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Baldur’s Gate 3: Best patch 8 subclasses ranked from Edgelord of the Dead to Tipsy Tussler

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Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 8 subclasses are here, with a dozen major shake-ups to how you can play Larian’s massive RPG. It’s got pirates, cursed warlocks – more cursed than usual, that is – weird archers, bug masters, a creepy shadow dog, and so much more, all of which you can run as-is or mix and match with other classes as you see fit.

They’re all good in their own way, even if some are rather more restrictive than others. It’s worth experimenting with any of them. Naturally, we compared them and pointed out all their best and worst bits anyway.

Our BG3 Patch 8 subclasses list ranks each new subclass from best to worst, dividing them into tiers like our BG3 class tier list.

BG3 Patch 8 subclass tier list

  • S-tier: Death Domain Cleric, College of Glamour Bard, Bladesinging Wizard, Hexblade Warlock
  • A-tier: Giant Barbarian, Oath of the Crown Paladin, Circle of Stars Druid, Swashbuckler Rogue
  • B-tier: Arcane Archer Fighter, Swarmkeeper Ranger, Shadow Magic Sorcerer, Way of the Drunken Master Monk

Death Domain Cleric


Image credit: Larian Studios

The Death Domain Cleric seems like a more powerful variant of the Necromancer Wizard for the first few levels. They start with a passive that lets single-target cantrips hit a second enemy, which is, in itself, exceptionally useful. Two of the Death Domain’s starting cantrips are False Life and Bone Chill, the latter of which inflicts the eponymous status effect and prevents enemies from being healed. That’s useful right through the end of the game and doubly so for being able to target two enemies at once, while False Life lets you give more than one ally extra HP.

Fast-forward to level six, and the Death Domain Cleric gains the Inescapable Destruction passive, which ignores necrotic resistance when your Cleric uses necrotic attacks. Almost every enemy you encounter in Act 2 resists necrotic damage, as do several in Act 3, which meant any build that prioritized the likes of Inflict Wounds, Vampiric Touch, or the new Toll of the Dead spell were just out of luck. Granted, there are plenty of other ways to deal with necrotic resistance with radiant or any other kind of damage, but not having to adjust your preferred build is always a good thing.

The Death Domain Cleric also gets a powerful Channel Divinity ability that adds necrotic damage equal to 5 + 2 (Cleric level) to any melee attack that lands. That’s up there as one of the strongest channel divinity skills with the War and Tempest Domains. All this is in addition to the Death Domain Cleric’s debuff spells and the class’ usual range of support, offense, and healing abilities. It’s one of the most useful and flexible classes in the game.

College of Glamour Bard


A College of Glamour Bard in BG3
Image credit: Larian Studios

Some corners of the internet were dragging College of Glamour Bard for not being another version of College of Swords Bard – for being a support class, which is what Bard is, instead of a tanky damage dealer. That’s a silly expectation, especially considering just how useful College of Glamor Bard can be. Their key ability at level three, Mantle of Inspiration, applies bonus HP to three targets and ensures that if they’re hit with a melee strike, the attacker becomes charmed.

They also learn Mantle of Majesty: Command at level six, which functions like the other command skills and lets the Bard control an enemy, and they’re guaranteed to fail their saving throw if they’re charmed. That’s an impressive level of control over the battlefield and just with two skills that count as bonus actions. You’re free to use your normal action to cast spells, heal, or do whatever.

The only downside is that you have to really commit to the Glamor Bard if you want the most from their kit. At level 10, their Mantle of Inspiration upgrades to grant 11 bonus HP to four targets, so you can include the whole party. Still, given how versatile Bard is anyway, you’re hardly missing out. You can also still do the usual Bardlock multiclass and get one level of Warlock to learn Eldritch Blast if you think your Bard needs to do more damage.

Bladesinging Wizard


A Bladesinging Wizard in BG3
Image credit: Larian Studios

The Bladesinging Wizard seems like a gimmick at first glance. Magic swordfighter? Eldritch Knight has that covered, thanks. Except Bladesinging Wizard is quite a lot better in every way except being a squishy wizard. Bladesong is the subclass’ unique ability, and it grants the caster an armor class bonus based on their proficiency, along with more movement and, at higher levels, the chance to use a spell slot to reduce incoming damage. At level two, Bladesinging Wizards gain proficiency with daggers, longswords, shortswords, rapiers, scimitars, and sickles as well.

That’s in addition to the already-massive selection of wizard spells that goes up to level six – something the Eldritch Knight doesn’t get – and the wizard feature that lets them learn spells by reading scrolls. Patch 8 also added Shadow Blade, a magic sword skill that deals psychic damage that the Bladesinging Wizard can learn at level two. Even without weapon-oriented spells, the option to use weapons that hit harder than a quarterstaff means your Wizard is more versatile than usual, even if their spell slots run out.

Hexblade Warlock


A Hexblade Warlock and their cursed creature in BG3
Image credit: Larian Studios

The Hexblade Warlock is a strong candidate for the most balanced, useful version of Warlock in BG3, thanks to a selection of offensive and debuff spells plus a few powerful abilities. The Hexblade Warlock can bind a hexed weapon, which is like Pact of the Blade’s bound weapon, except this one has a chance of inflicting Hexblade’s Curse when the caster attacks. They can also cast Hexblade Curse as a bonus action. Cursed enemies take additional damage equal to your proficiency bonus, and it’s easier to land a critical hit against them.

Hexblades gets two smite attacks – Wrathful at level one and Branding at level three – along with the highly useful Elemental Weapon skill and some self-protecting spells such as Blink. At level six, they can raise a specter from certain fallen enemies and at level 10, they learn a reaction that has a 50 percent chance of nullifying an incoming attack. That’s in addition to other powerful spells, such as Cone of Cold and Greater Invisibility, and, of course, Eldritch Blast. Hexblade Warlocks are easily the most self-sufficient of the Warlock bunch.

Giant Barbarian


A Giant Barbarian in BG3
Image credit: Larian Studios

The Giant Barbarian’s only job is to be BEEG and throw stuff, and they learn a handy skill at level six, they learn the Elemental Cleaver action. Elemental Cleaver lets your weapon deal additional elemental damage – that’s acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage – and any attack with that weapon is considered a throw attack. That means it benefits from the Giant Rage buff to thrown attacks, and it’ll return to you if you actually throw it. It’s so simple, but exceptionally effective.

You can kick enemies at level five, too. It’s like the shove action in that it scales based on acrobatics proficiency, but it also deals damage. Plus kicking a goblin off a cliff is far more fun than just pushing them.

Oath of the Crown Paladin


A Crown Paladin in BG3
Image credit: Larian Studios

Oath of the Crown Paladin is one of the more helpful Paladin subclasses and functions as a support tank more than a heavy hitter like the Oath of Devotion. Its Channel Oath action adds the target’s proficiency to their attack rolls, and that target can be you or any ally. At level three, the Crown Paladin gets Turn the Tide, a Channel Oath bonus action that heals nearby allies with a shout. Area-of-effect healing skills are rare in BG3, so even though this skill’s range isn’t too far, it’s incredibly useful – even more so if you augment the Paladin so they add effects such as Bless or Blade Ward with healing.

They learn Divine Allegiance at level nine, which lets the Paladin take incoming damage intended for an ally, and Spirit Guardians at level nine, a high-powered radiant or necrotic ability that Clerics get much earlier. Crown Paladins can command enemy attention as well by compelling them to duel or summon a spiritual weapon. Again, it’s effective as a tank, but not so much as a sturdy damage dealer. Multiclass options include Bard for more support abilities or even Sorcerer, since that class scales with charisma as well.

Circle of Stars Druid


A Circle of Stars Druid in BG3
Image credit: Larian Studios

The Circle of Stars Druid is a bit of an odd case, like a Cleric with a low-level Wizard plus some special Druid perks. They can cast Guiding Bolt and have access to the usual range of Druid magic – spells such as Ice Knife, Shillelagh, and Thorn Whip – and instead of a normal transformation fueled by Wild Shape charges, they summon constellations to help in battle: an archer for low radiant damage, a chalice for healing, and a dragon for widespread radiant damage. The dragon also has a feature that considers any concentration saving throw below a nine as a 10, making it highly likely you’ll maintain concentration, and the chalice healing skill is a free one.

At level six, they learn Cosmic Omen, which lets them use a reaction and a Cosmic Omen charge to strengthen ally attacks, weaken incoming attacks, or influence saving throws. Then at level 10, their Starry Form constellations finally power up and can be changed each turn.

Circle of Stars Druids are handy supports with some decent attack options, especially once hte dragon powers up. The Starry Form subclass features aren’t quite as much get excited over on their own compared to, say, what the Circle of Spores Druid can do, at least not until the level 10 buff. However, if you just want some useful extra features and easy concentration saves, you can also dip into two levels to unlock Starry Forms and specialize in another class, such as Cleric.

Swashbuckler Rogue


A Swashbuckler Rogue in BG3
Image credit: Larian Studios

The Swashbuckler Rogue, like every other Rogue subclass, suffers from a bit of imbalance that makes it ideal for multiclassing instead of running as a pure pirate. Most of its skills are frontloaded in the first few levels, since, as with Assassin, there’s a gap between level four and level nine where the subclass just doesn’t pick up anything new.

Considering how useful the level three and level four abilities are, though, there are worse things the Swashbuckler could be. At level three, you learn a passive that makes enemies you hit with a melee attack unable to pull off an Attack of Opportunity for that turn, along with one that gives you +2 to initiative rolls, a passive that scales with your rogue level. You can also use Sneak Attack without having advantage, if you’re within five feet of the target and don’t have disadvantage.

Level four’s skills are bonus attacks – one that may disarm enemies, one that might blind them, and Vicious Mockery as a bonus attack cantrip. It might not be as overwhelmingly powerful as the Assassin subclass, but it’s certainly useful for debuffing and pairs well with other dexterity classes.

Arcane Archer Fighter


An Arcane Archer Fighter in BG3
Image credit: Larian Studios

It’s hard to make a use case for the Arcane Archer Fighter, since most of what they do is the same thing any old archer can do with the right arrows. You get access to arrows that deal poison and force damage just through playing the game, along with shock, blinding, fire, necrotic, and even healing arrows. Granted, you do have to use them judiciously. The lack of a crafting system in BG3 means you’re at the mercy of merchants and random dead people when it comes to restocking your arrows.

Arcane Archers function in a way similar to Battle Masters, in that they have a special resource that determines how many unique attacks they can use before having to rest and refuel. That’s convenient, and it helps, too, that some of the Arcane Arrows have bonus effects, such as the poison arrows limiting movement or the necrotic arrows inflicting “enfeebled.” The biggest drawback is that these attacks don’t scale as you level up. Their damage modifiers remain the same, which means by the time you reach Act 3, you’re going to notice a drop-off in how much damage your Arcane Archer deals.

Swarmkeeper Ranger


A Swarmkeeper Ranger in BG3
Image credit: Larian Studios

The Swarmkeeper Ranger picks one of three possible swarms – bees, some jellyfish that deal shock damage, and a flock of moths that specializes in psychic damage and causing blindness. All three types can also teleport you a short distance away and out of danger. Piercing damage is fine, but hardly difficult to access, and you have plenty of avenues for shock damage as soon as you start the game. Psychic damage is hard to come by in the game’s first two acts, and blind is always useful at any point in the game.

It’s not that the moths are bad. They’re the clear winner of the bunch. It’s more a problem of having a new subclass where just one of the three build options is helpful. The Swarmkeeper can’t change their swarm until they level up, either, making it much less flexible than pet-based Ranger builds. Still, you do get a skill that makes enemies with Hunter’s Mark take more damage, and the swarms learn extra features at level 11. You’d probably be better off multiclassing or as a different ranger, though.

Shadow Magic Sorcerer


A Shadow Magic Sorcerer in BG3
Image credit: Larian Studios

Shadow Magic Sorcerer leans more toward being a roleplaying choice over something that’s actually useful in a variety of situations. You can see in darkness – something several races can do in BG3 automatically just by existing – and use Sorcery Points to cast Darkness without using a spell slot. The level one passive Strength of the Grave keeps you from falling once when you receive a would-be fatal blow, and at level 11, you can teleport into the shadows and use Distant Spell for free.

The big draw is the Shadow Magic Sorcerer’s Hound of Ill Omen, which unlocks at level six. This evil puppy attacks enemies, inflicts status effects that you can use to restore Sorcery Points, creates shadow tendrils, and lets you splinter into a shadow version of yourself to respawn in the shadows if you’re attacked with anything other than radiant damage. That is, admittedly, really cool, but it’s also not much to build an entire class around. You’d probably want to multiclass into something such as Paladin, Bard, or Warlock to get the most out of this.

Way of the Drunken Master Monk


A Way of the Drunken Master Monk in BG3
Image credit: Larian Studios

The drunk Monk is quite a lot of fun to play as, but it’s rather restrictive with some misleading nomenclature as well. Being drunk only restores your Ki points once per long rest, so you don’t have to hunt down every tavern and guzzle as much as you can to power up this Monk’s moves. Their standard attack is a variant of Flurry of Blows, which does the same kind of damage while granting the caster a movement boost and the disengage effect. Intoxicating strike may make the target drunk, and if they are drunk, you gain the Life of the Party passive. This effect raises your armor class by one and adds your wisdom modifier to attacks against drunk targets.

Then, at level nine, the drunk Monk learns Sobering Realization, a punch that does 2d8 psychic damage to drunk targets and removes Life of the Party. They also pick up some passive defensive effects, such as the option to negate a disadvantage roll and a reaction that lets you attack with an unarmed blow if an enemy’s melee attack hits you. That’s about it. Given what you’re missing from other Monk subclasses just to get this, your best bet is just to get three levels of Way of the Drunken Master – enough for the passive that mitigates drunkenness’ negative effects so you can use Punch-Drunk Bastard without harm.





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