Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Class Guide – In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Class Guide, I’m going to be covering the Fighter Class, including all 3 Subclasses, and providing you some useful information. I’ll be doing more Build Guides for Baldur’s Gate 3, but for now, let’s just look at how a Fighter functions and its basics.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Class Guide
Fighters are the backbone of your frontline, and are some of the most capable warriors in BG3. Not only are they Proficient with all forms of Armour, but also all forms of Weapons and Shields, and they can heal themselves once per Short Rest with their Second Wind Class Feature.
Excelling in all forms of martial combat, Fighters have the potential to Attack more than any other Class in the game on a single turn. This is due to their Extra Attacks gained at both levels 5 and 11, as well as Action Surge.
Action Surge allows them to take a second Action on a given turn, once per Short Rest, or once per combat essentially. This Action can then be used to trigger their Extra Attacks all over again, granting them the potential of a total of 6 Attacks in one turn at level 11, if they’ve used this Class Feature.
BG3 Fighter Character Creation
In this section, we’ll take a look at how to set up your Fighter during Character Creation for the best results. We’ll begin with Abilities first, since this is arguably the most important part, aside from choosing your Subclass.
Abilities
Your primary Ability as a Fighter is Strength or Dexterity, depending on how you want to play your Fighter. Strength if you want to use Heavy Armour, or a two-handed weapon, or maybe even a one-hand and shield. You might go Dexterity if you prefer two-weapon fighting, though you could do this as a Strength Fighter as well, or if you prefer Medium or Light Armour, and like ranged combat with a Bow or Crossbow.
Additionally, Eldritch Knights may want to take some Intelligence to increase the likelihood of them landing Spells and Cantrips, so that is something to consider as well.
- Strength increases your melee hit chance, melee damage, increases Carry Weight and chance to Shove someone successfully, as well as increases Jump distance, and improves Athletics Checks and Strength Saving Throws.
- Dexterity increases your hit chance with Finesse melee weapons and ranged weapons, Damage Rolls with these weapon types, boosts Armour Class if not wearing Heavy Armour, increases Initiative, and improves Sleight of Hand, Acrobatics and Stealth Checks, as well as improves Dexterity Saving Throws.
- Intelligence is useful to Eldritch Knights who want their hostile Spells and Cantrips to connect more regularly. It also boosts Intelligence Skill Checks and Intelligence Saving Throws, but does not increase the number of Prepared Spells Eldritch Knights have, since they don’t need to Prepare Spells like Wizards do.
- Constitution is there to help keep you alive via HP, since Fighters typically soak up a lot of damage when on the front lines.
Your stat spread for your Fighter will vary depending on which route you want to go, but you’ll likely want 16 STR or 16 DEX and at least 14 CON. Below you can see some setups based on the type of Fighter you are making.
Strength Fighter
- STR 16
- DEX 14
- CON 16
- INT 8
- WIS 10
- CHA 10
Dexterity Fighter
- STR 12
- DEX 17
- CON 16
- INT 10
- WIS 12
- CHA 9
Eldritch Knight
- STR 16
- DEX 10
- CON 16
- INT 14
- WIS 10
- CHA 8
Note I’ve changed this from the recommendations as it more optimizes your Character during the early goings of the game. Also note, that you can play a Dexterity-focused Eldritch Knight if you wish instead of STR, and that if you plan to use only buffs or Magic Missile on your Eldritch Knight then you really don’t need Intelligence.
Race
Fighters have all Proficiencies in Weapons, Armour and Shields, so choosing a Race will come down to what else they can bring to the table, since these are not needed.
For instance, Drow have Superior Darkvision, Fey Ancestry and Perception Proficiency, which are all decent pick ups for the Fighter.
Gold Dwarf is also not a bad choice for Darkvision, Dwarven Resilience, and Dwarven Toughness, though they have lower Movement Speed, which isn’t ideal for Fighters.
Half-Orc is also a good choice, especially for melee focused Fighters, since they have Darkvision, Relentless Endurance, Savage Attacks and Menacing.
Skills
For Skills what you select will not have a huge impact in the game. Fighters don’t typically handle the dialogue of their group, though they can use Intimidation quite well compared to some Classes. Athletics is good to pick up for Shoving and helping to resist being Shoved, but beyond that the choice you want for skills is really up to you.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Level 1
At level 1, Fighters gain Second Wind, allowing them to heal themselves for 1D10 plus their Fighter level of HP as a Bonus Action once per Short Rest. This is a great way to help keep their HP up during fights and still Attack on the same turn.
Also at this level, all Fighters can choose one of the 6 Fighting Styles present in BG3. Fighters are the only Class that can choose from all 6, while other Classes can choose from a reduced pool of Fighting Styles.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Level 2
At level 2, all Fighters gain Action Surge, allowing them to take a second Action on their turn once every Short Rest. And as I mentioned before this allows them to Attack again, which will retrigger Extra Attack once they’ve acquired it, allowing them to potentially Attack 4 times at level 5 and 6 times at level 11 on a single turn. This is an extremely powerful Class Feature.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Level 3
At level 3, Fighters choose a Subclass and gain Subclass Features based on the Subclass chosen. We’ll go into what these are more in the Subclasses section of this Guide.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Level 4
At level 4, Fighters will gain their first Feat. Ability Improvement is good here for more Strength or Dexterity, but there are a ton of other Feats Fighters can benefit from.
Dual Wielder if you want to use two Rapiers and gain +1 Armour Class. Lucky is great for picking up some uses of Advantage and controlling outcomes. And Sharpshooter is great for boosting Ranged Damage.
Great Weapon Fighting is good in general, and even better if you’re using a Two-Handed weapon. Sentinel is not a bad pick up if you want to stop enemies from moving if you hit them with an Attack of Opportunity, and Polearm Master is great if you intend to use one of these weapon types.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Level 5
At level 5, all Fighters gain Extra Attack, allowing them to Attack again on their turn, but only if they used their Action to make an Attack. If you use Action Surge, this allows you to use Attack once again as an Action, retriggering this effect.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Level 6
At level 6, Fighters gain an extra Feat that no other Class gets besides Rogue (though Rogue gets this at level 10, instead of level 6). And once again there are many good choices here, as I mentioned before. And because Fighters can reach 20 in their main Ability with Ability Improvement, and still have 2 Feats left over, they have a lot of freedom to choose.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Level 7
At level 7, all Fighters gain a Subclass Feature based on the Subclass they chose at level 3. We’ll cover these more in the Subclasses section.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Level 8
At level 8, all Fighters gain another Feat, and they can choose from any I mentioned before, though investing some in Strength or Dexterity would be wise if you have not done so already (depending on what your main Stat is).
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Level 9
At level 9, Fighters gain Indomitable, allowing them to roll again once if they fail a Saving Throw. This drastically improves their chances of passing Saving Throws, and can help protect them against Spells and other negative effects.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Level 10
At level 10, all Fighters gain their final Subclass Feature, which again I will be covering in our Subclasses section.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Level 11
At level 11, Fighters gain Improved Extra Attack which allows them to make 2 additional attacks if they use their Action to make an Attack. They are the only Class in BG3 that can do this, as most other martial Classes only gain a single Extra Attack. And, as I mentioned before, if they use Action Surge then they can make 2 additional Attacks a second time, for a total of 6 Attacks in one turn.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Level 12
At level 12, all Fighters gain their final Feat, and they can choose from any I mentioned before, though they should ideally max out their main Stat if they haven’t already.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Equipment
Fighter equipment will vary greatly from Fighter to Fighter since they can go many different directions. However, Strength Fighters will typically wear Heavy Armour to allow them to invest heavily into STR and CON without sacrificing Armour Class. They can still use Medium if they wish, and may do so if they have 14 or so DEX. Dexterity-based Fighters on the other hand, will likely use Medium or Light Armour to take advantage of their higher Dexterity, though have the option to use Heavy Armour if they need it.
Weapon-wise, Strength Fighters will either use a Two-Handed Weapon, go One-Handed and Shield or may even Dual Wield two weapons if they want. Remember that Finesse Weapons use STR or DEX, whichever is higher. They will also likely throw weapons to deal damage at range, instead of using a Bow or Crossbow, particularly if they have lower DEX.
While Dexterity Fighters will use a One-Handed Finesse Weapon and Shield or will typically Dual Wield Finesse Weapons in melee combat, while using a Bow or Crossbow at range.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Subclasses
Fighters in BG3 can play completely differently based on their Equipment and Fighting Style alone, but their Subclasses also dictate how they behave in combat. For instance, Battle Masters have many different Actions they can use that can add effects to their Attacks, and they have a lot of freedom to choose the ones they like.
Champions on the other hand, have a higher Critical Hit Chance, allowing them to land Criticals more often. They also gain a second Fighting Style, allowing them to further specialize in combat.
And Eldritch Knights cast spells, both defensive and offensive, allowing them to augment their Attacks with magic that Fighters would not otherwise gain. All of these things together makes the Fighter a very flexible Class, and it’s unlikely that any two Fighters will be exactly the same.
| Subclass | Level 3 Feature | Level 7 Feature | Level 10 Feature |
| Battle Master | Manoeuvres (3) Superiority Dice (4) | Manoeuvres (5) Superiority Dice (5) | Manoeuvres (7) Improved Combat Superiority |
| Champion | Improved Critical Hit | Remarkable Athlete | Fighting Style |
| Eldritch Knight | Weapon Bond Spellcasting | War Magic | Eldritch Strike |
All Fighters gain their first Subclass Feature at level 3 when they select their Subclass, and then once again at level 7, and finally one more time at level 10. These Features are not the only thing that separates these Subclasses, however, since Eldritch Knights also gain Spellcasting, while Battle Masters and Champions do not.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Battle Master
Level 3
At level 3, Battle Masters gain 4 Superiority Dice that can be spent on Manoeuvres they’ve selected. They will spend one Superiority Die per Manoeuvre used, and these Dice replenish every Short Rest.
At level 3, Battle Masters will also get to select 3 Manoeuvres from a list, each with their own benefits. They will use their Superiority Dice to use these, and this Dice also adds 1D8 to damage in many cases, making these Attacks even stronger than default Attacks from a damage perspective. Note, Manoeuvres that have a Difficulty Class are equal to 10 + STR or DEX Modifier, whichever is higher.
Level 7
At level 7, they will gain one more Superiority Die they can use between Short Rests, giving them a total of 5 Dice, which is the highest number they will obtain.
At level 7, Battle Masters will gain 2 more Manoeuvres from the list that they can spend their Superiority Dice on.
Level 10
At level 10, Battle masters will gain a final 2 more Manoeuvres from the list, and their Superiority Dice will increase from a D8 to a D10, adding more damage to Manoeuvres that use them.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Champion
At level 3, Champions will gain Improved Critical Hit, which allows them to Critically Hit when rolling a 19 OR 20, instead of just 20 on their Attack Roll. This effectively doubles their chances to Crit, which is roughly a 5% increase, up to 10%. Note that this effect can stack with other effects that reduce the number needed on the die when making an Attack Roll, which can add up when setup properly.
At level 7, Champions can Jump 3m further than other Fighters, and can add half their Proficiency Bonus to any STR, DEX or CON Check they are making that they aren’t Proficient with.
At level 10, Champions gain a second Fighting Style, making them the only Fighter that has access to 2 different ones without Multiclassing.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Eldritch Knight
Spellcasting
At level 3, Eldritch Knights gain the capability to cast Spells in and outside of combat. This sets them apart from the other two Subclasses, since neither of them can do this. They use Intelligence for their Spellcasting Ability Modifier, just like Wizards and Arcane Tricksters.
At level 3, Eldritch Knights also gain Weapon Bond, preventing their weapon from being knocked out of their hand by Disarming Attack. This feature also allows them to Throw their weapon and have it return to them automatically, which is great if you like Throwing weapons.
At level 7, Eldritch Knights gain War Magic, which allows them to cast a Cantrip with their Action and then attack with their weapon as a Bonus Action in the same turn. This can be useful, but remember that Eldritch Knights also have Extra Attack, and they cannot Attack twice if they cast a Cantrip with their Action.
At level 10, Eldritch Knights inflict Disadvantage on Saving Throws made to their next spell cast before the end of their next turn against enemies they hit with a Weapon Attack. This allows them to Attack one turn, and then cast spells more effectively on the next.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide – Multiclassing
In this section of our Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Class Guide we’ll take a look at Multiclassing a Fighter in BG3, and what other Classes you might Multiclass with. Keep in mind this is not a complete list, but rather helpful suggestions to that make good pairings.
When To Multiclass
Fighters are heavily front loaded, meaning they gain a Fighting Style at level 1, Action Surge at level 2, and they gain a lot from their Subclass Features at level 3. This means the first most likely place you would Multiclass a Fighter would be after this point.
From this point onward it’s a lot less cut and dry about when you should Multiclass, since it really depends on what you need out of Fighter and what Subclass you chose. Fighters gain Extra Attack at level 5, so if you made it to Level 3, there is definitely a case for making it to level 5. And if you made it to level 5, level 6 gives you another Feat, so there is also a case to be made there as well. From this point onward, however, the further you go in Fighter the less likely you are to Multiclass.
Multiclassing Battle Master
I like 9 levels of Battle Master and 3 of Thief if you plan to dual wield. This allows you to Attack with your main and off-hands 2x each per turn, gives you the option to Dash or Disengage as a Bonus Action, and also provides some Sneak Attack damage.
Multiclassing Champion
I like 3 levels of Champion and 9 levels of Barbarian. This is because you gain access to Rage, further boosting your melee damage and providing damage resistance, while only having to sacrifice Heavy Armour to use Rage. You also gain Reckless Attack, allowing you to attack with Advantage every turn, which pairs nicely with the Champions chance to Critically Hit. Additionally, at level 9 Barbarians gain Brutal Critical, allowing them to roll an additional damage die when they Crit, making this even more deadly.
Multiclassing Eldritch Knight
I like 10 levels of Eldritch Knight and 2 of Wizard in order to gain access to level 3 Spell Slots, and to be able to learn spells from Scrolls, as well as pick up a Wizard Subclass Feature like Arcane Ward. This also allows the Eldritch Knight to pick up all Subclass Features, making it especially potent.
I hope you found these tips helpful, and we’ll have some more Builds out really soon that showoff more of these Multiclassing aspects!
That wraps up our Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Class Guide! Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content as we update the other Builds, and be sure to drop by our Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wiki which is being worked on night and day, as well as our Baldur’s Gate 3 Guides.
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