What is the Best Fighter Subclass in BG3?

Welcome to our Fighter subclass tier list for Baldur’s Gate 3. On this page, we will review all Fighter subclasses in BG3 and try to determine which is the strongest.

The Fighter is a well-trained martial expert who can use all armour and weapons in the game to great effect. The only class that gets two helpings of the Extra Attack feature as it levels up, Fighters can dish out devastating damage with the right buffs (Haste being one of the best buffs) and good equipment.

While the Fighter subclass already provides a highly effective set of tools for dealing damage with weapons, the four Fighter subclasses help to specialise your Fighter into a specific combat role, such as a party leader, a spellsword or a magical archer. In this list we’ll look at all of these subclasses and see how they measure up against one another.

Table of Contents:

Battle Master Fighter

Battle Masters are team leaders who utilize their skills to support allies and hinder enemies during combat, helping to turn things to your advantage.

They have a unique subclass mechanic called Superiority Dice. You receive a limited number of these dice after resting, which can be spent to activate Battle Manoeuvers.

Battle Manoeuvers are special Actions. You choose three to unlock initially, and will unlock slots for another four as you progress. Some of the best Battle Manoeuvers are:

• Disarming Attack – Perform a weapon attack that deals an extra 1d8 damage and tries to disarm the target.
• Feinting Attack – Make a weapon attack with Advantage that deals an extra 1d8 damage.
• Trip Attack – Make a weapon attack that deals 1d8 extra damage and attempts to knock the target Prone.

Your Superiority Dice are replenished on both Short and Long Rests, so you get plenty of opportunities to use these actions. Disarming a strong enemy can make them much less dangerous, and knocking them Prone makes them defenceless against melee attacks by both you and allies.

This is an excellent subclass that deals extra damage and helps to support your team by debuffing enemies.

Learn More: BG3 Battle Master Build

Champion Fighter

The Champion is by far the most simplistic subclass on this list – the idea behind it is to hit enemies as hard as possible.

This is achieved by reducing the roll required for a Critical Hit by 1. This will stack with other effects that do the same thing. The Half-Orc race synergises extremely well with this effect since they roll extra damage when they land a Crit. If you make a Champion, I highly recommend going with a Half-Orc.

Later on, Champions gain the Remarkable Athlete feature, which increases their Jump range and adds half of their Proficiency Bonus to checks you aren’t Proficient in. At Level 10, you can choose an extra Fighting Style, which is handy but not essential because the Fighter class lets you choose one at the start of the game anyway.

The Champion subclass doesn’t do that much other than improve your Critical Hit chance. If, like me, your playstyle revolves around maximising damage output, then you will appreciate this subclass. But if you prefer roleplaying or utilizing a range of different effects, you might find it boring. While I personally like the Champion, its total lack of supportive options compared to the Battle Master means that I cannot give it the same rank.

Learn More: BG3 Champion Build

Eldritch Knight Fighter

Eldritch Knights gain access to basic spellcasting to augment their fighting. They have access to the Wizard Spell List and use Intelligence as their spellcasting attribute. However, unlike full spellcasters they cannot access the most powerful spells in the game, being limited to Level 2 Spell Slots.

At Level 3, they unlock the Weapon Bond action, allowing them to magically bind to their currently held weapon. While this effect is active, the weapon will automatically return to your hand when thrown and cannot be knocked out of your hand.

At Level 7, you unlock War Magic, which allows you to make a weapon attack as a Bonus Action after you cast a Cantrip.

At Level 10, you unlock Eldritch Strike. When you hit an enemy with a weapon attack, they will have Disadvantage on the Saving Throw versus a spell you cast before the end of the next turn.

Being limited to Level 2 Spells does hold back the Eldritch Knight somewhat, and this is the reason I don’t usually go with this subclass – it just makes more sense to me to focus on playing to the fighter’s main strength, which is weapon combat. It also suffers from the need to spread its Ability points across an additional Ability, since you need Intelligence for the spellcasting. You can eventually overcome this with equipment, but it is an issue that you’ll struggle with until some way into Act III. But it’s still a good subclass, and you can use the spells to augment your Fighter with increased mobility thanks to spells like Misty Step, or apply attacking or defensive buffs to yourself with spells like Mirror Image, Enlarge and Magic Weapon.

Learn More: BG3 Eldritch Knight Fighter

Arcane Archer Fighter

Arcane Archers immediately gain Arcana and Nature Proficiency, and unlock four Arcane Arrows which are replenished after all Short and Long Rests.

Arcane Arrows are spent to activate special Arcane Shot abilities, magical ranged attacks that apply extra damage or debuffs to their target. Similarly to the Battle Master actions, you must choose from a list of potential Arcane Shots to unlock.

Some of the best Arcane Shots are:

• Bursting Arrow – Explodes on impact, dealing 2d6 Force Damage to nearby creatures
• Seeking Arrow – This arrow is guaranteed to hit the target. It deals an extra 1d6 Force Damage and applies Faerie Fire, making subsequent attacks against them easier.
• Grasping Arrow – Deals 2d6 extra Poison Damage. Reduces the target’s Movement Speed and deals another 2d6 Piercing Damage when they move.

At Level 7, you unlock Curving Shot which allows you to spend a Bonus Action to reattempt a ranged magical attack that missed. The second attack will be aimed at the nearest target to the original target. You also unlock the Magic Arrow feature, which allows all of your ranged attacks to ignore enemy resistance or immunity to non-magical damage.

By the time you reach max level, you will have 10 Arcane Arrows, each one of which is replenished on any Short or Long Rest. This gives you abundant use of your Arcane Shots.

Arcane Archers also retain the melee combat prowess of the basic Fighter class, making them one of the most versatile damage dealers in the game, able to deal good damage from any distance.

Learn More: BG3 Arcane Archer Fighter

The Fighter Subclass Tier List

Now that we’ve run through and reviewed all of the Fighter subclasses for BG3, we came up with this ranking.

The Battle Master makes it into the S-Tier, thanks to its ability to regularly deal bonus damage and manipulate the battlefield to its advantage with Battle Manoeuvres.

The Champion and Arcane Archer subclasses follow close behind in A-Tier. Champions are arguably the best Fighter class for average damage output, but they are totally lacking in any support options and are less versatile than the other Fighter subclasses. The Arcane Archer on the other hand is the master of versatility, leaving your enemies with nowhere to hide. It is not as good at supporting the party as the Battle Master, which puts it just short of S-Tier.

The Eldritch Knight falls into B-Tier. Being restricted to only second-level spells, while understandable from a balance perspective, feels quite disappointing since this subclass doesn’t give you much else, and it forces you to split your Ability Points up if you want to be good at both spellcasting and weapon combat. If you want a Spellsword playstyle, you are better off using a Paladin, or the new Hexblade Warlock or Bladesinging Wizard subclasses.