Nice build and great explanation of War Magic! You could dual wield and add Trident of Tides from vault #4 in the counting house. This weapon bestows the wet status on your target. Wet+Chill = Frozen! Also, the Snow Burst Ring found at Last Light Inn creates a patch of frozen ground. Add haurfrost boots (Inquisitor's Chamber, Crèche Y'llek) and you have another form of control.

you hyped this subclass up so much over the past year (or however long) that I IMMEDIATELY clicked this video and started taking notes...

This is one of the coolest builds I've seen. Can't wait to try it in my current run. Thank you so much ❤

Wow....I was wondering about this one as I have long wanted to play this. Appreciate the upload! You are the true lord of builds!

Yes, we need more build videos from you bro

Great vid, excited to see more build videos! Lot's of build videos on bg3 but very few get into the itemization which is super important in this game

New to your channel but I really appreciate how informative your vids are, the tier lists were super helpful and I'm loving videos like this one!

This is so fire. I haven't played an honor mode run yet but the fact that this build is good at every level and pulls ahead of other hasted fighters is epic

I'd love to see more builds from you. I really like your presentation and the way you explain things and I'd love to see this applied to more builds. Also, I'd be curious to learn about how you come up with builds like what your process is for formulating unique ideas

You have have no idea how excited I was getting the notification for this upload! Since launch I've been looking to do a melee & ice spell hybrid based off of a nearly decade old character of mine! Very excited to try this out :)

Great video! Love your content. You have made me so much better at the game!! Never imagined I would play Honor mode but it’s pretty much all I play now.

god i’d love to see more of these! well done

Yo love your vids bc of how much detail you put into them. I know it can be hard to come up with novel optimization paths so im super impressed by your ingenuity here. Ive wanted to have a cool eldritch knight build but couldn't figure it out bc i always focused on the spellcasting side of things, until i would ask myself "why dont i just play a spellcaster with a fighter multiclass or something." This build takes the features of the subclass and makes them shine and for a monoclass thats super neat!

Been waiting ages for this one thanks man!

Wow, nice build! I took one look at BG3 Eldritch Knight, saw that there was no Booming Blade / Green-Flame Blade cantrips, and said "Oh well, it's useless." But with Haste allowing cantrips and the wonky way they programmed Eldritch Strike, it actually seems really good!

Currently doing my first run of the game using a party based on the wet condition and was struggling to find a frontline build, this is literally perfect

Ive been so exited for your build videos!!

This is so creative and awesome, keep it up kind sir!

The Mourning Frost is already one of my favorite weapons, I cant wait to use it in a crazy build like this!

Btw love the content and agree with many others, we need more of these builds from you ✌️

This legitimately identical to my current Laezel build even down to itemization. Banger build.

I thought I was gonna get stuff done today, stoked for this.

Keep these optimized builds coming!

Always a nice day when you post

I appreciate this video which is full of excellent information. The deep dives sound good. I would hope that at some point you discuss a full group that compliment (different roles/items. E.g. what other three would you bring along. Which one would be your main and which would be NPC e.g. this build could be Laezel.

Finallyyyyy I've been checking every day since that comment lol thank you! So hype

It’s actually impressive how much knowledge goes into this game. I barely made it through on beginner with the most trash build and gear 😂 this build looks awesome

thanks for this video. As I love cold damage, I might try it for my next run...to change from my sorcerer/wizard cold build..:)

Oh awesome build! I was trying something slightly different that revolved around different elements basically, but this looks slightly better. I looked at your guide and saw the feats, I don't know if you'd want to change anything but just so you know polearm master DOES work for quarterstaffs. Might be worth considering next to the other two feats at level 12!

Great work! The EK is slept on and the most interesting fighter to me. I really like how you can get so much damage out level 1 spell slots. An early game example is that with the lightning charges boot and expeditious retreat, you get easy dash + lightning charges every round. When you find the strange conduit ring, this same level 1 spell gives you 1d4 psychic damage too. I have been playing an EK archer focused on encrusted with frost and have been using most of the combos you talked about. I want to point out a few things I found out while playing this build: 1. Bow + drakethroat glove is extremely potent because of special arrows. An arrow of many targets for example could be used to freeze a bunch of enemies. 2. If you use a regular attack (or special bow) first to get a couple of encrusted with frost stacks, you can also use a frost arrow on the second attack to quicken the cycle. That is a second source of cold damage and triggers the winters clutches gloves a second time. It's worth doing it as a second attack since encrusted with frost has already been applied and the cold damage of frost arrows is applied on failing a dexterity saving throw. Encrusted with frost on the first attack provides a dex saving throw disadvantage. 3. I really want to use the ring of elemental fusion, but as worded it only applies to one damage. The strange conduit ring which requires concentration (easy with expeditious retreat) does 1d4 damage on all attacks. Have you found it worth the ring slot? A few notes on reverb: 1. Stormy clamor boots are somewhat inconsistent like you said. But an easy way to consistently proc it is to use ability drain illithid power. With bows this is actually super useful since you reduce dexterity. This triggers reverb but also reduces dex saving throws which helps with getting ice arrows to stick. The combo of dexterity drain and dex saving throw disadvantage is super potent even without the freeze effect since it sets up your casters for massive damage. 2. If your 5 stacks of reverb get triggered just when you freeze the enemy, you will break the freeze with the extra thunder damage from reverb. This is rather unfortunate and has to be watched out for. I typically have to time it really well to make sure I freeze the enemy and then give my warlock a change to get vulnerability on EB. Even outside of reverb/encrusted with frost, the EK archer is one of the best builds for spreading status effects like you mentioned. Radiant damage (from divine favor or callous glow ring) + arrow of many targets + luminous armor will light up a room like it's christmas :) Other archers can do it too, but the extra damage from lightning charges, strange conduit ring etc. really makes this build shine IMHO.

Great video and explanation and I appreciate the google doc guide too! I played at solo honour mode EK and focused on a tanky Throwing build. I didn't realise the spell swap thing was unintended or cheese-y I thought you just got narrowly restricted spells at first and were allowed to change them to a wider selection on later levels. I'm still not convinced by War Magic cantrip-use, I tried to make use of it but just had more luck using attacks or better spells!

Yes! Finally some builds

Love ur builds man!

Eldritch Knight tends to be what I use the lightning charge items on, early game (expeditious retreat+speedy lightfoot is great), but mid and late game, I felt it fall off compared to other more cohesive builds. This seems very strong by comparison, so I'm looking forward to trying it out on a run. Thanks!

Just took this build after seeing this video for my honor mode run! I missed the Scoundrel ring and can’t go back and was using a dual wielding EK/Wizard build with the Helm of Acuity that was lagging behind in ACT 2. But with this video, along with remembering the staffs use Strength not Dex, I now just brought it online after a respec! Still dual-wielding but now my CC comes from the snowburst ring and Tasha’s. Thinking about adding the ring that ignores difficult terrain as well since the boots I got won’t prone me on Ice but still slows me down.

Awesome guide. One thing I would consider is Warped Headband of Intellect as an alternative to Helm of Arcane Acuity. AA is incredibly busted and this character isn’t the best user of it, so this way it can go to another party member, and you still get +3 INT alongside 16 CON and 14 DEX. I also believe the saves against Chilled and Frozen are static, so AA is only helping with your BotMS bonus action.

I like the idea of doing this w/ one level of wizard for the spellscribing, but idk how soon I’d take it, honestly at 12 it could be a cooler cap stone then another feat, and wouldnt delay fighter, you’d also get a third level slot which is cool

Very nice idea. Frozen enemies will be vulnerable to bludgeoning, thunder and force damage, which means that your other 3 members can build around those types of damage to maximize the dmg output. I wonder if you can freeze the bosses like Myrkul though. In honour mode, it matters a lot, at least to me.

The frost equipment always felt mediocre on full casters, but this is a sick way to make them work. Would love to see more unique honor mode builds!

Eldritch bladelock that has maxed charisma, potent robes, agonizing blast, and the spine shudder amulet. Triple Eldridge blast for high damage and causing prone, then into the weapon attack with advantage

I think a great niche for you would be single class builds; the vast majority builds involve dips and multiclassing and I personally prefer single class if possible.

I tried this build, it's pretty bonkers. With the ring I probably works with other elements too.

Eldritch innertia also make the E.K. an amazing candidate for bonus action illithid powers, stack up arcane acuity and your mind blast becomes an aoe bonus action stun that hurts (plus a stacked up cull the weak on a striker is a gas)

Thanks for the sheet!

Just one thing I noticed with this video: You described vunerability as doubling the dice rolled like a critical (3d4+1 becoming 6d4+2), but that’s not what vunerability does. Vunerability rolls damage as normal, then doubles it all (3d4+1 x 2)

Finally a build!

You could possibly go for an 11 fighter/1 full caster split to get 2x Level 3 spell slots. Wizard is an obvious choice so you can scribe scrolls, but War or Light Cleric are great options as well. War Cleric would allow you to do an extra attack as a bonus action, 3 times per long rest, allowing up to 4 hits in a single round. Light Cleric would give you Warding Flare, which is a great defensive reaction, allowing you to save spell slots you might otherwise have used on Shield for defensive purposes. Love the build!

Butcher stormy clamor will normally only prop once per turn, I think that is intended. However, you can get around that restriction apparently by activating the monk amulet.

I have pretty much used this exact build (in terms of items) for my frost mage.... devastating. Boots worked fine on my mage but i had a brand new download on a brand new pc so never had any of the earlier stuff on my pc.

This is the first legitimately good use of war magic I've seen. Well done.

Regarding the Boots of Stormy Clamour, I haven't tested it too extensively, but it seemed to me that conditions such as Ability Drain or Encrusted with Frost do trigger it, but *only* when they're initially applied and subsequent hits that just add more stacks unto existing conditions don't seem to trigger the boots.

I'm wondering your thoughts on using the Warped Headband of Intellect for the head slot. This lets Tav respec Con up 16 and Wisdom to 10. Tav went from having fewer hit points than Wyll to having the most in the party.

What do you think of EK9/Thief3? You get an additional bonus action that can be used for a 4th attack when hasted.

Wonder how this'd perform compared to a White-Dragon 1/Hunter 11 Whirlwinder with all frost gear.

i am doing something similar with lvl12 beast master dual wilding with savage attacker, you ensare them then you beat sht out of them, then when they get frozen, (with all those attacks they are almost dead) the wolf finish them with the force slash move since the debuff makes them weak to force damage. then on act 3 you get a mace that inflics the chilled debuff meaning than you get more dmg. it's so fun to play

Love this build. Any chance of a closer look at summoner parties at one point? (spore druid/necro wizard etc.)

Would it be worth adding a sorcerer/warlock lvl 1 dip for armor of agathys? Also do you think this build would still work with a regular frost enchanted weapon rather than the staff?

Man, I'm tempted to give this build a try, but it does seem VERY specific. Eldritch Knight has been a strange class for me to make work.

Superb guide ser. I'm presuming this build would benefit from using Hill/Could Giant Elixirs or Warped Headband of Intellect to allocate stats elsewhere? Could go 8/16/14/16/10/8 if using the elixirs for instance for better AC/Initiative and Con saves is my thinking. Negates the need for using ASI + 2 Str so could use a different feat (Tough, Elemental adept Cold, Mage Slayer, Mobile, Savage attacker)

No snowburst ring for on-hit prone chance? What about Flail of Ages if not GWM? Would also be interested if you see room for War Caster on this build, maybe with ring of arcane synergy (although I guess casting stat is maybe not high enough to make arcane synergy very relevant). Good stuff as always, thanks.

I made a cool eldrich knight 12 lvls but mine does poision that heals itself and gives bless to itself and I went high intelligence so I use lots of damage Spells so much fun

More build vids please!!!

I love it when people find ways to make all these unheralded abilities and conditions work. Do you think you can find a way to make something strong out of the heat mechanic (if you haven’t already)?

Tried an ice knight the other day after seeing your videos, completely overlooked mourning frost. Have you tried splashing in one level of wizard after hitting level 11?

Is there a lightning version of this build? I just happen to prefer lightning magic to cold in games

The wave mothers sickle its pretty good

I still don't understand how I should buff my staff with glaive, just use skill and then swap?

Thanks!

Unrelated to the build but related to gnomes; doesn't Heroe's Feast and Githzerai Mind Barrier make Gnome Cunning superfluous? If so, is it then a trade-off that you only get that stuff late game? I doubt they stack right?

Thanks for another great video. Question: For War Magic can you use the Extra Attack as a cantrip and then use BA for a weapon attack? Sounds like the answer is “No” but I don’t think you said so explicitly. Have you tried that?

Not really related to this video but I think you should do an illithid power tier list in the vein of your previous videos.

So I am testing this out on a dual wielder and when I hit with the staff more than once I only get one stack of encrusted, which as far as I am aware, should be automatic?

Do you think you should take this build through act 3 or change weapons/other items when stuff like legendaries are available?

can't you just put 7 into eldritch knight and 5 into barb, equip bhallist armor to give enemies vulnerability to piercing damage, then use a shield+Nyrulna with added damage from gear like the acid ring along with the elemental infusion to get up to 5 attacks and with an action surge up to 4? > enraged throw > throw > throw > cantrip > throw

Have you considered the Diadem of Arcane synergy if less focused on control?

Frost is pretty underrated imo

Dope! I’ve been running something like this with Gale but I use dual weilder instead of great weapon master so I can use the trident of the waves in the off hand for wet

This build is so cool I instantly respec'd Lae'zel. Can you tell us what feats you take?

Good build but I just cant get myself to use a mage staff as a melee weapon from a thematic standpoint.

There is a sickle that does cold damage also I believe I have it just can't remember the name

Hey aestus this got be thinking with fighter 7 to get war magic you get your 2 standard attacks from fighter, haste cantrip ( frost for this or triple eldritch blast) attack, bonus action attack, then with 5 levels pact of the blade you get pact weapon attack reliably every turn. I think this is the most possible melee attacks in the game. Sounds pretty cracked to me. This also gives you a third feat from fighter.

Very curious about your jaheira and minsc. What class/subclass are they?

Wich one is better? 3 strikes but no Divine Smite (Full Warrior) Or 2 strikes with Smites, spells, bard stuff... That one extra attack is really worth it?

I was wondering, how does this build compare to a EK Tavern Brawler thrown weapon build, given you hyped up TB so much in your feats video? Thanks

So I've been trying this out lately and the synergy with all the items and everything is great but I feel like my chance to hit on melee strikes with mourningfrost is very low? I've just started act 2 and I'm level 7 so the build hasn't come completely online yet but I have very low accuracy typically, especially with Great Weapon Master

Hi, your google sheet appears to have an error with attributes, confusing dex and con. On the sheet it suggests Dexterity 14 / Constitution 10 but I am sure it should be the other way around as shown at end of your video.

Ice Nice

I didnt understand 5:43-5:58 part, basically fighters always do 2 attacks on main action+1 on hasted or bloodlusted action and 1 with bonus action from crit or kill, it is very niche situation when you rely on your int with fighter instead of hit to finish enemy off, it may be beneficial with bosses but overall fighter is doing 3 action+1 bonus attacks anyway and by using cantrip on average you are losing damage with it.

Surely Ring of Arcane Synergy is a great item for this character. You get to cast Cantrip every round and add your Spellcasting modifier to all attacks for 2 rounds. Not just one attack.

How are you getting ray of frost to hit? It requires intelligence which I don't want to invest in. Are you using the headband of intelligence?

wouldn't it be better to add thunder with drakethroat glaive, that way if they get frozen its a 2d4?

making enemies frozen is always fun. however it does not work if they're wet first. they must be chilled first, then made wet. don't ask me why, doesn't make sense but hey. great build!

Build guide says 14 Dex but the video has 14 con? p.s. If not taking the hag hair - would it be best to leave strength at 16 and put wis at 10?

whats the optimal level to start this build? Lae'zel is level 6 atm. Also what are the optimal attributes and progression? Like do we take any intelligence at all?

What feats do you run on this?

I thought everyone used the replace spell feature on eldritch knight/arcane trickster, I didn’t realize it was corny :(

Can I ask why you used the first level create water instead of upcasting at the very end of the video

I thought the tasha's laughter was once per turn? Been awhile since I've used it

is the 10 constitution in the spreadsheet correct?

band of the mystic scoundrel and concentration CC doesn't work well on eldritch knight. it's a reach. i found that with helm of arcane acuity, eldritch knights are far outclassed by swords bards because they can potentially start off with 4x attacks (2x slashing flourish) for +4 spell save DC, and then they also have extra spells such as hold monster that give much more value than a prone concentration status on 1 target. an eldritch knight should just stick to on-hit effects and ignore the cantrip because even then an attack is usually better, not even considering the intelligence stat cost if you take damage spells seriously.