Best Cleric Builds – Baldur’s Gate 3

This category contains all of our Cleric Builds for Baldur’s Gate 3. We have a build for all Cleric subclasses in the game, and a build for Shadowheart.

•  Death Domain Cleric
•  Knowledge Domain Cleric
•  Life Domain Cleric (Healer)
•  Light Domain Cleric
•  Nature Domain Cleric
•  Tempest Domain Cleric
•  Trickery Domain Cleric
•  War Domain Cleric
•  Shadowheart Build

Death Domain Build

The BG3 Cleric of Death Build focuses on Necromancy and dealing extra Necrotic Damage to enemies. They can spend their Channel Oath charges to infuse Necrotic Damage into their melee attacks, including melee Spell Attack Rolls. They can split Necromancy Cantrips that usually target one creature, allowing them to hit two enemies instead.

Knowledge Domain Build

Adaptable and adroit in all manner of languages and skills, your mind is an intellectual cup brimming with exquisite knowing.

As their name suggests, Knowledge Domain Clerics are well-studied and know a lot about the world around them, enjoying access to extra Skill Proficiencies. At higher levels, they get to read the thoughts of characters they speak to, and can buff their Cantrips with extra damage sourced from their Wisdom Modifier.

The BG3 Knowledge Cleric Build gets innate access to spells that mainly focus on debuffing and stunning enemies.

Life Domain Healer Build

Tasked with the holy edict of preserving the body, mind, and soul, your god grants you a plethora of healing magics.

The BG3 Life Domain Cleric Build is focused on maximising your healing output. You get an extra Action called  Preserve Life, which lets you heal nearby allies. You also get a passive called  Disciple of Life that adds extra HP to your healing spells, and at higher levels, you also restore your own health when you heal an ally. The Life Cleric gets automatic access to spells that heal and protect your allies. They also get Heavy Armour Proficiency.

Life Clerics are very well suited to a healer, or healer/tank hybrid build. The only downside is that they have fewer damage options than some other Cleric subclasses, but they can mostly make up for this at higher levels when you gain access to more powerful spells.

Light Domain Build

Gods of primordial flame bathe you in resplendent light, providing magics to dispel darkness and immolate enemies.

The BG3 Light Domain Cleric Build gets access to  Warding Flare, which lets you spend your Reaction to impose Disadvantage on an attacker. At higher levels, you can also protect your allies with this ability. Light Clerics also get access to the  Radiance of the Dawn Action, which deals AoE Radiant Damage to all nearby enemies. The AoE damage is already very helpful, but in this build guide, we will see how this synergises with some equipment to make the Light Domain Cleric great at debuffing enemies as well as damaging them.

The Light Domain Cleric gets access to a lot of AoE Spells that revolve around light and fire. The only downside of this subclass is that it can’t wear Heavy Armour, but with the help of Warding Flare, it doesn’t really need it.

Nature Domain Build

You embody the vast viridian power of the natural world, an avatar of the subtle divinity of fruitfall, avian migration, woodland silence, and the landslide’s roaring fury.

The BG3 Nature Domain Cleric Build combines the Cleric class with a couple of aspects of the Druid class, but stops far short of the Druid’s animal transformations (you’ll need to multiclass if you want your Cleric to be able to do that). They gain access to one Druid Cantrip and can use their Cleric powers to Charm nearby Animals and Plants for 10 turns.

At higher levels, they can use a Reaction to protect their allies against Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning and Thunder Damage (halving the damage of one attack of these types), and can use  Divine Strike to deal 1d8 extra Cold, Fire or Lightning Damage with their weapon attacks. Their innate Domain Spells include spells that channel the forces of nature to hinder and damage allies, including the powerful Insect Plague spell at level 9.

Tempest Domain Build

Your faith has made you the very thunder that quakes the black firmament, the lightning coursing through the veins of a terrible storm.

The BG3 Tempest Cleric Build channels the power of storms to bolster your combat prowess. They can use their Reaction to retaliate against attacking enemies with Lightning or Thunder damage. They can also use their Reaction, along with a Channel Divinity Charge, to force one of their Lightning or Thunder attacks to deal the maximum possible damage.

At higher levels, they can push enemies away by hitting them with any Lightning or Thunder damage, and they can use   Divine Strike to infuse their weapon strikes with 1d8 Thunder Damage. Tempest Domain Clerics get access to a pretty strong range of innate Spells, including  Call Lightning,  Freedom of Movement and  Insect Plague. They also get Proficiency with Heavy Armour and all Martial Weapons.

Tempest Domain is a decent subclass, but I think it falls a bit short of the Light and Life subclasses.

Trickery Domain Cleric

You wield the unorthodox divine tools of deceit and illusion in worship of your chosen deity.

Trickery Domain Clerics are good at stealth and manipulation. They can summon illusions to distract enemies, and can use  Blessing of the Trickster to grant a friend Advantage on Stealth checks. At higher levels, they can become Invisible if they are already obscured by shadows.

The BG3 Trickery Cleric Build can be useful if your party is centred on Stealth and you want your Cleric to buff this aspect of your party.

War Domain Cleric

Fortified by holy zeal, you brandish an arsenal of sacramental savagery to use against those you deem unrighteous.

The BG3 War Cleric Build gives your Cleric automatic access to Heavy Armour and Martial Weapon Proficiency. They get a unique resource called War Priest Charges, which can be spent to make additional attacks as a Bonus Action.

They can also spend a Channel Divinity Charge to add a +10 bonus to one of their Attack Rolls, making a hit very likely. At higher levels, this benefit can be extended to allies. They can also use   Divine Strike to deal 1d8 bonus damage with their weapons (from level 8).