Best BG3 Barbarian Build - High Damage Berserker!

Welcome to the Best BG3 Barbarian Build. For this BG3 Barbarian Build we will be making use of the Berserker subclass, a powerful melee fighter who can go into a Frenzy to deal very high damage to enemies.

Table of Contents for the BG3 Barbarian Build:

Barbarian Build Overview
1. Barbarian Class Summary
2. Berserker Subclass Summary
Barbarian Character Creation
Barbarian Build Levelling Progression
Barbarian Equipment
1. Early-Game Barbarian Gear
2. Best Barbarian Gear (Late-Game)
Barbarian Build Extra Info

Please visit our Best BG3 Builds overview page for more builds. We also have an optimized Barbarian companion BG3 Karlach Build. If you are interested in more Barbarian subclasses, see our Barbarian Builds category page. To get an overview of all classes, please visit the BG3 Classes overview page.

The BG3 Berserker Barbarian Build quickly grows in power as they level up, able to perform three attacks each turn by the time they hit Level 5. This allows them to reliably outperform many other classes in terms of raw damage output. The Barbarian Build was last updated in September 2025. It works for both PC and Console (PS5 and Xbox Series X/S).

Here is a quick overview of the main Strengths and Weaknesses of the Barbarian in Baldur’s Gate 3:

Barbarian Strengths

POWERFUL MELEE ATTACKS
MULTIPLE ATTACKS PER TURN
ATTACK WITH BONUS ACTION
USE FRENZY TO BOOST YOUR ATTACKS
RESISTANCE TO DAMAGE WHILE FRENZIED

Barbarian Weaknesses

NO SPELLS
LINEAR PROGRESSION – FEW CHOICES

BG3 Barbarian Build Overview

Here is a quick overview of the most important parts of the Barbarian class and Berserker subclass. If you’re already familiar with how they work, please skip this section.

Barbarian Class Summary

The Barbarian is the most aggressive melee damage dealer in Baldur’s Gate 3. It focuses on brute strength, enhanced by the Barbarian’s deadly rage.

Barbarian Benefits

Rage – Deal 2 extra damage with melee weapons, and by throwing. You gain Resistance to Physical Damage and Advantage on Strength Checks and Saving Throws.
- Using Rage expends a Rage Charge. Rage Charges are replenished by Long Rests. As you level up, you can store more Rage Charges.
Reckless Attack (Unlocked at Level 2) – Throw all caution to the wind. You gain Advantage on all melee Attack Rolls until the start of your next turn, but enemies will also have Advantage on their Attack Rolls against you!
Danger Sense (Unlocked at Level 2) – You have Advantage on Dexterity Saving Throws, unless you are Blinded or Incapacitated.
Extra Attack (Unlocked at Level 5) – Each Action now yields two weapon attacks, instead of one.
Brutal Critical (Unlocked at Level 9) – When you land a Critical Hit, roll an extra damage die (in addition to the extra dice that are always rolled when you land a Critical Hit).

Berserker Subclass Summary

The Berserker is the most aggressive Barbarian subclass in BG3. Your Rage is upgraded to Frenzy, allowing you to make an additional attack with your Bonus Action.

Berserker Benefits

Frenzy (Level 3) – Grants you two new Bonus Actions:
- Frenzied Strike – Make an additional melee strike. You get a stack of Frenzied Strain, reducing your Attack Rolls by 1 per stack.
- Enraged Throw – Throw an enemy, dealing extra damage and leaving them Prone.
Mindless Rage (Level 6) – When Frenzied, you are immune to Charmed and Frightened. The Calm Emotions spell can no longer end your Frenzy.
Intimidating Presence (Level 10) – Attempt to Frighten an enemy for 2 turns. You can spend another Action to attempt to prolong the effect.

Level 1 – BG3 Barbarian Build Character Creation

In this section, we will go over the basic Character Creation options for our Best BG3 Barbarian Build, namely Background, Race, Skills and Abilities.

Top 5 Races for the BG3 Berserker Barbarian

While you can use any race you want for this build, a handful will perform a little better due to features that synergise nicely. For best results, choose one of these top five Berserker Barbarian races.

Race	Strengths	Info
Half Orc	Intimidation Proficiency *Darkvision* *Savage Attacks* You roll an extra damage dice when you crit *Relentless Endurance* Once per Long Rest, restore to 1 HP instead of being Downed	Half-Orcs are some of the best melee damage dealers in BG3, thanks to the Savage Attacks passive feature. This passive doubles up with the Barbarian’s innate Brutal Critical Passive, resulting in devastating Critical Hits.
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).
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 Proficency 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)	While their additional weapon and armour Proficiencies are made redundant by the Barbarian class’ innate Proficiencies, the Githyanki is still an excellent choice for the Barbarian, thanks to its access to Enhance Leap and Misty Step, which give you excellent mobility. However, remember that you cannot use these spells when Enraged; always plan your moves! 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.

Background & Skills

This Berserker Barbarian Build will focus on the Strength, Constitution and Dexterity Abilities, so we want to choose skills that align with those. There are no Constitution Skills in BG3, so we’ll be looking out for Strength and Dexterity.

Our chosen Background for the Berserker Barbarian is the Soldier, which gives you the following two Skill Proficiencies:

Athletics (STR) – Makes you better at pushing and throwing enemies or objects and standing your ground when they try to push you.
Intimidation (CHA) – While it doesn’t fit with the criteria we mentioned above, no Background in BG3 lines up perfectly with a focus on Strength and Dexterity. Intimidation Proficiency will still help you in some dialogue checks, even though we’re not focusing on Charisma.

Alternatively, you can choose Outlander to get Athletics and Survival Proficiency. Or, if you want to use your Barbarian for lockpicking without needing to switch to another character, you can use the Urchin Background, which will give you a boost to Stealth and Sleight of Hand.

For your manual skill choices, you can pick what you want. Just ensure you have the Athletics Skill covered by either your Background or your manual Skill choice, as it’s by far the most important one for us.

Abilities

It’s important for the efficacy of the BG3 Barbarian Build that you have Strength and Constitution as high as possible at Level, and putting 14 points into Dexterity to improve your Armour Class and Initiative. Therefore, I recommend putting your +2 bonus in Strength and the +1 bonus in Constitution.

With the remaining points, allocate them based on the Skills you chose to have Proficiency in. For example, we chose Animal Handling and Perception, which are both Wisdom skills, so we put the last couple of points into Wisdom to further play into those skills. This is only a minor detail, but it makes sense to do this rather than splitting them randomly between the remaining Abilities.

Go for an Ability allocation that looks something like:

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

Barbarian Rage Mechanic

Before you get into the game, it’s good to understand how the Barbarian’s Rage mechanic works.

From the beginning of the game, the Barbarian can go into a Rage by using a Bonus Action in combat. Rage adds an extra 2 points of damage to your attacks with melee weapons (including weapon throws), 50% Resistance to Physical Damage, and an Advantage on Strength Checks and Saving Throws.

Rage can last for up to 10 turns, but it will end early if you go for a turn without attacking or taking damage. Note that while the Barbarian isn’t a class associated with Spellcasting, it’s still worth mentioning that you cannot cast or concentrate on Spells while Raging.

You start with 2 charges of Rage, which must be replenished by taking a Long Rest. You’ll gain more of these as you level up.

Berserker Build Levelling Guide

We will now explain the full process of levelling up your Berserker Barbarian Build for Baldur’s Gate 3.

The Barbarian’s progression is very linear with few choices to make, so this section will be shorter than many of our other builds.

Barbarian Early-Game Levelling Guide BG3

Here is the early-game section of the levelling guide for our Baldur’s Gate 3 Barbarian Build. This contains levels 2-4.

Level 2 – Barbarian Build for Baldur’s Gate 3

First of all, you unlock a new Action called Reckless Attack. This is a melee attack that will also give you Advantage on all subsequent attacks on the same turn. This isn’t an amazing ability right now, but as you level up and unlock the ability to make multiple attacks per turn, you’re going to get increasingly high value out of it because your hit chance will stay higher for the rest of your turn. Please note the following important details about Reckless Attack:

When your attack is about to miss, the game will ask you if you want to activate Reckless Attack and roll another die to attempt to land a hit (assuming you have default Reaction settings).
Once activated, you will have Advantage on all attacks for the rest of your turn. However, enemies will also have Advantage when they attack you, until the start of your next turn. So while this is very useful, try not to abandon all caution if you are severely outnumbered or near a strong enemy.

Danger Sense is a passive ability gained by Level 2 Barbarians. It gives you an Advantage on Dexterity Saving Throws against traps, spells and surfaces. Since we put 14 points into Dexterity, this will be particularly useful for us. You should find yourself reliably succeeding on Dexterity Saving Throws. Note that Danger Sense will not work if your senses are impaired, i.e. you are Blinded or Incapacitated.

Level 3 for BG3 Barbarian Build

At Level 3, it is time to choose your Barbarian Subclass. As mentioned above, we’ll be going with the Berserker for this BG3 Barbarian Build. The Berserker further builds upon the Barbarian’s Rage mechanic, facilitating a highly aggressive playstyle that can cause some serious damage to enemies.

At Level 3, your Barbarian unlocks an extra Rage charge, meaning you can now enter a Rage three times before you must replenish the charges with a Long Rest.

Frenzy is the Berserker’s version of the Rage mechanic. It basically works in the same way as described above, except that being Frenzied also grants use of two powerful Bonus Actions on subsequent turns (as long as you remain Frenzied).

These bonus actions are:

Frenzied Strike – As a bonus action, make a melee attack with your equipped weapon, dealing Weapon Damage. Using this applies a stack of Frenzied Strain, subtracting 1 from your Attack Rolls for each stack. I tend to use this every turn and offset the Attack Roll debuff by using Reckless Attack, but this is a greedy and risky playstyle. You can take a more cautious approach if you want.
Enraged Throw – As a bonus action, pick up an item or creature and throw it at a target, dealing Bludgeoning damage and knocking it Prone. The damage depends on your Strength and the weight of the item. Your Strength also affects how much weight you can throw.

What makes these abilities really strong is the fact that they are Bonus Actions. This means you can now perform two attacks per turn reliably, as long as you maintain your Frenzy. This is pretty crazy for a Level 3 Character – your Barbarian is already becoming quite a force to be reckoned with, and we’ve barely got started.

Level 4 for the Barbarian Build BG3 for PC/PS5

As with all other classes in Baldur’s Gate 3, at Level 4, it’s time to choose a Feat for the Barbarian Build.

Feats are extra passive buffs for your character, which can help to make your build more defined or simply push up your Ability Stats.

Here we’ll be going with the Ability Improvement Feat, which gives you 2 extra points to distribute between your Abilities. We recommend putting both of the points into Strength. This should give you 18 Strength in total, improving your weapon Attack Rolls.

There’s not much else to say here; the Berserker doesn’t gain anything else at Level 4 besides standard stuff like an increase to HP.

Mid-Game Barbarian Build Levelling Guide BG3

Here is the mid-game levelling guide for our Baldur’s Gate 3 Barbarian Build. This contains levels 5-8.

Level 5 – BG3 Barbarian Build

At Level 5, our BG3 Barbarian Build gets another huge step up in terms of how powerful it is. While there aren’t any options to choose from at this level, you do gain a bunch of new abilities that ramp up your power:

You will now get a +3 bonus to Skills you are Proficient at, rather than +2. Not huge, but a nice all-around buff.

You can now make an Extra Attack with each Action, pretty much doubling your damage potential. Combine it with a Potion of Speed (combine Ashes of Hyena Ear with any Salt) for mega bursts of damage!

As another bonus, you also gain an extra 1.5 metres per turn of Movement Speed. If you chose the Dwarf (or another race with small stature), you’ll now be able to keep up with taller friends and foes.

Level 6

At Level 6, you’ll gain an extra Rage charge, giving you four in total.

You’ll also unlock the Mindless Rage feature, which gives you immunity to Charmed, Frightened and Calm Emotions while you are raging.

Frightened is a very common debuff in Baldur’s Gate 3, which is particularly problematic for melee characters, as it causes you to be immobile and applies Disadvantage to your Attack Rolls. So being immune to this is very handy.

Level 7

Barbarians at Level 7 can no longer be Surprised by enemy ambushes, and will gain a +3 bonus to their Initiative, meaning they’ll get to take their turn before most enemies.

Level 8

At Level 8, you must select another Feat for your Barbarian Build.

Choose Ability Improvement again and increase your Strength to 20.

Late-Game Barbarian Build Levelling Guide BG3

Here is the late-game section of our Barbarian Build for Baldur’s Gate 3. This contains levels 9-12.

Level 9

At Level 9, your Proficiency bonus is improved to +4, meaning you’ll now get a +4 bonus to all dice rolls with skills and weapons that you are Proficient with.

You also unlock the Brutal Critical passive, which will roll an extra damage dice when you score a Critical Hit. This will stack with the bonus granted by the Half-Orc Race that already does the same thing. So if you chose to be a Half-Orc, you’ll have very powerful Critical Hits from this point onwards.

Level 10

At Level 10, your Berserker will unlock the Intimidating Presence ability.

This lets you spend an Action to intimidate a target within 30 metres of you. They must succeed a Wisdom Saving Throw or they will be Frightened, preventing them from moving and giving them a Disadvantage on their Attack Rolls.

It can sometimes be a bit tricky to get effects like this to land reliably on strong enemies, as they tend to have high stats and therefore are quite good at Saving Throws. But keep an eye out for good opportunities to use this anyway.

Level 11

At Level 11 of your BG3 Berserker Barbarian Build, you’ll unlock the Relentless Rage feature, which makes your Barbarian harder to bring down.

Upon reaching 0 HP, you’ll heal to 1 HP instead of being Downed. This can only happen once per Short Rest.

Level 12

If you reached this point, then you have finished levelling up your Best Berserker Barbarian Build. Congratulations!

At Level 12, you’ll need to choose one more Feat for your character.

I recommend the Savage Attacker Feat. This basically works in the same way as the Advantage mechanic, but for Damage Rolls instead. Every time you Attack, all of your Damage dice roll twice, and you’ll use the highest result for all of them. This makes you much less likely to get poor damage rolls and should help ensure that your Barbarian is a consistent damage dealer in the endgame in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Equipment for the BG3 Barbarian Build

In this section, we will list the best equipment for the build. We have provided both an early-game and a late-game version of the list, so you can begin using the build early in the game instead of having to wait until Act III.

We have also included information about each item below the tables, such as how to obtain the item and any other notable information.

Don’t worry if your set-up is not exactly the same as one of those outlined below – the build will still work fine if you’re missing some of the items. Also, don’t be afraid to experiment with new items if you find something else that you like.

Early Game Equipment

Early-game equipment is found in either Act I or the earlier parts of Act II.

Slot	Item	Effects	Location
Head	Cap of Wrath	Gain 2 turns of Wrath if you start your turn with less than 50% HP Each turn of Wrath increases your Weapon Damage by 1	Dropped by Thudd in the Grymforge
Cloak	Cloak of Protection	+1 to Armour Class and Saving Throws	Purchased from Quartermaster Talli in Last Light Inn
Chest	Adamantine Scale Mail	Reduces all incoming damage by 1 Melee attackers are sent Reeling, reducing their Attack Rolls by 1	Must be crafted at the Adamantine Forge.
Gloves	Gloves of the Growling Underdog	Gives you Advantage on Attack Rolls when surrounded by 2 or more foes	Looted from Dror Ragzlin’s treasure crates in the Shattered Sanctum.
Boots	Boots of Genial Striding	Difficult Terrain cannot reduce your Movement Speed. Other effects, like slipping on Grease or damage from Spikes still apply!	Purchased from Blurg in the Myconid Colony, in the Underdark
Necklace	Amulet of Misty Step	Lets you use the Misty Step spell to teleport to a valid location within line of sight.	Located in a chest in the Defiled Temple, near the Ogre called Polma.
Ring 1	Ring of Protection	+1 to Armour Class and Saving Throws	Steal the Sacred Idol in Druid Grove (quest)
Ring 2	Crusher’s Ring	Increases Movement Speed by 3 metres per turn Especially important if you chose a small race like a Dwarf	Looted from Crusher in the Goblin Camp.
Main Weapon	Blooded Greataxe	One of the best melee weapons in Act I for pure damage output Deals 1d4 bonus damage if your HP is below 50%.	Purchased from either Grat the Trader in the Goblin Camp or Roah Moonglow in Shattered Sanctum
Second Weapon	Any Ranged Weapon	We aren’t focusing on ranged combat much, so you can use whatever you find here. Heavy Crossbows and Longbows tend to be the highest damage options.	N/A

Cap of Wrath

When you start your turn with less than 50% HP remaining, you gain 2 turns of Wrath. Each remaining turn of Wrath increases your weapon damage by 1. Maximum 7 turns. The Cap of Wrath is dropped by Thudd in the Grymforge.

Cloak of Protection

The Cloak of Protection is one of the earliest cloaks available in the game, and provides a modest defensive buff – you gain a +1 bonus to your Armour Class and Saving Throws when wearing it. It can be purchased from Quartermaster Talli in Last Light Inn.

Adamantine Scale Mail

The Adamantine Scale Mail is a powerful piece of medium armour that can be obtained fairly early in the game. It reduces all incoming damage by 1 point, makes you immune to critical hits and inflicts an Attack Roll penalty to any enemies who hit you.

It is crafted in the Adamantine Forge in the Grymforge area of Act I. You need to find the Scale Mail Mould and some Mithral Ore in the vicinity of the forge in order to craft the Adamantine Scale Mail.

Gloves of the Growling Underdog

The Gloves of the Growling Underdog give you Advantage on your Attack Rolls when you are surrounded by 2 or more foes. Advantage means that you will roll 2 dice for your Attack Roll and use the one that rolled with the highest number, considerably improving your chances of a good roll. You also get a +1 bonus to Strength Saving Throws. These gloves can be looted from Dror Ragzlin’s treasure crates in the Shattered Sanctum.

Boots of Genial Striding

The Boots of Genial Striding prevent difficult terrain (such as spikes, mud and grease) from reducing your Movement Speed. However, beware that these boots will not negate any other harmful effects from a surface, such as damage from spikes or the chance to slip over when walking on ice. They can be purchased from Blurg in the Myconid Colony, in the Underdark (Act I).

Amulet of Misty Step

The Amulet of Misty Step grants you access to the Misty Step spell, which allows you to teleport to a visible location within 18 metres, for a Bonus Action. This is great for quickly closing the gap to an enemy so you can get into melee where this build is at its strongest, or for escaping from a bad situation. The Amulet is located in a chest in the Defiled Temple, near the Ogre called Polma.

Crusher’s Ring

Crusher’s Ring simply increases your Movement Speed by 3 metres per turn. This is another useful item for closing the gap to enemies quickly so that you can spend your turns dealing melee damage instead of running between targets. The ring is looted from Crusher in the Goblin Camp.

Ring of Protection

The Ring of Protection has the same effect as the Cloak of Protection – it improves your Armour Class and Saving Throws by +1. It is awarded to you by Mol for completing the quest to steal the Sacred Idol in the Druid’s Grove.

Blooded Greataxe

We recommend the Blooded Greataxe because it is a highly damaging weapon that can be obtained very early in the game. Greataxes in general are excellent DPS weapons since they come with a 1d12 die, the largest damage die in the game for weapons. The Blooded Greataxe grants your melee weapon attacks an extra 1d4 Slashing Damage whenever you are below 50% Health. In the hands of a strong melee class like the Barbarian, this weapon will carry you well into Act II even if you’re a complete beginner at the game.

This weapon can be purchased from either Grat the Trader in the Goblin Camp or Roah Moonglow in Shattered Sanctum. If the weapon does not appear in their wares, try Long Resting which will reshuffle the vendor items. You don’t need to spend any camp supplies on a Long Rest for this purpose.

Late Game Equipment

Late Game equipment can be found in the latter parts of Act II, and Act III. This is the most powerful version of the build, with access to the best items in the game.

Slot	Item	Effects	Location
Head	Helm of Balduran	You cannot be Stunned Enemies cannot land Critical Hits on you Heals you for 2HP every turn +1 to Armour Class and Saving Throws	Defeat Ansur the dragon below Wyrm’s Crossing. See below for more details.
Cloak	Cloak of Elemental Absorption	Once per Short Rest, absorb elemental damage and infuse your next attack with 1d6 of that damage type	Looted from an Opulent Chest inside Ketheric Thorm’s Chambers
Chest	Adamantine Scale Mail	Reduces all incoming damage by 1 Melee attackers are sent Reeling, reducing their Attack Rolls by 1	Must be crafted at the Adamantine Forge.
Gloves	Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength	Increase your Strength to 23 +1 to Strength Saving Throws	Taken from a pedestal in the archive of the House of Hope.
Boots	Boots of Persistence	You get Freedom of Movement and Longstrider at all times This gives you a massive boost to your mobility and immunity to some restraining debuffs	Buy from Dammon in the Forge of the Nine
Necklace	Amulet of Greater Health	Increases your Constitution to 23 Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws	Can be taken from a pedestal in the archive of the 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	Killer’s Sweetheart	Grants a guaranteed Critical Hit after killing an enemy Once per Long Rest	Found inside the Self-Same Trial in the Gauntlet of Shar.
Main Weapon	Balduran’s Giantslayer	Good base damage Doubles the damage bonus from your Strength Modifier Advantage when attacking foes who are Large or above Use Enlarge once per Short Rest, making your character bigger and stronger	Looted from Ansur in the Dragon’s Sanctum
Second Weapon	Any Ranged Weapon	We aren’t focusing on ranged combat much, so you can use whatever you find here. Heavy Crossbows and Longbows tend to be the highest damage options.	N/A

Helm of Balduran

The strongest helmet in BG3, the Helm of Balduran prevents enemies from landing Critical Hits on you, prevents you from being Stunned, heals you for 2 HP per turn, and gives a +1 bonus to Armour Class and Saving Throws. Obtaining this item is a multi-stage process – we wrote a detailed guide on how to find it.

Cloak of Elemental Absorption

Once per Short Rest, the Cloak of Elemental Absorption will absorb elemental damage, and infuse your next attack with 1d6 of that damage type. This is a fairly minor effect, but it can still generate a nice damage boost. It can be looted from an Opulent Chest inside Ketheric Thorm’s Chambers in Moonrise Towers.

Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength

The Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength increase your Strength to 23, and give you a +1 bonus to Strength Saving Throws. This will increase your damage and accuracy with Strength-based attacks, most notably your melee weapon. The gloves can be taken from a pedestal in the archive of the House of Hope.

Boots of Persistence

The Boots of Persistence permanently grant the wearer Freedom of Movement and Longstrider, improving your movement speed and preventing you from being slowed by difficult terrain, entangled, paralysed or magically restrained. This reduces the amount of ways that enemies can try to stun or immobilise your Barbarian. These boots can be purchased from Dammon in the Forge of the Nine in the Lower City, Act III.

Amulet of Greater Health

The Amulet of Greater Health sets your Constitution to 23 and gives Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws. A higher Constitution means more HP. Can be taken from a pedestal in the archive of the House of Hope.

Killer’s Sweetheart

With the Killer’s Sweetheart ring equipped, once per Long Rest, you gain a guaranteed Critical Hit on your next attack after killing an enemy. This item would be better if it could be triggered more frequently, but it’s still a useful effect. It is found inside the Self-Same Trial in the Gauntlet of Shar.

Balduran’s Giantslayer

A Legendary Greatsword, Balduran’s Giantslayer is arguably the strongest melee weapon in the game. It doubles the damage bonus from your Strength Modifier when attacking (if you have the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength, this improves a +6 modifier to +12). It grants you Advantage when attacking large, huge or gargantuan enemies, and once per Short Rest allows you to enlarge yourself, gaining extra damage, Temporary HP and Advantage on Strength checks.

Balduran’s Giantslayer is looted from Ansur in the Dragon’s Sanctum. To find out how to access the Dragon’s Sanctum, follow this guide on How to find the Helm of Balduran – both items are located in the same room.

Berserker Barbarian Extra Info

Finally, here is some info that will help you to play and get the most out of this Baldur’s Gate 3 Barbarian Build.

How to Play the BG3 Barbarian Build

In this section, we will explain how to get the most out of this Barbarian Build.

Managing Rage and Frenzy

Your Rage/Frenzy boosts your damage output and Physical Resistance, so you should activate it in most combat scenarios. But keep the following limitations in mind:
- When Enraged, your Barbarian cannot activate any Spells (including spells that come from your Race or equipped items). If you plan to cast a Spell during combat, you should not use your Rage.
- Rage is cancelled if you do not take or deal damage for a full turn. Don’t activate it if you have no enemies nearby, because the Rage Charge will probably be wasted. Always enrage and attack on the same turn.
- If you forget to activate Rage at the start of the turn, it’s normally better to wait until the beginning of the next turn before activating it, just in case you get stunned or immobilised in the meantime.

This takes us to the next important consideration you should have when playing a Barbarian.

Plan Your Moves!

Once you know how Rage works and have a basic grasp of the combat rules of Baldur’s Gate 3, the next most important thing to learn about the Barbarian is that you need to plan your moves before you make them. In truth, this applies to any class in the game, but it’s especially important for Barbarians because of the aforementioned Rage/Frenzy limitations.

At the beginning of combat, decide if you will use your Barbarian’s Rage immediately or if you want them to cast a spell first. Have an idea of which enemy your Barbarian will attack first, and decide when you will activate your Rage. You may need to change your plan because of how combat evolves, but making a quick mental plan for all four of your party members will make battles significantly less challenging. You’ll get better at this with experience, but you can begin doing it even as a beginner.

Don’t Be Careless

The Barbarian’s physical damage resistance when enraged makes them one of the most durable classes in the game, and their huge melee damage potential and aggressive nature make it easy to get carried away and charge straight into the fray.

While it is ideal for the Barbarian to choose a target and close to melee range as fast as possible, you should still exercise a bit of caution. No matter how good your build is and how much endgame equipment you give a character, they will be rapidly cut down if you carelessly get them surrounded by multiple enemies, particularly if one of them is a boss (this is doubly true if you play on Tactician or Honour mode). This ties into the planning mentioned above: always try to gauge the strength of each enemy, and don’t send your Barbarian to fight four guys at the same time without any help.

In short, the Barbarian should be aggressive but not foolhardy.

Overpowered Potion Combo for BG3 Barbarian Build

The Potion of Speed is arguably the most powerful potion in Baldur’s Gate 3 – it is good on any character, but it is especially valuable on classes like the Barbarian who can make multiple attacks per turn even without the potion.

The Potion of Speed doubles your Movement Speed and gives you an extra Action each turn. This means that a high-level Berserker Barbarian can make 4 attacks from Actions per turn, instead of the usual 2. You can then add your Frenzied Strike for a fifth attack.

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.

Barbarian 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 Barbarian Build with the Berserker 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.

Best BG3 Barbarian Build – High Damage Berserker!