Best BG3 Lockadin Build – Warlock Paladin Mutliclass Build

Welcome to the Best Lockadin Build Guide for BG3 (Warlock Paladin Multiclass Build). This build takes the melee prowess of the Paladin and further enhances it with the Warlock class, giving you access to a wider range of spells and allowing you to attack three times per Action, rather than the usual two.

The combination of the Lockadin’s melee dominance and astute spellcasting makes it one of the most versatile and deadly multiclass combinations available in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Table of Contents:

• Warlock Paladin Build Overview
• Character Creation – Level 1
  • Starting Class
  • Best Race
  • Background & Skills
  • Ability Points
  • Spells
  • Cantrips
• Lockadin Levelling Guide (2-12)
  • Early-Game (2-4)
  • Mid-Game (5-8)
  • Late-Game (9-12)
• Lockadin Best Equipment
  • Early-Game
  • Late-Game
• Lockadin Extra Info
  • How to Play the Build
  • Best Illithid Powers (optional)
• Lockadin Build FAQ

BG3 Warlock & Paladin Multiclass Build Strengths & Weaknesses:

Warlock & Paladin Multiclass Build Overview

For our Lockadin Build, we are combining the Warlock Class with the Paladin. The Warlock gives you powerful cantrips and allows you to bind to a weapon, rolling its attacks with your Charisma and getting an additional attack every turn.

The Paladin gives you prowess with melee weapons and allows you to wear heavy armour. You will also unlock powerful Smite spells to boost your damage with weapons, and auras to influence the battle in your favour.

This means we have to be sure that the payoff of adding new classes to your build is worth it, because every level of a secondary class reduces the highest level we can reach with our primary class.

In this Warlock and Paladin Multiclass Build, we’ll be combining the following classes:

Here is a quick overview of which class we pick when, this is important!

Lockadin Character Creation (Level 1)

In this section, we will guide you through the best starting choices for creating your BG3 Warlock & Paladin Multiclass Build.

Starting Class (Paladin)

We’ll start by choosing the Paladin class. The Warlock elements of the build will be added later.

The Paladin starts the game with the following features, which we’ll build on over the course of this guide:

Best Race

While this build will work fine with any race in the game, there are a few choices that stand out above the rest and can be chosen if you want to optimize the build as much as possible. Here are the five best race choices for the Lockadin Build:

Race	Strengths	Info
Half Orc	Intimidation Proficiency Darkvision Savage Attacks You roll an extra damage dice when you crit Relentless Endurance Once per Long Rest, restore to 1 HP instead of being Downed	Gets an additional damage die when landing a Critical Hit with a melee weapon (3 dice instead of the usual 2). This makes for a nice boost to your melee damage potential. You also get Darkvision, Intimidation Proficiency (a good fit since we have high Charisma) and can resist being downed once per Long Rest.
Duergar	Can wear Medium Armour Can wield axes and hammers Dwarven Resilience Advantage against Poisoned Resistance to Poison Damage Superior Darkvision Duergar Resilience Advantage on Saving Throws against illusions Advantage against Charmed and Paralysed Duergar Magic Enlarge (Level 3) Invisibility (Level 5)	With their wide choice of armour and weapon proficiencies, and resistances to poison, charm, and paralysis, Duergar are one of the strongest races in BG3. The only downside of Duergar is their small stature – this reduces their base Movement Speed to 7.5 metres per turn (most races get 9 metres).
Wood Elf	Proficiency in Stealth and Perception Extra Weapon Proficiencies: Shortswords Longswords Shortbows Longbows Fey Ancestry Advantage against Charmed Immune to Magical Sleep Darkvision Fleet of Foot – 1.5 metres of extra Movement Speed	Wood Elves are a great choice for most build types in BG3, thanks to their superior movement speed. Natural Proficiency in Perception is always useful, and immunity to magical Sleep will help you out a lot, especially in the early game when enemy mages love to spam this spell.
Zariel Tiefling	Resistance to Fire Damage Darkvision Tiefling Magic Thaumaturgy (Level 1) Searing Smite (Level 3) Branding Smite (Level 5)	Gets Resistance to Fire Damage, Darkvision, and unlocks the Searing Smite and Branding Smite spells after a few levels up. You can, of course, already get these spells from the Paladin class, but having them from your race means that you can cast them without needing a Spell Slot once per Long Rest, which is handy.
Dragonborn, Any	Draconic Ancestry – Depending on which Dragonborn variant you choose, you’ll gain: Resistance to an elemental damage type A special AoE elemental breath attack	Dragonborns get access to a special Breath attack they can use once per Short Rest, which deals elemental damage in a directional AoE. They also get 50% Resistance to the same element. The damage element in question depends on which Dragonborn variant you choose. The Fire and Poison variants are slightly better because many enemies attack with these damage types, making resistance to them more valuable. But don’t let this stop you from using whichever type of Dragonborn you like the most. Since we’ll be spending a lot of time in melee, the Dragonborn Breath attacks can fit in quite nicely with the Paladin playstyle.

Background & Skills

For your Warlock/Paladin Multiclass Background, we recommend choosing Soldier.

The Soldier background gives us the following Skill Proficiencies:

You can manually choose two other Skills in addition to those granted by your Background. These choices are restricted to the Paladin Skill list.

We ideally want to focus on Strength and Charisma skills, but there aren’t many available. We went with  Persuasion and Insight. 

If you’re a Human, you’ll get one extra unrestricted Skill Choice, which you should put in any remaining Charisma Skill.

Ability Points

For the time being, Strength will be our most important ability for the Lockadin Build, because it’s used to determine the accuracy and damage of your melee attacks. (This will change when we reach Level 8, when a respec will be necessary).

This is closely followed by Charisma, which is used to determine the effectiveness of our spellcasting.

The final important ability is Constitution, which increases our Hitpoints and improves our Concentration Checks.

Ability	Points	Why it matters
Strength	16	Boosts melee attacks, jump distance and carry weight.
Dexterity	10	Low priority for our build because we’re using Heavy Armour.
Constitution	14	Important: Increases HP and helps Concentration checks for spells.
Intelligence	8	Not relevant for our build.
Wisdom	10	Helps with some Saving Throws. Low importance for this build.
Charisma	16	Boosts Cantrips, Spells and dialogue checks.

Subclass – Oath of Vengeance

You must choose your Paladin subclass immediately. The recommended choice is Oath of Vengeance, because you’ll get automatic access to a couple of useful spells. You can also use the powerful Abjure Enemy feature to make a foe easier to hit.

However, the build will still work fine if you decide to use a different Paladin subclass.

About the Oathbreaker Subclass

The ideal subclass for our build is actually the Oathbreaker. But because we’ll perform a respec at level 8, getting it now creates an awkward interaction with the build’s progression.

You can get the Oathbreaker subclass early if you want to, but then you’ll have to pay a bunch of gold before the game will let you respec, then break your oath yet again to get the Oathbreaker subclass back.

So the easiest way to go about it is to keep the Oath of Vengeance for now, then break your oath after the level 8 respec. Keeping the Oath of Vengeance for the whole playthrough is also perfectly viable.

Even if you use one of the other Paladin subclasses, the build will still work fine. This build is mainly reliant on class features, not subclass features, so you have a lot of flexibility.

BG3 Paladin Warlock Multiclass Build Levelling Guide (2-12)

Now, we are going to look at how to level up your Lockadin Build for Baldur’s Gate 3.

• Early-Game (2-4)
• Mid-Game (5-8)
• Late-Game (9-12)

Early-Game Levelling (2-4)

In this section, we’ll cover the first four levels.

Level 2

The Paladin class unlocks quite a lot of additional features at Level 2:

Level 3

You get another generous helping of new features when you reach Paladin Level 3:

Level 4

At Level 4, you get one more spell and a Feat to boost your Lockadin’s combat prowess.

Mid-Game Levelling (5-8)

In this section, we’ll cover the mid-game. During these levels, the Warlock Paladin Multiclass Build will become much more powerful, accessing a wider array of spells.

Level 5

At Level 5, we get quite a few new features and can access second-level spells.

Level 6

We’ll now switch to adding Warlock levels to the build. Check the image above if you’re not sure how to add a different class to your build.

Adding the Warlock class to your build gives the following benefits:

You can choose 2 Warlock Cantrips to unlock:

You can unlock two Warlock Spells, which will be cast using your new Warlock Spell Slot:

While the Lockadin is most suited to melee combat, you can now combine Eldritch Blast with  Hex for a potent ranged option.

Best Warlock Subclass

Any of the Warlock subclasses will work fine with this Lockadin build. However, our preferred option is Hexblade, which grants you these benefits initially:

The Fiend is another decent subclass choice here. It will lose out on the Hexblade features, but instead grants you Temporary HP whenever you kill an enemy.

Ability Respec (Hexblades Only)

If you picked the Hexblade subclass, you can now bind to your weapon to attack with Charisma instead. That means we don’t need points in Strength anymore.

Redistribute to the following:

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

If you want, you can now find a way to break your Paladin Oath and switch to the Oathbreaker Paladin subclass. But that is completely optional.

Level 7

We will add another Warlock Level to the build here, grabbing some big upgrades to Eldritch Blast.

You’ll need to choose two Eldritch Invocations. These are special abilities that let you further customise your Lockadin build.

We strongly recommend choosing the following two options:

You can also pick a new Warlock spell. There’s nothing important available right now, so just choose the option you like best.

Level 8

At Level 8, we’ll gain better spells and a new Pact feature for our Lockadin Build.

Warlock Pact

You must choose a Pact for your Warlock, which grants you some unique features.

It’s essential to choose the Pact of the Blade here because it will allow you to get an extra attack later on. Even Hexblades must choose the Pact of the Blade.

New Spell

Ability Respec (Non-Hexblades)

If you aren’t a Hexblade and didn’t do the respec at Level 6, you should do it now because the Pact of the Blade allows you to attack using Charisma, so Strength is no longer needed.

Redistribute to the following:

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

If you want, you can now find a way to break your Paladin Oath and switch to the Oathbreaker Paladin subclass. But that is completely optional.

Late-Game Levelling (9-12)

As we move into the final few levels for the Warlock and Paladin Multiclass Build, you’ll continue to gain new spells and features that ramp up your character’s power.

Level 9

At Level 9, you can choose a new Cantrip. We already got the important ones, so just choose your favourite from the remaining options.

You also get a couple of other new features:

New Spell

You can choose a new spell. There are two potential options here, depending on your subclass choices:

New Feat

Level 10

We’re adding another Warlock level to the mix, which will give you another spell and upgrade your Pact feature.

New Spell

We strongly recommend the following spell here:

You’ll also earn two new spells depending on your chosen Warlock subclass.

Pact Upgrade

The Pact of the Blade will now give you an extra attack with your bound weapon. You must bind to your weapon for it to work. It works with the Hexblade’s version of the bound weapon, too.

This is a different effect from the Paladin’s Extra Attack passive, so you’ll be able to attack three times per action.

Level 11

We will now add another Paladin level to the build. Make sure you click on the Paladin class, as marked on the image above.

The Paladin’s sixth level will give you these features:

New Spell

You can choose any spell from the remaining options.

Level 12

You have two possible options to wrap up your build at Level 12.

Option A – Extra Paladin Aura

Adding another Paladin level will give you another Aura from your subclass.

For example, the Oathbreaker Paladin gets Aura of Hate, which will boost the damage of all nearby undead and fiends – this is great if your party includes a lot of summoning or necromancy.

Option B – Hexblade Spectres

If you chose the Hexblade Warlock subclass, you might want to add one final Warlock level instead. This will give you access to Accursed Spectre.

When you kill an enemy, you can spend your Reaction to summon a spectre. The spectre can deal Necrotic Damage to nearby enemies, and heals your Lockadin for a portion of the damage done.

If using this option, only summon spectres from large enemies, or you’ll get a weak version of the spectre that won’t be as useful.

Mirror of Loss

If you successfully acquire a buff from the Mirror of Loss during your playthrough, you should put the points into Charisma. This will improve your melee damage and your spellcasting.

BG3 Lockadin Build Equipment

Now, let us take a look at some of the equipment choices you can make for your BG3 Warlock & Paladin Multiclass Build.

Don’t worry if you miss out on some of the items. Just enjoy your playthrough and try to view this as a wishlist rather than a precise blueprint. The names of the most essential, build-defining items are written in Bold Italic.

Early Game Equipment

This is the early-game gear setup that you can use for your Warlock/Paladin Multiclass Build. You don’t need to get all the items, but the build will perform better if you find most or all of them. You can find these items in Act 1 or early Act 2. Essential items are written in Bold Italic.

Slot	Icon	Item	Effects	Location
Head		Diadem of Arcane Synergy	Inflicting a condition gives you Arcane Synergy for 2 turns.  Arcane Synergy adds your spellcasting (Charisma) modifier to your attack damage.	Carried by Ardent Jhe’rezath in the Inquisitor’s Chamber of the Githyanki Creche.
Cloak		Any/None	No good options this early in the game.	N/A
Chest		Adamantine Splint Armour	Enemies cannot land Critical Hits on you Reduces all incoming damage by 2 Melee attackers are sent Reeling, reducing their Attack Rolls by 1	Must be crafted at the Adamantine Forge.
Gloves		Gloves of the Growling Underdog	+1 to Strength  Saving Throws  Advantage on melee Attack Rolls when surrounded by 2 or more foes.	In Dror Ragzlin’s treasure stash, behind the locked gate in Shattered Sanctum
Boots		Disintegrating Night Walkers	Cast Misty Step for free every Short Rest Immune to Enweb, Entangle and Ensnare Can’t slip on Grease or Ice	Looted from True Soul Nere in Underdark – Grymforge
Necklace		Broodmother’s Revenge	When you are healed, your next attack deals an extra 1d6 Poison Damage. Can be triggered once per turn.	Looted from Kagha in the Druid Grove.
Ring 1		Caustic Band	Your weapon attacks deal an additional 2 Acid Damage	Sold by Derryth Bonecloak in the Underdark
Ring 2		Strange Conduit Ring	When Concentrating on a spell, your weapon attacks deal an additional 1d4 Psychic Damage.	In an elegant chest in the Inquisitor’s Chamber of Creche Y’llek
Melee Weapon		Svartlebee’s Woundseeker	Gains a 1d4 bonus to Attack Rolls against targets who are below full HP.	Carried by Yeva at Waukeen’s Rest.
Ranged Weapon		Any Ranged Weapon	We aren’t focusing on ranged combat, so you can use whatever you find here. Heavy Crossbows and Longbows tend to be the highest damage options.	N/A

While the most powerful items in BG3 are mostly found in late Act II and Act III, there are still some really good options to be found earlier in the game. We have focused on items that boost your attack damage and defenses.

Most notably, the Gloves of the Growling Underdog make your attacks much more accurate and will mostly negate the Attack Roll penalty from the Great Weapon Master Feat.

This extra accuracy, combined with the additional damage from Caustic Band, Strange Conduit Ring, and Broodmother’s Revenge, gives you excellent early-game damage. Just ensure you have a good weapon too, like Svartlebee’s Woundseeker which boosts your attack accuracy against damaged enemies.

The Adamantine Splint Armour and Disintegrating Night Walkers work together to make your Lockadin very tanky and mobile – these items are so good that they’ll remain viable for the whole game.

One final note about the Broodmother’s Revenge – at this stage of the game, it is tricky to reliably activate the item’s bonus damage. You may want to temporarily replace it for that reason. But don’t sell it, because later in the game, we can combine it with another item that will activate it every turn.

Endgame Equipment

The endgame gear for the Lockadin can be obtained either in late Act 2 or Act 3 of Baldur’s Gate 3. If you manage to complete all the items below, you will be an unstoppable force of power. Essential items are written in Bold Italic.

Slot	Icon	Item	Effects	Location
Head		Diadem of Arcane Synergy	Inflicting a condition gives you Arcane Synergy for 2 turns.  Arcane Synergy adds your spellcasting (Charisma) modifier to your attack damage.	Carried by Ardent Jhe’rezath in the Inquisitor’s Chamber of the Githyanki Creche.
Cloak		Cloak of Displacement	Every turn, enemies have Disadvantage on Attack Rolls against you. Effect ends when you take damage, but is renewed at the start of your next turn.	Sold at Danthelon’s Dancing Axe in Wyrm’s Crossing.
Chest		Adamantine Splint Armour	Enemies cannot land Critical Hits on you Reduces all incoming damage by 2 Melee attackers are sent Reeling, reducing their Attack Rolls by 1	Must be crafted at the Adamantine Forge.
Gloves		Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength	Increase your Strength to 23 +1 to Strength Saving Throws Once this is equipped, do a Respec and put all your Strength points into other Abilities	Taken from a pedestal in the archive of the House of Hope.
Boots		Helldusk Boots	You are immune to Difficult Terrain You cannot be forcibly moved by enemy spells or actions You can use Hellcrawler to teleport and deal Fire Damage	Found in Gortash’s personal chest at the top of Wyrm’s Rock Fortress
Necklace		Broodmother’s Revenge	When you are healed, your next attack deals an extra 1d6 Poison Damage. Can be triggered once per turn.	Looted from Kagha in the Druid Grove.
Ring 1		Ring of Regeneration	You heal 1d4 HP at the start of every turn. Activates Broodmother’s Revenge	Sold by either Rolan or Lorroakan’s Projection in Sorcerous Sundries
Ring 2		Risky Ring	You gain Advantage on Attack Rolls but Disadvantage on Saving Throws. Must be combined with the Helldusk Boots to help mitigate the Saving Throw debuff.	Sold by Araj Oblodra in Moonrise Towers
Melee Mainhand		Balduran’s Giantslayer	Doubles the damage bonus from your Strength Modifier Advantage when attacking foes who are Large or above Use Enlarge once per Short Rest, making your character bigger and stronger Important: Because we respecced out of Strength, this only works when you’ve equipped the Giant Strength Gauntlets, or drink a  Giant Strength Elixir. Don’t use it if you don’t have these!	Looted from Ansur in the Dragon’s Sanctum
Ranged Weapon		The Dead Shot	Passively increases your Critical Hit chance, even when fighting in melee. You don’t need to actually use the bow, just equip it for the passive effect.	Sold by Fytz in Stormshore Armoury

Here is a summary of how these items work together to boost this Lockadin Build for Baldur’s Gate 3:

Lockadin Build Extra Info

Here is some extra information that will help you to get the most out of this Warlock & Paladin Multiclass Build in Baldur’s Gate 3.

How to Play this Lockadin Build

Early-Game Basics

In the early part of the game, the Lockadin only has the Paladin class, so playing it is very simple because there are no multiclassing synergies to be aware of.

Be sure to use your Smite spells and subclass actions like Abjure Enemy to efficiently take down high-priority targets.

From level 4, you can use Great Weapon Master to get bonus damage against enemies at the cost of some Attack Roll accuracy. You can partially negate this penalty when you obtain the Gloves of the Growling Underdog.

Maximising the Build for Mid-Late Game

When you begin unlocking Warlock class features later in the game, the build starts to become more interesting. Ensure you are always bound to your weapon, otherwise the build won’t work properly!

When you get the Hill Giant Strength Gauntlets and combine them with Balduran’s Giantslayer, you will benefit from adding both your Strength Modifier and your Charisma Modifier to your weapon attacks, as well as other boosts such as the Broodmother’s Revenge.

Playing the build in combat is really simple and strongly resembles playing as a normal Paladin, except you can attack three times per action instead of twice. You also benefit from some additional spells from the Warlock class, and the juiced-up Eldritch Blast cantrip that can knock back targets.

Lockadin Build Illithid Powers (optional)

Illithid Powers are unlocked later in BG3 when you learn more about Mind Flayers and Tadpoles. By eating Jars of Mind Flayer Parasites you gain one point. This is another optional skill tree that you can get access to if you want. Here are some of the best Illithid Powers for the BG3 Lockadin Build:

Lockadin Build FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions related to the BG3 Lore Warlock & Paladin Multiclass Build. Most of these questions have already been answered in the guide itself.

• What’s the best race for a Warlock Paladin Multiclass Build?
• What roles can the Lockadin fill in my party?
• What abilities are most important for the Lockadin?
• Which Warlock and Paladin subclasses should I use?

FAQ: What’s the best race for a Warlock Paladin Multiclass Build?

While any race will work just fine for this build, the best options are:

• Half-Orc – Deals more damage when you land a Critical Hit, making the Half-Orc the best race in the game for a melee heavy-hitter.
• Wood Elf – Very high mobility, resistance to effects like magical sleep and Charm, innate Darkvision. The extra Movement Speed is an underrated bonus that allows you to outrun foes.
• Duergar – Gives you innate Superior Darkvision. Allows you to wear Medium Armour. Gives you Resistance to Poison Damage and Advantage against the Poisoned, Charmed and Paralysed effects. This wide range of bonuses makes the Duergar very tough.

For more info about the best races, see the Best Race section above.

FAQ: What roles can the Lockadin fill in my party?

The Lockadin is primarily a melee heavy-hitter who can also use spells to buff their own damage or lock down enemies with stuns and debuffs.

It can also do a decent job of healing allies when needed, but ideally, this job should be done by a Cleric or Druid.

FAQ: What Abilities are most important for the Lockadin?

• Charisma is the most important ability. It is used to determine the success rate of your spells and helps in dialogue checks. When you unlock the ability to bind with your weapon, it will also be used for weapon attack rolls.
• Strength is very important in the early-game. But when you unlock the ability to bind with your weapon, it is no longer needed. At that point, you should respec to redistribute the points.
• Constitution should always be at least 14 for any build in Baldur’s Gate 3, and this one is no different. This gives you a necessary baseline of HP and helps you to resist a wide range of hostile effects with Constitution Saving Throws. It also helps you to keep Concentration on spells when you take damage. Later on, we respec and boost it to 16.

FAQ: Which Warlock and Paladin subclasses should I use?

• For the Warlock, I recommend the Hexblade subclass because it gets more melee buffs and makes it easier to land critical hits on enemies.
• For the Paladin, I opted for the Oath of Vengeance because you get a couple of features that are particularly handy for a melee heavy hitter, such as Abjure Enemy, which makes your attacks more accurate against a chosen target. The Oathbreaker is also a very good option. But all of the Paladin subclasses work okay.

Related Guides for Baldur’s Gate 3

• Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds Database
• Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds Tier List