Welcome to the best BG3 College of Glamour Bard Build. We are using the College of Glamour subclass for this build. The Bard class is a spellcaster who specialises in supporting allies and confusing or debuffing enemies, but can also make for a formidable fighter by themselves. The Bard’s most important attribute is Charisma.
Please visit our Best BG3 Builds overview page for more builds, or check out our Best BG3 Bard Build with the College of Lore subclass. If you are interested in more Bard subclass builds, check our Bard Builds category page. To get an overview of all classes, please visit the BG3 Classes overview page.
Bards can use the Bardic Inspiration ability to improve the odds of their allies in combat, helping them with
Attack Rolls, Ability Checks or
Saving Throws. Bards are both great support characters and amazing spell casters. The College of Glamour Bard can use Mantle of Inspiration to give Temporary HP to allies, and can Charm enemies who attack inspired allies. Charmed enemies can then be commanded to carry out certain actions, such as fleeing, freezing or dropping their weapon.
The BG3 College of Glamour Build was last updated in November 2025. It works for both PC and Console (PS5 and Xbox Series X/S).
BG3 College of Glamour Build Table of Contents:
- Introduction to the Glamour Bard Build
- Character Creation
- Glamour Bard Build Levelling Progression
- Glamour Bard Equipment
- Glamour Bard Build Extras and Tips & Tricks
A quick look at the strengths and weaknesses of the College of Glamour Bard in BG3:
Glamour Bard Strengths
Glamour Bard Weaknesses
BG3 Glamour Bard Build Overview
We’ll begin with a quick summary of the Bard class and College of Glamour subclass, which we’ll be using for this build. If you’re already familiar with how they work, please skip this section.
Bard Summary
Bards are highly versatile fighters, capable of fighting with a variety of weapons and casting powerful spells. They are also great at inspiring their allies and can master more Skills than any other class. These features make the Bard a “jack of all trades” and a great support character.
To begin with, you get the Bardic Inspiration class action with which you can inspire allies with and add 1d6 bonus to their next Attack Roll, Ability Check or Saving Throw. This lasts until your next Long Rest and can be applied to all group members. To cast this, you need a Bardic Inspiration Charge, a Bard class resource that can be replenished after a Long Rest. At level one, you will have access to two charges. You can also use
Perform on the Bard to play a song and attract NPCs to you.
Song of Rest is obtained at level 2 and can be used to revitalise the group with the same effect as a Short Rest.
Later at level 5, you gain Improved Bardic Inspiration, boosting your
Bardic Inspiration class action to 1d8 instead of 1d6 bonus. You also get the
Font of Inspiration passive feature, allowing you to regain all your Bardic Inspiration after a Long or Short Rest. At level 6, you gain
Countercharm, which gives you and allies within 9m
Advantage on
Saving Throws against being
Charmed or
Frightened. This will summon a magical music instrument at your place of choice for 3 turns.
At level 10, you once again gain Improved Bardic Inspiration, boosting your
Bardic Inspiration class action to a 1d10 instead of a 1d8 bonus. Additionally, you get the
Magical Secrets passive that allows you to pick two non-Bard spells up to level 5. (Note: We also get this from our subclass already at level 6, so we get to select 4 non-Bard spells in total). It is highly recommended to pick the
Cone of Cold spells, which deal insane AoE damage.
College of Glamour Summary
The College of Glamour Bard subclass gains a few extra abilities that allow you to protect your allies and Charm enemies who attack your party.
Mantle of Inspiration – Spend a Bardic Inspiration Charge to grant 5 THP to two allies (THP amount and the number of allies are increased at higher levels). When the Inspired ally is hit by a melee attack, the attacker is
Charmed.
Mantle of Majesty: Command – Once per Long Rest, you can attempt to Command a target to flee, move closer, freeze, drop to the ground or drop its weapon. This effect is guaranteed to succeed against an enemy who is
Charmed, but other targets can roll a
Saving Throw.
- Your Mantle of Inspiration becomes more powerful at Level 6 and Level 10.
The College of Glamour Bard is good at protecting your party from melee attacks and blunting enemy attempts to attack you. It’s a much more defensive subclass than other Bard subclasses like the Colleges of Swords and Valour.
Character Creation (Level 1) BG3 College of Glamour Bard Build
In this section, we will guide you through the best options in Character Creation for the Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Glamour Bard Build. While you can deviate somewhat from this if you want, following these steps will result in the most powerful starting point for your Bard Build.
Top 5 Races for the College of Glamour Bard
This build will work fine with any race in the game, but there are some fairly minor differences between the races that are worth paying heed to. Below are the best five races for the College of Glamour Bard in Baldur’s Gate 3:
| Race | Strengths | Info |
|---|---|---|
Wood Elf |
|
The Wood Elf enjoys a 1.5 metre bonus to their Movement Speed, which is already a big deal that can provide you with a lot of value.
Your extra Skill and Weapon Proficiencies are very handy, and immunity to magical Sleep is particuarly useful in the early-game, when enemy spellcasters love to spam the Sleep spell. Wood Half-Elf provides some of the same benefits. |
Duergar |
|
With their wider 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). |
Drow, Any |
|
The Drow have many similar bonuses to the Wood Elves, but with even better Darkvision and innate access fo Faerie Fire, an excellent debuff spell.
They lack the extra Movement Speed of Wood Elves, however. |
|
Dragonborn, Any |
|
Dragonborns don’t excel in any regard, but their elemental resistance and breath attack are quite useful.
If you want to choose a Dragonborn type that will give you resistance to the most enemy attacks possible, choose one of the Fire or Poison variants. |
|
Human |
|
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. |
Skills & Background
Unlike other classes, the Bard has no restrictions when choosing their Proficient Skills. They can also choose three of these by default, instead of two. This increases to four if you chose Human.
We’ll be building with high Charisma and Dexterity, so it’s a good idea to select a Background and Skills that match this profile.
I suggest using the Entertainer Background, which gives you the following Skill Proficiencies:
Acrobatics (DEX) – Helps your character to resist being pushed around by enemies.
Performance (CHA) – You can sometimes pass Performance checks in combat to impress NPCs, which can unlock extra options.
For your manual Skill Picks, I recommend the following choices:
Deception (CHA) – Used in dialogue to trick NPCs into doing what you want.
Intimidation (CHA) – Used in dialogue to scare NPCs into doing what you want. It can prevent fights from breaking out, but if you fail, it is more likely to antagonise potential enemies.
Persuasion (CHA) – Used to sweet-talk NPCs into going along with your wishes.
Sleight of Hand (DEX) – If you chose Human and have an extra Skill pick, go with Sleight of Hand. This will help you with Lockpicking and Pickpocketing.
Abilities
As a Bard, our most important ability is Charisma, which is used to determine the effectiveness of our spellcasting. Other important abilities are Dexterity, which boosts our Armour Class, and Constitution, which increases our Hitpoints and improves our Concentration Checks.
As such, we recommend going for an Ability distribution that looks something like:
10 Strength
16 Dexterity
14 Constitution
8 Intelligence
10 Wisdom
16 Charisma
Bold Abilities are essential for the build. The others can be tweaked, if you want.
Spells
To start with, you’ll need to select four first level Spells for your character to learn. We recommend going with the following options:
Healing Word – This is a basic healing spell that consumes a
Bonus Action rather than a regular one, allowing you to heal and attack or cast another spell on the same turn. It can also be used at long-range rather than being melee-only. The maximum healing roll on this spell is a little lower than Cure Wounds, but that spell has a much lower range and costs a full Action, so it’s almost always better to use Healing Word.
Thunderwave – When you cast Thunderwave, your character casts a large linear AOE that knocks back anyone and anything in its path, damaging them too for good measure. Not only is this a decent AOE damage spell, it’s also very practical in combat, allowing you to create space or to knock enemies off ledges or cliffs for extra falling damage. Just be careful not to hit your friends, as the AOE is quite wide.
Dissonant Whispers – This deals some
Psychic Damage to the targeted enemy, and also makes them
Frightened (unless they perform a Wisdom
Saving Throw). Frightened enemies have a
Disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls, and cannot willingly move closer to the source of their fear (the caster). Targets remain Frightened for two turns. This is a great spell for locking down annoying or dangerous enemies.
Tasha’s Hideous Laughter – Another great spell for locking down enemies. This causes the enemy to be overcome with fits of laughter, making them fall prone and unable to get up. The caster can maintain this effect for up to 10 turns, as long as they can maintain Concentration. Also, the target will try to shake off the effect at the end of their turn, and every time they take damage.
Cantrips
In addition to the Spells, you’ll need to choose two Cantrips. These are less powerful spells that do not consume a Spell Slot when cast, meaning you can generally cast them every turn if you want to with no limitations. We recommend choosing the following Cantrips for your Bard build:
Vicious Mockery – This deals a small amount of
Psychic Damage to the enemy targeted, and also gives them a
Disadvantage on their next
Attack Roll. This is a handy debuff spell that can be used to lessen the danger of troublesome enemies.
Light – This is a basic spell that lets you infuse an object or ally with light. It’s useful for navigating and fighting in dark places, and this spell doesn’t need Concentration, so it won’t mess with our other Concentration Spells, which is why we chose this instead of other more powerful light cantrips.
Starting Instrument
You can also select a starting instrument. You can pick whatever you want here. It has no effect besides changing the type of music your Bard plays when casting spells, and can be changed later by equipping other instruments.
Glamour Bard Levelling Guide
Now we are going to take a look at how you should level up your College of Glamour Bard Build in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Early-Game Levelling Progression for the College of Glamour Bard Build in BG3
We will start with the early-game levelling process, from Levels 2 to 4.
Level 2 – Spells
At Level 2, the BG3 Bard Build unlocks a couple of its class abilities.
Firstly, we get the Jack of All Trades passive, which gives us half of our proficiency bonus (rounded down) in any Ability Checks that we’re not proficient with. This is particularly useful for out of combat encounters, slightly increasing our odds of increasing even in disciplines that we haven’t built around.
Secondly, we unlock the Song of Rest ability. This can be used both inside and outside of combat, and revitalises your party as though you took a Short Rest.
Finally, you’ll be able to choose one more Spell to learn. Depending on what spells you already have in your party, we recommend choosing either Faerie Fire or
Bane, both useful debuff spells that can affect multiple creatures at once. Faerie Fire gives your allies an advantage when attacking the enemies, while Bane gives the enemies disadvantage when attacking you. If you already have them both on another character in your party, then try to go for another useful debuff spell, such as
Sleep.
Level 3 – Subclass and Spells
When you reach Level 3, you’ll need to choose your subclass. For this Bard build we are using the College of Glamour, which immediately gives us the following benefits:
Mantle of Inspiration – Spend a Bardic Inspiration Charge to grant 5 THP to two allies (THP amount and the number of allies are increased at higher levels). When the Inspired ally is hit by a melee attack, the attacker is Charmed.
Finally, you will have to choose another new spell. At this point, we’re able to include some second-level spells. We recommend going with Cloud of Daggers. This creates a small AOE that does pretty high damage each turn, but requires concentration to maintain. It’s especially useful in chokepoints or on a group of enemies who are immobilised or stuck in a small space for any other reason. The spell also hits allies, so be careful when placing it.
Level 4 – Feat, Spell and Cantrip
All characters in Baldur’s Gate 3 need to choose a Feat when they reach Level 4. These provide an extra buff or ability for your character and are great for further customising your build. It’s recommended to choose Ability Improvement, which will give you 2 more ability points to spend. Put both of these points into Charisma, which will take up your Charisma score to 18. Boosting your Charisma will improve your Spellcasting and help you to keep up with the tougher enemies you’ll encounter as you reach higher-level parts of the map.
Next up, we need to choose another spell for the Glamour Bard. We recommend choosing Enhance Ability, a very strong support spell that gives
Advantage on all checks related to a selected Ability, for the spell’s duration. Advantage means that instead of 1 die, we roll 2 dice and automatically choose the one with the best roll. This spell is awesome in combat when cast on a damage-dealer in your party, and can also be very helpful to pass high-DC dialogue checks. Once cast, the spell lasts until your Concentration is broken, so try to keep your Bard away from enemy attacks as much as possible. Also, casting another Concentration spell, like
Cloud of Daggers, will put an end to the spell, so be sure to plan your character’s moves around only one Concentration Spell.
You can choose one more Cantrip here. You can choose anything you want from the remaining options, as we already picked the best stuff. The Bard doesn’t get access to many useful Cantrips.
BG3 College of Glamour Build Mid-Game Levelling Guide
We will now go through the mid-game Levels for the Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Glamour Build, Levels 5-8.
Level 5 – Improved Inspiration and Spell – PS5/PC
At Level 5, the BG3 College of Glamour Build becomes considerably more powerful.
First of all, your standard Proficiency bonus is increased to 3 rather than 2, making you even better at the skills you’re proficient in.
We also get to pick a third-level spell. We highly recommend choosing Glyph of Warding. This is a very powerful spell that lets you place a 8-metre wide magical trap on the ground. With each cast, you can choose from the following types of Glyph:
- Sleep – Puts everyone in range to sleep for 2 turns when triggered.
- Detonation – Emit a gust of wind that pushes back all within.
- Thunder – Deals 5-40 Thunder Damage to everyone in range.
- Lightning – Deals 5-40 Lightning Damage to everyone in range.
- Fire – Deals 5-40 Fire Damage to everyone in range.
- Cold – Deals 5-40 Cold Damage to everyone in range.
- Acid – Deals 5-40 Acid Damage to everyone in range.
These effects have a Dexterity Saving Throw. The Glyph types that deal damage will still deal half of their damage to targets who succeed at the
Saving Throw. You can place the Glyph underneath an enemy, detonating it immediately. If you get a high damage roll, you can decimate entire groups of enemies very quickly with this spell. Just be very careful that you don’t catch yourself or your allies in the AOE, because you could potentially one-shot them, even from full health.
Level 6
At Level 6, you’ll gain an additional Third Level Spell Slot, giving you three of these in total.
In addition, you’ll gain the following abilities:
Countercharm – You and any allies within 9 metres have
Advantage on
Saving Throws against being
Charmed or
Frightened.
- New Spell – We recommend learning
Hypnotic Pattern.
Mantle of Majesty: Command – Once per Long Rest, you can attempt to Command a target to flee, move closer, freeze, drop to the ground or drop its weapon. This effect is guaranteed to succeed against an enemy who is Charmed, but other targets can roll a
Saving Throw.
Your Mantle of Inspiration can now target three allies instead of two, and adds 8 THP.
Level 7
At Level 7, you’ll gain a Fourth Level Spell Slot, and you can choose one more spell to prepare. We recommend choosing a Fourth Level Spell so you can immediately make use of your more powerful magical options.
A really useful spell to get here is Dimension Door, which lets you teleport yourself and one adjacent ally to a location that you can see. This is great for getting out of trouble or getting into a high ground position.
Level 8
At Level 8, we get to pick another Feat for our College of Glamour Bard Build in BG3. Get Ability Improvement and improve your Charisma to 20.
Increasing our Charisma Modifier here will also unlock another spot for a Prepared Spell. We recommend choosing Confusion, a Concentration Spell which will confuse a group of enemies, causing them to attack creatures at random (including each other), run around aimlessly, or skip their turn entirely. This effect can last for up to 3 turns. This has a Wisdom save, so you’ll get the best results when casting it on enemies with low Wisdom. Be sure to Examine enemies to see their stats before deciding if it is worth casting this or not!
You’ll also gain another Fourth Level Spell Slot here, giving you two in total.
College of Glamour Bard Late-Game Levelling Guide
We will now look at the late-game levels (9-12) for the BG3 College of Glamour Bard.
Level 9
At Level 9, you gain one more Fourth Level Spell Slot, giving you a total of three.
You also gain your first Fifth Level Spell Slot, and are able to prepare one more spell for use.
We recommend getting the Hold Monster Spell, a Concentration Spell that allows you to Paralyse a creature, preventing them from moving or reacting, and guaranteeing Critical Hits against them when you attack from within a three-metre distance. This spell has a Wisdom save, so you may have a low chance of success against enemies with high Wisdom. If in doubt, right-click an enemy to examine its stats.
Level 10
At Level 10, your BG3 College of Glamour Bard Build will gain a few new features and buffs:
- Another Fifth Level Spell Slot, giving you two in total.
Improved Bardic Inspiration – Bardic Inspiration now gives a bonus of 1-8 instead of 1-6.
- Gain Expertise in another two Skills you are Proficient with, doubling the Proficiency Bonus for those Skills.
Magical Secrets – You can select two non-Bard spells to learn. I recommend choosing
Call Lightning, a strong AoE spell that can be recast every turn if you maintain Concentration. The second spell should either be
Haste (if noone else in your party has it) or
Conjure Elemental.
Additionally, you can select another Bard Spell; we recommend picking Mass Cure Wounds. You can also select another Cantrip – just pick whatever you like the most.
Finally, your Mantle of Inspiration will now give 11 THP, and can be used on four allies.
Level 11
At Level 11, you gain access to Sixth Level Spells. You’ll only ever get one Spell Slot for this level of magic, so the spells can typically only be cast once per Long Rest.
You’ll be able to unlock one additional Spell – we recommend choosing Eyebite, a Concentration Spell that lets you inflict dread, sickness or put the target to sleep. As long as you keep concentrating, you can cast the spell again on each subsequent turns.
Alternatively, you can get Otto’s Irresistible Dance. This is a weaker spell than Eyebite, but it’s probably a more funny and thematic option for a Bard to have, as it literally compels the target to begin dancing uncontrollably.
Level 12
If you’ve reached this point, then you have successfully levelled your College of Glamour Bard build up to the maximum level. Congratulations!
First, we can select a new Spell; we recommend Otto’s Irresistible Dance, which causes enemies to start dancing uncontrollably.
Additionally, we get to select another Feat. We recommend getting War Caster, which gives you Advantage on Concentration Saving Throws, making it considerably more likely that your Bard will retain Concentration when they take damage. We’re using quite a lot of Concentration spells on this build, making this Feat a good fit. As a bonus, you can cast
Shocking Grasp as a
Reaction against enemies who move past your character.
Equipment for the College of Glamour Build in BG3 – PS5/PC
Now let us take a look at what equipment your College of Glamour Bard Build can use. You will find an early game and an endgame setup below.
Early Game Gear
This early game gear setup for our Bard Build with College of Glamour subclass can be acquired in Act 1 and early Act 2. You don’t need to follow this to the letter, but it is recommended to read through it so you understand what each piece of gear can do. Some items are bard-specific and can really improve your build and gameplay.
Plenty of the early game equipment triggers off our Bardic Inspiration. Next to our Bard instrument, we can find an actual singing sword in Act 1, which is pretty cool too.
| Slot | Icon | Item | Effects | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head | ![]() |
Cap of Curing |
|
Inside the Druid Grove in a Gilded Chest next to Alfira |
| Cloak | ![]() |
Cloak of Protection |
|
Purchased from Quartermaster Talli in Last Light Inn |
| Chest | ![]() |
Blazer of Benevolence |
|
Complete the Rescue Volo quest |
| Gloves | ![]() |
Wondrous Gloves |
|
Mimics encounter inside the Grymforge in the Underdark |
| Boots | ![]() |
Boots of Aid and Comfort |
|
Purchase from Grat the Trader inside the Goblin Camp |
| Necklace | ![]() |
Amulet of the Harpers |
|
Buy from Quartermaster Talli at the Last Light Inn |
| Ring 1 | ![]() |
Ring of Protection |
|
Steal the Sacred Idol in Druid Grove (quest) |
| Ring 2 | ![]() |
Whispering Promise |
|
Buy from Grat the Trader inside the Goblin Camp |
| Main Weapon | Sword of Screams |
|
Dropped by True Soul Nere in the Grymforge | |
| Second Weapon | ![]() |
Shortbow +1 |
|
Buy from trader Roah Moonglow |
Since the Bard is already really good at healing and supporting allies in the early-game, we included gear that plays into this. You and your allies will gain extra HP and buffs when you heal them or use Bardic Inspiration on them.
We opted to use a Rapier for our weapon because it is a Finesse weapon, meaning it can be wielded using Dexterity instead of Strength. Even though we might be Proficient in some weapons with higher base damage potential, like the Longsword, we don’t want to use them because they can only be wielded with Strength, so your attacks will tend to be weaker and less accurate.
Finally, using a decent ranged weapon is important to deal damage on turns where you don’t do any spellcasting and don’t have any good melee options. This is because the Bard lacks any viable attacking Cantrips – Vicious Mockery is only a 1d4, which just isn’t good enough. You might have Proficiency with better types of ranged weapon than the Shortbow or Hand Crossbow, depending on your chosen race. For example, Wood Elves can use Longbows. If that applies to you, look out for more powerful ranged weapons to use than the one we recommended here.
Endgame Gear
The endgame gear setup is built together with items from late Act 2 and Act 3. While you don’t need all these items, try to get as many as possible to increase the overall power of the Glamour Bard Build.
| Slot | Icon | Item | Effects | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head | ![]() |
Hood of the Weave |
|
Can be bought from Mystic Carrion inside his Philograve’s Mansion |
| Cloak | ![]() |
Cloak of the Weave |
|
Sold by Helsik at the Devil’s Fee once you unlock her “special stock”. |
| Chest | ![]() |
Potent Robe |
|
Complete Rescue the Tieflings, then get the reward from Alfira at Last Light Inn. If Alfira is dead, you won’t get this reward! |
| Gloves | ![]() |
Helldusk Gloves |
|
Defeat Haarlep and loot the gloves from him |
| Boots | ![]() |
Helldusk Boots |
|
Lord Enver Gortash’s personal chest |
| Necklace | ![]() |
Amulet of Greater Health |
|
Inside the Archive in the House of Hope |
| Ring 1 | ![]() |
Ring of Regeneration |
|
Buy from either Rolan or Lorroakan’s Projection at Sorcerous Sundries. |
| Ring 2 | ![]() |
Whispering Promise |
|
Buy from Grat the Trader inside the Goblin Camp |
| Main Weapon | ![]() |
Duellist’s Prerogative |
|
Complete the Save Vanra quest in the Lower City |
| Second Weapon | ![]() |
The Dead Shot |
|
Sold by Fity the Firecracker trader in the Lower City |
We’ve kept the Whispering Promise from our early-game setup, but pretty much everything else has been updated.
Our items are mainly focused on improving your Spell Save DC, making your spells more likely to overcome their target’s defences. We are using a very high amount of debuff spells with Saving Throws, such as Hold Monster and Eyebite – maximising your Spell Save DC will make these Saving Throws as difficult as possible for enemies to survive.
We’ve also thrown in the Amulet of Greater Health and Ring of Regeneration for extra survivability, and the Duellist’s Prerogative is a great backup option if you need to use your Bard in melee. With your Dexterity score of 16, your Bard will be decent (if not spectacular) at using this weapon in melee.
Glamour Bard Extra Info
Here is some additional information that will help you get the most out of this Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Glamour Bard Build,
How to Play the College of Glamour Bard Build
Here is some tips to help you play this build throughout your BG3 playthrough.
Early Game
For the first few levels, the Bard is quite poor at attacking enemies due to their lack of strong attacking Cantrips and limited skill with weapons.
During this time, I recommend using debuff spells like Faerie Fire and
Bane to weaken your enemies, in combination with your
Bardic Inspiration to buff allies. You should also keep the
Healing Word spell on standby in case you need to heal your allies. You shouldn’t cast spells all the time though, because Spell Slots are a limited resource. Use a bow to deal ranged damage when you’ve got nothing better to do. All Bards have Proficiency with
Hand Crossbows, which can be dual wielded. If your race grants Proficiency with
Longbows or
Heavy Crossbows, these are also good choices.
Once you hit Level 3, you unlock some decent damage spells. Cloud of Daggers is excellent when placed in a small chokepoint or on a tightly packed group of enemies, but it is very easy to waste this spell on a poor target. You can also use
Hold Person to stun your enemies (watch out for the success chance before casting it, though).
Heat Metal is an amazing debuff spell that deals
Fire Damage and forces your target to either drop their weapon or suffer a penalty on their attacks – use it against any melee heavy-hitter who has metal armour or a metal weapon.
The pattern with almost all of these spells is that they require Concentration to maintain their effects, and many of them are quite wasteful if you lose your Concentration too early. This makes the Bard a bit tricky for beginners. You have to keep your Bard as safe as possible from enemy attacks, using distance and obstructions to block enemies from hitting you. If you get hit too often, then you will lose Concentration all the time and struggle to make much of an impact with your Bard. Unfortunately, this issue persists through the entire game, so you’ll have to get used to managing it.
Mid to Late Game
At Level 5, you can unlock Glyph of Warding, a versatile AoE spell that does not require Concentration. You can choose from multiple damage types and you can also use the spell as a sort of proximity mine that will explode when an enemy steps on it, although I usually prefer to drop it on top of a group of enemies for an instant impact. This is a good spell that gives Bard players one strong non-concentration damage spell.
At Level 10, Call Lightning can be unlocked thanks to your Magical Secrets feature. This is an AoE spell that deals
Lightning Damage. If you maintain your Concentration, you can keep recasting it every turn without spending another Spell Slot, allowing you to deal huge amounts of AoE damage over the course of a fight. If you can keep it going for a few turns, you’ll get excellent damage value out of your Spell Slot.
During the Late Game, I typically upcast Call Lightning in battles with a high number of enemies. Act III contains a lot of streets, alleyways and indoor spaces; this naturally clumps up enemies and makes them more vulnerable to AoE attacks. Once you manage to gather some equipment to increase your Spell Save DC, your spells will be much harder for enemies to resist, so you should start making heavier use of debuff and crowd control spells like
Confusion,
Hold Monster and
Hold Person.
At Level 10 you can unlock two more non-Bard Spells. My favorite one is Conjure Elemental – the summoned minion is quite strong with a good HP pool – they will help you a lot by soaking up some enemy attacks.
College of Glamour Bard 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 Bard Build with the College of Glamour subclass:
Concentrated Blast: Allows you to deal extra damage to a target when you are Concentrating on a spell, potentially also healing if the target is Concentrating too.
Cull the Weak: When you reduce a creature’s hit points below a certain threshold, this power instantly kills it and deals
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.
Black Hole: This power creates an area-based effect that pulls in and slows targets. It’s particularly useful for crowd control, allowing you to cluster enemies together for area-of-effect attacks or to isolate them from vulnerable allies.
Psionic Backlash: This is a top-tier reaction from the Illithid Powers skill tree in BG3. This 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.
Best Party Composition for the College of Glamour Bard
The Glamour Bard works great when paired with high-damage melee classes, since your buff spells like Haste will typically have the greatest benefit when cast on them. While the Bard can be used as a healer, I think it is best to have a Cleric in the party, who will also serve as the primary healer. The Bard’s spell slots are best spent on Concentration Spells, particularly buffs and attacking spells.
A setup like this will work nicely:
- This Glamour Bard Build
- 1 Strong Melee Frontliner
- 1 Versatile Damage Dealer
- 1 Support/Healing Cleric
Other Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds
- Druid Build – Circle of the Moon
- Ranger Build – Hunter
- Monk Build – Way of Shadow
- Monk Build – Way of the Four Elements
- Monk Build – Way of the Open Hand
- Necromancer Build – Necromancy
- Fighter Build – Battle Master
- Barbarian Build – Berserker
- Warlock Build – Great Old One
- Cleric Build – Light Domain
- Rogue Build – Thief
- Sorcerer Build – Wild Magic
- Wizard Build – Evocation School
- Paladin – Oath of Ancients
- More Baldur’s Gate Guides & Builds
If you want to check out the map of Baldur’s Gate 3, please visit the Baldur’s Gate 3 Interactive Map.


























