In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Combat Mechanics Guide – How to Succeed in Combat, we’ll be covering all the details that go into combat. Things like Initiative, Advantage and Disadvantage, Spell Slots, Attacks, Armour and more! If you’ve been having a tough time in combat, then this video is for you!

Baldur’s Gate 3 Combat Guide

Baldur’s Gate 3’s combat can be quite complex to new players, and those who are unfamiliar with 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, which is what the game is modeled after. You might be wondering why your hit chance is so low, or why your spells never seem to deal damage. In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Combat Guide, we’ll show you what to do, and give you some tips on things you probably shouldn’t do. Let’s start with Initiative as this is the first thing that happens every combat.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Combat Guide – Initiative

The first thing that happens in Baldur’s Gate 3 combat, is that each character makes what is called an Initiative Roll, which determines the turn order of each character. Once this has been completed, and the order established, this order will not change for the rest of combat, except when a character is incapacitated, downed or killed.

The Dexterity Modifier of each character is added to their Initiative Roll, so generally speaking characters that have higher Dexterity will go first, like Rogues and Rangers, but this is not always the case since there is still a roll made, and they may roll poorly, while other characters roll highly.

Going first in Baldur’s Gate 3 combat is very important, just like in Divinity Original Sin 2, because you can often eliminate or incapacitate an enemy or two before they attack you preventing a lot of damage to your party. One great way to do this is by Surprising enemies, because Surprised enemies won’t gain an Action on their turn. You can Surprise enemies quite often by Hiding and attacking them before they see you.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Combat Guide – Actions, Bonus Actions and Movements

Each character gains one Action, one Bonus Action and a certain amount of Movement per turn in Baldur’s Gate 3 Combat, except of course if they were Surprised. If you’ve played Pillars of Eternity 2‘s turn-based mode then you’ll notice similarities almost immediately. Each character can Move up to a certain amount based on their Movement Speed, and they can Move at any time on their turn, regardless of what Actions or Bonus Actions they’ve already used.

Actions are usually Attacks, Weapon Actions (found on Weapons), or Spells, but can also include Throwing an object or an enemy, Hiding, Dashing (which extends your movement), Disengaging from an enemy, or specific Class Features.

Bonus Actions are usually specific Weapon Actions that deal less damage but have some other effect, Shoving, or Dipping your weapon in a substance. However, they can also be Spells and Class Features as well. Good players will find a way to make use of both their Action and Bonus action each turn in order to maximize the impact their character has.

There are ways to gain more Actions and Bonus Actions, such as the Fighter’s Action Surge, the Thief’s Fast Hands, or the Haste Spell. Pay attention when given a choice to select Spells or Class Features, and note whether or not something is an Action or Bonus Action. This can help you plan better what you can do in a given turn.

How Hit Chance is Calculated

Alright, so you’ve figured out Actions, Bonus Actions, and Movement, but you keep Missing your Attacks in combat. In this section of our Baldur’s Gate 3 Combat Guide we’ll discuss why you might be Missing a lot, and how you can improve your chances of landing Attacks in combat.

Armour Class

When making an attack you will roll a 20-sided die called the D20 and it will be rolled against the Armour Class (AC) of the enemy. Enemies won’t have lower than 10 Armour Class, which means that you will at least need to roll a 10 in order to hit even the weakest enemies in the game. This means by default, factoring in no bonuses or Modifiers you would have roughly a 55% chance to hit an enemy with 10 AC since rolling a 10 or higher will all be hits. This is not a very high chance in general, but there are ways to improve this.

Melee Weapons

Melee weapons use your Strength Modifier when making Attack Rolls, and Ranged Weapons use Dexterity. These are added to the D20 that is rolled in when an Attack is made and help improve your chances of landing your Attacks. For instance, if you have 16 Strength and make a melee attack, or 16 Dexterity when making a Ranged Attack, you will now add +3 to your roll, so now you only need to roll a 7 or higher, giving you a 70% chance to hit an enemy with 10 AC. You can see this is already much higher.

Note that 17 Strength or 17 Dexterity gives you the same Modifier as 16 Strength and 16 Dexterity (+3), because you only improve your Modifiers at every even number. Pay attention to your Ability Scores during Character Creation, when selecting Feats and choosing equipment, and aim for an even number on your Strength or Dexterity, whichever you use for attacking.

Finesse Weapons

Finesse Weapons can use either your Strength or Dexterity Modifier, so if you wish to Melee & Range Attack effectively on a martial character you will want high Dexterity. If you are a Strength character, you should try to avoid making ranged attacks if you can melee instead, and if you are a Dexterity character you should avoid melee attacks with anything other than Finesse Weapons. The one exception is Monks, who can use Dexterity regardless of the Weapon they are using as long (as it’s not two-handed).

Improving Attack Rolls

There are more things that help to improve your Attack Rolls though, and the next one is Proficiency. Each character in the game will have Proficiency with different Weapons and Armour based off Race and Class choices, and using a Weapon you have Proficiency with will grant you +2 to your Attack Rolls on Balanced and Tactician, and +4 on Explorer. As your character gains levels this will increase to +3 at level 5, or +5 on Explorer, and +4 at level 9 (+6) on Explorer. Note this is the same for all characters in the game, regardless of Race, Class, or Multiclassing.

This means at the beginning of the game if you make a melee Attack Roll with 16 Strength, or a Ranged Attack Roll with 16 Dexterity AND you are Proficient with the weapon, you will add +5 to your Attack Roll making it so you only need to roll a 5 or higher to land your attacks. That is an 80% to hit against an enemy with 10 Armour Class. You can see how this is already better.

As your character gains levels and improves their Ability Modifiers their chance to hit will naturally improve, but so will enemy Armour Class, so you will need to find more ways to improve your chances of success. So let’s get into those.

How to Improve your Hit Chance

Besides having a good Ability Modifier with the type of weapon you are using, and making sure you have Proficiency in the Weapon Type you are using, there are other things you should and shouldn’t do in combat to improve your chances of hitting an enemy. We’ll go over this next in our Baldur’s Gate 3 Combat Guide.

Make sure you’re not wearing Armour you are NOT Proficient with, because this penalizes your Attack Rolls severely by giving you Disadvantage on your Attack Rolls. Disadvantage means that you roll your D20 twice, and you take the lower of the two values. Rolling 2 dice makes you much more likely to roll a lower number with one Die, and then you will Miss when you are forced to use it.

Make sure to upgrade your equipment. As you gain more equipment in the game, you will find +1 and +2 versions of Weapons which will add +1 or +2 to not only your Damage Rolls, but also to your Attack Rolls. This lowers the number you need to reach when attacking an enemy in melee or at range with said weapon, in order to trigger a hit.

Bless is also a fantastic way to boost your hit chance early on in the game. This spell improves the Attack Roll of each character effected by +1-+4 on each attack as long as the spellcaster of this spell maintains Concentration on it. It’s best used at the beginning of combat to affect as many turns as possible.

Ranged Characters

If you are a ranged character, make sure you are not standing next to an enemy when making a Ranged Attack, as this will also give you Disadvantage on your Attack Roll, even if it is against a different enemy who is not near you. Either move away first, risking an Attack of Opportunity, or Disengage and reposition your ranged character instead if possible. Note that Disengage will consume your Action, so you won’t be able to attack, but the enemy can’t make an Attack of Opportunity against you.

Rogues

Rogues gain Cunning Action: Disengage at level 2, allowing them to Disengage as a Bonus Action, so they can safely move away from melee units and make a Ranged Attack, OR make a Melee Attack and then Disengage and safely move away.

The High Ground

Another thing that Ranged characters should try to do every chance they get, is to try to get above the target they are attacking. Being at a slightly higher elevation than your target will provide you with +2 to your Attack Roll, which will change that 80% into a 90% if the target has 10 AC. Note that attacking targets that are higher than you will apply a -2 penalty instead, so try to avoid this if you can.

Also remember to move up if you’re out of the range of your weapon. Ranged Attack made outside a weapon’s range will also have Disadvantage.

Hiding

Another great way to improve the chances of Attack Rolls on ranged characters is by being Hidden when you attack. Characters that attack enemies that cannot see them gain Advantage on their attacks, allowing them to roll 2 dice, taking the higher of the two values for their roll. And that’s on top of all the other bonuses like Ability Modifier, Proficiency, and if you’re above your target, they all still get added.

Hiding is an Action which means you cannot do this in Baldur’s Gate 3 Combat and attack in the same turn, but you can begin combat Hidden easily enough, giving you Advantage on your first Attack. It’s much harder for melee units to do this, and generally it’s easier to pull this off from range. Pay attention to the Armor your ranged characters are wearing though, some gives you Disadvantage on Stealth Checks, and that can hamper this tactic tremendously.

Rogues gain Cunning Action: Hide at level 2 also, allowing them to Hide as a Bonus Action, so they can actually Hide in combat easily and then attack with Advantage every turn if handled properly. This is the easiest way to gain Sneak Attack with them, and boosts the likelihood they’ll connect with their attacks at the same time.

Melee Characters

Melee Characters operate very differently, and they want to get as close to the enemy as possible when they can so they can get their attacks off. Movement and positioning are a huge part of playing a Melee character, and knowing where to be and when to be there is not always easily understood.

Melee Enemies

Enemies follow the same rules as the player for the most part, so when positioned next to a ranged enemy for example, these enemies have a Disadvantage on their Attack Rolls, making your party less likely to be hit. You will also have the option to do an Attack of Opportunity if they try to move away, unless they Disengage, but then they won’t be able to attack if they do, which is great.

Moving up to Melee enemies also prevents them from getting to your ranged characters, because of the Attack of Opportunity mechanic, so sometimes your melee characters will intercept enemies instead. Both are valid strategies that you will need to employ depending on what is happening on the battlefield.

And the best way to increase your hit chance against enemies with melee characters, besides the things I’ve already mentioned, is by using Weapon Actions or Class Features against them. For instance, some weapons allow you to set the Off Balance Status Effect by using their Weapon Action, and this makes it so attacks (from anyone) against the target have Advantage.

Attacking Prone enemies grants Advantage to your melee attacks, and some Weapon Actions, Spells and Class Features trigger this effect. Dazing enemies, removes the AC bonus they gain from Dexterity, making them easier to Hit. Sometimes these can be used as Bonus Actions, and you should use them before your Attack Action to improve your chances of landing a Hit.

• Ranger – Ensnaring Strike
• Battle Master (Fighter) – Distracting Strike, Feinting Attack, Trip Attack
• Way of the Open Hand (Monk) – Flurry of Blows: Topple
• Paladin – Thunderous Smite & Bless
• Barbarian – Reckless Attack
• Rogue – Cunning Action: Hide
• Cleric – Bless

Spellcasters

Spellcasters work very similarly to ranged characters with some of their spells like: Fire Bolt, Eldritch Blast, and Guiding Bolt. These spells all target the AC of the enemy, and so you will make an Attack Roll when casting them, trying to overcome the Armour of the enemy. However in this case you use your Spellcasting Ability Modifier, which is different for each spellcasting class, instead of your or Dexterity Modifier when adding to your roll. Inflict Wounds also works like this, but is very short ranged spell, so must be cast in melee range. Keep this in mind in Baldur’s Gate 3 Combat.

For instance, if you were a Wizard casting Fire Bolt and you had 16 Intelligence you would add +3 to your Attack Roll, and then your Proficiency Bonus is added, and if you are elevated then you gain +2 to your roll as well.

Spell Exceptions

But not all Spells work this way, and some of them target a specific Ability of an enemy. Like Sacred Flame for instance, which is a Cleric Cantrip that targets the Dexterity ability of a character. In this case the enemy has to make what is called a Saving Throw against your spell, and they must roll 8 + your Spellcasting Ability Modifier + your proficiency bonus, and if they fail then you will deal 1-8 damage. You don’t gain +2 from elevation with these spells, because you are not the one rolling, the enemy is.

There are many Spells in the game that target different Abilities, and you can read what Abilities they target in the description of each spell. You can also hit T on enemies to see what their Ability Scores are, to help you better determine what types of spells you should use. For instance, an enemy is likely to Save against Sacred Flame if they have high Dexterity, since they add their Dexterity Modifier to their Saving Throw making it more likely they will succeed in their Saving Throw.

Defense

On the defensive side that remember many of the inverse of these things are true as well. The higher your AC, the less likely it is for you to take damage. The higher your Ability Scores are, the less likely a spell can affect you. If you’re above the enemy, they are more likely to miss. If you are standing near ranged enemies, they will have Disadvantage, and if you’re Prone, they will have Advantage on their melee attacks, etc.

We hope this has given you a better idea of how to tackle Baldur’s Gate 3 Combat. If you want more BG3 guides be sure to check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Beginners Guide.

The post Baldur’s Gate 3 Combat Guide appeared first on Fextralife.

In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Beginners Guide, we’re going to show you the best tips and tricks for adventuring through the Forgotten Realms. We’ll cover everything you need to know about the game’s mechanics, skills, proficiency, feats and more so you can get a better understanding of this CRPG.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Beginner Guide – Game Mechanics

Baldur’s Gate 3 is based off of the 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Ruleset, which uses a system that involves the rolling of a twenty-sided die called a D20 to resolve encounters and scenarios in the game world. In combat, this will be done behind the scenes by the game’s software, but players will be able to see the results of their “dice rolls” in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Ability Checks outside of combat, including dialogue, however, are handled differently and you can much more easily see the dice rolls. What’s really great about tabletop gaming on PC or Console, is that the game does all the mathematics for you, eliminating the need to remember every single thing that affects your encounter. However if you do not understand how Abilities work, you may find yourself having a tough time, so let’s begin there.

Ability Score & Ability Modifier

In Baldur’s Gate 3 Attributes are called “Abilities“. This means that Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma are all referred to as Abilities within Baldur’s Gate 3’s mechanics and context. This can be quite confusing at first, because just about every other Role Playing Game out there uses the term “Abilities” to delineate the “Skills” of a character, or some other Active or Passive function they possess. Attributes or Stats is usually what we’d refer to these as, but in BG3 they are called Abilities.

Ability Score is the number that represents each Ability (Stat) of your character, and Ability Modifier is the bonus (or penalty) you gain from your Ability Score of each Ability. To determine an Ability Modifier subtract 10 from the Ability Score and then divide the result by 2 (rounded down). For instance, if you have 17 Strength then your Ability Score for Strength is 17, and your Ability Modifier for Strength is +3. If you have 8 Dexterity then your Ability Score is 8 and your Ability Modifier is -1.  Both your Ability Scores and Ability Modifiers will dictate how successful your character is at various things throughout the game.

Ability Score & Ability Modifier

• 1 = -5
• 2-3 = -4
• 4-5 = -3
• 6-7 = -2
• 8-9 = -1
• 10-11 = +0
• 12-13 = +1
• 14-15 = +2

• 16-17 = +3
• 18-19 = +4
• 20 = +5

What Does Your Ability Modifier Affect?

The reason we begin with Ability Scores and Ability Modifiers in this Baldur’s Gate 3 Beginner Guide, is that the D20 is rolled in three different instances: Ability Checks, Attack Rolls and Saving Throws. All three of these will use your Ability Modifiers when determining their outcomes, so it’s wise to know how they are calculated.

Ability Checks

Ability Checks are rolled when performing interactions within the game world, testing a character’s “Abilities”, and often appear in dialogue, when lockpicking or disarming traps, and often when “checking” for hidden doors, items or buried loot.

These Ability Checks are accompanied by something called a Difficulty Class (DC), and that is the number you must roll with the D20 in order to “pass” the Ability Check. Baldur’s Gate 3 will determine the Difficulty Class of everything in the game, and you will need to have characters that have decent Ability Modifiers in order to pass them. The crux is that you sometimes you cannot see the DC of a hidden object, door or loot until you’ve passed or failed the check, so it’s wise to be prepared and save often in case you want to reload and try again. The following is a list of the DC of each of these general categories:

Task Difficulty DC

• Very Easy = 5
• Easy = 10
• Medium = 15
• Hard = 20
• Very Hard = 25
• Nearly Impossible = 30

You can see you only need to roll a 5 on the D20 to succeed in a Very Easy DC, while Nearly Impossible is 30. In order to even hit 30 you would need to have a very high Ability Modifier, other bonuses like Proficiency or even Expertise or Guidance, and almost a perfect 20 roll on the die. To further illustrate how this works, let’s do an example:

You and your party come to a door you cannot open, and it has a DC of 15. Astarion has 16 Dexterity, giving him an Ability Modifier of +3, so you decide to use him to try to pick the lock. Astarion would then roll the D20 and add +3 to his roll, and if the total was 15 or higher he would open the door (this means he would need to roll a 12 on the D20). However, if he should fail his roll the door will remain locked.

Attack Rolls

The second thing Ability Modifier is used for is Attack Rolls, which is when a character is attacking another character. When attacking with Weapons or Unarmed, players will roll the D20 and if their roll is equal to or higher than the target’s Armor Class (AC), they will connect with their attack. Melee Weapons and Unarmed attacks use the character’s Strength Modifier to add to their Attack Roll, and Ranged Weapons use the Dexterity Modifier. However, there are some exceptions, such as Melee Weapons that have the Finesse property, allowing the use of Dexterity instead of Strength. And the Monk’s Martial Arts Class Feature which allows them to use Dexterity instead of Strength as well.

Additionally, your Ability Modifier is then added to your Damage Roll if you successfully connected with your attack (Damage Rolls are calculated by rolling the die or dice of the Weapon used, and then adding Ability Modifier). This means not only are you more likely to hit with a Weapon if you have high Strength or Dexterity, but you will do more Damage if you do. This makes Strength and Dexterity particularly important to characters that rely on Weapons for damage, though they usually focus on one or the other.

Lae’Zel is attacking an enemy Orc that has an AC of 15. She is using a Longbow and has a Dexterity Modifier of +2. She rolls the D20 and gets an 11, and then adds +2, plus her Proficiency Bonus of +2 giving her a total of 15. This means she was successful in hitting the Orc with her arrow because she had at least 15 on her Attack Roll. She then rolls a D8 (which is the die that the Longbow uses for Damage) and gets a 4. She adds the +3 DEX Modifier, for a total of 7 Damage. Note: Proficiency is not added to the Damage Roll.

Saving Throws

Saving Throws are used to calculate the defense of a character vs. many effects or spells in the game. Each of these has its own DC, which the character must make a “saving throw” of the die against in order to protect themself. These spells and effects will target one of the 6 Abilities of the character, and they will use that specific Ability Modifier when rolling. Just like Ability Checks and Attack Rolls, you must hit the target number or higher in order to succeed at a Saving Throw.

If you are making a spell casting character such as a Wizard or Sorcerer, you want to have the highest DC you can on your spells, as this helps prevent enemies from successfully rolling a “Saving Throw”, and increases your effectiveness. Each Class has its own Ability that is used to calculate this, and this is called its Spellcasting Ability Modifier. For instance, Clerics use Wisdom to determine their Spell DC, and Wizards use Intelligence for theirs. The DC to resist one of your Spells is equal to 8 + Spellcasting Ability Modifier + Proficiency.

Your Level 5 Wizard uses the Fireball spell around a bunch of Goblins. His Intelligence is 19, so he has a Spellcasting Ability Modifier of +4. This means the DC of this Spell is 15 (8+4+3), and any Goblin who doesn’t roll at least 15 (after all their Modifiers) will take 8D6 damage (the sum of 8 rolls of a 6 sided die), and any who does will take half that amount.

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So you can see how that works, but let’s talk a bit about Proficiency in this Baldur’s Gate 3 Beginner Guide, since you might be wondering what that is!

Baldur’s Gate 3 Beginner Guide: Proficiency

All characters in Baldur’s Gate 3 have what is called a Proficiency Bonus. This is a positive modifier that increases as that character gain levels, and works somewhat similarly to Ability Modifier because it is added to D20 rolls.

Proficiency Bonus

Each player character begins the game with a Proficiency Bonus of +2 by default, increasing by +1 every 4 levels to a maximum of +4, since the level cap for Baldur’s Gate 3 is 12. This is the game’s way of making your character more powerful as its level raises, increasing its likelihood of succeeding in rolls. Note that the Proficiency Bonus is the same for all characters who are the same level, and that Class, Multiclass, and Race have no impact on this bonus.

Proficiency Bonus is only added to the D20 rolls of things that you have Proficiency in, and these are determined by a combination of your Race, Background, Class, Feats and potentially even equipment you find. This means that you will not gain this Bonus on all of your rolls, but instead only on the things your character is “proficient” at. The following is list of things Proficiency applies to:

• Attack Rolls using Weapons you’re Proficient with
• Ability Checks using Skills you’re Proficient in
• Saving Throws you’re Proficient in
• Attack Rolls with spells you cast
• Saving Throw DCs for spells you cast

Attacking with Weapons Without a Proficiency

In Baldur’s Gate 3 players do not receive a Penalty for attacking with Weapons they are not Proficient with, but instead do not use their Proficiency Bonus in their Attack Rolls. Additionally, they will not be able to use the Weapon Actions of that Weapon type.

However, when using Armor or Shields they are NOT Proficient with, they have Disadvantage on any Attack Roll they make, and they cannot cast Spells. This is really really bad, and means players should definitely avoid using Armor or Shields they do not have Proficiency in at all costs. We’ll get into Advantage and Disadvantage shortly, but for now let’s take a look at Skills.

Skills in Baldur’s Gate 3

Skills

Throughout the course of the game of BG3, Skills are used to help characters overcome obstacles and challenges. What Skills you are Proficient with will be determined during Character Creation, and are usually tied to your Class, Race and Background.

Each Skill in the game falls within an Ability, and Skills are essentially a specific aspect of that Ability. For instance, Sleight of Hand falls under Dexterity, because having faster reflexes and being more agile would help you steal things. Or for instance, Persuasion falls under Charisma, because being charismatic would help Persuade someone. Below is a list of Skills in the game and what Ability they fall under:

Strength

• Athletics

Dexterity

• Acrobatics
• Sleight of Hand
• Stealth

Intelligence

• Arcana
• History
• Investigation
• Nature
• Religion

Wisdom

• Animal Handling
• Insight
• Medicine
• Perception
• Survival

Charisma

• Deception
• Intimidation
• Performance
• Persuasion

Constitution

• None

When players make an Ability Check that also uses a Skill, they will add their Proficiency Bonus to their D20 roll if they have Proficiency in that Skill, otherwise they roll as normal (including only their Ability Modifier). Let’s take the example of Astarion trying to open the door from earlier.

You and your party come to a door you cannot open, and it has a DC of 15. Astarion has 16 Dexterity, giving him an Ability Modifier of +3, +2 for his Proficiency Bonus in Sleight of hand, so you decide to use him to try to pick the lock. Astarion would then roll the D20 and add +3 to his roll, and if the total was 15 or higher he would open the door (this means he would need to roll a 10 on the D20). However, if he should fail his roll the door will remain locked.

Dialogue, Lockpicking and Disarming are all handed with very visible D20 rolls, so you can see your Proficiency at work or not if you don’t have any. However, there are some instances when things are calculated behind the scenes, like for example when trying to spot a hidden door or buried loot. You can see the calculation on the bottom right-hand side when this occurs, but you won’t have a D20 roll screen pop up for you, so you’ll have to pay attention to what is happening on screen while you explore. If you succeed, something will become visible that wasn’t previously, but if you fail you won’t know what you missed out on.

Expertise

Expertise is an even higher form of Proficiency where the player takes their Proficiency bonus with a said Skill and doubles it. You will most often find this with Rogues and Bards

Tools

Tools are items in B3 that can help a player to do something they wouldn’t otherwise be able to do, but unlike Skills they are not tied to a specific Ability. For instance, Thieves Tools allow you to try to lockpick, but if you don’t have any then you cannot even attempt this. And likewise, a Trap Disarm Toolkit is needed to attempt disarming Traps, otherwise, you cannot even try.

Advantage & Disadvantage in BG3

There are many scenarios in the game where players will have either Advantage or Disadvantage, and these make things easier or harder for the character depending on which they have. Like many things in Baldur’s Gate 3, Advantage and Disadvantage are applied to the role of the D20. Let’s talk about this next in our Baldur’s Gate 3 Beginner Guide.

Advantage means that you roll the D20 two times when making an Attack Roll, Ability Check or Saving Throw, and use the higher of the two values. Conversely, Disadvantage means that you roll the D20 two times, using the lower of the two values. Advantage roughly doubles your chances for success, while Disadvantage roughly halves it. If we take the scenario we used earlier of the party coming to a door, and add Disadvantage, let’s see what happens:

You and your party come to a door you cannot open, and it has a DC of 15. Astarion has 16 Dexterity, giving him an Ability Modifier of +3, so you decide to use him to try to pick the lock. However, Astarion is Slightly Drunk, giving him Disadvantage. Astarion rolls the the D20 twice, getting a 6 and an 18. He’s forced to use the 6 roll, and add +3 to his roll, which adds up to 9 so he fails to open the door. Note that this scenario does not take into account Astarion’s Proficiency for the sake of simplicity.

Disadvantage is one of the worst situations you can be in while rolling in Baldur’s Gate 3, and should be avoided at all costs. While Advantage drastically improves your chances of success, and so should be sought out. Keep this in mind when deciding how to proceed with situations in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Weapons in BG3

Weapons are a huge part of BG3 and make up a big chunk of combat, since not every character can cast Spells, They can however all use Weapons. In this section we’ll take a look at how Proficiency is handled when it comes to weapons. Also how damage is calculated, and what Weapon Properties do as well as what they mean. First let’s cover Weapon Proficiency in this Baldur’s Gate 3 Beginner Guide.

Weapon Proficiency in Baldur’s Gate 3

Whenever you attack an enemy in BG3 you make what is called an “Attack Roll”, which I’ve already covered. This Attack Roll is affected by your Weapon Proficiency, so let’s take a look at how this plays out in BG 3.

You won’t be penalized for using a Weapon you aren’t Proficient in. But the likelihood of you hitting the enemy is reduced because you don’t get the added benefit of Proficiency. If you remember your Proficiency Bonus begins at +2 and increases every 4 character levels to a maximum of +4. Proficiency is particularly important at lower levels where you have less ways of increasing your chances of landing attacks.

Each character’s Weapon Proficiency is determined by their Race and Class. For example, Elves gain Proficiency with Longswords, Shortswords, Shortbows, and Longbows. And, Wizards gain Proficiency with Daggers, Quarterstaffs, and Light Crossbows. This means if you made an Elven Wizard you would have Proficiency with all 7 of these Weapon types.

Simple Weapons, Martial Weapons and Proficiency Feats

Each Weapon in BG3 falls under Simple Weapons or Martial Weapons. Simple Weapons are things like Clubs, Quarterstaffs, Shortbows, and Maces, while Martial Weapons are Weapons like Longswords, Rapiers, Longbows and Morningstars. Some Classes, have very specific Weapon Proficiency (like the Wizard), most Classes have Proficiency in Simple Weapons, and only a handful have Proficiency in Martial Weapons. It’s important to note that it is possible to have a general Proficiency (like Martial), and also have a specific Weapon Proficiency (like Longsword), which falls under Martial Proficiency. In this case, you don’t gain any extra bonuses, you are simply considered to have Proficiency in that Weapon type.

Damage Type, Damage Dice, and Weapon Properties

Every Weapon in BG3 has a damage die that is rolled when you successfully make an Attack Roll, and this damage is then applied to the target along with your Ability Modifier. For example, if you attack with a Greatclub you will roll an 8-sided die (D8), take that result and add your Strength Ability Modifier to that to get your total damage for your attack. Not every weapon uses the same die, and some are much better than others, so pay attention to what these are, and use the highest damage one you can.

Weapon Damage Type

Additionally, each weapon has a damage type, which is either: bludgeoning, piercing or slashing. This is important to note because some enemies have damage resistance against certain types of damage, and it’s possible to gain Damage Resistance yourself, such as by taking the Heavy Armor Master Feat. This means it’s a good idea to have a variety of different damage types in your group, so you don’t have a rough time against a few specific enemy groupings.

Weapon Property

Nearly every Weapon has a Weapon Property in BG3, and those that don’t are few and far between. The following is a list of Weapon Properties with a description of what they do:

• Finesse – The weapon scales with Dexterity instead of Strength if your Dexterity is higher.
• Light – Can be dual-wielded with another Light weapon
• Range – The Range of a Weapon is listed here in meters.
• Extra Reach – Has increased range and can attack from further away.
• Thrown – Thrown weapons can be thrown for the same damage as if they were used to attack normally.
• Two-Handed – Weapons with this property must be wielded in both hands.
• Versatile – Weapons with this property can be used with one or two hands. A damage value in parentheses appears with the property, and indicates the damage the weapon does when wielded two-handed.

Armor in 5th Baldur’s Gate 3

Armor Class (AC) in BG3 is what protects you from any attack that uses an Attack Roll, this includes some Spells that use Attack Rolls like Scorching Ray. The amount of protection you gain depends on the armor you are wearing. For example, Padded Armor gives you 11 AC, and Chain Mail gives you 16, which means that enemies must reach a total of 11 in the case of Padded Armor or 16 in the case of Chain Mail on their Attack Rolls in order to Hit you. Note that if you are using no Armor, or are “Unarmored” you are considered to have 10 AC, and you cannot have lower than that unless by some in-game spell or effect.

The Role of Dexterity

In addition, players gain a benefit to their AC from their Dexterity, and how much benefit you gain is different depending on what classification of armor you are wearing. When wearing Light Armor you gain the full value of your Dexterity Modifier added to your AC. When wearing Medium Armor you gain up to +2 AC from your Dexterity Modifier. And when wearing Heavy Armor you gain no benefit from your Dexterity Modifier to your Armor Class (including negative Dexterity modifier). Note that Medium and Heavy Armor limits to your Dexterity Modifier only apply to your Armor Class, it doesn’t apply to your Attack Rolls, Ability Checks or Saving Throws, so you can still use Medium and Heavy Armor on Dexterity-focused Characters.

Here’s and example: let’s say Astarion has 18 Dexterity, which gives him a Dexterity Modifier of +4. He wears Studded Leather Armor which has a base AC of 12. His AC would be 12+4, giving him a total AC of 16. If he then swaps this out for Hide Armor, which is Medium Armor, he will have a base AC of 12, but will only gain +2 from his Dexterity Modifier, giving him a total AC of 14. This is a bad move for him, and he should look for at least Half Plate before using Medium Armor, because its base value is 15 and 15 +2 = 17.

Armor Proficiency

Unlike Weapons, Proficiency in an Armor type you are wearing is a must-have or you’ll be facing some staunch penalties. Characters who wear Armor they aren’t Proficient in will have a Disadvantage on any Attack Roll that they make, and they can’t cast spells. However, the upside here is that characters CAN cast spells while wearing Armor they are Proficient in (even Heavy Armor) with no penalty to Attack Rolls or arcane spell failure.

Stealth and Movement in Armor

One thing you need to pay attention to when wearing Armor is whether or not it gives you Disadvantage on Stealth checks. Generally speaking, you want to use lighter armor on characters with high Dexterity, because lighter armors don’t typically penalize Stealth.

Feats in Baldur’s Gate 3

Feats, for all intents and purposes work like “Talents” in DOS2 or “Perks” Fallout, and they give the character a very specific bonus. In Baldur’s Gate 3, characters will gain a Feat every 4th level they take in a given Class. This means if you don’t Multiclass you will gain Feats at Levels 4, 8, and 12. However, if you do, it’ll be whenever you hit 4 levels in a given Class.

Ability Improvement

Ability Improvement allows you to spend 2 Ability Points to improve your Abilities in whatever combination you wish, whether it’s both points in one Ability, or split between two. This is the most commonly selected Feat in Baldur’s Gate 3, and it is the safe option if you are unsure what to choose.

Benefits of Feats

Many Feats will give you some benefit and increase a specific Ability Score by 1, like Heavily Armoured. This Feat increases your Strength by 1, and also gives you Proficiency with Heavy Armor. This can be good or bad depending on how you are setup.

If you have an even number of Strength like 16 for example, you will not see any benefit from the Strength increase, since your Strength Modifier will not improve at 17. If you really want a Feat, but its Ability Score increase will not benefit you because of this, I strongly suggest that you respec your character at Withers in your camp, and set up your Abilities in such a way that you can make use of it. Like setting your Strength to 17, so it becomes 18 with the Feat, increasing your Modifier by 1.

We hope you found this Baldur’s Gate 3 Beginner Guide helpful. We’ll be putting out more guides and content. You can drop by our wiki for all the latest info on classes, weapons, skills, interactive map and more.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 Thief Rogue Build Guide – In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Thief Rogue Build Guide, I’m going to cover my Rogue Build, and show you what I’ve found to work best. I’ll be doing more Build Guides at the launch of Baldur’s Gate 3, but for now, let’s look at how you can use a Thief Rogue effectively.

Be sure to check out our other Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds including: Abjuration School Wizard, Evocation School Wizard, Eldritch Knight Fighter, Battle Master Fighter, The Field Warlock, The Great Old One Warlock, Beast Master Ranger, Hunter Ranger, Circle of the Land Druid, Circle of the Moon Druid, Wild Magic Sorcerer, Wildheart Barbarian!

Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Rogue Builds Features

• Abilities: Dexterity 
• Subclasses: Thief & Arcane Trickster
• Unique Feature: Sneak Attack
• Hit Die: +8 HP + CON Modifier

Baldur’s Gate 3 Thief Rogue Build Guide

The Thief Rogue is a powerfully cunning Subclass in Baldur’s Gate 3. Not only can they attack multiple times in a single turn to deal considerable damage with Main Hand and Off-Hand Weapons, but they can also evade and resist enemy hits effectively. Because of the number of Bonus Actions they have per turn, they can use Shove, Jump, or even Cunning Action: Dash to approach their targets with ease.

Unlike the Arcane Trickster, the Thief specializes in dishing out Sneak Attacks to inflict incredible damage under the right circumstances. For instance, hiding and quietly moving toward the enemy grants an Advantage, allowing them to go in for the kill.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Thief Rogue Character Creation

In this section, we’ll take a look at how to set up your Rogue during Character Creation for the best results.

Background

For Background, choosing one that provides you with Dexterity Skills should be enough since this is your primary Ability in order to lockpick chests and stealthily attack enemies. Dexterity has Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth. Some Background examples include Urchin, Charlatan, and Criminal.

Race

The first Race that works well for this Build is the Wood Half-Elf. Not only do you have Darkvision to see and hit targets better in the dark but you also gain Fleet of Foot, which raises your Movement Speed.

Next is the Wood Elf and Drow. Wood Elves gain Proficiency in Perception and Stealth as well as wielding Longbows. Additionally, they can’t be put to Sleep by magic due to Fey Ancestry. Drow, on the other hand, has Superior Darkvision, making it much easier to perform better in dark places, plus, you’re able to cast the Dancing Lights Cantrip for allies who need light to execute their attacks well. It’s worth noting that for all of these Races, you’re going to have mostly the same Ability spread with 16 Dexterity at Level 1.

Skills and Expertise

The Thief Rogue Build will gain 4 Skills at Character Creation, making it higher than any other Class. Aside from having high Dexterity, it’s good for them to also gain enough Wisdom to have better rolls on Perception. Perception is important to Rogues because it allows them to spot traps as well as see hidden switches or doors. Wisdom also has Animal Handling, Insight, Medicine, and Survival, and I’ve already listed what Dexterity Skills there are. Additionally, you can opt to take Charisma Skills such as Deception, Persuasion, Intimidation, and Performance to sway NPCs in dialogue.

Expertise doubles your Proficiency Bonus for Ability Checks of your 2 chosen Proficiencies. And so I highly recommend taking Sleight of Hand and Stealth to make it easier to disarm traps and sneakily approach encounters, respectively.

Abilities

The primary Abilities that are needed for this Build are Dexterity and Constitution. Dexterity not only increases your chances of successfully attacking and dealing considerable damage using Finesse and Ranged Weapons but also boosts your Armor Class (AC), which is necessary since you’re only Proficient with wearing Light Armor. Meanwhile, Constitution boosts your max HP. Next, I suggest investing 14 points each to Wisdom and Charisma to become an effective Stealthy Thief who fares well in dialogue. So your Ability spread should look something like this:

Sneak Attack

Sneak Attack is a special Action that all Rogues can use once every turn. This becomes very potent since it boosts their damage tremendously under the right circumstances. In Baldur’s Gate 3, to deal Sneak Attack Damage, you need to have Advantage, or the target needs to be within 1.5m of a character it considers an enemy. Nowadays, the easiest way to gain an Advantage for the Melee or Ranged versions of Sneak Attack is by stealthily approaching foes to hit them or attacking from the shadows. Being on High Ground no longer counts because you instead gain +2 Attack Roll Bonus for it. Simply positioning yourself directly behind the target doesn’t work either.

However, there seems to be a bug because, in Sneak Attack’s description, you can’t have a Disadvantage to use it. In one instance, my ally was standing beside the enemy whereas my Rogue was able to successfully activate Sneak Attack (Ranged) despite feeling Threatened.

It’s important to remember that using this special Action takes into account your Main Hand Weapon’s damage, your Ability Modifier, and the additional Sneak Attack Damage. This means that your Off-Hand Weapon’s damage isn’t included. Remember that the Sneak Attack Damage increases every odd level. So at Level 3, this will amount to 2x the damage of your 1d6 Damage Roll and then at Level 5, it’ll be equal to 3x d6.

Furthermore, since Sneak Attack uses your Main Hand Weapon’s damage, then at earlier levels, you’re better off using Sneak Attack (Ranged) with a Light Crossbow because of its 1d8 Damage Roll as opposed to the Shortsword’s 1d6 damage. At Level 4, you’ll be able to take the Dual Wielder Feat, which would allow you to wield 2 Rapiers, thereby pushing your Melee Damage Roll to 1d8. The following is the damage calculation for your total Sneak Attack Action:

Main-Hand Damage Roll + DEX Modifier + 1d6 * (Rogue Level -1)/2 + 1 = Total Sneak Attack Damage

Baldur’s Gate 3 Thief Rogue Level 2

At Level 2, Rogues gain two versions of Cunning Action, namely Dash and Disengage. Cunning Action: Dash doubles their Movement Speed and is considered a Bonus Action. As such, this Class will still be able to attack after moving, unlike the others that use Dash as an Action.

Meanwhile, Cunning Action: Disengage is another Bonus Action that allows them to move away from the center of the fight without being susceptible to taking Attacks of Opportunity from enemies within range. This is powerful considering that your character can simply walk away without taking into account the Reactions of those around them.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Thief Rogue Level 3

At Level 3, you’ll get to choose your Rogue’s Subclass and for this Build, you’ll select Thief where you gain Fast Hands and Second-Story Work. Fast Hands allows Thief Rogues to use 2 Bonus Actions in every turn so you can use Off-Hand Attack (Melee) 2x in many cases, thereby amplifying your overall damage.

On the other hand, Second-Story Work reduces the fall damage you take by half, allowing you to jump down from a higher elevation or just protect yourself from Shoves from high places.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Thief Rogue Level 4

At Level 4, you can choose a Feat, and here I recommend you go for Dual Wielder to gain +1 AC while dual wielding and to be able to use 2 Rapiers in either hand. Rapiers deal 1d8 damage compared to the Shortsword’s 1d6 so this will be a +1 damage upgrade on average.

But if you prefer to attack targets from a distance and favor the Longbow, then the Ability Improvement Feat would probably be better. With +2 Dexterity, your hit chance and damage using the Bow and a Main Hand Melee Weapon increases but remember that your Off-Hand Attack (Melee) does not.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Thief Rogue Level 5

At Level 5, the Thief gains Uncanny Dodge, which grants resistance to the damage you take. This means that damage received from Physical Attacks or Spells will be halved. For instance, instead of originally receiving 3 Slashing Damage, you only take 1 damage since 2, which is rounded up, will be subtracted from the formula. However, Uncanny Dodge remains inconsistent and may therefore be bugged. For example, 2 Ranged Attack Weapon Actions coming from the same enemy at different turns yields two results where the damage is taken in full at first but is then halved in the second instance.

Additionally, and as mentioned earlier, your extra Sneak Attack Damage increases to 3d6.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Thief Rogue Levels 6 & 7

At Level 6, the Thief Rogue can choose 2 more Skill Proficiencies as part of their Expertise. Here, I recommend taking Acrobatics to make it easier for you to remain on your two feet despite traversing difficult terrain, together with any Charisma Skill of your choice to smoothly talk to NPCs.

At Level 7, the Thief Rogue gains access to Evasion, which makes it so that you can totally evade the effects of Spells that force you to roll a Dexterity Saving Throw. Successfully doing so will prevent you from taking any damage. Conversely, failing the roll won’t be so bad either since you’ll only take deal half damage.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Rogue Level 8

At Level 8, you’ll be able to choose a Feat. In this case, you can opt to take Dual Wielder or Ability Improvement, whichever you didn’t take at Level 4.

BG3 Thief Rogue Levels 9 & 10

At Level 9, the Thief Rogue becomes more adept at Sneaking thanks to Supreme Sneak, which makes it so that you gain an Advantage on your Stealth Check provided that your movement will not be greater than half your Movement Speed.

Meanwhile, at Level 10, you gain another Feat. You have several options here – boost Dexterity to reach 20, get Mobile, or pick Lucky. Mobile not only increases your Movement Speed, which synergizes well with Supreme Sneak, but it also prevents difficult terrain from slowing you down upon activating the Dash Action. Additionally, you won’t provoke an Attack of Opportunity while moving in the melee range provided that you execute a Melee Attack beforehand.

Comparatively, Lucky grants 3 Lucky points with several uses. When you make an Attack Roll or Saving Throw, for instance, you can spend 1 Luck point to perform another d20 roll. And then, you can opt to spend another Luck point to choose the best d20 result that works well at the time. Now when the odds seem out of your favor, you have the option to spend a Luck point to lower the Attack Roll of your enemy by rolling a d20 and using that instead, especially if it’s lower to prevent the attack from connecting.

Replenishing Lucky points is done by taking a Long Rest.

BG3 Rogue Levels 11 & 12

At Level 11, Rogues gain access to Reliable Talent, which makes you a master of your Skills. When you roll for an Ability Check that lets you add your Proficiency Bonus, any d20 resulting in 9 or lower will automatically be considered as a 10.

And lastly, at Level 12, can choose the final Feat, one that you didn’t at Level 10.

Equipment

When it comes to the Thief’s Equipment, you’re going to equip 2 Shortswords and a Longbow early on. But after taking the Dual Wielder Feat, you’ll be able to replace these Shortswords with Rapiers for extra damage. You can purchase the Rapier +1  from Dammon of the Druid Grove and the Longbow +1 from Roah Moonglow of the Shattered Sanctum. Note that even if you don’t have Proficiency in wielding Longbows, you won’t incur a Disadvantage, meaning, you can still use Sneak Attack (Ranged).

In terms of Armor, you should wear the Studded Leather Armor or the Spidersilk Armour, which you get after defeating Minthara in the Shattered Sanctum. This, together with your +3 Dexterity Modifier and +1 AC bonus from the Dual Wielder Feat, should give you a total of 16 AC.

For Accessories, you’ll be wearing the Haste Helm, Linebreaker Boots, and Amulet of Misty Step. The Haste Helm from the Blighted Village further raises your Movement Speed at the start of every encounter, making it much easier to reach your targets. Next is the Linebreaker Boots, which grants Wrath every time you use Cunning Action: Dash so you gain +1 Melee Damage almost always. I won’t recommend The Speedy Lightfeet anymore since this will lead to a Disadvantage, thereby preventing you from using Sneak Attack. It’s primarily due to the boots’ being Medium Armor, which you don’t have Proficiency in.

And lastly, there’s the Amulet of Misty Step since this enables you to use the Misty Step Spell. So with a Bonus Action, you can simply travel to a higher elevation or evade dangerous situations. Just remember though that High Ground no longer equates to gaining Advantage.

Final Tips

The Thief Rogue is a stealthy and quick Subclass that takes advantage of proper positioning to deal the most amount of damage, whether it be near or far away from the enemy. What’s more, is that due to their agility, they effectively resist any type of damage thrown at them. Remember that for Bonus Actions, it’s best to save them for your Off-Hand Attack (Melee) as this will give you the most attacks per turn, helping to keep your damage up.

Next, it’s important to create scenarios where you can keep using Sneak Attack in every round if possible so that you can efficiently slay your targets. For instance, hiding and sneaking up on them or shooting arrows from the shadows should do the trick to gain the Advantage you need. Just be careful of taking Attacks of Opportunity in the melee range should you move from one enemy to the next.

Additionally, and in some cases, even if you don’t gain Advantage by attacking from a higher elevation, this idea is worth pursuing to capitalize on the +2 Attack Roll Bonus. Afterward, you can then find targets near your allies to still use Sneak Attack (Ranged).

Lastly, if you’re unable to get ahold of a good Rapier and Longbow, you can go for the Speedy Reply and The Joltshooter, respectively. The Speedy Reply has a good Damage Roll plus, you keep gaining Momentum to raise your Movement Speed when this Weapon is used to attack targets. Meanwhile, The Joltshooter allows you to gain Lightning Charges. These charges provide you with a +1 bonus to your Attack Roll and another +1 to your Damage Roll. If you accumulate 5 charges, it’ll automatically be consumed, letting you deal an extra 1-8 Lightning Damage.

Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content as we update the other Builds, and be sure to drop by our Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wiki which is being worked on night and day, as well as our Baldur’s Gate 3 Guides.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 Abjuration School Wizard Build Guide – In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Abjuration School Wizard Build Guide, I’m going to cover my Wizard Build, and show you what I’ve found to work best. I’ll be doing more Build Guides at the launch of Baldur’s Gate 3, but for now, let’s look at how you can use an Abjuration School Wizard effectively.

Be sure to check out our other Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds including: Evocation School Wizard, Eldritch Knight Fighter, Battle Master Fighter, The Field Warlock, The Great Old One Warlock, Beast Master Ranger, Hunter Ranger, Circle of the Land Druid, Circle of the Moon Druid, Wild Magic Sorcerer, Wildheart Barbarian, Draconic Sorcerer!

Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Wizard Builds Features

• Abilities: Intelligence & Dexterity
• Subclasses: Evocation School & Abjuration School
• Unique Feature: Wizard Spells
• Hit Die: +6 HP + CON Modifier

Baldur’s Gate 3 Abjuration School Wizard Build Guide

The Abjuration School Wizard is a more resilient Subclass compared to the Evocation School due to the Arcane Ward they conjure when casting Abjuration Spells. What happens here is that they receive temporary HP to absorb damage. They can then recast the same Spell type every time to replenish this Magical Shield effectively. So even if they only wear Clothing and their AC is relatively lower, the Abjuration School tends to survive longer in Combat.

Moreover, they have access to similar offensive Spells that the Evocation School has such as Magic Missile, Shatter, and Counterspell, making them an easy pick in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Abjuration School Wizard Character Creation

In this section, we’ll take a look at how to set up your Wizard during Character Creation for the best results.

Background

For Background, choosing one that provides you with Intelligence Skills should be sufficient since this is your primary Ability to hit and damage enemies by casting Spells. Intelligence has Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, and Religion. Some Background examples are Sage, Noble, and Acolyte.

Race

For Race, if you’re not going to pick an Origin Character, I recommend going for the High Elf and Deep Gnome. It’s worth noting that both of them will have the same Ability distribution but they’re going to differ in terms of the perks they offer.

For the High Elf, you gain 1 additional Cantrip, and for this, I suggest taking Fire Bolt. Fire Bolt will allow you to incinerate the ground as long as you cast Grease beforehand or you blast oil barrels in the area. In addition to Fire Damage, affected targets also take burning damage over time. Next, you gain access to Darkvision, which lets you fare well in dark places, together with Keen Senses, thereby making you Proficient in Perception. You’re not going to really benefit from the Weapon Proficiencies here since as a Wizard, you’ll cast Spells 100% of the time.

Comparatively, choosing the Deep Gnome will grant you an Advantage on Saving Throws for Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, as well as Stealth Checks. You also gain Superior Darkvision, increasing your sight range in the dark.

Skills

For Skills again it’s not super important, but you’ll have high Intelligence and Dexterity, so selecting Skills that fall under these Abilities is ideal. Dexterity has Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth, and I’ve already listed what Intelligence Skills there are.

Abilities

First and foremost, Wizards need a high Spellcasting Ability Modifier to boost the effectiveness of their Spells. Since you can no longer rely on the Warped Headband of Intellect for this, you’re going to have to raise Intelligence to 16 during Character Creation. Next, you’ll be increasing Dexterity to the same value to raise your AC. This is vital for Wizards since they’re only Proficient in wearing Clothing, making their AC lower compared to other Classes. And finally, you’ll be raising Constitution to as much as 14 to improve your max HP. Your Ability spread should look something like this:

Baldur’s Gate 3 Abjuration School Wizard Level 1

During Character Creation, you’ll be given many Spells, but you’ll have to choose which to “Prepare” in order to cast them. Every time you level up as a Wizard, you’ll be able to choose from a selection of Known Spells and Prepare more and more Spells.

Cantrips and Arcane Recovery

There are some excellent Wizard Cantrips to select during this stage. If you’ve selected the Deep Gnome, then you should definitely include the Fire Bolt among the list of Cantrips to pick. This, together with Ray of Frost, Acid Splash, and either Dancing Lights or Chill Touch are the ones I highly recommend. Ray of Frost is another Ranged Attack Cantrip that potentially knocks the target Prone while temporarily reducing their Movement Speed.

Acid Splash has a small AoE effect, which is nice for hitting multiple enemies. Dancing Lights is great for creating light so allies who don’t have Darkvision can see and hit things more easily in dark places. And lastly, Chill Touch lets you deal Necrotic Damage while preventing the target from restoring their HP.

Arcane Recovery allows you to recover either 2 Level 1 Spell Slots or 1 Level 2 Spell Slot at the start. So use this when you need to cast another Spell or two before taking a Long Rest. Note that Arcane Recovery can only be used outside of combat.

Level 1 Spells

At Level 1, you’ll get to Prepare 4 Spells. The ones you should focus on in addition to Grease are Mage Armour, Magic Missile, and Thunderwave. Mage Armour is crucial to Wizards because it sets their default AC to 13 + their Dexterity Modifier, amounting to 16 in total so they won’t be too much of a glass cannon in combat. What’s more, is that the Spell also doesn’t require Concentration. You’ll only have to recast Mage Armour after taking a Long Rest.

Next is Magic Missile, which cannot be protected against, nor can it miss. With this, you can target up to 3 enemies at Level 1. Magic Missile is very useful when you need to finish off those with low HP but still hit your primary target, or when you cannot hit the enemy using another Spell that easily. And finally, there’s Thunderwave, which is an excellent AoE Spell that’ll allow you to push back foes who are approaching you, often to their deaths. However, the Abjuration School Wizard’s allies will get caught in Thunderwave’s blast at Level 2, unlike the Evocation School, since they don’t gain the Sculpt Spells Feature. This would’ve negated the Spell’s damage since it makes use of a Saving Throw.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Abjuration School Wizard Level 2

At Level 2, you’ll get to choose your Wizard’s Subclass and for this Build, you’ll select the Abjuration School. Doing so will grant Abjuration Savant and Arcane Ward. Abjuration Savant reduces the gold you spend when learning new Abjuration Spells from Scrolls. On the other hand, Arcane Ward serves as a Magical Shield that absorbs a certain amount of damage. At this level, you gain a maximum of 7 HP upon casting an Abjuration Spell of Level 1 or higher, which means that the Blade Ward Cantrip won’t work here. Unlike what Arcane Ward’s description says, you’ll lose the Shield once your temporary HP is reduced to 0. To fully replenish this, you’ll only need to cast another Abjuration Spell.

Additionally, you’ll get to Prepare another Level 1 Spell, and for this, I suggest taking Chromatic Orb instead of the Abjuration Spell known as Protection from Evil and Good. Although specific enemy types incur a Disadvantage when attacking the targeted ally, the Spell doesn’t have much use in Early Access. So you’re better off choosing a powerful Spell like Chromatic Orb. Now to replenish your Arcane Ward’s temporary HP, you can recast Mage Armour.

Chromatic Orb is a Ranged Spell whose element changes depending on the type of damage you want to inflict. So you can hurl a fireball at targets and create a burning surface or deal Lightning Damage and conjure an electrified surface. There are a lot of choices to be made with Chromatic Orb, making it a versatile Spell.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Abjuration School Wizard Level 3

At Level 3, you’ll gain another Level 1 Spell Slot and 2 Level 2 Spell Slots. There are a lot of great Spells here such as Scorching Ray, Shatter, Cloud of Daggers, and Misty Step, although, there are no new Abjuration Spells.

Scorching Ray deals 2-12 Fire Damage against multiple enemies or 6-36 damage to the same target, making it a must-have Level 2 Spell. Just remember that similar to Fire Bolt and Ray of Frost, getting on Higher Ground will improve the chances for Scorching Ray to hit your foes.

Shatter encompasses a larger AoE and it can also be cast from afar. This deals huge Thunder Damage against multiple adjacent enemies. Additionally, Shatter doesn’t need Concentration so you can cast a Concentration Spell without any problems.

Cloud of Daggers is an incredible Spell to have because although it requires Concentration, the daggers you conjure will continue to circle around, attack, and even slay multiple adjacent enemies per round for up to 10 turns. It’s also more useful in chokepoints like doorways. But remember that Cloud of Daggers can also damage allies who are nearby so you need to be careful when positioning it.

Misty Step lets you teleport to a location you can see, allowing you to get to High Ground easily to gain the +2 Attack Roll bonus when using Ranged Attacks like Scorching Ray. Since this is a Bonus Action, you can also perform an Action during the same turn. Alternatively, you can opt to get the Amulet of Misty Step from the Underdark to be able to gain Misty Step but you’re going to have to wait a while to do so.

Once you reach Level 3, you’ll also be able to cast some Level 1 Spells as Level 2 versions, using Level 2 Spell Slots instead of Level 1 Spell Slots. This works out tremendously for the Abjuration School Wizard Build because it allows you to cast some of the better Level 1 Spells as more powerful versions. For instance, you can cast Thunderwave at Level 2 for an extra 1-8 damage. Or you can cast Magic Missile at Level 2 to shoot an extra dart.

Concentration

Some Cantrips and Spells have effects that are dependent on the Wizard’s Concentration to remain active. Concentration is broken if you cast another Cantrip or Spell that also requires Concentration. You can tell which these are because it will say so on the Spell itself. For example, if you cast Dancing Lights, but then you cast Cloud of Daggers, you would stop “Concentrating” on Dancing Lights and begin Concentrating on Cloud of Daggers.

Moreover, if you take damage while Concentrating on a Spell, you must make a Constitution Saving Throw, and if you fail, then the effect of that Spell ends. Should you succeed in your Saving Throw, you maintain your Concentration and the Spell continues. This is why it’s vital for Wizards to have average to high Constitution because of the Spells that require this Ability and is wasted if it’s constantly broken.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Abjuration School Wizard Level 4

At Level 4, you’ll gain another Level 2 Spell Slot, Cantrip, and 2 more Spells. You can choose the ones you like best from the list of Spells I provided in the previous level. For the Cantrip, it’s a good idea to pick Blade Ward to reduce the damage you take from Physical Attacks by half.

Additionally, you can select a Feat, and here you’ll be taking Ability Improvement to place 2 points into Intelligence. Doing so will boost your Spells’ effectiveness in combat.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Abjuration School Wizard Level 5

At Level 5, you gain access to great Level 3 Spells such as Counterspell and Glyph of Warding. When either of these is cast, you automatically activate Arcane Ward since they’re both Abjuration Spells. Counterspell is a Reaction that can significantly foil your enemy’s plans as long as they’re located within 18m of you. Doing so will let you stop corresponding Spell effects. But remember that since it consumes the Abjuration School Wizard’s Spell Slots, you can only use this at most 2 times before taking a Long Rest.

Next is Glyph of Warding, which is an extremely potent Spell that allows you to conjure circular glyphs on the floor whose effects will be triggered once the enemy moves so it’s instant. You can choose from a series of effects including dealing huge 5-40 Fire Damage, Lightning Damage, or even pushing back everyone provided that they fail their Dexterity Saving Throws. But for the damage effects, remember that they’ll still take half the damage even if they succeed with this roll. With Glyph of Warding, you’ll need to make sure that none of your allies are standing on the AoE, otherwise, they’ll also get hit.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Abjuration School Wizard Levels 6 & 8

At Level 6, the Abjuration School Wizard learns Projected Ward, which is an incredible Reaction to help protect allies. For instance, when you see a party member receive damage within 30 feet of you, you’ll be able to instantly react such that your Arcane Ward absorbs that damage. However, if the strength of your Arcane Ward gets depleted to 0, any remaining damage will be taken by the same ally.

At Level 8, you’ll be able to choose another Feat and here I recommend either raising Intelligence to 20 or taking War Caster. War Caster improves the chances of maintaining Concentration by granting you an Advantage on rolling Constitution Saving Throws, thereby making it easier to prolong the effects of your Spells. 

BG3 Wizard Levels 10 & 12

At Level 10, the Abjuration School Wizard gains access to Improved Abjuration. This allows you to add your Proficiency Bonus to the Ability Check you make when casting Counterspell to further boost the success rate of that Reaction.

And finally, at Level 12, you can choose whichever Feat you didn’t pick at Level 8. Note that if you’re failing your Constitution Saving Throws more often than anticipated, you can go for Resilient (Constitution) instead. Doing so will provide you with additional Constitution Proficiency, thereby improving the chances of successfully making Constitution Saving Throws.

Equipment

When it comes to the Abjuration School Wizard’s Equipment, you can go for the Staff of Crones from Auntie Ethel if you intend to keep casting the Ray of Sickness Spell it grants. Here, Ray of Sickness doesn’t really act like a Spell since it won’t consume a Spell Slot so you effectively deal 2-16 Poison Damage from a ‘Cantrip’. But there’s a catch. As the Spellcaster, you take 2-8 damage every time. This can be reduced by wearing the Ring of Poison Resistance from the Shattered Sanctum near where Halsin is, thereby cutting the damage by half. I won’t recommend choosing the Strongheart Halfling for their natural Poison Resistance since they can’t reach 16 Intelligence during Character Creation.

Alternatively, you can choose to wield The Spellsparkler as part of completing a portion of the Rescue the Grand Duke Quest. So every time you cast a Cantrip or Spell, you gain 2 Lightning Charges, which are then used to increase your Attack Roll and deal Lightning Damage. At 5 Charges, you’ll be able to inflict additional 1-8 Lightning Damage on your next cast!

For the other Accessories, you’ll also be wearing the Psychic Spark. The Psychic Spark, which is bought from Blurg of the Ebonlake Grotto in the Underdark, is the updated version of The Sapphire Spark after Patch 9. Instead of dealing 12-36 damage against a single target at Level 2 of Magic Missile, you’ll only be able to inflict 10-25 Force Damage. Although the difference is high, you still gain the benefit of casting 1 extra dart as long as you’re wearing this necklace.

Final Tips

The Abjuration School Wizard is an incredible Subclass to play because, in addition to their powerful Spells that deal massive damage, they have access to a Magical Shield that temporarily grants them HP to absorb some damage. What’s more, is that this HP increases as you level up, going as high as 14 at Level 5. You get to fully replenish it simply by casting a Level 1 Abjuration Spell.

Speaking of Level 5, you gain the highly sought-after Level 3 Spell called the Glyph of Warding. Aside from the variety it provides, you can use Glyph of Warding: Lightning right after casting Create Water. Create Water is a Spell that doubles the Lightning Damage dealt by this Level 3 Spell. So if the target is wet, instead of receiving the standard 5-40 Lightning Damage, they can potentially take 10-80 Damage, which is far better than Fireball!

If you don’t have a Druid or Cleric with you to cast Create Water, you can equip the Rain Dancer Staff, which is purchased from Arron at the Druid Grove. Just remember that you’ll be able to accomplish this combination in 2 turns. Alternatively, you can have another Spellcaster wield the staff so you can then cast Glyph of Warding in the same round.

Last but not least, remember that not all Spells make use of the High Ground bonus, and only those that operate as Ranged Attack do such as Scorching Ray and Ray of Frost. For Spells like Thunderwave, which make use of Ability Saving Throws, you won’t gain any Attack Roll bonuses by situating yourself at a higher elevation than your targets. So keep this in mind to know when you should cast certain Spells.

Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content as we update the other Builds, and be sure to drop by our Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wiki which is being worked on night and day, as well as our Baldur’s Gate 3 Guides.

The post Baldur’s Gate 3 Abjuration School Wizard Build Guide appeared first on Fextralife.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Evocation School Wizard Build Guide – In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Evocation School Wizard Build Guide, I’m going to cover my Wizard Build, and show you what I’ve found to work best. I’ll be doing more Build Guides at the launch of Baldur’s Gate 3, but for now, let’s look at how you can use an Evocation School Wizard effectively.

Be sure to check out our other Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds including: Eldritch Knight Fighter, Battle Master Fighter, The Field Warlock, The Great Old One Warlock, Beast Master Ranger, Hunter Ranger, Circle of the Land Druid, Circle of the Moon Druid, Wild Magic Sorcerer, Wildheart Barbarian, Draconic Sorcerer, Berserker Barbarian!

Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Wizard Builds Features

• Abilities: Intelligence & Dexterity
• Subclasses: Evocation School & Abjuration School
• Unique Feature: Wizard Spells
• Hit Die: +6 HP + CON Modifier

Baldur’s Gate 3 Evocation School Wizard Build Guide

The Evocation School Wizard is a fun Build to play due to the various types of Wizard Spells they have at their disposal. Casting most of them from any range is even made possible because of how versatile these Spells are. Although, these Wizards are just as vulnerable to taking damage as the Sorcerer due to their Clothing Proficiency and lower-than-usual AC.

At Level 5, the Evocation School Wizard now gains access to Level 3 Spells, allowing them to experiment further with utility and offensive types to mess with the enemy’s plan and destroy them efficiently.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Evocation School Wizard Character Creation

In this section, we’ll take a look at how to set up your Wizard during Character Creation for the best results.

Background

For Background, choosing one that provides you with Intelligence Skills should be sufficient since this is your primary Ability to hit and damage enemies by casting Spells. Intelligence has Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, and Religion. Some Background examples are Sage, Noble, and Acolyte.

Race

For Race, if you’re not going to pick an Origin Character, I recommend going for the High Elf and Deep Gnome. It’s worth noting that both of them will have the same Ability distribution but they’re going to differ in terms of the perks they offer.

For the High Elf, you gain 1 additional Cantrip, and for this, I suggest taking Fire Bolt. Fire Bolt will allow you to incinerate the ground as long as you cast Grease beforehand or you blast oil barrels in the area. In addition to Fire Damage, affected targets also take burning damage over time. Next, you gain access to Darkvision, which lets you fare well in dark places, together with Keen Senses, thereby making you Proficient in Perception. You’re not going to really benefit from the Weapon Proficiencies here since as a Wizard, you’ll cast Spells 100% of the time.

Comparatively, choosing the Deep Gnome will grant you an Advantage on Saving Throws for Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, as well as Stealth Checks. You also gain Superior Darkvision, increasing your sight range in the dark.

Skills

For Skills again it’s not super important, but you’ll have high Intelligence and Dexterity, so selecting Skills that fall under these Abilities is ideal. Dexterity has Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth, and I’ve already listed what Intelligence Skills there are.

Abilities

First and foremost, Wizards need a high Spellcasting Ability Modifier to boost the effectiveness of their Spells. Since you can no longer rely on the Warped Headband of Intellect for this, you’re going to have to raise Intelligence to 16 during Character Creation. Next, you’ll be increasing Dexterity to the same value to raise your AC. This is vital for Wizards since they’re only Proficient in wearing Clothing, making their AC lower compared to other Classes. And finally, you’ll be raising Constitution to as much as 14 to improve your max HP. Your Ability spread should look something like this:

Baldur’s Gate 3 Evocation School Wizard Level 1

During Character Creation, you’ll be given many Spells, but you’ll have to choose which to “Prepare” in order to cast them. Every time you level up as a Wizard, you’ll be able to choose from a selection of Known Spells and Prepare more and more Spells.

Cantrips and Arcane Recovery

There are some excellent Wizard Cantrips to select during this stage. On top of Fire Bolt, I highly recommend taking Ray of Frost, Acid Splash, and either Dancing Lights or Chill Touch. Ray of Frost is another Ranged Attack Cantrip that potentially knocks the target Prone while temporarily reducing their Movement Speed.

Acid Splash has a small AoE effect, which is nice for hitting multiple enemies. Dancing Lights is great for creating light so allies who don’t have Darkvision can see and hit things more easily in dark places. And lastly, Chill Touch lets you deal Necrotic Damage while preventing the target from restoring their HP.

Arcane Recovery allows you to recover either 2 Level 1 Spell Slots or 1 Level 2 Spell Slot at the start. So use this when you need to cast another Spell or two before taking a Long Rest. Note that Arcane Recovery can only be used outside of Combat.

Level 1 Spells

At Level 1, you’ll get to Prepare 4 Spells. The ones you should focus on in addition to Grease are Mage Armour, Magic Missile, and Thunderwave. Mage Armour is crucial to Wizards because it sets their default AC to 13 + their Dexterity Modifier, amounting to 16 in total so they won’t be too much of a glass cannon in combat. What’s more, is that the Spell also doesn’t require Concentration. You’ll only have to recast Mage Armour after taking a Long Rest.

Next is Magic Missile, which cannot be protected against, nor can it miss. With this, you can target up to 3 enemies at Level 1. Magic Missile is very useful when you need to finish off those with low HP but still hit your primary target, or when you cannot hit the enemy using another Spell that easily. And finally, there’s Thunderwave, which is an excellent AoE Spell that’ll allow you to push back foes who are approaching you, often to their deaths. Once you hit Level 2, you won’t damage allies caught in its blast either.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Evocation School Wizard Level 2

At Level 2, you’ll get to choose your Wizard’s Subclass and for this Build, you’ll select the Evocation School. Doing so will grant Evocation Savant and Sculpt Spells. Evocation Savant reduces the gold you spend when learning new Evocation Spells from Scrolls whereas Sculpt Spells grants allies the benefit of automatically making successful Saving Throws from certain Evocation Spells, thereby taking no damage from them.

Additionally, you’ll get to Prepare another Level 1 Spell, and for this, I suggest taking Chromatic Orb. Chromatic Orb is a Ranged Spell whose element changes depending on the type of damage you want to inflict. So you can hurl a fireball at targets and create a burning surface or deal Lightning Damage and conjure an electrified surface. There are a lot of choices to be made with Chromatic Orb, making it a versatile Spell.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Evocation School Wizard Level 3

Spells

At Level 3, you’ll gain another Level 1 Spell Slot and 2 Level 2 Spell Slots. There are a lot of great Spells here such as Scorching Ray, Shatter, Cloud of Daggers, and Misty Step.

Scorching Ray deals 2-12 Fire Damage against multiple enemies or 6-36 damage to the same target, making it a must-have Level 2 Spell. Just remember that similar to Fire Bolt and Ray of Frost, getting on Higher Ground will improve the chances for Scorching Ray to hit your foes.

Shatter encompasses a larger AoE and it can also be cast from afar. This deals huge Thunder Damage against multiple adjacent enemies. Additionally, Shatter doesn’t need Concentration so you can cast a Concentration Spell without any problems.

Cloud of Daggers is an incredible Spell to have because although it requires Concentration, the daggers you conjure will continue to circle around and attack multiple adjacent enemies per round for up to 10 turns. It’s also more useful in chokepoints like doorways. But remember that Cloud of Daggers can also damage allies who are nearby so you need to be careful in terms of positioning it.

Misty Step lets you teleport to a location you can see, allowing you to get to High Ground easily to gain the +2 Attack Roll bonus when using Ranged Attacks like Scorching Ray. Since this is a Bonus Action, you can also perform an Action during the same turn. Alternatively, you can opt to get the Amulet of Misty Step from the Underdark instead to be able to gain Misty Step but you’re going to have to wait a while to do so.

Once you reach Level 3, you’ll also be able to cast some Level 1 Spells as Level 2 versions, using Level 2 Spell Slots instead of Level 1 Spell Slots. This works out tremendously for the Evocation School Wizard Build because it allows you to cast some of the better Level 1 Spells as more powerful versions. For instance, you can cast Thunderwave at Level 2 for an extra 1-8 damage. Or you can cast Magic Missile at Level 2 to shoot an extra dart.

Concentration

Some Cantrips and Spells have effects that are dependent on the Wizard’s Concentration to remain active. Concentration is broken if you cast another Cantrip or Spell that also requires Concentration. You can tell which these are because it will say so on the Spell itself. For example, if you cast Dancing Lights, but then you cast Cloud of Daggers, you would stop “Concentrating” on Dancing Lights and begin Concentrating on Cloud of Daggers.

Moreover, if you take damage while Concentrating on a Spell, you must make a Constitution Saving Throw, and if you fail, then the effect of that Spell ends. Should you succeed in your Saving Throw, you maintain your Concentration and the Spell continues. This is why it’s vital for Wizards to have average to high Constitution because of the Spells that require this Ability and is wasted if it’s constantly broken.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Evocation School Wizard Level 4

At Level 4, you’ll gain another Level 2 Spell Slot, Cantrip, and 2 more Spells. You can choose the ones you like best from the list of Spells I provided in the previous level. Additionally, you can select a Feat, and here you’ll be taking Ability Improvement to place 2 points into Intelligence. Doing so will boost your Spells’ effectiveness in combat.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Evocation School Wizard Level 5

At Level 5, you gain access to Level 3 Spells. There are several amazing Spells here that we’ll narrow down to 3, specifically Counterspell, Fireball, and Haste. Counterspell is a Reaction that can significantly foil your enemy’s plans as long as they’re located within 18m of you. Doing so will let you stop the corresponding Spell effects. But remember that since it consumes the Evocation School Wizard’s Spell Slots, you can only use this at most 2 times before taking a Long Rest.

Second is Fireball, which is a powerful Spell by default as it’ll let you deal 8-48 Fire Damage against multiple targets, even going so far as inflicting harm against allies who are near the AoE so be sure to carefully cast it. And finally, there’s Haste. Haste grants multiple benefits that greatly outweigh the disadvantage of briefly becoming Lethargic when the condition ends. Not only will your ally take one extra Action every turn, but they also gain +2 AC as well as an Advantage on Dexterity Saving Throws. When used on a Martial Class like the Fighter who has Extra Attack at Level 5, they’ll be able to take a total of 6 Actions in a single turn with Action Surge, allowing them to slay multiple enemies.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Evocation School Wizard Levels 6 & 8

At Level 6, the Evocation School Wizard gains access to Potent Cantrip, which makes it so that enemies who try to avoid its effect will still be damaged one way or another. If they succeed in rolling a Saving Throw against the Cantrip, they still take half the damage.

At Level 8, you’ll be able to choose another Feat and here I recommend either raising Intelligence to 20 or taking War Caster. War Caster improves the chances of maintaining Concentration by granting you an Advantage on rolling Constitution Saving Throws, thereby making it easier to prolong the effects of your Spells. 

BG3 Wizard Levels 10 & 12

At Level 10, the Evocation School Wizard gains access to the powerful Empowered Evocation, which is makes it so that they’re able to add their Intelligence Modifier to the Damage Roll of any Evocation Spell they use, thereby significantly boosting damage.

And finally, at Level 12, you can choose whichever Feat you didn’t pick at Level 8.

Equipment

When it comes to the Evocation School Wizard’s Equipment, you can go for the Staff of Crones from Auntie Ethel if you intend to keep casting the Ray of Sickness Spell it grants. Here, Ray of Sickness doesn’t really act like a Spell since it won’t consume a Spell Slot so you effectively deal 2-16 Poison Damage from a ‘Cantrip’. But there’s a catch. As the Spellcaster, you take 2-8 damage every time. This can be reduced by wearing the Ring of Poison Resistance from the Shattered Sanctum near where Halsin is, thereby cutting the damage by half. I won’t recommend choosing the Strongheart Halfling for their natural Poison Resistance since they can’t reach 16 Intelligence during Character Creation.

For other Accessories, you’ll also be wearing the Psychic Spark. The Psychic Spark, which is bought from Blurg of the Ebonlake Grotto in the Underdark, is the updated version of The Sapphire Spark after Patch 9. Instead of dealing 12-36 damage against a single target at Level 2 of Magic Missile, you’ll only be able to inflict 10-25 Force Damage. Although the difference is high, you still gain the benefit of casting 1 extra dart as long as you’re wearing this necklace.

Final Tips

The Evocation School Wizard is a powerful damage dealer who not only has access to offensive Spells, which are cast from any distance but can also learn Evocation Spells from Scrolls quite easily. Unlike before, however, they no longer have the ability to learn Spells from other Classes like the Clerics’ Guiding Bolt.

Speaking of Spells, remember that not all of them make use of High Ground, and only those that operate as Ranged Attack do such as Scorching Ray and Ray of Frost. For Spells like Thunderwave and Burning Hands, which make use of Ability Saving Throws, you won’t gain any Attack Roll bonuses by situating yourself at a higher elevation than your targets. So keep this in mind to know when you should cast certain Spells.

Lastly, if you’re not going to cast Ray of Sickness frequently, you can equip The Spellsparkler as part of completing a portion of the Rescue the Grand Duke Quest. What this does is that every time you cast a Cantrip or Spell, you gain 2 Lightning Charges, which are then used to increase your Attack Roll and deal Lightning Damage. At 5 Charges, you’ll be able to inflict 1-8 Lightning Damage on your next cast!

Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content as we update the other Builds, and be sure to drop by our Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wiki which is being worked on night and day, as well as our Baldur’s Gate 3 Guides.

The post Baldur’s Gate 3 Evocation School Wizard Build Guide appeared first on Fextralife.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Eldritch Knight Fighter Build Guide – In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Eldritch Knight Fighter Build Guide, I’m going to cover my Fighter Build, and show you what I’ve found to work best. I’ll be doing more Build Guides at the launch of Baldur’s Gate 3, but for now, let’s look at how you can use an Eldritch Knight Fighter effectively.

Be sure to check out our other Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds including: Battle Master Fighter, The Field Warlock, The Great Old One Warlock, Beast Master Ranger, Hunter Ranger, Circle of the Land Druid, Circle of the Moon Druid, Wild Magic Sorcerer, Wildheart Barbarian, Draconic Sorcerer, Berserker Barbarian, College of Lore Bard!

Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Builds Features

• Abilities: Strength, Constitution
• Subclasses: Eldritch Knight & Battle Master
• Unique Feature: Melee Combat
• Hit Die: +10 HP + CON Modifier

Baldur’s Gate 3 Eldritch Knight Fighter Build Guide

The Eldritch Knight Fighter is a powerful Build to try if you intend to mix magic with Melee Combat. Even if they can only cast Level 1 Spells, they effectively utilize them to obliterate enemies from any distance. All of this is made possible thanks to the Warped Headband of Intellect, which boosts their Intelligence to 17, allowing them to allocate points to other Abilities.

Similar to the Battle Master and at Level 5, the Eldritch Knight gains access to Extra Attack, making them a nightmare to fight against. What’s more, is that they’re extremely resilient since they can wear Heavy Armor like the Paladin and they have high Constitution.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Eldritch Knight Fighter Character Creation

In this section, we’ll take a look at how to set up your Fighter during Character Creation for the best results.

Background

For Background, choose one that provides you with Athletics since it’s the only Strength Skill alongside the Skills of other Abilities you’ll be investing in. Since you’re going to cast Spells later on, it’s a good idea to acquire Intelligence Skills. Intelligence has Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, and Religion. Some Background examples are Sage, Noble, and Acolyte.

Race

The Eldritch Knight’s Race will be dependent on the Warped Headband of Intellect, which has been nerfed since its release in Early Access. You can get this within 4 hours of your playthrough by slaying Lump the Enlightened of the Blighted Village. Instead of setting Intelligence to 18, the headband will only increase this Ability to 17, meaning that your Intelligence Modifier will be set to +3 rather than +4. But this shouldn’t be an issue since you’ll more often than not successfully hit your targets with Spells unless you’re extremely unlucky.

Now when selecting a Race, be sure to incorporate the 17 Intelligence you’ll get from the Warped Headband of Intellect so you can allocate the rest of your points to other Abilities. The first one that works well for this Build is the Gold Dwarf. Gold Dwarves have Dwarven Resilience, Darkvision, and Dwarven Toughness. Dwarven Resilience makes it so that they gain Saving Throw Advantage against Poison and have resistance to Poison Damage so they’ll only receive half the damage. And then they have Darkvision to help them see and attack more accurately in the dark together with Dwarven Toughness that raises their Max HP by 1 every time they level up.

An alternative to the Gold Dwarf is the High Elf for the 1 Cantrip of your choice during Character Creation. Here, I recommend getting Fire Bolt, which can be used against a target located far away from you. This can then be combined with Grease or oil barrels to set multiple enemies on fire. You also gain Darkvision.

Regardless of the Race you choose, you won’t have issues with Weapon and Armor Proficiencies since the Fighter has access to each and every one of them.

Fighting Style and Second Wind

When it comes to the Fighting Style, I highly recommend getting Duelling or Great Weapon Fighting depending on the type of Weapon you intend to wield in the long run. Duelling is great if you go for a One-Handed Weapon and Shield setup since you gain a +2 Damage bonus on Weapon Attacks. Comparatively, Great Weapon Fighting is a good choice for Two-Handed Melee Weapon users, allowing you to perform another Damage Roll if you happen to initially roll a 1 or 2, thereby amplifying the carnage you deal. But no matter what, you shouldn’t pick Archery since you won’t be making use of your Ranged Weapons that much.

Together with the Fighting Style, you instantly gain access to Second Wind, which lets you heal yourself as a Bonus Action.

Skills

For Skills, you can go for Charisma or Wisdom. Charisma has Intimidation, Persuasion, Deception, and Performance while Wisdom has Animal Handling, Insight, Medicine, Perception, and Survival.

Abilities

The primary Abilities that are needed for this Build are Strength and Constitution with the former increasing your chances of successfully attacking and dealing massive damage using Melee Weapons. Meanwhile, Constitution should boost your max HP. Similar to the Paladin, you’ll ideally keep Dexterity at 10 since you’ll be wearing Heavy Armor, which doesn’t account for the Dexterity Modifier bonuses but your AC will continue to be high. In the meantime, you can don Medium Armor such as Lae’zel’s Githyanki Half Plate or Scale Mail Armor +1 to boost your AC to 15. Ideally, your Ability spread should look something like this, assuming you selected the Shield Dwarf Race:

Baldur’s Gate 3 Eldritch Knight Fighter Level 2

As early as Level 2, the Fighter gains an extra Action in the form of Action Surge. This is a powerful Class Feature because it lets you finish off a target by hitting them once again in the same turn. What’s more, is that you’ll only need to perform a Short Rest to replenish it.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Eldritch Knight Fighter Level 3

At Level 3, you’ll get to choose your Fighter’s Subclass and for this Build, you’re going to select the Eldritch Knight. You can then pick some Cantrips as well as Wizard Spells. For Cantrips, I suggest going for another long-range one similar to Fire Bolt, specifically Ray of Frost to lower the Movement Speed of the target. Additionally, you can go for either Acid Splash or Dancing Lights. Acid Splash lets you hurl a handful of acid, thereby affecting enemies adjacent to each other while Dancing Lights becomes useful for allies who are having trouble seeing well in the dark.

Next, you’ll be choosing 2 of 6 Wizard Spells, and here I highly recommend taking Magic Missile and Burning Hands or Thunderwave. Magic Missile is an amazing Spell since it doesn’t miss, and because of this, it doesn’t suffer from any High Ground Disadvantages if you were to attack an enemy located at a higher elevation than you. It also lets you deal decent damage from afar at 6-15 Force Damage against a single foe or 2-5 Damage against multiple targets.

Meanwhile, Burning Hands and Thunderwave allow you to deal damage up close and personal. Burning Hands let you burn multiple enemies while inflicting significant Fire Damage whereas Thunderwave can push them back using the force brought about by the Spell itself on top of dealing Thunder Damage.

Last but not least, you’ll be picking 1 of 17 Wizard Spells, and here I suggest going for Expeditious Retreat or Chromatic Orb. Expeditious Retreat allows you to make Dash a Bonus Action, thereby doubling your Movement range, and still allowing you to attack. This lets you get to enemies more easily. However, remember that you’ll need to maintain Concentration for this Spell.

Concentration is broken if you cast another Cantrip or Spell that also requires Concentration. You can tell which these are because it will say so on the Spell itself. For example, if you cast Dancing Lights, but then you cast Expeditious Retreat, you would stop “Concentrating” on Dancing Lights and begin Concentrating on Expeditious Retreat.

Moreover, if you take damage while Concentrating on a Spell, you must make a Constitution Saving Throw, and if you fail, then the effect of that Spell ends. Should you succeed in your Saving Throw, you maintain your Concentration and the Spell continues. This is why it’s vital for the Eldritch Knight to have average to high Constitution because of the Spells that require this Ability and is wasted if it’s constantly broken.

The other option here is Chromatic Orb, which is an extremely potent Spell. This allows you to change the element of the damage you deal. So you can deal Lightning Damage and create a similar surface to electrify other targets who step into it by mistake. Or you can conjure a burning surface and deal Fire Damage instead. The possibilities are quite endless.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Eldritch Knight Fighter Level 4

At Level 4, you can choose a Feat, and here you’ll be taking Ability Improvement to place 1 point into Strength and Constitution, amounting to 18 each if you’ve chosen the Shield Dwarf Race. Otherwise, you can allocate 2 points into Strength to improve the effectiveness of your performance in the melee range. Doing so will boost your Attack and Damage Rolls due to the +4 Strength Modifier!

Additionally, you’ll be able to choose 1 more Spell. You can then take any of the Spells you didn’t pick in the previous level like Thunderwave or Chromatic Orb.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Eldritch Knight Fighter Level 5

At Level 5, you gain the much-anticipated Extra Attack, which lets you make another attack using your Melee Weapon, allowing you to obliterate powerful enemies. With Action Surge, you’ll be able to execute at most 3 attacks in a single turn!

Baldur’s Gate 3 Eldritch Knight Fighter Level 6

The Fighter is a powerful Class because they get to pick Feats even at Level 6 whereas others get to do so at Levels 8 & 12 from here on out. So for the Eldritch Knight Fighter, I recommend taking War Caster because you need to maintain Concentration for the Spells that require it. So successfully pulling off one Constitution Saving Throw after the next when getting hit is one of your priorities. With War Caster, you gain an Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws, thereby making it easier to prolong the effects of your Spells.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Eldritch Knight Fighter Levels 7 & 8

At Level 7, the Eldritch Knight Fighter gains War Magic. War Magic lets you cast a Cantrip as an Action to then make a Weapon Attack using your Bonus Action, all in a single turn. So what you can do is attack a target using Fire Bolt or Ray of Frost and then go in for the kill by slashing them to bits and pieces with your Two-Handed Weapon.

What’s more, is that you’ll also pick a Feat. Here, I recommend either investing +2 to Strength to bump it up to 20 or going for Spell Sniper. Spell Sniper lengthens the distance of an Attack Roll type of Spell such as Chromatic Orb, allowing you to reach targets who are very far away from you. You also end up ignoring 1/2 and 3/4 of the enemy’s cover for them to receive greater damage.

BG3 Fighter Levels 9 & 10

At Level 9, the Fighter gains access to Indomitable, which allows you to reroll a failed Saving Throw but whatever the result is, you must use it. Furthermore, you can only use Indomitable once per Long Rest.

Meanwhile, at Level 10, the Eldritch Knight learns Eldritch Strike. Hitting a target with a Weapon Attack imposes a Disadvantage on their next Saving Throw against the Spell you cast so the chances of getting hit with say, Thunderwave or Burning Hands will be higher.

BG3 Fighter Levels 11 & 12

At Level 11, the Fighter yet again learns to make use of another Extra Attack, boosting their Attack Action to 3x per turn! This is massive as it can turn the tide in combat.

And finally, you’ll be able to choose your final Feat. You can select Ability Improvement or Spell Sniper, whichever you didn’t pick at Level 8.

Equipment

When it comes to the Eldritch Knight Fighter’s Equipment, you’ll be wielding a Two-Handed Weapon or One-Handed Weapon and a Shield. Again, this will depend on the Fighting Style you’ve chosen during Character Creation. I personally prefer Two-Handed Weapons like the Everburn Blade, which you get by killing Commander Zhalk of the Nautiloid. Its Slashing Damage is high and you’re able to deal Fire Damage as well. Additionally, you can even set enemies on fire when you use the Everburn Blade with Grease. What’s more, is that this Weapon allows you to execute Lacerate and Cleave to inflict Bleeding and to hit adjacent enemies in one swing, respectively.

Despite limited choices early on, wearing Heavy Armor is advantageous since this lets you allocate points to other Abilities that are not Dexterity. You can get your hands on the Chain Mail Armor by defeating Lurgan in the Underdark or the Adamantine Splint Armor from Grymforge to increase your AC to 17. If in case you decide to wield a Shield, which will add +2 to your AC, it’ll be much harder for enemies to attack you.

For Accessories, on top of the Warped Headband of Intellect, you’ll be wearing the Boots of Striding and Psychic Spark. The Boots of Striding allows you to gain extra Movement Speed when casting a Spell that requires Concentration such as Expeditious Retreat. Once Concentration is active, you’ll be invulnerable to being knocked Prone. Meanwhile, the Psychic Spark improves Magic Missile by adding one extra dart. Because of this, you can deal as much as 8-20 Force Damage against a single enemy as if you have the Level 2 version of Magic Missile!

Final Tips

The Eldritch Knight Fighter likes to mix melee-focused combat with Spells, making it a fun Subclass to try. These Spells aren’t confined to ranged only, however, since they also have access to Burning Hands and Thunderwave, allowing for a more versatile playstyle. One of their must-have Spells is Magic Missile because it simply doesn’t miss regardless of your location. You can even cast this at point-blank range or in low-light conditions if you wish. Additionally, remember that positioning yourself at High Ground with respect to your targets when using Fire Bolt or Ray of Frost will improve the chances of hitting them. So be sure to double-check the descriptions of your Cantrips and Spells to know which ones provide this bonus.

If you wish to go with the One-Handed Weapon and Shield setup, I suggest wielding Dragon’s Grasp, which can be purchased from Arron at the Druid Grove, and any Shield. With this, you can deal extra Slashing Damage when you use it against burning targets. Overall though, your damage won’t be as high as wielding a Two-Handed Weapon but you’re going to be more resilient against enemy attacks due to your relatively greater AC.

Lastly, you can choose to turn Lae’zel into a fine Eldritch Knight Fighter just by simply letting her wear the Warped Headband of Intellect. Similar to the Battle Master, be sure to allocate 1 point each to Strength and Dexterity at Level 4 to improve the effectiveness of her Melee Attacks and Damage, as well as her AC, considering that she’s wearing Medium Armor. The only downside that I see is she’ll have less HP since her Constitution is at 14 but it shouldn’t be an issue since the creatures in Early Access aren’t that difficult to deal with.

Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content as we update the other Builds, and be sure to drop by our Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wiki which is being worked on night and day, as well as our Baldur’s Gate 3 Guides.

The post Baldur’s Gate 3 Eldritch Knight Fighter Build Guide appeared first on Fextralife.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Battle Master Fighter Build Guide – In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Battle Master Fighter Build Guide, I’m going to cover my Fighter Build, and show you what I’ve found to work best. I’ll be doing more Build Guides at the launch of Baldur’s Gate 3, but for now, let’s look at how you can use a Battle Master Fighter effectively.

Be sure to check out our other Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds including: The Field Warlock, The Great Old One Warlock, Beast Master Ranger, Hunter Ranger, Circle of the Land Druid, Circle of the Moon Druid, Wild Magic Sorcerer, Wildheart Barbarian, Draconic Sorcerer, Berserker Barbarian, College of Lore Bard, College of Valour Bard!

Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Builds Features

• Abilities: Strength, Constitution
• Subclasses: Eldritch Knight & Battle Master
• Unique Feature: Melee Combat
• Hit Die: +10 HP + CON Modifier

Baldur’s Gate 3 Battle Master Fighter Build Guide

The Battle Master Fighter is a reputable Subclass if you want to concentrate on dealing the most damage in the melee range. Unlike the Eldritch Knight, however, they won’t be able to cast Spells but due to the Maneuvres they gain at Level 3 and their Extra Attack at Level 5, they’re difficult to go up against. If you just want to put down multiple enemies efficiently at close range, then this Subclass is for you.

Additionally, the Battle Master Fighter is very resilient, more so than Barbarians since they’re Proficient in wielding Shields and Heavy Armor, making it challenging to hit them. They even have increased Constitution so their HP is just as high.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Battle Master Fighter Character Creation

In this section, we’ll take a look at how to set up your Fighter during Character Creation for the best results. You don’t have to follow this to the letter, and this will likely change at the full launch of the game.

Background

For Background, choose one that provides you with Athletics as the only Strength Skill alongside the Skills of other Abilities you’ll be investing in. For instance, you can go for Charisma if you don’t have allies who specialize in this. Charisma has Intimidation, Persuasion, Deception, and Performance. Some Background examples are Entertainer, Guild Artisan, and Criminal.

Race

The first Race that works well for this Build is the Gold Dwarf. Gold Dwarves have Dwarven Resilience, Darkvision, and Dwarven Toughness. Dwarven Resilience makes it so that they gain Saving Throw Advantage against Poison and have resistance to Poison Damage so they’ll only receive half the damage. And then they have Darkvision to help them see and attack more accurately in the dark together with Dwarven Toughness that raises their Max HP by 1 every time they level up.

Alternatively, you can go with the Drow to gain Superior Darkvision, Fey Ancestry, and Keen Senses. Superior Darkvision makes it much easier to see and execute attacks in the dark whereas Fey Ancestry makes it so that they have a Saving Throw Advantage against the effects of Charmed and Sleep. And then Keen Senses grants Proficiency in Perception.

Regardless of the Race you choose, you won’t have issues with Weapon and Armor Proficiencies since the Fighter has access to each and every one of them.

Fighting Style and Second Wind

When it comes to the Fighting Style, I highly recommend getting Duelling or Great Weapon Fighting depending on the type of Weapon you intend to wield in the long run. Duelling is great if you’ll be going for a One-Handed Weapon and Shield setup since you gain a +2 Damage bonus on Weapon Attacks. Comparatively, Great Weapon Fighting is a good choice for Two-Handed Melee Weapon users, allowing you to perform another Damage Roll if you happen to initially roll a 1 or 2, thereby amplifying the carnage you deal. But no matter what, you shouldn’t pick Archery since you won’t be making use of your Ranged Weapons that much.

Together with the Fighting Style, you instantly gain access to Second Wind, which lets you heal yourself as a Bonus Action.

Skills

For Skills, you can go for Charisma or Wisdom, or the ones that you invest Ability points into. Wisdom has Animal Handling, Insight, Medicine, and Survival, and I’ve already listed what Charisma Skills there are.

Abilities

The primary Abilities that are needed for this Build are Strength and Constitution with the former increasing your chances of successfully attacking and dealing massive damage using Melee Weapons. Meanwhile, Constitution should boost your max HP. Similar to the Paladin, you’ll ideally keep Dexterity at 10 since you’ll be wearing Heavy Armor, which doesn’t account for the Dexterity Modifier bonuses but your AC will continue to be high. In the meantime, you can don Medium Armor such as Lae’zel’s Githyanki Half Plate or Scale Mail Armor +1 to boost your AC to 15. In conclusion, your Ability spread should look something like this:

Baldur’s Gate 3 Battle Master Fighter Level 2

As early as Level 2, the Fighter gains an extra Action in the form of Action Surge. This is a powerful Class Feature because it lets you finish off a target by hitting them once again in the same turn. What’s more, is that you’ll only need to perform a Short Rest to replenish it.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Battle Master Fighter Level 3

At Level 3, you’ll get to choose your Fighter’s Subclass and for this Build, you’ll select the Battle Master. Alongside this, you gain access to 4 Superiority Dice, which is a resource used for activating specific Maneuvres. This can be fully replenished by taking a Short or Long Rest. Given the 6 choices, you’ll want to pick the following:

Pushing Attack – Given how a lot of the fighting occurs on cliffs or highly elevated areas, you should definitely go for Pushing Attack. As the name implies, you’ll be able to push off targets from the edge, often killing them as a result. You just can’t retrieve their items but it’s going to be worth it to eliminate them faster.

Riposte – This is a Reaction that lets you fight back every time the enemy misses their melee attack against you.

Trip Attack – This is another useful Manoeuvre that lets you knock the enemy Prone, making them vulnerable in combat. Trip Attack is especially useful to the Battle Master since it replaces the Charge Action.

For Pushing and Trip Attack, remember that these respective movesets allow you to deal extra d8 damage on top of the Action you’re already executing. Additionally, they also come in the form of Melee or Ranged Attacks so if you’re too far away from the middle of combat, you can take a gamble and use your Bow to perform these Maneuvres.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Battle Master Fighter Level 4

At Level 4, you can choose a Feat, and here you’ll be taking Ability Improvement to place 1 point into Strength and Constitution, amounting to 18 each if you’ve chosen the Shield Dwarf Race. Doing so will not only boost your Attack and Damage Rolls due to the +4 Strength Modifier but also bring your max HP by up to 44, which is huge!

Baldur’s Gate 3 Battle Master Fighter Level 5

At Level 5, you gain the much-anticipated Extra Attack, which lets you make another attack using your Melee Weapon, allowing you to obliterate powerful enemies. With Action Surge, you’ll be able to execute at most 3 attacks in a single turn!

Baldur’s Gate 3 Battle Master Fighter Level 6

The Fighter is a powerful Class because they get to pick Feats even at Level 6 whereas others get to do so at Levels 8 & 12 from here on out. So for the Battle Master Fighter, I recommend the Great Weapon Master Feat since you’re wielding a Two-Handed Weapon.

What this does is it allows you to execute Great Weapon Master: Bonus Attack afterward provided that you either kill your previous target or critically hit them with your Heavy Weapon. Additionally, you gain a +10 damage bonus, which is massive! The only drawback is your Attack Roll will have a -5 penalty when performing Melee Attacks but this can be offset by a party member who casts Bless where you only end up taking a few Attack Roll hits or none at all when the Spell is upcast.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Battle Master Fighter Levels 7 & 8

At Level 7, the Battle Master Fighter learns the Know Your Enemy Feat. This is a rather exciting way to roleplay outside of combat. What happens here is if you observe or interact with another creature, you’ll be able to learn information about what it can do. For instance, this can help you decide whether or not a potential Companion is worth coming with you right from the start.

At Level 8, you can pick a Feat. Here, I recommend either investing +2 to Strength to bump it up to 20 or going for Martial Adept. Martial Adept allows you to learn 2 additional Maneuvers on top of raising your Superiority Die by 1. So another good Maneuver to learn is Menacing Attack to considerably boost the damage caused by your Melee Weapon Attack by following this formula:

X (Weapon Damage) + Strength Modifier + 1d8

There’s also a chance to Frighten your target in order to prevent them from moving as well as to impose a Disadvantage on their succeeding Attack Rolls.

You can then select another type of Maneuver of your choice.

BG3 Fighter Levels 9 & 10

At Level 9, the Fighter gains access to Indomitable, which allows you to reroll a failed Saving Throw but whatever the result is, you must use it. Furthermore, you can only use Indomitable once per Long Rest.

Meanwhile, at Level 10, the Battle Master learns the Improved Combat Superiority so that you deal 1d10 extra damage from your Superiority Dice instead of 1d8.

BG3 Fighter Levels 11 & 12

At Level 11, the Fighter yet again learns to make use of another Extra Attack, boosting their Attack Action to 3x per turn! This is massive as it can turn the tide in combat.

And finally, you’ll be able to choose your final Feat. You can select Ability Improvement or Martial Adept, whichever you didn’t pick at Level 8.

Equipment

When it comes to the Battle Master Fighter’s Equipment, I prefer wielding Two-Handed Weapons because of the damage potential, which is significantly higher than One-Handed Weapons. Specifically, a great Weapon to use is the Everburn Blade, which you get by killing Commander Zhalk of the Nautiloid. In addition to the Slashing Damage, the blade inflicts Fire Damage and can set the area on fire when combined with barrels of oil or Grease. It even has Weapon Actions including Lacerate and Cleave to inflict Bleeding and to hit adjacent enemies in one swing, respectively.

Despite limited choices early on, wearing Heavy Armor is advantageous since this lets you allocate points to other Abilities that are not Dexterity. You can get your hands on the Chain Mail Armor by defeating Lurgan in the Underdark. Should you wear the Adamantine Splint Armor from Grymforge, your AC will increase to 17.

For Accessories, you’ll want to take Absolute’s Talisman and Haste Helm. Absolute’s Talisman is a fail-safe should your HP go as low as 25% where you’ll automatically regain 1-8 HP the moment you deal damage. Meanwhile, Haste Helm is very useful for the Shield Dwarf given that their Movement Speed is relatively lower compared to the Wood Half-Elf and Human. This item will increase your coverage by 3m at the start of every encounter so it’ll be easier to reach your targets.

Final Tips

The Battle Master Fighter is melee-focused compared to the Eldritch Knight but they’re just as strong due to the Maneuvres they perform. The moment you gain Riposte, be sure to select its icon by your character’s UI and tick “Ask”. Doing so will let you gain control over this move so that it won’t instantly be executed when you don’t want it to. Every time there’s a chance to execute Riposte, a message box will appear on the screen, prompting you to use it then and there or to skip it entirely in the meantime.

For Manoeuvre alternatives, you might also want to consider Disarming Attack and Rally based on certain use cases. Disarming Attack forces the enemy to drop their Weapon similar to the Heat Metal Spell but it’s not going to be limited to Metal Weapons only. Rally will let you heal an ally, and is useful in cases when they’re too squishy such as having 2 Wizards in the party.

Remember that at Level 4, you can select the Great Weapon Master Feat but I would recommend this only if you have a Spellcaster who can cast Bless or you wear The Whispering Promise Ring and then get healed. Either option will grant you at least a 1-4 Attack Roll bonus, which you’ll need to compensate for the Feat’s -5 Attack Roll penalty. If you’re set on getting this, be sure to allocate 16 points each into Strength and Constitution during Character Creation so you can use the remaining points for other Abilities.

Another good choice for your Two-Handed Weapon is the Sword of Justice from Anders if you’re not able to acquire the Everburn Blade. Aside from the decent damage and the same Weapon Actions, you also gain Tyr’s Protection. This is a Bonus Action that you can use to increase your AC by 2. With the Chain Mail Armor, your total AC becomes 18!

Lastly, you can choose to make Lae’zel a Battle Master Fighter because she has the right Ability spread for it. At Level 4, just be sure to invest 1 point each into Strength and Dexterity since she’s also wearing Medium Armor. This accounts for at most +2 Dexterity Modifier. The only downside is she’ll have less HP than a player character but it shouldn’t be an issue since the creatures in Early Access aren’t that difficult to deal with.

Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content as we update the other Builds, and be sure to drop by our Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wiki which is being worked on night and day, as well as our Baldur’s Gate 3 Guides.

The post Baldur’s Gate 3 Battle Master Fighter Build Guide appeared first on Fextralife.

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Fiend Warlock Build Guide – In this Baldur’s Gate 3 The Fiend Warlock Build Guide, I’m going to cover my Warlock Build, and show you what I’ve found to work best. I’ll be doing more Build Guides at the launch of Baldur’s Gate 3, but for now, let’s look at how you can use The Fiend Warlock effectively.

Be sure to check out our other Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds including: The Great Old One, Beast Master Ranger, Hunter Ranger, Circle of the Land Druid, Circle of the Moon Druid, Wild Magic Sorcerer, Wildheart Barbarian, Draconic Sorcerer, Berserker Barbarian, College of Lore Bard, College of Valour Bard, Oath of Devotion Paladin, Oath of the Ancients Paladin, Oathbreaker Paladin!

Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Warlock Builds Features

• Abilities: Charisma, Dexterity
• Subclasses: The Great Old One & The Fiend
• Unique Feature: Eldritch Blast & Eldritch Invocation
• Hit Die: +8 HP + CON Modifier

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Fiend Warlock Build Guide

Right from the get-go, the Warlock will be able to choose a suitable Subclass at Level 1. The Fiend differs from The Great Old One in terms of the types of Spells they tend to cast. For instance, they gain access to mostly offensive ones such as Scorching Ray and Fireball, allowing them to deal massive damage from afar like Sorcerers and Wizards. What’s similar between the two, however, is their ability to cast the powerful Cantrip known as Eldritch Blast on top of summoning Familiars due to their patrons.

With Eldritch Blast, the Warlock can send their target flying into the air while inflicting considerable damage. With the creatures they conjure, they’re able to win fights faster. In a similar vein, The Fiend Warlock is only Proficient with Light Armor so they’re not that resilient. As such, they should be positioned far away from the heat of Combat to survive longer.

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Fiend Warlock Character Creation

In this section, we’ll take a look at how to set up your Warlock during Character Creation for the best results.

Background

For Background, choosing one that provides you with Charisma Skills should be enough since this is your primary Ability to hit and damage enemies, alongside Dexterity and Intelligence. Charisma has Deception, Intimidation, Persuasion, and Performance. Some Background examples are Entertainer, Sage, and Soldier.

Race

The first Race that works well for this Build is the Wood Half-Elf. Wood Half-Elves have Darkvision to see and attack better in dark places. They even gain Fleet of Foot to be able to move more effectively in encounters as well as Mask of the Wild to become Proficient in Stealth.

Alternatively, you can pick the Drow who not only has Superior Darkvision, allowing them to see twice as far in the dark as the Wood Half-Elf but also Dancing Lights. This Cantrip will serve as a light source to benefit allies who need it. As a Drow, you can also wield Rapiers to deal good Physical Damage in the Melee Range.

Class

During Character Creation, you’ll be selecting the Subclass that you’d want to specialize in. For the Warlock, it’ll differ based on their respective Subclass Features as well as some of the Spells available to them. For this Build, you’ll choose The Fiend. As The Fiend, you gain access to Dark One’s Blessing, which gives you temporary HP equal to your Charisma Modifier plus your Level when you kill an enemy. So at Level 5, you can expect this to be +9.

For Cantrips, I recommend taking Blade Ward, and especially Eldritch Blast, which is the bread and butter of the Warlock.

Blade Ward grants Physical Damage Resistance from Weapon attacks, thereby lowering the corresponding damage by half. This is particularly useful for survivability should melee enemies get too close to you.

Eldritch Blast deals 1-10 Force Damage from a distance. And since this is a Cantrip, you can keep casting it every round without worrying about your remaining (and few) Spell Slots.

For Spells, I suggest picking Hex and Arms of Hadar.

Hex imposes a Disadvantage on a Saving Throw of your choice. For instance, if you have another Warlock or Wyll in the party, and you cast Hex, the other Spellcaster’s chances of landing Tasha’s Hideous Laughter will be much higher since the lower roll will be considered when the affected target makes a Saving Throw. You can also use this Spell to inflict additional Necrotic Damage upon hitting them. One example is casting Eldritch Blast right after Hex in the same turn since the latter is a Bonus Action anyway. Furthermore, if that same target dies, you can use this Spell again without consuming a Spell Slot provided that you maintain Concentration by successfully making Constitution Saving Throws when attacked.

Arms of Hadar deals decent Necrotic Damage but be careful of casting this Spell when nearby allies are around because they can be harmed. And should they fail their Strength Saving Throw, they won’t be able to take Reactions.

Skills

For Skills again it’s not super important, but you’ll have high Charisma and Dexterity, so selecting Skills that fall under these Abilities is ideal. Dexterity has Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth, and I’ve already listed what Charisma Skills there are. You can also choose Intelligence Skills like Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, or Religion since you’ll have a decent score for this Ability.

Abilities

The primary Abilities that are needed for The Fiend Warlock Build are Charisma, Dexterity, and Constitution. Charisma is necessary to land and effectively harm your foes with Spells while Dexterity is important to increase your AC, considering that you can only wear Light Armor, in order to survive longer in encounters. Moreover, Constitution increases HP and helps to maintain Concentration. Lastly, there’s Intelligence, although not useful in combat, encompasses a large number of Skills. And if the Warlock is your player character then it’s wise to have a few points here to help with interactions.

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Fiend Warlock Level 2

Eldritch Invocations

At Level 2, you’ll be able to select 2 Eldritch Invocations that will allow you to further customize your Warlock. Out of the 9 options, I highly recommend taking Agonizing Blast and Repelling Blast as they’ll greatly improve the effectiveness of Eldritch Blast. Agonizing Blast adds your Charisma Modifier to the damage of this Cantrip. This will be +3 Damage until Level 4, at which point it’ll become +4 when you increase Charisma to 18.

Meanwhile, Repelling Blast pushes back the target hit by Eldritch Blast 4.5m away, thereby preventing them from reaching you and your allies.

Spell

You also gain 1 Spell Slot. Here, you can choose between Burning Hands or Hellish Rebuke.

Burning Hands is only available to The Fiend Subclass. This lets you deal massive Fire Damage to enemies in front of you. It’s a good Spell to use once they move toward you. Burning Hands’ AoE is narrower compared to Thunderwave so you’re less likely to hit allies who are next to your targets.

Hellish Rebuke is a great choice, especially if you’re constantly being targeted in combat. As a Reaction, meaning you can’t initiate this Spell yourself, you end up dealing 2-20 Fire Damage when you receive damage, potentially killing enemies with low to average HP. However, remember that it can’t be triggered more than once in a single turn and when you run out of Spell Slots. Otherwise, you can choose to continue reaping its benefits.

Replacement Spell

You’ll be able to unlearn and learn old and new Spells, respectively, via the Replacement Spell, similar to the Ranger. Unlearning a Spell lets you select what you wish to remove from your list. As a replacement, you’ll get to pick one Spell when you level up. But if you want to keep your current list, you can simply ignore this feature and continue to learn new Spells. In The Fiend Warlock Build Guide, we won’t be unlearning any Spells since the ones we’ve chosen are essential in combat.

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Fiend Warlock Level 3

At Level 3, you gain access to Pact of the Chain, which allows you to summon a Familiar to assist you in combat. So make sure you start casting this outside of combat so it can help you defeat enemies when fighting. For the Warlock, the creature I tend to summon often is the Imp because they’re unique to the Find Familiar Spell and they have the ability to cover huge distances thanks to fly. Imps can even sting their prey, possibly poisoning them in the process.

Spells

You can also pick 1 Spell. Here, I recommend taking Scorching Ray, Shatter, or Misty Step.

Scorching Ray, which is only available to The Fiend, deals 2-12 Fire Damage against multiple enemies or 6-36 damage to the same target. Overall, it’s a lot of damage, making this Spell very versatile and a must-have.

Shatter deals huge Thunder Damage against multiple adjacent enemies. Unlike Cloud of Daggers, it doesn’t require Concentration so you can still maintain the benefits of Hex, for example, while casting this Spell.

Misty Step lets you teleport to a location you can see, allowing you to get to High Ground easily to gain the +2 Attack Roll bonus when using Ranged Attacks like Eldritch Blast. Since this is a Bonus Action, you can also perform an Action during the same turn. Alternatively, you can opt to get the Amulet of Misty Step from the Underdark instead to be able to gain Misty Step but you’re going to have to wait a while to do so.

Additionally, if you’ve chosen the Drow Race in Character Creation, you’ll receive Drow Magic: Faerie Fire at this Level. The Spell functions the same way in that you and your allies gain Advantage on Attack Rolls but instead of consuming a Spell Slot, you’ll only use an Action. Just remember that you’ll need to take a Long Rest afterward to recharge it.

Concentration

Concentration is broken if you cast another Cantrip or Spell that also requires Concentration. You can tell which these are because it will say so on the Spell itself. For example, if you cast Hex, but then you cast Faerie Fire, you would stop “Concentrating” on Hex and begin Concentrating on Faerie Fire.

Moreover, if you take damage while Concentrating on a Spell, you must make a Constitution Saving Throw, and if you fail, then the effect of that Spell ends. Should you succeed in your Saving Throw, you maintain your Concentration and the Spell continues. This is why it’s vital for Warlocks to have average to high Constitution because of the Spells that require this Ability and is wasted if it’s constantly broken.

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Fiend Warlock Level 4

At Level 4, you’ll gain 2 Ability points to place into Charisma, bringing it to 18 and your corresponding Modifier to +4. This will not only increase the likelihood of landing your attacks but also increase Eldritch Blast’s damage by +1.

You can also pick another Cantrip like Chill Touch or Poison Spray to deal Necrotic or Poison Damage, respectively, together with any of the Level 2 Spells you didn’t select previously.

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Fiend Warlock Level 5

At Level 5, you get to choose 1 more Eldritch Invocation, and here I recommend taking One with Shadows. One with Shadows makes you temporarily Invisible so you gain an Advantage on your Attack Rolls. Once you perform an attack, cast a Spell, or even walk toward your enemies, you’ll be revealed. So it’s best to use this right before initiating combat.

Additionally, you can select 1 Level 3 Spell. The good ones to consider are Counterspell, Fear, or Fireball. Counterspell is a Reaction that can significantly throw a wretch in your enemy’s plans as long as they’re located within 18m of you. Doing so will let you stop the corresponding Spell’s effects. But remember that since it consumes The Fiend’s Spell Slots, you can only use this at most 2 times before taking a Long Rest.

Second is Fear, which would allow you to scare your enemies. In doing so, they drop their Weapons, regardless of whether or not they’re metal, and they end up running for their lives to stay away from you, making it a win-win condition. And third is the classic Fireball Spell, which encompasses a huge area and deals a whopping 8-48 Fire Damage against multiple targets even against your allies so you’ll need to carefully cast it.

Again, if you’ve selected the Drow, you gain the Darkness Spell. What this does is encase affected targets in the dark to blind them. Just remember that you can’t use your Ranged Attack Spells against those who are trapped in Darkness’ AoE.

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Fiend Warlock Levels 6 & 8

At Level 6, The Fiend Warlock gains access to the Dark One’s Own Luck, which makes it so that you have the option to add 1d10 to your Saving Throw Roll before the corresponding effect occurs. Dark One’s Own Luck can only be used again after taking a Short or Long Rest.

Meanwhile, at Level 8, you’ll be able to select a Feat. You can choose to increase your Charisma to 20 or take Moderately Armored. Moderately Armored is good to have because it makes the Warlock proficient in wearing Medium Armor and a Shield, thereby improving their overall AC and resilience. Since you’ll don Medium Armor, you can lower Dexterity’s Ability Score from 16 to 14 since only +2 will be accounted for.

BG3 The Fiend Warlock Level 10

At Level 10, The Fiend Warlock learns about Fiendish Resilience, which lets them choose a specific damage type after taking a Short or Long Rest. This will then be used so they can gain resistance to it, thereby lowering the corresponding damage by 50%, unless they choose another type.

BG3 Warlock Levels 11 & 12

At Level 11, the Warlock gains access to Mystic Arcanum, allowing them to choose 1 Level 6 Spell from the Warlock Spell List, which you can check on our BG3 Wiki. The great thing about this Arcanum Spell is you can cast it without expending a Spell Slot but you’ll need to take a Long Rest before doing this again.

And lastly, at Level 12, you’ll be able to choose your final Feat. You can pick Ability Improvement or Moderately Armored, whichever you didn’t select at Level 8.

Equipment

The Fiend Warlock will have the same Equipment as The Great Old One. This means that Weapons aren’t going to be a priority since you’ll be casting Spells most of the time. But remember to prepare for melee encounters by wielding The Watcher’s Guide or dual Daggers. With dual Daggers, you get to inflict Main Hand Attack and Off-hand Attack (Melee) in the same turn.

Additionally, any Ranged Weapon like a Shortbow or Light Crossbow would be sufficient. Shortbow has Hamstring Shot, which can potentially reduce the target’s Movement Speed whereas Light Crossbow has Piercing Shot to inflict Gaping Wounds for extra damage. Either Weapon lets you shoot enemies from a distance as an alternative to your Ranged Spells and Cantrips.

In terms of Armor, you should wear the Spidersilk Armour, which you get after defeating Minthara in the Shattered Sanctum. This, together with your +3 Dexterity Modifier, should give you a total of 15 AC.

For Accessories, you can equip the Helmet of Grit from the Shattered Sanctum and Tarnished Charm from Auntie Ethel. Helmet of Grit is another Light Armor where you receive an extra Bonus Action if your HP dips to 50% or less. On the other hand, Tarnished Charm is useful if you find yourself rolling Death Saving Throws frequently. With its Fey Life Feature, your chances of successfully making this type of roll are going to be higher.

Final Tips

The Fiend Warlock makes use of Hex, Eldritch Blast, and mostly offensive Spells to decimate enemies compared to The Great Old One who can incapacitate targets. To improve the overall damage you deal at earlier levels, remember to cast Hex on the target first before attacking them. Moreover, be sure to position yourself on Higher Ground when casting Ranged Attack Cantrips or Spells, with respect to your targets to raise the chances of hitting them. Doing so with Misty Step or Jump will make life easier. Additionally, you can keep using Hex without spending a Spell Slot provided that you maintain your Concentration.

Unlike other Spellcasters, Warlocks are at a disadvantage in terms of the total number of Spell Slots they have before taking a rest. However, they’re able to replenish these by simply taking a Short Rest without having to go to Camp. Although taking a Long Rest in Early Access is easy to do given the abundant amount of Camp Supplies, I’m guessing this mechanic will be restricted when the game fully launches.

If you don’t gain Misty Step and you’re having trouble with optimal positioning, then you may want to pick the Fly Spell but note that this requires Concentration. Alternatively, another Spellcaster can use this on you. Afterward, you’ll be able to traverse longer distances using your Movement Speed. For instance, you can approach Fearful targets more easily in order to damage them with your Cantrips or Spells.

Lastly, given that the Warlock is one of the Classes that have high Charisma, it’s a great idea to have them initiate dialogues to convince NPCs the way you want without having to use any of your inspiration points or waste other items.

Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content as we update the other Builds, and be sure to drop by our Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wiki which is being worked on night and day, as well as our Baldur’s Gate 3 Guides.

The post Baldur’s Gate 3 The Fiend Warlock Build Guide appeared first on Fextralife.

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Great Old One Warlock Build Guide – In this Baldur’s Gate 3 The Great Old One Warlock Build Guide, I’m going to cover my Warlock Build, and show you what I’ve found to work best. I’ll be doing more Build Guides at the launch of Baldur’s Gate 3, but for now, let’s look at how you can use The Great Old One Warlock.

Be sure to check out our other Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds including: Beast Master Ranger, Hunter Ranger, Circle of the Land Druid, Circle of the Moon Druid, Wild Magic Sorcerer, Wildheart Barbarian, Draconic Sorcerer, Berserker Barbarian, College of Lore Bard, College of Valour Bard, Oath of Devotion Paladin, Oath of the Ancients Paladin, Oathbreaker Paladin!

Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Warlock Builds Features

• Abilities: Charisma, Dexterity
• Subclasses: The Great Old One & The Fiend
• Unique Feature: Eldritch Blast & Eldritch Invocation
• Hit Die: +8 HP + CON Modifier

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Great Old One Warlock Build Guide

The Warlock is a decent and straightforward choice for those who are learning the ropes of being a Spellcaster. Right from the start, they’re already a force to be reckoned with because of Eldritch Blast. This is a Ranged Attack Cantrip, which means that it has to be used from a distance, and since it’s a Cantrip, you won’t need to spend any Spell Slot when cast. Coupled with The Great Old One’s unique Spells such as Dissonant Whispers and Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, it’ll be simple to debilitate targets and efficiently slay them in the process.

What’s more, is that they gain the advantage of summoning Familiars due to their patron. Not only do these creatures attack enemies effectively but they also serve as worthy distractions in encounters. Since Warlocks can only wear Light Armor, they’re not as durable as the other Classes, meaning it would be best to position them as far away from the middle of Combat as possible for added protection.

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Great Old One Warlock Character Creation

In this section, we’ll take a look at how to set up your Warlock during Character Creation for the best results.

Background

For Background, choosing one that provides you with Charisma Skills should be enough since this is your primary Ability to hit and damage enemies, alongside Dexterity and Intelligence. Charisma has Deception, Intimidation, Persuasion, and Performance. Some Background examples are Entertainer, Sage, and Soldier.

Race

The first Race that works well for this Build is the Wood Half-Elf. Wood Half-Elves have Darkvision to see and attack better in dark places. They even gain Fleet of Foot to be able to move more effectively in encounters as well as Mask of the Wild to become Proficient in Stealth.

Alternatively, you can pick the Drow who not only has Superior Darkvision, allowing them to see twice as far in the dark as the Wood Half-Elf but also Dancing Lights. This Cantrip will serve as a light source to benefit allies who need it. As a Drow, you can also wield Rapiers to deal good Physical Damage in the Melee Range.

Class

During Character Creation, you’ll be selecting the Subclass that you’d want to specialize in. For the Warlock, it’ll differ based on their respective Subclass Features as well as some of the Spells available to them. For this Build, you’ll choose The Great Old One. As The Great Old One, you gain access to Mortal Reminder, which will automatically incapacitate a creature when they’re Critically Hit. Because they end up being Frightened, they won’t be able to move and they even incur a Disadvantage on Attack Rolls, making it challenging for their hits to connect.

For Cantrips, I recommend taking Blade Ward, and especially Eldritch Blast, which is the bread and butter of the Warlock.

Blade Ward grants Physical Damage Resistance from Weapon attacks, thereby lowering the corresponding damage by half. This is particularly useful for survivability should melee enemies get too close to you.

Eldritch Blast deals 1-10 Force Damage from a distance. And since this is a Cantrip, you can keep casting it every round without worrying about your remaining (and few) Spell Slots.

For Spells, I suggest picking Hex and Dissonant Whispers.

Hex imposes a Disadvantage on a Saving Throw of your choice. For instance, if you have another Warlock or Wyll in the party, and you cast Hex, the other Spellcaster’s chances of landing Tasha’s Hideous Laughter will be much higher since the lower roll will be considered when the affected target makes a Saving Throw. You can also use this Spell for the opponent to receive an additional Necrotic Damage upon hitting it. One example is casting Eldritch Blast right after Hex in the same turn since the latter is a Bonus Action anyway. Furthermore, if that same target dies, you can use this Spell again without consuming a Spell Slot provided that you maintain Concentration by successfully making Constitution Saving Throws.

Dissonant Whispers deals massive Psychic Damage in addition to temporarily Frightening the target for a couple of turns. Should they successfully roll a Wisdom Saving Throw, they still take half the damage.

Skills

For Skills again it’s not super important, but you’ll have high Charisma and Dexterity, so selecting Skills that fall under these Abilities is ideal. Dexterity has Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth, and I’ve already listed what Charisma Skills there are. You can also choose Intelligence Skills like Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, or Religion since you’ll have a decent score for this Ability.

Abilities

The primary Abilities that are needed for The Great Old One Warlock Build are Charisma, Dexterity, and Constitution. Charisma is necessary to land and effectively harm your foes with Spells while Dexterity is important to increase your AC, considering that you can only wear Light Armor, in order to survive longer in encounters. Moreover, Constitution increases HP and helps to maintain Concentration. Lastly, there’s Intelligence, although not useful in combat, encompasses a large number of Skills. And if the Warlock is your player character then it’s wise to have a few points here to help with interactions.

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Great Old One Warlock Level 2

Eldritch Invocations

At Level 2, you’ll be able to select 2 Eldritch Invocations that will allow you to further customize your Warlock. Out of the 9 options, I highly recommend taking Agonizing Blast and Repelling Blast as they’ll greatly improve the effectiveness of Eldritch Blast. Agonizing Blast adds your Charisma Modifier to the damage of this Cantrip. This will be +3 Damage until Level 4, at which point it’ll become +4 when you increase Charisma to 18.

Meanwhile, Repelling Blast pushes back the target hit by Eldritch Blast 4.5m away, thereby preventing them from reaching you and your allies.

Spell and Concentration

You also gain 1 Spell Slot. Here, you should take Tasha’s Hideous Laughter. Tasha’s Hideous Laughter leaves the target laughing like mad on the floor for up to 10 turns provided that you maintain Concentration. It makes them a dead weight to their allies since they can’t do anything significant while knocked Prone.

Concentration is broken if you cast another Cantrip or Spell that also requires Concentration. You can tell which these are because it will say so on the Spell itself. For example, if you cast Hex, but then you cast Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, you would stop “Concentrating” on Hex and begin Concentrating on Tasha’s Hideous Laughter.

Moreover, if you take damage while Concentrating on a Spell, you must make a Constitution Saving Throw, and if you fail, then the effect of that Spell ends. Should you succeed in your Saving Throw, you maintain your Concentration and the Spell continues. This is why it’s vital for Warlocks to have average to high Constitution because of the Spells that require this Ability and is wasted if it’s constantly broken.

Replacement Spell

You’ll be able to unlearn and learn old and new Spells, respectively, via the Replacement Spell, similar to the Ranger. Unlearning a Spell lets you select what you wish to remove from your list. As a replacement, you’ll get to pick one Spell when you level up. But if you want to keep your current list, you can simply ignore this feature and continue to learn new Spells. In The Great Old One Warlock Build Guide, we won’t be unlearning any Spells since the ones we’ve chosen are essential in combat.

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Great Old One Warlock Level 3

At Level 3, you gain access to Pact of the Chain, which allows you to summon a Familiar to assist you in combat. So make sure you start casting this outside of combat so it can help you defeat enemies when fighting. For the Warlock, the creature I tend to summon often is the Imp because they’re unique to the Find Familiar Spell and they have the ability to cover huge distances thanks to fly. Imps can even sting their prey, possibly poisoning them in the process.

Additionally, you can pick 1 Spell. Here, I recommend Shatter, Hellish Rebuke, or Misty Step.

Shatter deals huge Thunder Damage against multiple adjacent enemies. Unlike Cloud of Daggers, it doesn’t require Concentration so you can still maintain the benefits of Hex, for example, while casting this Spell.

Hellish Rebuke is very useful, especially if you’re constantly the prime target in combat. As a Reaction, meaning you can’t initiate this Spell yourself, you end up dealing at least 2-20 Fire Damage when you receive damage, potentially killing enemies with low to average HP. However, remember that it can’t be triggered more than once in a single turn and when you run out of Spell Slots. Otherwise, you can choose to continue reaping its benefits.

Misty Step lets you teleport to a location you can see, allowing you to get to High Ground easily to gain the +2 Attack Roll bonus when using Eldritch Blast. Since this is a Bonus Action, you can also perform an Action during the same turn. Alternatively, you can opt to get the Amulet of Misty Step from the Underdark instead to be able to gain Misty Step but you’re going to have to wait a while to do so.

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Great Old One Warlock Level 4

At Level 4, you’ll gain 2 Ability points to place into Charisma, bringing it to 18 and your corresponding Modifier to +4. This will not only increase the likelihood of landing your attacks but also increase Eldritch Blast’s damage by +1.

You can also pick another Cantrip of your choice and any of the Spells you didn’t select from the previous Level.

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Great Old One Warlock Level 5

At Level 5, you get to choose 1 more Eldritch Invocation, and here I recommend taking One with Shadows. One with Shadows makes you temporarily Invisible so you gain an Advantage on your Attack Rolls. Once you perform an attack, cast a Spell, or even walk toward your enemies, you’ll be revealed. So it’s best to use this right before initiating combat. Alternatively, you can go with Devil’s Sight if you’re not a Drow to prevent incurring a Disadvantage as well as to see better in dark places!

Additionally, you can select 1 Level 3 Spell. The good ones to consider are Counterspell and Fear. Counterspell is a Reaction that can significantly throw a wretch in your enemy’s plans as long as they’re located within 18m of you. Doing so will let you stop the corresponding Spell’s effects. But remember that since it consumes The Great Old One’s Spell Slots, you can only use this at most 2 times before taking a Long Rest.

Next is Fear, which would allow you to scare your enemies. In doing so, they drop their Weapons, regardless of whether or not they’re metal, and they end up running for their lives to stay away from you, making it a win-win condition.

Baldur’s Gate 3 The Great Old One Warlock Levels 6 & 8

At Level 6, The Great Old One Warlock gains access to Entropic Ward, which makes it so that you can use your Reaction to impose a Disadvantage on the enemy’s Attack Roll against you. Should this attack miss, you gain an Attack Roll Advantage against that same creature. Entropic Ward can only be used again after taking a Short or Long Rest.

Meanwhile, at Level 8, you’ll be able to select a Feat. You can choose to increase your Charisma to 20 or take Moderately Armored. Moderately Armored is good to have because it makes the Warlock proficient in wearing Medium Armor and a Shield, thereby improving their overall AC and resilience. Since you’ll don Medium Armor, you can lower Dexterity’s Ability Score from 16 to 14 since only +2 will be accounted for.

BG3 The Great Old One Warlock Level 10

At Level 10, The Great Old One Warlock learns about Thought Shield, which makes things interesting in the roleplaying sense. Thought Shield prevents creatures from reading your thoughts unless you allow them to. What’s more, is that you gain Psychic Damage Resistance plus, when an enemy deals Psychic Damage against you, they end up taking the same amount of damage (minus the resistance, of course)!

BG3 Warlock Levels 11 & 12

At Level 11, the Warlock gains access to Mystic Arcanum, allowing them to choose 1 Level 6 Spell from the Warlock Spell List, which you can check on our BG3 Wiki. The great thing about this Arcanum Spell is you can cast it without expending a Spell Slot but you’ll need to take a Long Rest before doing this again.

And lastly, at Level 12, you’ll be able to choose your final Feat. You can pick Ability Improvement or Moderately Armored, whichever you didn’t select at Level 8.

Equipment

As The Great Old One Warlock, you don’t have to concern yourself with finding the right Weapons since for the most part, you’ll be casting Spells anyway. Instead, it’ll only be useful if you can’t move away from the melee range without taking damage. So remember to equip any Simple Weapon like The Watcher’s Guide or dual Daggers. With dual Daggers, you get to inflict Main Hand Attack and Off-hand Attack (Melee) in the same turn.

And then for the Ranged Weapon, you can wield the Light Crossbow. With its Piercing Shot Weapon Action, you not only deal a decent amount of Piercing Damage but also inflict Gaping Wounds for extra damage. The Light Crossbow will let you shoot enemies from afar as an alternative to your Ranged Spells and Cantrips.

In terms of Armor, you should wear the Spidersilk Armour, which you get after defeating Minthara in the Shattered Sanctum. This, together with your +3 Dexterity Modifier, should give you a total of 15 AC.

For Accessories, you can equip the Helmet of Grit from the Shattered Sanctum and Tarnished Charm from Auntie Ethel. Helmet of Grit is another Light Armor where you receive an extra Bonus Action if your HP dips to 50% or less. On the other hand, Tarnished Charm is useful if you find yourself rolling Death Saving Throws frequently. With its Fey Life Feature, your chances of successfully making these rolls are going to be higher.

Final Tips

The Great Old One Warlock makes use of Hex, Eldritch Blast, and a couple of powerful Spells that deal great damage or make targets useless in combat such as Tasha’s Hideous Laughter. With Hex, they inflict extra Necrotic Damage every time the affected enemy is attacked, thereby increasing the chances of eliminating them quickly. Remember that for Eldritch Blast, you’re going to have to position yourself on High Ground with respect to your target to boost your chances of hitting them. Doing so with Misty Step or Jump will make life easier for you.

Compared to the other Spellcasters in Baldur’s Gate 3, the Spell Slots of Warlocks don’t increase (and are limited to 2) as they level up, instead, they are automatically upcast. The difference is that they can simply replenish these Spell Slots by taking a Short Rest instead of a Long Rest. But in Early Access, the latter doesn’t affect the way you play since you have numerous Camp Supplies anyway but I’m guessing that this will change when the game fully launches.

Lastly, if you have another Spellcaster in the party who can cast Fly on you, then it would be beneficial. Using only your Movement Speed, you can easily approach Fearful targets and hit them with any of your offensive Cantrips or Spells.

Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content as we update the other Builds, and be sure to drop by our Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wiki which is being worked on night and day, as well as our Baldur’s Gate 3 Guides.

The post Baldur’s Gate 3 The Great Old One Warlock Build Guide appeared first on Fextralife.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Beast Master Ranger Build Guide – In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Beast Master Ranger Build Guide, I’m going to cover my Ranger Build, and show you what I’ve found to work best. I’ll be doing more Build Guides at the launch of Baldur’s Gate 3, but for now, let’s look at how you can use a Beast Master Ranger effectively.

Be sure to check out our other Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds including: Hunter Ranger, Circle of the Land Druid, Circle of the Moon Druid, Wild Magic Sorcerer, Wildheart Barbarian, Draconic Sorcerer, Berserker Barbarian, College of Lore Bard, College of Valour Bard, Oath of Devotion Paladin, Oath of the Ancients Paladin, Oathbreaker Paladin!

Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Ranger Builds Features

• Abilities: Dexterity, Wisdom
• Subclasses: Hunter & Beast Master
  
• Unique Feature: Ranged Combat
• Hit Die: +10 HP + CON Modifier

Baldur’s Gate 3 Beast Master Ranger Build Guide

The Ranger is an amazing Class to pick if you’re starting out in D&D 5E or Baldur’s Gate 3 because both of its Subclasses are strong in terms of their overall damage potential. For the Beast Master, even if they don’t have access to the Hunter’s Colossus Slayer to deal additional damage for every Weapon attack, they gain a Beast Companion at Level 3. Every companion has its own abilities from shooting out webs to entrap targets to charging at enemies to knock them down.

What’s more, is that the Beast Master also has Extra Attack at Level 5, allowing them to eliminate threatening targets right away. Similar to the Hunter, they wear Medium Armour to maintain decent AC and they can cast offensive and support Spells on top of wielding a Bow.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Beast Master Ranger Character Creation

In this section, we’ll take a look at how to set up your Ranger during Character Creation for the best results.

Background

For Background, choosing one that provides you with Dexterity Skills should be enough since this is your primary Ability to hit and damage enemies, alongside Wisdom. Dexterity has Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth. Some Background examples are Charlatan, Entertainer, and Urchin.

Race

For Race, if you’re not taking an Origin Character, then I recommend selecting the Wood Elf. The Wood Elf has Darkvision and Fey Ancestry. Darkvision helps them see and attack better in the dark, and finally, Fey Ancestry makes it so that they have a Saving Throw Advantage against the effects of Charmed and Sleep. All of these qualities make them the clear favorite for a Ranger. The reason why I’m not highlighting Longbow Proficiency is due to the Martial Weapon Proficiency of this Class. This means that they’ll be able to wield Longbows to further increase their Ranged Weapon Damage.

Alternatively, you can choose the Strongheart Halfling since they gain Lucky, allowing them to make another Attack Roll when they roll a natural 1. They even have Poison Resistance due to Strongheart Resilience.

Skills

For Skills again it’s not super important, but you’ll have high Dexterity and Wisdom, so selecting Skills that fall under these Abilities is ideal. Wisdom has Animal Handling, Insight, Medicine, Perception, and Survival, and I’ve already listed what Dexterity Skills there are.

Abilities

The primary Abilities that are needed for this Build are Dexterity since you’re going to focus on Bow combat, followed by Wisdom and Constitution. Wisdom is needed to land some Spells while Constitution increases HP and helps to maintain Concentration. Note that if you select the Strongheart Halfling, you can increase Constitution by as much as 16 but Wisdom will only reach a max of 14. Ideally, your Ability Spread looks something like this:

Favored Enemy

Out of all the Favored Enemies, the best one is Bounty Hunter because it imposes a Disadvantage on targets attacked using Ensnaring Strike, specifically when it comes to their Saving Throws and Attack Rolls. What’s more, is that you and your allies gain an Advantage on Attack Rolls against them. As a result, they won’t be as effective in combat. Furthermore, the Cantrips featured in other Favored Enemies such as Sacred Flame aren’t that good.

Natural Explorer

For Natural Explorer, I suggest taking Beast Tamer so you can summon a Familiar that can assist you in combat while waiting for your Beast Companion at Level 3. Just remember to conjure them before the start of every encounter since you can’t do so once you’ve engaged enemies.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Beast Master Ranger Level 2

Fighting Style

At Level 2, you get to choose a powerful passive, and for this Build, I suggest taking Archery to gain +2 Attack Rolls with Ranged Weapons. This will equate to a total of +7 to your Attack Rolls and +8 at Level 4 by taking into account your +2 Proficiency, +2 Archery bonus, and Dexterity Modifier.

Spells

You also gain 2 Level 1 Spells and 2 Spell Slots. Here, you should take Ensnaring Strike and Hail of Thorns. Ensnaring Strike allows you to restrain a target, thereby dealing 1-6 Piercing Damage after every turn if they fail their Strength Saving Throw in addition to the 4-9 Piercing Damage they initially receive.

Meanwhile, Hail of Thorns is an incredibly powerful Spell. If the target fails their Dexterity Saving Throw, they get the entire 5-19 Piercing Damage from the Spell’s thorns and its subsequent explosion. But should they succeed, they still get 4-9 Thorn Piercing Damage plus half of the explosion damage at 1d10 divided by 2. Note that the Ranger’s Dexterity Modifier is added to the Attack and Damage Rolls of the Thorn Piercing Damage. Additionally, remember that Hail of Thorns cannot be cast against an inanimate entity like the Intellect Devourer.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Beast Master Ranger Level 3

Ranger’s Companion

At Level 3, you’ll be selecting the Beast Master Subclass. As a Beast Master, you have the Ranger’s Companion Class Action, which lets you summon another creature on top of the Familiar that you got from Level 1, allowing for a maximum of 2 animals to assist you in combat. Similarly, it will have be to cast outside of encounters. The ones I tend to use the most are the Bear, Boar, and Wolf Companions.

Similar to the Circle of the Moon Druid’s Bear Wild Shape, your Bear Companion can perform a Goading Roar to incite affected targets to attack it instead, thereby serving as a temporary but decent tank. Meanwhile, the Boar and Wolf can potentially knock multiple enemies or a single foe Prone with Charge and Lunging Bite, respectively, in order to give you the upper hand in combat.

Spells and Replacement Spell

Additionally, you’ll be able to choose a third Ranger Spell. Here, I recommend taking Hunter’s Mark or Cure Wounds. Hunter’s Mark lets you deal 1-6 Slashing Damage against the marked creature every time you shoot them with your arrows. As long as the hunt is completed, which means you’ve slayed the same marked enemy, this Spell will stay with you until you take a Long Rest so you can keep applying it in the next encounters as a Bonus Action instead of spending a Spell Slot.

Alternatively, If you’re not running with a Cleric in your party, you may want to take Cure Wounds to be able to heal yourself or an ally you can touch. But remember that since you only have a +2 Wisdom Modifier, the effectiveness of your heals won’t be as high compared to choosing the Wood Elf Race in Character Creation.

Furthermore, you’ll be able to unlearn and learn old and new Spells, respectively, via the Replacement Spell, similar to the Warlock. Unlearning a Spell lets you select what you wish to remove from your list. As a replacement, you’ll get to pick one Spell when you level up. But if you want to keep your current list, you can simply ignore this feature and continue to learn new Spells. In this Beast Master Ranger Build Guide, we won’t be unlearning any Spells since the ones we’ve chosen are essential in combat.

Concentration

Concentration is broken if you cast another Cantrip or Spell that also requires Concentration. You can tell which these are because it will say so on the Spell itself. For example, if you cast Ensnaring Strike, but then you cast Hunter’s Mark, you would stop “Concentrating” on Ensnaring Strike and begin Concentrating on Hunter’s Mark.

Moreover, if you take damage while Concentrating on a Spell, you must make a Constitution Saving Throw, and if you fail, then the effect of that Spell ends. Should you succeed in your Saving Throw, you maintain your Concentration and the Spell continues. This is why it’s vital for Rangers to have average to high Constitution because of the Spells that require this Ability and is wasted if it’s constantly broken.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Beast Master Ranger Level 4

At Level 4, you’ll gain 2 Ability points to place into Dexterity, bringing it to 18 and your corresponding Modifier to +4. This will not only increase the likelihood of you connecting your attacks but also increase your damage by +1.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Beast Master Ranger Level 5

At Level 5, you gain Extra Attack, which lets you make another attack using your Ranged Weapon and Spells that deal Weapon Damage, allowing you to obliterate powerful enemies.

As a Beast Master Ranger, Companion’s Bond becomes available to you. What this does is it adds your Proficiency Bonus, which is +3 at this level, to your Companion’s AC and Damage Rolls. For instance, if you summon the Bear, its AC will be higher at 15 instead of 12, making it a bit more challenging for enemies to hit the creature.

And finally, you also get to choose 1 Level 2 Spell. I suggest taking Spike Growth or Lesser Restoration.

Spike Growth allows you to control a large space of the battlefield with thorns that slow creatures down and damage them if they try to move through it. This is an excellent way to keep enemy melee units from getting to your allies and can be invaluable when you’re outnumbered.

Lesser Restoration lets you cure allies of diseases and conditions by touching them. It doesn’t require Concentration, only a single Action.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Beast Master Ranger Level 6

At Level 6, the Ranger is able to choose one more Favored Enemy with its own language together with a Favored Terrain. For the Favored Enemy, you can go ahead and pick Mage Breaker. This makes it so that you become proficient in Arcana and that you’re able to cast the True Strike Cantrip. True Strike, which requires Concentration, grants an Advantage on your next Attack Roll. The good thing about it is this can be cast from afar.

For Favored Terrain, you can pick any Wasteland Wanderer you want to gain resistance to Cold, Fire, or Poison Damage, whichever damage types you encounter frequently.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Beast Master Ranger Level 7

At Level 7, the Beast Master Ranger gains access to Exceptional Training, which makes it so that you can direct the next Action of your Beast Companion if they don’t attack. By spending a Bonus Action, you’re able to command them to Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Help a fallen ally.

BG3 Ranger Level 8

At Level 8, the Ranger can choose a Feat. Here, I suggest going for Ability Improvement to raise Dexterity to 20 or Sharpshooter. Sharpshooter not only removes any Disadvantage you may incur as a result of making Ranged Weapon Attack Rolls but it also gives you the option to take a -5 Attack Roll penalty in place of boosting your attack’s damage by +10! This is huge and it functions similarly to the Great Weapon Master Feat. You’ll likely be successful since you now have the True Strike Cantrip to grant Advantage on your Attack Rolls.

Additionally, you gain access to Land’s Stride, which allows them to easily traverse nonmagical difficult terrain and plants without incurring conditions like Slow. Furthermore, they gain a Saving Throw Advantage against magical plants that reduce the effectiveness of their Movement Speed.

BG3 Ranger Level 10

At Level 10, you can select another Favored Terrain and blend in with nature thanks to the Hide in Plain Sight Feat. Hide in Plain Sight makes it so that you’re able to camouflage yourself by making use of mud and dirt near you. This is handy when you’re waiting for enemies to walk toward you before catching them by surprise. When you’re pressed against a tree or wall without moving, you gain +10 Stealth Checks.

BG3 Ranger Levels 11 & 12

At Level 11, the Beast Master Ranger gains an amazing Feat called the Bestial Fury. This allows you to command your Beast Companion to attack enemies twice in a single turn upon using their Attack Action.

And finally, at Level 12, you can pick the Feat you didn’t choose at Level 8.

Equipment

For this Beast Master Ranger Build, you’ll primarily be wielding a Ranged Weapon such as The Joltshooter or Longbow +1. The Joltshooter not only lets you deal 5-12 Piercing Damage but also grants Lightning Charges upon dealing damage. This gives a +1 Attack Roll bonus together with +1 Lightning Damage. You can obtain this Weapon by doing the Rescue the Grand Duke Quest.

Comparatively, the Longbow +1 deals greater damage at 6-13. Note that both Ranged Weapons have Brace (Ranged). What this Weapon Action does is it grants an Advantage to your Damage Rolls to further improve your chances of dealing greater damage. The only caveat is you can’t move when you use Brace so you have to position yourself optimally right from the start.

For Medium Armor, you can go for Lae’zel’s Githyanki Half Plate or Scale Mail +1 to accommodate +2 of your Dexterity Modifier, giving you a total of 17 AC but you gain a Disadvantage on Stealth Rolls.

When it comes to Accessories, you’ll be equipping the Boots of Striding, Absolute’s Talisman, and Haste Helm. Boots of Striding is very beneficial to this Build since you have a lot of Spells that require Concentration. Your Movement Speed increases by 3m and you can’t be pushed back or knocked Prone. The Absolute’s Talisman will heal your HP by 1-8 after dealing damage. Both items can be found in the Shattered Sanctum.

Next is the Haste Helm, which is beneficial, especially if you’ve chosen Strongheart Halfling Race due to their relatively lower Movement Speed. With the helm, and at the start of every combat encounter, your Movement Speed is automatically boosted for at most 3 turns, allowing you to easily position yourself optimally.

And finally, there’s the Amulet of Misty Step that’s nice to have. With this amulet from the Underdark, you gain access to the Misty Step Spell to help you teleport from one location to the other, thereby potentially granting you the +2 High Ground bonus for your Attack Rolls upon performing Ranged Attacks.

Final Tips

The Beast Master Ranger is also a great choice because of their straightforward approach to dealing damage. They’re not only experts in restraining enemies and inflicting damage over time but they have the strong support of their companions by being distractions and attacking targets effectively on the battlefield. Additionally, provided that you’re positioned at a safer distance, you won’t have a difficult time succeeding in your Concentration Saving Throws to maintain Concentration on Spells that need it.

To expand on positioning, try to situate your character at Higher Ground compared to your targets when executing Ranged Attacks. Doing so will grant a +2 Attack Roll bonus to boost the Beast Master Ranger’s total Attack Roll to +10 by the time you reach Level 4. This would almost always guarantee a successful hit!

Even though you’re focused on executing Bow attacks, remember to equip 2 Shortswords as your Melee Weapons instead of a Two-Handed Martial Weapon like the Everburn Blade. As a result, you gain the Off-Hand Attack (Melee) Bonus Action, letting you move in for the kill when needed. Usually, you’ll need to switch to Melee Weapons when you incur a Disadvantage with Ranged Attacks since enemies are near you.

Another good Bow to try out is the Spellthief from Auntie Ethel. You not only retain Hamstring Shot and Brace (Ranged), but you also gain Arcane Vehemence. This provides you with an extra Level 1 Spell Slot as long as you execute a Critical Hit with Spellthief, letting you use more of your offensive Spells in return.

Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content as we update the other Builds, and be sure to drop by our Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wiki which is being worked on night and day, as well as our Baldur’s Gate 3 Guides.

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