The Ultimate Barbarian Guide for Baldur’s Gate 3

Since the long-awaited Baldur’s Gate 3 went into early access, Larian Studios has been churning out constant updates and hotfixes that drastically improve the game’s quality of life while introducing new content to keep eager fans waiting patiently until August 2023 when the game fully releases. One of the most recent updates includes the Barbarian class as a starting option which means we can finally let out all of our pent-up rage with new class abilities and animations. To help you get started building the ultimate rage machine, we created a Barbarian class guide for Baldur’s Gate 3. 

Ability Scores and Class Options 

If you don’t mind picking from any of the starter races, we recommend the Shield Dwarf. Part of being a Barbarian in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition is being able to take hit after hit without going down while throwing around some damage of your own. The Shield Dwarf base stats increase your Strength and Constitution scores by two, which increases both modifiers by one. As these are a Barbarian’s most important stats, the Shield Dwarf is an obvious choice. Dwarven Resilience and Darkvision are just the cherries on top that keep you alive for longer and help you avoid disadvantage on attacks in dark areas. 

While Backgrounds can influence story decisions and aid in roleplaying, if you want to maximize your combat and exploration potential, Outlander gives us the optimal starting skill proficiencies. The other free options will go to Perception and Nature. We are ignoring Intimidation as we can just let another high-charisma party member do all the talking, letting our small ball of anger twitch in the background. Though with these skills, we likely won’t miss any important environmental secrets. 

With the ability scores, we want to maximize Strength and Constitution, and save the remaining points for Wisdom. The ideal point distribution is:

• Strength (17)
• Dexterity (12)
• Constitution (16)
• Intelligence (8)
• Wisdom (14)
• Charisma (8)

We steal a point from CON to put into WIS because a 16 or 17 gives us a +3 modifier and when we reach level four, we can either increase STR or CON depending on the party’s needs. It’s okay to keep a low DEX score, despite the dip in AC, because we can easily find medium armor to make up the difference and as long as you are raging getting hit doesn’t matter.

Weapons and Equipment 

Each early access update includes new magic items and trader stock, but can also remove or replace certain items. So It is important to note that these items might not exist, or exist in other places come full release. 

So far the only armor that directly increases the Barbarian’s Rage ability is Reason’s Grasp, which grants 15 temporary hit points at the end of your rage. You can find it on the Risen Road behind the two survivors defending against the gnoll attack. On a ledge inside the cave, behind a tripwire trap, is a locked chest containing the gloves. 

Next, we need to find items that build up a new mechanic called Wrath. With each point of Wrath, the wearer increases their melee damage by one, and we can find three items that let us build Wrath. The Cap of Wrath can be dropped by Thudd in Grymforge. Bloodguzler Garb is dropped by the Bulette in the Underdark, and the Linebreaker Boots is dropped by Beastmaster Zurk in the Shattered Sanctum. 

There are a handful of options when choosing enchanted amulets but if you want to build an invincible Barbarian, the Absolute’s Talisman will keep you alive and fighting throughout every encounter and can be dropped by True Soul Gut in the Shattered Sanctum. 

The two rings that benefit the Barbarian class the most are the Explorer’s Ring and Crusher’s Ring, which increase your Survival and Nature scores by one and increase your movement speed by three meters. The Explorer’s Ring can be found on a skeleton within the Bibberbang patch where you save Derryth in the Underdark, and Crusher’s Ring can be found on Novice Crusher in the Goblin Camp. You can obtain the Crusher Ring without killing Crusher by succeeding a skill check to pull the ring off of his toe with your mouth while kissing his feet. Yes, it’s as disgusting as it sounds. 

Currently, there are two weapons almost tied for the highest damage potential for Barbarians. The first is the Everburn Blade dropped by Commander Zhalk during the nautoloid introduction who is difficult, but possible, to kill. After obtaining this blade, it will last until you find the Light of Creation, dropped by Bernard atop the Arcane Tower in the Underdark. The Everburn Blade deals a max of 16 damage per attack without bonuses, and the Light of creation deals a max of 17 damage. In addition, the Light of Creation has the Extra Reach feature and the chance to stun enemies, making it extra deadly. 

With all of this gear in the right conditions, along with a Potion of Giant’s Strength a Barbarian at level four can deal a max of 27 damage in one attack, and 43 damage on a critical hit, which will one-shot most enemies found in early access. This beats the previous best with a character casting a level two Magic Missile while wearing The Sapphire Spark at 24 damage. 

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