The best Baldur’s Gate 3 Bard Build (say that three times fast), begins with a talented musician. Unlike the incessant rockstar biopics we’re used to, however, this one won’t end up with us meeting an untimely end in Baldur’s Gate 3 and joining the 27 club. Not if you follow our build guide, anyway. An underrated class in BG3, the Bard can become an absolute powerhouse, and in this guide, we’ll show you how to do just that, as well as how to resolve some key choices to help you along the way.
Baldur's Gate 3 best bard build and choices
The best Bard build in Baldur's Gate 3 focuses on the following qualities:
- Broad range of spells and skills
- Dialogue and charisma
- Dexterity, evasion and ranged combat
Bards don't specialise very well - they're too broad as characters, meant to have something for any situation, but they're fantastic as the leaders of a party, and a great choice when choosing a class to play as for yourself. You'll be focusing on other characters to be really good in combat and violent encounters, whereas you'll be supporting them from a distance, and soothing tempers and healing wounds when the bloodshed is over.
Here's what you need when starting on the best Bard build in Baldur's Gate 3:
- Race: Forest Gnome
- Highest attributes: Charisma, Dexterity
- Subclass: College of Lore
- Background: Charlatan
- Class Skills: Persuasion, Stealth. Perception or Investigation
- Equipment: Versatile One-Handed Weapon, Light Armor, Shield, Light Crossbow, any rockin' instrument you damn well please
- Cantrips: Mage Hand, Minor Illusion
- Spells: Healing Word, Thunderwave, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Feather Fall
The Forest Gnome might be a surprising choice among all the Baldur's Gate 3 races, but there's a few reasons. First of all, being able to communicate with animals (and use your charisma to control them) can be very useful throughout the game, not to mention that the Gnomish ability to be doubly resistant to half of all magic will help you in practically any battle.
Then you want to bump your Charisma and Dexterity as high as they'll go, as the first will keep you powerful, and the second will keep you evasive. Your skills are chosen to match these as well as what is usually most helpful, to the extent that you may not even need a rogue on the team. Some Bards may feel a need to dual-wield - but we don't recommend it, except maybe unless you want to use two hand crossbows at once. Burning a bonus action is too expensive when you have powerful spells like Healing Word at your disposal.
Oh, and speaking of which, Healing Word is a ridiculously broken spell, capable of reviving an ally quickly from across a room as a bonus action. Never do without it. Your other spells each have a distinct purpose - Thunderwave clears enemies from around you, Tasha's Laughter will incapacitate bosses or threats, and Feather Fall will help characters explore, though it's definitely the one you can get away with swapping out most.
Oh, and let's address the hollyphant in the room: we didn't include Vicious Mockery. I know, I know, it's a lot of fun conceptually, but mechanically it's one of the weakest combat cantrips in the game, and if you're in range of an enemy you might as well shoot them with a crossbow, especially if you can set it on fire. Mage Hand is very useful in a lot of situations, as is Minor Illusion if you're sneaking about, so pick those instead. Then, when you get the College of Lore subclass, you can get even more spells for even more diverse options.
Later level Bard builds: Bards are able to add two more cantrips on their way to level 12, and we’d recommend adding Friends and Minor Illusion. Friends can help make you even more charismatic, granting advantage on charisma checks, while Minor Illusion is useful for getting out of trouble.
Magic items that increase your diversity of skills are what you need to find. Amulets, Rings and such usually provide, as well as any number of boots that'll allow you to explore more freely and stay out of enemy's attacks. If you want to focus on skills, consider multiclassing into Baldur's Gate 3 classes like the Rogue, Warlock or Ranger - all good options for diverse skill sets - and if you want to have more of a presence in battle, focus on ranged combat over melee, as your low strength and high dexterity (not to mention being somewhat squishy) definitely make you a distance fighter. You should also boost your stealth whenever possible - this build is a quasi-rogue, after all, and ambushes from stealth are always very advantageous.
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