Selune's Silverstar Build - Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3)

Selune's Silverstar Build

At first, the build was aimed to be a Shadowheart companion build. However, I do think this is an immensely fun setup, even if you do not plan on using her but want to utilize to some degree the iconic weapon - Selûne's Spear of Night. Unfortunately, it is inferior to its counterpart Shar's Spear of Evening. Still there are ways in which it can be beneficial.

The goal of this build is to utilize a lot of debuffs - Reverberation, Radiating Orb, Frightened, Mental Fatigue, and others. Although this means you will sacrifice damage, the result will be more than satisfying - enemies that fail most Saving Throw and can barely do anything to offensively damage your party.

The Selune Silverstars, come from the Dungeons and Dragons lore, which are the counterparts to Dark Justiciars of Shar. Generally, they are Rangers or Clerics, which the build will reflect. Of course, I will take a few optimizations and make this a truly powerful build contender.

The build has many options. You could maximize your number of conditions by going with weapons like Bow of the Banshee + Selûne's Spear of Night. Another option, more offensive, is taking something like Bhaalist Armour for double piercing damage. You can even go hands-on with Great Weapon Master: All In + Sharpshooter: All In depending on the situation. So I will leave it for you to decide the setup that you want to use.

The build is inspired by GrouseDrum's Valour Cleave party.

Let's go!

Class Contribution

Here is what the build consists of and how each of these classes contributes:

6 War Cleric

• Additional bonus action weapon attack with War Priest​. These will recharge each long rest.
• Access to support spells like Healing Word, Mass Healing Word, Sanctuary, etc.
• Aid​ to empower the ally's survivability with a solid HP boost each long rest.
• Guidance which is one of the most useful cantrips in the game for various skill checks.
• Guided Strike​ will help you land attacks and War God's Blessing​ works on allies, which uses a reaction.
• Can apply wet status for other casters with Create or Destroy Water, helping to make enemies vulnerable to Lightning and Cold damage.
• Spirit Guardians​ - the ultimate cleric spell, to debuff enemies, making them miss their attacks. To make the most out of it you will need some gear.
• Proficiencies with shields, medium and heavy armor, allowing to improve defensive capabilities further
• Crusader's Mantle and Divine Favour - an alternative to Moonmote from Selûne's Spear of Night, in case you want to buff allies with radiant damage bonuses.

5 Ranger Hunter

• Minor features, and spin on roleplay via Favoured Enemy and Natural Explorer selections
• Selection of Fighting styles, mainly Archery​ or Defence
• Spell slots for casting spells - Ensnaring Strike, Spike Growth, etc. Decent spells for progressing through the game.
• Horde Breaker a very powerful semi extra attack feature which has lots of special hidden mechanics.

1 The Great Old One Warlock

• Mortal Reminder which has special interactions with Horde Breaker and can easily apply multiple Frightened conditions
• Access to Booming Blade and Minor Illusion for very powerful cantrips to help in combat.

Build Variations

For this build, there are a lot of options, both from a progression perspective and the level splits

Build Overview

Here is a concise table with all the main picks during your levelling progression. For more detailed reasoning, I go further in the article. Also, do not forget to check the recommended gear, as it is crucial.

Leveling

Gear Choices

Full list Paper doll

Plan the rest of your party around this gear in the Party Gear Planner

• Main Hand

  

  Phalar Aluve

  This is one of the best weapons in the game for supporting classes, especially those that might not even need to attack with weapons. If you can precast its Phalar Aluve: Melody​ before combat, I recommend using it both to improve companion damage and attack rolls.

• Off Hand

  

  Adamantine Shield

  One of the best shields in the game giving critical immunity

  Alternatives

  • 
    Safeguard Shield

    Gives a bonus to saving throws, easily accessible early in the game.

• Ranged Main Hand

  

  Bow of the Banshee

  This is my recommended bow option. It's not as powerful as Titanstring Bow​ but you get a chance to apply Frightened​, which will greatly weaken foes.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Gandrel's Aspiration

    An excellent bow against undeads, that gives and easy Advantage​

  • 
    Titanstring Bow

    If you want to maximize damage this bow with Elixir of Hill Giant Strength​ can be an extremely powerful option, but I think it does not fit the theme as well as other ones.

• Helmet

  

  Haste Helm

  Improves movement speed, which is great for better positioning to land your shots.

• Chest

  

  Luminous Armour

  This will be a ridicilously powerful armor if you start using it with Spirit Guardians​ and later with your bow while having radiant damage rider. Radiating Orb​ is a very powerful debuff, translating indirectly into better armor class for your party.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Adamantine Scale Mail

    And alternative armor option, which comes with a solid Armour Class, critical immunity and Reeling​ effect.

• Gloves

  

  Gloves of Baneful Striking

  Applies Baneful Strike,​ weakening enemies for other actions and spells to have a higher success chance.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Gloves of Power

    Applies Bane​ effect, which does come with a caveat, enemies need ot fail a saving throw, and the effect is not guaranteed. 

• Boots

  

  Boots of Stormy Clamour

  These are one of the best boots in the game in terms of condition application for Reverberation​. Conditions are very easy to apply via Spirit Guardians​ or even normal attacks.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Disintegrating Night Walkers

    One of the best boots in the game, giving easy traversal options and avoiding any Difficult Terrain​ and their effects.

• Amulet

  

  Amulet of Restoration

  The best amulet for cleric, especially when using The Whispering Promise​ ring to apply Bless​ on specific ally or whole party.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Broodmother's Revenge

    In terms of damage, this is one of the best amulets in the game. You can use Healing Word​ or drink a Potion of Healing and get its benefit.

  • 
    Amulet of Branding

    Using a bonus action, you can weaken a foe and deal double damage with your weapon.

• Ring

  

  The Whispering Promise

  A solid ring option, especially if you want to easily apply Bless​ with Healing Word​ or Mass Healing Word​. This opens Concentration​ slot, so you can buff allies and cast other spells at the same time.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Crusher's Ring

    An excellent ring once you get Spirit Guardians​ to easily reach your targets and tag them with radiant damage.

• Ring 2

  

  Ring of Protection

  Solid ring option with bonus to Armour Class

  Alternatives

  • 
    Caustic Band

    Gives a slight direct damage boost.

Synergy with other builds

The build really benefits from other combatants that use weapons. The main reason is Moonmote and Crusader's Mantle which buff allies damage. This is 1d4 radiant damage which is not too much, but when you take into account that it affects everyone on each attack, the damage can stack up.

Moreover, there are many items which apply bonus effect from radiant damage like Gloves of Belligerent Skies, Luminous Armour, etc. and they don't necessarily need to be on this character.

Ranged and melee weapon users (especially multihit ones)

So whether you use melee users or ranged builds, these will greatly benefit from the Selune's Silverstar build. First, they can utilize the effects that enemies will receive. Second, radiant damage buffs will help maximize the damage.

• Spellswords are really great as they can use both magic or weapon attacks when needed - Swords Bard Archer, Bladesinger, Bardadin and many more from Spellsword builds.
• Wildheart Barbarian is also an excellent choice with its Tiger's Bloodlust.
• Archers, as they have Arrow of Many Targets - Hunter Ranger (for Volley), Arcane Archer, etc. The multihits will activate the radiant damage riders from Moonmote, Crusader's Mantle, etc.

Lightning/Cold Party

A cleric can easily apply Wet​ on enemies using Create or Destroy Water​ spell. This does impede your own action economy, but opens up your party members for huge damage potential:

• The main highlight would be Land Druid. A very popular variation of it is Thundersnow Herald, which comes with both Cold and Lightning spells for total annihilation.
• Sorcadin with access to Lightning Bolt.
• Many of the Sorcerer and Wizard variations - Storm Sorcerer, Talos Dragonling Build, Cold Sorcerer, Abjuration Wizard, etc.

Level 1 - Character Creation

This section covers the creation screen and what would go into the best Races, Abilities, and Skills for the Selune's Silverstar build. If you have already started playing or using this on your companion, feel free to do a respec at Withers and follow along. This will make it easy not to miss out on anything that the build needs.

Origins and Characters

Here are the Origin and character picks that have a slight advantage with this build:

Races

Class Choices

This section will cover what class-related choices you should pick for the optimal setup

Class

Cantrips

Subclass

Technically, War Domain is not under Selune. However, the build really wants this subclass for the various benefits it gives. So I will go with this recommendation:

Deity

Prepare Spells

Clerics get plenty of good level-1 spells. You might not have enough slots to equip them all but don't worry, more will be available as you level up. Choose your preferred ones.

Background

Abilities

Now, let's take a look at the abilities of the Selune build. Correct allocation will allow you to maximise the early gameplay and get good modifier bonuses.

Skill Proficiencies

Overall, the skills should be impacted by your roleplaying and background decisions. However, you would still want those stats which will give you the best benefits:

• Animal Handling
• Insight
• Medicine
• Perception
• Survival

Act 1 - Levels 2-6~

By this time, you should have landed on the Ravaged beach already and started exploring the initial area. You might need 1 additional encounter if you did not obtain enough XP in the Nautiloid.

Leveling Progression

Level 2

Level 3

There are a few good spells to keep in mind and add/remove them when needed:

Level 4

Cantrips

Here is what I recommend for the feat

Correctly using Sharpshooter

For many people Sharpshooter: All In feat can be a nightmare, especially if you are less experienced. However, it can play a big role in turning the bow user into a full powerhouse with a flat +10 damage boost. However, it comes with a drawback: -5 to attack rolls. This, of course, can be circumvented via various tricks:

• Archery​ fighting style bonuses
• Guided Strike - War Domain channel divinity action.
• Oil of Accuracy and Diluted Oil of Sharpness
• High Ground bonuses

I have a full article on increasing attack rolls. That goes into depth on various mechanics that work especially well in the early game, when the -5 attack roll hurts the most. You can also disable its effect via the Passives tab in hotbar:

You can also move it into your main hotbar, so that it's easier to disable.

Level 5

This level is a huge milestone, and that is why no multiclassing happened before. Access to level 3 spells makes Cleric an extremely powerful build.

The War Domain subclass also gains special spells:

Here are prepared spell recommendations. War Domain gets the core ones without needing to prepare them.

Spirit Guardians, the ultimate cleric spell

Now, at level 5, with access to level 3 spell slots, you can learn Spirit Guardians. This spell is probably the most powerful one in the cleric spell list, enabling you to trivialize many of the game encounters. The main trick is to pair it with a few items:

• Luminous Armour - can apply multiple Radiating Orb via Radiating Shockwave
• Boots of Stormy Clamour - applies Reverberation on each enemy hit. Might activate only one time, as it can be inconsistent.
• Gloves of Belligerent Skies - another gloves that will give more Reverberation stacks
• Other items

So now you can become a "Radiant lawnmower" which inflicts radiating damage, weakens enemies, and makes them harmless. 10 stacks of Radiating Orb is like +10 Armour class. While Reverberation can result in Prone which gives an easy Advantage.

Level 6 - Multiclass into Ranger Lv 1

For this level I suggest to multiclass into Ranger, which will play a major role into truly making Selune's Silverstar playstyle enabled, thanks to the Horde Breaker and later Extra Attack. For now, here are the steps.

So, now in the level-up screen, you can start multiclassing:

Let's go through the Ranger choices now:

Pick the Favoured Enemy:

After that, choose Natural Explorer:

For Abilities, take anything that your party might need.

Gear Recommendations

Full list Paper doll

Plan the rest of your party around this gear in the Party Gear Planner

• Main Hand

  

  Phalar Aluve

  This is one of the best weapons in the game for supporting classes, especially those that might not even need to attack with weapons. If you can precast its Phalar Aluve: Melody​ before combat, I recommend using it both to improve companion damage and attack rolls.

• Off Hand

  

  Adamantine Shield

  One of the best shields in the game giving critical immunity

  Alternatives

  • 
    Safeguard Shield

    Gives a bonus to saving throws, easily accessible early in the game.

• Ranged Main Hand

  

  Bow of the Banshee

  This is my recommended bow option. It's not as powerful as Titanstring Bow​ but you get a chance to apply Frightened​, which will greatly weaken foes.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Gandrel's Aspiration

    An excellent bow against undeads, that gives and easy Advantage​

  • 
    Titanstring Bow

    If you want to maximize damage this bow with Elixir of Hill Giant Strength​ can be an extremely powerful option, but I think it does not fit the theme as well as other ones.

• Helmet

  

  Haste Helm

  Improves movement speed, which is great for better positioning to land your shots.

• Chest

  

  Luminous Armour

  This will be a ridicilously powerful armor if you start using it with Spirit Guardians​ and later with your bow while having radiant damage rider. Radiating Orb​ is a very powerful debuff, translating indirectly into better armor class for your party.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Adamantine Scale Mail

    And alternative armor option, which comes with a solid Armour Class, critical immunity and Reeling​ effect.

• Gloves

  

  Gloves of Baneful Striking

  Applies Baneful Strike,​ weakening enemies for other actions and spells to have a higher success chance.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Gloves of Power

    Applies Bane​ effect, which does come with a caveat, enemies need ot fail a saving throw, and the effect is not guaranteed. 

• Boots

  

  Boots of Stormy Clamour

  These are one of the best boots in the game in terms of condition application for Reverberation​. Conditions are very easy to apply via Spirit Guardians​ or even normal attacks.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Disintegrating Night Walkers

    One of the best boots in the game, giving easy traversal options and avoiding any Difficult Terrain​ and their effects.

• Amulet

  

  Amulet of Restoration

  The best amulet for cleric, especially when using The Whispering Promise​ ring to apply Bless​ on specific ally or whole party.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Broodmother's Revenge

    In terms of damage, this is one of the best amulets in the game. You can use Healing Word​ or drink a Potion of Healing and get its benefit.

  • 
    Amulet of Branding

    Using a bonus action, you can weaken a foe and deal double damage with your weapon.

• Ring

  

  The Whispering Promise

  A solid ring option, especially if you want to easily apply Bless​ with Healing Word​ or Mass Healing Word​. This opens Concentration​ slot, so you can buff allies and cast other spells at the same time.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Crusher's Ring

    An excellent ring once you get Spirit Guardians​ to easily reach your targets and tag them with radiant damage.

• Ring 2

  

  Ring of Protection

  Solid ring option with bonus to Armour Class

  Alternatives

  • 
    Caustic Band

    Gives a slight direct damage boost.

Gameplay and mechanics

In this section, I would like to cover a few tips on how to use the build and add the main combat steps.

The healing items and heals

The main misunderstanding that people have about clerics, is that they should be concentrating on heals and buffs. Sadly, this is a very inefficient approach to one of the best classes in the game. The problems with healing:

• Generally, enemies will deal more damage with single attack, then the amount you heal
• Healing spells use full action point (there are alternatives, which I will cover below)
• The enemies can still attack the next turn, without being stopped

So more or less, by healing you are hiding a problematic approach to combat strategy, that you should try to find - do you lack initiative? Is the damage lacking? Maybe your party is inefficient?

Overall, healing should be limited and, in my opinion, used sparingly. My recommended spells are Healing Word​ and Mass Healing Word. These are cheap to use and cost only a bonus action, which does not interfere with your important spells.

Of course, this does not mean that healing should not be used. The two mentioned spell pair well these items The Whispering Promise and Hellrider's Pride. Both of them apply Bless and damage resistance to the affected targets.

So your main action is free, which you can use for spells, and bonus action buffs allies, all in one turn, without limiting your combat potential

The recommended combat loop

Overall, the combat loop is slightly different from standard cleric, and I want to emphasize the use of Ranged Attack. 

• The main idea of this build is to use your Ranged Attack, and where possible a consumable arrow like Arrow of Lightning, Arrow of Fire, etc. Pair this with Guided Strike to have a high chance of hitting.
• The second step is to get Sharpshooter: All In + Bow of the Banshee. Now your attacks can weaken foes, for your ally spells, and in some cases will obliterate enemies.
• You still have an option of using cantrips like Produce Flame, Sacred Flame, etc. for normal attacks.
• If you can use Bless​ to buff allies before combat. Once you get The Whispering Promise, you can forgo the spell and use Healing Word​ or Mass Healing Word​ instead, to buff your allies and save a spell slot + Concentration slot.
• Create or Destroy Water​ is an excellent spell if you have other casters that use Cold or Lightning spells.
• If you have a high spell success chance Command can be a gamechanger.
• Use Sanctuary for "oh, shit" moments to either protect yourself or allies.
• I recommend precasting Aid after each long rest. This can help improve the total health pool. Same for Warding Bond which can be applied to one or a few characters. However, it does overlap with Hellrider's Pride if you use them.

From level 5:

• Arrow of Many Targets will start appearing at about level 6, this paired with Bow of the Banshee can weaken multiple foes at the same time, while also inflicting respectable damage.
• The best option for casting at this stage is radiating Spirit Guardians​ + Luminous Armour + Boots of Stormy Clamour. This allows for easily debuffing multiple enemies.
• Glyph of Warding​ can be used to put enemies to sleep without a Concentration slot. It is excellent if you see a few of the targets grouped up.
• Crusader's Mantle is another powerful spell option, especially if you want to maximize the whole party's damage.

Act 1.5 - Level 7 - Rosymorn Monastery

I will assume that you will reach level 7 as you explore the Rosymorn Monastery Trail. It has plenty of stuff to explore and some important story bits. The whole map also contains significant gear that you should be on the lookout for. 

Leveling Progression

Level 7 - Ranger Lv 2

A few nice features are unlocked. For the spells, choose 2:

Now, for the Fighting Style:

Gear Recommendations

There are a couple of items that I would take a look here; otherwise, the previous Act ones are already enough

Full list Paper doll

Plan the rest of your party around this gear in the Party Gear Planner

• Main Hand

  

  Knife of the Undermountain King

  This weapon can work extremely well once you obtain Mortal Reminder​ from warlock and Horde Breaker​ from Hunter. at level 9. With how these features interact, you roll multiple attack rolls, which result in critical hits and a very high success chance of Frightened​.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Blood of Lathander

    Extremely good weapon if you do not care about Phalar Aluve unique effects. The Lathander's Light​ effect will help you activate additional debuffs from enemies and make combat easier in Act 2. Sunbeam​ is also a powerful spell to get this early in the game.

• Helmet

  

  Holy Lance Helm

  Excellent helmet option, for more standard cleric builds, which inflict damage and apply conditions on enemies that miss you. This is easy to do with Radiating Orb​ debuffs.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Diadem of Arcane Synergy

    Gives a solid damage boost via Arcane Synergy​. This is a better option if you want to increase your bow attack damage.

• Gloves

  

  Gloves of Belligerent Skies

  A really powerful glove option, that give easy source of Reverberation​ when hitting with Radiant damage.

• Ring

  

  Strange Conduit Ring

  A good ring that can pair well with a few other items like Braindrain Gloves​

Gameplay and mechanics

The recommended combat loop

With the new gear additions, both your ranged attacks and Spirit Guardians will become powerful. There are no major changes in the gameplay

Act 2 - Level 8-10 - Shadow Lands 

Depending on your choices, you might even reach Act 2 at level 7, so check the previous recommendations. In most cases, people will enter Act 2 via Path to Rosymorn Monastery Trail

Leveling Progression

Level 8 - Ranger Lv 3

Spells

Subclass

Hunter's Prey

The importance of Horde Breaker

One of the key aspects that makes this build powerful is Horde Breaker. It works both in melee and ranged, and gives a somewhat simulated Extra Attack. However, there is a catch, and a major one, which makes this ability extremely powerful.

I will go through this in short details, but if you want extensive knowledge, I recommend reading this Horde Breaker guide.

First, let's start with the most important point: you want to target enemies that are clustered together. Of course, to activate Horde Breaker 2 enemies are enough. However, as I will explain later, getting many of them in one place will create a cascading effect of conditions.

As you can guess, the secret is the number of tagged enemies. The more you see "affected," the more conditions will have a chance to transfer to. So instead of affecting one enemy, the Horde Breaker allows to apply conditions on multiple targets. Of course, this doesn't mean that damage will transfer, but still a group of enemies that cannot move is a huge boon.

So, what are these conditions that can be transferred?

• Frightened from Mortal Reminder
• Frightened from Bow of the Banshee 
• Reverberation from Boots of Stormy Clamour on one of the targets
• Mental Fatigue from Ring of Mental Inhibition
• Others

Another cool aspect is that you can attack an enemy with a Horde Breaker (Ranged) and then do the second attack using Horde Breaker Follow-Up (Melee), which enables you to better control your distance and reach enemies that otherwise would not be reached via normal melee attacks.

Level 9 - Respec to Warlock 1

This is an important part of the build. Go to Withers and Respec so that you start the first level as a Warlock. Why is this important? The main idea is that you want to maintain your spellcasting modifier (which is used for spells from items) as Wisdom, and doing the last multiclass as Warlock will turn it into Charisma. So we want to avoid that.

So choose the Class:

After that, pick cantrips:

For Subclass, my recommendation:

For spells:

For Abilities, reuse the old ones:

Go back through levels 1-8 of the build

After the respec, you should now go back through progression and pick the same levels and classes as before via multiclassing:

• 5 Cleric
• 3 Hunter Ranger

Nothing else changes.

Minor Illusion to control enemy positioning

On the other hand, you can also use something like Minor Illusion​ to pull enemies together, change their vision cones, and attack with the same spell but hit all of them. This is a very powerful cantrip that can be overlooked.

First, it does not break Invisibility or stealth (unless you get seen). Second, enemies when not in combat will chase it, meaning they will change their vision direction. Third, on most occasions, they will come closer to investigate the illusion.

This creates various opportunities like landing a powerful Area of Effect spell from caster or scrolls, or hitting with wide attacks.

Level 10 - Ranger Lv 4

This level is important as it will give access to a second feat

There are plenty of feats to choose from

Managing Great Weapon Master

The most important aspect of most two-handed builds is correctly utilizing Great Weapon Master: All In​ and its -5 attack roll penalty. By putting effort into minimising the debuff, from level 4, you can get 10 flat damage boosts, making most of the enemies a cakewalk.

• Bless​ from a Cleric, Paladin, or The Whispering Promise ring for a 1d4 bonus.
• Spells like Faerie Fire, and Blindness​ give an Advantage to attackers.
• Oil of Accuracy or Diluted Oil of Sharpness, for a 1 and 2 attack roll bonus.
• Phalar Aluve: Sing​ gives 1d4 to attack rolls.

Now, if you want more in-depth information, I have a guide covering how to increase attack rolls, which lists a lot of options and combinations. You can then pick the bonuses based on your party setup.

Gear Recommendations

Full list Paper doll

Plan the rest of your party around this gear in the Party Gear Planner

• Main Hand

  

  Selûne's Spear of Night

  One of the capstone weapons of this build that will give access to Moonmote​. More or less, you have these options for using the item:

  1. Use it two-handed, especially useful with Great Weapon Master: All In​ feat

  2. Dual Wield using Dual Wielder​ and one of the stat sticks like Knife of the Undermountain King​ and more in Act 3

  3. Use it together with Shield

  All of these are great options, and really depend on whether you want to use this item just for the Moonmote​ or also for attacking

  Alternatives

  • 
    Phalar Aluve

    A solid option if you are precasting Phalar Aluve: Melody​

  • 
    Blood of Lathander

    The very powerful mace, that is perfectly made for Act 2 encounters with it's Light​ effect.

• Off Hand

  

  Ketheric's Shield

  Gives +1 Spell Save DC and bonus Armour Class.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Knife of the Undermountain King

    To use it, I recommend taking Dual Wielder​ feat, as then you can wear it on the offhand. This is mainly relevant from level 9, once you multiclass into Warlock

  • 
    Adamantine Shield

    Continues to be a solid option

• Ranged Main Hand

  

  Bow of the Banshee

  Continues to be a solid bow option

• Helmet

  

  Holy Lance Helm

  Continues to be a solid option especially, if you are using Gloves of Belligerent Skies​ to apply Reverberation​ via damage reflection

  Alternatives

  • 
    Diadem of Arcane Synergy

    Gives a direct damage boost via Arcane Synergy​.

• Cloak

  

  Cloak of Protection

  Gives Armour Class boost.

• Chest

  

  Luminous Armour

  My recommended armor option to easily activate Radiating Orb​

• Gloves

  

  Gloves of Belligerent Skies

  Recommended gloves option for Reverberation​

  Alternatives

  • 
    Gloves of Baneful Striking

    Alternative equipment option

• Boots

  

  Boots of Stormy Clamour

  Best boots option.

• Amulet

  

  Amulet of Restoration

  I think this is still a solid option, especially if using The Whispering Promise​ ring.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Amulet of the Harpers

    Easy source of Shield​ to help avoid enemy attacks.

  • 
    Amulet of Branding

    Gives an easy option to apply various damage vulnerabilities.

• Ring

  

  Callous Glow Ring

  Gives +2 Radiant damage on each hit, which also activate Luminous Armour​ and other items.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Strange Conduit Ring

    As you will be maintaining Concentration​ a lot, this will give a constant damage boost.

• Ring 2

  

  Ring of Mental Inhibition

  The best ring for this build, as it pairs extremely well with various conditions that pass via Horde Breaker​

  Alternatives

  • 
    The Whispering Promise

    Use this ring to get buffs via Healing Word​ and Mass Healing Word​

Gameplay and mechanics

This is an important section, as the build gains major changes in how it plays, thanks to various unlocked items.

The recommended combat loop

• The introduction of Horde Breaker drastically opens up your combat approach. More or less you have multiple options of what to use - Spirit Guardians, Horde Breaker, Ranged Attack + Arrow of Many Targets, etc.
• If it's possible and you see an encounter incoming, Minor Illusion is a very powerful option to lure enemies into one place. Following up with Horde Breaker allows applying multiple conditions at the same time
• In general, try to target those enemies that are grouped together so that Horde Breaker is activated
• You can use Booming Blade when you have a free action point
• Ranged attacks are still your bread and butter
• Spirit Guardians is also an excellent spell, especially if you have equipped Gloves of Belligerent Skies.

Act 3 - Level 11-12 - Rivington and Lower City

You are close to reaching the game finale, or so you think. The last part of the game is huge and can be both intimidating and overwhelming.

Here are some recommendations from me:

• You don't need to do all the side quests here; they can take up to 40 hours or more, depending on what you decide to do
• Leave some quests for other runs. As you reach the maximum level, the game might become less satisfying. This will give a new perspective for your next playthroughs, to find novelty and discovery.
• There is a lot of good gear in this Act, but you don't need to get it all. I recommend prioritizing the most important ones for your builds. You can plan this with the Act 3 Checklist.

Leveling Progression

Level 11 - Ranger Lv 5

For spells:

Level 12 - Cleric Lv 6

This is the last level of the build:

Gear Recommendations

Full list Paper doll

Plan the rest of your party around this gear in the Party Gear Planner

• Main Hand

  

  Selûne's Spear of Night

  One of the capstone weapons of this build that will give access to Moonmote​. More or less, you have these options for using the item:

  1. Use it two-handed, especially useful with Great Weapon Master: All In​ feat

  2. Dual Wield using Dual Wielder​ and one of the stat sticks like Knife of the Undermountain King​ and more in Act 3

  3. Use it together with Shield, which is not that good for weapon damage (compared to Great Weapon Master: All In​, but offers higher armour class)

  All of these are great options, and really depend on whether you want to use this item just for the Moonmote​ or also for attacking

• Off Hand

  

  Rhapsody

  One of the best stat sticks in the game, giving a direct boost to all the main offensive stats for each enemy you kill.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Knife of the Undermountain King

    As this build rolls a lot of dice rolls via Mortal Reminder​ + Horde Breaker​ interaction, the reduced crit range helps immensely.

  • 
    Ketheric's Shield

    Continues to be a solid shield option with +1 Spell Save DC

  • 
    Viconia's Walking Fortress

    Offers +3 Armour Class and other good features.

• Ranged Main Hand

  

  Gontr Mael

  My recommended bow to fit the Selune's Silverstar theme. Bolt of Celestial Light​ is a great source of radiant damage rider, if you don't want to cast a heavy spell like Moonmote​ or Crusader's Mantle​ this round.

  The bow also looks sick!

  Alternatives

  • 
    Bow of the Banshee

    Continues to be a powerful weapon choice if maximizing the amount of conditions.

• Helmet

  

  Holy Lance Helm

  The recommended choice to pair with Gloves of Belligerent Skies​ and high Armour class, when wearing a shield. Otherwise, go for the options below

  Alternatives

  • 
    Sarevok's Horned Helmet

    Reduces the critical range, and this is important for a build like this where you have multiple attack rolls with Mortal Reminder​ + Horde Breaker​

  • 
    Diadem of Arcane Synergy

    A direct damage boost with Arcane Synergy​

• Cloak

  

  Cloak of Displacement

  In terms of defensive capabilities one of the best cloak options

  Alternatives

  • 
    Mantle of the Holy Warrior

    Gives a source of free Crusader's Mantle​.

  • 
    Cloak of Protection

    Gives +1 Armour Class

• Chest

  

  Luminous Armour

  The main armor choice for Radiating Orb​ on each radiant damage tick.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Bhaalist Armour

    In case you want to maximize your damage with either bows or Selûne's Spear of Night​, this armor is the best choice. Sadly, it's not precisely relevant for this build in terms of roleplay. However, I would still have it at least on the companion.

• Gloves

  

  Gloves of Belligerent Skies

  Continues to be a solid option as a source of Reverberation​

• Boots

  

  Boots of Stormy Clamour

  Continues to be the best boot option for passing Reverberation​ via various conditions

• Amulet

  

  Amulet of Greater Health

  My recommended option with huge boost to Constitution making it easy to maintain spell Concentration​

  Alternatives

  • 
    Khalid's Gift

    Allows you to round up Wisdom if you have set it as 17

• Ring

  

  Ring of Mental Inhibition

  The ring works wonders with all the saving throw rolls that you will do using Horde Breaker​. This will activate it multiple times, and easily apply Mental Fatigue​

  Alternatives

  • 
    Callous Glow Ring

    This item loses priority as you have various ways to gain radiant damage source - Moonmote​, Crusader's Mantle​, Spirit Guardians​

• Ring 2

  

  Strange Conduit Ring

  Gives an easy source of bonus psychic damage

  Alternatives

  • 
    Ring of Protection

    Alternative equipment option

Gameplay and mechanics

In general, Act 3 does not bring much in terms of how the gameplay changes. It's just optimisations to your gear and higher-level spell unlocks

The recommended combat loop

• With the Extra Attack unlocked your weapon attacks are even more potent and play a bigger role in both applying conditions and inflicting damage.
• Horde Breaker is still a major feature of the build, and depending on the setup, you can use both ranged and melee interchangeably.
• For bigger encounters, you can use Moonmote or Crusader's Mantle to buff everyone with radiant damage rider. Taking into account that everyone's hits will get 1d4 damage, this can stack easily.
• Moonmote also has a special effect of slowing enemies down. So if you pull them with Minor Illusion before combat, they are very unlikely to run away.
• In case you have lightning casters, Create Water is an extremely potent spell even if it uses up your main action
• Use Booming Blade when not utilizing Horde Breaker to inflict extra thunder damage.
• The main decision is between Ranged weapons and melee weapons. The build can use both at the same time, or you can concentrate just on one.

Maximizing the Build - Abilities, Illithid, Consumables

Maximising Ability Scores

Now, as the build progression is covered, there are a few aspects and important decisions you will have to make throughout the game. These will decide your final score for abilities.

Wisdom

1. Starting - 17 Wisdom
2. Auntie Ethel's Hair (optional) - +1 Wisdom (if you choose this)
3. Act 3 - Khalid's Gift - +1 Wisdom if you did not take Auntie Ethel's Hair
4. Act 3 - Mirror of Loss - pick +2 Wisdom, you can also switch this for +2 Dexterity, especially if you are using Bows a lot.

These will allow you to reach 20 natural Wisdom, which is pretty decent.

Illithid Powers

This special mechanic in Baldur's Gate 3 allows you to consume tadpoles and unlock special Illithid Powers.

At first, you can only use the base powers. As you move to Act 3, you will be able to unlock the outer ring powers, also called Elite.

Potions, Elixirs and other Consumables

Let's take a look at what consumables you can use to further empower the build.

Potions

These are general consumables, and most of them are activated for a few turns. Potions are separate from Elixirs and can be active together.

Coatings

These are applied directly on weapons, and usually have a 10-turn duration:

Elixirs

Unfortunately, only one Elixir can be active at a time. However, the good thing is that they last until a long rest, making them very useful and economical.

Be sure to activate them before combat, as otherwise, you will need to use Bonus Action.

Arrows

Scrolls

This is one of the most overpowered mechanics in the game. At first, it might seem that you earn those old, boring spells that you can learn yourself. However, as you play more and more, and get higher-level spells, you can see - wait, I can save a spell slot casting this.

Yeah, and this is where their power comes. During the whole playthrough, you will probably collect a lot of these, so I recommend using them whenever you can.

Conclusion and Credits

Thank you for reading Selune's Silverstars Build for Baldur's Gate 3. This is a perfect role play build, utilizing advanced mechanics like Horde Breaker and special radiant gear - Selûne's Spear of Night. This build is perfect for those wanting to do a "good" Shadowheart playthrough.

Cheers!

Big thanks to grousedrum for sharing insights on this build setup

David, for doing a review