So the other day I was messing around with paladin spells in Baldur’s Gate 3 and kept hearing people hype up Crusader’s Mantle. Figured I’d test it myself instead of taking their word for it. Grabbed my paladin Tav and brought along Shadowheart, Gale, and Lae’zel to a random gnoll fight near the cave entrance.
First try was kinda messy
Just popped it immediately after combat started, standing near my party like the tooltip says. Thought “hey, extra radiant damage on every hit should wreck everything!” But nope – enemies spread out instantly. My fighters chased targets outside the circle while Gale stayed way back tossing spells. Lasted three rounds but only got maybe five bonus hits total. Felt super underwhelming for a level 3 spell slot.
Second attempt went better
Changed tactics next fight against those goblins by the windmill. Had everyone drink speed potions first, then clustered behind a choke point. Waited for enemies to group up near us before casting. Holy hell – suddenly we’re hitting 10+ times per round with golden sparkles everywhere! Melted the whole pack before mantel even expired. Learned two things:
- Bottlenecking is mandatory – open fields waste the aura
- Speed/Haste stacks stupid well – more attacks mean more bonus damage
Weird interaction I noticed
When Lae’zel used Action Surge? Didn’t double-dip the bonus damage. Extra attacks work but singular ability bursts don’t. Also tried comboing with Spirit Guardians – the visual effects clash horribly but damn if it isn’t pretty watching golden and blue sparkles blend during that gnoll cave cleanup mission.
Kinda obsessed with it now whenever I’m running my paladin. Absolute trash against ranged or spread-out fights but when you force that mosh pit? Watching the damage numbers pop off never gets old. Just wish the visual effect wasn’t so friggin blinding after ten minutes.