Best BG3 Karlach Build - Maximum Damage!

Welcome to the best BG3 Karlach Build For this BG3 Karlach Berserker Build we will be using the Berserker subclass, a powerful melee fighter who can go into a Frenzy to deal very high damage to enemies.

Please visit our Best BG3 Builds overview page for more builds, or our Companion Builds if you want to know how to build your other party members. You can also find our Best BG3 Barbarian Build if you want to create a custom character. To get an overview of all classes please visit the BG3 Classes overview page.

Our BG3 Karlach Build quickly grows in power as she levels up, becoming able to perform three attacks each turn by the time she hits Level 5. This allows her to reliably outperform many other characters in terms of raw damage output. The Karlach Berserker Build works for both PC and Console (PS5 and Xbox Series X/S).

Table of Contents for the BG3 Karlach Build:

Karlach Build Overview
Karlach Character Creation
Karlach Build Levelling Progression
Endgame Respec
Karlach Equipment
1. Early-Game Karlach Gear
2. Best Karlach Gear (Late-Game)
Karlach Build Extra Info

BG3 Karlach Build Overview

Here is a quick overview of the most important parts of the Barbarian class and Berserker subclass, which we’ll be using for Karlach. We will also explain how to recruit Karlach and how to respec her, which is important for optimising the build. If you’re already familiar with this info, 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.

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.

Frenzy (Level 3) – An upgraded version of Rage. Keeps the original Rage effects, and also 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.

How to Recruit Karlach in BG3

Karlach can be recruited early in BG3. She is located here close to the Emerald Grove.

After crashing onto the beach head to the Emerald Grove.
Complete the Goblin raid at the Emerald Grove entrance.
Walk past the Emerald Grove and follow the path until you reach a bridge.
Cross the bridge and then turn right into the Forest area.
Walk past Scratch the dog , there will be a gap in the tree boundary that leads to the river.
Use your Jump action to jump across the river.
On the other side, climb up the rocks and then turn to the right.
Walk down the path until you see Karlach and talk to her.

How (and Why) to Respec Karlach in BG3

To follow this build guide precisely, you will need to respec Karlach. This is because the default Ability Point distributions are not optimal and make Karlach slightly weaker.

It is up to you when you do the respec, but I recommend getting it done by the time you reach Level 4. Here is a quick tutorial in case you don’t know how to respec characters in BG3:

Recruit a full party, then head to the Refectory Ruins, roughly north of where you washed up on the beach. Enter the ruins either by brute force, stealth or persuading the bandits outside.
Fight your way through and find the Skull Lever to open the secret door to gain access to the Dank Crypt. If you can’t find the Skull Lever, you can instead go back outside and head to the side-entrance mentioned above. You’ll need to Lockpick your way through if you go this way.
Once inside the Dank Crypt, head to the room with the skeletons and open a second secret door. This will cause several skeletons to attack you.
Defeat the skeletons and head into the small room you opened. Interact with the big coffin and you will meet a friendly but mysterious skeleton called Withers.
After you leave the Dank Crypt, Withers will join your camp.
Once he is in your camp, speak to him as Karlach and ask him to change your class. This costs 100 gold.
This will reset Karlach’s stats, allowing you to change anything except his Background and appearance. Choose the Barbarian class, then proceed with the per-level guidelines later in the guide.

If you don’t find Withers in the Ruins, he will eventually show up at your camp anyway. But this is the quickest way to recruit him.

Level 1 – BG3 Karlach Build Character Creation

In this section, we will look at the ideal starting situation for the BG3 Karlach Build. If you start with Karlach as your Origin character, you can select the recommended attributes during the character creation. Otherwise, you will need to respec Karlach by speaking to Withers in your camp. To do this, you must first find Withers in the hidden room in the Dank Crypt.

Race

Karlach is a Zariel Tiefling. This race is fairly well-suited to a melee-fighter like Karlach, thanks to the Smite Spells that you can use.

Zariel Tieflings get the following bonuses:

Darkvision – Passive ability to see in the dark, negating any combat penalties that usually occur when attacking a target in a dark area.
Hellish Resistance – You gain Resistance to Fire Damage.
Thaumaturgy – This cantrip allows you to gain Advantage on Intimidation and Performance Checks.
Searing Smite – From Level 3, you can use this spell once per Long Rest to add extra Fire Damage to your weapon attack.
Branding Smite – From Level 5, you can use this spell once per Long Rest to add extra Radiant Damage to your weapon attack.

Note that you cannot use any Cantrips or Spells while you are Enraged.

Skills & Background

Karlach is locked into the Outlander Background, which gives her the following skill Proficiencies:

Athletics (STR) – Makes Karlach better at pushing enemies, and helps her to resist being pushed. A good fit for Karlach, since we’ll be building her Strength as high as possible.
Survival (WIS) – Helps Karlach to find hidden supplies and treasure while exploring. This isn’t well suited as we won’t be putting many points into Wisdom, but every time you pass some buried treasure, all four party members roll a Survival check, so this could still be helpful even though it’s not a perfect fit.

You can choose two more Skills to be Proficient with, from a limited set of options available to the Barbarian class. We recommend going with the following two Skills:

Animal Handling (WIS) – As a Wisdom Skill, this isn’t a perfect fit for Karlach. However, we don’t have any Strength or Dexterity Skills available to pick here, so we’re just making the best of what we’re given. Animal Handling is handy in occasional dialogue checks for taming or calming down animals, although the need for it can often be bypassed if someone in your party has the Speak with Animals spell (or drinks a potion that grants the same effect).
Perception (WIS) – Helps Karlach to spot hidden details in the world, and in the behaviour of some NPCs during dialogue.

Abilities

The most important Abilities for the Barbarian are Strength, which increases your melee attack efficacy and Strength-related skills like Athletics, Constitution for the boost to your HP that it provides, and Dexterity which improves your Armour Class and Initiative Rolls (Initiative makes you more likely to move before other characters on any given turn).

With the remaining points, we opted to put a couple of extra points into Wisdom since we are Proficient in a lot of Wisdom-based Skills. However, you can opt to distribute these more evenly if you want.

Go for an Ability allocation that looks something like this:

Strength – 16
Dexterity – 14
Constitution – 16
Intelligence – 8
Wisdom – 12
Charisma – 8

Bold Abilities are essential for the build, while the others can be tweaked if you want.

Karlach Build Levelling Guide

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

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

Karlach Early-Game Levelling Guide BG3

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

Level 2 – Karlach 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 – BG3 Karlach 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, Karlach 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 – Karlach is already becoming quite a force to be reckoned with, and we’ve barely gotten started.

Level 4 – BG3 Karlach Build

At Level 4, it’s time to choose a Feat for the Karlach 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 go 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. Karlach gains nothing else at Level 4 besides standard stuff, like an increase in HP.

Mid-Game Levelling Guide for the BG3 Karlach Build

Next, we’ll look at the mid-game levelling process, covering levels 5-8.

Level 5 – BG3 Karlach Build

At Level 5, Karlach gets another huge step up in terms of how powerful she 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.

Level 6 – BG3 Karlach Build

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 – BG3 Karlach Build

At Level 7, Karlach can no longer be Surprised by enemy ambushes and will gain a +3 bonus to her Initiative, meaning she’ll get to take her turn before most enemies.

Level 8 – BG3 Karlach Build

At Level 8, you must select another Feat for the BG3 Karlach Build.

Here, I recommend choosing Ability Improvement again and once again putting both of the points into Strength.

This should give you 20 Strength, improving your melee weapon Attack Rolls even more. You’ll also perform even better at Strength-based Skills like Athletics.

Late-Game Levelling Guide – BG3 Karlach Build

Finally, we’ll walk through the late-game portion of levelling the Karlach Berserker Build – Levels 9-12.

Level 9 – BG3 Karlach Build

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.

Level 10 – BG3 Karlach Build

At Level 10, Karlach 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 quite good at Saving Throws. But keep an eye out for good opportunities to use this anyway.

Level 11 – BG3 Karlach Build

At Level 11 of your BG3 Karlach 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 – BG3 Karlach Build

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

Get the Savage Attacker Feat, which will cause all damage dice on Karlach’s melee attacks to roll twice, automatically choosing the highest rolling result each time. This has the effect of significantly increasing Karlach’s average damage output.

Endgame Respec for Karlach

With this build, it is most optimal to do a second respec at some point in Act III. The reason for this becomes clear in our Late-Game Equipment section below – we are using the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength, which sets Karlach’s Strength Ability score to 23, with the option of also using the Amulet of Greater Health, which sets her Constitution to 23 if you decide to use this too.

Whether you use one or both of these items, since they set Karlach’s Strength and/or Constitution to 23 regardless of what it otherwise would be, this means you can redistribute all of the points you put into these Abilities during the initial Level 1 respec and subsequent level-ups.

Therefore, when you’ve obtained one or both of the items and equipped them on Karlach, I recommend doing a second Respec. Do everything the same as before, except you can redistribute the Ability points and Ability Improvement Feats to other Abilities. For example, you could put the points into Dexterity to improve Karlach’s Armour Class, into Constitution (if you decide to only use the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength) to improve her HP, or into Wisdom to improve some of her Skills and Saving Throws.

You could also replace one (or both of) the Ability Improvement Feats that we previously took. The best option to use instead is probably Great Weapon Master, which gives you a toggleable passive that buffs your melee damage by +10 at the cost of a -5 malus to your Attack Rolls (accuracy), and can be turned on and off at will.

Other useful Feat options for Karlach are:

Mobile – Increases your Movement Speed, stops Difficult Terrain from slowing you down and lets you move away from an enemy you just attacked without provoking an Opportunity Attack.
Sentinel – You have Advantage on Opportunity Attacks, and your Opportunity Attacks will snare their victim, putting an early end to their turn. You can also spend a Reaction to attack an enemy who is attacking your ally, if they are in melee range.
Skilled – Gain Proficiency in any 3 Skills of your choice.
Alert – You gain a +5 Initiative bonus and cannot be Surprised.

Having said all of this, you will probably manage fine if you don’t do this respec, but it is definitely more optimal and can be seen as a waste of ability points if we do not do it.

Equipment for the BG3 Karlach Build

In this section, we will list the best equipment for the BG3 Karlach 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 setup 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 bonus 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	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.

Note: We recommend doing a respec after getting this item (and optionally the Amulet of Greater Health below). This will allow you to redistribute the Ability Points you spent on Strength, which are no longer required. See the Endgame Respec section above for more info.

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.

Note: You might think that it’s overkill to have both this item and the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength on the same character, and that would be fair enough. It depends on how much you want to buff up Karlach. You could also give this item to another character for a more balanced power distribution across your party.

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.

Karlach Build Extra Info

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

How to Play the BG3 Karlach Build

In this section, we will explain how to get the most out of this Karlach 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, Karlach cannot activate any Spells (including spells that come from her Zariel Tiefling Race or equipped items). If you plan to cast a Spell during combat, you should not use 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 then 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 Karlach’s Rage immediately or if you want them to cast a spell first. Have an idea of which enemy Karlach will attack first, and decide when you will activate her 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 Karlach 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 to Karlach, she will be rapidly cut down if you carelessly get her 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 Karlach (or anyone else, for that matter) to fight four guys at the same time without any help.

In short, when controlling Karlach, you should plan your moves and be aggressive (but not foolhardy).

Best Party Composition for Karlach

Karlach has a Chaotic Good alignment. She has a benevolent heart but is sometimes emotional and impulsive, potentially causing angry or violent outbursts. While you can use any party composition with Karlach, you’ll have an easier time with characters who match up with her moral alignment. This leaves the following four options as the most obvious choices:

Wyll (Lawful Good) – While they are at major risk of coming to blows when they first meet, a straightforward intervention by the player can prevent any violence, and from that point on, Karlach and Wyll get along very well and form a strong bond.
Halsin (Neutral Good) – Karlach and Halsin both have a strong morally good alignment, so they don’t conflict very often, and it’s easy to manage your rapport with them both.
Gale (Neutral Good) – Unlike Karlach, Gale is usually calm and quiet. Despite this, both characters tend towards a good alignment and will get along fine.
Shadowheart (Neutral Evil or True Neutral) – Shadowheart starts the game with a very neutral alignment, and can be influenced towards a good or evil alignment based on the player’s choices. Karlach will disapprove if you take Shadowheart’s dark path, but it’s unlikely to cause any major problems.

Overpowered Potions for Karlach

Potion of Speed

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

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

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

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

Elixir of Bloodlust

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

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

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

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

Karlach 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 Karlach Build:

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.

Other BG3 Companion Builds:

Best BG3 Karlach Build – Maximum Damage!