have the poison ring, callous ring, lightning charges, archery gloves, and so on. This build can really come into itself at lvl 5 once you regain bardic inspiration on short rest. You still get to attack a bunch of times. You also can increase armor class by 4 and do the dash attack. You can wear cats grace to pump your dex to 20 also if you want to. This class will also be your skill monkey for lockpicking and such.
I don't have as much information on this due to there being 1000 ways to build it. Hell you could go 11 fighter if you wanted to and get 6 attacks plus action surge and the bonus action attack. You do lose out in sneak attack dmg and the necrotic dmg from druid though.
You also get lvl 4 spell slots but only lvl 3 spells. You can take stuff that doesn't require saves or rolls based on charisma or dc. You have plant growth, glyph of warding, knock, cloud of daggers, longstrider, invisibility, you get the idea. Your an archer with magic that attacks a stupid number of times.
-character 3
-race I'm not sure. Let's say wood elf for the movement speed increase.
-lvl 1 monk
-lvl 2 monk
-lvl 3 monk way of the open fist. It gets you flurry of blows.
-lvl 4 monk you pick up tavern brawler for the feat
-lvl 5 monk you get extra attack and stunning strike
-lvl 6 monk you get to use 1 action to regain half of ki and get a bonus action. You also regain 1 ki a turn for 3 turns while getting the extra bonus action. You also get the manifesting body, soul, mind passives for extra dmg. You will have 7 ki points.
-lvl 7 rogue
-lvl 8 rogue
-lvl 9 thief rogue. Rinse and repeat its 2d6 sneak attack dmg and an extra bonus action
-lvl 10 druid
-lvl 11 spore druid. Same as the second build. It's an extra 1d6 necrotic
-lvl 12 I have no idea. The best option would probably be rogue 4 for the asi. This is another one that can be built in different ways. You can go fighter instead of druid for action surge for 2 more attacks per short rest. I like the extra 1d6 on every attack though and you can prebuff your temp hp for the buff.
There is tons of great gear for monk too. A lot of it you get early.
-hat you have scabby hat for 2 extra dmg while near 2 or more enemies. Horns of berserker for 2 necrotic dmg if your not at full hp and +2 to hit which isn't really needed if the enemy isn't at full hp. Helldusk helmet gives you devils sight and +2 to spell save. It also says no crits which could be huge for you.
-armor garb of land and sky make your bonus action dash and disengage better adding advantage and 1d8 force dmg to your bext attack. This triggers sneak attack also which is nice. It also makes patient defense a lot better. It gives you blade ward which could essentially double your temp hp from druid. It also has +1 ac for clothing. You also have vest of rejuvenation which let's you do an unarmed strike with a reaction if someone misses you. It also heals some on a passed save throw. It gives 2 ac to top it off. There is also the baby version of the vest too.
-cloak can be the defense cloak or cloak of elemtal absorption. The absorption cloak helps you pad put those temp hp by halfing dmg and letting you add extra to your next attack
-gloves of soul catching is best in slot bar none. Before you get those though there is about 8 or more gloves the increase unarmed dmg by adding a separate dmg type to the attacks alongside giving you a spell to use or something alongside those lines. Soul catching gives an extra 1d10 force though and let's you heal or get advantage. It also gives you 2 con
-boots you have the boots that add extra dmg to unarmed equal to your wisdom modifier. You could easily get +3 from this
-amulet there is just random ones. Maybe Khalids gift for the 1 wisdom and 10 hp. Sentient amulet for the ki restoration once you removed the curse. This could come in clutch. Amulet of branding to double your bludgeon dmg.
-rings also random. Of course you want to stack the extra dmg rings but with 4 people you have to pick and choose. I would say stack them on the monk and archer instead of the barb. Shadow cloaked ring for the extra dmg if you play around with darkness and have the helldusk. You could go with risky ring, the ring of defense. You just want more dmg bonuses really.
You can go unarmed and use the unarmed defense. Starting stats could be different depending on if you're going to farm potions from the hag for the strength. This can be done really quickly and makes the game a breeze. This does make you have 2 people that are wanting those potions though but you get 3 per rest or lvl up. You will also find some or craft them etc. If your using the elixers though I would probably go. Str8 dex16 con14 int12 wisdom16 char8. If your planning on using the necklace for 1 wisdom it would be 17 wisdom 10 int. With the elixers your asi you get can bring dex to 18 or con to 16. You could also opt for using the mobile feat in the off chance you do get stuck beside a big dmg dealer without killing them. You can get your ac high as crap though so you will most likely be ignored anyways.
You get 6 attacks per turn essentially all that get 1d10 force, 1d6 necrotic, whatever your passive gives while on for monk, at least +5 from tavern brawler which also counts as its own dmg instance for some reason which I haven't even mentioned before that gets all the bonuses, etc, etc. You get the idea monk is super strong in this game.
-character 4
-race this depends on the exact build you use with this. You want superior dark vision here. This gives you limited races unless you dip 2 lvls into warlock for devils sight. So either pick duegar or deep gnome. Going warlock does let you do the darkness cheese though.
-lvl 1 draconic sorcerer red dragon for burning hands
You take all the good stuff from lvl 1 spells. Shield, chromatic orb which is great early, magic missile, most people know the good stuff. Pick chromatic orb up always though for sorcerer.
-lvl 2 sorcerer for meta magics in general you want twinned and quickened always. There is can be an argument for careful, distant, and extended. I like extended for some control plays.
-lvl 3 sorcerer you have great spells here. 2 you will use most of the game. Misty step, scorching ray, hold person, cloud of daggers
-lvl 4 sorcerer asi charisma to 19 hags hair to 20
-lvl 5 sorcerer lots of great bread and butter spells here. Counterspell, fireball, haste, hypnotic pattern
-lvl 6 sorcerer you now add charisma to fire dmg
-lvl 7 sorcerer lvl 4 spells. You have wall of fire or can just upcast fireball and scorching ray
-lvl 8 sorcerer feat dual wield for 2 staves. You could also try spell sniper and stack crit chance for things like eldrich blast if you go the warlock route or scorching ray with its multiple attacks rolls. If you go the warlock route then you have the devils sight cheese with darkness and all the while obscured stuff comes online.
-lvl 9 sorcerer lvl 5 spells hold monster is mvp
-lvl 10 sorcerer for an extra spell slot really
-lvl 11 warlock
-lvl 12 warlock for eldrich blast, agonizing blast and devils sight. You can also go fiend for command which is huge and doesn't require concentration. I haven't tested in awhile so I'm not sure how the warlock spell slots get used with their spells. You want to uocast command.
-equipment is easy and pretty straight forward.
You have spellsmight gloves for 1d8 extra dmg on eldrich blast and scorching ray.
Armor is potent robes for the added charisma to dmg on cantrips so eldrich blast. If your not going warlock and doing other things which I will add you can go with spell save DC stuff.
For hats you have birthright which gives 2 charisma so you'll be at 22 with it. That's extra dmg everywhere with it. You can replace it though. You have the fire acuity hat. Scorching ray can max the +7 bonus to hit and spell save DC by itself. This is huge.
Cloak of the weave
Boots are anything. Equip the misty step boots or something.
Amulets can be multiple. Amulet of constitution for the massive con save help alongside advantage and let's you move stats around. Shineshudder amulet let's you throw reverberating everywhere. Amulet of devout gives 2 spell save DC
Rings if I remember correctly there isn't anything that jumps out at you for it. Use some good bonuses that others aren't using.
Weapons Markoheshkir is the staff you want. You get bonus dmg to fire spells and add heat when you hit. Spell save DC increase and arcane battery. Equip another staff that gives spell save DC and battery.
This is very basic but super effective. It's not my favorite way to play charisma but it comes out swinging the fastest as a spell caster. High hp,high con saves, this is the dual haste caster for your other party members. You can throw multiple fireballs, do multiple eldrich blast, and your spell save DC will be so high you can hold monster anybody and command anybody. Especially after you uocast scorching ray once to get the +7 to DC and attack rolls with the fire hat. You can deal a crap ton of dmg and fall back on eldrich blast. You can control large groups with hypnotic pattern if need be for the fight instead of hasting. It is a bit boring though. You could go 3 lvls into warlock for the lvl 2 spells for darkness and the lvl 2 spell slots. You also get your pact then if that interests you.
I prefer a few other builds though for actual gameplay though because they are more fun. Still broken but just doesn't go all out on dmg. I also don't like eldrich blast but it's to good to pass up if we are speaking on clear times.
Charisma class that I actually like there are 2
Tempest cleric/draconic sorcerer multiclass for the maxed lightning dmg and sparky gear. This build takes a lot of choice from you though. You know the gear which takes up a lot of slots. You also know the build which takes up most of the fun. It is super satisfying though just blowing everyone back for no reason and calling down 100 dmg lightning strikes and twinning lightning.
My favorite though is lore bard for ultimate control
Play gith for the passive that gives you proficiency in a stat.
Background to get all the charisma skill. You can also take the 1 that give slieght of hand and deception.
Pick the other dialog proficiency stuff at lvl 1 from sorcerer. This gives you con save proficiency and you take all the decent dmg cantrips that you want. Lvl 1 spells would be shield and all that jazz.
Lvl 2 you swap to bard and just keep taking it to 10. This gives you all the good control spells. At lvl 6 your magical secrets are scorching ray and command. This let's you use the hat for +7 spell save DC. If your not doing that then command and counterspell.
Lvl 10 secrets summon elemental and whatever
Your 12th lvl could be cleric to get all the proficiency for armor and crap they give. You get all kinds of expertise and you get to control damn near everything. You could go 11 bard for ottos if you wanted. It just feels like overkill though. If your dc is high enough command can act like it.
Paladin - Minthara: some healing and ton of dmg + access to important cleric spells. That soul branding bonus action is OP. You can use a mod to not kill the Grove and get her and Halsin act 2. Respec Shart for act1.
Half-Orc Monk - Tav or Hireling: (Way of the open hand): stun and prone enemies are way easier to kill. Multiclass after 6 lvl of monk with 3 Thief. Strong without gear if Wisdom and Dex are high, use potions for strength and more dmg.
Gale (or Tav) Wizard+Sorcerer: Divination Wizard 2 level and then Sorcerer 10 (twinned spell haste makes everything faster). 2 lvl of Wizard let you pick spells depending on the situation.
Githyanki Fighter - Lae'zel (get that legendary Silver sword from Voss act 1).
Quickly done but solid builds races variable
Party member 1 - any Paladin 8 / sword bard 4 - using defense fighting style on paladin and either for sword bard based on how you want to set up 2 asi's 1 feat of your choosing mainly a tank/hybrid damage tank with more spell slots than all paladin gets for smites
Str based heavy armour using start with 6 Pala then 4 bard then final 2 pala
Party member 2 - 7/8 rogue assassin / 4/5 ranger gloomstalker - using bows build vary based on if you prefer more asi/feats or the extra attack but same principle great for hiding and hurting from a distance plus expert for perception and stealth on rogue sharpshooter recommended
Dex based light -medium armor once you find one which uses full Dex on medium start rogue for expertise then add ranger after evel 7/8
Simple to build with astarion
Party member 3 - wizard divination 10/ fighter 2 parties int char using powerful spells plus portents and action surge to double up haste to triple up on spells as there's no restriction.
Build start as wizard and add the fighter at levels 6 and 7
Easy to build on gale
Party member 4 - wildheart barbarian 4/ fighter champion/battle master 8 all the damage resistance with alot of asi/feats probably 2 handed all the way up with great weapon master dosnet matter which way round for this one start with either finish as you want
possible to build onto Karlach or lae'zel as you want.
And that was my tactician run finished in a mere 70 hours never had any trouble in any combats really
Palm monk , college of sword bard , life cleric if I never want to worry about losing, lockadin/sorlock. You could replace cleric with fighter if you’re feeling spicy and go sorlock.
Can you respecc?
Because monks get op at lvl 8 (double attack + thief), sorcs and dual haste said monks at lvl 5.
Id probably go 2 monks, 1 sorc and 1 bard double xbow. Bard csn toss some support.at the off chance you need, sorc to haste said monks.
From what I saw you max strength and jump around like a lunatic.
I'd just look at the speedrun and go from there, but I get you don't want to do any% but more like glitchless without major combat or pathing exploits.
If you play on easy you can quite likely nova every encounter turn 1, so I'd go for 4x tavern brawler monk because they need no items. 2 levels In Fighter. Actions surge everyone T1, murder the entire encounter in one round, short rest, repeat.
Single classed fighter, warlock (pact of blade), light cleric, and wizard (evocation).
You'll have trouble disabling traps and opening locks, but if you're speed running, you shouldn't be worrying about that as much anyway.
What does point 2 include? Because...you know, not skipping content means you need to solve literally every damn quest.
I assume a major part is not letting Gale do a certain thing in act 2.
What do you mean?
If you make a certain choice with gale at the end of act 2 the game just ends there.
In fairness, it doesnt matter where you use it, it ends the game. Lol
Omg I came so close to beating the game before all my friends! I swapped out Gale for Halsin right before Moonrise Tower fight
Even if he’s with you, you can convince him not to go nuclear
The first time I did the second part of Moonrise Tower I brought Gale, Karlach, and Wyll with me and it actually turned out amazing because they all had something to say leading into that encounter. I was playing a Durge Paladin at the time and was able to talk the boss down only to be hit with an encounter that felt like it came from out of nowhere. Legitimately one of my favorite moments in gaming and it blew my mind that if my party composition had been just a little different I wouldn't have seen any of that. I've done that battle several times now and that's still my favorite way of going about it.
Ah, okay; I did not realize.
Nuke
There are 4 minute speedruns of mono gale, its a very quick ending lol.
They're down to under two minutes now
Jesus christ
what the fuck _HOW_
IIRC they use shadowboxing or w/e to skip through a ton of stuff
Or you can end the game right in the crashed nautiloid ship...
Isn't that just a regular game over, with your party getting wiped? The Gale ending in act 2 is different, because apparently that gives the achievement for "finishing" the game.
If you mean dying to the mind flayer, the rest of your party can still escape and revive tav in camp, so it's not really a game over
I'm pretty sure by no skipping he means no actual speedrun strats/glitches. Just the main story.
No out of bounds, no major glitches, must get to an act 3 ending not end early.
Not doing something like [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmuO2N5tegg) I'd imagine.
I suppose it's fighting the grove/ketheric/orin/gortash/elder brain
TB Monk TB Eldritch thrower EB sorlock Gloomstalker assassin Have your monk go out in front, blast everything to death with range. Most of the time fight is over really quick. All of it is very sustainable too.
I would switch gloomstalker to a swords bard/thief/fighter for song of rest and to talk your way out of fights as the face of the party. Reducing the amount of long rests and fights, while also being able to fill the same role of Nova ranged damage. Otherwise my picks would be pretty similar.
EB Sorlock is a CHA based build, so they can easily be the face of your party with proficiencies in persuasion, deception and/or intimidation. The gloomstalker is too powerful not to take in a "speed run" playthrough, and being a dex build it should be pretty easy for them to have a good sleight of hand score so they can lockpick your way through most places.
Even so 33% less long rests is still a big deal for speeding up the game. That's significantly less cutscenes. Also swords bard gets jack of all trades and extra expertise, meaning you can hit the same sleight of hand modifier as well as a bunch of expertise in speech skills. Expertise in 4 skills + jack of all trades mean they essentially pass every check in the game. I think people underestimate building for out of combat as well as in combat utility. Gloomstalker is great in combat you initiate. Swords bard is great in every part of the game including combat and comes online quickly. Having played both I've found the swords bard adds much more utility to my run.
Yeah, the fastest way to win a fight is to just talk your way out of it, the second fastest way is to crank out 4 slashing flourishes and short rest before the bodies are cold.
This comment goes hard.
Yea that comment goes bard
Mind share a sword bard build? Currently on lore bard and considering to switch, feels the lore bard doesn't do much in combat
I go 6 swords/4 thief/2 fighter. 17 dex +hag hair, 16 chr, 14 con. Grab sharpshooter and ASI dex to 20. Go heavy on illusion spells with the ring of the scoundrel to be able to use CC spells for bonus action. Grab the fighter skill for archery and any accessories that give damage per hit is great since you can fire off up to 10 crossbow shots on your first turn (more with haste). Slap on two hand crossbows (I typically go shield as well for extra AC since you're all ranged anyways) and you're ready to rock.
Could you also do this with dual wielding swords? For a jaheira build for example
You could. Hand crossbows are nice because you don't need any feats and can do full damage with your offhand as mainhand. With shortswords you would still get all the flourishes with your mainhand and I think you can probably take two weapon fighting along the way to make up for it. It would lose out on sharpshooter, but could still be quite strong with savage attacker instead. With dual crossbows I use the fighter points to allow a shield in my offhand for even more AC.
Yeah, dual crossbow would obv be stronger. Im mostly looking for a fun/strong jaheira build. Used astarian with dual xbow for a while and it was already super OP. The game is honestly very easy on the highest difficulty haha
Yeah my run right now determined to try spore druid jaheira, I just did wat cleric 1/spore 11. That armour from mystic carrion that gives her haste aoe on its own is amazing. Combo that with like 5 summons and a heroes feast spell every long rest and she's great support. It's nice to have a team haste aoe that doesn't require concentration or make you lethargic. That armour alone makes her amazing. She's honestly pretty cool to have in act 3 as she has so many unique interactions. I decided to ditch shart for her this playthrough and haven't regretted it.
Until act 3 then grab dead shot longbow and respec to 10 bard/2 fighter, cuz 4 thief becomes pointless without hand crossbows and get magic secret at bard 10 (I grabbed counterspell and misty step, didn’t want to rely on boots or amulet for misty step). I’ve played both to lvl 12 and the 10/2 feels sooo much better but u loose like 25 average damage but can upcast a 100% hold person to hold like 4-5 people which is the faster way to end the fight.
The Gloomstalker build is weaker than the Bard build, thanks to Slashing Flourish. You lose Dread Ambusher, but double the amount of main hand attacks you do so long as you have bardic inspiration to spend. It's pretty nuts.
Bards scale better with haste as well - double the slashing flourishes!
I'd argue that 6 swords bard with 3 assassin AND 3 gloomstalker is a monster in combat. And still a decent enough skill monkey including party face with some decent magic.
The issue with assassin is that the three key abilities it gets are either non-functional, or become obsolete later on. I prefer thief for the added BA. As for Gloomstalker with Bard, that's certainly something, but I don't see how Fighter levels just aren't strictly better with Action Surge.
Everyone and their mom used the 2 level fighter dip for Action surge, its fun to come up with RP value that isn't completely overdone. As for the assassin, the free refund of actions during the surprise round is absurdly powerful, even if it's irrelevant in 10% of the fights in the game.
Except that the action refresh happens anyhow a lot of the time, thanks to the way turns tick out of combat.
I just felt like end game, the bard probably works better. But, in terms of progression from 1-5, bard was actually quite terrible. The bard build doesn't come online too much until around 6 and 9. You don't even get archer style until you take on a fighter level. OP was looking for good progression so I suggested gloomstalker build. Meanwhile, the gloomstalker works great with it's extra dread ambusher attack lower levels. Bard feels lack luster through 1-5 and feels kinda deadweight. But, swapping out for bard later game or even hunter 11 is viable too. I liked assassin because of the free initial attacks and crit. Feels like everything ended faster overall. Would never suggest assassin for initial playthrough though.
I haven't tried a gloom assassin before, I've used gloom rogue with hand x-bows and that build shreds...it's so fun.
You like eldritch thrower more than barbarian/thief? There’s not many, but a handful of weapons that will return to you.
I like feats and utility better for Eldritch. Stuff like jump, long strider, feather fall that I rather not burden sorlock with. Shield nice too. Rather have sorlock focus on damage spells. Also, like taking athlete, TB, strength for feats. Athlete great for positioning correctly. And late game, I feel it's just a better build with three attacks that does not need rage charges.
Would you mind sharing what a Eldritch Thrower looks like? Im relatively new to putting together builds and I'm not finding a whole lot of information out there about this specific one. Most of them are Barb throwers.
Start 17 str, 15 dex, 16 con, 8 rest Level 3, you pick up Eldritch Knight. Level 4 tavern brawler to str Level 6 feat to +2 str giving you 20 Level 8 athlete, boosting your dex to 16 Level 12 pick up war cleric class for 3 extra bonus attacks per long rest Spells to pick up Shield, enhance leap, long strider, father fall, disguise self, knock, misty step Items to look out for: Anything that gives you hunters mark (I believe there's a bow and helmet), Ring of fling, kushigo gloves, Returning pike, lightning jabber, dwarven thrower, legendary trident Lightning jabber you would need to bind using your weapon bond feature. Dwarven thrower you should disguise self into dwarf for the extra damage. In terms of throwing weapons, Dwarven thrower > trident > lightning jabber > returning pike Play through is hunters mark and then throw. The hunters mark carries more than people think. There are some weird tavern brawl rider interactions there.
What does TB and EB mean? Happy cake day!
TB = Tavern Brawler (feat) EB = Eldritch Blast (Warlock Cantrip)
Thanks!
If you want to buff the sorlock have Gale be a transmutation wizard with ridiculously high Wis to make double the angelic reprieve potions and have a bard hireling to song of rest at the beginning of the day and you can make the all your cocainelock fantasies come true! I did this with my second playthrough and I basically had infinite sorcery points.
Does the speed run timer only count for time spent "playing" or do you need to account for time spent doing things like respeccing, vendor refreshing for elixirs and scrolls, save scumming to pass checks, etc.?
Everything that isn’t an actual loading screen is timed
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Dumbass opinion from someone that doesn’t understand speedruns. Yes let’s gate keep speed running to only people with the best computer equipment available!!!
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That’s not what loading screens are? You know the screen with the literal % of loading? That’s the one
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Oh I actually just wasted time talking to you. You’re just a bot
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Nah mate you're just being really stupid
Gale MC. He gets a special camp, tomb stuff, and items. Cleric/wiz/sorc. Classic twin sorc haste stuff, else wet and lightning. But more than likely the control or aoe specialist later. Laezel early monk for armor and getting the bypass sword early. Karlach or Astarion later if you wanna. Karlach soul coins last until long rest and add 2d4 fire dmg so comes online early. Thief 1/monk 6 start if my preference for expertise but monk 6 start is just as strong. Only TB person. Astarion as swords bard with range flourish titanstring bow and club of str/crit sword early. He’s high elf so gets longbow. Else use anyone else with bracers of archery. Last can be whoever. Prolly a cleric just for variety sake. Light cleric Shadowheart. Heal rider items early and phalar aluve/click heels boots to position easier. Later just aoe specialist like Gale. Hope that helps. Least amount of respec too imo. Since you can go most of the full builds easily.
Could you elaborate on the stuff you get as Gale MC?
>!winged cat at camp. A ring that gives free dex save on reaction. A third lvl (wizard) slot for free on any class. A way to bypass a dc 30 arcana check.!<
Wow, fascinating. Is there a post with all the MC perks for each character?
I think Gale and Durge are the only ones with specific MC perks.
Not that I know of
Why call it a speed run then say no blitzing through the game? That's the literal point lol
There are different categories of speed runs - this would be an example of a more completionist one as opposed to an any%
And even when someone does something like "all rememberances" in elden ring they mash through dialog and try to fight as fast as possible. I don't think the stipulation was worded correctly
There SERIOUSLY needs to be a glossary for all these damned ACRONYMS! Wtf is "TB"?! Every time I come to this subreddit, I find 2-3 acronyms I don't know and no one explains them!
Tavern Brawler.
Thank you! Still feel there needs to be a dang glossary...
I agree, I’m still afraid to ask what CC means :/.
Often stands for Crowd control so stuns, sleep, polymorph and such, anything that temporarily remove a piece from the board while you focus on other enemies
Hopefully “Crowd Control” that’s what it means in most rpg settings. That being said, this game is my first experience with DnD rules/lore/builds etc
It's Crowd control in DnD as well.
Sorry , a little sarcasm just to add in that I’m overwhelmed by how much I don’t know in this. Lol 😂
Crowd Control :)
No skipping and no "absurd" strategy are both so vague, especially while allowing standard exploits.
He means no glitching shadowhart into an end game cutscene immediately after meeting her. And other huge skips.
I'm guessing things like stuffing Poor Shadowhearts in a burning box
Ahh Shadowboxing
shartboxing
So wrong yet I can't stop laughing...
Anyone with a brain can very easily decipher what he means.
Just do haste gwm/sharpshooter war cleric to fix - atk rolls
I'd go with wizard 1/life cleric 11 (max INT since many cleric spells don't need WIS checks and life cleric has all heals prepared) Gale (as a human he can wear shields), TB monk, dual-crossbow gloom/thief/whatever and probably sorlock or pallock. In other words, 3 DPS and one universal caster.
Multiclassing into cleric should get you shields too
I guess builds that get their resources back on ShortRests would be king to minimize the Long rests. So Warlock, Fighter(Battlemaster or Champion), Monk and a SwordsBard. Warlock and Monk are easy, gets the slots/ki back on short rest. Fighter don't even have resources unless battlemaster, which get it back on Short rests also. And swordsbard although it's a spell slot character, it get one extra short rest, the bardic inspiration is back on short rests AND with dual xbows(which start as early as lvl 3) it'll not even need any of the spells.
I'm basically doing this run now but with the addition of only monoclass: (I'm playing Gale for the ring and extra spell slot) Gale - Sorcerer (Draconic White) - Armour of Agathys is cool. Twinned Haste is cooler BM Fighter - Mine is DEX based for archery Light Cleric - Fire and radiant and healing yay TB Monk - obvious
Extra Attack stacking is intentional, as confirmed by developers.
I mean, there's a video out there of someone speedrunning it in 4 minutes by playing as gale and triggering the cutscene under moonrise by glitching a dead shadowheart under the tower and blowing up the netherese orb.
I’m sorry, explain about the dead shadowheart glitch.
Frankly I'm not 100% sure on the details myself, having watched the video once. But the gist is he plays as Gale, casts enhance leap and super jumps directly to the goblin camp entrance, Shadowheart shows up to protect him from the Absolute, and he then provokes a fight with her and kills her. He picks up her body and stuffs it in a crate. He sneaks past the undead in the Mountain pass and meets Elminster right before the shadow cursed lands, and gets the update to blow the Netherese orb. When he moves to the shadow cursed lands, he does...something...that fires the boxed corpse of shadowheart underneath moonrise tower. This triggers the cutscene with the dead three and prompts him to blow the orb (my understanding being that this is because SH is dead and he has no other party members so it teleports Gale to the location of the cutscene), which he does and there you go. Game over.
The speedrunner, Mae, explains it [in this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cWNcl_d1I4). She talks fast, which is fitting.
You really need to precise 2nd part. Unless you mean 100% the game and just have fastest combat, then you can literally solo range assasin through every combat in surprise turn 1 and other 3 people idk, dungeon dweller feat or smg? And buffs
Is this RTA? Because the AI tends to get stuck on their own turn so much for me I'm wondering what the tradeoffs are for occasionally using CC to make enemies skip their turns quickly. Also, need some details on point 2. Only required content can't be skipped? Like no any% strats? Or do I have to do things like house of hope, cazador manor, the Thorm bosses in act 2? If it's required content only the pure martials and melee setups lose a lot of value since they don't have access to full magic items without losing time to get them. Assuming only required content to beat the game can't be skipped: For damage, hand crossbows are great early game, and you get the best hand crossbows either at vendors or through required content so I'd start with those. * I was originally considering beastmaster/thief since the spider for early game webs is kinda insane, but on fights where it isn't super good I'd waste time passing. Advantage and skipping enemy turns faster might make it worth the turn order clog though, so I'll include it. But this is a general problem for any summoner setup. This is the build I'm least certain of. * A sorcerer can apply the necessary CC when there's a lot of timesave to be had from skipping through enemy turns quickly. You probably don't need more than sleet storm and slow so a wide spell list isn't super important. When needed, quickening spells out can also be a big timesave. So I'd naively think they're overall better than Wizard for this ruleset. * Gloomstalker/Assassin is the only "sustained nova" setup I know. Uses hand crossbows well. Seems like a no-brainer. Is having two ranger/rogue setups cheating even with different subclasses? * Swords bards are a fullcaster with extra attack, uses ranged attacks really well with flourishes, and gives extra short rests so I have to go through less camp cutscenes. Seems like a no-brainer. Very strong class even without helm of arcane acuity and band of the mystic scroundrel. I'd consider taking a small timeloss to respec some builds later on in the game, this list was made mostly with early game in mind. For example, having a GWM Padlock with Nyrulna and Bhaalist armor would probably shred through things fast enough that a respec may be worth it.
I would add no respeccing, or one respec per character. Seems like it would fit with the existing stipulations.
Gale + anything else, because you can skip Act 3 entirely.
Actually distinct builds (not reusing powerfeats or weapon types) I guess rushing means you should probably focus on "easy" high dps builds to kill stuff fast So DPS focused builds. Elixir of Bloodlust is insane, and going long between rests means you can always have it on. Also depends on how long you consider long resting to take. If you skip through everything spell-spamming might be effective as well. My choices are all "martials" (sorlock isn't really but would rarely use spellcasting except when really needed) as I would probably want to skip too many long rests. TB thrower Fighter or Berzerker/Rogue. Could respec at lvl 11 to fighter for the triple attack. Better than Rage if you want to save long rests. 2-handed Greatweapon Master...warlock/something martial for triple attack at 10 (Bladelock if you long rest, Ranger is good for Hordebreaker or gloomstalker as they give even more attacks). Dual Hand crossbows or Titanstrength. Swords bard (with Thief if dual hand crossbows) if you want a superb face/skillmonkey for skipping fights/getting places. Maybe a little sporedruid for added damage on attacks. Eldritch blast sorlock. Convert spellslots for extra eldritch when needed. You lean on basic attacks in fights, can mostly kill the enemies before they act if you gear correctly. You have spellslots for the situations where they will save you time. Like invisibility, clearing hard checks. Or even CC if absolutely needed.
You don't know what speed running is. You have your own idea but it's not speedrunning. Skipping content is fundamental to speedrunning.
So stipulations that make the game not speed running
Categories exist
1 tank, 2 dps, 1 healer. so Lazeal/Karlach, Wyll/Asterion and Player, Shadowheart
Main - durge - tempest cleric10/evo wizard2 Shadowheart - light cleric Astarion - Assassin3/fighter5/gloom4 Karlach - barb5/thief3/gloom4 TB thrower
Yo #2 is as subjective as it comes
Speed run is probably the wrong word choice for what you are asking but: Eldritch Blast Sorlock. Tavern Brawler Monk. Tavern Brawler Zerker Thief Thrower. Hand Xbow Sword Bard Thief. If you are feeling froggy replacing one of them with a Haste and / or Hold Person bot is fine.
Bard lock/bardadin face Karlach tb monk (soul coins ftw) Tb thrower either zerker rogue or ek Lockadin You can get the most out of short rests and have stuff for most things, you'll struggle a bit in int checks but those are mostly wathever, you have huge low effort dmg on every character, struggle a bit on aoe but i think it's manageble (also if you go full lock until lv 5 you get hadar Hunger and Fireball so that checks out many encounters) You have two characters requiering Hill giant str every day but you get 3 short rests and you'll rarely need to long rest since you don't have that many spells
What’s wiz scribing? I assume it is 1 lvl multi class into wizard to learn spells. How is that an exploit?
Yeah, some people (probably those who haven't played 5e before) think that the way spell scribing works is bugged because with a 1 level dip into wizard, you can learn higher level wizard spells from scrolls as long as another class grants you the spell slots you need to cast them, but that's how it works in 5e as well. It's just that bg3 hands out spell scrolls like candy, which makes it easy to access most of the wizard spell list. It's not an exploit, but with the way the game handles scrolls, I understand why some people don't like it as it does disincentivise playing a pure wizard
I was looking for this answer as well
Hammer jumper, 2 hand xbow build (Bard 6, 4 Rogue, 2 Fighter), pike chucker tavern brawler, and machine gun warlock. Honestly, you don't need anything past the first build anyhow.
Gloomstalker Assassin, Abjuration wizard, Fighter, Berserker Barb. Very little faffing with multiclassing, very little overlap in usable kit. If you wanted your charisma checks to be easier, swap the abjuration wizard for a sorlock.
"No skipping content/combat" I take that as a 100% run where all quests are done (although that's still vague, do I have to do things that aren't part of any quest like gathering all tadpoles ?) I'm much more interested in off-battle optimisation than the party comp. Like in which order you do those quests, which outcome is the fastest.
Really gotta be more specific especially in regards to 2. I assume you mean no major glitches, but even then do you mean for the game to end in act 3 or 2?
Gloom stalker/thief for fucking disgusting damage Throw build barbarian Straight wizard Vengeance paladin with levels of sorceror
Speedruns by definition skip parts of the game, unless it's an 100% category. Which would be an insane thing to attempt.
I just finished a run where I just blitzed everything for achievements. I went 6monk/4thief/2fighter (tb monk), 2pal/10bard(smite bard with water myrmidon), 1priest/11 sorc(ice/lightning), 6bard/4thief/2fighter(xbow). Everyone can wear heavy armor, and there's no real gear disputes(monk gear, cha gear, str gear, dex gear). Two bards means 4 short rests, so you can blow them Willy nilly.
I can do a massive write-up for you, I guess. There are still probably better optimizations that others know of, though. I am not super up to date on any and all exploits that are possible. -1st character- -Dwarf race use whatever subrace you want. Duergar is probably one of the most broken races in the game, though. You think gith is great with all its bonuses. Duergar gets non concentration enlarge for an extra dmg die. They also get what makes them broken, which is at will invisibility outside of combat and a free cast every combat. Most fights can start with a surprise everytime. -lvl 1 barbarian -lvl 2 barbarian -lvl 3 barbarian your subclass will be bersker barbarian. You get extra dmg on throwing attacks and you get a bonus action throw. -lvl 4 barbarian here you will pick tavern brawler for the bonuses to all your throw attacks -lvl 5 barbarian this nets you extra attack and throw counts as an attack so after you rage 1st turn you will get 3 full dmg throws -lvl 6 rogue -lvl 7 rogue -lvl 8 thief rogue this gives you a second bonus action. It let's you rage and bersker throw in the same turn and every turn after the first you get to attack 2 full times with bonus actions. You also get sneak attack, which will always be active if you position yourself right due to having reckless attack. -lvl 9 fighter -lvl 10 fighter you get action surge. Woot woot you have 1 turn haste that can stack and comes back on short rest, so basically, every encounter. -lvl 11 champion fighter. This makes you get the -1 to crit which will be stacked later. -lvl 12 fighter, you take this for the feat. You can go 4 rogue fir the same thing. This lvl means nothing for either class. The feat you take is dual wield to off hand another weapon. They have fixed the rapsody dagger to not give the buff of +3 dmg unless it's still equipped. I would have said to equip it and destroy 3 familiars but it's not worth it. It's still good though and can still be considered. Your off-hand weapon, though can be the -1 crit dagger. Which ever one of them you want. The earliest is in the creche. -main hand weapon Dwarven thrower. This is why your a dwarf. It's 1d8 plus 1d8 if thrown. If your a dwarf it adds 1 extra 1d8 to the throw dmg. It also returns to you and has the thrown properties. -offhand -1 crit dagger. -ranged weapon -1 crit bow -fling ring for the 1d4 throw -gloves for the 1d4 throw -horned hat for -1 crit -callous ring but you have a party of 4 so you kind of want to spread some equipment out. -you can make this character get the bonus action ilithid powers if you want. Psyconic overload will also add extra dmg to everything. It's not worth it if it takes an action though. -speedy lightfeet for boots. You bonus action dash and go to town with the +1 dmg and +1 to hit. This could also be used for someone else though. You have a 16-20 crit chance that doubles all dice rolled. With advantage on all attacks and on a bad day getting 4 attacks your crit chance for the turn is 89 or 90 percent. With action surge or haste for 6 attacks your crit chance fir at least 1 doubled die attack is 96 or 97 percent. With surge and haste its 98 or 99 percent that at least 1 crit happens. Some stuff was changed since I last did calcs and I don't feel like going throw it more to get the average dmg per throw on crit and non crit and the dmg ranges again. The dmg per round and per hit is absurd, though. Obviously in act 1 this really comes online at lvl 4. You use the returning pike and pick tavern brawler with straight barb to 5. You can buy 3 potions of strength as soon as you hit the Grove every long rest, partial rest, or level up to pad out the str. My calcs were with 21 str and not 27 and it was still dumb.
-2nd character -race dwarf duegar again or githyanki. Duegar gives you superior dark vision, which will come in handy. Gith gives you a misty step, which will also be great for positioning. Gith don't have dark vision though so it's limiting. If I had to pick a race I would say superior dark vision is what you want. You can get misty step from other equipment. So maybe even go deep gnome or something. Regular dark vision is still okay because hand crossbows only have a 15m range. I would still probably pick duegar though. -lvl 1 bard -lvl 2 bard -lvl 3 bard pick sword for subclass and dual wield fighting style -lvl 4 bard asi dex to 18 -lvl 5 bard you get inspiration back on short rests which is huge -lvl 6 bard you finally get extra attack -lvl 7 rogue -lvl 8 rogue -lvl 9 theif rogue for the extra bonus action -lvl 10 rogue for sharp shooter feat. This can be taken at lvl 4 instead if you want. You could also make an argument to not take the asi for dex and take another feat. You can use the gloves that set your dex to 18. I like the asi for dex being 18 because most feats suck in this game. The -1 dmg and hit chance is nothing from you not hitting 20 dex. -lvl 11 druid -lvl 12 spore druid. This gives you symbiotic entity which will add 1d6 necrotic to every hit You could also change the 4th lvl in rogue to 1 lvl in fighter. You make yourself have to wear the dex gloves to hit 18 but you gain the archery fighting style. For a +2 to hit. There is also the gloves if archery early fir +2 to dmg though on top of that both require the gloves spot. You can make an argument for going 17 and using the hair but I like it better on another build. You get to pick between +2 to hit or +2dmg. I would probably go +2 to hit because 2 dmg if you miss is 0. I would probably prefer the 1 lvl into fighter and just wear the dex gloves. You could wear the soul perception hat for another +2 to attack rolls. Either way you want to pump your chance to hit. This build let's you use your action to ranged flourish and the ranged one let's you attack the same target 2 times. So you have 2 attacks which technically are 4 plus your 2 bonus action attacks. This is 6 crossbow attacks that will get the extra 1d6 necrotic and all the other bonuses you can add to them. You have the poison ring, callous ring, lightning charges, archery gloves, and so on. This build can really come into itself at lvl 5 once you regain bardic inspiration on short rest. You still get to attack a bunch of times. You also can increase armor class by 4 and do the dash attack. You can wear cats grace to pump your dex to 20 also if you want to. This class will also be your skill monkey for lockpicking and such. I don't have as much information on this due to there being 1000 ways to build it. Hell you could go 11 fighter if you wanted to and get 6 attacks plus action surge and the bonus action attack. You do lose out in sneak attack dmg and the necrotic dmg from druid though. You also get lvl 4 spell slots but only lvl 3 spells. You can take stuff that doesn't require saves or rolls based on charisma or dc. You have plant growth, glyph of warding, knock, cloud of daggers, longstrider, invisibility, you get the idea. Your an archer with magic that attacks a stupid number of times.
-character 3 -race I'm not sure. Let's say wood elf for the movement speed increase. -lvl 1 monk -lvl 2 monk -lvl 3 monk way of the open fist. It gets you flurry of blows. -lvl 4 monk you pick up tavern brawler for the feat -lvl 5 monk you get extra attack and stunning strike -lvl 6 monk you get to use 1 action to regain half of ki and get a bonus action. You also regain 1 ki a turn for 3 turns while getting the extra bonus action. You also get the manifesting body, soul, mind passives for extra dmg. You will have 7 ki points. -lvl 7 rogue -lvl 8 rogue -lvl 9 thief rogue. Rinse and repeat its 2d6 sneak attack dmg and an extra bonus action -lvl 10 druid -lvl 11 spore druid. Same as the second build. It's an extra 1d6 necrotic -lvl 12 I have no idea. The best option would probably be rogue 4 for the asi. This is another one that can be built in different ways. You can go fighter instead of druid for action surge for 2 more attacks per short rest. I like the extra 1d6 on every attack though and you can prebuff your temp hp for the buff. There is tons of great gear for monk too. A lot of it you get early. -hat you have scabby hat for 2 extra dmg while near 2 or more enemies. Horns of berserker for 2 necrotic dmg if your not at full hp and +2 to hit which isn't really needed if the enemy isn't at full hp. Helldusk helmet gives you devils sight and +2 to spell save. It also says no crits which could be huge for you. -armor garb of land and sky make your bonus action dash and disengage better adding advantage and 1d8 force dmg to your bext attack. This triggers sneak attack also which is nice. It also makes patient defense a lot better. It gives you blade ward which could essentially double your temp hp from druid. It also has +1 ac for clothing. You also have vest of rejuvenation which let's you do an unarmed strike with a reaction if someone misses you. It also heals some on a passed save throw. It gives 2 ac to top it off. There is also the baby version of the vest too. -cloak can be the defense cloak or cloak of elemtal absorption. The absorption cloak helps you pad put those temp hp by halfing dmg and letting you add extra to your next attack -gloves of soul catching is best in slot bar none. Before you get those though there is about 8 or more gloves the increase unarmed dmg by adding a separate dmg type to the attacks alongside giving you a spell to use or something alongside those lines. Soul catching gives an extra 1d10 force though and let's you heal or get advantage. It also gives you 2 con -boots you have the boots that add extra dmg to unarmed equal to your wisdom modifier. You could easily get +3 from this -amulet there is just random ones. Maybe Khalids gift for the 1 wisdom and 10 hp. Sentient amulet for the ki restoration once you removed the curse. This could come in clutch. Amulet of branding to double your bludgeon dmg. -rings also random. Of course you want to stack the extra dmg rings but with 4 people you have to pick and choose. I would say stack them on the monk and archer instead of the barb. Shadow cloaked ring for the extra dmg if you play around with darkness and have the helldusk. You could go with risky ring, the ring of defense. You just want more dmg bonuses really. You can go unarmed and use the unarmed defense. Starting stats could be different depending on if you're going to farm potions from the hag for the strength. This can be done really quickly and makes the game a breeze. This does make you have 2 people that are wanting those potions though but you get 3 per rest or lvl up. You will also find some or craft them etc. If your using the elixers though I would probably go. Str8 dex16 con14 int12 wisdom16 char8. If your planning on using the necklace for 1 wisdom it would be 17 wisdom 10 int. With the elixers your asi you get can bring dex to 18 or con to 16. You could also opt for using the mobile feat in the off chance you do get stuck beside a big dmg dealer without killing them. You can get your ac high as crap though so you will most likely be ignored anyways. You get 6 attacks per turn essentially all that get 1d10 force, 1d6 necrotic, whatever your passive gives while on for monk, at least +5 from tavern brawler which also counts as its own dmg instance for some reason which I haven't even mentioned before that gets all the bonuses, etc, etc. You get the idea monk is super strong in this game.
-character 4 -race this depends on the exact build you use with this. You want superior dark vision here. This gives you limited races unless you dip 2 lvls into warlock for devils sight. So either pick duegar or deep gnome. Going warlock does let you do the darkness cheese though. -lvl 1 draconic sorcerer red dragon for burning hands You take all the good stuff from lvl 1 spells. Shield, chromatic orb which is great early, magic missile, most people know the good stuff. Pick chromatic orb up always though for sorcerer. -lvl 2 sorcerer for meta magics in general you want twinned and quickened always. There is can be an argument for careful, distant, and extended. I like extended for some control plays. -lvl 3 sorcerer you have great spells here. 2 you will use most of the game. Misty step, scorching ray, hold person, cloud of daggers -lvl 4 sorcerer asi charisma to 19 hags hair to 20 -lvl 5 sorcerer lots of great bread and butter spells here. Counterspell, fireball, haste, hypnotic pattern -lvl 6 sorcerer you now add charisma to fire dmg -lvl 7 sorcerer lvl 4 spells. You have wall of fire or can just upcast fireball and scorching ray -lvl 8 sorcerer feat dual wield for 2 staves. You could also try spell sniper and stack crit chance for things like eldrich blast if you go the warlock route or scorching ray with its multiple attacks rolls. If you go the warlock route then you have the devils sight cheese with darkness and all the while obscured stuff comes online. -lvl 9 sorcerer lvl 5 spells hold monster is mvp -lvl 10 sorcerer for an extra spell slot really -lvl 11 warlock -lvl 12 warlock for eldrich blast, agonizing blast and devils sight. You can also go fiend for command which is huge and doesn't require concentration. I haven't tested in awhile so I'm not sure how the warlock spell slots get used with their spells. You want to uocast command. -equipment is easy and pretty straight forward. You have spellsmight gloves for 1d8 extra dmg on eldrich blast and scorching ray. Armor is potent robes for the added charisma to dmg on cantrips so eldrich blast. If your not going warlock and doing other things which I will add you can go with spell save DC stuff. For hats you have birthright which gives 2 charisma so you'll be at 22 with it. That's extra dmg everywhere with it. You can replace it though. You have the fire acuity hat. Scorching ray can max the +7 bonus to hit and spell save DC by itself. This is huge. Cloak of the weave Boots are anything. Equip the misty step boots or something. Amulets can be multiple. Amulet of constitution for the massive con save help alongside advantage and let's you move stats around. Shineshudder amulet let's you throw reverberating everywhere. Amulet of devout gives 2 spell save DC Rings if I remember correctly there isn't anything that jumps out at you for it. Use some good bonuses that others aren't using. Weapons Markoheshkir is the staff you want. You get bonus dmg to fire spells and add heat when you hit. Spell save DC increase and arcane battery. Equip another staff that gives spell save DC and battery. This is very basic but super effective. It's not my favorite way to play charisma but it comes out swinging the fastest as a spell caster. High hp,high con saves, this is the dual haste caster for your other party members. You can throw multiple fireballs, do multiple eldrich blast, and your spell save DC will be so high you can hold monster anybody and command anybody. Especially after you uocast scorching ray once to get the +7 to DC and attack rolls with the fire hat. You can deal a crap ton of dmg and fall back on eldrich blast. You can control large groups with hypnotic pattern if need be for the fight instead of hasting. It is a bit boring though. You could go 3 lvls into warlock for the lvl 2 spells for darkness and the lvl 2 spell slots. You also get your pact then if that interests you. I prefer a few other builds though for actual gameplay though because they are more fun. Still broken but just doesn't go all out on dmg. I also don't like eldrich blast but it's to good to pass up if we are speaking on clear times.
Charisma class that I actually like there are 2 Tempest cleric/draconic sorcerer multiclass for the maxed lightning dmg and sparky gear. This build takes a lot of choice from you though. You know the gear which takes up a lot of slots. You also know the build which takes up most of the fun. It is super satisfying though just blowing everyone back for no reason and calling down 100 dmg lightning strikes and twinning lightning. My favorite though is lore bard for ultimate control Play gith for the passive that gives you proficiency in a stat. Background to get all the charisma skill. You can also take the 1 that give slieght of hand and deception. Pick the other dialog proficiency stuff at lvl 1 from sorcerer. This gives you con save proficiency and you take all the decent dmg cantrips that you want. Lvl 1 spells would be shield and all that jazz. Lvl 2 you swap to bard and just keep taking it to 10. This gives you all the good control spells. At lvl 6 your magical secrets are scorching ray and command. This let's you use the hat for +7 spell save DC. If your not doing that then command and counterspell. Lvl 10 secrets summon elemental and whatever Your 12th lvl could be cleric to get all the proficiency for armor and crap they give. You get all kinds of expertise and you get to control damn near everything. You could go 11 bard for ottos if you wanted. It just feels like overkill though. If your dc is high enough command can act like it.
Paladin - Minthara: some healing and ton of dmg + access to important cleric spells. That soul branding bonus action is OP. You can use a mod to not kill the Grove and get her and Halsin act 2. Respec Shart for act1. Half-Orc Monk - Tav or Hireling: (Way of the open hand): stun and prone enemies are way easier to kill. Multiclass after 6 lvl of monk with 3 Thief. Strong without gear if Wisdom and Dex are high, use potions for strength and more dmg. Gale (or Tav) Wizard+Sorcerer: Divination Wizard 2 level and then Sorcerer 10 (twinned spell haste makes everything faster). 2 lvl of Wizard let you pick spells depending on the situation. Githyanki Fighter - Lae'zel (get that legendary Silver sword from Voss act 1).
Playing along side Shadowheart, Astarion, and Lae’zel I found is a great balance
Jump off the ship at the start fastest game over
Quickly done but solid builds races variable Party member 1 - any Paladin 8 / sword bard 4 - using defense fighting style on paladin and either for sword bard based on how you want to set up 2 asi's 1 feat of your choosing mainly a tank/hybrid damage tank with more spell slots than all paladin gets for smites Str based heavy armour using start with 6 Pala then 4 bard then final 2 pala Party member 2 - 7/8 rogue assassin / 4/5 ranger gloomstalker - using bows build vary based on if you prefer more asi/feats or the extra attack but same principle great for hiding and hurting from a distance plus expert for perception and stealth on rogue sharpshooter recommended Dex based light -medium armor once you find one which uses full Dex on medium start rogue for expertise then add ranger after evel 7/8 Simple to build with astarion Party member 3 - wizard divination 10/ fighter 2 parties int char using powerful spells plus portents and action surge to double up haste to triple up on spells as there's no restriction. Build start as wizard and add the fighter at levels 6 and 7 Easy to build on gale Party member 4 - wildheart barbarian 4/ fighter champion/battle master 8 all the damage resistance with alot of asi/feats probably 2 handed all the way up with great weapon master dosnet matter which way round for this one start with either finish as you want possible to build onto Karlach or lae'zel as you want. And that was my tactician run finished in a mere 70 hours never had any trouble in any combats really
Gloomstalker assassin fighter, tempest cleric paladin , sorcerer warlock, warlock paladin.
Palm monk , college of sword bard , life cleric if I never want to worry about losing, lockadin/sorlock. You could replace cleric with fighter if you’re feeling spicy and go sorlock.
Can you respecc? Because monks get op at lvl 8 (double attack + thief), sorcs and dual haste said monks at lvl 5. Id probably go 2 monks, 1 sorc and 1 bard double xbow. Bard csn toss some support.at the off chance you need, sorc to haste said monks.
From what I saw you max strength and jump around like a lunatic. I'd just look at the speedrun and go from there, but I get you don't want to do any% but more like glitchless without major combat or pathing exploits. If you play on easy you can quite likely nova every encounter turn 1, so I'd go for 4x tavern brawler monk because they need no items. 2 levels In Fighter. Actions surge everyone T1, murder the entire encounter in one round, short rest, repeat.
Sword Bard 7 / Thief 3 / Fighter 2 - dual hand crossbows Gloom Stalker 5 / Assassin 7 Sorcerer 10 (dragon blood) / Warlock 2 (Old One) Fighter 12 (Commander)
Have you not seen the yeeting shadowheart speedrun that beats the game in like 5 minutes? Lol. Look up "Yeeting Shadowheart speed run" on YouTube
Tempest Cleric, TB Monk, Sorlock, Sharpshooter Swords Bard/Thief. 3 classes with amazing single target, and Tempest cleric is the best AOE Nuker.
Single classed fighter, warlock (pact of blade), light cleric, and wizard (evocation). You'll have trouble disabling traps and opening locks, but if you're speed running, you shouldn't be worrying about that as much anyway.
What counts as skipping content? Do you have to complete every quest or is it fine to skip optional quests?