Best Feats for Barbarians in Baldur's Gate 3

Highlights

Alert grants Barbarians +5 initiative, ensuring they act first in combat to dispatch enemies quickly or reduce damage.
Martial Adept gives Barbarians extra combat options with Battle Master maneuvers and Superiority Die replenishment.
Tavern Brawler allows Barbarians to use improvised weapons and surroundings, doubling the strength modifier for damage and attack rolls.

Barbarians, typically the tank or bruiser of a party, can gain some serious benefits from the right feat. There's a total of 41 feats adapted from Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition available in Baldur's Gate 3, but picking the right one can be a feat in itself. Whilst some feats benefit stealth and covert builds, some reward the untethered rage that a Barbarian can unleash on an unsuspecting foe.

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Barbarians will learn a new feat at levels four, eight, and twelve, providing a total of three opportunities to take a Barbarian to the next level over the course of the game. Whether playing as Karlach or Tav, here are the best feats available to Barbarians in Baldur's Gate 3.

8 Alert

Stay On Top Of Initiative

Unlocks At Level 4 For All Classes
Initiative +5
Prevents Surprised

Alert is a fantastic feat that works well on pretty much any character in Baldur's Gate 3, though Barbarians will especially benefit from the massive +5 bonus to initiative rolls, which, especially in the early game, can ensure a Barbarian is acting first in combat. This can be crucial as a Barbarian to ensure they are able to quickly dispatch of a key enemy or enter a rage and reduce incoming damage, acting as a tank for the party.

Initiative works a little differently in Baldur's Gate 3 than it does in the table-top game, rolling only a d4 instead of a d20, making this feat all the more valuable. What's more, this feat prevents enemies from surprising the character, meaning that sneaky foes won't be able to get a devastating surprise round off before the Barbarian can intervene.

7 Martial Adept

Increase Flexibility In Combat

Unlocks At Level 4 For All Classes
Grants One Superiority Die
Pick From 2 Maneuvers From Battle Master Subclass

Martial Adept is an excellent feat for any character that's getting up close and personal with their enemies. A Barbarian will typically be aiming to dish out as much damage and disrupt as many enemies as possible, making this feat a great choice to add to a repertoire of options available in combat. Martial Adept allows a Barbarian to learn two maneuvers from the Battle Master subclass and provides one Superiority Die that is replenished on either a short or long rest.

These maneuvers allow Barbarians extra options in combat not typically available to them, such as Distracting Strike, granting allies advantage on their next attack roll, which can be used to allow the party Rogue to follow up with a deadly Sneak Attack or Sweeping Attack to finish off multiple enemies at once.

6 Tavern Brawler

Benefit From The Surrounding Environment

Unlocks At Level 4 For All Classes
Improves Strength Or Constitution
Strength Modifier Is Added Twice To Damage And Attack Rolls

Barbarians are typically strong, hulking beings who can physically shape their environment to suit them, making the Tavern Brawler feat a fantastic choice for any player who wants to really embrace the raging Barbarian archetype. This feat allows a Barbarian to use improvised weapons, exploding barrels, or whatever they find within reach during combat. Their strength modifier is doubled and then added to both damage and attack rolls.

This makes Barbarians who are prone to throwing a large object into a crowd of enemies as a means to knock them down a force to be reckoned with. Not only will their attacks hit more frequently, but they'll also be dishing out much more damage. Additionally, this feat grants a +1 bonus to either Strength or Constitution, which gives an in-built opportunity to buff damage output with this feat even more.

5 Savage Attacker

Get The Most Out Of Frenzied Attacks

Unlocks At Level 4 For All Classes
Allows Players To Roll Damage Twice And Use The Higher Roll

Savage Attacker is a very simple feat that provides an extremely powerful bonus that can really start to rack up over the course of a Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough. This feat rolls damage dice twice for every attack and uses the higher roll, effectively granting advantage on every damage roll. This is a ridiculously powerful feat that really starts to pay off as characters level up and gain additional attacks.

A Barbarian will usually be able to make around three attacks in every round of combat, twice with their action (after level 5) and once with their bonus action (if they are in a rage in the Berserker subclass), and gaining advantage on each of these damage rolls will ensure that when enemies get hit, they stay down.

4 Mage Slayer

Extra Resilience In The Face Of Magic

Gale from Baldur's Gate 3 looking sad and forlorn

Unlocks At Level 4 For All Classes
Advantage On Saving Throws From Spells Cast Within Melee Range
Cast An Opportunity Spell Instead Of An Opportunity Attack

Barbarians are tough enough to stand up to nearly any type of physical punishment, especially with their ability that grants resistance to physical damage when raging, though one area where they tend to lack a little firepower is against spellcasters. Control and AOE spells are big problems for Barbarians, especially if they're the target of debuffs or damage-dealing spells. This is where the Mage Slayer feat excels, allowing Barbarians to put up a fight against even the most formidable spellcasters.

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This feat grants advantage on the saving throw of any spell that is cast within melee range of a Barbarian, and they can also spend their reaction to make a melee attack. This is fantastic as it provides an early opportunity to break the concentration of any spell that could be a problem for the party. Combined with the ability from this feat to impose disadvantage on concentration saving throws when a spellcaster is hit, Mage Slayer becomes a no-brainer.

3 Athlete

Boost Stats And Maximize Movement

Unlocks At Level 4 For All Classes
Increases Jump Distance
Improves Strength or Dexterity Score

Barbarians will benefit greatly from the Athlete feat, which allows players to increase their Strength or Dexterity by one. Whilst increasing Strength may seem the natural choice for Barbarians, this feat would definitely not go to waste if the Dexterity bonus was selected instead.

It also reduces the amount of movement that a player needs to recover from the prone position to just 1.5 meters, leaving a lot of movement speed left to attack enemies, and increases their jump distance by a whopping 50%. This allows a Barbarian far more maneuverability in combat, ensuring they are able to stand between a powerful enemy and their squishy allies with ease.

2 Ability Score Improvement

Improve Core Skills

Baldur's Gate 3 dice with a Fireball aesthetic

Unlocks At Level 4 For All Classes
Improve A Barbarian's Strength Score

A Barbarian is nothing without strength, and as such, it's one of the most important skills that should be addressed sooner rather than later. The Ability Score improvement feat allows a player to improve one of their core skills by two points or two of the skills by one point. It's absolutely essential that a Barbarian gets their 20 strength stat to give the +5 modifier that will be crucial to attack rolls as soon as possible, making this feat an excellent means to achieving that goal.

What's more, Barbarians benefit from the unarmored defense feature, which adds their constitution bonus to their armor class and their dexterity. This is a great feat to potentially increase the modifier for each of those skills by one, granting a neat +2 AC bonus in the early game. Despite being one of the most commonly taken and perhaps most accessible feats, the Ability Score Improvement option is severely underrated.

1 Great Weapon Master

Attack Even More

Unlocks At Level 4 For All Classes
Grants An Additional Attack With Bonus Action On Critical Hit

Great Weapon Master is a feat that is second to none for Barbarians and pairs beautifully with other feats like Savage Attacker. This feat allows a Barbarian who hits a critical hit or finishes off a target with a melee weapon to make an additional attack during the same turn as a bonus action. This is particularly useful for Wildheart and Wild Magic Barbarians, who won't be able to typically use their bonus action to attack on a regular basis.

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Barbarians will often find themselves delivering killing blows in combat, so to be able to capitalize on this and string together multiple attacks in just one turn is a feat that can turn a Barbarian into a force of nature. It also comes with a feature that can be toggled on and off, which gives a -5 penalty to attack rolls but deals an extra 10 damage instead, which is a great feature to have to ensure players are able to finish off low health enemies.