Baldur's Gate 3 · Patch 8 · re-verified 11 Sep 2026
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.
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.
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.
Dated 2026-09-11. Five research passes, then an adversarial fact-check against bg3.wiki. Only the load-bearing changes are listed.
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
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
"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.
Slots are a day's budget, and the same pool pays for Shield, Hold Person and Counterspell. The discipline:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
One trip, west to east and then down. The order matters in three places and I have marked why.
−139 / 561, before dialogue turns
Command (Drop), Heat Metal, Fear, Disarming Attack (Ranged), Honeyed Paws or Flick o' the Wrist drops the best greatsword in the game ~30 hours early. Save first. It forfeits the Act 3 copy — one per playthrough — and that route needs the Orphic Hammer specifically.−73 / 539, DC 20 Survival → Metal Shield under the bridge wreck −148 / 568
Amethyst and pearl under the roadway sign. corrected the shield is under the wreck, not on a Flaming Fist corpse.−62 / −146−43 / −129
DC 21 Persuasion takes 466 gold up front, 272 as a githyanki verify in-game her own page says "at least 200". DC 10 Insight reveals her deadline. Stock: The Graceful Cloth (800g — monk or rogue; does not stack with Gloves of Dexterity), Periapt of Wound Closure, Arrow of Undead Slaying, Boots of Elemental Momentum, Gloves of Baneful Striking, Gloves of Cinder and Sizzle, Winter's Clutches, Cacophony, Hoppy.−118 / −134 → Survival check
If Ragzlin's crates were already stripped, this is your second chance. Advantage on melee attacks when 2+ enemies stand near the target — not near you, which is better than it sounds.−57 / −19 → stash at −5 / −29
corrected revealed "by passing a DC 25 Survival Check or simply digging at that location" — far less missable than the old note implied. The reward is "a random assortment of low-value items" and 10 XP.−133 / −161−17 / 23
Potion of Greater Healing, gold, and a Greater Elixir of Arcane Cultivation — a free extra spell slot. Bank it for a nova turn.−44 / −74 → DC 15 Strength, one attempt per party member
Descends to −10 / 6 by the monastery. A failed roll is not a dead end.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.
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.
| Altar | Weapon | Where the weapon is |
|---|---|---|
| Welkinglory NW | Longsword | Already placed. Leave it. |
| Seed NE | Warhammer | Roof — Ancient Giant Eagle's nest, 79 / 39. Roof access: north climb 54 / 55, west climb 89 / 41 |
| Stockhold SE | Mace | On the Firewine Belly kobold, Firewine Storage 45 / 37; alternate pickup 40 / 28; or Stockhold's gravesite 127 / −5 |
| Vaseid SW | Battleaxe | Guardian 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 |
121 / 37
+1 Constitution saves — direct Concentration insurance — plus 1d4 radiant on anyone who misses you, DC 14. Needs medium armour proficiency, which you have. Wear it until the Diadem drops.36 / 35, three nests, alcoves at DC 14 Sleight of Hand
Uncommon scrolls and potions. Also a dirt mound on the Memorial balcony 80 / 86. verify in-game the August guide's mounds at 50 / 63 and 47 / 56 and a cliff-route chest at 106 / −4 were not found on the page — look, don't plan.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 −1.1383 / −659, Hoarfrost Boots 1335 / −660, Necklace of Elemental Augmentation 1379 / −662, and the elegant chest with the Strange Conduit Ring 1360 / −657.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.
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.
1330 / −660
Southern faces WEST, northern faces EAST. new the southern one needs a passive DC 25 Athletics check to move — a low-Strength party can stall here. If it fails, use Grease or attack the statue. The northern needs no check.1068 / −779
Safe retrieval, trap deactivated, 145 XP. Taking it without the Crest arms a four-turn trap that risks destroying the whole Crèche — and destroying the Crèche destroys its contents, confirmed for the Zaith'isk. safety net "Placing the crest after taking the mace also deactivates the trap" — so a mis-click is recoverable if the Crest is in your pack. Do not reload.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.
−556 / 277 (north-east of the forge, across lava) and −642 / 253 (north-west of Abandoned Refuge)
"Only two exist in any playthrough." The forge crafts exactly two items total. Moulds are reusable; the ore is the cap.−568 / 243, platform −570 / 229 → Ancient Forge waypoint −612 / 294
+2 AC and attackers cannot land critical hits on you; a missing melee attacker is left Reeling 2 turns. verify in-game the mould coordinates on your labelled map (Shield −555 / 408, Splint −593 / 311) are from mapgenie — the wiki publishes none.−854 / 780
corrected not missable. The wiki says the opposite of the old warning: the boots can be looted from his corpse and he cannot use them himself.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.
−55 / −93
"Your weapon attacks also deal 2 Acid damage." With two attacks that is +4 a turn, forever, for forty gold.116 / −192
As a Paladin: DC 10 Religion with advantage, then DC 10 Charisma. Shriek is a 6 m aura for 5 turns giving enemies a 1d4 penalty to all saving throws and attack rolls — the best Hold Person enabler in Act 1. But it costs an Action, and yours is two attacks. Hand it over.−14 / −138, 2 in the tower garden. They wilt outside the Underdark unless carried in the camp Traveller's Chest or any locked container. Floor loot: Uncovered Mysteries, Skybreaker, Timmask Spores + Tongue of Madness (Omeluum's quest items), Mystra's Grace, Mage's Friend, Club of Hill Giant Strength, Guiding Light, Light of Creation, Staff of Arcane Blessing, The Sparkswall.163 / −244, Luminous Armour 176 / −247, Staff of the Moonmaiden 161 / −200, Drow Studded Leather 84 / −207. Send someone other than the eye-deal teammate to roll that Perception.−446 / −378 → bark until the flames turn blue, then place a plain weapon in
+1 and silence-on-hit. A hard counter to enemy casters, and Act 2 is full of them. Not for you — give it to whoever front-lines against spellcasters.−419 / 585
Bitter Divorce wand on the stone slab — use it with Mayrina present and it becomes Second Marriage. Also Staff of Crones −412 / 606, The Ever-Seeing Eye, wicker chest −324 / 567, and four Whispering Masks by the Gnarled Door, now safe with Ethel dead — one is the key to the Mushroom Circle shortcut at −353 / 578.58 / 429), corrected The Speedy Lightfeet is in the forge basement, not the windmill cellar, Necromancy of Thay via the hatch at 33 / 378, buried chest behind the schoolhouse −4 / 371 at DC 15 Survival.−434 / −370 · Ragzlin's crates 298 / 66 · Zhentarim basement 285 / −165 · Stonemason Kith −662 / 375
Karlach's heart needs exactly two for all upgrades. corrected only two more exist in Act 2, not three — Reithwin Mason's Guild and the Gauntlet vault.82 / −97
"Once the quest is started, Thulla dies without treatment after three long rests," so she is very likely dead. But no page says the boots vanish with her, and the wiki lists stealing them as its own acquisition route. Go look.Route order. The Shadowfell is step 16 and everything before it is reversible.
−54 / −111
The highest-priority missable in the act. He leaves after your first fast travel or long rest, and "if Rolan is not saved before long resting, he is overtaken by the Shadow Curse and dies." Friendly-fire AoE makes him vanish permanently.126 / 105; ledger under a loose plank behind the Waning Moon bar, −223 / −78, DC 10 Perception
Oath of Vengeance breaks if you forgive Madeline, prevent her stabbing herself, or attack He Who Was. Calling her a coward is safe for your oath specifically — it breaks the other three. Raven Gloves pay out if she is stabbed once or called a coward. If the party wants mercy, walk out of the radius first.−52 / 11
Starts Investigate the Selûnite Resistance. Also Luminous Gloves and the Ring of Twilight.76 / 37
Ring of Shadows comes after both rounds. Later, his Nightdome "reflects any damage it is dealt back to the attacker" — but "killing each of Oliver's summoned allies deals damage to the Nightdome without reflecting." Kill the summons, never the dome.−30 / 128
+1 AC and +1 to all saving throws — the cleanest partial offset to the Risky Ring's drawback.−28 / 170
"Doing this is considered an oathbreaking action for Paladins of any Oath subclass." It carries the Hat of Fire Acuity, which the Helmet of Arcane Acuity makes redundant anyway. Deliberately skipped.44 / −734
DC 15 Perception to detect the trap, DC 10 to disarm, DC 14 to unlock. Coruscation Ring — a caster teammate's item. Seven Meenlocks "attack on sight."−3 / 215, DC 18 Perception then Strength 15+ to dig
Your STR is 8. A teammate digs.−152 / −30 → plaques N, W, E
Three statues, three DC 14 saves: Dark Lady's Grace (+5 CHA), Awareness (+5 WIS), Erudition (+5 INT). Everything that follows is a wall of DC 18–21 Charisma checks. A failed save costs the matching −5 until long rest and locks you in with three Sentinels; all three passed opens the altar chamber. Shadowheart bypasses them while loyal to Shar, and takes disadvantage once the Nightsong is freed.107 / −758
new to this act Disarm before picking — DC 21 Sleight of Hand; lockpicking first fires a level-4 Guiding Bolt, DC 15 to negate. Also down there: Scroll of Knock (save it for the Gauntlet vault), the Moonrise Diagram 123 / −739, and Infernal Iron in the backyard −102 / 18.308 / −708.−223 / −78, DC 10 Perception
Thisobald's Constitution DCs are 14 / 16 / 18; Barbarian, Cleric and Monk roll with advantage — put one of them on the stool. corrected faking is DC 18 Sleight of Hand but round 3 raises it to DC 21, which makes the fake worse than the old note assumed. Dialogue gives identical XP to the fight.−153 / 15
Agree to help and let her stay at camp. Her parents are in the children's ward −185 / 12. Break the news at camp — telling her anywhere else forces a DC 14 Persuasion/Intimidation (or Detect Thoughts DC 10) and she flees on a failure. Reward: Arabella's Shadow Entangle and the Shadow Blade Ring.−201 / 49
DC 14 Investigation/Religion → DC 21 Persuasion → read "Surgery and Physiology: A Sharran's Primer" → DC 18 → a final DC 21 with a Sorcerer/Deception variant you qualify for. It removes him and all four undead sisters — the biggest difficulty swing in Reithwin. He drops the Surgeon's Subjugation Amulet and the Battered Lute either way.9 / −981 · Ominous Crevice −29 / 930
Eversight Ring (blindness immunity — genuinely interesting, since you are the party's Darkness caster and this lets a teammate stand in it) behind two DC 14 checks. The Fleshmelter Cloak needs Misty Step or Feather Fall to reach; you have Misty Step free.−170 / 100 (DC 6), 273 / −818 (DC 18), 260 / −863 (DC 14).−128 / −193, 190 gold
Build-defining. "If blood is donated in Act Two, Araj moves to the Lower City in Act Three" — without it, "Araj is not at her store." One donation is 1d3 damage and a free elixir.569 / −626 → Wulbren's Hammer from the Warden's office → boat at 575 / −576
DC 14 Deception ("I have permission from Balthazar") or Persuasion gets you past the guard; Misty Step bypasses it. The Warden's-office levers trigger an alarm and a running fight.−833 / −729
"When you kill a creature, your next Attack Roll will be a Critical Hit... refreshes after a Long Rest." A guaranteed doubled smite. Strip the whole party before starting the trial — doing so "makes the trial spawn all copies in the same naked and disarmed state." In co-op, everyone strips, or one un-stripped copy fights you in full kit.−820 / −756
Strength-based, so not your weapon — but "Shadowheart turns hostile if the party attempt to enter the Shadowfell without it." Procedural, not optional.−821 / −752
Callous Glow Ring and one Infernal Iron. Bring the Scroll of Knock. verify in-game the "DC 30 lock" in circulation is not on the wiki — no DC is published.−474 / −1650.☐ 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.
692 / −114
A 9 m aura: everyone inside takes double psychic damage and rolls mental saves at disadvantage — so it lands your Wisdom-save lockdown and doubles your psychic blade in one object. It does not discriminate, and does nothing to undead or constructs. One spot in a dungeon you can never re-enter. verify in-game known bug: "sometimes ceases to function upon leaving Act Two."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.
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.
| # | Item | Act | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Diadem of Arcane Synergy Rare · 240g | 1 | Crèche → 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. |
| 2 | Helmet of Arcane Acuity Uncommon | 2 | Reithwin → Mason's Guild secret basement 107 / −758 → DC 21 SoH, disarm first | Every 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. |
| 3 | Fistbreaker Helm Rare · 60g | 2 | Moonrise → 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.
| # | Item | Act | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Armour of Agility Very rare · 2,900g | 3 | Stormshore Armoury −41 / −71 → Gloomy Fentonson | Medium, 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. |
| 2 | Adamantine Splint Very rare | 1 | Grymforge → forge −568 / 243 → Splint Mould + 1 Mithral Ore | AC 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. |
| 3 | Helldusk Armour Legendary | 3 | House of Hope −6477 / 2884 → off Raphael | AC 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. |
| # | Item | Act | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gloves of Dexterity Very rare · 300g / 860g Honour | 1 | Crèche → Trade Post → A'jak'nir Jeera | Buy 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. |
| 2 | Helldusk Gloves Very rare | 3 | House 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. |
| 3 | Gloves of the Growling Underdog Uncommon | 1 | Shattered Sanctum 298 / 66 → Ragzlin's crates; or Rosymorn Monastery Trail −118 / −134 → treasure crate, Survival check | Advantage 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.
| # | Item | Act | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Disintegrating Night Walkers Story item | 1 | Grymforge −854 / 780 → True Soul Nere's corpse | Bonus-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. |
| 2 | Helldusk Boots Very rare | 3 | Wyrm's Rock, top floor −32 / 219 → locked Gilded Chest | Infernal 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. |
| 3 | Evasive Shoes Rare · 95g | 2 | Last Light Inn −56 / 141 → Mattis | Flat +1 AC for ninety-five gold — the answer if the Night Walkers went to a teammate who needs the mobility more. |
| # | Item | Act | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Surgeon's Subjugation Amulet Rare | 2 | House 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. |
| 2 | Amulet of Greater Health Very rare | 3 | House of Hope Archive → left-most pedestal → DC 20 SoH to disarm, or swap in an equal-weight item | Constitution 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. |
| 3 | Amulet of the Devout Very rare | 3 | Stormshore 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. |
| # | Item | Act | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Risky Ring Rare · 190g | 2 | Moonrise −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. |
| 2 | Band of the Mystic Scoundrel Rare | 3 | The 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. |
| 3 | Caustic Band Uncommon · 40g | 1 | Ebonlake 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.
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.
| # | Item | Act | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Knife of the Undermountain King Very rare · 480g / 1,200g Honour | 1 | Crèche → 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. |
| 2 | Sword of Life Stealing Very rare · 480g | 2 | Last Light Inn −33 / 164 → Dammon | Same +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. |
| 3 | Phalar Aluve Rare | 1 | Underdark 116 / −192 → Paladin route: DC 10 Religion with advantage, then DC 10 Charisma | Ranked 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.
| # | Item | Act | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adamantine Shield Rare | 1 | Grymforge forge → Shield Mould + 1 Mithral Ore | This 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. |
| 2 | Ketheric's Shield Rare | 2 | Off 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. |
| 3 | Shield of Devotion Very rare · 570g | 2 | Last 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.
| Slot | Take | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Cloak, now | Cloak of Protection — +1 AC, +1 all saves | Last Light, Talli, 200g |
| Cloak, Act 3 | Cloak of Displacement — enemies have disadvantage against you until you take damage | Danthelon's Dancing Axe, 190g |
| Ranged, now | Hand Crossbow +1 — a one-hander, so you never drop the shield | 65g, most Act 1 vendors |
| Ranged, Act 2 | Ne'er Misser — 1d6+1 force, plus a free level-3 Magic Missile every short rest | Moonrise, 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.
| Item | Effect | When |
|---|---|---|
| Elixir of Bloodlust | On a kill: 5 temporary HP and an additional Action, once per turn | Your default morning drink. This build ends things. |
| Elixir of Battlemage's Power | 3 stacks of Arcane Acuity — +3 spell attack and spell save DC | Boss days where the plan opens with the lockdown. Acuity decays when you take damage, so open with it. |
| Elixir of Viciousness | Crit threshold reduced by 1, additive with class features | Stacked on the Knife that is crits on 18. The only elixir that genuinely competes with Bloodlust. |
| Potion of Speed | Bonus action: +2 AC, +9 m, one extra Action for 3 turns; then Lethargic for one turn | A 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 Person | The signature turn, four levels early, off your own slot pool | verify 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 Cultivation | One additional spell slot | One sits in the Broken Lathander Effigy on the Rosymorn Trail. Bank it for a nova. |
"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.
| Item | Give to | Why it isn't yours |
|---|---|---|
| Adamantine Splint | The heavy-armour front-liner | AC 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 Lathander | A Cleric or a Strength Paladin | Legendary +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 Aluve | Whoever has a spare Action each round | Shriek 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 Revenge | Lae'zel specifically | 1d4 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 Plane | The two-handed martial | Best greatsword in the game. Githyanki wielders add 1d6 psychic and gain advantage on mental saves. |
| Sentinel Shield | The 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 Bow | The archer, or anyone on Strength elixirs | Its 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 Cloth | A 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 Step | Anyone | One copy per playthrough, and Oath of Vengeance already gave you Misty Step free at Paladin 5. |
| Resonance Stone | Agree who carries it | Carried, 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. |
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.
| Lvl | Take | Features | Spells & metamagic | Feat | SP | What changes in combat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Paladin 4 | Lay on Hands to 4 charges | 8 prepared picks + Bane and Hunter's Mark free. 3 × 1st-level slots. | Savage Attacker | 0 | One attack. Vow of Enmity → swing → smite only on crits and kills. |
| 5 | Paladin 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. |
| 6 | Paladin 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. |
| 7 | Sorcerer 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. |
| 8 | Sorcerer 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. |
| 9 | Sorcerer 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. |
| 10 | Sorcerer 4 | 5th cantrip; first 4th-level slot | 5 known: Mirror Image (no Concentration, 10 turns, +3 AC per duplicate). | +2 CHA → 20 | 4 | 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. |
| 11 | Sorcerer 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. |
| 12 | Sorcerer 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. |
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.
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.
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.
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.
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