Best Eldritch Knight BG3 Build Guide – Maximum Power!

Welcome to the best Eldritch Knight Build for Baldur’s Gate 3. For this build we will be using the Eldritch Knight subclass of the Fighter class, which combines the excellent melee prowess of the Fighter class with spellcasting, without the need to delve into multiclassing. While the Eldritch Knight possesses decent spellcasting ability, it’s important to note that it is not a “full spellcaster” like some other classes (Wizard, Warlock, Cleric, etc) and therefore cannot learn spells above Second Level.

Please visit our Best BG3 Builds overview page for more builds or check out our Best BG3 Fighter Build with the Battle Master subclass. To get an overview of all classes please visit the BG3 Classes overview page.

The BG3 Eldritch Knight Build works for both PC and Console (PS5 and Xbox Series X/S).

The Fighter can choose a Fighting Style and prioritize it, gaining an edge when wielding a certain type of weapon. For this build, we’ll be using Great Weapons (two-handed melee weapons).

Table of Contents:

• Eldritch Character Creation (Level 1)
• Level Progression Guide
• Equipment
  • Early-Game
  • Late-Game
• Potions

Eldritch Knight Build Character Creation (Level 1) for BG3

In this section, we will go over the basic Character Creation options for your BG3 Eldritch Knight build, namely Background, Race, Skills and Abilities.

Background

The best Backgrounds to choose for the Eldritch Knight are either Outlander or Soldier, as these both give Proficiency in Athletics, the only Strength-based skill available through the Background selection.

However the Background isn’t hugely important – it has little direct impact on combat situations, so if you want to choose something else then it won’t ruin the build.

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 pigeonholed into a “meta” race for their class.

However, some races will give you a small edge over others. Some good races for the Eldritch Knight are:

• Half-Orc – Rolls three damage dice when you crit, rather than the usual two. This basically means you deal more damage when you crit.
• Wood Elf (or Half Wood Elf) – Higher Movement Speed than other races, allowing you to get into melee more quickly, where the build is usually at its strongest.
• Githyanki – Gains extra bonuses from various Githyanki equipment found in the game, and also gets the Misty Step spell at Level 5, allowing you to teleport. This build will also work well for Lae’zel, either as your main character or as a companion.
• Zariel Tiefling – Gains access to some Smite spells which can considerably increase your melee damage output.

Skills

For Skills, you should already have Proficiency in Athletics from your Background. You can choose two more Skills to be Proficient in – the most optimal options are Acrobatics and History. Acrobatics helps your character to resist being pushed around by enemies, and History is mainly used for various dialogue checks – it’s a good fit for the Eldritch Knight because it’s an Intelligence-based Skill, and we will have a high Intelligence score.

Abilities

It’s important for the efficacy of the Eldritch Knight Build that you have Strength and Constitution as high as possible at Level 1.

These are the only two skills that are vital for this build. In many of our other builds we recommend putting a few points in Dexterity for your Armour Class, however this is not needed here since we’re going to be using Heavy Armour.

Distribute your Ability points to look something like this:

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

If you find yourself dying too much with this setup, you can visit Withers in your camp to respec and change to 16 Constitution and 14 Intelligence. This will increase your HP, at the expense of some spellcasting prowess.

Fighting Style

For this build we’re going to concentrate on Great Weapons, so we recommend choosing the Fighting Style that matches that. Great Weapon Fighting will automatically reroll a damage die that rolls a 1 or a 2 (once per attack), which helps to ensure we don’t deal terrible damage on any of our weapon attacks.

If you want to deviate from that then you can also go with Two-Weapon Fighting, which adds your Ability Modifier to the damage of offhand attacks. The build will still work fine if you follow everything else.

Levelling Progression for the Eldritch Knight Build

In this section, we will walk you through every level up for your Eldritch Knight build in BG3, from levels 2 to 12. Where needed we will advise the best choices to pick when leveling up.

Level 2

At Level 2, you can make use of Action Surge. This grants you an extra Action on your current turn, and it can be used once per Short Rest.

Level 3

At Level 3 it’s time to select your subclass. For this build we are using the Eldritch Knight subclass.

The Eldritch Knight immediately gains access to the Weapon Bond action, which binds your Main Hand weapon to you, preventing it from being knocked out of your hand, and also making it automatically return to you if you throw it. You need to do this again after each Long Rest – try and make this a habit after every camp, there’s no downside to doing it.

You can choose two Cantrips to learn. These are weaker versions of spells that do not require a spell slot to cast, basically meaning you can cast them as often as you want without any limits beyond the Action or Bonus Action consumption when you cast them. We recommend starting with the following Cantrips:

• Fire Bolt – This is the strongest damage-focused cantrip (most of the time), as it can be cast at long range and deals the most damage.
• Ray of Frost – This is a little weaker than Fire Bolt, but we have it on backup in case you are fighting a fire-resistant enemy. It can also slow enemies down a little bit.

You unlock access to two different spell lists too – the Eldritch Knight spell list and the Wizard spell list.

You can choose two Level 1 spells from the Eldritch Knight spell list. The best ones for now are:

• Thunderwave – Deals Thunder damage and can knock back enemies in a cone AOE. This can be used to knock enemies off ledges and cliffs, dealing fall damage or killing them instantly, potentially granting you a lot of damage from a cheap spell. Keep in mind that if you knock an enemy into a chasm, you won’t be able to get any loot from them!
• Magic Missile – Fires three projectiles that deal Force damage. Each projectile is targeted independently, you can aim them all at the same target or each one at a separate target. The damage from this spell is modest, but it’s special because it cannot miss its target, giving you a reliable damage source even against enemies who have high defence.

You can choose just one spell from the Wizard spell list for now. We recommend:

• Sleep – Put targets with up to 24 combined HP to sleep for 2 turns. If they take damage, are helped by an ally or shoved they will wake up early. This is a decent early-game control spell that can temporarily remove one stronger enemy or several weak minions from the fight. This spell is particularly useful because there is no Saving Throw against it – however, a few enemies are immune to it.

Level 4

At Level 4 you need to choose a Feat for your Eldritch Knight.

We recommend choosing Ability Improvement and increasing your Strength to 19. This will improve your Attack Rolls and damage output with melee weapons, helping to boost your overall damage.

You also need to choose one more spell from the Eldritch Knight list:

• Burning Hands – Cause fire damage in a cone in front of you. Normally I do not recommend this spell due to its short range. However, as a hybrid melee spellcaster, the Eldritch Fighter is much better placed to take advantage of short-range spells like this.

Level 5

At Level 5, you will gain an extra attack. This means that every Action will now grant you two weapon attacks, instead of the usual one. Bonus Actions and Reactions are unaffected by this change.

This is very powerful and hugely increases your damage potential per turn.

Level 6

At Level 6 you can choose another Feat. The recommended option here depends on your situation:

• If your Strength is still at 19, then get the Resilient feat and use it to improve your Strength to 20.
• If you’ve already improved your Strength to 20 or above by another method, then get the Savage Attacker Feat. This causes you to roll all of your melee damage dice twice and use the highest result, improving your damage output.

Level 7

At Level 7, the Eldritch Knight gains access to more powerful magic, as well as a new passive feature.

You now gain War Magic, which allows you to make a weapon attack as a Bonus Action after you cast a Cantrip. Remember to do this if you don’t use your Bonus Action for something else, as this can considerably improve your damage output.

You now have access to Level 2 magic, and can choose two more spells from the Eldritch Knight list. We recommend the following options:

• Shatter – Deals Thunder damage in an AOE.
• Scorching Ray – Launch three fire projectiles, either all at the same target or each one at a different enemy. These deal pretty good damage, but unlike Magic Missile they can miss their target.

Level 8

At Level 8, you can choose another Feat for the Eldritch Knight.

If you didn’t already get Savage Attacker, then choose it here.

Otherwise, go with Ability Improvement. Use it to either improve your Intelligence to 18 for more Spellcasting skill, or your Constitution to 16 for more HP, depending on your needs. Note that you only gain a benefit from increasing attributes every 2 points, so there is no point in splitting this between Intelligence and Constitution for an even effect – if you do that you basically waste the Feat.

You can also choose one more spell from the Wizard list:

• Enlarge/Reduce – Lets you Enlarge or Reduce a target (can be casted on yourself). Enlarged characters deal more damage and gain Advantage on Strength checks, and the opposite is true for Reduced characters.

At this point, I also recommend replacing the Sleep spell with Hold Person, a much stronger stun spell that completely paralyses the target if they fail the Saving Throw. It can last for a long time, and your melee attacks against the target are guaranteed crits!

Level 9

At Level 9, you get the Indomitable passive. Once per Long Rest, this lets you automatically reroll a Saving Throw that you failed.

Level 10

At Level 10, you gain the Eldritch Strike passive. This means that when you hit an enemy with a weapon attack, they will be more likely to fail a Saving Throw against a spell you target them with on the same turn.

You can select one more Cantrip:

• Bone Chill – Deals Necrotic Damage and can prevent the target from healing.

You can choose another spell from the Eldritch Knight List:

• Melf’s Acid Arrow – Fire an arrow that deals Acid damage, and if it hits deals more Acid damage on the target’s next turn. If it misses, it deals half of the initial Acid damage, and no subsequent damage. This is a good alternative to Scorching Ray against enemies who are resistant to Fire damage.

Level 11

At Level 11, your Extra Attack is replaced by Improved Extra Attack, which gives you three attacks per Action. At this point, your melee damage potential is getting huge.

You can also choose one more spell from the Eldritch Knight List:

• Darkness – Blinds targets within, prevents direct targeting of entities hidden inside the cloud and obscures Line of Sight. Good for area denial or temporarily obscuring an ally from ranged attacks.

Level 12

This is the highest level in Baldur’s Gate 3 – once you reach this point, you have finished levelling up your character.

You can choose one more Feat at Level 12. If you didn’t already improve your Intelligence at level 8 using Ability Improvement, then you can do that here. Otherwise, get the Great Weapon Master feat, which improves your damage potential with Great Weapons.

Equipment for the Eldritch Knight

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.

Grymskull Helm

The Grymskull Helm prevents enemies from landing Critical Hits on you, which is a very useful defensive bonus. You also have a 50% resistance to Fire damage when wearing it. It is looted from Grym in the Adamantine Forge area of 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 Splint Armour

The Adamantine Splint Armour is a very powerful armour piece that can be obtained fairly early in the game, and will probably last you until well into Act III. It reduces all incoming damage by 2, and sends your melee attackers Reeling for 2 turns, giving them a -1 penalty to Attack Rolls for every turn of Reeling remaining. This armour must be crafted at the Adamantine Forge, by finding the Splint Mould and some Mithral Ore – both can be found in the vicinity of the Adamantine Forge.

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 Eldritch Knight, 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.

Any Heavy Crossbow

Our ranged weapon isn’t the focus of this build – you should aim to be in melee as much as possible because this is where the Eldritch Knight excels. Having said that, it still makes sense to have a decent ranged weapon as a backup for those turns when you simply cannot reach an enemy to make melee attacks. You can use any ranged weapon here, but we recommend a Heavy Crossbow since the Fighter class has Proficiency with this weapon, and it’s the best type of ranged weapon in terms of its damage potential.

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.

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.

Armour of Persistence

Another powerful armour piece, the Armour of Persistence reduces all incoming damage by 2, and passively grants Resistance (1d4 bonus to all Saving Throws) and Blade Ward (50% resistance to bludgeoning, slashing and piercing damage). Note that gaining the Resistance and Blade Ward conditions from other sources will have no effect, as these buffs cannot stack with themselves.

The Armour of Persistence is purchased from Dammon in the Forge of the Nine in the Lower City, Act III.

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 Eldritch Knight Fighter. 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, which is especially important for the Eldritch Knight which tends to have less HP than other Fighter subclasses, due to the need to put points in Intelligence instead of Constitution. 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.

Overpowered Potions for the Eldritch Knight Build

In this section, we will talk about the best Potions and Elixirs for this Baldur’s Gate 3 Eldritch Knight build.

Potions are consumables that generally last for a few turns and provide powerful but short-lived bonuses. You can have several Potions active at a time.

Elixirs on the other hand give your character an effect that lasts until the next Long Rest. Each character can only have one active Elixir at a time – drinking another Elixir will replace the effects of the previous one. Fully utilizing alchemy so that your characters use suitable Potions and Elixirs in tandem is a vital aspect of combat in BG3, especially if you are playing on Tactician difficulty.

Potion of Speed

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 Fighter 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 Fighter can make 6 attacks from Actions per turn, instead of the usual 3. This is why these potions are so much more valuable on classes like the Fighter – a Cleric would only get 1 extra attack per turn out of the Potion of Speed, while we are getting 3.

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 ingredient 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.

Elixir of Bloodlust

The Elixir of Bloodlust combines extremely well with both the Potion of Speed and the Eldritch Knight Fighter class.

When under the effects of this Elixir, killing an enemy grants you 5 Temporary HP and an extra Action on your current turn. This effect can only trigger once per turn, to prevent you from completely wiping out entire groups of enemies on turn with one character. Despite that limitation, this is still very powerful.

With both the Elixir of Bloodlust and the Potion of Speed active on an Eldritch Knight who is Level 10 or above, in the best-case scenario, you can make nine attacks from Actions in a single turn – 3 attacks per Action, with an extra Action gained from the Potion of Speed and another one awarded from the Elixir of Bloodlust if you killed an enemy on the current turn. If you have a Bonus Action available that allows you to perform a special weapon attack, then you can potentially increase this to 10 attacks in a turn. And once per Short Rest you can throw in the Action Surge to increase this to 12-13 attacks in one turn.

Again, this is the best-case scenario and you won’t always be able to pull it off, but it can be done with reasonable frequency, and it helps to illustrate how important Alchemy is for this build.

You can craft the Elixir of Bloodlust by combining Ashes of Worg Fang with any Salt. Worg Fangs are looted from Worgs and sometimes found on other characters or in containers. They are especially common in areas where you can find Goblins, such as the Goblin Camp and Shattered Sanctum in Act I.

More Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds

• Druid Build – Circle of the Moon
• Bard Build – College of Lore
• 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
• Fighter Build – Champion
• Barbarian Build – Berserker
• Warlock Build – Great Old One
• Cleric Build – Light Domain
• Rogue Build – Thief
• Sorcerer Build – Wild Magic
• Wizard Build – Evocation School
• 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.