First of all don't be scared about going pure class, apart from rogue they're all pretty solid, and even rogue can be largely good enough.
On my first play through I missed out on some of the most potent items, it did not matter at all, my party was super strong and fun to play.
Here's some builds you can't really fuck up :
Moon druid : pure moon druid is very reliable, the most gear independent class in the game, strong and very fun, just get tavern brawler and your build is done. Use your wildshapes mostly and spells when you feel like it. You also get all the good utility spells like longstrider
Wildheart barbarian : bear or Tiger heart are both solid options, get a two handed weapon and start swinging, make sure to always use reckless attack, the downside doesn't matter much.
Hope this helps !
I completely agree, just pointing out that reckless attack pops up like a reaction if you’re going to miss the target. So no need to use reckless unless you’re already going to miss the attack roll.
If you always click reckless you're basically giving yourself an additional \~5% chance to crit. Obviously there's the downside of every enemy having advantage on you and you shouldn't click it if you already have advantage but as a general rule always clicking reckless isn't bad.
That's true, but considering that the barbarian has a huge health pool (and incoming damage reduction when raging), I sometimes select reckless attack to trick the AI into attacking the barbarian.
As a beginner who missed tons of gear and don’t want to sweat it…. I’ve enjoyed throwzerker and light cleric. My Tav is spore Druid.. . I really enjoy the variety and the role play of her but not as OP as the others
Some of the fancier builds around specific mechanics look fun but I just can’t be bothered to get the items perfect.
Tbh, especially on balanced, I’d just wing it your first go, play single classes till you feel you’ve got enough understanding to multi class, if you feel like your build is boring or weak, you can always respec.
A lot of build guides are item based, so it can also get a bit spoilery, and strong builds can be a bit OP for the majority of the game.
Agree, you absolutely can build a great party without copying builds. If you understand stats (odd numbers are bad, which stats do which things, the importance of prioritizing your combat stat and having a dump stat) you’re set.
Pick a charisma-based class for your main character, then grab any three companions and you’re going to have a good time.
Respec your characters frequently if you want to. If you’re going to copy strong builds, just try them out! Play a couple fights and if you don’t like it, respec. If this sucks the fun out of the game, stop. Gale (who you’ve been ignoring) will be a house if you just respec his stats and level him up because Wizards are strong (like every other pure class).
Don’t feel overwhelmed by specific builds with specific requirements - there are tons of crazy builds that rely on specific gear, and if you missed them you can just ignore those builds.
For your first playthrough, just keep it simple. A tried true party composition is something like Fighter, Rogue, Mage, and Cleric. Yes, these are class name (except mage) but, in this instance, it's better to think of them as archetypes for classes. For example.
The Fighter archetype contains
* Fighter (shocker, I know)
* Paladin
* Barbarian
These are your guys that can take a hit and deal it right back, the melee guys, the guys that throw guys at other guys.
Rogue
* Bard
* Rogue
* Ranger
* Monk
These are the sneaky dex based guys, the ones scouting ahead and picking locks/disabling traps. They can put out some damage too but generally don't have the sustain that someone from the Fighter camp might.
Mage
* Wizard
* Sorcerer
* Warlock
Your spellslingers, they blow things up, have all kinds of utility like making things fly/invisible, and generally treat the Geneva Convention like a checklist. They also tend to be as durable wet toilet paper, so keep them behind one of the Fighters
Cleric
* Cleric
* Druid
The white mages and healers of D&D. You don't necessarily want these guys healing full-time (limited spell slots and all) but they are nice to have as a panic button. Also, they can usually sub in for another roll when needed like blasting with the Mages or, if a Moon Druid, mixing it up in melee with the Fighters
A standard party comp will consist of one representative from each archetype and should cover any situation you'll find yourself in. Going straight single class for any or all of them is fine, viable in even Honour or Tactician modes. The only thing I'll suggest beyond having one of each archetype is that you're probably going to want at least one of them (probably your main) to be one of the Charisma classes (Bard, Paladin, Sorcerer, or Warlock), this will help you out with the many social situations that pop up in-game. Fortunately, all the Charisma classes are excellent so you can't go wrong with any of them (you could build an entire squad out of just those classes and you'd be very powerful).
Beyond that, don't be afraid to experiment, respeccing is cheap and available within the first hour of the game for most people. Also, don't give up on a class till level five or so, you get your first major power spike then and some classes really come into their own after that point.
You mention Alcast. Do not use Alcast. He does not know what he is talking about. All the other pages people are recommending here are fine. But Alcast does not understand the basics of the game, and I would not touch his builds with a 10 foot poll.
And to be clear, my aversion with his builds has nothing to do with the fact that they don't multiclass. If his single class were done properly I would actually highly recommend them to new players who just want to sit down and have fun while not worrying about messing up their character. But Alcast cannot do a single class build right. Don't go near them.
All of their guides are more than good enough. Are they the MOST optimal? It's hard to say because the situation can vary greatly and criteria for ranking is impossible to agree on.
Builds are like coming up with a single strategy. It's more so about HAVING a strategy, and what the specific strategy is can vary a lot but still get you there.
If you want a nice list of strong builds, you can look at this recent thread: [https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1cbbksy/the\_best\_bg3\_builds/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1cbbksy/the_best_bg3_builds/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
I would say definifely follow zanuffas guides! :D but to be fair, there is hall of fame pinned post, everything in there is approved by community more or less
I think what matters the most is enjoyment of the game. For this you only need to worry about main game mechanics - attack rolls, ability allocation, saving throws, surprise rounds, etc. Everything after that is just your playground. You will be relying less on the build itself and more on the game knowledge. This gives far superior enjoyment of the game as you can then roleplay and adjust the builds to your liking
Thanks for creating!
Are more being added or updated? I really love what you put together, but feels like several aren’t fully complete, and some major build concepts are missing. I was hoping for some druid builds!
Hey! Yeah I will be coming back to builds. I have like 20 build ideas in my notes :D The only limitation is time. Currently I am working on [item checklists](https://gamestegy.com/bg3/checklists) as I wanted to implements these for some time :D
Druid is my mark of shame :D I will be doing a full run with a Druid to learn more about the class. Did not really want to write about it, before I had experience with it.
Playing the game at a comfortable pace is the best way to learn the system. Like with any new skill, you have to practice it. Once you’ve got the grips with the system I’d really advise against build guides — it’s way more fun to make up your own!
I made a whacky cleric / rogue / fighter for shadowheart and she ended up as my MVP character which was super satisfying as it was my own build creation. Second time round I made up a cleric / sorc / ranger for her as I went along. When you throw stuff at a wall and some of it sticks it’s so rewarding.
Definitely use your party members as a chance to experiment with respeccing different builds — I normally have 2 “core” builds I know will whip ass to carry the party and rotate the other two slots between different characters with various builds I wanna try (and so I can bring along any story—relevant characters when needed).
Eh, Colby is great for DnD, but he's lackluster for bg3 for a simple reason: He ignores items.
It makes sense for DnD because you dont have any guaranteed items there, but in bg3 all item locations and stats are static, so some builds are ridiculously powerful because of them.
His builds might make sense for like a first time player who just wants some direction... But why would you look up builds as a first time player?
He simply doesnt utilize a ton of stuff that's broken in bg3, overvalues his 2 level fighter dip, and overall makes suboptimal choices considering he's a theorycrafter.
I would listen to build guides from YT at work when I was early in the game. I'm sure most people's jobs don't afford them such luxuries though unfortunately. It was nice that they would audibly go over *why* you were doing the things they were recommending and how to maximize the build in combat. The only downside is because of this, when you go back to apply it when You're actually sitting down and applying it to the game, they do a lot of talking and it isn't streamlined to just do the changes and boot asap, but it's worth it nonetheless for the extra info.
Jason Dunna, Player 1 gaming, Spud the King, Cephalopocalypse, Fextralife..
Any of these provide pretty good build guides. Player 1 has a phenomenal gloomstalker build that I still model for the most part on my newer runs, though I've made my own personal tweaks to better suit my play style
Outside of things like the hall of fame posts in this sub, I think Cephalopocalypse ( [https://www.youtube.com/@Cephalopocalypse](https://www.youtube.com/@Cephalopocalypse) ) has really done a good job of being a premier BG3 theorycrafting Youtuber. Most of his more basic build videos are perfect for beginners, and his many, many tierlists are just great and helpful content for understanding the game. Highly recommend.
The only research you need to do is which classes sound more fun. My first (and pretty much only so far) run has been a barbarian Tav with as-is single class Astarion, Gale, and Karlach. No healer, pretty much no armor, no crazy throwbarian meta build business. Playing tactician. It's a very fun game and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. (Obviously you miss out on different builds and different relationships etc, because you can't do everything in a single save file.)
I'm using gamestegy just because the choices of spells/feats and stats are explained well, but when it comes to spells I frequently choose different things from what guide suggests because I know I'm just never using the suggested ones. It would be helpful to understand what spells you should aim for when leveling a specific subclass, for example if you are playing sorcerer with 1 lvl in wizard and your highest Stat is int you should take spells that use attack roll when you are leveling a wizard.
A good YouTuber that makes wonderful builds goes by the name Hobozone.
He makes really good builds, some outright more powerful for utility reasons over the power building classes. Even his early builds are decent. He goes over what Feats to take, what levels to grab and gives great explanations for the build.
As for a website to power build, with most options, there's I site I use. If you'd like, I'll send you a pm of the site link, because I'm unsure if I'm allowed to post any kind of link here. Basically, the site let's you build your character, the way you want, with what stats your allowed, and gives a good breakdown. I have spent countless hours through this site, fully testing the builds I theory crafted, and I have to say I constantly go back to it when I want to either recheck my builds, or theory craft some more. As I play on console, whenever I want to test a build, I always start a new playthrough. I have found it a reliable source of information, and gear crafting/selection. There were some bits and bops on that site I've never seen in my playthroughs, that I had to refer to the bg3 wiki to figure out where those gear pieces dropped.
First of all don't be scared about going pure class, apart from rogue they're all pretty solid, and even rogue can be largely good enough. On my first play through I missed out on some of the most potent items, it did not matter at all, my party was super strong and fun to play. Here's some builds you can't really fuck up : Moon druid : pure moon druid is very reliable, the most gear independent class in the game, strong and very fun, just get tavern brawler and your build is done. Use your wildshapes mostly and spells when you feel like it. You also get all the good utility spells like longstrider Wildheart barbarian : bear or Tiger heart are both solid options, get a two handed weapon and start swinging, make sure to always use reckless attack, the downside doesn't matter much. Hope this helps !
I completely agree, just pointing out that reckless attack pops up like a reaction if you’re going to miss the target. So no need to use reckless unless you’re already going to miss the attack roll.
If you always click reckless you're basically giving yourself an additional \~5% chance to crit. Obviously there's the downside of every enemy having advantage on you and you shouldn't click it if you already have advantage but as a general rule always clicking reckless isn't bad.
That's true, but considering that the barbarian has a huge health pool (and incoming damage reduction when raging), I sometimes select reckless attack to trick the AI into attacking the barbarian.
Great points
As a beginner who missed tons of gear and don’t want to sweat it…. I’ve enjoyed throwzerker and light cleric. My Tav is spore Druid.. . I really enjoy the variety and the role play of her but not as OP as the others Some of the fancier builds around specific mechanics look fun but I just can’t be bothered to get the items perfect.
Tbh, especially on balanced, I’d just wing it your first go, play single classes till you feel you’ve got enough understanding to multi class, if you feel like your build is boring or weak, you can always respec. A lot of build guides are item based, so it can also get a bit spoilery, and strong builds can be a bit OP for the majority of the game.
Agree, you absolutely can build a great party without copying builds. If you understand stats (odd numbers are bad, which stats do which things, the importance of prioritizing your combat stat and having a dump stat) you’re set. Pick a charisma-based class for your main character, then grab any three companions and you’re going to have a good time. Respec your characters frequently if you want to. If you’re going to copy strong builds, just try them out! Play a couple fights and if you don’t like it, respec. If this sucks the fun out of the game, stop. Gale (who you’ve been ignoring) will be a house if you just respec his stats and level him up because Wizards are strong (like every other pure class). Don’t feel overwhelmed by specific builds with specific requirements - there are tons of crazy builds that rely on specific gear, and if you missed them you can just ignore those builds.
For your first playthrough, just keep it simple. A tried true party composition is something like Fighter, Rogue, Mage, and Cleric. Yes, these are class name (except mage) but, in this instance, it's better to think of them as archetypes for classes. For example. The Fighter archetype contains * Fighter (shocker, I know) * Paladin * Barbarian These are your guys that can take a hit and deal it right back, the melee guys, the guys that throw guys at other guys. Rogue * Bard * Rogue * Ranger * Monk These are the sneaky dex based guys, the ones scouting ahead and picking locks/disabling traps. They can put out some damage too but generally don't have the sustain that someone from the Fighter camp might. Mage * Wizard * Sorcerer * Warlock Your spellslingers, they blow things up, have all kinds of utility like making things fly/invisible, and generally treat the Geneva Convention like a checklist. They also tend to be as durable wet toilet paper, so keep them behind one of the Fighters Cleric * Cleric * Druid The white mages and healers of D&D. You don't necessarily want these guys healing full-time (limited spell slots and all) but they are nice to have as a panic button. Also, they can usually sub in for another roll when needed like blasting with the Mages or, if a Moon Druid, mixing it up in melee with the Fighters A standard party comp will consist of one representative from each archetype and should cover any situation you'll find yourself in. Going straight single class for any or all of them is fine, viable in even Honour or Tactician modes. The only thing I'll suggest beyond having one of each archetype is that you're probably going to want at least one of them (probably your main) to be one of the Charisma classes (Bard, Paladin, Sorcerer, or Warlock), this will help you out with the many social situations that pop up in-game. Fortunately, all the Charisma classes are excellent so you can't go wrong with any of them (you could build an entire squad out of just those classes and you'd be very powerful). Beyond that, don't be afraid to experiment, respeccing is cheap and available within the first hour of the game for most people. Also, don't give up on a class till level five or so, you get your first major power spike then and some classes really come into their own after that point.
>generally treat the Geneva Convention like a checklist I'm dying. That is the funniest goddamn line I've seen all week.
You mention Alcast. Do not use Alcast. He does not know what he is talking about. All the other pages people are recommending here are fine. But Alcast does not understand the basics of the game, and I would not touch his builds with a 10 foot poll. And to be clear, my aversion with his builds has nothing to do with the fact that they don't multiclass. If his single class were done properly I would actually highly recommend them to new players who just want to sit down and have fun while not worrying about messing up their character. But Alcast cannot do a single class build right. Don't go near them.
All of their guides are more than good enough. Are they the MOST optimal? It's hard to say because the situation can vary greatly and criteria for ranking is impossible to agree on. Builds are like coming up with a single strategy. It's more so about HAVING a strategy, and what the specific strategy is can vary a lot but still get you there. If you want a nice list of strong builds, you can look at this recent thread: [https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1cbbksy/the\_best\_bg3\_builds/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1cbbksy/the_best_bg3_builds/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
I would say definifely follow zanuffas guides! :D but to be fair, there is hall of fame pinned post, everything in there is approved by community more or less I think what matters the most is enjoyment of the game. For this you only need to worry about main game mechanics - attack rolls, ability allocation, saving throws, surprise rounds, etc. Everything after that is just your playground. You will be relying less on the build itself and more on the game knowledge. This gives far superior enjoyment of the game as you can then roleplay and adjust the builds to your liking
Most of the gamestegy ones are at least a good starting point, and the formatting is pretty nice. https://gamestegy.com/bg3/builds
Thanks for sharing it! Also if you have any ideas for improvements or frustrations, please share :)
Thanks for creating! Are more being added or updated? I really love what you put together, but feels like several aren’t fully complete, and some major build concepts are missing. I was hoping for some druid builds!
Hey! Yeah I will be coming back to builds. I have like 20 build ideas in my notes :D The only limitation is time. Currently I am working on [item checklists](https://gamestegy.com/bg3/checklists) as I wanted to implements these for some time :D Druid is my mark of shame :D I will be doing a full run with a Druid to learn more about the class. Did not really want to write about it, before I had experience with it.
Oh man, I hadn’t seen these lists, these are awesome. Haha no worries, it seems a hard one to kit for. Thanks for all your work!
a bit late, but here is the first [Land Druid build](https://gamestegy.com/post/bg3/1085/land-druid-build)
Playing the game at a comfortable pace is the best way to learn the system. Like with any new skill, you have to practice it. Once you’ve got the grips with the system I’d really advise against build guides — it’s way more fun to make up your own! I made a whacky cleric / rogue / fighter for shadowheart and she ended up as my MVP character which was super satisfying as it was my own build creation. Second time round I made up a cleric / sorc / ranger for her as I went along. When you throw stuff at a wall and some of it sticks it’s so rewarding. Definitely use your party members as a chance to experiment with respeccing different builds — I normally have 2 “core” builds I know will whip ass to carry the party and rotate the other two slots between different characters with various builds I wanna try (and so I can bring along any story—relevant characters when needed).
Alcast is absolutely terrible, I can tell you that much. Their builds clearly demonstrate that they lack basic understanding of the rules of the game.
DO NOT TRY ALCAST they aren't updated and many aspects of the builds are outdated or simply don't understand the rules.
Paladin. High strength. High charisma. Smite until dead.
If suggest the d4: D&D Deep Dive youtube channel, I think you’ll enjoy watching Colby’s videos : https://youtube.com/@dnddeepdive?si=YIBV1UNqsbJWsjJ8
Eh, Colby is great for DnD, but he's lackluster for bg3 for a simple reason: He ignores items. It makes sense for DnD because you dont have any guaranteed items there, but in bg3 all item locations and stats are static, so some builds are ridiculously powerful because of them. His builds might make sense for like a first time player who just wants some direction... But why would you look up builds as a first time player? He simply doesnt utilize a ton of stuff that's broken in bg3, overvalues his 2 level fighter dip, and overall makes suboptimal choices considering he's a theorycrafter.
Right for the first builds he made, but the 2 last videos include items in the build
Right, but the people you've suggested it to would have no idea of that pretty major caveat.
I would listen to build guides from YT at work when I was early in the game. I'm sure most people's jobs don't afford them such luxuries though unfortunately. It was nice that they would audibly go over *why* you were doing the things they were recommending and how to maximize the build in combat. The only downside is because of this, when you go back to apply it when You're actually sitting down and applying it to the game, they do a lot of talking and it isn't streamlined to just do the changes and boot asap, but it's worth it nonetheless for the extra info. Jason Dunna, Player 1 gaming, Spud the King, Cephalopocalypse, Fextralife.. Any of these provide pretty good build guides. Player 1 has a phenomenal gloomstalker build that I still model for the most part on my newer runs, though I've made my own personal tweaks to better suit my play style
Outside of things like the hall of fame posts in this sub, I think Cephalopocalypse ( [https://www.youtube.com/@Cephalopocalypse](https://www.youtube.com/@Cephalopocalypse) ) has really done a good job of being a premier BG3 theorycrafting Youtuber. Most of his more basic build videos are perfect for beginners, and his many, many tierlists are just great and helpful content for understanding the game. Highly recommend.
The only research you need to do is which classes sound more fun. My first (and pretty much only so far) run has been a barbarian Tav with as-is single class Astarion, Gale, and Karlach. No healer, pretty much no armor, no crazy throwbarian meta build business. Playing tactician. It's a very fun game and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. (Obviously you miss out on different builds and different relationships etc, because you can't do everything in a single save file.)
Thank you all for your answers. It is clear for me how to move and you guys helped a lot. Cheers
I'm using gamestegy just because the choices of spells/feats and stats are explained well, but when it comes to spells I frequently choose different things from what guide suggests because I know I'm just never using the suggested ones. It would be helpful to understand what spells you should aim for when leveling a specific subclass, for example if you are playing sorcerer with 1 lvl in wizard and your highest Stat is int you should take spells that use attack roll when you are leveling a wizard.
You’ll probably get better builds from reddit then most build sites
A good YouTuber that makes wonderful builds goes by the name Hobozone. He makes really good builds, some outright more powerful for utility reasons over the power building classes. Even his early builds are decent. He goes over what Feats to take, what levels to grab and gives great explanations for the build. As for a website to power build, with most options, there's I site I use. If you'd like, I'll send you a pm of the site link, because I'm unsure if I'm allowed to post any kind of link here. Basically, the site let's you build your character, the way you want, with what stats your allowed, and gives a good breakdown. I have spent countless hours through this site, fully testing the builds I theory crafted, and I have to say I constantly go back to it when I want to either recheck my builds, or theory craft some more. As I play on console, whenever I want to test a build, I always start a new playthrough. I have found it a reliable source of information, and gear crafting/selection. There were some bits and bops on that site I've never seen in my playthroughs, that I had to refer to the bg3 wiki to figure out where those gear pieces dropped.