Something that doens't get talked about the Vest of Soul Rejuvenation is that it triggers Extra Attack. So you can use all your actions and extra actions to punch people, trigger an opportunity attack, get a miss and punish that, then you can make an extra attack
I could really use a post game arcane mode where we could just fight a bunch of hard enemies after the story is done, you get all these great items at the very end and you barely get to use them.
This. I have all this dope loot and all my levels so now I want to experiment with multiclassing more and different classes together with different party builds and items. But no experimental enemies to try it on. Everything hs story related so I have objectives that limit a lot of stuff. A good NG+ or post game tower battle mode would be perfect.
I have binged your content over the last week or two and it is really refreshing to get mostly objective takes for min maxing in this game. One niche I think is under explored in bg3 is team comp videos. Many channels have individual build guides but I think you would be great for show casing full team compositions with set ups that may be less powerful than other builds in a vacuum but become 'greater than the sum of their parts' when group synergies are factored in.
No not quite. While heat does do 1d4 fire damage to you per turn, this damage comes from a status called "heat" which is not the same as "burning". The self damage of heat doesn't fall into any of the burning status groups (burning, lava, hellfire, etc), so you can still take damage from heat, though that is still unlikely when wearing the helldusk set since it reduces all incoming damage by 3.
@@common_undeadYou’re correct about heat being a different status than burning, so the Helldusk armor doesn’t give you immunity to heat damage in that way. However the armor also gives you fire resistance, so that combined with the -3 to all damage means that you will never take any damage from heat because the resistance halves the damage before the flat -3 is applied.
Another thing about Helldusk armor that might be a bug and might get patched, is that bracers of defence don't consider it armor and so its effect still works. Bracers give 2 AC if you're not wearing armor or shield, so it pushes the 21 AC to 23. With the amulet of greater health, my wizard with no tanky attributes put in suddenly has the highest HP and highest AC of anyone in my party with advantage on saving throws. An absolute godsend because my wizard was getting focused every fight.
You mention armor of persistence and monk armor but not armor of the agility? Best armor piece in the game especially for dex builds. And +2 to all saving throws. Swords bard has bonkers AC with this. And it looks awesome too.
One interesting note about the shield bash bug: the bash still applies mental fatigue. I have the ring that applies 2 mental fatigue when you apply conditions to enemies. Despite not knocking them prone or anything, it seems to apply the mental fatigue. Thanks for the list.
Band of the mystic scoundrel for BA hold person on whoever survived, and then you can let your fighter/paladin finish off anyone who's left with guarantied crits. It's actually disgusting. Like a bard/gloomstalker ranger with the helmet + band of the mystic scoundrel cannot lose an encounter against humanoid enemies at all if the number of enemies is less than 10 since your DPR is killing 1-3 a round and the rest are being cc'd into oblivion.
Dude this series is so fun to watch. I really like the RP side of the game (I definitely don't follow your hardcore rules haha), but watching your videos gives me great insight in how I can augment my builds. I hope you continue making bg3 content, I wish you the best.
There is no turn limit in the battle you mention . . . the timer there just denotes when some airstrikes and additional enemies will be added. You can kill everything and chill up there as long as you want. The actual turn limit is only in the final battle after you go through the portal (it sets a new limit).
I guess I never knew, because I always just crush it out as quickly as I can. I read a few stories about people losing HM runs to the mind blast and assumed.
I'm watching through all your tier list videos while I'm grading -- grade one paper, watch one item or spell discussion, grade the next paper, watch the next one. It is proving to be a pretty good anti-procrastination tool! So thanks! :)
The bhaalist armour can be used to cancel piercing resistance on enemies. It’s likely a bug. Sometimes you have to turn the aura off and on again. This can be done by dragging the icon from the spellbook to the action bar, it costs no action to do so.
Arrow of many targets give you arcane acuity for each target you hit last I checked (yesterday). If you use one arrow you get 8 stacks or arcane acuity off one attack and can arguably make it the best item for CC sword bards when combined with mystic scoundrel, especially with an elixir that starts you with 3 arcane acuity stacks.
Loved this series. There have been several examples you’ve shown that corrected my understanding on some items, or even just made me realize “oh hey, I should try that.” Great info
Fun fact: despite the description, shield bash prompts an enemy STR save against your *spellcasting* DC. So casters have (or will, when it’s no longer bugged) a better chance to land it. Given that you usually want your casters at range, it’s probably only clerics, EKs and paladins that would really benefit from it
I'd say a giant omission here is the Armor of Agility which can be directly bought from Stormshore Armory and Gloomy Fentonson. AC17 Medium armor with full DEX mod to AC, no penalty to Stealth, +2 on Saving Throws. I view this as one of the 2 must-have medium armors, the other is from Last Light Inn in Act 2: Yuan-Ti scale mail. Also in Act 3 is Elven Chain mail bought at Rivington General - qualifies the wearer to use it, like Helldusk - great for Wizards.
Also shoutout to Helldusk Helmet. Any way to get blind immunity on non-Warlocks, especially thorwing Barbs, Swords Bards, and Ranger Hunters, opeating in a party with another Warlock casting Darkness allows you to build an entire party comp and combat strategy around that condition. The Eversight Ring being the only other item I can think of that grants blind immunity which you've mentioned in other videos.
Robes of the sporekeeper with a summon comp are (imo) unequivocally the strongest item in the game. Taking 30 actions and doubling it? I don't see this get talked about enough. Even if you just hasten your companions, on a bonus action for your druid? It's insane, dude. The action economy on it is unrivaled
No. Any spell which lasts until your next long rest is exempt from my prebuff rule. Its just the spells which last 10 rounds that I count as "pre-buffing"
You can also use gloves of soul catching to fully heal your entire party out of combat by using it to punch destructable items like barrels and crates.
15:15 Shield bashes have literally never worked in *any* of my runs, and I have 258 hours in this game. They haven't just been bugged this patch, they've been bugged for as long as I've tried using them. Every shield I collect gathers dust in my chest because there's no point using them since Larian hasn't addressed the issue for months. Most shields I see are "good in theory" and yet utterly useless :/ *EDIT*: To be clear, shields now work as of patch 6.
Weird, they've definately worked in my past runs. Regardless, Shield Bash not working does not make shields useless. Shields are honestly cracked in BG3.
They've been bugged since patch 3 iirc. I started using mods for my runs purely because one of the first ones I saw back in early december fixed the shield bash bug.
Great series, thanks! I feel like the Pyroquickness Hat belongs in the honorable mentions. Free bonus action if you cast a fire spell, but you get 2 points of heat which can be a pain. Still, a sorcerer goes from 2 sets of scorching rays per turn to 3, 4 with an elixer of bloodthirst, 5 with haste. That’s pretty amazing for a round one nova. Drawback is that it’s once per short rest. (Iirc)
I struggle with the Pyroquickness Hat, because its just a massively nerfed version of the Circlet of Fire which we had in early access. The Circlet of Fire was... fire. By comparison the Pyroquickness Hat feels so blah.
Helldusk Armor will still result in the Rage Impeded condition for Barbarians negating their damage and defense bonus. Unclear if this is a bug or as intended since it is still heavy armor.
I’m going to assume that you haven’t used Bhaalist armor, given that it’s the single strongest item in the game, maybe tied with band of mystic scoundrel.
I think you are just reading to much into the list. I put Bhaalist armor into honorable mentions because I already covered its main feature when I discussed Bloodthirst last video. I gushed about the feature, I don't see why I have to gush about it twice.
12:30 I've always found that timer to be pretty much decorative. I've overstayed it for a dozen turns and it's not a big deal at all. The timer after you succeed is very bad though
The very rare heavy crossbows are pretty underwhelming. Staff of the ram and incandescent staff are kinda underwhelming. Handmaiden's mace is underwhelming. Stillmaker dagger is pretty bad for a very rare weapon.
there is a build going round based around a warlock/abjur wizard/cleric built around counter damage from armor of agathys/bonespike as well as mourning frost as the weapon with markoheskir as the sub weapon, it's crazy if an opponent dares to hit you they just get wrecked, also has armor of shadows from warlock meaning i think concentrationless mage armor i know it doesn't take a spell slot think it's none con to but don't quote me. if you keep swapping between robes and armor though you can spam the now cantrip mage armor to max out your ward after every fight just checked a build video on it and guy in the vid has mage armor and stoneskin on at the same time, so yeah armor of shadows- concentrationless cantrip on one attack- armor of agathys damage, bonespike garb damage fleshmelter cloak damage then you can follow up with any ice spell backed by encrusted with frost, and the ring i can't remember the name of but it leaves a cold surface whenever you do ice damage you can legit just walk round on purposley triggering opportunity attacks and retaliating for 70 ish damage if attacked in meele, if attacked in range you can still pop your shield from abj, but you also have hellish rebuke for a slight hit on a reaction, also counterspell is abjuration ;) the idea of the build isn't to not take damage, but to take damage negate it and deal a metric shit tonne right back while also having frost spells for CC through freeze armor of agathys only disappates once all temporary HP is gone, while you're negating damage you don't lose HP and you get a free cast at level 6 thanks to markoheskir your concentration choices are stone skin which is basically Blade ward but till longrest or haste which is more optimal as you can get blade ward via reviving hands or hellrider's pride which is basically stoneskin but for 2 turns and doesn't cost a level 4 slot build i saw is 2 warlock 1 cleric (tempest but don't think it matters) 9 wizard (abjuration)
As far as I know, I was the first person to suggest that build. I released a video about it back in August 8th of last year. I didn't suggest all the same items, but that is because I made it early enough that I hadn't yet played to Act 3. Here is the video: th-cam.com/video/z9SbG9tcZRE/w-d-xo.html
@@Aestus_RPG th-cam.com/video/3Mhyn5oAkP0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=GYlVt9kvoJgfCvQy that was the build I saw For your least popular video the concept is damn strong I ran it in a playthrough gale was mvp from start to end
Spoilers for the finale of the game coming but I can't ask Aestus the question otherwise: The way you always talk about the time limit in the fight atop the netherbrain I was wondering if that is another challenge you set yourself or if you misinterpret the time limit. Because yes, there is a time limit of 4 turns until a nautiloid arrives but that just starts bombarding and spawning units as it does in the area before climbing up the netherbrain. The important time limit where you can lose only starts after you entered the brain. Love your videos btw. helped me a lot to gain a really good understanding of the game and the mechanics and I beat honour mode with your help :)
I was just mistaken about the turn limit. I've always played this game with no reloads, so I never risked reaching that limit. I assumed it was an TPK timer like portal timer just before Rivington was.
@@Aestus_RPG Yeah if you always play without reloads it is definitely an intimidating time limit which I wouldn't have risked to reach either. I've wrongly interpreted it the first time as well but that was a reload run so I was fine. In my honor mode run I actually went through within the 4 turn limit as well even though I knew it wasn't necessary
Vest of Soul Rejuvenation seems awesome on paper, but in practice there might not be many opportunities to actually use its riposte ability. I used it in a few early playthroughs but found that, with how late in the game I get it, I didn't get much use out of it. Enemies didn't melee attack my monk all that much (particularly since my strategy usually revolved around either staying out of melee, or only going into melee when I could kill things before they attack me; plus, by this point in the game, enemies have a lot of ways of damaging you other than with melee attacks), and if they did they didn't miss that much (since my monk's AC wasn't great, even with this). All told, in a given playthrough I probably only actually got to use Greater Kushigo Counter about 3-5 times. I think the main thing that keeps it good is the lack of competition; there aren't really any other amazing armors for monks, so why not use this. (But now if I have a monk I tend to use the Icebite Robe for its 1/day Armor of Agathys, and in late game I just give them Helldusk Armor and forego unarmored movement.)
I used this armor on my Tav and made a ton of use of it. I think it is meant to be used on a “Dodge Tank” sort of strategy, wherein you WANT to be the center of attention. Paired with the gloves of the same name keeping you healthy on hit. Honestly together they felt so strong I soft banned them from future playthroughs.
It also gives +2 AC as a clothing so it’s probably the best for monk if you want to use clothing only. The problem with monk is that they want too many stats. So if you’re tavern brawler monk probably your dex and wis are not that high. Unless you consider drinking elixir every day. One of my playthrough, I did dex monk with nyrulna as my monk weapon. It’s pretty solid AC wise because I can focus everything to dex. Therefore the vest of soul rejuvenation’s riposte ability came up a little bit more often
I prefer the garb of land and sky. I find I use step of the wind quite a lot in act 3 for basically infinite movement in some of the very large battle fields. This gives a small bonus to it. But honestly I choose it because the other one looks ridiculous. Even more ridiculous than the graceful cloth which is hard to beat in the ridiculous looks department. Garb if the wind and sky makes me look like an actual monk.
No Sarevok's Horned Helmet? Not even in the honorable mention? One of the few ways of unconditionally buffing your crit range without forcing yourself into a specific weapon configuration?
Bhaalist armor is crazy with a assassin+gloom stalker build. Average 100 damage with a sneak attack. Then you get the gloom stalker attack and the extra attack for another 80 or so damage. Add 2 lvl fighter, you get two more attacks. It's nuts
Gloves of soul catching are also great for a wild shaping Druid, as long as they don’t shift into a myrmidon with a weapon. I’m curious, too - would helmet of grit grant an extra bonus action after wild shaping if the Druid was below 50% hp immediately beforehand? Maybe something to test! I’m still not swayed by the idea of choosing a shield over the DW feat for wizards and sorcs, since they get the shield spell. And I think listing the robes and helldusk armour here kinda undermines your argument. With the DW feat, 16 DEX, mage armour and good robes, you have a solid 18-19 AC, which goes to 23-24 if and when you need the shield spell. Or, with the DW feat and helldusk, you have a ridiculous 22->27 AC. At that point you’re already harder to hit than most other characters. It seems difficult to then justify extra defence (and yes, preserving a few 1st level spell slots) over dual wielding 2 powerful staves. The free casting you get from having both Markoheshkir and Cherished Necromancy is crazy (and makes losing spell slots on mage armour and shield pretty negligible). Also a bit surprised that the Weave robes and hood didn’t get a mention. They’re arguably best in slot for the right class, due to the boost to spellcasting potency. Obviously you can’t list everything though!
I prefer my AC to be better than just solid. The problem with Dual-Wielding staves is that it costs a feat just to utilize an equipment slot you can already will with great equipment (shields). So to be worth it the extra staff doesn't have to be better than a shield, it has to be better than a shield + a feat, and I don't think there is a staff that is that good.
@@Aestus_RPG I disagree, I think both the staves I mentioned are legitimately that good! - Free-casting chain lightning and lightning bolt 6-8 times each per day - Free-casting spells like bestow curse: dread, 6th level blight, 6th level blindness (on 5 targets) - all of those with enemy disadvantage - and animate dead (ghouls) as many times as you want Each of those are absolutely as good as any single feat a caster might take! Especially if you are intentionally limiting your long rests, as I know you like to do 😉 If they fix Cherished Necromancy so that it no longer gives you all that unlimited free casting then maybe that changes and a shield is better. And it’s only solid AC *before* the shield spell. Anything around 23 is excellent AC.
@@ProbeAway I have a few problems with this argument. The first is you do not actually have to have Staff of Cherished Necromancy equipped to get the unlimited casting. All you need to do is kill one target with it equipped to get a life essence charge, then you can swap to Markoheshkir. The charge stays with you even when you swap the weapon. The second and more serious problem I have with it is that you don't need to dual-wield the staves on one character to get optimal use out of them. In fact, you will get better use out of them if you make a separate build around each one. In my last Honour Mode Run I used both of these staves heavily, but I didn't need to waste a feat to do it.
@@Aestus_RPG on the first point: I confess I didn’t realise life essence would remain after unequipping the staff. However, I assume you lose the heightened necromancy ability that gives disadvantage on saving throws against your necro spells? Whether or not that particular trait alone is worth a feat is debatable, but it’s a really powerful effect that you’re losing by switching out the staff. On your second point: you’ve lost me a bit here. Your whole argument is that you don’t want to waste a solitary feat, but the answer is to use up the main hand slot on another character? I get that you would have the benefit of being able to cast say, dread and chain lightning in the same round, but this seems like it would unnecessarily limit your overall party build to me. If you were already planning on a setup that allowed for this, then fine. Otherwise it’s not really solving anything!
Sorry for the delayed response. For some reason TH-cam flagged your comment for review and I never saw it. Yes, you would lose Heightened Necromancy if you don't have the staff equipped. I don't think Heightened Necromancy is better than the value you would get out of a feat + a shield. I don't think see how anyone could think its better in most situations/builds. Its just not. With the second point, I was trying to draw attention to the fact that the two staves incentivize two mutually exclusive play styles. The Staff of Cherished Necromancy incentivizes using your actions to upcast necromancy spells. Markoheshkir incentivizes using your actions to cast spells that deal elemental damage. But you cannot do both in a single action. Similarly, both "unlock" spell casters by providing a ton of extra spell casts per long rest. If you put them on a single caster, you've unlocked one caster. Its overkill. However, if you split them between two casters you've now unlocked two instead of one. In short, its the nature of the mechanics of these weapons that you will get more value out of them if you don't dual wield them. Does it limit a party build to build around using two of the best staves in the game and also two of the best shields in the game? No, that is just optimization. Both strategies use the same amount of items, but your strategy of dual-wielding is ignoring the extremely powerful shields in the game and spending a feat to do that. Finally, to address your comment about needing to play setup around these items for what I said to be true. The only planning you need is (1) have a caster who would benefit from Markoheshkir (any arcane caster does) and (2) have a second caster who would benefit from Staff of Cheriched Necromancy (practically every caster does, especially Clerics). So if the "setup" is just having a Wizard Gale and Cleric Shadowheart in my party, I think that's not really setup, that most peoples party comp.
I’m also surprised you didn’t mention even ONE of the equipment that gives initiative boost. Hellrider longbow is an amazing stat stick especially for a thrower that gives a whopping +3 to initiative. Why waste your feats with alert when you have stuff like this? Mask of soul perception is also amazing and gives a +2 initiative. Way better than the baldurs helm. That thing is kind of useless. There are so few enemies that stun you in this game, and if you’re using globe if invulnerability in the final battle well you’re invulnerable to it. Also ambusher is another awesome stat stick I see people ignore too much. +1 initiative and d6 damage on enemies that haven’t taken their turn. It procs on ranged damage so it’s perfect for a dex swords bard. +d6 on every instance of sword bard damage builds up very fast .i know you like weapons you can build around and this is certainly one of them. Maybe not a core part of the build but definitely high synergy with a ranged sword bard.
This video is for non-weapons, not weapons. I made a weapons list earlier but Hellrider Longbow didn't make the list. It didn't make it because there are 10 other weapons that are stronger than it, even though it is really good. That said, Alert is almost never a waste of a feat. Its the best feat in the game bar none. A +3 initiative is not enough to guarantee moving first every round. You can absolutely use Hellrider Longbow and still have use for Alert.
FYI, Hellriders Pride only procs when you heal ANOTHER creature. So, the Helm of Balduran shouldn't work with it. It doesn't proc when the wearer uses a heal spell or potion. Am I missing something or is the wiki wrong?
Honestly shocked bhaalist armor only got on the honorable mention list. It's an entire party build around that can make combat absolutely trivial. I've used a lot of the items on this list and feel like bhaalist armor is the strongest one when fully built around, but otherwise solid list.
@@Aestus_RPG that's fair, I just consider the armor to be quite a lot more potent as a party build around since all you have to do is just stand there lol
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
Something that doens't get talked about the Vest of Soul Rejuvenation is that it triggers Extra Attack. So you can use all your actions and extra actions to punch people, trigger an opportunity attack, get a miss and punish that, then you can make an extra attack
I could really use a post game arcane mode where we could just fight a bunch of hard enemies after the story is done, you get all these great items at the very end and you barely get to use them.
Or a new game + mode, where you keep your levels and your gear and all enemies are max level from the start and have more abilities
thats actually a great idea. Honor mode+ with more enemies and higher levels for characters. @@martinmittermayr1341
@@martinmittermayr1341new game plus would be perfect for bg3, level 12 act 1 and 2 combat situations would be fun af with max characters
This. I have all this dope loot and all my levels so now I want to experiment with multiclassing more and different classes together with different party builds and items. But no experimental enemies to try it on. Everything hs story related so I have objectives that limit a lot of stuff. A good NG+ or post game tower battle mode would be perfect.
There's a PC mod for that. I'm on consoles
I have binged your content over the last week or two and it is really refreshing to get mostly objective takes for min maxing in this game. One niche I think is under explored in bg3 is team comp videos. Many channels have individual build guides but I think you would be great for show casing full team compositions with set ups that may be less powerful than other builds in a vacuum but become 'greater than the sum of their parts' when group synergies are factored in.
'Cannot be burned' on Helldusk armor means you can make use of Heat without taking chip damage from the burning.
No not quite. While heat does do 1d4 fire damage to you per turn, this damage comes from a status called "heat" which is not the same as "burning". The self damage of heat doesn't fall into any of the burning status groups (burning, lava, hellfire, etc), so you can still take damage from heat, though that is still unlikely when wearing the helldusk set since it reduces all incoming damage by 3.
@@common_undeadYou’re correct about heat being a different status than burning, so the Helldusk armor doesn’t give you immunity to heat damage in that way. However the armor also gives you fire resistance, so that combined with the -3 to all damage means that you will never take any damage from heat because the resistance halves the damage before the flat -3 is applied.
Another thing about Helldusk armor that might be a bug and might get patched, is that bracers of defence don't consider it armor and so its effect still works. Bracers give 2 AC if you're not wearing armor or shield, so it pushes the 21 AC to 23. With the amulet of greater health, my wizard with no tanky attributes put in suddenly has the highest HP and highest AC of anyone in my party with advantage on saving throws. An absolute godsend because my wizard was getting focused every fight.
I hope they never patch it they will tho it amazing on monks due to the armor and movement and maby even barabarians with rage too
@@Phillip_Simpson_3 Barbarians are bugged, I was so ready to put this on my barb but it interrupts rage.
You mention armor of persistence and monk armor but not armor of the agility? Best armor piece in the game especially for dex builds. And +2 to all saving throws. Swords bard has bonkers AC with this. And it looks awesome too.
And no mention of amulet of the devout.
One interesting note about the shield bash bug: the bash still applies mental fatigue. I have the ring that applies 2 mental fatigue when you apply conditions to enemies. Despite not knocking them prone or anything, it seems to apply the mental fatigue.
Thanks for the list.
arrow of many shot + helm of arcane acuity = max out arcane acuity in one shot with a bunch of enemies
Band of the mystic scoundrel for BA hold person on whoever survived, and then you can let your fighter/paladin finish off anyone who's left with guarantied crits. It's actually disgusting.
Like a bard/gloomstalker ranger with the helmet + band of the mystic scoundrel cannot lose an encounter against humanoid enemies at all if the number of enemies is less than 10 since your DPR is killing 1-3 a round and the rest are being cc'd into oblivion.
Dude this series is so fun to watch. I really like the RP side of the game (I definitely don't follow your hardcore rules haha), but watching your videos gives me great insight in how I can augment my builds.
I hope you continue making bg3 content, I wish you the best.
There is no turn limit in the battle you mention . . . the timer there just denotes when some airstrikes and additional enemies will be added. You can kill everything and chill up there as long as you want. The actual turn limit is only in the final battle after you go through the portal (it sets a new limit).
I guess I never knew, because I always just crush it out as quickly as I can. I read a few stories about people losing HM runs to the mind blast and assumed.
I’d Love for you to do some build videos where you showcase how you’d combine some of these powerful items and weapons on certain classes!
I've got some in the works.
I'm watching through all your tier list videos while I'm grading -- grade one paper, watch one item or spell discussion, grade the next paper, watch the next one. It is proving to be a pretty good anti-procrastination tool! So thanks! :)
I know what it's like to grade stacks of papers! God speed, I am happy my videos help!
The bhaalist armour can be used to cancel piercing resistance on enemies. It’s likely a bug. Sometimes you have to turn the aura off and on again. This can be done by dragging the icon from the spellbook to the action bar, it costs no action to do so.
Arrow of many targets give you arcane acuity for each target you hit last I checked (yesterday). If you use one arrow you get 8 stacks or arcane acuity off one attack and can arguably make it the best item for CC sword bards when combined with mystic scoundrel, especially with an elixir that starts you with 3 arcane acuity stacks.
Loved this series. There have been several examples you’ve shown that corrected my understanding on some items, or even just made me realize “oh hey, I should try that.” Great info
It would be great to see a series on best items/weapons for each class to build around
Fun fact: despite the description, shield bash prompts an enemy STR save against your *spellcasting* DC. So casters have (or will, when it’s no longer bugged) a better chance to land it.
Given that you usually want your casters at range, it’s probably only clerics, EKs and paladins that would really benefit from it
I'd say a giant omission here is the Armor of Agility which can be directly bought from Stormshore Armory and Gloomy Fentonson. AC17 Medium armor with full DEX mod to AC, no penalty to Stealth, +2 on Saving Throws.
I view this as one of the 2 must-have medium armors, the other is from Last Light Inn in Act 2: Yuan-Ti scale mail.
Also in Act 3 is Elven Chain mail bought at Rivington General - qualifies the wearer to use it, like Helldusk - great for Wizards.
Also shoutout to Helldusk Helmet. Any way to get blind immunity on non-Warlocks, especially thorwing Barbs, Swords Bards, and Ranger Hunters, opeating in a party with another Warlock casting Darkness allows you to build an entire party comp and combat strategy around that condition. The Eversight Ring being the only other item I can think of that grants blind immunity which you've mentioned in other videos.
Helm of balduran will trigger the 1d6 poison damage from broodmothers revenge. Love using that one on a fighter
Robes of the sporekeeper with a summon comp are (imo) unequivocally the strongest item in the game. Taking 30 actions and doubling it? I don't see this get talked about enough. Even if you just hasten your companions, on a bonus action for your druid? It's insane, dude. The action economy on it is unrivaled
I made a video about this back in the first month of full release. Great item, but I left it out of this list because it's so class specific.
@@Aestus_RPG it is specific, so fair. It's just crazy though, if you lean into it. Do you consider summoning beforehand pre-buffing?
No. Any spell which lasts until your next long rest is exempt from my prebuff rule. Its just the spells which last 10 rounds that I count as "pre-buffing"
I dip 2 spore druid on 1 character every game just to use this armor, it's so insanely good even without any summons, just your party
Looking forward to getting this on my current Spore Druid run!
I love all of your BG3 content, Aestus. Great channel
You can also use gloves of soul catching to fully heal your entire party out of combat by using it to punch destructable items like barrels and crates.
15:15 Shield bashes have literally never worked in *any* of my runs, and I have 258 hours in this game. They haven't just been bugged this patch, they've been bugged for as long as I've tried using them. Every shield I collect gathers dust in my chest because there's no point using them since Larian hasn't addressed the issue for months. Most shields I see are "good in theory" and yet utterly useless :/
*EDIT*: To be clear, shields now work as of patch 6.
Weird, they've definately worked in my past runs. Regardless, Shield Bash not working does not make shields useless. Shields are honestly cracked in BG3.
I have 500h and Shield Bash has never ever worked for me, I still use shield though :).
They stopped working as of Patch 3
@@frrmrr4314 Same for me, I've never managed to knock an enemy down with a shield bash but I still often use shields for the AC.
They've been bugged since patch 3 iirc. I started using mods for my runs purely because one of the first ones I saw back in early december fixed the shield bash bug.
Great series, thanks! I feel like the Pyroquickness Hat belongs in the honorable mentions. Free bonus action if you cast a fire spell, but you get 2 points of heat which can be a pain. Still, a sorcerer goes from 2 sets of scorching rays per turn to 3, 4 with an elixer of bloodthirst, 5 with haste. That’s pretty amazing for a round one nova. Drawback is that it’s once per short rest. (Iirc)
I struggle with the Pyroquickness Hat, because its just a massively nerfed version of the Circlet of Fire which we had in early access. The Circlet of Fire was... fire. By comparison the Pyroquickness Hat feels so blah.
Thank you for finishing this series, hoping for more videos soon.
Return of the king
Helldusk Armor will still result in the Rage Impeded condition for Barbarians negating their damage and defense bonus. Unclear if this is a bug or as intended since it is still heavy armor.
You can access ferg droghers shop by having shadowheart stay behindnso he doesnt spot her causing his confrontation to happen.
Moar BG3! Love your coverage
I also like the bonedpike helmet. Menacing attack each turn? Sign me up!
With Gloves of Soul Catching, Tavern Brawler perk, Best of Soul Rejuvenation, and the Monk Boots, an Open Hand Monk is pretty amazing.
A simple Open Hand Monk with a dip in thief and the right items is probably the best late game striker in Honour Mode.
I’m going to assume that you haven’t used Bhaalist armor, given that it’s the single strongest item in the game, maybe tied with band of mystic scoundrel.
I think you are just reading to much into the list. I put Bhaalist armor into honorable mentions because I already covered its main feature when I discussed Bloodthirst last video. I gushed about the feature, I don't see why I have to gush about it twice.
soooo ready to watch this when I get home!! keep up the great work!!
12:30 I've always found that timer to be pretty much decorative. I've overstayed it for a dozen turns and it's not a big deal at all. The timer after you succeed is very bad though
Gloves of Soul Catching aren't just for Monks. They also work wonders for Moon Druids.
Craterflesh bug definitely makes them top 10
You forgot to mention that the Helm of Balduran prevents critical hits on the wearer.
Nice video!
Can you make a list of underwhelming/overrated items and weapons?
Especially the "very rare" and "legendary" type.
The very rare heavy crossbows are pretty underwhelming. Staff of the ram and incandescent staff are kinda underwhelming. Handmaiden's mace is underwhelming. Stillmaker dagger is pretty bad for a very rare weapon.
Yo Aestus! We gonna get a tadpole powers tier list eventually? Appreciate you!
Eventually? Yes, definitely. It probably won't be this month though.
I wonder if the Helm of Balduran's crit immunity is a callback to the original games (all helmets in those games gave crit immunity)
there is a build going round based around a warlock/abjur wizard/cleric built around counter damage from armor of agathys/bonespike as well as mourning frost as the weapon with markoheskir as the sub weapon, it's crazy if an opponent dares to hit you they just get wrecked, also has armor of shadows from warlock meaning i think concentrationless mage armor i know it doesn't take a spell slot think it's none con to but don't quote me. if you keep swapping between robes and armor though you can spam the now cantrip mage armor to max out your ward after every fight
just checked a build video on it and guy in the vid has mage armor and stoneskin on at the same time, so yeah armor of shadows- concentrationless cantrip
on one attack- armor of agathys damage, bonespike garb damage fleshmelter cloak damage then you can follow up with any ice spell backed by encrusted with frost, and the ring i can't remember the name of but it leaves a cold surface whenever you do ice damage you can legit just walk round on purposley triggering opportunity attacks and retaliating for 70 ish damage if attacked in meele, if attacked in range you can still pop your shield from abj, but you also have hellish rebuke for a slight hit on a reaction, also counterspell is abjuration ;)
the idea of the build isn't to not take damage, but to take damage negate it and deal a metric shit tonne right back while also having frost spells for CC through freeze armor of agathys only disappates once all temporary HP is gone, while you're negating damage you don't lose HP and you get a free cast at level 6 thanks to markoheskir your concentration choices are stone skin which is basically Blade ward but till longrest or haste which is more optimal as you can get blade ward via reviving hands or hellrider's pride which is basically stoneskin but for 2 turns and doesn't cost a level 4 slot
build i saw is 2 warlock 1 cleric (tempest but don't think it matters) 9 wizard (abjuration)
As far as I know, I was the first person to suggest that build. I released a video about it back in August 8th of last year. I didn't suggest all the same items, but that is because I made it early enough that I hadn't yet played to Act 3.
Here is the video: th-cam.com/video/z9SbG9tcZRE/w-d-xo.html
@@Aestus_RPG ahhh didn't know you'd made it my bad one I'd seen was only from a month ago lol
@@kurtcobane1762 No problem at all! Its one of the least popular BG3 videos I ever made, so a lot of people don't know about it.
@@Aestus_RPG th-cam.com/video/3Mhyn5oAkP0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=GYlVt9kvoJgfCvQy that was the build I saw
For your least popular video the concept is damn strong I ran it in a playthrough gale was mvp from start to end
Spoilers for the finale of the game coming but I can't ask Aestus the question otherwise:
The way you always talk about the time limit in the fight atop the netherbrain I was wondering if that is another challenge you set yourself or if you misinterpret the time limit. Because yes, there is a time limit of 4 turns until a nautiloid arrives but that just starts bombarding and spawning units as it does in the area before climbing up the netherbrain.
The important time limit where you can lose only starts after you entered the brain.
Love your videos btw. helped me a lot to gain a really good understanding of the game and the mechanics and I beat honour mode with your help :)
I was just mistaken about the turn limit. I've always played this game with no reloads, so I never risked reaching that limit. I assumed it was an TPK timer like portal timer just before Rivington was.
@@Aestus_RPG Yeah if you always play without reloads it is definitely an intimidating time limit which I wouldn't have risked to reach either. I've wrongly interpreted it the first time as well but that was a reload run so I was fine. In my honor mode run I actually went through within the 4 turn limit as well even though I knew it wasn't necessary
Vest of Soul Rejuvenation seems awesome on paper, but in practice there might not be many opportunities to actually use its riposte ability. I used it in a few early playthroughs but found that, with how late in the game I get it, I didn't get much use out of it. Enemies didn't melee attack my monk all that much (particularly since my strategy usually revolved around either staying out of melee, or only going into melee when I could kill things before they attack me; plus, by this point in the game, enemies have a lot of ways of damaging you other than with melee attacks), and if they did they didn't miss that much (since my monk's AC wasn't great, even with this). All told, in a given playthrough I probably only actually got to use Greater Kushigo Counter about 3-5 times.
I think the main thing that keeps it good is the lack of competition; there aren't really any other amazing armors for monks, so why not use this. (But now if I have a monk I tend to use the Icebite Robe for its 1/day Armor of Agathys, and in late game I just give them Helldusk Armor and forego unarmored movement.)
I used this armor on my Tav and made a ton of use of it. I think it is meant to be used on a “Dodge Tank” sort of strategy, wherein you WANT to be the center of attention. Paired with the gloves of the same name keeping you healthy on hit.
Honestly together they felt so strong I soft banned them from future playthroughs.
It also gives +2 AC as a clothing so it’s probably the best for monk if you want to use clothing only. The problem with monk is that they want too many stats. So if you’re tavern brawler monk probably your dex and wis are not that high. Unless you consider drinking elixir every day. One of my playthrough, I did dex monk with nyrulna as my monk weapon. It’s pretty solid AC wise because I can focus everything to dex. Therefore the vest of soul rejuvenation’s riposte ability came up a little bit more often
I prefer the garb of land and sky. I find I use step of the wind quite a lot in act 3 for basically infinite movement in some of the very large battle fields. This gives a small bonus to it.
But honestly I choose it because the other one looks ridiculous. Even more ridiculous than the graceful cloth which is hard to beat in the ridiculous looks department.
Garb if the wind and sky makes me look like an actual monk.
How good are the gloves of martial exertion.
It ain’t flashy but Armor of Landfall deserves an honorable mention 😢
Helm of grit act one should be in Honor mode or something like that.
No Sarevok's Horned Helmet? Not even in the honorable mention? One of the few ways of unconditionally buffing your crit range without forcing yourself into a specific weapon configuration?
Helmets are a stacked category.
Bhaalist armor is crazy with a assassin+gloom stalker build. Average 100 damage with a sneak attack. Then you get the gloom stalker attack and the extra attack for another 80 or so damage. Add 2 lvl fighter, you get two more attacks. It's nuts
Gloves of soul catching are also great for a wild shaping Druid, as long as they don’t shift into a myrmidon with a weapon. I’m curious, too - would helmet of grit grant an extra bonus action after wild shaping if the Druid was below 50% hp immediately beforehand? Maybe something to test!
I’m still not swayed by the idea of choosing a shield over the DW feat for wizards and sorcs, since they get the shield spell. And I think listing the robes and helldusk armour here kinda undermines your argument. With the DW feat, 16 DEX, mage armour and good robes, you have a solid 18-19 AC, which goes to 23-24 if and when you need the shield spell. Or, with the DW feat and helldusk, you have a ridiculous 22->27 AC.
At that point you’re already harder to hit than most other characters. It seems difficult to then justify extra defence (and yes, preserving a few 1st level spell slots) over dual wielding 2 powerful staves. The free casting you get from having both Markoheshkir and Cherished Necromancy is crazy (and makes losing spell slots on mage armour and shield pretty negligible).
Also a bit surprised that the Weave robes and hood didn’t get a mention. They’re arguably best in slot for the right class, due to the boost to spellcasting potency. Obviously you can’t list everything though!
I prefer my AC to be better than just solid.
The problem with Dual-Wielding staves is that it costs a feat just to utilize an equipment slot you can already will with great equipment (shields). So to be worth it the extra staff doesn't have to be better than a shield, it has to be better than a shield + a feat, and I don't think there is a staff that is that good.
@@Aestus_RPG I disagree, I think both the staves I mentioned are legitimately that good!
- Free-casting chain lightning and lightning bolt 6-8 times each per day
- Free-casting spells like bestow curse: dread, 6th level blight, 6th level blindness (on 5 targets) - all of those with enemy disadvantage - and animate dead (ghouls) as many times as you want
Each of those are absolutely as good as any single feat a caster might take! Especially if you are intentionally limiting your long rests, as I know you like to do 😉
If they fix Cherished Necromancy so that it no longer gives you all that unlimited free casting then maybe that changes and a shield is better.
And it’s only solid AC *before* the shield spell. Anything around 23 is excellent AC.
@@ProbeAway I have a few problems with this argument. The first is you do not actually have to have Staff of Cherished Necromancy equipped to get the unlimited casting. All you need to do is kill one target with it equipped to get a life essence charge, then you can swap to Markoheshkir. The charge stays with you even when you swap the weapon.
The second and more serious problem I have with it is that you don't need to dual-wield the staves on one character to get optimal use out of them. In fact, you will get better use out of them if you make a separate build around each one. In my last Honour Mode Run I used both of these staves heavily, but I didn't need to waste a feat to do it.
@@Aestus_RPG on the first point: I confess I didn’t realise life essence would remain after unequipping the staff. However, I assume you lose the heightened necromancy ability that gives disadvantage on saving throws against your necro spells? Whether or not that particular trait alone is worth a feat is debatable, but it’s a really powerful effect that you’re losing by switching out the staff.
On your second point: you’ve lost me a bit here. Your whole argument is that you don’t want to waste a solitary feat, but the answer is to use up the main hand slot on another character? I get that you would have the benefit of being able to cast say, dread and chain lightning in the same round, but this seems like it would unnecessarily limit your overall party build to me. If you were already planning on a setup that allowed for this, then fine. Otherwise it’s not really solving anything!
Sorry for the delayed response. For some reason TH-cam flagged your comment for review and I never saw it.
Yes, you would lose Heightened Necromancy if you don't have the staff equipped. I don't think Heightened Necromancy is better than the value you would get out of a feat + a shield. I don't think see how anyone could think its better in most situations/builds. Its just not.
With the second point, I was trying to draw attention to the fact that the two staves incentivize two mutually exclusive play styles. The Staff of Cherished Necromancy incentivizes using your actions to upcast necromancy spells. Markoheshkir incentivizes using your actions to cast spells that deal elemental damage. But you cannot do both in a single action. Similarly, both "unlock" spell casters by providing a ton of extra spell casts per long rest. If you put them on a single caster, you've unlocked one caster. Its overkill. However, if you split them between two casters you've now unlocked two instead of one. In short, its the nature of the mechanics of these weapons that you will get more value out of them if you don't dual wield them.
Does it limit a party build to build around using two of the best staves in the game and also two of the best shields in the game? No, that is just optimization. Both strategies use the same amount of items, but your strategy of dual-wielding is ignoring the extremely powerful shields in the game and spending a feat to do that.
Finally, to address your comment about needing to play setup around these items for what I said to be true. The only planning you need is (1) have a caster who would benefit from Markoheshkir (any arcane caster does) and (2) have a second caster who would benefit from Staff of Cheriched Necromancy (practically every caster does, especially Clerics). So if the "setup" is just having a Wizard Gale and Cleric Shadowheart in my party, I think that's not really setup, that most peoples party comp.
I hope I'm not the only dummy who kept waiting for a weapon mention 🤦
I already made a whole video for weapons! Check it out!
I’m also surprised you didn’t mention even ONE of the equipment that gives initiative boost. Hellrider longbow is an amazing stat stick especially for a thrower that gives a whopping +3 to initiative. Why waste your feats with alert when you have stuff like this? Mask of soul perception is also amazing and gives a +2 initiative. Way better than the baldurs helm. That thing is kind of useless. There are so few enemies that stun you in this game, and if you’re using globe if invulnerability in the final battle well you’re invulnerable to it.
Also ambusher is another awesome stat stick I see people ignore too much. +1 initiative and d6 damage on enemies that haven’t taken their turn. It procs on ranged damage so it’s perfect for a dex swords bard. +d6 on every instance of sword bard damage builds up very fast .i know you like weapons you can build around and this is certainly one of them. Maybe not a core part of the build but definitely high synergy with a ranged sword bard.
This video is for non-weapons, not weapons. I made a weapons list earlier but Hellrider Longbow didn't make the list. It didn't make it because there are 10 other weapons that are stronger than it, even though it is really good.
That said, Alert is almost never a waste of a feat. Its the best feat in the game bar none. A +3 initiative is not enough to guarantee moving first every round. You can absolutely use Hellrider Longbow and still have use for Alert.
I missed the very first ring X_X
BLESS
Yes
15:30 have you considered doing a feet tier list?
th-cam.com/video/mu6v2AmSaDA/w-d-xo.html
FYI, Hellriders Pride only procs when you heal ANOTHER creature. So, the Helm of Balduran shouldn't work with it. It doesn't proc when the wearer uses a heal spell or potion. Am I missing something or is the wiki wrong?
You should just test it.
Honestly shocked bhaalist armor only got on the honorable mention list. It's an entire party build around that can make combat absolutely trivial. I've used a lot of the items on this list and feel like bhaalist armor is the strongest one when fully built around, but otherwise solid list.
I talked about Bloodthirst in the last video and didn't really want to go over the same feature in detail again.
@@Aestus_RPG that's fair, I just consider the armor to be quite a lot more potent as a party build around since all you have to do is just stand there lol
@@croket07 Yeah, like I said in the video, its action economy free, which is a big selling point.
Thats might be one of the things i don't like in this game, some gear is just way too op
Nice video! Hey, would you like more thumbs like the ones I sent you? Please, let me know :)