These are pretty nice. In the future, can I recommend adding the steps you go through in a pinned comment or the description? I often come back to these videos as I replay and find myself skipping all over the video to find what I need
Personally I find for a moon druid focus build is dipping 1 level white dragon sorc for armour of aga and 1 level war priest for 4 attacks in wildshape is so good I did it for my first ever honour mode playthrough and beat it.
Thanks very much! Yeah moon druid is also my favorite, although the limitations of a video game meaning you have limited wildshape forms do restrict some of the cooler things you can do with it in tabletop. Still excellent though!
Potion of Hill Giant Strength + Raven is pretty fun. You get good mobility and you can blind two enemies in a turn. It probably won't ever the the optimal thing you can do, but it's always a laugh.
I tried to build him lorefriendly as well and found it hard since there is so little room to make him as strong as he looks while still being a wellbuilt archdruid.
@@sev1120in forgotten realms elves are considered extremely old by their 700th year. Halsin is middle aged. Only those who extend their lives by magical means make it much farther.
Thanks for your vids man, really enjoy them! For this build, I am a little bit torn. On the one hand, this is a strong, fun and lore friendly build for Halsin which I looked for. On the other hand, I already have me (Paladin/Bard), Karlach, Lazae'el and Jaheira as fighters. Even Wyll is a sort of melee Warlock. And as I prefer me and Karlach as fighters, a spell-casting druid would be more beneficial for the group 😅
Thanks so much! Yeah I agree, the default companions are pretty overloaded on melee fighters - basically 9/10 of them are flavoured as fighting up close! I'm still a little surprised we didn't get a bard or an archer. Have you checked out my build "The Mighty Fart Druid?" I think it's a very fun take on a caster druid :D
Great video! But I do want to tell you that with patch 5 Tavern Brawler feat apply to both to hit and damage in all difficulty under honor and even in honor it apply to the to hit. Even in just applying to just to hit portion is very valuable as it break bounded accuracy as you mentioned. I would further argue that it is most valuable early on if you intend to use shape shift form as your damage dealer. The reason is that the itemization gap in your melee damage between shape shifter and other classes is a lot lower early on. TB will make your animal form really shine early on. On act two owlbear form is hitting about as hard as a GW barbarian and is hitting more often!
Thanks! And yes, this was made before patch 5 - I've made a couple more updated druid videos since then which put even more emphasis on tavern brawler. Cheers!
Another thing to consider if you want the Monk 1 multiclass - you may want to _start_ as a Monk, since they have DEX save proficiency (most damaging spells, like Fireball, have a Dexterity save). Then, if you start at 17 WIS, you can pick Resilient: Wisdom to give yourself WIS save proficiency (most control spells, like Hold Person, have a Wisdom save) and +1 Wisdom to round it out to an even number. If you're willing to sacrifice 6th-level spells, you may also want to consider getting Monk 2 for additional mobility (Unarmored Movement, plus Step of the Wind outside of wildshape), Cleric 1 for some additional spell utility (including the coveted Bless, which you can concentrate on before transforming), possibly Ranger 1 for more proficiencies and a resistance to Fire, Cold, or Poison (this one is less tempting, admittedly), or Barbarian 1 for Rage (need to rage _before_ wildshape, and since both are bonus actions you'll transform on turn 2, but you'll get physical resistance in your wildshape form).
What I hate about Halsin as a Companion is that his transformation completely covers the camera in cutscenes sometimes 😢 That's why I run him as Barbarian to put his muscles to use. He is just huge even without shifting into a bear 😂
@@Cephalopocalypse I love your build on Halsin, and I am currently on it. I wonder if you could do similar thing for Minsk , we lack male companions frontline with heavy armor , can you suggest something like heavy armor strength based duel wielding Barbarian or Ranger. Would such thing be possible?
Very interesting guide, thank you, I learned a lot here. I have a question though: how is it, that we are more likely to loose concentration on Stoneskin or Barkskin, than other concentration spells? Even if they are also CON-saves?
Actually the air mirmidon is pretty good ... has a ton of attack that do lightning damage and stun the target and if you manage to also make them wet ... well you see where i'm going ;)
True! All the myrmidons are pretty powerful, and there's some weird interactions they have as well (I forgot to mention they *don't* get the tavern brawler bonus, since their attacks are weapon attacks). The video was already getting pretty long though so I didn't want to do a deep dive on all of them
What do you think about setting the con to 15 initially and taking resilient con or Tavern brawler at 4 instead and rounding out the con to 16 with either of those?
Feats and racial abilities (like a halfling's reroll) still work in wildshape, but items won't unless it's specifically called out as working in the description.
Thanks for this vid man! One question... why not get Tavern Brawler early, ASI to 18, and then subclass into Monk? It seems I'll keep most of the advantages of the melee in wildform. In this case I will sacrifice having 20 WIS to 18 but is that really worse that bad when I'm primarily shapeshifted?
It comes down to a matter of personal preference. Wisdom also affects the Save DC of your wildshape abilities (like the dino's corrosive spit or the owlbear's enrage, so it can have some impact on the offensive side too. That said, with the Patch 5 buffs to Tavern Brawler for wildshape, I personally think TB is worth the -2 to Wisdom (except possibly on Honour mode, where the buffs seem to not apply).
The most buff guy in the game has no strength lol i wouldn't say thats lore accurate. Thats one thing about these ganes i dont like. The attributes dont provide anything orher than basic min maxing.
Anything that increases your spell save DC and anything that boosts your initiative will be good - other than that, any items that specifically say they work in wild shape or "while transformed" are of course great, since most items won't work in animal form.
bg3.wiki/wiki/List_of_features_that_work_in_Wild_Shape Here’s a list of everything that works with wild shape. So far in my playthrough the list seems to be accurate.
Spell selection for this build is a little weird, since we mostly just cast one concentration spell and then switch to normal attacks - it actually plays out a lot like a warlock now that I think about it. Also remember you can switch spells any time outside of combat, so the spells I pick here are just a very rough guideline, and I'm honestly not too careful about putting together the perfect spell list - you can see I let some default picks sneak in. Here I definitely would swap in Plant Growth, Protection From Energy, and Freedom of Movement for Stoneskin (seems like it should be good, but everything at this point is magic, Grasping Vine, and one of Polymorph or Confusion, since I don't think you really need both - just as a default though, actual spells prepped can and should change a lot during the day since they let you do that.
ugh, this just makes me sad. not being able to recast concentration in wild shape _still_ in the full release, after being broken for 3 years in early access, is just ridiculous. add that to the list of proofs that we paid full price for an unfinished game. it's infuriating that they've already announced that they're working on a new game when the one they already sold has objectively broken classes
My more recent videos have time stamps - I'll probably go back and do the old ones at some point. Also, if you have a suggestion, try making it politely! You'll get better results.
0:49 - Lore
3:10 - Build guide / stats (8 str / 15 dex / 16 con / 8 int / 17 wis / 8 char)
5:30 - Skills (insight & medicine)
6:50 - Level 1 cantrips (guidance and thorn whip/other)
8:04 - Level 2 Circle of Moon
10:01 - Level 3
14:30 - Level 4 (ABI Dex and Wis)
15:50 - Level 5
17:32 - Level 6
19:10 - Level 7
22:46 - Level 8 (ABI Max Wis)
24:23 - Level 9
25:30 - Level 10
27:17 - Level 11
28:50 - Level 12 Opt 1 (Druid, Feat - Alert)
29:36 - Level 12 Opt 2 (Druid, Feat - Tavern Brawler, need respec to 15con)
31:10 - Level 12 Opt 3 (Monk)
Thanks for putting this together!
I want to marry you and have your babies mikie, even if I do not have the facilities for it.
These are pretty nice. In the future, can I recommend adding the steps you go through in a pinned comment or the description? I often come back to these videos as I replay and find myself skipping all over the video to find what I need
I think he makes more income by not doing that- increased watchtime. Annoys me too tho tbh
I gave Halsin the graceful cloth boosting his Dex to 18 plus he gets that nimble as a cat buff, really suits this build I think
Love the content so far man! I just thought about adding Halsin to my party so this is so perfectly timed!!
Awesome, hope it helps!
Personally I find for a moon druid focus build is dipping 1 level white dragon sorc for armour of aga and 1 level war priest for 4 attacks in wildshape is so good I did it for my first ever honour mode playthrough and beat it.
very cool, I love the moon circle, was wondering if it was in the game
great vid as always
Thanks very much! Yeah moon druid is also my favorite, although the limitations of a video game meaning you have limited wildshape forms do restrict some of the cooler things you can do with it in tabletop. Still excellent though!
Potion of Hill Giant Strength + Raven is pretty fun. You get good mobility and you can blind two enemies in a turn. It probably won't ever the the optimal thing you can do, but it's always a laugh.
I tried to build him lorefriendly as well and found it hard since there is so little room to make him as strong as he looks while still being a wellbuilt archdruid.
My headcanon is that he's got a bad back or something to justify the 8 strength :P
@@Cephalopocalypse Well, he's incredibly young by elf druid standards. He isn't even past his first millennium.
@@sev1120in forgotten realms elves are considered extremely old by their 700th year. Halsin is middle aged. Only those who extend their lives by magical means make it much farther.
Yeah...I just give him the Club of Hill Giant Strength and the RP problem is solved, at least for me, lol
@@damianmorris6700 I can also imagine Halsin picking up the Club of Giant Hill Strength, simply because he thought its a nice stick.
Thanks for your vids man, really enjoy them! For this build, I am a little bit torn. On the one hand, this is a strong, fun and lore friendly build for Halsin which I looked for. On the other hand, I already have me (Paladin/Bard), Karlach, Lazae'el and Jaheira as fighters. Even Wyll is a sort of melee Warlock. And as I prefer me and Karlach as fighters, a spell-casting druid would be more beneficial for the group 😅
Thanks so much! Yeah I agree, the default companions are pretty overloaded on melee fighters - basically 9/10 of them are flavoured as fighting up close! I'm still a little surprised we didn't get a bard or an archer.
Have you checked out my build "The Mighty Fart Druid?" I think it's a very fun take on a caster druid :D
Wolves tripping is in Pathfinder, which is really useful.
Great video! But I do want to tell you that with patch 5 Tavern Brawler feat apply to both to hit and damage in all difficulty under honor and even in honor it apply to the to hit. Even in just applying to just to hit portion is very valuable as it break bounded accuracy as you mentioned. I would further argue that it is most valuable early on if you intend to use shape shift form as your damage dealer. The reason is that the itemization gap in your melee damage between shape shifter and other classes is a lot lower early on. TB will make your animal form really shine early on. On act two owlbear form is hitting about as hard as a GW barbarian and is hitting more often!
Thanks! And yes, this was made before patch 5 - I've made a couple more updated druid videos since then which put even more emphasis on tavern brawler. Cheers!
Another thing to consider if you want the Monk 1 multiclass - you may want to _start_ as a Monk, since they have DEX save proficiency (most damaging spells, like Fireball, have a Dexterity save). Then, if you start at 17 WIS, you can pick Resilient: Wisdom to give yourself WIS save proficiency (most control spells, like Hold Person, have a Wisdom save) and +1 Wisdom to round it out to an even number.
If you're willing to sacrifice 6th-level spells, you may also want to consider getting Monk 2 for additional mobility (Unarmored Movement, plus Step of the Wind outside of wildshape), Cleric 1 for some additional spell utility (including the coveted Bless, which you can concentrate on before transforming), possibly Ranger 1 for more proficiencies and a resistance to Fire, Cold, or Poison (this one is less tempting, admittedly), or Barbarian 1 for Rage (need to rage _before_ wildshape, and since both are bonus actions you'll transform on turn 2, but you'll get physical resistance in your wildshape form).
What I hate about Halsin as a Companion is that his transformation completely covers the camera in cutscenes sometimes 😢
That's why I run him as Barbarian to put his muscles to use. He is just huge even without shifting into a bear 😂
My least favorite thing about Halsin is that he's not Jaheira, though I realize it's unfair to hold that against him :P
@@Cephalopocalypse I love your build on Halsin, and I am currently on it. I wonder if you could do similar thing for Minsk , we lack male companions frontline with heavy armor , can you suggest something like heavy armor strength based duel wielding Barbarian or Ranger. Would such thing be possible?
Very interesting guide, thank you, I learned a lot here.
I have a question though:
how is it, that we are more likely to loose concentration on Stoneskin or Barkskin, than other concentration spells? Even if they are also CON-saves?
Using lore friendly build on halsin is so hard after using the owl bear that flies
Don't sleep on the air myrmidon, misty step every turn, and that stun attack can trivialize a lot of fights
this is better then i thought i love turning into animal and this is really good build
Awesome, glad you like it!
Actually the air mirmidon is pretty good ... has a ton of attack that do lightning damage and stun the target and if you manage to also make them wet ... well you see where i'm going ;)
True! All the myrmidons are pretty powerful, and there's some weird interactions they have as well (I forgot to mention they *don't* get the tavern brawler bonus, since their attacks are weapon attacks). The video was already getting pretty long though so I didn't want to do a deep dive on all of them
@@Cephalopocalypseearth myrmidons get the bonus, but the other myrmidons don't
Played Halsin as a spore druid and loved it.
Spore druids are so cool, I wish we'd gotten to keep the mushroom guy from the underdark.
ok uhm. and which items do you use with him ?
absolutly love your vids! Can you tell me what mods you're using for that wood elf apperiance? thanks a mil!
Thanks very much! I'm not running any appearance mods, just the normal graphics settings (on medium when recording)
You're wrong kiddo, he's not an elven archdruid, he's a bear pretending to be an elven archdruid.
People that don’t fear wildshape haven’t fought the Owlbear form with Tavern Brawler and a monk dip for extra AC
What do you think about setting the con to 15 initially and taking resilient con or Tavern brawler at 4 instead and rounding out the con to 16 with either of those?
Definitely a good option! My more recent moon druid build ("The best druid in bg3") does that for Tavern Brawler access
@@steelwind2334 This is a genuinely baffling comment. You agree with what I wrote, and are super mad about it?
Another great video man. Gj. Keep going.
Thanks so much!
How does tavern brawler work on a druid in wild shape something like helldusk gloves doesn’t inflict burn damage on unarmed attacks?
Feats and racial abilities (like a halfling's reroll) still work in wildshape, but items won't unless it's specifically called out as working in the description.
bears don't wear gloves
Sadly, the monk dip doesn't work anymore, so just go pure druid.
Great stuff
Thanks!
Thanks for this vid man! One question... why not get Tavern Brawler early, ASI to 18, and then subclass into Monk? It seems I'll keep most of the advantages of the melee in wildform. In this case I will sacrifice having 20 WIS to 18 but is that really worse that bad when I'm primarily shapeshifted?
It comes down to a matter of personal preference. Wisdom also affects the Save DC of your wildshape abilities (like the dino's corrosive spit or the owlbear's enrage, so it can have some impact on the offensive side too. That said, with the Patch 5 buffs to Tavern Brawler for wildshape, I personally think TB is worth the -2 to Wisdom (except possibly on Honour mode, where the buffs seem to not apply).
The most buff guy in the game has no strength lol i wouldn't say thats lore accurate. Thats one thing about these ganes i dont like. The attributes dont provide anything orher than basic min maxing.
Any good equipment to give him? Im having a rough time what to wear for the best stats.
Anything that increases your spell save DC and anything that boosts your initiative will be good - other than that, any items that specifically say they work in wild shape or "while transformed" are of course great, since most items won't work in animal form.
bg3.wiki/wiki/List_of_features_that_work_in_Wild_Shape
Here’s a list of everything that works with wild shape. So far in my playthrough the list seems to be accurate.
One think annoys me is the disconnection between his hunk-beef looks, giant and muscular, and his stats.
I find it curious that you say plant growth is so great and yet you have not taken it at this point. You are doing level ten right now.
Spell selection for this build is a little weird, since we mostly just cast one concentration spell and then switch to normal attacks - it actually plays out a lot like a warlock now that I think about it. Also remember you can switch spells any time outside of combat, so the spells I pick here are just a very rough guideline, and I'm honestly not too careful about putting together the perfect spell list - you can see I let some default picks sneak in.
Here I definitely would swap in Plant Growth, Protection From Energy, and Freedom of Movement for Stoneskin (seems like it should be good, but everything at this point is magic, Grasping Vine, and one of Polymorph or Confusion, since I don't think you really need both - just as a default though, actual spells prepped can and should change a lot during the day since they let you do that.
🔥🔥🔥
24:21
Jesus. 11 advertisements...
Good video though :)
Thanks! Unfortunately I don't have control over where youtube places ads. 11 is pretty ridiculous though, I agree.
ugh, this just makes me sad. not being able to recast concentration in wild shape _still_ in the full release, after being broken for 3 years in early access, is just ridiculous. add that to the list of proofs that we paid full price for an unfinished game. it's infuriating that they've already announced that they're working on a new game when the one they already sold has objectively broken classes
Was holding out hope that it’d be fixed in patch 7 but… alas they haven’t mentioned anything in the change logs
dude time stamp these vids. They are good. But no time stamps arrrrrrrrrrgh.
My more recent videos have time stamps - I'll probably go back and do the old ones at some point. Also, if you have a suggestion, try making it politely! You'll get better results.
24:22