Not even joking, I literally just decided today to research this build to play a second run through with friends. Then bam, pally is like i got you fam!
Being a monk while playing with friends is the funniest part. Especially with first timers. You see people getting excited from getting new weapons and then see their jaws on the floor when you just slap a guy to death in 1 turn.
I can't help but milticlass and found this to go wonderfully with a druid. Gain magic, make...zombies(?), and not responsible for talking so free to relax on stats.
if you cross that bridge into the act 1.5 Gith monastery area BEFORE you resolve the goblin camp/Halsin quest when you come back to act 1 you'll find all the teiflings will be slain on the road by the goblins
Random side note, if you keep shadowheart out of the hag fight hidden by the tree at the top of the hill, you can have her hit the hag with guiding bolt after the hag throws the hair down to get the hair and save her victims if the bolt kills her.
Some optimisation for the early game/ set up: auntie Ethel sells (either at the druid's grove or even at her hut as long as you don't advance her quest arch) a monk specific early game staff and has 3 elixirs of giant strength per day in her wares, so 3 times faster than the trader in the underdark and more easily accessible
Was looking for this comment before making it myself. Also, that's a massive waste of barrels that can be used for tougher fights, just finish the Khaga quest in the swamp, then use invis/darkness to steal the idol and immediately go to camp. Also, you need to be nice to Mattis and his accomplice... don't be mean to any of the Tiefling kids.
as soon as you hit level 4 and can take TB corellon’s grace staff is mostly useless since your attack bonus and damage will be significantly better just unarmed. the saving throw bonus is kinda nice so i suppose you could keep it equipped and then remove it when you want to make a main hand attack since it costs no action to unequip a weapon.
@@IliumGaming The staff is simply to get you to level 4. You can throw it away after that. But low levels in BG3 kinda suck, so any little advantage you can get is good.
(I think) most traders refresh their stock each time you level up as well, so you could just pay 100 gold to change class and get as many refreshes as times you level back up
For those coming back to this amazing build now, there's a mod on pc called permanent elixirs that makes the giant strength elixirs last u til death rather than a long rest. With how easy it is to get as many as you want it's just a QoL change. Highly recommend it
i use 2 levels spore druid instead of rogue to get symbiotic entity. gives you 1D6 additional damage each punch. keep shield of faith on him for AC so he doesnt lose his temp hp. cats grace robe for dex boost plus the club of hill giant strength from arcane tower plus colossus elixir is a pretty good mix
Just a gamechanging tip in general for every run: levelling resets ALL vendor inventories. Do not waste time or worse resources, resting for any period of time. Hire a hireling. Pickpocket gold back. Level the hireling one time. Buy/pickpocket what you want. Level it again. Repeat. Do this until they are max level. Then respec them. All the way back to level one. Rinse and repeat the levelling. This is the way to get infinite gold and any resource you want from the very beginning of the game. Bonus points for hiring brenna and making her your dedicated throwaway pickpocket. Slap all your theiving and movement speed gear on her along with say temporarily letting her use haste helm for the heists. By level 6 or so shes at 11-13 in both stealth and slieght of hand WITH advantage assuming thieving gloves, shapeshift ring, smugglers ring. You can steal literally everything the vedor has, level your other hireling, and repeat. Its broken as fuck. Do not long rest to vendor reset. Its absurd. Do thisbwith ethel before venturing south and losing her from the grove. 3 easy hill giants every level up for free.
Also for the idol you can have it for its buff forever if you want you steal the idol back after you finish the quest from the girl. And as long as you put the idol in your camp storage before you long rest you can keep using it.
Getting hill giant potions can be done much earlier at Auntie ethel in druid camp where she holds 3. recruit a gith hireling and respec them. each level you will be able to buy (or steal) 3 pots of hillgiant strength. note if you go into the swamp you can no longer use this.
If you don’t immediately turn her down/fight her at the swamp, she’ll still have them available. She was the last boss I fought in act 1 and, without cheesing the day cycle, went into act 2 with about 30 elixirs. Still had about 10 by act 3 but then I started using cloud giant elixirs.
For the graceful cloth you can just kill her and loot it if she doesn’t have anything else you want. Or buy the gloves then take her out if you want them
Heads up about stealing the idol of Slvanus, you can do a questline south of auntie Ethel’s house to find out Kaga is in leave with shadow druids if you confront her you will have a little fight then you can steal the idol without the grove blowing up.
If you wanna be sweaty then get medium armor and shields proficiency with a fighter multiclass. Wearing the Luminous Armor once you are level 6 with radiant damage on every strike makes you apply huge minuses to hit on enemies you attack. Also being able to wear an Adamantine Shield is insanely good for not getting crit. I’m playing a solo run with just a monk and anti crit is super important cause that’s one of the few ways to unluckily have the run ended
And if you’re wearing armor then the gloves are useless so wear the Sparkle Hands for raw damage obtained from the swamp or wear the Gloves of Uninhibited Kushigo for damage and gives minuses to CON saves so you can easily stun enemies
Using the ring that lets you see in magical and regular darkness and casting darkness would be a good way to use your rogue’s sneak attack and everyone will have a disadvantage against you
I've been trying to figure a dark urge play through that can get that ring of protection without starting the Druid war.......well played sir. Egads.....
A slightly less explosive way is to reveal Kagha's treachery. Killing her or sparing her still ends the ritual (killing her gives you a nifty necklace though), so just use a fog cloud centered on the idol, stealth, grab the idol and port to camp or pop an invis potion and run away (as the anti invis power of the totem is gone once it is in your pocket)
Decided to put this build on a hireling in act 3 because I keep losing in fights at this point. Unfortunately no one in act 3 is selling hill giant strength potions or cloud giant strength potions to me. Even the vendors the wiki claims Do. No one is selling the ingredients either. So aggravating that a build absolutely needs potions I can't find at all
My first run way a rogue/ranger later respeced into rogue/bard with twin crossbows so i was wanting something close ranged for my second play through but nothing was really jumping out at me. I think monk might be the one.
Another thing I have found is larian watches these video's so they will patch the day after someone shows something like short resting and getting a refresh and they will make it so you can not, or showing some kind of trick to do something and suddenly you can not. So you think your helping people, and you are simply making it tougher.
You don't need to rest to refresh vendor inventories. Every lvl up they refresh. Tell Withers i said hi. I will make a mainmonk with the elixirs myself right now. I name him Steroido
I just re-downloaded and started playing again as a barb. I miss almost all my attacks and even when I do land an attack I don’t do much damage. I want to play how I want too and save guides for afterwards but man this is really punishing☹️
isn't better to get 20 strength so that you can use other elixirs like fire resistance, poison resistance against certain bosses. Or am i missing something here?
If you put it in your off hand and nothing in your main hand, you still make unarmed attacks and get the boost to strength I use it so I don’t have to solely rely on hill giant potions it’s amazing
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but Auntie Ethel in the Druid Grove sells Hill Giant Elixir X3 every day and has a perfect weapon for Monk early game.
Yep this is a bad guide. You can even kill Karlach and get the +1 AC Fire Robe from Mizora which you will use until you get the the Monk Robe in Act III.
With the new Raphael Helldusk Armor Glitch which you can get at Act I, breaks Monks even harder because Monks can wear that Legendary 21 AC Armor piece. You can just make a regular Fighter with Str and Tavernbrawler. @@patrykszczepanski773
@@axo4383 Keshigo Robe or whatever its called is not bad either if you're doing a solo run. Being able to counter attack through Patient Defense ain't a bad deal for just a bonus action. Especially with Thief3 for Fast Fingers.
@@ckirk7317 Wanna know what is more better for solo? The Helldusk Armor that Raphael drops in Act I. You don't even need Dexterity or Wisdom at that point because it's a heavy armor with 21 AC. Then you can make an Human or Half-Elf to get Shields for whopping 23 AC.
I missed a couple of these items on my playthrough as a Monk, and while it can affect the run in the moment, the Monk is SO strong, it makes little difference. SUCH a strong, fun build.
I'm doing a variant of this build that is a little more 'all in' on the damage, forgoing the bracers of defense for the charged gloves you can get from the swamp in Act1. Between my monk and my buddy's barbarian, both rocking the Hill Giant potions, we are trivializing Act I, even on Tactician.
13:30 theres an easier way to refresh trader inventories, pay withers to re-spec a character, then go to the trader and buy what you want then level up the re-spec'd character to lvl 2, then trade again, lvl 3, trade again, leveling up refreshes the inventory the same way a long rest does :D then just take your 100g back from withers, he doesnt get mad if you fail pickpockets so you can just try over and over till you get it
You can also just do a long rest at camp with no supplies selected and restock vendor inventories for free, no need to use camp supplies that way. Much less tedious than respeccing.
It’s actually hilarious how OP this build is. I tried this twice, and out of my 14 other play throughs with numerous different classes chosen, my Tavern Brawler Monks have always been by far the most OP
Holy shit man i remember you from like 11 years back doing your first playthrough of dark souls its crazy to see how far you have come well done and great build :D
If you dont go south at the blighted village, Aunt Ethyl has 3 each long rest. How i farm them is gather as much wares as possible, LOOT EVERYTHING, no matter the worth. Barter them for nothing, to increase approval with Ethyl, then use a high Chrisma character to buy them
She still sells them in her home if you apologize upon meeting her there. You can buy the potions at your convenience and kick her quest off whenever. Not as convenient as the grove, but there is a fast travel point there.
14:00 Traders' stocks also reset level up. Considering your party is level 4 at that point, you can respec at Withers each of them, giving 12 restocks. Either steal after each separate level up per character, or donate 400 gold as a level 1 character for maxed out attitude and then buy the elixirs even cheaper. Also, something to keep in mind, at some point (I think I heard starting at level 5) she can also sell fingers of CLOUD giants to brew the elixir that sets Str to 27 instead of 21.
You left out a very nice item from the Druid's Grove, Corellon's Grace. That gives you a +1 to attack and damage rolls on unarmed attacks as well as +2 to saving throws as long as you aren't wearing armor. You buy it from Aunt Ethel in the Grove. She also stocks 3 Hill Giant Strength Elixirs per day. as long as you don't go south of the Blighted Village, she'll be there to stock up. What a nice old lady ;-) It might even be better to go to the Grove before you go to the crypt for just that reason. I think it's better than the staff you get from Roah. Then in the goblin camp you want to talk to Crusher and then ambush him when he goes to relieve himself. The ring you loot gives plus 3m to your movement rate. However, while dealing with Araj, not only does she sell the Risky Ring, she also sells the Ring of Free Action. The latter is basically a better version of The Disintigrating Night Walker boots minus Misty Step. Not having to ever worry about difficult terrain, paralysis, or ensnaring is a huge advantage for the party member likely to be the main frontline fighter.
To big things, especially combined, you could use Pally: The Tavern Brawler feat adds twice your strength to both damage AND chance to hit. Essentially, you no longer need advantage after you pick it up (so The Risky Ring is 95% of the time not actually helping you). It also makes throwing god tier since it's the same double strength to hit and damage. The item that pairs well with this is the Returning Pike, which you can buy in the courtyard of the goblins camp. It makes you into the best ranged AND mele fighter out there and you don't even need to have it equipped to use it to its full potential 😉 Otherwise, absolutely loved the vid. This was one of my all time viscerally favorite builds and I'm hyped to see others enjoying it too!
Just gets annoying because it equips the pike every time it returns. On my thrower build for Karlach I really wanted to use a different melee weapon for close enemies and throw the pike but since it costs an action to equip a different weapon when the pike returns kinda made that Strat impossible. For this build it would just be a mild inconvenience though
@@triplethreatgaming8583 Not an issue on a monk though, just remember to unequip. Also, returning weapons don't always return, so remember to pick them up after the fight if it doesn't.
@@garyco766 yea that’s why I said on my thrower build. And they always return. Sometimes they are just slower. Just wait a few seconds before ending your turn
There is a certain legendary trident that removes fall damage, has the same returning power as the pike, DOUBLES your jump range, and has an aoe lightning effect. Throwing point blank has never been so op and fun.
An Alternative gear set up is you can buy the Gloves of Dex from the trader in the githyanki creche. This allows you to dump dex as a stat and put points into strength instead so you don't have to rely on potions. Trade off is lower AC (I am at 18 right now with the Ring of Protection) and the Graceful Cloth wont work; but you still have 18 str and 18 Dex. So you are still folding enemies like an oragami expert.
Know I'm late to this. Genuine question rushing to get those Items won't ruin quest lines in act 1? Again I know I'm late but I don't wanna miss something.
It annoys me so much that Larian refuses to properly write tooltips. Unarmored Defense simply needs to say you get the benefit unless wearing armor OR SHIELDS. How hard is that? Also, tell us exactly what the "small chance" of something happening is.
@@azervakmonocasco4092 In 5e D&D, armor and shields are two different things. Armor has an encumbrance category (light / medium / heavy) and shields are a separate thing that does not have a category. Feats affect each differently. Historically in 3e, the "bonus type" of the AC bonus can be either Armor or Shield (there are more, of course). Two different things. If you wield two shields, you cannot get two Shield bonuses. They do not stack. But armor stacks with a shield, because they are different. Going back through earlier editions of D&D to 2e, 1e, B/X, and Original D&D, a shield is different from armor. Armor is a suit you wear, giving a base AC value, and then a Shield is a wielded piece of equipment which gives a bonus. You can't wear two suits of armor. Armor affects base MV rate, while shields do not. So, since 1974, shields have been well-established as different from armor. Going back through Chainmail and earlier wargames, a figure's type would be determined by their equipment, which would largely be based on armor. Heavy Foot troops wielding two-handed swords would be slightly different mechanically from Heavy Foot wielding sword and shield - but crucially, they are both Heavy Foot. Even BG3 differentiates between "armor" and "shield" in its feats and proficiencies. I am saying that this tooltip needs to read "armor or shields" because that's how the game actually works, and because those are two different things. "Shields" are not "Armor". So when I say it's clear and incontrovertible that "Armor" and "Shield" are two different things, it is because THE GAME ITSELF, and the tabletop game it grew from, and a lineage of games before that, for over half a century in my examples alone, prove me so right and you so wrong that you should skulk and tremble in shame for trying to argue with me. You lose. Good day, sir.
stealing the idol needs either Halsin's return OR Kagha investigated. If you figure out something it wrong with Kagha like.... rummaging through her belongings and finding letters signed by what appears to be one of the rats running around next to her... requires a trip to the swamp and a possibly rough fight with Mephits. Afterwards you get some irrefutable proof to throw in her face and another fight. But after proving Kagha unfit, the ritual is ended and you are able to more easily snatch the idol WITHOUT causing a race war to break out. Edit: alternatively you can do a cloud of fog and chuck the idol into a contained and send it to camp before.... and move yourself to camp before someone runs up on you... but if they're trying to do the ritual it will cause the war as well.
I’ll be honest, I’m disappointed that the tavern brawler only uses your strength modifier and not just your unarmed modifier. But I accept that this is the balance for this extreme damage build. Only really kicks in at special circumstances. On the table top, I’d happily allow the monk to proc it from dex instead of strength. Basically basing its damage increase doubling a characters unarmed/improvised damage modifier.
Best option is abuse the hags shop in Druid grove before you kill her, she sells 3 for about 250 gold and you can easily stack up 20-40 before you encounter the hag later. It’s more efficient than 2 at a time.
While in the Grove, Ethel also has Hill Giant elixirs. If I remember right, she has about 3 per long rest available. I just made sure to stop and grab them as I went. If you don't plan to use Gale, consider making him Transmutation. You can craft double potions if you pass a check. I also went for more of a Captain America build, going fighter for Heavy Armor and Shield proficiency. I don't think my build is fully min/max'd, but my armor/cape do damage if people hit me 1d4 fire/acid respectively. Not that I plan to get hit much, but I really like the fook of this armor so I kept it, just got to beginning of Act 3 too. *This allowed me to give a lot of the gear Pally references to Karlach who I have in my party, which is why I went with some difference choices.
This build is nuts. Very nice, to make even slightly stronger, do this same build, but with the vampire Ascended Asterion. So you get the extra on hit necrotic damage per hit. It equates to like another 40-50 damage per few actions. If you get another party member to use Haste on Astarion at the fight start. And pop the big Hill giant strength pot (there is actually one pot which gives 27 strength, it's not as readily available as the 21 str one, but it's insane op). You can do over 1000 damage in one turn. It's absolutely gross. Not to mention the monk is doing mostly elemental damage so it just hits through everything without any damage mitigation from armored targets etc
when you find the person the laughing monk is looking for, do not accept the curse. Choose to fight him and you get a beefed up version of the original amulet. I'm currently using the regen ring + the blur ring and my openhand monk is absurdly powerful, hard to hit, and functionally immortal. Prior to that, I really rate the Reverberation setup for a monk.
He didn’t mention this but Auntie Ethel sells three hill giant potions at a time which you can buy for 90 gold with a high persuasion character like wyll. Every time you level up the inventory resets so if you get several characters to level 3 and don’t level them up you can buy like 15 at a time lol. I did this for my monk build and ended up with 47 potions😭
If youre multiclassing with rogue wouldnt you want it to be your first pick then level monk after so you can get the extra skill proficiency choices in the beginning?
After Act 2 do you still need to constantly use the giant elixirs because I really don’t want to constantly waste my gold during my honor mode play through.
very late question but i was thinking of starting as a fighter with focus on strengh and then going monk at level two so i get heavy armor profiency and because of all the strengh we dont need the boost of the unarmoured thingy and then we be very tanky and very strong
Auntie Ethel has 3 of these Hill-Giant Strength Potions in her inventory - as long as she resides in the Druid Grove. Also, she sells an interesting staff. Makes a Monk more tankie. My approach is to give Lae'zel 5 level of Ranger (Gloom-Stalker), and THEN 7 level of Monk (Open Hand). The additional Bonus action of Rogue (Thief) is VERY nice - but I guess, overall the Stalker (Ranged) may be even better. One finds some gloves for 18 DEX - and Withers into a Strength-Build at that point. Initially 10STR, 17DEX, 15KON, 08INT, 14WIS and 10CHA - respec around lvl 5 into 18STR, 08DEX, 16KON (TB), 08INT, 14WIS and 10CHA. (I will NOT eat an Aunties Hair in my Play-Through(s)!) I eat delicious... Aunt.... ehm, Apples. Whole. With this Build, wearing Armour is possible. See what you like best. I don't LIKE building Chars around items - but these gloves... well, I make an exception for these suckers. The club of Hill-Giant Strength is also an option, and if you want to stay with using potions, don't respec 18STR, put it into WIS and CHA, maybe even into INT, if you prefer the helmet to the Ogre-Smarts. (An enlightened Ogre is found right next to the Helmet.) This build also works the other way around: First Monk, then Stalker - but the Stalker gives stuff I really like... Disguise Self, Talk to Animals, Initiative and more. Your way of "stealing" the idol is fun - but the deed can be done much easier... with less slaughter. But do as you please :). Very nice video. Thank you for making it.
You went tavern brawler with 8 strength... This, is NOT OPTIMAL. The point of Tavern Brawler is to MAX strength; and yes... wear freaking armor because you DON'T give a flying crap about Dex in this kind of build. Also; don't state there won't be a second build - that's you being an ass. There's no point in publishing HALF of a freaking build guide. : /
This is a question for someone who is still newer to bg3, but wouldn't the elixir he drink supplement that? And wouldn't the gloves that you get from the creche that give 18 to dex be worth running?
@jamesdeer3129 rogue skills at 1-2 are not that impressive, you basically do all 3 levels to get fast hand at rouge lv3. If you don’t care for it, just stay with monk and respec after lv9. Not more efficient, but personal preference
Great vid! While I do like the unarmed combat style I don't think I'll be doing monk for my first playthrough. I am curious though as mentioned on the even # stat allocations, how does that affect Str being 21 with the elixir? I haven't bought the game yet but am still interested in this.
When you walk through to the monastery there definitely are act1 quests that get messed up. I won't say more as it's a spoiler to reveal them but there is 1 in particular that you want to do so i would recommend you finish everything you want to finish in act 1
Dont forget the gloves you can get really early in the south in the swamps jumping from island to island last island has some tree monsters and flying bombers. But after that theres a chest with gloves that give you spark charges each unarmed attack you make.
Im currently lvl 4 in act 1 honour mode and j wonder if i can still make this build, because i dont have any strength elixirs yet. Is this build still playable even if im at 8 strentgh and without any strength elixiirs?
Hell yeah. This got me back into BG3. Like others said, the hag has the strength pots and a staff early doors at the grove. I already feel like I'm playing the strongest melee character I've ever played and I'm only lvl 3.
A tip for restocking merchants, they restock every time you lvl so if you respec with withers and only lvl one at a time you get a bunch of restocks for the price of 100gold that way you dont progress time
Not even joking, I literally just decided today to research this build to play a second run through with friends. Then bam, pally is like i got you fam!
Me too! I'm having a lot of fun with Monk in my second playthrough!
I went looking today and was wondering where part 2 was... Then I realized this vid came out yesterday lol. What a coincidence
Being a monk while playing with friends is the funniest part. Especially with first timers. You see people getting excited from getting new weapons and then see their jaws on the floor when you just slap a guy to death in 1 turn.
I can't help but milticlass and found this to go wonderfully with a druid.
Gain magic, make...zombies(?), and not responsible for talking so free to relax on stats.
if you cross that bridge into the act 1.5 Gith monastery area BEFORE you resolve the goblin camp/Halsin quest when you come back to act 1 you'll find all the teiflings will be slain on the road by the goblins
Good tip
can't get the owl bear cub either if you care about that (well it happened in my last play through anyway)
i got the cub on my run, i think depends on long rests or somethin@@davidbocock7679
happened to me sadly
And Halsin might die in prison 😅
Random side note, if you keep shadowheart out of the hag fight hidden by the tree at the top of the hill, you can have her hit the hag with guiding bolt after the hag throws the hair down to get the hair and save her victims if the bolt kills her.
Some optimisation for the early game/ set up: auntie Ethel sells (either at the druid's grove or even at her hut as long as you don't advance her quest arch) a monk specific early game staff and has 3 elixirs of giant strength per day in her wares, so 3 times faster than the trader in the underdark and more easily accessible
Was looking for this comment before making it myself. Also, that's a massive waste of barrels that can be used for tougher fights, just finish the Khaga quest in the swamp, then use invis/darkness to steal the idol and immediately go to camp. Also, you need to be nice to Mattis and his accomplice... don't be mean to any of the Tiefling kids.
as soon as you hit level 4 and can take TB corellon’s grace staff is mostly useless since your attack bonus and damage will be significantly better just unarmed. the saving throw bonus is kinda nice so i suppose you could keep it equipped and then remove it when you want to make a main hand attack since it costs no action to unequip a weapon.
@@IliumGaming The staff is simply to get you to level 4. You can throw it away after that. But low levels in BG3 kinda suck, so any little advantage you can get is good.
(I think) most traders refresh their stock each time you level up as well, so you could just pay 100 gold to change class and get as many refreshes as times you level back up
Ethel in the Grove has never had any staff for me
For those coming back to this amazing build now, there's a mod on pc called permanent elixirs that makes the giant strength elixirs last u til death rather than a long rest. With how easy it is to get as many as you want it's just a QoL change. Highly recommend it
i use 2 levels spore druid instead of rogue to get symbiotic entity. gives you 1D6 additional damage each punch. keep shield of faith on him for AC so he doesnt lose his temp hp. cats grace robe for dex boost plus the club of hill giant strength from arcane tower plus colossus elixir is a pretty good mix
Just a gamechanging tip in general for every run: levelling resets ALL vendor inventories.
Do not waste time or worse resources, resting for any period of time.
Hire a hireling. Pickpocket gold back. Level the hireling one time. Buy/pickpocket what you want. Level it again. Repeat. Do this until they are max level. Then respec them. All the way back to level one. Rinse and repeat the levelling.
This is the way to get infinite gold and any resource you want from the very beginning of the game.
Bonus points for hiring brenna and making her your dedicated throwaway pickpocket. Slap all your theiving and movement speed gear on her along with say temporarily letting her use haste helm for the heists. By level 6 or so shes at 11-13 in both stealth and slieght of hand WITH advantage assuming thieving gloves, shapeshift ring, smugglers ring.
You can steal literally everything the vedor has, level your other hireling, and repeat.
Its broken as fuck.
Do not long rest to vendor reset. Its absurd.
Do thisbwith ethel before venturing south and losing her from the grove. 3 easy hill giants every level up for free.
Also for the idol you can have it for its buff forever if you want you steal the idol back after you finish the quest from the girl. And as long as you put the idol in your camp storage before you long rest you can keep using it.
I just found out you do BG3 Tutorials, I'm so happy, used to watch your channel daily when HotS was still a thing, glad I can rejoin you :)
Getting hill giant potions can be done much earlier at Auntie ethel in druid camp where she holds 3. recruit a gith hireling and respec them. each level you will be able to buy (or steal) 3 pots of hillgiant strength. note if you go into the swamp you can no longer use this.
If you don’t immediately turn her down/fight her at the swamp, she’ll still have them available. She was the last boss I fought in act 1 and, without cheesing the day cycle, went into act 2 with about 30 elixirs. Still had about 10 by act 3 but then I started using cloud giant elixirs.
Yeah theres a way to equip a weapon offhand and there a staff in the Grove that increases unarmed attacks which can be used as a stat stick
For the graceful cloth you can just kill her and loot it if she doesn’t have anything else you want. Or buy the gloves then take her out if you want them
Heads up about stealing the idol of Slvanus, you can do a questline south of auntie Ethel’s house to find out Kaga is in leave with shadow druids if you confront her you will have a little fight then you can steal the idol without the grove blowing up.
If you wanna be sweaty then get medium armor and shields proficiency with a fighter multiclass. Wearing the Luminous Armor once you are level 6 with radiant damage on every strike makes you apply huge minuses to hit on enemies you attack. Also being able to wear an Adamantine Shield is insanely good for not getting crit. I’m playing a solo run with just a monk and anti crit is super important cause that’s one of the few ways to unluckily have the run ended
And if you’re wearing armor then the gloves are useless so wear the Sparkle Hands for raw damage obtained from the swamp or wear the Gloves of Uninhibited Kushigo for damage and gives minuses to CON saves so you can easily stun enemies
Btw the best fan for get hill giant elixir is auntie Ethel in the refugee camp. She sells 3 at a time every long rest(partial rest possible)
I've been pickpocketing them off auntie Ethel in the swamp house. Pick them then go to camp right away and reset the day and she has 3 more to pick.
Also wanted to add that their is a club of hill giant strength in underdark tower. And also another monk helmet in last light in!
You can actually buy 3 giant potion at a time from the old lady vendor in druids Grove instead of 1 at a time 😊
Dont forget, first kevel of rouge gives you expertise which is hard to get otherwise!!
5:04
or... just break a chair get it's leg, and done you are at strength 21 constantly, you just gotta hold the chair leg constantly.
This build is insane... now you've got me wanting to try monk
Best monk build on the Internet
Str based Monk is OP in game really early. Once you hit Lv4 and get the Feat you 1 shot most enemies.
Using the ring that lets you see in magical and regular darkness and casting darkness would be a good way to use your rogue’s sneak attack and everyone will have a disadvantage against you
and you can pair that ring with the cloak that creates a fog cloud around you when you disengage.
tavern brawler can't really make use of sneak attack more due to sneak attack needing a finesse weapon.
can confirm, this is a great combo, especially with the cape mentioned, I'm using it with an Assassin Rogue Astarion and he shreds!
Your build videos are amazing. I hope you do one showing your party.
I Would change the cat grace with helldusker amor after for some reason it doesn’t get seen as amor and you can come up on 26 amor
Corellians Grace off Auntie Ethel in the grove.
In the gtove granny aka the hag has the potion of hill giant strength and a staff that is worth your time
Ethel has 3x Hill Giant Elixers per reset. So 3x faster to get em.
Definitely recommend Alternate Monk mod, there are about 10 new subclasses which are really cool
you can skip Gihyanki fight by having Laezel in the party and choosing the right dialogue options
I actually learned something here. That's pleasantly surprising. Thank you for the great content
I've been trying to figure a dark urge play through that can get that ring of protection without starting the Druid war.......well played sir. Egads.....
A slightly less explosive way is to reveal Kagha's treachery. Killing her or sparing her still ends the ritual (killing her gives you a nifty necklace though), so just use a fog cloud centered on the idol, stealth, grab the idol and port to camp or pop an invis potion and run away (as the anti invis power of the totem is gone once it is in your pocket)
i threatened silfy early on just so gale wouldn't approve of me and now im regretting it because i cant get the ring of protection
Decided to put this build on a hireling in act 3 because I keep losing in fights at this point. Unfortunately no one in act 3 is selling hill giant strength potions or cloud giant strength potions to me. Even the vendors the wiki claims Do. No one is selling the ingredients either. So aggravating that a build absolutely needs potions I can't find at all
My first run way a rogue/ranger later respeced into rogue/bard with twin crossbows so i was wanting something close ranged for my second play through but nothing was really jumping out at me. I think monk might be the one.
W build, but what feat would you recommend for the 8th level in monk?
Another thing I have found is larian watches these video's so they will patch the day after someone shows something like short resting and getting a refresh and they will make it so you can not, or showing some kind of trick to do something and suddenly you can not. So you think your helping people, and you are simply making it tougher.
You don't need to rest to refresh vendor inventories. Every lvl up they refresh. Tell Withers i said hi. I will make a mainmonk with the elixirs myself right now. I name him Steroido
I just re-downloaded and started playing again as a barb. I miss almost all my attacks and even when I do land an attack I don’t do much damage. I want to play how I want too and save guides for afterwards but man this is really punishing☹️
PART 2 PLEASE !!!!!
Is the +3m movement ring the most underrated item in the game 😅 I’m thinking about how many times I’ve dashed to get an attack off lol
But what about the tiara K'Lark was wearing?
isn't better to get 20 strength so that you can use other elixirs like fire resistance, poison resistance against certain bosses. Or am i missing something here?
What do you think of the item: Club of hill giant strength, which increases your strength to 19 always? Does it make sense to use it?
If you put it in your off hand and nothing in your main hand, you still make unarmed attacks and get the boost to strength I use it so I don’t have to solely rely on hill giant potions it’s amazing
Sorry what’s is the transparent aura that covers the monk how do you get that I’ve been trying to figure that out for a while
What should I do if I don’t have the bags hair
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but Auntie Ethel in the Druid Grove sells Hill Giant Elixir X3 every day and has a perfect weapon for Monk early game.
Yep this is a bad guide. You can even kill Karlach and get the +1 AC Fire Robe from Mizora which you will use until you get the the Monk Robe in Act III.
@@axo4383 It's not a bad guide, he clearly said it's a description of his RP path
With the new Raphael Helldusk Armor Glitch which you can get at Act I, breaks Monks even harder because Monks can wear that Legendary 21 AC Armor piece. You can just make a regular Fighter with Str and Tavernbrawler. @@patrykszczepanski773
@@axo4383 Keshigo Robe or whatever its called is not bad either if you're doing a solo run. Being able to counter attack through Patient Defense ain't a bad deal for just a bonus action. Especially with Thief3 for Fast Fingers.
@@ckirk7317 Wanna know what is more better for solo? The Helldusk Armor that Raphael drops in Act I. You don't even need Dexterity or Wisdom at that point because it's a heavy armor with 21 AC. Then you can make an Human or Half-Elf to get Shields for whopping 23 AC.
I missed a couple of these items on my playthrough as a Monk, and while it can affect the run in the moment, the Monk is SO strong, it makes little difference. SUCH a strong, fun build.
I'm doing a variant of this build that is a little more 'all in' on the damage, forgoing the bracers of defense for the charged gloves you can get from the swamp in Act1. Between my monk and my buddy's barbarian, both rocking the Hill Giant potions, we are trivializing Act I, even on Tactician.
13:30 theres an easier way to refresh trader inventories, pay withers to re-spec a character, then go to the trader and buy what you want then level up the re-spec'd character to lvl 2, then trade again, lvl 3, trade again, leveling up refreshes the inventory the same way a long rest does :D then just take your 100g back from withers, he doesnt get mad if you fail pickpockets so you can just try over and over till you get it
You can also just do a long rest at camp with no supplies selected and restock vendor inventories for free, no need to use camp supplies that way. Much less tedious than respeccing.
with 95% hit chance monk I fcking critical miss A LOOOOOOOT
It’s actually hilarious how OP this build is. I tried this twice, and out of my 14 other play throughs with numerous different classes chosen, my Tavern Brawler Monks have always been by far the most OP
Holy shit man i remember you from like 11 years back doing your first playthrough of dark souls its crazy to see how far you have come well done and great build :D
If you dont go south at the blighted village, Aunt Ethyl has 3 each long rest.
How i farm them is gather as much wares as possible, LOOT EVERYTHING, no matter the worth. Barter them for nothing, to increase approval with Ethyl, then use a high Chrisma character to buy them
She still sells them in her home if you apologize upon meeting her there. You can buy the potions at your convenience and kick her quest off whenever. Not as convenient as the grove, but there is a fast travel point there.
14:46 Poor Gale. Feed that man a shoe already.
14:00 Traders' stocks also reset level up. Considering your party is level 4 at that point, you can respec at Withers each of them, giving 12 restocks. Either steal after each separate level up per character, or donate 400 gold as a level 1 character for maxed out attitude and then buy the elixirs even cheaper.
Also, something to keep in mind, at some point (I think I heard starting at level 5) she can also sell fingers of CLOUD giants to brew the elixir that sets Str to 27 instead of 21.
You can also dismiss your party members and get 3 hirelings and their level ups also refresh the inventory.
You left out a very nice item from the Druid's Grove, Corellon's Grace. That gives you a +1 to attack and damage rolls on unarmed attacks as well as +2 to saving throws as long as you aren't wearing armor. You buy it from Aunt Ethel in the Grove. She also stocks 3 Hill Giant Strength Elixirs per day. as long as you don't go south of the Blighted Village, she'll be there to stock up. What a nice old lady ;-) It might even be better to go to the Grove before you go to the crypt for just that reason. I think it's better than the staff you get from Roah. Then in the goblin camp you want to talk to Crusher and then ambush him when he goes to relieve himself. The ring you loot gives plus 3m to your movement rate. However, while dealing with Araj, not only does she sell the Risky Ring, she also sells the Ring of Free Action. The latter is basically a better version of The Disintigrating Night Walker boots minus Misty Step. Not having to ever worry about difficult terrain, paralysis, or ensnaring is a huge advantage for the party member likely to be the main frontline fighter.
To big things, especially combined, you could use Pally:
The Tavern Brawler feat adds twice your strength to both damage AND chance to hit. Essentially, you no longer need advantage after you pick it up (so The Risky Ring is 95% of the time not actually helping you). It also makes throwing god tier since it's the same double strength to hit and damage. The item that pairs well with this is the Returning Pike, which you can buy in the courtyard of the goblins camp. It makes you into the best ranged AND mele fighter out there and you don't even need to have it equipped to use it to its full potential 😉
Otherwise, absolutely loved the vid. This was one of my all time viscerally favorite builds and I'm hyped to see others enjoying it too!
Just gets annoying because it equips the pike every time it returns. On my thrower build for Karlach I really wanted to use a different melee weapon for close enemies and throw the pike but since it costs an action to equip a different weapon when the pike returns kinda made that Strat impossible. For this build it would just be a mild inconvenience though
Advantage gives additional chance to crit, not just to hit.
@@triplethreatgaming8583 Not an issue on a monk though, just remember to unequip. Also, returning weapons don't always return, so remember to pick them up after the fight if it doesn't.
@@garyco766 yea that’s why I said on my thrower build. And they always return. Sometimes they are just slower. Just wait a few seconds before ending your turn
There is a certain legendary trident that removes fall damage, has the same returning power as the pike, DOUBLES your jump range, and has an aoe lightning effect. Throwing point blank has never been so op and fun.
An Alternative gear set up is you can buy the Gloves of Dex from the trader in the githyanki creche. This allows you to dump dex as a stat and put points into strength instead so you don't have to rely on potions. Trade off is lower AC (I am at 18 right now with the Ring of Protection) and the Graceful Cloth wont work; but you still have 18 str and 18 Dex. So you are still folding enemies like an oragami expert.
Know I'm late to this. Genuine question rushing to get those Items won't ruin quest lines in act 1? Again I know I'm late but I don't wanna miss something.
It seems not
I really like this guide because its for people actually playing through the game, not an Act 3 meta build.
It annoys me so much that Larian refuses to properly write tooltips. Unarmored Defense simply needs to say you get the benefit unless wearing armor OR SHIELDS. How hard is that? Also, tell us exactly what the "small chance" of something happening is.
Shields are armor so idk what you're misunderstanding
@@azervakmonocasco4092 In 5e D&D, armor and shields are two different things. Armor has an encumbrance category (light / medium / heavy) and shields are a separate thing that does not have a category. Feats affect each differently.
Historically in 3e, the "bonus type" of the AC bonus can be either Armor or Shield (there are more, of course). Two different things. If you wield two shields, you cannot get two Shield bonuses. They do not stack. But armor stacks with a shield, because they are different.
Going back through earlier editions of D&D to 2e, 1e, B/X, and Original D&D, a shield is different from armor. Armor is a suit you wear, giving a base AC value, and then a Shield is a wielded piece of equipment which gives a bonus. You can't wear two suits of armor. Armor affects base MV rate, while shields do not.
So, since 1974, shields have been well-established as different from armor.
Going back through Chainmail and earlier wargames, a figure's type would be determined by their equipment, which would largely be based on armor. Heavy Foot troops wielding two-handed swords would be slightly different mechanically from Heavy Foot wielding sword and shield - but crucially, they are both Heavy Foot.
Even BG3 differentiates between "armor" and "shield" in its feats and proficiencies.
I am saying that this tooltip needs to read "armor or shields" because that's how the game actually works, and because those are two different things. "Shields" are not "Armor".
So when I say it's clear and incontrovertible that "Armor" and "Shield" are two different things, it is because THE GAME ITSELF, and the tabletop game it grew from, and a lineage of games before that, for over half a century in my examples alone, prove me so right and you so wrong that you should skulk and tremble in shame for trying to argue with me.
You lose. Good day, sir.
stealing the idol needs either Halsin's return OR Kagha investigated. If you figure out something it wrong with Kagha like.... rummaging through her belongings and finding letters signed by what appears to be one of the rats running around next to her... requires a trip to the swamp and a possibly rough fight with Mephits. Afterwards you get some irrefutable proof to throw in her face and another fight. But after proving Kagha unfit, the ritual is ended and you are able to more easily snatch the idol WITHOUT causing a race war to break out.
Edit:
alternatively you can do a cloud of fog and chuck the idol into a contained and send it to camp before.... and move yourself to camp before someone runs up on you... but if they're trying to do the ritual it will cause the war as well.
I’ll be honest, I’m disappointed that the tavern brawler only uses your strength modifier and not just your unarmed modifier.
But I accept that this is the balance for this extreme damage build.
Only really kicks in at special circumstances.
On the table top, I’d happily allow the monk to proc it from dex instead of strength. Basically basing its damage increase doubling a characters unarmed/improvised damage modifier.
Best option is abuse the hags shop in Druid grove before you kill her, she sells 3 for about 250 gold and you can easily stack up 20-40 before you encounter the hag later. It’s more efficient than 2 at a time.
100% this. I don't go south of the Blighted Village until I have 10+ Hill Giant Elixirs.
You can get them for 180, or 60 each, if you use Wyll with his higher charisma to make the purchases.
While in the Grove, Ethel also has Hill Giant elixirs. If I remember right, she has about 3 per long rest available. I just made sure to stop and grab them as I went.
If you don't plan to use Gale, consider making him Transmutation. You can craft double potions if you pass a check.
I also went for more of a Captain America build, going fighter for Heavy Armor and Shield proficiency. I don't think my build is fully min/max'd, but my armor/cape do damage if people hit me 1d4 fire/acid respectively. Not that I plan to get hit much, but I really like the fook of this armor so I kept it, just got to beginning of Act 3 too.
*This allowed me to give a lot of the gear Pally references to Karlach who I have in my party, which is why I went with some difference choices.
She also has a GREAT staff for Monks for sale.
This build is nuts. Very nice, to make even slightly stronger, do this same build, but with the vampire Ascended Asterion. So you get the extra on hit necrotic damage per hit. It equates to like another 40-50 damage per few actions. If you get another party member to use Haste on Astarion at the fight start. And pop the big Hill giant strength pot (there is actually one pot which gives 27 strength, it's not as readily available as the 21 str one, but it's insane op). You can do over 1000 damage in one turn. It's absolutely gross. Not to mention the monk is doing mostly elemental damage so it just hits through everything without any damage mitigation from armored targets etc
Would going 4 levels in rogue for the extra feat be helpful?
I did not know you could pass time without using camp supplies! I know i came for the monk build but THAT info was the real mvp. lol
when you find the person the laughing monk is looking for, do not accept the curse. Choose to fight him and you get a beefed up version of the original amulet.
I'm currently using the regen ring + the blur ring and my openhand monk is absurdly powerful, hard to hit, and functionally immortal.
Prior to that, I really rate the Reverberation setup for a monk.
What background do you suggest?
He didn’t mention this but Auntie Ethel sells three hill giant potions at a time which you can buy for 90 gold with a high persuasion character like wyll. Every time you level up the inventory resets so if you get several characters to level 3 and don’t level them up you can buy like 15 at a time lol. I did this for my monk build and ended up with 47 potions😭
Just get three hirelings and level them up, and have astarion steal the money to respec them each time
So, 3 lvls of rog for 2 skill expertise and a bonus action is better than the last 3 monk lvls?
What about the sparkcaller gloves?
Lightning charges (1 lightning dmg til it goes off for 1-8)
Advantage against people with metal armor.
If youre multiclassing with rogue wouldnt you want it to be your first pick then level monk after so you can get the extra skill proficiency choices in the beginning?
is DEX for monk only for armor/initiative? or is it also for damage? i think unarmed damages dont scale on dex?
Idk how you missed the uninhibited kushigo armor pieces. Specifically for this exact build.
After Act 2 do you still need to constantly use the giant elixirs because I really don’t want to constantly waste my gold during my honor mode play through.
very late question but i was thinking of starting as a fighter with focus on strengh and then going monk at level two so i get heavy armor profiency and because of all the strengh we dont need the boost of the unarmoured thingy and then we be very tanky and very strong
while stealing the idol with the exploding barrels was funny, it's a lot easier just to have someone cast darkness and steal in the cover of darkness.
is there build like this without elixir..??
maybe 17 str and less wisdom?
Auntie Ethel has 3 of these Hill-Giant Strength Potions in her inventory - as long as she resides in the Druid Grove.
Also, she sells an interesting staff. Makes a Monk more tankie.
My approach is to give Lae'zel 5 level of Ranger (Gloom-Stalker), and THEN 7 level of Monk (Open Hand).
The additional Bonus action of Rogue (Thief) is VERY nice - but I guess, overall the Stalker (Ranged) may be even better.
One finds some gloves for 18 DEX - and Withers into a Strength-Build at that point.
Initially 10STR, 17DEX, 15KON, 08INT, 14WIS and 10CHA - respec around lvl 5 into 18STR, 08DEX, 16KON (TB), 08INT, 14WIS and 10CHA.
(I will NOT eat an Aunties Hair in my Play-Through(s)!) I eat delicious... Aunt.... ehm, Apples. Whole.
With this Build, wearing Armour is possible. See what you like best.
I don't LIKE building Chars around items - but these gloves... well, I make an exception for these suckers.
The club of Hill-Giant Strength is also an option, and if you want to stay with using potions, don't respec 18STR, put it into WIS and CHA,
maybe even into INT, if you prefer the helmet to the Ogre-Smarts. (An enlightened Ogre is found right next to the Helmet.)
This build also works the other way around: First Monk, then Stalker - but the Stalker gives stuff I really like... Disguise Self, Talk to Animals, Initiative and more.
Your way of "stealing" the idol is fun - but the deed can be done much easier... with less slaughter. But do as you please :).
Very nice video. Thank you for making it.
I farmed auntie Ethel for an hour and now have 100+ elixirs I have a problem
You went a bit nuts on the druids, could have just exposed Kahga and then taken the idol.
Imagine using a staff instead of unarmed strikes
You went tavern brawler with 8 strength... This, is NOT OPTIMAL. The point of Tavern Brawler is to MAX strength; and yes... wear freaking armor because you DON'T give a flying crap about Dex in this kind of build. Also; don't state there won't be a second build - that's you being an ass. There's no point in publishing HALF of a freaking build guide. : /
This is a question for someone who is still newer to bg3, but wouldn't the elixir he drink supplement that? And wouldn't the gloves that you get from the creche that give 18 to dex be worth running?
Just a quick note, you can level to monk 9 and then respec to monk 6 + rogue 3
@jamesdeer3129 rogue skills at 1-2 are not that impressive, you basically do all 3 levels to get fast hand at rouge lv3. If you don’t care for it, just stay with monk and respec after lv9. Not more efficient, but personal preference
You don't need to buy the graceful cloth... when you kill her, you can just take it. Some items dissapear when taking from dead vendors, not this one.
Great vid! While I do like the unarmed combat style I don't think I'll be doing monk for my first playthrough. I am curious though as mentioned on the even # stat allocations, how does that affect Str being 21 with the elixir? I haven't bought the game yet but am still interested in this.
The +21 str doesn't mean anything bad, just that it isn't giving any more benefit than +20 str would
When you walk through to the monastery there definitely are act1 quests that get messed up. I won't say more as it's a spoiler to reveal them but there is 1 in particular that you want to do so i would recommend you finish everything you want to finish in act 1
Yeah, listen to the warning that pops up guys!
Wait, i took a +1 to dex from the hag instead of wisdom, how did you get 20 dex?
for the idol quest, i had used a mage hand to throw the idol where the druids would see me taking it
Dont forget the gloves you can get really early in the south in the swamps jumping from island to island last island has some tree monsters and flying bombers. But after that theres a chest with gloves that give you spark charges each unarmed attack you make.
Im currently lvl 4 in act 1 honour mode and j wonder if i can still make this build, because i dont have any strength elixirs yet. Is this build still playable even if im at 8 strentgh and without any strength elixiirs?
There are a couple items that buff strength but without strength tavern brawler as a fear is worthless
Please do a part two for Act 3 I just started a monk playthrough and want be hitting like a truck so a part two would help
It I'd supreme bull shit that you cannot sneak attack un armed
Unfortunately its the opposite in real dnd but this is a guilty pleasure
Hell yeah. This got me back into BG3. Like others said, the hag has the strength pots and a staff early doors at the grove. I already feel like I'm playing the strongest melee character I've ever played and I'm only lvl 3.
Aint no way this dude commited druid 911 just to steal an idol
A tip for restocking merchants, they restock every time you lvl so if you respec with withers and only lvl one at a time you get a bunch of restocks for the price of 100gold that way you dont progress time
and stealing from withers will never aggro him, so basically free