Baldurs Gate 3 Cleric Guide | Best Builds and Options

The world of Baldur’s Gate 3 is full of dynamic options, both magical and otherwise. Being an early access title, one of the most diverse options – the Cleric – doesn’t quite have their wings yet. That being said, these divinely blessed people are the best option for healers (though a Bard can do good work!) and have some of the best utility in the game. If that wasn’t enough, even the squishiest cleric is really durable, so you won’t have to worry about dying by getting breathed on. If you’re wanting to make the most of your holy priest, our Baldurs Gate 3 Cleric guide will show you the ropes!

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Cleric in Baldur’s Gate 3

Clerics are support frontliners, with some alright potential in the backline. Their spells are focused around buffing or debuffing, with some problem solving abilities. Having one cleric in a party is one of the best ways to guarantee success… well, as long as they aren’t taken down first. The cleric is usually the plan and the backup plan!

Clerics are defined by their Domain and proficiencies. You have Medium Armor proficiency, so Dexterity isn’t as important as it is for most classes. However, if you choose a War Domain cleric, you can really get tanky, and get deadlier weapons!

See Our Baldur’s Gate 3 Ranger Guide

Best Races for clerics in Baldur’s Gate 3

A Cleric tends to be a frontline warrior. However, as a Spellcaster with a focus on Wisdom, boosting Wisdom should be your first priority. After that, if you want to be on the frontline, then you can either boost Strength (for heavier weapons) or Dexterity (for AC/finesse weapons). If you want to be in front of your allies, then Constitution is the final score you want!

You need a ton of stats, so a Human is a great choice! Humans let you use Strength to bludgeon people, Dexterity for more AC (in your Medium Armor!), Constitution for health, and Wisdom for your casting!

If you want to move towards the frontline, then Gold Dwarves give you a ton of health and Wisdom. If that wasn’t enough, you also get a nice suite of weapon proficiencies; even a Life cleric can use a Battleaxe if they really want to!

FInally, Wood Elves are actually solid Clerics. They get +2 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom, and some great weapon proficiencies. Make sure you either use a ranged weapon, like a bow, or a finesse weapon, like a shortsword.

Best Spells

Your spells are so critical for your usefulness as a Cleric! As time goes on, we recommend looking at our Best Cleric Spells list, since you’ll be able to access more and more of them! But, for now, we have a relatively small repertoire of fantastic magic!

Cantrips

Resistance: A little bit of a weak choice. Adding d4 to a save isn’t bad by any means, but it requires some forethought… and a willingness to spend your actions.
Guidance: Once again, requires forethought, but adding d4 to ability checks tend to be somewhat more useful. Throw this on someone before they talk to someone, or lift an obstacle, and help them out just a bit.
Sacred Flame: At level 1, this is your only source of cantrip damage. And… it’s pretty weak. It’ll do – it uses Wisdom to attack, and deals enough damage to be useful. But, don’t expect this to be how you spend every action. Try to have good Dexterity or Strength instead. Still, make this one of your three.
Light: If you really don’t want to use torches, then Light is here for you. Try to avoid learning this… unless your party has a real weakness to darkness.
Thaumaturgy: Grah! Superpowered! Advantage on specifically intimidation and performance is okay, but honestly… Guidance tends to be more useful in general. Especially since you can put that on someone else!

Spells

This spell list will likely get outdated fast, so use your best judgement on what spells work well! Even so, these are all fantastic options!

Healing Word (1st): In my opinion, this is the best healing spell in the game. Use a bonus action to pick someone up out of Unconsciousness, and then bludgeon your enemies with righteous fury.
Guiding Bolt (1st): This does a silly amount of damage at level 1! Starting a boss fight by absolutely destroying an early-game enemy for 4d6 is great! And then someone else gets advantage to hit them. That’s amazing!
Create Water (1st): This problem-solving spell might not seem too useful… but, Larian Studios absolutely loves throwing fire at the party. Spending a turn to cause rain will actually solve some puzzles. I’m not kidding.
Protection from Evil and Good (1st): Against some enemies, there is no better defensive spell. You’ll be next to invincible against specific groups, like demons or fey. This is a 1st level spell that scales fantastically at every level.
Hold Person (2nd): Choose a humanoid. If they fail a Wisdom save, your party gets free critical hits, and they can’t do anything on their turn. Then they have to make another save or it keeps happening. If you’re even considering fighting a humanoid creature, this is stupidly strong.
Silence (2nd): Worried about enemy casters? A Silence placed on the enemy backline can really mess up their casters.

Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Subclass

There aren’t too many Cleric domains currently out. If you want to know what our specific taste in all Cleric domains for D&D are, check out our Domain Tier list. To put it bluntly, there are a ton of cleric domains, and they’ll add more and more over time. If you’re creating a cleric, the domains are basically what your Cleric will become. Right now, there are 7 confirmed domains;

Life is the best healer and offers good utility.
Light is the best Area of Effect damage.
Knowledge is not going to beat out any Wizard or even Rogues for utility.
Nature is our replacement for druids for now…. unfortunately. Ignore this one.
Tempest is a decent frontline damage dealer, about on par with War.
Trickery should probably not be touched with a ten-foot pole, if you’re looking for strict “best” builds.
War. The war domain lets you deal additional damage with a weapon attack, it is the best damage dealing option for the cleric.

Best Feat for Clerics in Baldur’s Gate 3

At level 4, you get your feat. Of course, the best feat depends on your specific cleric, but there are a few good options. Ability Score Increase is, of course, the best option if you want high Wisdom. If you don’t care much about Wisdom, Heavily Armored allows you to ignore Dexterity entirely and just wear fullplate. Great Weapon Master for Tempest (or especially for War!) isn’t too bad of an idea. Tough can be okay, to make sure you’ll stay alive to save your unconscious allies.

For now, you should probably focus on increasing your Wisdom. That’s a really important step to being useful in the future.

See Also: Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Guide

Baldurs Gate 3 Cleric Class Wrapup

The Cleric is arguably the strongest class in 5E, and will probably be essential to surviving Baldur’s Gate 3. We hope our guide could help you pin down a build!