Baldur’s Gate 3 Battle Master Fighter Build Guide
Jan. 22, 2023Baldur’s Gate 3 Battle Master Fighter Build Guide
Baldur’s Gate 3 Battle Master Fighter Build Guide– In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Battle Master Fighter Build Guide, I’m going to cover myFighter Build, and show you what I’ve found to work best. I’ll be doing moreBuild Guidesat the launch ofBaldur’s Gate 3, but for now, let’s look at how you can use aBattle Master Fightereffectively.
Be sure to check out our other Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds including:The Field Warlock,The Great Old One Warlock,Beast Master Ranger,Hunter Ranger,Circle of the Land Druid,Circle of the Moon Druid,Wild Magic Sorcerer,Wildheart Barbarian,Draconic Sorcerer,Berserker Barbarian,College of Lore Bard,College of Valour Bard!
The Battle Master Fighter is a reputableSubclassif you want to concentrate on dealing the most damage in the melee range. Unlike theEldritch Knight, however, they won’t be able to castSpellsbut due to the Maneuvres they gain at Level 3 and theirExtra Attackat Level 5, they’re difficult to go up against. If you just want to put down multiple enemies efficiently at close range, then this Subclass is for you.
Additionally, the Battle Master Fighter is very resilient, more so thanBarbarianssince they’reProficientin wieldingShieldsandHeavy Armor, making it challenging to hit them. They even have increasedConstitutionso their HP is just as high.
In this section, we’ll take a look at how to set up your Fighter duringCharacter Creationfor the best results. You don’t have to follow this to the letter, and this will likely change at the full launch of the game.
ForBackground, choose one that provides you withAthleticsas the onlyStrength Skillalongside theSkillsof otherAbilitiesyou’ll be investing in. For instance, you can go forCharismaif you don’t have allies who specialize in this. Charisma hasIntimidation,Persuasion,Deception, andPerformance. Some Background examples areEntertainer,Guild Artisan, andCriminal.
The firstRacethat works well for this Build is theGold Dwarf. Gold Dwarves haveDwarven Resilience, Darkvision, andDwarven Toughness. Dwarven Resilience makes it so that they gainSaving ThrowAdvantageagainst Poison and have resistance to Poison Damage so they’ll only receive half the damage. And then they have Darkvision to help them see and attack more accurately in the dark together with Dwarven Toughness that raises their Max HP by 1 every time they level up.
Alternatively, you can go with theDrowto gainSuperior Darkvision,Fey Ancestry, andKeen Senses. Superior Darkvision makes it much easier to see and execute attacks in the dark whereas Fey Ancestry makes it so that they have aSaving ThrowAdvantage against the effects ofCharmedand Sleep. And then Keen Senses grants Proficiency inPerception.
Regardless of the Race you choose, you won’t have issues with Weapon and Armor Proficiencies since the Fighter has access to each and every one of them.
When it comes to theFighting Style, I highly recommend gettingDuellingorGreat Weapon Fightingdepending on the type ofWeaponyou intend to wield in the long run. Duelling is great if you’ll be going for a One-Handed Weapon and Shield setup since you gain a +2 Damage bonus on Weapon Attacks. Comparatively, Great Weapon Fighting is a good choice forTwo-Handed Melee Weaponusers, allowing you to perform anotherDamage Rollif you happen to initially roll a 1 or 2, thereby amplifying the carnage you deal. But no matter what, you shouldn’t pickArcherysince you won’t be making use of your Ranged Weapons that much.
Together with the Fighting Style, you instantly gain access toSecond Wind, which lets you heal yourself as aBonus Action.
For Skills, you can go for Charisma orWisdom, or the ones that you invest Ability points into. Wisdom hasAnimal Handling,Insight,Medicine, andSurvival, and I’ve already listed what Charisma Skills there are.
The primary Abilities that are needed for this Build are Strength and Constitution with the former increasing your chances of successfully attacking and dealing massive damage using Melee Weapons. Meanwhile, Constitution should boost your max HP. Similar to thePaladin, you’ll ideally keepDexterityat 10 since you’ll be wearing Heavy Armor, which doesn’t account for the Dexterity Modifier bonuses but yourACwill continue to be high. In the meantime, you can donMedium Armorsuch asLae’zel’sGithyanki Half PlateorScale Mail Armor +1to boost your AC to 15. In conclusion, your Ability spread should look something like this:
As early as Level 2, the Fighter gains an extraActionin the form ofAction Surge. This is a powerful Class Feature because it lets you finish off a target by hitting them once again in the same turn. What’s more, is that you’ll only need to perform aShort Restto replenish it.
At Level 3, you’ll get to choose your Fighter’s Subclass and for this Build, you’ll select the Battle Master. Alongside this, you gain access to 4Superiority Dice, which is a resource used for activating specific Maneuvres. This can be fully replenished by taking a Short orLong Rest. Given the 6 choices, you’ll want to pick the following:
Pushing Attack– Given how a lot of the fighting occurs on cliffs or highly elevated areas, you should definitely go for Pushing Attack. As the name implies, you’ll be able to push off targets from the edge, often killing them as a result. You just can’t retrieve their items but it’s going to be worth it to eliminate them faster.
Riposte– This is a Reaction that lets you fight back every time the enemy misses their melee attack against you.
Trip Attack– This is another useful Manoeuvre that lets you knock the enemyProne, making them vulnerable in combat. Trip Attack is especially useful to the Battle Master since it replaces the Charge Action.
For Pushing and Trip Attack, remember that these respective movesets allow you to deal extra d8 damage on top of the Action you’re already executing. Additionally, they also come in the form of Melee or Ranged Attacks so if you’re too far away from the middle of combat, you can take a gamble and use your Bow to perform these Maneuvres.
At Level 4, you can choose aFeat, and here you’ll be taking Ability Improvement to place 1 point into Strength and Constitution, amounting to 18 each if you’ve chosen the Shield Dwarf Race. Doing so will not only boost your Attack and Damage Rolls due to the +4 Strength Modifier but also bring your max HP by up to 44, which is huge!
At Level 5, you gain the much-anticipated Extra Attack, which lets you make another attack using your Melee Weapon, allowing you to obliterate powerful enemies. With Action Surge, you’ll be able to execute at most 3 attacks in a single turn!
The Fighter is a powerful Class because they get to pick Feats even at Level 6 whereas others get to do so at Levels 8 & 12 from here on out. So for the Battle Master Fighter, I recommend theGreat Weapon Master Featsince you’re wielding a Two-Handed Weapon.
What this does is it allows you to execute Great Weapon Master: Bonus Attack afterward provided that you either kill your previous target or critically hit them with your Heavy Weapon. Additionally, you gain a +10 damage bonus, which is massive! The only drawback is your Attack Roll will have a -5 penalty when performing Melee Attacks but this can be offset by a party member who casts Bless where you only end up taking a few Attack Roll hits or none at all when the Spell is upcast.
At Level 7, the Battle Master Fighter learns the Know Your Enemy Feat. This is a rather exciting way to roleplay outside of combat. What happens here is if you observe or interact with another creature, you’ll be able to learn information about what it can do. For instance, this can help you decide whether or not a potential Companion is worth coming with you right from the start.
At Level 8, you can pick a Feat. Here, I recommend either investing +2 to Strength to bump it up to 20 or going forMartial Adept. Martial Adept allows you to learn 2 additional Maneuvers on top of raising your Superiority Die by 1. So another good Maneuver to learn isMenacing Attackto considerably boost the damage caused by your Melee Weapon Attack by following this formula:
X (Weapon Damage) + Strength Modifier + 1d8
There’s also a chance toFrightenyour target in order to prevent them from moving as well as to impose a Disadvantage on their succeeding Attack Rolls.
You can then select another type of Maneuver of your choice.
At Level 9, the Fighter gains access to Indomitable, which allows you to reroll a failed Saving Throw but whatever the result is, you must use it. Furthermore, you can only use Indomitable once perLong Rest.
Meanwhile, at Level 10, the Battle Master learns the Improved Combat Superiority so that you deal 1d10 extra damage from your Superiority Dice instead of 1d8.
At Level 11, the Fighter yet again learns to make use of another Extra Attack, boosting their Attack Action to 3x per turn! This is massive as it can turn the tide in combat.
And finally, you’ll be able to choose your final Feat. You can select Ability Improvement or Martial Adept, whichever you didn’t pick at Level 8.
When it comes to the Battle Master Fighter’sEquipment, I prefer wielding Two-Handed Weapons because of the damage potential, which is significantly higher than One-Handed Weapons. Specifically, a great Weapon to use is theEverburn Blade, which you get by killingCommander Zhalkof theNautiloid. In addition to the Slashing Damage, the blade inflicts Fire Damage and can set the area on fire when combined with barrels of oil orGrease. It even has Weapon Actions includingLacerateandCleaveto inflictBleedingand to hit adjacent enemies in one swing, respectively.
Despite limited choices early on, wearing Heavy Armor is advantageous since this lets you allocate points to other Abilities that are not Dexterity. You can get your hands on theChain MailArmorby defeatingLurganin theUnderdark. Should you wear theAdamantine Splint ArmorfromGrymforge, your AC will increase to 17.
ForAccessories, you’ll want to takeAbsolute’s TalismanandHaste Helm. Absolute’s Talisman is a fail-safe should your HP go as low as 25% where you’ll automatically regain 1-8 HP the moment you deal damage. Meanwhile, Haste Helm is very useful for the Shield Dwarf given that their Movement Speed is relatively lower compared to the Wood Half-Elf and Human. This item will increase your coverage by 3m at the start of every encounter so it’ll be easier to reach your targets.
The Battle Master Fighter is melee-focused compared to the Eldritch Knight but they’re just as strong due to the Maneuvres they perform. The moment you gain Riposte, be sure to select its icon by your character’s UI and tick “Ask”. Doing so will let you gain control over this move so that it won’t instantly be executed when you don’t want it to. Every time there’s a chance to execute Riposte, a message box will appear on the screen, prompting you to use it then and there or to skip it entirely in the meantime.
For Manoeuvre alternatives, you might also want to considerDisarming AttackandRallybased on certain use cases. Disarming Attack forces the enemy to drop their Weapon similar to theHeat Metal Spellbut it’s not going to be limited to Metal Weapons only. Rally will let you heal an ally, and is useful in cases when they’re too squishy such as having 2Wizardsin the party.
Remember that at Level 4, you can select theGreat Weapon Master Featbut I would recommend this only if you have a Spellcaster who can castBlessor you wearThe Whispering Promise Ringand then get healed. Either option will grant you at least a 1-4 Attack Roll bonus, which you’ll need to compensate for the Feat’s -5 Attack Roll penalty. If you’re set on getting this, be sure to allocate 16 points each into Strength and Constitution during Character Creation so you can use the remaining points for other Abilities.
Another good choice for your Two-Handed Weapon is theSword of JusticefromAndersif you’re not able to acquire the Everburn Blade. Aside from the decent damage and the same Weapon Actions, you also gainTyr’s Protection. This is a Bonus Action that you can use to increase your AC by 2. With the Chain Mail Armor, your total AC becomes 18!
Lastly, you can choose to make Lae’zel a Battle Master Fighter because she has the right Ability spread for it. At Level 4, just be sure to invest 1 point each into Strength and Dexterity since she’s also wearing Medium Armor. This accounts for at most +2 Dexterity Modifier. The only downside is she’ll have less HP than a player character but it shouldn’t be an issue since the creatures in Early Access aren’t that difficult to deal with.
Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content as we update the otherBuilds, and be sure to drop by ourTwitch Channelif you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out ourBaldur’s Gate 3 Wikiwhich is being worked on night and day, as well as ourBaldur’s Gate 3 Guides.
Reiku
Writer at Fextralife. I enjoy playing RPGs, narrative-driven games, and platformers. Outside of gaming, I like watching meaningful movies and reading sci-fi and dystopian books.
