Best BG3 Tempest Cleric Build Guide

Welcome to the best Tempest Domain Cleric Build for Baldur’s Gate 3. For this Cleric build we’ll be using the Tempest Domain subclass of the Cleric. The BG3 Tempest Domain Cleric Build works for both PC and Consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series X/S).

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

Tempest Domain Clerics gain spells that channel the power of thunder and lightning against enemies, and can empower their weapon attacks with these elements.

Cleric Build Table of Contents:

• Cleric Class Guide
• Character Creation (Level 1)
• Levelling Guide
  • Level 2
  • Level 3
  • Level 4
  • Level 5
  • Level 6
  • Level 7
  • Level 8
  • Level 9
  • Level 10
  • Level 11
  • Level 12
• Equipment
  • Early-Game
  • Late-Game
• Tips & Tricks

BG3 Cleric Class Guide

Clerics in BG3 come in several varieties, but all of them live to enact their deity’s will and power in the world.

Clerics are highly skilled with magic, with access to a range of powerful spells that can deal heavy damage to enemies, debuff them, or buff allies. They also have arguably the best selection of healing spells in the game. They also possess decent skill with some weapons, both melee and ranged, and can wear armour.

All of these properties mean that Clerics are strong hybrid characters, versatile and formidable. A good Cleric build forms the core of your team and can adapt to fill a variety of roles when needed.

The unique class mechanic of Clerics is called Channel Divinity – your Cleric will have a limited number of Channel Divinity charges per Long Rest, and these can be spent to use special abilities. The exact abilities your Cleric can use depends on your chosen subclass.

Clerics can feel a little bit weak at the start of the game since they start with a weak weapon, mediocre armour and a selection of spells that are mostly low-impact, but from around Level 5 onwards, your Cleric will begin to become much more powerful.

One other problem that commonly presents itself with the Cleric is their lack of a good Cantrip – they do not have access to cantrips like Fire Bolt or Ray of Frost, two of the best Cantrips for dealing damage – this is replaced by Sacred Flame which tends to have a comparatively low hit chance, especially early in the game. Therefore it’s recommended to use a bow instead of cantrips to attack on turns where you aren’t casting spells. The type of bow you can use depends on your chosen race, but we will explain that in more detail in the guide below.

Tempest Domain Subclass

Tempest Domain Clerics make for especially strong melee fighters, as they gain Proficiency with both Heavy Armour and Martial Weapons.

They are able to retaliate against their attackers with bolts of Thunder or Lightning Damage, and can spend their Channel Divinity Charges to guarantee the maximum possible damage roll when attacking enemies with Thunder or Lightning Spells.

At high levels, they are also able to infuse their weapon with extra Thunder damage, once per turn.

During the levelling process, Tempest Domain Clerics gradually unlock extra storm-related spells, many of which synergise nicely with these subclass mechanics.

Character Creation (Level 1) – BG3 Tempest Domain Build

In this section, we will guide you through which options to choose in Character Creation for your BG3 Tempest Cleric Build.

Important: You also already have to select your Subclass at level 1, this can be easily overlooked because the game pushes you directly to the main class and then just selects the first option in the subclass menu. Therefore make sure that you have selected the Tempest Domain subclass.

Background

Your Background gives you Proficiency in two specific skills. It makes sense to become proficient in skills that fall under your primary attributes, which for this build will be Wisdom and Dexterity. The most obvious matches are Urchin, which gives you Proficiency in Stealth and Sleight of Hand (both Dexterity Skills) or Folk Hero, which gives Proficiency in Animal Handling and Survival (both Wisdom Skills).

However, it doesn’t make a huge difference if you’d prefer to choose something else. Your Background choice will have little to no impact on combat, but your choices will make various out of combat ability checks more likely to succeed.

Race

While in Early Access your race choice was a very important component of your build, this is no longer the case. This is because your race now has no bearing on your Ability scores, which are the most important factor at play. This gives players more freedom to choose any race and class combination that they wish, without having to worry about being pigeon-holed into a “meta” race for their class.

However, one very useful thing we can get from our race is Longbow Proficiency. Normally a spellcaster uses Cantrips on turns when they don’t want to use up a spell slot, however the Cleric doesn’t have any especially strong damage Cantrips – they’re mainly held back by a low chance of actually hitting the target. Therefore the next best option is to use longbow attacks instead. With that in mind, the following races are good options for the Cleric:

• Wood Elf – Gains Proficiency in Longbows, as well as very high base Movement Speed.
• High Elf – Gains Proficiency in Longbows, and can choose an extra Cantrip. Fire Bolt is the best option, however it will roll based on your Intelligence so still suffers from relatively low hit chance.
• Drow – Gains Proficiency with Hand Crossbows. Can see in the dark up to 24 metres.

Skills

The Cleric can choose two of the following five skills to become Proficient at (in addition to whatever you inherit from Background and Race):

• History (INT)
• Insight (WIS)
• Medicine (WIS)
• Persuasion (CHA)
• Religion (INT)

Since we’re focusing on Wisdom and Dexterity, the only two options that are a good match here are Insight and Medicine.

Abilities

The Tempest Domain Cleric is a hybrid between a warrior-type build (good at fighting with martial weapons) and a Wisdom spellcaster. It can also use Heavy Armour and is more skilled with melee weapons than most other Cleric variants – this means that we do not need a high Dexterity score and can instead focus on high Wisdom and Strength. We therefore recommend an Ability distribution similar to that shown below:

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

Cantrips

In the Class menu, you need to choose three Cantrips to start the game with. We recommend getting the following Cantrips:

• Guidance – This is a great ability for out of combat situations, and can be cast either on yourself or on an active ally from within the dice roll screen, letting you gain a +4 Advantage on whatever it is you are doing.
• Resistance – Bolster the target’s defences, giving them a +4 bonus to Saving Throws. This is a Concentration Spell.
• Sacred Flame – This is the Cleric’s main damage Cantrip, and it’s also the reason we’re using a Longbow. This Cantrip is pretty poor most of the time because it has a low hit chance due to enemies typically having fairly high Dexterity. However Sacred Flame can still sometimes be good for targeting enemies with very high Armour Class that would cause your bow attack rolls to have a low hit chance.

Spells

Finally, you’ll need to choose four Spells to prepare, from a list of 10 known Spells. We recommend choosing the following Spells:

• Guiding Bolt – This is a must pick, because it can deal up to 24 damage right from the start of the game, which is very nice early game damage. As a bonus, the next person to attack the target will have an Advantage against them.
• Healing Word – Useful for healing yourself or your allies. At first glance you might wonder why we chose this instead of Cure Wounds, which has a higher potential healing value. That’s because this skill can be cast at long range, while Cure Wounds needs you to be very close to the target.
• Bless – Target up to three Allies, giving them an advantage on Attack Rolls and Saving Throws. This improves the attack and defense of your allies, which can be really handy. Note that this is a Concentration Spell, so casting it will break any other Concentration effect you have active.
• Inflict Wounds – Deals up to 30 Necrotic damage to an enemy. The problem with this spell is that it only works in melee range. We’ll be trying to stay at long range most of the time, so won’t get to use it very often. But if an enemy does get close, you can use this to give them a nasty surprise.

Tempest Domain Subclass

The Tempest Domain Cleric starts the game with the following extras immediately available:

• Proficiency with Heavy Armour
• Proficiency with Martial Weapons (Flails, Morningstars, Rapiers, Scimitars, Shortswords, War Picks, Battleaxes, Longswords, Tridents, Warhammers, Glaives, Greataxes, Greatswords, Halberds, Mauls, Pikes, Hand Crossbows, Heavy Crossbows, Longbows)
• Wrath of the Storm – Once per turn, you can spend a Reaction to retaliate against a nearby enemy who attacks you, dealing 2d8 Thunder or Lightning damage to them. If the enemy succeeds a Dexterity Saving Throw, they only take half of the damage.
• Two Domain Spells – Domain Spells are always Prepared and don’t need to be manually chosen, they are effectively extra spells that are thematic to the chosen Cleric subclass
  • Thunderwave – Cast a conal wave of thunder that deals damage and can knock back enemies who fail their Saving Throw. Can be used to knock enemies off ledges to deal extra falling damage, possibly instantly killing them if the ledge is high enough.
  • Fog Cloud – Summon a cloud of fog that Blinds and Heavily Obscures everyone within. Useful for forcing ranged enemies to move from their current position, or protecting your party members from enemies who are outside of the cloud. Blocking line of sight can sometimes be used to force enemies to move closer to you.

Step-by-Step Levelling Guide – Tempest Cleric

In this section, we have provided a step-by-step guide for levelling up your Cleric, including recommendations at each level for any choices that need to be made, such as Spell and Feat selection.

Level 2 – Tempest Cleric Build BG3 for PC/PS5

At Level 2, you’ll gain a new Spell Slot for your Tempest Cleric Build in Baldur’s Gate 3, allowing you to cast an extra spell between Long Rests.

You’ll also unlock a special type of ability specific to the Cleric – Channel Divinity Actions.

Channel Divinity Actions have their own number of uses, separate from Spell Slots. To begin with, you only have one use, which can be replenished by either a Short or Long Rest.

With the Tempest Domain Cleric, you’ll unlock the following Channel Divinity Action at Level 2:

• Destructive Wrath – When you roll Lightning or Thunder damage, you can spend a Channel Divinity Charge to force the maximum possible damage roll.

Level 3 – Tempest Cleric Build BG3

At Level 3 for your Tempest Cleric Build you unlock another First Level Spell Slot, as well as two Second Level Spell Slots.

There’s a couple of Second Level Spells that would be great to prepare at this point:

• Aid – Heals your allies within 9 metres for 5HP, and also increases their maximum HP by 5, until the next Long Rest. This is a really good long-lasting buff for your party. I strongly recommend casting this after every Long Rest. At higher levels, you can upcast the spell to increase the amount of HP (5 extra HP per spell level).
• Hold Person – A powerful single-target stun that completely paralyses a humanoid enemy if successful. All melee attacks against the target are guaranteed Critical Hits, making this a particularly deadly condition for the victim.

You’ll also unlock a couple of new Tempest Domain Spells, which are spells that the Cleric will always have prepared (i.e they automatically go on your action bar without needing to choose them):

• Gust of Wind – Create a gust of wind that clears all clouds in the area and can knock enemies back, in a similar fashion to Thunderwave.
• Shatter – Deals Thunder damage in an AOE. Enemies who succeed the Constitution Saving Throw still take half of the damage, and inorganic targets must roll the Saving Throw with a Disadvantage.

Also keep in mind that some of the First Level Spells you already knew can now be upcasted to Second Level, improving their effects but consuming a second level spell slot instead.

Level 4 – Tempest Cleric Build Baldur’s Gate 3 for PC/PS5

As with all classes in Baldur’s Gate 3, at Level 4 you’ll need to choose a Feat for your Tempest Cleric Build. Feats are powerful passive effects for your character that can enable a specific build or simply boost your stats. We strongly recommend choosing Ability Improvement, which will give you two additional Ability Points. Put them both into Wisdom, which should allow you to reach 19 Wisdom, significantly improving your Spellcasting ability.

You’ll also gain another First Level and Second Level Spell Slot, and you’ll need to choose another Cantrip. Thaumaturgy can occasionally come in handy for various out of combat checks, so let’s grab that.

Finally, we need to choose one more spell at this point. We recommend:

• Prayer of Healing – Heals all visible allies within 9 metres by 2d8 HP. This is really good when your whole party is damaged and needs a heal.

Level 5 – Tempest Cleric Build Baldur’s Gate 3

At Level 5 your Tempest Cleric’s Spellcasting ability further improves.

You’ll unlock two Third Level Spell Slots. While this build is quite flexible and it’s up to you which spells you choose here, we recommend taking a close look at the following options:

• Glyph of Warding – Inscribe a circle of arcane glyphs on the ground that trigger a magical effect when stepped on by an enemy. Only one glyph can be active at a time. Deals great AOE damage, and targets who perform a Saving Throw will still take half of the damage. You can place the glyph underneath an enemy to trigger it immediately. This can deal a lot of damage to your allies, so be careful when placing it!
• Revivify – Revive a companion. They return to life with 1 hit point. You no longer need to worry about carrying around a stack of Revivification Scrolls, as this spell has the same effect!

You’ll also unlock two more Tempest Domain Spells at Level 5:

• Call Lightning – Call a Lightning Strike in the target area, dealing a strong amount of Lightning Damage to all within. When you maintain Concentration on this spell, you can repeat the lightning attack on subsequent turns without spending another Spell Slot. You can continue doing this for up to 10 turns, if the spell is not broken. This is one of the best AOE spells in the game due to the huge amount of damage potential per spell slot you spend on the spell.
• Sleet Storm – Create ice surfaces in the target area, and force spellcasters to roll a Concentration Saving Throw – if they fail this then their ongoing Concentration Spells will be broken.

Level 6

At Level 6, the Tempest Cleric Build gains a couple of new features:

• An extra Channel Divinity Charge, allowing you to use two Channel Divinity Actions per Short/Long Rest.
• Thunderbolt Strike – When you deal Thunder or Lightning damage to a creature that is Large or smaller, you can also push it back by 3 metres.
• Another Third Level Spell Slot, giving you three in total.
• Prepare one more Spell. We recommend:
  • Spirit Guardians – Surround yourself with spirits who follow you around. The spirits attack any enemies who move close to you, dealing Radiant or Necrotic damage. The Radiant version of this spell is especially strong in Act II, as many of the enemies there are Vulnerable to damage of that type.

Level 7

At Level 7, you unlock the following:

• One Fourth Level Spell Slot, and the ability to Prepare Fourth Level Spells.
• Two more Spells from your chosen Domain (always Prepared). The Tempest Domain Cleric gets:
  • Freedom of Movement – Grant yourself or an ally immunity to magical sources of paralysis and restraint, and prevents Difficult Terrain from slowing them down. Also immediately cures any Stun. Lasts until the next Long Rest.
  • Ice Storm – Conjure an icy storm that deals Cold and Bludgeoning damage to all within, and leaves a slippery ice surface for 2 turns.
• Prepare one more Cleric spell of your choice. We recommend:
  • Guardian of Faith – Summon a guardian at the target location. They are immobile, but will automatically attack enemies within 3 metres, dealing 20 Radiant Damage per attack (halved if the target succeeds a Dexterity Save). Every time the guardian deals damage, they take the same amount of damage. Correct placement is really important with this spell – try to put it in a chokepoint that enemies must pass through, or next to an enemy who is also immobile or tends to linger in the same place for some other reason.

Level 8

At Level 8 you unlock:

• Another Fourth Level Spell Slot, giving you two in total.
• Choose another Feat. If your Wisdom is still at 19, then use the Resilient Feat to improve it to 20. If you already managed to reach 20 Wisdom from another source, then get the War Caster Feat instead. War Caster gives you Advantage on Concentration Saving Throws, making you much more likely to maintain Concentration on a spell after you take damage. The Cleric has a large amount of Concentration Spells, so this is very important to pick up at some point.
• Choose two more spells. We recommend:
  • Mass Healing Word – Heal all allies within 18 metres for 1d4 + your Wisdom Modifier.
  • Death Ward – The next time the target drops to 0 HP, they will heal to 1 HP instead of being Downed. This spell isn’t amazing, and we will replace it soon, for now though it’s the best remaining option.
• Divine Strike, Tempest – Once per turn, deal 1d8 extra Thunder damage when you land a weapon attack.

Level 9

At Level 9 your Tempest Cleric’s spellcasting continues to improve, as you can now access even more powerful spells. Here you’ll unlock:

• Another Fourth Level Spell Slot, giving you three in total.
• One Fifth Level Spell Slot, and the ability to prepare Fifth Level Spells.
• Two more Domain Spells from your subclass. Tempest Domain Cleric gets:
  • Destructive Wave – Create a shockwave of thunder that deals up to 30 Thunder and Radiant damage, and can knock enemies Prone.
  • Insect Plague – Locusts attack everyone within a 12 metre area, dealing 4-40 Piercing Damage per turn, making the area Difficult Terrain, and imposing Disadvantage on Perception Checks. The damage is halved on targets that roll a Constitution Save. This is one of the strongest spells in the Cleric arsenal – it’s especially effective when placed in chokepoints, and can turn a difficult battle in your favour.
• Prepare one more spell, plus another one to replace Death Ward from Level 8:
  • Mass Cure Wounds – Heals allies within 18 metres by 3d8 HP each. Can provide a strong heal to many creatures at once.
  • Flame Strike – Call forth a pillar of divine fire from the heavens, dealing 5d6 Fire and 5d6 Radiant damage to everyone in a 3 metre radius. Damage is halved for targets who make a Dexterity Saving Throw. Use this when you need quick AOE burst damage – it’s basically an upgrade of the Glyph of Warding that we’ve been using for that purpose up until now.

Level 10

At Level 10 the Tempest Domain Cleric unlocks a unique single-use feature to invoke the aid of their god. You gain:

• Another Fifth Level Spell Slot, giving you two in total.
• Choose one more Cantrip. We already picked up the most important Cantrips, so you can choose whatever you like here.
• Divine Intervention – Once per character, invoke your god’s aid. When activating this, you can choose from:
  • Sunder the Heretical – Deal 8-80 Radiant damage to a group of enemies.
  • Arm Thy Servant – Grants you a Legendary weapon.
  • Opulent Revival – Resurrect fallen Companions with half health and restore nearby allies as if they had Long Rested.
  • Golden Generosity – Provides a rich bounty of Potions and Camp Supplies.
• Prepare one more Spell. We recommend:
  • Hold Monster – Essentially an upgrade to Hold Person, this spell has the same effect but removes the restriction of only working on humanoid targets.

Divine Intervention is a potentially good passive for helping you out in a pinch. But beware that this can only be used once per character. There is no way to recharge the ability.

Level 11

At Level 11 you don’t gain any new class abilities, but you do get access to Sixth Level Spells, the most powerful tier of magic in Baldur’s Gate 3.

You’ll gain one Sixth Level Spell Slot, and as usual you’ll be able to prepare one more Spell.

If noone else in your party has the Heroes’ Feast spell, then get this on your Cleric. It puts an extremely strong buff on you and your party, providing the following benefits until the next Long Rest:

• Immune to Poison and Disease
• Cannot be Frightened
• Extra 12 HP
• Advantage on Wisdom Saving Throws

You should ideally make it a habit to cast both Heroes’ Feast and an upcasted version of Aid on your party after every Long Rest, to get everyone nicely buffed up.

If someone else has Heroes’ Feast covered already, the consider the Heal spell. This is single-target burst heal that is guaranteed to restore 70 HP, avoiding the RNG of other healing spells.

Level 12

If you’ve reached this point, then you have finished leveling up your Tempest Domain Cleric to max level. Congratulations!

At Level 12 you can choose one more Feat for your Cleric Build. If you didn’t already get War Caster, then pick it up here. Otherwise, you may want to go with Spell Sniper, which increases the chance that you land a critical hit with spells (only spells that use Attack Rolls) and lets you get any Cantrip that uses an Attack Roll (including non-Cleric Cantrips). We recommend getting either Fire Bolt or Eldritch Blast, as these are the hardest hitting of the available choices. This will also give you a decent non-Spell ranged damage option other than using your bow.

You can also choose one more Spell to prepare.

If you didn’t already get the Heal spell mentioned at Level 11, you might want to grab that now.

Alternatively, you could pick Planar Ally, which allows you to summon a Djinni, Deva or Cambion to fight for you. These are powerful summoned creatures who can help to turn tough battles in your favour. If not killed, your summon will return to their home plane the next time you Long Rest.

Cleric Build Equipment for Baldur’s Gate 3

In this section we will outline the best equipment recommendations for your Tempest Cleric. 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

Early-Game equipment is available in Act I and the earlier parts of Act II. It is generally less powerful than the late-game version of the build, however there are still some really handy items that you can find fairly early on in your BG3 playthrough.

For the early-game, we’re going for items that provide protection to the Cleric and improve their spellcasting ability in whatever ways possible. We are also making use of items that provide the Reverberation debuff – this is a Thunder themed debuff that causes enemies to have a hard time on their Saving Throws and can eventually deal extra Thunder damage and knock them Prone.

You can check below the table for more detailed information about each item, including how to obtain them.

Wapira’s Crown

Whenever you heal another creature, you also gain 1d6 HP. This is a decent early game heal and it’s basically free. Even though the Tempest Domain Cleric isn’t focused on healing, it can still make for a decent healer when needed, so this item is a good fit. You get Wapira’s Crown as a reward from Zevlor for doing the Save the Refugees quest, provided you accept the monetary reward. It is inside the sack he gives you.

Adamantine Splint Armour

The Adamantine Splint Armour is a very strong piece of Heavy Armour that can be obtained fairly early in the game. It reduces all incoming damage by 2, prevents you from receiving Critical Hits, and debuffs enemies who attack you. To craft it, you need to go to the Grymforge, find the Splint-Armour Mould and some Mithral Ore, then activate the Adamantine Forge with these components slotted into place.

Gloves of Belligerent Skies

The Gloves of Belligerent Skies allow you to debuff enemies with the Reverberation debuff, simply by dealing Thunder, Lightning or Radiant damage to them. Each turn of Reverberation reduces the target’s Strength, Dexterity and Constitution Saving Throw Rolls by -1, and when they reach 4 turns they will take a burst of Thunder damage and fall Prone.

These gloves are found in a locked chest in the Inquisitor’s Chambers in the Githyanki Creche at the end of Act I. To find this area, you need to take the Mountain Pass rote to Act II and explore the Rosymorn Monastery.

Boots of Stormy Clamour

With the Boots of Stormy Clamour equipped, you can apply 2 turns of Reverberation to an enemy by applying any other Condition to them. They are sold by Omeluum in the Myconid Colony, after you complete his quest to help investigate the parasite.

Thunderskin Cloak

The Thunderskin Cloak will Daze any Reverberating enemy who damages you, unless they succeed a Constitution Save. Dazed enemies cannot take Reactions, lose any Dexterity Bonus to their Armour Class, and have Disadvantage on Wisdom Saving Throws.

The cloak is purchased from Araj Oblodra in Moonrise Towers, Act II.

Pearl of Power Amulet

The Pearl of Power Amulet lets you restore a spell slot of first, second or third level, once per Long Rest. This is particularly handy in the early game when you don’t have a huge number of spell slots available. It is sold by Omeluum in the Myconid Colony, in the Underdark. To trade with them, you must first finish their quest to help them investigate the parasite.

The Whispering Promise

The Whispering Promise is another item that gives a very nice extra buff with healing spells. Whenever you heal a creature, they get the Blessed buff for 2 turns, giving them a 1d4 bonus to Attack Rolls and Saving Throws. This item can appear in several locations:

• Purchase from Volo in the Druid Grove (later on he can be found in your camp after you rescue him from the goblins)
• Purchase from Grat the Trader in the Goblin Camp
• Purchase from Roah Moonglow in either Shattered Sanctum (Act I) or Moonrise Towers (Act II)

If the item isn’t available in any of these vendors, you can do a Long Rest to reset their wares. You don’t need to use any camp supplies when doing a Long Rest for this purpose.

Ring of Spiteful Thunder

The Ring of Spiteful Thunder will Daze enemies that you hit with Thunder damage, if they already have the Reverberation debuff on them. Dazed enemies cannot take Reactions, lose any Dexterity Bonus to their Armour Class, and have Disadvantage on Wisdom Saving Throws.

The ring can be purchased from Roah Moonglow in Moonrise Towers, in Act II. If it is not there, try to return after a Long Rest.

The Blood of Lathander

A legendary mace with a +3 bonus to its Attack Rolls and Damage, The Blood of Lathander will also heal you when you reach 0 HP, once per Long Rest, and lets you cast a weaker version of the Sunbeam spell, which can be a big help in Act II for dealing very high damage to groups of shadow-cursed undead enemies.

Obtaining the Mace requires you to fully explore the Rosymorn Monastery and enter the secret area by solving the statue puzzle, near where you meet Vlaakith’s projection. It is protected by a trap, which you can either disable by collecting the Ceremonial Weapons found in the Monastery, or you can take it without disabling the trap, in which case you should ensure the character who grabs it has a self-teleport ability like Misty Step, and give everyone a Potion of Speed to make sure they can escape from the Monastery in time.

Blooded Greataxe (Alternative)

In the early-game, the Tempest domain Cleric hasn’t unlocked all of its buffs and class features yet, so its melee damage output can be a bit lacking with the traditional Cleric setup of a one-handed weapon and shield.

Therefore you might want to go with a two-handed weapon like the Blooded Greataxe to improve your melee damage. However there is a tradeoff here – you cannot use a shield with a weapon like this, so your Armour Class will be lower. This not only means you are likely to take more damage, but you’ll also find it a bit harder to maintain Concentration on Spells, which is an important aspect of the Cleric class. So it’s up to you if you feel comfortable going with this alternative setup.

The Blooded Greataxe can be purchased from Roah Moonglow in Shattered Sanctum. If the weapon isn’t showing up in her wares, try doing a Long Rest to reset them.

Shield of Devotion

A good early-to-mid-game shield, the Shield of Devotion grants you an extra level 1 Spell Slot and lets you use your Reaction to try to knock over an enemy who hit you with a melee attack. It also grants you a unique version of the Aid spell, however this version only casts on you and not on your team, and it will not stack with the normal version. Be careful when using this, as it will replace the buff you have from the normal version of Aid.

The Shield of Devotion is sold by Quartermaster Talli in Last Light Inn, in Act II.

Spellthief

A handy Longbow for an early-game spellcaster, Spellthief can restore a Level 1 Spell Slot once per Long Rest, by landing a Critical Hit with the weapon. It is sold by Arron in the Druid Grove.

Late-Game

Late-Game Equipment is found in Act III and the latter parts of Act II, however some items from the early-game may also find their way onto this list, if they are powerful enough to remain competitive with items found in the latter parts of the game.

At this stage of the game we are mainly focusing on finding items that improve our Spell Save Difficulty Class – increasing this stat means that enemies need to roll a higher number to succeed a Saving Throw against our spells. If you want, you can continue using the Reverberation items from the early-game, however doing so will cause you to miss out on some important bonuses such as some buffs to Spell Save Difficulty.

It’s also worth noting that most items that improve the Spell Save Difficulty Class are fairly light on the defensive side, therefore we have included a couple of optional items that you can use instead if you’re struggling to stay alive with the optimal setup.

Hood of the Weave

The Hood of the Weave grants a +2 bonus to your Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Rolls, making all of your spells more likely to succeed at damaging or applying a condition to their target. It is sold by Mystic Carrion in Philgrave’s Mansion in Act III.

Armour of Landfall

We’re going with the Armour of Landfall for one main reason – it gives another +1 buff to your Spell Save DC. However as added bonuses, it also gives you Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws, lets you use the Plant Growth spell to summon vines, and heals you 1d4 per turn when standing on vines. This armour can be obtained by one of the following methods, depending on the status of certain characters in your playthrough:

• If Rolan is dead – Sold by Lorroakan’s Projection in Sorcerous Sundries
• If Rolan and Lorroakan are both alive – Sold by Rolan in Sorcerous Sundries
• If Rolan is alive but Lorroakan is dead – Pickpocket from Rolan in Ramazith’s Tower

The drawback of this armour is that it is Light Armour and has a low Armour Class of only 13 – this build is not especially high on Dexterity so this is a bit risky. If you have a hard time because of this, then you can use the next item instead.

Armour of Persistence (Alternative Armour)

The Armour of Persistence will solve any problems presented by having a low armour class. It has 20 Armour Class, reduces all incoming damage by 2, and passively grants you Resistance (1d4 bonus to all Saving Throws) and Blade Ward (50% Resistance to Bludgeoning, Slashing and Piercing Damage).

It is sold by Dammon at the Forge of the Nine in the Lower City.

Helldusk Gloves

The Helldusk Gloves are important because they give another +1 bonus to Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Rolls. Your weapon attacks will also do 1d6 extra Fire Damage with these gloves equipped. They are dropped by Haarlep in the House of Hope.

Helldusk Boots

With the Helldusk Boots equipped, you cannot be forcibly moved by hostile spells or actions, and you are immune to being slowed down by Difficult Terrain. You can also use your Reaction to automatically succeed a failed Saving Throw. These effects are especially good for your Tempest Domain Cleric, as they are very likely to be the spellcasting core of your party, and the Helldusk Boots will make it much harder for enemies to prevent you from casting spells.

The Helldusk Boots can be found in a locked Gilded Chest on the top floor of Wyrm’s Rock Fortress. Take the boots before Gortash’s Coronation to avoid making nearby NPCs hostile.

Cloak of the Weave

The Cloak of the Weave gives you another +1 bonus to Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Rolls, making it even harder for enemies to resist the effects of your spells. Once per Short Rest, you can absorb half of the next elemental attack that targets you, and imbue your next outgoing attack with 1d6 of the same element.

The Cloak of the Weave is sold by Helsik at the Devil’s Fee, once her special stock has been unlocked.

Amulet of the Devout

The Amulet of the Devout adds another +2 bonus to Spell Save DC. It also grants an extra Channel Divinity Charge. Found in the main offering chest in the basement of Stormshore Tabernacle. Beware that looting it will curse your character, so come prepared with some way to cleanse curses, or be prepared to deal with the curse’s consequences when looting this item!

Amulet of Greater Health (Alternative Amulet)

If you’re struggling with survivability, then the Amulet of Greater Health is the solution to your troubles. It improves your Constitution to 23, which will have the side effect of considerably improving your max HP, too. You also get Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws (which you may or may not already have from the Armour of Landfall).

Can be stolen from a trapped pedestal in the Archive of the House of Hope.

Ring of Feywild Sparks

You might be a little confused about why we’re recommending this ring here, since its stated purpose is to buff Tides of Chaos, a Wild Magic Sorcerer feature. The reason is that this ring has a hidden +1 bonus to Spell Save DC that’s not included in the tooltip.

The Ring is looted from Auntie Ethel in the cellar of The Blushing Mermaid, in the Lower City (Act III).

Devotee’s Mace

An optional alternative to the Blood of Lathander, the Devotee’s Mace can be obtained at Level 10 by using your Divine Intervention Action and choosing Arm Thy Servant. Remember that once a character uses Divine Intervention, they can never use it again! You can bypass this limitation by recruiting a Cleric hireling and getting them to summon the Devotee’s Mace for you, or by temporarily respeccing another character to Cleric – this could be considered a mild exploit so it’s up to you if you want to do that or not.

This Mace has a +3 bonus to Attack Rolls and Damage (the same as Blood of Lathander), and gives you the Healing Incense Aura action, which heals you and all nearby allies by 1d4 every turn for 10 turns.

Viconia’s Walking Fortress

The strongest shield in the game, Viconia’s Walking Fortress gives you a +3 boost to Armour Class, lets you knock over your melee assailants and deal Force Damage to them (using a Reaction), gives you Advantage on Saving Throws against Spells, gives all enemy Spell Attack Rolls against you Disadvantage, gives you access to the Warding Bond spell and the Reflective Shell action.

This shield is looted from Viconia DeVir in the Cloister of Sombre Embrace, in Act III.

The Dead Shot

The Dead Shot reduces the Attack Roll number needed to crit with the bow by 1, and doubles your Proficiency Bonus when attacking with the bow (effectively improving your accuracy). It is sold by Fytz the Firecracker in Stormshore Armoury, Lower City.

Cleric Build Tips & Tricks – BG3

The Tempest Domain Cleric is definitely one of the strongest subclasses of the Cleric, and can become a damage machine thanks to its extra Thunder and Lightning damage on weapon attacks, and access to powerful spells such as Call Lightning, Ice Storm and Insect Plague, the first two of which are not normally available for Clerics.

While it may be tempting to take advantage of the Tempest Cleric’s ability to empower melee attacks with thunder damage all the time, try not to be too zealous with this – sometimes it’s better to hold back and keep your character safe from damage so that you can continue Concentrating on powerful spells such as Call Lightning or Insect Plague.

Guiding Bolt is a great opener, in the early game, since it will give you an advantage on the next attack against the enemy. However later in the game it tends to be replaced by more powerful spells.

Other 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
• Paladin – Oath of Ancients
• 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.