Build: Knife Throwing Assassin 1000 dmg per turn (literally)
Introduction:
In act 3 with the right setup this build can do around 1000 dmg per turn due to Assassinate Ambush guaranteed piercing dmg crits combined with tavern brawler and bhaalist armor. This build is strong since lvl 1 and scales really well with gear and dmg riders. Excellent for solo honor mode.
1000 dmg set up:
Throw a speed potion on the ground and then surprise the enemy from invis with throwing attack, walk into speed potion cloud, eat Terazul, cast action surge and hex, then walk up to the enemy so aura of murder triggers. Due to Assassin’s Alacrity reseting your action you will gain one more attack from extra attack and additional extra attack from regained action. This combined with action surge, speed potion and therazul will give you combined 4 action and 8 attacks on honor mode. After you deal your dmg cast One With Shadows or Invisibility and do your set up again.
Calculations
(1d4+2+2d4( ring of flinging and shadow cloaked ring )+ 18 (tavern brawler)) x 32( eight attacks (x8) and all of them are crits (dmg x 2) and pricing Vulnerability ( x2). 8 x 2 x 2 =32. Now dmg riders: crater flesh gloves 4d6 ( They trigger 2 times on throwing attack crits, they also double their 1d6 on every crit) + hex(1d6). This gives us around 1000 dmg ON AVARAGE. I also forgot sneak attack (2d6) and dueling fighting style (yes it triggers of off thrown attacks)
Edit: Final calculations with sneak attack dmg and dueling:
880 + 112 + 56 + 14 + 64 = 1126 avrg DMG per turn
Race: Halfling/Duergar
We choose Halfling due to halfling’s lucky feature in order to minimize the chance of getting a nat 1 something quite likely since this build throws at mele range quite often. Additionally advantage in stealth checks comes in handy in a build like this.
Duergar is insane for its unlimited invisibility and easy surprise rounds
Short race movement speed is easily countered by longstrider
Triggering surprise round:
As we all know stealth mechanics in bg3 are clunky to say the least. But in order to trigger surprise round there are 4 rules you need to remember.
- Mele atacks from invisibility inside the target vision cones always works
- Don’t trigger surprise rounds in turn based mode, it will eat your action otherwise
- ranged attacks from invisibility inside their vision cones works if you shoot them outside you will trigger a stealth checks and they will search for you.
- Atacking with spells from invisibility is inconsistent and sometimes work sometimes don’t
What if enemy cannot be surprised?:
If thats the case you need to cast darkness or fog cloud do your attacks and hide inside. Enemies will just skip their turn because your last known location Is obscured and they cannot search for it. The only fights you will have any trouble of completing with this build should be Yurgir and Myrkull.
Gameplay:
Early game:
You play like a normal fighter with throwing weapons until lvl 8 where you get your assassin subclass.
Late game:
You do the set up explained above and have fun.
Bis gear for every act:
Act 1:
Haste helmet, death stalker mantle, adamantine splint/gracefull cloth, gloves of inhibited kushigo, boots of striding, vision of the absolute/hammer of shimmering skulls, adamantine shield, periapt of wound closure, ring of flinging, ring of protection, bow of hunting
Act 2:
DJ helmet, shadeclinger armor/gracefull cloth(you lose mage armor with dj helmet or covert cowl), sparkle hands, deathstalekr mantle, boots of evasion, lightning jabber(sneak attack triggered from thrown attacks doesn’t need finesse weapon), adamantine shield periapt of wound closure, ring of flinging, eversight ring.
Act 3
Sarevok’s horned helmet, death stalker mantle, bhaalist armor, crater flesh gloves, boots of evasion, amulet of greater health, bloodthirst, knife of the undermountian king/rhapsody, deadshot, shadow cloaked ring, ring of flinging.
Consumables: Buy a lot of elixirs of hill/cloud giant strength A LOT of them.
Pros&cons
Pros: Extremely high first turn dmg, high ac, can attack from stealth outside of initiative order, versatile with gear, cheap on resources, very safe and easy to play
Cons: Strength elixirs dependency, lower dmg for not surprised enemies, comes online late
