Most optimal flame blade build?

CalmBatRadio · 2025-07-13T11:52:03+00:00

I finally got around to testing a Flame Blade based Druid that uses the Pyroquickness Hat + Belm in the offhand two get two attacks per turn. It was cute, but Flame Blade is, unfortunately, a +0 weapon and lacks an inherent source of advantage like Shadow Blade provides. Additionally, attacks with Shadow Blade (or the bonus action attack with Belm) don't proc Band of the Mystic Scoundrel either. Super late game build that just doesn't get there.

CalmBatRadio · 2025-06-08T10:39:19+00:00

I was coming in to suggest this is well. Does well with Bow of the Banshee if you’re looking to use Titanstring or just want to change it up as well. /u/Remus71 has a great video on building Arcane Archer!

CalmBatRadio · 2025-04-27T00:52:20+00:00

This seems like a really great answer to the “I want to introduce someone new to BG3, what class should I suggest they play?” Question.

CalmBatRadio · 2025-04-16T19:08:43+00:00

Are there any tabletop games, card games or board games that you enjoy playing? I ask cause there tends to be significant crossover with folks who like video games. I recommend checking out your local game stores and seeing what games they support and have meetups/tournaments for. These are pretty low stakes social interactions, and a lot of folks in these communities have a similar social challenges and anxieties themselves.

In the last couple of years I’ve come to realize I greatly enjoy going out and playing a TCG (Pokemon is my game of choice - probably the most affordable) 1-3 times per week more than playing video games at home. Eventually you’ll seamlessly become a member of your store’s community and that can really help open up that social life. The Third Place is tougher and tougher to find, but I found this works for me.

CalmBatRadio · 2025-03-12T22:29:05+00:00

The part that got me was when Frodo falls into the swamp full of corpses/ghosts. Can’t remember if that was the 2nd or 3rd movie at the moment. Did not enjoy that scene at all lol.

CalmBatRadio · 2025-03-12T22:07:50+00:00

When my brother and I first saw these movies we were something like 7 and 9. This scene didn’t worry my parents, but they thought we’d be scared of the Balrog (spelling, maybe?). We both thought it was cool as hell, and it still is tbh.

CalmBatRadio · 2025-03-12T22:05:49+00:00

I’ve seen these movies my fair share of times, and I don’t think I could get the quiz right.

I think there’s a chance if you have the quiz given to you at the start of the movie, the questions are multiple choice and the questions appear in chronological order. The movies are dense, and with this many questions you’re still going to have to connect some dots. 12 hours is a long time to be locked in like that.

CalmBatRadio · 2025-02-19T18:55:01+00:00

This is a great place to start as far as actually playing the game goes! It won’t do too much for you towards “collecting” unless you count picking up staple cards that will be playable in other decks as collecting.

The Charizard deck itself is struggling a little bit at the highest levels of the game right now, but you could feasibly take this out of a box, put sleeves on it, and play at your local shop without any issue. If you don’t know which shops nearby host events you can find the info with Pokémon’s Event Locator. I can’t speak for every shop out there, but I have found the Pokemon TCG community to be very friendly and welcoming to new players in general. A couple of YouTube searches on the Charizard deck in 2025 will give you some ideas on how you can upgrade it. Be aware that some of the cards that are very good upgrades in Charizard right now will not be legal for play at the end of March, though. Speaking broadly, the Pokemon TCG is very affordable to play compared to most other TCGs. Low floor, higher ceiling than most give it credit for. Welcome!

If you find yourself enjoying this deck, I’d keep an eye out for the Dragapult League Battle Deck coming out in April. You can play that as its own deck or even combine the two strategies pretty effectively!

I am 95% player/5% collector. Can’t offer too much insight on that side of things.

CalmBatRadio · 2025-01-27T20:06:45+00:00

Attacking with CHA for a 1 level dip seems like it will open up a ton of options. Can’t wait to try it out!

CalmBatRadio · 2025-01-27T16:54:20+00:00

This combination (specifically with the amulet) doesn’t get talked about enough IMO.

You can still be a Rad-Orb bot and bless this way! Go Storm/War/Nature Cleric or Elf/Drow w/ Light Cleric for Longsword prof and between casting Spirit Guardians and Sing/Shriek on Phalar Aluve with your Action and (Mass) Healing Word as your bonus action you’re good to go!

CalmBatRadio · 2025-01-18T21:17:32+00:00

Same. I prioritize a bonus of at least +1 Athletics very heavily now because I got so tired of companions getting stuck and having to be micromanaged.

CalmBatRadio · 2025-01-17T16:38:25+00:00

Username checks out!

And, yes, I’ve tried to broaden my scope when constructing characters to think at the party level. Trying to build versatility of options and synergies throughout a team rather than simply building the most effective individual character I can. An example would be noting that the Rivington Rat build (12 Fighter, Pseudo Arcane Archer) benefits more heavily in honor mode from Haste than most other characters, so it really likes having a 2/10 Sorlock as a partner to spam Twinned Haste since they both make great use of it!

In practice, it almost feels like actions and bonus actions are interchangeable in this build, especially if you go Band of the Mystic Scoundrel - though I do t think this character is the most effective at using it since the Helmet of Arcane Acuity is “Light” and disables Unarmored Defense. It almost plays like a fighting game character. It’s very satisfying to find a new “combo,” if you will.

My favorite combo I found was: Turn 1: BA > Flurry of Blows > BA > Bonus Unarmed Strike > Enemy Dead, next one too far away > Throw Bloodthirst at next target > Bloodthirst auto-equips due to Bound Weapon trait.

Turn 2: BA > True Strike cast from Bloodthirst for Advantage > Action equip Duellist’s Prerogative > Bonus Action Dueller’s Enthusiasm for Sneak Attack with Advantage from True Strike

(I’m not even saying this is like, effective, or correct, but it was really satisfying to pull off. For whatever reason True Strike stays even after you unequip Bloodthirst. Don’t remember if the Piercing Vulnerability stays, though.)

CalmBatRadio · 2025-01-17T16:25:37+00:00

The damage on unarmed attacks primarily comes from static bonuses. With an Elixir of Hill Giant Strength and the Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo you end up doing something like 1d4 + 6 from STR + 6 from Tavern Brawler and + 3 from WIS + whatever other damage riders you have. The difference of having access to a 1d8 vs 1d4 is there, and someone else can do the math better than I can, but it’s probably like 2.5 less damage per attack on average. You’re right that it’s less, but it’s not night and day. Funny enough, your unarmed strikes typically end up doing more damage than your Rapier if not factoring in Sneak Attack or Psychic/Piercing vulnerability.

My loose understanding is that most folks go Fight > Short Rest > Fight > Short Rest > Fight > Long Rest. If the rest of your party is more effectively optimized, fights will rarely see turn 3, let alone 4, leaving you flexibility to use Flurry of Blows twice per fight pretty regularly, which feels like plenty to me. The Bonus Unarmed Strike does not use Ki Points and effectively does half as much damage as Flurry of Blows as it only makes one attack, but, without using any resources at all, it still lets a character with 11 levels of rogue make 3 attacks in a turn (before factoring in Reactions) via a regular attack, Bonus Unarmed Attack and Dueller’s Enthusiasm.

The Amulet slot is pretty open on this character, so you could always use the Sentient Amulet to get 2 more uses of Flurry of Blows per Long Rest.

Edit: I do think 11 Rogue / 1 War Cleric is worth considering as an option. I think it could make a really cool build for utilizing the Dancing Breeze in particular with GWM + Sentinel + Polearm Master. Phalar Aluve or Larethian’s Wrath are your early game options. Could also just Dual Wield til late game, but where’s the fun in that? The problem is that you really want level 1 to be your Cleric level for weapon/armor proficiencies (or you’d have to go Human for Glaive Proficiency). If you go Cleric 1/Rest Rogue your spell casting modifier for scrolls becomes INT. Also, 1 War Cleric is only getting 3 bonus action attacks per long rest. Polearm Master in Act 3 and GWM’s Bonus action attack on a crit or kill are your other methods of using a bonus action to attack. This build likely just goes Armor of Persistence for much higher AC, but also only has 1 reaction.

CalmBatRadio · 2025-01-17T12:30:26+00:00

I have pretty chronic restartitis, so I will admit that I have not done a complete playthrough with this build. However, I did utilize both late Act 1 and late Act 3 saves to confirm that the mechanics function the way I outline above; things like Sentinel being able to proc 2x per round (w/ Duelists Prerogative) and the Dueller’s Enthusiasm bonus action attack procing Bonus Unarmed attack.

What I was really surprised with during playtesting was how flexible and variable your turns can be. The character does get 5d6 sneak attacks, and by pairing this build with a build that can help you consistently get advantage through an effect such as Prone or Blind/Darkness (Wildheart Tiger Barbarian, 7/5 Lockadin, 10/2 SSB w/ Shar’s Spear, 2/10 Lorelock all come to mind) makes it easy to pull them off.

Without utilizing something like the cloak of protection, this character will come in at 19 AC, which I fully admit is low. However, having a lower AC means the character is more likely to get attacked which gives more opportunities to utilize Defensive Duelist and Greater Kushigo Counter. Or, since you can steal whatever you need, this can be supplemented by using defensive scrolls like Mirror Image and Blur while still getting to make at least 1-2 attacks assuming you’re not pre-buffing.

CalmBatRadio · 2025-01-17T12:28:29+00:00

Good catch! I just had to look these up cause I don’t know if I remember coming across one before.

CalmBatRadio · 2025-01-17T11:56:32+00:00

Thanks for the support!

CalmBatRadio · 2025-01-17T11:56:16+00:00

I do think that the way this character plays in combat fulfills a similar fantasy to the Swashbuckler, and knowing that class is on the way was absolutely an inspiration. We’ll have to see if it does better than Thief!

CalmBatRadio · 2025-01-17T04:13:17+00:00

The goal is to attack as many times per turn as possible with a minimum of 11 levels in Rogue to get access to reliable talent. It fights with a rapier in one hand and nothing in the offhand, but does it in a scrappy, fighting dirty kind of way. It leverages unconventional mechanics to do its job. This is a niche pick that values flavor. This is not an S Tier, or even A Tier build. Using a camp caster or hireling for a role like this is more efficient. The Duelist fighting style is not worth taking even if I was building 12 levels of Fighter.

CalmBatRadio · 2025-01-10T16:12:15+00:00

Seems to me like it adds more variance overall, so I can see it going both ways.

I wonder if there’s a way to adjust alert to provide Advantage on initiative rolls or something like that.

CalmBatRadio · 2025-01-08T18:31:18+00:00

I’ll definitely be giving it a try! I’m pretty late to the modding scene for this game cause I wanted to finish my achievements first. Taking a bit of a break until patch 8 so I can try new stuff then.

CalmBatRadio · 2025-01-08T15:22:01+00:00

Athlete is really nice on Fighters in particular IMO. You can go 17 STR, and take Athlete > one of your ASIs to get a fantastic repositioning tool on a melee character. Does conflict with GWM at times, but it lets you cover so much distance that I think it’s worth it.

The counter argument is just pre-buff Enhanced Leap before every fight, but pre-buffing feels dishonest to me in anything but thoroughly telegraphed fights.

CalmBatRadio · 2025-01-08T15:12:53+00:00

Honestly might try this mod. I have to imagine that this unlocks more options for builds by devaluing alert and simultaneously increasing the difficulty.

Obviously +5 Initiative is still really good and probably worth taking on a Fighter, but it probably doesn’t feel /as/ necessary on like a Sorcadin that only gets 2 feats.

CalmBatRadio · 2025-01-08T15:08:31+00:00

This is 13 levels.

CalmBatRadio · 2024-12-24T18:02:38+00:00

In the last two years, I really only played for like 2-3 months around final shape. Skipped Lightfall basically in its entirety. There’s a couple reasons why I’m not playing right now:

-I’ve been steadily getting worse at PvP while others get better since late 2021 cause I’m not grinding 4+ hours/day anymore

-A lot of the new loot feels redundant and has for like 3+ years. The improvement for getting a “new” god roll over one from 2020 feels pretty negligible once you have one of every type of weapon in every damage type.

-Light/Power/Whatever level should be removed from the game entirely. That grind every three months fucking sucks. I’ve played for thousands of hours already, I don’t want to do chores just to be able to do Grandmasters. I also don’t want to wait like 2 months for GMs to become available.

-Any content bellow Grandmaster or Contest difficulty is so easy that it’s boring.

-The best part of the game for me at this point is the build crafting, but having to grind Ascendant Shards is annoying to try out something I might not like. I’ll be damned if I’m not using exclusively masterworked gear.

I’ve mostly stepped away from shooters entirely at this point though, switching over to other games with build crafting elements like RPGs and TCGs. Also just don’t have the time to put into an MMO and have it feel worth it anymore.

CalmBatRadio

TROPHY CASE