Minthara Build - Lolth's Apostate - Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3)

Minthara - Lolth's Apostate build

She is a character that you first meet in Act 1, where you can decide to join her or go against her. The main idea is that she instantly strikes as a ruthless, dedicated leader, while also carrying a noble's aura. She does come with a special feature - Soul Branding that is excellent for buffing allies.

The build will reflect two parts of her. First, the Paladin with the Oath of Vengeance subclass, which is her default pick. This will provide a nice feature set - Divine Smite, Aura of Protection, Hold Person and others. This does somewhat represent her revenge for one of the Absolute leaders.

As a member of House Baenre and being of Noble birth, the build will make a major addition - the Cleric. As a Lolth worshipper, the pick will perfectly fit Minthara's background. We will go with War Domain, which also falls under this deity. The feature set is quite rich and will emphasize the support and buffing capabilities - Divine Favour, Crusader's Mantle, War God's Blessing and others.

Hope you like the idea of the build, and enjoy reading it!

Class Contribution

This shows the class contribution of the build

6 Vengeance Paladin

So this is the core of the build that you will use the most:

• Divine Sense​ - an easy Advantage in case you fight these specific enemies.
• Proficiencies with all gear
• Lay on Hands​ - a healing action, which I found is best used outside of combat for curing diseases.
• The iconic Paladin action - Divine Smite. With optimizations and some preparations, this can land very powerful strikes and obliterate enemies.
• Fighting Style choice, for a small stat boost
• Divine Health​ helps resist diseases.
• Extra Attack​ for an additional weapon attack from level 5 onward.
• Aura of Protection​ - one of the best paladin features, giving an easy way to maintain spell Concentration.
• The Vow of Enmity​ is an excellent early game bonus action use. This will improve hit chance, increasing the average damage.
• Situationally useful spells - Misty Step, Hold Person​​. Another early game addition is Hunter's Mark,​ which allows for a decent damage boost if you can maintain it over a long period.

6 War Domain Cleric

• Additional bonus action weapon attack with War Priest​. These will recharge each long rest.
• Access to healing and support spells - Mass Healing Word​ and Healing Word.
• Guided Strike​ will help you land attacks and War God's Blessing​ works on allies, which uses a reaction.
• 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.
• Divine Favour and Crusader's Mantle as radiant damage boosts. The latter also works on all party members.

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 leveling progression. For more detailed reasoning, I go further in the article. Also, do not forget to check the recommended gear as it is crucial

Level	Class	Selection
1	Cleric 1	Cantrips: Blade Ward, Thaumaturgy, Guidance
		Subclass: War Domain
		Deity: Lolth
		Background: Soldier, Noble
		Abilities: STR - 16 (14+2), DEX - 14, CON - 12, INT - 8, WIS - 8, CHA - 16 (15+1) Abilities with Elixir of Hill Giant Strength: STR - 8, DEX - 16 (15+1), CON - 14, INT - 8, WIS - 8, CHA - 17 (15+2)
		Skills: Persuasion, History, Insight
2	Paladin 1	Subclass: Oath of Vengeance
3	Paladin 2	Fighting Style: Defence
4	Paladin 3	-
5	Paladin 4	Feat: Great Weapon Master: All In
6	Paladin 5	-
7	Paladin 6	-
8	Cleric 2	-
9	Cleric 3	-
10	Cleric 4	Feat: Savage Attacker
11	Cleric 5	-
12	Cleric 6	-

Synergy with other builds

This section will give a few ideas on how to utilize other builds to maximize the combat potential of the group. There are usually various synergies that make the group play more enjoyable. However, this should not be the main factor. With full game knowledge, any party composition will work freely.

Piercing Damage

Synergetic Builds	Enabler	Description
Bardadin Shadow Monk Two-Handed Eldritch Knight Archer Builds Others	Bhaalist Armour for the Aura Of Murder	For the late game, you can use Bhaalist Armour to apply easy piercing vulnerability - Aura Of Murder. This is a very powerful buff that makes it easy to deal very high damage in Act 3.

Darkness Setup

You do get access to Darkness spell, but it's also easy to be able to see inside it via items likes Eversight Ring.

Synergetic Builds	Enabler	Description
Beast Master Ranger (level 11)	Dire Raven Companion	From level 11, when using Fly, the raven will create Darkness fields for free.
Shadow Magic Sorcerer	Eyes of the Dark: Darkness	The Sorcerer has an easy way of creating Darkness fields, and see inside of it thanks to Eyes of the Dark
Sorlock	Devil's Sight Darkness	Sorlock can create and also see inside the Darkness thanks to the Devil's Sight

Throwing Builds

Synergetic Builds	Enabler	Description
Berserker Thrower Giant Barbarian Eldritch Knight Thrower	Soul Branding	Soul Branding has a special interaction with Throw. Generally, the fire damage bonus would disappear after one attack; however, with some code oversight, it continues to work on the next attacks.

Starting the Build - Level 1

This section covers the creation screen and what would go into the best Races, Abilities, and Skills for the Minthara build. Some of these choices are impactful as you cannot respec them.

How to Unlock Minthara?

She has a bit of involvement and special steps that you need to take for her to join. I attach instructions on how this can be done, if you are okay with slight spoilers.

Origins and Characters

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

Origin	Features	Description
Minthara	Drow Weapon Training​ Superior Darkvision​ Fey Ancestry Dancing Lights​​	Minthara is a Drow, which does come with nice features, specifically a powerful one being - Darkness. Moreover, she has a special character-based action Soul Branding allowing her to buff allies with bonus damage

Cantrips

Cantrips	Description
Blade Ward	Can be a very powerful cantrip, especially if you are able to precast it before direct combat.
Thaumaturgy​	Especially recommended if you are the main character, as it will help with Intimidation checks.
Guidance​	For now, take this with cleric; later on, it can be switched out, once you get Druid multiclass.

Subclass

Overview
War Domain
Features
War Priest​	Allows you to use War Priest charges to attack with bonus action.
Divine Favour​	Gives a bonus of 1d4 radiant damage.
Shield of Faith​	A concentration spell that gives a slight Armour Class boost to improve survivability.

Deity

Deity	Description
Lolth	As Minthara is a Drow and a Lolth-Sworn one, this Deity pick is the perfect one in terms of roleplay and the backstory fit.

Prepare Spells

Cleric gets plenty of spells, but the build is limited because of the minimal Wisdom investment.

Spells	Description
Sanctuary​	Use this spell to make the ally untouchable, for example, if they have low HP, or you want to divert the enemy's attention.
Create or Destroy Water	Excellent spell to keep on hand. It can be useful when allies will cast Cold or Lightning spells to double their damage.
Healing Word​	The best healing spell, due to its cheap cost and ability to revive downed targets without wasting action points. Moreover, later with The Whispering Promise ring you can buff specific allies.

Background

Backgrounds are mostly for role-playing, and you can pick whatever you prefer. If you want to optimize, then it would be good to pick backgrounds that are based on your high-value ability points - Strength, Intelligence.

Abilities

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

Skills and Expertise

Overall, the skills should be impacted by your roleplaying and background decisions. However, you would still want those that will give you the best benefits. My recommendation would be to go for these, most relevant to the theme of the build:

• Persuasion
• History
• Insight

Leveling Progression 2-12

Here is the detailed progression for the Minthara to get you started. You can use it as a guideline because early games can be daunting and overwhelming. Later on, once you get a feel for the class, you can start picking your options

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.

For most of the builds, early levels are pretty simple, as there are minimal spell options and features that you can use. However, there are notable spikes at levels 5-6:

• Extra Attack
• Level 3 spells
• Major class and subclass features

With these, you will feel how the game combat opens up, and with correct preparations, you can start eliminating foes with minimal preparations.

Level 2 - Multiclass into Paladin Lv 1

Now we want to get into Paladin. This will now give all the cool features we need, and will take it until we reach class Level 6. Here is a guide on how to do that:

Overview
Paladin
Features
Lay on Hands​	Use your blessed touch to heal a creature or cure it of all diseases and poisons.
Divine Sense​	Gain Advantage on Attack Rolls against celestials, fiends, and undead.
Channel Oath Charges	You gain the ability to channel the power contained in your Paladin Oath, which you can use to fuel certain actions.

For the Subclass:

Overview
Oath of Vengeance
Features
Inquisitor's Might​	Quite a powerful ability, giving a charisma modifier damage boost which can also inflict Dazed​
Oath of Vengeance Tenets​	Requirements ot uphold the oath.

Level 3 - Paladin Lv 2

This is a big level, as the core Paladin features will be unlocked:

Action	Description
Divine Smite​	A very powerful action unique to Paladins. It will allow you to empower weapon attacks at the cost of spell slots. Use it when you need high damage to take out a foe as fast as possible or land a critical hit. Using higher-level spell slots will improve Divine Smite​ damage.

For the fighting style:

Style	Description
Defence​	Gives +1 Armour Class, which results in a decent increase in survivability. I would say this is the only pick that has a significant impact on the build performance.

There are significant overlaps with the War Cleric spell list

Spell	Description
Thunderous Smite​	Deals decent damage and gives use for Bonus Action early in the game, when you might not have a use yet. Also, making an enemy Prone​ will make it easier to hit for allies or the next attack.
Wrathful Smite	A solid option for attack that applies Frightened
Command​	Can command the creature to drop a weapon, run away, come close, etc. It can be useful in some encounters, especially against low Wisdom enemies.
Searing Smite	Deals higher damage than other options, on the next turn, due to the Searing Smite effect.
Bless	Can be a nice buff if you are able to precast it. However, generally clerics apply it with The Whispering Promise + Healing Word for free.

Effectively using Divine Smites

The key aspect of any build that involves at least 2 levels of Paladin is Divine Smite. It is one of the coolest actions, punishing your targets with a ray of light. It can play a crucial role in maximizing your damage output. Let's go through some steps

First, open up your reactions window and make sure Divine Smite is set to "Ask". First, you can do this for both normal and Critical hits

This can become somewhat irritating, as all of your attacks will pop a reaction window. However, in case enemy ends up with 7 HP, you can just use Divine Smite to finish them off. If it is a Critical Hit, you really want to choose the highest level as it will technically double your Divine Smite damage.

Overall, critical hits are extremely important for these attacks as the large number of dice rolls gets doubled. You can also guarantee them with spells like Hold Person, Hold Monster, Glyph of Warding: Sleep, etc.

Another option, if you want, a big nova damage, is to use one of the special smites - Blinding Smite, Thunderous Smite,​ and use Divine Smite​ as a reaction on the same attack. This can deal huge damage, but burns through spell slots very fast.

As I mentioned, other types of smites - Thunderous Smite, Searing Smite, come with unique effects and can apply various effects like Blinded, Frightened, etc. However, they might activate Concentration (and break your current spell) or use up bonus action, which is extremely valuable on Sorcerer with Metamagic: Quickened Spell.

Level 4 - Paladin Lv 3

We continue levelling Paladin. Level 3 brings features both for class and subclass. First, the class benefits:

Feature	Description
Divine Health	Prevents diseases from affecting the Paladin.

In addition, you get subclass actions:

Action	Description
Abjure Enemy​	Although the ability is pretty good, it has a Wisdom save, and also costs a full action. Might be worthwhile early on, but once you get Extra Attack​ it's very expensive to use.
Vow of Enmity​	This is a pretty good Channel ability. It costs a bonus action and gives easy Advantage against the enemy. You should use this on stronger foes, where you will hit them multiple times. This makes it easier to use Great Weapon Master: All In.

In addition, we get subclass-specific spells:

Spells	Description
Bane​	Pretty expensive ability, especially as there are items that can do that - Harold.
Hunter's Mark​	This spell uses bonus action and enables you to slightly improve your damage with each hit. Moreover, if you can maintain Concentration, the spell can be reused on the next enemy. This works until the Long Rest.

Level 5 - Paladin Lv 4

Level 4 brings a new feat, slightly improving the build capabilities

Feat	Description
Great Weapon Master: All In​	One of the best feats for two-handed weapons. First, it gives a bonus attack using a bonus action if you kill an enemy or land a critical hit. Second, it gives a big 10 damage boost, which comes with a -5 penalty to attack rolls. I recommend checking my guide on Attack Roll Increase, to get ideas on how to easily overcome this penalty.

Level 6 - Paladin Lv 5

Finally, level 2 spells are unlocked, new Oath spells, and you get a new and powerful class feature:

Feature	Description
Extra Attack	Can make an additional free attack after making an unarmed or weapon attack.

Always ready spells:

Spell	Description
Misty Step​	Excellent mobility action, to enable you to reach enemies, in case movement speed does not allow. It can also be used to flee.
Hold Person​	A pretty good spell, which can help with disabling foes and landing guaranteed critical hits. To best utilise it, later in Act 3, be sure to get Band of the Mystic Scoundrel, which would allow you to cast it with just a bonus action.

As level 2 spells are unlocked, there are "really" good choices, just a few options, that might find useful:

Spell	Description
Magic Weapon​	This spell can empower your weapons with bonus damage rolls and attack rolls. The higher the spell slot you use, the bigger the bonus. Another thing is that the bonus may seem low, but it will boost your success on hitting while having Great Weapon Master: All In​ active.
Lesser Restoration​	Can heal disease, poison, paralysis, and some other negative effects. Not mandatory, but good to have if the situation arises.
Aid​	This can be a useful spell if you don't have another source of it. Still, Paladin is kind of limited with spell slots.
Branding Smite	Can be used if you see that you will not be actiavting Great Weapon Master: Bonus Attack. It does use Concentration so it will cancel other spells like Magic Weapon.

Levels 7-10

Generally, this covers the Act 2 part of the game. This unlocks items that give a slight boost to a few builds, and you uncover a really interesting part of the story.

Level 7 - Paladin Lv 6

Another important level for the build, as you will get access to an Aura.

Feature	Description
Aura of Protection​	Gives a bonus to saving throws, making Paladin an excellent option for resisting spells and maintaining concentration with spells.

Level 8 - Cleric Lv 2

A few nice additions to the build:

Action	Description
Turn Undead​	Excellent against undead enemies, making them run away.
Guided Strike​	A great way to ensure you land attacks when attacking with a weapon.

Level 9 - Cleric Lv 3

At this level, the Cleric gets access to Level 2 spells, further expanding the spellbook. Moreover, new always-ready spells are introduced.

Spells	Description
Magic Weapon​	This is a reasonably good spell. However, you will have plenty of Concentration spell options, so this will likely be left unused.
Spiritual Weapon​	Gives a good use for bonus action. The weapon deals okay damage and can act as a distraction.

Prepared Spells

Spells	Description
Warding Bond​	Excellent spell that you can use to greatly improve the survivability of one of your party members. I would pair this with Heavy Armor to greatly reduce the incoming damage.
Enhance Ability​	Almost a mandatory spell to have by someone in the group. This can help with various ability checks and turn the tables to your side.

Level 10 - Cleric lv 4

A new learned cantrip is unlocked

Cantrip	Description
Light​	Can be used to activate various item effects or in general cover an area in light.

For Feats you can select from a few choices, based on your playstyle and what kind of playthrough you are doing.

Feat	Description
Savage Attacker	The best option in terms of damage as it will reroll dice from weapon attacks and Divine Smite.
Ability Improvement - +2 Strength	If going for the natural strength setup this would be one of the options
Ability Improvement - +2 Charisma	For Strength Elixir setup, which will also improve other stats.

Levels 11-12

This is where you will spend most of the time in Act 3. There will be an immense amount of content, and you can finish your builds and unlock extremely powerful gear.

Level 11 - Cleric Lv 5

The level is pretty significant as you will get access to a solid spell options.

Feature	Description
Destroy Undead​	When you use Turn Undead, you will also deal bonus radiant damage. I think this is a good addition, but nothing fancy as it has niche uses.

The War Domain subclass also gains special spells:

Spell	Description
Spirit Guardians​	The most iconic cleric spell, which can also be useful on this build. Even though you don't have high Wisdom, you can still pump up Spell Save DC, and use it to land slightly higher damage. However, the goal would be to use Luminous Armour to debuff and weaken foes with Radiating Orb.
Crusader's Mantle​	I think this is an excellent spell for the theme of the build. This gives 1d4 radiant damage bonus to everyone, which on characters like Archers or Fighters, can stack pretty well.

Here are my recommendations for Prepared spells

Spell	Description
Remove Curse​	This can be useful throughout the game in case you or a party member gets cursed.
Daylight	I recommend having this spell for at least one party member as it can be useful in certain vampire-related fights.
Animate Dead	Not an extremely powerful spell in your hands, but having a few ghouls in certain fights can be extremely useful as distractions.

Level 12 - Cleric Lv 6

This level unlocks one of the major features of Nature Cleric:

Feature	Description
War God's Blessing​	An excellent Channel Divinity use that gives improved attack rolls, especially useful for allies that use Great Weapon Master: All In​ or Sharpshooter: All In.

Equipment Recommendations

Act 2

As Minthara is only controllable in Act 2, this is where we will start with the build.

Act 3 - Final Build setup

This is where you will unlock the strongest weapons and armors for most of the builds. It is split into two major parts, starting with Rivington and later reaching the huge area - Lower City itself.

Alternative Setup - Radiating Orb debuffer

Build Mechanics

In this section, I would like to dive deep into how to play the Minthara Build. This will help you utilize it to the fullest and correctly use various actions and spells throughout the game.

Important Mechanics and Combos

Let's go through key mechanics and tips on how to effectively use the build.

Bhaalist Armor and Aura of Murder

The build can get a huge damage boost in Act 3 with Bhaalist Armour. It has a unique effect - Aura Of Murder,​ which doubles piercing damage. As you use a bow, your base damage is piercing, meaning that you can outright double it.

This does come with some caveats; you have to be close to enemies for the effect to take place, so in many cases, you will get Threatened status, which will decrease your hit chance. This can be mitigated in 2 ways:

• Find the sweet spot of being far/close to the enemy where the effect applies, but no threatened status is present.
• Have another melee party member wear it and apply the effect.

Still, even with Threatened​ status, you will have plenty of late-game boosts to negate the negative attack roll impact.

Combat Tactics and Rotation

Maximizing the Build - Abilities, Illithid, Consumables

In this section, I would like to dedicate to various optimizations that you can do to further empower your build. Various things like Illithid Powers and consumables can make the build from powerful to totally overpowered, trivializing the hardest game encounters

Maximizing Ability Scores

So, ability scores play an important role in overall build performance. They do help get higher modifiers to attack rolls, Saving Throw, dialogue checks, and others. Let's look at how we can reach maximum values that are relevant to the Minthara Build:

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.

Illithid Power	Type	Description
Favourable Beginnings	Base	Beneficial power to take as it does not have any costs and provides only benefits on the first hits.
Luck of the Far Realms​	Base	Guarantees a critical hit, use it on important targets that you want to make sure are killed.
Psionic Overload​	Base	As this is Psychic damage, you will double it to 2d4 thanks to Resonance Stone.
Psionic Backlash	Base	A decent use for reaction to deal some bonus psychic damage.
Ability Drain​	Base	As you will be using Dexterity, this can help you to reduce enemy Armor Class and give an increased hit chance on the next attack.
Cull the Weak​	Base	Can help to kill an enemy faster if it is left with a few HP.
Illithid Expertise​	Elite	As you are not a charisma-based character, these proficiencies help with dialogue checks.
Psionic Dominance​	Elite	Can be used to save yourself from a deadly spell. This is especially relevant as you will have a Disadvantage on mental saving throws.
Freecast​	Elite	Remove the cost of spell slots or charges.

Potions, Elixirs and 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.

Consumable	Description
Potion of Speed	You can chug this potion before combat, or during combat using a bonus action. It gives another action point that gives an additional attack or one more spell cast. Sadly, its duration is only 3 turns.
Potion of Animal Speaking	Although not something powerful, it is worth stocking up and saving a spell slot.
Potion of Invisibility	Can be used to get a perfect position before the encounter starts. It can also help trigger Surprise rounds.
Terazul	Gives Hastened​ and stacks with other sources of it. This is a late-game consumable.

Coatings

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

Consumable	Description
Oil of Accuracy	The attack roll bonus is pretty good, which improves your chances of hitting.
Diluted Oil of Sharpness	Helps with attack and damage rolls.
Crawler Mucus or Karabasan's Poison	This is a very powerful debuff that applies Paralysed on an enemy if they fail a Saving Throw. This then guarantees critical hits.
Drow Poison	Has a chance to put an enemy to Sleeping condition, giving a guaranteed critical hit option.

Elixirs

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

Consumable	Description
Elixir of Bloodlust	The elixir gives an easy option to get an additional action point - just kill a foe. This can then be used to attack one more time or cast a full spell.
Elixir of Hill Giant Strength	Can be used as an option to dump strength and maximize other stats. Especially in the early game, 21 Strength with Elixir of Hill Giant Strength is big upgrade for your hit chance. Later, from level 9 you can buy Elixir of Cloud Giant Strength for a fixed 27 Strength.
Elixir of Cloud Giant Strength
Elixir of The Colossus	Provides bonus damage of 1d4 and some other good bonuses. The Advantage of Strength check is great for Shove and making sure enemies fall from cliffs
Elixir of Vigilance	For some encounters, you will want to go first. This elixir will ensure that it overcomes even Surprised​ mechanics.
Elixir of Heroism	Boosts attack rolls by 1d4; this is a good boost to increase the likelihood of landing attacks.

Conclusion and Credits

Thank you for reading the Minthara build for Baldur's Gate 3. This offers a truly fun and unique experience for the character that reflects her background. Paladin and Cleric are somewhat at odds, but picking the correct features and items makes it a solid choice.

Cheers!