Baldur’s Gate 3 Eldritch Knight Fighter Build Guide
Jan. 24, 2023Baldur’s Gate 3 Eldritch Knight Fighter Build Guide
Baldur’s Gate 3 Eldritch Knight Fighter Build Guide– In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Eldritch Knight 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 anEldritch Knight Fightereffectively.
Be sure to check out our other Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds including:Battle Master Fighter,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!
The Eldritch Knight Fighter is a powerful Build to try if you intend to mix magic with MeleeCombat. Even if they can only castLevel 1 Spells, they effectively utilize them to obliterate enemies from any distance. All of this is made possible thanks to theWarped Headband of Intellect, which boosts theirIntelligenceto 17, allowing them to allocate points to otherAbilities.
Similar to theBattle Masterand at Level 5, the Eldritch Knight gains access toExtra Attack, making them a nightmare to fight against. What’s more, is that they’re extremely resilient since they can wearHeavy Armorlike thePaladinand they have highConstitution.
In this section, we’ll take a look at how to set up yourFighterduringCharacter Creationfor the best results.
ForBackground, choose one that provides you withAthleticssince it’s the onlyStrength Skillalongside theSkillsof other Abilities you’ll be investing in. Since you’re going to cast Spells later on, it’s a good idea to acquire Intelligence Skills. Intelligence hasArcana,History,Investigation,Nature, andReligion. Some Background examples areSage,Noble, andAcolyte.
The Eldritch Knight’sRacewill be dependent on the Warped Headband of Intellect, which has been nerfed since its release inEarly Access. You can get this within 4 hours of your playthrough by slayingLump the Enlightenedof theBlighted Village. Instead of setting Intelligence to 18, the headband will only increase this Ability to 17, meaning that your Intelligence Modifier will be set to +3 rather than +4. But this shouldn’t be an issue since you’ll more often than not successfully hit your targets with Spells unless you’re extremely unlucky.
Now when selecting a Race, be sure to incorporate the 17 Intelligence you’ll get from the Warped Headband of Intellect so you can allocate the rest of your points to other Abilities. The first one that 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.
An alternative to the Gold Dwarf is theHigh Elffor the 1Cantripof your choice during Character Creation. Here, I recommend gettingFire Bolt, which can be used against a target located far away from you. This can then be combined withGreaseor oil barrels to set multiple enemies on fire. You also gain Darkvision.
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 go for a One-Handed Weapon andShieldsetup 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 forCharismaorWisdom. Charisma hasIntimidation,Persuasion,Deception, andPerformancewhile Wisdom hasAnimal Handling,Insight,Medicine,Perception, andSurvival.
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 the Paladin, 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. Ideally, your Ability spread should look something like this, assuming you selected the Shield Dwarf Race:
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’sSubclassand for this Build, you’re going to select the Eldritch Knight. You can then pick some Cantrips as well asWizard Spells. For Cantrips, I suggest going for another long-range one similar to Fire Bolt, specificallyRay of Frostto lower the Movement Speed of the target. Additionally, you can go for eitherAcid SplashorDancing Lights. Acid Splash lets you hurl a handful of acid, thereby affecting enemies adjacent to each other while Dancing Lights becomes useful for allies who are having trouble seeing well in the dark.
Next, you’ll be choosing 2 of 6 Wizard Spells, and here I highly recommend takingMagic MissileandBurning HandsorThunderwave. Magic Missile is an amazing Spell since it doesn’t miss, and because of this, it doesn’t suffer from any High GroundDisadvantagesif you were to attack an enemy located at a higher elevation than you. It also lets you deal decent damage from afar at 6-15 Force Damage against a single foe or 2-5 Damage against multiple targets.
Meanwhile, Burning Hands and Thunderwave allow you to deal damage up close and personal. Burning Hands let you burn multiple enemies while inflicting significant Fire Damage whereas Thunderwave can push them back using the force brought about by the Spell itself on top of dealing Thunder Damage.
Last but not least, you’ll be picking 1 of 17 Wizard Spells, and here I suggest going forExpeditious RetreatorChromatic Orb. Expeditious Retreat allows you to makeDasha Bonus Action, thereby doubling your Movement range, and still allowing you to attack. This lets you get to enemies more easily. However, remember that you’ll need to maintainConcentrationfor this Spell.
Concentration is broken if you cast another Cantrip or Spell that also requires Concentration. You can tell which these are because it will say so on the Spell itself. For example, if you cast Dancing Lights, but then you cast Expeditious Retreat, you would stop “Concentrating” on Dancing Lights and begin Concentrating on Expeditious Retreat.
Moreover, if you take damage while Concentrating on a Spell, you must make aConstitution Saving Throw, and if you fail, then the effect of that Spell ends. Should you succeed in your Saving Throw, you maintain your Concentration and the Spell continues. This is why it’s vital for the Eldritch Knight to have average to high Constitution because of the Spells that require this Ability and is wasted if it’s constantly broken.
The other option here is Chromatic Orb, which is an extremely potent Spell. This allows you to change the element of the damage you deal. So you can deal Lightning Damage and create a similar surface to electrify other targets who step into it by mistake. Or you can conjure a burning surface and deal Fire Damage instead. The possibilities are quite endless.
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. Otherwise, you can allocate 2 points into Strength to improve the effectiveness of your performance in the melee range. Doing so will boost your Attack and Damage Rolls due to the +4 Strength Modifier!
Additionally, you’ll be able to choose 1 more Spell. You can then take any of the Spells you didn’t pick in the previous level like Thunderwave or Chromatic Orb.
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 Eldritch Knight Fighter, I recommend takingWar Casterbecause you need to maintain Concentration for the Spells that require it. So successfully pulling off one Constitution Saving Throw after the next when getting hit is one of your priorities. With War Caster, you gain an Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws, thereby making it easier to prolong the effects of your Spells.
At Level 7, the Eldritch Knight Fighter gains War Magic. War Magic lets you cast a Cantrip as an Action to then make a Weapon Attack using your Bonus Action, all in a single turn. So what you can do is attack a target using Fire Bolt or Ray of Frost and then go in for the kill by slashing them to bits and pieces with your Two-Handed Weapon.
What’s more, is that you’ll also pick a Feat. Here, I recommend either investing +2 to Strength to bump it up to 20 or going forSpell Sniper. Spell Sniper lengthens the distance of an Attack Roll type of Spell such as Chromatic Orb, allowing you to reach targets who are very far away from you. You also end up ignoring 1/2 and 3/4 of the enemy’s cover for them to receive greater damage.
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 Eldritch Knight learns Eldritch Strike. Hitting a target with a Weapon Attack imposes a Disadvantage on their next Saving Throw against the Spell you cast so the chances of getting hit with say, Thunderwave or Burning Hands will be higher.
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 Spell Sniper, whichever you didn’t pick at Level 8.
When it comes to the Eldritch Knight Fighter’sEquipment, you’ll be wielding a Two-Handed Weapon or One-Handed Weapon and a Shield. Again, this will depend on the Fighting Style you’ve chosen during Character Creation. I personally prefer Two-Handed Weapons like theEverburn Blade, which you get by killingCommander Zhalkof theNautiloid. Its Slashing Damage is high and you’re able to deal Fire Damage as well. Additionally, you can even set enemies on fire when you use the Everburn Blade with Grease. What’s more, is that this Weapon allows you to executeLacerateandCleaveto 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 theUnderdarkor theAdamantine Splint ArmorfromGrymforgeto increase your AC to 17. If in case you decide to wield a Shield, which will add +2 to your AC, it’ll be much harder for enemies to attack you.
ForAccessories, on top of the Warped Headband of Intellect, you’ll be wearing theBoots of StridingandPsychic Spark. The Boots of Striding allows you to gain extra Movement Speed when casting a Spell that requires Concentration such as Expeditious Retreat. Once Concentration is active, you’ll be invulnerable to being knockedProne. Meanwhile, the Psychic Spark improves Magic Missile by adding one extra dart. Because of this, you can deal as much as 8-20 Force Damage against a single enemy as if you have the Level 2 version of Magic Missile!
If you wish to go with the One-Handed Weapon and Shield setup, I suggest wieldingDragon’s Grasp, which can be purchased fromArronat theDruid Grove, and any Shield. With this, you can deal extra Slashing Damage when you use it against burning targets. Overall though, your damage won’t be as high as wielding a Two-Handed Weapon but you’re going to be more resilient against enemy attacks due to your relatively greater AC.
Lastly, you can choose to turn Lae’zel into a fine Eldritch Knight Fighter just by simply letting her wear the Warped Headband of Intellect. Similar to the Battle Master, be sure to allocate 1 point each to Strength and Dexterity at Level 4 to improve the effectiveness of her Melee Attacks and Damage, as well as her AC, considering that she’s wearing Medium Armor. The only downside that I see is she’ll have less HP since her Constitution is at 14 but it shouldn’t be an issue since the creatures in Early Access aren’t that difficult to deal with.
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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.
