Baldur’s Gate 3 Subclass Tier List (2024 Update)

BG3 Subclass Tier List Rankings

Welcome to our Baldur’s Gate 3 subclass tier list!

Our team has played through BG3 on the Tactician and Honour modes and hope to share our rankings to help you out in your playthrough.

We took into account many factors, such as late-game viability, value in different situations (combat, exploration, and social), and stat allocation demand (aka MAD for D&D players).

The game is very new so check back for updates as we learn more about what is optimal.

To see how the main classes rank, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 class tier list instead. 

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!
• Although we have played every subclass between all the writers on our team, we have not played them all to end game. Expect rankings to change.
• This list does not cover multiclass combos – check out our multiclass build rankings here.

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

Tier	Classes
S	Oathbreaker Paladin, Lore Bard, Divination Wizard, Berserker Barbarian, Open Hand Monk, Vengeance Paladin, Fiend Warlock, Battle Master Fighter, Storm Sorcery Sorcerer, Swords Bard
A	Moon Druid, Draconic Sorcerer, Gloom Stalker Ranger, Evocation Wizard, Wildheart Barbarian, Devotion Paladin, Beast Master Ranger, Ancients Paladin, Tempest Cleric, Assassin Rogue, Shadow Monk, Thief Rogue
B	Light Cleric, Wild Magic Sorcerer, Life Cleric, Archfey Warlock, Valor Bard, Wild Magic Barbarian, Hunter Ranger, Enchantment Wizard, Land Druid, Conjuration Wizard, Abjuration Wizard, Champion Fighter
C	Necromancy Wizard, The Great Old One Warlock, War Cleric, Eldritch Knight Fighter, Knowledge Cleric, Four Elements Monk, Trickery Cleric, Nature Cleric, Spores Druid, Transmutation Wizard, Illusion Wizard, Arcane Trickster Rogue

Check out our infographic version of our Baldur’s Gate 3 Subclass Tier List below:

Subclass Tier List Commentary

We’ve updated our commentary section with blurbs for each subclass! See them all below, organized by tier.

S-tier

The S-tier is composed of the classes that shine above the others because they are all strong at every stage of the game. From the moment that you start playing, you will feel their impact. From quickly slaying enemies to passing checks with ease, this tier is certainly the cream of the crop. Choose these classes if you want to bulldoze the game!

Paladin: Oathbreaker

Touted as by far the best class in the game, an Oathbreaker Paladin’s high Charisma, AC, and damage output makes them amazing in any team comp. They’re able to be slotted into any team and have great value.

Oathbreaker Paladins stand out amongst other Paladin sub-classes due to their class action, Spiteful Suffering. Spiteful Suffering deals damage while giving their entire party Advantage against the target. This is a great early to mid-game ability that can make difficult boss fights easier and get rid of any tanky enemies.

Pair this with their high Charisma, overpowered smites, and the ability to heal and support their party; this class can solo-carry almost any team even in Tactician.

Bard: Lore

The Lore Bard sub-class is the perfect exhibit of this class’ overall appeal. Their high Charisma and Proficiencies in related skills make story progression much simpler.

Not only are they useful out of combat, but their in-combat utility is exceptional. Their incredibly high supportive potential, with abilities such as Bardic Inspiration and their access to Magical Secrets at Level 6, gives their team substantial buffs and access to other classes’ spells, respectively.

One thing that is particularly appealing about this class is their ability to stand on their own without the use of multi-classing. Other Bard sub-classes are a lot better as a supplementary addition to other classes, but College of Lore is capable of being played on its own.

Wizard: Divination

What makes a Divination Wizard so incredible is their Sub-Class Ability; Portent. Once per Long Rest, they gain two random Portent Dice. During combat, they can use their reaction to change the die of any Attack Roll or Saving Throw near them. If they roll high numbers, then they can make sure to hit important spells, and if the number is low, it can make enemies weaker in combat.

The biggest problem with Wizards is how awful their early game is. Wizards have bad AC, HP, a low amount of Spell Slots, and a hard time hitting spells. Basically, it can feel like they can’t do anything until Level 5. Portent can ease some of these problems early since they can guarantee landing certain high damage/good cc abilities on enemies and cause enemies to miss their attacks on their allied team.

Wizards are a great scaling class that deals amazing damage in the late game but can feel very weak early on. Because of this, Divination Wizards are an amazing sub-class since they’re the strongest early-game Wizard class and scale very well later.

Barbarian: Berserker

Barbarians are a strong class within their own right, but the Berserker sub-class is capable of taking this moniker and pushing it to the next level. They are capable of dealing an incredible amount of damage at an early level due to the number of Actions that they can take each turn.

At Level 3, they are able to use Improvised Weapon Attack and Enraged Throw as a Bonus Action, providing additional damage and possibly utility depending on what they decide to throw. At this point, they also gain Frenzied Strike, giving them an extra melee attack to use as a Bonus Action on their turn.

Once they reach Level 5, they will gain Extra Attack, allowing them to potentially deal damage 3 times per turn, and at Level 6, their Frenzy allows them to resist being Charmed or Frightened. Each of these bonuses provide them with additional damage, which, combined with a Barbarian’s high Constitution, makes them a highly efficient frontline for their team.

Way of Open Hand Monk

Known as one of the worst classes in 5e, Larian has buffed Way of Open Hand Monk and made them extremely strong in Baldur’s Gate 3. Way of the Open Hand Monk is insanely good due to their high damage on Bonus Actions, as well as their great mobility.

Coupled with their Stunning Strikes, which effectively will let you stun-lock enemies for multiple turns, make them a great DPS. Using their Flurry of Blows, Way of Open Hand Monks can deal great damage and also crowd control enemies.

Their Ki Restoration allows them more opportunity to deal great damage to enemies. Way of Open Hand Monks have some of the best damage and mobility in the entire game and can fit into most team comps.

Vengeance Paladin

Oath of Vengeance Paladins are one of the best single-target damage dealers in Baldur’s Gate 3. They’re able to gain Advantage on any enemy with a Bonus Action due to Vow of Enmity. Vengeance Paladins have access to the same amount of high-damage Smites that all Paladins have, so being able to gain Advantage on any attack is great.

Oath of Vengence Paladins also have good mobility because of their access to Misty Step and Relentless Avenger (if you hit an enemy with an Opportunity Attack, your movement speed increases by 4.5 m on your next turn).

Coupled with their high Charisma and Strength due to being a Paladin, Oath of Vengeance Paladins are a great option for anyone who wishes to deal great amounts of damage on single targets while also buffing themselves and their allies.

Fiend Warlock

The Fiend Warlocks are great spellcasters and tankier than Sorcerers and Wizards due to Dark One’s Blessing. Dark One’s Blessing gives them temporary Hit Points (Charisma Modifier + Warlock Level) whenever they kill an enemy.

They don’t need to pass any checks to receive this passive. They also have very high CHR, so they’re great in dialogue and trading, especially with Dark One’s Own Luck.

Warlocks are very strong due to their Cantrip, Eldritch Blast, and the fact that as they level up, their Spell Slots scale with them. This cantrip is the main damage-dealing ability of any Warlock and can deal great damage no matter what stage of the game they’re in. Additionally, because their Spell Slot levels increase throughout the game, their spells will always hit incredibly hard.

Battle Master Fighter

One of the most versatile combat units, Battle Master Fighter is a great front-line addition. This is due to their access to Superiority Dice Maneuvers. These maneuvers can give them tons of options in battle, including disarming enemies and Rallying allies.

Due to their high Strength, they have great out-of-combat utility in terms of carrying capacity and jump distance. Fighters have low CHR and WIS, which can make environmental Perception checks or dialogue harder.

While this class doesn’t have high CHR or WIS, their in-combat utility makes them a great choice for a front-lining damage dealer and pack mule.

Storm Sorcerer

A Storm Sorcerer’s main appeal is their maneuverability in combat scenarios. The majority of spellcasters are incredibly immobile unless they gain a spell such as Misty Step or Dimension Door. This is something that can be difficult to strategize around, especially if they find themselves in a poor position.

At Level 1, Storm Sorcerers are capable of casting Tempestuous Magic: Fly as a Bonus Action, assuming that they have already cast a Spell during their turn. Unlike Fly (the Spell), this won’t trigger any Opportunity Attacks, allowing them to reposition much easier.

The majority of a Storm Sorcerer’s damage is reliant on Thunder and Lightning, so at Level 6, they gain Heart of the Storm, causing all Thunder or Lightning Spells to cause AoE damage relative to the Spell type. This not only gives them a lot of raw power, but it also provides a really good AoE damage source.

Swords Bard

Similar to other Bard sub-classes, College of Swords Bards excel when it comes to dialogue; however, their focus on martial combat is what sets them apart.

They gain access to several abilities such as Mobile/Defensive Flourish that provide them with things such as additional mobility or defense, respectively. At Level 6, they gain Extra Attack, granting them an additional Melee Attack on their turn.

Their versatility in this field and predominantly slow level progression renders them the perfect class to multi-class with as their abilities are capable of working well with others (such as Paladins or Rangers).

This allows them to gain the other benefits from the Bard class, such as their Charisma Skill Proficiencies and general out-of-combat utility alongside the damage that other classes may provide.

A-tier

The A-tier classes are all monsters that can carry you through the game with just a little help from gear and level power spikes. Once these classes reach their full potential you will feel like an unstoppable wrecking ball. Choose these classes if you want to feel powerful.

Moon Druid

The Circle of Moon Druid sub-class is highly reliant on their Wild Shape, gaining many Actions and Abilities to perfectly showcase this fact. Their high Wisdom allows them to easily spot things while exploring.

In addition, their ability to shift into high-strength animals such as bears or creatures that can teleport, such as myrmidons, augments this fact as they are capable of reaching difficult areas. This is perfect for saving time if completing puzzles and Ability Checks is too time-consuming.

As far as combat goes, Circle of Moon does provide a lot of versatility and general combat benefits such as a tank unit, crowd control, and decent damage depending on your chosen form. They’re even able to use Wild Shape as a Bonus Action, allowing you to shift and take an Action in the same turn.

The main drawback that keeps them from being perfect is their slightly weaker gameplay outside of Wild Shape. If you have a spell, such as Moonbeam or Call Lightning, you can’t use their recasts while you’re in Wild Shape, meaning that players often have to choose between Spellcasting and shifting.

Draconic Sorcerer

Comparative to other spellcasters, Draconic Sorcerers are much more defensive, as they gain a bonus to their AC, raising it up to 13 if they’re not wearing armor. While this is incredibly good in earlier acts, especially for a spellcaster, this Passive quickly becomes obsolete.

However, their Hit Points do increase by one for each level they have invested in Sorcerer which slightly helps to balance it out in later levels, meaning that their mid-game leaves a lot to be desired.

At Level 6, they gain the opportunity to provide themselves with Resistance to the damage that is related to their draconic type at the expense of a Sorcery Point, and their Charisma modifier is added to any damage they do that is of their ancestry.

Since Charisma is their spellcasting stat, both their damage and survivability will help sustain them during fights while they reposition.

Gloom Stalker Ranger

Masters of night, Gloom Stalker Rangers excel in first-round damage and rolling high Initiative. Once they reach Level 3, they gain Dread Ambusher and +3 Bonus to Initiative Rolls. Dread Ambusher in an extra attack that they can do during their first turn. When they reach Level 5, this is changed to 3 attacks.

They also gain access to Umbral Shroud, which turns them invisible as long as they’re obscured. This means that Gloom Stalker is a great multi-class option with Rogues if you’re interested in having a ranged backline.

Gloom Stalker Rangers have very high Dexterity, so they’re great at lockpicking and disarming traps. Some of the problems with Gloom Stalker Rangers are their focus on Concentration spells and their weak AoE damage.

Hunter’s Mark and Ensnaring Strike both take Concentration to cast and are single-target abilities. This makes Gloom Stalker Rangers great at single-target damage but can feel lacking when there are large groups of enemies.

Evocation Wizard

Evocation Wizards are a great option for late-game scaling. Their sub-class ability, Sculpt Spells, causes allies to automatically succeed in their Saving Throws and take no damage from Evocation spells.

Evocation spells include Fireball, Thunderwave, and many others. Later in the game, it can feel like your only damage-dealing abilities as a Wizard are AoE. Because of this, this passive becomes really strong later.

This sub-class is great if you don’t wish to worry about spell positioning and accidentally hitting any front-line companions. While they aren’t as good as Divination Wizards in Acts 1 and 2, their late-game scaling makes up for this tenfold. If you don’t care about how small the room is and you’d like to cast Fireball, then this is the class for you.

Wildheart Barbarian

When playing as a Wildheart Barbarian, they’ll be able to choose from a wide variety of Bestial Hearts that change how their Barbarian Rage works. While all Rages are good in some way, I personally believe that Bear Heart is the best Bestial Heart by far.

This is because Bear Heart Rage provides resistance to all damage except psychic damage. This makes them extremely tanky while Raging and allows them to front-line most damage for their team.

Though there is a lot of versatility when it comes to customizing this sub-class, so you could potentially focus more on having additional movement speed or even buffing your allies.

While they don’t deal as much raw damage as Berserker Barbarian or early-game Wild Magic Barbarian, a Wildheart Barbarian’s tankiness, and versatility make them a very strong sub-class that scales really well.

Devotion Paladin

Devotion Paladins act as knights in shining armor for their companions. This sub-class is focused on front-lining for their team with their access to abilities such as Turn the Unholy and Holy Rebuke.

These Paladins get spells like Sanctuary and Beacon of Hope that can be used to defend and protect their allies from harm.

Devotion Paladins aren’t as tanky as Barbarians nor do as much damage as other Paladin sub-classes, but they can still be a good frontline DPS and have high out-of-combat utility because of their high CHR and supportive spells such as Sanctuary.

Beast Master Ranger

A Beast Master Ranger’s appeal comes not only from their capable backline damage, but from their ability to summon a special animal companion to fill whatever gaps their team might have.

If their team needs more frontline, they can summon a bear. On the other hand, if they need more crowd control, they can summon a wolf spider to enweb their enemies. During earlier levels, their companions will struggle a lot due to their fragility, making the bread and butter of this class essentially useless until later in their progression.

As they level up, their companion will gain extra abilities such as more Hit Points and the ability to use Help as a Bonus Action. However, it is important to determine which companion is better suited for which occasion.

Ancients Paladin

These Paladins are a great option for anyone who wants to play a more healer/supportive-focused Paladin. This is due to their access to Healing Radiance (AoE healing scaled by Proficiency Bonus + Paladin Level + Charisma Modifier) and Aura of Warding (AoE Resistance to all spells).

Because of this, this class feels more like a Cleric than a traditional Paladin.
The main problems that arise in this class is centered around their low damage and tankiness when compared to other Paladin sub-classes.

Ancients Paladins gain access to sub-class spells like Speak with Animals, Ensnaring Strike, and Plant Growth. When these abilities are compared to Oathbroken and Vengence Paladins, who gain spells like Hellish Rebuke or Bane, it’s clear that there’s a damage discrepancy.

Tempest Cleric

Tempest Clerics are a great choice if you’re someone who wants to play a Cleric and deal a lot of damage. They gain Destructive Wrath, which lets them use a Channel Divinity charge on a Reaction to make Thunder or Lightning spells do maximum damage. This is especially good since most of their spells are AoE.

If you can inflict the Wet status, then their spells are dealing double the damage. In Act 3 this is especially useful as many enemies are actually weak to Thunder and/or Lightning damage, and very few enemies in earlier acts are Resistant to it. The fact that these Clerics also gain access to heavy armor and shields makes them both deal good damage and have high AC.

The drawbacks of this class are due to their reliance on only dealing Thunder/Lightning damage and their lack of supportive capabilities when compared to other Clerics. You’re not able to attack an enemy-specific element weakness and they don’t have sub-class-specific supportive spells like Light Clerics do.

Assassin Rogue

Assassin Rogues are one of the best combat initiators in the early game due to Assassin’s Alacrity which automatically restores their Action and Bonus Action after combat starts. They also deal additional damage to Surprised creatures, as successful attacks against them are automatically Critical Hits.

Their high Dexterity not only means that their Abilities, such as Sleight-of-Hand and Stealth are exceptional, but also that their Initiative is quite high. This allows them to take advantage of their other Passive Feature, Assassinate: Initiative, which gives them Advantage on any attack rolls against creatures that haven’t taken their turn before theirs.

After Level 3, they don’t gain any sub-class specific abilities until Level 9, so they’re also a really good candidate for multi-classing. Their lack of flexibility is one of the main concerns when it comes to gameplay. When they approach a problem, it’s always solved with the same solution. Sneak up on them and shoot them in the face before they can react.

While this is good for ambushing enemies and taking them out quickly before a bigger fight ensues, any unavoidable fights, such as boss fights, are incredibly difficult as they can’t scout or position ahead of time.

Shadow Monk

The Way of Shadow Monk uses their unique skills to hop in and out of the darkness, confusing their foes from their vantage point and occasionally jumping out to dole out a fair amount of damage.

They are capable of casting Shadow Arts: Pass Without Trace and Darkness, allowing them to give themselves ample cover without assistance from other sources.

Level 6 grants them Shadow Step, allowing them to jump between shadows (Lightly Obscured or higher) and gain Advantage on their next melee Attack Roll. This class has excellent mobility and self-supporting capabilities, rendering them perfect for multi-classing with a Rogue sub-class.

Playing this class comes with its own set of risks. If there aren’t any shadows to hide in or the fight is taking place in an open area, it can be nearly impossible to take advantage of their unique set of skills.

They rely on being able to quickly dip in and out of an enemy’s line of sight to poke them down over time, and if anything interferes with this, they essentially become useless until they’re able to hide again. All of this in combination with their overall lower damage output when compared to Way of Open Hand Monks can make them feel very situational.

Thief Rogue

One of the best multi-classing sub-classes, Thief Rogue is an amazing class to dip into. While they don’t gain multi-attack, they do gain an additional Bonus Action which is great for classes like Monks or Barbarians.

They gain this extra Bonus Action at Level 3 which is entirely unique to them.

While they’re weak late game (due to lack of new abilities and multi-attack) and you should never go Level 12 on a Thief Rouge, they’re great for multi-classing and can make other great classes even better.

Life Cleric

If you’re interested in being a complete healer for your team, then Life Cleric is the class for you. Their passives (Disciple of Life and Blessed Healer) let their healing spells heal their allies and themselves for more HP.

Because of this, spells like Mass Cure Wounds heal for a lot more than they usually do when cast by a non-Life Cleric. A common criticism of this class is that since potions are in abundance, there’s no real reason for you to waste a team slot with a Life Cleric.

I somewhat disagree with this sentiment as having someone whose sole purpose is to heal their allies can be a real game-changer in a lot of later boss fights, especially if you’re a beginner.

Especially because of their access to mass AoE healing spells, which can both revive and heal allies simultaneously. It’s never bad to have a Life Cleric on your team, but it’s never necessary.

B-tier

The B-tier classes all have aspects of their game that shine. These classes are useful to have at certain points of the game but will struggle through entire sections that the above tiers will be able to race through. Choose these classes if you want to make the game a challenge.

Light Cleric

Light Cleric is another DPS-centered Cleric class. Unlike Tempest Clerics, however, this class focuses more on fire-based spells and making enemies miss their attacks.

Their domain spells include Fireball, Flaming Sphere, Wall of Fire, and many other fire-related spells, which leaves them feeling useless during fights against enemies with Fire Resistance. While any class that can cast Fireball is already going to be good, the fact that Light Clerics can pump out good damage while also supporting allies makes them a great choice for most team comps.

The reason they’re in a high B-tier instead of A-tier is that they don’t deal as much damage as Tempest Clerics and don’t support as much as other Cleric sub-classes. They are a great all-rounder class that is good at dealing fire damage through spells.

Wild Magic Sorcerer

Wild Magic Sorcerers are a very interesting spellcasting class. Since they’re Sorcerers, they scale off of Charisma which already makes them good in multiple scenarios.

They also have access to the Tides of Chaos ability, which allows them to gain Advantage on their next Attack Roll, Ability Check, or Saving Throw and increases their chance of a Wild Magic Surge afterward.

However, these Wild Magic Surges can be either positive or negative for their team. They can range from gaining an additional action through Action Surge or turning their entire party into cats and dogs. This class is essentially gambling, so you lose out on having consistent damage.

Archfey Warlock

Archfey Warlocks are one of the most defensive spellcasting sub-classes. Once they reach Level 6, they gain Misty Escape. When an Archfey Warlock is hit, they have the option to turn invisible and cast Misty Step on their next turn.

At Level 10, they become immune to being Charmed due to Beguiling Defences. There aren’t many enemies that have Charm abilities so their resistance will often go unused. While they don’t deal nearly as much damage or have as much defense as Fiend Warlocks, they’re still a good spellcasting class.

Valour Bard

The College of Valour Bard sub-class is the militant counterpart to College of Lore. They provide primarily combat buffs which, in combination with their proficiency in all Martial Weapons, Light and Medium armor, and Shields, means that their battle prowess is, in theory, viable.

Instead of gaining Flourishes, they are able to provide buffs to their allies’ Attack Rolls or Armor Class. Unfortunately, outside of those benefits, their combat can feel overall underwhelming in practice due to their lack of specialized combat abilities other than Extra Attack at Level 6.

Wild Magic Barbarian

Wild Magic-based sub-classes are often enjoyed by players because of their unpredictability and high risk/high reward gameplay. Unfortunately, Wild Magic Barbarians fall short in both aspects.

While they do get the benefits of high Strength and exceptional early game damage, the Wild Magic Effects themselves don’t provide the greatest edge when it comes to both utility and damage.

They attempt to be a “supportive” class, but Barbarians are not inherently supportive, leading to somewhat disjointed gameplay. At later levels, they do gain the ability to recover spell slots for themselves or their teammates; however, this ability can only be used once per Long Rest and is less potent than a Wizard’s Arcane Recovery or a Circle of Land Druid’s Natural Recovery.

Their other ability that they gain at Level 6, Bolstering Magic: Boon, is a one-target ability that provides a +1d4 bonus to Attack Rolls and Ability Checks for 10 turns. This isn’t a bad ability if you don’t have a Cleric, or anyone with Bless or Guidance on your team, but since it can only be used once per Long Rest, it would be better to just have the Cleric.

Hunter Ranger

Hunter Rangers are one of the most defensive ranged classes in Baldur’s Gate 3. Depending on which Hunter’s Prey they select, they are capable of effectively executing their enemies or dealing decent crowd damage.

At Level 7, they’re able to select Defensive Tactics, allowing them to gain buffs such as Advantage against being Frightened or giving enemies Disadvantage on Opportunity Attacks against them. This makes it easier for them to reposition and stay along the outskirts of a fight.

However, they don’t get this until later in their level progression, so until then, there isn’t much that is unique about them during the early game when compared to other Ranger sub-classes.

Enchantment Wizard

The Enchantment Spell Class mostly consists of crowd control abilities such as Hold Person or Crown of Madness, while Wizards, as a whole, are generally more privy to pure damage abilities. Enchantment Wizards gain Hypnotic Gaze at Level 2, allowing them to potentially Charm an enemy for two turns once every Long Rest.

This effect can be extended through recasts, but once the target is damaged, they are broken free of the effect. This is useful for keeping powerful enemies out of the fight, but if it is broken, there is no way to recast it. Additionally, it is a melee ability, meaning that in order to use it, you will have to put your Wizard in harm’s way.

Their Level 6 Reaction, Instinctive Charm, allows them to Charm enemies after being attacked; however, if the enemy passes a Wisdom Saving Throw, this ability becomes useless against them until the next Long Rest. Since it’s a Reaction, it also can’t be casted at will, so using it in dialogue is out of the question.

Finally, at Level 10, they gain Split Enchantment, which allows them to use any Enchantment Spell that only targets one enemy on two targets instead. While this doesn’t sound bad in theory, it’s important to note that Sorcerers gain a similar ability (Metamagic:Twinned Spell) at Level 2.

Land Druid

Circle of Land Druids are the pure spellcasters of the Druid class. They gain access to Natural Recovery, which lets them recover Spell Slots while out of combat.

As they level up, they also can choose from Elemental Circle Spells and have a wide variety of spells to choose from. The main issue with this class is that their spell damage isn’t as high as a Warlock or Wizard.

They also can’t Wild Shape as efficiently as a Circle of Moon Druid because it takes an Action instead of a Bonus Action. This makes them feel weak when compared to other classes who fill this role better.

Conjuration Wizard

One of the biggest strengths of playing a Conjuration Wizard is their Level 6 Ability, Benign Transposition: Teleport. This allows them to quickly reposition, which is important for fragile spellcasters, such as Wizards. Conjuration as a Spell Class is mostly focused on abilities that summon either surfaces or otherworldly creatures to aid them in battle.

This can leave the damage output feeling lacking, and while they do have access to some decent abilities, playing a class such as Druid will provide you with more variety and combat utility than playing a Conjuration Wizard.

Abjuration Wizard

The Abjuration School is about as close to a tank as a Wizard is going to get outside of multi-classing. Their Level 2 Passive Feature, Arcane Ward, blocks damage after they cast an Abjuration Spell, and its intensity resets after each Long Rest.

At later levels, they’re able to give this ward to nearby allies. While this ability blocks a flat amount of damage with no rolls required, being defensive isn’t necessarily a Wizard’s forte, and if your party is relying on a Wizard for defense, you have bigger issues to worry about.

Champion Fighter

A Champion Fighter’s main goal is to land critical hits as often as possible with their passive, Improved Critical Hit. This passive decreases the number they need to roll to land a critical hit by one.

This passive can be stacked with, and is reliant on, other items and potions and can eventually become very powerful if you’re able to find the best items available in the game.

While you’re able to deal great damage with this class, its lack of utility, versatility, and the amount of time it takes to make this class good can make it feel boring and lackluster when compared to other melee sub-classes.

C-tier

The C-tier classes have specific niches that, when met, will make you feel powerful. Getting to these payoffs is the challenge with this tier. This tier often requires more planning and coordination pull off their maneuvers. They are all highly gear and party dependent. Choose these classes if you want to have a meme party composition.

Necromancy Wizard

On the surface, the Necromancy School seems like it would be an incredibly strong class. At Level 2, they gain Grim Harvest, allowing them to regenerate Hit Points equal to two times the Spell Slot level used after killing a creature using a spell.

During the early game phase, this healing is negligible as 2HP is not going to protect you from being bludgeoned with a goblin club. Once they get to Level 6, they gain Animate Dead for free, provided they don’t already have the spell.

They also gain the ability to raise an extra corpse. It’s important to keep in mind that this ability won’t stack with itself, meaning that if you try to raise more creatures using this Spell, your previous ones will disappear. Overall, their sub-class-specific abilities can feel underwhelming while playing, especially during the early game and after they fall off at later levels.

The Great Old One Warlock

This Warlock subclass is focused on landing Critical Hits and imposing a Disadvantage on enemy attacks. They have the ability Mortal Reminder. This passive makes it so that when they land a critical hit on an enemy, that creature and any nearby enemies must succeed a Wisdom Saving Throw or become Frightened until the end of their next turn.

The main problem with this class is that it doesn’t offer any abilities or passives that lower critical hit rolls. When they do eventually land a critical hit, all the enemy has to do is succeed a Wisdom Saving Throw and their passive becomes useless.

Overall, this class is the worst Warlock sub-class by far and it shouldn’t be picked unless you really want to play a Great Old One Warlock for whatever reason.

War Cleric

Playing a War Domain Cleric sacrifices a lot of supportive capabilities that come from other classes for sub-par damage. They are capable of utilizing War Priest Extra Attack, which works in a similar manner to the Extra Attack learned by Fighters or Barbarians; however, these require charges to use, meaning that they can run out of extra attacks in the middle of a fight.

Playing this sub-class also requires you to spec your abilities differently when compared to other Clerics as they gain Heavy Armor and Martial Weapon Proficiency which is, in theory, useful for providing a frontline to their team.

However, it essentially demands you to spread your ability points across too many stats, leaving you feeling weaker on all fronts.
The majority of domain spells that they acquire throughout their level progression, such as Divine Favor, Spirit Guardians, and Stoneskin, require Concentration, which is difficult to maintain if they’re soaking damage at the front of the line.

In essence, this sub-class really tries to be versatile with its frontline damage capabilities and supportive utility, but somewhat falls flat in both when compared to classes such as Paladin or other Cleric sub-classes.

Eldritch Knight Fighter

Eldritch Knights are a cool class in concept but are translated badly in Baldur’s Gate 3. This sub-class deals less damage than normal Fighters or Wizards, has very few Spell Slots, and gains new spells every 6 Fighter levels.

In Act 1, there are some weapons and items that are meant for Eldritch Knights. While these can make this sub-class decent, once you’re further in the game, you notice that their damage is comparatively much lower than everyone else around them.

Since their Spells scale off of Intelligence, then you need to make sure you’re able to have good Intelligence, Strength, and Constitution Ability Scores. This makes them not as strong as a pure Wizard or Fighter in terms of magic and melee damage.

Knowledge Cleric

Knowledge Domain Cleric is a class that specializes in being able to gain extra Proficiencies in Arcana, History, Nature, or Religion. Any Ability Checks they make with these skills has its Proficiency Bonus doubled. At Level 2, they gain Knowledge of the Ages as their Channel Divinity Action, which is essentially the Githyanki Action, Astral Knowledge.

It allows the user to gain Proficiency in all Skills under a certain Ability until their next Long Rest. All of these abilities are useful for exploration, dialogue, and out of combat utility; unfortunately, they do sacrifice a fair amount of combat efficiency, and the bonuses that they do gain are nowhere near as useful as more specialized classes would be.

In essence, they are the counterpart to War Domain Clerics in that they strive to do too much and end up falling into mediocrity.

Four Elements Monk

The only Monk class where spellcasting is the main damage source, Four Elements Monks are a cool concept but can lack in damage when compared to other Monk sub-classes.

They gain the class action Harmony of Fire and Water, which lets them regain half of their Ki Points when not in combat (rounded down). You’ll eventually notice that most Monk Spells are just standard spells with cooler sound effects and names. Flames of the Phoenix is Fireball, Fist of Four Thunders is Thunderwave, Gong of the Summit is Shatter, etc.

The only difference is that these spells are cast with Ki Points instead of Spell Slots and are relatively much more expensive to cast. Their Ki Restoration is worse than a Druid or Wizard’s restoration, and they have less points early on.

Trickery Cleric

Trickery Clerics are a great addition if you’re running a stealth-centric team. However, a Trickery Cleric’s class-specific spells can feel weak on literally any non-stealthy class. Their sub-class abilities include Blessing of the Trickster and Pass without Trace.

Blessing of the Trickster gives a creature an Advantage on Stealth Checks and Pass without Trace silences all companions and gives a +10 bonus to Stealth Checks. While both of these abilities are great for any rogues or rangers in their party, they don’t offer the same broadly supportive capabilities other Cleric abilities do.

Nature Cleric

Nature Domain Clerics are arguably most (in)famous for their attempt at emulating Druids. They gain Heavy Armor Proficiency, rendering them as a somewhat viable selection for their team’s frontline.

Like Druids, their Domain Specific Spells are mostly centered around Difficult Terrain, such as Spike Growth and Sleet Storm. At Level 2, they gain the Channel Divinity Ability, Charm Animals and Plants, which is good in theory as early on, most classes only have access to Charm Person which is single-target and can only target humanoids.

Unfortunately, a Nature Domain Cleric’s supportive capabilities do fall off fairly quickly as their Level 6 Channel Divinity Reaction, Dampen Elements, can be used to half the damage dealt by Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, and Thunder.

This can be easily emulated with the spell Protection from Energy, nullifying the tactical advantage you would get from selecting Nature Domain Cleric. When compared to abilities that other Cleric sub-classes get, such as Improved Warding Flare or Blessed Healer, this can come off as underwhelming.

Spores Druid

Raising zombies from corpses, Spores Druids are the necromancy sub-class for Druids. Their spell, Fungal Infestation, allows them to raise undead from any beast or humanoid corpse.

While this sounds cool, you’ll soon find that the zombies raised are pretty weak in terms of HP and damage. They can also only create four zombies per Long Rest if they have 20 Wisdom. Unfortunately, you cannot cast this spell during Wild Shape, which undermines the main gameplay mechanic that makes a Druid unique.

After all, Clerics, Wizards, Warlocks, and even Paladins can learn some variant of Animate Dead. Overall, this class falls short when compared to other Druid sub-classes in terms of damage and utility.

Transmutation Wizard

The Alchemy in Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t the most in-depth system, yet it’s what the Transmutation School is meant to embody. At Level 2, they gain the Passive Feature, Experimental Alchemy, which allows them to potentially create two potions instead of one while crafting, provided they pass a Difficulty Class 15 Medicine Check.

Medicine is a Wisdom skill, which isn’t a bad stat for a Wizard to have, but it generally won’t be in their top two, meaning that the bonus this grants is neither guaranteed nor beneficial enough to justify picking this class.

Once they reach Level 6, they are able to create Transmuter’s Stones, providing whoever carries the stone with various bonuses ranging from Darkvision to Resistances.

These stones can only be created once per Long Rest or after casting a Transmutation Spell of Level 1 or higher, and the benefits they provide are fairly minimal. Finally, they have access to Shapechanger at Level 10, allowing them to turn into a blue jay and fly without the cost of spell slots.

While this is somewhat decent for repositioning or exploration, there are more efficient means of achieving this goal than picking this sub-class, such as playing as a Druid or learning a spell such as Gaseous Form. If more classes utilized the Alchemy/crafting aspect of the game, such as, I don’t know, Artificer, there might be more potential in this sub-class as a whole.

Illusion Wizard

Illusion magic in Baldur’s Gate 3 is notoriously lacking, and Illusion Wizards only prove this point. At Level 2, they gain the spell Improved Minor Illusion. This allows them to cast Minor Illusion as a bonus action.

When compared to other Wizard subclass abilities (such as Evocation or Divination), this sub-class ability is severely lacking. Their next ability is unlocked at Level 6. They gain the spell, See Invisibility, which reveals hidden enemies and possibly reveals them to their allies.

This isn’t as good as it sounds since enemies get to pass a DEX save to not be seen, and you can just get Volo’s surgery to get this same ability.
The only good ability they gain is Illusory Self at Level 10. This spell lets them make a duplicate of themself and cause an enemy to miss an attack.

While this might sound good, it’s important to remember that this is a Level 10 ability and it is one attack once per Short Rest. By the time this ability is unlocked, enemies will most likely be able to multi-attack. Overall, this is by far the worst Wizard sub-class in terms of damage and abilities.

Arcane Trickster

It’s a well-known fact that Arcane Trickster Rogues are known as one of the most underwhelming classes in the entire game. This is partially due to the unfortunate state of illusion magic being somewhat poorly implemented and translated from tabletop to a video game format.

A large portion of spells that are designed to distract enemies don’t function properly, and the utilization of spells such as Arcane Lock isn’t necessary if you’re looking for efficiency. In theory, their skillset sounds fairly similar to Way of Shadow Monks and Gloomstalker Rangers; however, they lack the specialization of a ranger and the impact of a Monk.

Thanks for reading our Baldur’s Gat3 subclass tier list! Check out our main BG3 class tier list here.