Hey pals, one error in this video: the Lightning Jabber is listed as an Act 1 weapon, when it's actually Act 2. Because of the bugs with this item doing way more damage than it should, I don't use it, and misremembered it as available from the Act 1 kuo-toa in the underdark. It's still S tier for all the reasons given, but both the placement in the list and the Act 1 summary have incorrect info as a result. Sorry for the mistake!
The returning pike can honestly be considered S+ because it does everything you mention, and it functions as a counter to disarms from conditions like fear or the battlemaster githyanki who make me hate my life. Returning weapons will equip themselves to your main hand after being thrown, even if you didnt previously have it equipped so if you are disarmed, you can throw the returning pike (or Nyrulna in the late game) and re-equip yourself with a decent weapon without losing an action. That is very valuable and can save you in those encounters where disarms are common, especially the gith encounters because damn do those crossbow users love disarm.
You can use bound weapon with a character not in your party in camp and then equip it on a character you will be using in your party out of camp, which then makes anything a returning weapon.
returning weapons are so strong....in act III you can switch at will between Dwarven Thrower and Nyrulna without the usual action cost of equiping a new weapon
I did one playthrough with only Polearms for melee weapons, and it was a whole different feel, the reach is a massive advantage in close combat situations. Sentinel and Polearm Master are a powerful combo.
Due to the bug of thrown items not returning when initiating combat, I found the lightning jabber incredibly useful on my thrown weapon build as a side weapon alongside the returning pike and Nyrulna. Having reliable, high damage magic weapons to throw was incredibly helpful to start fights.
Sorrow is really good on Bladelocks as it uses the spellcasting modifier as you mentioned; especially with Ring of Arcane Synergy. Thematically and mechanically a dope Archfey weapon. Having acess to Thorn Whip in general is also really nice in case Nere ends up in lava and you have to fish him up. All the loot and head are still up for grabs
One thing about the Cleave weapon action that didn’t get mentioned (although that could just be because it’s a bit niche): the fact that it’s an arc instead of a targeted attack means that one thing you can do with it is damage enemies who are protected by Sanctuary. While being able to do this once per short rest is not likely to outright defeat one, it could finish one off on low hp, or force a Concentration save, or contribute to the damage to Sanctuary-protected targets that have other effects on the battlefield (for instance in the Orin fight maybe your AoE spells destroyed a couple of the ritual cultists but left one isolated and in range of an attack, you could potentially use Cleave to handle that one and focus further AoE spells on others that are closer together)
Cleave also has slightly more range than melee range so if your just barely not close enough to hit someone cleave usually can reach them. Its come in handy numerous times in my 1600 hrs
The drakethroat glaive also can synergise pretty well with a lot of builds. Like giving my paladin thunder damage so he could inflict a lot of reverberation on bosses
Or putting Fire/Thunder on a weapon, such as an offhand hand-croswbow, for the arcane acuity hats >_> It's no joke that it might be the best weapon in the game...
Dancing breeze makes for a really fun rogue with GWM and max sneak attack. You want to start with larellian's wrath(?) or phalaar aluve as they are the earlier options for versatile finesse, and take a level of war cleric for a bonus mainhand attack as well!
You forgot to mention that the Drakethroat Glaive spell is NOT concentration unlike the Paladin spell so its even better. It can also be twinned by Sorcerers.
Phalar Aluve or Larethian's Wrath are decent options for the Dancing Breeze GWM builds without the need to respec in Act 3. I used a Gnome Fighter 11/War Cleric 1 build with the Nimblefinger Gloves for 24 Dex and Armour of Agility. She was a little whirlwind of destruction and basically untouchable
After you completed the weapons videos, you should consider doing one with all thrown weapons. As they're scattered amongst weapon types, having one list that compares them amongst themselves would be useful.
the moonlight glaive is also really good against myrkul since he cant move. it gives you and your ALLIES free advantage for 3 turns which can be really useful. beyond that though, its pretty much outclassed by the halberd of vigilance as you said
Moonlight Glaive is one of my favorites for Minthara because it leaves her bonus action open for Soul Branding and can have Thunder damage added from the Drakethroat Glaive for a great radiant orb/reverb build.
Playing BG3 has been my first experience doing anything D&D related, been doing a playthrough with a couple of friends. I have absolutely no prior knowledge of the relative value of different weapons/abilities within D&D, and no knowledge of the meta. With that said, as soon as I saw Halberd of Vigilance on a vendor I immediately thought, "What the fuck, this thing is busted" and picked it up without a second thought.
Vision of Absolute is also baller against the drider in act 2. I was just carrying it as an extra throw weapon when this encounter triggered, but drider guy got close up so i just stabbed him with it and it was a game changer at that moment.
To say I was heavily disappointed by the Selune’s Spear of night would be a huge understatement on my first playthrough were I tried to be a good character. Then I did my semi-evil honor mode run as Shadowheart and got Shar’s spear, I honestly really considered my moral compass and just how brokenly powerful it is compared to the atrocity you have to commit to get it. Honestly, totally worth it 😂😂 I had Shadowheart more attached to it than Lae’zel with her silver sword
Would love to see a tier list of all weapons with a ‘thrown’ property. This would just be aggregated from your other lists, but maybe slightly tweaked with the intention of being used as a thrown weapon. You hype up throw builds a lot, so it would be nice to see a consolidated list. Thanks for the informative content 😊
PSA: The Hellbeard Halberd does not inflict poisoned on every attack, it's very inconsistent and I would even call it an uncommon occurrence unfortunately. I was constructing a for fun hypermobile dragoon inspired eagleheart build with wolverine aspect that would hypothetically be able to inflict prone, poisoned, and by extension - maimed in a single diving strike and cause enemies to skip their turn not being able to get up and I was very disappointed to find out I was lied to by the wiki about the halberd's poison effect. Still feels really good when you do get it to proc but the lack of consistency keeps it from being any good. If I'm missing something I'd love if someone could tell me, for now I'm just finding less optimal workarounds.
@@Cephalopocalypse That is my suspicion, but there is no visual indication of there being a saving throw, and it also behaves in a funny way when stacked with poisoner's gloves where sometimes they visibly pass the saving throw from poisoner's gloves but still get poisoned from the halberd's innate effect or sometimes they get poisoned from both and have an extra turn of it applied. Between the two of those things procing it is much more consistent but still not entirely reliable. The only other thing I can think of is that it may be a PS5 port thing. Great video as always, by the way.
Harmonium Halberd - I have found this to be a pretty good stat stick for a thrower build early in act two. You will replace it, but early on it is nice to run around with 22 strength and throw random bombs and junk as a barbarian. The returning pike is also fun, of course, but there is something very interesting about having to choose exactly what bomb or barrel you are throwing next.
Yeah you can cause it is a finesse weapon which is what sneak attack requires. GWM rogue build with it is pretty funny and could be fairly strong with the right multiclass I think.
1.Get your duergar Bhaalist armor and Shar's spear. 2. Put him/her invisible next to the hardest enemy. 3. Make your Assassin GS hit with dark arrows. (Double dmg) 4. Let the spear do her thing (Double dmg) 5. Make your EK thower throw even more spears to them (D o u b l e D m g!!!) 5. No need to repeat. One of the most pleasently disgusting things I have done in this game.
That's right, thanks for pointing that out! I don't use the item in my own play thanks to the bugs, and misremembered it as coming from the act 1 kuo-toa. Added a pinned comment about the mistake!
its funny that a cleric is probably one of the worst characters to give selunes spear to. firstly, clerics weapon attacks arent very good. they’d much rather have something that boosts their spellsave dc. second, the advantage on wisdom saves is nice, but clerics already have high wisdom so they dont need it as much as another character would. And lastly, while moonmote can be very strong, its fighting against spirit guardians for your concentration. imo the best class to give this weapon to would maybe be a fighter since they usually dont have anything better to concentrate on and get con save proficiency
You gotta do a Solo Honour mode guide. Not just a build video, but maybe a general guide for surviving solo. B/c of your videos, i cant play honour mode with 4 party members anymore. Its too easy. But solo is no joke. Ive made it to lvl 6 so far with a halfling GloomStalker. I believe you would enjoy making the videos. Thanks!
The Dancing Breeze is fantastic on a paladin. Drop STR so you can have high DEX and CHA. I had Minthara as a 2 Paladin / 10 Sword Bard, rocking that weapon all through Act 3. Banishing Smite with a finesse glaive, not to mention Divine Smiting with the Flurry weapon action. She would clear at least half the battlefield alone on her first turn.
Thanks for another great video and for focusing on a category that doesnt get lots of love. i know this is only about this limited category but I am wondering if you think the Returning Pike is a better choice than Nyrulna? You said Returning Pike was “best in slot” for throwing weapon builds except Eldritch Knight … but I feel like Nyrulna is better than the Returning Pike except that its AOE thunder damage harms friends as well as enemies. But i think the friendly fire is worth it. what’s your view on Nyrulna?
Really do love these videos. I tend to have a hard time forgoing shields on my characters, so it's interesting seeing all the strong non-spear items, I'm glad they seem good enough to compete with 1-hand and shields. I'm curious to see what list tridents will be ranked at, since they're so few and besides being martial weapons are the same as spears mechanically afaik (with different weapon actions ofc). Also I only just noticed with this ranking that the items are ordered alphabetically by act, this has no bearing on the video, just thought it funny it took me this long
The worst part of Shar's Spear of Evening is that getting it locks you out of quite a few powerful act 3 items. It is an incredible weapon, but the opportunity cost is very high.
@@GKoopa You lose out on Dammon's act 3 offerings, such as the Armor of Persistence, everything sold by the Ironhand Gnomes (and the Runepowder Bomb they give you,) and Mattis's stock (albeit, not much of note there besides one of the only items that functions in wild shape).
@@snakeman830 sure but if you make sure that Marcus kidnaps Isabel or you kill her before saving Wulbren. When you rescue hum from prison and he take the boat, he will not show up at last light in at all, and he will be in act3.
Giving Shadowheart the Watcher’s Guide and then swapping to Xyanyde when you get access to it probably doesn’t help the “she always misses” allegations since both of their special properties require you to miss to work.
Regarding the ridiculousness of the Returning Pike's name, it was originally lil' guys that Grat was trying to sell his haul to. The major crime was that when my Halfling Tav buys it, it shrinks in size compared to when Karlach is holding it 😶
I have thought of using the dancing breeze as a rogue weapon with great weapon master for a really weird but still viable. Additional attacks would be preferable for gwm, but the conditional bonus action attacks can make up the difference, with thief’s extra bonus action
Sorrow is a very good Pact of the Blade weapon as it lets you use charisma for the sorrowful lash cantrip where it would normally use intelligence which more or less all melee characters will dump. Only downside is that you sacrafice some AC as its obviously two handed
Although many pikes were almost 30 ft long they were not held and swung that way- the ends of those extra long pikes were pressed into the ground to repel/deter cavalry charges. I don't think ANY pike of any size were used as a throwing weapon they were just too heavy for that but in this great game we can launch them at terrific distances. That's why the original early forms of what later evolved into dungeons and dragons was called fantasy wargames. Sadly (or not) I'm old enough to have played dungeons and dragons from the very beginning in the 1970's.
Vision of Absolute on a Tiger Heart barbarian with Aspect of the Wolverine and Gloves of Baneful Striking gives disadvantage on dex saving throws and -1d4 to all saving throws. You can also oil of bane for an additional -1d4 and/or use reverberation. Two attacks with Tigers Bloodlust reliably applies blind and always maims the targets in an AoE. At this point they can’t move and can’t use ranged attacks, so are effectively neutralised.
Drakethroat Glaive’s Draconic Elemental Weapon can be twin-cast by a level 2 Sorcerer, including a camp follower sorcerer. So two characters can enjoy this buff.
Suppose the other point with cleave in the early game is that sometimes it can be more efficient to hit two enemies even if the aggregate damage is lower. Ie if you have two goblins with 4hp, its much better to hit twice for 5 damage each than hit once for 10
I don’t think you mentioned that the Drakethroat Glaive’s Elemental Weapon can be twined by a sorcerer. I often use it to allow two of my archers a bonus to every shot.
I would love Polearms in BG3 if Polearms master worked properly. 1) Polearms Master’s preemptive AoO does not consistently trigger at max weapon distance. (I’ve had multiple cases of enemies walking within 5ft - Polearms Master + Sentinel is not consistent for this reason) 2) The bonus action attack from Polearms Master does not apply all damage add-one iirc. It is significantly weaker than a standard attack.
It's pretty tough honestly! There's a ton of ways you could do it, so I settled on "mostly makes sense and includes ~30 weapons so it makes a good video length"
I know there're probably better stat-sticks out there for Sharpshooter archers, but if Sorrowful Lash counts as a cantrip, what about sticking Sorrow in the hands of a level 7 Eldritch Knight with 3 levels of Thief for Fast Hands, so that War Magic can give that coveted third Titanstring Shot a level early? Or maybe toss the Helmet of Grit on an Eldritch Knight + Gloomstalker multiclass for a fourth shot?
Hey! You forgot to mention that a sorcerer can twin the Drakethroat elemental weapon spell. Two archer characters with extra hit chance and damage? Yes please!
Hi! Would you say that the Unseen Menace + another relevant ring is better than Halberd of Vigilance + Risky Ring for a Lockadin? For Act 2 and onwards. I really like the unseen menace but since I'm going to be using the Risky Ring, I don't know if just the -1 needed to crit makes it worth keeping over some of the Act 2 two handed weapons.
That's right, thanks for pointing that out! I don't use the item in my own play thanks to the bugs, and misremembered it as coming from the act 1 kuo-toa. Added a pinned comment about the mistake!
Where is the Lightning Jabber available in Act 1? I only know of it being available in Act 2, and I can't find anything online about any Act 1 locations for it.
Breaching Pikestaff is very effective in a party that focuses on maximizing the Bhaalist Armor, it's one of the only piercing weapons that works with GWM.
@@bentrieschmann Yeah it's very weird, they're functionally identical to spears in this game. I suspect it might have been just to keep Nyrulna from being even more busted than it already is
Phalar Aluve or Larethian's Wrath are usually the ones I've had before switching (though honestly sometimes I keep Phalar Aluve all the way to the end). It works really well on a finesse paladin, a trickster cleric with a rogue dip, or Minsc.
That's right, thanks for pointing that out! I don't use the item in my own play thanks to the bugs, and misremembered it as coming from the act 1 kuo-toa. Added a pinned comment about the mistake!
Hey pals, one error in this video: the Lightning Jabber is listed as an Act 1 weapon, when it's actually Act 2. Because of the bugs with this item doing way more damage than it should, I don't use it, and misremembered it as available from the Act 1 kuo-toa in the underdark.
It's still S tier for all the reasons given, but both the placement in the list and the Act 1 summary have incorrect info as a result. Sorry for the mistake!
For a moment I thought you were talking about the spear/trident you can get instead of the Spellsparkler when you said Act 1.
Came here to point that out. Thanks for the note!
Honorable mention for drakethroat glaive that you can twincast the elemental weapon buff and have two players with the buff.
very true!
did not know that, wicked!
Damn, I'm STILL learning stuff about this game. Cool trick, never heard of it.
You just blew my mind.
You can Put the buff on all weapons in your Party.
No matter how the vision of the absolute is ranked, I saw Laezel solo that Spectator.
My Shadowheart hopped up on a Strength elixir used it on the Phase Spider Queen. Lae'zel could indeed make better use of it.
The returning pike can honestly be considered S+ because it does everything you mention, and it functions as a counter to disarms from conditions like fear or the battlemaster githyanki who make me hate my life.
Returning weapons will equip themselves to your main hand after being thrown, even if you didnt previously have it equipped so if you are disarmed, you can throw the returning pike (or Nyrulna in the late game) and re-equip yourself with a decent weapon without losing an action. That is very valuable and can save you in those encounters where disarms are common, especially the gith encounters because damn do those crossbow users love disarm.
That's a great trick! I always have disarmed characters do something else, but that's much better
You can use bound weapon with a character not in your party in camp and then equip it on a character you will be using in your party out of camp, which then makes anything a returning weapon.
returning weapons are so strong....in act III you can switch at will between Dwarven Thrower and Nyrulna without the usual action cost of equiping a new weapon
Also want to add that returning weapons are a great ranged option for strength monks since unequiping is a free action.
I did one playthrough with only Polearms for melee weapons, and it was a whole different feel, the reach is a massive advantage in close combat situations. Sentinel and Polearm Master are a powerful combo.
That, and I just think they're cool, especially glaives 😎
Too bad Polearm Master attacks are bugged and don't work properly
Due to the bug of thrown items not returning when initiating combat, I found the lightning jabber incredibly useful on my thrown weapon build as a side weapon alongside the returning pike and Nyrulna. Having reliable, high damage magic weapons to throw was incredibly helpful to start fights.
Sorrow is really good on Bladelocks as it uses the spellcasting modifier as you mentioned; especially with Ring of Arcane Synergy. Thematically and mechanically a dope Archfey weapon. Having acess to Thorn Whip in general is also really nice in case Nere ends up in lava and you have to fish him up. All the loot and head are still up for grabs
Unseen Menace my beloved
One thing about the Cleave weapon action that didn’t get mentioned (although that could just be because it’s a bit niche): the fact that it’s an arc instead of a targeted attack means that one thing you can do with it is damage enemies who are protected by Sanctuary. While being able to do this once per short rest is not likely to outright defeat one, it could finish one off on low hp, or force a Concentration save, or contribute to the damage to Sanctuary-protected targets that have other effects on the battlefield (for instance in the Orin fight maybe your AoE spells destroyed a couple of the ritual cultists but left one isolated and in range of an attack, you could potentially use Cleave to handle that one and focus further AoE spells on others that are closer together)
Cleave also has slightly more range than melee range so if your just barely not close enough to hit someone cleave usually can reach them. Its come in handy numerous times in my 1600 hrs
Ettercaps in the Whispering Depths, who fight alongside the Phase Spiders also have multiple sets of eyes, as well as Karniss.
I wonder if Mimics count too?
The drakethroat glaive also can synergise pretty well with a lot of builds. Like giving my paladin thunder damage so he could inflict a lot of reverberation on bosses
Or putting Fire/Thunder on a weapon, such as an offhand hand-croswbow, for the arcane acuity hats >_>
It's no joke that it might be the best weapon in the game...
Dancing breeze makes for a really fun rogue with GWM and max sneak attack. You want to start with larellian's wrath(?) or phalaar aluve as they are the earlier options for versatile finesse, and take a level of war cleric for a bonus mainhand attack as well!
You forgot to mention that the Drakethroat Glaive spell is NOT concentration unlike the Paladin spell so its even better. It can also be twinned by Sorcerers.
very true!
Phalar Aluve or Larethian's Wrath are decent options for the Dancing Breeze GWM builds without the need to respec in Act 3. I used a Gnome Fighter 11/War Cleric 1 build with the Nimblefinger Gloves for 24 Dex and Armour of Agility. She was a little whirlwind of destruction and basically untouchable
After you completed the weapons videos, you should consider doing one with all thrown weapons. As they're scattered amongst weapon types, having one list that compares them amongst themselves would be useful.
the moonlight glaive is also really good against myrkul since he cant move. it gives you and your ALLIES free advantage for 3 turns which can be really useful. beyond that though, its pretty much outclassed by the halberd of vigilance as you said
Love the Returning Pike purely because the image of throwing a 6m/20ft pike at someone is hilarious to me.
Moonlight Glaive is one of my favorites for Minthara because it leaves her bonus action open for Soul Branding and can have Thunder damage added from the Drakethroat Glaive for a great radiant orb/reverb build.
The light of creation combos well with the ring bracing band (found in the same place) that negates the drawback to the weapon.
Playing BG3 has been my first experience doing anything D&D related, been doing a playthrough with a couple of friends. I have absolutely no prior knowledge of the relative value of different weapons/abilities within D&D, and no knowledge of the meta. With that said, as soon as I saw Halberd of Vigilance on a vendor I immediately thought, "What the fuck, this thing is busted" and picked it up without a second thought.
Ceph, I can honestly say I love you at this point. You absolute unit
Skinburster is S tier in my heart because my first playthrough Tav used it for basically the entire game
Never really considered these weapons for my melee character, but I will now. Thanks
Vision of Absolute is also baller against the drider in act 2. I was just carrying it as an extra throw weapon when this encounter triggered, but drider guy got close up so i just stabbed him with it and it was a game changer at that moment.
To say I was heavily disappointed by the Selune’s Spear of night would be a huge understatement on my first playthrough were I tried to be a good character. Then I did my semi-evil honor mode run as Shadowheart and got Shar’s spear, I honestly really considered my moral compass and just how brokenly powerful it is compared to the atrocity you have to commit to get it. Honestly, totally worth it 😂😂 I had Shadowheart more attached to it than Lae’zel with her silver sword
Would love to see a tier list of all weapons with a ‘thrown’ property. This would just be aggregated from your other lists, but maybe slightly tweaked with the intention of being used as a thrown weapon. You hype up throw builds a lot, so it would be nice to see a consolidated list. Thanks for the informative content 😊
PSA: The Hellbeard Halberd does not inflict poisoned on every attack, it's very inconsistent and I would even call it an uncommon occurrence unfortunately. I was constructing a for fun hypermobile dragoon inspired eagleheart build with wolverine aspect that would hypothetically be able to inflict prone, poisoned, and by extension - maimed in a single diving strike and cause enemies to skip their turn not being able to get up and I was very disappointed to find out I was lied to by the wiki about the halberd's poison effect. Still feels really good when you do get it to proc but the lack of consistency keeps it from being any good. If I'm missing something I'd love if someone could tell me, for now I'm just finding less optimal workarounds.
Interesting! It definitely did last time I tested it - it's possible there was supposed to be a saving throw that was fixed in a patch
@@Cephalopocalypse That is my suspicion, but there is no visual indication of there being a saving throw, and it also behaves in a funny way when stacked with poisoner's gloves where sometimes they visibly pass the saving throw from poisoner's gloves but still get poisoned from the halberd's innate effect or sometimes they get poisoned from both and have an extra turn of it applied. Between the two of those things procing it is much more consistent but still not entirely reliable. The only other thing I can think of is that it may be a PS5 port thing.
Great video as always, by the way.
More history segments to your videos please this is awesome!
Harmonium Halberd - I have found this to be a pretty good stat stick for a thrower build early in act two. You will replace it, but early on it is nice to run around with 22 strength and throw random bombs and junk as a barbarian. The returning pike is also fun, of course, but there is something very interesting about having to choose exactly what bomb or barrel you are throwing next.
Ooh, yes... and add in aspect of the monkey to blind enemies with hurled salamis!
sorrow also has great synergy with the ring of arcane synergy
Been having fun using that build with my blade warlock, and I can use the Diadem on another character!
And it's cantrip is the only cantrip in the game that allows you to add your spell casting modifier. That is a lot of bonus damage.
I hate that Polearm Master doesn't apply to tridents, because Nyrulna is such a Dragoon weapon but you can't do the busted Feat combo with it.
If I’m not mistaken you can sneak attack with the dancing breeze as well.
Yeah you can cause it is a finesse weapon which is what sneak attack requires. GWM rogue build with it is pretty funny and could be fairly strong with the right multiclass I think.
1.Get your duergar Bhaalist armor and Shar's spear.
2. Put him/her invisible next to the hardest enemy.
3. Make your Assassin GS hit with dark arrows. (Double dmg)
4. Let the spear do her thing (Double dmg)
5. Make your EK thower throw even more spears to them (D o u b l e D m g!!!)
5. No need to repeat.
One of the most pleasently disgusting things I have done in this game.
How do you get the lightning jabber in act 1? You listed it as such, but searching for information about it online, it seems to be from act 2.
Yeah Lightning Jabber is from Act 2. I think he flubbed.
That's right, thanks for pointing that out! I don't use the item in my own play thanks to the bugs, and misremembered it as coming from the act 1 kuo-toa. Added a pinned comment about the mistake!
54:09 that is THE most Canadian-sounding "about" I've heard in a long time lmao
gotta rep red green eh
@@Cephalopocalypseblame canadaaa
its funny that a cleric is probably one of the worst characters to give selunes spear to. firstly, clerics weapon attacks arent very good. they’d much rather have something that boosts their spellsave dc. second, the advantage on wisdom saves is nice, but clerics already have high wisdom so they dont need it as much as another character would. And lastly, while moonmote can be very strong, its fighting against spirit guardians for your concentration.
imo the best class to give this weapon to would maybe be a fighter since they usually dont have anything better to concentrate on and get con save proficiency
You gotta do a Solo Honour mode guide. Not just a build video, but maybe a general guide for surviving solo. B/c of your videos, i cant play honour mode with 4 party members anymore. Its too easy. But solo is no joke. Ive made it to lvl 6 so far with a halfling GloomStalker. I believe you would enjoy making the videos. Thanks!
The Dancing Breeze is fantastic on a paladin. Drop STR so you can have high DEX and CHA. I had Minthara as a 2 Paladin / 10 Sword Bard, rocking that weapon all through Act 3. Banishing Smite with a finesse glaive, not to mention Divine Smiting with the Flurry weapon action. She would clear at least half the battlefield alone on her first turn.
Thanks for another great video and for focusing on a category that doesnt get lots of love. i know this is only about this limited category but I am wondering if you think the Returning Pike is a better choice than Nyrulna? You said Returning Pike was “best in slot” for throwing weapon builds except Eldritch Knight … but I feel like Nyrulna is better than the Returning Pike except that its AOE thunder damage harms friends as well as enemies. But i think the friendly fire is worth it. what’s your view on Nyrulna?
Really do love these videos. I tend to have a hard time forgoing shields on my characters, so it's interesting seeing all the strong non-spear items, I'm glad they seem good enough to compete with 1-hand and shields. I'm curious to see what list tridents will be ranked at, since they're so few and besides being martial weapons are the same as spears mechanically afaik (with different weapon actions ofc).
Also I only just noticed with this ranking that the items are ordered alphabetically by act, this has no bearing on the video, just thought it funny it took me this long
weirdly, tridents don't work with polearm master, so they'll be included with the other versatile weapons
@@Cephalopocalypse Ah, that makes sense then. Thanks for clarifying!
The worst part of Shar's Spear of Evening is that getting it locks you out of quite a few powerful act 3 items. It is an incredible weapon, but the opportunity cost is very high.
It does? What items are those? I thought you could still do almost everything in act 3 even with that branch.
@@GKoopa You lose out on Dammon's act 3 offerings, such as the Armor of Persistence, everything sold by the Ironhand Gnomes (and the Runepowder Bomb they give you,) and Mattis's stock (albeit, not much of note there besides one of the only items that functions in wild shape).
@@snakeman830iron hand gnomes survive to act 3 if you wrap up last light before freeing then.
@@purplen33t17 If you kill the Nightsong, Last Light dies
@@snakeman830 sure but if you make sure that Marcus kidnaps Isabel or you kill her before saving Wulbren. When you rescue hum from prison and he take the boat, he will not show up at last light in at all, and he will be in act3.
Giving Shadowheart the Watcher’s Guide and then swapping to Xyanyde when you get access to it probably doesn’t help the “she always misses” allegations since both of their special properties require you to miss to work.
The Watcher's Guide needs to be S tier because True Strike is S tier. 😉
Regarding the ridiculousness of the Returning Pike's name, it was originally lil' guys that Grat was trying to sell his haul to. The major crime was that when my Halfling Tav buys it, it shrinks in size compared to when Karlach is holding it 😶
I have thought of using the dancing breeze as a rogue weapon with great weapon master for a really weird but still viable. Additional attacks would be preferable for gwm, but the conditional bonus action attacks can make up the difference, with thief’s extra bonus action
Sorrow is a very good Pact of the Blade weapon as it lets you use charisma for the sorrowful lash cantrip where it would normally use intelligence which more or less all melee characters will dump. Only downside is that you sacrafice some AC as its obviously two handed
Although many pikes were almost 30 ft long they were not held and swung that way- the ends of those extra long pikes were pressed into the ground to repel/deter cavalry charges. I don't think ANY pike of any size were used as a throwing weapon they were just too heavy for that but in this great game we can launch them at terrific distances. That's why the original early forms of what later evolved into dungeons and dragons was called fantasy wargames.
Sadly (or not) I'm old enough to have played dungeons and dragons from the very beginning in the 1970's.
Vision of Absolute on a Tiger Heart barbarian with Aspect of the Wolverine and Gloves of Baneful Striking gives disadvantage on dex saving throws and -1d4 to all saving throws. You can also oil of bane for an additional -1d4 and/or use reverberation.
Two attacks with Tigers Bloodlust reliably applies blind and always maims the targets in an AoE. At this point they can’t move and can’t use ranged attacks, so are effectively neutralised.
Drakethroat Glaive’s Draconic Elemental Weapon can be twin-cast by a level 2 Sorcerer, including a camp follower sorcerer. So two characters can enjoy this buff.
Suppose the other point with cleave in the early game is that sometimes it can be more efficient to hit two enemies even if the aggregate damage is lower. Ie if you have two goblins with 4hp, its much better to hit twice for 5 damage each than hit once for 10
I don’t think you mentioned that the Drakethroat Glaive’s Elemental Weapon can be twined by a sorcerer.
I often use it to allow two of my archers a bonus to every shot.
I would love to see a build where you build around the finesse part of the Dancing Breeze
Oregon halberd!
For the light of creation karlach can use it it without any negative effect because she is considered a construct.
Oh that is cool does she have that trait in her character sheet?
I haven't seen that mentioned elsewhere and didn't find that working when I tested it, sadly, though it's possible it was changed in a patch!
I'm here just for Cephalopocalypse, in lieu of a Brorato vid 😊
I would love Polearms in BG3 if Polearms master worked properly.
1) Polearms Master’s preemptive AoO does not consistently trigger at max weapon distance. (I’ve had multiple cases of enemies walking within 5ft - Polearms Master + Sentinel is not consistent for this reason)
2) The bonus action attack from Polearms Master does not apply all damage add-one iirc. It is significantly weaker than a standard attack.
You can also twin cast the drakethroat ability to hit two different weapons!
why do i get the feeling the hardest part of these rankings is deciding what weapons to rank together
It's pretty tough honestly! There's a ton of ways you could do it, so I settled on "mostly makes sense and includes ~30 weapons so it makes a good video length"
The Oregon Halberd hehe 🤠
I know there're probably better stat-sticks out there for Sharpshooter archers, but if Sorrowful Lash counts as a cantrip, what about sticking Sorrow in the hands of a level 7 Eldritch Knight with 3 levels of Thief for Fast Hands, so that War Magic can give that coveted third Titanstring Shot a level early? Or maybe toss the Helmet of Grit on an Eldritch Knight + Gloomstalker multiclass for a fourth shot?
That's a cool idea! I haven't tested it but definitely worth looking into
Did you do the tridents already?
Hey! You forgot to mention that a sorcerer can twin the Drakethroat elemental weapon spell. Two archer characters with extra hit chance and damage? Yes please!
very true!
Returning pike is also very heavy and does extra damage from high ground.
Honestly arcane trickster is busted (mage hand str elixir build) 😅
Hi! Would you say that the Unseen Menace + another relevant ring is better than Halberd of Vigilance + Risky Ring for a Lockadin? For Act 2 and onwards. I really like the unseen menace but since I'm going to be using the Risky Ring, I don't know if just the -1 needed to crit makes it worth keeping over some of the Act 2 two handed weapons.
you can twin cast The drakethroat glaive aswell
Funny, a other ranking stated, that Selunes Spear would be the best spear in the game.
Ok, this is all polearms
Lightning Jabber is out of order-included with Act One items.
That's right, thanks for pointing that out! I don't use the item in my own play thanks to the bugs, and misremembered it as coming from the act 1 kuo-toa. Added a pinned comment about the mistake!
Nice
Nice
Right at the start of the video was my favourite. 'as a standard action ...' you're 3.5e is showing ha ha.
So are we going to get an S tier items tier list after all of these are finished? :)
Where is the Lightning Jabber available in Act 1? I only know of it being available in Act 2, and I can't find anything online about any Act 1 locations for it.
Breaching Pikestaff is very effective in a party that focuses on maximizing the Bhaalist Armor, it's one of the only piercing weapons that works with GWM.
I'm pretty sure every versatile weapon works with GWM, thus every spear would work as well if wielded with two hands.
I always wished that tridents could be counted as polearms for the polearm master feat
yeah, it's weird that they aren't! Especially in Bg3 where a pitchfork is a spear
That explains my question. Cool.
@@bentrieschmann Yeah it's very weird, they're functionally identical to spears in this game. I suspect it might have been just to keep Nyrulna from being even more busted than it already is
What builds with the dancing breeze work in without respeccing? Like what would that character be using before picking that up
Phalar Aluve or Larethian's Wrath are usually the ones I've had before switching (though honestly sometimes I keep Phalar Aluve all the way to the end). It works really well on a finesse paladin, a trickster cleric with a rogue dip, or Minsc.
I'm pretty sure the lightning jabber is an act 2 weapon, not act 1. And because of that, it's not really competing with the returning pike for a while
That's right, thanks for pointing that out! I don't use the item in my own play thanks to the bugs, and misremembered it as coming from the act 1 kuo-toa. Added a pinned comment about the mistake!
Isn't Polearm Master still glitched?
Comment for the algorithm
Are tridents going to be their own video?
weirdly, tridents don't work with polearm master, so they'll be included with the other versatile weapons
I think you forgot the duelists prerogative in your recent videos
that will be in the rapiers tier list!
Why is Narula not mentioned here, Celph?
Will be covered under the tridents list!
Nyrulna should be on here. Tridents not being classified as polearms is so dumb, disregard WotC, smh.
Where’s the trident’s? 😢
weirdly, tridents don't work with polearm master, so they'll be included with the other versatile weapons
Has anyone told you you kind of have the same speaking cadence as Jeremy Crawford?
nice
what about Nyrulna?
What about the djinn trident?
weirdly, tridents don't work with polearm master, so they'll be included with the other versatile weapons
@Cephalopocalypse ok, thanks.
Why no tridents?
weirdly, tridents don't work with polearm master, so they'll be included with the other versatile weapons
i thought lightning jabber is only act 2?
Yep, it's an error in the video - I posted a pinned comment explaining further
No Nyrulna?
That will be in the tridents list!
Without ready action polearms are not good enough.
sooo tridents are not considered polearms? ok
correct - well spotted!
yusssssssssss
Any kind of comment
❤🎉😊
how long can you milk the game with these useless tier lists i wonder
a fun game with comments like this is to click to the person's profile and see all their videos with 15 views
I can't believe you don't put The Watcher's Guide in S tier for the most overpowered On Miss ability in the game 🙄🫣😜