One cool effect about the Doom Hammer that I didn't notice you mention is that the Bone Chill effect is applied even if you miss your attack with the weapon, due to the Maul family of weapons' Tenacity reaction (When you miss an attack, deal damage equal to your Strength modifier anyway (minimum of 1).) This is particularly useful for the end boss of Act 2 to prevent his healing, as Arrows of Ilmater can miss against his high AC, and Bone Chill can be resisted.
This makes the Doom Hammer go from being, in my mind, worse than a +1 maul to better. With out this cool function on miss, then it would be worse than a +1 Maul.
it also works so well because it applies 2 turns. 1 turn sources (like arrows) will wear off after myrkul takes his turn, but he heals on the turn of his little minions, so unless you get initiative AFTER myrkul, the bone chill does nothing. the hammer applies 2 turns so doesn't have that problem
Doom Hammer is S+++/Z-tier vs Myrkul, guaranteed Bone Chill on every turn through Tenacity. Good vs the Wood Woads in the swamp too, and I imagine it would be pretty nuts through the majority of Act 2
Hamarhraft is the core of what I think is the most fun build in the game. The Thunder Frog 6 levels of 4 element monk, 6 levels of storm cleric. Bonus action jump all over the place, build up arcane acuity instantly with the thunder hat, knock all enemies prone with reverb, use action to hit a big crowd control on anything you didn't already decimate. Lore friendly build for Lae-zel since she's the party frog 🐸
YESSS HISTORICAL AND PRACTICAL WEAPON DISCUSSION that’s what I’m here for baby! Please do this a lot, maybe a whole video series, I’m dead serious when I say your approach content is JUST AS DELIGHTFUL when applied there! I believe there is/you would find an audience.
Yessss u absolutely LOVE the punch drunk bastard, I did the whole tiger barb build with it and it ended up doing pretty stupid amounts of damage But what made this build especially fun for me was that I made it work without long resting to get my rages back since I try to keep those “until long rest” buffs as long as possible. What I did was take the honey badger barb feature and carry around a bunch of rotten food to automatically poison myself, which would let me rage for free before combat started. I just totally love the imagery of this jackass getting completely fucked up on moldy tomatoes and cheap wine and then demolishing everything in his path
Everburn blade actually has more of a benefit than you listed here. It lets you kill everything in the last room of the nautiloid for the extra XP, you will actually level up on the Nautiloid and not on the beach. Also, the Cambions drop really good loot (elixers, potions, gold) 1. Use Shadowheart to command drop on Zhalk, this gives you access to the weapon, and also massively decreases his damage output to the mindflayer 2. Get Lae'zel over to that sword and pick it up ASAP (it's magical, so it bypasses Zhalk's slashing resistance) 3. just hit zhalk a bunch of times until he is dead, shoving the mindflayer away to force zhalk to follow lets you also opportunity attack regularly (potion of speed is useful, but not required) 4. make sure to spawn in the hellboar and 2 imps by the control panel before zhalk dies, otherwise the mindflayer will turn on you 5. kill the hellboar and one of the imps, and shove the second imp as far towards the control panel as you can so that the mindflayer goes after the cambions instead 6. let the cambions and mindflayer duke it out while attacking the cambions yourself, preferably with flaming arrows from a candle 7. once the cambions are dead, kill the imp, this will make the mindflayer hostile, but it should be at a low enough health at this point to kill it before it can go again I can usually have everything dead with 3-4 turns remaining to run around and loot everything before using the control panel
17:30 I would say doom hammer is situationally great*, and it's good throughout act 2. It alone made a solo barbarian myrkul trivial. There's an *entire* act which is mostly against undead, you can't say that's a situational weapon, even a +0 one. Probably would have put it in A tier, but B tier is also fine
@@Mhill08 I did a Bearbarian run, with all resistances and a GWM/heal run. As any solo run, it's tough in the beginning. I had to swap to berserker for Auntie Ethel's fight because I wasn't level 5 yet, for example. Against myrkul, fear immunity I'd say is even more important than doom hammer, but both should get you over that hurdle. There's other items and status effects that help but I know that (berserker, hammer) works For a surprising amount of the run early on, I was an unarmored barbarian. Keep it high dex, high con, and use elixirs for strength. Probably the most important item, steroids, right after all the healing potions I would down. Later on I did multi class into thief for the extra bonus actions, I did a crit build with GWM so I didn't want to have them go to waste on all the turns I didn't have to heal (half damage with all the hp that health potions give you, you actually rarely have to heal, only in the toughest most outnumbered of fights) And that's it! Just rage, and claw your way to level 5. Then you can play however you want, multiclassing if you enjoy it, as berserker or bear aspect, or something else. Some notes: I was willing to rage super often and sleep way more than I would normally do in a playthrough. But there seems to be a bug in bg3: if you rage, and the scream plays while your turn has ended (basically use rage, and pass your turn. there's a big window of the animation) you don't lose a rage charge. As long as you don't use it before your first attacks, and you end your turn with it, you have infinite rage charges. It was very convenient, so I used it. Found out about it in around the creche though Aspect of the stallion is not that great, if you think it would go well with the healing theme. It doesn't "refresh" if you still have some of its hit points left over, which is sad. In terms of weapons, I just did any decent great axe or sword until I got the Unseen Menace, which is 10/10 for crit builds, allows you to not use reckless attack which further buffs your durability. End game, giantslayer is always the best. Buff them with drakethroat
I definitely had my toughest fights against githyanki because of the psychic damage and them just generally being menaces. All I can say is speed potion and burst them down before you are. Or find a way to cheese it, haha
Just another request for a Thrown Weapon List, once the other lists are done. I know you will have all covered them under various weapon types, but a consolidated thrown weapon list would be cool, and unique as a list as far as I know.
One major bonus to the Silver sword is that depending on your story choices you can get it almost as soon as you plop into act 3. Which means you get to use it for all the tough act 3 fights. Bulduran sword requires you to do a pretty rough (all tho its super easily cheeseable). This logic also boosts hellfire great axe since you get it without any tough act 3 fights
I love the image of the rat bat situation. You’ve got a sword or axe with a wild name like “Soulbreaker” and yet the highest damage weapon in the game (below Honor mode) is just a bat with nails in it 🤷♂️
Silver Sword was the goat on my bladelock playthrough, hands down. That "decent" psychic damage becomes busted through carrying the resonance stone around which gives enemies vulnerability. The defensive ability to boost mental saves worked to help my offense too. It's natural to have risky ring on cause of constant GWM use, and with those saves it just cut the downsides of the ring by half. With the bloodlust elixir I do just as much damage if not more than the bonus given by Balduraans. It's safe to say the Silver Sword is the best option for anyone using charisma as their attack ability
The silver sword of the Astral Plane can stun Ansur out of his breath weapon. The DC scales off of strength, with a cloud giant potion, it becomes like 22. Also, you can get it before doing any combat since all you need to do is take the deal or pass a dc 25 deception check. Dont see how it is not S tier.
Just finished act 1 on my first run. Karlach (Eagle Heart) has Sassur GS for slash & silence & Hamarhraft for crushing armour & thunder-diving. Absolutely destroys! Thanks again, loving these vids, great explanations including situational grading!
I love your historical analyses. The only real exception to "why isn't this just a polearm" may be the greatsword. They arent nearly as heavy or unweildy as fiction leads us to believe, and far more agile and capable than the greataxe or maul types.
A note about the silver sword is that by the time you get it you also get the warmaster gauntlet which can make enemy have disadvantage on the save against the stun
The Chaos Sword with the Periapt of Wound Closure basically makes you unkillable as a melee fighter. You’re getting a minimum of 18hp per round at 12th level.
A fun part of Punch Drunk Bastard is that the advantage it applies also works with ranged attacks! So as an archer you can spend a bonus action drinking (or use a wine goblet) and attack with advantage for as long as you can keep it up. I havent tried it, but if it also works on spell attack rolls then EB and Scorching Ray builds can have a weird niche with this weapon too.
I was upset you didn't mention the very heavy great axe's viability as an early throwing barb weapon option before you get the returning pike. It isnt a thrown weapon so its damage is based on its weight, which...well its the very heavy great axe
I hope you put my favorite weapon in S-tier on the next video. Charge-Bound Warhammer, remember that it becomes a +2 weapon when it is bound to EK or Warlock. then add another +1 from drakethroat Glaive for an act 2 +3 weapon with an extra d6 of lightning damage. I have looked pretty closely to combat log, im pretty certain it is a full on +2 weapon when bound, but your infinite bg3 wisdom always surprises me. love your videos, keep at it.
I'm able to face the elder brain to finish my first playthrough, but haven't been able to play in over a month, work has been so busy. But I still watch all these videos, and can't wait to start my first honour mode run
Great tierlist, thanks! I'm a little surprised the corpsegrinder is so low. I believe it has the highest damage for a two-hander at the time at which you get it, unless you are a gith (or disguised as one). Arguably the bonuses from the halberd of vigilance make that a better option, but on a fighter I've used this for a good bit of Act 3, until the giantslayer comes along.
Thanks! Luckily, rambling about dungeons and dragons to an empty room is what I'd be doing anyways even if I didn't have a youtube channel, so the hardship is minimal :P
Man I love fighters and ofc Lae'zel. I spend way too much time messing around with building out different types of cleric, wizard and warlock. But its so refreshingly easy to bonk with Lae'zel and support her short rest actions with my bard.
Some interesting choices, I guess I value weapons differently because to me the blooded greataxe and the githyanki greatsword are both B-tier items. I feel that the existence of everburn and sword of justice renders the greataxe to only be marginally better in fringe cases and similarly with the gith sword, it doesn't stick around for very long because of the Soulbreaker Greatsword at the end of Act 1 and even Jorgoral's Greatsword being accessible at a similar time being a close competitor (which I personally prefer because of the special action being on a SR CD and being a great melee AoE which is rare at this stage of the game). Also Silver Sword being A-tier is criminal imo, its the perfect, balanced weapon for a melee Gith character. The damage being spread across different types is relevant when comparing with the Giantslayer and the mental advantage is significant as it provides a ton of protection otherwise hard to access; its also worth noting that it is the best weapon when fighting Illithids funnily enough due to this as well as the resistance to psychic damage. Soulbreaker is the better weapon action out of that the Topple the Big Folk because its does the same bonus damage (except with a spread damage type) and the ability to stun is more universally useful than the large creature+ bonuses of TtBF. I think the defensive and CC ability of the Silver Sword on top of good damage 100% makes it S-tier alongside the Giantslayer which does admittedly do more damage, doesn't provide NEARLY the same level of CC and defensive capabilities to the near-universal weakness of this character type, being mental stats. I understand the logic that at this stage of the game you don't need to worry as much about survivability if you do a lot of damage however the type of defensive bonuses here are hard to access and very useful late in the game, failing a mental saving throw at an unopportune time can end an honour mode run. The Giantslayer is definitely S-tier however I actually think the Silver Sword is better on average simply because it helps to minimise build weaknesses with just one item AND still being a powerful weapon, albiet less damaging than the Giantslayer
Corpsegrinder is the best 2H bludgeon (if we don't count Hamarhraft abuse), if you do a freezer combo for breaking them as a finisher, it's great (pre-wet enemies, use caster with mourning frost for a standard frost-caster build, dish out the frost damage and anything left standing and has reasonable HP left with chilled, then you can wet them again for quick frozen -> next round you shatter them with hammer... or eldritch
One thing about the historical addendum, greatswords (if we understand "greatswords" as things like montantes, spadones, zweihanders, etc) nor pollaxes are particularly heavy. They are when compared to other weapons, as a greatsword usually weights 2-3kg versus, say, most historical one-handers like arming swords and rapier that oscilate around 1kg. But still, not particularly heavy. Furthermore I'm not sure that they make more sense in the perspective of an adventurer dungeon delving, as they are very big. Historically they were mostly used in urban enviroments, battlefields and deck defence (on boats) so fairly open conditions where you could take advantage of the range (Add. Love your videos!)
To me the Jorgoral greatsword is the best, i enchant it with elements using the dragon glaive, and also usually go for gear that deal additional dmg on weapon attacks, like caustic band and helldusk gloves, this way the awesome aoe skill can solve some encounters by itself sometimes, not to mention that a Paladin using this sword, can smite every single enemy it hits, the damage can be insane.
a reccomendation for your tierlist formats, if possible it would be nice to show a little default tooltip of whatever item/spell or other thing u talk about. and yes im aware this might be a lot of extra work but still i would be nice to see better what u talk about and better see the effects of stuff.
Jorgoral's greatsword line strike action can also apply Smite to all targets hit with a single Smite use, so a paladin actually benefits amazingly from that particular weapon. I don't think that pushes the weapon to S tier, but it's worth taking into concideration.
Appreciate the historical weapon discussion. I just hope they don't introduce realism in game such as giving a penalty to damage and hit-chance for long weapons in crammed quarters in BG3! In the dark souls franchise they have the feature that weapon swings bounce off side walls in tight corridors so player with big weapons have to limit their moveset to thrusting attacks and not swinging attacks - and it's really annoying!
Another note on why historically we don't see these much, shields are very cheap and effective. Using Giantslayer with my BM fighter on the top of the brain fight is such a satisfying experience. Absolutely mowed through all the illithid 1-2 hits each. I will say having this tier list separate from the polearms makes sense but also is kinda weird. If I have a dedicated 2h character they are going to be choosing from both pools of weapons to make their decisions.
That's a cool interaction! I guess it does cost you some distance on the charge in that case though, but could still be really interesting. The elk heart charge is an unarmed attack so it works with tavern brawler - if those both work, you could get 3x str on the charge, which is no joke!
@Cephalopocalypse Yeah, it's so cool, but fair with that movement cost. I like the Gloomstalker MC to help with 1st round movement speed and an excuse to swing my GWM weapon at the end, but this could make for a weird + great barbarian monk multiclass too!
Have you done a shadow monk build yet? I think I've watched most of the videos and can't recall one. Your recent Gale build that chills and freezes on hits and misses has inspired me to try a playthrough focusing there. I play couch co-op with my wife so we need a party and I was thinking stealthy invisible people would mix well so they attack Gale. Or maybe I just lean into water and ice / lightning and go with Gale, a moon druid, eldritch Knight, and.... hmm not sure on the 4th. Tempest cleric?? I've done a fire sorc already.... Decisions, decisions.
Fantasy also has magic, strength boosting potions and non-human races that are naturally stronger then the average person. The lack of defensive be it with a shield or simply distance from the enemy doesn’t matter as much as plot armor
My favorite use of the Hellfire Greataxe was on a 6/6 OaV Paladin/Red Dragon Sorc, using Quickened Spell to chain Hellflame Cleave with melee attacks. I also used the build with a mod that adds Green-Flame Blade into the game to use the combo more than once per fight on a smaller scale. The build experiment turned it into one of my favorite weapons in the game. And Soulbreaker is another favorite of mine. I honestly feel like you could find it much later in the game and it'd still be one of the best picks available. And if you're playing as a gith Tav/Durge or playing with another person playing one, both Lae'zel and the player gith become two consistently reliable melee fighters using the two unique gith greatswords.
For me the Blooded Great Axe and the Sword of Justice are A-tier and Svartlebee's Woundseeker is S-tier. I always prefer it over the other two and you can go for all three immediately after you reach the Grove. The reason I prefer it is because it enhances the Great Weapon Master fighting style. And you can lose a lot of dmg by not using this weapon. Dependability is king in honour mode.
The "Jojo reference" in the wiki for Sethan you mentioned is from season 3 and I'm guessing it's because of the Reduce spell on it (the Sethan stand had the power to de-age anyone touched by the user's shadow; was used to turn 2 of the main characters into children to make them easier to try to kill) and spiritual greataxe was maybe also part of that since the user of Sethan was a loony with an axe.
The defender greataxe is still a +2 weapon which great weapon master characters love to have to increase hit chance. It doesn't matter how much damage a weapon does if it can't hit anything
The Everburn Blade should be before of the Blooded Greataxe because you either got it on the Nautiloid (by stealing or trophying it), or you don't. I usually use it for most of the Act 1 encounters. :)
B is before E :P More seriously - those items do have a defined order that you get them in, but most don't since I can't (and don't want to) predict what order people will do the act in, so I just give the items alphabetically within the act
I'm relatively new to the game and played through it twice. I could SWEAR I used a weapon not listed here with Fighter and Barbarian. It's a Two Handed Halberd with good damage and a bit higher range. Also, reaction hits almost always hit. I think I got it somewhere in Act 2 and always carried it until Baludrans Blade.
one more thing for the versatile weapons video, and i dont know why this exists, but Phalar Aluve gives a +1 bonus to the saving throws when you are drinking at the bar with Thisobald Thorm, just noticed that last night, never heard anyone else mention it. My tav was a gloomstalker/rogue halfling. not sure if that has anything to do with it. its my first solo honour run.
My eternal internal battle between great axes and great swords. Even as a critical hit build, with savage attacks, half orc, and brutal critical, with three extra damage die on crits... It's still tough because there's so many good great swords in the game. And I end up using the giantslayer end game. Sad. I wish there was a legendary axe
Just saying, the paladin fight is prob one of the easiest in the game. Its the first big fight I do with Tav + Gale + Shart + Karlach 1. climb up to the top roof of the office (outside) 2. Sneak attack the mage inside then use all your movement to haul ass up the ladder to the roof. everyone will start dashing to reach you, which gives you 2-3 rounds of possible ranged attacks, 3. Whoever makes it onto the roof you can just push off the cliff for instant death, 4. collect the sword
tbh all fights are equally trivial once you have enough game knowledge, so when determining whether a fight is hard or not I assume the player approaches it straight on without having memorized the enemies and location
Terrible Fact: The only time I have ever attempted to use the Sword of Justice, the +2 AC has NEVER resulted in a miss. During that playthrough, if I had cast shield of faith, Lae'zel was BOTH hit the very next time someone attacked her AND she lost concentration on the spell. It is "F" tier for me. Prior to having Lae'zel equip that abomination, enemies would actually miss her. After getting that +2 AC, she couldn't dodge at all. Yes yes, I know it was pure luck. I don't care. I know that it actually helps, but when that buff is put on her 10 times and each of the 10 times the enemy rolls 14+ EVERYTIME to hit that 21 AC, I just pretend like it's cursed.
I know these are kinda over now, but scrolled this list looking for a damage type tier list ... for both attacking and defending. Curious which elements are most used by enemies in dangerous situations and which damage types are least/most resisted by them.
Yeah you are correct about most giant weapons not being used in combat and being decorative; or being made by a blacksmith to show how good they are. The reason why we have a decent amount in museums and they are so well maintained is because they just sat around as decoration and weren't use much; same thing with flails. Why the fuck can't you cast Shillelagh on the greatclub or Rat Bat? Also I have one issue with this list, it doesn't factor in how cool the weapon looks; which I think is very important.
Awesome, but each video should have an alternative list at the end. One that assumes you're watching this video with the game paused, and most, if not all, of these sitting in your camp chest.
@@Cephalopocalypse I tried it right now just to make sure, and it works! Also just to make sure i tried shield of devotion and cindersnap gloves which have build-in abjuration spells too, and ward also persists after removing an item. And amulet of the harpers do to give a stack in a first place - just like regular shield spell never do =C
The quirk about two handed weapons is they arent as heavy as they look, especially if you got room to hold it with two hands and use your entire body to swing it around. If they were dark soul levels of slow then no one would use them in war. Well, aside from the handful of suicidal glory hounds wanting to be remembered as a strong (but stupid) warior.
The #1 question when regarding historical accuracy is why not just use a polearm. Why use that much metal on a big sword when you can put a fraction of the metal on a stick with the same if not better effectiveness.
I wish there was a better Maul option in the game. I feel like smashing things with bludgeoning damage is very flavorful for a barbarian but just isn’t an option compared to the many great two handed weapons.
My first playthrough I made the greatsword, My second I made the dagger wanting it on my eldritch knight.... the sadness I felt was crushing, I was stuck with the returning pike😂
i don't think it change the rank but the cleave effect of the very heavy greataxe deals full damage while the cleave of the other greataxes deals only half damage
Correct me if I am wrong, but IIRC none of the classes (except Eldritch Knights) who can use disguise self can effectively wield a 2h greatsword and there are no items to disguise yourself with in Act I. So idk how useful it is that the Gith Greatsword can be used by non-gith characters.
43:56 God I hate that the Punch-Drunk Bastard is a greatclub. RIP drunken master Monk builds. But I guess you could technically use it as a Way of the Open Hand Monk...?
There's a lore reason to get the SSotAP in Act 1. You see, Vas has a reoccurring nightmare about an invisible bear covered in honey.
Gotta follow the lore!
One cool effect about the Doom Hammer that I didn't notice you mention is that the Bone Chill effect is applied even if you miss your attack with the weapon, due to the Maul family of weapons' Tenacity reaction (When you miss an attack, deal damage equal to your Strength modifier anyway (minimum of 1).)
This is particularly useful for the end boss of Act 2 to prevent his healing, as Arrows of Ilmater can miss against his high AC, and Bone Chill can be resisted.
Honestly I forgot it applied on miss! That makes it a much more interesting weapon
I use it to pass all my honor runs with the Avatar. A+ just for the safety and consistency.
This makes the Doom Hammer go from being, in my mind, worse than a +1 maul to better. With out this cool function on miss, then it would be worse than a +1 Maul.
it also works so well because it applies 2 turns. 1 turn sources (like arrows) will wear off after myrkul takes his turn, but he heals on the turn of his little minions, so unless you get initiative AFTER myrkul, the bone chill does nothing. the hammer applies 2 turns so doesn't have that problem
I took the Doom Hammer all the way to endgame on my 1st playthrough. Having infinite bone chill for the party was just too good to give up.
Doom Hammer is S+++/Z-tier vs Myrkul, guaranteed Bone Chill on every turn through Tenacity. Good vs the Wood Woads in the swamp too, and I imagine it would be pretty nuts through the majority of Act 2
Bludgeoning also comes in handy in quite a few places.
@@meekrab9027 EK Tav Brawler Doom Hamer vs Grym. Bruh.
@@adamkadir3803
using anything other than either the big hydrolic press or throwing shit from above is unoptimal vs Grym
@@thespreer2142OH monk says hi
@@formatomiright? That’s how I killed him my first honor mode run. Downed in two turns.
Hamarhraft is the core of what I think is the most fun build in the game. The Thunder Frog
6 levels of 4 element monk, 6 levels of storm cleric. Bonus action jump all over the place, build up arcane acuity instantly with the thunder hat, knock all enemies prone with reverb, use action to hit a big crowd control on anything you didn't already decimate.
Lore friendly build for Lae-zel since she's the party frog 🐸
YESSS HISTORICAL AND PRACTICAL WEAPON DISCUSSION that’s what I’m here for baby! Please do this a lot, maybe a whole video series, I’m dead serious when I say your approach content is JUST AS DELIGHTFUL when applied there! I believe there is/you would find an audience.
I would watch all of the historical videos for sure. I love history. Especially medieval/ pre-modern era
Yessss u absolutely LOVE the punch drunk bastard, I did the whole tiger barb build with it and it ended up doing pretty stupid amounts of damage
But what made this build especially fun for me was that I made it work without long resting to get my rages back since I try to keep those “until long rest” buffs as long as possible. What I did was take the honey badger barb feature and carry around a bunch of rotten food to automatically poison myself, which would let me rage for free before combat started.
I just totally love the imagery of this jackass getting completely fucked up on moldy tomatoes and cheap wine and then demolishing everything in his path
Stay tuned for an upcoming build guide ;)
Everburn blade actually has more of a benefit than you listed here. It lets you kill everything in the last room of the nautiloid for the extra XP, you will actually level up on the Nautiloid and not on the beach. Also, the Cambions drop really good loot (elixers, potions, gold)
1. Use Shadowheart to command drop on Zhalk, this gives you access to the weapon, and also massively decreases his damage output to the mindflayer
2. Get Lae'zel over to that sword and pick it up ASAP (it's magical, so it bypasses Zhalk's slashing resistance)
3. just hit zhalk a bunch of times until he is dead, shoving the mindflayer away to force zhalk to follow lets you also opportunity attack regularly (potion of speed is useful, but not required)
4. make sure to spawn in the hellboar and 2 imps by the control panel before zhalk dies, otherwise the mindflayer will turn on you
5. kill the hellboar and one of the imps, and shove the second imp as far towards the control panel as you can so that the mindflayer goes after the cambions instead
6. let the cambions and mindflayer duke it out while attacking the cambions yourself, preferably with flaming arrows from a candle
7. once the cambions are dead, kill the imp, this will make the mindflayer hostile, but it should be at a low enough health at this point to kill it before it can go again
I can usually have everything dead with 3-4 turns remaining to run around and loot everything before using the control panel
On HM?
Doesnt work that way on honor mode iirc
@OldManMoko I just did it on honor mode a week ago
@@JakubZN yes, just did it a week or so ago
wow, I need to try and focus fire Zhalk more next time.
17:30 I would say doom hammer is situationally great*, and it's good throughout act 2. It alone made a solo barbarian myrkul trivial. There's an *entire* act which is mostly against undead, you can't say that's a situational weapon, even a +0 one.
Probably would have put it in A tier, but B tier is also fine
Solo barbarian sounds very challenging to do, any quick tips that were useful on your run?
@@Mhill08 I did a Bearbarian run, with all resistances and a GWM/heal run. As any solo run, it's tough in the beginning. I had to swap to berserker for Auntie Ethel's fight because I wasn't level 5 yet, for example.
Against myrkul, fear immunity I'd say is even more important than doom hammer, but both should get you over that hurdle. There's other items and status effects that help but I know that (berserker, hammer) works
For a surprising amount of the run early on, I was an unarmored barbarian. Keep it high dex, high con, and use elixirs for strength. Probably the most important item, steroids, right after all the healing potions I would down.
Later on I did multi class into thief for the extra bonus actions, I did a crit build with GWM so I didn't want to have them go to waste on all the turns I didn't have to heal (half damage with all the hp that health potions give you, you actually rarely have to heal, only in the toughest most outnumbered of fights)
And that's it! Just rage, and claw your way to level 5. Then you can play however you want, multiclassing if you enjoy it, as berserker or bear aspect, or something else.
Some notes: I was willing to rage super often and sleep way more than I would normally do in a playthrough. But there seems to be a bug in bg3: if you rage, and the scream plays while your turn has ended (basically use rage, and pass your turn. there's a big window of the animation) you don't lose a rage charge. As long as you don't use it before your first attacks, and you end your turn with it, you have infinite rage charges. It was very convenient, so I used it. Found out about it in around the creche though
Aspect of the stallion is not that great, if you think it would go well with the healing theme. It doesn't "refresh" if you still have some of its hit points left over, which is sad.
In terms of weapons, I just did any decent great axe or sword until I got the Unseen Menace, which is 10/10 for crit builds, allows you to not use reckless attack which further buffs your durability. End game, giantslayer is always the best. Buff them with drakethroat
I definitely had my toughest fights against githyanki because of the psychic damage and them just generally being menaces. All I can say is speed potion and burst them down before you are. Or find a way to cheese it, haha
Just another request for a Thrown Weapon List, once the other lists are done. I know you will have all covered them under various weapon types, but a consolidated thrown weapon list would be cool, and unique as a list as far as I know.
One major bonus to the Silver sword is that depending on your story choices you can get it almost as soon as you plop into act 3. Which means you get to use it for all the tough act 3 fights. Bulduran sword requires you to do a pretty rough (all tho its super easily cheeseable). This logic also boosts hellfire great axe since you get it without any tough act 3 fights
Yah I don't think he takes difficulty of acquisition into account, otherwise it would affect a lot of items on his lists.
Tbf, an item that completely cheeses the Ansur fight is sitting like 20m away from him
@@Michael-wp9xtThe Helm isnt called Scroll of Globe of Invulnerability lol
I love the image of the rat bat situation. You’ve got a sword or axe with a wild name like “Soulbreaker” and yet the highest damage weapon in the game (below Honor mode) is just a bat with nails in it 🤷♂️
A point about the non magical maul is that bludgeoning damage is very useful, worth it to carry one as a backup if your standard weapon is slashing.
Silver Sword was the goat on my bladelock playthrough, hands down. That "decent" psychic damage becomes busted through carrying the resonance stone around which gives enemies vulnerability.
The defensive ability to boost mental saves worked to help my offense too. It's natural to have risky ring on cause of constant GWM use, and with those saves it just cut the downsides of the ring by half.
With the bloodlust elixir I do just as much damage if not more than the bonus given by Balduraans. It's safe to say the Silver Sword is the best option for anyone using charisma as their attack ability
Also Ansur is very sus on HM :D
Also i do love the historical stuff too
The silver sword of the Astral Plane can stun Ansur out of his breath weapon. The DC scales off of strength, with a cloud giant potion, it becomes like 22. Also, you can get it before doing any combat since all you need to do is take the deal or pass a dc 25 deception check. Dont see how it is not S tier.
Just finished act 1 on my first run. Karlach (Eagle Heart) has Sassur GS for slash & silence & Hamarhraft for crushing armour & thunder-diving. Absolutely destroys! Thanks again, loving these vids, great explanations including situational grading!
Big thanks to all your tier list videos, your time spent on those videos helped me alot though many of my playthroughs. I'd kiss you for this effort
I want to make a case for the +1 maul as it is the only +1 maul available to you in the entirety of act 1
I buy these for Grimm.
I was searching for a tier list yesterday you have insane timing
The foebreaker is the barbarian version of a lockpick. if the door has hp foebreaker can open it.
I love your historical analyses. The only real exception to "why isn't this just a polearm" may be the greatsword. They arent nearly as heavy or unweildy as fiction leads us to believe, and far more agile and capable than the greataxe or maul types.
Personally I think the very heavy greataxe is so low in the tier list because it's being weighed down so much
makes perfect sense to me
A note about the silver sword is that by the time you get it you also get the warmaster gauntlet which can make enemy have disadvantage on the save against the stun
Great video and as always I learned something. I never seriously considered Jorgal’s greatsword but its quite good!
The Chaos Sword with the Periapt of Wound Closure basically makes you unkillable as a melee fighter. You’re getting a minimum of 18hp per round at 12th level.
A fun part of Punch Drunk Bastard is that the advantage it applies also works with ranged attacks! So as an archer you can spend a bonus action drinking (or use a wine goblet) and attack with advantage for as long as you can keep it up. I havent tried it, but if it also works on spell attack rolls then EB and Scorching Ray builds can have a weird niche with this weapon too.
I was upset you didn't mention the very heavy great axe's viability as an early throwing barb weapon option before you get the returning pike. It isnt a thrown weapon so its damage is based on its weight, which...well its the very heavy great axe
I hope you put my favorite weapon in S-tier on the next video. Charge-Bound Warhammer, remember that it becomes a +2 weapon when it is bound to EK or Warlock. then add another +1 from drakethroat Glaive for an act 2 +3 weapon with an extra d6 of lightning damage. I have looked pretty closely to combat log, im pretty certain it is a full on +2 weapon when bound, but your infinite bg3 wisdom always surprises me. love your videos, keep at it.
Soulbreaker Greatsword is one of my favorite weapons in the whole game. It alone makes the final encounter at the creche a piece of cake.
Yep - it also stays viable basically all game, +2 initiative is just that good
@Cephalopocalypse indeed I pass it along after Lae'zel gets her Silver Sword
Hammerhaft+rogue 2 for bonus dash+ gloves that let you jump as much as you'd like
I'm able to face the elder brain to finish my first playthrough, but haven't been able to play in over a month, work has been so busy.
But I still watch all these videos, and can't wait to start my first honour mode run
Finally! My opinion of every two handed weapon has arrived, now I can finally go back to playing the game!
Perfect timing for my newest run.
Great tierlist, thanks! I'm a little surprised the corpsegrinder is so low. I believe it has the highest damage for a two-hander at the time at which you get it, unless you are a gith (or disguised as one). Arguably the bonuses from the halberd of vigilance make that a better option, but on a fighter I've used this for a good bit of Act 3, until the giantslayer comes along.
The work you are putting into this is brutal, thank you for it. 😊
Thanks! Luckily, rambling about dungeons and dragons to an empty room is what I'd be doing anyways even if I didn't have a youtube channel, so the hardship is minimal :P
Happy to be here yet again, friends.
Super awesome tier list video, thanks for all the helpful and insightful info.
Thanks very much!
steel watch foundry!! Foebreaker was very helpful against steel watchers :)
Man I love fighters and ofc Lae'zel. I spend way too much time messing around with building out different types of cleric, wizard and warlock. But its so refreshingly easy to bonk with Lae'zel and support her short rest actions with my bard.
Fantastic as always.
Thanks!
Some interesting choices, I guess I value weapons differently because to me the blooded greataxe and the githyanki greatsword are both B-tier items. I feel that the existence of everburn and sword of justice renders the greataxe to only be marginally better in fringe cases and similarly with the gith sword, it doesn't stick around for very long because of the Soulbreaker Greatsword at the end of Act 1 and even Jorgoral's Greatsword being accessible at a similar time being a close competitor (which I personally prefer because of the special action being on a SR CD and being a great melee AoE which is rare at this stage of the game). Also Silver Sword being A-tier is criminal imo, its the perfect, balanced weapon for a melee Gith character. The damage being spread across different types is relevant when comparing with the Giantslayer and the mental advantage is significant as it provides a ton of protection otherwise hard to access; its also worth noting that it is the best weapon when fighting Illithids funnily enough due to this as well as the resistance to psychic damage. Soulbreaker is the better weapon action out of that the Topple the Big Folk because its does the same bonus damage (except with a spread damage type) and the ability to stun is more universally useful than the large creature+ bonuses of TtBF. I think the defensive and CC ability of the Silver Sword on top of good damage 100% makes it S-tier alongside the Giantslayer which does admittedly do more damage, doesn't provide NEARLY the same level of CC and defensive capabilities to the near-universal weakness of this character type, being mental stats. I understand the logic that at this stage of the game you don't need to worry as much about survivability if you do a lot of damage however the type of defensive bonuses here are hard to access and very useful late in the game, failing a mental saving throw at an unopportune time can end an honour mode run. The Giantslayer is definitely S-tier however I actually think the Silver Sword is better on average simply because it helps to minimise build weaknesses with just one item AND still being a powerful weapon, albiet less damaging than the Giantslayer
ITS RAT BAT TIME BABY… glad to finally have the great weapon tier list cause who doesn’t like hitting really really hard.
Corpsegrinder is the best 2H bludgeon (if we don't count Hamarhraft abuse), if you do a freezer combo for breaking them as a finisher, it's great (pre-wet enemies, use caster with mourning frost for a standard frost-caster build, dish out the frost damage and anything left standing and has reasonable HP left with chilled, then you can wet them again for quick frozen -> next round you shatter them with hammer... or eldritch
One thing about the historical addendum, greatswords (if we understand "greatswords" as things like montantes, spadones, zweihanders, etc) nor pollaxes are particularly heavy. They are when compared to other weapons, as a greatsword usually weights 2-3kg versus, say, most historical one-handers like arming swords and rapier that oscilate around 1kg. But still, not particularly heavy. Furthermore I'm not sure that they make more sense in the perspective of an adventurer dungeon delving, as they are very big. Historically they were mostly used in urban enviroments, battlefields and deck defence (on boats) so fairly open conditions where you could take advantage of the range
(Add. Love your videos!)
Ohhh greatswords! Awesome!
I was READY FOR THISSSSS!!
yay the wait is over!!
To me the Jorgoral greatsword is the best, i enchant it with elements using the dragon glaive, and also usually go for gear that deal additional dmg on weapon attacks, like caustic band and helldusk gloves, this way the awesome aoe skill can solve some encounters by itself sometimes, not to mention that a Paladin using this sword, can smite every single enemy it hits, the damage can be insane.
I agree. You can get it really early if you try and grouping up with void bulbs then onslaught destroys whole fights
a reccomendation for your tierlist formats, if possible it would be nice to show a little default tooltip of whatever item/spell or other thing u talk about.
and yes im aware this might be a lot of extra work but still i would be nice to see better what u talk about and better see the effects of stuff.
Jorgoral's greatsword line strike action can also apply Smite to all targets hit with a single Smite use, so a paladin actually benefits amazingly from that particular weapon. I don't think that pushes the weapon to S tier, but it's worth taking into concideration.
Appreciate the historical weapon discussion. I just hope they don't introduce realism in game such as giving a penalty to damage and hit-chance for long weapons in crammed quarters in BG3!
In the dark souls franchise they have the feature that weapon swings bounce off side walls in tight corridors so player with big weapons have to limit their moveset to thrusting attacks and not swinging attacks - and it's really annoying!
New weapons tier list AND Karlach thumbnail? I'm in.
After a year of doing these videos I finally went and got higher-res art for karlach for the thumbnails, so she even has more than 8 pixels now
Another note on why historically we don't see these much, shields are very cheap and effective.
Using Giantslayer with my BM fighter on the top of the brain fight is such a satisfying experience. Absolutely mowed through all the illithid 1-2 hits each.
I will say having this tier list separate from the polearms makes sense but also is kinda weird. If I have a dedicated 2h character they are going to be choosing from both pools of weapons to make their decisions.
Big fan of greataxes' Prepare weapon action for how it projects Elk Heart Barbarians' strength modifier out onto all enemies hit by Primal Stampede
That's a cool interaction! I guess it does cost you some distance on the charge in that case though, but could still be really interesting. The elk heart charge is an unarmed attack so it works with tavern brawler - if those both work, you could get 3x str on the charge, which is no joke!
@Cephalopocalypse Yeah, it's so cool, but fair with that movement cost. I like the Gloomstalker MC to help with 1st round movement speed and an excuse to swing my GWM weapon at the end, but this could make for a weird + great barbarian monk multiclass too!
Have you done a shadow monk build yet? I think I've watched most of the videos and can't recall one. Your recent Gale build that chills and freezes on hits and misses has inspired me to try a playthrough focusing there. I play couch co-op with my wife so we need a party and I was thinking stealthy invisible people would mix well so they attack Gale.
Or maybe I just lean into water and ice / lightning and go with Gale, a moon druid, eldritch Knight, and.... hmm not sure on the 4th. Tempest cleric?? I've done a fire sorc already.... Decisions, decisions.
i need to clean my apartment! it’s a good day for a Ceph upload (well, every day, but i’m a BG3 fiend :))
With the tier lists coming towards an end - a really good new video idea might be to demonstrate how to use some of the s-tier equipment optimally?
Another great tier list
Fantasy also has magic, strength boosting potions and non-human races that are naturally stronger then the average person. The lack of defensive be it with a shield or simply distance from the enemy doesn’t matter as much as plot armor
IT'S HERE!!! Lets gooo
Jorgoral's Greatsword can also trigger smite on all targets hit apparently, I haven't tried personally
My favorite use of the Hellfire Greataxe was on a 6/6 OaV Paladin/Red Dragon Sorc, using Quickened Spell to chain Hellflame Cleave with melee attacks. I also used the build with a mod that adds Green-Flame Blade into the game to use the combo more than once per fight on a smaller scale. The build experiment turned it into one of my favorite weapons in the game.
And Soulbreaker is another favorite of mine. I honestly feel like you could find it much later in the game and it'd still be one of the best picks available. And if you're playing as a gith Tav/Durge or playing with another person playing one, both Lae'zel and the player gith become two consistently reliable melee fighters using the two unique gith greatswords.
For me the Blooded Great Axe and the Sword of Justice are A-tier and Svartlebee's Woundseeker is S-tier. I always prefer it over the other two and you can go for all three immediately after you reach the Grove. The reason I prefer it is because it enhances the Great Weapon Master fighting style. And you can lose a lot of dmg by not using this weapon. Dependability is king in honour mode.
Silver sword in act 1 is sooooooooo good. I got it on an 8% roll in my last honour run ;) gamechanger.
As to making sense for fantasy adventurers - I think a lot of them having inhuman levels of strengh also makes them make more sense.
Great video. 👍
The "Jojo reference" in the wiki for Sethan you mentioned is from season 3 and I'm guessing it's because of the Reduce spell on it (the Sethan stand had the power to de-age anyone touched by the user's shadow; was used to turn 2 of the main characters into children to make them easier to try to kill) and spiritual greataxe was maybe also part of that since the user of Sethan was a loony with an axe.
One weapon I think you missed that I used a lot is the Halberd of Vigilance. I used that for most of act 2 iirc.
That's in the polearms tier list
@ Ahh got ya.
Wooooo, just in time!!!
The defender greataxe is still a +2 weapon which great weapon master characters love to have to increase hit chance. It doesn't matter how much damage a weapon does if it can't hit anything
Also note on the sword of justice, raging barbarians can't maintain concentration or cast spells, so it's useless on barbarians
Thank you!
I love Hammarhraft but I did accidentally send Karlach and Minthara into the void during my first playthrough that way
I know you're doing the weapons and gear tier lists right now, but wild shape tier list when?
I was always thinking that silver sword on frog race is equal to balduran, but boy was i wrong. Balduran sword is just the ultimate weapon.
The Everburn Blade should be before of the Blooded Greataxe because you either got it on the Nautiloid (by stealing or trophying it), or you don't. I usually use it for most of the Act 1 encounters. :)
B is before E :P
More seriously - those items do have a defined order that you get them in, but most don't since I can't (and don't want to) predict what order people will do the act in, so I just give the items alphabetically within the act
I'm relatively new to the game and played through it twice.
I could SWEAR I used a weapon not listed here with Fighter and Barbarian.
It's a Two Handed Halberd with good damage and a bit higher range. Also, reaction hits almost always hit. I think I got it somewhere in Act 2 and always carried it until Baludrans Blade.
He has a separate tier list for the polearm weapons, probably so the videos don’t get too long
one more thing for the versatile weapons video, and i dont know why this exists, but Phalar Aluve gives a +1 bonus to the saving throws when you are drinking at the bar with Thisobald Thorm, just noticed that last night, never heard anyone else mention it. My tav was a gloomstalker/rogue halfling. not sure if that has anything to do with it. its my first solo honour run.
My eternal internal battle between great axes and great swords. Even as a critical hit build, with savage attacks, half orc, and brutal critical, with three extra damage die on crits... It's still tough because there's so many good great swords in the game. And I end up using the giantslayer end game. Sad. I wish there was a legendary axe
Just saying, the paladin fight is prob one of the easiest in the game. Its the first big fight I do with Tav + Gale + Shart + Karlach
1. climb up to the top roof of the office (outside)
2. Sneak attack the mage inside then use all your movement to haul ass up the ladder to the roof. everyone will start dashing to reach you, which gives you 2-3 rounds of possible ranged attacks,
3. Whoever makes it onto the roof you can just push off the cliff for instant death,
4. collect the sword
tbh all fights are equally trivial once you have enough game knowledge, so when determining whether a fight is hard or not I assume the player approaches it straight on without having memorized the enemies and location
Terrible Fact: The only time I have ever attempted to use the Sword of Justice, the +2 AC has NEVER resulted in a miss. During that playthrough, if I had cast shield of faith, Lae'zel was BOTH hit the very next time someone attacked her AND she lost concentration on the spell. It is "F" tier for me. Prior to having Lae'zel equip that abomination, enemies would actually miss her. After getting that +2 AC, she couldn't dodge at all.
Yes yes, I know it was pure luck. I don't care. I know that it actually helps, but when that buff is put on her 10 times and each of the 10 times the enemy rolls 14+ EVERYTIME to hit that 21 AC, I just pretend like it's cursed.
I know these are kinda over now, but scrolled this list looking for a damage type tier list ... for both attacking and defending. Curious which elements are most used by enemies in dangerous situations and which damage types are least/most resisted by them.
Thanks!
Quick question...which is better, the best polearms or the weapons on this list?
Yeah you are correct about most giant weapons not being used in combat and being decorative; or being made by a blacksmith to show how good they are. The reason why we have a decent amount in museums and they are so well maintained is because they just sat around as decoration and weren't use much; same thing with flails. Why the fuck can't you cast Shillelagh on the greatclub or Rat Bat? Also I have one issue with this list, it doesn't factor in how cool the weapon looks; which I think is very important.
Awesome, but each video should have an alternative list at the end. One that assumes you're watching this video with the game paused, and most, if not all, of these sitting in your camp chest.
I think you could make a case for the Doom Hammer as a pact weapon for a Warlock.
You released this when I'm out on my hunting trip and can't get back to my Xbox? 😂
I would put Doom Hammer in B. It is my weapon of choice for most of Act Two on honor mode.
I use sword of justice as free stack of abjuration ward :D Its like 3 or 4 per day, think about it!
Some of those items remove the stacks when you unequip the item - does that not happen with the sword? If so that's cool!
@@Cephalopocalypse I tried it right now just to make sure, and it works! Also just to make sure i tried shield of devotion and cindersnap gloves which have build-in abjuration spells too, and ward also persists after removing an item.
And amulet of the harpers do to give a stack in a first place - just like regular shield spell never do =C
The quirk about two handed weapons is they arent as heavy as they look, especially if you got room to hold it with two hands and use your entire body to swing it around. If they were dark soul levels of slow then no one would use them in war. Well, aside from the handful of suicidal glory hounds wanting to be remembered as a strong (but stupid) warior.
The #1 question when regarding historical accuracy is why not just use a polearm.
Why use that much metal on a big sword when you can put a fraction of the metal on a stick with the same if not better effectiveness.
I wish there was a better Maul option in the game. I feel like smashing things with bludgeoning damage is very flavorful for a barbarian but just isn’t an option compared to the many great two handed weapons.
We need Guts sword
I love Elden Ring for this reason
@benross9174 watchdog(cat) goes brrrr
32:51 Why does the dagger not trigger on a throw!!!
it really should!
My first playthrough I made the greatsword, My second I made the dagger wanting it on my eldritch knight.... the sadness I felt was crushing, I was stuck with the returning pike😂
Wouldn't the foebreaker be really useful against steel watchers? Especially if you Drake glaive boost it with lightning damage?
i don't think it change the rank but the cleave effect of the very heavy greataxe deals full damage while the cleave of the other greataxes deals only half damage
I like foebraker against the Steel Watchers
Correct me if I am wrong, but IIRC none of the classes (except Eldritch Knights) who can use disguise self can effectively wield a 2h greatsword and there are no items to disguise yourself with in Act I. So idk how useful it is that the Gith Greatsword can be used by non-gith characters.
43:56
God I hate that the Punch-Drunk Bastard is a greatclub. RIP drunken master Monk builds. But I guess you could technically use it as a Way of the Open Hand Monk...?