10 Best Builds in Baldur's Gate 3, Ranked (2024)

Baldur's Gate 3 offers a variety of options when crafting a character build. One of the best parts about the game, is that players have an incredible amount of freedom to build characters how they want. Characters can be built for roleplay purposes, or min-maxed for the highest damage output possible. Characters can also be built in a way that suits a specific playstyle of a player. If players like to stay in stealth and attack enemies while hidden, a Gloomstalker Ranger build can work quite well. If players want to burn the world and set everything on fire, a Fire Socerer can fulfill that power fantasy.

What makes a good build in Baldur's Gate 3 is the ability to fit into many situations throughout the game. While many interactions and encounters can be met with a balanced party, a strong character build makes all the difference. Each scenario encountered while playing tests the player's ability to choose the best options for success. While some builds can be very good in specific scenarios, an excellent build will work under any circ*mstance. There are many different options for builds in Baldur's Gate 3, but some are so powerful that they almost feel like they are breaking the game.

10 A Barbarian Who Can Throw Anything Is Amazing

Instead Of Stabbing Enemies, Just Throw Them Over The Cliff

A great build for players still learning the mechanics of the game, the throwing barbarian makes for a great damage dealer. The barbarian class allows for a player to go into a rage, giving them bonuses to their actions. A rage lets barbarians get the enraged throw action, giving their throw attacks new properties by scaling off of the strength stat. By taking the berserker subclass, barbarians get access to the frenzied throw action. This allows barbarians to pick up nearby objects and throw them. Even enemies can be thrown!

The throwing barbarian can quickly get around the battlefield, as jump distance is based on strength, and barbarians will have very high strength. By pairing the build with items that can return to a player when thrown, like the spear Nyrulna, throwing barbarians can be a consistent and reliable damage dealer for any party. For players who want an easy way to breeze through encounters without any trouble, the barbarian is a great option, but that ease lands it at the bottom of the list.

9 A Classic D&D Rogue/Ranger Multiclass Is Very Powerful

Ranger/Rogue Multiclass Provides Even More Opportunity To Strike From The Shadows

A classic build from Dungeons & Dragons, the Gloomstalker Assassin, is a formidable combination of the ranger's Gloom Stalker subclass and the rogue's Assassin subclass, offering a potent mix of stealth, ambush tactics, and damage potential. In Baldur's Gate 3, this build shines due to its ability to end fights before they even begin. The Gloom Stalker features abilities like Umbral Sight, granting darkvision and making them incredibly effective in low-light environments, such as dungeons or nighttime encounters. This grants them a significant advantage in terms of reconnaissance and ambush preparation.

The Assassin subclass provides critical strike bonuses and enhanced stealth capabilities, allowing the player to deal devastating damage with surprise attacks. In Baldur's Gate 3, positioning and initiative can heavily influence the outcome of battles, so the ability to reliably strike first and hit hard is incredibly important. The Ranger's spellcasting abilities offer utility and versatility, providing options for both offense and support. The Gloomstalker Assassin excels in hit-and-run tactics, and ambushes, making it an excellent choice for players who enjoy taking out their enemies from the shadows.

8 A Fire Sorcerer Can Burn Almost Anything

An Element Like Fire Offers Huge Advantages To Vulnerable Enemies

A Fire sorcerer is very powerful build in Baldur's Gate 3 because of the game's mechanics and encounter design. Fire sorcerers specialize in dealing fire damage, and in a game where elemental vulnerabilities and resistances play a significant role, having consistent access to a powerful elemental type like fire can be advantageous. Fire spells such as Scorching Ray or the fan-favorite, Fireball, offer high damage potential and area-of-effect (AOE), allowing the sorcerer to effectively control the battlefield by damaging multiple enemies at once.

Moreover, fire spells often inflict lingering effects like burning, which can further contribute to wearing down enemies over time. Most enemies in Baldur’s Gate 3 are not immune to fire, with only a few exceptions that can be handled by the rest of the party. The sorcerer class has metamagic options, empowering players to adapt their spells on the fly to suit the situation at hand. This allows Fire sorcerers to keep their damage uptime high, being able to scorch the battlefield with their powerful magic.

7 A Druid Who Can Raise an Army of the Dead Will Never Be Short On Allies

Druids Have A Lot Of Potential, Including An Army They Handpicked From The Grave

The Circle of Spores druid offers a balance between strong combat abilities and summoning an army of undead. With features like Symbiotic Entity, the druid can bolster their combat abilities by gaining temporary hit points and adding extra damage to their melee attacks. This ability costs a Wild Shape charge, so Circle of Spores druids will likely not be Wild Shaping too often. But this is made up for with their ability to raise the dead with Fungal Infestation.

Fungal Infestation lets a druid raise dead enemies as fungal zombies, granting a player the ability to have an army of undead followers. Zombies in Baldur’s Gate 3 apply a condition to enemies when they attack that will turn enemies into zombies once they die in battle. This effect can snowball very quickly, letting a Circle of Spores druid turn a group of enemies completely against each other. For players that want others to do the fighting for them, the Circle of Spores druid can fulfill that fantasy.

6 An Ice Wizard Can Control the Tempo of Battles

Putting The Halt On Enemy Movement Allows This Wizard To Call The Shots

An Ice wizard can be a formidable choice in Baldur's Gate 3, offering a versatile blend of offense, defense, and crowd control abilities. One of the primary strengths of an Ice wizard lies in their ability to control the battlefield through crowd control effects. Spells like Ray of Frost, Ice Knife, and Sleet Storm can slow or immobilize enemies, limiting their movement and actions. Spells like Armor of Agathys provide temporary hit points and damage enemies that strike the wizard in melee combat, giving a wizard more sustainability, and punishing attackers.

By controlling the action economy of enemies, Ice wizards can ensure that their party will always have an upper hand. Ice Wizards can also exploit the weaknesses of enemies who are vulnerable to cold damage. This can also be abused by utilizing the wet condition on enemies. By using the Create Water, enemies that are inflicted with the wet condition will then be automatically vulnerable to cold damage. This allows for Ice wizards to be great a crowd control, or inflict massive amounts of cold damage onto enemies.

5 An Eldritch Knight Is Adaptable in any Situation

Combining Sword & Sorcery Makes This Fighter Subclass An Asset

Able to reliably throw their bound weapon for damage, and provide utility for their party, the Eldritch Knight thrower is a great all-around build for a party. The Eldritch Knight combines the melee combat versatility of a Fighter, with the utility of a spellcaster for a strong and well-rounded character. Having the flexibility to use melee attacks or spells is an important part of adapting to the different battles in Baldur’s Gate 3, and the Eldritch Knight can fill this role.

The core part of the Eldritch Knight thrower build is the ability to bind a weapon. A player’s bound weapon will return to the player. This means that the Eldritch Knight can turn any weapon into a throwing weapon that will keep returning to them after hitting an enemy. Eldritch Knights can combine this with the tavern brawler feat, giving them additional throw damage with their strength modifier. This makes the Eldritch Knight a menace from close and long distances, with the ability to save their spells for important situations. The versatility alone is more than enough to land it midlist in the rankings at number five.

4 The College Of Swords Bard Makes For A Great Face Character

This Bard Subclass Is A True Jack-Of-All-Trades

Bards are one of the most powerful classes in Baldur’s Gate 3, having the ability to become proficient spellcasters, high damage dealing melee attackers, or a combination of both. The 3 different subclasses of bard all have their uses, but the College of Swords makes a bard character a deadly force on the battlefield. Able to choose a fighting style, bards can specialize in either ranged or melee attacks. Their high charisma stat also makes them a great face character for dialogue skills and checks.

The Swords bard has the ability to use Bardic Inspiration to enhance their attacks. These attacks, called flourishes, can be used to give a bard’s party the upper hand in many battles. These flourishes can be used to reposition enemies, deal massive damage, or enhance defensive capabilities. A Swords bard will also still be able to use their powerful spell list, and combining these two aspects can ensure successful encounters. Using a spell like Hold Person can then make it so that the bard will be critically hitting all of their attacks, disposing of enemies very quickly.

3 A Monk Can Stun Every Enemy in the Game

The Monk's Body Is A Dangerous Weapon

The monk is traditionally known as an underused class in the tabletop D&D, but are immensely powerful in Baldur’s Gate 3. Monks have the ability to use strong unarmed attacks, allowing them significant power without the need for a weapon. They also have the ability to use ki points to grant extra benefits to their attacks.

Monks can also utilize the tavern brawler feat, giving their unarmed attacks additional damage and chance to hit. When combined with an ability like stunning strike, a Monk can quickly dispatch enemies with just their fists. Monks can also attune to different elements, allowing them to exploit enemy vulnerabilities. All of these things can be done with no gear to supplement them, making Monks even more powerful with the right gear equipped.

2 A Paladin/Warlock Multiclass Works In Both Tabletop & BG3

A Warlock's Higher Spell Levels Provide An Epic Boost To Paladin Smites

One of the most powerful classes in all of D&D, the Warlock-Paladin hybrid “Lockadin” is just as powerful in Baldur’s Gate 3. This hybrid class maximizes the effectiveness and unique traits of both classes to get the most of their potential. The Lockadin has the close range capabilities of a paladin, while retaining the ability to blast enemies from afar with a warlock Eldritch Blast. The main reason that the Lockadin is so powerful is because of the unique interactions between paladin Smites and warlock spell slots.

Warlocks have a smaller pool of spell slots to use, however they can be replenished on a short rest. These spell slots can be used for a paladin’s smites, which scale their damage based on the level of spell that is used. Warlock spell slots increase in level along with a warlock’s overall levels. This means that incredibly high level Smites can be used and then refreshed every short rest. When combined with a party member who can use spells like Hold Person, a Lockadin can deal guaranteed critical Smites on enemies.

1 The Light Cleric Works In Any Situation

Every Party Needs A Cleric, Especially One Who Can Dole Out Both Healing & Damage

Light clerics offer the best support in the game, as well as being able to consistently deal high damage in an area, or to a single target. Abilities like Warding Flare will give enemies disadvantage on allies, making enemies miss attacks more often. A Light cleric can also use Faerie Fire to give allies advantage on enemies, making attacks and critical hits land more often. These abilities, along with being able to heal party members, makes the support of the Light cleric unmatched.

The Light cleric is no slouch when it comes to damage either. Using Spirit Guardians allows the cleric to create a damaging ring around themself, great for taking down crowds of enemies, or forcing a powerful enemy to preposition. They also have access to high level summoned allies, spells like Sunbeam can annihilate battlefields, and they can use Divine Intervention at level 11 to ask their God for a very powerful favor of their choosing. Overall, clerics work in any scenario in Baldur’s Gate 3, and any party is sure to benefit from having a Light cleric with them. The cleric's necessity makes it an essential build for players looking to keep the party alive, ranking it as the absolute best Badlur's Gate 3 build.

Baldur's Gate 3

Baldur's Gate 3 is arole-playing video gamedeveloped and published by Larian Studios. It is the third main installment in the Baldur's Gate series.