Baldur's Gate 3 · Patch 8 · re-verified 11 Sep 2026

Sorcadin
Field Notes

The August guide, re-run against bg3.wiki now that you are in Act 2 and walking back to Act 1. Same character, same voice, ~180 claims re-checked — and the shopping list changed in three places that matter.

6 Paladin · Vengeance 6 Sorcerer · Shadow Magic DEX blade · no STR elixirs CHA runs everything PS5 co-op

Section 1Where you are

You are in the Shadow-Cursed Lands, heading back west to finish Act 1 — Mountain Pass, Rosymorn Monastery, Crèche Y'llek. That trip is safe. The wall you cannot walk back through is not Moonrise and not the act transition; it is one doorway at the bottom of the Gauntlet of Shar.

The one door that closes

Entering the Shadowfell in the Gauntlet of Shar is the point of no return for Act 2. The wiki's words: after it, "it is no longer possible to return to any Act One locations, causing unfinished quests related to these areas to complete automatically — usually failing them."

The same step closes two more things most guides never connect to it: unexplored Moonrise content auto-completes, and Dammon's forge shuts down"any special equipment can only be crafted before the party enters the Shadowfell." Every piece of Infernal Iron must be spent before you take that step.

Return access to the Crèche has one condition attached: it has to still exist and still be non-hostile, which was decided by what your party did there in Act 1. If nobody has been to the Crèche yet, nothing is lost. verify in-game — the wiki says return is possible "depending on the party's choices while visiting the Crèche in Act One" without listing which choices, so check the map before you plan a shopping run around it.

What changed since the August guide

Dated 2026-09-11. Five research passes, then an adversarial fact-check against bg3.wiki. Only the load-bearing changes are listed.

Two things I need from you before Section 2 gets sharper

1 · Your current character level. The whole strategy section splits at levels 5–6, 7–8 and 9–12, and I have written all three bands because I do not know which one you are in. If you are already past 9, half of the early-band advice is dead weight and I would cut it.

2 · Your three friends' classes and subclasses. Four items on the list below are single-copy and belong to somebody specific — the Splint wants a heavy-armour front-liner, the Circlet of Psionic Revenge is genuinely better on Lae'zel, Phalar Aluve needs somebody with a spare Action every round, and the Adamantine Shield is a conversation, not a claim. Tell me who is in the party and I will turn the co-op negotiation list into named assignments.

Build constants, unchanged

STR8
DEX16
CON14
INT8
WIS10
CHA18

Charisma 18 after the Hag's Hair (won 8/7, spent immediately, correctly). It reaches 20 at the level-10 feat, which is your second and last feat. Gloves of Dexterity take DEX to 18 the moment you buy them.

Section 2Your skills and how you fight

What a Sorcadin actually is

You are half holy warrior, half innate spellcaster, and the trick that makes the two halves worth more than either alone is that both run on the same stat. Charisma sets how hard your spells are to resist, how much protection you give the people next to you, and how well you talk — so every point pays four times.

The Paladin half gives you armour, a shield, two attacks a round, and Divine Smite: spend a spell slot after you already know a swing connected, for a burst of radiant damage. You never waste it on a miss. The Sorcerer half gives you spells and a private currency, sorcery points, that bends how those spells are cast.

Shadow Blade, in plain words

Shadow Blade is a level-2 spell that conjures a sword out of nothing for the rest of the day. Three properties make it the centre of this build:

Cast it once in camp each morning — a bonus action — then carry it all day. One trap: never cast it from a 4th-level slot; 3rd and 4th both give 3d8, so the bigger slot buys nothing and throws away a maximum smite.

Divine Smite, in plain words

Hit something, then decide whether to burn a spell slot for extra radiant damage: 2d8 from a level-1 slot up to 5d8 from a level-4 slot, and no more above that. Fiends and undead take an extra 1d8 — which in the Shadow-Cursed Lands is most of what you will meet.

Two gifts sit on top. Savage Attacker rolls melee damage dice twice and keeps the higher, and the wiki confirms it reaches smite dice too. And a critical hit doubles all of it. Everything else here is machinery for manufacturing crits.

The reaction that is not a reaction

Divine Smite is configured in the Reactions menu but "never consumes a Reaction resource." You can smite and cast Shield in the same round. Do check the toggles though: by default the critical-hit smites auto-confirm and the ordinary ones are disabled — which means against a paralysed target, where every hit is a crit, the game quietly spends a slot on every single swing. Set them to Ask.

Sorcery points, in plain words

A small pool that refills on a long rest, equal to your Sorcerer level — so 6 at the end. You spend them on metamagic, which are modifiers to how a spell is cast. You get exactly three metamagic picks across the whole build:

Points and slots convert both ways, badly: a level-4 slot costs 6 points, when 3 points buys a Quickened lockdown instead. Dump spare level-1 slots into points between fights and leave it there. Create Spell Slot is a bonus action — you cannot convert and nova on the same turn.

The aura, in plain words

At Paladin 6 you gained Aura of Protection: you and every ally within 3 metres add your Charisma modifier — +4 now, +5 soon — to every saving throw. The most valuable thing you bring three friends, with two catches nobody mentions.

Known cosmetic bug: the level-up tooltip sometimes displays the bonus as +0 regardless of your Charisma. It works correctly in play.

Your other current abilities

Why Hold Person is the whole strategy

Hold Person paralyses one humanoid on a failed Wisdom save. In BG3, Paralysed is harsher than the tabletop version, and the exact wording is worth memorising:

Paralysed — bg3.wiki, verbatim

  • "They can't move, act, or react."
  • "Attacks against the entity automatically succeed their Attack Roll."
  • "Attacks from within 3 m (10 ft) are always Critical Hits."
  • "Affected entity automatically fails all Strength and Dexterity Saving Throws."

So your attacks cannot miss, and from inside three metres they cannot fail to crit — doubling every weapon and smite die, each already rolled twice by Savage Attacker. That is the entire nova, and it applies to every melee ally in the radius, which is why you call it out the moment it lands.

The caveat the old guide left out

"At the end of each turn, the affected creature can make a Wisdom Saving Throw to end this condition." Hold Person is a per-turn lock, not a guaranteed ten rounds. Front-load everything into the first turn; assume you get one.

Two hard limits: humanoids only — and the Shadow-Cursed Lands are full of undead, constructs and monstrosities — and it costs your Concentration, so it competes with Haste, Darkness and Bless. One Concentration, one plan, per fight.

The turn-by-turn

Opening round

  1. Before initiative, if you can: Shadow Blade is already up from the morning. Aura is already active. Elixir is already drunk.
  2. Misty Step into melee range of the target that scares you most — usually a caster or the enemy with the biggest single hit.
  3. Lock it down. At level 9+ that is Quickened Hold Person as a bonus action. Below that it is a scroll of Hold Person, or Vow of Enmity if the target is not humanoid.
  4. Attack twice and smite on both if the target is worth it.
  5. Say it out loud: "He's held — everyone within ten feet auto-crits him."

When to smite and when to hold the slot

Slots are a day's budget, and the same pool pays for Shield, Hold Person and Counterspell. The discipline:

Concentration discipline

Positioning

Co-op roles — what to tell the other three

Short-rest economy

Short rests are close to free and refund more of your kit than anyone realises: your Channel Oath charge — so, another Vow of Enmity — the Hound of Ill Omen at 12, the Night Walkers' Misty Step, and Phalar Aluve's Shriek if a teammate carries it. Take both, every day. Push for a long rest under a third of your slots, and never enter a boss fight with fewer than 3 sorcery points; the big turn needs exactly that.

By level band

Levels 4–6 — pure paladin

No sorcery yet, so the game is Vow of Enmity, attacks, and disciplined smiting. At level 5 Hold Person arrives free from your oath — cast it as your Action, then attack once. Losing an attack is worth it, because the party gets the auto-crits too. At 6 the aura arrives; activate it and tell everyone to huddle. verify in-game scrolls of Hold Person do the same from level 5 without touching your slots; the wiki names no vendor, so buy on sight.

Levels 7–8 — the caster wakes up

Sorcerer 1 gives you Shield — a reaction for +5 AC against a hit that was about to land, and the biggest defensive jump this character ever gets. Because Divine Smite consumes no reaction, holding it for Shield costs you no smites. Sorcerer 2 gives points and two metamagics you cannot fully use yet; Quickened is gated to Sorcerer 3, so guides that put it at 8 are wrong. Play these two levels as a paladin who occasionally says no to a hit.

Levels 9–12 — the big turn

The nova, end to end

In camp each morning: Shadow Blade, bonus action, from your highest useful slot — 3rd level until you have a 5th at character level 12.

Boss turn: Quickened Hold Person as a bonus action (3 sorcery points) → the target is paralysed → two Shadow Blade attacks that auto-hit and, from inside 3 m, auto-crit → Divine Smite on both from 4th-level slots. Four blade dice and ten smite dice, all doubled by the crit, each one rolled twice by Savage Attacker. Roughly 130 damage before items; with the Resonance Stone doubling the psychic half, closer to 170.

Then call it out, because every melee friend standing with you is also auto-critting.

At 10, +2 Charisma to 20 lifts your spell DC, the party's aura, Arcane Synergy damage and every conversation at once. At 11, Haste and Counterspell give you a second plan for fights Hold Person cannot touch. At 12 the Hound is a free body every short rest, and your lone 5th-level slot upgrades the morning blade to 4d8.

Five things to confirm at the console — no source settles them
  1. Does Quickened apply to the oath's Hold Person? Nothing on the wiki scopes metamagic to Sorcerer spells either way, and the whole nova depends on it. If the game refuses, take Hold Person as your Sorcerer flex pick at level 12 and Quicken that copy — identical result, one spell slot of cost.
  2. Can two metamagics ride one cast? Twinned + Extended Haste for 4 points is recommended below on the assumption they stack. Toggle both and watch the point cost on the button.
  3. Does Savage Attacker double Shadow Blade's psychic dice? It is confirmed for weapon dice and for smite riders; Shadow Blade's damage is a summoned weapon's base damage, which should qualify, but no page says so.
  4. Does Divine Smite work on a Booming Blade attack? Booming Blade uses a melee weapon attack roll and the smite page says it combines with "any melee weapon attack," but neither page names the pair.
  5. Does Vow of Enmity trigger the Diadem of Arcane Synergy? Vow applies a condition, which is the trigger — but the Diadem's page warns most positive conditions applied to enemies do not fire it. Watch for the icon after casting.

Section 3Don't miss — the backtrack list

Read this before anything in this section

Do not step into the Shadowfell at the bottom of the Gauntlet of Shar until every box below is closed. That one action closes Act 1 forever, auto-completes unexplored Moonrise content, and shuts Dammon's forge.

Everything else is reversible. Arriving in Act 2, reaching Last Light, entering Reithwin, walking into Moonrise as a True Soul, and clearing every trial in the Gauntlet are all safe. Waypoints confirmed live: Crèche Y'llek 1382 / −795 · Rosymorn Monastery 18 / 22 · Trielta Crags −62 / −146.

A · The western run, in order

One trip, west to east and then down. The order matters in three places and I have marked why.

Mountain Pass

Rosymorn Monastery Trail

Unavoidable on the way in and the way out

The undead ambush at −91 / −119 — 2 Death Shepherds, 4 Ghouls, 1 Ghast — "cannot be evaded if heading from the Rosymorn Monastery Trail into Shadow-Cursed Lands, or if coming the opposite direction." You walk into it in both directions. Kill the two Shepherds first — they resurrect their dead. Also: repulsion mines along the northern path and the cliff descent, DC 15 Perception, knockback rather than damage.

Rosymorn Monastery — do this before the Crèche

The Dawnmaster's Crest has to be in your pocket before you go down the stairs. Four ceremonial weapons onto four matching altars, in the Dawnmasters' Memorial at 75 / 57.

AltarWeaponWhere the weapon is
Welkinglory NWLongswordAlready placed. Leave it.
Seed NEWarhammerRoof — Ancient Giant Eagle's nest, 79 / 39. Roof access: north climb 54 / 55, west climb 89 / 41
Stockhold SEMaceOn the Firewine Belly kobold, Firewine Storage 45 / 37; alternate pickup 40 / 28; or Stockhold's gravesite 127 / −5
Vaseid SWBattleaxeGuardian of Faith chamber 103 / 38 — in via the enchanted door 95 / 46 or the destroyed wall 106 / 38; DC 15 Perception spots the crumbling wall

Crèche Y'llek — the order inside matters more than anywhere else

  1. A'jak'nir Jeera at the Trade Post first, before anything volatile. South-east of the Crèche waypoint. verify in-game three wiki pages give three different coordinates for her — navigate by the Trade Post, not a number. Buy Gloves of Dexterity (300g) and the Knife of the Undermountain King (480g) for yourself; flag Unseen Menace, Defender Flail and Vital Conduit Boots for teammates. All of it dies with a destroyed or hostile Crèche.
  2. The Hatchery, peacefully. Varsh Ko'kuu at 1288 / −759. The boots need DC 18 Persuasion ("Why risk its life at all? Give it to me") plus one of three non-antagonistic answers about the egg's future. The DC 10 Deception and DC 18 Intimidation routes get you the egg but are not stated to get the boots. Fighting him: Astarion +1, everyone else −1.
  3. The Classroom, before the Inquisitor sequence. Sa'varsh Kethk "and his students become hostile if the party progress far enough in Discover the Artefact's Secrets." Take anything you want from that room now.
  4. The Zaith'isk, before the Inquisitor. See the box below. Ghustil must be alive, and the Inquisitor sequence ends with the whole Crèche hostile.
  5. Loot the Inquisitor's Chamber display cases before the fight. All free pickups, no combat: The Skinburster 1383 / −659, Hoarfrost Boots 1335 / −660, Necklace of Elemental Augmentation 1379 / −662, and the elegant chest with the Strange Conduit Ring 1360 / −657.
  6. Kith'rak Therezzyn — three routes, not two. Show her the artefact and she opens the barrier willingly, but "locks the party in and demands they go to the Inquisitor immediately." Or conceal it with Deception and pickpocket the Gith Shard. Or kill her for the shard plus the Soulbreaker Greatsword. corrected sparing her costs only the greatsword — W'wargaz also drops a Githyanki Half Plate.
  7. The Inquisitor, then Vlaakith. Ch'r'ai W'wargaz: level 6, AC 17, 112 HP on Balanced, 145 on Tactician and Honour with Legendary Resistance. He drops the Circlet of Psionic Revenge; Ardent Jhe'rezath drops the Diadem of Arcane Synergy.
  8. The Blood of Lathander last, always. Doing it last makes the secret stairway your exit from a now-hostile Crèche.
Vlaakith — three instant game-overs

Do not mock her divinity. Do not name Shadowheart as the thief. And — the one the old guide missed, because it reads like a reasonable objection — do not ask her to go kill the being inside the prism herself. Any of the three and she casts Wish. Spare the Dream Visitor.

The Zaith'isk — do not put your Sorcadin in the chair

Three saves: DC 12 Intelligence, DC 15 Wisdom, DC 18 Constitution. Paladin save proficiency is Wisdom and Charisma only, so your Intelligence is −1 and your Constitution +2 unproficient. Roughly a 5% chance of running the table, and a failed Constitution save costs 2 CON permanently until cured. verify in-game whether Aura of Protection even applies in that scripted sequence is unconfirmed — the odds above are my arithmetic, not a wiki figure.

Let Lae'zel start, then talk her out of it through three stages of DC 21–30 checks. Take the three Mind Flayer Parasite Specimens from the infirmary — they cure the debuffs. Leave with DC 15 Deception, or DC 15 Performance if you were the one in the machine. If Ghustil turns hostile, only the infirmary fights, not the whole Crèche.

The Blood of Lathander

B · Act 1 leftovers still reachable

Most of Act 1 is still open, and stays open until the Shadowfell. Two items below are decided by your save state rather than by the map — I have flagged which.

Grymforge — the adamantine trip

verify in-game Both Grymforge waypoints are listed as Act 1 waypoints and Act 1 waypoints stay live until the Shadowfell — but no page confirms the return trip explicitly. Check it is on your fast-travel map before committing.

Underdark

Elsewhere in Act 1

What is already lost, so you can stop looking

C · Act 2, location by location

Route order. The Shadowfell is step 16 and everything before it is reversible.

Ruined Battlefield — arrival

Last Light Inn

Reithwin Town

Moonrise Towers — before the Shadowfell

Gauntlet of Shar — everything except the last door

Last call — check all four before you descend

☐ Act 1 finished — Mountain Pass, Rosymorn, Crèche, Underdark, Grymforge
☐ Moonrise explored — vendors, Ketheric's letter, the prison, Balthazar's room
☐ Every Infernal Iron already spent at Dammon — walk back out of the Gauntlet to do this; his forge closes at the door below you
☐ Spear of Night in hand, and Shadowheart in the party — the decision is framed as hers

Then, and only then, step through.

After the gate — Shadowfell and the Colony

Inside the Colony "the party cannot fast-travel or go to camp," and Dammon "becomes unavailable when the party enter the Mind Flayer Colony." Sell, shop and rest first. verify in-game the claim that Ketheric is mechanically invulnerable while the Nightsong is caged is not stated on either of his wiki pages — free her anyway.

Section 4Recommended items — top three per slot

Ranked for this character: Dexterity, a summoned psychic sword, a shield, and a Charisma-driven lockdown. Prices are base; Honour mode runs higher and is noted where it differs sharply.

Head

#ItemActWhereWhy
1Diadem of Arcane Synergy
Rare · 240g
1Crèche → Inquisitor's Chamber 1365 / −663 → carried by Ardent Jhe'rezath (kill or pickpocket — not a chest)Inflict a condition → Arcane Synergy for 2 turns: weapon attacks add your spellcasting modifier to damage. At CHA 20 that is +5 a swing, +10 a turn, before any smite. verify in-game the "last-added class's modifier when multiclassing" rule appears nowhere on the wiki — moot here, since both your classes are Charisma.
2Helmet of Arcane Acuity
Uncommon
2Reithwin → Mason's Guild secret basement 107 / −758 → DC 21 SoH, disarm firstEvery weapon hit grants Arcane Acuity: +1 spell attack and spell save DC per remaining turn. Two swings before you cast turns Hold Person from a coin-flip into a near-certainty. Also +1 Dexterity saves. Duration drops by 2 whenever you take damage — an opener, not a sustain.
3Fistbreaker Helm
Rare · 60g
2Moonrise → Lann Tarv −164 / −167+1 Spell Save DC and +1 Initiative for sixty gold — the cheapest DC on the route, and going first matters for a build that wants the lockdown placed before anyone moves.

Also on the route: Holy Lance Helm (Rosymorn painted chest, 115g) — +1 Constitution saves, direct Concentration insurance; wear it until the Diadem drops. Birthright (Act 3, Sorcerous Sundries, 410g) gives +2 Charisma to a cap of 22, but shares the slot with the Diadem, so it is a per-fight swap. Circlet of Psionic Revenge is better on Lae'zel — githyanki wearers also get +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma saves.

Chest

#ItemActWhereWhy
1Armour of Agility
Very rare · 2,900g
3Stormshore Armoury −41 / −71 → Gloomy FentonsonMedium, AC 17 + your full Dexterity modifier, +2 to all saving throws, no Stealth disadvantage. With Gloves of Dexterity at DEX 18 that is AC 21, better than the Splint, and the +2 stacks on your aura for every Concentration check. Purchasable, so it costs nothing in the loot negotiation.
2Adamantine Splint
Very rare
1Grymforge → forge −568 / 243 → Splint Mould + 1 Mithral OreAC 18, −2 all incoming damage, crit immunity, attackers Reeling 3 turns. But AC 18 is what ordinary plate gives; the ore really buys the damage reduction, which pays most on whoever is hit most. Offer it to the front-liner. Claim it only if nobody else wears heavy.
3Helldusk Armour
Legendary
3House of Hope −6477 / 2884 → off RaphaelAC 21, fire resistance, −3 from all damage, bonus-action Fly — and it grants its own proficiency, which is exactly why your unarmoured caster or monk has the stronger claim. You have a 2,900-gold alternative; they don't.

Gloves

#ItemActWhereWhy
1Gloves of Dexterity
Very rare · 300g / 860g Honour
1Crèche → Trade Post → A'jak'nir JeeraBuy these on this trip. Sets Dexterity to 18, +1 to all attack rolls including spell attacks. From DEX 16 that is +1 AC, +1 initiative, +1 to hit and +1 damage on every swing forever — and it is what later lets Armour of Agility reach AC 21. Does not stack with The Graceful Cloth.
2Helldusk Gloves
Very rare
3House of Hope → the Boudoir −6478 / 2993 → worn by Haarlep+1 spell attack and spell save DC, plus 1d6 fire on every weapon attack — the only gloves paying both damage and DC in one slot. A documented bug grants +1 to all attack rolls, in your favour.
3Gloves of the Growling Underdog
Uncommon
1Shattered Sanctum 298 / 66 → Ragzlin's crates; or Rosymorn Monastery Trail −118 / −134 → treasure crate, Survival checkAdvantage on melee attacks when 2+ enemies stand near the target — the wiki's own wording, so you never have to be surrounded yourself. Your advantage engine until the Risky Ring, and the second copy is on this backtrack.

Demoted: Gloves of Battlemage's Power (Tollhouse second floor, behind Clerk's-Key doors). Patch 8 redesigned them to grant Arcane Acuity from weapon-using spells, but the duration "reduces by 2 each time the entity takes damage" — a heavy tax on a front-liner. With the Helmet doing that job from the head slot, these belong to a back-line caster.

Boots

#ItemActWhereWhy
1Disintegrating Night Walkers
Story item
1Grymforge −854 / 780 → True Soul Nere's corpseBonus-action Misty Step every short rest — a free reposition that never touches your oath's copy — plus immunity to Enwebbed, Entangled and Ensnared, and no slipping on grease or ice, which is what keeps you inside your own aura. Caveat: the immunity covers Ensnaring Strike only to level 2, and nothing against Grasping Arrow or Black Tentacles.
2Helldusk Boots
Very rare
3Wyrm's Rock, top floor −32 / 219 → locked Gilded ChestInfernal Evasion turns a failed saving throw into a success for a Reaction — a "no" button on the one thing that ends your nova — and Steadfast means nothing shoves you out of your aura. Take them before Gortash's coronation, or before he leaves the throne room.
3Evasive Shoes
Rare · 95g
2Last Light Inn −56 / 141 → MattisFlat +1 AC for ninety-five gold — the answer if the Night Walkers went to a teammate who needs the mobility more.

Amulet

#ItemActWhereWhy
1Surgeon's Subjugation Amulet
Rare
2House of Healing −201 / 49 → Malus Thorm (drops whether killed or talked down)"Once per Long Rest, when scoring a Critical Hit on a humanoid, the wearer can Paralyse the target for 2 turns." A second Hold Person with no slot, no sorcery point and no Concentration — and Killer's Sweetheart manufactures the crit on demand. Kill → auto-crit → free paralysis → everything within 3 m auto-crits into it.
2Amulet of Greater Health
Very rare
3House of Hope Archive → left-most pedestal → DC 20 SoH to disarm, or swap in an equal-weight itemConstitution set to 23, advantage on Constitution saves. Permanently ends the Concentration question — and because Constitution recalculates hit points retroactively from level 1, it is also worth roughly +48 HP at level 12.
3Amulet of the Devout
Very rare
3Stormshore Tabernacle basement 796 / 1159 → the central offering chest+2 Spell Save DC — the largest single jump to Hold Person in the game. verify in-game whether its extra Channel Divinity charge registers as a Paladin Channel Oath. Looting any offering chest curses the looter with Castigated By Divinity.

Rings (two slots)

#ItemActWhereWhy
1Risky Ring
Rare · 190g
2Moonrise −128 / −193 → Araj Oblodra (donate blood so she reaches Act 3)"Advantage on Attack Rolls and Disadvantage on Saving Throws." No Concentration, no bonus action, no charge — it frees Vow of Enmity to point at a second target and roughly doubles your crit rate. The drawback lands on the one number your aura is already inflating by +5.
2Band of the Mystic Scoundrel
Rare
3The Jungle −1566 / −1522 → reached by playing Akabi's rigged wheel at the Circus of the Last Days"After hitting a creature with a weapon attack, you can cast illusion or enchantment spells as a Bonus Action." Hold Person is Enchantment — so the turn becomes attack, hit, bonus-action lockdown for zero sorcery points, then Extra Attack into a guaranteed crit. It replaces Quickened and banks 3 points a fight. Akabi transports only the party member who talks to him, alone.
3Caustic Band
Uncommon · 40g
1Ebonlake Grotto −55 / −93 → Derryth Bonecloak+2 acid on every weapon attack, forty gold, on your existing route — +4 a turn with Extra Attack. Best gold-per-point purchase in the game.

Interim second ring: Strange Conduit Ring — free loot in the Crèche Inquisitor's Chamber elegant chest 1360 / −657. "When Concentrating on a spell, the wearer's weapon attacks deal an additional 1d4 Psychic damage" — live precisely when Hold Person is up, and psychic like your blade. Ring of Free Action (Araj) is worth a slot on any day the enemy casts Hold Person back at you; it also ignores difficult terrain.

Main hand

From character level 9 your main hand is Shadow Blade. Nothing below replaces it — this is what you hold until then, and what goes in the off-hand after.

#ItemActWhereWhy
1Knife of the Undermountain King
Very rare · 480g / 1,200g Honour
1Crèche → Trade Post → A'jak'nir Jeera+2 finesse shortsword. Organ Rearranger is two effects: crits on 19, and "when you roll 2 damage or less, reroll the dice, taking the highest result" — which matters on a d6. Its own passive, confusingly also called Shadow Blade, gives advantage against obscured targets. Crits on 19 multiplies every smite.
2Sword of Life Stealing
Very rare · 480g
2Last Light Inn −33 / 164 → DammonSame +2 finesse chassis; on a crit the target takes 10 extra necrotic and you gain 10 temporary hit points — which is Concentration armour. The right sidegrade if a teammate wants the Knife.
3Phalar Aluve
Rare
1Underdark 116 / −192 → Paladin route: DC 10 Religion with advantage, then DC 10 CharismaRanked here because you should free it — the Paladin ritual is the cleanest route — and then hand it away. Shriek's 1d4 penalty to enemy saving throws is the best Hold Person enabler in Act 1, but it costs an Action, and yours is two attacks.

Act 3 off-hand: Bloodthirst (off Orin) gives +1 AC and piercing vulnerability in the off-hand specifically. Rhapsody (off Cazador) adds up to +3 attack, damage and Spell Save DC as you kill — the sleeper. verify in-game whether that passive works from the off-hand is not stated.

Shield

#ItemActWhereWhy
1Adamantine Shield
Rare
1Grymforge forge → Shield Mould + 1 Mithral OreThis is your ore. +2 AC and "attackers cannot land critical hits on the wearer" — crit immunity living in the shield rather than the chest is what lets you move to Armour of Agility in Act 3 without losing it, and it frees the Splint for a front-liner. Shield Bash knocks a melee attacker Prone; the tooltip says Dexterity save, the game rolls Strength.
2Ketheric's Shield
Rare
2Off Ketheric Thorm — pickpocketable while invulnerable, or looted after the Colony fight+2 AC, advantage on Dexterity saves, and +1 Spell Save DC and Spell Attack rolls — the only shield that raises your Hold Person DC. If the ore went to the party, this replaces it.
3Shield of Devotion
Very rare · 570g
2Last Light Inn −31 / 130 → Quartermaster Talli+2 AC plus one extra level-1 spell slot — literally one more Divine Smite a day — and a self-heal that raises maximum HP by 10.

Duelling's +2 damage explicitly works with a shield in your free hand, and you have no Two-Weapon Fighting style, so an off-hand attack would also spend the bonus action that Quickened, Vow of Enmity and the Band of the Mystic Scoundrel all want. Shield, always.

Cloak and ranged — the quiet slots

SlotTakeWhere
Cloak, nowCloak of Protection — +1 AC, +1 all savesLast Light, Talli, 200g
Cloak, Act 3Cloak of Displacement — enemies have disadvantage against you until you take damageDanthelon's Dancing Axe, 190g
Ranged, nowHand Crossbow +1 — a one-hander, so you never drop the shield65g, most Act 1 vendors
Ranged, Act 2Ne'er Misser — 1d6+1 force, plus a free level-3 Magic Missile every short restMoonrise, Roah Moonglow, 310g

The rule that decides the ranged slot: take a hand crossbow, not a bow. A two-handed bow means unequipping your shield to plink at something, which is never worth it.

Consumables

ItemEffectWhen
Elixir of BloodlustOn a kill: 5 temporary HP and an additional Action, once per turnYour default morning drink. This build ends things.
Elixir of Battlemage's Power3 stacks of Arcane Acuity — +3 spell attack and spell save DCBoss days where the plan opens with the lockdown. Acuity decays when you take damage, so open with it.
Elixir of ViciousnessCrit threshold reduced by 1, additive with class featuresStacked on the Knife that is crits on 18. The only elixir that genuinely competes with Bloodlust.
Potion of SpeedBonus action: +2 AC, +9 m, one extra Action for 3 turns; then Lethargic for one turnA potion, not an elixir — it does not overwrite your daily drink. The only way to fire the big turn twice in one fight. Lethargic does not break Concentration.
Scroll of Hold PersonThe signature turn, four levels early, off your own slot poolverify in-game the wiki names no vendor — "sold by traders, found in containers, carried by enemies." Buy on sight rather than planning a trip.
Greater Elixir of Arcane CultivationOne additional spell slotOne sits in the Broken Lathander Effigy on the Rosymorn Trail. Bank it for a nova.
Elixirs replace each other

"Only one elixir can be applied at a time. Drinking another one overwrites the previous elixir." So Bloodlust, Battlemage's Power, Viciousness and Arcane Cultivation are a single daily decision, not a stack. Potions are separate and do not overwrite. Never drink Hill Giant Strength — every weapon in your loadout is finesse; buy them as party currency instead.

Give these to a teammate

ItemGive toWhy it isn't yours
Adamantine SplintThe heavy-armour front-linerAC 18 is what ordinary plate already gives. The ore buys −2 incoming damage, which compounds on whoever absorbs three or four times the attacks you do. You take the Shield.
The Blood of LathanderA Cleric or a Strength PaladinLegendary +3 mace running on Strength; at STR 8 you swing it at a penalty. Decide the owner before anyone touches the altar — in co-op it belongs to whoever grabs it.
Phalar AluveWhoever has a spare Action each roundShriek is the best debuff in Act 1 and it costs an Action you do not have. Free it yourself with the Paladin ritual, then hand it over: your effective spell DC rises and you spend nothing.
Circlet of Psionic RevengeLae'zel specifically1d4 psychic back at whoever forced a save you passed — but githyanki wearers also get +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma saves. That clause names her.
Silver Sword of the Astral PlaneThe two-handed martialBest greatsword in the game. Githyanki wielders add 1d6 psychic and gain advantage on mental saves.
Sentinel ShieldThe party scout — not the eye-deal teammate+2 AC, +3 Initiative, advantage on Perception. That belongs on whoever walks point. The eye-deal teammate rolls Perception at permanent disadvantage, so it is wasted there specifically.
Titanstring BowThe archer, or anyone on Strength elixirsIts Strength rider is +1 for you, not a minus — but +5 or +6 for a STR 21 character, and it is two-handed.
The Graceful ClothA monk, rogue or Dexterity caster+2 Dexterity to a cap of 20 and Cat's Grace — but it does not stack with your Gloves of Dexterity, so it is redundant on you.
Amulet of Misty StepAnyoneOne copy per playthrough, and Oath of Vengeance already gave you Misty Step free at Paladin 5.
Resonance StoneAgree who carries itCarried, not worn. It doubles psychic damage and imposes disadvantage on mental saves for everyone in the radius, including your party, and does nothing to undead or constructs. Deploy deliberately.

Section 5Level-up cheat sheet

Paladin continuously to 6, then Sorcerer continuously to 12. The order is forced, not preferred: Paladin taken first grants heavy armour and shields; taken later as a multiclass it grants neither, which would cost you the Act 1 armour this build was designed around. You get exactly two feats — feats land at class levels 4, 8 and 12, and this split reaches Paladin 4 and Sorcerer 4 only.

LvlTakeFeaturesSpells & metamagicFeatSPWhat changes in combat
4Paladin 4 Lay on Hands to 4 charges 8 prepared picks + Bane and Hunter's Mark free. 3 × 1st-level slots. Savage Attacker0 One attack. Vow of Enmity → swing → smite only on crits and kills.
5Paladin 5 Extra Attack Misty Step + Hold Person become always-prepared and free. Add Aid. 4 × 1st, 2 × 2nd. 0 The biggest spike the build ever gets. Two attacks means two smite windows. Hold Person is castable from your own slot as an Action.
6Paladin 6 — last Aura of Protection 10 prepared picks. Add Lesser Restoration. Slots unchanged. 0 +4 to every save for you and anyone within 3 m. Activate it manually once. You now huddle on purpose.
7Sorcerer 1 Shadow Magic: Eyes of the Dark; Strength of the Grave (once per long rest) 2 known: Shield, Magic Missile. 4 cantrips: Booming Blade, Fire Bolt, Friends, Minor Illusion. 0 Survivability, not damage. Hold your reaction for Shield — Divine Smite never consumes a reaction, so they never compete. HP gains drop from +8 to +6 per level from here.
8Sorcerer 2 Font of Magic 3 known. Twinned + Extended. Quickened is gated to Sorcerer 3 — guides that put it here are wrong. 2 Little changes in the fight. Out of combat you can convert slots into points.
9Sorcerer 3 Darkness unlocks (spell and the 2-point version) 4 known: Shadow Blade. Quickened Spell — your third and final metamagic. 3 The build completes. Cast the blade each morning from a 3rd-level slot; Quickened Hold Person as a bonus action, then two auto-critting smites. Proficiency reaches +4.
10Sorcerer 4 5th cantrip; first 4th-level slot 5 known: Mirror Image (no Concentration, 10 turns, +3 AC per duplicate). +2 CHA → 204 Smites reach their 5d8 ceiling. Aura goes to +5 party-wide. Do not cast Shadow Blade from the 4th-level slot — same 3d8, wasted smite.
11Sorcerer 5 Second 4th-level slot 6 known: Haste. Swap your placeholder into Counterspell. 5 A second plan for fights Hold Person cannot touch: Twinned Haste on two melee allies. Booming Blade jumps to +2d8 thunder on hit.
12Sorcerer 6 — final Hound of Ill Omen (3 points, short-rest recharge); one 5th-level slot 7 known. Final slots 4 / 3 / 3 / 3 / 1. 6 Morning: Shadow Blade from the 5th-level slot, 4d8. That leaves three 4th-level slots as three maximum smites. A free summon every short rest.

Breakpoints worth memorising

The open choices — these are yours to make

Section 6Sources and verification

Everything above comes from bg3.wiki, fetched and read directly on 11 September 2026 — roughly 180 page fetches across five research passes, each followed by an adversarial fact-check that re-opened the same pages and quoted them back. No forum posts, no fan wikis, no video guides.

The patch this reflects

Patch 8 — released 15 April 2025, v4.1.1.6758295, announced by Larian as "The Final Patch." It added the twelve new subclasses including Shadow Magic, and the Shadow Blade and Booming Blade spells. Everything since is bug-fix and stability work. The newest documented update is Hotfix #36, 26 March 2026, v4.1.1.7209685. verify in-game one research pass reported later unnumbered builds dated 16 February and 3 August 2026 (v4.1.1.7398727, Xbox Play Anywhere); a second pass re-fetched the Patch Notes page and did not find them. Nothing in either case is a balance change, so the rules above hold either way — but do not cite the version string.

Pages leaned on hardest

Act Two · Act One · Travel through the Mountain Pass · Rosymorn Monastery · Rosymorn Monastery Trail · Crèche Y'llek · Find the Blood of Lathander · Zaith'isk · Discover the Artefact's Secrets · Steal a Githyanki Egg · Gauntlet of Shar · Mind Flayer Colony · Moonrise Towers · Last Light Inn · House of Healing · Reithwin Tollhouse · Sharran Sanctuary · Dammon · Lift the Shadow Curse · Punish the Wicked · Adamantine Forge · Mithral Ore · Armour · Armour proficiency · Multiclassing · Spell slot · Hit Points · Feats · Paladin · Sorcerer · Oath of Vengeance · Shadow Magic · Shadow Blade · Divine Smite · Smite · Hold Person · Aura of Protection · Extra Attack · Vow of Enmity · Metamagic · Sorcery Point · Savage Attacker · Patch Notes — plus the individual item page for every item named above.

What the fact-check corrected

What I did not check

Your save file. Every "still open" line above is a wiki-derived possibility, not a confirmed presence in your game, and the README's last save-state note is from 6 August — five weeks stale. Specifically unverified on your save, each one gating a different item: whether Steal the Sacred Idol was ever accepted, whether the Thulla clock has run, whether anyone entered the Waukeen's Rest inner yard, whether Crèche Y'llek is still non-hostile, whether Dammon is alive, whether the Emerald Grove is physically open, and which Underdark and Grymforge vendors survived.

Also not checked: Honour-mode stat variants beyond the prices quoted, full vendor stock rotation (inventories are partly randomised, so a listed item may simply not be on the shelf), Act 3 content beyond what bears on Act 1 and Act 2 deadlines, and anything mod- or console-related.

Every "verify in-game" flag on this page, in one list

Crèche return access · the fabled build v4.1.1.7398727 · Varsh Ko'kuu's handover DC (16 vs 18) · Lady Esther's up-front payment (466 vs "at least 200") · the eagle-combat spawn count · Rosymorn and Trail secondary-loot coordinates · A'jak'nir Jeera's coordinates (three pages disagree) · Grymforge return access from Act 2 · the adamantine mould coordinates (your map, not the wiki) · the Emerald Grove's physical state · the Ring of Protection journal check · Boots of Speed on Thulla's body · the Callous Glow Ring's lock DC · Eyes of the Dark inside magical Darkness · Quickened on the oath's Hold Person · two metamagics on one cast · Savage Attacker on Shadow Blade dice · Divine Smite on Booming Blade · Vow of Enmity triggering Arcane Synergy · the Arcane Synergy multiclass rule · the Amulet of the Devout's Channel Oath charge · Rhapsody in the off-hand · Aura of Protection during the Zaith'isk · Ketheric's invulnerability mechanic · the Resonance Stone surviving Act 2 · Scroll of Hold Person vendors · the Flawed Helldusk crafting order · weapon coatings on a summoned Shadow Blade.

Personal reference · built 11 September 2026 · not affiliated with Larian