Eldritch Knight | Baldurs Gate 3 Wiki

Blazing Battlemage Build Guide now live!

Submit

Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster must get their own separate class in the next D&D edition to work properly.

Something like a Spellsword class, with EK, AT, and maybe one or two more as subclasses sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

Submit

Why does this page link to the Elden Ring classes lmao

Submit

12 EK can actually be pretty cracked, build for INT and use elixer's for strength, use these weapons and stats
Str 8
dex 16 (+1)
Con 14
Int 15 (+2)
wis 10
Cha 8
Flail of ages
Mourning frost

armor
diadem of arcane synergy
robe of supreme defences
winter's clutches
disintergating nightwalker's
Cloak of protection

accessories
Necklace of Elemental augmentation
Ring of elemental infusion or Strange conduit ring
snowburst ring

feats ASI Int Int, dual wielder, savage attacker, war caster (or magic initiate druid)

What you end up with is a fighter who can do a metric ass tonne of frost damage, boosted by lots of concentration items, you can also crowd control with scrolls and have all the good stuff of being a fighter (action surge, 4 feats etc) you won't do as much as a sorcerer or a dedicated fighter, but you trade it in for versatility and the ability to freeze enemies on the spot, essentially taking them out of the fight if they're not immune to frost and if they are, a scroll of fireball, chain lightning or disintergrate will sort them nicely boosted by an int stat of 22 (mirror of loss/ethel's hair) you can also get 3 attacks each hit proccing two hits of encrusted with frost and the ability to hit chilled, if an enemy is chilled you can use create water from magic initiate- druid in order to instant freeze an enemy with no save.

Another good point is all enemies have disadvantage against saves on spells after attacking (thanks to eldritch strike) this also includes prone, which is added from the effect of a spell

Submit

If you want to multiclas at late lv, go for lv 8, this way you have 3 feats + lots of benefits, and can have a extra feat if you take 4 lv in other class.

Or take lv 10 gain advantage on spells against enemies you atk, and equip a act 3 ring that makes your next enchant or ilusion spell be a extra action after you atk.

Submit

best

Submit

People whining about this class just don't get it. You are a fighter that uses magic. Not a fighter and wizard. You are a magical swordsman that can Deadpool teleport around the map, create illusory copies of your self, boomerang throw your sword, and in a pinch do some minor crowd control. See arcane Trickster for another class miss the point of.

Submit

Awesome class if you like to play as melee "mage". Get your INT as high as you can, pick magic initiate druid feat, take shillelagh and start bonking everyone, no strength needed at all. As for the 2nd and 3rd feat i picked Alert and Ability Improvement. 4th feat can be whatever you want.
As for spells, i went with shove spells such as Gust of Wind or Thunderwave, along with Mage Armor, Hold person or Magic Missile for those 1 or 10 hp enemies.
Recruit Wyll and kill Karlach to get a really good robe.
Cacophony is a really good staff that you can get for this class without waiting for act 3.
Diadem of Arcane Energy helps a lot too.
If you do things right and get the proper gear, your base armor class should be 20 in act 1, 22 once you get to Last Light Inn. Add Haste or Mirror Image to that and you'll be almost untouchable.

PS: This was done in a solo playthrough.

Submit

An important thing about this subclass which might not be obvious is that when you replace a spell on level up you can always replace it with any spell from the expanded spell list. For example, at level 7 you pick two spells from the limited level 2 list, but when you hit level 8 you can swap one of those spells out for anything you want. This means you ultimately aren't roped into taking leveled damage spells (which will generally be outclassed by your weapon damage) and can use all your known spells on powerful buffing and utility spells which don't rely on having high intelligence.

If you are willing to invest in some intelligence (or use a certain headband found very early in act 1) and want to mix up casting offensive spells and weapon attacks, focus on cantrips like firebolt or shocking grasp which will work with your "war magic" class feature. There are a lot of magic items which specifically lean in to this playstyle and can make it quite viable, especially around levels 6-10.

Submit

EK is an amazing tank class, cant go wrong with good old mirror image and blur. And not lose any fighter levels on top of it. Sounds like a good deal

Submit

Probably the only class where taking a high elf (or high-half elf) seems viable.

Submit

I really wish you could use extra attacks after casting a spell. I understand extra attack should not allow you to cast multiple spells in a turn on its own but having to choose between 3 weapon attacks or 1 spell is terrible. The fact that this subclass only gets up to second level spell slots is honestly pitiful too. If you want to play a fighter that can also cast spells, I feel like it would be entirely better to multiclass instead.

Submit

So one build makes a little sense for me here. If you take a couple levels of warlock to get your eldrich blast rocking and then play as an archer you could do some work. Almost like the old arcane archer archetype form 3e

Submit

so....
i just want to say that...
lvl 5 pact of the blade warlock
+lvl 7 eldtitch knight means hitting an enemy with eldritch blast 3 times and then hitting the enemy with 3 weapon attacks per turn if i understood that correctly

Submit

Just been doing some testing with throwing on EK:

Dueling doesn't innately work with a bonded weapon (When the damage roll occurs you will not have it equipped). However, it will work on throwing non-equipped weapons so if you have a returning weapon like Dwarven Thrower AND a bonded weapon you can alternate throwing the one that is in your backpack to gain the +2 damage from Dueling.

Alternatively, you can actually dual wield to benefit from Dueling. As when you throw your weapon, you will only have 1 weapon equipped when the damage roll occurs. Of course, for most of the good thrown weapons this would require the Dual Wield feat as Lightning Jabber, Dwarven Thrower and Nyrulna are not light weapons. Do keep in mind that your second weapon would need to not be versatile otherwise you will 2 hand it when it's the only weapon equipped. This can be used to get the passive benefits of weapons like Knife of the Undermountain King (1 more crit range), Defender's Flail (DR and +1 AC) or Rhapsody (+3 Attack + damage rolls and Spell Save DC)

Submit

Honestly, the term "Eldritch" Knight confused me and my buddy. I thought from the name, the spellcasting would scale off charisma (cause Warlock).
Since my friend's character was dumb as bricks, he never hit. Oh well, he's now a Paladin with the Warlock feat.

Submit

What are the MINIMUM number of Wizard levels that one would need to access level 3 spells??

Submit

There are catastrophically few spell slots

Submit

Tavern Brawler + Light Hammer for throwing + Action Surge + Haste = dead or nearly dead Gyrm in turn 1.

Submit

This is such a disappointing implementation of the EK class.
The only valuable bit is the throwing weapon bond, everything else is just a gimmick.
Lots of exploits that EK builds relied upon got fixed or changed.

Submit

"To get the most out of this subclass, dip 1 level in Wizard (maybe after 5 or 7 levels of Eldritch Knight). At Wizard 1 Eldritch Knight 10, you'll get level 3 spells, something you'll never get with this subclass alone, plus ritual casting and arcane recovery, far more valuable than the feat at level 12."

Question about this: is the wizard dip actually worth it? As far as I understand it, EK's actually do get ritual casting, and I don't understand the point about Level 3 spells. Does it actually give you access to those? Because as far as I understand the mechanics, that shouldn't be true. Maybe the commenter meant that you can add level 3 spells to your spellbook, but that shouldn't be possible either without a level 3 spell slot, right?

Can someone who has tested this verify you can get level 3 spells?

Submit

Did they nerf the shattered flail heal when you throw it? It's not proc unless I melee, its bonded.

Submit

One of the most broken subclasses in the game, currently. The thing about the Eldritch Knight is that it allows you to combine disparate elements from two classes (the Wizard and Fighter) and merge it into something that can be seriously OP compared to other setups through the use of items or some other mechanic (terrain manipulation, feat interactions).

The most popular (and perhaps most broken) setup is probably the throwing weapon Eldritch Knight. Start by grabbing the Sparking Gloves, Ring of Flinging, a good weapon with the "Thrown" attribute like the early game Vision of the Absolute spear. Weapon Bond returns the thrown weapon immediately to your hands, Lightning Charges from your gloves give you an attack roll/damage boost and the Ring of Flinging gives a 1D4 on top of all that. Finally, add the OP Tavern Brawler feat...

Other setups include using Cantrips like Ray of Frost to join in on Create Water shenanigans (causing an icy terrain hazard) and then using the Great Weapon Master feat + a good two-handed weapon to finish off proned enemies. Make sure you get Enhanced Leap/Misty Step to let you navigate through the terrain hazard. Anything that falls prone (even bosses) is going to take Great Weapon Master buffed Extra Attack/Improved Extra Attack + Action Surge to the face. Even Assassins aren't this bursty.

An interesting tanky/controller version uses the Sentinel Feat combined with movement and repositioning spells (e.g. Expeditious Retreat, Enhanced Leap, Thunderwave) and maybe a reach weapon to stop enemies cold. A somewhat interesting interaction with Extra Attack/Improved Extra Attack and Sentinel, however, is that you actually make multiple attacks against your target (as if you performed a full attack) - all of them with advantage thanks to Sentinel. This can get nuts with items like Duelist's Prerogative (+1 reaction) and the Savage Attack feat (advantage on damage rolls).

A lot of people seem to think that multiclassing to Wizard is superior, but these setups are pretty much Eldritch Knight focused. And I'm pretty much there are more of them out there waiting to be discovered. You don't even need to focus too much on STR and INT thanks to items, and even if you would rather not use attribute boosters you can rely on War Magic + True Strike + Heavy Armor as a substitute for the attack/damage loss from boosting STR and the AC you normally lose from not boosting DEX. You really have no excuse to have at least 16 on both your STR/INT.

Submit

Wait so, Eldritch Knight 11 + Wizard 1 gets you 3 attacks per turn, level 3 spell slot, and ability to learn spells from scrolls? So how many bonks can this EK do in a turn?

Submit

If you get your Extra attack from Warlock so a 7 / 5 split you can attack 2 times on your Bonus Action attack. This looks like a bug or oversight though so it might be fixed in the future.

Submit

The idea of Eldritch Knight makes me salivate, but there isn't a lot of synergy within itself.
I love the idea of Eldritch Strike -- when you hit with a weapon attack, they have disadvantage on their saving throw for your next spell.
So, you hit them, take your second, third attack. The next turn, they have disadvantage against, say, Hold Person.

HOWEVER, the level 7 subclass feature War Magic allows you to attack as a bonus action if you cast a CANTRIP -- not a spell.

And that's the problem i have with it. I'd love cyclic it would be, to attack, cast a CC spell they'd have disadvantage against, then bonus action melee attack. Which in turn would make them have disadvantage on your next spell, etc.

But there is no cantrip CC really. So you're just spending that cantrip to cast, say, Ray of Frost... but then... that's it? Why wouldn't you just attack with your weapon (which would probably do more damage?)

And then there are rings that *seem* to be really bad ass, like Ring of Elemental Infusion. However, it only gives you your cantrips element for the FIRST weapon attack. Not all subsequent ones. So if you, say, Ray of Frost, you can bonus action attack with a 1d4 of frost, but then that's the end of your turn.. you can't 2nd attack or 3rd attack.

It just seems like a waste.

Submit

Just keep in mind; Act 1 (including the mountain pass) has lots of interesting and fun melee/cantrip items which EKs can use more effectively than other classes as you can take heavy armor, shields (highly recommend you look at Adamantine Shield) and any weapon you wish to stay in melee range. Just for some examples;

Daredevil Gloves: Ranged Spell Attacks can be made as Melee Spell Attacks when adjacent to a hostile
Baneful Striking: When you deal damage with a melee attack, target receives a 1d4 penalty to Saving Throws against your next spell
Necklace of Elemental Augmentation: When you deal Acid/Cold/Ect damage with Cantrips, add your spellcasting modifier to the damage dealt.
Ring of Elemental Infusion: When you deal Acic/Cold/Ect with Spells or Cantrips ... deal an additional 1d4 damage of that element lasting until the end of your next turn.

Take just the Ring of Elemental Infusion. Cantrip > Attack (Bonus 1d4). Next turn double attack (Bonus 2d4). Including dips thats another 3d4 (although of course any class can dip).

Looking at just EKs traits they look lackluster, combined with items there is enough possibility to make a tanky character who can also deal strong sustainable damage.

Submit

Unlike tabletop and unlike what it currently says here, eldritch knights do actually get ritual casting in bg3 which is a big plus

Submit

Shielded abjurer thrower is pretty busted cover your team-mates or shield yourself then wamp them with a throwing weapon plus equipment buffs while they struggle to damage through your resist and mage shield plus tonnes of random buffs from the two levels mage like familiar (familiar with Aid and mage armour should make you pretty tanky during alpha strike phase)

Submit

You can make a versatile EK 7/Bladelock 5 build that can do control/spell damage, melee and throw if needed. With Bladelock 5 your attacks with pact weapon scale with CHA so you can max out CHA and use it for EB, spells and attack. Use EK spells for buffs like Mirror Image, Blur, Shield, Misty Step etc. and you don't even need to waste a helm slot for Headband of Intellect. You still get 3x Eldritch Blasts with extra damage and push, Hunger of Hadar, Counterspell, Bladelock extra attack, you can abuse Darkness + Devil's Sight combo, War Magic from EK 7 allows you a bonus weapon attack after casting EB...a decent allrounder, nice first character for someone who likes a hybrid playstyle.

Submit

Yall think a fighter 7/wizard 5 would be valid? On my way! Towards it

Submit

Shield is absolutely busted on Eldritch Knight: I made Lae'zel and she almost never gets hit in fights.
Slap Tavern Brawler on your EK, give them Defense for fighting style (Dueling doesn't work for Throw builds), dump Int and take a bunch of buff spells. Charge your EK at anything and watch 95%+ attacks miss them

Longstrider is a good ritual spell to buff everyone. Familiar-> Raven is a nice scout and can blind enemies (and eat an attack in combat).

Go either 12 EK or splash 1 level of a class. War Domain cleric is a good choice for more attacks via bonus attack.

Submit

I see alot of people hating on this class but I think it would be fun to play. Not everything has to be about HIGHEST DAMAGE OMG. I like it cause if you go eldritch knight 7/ evocation wizard 5 you gain fourth level spells and the ability to learn allllll those spells from most of the wizard list. Use the eldritch knight to pick the ritual spells you will never want to unslot like shield, mage armor, long strider, feather fall, and enhance jump. Now you can can take dueling fighting style and wield a finesse weapon and the armor I recommend is
Bracers of deffense +2AC
Acrobatic boots +1 AC
Mage armor +3 AC
Robes of the weave + 2AC and +1 to spell save and attack roll
18 dex + 4 AC
Hood of the weave +2 spell save and attack roll
Cape of the weave +1 spell save and attack roll plus absorb elements
Ring of elemental infusion adds 1d4 of the associated damage type from your previous spell to you casted
The one amulet that allows you to add your spell casting mod to cantrips
And the ring of arcane Acuity and you got a armorless Robe wearing fighter with 22AC (24 if you cast haste) who can combo powerful spells and melee to best suit a situation. You get a whole play ground of spells and versatility you handle multiple types of enemies.

Submit

Note, bock thrower doesn't work. Dueling doesn't increase throw damage.
And flails don't have thrown tag. Meaning they will do 1 damage plus str and all that. Throw weapons don't activate weapon effects. They only apply the damage as if you were attacking melee.
But sinds toy are not equipped. The effect activate.

Submit

EK7 with Abj WIZ5 could be pretty tanky, use blade ward followed by an attack, have different choices for wich con spell you want to use, blur, prot-energy, magic weapon, haste, etc. and if i understood how max spell lvl works you should get lvl 4 spells? Drop Firewall infront of you when the fight starts,

Submit

Seems far better to just go Paladin.

Submit

Spellswords are one of my favorite Fantasy concepts, so it is disappointing to see Eldritch Knight be such a lackluster take on it.
You can get Gish to work though in DND, but do so through multiclassing instead of picking Eldritch Knight.

Submit

Honest question and looking for input: Other than making an AC tank or a throwing weapon build which I can easily see it being great at, why would you take EK over a Fighter/Wizard multiclass if you wanted an Arcane gish? I understand that things like Paladin/Warlock exist, but I'm talking that offensive Fighter-Wizard archetype that has been such a staple for so long, as so much of the EK seems to run counter to doing that:


Weapon Bond I can see as being amazing for throwing weapons, but other than that I very rarely had anything try to disarm me. Mainly Druids and Imps in Act I with Heat Metal. Maybe if they added some more weapon options that became beefier when Bonded/Pacted I could see it being really good, but for most builds I see this as a bit of whatever.


War Magic seems like it's always a net loss as you either lose Great Weapons extra hit on crit/kill since you use bonus action for your swing after the cantrip, lose Polearm Masters bonus attack action, and/or you just flat-out lose the fighters third attack if you stay pure EK. Blade Ward + Melee attack does seem really good for pure tank builds, but I don't see how something like Shocking Grasp breaks even vs lost melee attacks, even against wet enemies. Even adding in things like Arcane Synergy and Augmentation.


Eldritch Strike is cool, and I can see that the combo would be to hit them (perhaps with an offhand bonus action so you still have your main action, or just be hasted) then cast a spell from a scroll, but I think the overall utility of deeper and stronger Wizard spell levels would be better as you'd naturally have damaging spells to cast for ranged and hordes, be able to self-haste on demand, and will still be able to rock all the defensive spells like Shield while granting yourself great mobility and utility with things like Longstrider, Misty Step, Counterspell, etc.. while having more overall spells and the ability to get a few casts back with Arcane Recovery.

Submit

just take phalar alure and THE BANEFUL. Next 18 dex 14 con and 15 on 6 lvl, on 4 lvl take dual welding. Use ability scream on phalar alure and bane from baneful (1d4 and 1d4 stacks) use ur 1 lvl spellslot for shield. Congrat u immortal and enemy cant normal attack, u give aura for all incoming to the enemy dmg. why not two handed weapon? cuz -5 penalty - its very random stuff for enemy with high AC. Just try it, maybe its not so powerful in damage aspect like broken paladin with two handed anything with crit smite. But you get a lot of survivability and consistent damage, but the most important thing is that you debuff your target so that it is not able to function normally. In terms of RP, it turns out to be better to use an elf or half-elf, you get this kind of blade dancer, in one hand an artifact singing a sword, in the other a short blade cursing enemies, your magic gives you high AC values ​​​​and at the same time you give an aura to the whole team. In my opinion, the best build in the game, if you have brains in your head in order to understand that pressing LMB and crit with a paladin's smite is dead brains gameplay and this is not your achievement, but the achievement of a broken paladin.
P.S. idk how best multiclass, u can up 7 lvl EK and 5 lvl wizard for spell slots, but its ur decision. U can protect urself with magic shield 1 lvl spell or u can control with hold person or u can just use fireball. Use what u like, but play more interesting strategy, dont press LMB with crit smite.

Submit

So what is the expanded spell list for? Are those spells you can learn via scrolls like Wizard?

Submit

So with war magic you can get four attacks per turn, cantrip into melee attack, into extra attack, into improved extra attack, or am I wrong?

Submit

Eldritch Knight seems weak at first glance, but in BG3 there are a lot of items that can argument the melee/caster hybrid playstyle. In the early/mid-game you can rely on https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Warped+Headband+of+Intellect and in the late-game there are many more items you can use to get high STR and INT for maximum effectiveness and synergies between weapon attacks and cantrips. For example:

https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Necklace+of+Elemental+Augmentation (spellcasting modifier added to cantrip damage)
https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Ring+of+Elemental+Infusion (+1d4 elemental damage on next weapon hit after casting a spall or cantrip)
https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Ring+of+Arcane+Synergy (spellcasting modifier added to weapon damage for 2 turns after casting a cantrip)
https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Strange+Conduit+Ring (+1d4 psychich damage added to weapon damage when concentrating on a spell)
https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Helmet+of+Arcane+Acuity (every weapon attack adds +1 to spell attack rolls and spell DC stacking up to 7)

Submit

Is the spell slot table correct? Why would they get an additional spellslot on 4 if they are third casters, they should only get it on level 5…

Submit

Trying to balance abjuratuon wizard around this bet you could get alot of temp armour with a few shield casts to save you

Submit

Bound weapon with thrown property + tavern brawler + dueling fighting style = very fun build.

Submit

To get the most out of this subclass, dip 1 level in Wizard (maybe after 5 or 7 levels of Eldritch Knight). At Wizard 1 Eldritch Knight 10, you'll get level 3 spells, something you'll never get with this subclass alone, plus ritual casting and arcane recovery, far more valuable than the feat at level 12.

Submit

Witcher Build:
Igni : Burning Hands
Aard: Thunderwave
Quen : Shield
Axii : Charm
Yrden : Hold Person

Submit

Enraged Throwing Berserk Barbarian with EK's Weapon Binded Heavy Polearm, with Polarm Master feat and Sentinel feat, gives great space control with ranged opportunity checks at Polarm length, Could take Tavern Master also for the throw damage, because 8 in fighter and 4 in barbarian allows 4 feats. I mean... Wild Magic Barbarian EK also sounds cool...

Submit

If I multiclass Eldritch Knight with Barbarian, can I cast spells such as Enhance Leap before I enter Rage, and still retain it if I activate Rage after? I'm thinking it should work since it's not a Concentration spell, but would like to be sure.

Submit

This might not seem that strong but just adding misty step and shield is plenty to make this as strong or stronger than champion or battle master

Submit

Githyanki Eldritch Knight with Jump spells and Tavern Brawler: chuck spears and hand axes at your enemies.

Become a Jedi!

Submit

This class basically just adds Shield as a reaction for first level spells ( and Sleep) and Misty Step for mobility to your every day fighter on second level spells. Cantrips for Range instead of using your ranged weapon, maybe thrown with Weapon Bond. Decent at first, can be very good with the many items that are specifically made for classes that use melee and spells/cantrips. Gets busted after 10th level once you can impose disadvantage on saving throws with your attacks on spells cast from scrolls. Polymorph, Disintegrate and Domination spells, you name it. Gold dependent, since you most likely have to buy the scrolls, but damn the potential is immense.

Submit

What's with the expansion? I thought that EK could only use evocation and abjuration spells?

Submit

There is a bug where, when you pick this class, it uses the spell dc modifier of the last spellcasting class that was selected. That's selected as in you clicked on it, not actually leveled as. Hitroll always uses int. It appears it is intended to use int to cast but the bug makes it very confusing.

Submit

The Immortal Eldritch BONK :

Get Tavern Brawler to add twice the Strength to your throws
Get Shattered Flail and bond with it so it will come back to your hand once thrown ( this way you can hit an enemy every turn by simply throwing and you get an awesome heal too )
Get dueling fighting style to add + 2 damage
Get Caustic Band Ring ( Myconid colony trader ) + 2 acid damage with weapon attacks
Get Ring of Flinging ( Emerald Grove Trader ) + 1d4 for throwing damage

Simply throw the mace on attack and do awesome damage + heal yourself from the mace effect. ( use the camp clothes visual and just stay in your underwear for that caveman vibe )

Submit

have the devs said anything about adding weapon bond or a replacement for it if they aren't going to add that, because yea it's kind of a niche trait but it was still something, sucks to see it's not here and nothing to replace it

Submit

This sub-class will only be worth it when they add the shield spell into the game.

Submit

Really weak early game. The entire point of this class is self buffing.

Submit

A little bit of a pointless class in early access. A wizard can achieve about the same AC as this class with mage armor and 16 dex, has access to more spells, can learn any spell, has more spell slots, and depending on the race you choose, can be proficient with a variety of weapons. i don't see why you would just not choose Wizard, if the idea is to be a battle-mage type character.

Submit

Eldritch Knight is so screwed over by its school restrictions. Evocation, which is primarily damage, is awful on a 1/3 caster as the damage lags behind their normal attacks, and most abjuration spells on the wizard spell list are utility. The only second-level abjuration spell is Arcane Lock!

When I DM in 5e I allow players to choose their two schools, and I'm definitely going to get a mod that does the same in BG3

Submit

really hope they give this subclass a makeover. At the moment EK isn't that great and thats with greenflame blade.

Submit

EK cant learn spells and it is sucks

Submit

Really hope they give it bound weapon, as that is one of the most defining features of the EK for me

Submit

So do you need int for the hit roles on spells?

Submit