Best BG3 Minthara Build Guide – Maximum Damage!

Welcome to the Best BG3 Minthara Build Guide. In this Baldur’s Gate 3 guide, we will explain how to create a powerful Vengeance Paladin build for Minthara. Paladins like Minthara are strong melee combatants who can empower their attacks or aid allies with supplementary spellcasting. The Minthara Build for BG3 works for both PC and Console (PS5 and Xbox Series X/S).

Please visit our Best BG3 Builds overview page for more builds or check out our Best BG3 Paladin Build or our BG3 Oathbreaker Paladin Build. To get an overview of all classes please visit the BG3 Classes overview page.

Table of Contents:

• Paladin Class Guide
  • Subclass of Choice
• How to Recruit Minthara
• Character Creation (Level 1)
• Leveling Progress
  • Level 2
  • Level 3
  • Level 4
  • Level 5
  • Level 6
  • Level 7
  • Level 8
  • Level 9
  • Level 10
  • Level 11
  • Level 12
• Equipment
• Tips & Tricks
• Overpowered Gear Combo

BG3 Minthara Paladin Class Guide

Paladins are great melee fighters and they also have access to healing spells from the start of the game. They can also cure party members, this will be often needed. Especially if you are new to the game you are likely to get cursed and poisoned a lot. Paladins are best played in melee but you can also equip a ranged weapon and use it if really needed. However, in most cases there are just better things you can do than attack with your ranged weapon.

Paladins class-specific mechanic is your Oath. You have access to one Oath Charge and Lay on Hands Charges that can be used to cast Paladin specific spells like for example the Healing Radiance action (Oath Charge) or the Lay on Hands spell (Lay on Hands Charge). You will always only have one Oath Charge available. BUt you will get more Lay on Hands Charges when you level up your Paladin Build in BG3. Lay on Hands Charges can be replenished after a long rest, whereas Oath Charges can be replenished after a short rest.

At level 2 you also get access to your Divine Smite spell. This allows you to infuse your next weapon attack with a lot of extra Radiant Damage. This is even more powerful if used against Undead or Fiends. When you level up further you will gain access to even more powerful Smite spells.

We are using the Great Weapon Fighting Style to empower two-handed weapons. This will ensure the Paladin build performs well when using the highest damage weapons available in the game. In the equipment section of the Paladin Build we are going to showcase early game and endgame gear that you can obtain in BG3.

To summarize, the Paladin is a fierce melee fighter that can infuse weapons to hit even harder and also has super high mobility thanks to spells like Misty Step. The Paladin can also cast plenty of healing spells and cure group members. And because you have Spell Slots, Lay on Hand Charges and an Oath Charge you can use a good mix of spells without running out too fast.

Oath of Vengeance Subclass

Paladins with the Oath of Vengeance gain extra spells and actions that help them to buff their allies and debuff enemies. Some examples of the special actions that this Paladin subclass can perform are:

• Buff an ally’s attacks with extra Radiant damage
• Frighten enemies, or make them more vulnerable to attacks
• Hasten yourself or an ally, making them much faster and more deadly in combat

How to Recruit Minthara in BG3

This section explains how to recruit Minthara in Baldur’s Gate 3. This contains plot spoilers for parts of Act I and Act II.

To be able to recruit Minthara in Act II, the player first needs to ensure that Minthara survives Act I. There are two ways to do this:

• The Normal method – This is the method that is typically associated with an “evil” playthrough of BG3, and is the intended way to recruit Minthara. Side with Minthara after visiting her at the Shattered Sanctum and help her raid the Druid Grove with the Goblins. Note that this course of action may cause strongly good-aligned characters like Wyll and Karlach to leave your party permanently. She will then temporarily join your camp for a celebration and inform you that she’s actually been ordered to kill you – which you’ll need to talk her out of. She’ll then go her own way for the time being – you’ll catch up with her in Act II.
• The Knockout method – This method is more compatible with neutral or good playthroughs, as you can still side with the Tieflings in Act I. It’s a lot more complicated, quite cheesy and you must follow the steps below precisely and in the given order, or else it will not work:
  1. Rescue Halsin and accept his quest to eliminate the three Absolute leaders. Do not ask Halsin to join your party as this will make everyone in Shattered Sanctum permanently hostile, rendering the next steps impossible. Just accept the quest and then let him go back to the Grove.
  2. Speak with Minthara and convince her that you are on her side. Do not speak out against the raid on the Druid Grove.
  3. Toggle on non-lethal attacks, then attack and defeat Minthara. She should have the “Temporarily Hostile” Condition while you’re fighting her. If she doesn’t have this, you did something wrong and should reload and restart the process. After you defeat her, she should be “Knocked Out (Temporary)” with 1 HP.
  4. Now, eliminate the other two leaders. Do not Long Rest or Fast Travel.
  5. Finish Halsin’s quest. Do not Long Rest or Fast Travel until the quest is completed.

Once you have completed either of the above two methods, continue the game as normal until reaching Moonrise Towers in Act II. You can rush to Moonrise Towers if you want to recruit her asap, you just need to figure out a way of surviving the shadow curse before going there.

At Moonrise Towers, you will find Minthara being put on trial for failing the Absolute, and she will be sentenced to “re-education”. Proceed as below:

1. Follow the blood trail into the dungeon and into her cell.
2. Rescue her by killing her two guards.
3. Upon leaving the dungeon with Minthara in tow, the first guard you see will stop you and be suspicious that Minthara is with you instead of in a cell. You’ll need to convince the guard that nothing is amiss, or to turn a blind eye.
   • If you fail to convince the guard, you’ll need to fight your way out, ensuring Minthara survives. There are a lot of strong enemies here that you may not be ready to take on yet, so it’s probably best to just run away with as little combat as possible if this happens.
4. Escort Minthara out of Moonrise Towers and beyond the bridge. Do not Fast Travel or Long Rest until this is done.
5. You can then speak to Minthara and recruit her to your camp. Speak to her again in your camp to recruit her to your party.

Setting Up the BG3 Minthara Build

Minthara is not an Origin character and cannot be recruited as a Companion until partway through Act II. Therefore, you’re likely to be at least Level 5 before you can recruit her to the group in Baldur’s Gate 3.

After recruiting her, we strongly recommend visiting Withers in your camp with Minthara selected, and using the “Change Class” option to respec her. We will not actually be changing her class, but instead adjusting her Ability distribution. While this is not strictly necessary, it is recommended because the default abilities aren’t fully optimal for this build.

Race

Minthara is a Lolth-Sworn Drow. Both variants of the Drow in BG3 have the same passive abilities, the only distinction is their alignment. Lolth-Sworn Drow often have red eyes and are usually more malevolent than Seldarine Drow.

Drow have the following passive abilities which are always active:

• Drow Weapon Training – You have Proficiency with Rapiers, Shortswords and Hand Crossbows
• Superior Darkvision – You can see in the dark up to a distance of 24 metres.
• Fey Ancestry – You have Advantage on Saving Throws against being Charmed, and magic can’t put you to Sleep.
• Keen Senses – You gain Proficiency in the Perception skill.
• Drow Magic – You gain access to the following spells:
  • Dancing Lights Cantrip (Level 1) – Create magical light sources to illuminate an area. Requires Concentration.
  • Faerie Fire (Level 3, once per Long Rest) – Debuff all characters in an area with Faerie Fire. If successful, all affected targets become visible and Attack Rolls against them have Advantage. Requires Concentration.
  • Darkness (Level 5, once per Long Rest) – Creates a cloud of magical darkness that heavily obscures and Blinds those within. Ranged attacks cannot be made into or out of the area. Requires Concentration.

Abilities

We need to attain high Charisma to improve our Spellcasting, and high Strength for our Melee attacks. Constitution is also fairly important – it’s usually advised to have at least 14 points in this to make sure you have a decent amount of HP. Constitution is also taken into account on Concentration Checks (if the effects of an ongoing Concentration Spell will continue after you take damage). While many of our builds recommend putting points in Dexterity to improve your Armour Class, this is not required here since the Minthara can wear Heavy Armour.

Go for an Ability Allocation that looks something like this:

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

Minthara Paladin Actions

Paladins like Minthara have two types of special class actions.

The first is Lay on Hands, a powerful healing action that consumes Lay on Hands Charges when used. When depleted, you must take a Long Rest to replenish the charges. You will sometimes gain additional charges when you Level Up. Lay on Hands can be cast with the following variants:

• Lay on Hands: Cure – Imbue your hands with divine power to cure all diseases and poisons affecting a creature. Uses 2 charges.
• Lay on Hands: Lesser Healing – Imbue your hands with divine power to heal an ally for (Paladin level x 2). Uses 1 charge.
• Lay on Hands: Greater Healing – Imbue your hands with divine power to heal an ally for (Paladin level x4). Uses 2 charges.

Additionally, you gain access to Channel Oath Abilities. The exact Channel Oath abilities available to you will depend on your subclass. For now, we just get 1 Channel Oath Charge, which must be replenished via a Long Rest, but again more can be gained from leveling up.

Subclass

The Paladin has to choose its Subclass during Character Creation, from the Class menu. For this build we’ll be going with the Oath of Vengeance subclass.

To begin with, you just get one extra feature from your Oath of Vengeance subclass:

• Inquisitor’s Might – Spend a Channel Oath Charge to imbue your own or an ally’s weapon attacks with extra Radiant Damage equal to your Charisma Modifier (3 Radiant Damage at the beginning of the game). The attacks may also Daze an enemy. Lasts for 2 turns. This only uses a Bonus Action instead of a full Action, so it’s actually quite viable to use this in the midst of combat, as you can make an attack on the same turn.

Leveling Guide for BG3 Minthara Build

Now we are going through the whole leveling process from level 2 to max level 12. If you respec Minthara as advised above, you will then immediately need to progress through several levels, as your party is likely to be around level 5-8 when you recruit her. You can use the levels below as a guide on how to level up Minthara, then return to this guide for subsequent levels as you progress towards the end of the game.

Level 2 – BG3 Minthara Build

At Level 2, Minthara will get two First Level Spell Slots, allowing her to cast two Spells per Long Rest.

Next, you unlock the Divine Smite Spell, which lets you spend a Spell Slot to infuse your next Melee Weapon Attack with 2-16 Radiant Damage. Fiends and Undead will take an additional 1-8 damage.

You’ll need to select a Fighting Style for Minthara at Level 2. For this build we’re going to be using two-handed weapons, and therefore we recommend the Great Weapons Fighting Style. This will reroll your damage dice for your weapon whenever they produce a 1 or a 2 (only one reroll is allowed per attack). This makes low rolls much less likely and can significantly improve your damage output with Minthara.

You’ll be able to select a number of Prepared Spells here too. The formula for the exact number is (1 + Charisma Modifier), and this will be recalculated each time you level up. For now, if you have 16 or 17 Charisma you’ll get four Spells.

We recommend choosing the following Spells:

• Compelled Duel – Use a divine command to compel an enemy to attack only you. The target gains Disadvantage on Attack Rolls against anyone but you. Requires Concentration. This spell is effectively a taunt, allowing Minthara to act as a tank for your Party. Since you can only have one Concentration effect active at a time, it’s not possible to taunt multiple enemies by casting the spell again on subsequent turns.
• Divine Favour – Your prayer empowers you with divine radiance. Your weapons deal an additional 1-4 Radiant Damage. Requires Concentration. This Spell only consumes a Bonus Action, so you can attack your opponent on the same turn after casting the spell.
• Thunderous Smite – Your weapon rings with thunder as you strike, pushing your target 3m away and possibly knocking them Prone. If the spellcaster misses the initial Attack, the spell slot and Bonus Action are not consumed. You can sometimes use this to knock enemies off ledges or cliffs for extra fall damage, potentially one-shotting them.
• Wrathful Smite – Your weapon absorbs your wrath as you strike, possibly Frightening your target. If the spellcaster misses the initial Attack, the spell slot and are not consumed. Frightened Enemies are unable to move so this is a great way to lock down a dangerous enemy for a while.

Level 3 – BG3 Minthara Build

At Level 3 you gain the Divine Health passive effect, giving immunity to disease. You also gain another Spell Slot, bringing your total to three.

You’ll gain two new Oath of Vengeance actions for your BG3 Minthara Build:

• Abjure Enemy – Use an Action and a Channel Oath Charge to Frighten an enemy. They cannot move and are easier to hit. Enemies can make a Wisdom Saving Throw to resist the effect, but Fiends and Undead will have to roll the Save with a Disadvantage.
• Vow of Enmity – Use a Bonus Action and a Channel Oath Charge to gain Advantage on attacks against the targeted enemy for 10 turns. This is quite a powerful effect that will give Minthara a much easier time when attacking the chosen target. It works especially well with boss enemies who have high HP, or enemies who have high Armour Class and are hard to hit.

You also unlock another two Spells from your subclass. These are:

• Bane – Attempt to place the Bane debuff on all targets in the targeted AOE. Applies a 1d4 penalty on Attack Rolls and Saving Throws for the targets. They can resist the debuff with a Charisma Saving Throw.
• Hunter’s Mark – Place a mark on the target. The marked creature takes 1d6 extra damage from your attacks. If the target dies before the spell ends, you can reapply it to a new creature without spending another spell slot. This is a strong debuff for dishing out damage, but be wary that it requires Concentration to maintain, so casting another Concentration Spell will immediately remove the effect, and remove your ability to recast it for free.

Level 4 – BG3 Minthara Build

At Level 4, you’ll need to choose a Feat for your Minthara Build. Feats are strong passive features that can be used to enable a specific build, or simply provide additional Ability buffs.

Choose the Ability Improvement Feat, which will give you 2 extra Ability Points to spend. Put both of the points into Strength, to improve your melee attack rolls. The hit chance of your Smite spells also depends on Attack Rolls, so boosting Strength will improve the vast majority of your attacks.

You’ll also gain an extra Lay on Hands Charge at this level, taking your total amount up to 4.

The formula to determine how many Spells you can Prepare at once is also slightly changed here. It is now (2 + Charisma Modifier). This, combined with the Charisma Ability Improvement above, should unlock two additional Spells. However, we advise that you wait until Level 5 before allocating these, since we’ll unlock more powerful Second Level Spells at that point.

Level 5 Minthara Build for Baldur’s Gate 3 PS5/PC

At Level 5, Minthara becomes considerably more powerful.

First of all, Minthara gains an extra attack, which means that each Action can now be used for two weapon attacks, instead of one. Bonus Actions and Reactions are unchanged.

You gain another First Level Spell Slot, taking your total up to 4, and you also get two Second Level Spell Slots.

As mentioned at Level 4, you should be able to choose two additional Spells now, so we can grab a couple of Second Level Spells right away! We recommend going for the following options:

• Aid – Heals the entire party for 5 HP, and also increases their Maximum HP by 5 until the next Long Rest. This is obviously very useful for improving everyone’s survivability, and it’s definitely worth casting this soon after your Long Rest.
  • Important: If you have a Cleric in your party then you should instead use Aid on the Cleric, because they’ll be able to upcast it to a higher level for a larger HP boost. If this applies to you, then swap this spell out for anything else you like.
• Branding Smite – Your weapon gleams with astral radiance as you strike and possibly mark your targets with light, preventing it from turning Invisible. If the spellcaster misses the initial Attack, the spell slot and Bonus Action are not consumed. This is great for keeping tabs on tricky enemies who are likely to start sneaking around.

Minthara also unlocks two new Spells from the Vengeance Paladin subclass at Level 5 (these don’t need to be Prepared like those mentioned above):

• Misty Step – Allows you to teleport to a visible and unoccupied space within 18 metres. Great for quickly jumping into melee or for escaping when things start to go badly wrong. Only uses a Bonus Action, so you can make an attack or cast another spell on the same turn that you use this.
• Hold Person – A powerful stun that completely paralyses the target and prevents them from doing anything. They will continue to roll Wisdom Saving Throws to try to break through of the effect. Melee attacks against the victim will be guaranteed crits, which means that even the toughest enemies can be defeated in a couple of turns if you manage to cast this on them successfully. The limitation of this spell is that it can only be cast on humanoid targets.

Level 6 – BG3 Minthara Build

At Level 6, you’ll unlock the Aura of Protection. When activated, you and allies within 3 meters of you will have your Charisma Modifier added to their Saving Throws. This helps to protect your team against enemy spells and effects, and will improve the longevity of everyone it applies to. However, the fairly small AOE does make this difficult to use in some situations.

That’s pretty much all you get at Level 6, so there’s not much else to talk about in this section.

Level 7 – BG3 Minthara Build

At Level 7, Minthara gains the following features:

• Another Second Level Spell Slot, bringing her total to three.
• Relentless Avenger – If you hit an enemy with an Opportunity Attack, you’ll get 4.5 metres of extra Movement Speed on your next turn.

Level 8 – BG3 Minthara Build

At this Level, you’ll need to choose another Feat for Minthara. If you didn’t already manage to increase your Strength to 20, then you can get the Resilient Feat and use it to improve your Strength. This will also give you Advantage in Strength Saving Throws.

However, if your Strength was already improved to 20 or higher from another source, you can instead use Ability Improvement again, and this time put both points into Charisma, improving your spellcasting.

If you’re mainly using buff or smite spells rather than spells targeted on enemies, then there’s not much point in further improving your Charisma, so if this applies to you then you should instead choose Savage Attacker, which will roll melee weapon damage dice twice and use the highest result, considerably boosting your damage output.

Level 9 – BG3 Minthara Build

At Level 9 Minthara will unlock third level Spells, and receive two third level Spell Slots so she can begin casting them.

The following spells are great options to pick up here:

• Revivify – Allows you to resurrect a fallen ally, without needing to use a revivication scroll.
• Crusader’s Mantle – Radiate a holy power that emboldens nearby allies. Their weapon attacks deal an additional 1-4 Radiant damage.
• Warden of Vitality – While this aura lasts, you can cast Restore Vitality as a bonus action to heal yourself or nearby allies. This is especially good as it doesn’t require Concentration and lets you heal your team with a Bonus Action, allowing you to continue making attacks and concentrating on another spell.

You’ll also unlock two spells from your subclass. Once again, these spells do not need to be prepared:

• Haste – Give yourself or an ally the Hasted buff, which doubles their Movement Speed, gives a bonus to Armour Class, Advantage on Dexterity Saving Throws, and gives them an extra Action each turn. This is a pretty overpowered buff, and should ideally be cast on your strongest damage dealer, whether that is Minthara or someone else. Beware that when the effect ends, the hasted creature becomes Lethargic, preventing them from doing anything on their next turn.
• Protection from Energy – Give yourself or an adjacent creature a 50% Resistance to either Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning or Thunder damage. This is quite a situational spell, but it might come in useful in fights that mostly or solely feature one elemental damage type.

The Haste buff is really strong – while it’s also possible to get the same buff from Potions of Speed, by using the spell it is readily available and it can also last for twice as long when using the spell version (10 turns for the spell, 5 for the potion). Be careful when using Minthara to cast Haste, however. If the Concentration is broken due to taking damage, the spell will immediately end and cause the Lethargic condition. Therefore you may want to ensure Minthara is in a relatively safe position before using this spell.

Level 10 – BG3 Minthara Build

At Level 10, you’ll earn the Aura of Courage for Minthara in BG3. This is another aura spell, this time allowing you to give you and your allies immunity to becoming Frightened. The aura disappears if you fall Unconscious.

You will also get another Lay on Hands Charge at level 10, alongside the usual HP increase.

Level 11 – BG3 Minthara Build

At this Level, you gain Improved Divine Smite, a nice buff to the Divine Smite feature we unlocked way back at Level 2. This basically adds another damage die to your Divine Smite, meaning it can now do 3-24 damage per hit.

You’ll also earn an extra Third Level Spell Slot, taking your total up to three. And like always, your HP also increases.

Level 12 – BG3 Minthara Build

You have now reached the maximum level for your BG3 Minthara Build! At Level 12, it’s time to select one final Feat for your character. If you didn’t already, we recommend choosing the Savage Attacker Feat now, which will allow you to roll two damage dice on your weapon attacks, choosing the highest one for your damage value.

If you already have Savage Attacker, you can instead get the Tough Feat, which will increase your HP by 24.

BG3 Minthara Build Equipment

We will now list the best equipment for the Minthara Build in BG3. In most of our builds, we include both an early-game and late-game section for the equipment, but since Minthara cannot be recruited until around halfway through the game, we’ll skip the early-game equipment this time.

Now let’s see where you can get the endgame gear for your Minthara Build in Baldur’s Gate 3:

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:

Amulet of Greater Health

The Amulet of Greater Health is another item that is immensely powerful. It will boost your Constitution score to 23, increasing your health tremendously. Like the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength and Orphic Hammer it can also be found inside the Archive in the House of Hope that you reach via Devil’s Fee.

You can also read our in-depth guide on How to get the Amulet of Greater Health in BG3.

Ring of Regeneration

The Ring of Regeneration lets you restore 1-4 Hit Points at the beginning of your turn. The ring synergizes well with The Reviving Hands, Hellrider’s Pride, The Whispering Promise and Boots of Aid and Comfort. You could sort of create a chain reaction with all these items if you want to.

Ring of Free Action

The Ring of Free Action is useful for any character, but it’s especially good on a melee character like Minthara who needs to stay mobile. It prevents you from being slowed down by Difficult Terrain such as mud, grease or ice, and also makes you immune to being paralysed or restrained by spells. Note that the immunity to Difficult Terrain does not make you immune to other effects associated with the terrain type, such as slipping on ice or taking damage when walking over spikes.

The Ring of Free Action can be purchased from Araj Oblodra in Moonrise Towers.

Balduran’s Giantslayer

A legendary Greatsword, Balduran’s Giantslayer is one of the most powerful melee weapons available in Baldur’s Gate 3. It comes with a +3 enchantment, meaning your Attack and Damage Rolls will have a +3 bonus applied to them. When the sword hits a foe, the damage bonus from your Strength Modifier is doubled – this is an especially good combo with the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength, since your Strength Modifier is +6 with those gloves, meaning you’ll gain an additional +6 bonus damage when combining them with this weapon.

The sword also gives you the power to grow to a giant size for 10 turns, gaining Advantage on all Strength checks (including Saves), a considerable 27 Temporary HP, and 1d6 bonus damage on attacks. You can use it again after every Short and Long Rest.

Balduran’s Giantslayer is looted from Ansur the Dragon in the Wyrmway. This is the same location as the Helm of Balduran, mentioned above.

BG3 Minthara Build Tips & Tricks

Since we have a few different Concentration Spells with this build, it’s important to stay mindful of which ones require Concentration and which ones don’t. Remember that casting a Concentration Spell will immediately end the effects of your previous Concentration Spell, if they were not already broken.

On a similar topic, taking damage while Concentrating on a spell will always subject you to a Concentration Check, and failing the Check will end the spell. It’s good to be mindful of this when you have a lot of enemies nearby – it might not be a good idea to cast a Concentration Spell with the intention of keeping it active for a long time, if you’re currently dealing with multiple melee assailants.

Minthara is best used as a melee heavy-hitter most of the time, using her spell slots on Smite Spells allows her to deal extra damage to enemies. However, her ability to buff and heal allies and debuff enemies supplements her attacking prowess nicely, allowing Minthara to form the backbone of your party.

More BG3 Companion Builds:

• BG3 Shadowheart Build
• BG3 Astarion Build
• BG3 Gale Build
• BG3 Lae’zel Build
• BG3 Karlach Build
• BG3 Wyll Build
• BG3 Jaheira Build
• BG3 Minsc Build
• BG3 Halsin Build