Best BG3 Oath of the Crown Build Paladin – Tanky Support

Welcome to the best  BG3 Oath of the Crown Paladin Build. The Paladin is primarily a hybrid melee and spellcaster class that can act as the backbone of your party. They get access to unique spells that use Lay on Hand and Oath Charges. The Crown Paladin Build BG3 was last updated in November 2025. It 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 with the Oath of the Ancients subclass. If you are interested in more Paladin subclass builds, check our BG3 Paladin Builds category page. To get an overview of all classes, please visit the BG3 Classes overview page.

For this build, we’ll be using the Oath of the Crown subclass of the Paladin, which is especially gifted at healing and buffing allies, while taunting enemies.

Table of Contents:

1. Crown Paladin Build Overview
   1. Paladin Class
   2. Oath of the Crown Subclass Overview
2. Crown Paladin Character Creation
   1. Best Race
   2. Abilities
   3. Skills & Background
   4. Paladin Actions
3. Crown Paladin Build Levelling Progression
   1. Early-Game Level 2-4
   2. Mid-Game Level 5-8
   3. Late-Game Level 9-12
4. Crown Paladin Equipment
   1. Early-Game Crown Paladin Gear
   2. Best Crown Paladin Gear (Late-Game)
5. Crown Paladin Build Extras and Tips & Tricks
   1. Crown Paladin Tips & Tricks
   2. OP Potions for the Crown Paladin
   3. Illithid Powers (Optional)

---

In case you are still undecided on which build you want to use, here’s a quick look at the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Crown Paladin in Baldur’s Gate 3:

---

BG3 Oath of the Crown Overview

Here is a quick overview of the Paladin class and the Oath of the Crown subclass. If you are already familiar with how they work, please skip this section.

Paladin Class Summary

Paladins are great melee fighters, and they also have access to healing spells from the start of the game. They can infuse extra damage into their weapon attacks with powerful Smite Spells. Paladins have access to a fair amount of supportive spells, but not as many as Clerics.

Paladin Benefits

These are some of the most important bonuses granted by the Paladin class.

• Lay on Hands (Level 1) – Spend your Lay on Hands charges to heal a creature or cure it of diseases. Does not work on constructs or undead.
• Divine Smite (Level 2) – Infuse additional Radiant Damage into your weapon attacks. This damage is increased when targeting Fiends or Undead.
•  Extra Attack (Level 5) – Each Action now yields two weapon attacks, rather than one.
• Aura of Protection (Level 6) – You and nearby allies gain a bonus to Saving Throws equal to your Charisma Modifier. The aura disappears if you are unconscious.
• Aura of Courage (Level 10) – You and nearby allies cannot be Frightened. The aura disappears if you are unconscious.

Oath of the Crown Summary

You’ve been sworn to uphold the principles of law. Stay true to your oath and you’ll be rewarded with the power to aid your allies and disrupt your foes. Guide your companions in battle with Righteous Clarity, taunt enemies with strategic interrupts, and keep your party standing strong with Divine Allegiance, absorbing their damage while restoring their health.

Oath of the Crown Benefits

The Oath of the Crown Subclass grants you several additional passives and actions. Here are some of the highlights:

•  Righteous Clarity – Use a Channel Oath Charge and a Bonus Action to add an ally’s Proficiency Bonus to their Attack Rolls for 10 turns. This is great for making the attacks of a party member more accurate.
•  Champion Challenge – Issue a challenge to nearby enemies. They must focus their attacks against you – any attacks they make against your allies will have Disadvantage.
•  Turn the Tide – Shout out and heal all non-enemy creatures nearby.
•  Divine Allegiance – When an ally within 1.5 metres of you takes damage, you can use your  Reaction to take the damage instead of them.

---

Character Creation (Level 1) for BG3 Crown Paladin Build

In this section, we’ll walk you through the Character Creation process for the BG3 Crown Paladin Build. Here we’ll explain the basics of how the Paladin works and how it should be built, along with the best race, skills, abilities, spells, etc.

Top Five Crown Paladin Races

Any race in the game will perform just fine on any class – the differences between them are minor, but not insignificant.

The table below shows the top five most recommended races for this build. But it will be fine if you use something else.

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 Paladin can wear Heavy Armour.

Go for an Ability Allocation that looks something like this:

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

Bolded abilities are the most important.

Skills & Background

Choose the Soldier Background, which gives you the following Skill Proficiencies:

• Athletics (STR) – You are better at pushing enemies and resisting their efforts to push you. This is the most important Skill for our build, and you should make sure you have it either from your Background or your manual Skill picks.
• Intimidation (CHA) – Used in some dialogue checks to intimidate an NPC into doing what you want.

If you chose the Half-Orc race, you are automatically Proficient in Intimidation, so it’s better to pick another Background like the Outlander if this applies to you.

You can choose two more Skill picks for your Paladin:

• Persuasion (CHA) – Used in some dialogue checks to convince an NPC to do what you want.
• Insight (WIS) – If you followed the instructions so far, then you have no more Strength or Charisma Skills left to choose. In that case, I recommend going with Insight for your final choice. It’s not very important, though, so you can switch it to something else if you want.

If you are a Human, you get one unrestricted Skill choice. This should be applied to any Strength or Charisma skill that you don’t have already. If you followed the previously advised picks, then that will be either Deception or Performance, both Charisma skills. Deception is used more often, so if you want the one that’s most useful on average, choose that. The Oath of the Crown Paladin is generally okay to deceive others (without breaking their oath) as long as you do not make a promise that you have no intention of keeping or lie to escape the consequences of your actions. But if you intend to always be honest, then choose Performance instead.

Paladin Actions

The Paladin has two types of special class actions.

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. More can be gained from levelling up.

Subclass

The Paladin has to choose its Subclass during Character Creation, from the Class menu. As you know, we’re using the Oath of the Crown subclass.

You get the following Oath of the Crown features from the start of the game:

• Oath of the Crown – You swear to abide by the following tenets. Breaking them may lead to you becoming an Oathbreaker Paladin.
  • Law – Uphold civilisation and order.
  • Loyalty – Your word is your bond. Without loyalty, oaths and laws are meaningless.
  • Responsibility – Deal with the consequences of your actions, and fulfil your duties and obligations.
•  Righteous Clarity – Target yourself or an ally. The target’s Proficiency Bonus is added to their Attack Rolls for 10 turns. Costs a Channel Oath charge.

You’ll unlock more features for your Oath of the Crown Paladin as you level up.

---

Crown Paladin Levelling Up Guide

Now we are going through the whole levelling process for the Oath of the Crown Paladin in Baldur’s Gate 3. We will explain what you get at each level, and where needed, we will advise on the best choices to make.

Early-Game Levelling Guide for BG3 Oath of the Crown Build

We’ll start with the early-game levels, 2-4.

Level 2

The Oath of the Crown Build starts off with many of its class features unavailable, but fear not, at Level 2 we already start to see this change.

First of all, you’ll get two First Level Spell Slots, allowing you 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 your Paladin Build at Level 2. For this build, we’re going to be using two-handed weapons, so 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 the Oath of the Crown Paladin.

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 example, if you have 15 Charisma you’ll get three Spells, and 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 your Paladin 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 Bonus Action 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

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 unlock two new Oath of the Crown Paladin Bonus Actions, both of which require a Channel Oath charge to use:

•  Champion Challenge – Compel enemies around you to only attack you. They can still attempt to attack other targets, but they must do so with Disadvantage.
•  Turn the Tide – Heal all non-hostile creatures around you.

Additionally, you’ll unlock two new spells:

•  Command – Attempt to force a target to spend their next turn fulfilling a command, such as holding still, running away, dropping their weapon or grovelling.
•  Compelled Duel – Very similar to Champion Challenge, explained above. Requires Concentration to maintain.

---

Level 4

At Level 4, you’ll need to choose a Feat for your Paladin 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 weapon damage and accuracy.

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.

---

Oath of the Crown Mid-Game Levelling Guide

We will now cover the mid-game levels, 5-8.

Level 5 Oath of the Crown Build for Baldur’s Gate 3 PS5/PC

At Level 5, your Crown Paladin Build becomes considerably more powerful.

First of all, you gain an extra attack, which is fairly self-explanatory. Being able to make two attacks each turn is going to massively improve your potential damage output.

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 very useful for improving everyone’s survivability, and it’s definitely worth casting this soon after your Long Rest.
  • If you have a Cleric in your party, you should leave this spell to them because they can upcast it to a higher level, giving your party more HP. In that case, choose any other spell you like for your Paladin.
•  Branding Smite – Your weapon gleams with astral radiance as you strike and possibly mark your targets with light, preventing them 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.

Please note that Zariel Tieflings will already get the Branding Smite Spell at Level 5, so if this applies to you, choose another spell that you like.

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

•  Warding Bond – Give the target +1 to Armour Class and all Saving Throws, and 50% Resistance to all damage. However, damage inflicted against them is also inflicted against you. This effect lasts until the next Long Rest.
•  Spiritual Weapon – Summon a Spiritual Weapon that can move around and attack enemies on its turn. It has Resistance to all damage. This is an underrated spell in my opinion, because enemies will often waste their time attacking the summoned weapon, meaning your party takes less damage.

---

Level 6

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

At Level 7, the Crown Paladin Build gains the following features:

•  Divine Allegiance – When an ally within 1.5 metres of you takes damage, you can use your Reaction to take the damage instead of them.
• Another Second Level Spell Slot, bringing your total to three.

---

Level 8

At this Level, you’ll need to choose another Feat for your character. Choose Ability Improvement again, and put both points into Strength, improving your prowess with melee weapons.

---

Late-Game Oath of the Crown Levelling Guide

We’ll now cover the end-game levels, 9-12.

Level 9

At Level 9, you will unlock third-level Spells, and receive two third-level Spell Slots so you 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 revivification scroll.
•  Blinding Smite – Deals a hefty chunk of Radiant Damage to the target, and possibly Blinds them.
•  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. These spells do not need to be prepared:

•  Spirit Guardians – Surrounds your Paladin with an aura that deals Radiant or Necrotic damage to enemies each turn. Requires Concentration to maintain.
•  Crusader’s Mantle – Imbue the attacks of you or your allies with holy power, causing them to deal 1d4 bonus Radiant Damage. Requires Concentration.

---

Level 10

At Level 10, you’ll earn the  Aura of Courage for your Crown Paladin Build 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, along with the usual HP increase.

---

Level 11

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 increase.

---

Level 12

You have now reached the maximum level for your BG3 Paladin Build! At Level 12, it’s time to select one final Feat for your character. We recommend choosing the Savage Attacker Feat, which will allow you to roll two damage dice on your weapon attacks, choosing the highest one for your damage value. This will considerably improve the damage from your melee attacks, and fits in nicely with the Paladin’s playstyle of smiting enemies at close range.

If you struggle with your HP often in combat, you could also select the Tough Feat, which will increase your HP by 24.

---

BG3 Crown Paladin Build Equipment

Now, let us take a look at the equipment for our Crown Paladin Build in Baldur’s Gate 3. The early game gear can be obtained in Act 1 and early Act 2. The Endgame gear is mostly from the end of Act 2 and Act 3.

Early Game Gear

The early game equipment for the BG3 Oath of the Crown Paladin Build can be found in Act 1 or at the start of Act 2. Don’t sweat it if you can’t find some of the items. Your build will work fine without any of these. The only thing you need to have is a melee weapon that is two-handed, to make use of our Great Weapons Fighting Style.

Our early-game setup primarily focuses on increasing your Paladin’s defensiveness and their ability to heal and support allies, which is handy in the early-game when many of your party’s most powerful spells, actions and passives haven’t been unlocked yet.

However, the Blooded Greataxe is an excellent two-handed weapon, with an excellent damage potential for an Act I weapon.

---

Endgame Gear

Below you can find the best endgame gear setup for our BG3 Oath of the Crown Paladin Build. This setup is intended to maximise the damage we can deal with our melee weapon, while also maintaining good defenses so that the Crown Paladin can survive in the heart of melee and stand a good chance of maintaining Concentration on their spells.

This setup will make your Crown Paladin almost unstoppable, as it combines many of the strongest items in the game. You’ll have excellent defenses, passive self-healing and arguably the best melee weapon in the game in the shape of Balduran’s Giantslayer.

There isn’t too much to explain with this setup, as we aren’t really doing anything complicated. However, there are a few key considerations that we should mention:

• Balduran’s Giantslayer not only deals excellent damage on its own, it also doubles the damage bonus from your Strength Modifier. This increases a +5 modifier to +10 (or +6 to +12 if you have the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength).
• If you want to maximise your damage output at the expense of some support potential, an easy way to do this is to swap out The Whispering Promise for the  Caustic Band, which will add 2 Acid Damage to all your weapon attacks.
• If your Paladin is staying alive comfortably, give the Amulet of Greater Health to another party member.
• After equipping the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength and/or Amulet of Greater Health, your Strength/Constitution scores are set to 23, regardless of how many points you allocated to them during character creation and levelling. Therefore, if you want to be really optimal, you can do a respec and remove all of your allocated Strength/Constitution points, putting them into other Abilities (Charisma being the next most important one for your Paladin).

---

Crown Paladin Build Extra Info

Here is some additional info that can help you to get the most out of the Crown Paladin in BG3.

Oath of the Crown Paladin Build Tips & Tricks for BG3 PS5/PC

Here are some tips that will help you to play your Oath of the Crown Paladin in BG3:

Early Game

In the early game, I recommend getting a decent set of heavy armour and a hard-hitting melee weapon (like a Greataxe) as soon as possible, as this will help your Paladin to earn their keep with strong damage output and resilience to enemy attacks.

Your Paladin can use Lay on Hands to help your party out with large bursts of healing, and they can empower their own attacks with their Smite spells. As you level up, you will unlock more powerful Smite spells.

You can use Righteous Clarity to help an ally hit their target, adding their Proficiency Bonus to their Attack Rolls. This feature means that the Crown Paladin works very well alongside any other weapon-based attacker in your group, such as a Fighter, Barbarian or Rogue.

Make sure you read the tooltip of your Smite spells properly before using them – some of them use Concentration and will break any Concentration spell you have active already. Paladin players have to be especially careful about their Concentration because of this conflict – it is very easy to get carried away with Smite Spells and forget about the spell you were already Concentrating on!

Mid to Late Game

As you level up, your Paladin will unlock auras that support your team. For example, the Aura of Protection adds your Charisma Modifier to the Saving Throws of your Paladin and nearby allies. This is a +3 bonus if you have 16 points in Charisma, which is not huge but still a significant boost.

From Level 5 onwards, you can make two attacks per turn (not accounting for additional effects such as Haste, or some weapons that offer a special attack with your Bonus Action).

I strongly recommend making use of the potions recommended below, and if you obtain the Amulet of Greater Health or the Gauntlets of Giant Strength during your playthrough, then you should perform the Endgame Respec mentioned earlier in the guide, which can allow you to max out your Strength and Charisma (and potentially your Constitution too if you equip both of these items).

---

Overpowered Potion Combo for BG3 Crown Paladin Build

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.

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 the Crown Paladin’s mobility and damage output in tough fights!

---

BG3 Crown Paladin Build Illithid Powers (optional)

Illithid Powers are unlocked later in BG3 when you learn more about Mind Flayers and Tadpoles. By consuming 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 Paladin Build with the Oath of the Crown subclass:

• 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.

---

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
• 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.