Best BG3 Lae’zel Build Guide – Maximum Damage!
Welcome to the Best BG3 Lae’zel Build. In this guide, we will explain how to create a powerful build for Lae’zel in Baldur’s Gate 3, suitable for all difficulties. We’re going to use the Champion subclass of the Fighter for this build, due to its especially high damage potential. This build works great regardless of whether you have Lae’zel as your origin character or a recruitable companion, and it works for both PC and Console (PS5 and Xbox Series X/S).
Please visit our Best BG3 Builds overview page for more builds or check out our Best BG3 Fighter Build with the Battle Master subclass. To get an overview of all classes, please visit the BG3 Classes overview page.
Table of Contents for the BG3 Lae’zel Build:
- Introduction to the Lae’zel Build
- Lae’zel Build & Levelling Guide
- Lae’zel Build Equipment
- Lae’zel Build Extra Info
Pros BG3 Lae’zel Build
- Very powerful melee fighter
- Decent ranged ability
- High Critical Hit chance
- Can make multiple attacks per turn
- Can wear Heavy Armour
Cons BG3 Lae’zel Build
- Tends to take a lot of damage in the early game
- Can’t cast Spells
BG3 Fighter Class Guide
Lae’zel uses the Fighter class, which is a very powerful frontline melee class that still has decent ranged capabilities. The BG3 Fighter can execute multiple attacks per turn, which is a huge plus. Heavy Armour is the gear of choice for the fighter; this makes your AC (Armour Class) higher than most other classes, and therefore, you are harder to take down while dealing immense damage, several times a turn!
The early game might be a bit rough because Lae’zel will get targeted a lot by enemies and doesn’t have her damage potential and mobility yet, but starting with level 5 and upwards the Fighter class gets a lot more powerful. Therefore, make sure to be a little patient and don’t immediately reroll at low levels. For our build, we are going to use Great Weapons (anything that is wielded with both hands). For example, a Greatsword, Greataxe, Greatclub, or a Glaive will do. Make sure to select the “Great Weapon Fighting” Fighting Style when you create your Fighter character. This allows us to avoid rolling a 1 or 2 on a damage die, thus increasing our overall damage.
At level two, you already get an action called Action Surge that allows you to gain an extra action on your current turn – you can use this once per Short Rest. At level 5 you get a free Extra Attack too. At level 11 you will get another free Extra Attack. Additionally, with the right Potions or equipment, you can increase your attacks per turn further. At the end of the guide, we’ll explain how to utilize potions to maximise your damage output.
Why We’re Using the Champion Subclass
For our Lae’zel Fighter Build, we are using the Champion subclass.
The Champion is, on the surface, a simpler subclass than Battle Master and Eldritch Knight. We don’t get access to the special Battle Master Actions or any spells, but we do get passive abilities that boost our raw damage output and mobility.
The most important Champion passive is unlocked as soon as you choose the subclass at Level 3 – the number needed for a Critical Hit is reduced by 1, at this point from 20 to 19. This effectively doubles your Critical Hit chance. Later on, this buff can be stacked with other similar buffs so that you can land even more Critical Hits.
At Level 7, your jumping range is increased further, and half of your Proficiency Bonus is added to buff any Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution Checks that you are not Proficient with. These buffs are less important, but they can still come in handy in some situations.
At Level 10, you can choose one more Fighting Style, which is usually best assigned to the Archery Fighting Style to buff your Ranged Attacks.
The Champion has the best damage potential out of all of the Fighter subclasses overall, mostly thanks to the increased Critical Chance. However, you can also use this build for the Battle Master subclass if you want.
How to Recruit Lae’zel in BG3
If you’re a first-time player, this section contains mild spoilers.
You will first encounter Lae’zel during the prologue when escaping from the Nautiloid. However, you’ll be separated from her at the end of this segment.
You can find Lae’zel again quite quickly after spawning on the beach in Act I. Go through or around the crashed Nautiloid and head north towards the Druid Grove. You will find Lae’zel in a cage being watched by two Tieflings, directly west of the Refectory Ruins. When you get close enough, she will link with you telepathically via the Mind Flayer Tadpoles, demanding that you get rid of the Tieflings and set her free. You can either convince the Tieflings to leave or kill them and then set Lae’zel free by using a ranged attack on the bottom of the cage. She will then engage you in conversation, and you can then recruit her to your party or to your camp.
You can also set Lae’zel free without speaking to the Tieflings by attacking the bottom of the cage, but this will cause them to become hostile to you and Lae’zel, and a battle will ensue.
Also note that the Tieflings can become hostile if you let Lae’zel out, even if you persuaded them to go away. To avoid this, wait a few seconds until they have moved out of line of sight before opening the cage.
How (and Why) to Respec Lae’Zel in BG3
When recruited to your party as a companion, Lae’zel will start off with a sub-optimal Ability and Skill distribution, and I highly recommend fixing this as soon as possible. To do this, you need to respec Lae’zel. Before you can respec, you must find Withers, a special NPC who is recruited to your camp. (If you chose Lae’zel in Character Creation, then you can set her Abilities and Skills immediately and don’t need to respec her, but you should still go and recruit Withers anyway).
To find Withers, recruit a full party, then head to the Refectory Ruins, roughly north of where you washed up on the beach. Enter the ruins either by brute force, stealth or sweet-talking the bandits outside. Then fight your way through and find the Skull Lever to open the secret door to gain access to the Dank Crypt. If you can’t find the Skull Lever, you can instead go back outside and head to the side-entrance mentioned above. You’ll need to Lockpick your way through if you go this way.
Once inside the Dank Crypt, head to the room with the skeletons and open a second secret door. This will cause several skeletons to attack you. Defeat them and head into the small room you opened. Interact with the big coffin and you will meet a friendly but mysterious skeleton called Withers. After you leave the Dank Crypt, he will make his way to your camp. If he’s not there immediately, be patient, he will show up sooner or later.
Once he is in your camp, speak to him as Lae’zel and ask him to change your class. This costs 100 gold. Then proceed with the build guide below, starting at Level 1 and working your way through any level-ups you did while finding Withers.
Lae’zel Build Character Creation (Level 1) for BG3
In this section, we will go over the ideal starting point at level 1 for this BG3 Lae’zel build. This is important as it effectively serves as the foundation for the rest of the build. If you start with Lae’zel as your origin character, you’ll easily be able to replicate the suggested setup at the start of the game.
If you instead recruit Lae’zel as a companion, she’ll start with slightly different abilities that are suboptimal. We strongly recommend visiting Withers in your camp with Lae’zel selected to respec her level 1 attributes to those mentioned below. See the above section about the Respec for more information.
Race
Lae’zel is a Githyanki. While probably not the absolute best race in BG3 for a melee fighter, Githyanki is still one of the better options, which is handy since it is not possible to change Lae’zel’s race without using a mod.
The most useful thing about the Githyanki race is arguably not any passive features they have, but their ability to get the full benefits from various Githyanki equipment found in the world, typically looted from other gith characters. An example of such an item is the Soulbreaker Greatsword, which deals extra Psychic damage on every strike when wielded by a Githyanki.
Gith also receive the following benefits at all times:
- Astral Knowledge – Use this Action to get Proficiency in all Skills corresponding to a chosen Ability, until your next Long Rest.
- Githyanki Psionics – Gain access to the following Spells, castable without a Spell Slot once per Long Rest, except Mage Hand which can be used at will:
- Mage Hand – Conjures a spectral hand that can interact with objects. Your Mage Hand is invisible when cast via Githyanki Psionics.
- Enhance Leap – Triple your character’s maximum jumping distance for 10 turns. This can be very helpful for mobility in some situations. Unlocked at Level 3.
- Misty Step – Teleport to a visible location within range. Unlocked at Level 5. Great for attacking a distant target or escaping if you’ve overcommitted. Only uses a Bonus Action, so you can still attack the same turn.
- Martial Prodigy – Proficiency with Light and Medium Armour, Shortswords, Longswords and Greatswords, regardless of class. The Fighter class has Proficiency with all of this anyway, so this isn’t doing anything for us in this case.
Abilities
It’s important for the efficacy of the Champion Build that you have Strength and Constitution as high as possible at Level 1.
These are the only two skills that are vital for this build. In many of our other builds we recommend putting a few points in Dexterity for your Armour Class. This is less of an issue here because Heavy Armour gains no AC bonus from your Dexterity Modifier. However, we still put some points into Dexterity because it also increases your Initiative, meaning that Lae’zel is more likely to move before enemies on each turn, as well as giving a bonus to Dexterity-based Skills and some Saving Throws. You could put these points into another Skill like Wisdom, though, and it wouldn’t be too much of a big deal.
Distribute your Ability points to look like this:
- 16 Strength
- 14 Dexterity
- 16 Constitution
- 8 Intelligence
- 10 Wisdom
- 10 Charisma
Bold Abilities are essential for the build, while the others can be safely tweaked if you want.
Fighting Style
For this build we’re going to concentrate on Great Weapons, so we recommend choosing the Fighting Style that matches that. Great Weapon Fighting will automatically reroll a damage die that rolls a 1 or a 2 (once per attack), which helps to ensure we don’t deal terrible damage on any of our weapon attacks.
Background and Skills
Lae’zel is locked into the Soldier Background, which gives her Proficiency in the following Skills:
- Athletics (STR) – Makes Lae’zel better at shoving enemies with the Push Action, and also helps her to resist being shoved by enemies.
- Intimidation (CHA) – Helps Lae’zel to cow some characters into doing what she wants in certain dialogue options. This won’t really do anything if you tend to use another character for dialogue, though.
Besides these two Skills sourced from Lae’zel’s Soldier Background, you can also select two other Skills to be Proficient with. Most of these are Wisdom or Intelligence Skills, which this build is not specialising in very much so they aren’t ideal, but these are the options we have so just pick a couple of them that you like the sound of. My preferred options are Perception and Survival, but you can change them if you want.
You might think that the Acrobatics Skill is a good fit because it is a Dexterity Skill, however it is a wasted pick because it mostly does the same things for you that Athletics does, which Lae’zel is already Proficient with. So I don’t recommend choosing Acrobatics even though it lines up well with your reasonably high Dexterity.
Early-Game Levelling Progression for the BG3 Lae’zel Build
In this section, we will walk you through every level up for Lae’Zel in BG3. The Champion subclass is very linear, so there aren’t many choices to make as you level up, making this section simpler than in many of our other builds.
We will start with the early-game levels, 2-4.
Level 2 – BG3 Lae’zel Build
At Level 2, you can make use of Action Surge. This grants you an extra Action on your current turn, and it can be used once per Short Rest. Use it to finish off an enemy or to survive in an emergency.
Level 3 – BG3 Lae’zel Build
At Level 3 it’s time to select your subclass. For this build we are using the Champion subclass.
The Champion immediately gains Improved Critical Hit, reducing the Attack Roll required for a Crit by 1. At this stage of the game, this reduces it from 20 to 19, effectively doubling your crit chance. This is already a considerable boost to your damage potential. Later on, this can be stacked with other passives that have a similar effect.
Level 4 – BG3 Lae’zel Build
At Level 4 you need to choose a Feat for your Champion.
We recommend choosing Ability Improvement and increasing your Strength to 18. This will improve your Attack Rolls and damage output with melee weapons, helping to boost your overall damage.
Mid-Game Levelling Progression for the BG3 Lae’zel Build
We’ll now look at the mid-game levels, 5-8.
Level 5 – BG3 Lae’zel Build
At Level 5, you will gain an extra attack. This means that every Action will now grant you two weapon attacks, instead of the usual one. Bonus Actions and Reactions are unaffected by this change.
This is very powerful and hugely increases your damage potential per turn.
Level 6 – BG3 Lae’zel Build
At Level 6 you can choose another Feat. Most classes don’t get to choose a Feat at Level 6, but the Fighter gets an extra choice here.
Once again, choose Ability Improvement and use it to increase your Strength to 20. This will improve your Strength Modifier to +5, giving you the best possible melee Attack Rolls for the time being.
Level 7 – BG3 Lae’zel Build
At Level 7, the Champion gains a couple of fairly minor passive features:
- Remarkable Athlete: Jump – Increases your Jump range by 3 metres.
- Remarkable Athlete: Proficiency – Add half of your Proficiency Bonus to any checks that you are not Proficient with. This improves your chances of succeeding a wide range of skill checks.
Level 8 – BG3 Lae’zel Build
At Level 8, you can choose another Feat for the Champion.
We strongly recommend choosing the Savage Attacker Feat. This causes Lae’zel to roll damage dice twice on each attack, and automatically choose the highest number out of the two rolls. This will significantly improve your average damage output.
Late-Game Levelling Progression for the BG3 Lae’zel Build
Finally, let’s look at the late-game levels for our BG3 Lae’zel Build, levels 9-12.
Level 9 – BG3 Lae’zel Build
At Level 9, you get the Indomitable passive. Once per Long Rest, this lets you automatically reroll a Saving Throw that you failed.
Level 10 – BG3 Lae’zel Build
At Level 10, the Champion can choose another Fighting Style. There are two options that are decent here, depending on your preferences:
- If you prefer more ranged damage potential, then choose the Archery style for a +2 bonus to Ranged Attack Rolls.
- If you would prefer better defences, then get the Defence style, which gives you +1 extra Armour Class whenever you are wearing Armour (which is probably all the time)
Level 11 – BG3 Lae’zel Build
At Level 11, your Extra Attack is replaced by Improved Extra Attack, which gives you three attacks per Action. At this point, your melee damage potential is getting huge.
Level 12 – BG3 Lae’zel Build
This is the highest level in Baldur’s Gate 3 – once you reach this point, you have finished levelling up your character.
You can choose one more Feat at Level 12. Get the Great Weapon Master feat. This gives you a couple of new bonuses:
- Great Weapon Master: Bonus Attack – When your melee attack lands a Critical Hit or kills the target, you can make another attack on the same turn using a Bonus Action.
- Great Weapon Master: All In – A toggleable passive feature that debuffs your melee Attack Rolls by -5, but adds a +10 damage bonus when you land a hit. This only works if you are wielding a Great Weapon, or a Versatile melee Weapon with two hands. You can turn this on or off at will, with no cooldown. It works well when you want to quickly dispatch weaker enemies with poor defence, but it is more risky to use it against stronger enemies with a high Armour Class. You can try using it against strong enemies – if you get lucky you’ll deal lots of extra damage to them, but you will be much more likely to miss your attacks!
Endgame Respec For Lae’zel
With this build, it is most optimal to do a second respec at some point in Act III. The reason for this becomes clear in our Late-Game Equipment section below – we are using the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength, which sets Lae’zel’s Strength Ability score to 23, with the option of also using the Amulet of Greater Health, which sets her Constitution to 23 if you decide to use this too.
Whether you use one or both of these items, since they set Lae’zel’s Strength and/or Constitution to 23 regardless of what it otherwise would be, this means you can redistribute all of the points you put into these Abilities during the initial Level 1 respec and subsequent level-ups.
Therefore, when you’ve obtained one or both of the items and equipped them on Lae’zel, I recommend doing a second Respec. Do everything the same as before, except you can redistribute the Ability points and Ability Improvement Feats to other Abilities. For example, you could put the points into Dexterity to improve Lae’zel’s Initiative Rolls, into Constitution (if you decide to only use the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength) to improve her HP, into Wisdom to improve some of her Skills and Saving Throws, or into Charisma to make her better at persuading and intimidating people.
Having said all of this, you will probably manage fine if you don’t do this respec, but it is definitely more optimal and can be seen as a waste of ability points if we do not do it.
Best Equipment for Lae’zel in BG3
In this section, we will list the best equipment for Lae’zel. We have provided both an early-game and a late-game version of the list, so you can begin using this build early in the game instead of having to wait until Act III.
We have also included information about each item below the tables, such as how to obtain the item and any other notable information.
Don’t worry if your set-up is not exactly the same as one of those outlined below – the build will still work fine if you’re missing some of the items. Also, don’t be afraid to experiment with new items if you find something else that you like.
Early Game Equipment
Early-game equipment is found in either Act I or the earlier parts of Act II.
| Slot | Icon | Item | Effects | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head |  |
Grymskull Helm |
|
Looted from Grym in the Adamantine Forge |
| Cloak |  |
Cloak of Protection |
|
Purchased from Quartermaster Talli in Last Light Inn |
| Chest |  |
Adamantine Splint Armour |
|
Must be crafted at the Adamantine Forge. |
| Gloves |  |
Gloves of the Growling Underdog |
|
Looted from Dror Ragzlin’s treasure crates in the Shattered Sanctum. |
| Boots |  |
Boots of Genial Striding |
|
Purchased from Blurg in the Myconid Colony, in the Underdark |
| Necklace |  |
Amulet of Misty Step |
|
Located in a chest in the Defiled Temple, near the Ogre called Polma. |
| Ring 1 |  |
Ring of Protection |
|
Steal the Sacred Idol in Druid Grove (quest) |
| Ring 2 |  |
Crusher’s Ring |
|
Looted from Crusher in the Goblin Camp. |
| Main Weapon |  |
Blooded Greataxe |
|
Purchased from either Grat the Trader in the Goblin Camp or Roah Moonglow in Shattered Sanctum |
| Second Weapon | Any Ranged Weapon |
|
N/A |
Grymskull Helm
The Grymskull Helm prevents enemies from landing Critical Hits on Lae’zel, which is a very useful defensive bonus. You also have a 50% resistance to Fire damage when wearing it. It is looted from Grym in the Adamantine Forge area of Grymforge.
Cloak of Protection
The Cloak of Protection is one of the earliest cloaks available in the game, and provides a modest defensive buff – you gain a +1 bonus to your Armour Class and Saving Throws when wearing it. It can be purchased from Quartermaster Talli in Last Light Inn.
Adamantine Splint Armour
The Adamantine Splint Armour is a very powerful armour piece that can be obtained fairly early in the game, and will probably last you until well into Act III. It reduces all incoming damage by 2, and sends your melee attackers Reeling for 2 turns, giving them a -1 penalty to Attack Rolls for every turn of Reeling remaining. This armour must be crafted at the Adamantine Forge, by finding the Splint Mould and some Mithral Ore – both can be found in the vicinity of the Adamantine Forge.
Gloves of the Growling Underdog
The Gloves of the Growling Underdog give you Advantage on your Attack Rolls when you are surrounded by 2 or more foes. Advantage means that you will roll 2 dice for your Attack Roll and use the one that rolled with the highest number, considerably improving your chances of a good roll. You also get a +1 bonus to Strength Saving Throws. These gloves can be looted from Dror Ragzlin’s treasure crates in the Shattered Sanctum.
Boots of Genial Striding
The Boots of Genial Striding prevent difficult terrain (such as spikes, mud and grease) from reducing your Movement Speed. However, beware that these boots will not negate any other harmful effects from a surface, such as damage from spikes or the chance to slip over when walking on ice. They can be purchased from Blurg in the Myconid Colony, in the Underdark (Act I).
Amulet of Misty Step
The Amulet of Misty Step grants you access to the Misty Step spell, which allows you to teleport to a visible location within 18 metres, for a Bonus Action. This is great for quickly closing the gap to an enemy so you can get into melee where this build is at its strongest, or for escaping from a bad situation. The Amulet is located in a chest in the Defiled Temple, near the Ogre called Polma.
Important: When Lae’zel reaches Level 5, she will unlock Misty Step due to being Githyanki. At this point, you can give this amulet to one of your other party members and equip something else on Lae’zel.
Crusher’s Ring
Crusher’s Ring simply increases your Movement Speed by 3 metres per turn. This is another useful item for closing the gap to enemies quickly so that you can spend your turns dealing melee damage instead of running between targets. The ring is looted from Crusher in the Goblin Camp.
Ring of Protection
The Ring of Protection has the same effect as the Cloak of Protection – it improves your Armour Class and Saving Throws by +1. It is awarded to you by Mol for completing the quest to steal the Sacred Idol in the Druid’s Grove.
Blooded Greataxe
We recommend the Blooded Greataxe because it is a highly damaging weapon that can be obtained very early in the game. Greataxes in general are excellent DPS weapons since they come with a 1d12 die, the largest damage die in the game for weapons. The Blooded Greataxe grants your melee weapon attacks an extra 1d4 Slashing Damage whenever you are below 50% Health. In the hands of a strong melee class like the Champion, this weapon will carry you well into Act II even if you’re a complete beginner at the game.
This weapon can be purchased from either Grat the Trader in the Goblin Camp or Roah Moonglow in Shattered Sanctum. If the weapon does not appear in their wares, try Long Resting which will reshuffle the vendor items. You don’t need to spend any camp supplies on a Long Rest for this purpose.
Any Heavy Crossbow or Longbow
Our ranged weapon isn’t the focus of this build – you should aim to be in melee as much as possible because this is where the Champion excels. Having said that, it still makes sense to have a decent ranged weapon as a backup for those turns when you simply cannot reach an enemy to make melee attacks. You can use any ranged weapon here, but the best options are a Heavy Crossbow or a Longbow.
- Heavy Crossbows have the highest base damage of any Ranged Weapon, but decrease your Initiative score, meaning you are less likely to take your turn before other characters
- Longbows do slightly less damage but do not reduce your Initiative
Late Game Equipment
Late Game equipment can be found in the latter parts of Act II, and Act III. This is the most powerful version of the build, with access to the best items in the game.
| Slot | Icon | Item | Effects | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head |  |
Helm of Balduran |
|
Defeat Ansur the dragon below Wyrm’s Crossing. See below for more details. |
| Cloak |  |
Cloak of Elemental Absorption |
|
Looted from an Opulent Chest inside Ketheric Thorm’s Chambers |
| Chest |  |
Armour of Persistence |
|
Buy from Dammon in the Forge of the Nine |
| Gloves |  |
Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength |
|
Taken from a pedestal in the archive of the House of Hope. |
| Boots |  |
Boots of Persistence |
|
Buy from Dammon in the Forge of the Nine |
| Necklace |  |
Amulet of Greater Health |
|
Can be taken from a pedestal in the archive of the House of Hope. |
| Ring 1 | |
Ring of Protection |
|
Steal the Sacred Idol in Druid Grove (quest) |
| Ring 2 |  |
Killer’s Sweetheart |
|
Found inside the Self-Same Trial in the Gauntlet of Shar. |
| Main Weapon |  |
Balduran’s Giantslayer |
|
Looted from Ansur in the Dragon’s Sanctum |
| Second Weapon | Any Ranged Weapon |
|
N/A |
Helm of Balduran
The strongest helmet in BG3, the Helm of Balduran prevents enemies from landing Critical Hits on you, prevents you from being Stunned, heals you for 2 HP per turn, and gives a +1 bonus to Armour Class and Saving Throws. Obtaining this item is a multi-stage process – we wrote a detailed guide on how to find it.
Cloak of Elemental Absorption
Once per Short Rest, the Cloak of Elemental Absorption will absorb elemental damage, and infuse your next attack with 1d6 of that damage type. This is a fairly minor effect, but it can still generate a nice damage boost. It can be looted from an Opulent Chest inside Ketheric Thorm’s Chambers in Moonrise Towers.
Armour of Persistence
Another powerful armour piece, the Armour of Persistence reduces all incoming damage by 2, and passively grants Resistance (1d4 bonus to all Saving Throws) and Blade Ward (50% resistance to bludgeoning, slashing and piercing damage). Note that gaining the Resistance and Blade Ward conditions from other sources will have no effect, as these buffs cannot stack with themselves.
The Armour of Persistence is purchased from Dammon in the Forge of the Nine in the Lower City, Act III.
Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength
The Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength increase your Strength to 23, and give you a +1 bonus to Strength Saving Throws. This will increase your damage and accuracy with Strength-based attacks, most notably your melee weapon. The gloves can be taken from a pedestal in the archive of the House of Hope.
Boots of Persistence
The Boots of Persistence permanently grant the wearer Freedom of Movement and Longstrider, improving your movement speed and preventing you from being slowed by difficult terrain, entangled, paralysed or magically restrained. This reduces the amount of ways that enemies can try to stun or immobilise Lae’zel. These boots can be purchased from Dammon in the Forge of the Nine in the Lower City, Act III.
Amulet of Greater Health
The Amulet of Greater Health sets your Constitution to 23 and gives Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws. A higher Constitution means more HP. Can be taken from a pedestal in the archive of the House of Hope.
Note: You could argue that it’s overkill to have both the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength and the Amulet of Greater Health equipped on the same character – it really depends how buffed up you want to make Lae’zel. If you want, you can give this item to another character in your party and equip another Amulet on Lae’zel.
Killer’s Sweetheart
With the Killer’s Sweetheart ring equipped, once per Long Rest, you gain a guaranteed Critical Hit on your next attack after killing an enemy. This item would be better if it could be triggered more frequently, but it’s still a useful effect. It is found inside the Self-Same Trial in the Gauntlet of Shar.
Balduran’s Giantslayer
A Legendary Greatsword, Balduran’s Giantslayer is arguably the strongest melee weapon in the game. It doubles the damage bonus from your Strength Modifier when attacking (if you have the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength, this improves a +6 modifier to +12). It grants you Advantage when attacking large, huge or gargantuan enemies, and once per Short Rest allows you to enlarge yourself, gaining extra damage, Temporary HP and Advantage on Strength checks.
Balduran’s Giantslayer is looted from Ansur in the Dragon’s Sanctum. To find out how to access the Dragon’s Sanctum, follow this guide on How to find the Helm of Balduran – both items are located in the same room.
Silver Sword of the Astral Plane (Alternative)
If Balduran’s Giantslayer is aready being used by another party member, or you want a more thematic weapon for Lae’zel, then the Silver Sword of the Astral Plane is another great choice.
It deals 1d4 extra Psionic Damage when used by a Gith, has a +3 enchantment to buff its damage and accuracy considerably, gives you Advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma Saving Throws, immunity to being Charmed, Resistance to Psychic Damage, and access to the Soulbreaker Action, which can stun enemies.
That’s a lot of extras packed into one sword, and while it still comes out a little weaker than the Balduran’s Giantslayer overall, it’s still an excellent option for Lae’zel.
If you want to use the Silver Sword of the Astral Plane, you can get it with the following methods:
- Show the Orphic Hammer to Kith’rak Voss in Act III (or kill & loot him)
- During the Deal with the Devil quest, don’t sign the contract but lie to Voss. He will give you the sword, but only if you can pass a DC30 Deception check.
- You can obtain the sword in Act I by using a spell like Heat Metal to disarm Voss before engaging the Githyanki Patrol in conversation near the mountain pass. This has a very low success chance due to Voss being much higher level than you, and sometimes he seems to drop only a Githyanki Crossbow or nothing at all, so this method is frustrating, can take a lot of reloads, and we don’t recommend doing this unless you really want to cheese the game.
Tips for Playing Lae’zel in BG3
With the Champion subclass of the Fighter, Lae’zel is extremely easy to set up and play, even if you deviate from some parts of the build, like the recommended equipment. As long as you distribute your Abilities properly at the start of the game, and select good Feats when levelling up, it’s hard to do anything wrong in terms of the build. Lae’zel will also be Proficient with most armour and weapons in the game.
Lae’zel is most effective when in melee with enemies, she’s great at dealing heavy damage either to stronger boss enemies or to weaker minions, who she can typically dispatch with ease. However, in the early-game, Lae’zel can struggle to reliably damage enemies due to having lower mobility, less survivability and only being able to make one or two attacks per turn to begin with. In these first few levels, you’ll have to be a bit more careful with Lae’zel to avoid overcomitting. Once she reaches Level 5, though, Lae’zel starts to become very powerful and will be a real asset to your party.
If you have a Cleric in your party (like Shadowheart), you can use the Haste spell to make Lae’zel move faster and attack more times per turn. Another option is the Enlarge spell, which makes her bigger and stronger. Lastly, you can get some really good buffs from Potions, which are explained in the OP Potions section below.
Remember to make use of Action Surge, available from Level 2, to deal as much damage as possible to important targets when you’re in a good situation (i.e. if Lae’zel has a buff or the target is debuffed or stunned). You should also keep making good use of Lae’zel’s Enhance Leap, which lets her jump some pretty ridiculous distances, and Misty Step to gain very high mobility and reach targets quickly. The quicker you can get Lae’zel into melee, the better. However, do not be too reckless – avoid putting in a position where she is in the midst of several dangerous enemies without enough support from allies.
Overpowered Potions for Lae’zel in BG3
In this section, we will talk about the best Potions and Elixirs that make Lae’zel even stronger.
Potions are consumables that generally last for a few turns and provide powerful but short-lived bonuses. You can have several Potions active at a time.
Elixirs on the other hand give your character an effect that lasts until the next Long Rest. Each character can only have one active Elixir at a time – drinking another Elixir will replace the effects of the previous one. Fully utilizing alchemy so that your characters use suitable Potions and Elixirs in tandem is a vital aspect of combat in BG3, especially if you are playing on Tactician difficulty.
Potion of Speed
The Potion of Speed is arguably the most powerful potion in Baldur’s Gate 3 – it is good on any character, but it is especially valuable on classes like the Fighter who can make multiple attacks per turn even without the potion.
The Potion of Speed doubles your Movement Speed and gives you an extra Action each turn. This means that at high levels, Lae’zel can make 6 attacks from Actions per turn, instead of the usual 3. This is why these potions are so much more valuable on classes like the Fighter – a Cleric would only get 1 extra attack per turn out of the Potion of Speed, while we are getting 3.
One drawback of this potion is that when it expires, your character will be Lethargic for one turn, unable to move or take any Actions. So you should be careful not to have your character stranded in a dangerous position when the potion runs out!
You can craft the Potion of Speed in the alchemy menu by combining Ashes of Hyena Ear with any Salt. Create ashes, salts and other alchemy concentrates by combining three of the same ingredient together – for example, combining three Hyena Ears will create Ashes of Hyena Ear. Hyena Ears can normally be looted from either Hyenas or Gnolls – you can find a lot of them around the Risen Road in Act I, for a good supply of them which should last you a while.
Elixir of Bloodlust
The Elixir of Bloodlust combines extremely well with both the Potion of Speed and the Champion Fighter class.
When under the effects of this Elixir, killing an enemy grants you 5 Temporary HP and an extra Action on your current turn. This effect can only trigger once per turn, to prevent you from completely wiping out entire groups of enemies on turn with one character. Despite that limitation, this is still very powerful.
With both the Elixir of Bloodlust and the Potion of Speed active on a Champion who is Level 10 or above, in the best-case scenario, you can make nine attacks from Actions in a single turn – 3 attacks per Action, with an extra Action gained from the Potion of Speed and another one awarded from the Elixir of Bloodlust if you killed an enemy on the current turn. If you have a Bonus Action available that allows you to perform a special weapon attack, then you can potentially increase this to 10 attacks in a turn. And once per Short Rest you can throw in the Action Surge to increase this to 12-13 attacks in one turn.
Again, this is the best-case scenario and you won’t always be able to pull it off, but it can be done with reasonable frequency, and it helps to illustrate how important Alchemy is for this build. The Elixir of Bloodlust is also nerfed to be a bit less effective on Honour difficulty, but it’s still worth using.
You can craft the Elixir of Bloodlust by combining Ashes of Worg Fang with any Salt. Worg Fangs are looted from Worgs and sometimes found on other characters or in containers. They are especially common in areas where you can find Goblins, such as the Goblin Camp and Shattered Sanctum in Act I.
Lae’zel 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 Lae’zel Build:
- Mind Blast: A conal blast of Psychic Damage that can also stun several targets at once. If Lae’zel is outnumbered by several advancing enemies, then Mind Blast can help to swing things back in her favour.
- Cull the Weak: When you reduce a creature’s hit points below a certain threshold, this power instantly kills it and deals 1-4 psychic damage to nearby enemies. This is particularly effective when engaging groups of weaker foes, enabling you to thin their numbers rapidly.
- Fly: This can be used to reach hard to get to places or change positions in combat.
- Mind Sanctuary: This creates an area that allows all within to use Actions and Bonus Actions interchangeably. This typically means you can deal more damage, since you can use your Bonus Action as a normal Action. However, enemies who are inside the area will also enjoy its benefits. Be careful with your placement so that your party gets buffed by the Mind Sanctuary and not the enemies!
- Psionic Backlash: This is a top-tier reaction from the Illithid Powers skill tree in BG3. This allows you to deal psychic damage when a nearby enemy casts a spell. This is especially useful if the target is casting a Concentration Spell. The damage from Psionic Backlash can immediately break their Concentration, ending the spell’s effects.
More BG3 Companion Builds
- BG3 Shadowheart Build
- BG3 Astarion Build
- BG3 Gale Build
- BG3 Karlach Build
- BG3 Wyll Build
- BG3 Minthara Build
- BG3 Jaheira Build
- BG3 Minsc Build
- BG3 Halsin Build
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