Best BG3 Ranger Build – High Damage Hunter Baldur’s Gate 3

Welcome to the Best BG3 Ranger Build. For this build we will be using the Hunter subclass of Ranger, which excels in high single target and is great for taking down dangerous enemies, such as bosses and large monsters.

The Ranger excels at using ranged weapons to deal high damage to enemies before they can get close and also has some fairly limited Spellcasting abilities. The Baldur’s Gate 3 Ranger Build works for both PC and Console (PS5 and Xbox Series X/S).

Table of Contents:

• Ranger Class Guide
• Character Creation (Level 1)
• Leveling Progression
  • Level 2
  • Level 3 Subclass Selection
  • Level 4
  • Level 5
  • Level 6
  • Level 7
  • Level 8
  • Level 9
  • Level 10
  • Level 11
  • Level 12
• Equipment
  • Early Game
  • Endgame
• Ranger Tips & Tricks
• Dual-Wield Crossbows

You can also find more Ranger builds on this website for the other subclasses:

• Gloom Stalker Subclass Ranger Build for BG3
• Beast Master Subclass Ranger Build for BG3

BG3 Ranger Class Guide

Rangers are a damage-focused class but they also have access to good utility features. The Ranger class can be played ranged but also as a melee setup. For BG3 Ranger Build we will of course go with the ranged option, as that is the more popular choice by most power users. Ranges also have access to some spells, though be it only a very limited amount. But these spells can still improve your build tremendously if used correctly.

The Ranger’s unique class features are the Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer perks. You get to select them at level 1, level 6, and level 10. Favored Enemy studies the tactics of certain creatures and grants you a set of abilities that are useful in a variety of situations. Further down in the guide you will see that we are going with the Bounty Hunter passive first, at later levels we get to select more. The Bounty Hunter passive gives us Proficiency in Investigation.

Additionally, enemies hit by Ensnaring Stike have Disadvantage on their Saving Throw. The Natural Explorer perk lets your years of traveling experience in the wild have an impact on your build. You are attuned to beasts or adept at surviving in certain environments. For our BG3 Ranger Build we are using the Urban Tracker passive, this gives us Proficiency in Sleight of Hand, thus increasing our chances to successfully pickpocket items or open locked doors and treasure chests. More on these Ranger unique class features in the level 1 section of the build. You will be able to select additional perks while leveling up your Ranger in Baldur’s Gate 3.

At higher levels you will also become considerably more powerful. At level 5 for example you get a passive that allows you to attack twice per turn.

Hunter Subclasses

The Ranger class gets to select a subclass at level 3. You have three options. Beast Master, Gloom Stalker or the Hunter. For our build, we are going to select the Hunter subclass at level 3. Hunters seek the most dangerous prey in Faerun, from ancient dragons to massive hordes of undead and excel at slaying them all.

The Ranger’s Hunter subclass also grants us the Hunter’s Prey passive in Baldur’s Gate 3. This allows us to select three passives that specialize in defeating certain threats. Colossus Slayer deals 1-8 extra damage once per turn, Giant Killer allows us to react to large or bigger creatures than you if they attack you within 1.5m and Horde Breaker allows you to attack two targets that are close to each other. For our setup, we will select the Colossus Slayer at level 3. This boosts our dps tremendously once per turn.

At level 7 you will also get access to the Defensive Tactics perk that allows you to select Escape the Horde, Steel Will or Multiattack Defense. Multiattack Defense is the passive we are going to select for out Hunter Ranger Build. Enemies will suffer -4 penalty to additional Attack Rolls against you until the start of the next turn. This is a great defensive passive feature.

At level 11 we will get the Hunter subclass specific class actions called Volley and Whirlwind Attack. Volley lets you fire a cascade of arrows upon enemies within a range of 15 metres. This only costs an Action, and with the Extra Attack passive this becomes very useful as a second action to run after you have cast a spell. The Whirlwind Attack is also nice but we are playing a ranged class, therefore this will only have limited use for our playstyle.

We hope this gives you a good idea what to expect from the Hunter subclass. Now let’s move on to the actual character creation and leveling process of the BG3 Ranger Build.

Character Creation (Level 1) for the BG3 Ranger Build

In this section, we will go over the basic Character Creation options for your Baldur’s Gate 3 Ranger build, namely Background, Race, Skills and Abilities.

Background for the Ranger Build

The Background choice is not hugely important to the performance of builds in Baldur’s Gate 3, as for the most part they only have an impact on out of combat events. However, it’s generally wise to choose Background that match up with the attributes you’ll be choosing for the Build, as this allows your character to become very good at some skills. For this build we will be focusing on Dexterity and Wisdom, so aim for a Background that aligns with these. Some examples are:

• Urchin
• Acolyte
• Folk Hero

Race

While in Early Access your race choice was a very important component of your build, this is no longer the case. This is because your race now has no bearing on your Ability scores, which are the most important factor at play. This gives players more freedom to choose any race and class combination that they wish, without having to worry about being pigeon-holed into a “meta” race for their class.

However, there are still some useful passive features sourced from your race and subrace, which may be of advantage when it comes to the Ranger build. Some interesting options are:

• Wood Elf – Has very high movement speed, allowing you to outrun enemies and get into advantageous positions more quickly. Also cannot be put to sleep by enemy spells.
• Wood Half-Elf – Comes with essentially the same benefits as the Wood Elf, but slightly less Movement Speed.
• Lightfoot Halfling – Has an Advantage for Stealth Checks, and automatically rerolls dice that roll a 1, making a Critical Miss/Fail extremely unlikely. Has the weakness of low Movement Speed, though.
• Deep Gnome – Advantage on Stealth Checks, can see in the dark up to 24 metres. Also has low Movement Speed, however.
• Drow – Can see in the dark up to 24 metres.

Don’t worry if you don’t want to go with any of these races. As mentioned above, your chosen race is of fairly low importance in Baldur’s Gate 3 post release.

Skills

As we mentioned in the Background section, the skills are not of great importance due to their low impact on combat. However, it’s generally a good idea to choose skills that belong to our best abilities, Dexterity and Wisdom. Aim to have the following skills covered by a combination of your Background, Race and chosen Proficiencies:

• Animal Handling
• Insight
• Perception
• Stealth
• Survival

If you still have points left after you have all the above, add the points to anything that isn’t in the minus. For example, Athletics would be a good pick then

Abilities

We also need to allocate our abilities. These are what will govern how we perform in combat situations. For the Ranger, the following stats are most important:

• Dexterity – Will determine how good we are at attacking with our ranged weapon
• Wisdom – Determines how good we are at Spellcasting
• Constitution – Dictates our Hitpoints and how likely we are to succeed at Concentration checks (if the effects of a Concentration Spell we cast will be retained when we take damage)

As such, we recommend pushing DEX and WIS as high as possible, and making sure CON is at least 14. With the remaining points make sure your Strength score is at least 10 – this ensures we’re able to equip some of the better armour that we’re likely to find.

All in all, an Ability allocation that looks something like this will serve you well:

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

Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer

Before confirming your character, you’ll need to select two Ranger-specific options in the Class menu. These are Favoured Enemy and Natural Explorer.

For Favored Enemy, we recommend going with Bounty Hunter. This doesn’t immediately do anything useful for us, but it will come in handy later on after we’ve developed our spellcasting options.

For Natural Explorer, only two of the options are actually useful. If you want your character to be good at lockpicking, then choose Urban Tracker, which gives Sleight of Hand proficiency. But if you plan to have Lockpicking covered by someone else in the party (or just want to avoid Lockpicking altogether) then choose Beast Tamer, which lets you cast the Find Familiar spell for free, summoning animal companions to help you.

Leveling Progression for the BG3 Ranger Build

Now that we have selected everything in the character creation screen for level 1, we are finally going to take a look at how to progress the Ranger from level 2 to max level 12. It is recommended to follow this as good as possible, you can make small adjustments if it fits your playstyle more though without breaking the build.

Level 2 – Fighting Style & Spells

When you reach Level 2 with your BG3 Ranger Build, you’ll need to select a Fighting Style and choose 2 Spells to learn.

Your Fighting Style lets you become especially skilled with a particular type of weapon. For this Ranger Build we are using the Archery Fighting Style. This is very important, as it will give us an extra +2 to our Ranged Attack Rolls. This makes the Ranger better at shooting with Bows and Crossbows than any other class.

As for Spells, the following two are the best options at this stage, so we recommend choosing them:

• Ensnaring Strike – This is a Concentration spell that lasts for up to 10 turns. While active, your weapon attacks will summon vines that deal extra Piercing Damage and potentially ensnare your target. This is great for pinning down dangerous enemies, and it also synergises with the Bounty Hunter option we chose earlier, causing enemies hit by the spell to have Disadvantage on their Saving Throw.
• Hunter’s Mark – Mark an enemy, causing your attacks to deal extra damage to them. If the target dies before the spell ends, you can reapply Hunter’s Mark to a new creature without spending another Spell Slot.

At this stage we only have two Level one Spell Slots, meaning we can cast just two spells per Long Rest. This is quite limiting for the time being, however both of these spells are very strong and already allow your Ranger to cause complete havoc among enemies.

Level 3 – Subclass and Spell – BG3 Ranger Build PC/PS5

At Level 3, we immediately gain an extra Spell Slot, so can now cast 3 spells before needing to have a Long Rest.

This is also the point where you get to choose your subclass. For this build we’ll be using the Hunter subclass.

Choosing the Hunter subclass requires us to immediately choose an option for Hunter’s Prey. We’ll be choosing Colossus Slayer, which causes our weapon attacks to deal up to 8 extra damage to enemies who are not at full HP. This is good for quickly damaging enemies, especially bosses and monsters with high Hitpoint totals.

Before proceeding, we also need to choose an extra Spell for our Ranger Build at this point. if you feel like your party needs some extra healing ability, then choose Cure Wounds, a solid healing spell that can help you out in a pinch. Otherwise, go with Speak with Animals.

You might have noticed the Hunter’s Mark spell and be wondering why we do not recommend this, as it seems pretty strong. While it’s a good spell, Ensnaring Strike is even better, and we can only have one active Concentration Spell at a time (per character), so getting both spells would be a wasted pick.

Level 4 – Feat

At Level 4, we’ll need to choose a Feat for our Ranger Hunter Build. Feats are strong passive buffs for your character that can help to define your build. It’s pretty much always the best idea to choose Ability Improvement here, which gives us an extra 2 Ability Points to assign. Put them both into Dexterity, thus increasing it to 18 or 19 depending on the race you choose. This will help to supercharge your Ranged Weapon Attack Rolls.

Level 5 – Second Level Spell

At Level 5, the Ranger Build for Baldur’s Gate 3 becomes considerably more powerful. At this level we get the passive ability to attack twice per turn with our weapon. This is obviously a massive buff, and your damage output is going to skyrocket at this point.

We also gain the option to access some Second Level Spells for the first time. There are two options that are most viable here, depending on your circumstances:

• Darkvision – If your Ranger lacks the ability to easily see in the dark, and there’s no one else in the party who can easily rectify this problem by casting a spell for your Ranger, then consider getting Darkvision. This can be used to allow you to see in the dark until your next Long Rest. This means you will be able to shoot at long-range targets even in dark conditions. If you’re a Drow then you have this ability passively, in which case you definitely shouldn’t get this.
• Spike Growth – Spike Growth lets you cover a 12 metre wide area in Spikes, halving the movement speed of all within and causing them to take 2-8 Piercing Damage for every 1.5 Metres they walk on the spikes. Be wary that this is a Concentration Spell, so you cannot have this and Ensnaring Strike active at the same time. Ensnaring Strike is better for pinning down single dangerous enemies, whereas Spike Growth is good for slowing down groups of enemies in a larger area.

Both of these spells are good in the right situation. We do recommend selecting the Spike Growth spell though. This allows you to slow down enemies in a 6m radius and it also deals damage.

Level 6

At Level 6, you’ll need to make an additional choice for both Favoured Enemy and Natural Explorer.

Your Favoured Enemy pick is not especially important. Mage Breaker gives you the True Strike Cantrip, which can occasionally be useful for targeting enemies with high defenses. But you can choose a different option if you prefer.

For Natural Explorer, go with either Beast Tamer or Urban Tracker, whichever you didn’t choose at Level 1. If you’re using someone else in your party for Sleight of Hand (Lockpicking, etc) or your character already has this Proficiency from another source, then go with any of the Wasteland Wanderer (Cold, Fire, Poison) options instead. In my experience, Poison Damage seems to be the most commonly used by enemies, so going with Wasteland Wanderer: Poison will help you out with a 50% Resistance to Poison.

Level 7

At Level 7, the Spellcasting ability of your Ranger build is improved tremendously.

You’ll now have three Second Level Spell Slots, and can choose one more spell to learn. If you find yourself using stealth often with your Ranger, then the Pass Without Trace spell will help you out with this. Otherwise, grab the Silence spell, which can be used to shut down enemy spellcasters.

Finally, you’ll unlock Defensive Tactics, which lets you choose one of three extra features for your character:

• Escape the Horde – Opportunity Attacks against you have Disadvantage.
• Steel Will – Advantage on Saving Throws against being Frightened.
• Multiattack Defense – When an enemy attacks you, they suffer -4 penalty to additional Attack Rolls against you until start of their next turn.

Of these three options, I highly recommend going with Multiattack Defence. The Ranger isn’t a particularly tanky character, and you’re starting to reach the point of the game where you’ll encounter “boss” enemies who can attack two, three, even four times on the same turn. No matter how careful you are, sometimes your Ranger is going to get caught in melee, and this perk will really help them to stay alive if a strong enemy is going after them.

Level 8

At Level 8 for your Ranger Build, you’ll gain a couple of extra features.

First, you need to choose another Feat for your character. I recommend getting Ability Improvement again. Increase your Dexterity to 20. You should have another point left over after this, which you can either put in Wisdom or Constitution.

You’ll also unlock the Land Stride perk, which prevents difficult terrain from slowing your character down. It won’t remove other negative effects though, such as the chance of slipping on grease or the damage from walking on spikes.

Level 9

At Level 9, your Best Ranger Build for Baldur’s Gate 3 will unlock the following:

• Two Third Level Spell Slots, and the ability to use spells of this tier.
• Choose one more Spell to learn.

For the spell we recommend selecting the Conjure Barrage spell, it deals great AoE damage in a 9m radius. It allows you to shoot arrows in a cone from your character’s location, each one doing 2-16 Slashing Damage.

Level 10

At Level 10 the Ranger class unlocks the Hide in Plain Sight feature, which lets you turn invisible and gain a +10 bonus to Stealth Checks as long as you are standing still. This is great for sneaking around and dealing bonus stealth damage.

You’ll also be able to choose another Favoured Enemy and Natural Explorer option. We already picked up all of the important ones, so at this point you can choose whichever ones you like the most. For example, in the Favoured Enemy option we went with Sanctified Stalker which gives us Proficiency in Religion and unlocks the Sacred Flame Cantrip that deals high damage to undead. With Natural Explorer we selected Wasteland Wanderer: Cold to reduce incoming cold damage.

Level 11

At Level 11, you’ll unlock the following new features for your BG3 Ranger Build:

• Another Third Level Spell Slot, giving you three in total.
• Choose one more spell to unlock. We recommend going with Lightning Arrow, which allows you to shoot a Lightning Arrow that deals 4-32 damage on impact, and sends out sparks in multiple directions that deal 2-16 to anyone hit by them. Good for shooting into tightly packed groups of enemies. Or enemies that are in water surfaces.
• New Class Actions
  • Volley – Fire a cascade of arrows upon nearby enemies.
  • Whirlwind Attack – Whirl your body around, striking all nearby foes.

These new abilities give you several new ways of dealing with enemy encounters. Be sure to give them a try and see how you like them. Both Volley and Whirlwind Attack are very strong class actions but they force you into melee, therefore be careful when you use those. At level 11 we have enough health and are more robust compared to lower levels, so melee is a more viable option with the Ranger Hunter subclass in BG3.

Level 12 – Max Level Ranger Build for BG3

If you reached this point, then you have completed leveling up your Ranger to the max level in Baldur’s Gate 3. Congratulations!

You can now select one more Feat for your character. We recommend choosing the Sharpshooter Feat.

Sharpshooter exempts your character from Low Ground penalties, but you’ll still gain a bonus from High Ground. You’ll also be able to toggle a new ability called Sharpshooter: All In. When turned on, you’ll receive a -5 penalty to your Attack Rolls, but get +10 bonus damage on your attacks. This is great for quickly dispatching enemies who you have a very high chance of hitting. It doesn’t tend to work as well against bosses and enemies with Armour Class, at least not without significant buffs and debuffs working in your favour.

BG3 Ranger Build Equipment

Now let us take a look at some of the BG3 Ranger Build equipment that you should try to get. Don’t sweat it if you don’t have any of the items below, the Ranger Build works fine without any of the items below. But of course, if you find any of the items then the effectiveness of the build will increase.

The journey through Baldur’s Gate 3 is a long one. Therefore we are going to take a look at gear that you will be able to acquire in early game Act 1 and at the start of Act 2. Lastly, we also take a look at Endgame gear options that are available in late Act 2 and Act 3.

Note: Our ranged weapon is the most important aspect of our equipment as the Ranger. We recommend going with either the Longbow or the Heavy Crossbow. Both of these are viable options that can deal high damage with the Ranger. These weapons let you use the Brace (Ranged) skill, which sacrifices 7.5 metres of your movement for the turn but gives you an Advantage on your ranged weapon attack rolls. That means if you are already in a good position you can use this to increase your damage for this turn.

Early Game Gear

The early game equipment for the BG3 Ranger Build can be found in Act 1 or at the start of Act 2. Don’t sweat it if you can’t find some of the items. Your build will work fine without any of these. The only thing you need to have is a Longbow or a Crossbow to make the Hunter Ranger Build work in Baldur’s Gate 3.

I would also not miss out on the Amulet of Misty Step because it gives you plenty more movement options where you can position yourself to your advantage against enemies. Or to get to places where you can’t jump to. The Disintegrating Night Walkers also give you Misty Step but these can be obtained close to the end of Act 1. Whereas the Amulet can be acquired early Act 1. Anyway, more info on all the items below.

Now let us take a look at where you can find all the equipment listed above.

Gandrel’s Aspiration and The Joltshooter

In Act 1 you can find a Heavy Crossbow “Gandrel’s Aspiration“. It has +1 and you get Advantage against Monstrosity-type enemies. You will have to kill Gandrel though to get the weapon. He is the guy that you find next to the Hag’s Hut in Act 1.

Additionally, you can also find a good Longbow called The Joltshooter in Act 1 close to the Waukeen’s Rest Waypoint. Whenever you deal damage you get Lightning Charges. These will deal additional damage. If you have 5 Lightning charges they will be consumed and you do 1d8 extra damage on your next attack. You will have to do the quest in the burning building and save Counsellor Florrick to obtain the Longbow.

Note: If you want a super early weapon, you can buy the Spellthief from Arron inside the Druid Grove. You visit the Druid Grove right after you leave the Ravaged Beach at the start of the game.

Scale Mail Armour +1

The Scale Mail Armour +1 is a good armour for early game and super easy to acquire in Act 1. You can buy the medium armour from Dammon inside the “The Hollow” (Druid Grove).

Haste Helm

For your Helmet, look out for the Haste Helm, which gives you an extra 3 metres of Movement Speed for the first 3 turns of every combat, and gives a +1 bonus to Dexterity Saving Throws. It can be found in a wooden chest next to a cart, by the Blighted Village Waypoint. This is great for the Ranger as it allows you to outrun your enemies.

Disintegrating Night Walkers

For Boots, you can get the Disintegrating Night Walkers in Act 1, looted from True Soul Nere in the Grymforge. They will give you the Misty Step spell, as well as immunity to the Enwebbed, Entangled and Ensnared conditions and prevent you from slipping on ice or grease. These are a great counter to effects that can otherwise pin down your Ranger and leave them vulnerable.

Cloak of Protection

For your Cloak, a good option is the Cloak of Protection, purchased from Quartermaster Talli in Last Light Inn (Act 2). This gives you a +1 bonus to your Armour Class and Saving Throws, making your character more resistant to damage and hostile Conditions.

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

Gloves of Power

For your Gloves, in Act 1 you can get the Gloves of Power, which can give a -1-4 penalty to Attack Rolls and Saving Throws on creatures you hit. They are dropped by Za’Krug near the entrance to the Druid Grove.

Amulet of Misty Step

The Amulet of Misty Step is a great early game necklace. In certain cases it is even used in the endgame gear setups because the Misty Step spell is so amazing. Especially for our ranged Ranger Hunter Build it becomes very useful to get into good locations to gain advantage against enemies. The amulet can be found inside a Gilded Chest in the Defiled Temple. You can reach the Defiled Temple through the Goblin Camp. Once at the Goblin Camp you can enter the Shattered Sanctum and then get to the Defiled Temple.

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

Ring of Protection

The Ring of Protection is a really good ring that you can obtain early game in Act 1. The ring gives you a +1 to Armour Class and +1 to Saving Throws. You get the ring by completing the Steal the Sacred Idol quest. To start the quest head into the Tiefling Hideout in the Druids Grove and talk to Mol. She is the gang leader and wants you to steal the Idol of Silvanus. The Idol is used as a ritual in the middle of the Druid, it won’t be easy to steal it.

Caustic Band

The Caustic Band is fairly easy to get but you need to make your way into the Underdark. The ring adds +2 Acid damage to your attacks. This is great, especially with us already dealing good damage on the Hunter Ranger Build in BG3. You can purchase the ring from Derryth Bonecloak. Derryth is located in the Myconid Colony in the Underdark.

Shortsword +1

Our melee weapon isn’t that important. You can pick pretty much whatever you like as long as you are proficient with it. We are only using our ranged weapon, therefore our melee weapon isn’t that important. Roah Moonglow is selling a +1 Longsword inside the Shattered Sanctum in the Goblin Camp. If you do not see the weapon in her wares, then take a Long Rest and return to the Roah. This should reset her items, and the Longsword+1 should appear.

You can also read our in-depth guide on How to get the Longsword or Shortsword +1 in BG3 to get a detailed walkthrough on how to obtain the sword.

Endgame Gear Late Act 2 and Act 3

The endgame gear for the Ranger can be obtained either in late Act 2 or Act 3 of Baldur’s Gate 3. If you manage to complete all the items below you will be an unstoppable force of power. Especially the Gontr Mael Longbow, Helm of Balduran and Helldusk Armour are gems to be on the lookout for.

Now let us take a look at where you can find the endgame gear for the Ranger Build in Baldur’s Gate 3. Weapons first because that is the most important thing to look out for.

Gontr Mael Legendary Longbow

In late Act 3 you can get the Gontr Mael, a Legendary Longbow. It drops from the Steel Watcher Titan in the Steel Watcher Foundry. This Longbow comes with a +3 enchantment, the Celestial Haste spell, and a chance to also fire Guiding Bolt at an enemy you hit with one of your shots. Gontr Mael is the strongest Longbow you can get in the game.

Hellfire Hand Crossbow

There is a great very rare crossbow that you can already obtain in Act 2. You can get the Hellfire Hand Crossbow in Act 2 after defeating Yurgir in the Gauntlet of Shar that you reach through the Grand Mausoleum Entrance. This weapon has a +2 Enchantment and it can inflict burning on the enemy when you attack from stealth. It also gives you the Scorching Ray spell.

The Deadshot

Lastly, another very rare longbow you can use for the Ranger Build is called The Deadshot. You can acquire the longbow at the Stormshore Armoury inside the lower city of Baldur’s Gate 3 in Act 3, it is sold by Fytz the Firecracker. The Deadshot has a +2 Enchantment and lowers the number you need to roll a crit hit by 1. Additionaly, The wielder doubles their Proficiency Bonus when rolling ranged attacks with this weapon, unless they have Disadvantage.

Helm of Balduran

The Helm of Balduran is a legendary item that is one of the most powerful items in Baldur’s Gate 3. It gives you the following perks:

Shade-Slayer Cloak

The Shade-Slayer Cloak is a very rare item that can be obtained by buying it from Sticky Dondo in the Criminal Guilds Hall in Act 3. You can enter the Guilds Hall through a hatch in the Lower City. The Shade-Slayer Cloak applies the Stealthy Critical perk. While hiding, the number you need to roll a Critical Hit while attacking is reduced by 1. This effect can stack.

You can find more cloak options on the BG3 Cloak Items Overview Page.

Helldusk Armour

By far the best armour in the game is the legendary Helldusk Armour. Yes, this is a heavy armour item. However, the great thing about Helldusk is that you are proficient with heavy armour while wearing the Helldusk Armour. That means you get the protection of it, but won’t gain any penalties to stealth or other things. When you succeed a Saving Throw, the enemy will be lit on fire and burns for 3 turns. Additionally, you get resistance to fire and cannot burn. And you take 3 less damage from all sources.

And even better, the Helldusk Armour also gives you the Fly spell. This allows you to position yourself to your advantage against enemies. You sort of can play cat and mouse with enemies now because you can use Fly and Misty Step.

The only downside to the armour is that it is a tough cookie to get it. You will have to defeat the devil himself, Raphael. The location is called the House of Hope and you reach it through a portal to hell inside the Devil’s Fee house. You have to speak to Helsik to get instructions on how to open the portal to hell. Once you are inside the House of Hope explore everything. Once you are trying to return to the real world Raphael will confront you, this is a tough fight so come prepared.

You can also read our in-depth guide on How to get the Helldusk Armour in BG3.

Bonespike Gloves

The Bonespike Gloves are a very rare item and perfect for our BG3 Hunter Ranger Build. It allows us to ignore enemy resistance to Piercing damage. So no matter what, we will go through enemy resistance like butter and deal full damage. You can find the Bonespike Gloves in the Undercity Ruins. It must be looted from Strangler Luke during the Ambush that will appear when you are on the Get Orin’s Netherstone quest. You need to loot the gloves from him during the fight. Because he will immediately despawn after the fight is over and take the gloves with him.

Amulet of Greater Health

The Amulet of Greater Health is a very rare item that will boost your Consitution score up to 23. The amulet gives you a huge bump to your health points. The Amulet of Greater Health can also be picked up on a display in the House of Hope like the Helldusk Armour.

If you want something more interesting you could also get the Corvids Token Amulet that allows you to transform into a Dire Raven for movement. Or simply use the Amulet of Misty Step.

Killer’s Sweetheart

The Killer’s Sweetheart is a very rare ring. It allows you to get a guaranteed critical hit after you have defeated an enemy once per long rest. The Killer’s Sweetheart can be found in Act 2 inside the Gauntlet of Shar. It drops inside the Self-Same Trial.

Ring of Free Action

As a secondary ring we recommend the Ring of Free Action. You can buy the Ring of Free Action from Araj Oblodra inside the Moonrise Tower in late Act 2. The ring allows you to ignore the effects of Difficult Terrain, and cannot be Paralysed or Restrained.

Sword of Life Stealing

Like before, your secondary weapon isn’t really important. Just make sure to pick one you are Proficient with. The Sword of Life Stealing is a good option. On a Critical Hit, the target takes an extra 10 sNecrotic damage as long as it isn’t a construct or an undead. You also gain 10 temporary hit points. It also has a +2 Enchantment. You can get this pretty early at the start of Act 2. Buy it from Dammon at the Last Lights Inn.

Best Ranger Build Tips & Tricks

When playing this BG3 Ranger Build, remember to use the spells at your disposal to pin down enemies, especially dangerous ones. Ensnaring Strike is your go-to for this in most situations.

Remember that whenever you are hit, you risk losing Concentration on Ensnaring Strike and other spells like it, and when in melee range you also get Disadvantage on your Ranged Attack Rolls. Therefore it’s important to use movement to stay away from melee enemies. Running or Jumping away from melee enemies who are already close to you is likely to incur an opportunist attack, so if possible you should not allow them to get close to you to begin with, rather than running away when they’re already next to you.

Don’t be afraid to use AOE spells like Hail of Thorns against a single target if you just need some extra damage quickly.

Dual Wield Hand crossbows with the Ranger Build in BG3

This is a feature that is often overlooked, you can actually dual-wield Hand crossbows in Baldur’s Gate 3. It looks pretty cool plus if you have some juicy Hand crossbows for your BG3 Ranger Build then it is definitely worth considering.

You could combine the Hellfire Hand Crossbow with the Ne’er Misser Hand Crossbow. Of course our standard setup for the Ranger class is still with any of the Heavy Crossbows, but you can give this dual-wielding option a try if you feel like it.

Other Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds

• Druid Build – Circle of the Moon
• Bard Build – College of Lore
• 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.