Baldur's Gate 3, the long-awaited third entry in the Baldur's Gate series, added the Barbarian class relatively late into its Early Access period. Players familiar with D&D 5th edition will no doubt be very familiar with these incredibly tough warriors who can easily resist non-magical physical damage while tearing through enemies like wet tissue using their signature ability, "Rage."
Baldur's Gate 3 features the Barbarian class with three powerful subclasses, The deadly and frenzied Berserker, and the Animal Channeling Wildheart, and the Wild Magic Barbarian. With the Barbarian and three subclasses newly added to the game with its official release, players will surely want to make the most of the class, and this guide will provide all the tips and tricks needed to become a truly terrifying Barbarian.
Updated August 4, 2023 by Erik Petrovich: With the full release of Baldur's Gate 3 a lot of things have changed from the Early Access version. Thanks to the new subclasses and expanded maximum level, players' ideas about the best Barbarian build in BG3 have changed, and will very likely continue to evolve as fans get deeper into the game. This guide has been updated to be accurate to the full release version of Baldur's Gate 3, but it doesn't recommend build choices past Level 5. Check back regularly for more advice on how to make the best Barbarian build as the Baldur's Gate 3 community continues to learn more about how the class plays at higher levels.
As a guide-in-progress, this build will be updated regularly with more information about choices in the mid to late game as players make their way through the expansive Baldur's Gate 3.
Starting Stats and Race
Barbarians are a physically focused class who perform well with either no armor, light armor, or medium armor and are at their best when wielding melee weapons (two-handed weapons being a favorite of many players). As such, their most important stats are Strength, for swinging their weapons with maximum force, and Constitution, for shrugging off damage with tons of hit points. Dexterity is also a very useful stat for helping them to mitigate the damage they take, especially if going unarmored or lightly armored.
As far as picking a race for a Barbarian, Shield Dwarves have a boost to HP every level-up, while Half-Elves have the additional benefit of Fey Ancestry which can be useful when dealing with charm and sleep effects which would otherwise neutralize the Barbarian during a fight.
An unusual but interesting choice for a Barbarian would be the Zariel Tiefling, which learns Searing Smite at level 3. This ability is used to make the Barbarian's powerful swings even more deadly by applying additional fire damage to an attack. They also have fire resistance, which combined with their rage can make them resistant to both physical and fire damage while raging.
Class Abilities
The Barbarian is a very dangerous class when engaging in combat, able to render itself resistant to physical damage while dealing extra damage with all melee and improvised weapons (which includes thrown objects). Ideally, their role in the party is that of a front-line fighter, tanking hits and paying them back with interest while keeping attention away from the squishier members of the party.
Their Signature Ability, Rage, causes them to deal 2 extra damage with all melee and improvised weapons, and thrown objects, while also gaining resistance to physical damage and advantage on strength checks and saving throws. It lasts for 10 turns but ends early if a turn passes without the Barbarian dealing or taking damage. This means the Barbarian needs to always be attacking and/or being attacked if they want to get the most out of their Rage. It's worth noting that their allies can strategically poke them with a weak attack to meet this requirement, keeping their angry friend in top form even if said friend can't hit anything that turn.
An important ability to note is the Illithid power "Endless Rage", which deals 1d4 psychic damage to the caster each turn while increasing the damage they deal with their weapons by 1d4, for 10 rounds. This ability, only available if players use the mind flayer tadpole inserted during the start of the game regularly, allows them to maintain their rage for the maximum duration while gaining additional benefits.
Moving back to abilities all barbarians have, The Unarmored Defense ability grants them tremendous defenses even while completely unarmored. More specifically, it grants them an armor class equal to 10 + Dexterity Modifier + Constitution Modifier. This means they can easily achieve armor class totals that rival heavy armor with enough investment into their Dexterity and Constitution stats.
They also gain the Danger Sense ability at level 2, which allows them to gain an advantage on dexterity saving throws against effects they can see, such as spells and traps. They only gain this benefit if they are not blinded, deafened, or incapacitated. Notably, this is very useful in reducing the damage taken from powerful damaging spells like fireball.
Reckless Attack, their other level 2 ability, is a deadly double-edged sword that allows them to gain advantage on attack rolls until their next turn while giving enemies an advantage on attack rolls against them until the Barbarian's next turn. This can be greatly effective at increasing their odds of hitting foes with high AC, and for increasing the odds of a critical hit, but should be used cautiously when surrounded, lest it backfire spectacularly when the enemy gets a turn.
At level 3, Barbarians gain an additional charge of their rage ability, allowing them to use it an extra time each long rest. This is also the level where they get to choose their subclass, both of which will be discussed in the next section.
Subclasses
The Barbarian has two subclasses to choose from when reaching level 3, each of which grants different benefits to their playstyle. The first of these is the Berserker, a furious warrior whose rage is upgraded into the Frenzy ability.
Frenzy is an incredibly dangerous upgrade to rage, which grants the barbarian the ability to make an improvised weapon attack as a bonus action during each of their turns, and also gives them access to the Frenzied Strike and Enraged Throw abilities while enraged. The extra attack granted by this ability makes positioning more important, as the player ensures the barbarian is always close to something they can grab to smash or throw into enemies. (With sufficient strength the Barbarian can always just cut out the middle man and use the enemies as improvised weapons, of course.)
- Frenzied Strike allows the barbarian to make an additional attack with their weapon each turn by using a bonus action, providing them with additional damage and allowing them to maximize their attacks per turn even without access to an easily grabbed improvised weapon.
- Enraged throw allows them to grab and throw an object or enemy as a bonus action, dealing damage and knocking the target prone. This is an excellent means of attacking foes at a distance and rendering them vulnerable to follow-up attacks from the barbarian or their teammates.
The other Subclass available to the Barbarian is the Wildheart, an adaptation of "Path of the Totem Warrior" from 5e. The Wildheart communes with the spirits of beasts to empower their rage and gain special capabilities.
On choosing this subclass, the Barbarian gets to choose from five Beastheart options, each of which grants a different benefit:
- Bear Heart: Grants the Barbarian the ability to heal themselves for 1d8+2 Hit Points as a bonus action while raging by using the "Unrelenting Ferocity" ability, while upgrading their rage damage resistance to cover all forms of damage except for psychic damage. This option makes the Barbarian unbelievably durable, especially when paired with high constitution and dexterity.
- Eagle Heart: The Barbarian can dash as a bonus action and foes have a disadvantage making attacks of opportunity against them. The Barbarian can use "Diving Strike" while raging to leap onto a foe who is below them (the barbarian must be at least 1.5m above the target), knocking them prone and dealing weapon damage while ignoring any fall damage they would normally take from the drop. This option allows the Barbarian to move around the battlefield with impunity, avoiding attacks of opportunity from foes they pass.
- Elk Heart: The Barbarian's rage makes them far swifter, increasing their movement speed by 4.5m and allowing them to use "Primal Stampede", which allows them to charge 9m through enemies knocking them prone and dealing bludgeoning damage to them. The Elk Heart is excellent for setting up enemies for follow-up attacks from allied rogues, fighters, and (at some point in the future) paladins.
- Tiger Heart: The Barbarian's Rage allows them to pounce great distances, increasing their jump distance by 4.5m and allowing them to use "Tiger's Bloodlust" while raging, an ability that lets them lash out at up to three targets simultaneously, dealing half damage but causing bleeding. A fantastic crowd control ability that makes the Barbarian especially adept at handling groups of foes.
- Wolf Heart: The Wolf Heart Rage inspires the Barbarian's allies, granting them an advantage on attacks against foes within 2m of the Barbarian, and also allows the use of "Inciting Howl" which allows allies within earshot to move 3m further during their next turn. The Heart of choice for Barbarians who want to support their team while keeping enemy aggro.
It should also be noted that Barbarians can change their selected Beastheart at level 4 if they decide they made the wrong choice or would like to try out a different Beastheart.
The other ability granted to Wildheart Barbarians at level 3 is Speak with Animals, which does exactly what it sounds like it does. By speaking with animals a Wildheart can gather useful additional information from animals throughout the game world, providing additional utility when not in combat.
Final Build Suggestions
With all of this information, players should have a pretty good idea of how to build a truly terrifying Barbarian. Here are some sample builds using everything we discussed earlier.
- Wildheart Tank
- Race: Shield Dwarf
- Background: Folk Hero
- Ability Scores:
- Strength 16, Dexterity 14, Constitution 17
- Intelligence 8, Wisdom 10, Charisma 10
This build is all about tanking damage and holding enemy attention. Grab Wildheart at level 3 and take Bearheart to gain immunity to all non-psychic damage while raging and this build will be able to handle anything Baldur's Gate 3 can throw at it.
- Flaming Berserker
- Race: Zariel Tiefling
- Background: Outlander
- Ability Scores:
- Strength 16, Dexterity 14, Constitution 14
- Intelligence 10, Wisdom 10, Charisma 10
This build is designed to deal out damage and keep the enemy on the ground with the use of improvised weapons. Take Berserker at level 3 and use Searing Smite on large foes to maximize damage. Players should also make good use of positioning and Enraged Throw to knock enemies to the ground, so they can gain an advantage on melee attacks against them.
These two builds are excellent for showing off the benefits of Barbarian's current subclasses, but there are plenty of ways to build a character.
Baldur's Gate 3 is available on PC and will release for PlayStation 5 on September 6, 2023.