Baldur’s Gate 3 will feature a wide variety of different classes, as is a common practice in the genre. Each of these classes will have various roles to aid in the success of your journey. Failure in covering a wide range of skills and roles in combat will result in plenty of hardships down the line, so having a balance and fleshed-out party will be key.

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The Barbarian class brings with it lots of brute force and striking power. When you think of a large and beefy character, you think “tank,” but the barbarian does not normally wear any armor. This is so it can utilize its most critical feature to its fullest, Rage. There is an Origin companion option available with Barbarian for you at Character Creation.

Updated by Chad Thesen on August 21, 2023: This guide has been updated to feature a new section on the choices you should be making while leveling up your Barbarian using the Wild Magic subclass. This includes all the choices that you should make at each level-up point. As well as what pieces of gear you should go out and claim when at each of these levels to keep your performance high.

Best Barbarian Ability Distribution

Your primary Abilities will be the ones that you will try to get as high as possible before worrying about any of the other Abilities on the list. Your dump stats are the ones that are completely useless to you. The Barbarian is just one character in a party of adventurers. Each will have different roles to play, and your Barbarian is no exception. You do not need to be chatting it up with any of the NPCs, nor will you be looking for clues to solving some elaborate puzzle. The Barbarian will be leaping through the air and raining death down upon any unfortunate enemies that happen to be where they come crashing down.

Maximize their Strength and Constitution, as they will be a significant melee damage-dealing cornerstone to combat. Your Wisdom and Dexterity modifiers will come into play when you make saving throws, so having some points in them when there is nowhere else to allocate points is not a bad call. Favor Wisdom over Dexterity, as you will be gaining advantage for your Dexterity Saving throws at level 2.

• Primary Abilities (Max these out): Strength and Constitution
• Secondary Abilities: Wisdom and Dexterity
• Dump Abilities (Ignore These): Charisma and Intelligence

Best Race For Barbarians

Go with a Half-Orc. This race gives +2 to your Strength Ability and +1 to your Constitution. This is 1 less Constitution compared to a Shield Dwarf, but they make up for it by being able to prevent their HP from dropping to 0 with every long rest by having it drop to 1 instead. Furthermore, whenever you score a critical hit with a melee weapon, you get to deal some extra damage on top. This will feel so satisfying every time it comes up in combat. Having Darkvision is also a big plus.

Alternative Race Option

The Shield Dwarf will give you +2 to both your Strength and Constitution abilities and let you perform very well at what you do best: combat. Githyanki psionics offer some great mobility, but the +1 Intelligence and extra proficiency compared to the Shield Dwarf’s +2 Constitution is just a massive downgrade. The Human race can help round up every odd number ability, but if everyone is playing their role right, this will not be a concern.

Best Skills & Background For Barbarians

There is only one skill tied to Strength and no skills tied to Constitution. This Strength skill in question is Athletics, which you can pick up from your class or Background. If you take the Outlander Background, you will get Athletics and Survival. For your other skill proficiencies, got with Perception and Animal Handling.

There are no other Backgrounds that offer this possible outcome, and the rest should be avoided.

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Best Subclass For Barbarians

Berserker all the way. This Subclass will grant you a special frenzied state whenever you activate your Rage. While in this special state, you can use your Bonus Action to make weapon attacks, and it will grant you Enraged Throw. Enraged Throw is just an all-around better version of Throw.

What Do The Other Sub-classes Offer?

Wild Heart offers some great utility. It lets you speak with animals and lets you heal yourself up. However, the healing is not very useful in combat, as it uses your Action and should primarily be used between encounters. Overall, it does not commit to the role the Barbarian is meant to be playing in the group. Magic Heart lets you roll for random bonuses and benefits, making it very unreliable when you have the least desired outcome.

Best Feats For Barbarians

For your first feat, take the Ability Improvement to allocate points into Strength and Constitution. If you have been following this guide, they should be at 17 Strength and 16 Constitution. Put one point into Strength and the other into an odd-numbered Ability to bring it up. If you have chosen a Shield Dwarf, they should both be at 17 when you get to take your first Ability Improvement. Put a point into Strength and a point into Constitution.

For your second feat, push your Strength up to a solid 20 with another Ability Improvement. For your final feat at level 12, you will already be using your bonus action for an extra melee attack, so it would be a waste to take Great Weapons Master. Instead, take Mage Slayer. This will let you attack with your reaction when a magic user you have locked down tries casting spells.

Avoid Multiclassing. Nothing is going to make you better at being a raging juggernaut than more levels in Barbarian. Just keep taking levels in this class and pick up the above feats as they become available.

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Best Party Composition For Barbarians

The Barbarian is the frontliner of the party and will always be leaping into the fray. You will want to build around backing up this brute. Barbarians do not have heavy armor, and they will favor a two-handed weapon over carrying any sort of shield. This means their AC might not stack up compared to other classes like a Paladin or Fighter. You will want some more frontline assistance and a dedicated healer. A good combo to handle this is throwing in a Bard and a Monk. The Bard will cover all your Charisma checks outside of battle and provide a slew of useful spells, even low-level ones. The Bard will also be the dedicated healer for those putting themselves into the melee action.

The Monk will have high Dexterity and Wisdom, making them great for Perception checks and being the groups scout. They will be able to sneak in and pick up on all the secret little details. Monks can also leap into the frontlines alongside the Barbarian and help divide the aggro. Finally, you will want someone to handle Intelligence checks, which brings us to the Wizard. Have this wizard take the Evocation school so that they can use their big and powerful damage spells directly on top of the Barbarian and Monk without it dealing any damage to your allies.

Barbarians In Combat

Despite popular misconception, not all Barbarians need to use Unarmored Defense. In fact, only Heavy Armor impedes your Rage. This means if you have some Medium Armor that overall gives you a higher Armor Class than without it, you should wear that Medium Armor and reap all of its rewards without worrying about any negatives.

Once you are within range of something you can start hitting, you will want to activate your Rage. Rage will increase your damage and make you resistant to physical damage types such as slashing and piercing. Rage will also give you Advantage on any checks for your Strength-based skills and Saving Throws you make.

You will also want to make use of Throw while not in melee range. Throw will be your best bet and consistently attack enemies while you are out of range, but you should always be aiming to close this gap whenever possible.

At level 2 you will gain access to Relentless Attack and Danger Sense. This lets you dish out a ton of extra damage and avoid taking damage from a lot of AoE spells and traps.

Barbarians Outside Of Combat

Barbarians can help outside of combat too, although not as much as other classes that cover far more skills. Barbarians can use their Athletics to push against the world that would otherwise knock other characters down. They can use their Rage to gain Advantage on every one of these checks to swim against a raging current, jump between dangerous ledges, and shove things around. This might not seem like much, but never underestimate just how vital pulling off a specific skill at a specific moment can be. You will be grateful that someone has this skill covered when you need it most.

Berserker Leveling Choices

The Barbarian is a simple class with not a lot of choices, the same can be said for its Berserker subclass. Outfitting it with the hardest-hitting of all options results in a truly devastating unit in your party that will utterly excel in combat situations.

• Race: This is the race you should choose at character creation.
• Background: This is the Background you should choose at character creation.
• Skills: These are the skills you should choose at character creation to cover what your Background does not.
• Subclass: This is the Subclass you should choose when given the option to pick one.
• Hunt the Devil: Completing this quest rewards you with a truly amazing weapon, the Sword of Justice.
• Haste Helm: When combat starts, you will have 3 turns of Momentum to help you close the gap on your targets. You can find this item in a chest at Blighted Village. Which you will need to lockpick.
• Linebreaker Boots: Whenever you Dash, as you will get in the faces of your enemies, you will gain Wrath for 3 turns. This serves as Loot obtained from Beastmaster Zurk
• Crusher's Ring: You can get this ring from Novice Crusher in the goblin village, how you choose to do that is up to you. This ring gives you +3 to your movement.
• Absolution's Talisman: When your health is below 25%, hitting targets lets you heal 1d8. This is monstrously good in the hands of a raging lunatic that won't stop charging into enemies. This can be looted from True Soul Guts.
• Amulet of Misty Step: This Amulet will allow you to use the Misty Step spell to safely get into places you normally would not be able to get. Better yet, it's a Bonus Action, meaning you can use it to teleport 18 meters closer, use your movement, and then still use your Action to attack. You can acquire this by purchasing it from Omeiuum in the Underdark.
• Bloodguzzler's Garb: This can be found as loot from Bulette in the Underdark. This is great for a Barbarian who is always in the thick of combat.
• Boots of Striding: While not as good as Linebreaker Boots, these may be more preferred by a lot of players, hence their inclusion on this list. They will grant you Momentum while you are concentrating on any of your spells. This can help you move significantly around the map by choosing when to concentrate even when the spell might not be the best choice. This serves as Loot obtained from Minthara.
• Feat: Take the corresponding feat for each of the corresponding levels.

Wildheart Leveling Choices

Wildheart may not be as optimized as Berserker, but it offers you a bit more flexibility. You will have options to choose from rather than just close the gap and annihilate everything in your way. You may be able to stun something you want to shut down or charge forward and knock enemies prone. This gives you more control to protect yourself and your allies over ending the fight as quickly as possible.

• Race: This is the race you should choose during character creation. Half-Orc is so good for this class and the Wildheart subclass, but Shield Dwarf more accurately captures the heart of this subclass. It makes you more tanky in order to keep controlling the field.
• Background: This is the Background you should choose during character creation.
• Skills: These are the skills you should choose during character creation to cover what your Background does not.
• Subclass: This is the Subclass you should choose when given the option to pick one.
• Beastial Heart: Each animal heart gives you a different set of features, and Elk will give you the utility to be a Melee controller for your party.
• Animal Aspect: Again, go with Elk to give your entire party some extra movement, and will stack with gear granting you Momentum. Take Stallion at level 10 to gain twice your level's worth of temporary hit points whenever you dash. This spikes your survivability while also closing the distance on far-away targets.
• Hunt the Devil: Completing this quest rewards you with a truly amazing weapon, the Sword of Justice.
• Haste Helm: When combat starts, you will have 3 turns of Momentum to help you close the gap on your targets. You can find this item in a chest at Blighted Village. Which you will need to lockpick.
• Linebreaker Boots: Whenever you Dash, as you will get in the faces of your enemies, you will gain Wrath for 3 turns. This serves as Loot obtained from Beastmaster Zurk
• Crusher's Ring: You can get this ring from Novice Crusher in the goblin village, how you choose to do that is up to you. This ring gives you +3 to your movement.
• Absolution's Talisman: When your health is below 25%, hitting targets lets you heal 1d8. This is monstrously good in the hands of a raging lunatic that won't stop charging into enemies. This can be looted from True Soul Guts.
• Amulet of Misty Step: This Amulet will allow you to use the Misty Step spell to safely get into places you normally would not be able to get. Better yet, it's a Bonus Action, meaning you can use it to teleport 18 meters closer, use your movement, and then still use your Action to attack. You can acquire this by purchasing it from Omeiuum in the Underdark.
• Bloodguzzler's Garb: This can be found as loot from Bulette in the Underdark. This is great for a Barbarian who is always in the thick of combat.
• Boots of Striding: While not as good as Linebreaker Boots, these may be more preferred by a lot of players, hence their inclusion on this list. They will grant you Momentum while you are concentrating on any of your spells. This can help you move significantly around the map by choosing when to concentrate even when the spell might not be the best choice. This serves as Loot obtained from Minthara.
• Feat: Take the corresponding feat for each of the corresponding levels.

Wild Magic Leveling Choices

Wild Magic is very different from Wildheart. Whildheart lets you make a lot more choices and develop a character in a certain way. Wild Magic is a lot more chaotic and will have you gaining random powers through a range of possible rolls.

• Race: This is the race you should choose during character creation. Half-Orc is so good for this class, but the Shield Dwarf is better suited for Wild Magic in the same way it was more suited for the Wildheart subclass. Wild Magic is unpredictable, and thus, can be unreliable. The Shield Dwarf option lets be better suited when you don't get what you need.
• Background: This is the Background you should choose during character creation.
• Skills: These are the skills you should choose during character creation to cover what your Background does not.
• Subclass: This is the Subclass you should choose when given the option to pick one.
• Wild Magic: You will get random results when you rage. Some are more useful than others, but your fate is in the hands of the dice with this subclass feature.
• Hunt the Devil: Completing this quest rewards you with a truly amazing weapon, the Sword of Justice.
• Haste Helm: When combat starts, you will have 3 turns of Momentum to help you close the gap on your targets. You can find this item in a chest at Blighted Village. Which you will need to lockpick.
• Linebreaker Boots: Whenever you Dash, as you will get in the faces of your enemies, you will gain Wrath for 3 turns. This serves as Loot obtained from Beastmaster Zurk
• Crusher's Ring: You can get this ring from Novice Crusher in the goblin village, how you choose to do that is up to you. This ring gives you +3 to your movement.
• Absolution's Talisman: When your health is below 25%, hitting targets lets you heal 1d8. This is monstrously good in the hands of a raging lunatic that won't stop charging into enemies. This can be looted from True Soul Guts.
• Amulet of Misty Step: This Amulet will allow you to use the Misty Step spell to safely get into places you normally would not be able to get. Better yet, it's a Bonus Action, meaning you can use it to teleport 18 meters closer, use your movement, and then still use your Action to attack. You can acquire this by purchasing it from Omeiuum in the Underdark.
• Bloodguzzler's Garb: This can be found as loot from Bulette in the Underdark. This is great for a Barbarian who is always in the thick of combat.
• Boots of Striding: While not as good as Linebreaker Boots, these may be more preferred by a lot of players, hence their inclusion on this list. They will grant you Momentum while you are concentrating on any of your spells. This can help you move significantly around the map by choosing when to concentrate even when the spell might not be the best choice. This serves as Loot obtained from Minthara.
• Feat: Take the corresponding feat for each of the corresponding levels.

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