Builds for Baldur's Gate 3 in 2023 are player-created playable setups featuring BG3's different Classes, and Multiclasses along with their Races, Weapons, Armor, Abilities, Skills, Feats, and Features, that defines a specific array of playstyle or highlight a certain natural strength of a class or a character. Builds in Baldur's Gate 3 have a particular emphasis on Character Creation, since Classes don't gain many Ability Points or Feats beyond this, and selections are quite limited when leveling, unlike some other RPGs.
Baldur's Gate 3 Builds
The Best Builds in Baldur's Gate 3 focus on optimizing Character Creation with the intention of min/maxing, knowing exactly how many Levels each Build can take, and how many Levels of each Class are needed (in the case of Multiclassing). Trial and error is needed to achieve this in many cases, since enemy composition plays a role in what Spells and Class Features are more useful than others. Tailoring Builds to the exact things you'll be facing in Baldur's Gate 3 is a huge part of what makes specific Builds better than ones you might find in regular DnD 5E. If you're looking for the Best Builds in Baldur's Gate 3, you can choose from any of the following.
BG3 Builds by Class
Best Builds by Rank
- Druid - Circle of the Moon
- Warlock - The Fiend
- Bard - College of Valour
- Ranger - Hunter
- Fighter - Eldritch Knight
- Barbarian - Berserker
- Warlock - Melee
- Cleric - Light Domain
- Rogue - Thief
- Wizard - Evocation School
- Sorcerer - Dragon Ancestor
- Paladin - Oath of Devotion
Baldur's Gate 3 Builds - The Basics
The first thing to figure out when making a Build in Baldur's Gate 3 is what Class you want to play. Don't worry about what Race you want to play or what Background you want or Ability Scores (Attribute Points), until you've made this decision. Look through the Classes and find the one you want. In some cases you'll also be able to choose your Subclass during Character Creation as well, but not always.
Once you've chosen your Class, and Subclass if applicable, you'll need to select a Race that is best suited to that Class. This isn't 100% necessary, so you can choose whichever Race you want, but if you're trying to optimize your Build 100% then this is your best course of action.
Respec a Character in Baldur's Gate 3
In Baldur's Gate 3, you will be able to Respec your characters as many times as you want, as long as you have the required gold and have already added Withers to the Camp. Approach to him and select Respec among the services he provides. Withers will ask for 100 gold pieces for his service. The price of the service DOES NOT increase during the course of the game, nor if you use it frequently.
Any character can interact with Withers to Respec, even your Companions, if they pay the asking price. Note that respecing a character does not change its interactions or Quests.
BG3 Builds - Everything You Should Know
Choosing a Race for Your Build in BG3
There are really a few things to think about when selecting a Race for your Build, and the first is Ability Points. Does that Race give you any Ability Score improvement towards the Abilities that best benefit your Class. For instance, if you're playing a Cleric, selecting a Race that provides some benefit to Wisdom would be optimal, since Clerics use Wisdom to cast their Spells. These Races include Wood Elf, Human, and Gold Dwarf.
Once you've found the ones with increase Wisdom, you'll want to look at what other benefits they provide, such as the Wood Elf's Fleet of Foot or the Gold Dwarf's Dwarven Toughness. Use these things to help you make the best decision possible.
Ability Score 16 For Baldur's Gate 3 Builds
The reason it's important to select Races that increase your Ability Score for the primary Ability of your Class is that you want to hit 16 in that Ability during Character Creation 99% of the time. You can only hit 15 without gaining a boost from your Race during Character Creation, so this makes it pretty much a must.
Odd Ability Scores don't provide you with any extra benefit, so it's important you get that additional point to get to 16, to get and extra +1 to your Attack Rolls/Damage Rolls or Spell DC, as well as Saving Throws and other bonuses. No matter what Build you select, it's a good idea to aim for even values during Character Creation, and shoot for getting your Primary Attribute to 16:
Best Builds in Baldur's Gate 3
Blazing Battlemage: Eldritch Knight
Baldur's Gate 3 Builds: Newly Added - Builds by Class
BG3 Barbarian Builds
Three early game builds for levels 1-6, showcasing the Barbarian class options. Read the Barbarian Build Guide here. or Watch on Youtube:
BG3 Bard Builds
Three early game builds for levels 1-6, showcasing the Bard class options. Read the Bard Build Guide here (early game). or Watch on Youtube:
BG3 Cleric Builds
Three early game builds for levels 1-6, showcasing the Cleric class options. Read the Cleric Build Guide here. or Watch on Youtube:
BG3 Druid Builds
Three early game builds for levels 1-6, showcasing the Druid class options. Read the Druid Build Guide here. or Watch on Youtube:
BG3 Fighter Builds
Three early game builds for levels 1-6, showcasing the Fighter class options. Read the Fighter Build Guide here (early game). or Watch on Youtube:
BG3 Monk Builds
Three early game builds for levels 1-6, showcasing the Monk class options. Read the Monk Build Guide here. or Watch on Youtube:
BG3 Paladin Builds
Three early game builds for levels 1-6, showcasing the Paladin class options. Read the Paladin Build Guide here. or Watch on Youtube:
BG3 Ranger Builds
Three early game builds for levels 1-6, showcasing the Ranger class options. Read the Ranger Build Guide here (early game). or Watch on Youtube:
BG3 Rogue Builds
Three early game builds for levels 1-6, showcasing the Rogue class options. Read the Rogue Build Guide here. or Watch on Youtube:
BG3 Sorcerer Builds
Three early game builds for levels 1-6, showcasing the Sorcerer class options. Read the Sorcerer Build Guide here. or Watch on Youtube:
BG3 Warlock Builds
Three early game builds for levels 1-6, showcasing the Warlock class options. Read the Warlock Build Guide here (early game). or Watch on Youtube:
BG3 Wizard Builds
Three early game builds for levels 1-6, showcasing the Wizard class options. Read the Wizard Build Guide here. or Watch on Youtube:
BG3 Companion Build Guides
Best Builds in Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access
Below are some of the Best Builds in Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access that I've put together. These will be adjusted at launch to include things I've learned since making them, as well as adding in information about additional levels and where to take these Builds past Level 4, once the level cap in the full game is raised.
Cleric Builds ♦ Druid Builds ♦ Fighter Builds ♦ Ranger Builds ♦ Rogue Builds ♦ Warlock Builds ♦ Wizard Builds ♦ Druid Builds ♦ Sorcerer Builds ♦ Paladin Builds
Sorcerer Build
Baldur's Gate 3 Build Guide: Sorcerer: Sorcerers are well-known for their magical prowess that stems from an ancient bloodline, unchecked chaotic magic, or mysterious circumstances. Unlike Warlocks, they don’t depend on patrons for the strength of their Spells and far from Wizards, arcane books are not essential to further develop their capabilities. One Class Feature that distinguishes them from other Spellcasters is their ability to incorporate Metamagic to manipulate the way Spells work to their liking, making them versatile. This also compensates for their lack of Armour Proficiency as it allows them to take charge in Combat.
Druid Build
Baldur’s Gate 3 Build Guide: Druid: Druids are Divine Spellcasters that not only cast damaging spells, but can also heal and take the shape of different creatures via their Wild Shape Class Feature. Wild Shape is what really sets the Druid apart from other Classes, and in Early Access Druids can currently change into 7 different animals including: Dire Wolf, Raven, Badger, Polar Bear, Cat, Deep Rothe, Spider and Aberrant Intellect Devourer, but more are expected upon full release of the game.
Warlock Guide & Builds
Baldur's Gate 3 Build Guide: Warlock: Warlocks in Baldur’s Gate 3 are extremely powerful because of their Cantrip Eldritch Blast that does between 1-10 damage every use from 18m away, and Cantrips can be cast every turn without using up Spell Slots. Additionally, they have some very good spells that deal AoE damage, and they can also melee effectively because of Pact of the Blade.
Eldritch Knight Build
Baldur's Gate 3 Build Guide: Eldritch Knight: Fighters can become Eldritch Knights at Level 3 in Baldur’s Gate 3, and when they do so they gain access to some Wizard spells. In Early Access they will only be able to gain a maximum of 3 Level 1 spells, which isn’t a huge amount. However, these can be used hit targets from far away, or to do devastating AoE attacks when in melee range.
Hunter Build
Baldur's Gate 3 Build Guide: Hunter: Rangers can become Hunters at Level 3 in Baldur’s Gate 3, and when they do they gain the choice of a powerful passives. Colossus Slayer will provide an extra 1-8 damage to any target they hit with a weapon attack. Since the damage from the attack is calculated before Colossus Slayer is determined, this works with full health targets, even though the description makes it seem as though it does not. This allows Hunters to deal incredible damage every round, without expending any resources.
Cleric Build
Baldur’s Gate 3 Build Guide: Cleric: Clerics choose their Domain during Character Creation and for this Build, I’m going to be showing you my Light Domain setup. The reason I chose Light Domain is that I wanted to make a Cleric that could deal good damage and still have some support Spells, and Light Domain does a decent job of this. However, you can make this Build for the most part using other Domains in Early Access, but you will miss out on a couple of really strong Spells. Still the concept is basically the same.
Wizard Build
Baldur's Gate 3 Build Guide: Wizard: Wizards in Baldur’s Gate 3 choose their school of magic at level 2, and for Early Access I strongly advise taking the Evocation School. This is because in order to regularly gain the Arcane Ward from the Abjuration School, you need to constantly cast Abjuration Spells. Abjuration Spells do not need to be cast all that often, and even then the Ward you gain is not overly strong. This means you might as well take Evocation, even if you don’t need its passive benefit of guaranteeing allies passing Saving Throws when hit by your Spells all that often.
Thief Build
Baldur's Gate 3 Build Guide: Thief: Rogues in Baldur's Gate 3 can become Thiefs at Level 3, and I advise choosing this Subclass over the Arcane Trickster in Early Access if you are new to the game. This is because Thiefs gain an extra Bonus Action, and they can use this for Shoving, Jumping, or even on their Cunning Action: Dash. This allows them to still attack with both their main-hand and off-hand Weapons after taking a Bonus Action, OR get an additional off-hand weapon attack if they didn't use a Bonus Action for anything else.
Barbarian Build
Baldur's Gate 3 Build Guide: Barbarian: Barbarians are well-known for their Rage together with their innate ability to take advantage of it, which is unseen in any other Class. Anger is what fuels their Strength and subsequent impact in Combat, allowing them to deal massive damage in multiple turns without severe repercussions besides taking a Long Rest here and there. For others, however, their strong bond with nature and animals gives life to their ferocity. Because of these factors, Barbarians are independently resilient and they can carry their weight in encounters when it comes to inflicting melee or ranged damage. This makes them highly skilled warriors.
Bard Build
Baldur's Gate 3 Build Guide: Bard: Bards wield magic differently compared to other casters in that they seamlessly weave it into the captivating tales they tell and the beautiful tunes they play. Due to their high Charisma, they can easily inspire comrades while crippling foes in and out of Combat. Bards are also adept at protecting themselves from taking too much damage by casting buffs and improving the type of Armor they wear. Unlike Wizards of the Evocation School who focus on primarily casting offensive Spells, Bards often make use of crowd control abilities to manipulate the direction of the fight.
Paladin Guide & Builds
Baldur's Gate 3 Build Guide: Paladin: Paladins are powerful divine warriors who are well-known for their offensive and support roles in combat. Not only are they extremely reliable when it comes to dealing consistent Melee Damage due to their Smite Spells but they also excel in aiding allies with Bless and Cure Wounds. To add to the Paladin's versatility, they're also highly charismatic, allowing for interesting (and often) manipulative choices in dialogue to tip the scales in their favor. But they can sometimes get into trouble the moment they stray from their word and break their promise, making them Oathbreakers. Doing so opens up a new playstyle that focuses on inflicting the most carnage while being less of a team player.
AnonymousImo you should probably list at least the most obvious and broken OP multiclass builds. For example 5 levels in Monk, taking open hand. 4 levels in Rogue taking thief. 3 more levels in monk. Start with 17 strength. Feats are Tavern Brawler with +1 str to get to 18str at level 4. Then ability improvement for 2 more strength at character level 9. At 12 pick what you want, ability improvement for more wis/dex is certainly possible.
For additional "this is way too OP" make this your build for Astarion. From level 8 onward having the extra bonus action available for him is great and if you pick a certain ending for his personal quest being able to make 4 attacks a turn, 5 or 6 if you use ki points is incredible with +damage per melee attack you get from that ending.
Important items: Ring of flinging early on makes this build have ridiculously good ranged options, because you are a tarvern brawler build and tavern brawler is ridiculously OP. I would also really reccommend The Sparkle Hands until you finish the House of Hope. The sheer number of attacks and the lightning charges you build up is not to be underestimated, along with getting advantage against just the sort of thing that often prove hardest to hit. Other than that it's usual unarmed things, soul catching gloves are an obvious highlight but the hat in the devil's fee too, the boots from the lead enemy at the start of act 3 when you find out more about the dream visitor etc.
Build feels good at level 3 onwards and lacks some of the weak points early on that some multiclass builds have, if you've played a 2 warlock/2fighter/8 sorc eldritch blast focussed character you know what I mean.
The information about choosing a race is out of date since your race no longer has any impact on your ability scores.
- Anonymous
Wanted to make a ultimate skill monkey build that also is good in combat for a solo playthrough.
6lore Bard 5pact of the blade old ones Warlock 1war cleric (for heavy armor, spell slot, thaumaturgy and occasional bonus attacks), is what I ended up with. (theory craft have not leveled it yet fully).
As a githyanki with wisdom astral knowledge buff, Charlatan background, my Tav has proficiency in the following skills:
Athletics,
Slight of hand,
Animal handling, insight, medicine, perception, Survival,
Arcana, History, Religion, Deception, persuasion,
With thaumaturgy has advantage on performance and intimidate instead of proficiency.
So the only skill I am not proficient with (or have advantage on) are:
Acrobatics (which we have athletics so does not matter)
Stealth (I just use invisibility instead)
Nature (which is one of the rarest skill checks).
Now if one is more interested in raw combat power instead of being a skill monkey, one could go 1 fighter, 5 warlock, 6 sword bard instead.
This would mean proficiency in constitution saves for concentration checks, 3 attacks per action instead of two and the special flourish attacks. (as of the time of this post the pact of the blade stacks with extra attack from other sources).
But it would also mean 3 less proficiencies, no thaumaturgy and a few less magical secrets spells, but since the race is githyanki one could just long rest and change the astral knowledge buff to something else temporarily when those 3 lacking proficiencies came up.
- Anonymous
My favorite build so far is a Paladin 7 (Vengeance or Oathbreaker), Warlock 5 (Pact of Blade) multiclass - put all points in chr.
Grab a big 2 hander and you get three attacks for one action. Plus you get Eldritch blast, which is a great ranged attack, and two level 3 spell slots that recharge on a short rest for even more smiting.
Another fun one is Rogue (Theif) 4 and Fighter (Champion) 8 - and going two weapon fighting. You get a ton of attacks per round with great mobility, high AC, plenty of crits, and a bunch of feats. It does damage!
- Anonymous
Are you gonna do builds as you did for divinity? They were so good and made me have so much more fun with the game
When are we going to get the builds updated for the full release?? This would be an amazing resource if the builds here went past level 5!
- Anonymous
My favorite build in my run so far (at level 10) is my Monk/Thief. I used Karlach for this build
Str 12 / Dex 16 / Con 14 / Int 8 / Wis 16 / Cha 8
Started as at level 1 as Rogue for the expertise to Sleight of Hand and Perception
Level 2-6 as Way of the Open Hand Monk to get the Extra Attack. Feat at Monk 4 was ASI Dex. (Monk5/Rogue1)
Level 7 and 8 were Rogue levels to get the Thief subclass for the extra bonus action (Monk5/Rogue3)
Level 9 in Monk to get two amazing abilities, Wholeness of Body and Manifestation. WoB heals HP, Ki points and gives you a third bonus action for a few turns and Manifestation gives you 1d4+wis damage to unarmed attacks (Monk6/Rogue3)
Level 10 I got rogue to 4 for the feat to get ASI Dex up to 20 (Monk6/Rogue4)
Level 11-12 Will go into Fighter for Action Surge
Once you get your Haste on this build + Wholeness of Body you can shred pretty much any boss in one round. 4 attacks from Action points + 6 attacks from Flurry of Blows using Bonus actions + 2 more attacks from Action Surge. You can set up sneak attacks all by yourself using Flurry of Blows (Topple) from Open Hand.
Step into the Wind is a hilarious ability that doubles your movement speed for a round and removes the bonus action requirement for using the Jump action which lets you jump around the battlefield basically at will since jump only uses 3m of movement but as a monk you can jump nearly 10m
- Anonymous
Cmon guys , update your builds, and put some multi builds .....
- Anonymous
thought of something (haven't tested it yet) for a monk/melee class. monk 6(open hand) rogue 4-3 (thief) fighter 2-3 (for action surge) (barbarian only if a level is available and you want rage)
-monk 6 grants ki-empowered strikes and manifestation subclass feature
-thief gives two bonus actions can take 4 levels for another feat or asi
-fighter for action surge and if only lvl 3 rogue can either pick subclass or pick up rage
monk feat at 4 take tavern brawler as well focus on using strength which can later be a dump by using elixirs for supplements
if rogue was taken to 4 can also pick another feat or asi
dump int and cha
can dump str eventually so mostly focus on con and wis with a little dex for saves and initiative
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Might I recommend Eldritch Knight with Tavern Brawler for a thrown weapons build? pick up jump and you can attack from just about ANYWHERE. Who needs flight when the clap of your ass checks can take you through the air and to safety, only for your foes to realize you weren't asking them to die, you were axing them to.
- Anonymous
Gith
Cleric 2+ (Knowledge)
Urchin
- Medium Armor + Shields
- Good melee weapon options
- Proficiency with almost all skills (Blessing of Knowledge + Knowledge of the Ages + Astral Knowledge)
- Support and healing spells
- Can go full Cleric or be a great 2 level dip
I like it with GOOlock for a "skill monkey" party face with creepy cultist vibes.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Just dropping by to suggest trying out a Paladin with Dual Wielder feat as soon as you can. Especially for those who are not familiar with 5E tabletop RPG, I strongly suggest using Divine Favor spell with dual wielding. Sure, the spell adds a meager 1d4 damage to your weapon damage rolls, but it adds it to ALL weapon damage rolls you make, including the off-hand weapon.
Paladin is durable enough to survive without a shield. Besides, if you take the Defence Fighting Style and Dual Wielder feat, you'll end up with the same bonus to AC as you would with a shield, anyway.
Starting stats that I would recommend (provided you can get a heavy armor at start; in early access the heaviest I could find was ring mail which is bull; in 5E normally a character with proficiency in heavy armor should have access to at least chain mail straight away): Str 16+, Con 14+, Cha 14+; others are not too relevant, so pick whatever you fancy.
If im not looking to min/max and just sort of experiment. Would it even be feasible to try something like a Beastmaster Ranger/Eldritch Knight Fighter? I know some games are more forgiving than others when multi classing but im not sure how it is/going to be in Baldur's gate 3
- Anonymous
If im not looking to min/max and just sort of experiment. Would it even be feasible to try something like a Beastmaster Ranger/Eldritch Knight Fighter?
- Anonymous
Moon druid is the weakest class right now. don't know why it's ranked the best here
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Melee Warlock Darkness/Devil's Sight cheese doesn't really work any more. As soon as you cast darkness on an area, the monsters/NPCs just shag ass out of it.
- Anonymous
I wish best build part gets updated also the berserker build is missing.
- Anonymous
Would love to see this page updated with all of your builds to date.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I can't comment on the character build pages themselves, so I am leaving a comment here. The wizard guide ignores a major point: wizards can learn spells from scrolls.
So you should never take spells that you can learn from scrolls. I have a level 4 wizard with 10 cantrips, 25 first-level spells, and 15 second-level spells. The flexibility is insane, especially since you can re-prep out of combat. Note: Weirdly enough, only one of the Summon Quasit scrolls can be learned. But it can be learned, expanding your familiar list.
Base: Half-Elf (High) (gives another cantrip). Stats after the crown but before the possible upgrade at level 4: 8/16/16/18/10/16.
- Anonymous
Your ability stat spread changes from what you recommended to what you actually did. Just FYI
- Anonymous
Im going to try a halfling ranger with short swords for the finesse. The reason why is because this game is just DND 5e online so if you go for hunters mark and moster hunter you can super strike dudes down with the exception of losing 1 turn.
Update Sept 15! We have now finished the 3 early game builds for each class. Next up is finishing companion builds, then moving to Full Game / Endgame builds. We'll keep about the same pace as we have so you can expect a new video every day or two. The build guides now also have written version on the blog: https://fextralife.com/guides/baldurs-gate-3-guides/
Builds Progress update for the people asking:
We are finishing up the class guides + 3 early builds for each class. After this, we'll do companion builds, and moving on from that lategame builds (to encompass up to level 12). This is a slow process as we must play each class to max level and find what works with equipment on the different encounters etc, but we'll eventually fill out everything. Thank you for your patience and, as always, it's a wiki so feel free to edit this page with your own builds or create pages for your own builds.
40
+13
-1