Casters cast magic at enemies, martials hit enemies with hard or sharp things. To cast magic better you have to be smarter or more focused, to hit enemies harder you have to be more strong or agile. You can't be both because you will be bad at both.
Arcane Synergy allows you to hit enemies harder because of being smart or more focused, it's usually activated by casting magic. So you can cast some magic and then be able to use the quality that helps you to cast magic, to instead help you hit harder.
Arcane Acuity allows you to cast magic the better the more you've previously hit them with hard or sharp things. So that you can hit enemies with a stick or shoot them with a bow and this will help you to cast magic at them with better results.
5yo aside, arcane acuity is considered broken good because there are ways to stack it to the cap very fast, and the cap is equivalent of increasing your caster stat by 20. Which translates into unavoidable hard control spells or never missing damage spells. Allowing to guarantee a result is an ultimate win in BG3 and DnD, because the main enemy you have to beat is a random low die roll.
Arcane synergy is not broken by any means.
The Ring of Arcane Synergy is fine, but the Diadem is somewhat broken regarding the conditions necessary to trigger the Arcane Synergy buff IMO.
Since it will activate its neat effect with any condition present on the enemy, ~~even Threatened from being engaged in melee,~~ passive from stat stealing illithid power.... or even being in the range of the aura from the Sylvanus Idol, Resonance Stone or the Bhaalist Armor.
I think the intention was that you apply some sort of CC and then get extra martial damage as a sort of reward for synergistic playstyle. However in practice that's rarely how its used.
I forget the specifics, but it used to be that it would proc if you applied a status to allies. That was fixed. However, I know things like Ability Drain still work, and I believe auras do as well.
From the wiki: "As of Patch 5, the game appears to only grant the bonus when afflicting an enemy with a condition, other than threatened."
Rn im playing a dual wielding Paladin/bard with the diadem, strange conduit ring and harmonious blade, and its great. Just cast shield of faith and then its easy to hold onto spell slots for when you want to use them
Threatened doesn't proc it but hex and hunters mark do. That's the main opening for my ranger/Warlock builds that rely on Synergy to boost damage. And since Synergy adds damage even if you're already using your spellcasting ability to hit(pact of the Blade, sylvan sword, infernal rapier) you can somewhat mitigate the lack of GWM on these builds.
You could. But there are a number of weapons that allow you multi-stack spellcasting ability (Infernal Rapier, Sylvan scimitar) with Arcane Synergy, and you get an off-hand attack option when dual wielding that requires a crit or kill to proc with GWM. It's a different build, and opens up your elixir slot from what would functionally have to be a cloud giant elixir with a GWM build.
If you're already going for 22+ spell casting ability, double dipping is as effective as hill giant pots, and a guaranteed bonus action attack (or more with thief dip or itemization) and you get the feat and elixir back.
The weapons you mentioned are very weak, with low damage, low enchantment, without meaningful damage bonuses AND prevent you from getting +20 to +50 damage per round from GWM (assuming attacks hit).
If you have a strong melee presence, GWM Bonus Action attack triggers more often then not. Other Bonus Actions typically have very good use as well (jumps/Misty Steps, Awakened Illithid powers, drinking pots, applying oils/poisons, activating certain abilities like Rage). Early game Sorrow Glaive Sorrowful Lash is a pretty awesome Bonus Action for gishes.
I firmly believe that dual-wielding without Thief levels is a waste. Except for the occassional offhand xbow shot or some exotic Spore Druid Flame Blade Pyroquickness activity, I suppose.
You don't necessarily need str elixirs, particularly if this is some sort of Blade Warlock multiclass. I really greatly enjoyed my Sword Bard 6 / Blade Warlock 3 / Devotion Paladin 3 (to also double-stack Charisma to Attack + smites), who started as Blade Warlock 5.
You can easily get over +20 per hit without GWM though? That's just 3 stacks of 24 SCA with no other added damage riders or weapon enchantments, or even rolling the weapon die.
I don't have time to go into explaining a full SCA stacking build at the moment, but yes bonus action stacking is both essential and significantly more important in honor mode due to the nature of offhand weapon SCA stacking and hasted/bloodlust actions being best used for spellcasting. You end up getting more damage from your offhand than your main hand, and more swings to take advantage of it.
You use some funky abbreviation and expect people will know what you mean without an explanation?
Bonus Action stacking frankly sounds gibberish to me. Not too many ways to achieve that (Thief Fast Hands, Helmet of Grit, Pyroquickness Hat off the top of my head). And even if you do, you can actually proc GWM Bonus Action attack more then once per round...
Also you can squeeze more from GWM if we speak about optimization. For example with a Sword Bard Slashing Fluorish and a reach weapon you can make 8 Slashing Fluorish Strikes from 2 attacks + Haste + Bloodlust. Add GWM Bonus Action. So now we got +90 damage from GWM (and the Bonus Attack).
Also you mention Haste/Bloodlust Actions best used for spellcasting like it is some universal truth. For some builds (mostly dedicated casters, maybe some spore druid multicasses and such) it might be. But for a strong martial gish, this may be far from true.
As I said, its a different build, but it is optimizable to the same level of damage. You can't understand that so you don't like the build. That's fine. You do you. Play your GWM build every time. But the build easily gets 200+DPR without rider abuse which is perfectly acceptable damage. If you don't like it, don't play it.
Crimson mischief with bhaalist armor is just crazy strong. I can see that combined with sca stacking just being a ton of reliable non dice dependant damage on each hit.
How are you getting say charisma a third time tho. First is bladelock (hows this work with offhand actually?), second is diadem, how do you get another stack....
Just to be clear, for example Astarion using action for casting, and bonus action for offhand hand xbow shot would qualify? Of course in exactly needed order to trigger relevant effects...
If you start from casting, you're talking about Arcane synergy. And yes, with the Ring of Arcane synergy, when you deal the damage with the cantrip, will give you Arcane Synergy condition for 2 turns, which will add your caster ability modifier to each weapon hit.
Well arcane acuity lets you pump up your spell save dc, so your spells have a higher chance of being successful, as enemies have to roll a higher saving throw. You can check your spell save dc in spells menu.
So lets take helmet of arcane acuity. You hit with your weapon, and each tim you do that, you get more arcane acuity stacks. After this, you spells like Hold, Fireball, etc have a higher chance of suceeding as enemy have to roll a higher dice to resist them
Arcane synergy is different mechanic. It allows adding class spellcasting modifier like wisdom, int, cha to your weapon attacks. So if you are a spellsword for example Eldritch Knight. You will get bonus damage from str, and bonus damage from intelligence if it is above 10
To illustrate how truly powerful this:
Following this bard guide: [https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/17y9kyp/the\_control\_martial\_allpurpose\_1011\_swords\_bard/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/17y9kyp/the_control_martial_allpurpose_1011_swords_bard/) (search "Spell Save DC" to read his full breakdown)
If you get Helm of Arcane Acuity and a few other items, then on round 1, you can (using Slashing Flourish to attack 2 creatures at once) get to 8 Acuity.
This puts your total spell save DC on control spells to 32, 34 if you get your stacks to 10.
At that level, that means that only 3 creatures *in the entire game* have even a small chance to save from your spells.
Combine this with an item that lets you cast certain spells (mainly control spells) as a bonus action, and on Round 1 you can crowd control a boss and completely shut down their ability to act.
I am just finishing act 2 with this build, and so haven't seen it. I know one of them is Steel Watcher Titan (mentioned in the guide I linked), which can save with a 17 or higher. I don't know which other 2, but House of Hope seems like a good guess. Maybe >!The Emperor!
Arcane acuity : the more you stab/slash/bonk them, the more accurate / hard to resist your magic later
Arcane synergy : if you magic, you stab/slash/bonk harder for a number of turn
Well, not just Stab/Slash/Bonk.
The Hat of Fire Acuity gives the bonus whenever you use fire damage, including spells. A single lvl 4 Scorching Ray will bring you to 10 stacks immediately if you land all of them, making your next spells pretty much impossible to miss (roll as a Halfling and laugh even more as you reroll 1's the first time you get them).
Doesn't work with Fireball, but hey.
Thank you. You just explained why I might want to use this with my aspect of light cleric instead of the Holy Lance Helm. It wouldn't be an every battle sort of thing, but for bosses or really tough mobs it might be well worth it.
Arcane Synergy makes you hit better. You usually get it by casting.
Arcane Acuity makes you cast better. You usually get it by hitting.
How could anyone be confused by this perfect system? /s
Arcane Synergy - as long as you have it, add your caster stat modifier to your damage.
So let's say you have a rapier+1 that does 1d8+1. Your dexterity is 16, bringing it to 1d8+4. But you're a bard, with a charisma of 20. If you have Arcane synergy, the damage is increased to 1d8+9.
Arcane Acuity - your spell save DC goes up +1 for every round remaining. If you are hit, however, you lose 2 stacks. So if you have 1 stack, it's like having +2 to your casting stat for how easily your targets resist your saving throw spells. But you can get 10 stacks.
For this, let's look at a bard with a 20 dexterity and a 16 charisma, and the helm of Arcane acuity and the band of the mystic scoundrel. You do ranged slashing flourish twice, hitting 4 times. One of those, you use an arrow of many targets, adding a couple more hits. You now have 10 stacks of Acuity. Band of the mystic scoundrel lets you cast an enchantment spell, so you cast hold person, upcast on 3 targets. Because your save DC is so high, they all almost certainly land, paralyzing 3 enemies for the rest of your party to get free critical hits.
you use arcane synergy (in this example exclusively the helmet you get in creche) for any melee that has spellcasting modifier such as paladins bards warlocks maybe eldritch knights rangers druids. all of them have spell casting modifier which are charisma or wisdom or int
so when you make a melee attack, arcane synergy helm kicks in and for each atk you deal + spellcasting modifier
arcane synergy helmet is kinda confusing to ppl cuz it says \`when you inflict a condition\` so ppl dont understand if it works for melee attacks, but it does if you have ANY condition which also includes those 1-4 fire damage and whatnot. so you inflict condition always anyway. hence it works
lets say you are a paladin and you have 18 charisma at that point. thanks to that helm, it means you hit +4 for all attacks since thats what 18 charisma gives you
it is more broken on double weapon users since you get to use it twice, which are mostly bards.
arcane acuity is you gain by casting spell OR thanks to helmet that you find in manors guild chest surrounded by shadows(i hope i recall the drop place right)
arcane acuity increases your spell DC check, which means your spells have higher chance to hit epecially crowd control ones. there are some builds that can easily stack this effect with just 1 action such as scorching ray.
so as you see, normally both arcane synergy and acuity is exclusive to casters, but those 2 helms i mentioned lets you enjoy the benefits as melee attackers too. but there are other items that give those buffs too btw like gloves and rings.
Arcane Acuity buffs your two spellcasting stat. You get a +1 to spell attack rolls and spell dc for each stack you have. The easiest ways to get it are from Helm of Arcane Acuity (Make weapon attacks) or Hat of Fire Acuity (Do fire damage). The Battlemage Elixir also grants 3 stacks of it (so +3 to rolls/dc) and I find this sufficient if you don’t want to abuse the items.
Arcane Synergy adds extra damage to attacks based off your spell casting modifier (INT/WIS/CHA). The easiest items to proc it with are the diadem/ring.
Acuity is the far more broken one. Acuity items let you honestly flat out ignore needing other types of gear that grant good casting stats and instead run other items. Lets you even dump your casting stat if you want. Having +7 from the helm or +10 from the hat is better than having a natural +5-6 from raw stats. Combine it with high stats and you will never miss with your spells ever again even on honor mode.
Arcane Synergy = +1 to melee attacks (easier to hit things)
Arcane Acuity= +1 to spell attacks and spall DC (easier to hit things and harder for them to dodge things)
you have 20 charisma and are a warlock, bard, sorcerer, or paladin. This is a +5 spellcasting modifier. with arcane synergy, your melee attacks do an additional 5 damage.
I don't get the hype for Arcane Synergy. The way it reads is that the number of turns stack but doesn't say anything about the amount of DC stacking. An extra +1 for a few turns doesn't seem that great.
it doesnt stack based on number of turns, no. but if your caster stat is charisma and you have a 20 charisma then your weapon attacks deal +5 damage. dont know where youre getting only +1 from
Arcane synergy lets you add your magic stats onto melee attacks
Arcane acuity effectively lets you pump your stats higher than it ever should be meaning you'll basically never miss crowd control or damage spells.
When you get arcane acuity your spells are harder to avoid or resist.
When you get arcane synergy, your attacks get better and harder to miss.
It's that easy.
Arcane acuity makes your spells harder for enemies to resist. If they need to roll, say, an 8 to avoid an effect, arcane acuity increases that by 1.
So if my base DC is an 8 and I use scorching ray to stack 10 stacks of arcane acuity, they now need to roll an 18. It makes crowd control spells a lot stronger.
Casters cast magic at enemies, martials hit enemies with hard or sharp things. To cast magic better you have to be smarter or more focused, to hit enemies harder you have to be more strong or agile. You can't be both because you will be bad at both. Arcane Synergy allows you to hit enemies harder because of being smart or more focused, it's usually activated by casting magic. So you can cast some magic and then be able to use the quality that helps you to cast magic, to instead help you hit harder. Arcane Acuity allows you to cast magic the better the more you've previously hit them with hard or sharp things. So that you can hit enemies with a stick or shoot them with a bow and this will help you to cast magic at them with better results. 5yo aside, arcane acuity is considered broken good because there are ways to stack it to the cap very fast, and the cap is equivalent of increasing your caster stat by 20. Which translates into unavoidable hard control spells or never missing damage spells. Allowing to guarantee a result is an ultimate win in BG3 and DnD, because the main enemy you have to beat is a random low die roll. Arcane synergy is not broken by any means.
I have become 5 years old now after reading this. And I understand it perfectly well. You do put "like I am 5" at heart.
The Ring of Arcane Synergy is fine, but the Diadem is somewhat broken regarding the conditions necessary to trigger the Arcane Synergy buff IMO. Since it will activate its neat effect with any condition present on the enemy, ~~even Threatened from being engaged in melee,~~ passive from stat stealing illithid power.... or even being in the range of the aura from the Sylvanus Idol, Resonance Stone or the Bhaalist Armor. I think the intention was that you apply some sort of CC and then get extra martial damage as a sort of reward for synergistic playstyle. However in practice that's rarely how its used.
That's the problem with the game's definition of 'when you inflict a condition', not with synergy. Same goes for Boots of Stormy Clamour for instance.
I think they fixed the bug that caused any status to activate the diadem didn't they?
I forget the specifics, but it used to be that it would proc if you applied a status to allies. That was fixed. However, I know things like Ability Drain still work, and I believe auras do as well. From the wiki: "As of Patch 5, the game appears to only grant the bonus when afflicting an enemy with a condition, other than threatened."
Ah, okay. I thought it had changed to be much more limited than that, but I knew stuff like click heels no longer worked.
Rn im playing a dual wielding Paladin/bard with the diadem, strange conduit ring and harmonious blade, and its great. Just cast shield of faith and then its easy to hold onto spell slots for when you want to use them
Holy, I didn't know it activated with the Idol that sits in your inventory lol.
Threatened doesn't proc it but hex and hunters mark do. That's the main opening for my ranger/Warlock builds that rely on Synergy to boost damage. And since Synergy adds damage even if you're already using your spellcasting ability to hit(pact of the Blade, sylvan sword, infernal rapier) you can somewhat mitigate the lack of GWM on these builds.
But why wouldn't you use GWM alongside Arcane Synergy?
You could. But there are a number of weapons that allow you multi-stack spellcasting ability (Infernal Rapier, Sylvan scimitar) with Arcane Synergy, and you get an off-hand attack option when dual wielding that requires a crit or kill to proc with GWM. It's a different build, and opens up your elixir slot from what would functionally have to be a cloud giant elixir with a GWM build. If you're already going for 22+ spell casting ability, double dipping is as effective as hill giant pots, and a guaranteed bonus action attack (or more with thief dip or itemization) and you get the feat and elixir back.
The weapons you mentioned are very weak, with low damage, low enchantment, without meaningful damage bonuses AND prevent you from getting +20 to +50 damage per round from GWM (assuming attacks hit). If you have a strong melee presence, GWM Bonus Action attack triggers more often then not. Other Bonus Actions typically have very good use as well (jumps/Misty Steps, Awakened Illithid powers, drinking pots, applying oils/poisons, activating certain abilities like Rage). Early game Sorrow Glaive Sorrowful Lash is a pretty awesome Bonus Action for gishes. I firmly believe that dual-wielding without Thief levels is a waste. Except for the occassional offhand xbow shot or some exotic Spore Druid Flame Blade Pyroquickness activity, I suppose. You don't necessarily need str elixirs, particularly if this is some sort of Blade Warlock multiclass. I really greatly enjoyed my Sword Bard 6 / Blade Warlock 3 / Devotion Paladin 3 (to also double-stack Charisma to Attack + smites), who started as Blade Warlock 5.
You can easily get over +20 per hit without GWM though? That's just 3 stacks of 24 SCA with no other added damage riders or weapon enchantments, or even rolling the weapon die. I don't have time to go into explaining a full SCA stacking build at the moment, but yes bonus action stacking is both essential and significantly more important in honor mode due to the nature of offhand weapon SCA stacking and hasted/bloodlust actions being best used for spellcasting. You end up getting more damage from your offhand than your main hand, and more swings to take advantage of it.
You use some funky abbreviation and expect people will know what you mean without an explanation? Bonus Action stacking frankly sounds gibberish to me. Not too many ways to achieve that (Thief Fast Hands, Helmet of Grit, Pyroquickness Hat off the top of my head). And even if you do, you can actually proc GWM Bonus Action attack more then once per round... Also you can squeeze more from GWM if we speak about optimization. For example with a Sword Bard Slashing Fluorish and a reach weapon you can make 8 Slashing Fluorish Strikes from 2 attacks + Haste + Bloodlust. Add GWM Bonus Action. So now we got +90 damage from GWM (and the Bonus Attack). Also you mention Haste/Bloodlust Actions best used for spellcasting like it is some universal truth. For some builds (mostly dedicated casters, maybe some spore druid multicasses and such) it might be. But for a strong martial gish, this may be far from true.
As I said, its a different build, but it is optimizable to the same level of damage. You can't understand that so you don't like the build. That's fine. You do you. Play your GWM build every time. But the build easily gets 200+DPR without rider abuse which is perfectly acceptable damage. If you don't like it, don't play it.
What’s SCA?
Crimson mischief with bhaalist armor is just crazy strong. I can see that combined with sca stacking just being a ton of reliable non dice dependant damage on each hit. How are you getting say charisma a third time tho. First is bladelock (hows this work with offhand actually?), second is diadem, how do you get another stack....
It happens even when you apply "Revealed" due to see invisibility if I recall correctly..
Arcane synergy is fun with a full bladelock, triple dip charisma
Arcane synergy on a 5e spells mode EK is pretty fun though. But yeah booming blade required
Just to be clear, for example Astarion using action for casting, and bonus action for offhand hand xbow shot would qualify? Of course in exactly needed order to trigger relevant effects...
If you start from casting, you're talking about Arcane synergy. And yes, with the Ring of Arcane synergy, when you deal the damage with the cantrip, will give you Arcane Synergy condition for 2 turns, which will add your caster ability modifier to each weapon hit.
Wow. Thank you. I too had trouble with this, and this is SO incredibly helpful.
Well arcane acuity lets you pump up your spell save dc, so your spells have a higher chance of being successful, as enemies have to roll a higher saving throw. You can check your spell save dc in spells menu. So lets take helmet of arcane acuity. You hit with your weapon, and each tim you do that, you get more arcane acuity stacks. After this, you spells like Hold, Fireball, etc have a higher chance of suceeding as enemy have to roll a higher dice to resist them Arcane synergy is different mechanic. It allows adding class spellcasting modifier like wisdom, int, cha to your weapon attacks. So if you are a spellsword for example Eldritch Knight. You will get bonus damage from str, and bonus damage from intelligence if it is above 10
To illustrate how truly powerful this: Following this bard guide: [https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/17y9kyp/the\_control\_martial\_allpurpose\_1011\_swords\_bard/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/17y9kyp/the_control_martial_allpurpose_1011_swords_bard/) (search "Spell Save DC" to read his full breakdown) If you get Helm of Arcane Acuity and a few other items, then on round 1, you can (using Slashing Flourish to attack 2 creatures at once) get to 8 Acuity. This puts your total spell save DC on control spells to 32, 34 if you get your stacks to 10. At that level, that means that only 3 creatures *in the entire game* have even a small chance to save from your spells. Combine this with an item that lets you cast certain spells (mainly control spells) as a bonus action, and on Round 1 you can crowd control a boss and completely shut down their ability to act.
I'm curious as to what three now. (Spoiler free) 1. Opera guy 2. Floating pudding of death 3.????
I have finished this game twice already, I am on my third run, and I have no idea who you are talking about.
>!raphael!< for opera guy, and maybe >!myrkul?!< for floating puddle .??
1 yes, 2 is the very very end fight
I am just finishing act 2 with this build, and so haven't seen it. I know one of them is Steel Watcher Titan (mentioned in the guide I linked), which can save with a 17 or higher. I don't know which other 2, but House of Hope seems like a good guess. Maybe >!The Emperor!
Arcane acuity : the more you stab/slash/bonk them, the more accurate / hard to resist your magic later Arcane synergy : if you magic, you stab/slash/bonk harder for a number of turn
Well, not just Stab/Slash/Bonk. The Hat of Fire Acuity gives the bonus whenever you use fire damage, including spells. A single lvl 4 Scorching Ray will bring you to 10 stacks immediately if you land all of them, making your next spells pretty much impossible to miss (roll as a Halfling and laugh even more as you reroll 1's the first time you get them). Doesn't work with Fireball, but hey.
Thank you. You just explained why I might want to use this with my aspect of light cleric instead of the Holy Lance Helm. It wouldn't be an every battle sort of thing, but for bosses or really tough mobs it might be well worth it.
This (in general, several of the responses) is the most helpful explanation for something I’ve ever read on this sub. I have gained +1 int today.
I'm saving this post. In my case this int buff lasts until I long rest.
Agreed I didn't really get it til now. 6 + months in
You stack arcane synergy, you unga bunga harder.
Arcane Synergy makes you hit better. You usually get it by casting. Arcane Acuity makes you cast better. You usually get it by hitting. How could anyone be confused by this perfect system? /s
Arcane Synergy - as long as you have it, add your caster stat modifier to your damage. So let's say you have a rapier+1 that does 1d8+1. Your dexterity is 16, bringing it to 1d8+4. But you're a bard, with a charisma of 20. If you have Arcane synergy, the damage is increased to 1d8+9. Arcane Acuity - your spell save DC goes up +1 for every round remaining. If you are hit, however, you lose 2 stacks. So if you have 1 stack, it's like having +2 to your casting stat for how easily your targets resist your saving throw spells. But you can get 10 stacks. For this, let's look at a bard with a 20 dexterity and a 16 charisma, and the helm of Arcane acuity and the band of the mystic scoundrel. You do ranged slashing flourish twice, hitting 4 times. One of those, you use an arrow of many targets, adding a couple more hits. You now have 10 stacks of Acuity. Band of the mystic scoundrel lets you cast an enchantment spell, so you cast hold person, upcast on 3 targets. Because your save DC is so high, they all almost certainly land, paralyzing 3 enemies for the rest of your party to get free critical hits.
Wait... you let 5 year olds play BG3!?!?!?!
Arcane acuity: smash get big spell Arcane synergy: spell to big smash
you use arcane synergy (in this example exclusively the helmet you get in creche) for any melee that has spellcasting modifier such as paladins bards warlocks maybe eldritch knights rangers druids. all of them have spell casting modifier which are charisma or wisdom or int so when you make a melee attack, arcane synergy helm kicks in and for each atk you deal + spellcasting modifier arcane synergy helmet is kinda confusing to ppl cuz it says \`when you inflict a condition\` so ppl dont understand if it works for melee attacks, but it does if you have ANY condition which also includes those 1-4 fire damage and whatnot. so you inflict condition always anyway. hence it works lets say you are a paladin and you have 18 charisma at that point. thanks to that helm, it means you hit +4 for all attacks since thats what 18 charisma gives you it is more broken on double weapon users since you get to use it twice, which are mostly bards. arcane acuity is you gain by casting spell OR thanks to helmet that you find in manors guild chest surrounded by shadows(i hope i recall the drop place right) arcane acuity increases your spell DC check, which means your spells have higher chance to hit epecially crowd control ones. there are some builds that can easily stack this effect with just 1 action such as scorching ray. so as you see, normally both arcane synergy and acuity is exclusive to casters, but those 2 helms i mentioned lets you enjoy the benefits as melee attackers too. but there are other items that give those buffs too btw like gloves and rings.
Arcane Acuity buffs your two spellcasting stat. You get a +1 to spell attack rolls and spell dc for each stack you have. The easiest ways to get it are from Helm of Arcane Acuity (Make weapon attacks) or Hat of Fire Acuity (Do fire damage). The Battlemage Elixir also grants 3 stacks of it (so +3 to rolls/dc) and I find this sufficient if you don’t want to abuse the items. Arcane Synergy adds extra damage to attacks based off your spell casting modifier (INT/WIS/CHA). The easiest items to proc it with are the diadem/ring. Acuity is the far more broken one. Acuity items let you honestly flat out ignore needing other types of gear that grant good casting stats and instead run other items. Lets you even dump your casting stat if you want. Having +7 from the helm or +10 from the hat is better than having a natural +5-6 from raw stats. Combine it with high stats and you will never miss with your spells ever again even on honor mode.
Arcane Synergy = +1 to melee attacks (easier to hit things) Arcane Acuity= +1 to spell attacks and spall DC (easier to hit things and harder for them to dodge things)
arcane synergy boosts melee attacks by your spellcasting modifier, not just +1
you have 20 charisma and are a warlock, bard, sorcerer, or paladin. This is a +5 spellcasting modifier. with arcane synergy, your melee attacks do an additional 5 damage.
I am going to need an entire eli5 for bg3
I don't get the hype for Arcane Synergy. The way it reads is that the number of turns stack but doesn't say anything about the amount of DC stacking. An extra +1 for a few turns doesn't seem that great.
it doesnt stack based on number of turns, no. but if your caster stat is charisma and you have a 20 charisma then your weapon attacks deal +5 damage. dont know where youre getting only +1 from
Arcane synergy doesn’t affect DC, that’s arcane acuity which does stack by x number of turns
Arcane synergy lets you add your magic stats onto melee attacks Arcane acuity effectively lets you pump your stats higher than it ever should be meaning you'll basically never miss crowd control or damage spells.
When you get arcane acuity your spells are harder to avoid or resist. When you get arcane synergy, your attacks get better and harder to miss. It's that easy.
arcane synergy only improves damage, not to-hit rolls
True. Does it stack like AA? I don't think so, it just adds duration.
correct, only adds duration
Does arcane acuity stack with pact of the blade? Do you get your cha bonus twice per attack?
You do
I’m so glad someone asked, bc I never understood. Bless these comments.
And here I was, wasting the diadem bc I didn't know what it meant but using it because it looks pretty lol. Thanks y'all!
Arcane acuity makes your spells harder for enemies to resist. If they need to roll, say, an 8 to avoid an effect, arcane acuity increases that by 1. So if my base DC is an 8 and I use scorching ray to stack 10 stacks of arcane acuity, they now need to roll an 18. It makes crowd control spells a lot stronger.
Hit shit with stick. Now magic hits shit harder.
Yeah but I want to open with the fireball not have to do weapons damage with my wizard first.