After finishing my Dark Urge Honor Mode run I immediately hit new game and started a Wyll run.
I'll keep him as a Warlock for the entire run and will keep a pretty tight party, no need to keep switching people in and out.
The party
I had Astarion as the Gloomstalker-Assassin-Champion combo I love so much. Ranger to level 5 for extra attack, then 4 levels of Rogue for a feat, then 3 levels of Champion Fighter. He became the crit-fisher de jeure for 99% of the game.
Lae'zel as Eldritch Knight Fighter, it was not terribly exciting. Best use of it was Shield as a reaction. In this run I did not utilise the spell options that much for her, she mainly just swung her sword. Perfect.
Karlach was my Giant Barbarian for the first time - the verdict was it's not as good as Throwzerker but it's fine. I often found myself just not bothering/being in right place to use the Bonus Action Kick or Throw Person (amusing as both of them are).
Gale would also, critically, be in camp. Plus Shadowheart and a few others. Origin runs are interesting in that there is no Tav/Durge so you're automatically down a potential party member. I know there are always hirelings but still.
Timeline of events
3rd May 26 - started the run, I got Shadowheart to Command Drop the flaming sword on the Nautaloid so I knew I was doing well.
4th May 26 - got as far as the Blighted Village, hadn't long rested yet
5th May 26 - got Wyll and co to level 5, stopped short of Ethel/Underdark/Forge
6th May 26 - killed Ethel, cleared Forge and Underdark, only long rested on crossing the bridge to creche etc; 3 long rests in all of Act 1 I was impressed. Level 7 before Act 2.
7th May 26 - cleared almost all of Act 2 in one go; stopped at top of tower. Shadowheart left the party as I had left her in camp while doing Shar Trials, oh well. Just short of level 10 before Myrkul.
8th May 26 - beat Act 2 without long resting (the pod before Myrkul helped) so that was cool; was deep into Act 3.
9th May 26 - cleared all of Rivington (minus Gortash and Ansur) and parts of the Lower City; stopped before Lorroakan Fight. Level 11.
10th May 26 - cleared the sewers and Lorroakan etc; got to level 12.
26th May 26 - killed Ansur relatively painlessly; killed Gortash upstairs but Wyll had to escape solo and the rest of the party were KO'd and jailed - easily escaped. Orin was also tough but doable, knocked all her minions off the edge. Went to House of Hope and the Incubus almost wiped the party, fuck.
27th May 26 - Final session. Started by escaping HOH: Raphael was fine by contrast. Astarion had clutched multiple times (crits on a 17?) that even though I had never done it before I went and found Cazador as I felt Wyll owed him that.
The result was a disaster: I had never met Cazador before so was completely unprepared, failed to reach Astarion in time and he was permanently killed. Lost all his good equipment minus one or two things and his arrows/potions etc which appeared in a backpack. Disaster. Wyll was killed early, Lae'zel was stuck in sleep due to Eyebite and it was up to Karlach to hop around the edges and flee combat.
So yeah, was down my arguably best party member and his equipment so it was up to Gale to fill that void. Made him the same build as Astarion but he was just inferior without the good equipment. Also I was at that annoying stage of the game where the Steel Watch constantly aggro in BG so it was time to end it. For the first time since my first run in December 2025, I Gale'd the ending!
It was a very quiet Reunion Camp party: Wyll as Duke, Lae'zel projection, Karlach the Mindflayer, Jaheira and Halsin, a Gale projection (sad). I didn't have the option to reload before the brain fight like with the Durge so just left it as is.
Assessment:
It was a good run, strong party, played it fairly safe. I do this thing like in New Vegas where I try to do my companion quests as completely as possible depending on who I am running. It adds a bit of length to Act 3 (which is huge) but much of it is optional really. I lose motivation usually when I hit max level but found this cures it a bit.
But yeah didn't feel confident enough after the Cazador disaster to fight the final fight. I'd probably have been fine but who knows.
Wyll as POV was fine - he banters a lot less and just was laregly mute, the worst thing about the Origin characters being the MC is you lose all their dialogue. I missed Wyll just the way he was, as a travelling companion.
As Wyll, I roleplayed him as a power hungry fraud lmao. The whole 'Blade of Frontiers' thing is based on a lie anyway so was fun having him chug Speed Potions and consume every single tadpole. He also jumped at the idea of becoming Duke potentially when his father was out of the picture. I won't go anywhere near the Gondians/Steel Watch/submarine etc (have never done any of that stuff) until I see what it's like maybe in a lower difficulty. Especially after the Cazador disaster. I also need to kill him somehow. Next time.
Throwing healing potions and whatnot meant I probably only took... 5 long rests the entire game? Less?
Warlock Wyll was decent. Charisma-focus meant all the dialogue was generally trivial. I wasn't in love with the limited spell slots, but some great options. Eldritch Blast my old friend was excellent. I equipped Mizora's rapier later on so had access to a Cambion. My MC is usually a bit of a swiss army knife so was doing a bit of everything. He also had every tadpole power so was good anyway.
Eldritch Knight was kind of boring but solid. Gave me ideas for future runs. Giant Barbarian was underwhelming - still an easy 4/5 stars but nothing exciting. Best part was taking Elixir of Colossus/Enlarge while raging(enlarges the Giant barb anyway) to make BIG KARLACH. Then the kick would do 20+ damage. Gloom-Ass-Champ is excellent as ever, better with crit-fishing equipment. Astarion was genuinely a monster before he died forever and clutched more than once.
So yeah, another 50 hours well spent. Beating the game as Wyll in HM and defeating Ansur in HM for the first time were achievement enough.
What's next
I immediately hit new game and started Lae'zel Origin Run Honor Mode. She will be an Eldtritch Knight Level 12 Fighter. Her whole party will be composed of Fighters because that's the way she rolls! Karlach Champion, Wyll Battlemaster, Astarion Arcane Archer. As of 2nd June 2026 I am deep into Act 3 so it's going well. I had to use Revivify Scrolls/Withers more than ever before to resurrect people but otherwise was good lol. Also I finally 100% got the achievements (the last one).
