BG3 War Domain Cleric Build Guide

Welcome to the best War Domain Cleric Build for Baldur’s Gate 3. For this Cleric build we’ll be using the War Domain subclass of the Cleric. The BG3 War Domain Cleric Build was last updated in September 2025. It works for both PC and Consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series X/S).

Please visit our Best BG3 Builds overview page for more builds, or check out our Best BG3 Cleric Build or the optimized BG3 Shadowheart Build. To get an overview of all classes, please visit the BG3 Classes overview page.

War Domain Clerics gain special spells and actions that allow them to be better melee fighters than other Cleric classes; however, they still retain the excellent spellcasting prowess available to other Cleric types.

---

War Cleric Build Table of Contents:

1. War Domain Build Overview
   1. BG3 Cleric Class Overview
   2. War Domain Subclass Overview
2. War Cleric Character Creation
   1. Best Race
   2. Cantrips
   3. Spells
   4. War Domain Features
   5. Skills & Background
   6. Abilities
3. War  Cleric Build Levelling Progression
   1. Early-Game Level 2-4
   2. Mid-Game Level 5-8
   3. Late-Game Level 9-12
4. War Cleric Equipment
   1. Early-Game War Cleric Gear
   2. Best War Cleric Gear (Late-Game)
5. War Cleric Build Extras and Tips & Tricks
   1. Tips
   2. Illithid Powers (Optional)

---

---

BG3 War Domain Cleric Build Overview

In this section, we will summarise the most important aspects of the Cleric class and War Domain subclass, which we are using for this build. If you’re already familiar with how these work, please skip this section.

Cleric Class Overview

The Cleric class is a powerful spellcaster who has some proficiency with weapons. They have access to a wide array of buff, debuff and healing spells, making them one of the best classes in the game for party support. At high levels, they are also good damage dealers thanks to their powerful magic. But in the early game, Clerics aren’t very good at dealing damage and are better off focusing on supporting allies.

Here are the most important aspects of the Cleric Class in BG3:

•  Channel Divinity (Level 2) – This is the Cleric’s unique class resource. You will start with one Channel Divinity charge, which is replenished on a Short or Long Rest. You’ll unlock more charges later. These charges are consumed to power unique Cleric Actions, some of which are strong enough to turn the tide of battle. The Cleric Actions you can use depend on your chosen subclass.
•  Channel Divinity: Turn Undead (Level 2) – Use a Channel Divinity charge to Turn all nearby undead, forcing them to flee.
•  Destroy Undead (Level 5) – An upgrade for Turn Undead. Undead who are Turned will also take 4d6 Radiant Damage.
•  Divine Intervention (Level 10) – Call on your deity to grant you a powerful one-time boon. Can either deal massive AoE damage, resurrect and heal all nearby companions, spawn a generous helping of Camping Supplies and Potions, or summon a Legendary Devotee’s Mace that can deal bonus Radiant Damage and heal nearby allies. You can only use this Action once, but if you choose the Mace, you can keep it forever.

Clerics can also use a wide range of spells, which we will detail in the build guide below.

War Domain Subclass Overview

Here are the War Domain Cleric’s defining features:

• Proficiency with Heavy Armour and Martial Weapons (Level 1)
•  War Priest (Level 1) – When you make an unarmed or weapon attack, you can spend a War Priest Charge to make an additional attack with your Bonus Action. War Priest Charges are replenished on Long Rests.
•  Guided Strike (Level 2) – Spend a Channel Divinity Charge to gain a +10 bonus on your Attack Roll.
•  War God’s Blessing (Level 6) – Spend a Channel Divinity Charge to give a nearby ally a +10 bonus to their Attack Roll.
•  Divine Strike: Weapon (Level 8) – Once per turn, deal 1d8 additional damage with your weapon attack. The damage type matches that of your weapon’s primary damage type.

---

Character Creation (Level 1) – BG3 War Domain Build

In this section, we will guide you through which options to choose in Character Creation for your BG3 War Cleric Build.

Important: You also already have to select your Subclass at level 1; this can be easily overlooked because the game pushes you directly to the main class and then just selects the first option in the subclass menu. Therefore, make sure that you have selected the War Domain subclass. If you missed this (or want to use this build for Shadowheart), then visit Withers in your Camp to respec (you first need to find him in the ruins near the Nautiloid crash site in Act I).

Best Race

First off, it is important to note that you can pick whatever race you want; it won’t affect your gameplay that much. However, there are, of course, slightly better races for our Cleric build in Baldur’s Gate 3. For example, one very useful thing we can get from our race is Longbow Proficiency. The Cleric’s main damage Cantrip is Sacred Flame, which has quite a low success rate, especially in the early game. One way around this is to use a ranged weapon instead, and Longbows have pretty good damage.

Our top 5 picks for the best Cleric race are:

Cantrips

In the Class menu, you need to choose three Cantrips to start the game with, from four options. We recommend getting the following Cantrips:

• Guidance – This is a great ability for out-of-combat situations, and can be cast either on yourself or on an active ally from within the dice roll screen, letting you gain 1d4 boost to a range of dice rolls.
• Resistance – Bolster the target’s defences, giving them a 1d4 bonus to Saving Throws. This is a Concentration Spell. Can be used in some dialogue encounters in the same way as Guidance, but these are a bit less common.
• Sacred Flame – This is the Cleric’s main damage Cantrip. It suffers from low hit chance because enemies can perform a Wisdom Saving Throw to completely block the damage. Still, there are situations in BG3 where Radiant Damage is really good and I’ve seen this hit for over 80 damage, so it’s worth slotting as long as you know its limitations. Check the hit chance before casting, and if it’s below 70%, check for better options before proceeding.

Spells

You’ll need to choose four Spells to prepare, from a list of 10 known Spells. We recommend choosing the following Spells:

• Guiding Bolt– This is a must-pick because it can deal up to 24 ranged damage right from the start of the game, which is very nice early-game damage. As a bonus, the next person to attack the target will have an Advantage against them.
• Healing Word– Heals the target. This spell is very useful because it can be used at range and it only costs a Bonus Action, so you can attack or cast another spell on the same turn.
• Bane– Imposes a 1d4 debuff to Attack Rolls, Ability Checks and Saving Throws. It can be used against multiple enemies. Targets can roll a Saving Throw to negate the debuff, though.
• Inflict Wounds – Deals up to 30 Necrotic damage to an enemy. It can be upcast for more damage later in the game. The problem with this spell is that it only works in melee range. But it can hit really hard. Only use it when the hit chance is decent (at least 70%), otherwise it becomes another Sacred Flame situation.

Subclass – War Domain

Your War Domain subclass grants you a unique Passive from the beginning of the game, along with two Domain Spells (which are always prepared and automatically added to your action bar):

• Proficiency with Heavy Armour and Martial Weapons
•  War Priest – When you make an unarmed or weapon attack, you can spend a War Priest Charge to make an additional attack with your Bonus Action. War Priest Charges are replenished on Long Rests.
• Domain Spells:
  •  Divine Favour – Your weapons deal an additional 1d4 Radiant Damage. Requires Concentration.
  •  Shield of Faith – Boost your (or an ally’s) Armour Class by 2. Can last until the next Long Rest, but requires Concentration to maintain.

Background & Skills

This build will have very good Wisdom and decent Dexterity, so it’s best to pick a Background that aligns with that. The most obvious choice is Folk Hero, which gives us Animal Handling and Survival, both Wisdom Skills, but you can deviate from this if you want to.

This Cleric Build features high Wisdom and Dexterity scores, so it is best to play to our strength and focus on Skills that align with these Abilities.

For our Background, we chose Folk Hero, which gives the following Skill Proficiencies:

• Animal Handling (WIS) – Your character is better at taming and communicating with animals. This is a Skill roll that appears in dialogue in some situations, and can open up alternative dialogue options when successful.
• Survival (WIS) – Impacts your chance to successfully identify buried treasure when exploring the wilds.

You can choose two more Skills from a limited list of Cleric Skills. Of the available options, we recommend choosing these:

• Insight (WIS) – Helps you read NPC’s behaviour and detect lies and hidden details.
• Medicine (WIS) – Occasionally used in dialogue to heal or soothe injured characters.

If you chose the Human race, you get one more unrestricted skill pick. If this applies to you, I recommend selecting Acrobatics (DEX) for your final skill, which will make your character more resistant to enemy attempts to push you (it can be life-saving, because the AI loves to push characters off ledges).

Abilities

The most important attribute for this build is Wisdom, which will be used as our Spellcasting Attribute. This means that the accuracy and efficacy of our Spells are determined by your Wisdom Modifier, so we’re focusing on Wisdom as much as we can.

Next up is Constitution. This gives you more HP, lets you Resist a lot of debilitating debuffs that you’ll encounter throughout your playthrough, and gives you better odds at maintaining Concentration on a Spell when you take damage.

Dexterity also needs to be mentioned. It gives us some extra Armour Class, but we are going to be wearing Medium Armour for this build, which limits the Armour benefit from Dexterity to +2. You get 1 AC per Dexterity Modifier, and 1 Dexterity Modifier per 2 points of Dexterity above 10, so we’ll be setting our Dexterity to 14. There’s little point in going any higher than this for this build.

As for the rest of your Attributes, we recommend having Strength at 10 because you may sometimes attack with a melee weapon in a pinch, and Charisma at 10 because it means you won’t be debuffed in (most) dialogue dice rolls. We don’t have any use for Intelligence, so we’re leaving that at 8 points.

This gives us:

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

(Most important Abilities are bolded)

---

War Domain Cleric Levelling Guide

In this section, we have provided a step-by-step guide for levelling up your Cleric, including recommendations at each level for any choices that need to be made, such as Spell and Feat selection.

Early-Game Levelling Guide – BG3 War Cleric

We’ll start with the early-game levelling process, at Levels 2-4.

Level 2 – War Cleric Build BG3 for PC/PS5

At Level 2, you’ll gain a new Spell Slot for your War Cleric Build in Baldur’s Gate 3, allowing you to cast an extra spell between Long Rests.

You’ll also unlock a special type of ability specific to the Cleric – Channel Divinity Actions.

Channel Divinity Actions have their own number of uses, separate from Spell Slots. To begin with, you only have one use, which can be replenished by either a Short or Long Rest.

With the War Domain Cleric, you’ll unlock the following Channel Divinity Actions at Level 2:

•  Channel Divinity: Turn Undead – Use a Channel Divinity charge to Turn all nearby undead, forcing them to flee.
•  Guided Strike (Level 2) – Spend a Channel Divinity Charge to gain a +10 bonus on your Attack Roll.

---

Level 3 – War Cleric Build BG3

At Level 3 for your War Cleric Build, you unlock another First Level Spell Slot, as well as two Second Level Spell Slots.

There are a couple of Second Level Spells that would be great to prepare at this point:

• Aid – Heals your allies within 9 metres for 5HP, and also increases their maximum HP by 5, until the next Long Rest. Use this after every Long Rest to improve your party’s health. Later on, you can upcast the spell to increase the effect by 5HP per spell level.
• Hold Person – Hold a humanoid creature, making it unable to move and act. At the end of each turn, the creature can try to free itself with a Saving Throw. This is a Concentration Spell. Melee attacks against the stunned creature are guaranteed crits, so this is especially good when combined with a melee heavy hitter in your party, like Karlach, Laezel or any other Fighter/Barbarian/Paladin.

You’ll also unlock a couple of new War Domain Spells, which are spells that the Cleric will always have prepared (i.e they automatically go on your action bar without needing to choose them):

•  Magic Weapon – Your weapon becomes magical, gaining a +1 bonus to Attack Rolls and Damage Rolls. Requires Concentration and can last up to the next Long Rest, if the spell isn’t broken.
•  Spiritual Weapon – Conjure a spectral weapon that can attack enemies. The really useful thing about this is that it has Resistance to all damage, and yet the enemy AI tends to waste a lot of time attacking the summoned weapon. This is an underrated spell and a really good way of distracting the attention of enemies away from you and your party.

Also, keep in mind that some of the First Level Spells you already knew can now be upcast to Second Level, improving their effects but consuming a second-level spell slot instead.

---

Level 4 – War Cleric Build Baldur’s Gate 3 for PC/PS5

As with all classes in Baldur’s Gate 3, at Level 4, you’ll need to choose a Feat for your War Cleric Build. Feats are powerful passive effects for your character that can enable a specific build or simply boost your stats. We strongly recommend choosing Ability Improvement, which will give you two additional Ability Points. Put them both into Wisdom, which should allow you to reach 18 Wisdom, improving your Spellcasting ability.

You’ll also gain another First Level and Second Level Spell Slot, and you’ll need to choose another Cantrip. We’ll pick up Thaumaturgy, which occasionally is useful in dialogue checks.

Finally, we need to choose two more spells at this point. We recommend:

• Prayer of Healing – Heals all visible allies within 9 metres by 2d8 HP. This is particularly useful when your entire party is damaged and needs healing. It can only be used outside of combat, however.
• Enhance Ability – Bestow Advantage on all checks related to the chosen ability. A really strong buff for both combat and non-combat checks. Requires Concentration.

---

Mid-Game War Domain Cleric Levelling Guide

We’ll now go through the mid-game levels, 5-8.

Level 5 – War Cleric Build Baldur’s Gate 3

At Level 5, your War Cleric’s Spellcasting ability further improves.

You’ll unlock two Third Level Spell Slots. While this build is quite flexible and it’s up to you which spells you choose here, we recommend taking a close look at the following options:

• Glyph of Warding – Inscribe a circle of arcane glyphs on the ground that trigger a magical effect when stepped on by an enemy. Only one glyph can be active at a time. Deals great AOE damage, and targets who perform a Saving Throw will still take half of the damage. You can place the glyph underneath an enemy to trigger it immediately. This can deal a lot of damage to your allies, so be careful when placing it!
• Revivify – Revive a companion. They return to life with 1 hit point. You no longer need to worry about carrying around a stack of Revivification Scrolls, as this spell has the same effect!

You’ll also unlock two more War Domain Spells at Level 5:

•  Spirit Guardians – Surround yourself with spirits who follow you around. The spirits attack any enemies who move close to you, dealing Radiant Damage or Necrotic Damage. The Radiant version of this spell is especially strong in Act II, as many of the enemies there are Vulnerable to damage of that type.
•  Crusader’s Mantle – The weapon attacks of allies within 9 metres deal an extra 1d4 Radiant Damage. Requires Concentration.

---

Level 6

At Level 6, the War Cleric Build gains a couple of new features:

• An extra Channel Divinity Charge, allowing you to use two Channel Divinity Actions per Short/Long Rest.
•  War God’s Blessing (Level 6) – Spend a Channel Divinity Charge to give a nearby ally a +10 bonus to their Attack Roll.
• Another Third Level Spell Slot, giving you three in total.
• Prepare one more Spell. We recommend:
  •  Animate Dead – Raises a skeleton or a zombie from a corpse. The undead creature will fight for you and can be commanded. Summoned minions are always good to have, since they deal extra damage and can distract enemies’ attention away from your party. Later on, you can upcast the spell to summon stronger undead or multiple undead.

---

Level 7

At Level 7, you unlock the following:

• One Fourth Level Spell Slot, and the ability to Prepare Fourth Level Spells.
• Two more Spells from your chosen Domain (always Prepared). The War Domain Cleric gets:
  •  Freedom of Movement – Grant yourself or an ally immunity to magical sources of paralysis and restraint, and prevents Difficult Terrain from slowing them down. Also immediately cures any Stun. Lasts until the next Long Rest.
  •  Stoneskin – Grants the target a 50% Resistance to non-magical sources of Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing Damage. Requires Concentration.
• Prepare one more Cleric spell of your choice. We recommend:
  •  Guardian of Faith – Summon a guardian at the target location. They are immobile, but will automatically attack enemies within 3 metres, dealing 20 Radiant Damage per attack (halved if the target succeeds a Dexterity Save). Every time the guardian deals damage, they take the same amount of damage. Correct placement is really important with this spell – try to put it in a chokepoint that enemies must pass through, or next to an enemy who is also immobile or tends to linger in the same place for some other reason.

---

Level 8

At Level 8, you unlock:

• Another Fourth Level Spell Slot, giving you two in total.
• Choose another Feat. Choose Ability Improvement and increase your Wisdom to 20.
• Choose two more spells. We recommend:
  •  Mass Healing Word – Heal all allies within 18 metres for 1d4 + your Wisdom Modifier.
  •  Death Ward – The next time the target drops to 0 HP, they will heal to 1 HP instead of being Downed. This spell isn’t amazing, and we will replace it soon. But for now, it is the best remaining option.
•  Divine Strike: Weapon – Once per turn, deal 1d8 additional damage with your weapon attack. The damage type matches that of your weapon’s primary damage type.

---

Late-Game War Domain Cleric Levelling Guide – BG3

We’ll now go through the late-game levelling up process for this Baldur’s Gate 3 War Domain Cleric Build. This section covers levels 9-12.

Level 9

At Level 9, your War Cleric’s spellcasting continues to improve, as you can now access even more powerful spells. Here you’ll unlock:

• Another Fourth Level Spell Slot, giving you three in total.
• One Fifth Level Spell Slot, and the ability to prepare Fifth Level Spells.
• Two more Domain Spells from your subclass. War Domain Cleric gets:
  •  Flame Strike – Call forth a pillar of divine fire from the heavens, dealing 5d6 Fire Damage and 5d6 Radiant Damage to everyone in a 3 metre radius. Damage is halved for targets who make a Dexterity Saving Throw. Use this when you need quick AOE burst damage – it’s basically an upgrade of the Glyph of Warding that we’ve been using for that purpose up until now.
  •  Hold Monster – Essentially an upgrade to Hold Person, this spell has the same effect but removes the restriction of only working on humanoid targets.
• Prepare one more spell, plus another one to replace Death Ward from Level 8:
  •  Mass Cure Wounds – Heals allies within 18 metres by 3d8 HP each. Can provide a strong heal to many creatures at once.
  •  Insect Plague – Locusts attack everyone within a 12 metre area, dealing 4-40 Piercing Damage per turn, making the area Difficult Terrain, and imposing Disadvantage on Perception Checks. The damage is halved on targets that roll a Constitution Save. This is one of the strongest spells in the Cleric arsenal – it’s especially effective when placed in chokepoints, and can turn a difficult battle in your favour.

---

Level 10

At Level 10, the War Domain Cleric unlocks a unique single-use feature to invoke the aid of their god. You gain:

• Another Fifth Level Spell Slot, giving you two in total.
• Choose one more Cantrip. We already picked up the most important Cantrips, so you can choose whatever you like here.
• Divine Intervention – Once per character, invoke your god’s aid. When activating this, you can choose from:
  • Sunder the Heretical – Deal 8-80 Radiant Damage to a group of enemies.
  • Arm Thy Servant – Grants you a Legendary weapon.
  • Opulent Revival – Resurrect fallen Companions with half health and restore nearby allies as if they had Long Rested.
  • Golden Generosity – Provides a rich bounty of Potions and Camp Supplies.
• Prepare one more Spell. We recommend:
  •  Dispel Evil and Good – Aberrations, Celestials, Elementals, Fey, Fiends and Undead have Disadvantage on their Attack Rolls against you. You can also use an action to break enchantments that Charm, Frighten, or Possess your allies. Lasts for 10 turns and does not need Concentration. This is a pretty useful spell because it gives such a wide range of enemies a hard time when they attack you, as well as allowing you to counter attempts to influence the minds of your party members. And since it doesn’t require Concentration, you can have another spell maintained alongside it, such as Insect Plague.

Divine Intervention is a potentially good passive for helping you out in a pinch. But beware that this can only be used once per character. There is no way to recharge the ability.

---

Level 11

At Level 11, you don’t gain any new class abilities, but you do get access to Sixth Level Spells, the most powerful tier of magic in Baldur’s Gate 3.

You’ll gain one Sixth Level Spell Slot, and as usual, you’ll be able to prepare one more Spell.

If no one else in your party has the Heroes’ Feast spell, then get this on your Cleric. It puts an extremely strong buff on you and your party, providing the following benefits until the next Long Rest:

• Immune to Poison and Disease
• Cannot be Frightened
• Extra 12 HP
• Advantage on Wisdom Saving Throws

You should ideally make it a habit to cast both Heroes’ Feast and an upcast version of Aid on your party after every Long Rest, to get everyone nicely buffed up.

If someone else has Heroes’ Feast covered already, consider the  Heal spell. This is a single-target burst heal that is guaranteed to restore 70 HP, avoiding the RNG of other healing spells.

---

Level 12

If you’ve reached this point, then you have finished levelling up your War Domain Cleric to max level. Congratulations!

At Level 12, you can choose one more Feat for your War Cleric Build. Picking up War Caster is a good idea, as it gives you Advantage on Concentration Checks. Since the Cleric often spends a lot of time in close proximity to enemies while also spellcasting, this is really helpful for making your Concentration Spells more resilient. As a bonus, War Caster also lets you zap enemies who get too close with lightning.

You can also choose one more Spell to prepare.

If you didn’t already get the  Heal spell mentioned at Level 11, you might want to grab that now.

Alternatively, you could pick  Planar Ally, which allows you to summon a Djinni, Deva or Cambion to fight for you. These powerful summoned creatures can help turn tough battles in your favour. If not killed, your summon will return to their home plane the next time you Long Rest.

---

War Domain Cleric Build Equipment for Baldur’s Gate 3

In this section, we will outline the best equipment recommendations for your War Cleric. We have included both an early game and a late game section for equipment, so you can use this build no matter how far through the game you are.

Don’t worry if you don’t have all of the listed equipment, and feel free to try out different items and combinations too – this is just a guideline and the build can still work great with some of the equipment changed.

Early-Game

Early-Game equipment is available in Act I and the earlier parts of Act II. It is generally less powerful than the late-game version of the build, however there are still some really handy items that you can find fairly early on in your BG3 playthrough.

You can check below the table for more detailed information about each item, including how to obtain them.

Wapira’s Crown

Whenever you heal another creature, you also gain 1d6 HP. This is a decent early game heal and it’s basically free. Even though the War Domain Cleric isn’t focused on healing, it can still make for a decent healer when needed, so this item is a good fit. You get Wapira’s Crown as a reward from Zevlor for doing the Save the Refugees quest, provided you accept the monetary reward. It is inside the sack he gives you.

Adamantine Splint Armour

The Adamantine Splint Armour is a very strong piece of Heavy Armour that can be obtained fairly early in the game. It reduces all incoming damage by 2, prevents you from receiving Critical Hits, and debuffs enemies who attack you. To craft it, you need to go to the Grymforge, find the Splint-Armour Mould and some Mithral Ore, then activate the Adamantine Forge with these components slotted into place.

Hellrider’s Pride

With Hellrider’s Pride, whenever you heal another creature, they get the Blade Ward condition for 2 turns, giving a 50% resistance to Bludgeoning, Slashing and Piercing damage. They are carried by Zevlor in the Druid Grove. You can get them as a reward for finishing the Investigate Kagha quest. Alternatively, you may buy them from him or steal them via pickpocketing.

Vital Conduit Boots

The Vital Conduit Boots give you 8 Temporary HP whenever you cast a spell that requires Concentration. The Cleric has many such spells, so these boots are a really good fit. They are sold by A’jak’nir Jeera in Crèche Y’llek at the end of Act I. To find this area, you need to take the Mountain Pass route to Act II and explore the Rosymorn Monastery.

Cloak of Protection

The Cloak of Protection is a simple defensive item that gives you a +1 bonus to your Saving Throw rolls and your Armour Class, making you a little more resistant to a variety of attacks and hostile effects. It is sold by Quartermaster Talli in Last Light Inn, in Act II.

Pearl of Power Amulet

The Pearl of Power Amulet lets you restore a spell slot of first, second or third level, once per Long Rest. This is particularly handy in the early game when you don’t have a huge number of spell slots available. It is sold by Omeluum in the Myconid Colony, in the Underdark. To trade with them, you must first finish their quest to help them investigate the parasite.

The Whispering Promise

The Whispering Promise is another item that gives a very nice extra buff with healing spells. Whenever you heal a creature, they get the Blessed buff for 2 turns, giving them a 1d4 bonus to Attack Rolls and Saving Throws. This item can appear in several locations:

• Purchase from Volo in the Druid Grove (later on he can be found in your camp after you rescue him from the goblins)
• Purchase from Grat the Trader in the Goblin Camp
• Purchase from Roah Moonglow in either Shattered Sanctum (Act I) or Moonrise Towers (Act II)

If the item isn’t available in any of these vendors, you can do a Long Rest to reset their wares. You don’t need to use any camp supplies when doing a Long Rest for this purpose.

Ring of Protection

The Ring of Protection basically does the same thing as the Cloak of Protection, giving a +1 bonus to Saving Throws and Armour Class. You get it as a reward from Mol for completing the quest to steal the Sacred Idol, in the Druid Grove.

The Blood of Lathander

A legendary mace with a +3 bonus to its Attack Rolls and Damage, The Blood of Lathander will also heal you when you reach 0 HP, once per Long Rest, and lets you cast a weaker version of the Sunbeam spell, which can be a big help in Act II for dealing very high damage to groups of shadow-cursed undead enemies.

Obtaining the Mace requires you to fully explore the Rosymorn Monastery and enter the secret area by solving the statue puzzle, near where you meet Vlaakith’s projection. It is protected by a trap, which you can either disable by collecting the Ceremonial Weapons found in the Monastery, or you can take it without disabling the trap, in which case you should ensure the character who grabs it has a self-teleport ability like Misty Step, and give everyone a Potion of Speed to make sure they can escape from the Monastery in time.

Blooded Greataxe (Alternative)

In the early-game, the War domain Cleric hasn’t unlocked all of its buffs and class features yet, so its melee damage output can be a bit lacking with the traditional Cleric setup of a one-handed weapon and shield.

Therefore you might want to go with a two-handed weapon like the Blooded Greataxe to improve your melee damage. However there is a tradeoff here – you cannot use a shield with a weapon like this, so your Armour Class will be lower. This not only means you are likely to take more damage, but you’ll also find it a bit harder to maintain Concentration on Spells, which is an important aspect of the Cleric class, even with the War Domain subclass. So it’s up to you if you feel comfortable going with this alternative setup.

The Blooded Greataxe can be purchased from Roah Moonglow in Shattered Sanctum. If the weapon isn’t showing up in her wares, try doing a Long Rest to reset them.

Shield of Devotion

A good early-to-mid-game shield, the Shield of Devotion grants you an extra level 1 Spell Slot and lets you use your Reaction to try to knock over an enemy who hit you with a melee attack. It also grants you a unique version of the Aid spell, however this version only casts on you and not on your team, and it will not stack with the normal version. Be careful when using this, as it will replace the buff you have from the normal version of Aid.

The Shield of Devotion is sold by Quartermaster Talli in Last Light Inn, in Act II.

Spellthief

A handy Longbow for an early-game spellcaster, Spellthief can restore a Level 1 Spell Slot once per Long Rest, by landing a Critical Hit with the weapon. It is sold by Arron in the Druid Grove.

Late-Game

Late-Game Equipment is found in Act III and the latter parts of Act II; however, some items from the early-game may also find their way onto this list, if they are powerful enough to remain competitive with items found in the latter parts of the game.

At this stage of the game we are mainly focusing on finding items that improve our Spell Save Difficulty Class – increasing this stat means that enemies need to roll a higher number to succeed a Saving Throw against our spells.

However most items that improve this stat are fairly light on the defensive side, therefore we have included a couple of optional items that you can use instead if you’re struggling to stay alive with the optimal setup.

Hood of the Weave

The Hood of the Weave grants a +2 bonus to your Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Rolls, making all of your spells more likely to succeed at damaging or applying a condition to their target. It is sold by Mystic Carrion in Philgrave’s Mansion in Act III.

Helldusk Gloves

The Helldusk Gloves are important because they give another +1 bonus to Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Rolls. Your weapon attacks will also do 1d6 extra Fire Damage with these gloves equipped. They are dropped by Haarlep in the House of Hope.

Helldusk Boots

With the Helldusk Boots equipped, you cannot be forcibly moved by hostile spells or actions, and you are immune to being slowed down by Difficult Terrain. You can also use your Reaction to automatically succeed a failed Saving Throw. These effects are especially good for your War Domain Cleric, as they are very likely to be the spellcasting core of your party, and the Helldusk Boots will make it much harder for enemies to prevent you from casting spells.

The Helldusk Boots can be found in a locked Gilded Chest on the top floor of Wyrm’s Rock Fortress. Take the boots before Gortash’s Coronation to avoid making nearby NPCs hostile.

Cloak of the Weave

The Cloak of the Weave gives you another +1 bonus to Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Rolls, making it even harder for enemies to resist the effects of your spells. Once per Short Rest, you can absorb half of the next elemental attack that targets you, and imbue your next outgoing attack with 1d6 of the same element.

The Cloak of the Weave is sold by Helsik at the Devil’s Fee, once her special stock has been unlocked.

Amulet of the Devout

The Amulet of the Devout adds another +2 bonus to Spell Save DC. It also grants an extra Channel Divinity Charge. Found in the main offering chest in the basement of Stormshore Tabernacle. Beware that looting it will curse your character, so come prepared with some way to cleanse curses, or be prepared to deal with the curse’s consequences when looting this item!

Amulet of Greater Health (Alternative Amulet)

If you’re struggling with survivability, then the Amulet of Greater Health is the solution to your troubles. It improves your Constitution to 23, which will have the side effect of considerably improving your max HP, too. You also get Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws (which you may or may not already have from the Armour of Landfall).

Can be stolen from a trapped pedestal in the Archive of the House of Hope.

Ring of Feywild Sparks

You might be a little confused about why we’re recommending this ring here, since its stated purpose is to buff Tides of Chaos, a Wild Magic Sorcerer feature. The reason is that this ring has a hidden +1 bonus to Spell Save DC that’s not included in the tooltip.

The Ring is looted from Auntie Ethel in the cellar of The Blushing Mermaid, in the Lower City (Act III).

Devotee’s Mace

An optional alternative to the Blood of Lathander, the Devotee’s Mace can be obtained at Level 10 by using your Divine Intervention Action and choosing Arm Thy Servant. Remember that once a character uses Divine Intervention, they can never use it again! You can bypass this limitation by recruiting a Cleric hireling and getting them to summon the Devotee’s Mace for you, or by temporarily respeccing another character to Cleric – this could be considered a mild exploit so it’s up to you if you want to do that or not.

This Mace has a +3 bonus to Attack Rolls and Damage (the same as Blood of Lathander), and gives you the Healing Incense Aura action, which heals you and all nearby allies by 1d4 every turn for 10 turns.

Viconia’s Walking Fortress

The strongest shield in the game, Viconia’s Walking Fortress gives you a +3 boost to Armour Class, lets you knock over your melee assailants and deal Force Damage to them (using a Reaction), gives you Advantage on Saving Throws against Spells, gives all enemy Spell Attack Rolls against you Disadvantage, gives you access to the Warding Bond spell and the Reflective Shell action.

This shield is looted from Viconia DeVir in the Cloister of Sombre Embrace, in Act III.

The Dead Shot

The Dead Shot reduces the Attack Roll number needed to crit with the bow by 1, and doubles your Proficiency Bonus when attacking with the bow (effectively improving your accuracy). It is sold by Fytz the Firecracker in Stormshore Armoury, Lower City.

---

War Cleric Extra Info

Here is some additional info that will help you to get the most out of this War Domain Cleric Build in Baldur’s Gate 3.

War Cleric Build Tips & Tricks – BG3

The War Domain Cleric places more emphasis on weapon combat than any other Cleric class. However, it doesn’t sacrifice any of the Cleric’s spellcasting strength in the process, making it one of the most versatile subclasses available.

While it may be tempting to open with a spell and then charge into melee with your War Domain Cleric, sometimes it’s better to hold back and keep your character safe from damage so that you can continue Concentrating on powerful spells such as Bless or Insect Plague. This subclass is definitely more geared towards being in the heart of a melee struggle than other Clerics are, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the best place to be. Try to read the situation and plan your moves accordingly.

Guiding Bolt is a great opener, in the early game, since it will give you an advantage on the next attack against the enemy. However, later in the game it tends to be replaced by more powerful spells.

Utilise your War Priest feature when fighting strong enemies, as it will give you an additional weapon attack on your turn and help you to deal more melee damage.

While we have gone with a traditional mace and shield setup for this build, using a more aggressive melee weapon like a Greataxe is viable if you want to be focused more on melee combat and less on concentration magic. This will make you a little more vulnerable to damage, however.

War Domain Cleric 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 Cleric Build with the War Domain subclass:

•  Concentrated Blast: Allows you to deal extra damage to a target when you are Concentrating on a spell, potentially also healing if the target is Concentrating too.
•  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. You have quite a few AoE spells, which are pretty good at activating this effect.
•  Fly: This can be used to reach hard to get to places or change positions in combat.
•  Black Hole: This power creates an area-based effect that pulls in and slows targets. It’s particularly useful for crowd control, allowing you to cluster enemies together for area-of-effect attacks or to isolate them from vulnerable allies.
•  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.

---

Other Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds

• Druid Build – Circle of the Moon
• Bard Build – College of Lore
• Ranger Build – Hunter
• Monk Build – Way of Shadow
• Monk Build – Way of the Four Elements
• Monk Build – Way of the Open Hand
• Necromancer Build – Necromancy
• Fighter Build – Battle Master
• Barbarian Build – Berserker
• Warlock Build – Great Old One
• Cleric Build – Light Domain
• Rogue Build – Thief
• Sorcerer Build – Wild Magic
• Wizard Build – Evocation School
• Paladin – Oath of Ancients
• More Baldur’s Gate Guides & Builds

If you want to check out the map of Baldur’s Gate 3, please visit the Baldur’s Gate 3 Interactive Map.

The post BG3 War Domain Cleric Build Guide appeared first on AlcastHQ.