There’s a terrific amount of options available for character creation in Baldur’s Gate 3, which you can tinker with as much or as little as you please. New players can simply choose a preset build, while experienced RPG fans can create the character they choose. Plus, you’re not restricted to a single character class. As you level up, if you feel a character is lacking in a department, you can choose to go multi-class. If you’re considering this, and like the idea of a warrior that can also cast devastating spells, read on for my BG3 Fighter Warlock build.
Best Fighter Warlock Build in Baldur’s Gate 3
Relatively early into the game, BG3 gifts you with Wyll, a human Warlock, and Lae’zel, a githyanki Fighter, so either one can be given the Fighter Warlock treatment. Alternatively, you can make your personally created main character into one. Whichever you choose, the main draws are that you get to stack both classes’ extra attacks (for a total of three actions per turn), you benefit from short rests in both classes, plus the combination of armor and weapon proficiency with spellcasting gives a lot of versatility to your party.
Related: Fighter Build Guide – Best Skills and Subclass (BG3)
There isn’t an awful lot to choose between the races, so if you want to RP this you should choose anything you please. The real skill here is in getting the leveling of the classes and your stats right to take full advantage of their synergy. However, I personally would choose Drow. You get Superior Darkvision, giving you a longer spell-casting range, plus immunity to some annoying abilities such as Charm and sleep. Here are the starting ability scores I’ve settled on:
- Strength: 10
- Dexterity: 13
- Constitution: 15 (with +1 bonus)
- Intelligence: 10
- Wisdom: 10
- Charisma: 17 (with +2 bonus)
The thinking here is that at level 3 Warlock you’ll be able to switch to Charisma as your damage-dealing stat thanks to Pact Boon (see below), meaning Charisma will be your main stat for both spells and melee. I don’t like to have any stats that give -1 to Saving Throws, hence all the less important stats being at 10. However, you could take the hit on any of them to bolster Dexterity or Constitution.
Dexterity is useful as it helps your position in turn order (Initiative), as well as avoiding ranged attacks, while Constitution gives you a bonus to your Hip Points (HP). Remember that for 100 Gold you’ll be able to respec later, so you may want to put your Strength to 16 until you reach Warlock level 3.
Best Fighter Warlock class and spell progression
Choosing the right order for your early levels in this Fighter Warlock build is crucial to its success. However, once you reach the mid-game, you’ll have more flexibility to choose your own path based on your party’s requirements.
Fighter 1
Starting out as a Fighter gives you a large array of armor and weapon proficiencies. Plus, if you choose the Defence Fighting style, you’ll have a permanent +1 to your Armour class (AC), making you harder to hit, and the Second Wind ability, which gives you a nice self-heal.
Fighter 1/Warlock 1
I take The Great Old One subclass here, as when you land a Crit you have the chance to give nearby enemies the Frightened status. For spells, definitely take Armor of Agathys (temporary HP bonus and you deal Cold damage to attackers) and Hellish Rebuke (deal Fire damage to your attackers), making you a great tank.
Related: Eldritch Knight Build Guide BG3
Fighter 1/Warlock 2
Take Hex for your spell, which makes your attacks deal extra damage while giving your attacker a Disadvantage effect. For Invocations I take Agonizing Blast and Repelling Blast. These both improve your standard Eldritch Blast ranged attack, pushing hit creatures while adding your Charisma bonus to your damage.
Fighter 1/Warlock 3
This is an important one, as you get your Pact Boon. Take Pact of the Blade, which allows you to either summon a Pact Weapon or imbue your current weapon to use your Charisma bonus as your damage multiplier. You can also take your first level 2 spell. I suggest either Cloud of Daggers (AOE damage) or Shatter (nearby enemies), as both attack multiple enemies.
Fighter 1/Warlock 4
You’ll get your first Feat here, so take Ability Improvement and put a point into Charisma for the extra damage bonus. If you’ve followed my stat guide above, put the second point into Dexterity to gain a bonus there too. I’d take the spell you didn’t take at level 3 Warlock here, or Darkness if you feel you need it in the party.
Fighter 1/Warlock 5
The melee side of the build really comes into its own now, as you gain Deepened Pact. This gives you an extra melee attack each round. In addition, you get your first third-level spell. There are lots of good options here, so look to what your party needs. I like Hunger of Hadar, which creates a damage-dealing cloud your enemies are forced to flee from.
Fighter 2/Warlock 5
Fighter 2 gives you Action Surge, which gives you an extra action to use in the round. This can only be used once between each short rest but means you now have a massive amount of damage-dealing potential in one round of each major battle.
Fighter 3/Warlock 5
Here you get to choose a Fighter Subclass. The popular choice is Battle Master, which gives you three fighting manoeuvers. But in this build, I prefer to take Champion, which takes your chance of landing critical hits from one in 20 to one in 10.
Fighter 4/Warlock 5
The only choice here is to take a second Feat. If you take Ability Improvement again, you can now bump your Charisma up to its maximum of 20 for the largest possible damage bonus.
Fighter 5/Warlock 5
No choices here, but the important thing is you get the Fighter Extra Attack Feature. As this currently stacks with Deepened Pact, you’ll have three attacks per turn as standard. No other extra attack features in the game double up, so this is a truly tasty advantage.
After this I would put the last few levels into Warlock to take advantage of some extra spells, choosing whatever options fill any gaps in your party’s arsenal.
How to play Fighter Warlock in BG3
Following this build guide, you’ll have a frontline melee tank that can also deal a lot of damage, while also having the AOE and crowd control spell capability to deal with multiple targets. It’s a potentially soloable build, especially as the high Charisma means you’ll also cope well with most NPC interactions. In a party, I’d always add a Thief and a Cleric to deal with locks, traps, and healing, adding a second melee character or other damage dealer as necessary.
For more Baldur’s Gate 3 content, take a look at BG3 Swords Bard Fighter Multiclass Build – Best Stats & Spells or our Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) Jaheira Build Guide right here at Steam Game Guides!
