What is the Best Monk Subclass in BG3?

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

Monks utilize martial arts, acrobatics and wisdom to get the better of their opponents. All Monk subclasses share the Ki feature, which is a limited resource used to activate special Monk abilities. Ki is replenished when you perform a Long Rest.

Monks are one of the best classes at fighting with their bare hands, but they can also wield simple weapons like clubs and quarterstaves to great effect.

Table of Contents:

Way of the Open Hand Monk

The Open Hand Monk subclass fully focuses on buffing your unarmed combat. You unlock improved variants of the Monk’s Flurry of Blows action. These variants can be used to topple, stagger or push enemies.

When you reach level 6, you can activate one of three manifestations to infuse your unarmed attacks with 1d4 Radiant, Necrotic or Psychic damage. You can also use Wholeness of Body to regain Ki Points once per Long Rest.

From Level 9 you can use Resonating Punches that cause your target to begin Resonating. You can activate a Resonating enemy to make them explode, dealing 3d6 Force Damage to nearby creatures.

The roster of features unlocked by the Open Hand Monk is quite simple and easy to use. If you want to boost your unarmed attacks by as much as possible, then this is the obvious choice. Overall, it is a useful subclass but not remarkable in any way.

Learn More: BG3 Way of the Open Hand Build

Way of the Four Elements Monk

Way of the Four Elements Monks gain a unique type of Monk spellcasting. These spells don’t play by the same rules as other spells in BG3, and they consume Ki Points rather than Spell Slots. This has some advantages – you can still activate your Ki Spells when you are Silenced and you cannot be blocked by an enemy Counterspell. But the downside is that features that apply to spells typically don’t work with Ki Spells, such as the Spell Sniper feat.

When you become a Four Elements Monk, you can choose three Ki Spells to unlock. You’ll get access to more at higher levels. Most of the Ki Spells are standard spells that have been renamed and slightly reworked, but a few of them are completely unique to the Four Elements Monk, such as:

• Fangs of the Fire Snake – Hit an enemy with a fire attack from range, dealing 1d10 bonus Fire damage on top of your usual unarmed damage.
• Fist of Unbroken Air – Push an enemy back and deal 3d10 Bludgeoning Damage
• Shaping of the Ice – Create an ice cube that can be climbed
• Water Whip – Create a water whip that can deal 3d10 Bludgeoning Damage, pull enemies towards you or knock them prone.

These spells gain an extra damage dice when you reach Level 9.

While the Ki Spells do not utilize Spell Slots, once levelled up it is equivalent to Third Level magic, which we can determine thanks to the Flames of the Phoenix spell, unlocked at Level 11, which is essentially a renamed version of the Fireball spell.

The only other feature available for the Four Elements Monk is the Harmony of Fire and Water feature, unlocked at Level 3. When activated, it restores half of your Ki Points. You can do this once per Long Rest.

The Four Elements Monk gives you interesting new ways to spend your Ki Points. While the Monk can never be a full spellcaster, some of these Ki Spells are pretty good – at level 3 you can already deal up to 30 damage from range by spending two easily-replenishable Ki Points and an action. Like the Open Hand Monk, Four Elements is not especially remarkable, but it does a good job in its own niche.

Learn More: BG3 Four Elements Monk

Way of Shadow Monk

Way of Shadow Monks specialise in stealth and mobility. They are stronger when fighting in dark areas.

When you choose the Shadow Monk at Level 3, you immediately unlock quite a few new features. You can hide with a Bonus Action rather than an Action, you unlock the Minor Illusion cantrip which can distract enemies. You unlock several special Ki Actions, known as Shadow Arts:

• Pass Without a Trace – Gives you and nearby allies a +10 Stealth bonus.
• Darkness – Summon a cloud of magical darkness, Blinding and Heavily Obscuring those within
• Darkvision – Grant a creature the ability to see in Darkness up to a distance of 12 metres
• Silence – Create a sound-proof sphere. Creatures within cannot cast incanted spells and are immune to Thunder damage.

Experienced players will know that these actions aren’t so unique at all, and some of them are very common. The only difference is the Shadow Monk can cast them with Ki Points rather than Spell Slots.

At Level 5, you can use Cloak of Shadows to become invisible if you are already obscured. At level 6, you can use Shadow Step to teleport from one shadowy area to another. This uses a Bonus Action, and also gives you Advantage on your next Attack Roll.

At Level 11, you unlock Shadow Strike. This allows you to teleport from a hidden position, striking a foe and dealing 3d8 extra Psychic Damage along with your standard weapon or unarmed damage.

The Shadows Monk is a little bit disappointing. The only things unique to the subclass are Shadow Step, which gives some nice extra mobility (although it is situational) and Shadow Strike which deals some nice extra bonus damage, again situational. But to be honest you are better off playing as a Rogue, which gives you better stealth damage and isn’t limited by Ki Points. The Shadow Monk has its moments, but it often feels finicky and underpowered. Still, I can see the appeal of this class for some players – it is the closest thing to a ninja archetype in BG3.

Learn More: BG3 Way of Shadow Monk

Way of the Drunken Master Monk

The Way of the Drunken Master is something of a meme subclass. It clearly isn’t taking itself too seriously, but is it any good in combat?

You gain Profiency in the Performance Skill immediately upon unlocking this subclass, along with immunity to the negative effects of the Drunk condition and Drunken Technique, a Bonus Action that costs 1 Ki Point and allows you to make an unarmed attack and gain the effects of Disengage, allowing you to make several attacks and retreat on your turn. This already makes you a slippery opponent and can be quite problematic for melee-focused enemies to deal with, assuming you have enough Movement Speed to outrun them.

At Level 4 you can use Intoxicating Strike to make an enemy Drunk (also deals your normal attack damage). I’m not sure about the science behind that, but let’s go along with it.

At Level 6, you can spend a Ki Point as a Reaction to redirect an attack against you, making it hit a nearby enemy instead.

From Level 7, hitting an enemy with Intoxicating Strike gives you Life of the Party. This is a stacking buff that increases your Armour Class and Attack Rolls against Drunk targets by +1 per stack. From level 9, you can use Sobering Realisation to remove all stacks of Life of the Party, dealing bonus Psychic Damage on top of your regular damage and removing Drunk from the target.

Finally, from Level 11 you can spend 2 Ki Points to use Drunkard’s Luck, which allows you to negate a Disadvantage on an Ability Check, Attack Roll or Saving Throw, and roll under standard rules instead.

For a meme subclass, the Drunken Master isn’t all that bad. Some of its features are actually very useful, such as the Drunken Technique and Life of the Party. I think players probably hoped for a drunken subclass that revolved more around your character being drunk rather than making enemies drunk by hitting them, but at least you get immunity to the Drunk debuff. Still, this subclass has the power to make quite a nuisance of itself and annoy enemies with its slippery resilience.

Learn More: BG3 Drunken Master Monk

The Monk Subclass Tier List

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

None of the Monk subclasses do quite enough to get into the S-Tier. However, the Way of Four Elements and Open Hand Monks both make it into A-Tier. While the Open Hand Monk is a little simplistic, it does a good job of expanding on its niche with additional damage and features that effortlessly enhance a Monk who focuses on unarmed combat. The Four Elements Monk adds some much-needed versatility to the Monk class, and gives the player access to impressive bursts of single-target damage from early in the game.

The Drunken Master is in the B-Tier. I was tempted to put it into the A-Tier as well, and it’s not far short. Its Life of the Party buff can be quite powerful, and being able to sometimes negate Disadvantages is also an asset. While these features are handy, the Drunken Master Monk doesn’t do a great deal to increase your damage output, and it lacks the versatility of the Four Elements Monk. So I can’t quite justify placing it on the same rank as those subclasses.

Finally, the Shadow Monk falls into the C-Tier. I want to like this subclass, but at every step of the journey it feels overshadowed by the Rogue, especially now that the easily-played Swashbuckler is being added to the game. If you want a stealthy melee character, choose any Rogue subclass, and you’ll be better off than you would be with a Shadow Monk.