Multiclassing Builds for Beginners

Simple Multiclassing Builds and Explainations on How to Use them for Beginners

For Beginners

This guide is meant for beginners who just started out with Baldur's Gate 3 and are looking for additional resources to learn the ropes. This guide is to be understood as a simple add-on to my existing guides for Beginners.
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In this guide I will present you with Multiclassing Builds to try out and explainations on how to use them. This guide is not meant for advanced players as I am going to keep things simple in my explainations. That means you are not to expect detailed information about how to build them or equipment which might or might not fit the builds. Take this as basis for interested beginners who want to try out Multiclassing for the first time and/or understand popular builds to get started.

Artillery Tank Sorcerer

Fighter 2 / Draconic Sorcerer Red Dragon Ancestry 10

The main feature of this build is the combination of the Fighter's Action Surge, which grants one more Action Point and the Sorcerer's Quickened Spell Metamagic, which allows you to cast a spell using a Bonus Action - resulting in total to up to three spell attacks in a single turn.

Best used at the beginning of an encounter to effectively thin out the enemy's ranks.



Thanks to the Fighter's proficiencies in Shields and Heavy Armour a very high Armour Class can be reached, making the Sorcerer near invulnerable when having the Shield spell at the ready.
Since the Sorcerer will prefer the usage of spells and cantrips over weapons, taking the Defence Fighting Style to increase the Armour Class by 1 while wearing armour is recommended.

The Draconic Sorcerer's ancestry adds at class level 6 Elemental Affinity: Damage, adding your Charisma modifier to the spell's damage. That means e.g. Firebolt and Fireball become stronger by the value of your spellcasting modifier when going for the Red Dragon ancestry. The focus on Red Dragon and fire spells is recommended due to the spells available to learn and to use.

The alternative subclasses Storm Sorcerer as well as Wild Magic are great as well, wheras Storm Sorcery gives you additional mobility by using Fly as Bonus Action after casting a level 1 spell or higher and nice close combat area of effects - while Wild Magic provides effective party support by influencing dice rolls to a certain extent, at the risk of Wild Magic incidents.

Recommended Ability Scores Focus
Dexterity / Constitution / Charisma

Suggestion for Beginners: STR 10 DEX 13 CON 14 INT 10 WIS 12 CHA 17

Recommended Feat(s)
Alert - to maximise the advantage of having the first attack

Ability Improvement - if using the suggestion for beginners above, increase Dexterity and Charisma each by 1 to get +1 modifier boni from those Ability Scores

Charismatic Allrounder Knight

Paladin Oath of the Ancients 6 / Storm Sorcerer 6

The so called "Sorcadin" (Sorcerer x Paladin) might be just the thing for you if you wish to play a spellblade class which goes beyond the Eldritch Knight subclass of the Fighter.

What makes this Multiclassing work is the shared Spellcasting Ability Score, which is Charisma.

Paladin and Sorcerer, both, use for their spellcasting Charisma, leading to the result that a Paladin can cast Sorcerers' spells at the same class level equally good - and vice versa.

Now you might wonder: would a pure Paladin/pure Sorcerer not be better when it comes to pure spellcasting? And you would be right that it is so. This build aims towards flexibility where on the one hand the supportive and tough skills of the Paladin make for a fine melee warrior who can even compete with Clerics. While on the other hand the lack of ranged offensive abilities of the Paladin is compensated quite nicely with the Sorcerer's spells. Resulting overall in a strong allrounder on the frontlines.



Should you prefer a different oath for your Paladin, it would still work well. However, Oath of the Ancients offers spells of a much bigger utility when combined with Sorcerer. The Storm Sorcerer's Fly via Bonus Action after casting a level 1 or higher spell and the area of effect attacks when casting thunder/lightning spells round the melee fighting Paladin well up.

Recommended Ability Scores Focus
Strength / Constitution / Charisma

Suggestion for Beginners: STR 16 DEX 8 CON 14 INT 10 WIS 10 CHA 16

Recommended Feat(s)
Great Weapon Master - make sure not to forget that the sub-ability Great Weapon Master: All In it is a togglable ability; activate and deactivate it whenever it makes most sense to you. The extra damage means little if you cannot hit your enemy because of that. Counter the malus with support spells such as Bless

War Caster - great to ensure that the support spells you cast, such as Bless or Haste are maintained. The Shocking Grasp as an opportunity attack synergies well with Storm Sorcery

The Bard

Rogue Thief 3 / College of Swords Bard 6 / Ranger Hunter 3

Trust me: I tried long and hard to come up with a nice moniker for this build. But nothing describes it more than just "The Bard", as Bards are by nature Jacks of all Trades one must not underestimate. If that was not enough already, there is a playstyle with Multiclassing which make Bards not only useful outside of combat, but turn them also into absolute powerhouses on the battlefield.

Thanks to the usefulness of a Rogue early on and how approachable Bard as a class is, this is a build even beginners can enjoy.



The main playstyle for this build is dual wielding. Either with two Finesse melee weapons or two hand crossbows. The Rogue's subclass Thief provides us with an additional Bonus Action per turn, which in combination with Extra Attack from College of Swords allows us to attack up to four times per turn.

Not only is the extra Bonus Action nice to increase the overall attack power of the Bard, but it also gives us great utility by allowing us to use the Bonus Action for extra weapon coatings, cunning actions, and/or drinking potions. Something you do not want to miss once you have gotten used to it.

The build rounds up with the Hunter's subclass feature Colossus Slayer. A typical attack goes like this: off-hand attack to get the enemies health points below their maximum, so Colossus Slayer can trigger, then shower the enemy with continous attacks from there on, either with or without weapon coatings to deal extra damage and increase accuracy. Top it with the Sharpshooter Feat and you get a power-up of up to a maximum of 70 damage extra per turn. *

Recommended Ability Scores Focus
Dexterity / Constitution / Charisma

Suggestion for Beginners: STR 10 DEX 16 CON 14 INT 10 WIS 12 CHA 14

Recommended Feat(s)
Sharpshooter - make sure not to forget that the sub-ability Sharpshooter: All In it is a togglable ability; activate and deactivate it whenever it makes most sense to you. The extra damage means little if you cannot hit your enemy because of that. Counter the malus with support spells such as Bless or coat your Hand Crossbows with oil to increase accuracy

* the extra 70 damage is a result of adding the boni from several class skills together and only reflects the maximum possible damage. The actual extra damage may vary. The calculation used here is (4x +10 from Sharpshooter: All In considering extra attack and off-hand attacks are used for hand crossbows attacks) + 4d8 from Colossus Slayer + (2x Ability Modifier of 3 for off-hand attacks from Two-Weapon Fighting Fighting Style obtainable from Bard College of Swords). The Archery Fighting Style obtainable from Ranger increases the chances to hit with Sharpshooter: All In **
** yes, this is the power of Multiclassing

Berserker Atlatl

Barbarian Berserker 8 / Rogue Thief 4

Without doubts: there is very little which can be done to improve a powerful class such as the Barbarian. But extra Action Points, even if those are "just" Bonus Action Points still can make a great difference.



Once more we are going to make good use of the Rogue Thief's subclass feature, of having one Bonus Action Point more than we normally would have. We do not go for dual hand crossbow this time, but instead for a Feat which is called Tavern Brawler. While it sounds funny, it is a Feat to behold, as it adds the Strength modifier twice as extra damage when dealing unarmed attacks or throwing. That means at an Ability Score of 18, which grants us +4 Strength modifier, it will result in 2x +4 extra damage.

That Feat synergises with Thief and Great Weapon Master especially well, as we benefit greatly from the Berserker's Frenzy attacks.

While you might be at first hesistant to throw your weapons at enemies, be patient. Later on the game will reward thorough explorers handsomely with powerful weapons which gives you the feeling of wielding a weapon like Mjolnir which always returns into your hands. Until then, having a few weapons in reserve until you pick them up again is not so bad, as you would have a variety with you anyroads to switch for different damage types.

And then there is also so many more things you could throw. Grenades, furniture, enemies...



I recommend to invest the four levels into Rogue Thief after you have reached class level 5 with Barbarian. At that way level you gain access to the Extra Attack which makes a great impact in your battle performance, and therefore it should not be delayed.

Recommended Ability Scores Focus
Strength / Dexterity / Constitution

Suggestion for Beginners: STR 17 DEX 14 CON 16 INT 8 WIS 10 CHA 8

Recommended Feat(s)
Tavern Brawler - with your Strength modifier added twice to the damage when you throw something or make unarmed attacks, this Feat is a must have to get most of this build with the combination of Enraged Throw and additional Bonus Action from Thief

Great Weapon Master - make sure not to forget that the sub-ability Great Weapon Master: All In it is a togglable ability; activate and deactivate it whenever it makes most sense to you. The extra damage means little if you cannot hit your enemy because of that. Counter the malus with support spells such as Bless

Ability Improvement - if using the suggestion for beginners above, increase Strength to 20 to get +2 modifier boni from the Ability Scores (17 +1 from Tavern Brawler +2 from Ability Improvement); that will also increase the overall utility of Tavern Brawler in the long run

Bonus Knowledge

What is the Doomstalker?

And why is it not listed here?
Well, long story short: it is a Multiclassing Build I see unfit for beginners.

Rogue Assassin 5 / Ranger Gloom Stalker 5 / Fighter 2

It is a very popular build based entirely on the pure initial damage output as a result of Assassin's Alacrity, Dread Ambusher, Action Surge and Assassinate: Ambush.

Imagine it like this: an experienced player can take out entire encounters with a single character. It is that strong if you know what you are doing and make use of your experience of the game. And that is the crux on the matter => it does not work well for beginners.

The Doomstalker build works best when you already know about where to find the enemies, what kind of enemies you deal with and how many, as it makes best use of the surprise attack tactic. When an enemy is under the condition Surprised, they start the battle without any Action Points, resulting in you and your party having an unstoppable and uncountered first strike.

In combination with the features mentioned above, the Doom Stalker can dish out with dual hand crossbows up to seven attacks even before the enemy can react. And if they do it from a far distant they might even be able to take out enemies without triggering the encounter. Assassination at its best.

You cannot use that build as a beginner without spoiling the first time adventure experience. Because you either have to make constant use of reloading a savegame, or scout in a paranoid way while constantly using Insivibility. Neither is a fun way to play the game.

Therefore not recommended for beginners.

Trivia: Ambush Enemies

A similar ambush-effect on enemies is used by familiar users, such as Warlock e.g., who send out their invisible Quasit/Imp to start an attack. As long as an enemy is attacked from invisibility the Surprised condition can be applied on them. As you can tell, that is rather an advanced tactic.

What about build XYZ?

I could present you with some more builds, but it would not really add anything to the existing builds. As in: as you have noticed, classes are better and therefore more popular for Multiclassing, such as Thief with their extra Bonus Action. The Berserker build above can be easily replaced with a Monk build which uses the same mechanic.

Or the also popular

Fighter 2 / The Fiend Pact of the Blade Warlock 5 / Red Draconic Sorcerer 5

At some point they all become very similar in the basics on how to Multiclass them and why to Multiclass them. Plus there are many builds which are outright boring to play as they do little less than exploiting game mechanics like the Doomstalker does.

Think of this guide as a start of your journey into Multiclassing. Use these beginner builds as orientation. It is part of the fun to come up with interesting combinations which you might like but are unfit for beginners. Whether it is a Druid/Barbarian combo to benefit from Rage/Frenzy or a Cleric/Ranger combo as powerful support class - there are plenty of combinations just waiting to be discovered by you. To help you out, have here a list of popular dips * for orientation:

* as in dipping for a single level or two in exchange for the level 11/12 class features, which are often negligible

Popular Dips

Fighter 2
Action Surge grants you one additional Action Point and recovers via Short Rest. So you get one extra Action Point more or less for every encounter, assuming you use a Short Rest after every encounter. In addition to that the Heavy Armour, Martial Weapons Proficiency and Fighting Style are great additions.

Tempest Cleric 2
What people are after is here the Destructive Wrath ability which maximises Thunder/Lightning damage via channeling Divinity. That means a spell like Lightning Bolt which deals 8d6 = 8~48 damage, automatically deals 48 damage instead. Applying that on enemies who got the condition Wet that would result in up to 96 damage per target.

Fighter 1 or Tempest Cleric 1
Popular among spellcasters who are after the Heavy Armour Proficiency. I recommend Fighter over Tempest Cleric, as Fighter has the option to gain +1 to Armour Class via Fighting Style. On the other hand the Tempest Cleric comes free spells. The effect to deal damage when getting hit? We do not want to get hit, so that is rather irrelevant.

Paladin 2
Regardless of the oath, at level 2 the Paladin gets Smite which can be used as an immense extra damage output. Heavy Armour Proficiency, Fighting Style and Martial Weapons Proficiency makes it a nice dip.

Rogue Thief or Assassin 3 (4)
Either for the extra Bonus Action from Thief or the explained Assassin combo above with Doomstalker. Since from 3 to 4 is only one level, it is in most cases better to go for Rogue class level 4 to gain the bonus Feat.

Circle of the Spores Druid 2
Symbiotic Entity and Halo of Spores work great with classes which deal necrotic damage as their staple, such as Warlocks.

Warlock 2 or Pact of the Blade Warlock 5
This dip is either about Eldritch Blast and the Eldritch Invocation Agonising Blast, which makes Eldritch Blast more potent by adding the Charisma modifier as extra damage to each beam of Eldritch Blast. With Charisma 18 and therefore a modifier of +4 it equals +12 fixed damage. Add Repelling Blast and have an Eldritch Blast which is quite deadly and useful to keep enemies at bay while killing them.

If one wants more Warlock then it has to be Pact of the Blade Warlock level 5, for the deepened Pact which adds an Extra Attack with the Pact Weapon. Pact of the Blade is already quite strong due to its versatility for melee characters, but it becomes ridiculous strong considering that the Deepened Pact Extra Attack can stack with the regular Extra Attack from other classes.

Good to know: the Warlock is lacking spell slots. But their spell slots recover with a Short Rest. Think about the possibilities ~

Thanks for Reading!

A few last words before you go: these guides of mine are not to be meant nor understood as manuals as in "if you do not do it like this, you do it wrong". These guides are for guidance-giving you orientation/inspiration and additional understanding which the game offers little or not. Nothing more and nothing less.

It is for that reason why I leave out so much what other guides have, such as locations of equipment, level tree, special abilities and power-ups etc. All those things are missing here because I want you -you, the beginner- to be able to fully enjoy the game without spoilers to the story and with the chance to explore and discover the amazing game of Baldur's Gste 3 by your own.

I do understand the attraction of Multiclassing, and there is merit to learn it and it can even prove helpful for new players who struggle with certain things - such as "feeling weak and squishy" while playing a spellcaster. Multiclassing can help you with that.

But by the end of the day what you do with your character, in your personal adventure unique for you, is a result of your own decisions and actions. And for that I wholeheartedly wish you only the best and as much fun and joy as possible, with Multiclassing just one more option to enjoy the game to your heart's contents. With that being written ~

Happy Adventuring!

...and thank you so much for your support.