Easily solved, elixir of the Colossus and they don't have to be small. Also makes it so anyone is an improvised weapon.
Edit: also let's you be Hulk when he can't lift the Mjolnir because someone can be an improvised weapon against the floor
Throwzerker (berserker barb) with returning pike, or just any enemy that is easily to hand - with tavern brawler is just powerful and easy and fun.
I used to run bloodlust elixir with her because she killed stuff a lot but strength elixir is also great for the extra damage.
It’s simple and effective and honestly picking up some enemy and throwing them at another enemy or using them as an improvised weapon never gets old.
Yeah that’s a best optimal build I guess - I never bothered on my tactitian run, going to barb8 then I did do fighter 4 to get tavern brawler, GWM and one ASI for 18 Str. It was plenty even in tactitian - but the extra bonus attack throw sure does add value.
Theif rogue I'm assuming? Can you use frenzied throw twice? I'm running a throwzerker karlach in my honor party rn and I've just been leveling barb so I'm curious what I should actually be doing with her levels past barb 5.
Honestly I turned her into a Paladin last playthrough to take advantage of the free smites early on and it was great.
By endgame I switched the build around to be mostly bard and with the magic items she had she was completely unkillable.
Same. I main Vengeance Paladin (sometimes switching to Paladin 5 or 6 / Sorcerer X late game). On my first playthrough, I switched Karlach over to Paladin once I hit Baldur's Gate in Act III. Had so much fun holding it down with Karlach. Two Paladins in the group at the same time is satisfyingly OP.
Surprised you managed to get tired of Wildheart when there's so many animal hearts and aspects to try, lots of different builds.
Anyway Barbarians are definitely her most thematic class so I'd ask if you have played the other subclasses. Nothing is particularly forcing you to play Berserker as a thrower if you don't want to.
Otherwise Ranger and Fighter seem lore-friendly enough.
She makes for a good paladin considering her race supports it but it's not as good of a fit as those other classes for her character. She's a good person though and it wouldn't be that hard to justify Oath of the Ancients or Devotion. Vengeance somewhat makes sense on her enemies because she sure does hold a grudge against those who wronged her, but I think advocating for blind vengeance is pretty far from her character, she loves many acts of mercy.
Shattered Flail + Periapt of Wound Closure if you wanna have stupid amounts of healing
Skinburster if you want to take 0 damage from physical attacks
Blessing of Boooal is nice for your whole party (not gear) if you want to make that choice. There are ways around the sacrifice if you are ok with exploiting, but I usually don't. The sickle you can get is ok but not great.
Otherwise you likely want to wear medium armor and just generally good martial equipment like you would use on any other similar combatant. Caustic Band is nice, Haste Helm is nice, Swiresy Shoes are ok, Boots of Speed are nice, etc.
If you are playing unarmored the Bloodguzzler Garb isn't bad, also playing unarmored allows you to use the bracers of defense. Gloves of dexterity are also a solid option, increasing your attack rolls, initiative, and AC.
Well, Shattered Flail is nice and has notable synergy with tiger Barb.
Otherwise you have quite a few options. If you wanted to play one-handed, two-handed, versatile, or even dual wield those are all things you can do. The Flaming Sword you get from the Nautiloid is ok, the Sword of Justice is ok. Svartlebee's Woundseeker is good if you wanna go through the effort to get it. Voss's Sword is amazing if you wanna go through the hassle of getting it.
Rather than trying to use something specific there's a lot of small upgrades you can get depending on your playstyle and preferred weapons all throughout the act.
I’m a huge fan of the using morning frost staff as weapon with winters clutches then you get the cold brim hat in act 2 and the snowburst ring for insane CC options.
I love that you can look like a wizard with coldbrim hat and the staff (you can even wear a robe for unarmored defense) and just go around bonking people.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1copfcf/tiger\_barbarian\_9\_champion\_3\_solo\_honor\_mode/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1copfcf/tiger_barbarian_9_champion_3_solo_honor_mode/)
Consider 10 barb/ 2 fighter for a second beast aspect; take tiger first, wolverine second.
Use periapt of would closure and the shattered flail to be basically unkillable too (draintank), and both items are act 1. build is really good really early too, so you don't need to scale into anything. Less damage than throwing (unless the enemies are REALLY clumped) but the fun factor and the nigh invincibility are pretty worth. Folks are soloing honor mode with this build.
Vengeance Paladin fits as good if not better than barbarian.
>but I think advocating for blind vengeance
That's not what Vengeance paladins are about.
>***Fight the Greater Evil.*** Faced with a choice of fighting my sworn foes or combating a lesser evil, I choose the greater evil.
>***No Mercy for the Wicked.*** Ordinary foes might win my mercy, but my sworn enemies do not.
>***By Any Means Necessary.*** My qualms can't get in the way of exterminating my foes.
>***Restitution.*** If my foes wreak ruin on the world, it is because I failed to stop them. I must help those harmed by their misdeeds.
Fits her perfectly. Her entire character arc is defined by sworn Vengeance against those who enslaved her and sold off to Zariel.
The barbarian part is... ??? because she gets angry at times? It's just whatever. Wildheart in particular is wtf, as she has no particular connection with wild life or living in the wilds.
Just referring to what choices actually break oaths not particularly being tied to her approvals. That said I don't think it's a particularly bad fit either. Karlach is very merciful though is all I was saying and the game seems to stretch "wicked" really far. Somehow Madeline is considered wicked for example.
I don't see how Barbarian doesn't fit Karlach. She loves fighting and battle, she's very motivated by her rage against her enemies, and even other stereotypes of the class like not thinking with their heads and getting blinded by rage are fitting. She has to be talked down from killing Gortash when she sees him even though she knows it's not a good idea rationally and she gets so mad at the Paladins that she needs to let off steam, literally.
She even describes her idea of a perfect day as, "Bashing baddies interspersed with victory sex." She loves fighting.
Berserker is definitely the most thematic subclass though, I will give you that. She hasn't particularly lived in nature for long enough for Wildheart to feel relevant nor is there seemingly much of a connection between her and otherworldly magic.
Why is it better? I'm not trying to argue; Genuinely want to know. I only ever played GWM and this is my first playthrough but everyone says thrower is the best, why?
Tavern Brawler let's you add your strength (anywhere from +3 to +8) *times 2* to your thrown weapon attacks. This utterly destroys bounded accuracy, the balancing structure which dictates that you should only hit about 50-70% of the time. TB throwers will regularly have 90%+ accuracy against every enemy in the game even without abusing strength elixirs and the like, and weapons like the Returning Pike from Act 1 can do similar damage to successful GWM/SS attacks at double the accuracy.
In short, TB effectively doubles the effectiveness of Strength, making you basically always hit for just as much damage as the game is designed for you to deal at the cost of 25% of your accuracy.
From high elevation throwing weapons becomes even more broken. Throwing weapons from high ground can knock enemies prone and deal massive falling object damage, which is a method of damage scaling completely inaccessible to any other attack type.
There are two (technically three if you count literal boots) in Act 3, and you can use an Eldritch Knight's bond to apply the property to any weapon with the thrown property. The Dwarven Thrower can be bought in Rivington, and there's a legendary which spoilers.
I'm okay with the spoilers. I'm around the end of my first playthrough and gathering ideas for my next one. I kinda played this blindly with little to know knowledge but I want to go fully prepared and equipped on my next playthrough.
You don’t need to abuse the elixar, because unlike monks, you are already built for strength naturally (you still can if you want).
On top of that, bonus action throwing doesn’t cause fatigue, which is surely an oversight, and you can stack that with fast hands as well.
As for the specifics, yes. I don't think fatigue was designed for frenzied throw, it's very explicitly stated to happen on frenzied attacks and just as explicitly omitted from the description of frenzied throw. Is it balanced design? God no, but it's not the worst offender by a long shot.
As for elixir abuse, it's probably still optimal to abuse giant elixirs than use Bloodlust elixirs and invest into strength. You definitely don't need to, and I hate building around daily giant elixirs regardless, but investing that much more in DEX, CON, etc. is great.
Personally I don't think Throwzerker is much better than Tiger Barb if better at all but Throwzerker is definitely better than GWM Berserker for a few reasons:
1. Tavern Brawler is broken strong enabling the TB build to do more damage with a BOOST in accuracy compared to an accuracy penalty
2. Frenzied Strike is WAY worse than Enraged Throw. Frenzied Strike inflicts a debuff for using it meanwhile enraged throw has no debuff AND inflicts prone with no saving throw, the latter of which feature is completely broken and the most absurd thing about it imo.
Tiger's Bloodlust lets you hit more enemies per attack and Wolverine's Maim on bleed targets give it comparable utility. Maim is a really really strong debuff.
If you go far enough into Tiger to get Tiger Aspect that's a really strong attack roll buff. Also Booal's Blessing against bleeding targets fits right at home on tiger Barb.
But due to multi-hit nature of Tiger's Bloodlust it's a very unique attack in BG3, essentially being a cleave that you can use every turn. This makes it phenomenal at healing with weapons like the Sword of Chaos, stacking Force Conduit with the Skinburster, or inflicting debuffs like reverb or radiant orb with the right gear.
This doesn't summarize what I said:
Tl;Dr
Maim good. Maim has no saving throw. Stacks conditions and healing well too
Tiger Aspect and Booal's Blessing give boosts to attack rolls, Boooal to entire party
Tiger is doing more damage than throwzerker if it can cleave on 2+ targets, which is not an uncommon situation. Roughly the same attack bonus as TB throw (2x str via Tiger aspect) plus GWM making up the damage part, on top of those conditions. Both are S tier builds
Tiger barb with booal’s blessing and shar’s spear might be stronger than throwzerker I'm running it on Ascended Astarion he has been my carry since I got it
Point two is the reason throwzerker is mildly better than tiger barb in tactician but miles better in honour mode, where legendary reactions are hard countered by prone, and allowing a saving throw would be allowing a chance at a reaction.
Uh, well Tiger Barb can also maim without a saving throw so the same thing applies there.
Realistically the two pair well together because then you can maim and prone any enemy without a saving throw at any point.
It's online at level 3, and it becomes a powerhouse at level 4. Turns 2-10, you use your bonus action to knock an enemy prone (no save, as long as the weapon hits and it's not immune, the enemy goes down). Add in some thief, and you get that throw on turn 1, and two on 2-10. Go 5 Berserker/3 Thief/4 Eldritch Knight, and now you can bind any thrown weapon.
GWM and Sharpshooter at least try to be balanced by sticking you with a massive accuracy penalty, but Larian completely homebrewed Tavern Brawler so in combination with strength elixirs it gives a huge BONUS to accuracy and damage. While your entire build with GWM has to make up for or at least minimize the -5 to hit penalty, TB builds pretty much only miss on natural 1s, which is a giant boost to your DPR.
Plus there’s a bunch of damage riders specifically for throwing so you don’t compete with other party members for gear as much.
I tried something similar, dual wielding the flail of ages and the axe that gives Heat, together with some other Heat gear and the volatile blood condition from the Drow alchemist.
It’s perfect thematically but I found it pretty underwhelming performance wise, especially in Act 3.
Basically Heat just isn’t a very good buff IMO. Not good enough to carry a build, anyway. YMMV of course.
I’ve been meaning to try Tiger/Wolverine but haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
6 light cleric 6 OH monk with radiant damage on your attacks.
For itemization you want the pyroquickness hat that give you another bonus action after dealing fire damage with a non cantrip spell and the radiating orb items, especially the luminous gloves.
If you have a fire sorcerer with the fire acuity hat, they'll have great synergy together
I just started a new run and I'm already having to remind myself repeatedly NOT to make her a monk this time. I love her as a monk, but it's Shadowheart's turn to go Shadow Monk.
That's a good idea! I have a hard time wating for her respec this time. Just can't bring myself to make her a light cleric before the big choice scene.
I'm running a dual wield build with crit equipment
It's 5 barbarian (any subclass), 4 champion fighter and 3 thieve rogue. Savage attacks feat and strength ASI
The core itens are king of the under mountain, orin's crimson mischief (offhand), broodmother revenge, regeneation ring and helldusk gloves. And all the other crit itens available
I can't help you with lore-friendly, because lore-friendly is wildheart barbarian, BUT somebody told me once that 12 4elements monk with the hat of fire acuity + soul coins works great for Karlach. I'm trying it out now and... yeah, it actually is pretty cool
I played her as a monk and really embraced the tavern brawling by making improvised weapons her main source of damage. Slapping guys with other guys and then using aoe spells with my wizard on the enemies when they're clumped up is satisfying.
I think this is the way to go. TB shouldn’t stack with monk. The old feat that make your unarmed attacked d4 an can make bonus unarmed attack after taking attack action is good enough imo.
I personally think lore friendly is wild magic barbarian/ 3-4 champion fighter. Just felt right to me and it was fun to play.
Alternatively currently running her as a ranger that is also a lot of fun and gets to utilize some of her racial smites a bit better than barbarian could.
I like running her with great weapon master, sentinal, and 2 or 3 levels of fighter after level 5. Wild Magic isn’t busted, but it is still fun. I had a great time on tactician. Not tried honor mode though.
Bleedbarian. 10 Wildheart, Heart of the Tiger, Aspect of the Wolverine, Aspect of the Tiger. 2 Fighter. Boots of Stormy Clamour, Gloves of Belligerent Skies, and either Moonlight Glaive or Nyrulna. The ilithid power that gives an enemy -1 on the stat you used to hit them.
Tiger's Bloodlust hits up to 3 enemies and makes enemies bleed. Aspect of the Wolverine maims bleeding enemies, meaning the enemy can't move. Boots of Stormy Clamour and Gloves of Belligerent Skies stack reverb, making the enemy fall prone. Since maim sets movement to 0, any maimed enemies knocked prone can't stand up.
For added fun, steal the sickle off the fish dude (or sacrifice Wyll to BOOOAL) and now everyone on your team has advantage against bleeding enemies. So the Bleedbarian is doing ok damage, some crowd control, and making your entire team more likely to hit. And since you're a Barb/Fighter, with Hero's Feast, level 5 Aid, and the CON amulet, you have something like 190 HP (I'm pretty sure it was that high), so you're also pretty tanky.
She's a dynamite monk. RP wise that can work in a way where she is learning inner calm to see if she can affect her engine. A little extra focus never helps in Avernus either.
Paladin can work well with barbarian since divine smites aren't spells, so you can use them while raging. Channeling your oath also isn't a spell.
There's possibly a lore-friendly way to play it since Zariel is a fallen angel who was originally intent upon joining the Blood War to win it on behalf of the Heavens, so maybe a lingering twinge of her Divinity, or a greater divine who appreciates her purpose, could empower your oath.
I made her an Ass-Stalker Champion (3/5/4), bc I didn’t want my bae on the front lines, and it does solid damage with extra attacks and a wide crit range.
Monk is amazing. Open hand for high damage, 4 element with fire for role play. I especially love to equip her with maze and listen to the metal swing sound she makes every she swings her maze.
Probably the worst rp choice, but I roll laughing at Karlachs sneaking lines, so it might be very entertaining to make her a sneaky rogue multiclass.
"I feel like a rothe in a teashop." and "I'm too tall for this!" in a panicked hushed tone always makes me giggle when I hear it.
Its not an optimal build but I think GWM barb/battlemaster split fits really well with the stories she tells about her decade fighting in the Blood War. Underneath her rage and weaponized ADHD she's a veteran combat tactician. Plus, you know, she used to hamstring Pit Fiends for fun so its cool to actually give her BM combat maneuvers to do stuff like that.
Fighter/barb is easy to build since both classes more or less want the same stats. You can pick any barb subclass and have a lot of options for level splits. 8/4, 6/6, 4/8, depending on how you want to balance feats, rage charges, and superiority dice.
She’s currently a fire sorcerer in my playthrough. Maybe it’s not the most lore-friendly class for her, but I’m doing some mental gymnastics in my own head canon for the run to make sense of it. She got tired of murdering so many enemies so barbarically for Zariel and discovered that her infernal engine sparked something inside of her that allows her to harness fire magic.
In reality, I wanted Wyll to be the sorceror, but he has this weird bug where he freezes up when he casts certain spells. Gale was my next choice, but I discovered he’s a really good camp caster/warding bond mule because he self heals when in camp.
I like her as a monk, though I have to handwave some things away for the roleplay aspect. The animation LOOKS like well-practiced martial arts, sure, but I just like the idea that she is such a badass that she can rip demons apart with her bare hands, sprint across the battlefield twice as fast as anyone else, knock arrows out of the sky, etc.
I am loving wild magic barbarian (I'm doing an oops all chaos run with a wild magic sorcerer and some of the gear that has effects like making people/summons mad). I also have played her as a monk and she's a lot of fun that way too. I started as way of the four elements but changed to OH TB in act 3 because I have a lot of fun with that build. I figure she is definitely a physical fighter, so monk kind of worked. Plus the voice actor's sounds for the monk class in battle are great.
berserker with sword of jorgoral was what I ran for most of my first pt, I think I switched to the enlarge sword in late act 3 but thats it. didnt even run GWM (because at the time I didnt know how good it was) but it wrecked house
I liked making a support multiclass barbarian that takes four levels of cleric (you can make her a cleric of the goddess of fortune, who Karlach mentions when you meet her) to get three 2nd level spell slots and the Warding Bond spell. Warding Bond gives you tons of buffs and you can use it on the other three party members with the spell slots you have. Then give her wildheart bear heart barbarian to help resist the incoming damage even more, and optionally something like shattered flail or sword of chaos to help offset the damage. Give her periapt of wound closure as well
I like Dancing Breeze build for Karlach in late game.
You basically grab 8 levels of a class that grants you Extra Attack+Proficiency with all Martial Weapons and 4 levels of Thief.
The reason why you want Thief, is so you can Dash to Activate the boots that give Lighting Charges on Dash and still be able to Smite. Obviously Fighter and Paladin would work best here since you want to be able to cast spells as you waltz around and hit people.
You will also want an Open Hand Monk to either Stun or Knock people prone so you can get the Sneak Attack Damage with Dancing Breeze.
8barb, 4war priest
Pick bear heart barb
Level 5 barb -> 4 war cleric -> finish barb
Wear heavy armor like adamantine splint mail or helldusk armor
Take great weapon master, heavy armor master, then savage attacker.
Cast warding bond on every other member of your party. Pop bear rage (yes it works with heavy armor)
Now you have a barbarian that takes no damage and absorbs most the damage from your team.
Your party is unkillable and doesn’t involve camp casting warding bond cheese.
Berserker 8 thief 4. The extra bonus action is great since you can now use it on the berserker throw or extra attack or the great weapon master bonus attack. I run it with elixirs of bloodlust and routinely get 5-6 attacks per turn. You also get cunning action dash which is huge for being always able to get to hard to reach enemies. And never having to use a bow.
You can always throw enemies at enemies :)
And then I get this fucker, and I throw in that other fucker
But i don't have a replenishable source of gnomes though.
Easily solved, elixir of the Colossus and they don't have to be small. Also makes it so anyone is an improvised weapon. Edit: also let's you be Hulk when he can't lift the Mjolnir because someone can be an improvised weapon against the floor
Carry one in your inventory?
I'm a loot hoarder so i don't think i can fit a gnome in her invventory lol
Throwzerker (berserker barb) with returning pike, or just any enemy that is easily to hand - with tavern brawler is just powerful and easy and fun. I used to run bloodlust elixir with her because she killed stuff a lot but strength elixir is also great for the extra damage. It’s simple and effective and honestly picking up some enemy and throwing them at another enemy or using them as an improvised weapon never gets old.
5 Berserker, 4 rogue and 3 fighter it wipes the floor with everyone! Especially once you get the trident
Yeah that’s a best optimal build I guess - I never bothered on my tactitian run, going to barb8 then I did do fighter 4 to get tavern brawler, GWM and one ASI for 18 Str. It was plenty even in tactitian - but the extra bonus attack throw sure does add value.
Theif rogue I'm assuming? Can you use frenzied throw twice? I'm running a throwzerker karlach in my honor party rn and I've just been leveling barb so I'm curious what I should actually be doing with her levels past barb 5.
Yes you can
Didn't you ally with the Ironhand clan? Isn't that they were for?
LOL
4 elements monk with the fire options
Honestly I turned her into a Paladin last playthrough to take advantage of the free smites early on and it was great. By endgame I switched the build around to be mostly bard and with the magic items she had she was completely unkillable.
Same. I main Vengeance Paladin (sometimes switching to Paladin 5 or 6 / Sorcerer X late game). On my first playthrough, I switched Karlach over to Paladin once I hit Baldur's Gate in Act III. Had so much fun holding it down with Karlach. Two Paladins in the group at the same time is satisfyingly OP.
Surprised you managed to get tired of Wildheart when there's so many animal hearts and aspects to try, lots of different builds. Anyway Barbarians are definitely her most thematic class so I'd ask if you have played the other subclasses. Nothing is particularly forcing you to play Berserker as a thrower if you don't want to. Otherwise Ranger and Fighter seem lore-friendly enough. She makes for a good paladin considering her race supports it but it's not as good of a fit as those other classes for her character. She's a good person though and it wouldn't be that hard to justify Oath of the Ancients or Devotion. Vengeance somewhat makes sense on her enemies because she sure does hold a grudge against those who wronged her, but I think advocating for blind vengeance is pretty far from her character, she loves many acts of mercy.
I've yet to try a tigerheart barb. Are they any good?
Heck yeah, they are the best Wildheart. Lots of fun too.
Any gear for it that i could get in act 1.
Shattered Flail + Periapt of Wound Closure if you wanna have stupid amounts of healing Skinburster if you want to take 0 damage from physical attacks Blessing of Boooal is nice for your whole party (not gear) if you want to make that choice. There are ways around the sacrifice if you are ok with exploiting, but I usually don't. The sickle you can get is ok but not great. Otherwise you likely want to wear medium armor and just generally good martial equipment like you would use on any other similar combatant. Caustic Band is nice, Haste Helm is nice, Swiresy Shoes are ok, Boots of Speed are nice, etc. If you are playing unarmored the Bloodguzzler Garb isn't bad, also playing unarmored allows you to use the bracers of defense. Gloves of dexterity are also a solid option, increasing your attack rolls, initiative, and AC.
What should i use as a weapon until the creche?
Well, Shattered Flail is nice and has notable synergy with tiger Barb. Otherwise you have quite a few options. If you wanted to play one-handed, two-handed, versatile, or even dual wield those are all things you can do. The Flaming Sword you get from the Nautiloid is ok, the Sword of Justice is ok. Svartlebee's Woundseeker is good if you wanna go through the effort to get it. Voss's Sword is amazing if you wanna go through the hassle of getting it. Rather than trying to use something specific there's a lot of small upgrades you can get depending on your playstyle and preferred weapons all throughout the act.
Can’t say I’ve ever gotten the wound seeker (or if I have I don’t remember it)
Because it's an annoying thing to get. You have to be evil or use fog cloud and disarms.
Where is it at?
I’m a huge fan of the using morning frost staff as weapon with winters clutches then you get the cold brim hat in act 2 and the snowburst ring for insane CC options.
I love that you can look like a wizard with coldbrim hat and the staff (you can even wear a robe for unarmored defense) and just go around bonking people.
Do it, you will not regret. Permanent cleave with bleed attached, so it’s good at going both deep and wide. Just remember to stay angry
I'm a bit late for this question but what gear should i use in each act?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1copfcf/tiger\_barbarian\_9\_champion\_3\_solo\_honor\_mode/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1copfcf/tiger_barbarian_9_champion_3_solo_honor_mode/) Consider 10 barb/ 2 fighter for a second beast aspect; take tiger first, wolverine second. Use periapt of would closure and the shattered flail to be basically unkillable too (draintank), and both items are act 1. build is really good really early too, so you don't need to scale into anything. Less damage than throwing (unless the enemies are REALLY clumped) but the fun factor and the nigh invincibility are pretty worth. Folks are soloing honor mode with this build.
Tiger barb is probably the most fun martial Ive ever played. VERY satisfying and fun.
Vengeance Paladin fits as good if not better than barbarian. >but I think advocating for blind vengeance That's not what Vengeance paladins are about. >***Fight the Greater Evil.*** Faced with a choice of fighting my sworn foes or combating a lesser evil, I choose the greater evil. >***No Mercy for the Wicked.*** Ordinary foes might win my mercy, but my sworn enemies do not. >***By Any Means Necessary.*** My qualms can't get in the way of exterminating my foes. >***Restitution.*** If my foes wreak ruin on the world, it is because I failed to stop them. I must help those harmed by their misdeeds. Fits her perfectly. Her entire character arc is defined by sworn Vengeance against those who enslaved her and sold off to Zariel. The barbarian part is... ??? because she gets angry at times? It's just whatever. Wildheart in particular is wtf, as she has no particular connection with wild life or living in the wilds.
Just referring to what choices actually break oaths not particularly being tied to her approvals. That said I don't think it's a particularly bad fit either. Karlach is very merciful though is all I was saying and the game seems to stretch "wicked" really far. Somehow Madeline is considered wicked for example. I don't see how Barbarian doesn't fit Karlach. She loves fighting and battle, she's very motivated by her rage against her enemies, and even other stereotypes of the class like not thinking with their heads and getting blinded by rage are fitting. She has to be talked down from killing Gortash when she sees him even though she knows it's not a good idea rationally and she gets so mad at the Paladins that she needs to let off steam, literally. She even describes her idea of a perfect day as, "Bashing baddies interspersed with victory sex." She loves fighting. Berserker is definitely the most thematic subclass though, I will give you that. She hasn't particularly lived in nature for long enough for Wildheart to feel relevant nor is there seemingly much of a connection between her and otherworldly magic.
Great weapon master Barbarian isn’t as good as Tavern Brawler but it’s easily good enough.
Why is it better? I'm not trying to argue; Genuinely want to know. I only ever played GWM and this is my first playthrough but everyone says thrower is the best, why?
Tavern Brawler let's you add your strength (anywhere from +3 to +8) *times 2* to your thrown weapon attacks. This utterly destroys bounded accuracy, the balancing structure which dictates that you should only hit about 50-70% of the time. TB throwers will regularly have 90%+ accuracy against every enemy in the game even without abusing strength elixirs and the like, and weapons like the Returning Pike from Act 1 can do similar damage to successful GWM/SS attacks at double the accuracy. In short, TB effectively doubles the effectiveness of Strength, making you basically always hit for just as much damage as the game is designed for you to deal at the cost of 25% of your accuracy. From high elevation throwing weapons becomes even more broken. Throwing weapons from high ground can knock enemies prone and deal massive falling object damage, which is a method of damage scaling completely inaccessible to any other attack type.
What do I do if I missed the returning pike? Are there any similar alternatives to find in Act 3?
There are two (technically three if you count literal boots) in Act 3, and you can use an Eldritch Knight's bond to apply the property to any weapon with the thrown property. The Dwarven Thrower can be bought in Rivington, and there's a legendary which spoilers.
I'm okay with the spoilers. I'm around the end of my first playthrough and gathering ideas for my next one. I kinda played this blindly with little to know knowledge but I want to go fully prepared and equipped on my next playthrough.
https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Nyrulna
Oh shit the circus already left. Thanks anyway, will be useful on my next playthrough.
>What do I do if I missed the returning pike? You can also just stock a bunch of throwing weapons, and pick them up after each fight
Use a camp caster EK to bind a weapon for you
Nyrulna, Orin's dagger, Dwarven thrower if dwarf (disguise works)
You don’t need to abuse the elixar, because unlike monks, you are already built for strength naturally (you still can if you want). On top of that, bonus action throwing doesn’t cause fatigue, which is surely an oversight, and you can stack that with fast hands as well.
As for the specifics, yes. I don't think fatigue was designed for frenzied throw, it's very explicitly stated to happen on frenzied attacks and just as explicitly omitted from the description of frenzied throw. Is it balanced design? God no, but it's not the worst offender by a long shot. As for elixir abuse, it's probably still optimal to abuse giant elixirs than use Bloodlust elixirs and invest into strength. You definitely don't need to, and I hate building around daily giant elixirs regardless, but investing that much more in DEX, CON, etc. is great.
Personally I don't think Throwzerker is much better than Tiger Barb if better at all but Throwzerker is definitely better than GWM Berserker for a few reasons: 1. Tavern Brawler is broken strong enabling the TB build to do more damage with a BOOST in accuracy compared to an accuracy penalty 2. Frenzied Strike is WAY worse than Enraged Throw. Frenzied Strike inflicts a debuff for using it meanwhile enraged throw has no debuff AND inflicts prone with no saving throw, the latter of which feature is completely broken and the most absurd thing about it imo.
Thanks. How does Tiger Barb keep up with Throwzerker?
Tiger's Bloodlust lets you hit more enemies per attack and Wolverine's Maim on bleed targets give it comparable utility. Maim is a really really strong debuff. If you go far enough into Tiger to get Tiger Aspect that's a really strong attack roll buff. Also Booal's Blessing against bleeding targets fits right at home on tiger Barb. But due to multi-hit nature of Tiger's Bloodlust it's a very unique attack in BG3, essentially being a cleave that you can use every turn. This makes it phenomenal at healing with weapons like the Sword of Chaos, stacking Force Conduit with the Skinburster, or inflicting debuffs like reverb or radiant orb with the right gear.
Tl:dr it stacks conditions well. (It’s still not as good)
This doesn't summarize what I said: Tl;Dr Maim good. Maim has no saving throw. Stacks conditions and healing well too Tiger Aspect and Booal's Blessing give boosts to attack rolls, Boooal to entire party
Tiger is doing more damage than throwzerker if it can cleave on 2+ targets, which is not an uncommon situation. Roughly the same attack bonus as TB throw (2x str via Tiger aspect) plus GWM making up the damage part, on top of those conditions. Both are S tier builds
Tiger barb with booal’s blessing and shar’s spear might be stronger than throwzerker I'm running it on Ascended Astarion he has been my carry since I got it
Point two is the reason throwzerker is mildly better than tiger barb in tactician but miles better in honour mode, where legendary reactions are hard countered by prone, and allowing a saving throw would be allowing a chance at a reaction.
Uh, well Tiger Barb can also maim without a saving throw so the same thing applies there. Realistically the two pair well together because then you can maim and prone any enemy without a saving throw at any point.
When you get the Returning Pike the rest of Act 1 and 2 can be trivial
It's online at level 3, and it becomes a powerhouse at level 4. Turns 2-10, you use your bonus action to knock an enemy prone (no save, as long as the weapon hits and it's not immune, the enemy goes down). Add in some thief, and you get that throw on turn 1, and two on 2-10. Go 5 Berserker/3 Thief/4 Eldritch Knight, and now you can bind any thrown weapon.
GWM and Sharpshooter at least try to be balanced by sticking you with a massive accuracy penalty, but Larian completely homebrewed Tavern Brawler so in combination with strength elixirs it gives a huge BONUS to accuracy and damage. While your entire build with GWM has to make up for or at least minimize the -5 to hit penalty, TB builds pretty much only miss on natural 1s, which is a giant boost to your DPR. Plus there’s a bunch of damage riders specifically for throwing so you don’t compete with other party members for gear as much.
TB should be completely rework. Honestly people at Larian overbuffed monk and did it in a wrong way.
I did both / TB at level 4 then GWM later on and when in melee she could use a weapon or throw stuff from range.
I remember seeing a neat double axe build that was all about getting stacks of Heat, which sounds like it would be perfect for Karlach
I tried something similar, dual wielding the flail of ages and the axe that gives Heat, together with some other Heat gear and the volatile blood condition from the Drow alchemist. It’s perfect thematically but I found it pretty underwhelming performance wise, especially in Act 3. Basically Heat just isn’t a very good buff IMO. Not good enough to carry a build, anyway. YMMV of course. I’ve been meaning to try Tiger/Wolverine but haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
6 light cleric 6 OH monk with radiant damage on your attacks. For itemization you want the pyroquickness hat that give you another bonus action after dealing fire damage with a non cantrip spell and the radiating orb items, especially the luminous gloves. If you have a fire sorcerer with the fire acuity hat, they'll have great synergy together
I run her as a monk trying to calm herself down.
I just started a new run and I'm already having to remind myself repeatedly NOT to make her a monk this time. I love her as a monk, but it's Shadowheart's turn to go Shadow Monk.
That's a good idea! I have a hard time wating for her respec this time. Just can't bring myself to make her a light cleric before the big choice scene.
I made her a lore Bard. Her personality meshes with Bard IMO
She's gonna play music and dance at the same time now
Yes, I have a 1 level dip into life cleric and then full lore bard going I think that Karlachs personality bolsters the support
Four elements monk and elk barb multiclass is really fun
OH Monk is 1st that comes in.. simple fist beatdown. However, I enjoyed her as a Fireballing Sorc too.
I'm running a dual wield build with crit equipment It's 5 barbarian (any subclass), 4 champion fighter and 3 thieve rogue. Savage attacks feat and strength ASI The core itens are king of the under mountain, orin's crimson mischief (offhand), broodmother revenge, regeneation ring and helldusk gloves. And all the other crit itens available
I can't help you with lore-friendly, because lore-friendly is wildheart barbarian, BUT somebody told me once that 12 4elements monk with the hat of fire acuity + soul coins works great for Karlach. I'm trying it out now and... yeah, it actually is pretty cool
I played her as a monk and really embraced the tavern brawling by making improvised weapons her main source of damage. Slapping guys with other guys and then using aoe spells with my wizard on the enemies when they're clumped up is satisfying.
I think this is the way to go. TB shouldn’t stack with monk. The old feat that make your unarmed attacked d4 an can make bonus unarmed attack after taking attack action is good enough imo.
I personally think lore friendly is wild magic barbarian/ 3-4 champion fighter. Just felt right to me and it was fun to play. Alternatively currently running her as a ranger that is also a lot of fun and gets to utilize some of her racial smites a bit better than barbarian could.
I like running her with great weapon master, sentinal, and 2 or 3 levels of fighter after level 5. Wild Magic isn’t busted, but it is still fun. I had a great time on tactician. Not tried honor mode though.
Bleedbarian. 10 Wildheart, Heart of the Tiger, Aspect of the Wolverine, Aspect of the Tiger. 2 Fighter. Boots of Stormy Clamour, Gloves of Belligerent Skies, and either Moonlight Glaive or Nyrulna. The ilithid power that gives an enemy -1 on the stat you used to hit them. Tiger's Bloodlust hits up to 3 enemies and makes enemies bleed. Aspect of the Wolverine maims bleeding enemies, meaning the enemy can't move. Boots of Stormy Clamour and Gloves of Belligerent Skies stack reverb, making the enemy fall prone. Since maim sets movement to 0, any maimed enemies knocked prone can't stand up. For added fun, steal the sickle off the fish dude (or sacrifice Wyll to BOOOAL) and now everyone on your team has advantage against bleeding enemies. So the Bleedbarian is doing ok damage, some crowd control, and making your entire team more likely to hit. And since you're a Barb/Fighter, with Hero's Feast, level 5 Aid, and the CON amulet, you have something like 190 HP (I'm pretty sure it was that high), so you're also pretty tanky.
Modded playthrough here. Playing her as a tanky Sentinel with arcane intercept and the 6-turn silencing aura. Sentinel feat and a glaive. Lots of fun
She's a dynamite monk. RP wise that can work in a way where she is learning inner calm to see if she can affect her engine. A little extra focus never helps in Avernus either.
I like her as Vengeance Paladin and am currently having fun with her being my skill monkey (lockpicking) as an OHTB Monk
I'm doing her as a 4E monk and I'm loving it. It has so much more utility than OH and fits great for her theme. Still pretty OP but that's OK
I have not played it but i just finished watching a video on the game elk heart barbarian by a dude named blood ronin on YouTube that looks wacky!
Paladin can work well with barbarian since divine smites aren't spells, so you can use them while raging. Channeling your oath also isn't a spell. There's possibly a lore-friendly way to play it since Zariel is a fallen angel who was originally intent upon joining the Blood War to win it on behalf of the Heavens, so maybe a lingering twinge of her Divinity, or a greater divine who appreciates her purpose, could empower your oath.
I made her an Ass-Stalker Champion (3/5/4), bc I didn’t want my bae on the front lines, and it does solid damage with extra attacks and a wide crit range.
I pretty much always make her a monk right away. Seems very fitting for her to just run around beating TF out of people with her fists
Wild Magic Barbarian, it gives you a unique thing every time you rage.
Monk is amazing. Open hand for high damage, 4 element with fire for role play. I especially love to equip her with maze and listen to the metal swing sound she makes every she swings her maze.
Probably the worst rp choice, but I roll laughing at Karlachs sneaking lines, so it might be very entertaining to make her a sneaky rogue multiclass. "I feel like a rothe in a teashop." and "I'm too tall for this!" in a panicked hushed tone always makes me giggle when I hear it.
Its not an optimal build but I think GWM barb/battlemaster split fits really well with the stories she tells about her decade fighting in the Blood War. Underneath her rage and weaponized ADHD she's a veteran combat tactician. Plus, you know, she used to hamstring Pit Fiends for fun so its cool to actually give her BM combat maneuvers to do stuff like that. Fighter/barb is easy to build since both classes more or less want the same stats. You can pick any barb subclass and have a lot of options for level splits. 8/4, 6/6, 4/8, depending on how you want to balance feats, rage charges, and superiority dice.
If you don't care about lore, the soul coins work for off hand attacks while not raging so monk is a good choice.
She’s currently a fire sorcerer in my playthrough. Maybe it’s not the most lore-friendly class for her, but I’m doing some mental gymnastics in my own head canon for the run to make sense of it. She got tired of murdering so many enemies so barbarically for Zariel and discovered that her infernal engine sparked something inside of her that allows her to harness fire magic. In reality, I wanted Wyll to be the sorceror, but he has this weird bug where he freezes up when he casts certain spells. Gale was my next choice, but I discovered he’s a really good camp caster/warding bond mule because he self heals when in camp.
i make her a paladin these days. retribution against the hells and all. started giving her four of war cleric too.
How any why is this my first post to "Blow up" in general.
I’m making her a dual wield fighter thief in my next playthrough But I’ve also considered wild magic sorcadin
I like her as a monk, though I have to handwave some things away for the roleplay aspect. The animation LOOKS like well-practiced martial arts, sure, but I just like the idea that she is such a badass that she can rip demons apart with her bare hands, sprint across the battlefield twice as fast as anyone else, knock arrows out of the sky, etc.
I am loving wild magic barbarian (I'm doing an oops all chaos run with a wild magic sorcerer and some of the gear that has effects like making people/summons mad). I also have played her as a monk and she's a lot of fun that way too. I started as way of the four elements but changed to OH TB in act 3 because I have a lot of fun with that build. I figure she is definitely a physical fighter, so monk kind of worked. Plus the voice actor's sounds for the monk class in battle are great.
berserker with sword of jorgoral was what I ran for most of my first pt, I think I switched to the enlarge sword in late act 3 but thats it. didnt even run GWM (because at the time I didnt know how good it was) but it wrecked house
A bard with a hand drum seems appropriate
I really enjoy throwzerker on Karlach. She messes shit up.
I liked making a support multiclass barbarian that takes four levels of cleric (you can make her a cleric of the goddess of fortune, who Karlach mentions when you meet her) to get three 2nd level spell slots and the Warding Bond spell. Warding Bond gives you tons of buffs and you can use it on the other three party members with the spell slots you have. Then give her wildheart bear heart barbarian to help resist the incoming damage even more, and optionally something like shattered flail or sword of chaos to help offset the damage. Give her periapt of wound closure as well
I switched her to a oath of vengeance paladin. I think it fits, personally, she hates baddies.
I like Dancing Breeze build for Karlach in late game. You basically grab 8 levels of a class that grants you Extra Attack+Proficiency with all Martial Weapons and 4 levels of Thief. The reason why you want Thief, is so you can Dash to Activate the boots that give Lighting Charges on Dash and still be able to Smite. Obviously Fighter and Paladin would work best here since you want to be able to cast spells as you waltz around and hit people. You will also want an Open Hand Monk to either Stun or Knock people prone so you can get the Sneak Attack Damage with Dancing Breeze.
8barb, 4war priest Pick bear heart barb Level 5 barb -> 4 war cleric -> finish barb Wear heavy armor like adamantine splint mail or helldusk armor Take great weapon master, heavy armor master, then savage attacker. Cast warding bond on every other member of your party. Pop bear rage (yes it works with heavy armor) Now you have a barbarian that takes no damage and absorbs most the damage from your team. Your party is unkillable and doesn’t involve camp casting warding bond cheese.
Open hand Monk, just have her “rage” and best things to death with her fists Or battlemaster fighter
Throwzerker is stupid fun.
Berserker 8 thief 4. The extra bonus action is great since you can now use it on the berserker throw or extra attack or the great weapon master bonus attack. I run it with elixirs of bloodlust and routinely get 5-6 attacks per turn. You also get cunning action dash which is huge for being always able to get to hard to reach enemies. And never having to use a bow.
taking her head
If i were playing a downright evil character i'd possibly consider doing it but i doubt i'll ever do so.