So the number of fights in the game that you actually need to hold monster with a REALLY high DC are super few. I think it’s much better to have hold monster from wizard (using int, plus Spell Save DC items) for most cases, which only costs you 1 dip instead of having to go 10 in bard for magical secrets. And just use scrolls of Hold Monster for special scenarios like this - honestly I went through act three and only needed to use like 2-3 scrolls. Most fights I can hold monster, or command CC them down.
Amazing! Haha almost exactly what I tried. Here's some help filling in the blanks: - the other Melee W is Ambusher (experimenting with it, seems pretty strong. Undermountain King is fine too though) - I'm not having great success with Bhallist Armor tbh, it seems bugged in that the Aura works inconsistantly on enemies that haven't taken their first turn yet so I might switch this out - Also for pre act-3 I play this character using snowburst ring + frost elemental in order to maintain the "control" archer theme. I stop using frost in Act 3 because enemies stop falling prone ot my ice for some reason.
@@Silreen You mention in the vid that you had a 70% chance to cast hold monster with wizard, but 100% from scroll which uses bard.... How can you even cast hold person from a spell slot using wizard when you only have 1 wizard level? I'm confused.
@@garyco766 oh sorry, I think I misunderstood your question. You can learn hold monster using a scroll just with a single level in wizard so long as you have the spell slots to cast it. It’s a 5th level spell, so you’d need to take enough other spell casting classes in order to get enough spell slots for it.
This looks like a fantastic build and I love builds that can do everything. How come scrolls are using your Charisma? Is this legitimate or a glitch as seems way too OP!!! How do you force this? Also, I guess you just took the strength gloves because you're solo but seems archery is the main attack in this build and so dex is primary stat over strength?
Hey hey, just responding again here incase somebody. needed the answer. I think the scroll uses the modifier of the last spellcasting class you picked in your multiclass, so that's why when I respec I start with Wiz and finish with Warlock + Bard. Or something funky, but I don't think it's a bug. I took the str gloves because they're the most impactful choice in the gloves component (except bonespike gloves, which I don't have here yet) and means I can dump str, and don't need to use elixir of giants anymore. So I can use Elixir of Bloodlust which is the strongest elixir.
Thanks so much! It's because I have 7 stacks of Arcane Acuity, and 3 stacks from Rhapsody = +10 to the casting DC for Command. Also, the Command is casted using my CHA score so I think that's +3-4 more too = +14! That's why it's 100%
I use Brace which is a weapon ability of certain Longbows which lets you re roll all ranged attack damage for a turn (per short rest). In the first fight I don’t get disadvantage on Raph because he’s under the effect of Held Monster which turns all attacks made within 3m into automatic critical hits. Hope that helps!
Is it worth it to change out the Titanstrike bow for The Dead Shot bow when it becomes available? I'm not sure if +8 to attack roll is more beneficial to +6 to damage.
The Titanstrike Bow is IMO the best bow in the game. I've been trying to replace it with something else (to try and be creative) but nothing else even comes close. I think your comparison is slightly wrong - you should be weighing up +4 attack rolls vs +4 - +8 DAMAGE per hit. Unless you're unable to resolve your hit% (which should be the first step for your build) flat damage to EVERY HIT is absurd, eg. arrows of many, getting potentially +8*4 targets of damage each use. The Titanstring Bow buff is essentialy worth a d16 of weapon dice damage. Hit% is easy to solve through bless, advantage etc. There are many mechanics. But increasing your flat damage is actually very difficult. I just use the Risky Ring to completely resolve hit% issues caused by sharpshooter and that's a Single item.
@@SilreenIs Titan stronger than Gontr Mael? Gontr Mael is +3 rather than +1, and can inflict guiding bolt and bolt of celestial light. This frees up your gauntlet spot for legacy of the masters (or bracers of archery if you don't have that yet). So for damage you get 2 (enhancement) +2 (gloves) + 1d4 (celestial light) for an average of 6.5 + guiding bolt when it procs (which seems to be most of the time). It seems like that's more damage to me, especially since celestial light and guiding bolt multiply on crit, which str bonus does not, and higher to hit. If you don't have the giant str gloves yet it seems like a no brainer, but even with those gloves isn't this a better option?
How are u able to attack so many times in one turn? I know there’s extra attack and action surge, but I counted like 7 different arrow attacks plus a halt in that first turn in the second run 😭
4 action points via action surge and elixir of bloodlust (gives action point on kill), Band of the Mystic Scoundrel (ring from the "grand prize" from Akabi) lets you cast Enchantment / Illusion spells as a bonus action after a weapon attack.
Bard has Extra Attack so 1 Action = 2 Attacks Elixir of Bloodlust = 1 Extra Action after killing an enemy Potion of Speed = 1 Extra Action from Haste Action Surge = 1 Extra Action per short rest Slashing Flourish (Ranged) = 2*shot per Attack, consumes 1 bardic inspiration (he got 5). Also abuse the bug that it lets you target the same target twice when it shouldn't Band of the Mystic Scoundrel = Let you cast enchantment spell (i.e. Hold Monster) as a bonus action after an attack So in total 4 actions, or 8 attacks, or 5*2 + 3*1 = 13 shots with Hold Person in a single turn (1st Attack/1st shot) : Arrow of Many targets which actually kills one of the mob to trigger bloodlust Bonus Action: Hold Monster. Also make all close-range attack crit Brace: Cost Movement speed only (2nd Attack/2nd-3rd shot): Slashing Flourish (3rd Attack/4th-5th shot): Slashing Flourish (4th Attack/6th-7th shot): Slashing Flourish Action Surge (5th Attack/8th-9th shot): Slashing Flourish (6th Attack/10th-11th shot): Slashing Flourish Can still Attack after killing Raphael at 2:17
Sure. The key items for this build are the Titan String Bow, Ring of the Mystic Scoundrel, Risky Ring and Helmet of Arcane Acuity. The rest of the items can be whatever.
Love the build and video!!! Your builds are always very optimized so maybe you could help me out. Im trying to solo tactition while somehow including trickery domain cleric into a build. trickery domain feels like its one of the harder ones to get right especially for solo, i thought about a control build sorta similar to this where i would essientialy mix in warlock and assassin rogue for control bursts and hiding to survive. perhaps you could come up with a better way to make use of trickery domain, the domain and cleric portion is a self imposed restriction for my solo run this time around so its the only part i cannot change.
I'm going to have a think, but honestly you picked the HARDEST self-restriction lol. Trickery domain really doesn't offer anything useful, and so making a build that highlights the Trickery Domain instead of just ignoring it and playing a regular solo-cleric is tough... The only unique thing about the class is Invoke Duplicity and its so hard to get value on especially in Solo. The only thing I can think of is that it'd probably have to be a build that brings alot of enemies close together to force the benifit from the Duplicity (Black Hole?) and then using the advantage for something. Perhaps it needs to be a darkness/fog build which will cause the AI of the enemies to enter/come close darkness for distance closing. And also protect the invoke duplicity from being destroyed? It's a tough one though - I'll think about it!
dude exactly! its a tough one @@Silreen it would be a solo run so duplicity is kinda useless. i wouold probably focus on command/ hold person/ dominate sort of like your build here. i was trying to see if i could splice in the splash of cleric instead of your wizard and warlock levels since id get the spells from cleric but then my casting modifier would change.
Band of the Mystic Scoundrel, it’s very strong on builds that are making use of Arcane Acuity but only really viable for classes that both do weapon damage AND cast spells.
OH My Gosh!!! How? My team rarely deals more than 15 points of damage and I'm level 11. Some of my attacks are SO SAD they don't even take double digits
@@Gabby-x6g depending on your character role. Talents like sharpshooter and great wepon master let you do 10 flat damege for each attack that lands at the cost of -5 Attack Chance (you can offset that with equipment and also find some equipment that increase the output with various conditions also crit is a big factor there since he is holding raphael with hold monster and every attack is a crit + sharpshooter (that count twice with crit) the damage goes up pretty quick
Nice but the more Effective Route is 10 Swordsbard and 2 Pal ,Spirit Guardians per Magical Secrets,Phalar Aluve for Shriek ...even Raphael is a One Turn Kill in Honour Mode with Arcane Acuity and Mystic Scoundrel You need a better Computer my Friend:)
Yep, it’s the lowest investment way to get Haste 😂 Didn’t want to rely on weapon swapping for celestial haste AND speed potions forever! Wanted to design something that was more self-reliant
The one thing I've learned from all these Raphael solo fights is Larian needs to nerf consumables to the ground as they pretry much triviliaize the game. Also, some of the Illithid powers are just dumb and are way too strong too. 90% of what killed Raphael is most of these fights are illithid powers and consumables that anyone can use. I feel its only a matter of time before we see people soloing this fight with crappy classes that dont do a single thing but use scrolls as they alone trivilialize class balance and let anyone use anything.
@@luciferotto oh, they absolutely can. I'm just reverse engineering the explanation why from a balancing perspective people are soloing the hardest optional boss when the devs prob didn't intend that and tried to make this fight "hard."
I actually think their choice to make consumables as strong as they are is important, players naturally have a behaviour to not use consumables across all games and it promotes player exploration and knowledge of the game systems. They vary gameplay a lot and force players to try creative solutions to problems when stuck. Despite them being so strong most players STILL overlook consumables. Although my issue with most Raph fights is they require excessive setup time and use of multiple consumable items to achieve the setup - it becomes more about what you’re doing pre-fight than it is what you’re doing in the fight. I hope that in this showcase it feels less so. I do think the illithid powers trivialise a lot of fights in the game, though that’s kinda the point narratively. They need to nerf certain powers from once per short rest to long rest at least.
And here I thought I had understood the mechanics well enough ...
Sorry your computer hates you recording. Really nice build and explanation.
Thx for all the work.
Liked and subbed.
It really it my greatest enemy 😢
Other than progression route, is it more efficient to go bard 10 for magical secret to get both command + haste and have CHA based hold monster?
Also thought the same, but then remembered that going Lore Bard means no extra attack and flourish abilities from the Sword subclass.
@@chuchubag Sword Bard has access to magical secret at lv 10 too
@@gumballz.9259 Wait, I'm so dumb. I always thought Magical Secrets was locked behind Lore Bard!
for general college of valor(classic bard build) yes,more efficient is 10 bard 2 fighter for fighting style protection and action surge
So the number of fights in the game that you actually need to hold monster with a REALLY high DC are super few. I think it’s much better to have hold monster from wizard (using int, plus Spell Save DC items) for most cases, which only costs you 1 dip instead of having to go 10 in bard for magical secrets. And just use scrolls of Hold Monster for special scenarios like this - honestly I went through act three and only needed to use like 2-3 scrolls. Most fights I can hold monster, or command CC them down.
Awesome build!
Tried to reconstruct the build:
PROGRESSION:
for Act1: str8 dex17 con14 int8 wis10 cha16
for Act3: str8>23 dex17>18 con8>23 int8 wis10 cha16>18
w/ gear
w/Ethel
w/ Mirror of Loss
~ Act 1 ~
lv01 bard
lv02 bard
lv03 bard sub(swords)
lv04 bard feat(sharpshooter)
lv05 bard
lv06 bard extra.atk
~ Act 2 ~
lv07 wiz spell(haste)
lv08 fight
Amazing! Haha almost exactly what I tried. Here's some help filling in the blanks:
- the other Melee W is Ambusher (experimenting with it, seems pretty strong. Undermountain King is fine too though)
- I'm not having great success with Bhallist Armor tbh, it seems bugged in that the Aura works inconsistantly on enemies that haven't taken their first turn yet so I might switch this out
- Also for pre act-3 I play this character using snowburst ring + frost elemental in order to maintain the "control" archer theme. I stop using frost in Act 3 because enemies stop falling prone ot my ice for some reason.
@@Silreen You mention in the vid that you had a 70% chance to cast hold monster with wizard, but 100% from scroll which uses bard.... How can you even cast hold person from a spell slot using wizard when you only have 1 wizard level? I'm confused.
@@garyco766 my hold person using the wizard class has 70% but when I used a scroll it’s casted with CHA which means it goes to 100%
@@Silreen Right, I got that from the video. My question is, how can you even cast it "from wizard" when you only have 1 wizard level?
@@garyco766 oh sorry, I think I misunderstood your question. You can learn hold monster using a scroll just with a single level in wizard so long as you have the spell slots to cast it. It’s a 5th level spell, so you’d need to take enough other spell casting classes in order to get enough spell slots for it.
How you get +7 Acane and no +4 for the 4 hit?
This looks like a fantastic build and I love builds that can do everything. How come scrolls are using your Charisma? Is this legitimate or a glitch as seems way too OP!!! How do you force this? Also, I guess you just took the strength gloves because you're solo but seems archery is the main attack in this build and so dex is primary stat over strength?
Hey hey, just responding again here incase somebody. needed the answer. I think the scroll uses the modifier of the last spellcasting class you picked in your multiclass, so that's why when I respec I start with Wiz and finish with Warlock + Bard. Or something funky, but I don't think it's a bug.
I took the str gloves because they're the most impactful choice in the gloves component (except bonespike gloves, which I don't have here yet) and means I can dump str, and don't need to use elixir of giants anymore. So I can use Elixir of Bloodlust which is the strongest elixir.
Any chance you can make a build video for this?
Sure! Time to get to work haha. Problem is there’s nobody left to demonstrate again in my game file. They’re all dead… 😅
@Silreen well if you do manage to I'm 1000% looking forward to it
Done! Finally got around to doing it ua-cam.com/video/XqtKup5yk38/v-deo.html
Cool video, is it normal that your command is on 100%? is it because of the bard?
Thanks so much! It's because I have 7 stacks of Arcane Acuity, and 3 stacks from Rhapsody = +10 to the casting DC for Command. Also, the Command is casted using my CHA score so I think that's +3-4 more too = +14! That's why it's 100%
Sharpshooter, and did you pick up alert as second feat?
Yep alert as second feat.
Generally I build around feats and don’t really rate Ability Score Improvement unless you’re a very specific class.
What is causing your damage to reroll? Also, during the first fight with Raph, did you receive a disadvantage for being so close to him?
I use Brace which is a weapon ability of certain Longbows which lets you re roll all ranged attack damage for a turn (per short rest).
In the first fight I don’t get disadvantage on Raph because he’s under the effect of Held Monster which turns all attacks made within 3m into automatic critical hits.
Hope that helps!
@@Silreenyes! Thanks!
Is it worth it to change out the Titanstrike bow for The Dead Shot bow when it becomes available? I'm not sure if +8 to attack roll is more beneficial to +6 to damage.
The Titanstrike Bow is IMO the best bow in the game. I've been trying to replace it with something else (to try and be creative) but nothing else even comes close. I think your comparison is slightly wrong - you should be weighing up +4 attack rolls vs +4 - +8 DAMAGE per hit.
Unless you're unable to resolve your hit% (which should be the first step for your build) flat damage to EVERY HIT is absurd, eg. arrows of many, getting potentially +8*4 targets of damage each use. The Titanstring Bow buff is essentialy worth a d16 of weapon dice damage. Hit% is easy to solve through bless, advantage etc. There are many mechanics. But increasing your flat damage is actually very difficult.
I just use the Risky Ring to completely resolve hit% issues caused by sharpshooter and that's a Single item.
Great advice. Thanks!
@@SilreenIs Titan stronger than Gontr Mael? Gontr Mael is +3 rather than +1, and can inflict guiding bolt and bolt of celestial light. This frees up your gauntlet spot for legacy of the masters (or bracers of archery if you don't have that yet). So for damage you get 2 (enhancement) +2 (gloves) + 1d4 (celestial light) for an average of 6.5 + guiding bolt when it procs (which seems to be most of the time). It seems like that's more damage to me, especially since celestial light and guiding bolt multiply on crit, which str bonus does not, and higher to hit. If you don't have the giant str gloves yet it seems like a no brainer, but even with those gloves isn't this a better option?
How do you have such a high chance for hold spell?
Helmet of arcane acuity +7 stacks and also Rhapsody +3 stacks, making it pretty crazy high even
How are u able to attack so many times in one turn? I know there’s extra attack and action surge, but I counted like 7 different arrow attacks plus a halt in that first turn in the second run 😭
4 action points via action surge and elixir of bloodlust (gives action point on kill), Band of the Mystic Scoundrel (ring from the "grand prize" from Akabi) lets you cast Enchantment / Illusion spells as a bonus action after a weapon attack.
Bard has Extra Attack so 1 Action = 2 Attacks
Elixir of Bloodlust = 1 Extra Action after killing an enemy
Potion of Speed = 1 Extra Action from Haste
Action Surge = 1 Extra Action per short rest
Slashing Flourish (Ranged) = 2*shot per Attack, consumes 1 bardic inspiration (he got 5). Also abuse the bug that it lets you target the same target twice when it shouldn't
Band of the Mystic Scoundrel = Let you cast enchantment spell (i.e. Hold Monster) as a bonus action after an attack
So in total 4 actions, or 8 attacks, or 5*2 + 3*1 = 13 shots with Hold Person in a single turn
(1st Attack/1st shot) : Arrow of Many targets which actually kills one of the mob to trigger bloodlust
Bonus Action: Hold Monster. Also make all close-range attack crit
Brace: Cost Movement speed only
(2nd Attack/2nd-3rd shot): Slashing Flourish
(3rd Attack/4th-5th shot): Slashing Flourish
(4th Attack/6th-7th shot): Slashing Flourish
Action Surge
(5th Attack/8th-9th shot): Slashing Flourish
(6th Attack/10th-11th shot): Slashing Flourish
Can still Attack after killing Raphael at 2:17
@@abshope538Perfect explanation lol, I couldn’t have done it better myself 😊😊
@@chuchubag😊
but the bloodlust elixir can proc or not proc, that's kinda luck there, no?@@abshope538
Great video man, i want to try your setup ... but it's hard to see wich equipment you are using, can you tell the names at least?
Sure. The key items for this build are the Titan String Bow, Ring of the Mystic Scoundrel, Risky Ring and Helmet of Arcane Acuity. The rest of the items can be whatever.
Love the build and video!!!
Your builds are always very optimized so maybe you could help me out.
Im trying to solo tactition while somehow including trickery domain cleric into a build.
trickery domain feels like its one of the harder ones to get right especially for solo, i thought about a control build sorta similar to this where i would essientialy mix in warlock and assassin rogue for control bursts and hiding to survive.
perhaps you could come up with a better way to make use of trickery domain, the domain and cleric portion is a self imposed restriction for my solo run this time around so its the only part i cannot change.
I'm going to have a think, but honestly you picked the HARDEST self-restriction lol. Trickery domain really doesn't offer anything useful, and so making a build that highlights the Trickery Domain instead of just ignoring it and playing a regular solo-cleric is tough... The only unique thing about the class is Invoke Duplicity and its so hard to get value on especially in Solo. The only thing I can think of is that it'd probably have to be a build that brings alot of enemies close together to force the benifit from the Duplicity (Black Hole?) and then using the advantage for something. Perhaps it needs to be a darkness/fog build which will cause the AI of the enemies to enter/come close darkness for distance closing. And also protect the invoke duplicity from being destroyed?
It's a tough one though - I'll think about it!
dude exactly!
its a tough one @@Silreen
it would be a solo run so duplicity is kinda useless. i wouold probably focus on command/ hold person/ dominate sort of like your build here.
i was trying to see if i could splice in the splash of cleric instead of your wizard and warlock levels since id get the spells from cleric but then my casting modifier would change.
How do you use Hold Person as a bonus action?
ring that you can get from gini in circus you win the jackpot he sends you somewhere there you get it
What is the name of this ring?
Band of the Mystic Scoundrel, it’s very strong on builds that are making use of Arcane Acuity but only really viable for classes that both do weapon damage AND cast spells.
can you explain why command is getting 100% chance of success? Thanks
Casting it from the Scroll it uses your Mainstat instead of the predefined Caststat
What makes you able to have 100% on your save based spells?
The helmet of arcane acuity, it increases spell dc
Helmet of arcane acuity +7 stacks and also Rhapsody +3 stacks, making it pretty crazy high even
OH My Gosh!!! How? My team rarely deals more than 15 points of damage and I'm level 11. Some of my attacks are SO SAD they don't even take double digits
Hahaha alottt of min-maxing! :P Try focus on improving one character at a time, it can be overwhelming to try and do all four!
@@Silreen Improving How? Like what areas would increase damage?
@@Gabby-x6g Read what things do.
@@Gabby-x6g depending on your character role. Talents like sharpshooter and great wepon master let you do 10 flat damege for each attack that lands at the cost of -5 Attack Chance (you can offset that with equipment and also find some equipment that increase the output with various conditions also crit is a big factor there since he is holding raphael with hold monster and every attack is a crit + sharpshooter (that count twice with crit) the damage goes up pretty quick
if you're gonna be using a bow, why not grab the armor with Aura of Murder on it? Doubles your damage basically.
I hadn’t done that fight yet at that point - using it now though!
Why 1 warlock?
is Bless comin' from the 5k circus statue?
probably
Yep!
Doesn't Raphael have 800+ health on tactician? Nice job either way.
Nice but the more Effective Route is 10 Swordsbard and 2 Pal ,Spirit Guardians per Magical Secrets,Phalar Aluve for Shriek ...even Raphael is a One Turn Kill in Honour Mode with Arcane Acuity and Mystic Scoundrel
You need a better Computer my Friend:)
Why the Wizard 1??
In the description he says it's so he can learn the Haste spell from a scroll
@@scott9218 oh right, did not see that, thnx!
Yep, it’s the lowest investment way to get Haste 😂 Didn’t want to rely on weapon swapping for celestial haste AND speed potions forever! Wanted to design something that was more self-reliant
@@Silreen wow i have a ton of speed potions lol ... i used them a lot in act 3 almost never every where else
@@acavaglia If you have lots go ahead and use em! It's harder to get speed potions in Act3 tbh easy to get them in act 1
The one thing I've learned from all these Raphael solo fights is Larian needs to nerf consumables to the ground as they pretry much triviliaize the game.
Also, some of the Illithid powers are just dumb and are way too strong too.
90% of what killed Raphael is most of these fights are illithid powers and consumables that anyone can use.
I feel its only a matter of time before we see people soloing this fight with crappy classes that dont do a single thing but use scrolls as they alone trivilialize class balance and let anyone use anything.
Blah blah blah it's a single player game let people have fun
@@luciferotto oh, they absolutely can. I'm just reverse engineering the explanation why from a balancing perspective people are soloing the hardest optional boss when the devs prob didn't intend that and tried to make this fight "hard."
I actually think their choice to make consumables as strong as they are is important, players naturally have a behaviour to not use consumables across all games and it promotes player exploration and knowledge of the game systems. They vary gameplay a lot and force players to try creative solutions to problems when stuck.
Despite them being so strong most players STILL overlook consumables.
Although my issue with most Raph fights is they require excessive setup time and use of multiple consumable items to achieve the setup - it becomes more about what you’re doing pre-fight than it is what you’re doing in the fight. I hope that in this showcase it feels less so.
I do think the illithid powers trivialise a lot of fights in the game, though that’s kinda the point narratively. They need to nerf certain powers from once per short rest to long rest at least.
@@Silreen gosh ... wich one is once per short rest? i had all once per long rest instead ... or maybe i read wrong xD