For the best Baldur's Gate 3 Cleric build, you'll want to combine the class's superb spellcasting with its frontline durability. Clerics have proved to be far from the most popular Baldur's Gate 3 class, though they can definitely be one of the best and most versatile classes in the game if you focus on all the right stats, abilities, gear, and even your chosen deity. Below, I've covered how to make the best Cleric build in BG3, including an optimal background, race, feats, and everything else you need to know!
Baldur's Gate 3 best Cleric build basics
The best Cleric build in Baldur's Gate 3 makes using of the following:
- Light Domain powers and firepower
- Diverse spellcasting using Wisdom
- Dexterity-based combat and agility skills
The best BG3 Clerics should focus on Wisdom to maximize spellcasting power, but Dexterity should be a close second. Many players build their Clerics into healing tanks, and that's a totally viable option - a stalwart Gold Dwarf with the Life Domain and Heavy Armor - but we found that if you want a Cleric who's more than just a vending machine for healing. There's a lot of fun to be had in leaning into Dexterity, making a slick and sly Cleric who evades and throws out a variety of spells. Here are the basics of the best Cleric build:
- Race: Drow (Seldarine Drow)
- Highest attributes: Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution
- Subclass: Light Domain
- Deity: Lathander
- Background: Urchin
- Class Skills: Insight, Medicine
- Equipment: Shortsword, Medium Armor that doesn't impose Stealth disadvantage, Shield, Dual-wield Hand Crossbows when available
- Cantrips: Light (Domain Spell), Sacred Flame, Guidance, Thaumaturgy
- Spells: Burning Hands (Domain Spell), Faerie Fire (Domain Spell), Guiding Bolt, Healing Word, Command, Shield of Faith
This is a bit of an unusual build, but Dexterity serving as the foundation for a tank build is the key here, with the Drow providing a range of weapon proficiencies that can keep you rooted in this side of combat. This build has something for everything but leans more into ranged combat - Sacred Flame, Guiding Bolt, and the superb Healing Word are all spells that can be cast at a distance, and Dexterity itself is something that ranged fighters will thrive with.
With that in mind, we've gone with the Light Domain, partly because it's a devastating choice to have ready to go in Act 2 of Baldur's Gate 3, partly because Undead are an especially common foe and Clerics can really devastate them - the Light Clerics in particular. Don't worry too much about the actual god of choice; we've simply chosen Lathander as a fun option because you can explore a temple of his at one point, and it's interesting to have that home team advantage.
Effectively this is a class that fights from behind the front lines, throwing out magic, buffing allies, and sending crossbow bolts and bolts of sunlight at anything that looks at them funny. It's an unconventional build for a Cleric, but one that pairs well with the existing party and can coexist with Shadowheart nicely. That being said, we did copy her Urchin background - it was just too tempting to have two Dexterity skills ready to go for dungeoneering purposes.
Later level Cleric builds: There's nothing stopping you multiclassing as you level up, and a Ranger wouldn't be a terrible choice considering your Wisdom/Dexterity skills, but Clerics are powerful enough in their own right that you probably don't need it, and you certainly don't want to lose the chance to cast Divine Intervention at level 10 onwards. Lean into equipment that rewards Radiant Damage, as that's your bread and butter, or look for Fire-empowering gear - as you level up in the Light Domain, you'll get spells like Fireball and Wall of Fire that can frankly put even a Baldur's Gate 3 Wizard to shame. A smart player will alternate between these two damage types, depending on what kind of foes they're up against.
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