BG3 Class Tier List

I know you already put light cleric into S-tier but I want to share a build that I’ve been using for a cleric solo tactician run that absolutely dominates rooms of mobs.

Minmaxed starting stats are: 8/16/15/8/17/8

But you can drop dex back to 14 if you want to bring another skill up to 12, or two skills back to 10. I prefer 16 dex just because of the extra +1 to initiative.

First feat is Resilient: Con for the obvious concentration requirements of spirit guardians.

Use the hag’s hair to get wisdom to 18. And then either warcaster at lvl 8 for more concentration saves or just WIS to 20 (which i think is better). You rarely drop concentration with just resilient and the following item build.

The item build is what makes this build monumentally silly.

Head: Holy Lance Helm
Cloak: Thunderskin for more silliness or Protection if you want more AC and better saves.
Body: Luminous Armour
Gloves: Gloves of Belligerent Skies
Boots: Boots of Stormy Clamour
Neck: Periapt of Wound Closure is a good all around necklace for improving survivability.
Rings: Coruscation Ring + Callous Glow Ring

Weapon: Phalar Aluve
Shield: Adamantine Shield

Ranged: Dual Crossbows with Ne’er Misser in off hand.

Now that the reverberation status is working, the interactions are absolutely mental.

Ideally you start your fights with spirit guardians up as well as Phalar Aluve:Shriek

Then when you walk into spirit guardian range, you inflict spirit guardian radiant damage, which procs your ring, and shriek damage, and applies stacks of reverberation, but also applies radiant shockwave, which applies more stacks of reverberation.

With your relatively high AC and the stacks of radiant orb you just applied, you should be very hard to hit.

So the mobs attack you, and miss. Well because they miss the holy lance helm has a chance to deal 1d4 radiant, which again procs shriek and radiant orb. Which procs reverberation. At this point the reverberation has gone off or will go off and inflicts thunder damage with a chance to knock prone, which also procs shriek damage. But a miss also procs reeling from your adamantine shield. Which lowers the chance that they hit even further and because reeling is a condition, that’s two more reverberation stacks.

You basically just walk into groups of mobs, and they all fall over and take a million damage. Next turn comes around and you can walk away to trigger attacks of opportunity, which will likely deal damage to your opponent, because reverberated targets have lower dex saves, meaning that when they miss (because of 7+ stacks of radiant orb and 3 stacks of reeling) the holy lance helm is likely to hit, which procs more reverberation and radiant orbs and phalar aluve damage. Then you can run up to more folk with spirit guardians and then use your divinity to hit a bunch of people with more radiance orbs in a bigger AOE, which may again knock more people prone.

This build is absolutely ridiculous.

You can knock people prone and deal 2d4+2 damage just by triggering your opponents attacks of opportunity against you.

Absolutely busted and makes a solo or duo tactician run entirely reasonable without abusing stealth mechanics or even multiclassing.

If you are vsing shar enemies with radiant retort, you swap the holy lance helm with the hat of fire acuity, and then you can use burning hands, scorching ray, and fireball to stack your acuity, making it way harder for enemies to avoid your necrotic spirit guardians and even makes spamming sacred flame an option (constant reverberation also makes sacred flame way better).

Finally I use ne’er misser because of how its level 3 magic missile ability interacts with the all the on hit effects you are running, making it great for bursting or just doing a lot of damage to a lot of mobs if they are inside your shriek radius. It’s also a good way to spend your bonus action if you have nothing better to do for that little bit extra damage with an offhand range attack.

Seriously, would love to see you try this and showcase the build, because it is hilarious.

As a Thief rogue you can use 2 illithid powers as a bonus action in one turn, its very handy in tactician

Kinda weird that you rated sorc better than wiz. It's been solved in 5e what one is better in most situations for like a decade. But I agree that it's the coolest class.

This explains why my mate thinks he's so good but only ever picks fighter and sorcerer

F the bard they suck

Barbarian is such a fun class to me, but the lvls 9-12 are just sooo weak, you get basic Half-orc stuff at your lvl 9 and 11 like wtf 😂 Had to Make my karlach lvl8 barbarian lvl4 Fighter, which is ok but o wanted to be able to play without the multiclass and still feel kinda strong

I had a blast playing a bow ranger/rogue with gloomstalker and assassin as my subclasses. The first round damage was insane, if you manage to get a sneak attack in before the combat starts you can potentially score 4 hits (two of them stealth attacks), with a hunters mark and advantage on all of those attacks if you hit enemies that haven’t had a turn yet. Gonna try something else next playthrough but I loved that build

Bard, Wizard, Druid and Sorcerer Are S tier
Warlock, Ranger, Cleric and Fighter(barely) make into A tier.
Barbarian, Monk, Rogue and Paladin are B Tier.

Assuming we only have 3 ranks and we only put 4 in each rank.

Quite different evaluation from yours. But here's why.

Magic and range are far superior to anything you can do in melee. its not even close. Melee is a liability and you'll often find that you're spending rounds just running up to your target as opposed to attacking. This is why I have said in the past 25 movement speed is extremely noticeable. its a serious weakness and the fact melee needs to spend action economy and often their most valuable action economy to get into range puts them at a serious disadvantage right off the bat. Classes with few features also get ranked lower as well, Paladin might be better than the other's in the lowest tier because they have good features but why they can't be ranked higher for me is because their ranged options combine with them being MAD makes them a poor choice. But lets go over the highlights of some of the classes.

Bard Is extremely strong in all acts with Act 1 being its weakest performance. Access to good spells and having inspiration makes them probably the best class in the game. Their Armor access is middling but often good enough. They've got good multiclass options and are extremely strong straight class as well. Their strongest showing is in Dialog were they have the easiest time manipulating encounters.

Wizard Has the largest spell list but bad armor access. However its spell list and some of its subclass features make it seemingly break all the rules of the game. Divination wizards especially will make that spell or attack hit or save an ally from being mind controlled. Wizards have Okay damage but they're not a heavy hitter. Its their spell list and class features which put them over the top and I'd rank them quite high.

Sorcerer is Similar to Wizard but trades Spell versatility for metamagic. Careful spell, twinned spell and Quickened spell crack open a lot of spells in the game like Haste, fear or Eldritch blast making Sorcerer the best blaster in the game.

Druid Is the strongest class in Act 1 and doesn't slow down as the acts progress. It has one of the strongest spell lists is the best summoner, the most tanky class in the game and has access to most the best armor in the game. Wildshape is a great ability but spells are what we're here for and Land druid is the strongest Druid up until act 3 were Spores pops off with some insane gear.

Warlock is at the top of A tier as it is the strongest blaster without multiclassing. But its features don't quite compare to the strength of going mostly sorcerer or bard with 2 levels in warlock. Warlock's invocations are mostly fairly weak compared to spells. Their Subclass features aren't all that impressive either. But being able to cast more level 5 spells than anyone else per day isn't something you can ignore making them Extremely strong. Warlock is also required for the strongest Melee builds in the game but Warlock is strongest at range.

Ranger is one of the strongest strikers in the game, next to Warlock and requires fewer resources and magic items to get there. Gloomstalker or hunter offers a lot of damage while Beast master gives you a companion with infinite web or the ability to disarm foes. Ranger will always be useful keeping it high on the list.

Cleric is perhaps the strongest class in Act 2, but everwhere else you can do much better than cleric with the S tier picks. But That isn't to say they're bad because they're not. Clerics have some great synergy with equipment and have really good AoE damage. Their strongest spell being Spirit guardians and having some great spells to pick up like Aid, healing word, bless, enhance ability and calm emotion.

Fighter barely makes it int A tier for me and only because of action surge. A ranged fighter is really strong but its weaker than ranger, bard and Warlock when it comes to options. As far as damage goes it keeps up very well able to match those others but it lacks the utility the others have which puts it lower. Fighter is great as a dip, but I don't like ranking classes on how well they dip but more how they preform all the way through and fighter is a good choice just an outclassed choice.

Barbarian would be higher if rage recharged on a short rest. Good sustain, good health and good damage and with Berserker they have good ranged damage as well as control for a martial. But because their rage is long rest dependent it means they have fewer fights they can be something other than a glorified fighter.

Monk sucks in act 1 and is heavily dependent on gear. They burn through their own resources extremely quick early on but eventually that solves itself in act 2 and beyond. After that they start to pick up with good damage and their movement speed helps alleviate the one of the flaws most melee suffer from. Monk is also very MAD which hurts them greatly. I wouldn't recommend monk to a new player. If they want to play it sure, but I don't expect them to stick to it. When BF and I played he swapped to Wizard and never looked back.

Paladin. Paladin also sucks in act one but does begin to pick up in act 2. They have similar problems to monk being very MAD but require less gear to be usable. They lack good ranged options with abilities that demand you be in melee. I'd rank Paladin and monk lower but I can't with only 3 tiers.

Rogue kinda sucks. It gets very few features with everything worth getting acquired by level 3. it doesn't have extra attack and the sneak attack damage isn't as strong as you might think. Rogue is a class I'd say needs 5 levels of something else to get extra attack to make it worth while and why do that when Warlock + something else with extra attack further outpaces sneak attack. Rogue is good with expertise but even there Bard is better. Rogue is a Dip at most which is a real shame. Rogue doesn't have a weakness in that all their best abilities are melee but their strength are better used with a different primary class.

Thief in B tier is a bit crazy... also sticking all Monk subclasses in the same tier seems wrong.

I love the bard class so much that I did add one in my second playthough after having played as a main lore bard for my first. It's both fun, strong and get's you so much options that I think I've spent more time thinking about my level 6 in lore bard than it would take to do level 1 to 12 for any rogue ... SO fun both in combat and RP-wise !
And yeah agreed with Warrior being S-tier, to the point it makes the game sometimes a little too easy. Hasted + blood lust + action surge can give you 12 attacks in one turn + supperiority dices ??? The battle is already won after the first turn most of the time AND it can be done again after each short rests. The other thing that's great about warrior is that it is also really begginer friendly. You can try more feats, min-maxing is'nt that important and he hit hard even if you don't optimize your turn every turns. Having one or two characters that are pretty straight forward in the team really helps focus on things like ... reading the casters spell list that can be a bit overwhelming at first.

So aside from the ocd with the symmetry, you would say wizard and cleric are S tier and should be kept in your party

We finally got here. A class tier list that isn't the result of someone just trying to get it out as fast as possible!

Druid and barberian in B tier? Really?

Great tier list 👍

One thing the monk has over the fighter is how stunning strike can lock down bosses or casters. Not only does everyone in your party get advantage against a stunned opponent, they also autofail dex and str rolls so you get a free topple, push or other effect. Stunning strike and flurry of blows topple are very good at breaking concentration, and monk's extra mobility can get them to clear out the back line instead of being stuck up front. I still think it's just A but monks can do way more than just nova a bunch of punches.

Nice work :) ty for your insight

Thanks for the video. Three of the four s-classes are charisma so it's a bit redundant for a full party. My first playthrough was with Gale, Shadowheart, Karla and my Tav was a Hunter Ranger. They are not s-class but I was looking for a balanced team and I finished the game without too many problems.

Wild Shape has a lot of interesting interactions that make it a bit unintuitive

- The three attacks at level 10 is intentional, it's really funny that a Druid gets more swings per turn than a Fighter of the same level but as far as I can tell this is how it is supposed to function

- The reason why Moon Druid is doing better this patch is because up to now they literally did not have a level 6 feature, so Wild Shapes got BONKED by resistances left and right, it's truly a huge difference and way more imo than just "Wild Shape with a Bonus Action" if you intend on using Wild Shapes in Combat. Few feelings felt as bad as my Halsin's damage getting completely cucked in Act 2 because everything has B/P/S resistances despite him having Moon Druid 6, no more!

- Myrmidon Wild Shape (minus Earth which benefits half from Tavern Brawler) actually benefit from YOUR weapon proficiencies, which by default, Druids only get the Scimitar the Fire guy wields, so for a Moon Druid base it could be worth taking a FIghter level beyond 10 just to get a sweet sweet +4 to your other two Myrmidon Wild Shapes, or by picking a race that can give you the other proficiencies. Similarly, Owlbear feels a lot better when given the +4 to +5 to hit (but not damage, unsure if this is intentional) with Tavern Brawler.

- From my testing, item passives STILL get completely disabled after exiting Wild Shape until you re-equip all of your items. Especially annoying when using the item that gives you an extra wild shape charge and not getting the extra charge when you short rest because you forgot to unequip and equip it again. It also makes exiting Wild Shape in combat feel particularly punishing since you have to spend your action to equip the item again if you really need the passive from it.

Surprised to see monk beating out barbarian for tactician. Maybe the monk gets better at higher levels, but I found the early game experience just awful, it's the only playthrough I abandoned in act 1. I've completed the game with Bard and Sorc so far, both definitely deserve S tier. Paladin is the next one I want to try.

I think you should revisit your druid scores! I’m playing circle of spores and admittedly it’s not the strongest in the early game but from level 5 onwards it’s so great! Imho druids have the best summoning spells and spore druids can also create a summon as a reaction. Getting the bonus HP of wild shape via symbiotic entity without losing access to spellcasting is major, imho. Plus, wild shaping out of combat is really underrated for perks like being able to get around without detection.

Sleeping on Druid with War Caster and spamming Call Lightning or Moonbeam upcast for 10 turns of spell damage for 1 spell slot. With haste you can recast twice per turn. Without haste Moonbeam can be better since you leave it on the enemy and it takes damage right away and more on that enemy's turn

Tierlists arekinda useless if everything groups up towards s tier imo. At some point you have to differentiate. Its like having a class that all scores high 90s on a test,and youre meant to pick the best one. Its a tossup. Force the average to 50 and that 90 will stick out massively.

i think you over valued monks. kind of squishy???

Its so sad there isn't a shattered flail/sword of chaos equivalent in act 2

Fighter is so overrated. I mean of course the class is busted late game but Barb is way better early to mid game.

Initiative being a d4 makes feats like alert FAR too strong and dumping dexterity for a heavy armor build feel so bad. I personally like to use a mod to make it a d10 instead. Thoughts?

The number of bosses I've just deleted with Lae'zel is embarrassing for the devs. Hasted fighters are unequaled.

Have you considered adding attunement to your custom rule set? Limiting characters to 3 magic items could be a huge change.

It's a problem with how easy the game is, even on Tactician. I did a 4 barbarian run and maybe ran into two battles that were any challenge and only because I wasn't paying attention. Looking hard into builds really isn't needed. :/

That said, barbarian is also super interesting to play with. It's not just hitting dudes thanks to Wildheart. Wolfheart Barbarian with Elk Aspect + 4 levels of Ranger means you're giving huge movement buffs to your party thanks to Longstrider plus the Elk Aspect. But of course it's not pure DPR.

Barbarian B-tier? WTF 0_0

The healthiest tank with extra attack and rage, wich protecting him from damage - b tier, lol

Honestly another big plus for eldritch knights, at least in my opinion, is how damn mobile they are. Maybe it’s just me but they seem like they only move around less than rogues or teleports and you can easily get a teleport on them for even more mobility.

I think chamoion also S-tier when multi-class with other class

Also, the Thief rogue is way too useful to be ranked so low, just get a simple fighter dip for two weapon fighting and you've got 3 attacks at level 4. Alternatively instead of fighter go berserker and break the game with Giant Eagles. In which case also remember to shove your party members off a ledge at any opportunity, especially before important cutscenes.

Loved the video. Threw a sub. You mentioned in your video that you highly rate the Fighter Battlemaster subclass over the Champion class; I took a look at it but I'm not sure what battle manoeuver you would prioritize, any tips?

Spore Druid? B tier? Say that to my Pivogor, the wielder of the mighty glowing torch, the summoner of dead armies on perma-Aid, who always has +50 temp. hp per short rest, and a spell slot economy that never goes bad cus he plays as a martial with a full spell list. He's the party's Tank, Crowd Control, Damage Dealer, Summoner and Healer. And all that is only B tier?

(Build is just War Cleric 1 for armor, Spore Druid 11, Wisdom max for Shillelagh)

Throwing barb is top tier and bearbarian is up there as well

Yeah I played rogue and it was awful. If I missed a hit, I would have no actions left and basically useless compared to my companions of other builds

sounds like you haven't play druid. spore and moon druid are a tier at minimum maybe even s tier.

spore druid is the best summoner and can debuff entire battlefield and proceed to do damage while having 8-10 summons
moon druid you can literally shape shift into multiple forms and has an extremely high HP pool, can start in form become human cast spell and go back to form, elemental forms are very powerful at level 10

Iirc, one of the last patches fixed the Sneak Attack not scaling at level 11. Great video though, very good insights, though I would appreciate an aside on multiclassing. Just to note and credit the handful of classes or subclasses that are significantly better with multiclassing, like Thief as a 3 level dip being arguably one of the best options in the game.

sorry, your tier list is backwards. I tried to enjoy it, but honestly your play style must avoid the highest possible Damage Builds. Your limitations seem also to ignore optimal play, and design. You don't skip long rests, your caster builds are essential.

Now that primal stike is working for Druid i've been loving it i just hope they add more forms

As someone who highly prefers stealth in RPGs, I want to love the Ranger and Rogue so badly. But unfortunately I have to agree with you listing them as the bottom two. They're both strong early game but fall off so quickly. I've yet to finish the game with either class, I always either get bored or just underwhelmed with them. An Archery Fighter is so much better than both of them, it's not even close, which is frustrating.

Agree on everything but bard, dont really see why short rest is so powerful in your opinion if you can just use long rest every time you want. P.s. I love to play pal/bard multiclass, but bard itself feels weak compared to other classes

Well done video my friend, nice flow and resonable opinion. Other than that i would desagree with good few your rankings after 440hrs in game so far. I believe that you have heavy bias towards classes that is spell caster and charisma based. I have done number of solo tactician runs and this game obaolutly easy and after level 5 its steam role everything. I stringly disagree with a ranger ranking and specially with items available like you mention with adding to the attacks and with hand crossbows its possible wipe anything and still manage re enter stealth, i just banded hand crossbows in my play throughs. I think strongest class for co-op or even regular tactitian run is cleric. I do not understand why would you rank druid so low, i think they very strong control casters. I respect your personal opnion, but that is my two cents. Good job with a video.

Enjoyed this video especially the rational explanations for the placing of a given subclass. Would you ever consider an analysis of spell and/or guides for solo play, cheers.

At first i thought song of rest was great but you get so many camp supplies that long rests are negligible anyway. If anything you want to long rest a lot so you don't miss any story triggers or interactions. For this reason, warlock goes way down in power for me. as their shallow spells per combat reduce them to an eldritch blast bot. there are reason to mulitclass warlock for sure, but stand alone vs a sorc or a wizard, they are just not up to snuff imo. Their pact weapon attack stacking with other extra attacks might be the only reason I use warlock tbh. I have this same issue with them in tabletop. splash one level for hexblade and access to eldritch blast, maybe two for some invocations, and move on.

Luck of the realms and the crit ring Oh god shit gets out of control so fast on paladins

Druid is the only class besides Fighter to get Extra Attack x2 as long as you go for circle of the moon, 3 attacks in beast form makes it the only subclass worth taking with Jahera or Halsin.

I played a Lore Bard on my first playthrough and it was only on my second playthrough without a Bard that it sunk in just how much they did for the party. Cutting words is wild.

Larian Studios made a buff to wildshape; all druid's wildshape have extra attack at level 5 and triple attack at level 10