Baldur’s Gate 3 Honor Build Series

Author: Majin Evelyn

Looking to beat Baldur’s Gate 3’s hardest difficulty? Explore with us today a new series and game to the blog!

Here at Tabletop Builds, all of our builds have been for 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. With this series, we’ll break this tradition by venturing into Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3). This will include a collection of eight very powerful builds that will perform excellently in the highest difficulty, Honor Mode.

Honor Build Series

Barbarian: Berserker
Cleric: Light Domain
Druid: Circle of the Land
Monk: Way of the Open Hand
Ranger: Beast Master/Gloom Stalker
Sorcerer: Storm Sorcery
Warlock: The Fiend
Wizard: School of Conjuration/Evocation

What is an Honor Build?

Each Honor Build we have built under the assumptions that the game is…

• Played on the “Honor Mode” difficulty. This is the highest difficulty in the game, with some additional mechanics and “rules changes” from Tactician Mode, many of which nerf popular martial strategies. We will not be considering Custom Mode to impose additional rules changes like increasing the Camp Supply cost of taking a Long Rest or disabling multiclassing.
• Not played using major glitches. Interestingly, Larian corrected some previously popular bugs used in optimization content, but only fixed it for Honor Mode. Other bugs still exist, but build decisions will not be made using a suspected bug or glitch, as these may very well be patched out after the publishing of these guides (and they are not necessary to clear Honor Mode with ease).
• Not fully known to the reader. We don’t expect that you have an encyclopedic knowledge of the game and the bg3.wiki in order to play these builds. There will be links within builds to various wiki articles, usually for items so that readers can select for themselves their exposure to external plot elements. Additionally, none of the text within these articles will contain story spoilers for Act 2 and 3. There is a vague mention of an Act 1 moment that has build implications, and (by coincidence, not design) none of the item names mentioned directly in the articles are story spoilers, as they have very generic names. If you don’t care about story spoilers or experiencing any particular plot in the game, we recommend Delph’s video and Route Diary which outline a fast, glitchless, and reliable route to complete Honor Mode very quickly. The intent of this guide series is to allow for optimization within any context that you wish to experience the game’s story, and make the experience smooth through the use of powerful builds and strategies, without skipping content.
• Not so difficult that you need to use all available resources to defeat encounters. The Camp Supply cost of long resting is very cheap relative to the amount of Camp Supplies in the game. However, since the reader is not expected to know the game ahead of time, these builds will not be optimized in such a way that they burn all of their resources immediately in the first turn of combat, as efficient use of this strategy and build philosophy needs prior game knowledge. Additionally, builds focused on one combat do not excel at days where you need to do many. Builds that do well in the latter case can just expend more resources when there are fewer encounters.
• Deadly, but manageable. Honor as well as Tactician Mode definitely include combat encounters with the potential to wipe a party. Honor Mode is especially punishing, because in order to truly finish an Honor Mode run you cannot allow your whole party to die. However, with good optimization knowledge and strategy, this challenge can certainly be overcome.
• Played from the beginning to end of the game, from level 1 to 12. You can certainly finish the game before level 12, but for the purposes of build decisions here we will showcase all the way to level 12, which is common for players by the end of the game.

As a result, every Honor Build is…

• Multiclassed. BG3 removes the Ability Score requirements for multiclassing, and changes some subclass mechanics in such a way that different multiclassing options become strong considerations. For example, all 8 of these builds at some point in progression take 1 level in Light Cleric due to the power of Warding Flare as well as the other benefits of the dip.
• Made with party cooperation in mind. These builds can, of course, be used in a single player or co-op playthrough, but there will often be considerations about how to work with the other characters in your party to tackle challenges effectively.
• Built to minimize risk. Even the Barbarian, Monk, and Ranger builds, which are optimized for damage, still take considerations in build choices as well as strategy to reduce the risk of death for your party. Honor Mode doesn’t let you reload saves if your party dies, so playing safe and using the powerful control effects available in the game to minimize enemy actions is important.
• Will consider respecs at every level. Respeccing your character is very cheap in Baldur’s Gate 3, and you can change most build choices. You can even steal gold back from the NPC that grants this ability without consequence, and there are many ways to acquire a large amount of gold, but these methods are unnecessary to make respeccing useful. Occasionally, it is beneficial to change your class levels or other build choices at a new level, emphasis on occasional. For the builds outlined here, you won’t find more than one suggested respec in the whole 1-12 progression.

To make these builds as useful as possible to you, the reader, they are…

• All in the same format. To make things easier to read, we have done our best to adhere to a common format for presentation. Due to the different needs and considerations that Baldur’s Gate 3 builds have, the format will be different from our 5E builds, but will be the same within this series.
• Customizable. Unlike our Flagship Build series, we won’t have variant level progressions, but there will be mentions of alternate build choices where they are notable. It should also be noted that none of the 8 builds within require a specific race or companion to function, but as they do have mechanical differences each notable option will be discussed. This should allow you to experience whatever companion story you wish to in a playthrough, while optimizing your party’s mechanical performance.

What about the 4 classes not mentioned?

Rogue and Fighter perform roles that are functionally outperformed by Ranger or Barbarian as a main class. They do show up in multiple builds for multiclassing, however. Eldritch Knight could be used for throwing in place of Berserker Barbarian, but the Barbarian especially in combination with Thief Rogue 3 does a better job at this. Paladin suffers from the issue that they don’t bring a lot to the table until later levels, once Aura of Protection is available, but even that isn’t as impactful as it may be in D&D 5e. At level 6, fullcasters are getting access to sleet storm and hunger of hadar, which are very centralizing control spells. It’s possible that very late into the game at level 11 or 12, a multiclass between Paladin 6/Warlock 5-6 could approach the power level of the normal Warlock build, but not surpass it. Bard is a bit more complicated, but has the same issue as Paladin in that it takes a while for any levels in the class to be worth it. At level 7, Fighter 1/Swords Bard 6 can start using Slashing Flourish to make many attacks with, for example, a Titanstring Bow. This is certainly competent past this level, and is a reasonable alternative to Gloom Stalker Ranger, should the number of combats per short rest allow you to use Slashing Flourish frequently. Swords Bard performs much the same function as Gloom Stalker, and will thus be discussed further as an alternative level path in the Ranger article.

General Optimization Considerations

You’ll commonly find among these builds that many of the same things that are important to D&D 5e optimization will be important to optimization in BG3. Additionally, as this is a game intended to be played with four characters, party optimization should be considered for your playthrough. By this we mean that there are certain combinations between multiple characters that are more powerful than the sum of their parts. Below, we’ll outline some general ideas we have considered in the creation of these builds, and that you should consider when gathering your party. We’ll highlight which of our builds can perform the functions that we outline as they come up.

Consequence in Honor Mode

Death of the whole party will end your Honor Mode run. Generally, to make sure you are able to safely finish your Honor Mode run and experience whatever story you wish, these builds will try to maximize potency and minimize death. If you are very unsure about a situation and don’t think you’ll be successful, you can leave one party member in your camp, and ask one of your camp followers to resurrect your other three party members.

Armor Class

AC is important to acquire, and scales superlinearly, as we explained in The “Squishy Caster” Fallacy. It’s also very cheap to acquire, in ways that come with additional benefits, just like 5e. One feature that you’ll find in every build which relates to AC is Warding Flare from Light Domain Cleric 1, which BG3 improves to have unlimited uses and only trigger when an attack would otherwise hit you. This level also comes with Medium Armor and Shield proficiency, another significant increase to your AC. BG3 does not have any Strength requirements for wearing Heavy Armor, but the value of Warding Flare supersedes other Heavy Armor Cleric subclasses.

Control Spells and Effects

Just like 5E, control is exceedingly powerful and accomplishes something very important in any tactics RPG: limiting enemy actions. The difference in BG3 is that the most powerful control effects are different from 5E and not necessarily very obvious.

Available at level 2 from Druids and level 3 from Beast Master Rangers, there are two sources of an at-will version of a familiar spell web. The version from Beast Masters has some advantages in that it is cast from a summoned spider, and it can be used before combat without triggering combat to litter the battlefield with many webs before the encounter starts. Druid’s Spider Wildshape has at-will web as well, but it can’t cast its normal spells or use its weapons while in the form, and can’t place any webs down outside of combat. Using one or both of these sources of web will provide exceptional control in Act 1, especially in combination with Repelling Blast and ranged damage. The web surface is mutually exclusive with other surfaces like ice, but this is the most powerful surface control effect for very early levels. These webs can burn, but with careful placement this can be avoided.

Repelling Blast from Warlocks is available from level 2 and just like 5E, combines very well with the most powerful control effects mentioned here. Creatures knocked back into web and ice surfaces will often be forced to make a saving throw against restrained or prone respectively, and still have to walk further through the surface even if they succeed against the save.

From level 5 onward, two extremely powerful control spells become available, hunger of hadar and sleet storm. These are very oppressive when used together, as when placed on top of each other onto enemies they will be left with very little options. Sleet storm affects a very large area with ice, which forces enemies to make a saving throw against prone when they move through it. The ice surface is even reapplied every turn, ensuring other surface effects that might enter the area will not permanently replace the ice. If they fail the save, they lose their turn entirely. Hunger of hadar stacks with surfaces, and blinds enemies, which makes them unable to use ranged options against you while the spell does respectable damage to them.

In Act 3, many spells become much more viable as control options because of the many available items that increase your Spell Save DC. Even single target spells like phantasmal killer, hold monster, and dominate person are powerful when you can make your Spell Save DC over 25, and have a very high (or sometimes 100%) chance to successfully impair the enemy.

Damage

The most straightforward form of damage is weapon damage, which the Barbarian, Ranger, and Monk (can) provide. Notably, the Barbarian and Ranger builds achieve this at range, which is important to make the best use out of previously mentioned control effects, which want enemies to walk through them to deny the most actions. Monks can still function in otherwise ranged parties, by punching enemies that make their way past control effects, or using thrown weapons as a fallback.

Cleric, especially from level 5 onwards, provides significant damage from spirit guardians and the Radiance of the Dawn Channel Divinity for the Light Domain Cleric. BG3 adds a new condition called Radiating Orb which can be applied on radiant damage, guaranteed by the two previously mentioned features. It reduces enemies’ chance to hit while doing its damage in an area of effect, unlike the above mentioned martial damage dealers. The spirit guardians damage does occur in melee range, but you can position yourself in such a way that enemies will have to enter the range of spirit guardians, after moving through control effects, in order to attack the rest of your party. Additionally, Radiance of the Dawn affects a wide radius, and you also have access to fireball for more ranged nova damage.

Many casters can make use of the wet condition which causes lightning and cold damage vulnerability for large amounts of damage. Create water (and Conjuration Wizard’s free version of it in the form of Minor Conjuration) is an easy way to apply the wet condition to enemies, and call lightning can repeatedly cause lightning damage while the targets are wet. Tempest Cleric’s Channel Divinity can even maximize the dice rolls on such nova turns, which our Sorcerer build will take advantage of later in its progression.

Example Powerful Compositions

In Act 1, the most powerful control effects come from Druid and Ranger’s at-will web effects. Ranger’s is the best of the two, so bringing a Ranger to your party will be a massive increase to your effectiveness. Repelling Blast from Warlock combines very well with the Spider Companion’s web, and works from very early on. Agonizing Blast empowered Eldritch Blast deals comparable damage to martial damage at this early stage as well, so one Warlock is great to have, and so is two. Druid can still be very powerful in combination with Ranger, as more webs means more of the battlefield will be disabling the enemies.

In Acts 2 and 3, the combination of hunger of hadar and sleet storm will solve many, many combat encounters. As such, you’ll want a source of both of these spells. Warlock continues to be very useful as it is the only source of hunger of hadar, and Repelling Blast will further amplify our control effects. Sleet storm can come from a Druid, Wizard, or Sorcerer, but from Act 2 onwards the Snowburst Ring will provide a very powerful at-will ice surface. For this reason, choosing at least one of Wizard or Sorcerer will prove very powerful. Your remaining two slots could be any of the damage options (Ranger, Barbarian, Monk, Cleric), especially Light Cleric as it also provides a powerful increase to survivability as well as area of effect damage.

You can always insert any of these builds into a variety of parties and they will perform excellently, or you can visit our Baldur’s Gate 3 thread in the Tabletop Builds Discord and ask questions about what may work best for the party concept you have in mind!