After a long road, Larian Studios has finally released Patch 8, the final major update toBaldur’s Gate 3. This update includesmajor changes like cross-play supportfor people to play together, a new photo mode, and brand-new animations, abilities, and cantrips. It also opens up some more modding possibilities by allowing for partial level editing.
Undeniably, the biggest part of the new update is how12 new subclasses are being added to the game—one for each available class. Many of these subclasses were previously highly requested, and they come with unique new dialogue options and abilities. As the last major update planned, this may be the last chance for players to see their favorite subclasses fromDungeons & Dragonsbeing featured.
1College Of Glamour Bard
A Fey-Touched Bard Who Uses Magic To Charm Their Opponents
InDungeons & Dragons,the College of Glamour Bard uses Feywild magic to charm and dazzle their opponents. Larian emphasizes (via a community update onSteam) their ability to heal allies and to control and manipulate their enemies. This class is a good multi-class pairing with the Archfey warlock, given how both are charisma-based and usually involve attaining magic from the fey.
Thoughthis class perfectly fits a character with Fey Ancestry, players who like building character stories around their protagonists may want to consider how they came into the use of Fey magic in the first place.
The College of Glamour is overall a good choice for players who want to play a support role while still playing tricky, charlatan characters. For starters, you gain theMantle of Inspirationfeature when picking this subclass, giving you a way to Charm enemies that hit your allies and give friends Temporary Hit Points.
10 Best Spells For Bards In Baldur’s Gate 3
The Bard class in Baldur’s Gate 3 is great for supporting your allies and controlling your enemies, especially if you use its best spells.
At later Levels, you gain more charming traits, such asMantle of Majesty, which lets you instantly command creatures you’ve already bewitched with your glamorous personality. These two Mantle abilities only grow stronger over time, allowing you to target more of your allies and grant them greater health bonuses as you continue to level up.
2Path Of Giants Barbarian
Players Deal Damage By Throwing Their Enemies And Allies
The Path of Giants barbarian is perfect for throwing builds, allowing players to pick up and toss their friends and foes alike. The subclass also comes with increased carrying capacity, which is a great quality-of-life feature for players sticking to the base game.It comes with a new type of Rage called Giant’s Rage, which grants extra size and strength, a much more straightforward buff compared to the Bestial Hearts of the Wildheart barbarian, and a lot more predictable than the Wild Magic subclass.
For players interested in this subclass, thebest feat for barbarianswho follow the Path of Giants would likely be Tavern Brawler, as it adds more damage to improvised and unarmed attacks.
In addition to theGiant’s Rageability that increases your size and carrying capacity, you can also castThaumaturgy, a simple cantrip that improves your Intimidation and Performance checks. This adds to the menacing presence of this subclass, giving you more roleplay opportunities for your Barbarian character.
As you level up, Path of the Giants gains theBoot of the Giantsability, giving you a better Shove to kick targets far away from you. At level 6, you also gainElemental Cleaver, gaining the ability to supercharge your attacks during a Rage with elemental damage bonuses. Your weapon also gains the Thrown property, reappearing in your hand immediately after you use it chuck it at some poor enemy.
Considering the wide variety of environmental opportunities available inBaldur’s Gate 3, there’s a lot to accomplish with the sheer strength of Path of the Giants Barbarians. If hurling enemies into each other sounds like the most exciting way to win a fight, then it’s hard to go wrong with this approach.
3Death Domain Cleric
A New DPS Cleric Subclass
TheDeath Domain Clericis a subclass surrounded by necromancy and necrotic damage - its addition to the game comes with three new cantrips, and some content original toBaldur’s Gate 3.Larian grants the Death domain cleric the ability to “explode nearby corpses,“which has great potential for some interesting strategies.
A good team combination could involve a Death cleric and a Path of Giants barbarian, given their increased carrying and throwing capacity.
Baldur’s Gate 3differs fromDungeons & Dragonsin the sense that certain cleric domains are not limited to certain gods, and players can choose a combination of any domain and any god to worship. However, the deities available to be chosen ascleric idols inBaldur’s Gate 3who would canonically have followers under the death domain include Shar, Kelemvor, and Laduguer.
Baldur’s Gate 3: 10 Best Armour Pieces For Clerics
The best armor pieces for Clerics in Baldur’s Gate 3 take advantage of conditions such as Radiating Orb and Reverberation.
Some other deities in the game like Myrkul, Bhaal, Loviatar, and Jergal remain excluded from any cleric options. That being said, choosing theDeath Domain inBaldur’s Gate 3still grants you thematic spellsthese deities would bestow, including Bone Chill, False Life, and Ray of Sickness.
All the Necromancy cantrips of a Death Domain Cleric that only hit one enemy target one additional creature, giving you more damage than even Necromancy Wizards. Extra necrotic damage from the Level 2Touch of Deathfeature combines with the Level 6Inescapable Destructionability, which allows spells you cast to ignore necrotic resistance. With all the Necromancy Domain spells you get as you level up, this subclass grows strong quickly.
4Circle Of Stars Druid
A Druid Who Draws Their Power From The Stars
The Circle of Starsgrants a druid character new forms to shape-shift into other than the standard Wild Shapes.There are three of these new forms: the Archer, Chalice, and Dragon.
Radiant damage dealt with astral arrows
Restores hit points to nearby allies
Dragon
Deal damage with a Constitution bonus
Each of these forms combines with other features, like theStar Mapsability that gives you the spell Guiding Bolt to use once before a Long Rest. As you level up, yougain additional Star Maps to learn more spells you can use without using up spell slots, giving you much more magic at your disposal.
Why Druids Are Secretly The Most Overpowered Class In Baldur’s Gate 3
Druids are quite overlooked in the Baldur’s Gate 3 and Dungeons & Dragons fanbases, but can actually be one of the most powerful classes.
Furthermore, you gainCosmic Omensat Level 6, which allow you tocommune with the stars to receive the blessing of Weal or Woe. Weals can help you increase the attack rolls or saving throws of your allies, while Woes can decrease the same rolls from your enemies. You gain more uses of these Omens as you level up, giving this subclass even more flexibility in combat.
Baldur’s Gate 3once again proves the versatile nature of the druid class, as the new forms each prioritize a different type of gameplay — healing, close combat, and strategy. They may even rival the moon druid’s elemental myrmidons.
5Oath Of The Crown Paladin
Possibly The Class Of The Oathbreaker Knight
The Oath of the Crown is a promise to uphold the law and is often sworn to lords and nobles. This is a good choice for a Lawful player of any sort. Playing as an Oath of the Crown Paladin also provides somenew dialogue and content for the Oathbreaker Knight, who shows up when Paladins run afoul of their solemn vows. Givenwho the Oathbreaker Knight was in life, it’s quite likely that he was intended to have followed the Oath of the Crown before becoming an Oathbreaker.
The Oath of the Crown comes with three new features:Righteous Clarity, used to guide allies;Divine Allegiance, which heals and absorbs the damage dealt to a player’s allies; and the ability to taunt enemies through theChampion Challengeability.
The new 2025 playtests for this subclass also revealed the Oath spells gained from taking this route. At Level 3, you gainCommandandCompelled Duel, which goes well with the Champion Challenge ability to taunt enemies. At Level 5, you getWarding BondandSpiritual Weapon, while Level 9 seesSpirit GuardiansandCrusader’s Mantleenter your arsenal of radiant attacks and defensive magic.
6Arcane Archer Fighter
A Ranged-Focused Fighter Variant
The Arcane Archer fuses the use of regular weapons with magic and spellcasting.The subclass adds a new focus on psychic damage and comes with new bow animations. Though in the lore ofDungeons & Dragons, thetechniques used by the Arcane Archerare elven in nature and involve fey magic, this may become a popular choice to give to Githyanki characters such as Lae’zel given how Githyanki tend to excel at psionic attacks.
In Patch 8, yougain 4 unique Arcane Arrows when you take this subclassat Level 3. You can use these arrows to fire Arcane Shots, which are similar to the Battle Master’s maneuvers from another Fighter subclass. Some of these Arcane Shots include:
Deal additional force damage to targets within an AoE.
Enfeebling Arrow
Deal additional necrotic damage and possibly inflict the Feeble condition on a target.
Deal additional psychic damage and possibly charm a target.
Possibly banish a target to the Feywild.
Seeking Arrow
Deal additional force damage and possibly apply Faerie Fire spell effects to a target.
Deal additional psychic damage and possibly Blind a target.
Deal additional poison damage and affect a target’s Movement Speed.
Piercing Arrow
Attack all those within the line of your shot, dealing additional damage to those that fail a saving throw.
Eventually, all your ranged attacks become magical and overcome resistance, making you far more dangerous. TheCurving Shotfeature at Level 7 allows you to use your Bonus Action to attack the next closest target from one you missed earlier with a magical ranged attack, giving you more ways to inflict damage. As yougain more Arcane Shots and Arrows at later levels, you’ll constantly be shooting down foes left and right.
7Drunken Master Monk
Baldur’s Gate 3 Finally Has A Use For Excess Camp Supply
The Drunken Master is an unexpected subclass addition, but an extremely fun one nonetheless.Notorious drinker Thisobald Thormwill have nothing on these players, as they willgain the ability to drink alcohol straight from their inventories, as well as something to do with the hundreds of bottles of wine they’ve collected that never seem to be used as camp supplies.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Best Way Of The Drunken Master Monk Build
One of the best new subclasses from Baldur’s Gate 3’s final patch is the Way of the Drunken Master Monk - time to put that extra booze to good use.
Monks of this nature will deal more damage towards drunken targets — though this may seem like a small niche of enemies, they luckily can also inflict their drunkenness onto others with theIntoxicating Strike. This feature also activatesLife of the Partyat Level 7, giving a monk a better Armor Class (AC) and attack rolls against targets they make drunk.
Later on, the Drunken Master Monk gains theSobering Realisationability at Level 9, where they can strike a drunk creature to inflict Psychic damage. While this does make them lose Life of the Party, the extra damage could decide a fight.
With this new subclass comes new ways to spend a Monk’s precious Ki Points, including theRedirectfeature at Level 6. This ability lets you spend a Ki Point to use your reaction to make an enemy who missed you to attack a new target instead. This allows the Drunken Master to be a chaotic force on the battlefield, debuffing enemies and changing their attacks to hit their allies instead of your party.
8Swarmkeeper Ranger
Not The Bees!
Yet another fun subclass is the Swarmkeeper ranger. While the Beastmaster can summon their animal companions, these Rangers can call forth swarms of them. Swarms deal additional damage to creatures afflicted by Hunter’s Mark, giving the Ranger more reliable sources of damage through their unorthodox allies.
The table below shows all the different nature spirits you can bond with in this subclass to form a swarm, along with their unique effects:
Legion of Bees
Piercing
Target has to make a Strength saving throw or be knocked back 15 feet.
Swarmkeeper Rangers will be able to summon three different types of swarms— the Cloud of Jellyfish, the Flurry of Moths, and the Legion of Bees. Any swarm can grant the player teleportation abilities, but each swarm deals different types of damage with potential extra effects.
As you level up, you gainWrithing Currentswith your swarm,giving your allies a way to give you flight. Eventually, this feature also gives you extra AC, increasing your defenses as you command your swarm around a battlefield to put your character in the best position possible.
9The Swashbuckler Rogue
Players Can Finally Live Out Their Pirate Fantasies
A highly anticipated subclass, the Swashbuckler Rogue, comes with the pirate-inspired flair that many players were missing fromDungeons & Dragons. This type of rogue is very strategic andcan blind enemies or forcefully disarm them while avoiding opportunity attacks.Players should have high hopes for this subclass when it comes to roleplay ability and unique dialogue, as it’s unlikely that Larian will stop players from living their true pirate fantasy.
A lore-abiding multiclass with the Swashbuckler could be with the Tempest Domain cleric, possibly worshiping Talos, the god of storms and destruction.
The Swashbucklerhas additional bonuses to Initiative, making them faster than even other Rogue subclasses. Swashbucklers can also disable a target’s ability to perform Opportunity Attacks, giving their allies more freedom to move in combat. This subclass works very differently than other Rogues, asyou don’t need to have Advantage to trigger Sneak Attack.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Best Swashbuckler Rogue Class Build
Baldur’s Gate 3 just added the Swashbuckler Rogue subclass with the new Patch 8 update, and you’ll want to know the best way to build its new skills.
This flavor of Rogue also gains thePanacheability at Level 9, allowing it to beguile a humanoid to grab its attention. Against enemies, this will inflict disadvantage on all of its attacks that it tries to make against targets who aren’t the Swashbuckler. Against anyone else, it will simply charm them, allowing the subclass to play into its suave nature to get what a character wants.
10Shadow Magic Sorcerer
A Dark Subclass With A Brand New Summon
The Shadow Magic sorcerer is a great addition for players who want their characters to have a darker edge to them.It introduces a brand new summon, the Hound of Ill Omen, and has the potential to be one of the most effective spellcasters. With new allies on their side, this brand of Sorcerer can create creatures who aren’t nerfed by Darkness magic this subclass gains naturally as they level up.
10 Best Feats For Sorcerers In Baldur’s Gate 3
Sorcerers are some among the most powerful spellcasters in Baldur’s Gate 3, and with these feats they have the potential to be even better.
Though the magic-based classes are known for being easy targets in battle, this subclass grants playersStrength of the Grave, which causes a character toregain a Hit Point instead of being downed in battle. The class also comes with extra buffs when obscured by shadows, as well as Superior Darkvision, which before was limited to Underdark races, Gloomstalker rangers, and warlocks with Devil’s Sight.
Future abilities of this subclass also give a Sorcerer character more evasive skills, allowing them to teleport into darkness. After doing this, the Shadow Sorcerer’s next spell will have the benefits of the Distant Spell metamagic without having to spend a Sorcery Point. This gives you ways of conserving resources as you retreat to places where enemies can’t catch you in the shadows.
