Drunken Master Monk - Hit & Run attacker - Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3)

Way of the Drunken Master

Monk is a relatively simple and Reverberation and Elixir of Battlemage's Power and Gloves of Battlemage's Power easy to build class. Thanks to the innate movement speed bonus and various features like Step of the Wind: Dash or Step of the Wind: Disengage you can reach multiple enemies and run away to safety incredibly easy.

Drunken Master allows for an easy way to recover our Ki due to Cheeky Tipple which will allow to use our features more often. On top of that we'll gain Drunken Technique which is an absolute core of the build and Intoxicating Strike - which we'll be using most often throughout the whole game. The ability to easily Disengage and debuff our enemies will be crucial as we also gain Life of the Party which will debuff us while we terrorize foes we fight. This will give us survivability + hit chance buff which I don't think I have to elaborate further on why this is good.

Due to our possible high AC we can also attack our foes back due to Redirect Attack without the need of Vest of Soul Rejuvenation if you want to use something else. In this build I won't be going full 12 monk as some later level features of the Way of the Drunken Master aren't that great; However base Monk features and an additional feat may also be pretty useful anyway.

In this particular build I'll be going DEX weapon setup - Let's get into it.

[Video in progress]

Class Contribution

8 Way of the Drunken Master Monk

• 2 features at level 4 and 8 to customize the setup you want.
• Monks features like scaling unarmed damage, movement speed, Flurry of Blows, Deflect Missiles, Ki-Empowered Strikes etc.
• Easy way to recover KI points thanks to Cheeky Tipple.
• Drunken Technique which will give us more mobility and safety as it grants us Disengage.
• Intoxicating Strike which can be a nice setup for debuffing the enemies and will work perfectly with the next feature.
• Life of the Party which will increase our AC and hit chance for eachDrunk foe thanks to Intoxicating Strike.
• Stunning Strike (Melee)​ to stun enemies so that they would skip their turns.

4 Thief Rogue

• Additional Expertise,​ which will be used to improve skills.
• Use a Sneak Attack (Melee)​ for a slight damage boost, once per turn.
• Special bonus action use - Cunning Action: Dash, Cunning Action: Hide, which help with engaging and running away.
• Fast Hands giving us an additional Bonus Action to boost action economy.
• Gives us a 3rd feat option.

Build Variations

Synergy with other builds

As the Drunk Monk doesn't have a lot of specific synergies, I'll show you some general builds that will either give you passive buffs or help with control all over the battlefield.

Control Spells

Synergetic Builds	Enabler	Description
Lore Bard Swords Bard Fire Sorcerer Hexblade Others	Hold Person or Hold Monster	Enables to easily deal critical hits, which maximize possible damage, and disables key foes. The easiest way to apply is with caster or gish-type builds.

Grouping

One technique that you can use is to group enemies. This is pretty easy to do, and a very powerful technique to buff yourself thanks to Intoxicating Strike or if you're going to use Punch-Drunk Bastard.

Synergetic Builds	Enabler	Description
Warlock builds	Eldritch Blast + Repelling Blast	The Repelling Blast allows you to control the positions of the enemies and push them together. This makes Eldritch Blast a perfect tool for that
Caster Builds like: Bards Druids Sorcerers Wizards	Thunderwave	Using Thunderwave is a cheap and easy way to push enemies together. For example, you have two groups of two. So getting them together, and then letting you hit with a strong AOE attack, technically doubles total damage.
-	Void Bulb	These consumables are plentiful from Omeluum in Act 1. They can be either thrown or destroyed with an archer or another AOE attack to pull enemies together.
Bards Sorcerers Wizards Warlocks Eldritch Knight Arcane Trickster Shadow Monk	Minor Illusion	One of the most accessible cantrips in the game. You can use it to pull enemies together before combat. Once they are in place, use an attack to hit them all, or engage in combat so that they don't run away.
-	Black Hole	Accessible in Act 3, once you unlock Astral-Touched Tadpole. Black Hole is one of the strongest grouping tools once you have it. It is simple to use, has a wide area of effect, and does not affect allies.

Piercing Damage

In this specific build I'll be using Piercing weapons so the ability to deal double the damage is obviously very good.

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

Build Overview

Here is a 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.

×

Weapon setup‹›×

‹Unarmed STR pot›×

‹Unarmed Natural STR›×

+ Add tab

Monks can effectively use both weapons and fists at the same time. The main hand attacks can use weapons while the bonus action effects like flurries, can utilize your fists. So you are not limited to just unarmed attacks.

The reason why the weapon setup multiclasses at 5 and unarmed setup at 6 is because of Ki-Empowered Strikes as there's ways to bypass weapon resistances easier than with unarmed strikes.

This will require you to get Auntie Ethel's Hair with +1 Dexterity for the best setup of the build. If you don't plan to get the hair put the stats to 16 DEX and 12 STR.

Level	Class	Selection
1	Monk 1	STR - 10, DEX - 17 (15+2), CON - 14, INT - 8, WIS - 16 (15+1), CHA - 8
		Skills: Stealth, Athletics
2	Monk 2	-
3	Monk 3	Subclass: Way of the Drunken Master
4	Monk 4	Feat: +2 Dex or Savage Attacker
5	Monk 5	-
6	Rogue 1	-
7	Rogue 2	Skills: Sleigh of Hand, Athletics, Stealth
8	Rogue 3	Subclass: Thief
9	Rogue 4	Feat:+2 Dex or Savage Attacker
10	Monk 6	-
11	Monk 7
12	Monk 8	Feat: Mobile, Sentinel Foe, Alert

The setup can use Elixir of Hill Giant Strength and later from about level 6 you can jump toElixir of Cloud Giant Strength.This setup allows you to keep high Wisdom to enhance your innate AC, DC of your actions and enhance some items like Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo

Level	Class	Selection
1	Monk 1	STR - 8, DEX - 16 (15+1), CON - 15, INT - 8, WIS - 17 (15+2), CHA - 8
		Skills: Stealth, Athletics
2	Monk 2	-
3	Monk 3	Subclass: Way of the Drunken Master
4	Monk 4	Feat: Tavern Brawler +1 CON
5	Monk 5	-
6	Monk 6	-
7	Rogue 1	-
8	Rogue 2	Skills: Sleigh of Hand, Athletics, Stealth
9	Rogue 3	Subclass: Thief
10	Monk 7	-
11	Monk 8	Feat: +2 Wisdom Ability Score Improvement
12	Monk 9	-

The core in this one is to enable Elixir of Bloodlust and use Mage Armour as with 16 DEX with the spell's passive and Monk's Unarmoured Defence you get the same AC bonus. What you lose out on is some minor ability damage and specific gear damage like Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo.

Level	Class	Selection
1	Monk 1	STR - 17 (15+2), DEX - 16 (15+1), CON - 14, INT - 8, WIS - 10, CHA - 8
		Skills: Stealth, Athletics
2	Monk 2	-
3	Monk 3	Subclass: Way of the Drunken Master
4	Monk 4	Feat: Tavern Brawler +1 STR
5	Monk 5	-
6	Monk 6	-
7	Rogue 1	-
8	Rogue 2	Skills: Sleigh of Hand, Athletics, Stealth
9	Rogue 3	Subclass: Thief
10	Monk 7	-
11	Monk 8	Feat: +2 Strength Ability Score Improvement
12	Monk 9	-

Starting the Game - Level 1

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

Races

Picking a race provides various benefits - abilities, dialogue options, looks, etc. 

Race	Features	Description
Dwarf Duergar	Dwarven Combat Training​ Superior Darkvision​ Dwarven Resilience​ Duergar Resilience​	One of the best race picks overall. The Invisibility​ action allows you to enter combat with the best possible position and always activate the Surprised round. Keep in mind you'll have slightly lower mobility as it is a shorter race.
Wood Half-Elf	Civil Militia Darkvision​ Fey Ancestry Fleet of Foot - your movement speed is increased by 1.5m.	The build also utilizes melee attacks so it's great to have the speed boost.
Wood Elf	Elven Weapon Training​ Darkvision​ Fey Ancestry Fleet of Foot - your movement speed is increased by 1.5m.
High Half-Elf	Civil Militia Darkvision​ Fey Ancestry	These picks are relevant mainly for the Booming Blade​ cantrip. This is especially relevant due to your mobility and free damage is always good. I will be going on with this one for this build.
High Elf	Elven Weapon Training​ Darkvision​ Fey Ancestry

Origins and Characters

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

Origin	Features	Description
Karlach	Darkvision​ Hellish Resistance​ Thaumaturgy​	The main highlight is the Soul Coin, which allows doubling the fire damage rider, giving a significant boost. One of the best characters for unarmed builds.
Astarion	Elven Weapon Training​ Darkvision​ Fey Ancestry	In Act 3, Astarion can obtain the Vampire Ascendant​ buff, which gives a 1d10 necrotic damage boost. Sadly, this is tied to specific decisions that you will have to make. He also gets the Happy from Bite abilty which is pretty good itself.

Class

Overview
Monk
Features
Flurry of Blows​	Very powerful attack, allowing you to do two hits with a bonus action and Ki points.
Ki	A unique resource for Monk actions.
Unarmoured Defence​	Allows getting the armor class from the Wisdom modifier.
Martial Arts: Dextrous Attacks​	Similar to how finesse weapons work, Monk attacks scale based on high ability between Strength and Dexterity.
Martial Arts: Deft Strikes​	Set the base attack of unarmed attacks to 1d4, later this becomes 1d6 and 1d8.
Martial Arts: Bonus Unarmed Strike​	Gives an option to attack with your fists using bonus action.

Background

Backgrounds are mostly for role-playing and you can pick whatever you prefer. 

Background	Skills	Description
Folk Hero	Animal Handling Survival	Both of these use Wisdom as the main ability.
Urchin	Sleight of Hand Stealth	Effective combo to improve your chances of lockpicking and trap disarming.
Charlatan	Deception Sleight of Hand	Mainly good for improved Sleight of Hand to unlock chests and pickpocketing.
Soldier	Intimidation Athletics	Mainly good for Athletics due to Shove as it can sometimes help pushing your enemies for an insta kill or pushing them to your CC.

Abilities

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:

• Stealth
• Athletics

Leveling Progression 2-12

Here is the detailed progression for the Drunken Monk 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 features that you can use. However, there are notable spikes at levels 5-6:

• Extra Attack
• 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

Feature	Description
Unarmoured Movement​	Makes it easier to reach and move between enemies.

That is not all, by using Ki points you can get an improved version of some base actions:

Action	Description
Patient Defence​	It's not something that I would use, as the bonus action has better uses.
Step of the Wind: Dash​	It can be used to reach longer distances or jump on enemies on higher grounds.
Step of the Wind: Disengage​	A disengage option that you can activate with Bonus action and a Ki Point.

Steroids - Elixir of Hill Giant Strength

There is an easy way to get a big boost to your strength via Elixir of Hill Giant Strength. Why is this important? If you use Drunken Technique​, your unarmed attacks can use Strength as the main stat. This is not all, at level 4, you can pick Tavern Brawler feat which gives an additional boost to attacks based on strength modifier.

After you reach the first settlement - Druid's Grove. There, you can stock up on elixirs for Acts 1 and 2 - Elixir of Hill Giant Strength. This is somewhat gimmicky; however, if you are interested, here is a guide on how to farm Elixir of Hill Giant Strength.

Drinking the elixir after each long rest will result in full combat potential of the build, making many encounters a breeze. You can even buy an improved version Elixir of Cloud Giant Strength with a fixed 27 strength stat or brew them from Cloud Giant Finger prior to level 6.

For the weapon Monk use it solely for using Shove as it boosts your chance of succeeding the push or just for throwing and carrying enemies.

Level 3

This level unlocks subclass and additional class features:

Feature	Description
Deflect Missiles​	A useful option for reaction when you are getting shot with a ranged attack, and there are no opponents close by for Attack of Opportunity.

Subclass

Overview
Way of the Drunken Master
Features
Cheeky Tipple​​	On top of Drunk immunity you can regain half your Ki points rounded down once per day by drinking alcohol. Very easy to regain your economy action.
Drunken Performance​	You gain proficiency in Performance skill, simple.
Drunken Technique​	You attack an enemy twice, gain bonus movement and the effect of Disengage, it also replaces Flurry of Blows. Great attack and escape tool.

Level 4

Level 4 brings the first feat, it will be a huge improvement.

Class features

Feature	Description
Intoxicating Strike​	It allows us to get our enemies Drunk which can prove helpful for some other control options or stuff like Smokepowder Bomb. It's also crucial for the next feature.
Life of the Party​	For every Drunk target through Intoxicating Strike you gain +1 AC and +1 to attack rolls against Drunk targets, your best bet for buffing yourself.

Feat

The pick depends on the setup you have and how you allocate ability points.

Feat	Description
Ability Improvement - +2 Dex	For weapon monk take - +2 Dexterity for a bonus to AC, initiative, hit chance and dmg.
Savage Attacker​	Re-rolls our melee weapon damage dice counting damage riding effects.
Tavern Brawler​	Take the +1 Constitution option to round it to 16 for the Elixir of Hill Giant Strength, for the nat STR unarmed monk take +1 Strength to round it to 18. If you're playing the weapon setup you may take it and use the Club of Hill Giant Strength as an off-hand.

Level 5

Another major milestone for the build and unlocks great features:

Feature	Description
Extra Attack​	An important feature, that will allow you to attack two times with the main hand. This will pair well with the next unlock - Stunning Strike (Unarmed)​ to stun your targets.
Stunning Strike (Melee)​	It acts as a normal attack but can also stun enemies when attacking with a weapon.
Stunning Strike (Unarmed)​	It acts as a normal attack but can also stun enemies when attacking unarmed.

Level 6 - Rogue Lv 1

As mentioned in the introduction, Rogue plays a pivotal role as Thief gives us bonus option for mobility and damage via Fast Hands. We can Drunken Technique for free mobility boost and run away option, attack twice with Main Hand Attack and then Dash: Bonus Action to "cheese" enemies.

To multiclass follow these steps:

Class

Overview
Rogue
Features
Sneak Attack (Melee)​	This can be exploited with weapon attacks for an additional 1d6 damage once per turn. Be sure to have an Advantage or attack using Hide. Later, more damage rolls are added.
Sneak Attack (Ranged)​	This can be exploited with weapon attacks for an additional 1d6 damage once per turn. Be sure to have an Advantage or attack from hiding. Later, more damage rolls are added.

Abilities

To be fair, any picks are okay, but I would emphasise two:

• Sleight of Hand - if you need a dedicated lockpicker or trap disarmer
• Stealth - used for stealth based gameplay or stuff like Greater Invisibility
• Athletics - used for shoving.

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 - Rogue Lv 2

Action	Description
Cunning Action: Hide​	Bonus action hide which can prove useful.
Cunning Action: Dash​	Cover more distance this turn: double your movement speed.
Cunning Action: Disengage​	Retreat safely: moving won't provoke Opportunity Attack.

Level 8 - Rogue Lv 3

Subclass

Overview
Thief
Features
Fast Hands​	Allows another bonus action, in Monk's case this will be Martial Arts: Bonus Unarmed Strike, Drunken Technique or cunning actions.
Second-Story Work: Falling​	Reduces fall damage.

Level 9 - Rogue Lv 4

Feat	Description
Ability Improvement - +2 Dex	Take - +2 Dexterity for a bonus to AC, initiative, hit chance and dmg.
Savage Attacker​	Re-rolls our melee weapon damage dice counting damage riding effects.

Level 10 - Monk 6

A new subclass and class features are unlocked:

Drunk Monk features

Feature	Description
Leap to Your Feet​​	When you are under the Prone effect you stand up with a lot less movement speed.
Redirect Attack​	With a reaction and using 1 ki point you can attack an enemy with an unarmed attack if they miss you. This works great with the Tavern Brawler.

Monk features

Feature	Description
Ki-Empowered Strikes​	You can now overcome physical resistances, as your fists count as magical attacks.
Improved Unarmoured Movement	Significantly increases movement speed by 4.5 meters.

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 - Monk 7

The level unlocks a few class features

Feature	Description
Evasion​	Gives a huge survivability boost against spells and effects like bombs which can be easily exploited.
Stillness of Mind	Allows for avoiding Charmed and Frightened conditions, making many combat encounters easier.

Level 12 - Monk 8

The Third feat of the build is unlocked, and an additional Ki Point has been added.

Feat	Description
Sentinel: Vengeance​	As this is a skirmisher type build it may seem an anti-synergy but the feat can be exploited as it is able to "proc" extra attack if you're standing near an ally.
Alert​	If you're a sucker for initiative and anti-surprise utility, pick this one.
Ability Score Improvement, Savage Attacker​, Tavern Brawler​	Ability score improvement, re-rolling melee weapon damage dice and bonus unarmed damage bonus with accuracy are still viable.

Equipment Recommendations

Act 1

Full list Paper doll

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

• Main Hand

  

  Hunter's Dagger

  Absolute beast combined with Booming Blade​ and your high mobility. The tool-tip in the game lies and the passive Ruptured​ is always applied.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Mourning Frost

    Even though it looks caster-focused it's actually great at being a martial weapon, the 1d4 Cold damage can easily be doubled with Wet​. This can also lead to Frozen​ which will make enemies Vulnerable to Bludgeoning.

  • 
    Nature's Snare

    Can be found very early on and CC our enemies with a great condition, combined with Gloves of Power​ it's a great weapon.

  • 
    Hamarhraft

    Can be exploited due to Step of the Wind: Dash​ as jumping won't cost a bonus action which translates to free 1-4 damage every jump. It is a 2 handed weapon though so forget about an off-hand.

• Off Hand

  

  Speedy Reply

  Can give us bonus Momentum​ if needed, decent before Rogue multiclass.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Club of Hill Giant Strength

    Great for Tavern Brawler​ or bonus jumping distance.

• Ranged Main Hand

  

  Hunting Shortbow

  Due to our high mobility, survivability through features like Deflect Missiles​ we can maintain our Concentration​ on free Hunter's Mark​ provided by the bow.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Bow of the Banshee

    Great bow that will add bonus 1-4 damage on every Frightened​ not only afflicted by the bow. The bonus is applied regardless of Frightened​ target meaning you don't have to shoot the bow to get the benefit.

  • 
    Bow of Awareness

    Gives us a bonus initiative, if you want to win an initiative battle this is a good stat stick. Due to it being a DEX build it won't be that huge of a change early game.

• Helmet

  

  Haste Helm

  Gives us even more Momentum​ which we want every time.

  Alternatives

  • 
    The Lifebringer

    Somewhat of an okay option if you're going to use The Sparkle Hands​ for some bonus HP bonus.

• Cloak

  

  The Deathstalker Mantle

  Dark Urge specific.

• Chest

  

  Poisoner's Robe

  Works great with Booming Blade​ and Broodmother's Revenge​, the only downside is that you're going to have to use some sort of healing for the best value.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Infernal Robe

    Good defensive robe with some sort of retaliation, comes at the cost of killing Karlach though.

  • 
    The Protecty Sparkswall

    Okay defensive option although I'd only use it if you won't use it on any caster.

  • 
    Armour of Uninhibited Kushigo

    Better than nothing, the passive may come useful in some situations.

• Gloves

  

  The Sparkle Hands

  BiS for damage and some item interactions, you'll be able to quickly stack up on Lightning Charges.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Bracers of Defence

    Flat bonus to our Armuor Class as we won't be using any armour.

  • 
    Gloves of Power

    Good opiton to debuff your enemies, works only on weapon attacks.

• Boots

  

  Linebreaker Boots

  As we will be using Dash​ and similar actions a lot they will give us a great damage boost to our attacks, they may even stay until the endgame.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Disintegrating Night Walkers

    Great pair of boots if you have any CC casters, situational Misty Step​ can also prove useful

  • 
    Boots of Speed

    Okay option before the Thief Rogue dip.

• Amulet

  

  Broodmother's Revenge

  Great damage amulet that can stay with you until endgame.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Moondrop Pendant

    If you don't mind risky play or if you make a mistake this can be pretty useful without using Drunken Technique​ or Disengage​ to run away.

  • 
    Amulet of Misty Step

    Once per Short Rest get out of danger free card via Misty Step​.

• Ring

  

  Crusher's Ring

  Gives us even more mobility which we like.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Spurred Band

    An okay option for risky playstyle and good combo with Moondrop Pendant​r

• Ring 2

  

  Ring of Protection

  Not many great options early game, +1 AC and Saving throws is very good to have.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Caustic Band

    Flat +2 damage bonus to weapon attacks,

Act 2

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

• Main Hand

  

  Knife of the Undermountain King

  Still remains a great damage option.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Render of Mind and Body

    If you're not going to use Knife of the Undermountain King​ this can be a pretty good option since we'll be unlocking lots of easy Advantage​ options like Cunning Action: Hide​ or spells like Greater Invisibility​.

  • 
    Drakethroat Glaive

    Use this to buff your weapon, with Draconic Elemental Weapon​ after each long rest, on top of free damage it will also enable our Booming Blade​ to work with Ring of Elemental Infusion​

• Off Hand

  

  Sword of Clutching Umbra

  Shadowsoaked Blow​ can still be used in off hand which can be pretty useful if you're not going to use other weapons.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Club of Hill Giant Strength

    Still a good stat stick if you take Tavern Brawler​.

• Ranged Main Hand

  

  Darkfire Shortbow

  Gives free Cold and Fire resistance on top of Haste​ which can be safe to use due to your high mobility

  Alternatives

  • 
    Bow of the Banshee

    Great bow that will add bonus 1-4 damage on every Frightened​ not only afflicted by the bow. The bonus is applied regardless of Frightened​ target meaning you don't have to shoot the bow to get the benefit.

  • 
    Ne'er Misser

    Good option vs Piercing resistant enemies although I'd give it to your archer if you have one.

  • 
    Bow of Awareness

    Free initiative option.

• Helmet

  

  Diadem of Arcane Synergy

  As activating Arcane Synergy​ is really easy (applying any condition works), you can use this to improve your damage based on the spellcasting modifier

  Alternatives

  • 
    Haste Helm

    Bonus mobility through Momentum​ is still great

• Cloak

  

  Vivacious Cloak

  Great defence option if you're going to use Booming Blade​ as you can get free 8 TEMP HP every turn.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Cloak of Protection

    Okay option with minor boosts is better than nothing.

• Chest

  

  The Graceful Cloth

  Great cloth which can elevate our Dexterity to 20 with Auntie Ethel's Boon​ giving us +5 AC, initiative, damage and hit chance. Bonus jump distance and Advantage​ on Dex skill checks through Cat's Grace​ is great too.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Poisoner's Robe

    More enemies are poison resistant or immune meaning this won't be as good.

• Gloves

  

  Flawed Helldusk Gloves

  Gloves that will benefit both your weapon and unarmed attacks, bonus to apply Bleeding​ is also pretty okay.

  Alternatives

  • 
    The Sparkle Hands

    They still remain a great damage option, better option than Flawed Helldusk Gloves​ if you're going for pure unarmed.

  • 
    Dark Justiciar Gauntlets

    Better than nothing damage boost option for your weapon monk.

• Boots

  

  Linebreaker Boots

  Still your BiS damage option.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Disintegrating Night Walkers

    Great pair of boots if you have any CC casters, situational Misty Step​ can also prove useful

  • 
    Evasive Shoes

    Flat +1 AC bonus is somewhat okay.

• Amulet

  

  Broodmother's Revenge

  Remains your best bet damage option.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Amulet of the Harpers

    Pretty good saving throws option vs mental save spells as we already use high Wisdom, free Shield​ is also a nice addition.

• Ring

  

  Shadow-Cloaked Ring

  Great damage ring as you can proc it very often AND it adds an additional 1-4 damage to unarmed attacks.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Ring of Elemental Infusion

    To use this ring you have to apply Elemental Weapon​ spell or effect from Drakethroat Glaive​ and use Booming Blade​. It's a damage riding effect which means it can proc multiple times.

• Ring 2

  

  Strange Conduit Ring

  Still remains a good damage option ring if you use Concentration​ often.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Ring of Free Action

    It doesn't state so but the ring also prevents you from getting immobilzed by a condition like Hold Person​, great utility anti-debuff ring.

  • 
    Ring of Arcane Synergy

    Alternative to Diadem of Arcane Synergy​

Act 3

Full list Paper doll

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

• Main Hand

  

  Crimson Mischief

  One of the best dual-wielding weapons. Given how easy you can activate it's features at this level it's an extremely good damage option.

  
  

  Alternatives

  • 
    Dolor Amarus

    Free damage on crit and with Bhaalist Armour​'s Aura Of Murder or due to Bloodthirst​'s ability ​it's easy double damage. To utilize it best you have to crit often.

  • 
    Bloodthirst

    Can provide an easy piercing vulnerability to piercing damage allowing to deal double damage of that kind, -1 to crit is also an okay buff.

• Off Hand

  

  Dolor Amarus

  Free damage on crit and with Bhaalist Armour​'s Aura Of Murder or due to Bloodthirst​'s ability ​it's easy double damage. To utilize it best you have to crit often.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Bloodthirst

    Can provide an easy piercing vulnerability to piercing damage allowing to deal double damage of that kind, -1 to crit is also an okay buff. Reason it's lower is because you have much more contested Bonus Action slots.

  • 
    Knife of the Undermountain King

    -1 to crit and passive damage re-roll still remain good buffs.

• Ranged Main Hand

  

  Vicious Shortbow

  Good stat stick damage bow giving you free damage on crit, deals double damage to piercing vulnerable targets.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Hellrider Longbow

    Since you can reach +6 to initiative by just leveling up DEX this bow won't be that good especially if you take Alert​. However there's some Honor Mode bosses with incredibly high initiative where using it as a stat stick might be helpful.

  • 
    Gontr Mael

    Gives you an upgraded version of Haste​ which can help you in dangerous fights.

  • 
    The Dead Shot

    Use it just for -1 to crit, not my favourite choice but it's still something

• Helmet

  

  Horns of the Berserker

  Gives a free bonus to attack rolls on top of a lot of potential damage to all of your attacks.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Helmet of Grit

    Good for risky gameplay giving you another Bonus Action to use for attacks or utility

  • 
    Diadem of Arcane Synergy

    Arcane Synergy​ is still a good option although it only works on weapon attacks.

• Cloak

  

  Cloak of Displacement

  Gives you free Blurred​ effect until you take damage.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Wavemother's Cloak

    Gives you a good plentiful of buffs thanks to Water Layer Protection until you take damage.​

  • 
    Vivacious Cloak

    Still remains a great option if you have access to Booming Blade​

• Chest

  

  Bhaalist Armour

  Great piece offering you Aura Of Murder​ that can double your piercing damage although it comes at a price of losing bonus innate monk movement.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Mutilated Carapace

    The tooltip of this piece lies as the +1 damage to damage rolls applies to multiple damage rolls.

  • 
    Garb of The Land and Sky

    Great defensive option that can give you damage boost or insane survivability.

• Gloves

  

  Craterflesh Gloves

  The tooltip also lies as they deal 2-6 bonus damage instead of 1-6, the damage boost also can stack on many damage rolls.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Helldusk Gloves

    On top of giving a lot of benefits, they're a direct damage upgrade to Flawed Helldusk Gloves​.

  • 
    Gloves of Soul Catching

    Even though it's a weapon setup they still can add respectable damage from your mixed combo of weapon attacks and Drunken Technique​ or Intoxicating Strike.​

  • 
    Flawed Helldusk Gloves

    1d4 damage boost on both unarmed and weapon attacks is still a decent option with possibility to apply Bleeding​.

• Boots

  

  Linebreaker Boots

  They still remain one of the best damage options.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Helldusk Boots

    Improved version of Disintegrating Night Walkers​, one of the best footwear picks in the whole game.
    

  • 
    Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo

    Unarmed focused option.

• Amulet

  

  Broodmother's Revenge

  Still remains a nice damage boost.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Amulet of Greater Health

    Boosts your Constitution to 23 giving you a lot of hit points and a possibility to respec and allocate your stats differently, I personally put it into Strength for Shove​ or Jump​ distance.
    

  • 
    Amulet of the Drunkard

    Since you're immune to negative effects of Drunk​ it's a good HP regeneration piece.

  • 
    Fey Semblance Amulet

    Quality of life boost to your mental saving throws, it's a good negation effect if you decide to take Resonance Stone from Act 2.

• Ring

  

  Strange Conduit Ring

  Great damage ring if use your Concentration​.
  

  Alternatives

  • 
    Ring of Elemental Infusion

    To use this ring you have to apply Elemental Weapon​ spell or effect from Drakethroat Glaive​ and use Booming Blade​. It's a damage riding effect which means it can proc multiple times.

  • 
    Ring of Arcane Synergy

    Alterantive to Diadem of Arcane Synergy​ if you have Booming Blade​

• Ring 2

  

  Shadow-Cloaked Ring

  Still one of the the best damage rings for your style of gameplay.

  Alternatives

  • 
    Ring of Free Action

    Utility ring to prevent CC effects.

Build Mechanics

In this section, I would like to dive deep into how to play the Drunk Monk. 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.

Hit 'N Run

Due to your high mobility and Drunken Technique we're incredibly difficult to catch, try to break the line of sight with enemies for them to seek you out or avoid taking ranged damage. It's especially good when we take the Rogue dip thanks to Cunning Action: Hide as this can break the enemy AI making them skip their turns

I recommend looking at how much movement you have by checking this bar over your turn action bar.

Stunning Strike to disable foes

Although this might not be the reason why you go with monk, it has decent control capabilities thanks to Stunning Strike (Unarmed)​. It is a very powerful tool in the arsenal, and if successful, can for enemies to skip their turn. Using this together with flurries can eat up the ki-points pretty fast.

Evasive evasion

As I mentioned previously, Evasion allows you to cheat out some ridiculous strategies as bombs use Dexterity Saving throws as a factor. Thanks to our high Dex and ability to buff our saving throws we may put bombs under ourselves and detonate them causing an explosion that may not even damage us.

This proves useful versus enemies with low Dexterity Saving Throws, crowded areas and in situations where you're the only one safe within the bomb vicinity. My favourite combination is placing a bunch Smokepowder Bombs and shooting them with an Arrow of Fire.

How do crits, resistance and immunities work?

Throughout the game you can see a lot of items that can enhance your damage by d4, d6, d8 etc. and items that increase it by flat amount like Caustic Band. Critical strikes make it so grand majority of our damage from items that increase it by some kind of dice (like d6) gets doubled, while flat numbers stay the same (1d6 turns into 2d6 while 2 stays as 2).

Vulnerability is also another mechanic that enhances our damage AND stacks with crits; it makes it so a target takes twice the amount of damage from a certain damage type. Let's theorize our enemy has a Vulnerability to fire and acid and we crit them while using Helldusk Gloves and Caustic Band.

The Helldusk Gloves deal an initial damage of 1d6 which turns into -> 2d6 on crit which also turns into -> 4d6 Vulnerability

The Caustic Band deals an initial damage of 2 acid -> which turns into 2 on crit which turns into -> 4 damage from Vulnerability

Vulnerability: Means that the target takes 100% more damage from a given damage type. Making an already resistant target vulnerable to a certain damage type will make them take normal damage instead.

Resistance: White arrow means that the target takes reduced Non-Magical damage by 50%. Blue arrow indicates that the target takes reduced Magical damage by 50%.

Immunity: Means that the target is completely immune to the given damage type.

Elemental infusion ring

As mentioned in the Act 1.5 Equipment section, Ring of Elemental Infusion works wonky with Booming Blade (BB)​. To properly activate the ring with BB you need the Drakethroat Glaive from Act 2 (map below) or the Elemental Weapon spell. BB isn't properly coded as a Thunder spell so you need to imbue your weapon with any element to activate it without using a dedicated cantrip or a spell. This ring's damage can also apply multiple times as it is a Damage Rider.​ Drakethroat Glaive

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

Ability Scores play an important role both in terms of how your attacks land. Moreover, these can help to also reach extremely high skill rolls needed for a few checks.

1. Act 1 - Auntie Ethel's Hair - you will want to get +1 Dexterity if you pick this choice.
2. Feat - Ability Improvement - +2 Dexterity or +2 Strength for NAT STR setup.
3. Act 3 - Mirror of Loss - pick +2 Dexterity or +2 Strength for NAT STR setup.

This will allow you to reach 22 natural Dexterity. This is the maximum value. Without Auntie Ethel's Hair, you will reach 20.

You can also get 24 natural Strength that way, what you have to do though is use Potion of Everlasting Vigour from Araj Oblodra.

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.

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 Surprised 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	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

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 a Bonus Action.

Consumable	Description
Elixir of Hill Giant Strength	Setup only to unarmed OR to carry or Shove your enemies easier. Elixir of Hill Giant Strength can be found very early into the game while Elixir of Cloud Giant Strength; you can start buying Cloud Giant Finger to brew it prior to level 6.
Elixir of Cloud Giant Strength
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 Vigilance	For some encounters, you will want to go first. This elixir will ensure that it overcomes even Surprised​ mechanics.
Elixir of The Colossus	Provides bonus damage of 1d4 and some other good bonuses.
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 Drunk Monk build for Baldur's Gate 3. It uses both weapons and unarmed attacks with the chaos it causes to wreak havoc across the battlefield. It's both dangerous, eluvise and mobile. I'll happily answer to any questions.