Baldur’s Gate 3 The Ultimate Valour Bard Build for College of Valour fans

Assist the Team with Songs, Swords, and Spells.

College Of Valour Bard: Supporting Your Team with Style and a Sword! 🎵⚔️

Whether you’re adventuring through the world of Baldur’s Gate 3 or playing Dungeons & Dragons, bards are the masters of supporting their team with spells, swords, and songs. And when it comes to embodying the noble profession of a bard, the College of Valor subclass takes the crown.

In this guide, we’ll explore the College of Valor bard’s capabilities, the best races to choose for this subclass, and recommended early and late-game equipment builds. So, grab your instrument, tighten your armor straps, and let’s dive in!

College Of Valor Bard Overview 🎭

The College of Valor bard is all about supporting the team in various ways. Whether it’s plugging a hole in your battle line, healing your tank before they collapse from exhaustion, or inspiring your damage dealer to new heights of power, you’ve got it covered. On top of that, you’re a consummate jack-of-all-trades, able to do a little bit of everything without excelling in one specific area.

At level three, upon enrolling in the College of Valor, you immediately gain proficiency with medium armor, shields, and martial weapons. This grants you access to a wide range of equipment, making you a versatile combatant. Additionally, you gain Combat Inspiration, which expands your Bardic Inspiration options. Allies can now choose to add damage or armor class alongside the original three options of attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws.

During combat, your focus should be on supporting your allies with spells, using your sword and shield as secondary options. While you’re a decent fighter, your spellcasting abilities make you truly shine as a bard.

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Starting Ability Scores 💪

In terms of ability scores, Charisma takes the spotlight as your primary spellcasting stat. It’s essential to improve Charisma as you level up to enhance the potency of your spells.

With Dexterity at 16, you have sufficient combat capability in the early game, with adequate armor class and proficiency in rapier and bow use. While Dexterity won’t increase much later on, you can still make the most of it with the right late-game equipment.

A Constitution score of 14 provides you with enough hit points to withstand some hits, especially when combined with armor and spells. Intelligence and Wisdom are at 10, providing a solid baseline for saving throws. Strength is left at 8 since you’ll mainly be using finesse weapons, rendering strength less important.

Leveling The Build And Spell Choices 🎓

At level one, you start with an assortment of support spells. Vicious Mockery can prevent enemies from hitting your allies, Healing Word can bring them back from the brink of death, Friends comes in handy for social situations, and Longstrider improves overall party movement.

As you level up, more spells become available, allowing you to adapt to different challenges. Faerie Fire, Dissonant Whispers, and Cloud of Daggers are excellent options for offense and crowd control. By level five, you gain access to Hypnotic Pattern, a highly effective crowd control spell.

At level ten, you unlock the all-important Magical Secrets ability. Counterspell and Banishing Smite make great choices, adding both defensive and offensive capabilities to your repertoire.

For a more detailed breakdown of leveling the build and spell choices, refer to the table below:

Note: The table is truncated for brevity. Refer to the original content for the complete leveling information.

Now that we’ve covered the leveling aspect, let’s move on to the best races to choose for a College of Valor bard.

Best Races For A College Of Valour Bard 🏃‍♂️

The race you choose can provide valuable bonuses to enhance your College of Valor bard abilities. Here’s a ranking of the best races for this subclass:

1. Elf – Wood elf offers two skill proficiencies, advantage against being charmed, immunity to sleep, Darkvision, and increased movement speed. This combination provides more benefits than any other race.

2. Drow – Drow offers better Darkvision and useful spells such as Dancing Lights, Faerie Fire, and Darkness.

3. Half-Elf – While Half-Elf provides most of the benefits of being an elf, opting for a Wood or Drow elf race is recommended for more advantageous racial traits.

4. Tiefling – With a useful damage resistance, Darkvision, and spells, Tieflings, especially Asmodeus, Mephistopheles, or Zariel-touched, offer flavorful choices.

5. Half-Orc – Despite being primarily a spellcaster, Half-Orc’s Savage Attacks, Intimidation proficiency, Darkvision, and Relentless Endurance make them surprisingly suitable for the College of Valor bard.

6. Gnome – Forest or Deep gnome races are preferable over Rock gnome due to their more useful traits such as Speak with Animals or advantage in stealth.

7. Halfling – Halflings’ Luck trait is always beneficial, and the resistance to poison for Strongheart halflings outweighs Lightfoot’s advantage on stealth checks.

8. Dwarf – Choosing gold dwarves for more hit points or duergar for Superior Darkvision, resistance to charm and paralysis, and the Enlarge and Invisibility spells are the recommended options.

9. Human – All-human provides a slight carrying capacity boost and one skill proficiency, but other races offer better bonuses.

10. Githyanki – Githyanki’s racial traits largely overlap with what the College of Valor bard already offers, making them a less essential choice.

11. Dragonborn – Dragonborn’s damage resistance and breath weapon are limited in terms of benefits for this subclass.

Early Game Equipment Build For A College Of Valour Bard ⚔️

In the early game, your goal is maximum resilience and support. Here’s a recommended equipment build:

• Helmet: Cap of Curing – Inspiring an ally with Bardic Inspiration heals 1d6 hit points.
• Armor: Breastplate +1 – Medium armor with 15 AC that reduces all piercing damage by one.
• Gloves: Wondrous Gloves – +1 AC and gain one additional Bardic Inspiration charge.
• Boots: Boots of Aid and Comfort – Gain three temporary hit points whenever you heal a target.
• Main-Hand Melee Weapon: Phalar Aluve – 1d8 + 1 slashing damage, +1 Performance, and the sword can Sing or Shriek for party buffs or enemy debuffs.
• Off-Hand Melee Weapon: Safeguard Shield – +2 AC and +1 to all saving throws.
• Main-Hand Ranged Weapon: Harold – 1d10 + 1 piercing damage, with a chance to Bane targets.
• Off-Hand Ranged Weapon: None (N/A)

Make sure to acquire the Safeguard Shield from Dammon in the Druid Grove and the Boots of Aid and Comfort from Grat the Trader in the Goblin Camp. These items can be missable depending on your actions, so be vigilant.

Late Game Equipment Build For A College Of Valour Bard ⚔️

As you progress into the late game, you become tough to take down while supporting your team. Here’s a recommended late-game equipment build:

• Helmet: Helm of Balduran – +1 to AC and saving throws, +2 hit points per turn, immunity to stun effects, and attackers can’t land critical hits.
• Armor: Armor of Agility – 17 AC medium armor that adds your full Dexterity modifier to AC and grants +2 to all saving throws.
• Gloves: Helldusk Gloves – +1 to spell attack rolls and spell save DC, additional damage on weapon attacks, and the ability to cast Rays of Fire as a cantrip once per short rest.
• Boots: Helldusk Boots – GameTopicore difficult terrain, immunity to forced movement, and the ability to automatically succeed on any failed saving throw once per short rest.
• Main-Hand Melee Weapon: Infernal Rapier – 1d8 + 2 piercing damage, adds spellcasting modifier instead of Dexterity to damage and attack rolls, and the ability to cast Planar Ally: Cambion at sixth level once per long rest.
• Off-Hand Melee Weapon: Ketheric’s Shield – +1 to spell save DC and spell attack rolls, advantage on Dexterity saving throws, and the ability to perform a Shield Bash.
• Main-Hand Ranged Weapon: The Dead Shot – 1d8 + 2 piercing damage, increased proficiency bonus on attacks without disadvantage, and reduction of the number required for a critical hit by one.
• Off-Hand Ranged Weapon: None (N/A)

The late-game equipment build focuses on maximizing your survivability and spellcasting potency. With this setup, you become a formidable force on the battlefield, capable of enduring attacks while providing vital support to your allies.

And there you have it! An in-depth guide to playing as a College of Valor bard, complete with recommended races and equipment builds. So, grab your lute, draw your sword, and embark on an epic journey as a bard who can both dazzle the crowd and protect their teammates with style! 🎵⚔️

Reference List:

• Baldur’s Gate 3 Player Hilarious Runepowder Accident
• Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Valor Bard Level-Up Screen 2
• Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Valor Bard Inspiration
• Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Valor Bard Inventory
• Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Valor Bard In Combat With Undead

📢 Hey readers, let’s hear from you! Have you ever played as a College of Valor bard? Share your favorite bardic moment in the comments below and spread the word about this guide. Don’t forget to like and share on social media, so fellow adventurers can learn the art of being a bard with style! 🎵✨

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