Best Baldur's Gate 3 Cleric build

A Baldur's Gate 3 Cleric build is a good thing to know about if you're looking for a dedicated healer, party support, or spell-based damage dealer. There's more versatility to the Cleric in Baldur's Gate 3 than you might assume.

To help you figure out the best way to build your Cleric, we've written up this Baldur's Gate 3 best Cleric build, listing out the ability score allocation, best equipment, best weapon, best skills, and more.

Best BG3 Cleric build

In Baldur's Gate 3, the Cleric is an all-rounder, able to support their allies, debuff enemies, and deal big damage on occasion. If you're looking for a spell caster able to hold their own in ranged and melee combat, the Cleric is a good choice.

(We really do mean it when we say the Cleric is versatile. While we stand by this build, you can build it in a variety of interesting ways. Experiment, if you dare!)

• Best Cleric race
• Cleric ability score priority
• Cleric proficiencies and background
• Best Cleric subclass
• Best Cleric equipment
• Best Cleric spells

Best Cleric race

The best race for Cleric players in Baldur's Gate 3 is the Gold Dwarf.

This is due to the racial passive Dwarven Toughness, which provides an additional hit point each level. Over time, this'll help keep your Cleric tanky without having to invest additional ability points into constitution.

Baldur's Gate 3 has removed the mandatory race ability score modifiers and allows players to allocate them manually. For the best Gold Dwarf Cleric build, we recommend investing + 2 into Wisdom, and then + 1 into Constitution.

Note however that while Gold Dwarves possess passives that make them ideal Clerics, there's enough range and flexibility in this class to allow for plenty of strong alternatives. If you don't fancy our first choice, why not consider playing as a Drow Cleric instead? Drow are generally a strong race from the get-go thanks to their starting passives, and they get bonus spells at Levels 1, 3, and 5 that can buff up a Cleric's arsenal in some interesting ways.

Cleric ability score priority

Your ability score priority should be Wisdom, Constitution, Strength, and then the rest.

When first creating your character, we recommend the following initial stats:

• Strength - 15
• Dexterity - 10
• Constitution - 13
• Intelligence - 8
• Wisdom - 17
• Charisma - 12

As you level up, you'll gain ability score increases at level 4, 8, and 12.

You should invest your ability score points into Wisdom up until 20, then the rest into Constitution.

Cleric proficiencies and background

For an all-rounder Cleric build in Baldur's Gate 3, the best background to choose is the Acolyte, due to its proficiency bonus in Insight.

If you're going for a more heavily healing-focused build though, consider going for the Hermit background instead, since it's the only one that grants a Medicine proficiency bonus.

Whatever your exact focus, when choosing your starting proficiencies, keep in mind that Medicine and Insight are the way to go for this Wisdom-oriented build.

Best Cleric subclass

For our build, we recommend taking the Light Domain subclass. The Light Domain can be thought of as a specialist in aggressive prevention: protecting allies from damage, while also gaining access to some of the best AoE Fire spells in the game.

Clerics, depending on their subclass, grant spells that you don't need to spend spell slots on. It turns out the Light subclass has plenty of incredibly powerful spells that you get for free, essentially. Warding Flare is one such Light Domain ability, as is Radiance of the Dawn, but we'll dive more into those in the best skills and spells section.

Later on in levels, a light domain Cleric can dish out some serious damage alongside some handy healing where needed. A great pick, and doesn't overlap with Shadowheart if you're bringing them along.

However, if you're planning to build your Cleric with particular focus on their capabilities as a Healer for your party, then you should definitely choose the Life Domain subclass instead. Restorative magic gets a boost once you've aligned with this domain, so it's really the only game in town if you specifically want your Cleric to focus on curative healing rathern than preventative shielding.

Best Cleric equipment

The Light Domain cleric is proficient in medium armour and shields, so you should equip both to ensure you have a high armour class for combat encounters. You are also proficient in light armour, so if you grab a piece with a wicked ability on it, it's safe to swap to it without worrying about becoming too squishy.

The Life Domain Cleric will need slightly different armour, since their focus on helping their allies naturally renders them more vulnerable on the battlefield. Fortunately, choosing this path will net you increased proficiency in heavy armour, meaning that your Cleric can worry less about getting hit themselves.

As for weapons, Clerics are proficient in all simple weapons. Maces, hammers, spears, and clubs are your friend here. Take whichever simple weapon you have that has the highest DPS. It's worth keeping a bludgeoning weapon in your inventory though, in case you run into an enemy with resistance to slashing damage. Clerics also have a lot of ranged spells; however, a bow or crossbow is worth having just as a back up.

Finally any necklaces or rings that provide utility spells, or additional survivability, it's absolutely worth equipping.

Best Cleric spells

Whether they're focused on shielding or healing, Clerics have a lot of amazing support spells that you should use whenever possible. Lets start with Bless, an absolute classic that provides +1d4 bonus to attack rolls and saving throws. You should do this at the start of fights to make your party significantly stronger.

Guiding Bolt deals decent damage, but also provides advantage on the next attack against the targeted enemy. It's amazing as long as you manage your attacks correctly. Using this then throwing a Rogue, Barbarian, or Fighter against them is a good way of dealing incredible damage.

Finally, let's talk about Warding Flare. This is a reaction a Cleric can do every turn that gives one attacker per round disadvantage. It's hard to quantify just how powerful a miss-per-turn is, especially against your healer / spellcaster.

If you're looking for more heaven-sent help with BG3, don't forget to check-out our guides for the best Druid build and best Monk build.