Baldur’s Gate 3 Class Tier List

Welcome to our tier list of the best Baldur’s Gate 3 classes.

We’ve ranked all twelve of the main classes based on our team’s experiences playing through BG3’s end game (max level 12) on the Tactician difficulty.

The game just released so we will likely be making changes often, so be sure to check back.

Check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 subclass tier list here!

Quick Disclaimers

• Play the way you want! In BG3, you can respec anything besides race, so there’s nothing stopping you from trying things out until you find what’s ideal for your playstyle.
• Party composition will always trump the power of any individual class. If your party members collectively synergize with their strengths and cover each other’s weaknesses, you’ll be pretty solid!
• This tier list does not factor in multiclass builds but we will create a separate Multiclass tier list soon.

Here are our rankings for the best classes in Baldur’s Gate 3 (click on a class to jump to their section):

If you prefer a more visual representation, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Tier List infographic:

Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Classes Commentary

Your journeys in Baldur’s Gate 3 will have you facing a wide range of situations. Some that you will be ready for, and others that you would never see coming (without using a guide or something of course).

In addition to the wide range of situations you’ll face, you’ll usually have many ways to solve that problem. Using the classic example of a locked door, a Fighter or Barbarian might break it down, a Rogue may pick the lock silently, and a Bard may simply convince the guard to open it for them.

Due to this wide range of playstyles and approaches to problem-solving, our criteria for this tier list can be summarized as three main categories:

• Combat
  • Includes a class’s ability to kill enemies, protect or empower allies, and influence the battlefield with utility and manipulation.
• Social
  • Includes a class’s ability to come out of social interactions with positive/intended outcomes, whether through direct dialogue or manipulating a conversation through other means like magic.
• Exploration
  • Includes a class’s usefulness in areas such as scouting, sneaking, gathering information for the party, navigating a dungeon’s traps, and much more.

Major Note: The Impact of BG3 Short/Long Rests

Some of our class rankings will be much different than the perceived best classes of D&D 5th Edition due to the ease of being able to rest often in Baldur’s Gate 3.

For example, in 5E, the Cleric is an S-tier class because it can be difficult to find time to safely rest in dangerous areas of a campaign (this depends on your dungeon master of course). Having no healer at all can be much riskier as you’ll be lacking ways to reliably sustain your party’s health during and between battles.

However, in Baldur’s Gate 3, even at the highest character levels and on Tactician (the hardest difficulty), you get enough Camp Resources to rest at will (as long as you’re collecting supplies along the way). In addition, there are areas where resting is blocked, but you can easily backtrack a bit to find somewhere where you can rest.

This makes no healer party builds much more viable (in fact, one of our writers beat Tactician mode with a Wizard, Barbarian, Monk, and Fighter build.

In many situations, you’re better off focusing on killing the enemies as fast as you can with high damage and mobility builds. Basically taking the “best defense is a good offense” mentality.

Likewise, since you can Long Rest easily, this also diminishes the value of classes like the Warlock and Fighter whose strengths traditionally include replenishing their resources with Short Rests.

S-tier Classes

Bard

If the party is an orchestra, the Bard is the conductor, being able to facilitate and dictate nearly any situation.

The only time they can really struggle is when they’re alone, and the Bard usually has the means to escape when isolated.

Although they are a “jack-of-all-trades class”, they are honestly still among the best classes when it comes to social impact and supporting their allies.

For example, Bardic Inspiration, which allows the Bard to bestow improved rolls upon allies, can turn the tides for attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws.

This allows the Bard to pull victory from the clutches of defeat or ensure a plan goes smoothly in ways that most other classes can’t.

What usually turns off players from having a Bard in their party is the outdated stereotype that they’re forced into a more goofy/jokester flavor, it’s hardly ever due to them lacking value to a party.

Paladin

When you first think of a Paladin class in any game, you’d probably think of a holy knight that can be found on the frontlines to tank and support their team with some utility, whether that’s healing or shielding.

Well, the Paladin of 5E and BG3 can not only do all of that, but they’re surprisingly one of the best classes when it comes to potential single-target damage due to their Holy Smite ability.

As a CHR-based caster, the Paladin not only shines in battle but also in social situations, offering a great option to be the face of your party since they can talk the talk but also be ready on the frontlines if discussions go badly.

Since most of their stats will go into STR/CHR/CON, a Paladin can be slow to a fight (with lower DEX) and won’t provide as much exploration value as other classes.

While they have strong single-target damage, they also lack AoE compared to other classes. However, their pros greatly outweigh their cons.

Barbarian

Ah, the Barbarian – although it is an incredibly linear and predictable class by nature, its Rage ability can singlehandedly carry combat encounters for your party as a frontline and damage dealer.

It is the “fight now, talk later” class, making it a good choice if you don’t care about talking your way out of a situation or just want to break down that door.

Something that makes the Barbarian particularly good in BG3 is that STR-related abilities like Jumping and Shoving are particularly strong. This lets them get multiple kills per round reliably and gives them additional utility when exploring.

A-tier Classes

Wizard

With their ability to permanently learn any spell by copying a scroll into their spellbook, the Wizards greatly embody this late-game scaling as they get to access the largest spell list of the spellcasters.

If your party knows what’s coming and has time to set up, the Wizards can effectively be the “Batman with prep time” since they can concoct the exact list of spells needed for that upcoming encounter/adventure.

For players who want to constantly try new ways of playing, the Wizard is also an attractive option they have the most subclass choices in BG3.

As far as downsides go, the Wizard doesn’t have as much raw power potential in comparison to the Sorcerer. They also need to maximize their INT stat, making them worse when it comes to exploration/social encounters in comparison to WIS/CHR casters.

However, since no other class maximizes INT, Wizards do offer some unique upsides when it comes to INT-related rolls when they do arise.

Sorcerer

While the Wizard may have access to more spells for more situations, Sorcerers provide more impact for the spells that they do cast.

This is because of the Sorcerer’s unique Metamagic ability, which allows them to cast upgraded versions of their spells by spending their sorcery point resources.

These upgrades include being able to cast the same spell onto two different targets (Twinned Spell), being able to cast a spell as a Bonus Action which gives you more freedom in your action economy (Quickened Spell), or even cast verbal spells without speaking (Subtle Spell) which basically counters Silence.

As a result, Sorcerers can really have powerhouse moments that other classes cannot.

So if you have a party that already has a good amount of versatility from other members, you may want to consider the Sorcerer for that raw power tradeoff.

In addition, since Sorcerers are CHR casters, they are adept in navigating social situations compared to their anti-social Wizard friends.

Monk

Being able to quickly traverse the battlefield and jump from enemy to enemy (often literally) is incredibly valuable in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Even in 5th Edition where the Monk was usually considered the weakest class, their insane mobility was something everyone agreed upon and they are still best in class for BG3.

Although they weren’t available in Early Access, we knew that the class was likely to receive some buffs like the Ranger did. Well, it happened and now they are a mobile monster that also has impressive damage output.

They can become super tanky with very high ACs, get multiple kills per round, dodge enemy spells, and more. Honestly, they have an argument for S-tier, but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.

Ranger

If you find yourself in between choosing a Druid or a Fighter, the Ranger may be the class for you.

This is because they can excel in melee or ranged combat but also have a splash of nature/animal abilities at their disposal.

For example, you can be a potent sniper with Hunter’s Mark or add an additional member to your party with an animal companion

Similar to the Rogue, the Ranger really excels in the exploration category, making it one of the best scouts to send ahead of your party.

In particular, the revamped Beast Master is incredibly strong, offering your party a major boost in action economy and utility to the point that we have to rank them in A-tier.

Druid

With their unique access to Wild Shape, Druids will always have an argument for being one of the most versatile classes.

Although Wild Shape is a bit more limited in BG3 than 5E (where you could transform into any beast you’ve seen before), there is still a wide range of situations that the Druid can bend themselves to on the fly.

In addition to their Wild Shape, Druid spells also offer nature and element-based utility in spades. Want to talk to animals? Talk to trees? Use a tree as a teleportation portal? The Druid can do it.

If you are in nature, they are the 4th S-tier class since they will make your party feel at home with a ton of extra exploration options that you wouldn’t have in a city environment.

That being said, although a Druid can tank, can cast spells, and so forth, they usually aren’t able to do so at the same level as the classes who have it as their primary role.

As a WIS-based caster like the Cleric, Druids can also struggle in some CHR-based social interactions, but being able to speak to animals and plants makes up for it.

B-tier Classes

Cleric

Having a Cleric in your party is a literal godsend due to their stabilizing presence and versatility.

Second only to the Wizard in their number of available subclasses, the Cleric truly can fit into almost any role.

They can frontline, heal, be built to deal considerable damage, offer unique strengths against undead enemies, and much more

Since they focus on the WIS stat, they won’t have the social impact that CHR classes (like Bard/Paladin) have and may need to stay behind in situations where sneaking and stealth are needed for your party (although can get around that with the Trickery Domain!).

Due to the ease of being able to rest often in BG3, healing abilities aren’t as necessary for success, so they aren’t the S-tier beasts that they are in 5th Edition.

Fighter

The Fighter is one of those classes that you can just slot into basically any party comp and be happy with it.

Although they won’t shine as much as others when it comes to social or exploration situations (since they max STR or DEX and CON), they live up to their namesake on the battlefield.

Need a frontliner? A long-ranged sniper? A one-on-one specialist to take out the enemy’s core threat? A Fighter can do it all, with their wide range of fighting styles.

With their Second Wind ability, Fighters are able to be self-sufficient and independent, allowing your party to direct your healing resources elsewhere.

And last but not least, Fighters have their signature move, the Action Surge which allows them to take an additional action and create a burst turn swing.

In general though, the Fighter falls off in comparison to the Barbarian and Monk in terms of damage output, so we have the class in B-tier.

However, like the Rogue, they are one of the best candidates for two levels of a multiclass dip.

Warlock

Next, we have Warlock, the sort of weird oddball cousin of the spellcasting classes.

In exchange for not having as many spells at their disposal in comparison to the Wizard and not having the raw power of the Sorcerer’s Metamagic, the Warlock offers the advantage of being able to get their spellslots back during a Short Rest.

Unfortunately, as we mentioned earlier in the article, it is very easy to Long Rest in Baldur’s Gate 3, so this sort of dampens the value of this perk a bit in comparison to D&D where it can often be dangerous to do so.

In addition, Warlocks also get access to their bread-and-butter cantrip, Eldritch Blast, which is one of the most powerful cantrips in the game (and often one a Warlock builds around with their Eldritch Invocations). Other casters will be much less impactful during their cantrip turns.

If you take the Warlock Fiend subclass with the Pact of the Blade, that lets you build up temporary hit points and have a sweet melee playstyle.

Lastly, Warlocks are another option for the face of your party as a CHR caster, but keep in mind that you may be pushed into certain choices due to the influence of their Patron.

So if you don’t like planning around your next Long Rest and want to keep the party rolling as much as possible, the Warlock may be for you. However, if you like to plan meticulously and can’t wait for that next Long Rest, you may want to go with another option as you’ll be ignoring one of the Warlock’s main upsides.

C-tier Classes

Rogue

Earlier, we mentioned that the Barbarian’s playstyle can sometimes conflict with the strengths of other classes.

The Rogue finds itself on the other end of the Barbarian’s spectrum YOLO spectrum, hoping to solve situations without their enemies ever knowing they were there.

They are among the best classes for exploration, with the ability to pick locks, disarm traps, scout enemies unnoticed, pickpocket some loot here and there, and so on.

In combat, Rogues can really shine in the early rounds of a fight, especially if your party had the surprise factor to get in some juicy sneak attacks.

However, if you find yourself in a fight where you didn’t have initiative (such as a trap in an enclosed space) or a long battle of attrition the Rogue will be serviceable but definitely not as good as other classes.

So if you have a Rogue in your party, make sure to really lean into choosing the time and place of your fights to maximize their skillset.

Overall, we have Rogue in B-tier because many of its strengths are done better by other DEX classes and most of its value comes from dipping two levels as a multiclass rather than a main build-around.

Closing Thoughts

Thanks for checking out our early list of the best classes in Baldur’s Gate 3. Remember that a lot can change from Early Access and although Larian built a lot of BG3 from 5E, there are a ton of differences between playing a video game and having a live table run by a dungeon master.

Ultimately, if you want to play with four Barbarians, four Bards, or four Monks, go for it! You’ll honestly be able to beat the game with nearly any comp (maybe not on the Tactician difficulty) as long as you play to the comp’s strengths. GLHF!

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