Berserker Druid is a Baldur's Gate build in BioWare's cRPG of 2000, Baldur's Gate 2. In a nutshell, Berserker Druid dual-class pairs the martial prowess of Berserker BG2 with the divine spellcasting prowess of Druid BG2.
For this build, we can dual-class Berserker into Druid at level 7, 9 or 13. This particular Berserker duals at level 13 and reaches 28th level Druid, making it very powerful but increasing its dual-downtime.
The Berserker Druid has strong tanking by virtue of Iron Skins, Armor of Faith and Regeneration, solid physical fighting ability and full offensive Druidic spellcasting, 7th circle inclusive, which includes two of the best offensive spells in BG2: Insect Plague and Creeping Doom.
This is more of a flavor build than an ultra power-gaming one. It is nowhere near as powerful as Kensai Mage or Kensai Thief duals in terms of dictating encounter design outcomes, but it is interesting to play -- especially solo or in a No Reload Run.
To spell that out, the Robe of Vecna BG2 + Best Baldur's Gate Spells make Mage duals superior whereas Use Any Item BG2 and Spike Trap BG2 make Thief duals superior. It's just a fact. Druids can't match these guys. Not to mention the strict weapon restrictions of the Druid, which I cover below.
Kensai can also work as a base for Druid but can never attain 10 ApR like the Berserker because GoES BG2 is banned. Now, it is true that Kensai benefit more from dualing to Druid, Mage and Cleric than Berserkers do, so go for it if that's what you want, but keep in mind that you're stuck on ApR 9 and won't ever reach 10. There are also other disadvantages; I wrote a comparison somewhere, where is it -- Fighter Mage BG2.
13 Berserker levels grants us THAC0 +13. Specialization grants us THAC0 +1, dmg +2 and ApR ½. We also gain ApR +1 from 7th and 13th level warrior. HD are maxed by 9th warrior. Finally, we have 4 usages of Enrage.
Then, 28 Druid levels grant us Druidic spellcasting up to 7th circle (which is the max circle). Most notably, this grants us Armor of Faith (erroneously stacks with itself), Iron Skins and Regeneration (which should be Improved Hasted by our Mage because it erroneously doubles regen rate). We also gain access to anti-mage spells the best of which are Insect Plague and Creeping Doom.
Berserker Druid XP Cost
The XP cost is 1,250,000 for Berserker 13th and 1,500,000 in downtime for Druid 14th.
Berserker Druid Chargen
Must be Human. Must be True Neutral. Must have at least 15 Strength and 17 Wisdom AND 17 Charisma.
Recommend 18/91-18-18-11-18-17 (Imports are 19-19-19-11-21-19).
Berserker Druid Weapon Proficiency
Recommend Specialization in Club, Specialization in Spear, Specialization in Two Weapon Style and Specialization in Two-Handed Weapon Style.
Berserker Druid Leveling
Work from Berserker 7th to 13th. Dual at Berserker 13th and work to Druid 14th. Now we have a Berserker with up to 7th level Druid spells. HLAs come at Druid 15th or 3,000,000 XP. Recommend Globe of Blades or Deva. We still get 14 Druid HLAs, including the Elemental Princes.
Berserker Druid Weapon Progression
Most notably, Druid weapon restrictions ban great wields such as Foebane, IMoD, Crom Faeyr, Blackrazor, Celestial Fury and the Flail of Ages. Nothing can ever make up for that loss but Druids can wield scimitars, clubs and spears, so some top-tier weapons are available to them.
Berserker Druid Dual-wielding weapons
(5 ApR, 10 ApR IH'd)
Gnasher BG2 on-hand, Belm BG2 off. This setup is nice considering both are acquired early in the Druid Grove. The only weakness of Gnasher is its low enchantment, but there are plenty of assholes in the expansion that Gnasher can rip as well, and rip plenty of assholes it will! Don't underestimate its stacking dmg-over-time when Belm is equipped off-hand under Improved Haste (ApR 10).
Club of Detonation on-hand, Belm off. This weapon comes too late. Also, fire is weak in ToB.
Berserker Druid Two-handed weapons
(max 3 ApR, 6 ApR IH'd)
The options we have include Impaler BG2 followed by Ixil's Spike BG2 or Staff of the Ram BG2 (druids can't wield Staff of the Magi BG2).
Be sure to use the Armor Piercing special ability of Spectral Brand BG2. Druids can wield scimitars. Thus, they can avail of this exploit. See: THAC0 Lords: The Armor Piercers.
Berserker Druid Item Progression
Divine spellcasters are not item-dependent, but there are some nice items to keep an eye out for.
- Vhailor's Helm BG2 * Kensai can't wear
- Cloak of the Sewers BG2, Cloak of Displacement BG2, Cloak of Mirroring BG2
- Ring of Gaxx
- Ring of Earth Control -- Ring of Free Action BG2
- Amulet of Seldarine
- Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization (ApR +½) * Kensai can't wear
- Whatever armor * Kensai can't wear
Druids are one of the rare classes that can't attain Strength 25 easily. They lack DUHM and they can't wield Crom Faeyr or Blackrazor.
Therefore, they rely on potions and Strength girdles culminating in Girdle of Fire Giant Strength BG2.
Berserker Druid Key Spells
Mode of Operation. Buff with AoF, IS, IH and Regen. Cast Insect Plague. Rage and then rip everything a new asshole with Gnasher / Belm. If enemy requires >enchantment +2 to hit, switch to spear. Later, AoE blindness through Nature's Beauty.
Dualing a berserker(B), or any fighter, into a druid(D) at lvl 13 doesn't make any sense compared to doing at 9. Please understand: this is simply my rational response to the rational post above, that happens to be wrong.
ReplyDeleteStraight comparison:
B13->D vs. B9->D at end game only gives: +.5 APR, +1 Rage, +4 HP(assuming max on level up), +3 Breath Save...and...that's it. But, what about...? Nope. That's it. Druid is not mage. Druid gets Thac0 6 at D22, which is better than B13's 8. The standard B13->M arguments don't apply here. B13 unnecessarily delays access to the already delayed(due to massive amount of exp needed for D15) Druid HLAs by 1 million exp, for the paltry gains I've listed. This means we may not get them by the end of BG2(SoA), when we could have had them halfway through. Specializing a dual class fighter...when grandmastery is available? Why would we self-nerf? Perhaps in the old game with GM nerfed still? Not in EE games. GM is full go.
========
I can make the rest of my case, in detail. But said detail makes this post too long! Happy to answer any questions, refute any arguments, whatever.
Article isn't "wrong."
DeleteOpening article comment makes clear that Berserker can be dualed at 7, 9, or 13.
Main dual-classing article recommends dualing warriors at 9th.
https://lilura1.blogspot.com/2019/01/The-Rules-of-Dual-Classing-A-Step-by-Step-Guide-to-Dual-Classing.html
Article doesn't claim 13 superiority in terms of power progression, but 13 has statistical superiority (+ApR).
As screencap makes clear build is original BG2, not EE.