Baldur's Gate 3 - Best Fighter Build Guide (2024)

By Brian Barnett on September 5, 2023 at 2:50PM PDT

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The best Baldur's Gate 3 Fighter build is all about taking advantage of the Fighter’s best assets: bonus attacks. In this guide, we’ll show you how to get your plain swordsperson in armor and turn them into a furious engine of death, able to take out multiple enemies in one turn or cripple single targets with similar gusto.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Fighter build guide - Battlemaster

There is but one build if you want a Fighter that can master the battlefield: the Battlemaster. It takes swinging your weapon to the next level, giving you an extra turn if you crit or kill an enemy, Action Surge to get another attack regardless of what you did before, and Riposte attacks which let you take advantage of your enemies' missed strikes. It’s a lot, and that’s why I love it.

Fighters can multi-class with the best of them, and that’s one of the reasons why they are ranked in the S tier of our Baldur’s Gate 3 class tier list, but this build is all Fighter, all the time.

If you want to multi-class, there are almost too many options to count. Because the Battlemaster subclass (and Fighter class benefits, in general) are so good for so many different classes, the world is really your oyster. Fighter/Barbarian is good for leaning into powerful melee and throw options, Fighter/Ranger or Fighter/Thief are good if you are looking to lean into ranged combat or want some more utility with pets or thieving, and Fighter/Wizard (or other caster) is great if you want to pair Action Surge with spell-casting.

Fighter Character Creation Choices

The optimization begins at character creation, so here's what you should pick for your race, sub-race, and all that.

Half-Orc is recommended for fighters, as their Savage Attacks perk means you will get triple Critical Hit dice, instead of simply doubled. The Relentless perk means you will remain at 1HP even if you get knocked out, which means you are more durable and can stay in the fight longer. You can also pick Elf or Half Elf with Wood Elf sub-race if you want to be a ranged fighter, with their proficiency in bows (and swords).

For Fighting Style, there are lots of choices that are good, depending on what you want. We are going with Great Weapon Fighting, but you can opt for Protection, Two-Weapon Fighting, or Archery if you prefer those playstyles. But if you do, why are you here? This is about the best Fighter build!

Battlemaster Fighter Level Up Choices

Level 2

Automatically chosen

Level 3

Subclass

• Battle Master (4 Superiority Dice)
  • Manoeuvre
    • Riposte (Reaction Attack)
    • Pushing Attack (Pushing off ledges)
    • Sweeping Attack (Multiple Targets)
    • Goading Attack (Tank builds)
• Eldritch Knight (Hybrid Caster)
• Champion (Not recommended)

Level 4

Feat

• Great Weapon Master (Melee builds with 2h)
• Ability Improvement (Strength)

Level 5

Extra Attack

Level 6

Feat

• Savage Attacker (Damage builds)
• Lucky
• Heavily Armoured
• Weapon Master
• Athlete (1 Str, extra Jump distance)
• Charger
• Mobile

Level 7

Manoeuvre

• Precision Attack
• Distracting Strike
• Feinting Attack

Level 8

Feat

• Ability Improvement (Strength)

Level 9

Automatically chosen

Level 10

Manoeuvre

• Trip Attack
• (Any above you haven’t obtained)

Level 11

Automatically chosen

Level 12

Feat

• See above

Baldur's Gate 3 is filled to the brim with activities and mysteries. You'll no doubt be part of an adventure that can take countless hours to complete. For other tips, you can visit our BG3 guides hub.

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