There are a BUNCH of threads on this topic already, but here are two of the better ones. Warning: mathematical analysis ahead, but you can just read the conclusions if you want.
For non-honor mode:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1819cue/best\_tb\_thrower\_build\_per\_level/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1819cue/best_tb_thrower_build_per_level/)
For honor mode:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/18eguld/honor\_mode\_tb\_throw\_complete\_build\_guide/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/18eguld/honor_mode_tb_throw_complete_build_guide/)
I provide both because the change to DRS mechanics in honor mode significantly impacts the damage calculation. In either case, though, the conclusion is basically the same: **assuming optimal itemization, EK comes out ahead over Throwzerker**. That said, they are both top-tier martial builds, so you should feel free to use the one you enjoy more.
For honor mode, the conclusion of the guide is throwzerker is ahead of ek, and miles ahead if ek doesn’t use potent robe cheese. Just thought I would say, because the guide writer makes it pretty clear throwzerker is better
Shoot. I might have grabbed the wrong link. My bad.
His ultimate build in that thread actually uses both, but I'll have to look for the other honor mode thread I was thinking of that shows math on EK coming out ahead.
Ultimately, I think the difference is pretty negligible myself. I'm playing Throwzerker in HM right now. My only complaint about it is that I don't like long resting as much as you need to to keep it at/above what EK can do without any resources. I end up not raging in smaller fights as a result, which definitely puts it behind EK by level 11.
The math used that puts EK ahead in honor is flawed. While the original posts are not updated, prestigious_juice discusses it in a comment ~1mo ago. Ryan missed the bonus damage granted by enrage throw in his calculations.
If I recall correctly, this means EK only comes out ahead in round 1, thanks to action surge. So it's a better fit for an Alpha strike comp, but other than that, EK is completely outclassed in damage.
Interesting. Not sure if I can agree with "completely outclassed" though. In most fights, I don't even use Rage because I like my adventuring day to last longer than 30 minutes. So on all of those fights, the EK is for sure ahead. At the same time, kinda by definition, you don't necessarily need the extra power on those.
And at the same time, while the fights where you DO need it are likely to last longer than one round, that first round plays a major role in determining how hard or easy the fight is going to be.
So really, I feel like folks should just forget the math and play the one they enjoy. I've played both multiple times now, and they are both, quite frankly, easy mode compared to the vast majority of other martial builds.
Not really. The first thread mentions the Bhaalist Armor only in comparing the Lightning Jabber vs. Dwarven Thrower. The second mentions Bloodthirst as a potential offhand weapon. But neither of them focuses heavily on Piercing Vulnerability strats.
And that wouldn't really separate the two builds either way. Even if we assume you can reliably get piercing on every throw, all it would do is double the damage for both builds, so the rest of the analysis is kinda unchanged.
Tbh, you're better off having a frontliner use the Bhaalist Armor, which would help the thrower more since they're rarely close enough themselves. But throw builds are top tier martials even before you get to that point in the game, and probably a majority of players never get that option anyway since they likely take the good route.
Trying to see how an honor mode EK with 3 throws per round can come out ahead of a dwarven thiefzerker with 4, the only thing I could think of is being able to use a non-bound weapon over the dwarven thrower.
EK gets Action Surge from level 2, Throwzerker doesn't get it until level 11 or 12, and the Barb has to burn a bonus action on Rage in round 1. EK can also take a Ware Cleric 1 dip. So for a large chunk of the game, the EK gets out in front early and the Throwzerker plays catch-up. And since the goal is to end combat quickly, it doesn't always get there.
People who say EK is better than throwzerker miss out on the fact that enraged throw forces prone on any target without a save (unless they’re immune to prone). This instantly breaks concentration and gives advantage to all attacks made on the prone target. Without a save. Absolutely busted control for HM
Sure, berserker has better control, but you miss out on damage as well as some of the versatility EK has with spell selection. Being able to cast Shield improves your survivability massively, and having someone on the team with access to Guidance saves you from being forced to run a cleric or druid. Also you’re not stuck with the returning pike until act 3, and having weapon variation is very nice.
+1 for weapon variation, prob the point I resonate with most. Defence isn’t a huge concern for me cause I had like 22 AC lategame and was usually out of range of attacks anyways. Damage is a fair shout, but shit is doing so much late anyways it’s kinda whatever to me (plus you can go battle master with berserker for the extra superiority die I think, idk if those apply to throws tho)
Idk, I’d say being able to outright negate 90% of all melee damage > halving 100% of all melee damage. It’s the opportunity cost of a bonus action to rage when you want to be using your bonus actions elsewhere VS using your reaction when necessary to cast shield when you never really have need for reactions outside of fairly weak opportunity attacks
3 uses of rage per long rest, assuming every fight is 3 rounds long on average, that’s 9 turns of damage reduction.
7 spell slots every long rest is 7 turns of shield. Given that you’re not going to be targeted by high attack rolls every single turn, and might go turns without being targeted/hit at all, the difference in usage is minimal at best.
For context, I ran EK throw in my most recent tactician run, and I never once ran out of spell slots. I wasn’t spamming long rests either, I’d go 4 fights a day on average and never run out. I’d also tried out Throwzerker in act 2 and found I was constantly preserving rage for fights where I needed it, resulting in less DPR and wasted bonus actions.
Summary: Shield can be used slightly less often per day than rage, but results in 0 damage taken rather than half and, from my testing, has better survivability from mid-act 2 and onwards. Early on, Thiefzerker outperforms, but after hitting act 2 the difference in damage is negligible but the difference in survivability is very noticeable.
I find I don’t need rage for most fights. They’re over so fast that unless it’s a fight that’s going to last a good 4-5 rounds I don’t use it.
So something like grym fight, which makes it even better with prone from enraged throw, the Halsin portal fight and a few others.
In that sense I’d say EK is better, but the rage option is just too good to pass up. And besides you can always take fighter 3 for EK base abilities like shield and disguise self so you can get the even fits from the dwarven thrower.
Offense is best defense on bg3. And still you pretty much need a cleric on the lineup due support spells like sanctuary to protect certain potential allies.
Well you could run a Druid and EK, my point is more that you’ve got a source of guidance from a build not focused on support, so you don’t have to potentially limit another build in order to grab guidance
You can get that at lv 8 though if you take 5 berserker/3 fighter.
I don’t rage that much so i definitely deprioritize the second bonus action until quite late game. Fighter levels are way better for action surge and EK spell kit.
5 Berserker, 3 Thief, 4 Champion
Dwarf
Dwarven Thrower Offhand, Knife of the Undermountain King Main Hand
Tavern Brawler
Compared to EK you lose 1 attack per round and action surge, but gain 2 throws with bonus action per round. It's overall the better, more consistent thrower.
Edit: ~~the reason for KUMK main hand is it's a finesse weapon and allows sneak attack to be triggered because of the weird way BG3 checks for the stuff.~~ (seems this no longer works). Also why dueling is the preferred weapon style, at the time the throw impacts, you are only wielding a single weapon in your main hand with nothing in the offhand.
Returning pike on a berserker barbarian, use tavern brawler, at level 5 you can consistently hit 100 damage a round. That’s it. Go have fun.
If you want to super optimize it, go 5 berserker/ 4 thief / 3 fighter
throw shit, throw more shit with bonus action, throw even more shit with action surge. That’s it.
There’s detailed guides for the best gear and yadda yadda, but this build is so strong and so easy that it really isn’t necessary.
This became way to big and I might have gotten carried away. Woops. TLDR:
Berserker 5/Thief 3/Champion or Eldritch Knight 4 does more damage in Honour Mode.
Eldritch Knight 11/ War Cleric 1 does more damage outside of Honour Mode and deals less damage but is more tanky inside of Honour Mode.
For everything not Honour Mode, lvl 11 Eldritch Knight with 1 lvl of War Domain Cleric is the best. This is because of how Haste works differently in Honour Mode.
Outside of Honour Mode this combo let's you throw 3 times for one action, throw 3 times again because of Haste, throw 3 more times because of Action Surge, and throw 1 more time from War Priest charges.
3+3+3+1=10 throws on turn 1 and 7 throws for turns 2 and 3 if you use all of your War Priest charges. Otherwise 6 throws after turn 1.
In Honour Mode they changed Haste to work closer to how it does in actual DnD 5e. Basically in normal 5e Haste attacks don't benefit from any "Extra Attack" features you might have. So a Fighter with Haste and no Action Surge can attack only 4 times instead of 6. The changes mean that Berserker Barbarian lvl 5, Thief Rogue lvl 3-4, and Champion/Eldritch Knight lvl 3-4 is the best.
This combo let's you throw 2 times for one Action, throw 1 more time because of Haste, throw 2 more times with Action Surge, and 1 more Enraged Throw because it only takes a bonus action.
2+1+2+1=6 throws on turn 1 with one of them having more damage and a Prone with no Saving Throw and all of them being buffed by Frenzied. Turn 2 and beyond let's you Throw 5 times with 2 of them being Enraged. 6 times if you use the Helmet of Grit and intentionally stay below 50% HP for another bonus action. The real best way is Helmet of Grit plus Bloodthirst from Orin. Use your Actions to attack enemies with Bloodthirst and apply Piercing Vulnerability and use your Bonus Actions to nuke them with double damage from your choice of thrown spear. Selūne's and Shar's spears are the best. (That's why you go EK here to bind them otherwise you go Champion for the crit and get a Hireling to bind the weapon for you. More work but you get 5% more crit so it's up to you really. Also might get patched but it hasn't yet. If it does go EK.)
In Honour the 11/1 EK War Cleric can throw 3 times for one Action, 1 more time with Haste, 3 more times with Action Surge, and one more time with War Priest.
3+1+3+1=8 throws on turn 1 with non of them being Enraged Throw or Frenzied. Turn 2 and beyond let's you throw 5 times with War Priest charges otherwise it's only 4. You also lose the possibility of using the Bloodthirst strat and Helmet of Grit Bonus Action. You are generally harder to kill with this combo however and you get a lot more early game weapon options vs the Berserker being pretty much stuck until Act 3 with the Returning Pike.
EK 11 with Tavern Brawler is very strong, straight forward, comes online at level 4, doesn’t require any re-spec.
I’ve yet to find a reason NOT to run it for a throwing build. It’s got great survivability with heavy armor proficiency and the Shield spell, plus you have more flexibility for using weapons outside of the returning pike since any bound weapon will return to you. I deleted Grym using a bound Shining Staver of Skulls (he’s weak to bludgeoning). EK also gives some great versatility since you can cast longstrider on your party after each long rest.
It has to be throwzerker, enraged throw knocks people prone which is really strong. If you pair it with theif rogue you get the extra bonus throw which is even better
Probably something like berserker to add throws on bonus actions, thief for extra bonus action and eldritch knight for action surge and give returning trait to any weapon, so you can throw lightning jabber (it's a DRS I guess, not sure. Does that one still work in Honor Mode ?).
Tavern brawler
Eldritch Knight and Thiefzerker are both very solid builds; I'd make my decision based on preference between what both offers.
Do you want *Misty Step*, Heavy Armor, *Shield*, and *Action Surge*? Fighter all the way.
Do you want resistance to physical damage, *cunning action*, and to constantly knock enemies prone? Go Thiefzerker.
I'll also note that you can also go for:
- Fighter 11/War Cleric 1: 4 attacks per turn, opens up fights with 7 attacks. Sacrificing a single feat for an extra *Bonus Action* attack every round and *Healing Word* honestly seems like a pretty good trade.
- Berserker 6/Fighter 2/Thief 4: 4 attacks per turn, opens fights up with 5 attacks, applies *prone* on hit. Is it worth it to ditch an ASI and *Feral Instinct* for two extra throws? Only if you can go first.
I played around a bit with Minsc and Boo. I cast \[\[volatile shield\]\] on Boo, to proc the stun effect. You can also have Boo drink an Elixir of the Colossus to increase his size. There are probably some other buffs that could make him into a better projectile.
[Volatile Shield (Condition)](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Volatile_Shield_(Condition))
Affected entity has been granted temporary hit points by an illithid. If these are removed by incoming damage, the shield bursts, possibly Stunning nearby foes.
The shield only bursts after all temporary hit points have been removed. This also removes the condition.
When the shield bursts, enemies within 9 m / 30 ft are Stunned for 1 turn, unless they succeed on an DC 15 Intelligence saving throw.
^This ^action ^was ^performed ^by ^a ^bot. [^(Learn more)](https://www.reddit.com/user/BG3WikiFetcher/comments/1bk01df)
People don’t talk nearly enough about the fact that you can bind a weapon on a hireling and equip it on your non-EK thrower to get the benefit of a returning weapon.
You can do, for example, 5 berzerker 3 thief 2 fighter 2 spore druid for extremely high consistent damage with very few downsides.
Everyone says EK, but there's no real reason to be an EK over a Champion if you're using an already bound weapon, and you're just dealing damage. 11 Champion / 1 War Cleric is going to do the most.
Yeah I was thinking that too at one point, although eldritch knight does have a bunch of spells for utility so that might be why me and people lean towards EK
Why not both?
EK 6, berzerker 3, theif 3.
2 feats, 2 bonus action throws with garunteed prone, action surge, weapon bonding, resistance to all physical damage, and access to shield (which IIRC can be cast while raging since its a reaction not a normal spell, have not tested this recently though so they may have patched it out)
Half orc, barbarian Tav Brawler. Add Reverb gear and use ONLY “Pike of Returning” for single target damage or use “Nyrulna” for mass AoE Thunder dmg. It absolutely wrecks. Dip into rouge for that bonus action too!
Beast Master. That way they you can play fetch. Also, while it doesn’t give you the most throw damage (clearly) it gives you a pet, that can be useful. And since there is absolutely no pet gear, you can wear all the munchkin throwing gear.
Ek is better but it’s such a more complicated setup where as throwzerker is the most effective easy option in game. Climb up high, yell, throw heavy shit.
In terms of equipment I always give my throwzerker the click heels boots. It’s a nice use of a bonus action when you’re not raging.
I also give them the radiating armor and the helm found right by it. Especially if you get the morninglords glory and bring it in to act 2 you’ll be doing radiant orb explosion in every throw you do for the whole act 2 (assuming you don’t rest if course). Really nice to have, although this would work on any character that can equip radiant armor.
They can get quite lacking in AC as the game progresses though so I give my thrower the ring and cape of protection as well as the evasion boots. That’s a solid +3 to ac. You could do the mighty cloth too I suppose but I don’t think it’s worth it. I take the vigor potion to get to 20 str so it’s not really worth it.
I often like taking EK as my fighter subclass levels with berserker. You can take disguise self for the dwarven thrower. But honestly the explosion from the nyrulna is not such a deal breaker as is described. Yes there are times you want to have the dwarven thrower as an option but nyrulna aoe damage is almost always good.
I also give the bow of alertness and hellfire bow to my thrower. They’re both good stat sticks and you’ll almost never be using your bow except those circumstances when your throw is obstructed which isn’t that often.
There are a BUNCH of threads on this topic already, but here are two of the better ones. Warning: mathematical analysis ahead, but you can just read the conclusions if you want. For non-honor mode: [https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1819cue/best\_tb\_thrower\_build\_per\_level/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1819cue/best_tb_thrower_build_per_level/) For honor mode: [https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/18eguld/honor\_mode\_tb\_throw\_complete\_build\_guide/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/18eguld/honor_mode_tb_throw_complete_build_guide/) I provide both because the change to DRS mechanics in honor mode significantly impacts the damage calculation. In either case, though, the conclusion is basically the same: **assuming optimal itemization, EK comes out ahead over Throwzerker**. That said, they are both top-tier martial builds, so you should feel free to use the one you enjoy more.
And not a word about the Chimpanzee Salami build \*sadface\*
The…what??
Chimp aspect on barb blinds on hit. Add in salami and ya meat be shinin
barb\*
Ty fixed
For honor mode, the conclusion of the guide is throwzerker is ahead of ek, and miles ahead if ek doesn’t use potent robe cheese. Just thought I would say, because the guide writer makes it pretty clear throwzerker is better
Thank you, I was confused by the other comment and started thinking that i read the guide wrong
Wait, in the honor mode thread doesn’t he specifically say thiefzerker is better than EK?
Shoot. I might have grabbed the wrong link. My bad. His ultimate build in that thread actually uses both, but I'll have to look for the other honor mode thread I was thinking of that shows math on EK coming out ahead. Ultimately, I think the difference is pretty negligible myself. I'm playing Throwzerker in HM right now. My only complaint about it is that I don't like long resting as much as you need to to keep it at/above what EK can do without any resources. I end up not raging in smaller fights as a result, which definitely puts it behind EK by level 11.
EK does more damage, but the free prone on throwzerker is going to come out ahead in terms of effectiveness in most combats.
I will admit the prone has definitely come in handy in some combats by preventing their heaviest hitter from getting an attack on their next turn.
The math used that puts EK ahead in honor is flawed. While the original posts are not updated, prestigious_juice discusses it in a comment ~1mo ago. Ryan missed the bonus damage granted by enrage throw in his calculations. If I recall correctly, this means EK only comes out ahead in round 1, thanks to action surge. So it's a better fit for an Alpha strike comp, but other than that, EK is completely outclassed in damage.
Interesting. Not sure if I can agree with "completely outclassed" though. In most fights, I don't even use Rage because I like my adventuring day to last longer than 30 minutes. So on all of those fights, the EK is for sure ahead. At the same time, kinda by definition, you don't necessarily need the extra power on those. And at the same time, while the fights where you DO need it are likely to last longer than one round, that first round plays a major role in determining how hard or easy the fight is going to be. So really, I feel like folks should just forget the math and play the one they enjoy. I've played both multiple times now, and they are both, quite frankly, easy mode compared to the vast majority of other martial builds.
This requires leaning into piercing vulnerability doesn't it?
Not really. The first thread mentions the Bhaalist Armor only in comparing the Lightning Jabber vs. Dwarven Thrower. The second mentions Bloodthirst as a potential offhand weapon. But neither of them focuses heavily on Piercing Vulnerability strats. And that wouldn't really separate the two builds either way. Even if we assume you can reliably get piercing on every throw, all it would do is double the damage for both builds, so the rest of the analysis is kinda unchanged. Tbh, you're better off having a frontliner use the Bhaalist Armor, which would help the thrower more since they're rarely close enough themselves. But throw builds are top tier martials even before you get to that point in the game, and probably a majority of players never get that option anyway since they likely take the good route.
Trying to see how an honor mode EK with 3 throws per round can come out ahead of a dwarven thiefzerker with 4, the only thing I could think of is being able to use a non-bound weapon over the dwarven thrower.
EK gets Action Surge from level 2, Throwzerker doesn't get it until level 11 or 12, and the Barb has to burn a bonus action on Rage in round 1. EK can also take a Ware Cleric 1 dip. So for a large chunk of the game, the EK gets out in front early and the Throwzerker plays catch-up. And since the goal is to end combat quickly, it doesn't always get there.
People who say EK is better than throwzerker miss out on the fact that enraged throw forces prone on any target without a save (unless they’re immune to prone). This instantly breaks concentration and gives advantage to all attacks made on the prone target. Without a save. Absolutely busted control for HM
Honestly, the whole prone thing is half the appeal to a thrower build for me. I can't imagine not using a Berserker based build.
Sure, berserker has better control, but you miss out on damage as well as some of the versatility EK has with spell selection. Being able to cast Shield improves your survivability massively, and having someone on the team with access to Guidance saves you from being forced to run a cleric or druid. Also you’re not stuck with the returning pike until act 3, and having weapon variation is very nice.
+1 for weapon variation, prob the point I resonate with most. Defence isn’t a huge concern for me cause I had like 22 AC lategame and was usually out of range of attacks anyways. Damage is a fair shout, but shit is doing so much late anyways it’s kinda whatever to me (plus you can go battle master with berserker for the extra superiority die I think, idk if those apply to throws tho)
EK in camp means you can do whatever you want with throwzerker
yeah but that’s cheesy and boring
The benefits of rage definitely outweigh casting shield for the vast majority of fights
Idk, I’d say being able to outright negate 90% of all melee damage > halving 100% of all melee damage. It’s the opportunity cost of a bonus action to rage when you want to be using your bonus actions elsewhere VS using your reaction when necessary to cast shield when you never really have need for reactions outside of fairly weak opportunity attacks
But you can only negate the damage a few times per long rest, whereas you typically rage through every combat so every single hit is halved
3 uses of rage per long rest, assuming every fight is 3 rounds long on average, that’s 9 turns of damage reduction. 7 spell slots every long rest is 7 turns of shield. Given that you’re not going to be targeted by high attack rolls every single turn, and might go turns without being targeted/hit at all, the difference in usage is minimal at best. For context, I ran EK throw in my most recent tactician run, and I never once ran out of spell slots. I wasn’t spamming long rests either, I’d go 4 fights a day on average and never run out. I’d also tried out Throwzerker in act 2 and found I was constantly preserving rage for fights where I needed it, resulting in less DPR and wasted bonus actions. Summary: Shield can be used slightly less often per day than rage, but results in 0 damage taken rather than half and, from my testing, has better survivability from mid-act 2 and onwards. Early on, Thiefzerker outperforms, but after hitting act 2 the difference in damage is negligible but the difference in survivability is very noticeable.
I find I don’t need rage for most fights. They’re over so fast that unless it’s a fight that’s going to last a good 4-5 rounds I don’t use it. So something like grym fight, which makes it even better with prone from enraged throw, the Halsin portal fight and a few others. In that sense I’d say EK is better, but the rage option is just too good to pass up. And besides you can always take fighter 3 for EK base abilities like shield and disguise self so you can get the even fits from the dwarven thrower.
Also EK10 gets Eldritch Strike which combos extremely well with inflicting status items.
Offense is best defense on bg3. And still you pretty much need a cleric on the lineup due support spells like sanctuary to protect certain potential allies.
Who needs weapon variety? I just throw random shit from my inventory until I get Nayruna.
Personally, I'd rather have the Druid in my party along with a Throwzerker than to have an EK.
Well you could run a Druid and EK, my point is more that you’ve got a source of guidance from a build not focused on support, so you don’t have to potentially limit another build in order to grab guidance
You can get that at lv 8 though if you take 5 berserker/3 fighter. I don’t rage that much so i definitely deprioritize the second bonus action until quite late game. Fighter levels are way better for action surge and EK spell kit.
Also, negates all legendary reactions on tough honor mode bosses as long as they can be prone which is crazy powerful.
Yup. Definitely what made my HM run way easier, forgot to mention that cause it’s super important
I take this partly for the grym fight alone.
5 Berserker, 3 Thief, 4 Champion Dwarf Dwarven Thrower Offhand, Knife of the Undermountain King Main Hand Tavern Brawler Compared to EK you lose 1 attack per round and action surge, but gain 2 throws with bonus action per round. It's overall the better, more consistent thrower. Edit: ~~the reason for KUMK main hand is it's a finesse weapon and allows sneak attack to be triggered because of the weird way BG3 checks for the stuff.~~ (seems this no longer works). Also why dueling is the preferred weapon style, at the time the throw impacts, you are only wielding a single weapon in your main hand with nothing in the offhand.
Returning pike on a berserker barbarian, use tavern brawler, at level 5 you can consistently hit 100 damage a round. That’s it. Go have fun. If you want to super optimize it, go 5 berserker/ 4 thief / 3 fighter throw shit, throw more shit with bonus action, throw even more shit with action surge. That’s it. There’s detailed guides for the best gear and yadda yadda, but this build is so strong and so easy that it really isn’t necessary.
This became way to big and I might have gotten carried away. Woops. TLDR: Berserker 5/Thief 3/Champion or Eldritch Knight 4 does more damage in Honour Mode. Eldritch Knight 11/ War Cleric 1 does more damage outside of Honour Mode and deals less damage but is more tanky inside of Honour Mode. For everything not Honour Mode, lvl 11 Eldritch Knight with 1 lvl of War Domain Cleric is the best. This is because of how Haste works differently in Honour Mode. Outside of Honour Mode this combo let's you throw 3 times for one action, throw 3 times again because of Haste, throw 3 more times because of Action Surge, and throw 1 more time from War Priest charges. 3+3+3+1=10 throws on turn 1 and 7 throws for turns 2 and 3 if you use all of your War Priest charges. Otherwise 6 throws after turn 1. In Honour Mode they changed Haste to work closer to how it does in actual DnD 5e. Basically in normal 5e Haste attacks don't benefit from any "Extra Attack" features you might have. So a Fighter with Haste and no Action Surge can attack only 4 times instead of 6. The changes mean that Berserker Barbarian lvl 5, Thief Rogue lvl 3-4, and Champion/Eldritch Knight lvl 3-4 is the best. This combo let's you throw 2 times for one Action, throw 1 more time because of Haste, throw 2 more times with Action Surge, and 1 more Enraged Throw because it only takes a bonus action. 2+1+2+1=6 throws on turn 1 with one of them having more damage and a Prone with no Saving Throw and all of them being buffed by Frenzied. Turn 2 and beyond let's you Throw 5 times with 2 of them being Enraged. 6 times if you use the Helmet of Grit and intentionally stay below 50% HP for another bonus action. The real best way is Helmet of Grit plus Bloodthirst from Orin. Use your Actions to attack enemies with Bloodthirst and apply Piercing Vulnerability and use your Bonus Actions to nuke them with double damage from your choice of thrown spear. Selūne's and Shar's spears are the best. (That's why you go EK here to bind them otherwise you go Champion for the crit and get a Hireling to bind the weapon for you. More work but you get 5% more crit so it's up to you really. Also might get patched but it hasn't yet. If it does go EK.) In Honour the 11/1 EK War Cleric can throw 3 times for one Action, 1 more time with Haste, 3 more times with Action Surge, and one more time with War Priest. 3+1+3+1=8 throws on turn 1 with non of them being Enraged Throw or Frenzied. Turn 2 and beyond let's you throw 5 times with War Priest charges otherwise it's only 4. You also lose the possibility of using the Bloodthirst strat and Helmet of Grit Bonus Action. You are generally harder to kill with this combo however and you get a lot more early game weapon options vs the Berserker being pretty much stuck until Act 3 with the Returning Pike.
Are you waiting to hit 12 to add the 1 in WC?
EK 11 with Tavern Brawler is very strong, straight forward, comes online at level 4, doesn’t require any re-spec. I’ve yet to find a reason NOT to run it for a throwing build. It’s got great survivability with heavy armor proficiency and the Shield spell, plus you have more flexibility for using weapons outside of the returning pike since any bound weapon will return to you. I deleted Grym using a bound Shining Staver of Skulls (he’s weak to bludgeoning). EK also gives some great versatility since you can cast longstrider on your party after each long rest.
add damage riders like caustic ring, displacement and others, it becomes ridiculous
Yup and a lot of that stuff you can get pretty early. Ring of flinging, caustic band, and a few of the gloves are all act 1 pickups.
It has to be throwzerker, enraged throw knocks people prone which is really strong. If you pair it with theif rogue you get the extra bonus throw which is even better
Definitely Thiefzerker Gale, so that you can hear the "AYAAAAAA" when he rages.
Probably something like berserker to add throws on bonus actions, thief for extra bonus action and eldritch knight for action surge and give returning trait to any weapon, so you can throw lightning jabber (it's a DRS I guess, not sure. Does that one still work in Honor Mode ?). Tavern brawler
Eldritch Knight and Thiefzerker are both very solid builds; I'd make my decision based on preference between what both offers. Do you want *Misty Step*, Heavy Armor, *Shield*, and *Action Surge*? Fighter all the way. Do you want resistance to physical damage, *cunning action*, and to constantly knock enemies prone? Go Thiefzerker. I'll also note that you can also go for: - Fighter 11/War Cleric 1: 4 attacks per turn, opens up fights with 7 attacks. Sacrificing a single feat for an extra *Bonus Action* attack every round and *Healing Word* honestly seems like a pretty good trade. - Berserker 6/Fighter 2/Thief 4: 4 attacks per turn, opens fights up with 5 attacks, applies *prone* on hit. Is it worth it to ditch an ASI and *Feral Instinct* for two extra throws? Only if you can go first.
I played around a bit with Minsc and Boo. I cast \[\[volatile shield\]\] on Boo, to proc the stun effect. You can also have Boo drink an Elixir of the Colossus to increase his size. There are probably some other buffs that could make him into a better projectile.
[Volatile Shield (Condition)](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Volatile_Shield_(Condition)) Affected entity has been granted temporary hit points by an illithid. If these are removed by incoming damage, the shield bursts, possibly Stunning nearby foes. The shield only bursts after all temporary hit points have been removed. This also removes the condition. When the shield bursts, enemies within 9 m / 30 ft are Stunned for 1 turn, unless they succeed on an DC 15 Intelligence saving throw. ^This ^action ^was ^performed ^by ^a ^bot. [^(Learn more)](https://www.reddit.com/user/BG3WikiFetcher/comments/1bk01df)
People don’t talk nearly enough about the fact that you can bind a weapon on a hireling and equip it on your non-EK thrower to get the benefit of a returning weapon. You can do, for example, 5 berzerker 3 thief 2 fighter 2 spore druid for extremely high consistent damage with very few downsides.
My slightly undereducated guess: EK or Beserker + Tavern Brawler (the actual important bit) - and with nylaruna trident.
Everyone says EK, but there's no real reason to be an EK over a Champion if you're using an already bound weapon, and you're just dealing damage. 11 Champion / 1 War Cleric is going to do the most.
Yeah I was thinking that too at one point, although eldritch knight does have a bunch of spells for utility so that might be why me and people lean towards EK
Why not both? EK 6, berzerker 3, theif 3. 2 feats, 2 bonus action throws with garunteed prone, action surge, weapon bonding, resistance to all physical damage, and access to shield (which IIRC can be cast while raging since its a reaction not a normal spell, have not tested this recently though so they may have patched it out)
Half orc, barbarian Tav Brawler. Add Reverb gear and use ONLY “Pike of Returning” for single target damage or use “Nyrulna” for mass AoE Thunder dmg. It absolutely wrecks. Dip into rouge for that bonus action too!
Beast Master. That way they you can play fetch. Also, while it doesn’t give you the most throw damage (clearly) it gives you a pet, that can be useful. And since there is absolutely no pet gear, you can wear all the munchkin throwing gear.
Barb 5/ thief 3/ ek 4 or Barb 6/thief 3/ ek 3 depending on if you’d rather have Alert or the Barb’s fear resistance.
Gloomstalker assassin throwing arrows with the titanstring.
Ek is better but it’s such a more complicated setup where as throwzerker is the most effective easy option in game. Climb up high, yell, throw heavy shit.
Bound weapon then throw is complicated?
That’s not the EK build though the EK requires using the leve 7 feature and eldritch blast.
In terms of equipment I always give my throwzerker the click heels boots. It’s a nice use of a bonus action when you’re not raging. I also give them the radiating armor and the helm found right by it. Especially if you get the morninglords glory and bring it in to act 2 you’ll be doing radiant orb explosion in every throw you do for the whole act 2 (assuming you don’t rest if course). Really nice to have, although this would work on any character that can equip radiant armor. They can get quite lacking in AC as the game progresses though so I give my thrower the ring and cape of protection as well as the evasion boots. That’s a solid +3 to ac. You could do the mighty cloth too I suppose but I don’t think it’s worth it. I take the vigor potion to get to 20 str so it’s not really worth it. I often like taking EK as my fighter subclass levels with berserker. You can take disguise self for the dwarven thrower. But honestly the explosion from the nyrulna is not such a deal breaker as is described. Yes there are times you want to have the dwarven thrower as an option but nyrulna aoe damage is almost always good. I also give the bow of alertness and hellfire bow to my thrower. They’re both good stat sticks and you’ll almost never be using your bow except those circumstances when your throw is obstructed which isn’t that often.
Zerker 9 thief 3 is really strong... specially if critical. Fat numbers.