Best Wyll Build Guide – Baldur’s Gate 3
Oct. 24, 2023Best Wyll Build Guide – Baldur’s Gate 3
In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Wyll Build Guide, I’ll be showing you how to play Wyll in Baldur’s Gate 3 if you want to make him into a true Blade of Frontiers. To do this I’ll be Multiclasssing Warlock with Fighter, and I’ll explain why that is in this BG3 Wyll Guide. I’ll also cover Ability Scores, Class Features, Equipment, and I will provide tips on how to get the most out of Wyll when played this way.
Being aWarlock,Wyllis a very versatile character. He has some spellcasting ability, can use melee weapons effectively if he wishes, and has a fantastic ranged attack inEldritch Blast. However, Wyll isThe Blade of Frontiers, so for this Build I decided to lean into that persona and Multiclass him with Fighter.
By doing so he gains a Fighting Style, Action Surge, Medium and Heavy Armour Proficiency, an Extra Attack that stacks with the Pact of the Blade’s Extra Attack, and he still gains 3 Feats, and this is a very Feat hungry Build. These things help better set him up for melee combat, as a trueThe Blade of Frontiers.
SinceWyllbegins BG3 as a Warlock, his Ability Scores are in line with what a typical Warlock might have. However, you will want to respec him eventually to get the most out of him, and this will allow you to save valuable Feats onAbility Improvement, when they are needed elsewhere.
Starting Ability Scores
Ideal Ability Scores
You can see that we’ve evened out many of his Abilities to provide more benefit, especially with CON which will not only give him more HP, but help him pass Concentration Saving Throws. We’ve also made sure he can get +2 AC when wearing Medium or Light Armour by rounding up his DEX, which will improve his Initiative as well.
Wyll has Proficiency inAnimal HandlingandSurvivalfrom his Background, so you cannot change these. However, ideally when respeccing Wyll we’d take 1 level of Fighter before taking a level of Warlock in order to have CON Proficiency, which helps with Concentration Saving Throws.
This means ideally you’d select Persuasion and Intimidation so that he can handle dialogues effectively. Acrobatics is a good solid third choice since it helps prevent Wyll from being Shoved, but you could select Athletics for the same reason.
I like to keep myCompanionsat least the Class they begin the game with, since it feels like that is how Larian intended for them to be played, and it’s no exception with Wyll. However, because Fighters have CON Proficiency, and Medium/Heavy Armour Proficiency when selecting them as your starting Class, it is a better fit for this Build. For this reason, when you respec, make sure Fighter is Wyll’s first level chosen, before selecting Warlock second.
Level 1 – Fighter
As you can see you get quite a bit from selecting Fighter first. Medium or Heavy Armour is what you want Wyll to use with this Build, since he won’t have very high Dexterity. He will also have better Concentration Saving Throws since his Constitution will be added when calculating it, and Warlocks have a LOT of Concentration Spells.
Lastly, Wyll will gain a Fighting Style. There are a couple of good options here. Defence just gives him a flat +1 Armour Class. Duelling gives him +2 damage when he’s using a one-handed weapon, even if he uses a Shield. AndGreat Weapon Fightingcan significantly boost his damage, as well as prevent the need for the Savage Attacker Feat if you don’t mind less Armour Class. Any of these are acceptable.
Since you can’t respec until you’re at least level 2 anyways, you’ll be able to keep Wyll as a Warlock, even if it’s his second Class, by taking Warlock immediately after selecting 1 level of Fighter. We’ll take 5 levels of Warlock in a row here, in order to pick up the important Warlock aspects.
Level 2 –The Great Old One
At level 1 of Warlock, Wyll will be taking The Great Old One Subclass. This is because he will gain access to Mortal Reminder, which makes it so when Wyll Critically Hits with a Weapon or Spell, the target and nearby targets must make a Wisdom Saving Throw or become Frightened. We have a huge focus on Critical Hits with this Build, so this will trigger often.
Wyll will also gain his first Warlock Spell Slot, which replenishes afterShort Rest, and will get to select two level 1 Warlock Spells. I suggest taking Armour of Agathys and Arms of Hadar. You won’t end up using these all that often later in the game, but you will use them early on before you’ve gained Darkness.
And finally, Wyll gains Eldritch Blast this level, giving him a reliable ranged attack every round. He will rely on this a lot until he reaches level 3, and gains Pact of the Blade, since he will have poor melee accuracy until that point. Note that Eldritch Blast gains an extra beam at Character Levels 5 and 10, so Multiclassing does not hurt its effectiveness.
Level 3 – The Great Old One
At level 2 of Warlock, Wyll will get to select two Eldritch Invocations from a list. I highly advise taking Agonising Blast, which will boost the damage of Eldritch Blast by Wyll’s Charisma Modifier (this is added to each beam). And also selecting Devil’s Sight, which will allow Wyll to see inside the Darkness Spell, which he will gain at the next level.
Level 4 – The Great Old One
At level 3 of Warlock, Wyll will gain a second Warlock Spell Slot, and both Spell Slots will increase to level 2 Spell Slots, meaning they can be used to cast level 1 or 2 Spells. He will also gain access to Warlock level 2 spells, allowing him to select Darkness, which is vital for this Build.
Darkness Blinds enemies within, which automatically makes attacks against them have Advantage, while Blinded enemies have Disadvantage on their attacks. And since Wyll has Devil’s Sight he can enter the Darkness and not be Blinded, using this to his Advantage, as long as he maintains Concentration on Darkness. This is why Fighter at level 1 comes in handy, in case he does get hit while inside, which can happen.
Also at level 3, Wyll will get to choose a Pact Boon, and we will be selectingPact of the Blade, since Wyll is the Blade of Frontiers after all! This allows Wyll to summon a melee weapon and use his Charisma Modifier for Attack and Damage Rolls with it. OR, to bind any weapon to him, allowing him Proficiency with it and to use his Charisma Modifier for Attack and Damage Rolls with it. This gives Wyll the flexibility to melee or Eldritch Blast each turn with the same effectiveness.
Level 5 – The Great Old One
At level 4 of Warlock, Wyll will get to select his first Feat. Here I highly recommend selectingGreat Weapon Master. This will allow Wyll to use his Bonus Action to make another attack if he kills an enemy or Critically Hits an enemy with a melee attack. He is more likely to kill than Critically Hit at this point of the game, but it will become more useful when his Critical Chance is higher. Additionally, if he is using a Two-Handed Weapon, then he can gain a huge damage boost as well, and the hit chance can be somewhat offset by the Advantage he gains while attacking Blinded enemies standing in Darkness.
Wyll will also gain a second Beam to Eldritch Blast at this level, making it outperform his melee attacks until the next level of Warlock, so you will likely once again rely on it here for a short stretch of the game.
Level 6 – The Great Old One
At level 5 of Warlock, Wyll will gain level 3 Spells and his Warlock Spell Slots will improve to level 3 Spell Slots, allowing him to cast level 3 Spells with them.Hunger of Hadaris not a bad choice here, but it doesn’t work the same way as Darkness so Wyll is not effective inside of it.
Wyll will also gain an Extra Attack from Deepened Pact at this level of Warlock, allowing him to melee twice per turn in combat with his pact weapon. This DOES stack with Extra Attack from Fighter, which will give him three attacks at Fighter level 5. This puts Wyll’s melee on par with his Eldritch Blast once again.
And finally, he will gain one more Eldritch Invocation, and I highly recommend selectingRepelling Blastin order to make the beams of Eldritch Blast knock enemies backwards. This can often result in their death if knocking them off a cliff or high elevation.
After taking 5 levels of The Great Old One Warlock, it’s time to switch back to Fighter to pick up many benefits from it and the Champion Subclass.
Level 7 –Fighter
At level 2 of Fighter, Wyll will gain Action Surge, allowing him to perform a second Action in combat. This allows him to cast Darkness, and then attack twice on the same turn, since he will have the Extra Attack from Warlock. This will eventually be three times, once he gains Extra Attack from Fighter.
Level 8 –Champion
At level 3 of Fighter, Wyll will get to choose a Subclass. I’ve selected Champion here because it reduces the number he needs to roll in order to Critically Hit with both Eldritch Blast and melee attacks by 1. This is roughly a 5% increase to Critical Hit chance, but since we typically attack with Advantage, it is closer to 10%, making Wyll’s Critical Hit Chance when attacking with Advantage close to 20% at this point of the game. Note that this effect stacks, and we’ll be using equipment to help increase this further.
Level 9 – Champion
At level 4 of Fighter, Wyll will gain a second Feat. Here he will either take Savage Attacker or Ability Improvement depending on what Fighting Style you chose for him. If he’s using Great Weapon Fighting then Savage Attacker is not needed, and he should select Ability Improvement for better Accuracy and Damage.
If Wyll is using Duelling or Defence, thenSavage Attackeris the play here. Note that Savage Attacker applies to all damage rolls made when making a melee attack, even those added by equipment, Critical Hits or Sneak Attacks, so is very important to this Build if not using Great Weapon Fighting.
Level 10 – Champion
At level 5 of Fighter, Wyll will gain Extra Attack, allowing him to attack 3x in combat when using his pact weapon. This can even be 4x if he Critically Hits or kills an enemy with his melee attacks, which is a huge amount.
Also at this level, Wyll’s Eldritch Blast will add a third and final beam, allowing it to hit 3 different targets or to attack the same target multiple times. Remember that each beam has its own chance to Critically Hit, and that enemies hit with it can be Frightened thanks to Mortal Reminder.
Level 11 – Champion
At level 6 of Fighter, Wyll will gain a third Feat. With it, he should select Ability Improvement and take Charisma up to 18 or 20 depending on what Feats he selected before. This extra Feat comes in very handy for this Build, and should not be overlooked.
Level 12 – Champion
At level 7 of Champion, Wyll will gain Remarkable Athlete: Jump, allowing him to Jump 3m further, and will also gain Remarkable Athlete: Proficiency allowing him to use half his Proficiency Bonus when making STR, DEX and CON Checks he is not Proficient in. Initiative is one such Check, so he will gain improved Initiative (+2 at this level), allowing him to act sooner in combat.
Wyll Armour
Wyll has the option to use eitherMediumorHeavy Armourthank to his starting level in Fighter, and one that I like for this Build is Dark Justiciar Half-Plate. This is a Medium Armour that provides Advantage on Stealth Checks while Obscured, but also Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws, which is essentially the equivalent of having the War Caster Feat for all intents and purposes. This Armour also has incredibly high base Armour at 16, giving Wyll a total of 18 AC just for wearing it.
A good alternative is theAdamantine Splint Armour, which has the same AC, but reduces damage by 2 and prevents Critical Hits. Critical Hits are often one of the few ways Wyll can get hit while in Darkness, and this Armour prevents that.
Wyll Melee Weapons
For choice of weapon for this Build, I really wanted to try to stick to some sort of bladed weapon since Wyll is The Blade of Frontiers. Weapons that work well with this Build are any that add an additional damage type that can roll, since this will be improved with Savage Attacker or Great Weapon Fighting, and doubled with Critical Hits. However, there are a couple of exceptions that help increase our Critical Hit Chance. Some that I have found to work well are:
Knife of the Undermountain Kingis an exceptional weapon for this Build because not only does it reduce the number you need to roll to Critically Hit by 1 for all attacks, but it also applies a similar effect to Great Weapon Fighting, rerolling your damage dice if they are two or lower for your attacks. This can remove the need for the Savage Attacker Feat if you use this weapon.
Charge-Bound Warhammer is also exceptional for this Build, though it is not a blade. It deals an extra 1-6 Lightning Damage if pact bound, which it will be, allowing you to really crank the damage. It can also be two or one-handed since it is versatile.
Wyll Ranged Weapons
The Dead Shotis also great for this Build in the ranged weapon slot, since it further reduces your Crit number by 1, even when not using it at all! Consider slotting it on Wyll if you don’t have an archer in your group.
Wyll Shield
If you’re not two-handing then you will most certainly want a Shield. Some good ones are:
Justiciar’s Greatshieldallows you to createDarknessaround you for 2 turns as a Bonus Action, and is a great way to lead off combat. Iron-Banded Shield has high AC, and Ketheric’s Shield has some nice bonuses as well. Since we are using our Bonus Action to make a normal attack, there is no need to dual wield with this Build unless you want bonuses of the second weapon.
Wyll Accessories
Dark Justiciar Helmet is perfect for this Build. Not only does it boost Concentration Saving Throws, but it also reduces the number needed to Critical Hit by 1 while Obscured, further boosting Critical Chance while in Darkness. Covert Cowl is a solid alternative if you don’t have this one, though less effective.
Cloak of Protectionis excellent for this Build as it adds +1 to both AC and Saving Throws. Not a must, but very nice to have.
Dark Justiciar Gauntlets are a nice addition as well, since they add Necrotic Damage to your weapon attacks, and boost Strength Saving Throws by +1. Flawed Helldusk Gloves or Helldusk Gloves also work well, so consider using either of these.
Evasive Shoesare nice for the addedArmour Class, but you can really use any shoes you want for this Build. These are probably the least important part.
For Amulet, there aren’t too many good ones for this Build unfortunately. I’m using theSurgeon’s Subjugation Amulet, but you can really use whatever you like here.
ForRingsthere are a few solid choices:
Strange Conduit RingandShadow-Cloaked Ringare my two go-tos since they add rolled damage which can be increased via Crits.Ring of Twilightadds AC, andRing of Arcane Synergycan boost damage if you strike with Eldritch Blast first, and then attack afterwards using Action Surge or on the next turn.
The general strategy with this Build is to go in turn 1 and dropDarknessin the middle of as many enemies as possible, and then pop Action Surge and then begin meleeing them to death. You can use your second Spell Slot to reposition Darkness as needed if ranged enemies or casters move out of it. Keep in mind that you can use Eldritch Blast from inside the Darkness as well to attack enemies outside safely.
Try to maintain Advantage on all of your attacks as this will drastically increase your chances of Critically Hitting enemies, which will further boost your damage.
Action Surge and Warlock Spell Slots both replenish with Short Rests, so be sure to do this between combats when possible. It’s also not a bad idea to have a Bard in your group that can use Song of Rest to allow you to do this even more before needing to Long Rest.
TheFavourable Beginningstadpole power is great to have on Wyll (really any character), since it further helps with his hit chance, especially if he’s using a two-handed weapon andGreat Weapon Master. Great Weapon Master makes it easy to Miss and anything you can do to help hit chance is a good idea. This only requires 1 tadpoll to use, so it’s a no-brainer on this build, you’ll just have to convince Wyll to use Tadpoles first.
That wraps up our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wyll Build Guide! 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.
Castielle
Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.
