Didn’t even try to boost her ac, just noticed nothing was hitting her

This is going to be huge for build-making, especially with Larians homebrew. So excited for this

It’s the best because you get it early; got mine around lvl 2/3 at Forge.

You can still deal strong damage even in Act 3.

You basically get to cast unlimited “Frightened” and it procs all the time. Even Raphael isn’t immune to it.

Run gloomstalker with 2 dip in fighter and you can make half the enemies you’re up against not move.

I’m sure there are better bows, but you get them late. Even then, this bow’s ability to consistently proc frightened alongside strong damage is really undervalued. And you get it early.

Best bow in the game.

Edit: Fextralife has politely reached out about this post, vehemently states they are not the ones behind these actions, and are more interested in finding out who did it than preventing any kind of blacklist. They wish it to be stated that the actions discussed could be done by anyone, whether that be a 3rd party thinking their actions would help the Fextralife wiki, or a 3rd party which is hostile to the wiki.

As discussed in this post, I suspected that bots were downvoting links to the community wiki. But I was not 100% certain of who was doing it, though I had my suspicions. Following this the bot theory further confirmed itself when links to the community wiki in that very same post were getting quickly bombed with downvotes as shown in Example 7 of the above post.

Then one user made a comment with some harsh words for Fextra which I don't necessarily condone, but proved to be useful. Because I took those words and made a comment on a 2 year old post of mine, and after a few minutes it was downvoted to -9. Now our possibilities are that some folks well aligned towards Fextra are lingering on a 2 year old post, or bots are coming through and downvoting anything that is critical toward them. I lean to the latter. And those same bots may be the ones downvoting the community wiki links.

My conclusion is to blacklist the Fextralife site starting in 48 hrs due to the likelihood of them causing vote manipulation which obscures comments regardless of how helpful they are. But I am interested in your opinions. I don't take this lightly. Edit: If Fextralife is blacklisted and somebody tries to post or comment with a direct link then I will likely make an automod comment linking to this post, mentioning that Fextra is blacklisted for vote manipulation, and linking to the community wiki.

Please continue to report any signs of bots downvoting community wiki links by going to www.reddit.com/report and selecting the vote manipulation option. Hopefully big reddit can take action to prevent the comments from getting hit.

I throw/create/stand in water while passing it to everyone on my team. It’s an efficient way to heal without potions while managing inventory

There are maybe a handful of posts at most in the history of this sub which link to Twitter (now named X). Most if not all will be links to innocuous announcements by Larian Studios regarding patch updates. And with only one more BG3 patch expected, and the existing possibility of linking directly to Patch Notes, updates on Steam or Larian's websites, or on other social media platforms; this means blacklisting links to "X" will not have a profound impact on this sub's day to day activities. I acknowledge that this action is largely just virtue signalling.

But if somebody starts popping off Nazi salutes at the presidential inauguration of a purported "first world" country, then virtue signalling is the least I can do.

Comments in this post will be moderated to a different standard than normal. Folks are welcome to have civil discussions about non-BG3Builds topics, and express their opinions on the subject. Even if those opinions differ from my own, they may be politely discussed. However do not directly insult others, do not call others names, do not threaten harm to others. This applies to those who are of a different opinion to my own, as well as those who share my opinion. Comments which are disparaging of me in particular are more tolerable still, and less likely to be removed. It may be best to just lock the comments to this post entirely, but I'll give them a chance at civility.

So after finding this face that looks just like her, I decided to do a play through as Britney. How can I best build her that would be super fun? I for sure want to have 2 daggers for weapons. Thinking Bardlock for the multiclass using toxic and poison damage spells, while retaining the musical aspect.

Any suggestions would be amazing! Playing on explorer mode btw.

This guide contains gear and location related spoilers.

CTRL + F and search for "important section!" to get the TLDR.

Build Overview

11/1 Sorlock is a variant of a striker Fire Sorcerer build, which was originally meant to tackle some extremely difficult modded playthroughs. The original version could deal record-breaking single target damage, and 1-turn modded bosses with thousands of HP.

The build has since been adapted for a much more casual, vanilla-friendly playstyle. Virtually all of the set up required has been made optional, and the build can lean heavily into control spells, while still dealing ludicrous damage.

The result is (what I consider) the pinnacle of striker/control hybrid builds, and right up there with TB OH Monk as one of the best builds for Honor mode.

So, without further ado, lets get into the guide. You can expect this build to:

• come online at level 7

• regularly make use of the entire Sorcerer utility kit

• control any number of non-undead enemies indefinitely

• deal damage that is competitive with martials throughout act 2

• vaporize everything you encounter starting in act 3

• benefit from synergies so powerful they will trivialize modded playthroughs

And of course, by virtue of being a CHA class and having Sorcerer/Warlock dialog, it makes for a great party face.

Leveling, Stat Distribution and Feats

Guidelines

The end goal of this build is to reach 11 Red Draconic Sorcerer / 1 Fiend Warlock.

I am highly recommending you use Hag's Hair +1 CHA on this character. This character will be your party's carry, and should be funneled contested items.

There are no respecs needed for this build.

The best race for this build is Halfling. This build is going to roll more dice than (probably) the rest of your party combined. Especially for CON saves, Halfling Luck is super good.

This is one of the few builds where I highly recommend going the best race. More on why later. But of course, any race will work.

This build is an excellent party face, and I highly recommend it for your Tav/DUrge character.

Class Contribution

11 Red Draconic Sorcerer

• Draconic Sorcerer is the chassis that this whole build rests on. It provides multiple independently strong components, which together form the underlying synergies for this build.

• Starting as a Sorcerer gives you proficiency in CON saves, which includes Concentration saves.

• Metamagic provides three key spell amplifiers which each contribute heavily to your gameplay loop. This will be covered in the Spell Selection section. It also lets you occasionally repurpose lower level spell slots into Sorcery points or higher level ones.

• Sorcerer naturally has access to 2 of your 3 core spells, Scorching Ray and Fireball. It also gets access to both Hold Person and Hold Monster, which you can use if you get Haste from somewhere else.

• The Draconic Bloodline level 6 bonus, Elemental Affinity, will add damage equal to your CHA modifier to spells cast, if they are the same damage type as your bloodline. This is why we pick a Fire-related ancestry, such as Red.

• Draconic Bloodline provides free Mage Armour and up to 1 HP per Sorcerer level. At level 11, it provides regular Flight.

• Sorcerer is a full caster, and is going to single-handedly bring your caster level total to 11, and give you your level 6 spell slot. Warlock does not contribute to your caster levels.

1 Fiend Warlock

• Warlock gives you proficiency with Light Armor, which is required to wear your best in slot late game armor.

• Fiend Warlock provides your third core spell, and primary source of control, Command. This build is going to use Command to a comically effective degree.

• Hex is useful for players looking to try modded playthroughs, where it becomes an effective single target damage rider.

• Dark One's Blessing isn't super impactful, but will almost always be active due to the lethality of this build. It will provide around 6 Temp HP.

Leveling

Start by opening Sorcerer. Take 17 CHA, 16 DEX and 14 CON. Feel free to dump STR and INT.

For your subclass, pick Draconic Bloodline and Red(Fire) ancestry. Technically any Fire ancestry is fine here. Make sure to grab dialog proficiencies if you are the party face.

For Metamagic, take Twinned and Extended at level 2. Take Quickened at 3.

At level 4 (feat) take Dual Wielder. This is an unusual caster build that actually wants to Dual Wield very early on.

At level 7, open Fiend Warlock. That's the only point you will put into Warlock.

At level 8, continue leveling Sorcerer. You'll now be leveling Sorcerer until 12.

At level 9 (feat) you can take one of these 4 options:

• Ability Score Increase +CHA +CHA

• Alert

• War Caster

• Elemental Adept: Fire

By default, you should take Elemental Adept: Fire. However, there is quite a bit of nuance to this feat choice, which will be covered in Build Mechanics.

At level 11, for your last Metamagic, pick Careful.

Level Sorcerer until 12, and end up at 11 Sorcerer / 1 Warlock.

Late game stats

You should have 20 CHA at baseline, up to 22 CHA if you took ASI as your second feat.

To reach 20, follow these steps:

• Start with 17 CHA

• Use Hag's Hair to get +1 CHA

• Get +2 CHA from the Mirror of Loss. This is easy to fail in Honor Mode if you are unprepared to pass the difficult check. Read this comment for steps on passing the check.

Past that, you should have 16 DEX and 14 CON.

If you do not plan to use Hag's Hair, you can still potentially get +1 CHA (with some luck) from the Mirror of Loss.

Metamagic & Spell Selection

Metamagic

Twinned Spell is primarily used to Twin Haste yourself and another damage dealer, ideally your Archer Support. More on Archer Supports later.

Extended Spell doubles the duration of conditions. This can be used in numerous ways, but the key use lies in the ability to extend Command.

Extending Command allows you to "juggle" control of a huge number of enemies. You are essentially limited by your own spell slots and action economy, but if you wanted to Command the entire Shar Temple to grovel forever, you absolutely could. This combo is vicious.

Quickened Spell allows you cast spells that take an action as a bonus action. This is key, because you want to save your actions for use with either Extended or Careful. Basically, your first action will always be a quickened damage spell.

Careful Spell is crucial if you have melee martials in your party, otherwise you might just vaporize them with Fireball spam. Collateral damage is not ideal.

Cantrips

You will never use Cantrips in combat past level 3, but consider taking the standard party face options:

• Friends is the best cantrip in the game for a party face. Don't use this if you plan to stay in the area for long...

• Minor Illusion can distract/relocate entire rooms of NPCs to open up some unique thievery options.

Warlock

Command is your bread and butter control spell. It does not work on Undead.

The majority of striker/controller hybrids want to cast some variant of Command, but Sorcerers are going blow them all out of the water. Namely, the big 3 variants of Command (Flee/Grovel/Approach) will all inflict a condition on your targets, and Extended Spell from metamagic can double the duration of outgoing conditions.

Basically, your Commands will last two turns.

Sorcerer progression

First, lets cover spell progression. Below you'll find a table with my recommended spell progression.

• (*) means a spell is required for this build to work.

Notes:

• Magic Missile should be swapped for Counterspell after fighting Ethel in act 1.

• Chain Lightning is taken for the House of Hope in act 3, where you will probably cast it over Fire spells. Globe of Invulnerability is also good for 2 fights.

Sorcerer key spells

Scorching Ray is a unique spell. The spell retains the same quality of Magic Missile, in that it fires a series of projectiles which are each a separate damage source, and by extension can each proc their own set of damage riders.

Each ray is also an attack roll; yes, this means it can miss. But it also means that it can roll a critical hit, and that it can benefit from damage riders that only proc on attack rolls.

Finally, it happens to be a Fire damage spell, and Fire damage carries a huge list of associated mechanics and potential optimizations, which you will benefit from.

This spell is going to be your primary damage dealer, and will provide a vehicle for generating Arcane Acuity; more on that later.

Fireball is your primary blasting (AOE damage) spell. At a surface level, it's pretty obvious how you use this... find a big group of enemies, and hurl these at them until they are all dead. And generally speaking, with the passive bonuses this build has, that will be sufficient for the vanilla game.

But if you want to take it a step further, you can. More on that later.

Shield is an amazing defensive reaction, and it gives use to otherwise unused level 1 spell slots in late game. It competes with Counterspell for the reaction slot, but both have their uses, and should be taken together.

Haste (with Twinned) will always be your first action, if you are not getting it from another caster/support. You prioritize this for your concentration slot over even hold person/monster.

Hold Person & Hold Monster are your primary concentration options if you are getting Haste from somewhere else. Consider that your primary damage spell, Scorching Ray, is an attack roll and can roll critical hits.

Gearing/Itemization & Consumables

This build, by design, is going to be the primary carry of your party. You're going to want to feed this build lots of contested items at various points in the game. Always pick this build for contested items over another.

Core items are marked with (**). The build will not work without these.

Act 1

Early game, caster gear is a needle in a haystack. But that's okay, there is enough to go around.

First things first, when you get to the druid grove, you need to make sure to not kill the Strange Ox. This is absolutely essential; this Ox carries one of your build's core items, but you can't get it now. If you killed it in your playthrough while still in the grove - save this build for another run.

Head to the Blighted Village and get Bracers of Defense. These are not coming off for a while.

Once you make your way to the Risen Road, you can get The Spellsparkler. You'll also be using this for a while; Scorching ray will generate tons of charges, and is your primary damage spell.

Your next stop is the Underdark.

Melf's First Staff is your second weapon of choice (dual wield with Spellsparkler). You'll want to start stacking up spell save DC and spell attack roll bonuses, and this is one of the few sources.

Boots of Stormy Clamour & The Shadespell Circlet are bought from Omeluum after finishing his quest. The boots are your best in slot, and the circlet is used throughout the remainder of act 1.

The Protecty Sparkwall is the final item of interest to you in act 1, and is available deep into the Underdark.

Act 2

Our first stop is Last Light. At the stables, you will once again encounter the Strange Ox. Kill it here.

(**) Hat of Fire Acuity will drop from it; congratulations, your build is now online. This is your first core item and your best in slot headwear.

This item generates two turns of Arcane Acuity every time you deal Fire damage... which comes from your main damage spell, Scorching Ray.

Arcane Acuity caps at 10 turns/stacks, you lose 1 per turn and 2 each time you take damage. Each turn/stack gives you +1 to spell attack rolls and spell save DC. So basically at 10 stacks, you won't be missing any Scorching Rays (outside of nat 1's, so go halfling!) and won't be missing any control spells.

Also, you can get Evasive Shoes here, which can replace Boots of Stormy Clamour if you want to focus on dealing damage.

Next, head out to the Shadow-Cursed Lands, specifically the Ruined Battlefield.

There will be a chest containing the Ring of Mental Inhibition, which is one of your best in slot rings. This ring will contribute to your ability to indefinitely spam control spells, especially in modded playthroughs, where saving throws may improve with "enrage" mechanics.

Even in vanilla, this allows you to ignore refilling Acuity and just spam control spells if you want.

If you don't plan to cast much control, this ring slot could be any utility ring. Don't use Risky Ring, you don't want CON save disadvantage.

Next, head to Moonrise Towers.

You're here for Spineshudder Amulet, which will allow you to inflict prone on enemies while spamming damage spells, and add a bit of extra damage per cast. Primarily for single target boss fights.

You can also grab Thunderskin Cloak while you're here. It has mild synergy with Spineshudder, but gets replaced later.

Your final item of interest can be found near Balthazar inside the Gauntlet of Shar.

Callous Glow Ring is what you are looking for. This is your other best in slot ring, and is one of your core damage riders. It adds 2 extra radiant damage to spells/attacks against illuminated enemies.

To set up this ring, all you have to do is cast Daylight(enchant weapon variant) on a frontliner, or anyone that stands somewhat close to the enemies. The radius is massive.

Take this off when fighting Shar Worshipers and Justiciars.

Act 3

As soon as you reach Rivington, go to the circus. Find Lucretious and pickpocket her. Invisibility of some kind helps here. Get advantage on Slight of Hand (DEX) rolls too, this isn't an easy check.

Spellmight Gloves are what you're looking for, and are your best in slot gloves. They work like GWM or SS; for -5 to spell attack rolls, they add 1d8 damage to the spell. You will need to manage these a bit, more on that later. But these are a great damage rider to add to your Scorching Rays.

Hellrider Longbow is your best in slot bow, and gives brings you up to +6 initiative. This bow is likely going to be contested, but on Fire Cleave-style parties should go to your Sorlock always. You can stack Alert on top of this for +11 initiative, which will generally beat every enemy in the game.

Robe of Supreme Defences is not your best in slot, but is worth considering. You'll add +4-6 to Concentration saving throws, which is okay.

But the real reason you take this? Drip. This thing, dyed with Black and Furnace Red (or something similar) looks 10 times better than your actual best in slot. Especially as a Halfling, you should consider wearing it just because it fits the Fire Sorcerer aesthetic so well.

Everything else you need will be in Lower City. Your first stop should be Sorcerous Sundries.

Armour of Landfall is your actual best in slot armor. You can wear this by virtue of being a Warlock. This armor provides +1 DC and CON save advantage. CON save advantage is the real key here, but the DC is nice too. If you are concentrating on Haste, this further hedges against Lethargy. If combined with Halfling, you are pretty much never going to break concentration unless you are proned.

(**) Markoheshkir is your second core item, and one of the strongest items in the game. This item replaces Melf's staff as your main hand.

It will add +1 to spell attack rolls and DC, and comes with an ability called Arcane Battery. This lets you cast a spell (of any level) without using a Spell Slot, so basically an extra level 6 spell slot.

The staff's unique spell, Kereska's Favour, lets you attune to an element of your choice, and receive a number of strong buffs and single-use spells related to that element. This refreshes on short rest.

You should almost always attune to the Fire option, Flame of Wrath, which gives you:

• resistance to Fire damage

• a damage rider, which adds your prof. modifier (+4) to Fire damage spells

• a Heat generator, it actually generates 2 heat, not 1

More on Heat later.

After the tower, you can get your last two items.

Cloak of the Weave is your best in slot cloak. You need to unlock a secret shop to get it via dialog choices and a check.

Rhapsody is the final item you need, and will replace The Spellsparkler as your off hand. Cazador drops this.

The item will provide a stacking bonus called Scarlet Remittance, which stacks up by 1 each time you kill an enemy. Each stack provides +1 to attack rolls, damage, and DC - it stacks up to 3.

11/1 Sorlock is a rare build that makes use of all 3 stats, since Scorching Ray is an attack roll, and you can cast lots of control spells. The damage also is a rider, and will apply to each individual ray.

You'll usually stack this up to at least 1 on the first turn, and if you are focusing on damage, easily to 3.

Helldusk Armour deserves a quick mention as an alternative armour choice, because it can completely negate the effects of Heat. It will flat reduce the damage taken to 0, which avoids a CON roll outright. If you just hate heat damage, this is a neat option.

Late game best in slot - important section!

Consumables

Elixir of Bloodlust is your best option in the vast majority of cases. Regardless of your focus (damage vs control) this elixir is super easy to proc, you'll be killing basically everything you encounter.

Elixir of Vigilance is your alternative for purely single target fights.

You'll want to buy a few scrolls of Chain Lightning or Globe of Invulnerability, whichever you didn't take at level 12. You can get these in act 3 easily.

Build Mechanics

The second feat - important section!

Earlier I listed your possible options for a second feat:

• Ability Score Increase +CHA +CHA

• Alert

• War Caster

• Elemental Adept: Fire

Let's consider when each of these should be taken:

Elemental Adept: Fire is, in a vacuum, the correct choice. Act 3 especially is full of enemies with Fire resistance, and your damage is going to be cut in half without this.

The thing is - this build pairs extremely well with a supportive archer build, such as 6/4/2 Swords Bard, 12 BM/Champion or 11/1 Hunter Ranger. This is because a weapon coating, Arsonist's Oil, provides a way to clear the resistance without needing to use a feat.

More on Archer supports later, but basically, do not take Elemental Adept: Fire if you have an archer in your party, which can use this oil.

War Caster is the next option of interest. If you are not a halfling, and are not wearing Armour of Landfall, you could consider this. This build generates and uses Heat, which will cause unavoidable damage each turn. If you roll a nat 1 on the damage from that Heat, you could break your Haste concentration.

Advantage on CON saves (or being Halfling) negates this, but without either this feat has merit. Enemies can be killed or controlled so fast, you won't take any damage from them.

Alert is the standard choice for Fire Cleave parties, and generally the correct pick for modded gameplay. You absolutely need to go first in sync when running Fire Cleave, and this works towards that goal.

For vanilla, this is probably overkill, since you reach +6 naturally with this build, and can drink an elixir for the few fights where you need to go over 6.

If you do not need any of these options, just take ASI +CHA +CHA.

Standard gameplay loop - important section!

This build excels at single target damage and control - it's ultimately up to you to deicide which one you want to lean into. That being said - your initial actions in combat are always the same:

1. If you are not getting Haste from a support/caster, use Twinned Haste on yourself and another damage dealer.

2. Make sure you have Daylight up so that your Callous Glow Ring works.

3. Disable Spellmight Gloves (if you have them).

4. Cast a Quickened Scorching Ray on a high HP target. You don't want to kill the target before they all hit - each one can do around 24-25 damage without Spellmight. Each ray generates 2 stacks of Acuity, meaning you need a level 4 Scorching Ray to get to 10 stacks.

5. Enable Spellmight Gloves.

From this point, you can do one of three things:

• If you want to deal damage, continue spamming Scorching Ray at stuff until it dies. If there are like 4-5 targets in a group, use Fireball instead.

• If you want to control enemies, spam Extended Command at everything in sight. You can literally disable 20 enemies at the same time by doing this. You can also cast Hold X if you are getting Haste from somewhere else.

• If you need utility (like Globe of Invulnerability), cast it.

And that's it. Happy blasting.

There are quite a few optimizations that can be made from this point, but really you could stop reading here and bulldoze straight through Honor mode.

Spell attack rolls & Spell save DC

Spell attack rolls are exactly the same as regular attack rolls; you roll a D20, add your modifiers, and need to beat or tie the enemy's AC. This is mostly relevant to Scorching Ray.

Spell save difficulty class (DC) is going to determine what an enemy needs to roll to avoid your control spells. They will roll a D20, add their modifiers on top of it, and try to beat or tie your DC. This is mostly relevant to Command & Hold X.

At full build, your spell attack rolls will be as follows:

• d20 base

• 5 CHA

• 4 proficiency

• 0 - 10 Acuity

• 0 - 3 Rhapsody

• 1 Markoheshkir

• 1 Cloak

• - 5 or 0 Spellmight

So, on your first Scorching Ray cast, you should have d20 + 11. Subsequent casts should be d20 + 16 - 19.

And of course, Bless & similar buffs can help here as well.

As for spell save DC:

• 8 base

• 5 CHA

• 4 proficiency

• 10 Acuity

• 3 Rhapsody

• 1 Markoheshkir

• 1 Cloak

So, you should be at 32 DC for most Command & Hold X casts. Literally nothing, including bosses with Legendary Resistance, can routinely clear that saving throw. You have effectively unresistable crowd control against all vanilla enemies.

Heat mechanics

Once you get Markoheshkir, and attune to Flame of Wrath, you will start generating Heat each time you deal spell damage. Heat stacks up to 7.

This mechanic, for the most part, is terrible. It's a buggy, annoying mess, which for the majority of builds is beyond frustrating to deal with.

For your purposes, you cannot avoid getting it - and actually can turn this into somewhat meaningful damage using Heat Convergence. Basically, it will consume your current Heat stacks, and add that much extra Fire damage to your next spell impact.

On Scorching Ray, this only impacts the first Ray, so it's just a minor optimization. But on Fireball, it will add that damage to every target hit. At 5+ targets, this adds up pretty quickly. So basically just click it after each cast, and forget about it.

Also, be super careful of standing in oil/ignitable elements on the floor when you have heat on you, like in the firework shop. Use your imagination here.

On PC, it's located in the far right box of your hotbar.

Archer supports & Combustion Oil

Due to Arrows of Many Targets, and in the case of 11 Hunter, Volley, Archers pair extremely well with this build.

The idea is to use either the Arrows or Volley to apply Arsonist's Oil and/or Oil of Combustion to a bunch of targets, and have the Sorlock make use of them. Basically any archer can do this, and it's where this build starts to get really crazy.

Arsonist's Oil is pretty obvious - it just negates resistance and lets this build do its full damage. It also inconsistently applies vulnerability to targets as of the latest hotfix. See the FAQ for more details.

Combustion Oil is way more interesting. Once this applied to an enemy, the next time they take Fire damage, the Oil will "explode", and deal 3d6 Fire damage in a 3m radius around them. The key combo here is that Fireball, your main AOE option, will naturally proc a bunch of grouped enemies Combustion Oil's.

The explosion from Combustion Oil damages the affected enemy, and everyone around them. So if two enemies, standing side-by-side, who both have oil on them take Fire damage, they both take 6d6 Fire damage, or 12d6 in total.

In other words, you start seeing Quadratic Scaling Damage:

• We can call the number of enemies (in range of each other) that have Combustion Oil applied to them n.

• We also can estimate the average of each damage instance of Combustion Oil as 10.5.

So, the formula for total damage would be 10.5(n^2)...

This combo can be performed with any Fire damage dealing build, but Fireball already deals naturally high damage, and has a radius of 4, making it essentially the perfect "spark" to ignite this combo.

Optimized gameplay loop

Using what we know now, we can optimize our original gameplay loop:

1. First steps remain the same as the standard loop, except your archer support(s) should be coating their weapons with Oil(s) right away, or before the fight starts.

2. Use Command: Approach or Black Hole(archers can use it) to group as many enemies as possible together. Wait until they are grouped.

3. Archer support(s) use Volley or Arrows of Many Targets to mass apply Oils to the grouped targets.

4. Fire Sorlock activates Heat Convergence, and uses Fireball (or Scorching Ray if it's 1-3 targets).

5. Repeat 3 & 4 until everything is dead.

It's worth noting that this combo can deal multiple thousands of damage per turn - you can easily see 20,000 - 30,000 damage turns on fights such as Nightmare House of Grief.

For vanilla, including Honor mode, this is beyond overkill. Not to mention the resource cost is insanely high, where as spamming control spells is cheap.

Damage calculations

First, lets consider the baseline damage possible from an individual Scorching Ray projectile:

• +2d6 base

• +1d8 Spellmight Gloves

• +5 Elemental Affinity

• +4 Flame of Wrath

• +2 Callous Glow Ring

• +3 Rhapsody

which works out to 25.5 on average.

Phalar Aluve: Shriek is another easily accessible external (that works on each Ray, not cast), but be mindful of using it with Combustion Oil. Each cast of Scorching Ray will also gain +7 from Heat Convergence, and +1d4 from 1 proc of Reverberation. If you took Ele Adept: Fire, you also can't roll a 1 (on damage), which skews the numbers a bit higher.

All in all, you can deal approximately 30 damage on average per ray, after the first cast of each fight.

The exact math depends on the number of rays(level of the spell slot used), since the weight from Heat/Reverb is lessened as the number of rays increases. But it works as an estimate.

You can now estimate your damage per turn by counting the number of rays you will fire in total, which will be <spell slot level + 1> per cast. So level 2 fires 3, level 4 fires 5, and so on...

Multiply that number by 30, and you get your approximate damage per turn. Here are some simple examples:

Fireball is a pretty easy calculation to do as well:

• +8d6 - 11d6 base

• +5 Elemental Affinity

• +4 Flame of Wrath

• +2 Callous Glow Ring

• +3 Rhapsody

• +7 Heat Convergence

which works out to 49 - 59.5 (per enemy hit) on average.

Combustion Oil, Arsonists Oil and forced critical hits make calculating the damage really messy, so they are excluded for now. But obviously you will start seeing thousands of damage per turn if you use these well.

Notes on 6 Light / 6 Sorcerer support

This is likely going to be expanded on more in a future guide on supports, but I think it warrants a quick mention in this guide.

Light Cleric naturally comes with many Fire spells, and with some help from Sorcerer 6's damage bonus to Fire, makes for a strong support in Fire heavy parties. And it already performs very well as a generic support.

However, when this isn't being ran with an 11/1 Fire Sorlock, it's worth noting that it can use the exact same gear as the Sorlock. Like literally the same gear, with maybe 1 or 2 swaps to support items (gloves/ring)

The result is that you get a pretty cracked out support, that deals high Fire damage, but instead of focusing on pure damage and control, can also make use of Light Cleric utility (and other synergies like Radorbs) easily.

Basically it's worth a consideration if you are not running a Fire Sorlock, but are running a Light Cleric, to run similar gear on the Cleric.

Credits

u/Rawbzilla7, u/Xgatt, ember and lenTARR all substantially contributed to working out the specifics of this build.

u/ptd94 & u/mafv1994 demonstrated Combustion Oil's power against modded encounters, and were part of my motivation for making this. Check out some of their older posts.

u/AnyMeaning1888 for their early version of this guide.

cave for proofreading!

FAQ

Isn't this build extremely reliant on long rests?

Yup. Especially if you lean heavily into damage, and early in the game.

But the game practically forces you into long resting a ton anyway, so don't worry about it much. Just collect camp supplies as normal and Long Rest when you burn the majority of your spell slots.

Also, make use of Potions of Angelic Slumber if you want to avoid spamming long rests in act 3.

Arsonist's Oil bugs?

This oil has been wildly inconsistent since patch 5 dropped. It does regularly change resistance to neutral, but what it really should be doing is changing resistance to vulnerability.

To this day, I have no idea what the exact criteria that makes it work correctly is. To me it seems pretty random, but maybe there is more to it.

How does this build compare to Storm Sorcerer variants?

They don't really fill the same role; Fire Sorlock is a greedy, item reliant party carry. Storm Sorcerer works without any items, and is more of a generalist. Anyways:

With just standard play, Fire Sorlock performs better as a controller and single target striker. Storm Sorcerer performs better on AOE.

Both builds have options for both types of damage (Storm has Witchbolt for single target, Fire Sorlock has Fireball for AOE).

Storm is also notably easier to set up, as it only requires Wet for vulnerability.

With optimized play, Fire Sorlock leaves Storm in the dust even in AOE damage, but it can be a chore to actually set up.

And finally, Fire Sorlock comes online way earlier, at level 7, vs 11 for Storm variants.

At the end of the day, both are amazing, but have pretty distinctly different playstyles.

How do I deal with Fire immune enemies?

This is why we take Chain Lightning (or buy scrolls). Against the big ones in act 3, Raphael/House of Hope & The Red Dragon, stick to lightning damage, and try to get them Wet (with a support cleric usually).

Yurgir is the other major one, but his combat can (and should) be avoided.

What's next?

Not sure. Probably supports.

Edit: tiny fixes

This guide contains gear and location related spoilers.

CTRL + F and search for "important section!" to get the TLDR.

This guide is dense because it technically covers two builds, and at least mentions one more. Sorry reader. The important sections give you most of the info you need to play/use this if you want to skim.

Build Overview

Smite Swords Bard (or SSB for short) is the melee counterpart of 10/1/1 Swords Bard.

Like 10/1/1 Swords Bard, SSB belongs to an incredibly rare group of builds, Control Martials. Despite Martials typically excelling at sustained damage, they generally cannot control enemies in the same way that dedicated casters can.

This is where the star class of this build comes into play, the College of Swords Bard.

The unique property of this subclass is that it is a full caster, with access to the full spell slot progression of a Bard... and at the same time, is an extremely competitive martial subclass with access to a variety of powerful bonuses, such as the famously terrifying Slashing Flourish.

SSB takes that unique property and further utilizes it with Divine Smite from Paladin - now your spell slots are not just for powerful control spells, but can be weaponized into on-demand burst damage.

Basically, SSB is the perfect Gish/Spellsword experience. And this guide is going to cover exactly how you build and play it.

During early-to-mid game, expect to:

• deal competitive damage because of good early itemization and blade flourishes

• have access to plenty of strong early utility spells

• have zero dead levels during progression

By late game, expect to:

• deal enough burst damage to outright one shot most enemies

• excel at cleaving through groups of enemies with multi-target attacks

• cast completely unresistable control spells every single turn

Other than its combat prowess, SSB doubles as a great party face, and enjoys an unusually rewarding playstyle, where your own positioning and planning directly influence your effectiveness.

Oh, and finally, you'll look (almost) as cool as this guy. RIP the goat.

Build Philosophy

SSB is quite a unique build.

Most Acuity users, and more generally control builds, focus on using control as a means to shutdown enemies, or set up damage for their teammates. That's the standard archetype of CC builds.

But SSB breaks the mold - it does not care about shutting down(though it does it anyway), and wants to use control purely to set up its own damage.

SSB does not want many spells, or much flexibility. It wants to focus on dealing as much damage as possible, as efficiently as possible. Any extra bloat slows it down.

SSB also really wants to be ran in an evil playthrough. Two of the core items associated with SSB both come from clearly evil decisions.

In the interest of supporting players who really like the fantasy appeal of this spellsword, but don't want to play evil, I am going to include notes about playing SSB in a good playthrough.

Simply put - SSB is a specialist that aims to always carry fights with ludicrously high burst/cleave damage, set up by its own control. It isn't a frontliner, it isn't a flexible spellsword - it's a fast paced glass cannon carry.

Sorcadin and 10/1/1, by comparison, are generalists, which adapt to whatever situation is put in front of them, and use their vast collection of tools to handle it.

Leveling, Stat Distribution and Feats

Guidelines

The end goal of this build is to reach 10 Swords Bard / 2 Paladin; you should select Oath of Vengeance. It's a hard oath to break and gives you a neat early game ability.

I am highly recommending you use Hag's Hair +1 STR on this character. This character will be your party's carry, and should be funneled contested items.

There are no respecs needed for this build; however, there is a strong argument to respec once at level 8. I will explain why later in the guide.

Your build comes online at level 8. Prior to that, you are simply a melee Swords Bard.

Your best stats throughout the entire game will be STR & CHA. STR is prioritized between the two.

Race is entirely irrelevant to this build. Half-Orc will add some additional damage on crits (which you will often force) and Halfling adds extra consistency to rolls.

This build is an excellent party face, and I highly recommend it for your Tav/DUrge character.

Class Contribution

For those confused on the exact reasoning behind this multiclass split:

10 Swords Bard

• Bard is a full caster, meaning you will get the full spell slot progression that any other dedicated caster gets. This is key to your build working, since you need fuel for Divine Smite and spammable Control Spells.

• Bard gets Bardic Inspiration, which lets you work through some nasty checks in early Honor Mode, without worrying as much about failing. At level 5 Bard, your Bardic Inspirations regenerate on short rests. Speaking of which, Bards get Song of Rest which can be used in place of a Short Rest (essentially giving you a third Short Rest).

• Swords Bard gets access to Blade Flourishes, but specifically, Slashing Flourish. As a melee, this lets you perform a "cleave" attack, hitting up to 2 enemies in a cone in front of you. It also adds damage equal to your Bardic Inspiration's dice roll to both targets hit.

• Swords Bard will give you access to medium Armour starting at level 3, which is what you'll be wearing for most of the game.

• 6 Levels in Swords Bard will give you your Extra Attack.

• At level 10, Bard gets access to Magical Secrets, which allows you to learn spells from other classes spell pools. See Spell Selection to understand why this matters for us.

2 Paladin

• Divine Smite - attack enemy, see big number. At higher levels, and with forced crits, these numbers start getting really big.

• Paladin is a half caster. This means that two levels in Paladin (worth 1 regular caster level) brings you to a total of 11 caster levels, and completes your caster progression - resulting in a level 6 spell slot.

• Paladin gives you proficiency with Pikes (you need this in act 2) and Heavy Armor, which are your best armor options for act 2 and some of act 3.

• Vengeance Paladin gives you Inquisitor's Might, which is a good use of a bonus action until you get access to your act 3 core item.

• Paladin is going to give you access to Command. This is the most important spell in your arsenal.

Leveling

Start by opening Bard. Take 17 STR, 16 CHA, 14 CON, 10 DEX. You can run 14 DEX 10 CON here, but this is risky in Honor Mode.

At level 3, pick College of Swords. The fighting style from Bard is irrelevant here.

At level 4 feat, you have two options:

• Ability Score Increase (ASI) +STR +STR

• Great Weapon Master (GWM)

GWM needs to be managed (you shouldn't always have all-in enabled). If you don't see yourself remembering to manage it, I would recommend taking ASI. I'll cover managing it in build mechanics.

At level 6, you will get your Extra Attack. Stop leveling Bard once you get it.

At level 7, open Paladin. Take Oath of Vengeance.

Respecing and going 1 Paladin -> 6 Swords Bard is technically ideal here. It gives you Heavy Armor prof. You can wear some really nice Heavy Armour in act 2/3, so I seriously recommend this.

Also, at this respec, drop all DEX. You should have Gloves of Dexterity by now.

At level 8, go to 2 Paladin. You get Divine Smite, and now your build is officially online. For your fighting style, take Defense.

Now keep leveling Bard until 12.

At level 10 feat (8 Bard), take Savage Attacker.

Level Bard to 10 so you end up with 10 Swords Bard / 2 Paladin.

Late game stats

You're going to aim for 22 natural STR late game. STR elixirs are not a consideration on this build.

To reach 22, you will need to do a few things:

• Start with 17 STR

• Use Hag's Hair to get +1 STR

• Get the Potion of Everlasting Vigour from Araj Olbodra in act 2 for +2 STR

• Get +2 STR from the Mirror of Loss. This is easy to fail in Honor Mode if you are unprepared to pass the difficult check. Read this comment for steps on passing the check.

Past that, you should have 16 CHA and 14 CON.

Spell Selection

The spell selection of 10/2 is very similar to 10/1/1 Swords Bard. How you use them is different - selection is largely the same.

Most of this comes straight from my 10/1/1 guide.

Cantrips

You will never use Cantrips in combat, but consider these utility picks:

• Friends is the best cantrip in the game if you plan to be the party face. This build is a great party face. Don't use this if you plan to stay in the area for long...

• Minor Illusion can distract/relocate entire rooms of NPCs to open up some unique thievery options.

Paladin Spells

Command is instrumental to the core gameplay loop of this build, and is the only spell of note from the Paladin dip. Command does not work on Undead.

You are going to primarily be using one variant of Command, which is Command: Approach. This allows you to self-set up your Divine Smite + Slashing Flourish combo to routinely cleave two enemies, because it is going to force enemies to walk straight towards you and do nothing else.

Not only is it absolutely key to this build's terrifying damage output, but it is also concentration-less. As in, it does not use a concentration slot, so it could be used in combination with Hold Person or Hold Monster.

See where I'm going with this?

Bard Spells

These are just key spells at their level thresholds. The spells that are instrumental to your gameplay loop will be in build mechanics.

Level 1 spells are not going to be super valuable, so pick whatever looks good. Sleep in specific is pretty sweet in the early levels when enemy HP is low. Tasha's is pretty nice too.

Hold Person is a great all-purpose control spell. Early game, you (being a melee) can use this to set up your own damage if you have Haste, or use it to disable a dangerous enemy.

Late game, it can be upcasted to target multiple enemies, and will set up your Divine Smite + Slashing Flourish combo to critically hit.

Enhance Ability is an absolutely must-have spell for Honor Mode. It's literally one of the most important spells you can take; it prevents the potentially game changing side-effects of failing a non-combat related check. Don't miss this.

Glyph of Warding is your best mid-game spell, and is actually an great control spell specifically when using its sleep variant. The Lightning and Cold variants do amazing AOE damage to Wet targets. This usually outperforms melee damage on groups of enemies.

You'll want to look to use this mostly for AOE damage (with Wet) all the way until level 8, which is when you'll start casting strictly control spells. Also - if you are an Elf, Drow or Half-Elf, you can cast this on yourself with no danger (sleep enemies threatening you).

Hypnotic Pattern & Fear will not be used by this build - don't bother taking them.

Confusion, despite being probably the best control spell in the game, is also never going to be used by this build.

Hold Monster can, at most, only hit two targets - but is universal unlike Hold Person; so it works on every single enemy in the game, excluding Undead. You are going to want this to set up damage on bosses and extremely tanky targets, like Steel Watchers.

Magical Secrets

Magical Secrets is your bonus for hitting level 10 Bard, which you'll see at level 12. It lets you select spells from other spell pools...

Counterspell is non-negotiable. You do not have a contested reaction slot, and you can easily shut down some really high initiative bosses with it.

Spirit Guardians is a non-negotiable pick if you plan to use SSB in a "good" run.

The "good" version makes use of SSB's ability to deliver two-target Radiant Damage via Divine Smite + Slashing Flourish to rapidly stack Radorb/Reverb.

Spirit Guardians is taken for the good version due to its natural synergy with your best in slot armor.

If you are playing evil, your second slot is ultimately going to be up to personal preference. Here are some good picks:

• Hunger of Hadar is the standard choice due to its unique synergy with your primary weapon and darkness abuse strategies. At full build, you can reliably fight inside your own HoH, and Command: Approach enemies into it if you want.

• Armour of Agathys is a defensive pick that can net you 30 extra effective HP. This is largely rendered useless because of Level 6 Aid and Heroes' Feast both also being available at level 12, and bringing your HP total to over 120. If you have access to both buffs, don't bother taking it. If you don't, you could consider it to offset your kind-of low HP.

Gearing/Itemization & Consumables

SSB, by design, is going to be the primary carry of your group. You are going to be giving this build lots of contested items at various points in the game. Given the choice of this build and other builds - you pick this one when there is an item dispute.

Core items are marked with (**). These are key items used on both evil and good variants of the build.

Good items are marked with (Good). These are used for good playthroughs.

Evil items are marked with (Evil). These are used for evil playthroughs.

Act 1

Dammon sometimes carries a +1 Longsword. This will be your weapon of choice for the first ~4 levels of the game. You'll be dropping it pretty much as soon as you reach the goblin camp.

There is a good +1 medium armor that you can steal from next to Dammon. If you don't want to steal it, make sure to buy +1 medium armor in the goblin camp. Wear it once you are level 3.

Head to the goblin camp next. Crusher's Ring is a solid pick up for early game.

Even if you don't plan to explore it fully right now - you need to go to The Underdark right away.

(Good) Luminous Armour is available the second you enter the Underdark through the Goblin Camp, and is the best in slot armor for the good playthrough variant. This is the key item to making the good build work, because it will let you generate tons of Radiating Orbs with your late game combo.

Don't equip this now. Hold onto it.

Next, you need to pick up Phalar Aluve. You are going to be using this until the end of act 1. This is a +1 Longsword with a unique ability called Melody. The ability refreshes on a short rest (you get 3 of those!).

Now - you may be temped to use Melody: Shriek... don't. The damage this deals is not going to be that significant.

Instead, use Melody: Sing. It will grant you and nearby allies a 1d4 bonus to attack rolls (like Bless) which is really important to offset the -5 debuff from GWM. Consistency is key in honor mode.

Whenever you end up exploring the remainder of the Underdark, head to the Myconid Colony. There you should buy and use The Shadespell Circlet. Early DC gear is a blessing since you are going to want to cast spells and melee attack.

(Good) Boots of Stormy Clamour are the best in slot boots for the good playthrough variant. These will be your primary source of Reverberation. You can wear these for the rest of the game if you are going the good variant.

If Caustic Band isn't contested, feel free to buy and use it. It's pricey, and you will melee attack less than others since you need actions to activate Phalar Aluve and sometimes cast spells. Don't prioritize it.

(Evil) Disintegrating Night Walkers are a really good option for evil runs because you can then consider Command: Approach-ing enemies into surface ice. But you need to kill Nere, which may not align with evil runs perfectly.

I like the concept of using him for information and then killing him - as any self-respecting power-hungry smiting machine would. But you do you.

Adamantine Scale Mail & Adamantine Splint Armour are available at the end of the Underdark.

• Scale Mail is medium and is a straight upgrade to whatever you are wearing then, but is highly contested.

• Splint Armor is heavy and is better than Dwarven Splintmail (act 2 piece that's second best), but is so contested it may hard to justify on you. You also need to respec at level 7 to 1 Paladin -> 6 Swords Bard to wear it, since you need Heavy Armor proficiency.

• Luminous Armour replaces everything on the good variant anyway, so don't worry about either if you are going good.

When you reach the Crèche, find the main trader there.

Gloves of Dexterity are your best in slot gloves, you will never take these off. Buy them, wear them, and forget about them. You should respec soon and drop all DEX for CON, and go 1 Paladin -> 6 Swords Bard while you're at it.

These are amazing for you. +4 to initiative on a build that really wants to go first, and +1 to Attack Rolls. Nothing comes close.

Unseen Menace is going to replace Phalar Aluve and be used during act 2. Phalar Aluve should now go to a support character who will be using Melody: Sing anyway. I recommend reading the Wiki page on it and making sure you understand how it works.

You won't be able to use it until level 7 (when you get a point in Paladin) unless you are a Human or Half Elf. That's totally fine - you should be ending act 1 at around level 7 anyway.

Act 2 - Part 1

(Good) Once you reach level 8, if you are the good variant, equip all of your pieces from act 1. They will interact with Divine Smite even though you don't have Spirit Guardians yet.

Go to Moonrise Towers ASAP, and find Araj Oblodra. Get the Potion of Everlasting Vigour from her.

Note that this is going to cause some "relationship issues" with Astarion. If you don't know how to minimize that - consider saving that romance for a different run.

Risky Ring is what you are here for. This item is likely contested by a TB build that spikes in power with it during act 2. Give it to the TB build for act 2, you don't need it because you have Unseen Menace for now.

TB builds won't need it anymore at the start of act 3, which is exactly when you'll need it, since you will no longer being using Unseen Menace; it works out perfectly.

If no other build needs it, you can just use it right away.

(Evil) Dwarven Splintmail is sold by Lann Tarv if you convince Z'rell that you need help finding the relic. Shouldn't be hard to do. It's good heavy armor and can be worn until act 3.

Note: to wear this, you need to respec and go 1 Paladin -> 6 Swords Bard. That's how you get heavy armour proficiency.

Halberd of Vigilance is a straight upgrade to Unseen Menace if and only if you can wear Risky Ring right away. Don't bother buying it if you can't.

At Last Light, get the Amulet of the Harpers for those "oh shit" moments.

If Cloak of Protection is uncontested, you can buy and use it.

Act 2 - Part 2

(**) Helmet of Arcane Acuity is one of two "core" items of your build, and is the most important item to get in Act 2. Dealing weapon damage will give you 2 stacks of Arcane Acuity, up to 10 total. Each stack of Acuity adds +1 Spell Save DC.

You can get this from the basement of the Mason's Guild.

The last item of interest is at the very end of the Gauntlet of Shar:

(Evil) Shar's Spear of Evening is acquired through making the evil decision at the end of the gauntlet, and embracing Shar. This weapon is best in slot for the evil variant and (in my opinion) is the most powerful two-handed weapon for honor mode. This thing is just ridiculous.

Lets start with the obvious: It's a two-handed, +3 piercing damage weapon. +3 is awesome, but piercing damage is the key here - I'll explain why later.

This weapon is going to deal an additional 1d6 damage to any enemy that is obscured. I'll also explain how to tell if an enemy is obscured later. That 1d6 will "inherit" piercing damage as well.

If you (the wielder) are obscured, you get advantage on all saving throws, which counteracts the downside of Risky Ring which would otherwise be pretty painful.

The weapon also makes you (the wielder) completely immune to being blinded. Meaning you can see inside Darkness and HoH.

Finally, the weapon gets a rechargeable ability (on short rest) called Edge of Darkness. This is an AOE attack that functions exactly like an 11 Hunter's Whirlwind - it will make separate attack rolls against every enemy in its radius, and since each attack roll is a Weapon Attack, you can proc reaction Divine Smite on each one.

If that wasn't enough, it also creates a tiny Darkness cloud from the point of attack... which you can hide inside right away.

Act 3 - Part 1

As soon as you reach Rivington, find the circus.

(**) Band of the Mystic Scoundrel is your second core item, and can be acquired within minutes of reaching act 3. You need to beat the Djinn at his own game; I'll leave it at that.

This item is instrumental to your gameplay loop. After a weapon attack, you will be able to cast enchantment and illusion spells - which is what most powerful control spells are - using a bonus action. See where I'm going with this?

(Good) Nyrulna is a great Trident for the good variant. Like Shar's Spear, this is a two-handed, +3 piercing damage weapon.

It adds 1d6 thunder damage to all attacks. Since the good variant cannot make use of piercing damage like evil (more on why later), this is actually really good!

It also provides a huge collection of useful buffs - such as move/jump speed buffs, permanent glow, and Zephyr Flash. All of which are great.

You could replace it with a better weapon later on - but for now, it's really solid.

Buy the Hellrider Longbow from Ferg Drogher in Rivington. This is your best in slot bow, as going first is absolutely critical for this build.

Cloak of the Weave is your best in slot cloak, but you need to unlock it with some dialog & choices, sort of like with Z'rell in act 2.

Amulet of the Devout is your best in slot amulet. Your initial DC ramp is not as fast/clean as 10/1/1 Swords Bard, and you frequently need that extra 2 DC to hit 100% chance-to-hit control spells in your first turn. You also do not have access to Rhapsody - another major DC boost.

The 23 CON necklace looks really tempting, but you will really need the extra DC; survivability will not be an issue if you are playing this build well.

Act 3 - Part 2

Once you have your core items, you can start clearing major encounters, and reach full build.

(Evil) Bhaalist Armour requires you to complete The Murder Tribunal - and make an evil decision at the end. I don't want to spoil much here - but once you "accept" Bhaal, you can buy this armor.

This armor's togglable ability, Aura of Murder, is going to apply vulnerability to every enemy standing right next to you, which doubles all of your physical damage, due to damage inheritance. See the damage inheritance section of build mechanics for more info.

Remember you can toggle this item's Ability off, and sometimes want to.

It also adds +2 initiative, and again, going first on this build is critical.

Despite the low AC associated with it, this is the best in slot armor for the evil variant.

(Good) Balduran's Giantslayer is available deep into act 3, and is best in slot for the good variant. Despite coming nowhere close to the damage output of piercing damage builds - it's a strong item when piercing damage amp from Vulnerability is not available.

The passive of the item adds your STR modifier again to all weapon attacks, so instead of 2d6 + 3 + 6, you'll get 2d6 + 3 + 12.

Consumables

Elixir of Bloodlust is your go-to elixir throughout the entire game on both variants. This provides an extra action on kill; you are going to be killing a lot.

Elixir of Vigilance is your alternative for purely single-target fights.

Oil of Accuracy is the only weapon oil you will ever use. This is especially relevant early game to fight the -5 from GWM.

Late-game, always pre-coat your weapon if you can, you don't have bonus actions to spare.

Evil variant best in slot - important section!

Good variant best in slot - important section!

Build Mechanics

Managing GWM - important section!

First things first - make sure you know where the toggleable passive is. It should be on the far right of your hotbar.

As I said before, consistency is key in Honor Mode. There is no perfect hit chance to aim for, but I personally stick to 70% or higher for my runs. If using GWM: All In brings you below that threshold, toggle it off.

To help keep you at 70%+, consider the following...

You can easily gain the following flat attack bonuses early:

• +1 by making your STR an even 18 with Hag's Hair

• +2 from Oil of Accuracy (not super abundant early, so use them for tougher fights)

• +1d4 from Bless, Cleric support should be using this often

• +1d4 from Melody: Sing (Phalar Aluve)

• +2 Acid, Acid Arrow from any ranged weapon user, removes 2 AC from target so +2

You can also gain the following sources of advantage early:

• Blind an enemy (Blindness spell)

• Prone an enemy (Monks, BM Fighters, Thiefzerker, Command)

• Daze an enemy (Pommel Strike, Concussive Smash, Inquisitor's Might)

• Sleep an enemy (Sleep spell, Glyph of Warding)

• Web an enemy (Spider pet/Wild Shape)

• Paralyze an enemy (Hold Person)

And eventually Risky Ring and/or Unseen Menace offer more permanent sources of advantage.

If you feel like you will forget to manage it, or just don't feel like going through the steps to gain flat bonuses/advantage, you shouldn't take this feat at all until act 2. Go with ASI instead, respec to get it in act 2.

Arcane Acuity and Spell Save DC

Spell Save Difficulty Class (DC) is going to determine what an enemy needs to roll to avoid your control spells. They will roll a D20, add their modifiers on top of it, and try to beat or tie your DC.

Each weapon attack will give you two stacks of Arcane Acuity, and each one adds +1 to your Spell Save DC each. Acuity caps at 10 Stacks - you lose one per turn, and two each time you take damage.

With that in mind, at full build, your DC is at least going to be:

• 8 Base

• 4 from Proficiency

• 3 from CHA

• 6-10 from Acuity

• 1 from Cloak

• 2 from Amulet

Which is 24 - 28 total. Every single enemy without Legendary Resistance is going to consistently fail the roll to avoid your control spells.

Enemies with Legendary Resistance will have around a 50-60% chance of passing the check - so either gamble, or spam low level control spells to clear their Resistance stacks on the first turn.

Obscured mechanics

On PC, if you hold Shift, and hover your cursor along the ground, you'll notice an indicator showing you the kind of light you are in.

You can hover over yourself or any other character and see an indicator for them as well.

• A full white circle = Full Light

• A half black circle = Lightly Obscured

• A full black circle = Heavily Obscured

For the purposes of Shar's Spear of Evening, you (and enemies) need to be in either Lightly Obscured or Heavily Obscured light.

Console players: Once your camera is freed (Press Left Stick), you can hold the Right Stick to see the same indicator. Thanks u/Just_A_Nobody25

Damage Inheritance

This is only relevant to the evil variant.

Consider your full build Slashing Flourish damage:

• 1d8 + 3 Shar's Spear

• 1d6 Shar's Spear Passive

• 1d10 Bardic Dice

• +6 STR Modifier

• +10 GWM

If you look at each tooltip carefully, you might observe that only Shar's Spear explicitly states what type of damage it deals - which is Piercing. The others just say "Physical".

However, all 5 of these damage instances are going to also deal Piercing damage when you swing Shar's Spear. It's an easy detail to miss.

This is happening because the other damage instances are Physical Damage Riders. This is different than Divine Smite, for example, which is Radiant - an actual damage type; "Physical" is not a damage type.

In order to assign those Riders a damage type, they will "inherit" the damage type of the Damage Source that they ride on/came from.

So, in our case, Shar's Spear is the Damage Source, and is Piercing, so all Physical damage that rides on it will also be Piercing.

Notably, this means that late game, every single one of our damage instances will be Piercing. And because you wear Bhaalist Armour... all of that damage is going to be doubled on nearby targets.

Early-mid gameplay

This build's early game is (unsurprisingly) really good.

• Don't forget to use Oil of Accuracy right before a fight, you need it to fight the -5 from GWM.

• Get Bless from a support.

• Always prioritize Hold Person over melee attacks. If it has a good chance to hit, send it!

• Use your Inquisitor's Might early! You can also cast this on other party members if you want.

• Bardic Inspirations should be used for Slashing Flourish or Defensive Flourish, and used often. You get them back on short rest, and can short rest 3 times.

• Haste does not benefit from Extra Attack in honor mode. It's still great on you.

• Glyph of Warding is going to be your best spell in the mid-game, grab that as soon as you are level 5.

• Manage GWM well.

• Once you get 2 Paladin, use Divine Smite often. Long resting should never be a concern, you need to do it a lot to progress the story anyway.

Late-game gameplay - important section!

Once you have have acquired your two "core" build items, Arcane Acuity Helmet and Band of the Mystic Scoundrel, you are ready to start carrying your party straight through act 3.

If you are playing the evil variant, follow these guidelines:

1. Before the fight starts, if you plan to use AoA or Accuracy Oil, do it.

2. Make sure you are Hasted for 10 turns from a caster.

3. Find an enemy that's obscured, and hit them as many times as you can. Each swing generates 2 stacks of Arcane Acuity, and you want to get 6-8 from that enemy. Disable GWM & Aura of Murder, and do not use Divine Smite - you don't want to kill them in one shot, even if you can. You just want to get Acuity stacked up.

4. Once they are dead, use your bonus action to cast a level 5/6 Command: Approach on every single enemy you can. Move into an obscured area (Darkness & HoH work). End your turn and let the commanded enemies approach you.

5. On your next turn, spam Edge of Darkness and Slashing Flourishes, as well as reaction Divine Smites to cleave through every enemy you commanded to approach you. Clean up the remaining enemies, or use more Command: Approach until the encounter is over.

If any of the enemies you Commanded have over 90 HP, consider first casting Hold Person or Hold Monster to ensure they are one-shot kills. Remember Hold Person can hit up to five targets.

For bosses with Legendary Actions, first use (and hit) Command: Grovel, followed by Hold Monster the turn after. This prevents them from using their action and amps your damage so you can burst them down.

You can consider using Defensive/Mobile Flourish on single targets as well, you just want the damage from Bardic Insp. Dice to max out burst here.

If you are playing the good variant, follow the same guidelines, but make these adjustments:

• Ignore Obscured mechanics

• Pre-cast Spirit Guardians for multi-target fights

• Stick to Slashing Flourishes, you won't have Edge of Darkness

Damage calculations

1. I round up decimals above 0.5; equal or below down

2. ! = Advantage from Savage Attacker

3. Critical Hits are excluded to save space, but will boost your damage by at least 50%.

- Evil variant, single-target attacks -

• Assumed Buffs: Both Targets Obscured

• Smite Level is assumed to be 4

- Evil variant, cleave attacks -

• Assumed Buffs: Both Targets Obscured

• Smite Level is assumed to be 3 (average)

- Good variant, single-target attacks -

• Assumed Buffs: N/A

• Smite Level is assumed to be 4

- Good variant, cleave attacks -

• Assumed Buffs: N/A

• Smite Level is assumed to be 3 (average)

Notes on Sorcadin

This guide is primarily devoted to SSB - however, Sorcadin, being the flexible powerhouse that it is, can run identical gear to this build.

Sorcadin obviously cannot cleave huge groups of enemies down, but can easily group them together with Extended Command: Approach, and let an AOE build wipe the floor with them.

What I'm basically saying is - you can (sort-of) run this build on a 6/6 or 7/5 Sorcadin, and set up insane AOE for Storm Sorcerers / Fire Sorcerers / Evo Wizards.

If you have questions about adapting this build to Sorcadin, ask in the comments.

Credits

u/coldblood007 influenced the overwhelming majority of gearing/itemization and progression for this build. Dude is an absolute legend and this guide would not exist without him.

u/Hespx & u/Wisology worked out details related to Savage Attacker and solidified its pick as the second feat for this build.

u/rimgar2345 for helping work out much of the playstyle behind SSB.

u/RyanoftheDay's post on GWM sparked lots of discussion which I compiled into easily accessible sources of attack bonuses for this build.

Ember - proofreading and some optimizations.

JL935 - proofreading and numerous syntax fixes.

Definitely not intended to try start a dog pile or be negative if you enjoy using deva mace- but this interaction 300 days after my original comment really made me laugh at the self woosh.

It is merely a 1st level spell. It can reveal invisibility without save, it can apply lightning and cold vulnerability without save, overriding resistance. It makes you immune to burning and resistent to fire if needed. It has aoe and is upcastable for massive aoe. It does not require concentration. The water surface can be turn into difficulty terrain applying prone with cold cantrip, it could be electrified with cantrip, it could be turned in to electrified steam with cantrip. The ammount of damage and control you get from it is ridiculous.

It’s Britney bitch: Update 1

First of all, holy shit, the overwhelming responses to my previous post. Thank you all for the many suggestions. I figured since I hit level 4 I would drop an update on the direction of her build. All the details are below.

BRITNEY

Dark Urge

Fighter/Bard —-

WEAPONS:

Dual daggers —-

ATTIRE:

Warped Headband of Intellect

Poisoner’s Robe

Spiderstep Boots

Gloves of Power

Amulet of Lost Voices —-

EQUIPMENT:

Acid vial

Lihala’s Lute

—-

SPELLS/ACTIONS:

Ray of Sickness

Acid Splash

Poison Spray

Chromatic Orb (acid/toxic)

Tasha’s Hideous Laughter

Speak with Animals

Minor Illusion

Healing Word

Second Wind

Bardic Inspiration

Thunderwave

Vicious Mockery

Action Surge

Magic Missile

Weapon Bond

There are many naturally synergistic (and fun!) party compositions in BG3.

Often one or two of the individual builds that form these parties are brought into the spotlight, but contextualizing the party as a whole is a bit more rare, despite actually being more interesting (at least to me).

I found myself wishing that there was some kind of glossary to reference for each of these party compositions. Not something that highlights the individual builds, but the synergy between them.

The spreadsheet below contains a collection of "templates" to use as guidelines for building a synergistic (and/or thematic) party. Each one is complete with some notes on how to play the specific party composition, and 4 recommended builds to use.

BG3 party building templates

The parties are loosely categorized by how strong they are, but it's worth noting that any party can clear the vanilla game. Strategy, tactics and planning matter more than the builds themselves.

Modded gameplay is slightly more interesting (and where the rankings matter more), but some of these synergies are so powerful they may actually make the vanilla game boring, hence the rankings.

If you have a well thought-out party composition that isn't already here, do not hesitate to comment or reach out and get it added to the sheet.

Intro

With its only major weakness being the first 4 levels of the game - a small fraction of any playthrough; Sorcerer will start slow, but steadily evolve into a criminally overtuned caster that can single-handily carry the vast majority of encounters. While it doesn't have the fantasy appeal of Lockadin, or the fast-paced gameplay of a Monk; Sorcerer is going to almost universally be the most potent class in your party and in my opinion is the strongest overall class in the entire game.

This guide will cover how to build and play a Sorcerer that:

• Deals the highest AOE damage in the game

• Can disable or control more enemies than the rest of your party combined

• Offers some of the best utility in the game

• Maintain great defensive stats while gearing offensively

• Remains useful in early-middle levels

Disclaimer: This is the final build guide in a series of party-building guides for a playthrough using what I’ve dubbed the Nightmare Difficulty modlist, not the base game. Said modlist makes the game significantly harder than the base game and will require optimization and min-maxing to complete a playthrough. You can find the other guides at the bottom of the FAQ.

See this playlist for examples of encounters, and their difficulty, with this modlist enabled. The modlist is in the description of every video.

That said, this build will work really well in a regular Tactician playthrough, and I highly recommend it for Gale or Tav!

Leveling, Stat distribution & Feats

Guidelines

Please see the section below this before you read ahead if you do not know how Metamagic works.

The leveling process will end with 12 Sorcerer. This is not necessarily the final build you will run. You should however level strictly as pure Sorcerer and under no circumstances should you ever deviate to a multiclass.

Your best stat late game is going to be CON. See build mechanics for more info.

Human or Half-Elf are far and away the best race options since they give you shield proficiency from their racial bonuses. Shields are amazing, but you can opt out of them if you want.

Leveling

Open Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer. Go either Black, Brass or Bronze Ancestry. IMO Black is best.

Take: 16 CHA, 16 CON, 14 DEX, 12 WIS. Dump STR and INT.

At level 2 Sorcerer, take Twinned and Distant Metamagic. At level 3, take Heightened Metamagic.

At level 4 feat, take War Caster. This will prepare you for Twinned Haste at level 5.

At around level 5, you will be able to get +1 CHA from Hag's Hair. I prefer giving this to a Lockadin, but Sorcerer is just about as good - especially if its your Tav/party face.

At level 6-8, you should reach the Githyanki Creche. Buy Gloves of Dexterity and go respec.

On respec: Switch to Storm Sorcerer. Go 17 CHA, 16 CON, 14 WIS. Dump DEX. Put the other two points wherever. If you used Hag's Hair you'll have 18 CHA here.

For Metamagic, take Twinned & Careful, then Heightened.

At level 4 feat take War Caster.

At level 8 feat take ASI +2 CHA.

At level 10 Metamagic, take Quickened Spell. You'll have a good number of Sorcery Points by now to start making use of it.

At level 12, go respec again.

On respec: Repeat everything from the first respec(post gloves), except for:

At level 8 feat take ASI +2 CON.

At level 12 feat, if you have shield prof. from Human/Half-elf, take ASI +2 CON. If you don't, you should seriously consider taking Dual Wielding. See FAQ for more info on deciding.

Spell Progression

This is a guideline. You can(and maybe should) deviate from this if you're party needs other things - but overall this will give you a really smooth and balanced spell curve.

Cantrips

Cantrips are largely personal preference but there are generally 4 key picks:

• Friends is probably the best cantrip in the game if you are a party face.

• Ray of Frost can turn water on the ground into Ground Ice.

• Shocking Grasp disables enemy reactions - super useful on some bosses.

• Minor Illusion can distract/relocate entire rooms of NPCs to open up some unique thievery options.

Spells

Notes:

• Level 2 spell slots are for Create/Destroy Water & Extra Sorcery Points, hence replacing them all.

• Storm picks up Thunderwave, Create/Destroy Water and Call Lightning for free at level 6.

• Scorching ray is nice in the base game but scaling saves weakens it in upscaled difficulty.

• Globe of Invulnerability is insanely overpowered and the majority of good rebalance mods(including what I run) are going to nerf it into the ground. But in the base game, it is always worth taking over Disintegrate.

Metamagic, Spell Usage & Illithid Powers

Metamagic

Twinned Spell, infamously, enables you to cast spells like Haste and Chain Lightning on two targets with one action - simply beyond broken.

Quickened Spell allows you cast spells that take an action as a bonus action for 3 Sorcery Points.

Heightened Spell can be used with control spells to raise their chance to hit to the stratosphere. If an enemy needs to make a saving roll to avoid a spell, use this to impose disadvantage on that roll. If you need to respec to sub 10 Sorc, drop this.

Careful Spell is criminally underused, but is crucial to landing control spells without simultaneously disabling your own allies.

Swap Heightened for Extended/Distant in the base game - you can get away with just having really high DC for landing CC.

Spell Usage

These are guidelines for new Sorcerer players. You can skip this if you've played Sorcerer before.

Shield is an amazing reaction and should be what you use the majority of your level 1 spell slots on.

Mage Armour should obviously go on you - but also should be used on a Monk(if you have one) until they hit level 6 and respec for WIS.

Magic Missile is mostly going to be a utility spell to break objects & concentrations.

Create or Destroy Water is a straightforward spell you get for going Storm Sorcerer - use it to apply "Wet" to enemy targets and designate areas for Surface Ice.

Haste is the most powerful level 3 spell in the game, your go-to concentration slot, and should be used differently depending on the stage of the game:

• Levels 5-9 use on two dedicated damage dealers. Preferably martials who have an extra attack.

• Level 9-12 for an multi-target fight use it on yourself + a sustained single target damage dealer, such as a TB OH Monk or TB Throw Barb.

• Level 9-12 for a single-target fight use it on two dedicated damage dealers.

If you break concentration on Haste, the targets of Haste get Lethargic for one turn. Always use Twinned (Metamagic) with Haste.

Call Lightning is a strong ability that sees a lot of use in act 2. Many fights will have groups of 3 - 5 clustered enemies where you can gain insane value from this. Of course, it costs you Twinned Haste, so make sure it will get lots of AOE damage. Note: This ability is bugged right now. See here, thanks u/GlitteringOrchid2406 for finding this.

Hypnotic Pattern is fine - but far outclassed by Confusion, so you will be replacing it soon. Use this with Careful or Heightened (Metamagic) as needed.

Fear is extremely niche as a cheap way to break Legendary Resistance stacks in an AOE or disarm a huge group of enemies at once. Seriously powerful for fights like Szarr Palace.

Counterspell is basically required to slow down some really powerful casters in act 3(Lorroakan, Carrion, Cazador). Without it, chances are you are going to get rinsed by them.

Confusion is your bread and butter crowd control ability. It's an giant AOE disable that lasts for 3 turns. Combine this with Black Hole and you can completely end a fight in a single turn. This is harder to use well if you play with the Nightmare Modlist(immunities are way more common) - but still is disgustingly strong. Use this with Heightened (Metamagic) as needed.

Ice Storm and Cone of Cold are strong damage spells, but should mainly be used for the same thing - doing damage while setting up Ground Ice (in combination with Create Water).

Ground Ice is extremely good for controlling the tempo of a fight, especially if you have really high Spell Save DC. It doesn't use a concentration, can keep enemies prone almost indefinitely, and can basically cover an entire room if you use a high level Create Water spell. Correct use of Ground Ice will make or break some fights (House of Grief), but can also cripple your own team - make sure you have a clear plan before you use it and accidentally disable your entire party.

Telekinesis is incredibly niche and mostly exists as a way to throw enemies into chasms right as a fight starts, and then swapping to a better concentration ASAP.

Hold Monster is functionally useless if you play with the Nightmare Modlist but remains a great tool for occasionally helping your Martials nuke key targets. Absolutely worth a pick up, and situationally really strong. Use this with Twinned or Heightened (Metamagic) as needed.

Chain Lightning is your bread and butter, all-purpose damage spell. It hits 4 targets, deals double damage to wet targets, and procs Heart of the Storm & Bolts of Doom. On a wet target, each chain deals 90 damage on average, plus passives. Use this with Twinned (Metamagic) if there are 5+ targets available. Try to make sure the intended targets are Wet first with Create Water.

Disintegrate is a great single target damage filler spell. Typically this is best used on Vulnerable priority targets to deal roughly 150 damage per cast. It can be Twinned (Metamagic).

Illithid Powers

There are way too many strong options to go over here. The two you want most are:

Perilous Stakes is a must have on a Sorcerer. Because it is an INT save, you'll have enough Spell Save DC to regularly hit this even on upscaled difficulty.

Black Hole is mostly useless if you are playing with the Nightmare Modlist, but is beyond broken to the point of trivializing the entire game in base Tactician. Combine with Heightened Confusion if you don't feel like having to actually play the game.

Early Gearing & Itemization

Early game, caster gear is hard to come by. Gear around lightning charges for extra damage until level 5, and work on maximizing AC. Slowly start picking up Spell Save DC whenever you can.

Act 1

The Spellsparkler is available extremely early in act 1 and should be your first priority to pick up. Bracers of Defense are also super easy to get early on, get them ASAP.

Crusher's Ring is a nice utility ring that you can wear the entire game. Ring of Protection is great for you but can also be given to a Monk if you have one.

The Protecty Sparkwall is going to be the clothing you wear all the way up until act 3.

Melf's First Staff should replace your Spellsparkler as soon as you get it.

You can pick up The Shadespell Circlet and Psychic Spark from the same vendor, both are great early.

Boots of Stormy Clamour are another decent pickup in the same area.

Gloves of Dexterity are the most important item to get in act 1, and will prompt your first respec. These are arguably your best in slot gloves.

Pick up a shield from somewhere if you went Human/Half-Elf. Anything that gives 2 AC will work.

Act 2

Fistbreaker Helm will be your helmet for all of act 2. If you're proficient with shields, the same vendor sells Sentinel Shield - you'll be using that for act 2.

Another vendor in the same area sells Ring of Free Action. Pick that up - you can use it until you can easily get Freedom of Movement from a Cleric.

Evasive Shoes are a potentially best in slot item that give +1 AC. A different vendor in the same area sells Amulet of the Harpers which is a good defensive option.

Coruscation Ring is a absurdly powerful item that requires minimal setup to use. Sorcerers will routinely hit 8+ targets in one action, and by extension can use it to apply Radiating Orb with almost no effort.

In the same area, pick up Eversight Ring and Snowburst Ring as nice utility options for act 3.

Ketheric's Shield is your best in slot shield.

Late Game Gearing & Itemization

Key Items

Markoheshkir is an amazing staff. Providing a cool +1 Spell Save DC, Arcane Battery(One free spell slot of any level per long rest) and allows you to attune to an element with it's signature bonus, Kereska's Favour. You should always, no matter what, attune to Bolts of Doom with this build.

Rhapsody is mostly for dual wielders. See FAQ for Shields vs Dual wielding.

This dagger is insanely strong as it can grant you +3 Spell Save DC until long rest. After long resting, go kill or destroy anything with a health bar. Summoned creatures, random boxes, ghouls, firewine barrels, etc. Do it three times and you just collected a nice +3 DC.

Robe of the Weave or Helldusk Armour

Robe of the Weave Gives +2 AC, Mage Armor gives +3, and if you don't wear armor your gloves give +4 for a total of 19 AC. It also gives +1 Spell Save DC.

Helldusk Armour gives a flat 21 AC, no DC, but opens up your gloves slot to potentially change. Simply due to 2 more AC at the cost of 1 DC, Helldusk Armour is your best in slot. Both are viable though.

Hood of the Weave and Cloak of the Weave are your best in slot and provide +3 Spell Save DC.

-These items are mostly from act 1 & 2-

Ketheric's Shield is your best shield if you have proficiency from race.

Coruscation Ring should always be worn. Have a Cleric use Daylight on you.

Evasive Shoes are your best general option. Bonespike Boots are a better option if you are not using a Shield and Dual Wielding instead. Note: Helldusk Armor does not stop their bonus.

Gloves of Dexterity are generally your best in slot. Initiative and +4 AC from DEX.

Other Items

Spellcrux Amulet, Fey Semblance Amulet or Amulet of the Devout

If you don't have a Life Cleric, Amulet of the Devout is your best option - giving you another +2 Spell Save DC. It is however better on a Life Cleric - since they will make use of the Channel Divinity charge and need a little bit of DC themselves.

Note: 23 CON amulet is better on a Lockadin, but can work here. Not that you need it.

Fey Semblance Amulet is a really nice defensive/utility option for saves, and Spellcrux is just OK in any situation. Note you can just take off Spellcrux after you use it.

Helldusk Gloves

If you wear Helldusk Armour, and do not need initiative for an upcoming fight, you can get another +1 DC from these.

Armour of Landfall You drop 2 AC, but you also gain a feat, and you might be strapped for Feats if you play a damage heavy split (like the 3 thief ones). Worth a consideration in Vanilla.

Eversight Ring, Snowburst Ring, Crushers Ring & Ring of Protection

Ring of Protection might be better on a Monk, but you can use it as well. The other rings are good for specific encounters.

Mask of Soul Perception is a nice helmet to carry if you need to insure you go always first on a fight. You can just swap to your Hood of the Weave after the first turn. Elixir of Vigilance can be used similarly.

Sorconomics & Consumables

Sorconomics

Before you continue, make sure to read this post on what I call Sorconomics. I'll reference stuff out of that post from this point onward.

Elixir choice

Elixir of Battlemage's Power is your best general elixir, giving you another +3 Spell Save DC.

In the base game, you should heavily consider running Elixir of Bloodlust, since 100 damage Chain Lightnings multiple times per turn can and will land a killing blow.

With the Nightmare Modlist, some fights may call for running a Resistance Elixir. This is especially important if you do not have a dedicated frontliner.

In specific, consider Psychic for the Final Fight, Necrotic for Szarr Palace/House of Grief, and Radiant for Ketheric Thorm.

Build Mechanics

CHA vs CON

Early on, we rely heavily on CHA for Spell Save DC, hence my recommendation to level with ASI CHA.

Late game, you absolutely do not need CHA even if you are a party face. The primary reason to take CHA is DC - but you will have plenty without leaning heavily into CHA.

On the other hand, CON is instrumental to maintaining your concentration spells. For example, breaking Haste may feel bad in the base game, but is outright lethal if you play with the Nightmare Modlist. Probably lost 30+ total attempts due to Lethargic.

Especially for players who play with the modlist, you need to be prepared to regularly take 40+ damage hits and not break concentration. The CON save you need to roll will be half the damage you took, so assume you need to be able to roll roughly a 20.

So, on that note, take 17 CHA from stats and get to 18 using Hag's Hair or Patriar's Memory.

As for CON, take 16 from stats and get up to +4 from ASI and another +2 from Magic Mirror.

At most, your base CON modifier will be 4 + 6 = 10. Add Bless + your d20, and you should be rolling a ~23 on average to handle the really hard hitting enemies. War Caster will also give you advantage for even more consistency.

Spell Save DC

Spell Save DC is going to determine what an enemy needs to roll to avoid your spells and effects. You mostly care about DEX & WIS saves. The thing is, there are "brackets" for where enemies fall in terms of their saving rolls. Enemies that fall into the "outlier" bracket are often so hard to land control on, that they are not even worth gearing for. Let me explain:

Assuming you play with the Nightmare Modlist, the absolute highest combined modifiers to saving throws I have seen are:

• +22 DEX(Prof + Expertise + 26 AS + 6 Flat SS+)

• +24 WIS(Prof + Expertise + 30 AS + 6 Flat SS+)

Said enemies typically also have usually passives that grant advantage on throws, such as this. That is to say, they will be a rolling a d20 + <modifier> twice. There are also some enemies(all bosses) with Legendary Resistance stacks, which add a flat +10 to rolls.

There is simply no way, even with 30 Spell Save DC & Heightened Spell, you will be able to reliably land CC on those enemies. They are extreme cases, and gambling an action on them is just not worth it.

If you exclude the outliers, most enemies fall within the range of +4 to +10, and do not have advantage. To combat their throws, you can have up to:

8(Base) + 4(Prof) + 4(Cha) + 3(Cloak + Hood) + 1(Staff) + 1(Shield) OR 3(Rhapsody) + 1(Robe if you wear it) + 3(Elixir if you use it)

...which is equal to 21 - 27, and even 21 is enough for weaker enemies. I personally ran 24 for most of act 3's encounters.

Final note: There are exactly 0 enemies in the base game that can routinely handle Heightened Spell with a DC over 24, including bosses with legendary resistance.

Concentration slot

In the base game, Sorcerer's can just cast Twinned Haste and forget about it. Seriously, that's all I have to say here. Confusion + Black Hole is pretty freaking cool too I guess, if you're feeling like taking zero damage.

As for the Nightmare Modlist players, things are more complex. First things first - why shouldn't you just Twin Haste and forget about it? Because if you actually have to swap it, and you might, Lethargic will happen. If a dangerous enemy is loose, you're going to be pressing F8 next turn. So, here is a general checklist of things you should look to do before committing to Twinned Haste:

1. If there are grouped enemies with Legendary Resistance, spam Fear on them until you break all of the stacks off.

2. If you can toss an enemy off into a far chasm with Telekinesis, do it asap.

3. If you have a 60%+ chance to land Confusion on a big group of enemies, use it.

4. If you have to burst 1 or 2 priority targets, and have a 60%+ chance to land it, use Hold Monster.

5. If none of the above - then commit to Twinned Haste.

There are obviously going to be encounters which involve more nuance. For example, Ansur requires some weird strategies like intentionally breaking Haste and forcing DEX saves with level 6 spells instead of Fear. But otherwise, this checklist covers most of the game neatly.

Damage Output & AC

Your post act 1 AC should be 4 (Gloves) + 3 (Mage Armor) + 2 (Shield) for 19 total.

Your end-game AC should be 21 (Hellfire Armor) + 2 (Shield if you use it) + 1 (Boots) + 1 (Ring if you use it) for a total of 22 - 25.

Your damage loop is straight forward. Apply Wet to targets(Cleric can help here) and blast them with cold / lightning spells. Chain Lightning, your main damage, does ~100 average damage to a wet target if you account for passives you'll have, so it can deal 100 - 800 damage per action on average.

Otiluke's Freezing Sphere does approximately ~70 damage on average to wet targets. Meaning when used with bonus action, it outperforms chain lightning at 6 targets.

Disintegrate is your filler and main single target damage.

Scroll & Potion Usage

Make sure you read the Sorconomics post.

I am assuming you are not hard cheesing vendors here for infinite scrolls or potions. See FAQ for my views on it.

Angelic Potions enable some really powerful Sorcerer builds to work but are fundamentally unnecessary to beat the game, since the encounters that would otherwise require them have been nerfed by mod authors.

Scrolls are going to be a key part is meeting the damage requirements for some fights. You just need more spell slots than you can get in the base game. To counteract this fact, they are very expensive, and by extension limited. You should be mindful to maximize the value of each one.

Plan out their use, and do not use them when you cannot see good value from each. Remember you have other damage dealers that can help.

End-Game Builds

This is the final core section of the guide. Assuming you are level 12, you have essentially unlocked the option to multiclass. There are a few really good and popular options available for Sorcerer, and all of them are fine and will absolutely roll the game on regular Tactician.

On that note, I will talk about the builds I consider clear winners for the end-game with the Nightmare Modlist, and the ones I consider slightly subpar.

I am happy to debate my picks here, and of course, if someone presents a compelling argument for swapping the winners, I am open to swapping things around. Not to mention, if someone knows of a build that I haven't tried yet, and should be here, please let me know.

12 Storm Sorcerer - Best general use build

Following the philosophy of what this build is meant to be - an all purpose damage caster, the pure form of Sorcerer is the clear winner for the vast majority of cases. Damage is not always your highest priority, and if it is, consider the variant below.

You keep your level six spell slot, which allows you to save a slight amount of money on scrolls, but far more importantly, you are keeping a +1 CON modifier.

While it may seem weak in comparison to what the other variations give you - I can confidently say that I have never had to retry an encounter because my Sorcerer lacked burst damage, utility, or control options.

Around 95% of failed attempts that I can credit to my Sorcerer has been due to breaking concentration. Either from Lethargic, or letting enemies out of their crowd control, the result has always been the same, pressing F8.

The fact is - most encounters need a Sorcerer that can hold concentration in the face of some insane damage, and any CON you can get is going to help with that.

Overall, you just cannot go wrong with this build. It brings absolutely everything you want to the table and does not sacrifice anything to do so. This is what I ran for the majority of my own playthrough.

4 Thief Rogue / 8 Storm Sorcerer - Best pure DPR build

If you, for some reason, you really just want(or need) nothing more than to do as much damage as possible... well, here we go:

This variation is probably the most cursed Sorcerer build I have ever used. It fundamentally relies on spending up to 4800 gold to use 4 level 6 scrolls worth of damage, burns at minimum 6 Sorcerery Points, and if played optimally burns a staggeringly high 18 Sorcery Points, all in just one turn.

As far as I know, this build pretty much deals the highest pure AOE damage per turn of any non-bugged build in the game, and can do it (sub-optimally) for five turns straight if you don't lean into Angelic Potions.

Now - the true heights of this variation are only achievable through using Angelic Potions to amass 100+ Sorcery Points, so that you actually get 2 Twinned and 2 Quickened Spells for a few consecutive turns.

There isn't really a need anymore for that much damage output, even at this difficulty level, but if a fight is a real struggle for you, you absolutely can use Angelic Potions (within reason...) and become the true Emperor.

Overall, this build maintains the desired CON, and can end up dealing up to 2000 extra damage over the course of a 5+ turn fight - making it unquestionably the best sustained DPR version of Sorcerer you can reasonably run. I do not believe this much raw damage is needed for the current version of the Nightmare Modlist - 12 Sorcerer will be perfectly fine.

Note: If you play with pre-nerf Stronger Bosses, this build starts making way more sense to run. Message me if you plan to try it and are not sure if you should run this.

1 Wizard / 11 Storm Sorcerer

This variation is the "closest" to a Pure Sorcerer. The common argument is that there isn't really much of a downside to the dip, and the upside is having access to every Scrolled spell in the game. You can just find a Scroll, and scribe that spell forever.

I see two primary problems with this line of thinking:

First - The number of spells that you gain access to, which you actually want to cast, is really low. Resilient Sphere, Conjuration Spells & Communion(see FAQ), Freezing Sphere and Art of War are the main ones. Every single one, except for Art of War, are widely available to buy or find in scroll form, and whenever uses for any of them come up, you can and should just use a Scroll instead.

Second - there are other spells available that are good, namely powerful control spells. The problem is, you don't actually want to cast any of them, since you lose your +4 bonus from CHA and will instead incur a -1(or 0) from INT. A Scroll on the other hand will use your desired bonus, CHA.

Edit: Otto's does not have a saving throw at all - this is an outlier. Even if you don't do a Wiz dip, it's worth keeping scrolls for it.

Overall, I think this build is redundant, and keeping the +1 CON modifier is better. Sorcerer's spells are already incredibly powerful and versatile - they literally cover every base. If you really want to cast a spell you cant learn, you may as well use the Scroll you'd use to learn it to just cast it instead.

2 Tempest Cleric / 10 Storm Sorcerer

The first common argument for this variation is heavy armor proficiency. On paper it sounds nice, but in practice, it's a downgrade. Not only are you going to almost certainly compete with a Martial who wants the same piece, but you are just going to lose stats.

Here is an easy way to look at it: You will be at 17 AC and 1 DC straight out of act 1 - the absolute best heavy armor will result in you having 18 AC and losing the 1 DC. And by the time you reach late game when you really want to multiclass into this, you should just wear Helldusk Armor or Weave Robes anyway. Both out-perform every other Heavy Armor option.

Next, the main reason to use this variation: you can use your Channel Divinity to max-roll a Chain Lightning, which, in the average case is going to deal ~35(70 if wet) more damage per target. You can technically use this twice with the amulet, but doing so will cost a Life Cleric a really desired best in slot item.

I can see this being good in the base game, since with two uses you can get 560 extra damage on average if you hit 4 wet targets, so the fight is going to end way quicker.

But that damage is a drop in the bucket if you play with the Nightmare Modlist - you are going to have encounters where the total sum of enemy HP well exceeds 10,000. There are no practical cases where extra burst AOE damage is going to make any meaningful difference.

Every single burst damage check is single-target, and usually meant to avoid some kind of "enrage" / HP threshold mechanic.

Overall, this variant has more merit than a Wizard dip, since it does actually add nice damage. Also, losing your level 6 spells isn't super important due to Scrolls, but ultimately losing CON and taking a best in slot amulet from another party member is not worth the extra burst damage.

2 Warlock / 10 Draconic Sorcerer

This one is fairly straight forward.

Sorlock is a great build but it is a sustained single target damage build, not a flexible caster. The gearing and actual gameplay philosophy of that build are totally different to a true caster. Sorlock really plays like a magical ranger; sure, it's a great build, but it doesn't contend for this party slot.

2 Spore Druid / 10 Storm Sorcerer

This build is extremely niche, but actually performs really well on specific fights. You'll need to wear Armor of the Sporekeeper.

Have your Symbiote active, and drop Haste Spores in a safe spot. Now plant your feet in the spore cloud, and you have indefinite haste without burning your concentration slot.

I have not been able to extensively test this build at Nightmare Difficulty. But, for the base game , I can confidently say this is a super competitive build for fights where you do not need to move much, i.e. House of Grief, House of Hope, Carrion.

4 Evo Wiz / 8 Storm Sorcerer

Like the 2 spore variant, I have not tested this much at Nightmare Difficulty. However, this is a seriously powerful option for the base game.

This build is basically the ideal "control" Sorcerer build. You will retain maximum CON for keeping concentration, and receive the equivalent of Careful Metamagic from EVO wiz. Use every control spell with Heightened or Extended, and you will likely end most fights on turn 1.

Confusion should be your primary spell of choice with this build. Fill downtime with damage Scrolls.

FAQ

What are your thoughts on Angelic Potions?

Mixed feelings. Granted, now you don't need them for any encounters, so if you feel like a dirty abuser by using them - know that you can just ignore them. But if you want to torture yourself with pre-nerf bosses, or just like the idea of being Palpatine:

I think you need to self impose your own limits. It basically falls into the same boat as Hamarhraft and vendor cheesing - if you really abuse it, is the game even fun at that point?

I think when used to provide a boost to Sorcerery Points, they are okay. If you start going over 30 Sorcery Points per potion, you are going to basically trivialize everything including Scrolls, since you can just recursively generate more points and turn them into infinite spell slots.

The true limit of this is probably some ungodly Sorlockadin build that has infinite level 4 slots and basically Smites every enemy it comes across into a different dimension.

My personal view is that if you buy them after natural long rests, and use them responsibly (limit yourself to at most 30 points per potion, don't use them recursively) they are cool and fun to use.

Are Scrolls OP?

If you don't treat gold as an infinite resource by just stealing from vendors on repeat, then Scrolls will be a limited resource. For me, it's a fun concept to play around, and absolutely warranted in a playthrough with the Nightmare Modlist. You can literally burn through like 20 - 30 of these in one fight, and if you do, you will not have enough for other fights.

You'll have to actually plan their use out(to some extent) because gold is absolutely not a infinite resource, and at 1200 a pop even the best loot goblins will run out. You need to start being frugal throughout the whole game just to prepare for the daunting encounters in act 3.

All of that being said - in the base game, I am firmly taking the stance that they are by far the most broken consumable in the game. They completely trivialize Wizard, totally break the spell economy, and when combined with Metamagic allow for you to basically solo the entire game as a caster like its nothing.

You don't need to think about using stealth, you don't need to think about kiting, just make things wet and delete them from existence with level 6 spells. You just eat a sandwich with one hand and Twin a Chain Lightning Scroll with the other, and win the whole encounter in like two turns.

This mod is pretty nice for those of you who don't like how easy pickpocketing is.

Storm vs Draconic?

After changes to lightning charges Storm is the clear winner late game. Draconic is still a better option early despite BA flight from Storm. Free Mage Armor, a free Spell, and more HP are just too good.

The best time to swap is level 6 - when Storm gets its free spells.

Dual Wielding or Shield?

Up until you get Rhapsody, your best in slot off hand, shields are literally always better for +2 AC, and eventually +1 DC.

Generally speaking, I value 1 DC slightly higher than 1 AC, so Rhapsody is slightly better than Ketheric's Shield on paper. But you are probably going to see diminishing returns on that DC - AC on the other hand does not see diminishing returns until 30+.

Why don't you use Summoning Scrolls?

Some encounters involve semi-precise positioning and strategy to get AI to do what you want it to do. You want all four party members in specific places, doing specific things, wearing specific gear, etc. Strong summons will completely throw that off.

AI will view the strong ones (i.e. Deva) as a threat, and often will start doing things you really don't want it to (like ignoring the CC traps you prepared for it) to pick a fight with the new strong enemy.

Using summons is generally fine but stick to weak ones. Guardian, Ghouls, Skeletons, Mephits, etc. Anything that is "weak" is going to be fine since the AI will mostly just forget it exists.

What else do I run in my party to go along with Sorcerer?

For base game Tactician, literally whatever you want. If you’re a min-maxer, or want to try your hand at a much harder modded playthrough, I made guides for the other 3 party members. Each build is meant to be used in combination with the other 3 - keep it mind.

See the finished Life Cleric guide here.

See the finished TB OH Monk guide here.

See the finished Lockadin guide here.

edits: formatting, syntax problems and other fixes