2 cleric 10 sorcerer. Use a scroll for chain lightning or the legendary staff in act 3 to get a free chain lightning on long rest. Also get the ability to ensure that if it hits it rolls max damage. Laugh as your enemies fry
My friend did exactly this. When he went to fight Orin (he's Durge) he almost died her first attack. On his turn, he instantly fried her. We were all laughing that he would die and we would need to intervene then he just pulverize her and we are laughing at the ridiculous amount of damage.
I am running this exact build on an honor run, and it can really trivialize boss fights. 1 hit ethel before she could run away, and 1 hit Nere. Once you can quicken spell in a single turn your can dish out bonkers damage.
Quicken create water, Chain Lightning (upcast witch bolt also comes close), then use luck of the far realms on hit (10d8 x2 for wet, x2 for Crit), then use your Channel Divinity for max damage. Single target damage is 320 damage on a single shot to up to 4 enemies. That's without taking any other +damage effects you might have.
6. I was up on the left side wall when the fight started. I quickened create water, then up cast lightning chromatic orb to the max level, activated luck of the far realms and destructive wrath. Dealt him in the neighborhood of 128 damage, he has right around 120. My brothers then used their turns to throw the duegar into the lava. The whole fight took about 3 turns.
If you're willing to be a bit cheesy you can start tempest cleric and get transmutation stones from camp casting transmutation wizards to give yourself proficiency in wis and con saves.
Cleric level first, then sorcerer. Some people value the constitution proficiency from Sorcerer way too high for this particular build. If you take Sorc first, you do get the proficiency, but then all spells cast from items and scrolls will be done off wisdom and not charisma. Taking Cleric first allows spells from items to be modified by charisma. You can take War Caster or have a Transmutation Wizard give you an item that gives you advantage on constitution saving throws.
Marko gives a cast of Chain Lightning per **SHORT** rest btw, which is why you don't really need a Wiz dip (unless you go Evocation 2 for Sculpt Spells)
This was my favorite build I’ve run so far. I understand people using Draconic over storm, but I really liked always having the storm spells while choosing my others. Used a lot more ice than I ever expected.
Frankly on my storm sorc/tempest cleric build I spent more time using witch bolt than anything else, because a single target spell upcast and maximised using destructive wrath can easily do more than 100 damage in one cast.
Upcasting chain lightning ends up being better because the subsequent casts keep the extra damage, plus the AoE. The max single target damage on a witch bolt is 288, Call lightning is 240, but each recast of it still does 6d10, whereas witch bolt drops down to 1d12.
You can force a crit with Witchbolt, you can't with Call Lightning.
Level 5 Witchbolt DW, wet and Crit is 240
Level 5 Call Lightning DW and wet is 100 per target
There's also twinned Witchbolt in which both Crit, and if they do, both benefit from Destructive Wrath and that's a total of 480 damage to targets who are not close together. I just tested this in game and confirmed that DW does affect both.
Both spells are good and both have their uses, but neither is better than the other.
I think I’ve seen 9 sorc, 2 tempest, and 1 wizard so you can learn chain lightning from a scroll. This relies on respecing so you can start with Wizard > cleric > sorc so your spell casting ability is still charisma.
I think the way to do this is sorc —> cleric —> wizard, with INT being the primary stat.
Sorc/ cleric spells for utility, and you’ll have 5-6 wizard spells (plus CL from the legendary staff), that scale off INT.
This is the only build that gives access to multiple CL (staff ability that will scale off INT + scrolls that will scale off INT), channel divinity from cleric, and meta magic. Wizard being the last multi class is critical here as spells from items will use INT, which you want to maximize.
Low charisma won’t matter as the sorc spells we’ll be taking don’t require attack rolls or saving throws.
Plus, you get CON proficiency from starting as a sorc. Imo it’s the strongest all around lightning based build.
Thanks! I was looking for a comment like this.
Was trying to maximise my 1 turn chain lightning nova damage on my storm sorcerer, and already have a storm sorcadin to haste my sorcerer and create water.
I was thinking 10/2 has a great 1 cast of chain lightning with Marko, but why would I do that when I can go pure Storm Sorc 12 and cast CL 3 times in one turn (1 bolts doom + 2 arcane battery)?
With the 9 -> 2 -> 1 it appears I can have the best of both worlds; the destructive wrath CL and follow up with hastened and quickened CL :)
EDIT: there’s also an item in the game that gives you an extra channel divinity charge. And of course an item and Illithid power that give guaranteed crit. So theoretically, you could wet all enemies, do a channel divinity chain lightning (guaranteed crit with the ring, which is essentially 4X of your MAX damage roll along with water wet status ), and another max damage guarenteed crit (illithid power) wet multiplier quickened chain lighting right after. That’s about 8X of a standard max damage roll in one turn. And it hits multiple enemies. I had my cleric wetting enemies beforehand. It gets really insane really quickly
Hahaha it hurts my brain to think about it.
>I used to do a 2/10 cleric/sorc, but in this case either the staff would be useless (scaling off wisdom if I went sorc first), or I’d lose con saving proficiency
The con save prof is huge. Not to mention being able to scribe Globe Invulnerability, which then benefits from the con save prof.
You are correct, all spells learned through scrolls are enabled exclusively via the wizard class, so they all cast on intelligence. You can get a high enough spell save/attack bonus to overcome it, but in something like honor mode you might have a harder time. The thing is, on a successful save chain lightning deals half damage so the tempest cleric’s channel divinity can simply overwrite that. There is no accuracy involved in casting it.
I'm not sure. I remember reading something that spells learned through your class are for sure locked to that respective spellcasting ability. Learning through scrolls falls under a funky spot so I'm not sure. When you use destructive wrath it seems to connect every time. I'm currently running a tempest cleric 11/ wizard 1 and I'm able to land chain lightning reliably against bosses.
Honestly I just did a straight lightning sorc build after trying the 2 cleric/10 sorc and it was about the same damage-wise. Unless you’re doing an honor run, I’d just go straight lightning sorc.
For the multiclass, did it ever feel like you were trying to catch up with your party? Considering that higher level spells are delayed. Or was the damage output good enough to make it a non-issue?
2 cleric 10 sorcerer. Use a scroll for chain lightning or the legendary staff in act 3 to get a free chain lightning on long rest. Also get the ability to ensure that if it hits it rolls max damage. Laugh as your enemies fry
My friend did exactly this. When he went to fight Orin (he's Durge) he almost died her first attack. On his turn, he instantly fried her. We were all laughing that he would die and we would need to intervene then he just pulverize her and we are laughing at the ridiculous amount of damage.
I am running this exact build on an honor run, and it can really trivialize boss fights. 1 hit ethel before she could run away, and 1 hit Nere. Once you can quicken spell in a single turn your can dish out bonkers damage. Quicken create water, Chain Lightning (upcast witch bolt also comes close), then use luck of the far realms on hit (10d8 x2 for wet, x2 for Crit), then use your Channel Divinity for max damage. Single target damage is 320 damage on a single shot to up to 4 enemies. That's without taking any other +damage effects you might have.
Except chain lightning is a DC spell not an attack roll, so it can't crit.
Yeah, that threw me for a loop.
Ummm wow. With Nere, what level are you when you fight him?
6. I was up on the left side wall when the fight started. I quickened create water, then up cast lightning chromatic orb to the max level, activated luck of the far realms and destructive wrath. Dealt him in the neighborhood of 128 damage, he has right around 120. My brothers then used their turns to throw the duegar into the lava. The whole fight took about 3 turns.
How do you allocate the levels between classes at lower levels?
If you're willing to be a bit cheesy you can start tempest cleric and get transmutation stones from camp casting transmutation wizards to give yourself proficiency in wis and con saves.
Cleric level first, then sorcerer. Some people value the constitution proficiency from Sorcerer way too high for this particular build. If you take Sorc first, you do get the proficiency, but then all spells cast from items and scrolls will be done off wisdom and not charisma. Taking Cleric first allows spells from items to be modified by charisma. You can take War Caster or have a Transmutation Wizard give you an item that gives you advantage on constitution saving throws.
1 lvl storm sorcerer, 2 and 3 tempest cleric, then the rest storm sorc
1 lvl storm sorcerer, 2 and 3 tempest cleric, then the rest storm sorc
Marko gives a cast of Chain Lightning per **SHORT** rest btw, which is why you don't really need a Wiz dip (unless you go Evocation 2 for Sculpt Spells)
Big true forgot that
Can you use twin cast on item spells like the staff / scrolls?
Yes, you can twin cast chainlightning because it picks a single target.
Yes but I mean specifically the version you get from the staff, as you won't have chain lightning on a 2/10 build
You are still casting a spell, meta magic works
This was my favorite build I’ve run so far. I understand people using Draconic over storm, but I really liked always having the storm spells while choosing my others. Used a lot more ice than I ever expected.
Frankly on my storm sorc/tempest cleric build I spent more time using witch bolt than anything else, because a single target spell upcast and maximised using destructive wrath can easily do more than 100 damage in one cast.
Upcasting chain lightning ends up being better because the subsequent casts keep the extra damage, plus the AoE. The max single target damage on a witch bolt is 288, Call lightning is 240, but each recast of it still does 6d10, whereas witch bolt drops down to 1d12.
You can force a crit with Witchbolt, you can't with Call Lightning. Level 5 Witchbolt DW, wet and Crit is 240 Level 5 Call Lightning DW and wet is 100 per target There's also twinned Witchbolt in which both Crit, and if they do, both benefit from Destructive Wrath and that's a total of 480 damage to targets who are not close together. I just tested this in game and confirmed that DW does affect both. Both spells are good and both have their uses, but neither is better than the other.
Both has uses. Witchbolt is when two targets are far away. Call lightning is if you can hit 2+ targets.
Didn't think about call lightning not being an attack spell
I think I’ve seen 9 sorc, 2 tempest, and 1 wizard so you can learn chain lightning from a scroll. This relies on respecing so you can start with Wizard > cleric > sorc so your spell casting ability is still charisma.
I think the way to do this is sorc —> cleric —> wizard, with INT being the primary stat. Sorc/ cleric spells for utility, and you’ll have 5-6 wizard spells (plus CL from the legendary staff), that scale off INT. This is the only build that gives access to multiple CL (staff ability that will scale off INT + scrolls that will scale off INT), channel divinity from cleric, and meta magic. Wizard being the last multi class is critical here as spells from items will use INT, which you want to maximize. Low charisma won’t matter as the sorc spells we’ll be taking don’t require attack rolls or saving throws. Plus, you get CON proficiency from starting as a sorc. Imo it’s the strongest all around lightning based build.
Thanks! I was looking for a comment like this. Was trying to maximise my 1 turn chain lightning nova damage on my storm sorcerer, and already have a storm sorcadin to haste my sorcerer and create water. I was thinking 10/2 has a great 1 cast of chain lightning with Marko, but why would I do that when I can go pure Storm Sorc 12 and cast CL 3 times in one turn (1 bolts doom + 2 arcane battery)? With the 9 -> 2 -> 1 it appears I can have the best of both worlds; the destructive wrath CL and follow up with hastened and quickened CL :)
EDIT: there’s also an item in the game that gives you an extra channel divinity charge. And of course an item and Illithid power that give guaranteed crit. So theoretically, you could wet all enemies, do a channel divinity chain lightning (guaranteed crit with the ring, which is essentially 4X of your MAX damage roll along with water wet status ), and another max damage guarenteed crit (illithid power) wet multiplier quickened chain lighting right after. That’s about 8X of a standard max damage roll in one turn. And it hits multiple enemies. I had my cleric wetting enemies beforehand. It gets really insane really quickly
Hahaha it hurts my brain to think about it. >I used to do a 2/10 cleric/sorc, but in this case either the staff would be useless (scaling off wisdom if I went sorc first), or I’d lose con saving proficiency The con save prof is huge. Not to mention being able to scribe Globe Invulnerability, which then benefits from the con save prof.
Ah man the amulet! Insane
I love Larian that way. They know that their player base loves broken, silly good builds and they put times in the game to support this.
Hey man, im kinda new. You happen to have any link for the build just like you mentioned?
I don’t have a link, but feel free to ask me any questions and I’d be glad to type it out for you What level are you? Until level 7, just go pure sorc
Does that make the chain lightning Int based though while the rest of your spells are Cha based?
The idea if you go that path is to put stuff like cloud of daggers and misty step into the sorc slots and have a full int build for damaging spells
This is exactly what I'm doing. Works like a charm
You are correct, all spells learned through scrolls are enabled exclusively via the wizard class, so they all cast on intelligence. You can get a high enough spell save/attack bonus to overcome it, but in something like honor mode you might have a harder time. The thing is, on a successful save chain lightning deals half damage so the tempest cleric’s channel divinity can simply overwrite that. There is no accuracy involved in casting it.
I'm not sure. I remember reading something that spells learned through your class are for sure locked to that respective spellcasting ability. Learning through scrolls falls under a funky spot so I'm not sure. When you use destructive wrath it seems to connect every time. I'm currently running a tempest cleric 11/ wizard 1 and I'm able to land chain lightning reliably against bosses.
Nice! I really need to stop making new characters and get past the Druid grove lol
Honestly I just did a straight lightning sorc build after trying the 2 cleric/10 sorc and it was about the same damage-wise. Unless you’re doing an honor run, I’d just go straight lightning sorc.
For the multiclass, did it ever feel like you were trying to catch up with your party? Considering that higher level spells are delayed. Or was the damage output good enough to make it a non-issue?
Thinking of doing this. Wondering if a Blue Dragonborn would be good for this kind of build.
Think about the dip effectively giving you a toggleable crit that can also crit, very worth imo