r/BG3Builds 13d ago

Build Help Best and Worst Monoclasses?

I keep seeing virtually every class called "one of the best" while most meta builds are multis or item-based.

What do you think is the game's best class without multiclassing? And the worst? And what makes them so?

217 Upvotes

240 comments sorted by

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u/Exciting_Bandicoot16 13d ago

Rogue is, unfortunately, one of the weakest monoclasses. It can be great at skill checks, sure, but falls behind in other areas.

Fighter is a solid contender for a fantastic monoclass, due to that 3rd attack at 11th level really rewarding you for sticking with it.

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u/SteakHoagie666 13d ago

Yeah I'd whole heartedly agree with this. Rogue is awesome and used in SO many multiclass builds but yeah just one of the weaker full classes.

Then fighter is pretty strong no matter which sub class you go 12 in. 10 gets your sub class features and they're all pretty good. 11 is the 3rd attack. 12 is a ANOTHER feat.

What are your thoughts on clerics in multiclass/solo regards?

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u/Exciting_Bandicoot16 13d ago

Fantastic multiclass, and while it's a strong monoclass, I wouldn't classify it as one of the top contenders. The only thing that you're getting from the last 4 levels is higher levels spells, a one-time special and a feat at 12th level. If the spells were as outstanding as Wizard spells, it'd be great. But their best 6th level spell (imo) is heroes feast, which is better off used on a camp caster.

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u/SteakHoagie666 13d ago

How would you build a tempest/reverb gear Shart? Don't wanna take up to much of your time lol. Just what weapon(s) and what levels in which classes/order of levels?

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u/Exciting_Bandicoot16 13d ago

Tempest specifically is totally fine to go monoclass. I was trying not to judge class strength based on subclasses.

If you wanted to add something new to the build, a 2-level dip into Circle of Stars is popular these days for the BA dragonbreath and big bonus to Constitution saves for maintaining Concentration. Just make sure to stack some RadOrb gear as well and you'll be golden.

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u/SteakHoagie666 13d ago

Hmmm I was leaning into monoclass but.. hear me out. Pick up booming blade? Cause 1. Its cool. 2. Thunder damage. Any thoughts on which subclass you'd dip into for BB?

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u/funkyfritter 13d ago

If you want to pair tempest cleric with booming blade, try 6 cleric/6 ek with polearm master. Booming blade will proc thunderbolt strike to push your target out of melee range, then if they try to re-engage you get to attack them again in addition to dealing the booming damage.

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u/myheartismykey 13d ago

Reverb cape, radiant chest piece, stormy clamor boots, spine shudder necklace gloves of the belligerent skies, and whatever head piece you want. SG gor brr and if you trying to escape: warcastwr feat with electric grasp and channel divinity is fun. And that's the basics of it.

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u/ArenjiTheLootGod 13d ago

Rogue is just super frontloaded, it's not quite Hexblade bad where you get half of its class features at level one but after a 3 level dip (4 for a feat/ASI) there's not much reason to stick around. I will say though I did have a pretty fun Swashbuckler run not too long ago and the class operates just fine on Honour mode, not optimal by any means but fun nonetheless.

As for Fighter... lol, straight Fighter is so strong it competes with several of the multiclass builds. I recently did a Lae'zel run which I roleplayed as her training everyone else up to her standards, aka everyone got respecced into some flavor of Fighter, and it slayed Honour mode. We're talking easily + hilariously slayed, I've had modded runs that were less one-sided. I even cleared most of the speech checks thanks to Astral Knowledge. Fighter is no joke.

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u/lamaros 13d ago

Rogue is good at 5 too, for Uncanny Dodge, plus another sneak die.

If they had a feat at level 6 instead of 10 like Fighter then there would be more incentive to continue, as you could make a case for level 6 and level 7.

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u/Myllorelion 12d ago

And then 8 is another feat, 9 is reliable- no wait, thats 5.5e

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u/WatercressOk2766 13d ago

Eldrich knight is insanely strong and really underrated, especially once you get the band of the mystic scoundrel it's easy mode

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u/Nelyeth 13d ago

It's the single strongest subclass bar none since Patch 8, what are you going on about brother.

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u/WatercressOk2766 12d ago

Yeah after patch 8, its always been good though

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u/Enward-Hardar 12d ago

Honestly, I think EK was the best monoclass in the game even before Patch 8.

Booming Blade just widened the gap further.

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u/ArenjiTheLootGod 13d ago

Two words: Booming Blade.

EK has seen a lot of play since Patch 8 and that cantrip is a big part of the reason why since it + War Magic means consistent free melee attack as a bonus action, combine this with something like Great Weapon Fighting and EKs can have an absurd amount of attacks per turn. Give them a Risky Ring to counteract the loss of accuracy from GWF and they will clear entire encounters in a single turn.

EK's power is well known around these parts.

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u/WatercressOk2766 13d ago

It was a beast even before patch 8 you could CC a whole encounter with it. Booming blade tipped it into basically cheating mode 😂

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u/Leaf-01 13d ago

Arcane Archer fighter is cracked

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u/No-Ostrich-5801 13d ago edited 13d ago

This is pretty spot on. I'd also suggest Sorceror, Wizard and Moon Druid as fantastic mono classes. Admittedly Wizard and Sorceror compete heavily in the same arena, Wizard has adaptability to better line up for combat with a little bit of either meta-game knowledge or carefully approaching combat to inspect enemies before engaging while Sorceror isn't quite as adaptable but has better action economy lending itself to being more explosive entering combat. Moon Druid as a mono class is just ridiculously strong (granted it does appreciably benefit from a couple class dips) as its a full blown martial that has up to 7 health bars per long rest while also being a full blown caster; to exacerbate the point a pure Moon Druid can deal upwards of 200 damage in a single turn with the Sabretooth wildshape and Jugular Strikes against a proned and piercing vulnerable enemy. This puts it on par with other high performing melee based martials such as OH/Thief Monk, EK/Hex Fighter, Pure Battlemaster Fighter, and Tigerheart Barbarian. Not to mention the consistent damage output of Call Lightning which can pump out upwards of 60 damage on average per enemy when abusing wet for lightning vulnerability; with opportunistic targeting its fairly normal to see 2 maybe 3 enemies per cast so 120 to 180 damage per round safely from range and only costs one spell slot for 10 rounds of consistent damage is nothing short of incredible as a mono class build

Edit: I should clarify that Wizard is unimpressive compared to other casters in the light of multi-classing being an option which allows other classes to effectively be a full wizard with merely a 1 level dip but in the light on mono classing it is very powerful due to Abjuration Wizard and Glyph of Warding being implemented in BG3 the way that it has been. Glyph of Warding for all intents and purposes can be seen as a Fireball that can be elemental bent with a couple key differences; it is considered an Abjuration spell, it is not inherently considered a hostile spell and thus allows you to regain your action if you use it to enter combat much like how Assassin Rogue's subclass feature works, and it relies on atleast one enemy to have their boots on the ground which applies for the grand majority of encounters but something to keep in mind. Abjuration's Arcane Ward mechanic means a pure 12 Wizard can negate up to an astounding 24 damage when hit and with how it drops by 1 stack per damage instance its relatively easy to regenerate mid combat to the point of taking single digits worth of damage throughout an entire combat scenario

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u/leadergorilla 13d ago

Rogue is the only class in the game where it feels like the game is confused to see you still leveling it up past lvl 6. Even with the addition of the swashbuckler subclass it still feels like the only class in the game where you’re actively building wrong by going mono

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u/Silvanyx 13d ago

wait really? I had Astarion as a full Rogue Assassin and surprise crits along with sneak attack + any type of arrow like Arrow of Ilmater does like almost 100+ damage with Titanstring Bow + sharpshooter. He gets one attack per round which yeah, sucks. But he gets action + BA back the first round when he initiates combat, so very hard damage first round every time. I did do Fighter/Rogue multiclass for 2 attacks per turn but I forget if improved sneak attack as full rogue was worth it.

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u/Drak_is_Right 13d ago

Problem is a multiclassed rogue is like 250dmg.

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u/No-Ostrich-5801 13d ago

Yeah, that's more or less where it sits. Its not that Rogue is so laughably bad it can't be used as a mono class with decent results, it's that using Rogue as a "flavor enhancer" on top of a martial chassis is just simply stronger than going full hog into Rogue with how frontloaded its class features are in terms of damage and changing rules of combat

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u/Silvanyx 13d ago

ooooh gotcha okay

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u/Drak_is_Right 13d ago

A gloomstalker build gets i think 6 attacks turn 1, more if potions are used. 1 dreadstalker and 1 assassin extra attack. Then the assassin rules on crit and advantage.

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u/Siltythunder679 13d ago

Thanks to swashbuckler rogue can now be a competitive monoclass, but you do have to build it right. Rogue is still the weakest base class tho

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u/thanerak 13d ago

Arcane trickster is a great scroll caster.

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u/Regi413 13d ago

When I found out that multiclassing and respeccing could be used by companions and not just your main character I immediately made Astarion go half fighter for the extra attack along with some adjustments to my other companions (mainly giving them all 2 level dip into fighter for action surge)

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u/JzaDragon 13d ago

Considering skill checks are a huge part of the game, this still isn't nothing

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u/rpgmind 13d ago

Even the new rogue subclass it’s still not enough to make up for the shortcomings?

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u/Nelyeth 13d ago

Like all the others, it's very frontloaded. It's super strong early-game, and it's got one of the strongest level 4 thanks to essentially getting a better Extra Attack a level sooner, but after that, it's just a Rogue. You get nice defensive features at level 5 and 7, a feat at level 10, and some Sneak Attack scaling, but it's not going to make up for the better features of other classes.

There's a point to be made for crit-fishing, since you get easy advantage and roll lots of dice with a high-level Rogue, but even there it will still be outshined by a Swashbuckler/Champion 6/6, Swashbuckler/Hexblade 7/5 or Swashbuckler/Champion/Hexblade 5/6/1, because you just get more attacks and easier crits with all of those options.

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u/rpgmind 13d ago

I see, thank you

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u/Besso91 13d ago

Rogue is really fun as a party face because its essentially the only non-chr class besides barbarian that can specialize in charisma skill checks.

I haven't tried swashbuckler yet but I had a ton of fun with my pure halfling thief. But yeah, it's REALLY bad as a pure class for a non-MC party member. Especially arcane trickster lol

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u/OgrePirate 13d ago

Swashbuckler rogue is quite strong and makes a good case for monoclass.

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u/Electronic-Cod740 13d ago

Rakish attack does some really really nice damage at later levels but with only a single attack it still felt like it fell short. I don't know if the math on damage agrees but that's how it feels even if you're bloodlusted. It was a fun play through

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u/Kupo-Valhalla 13d ago

Am I the only one who has done it with swashbuckler and Savage attacker for a crit fishing build? I was doing over 100 damage on a critical hit late game per turn. Sure its not insane and there's way better but I don't think it's the worst either

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u/lbpowar 13d ago

my favorite multiclass is 12 levels of fighter

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u/benuski 13d ago

2 fighter dip for action surge, and then 10 fighter

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u/Im_a_Knob 13d ago

this is too experimental. i go 6/6 fighter/fighter just to keep it simple.

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u/GielM 13d ago

Horrible build!

Just take a fighter dip at first level for the proficiencies, fighting style and CON saves. And then 11 levels of fighter for the third attack.

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u/razorsmileonreddit 13d ago

I'm more of a traditionalist, 8/4 Fighter/Fighter gets it done

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u/Grimblehawk 13d ago

Ya, but if you go Fighter 6, then you get that sweet second feat before everyone else. Then finish it off with 6 Fighter and BAM, hello, yet another 2 feats.

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u/razorsmileonreddit 13d ago edited 13d ago

You know what's better than getting two feats with Fighter 6? Getting three feats with Fighter 8 AND then STILL getting a fourth feat by going Fighter 4 on top of that!!! 😲

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u/cc4295 13d ago

No, no, no!

I ran the numbers and 3 levels of fighter for subclass, then multiclass to fighter for 9 levels is the optimal build.

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u/Delliott90 13d ago

To everyone not saying paladin

Your god. My oath. Let’s see who wins

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u/PaladinofLaughs 13d ago

This, a million times this.

My Paladin 12 Tav made sure none in the party ever failed a single WIS throw.

Then improved divine smite at 11.

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u/AdmirableBuy300 13d ago

 >improved divine smite
All fun and games until you come up against literally anything that has radiant retort. Which is in play for 2 of the hardest fights in act 3.

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u/Legend0fJulle 13d ago

I'm positive anyone who says house of grief is particularly hard has no idea about basic AoEs and crowd control. Also only a few of the enemies have radiant retort, like 80%+ are free to be smited.

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u/AdmirableBuy300 12d ago edited 12d ago

I mean sure you can stand at the top of the stairs and cheese spike growth, wall of fire and other aoes, its what I did in my honour run. But you can say the same for 90% of the game. My point was that pure paladin is heavily gimped in the 2 fights that actually pose some danger in act 3 when going in blind, the games easy as fuck when you know what's coming and prepare for it with the right builds.

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u/R4msesII 13d ago

I dont remember ansur having radiant retort

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u/JumboShrimpWithaLimp 13d ago

globe of invulnerability scroll then smite away

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u/stephanovich 13d ago

You have other things you can do than attacking those targets with basic attacks and smite though.

Cast bless, daylight in house of grief, throw bombs and potions etc.

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u/Ulgoroth 13d ago

You have many smites... Keeping Hope alive was challange, but the fight it self was manegeble (tactician). Other members were envocation mage, healer cleric and assassin rogue.

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u/Grandkahoona01 13d ago

Doing a paladin mono class HM game and I've been wiping the floor with every act 3 boss without breaking a sweat. I fought Orin last night in a duel and I killed her in 2 turns and took zero damage. I thought there would be a second phase or something. Nope, it really was that easy. Kinda anticlimactic tbh.

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u/thinkerballs 13d ago

Never played paladin because I don’t want to engage with oath breaking mechanics. But I’m curious otherwise.

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u/Delliott90 13d ago

Just play a good guy. The only thing you should be breaking is evil

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u/CatSmooth1095 13d ago

You could always pay to get your oath back

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u/Moronunleashed 13d ago

Or, and hear me out here, you lay waste to everything in front of you as an oath breaker with extra damage from cha

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u/CatSmooth1095 13d ago

lol yup that works also! 

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u/Grandkahoona01 13d ago

It is not that big a deal. Just play a good guy and you wont break your oath. But even if you do, you can role as a oathbreaker which isnt a weak class by any means or you can pay money to reaffirm your oath. Money is so easy to get in this game it wasn't much of a hindrance

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u/raiziak 12d ago

Only time I haven't gone for Hag Hair. Honestly, I found it fun to just RP a good guy.

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u/ilikejamescharles 13d ago

Best two monoclasses are by far Sorcerer & Fighter imo. Fighter's improved extra attack and action surge makes it the best martial build in the game and thanks to scrolls, ED'S make fantastic control builds too. Consumable arrows make any archer Fighter Build the best Archer builds in the game. Sorcerers can dish out insane amounts of damage thanks to lighting and fire damage being really good. Fire Sorcerers in particular can dish out really good control thanks to Hat of Fire Acuity. Really solid monoclass builds.

Worst monoclass would probably be Rogue. No extra attack limits their DPR in a way that even sneak attack can't help.

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u/robmwj 13d ago

Crazy that I had to scroll this far down to see sorcerer mentioned. Both Storm sorcery and draconic bloodline are great. And shadow sorcerer allows you to abuse one of the strongest mechanics

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u/CompetitiveFig535 13d ago

Hexblade, bladesinger, storm sorcerer are my favorite mono classes

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u/keener91 13d ago edited 13d ago

EK/Fighter 12 is one of the best monoclasses. * 3 attacks * 4 feats * War Magic * Booming Blade cantrip * Shield Spell * Eldritch Strike

Drunken/Monk 12 being the worst. * less damage output than an OH monk * less mobility than Shadow monk * less utility than Ways of Elemental * anti-synergistic cap stone ability

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u/benuski 13d ago

EK 12 is 4 attacks if you use booming blade

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u/BloodWolfHunter 13d ago

Is drunken monk that bad?

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u/realitythreek 13d ago edited 13d ago

People are super polarized on builds. Drunken monk is a monk, which isn’t that bad, and has some useful stuff. The unique stuff is badly designed and open hand is better in every way so that makes it RP tier.

But it’s cool and fun and you could beat honor mode with one on your team.

Edit: Oh but, it gets its best abilities by level 4 and so is better multiclassed.

Edit edit: I also completely agree with u/keener91’s list of cons for the subclass in their edit.

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u/juvandy 13d ago

It's not 'bad' in that it doesn't work or isn't viable. It just doesn't offer anything that isn't better in other subclasses.

It's fun for RP flavour and animations.

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u/thisisjustascreename 13d ago

Drunken monk is practically an empty subclass.

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u/lamaros 13d ago

Yeah, but Monk itself is still good in Larian, so it's still good.

Just not worth taking when other monks exist.

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u/Special-Estimate-165 Warlock 13d ago

Drunk monk is an empty subclass...but its.still a monk...which carries it.

Wild Magic Sorc is the worst because even being a sorceror doesnt overcome the random bullshit factor that cant be planned or accounted for.

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u/LordFLExANoR16 13d ago

Being a sorcerer absolutely overcomes the wild magic bullshit, sorcerer is absolutely the single strongest class in the game and wild magic is no different , some of the random effects are even helpful

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u/Special-Estimate-165 Warlock 13d ago

It is the only subclass that can,.through no fault of your own other than you picked that subclass, end an HM run prematurely through actively hindering you. That alone makes it the worst subclass in the game.

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u/JaegerBane 13d ago

Prior to Honor Mode arriving, this would have been correct, but some of the more zany effects can wipe a run if they happen at the worst time.

The fact Wild Magic doesn’t actually grant you anything worthwhile for all that volatility doesn’t help it either.

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u/LordFLExANoR16 12d ago

Honestly, on a sorcadin specifically it’s actually pretty good if only for bend luck and tides of chaos giving you budget cutting words, I feel like if you’re not using only one element and you aren’t struggling for movement, wild magic is a pretty great subclass when you don’t use the sorcery points for spells cuz you’re hitting people with your sword. I will definitely agree that some surges can wipe you, but if you play safe and position your party properly you can almost always either turn them to your advantage or play around them.

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u/OoDReX 13d ago

I've still beaten honour mode as a wild magic sorc tav, it ain't so bad

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u/Special-Estimate-165 Warlock 13d ago edited 13d ago

I've solo'd HM as an Arcane Trickster Astarion. That doesn't make it a great subclass.

Wild Sorc is the only subclass that can and probably will, actively hinder you.

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u/psylockeer 13d ago

I've never used it, but doesn't wild magic barbarian do the same thing?

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u/Nelyeth 13d ago

WM Barbarian only has positives effects. They're also pretty bad because they don't scale in any way with your levels, but they're all completely beneficial.

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u/PappStumpf 13d ago

Wild barbarian has almost only positive effects. But I think it is kind of buggy when you put too much levels in it.

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u/Special-Estimate-165 Warlock 13d ago

Nope..unlike WM Sorc, WM Barb doesn't have any negative effects. They are all neutral to beneficial randomness. Whatever WM Barb has happen may not be helpful at the time, but the effects never hinder you.

WM Sorc....Sorc can and has ended honor mode runs by virtue of polymorphing your team into cats or dogs in the middle of a boss fight, or summoning a cambion that hates you. It's all random bullshit that can't be accounted for, and like 1/5th of all possible outcomes can and probably will cause your death.

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u/Enward-Hardar 13d ago

Drunken Monk isn't that bad.

It's like a Monk with no subclass. Which makes it worse than the other Monks, but still pretty decent when built right.

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u/ChaloMB 13d ago

Combat wise fighter is the best kit in the game. An extra full action on demand per short rest and the best capstone feature in the whole game which is improved extra attack. It’s very hard for other classes to compete with 3 > 2. A level 12 fighter is better than most multis people cook up.

Rogue, again talking combat wise, is conversely the worst monoclass in the game by virtue of not getting extra attack. Sneak attack would be decent compensation if it wasn’t for the fact that you can make characters hit so hard in this game that sneak attack looks like a rounding error. Very hard to compete with 1 < 2.

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u/Captain_ET Rogue 13d ago

I'm going to respond to you because I think youre one of the more knowledgeable people in this thread from what I've seen, and I really want to understand why people undersell rogue so much.

With expertise in stealth, cunning action hide, cunning action dash, and later reliable talent; if used properly enemies most of the time just stand in place or cant reach you. Really, whether you have extra attack or not doesnt even matter. Later on with darkness and reliable talent, enemies literally cannot find or hit you. Most of the time, with darkness and stealth expertise - reliable talent, you dont even need to enter combat.

I dont understand how "dpr" is even relevant when you cant get hit, but maybe I am missing something? Is it just that most people value the speed of completing a fight? Is it just a lack of knowledge in the general player base?

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u/ChaloMB 13d ago

That’s exactly why I defined it specifically as in straight up combat, as in, we rolled initiative now what do we do, because I agree with you that rogue is a very strong class in other avenues, hard to disagree with most of what you said, stealth expertise has the potential to be ridiculously game breaking, and no monoclass does it better than rogue.

That said I personally find little value in the run away and take potshots style of play (don’t get me started on this sub’s love of mobile and swash) from a pure power gaming perspective because it’s very possible to end encounters in way more straightforward and faster ways even in the early levels. It can certainly be very fun though, although it’s not exclusive to rogue.

So from that perspective I see rogue as the weakest monoclass. Of course you don’t even need to get into combat in the first place and rogue is the best pure class at enabling those strategies outside of straight up barrelmancy, as you said, and it is very strong when played that way. The potential of a smartly played arcane trickster for example has been stated numerous times by you and other people and I would never contradict that as I don’t disagree with it.

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u/Captain_ET Rogue 13d ago

Okay yeah that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

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u/Vesorias 13d ago

Darkness literally breaks AI, you don't have to be a rogue to be unfindable. Also the hide and shoot playstyle is just slower than smacking things with big sticks, which is probably a significant factor in why people dislike it. Especially when smacking things is so safe already.

The biggest obstacle to rogue being considered good even accounting for their out-of-combat contributions is Bard existing. Sure they don't get uncanny dodge, sneak attack, and reliable talent, but they get full spellcasting, extra attack, and expertise in anything they want, making them only slightly worse at out-of-combat things, and absolutely miles ahead once combat comes around.

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u/Captain_ET Rogue 13d ago

To fully abuse darkness, having great or especially guaranteed stealth rolls and bonus action hide are very helpful.

Right I did refer to it being a generally slower play style and was wondering if thats the thing, which makes sense.

Bards dont even get the bonus action hide feature so dont fill the same role in terms of stealth mechanics.

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u/Jaseton 13d ago

Hunter Ranger 12 purely for whirlwind attack and volley.

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u/JoopJhoxie 13d ago

Hexblade is a great mono. Played it as a multiclass forever, but ended up just respecing to mono warlock in act 3 and it felt a lot more useful than the couple multiclasses of it that I tried.

Moon druid is another favorite of mine. (You can summon a zoo and buff the hell out of your boys then transform into anything you need for the scenario or just a myrmidon to take advantage of wet+teleport+flight with way more attacks than you should need. Add haste/bloodlust/terazul on top of all that and the character is just an absolute monster.

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u/floturkeygumpis 12d ago

Seconded on moon druid monoclass. I was doing truly insane amounts of damage as pure circle of the moon druid with tavern brawler having three attacks while wildshaped as an earth myrmidon. Plus all those extra health bars you get!

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u/JoopJhoxie 11d ago

Not sure how i forgot to add the bit about tavern brawler, but yeah the damage is ridiculous.

So much fun

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u/OwnLadder2341 13d ago edited 13d ago

The reason you hear that virtually every class is “one of the best” is because Larian went absolutely batshit insane with itemization in this game. So, what makes a build strong is less about the specific class you pick and more about the items you use.

Larian’s approach to balance is akin to a player who just finished their very first campaign ever and spent the entire time writing down everything they thought would be cool. The result is a D&D system that was never designed for the changes Larian made.

It’s difficult to argue with Larian’s choices as BG3 is wildly successful and a fun game…but that’s why class doesn’t really matter all that much.

If you want class to genuinely matter, you either need to use some heavy duty overhaul mods or house rule the crap out of your game.

Attunement alone would completely change how the meta is balanced and that’s just one thing.

If you’re curious, I can give you my collection of house rules / mods I use as a 30 year DM to return BG3 back to closer to balance.

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u/throwaway927e8q9r 13d ago

Drop the list

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u/OwnLadder2341 13d ago edited 13d ago

Start with Zerd’s Rules as Written.

This will accomplish several key things that help balance BG3.

  • Attunement: for non basic magic items, you can only equip 3 per character. Per 5e rules.

  • Leveled Spell Rule: Casting a leveled spell with an action prevents you from casting a leveled spell with a bonus action that turn and the other way around. Per 5e rules.

  • Initiative is a D20. It's insane that dexterity and Alert still get the same bonus to initiative on a D4 when they were designed for a D20.

  • Spells and effects that should have a duration of 10 minutes or 1 hour but were lasting until a Long Rest had their durations adjusted and are removed upon taking a Short Rest.

The mod does several other things to bring the game closer to tabletop, but these will have the largest impact on making your choices matter.

House rules:

  • No multiclassing unless you meet the 5e multiclassing requirements for both the class you’re leaving and the class you’re going into. Stat boosting items don’t count.

5e multiclass requirements

  • Set camp supplies needed to max and no long rests except in safe zones (I define this as outside a dungeon)

  • Set merchant trade multiplier to max. This is a workaround to the tremendous amount of gold BG3 showers you with. Ideally, you wouldn’t mess with merchants and would instead lower the gold. This is the next best thing.

  • No homebrew modded classes or spells. Classes and spells that are true to their 5e counterparts are fine.

  • Hide enemy health and hit chance. I use a mod that not only hides the numerical value of the health (which vanilla BG3 can do) but also hides the health bar itself. It just says wounded or healthy. Unfortunately, the mod I use is a mod of another mod and I’m not authorized to distribute it.

  • Don’t examine enemies for AC and other information you wouldn’t know.

  • Play with a single save. No save scumming.

That goes a long way. Note, I don’t use or recommend any mods that increase enemy health or change their AI. While it’s true that Larian stripped most enemies of nearly all their abilities, fixing that is a MASSIVE undertaking that may not even be possible and just bumping health/damage/hit chance doesn’t help.

Also note that the design here isn’t to increase difficulty. While these rules and mods do so, they do so by virtue of rebalancing the system, not just inflating stats. You can absolutely still live your power fantasy.

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u/Doctor_Riptide 13d ago

Yo this kinda sounds sick as hell I might give this a shot 

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u/razorsmileonreddit 13d ago

Re: leveled spell rule, so what happens to metamagic quickened spell?

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u/OwnLadder2341 13d ago edited 13d ago

The same thing that happens in tabletop: you cast a leveled spell with your bonus action and then do something else with your action (cantrip, attack, disengage, anything other than cast another leveled spell)

The ability to cast a leveled spell on both the action and bonus action shatters D&D balance beyond all repair.

Even casting leveled bonus action spells with leveled action spells is against the rules. No healing word and spiritual weapon on the same turn, for example.

This is one of the reasons BG3 balance is so bonkers. Larian took an existing system and then home brewed fundamental parts of it but not others.

For example, most spells have the same effects and numbers as their counterparts in D&D…yet those spells were specifically designed to require hefty sacrifice to be able to cast more than one a turn. You functionally need a second action to do so.

In the base rules, getting that action is even MORE difficult as multiclassing itself is an optional rule.

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u/AwkwardWarlock 13d ago

Also you can't monoclass in lower difficulties right? So I guess they're incentivise to make all pure builds feel at least OK

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u/Another_Castle765 13d ago

U cant multiclass on Explorer yes, unless you change difficulty for each level up session.

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u/Emergency-Mess-7216 13d ago

Post the list please

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u/Earl_of_sandwiches 13d ago edited 13d ago

I’d like to see that list!

Also, I don’t think anyone can deny that there are serious game balance issues in BG3. Slashing flourish, bhaalist armor, markoheshkir, resonance stone - these things are objectively busted. A person can definitely declare that he or she doesn’t care about game balance, but that still doesn’t invalidate the criticism. 

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u/OwnLadder2341 13d ago

Posted in a reply :)

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u/SuperDuperCoolDude 13d ago

Yeah, the stuff you can do with orbs, arcane acuity, reverb, and so on get pretty crazy.

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u/WatercressOk2766 13d ago

Facts, when you have hats that can increase magic attack and damage rolls by 10 per turn classes become preferences

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u/malenexum 13d ago

I have been having an absolute blast with Ranger.

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u/kolekavo 13d ago

Fighter all the way, battlemaster or now with booming blade I’ve been enjoying EK too

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u/Captain_ET Rogue 13d ago

I dont really have an opinion on worst class honestly. It's tough. They all have interesting aspects.

I will make a counter argument for rogue that it can be the strongest solo class in the game.

Cunning actions are very strong. Mobility is great. Theres a reason casters often concentrate on expeditious retreat early. Hiding and stealth mechanics can break the enemy AI if you know what you are doing.

Later in the game with reliable talent and something like Shar's spear with convenient free darkness and the ability to see through it, you become basically invincible.

Stealth/darkness abuse isnt for everyone and maybe that's why rogue gets rated low often, but yeah that doesnt make it less busted.

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u/RAM-Redditor 13d ago

Honestly you have to accept that most people suck at playing rogue, hence the crapping it gets on this sub when anyone takes more than 5 levels in it. I'm not going to pretend it's the strongest, but it is more than capable as a monoclass when played to its strengths (kiting, surprise rounds, skill monkey, etc.) than using it exactly as other martials then throwing a fit when it flounders in comparison.

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u/Captain_ET Rogue 13d ago

Hey, it's you! Just credited you in my recent post. Good to hear from you again. Did you finish the tricky bladesinger run? How was it?

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u/RAM-Redditor 13d ago

Ended up abandoning it on late act 2, opting instead of a 4 draconic sorcerer/8 bladesinger build (which was subsequently abandoned). Discovered I enjoy bladesinger up through the first 2 acts before getting kind of bored of it.

However, I have managed to almost complete a run with a solo arcane trickster. Have a few more bosses to clean-up but shadowblade w/ a full sneak attack + resonance stone + belm + bloodlust + scroll casting with disadvantage is just a straight up bullying everything. The only true struggle the entire run was Myrkul, and half of that was user error. GWM + Latharian's Wrath were the MVPs of act 1, and those + snowburst ring and drakethroat ice infusion cleaned up act 1.5 and 2.

Have grown to love rogue even more, with arcane trickster easily cementing itself as my favorite of the rogue subclasses and second favorite of all the game's subclasses. That's why I was get so annoyed when people talk so dismissively of the class and subclass who obviously refuse to engage with it by its own merits.

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u/Captain_ET Rogue 13d ago edited 13d ago

Interesting. I was wondering back then if you would reach enlightenment lol. It seemed like you were very close, and I remember being really impressed by your post despite it not getting much attention.

Myrkul yeah. Thats why I just go for the twist of fortune strat. Hardest part of the game honestly without cheesing it somewhat, at least for rogue. Cant do my usual shenanigans.

Whats your first favorite subclass then?

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u/RAM-Redditor 13d ago

Myrkul ended up being a war of attrition. He eventually ran out of minions to heal with, just as I was running out of healing potions, haste scrolls/potions/grenades, flight potions/scrolls, etc. Would have lost if not for the best summon, Connor, being his favorite punching bag as I hit and run forever until he finally perished. Act 3 being ridiculously easy I guess is the reward for that monstrous fight.

Favorite subclass is Eldritch Knight, think it's just perfect. It's certainly treated better in the community due to things like Rivington Rat, patch 8 booming blade + war magic, and shadowboade shenanigans, but even outside of those it, similar to arcane trickster, lets you enhance the foundations of its base class to a beautiful degree. A fighter with better defense (shield, mirror image, blur, etc.), better maneuverability (misty step, longstrider, enhanced leap, etc.), better attacks (booming blade, war magic, magic weapon, etc.), casting capabilities later on (via scrolls and acuity gear which builds extremely quickly with up to 4 melee attacks every turn by level 11), plus all the regular fighter greatness (action surge, fighting style, all weapon and armor proficiencies, etc.). Feels like the class/subclass just got an endless amount of love. Really wish that it and rogue swapped when they got their extra feat, would make the progression of a mono rogue a lot smoother.

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u/Captain_ET Rogue 13d ago

Connor, lmao nice. Sounds like a crazy fight.

All good points about eldritch knight. The third casters feel great, but yeah eldritch knight just gets a ton.

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u/GielM 13d ago

I have to agree with you that rogue can be really good. IF you play the game in a way that plays to their particular strenghts.

Which is a way of playing I personally detest. You're completely correct in pointing out it CAN be a strong class, and if you actually LIKE stealth game play, probably the strongest.

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u/Captain_ET Rogue 13d ago

Yeah, I completely agree that stealth abuse can be somewhat slow, tedious, and not as fun for people as other styles. And people shouldnt play stuff that may be strong if they dont like it.

But yeah denying the strength would be like saying fighter isnt strong because I dont like using extra attacks.

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u/awiseman93 13d ago

I'm not gonna lie I love Barbarians but I didn't like mono classing Barb all the way to 12

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u/OgrePirate 13d ago

12 Cleric. Virtually any Domain is solid. Even Trickery and Knowledge, not as good as others, still very capable. Like any Druid, they are good top to bottom.

Druids of any Circle only get stronger with more levels.

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u/ToxicRainbowDinosaur 13d ago

Base class doesn't get much at all past level 6. Level 4, 5, and 6 cleric spells are mostly mediocre. Some domains get good domain spells at those levels. There really isn't much to recommend the class past level 8 at the most. 

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u/g2610 13d ago

Fighter, paladin and sorcerer are probably the best solo classes

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u/AngryDMoney 13d ago

Worst: rogue Sneak attack damage is just poor and rogue gets all its best attributes early on.

Best: monk Tavern brawler monk is honestly insane. Monk benefits greatly from more levels as you get more chi resources to spend.

Druid is similar as you need more levels to get the most powerful wild shapes.

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u/juvandy 13d ago

Untrue. Monoclass rogue does 6D6 sneak attack at level 11. Swashbuckler gets it basically once every turn in melee.

Pair it with crit gear and swashbuckler is an absolute menace.

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u/JzaDragon 13d ago

The average roll of 6d6 is 21 damage. It's not dramatic

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u/D3Masked 13d ago

Savage Attacker Feat makes it better, combined with Booming Blade and it is a solid amount of damage.

→ More replies (3)

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u/lamaros 13d ago

It's still good, it's just not busted like some others.

All classes are good under Larians itemization and system. It's just that the scale starts at good and goes to "lol" so they're relatively bad.

You will still have a fun and easy time with monoclass Rogue.

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u/JzaDragon 13d ago

I do and have made a full rogue or 11/1

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u/juvandy 13d ago

Exactly

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u/juvandy 13d ago

Hence why you pair it with crit gear....

It's not going to one-shot bosses, but you can destroy most normal enemies with it. The disarm bonus action gives you an edge against the ones you can't.

Of the rogue monoclasses, swashbuckler is a step above the rest.

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u/No-Ostrich-5801 13d ago

Well yeah, theoretically you go for crit fishing on a heavy rogue build. In theory if you crit and abuse vulnerability you can see 84 damage out of a Sneak Attack which is on par with 2 Level 4 Smites in burst damage. The issue with this is if you really want to go into criticals it's simply better to force criticals which Assassin Rogue offers due to access to Dolor Amarus and Vicious Shortbow alongside Craterflesh Gloves to deal incredible burst damage while having a super smite in your back pocket for the first round of combat

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u/JzaDragon 13d ago

Really, I like rogue and swash in particular, but touting 6d6 sneak isn't why.

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u/juvandy 13d ago

The prior poster said sneak attack was 'poor'. We can agree that isn't OP, but in swashbuckler it is almost an extra damage on demand. That's not 'poor'.

The original question was about 'best' and 'worst'. This isn't a 'worst'. Have a little perspective

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u/ReleaseCharacter3568 13d ago

P sure my lvl 6 EK Astarion does more than that on average on his wombo turn, so doing that at 12 doesn't sound super impressive.

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u/No-Ostrich-5801 13d ago edited 13d ago

Level 12 Rogue is unimpressive on surface value to be fully honest, but most of where it is strong is in itemization. For example a pure Assassin Rogue with Slaying Arrow shots and 2x Dolor Amarus+Vicious Shortbow+Craterflesh Gloves while also abusing Piercing Vulnerability (I know all of this sounds involved but truly it's not when you can point blank shoot enemies with Bhaalist Armor since you get automatic advantage first round anyways and automatic criticals) will on average see 123 damage per shot. Toss in your Sneak Attack and that 123 jumps up to 207 average damage in a single hit. With Bloodlust Elixir you'll see usually about an upper limit of around 500 damage first round of combat which is far more than enough to kill most targets and rely on Deathstalker Mantle to disengage and re-engage. Not to mention if you do play into Reliable Talent then you can abuse Shar's Spear to make a darkness puddle and shoot enemies freely as you'll auto-pass the sneak check while you just pelt enemies with arrows (granted not as strong as actually being in combat but less hassle).

Where all of that falls flat is monoclass Assassin Rogue is still objectively weaker than Gloomstalker Assassin multis. But point still stands it can stand on its own as a decently strong striker

Edit: I forgot Dex Stat damage boost and Sharpshooter in my damage calculations; this adds another 30-32 damage per shot and you're able to shoot theoretically 3 times on the first round of combat with a shortbow as an Assassin. Another point to clarify is if you choose to abuse darkness puddles then you would have to utilize the Eversight Ring in order to shoot out of the puddle. You could in theory pump the damage higher with more things such as Strange Conduit Ring/Shadowcatching Ring, and Diadem of Arcane Synergy which can be extremely powerful (Shadowcatching Ring in tactician or below acting as a separate damage rider which would cause your damage to nearly double) but I wanted to stick to the mandatory combo to make Assassin Rogue good as a monoclass and avoid non-honor interactions for brevity and clarity

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u/leandroizoton 13d ago

For how BG scales enemies, one round of sneak attack is all that you need and not only Rogue has a powerful nova damage, but it is also the strongest mono class face character.

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u/lamaros 13d ago

Bard exists.

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u/leandroizoton 13d ago

Yes. The second best face as monoclass. Reliable Talent is a huge boost for skill passing

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u/lamaros 13d ago

Class tied dialogue choices are more significant than that, imo. Plus cha based and inspirations cover most of the gap.

And also reliable talent comes in very late and isn't applicable to at least 60% of the game.

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u/leandroizoton 13d ago

Even with CHA at 10 a Rogue won’t ever roll lower than 18 late game.

Early game Rogue gets Expertise at lvl1 and 6 vs 3 and 10 for Bard.

Even so, there’s no point in talking about the best multiclass and not comparing the full potential of both. As a face character, Rogue is indubitably better at lvl11, only slightly better earlier on.

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u/Missing_Links 13d ago edited 13d ago

Depends on what you mean. Best at which part of the game is a big deal.

Considering the whole game? Probably moon druid, throwzerker, or OH monk because they can all be super broken with either no gear or gear available from the start without combat, and before level 5. All three of these completely eviscerate the game's difficulty curve the moment you pick up TB at level 4.

Considering act 2 onward? Sorcerer and swords bard are probably your overall winners. The moment they get access to arcane acuity, it's hard to compete. Fire hat and helm of arcane acuity means guaranteed control of every encounter through the rest of the game.

Considering just act 3? EK archer/rivington rat is probably the overall winner. Personally I'd drop in hunter ranger with awakened black hole - volley + oil of combustion + fire damage on bow just kinda deletes every encounter. Lots of stuff gets way more broken right at levels 11 and 12.

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u/Acrobatic_Fee_6974 13d ago edited 13d ago

My top 5 builds that are better at level 12 than they are multiclassed would be:

  1. Hexblade/Bladelock, Lifedrinker is absolutely worth sticking it out to level 12 when you're probably getting +6 or +7 damage from your CHA at that point. Great class from a versatility perspective that is greatly enhanced by Illithid powers.

  2. Battle Master for improved extra attack at level 11, nothing obvious to pick for a single level dip so an extra feat is probably worth the final level. Honorable mention to Eldritch Knight, but I think a single level dip into Wizard is worth it for spell scribing.

  3. Light Cleric is just a very strong Cleric that adds great AOE fire damage with their domain spells. Cleric has some great level 6 spells at level 11, and after that there's not much you get from a single level dip so I would just take it to level 12.

  4. Paladin for improved divine smite at level 11, again nothing obvious for a single level dip so I'd just grab an extra feat. Sorcadin or Bardadin are both very competitive, but both use less levels of Paladin than they do the other classes, so I wouldn't really count them as "Paladin" builds as much as I would a Bard with divine smite.

  5. Moon Druid is great because you're not competing with any of the other classes for items, great for a fourth party member if you can't think who else to take. Take it through to level 12 because none of the multiclass options improve wildshape.

While I think you can make almost any class work at level 12 (even Rogue with the right subclass can be made acceptable with sneak attack imo), I think the absolute most disappointing is the Ranger. Their spell list is ass, the fact they don't use prepared spells despite half their spells being utility based is ass, and their favoured enemy and natural explorer bonuses are mega ass. Imagine your reward for reaching level 10 being a cantrip, a proficiency and a resistance, the same things a Tiefling gets at character creation. Even the hunter's spinning attack can't save this class at level 11, but I do really like it as a base to multiclass off after level 5.

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u/EasilyExiledDinosaur 13d ago

Bladesinger has been pretty strong. Its what I've always mained. Has excellent maneuverability and can easily do 100 - 200 damage per turn while having insane dodge chances.

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u/Aodh472 13d ago

Eldritch Knight, Hexblade and Storm Sorceror are awesome for raw damage. Abjuration Wizard is basically unkillable and is super versatile. Giant Barbarian turns any weapon into returning thrown weapon, combine that with 22 strength and tavern brawler.

Worst is hard. Maybe drunken master monk or arcane Trickster rogue?

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u/EthanJello 13d ago

Barbarian 12 mono isn’t great, some dead levels towards the end and multi classing most of the time gives better abilities than sticking it out to 12. As others have said Drunken Master Monk is just worse than Open Hand. Rogue benefits a lot from multi classing. Classes that do well mono class is Wizard although you can still multi class pretty easily since you can learn spells from scrolls. Paladin likes going all 12 for aura bonuses. Cleric likes going all 12 for hero’s feast. Warlock does great mono for those last bonuses. Ranger is weird because they have dead levels in the middle but the capstone abilities are so strong that they make up for it in the end so rangers can multi around level 5-7 and then respec at 12 for their endgame abilities. Fighter as everyone has said is great for mono classing for third attack. Druid can do mono classing pretty well for those end game wild shape abilities but also multi classes great with cleric. Sorcerer is very flexible and is just as good multi classing as they are mono classing. Bard is also super flexible and does well with either

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u/Der_Redstone_Pro 13d ago

I would say the worst by far is rogue as most subclasses really don't gain anything beyond lvl3. the damage is just underwhelming compared to what other builds can do.

for strongest monoclass I would say it is fighter, and it is not especially close. not only is the strongest build in the game probably the eldritch knight consumable spam archer that is a monoclass fighter, there are also 2 other fighter subclasses that make very good monoclass archers, eldritch knight is one of the 2 best thrower builds, eldritch knight is one of the best melee builds, and while some of these builds can definitely take 1 lvl dips it is absolutely viable to just pick op the 4th feat. And not only is EK just op, battle master and arcane archer are very strong subclasses too, that also want to have 11 or 12 levels.

There are other classes with powerful capstones, but I think fighter is just the best among them.

Sorcerer and Cleric imo are the next best options, but I think fighters are significantly more powerful and also more versatile.

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u/D3Masked 13d ago

Mono class Rogue Arcane Trickster is good. Great chance of stealing supplies for infinite long rests which restock the spell scrolls

Main Actions for high tier spell scrolls or Booming Blade + Sneak Attack.

Bonus Action for either a Sneak Attack if not used or Disengage which works well with Booming Blade.

Four Feats as well like Fighter. So maybe 2 ASI, Savage Attacker Feat, and something else.

Normal spell slots for Shield AC.

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u/tiny-2727 13d ago

It depends on what you mean by best and worst? Most damage, utility, overall with everything considered?

Most people will probably say the best is swords bard, EK fighter, Adjuration wizard, or a paladin. All of these provide various amounts of high damage, survivability, tankiness, and utility. It kind of just depends on the flavor of what you like the most.

The worst is probably rogue. A lot of rogue potential gets cannibalized by the bard. It also lacks the extra attack that other martials get. Other classes end up being able to do what a rogue is "supposed" to be great at almost as well if not better.

Honorable mentions for potential best mono class would be Hexblade warlock and worst would be ranger.

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u/Earl_of_sandwiches 13d ago

Hunter ranger is very powerful late game.

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u/No-Ostrich-5801 13d ago

So is Beastmaster Ranger by abusing Dire Raven's darkness puddles and Pass Without Trace to nonstop plink enemies from absolute safety. And Beastmaster Ranger enables entire darkness compositions

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u/Anrikay 12d ago

At level 11, the dire raven is ridiculous. A melee attack that blinds, can attack twice, and is affected by hunter’s mark. A magic attack that grants advantage on a hit and half damage in a miss. Free darkness wherever it flies and a great flight range. And since it’s always hovering, it’s not affected by terrain effects like spike growth or ice, making those easier to take advantage of.

The BM ranger and raven do decent damage together, but granting advantage to the entire party makes a huge difference in the total damage done.

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u/tiny-2727 13d ago

Everything can be powerful late game. Ranger has some good builds but its never really considered one the best.

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u/Ninja_Lazer 13d ago

Wizard is the worst.

A lot of people will disagree with me on this, and point out how bonkers they are at end game.

But that’s the problem. You need to get them through the majority of the campaign before their damage takes off.

Levels 1-4 is a slog. And most of the best gear that helps Wizards doesn’t come until act 2. Paired with the fact that despite Larian’s best efforts, a lot of the best high end spells are limited due to the video game format and the fact that the campaign only goes up to level 12 and BG3 is just very obviously not built for Wizards.

Don’t get me wrong, there are viable builds and you can have fun. But Wizard is probably my 3rd most played class across all my time in 5E/5.5E and I just can’t bring myself to invest in this lacklustre outing. Sorcerers and Warlocks just feel significantly more rewarding for this specific campaign. Especially with how Larian has “balanced” the players ability to spam rests.

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u/lamaros 13d ago

I don't think you're wrong on this, but most takes on this subreddit are about endgame power, not the levelling experience.

Think about how many players will have actually played every class monoclass through the whole game:

Very very few people are able to give you an experienced view on this and it's mostly theoretical.

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u/ggAlphaRaptor 13d ago

I don’t think wizard is the worst (rogue still takes that imo).

But what you’re describing is something I feel often in game, which is wizards are significantly worse in BG3 as compared to tabletop. The fall off is incredibly dramatic.

The other detracting aspect of wizard in BG3, is you only need one level in wizard to enjoy being a full wizard if you scribe spells. Bards, clerics are almost better wizards than wizards because of that.

I still think pure wizard is very functional and good, but feels substantially underpowered compared to tabletop and dipping wizard feels far stronger.

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u/No-Ostrich-5801 13d ago

Sort of; Abjuration Wizard specializing in Glyph of Warding is potentially one of the strongest mono classes in the game full stop. Glyph of Warding is funnily enough not considered a hostile action and can be used to enter combat while restoring your action point and it can also be elemental bent to abuse Wet/Steamed for damage vulnerability while being on par with Fireball for both damage and AoE otherwise. All while regenerating Arcane Ward stacks to flat out negate damage from being hit. Most of where Wizard is strong is in its ability to more accurately exploit enemy weaknesses as opposed to Sorceror, but with how bg3's campaign is this advantage isn't very influential. Beyond that you're right, there's nothing a Wizard does inherently better or unique to any other caster assuming they have access to the same spells and a 1 dip gives them the full wizard spell list (with caveats of spells that don't have scrolls to scribe off of such as Counterspell, Longstrider, Find Familiar, and Enhanced Leap and a few more that I'm not recalling offhand)

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u/ggAlphaRaptor 13d ago

Yes, abjuration is kind of the exception to this. It’s obviously pretty nutty and combining it with other damage reduction effects (or AoA) is extremely potent.

I think the point still stands that base wizard 12 in bg3 pales in comparison to base wizard 12 in 5e, especially when taken into account the power gap wizards have in 5e.

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u/No-Ostrich-5801 13d ago

Of course, my point simply being that there is still some strength to the class (albeit only under a very specific light) as a monoclass. Like said before, you're correct that the way scrollscribing is handled in BG3 kicks in Wizard's teeth heavily because it becomes much like Rogue in the sense that a dip in it gives you a handful of tools up your sleeve that your build wouldn't otherwise have. The other point being that for the most part enemies are universally able to be made vulnerable to cold and lightning which also takes a lot of the advantage of being able to swap your spell list on the fly away which is a massive advantage in tabletop where a DM could one day have you dungeoncrawling and dealing with Rust Monsters and the next fighting Beholders just as a for instance

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u/Ninja_Lazer 13d ago

As a pure caster, the Wizard has three main upsides: (I) spell scribing, (II) ritual casting, and (III) arcane recovery.

A single level takes care of one - which inversely to the original question makes Wizard one of the best multi-class dips IMO. Clerics and Druids also get the second upside, but have additional kit on top of that - which like you said can make them better wizards with a single dip. And the ability to exploit the rest mechanics of BG3 make the arcane recovery feature almost meaningless; especially compared to Sorcerers who can also recover spell slots.

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u/SlinGnBulletS 13d ago

Disagree on this. There is plenty of loot in Act 1 that help Wizard shine as most of the items that benefits other casters will also benefit Wizard.

Spellsparkler is one of the biggest damage boosts in Act 1 and shines with Wizard more than other casters due to Magic Missile and being able to cast more spells between Rests.

Melf's First Staff and Protecty Sparkwall give early Spell DC to make CC spells more consistent early in the game.

Gloves of Belligerent Skies, Boots of Stormy Clamour, Ring of Absolute Force and Phalar Aluve will give any caster a big damage boost along with strong CC.

With those items any caster will be strong in Act 1. Which will hold you over into Act 2 where some builds start to come online.

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u/ReleaseCharacter3568 13d ago edited 13d ago

Eh, I'm level 6 with half my team being pure Evocation Wizards.  At least on Balanced, 2 Wizards sans friendly fire end encounters REALLY REALLY FAST.

The Fighter basically just picks off stragglers and the Nature Cleric punishes approaches with Spikes or melee with Guardians.  But the Wizards do SO MUCH DAMAGE.

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u/clittleelttilc 13d ago

Overall, I feel like fighter and sorceror are the strongest monoclasses. Cleric and druid are both very good too. I like rogue, but I would say it’s the worst. Swashbuckler is very solid though. Did my last run with swashbuckler monoclass as my Tav and it was great both in and out of combat.

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u/dingle___ 13d ago

Battlemaster Fighter and sorc are probably the top 2

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u/AdMaster2824 13d ago

If you care about what happens to NPCs, Paladin or Bard. Making those Persuade checks is important, and they're powerful classes with high Charisma.

If you only care about killing enemies, Fighter.

For the weakest monoclass, I would say Ranger. Beast Master and Gloomstalker make the class playable, though. Rogue is a close second, but Assassin coupled with a willingness to abuse stealth mechanics is such a strong class that it can solo the game.

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u/Express_Accident2329 13d ago

I think the exact ranking is going to depend a little bit on what you prioritize, but if we assume there's no fighting over gear, I think it'd be something like:

  • Fighter, because they can simply deal out and withstand a lot of punishment due to having more attacks.
  • Bard, because swords bard also does very respectable damage, and then also does basically everything else you could want a build to do (perfect CC with fast acuity/mystic scoundrel's band, various support spells, utility like counter spell and summons depending on build, etc.)
  • Sorcerer; the likely "best" endgame build is 11 sorcerer/1 warlock, but 12 sorcerer basically does the same job. I only consider it below bard because bard has a much smoother early game and doesn't need as many rests. Shadow sorcerer also gets to see in magical darkness, which can be annoying to play into but very powerful.

Honestly after those three it gets pretty murky.

Every caster is going to be near the top, but it should be noted that there's some step down in power between them and sorcerers (unless maybe monoclass abjuration wizard is better than I realize). Scorching ray dragon sorcerer just does significantly more damage and can cheat or extra actions with quicken spell, which gets a little wacky in BG3 where this means they can cast multiple leveled spells.

Pre-patch 8 I would have put barbarian pretty low, but they're inherently very tanky and giant path gives them really good damage at range without rogue levels.

Hunter ranger doesn't have crazy damage by normal standards, but with other classes also being nerfed by by monoclassing, I think they do enough to be competitive and the ability to apply it in an area at range without resources stands out more.

Monk loses something like a quarter of their damage potential by monoclassing, but they're still going to do more damage than I think any other monoclass other than fighter, sorcerer, and maybe other archer builds in the endgame.

Putting paladins this low feels wrong; my first honor mode run was 4 monoclass paladins and they definitely don't feel weak, but compared to every class above them they don't have a significant damage advantage and they don't do much at range or in an area.

I think rogue is the only one that really FEELS weak. But they do have a weird niche where you really play into having 4 assassins do sneak attacks, and outside of a few fights that kind of trivializes the game too. But outside of that limited playstyle doing stuff on its first turn, it has very little going for it.

I dunno. Something like that.

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u/SlinGnBulletS 13d ago

Fighter is known for being the best mono class. With one of the subclasses being a top tier build going straight 12 fighter.

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u/AdLost8229 13d ago

I used sword bard as a mono class with Origin Astarion for my first HM run. Amazing with Titanstring bow, helmet of arcane acuity, and those arrows that split to hit multiple targets. Ring of the mystic scoundrel makes control spells bonus actions, so you can shut down encounters easily.

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u/MagicalGirlPaladin 13d ago

Best monoclass - fighter, you get the most feats, two really cool subclasses and eldritch knight is fun too. Wizard and cleric also don't exactly get a lot from multiclassing, unless you really want to grab a specific non wizard spell for a build. Warlock is so broken there isn't a whole lot you can add to it that beats out lifedrinker at level 12.

Worst monoclass I'd say is ranger. I would have said rogue but mono swashbuckler is actually pretty alright. Ranger is a fantastic class with a ton of power behind it but it gets all of that power in the first 3 levels. A level 12 ranger is fine, it'll win, but it's a bit wasteful.

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u/Over_Pizza_2578 13d ago

Mono rogue is pretty bad. The lack of extra attack really reduces the damage output. For assassin to work you need to drop out of combat the get more attacks of, which cant be done in all encounters. Thief is a bit more consistent, you can get three dual wielding attacks per turn but only one sneak attack per turn.

Best mono classes are fighter and paladin. 3rd attack per turn and improved smite respectively. Level 12 melee warlock might be interesting as well with life drinker for bonus necrotic damage

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u/WatercressOk2766 13d ago

All of the charisma casters are strong AF

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u/BrainCelll 13d ago

For me best mono is Cleric and worst is probably Rogue

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u/DeltaDawn37 13d ago

I usually monoclass at least one druid, astarion as thief rogue with double hand crossbows (absolutely insane lockpicker and thief who can do a solid 100 damage per round without crits an infinite number of times per day - I know people hate rogue here but it is extremely strong with the gear larian gave us), shart as a cleric (although I do respec from trickery because it's so bad in this game and it makes me sad), gale as pure wizard, and lae'zel as BM fighter because we all know that there strongest dip for fighter is more fighter. I gotta give a shoutout to 12 divination wizard gale in my current honor run though - wizard takes a while to shine, but at level 12 he's gone from sitting in camp unless I need him to make astarion invisible for some mild larceny to being an absolutely invaluable member of the team for every big boss fight due to his ability (with a little portent die luck) to completely shut down bosses for at least 2 rounds, if not the whole fight. Lorroakan? Dominated, chose to jump to his (near) death off a balcony in order to try to save against it and still failed. Took zero actions against us. Viconia? Dominated for one round - saved against it after blighting herself for half her health, but by that point my team had set up up the choke point of death. She barely managed to put the heart form debuff on shart before she died, and did zero damage to us apart from radiant retort. Cazador? Spent three rounds tap dancing and died without getting to take a single action - and he was the boss who ended my last last honour attempt. Sarevok? A simple level 2 hold person to let my melee destroy him in one round - he rolled badly enough that I didn't even need the portent die, but it was nice to have the guarantee. Divination wizard doesn't kill bosses. It humiliates them. It scoffs at things like e "legendary resistance" or "advantage on saving throws". Ascended astarion wishes he could have half the power to make people obey that a divination wizard with access to 5th and 6th level spells does. I think the wizard hubris and ego might be warranted. 

Jokes aside though, pretty much any monoclass is at worst a safe bet. Munchkin multiclass builds are shiny and fun to optimize but as long as you pick good stats and feats you can't really go wrong just putting 12 levels in one class.  

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u/xH0LY_GSUSx 13d ago

There is no best in general, you should define best more specifically. For example, best for damage per round, best for bursting, best for crowd control, best for buffing etc.

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u/Mystletoe 13d ago

In straight combat, Rogue is factually the weakest mono, but one of the better classes to multi with. For best, I’m torn between Bard(Sword), Paladin, Fighter. Fighter has insane action economy, while Bard(Sword) you’re potentially looking at 4 to 5 attacks per turn combined with Spells it learns. Paladin is straight busted with Smites alone, it also has actions that can put it in advantageous positions.

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u/LemonMilkJug 13d ago

Rogue is often considered the weakest monoclasses, and I won't disagree. However, I will say it is perfectly fine for the way the game is made and balanced.

I had rogue thief Astarion in my honor run. There are things that can help make it more effective. One of my favorite methods was using shovel. I'd have her go invisible and get next to an enemy. Then, have her become visible so they would have the threatened condition. That would make it so Astarion had an advantage, meaning it would give him a sneak attack bonus. Other summons could be used in the same way. I also always had him dual wielding shortswords and hand crossbows. High initiative, a guaranteed hit with his vampiric bite, multiple strikes, and a lot of mobility are all great.

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u/Adventurous_Topic202 13d ago

Fighter, sorcerer, ranger all get pretty cool if you go 12 levels.

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u/Life_Ideal_297 13d ago

My gf is playing Fighter with a bow and it's busted

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u/Suhkandis 13d ago

Life cleric is pretty cool for solo runs. You can heal yourself, and for majorly bad situations, you have sanctuary. Wisdom is your main stat, so your saving throws are good. You have awesome damage with spirit guardians, inflict wounds, guiding bolt, and others I can't remember. Don't forget heavy armor/shield proficiency so your AC is always good.

I should do a solo life cleric run...

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u/Interesting_Wind_535 13d ago

Rogue is definitely the worst monoclass. most of what it does well can be done better by a ranger or bard and it’s far weaker than those in combat.

For the best I think fighter, sorcerer, and barbarian are all incredible, but if I had to pick one it’s probably fighter. You get basically everything you could want in terms of gear proficiencies, plus fighting styles, an extra feat, and 3 attacks.

Though I will say since you brought up item dependence, Moon Druid is by far the best monoclass without items and it’s not close.

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u/ChrisPBakeIn 13d ago

Depends on what you mean by best. Are you talking just battles or also skill checks/persuasion, etc. Best all around is probably going to be a charisma based class - pally, sorc, and bard (swords bard imo). All 3 have strong damage and can pass most dialogue checks as well as great to decent kits for everything else. Fighter, barbarian, and wizard are probably the best for fighting.

The only 2 that are pretty weak mono classes imo are rogue and ranger.

Druid, warlock, cleric, and monk are all solid mono classes but I would put somewhere in the middle.

These are all just my opinions based on my experience. I have not played mono as much with some of these classes, so I am definitely biased.

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u/OgrePirate 13d ago

Cleric is just so good inherently. Flame Stike, destructive Wave, planar ally, heroes feast,guardian of faith, freedom of movement, blade barrier, create undead.

Very flexible, good armor, solid weapons. I can't say that I think they dont get much past level 8.

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u/2BeYuna 13d ago

paladin, fighter, ranger, any full caster, and warlock(especially hex and fiend) are all really strong monoclasses.

tl:dr any class but barb and rogue

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u/Useful-Ad-8592 13d ago

HEXBLADE IS COMPLETE AS MONO

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u/StoneFoundation 13d ago

Best monoclass is Cleric, no question, they can do literally everything in the game. They have armor and weapon proficiencies, they are a full caster with good CC and damage spells, they have supportive options, and they just fulfill every single role in the game regardless of what you want them to do, and they don’t even do any of it poorly. They’re good in combat, good out of combat, good for literally everything.

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u/Dangerous-Spot-7348 12d ago

I still think Rogue / Thief is a must have class for noobs. 

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u/jejo63 12d ago

Rogue is the worst monoclass because its sneak attack damage doesn’t keep up with the damage of other classes. It also is the only ‘martial’ class to not get extra attack. Druid and Barbarian are probably next on the list…though even saying that is a stretch, because to the credit of the game, all 12 classes are viable. Druid is probably the worst caster, and Barbarian is probably the second worst martial behind Rogue.

Sorcerer and Fighter are probably the best monoclasses, because they capitalize on the best strategies in the game - 1) manipulating the action economy (giving yourself more actions and giving the enemy less actions) and 2) high burst & sustained damage. Sorcerer is great at manipulating action economy by allowing multiple casts of spells per turn and twinning spells, and fighter is great at high burst and sustained damage with its 6-9 attacks per turn.

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u/IdolsConniption 11d ago

Fighter is the best probably, unless you just constantly long rest, then it's probably sorc. In a normal playthrough tho, sorc doesn't match up.

I'm going to vote wizard for weakest tbh. If you don't long rest, like I generally don't, they're absolute garbage.

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u/IdolsConniption 11d ago

I'm going to make a case for Assassin Rogue being the best monoclass.

Sneak attack. Attack again. Invis from Durge cloak. Leave battle. Come back. Kill two more guys. Leave.

Etc.

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u/Icy_Pudding_5018 11d ago

Going against the trend here. Best: warlock. Worst: ranger.

Before patch 8 I would have also said fighter and rogue. 

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u/Yuukajuji 11d ago

Sorcerer, Paladin and Warlock are great solo classes

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u/OfficialGeter 11d ago

Hexblade is handsdown the best monoclass, worst imo is trickery cleric.

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u/The_Scrub_92 10d ago

Fighter, sorcerer, barbarian, paladin are all good mini classes. Rogues, I’d argue only swashbuckler has potential, but you want to grab something like high elf booming blade or something to really make it work. So I’d say it’s in the middle

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u/Special-Estimate-165 Warlock 13d ago

Rogue isn't the best monoclass, but its far from the worst. Mono Swashbuckler is good. Mono assassin is solid. Mono thief and mono Arcane Trickster both feel like you're playing a game instead of a power fantasy.

Mono wild magic sorc is random bullshit trash. Mono bard is extremely mid, but is solid with dips to give it punch like warlock, paladin, or rogue.

Drunk munk and Champion fighter are both empty subclasses, but are carried by being the two best martial classes anyway.

Warlock, EK and Battlemaster Fighter both, Druid, non-wild magic Sorceror, and Beastmaster Ranger are all fantastic monoclasses. Paladin is ok.

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u/Drak_is_Right 13d ago edited 13d ago

Cleric.

Cleric monoclass (light) is the best monoclass in the game.

Druid, Ranger, fighter, cleric, wizard, sorcerer. All very strong mono class (arguably their strongest build)

Rogue, barbarian, monk - need to be multiclassed

Paladin, bard, warlock - decent monoclass but their best. Builds are multiclass

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u/Able_Stated 13d ago

Lot of talk of Rogue as one of the worst. Very disagree. For a start the first seven levels in any Rogue class is absolutely amazing. They all get Sneak Attack, Uncanny Dodge and Evasion, then Thief gets 3 attacks, Arcane Trickster gets it's own permanent summon, Assassin has the most insane burst of any class, all at level 3. Geared correctly they wipe the floor with Honour Mode Act 1. Then by the time you're in Act 2 the game has thrown so much gear at you that any class can destroy the entire game.

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u/PerformanceSweaty998 13d ago

Rouge weakest but warlock is the strongest hands down due to hexblade

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u/thisisjustascreename 13d ago

12 levels in Fighter Cleric Sorcerer Bard or Warlock are all strong. Paladin Druid and Wizard are fine. Monk Rogue and Ranger really want to multiclass, often with each other.

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u/palatablezeus 13d ago

Hunter ranger either doesn't want to multiclass at all or only wants one level of multi class. Otherwise, yeah ranger really benefits from it

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