Best Cleric (Shadowheart) Build in Baldur's Gate 3

The enigmatic priestess of Shar named Shadowheart is one of the companions and main characters in Baldur's Gate 3, whom we meet at the very beginning of the game. Soon, gamers often start to get confused and wonder why this character deals so little damage? That's why we've put together this build, which will not only increase Shadowheart's base damage but also make her one of the leading heroes in the squad.

Fun fact: Shadowheart is the only companion who changes her hair color depending on how the story develops.

Unfortunately, unlike her party members, Shadowheart doesn't have any special abilities as a named character. The thing is, she only gets bonuses from her race (half-elf). Consequently, the gameplay differences between a regular cleric and a Shadowheart cleric are practically minimal.

The Cleric is not a complicated class, considering that only two things are required of you: don't die and don't let others die. Of course, this is where the first problems begin, because it's not easy to achieve balance. Let's start with the simplest: attribute points.

Your first level should start with these characteristics. You can distribute skills with proficiency as you see fit or not touch them at all. Ours look like this.

At the first level, you are also given a choice of subclass. Our choice is War Domain.

Why War Domain? At the very least, so that a conditional Shadowheart can use martial weapons (scimitar, two-handed sword, etc.), and also wear heavy armor. As a result, your Armor Class (AC) is often above 20.

Note: with one-handed weapons, always take a shield.

We recommend the following cantrips:

It's best to settle on these spells:

This way, we get a balanced pool of spells for both healing and damage.

At the third level, we add Lesser Restoration to everything because curing diseases is very necessary, and you may not always have the required potion at hand.

Produce Flame is a useful thing that combines Light and Firebolt. It's hard to say how often you'll actually use this in practice, but why not.

For spells, we take Silence, which does a great job of neutralizing all casters.

Players who complain about Shadowheart's low survivability obviously have never played with Tough. Many intentionally ignore this feat, overlooking how much it eases the gameplay.

We replace Cure Wounds with Mass Healing Word and add Revivify. With these spells at your disposal, you can forget about healing scrolls — as long as you have enough spell slots.

At the sixth level, we take Remove Curse — it will even be useful for the storyline.

The seventh level is definitely for Guardian of Faith.

When it comes to spells, it is recommended to take Death Ward. The higher the level, the tougher the enemies, so this spell is never superfluous.

Here, it's sufficient to choose the classic Ability Score Improvement. We raise our Wisdom to 18 to increase the power of healing and damage from spells (remember, the cleric casts from Wisdom).

At the ninth level, we continue to maintain a balance between damage and healing, so we take Insect Plague and Mass Cure Wounds.

Since cantrips at this level no longer bring benefits, you can choose whatever you like. We took Thaumaturgy to have at least some chance to pass an unexpected charisma check.

The best spells for the tenth and eleventh levels are Daylight and Heroes' Feast. While the choice of the latter is understandable due to its genuinely useful properties, the former may raise questions: by the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth levels, players usually reach the third act and, consequently,

The last spell we take is Heal, which often serves as a wonderful lifesaver in some unpleasant situation.

Out of all the feats, we again choose Ability Score Improvement and increase Constitution to raise health points, but there's a nuance. Depending on the playstyle you've settled into by the end of the game (melee, ranged, defense, etc.), you may decide what to enhance. If you want to fully develop the cleric as a fighter, raise Strength to 18. If the quality of healing is important to you, it makes sense to raise Wisdom to 20. Or you may want to catch a certain balance and raise Constitution, since HP are never superfluous.