Baldur's Gate 3 can enable some fairly broken builds, and there are few better examples than a multi-class caster dealing up to two thousand damage per turn, showcased by a crafty player on Reddit. The enduring popularity and roaring success of Baldur's Gate 3 proves that not only are single-player games still high demand, but that turn-based CRPGs are a genre worth investing in. Between Final Fantasy 16, Hogwarts Legacy, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, this year has been flooded by high-quality titles that focus on providing a complete single-player experience, removed from the current monetization trends that plague the industry as a whole.
Though Baldur's Gate 3 has its share of bugs, and the cut content concerning Avernus and the Upper City all but guarantee a Definitive Edition somewhere down the line, players across the globe have thoroughly enjoyed their adventures on the Sword Coast. It was a tall task for Larian Studios to successfully develop a sequel to one of the best RPGs of all time, and yet the game seems to have met those expectations with utmost confidence.
The fifth edition experience has largely been adapted wholesale for Baldur's Gate 3, and Larian has been an extremely generous dungeon master when it comes to home-brewed loot that lies scattered across the game's numerous crypts, caverns, and crèches. It is precisely these items that have allowed players such as King-Mollusk to create broken Baldur's Gate 3 builds, as this particular Mage build is capable of dealing 2,016 damage spread across four targets in a single turn.
The build relies on two items to work: the Amulet of the Devout, and the Markoheshkir Staff. The legendary staff provides Chain Lightning to the wielder, allowing them to cast the Level 6 spell multiple times per fight. At its default, Chain Lightning does 14-84 damage to four targets, with the bonus included from the Markoheskir Staff. The damage is doubled if the enemies have lightning vulnerability. However, if a player invests one level into the Tempest Cleric from Baldur's Gate 3, one level into Wizard, and 10 levels into Storm Sorcerer, the build really takes off.
Using Haste, Metamagic: Twinned Spell, Metamagic: Quickened Spell, and Channel Divinity, the player would be able to spend all nine of their sorcery points into casting three Chain Lightning spells in just one turn, dealing up to 168 damage per target thrice. Though this largely deals in hypotheticals, the raw damage potential of the build cannot be denied. Sorcerers in Baldur's Gate 3 are certainly one of the more powerful classes to play, and as seen, multi-classing can make them especially deadly.
Baldur's Gate 3 is available for PC, and will release for PlayStation 5 on September 6, 2023. A version for Xbox Series X/S is currently in development.
