Best Barbarian (Karlach) Builds in Baldur's Gate 3

Karlach is a fierce tiefling barbarian, one of the companions and main characters in Baldur's Gate 3. She is known for her fiery temper, which not everyone can handle. However, we have prepared two builds for the barbarian for you, depending on your preferred playstyle.

Fun Fact: When playing in co-op, you cannot take both Wyll and Karlach into your party at the very beginning of the game.

Karlach is a Zariel tiefling and, as such, has racial features. For example, resistance to fire damage, but this doesn't set her apart from other tieflings. What's really important is the Soul Coins, which are scattered throughout the Sword Coast. By feeding them to Karlach when she is in a state of Rage or has low health, you allow her to deal additional fire damage.

There are two gameplay options: either you're a tank or a melee fighter. Rage remains the barbarian's hallmark, but you shouldn't rely on it constantly — it may happen that you won't have the necessary points at the most crucial moment. Therefore, you need to distribute everything very wisely to significantly ease your gameplay.

We have presented the first-level characteristics above. Choose the skills with proficiency at your discretion.

Important Note: A barbarian cannot wear heavy armor because it will negate the Rage ability. Of course, you can wear anything you want, but then you will be without the key class ability.

It is best to stick to medium armor, and if defense is a priority for you, use a shield.

Moreover, this is a class that needs to pay attention to the weapon dice: between 2d6 and 1d12 (or 1d10), you should choose the latter. This is due to the barbarian's ability to add one weapon die to the critical hit.

The essence of a tank is to survive, and no other subclass fits this as well as Wild Heart. Heart of the Bear will allow you to withstand almost any hits while in Rage and gives you the ability to heal, which is very useful in the thick of battle.

Definitely Tough, as you need a large amount of HP. If you become the only tank in the party, the more health, the better.

Aspect of the Beast: Stallion — a powerful thing that will give you a bit more HP. The only condition is that you need to permanently enter every fight with Charge. Considering how often this ability is completely forgotten, it's all pros here.

The obvious choice is Ability Score Improvement. Remember that in this build, your main task is to take all the damage and survive, so we raise Constitution to 18, as it directly affects your HP.

The most optimal choice is Aspect of the Beast: Chimpanzee. Firstly, at high levels, enemies love to knock you off wherever, and resistance to fall damage is an incredibly useful thing. Add to this the ability to blind an opponent with a thrown apple or a bunch of grass. A blind opponent is a dead opponent.

Next, we again raise Constitution to the maximum, then we look at the amount of our Hit Points. Add to this temporary HP from the ability Aspect of the Beast: Warhorse and marvel at how invulnerable your hero becomes.

If your priority is dealing damage, then Berserker will suit you perfectly, mainly because of Frenzy instead of the usual Rage. More attacks — more damage!

Great Weapon Master is a real lifesaver for you in case you need good damage, and the charges of Rage have run out by chance. With a small penalty of -5 to hit, you get +10 to damage. This allows you to feel comfortable in any situation.

Here everything is classic. Tough is something that is never superfluous, especially for a melee fighter.

Unlike the tank, Constitution is not as crucial for us as damage, so we choose Ability Score Improvement, increase Strength to 18, and rejoice at how now, for instance, Karlach deals damage in a state of Frenzy and even without it.