Hits delete on his 112,000 word draft of the novel “Tears of the Warlocks”…

This guy is a hidden gem and based for having the OG sightstone as his avatar.

Biggest disadvantage of Divination wizard: being asked all the time it you want to use it.

+1 was waiting unpatiently

Your videos have made this game a lot more enjoyable for me. Thank you for bringing life to the overlooked classes. Appreciate you!

I knew divination wizard was powerful, but I didn’t realize until I played a sorcerer for blasting and Gale was relegated to divination school. Bosses were disabled from combat left and right with forced failures in saves for crowd control.

Thanks for another great list!! It’s great that you mentioned that Storm Sorceror Fly also avoids opportunity attacks! Regular Fly or Illithid Fly does not. A lot of commenters don’t mention that and it’s easy to miss that part. It really makes Storm Sorceror awesome for earlier levels.

Hey, I just wanted to say that you completely MADE my Honour run. You are a joy to listen to, so knowledgeable and really gave me the confidence to make my own class and spell choices! I'm grateful for the time you take to talk to us about this game 🤩

Absolutely incredible couple of videos! These deep breakdowns of subclasses especially, they’ve taught me so much

The fighter with a banner was obviously supposed to be the mighty purple dragon knight. But Larion realized their folly in including such an overpowered class in BG3 and removed it without updating the icon and instead gave it to the much weaker Battlemaster/Eldritch Knight.

It's time! Thanks man. Love your videos.

love your tier list!

You are doing such great work Cephalopocalypse. Thanks so much.

Thanks for this series actually, your insight was fantastic especially with tabletop knowledge, I've been trying to do BG3 with the Divinity Lone wolf style 2 companions only and some limitations imposed on myself (No outright BS tactics, reverse pickpocket, some limitation on resting etc.), with a plan to use each subclass across a variety of pairings, so having this to refer to for the strengths and underwhelming parts is great. I was completely sleeping on Abjuration wizard, I had also been a person who swore by Divination as unbelievably good... I have barely touched Wizard yet and I think the few times I did, I just picked Divination without realising how turbo good the ward is... the fact it only reduces by an intensity of 1 whilst gaining non-linearly is absolutely crazy... The fact you can apply it to allies too at lvl6 is mind blowing to me.

You deserve more subs, this content is superb!

While I do agree that by the time you get flight with draconic bloodline, you certainly have movement options (specifically misty step) that can achieve the same thing, I do believe it's still a significant buff. Mainly because you can only get opportunity attacked from where you start your flight, so it's already better than standard movement, but also unlike Misty Step that uses both a 2nd spell slot and more importantly a bonus action, this is a free action. It's quite useful as an alternative to misty step to be able to reposition and preserve your bonus action for quickend spell.

Most reported honour mode deaths in the BG3 subreddit are caused by brain farts and not poorly optimized builds, so a wild magic sorcerer might even help to keep the player alert. Either that or it'll make more likely that brain farts will end up being lethal.

I think guaranteed free shovel on a character of your choice devaluates chain warlock. Yeah, imp has a better mobility and two attacks, but that's it, shovel covers the rest. In my playthrough I never even touched shovel or imp in a fight that started without her help, and only used her to surprise attack, then on her turn run away, then on the next turn go invis and run further. This is why when I think on pact of the chain, I just go pact of the tome and use shovel.

Maybe an odd request, but once you've done the majority of these tier lists, would you consider doing a build covering the most popular mods that include things from 5e? Things like the Artificer class, the cleric subclasses mod, and 5e spells? They're all very very well done and fit really seamlessly into the game. That, and Larian has mentioned trying to get mods onto console, so it will probably wind up being relevant for even more of the playerbase in the future.

Minor illusion can be used in combat vs melee enemies, since if they can only reach and attack the minor illusion they'll generally go for it, Grym is a particularly useful case if you're solo

I'm happy you gave a fair shake to the Transmutations School Wizard, because its bonuses are something that are fairly subtle, but long lasting. Any kind of long term economic boost like the occasional free potion is very hard to calculate the effect of, but I found it to be incredibly valuable over the course of the whole game. Mostly because before I had access to regular Haste spells it meant that I had a lot of extra Speed potions. Enough that I didn't have to worry about "saving them for a future emergency" which tends to be the opportunity cost mental block many players run into when it comes to potion use in most games. And adding extra actions to characters is incredibly powerful. It also meant I ended up with a lot of free Bloodlust potions that allowed Karlach in particular to be quite powerful, since I went with her being a dual wielder in order to take advantage of good Barbarian unarmored options and get a bit of extra AC and that meant no free Great Weapon Mastery attacks. Of course the real issue with all the Wizard schools is that they don't get the most natural bonus that used to be in older editions of D&D, and which puzzles me as to why it's not in this version, which is improved Spell DCs on spells from their particular school. This was a really simple effect from school specialization (which also used to be optional, and you could play without specializing in the past) but added up a lot. Especially for the illusion and enchantment schools, this was truly the actual bonus, not whatever minor bonus abilities they got along the level progression. Kind of feel that Illusion and Enchantment specialist wizards lost the most out of that decision. Transmutation loses out a bit in general because the game is missing some of their best spells, like Spider Climb and Shapechange (other than the weird blue jay bonus ability).

I have no idea how you intend to structure the tierlist for the multiclass videos but as cluttered as it sounds, it might be useful to separate them by the amount of levels (or starting class vs multiclassed levels, although that’s more specific) in addition to their tier? Like maybe you have two or three different categories of a single tier split into the amount of levels you’d dip? For example: S-Tier, 1 Level Dip/S-Tier, 2-4 Levels/S-Tier, 5+ Levels and so on. Or you could avoid overcomplicating and just explain the differences in the amount of levels you’d dip. Either way, excited to see! Been loving the tierlist videos so far!

Actually Storm Sorcerer's Tempestuous Magic doesn't necessarily cost resources. It needs you to cast a level 1 or higher spell, not spend a level 1 or higher spell slot. What this means is that you can cast ritual spells like feather fall which cost no slots outside of turn based to trigger your Flight. What's even more interesting is that the game doesn't care whether or not it was a spell inherent to you character. You can wear Mystra's Grace, boots that give you unlimited uses of Feather Fall, and have on command fly within the 1st hour of the game.

Yeah, baby. I guessed the second S+ tier class right, but missed with Draconic Sorcerer due to personal preference

in regards to storm sorcerer that you should know is if you have a ritual spell, you get infinite uses of flight during exploration.

I've been playing wild magic sorcerer with your coffeelock build on HM and couldn't agree more. It's tons of fun! I swear I've gotten the extra action wild magic surge more than anything else. Have you changed your opinion on bend luck since the coffeelock build? I recall you saying it's basically never worth using (because it's equivalent to a level 2 spell slot). I've been using it at critical moments (e.g., really need to land a hit, but I miss by 1, so bend luck is guaranteed to turn the miss into a hit). It's especially good because I rarely use all my sorcery points. I find that I cast spells (other than a turn 1 concentration spell) pretty infrequently, since I can just eldritch blast instead. I start a fight with ~18 sorcery points usually and spend them every turn on quickened eldritch blast.

3 tierlist videos in a week? We are so blessed! BTW you always say wall of fire "solves some encounters," and I have only 1 in mind when you say that haha. Care to divulge some of the ones you're thinking of?

Just a few months ago you were celebrating 5,000 subs. You’re blowing up! Congrats dude! I binge these videos all day at work when I can’t play. Absorbing as much info and entertainment as I possibly can.

About alchemy - I have Gale as a transmutation wizard jn my active party. not for camp casting which is OP (i did it on my first HM run for extra safety and it was totally over the top. I stopped doing it in the middle). So I know a lot about how to do that efficiently. I feel its worth in in Act 1 or part of Act 2 (for the Transmute concentration stone for your wiz or cleric) -- but I think after that its better to switch to another wizard class. The Transmutation wizard doing the alchemy does not need to have all the alchemy ingredients. I've tested that. (I think maybe the video implies otherwise, or I might have misheard it.) The ingredients just need to be in your party, not in the camp or with someone not in the party. However you have to be sure that your Transmuter alchemist is actually doing the alchemy. Basic yes, duh.. But its easy to forget to check before you click the craft button. When its a rare and powerful potion like Speed or Universal Resistance that is annoying (done that). To get the extra potion reliably you also should buff the alchemist with Enhance Ability for Owl's Wisdom for Advantage on the check and have at least 12 wisdom on the alchemist (a good idea anyway for saves). So there is level two spell cost and an AP cost. Also cast Guidance before you start and go to turn based. The extra potions or elixirs are important in Act 1 (for me) for speed, bloodlust, and a couple of others. Once into Act 2 it becomes potion gluttony. But you can still sell them. And in my runs money is not “free “until Act 3. There are better wizards if course. But I like to always have a Speed potion when I need one. And after Act 1 they are harder to get so I am stocking up with the Transmutation alchemist.

I would call Storm Sorc an S+ subclass, personally. - Starting the game I really wanted to play a warlock focused on fire and all that, but then in subsequent playthroughs I came to realize just how good Storm Sorc is. Like... as you said, the mobility offered by flying is basically a shorter range misty step, the fact you can only use it -after- casting just means you'll have a harder time using it to engage, but it doesn't consume movement unlike other methods of flight, so you just get to be extremely maneuverable. - Also, the only spells you need to grab for damage are one damaging cantrip, and then Chromatic orb or Witch Bolt. - Once you hit level 6 you get that Call Lightning which is just amazing, you can chug a haste pot immediately before you start a fight or have an ally concentrate Haste on you, and you get to chug Call Lightning repeated casts into the enemy off of just one spell slot, and with your bonuses to damage it hits like basically a mini fireball. Even if you've got spread out enemies and can't hit more than one at a time, with quick cast and haste, you get to cast it three times per turn in the same level range that a warlock gets to cast only two beams of Eldritch Blast, and it deals considerably more damage. - And even if you got enemies that are resistant or even out-right immune to Lightning, you have the same bonuses apply to Thunder damage, so you're basically proficient in TWO damage types that keep you covered no matter the encounter, and you can even use the sorcery point conversion to turn level 1 and level 2 spell slots into level 3 spell slots if you want to have more Call Lightning sprees available before you need to rest. And with how good those few spells are? Aside for grabbing Chromatic Orb and/or Witch Bolt at early levels, you can spend -all- your other level-ups on learning utility spells and rituals, which other sorcs may not be able to afford as much. - Like getting to level 3 spells, Call Lightning frees you from having to pick Lightning Bolt or Fireball, and you can grab more level 3 control spells earlier on. If you need your concentration, you can just up-cast Chromatic Orbs and it even has a chance to leave a pool of electrified water, so it's like Create Water on a smaller radius but it also deals damage. Pair it also with all the gear that gives you lightning charges, and it's obscenely good. - If it's not deserving an S+ now, it at the very least should be once it gets to multiclassing, with how well it pairs with a two level dip into Warlock and/or a two level dip into Thief, since your level 11 capstone is not that important. - Just sorc 'till level 6, then two levels warlock and two levels thief, and sorc for the last two levels, and then you're pretty much resource-independent.

Thank you 🙏

This was a great deal of fun. I was surprised to see Abjuration Wizard as the other S+ subclass, but I agree with the reasoning. I never play one because Tank isn’t my preferred play style. But you’ve convinced me to try Invincible Tank Gale. :-)

Uniquely wildmagic also grants you the chance at very high level spells by level 1 standards like otilukes and telekinesis which iirc in act one is only competed by 3 items(?) (Level 1 telekinesis if you start gale, lathanders, and wylls quest items iirc), the completely unique ability to regenerate sorcery points, and action surge alongside its more ridiculous buffs like autocrits and has a frankly tedious option to cast rituals out of combat to get team wide enchant weapon for fights. Definitely a class that needs to think harder than the other two, but they sure do bring a lot to the table.

hey cephalo! love the vid, thanks for pouring such a wealth of knowledge i'd like to ask at least give a remark on where the "outclassed" classes would fall on the tiers for example i understand that conjuration is just worse than abjuration. But how strong is a "worse abjuration"? is conjuration B tier? C tier? i mantain that for people that wanna roleplay these classes anyway, it would be helpful to give them some perspective that said, these videos have become my lunch time listen pretty consistently lol. Thanks for the uploads

I'm going to have to disagree on Conjuration. Benign Transportation is incredibly useful for setting up traps and keeping your party/NPCs alive since they can get anyone out of any bad situation and funnel enemies toward an ally that enemies intentionally avoid via a bait and switch. It's one of the easiest ways to save everyone in the Iron Throne. Plus you get a ton of uses of it since it isn't tied to a rest mechanic. Easy A Tier.

With Wild Mage, I remember the story of one person getting really unlucky when casting mage armor in the first room of the game and summoning a Cambion. Definitely want to try it some time though.

You CAN cast multiple leveled spells in a turn in 5e, with action surge The restriction is that IF any spell is cast as a bonus action, THEN you can't cast any other spell on your turn, except a cantrip for your action But your point mostly still stands. It's just that EVERYONE ALWAYS gets this wrong, didn't expect you to get it wrong too though!

Thank you for the zoom out to screen shot the list. I see the Save or Download button at the bottom. Is there any way to get that file put in comments or description?

Hey mate, nice video, did you ever think about publishing your tier lists as podcasts on spotify? I would surely listen

Been waiting to see what you say about my Fey Worlock. People crap on the Fey patron but it's been pretty cool.

Time for the multiclass scores, the real meal

5:07 You can actually cast as many leveled spells you want in a turn in the tabletop, so long as you do not cast a spell/cantrip as a bonus action specifically

Would you make a video talking about what 5e subclasses you would like to see in the game and what you would give them?

Divination school is why it annoys me when people say Gale is useless. Respec him immediately. Respec Shart too to light domain and bring her all of act 2 with lathander.

Transmutation wizard should be be able to polymoph into a different creature then just blue jay. Like an ogre. Illusory Self should be a level 1 ability, with level 6 and 10 abilities replaced with something else. Phantsmal killer comes to mind. Conjuration wizard should get buffs for creatures they summon. Its so frustrating that they do not properly support the game and dont fix multitudes of glaring balance issues, abusive/underwhelming mechanics. This game has made them a A TON of money and is very popular to this day. You could do better then this, Larian.

Early and late game Draconic Sorcerer's "Always on" mage armor has one extra benefit: if you play a race that has Shield proficiency, you can get some really good AC while still wearing robes, and not having to spend the spell slot, or scroll, to cast Mage Armor. If you start at 14 DEX, and equip a shield, that means you have 17 AC, without needing to sacrifice the Handwear slot for the Bracers of Defense. Also, I LOVE combo-ing Draconic Sorcerer, Necklace of Elemental Augmentation and Potent Robe, where I cast a powerful concentration spell, and then fire off twinned Ray of Frosts on a White Draconic Sorcerer. For the Enchantment Wizard, I'm really sad we don't have Psychic Lance from TableTop 5e for us to "Twin" cast. Also, double casting Hold Person without having to Upcast does mean you keep the very important ressource that is a 3rd level Spell Slot that can then be used to Counterspell. Evocation Wizards would also benefit from a 5e Spell, aka Toll the Dead still dealing half of 1, 2 or 3d8 (d12 if the target isn't full health) would be SO fun. My Evocation Wizard Gale in end game is pretty much a Magic Missile Machine 😁 Transmutation Wizards got HECKED OVER by the change to Polymorph in BG3... Having that ability be like a weaker form of Wildshape, I think, would have been better. Since in Tabletop, you can polymorph into a Beast of CR1 or lower, giving the Wizard the ability to turn into a Giant Spider or a Wolf would have been better, and I don't think it would have stepped on the Druid's specialty either.

Sees wizard options, decides to take 4 wizards for the lols

But abjuration was nerfed, eighth -> With the recent patches and changes to mage armor and how ward charging works?

You can get Armour of Agathys for Abjuration Wizard from the feat Magic Initiate: Warlock? You put it in S+ tier anyway

On my second play through which was on tactician mode I wanted to try wild magic sorcerer and honestly I was sad with how little it triggered (maybe I was lucky/unlucky). I kind of wish that ring you can get from auntie ethel in act 3 is something you could enable as like a fun starting option or even just switch it on as an option 😂

Portent dice pops up as a reaction, but it doesn't consume your reaction. I think you probably knew that, but was a little vague when you started talking about divination.

Yeah, I was looking at the fighter icons in game and got even more confused 😂

Abjuration wizards when someone mentions burst/instakill tempestorm clercerers: Hold my Weave

Do portent dice apply before or after modifiers? for example, if I have a +5 to hit, and I use a 14 portent die, would my result be 14 or 19?

So couple levels of Dragonic Sorcerer (White) to pick up Armor of Agathys for Abjuration Wizard good idea?

*Puts on nerd glasses.* For the tabletop example. Technically, the rule goes that as long as you cast a spell as a Bonus Action, the only other spells you can cast on your turn can be cantrips. So in your example you couldn't cast le leveled spell and then quicken a cantrip. You can, however cast the cantrip as an action, and then quicken the leveled spell. Multiple lelveled spells are allowed on your turn, as long as they're not bonus actions. So you can Fireball and Shield (From an opportunity attack or something). And you can also double fireball with a fighter's action surge. I understand I am being pedantic, but just making it clear how the rule works, since it gets messed up all the time.

Wild Magic Barbarian also has flames behind its weapon (an axe) to indicate it as "magic warrior" along with Eldritch Knight's flames, so I'd say you're correct that the flaming sword is intended to be the one for Eldritch Knight, despite the confusion on the wiki and in the actual game.

I want more brotato ‼️‼️‼️

That's interesting, I played as an abjuration wizard, but I guess I wasn't great at making use of the arcane ward. At the end I got fed up and respec-ed him because it was really doing nothing for me. I found it difficult to even build up the arcane ward points, because most of the abjuration are defence spells that I cast for example 1 per long rest (e.g. mage armour). I guess I should have just used glyph of warding more. But even then, I would usually keep casters at the back so not sure what being able to mitigate small amounts of damage would do. Probably it just gets better when you get higher in level. If anyone has suggestions of a build or battle strategy with abjuration wizard, let me know! I guess, later in the game, if you use it on the front line to attract enemy attacks and basically waste their turns by being unkillable - casting protection to get more protection, while the rest of the team is taking them out is an option.

I played with a wild magic sorcerer for all of 5 minutes. I ran straight to Withers the instant Healing Word became a surprise Fireball

Level 1 White Draconic Bloodline for Armour of Agathys and proficiency on Constitution Saving Throw+ level 1 of Cleric for Create Water and Guidance + level 10 Abjuration School Wizard. So tempting!

I heard you talk about the economy being broken in the game but I usually kinda struggle with gold in honour mode, especially before act 3. Can you teach me some way to make more money beside stealing?

I used my sorceror (who got proficiency with instruments from Alfira) to lure entire goblin camp towards me. And then killing them all instantly with evocation wizard Gale without taking friendly fire😈

Wrong video to comment this, I know, but I think hunter ranger as a mono class should be higher. Even though it’s not till lvl 11 when it gets strong. It is SO INSANELY strong that I think it’s worth any weakness it has throughout the game (it’s really not even that weak pre 11). I think it’s underrated in the literal sense that not enough people realize what it does at lvl 11. To the point that I think it’s a disservice to yourself not to experience the volley ability at least once with this game. Lol. Maybe it’s just me though but it was responsible for one of my most joyous moments in over 650 hrs of bg3 gameplay. 😅 Also worth mentioning how it spares allies within the volley from damage from it. And it synergizes with elixir of bloodlust possibly better than any other ability in the game (not sure about that though…thoughts?)

Suddenly feeling an urge to actually play wild magic sorc)

Could you do a write up of this?

I think you're sleeping on the value of lvl 11 draconic flight a bit. It's an insanely good ability, basically makes the sorc invincible. It costs no action at all to use it, so you can fly in, cast spells, and fly back out every turn, and enemies will never be able to target you. Add haste and it gets completely stupid. Not to mention the out of combat benefits of having unlimited free flight. Ya you could just take the astral tadpole but most of us don't want to do that.

2 divination wizard/10 lore bard, my favorite build in the game

So is the next tier-list all the magic items?

Can I ask a build question here, or does he have a community post/discord server for that kind of stuff?

GOO lock + riskyring + spell sniper = many much crits

Correction: Bone Chill is not a spell, it is a cantrip, which is annoying, but that's how it is.

I think you're overvaluing Abjuration. It's hard to kill, but what does it really accomplish with that? The primary abjuration spell that you referenced, Glyph of Warding, gets outclassed pretty quickly, so you basically just have someone sit in the middle of combat and be hard to kill. You don't even really want to have them concentrate because each hit means a chance that they'll fail something important. On the other hand, both Draconic and Storm Sorcerer are absolutely ridiculous, even as mono-classes. Draconic Sorcerers are probably the best single-target damage dealers in the game, and with them adding their Charisma modifers to spells of their element. Storm are amazing for AOE and get two useful resistances (Thunder and Lightning) for free. There's also metamagic which works on scrolls, so you effectively have just as much or better spell versatility than any wizard.

I would put open hand monk in s tier.

i'm sorry but oathbreaker paladin outclassed? I ran 12 oathbreaker on Lae'zel because I thought it would be an incredibly thematic for her, and I'm currently averaging around 55-60 damage per swing without crits or smite at level 10. AoE fear is incredible, advantage on attacks is incredible, still has LoH Charges, +5 damage to slashing from aura of hate, retains the other auras from paladin, and is not restrained by dialogue choices like the other subclasses. holistically speaking, oathbreaker is the most accessible version of the paladin with the least amount of caveats to decisions that you make in your playthrough, while also being one of the strongest if not THE strongest front liner + Sriker combo's in the game (nyrulna on the paladin + bhaal armor on a rogue/gloomstalker.)

I have no clue how people make necromancer work, i just feel useless compared to my team even at level 12. Rogues get 3 attacks and do 80+ damage in 1 turn fairly often, i dont even have to mention paladins and fighters. Warlocks eldritch blast nearly never has resistance and they just clear rooms easier than my wizard can. Clerics can heal and have tons of really strong aoe options, druids summons and wild magic make them better horde leaders than necromancers, and im just sitting here with 2 ghouls that barely do damage or skeletons thar miss constantly and are squishy. I HAVE to be playing it wrong

Portent dice simply breaks dnd. Bg3 or tabletop really. You don't even force a reroll, you just FORCE that value in, starting at level 2. It's fun to watch that giga boss just sit there in hold monster while you smash it's face in :p

I really think changing the sorcerer meta magic was a mistake for this game it makes them way too powerful

We need a link to donate directly to you instead of through KZfaq. 😢

It’s so sad to see that my favorite class is the worst in game. Completely relegated to a multi class dip role that in no way fulfills my character fantasy.

instant click

Dont talk shit about muh shocking grasp. jk great vid

You are unfair in the list obviously you have a soft spot for bard (the only S+ tier) when all sorcerer except the wild magic can KILL EVERY ENEMY IN THE GAME just the fact that with some object you can cast disintegrate 5 times in one turn because arcane battery make your sorcery ability cost 0 sorcery points, you are unfair because you talk of the top condition for bard but not for sorcer