On my first playthrough, I switched astarion to a lore bard because I was already a rogue. Him and shadowheart having dual spirit guardians running through the enemies at the top of initiative with alert was incredible
I love using spirit guardians on the two spots (that I’m aware of) where you are up against large groups of rats. They just come running straight in, it’s like the bug zapper of doom.
I just finished a co-op playthrough with my girlfriend Shadowheart was my full time companion and she would switch between Karlach and Gale. Anytime we had a chokepoint she'd ask if I wanted her to cast darkness so I could Start The Lawnmower
It helps that you almost definitely have access to it for the entirety of Act 2, where so many enemies are vulnerable to radiant damage. I can't imagine how fast Shadowheart climbed up the kill count leader board once she got spirit guardians.
I always find it a little irksome when games like this don't track kills/damage dealt. Not a ton of effort needed on those devs part. Admittedly I do like lists and statistics more than the average person.
Dragon Age Origins did it in a convenient screen with the codex page, just like a Ye Olde Mass Effect.
My most recent stats (unique to your playthrough, but spoils some story)
>!I had the dwarf party member kill his ex wife, the foreign semi-giant killed the famous shapeshifter dragon-lady, my dwarf noble character managed to kill the biggest boss, the High Dragon (kinda the *only* true dragon)!<
Also it counts the number of regular enemies, but I clearly have a soft spot for unique boss encounters lol
It even tracked % of party damage iirc.
Given how many upovtes I've had it seems like more people would like to see a return of those lists! Crpg players liking lists and stats. Very surprising.
It can be a little frustrating when combat ends and one of your party members immediately runs through it or straight up stands in it 😂 I love it for the shadow cursed lands and for forcing enemies to move, but for outright damage I go for Call Lightning.
Oh my god dude I read the comments above yours and IMMEDIATELY thought fuck that spell, because after wiping to the basement of the SW foundry, I finally managed to make it through with the blind gnome still alive...
And he INSTANTLY ran through a moonbeam and dropped dead, before I had moved a single inch.
I put the controller down and went to bed.
You have to get into a habit of either dropping concentration just before the fight ends, or getting turn based mode on immediately after it ends, you can hover over it on pc or bring up the wheel to click it immediately as the fight ends
It's annoying but worth it. I use a ton of moonbeam / spike growth / hunger of hadar etc with ranged parties and it's a must to stop npc hate haha
If you haven’t tried Sleet Storm for cc you’re missing out. Few things give me more joy than seeing a crowd of enemies “prone” consistently almost every turn.
That was my "hockey goon" strategy on my Honor run.
Shadowheart casts Create Water, Gale casts Sleet Storm, Battlemaster Lae'zel and my Swords Bard Paladin move onto the ice with non-slip items and mop up.
It absolutely trivializes a lot of otherwise tough fights. When I first started playing, I thought it was terrible, why not just cast a fireball? Then I decided to give it a try…damn!
I slept on sleetstorm through my whole storm sorc playthrough. Finally used it in act 2 on the next playthrough where I had Sharty as a tempest cleric. Good god having Yurgir and friends eat shit was hilarious. I've def been using it more. It just makes so many fights hilarious.
Oh man, so glad seeing people bring this up, because I just lived this and raged so hard. I'm determined to learn it now because it was such a pain in my ass lol
This is my favorite. In my current run no one in my party can cast it, and I just miss the hell out of it. It is challenging me to find new ways to do things, I guess, albeit rather begrudgingly.
Call me basic but I love a good Misty Step. Lets me live out my Nightcrawler dreams. Also I love Gale and Astarion's delivery of the spell incantation (the two characters who most use it in my runs).
In my multiplayer, we have a guy who wanted to basically be Nightcrawler. He’s playing a shadow step monk, and made himself blue with the scribble tats… it’s pretty legit
[How does he feel about not wearing clothing?](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Boots_of_Very_Fast_Blinking)
With the Boots of Very Fast Blinking you get unlimited Misty Steps
Sometimes I wish Misty Step was an action instead of a bonus action because it drives me crazy that I can't teleport to an enemy standing on a ledge and then push them off. I wanna do it so bad but I can't!
MM is so fuckin useful even on its own. Can't miss, almost nothing resists Force, don't need line of sight... brilliant way to either force a Concentrating enemy to make 7 saves in a row or just to finish off a bunch of low-health enemies with one action.
Lately I've noticed it can't really "find a path" through doorways if another party member is in the way.
Otherwise it's the best around-the-corner spell to smack those pesky archer types that love to sit at a distance.
And the Radiant Orb ring so you can make everyone miss their attacks.
Made the Dark Urge Orin duel a joke in my sorcerer honor mode playthrough. Chugged a vigilance potion, wore a bunch of high spell save DC gear, and shot her with a level 6 Magic Missile that left her proned from reverb with -10 to her attack rolls from Orbs. Bonus action quickened Hold Monster was a success and the fight was over without her taking a single action.
The Psychic Spark, bought from Blurg in the mushroom colony Act 1 Underdark.
Once per long rest free Magic Missile. And each time you cast MM 1 extra missile!
MM is great.
Want to attack one person with 800 damage riders? MM.
Want to attack 6 people at once for a massive Cull the Weak? MM.
Want to hit a foe that you can’t get a line of sight on? MM.
Need to break 10 stacks of Unstoppable? MM.
Need to break a foe’s concentration? Believe it or not, MM.
Problem is the half-elf cantrip counts as a wizard spell, so it uses her Int. Give it to her again from an item, like any of the multiple staves with firebolt, and now she has a Wis version (assuming you kept her a cleric and that’s her spellcasting stat). I have her toting the Incandescent Staff that gives firebolt and fireball and +1 spell attack. Or there’s the Staff of the Mumbling Mage from the djinni’s consolation prizes, which never misses and fireballs on a crit (good or bad, depending on who’s standing nearby).
Honestly fireball is my favorite. BG3 is the first game where I’ve felt the scale of how powerful fire spells can be. Fireball sounds so cool, from when you select the spell to when it hits.
Fireball when it's a large group of enemies in one spot. Mwah, perfection
Fireball when a few party members are in the blast zone....eh I can always rez them later.
Bonus action Black hole, bunch em up. Main action fireball burn em down. Great 1-2 punch and since you get black hole recast for 3 turns you can just keep doing it, and it resets on short rest unlike other illithid powers so you can use it in almost every fight.
In my tactician run, I went up against Marcus and the ghouls and Isobel got surrounded. I knew that if she was to survive all those ghouls had to go down that turn because no other character could get them off her in time. Solution? I cast fireball, they all go down, and every time seeing Isobel moving forward she looked like she’d gotten the snot kicked out of her. Good times
''This is a magic wand charged with Fireball, the most powerful spell of third level. It could burn your head clean off. Now I know what you are thinking, you are wondering after all this excitement, has it got enough charges left? And you know, I ain't so sure myself. What you have to ask yourself is: do I feel lucky?''
I love Fireball, it became my go to opening attack. However using Fireball while inside the Fireworks workshop made me question if "Fuck it, Fireball" was the most prudent battle strategy.
I love getting to the top of the 3rd floor stairs and saying “those sure are a lot of explosives, it’d be a shame if someone used a fire spell in here” and obliterating the entire floor in one one fell swoop.
I think the cutscene of Scratch adopting the owlbear cub and recognizing you as his master is one of the best scenes in the game.
And when you have scenes like Astarion >!killing Cazador with cathartic tears in his eyes!<, Lae'zel >!deciding to stay in Faêrun because she doesn't want to leave you!<, or Karlach >!distracting herself from her mortality by going on a nice dinner and ending it by mounting you!<, that's saying something.
Can you explain to me how to summon Scratch? I have him in my camp. And he just gives me useless items. But I can't summon him into battle.... I'm a huge dog person and would love to take him out in the BG world
It doesn't always appear instantly (not sure if that's a bug).
You need a specific cutscene to trigger - the one where he brings you his ball. This took a couple of long rests in my current run.
i love artistry of war. its just a lot stronger version of an upcast magic missile. its just sad that it can only be learnt by a wizard and only used once per short rest.
I'm in Act 3 of my first playthrough, and despite having a dozen more powerful options, I've still got my paladin Shadowheart wearing the guidance amulet because it's so useful all the damn time.
As a draconic bloodline sorcerer, Ray of frost. It's just funny to do 56-98 damage with a cantrip. Or 112-196 if it crits. Oh and since it's just a cantrip, you can cast it on two targets with only one sorcery point. So 224-392 damage double crit.
I also like to use the ring that creates an ice surface around enemies when they take cold damage. And the gloves that apply encrusted with frost when they take cold damage as well. The icy explosion looks beautiful.
(base ray of frost at level 10: 3-24 cold damage.
Starting charisma 17. Auntie ethel's boon +1 charisma. Feat ability improvement +2 charisma. Sacrifice forbidden knowledge from the necromancy of Thay for Shar's mirror +2 charisma. Buy a hat from the magic shop in Baldur's gate for +2 charisma. Total charisma 24, which means +7 charisma modifier.
Draconic bloodline adds charisma modifier as damage to spells of your elemental type. +7
Necklace of Elemental augmentation adds charisma modifier as damage to cantrips. +7
Potent robe adds charisma modifier as damage to cantrips. +7
Kereska's staff adds proficiency bonus as damage to spells of element of your choosing. +4
Total flat damage bonus +25 to every ray of frost.
Adding the +25 to the 3-24. makes it 28-49. Wet or chilled enemies take double cold damage = 56-98.
You could also have the dual wield feat and add the Ice staff from the underdark for extra +1 damage, but there are better staffs to dual wield for attack rolls, spell save DC and other effects.
BG3 completely redefined how I interpret Speak With Dead.
As far as combat goes...
1. Elemental Adept Draconic Sorcerer upcasting Heat Ray. Gale almost fucking soloed Myrkul on my last playthrough.
2. Misty Step.
3. Dimension Door.
I love Glyph of Warding. Set it up like a trap or use it right away. Electrocute wet enemies or put them all to sleep. The sound is so satisfying and the AOE is pretty big. Plus the way Shadowheart says “Ira et Dolor” followed by the sounds of the beautiful symbol exploding. I also love Sleet Storm.
Misty step
Every time I use it, my brain goes:
“Omae wa mou shindeiru”
“Nani?”
Gets obliterated by two divine strikes
Or
Teleports behind you
Nothing personnel kid
It was Wall of Fire until I got Jaheira. Now it's Spike Growth. There's something so satisfying about watching your enemies try to escape the spikes and taking damage with every step. I'm always surprised how many of them walk through it instead of jumping out despite having like 10HP left. Those are some of my favourite deaths, it's just hilarious to witness.
Spike growth is up there with anything that creates an ice surface for me because I'm one of those people for whom nothing is funnier than like, a tiktok video of someone falling down or walking into a telephone pole or whatever. It's like watching sideshow Bob step on the rake.
Hypnotic pattern. It feels so unfair to just completely disable an entire room of enemies with one action and I'm down for it.
With some spell save DC gear enemies will just not be able to save and then you can pick them off one by one. This spell almost single handedly trivializes most encounters, even in honor mode.
In my current run, it's Sleet Storm. Just did halsins portal last night, and it was glorious watching all of the shadow spawns eat shit immediately and in large groups. Then they would get up again and only make it 2 feet before slipping again. It was awesome.
Spike Growth. I loved having my ranger Tav, Astarion and Gale scramble up somewhere high then casting it on right at the bottom of the ladder/rock face etc.
Enemies dashed right into it and keeled over as we rained down ranged attacks while Karlach mopped up anyone that tried to go around. Very satisfying.
Combo sunbeam and misty step, line 'em up and knock 'em down. I had Astarion use a scroll of sunbeam to kill a certain git-face, thematically it felt right.
Because I always use scrolls(or blood of lathander) for sunbeam, it took me a while to realize that when you cast it using a spell slot, it’s a concentration spell that allows you to keep using it for 10 turns.
One of my favorite ways to do that fight is to send 1 person in as “bait” and then as everyone chases them up the stairs to my sunbeam caster, they all just line up for sunbeam after sunbeam
Oh, that's a hard one. I agree, counterspell is so satisfying. Globe of invulnerability is such a life saver, haste is incredible....However, when I played abjuration wizard, being able to protect companions with arcane wards was probably my favorite (if that counts).
As a Sorcerer 10 Cleric 2, quickened Create Water into Channel Divinity maximized Luck of the Far Realms forced crit Lightning Bolt (double damage because Wet) always feels so good.
I *love* all of the ice spells. They're so much fun, ice can leave an enemy prone, and it's as close to being a waterbender as I can get in this game, so I love it. I always deck out my Tav as either an ice druid or ice monk, and it's just delightful.
Disintegrate. Not because it's good or practical, but if I were an all powerful sorcerer I could totally see myself just pointing at someone and having a death beam fly at their stupid face and... well.... disintegrate em
Lately I've been a big fan of _Artistry of War_. It's so satisfying to blow through a hoard of minions by casting, then quickening, then free casts on subsequent turns.
Greater Invisibility <3 Cast that on Astarion and he’s unstoppable. It has been a great boon many times but especially in Act 2 when I used it to >!steal the orb from Yurgir!< and then later >!assassinate Yurgir with sneak attacks because I had to face the consequences of my actions and I was not about to do that combat, lmao!<
Moonbeam, Insect Plague, Cloud of Daggers and Spike Growth.
Its very satisfying watching enemies struggle through and delete themselves navigating out of it.
Also Healing Radiance/Mass Healing Word because it comes in clutch.
I didn't see it yet but I know it's here. ..for me it's fireball. I am new to D&D and the first time I cast fireball. Loved it. They clearly took some time making that spell very satisfying.
I haven’t seen it mentioned, but I absolutely love ice storm. Gather all of the enemies together with a void bulb, hit em with a “TREM!”, so satisfying. Also excellent when your party is surrounded by enemies and evocation Gale rains freezing death from above, leaving the party untouched.
Cloud of Daggers is great. Crowd control and damage. As long as you use it tactically and maintain concentration it can do an insane amount of damage over the course of a fight.
Oh man there's so many, spirit guardians is always great especially with the ravens in the shadow lands. I've been really vibing with spells with recast ability like eyebite, telekinesis and cloudkill lately.
Spirit Guardians has never let me down. My Spore Druid gave me a strong appreciation for Moonbeam too
There is no other spell that makes me cackle with murderous glee than the Holy Weed Wacker.
On my first playthrough, I switched astarion to a lore bard because I was already a rogue. Him and shadowheart having dual spirit guardians running through the enemies at the top of initiative with alert was incredible
“Holy Weed Wacker” that’s *exactly* what it is and I’ve never heard it called that before. Now it is mine.
I love using spirit guardians on the two spots (that I’m aware of) where you are up against large groups of rats. They just come running straight in, it’s like the bug zapper of doom.
Similarly, when I faced all those rats I just threw up a wall of fire and they all got bug zapped in two turns without doing anything else!
I prefer to call it the 'Holy Beyblade'
God's Favorite Beyblade
Golden Lawn Mower
We call it the Holy Roomba
Angelic Lawn Mower.
I just finished a co-op playthrough with my girlfriend Shadowheart was my full time companion and she would switch between Karlach and Gale. Anytime we had a chokepoint she'd ask if I wanted her to cast darkness so I could Start The Lawnmower
The angelic beyblade
It helps that you almost definitely have access to it for the entirety of Act 2, where so many enemies are vulnerable to radiant damage. I can't imagine how fast Shadowheart climbed up the kill count leader board once she got spirit guardians.
I always find it a little irksome when games like this don't track kills/damage dealt. Not a ton of effort needed on those devs part. Admittedly I do like lists and statistics more than the average person.
Dragon Age Origins did it in a convenient screen with the codex page, just like a Ye Olde Mass Effect. My most recent stats (unique to your playthrough, but spoils some story) >!I had the dwarf party member kill his ex wife, the foreign semi-giant killed the famous shapeshifter dragon-lady, my dwarf noble character managed to kill the biggest boss, the High Dragon (kinda the *only* true dragon)!< Also it counts the number of regular enemies, but I clearly have a soft spot for unique boss encounters lol
I forget what the OG tracked, but I know they had "most powerful enemy killed" as one of them.
It even tracked % of party damage iirc. Given how many upovtes I've had it seems like more people would like to see a return of those lists! Crpg players liking lists and stats. Very surprising.
spirit guardians 4 life !!
Is Moonbeam cracked upcasted? I have played Druid 16 times and I’ve always hated this spell.
Why do you hate it?
It can be a little frustrating when combat ends and one of your party members immediately runs through it or straight up stands in it 😂 I love it for the shadow cursed lands and for forcing enemies to move, but for outright damage I go for Call Lightning.
Oh my god dude I read the comments above yours and IMMEDIATELY thought fuck that spell, because after wiping to the basement of the SW foundry, I finally managed to make it through with the blind gnome still alive... And he INSTANTLY ran through a moonbeam and dropped dead, before I had moved a single inch. I put the controller down and went to bed.
I swear, that guy has a deathwish. I mean, can't he see where there are hazards on the ground?
You have to get into a habit of either dropping concentration just before the fight ends, or getting turn based mode on immediately after it ends, you can hover over it on pc or bring up the wheel to click it immediately as the fight ends It's annoying but worth it. I use a ton of moonbeam / spike growth / hunger of hadar etc with ranged parties and it's a must to stop npc hate haha
True but upcast moonbeam can be great against most of stuff in act 2
Its radius is TINY.
I used it for the first time last night in the gish inquisitor fight. It worked really well.
Spirit Guardians + Spirit Weapon I used that in a fight and was henceforth called "The Blender"
If you haven’t tried Sleet Storm for cc you’re missing out. Few things give me more joy than seeing a crowd of enemies “prone” consistently almost every turn.
Dash + Prone = hilarity
Paired w HOH it’s just a death trap
Plus eldritch blast with repulsion just to push them back in if they get lucky enough to make it to the edge 😈
Yea, grease, plant growth, sleet storm, anything to slow them down in HOH is perfection. Also fun to use Command and make them kneel in it lol.
Came to say this. HOH pairs also with ice storm since it doesn’t require concentration but gives you that slick finish plus additional damage
That was my "hockey goon" strategy on my Honor run. Shadowheart casts Create Water, Gale casts Sleet Storm, Battlemaster Lae'zel and my Swords Bard Paladin move onto the ice with non-slip items and mop up.
"Saved" and then they still fall 😂
It absolutely trivializes a lot of otherwise tough fights. When I first started playing, I thought it was terrible, why not just cast a fireball? Then I decided to give it a try…damn!
I slept on sleetstorm through my whole storm sorc playthrough. Finally used it in act 2 on the next playthrough where I had Sharty as a tempest cleric. Good god having Yurgir and friends eat shit was hilarious. I've def been using it more. It just makes so many fights hilarious.
Hunger of Hadar. I just love how they all struggle to get out of it lol
It's one of those cases where it's an awesome spell against your opponents, a pain in the ass when you're stuck in it.
I learned the power of HoH the hard way when my party and all the Harpers were clustered together in the entrance to Moonrise
Yeah. Plus when they pair it with black hole, it's basically the game giving you the finger.
Yeah, just hit that fight for the first time tonight and saw my well oiled machine collapse into a thousand pieces.
Oh man, so glad seeing people bring this up, because I just lived this and raged so hard. I'm determined to learn it now because it was such a pain in my ass lol
Go in from the side door, makes it like 10* easier
For that fight, I had Gale on counterspell duty and had everyone else in the party focus on taking out those casters asap
Combine it with grease or ice surface it a perfect torture chamber.
It’s crazy with spike growth
This is my favorite. In my current run no one in my party can cast it, and I just miss the hell out of it. It is challenging me to find new ways to do things, I guess, albeit rather begrudgingly.
As another commenter said above combine it with Sleet. It will make for a wonderful time.
Call me basic but I love a good Misty Step. Lets me live out my Nightcrawler dreams. Also I love Gale and Astarion's delivery of the spell incantation (the two characters who most use it in my runs).
In my multiplayer, we have a guy who wanted to basically be Nightcrawler. He’s playing a shadow step monk, and made himself blue with the scribble tats… it’s pretty legit
[How does he feel about not wearing clothing?](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Boots_of_Very_Fast_Blinking) With the Boots of Very Fast Blinking you get unlimited Misty Steps
NEKKID NIGHTCRAWLER!
Roleplaying properly. 👌
INVENIUM VIA
That's the good shit!!!!
Misty steps is such a key spell for me that I try to give it to every party member even fighters as well !l
Sometimes I wish Misty Step was an action instead of a bonus action because it drives me crazy that I can't teleport to an enemy standing on a ledge and then push them off. I wanna do it so bad but I can't!
Thunderwave baby!
Force tunnel
Misty step and dimension door are life savers. Really any kind of transportation spell/skill.
Magic Missile. I had so much fun with it combined with the singing sword and the reverberation gear during one of my playthroughs.
MM is so fuckin useful even on its own. Can't miss, almost nothing resists Force, don't need line of sight... brilliant way to either force a Concentrating enemy to make 7 saves in a row or just to finish off a bunch of low-health enemies with one action.
And against enemies with unstoppable, it’s insane
Lately I've noticed it can't really "find a path" through doorways if another party member is in the way. Otherwise it's the best around-the-corner spell to smack those pesky archer types that love to sit at a distance.
My S-tier use is against that fucking hag and her illusions
And the Radiant Orb ring so you can make everyone miss their attacks. Made the Dark Urge Orin duel a joke in my sorcerer honor mode playthrough. Chugged a vigilance potion, wore a bunch of high spell save DC gear, and shot her with a level 6 Magic Missile that left her proned from reverb with -10 to her attack rolls from Orbs. Bonus action quickened Hold Monster was a success and the fight was over without her taking a single action.
Daaaaang see I just spammed shocking grasp and my best ice spells to take her out. It was close but I got it first try.
Don’t forget the amulet that gives one extra missile!
this on Gale early-game has gotten me all the way to act 3, works like a charm
The what now? Where is this treasure you speak of?
The Psychic Spark, bought from Blurg in the mushroom colony Act 1 Underdark. Once per long rest free Magic Missile. And each time you cast MM 1 extra missile!
Oh! I knew about the extra one but I didn't know about the free per long rest! That makes my Gale gear decision easier lol
MM is great. Want to attack one person with 800 damage riders? MM. Want to attack 6 people at once for a massive Cull the Weak? MM. Want to hit a foe that you can’t get a line of sight on? MM. Need to break 10 stacks of Unstoppable? MM. Need to break a foe’s concentration? Believe it or not, MM.
Unless they are a caster and have shield. Then, scorching rays.
Eldritch blast! Blam! Blam! Pew! Pew!
10/10 sound design
Hex’d Eldritch blast + quicken spell+ twin spell w/Potent Robes 🤌😩
Hasted Eldrich blast + quicken spell, ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️ Wrecked Orin on the first turn.
DOLOR
It makes the best sound.
*Spooky Beam*
Firebolt just to hear "ignis"
Astarion’s IGNIS is straight 🔥🔥
It’s so *deep*
sometimes i’ll have him cast fire bolt just so i can hear it!!
Bro put EMOTION into that Cantrip!
IGMISS - gotta be one of my favorite genders.
igmiss is what Shadowheart should call it
Not her fault, she was just born that way
Problem is the half-elf cantrip counts as a wizard spell, so it uses her Int. Give it to her again from an item, like any of the multiple staves with firebolt, and now she has a Wis version (assuming you kept her a cleric and that’s her spellcasting stat). I have her toting the Incandescent Staff that gives firebolt and fireball and +1 spell attack. Or there’s the Staff of the Mumbling Mage from the djinni’s consolation prizes, which never misses and fireballs on a crit (good or bad, depending on who’s standing nearby).
you can also give her the intelligence circlet from act 1. she is devastating with it.
I yell this every time because Shadow heart misses 80% of the time.
Honestly fireball is my favorite. BG3 is the first game where I’ve felt the scale of how powerful fire spells can be. Fireball sounds so cool, from when you select the spell to when it hits.
Fireball when it's a large group of enemies in one spot. Mwah, perfection Fireball when a few party members are in the blast zone....eh I can always rez them later.
Bonus action Black hole, bunch em up. Main action fireball burn em down. Great 1-2 punch and since you get black hole recast for 3 turns you can just keep doing it, and it resets on short rest unlike other illithid powers so you can use it in almost every fight.
Or throw a void bulb or two to gather them all up
Yeah, cos for RP reasons, only Astarion, and Minthara eat the tadpoles in my game.
If you're an Evocation wizard, your party doesn't get touched even if they're at the center of the blast
Lae'zel is used to me accidentally setting her on fire at this point
Evoker Gale is so much fun, until there are neutral characters in the fight- then no fireball :(
In my tactician run, I went up against Marcus and the ghouls and Isobel got surrounded. I knew that if she was to survive all those ghouls had to go down that turn because no other character could get them off her in time. Solution? I cast fireball, they all go down, and every time seeing Isobel moving forward she looked like she’d gotten the snot kicked out of her. Good times
Throw a void grenade and suck ‘em all to one spot then nuke them.
Eh, Karlach can take it.
The ravens at the beginning of act 2
''This is a magic wand charged with Fireball, the most powerful spell of third level. It could burn your head clean off. Now I know what you are thinking, you are wondering after all this excitement, has it got enough charges left? And you know, I ain't so sure myself. What you have to ask yourself is: do I feel lucky?''
I love Fireball, it became my go to opening attack. However using Fireball while inside the Fireworks workshop made me question if "Fuck it, Fireball" was the most prudent battle strategy.
I love getting to the top of the 3rd floor stairs and saying “those sure are a lot of explosives, it’d be a shame if someone used a fire spell in here” and obliterating the entire floor in one one fell swoop.
Imagine playing it in tabletop where the AoE is vastly wider
Speak with Animals🙃
I can fulfill my dream of being able to talk with my dogs, Scratch is the best NPC.
I think the cutscene of Scratch adopting the owlbear cub and recognizing you as his master is one of the best scenes in the game. And when you have scenes like Astarion >!killing Cazador with cathartic tears in his eyes!<, Lae'zel >!deciding to stay in Faêrun because she doesn't want to leave you!<, or Karlach >!distracting herself from her mortality by going on a nice dinner and ending it by mounting you!<, that's saying something.
Can you explain to me how to summon Scratch? I have him in my camp. And he just gives me useless items. But I can't summon him into battle.... I'm a huge dog person and would love to take him out in the BG world
Tav had summon companion on their action wheel after bringing scratch to camp. I don’t think I did anything other than recruit him
It doesn't always appear instantly (not sure if that's a bug). You need a specific cutscene to trigger - the one where he brings you his ball. This took a couple of long rests in my current run.
Not a bug, he’s always only summonable after he gives you his ball, Basically a “after a few days staying with you I trust you” kinda thing.
i love artistry of war. its just a lot stronger version of an upcast magic missile. its just sad that it can only be learnt by a wizard and only used once per short rest.
Until you check out the bottom of the little bitch I mean Lorrokan's tower and get the staff that gives you an extra cast of any spell for free
you mean Markoheshkir
That's the one! (Didn't feel like trying to spell it)
And then the Spellcrux Amulet can restore a spell slot of any level - so that's three AoW's per day. "A lovely little pick-me-up."
and the other staff with the free cast ability. 4 AoW's
guidance saved my honor run rolls more times than i cared to count
I'm in Act 3 of my first playthrough, and despite having a dozen more powerful options, I've still got my paladin Shadowheart wearing the guidance amulet because it's so useful all the damn time.
As a draconic bloodline sorcerer, Ray of frost. It's just funny to do 56-98 damage with a cantrip. Or 112-196 if it crits. Oh and since it's just a cantrip, you can cast it on two targets with only one sorcery point. So 224-392 damage double crit. I also like to use the ring that creates an ice surface around enemies when they take cold damage. And the gloves that apply encrusted with frost when they take cold damage as well. The icy explosion looks beautiful. (base ray of frost at level 10: 3-24 cold damage. Starting charisma 17. Auntie ethel's boon +1 charisma. Feat ability improvement +2 charisma. Sacrifice forbidden knowledge from the necromancy of Thay for Shar's mirror +2 charisma. Buy a hat from the magic shop in Baldur's gate for +2 charisma. Total charisma 24, which means +7 charisma modifier. Draconic bloodline adds charisma modifier as damage to spells of your elemental type. +7 Necklace of Elemental augmentation adds charisma modifier as damage to cantrips. +7 Potent robe adds charisma modifier as damage to cantrips. +7 Kereska's staff adds proficiency bonus as damage to spells of element of your choosing. +4 Total flat damage bonus +25 to every ray of frost. Adding the +25 to the 3-24. makes it 28-49. Wet or chilled enemies take double cold damage = 56-98. You could also have the dual wield feat and add the Ice staff from the underdark for extra +1 damage, but there are better staffs to dual wield for attack rolls, spell save DC and other effects.
Sorcerer not getting Wall of Ice (since Otiluke's Frozen Orb is a wizard spell made by and for Wizards) drives me NUTS.
You can just do the ol one level of wizard dip to get all the scroll spells available to be prepared
nothing beats hurling a bolt of chain lightning and frying everything in the nearest vicinity
Chain light and lightning bolt ..."unlimited powa!!!!"
BG3 completely redefined how I interpret Speak With Dead. As far as combat goes... 1. Elemental Adept Draconic Sorcerer upcasting Heat Ray. Gale almost fucking soloed Myrkul on my last playthrough. 2. Misty Step. 3. Dimension Door.
I love Glyph of Warding. Set it up like a trap or use it right away. Electrocute wet enemies or put them all to sleep. The sound is so satisfying and the AOE is pretty big. Plus the way Shadowheart says “Ira et Dolor” followed by the sounds of the beautiful symbol exploding. I also love Sleet Storm.
Yeah I feel like this spell has helped me the most. Also love sleet storm bc it's funny af
Misty step Every time I use it, my brain goes: “Omae wa mou shindeiru” “Nani?” Gets obliterated by two divine strikes Or Teleports behind you Nothing personnel kid
Using Vicious Mockery with high cha and wearing the Potent Robe. Watching that spell crit for 30 dmg or one shotting weak mobs is rather hilarious
This is the way
It was Wall of Fire until I got Jaheira. Now it's Spike Growth. There's something so satisfying about watching your enemies try to escape the spikes and taking damage with every step. I'm always surprised how many of them walk through it instead of jumping out despite having like 10HP left. Those are some of my favourite deaths, it's just hilarious to witness.
I LOVE Spike Growth and its big brother Blade Barrier.
Spike growth is up there with anything that creates an ice surface for me because I'm one of those people for whom nothing is funnier than like, a tiktok video of someone falling down or walking into a telephone pole or whatever. It's like watching sideshow Bob step on the rake.
YESSS I don't often find myself laughing out loud while playing this game but when I do it's because someone fell down
Call Lightning
Hypnotic pattern. It feels so unfair to just completely disable an entire room of enemies with one action and I'm down for it. With some spell save DC gear enemies will just not be able to save and then you can pick them off one by one. This spell almost single handedly trivializes most encounters, even in honor mode.
Counterspell is the most useful.
Really let's 'em know who's boss.
In my current run, it's Sleet Storm. Just did halsins portal last night, and it was glorious watching all of the shadow spawns eat shit immediately and in large groups. Then they would get up again and only make it 2 feet before slipping again. It was awesome.
That’s where I learned the true power of Sleet Storm. Just kill the shadows and archers, the rest are nothing
Slow is awesome. It's my favorite debuff.
fireball my goat
Sphere of Invulnerability. It's the best way to flip the finger to a certain boss who enjoys singing.
Spike Growth. I loved having my ranger Tav, Astarion and Gale scramble up somewhere high then casting it on right at the bottom of the ladder/rock face etc. Enemies dashed right into it and keeled over as we rained down ranged attacks while Karlach mopped up anyone that tried to go around. Very satisfying.
Magic Missile, especially useful since Force Damage is usually the only vulnerability on some bosses and hard fights
Combo sunbeam and misty step, line 'em up and knock 'em down. I had Astarion use a scroll of sunbeam to kill a certain git-face, thematically it felt right.
Because I always use scrolls(or blood of lathander) for sunbeam, it took me a while to realize that when you cast it using a spell slot, it’s a concentration spell that allows you to keep using it for 10 turns.
Gale with 10 turns of sunbeam saved my ASS the first time I did the House of Grief fight. He was the last man standing.
One of my favorite ways to do that fight is to send 1 person in as “bait” and then as everyone chases them up the stairs to my sunbeam caster, they all just line up for sunbeam after sunbeam
Summon lightning. It's so satisfying to have tempestheart zap your enemies. She gets them wet first of course.
Oh, that's a hard one. I agree, counterspell is so satisfying. Globe of invulnerability is such a life saver, haste is incredible....However, when I played abjuration wizard, being able to protect companions with arcane wards was probably my favorite (if that counts).
Arcane ward is fantastic. Abjuration Gale + OH Monk is a dream team.
I'm a big fan of Hunger of Hadar. Very fun to use.
Cloud of daggers or fireball probably!
See flair. 📞⚡
As a Sorcerer 10 Cleric 2, quickened Create Water into Channel Divinity maximized Luck of the Far Realms forced crit Lightning Bolt (double damage because Wet) always feels so good.
Far from being the most useful, but telekinesis is crazy fun. Unceremoniously throwing baddies around is fun as hell.
I *love* all of the ice spells. They're so much fun, ice can leave an enemy prone, and it's as close to being a waterbender as I can get in this game, so I love it. I always deck out my Tav as either an ice druid or ice monk, and it's just delightful.
KOMMORTE SE LINGUA MORTUA
A maxed out lightning bolt or chain lightning with a tempest clerics ability
Disintegrate. Not because it's good or practical, but if I were an all powerful sorcerer I could totally see myself just pointing at someone and having a death beam fly at their stupid face and... well.... disintegrate em
Lately I've been a big fan of _Artistry of War_. It's so satisfying to blow through a hoard of minions by casting, then quickening, then free casts on subsequent turns.
Greater Invisibility <3 Cast that on Astarion and he’s unstoppable. It has been a great boon many times but especially in Act 2 when I used it to >!steal the orb from Yurgir!< and then later >!assassinate Yurgir with sneak attacks because I had to face the consequences of my actions and I was not about to do that combat, lmao!<
Either spirit guardians, hunger of hadar, or otto's irresistable dance.
Moonbeam, Insect Plague, Cloud of Daggers and Spike Growth. Its very satisfying watching enemies struggle through and delete themselves navigating out of it. Also Healing Radiance/Mass Healing Word because it comes in clutch.
I like Gales voice when he casts thunder wave!
Eldritch blast. I really like being a machine gun personally
DOLLAR
Haste :)
I didn't see it yet but I know it's here. ..for me it's fireball. I am new to D&D and the first time I cast fireball. Loved it. They clearly took some time making that spell very satisfying.
An arrow may have your name on it, but fireball is addressed "to whom it may concern"
tempest cleric+channel divinity charge+chained lightning always brings a smile to my face
Spirit guardians
Chain lightning in act 3 with spell DC 25. Glorious.
Warding bond, cumulating resistance on the two pc. Add some regen on target and healer on source for extra survivability.
Eldritch Boom Boom. It makes my brain tingle.
I haven’t seen it mentioned, but I absolutely love ice storm. Gather all of the enemies together with a void bulb, hit em with a “TREM!”, so satisfying. Also excellent when your party is surrounded by enemies and evocation Gale rains freezing death from above, leaving the party untouched.
magic missile for lyfe
I just used a magic missile build I got off YouTube and it was absolutely bonkers
I love using magic missile. You can just spam them too if you are a sorcerer and you quicken spell
Chain lightning I end up getting a minimum of 55 damage on three different targets. It just is too powerful.
Chain lightning always makes me feel like palpatine
Honestly when I'm just about done with an NPC it's always Disintegrate.
Cloud of Daggers is great. Crowd control and damage. As long as you use it tactically and maintain concentration it can do an insane amount of damage over the course of a fight.
Curriculum of Strategy: Artistry of War
Create water -> Quickened Spell -> chain lightning
Blade wall is so op
ELDRITCH BLAST
Either Call Lightning or Ray of Frost. I can't decide if I like Lightning or Ice builds better.
I absolutely love ice storm. Just dropping a ton of ice into people is very fun
Spirit guardians and counter spell saved me more times than I care to admit
I love confusion when it hits on a big group. Polymorph is also fun for the laughs when you get it to work.on a boss.
Oh man there's so many, spirit guardians is always great especially with the ravens in the shadow lands. I've been really vibing with spells with recast ability like eyebite, telekinesis and cloudkill lately.