Every Baldur’s Gate 3 Class, Ranked From Worst to Best
Baldur’s Gate 3 is probably the biggest game on the planet right now – so big and popular it almost broke Steam – but it’s also gigantic in scale. As a Dungeons & Dragons game, it’s got a huge amount of customization, and one of those key customization options is your character class.
Every class has different abilities, stats, and skills available to it, making every character you play as pretty unique. It also means your choice from the 12 available classes is an important one — while you can change class in Baldur’s Gate 3, it’ll cost you 100 gold each time.
We’ve taken a look at every class in Baldur’s Gate 3 and ranked them from worst to best. The bulk of these rankings are based on how good they are in-game, but some might have been bumped up slightly just because of how cool they are.
Barbarian
Barbarians are fine, I guess. No class in Baldur’s Gate 3 is truly bad, exactly, but Barbarians are definitely the worst. In combat, they do well enough, cutting through hordes of enemies, but other classes can do the same — and more. Outside of combat, they’re lacking the skills to really do much outside of the occasional smashing of things, and that doesn’t come up enough to make it a worthwhile investment. Sorry Barbs.
Monk
The Monk is the newest class in Baldur’s Gate 3, having been added for the full release of the game, but latest doesn’t always mean greatest. Being able to roll into combat encounters unarmed is cool, but making the most of the class requires a lot of situational awareness and skill, which can suck the fun out of the game a little bit.
Ranger
Rangers are always a fun class in D&D, but there’s no denying they’re a little bit on the plain side. They’re often situational in combat, meaning some encounters are difficult without some assistance, and even with the Beastmaster specialization letting you call animals into battle, they’re still not the most engaging to play.
Fighter
The Fighter is just a better Barbarian, which makes it better than the Barbarian, but it still suffers from many of the same pitfalls. They can’t do much outside of combat, and their main approach is just to hit stuff in combat. They do at least offer a lot more flexibility, acting as a blank slate for melee classes, but they’re still not that great.
Warlock
Warlocks are essentially just tankier wizards, which has its ups and downs. With medium access to weapons and armor, they can be very flexible, but the trade-off there is that they get fewer spell slots. Not exactly ideal for a spellcasting class. They are at least excellent conversationalists though, having a strong charisma stat to help sweeten the deal when chatting.
Rogue
Rogues sound like a great idea on paper – stealth is a heck of a lot of fun in most RPGs – but Baldur’s Gate 3 just isn’t really built to give them the best fighting chance. Rogues can be fun in the right hands, getting in quickly and quietly to scout ahead, but once they get into actual combat everything falls apart. The saving grace is their dexterity and charisma stats, which makes them very useful outside of combat.
Paladin
Paladins are a great class, having all the strengths of melee classes like the Barbarian and the Fighter without any of the drawbacks. It’s a bit of a mixed class because of it, with access to healing magic and a high charisma stat, making it a bit of a jack of all trades, rather than a master of one. Still, for a good, balanced experience with plenty of options, it’s hard to turn down the Paladin.
Wizard
Wizards are the Fighters of the magic world, meaning they’re very flexible and you can build them up to be just about anything you want — except a healer. Learning spells is fairly cheap and fairly easy, and the ability to regenerate spell slots in the middle of combat is both handy and absolutely crucial. A Wizard without their spells is hardly a Wizard, after all.
Sorcerer
The Sorcerer is much more focused than the Wizard, and as a result much more powerful. It’s all about modifying spells to maximize the potential of each cast, and overall has the potential to be one of the most powerful classes in the game. It is a glass cannon though, with low armor and HP capabilities, so you’ll want to try and avoid direct combat as much as possible.
Druid
The Druid has one major draw card: Wild Shape. It lets you turn into animals, which gives a huge range of possibilities for offense, and since animal form HP is separate from your human form, you can take a pretty heavy beating. Granted, you don’t get a lot of offensive spells, but who needs spells when you can turn into a grizzly bear?
Cleric
Clerics are the ultimate spellcaster, with huge damage output from offensive spells and very powerful healing spells. They get access to pretty much all of the best spells in the game, and despite having fewer spell slots than some other classes, make the most of every cast. If you want to play a spellcaster, the Cleric is the way to go.
Bard
Yeah yeah, we know, the Bard is the most stereotypical pick for the best class in any D&D-related media. We can’t help that they’re so charming, and that charm means they’re easily one of the most useful classes out of combat, since they can sweet-talk anybody into doing just about anything. They’re no slouches in combat either, with a ton of flexibility on offer with supportive spells and dexterity weapons. It can be a little overwhelming at times, but if you just can’t pick a class, pick the Bard. You can thank us later.