A pure Fighter is one of the most powerful damage-dealing classes in Baldur's Gate 3. It's not easy to find a Fighter multiclass that can beat three attacks per turn in terms of pure damage. However, players who multiclass their Fighter will benefit from improved versatility and a more tactical Baldur's Gate 3 experience, making it a viable choice with the right build.

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One of the best Fighter multiclasses combines 8 levels of Fighter with 4 of Barbarian, enhancing the Fighter's abilities with powerful features like Rage, Reckless Attack, and Danger Sense. This combo allows players to take full advantage of build-defining Feats like the Great Weapon Master, using Reckless Attack to negate the Feat's penalties, and the damage resistance granted by Rage to limit the risks of Reckless Attack.

Updated June 11, 2024, by Aldous Foster: Baldurs Gate 3 allows players to play through the game in any way they please. There are a ridiculous number of builds the player can choose from, all of which can be fun and powerful with the right set-up. This means that players wanting to create a Fighter-based character may want to learn which other classes combine best with a Fighter, especially if they are hoping to take on the hardest difficulties the game has to offer. With the right gear, items, subclasses, and abilities this Fighter multiclass can easily become extremely resilient and powerful.

The Battlemaster/Wildheart: Levels 1-6

Control The Battlefield With Deadly Attacks

Fighter on a rooftop in Baldur's Gate 3

Players who want to build a Fighter/Barbarian character should start off with Fighter at level 1 for Heavy Armor Proficiency and Second Wind. Any race can work with this build, but Half-Orcs are particularly good due to the synergy between Reckless Attack and their Savage Attacks feature. The Duergar Dwarf subrace is also a strong choice due to its improved Darkvision and useful racial spells.

Players should make sure to set their Strength to 17 during character creation and then prioritize Constitution after that. Although Dexterity won't affect AC while wearing Heavy Armor, it is still useful for boosting Initiative. On top of this, the build will need to change to Medium Armor after gaining its first level of Barbarian, as Heavy Armor prevents Raging. Therefore, players can either begin with a Dexterity score of 14 or use Withers to raise their Dexterity to 14 when they take their first level of Barbarian.

Players should pick the Great Weapon Fighting Style to maximize their damage, although its effect is minor enough that Defense can also be a good choice to boost toughness. At level 3, players will get to choose their Fighter Subclass. Battle Master is recommended due to its superior versatility. It can control enemies with high-damage attacks such as Push Attack and Riposte. At level 4, players should take Great Weapon Master for a huge boost to their damage output. They can also take the Athlete Feat to round Strength up to 18 if they have not used Auntie Ethel's hair.

Features Gained Per Level

  • Level 1: Fighter
    • Second Wind
    • Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting
  • Level 2: Fighter
    • Action Surge
  • Level 3: Fighter
    • Fighter Subclass: Battle Master
    • Subclass Feature
  • Level 4: Fighter
    • Feat: Great Weapon Master
  • Level 5: Fighter
    • Extra Attack
  • Level 6: Fighter
    • Feat: Strength Increase (+2)
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The Battlemaster/Wildheart: Levels 7-12

The Added Power Of Rage

Fighter throwing a trident in Baldur's Gate 3

Once players have reached their second Feat at Fighter level 6, it's a good time to make the transition from leveling Fighter to leveling Barbarian. At this point, the character will have 18 Strength, Great Weapon Master, Extra Attack, and strong features from their Fighter subclass. This helps to ensure that they remain competitive while taking the early levels of Barbarian.

After taking their first level of Barbarian, make the switch from Heavy to Medium Armor. This shouldn't come with a serious loss of AC, provided the character's Dexterity is at 14. Barbarian level 2 comes with Reckless Attack, which can easily compensate for the accuracy penalty of Great Weapon Master, as well as double the character's chance of scoring a critical hit.

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When it comes to picking a Barbarian subclass, Wildheart is the recommended choice for this build due to its versatility. Players can select any of the Bestial Heart features they like, although Bear, Eagle, and Tiger are particularly recommended. Bear provides an incredible boost to survivability by making the character resistant to everything but psychic damage while Raging. Meanwhile, Eagle and Tiger both come with unique attacks that can benefit from Great Weapon Master. Tiger is especially strong as it can attack multiple enemies at once.

Features Gained Per Level

  • Level 7: Barbarian
    • Rage
    • Unarmored Defense
  • Level 8: Barbarian
    • Reckless Attack
    • Danger Sense
  • Level 9: Barbarian
    • Barbarian Subclass — Wildheart
    • Subclass Feature — Bear, Eagle, or Tiger Heart recommended
  • Level 10: Barbarian
    • Feat: Savage Attacker
  • Level 11: Fighter
    • Subclass Feature
  • Level 12: Fighter
    • Feat: Alert, Athlete, Ability Improvement

After reaching Barbarian 4 at level 10, return to Fighter for your final 2 levels. This will grant an extra subclass feature and a fourth Feat. At this late stage of the game, players should have reached the maximum base Strength of 20 and can take a utility Feat to boost their damage. The best of these Feats is Alert, which provides an incredible bonus to Initiative. This bonus will all but guarantee that the player always gets to take the first turn in combat. The extra damage that players can gain from Savage Attacker is also a strong choice.

The Champion Alternative Build

Even More Attacks And Critical Hits

Karlach the Tiefling in Baldur's Gate 3

For players looking to deal more damage and are not as interested in crowd control, there is another version of this build that takes the Champion subclass instead of Battlemaster. This increases one's critical chance, which works extremely well with Reckless Attack to make Critical Hits much more common. Adding in an Elixir of Viciousness ,Sarevok's Horned Helmet , and the Unseen Menace allows players to Critically Hit on about half their attacks.

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In addition to a different subclass, this build shines brightest when the player multiclasses with only 3 levels of barbarian and then takes 3 levels of the Thief subclass. This gives the player 2 bonus actions per turn, which is incredibly useful for closing the gap and dealing more damage. With Great Weapon Master, landing a critical hit allows the player to make an extra attack as a bonus action. This means that this build can attack twice and then has two bonus attacks if it gets kills or critical hits. With Luck of the Far Realms, Killer's Sweetheart , and Hold Spells, there are lots of ways to guarantee critical hits, meaning this build can pump out massive amounts of damage to bosses.

Buffs, Abilities, And Items For The Fighter Multiclass Build

The Extra Bits And Pieces Players Will Want To Look Out For

Characters at the Mirror of Loss in Baldur's Gate 3

There are several items and abilities that can massively improve the power of this build, taking it from being just strong to being one of the best melee builds in the game. Although there might be alternatives for some of the items listed below, these are the best options that the player can find.

Important Gear:

Important Buffs:

  • Auntie Ethel's Hair - Gained by making a deal with her, boosts any stat by one
  • Mirror of Loss - Pass Skill Checks for +2 to any stat
  • Longstrider - Increased movement speed as a free spell. Pretty much crucial for melee characters
  • Bless - Permanent bless can be gained by purchasing the statue of the player sold by Boney in the Circus during Act 3
baldurs-gate-3-cover
Baldur's Gate 3

Platform(s)
PC , macOS , PS5 , Xbox Series X
Released
August 3, 2023
Developer(s)
Larian Studios
Genre(s)
RPG