Baldur’s Gate 3 offers a tactical RPG experience that very few other games can rival. It will have you take control and manage a group of 4 adventurers, each of which will need to cover a range of different skills and actions both in and outside of combat. It's important to cover every aspect of the game, so you are not caught off guard by what it might throw at you.

RELATED: Best D&D Video Games, Ranked

The Cleric class is a tried and true dedicated healer for a lot of games, but in Baldur’s Gate 3, they also serve as one of the tankier options that make up your adventuring party. Here's what you should do to build the best Cleric possible.

Updated by Chad Thesen on August 23, 2023: This guide has been updated to feature a new section on the choices you should be making while leveling up your Cleric with the Tempest Domain Subclass. This includes all the choices you make at each level up and what pieces of gear you should go out and claim when at each of these levels to keep your performance high. Some of these gear choices are shared with the Paladin, and it is not a bad choice to split them among the two if your party has both in it.

Best Cleric Ability Distribution

The value of their Wisdom Ability is what drives a Cleric. It is what will fuel their spells and give a bonus to all their skills for this build. The Cleric will cover acts of Perception, Insight, Medicine, Animal Handling, and Survival but also use Wisdom as their spell caster modifier. This makes it the most important Ability in their arsenal.

They will also use their Strength to deal damage, which will keep their spell slots available for when they need them the most. Dexterity will be useful for making saving throws, and a high Constitution means more HP and less chance of losing concentration when casting spells. You can dump Intelligence and Charisma, as these skills will play no part in this build.

Primary Abilities (Max these out): Wisdom and Strength

Secondary Abilities: Dexterity and Constitution

Dump Abilities (Ignore These): Intelligence and Charisma

Best Race For The Cleric

Just like the Druid class, the Wood Elf will provide you with a treasure trove of value. Firstly it will increase your Wisdom Ability. It will also grant you proficiency in both Stealth and Perception. Elves are immune to being put to sleep by magical means and will have an Advantage when being charmed.

Wood elves also have a higher-than-average base movement speed, meaning it will be much easier to cover more ground in combat and get within range of an ally that needs emergency healing. This movement will also be great when you need to put your Cleric between an ally and an enemy to soak up aggro. Darkvision will also mean there is no need to waste a spell slot to see in the dark.

Alternative Race Option

Gold Dwarves are another great pick. Dwarves also have Darkvision but will be more tank-like. They will replace the +2 bonus to Dexterity from being a Wood Elf with a +2 bonus in Constitution. This means more HP, but on top of that, they will have an Advantage on rolls against being poisoned and be resistant to poison damage.

Best Skills And Background For The Cleric

Folk Hero will give you proficiency in Animal Handling and Survival, both of which use Wisdom for their modifier. Don’t forget that since you are an Elf, you are also already proficient in Perception. This means you will be able to take two more skills from being a Cleric. As fate should have it, both remaining Wisdom driven skills are on this list, Medicine and Insight. Make these two your picks.

Alternative Background Options

Outlander and Sailor both give Athletics, which is something the Cleric’s high strength can make use of. Both of these Backgrounds also give proficiency in a Wisdom-driven skill, Outlander being Survival and Sailor being Perception if you prefer to go the Dwarf Route and still want to notice everything going on around you.

RELATED: Tabletop Games You Should Play If You Love Dungeons & Dragons

Best Subclass For The Cleric

A lot of players might think being a healer is vital to success, but that is not the case for Baldur’s Gate 3. Instead, being a healer means you can recover if things go south, but your primary focus should be taking out enemies before an ally is in dire need of healing. For this reason, it is best to go with the Light Domain subclass. This will give you proficiency in Heavy Armor and allow you to fight on the frontline to divide aggro.

It will also give you some higher combat prowess with your spells while everyone is healthy. Faerie Fire will help lead the charge against a target by making attack rolls against it have an Advantage. This is exceptionally helpful when used against invisible targets. And when you need to pour on the damage fast, Burning Hands will let you greatly help out the party to end encounters quickly.

What Do The Other Subclasses Offer?

The Cleric has many other subclasses, each of which will come with its own features and additional spells. Life Domain will give you a much larger focus on healing. Trickery Domain, which is used by one of the Origin companions, will give you some more control options. Knowledge will completely change how you approach skills in the game and mean you can drop needing a Wizard from your party composition. Nature Domain is for players that want to be a Druid but with the Strength-driven playstyle and mentality of a Cleric.

The last two options also offer Heavy Armor proficiency. Tempest will give you some offensive prowess, much like the Light domain, but will have a more thematic approach to storms. And finally, War Domain lets you play more as a Fighter that has a reason to make use of Wisdom.

Best Feats For The Cleric

First, focus on getting your Wisdom to 20. Other than that, the only feat that really stands out is War Caster. War Caster will be something you want to pick up last for the final moments of the game in preparation for what it might throw at you. However, getting your Wisdom to 20 means your rolls will be the highest they can be and prevent you from feeling like any challenge is too great to overcome.

Avoid Multiclassing. While Ranger and Druid seem like Wisdom synergy options, all they do is slow down everything. A dip in Fighter is a popular choice, but with Baldur’s Gate 3 level cap at 12, that will cost you your final feat.

RELATED: Games You Should Play If You Love The Witcher Franchise

Best Spells For The Cleric

Clerics have a lot of great spells they get at an early level and remain great all the way to the end of the game. Guidance is one of the best cantrips you can come by. Since it's a cantrip, it will not cost a spell slot and can give your target +1d4 to their next ability check.

Best Party Composition For The Cleric

You cannot go wrong with a classic arrangement, a Fighter on the frontline and a Light Domain Cleric alongside the Fighter who can cast healing if needed. The Evocation Wizard provides powerful magic spells that will not harm their allies and will cover Intelligence skills. And the Rogue will cover all outstanding skills for both Dexterity and Charisma.

The Cleric In Combat

You will want your Cleric to be a heavy presence on the frontline to divide the aggro between them and another Frontliner. This means it's less likely for either of them to go down before the fight is over. Use a healing spell when the need arises, but focus on providing support that helps end the fight as soon as possible. By marking an enemy so it is dealt with earlier, there will be fewer rounds where it could have inflicted harm on the party. You don’t need to heal if you remove the source of the enemy’s damage.

The Cleric Outside Of Combat

Clerics have high Wisdom and are Spellcasters. This means they will be the first ones you use when it comes to all your skill checks for Wisdom-based skills. As a prepared Spellcaster, you will need to set which spells seem the most likely to come up. Always help allies get the best rolls they can get by using Guidance before they go for an Ability Check. It will feel really crummy to miss by 1 when a simple cantrip could have pushed them to success.

Light Domain Leveling Guide

The Cleric is a holy warrior and a prepared spell caster. This means you will have to know which spells to have ready for different situations. Some are much more useful than others and will be listed in this guide for you to master and pay extra attention to. However, to master this class, swap out and try every spell at your disposal to master the crafts of this class.

• Race: This is the race you should choose at character creation.
• Background: This is the Background you should choose for character creation.
• Skills: These are the skills you should choose for character creation to cover what your Background does not.
• Domain: This is the Subclass you should choose when given the option to pick one. The Light Domain will give you the Light cantrip for free, which can really come in handy without taking up a spot in your known cantrips list.
• Cantrips and Spells: These are some of the most useful options that will frequently be what you find yourself wanting. However, explore others, such as Guiding Bolt and Bane, to get a feel of your whole arsenal and see which spells you personally find really fun to use. Revivify receives a special mention for level 5, as not all players will have optimized parties. An optimized party can end encounters without the need for this spell, but others may find this spell prevents the need to reload a save file. You should make it a habit to always have a Scroll of Revivify ready so that you will not need to prepare this spell. Greater Restoration and Heal will be marvelous late-game spells
• Haste Helm: When combat starts, you will have 3 turns of Momentum to help you position yourself where you can best help your allies. You can find this item in a chest at Blighted Village. You will need to pick the lock.
• 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.
• Glowing Shield: This lets you heal 8 HP when you are below 50% health. This ability can be used again after a short rest. These extra Hit Points keep you healthy and let you conserve spell slots for damaging enemies instead.
• Boots of Striding: These will grant you Momentum while you are concentrating on any of your spells. This can help you move around the map for better control over the field. This serves as Loot obtained from Minthara.
• Feat: Take the corresponding feat for each of the corresponding levels.
• The Adamantine Forge: This quest will reward you with a great weapon for your travels, the Adamantine Longsword. Which is very useful for a one-handed melee user that also uses a shield.

Life Domain Leveling Guide

The Cleric is a holy warrior and a prepared spell caster. This means you will have to know which spells to have ready for different situations. Some are much more useful than others and will be listed in this guide for you to master and pay extra attention to. However, to master this class, swap out and try every spell at your disposal to master the crafts of this class.

• Race: This is the race you should choose at character creation.
• Background: This is the Background you should choose for character creation.
• Skills: These are the skills you should choose for character creation to cover what your Background does not.
• Domain: This is the Subclass you should choose when given the option to pick one.
• Cantrips and Spells: These are some of the most useful options that will frequently be what you find yourself wanting. However, explore others, such as Guiding Bolt and Bane, to get a feel of your whole arsenal and see which spells you personally find really fun to use. Revivify receives a special mention for level 5, as not all players will have optimized parties. An optimized party can end encounters without the need for this spell, but others may find this spell prevents the need to reload a save file. You should make it a habit to always have a Scroll of Revivify ready so that you will not need to prepare this spell. The reason Cure Wounds did not make it into this list is because it is only touch range and requires a whole action. Healing Word is a bonus action that can be cast at range and will gain a significant boost from all the gear. This makes Cure Wounds a very risky option with very little reward by comparison. Greater Restoration and Heal will be marvelous late-game spells
• Haste Helm: When combat starts, you will have 3 turns of Momentum to help you position yourself where you can best help your allies. You can find this item in a chest at Blighted Village. You will need to pick the lock.
• Gear: Several pieces of gear in this build are all about synergizing with healing. The more you heal, the more benefits you get. This includes the following pieces of gear: Whispering Promise, for boosting attacks and saving throws after healing. Boots of Aid and Comfort, for increasing the healing you do.
• Investigate Kahga: This quest will reward you with Hellrider's Pride.
• 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.
• Glowing Shield: This lets you heal 8 HP when you are below 50% health. This ability can be used again after a short rest. These extra Hit Points keep you healthy and let you conserve spell slots for damaging enemies instead.
• Boots of Striding: These will grant you Momentum while you are concentrating on any of your spells. This can help you move around the map for better control over the field. This serves as Loot obtained from Minthara.
• Feat: Take the corresponding feat for each of the corresponding levels.
• The Adamantine Forge: This quest will reward you with a great weapon for your travels, the Adamantine Longsword. Which is very useful for a one-handed melee user that also uses a shield.

Tempest Domain Leveling Guide

Tempest Clerics are the thunderous cousin of Light Domain. They both can wear Heavy Armor and bring down the wrath of their respective gods in different ways. Tempest Domain mostly features damage spells that focus on Thunder damage early on but will have access to Ice, lightning, radiant, and necrotic damage later down the line. This gives them a lot of options.

• Race: This is the race you should choose at character creation.
• Background: This is the Background you should choose for character creation.
• Skills: These are the skills you should choose for character creation to cover what your Background does not.
• Domain: This is the Subclass you should choose when given the option to pick one.
• Cantrips and Spells: These are some of the most useful options that will frequently be what you find yourself wanting. However, explore others, such as Guiding Bolt and Bane, to get a feel of your whole arsenal and see which spells you personally find really fun to use. You should make it a habit to always have a Scroll of Revivify ready so that you will not need to prepare th e Revivify spell for this build. This build gets all the damage it needs from it's subclass spells, all of which are prepared as you get them. Greater Restoration and Heal will be marvelous late-game spells. This gives this build the entire kit it needs to perform incredibly.
• Haste Helm: When combat starts, you will have 3 turns of Momentum to help you position yourself where you can best help your allies. You can find this item in a chest at Blighted Village. You will need to pick the lock.
• Gear: Several pieces of gear in this build are all about synergizing with healing. The more you heal, the more benefits you get. This includes the following pieces of gear: Whispering Promise, for boosting attacks and saving throws after healing. Boots of Aid and Comfort, for increasing the healing you do.
• 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.
• Glowing Shield: This lets you heal 8 HP when you are below 50% health. This ability can be used again after a short rest. These extra Hit Points keep you healthy and let you conserve spell slots for damaging enemies instead.
• Boots of Striding: These will grant you Momentum while you are concentrating on any of your spells. This can help you move around the map for better control over the field. This serves as Loot obtained from Minthara.
• Feat: Take the corresponding feat for each of the corresponding levels.
• The Adamantine Forge: This quest will reward you with a great weapon for your travels, the Adamantine Longsword. Which is very useful for a one-handed melee user who also uses a shield.
• Ring Of Absolute Force: Thunderwave is a really amazing spell, and having an extra use of it will be great for this Cleric's aggressive playstyle.

Next: Dungeons & Dragons: Best Undead Creatures, Ranked