Best Baldur's Gate 3 Races

Highlights

Gnomes are a great choice for magic classes in Baldur's Gate 3 due to their Gnome Cunning skill and the Deep Gnome subrace's stealth abilities.
Dragonborns have the most subraces, and players should consider the color of their Dragonborn to match their chosen class and elemental strengths.
Half-Orcs are a resilient and intimidating race that excels in melee combat and is a perfect choice for fierce fighters.

Baldur's Gate 3 is a phenomenal RPG that allows players to not only pick from a wide variety of races but also an assortment of subraces within these categories. While the game allows any race to freely pick what attributes they concentrate on, unlike Dungeons and Dragons, the races still have other advantages that may encourage a player to create a character using that race.

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With this in mind, this is every race in Baldur's Gate 3, ranked, and which is arguably the best subclass for each option, so a player has the potential to survive no matter what difficulty they choose to play on.

11 Gnome

Deep Gnomes Make Great Rogues

Movement Speed	7.5m
Skills	Gnome Cunning: The player has an advantage in Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws
Subraces	Deep Gnome Rock Gnome Forest Gnome

Starting off with the shortest race in the game, Gnomes may find themselves ranked the lowest, but that doesn't make them useless. This tiny Gnome is a great choice for players who want to play a magic class due to the race's Gnome Cunning skill. This gives the player an advantage in Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma saving throws.

Gnomes also have three subraces for players to decide from, with one of the best being the Deep Gnome. Due to these Gnomes commonly living underground, they gain Superior Darkvision instead of regular Darkvision, as well as Stone camouflage that makes them brilliant at stealth checks.

10 Dragonborn

Dragonborn Have Elemental Strengths

Movement Speed	9m
Skills	Draconic Ancestry: What Color Dragon determines the player's resistance and damage type Breath Weapon: A cone of a damage type that an enemy must make a saving throw to half the damage they take
Subraces	Black Blue Brass Bronze Copper Gold Green Red Silver White

Dragonborn is the race with the most subraces available, as their true power comes from what color Dragonborn they are. For example, if the player was to create a black Dragonborn, this character would have access to a Breath Ability that shoots acid damage while also being resistant to acid.

Other than this, Dragonborns have nothing else to offer and, therefore, players should consider what dragon's breath ability would best match their chosen class when considering what color Dragonborn to create. However, it should be important to note that the subrace choice of color doesn't mean the player has to make their Dragonborn that color too.

9 Dwarf

Duergar Can Hardly Be Charmed Or Paralyzed

Movement Speed	7.5m
Skills	Dwarven Combat Training: Proficient with Battle axes, Hand axes, Light Hammers, and War hammers Darkvision Dwarven Resilience: Advantage on Saving Throws against Poison damage, and resistant against it too.
Subraces	Duergar Gold Dwarf Shield Dwarf

Dwarves are another small yet mighty race in Baldur's Gate 3, that is perfect for any player looking for a race that matches a front-line fighter. This race already has a resistance to poison damage and has an advantage in saving rolls that involve poison. They also possess Darkvison and the proficiency to use battleaxes, hand axes, light hammers, and war hammers, no matter what class they decide.

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These buffs are only made greater by picking one of three available subraces, with Duergar being one of the most interesting. With this race once being enslaved by Mind Flayers, players have this role-playing crutch to work off of, as well as instead, having Superior Darkvison, an advantage in saving throws to prevent being charmed or Paralyzed, and magical tendencies that allow the player to enlarge themselves.

8 Tiefling

Zariel Tieflings Learn Searing Smite

Movement Speed	9m
Skills	Darkvision Hellish Resistance: Resistant to fire damage (only take half)
Subraces	Zariel Tiefling Mephistopheles Tiefling Asmodeus Tiefling

Tieflings are already a race that many players have gravitated toward, purely because of how the race looks. Many players have always wanted to have horns or look like a demon, and the Tiefling is the best fit. However, other than this, the traits and features of this race encourage more to try them too.

Besides all three subraces having Darkvision and being resistant to fire, the Zariel Tiefling is arguably one of the best. At level 3, this powerful Tiefling unlocks the spell known as Searing Smite. This can usually only be used by Paladins and is incredibly powerful in the hands of a Tiefling. At Level 5, this Tiefling then also unlocks Branding Smite.

7 Half-Orc

One Of The Most Resilient Races

Movement Speed	9m
Skills	Darkvision Relentless Endurance: Once per long rest, a player that is hit to 0 hit points goes to 1 hit point instead. Savage Attacks: When a player scores a critical hit with a melee weapon, players can add one more rolled damage dice to their damage score Menacing: Players are proficient in intimidation.
Subraces	None

Half-Orcs may not have any subrace options for players to decide between, but that doesn't make them any less powerful. Instead, this brute-like race makes for a perfect option for players that are looking for fierce fighters that work wonderfully with any melee class available in Baldur's Gate 3.

Many of the traits and features of this race play into how intimidating they look to the average villager. Therefore, players can expect to be proficient in intimidation, while also being quite the brutal attacker when in combat.

6 Halfling

Lightfoot Halflings Are Lucky And Sneaky

Movement Speed	7.5m
Skills	Brave: Advantage on saving throws against being frightened Lucky: Can reroll a one on attack, ability, and/or saving throws
Subraces	Lightfoot Halfling Strongheart Halfling

The final short race of the three available in Baldur's Gate 3 is also arguably one of the greatest for players to use in the CRPG. No matter what subrace of Halfling a player decides on, they both have the wonderful feature known as Lucky. This means that when a player rolls a one during an attack, ability, or saving throw, they can reroll the dice and must use that score instead.

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This can be great for players who don't want to see their playthrough be a bunch of critical failures. The subraces of the Halfling don't add much more to the race, though players may favor the Lightfoot Halflings over the Strongheart ones due to the advantage of Stealth checks.

5 Drow

A Lethal Elf With Interesting Spell Choices

Movement Speed	9m
Skills	Drow Weapon Training: Proficient in Rapiers, Short swords, and Hand crossbows Fey Ancestry: The player has an advantage in saving throws against being charmed, and can't be magically put to sleep Superior Darkvision Keen Senses: Proficient in Perception Drow Magic: Level 1: Dancing Lights Level 3: Faerie Fire Level 5: Darkness
Subraces	Lolth-Sworn Drow Seldarin Drow

Drow are seen as the 'evil' elves of Baldur's Gate 3, with many NPCs automatically viewing the player as a danger when they first meet them. However, with the subrace options of a Lolth-Sworn Drow or a Seldarin Drow, players can settle the nerves of the folks they visit depending on if they pick the nicer option of those that no longer follow the Spider Queen Lolth.

These subrace options add nothing other than the story, and therefore, all the races' traits and features are shared between both of them. Due to living underground, these Drow have Superior Darkvision, as well as being skilled with rapiers, short swords, and hand crossbows. Not to mention that Drow also unlocks various light and dark-themed spells as they level up.

4 Githyanki

Great From A Role-Play Point Of View And Impressive Skills

Movement Speed	9m
Skills	Astral Knowledge: Gain proficiency in all skills for a chosen attribute Martial Prodigy: Proficient in Light and Medium armor, as well as short swords, long swords, and great swords Githyanki Psionics: Level 1: Mage Hand Level 3: Jump Level 5: Misty Step
Subraces	None

Githyanki is a race that players are unlikely to have used in their own Dungeons and Dragons campaign, though after playing as one in BG3 it may be time to change that due to how powerful they are. Like Half-Orcs, this race doesn't have any subraces for the player to choose from, though the features it has already are more than enough.

Due to being natural soldiers, Githyanki has a wide variety of weaponry to pick from, as well as being naturally proficient in both light and medium armor. On top of this is the race's best skill, which is Astral Knowledge, which allows players after every long rest to select a group of skills to become proficient in for that day.

3 Human

An Average But Powerful Option

Movement Speed	9m
Skills	Civil Militia: Proficient in Spears, Pikes, Halberds, and Glaives, as well as Light armor and Shields Human Versatility: Players gain proficiency in one extra skill of their choice
Subraces	None

Humans may be one of the most basic races that players will commonly see the face of throughout their entire adventure in Faerun, but that doesn't make them an awful race option to decide. In fact, their skills are so good, it may make the number of humans in this fantasy world quadruple.

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Naturally, humans don't have any subraces, which give them even more extra traits, but they already get to choose an additional skill to be proficient in, as well as being proficient in a large group of additional weaponry as well as light armor and shields, no matter what class they choose.

2 Elf

High Elf Gains A Cantrip To Use Whenever

Movement Speed	9m
Skills	Darkvision Elven Weapon Training: Proficient with Long swords, short swords, short bows, and long bows Fey Ancestry: Advantage on saving throws against being charmed. Players can't be magically put to sleep Keen Senses: Proficiency on Perception
Subraces	High Elf Wood Elf

Alongside the regular human option, is the regular elf option too. The Elf race carries a lot of similar traits and features to the Drow, minus the race's magic and Superior Dark vision. However, unlike the Drow, the two subrace options players have to pick from for Elf in BG3 have some of their own great perks too.

Out of the two options, it's unsurprising to see that High Elf is by far the best. This subrace allows the player to choose a Wizard cantrip for their elf to use both in and out of combat. Naturally, it uses the player's intelligence to determine the roll, though it can be incredibly useful.

1 Half-Elf

High Half-Elf Is The Best Of Both Worlds

Baldur's Gate 3 High Half-Elf Wizard In Character Creation

Movement Speed	9m
Skills	Civil Militia: Proficient in Spears, Pikes, Halberds, and Glaives, as well as Light Armor and Shields Fey Ancestry: Advantage on saving throws against being charmed. Players can't be magically put to sleep Darkvision
Subraces	High Half-Elf Drow Half-Elf Wood Half-Elf

Out of all the available races in Baldur's Gate 3, it's of no surprise to see the best race players should consider using to create their character is Half-Elf. This combines the best of both the Human and Elves' features to create an incredible race to play as. Players can even choose between the three available elf races of BG3 to be the elven half that comes with their own interesting feats.

High Half-Elf is once again one of the greatest due to it allowing the player to pick a Wizard cantrip, though each elf option carries its own strengths for the player to consider.