Baldur's Gate 3: Best Builds For Karlach (2024)

Infernal Fury

See Also

Karlach Romance Guide - Baldur's Gate III Guide - IGNKarlach: Our Fiery Friend - Baldur's Gate III Guide - IGNHow to find Karlach in Baldur's Gate 3Karlach Companion Guide: Romance, Builds, and Approval | Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3)｜Game8

As a bonus action, Karlach may consume a Soul Coin to empower her infernal engine, lasting until your next Long Rest. While this buff is active, Karlach's melee attacks will deal an extra 1-4 fire damage while raging. This added damage does not scale with character level.

We keep Karlach's Barbarian class and starting attributes for this build, although we do recommend respeccing her stats in the endgame once you obtain the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength. For Act 1, focus on reaching level five. Your second level will unlock Reckless Attack, allowing you to gain Advantage on attacks as a reaction. For your third level, pick the Wildheart subclass to buff your Rage ability. Bear grants DR to all non-psychic sources, while Eagle adds a powerful dive attack and lets you Dash as a bonus action. Bestial buffs can be changed with each Barbarian level, so feel free to experiment.

At level four, you'll gain an ability score improvement (ASI). For your first ASI, grab the Great Weapon Master feat. The automatic Advantage granted by Reckless Attack mitigates this penalty, making this a great feat for two-handed melee Barbarians. Level five will unlock an extra attack, letting you hit twice per turn. Spellcasters will also unlock Haste at this point. Buffing Karlach with Haste will let her attack four times per turn.

During Act 2, you'll want to multiclass as a Fighter. This is so we can gain Action Surge, a class feature that lets you take an extra action once per short rest. Activate this and Haste to attack six times in a single turn. Very few enemies can survive that degree of punishment. Grab Battle Master or Champion as your subclass at level nine. Battle Master gives Karlach some new attacks, allowing her to disarm targets or frighten them. If you don't care for busy ability bars, however, take Champion to double your critical chance—perfect for any build that attacks this often. After your fourth Fighter level, spec back into Barbarian until you reach the level cap.

The items recommended are for an endgame character in Act 3. No items listed below are required for the build to function.

Karlach doesn't need anything beyond a good two-handed weapon for most of the game, but it doesn't hurt to give her some good items. Get Karlach a +1 two-handed weapon as soon as possible to increase her damage. Most merchants in Act 1 will sell +1 items for a moderate fee, notably the Goblins in the Goblin Camp. You'll also want to get your hands on the Bracers of Defense from the Blighted Village. This will grant +2 AC while Karlach isn't wearing light, medium, or heavy armor.

Once you reach Act 3, you'll want to complete the House of Hope questline to acquire the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength. This sets your Strength stat to 23, allowing you to respec Karlach's base Strength score into Dexterity to increase her AC and initiative rolls. You'll also find some powerful weapons throughout this Act. The strongest option for Karlach is Balduran's Giantslayer, a +3 Greatsword that doubles your Strength modifier when rolling damage. The rest of your items should focus on adding damage to melee attacks, increasing Karlach's AC, or improving her saving throws.

Our leveling progression is identical to our melee build with one major difference: take the Tavern Brawler feat at level four. This will increase your Strength and cause your Strength modifier to double-dip on Throw attacks. Tavern Brawler is the main reason this build deals so much damage and should be taken as soon as possible.

Beyond that, we spec this build the same as our melee configuration. Multiclass as a Fighter between levels 6-10 to gain access to Action Surge and the Champion's increased critical chance. Spend your last three levels as a Barbarian. Unlike our melee build, we'll be taking Berserker as our subclass. This lets you use Improvised Weapon as a bonus action while Raging, letting you throw three items per turn at level five—increased to five items if Haste is active.

The items recommended are for an Act 1 character. Endgame recommendations are the same as our previous build, minus the main-hand weapons listed.

This build comes online as early as Act 1. The only items you need are spare Javelins. Pick up any Javelin you find and put it in your inventory. Whenever combat begins, climb to the highest vantage point on the map, then throw down a storm of Javelins to annihilate your foes. The Returning Pike is especially useful since it automatically returns to you after it's thrown. Any items that buff your Throw action or movement speed work best here, notably the Haste Helm and Gloves of Uninhibited Kushigo.

We'll want a way to scale Karlach's AC, so we'll be using medium armor with this build. The Adamantine Scale Mail from Act 1's Gyrmforge will serve you well into Act 2 and the start of Act 3. Be sure you have 14 Dexterity to maximize your AC bonus, and you should be able to safely throw as many Javelins as you desire. Fight above your foes whenever possible to maximize your damage bonus. Anything that gives Misty Step—such as the Disintegrating Night Walker boots—will make repositioning quite easy.