#i might fiddle w the banner image next week haha but i currently lack access to the psd file i use for these posts :')

[wyllzel]

🔗 Link to Google Doc.

This is how I’ve been building Shadowheart in my past few playthroughs! Unfortunately, this build is not very thematic for a Cleric of Shar – but it does do a lot of the legwork in Act 2. This build is particularly thematic for a Cleric of Lathander, Corellon Larethian, Eilistraee, and Helm, who are all Light Domain deities… and, due to this build’s effectiveness in Act 2, possibly Selûne. 💡✨

The goal of this Light Domain Cleric is to deal Radiant Damage and apply the Radiating Orb condition to anything that dares to enter Shadowheart’s general vicinity. The undead fear her; shadows evaporate in her presence. It is glorious. I now refuse to play Act 2 without my beloved Radiating Orb Beyblade of Death (Shadowheart). 😁

The focus for this guide is on ability scores and gear interaction. Some of this gear includes the Luminous Armor (Act 1), the Blood of Lathander (Act 1), and Luminous Gloves (Act 2).

This Light Domain Cleric build is phenomenal in Act 2, but still does enough damage output to carry its weight in Acts 1 and 3. Light Domain’s special Channel Divinity action, Radiance of the Dawn, is excellent when dealing with clusters of Invisible enemies (such as Duergar, Shadow Creatures, and Bhaalists).

(Fair warning: Possible spoilers ahead!)

Leveling

Please note that this guide is really just my personal preference! I recommend fully reading through the Wiki page on BG3’s Cleric so you get a good idea of what this class can do. In this guide, I’ve added a star (⭐) next to each of the class features or spells that I especially like.

To start with, I’ll recommend these base stats:

In the early game (Act 1), it’s a good idea to keep Shadowheart’s Wisdom and Dexterity Ability Scores up. Wisdom affects Shadowheart’s spellcasting effectiveness, while Dexterity affects her Armor Class (AC) and Initiative in combat.

But the most important score for this build (after Wisdom) is Constitution. The first feat I recommend addresses this (Resilient), as do my preferred boots on her (Boots of Striding).

The Cleric class has prepared spells, so I’ll just make a note of the feats I take in this section!

Level 4

Feat: Resilient = Constitution

By taking the Resilient Feat, Shadowheart gains +1 to her Constitution Ability Score as well as proficiency in Constitution Saving Throws. This will help her maintain Concentration spells such as Spirit Guardians.

Level 8

Feat: Ability Score (ASI) = +2 WIS

Level 12

Feat: Ability Score (ASI) = +2 WIS

Honor Mode

The above is a pretty good set-up for the Explorer, Balanced, and Tactician difficulties. However, if you’d like to make Tactician mode easier on yourself or you’re planning on taking her to Honor Mode, I’d recommend the following set-up instead:

Level 4

Feat: Ability Score (ASI) = +1 CON, +1 WIS

Level 8

Feat: Alert ⭐

Level 12

Feat: Ability Score (ASI) = +2 WIS, or

Feat: War Caster (Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws to maintain Concentration)

In Honor Mode, having high Initiative can make a huge difference, especially when fights get more intense – hence the Alert Feat at Level 8!

Final Composition

By Level 12, Shadowheart can have the following notable qualities:

Due to Light Domain, Shadowheart will have:

Warding Flare (Level 1) – As Shadowheart levels up, she’ll eventually have Improved Warding Flare (Level 6), which allows her to use a Reaction to impose Disadvantage on an Attack Roll against either herself or an ally.

Potent Spellcasting (Level 8) – Add your Wisdom Modifier to the Damage of your Cleric Cantrips.

Access to select non-Cleric spells – Flaming Sphere, Scorching Ray, Fireball, Wall of Fire, and Destructive Wave.

Recommended Spells List

The following list are the Cleric spells I tend to favor. Because Light Domain Clerics have a lot of great offensive spells (hello, Fireball and Flame Strike!), I usually have Shadowheart running offensive rather than defensive (healing, buffs). She’s like a fake Evocation Wizard, haha.

Basically, I tend to favor (usually AOE) spells that deal some amount of Radiant Damage. While Sacred Flame is notoriously easy for enemies to Save on, its Damage does eventually scale with your Cleric level, making it comparable to a Guiding Bolt by Level 8.

A good Fireball every once in a while doesn’t hurt, either. 🤭

Gear

The goal of this gear selection is to broadcast Radiant Damage (and therefore Radiating Orbs) to as wide a range of enemies as possible. To do this, I favor Radiance of the Dawn, which is the Channel Divinity action specific to Light Domain Clerics. Notably, like Spirit Guardians, Radiance of the Dawn only harms hostile creatures and will not damage (or inflict Radiating Orbs upon) your allies.

Spirit Guardians is also a very reliable source of mass Radiant Damage. Spirit Guardians requires Concentration to maintain, hence this guide’s emphasis on bolstering Constitution Saving Throws.

ℹ️ "But why the emphasis on Radiating Orbs?" you may be wondering. Radiating Orb inflicts a -1 to Attack Rolls on the affected entity (not bad!!), and causes them to emit Light. The Light is great when you're in a dark environment but someone on your team (eg. Human, Githyanki, etc.) doesn't have Darkvision.

Headwear: Holy Lance Helm

Smite the Graceless: Creatures that miss Attack Rolls against the wearer must make a DC14 Dexterity Saving Throw or take 1d4 Radiant Damage.

+1 to Constitution Saving Throws.

Armor: Luminous Armor

Radiating Shockwave: Whenever the wearer deals Radiant Damage, they cause a Radiant Shockwave (inflict Radiating Orb in a 3m/10ft radius).

Cloak: Vivacious Cloak

Arcane Vivaciousness: Gain 8 temporary HP for four turns after casting a spell while in melee.

In order to cast Spirit Guardians to full effect, Shadowheart will be in melee. Alternatively, the Cloak of the Weave is powerful on any caster.

Handwear: Luminous Gloves

Radiating Orb Gloves: When the wearer deals Radiant Damage, the target receives one turn of Radiating Orb.

+1 to Strength Saving Throws

Footwear: Boots of Striding

Focused Stride: When you cast a spell that requires Concentration, you gain Momentum for one turn. While Concentrating, you cannot be pushed or knocked Prone.

Shadowheart will often be Concentrating if your combat priority is casting Spirit Guardians.

Amulet: Amulet of the Devout

High Spellcasting: +2 to Spell Save DC.

Godswill: One additional use of Channel Divinity per Long Rest.

An additional use of Channel Divinity gives Shadowheart an extra charge of Radiance of the Dawn.

Ring A: Coruscation Ring

Arcane Radiance: When the wearer deals spell damage while illuminated by a light source, they inflict Radiating Orb on the target for two turns.

If Shadowheart is carrying the Blood of Lathander, she will always be illuminated.

Ring B: Callous Glow Ring

Callous Glow: Deal an additional 2 points of Radiant Damage against illuminated creatures

If Shadowheart is carrying the Blood of Lathander, all creatures near her will be illuminated.

Melee Main Hand: The Blood of Lathander

Lathander’s Blessing: Once per Long Rest, when your HP is reduced to 0, you regain 2d6 HP. Allies within 9m / 30ft also regain 1d6 HP.

Lathander’s Light: Sheds holy light within a 6m / 20ft radius. Fiends and undead in this light are blinded if they fail a DC14 Constitution Saving Throw.

Sunbeam (Level 6): Cast for one turn once per Long Rest.

Because the Blood of Lathander as a mace does relatively low damage, Shadowheart should be carrying it as a passive buffer/debuffer rather than as a melee weapon. Sunbeam is nothing to sniff at, either.

Alternatively, you could try The Sacred Star or the Moonlight Glaive.

Melee Off Hand: Shield of Devotion

Additional Spell Slot: Gain an additional Level 1 spell slot.

Shield Bash: Use a Reaction to possibly knock an enemy Prone.

Shield of Devotion: Aid: Cast a Level 3 Aid once per Long Rest.

+2 to AC.

This is a great shield on any Cleric! An additional Level 1 spell slot essentially gives you an extra low-level (but potentially clutch) Healing Word or Guiding Bolt.

Alternatively, you may want to use Ketheric’s Shield (great for casters in general) or Viconia’s Walking Fortress (great in general).

Ranged Main Hand: Bow of the Banshee

Blood-Curdling Emission: On a hit, possibly inflict Frightened. Gain a +1d4 bonus to Attack and Damage Rolls against Frightened creatures.

While Shadowheart may rarely, if ever, use a bow instead of a spell attack, the Bow of the Banshee is a really excellent clutch weapon. Since it’s just a shortbow, it may not be extremely useful on your more dedicated archers (who may prefer heavy crossbows, longbows, or hand crossbows); as such, it’s good to have on a character who’ll only be using their Ranged Weapon situationally.

A nice Sharran bow for Shadowheart is also the Least Expected, which is especially great on a stealth-based team.

Ranged Off Hand: N/A

Number Crunching

The following table should give you an idea of how Shadowheart performs on the battlefield as a result of her gear synergy. This table assumes that Shadowheart is Level 12.

She’ll also have up to 7 charges of Radiance of the Dawn per Long Rest. (2 at the start of the day, 2 after each Short Rest (for 4 more), plus 1 from the Amulet of the Devout.)

While it’s difficult to say how much DPR Shadowheart can consistently dole out, this is a very effective build for debuffing your enemies and reliably picking off any stragglers.

Conclusion

A Light Domain Cleric is a great option for an offensive Cleric, but at the end of the day, she’s still a Cleric and will perform best as a complement to your team, rather than as its star player. By debuffing enemies, Shadowheart sets your high DPR characters (like Fighter Lae’zel 😎) up for success on the battlefield.

This build also works pretty well for any Cleric, but works especially well on a Light Cleric! You may have noticed that I mentioned Radiance of the Dawn one billion times throughout this guide… but it really is very good, haha.

If you feel that this build has too many Radiating Orbs (😂), good gear items that are still synergetic with a Light Cleric include:

Boots of Stormy Clamor, Gloves of Belligerent Skies, and/or Spineshudder Amulet with the Thunderskin Cloak

Boots of Speed, Haste Helm, and/or Crusher’s Ring for battlefield mobility (if you favor Spirit Guardians)

Additionally, you can find an alternative r/BG3Builds guide to Radiating Orb stacking here.

Thanks for reading, and hope this gave you some ideas for your Cleric or Radiant Damage builds! :)