Best BG3 Monk Build Guide – Maximum Damage!

Welcome to the Best BG3 Monk Build Guide. This Monk is highly versatile and martial-focused with its special Ki-Power . This Monk Build uses the Way of the Shadow subclass. It was last updated in September 2025.

Table of Contents for the BG3 Monk Build:

1. Monk Build Overview
   1. BG3 Monk Class Summary
   2. Way of Shadow Subclass Summary
2. Monk Build Character Creation
   1. Best Race
   2. Skills & Background
   3. Ability Scores
3. Monk Build Levelling Progression
   1. Early-Game (2-4)
   2. Mid-Game (5-8)
   3. Late-Game (9-12)
4. Monk Equipment
   1. Early-Game
   2. BG3 Best Monk Equipment (Late-Game)
5. Monk Build Extras
   1. Best Potions 
   2. Tips & Tricks
   3. Best Illithid Powers (Optional)

The Shadow Monk is by far the strongest of all three subclasses you can pick due to its stealth mechanics and high damage per turn.

Please visit our Best BG3 Builds overview page for more builds. For more Monk subclass builds visit the Best Open Hand Monk BG3 Build Guide or the Best Way of the Four Elements Monk BG3 Build. To get an overview of all classes please visit the BG3 Classes overview page. If you are interested in more Monk subclass builds, check our BG3 Monk Builds category page.

Before we get started, here is a quick look at the Monk Strengths and Weaknesses in Baldur’s Gate 3:

BG3 Monk Build Overview

We will start with a quick overview of the Monk class and Way of Shadows subclass, which we’ll be using for this BG3 Monk Build. If you’re already familiar with how they work, please skip this section.

Monk Class Summary

The Monk has quite a lot of unique features, so we’ll only list the starting features here. The rest will be explained in the Levelling Up section.

•  Ki Points – A special Monk resource that is spent to activate Monk Actions. You start the game with 2 Ki Points, and will earn more as you level up. All spent Ki Points are replenished when your party rests (both short and long rests).
•  Martial Arts – A special set of passives that create the Monk’s unique combat style:
  • Dextrous Attacks – If your Dexterity is higher than your Strength, your unarmed attacks will scale with Dexterity.
  • Deft Strikes – Attacks with Monk Weapons and Unarmed Attacks deal 1d4 Bludgeoning Damage, unless their existing damage is higher.
  • Bonus Unarmed Strike – After attacking with a Monk Weapon or while unarmed, you can make another unarmed attack as a Bonus Action.
• Unarmoured Defence – If you are not wearing any armour, you add your Wisdom Modifier to your Armour Class.
•  Flurry of Blows – Punch twice in quick succession. Costs a Ki Point and a Bonus Action.

Way of Shadow Subclass Summary

Here are the most important features of the Way of Shadow subclass in BG3:

•  Shadow Arts: Hide (Level 3) – You can Hide with a Bonus Action.
•  Cloak of Shadows (Level 5) – If you are already Obscured, spend an Action to become Invisible. Lasts for up to 10 turns, but ends if you enter a brightly lit area.
•  Shadow Step (Level 6) – Teleport from shadow to shadow. You get Advantage on your next melee Attack Roll.
•  Shadow Strike (Level 11) – Teleport to a foe from a hidden position. Deal 3d8 Psychic Damage on hit. Costs 3 Ki Points. Only works if you are either Invisible or Hidden.

What Is a Monk Weapon?

Monk Actions and Passive Features often make a reference to “Monk Weapons”, but in my opinion, the game does a poor job of explaining what that means.

So, a Monk Weapon is:

• Any Weapon that your Monk has Proficiency with, except for:
  • Heavy or Two-Handed Weapons.

Versatile Weapons that you choose to wield with both hands still count as Monk Weapons. Only weapons with the Two-Handed and Heavy properties are exempt from becoming Monk Weapons.

Thanks to their Dextrous Attacks feature, Monks can wield any Monk Weapon with Dexterity rather than Strength, even if the weapon does not have the Finesse property.

For example, a Dwarf Monk would have Battleaxe Proficiency from their Dwarf racial features. Since Battleaxes don’t have the Two-Handed or Heavy property, the Dwarf can use a Battleaxe as a Monk Weapon.

BG3 Monk Build Character Creation (Level 1)

In this section, we will guide you through the best options in Character Creation for the Baldur’s Gate 3 Monk Build. While you can deviate somewhat from this if you want, following these steps will result in the most powerful starting point for your Monk.

Race & Subraces

Baldur’s Gate 3 Races offer you plenty of choices. While the races in the table below are the best choices for this build, you can select any race you want, and it will still work fine.

Top 5 races for our BG3 Monk Build:

Race	Strengths	Info
Wood Elf	Proficiency in Stealth and Perception Extra Weapon Proficiencies: Shortswords Longswords Shortbows Longbows Fey Ancestry Advantage against Charmed Immune to Magical Sleep Darkvision Fleet of Foot – 1.5 metres of extra Movement Speed	Wood Elves are a great choice for most build types in BG3, thanks to their superior movement speed. Natural Proficiency in Perception is always useful, and immunity to magical Sleep will help you out a lot, especially in the early game, where enemy mages love to spam this spell.
Githyanki	Can wear Light Armour & Medium Armour Extra Weapon Proficiencies: Shortswords Longswords Greatswords Astral Knowledge Gain Proficiency with all Skills belonging to a selected ability, once per Long Rest. Githyanki Psionics Mage Hand (Level 1) Enhance Leap (Level 3) Misty Step (Level 5)	Githyanki have excellent mobility thanks to Enhance Leap and Misty Step, allowing you to relentlessly pursue ranged enemies. Additionally, Githyanki get the full benefits from equipping various Githyanki weapons, sometimes granting additional Psychic Damage or special features.
Human	Can wear Light Armour and Shields Extra Weapon Proficiencies: Spears Pikes Halberds Glaives Human Versatility One unrestricted Skill choice Increases Carrying Capacity by 25%	Humans are useful for their unrestricted Skill choice. Used wisely, this allows your character to be proficient with a useful Skill that wouldn’t normally be available for your Class. The extra Carrying Capacity is useful, too.
Duergar	Can wear Medium Armour Can wield axes and hammers Dwarven Resilience Advantage against Poisoned Resistance to Poison Damage Superior Darkvision Duergar Resilience Advantage on Saving Throws against illusions Advantage against Charmed and Paralysed Duergar Magic Enlarge (Level 3) Invisibility (Level 5)	With their wide choice of armour and weapon proficiencies, and resistances to poison, charm, and paralysis, Duergar are one of the strongest races in BG3. The only downside of Duergar is their small stature – this reduces their base Movement Speed to 7.5 metres per turn (most races get 9 metres).
Dragonborn, Any	Draconic Ancestry – Depending on which Dragonborn variant you choose, you’ll gain: Resistance to an elemental damage type A special AoE elemental breath attack	Dragonborns get access to a special Breath attack they can use once per Short Rest, which deals elemental damage in a directional AoE. They also get 50% Resistance to the same element. The damage element in question depends on which Dragonborn variant you choose. The Fire and Poison variants are slightly better because many enemies attack with these damage types, making resistance to them more valuable. But don’t let this stop you from using whichever type of Dragonborn you like the most. The Dragonborn’s breath attacks work well with the Monk’s melee playstyle.

Background & Skills

This Monk Build will feature high investment into the Dexterity and Wisdom Skills. As a result, we’ll focus on DEX and WIS Skills.

Therefore, we recommend choosing Urchin as your background, granting the following Skill Proficiencies:

•  Sleight of Hand (DEX) – Increases your chance to pick locks and pick pockets.
•  Stealth (DEX) – Makes it harder for NPCs to spot you when you are sneaking.

In addition, you will receive two Monk Skill choices. We recommend:

•  Acrobatics (DEX) – You are more resistant to enemy attempts to push you around, and you take less falling damage.
•  Insight (WIS) – Successful Insight rolls can reveal extra information and open up hidden dialogue options.

If you’re a Human, you’ll get an extra unrestricted Skill choice. You can assign this to whatever you like, but it is best to use it on any Dexterity or Wisdom Skill that you don’t already have.

Ability Points

The Monk has no armour proficiencies, so it’s crucial to have high Dexterity to push up your Armour Class. This will also boost your attack accuracy. The Monk is unique in the sense that Wisdom also boosts your Armour Class (provided you don’t equip any armour). So even if you get Armour Proficiency from your chosen race, I still recommend doing an unarmoured setup.

Your Wisdom will also be used to roll some Ki abilities. Your Constitution is important for increasing your Max HP and resisting some status debuffs.

For the best results on our BG3 Monk Build, aim for an ability distribution that looks something like this:

• Strength – 10
• Dexterity – 17
• Constitution – 14
• Intelligence – 8
• Wisdom – 16
• Charisma – 8

While having odd ability scores doesn’t provide any immediate benefit (every second point increases your Ability Modifier, which is what buffs your dice rolls), we’re going with 17 DEX because it’ll be increased to 18 at level 4 once we get our first feat.

BG3 Monk Build Levelling Guide

In Baldur’s Gate 3, your character progresses from level 1 to level 12. In the first few levels, you get to choose your subclass and get a feel for the build, but not all of your class & subclass features will be unlocked until high level, along with some racial features which may also remain locked until level 5, depending on your chosen race.

The main mechanic that you need to keep an eye on is your Ki Points as Monk. At lower levels, you won’t have many points available to spend until you do a short or long rest to recharge the Ki-Points. It might feel restrictive at the beginning of the game, but at each extra level you gain more Ki-Points that you then can use in combat.

We will now walk you through the full levelling up process for this BG3 Way of Shadow Monk Build.

BG3 Monk Build Levelling Guide – Levels 2-4

We’ll start with Levels 2 through 4.

Level 2

Note: You also don’t have to pick anything here; you will get all the new features added to your character automatically:

• Additional  Ki Point.
•  Unarmoured Movement: 3m movement increase while not wearing armour or shield.
•  Patient Defence: Attack Rolls against you have Disadvantage, and you have Advantage on Dexterity Saving Throws.
•  Step of the Wind: Dash: Double your movement speed. Jump no longer requires a bonus action.
•  Step of the Wind: Disengage: Retreat to safety by Disengaging. Jump no longer requires a bonus action.

Level 3 – Pick your Monk Subclass

At Level 3, it is time to choose the subclass for your Monk Build. Monks have access to Way of the Four Elements (Caster), Way of the Open Hand (Unarmed Combat), Way of Shadow (Stealth and Subterfuge), and Way of the Drunken Master. For this BG3 Monk Build, we are choosing the Way of Shadow subclass.

The Way of Shadow Monk uses Shadow Arts to surprise and ambush enemies.

New Level 3 Shadow Monk Actions:

•  Shadow Arts: Hide: Hide from enemies by succeeding Stealth checks. Stick to the dark and avoid enemy sightlines. Attacking or casting a spell will reveal your location.
•  Shadow Arts: Pass Without Trace: Call forth a veil of shadows and silence that gives you and all nearby companions a +10 bonus to Stealth Checks.
•  Shadow Arts: Darkness: Create a dark shroud that Heavily Obscures and Blinds creatures within. Creatures cannot make ranged attacks into or out of it.
•  Shadow Arts: Darkvision: Grant a creature the ability to see in the dark out to a range of 12m.
•  Shadow Arts: Silence: Create a soundproof sphere. All within are Silenced and immune to Thunder damage.

New Cantrips:

•  Minor Illusion: Create an illusion that compels nearby creatures to investigate. You can remain hidden while casting this spell. This spell can be cast while you are Silenced.

Level 4

At Level 4, you must choose a Feat to enhance your character. We’ll be choosing the Athlete Feat to boost the Monk’s Dexterity score and general mobility.

• Additional Ki Point
•  Slow Fall: Reduces your fall damage by half
• New Feat: Choose Athlete
  • Increase your Dexterity Score by 1
  • When you are Prone, standing up requires less Movement
  • Your Jump distance is increased by 50%

BG3 Monk Build Mid-Game Levelling (5-8)

We now move on to the mid-game levelling up section.

Level 5

At level five, you earn new Actions that allow you to stun enemies or make yourself Invisible.

Importantly, you can now make two weapon/unarmed attacks per Action.

• Additional Ki Point
•  Extra Attack: Can make an additional free attack after making an unarmed or weapon attack.
•  Stunning Strike (Melee): Possibly Stuns the target. No damage.
•  Stunning Strike (Unarmed): Possibly Stuns the Target and deals damage.
•  Cloak of Shadows: Wrap yourself in shadows to become Invisible if you are obscured.

Level 6

At Level 6, your mobility is increased and your unarmed strikes become magical.

• Extra Ki Point.
•  Improved Unarmoured Movement: Your movement speed increases by 4.5m while you are not wearing armour or using a shield.
•  Ki-Empowered Strikes: Your unarmed attacks count as magical for the purpose of overcoming enemies’ Resistance and Immunity to non-magical damage.
•  Shadow Step: Teleport from shadow to shadow. Afterwards, you have an Advantage on your next melee Attack Roll.

Level 7

At Level 7, you become more resistant to some hostile spells and to enemy attempts to Charm or Frighten your Monk.

• Extra Ki Point
•  Evasion: Your agility lets you dodge out of the way of certain spells. When a spell or effect would deal half damage on a successful Dexterity Saving Throw, it deals no damage if you succeed, and only half damage if you fail.
•  Stillness of Mind: If you are Charmed or Frightened, you automatically cast Stillness of Mind to remove the condition.

Level 8

At level 8, you must choose another Feat to boost your character.

• Extra Ki Point
• New Feat: Choose Ability Improvement (Dexterity)
  • Put both of the Ability Improvement points into Dexterity, increasing it to 20. This will improve your attack accuracy and Armour class.

BG3 Monk Build – Late Game Levelling (9-12)

We’ll now move on to the final few levels.

Level 9

At level 9, the Shadow Monk gets improved mobility and immunity to the slowing effects of Difficult Terrain.

• Extra Ki Point
•  Advanced Unarmoured Movement: Difficult Terrain doesn’t slow you down, and you can Jump an additional 6m while you are not wearing armour or using a shield.

Level 10

At Level 10, your mobility is increased even more. You also get immunity to Poison, which is a great defensive buff because lots of enemies in BG3 have poison attacks.

• Extra Ki Point
•  Improved Unarmoured Movement: Your movement speed increases by 6m while you are not wearing armour or using a shield.
•  Purity of Body: You are Immune to Poison damage and can’t be Poisoned or affected by disease thanks to the purifying Ki flowing through your meridians.

Level 11

At Level 11, you earn the ability to perform teleport attacks on enemies when you are hidden, dealing heavy Psychic Damage on contact.

• Extra Ki Point
•  Shadow Strike (Level 11) – Teleport to a foe from a hidden position. Deal 3d8 Psychic Damage on hit. Costs 3 Ki Points. Only works if you are either Invisible or Hidden.
  • This Action has an armed and unarmed version.

Level 12 – Maxed out BG3 Monk Build

Now you have reached the maximum possible level with your BG3 Monk Build. At level 12, we can choose one more Feat to enhance the Way of Shadow Monk.

• Extra Ki Point
• Choose a Feat. Choose one of the following options:
  • Alert – Gain +5 Initiative. You cannot be Surprised.
  • Tough – Gain 2 extra HP per level. 24 extra HP.

Best Equipment for the BG3 Monk Build

Let us take a look at some of the best gear for the Monk Build in Baldur’s Gate 3. The setup will easily work without any of the gear from below. However, you will of course be more powerful if you manage to get your hands on some of the gear that is presented below.

Early Game Monk Equipment

There is plenty of gear to pick up throughout the early game. Most of the items listed below can be obtained in Act 1 or early Act 2.

Slot	Icon	Item	Effects	Location
Head		Haste Helm	Increases your Movement Speed	Can be found inside a Wooden chest, next to a cart, near the Blighted Village Waypoint.
Cloak		Cloak of Protection	+1 to Armour Class and Saving Throws	Purchased from Quartermaster Talli in Last Light Inn
Chest		The Graceful Cloth	+2 Dexterity +1 to Dexterity Saving Throws 1.5m extra Jump Distance	Buy from Lady Esther on the Rosymorn Monastery Trail
Gloves		Bracers of Defence	+2  Armour Class when not wearing Armour or using a Shield	In the hidden Necromancer’s Lair in a gilded chest, beneath the Blighted Village
Boots		Swiresy Shoes	Increases your Jump Distance +1 Acrobatics, making you more resistant to enemy Shoves	Purchase from Grat the Trader inside the Goblin Camp
Necklace		Amulet of Misty Step	Lets you use the Misty Step spell to teleport to a valid location within line of sight.	Purchased from Omeluum in the Myconid Colony
Ring 1		Ring of Protection	+1 to Armour Class and Saving Throws	Steal the Sacred Idol in Druid Grove (quest)
Ring 2		Smuggler’s Ring	+2 Stealth and Sleight of Hand -1 Charisma	On a Skeleton, hidden in a bush on the lower path following the river, near the broken bridge section of Risen Road
Main Weapon		Gold Wyrmling Staff	Deals bonus Fire Damage on hit Gives access to the Fire Bolt Cantrip	Buy from Roah Moonglow in Shattered Sanctum
Second Weapon		Darkfire Shortbow	A good Shortbow you can use if needed Gives access to the Haste spell	From Dammon at Last Light Inn, Act II

Headgear – Haste Helm

Here you can use the Haste Helm. This gives you the “Smooth Start”: At the start of combat, the wearer gains Momentum for 3 turns (extra 1.5m movement speed). The item can be found inside a Wooden chest, next to a cart, near the Blighted Village Waypoint.

Cloak of Protection

Once you reach Act 2 and reach the Last Light Inn (safe place from the Shadow Forest) you can get your hands on the Cloak of Protection. The cloak gives you 1+ Armour Class and 1+ Saving Throw, simple but very strong. You can buy it from Quartermaster Talli for 500 gold.

You can also read our in-depth guide on How to get the Cloak of Protection in BG3 which explains everything in detail.

Robe 1 The Graceful Cloth

The Graceful Cloth gives you access to Cat’s Grace, increasing your Dexterity score by 2 and giving you a +1 bonus on Dexterity Saving Throws. This will make your attacks stronger and increase your Armour Class by 1.

You can buy or steal it from Lady Esther on the Rosymorn Monastery Trail, near the end of Act I.

Robe 2 Icebite

The Icebite Robe can be found inside a Sarcophagus close to the Grand Mausoleum waypoint in Act 2 of Baldur’s Gate. You do get Cold damage Resistance. But more importantly, you get the Armour of Agathys spell that gives you extra health and damage.

Armour of Agathys (lv3 spell): Gain 15 temporary hit points and deal 15 Cold damage to any creature that hits you with a melee attack.

This robe is great, especially the extra hit points make a huge difference in tough fights. It also costs nothing since you can just loot it from the Sarcophagus.

Gloves – Bracers of Defence

It is recommended to get the Bracers of Defence for the Monk Build in Baldur’s Gate 3. You can obtain this in the hidden Necromancer’s Lair in this gilded chest in the Blighted Village. You can enter the lair through a wooden hatch inside a building. Once inside, you have to find the lever and activate it to get to the second hidden part of the lair.

Gloves Alternative – The Sparkle Hands

The Sparkle Hands are also great gloves as a secondary option in early game. If you don’t need the extra Armour Class from Bracers of Defence that is. The Sparkle Hands drop in the Sunlit Wetlands (where the Hag Hut is). They can be found inside a Wooden Chest. In endgame the gloves become even better if you combine them with the Vest of Soul Rejuvenation Robe. The robe lets you do reaction attacks when someone misses you (which happens a lot) and the gloves will trigger again then.

Conductive Strikes: On a hit with an unarmed attack, the wearer gains 2 Lightning Charges. Lightning Charges: Lightning courses through you. You have +1 to Attack Rolls and deal an additional 1 Lightning damage. If you gain 5 charges, they are consumed the next time you deal damage, and you deal an additional 1-8 Lightning damage. You lose 1 charge per turn.

Effective Transmitter: While imbued with Lightning Charges, attacks against metal constructs and foes wearing metal armour gain Advantage.

Boots – Swiresy Shoes

Inside the Goblin Camp from the Grat the Trader you can get good boots, they are called “Swiresy Shoes“. They will increase your jump distance and give you +1 in Acrobatics too. The boots don’t cost that much.

Necklace – Amulet of Misty Step

For your Necklace, we recommend the Amulet of Misty Step. This grants you the Misty Step Spell, which lets you teleport to any visible location in range. This is great for quickly taking the high ground for Advantage, or for escaping a tricky situation where you’re getting melee enemies in your face. The Amulet of Misty Step can be purchased from Omeluum in the Myconid Colony, after completing his quest to investigate the parasite.

We also have an in-depth guide on How to get the Amulet of Misty Step in BG3.

Ring of Protection

When you are in the Druids Grove you eventually will find the Tiefling Hideout. Kids that steal stuff for a living. If you have the Urchin background you might feel right at home. Mol asks you to steal the Druid Idol and give it to her. If you do that she will award you with the Ring of Protection. This is another way to boost your Armour Class by +1 and make you tankier without having any actual armour active.

There are a few ways to get into the Tiefling Hideout. Make your way to the location and talk to the kids, one of them will steal something from you and trigger a quest. You can either convince them to let you in or crawl through if you have a small character with you.

Smuggler’s Ring

This ring will boost your Stealth and Sleight of Hand skills by +2, making your character much better at sneaking around and stealing things. However, it also removes 1 point of Charisma. If you don’t want to reduce your Charisma score, you can replace this with another ring.

It is found On a Skeleton, hidden in a bush on the lower path following the river, near the broken bridge section of Risen Road

Weapon – Gold Wyrmling Quarterstaff

Inside the Goblin Camp “Shattered Sanctum” you can find a trader called Roah Moonglow. You can buy the “Gold Wyrmling Staff” from her. It deals good damage and adds a bit of fire damage too. It costs quite a bit though, 806 gold.

Darkfire Shortbow

Also in the Lights Inn at the blacksmith called “Dammon” you can get a good bow called “Darkfire Shortbow“. Deals good overall damage and Radiant damage. It also grants Resistance to Fire and Cold damage, making your build more tanky. The extra Resistance stays active even if you use your main Monk weapon. Additionally, it also provides the “Haste” spell, which makes you faster and harder to hit and you gain an extra action.

Endgame Equipment for the Monk

Below you can find the setup we used towards the end of the game. We also listed all endgame items below, what they do and where you can get them. In our setup below the most important item is the Markoheshkir Quarterstaff and the Vest of Soul Rejuvenation cloth.

Slot	Icon	Item	Effects	Location
Head		Scabby Pugilist Circlet	Increases the damage of your melee attacks by 2 when surrounded by 2 or more foes	Can be purchased from Mattis near the Requsitioned Barn in Rivington, if he survived to Act III. If Mattis didn’t survive, you can keep using the Haste Helm instead.
Cloak		Cloak of Protection	+1 to Armour Class and Saving Throws	Purchased from Quartermaster Talli in Last Light Inn
Chest		Vest of Soul Rejuvenation	+2 Armour Class Regain 1d4 HP when you succeed a Saving Throw against a Spell You can use a Reaction to make an Unarmed Attack against an attacker who misses	Sold by either Rolan or Lorroakan’s Projection in Sorcerous Sundries. If Lorroakan is dead, pickpocket from Rolan in Ramazith’s Tower
Gloves		Gloves of Soul Catching	+2 Constitution Unarmed Attacks deal 1d10 extra Force Damage Regain 10HP on unarmed hit, once per turn. Or forego the healing to get Advantage on Attack Rolls and Saving Throws for the rest of the turn.	Reward for completing the quest Save Hope in the House of Hope
Boots		Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo	Deal extra damage equal to your Wisdom Modifier with Unarmed Attacks With 16 Wisdom, this is 3 extra damage per hit.	Dropped by Prelate Lir’i’c in the Astral Plane, in the transition sequence between Act II and Act III.
Necklace		Amulet of Greater Health	Increases your Constitution to 23  Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws	Steal from the left-most pedestal in the Archive in House of Hope
Ring 1		Ring of Protection	+1 to Armour Class and Saving Throws	Steal the Sacred Idol in Druid Grove (quest)
Ring 2		Smuggler’s Ring	+2 Stealth and Sleight of Hand -1 Charisma	On a Skeleton, hidden in a bush on the lower path following the river, near the broken bridge section of Risen Road
Main Weapon		Unarmed	Once you have the Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo and Gloves of Soul Catching, switch to unarmed attacks to reap the benefits of these items. Until then, you can use a Quarterstaff or any other Proficient weapon.	N/A
Second Weapon		Any with Proficiency	Use any Ranged Weapon that you are Proficient with to give your build ranged capability when needed.	N/A

Now, let’s also take a look at where you can find these items.

Scabby Pugilist Circlet

The Scabby Pugilist Circlet is a good piece of headgear for the Monk build. It gives you +2 damage to your melee attacks (both armed and unarmed) when you’re surrounded by 2 or more nearby foes. This won’t be active all the time, but in some situations you’ll get some extra damage.

The trouble with this item is that it is only purchasable from Mattis in Act III. He is one of the Tiefling children from the Druid Grove way back in Act I, and if the player neglected this questline or chose the “wrong” path, it’s possible that they won’t make it to Act III at all, perishing in either Act I or Act II. If that’s the case, you can keep using the Haste Helm from the early-game list instead.

Vest of Soul Rejuvenation

The Vest of Soul Rejuvenation robe can also be purchased at the trader Rolan inside Sorcerous Sundries, in Baldur’s Gate in Act 3. The robe has Defier’s Rejuvenation: Whenever the wearer succeeds on a Saving Throw against a spell, they regain 1-4 hit points. Greater Kushigo Counter: The wearer can use a reaction to make an unarmed strike against any attacker that misses. Armour Class +2.

This robe is perfect for our Monk Build, it auto heals and we can make auto-unarmed attacks, plus it also gives extra Armour Class. The Robe costs a lot though, 4160 gold.

Gloves of Soul Catching

The Gloves of Soul Catching is a legendary item. You can obtain this in the House of Hope (Devil Raphael’s realm). You need to defeat him, which is extremely tough to do. You reach the House of Hope via Devil’s Fee in the Lower City of Baldur’s Gate. You have to speak to Helsik to start the process because you have to complete a ritual upstairs for the portal to open.

Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo

The Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo add extra damage equal to your Wisdom Mofidier to all your Unarmed Attacks. For this build, this will be 3 extra damage on each Unarmed Attack. While you’re using a Quarterstaff or other melee weapon, there’s little point in wearing these boots. However, you should hold onto them – once you collect the Gloves of Soul Catching your Unarmed Attacks become very powerful, and then it’s worth wearing these boots to boost your attacks even more.

The Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo are looted from Prelate Lir’i’c, one of the attackers in the Astral Plane at the beginning of Act III.

Amulet of Greater Health

The Amulet of Greater Health will boost your Constitution score to an insane 23. You can obtain this in the House of Hope (Devil Raphael’s realm). We also have an in-depth guide on How to obtain the Amulet of Greater Health in BG3.

Monk Build Extra Info

Here is some additional information that will help you get the most out of this Baldur’s Gate 3 Way of Shadows Monk Build.

Strongest Potions for the Shadow Monk Build in BG3

The Potion of Speed is arguably the most powerful potion in Baldur’s Gate 3. It doubles your Movement Speed and gives you an extra Action each turn.

One drawback of this potion is that when it expires, your character will be Lethargic for one turn, unable to move or take any Actions. So you should be careful not to have your character stranded in a dangerous position when the potion runs out!

You can craft the Potion of Speed in the alchemy menu by combining Ashes of Hyena Ear with any Salt. Create ashes, salts and other alchemy concentrates by combining three of the same ingredients together – for example, combining three Hyena Ears will create Ashes of Hyena Ear.

Hyena Ears can normally be looted from either Hyenas or Gnolls – you can find a lot of them around the Risen Road in Act I, for a good supply of them, which should last you a while.

You can combine this with the Elixir of Bloodlust. Elixirs and Potions can be stacked with each other, but you can only have one Elixir active at a time. Potions tend to expire after a few turns, whereas Elixirs last until your next Long Rest, unless you drink a different Elixir in the meantime.

The Elixir of Bloodlust grants your character another Action when you kill an enemy. This effect can only trigger once per turn. Combined with the Potion of Speed, this gives you two additional attacks if you defeat an enemy on your turn.

It can be crafted by combining Ashes of Worg Fang with any Salt. Worg Fangs are looted from Worgs, the beasts usually kept by Goblins.

This is an OP alchemy combo that you can use to turbocharge the Monk’s damage output in tough fights!

Tips & Tricks for the BG3 Monk Build

Let us take a look at a few things that you want to know about the BG3 Monk Build. These Tips and Tricks will make it easier to enjoy a playthrough as Monk.

• Monks generally gain 1 Ki Point every level. That means you will get to spend more Ki points before you have to rest at higher levels.
• Monks are best played without armor. They have Unarmored Defense with Wisdom and Dexterity affecting the Armour Class.
• You can get a very high Armour Class with the right gear and Unarmored Defense, even higher than some classes with Armour.
• You can still wear clothes, just nothing that has the tag Light/Medium/Heavy Armor. Clothes and Robes are okay.
• Monk might feel weak at the start, but after level 5 and 6  the class gets a lot more powerful.
• High Movement: The Monk has a class specific dash called “Step of the Wind: Dash and the normal Dash action. If you are using the Darkfire Shortbow you also get the “Haste” Spell which allows you to become faster, harder to hit and gain an action. That means you can activate both the Monk Step of the Wind: Dash and the normal Dash. And the Haste Spell also gives you more movement, this combination allows you to have 2-3x more movement speed than any of your other group members.
• Monk can get insanely good midgame and endgame gear that boost its power by a lot.

Monk Build Illithid Powers (optional)

Illithid Powers are unlocked later in BG3 when you learn more about Mind Flayers and Tadpoles. By eating Jars of Mind Flayer Parasites you gain one point. This is another optional skill tree that you can get access to if you want.  Here are some of the best Illithid Powers for the BG3 Monk Build with the Way of Shadow subclass:

• Mind Blast: A conal blast of Psychic Damage that can also stun several targets at once. If you are outnumbered by several advancing enemies, then Mind Blast can help to swing things back in your favour.
• Cull the Weak: When you reduce a creature’s hit points below a certain threshold, this power instantly kills it and deals 1-4 Psychic Damage to nearby enemies. This is particularly effective when engaging groups of weaker foes, enabling you to thin their numbers rapidly.
• Fly: This can be used to reach hard to get to places or change positions in combat.
• Mind Sanctuary: This creates an area that allows all within to use Actions and Bonus Actions interchangeably. This typically means you can deal more damage, since you can use your Bonus Action as a normal Action. However, enemies who are inside the area will also enjoy its benefits. Be careful with your placement so that your party gets buffed by the Mind Sanctuary and not the enemies!
• Psionic Backlash: This is a top-tier Reaction from the Illithid Powers skill tree in BG3. It allows you to deal Psychic Damage when a nearby enemy casts a spell. This is especially useful if the target is casting a Concentration Spell. The damage from Psionic Backlash can immediately break their Concentration, ending the spell’s effects.

BG3 Monk Build Summary

Sometimes, all the information above for our Best BG3 Monk Build can be quite overwhelming due to the amount of text to read. Let’s summarise everything to give you a better overview of the BG3 Monk Build.

Monk Mechanics

• Ki Points
• Unarmoured Defense
• Martial Arts Unarmed Strike
• High Stun Rate
• High Movement Speed

Subclass

• Way of Shadow

Background

• Urchin (Sleight of Hand, Stealth)
• Outlander (Athletics, Survival)

Race

• Wood Elf
• Githyanki
• Duergar
• Dragonborn
• Human

Skills

• Stealth
• Sleight of Hand
• Acrobatics
• Insight

Starter Abilities

• 10 Strength
• 17 Dexterity
• 14 Constitution
• 8 Intelligence
• 16 Wisdom
• 8 Charisma

Lastly, it is important to note that the Monk is a melee fighter but can also be effective at range in late game. The Monk also has opportunities to find good equipment in all three acts of Baldur’s Gate 3.

We hope you enjoyed this article. The Monk is a great class in Baldur’s Gate 3 and if built correctly one of the most powerful specs.

Other Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds:

• Other Monk Builds:
  • Way of Four Elements Monk Build BG3
  • Way of the Open Hand Monk Build BG3
• Baldur’s Gate Builds Database