Builds - Baldur's Gate 3 - EIP Gaming (2024)

As a video game based on Dungeons & Dragons, its 5th Edition to be precise, Baldur’s Gate 3 offers plenty of tools to create unique, interesting, and downright powerful characters. And while the 5th Edition is considerably more streamlined when compared to its robust predecessors, it still offers a total of 12 classes with multiple subclasses each, 11 playable races, lots of playstyle-defining gear, and plenty of choices to make while leveling your characters.

All of that may seem a bit daunting, overwhelming even. If that’s the case, we’ve put together an assortment of builds that can guide you through the arcane process of rolling a character and leveling it all the way to 12. Some of our builds offer straightforward yet powerful ways to play a character, others explore unique playstyles and help you make them work. We even have some dedicated specifically to building your companions into the best sidekicks a shared Illithid affliction can buy.

And if you want to keep track of all your builds, and even combine them into a well-oiled machine of a party, do keep in mind that we offer handy Build Planner and Party Planner tools.

Below you’ll find quick overviews for each of our builds. If one of them strikes your fancy, just click the link and you’ll learn how to create, level up, and equip your future character.

Tavern Brawler Monk

Key Features: high unarmed damage; throwing weapons, objects, and enemies; great mobility.

With how lackluster the majority of Baldur’s Gate 3 Feats are, one of them reigns supreme: Tavern Brawler. Not only does it give us an extra ability score point, it doubles the effects of our Strength modifier when punching things, throwing things, or attacking with improvised weapons.

Considering the above, a Monk with a high Strength score and just enough levels of Rogue to qualify for the Thief subclass that doubles your available bonus actions is the perfect Tavern Brawler that hits things really hard, knocks out dragons by throwing chairs at them, covers entire battlefields in a single leap.

Berserker/Thief Barbarian

Key Features: versatility; Sleight of Hand; Frenzy; great carrying capacity.

This build is primarily inspired by Fafhrd – an iconic fantasy barbarian Gary Gygax used as a template for an ideal D&D adventurer.

To honor the game’s roots, this build will let you play as a well-rounded character who’s both a great frontline warrior and an effective Rogue capable of dealing with any trap or lock. Through a combination of level up and gear choices, we’ll have great physical attributes and be able to carry all the loot we can get our hands on. And thanks to being both a Berserker and a Thief, we’ll have access to a lot of attacks per round due to Frenzied Strike and Enraged Throw that are used as bonus actions.

Draconic Sorcerer

Key Features: ranged damage; AoE damage; high Charisma.

If you want to be a dragon, this build is for you. Not only will you be playing as a Dragonborn (of the scaled kind, no the Fus Ro Dah kind), you’ll get a chance to flaunt your bloodline as a Sorcerer who blows things up with the help of a constant stream of metamagic-infused Fireballs. And when you encounter something you don’t feel like blowing up, your high Charisma score and Proficiency with Persuasion will let you experience heaps of that narrative content Baldur’s Gate 3 has to offer.

Thief Bard

Key Features: Sleight of Hand; Stealth; Disguise Self; supportive spellcasting.

For this particular build, we’re using the word thief in its more traditional sense, as opposed to the Thief subclass. And what this means is that with some creative character building, a Bard can perform all the duties of a Rogue (with the exception of sneak attacks) just as well as one. Even better, really, considering that Bards get full spellcasting progression. So, if you want to play a character who’s a full supporting spellcaster and a Rogue rolled into one, then our Thief Bard build is for you.

Cosmic Horror Warlock

Key Features: Eldritch Blast; ranged damage; critical hits; high Charisma.

This build will make sure you remember your ABCs – Always Be Critting. If there are few things more satisfying for you than the sound of a critical hit followed by big numbers floating across your screen, then you’ll like this build. Through a combination of gear, feats, and permanent Advantage on our Attack Rolls, we’ll be maximizing our chance to land a crit.

As a bonus, being a Great Old One Warlock will let us easily impose the Frightened condition on our foes when we do, making it less likely for them to land their attacks or resist our spells. A high Charisma score and Proficiency in Sleight of Hand will also make us a great party leader and a part-time Rogue.

Healer Bard

Key Features: healing; supportive spellcasting; high Charisma; Sleight of Hand.

A good Bard can do just about anything. If your party needs a healer that can rival any Cleric and pick all the locks just as well as a Rogue, while still supporting and inspiring the team, then you might want to consider following our Healer Bard build. With Charisma as your primary spellcasting attribute, you’ll also be great at leading the party.

Jack of All Trades

Key Features: Jack of All Trades; multiclass; skill proficiency; high ability scores; Radiating Orb.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has an achievement for playing through the game as a character with 1 level in every available class. And while the achievement itself is really easy to cheese, this build will help you make a Jack of All Trades character who will actually be a useful party member.

Thanks to precise level advancement, we’ll be proficient in 12 skills, with Expertise in 4 of them. With some specific gear, we’ll have high ability scores across the board to support those skills. We’ll also be applying a lot of instances of the Radiating Orb condition with our attacks, which will make it downright impossible for enemies to hit our party members.

Rogue/Ranger Drow Infiltrator

Key Features: Initiative; Stealth; Sneak Attack; Disguise Self.

This build plays around the incredible first round burst damage provided by the combination of Assassin and Gloom Stalker subclasses. Combining these classes with a Drow character and a decent Charisma score will allow you to trick your enemies into thinking you’re their best friend right until the moment it’s time to strike. If you follow this build, when that time comes, you’ll be able to decimate their ranks before they can do anything to stop you.

Battle Master Fighter

Key Features: melee damage; Great Weapon Master; Manoeuvres;

Some people tend to underestimate pure Fighters. Pick this build and, once you’re attacking 10 times per turn while dealing massive damage with each attack, just watch them change their tune.

As a Battle Master, you’ll also get access to a number of Maneuvers that, while still fairly straightforward, will give you the tools to be a very versatile character in battle: buffing your team, disabling your enemies, strong extra attacks — you’ll have it all.

Light Domain Cleric

Key Features: AoE damage; healing; supportive spellcasting; Radiating Orb.

Chances are, you’ll play through Baldur’s Gate 3 with Shadowheart as your Cleric, in the end concluding that it’s an underwhelming class you still have to take due to the buffs and healing it provides. Our Light Domain Cleric build will help you dispel that misconception.

With a decent Domain, some proper gear, and smart character-building choices, you’ll be able to deal AoE damage that rivals any Wizard. On top of that, you’ll still have all the usual Cleric staples in strong summons, healing magic, and party-wide buffs. And if that wasn’t enough, you’ll also make it very hard for enemies to hit your characters through a combination of Domain features and a few pieces of easy to find gear.

Feared Warlock Ambusher

Key Features: Initiative; Stealth; Sneak Attack; AoE Spells.

Due to this Warlock class’s unique weapon scaling and features, it is able to become more powerful when leveraging the Assassin’s brutal first round buffs and advantages. We’ll get into all the details, but if you’re interested in a unique build for Wyll, or a stealthy character build that starts their battles with debuffs, critical hits, and spells, then you’re in the right place.

Control Sorcerer Build

Key Features: Action economy control; defensive options, Warlock dip for early strength

In Baldur’s Gate 3, the side that gets to take more actions usually wins the fight — and this build aims to let you be that side. Control spells like Sleep can effectively remove multiple enemies from combat at once, and Metamagic lets you Twin spells such as Haste for even greater effects. Sorcerers‘ downside is that they come online late, and so this build aims to mitigate that weakness by taking some early Warlock levels, using Eldritch Blast as a way to keep this build useful until its control aspects fully come online.

The Holy Salami Warrior Paladin Build

Key Features: melee damage; high defence; Divine Smite; Shillelagh; high Charisma.

Since Larian gave us the option to wield a stick of salami as an actual weapon, we naturally had to come up with a build that unlocks the full combat potential of this fearsome sausage. Forget the Iron Chef. This here build will let you play as a Holy Chef so attuned to the land, your salami will dispatch foes just as well as any Holy Avenger. You’ll also be able to shrug off most blows, both physical and magical, acting as a bulwark for your team.

Astarion Build

Key Features: Sneak Attack; Sleight of Hand; high defence.

If you’re putting together a party and need a good Rogue, Astarion is your only option in Baldur’s Gate 3, provided you don’t want to use hirelings. As such, we bring you this Astarion build that will help you turn him into an effective companion that does his job and doesn’t require too much maintenance or high-end gear. This will allow you to focus on your PC while Astarion deals with traps, locks, and stabs your enemies for massive damage.

Gale Build

Key Features: ranged damage; AoE damage; supportive spellcasting.

As he’s the only arcane spellcaster on the roster, there’s a good chance you’ll want to have Gale in your Baldur’s Gate 3 party. And seeing how he can outright win you the game at several points in the story, there’s even more incentive to let him tag along.

Should you decide to do so, this build will tell you how to make a proper Wizard out of Gale. He’ll be just as good at blowing a lot of things up with Fireballs as he’ll be at focusing down single targets with beefy Magic Missiles. On top of that, he’ll have access to a wide range of exploration spells and just about every ritual spell a Wizard can have in the game.

Karlach Build

Key Features: melee damage; Frenzy; resistance; throwing weapons.

A fiery, both literally and in terms of her personality, Tiefling Barbarian, Karlach can easily become the backbone of your team. Her varied resistances make her surprisingly sturdy. She’s great at moving around the battlefield. And later on, she’ll even become a competent ranged damage dealer. This build will help you unlock all that potential.

Lae’zel Build

Key Features: melee damage; high number of attacks; Manoeuvres.

Any adventuring party needs a strong backbone – a character, or characters, that can soak up a lot of hits and deal reliable damage not dependent on any precious resources. As a Fighter, Lae’zel is perfect for that role. And as a Battle Master Fighter described in this particular build, she’ll also offer great utility to the team through a number of handy manoeuvres.

Wyll Pact of The Blade Warlock Build

Key Features: melee damage; Divine Smite; Radiating Orb; Reverberation; Warlock spellcasting.

It can be quite tricky to build an effective melee Warlock. But since Larian dubbed Wyll The Blade of Frontiers, that’s exactly what we’ll be doing in this build. Instead of flinging Eldritch Blasts from a safe distance, our Wyll is going to be a daring swashbuckler who deals massive amounts of damage with his rapier and debuffs his foes to the point of uselessness. On top of that, he’ll have access to plenty of Warlock spells allowing him to be useful in just about any situation.

Shadowheart Build

Key features: high defence; supportive spellcasting; healing; Spirit Guardians.

Shadowheart is the only Cleric companion in Baldur’s Gate 3. And since most parties will want to have a Cleric, this means she’ll see a lot of action and disappoint a lot of people with how ineffective she can be. This build will save you from that disappointment and help you turn Shadowheart into a valuable member of your team without completely changing her identity and flavor.

Halsin Build

Key Features: Wild Shape; Difficult Terrain; summoning; supportive spellcasting.

Druids in Baldur’s Gate 3 can be very powerful due to all the battlefield manipulation tools they get and their amazing summons. Our Halsin build acknowledges and leans into that without sacrificing any of his thematic flavor that strongly suggests he should spend most of his time shapeshifted into a bear (an owlbear is still a bear more or less).

Minthara Build

Key Features: Oath of Vengeance; Elemental Weapon; Divine Smite; extra reach.

Chances are, you’ll finish your first playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 without realizing that it had a Paladin companion. But if you do manage to recruit her, Minthara the Paladin will have the potential to become a key member of your team. With helpful auras, high Divine Smite damage, and her own Haste, she’ll be both useful to the party and self-sufficient. This build will help you get her there. And her haughty Drow noble personality will be quite refreshing, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Jaheira Build

Key Features: AoE damage; supportive spellcasting; ranged damage; critical hits.

One of the most well-known companions from the original Baldur’s Gate, Jaheira is still with us in Baldur’s Gate 3. Only with the new systems, recreating her original Fighter/Druid build is sure to leave her underpowered compared to the rest of your party. With that in mind, our Jaheira build for Baldur’s Gate 3 still sticks to the whole Fighter/Druid idea but focuses more on spellcasting and archery.

Minsc Build

Key Features: melee damage; high defence; team utility; pet hamster.

Even though Baldur’s Gate 3’s Minsc barely resembles his Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 self, our Minsc guide will still help you go for the eyes with the best of them. With high melee damage, a great ability to control the battlefield, impressive sturdiness, and lockpicking skills rivaling those of any Rogue, this build will have you adding Minsc to your party not just for his voice lines.