Making a Baldur’s Gate 3 classes rank list is a pretty sizeable ask, not because Larian’s hit PC game has too many to choose from – although things get a bit out of control if you take Baldur’s Gate 3’s subclasses into account – but because you can feasibly make any class work well. Your skill choice and the environment play a substantial part in how well a class functions. Even a powerful wizard falls short if you stack them with garbage magic, but the right combos and party compositions mean even a not-exactly-optimized Warlock can excel.
Some roles give you more to play with than others, though, and lend themselves to better combinations with your team members. Druids are great at running over people as a bear, for example, but Sorcerers can rain fire, ice, and lightning down on entire armies. There’s a clear winner here.
12
Warlock
Warlock probably isn’t a futile class in the right hands, but my hands were evidently not the right ones. If you’re playing as a magical custom character or have Gale in your party, it’s tough to know just what to do with a Druid. They have dozens of powerful spells at their fingertips, but fewer slots for preparing them. Druids have to use Druid slots for some reason, and by level six, you’ll have maybe three uses of a spell before having to fall back on Eldritch Blast.
It’s an excellent spell, but when that and a bound pact weapon are your only combat options, it’s maybe not the most exciting class in the game.
11
Monk
I wanted to like the Monk. They’re an interesting class on paper, with subclasses that seem full of opportunity. The big drawback is how limited their range of attack is, though. If you’re not right next to an enemy, you’re pretty much out of luck. Monks can’t handle heavier armor, so putting them in the middle of a fray is a risky move anyway.
They’re viable, but it takes practice and a lot of setup to make them work. I had much more fun using Monk as a subclass. You get whole attacks as bonus actions, so a Fighter/Monk combo could absolutely destroy enemy forces with extra attacks and bonus actions, and then use Action Surge to do it all again before ending the turn.
10
Druid
Druid seems like just a plant wizard at first glance, but it has more than a few special features that make it worth considering. Animal transformation is a substantial boon in and out of battle, and Druids get access to powerful spells and even Ranger-like abilities.
The downside is that with so many tools to use, they don’t really excel at any one thing. They’re a bit squishy too.
9
Ranger
Rangers share the Druid weakness of doing lots of things without any one really excellent feature. Most Rangers end up subclassing into beastmasters just to get the extra attack their furry or feathered companion brings to the field, though you’ll want to pick some good feats as well.
There’s also the issue of height. The best ranged attacks are the ones you can fire from above, but if you’re on even or lower ground, you have a higher likelihood of missing or dealing less damage. Make sure to give your Ranger an advantage boost if you need them to deal lots of damage.
8
Rogue
Rogue is an excellent class if you know what you’re doing, but it suffers a bit from relying too heavily on Advantage-based sneak attacks. If you get the advantage, which you can easily do if you have a Cleric with Guiding Bolt or if you teach your Rogue the True Strike spell, the damage numbers climb impressively high. It just takes a lot of setup, and the Rogue’s available subclasses aren’t that spectacular. Sorry, Astarion.
7
Wizard
Wizards get a truckload of useful spells and can even learn spells they aren’t naturally supposed to pick up, thanks to a handy ability that lets them instantly master magic if they read a scroll. Bolts of lightning, sheets of ice, and noxious clouds of acid death are at their disposal. At least, they are for a little while. The Wizard’s big flaw is the small number of spell slots they have early in the game. Expect to take plenty of long rests until you hit level six or higher with a Wizard.
Still, there’s an abundance of camp supplies in Faerun, so as long as you don’t take a nap outside a burning building or right before a battle starts, you’re not really losing anything by visiting camp so often.
6
Barbarian
Barbarians are supposed to be raging warriors who plow through all obstacles and maybe spark a few dangerous magical reactions while they’re at it, depending on which subclass you choose. The thing is, that’s all they are. A good Barbarian can clear the field with relative ease, especially once they gain their extra attacks. They just can’t do much else, limitations that show up more plainly next to something like a Battle Master Fighter.
5
Sorcerer
A Sorcerer might not have the spell selection of a Wizard, but once they learn Metamagic, they do have the option to power up their spells. Metamagic can make spells reach further, hit harder, or help your allies more effectively, depending on which powers you choose, and Sorcerers can learn quite a few Cantrips. That helps keep them fighting even when they run out of spell slots, which is probably going to happen sooner than you’d like.
4
Fighter
Fighters are Barbarians with a better range of abilities. They can heal themselves, replenish an action – which is very handy once they gain a second attack, since you can act four times in one turn – and, depending on what you specialize in, even inflict status effects on foes.
They’re the tanks of Baldur’s Gate 3, the class most likely to be the first in the mix and the last one standing. Fighters are a bit more straightforward than some of the game’s fancier classes, but they’re often the foundation of a strong party.
3
Paladin
Paladins combine the force of a Fighter with the magicalness of a Cleric, and it turns out that’s a pretty darn good combination. Two-handed weapons and access to heavy armor mean your Paladin probably won’t die in a hurry, and they even get a class-specific radiant attack that deals a staggering amount of damage to undead foes.
That’s a strong resume on its own, but the Paladin can also heal allies and provide minor support; cast a small range of powerful spells; or go completely haywire, shun the light, and bring madness to their foes. There’s an impressive range of choices for how you want to play your Paladin in and out of battle.
2
Cleric
Clerics are exceptional in Baldur’s Gate 3 and as far from the vulnerable healer stereotype as you can get. These servants of light tote medium armor, carry bludgeoning weapons – for smashing the good word into their foes, of course – and wield radiant magic. Radiant magic seems like something you can live without in Act 1, but once you step into the Shadowlands, Clerics and Paladins are suddenly your best friends.
It helps that Clerics can specialize as potent healers, powerful warriors, and even sly support units that debuff foes and soften them for your stronger allies to take out. The Guidance skill is also one of the most useful spells outside of battle and adds a nice little boost to your rolls. Paladin may be the most popular class in BG3, but the Cleric’s extra support options bump them up ever so slightly above their warrior counterparts.
1
Bard
Maybe I’m biased because my first character was a Bard, but there’s a pretty good reason I spent well over 100 hours as this character without regrets: they’re amazing. Bards can be anything you want them to be – melee fighter, spellslinger, dedicated support unit. They lay bare the invisible, inspire allies and grant them the advantage, heal, hurt, peer into the mysteries of the magical world, and sing a little song to change the tune of battle.
High charisma makes them exceptionally useful in social situations as well. Sure, they won’t carry a battle on their own in most cases, but they’re so flexible that they fit right in with any party and can fill in gaps that your other characters can’t cover.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
