Best BG3 Karlach Build Guide – Updated For 2026✅

Welcome to the best BG3 Karlach Build. Many players find Karlach weak because turns feel “wasted” if she can’t reach a target. By optimizing Karlach’s Berserker subclass, we transform her from a standard brawler into an unstoppable force of nature.

This build utilizes the Frenzied Strike and Enraged Throw features, allowing you to weaponize your Bonus Actions to maintain a relentless offensive.

By Level 5, Karlach becomes a powerful character, capable of performing three attacks per turn and knocking enemies prone to dictate the flow of every battle.

Table of Contents for the BG3 Karlach Build:

1. Karlach Build Overview
   1. Barbarian Class Summary
   2. Berserker Subclass Summary
   3. How to Recruit Karlach
   4. How (and why) to Respec Karlach
2. Karlach Character Creation (Level 1)
   1. Race – Zariel Tiefling
   2. Background & Skills
   3. Abilities
3. Karlach Build Leveling Progression (2-12)
   1. Early-Game Level 2-4
   2. Mid-Game Level 5-8
   3. Late-Game Level 9-12
4. Endgame Respec
5. Karlach Equipment
   1. Early-Game Karlach Gear
   2. Best Karlach Gear (Late-Game)
6. Karlach Build Extra Info
   1. How to Play the Karlach Build
   2. Karlach Build Best Party Composition
   3. OP Potions for Karlach
   4. Illithid Powers

For more Barbarian builds, visit our BG3 Barbarian Builds page or explore the complete BG3 Builds Database. You can also check out our BG3 Builds Tier List to see which builds perform best.

Strengths and Weaknesses list for the Karlach Berserker Build:

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.

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.

How to Recruit Karlach in BG3

Karlach is located on The Risen Road (X:110, Y:500). Follow these quick steps to find her:

How (and Why) to Respec Karlach in BG3

To unlock Karlach’s full potential in Baldur’s Gate 3, you must respec her at your camp. If you are starting the game directly as origin story Karlach, then you can skip this step.

BG3 Karlach Build Starting Point (Level 1)

Karlach’s default starting stats are not optimal. To maximize this build, we strongly recommend visiting Withers at your camp to respec Karlach. This allows you to fix her ability points and skills, turning her from a decent companion into a powerful melee berserker.

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:

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:

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:

Ability Point Distribution

In Baldur’s Gate 3, Karlach joins your party with an ability distribution that is a little suboptimal in my opinion.

But when you respec Karlach, you will also have the opportunity to fix this:

Ability	Points	Why it matters
Strength	16	Your primary damage and accuracy stat. Essential for dealing maximum damage.
Dexterity	14	Boosts your Initiative (going first is key) and adds +2 to Armor Class.
Constitution	16	Increases HP.
Intelligence	8	Not important.
Wisdom	12	Helps resist “Mind Control” spells (Hold Person) that can end your Rage.
Charisma	8	Not important.

BG3 Karlach Leveling Guide (2-12)

We will now explain the full process of leveling 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.

1. Early Game (2-4)
2. Mid Game (5-8)
3. Late Game (9-12)

Karlach Early-Game Leveling Process (2-4)

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

• Level 2
• Level 3
• Level 4

Level 2

Level 3

At Level 3, it is time to choose your Barbarian Berserker subclass for the Karlach 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:

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

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.

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 Leveling Process (5-8)

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

• Level 5
• Level 6
• Level 7
• Level 8

Level 5

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.

As another bonus, you also gain an extra 1.5 metres per turn of Movement Speed.

Level 6

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

 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

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

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

Late-Game Leveling Process (9-12)

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

Level 9

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

Level 10

At Level 10, Karlach will unlock the  Intimidating Presence ability.

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

Level 11

At Level 11 of your BG3 Karlach Build, you get a new powerful passive.

Level 12 – Maximum Level

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

Act 3 Endgame Respec for Karlach

In Act 3, you can find items that set your Strength and Constitution to massive values automatically. This makes your initial ability points redundant, allowing you to move them into Dexterity and Wisdom for elite defense.

The Key Equipment:

• Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength: Sets Strength to 23.
• Amulet of Greater Health: Sets Constitution to 23.

How to Optimize the Respec:

Once you have these items equipped, visit Withers again and redistribute your points as follows:

• Strength: Set to 8 (The gloves will boost it to 23).
• Constitution: Set to 8 (The amulet will boost it to 23).
• Dexterity: Up this to 16 for maximum Armor Class and Initiative.
• Wisdom: Put remaining points here to resist “Hold Person” and other CC.

Replacing Feats

Since you no longer need Ability Improvement to hit 20 Strength, you can replace those Feat slots with powerful passives.

The Mandatory Pick

• Great Weapon Master (GWM): Adds +10 damage to every swing. The -5 accuracy penalty is completely negated by your 23 Strength and Reckless Attack.

Situational Feat Alternatives

• If you have an extra slot, choose one of these based on your needs:
• Alert: +5 to Initiative. Ensures Karlach always acts first to Rage and set the front line.
• Sentinel: Provides a free reaction attack when enemies hit your allies; freezes enemies in place.
• Mobile: Increases movement speed and allows you to “hit and run” without taking Opportunity Attacks.

Karlach Build Equipment for Baldur’s Gate 3

In this section, we will outline the best equipment recommendations for Karlach in BG3.

We have included both an early game and a late game section for equipment, so you can use this build no matter how far through the game you are.

Don’t worry if you don’t have all of the listed equipment, and feel free to try out different items and combinations too. This is just a guideline and the build can still work great with some of the equipment changed.

Early Game Equipment

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

Slot	Icon	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

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	Icon	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

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.

Karlach Build Tips & Tricks for Baldur’s Gate 3

Karlach is most effective when you balance her aggressive nature with tactical timing. Here is how to handle her specific mechanics in high-difficulty runs.

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:

Overpowered Potions for Karlach

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:

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