Small fun fact to get the build online sooner and don't mind forgoing a little RP: you can Let Aradin knock out Zevlor and you can pickpocket Zevlor infinitely to get the Hellrider's Pride without stopping the rite of thorns! So you can get both this and whispering promise as soon as you get to the grove.
@@drunemeton i think if you select the dialog option that mentions the druid (halsin) you will get a subsequent dialog option About Aradin being angry and you can just select "sit back and watch". Aradin always knocks out Zevlor
You're very right about the inherent resource management of the game with long rests, my 1st playthru I actually missed some story things because I only long rested when I *really* needed it, not to make the game harder but because I just felt like that made sense. You can easily have over 1000 camp supplied by level 3 so it's also just a little perplexing to me they give out such an absurd amount
I finished my Honor run with just over 4000 camp supplies. And not only did I never buy or steal any from vendors . . . I was actively selling high value food items for cash. And I wasn't shy about taking long rests. Its crazy. And yet every week there are a couple desperate people posting on reddit that they have run out of food and can't long rest! 🤣
@@trengilly01 yeah its honestly crazy, if I wasnt using elixir of hill giant strength for my paladin during honor I could have comfortably long rested after every combat. I just didnt wanna have to drink elixirs 24/7
It perplexes me how often people don't long rest. There's a lot of stuff tied to long resting in dnd and videos games based off the system. 99.9% of non-quest story/companion events are tied to long resting in some way in this game. There's even an exhaustion mechanic that they, for some reason, chose to not include that forces you to rest. You know what's really confusing? The fact that even though you can long rest a bajillion times to use up all 47000 camp supplies you find, there's still way more rotten food out there. Are they memeing us?
Cleric with Spirit Guardians and Luminous Armor is such a fantastic foundation for any playthrough. No matter how you build it out from there (Fire Acuity Life Cleric, Reverberation Tempest Cleric, heal-oriented Life Cleric, etc.) you will have an elite party member. Always good to see a new build video from you, Aestus.
I thought it was just me that does this. I ALWAYS have a Cleric. I decide on Light, Life, or Tempest, then I start building my party based on the type of Cleric I chose. Great video. Good job
Your build videos are easily my favorite BG3 content! I've been jamming Life Cleric in Honour mode and have been struggling to maximize Warding Bond on it and these small choices (Force Conduit shield, Resilient Con ect) have been EXACTLY what I've been looking for!
I'm also using your Ice Knight in the same playthrough And instead of mourning Frost on the cleric I'm using the defender flail until Necro Staff. The +1 AC and physical damage reduction is great!
Another excellent build guide. I for one would love to see a video talking about how you go about minimizing long rest. I can kind of see how your builds optimize for that (the focus on health and damage reduction along with builds to maximize damage without burning through spell slots) but it would be great to get more info!
You mention buying the Amulet of the Devout from the storm shore tabernacle. You have to steal it from the basement. If you send it to camp you will not get cursed for some reason.
@@chuckchan4127 What's your point? Nearly nobody will ever need to partial long rest with how plenty the camp supplies are. Most people will probably not even know about it from their own play.
It's actually interesting: You aim to improve by minimalizing on resource usage, while I love to look for new ways to exploit resources as much as possible. This is similar in theory (exploring gameplay space), but different in practice (where you end up doing what).
Its the difference between tactics and strategy. In a tactics game, what's fun is a challenging combat where your decisions in combat matter. In a strategy game its the decisions you make outside of combat that matter most; if a combat is challenging then you've failed as a strategist. Of course, both are valid. I love both kinds of games. I will say though, BG3 seems much more of a tactics game then a strategy game. Playing like a strategy game feels like using a wrench as hammer, i.e. it can work, but its not what its designed to do.
@@Aestus_RPG That's exactly it, yes. I loved being able to save so many buffs for when I go into the Pool in Act 2 - half my screen was filled with them. The section became very easy as a result - even in HM. And I began to accumulate spell scrolls and potions for Act 3 - using a Rogue 11 to never fail a Sleight of Hand check. The remainder of Act 3 will be very easy as a result. I don't need spell caster, for example when everybody has all the scrolls they'd ever need and more. This can be very fun, leading to all kinds of exploration (in combat and party composition). You get the gist. BG3 is definitely exploitable in this way. Going the tactician's way about it can be very exciting too - I for one really enjoy playing Gothic (that old game from 2001), and adding handicaps to my playthroughs, like never picking up any items, or only using magic.
The reverb items are awesome on clerics in act 2 when most use holy lance helm and adamantine shield but I agree that in most cases i prefer to go with the bless/blade ward effect or more radiating orbs. Another great vid thx
I've come to appreciate your videos, mainly because you give an honest account of what you're on about and tend to cover multiple aspects of the game, including early game. It's refreshing in this sea of 'BEST EVAR BUIL U DONT ABOUT' crap videos that only showcase janky level 12 builds that are only achievable in the last 15% of the game. I don't always agree with your takes (and I will always run Shadowheart as a Life 6/Ancients 6 and will die before I change that), but I still enjoy hearing an in depth explanation of how things work and how X compares to Y. tl;dr Good content, sir. Edit: Forgot to mention that I'm trying out the retaliation mage thing as a way to incorporate an actual full caster. I typically do Swords/BM, Life/Ancients, and Barb/Monk with that last slot kind of...dangling. Nothing I put there ever seems to feel right. Maybe this will?
If you can reach +9 minimum con saving throw bonus, then your minimum role will be 10, which should prevent nearly all concentration interruptions. Its very hard to reach this without a con proficiency bonus, especially early on. If you insist on going pure cleric then your first feat could go into resilient constitution, making sure to +2 your con ability at game start to 17, so that it tips you over into 4 + prof. By the time you have spirit guardians, you'll only be 2 saving throw away from that all important +9 where small damage can no longer break concentration. You'll have to take a 22 damage hit in order to have a chance of concentration breaking because you can't possibly fail the DC10
I highly recommend level 1 storm sorcerer for the con saving throws at least around level 6 or 7 character level. It's helped with mobility and gives you vertical movement without the need for misty step
I running a similar cleric after seeing this but in my case I take the amulet of greater health and a cheesy 1 level wizard dip for wet blasting myrmidons and globe of invulnerability.
An offensive cleric build I love use the gloves of beligerent skies and the boots of stormy clamor making ennemies just have bad hit rates and turn prone very quickly. Combine that with lathanders light ehich counts as a condition even if the enemy isny undead you can get close to an enemy with spirit guardians and they have a good chance of instantly falling prone it's pretty neat.
Yup totally agree Cleric is amazing! I typically find it hard to go straight class with them though because their best spells come on so early One level in Sorcerer or Wizard gives them access to Shield spell which more than doubles their durability especially against enemies affected by radiating orb One level dip in Sorcerer for bonus action flight or wizard for scribing wizard spells of course you can only prepare a few spells unless you use the headband of intellect which I did use for a whole run and it was effective having 4 powerful wizard spells on a Cleric typically non concentration since Spirit Guardians is just to good to not use
@@Aestus_RPG You only need 10 levels in Cleric for Divine Intervention I typically do grab 11 levels in Cleric since Heroes Feast can be fun to use especially when playing with 3 friends everyone appreciates buffs Divine Intervention is kind of niche though because it can be a life saver but it’s one use and I’ve never had to use it to save a run it was more like let me use this to absolutely trivialize this typically hard fight I just don’t value a ASI or feat over the benefits that a one level dip in Sorcerer or Wizard brings
@@Aestus_RPG I do sometimes do just 5 levels of Cleric for Spirit Guardians and then something like 6 levels of Paladin and then one level of Sorcerer that can be a powerful melee build I WISH!!! That Lore bard got access to all spells like in 5e because I would do a paladin 6/ lore bard 6 and grab spirit guardians and shield spell
@@Aestus_RPG Out of curiosity what feat at level 12 would be stronger than having the Shield spell and Tempestuous Magic? Of course if you use tadpoles I suppose that subclass feature doesn’t mean much but I ban certain items and powers with my characters of course I don’t have anything against my friends running those abilities but most people I know don’t like using Arcane Acuity items since they’re just so powerful and make other people in the group feel invalidated since there’s only a couple of the items making some characters far stronger at shut down
Awsome build video im super exited to use all your builds from last few videos on my next playthrough when I finish my finals, are you going to do any other team comps with other classes? Id love to see how you approach the kits and itemisation of other classes you haven't covered yet.
I'm glad you like them! Yes, I am currently doing a run that is testing a strategy that builds around summons. I'm sure some of those will become build videos.
I take your reasoning about interacting with the long rest mechanics, but gentle pushback: that still feels like an arbitrary, self-imposed limitation since long resting is virtually unlimited in BG3 with as much camp supplies as you can find/buy. So while a player CAN long rest every couple battles if they want, you are CHOOSING not to. So it does appear like an arbitrary ruleset for the purpose of -- as you say -- (self-imposed) testing your build efficiency. Larian's design choices don't require or imply such an intended playstyle, in my view. Which is great! Every player can approach the game as they like for their most fun! (As a minor subpoint, therefore I find the long rest Divine Intervention to be essentially worthless. I'd prefer the Devotee's Mace to at least have a +3 weapon with Radiant for a melee party member that can be used the rest of Act 3.)
I've never said it isn't self-imposed, of course it is a choice. My point is that it is not an arbitrary choice. Larian designed BG3 but they did NOT design the system BG3 uses, so their intent with the game is completely irrelevant to the design goals of the core system.
@@Aestus_RPG True they didn't design the system but by drowning you in camp supplies (and lack of consequences for resting often), they completely undermined the point of it. Instead of a game of where resource management is important like 5e (obviously depending on DM/campaign), BGIII is game where you can maximize your strength without regards to the cost. I'm not sure they intended people to loot almost every single container and get all camp supplies they will ever need mid Act 1. Why would they have merchants selling CS, spells/items that grant the effect of LR and SR or buff costs for Tactician/Honor if they didn't intend on making resting a valuable resource? The game seems way too easy (imo) even on honor if you rest all the time. Limited rests is quick and dirty way to counter this and arguably more true to the intention Larian wanted I think. I prefer modding the game harder to account for this. I plan on playing again after modding tools have been around for a while and hope more difficulty mods come out. If a games hardest difficulty needs player imposed rules to make it difficult then design is flawed imo. Doesn't mean game can't be good I just find most games way too easy these days. That being said, people can play however they want. Just my 2 cents.
@@thelorddragon6902 I agree. All the talk about "everyone should play how they want to" is just boring, because no one disagrees. Play how you want to folks! Its just a game, there is no virtue in playing one way over another. Ok, now that that has been said, lets talk about fun ways to play. Limiting long rests is fun, and it makes sense that it is fun, because its the best way to preserve the tactical depth of the core system.
@@Aestus_RPG I don't know about that part -- using cool stuff is fun! I have all these wild spells and item abilities and class skills and all that, I want to use them in fights! Not have to plan and preserve and consider about everything in my kit because I know I'm not getting a long rest to restore them for another 3 hours of gameplay or not until just before Myrkul or whatever. And yeah, it's definitely true the game becomes far easier when resting often, ain't no doubt about that.
Funny like great builds stays on items I am skipibg as totally useless. Radiatin orb is obe of those. I kind of asked my self what good it does to light someone :) Thanks for build. I love life clerics and I wanted to find a way to make mine strong. But I just realized that I lost my blesser as cleric has to concentrate on Spirit guardians. Gale on Haste most likely. And my Tav is selunite moon druid. Last slot is for those who are there for area story….. Maybe mass healing word can take case of bless….
Thank you so much, this a very timely video! Just about to enter act 2 with a life cleric in honor mode and I'm going to adapt to include the radiating orb package now. How would you rate light cleric vs life cleric for this build? Does light cleric not have enough healing?
Thanks for the great video. two questions: what route do you take to the selunite outpost. I think you said at LVL3? Normally i wait to LVL 4 because you have to fight your way to get there. Also it would be great to see parts of your 0-1 long rest runs in Act 3. I don’t doubt you but i cannot imagine how to do that especially if using your cleric spells. I can think of Angelic slumber and Angelic repireve, the bath in House of Hope, staff of spellpower, markoheskir, spellcrux amulet, and pearl of power amulet. but I can’t see how thats enough given how frequently I use cleric spells. maybe because i use tempest or light cleric for damage as well as buffs, which eats spell slots fast.t
Why do I always hear people say you shouldn’t need a dedicated healer in bg3 and dnd yet there’s also always someone running a cleric with heal spells?
Interesting build. I never found it necessary to have a pure cleric in the party. I prefer an oath of ancients paladin lore bard variant for control, healing and buffs. I think honor mode is pretty forgiving in this game though I'm curious if you have a stealth assassin build go-to. I find them extremely powerful in a party.
I haven’t heard you mention Radiant Retort at all in these guides, and as someone who is slowly preparing an Honor Mode run, I’m concerned about it. How do you deal with Radiant Retort in act 3?
@@Aestus_RPG ok, good to know it’s just that simple. Worried about not having radiant spirit guardians, but I guess necrotic spirit guardians does most of the work
how would the shield 'absolute's protector' interact with warding bond? it might be better than 'swires sledboard', as it protects from magical damage (but does this apply to redirected damage too?) which is arguably a greater threat than physical damage (especially with stuff like heavy armor mastery potentially nullifying physical damage outright when combined with resistances).
9:52 I'd argue if you don't run out of cutscenes in said act you are being efficient enough and less is just a self imposed challenge. Nothing against people who want to make it harder on themselves but if you're skipping a bunch of character story etc. to measure success and justifying it as a built in mechanism to measure success that's kind of an odd stance to me. Either way, to each our own. Also at 10:27 I don't see how house of hope restoration makes any sense for this ruleset. It has all the benefits of a long rest but absolutely zero downsides like losing your buffs, elixirs, summons etc. making it just a more gamebreaking long rest even if it doesn't technically count as one.
Story is never missed, just rest a few times back to back to get the story. House of Hope isn't about the Restoration Pool. Ban it, don't ban it, it doesn't matter. What I was talking about was Hope giving you an extra Divine Intervention. That is the really cool part.
@@Aestus_RPG that's fair then. I did know Hope does give one I just usually don't even end up using it. Not that I play some honour with additional rules anyways, casual win is enough for me. For the long rest story point: that's fair, I'd argue it makes the story progression feel way worse when you get it all in a clump but most people here probably could recite the story anyways so it's understandable to not care that much anymore.
I'm sorry much as I like your videos if the idea was to severely limit long rests, they wouldn't have put in massive amounts of camp supplies (without ever stealing any or having to buy). The game itself contradicts that point.
What are your favorite feats as a Cleric? I love heavy armour master (if my subclass allows it) and obviously Alert is great, but what are some other nice options? Just stat improvement and resilient: constitution?
I gotta ask: if you are limiting your long rests, aren't you just omitting large swaths of the game's story? Personally, even on my nth or whatever run, I just cannot deal without seeing the cutscenes or pushing forward the story of my companions. Builds are builds but it's still a role-playing game, so deliberately missing content is just not something I could do. That's not a criticism, obviously, I've just been wondering how you deal with this game, which depends on the long rest mechanic to tell its story, when you limit that mechanic so strongly. Do you still partial rest?
You can limit long rests and still experience 100% of the story, you just need to rest back to back a few times to trigger the camp events. So I seldom rest, but when I do I rest 3-4 times in a row and count it as one rest. I hear people say "its still a role-playing game" a lot, but why don't people say "its still a tactics game?" Its just as much a tactics game as it is a role playing game.
Limiting long rests is definitely something you made up dude 😂. Which is fine but like you gotta stop being so defensive about this. Also when you tried to explain that it just made it more confusing
Crazy that you copied 90% of my build. 😠😠😠😠😠 Literally the only change I made was using the Ring of Mental Inhibition over Crusher's ring. Also, theoretically if you care a ton about minmaxxing, you can probably put this build on a Wood Elf to get the +2 bonus from Shar (which good guy Shadowheart doesn't have) & the iconic Wood Elf movement speed increase. It's basically half of Crusher's Ring for free.
How do you go about fitting a non-moon druid into a team comp? With always taking cleric, along with usually one sorc/wiz, one melee, and one ranged class i have a hard time fitting it in and usually respec out by level 6.
I ran spore Druid for Act 3 of my honor run with a Swords Bard, Abjuration Wiz, and Thrower Barb. It works as a control/supporter that could do damage if needed . Not sure it has good synergy with cleric, I think it ends up filling the same type of role.
@@EriqBowie yea thats what im kinda getting at, druid feels like a kinda cleric/caster mix, but not good enough to replace either so it just feels weird. I've also avoided throwing builds, maybe it would feel better being more of a ranged based set up, playing more keep-away and letting the ground cc spells work better
@@Aestus_RPG seems to me they can be a substitute for either, but probably are inferior in most cases. Sort of a jack-of-all trades class that doesn’t really offer any reason to pick them over another class.
With your rule set, what would you run as your 4th slot after cleric, sorc/wiz, and land/spore then? Seems like it would compete with a bard slot or you just run no melee.
Generic and overrated light orb/spirit guardian cleric… no real benefit in having this type of character in your active party imo. This is also going against what you suggested in previous videos, mainly spreading tiny bits of AoE damage instead of focusing enemies and preventing them from taking actions. You are basically giving away a party slot for a for spirtguardian orb spreading, that can already be applied by other classes, sacrificing damage and crowd control effectiveness, Aid, heroe’s feast warding bond are nice to have but honestly nothing more than a safety net and not required if played well, not to mention that camp buffing is way more efficient to get this buffs. Highly disagree that hellriders gloves and whispering Promis are cleric items and they can utilize them the best, any class can buff the whole party with these items by simply popping a potion or use mass healing word that can easily be acquired from the amulet in the mykonoid colony. I kicked clerics out of my parties after my first play through, however I tried them again in a recent run and came to the same conclusion, they are just useless most of the time, and I do not need them for buffing/healing or applying orbs and small amounts of spread out damage.
Hard disagree Clerics are S-Tier or even A- tier. You opinion is subjective. Clerics are highly depended on the radiant orb and two other items you get early in act 1 that gives bless and bladeward. Without these items they would probably be a C-D Tier class. You can tell Larian threw in such OP items to buff cleric up to the level of other classes. The facts are that clerics are not and will not be better battlefiled controllers or damage dealers then Wizards or Sorcerers. Absolutely zero contest, this is objectively true. Now that this is established you need to look at the other 2 remaining factors Summons & Buffs and healing. Clerics get summon planar ally but Wizards get Myrmidons which are a far better summon, so clerics lose again in this category. That leaves Buffs and healing: Healing spells are irrelevant in bg3 because you can use potions with a bonus action in D&D 5th edition. This leaves Buffs and the main ones are Bless, Aid, Warding Bond, Death Ward, Freedom of Movement and Heroes Feast. Bless is good early on but die to requiring concentration and a full action you will never use it past level 5. Aid is an incredible spell i agree. Warding Bond, death ward & FOM can all be cast by camp casters. Clerics are also a very front loaded class that get virtually no significant spells after level 3, when you get spirit guardians at level 5 you have hit peak cleric.
I gotta agree. I have never used or needed a cleric all that much. Sure, a spirit guardian caster is useful in one or two encounters in act 2 but otherwise, you can use reverb gear more optimally on other classes. A lot of the value Aestus gives to the class comes straight out of his rules of engagement, which are completely arbitrary and foreign to the way the game functions. Anyway, I'm not sure how I'll play Shadowheart origin: I'm trying to keep my origin runs close to the intended class, so respeccing out of cleric is no go but I'll probably try tempest. I just hate the light cleric/spirit guardian/radiating build so much. No fun at all for me.
@@wasienka The radiant orb build is the most boring ever. Literally all they are good for is casting mass healing word and spirit guardians for the entire game.
Also summon planar Aly and Heros feast plus the odd guiding bolt lol. But yeah i feel most of the time my cleric is a waste of space compared to what else i could be doing with another companion.
Small fun fact to get the build online sooner and don't mind forgoing a little RP: you can Let Aradin knock out Zevlor and you can pickpocket Zevlor infinitely to get the Hellrider's Pride without stopping the rite of thorns! So you can get both this and whispering promise as soon as you get to the grove.
I actually get pissed if he doesn’t do that! (Meaning I fail the perception roll…)
@@drunemeton i think if you select the dialog option that mentions the druid (halsin) you will get a subsequent dialog option About Aradin being angry and you can just select "sit back and watch". Aradin always knocks out Zevlor
Wake up babe - Aestus just posted a new BG3 build guide
You're very right about the inherent resource management of the game with long rests, my 1st playthru I actually missed some story things because I only long rested when I *really* needed it, not to make the game harder but because I just felt like that made sense. You can easily have over 1000 camp supplied by level 3 so it's also just a little perplexing to me they give out such an absurd amount
I finished my Honor run with just over 4000 camp supplies. And not only did I never buy or steal any from vendors . . . I was actively selling high value food items for cash. And I wasn't shy about taking long rests. Its crazy. And yet every week there are a couple desperate people posting on reddit that they have run out of food and can't long rest! 🤣
@@trengilly01 yeah its honestly crazy, if I wasnt using elixir of hill giant strength for my paladin during honor I could have comfortably long rested after every combat. I just didnt wanna have to drink elixirs 24/7
It perplexes me how often people don't long rest. There's a lot of stuff tied to long resting in dnd and videos games based off the system. 99.9% of non-quest story/companion events are tied to long resting in some way in this game. There's even an exhaustion mechanic that they, for some reason, chose to not include that forces you to rest.
You know what's really confusing? The fact that even though you can long rest a bajillion times to use up all 47000 camp supplies you find, there's still way more rotten food out there. Are they memeing us?
Helldiver's Pride says it only applies Blade Ward when you heal *another* creature. The Reviving Hands can apply Blade Ward to self.
Good catch! I knew that, but forgot when I was making the video.
The merchant that sells cloak of protection btw if anyone needs to know is Quartermaster Talli found in last light inn Act ll
Cleric with Spirit Guardians and Luminous Armor is such a fantastic foundation for any playthrough. No matter how you build it out from there (Fire Acuity Life Cleric, Reverberation Tempest Cleric, heal-oriented Life Cleric, etc.) you will have an elite party member. Always good to see a new build video from you, Aestus.
I thought it was just me that does this. I ALWAYS have a Cleric. I decide on Light, Life, or Tempest, then I start building my party based on the type of Cleric I chose. Great video. Good job
I really connected with the Charmander analogy. Great video
Your build videos are easily my favorite BG3 content!
I've been jamming Life Cleric in Honour mode and have been struggling to maximize Warding Bond on it and these small choices (Force Conduit shield, Resilient Con ect) have been EXACTLY what I've been looking for!
I'm also using your Ice Knight in the same playthrough And instead of mourning Frost on the cleric I'm using the defender flail until Necro Staff. The +1 AC and physical damage reduction is great!
lol I was just about to look for a life cleric build for my next playthrough, perfect timing :D
Another excellent build guide. I for one would love to see a video talking about how you go about minimizing long rest. I can kind of see how your builds optimize for that (the focus on health and damage reduction along with builds to maximize damage without burning through spell slots) but it would be great to get more info!
I've been chipping away at a script for that, but I'm not sure if it will become anything
You mention buying the Amulet of the Devout from the storm shore tabernacle. You have to steal it from the basement. If you send it to camp you will not get cursed for some reason.
Right, I knew that I just forgot. Thanks for catching that error!
You’re the reason I’m still into BG3. Keep up the great work man love to see it!
Thanks! Will do!
I agree limiting long rest is good for showing how strong things are.
But in bg3, you kind of have to rest to get your RP events.
Partial long rests are there to get your RP moments without burning resources.
@@chuckchan4127 What's your point? Nearly nobody will ever need to partial long rest with how plenty the camp supplies are. Most people will probably not even know about it from their own play.
@Ragatokk After a long rest, you can spam a bunch of partial rests to get RP events done. Then go back to playing with minimal long rests.
Thanks for taking the time to educate us. Really appreciate it.
I like this style of build video better than your others! Getting into the minutia is good! You should do more build videos!
It's actually interesting: You aim to improve by minimalizing on resource usage, while I love to look for new ways to exploit resources as much as possible.
This is similar in theory (exploring gameplay space), but different in practice (where you end up doing what).
Its the difference between tactics and strategy. In a tactics game, what's fun is a challenging combat where your decisions in combat matter. In a strategy game its the decisions you make outside of combat that matter most; if a combat is challenging then you've failed as a strategist.
Of course, both are valid. I love both kinds of games. I will say though, BG3 seems much more of a tactics game then a strategy game. Playing like a strategy game feels like using a wrench as hammer, i.e. it can work, but its not what its designed to do.
@@Aestus_RPG That's exactly it, yes.
I loved being able to save so many buffs for when I go into the Pool in Act 2 - half my screen was filled with them. The section became very easy as a result - even in HM.
And I began to accumulate spell scrolls and potions for Act 3 - using a Rogue 11 to never fail a Sleight of Hand check. The remainder of Act 3 will be very easy as a result. I don't need spell caster, for example when everybody has all the scrolls they'd ever need and more. This can be very fun, leading to all kinds of exploration (in combat and party composition).
You get the gist. BG3 is definitely exploitable in this way.
Going the tactician's way about it can be very exciting too - I for one really enjoy playing Gothic (that old game from 2001), and adding handicaps to my playthroughs, like never picking up any items, or only using magic.
@@N1ghthavvk Yeah, the whole point of my rule set is to minimize impact of strategy so that the tactics system of the game gets to shine.
The reverb items are awesome on clerics in act 2 when most use holy lance helm and adamantine shield but I agree that in most cases i prefer to go with the bless/blade ward effect or more radiating orbs.
Another great vid thx
I've come to appreciate your videos, mainly because you give an honest account of what you're on about and tend to cover multiple aspects of the game, including early game. It's refreshing in this sea of 'BEST EVAR BUIL U DONT ABOUT' crap videos that only showcase janky level 12 builds that are only achievable in the last 15% of the game. I don't always agree with your takes (and I will always run Shadowheart as a Life 6/Ancients 6 and will die before I change that), but I still enjoy hearing an in depth explanation of how things work and how X compares to Y.
tl;dr Good content, sir.
Edit: Forgot to mention that I'm trying out the retaliation mage thing as a way to incorporate an actual full caster. I typically do Swords/BM, Life/Ancients, and Barb/Monk with that last slot kind of...dangling. Nothing I put there ever seems to feel right. Maybe this will?
It's a strong build, so maybe! It seems like we have very different approaches to team compositions, so it's hard for me to judge.
I would like to see more of these videos please! Also Amazing content!
If you can reach +9 minimum con saving throw bonus, then your minimum role will be 10, which should prevent nearly all concentration interruptions. Its very hard to reach this without a con proficiency bonus, especially early on. If you insist on going pure cleric then your first feat could go into resilient constitution, making sure to +2 your con ability at game start to 17, so that it tips you over into 4 + prof. By the time you have spirit guardians, you'll only be 2 saving throw away from that all important +9 where small damage can no longer break concentration. You'll have to take a 22 damage hit in order to have a chance of concentration breaking because you can't possibly fail the DC10
This looks meaty, looking forward to it.
I highly recommend level 1 storm sorcerer for the con saving throws at least around level 6 or 7 character level. It's helped with mobility and gives you vertical movement without the need for misty step
I don't think its worth the loss in spell tempo
I running a similar cleric after seeing this but in my case I take the amulet of greater health and a cheesy 1 level wizard dip for wet blasting myrmidons and globe of invulnerability.
An offensive cleric build I love use the gloves of beligerent skies and the boots of stormy clamor making ennemies just have bad hit rates and turn prone very quickly. Combine that with lathanders light ehich counts as a condition even if the enemy isny undead you can get close to an enemy with spirit guardians and they have a good chance of instantly falling prone it's pretty neat.
Yup totally agree Cleric is amazing!
I typically find it hard to go straight class with them though because their best spells come on so early
One level in Sorcerer or Wizard gives them access to Shield spell which more than doubles their durability especially against enemies affected by radiating orb
One level dip in Sorcerer for bonus action flight or wizard for scribing wizard spells of course you can only prepare a few spells unless you use the headband of intellect which I did use for a whole run and it was effective having 4 powerful wizard spells on a Cleric typically non concentration since Spirit Guardians is just to good to not use
What about Divine Intervention?
@@Aestus_RPG
You only need 10 levels in Cleric for Divine Intervention I typically do grab 11 levels in Cleric since Heroes Feast can be fun to use especially when playing with 3 friends everyone appreciates buffs
Divine Intervention is kind of niche though because it can be a life saver but it’s one use and I’ve never had to use it to save a run it was more like let me use this to absolutely trivialize this typically hard fight
I just don’t value a ASI or feat over the benefits that a one level dip in Sorcerer or Wizard brings
@@Aestus_RPG
I do sometimes do just 5 levels of Cleric for Spirit Guardians and then something like 6 levels of Paladin and then one level of Sorcerer that can be a powerful melee build
I WISH!!! That Lore bard got access to all spells like in 5e because I would do a paladin 6/ lore bard 6 and grab spirit guardians and shield spell
@@robertlavallee8358 Ok, 11 levels is close enough. I understand people who feel that way. I DO value ASI and feats more though.
@@Aestus_RPG
Out of curiosity what feat at level 12 would be stronger than having the Shield spell and Tempestuous Magic?
Of course if you use tadpoles I suppose that subclass feature doesn’t mean much but I ban certain items and powers with my characters of course I don’t have anything against my friends running those abilities but most people I know don’t like using Arcane Acuity items since they’re just so powerful and make other people in the group feel invalidated since there’s only a couple of the items making some characters far stronger at shut down
Awsome build video im super exited to use all your builds from last few videos on my next playthrough when I finish my finals, are you going to do any other team comps with other classes? Id love to see how you approach the kits and itemisation of other classes you haven't covered yet.
I'm glad you like them! Yes, I am currently doing a run that is testing a strategy that builds around summons. I'm sure some of those will become build videos.
Lets gooo, keep it up boss
I take your reasoning about interacting with the long rest mechanics, but gentle pushback: that still feels like an arbitrary, self-imposed limitation since long resting is virtually unlimited in BG3 with as much camp supplies as you can find/buy. So while a player CAN long rest every couple battles if they want, you are CHOOSING not to.
So it does appear like an arbitrary ruleset for the purpose of -- as you say -- (self-imposed) testing your build efficiency. Larian's design choices don't require or imply such an intended playstyle, in my view.
Which is great! Every player can approach the game as they like for their most fun!
(As a minor subpoint, therefore I find the long rest Divine Intervention to be essentially worthless. I'd prefer the Devotee's Mace to at least have a +3 weapon with Radiant for a melee party member that can be used the rest of Act 3.)
I've never said it isn't self-imposed, of course it is a choice. My point is that it is not an arbitrary choice. Larian designed BG3 but they did NOT design the system BG3 uses, so their intent with the game is completely irrelevant to the design goals of the core system.
@@Aestus_RPG I see what you're saying now, I wasn't thinking about base D&D, gotcha
@@Aestus_RPG True they didn't design the system but by drowning you in camp supplies (and lack of consequences for resting often), they completely undermined the point of it. Instead of a game of where resource management is important like 5e (obviously depending on DM/campaign), BGIII is game where you can maximize your strength without regards to the cost. I'm not sure they intended people to loot almost every single container and get all camp supplies they will ever need mid Act 1. Why would they have merchants selling CS, spells/items that grant the effect of LR and SR or buff costs for Tactician/Honor if they didn't intend on making resting a valuable resource?
The game seems way too easy (imo) even on honor if you rest all the time. Limited rests is quick and dirty way to counter this and arguably more true to the intention Larian wanted I think. I prefer modding the game harder to account for this. I plan on playing again after modding tools have been around for a while and hope more difficulty mods come out. If a games hardest difficulty needs player imposed rules to make it difficult then design is flawed imo. Doesn't mean game can't be good I just find most games way too easy these days.
That being said, people can play however they want. Just my 2 cents.
@@thelorddragon6902 I agree. All the talk about "everyone should play how they want to" is just boring, because no one disagrees. Play how you want to folks! Its just a game, there is no virtue in playing one way over another.
Ok, now that that has been said, lets talk about fun ways to play. Limiting long rests is fun, and it makes sense that it is fun, because its the best way to preserve the tactical depth of the core system.
@@Aestus_RPG I don't know about that part -- using cool stuff is fun! I have all these wild spells and item abilities and class skills and all that, I want to use them in fights! Not have to plan and preserve and consider about everything in my kit because I know I'm not getting a long rest to restore them for another 3 hours of gameplay or not until just before Myrkul or whatever.
And yeah, it's definitely true the game becomes far easier when resting often, ain't no doubt about that.
You can just use a camp cleric to cast warding bond instead to save the cleric from taking more damage
@@destructoidmark007 I ban that strategy in my runs.
Funny like great builds stays on items I am skipibg as totally useless. Radiatin orb is obe of those. I kind of asked my self what good it does to light someone :) Thanks for build. I love life clerics and I wanted to find a way to make mine strong. But I just realized that I lost my blesser as cleric has to concentrate on Spirit guardians. Gale on Haste most likely. And my Tav is selunite moon druid. Last slot is for those who are there for area story….. Maybe mass healing word can take case of bless….
Favorite class
Thank you so much, this a very timely video! Just about to enter act 2 with a life cleric in honor mode and I'm going to adapt to include the radiating orb package now.
How would you rate light cleric vs life cleric for this build? Does light cleric not have enough healing?
Both are very good! Light does more damage but less healing. You can't really go wrong with either.
Me, doing my best forest gump impression lmao
I like to do a 1 lvl dip on wizard and use the crown that gives 17 intelligence so i can cut the wizard/sorcerer from the team
That is not sufficient to cut the wizard/sorcerer slot from the team.
I thought Light clerics were good .... this is a whole other level
I may have missed it, but how are you flying with shadowheart towards the end of the video?
Thanks for the great video. two questions: what route do you take to the selunite outpost. I think you said at LVL3? Normally i wait to LVL 4 because you have to fight your way to get there.
Also it would be great to see parts of your 0-1 long rest runs in Act 3. I don’t doubt you but i cannot imagine how to do that especially if using your cleric spells.
I can think of Angelic slumber and Angelic repireve, the bath in House of Hope, staff of spellpower, markoheskir, spellcrux amulet, and pearl of power amulet. but I can’t see how thats enough given how frequently I use cleric spells. maybe because i use tempest or light cleric for damage as well as buffs, which eats spell slots fast.t
Why do I always hear people say you shouldn’t need a dedicated healer in bg3 and dnd yet there’s also always someone running a cleric with heal spells?
It useful to have heal spells, but you don't need or want a dedicated healer. Your healer should do other things.
Interesting build. I never found it necessary to have a pure cleric in the party. I prefer an oath of ancients paladin lore bard variant for control, healing and buffs. I think honor mode is pretty forgiving in this game though I'm curious if you have a stealth assassin build go-to. I find them extremely powerful in a party.
I'm still working on the stealth assassin build.
I haven’t heard you mention Radiant Retort at all in these guides, and as someone who is slowly preparing an Honor Mode run, I’m concerned about it. How do you deal with Radiant Retort in act 3?
Don't do Radiant damage to them.
@@Aestus_RPG ok, good to know it’s just that simple. Worried about not having radiant spirit guardians, but I guess necrotic spirit guardians does most of the work
@@Silvermud21 Nah, just don't cast Spirit Guardian for those fights. They aren't difficult fights, you don't need to go all out.
how would the shield 'absolute's protector' interact with warding bond? it might be better than 'swires sledboard', as it protects from magical damage (but does this apply to redirected damage too?) which is arguably a greater threat than physical damage (especially with stuff like heavy armor mastery potentially nullifying physical damage outright when combined with resistances).
Sorry maybe I missed something, but why do you put 16 points in DEX if the medium armor only gives 2 AC from 14 DEX?
For the initiative bonus
Plus awesome arrows are a thing and DEX is your to hit + dmg!
9:52 I'd argue if you don't run out of cutscenes in said act you are being efficient enough and less is just a self imposed challenge. Nothing against people who want to make it harder on themselves but if you're skipping a bunch of character story etc. to measure success and justifying it as a built in mechanism to measure success that's kind of an odd stance to me. Either way, to each our own.
Also at 10:27 I don't see how house of hope restoration makes any sense for this ruleset. It has all the benefits of a long rest but absolutely zero downsides like losing your buffs, elixirs, summons etc. making it just a more gamebreaking long rest even if it doesn't technically count as one.
Story is never missed, just rest a few times back to back to get the story.
House of Hope isn't about the Restoration Pool. Ban it, don't ban it, it doesn't matter. What I was talking about was Hope giving you an extra Divine Intervention. That is the really cool part.
@@Aestus_RPG that's fair then. I did know Hope does give one I just usually don't even end up using it. Not that I play some honour with additional rules anyways, casual win is enough for me.
For the long rest story point: that's fair, I'd argue it makes the story progression feel way worse when you get it all in a clump but most people here probably could recite the story anyways so it's understandable to not care that much anymore.
The Cleric without pants, i hope
I'm sorry much as I like your videos if the idea was to severely limit long rests, they wouldn't have put in massive amounts of camp supplies (without ever stealing any or having to buy). The game itself contradicts that point.
@@jrtomlin1805 Larian did that, ot WotC. I am talking about the combat system that Larian did not design.
@@Aestus_RPG Fair enough.
If Balduran then no need for regen ring.
Is there a way to create an undestructible superweighted chest build, like in Divinity Original Sin 2 ?
Perhaps, I haven't looked into it.
Let’s see it
What are your favorite feats as a Cleric? I love heavy armour master (if my subclass allows it) and obviously Alert is great, but what are some other nice options? Just stat improvement and resilient: constitution?
I always go Alert at 4 and Resilient: Constitution at 8. After that it doesn't really matter, just pick something fun!
two handed build for double staffs! Using her as a full on buffer/healer made most fights trivial. She didnt even have to attack.
@@ChrisZukowski88”Dual Wielder” is an awesome feat for most spell casters! So many riders to choose and +1 AC.
hellriders pride is significantly worse than reviving hands, hellriders doesnt work on the caster only other targets
Permanent bless??? That’s broken
Edit: AND permanent physical resistance? Oh my gods
Yeah!
Why not use Phalar Aluve?
It's a good option, I just prefer others.
I gotta ask: if you are limiting your long rests, aren't you just omitting large swaths of the game's story? Personally, even on my nth or whatever run, I just cannot deal without seeing the cutscenes or pushing forward the story of my companions. Builds are builds but it's still a role-playing game, so deliberately missing content is just not something I could do. That's not a criticism, obviously, I've just been wondering how you deal with this game, which depends on the long rest mechanic to tell its story, when you limit that mechanic so strongly. Do you still partial rest?
You can limit long rests and still experience 100% of the story, you just need to rest back to back a few times to trigger the camp events. So I seldom rest, but when I do I rest 3-4 times in a row and count it as one rest.
I hear people say "its still a role-playing game" a lot, but why don't people say "its still a tactics game?" Its just as much a tactics game as it is a role playing game.
Limiting long rests is definitely something you made up dude 😂. Which is fine but like you gotta stop being so defensive about this. Also when you tried to explain that it just made it more confusing
Crazy that you copied 90% of my build. 😠😠😠😠😠
Literally the only change I made was using the Ring of Mental Inhibition over Crusher's ring.
Also, theoretically if you care a ton about minmaxxing, you can probably put this build on a Wood Elf to get the +2 bonus from Shar (which good guy Shadowheart doesn't have) & the iconic Wood Elf movement speed increase. It's basically half of Crusher's Ring for free.
Are you accusing me of stealing it? Have you published your version of the build anywhere?
@@Aestus_RPG Yes, you will be hearing from my lawyer >:(. You will give me 10,000,000 dollars.
How do you go about fitting a non-moon druid into a team comp? With always taking cleric, along with usually one sorc/wiz, one melee, and one ranged class i have a hard time fitting it in and usually respec out by level 6.
I ran spore Druid for Act 3 of my honor run with a Swords Bard, Abjuration Wiz, and Thrower Barb. It works as a control/supporter that could do damage if needed . Not sure it has good synergy with cleric, I think it ends up filling the same type of role.
@@EriqBowie yea thats what im kinda getting at, druid feels like a kinda cleric/caster mix, but not good enough to replace either so it just feels weird. I've also avoided throwing builds, maybe it would feel better being more of a ranged based set up, playing more keep-away and letting the ground cc spells work better
Druids are not a substitute for Clerics or Sorc/Wiz, but they can be good in their own right.
@@Aestus_RPG seems to me they can be a substitute for either, but probably are inferior in most cases. Sort of a jack-of-all trades class that doesn’t really offer any reason to pick them over another class.
With your rule set, what would you run as your 4th slot after cleric, sorc/wiz, and land/spore then? Seems like it would compete with a bard slot or you just run no melee.
Generic and overrated light orb/spirit guardian cleric… no real benefit in having this type of character in your active party imo. This is also going against what you suggested in previous videos, mainly spreading tiny bits of AoE damage instead of focusing enemies and preventing them from taking actions.
You are basically giving away a party slot for a for spirtguardian orb spreading, that can already be applied by other classes, sacrificing damage and crowd control effectiveness, Aid, heroe’s feast warding bond are nice to have but honestly nothing more than a safety net and not required if played well, not to mention that camp buffing is way more efficient to get this buffs.
Highly disagree that hellriders gloves and whispering Promis are cleric items and they can utilize them the best, any class can buff the whole party with these items by simply popping a potion or use mass healing word that can easily be acquired from the amulet in the mykonoid colony.
I kicked clerics out of my parties after my first play through, however I tried them again in a recent run and came to the same conclusion, they are just useless most of the time, and I do not need them for buffing/healing or applying orbs and small amounts of spread out damage.
There is no other class that can spread radiant Orb as well as Clerics. They are mandatory in my runs. S-tier class.
Hard disagree Clerics are S-Tier or even A- tier. You opinion is subjective. Clerics are highly depended on the radiant orb and two other items you get early in act 1 that gives bless and bladeward. Without these items they would probably be a C-D Tier class. You can tell Larian threw in such OP items to buff cleric up to the level of other classes. The facts are that clerics are not and will not be better battlefiled controllers or damage dealers then Wizards or Sorcerers. Absolutely zero contest, this is objectively true. Now that this is established you need to look at the other 2 remaining factors Summons & Buffs and healing. Clerics get summon planar ally but Wizards get Myrmidons which are a far better summon, so clerics lose again in this category. That leaves Buffs and healing: Healing spells are irrelevant in bg3 because you can use potions with a bonus action in D&D 5th edition. This leaves Buffs and the main ones are Bless, Aid, Warding Bond, Death Ward, Freedom of Movement and Heroes Feast. Bless is good early on but die to requiring concentration and a full action you will never use it past level 5. Aid is an incredible spell i agree. Warding Bond, death ward & FOM can all be cast by camp casters. Clerics are also a very front loaded class that get virtually no significant spells after level 3, when you get spirit guardians at level 5 you have hit peak cleric.
I gotta agree. I have never used or needed a cleric all that much. Sure, a spirit guardian caster is useful in one or two encounters in act 2 but otherwise, you can use reverb gear more optimally on other classes. A lot of the value Aestus gives to the class comes straight out of his rules of engagement, which are completely arbitrary and foreign to the way the game functions.
Anyway, I'm not sure how I'll play Shadowheart origin: I'm trying to keep my origin runs close to the intended class, so respeccing out of cleric is no go but I'll probably try tempest. I just hate the light cleric/spirit guardian/radiating build so much. No fun at all for me.
@@wasienka The radiant orb build is the most boring ever. Literally all they are good for is casting mass healing word and spirit guardians for the entire game.
Also summon planar Aly and Heros feast plus the odd guiding bolt lol. But yeah i feel most of the time my cleric is a waste of space compared to what else i could be doing with another companion.
Do you think can I still try this with untouched Shadowheart from my first run, in act 3? I have missed probably most of act 1 and act 2 materials.
As long as you still have the items for the build, yes, you can.
Untouched Shadowheart? What are you, an alien?