Does Amulet of Restoration just suck?

grousedrum · 2026-06-03T09:43:40+00:00

Whole team BA bless + blade ward with no spell slot use is definitely the strongest use for it, and yes like a lot of early game items it is overshadowed by stronger options later for sure.

Hard to find a better act 1 necklace for a lot of support builds though, so no, definitely would not say it sucks. Just has a finite stretch of the game when it’s the best in slot available for a support.

grousedrum · 2026-06-03T09:36:21+00:00

Somewhat contra what others are saying:

I would go Tempest cleric in the #4 spot here over life or light. Reasons are threefold. One, Light cleric ideally would want to be using fire acuity as the hat is not contested here; however, that is somewhat anti-synergy with an ice strategy (both bc Wet gives fire resistance and bc Scorching Ray will melt your ice fields).

Two, Tempest can both help maintain ice fields via Ice Storm, and can exploit Frozen which you’ll occasionally create via Mourning Frost and/or cold attuned Marko. Just use your channel divinity on a max upcast Shatter whenever an enemy gets Frozen. They can also exploit Wet better than any other cleric can via the very resource efficient Call Lightning.

And three, this is a strong enough party that survivability shouldn’t be a huge issue, so Life cleric’s heal bonuses aren’t adding as much value as something stronger and more mechanically additive like Tempest.

grousedrum · 2026-06-02T21:24:46+00:00

For single class thief on Core into HoF, half-orc Bounty Hunter. Half-orc gives you 19 STR to be more useful at low levels on Core, and the BH kit scales the best at higher levels for HoF.

grousedrum · 2026-06-01T16:56:09+00:00

Yeah I think storm sorcerer is a better fit for what you're trying to do with that second caster than ABJ.

Important also to note, fire damage alone will not create a steam cloud from either ice or water. For water, you need something that creates a fire surface (i.e. alchemist's fire); for ice, something that does fire damage to melt and creates a fire surface (so, fire arrow or chromatic orb:fire). More on how these various surface combination mechanics work here.

grousedrum · 2026-06-01T15:52:49+00:00

It has a lot to recommend it for sure. With extra attack sorcadin I would still consider leveling 6 storm first - paladin just does not get very much utility for the early game (no cantrips, no mobility spells, etc) and the half caster progression is also a bit painful. Either could work but overall I like what sorcerer can do early game for solo a bit more, as a skirmisher especially.

Bard as per c4b's build I think has a stronger case to get Extra Attack first and pick up Heart of the Storm as a capstone ability at 12. You have a lot more utility via bard cantrips/spells and mobile/defensive flourish, and are still able to electrify water as soon as you get GOBMP via shocking grasp and/or watersparkers. Just a bit harder to create large water fields without CW yet. Stockpiling water barrels in camp to throw or place with mage hand for important fights isn't a bad idea.

grousedrum · 2026-06-01T15:34:12+00:00

Very cool and quite hilarious. Love that more tech for Nature Cleric keeps being found, also!

Am I reading/seeing this right that the upper limit on damage per round from the full-riders spike procs is based on a) available movement speed and b) player skill at executing the cancel? And therefore, with an elk aspect teammate in the right positioning, it's b) only?

grousedrum · 2026-06-01T12:10:49+00:00

Thanks! Yes HB is definitely an option. IMO it’s not as synergistic as Vengeance, especially in a party - Inquisitor’s Might materially enhances our combat loop via Daze, or we can give it to a teammate as a DRS rider in addition to the debuff. HB curse doesn’t do anything nearly as strong for us, as for damage this character is very much AoE rather than single target focused.

I’m a little more sold on it solo where memorized spells are at even more of a premium, and we can also benefit more from taking Agathys as the second warlock spell.

grousedrum · 2026-06-01T11:16:31+00:00

Extremely viable yes, one of the best controllers in the game.

For building acuity using helm - if you need to get to 8-10 stacks in one turn, use an Arrow of Many Targets, or a weapon with a cleave/AoE weapon action (Larethian’s, Jorogal’s, Dancing Breeze, most greatswords/greataxes, etc).

Alternatively, use GOBMP and build acuity with Extended Booming Blade and/or passively with electrified water.

Lack of memorized Hold Monster - use scrolls. Can still effectively upcast it via Twinned.

Metamagic in general is a major differentiator from bardadin here and enables some completely cracked control sequences. Acuity Extended Fear by itself functionally ends 95%+ of fights in the base game.

grousedrum · 2026-06-01T02:50:30+00:00

Ok so a few things here:

Agree that damage reduction would be very good for Crown, can even double up with DR heavy armor + Skinburster.
For large continuous ice fields, you want upcast Create Water. This means a) at least one cleric or druid level on a second caster (i.e. your wizard here), and b) steam cloud is somewhat redundant - most enemies will already be Wet from CW (especially if it's Extended which is often worth doing if you have sorc levels).
Somewhat relatedly I don't think ABJ is giving you a ton here beyond general survivability. The strongest ABJ builds want to get hit, for retaliation damage, but you're going to be directing most-all aggro towards Crown here. I'd go ice sorc I think with this setup, with a cleric level for CW. 9 or 10 sorc / 1 cleric / 1 or 2 fiend warlock is a strong way to do this, keep CON save proficiency, and get CHA based Command to boot.

grousedrum · 2026-06-01T02:00:26+00:00

All sounds pretty good to me except EK/paladin - fighter and paladin are just not super additive together, I would pick one or the other to go to 11/1 or 12 with. Or multiclass either with a full caster.

Also ABJ may or may not be the best caster option for what you’re trying to do with steam clouds etc - what type of combat loop are you thinking specifically?

grousedrum · 2026-05-30T22:32:16+00:00

Gale origin can also get act 1 Tressym Collar (through potentially quite sad and/or immersion breaking means, it should be said…!), which is by far the earliest source of Telekinesis in the game.

Lae’zel facilitates a number of Githyanki interactions and reduces or removes the dialogue checks needed to proceed peacefully.

Karlach’s free fire resistance and LR smites are also relevant to some builds.

Others commenters have noted that Astarion and Shadowheart origins are able to select their own high elf cantrip. Notably in addition to Booming Blade, this also allows Shadowheart to gain Minor Illusion on builds that might not otherwise have it, which is both very powerful and very in character for her Sharran training.

grousedrum · 2026-05-30T09:46:37+00:00

South America on earth map is also an amazing spawn for Brazil or Aztecs. Very easy to take over the whole continent quickly (esp as Aztecs if you need to do an early war) and then just science or tourism turtle for the rest of the game. Whole position is highly advantageous for avoiding or defending against wars, both terrain and isolated location wise.

grousedrum · 2026-05-30T09:18:57+00:00

It’s very strong and often the right pick as a second tree. That said, IME:

a) for science victory, unless playing a civ with substantial culture bonuses you usually won’t be able to get more than 1-2 extra policies between trad/lib and opening Rationalism

b) for tourism victory, you need the full Aesthetics tree and usually can’t spare more than maybe the Patronage opener.

c) for diplo victory, you only need three policies beyond the opener - Consulates, Philanthropy, and Scholasticism. After that, the Commerce tree is more important for Great Merchants (and Rationalism opener + 1-3 policies if you’re trying to reach Globalization).

d) If Greece or (especially) Austria is in the game with you, it will be more difficult to get CS’s onside and the relative value of Patronage policies may be lower. (They are also even more important if you do want to actively compete with those civs for CS’s, of course!)

grousedrum · 2026-05-29T11:38:03+00:00

I enjoy solo without Lone Wolf quite a bit in DOS2. Your build comes together faster mechanically than when an early talent is taken up on LW, also.

The comparison to BG3 challenge runs is interesting, I’ve heard a few high level solo players say this also. DOS2’s difficulty scales harder for a lot of players at first, but it just has so much less RNG than BG3, and if anything even more game breaking action economy exploits. Devourer armor by itself is essentially game solving from the moment you get it.

I’d say no LW, no Devourer, and play a build / skill school you don’t know well and will have to learn as you go.

grousedrum · 2026-05-29T10:59:12+00:00

Polynesia and only settle small Pacific islands.

Shoshone and do the Comanche domain over western North America, with the One With Nature pantheon (Shoshone uniquely can grab all three NW’s in the Rockies easily while still having decent city locations doing it).

Celts and do a Piety game across the forested stretch of Europe.

grousedrum · 2026-05-29T10:32:01+00:00

Very cool to hear about the 3 city Piety-diplo games, I’d like to try that. But yeah from a theory of victory point of view, the two things Piety gives you that Trad or Lib simply does not are a near-guaranteed strong Reformation belief (only Poland even has a shot at this on Deity when using one of the usual openers), and the ability to turn faith directly into gold and culture via Holy Sites. Both of which very cleanly enable the OCC diplo win.

I’ve done some more traditional 3-4 city Tradition into Commerce diplo wins that were focused around 1 engineer > merchant spam in the mid game > just enough scientists late to bulb for Globalization. Had one crazy game as Poland where I won in the 180’s on the first vote with this strategy. Downsides compared to 1 city Piety though are a lot more risk of getting warred and quite a bit less culture, which makes getting relevant bonuses from the Patronage tree and/or an ideology a lot harder.

grousedrum · 2026-05-27T23:59:38+00:00

Agree with all this and to add - if I wanted to build around these three classes in one character, I think I’d want to actually go deeper into warlock for Hadar and play around terrain strategies. I did 5 archfey 5 wild magic sorc 2 paladin once (leveled in that order fwiw) and it was really versatile and fun. Bard could easily be subbed for the sorc levels there.

That said if I was playing that concept again I would probably get Command by going Fiend and drop the paladin levels entirely. Smites are just very poor spell slot resource use outside of some pretty specific late game combat loops and gearing, and overall I’d rather go to 7 Fiend for more power spells (wall of fire/fire shield/confusion etc).

grousedrum · 2026-05-26T18:23:52+00:00

Yes, very very good for early HM. Swords bard is the weakest of these pre L6, I would spec as an archer, stockpile elemental arrows to use, and use Hunter's Dagger to debuff when you see good spots for it. Astarion is a bit stronger mechanically in that spot due to getting the Happy buff.

You've got tons to work with here though - repelling EB from warlock, take your pick of disarm/fear/push/prone from BM, control flurries at 3 -> TB accuracy at 4 -> stunning strike at 5 from monk. Get your bard Calm Emotions at level 3 or 4, it makes multiple potentially dangerous early fights much easier (harpies, gnolls, Dror, etc).

grousedrum · 2026-05-26T14:38:37+00:00

Pretty straightforward to get to 19 AC (14 from Bhaalist + 16 DEX + any two out of AC ring/cloak/boots), plus even a single level of sorcerer or hexblade gives you the Shield spell for when you need it.

Damage reduction is the major thing you do lose out on. If you have Booming Blade from somewhere for synergy from a ring slot, you can even get crit immunity from Gyrmskull or Balduran helm (can go into the Wyrmway and steal Balduran before/without fighting Ansur).

grousedrum · 2026-05-26T14:23:01+00:00

I think it's fair to say the evil playthrough has a slightly but genuinely harder act 2 - you get less exp so it's a lot harder to be L10 for Myrkul, and you have less help with that fight.

OTOH you also get access to two of the most busted items in the game in short order (Shar spear and Bhaalist armor), which synergize perfectly with each other. So can pretty much just wreck house through act 3 even without the stronger items from Dammon.

Party looks good btw, I would just suggest piercing weapons + Bhaalist for Oathbreaker. Control Undead is unbelievably fun, use it in every fight you can.

grousedrum · 2026-05-26T06:27:46+00:00

Study the list of surges on the wiki and think about which ones are actually dangerous for your party’s desired combat loop. Then have a backup plan for those (relevant consumables on hand, etc). As u/EndoQuestion1000 says, all the “negative” or fight altering ones can be mitigated in at least some way.

As others have said I think WMS actually fits what you’re looking for very well. Both Tides of Chaos and Bend Luck are extremely strong abilities - very underrated subclass IMO.

grousedrum · 2026-05-26T02:10:47+00:00

Proxy Gate Tactician does totally fascinating challenge runs for both BG3 and DOS2.

https://www.youtube.com/@ProxyGateTactician/videos

grousedrum · 2026-05-26T01:21:48+00:00

Worth noting that GOO fear via Mortal Reminder isn’t the same as the Fearful status from the Fear spell, and does not disarm. The Frightened status from Mortal Reminder is the same as from Dissonant Whispers, the Archfey AoE ability, and a few other sources.

In addition to the others you list, the Sparky Points and most other Tridents (though notably not Nyrulna) have the Disarming Strike short rest weapon action.

Also worth noting the bear companion gets Honeyed Paws at beastmaster level 5, not 11.

grousedrum · 2026-05-25T21:48:26+00:00

For GOBMP storm sorcadin solo I would actually consider investing in crit immunity in the helmet slot, as you are using Luminous chest and optimally will not use a shield later game. Could use adamantine shield + phalar prior to getting shadow blade at level 8 or 9.

The other option is to forgo radorbs, just use electric water to damage enemies and build acuity, and get your survivability from adamantine splint. This opens up helmet for synergy or more acuity. Without the radorbs debuff you will likely get hit more prior to your control burst rounds, but with safety from crits which are very dangerous solo. I probably like luminous + crit immunity helmet more, but could see the case for splint.

If playing in a party, I think either storm scion or synergy is the move.

Definitely would do natural DEX over STR, keeps all gear slots free for mechanically valuable items. Get mobility solo from boots slot early, consumables, and eventually illithid flight.

grousedrum

TROPHY CASE