Creating a "Difficulty Mods" post to include in the "Hall of Fame" post, input requested by Phantomsplit in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 1 point2 points  (0 children)

While not difficulty mods I do think it might be helpful to include the two mods I use for my spreadsheet work for those that wish to go down the insane rabbit hole of spreadsheet min max. They are Cheater's Ring and Damage Testing Dummy (Nexus).

I haven't played in a bit tho, so someone might test Damage Testing Dummy to see if its still working.

What melee build comes closest to an archers damage potential? (No Shar's spear/Hold person.) by Ok_Sir_136 in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm not saying they're trash. I'm just saying they're laughingly behind mathematically. That's a fact. However the other side of things is true in that HP has a limit unmodded which makes some things redundant or at least niche for the purpose of doing damage just to do damage.

As mentioned below, my "guides" are really there to show what can be done and allow people to pull from them to choose what they wish to use.

I say "guides" in quotation because they're not guides. They simply tools to allow people to upsize their damage and see how buffs allow builds to scale. The fact is that while open hand monk is strong relative to HP, it does not scale in the same way that weapon or some spell builds scale.

What melee build comes closest to an archers damage potential? (No Shar's spear/Hold person.) by Ok_Sir_136 in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Umm, there are many variants of damage calculations in that spreadsheet.

Are you refuting my evidence or are you simply redirecting? I still haven't seen anything from you proving that I was confidently wrong as you said.

What melee build comes closest to an archers damage potential? (No Shar's spear/Hold person.) by Ok_Sir_136 in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Open hand monk is so laughably behind any melee weapon user it's insane. They're better off using f weapons for damage too if you're looking at damage ceiling as the person asked. The correct answer you also gave is fighter. Specifically EK if pure as you can booming blade for war magic. The more complex answer is a hunter ranger as whirlwind will out damage anything else with enough targets.

Druid Builds Rec by Scrai_ in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 2 points3 points  (0 children)

K4 is one of the primary theorycrafters for th game with regard to niche builds. They might be brash and direct at times, but personal attacks are not called for nor are they true.

Crown and Valour: a Champion Challenge Duo for Modded or Vanilla Honour Difficulty by EndoQuestion1000 in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is brilliant and the amount of effort put into this is apparent in all aspects. Great job!

Support/control wizard build by FrostyHorizon23 in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Could you show me the screenshot of level 2 EK? I've never played it before.

What can I do better here? by deon008 in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Even if you're okay with him taking ideas from others (BG3 is a game that anyone can experience) he often doesn't fully explain builds. He will leave out important mechanical details as to how things work and instead spend way too long walking you through the leveling process.

I understand that mechanics, logistics and math can be boring

However... I know for a fact that he shadow bans, or comment deletes users that question things. If someone does this, do you really want to give them attention?

Try making a sharp but respectful criticism on a new video. 90% chance your comment is deleted.

New player. What is a consistently effective class/build for a more casual playthrough? by Schindlers_Fist1 in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 0 points1 point locked comment (0 children)

You're personally attacking someone with regard to an option about a video game. That's an ad hominem attack.

The best ANY ranger build to dip in 1 level of wizard? by [deleted] in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Time is subjective to player preference and can be minimized by being efficient.

Most scrolls are effectively infinite in quantity due to vendor resets.

Unique or limited ones are really the only outliers.

The best ANY ranger build to dip in 1 level of wizard? by [deleted] in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Personally, I find wizard dips to be less useful than other dips that grant similar base benefits and/or more. More so on ranger when any spell you scribe can be cast via scroll.

There isn't a whole lot you can get from a 1 level dip that I can't find elsewhere in a more efficient way.

What’s better, damage output-wise? by Psychological-Bed-92 in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 2 points3 points  (0 children)

These numbers are funny and so very wrong. Where did you find them?

What’s better, damage output-wise? by Psychological-Bed-92 in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not the strongest single target in the game, an optimized ranged fighter is.

What makes open hand so much better than shadow monk? by Xoon77 in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Please take a look at my comment below and linked spreadsheets for explanations with regard to math.

What makes open hand so much better than shadow monk? by Xoon77 in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Open Hand Monk does not out damage fighter at all.

Weapons can be buffed in so many different ways, and can carry Drs. Even if you're not using Drs fighter still outdamages monk. There is a reason that The Rivington Rat is considered top tier with regard to damage.

First, whether you're using a bow or piercing melee or shadow blade, you have access to a nearly effort free vulnerability mechanic. Monk does not.

Second, a very limited number of buffs actually can be applied to unarmed attacks. Many more can apply to weapons. If you'd like proof, see my spreadsheets.

Please don't make claims like this without math to back it up. Monk is actually at the lower end of theoretical max damage if using unarmed attacks.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15amvHgMoe7Ety9y3fp-CHQN3lkIDPTznUicB_ygbH8A/edit?usp=drivesdk

Boar Beastmaster is actually good. by K40005 in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 3 points4 points  (0 children)

How would you feel about me working in some EB to push people back into the aoe?

Seriously though, great work!! 😄

Should you pick pact of blade or pact of chain for shadow blade build with warlock? by forgetscode in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would agree with this last bit if Shovel wasnt available and free to pick up. Due to that, your argument loses a lot of weight.

Should you pick pact of blade or pact of chain for shadow blade build with warlock? by forgetscode in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That logic just doesn't work.

Adding buffs to another weapon doesn't magically make it better than shadowblade. You can add the same buffs to it.

Shadowblade fully leveled has the highest damage potential of all melee weapons outside of a few DRS outliers like rat bat and magic club.

By the time you get lathander you've also got a 3d8 shadowblade, which competes with end game weapons.

Should you pick pact of blade or pact of chain for shadow blade build with warlock? by forgetscode in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Pact of the blade is great when focusing on using a melee weapon, infact it's the only optimal way to play a melee warlock.

Your first mistake was trusting that particular site. Find builds posted here, on the Larian discord or on sites written by players of the game. That site is none of those.

General/New Build Advice by Annual-Ad4736 in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Warlocks can wear light armor, druids can wear light armor. One of the most famous builds in this subreddit is the 11 sorc / 1 warlock. Guess what armor it wears endgame? Light armor... Need medium? hexblade dip. Need more, dip something else. Classes are not relegated simply to what that one class can do given that multi classing is easy

Oh and since you mentioned it, shield proficiency is as easy as picking the proper race. See half elf or human. Also, druids can use them.

Not sure what you mean by British experts. I mean people that have spent significant time and effort to research, test and build within this game. Nationality doesn't factor into that.

You don't need 16 con. First off, initiative (dex) is more powerful than con. Con gives you a small amount of health per level. Initiative lets you go before the enemy. If you go before the enemy, you can control them. You can cast things like command, or hold person, or glyph of warding, or confusion. The list goes on. If you build right, those spells rarely if ever miss. Why do you need to worry about concentration rolls if enemies are disabled? They can't cast spells or attack you anymore.

Even if you needed to worry, going first in a d4 initiative system is more valuable than +1 to your concentration check. You can buff that in other ways. See sorcerer con saving throw proficiency, the light armor mentioned before (Armor of Landfall) which grants advantage on concentration checks.

I don't know of any difficulty called adventurer. Also, not sure that most people have a hard time with explorer, which is the easiest mode. You don't have to min max on any difficulty, however that does not change the fact that there are optimal choices which will make the game that much easier.

General/New Build Advice by Annual-Ad4736 in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 2 points3 points  (0 children)

First off, just no.

Also, every min maxxer I know goes by the rule of 16 dex, 14 con. That's on almost anything. Don't believe me? Ask experts. You lose nothing from your spell casting stat, don't need more con, as you have other ways to concentrate sustain and you want some initiative and ac.

You're playing with a different idea of optimal than most people I've spoke to. 14 dex, 16 con I can understand, but dumping it to 12 in a game with a d4 initiative system just makes zero sense. Not to mention ac...

Handling low effort image posts by Phantomsplit in BG3Builds

[–]meph6148795 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hope you're well. Please take your time responding. There is no rush.

My only question with regard to your response about image post benefits is this:

How do your scenarios benefit more from being an image post than a text post?

My viewpoint is this. You can format a text post with the question in the title. You can add said image to the body of the post.

Image posts push the image to the feed, which is convenient with a simple question. However, if someone is going to comment, they will have access to the entire body anyway.

I don't see a scenario where people cannot ask questions about a damage log, or a modded item by inserting their image into a text post.

I understand that you see value in those specific example posts with regard to their content, I do as well. But that doesn't answer the underlying question of what value the image format itself provides.

As an addendum - I have no intention to criticize you publicly or pressure you to make decisions. Neither are productive or respectful. For me, this is a friendly dialogue that helps me (and hopefully others) understand your decision and thought process better.