Baldur’s Gate 3: Best Karlach companion build - Charlie INTEL (2024)

Barbarians in Baldur’s Gate 3 are extremely strong vanguards, and if you had to pick one for your party, Karlach is the must-have companion. Here’s the best build for Karlach in BG3 that transforms her into an unstoppable tank.

Karlach the Barbarian in Baldur’s Gate 3 has a compelling questline that is also connected to Wyll‘s story. She is a Tiefling who escaped from Avernus, being hunted by Zariel’s minions.

While Karlach is one of the most powerful companions in terms of dealing raw damage with a melee weapon in Baldur’s Gate 3, to make the most out of her build, you need to respec her and alter her stats and skills.

With that in mind, here’s the best companion build for Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3 that helps you decide the ideal skills, subclass, abilities, and more.

  • Best subclass for Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3
  • Best Ability Score for Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3
  • Best skills for Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3
  • Best build for Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3

Best subclass for Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3

The best subclass for Karlach’s Barbarian build in Baldur’s Gate 3 is Berserker, as it does more damage than any other melee-based subclass in the game.

The Berserker gets theability to use a bonus action called Frenzy while raging, which adds an extra attack to your turns. Your offensive strength gets increased, enabling you to hit harder and attack more enemies at once.

Best Ability Score for Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3

Here’s what Karlach’s Ability Score should look like for her companion build in Baldur’s Gate 3:

  • Strength: 16 (+2)
  • Dexterity: 16
  • Constitution: 16 (+1)
  • Intelligence: 8
  • Wisdom: 8
  • Charisma: 8
Baldur’s Gate 3: Best Karlach companion build - Charlie INTEL (1)Larian Studios

Karlach is a Tiefling Barbarian who fought in Avernus.

The Barbarian is the most straightforward DPS class, and as such, your most important ability is Strength. You also need to focus on Constitution for survivability along with Dexterity to land your hits, so dumping Intelligence, Charisma and Wisdom won’t hurt Karlach at all. You don’t need her to be the face of the party, nor an investigator, just a killing machine with raw power.

Best skills for Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3

You should focus on the following skills for Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3:

  • Athletics (Strength)
  • Survival (Wisdom)

The Barbarian class in Baldur’s Gate 3 relies primarily on Strength, which is why Athletics is a good pick. Meanwhile, Wisdom is one of the skills that you can pick but this Barbarian build for Karlach is not focused on using Survival and with the -2 penalty to its Wisdom stat, don’t count on it as a viable option, just a placeholder since Barbarians don’t get access to other skills.

Best build for Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3

Here’s the best companion build for Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3:

LEVELFEATURE
1Unarmored Defence – Rage
2Danger Sense -Reckless Attack
3Subclass:Berserker – Additional Rage Charge
4Ability Improvement:Strength +2 (or Savage Attacker Feat)
5Extra Attack – Fast Movement
6Additional Rage Charge
7Feral Instinct
8Feat:Great Weapon Master or Charger (This last Feat is tremendously useful)
9Brutal Critical
10Additional Health
11Relentless Rage
12Ability Improvement:Strength +2 (or Sentinel Feat)

Berserker mainly focuses on dealing lots of damage, using improvised weapons taken from the environment, and even throwing their enemies against each other. A useful tip would be placing Karlach in the middle of the battlefield, surrounded by enemies, triggering rage, and then wreaking havoc among their ranks by taking them down one by one and making use of her reaction to strike them down with Opportunity Attacks.

The Charger Feat is a great addition to the Berseker’s already empowered crowd control melee abilities and will turn Karlach into a train of pain, able to ram down groups of enemies, taking them down easily as she moves through the battlefield.

Savage Attacker and Sentinel Feats are great to have, but they will reduce Karlach’s total Strength Ability Score to either 18 (if you pick one of them) or leave it at 16 (if you pick both). Considering there are plenty of items you can use to make Karlach’s Strength stat climb up to 20 without spending your Feat on Ability Score increase, you should definitely go for it if you want to.

That was all the information you needed for the best Karlach companion build in Baldur’s Gate 3. Here are some more guides on the game you can check out:

Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 3: Gameplay changes, and more|Best Paladin build in Baldur’s Gate 3|Best Druid build in Baldur’s Gate 3|Best Bard build in Baldur’s Gate 3|Best Sorcerer build in Baldur’s Gate 3|Best Wizard build in Baldur’s Gate 3|Best Fighter build in Baldur’s Gate 3|Baldur’s Gate 3: How to get Us companion

Baldur’s Gate 3: Best Karlach companion build - Charlie INTEL (2024)

FAQs

What is the best companion build for Karlach? ›

Overall, the best option for Karlach is the Berserker. The other two subclasses are powerful in their own regards, however nothing comes close to the power the Berserker showcases. At this level, she'll also gain an additional rage charge.

What is the best stats for the Karlach bg3? ›

The Best Ability Score for the Karlach Companion Build is high Strength of 16 and Constitution of 16 that way your melee abilities will do a lot of damage with a massive health pool for good survivability.

What is the best Karlach multiclass build in baldurs gate 3? ›

Best Melee Build For Karlach. This build is an 8/4 split between Barbarian and Fighter, taking the best elements of both classes to create the ultimate melee character. While we do multiclass with this build, leveling it is incredibly easy and doesn't fall behind other classes.

How to maximize Karlach damage? ›

The Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength increase your Strength to 23, and give you a +1 bonus to Strength Saving Throws. This will increase your damage and accuracy with Strength-based attacks, most notably your melee weapon. The gloves can be taken from a pedestal in the archive of the House of Hope.

What armor should Karlach wear? ›

In order to avoid encumbering her, keep Karlach in Medium Armour at most, especially after her Dexterity hits 14 as this will boost her armour class higher.

What is the best build for Karlach in Dualshockers? ›

The best Subclass for Karlach is the Berserker Barbarian Subclass. This Subclass is an extremely powerful dps Subclass that will do tons of damage. The other Subclasses (Wildheart and Wild Magic) are extremely useful, but they won't do as much pure damage as the Berserker Subclass.

How to inspire Karlach? ›

As a Barbarian, showing your strength will improve your relationship with Karlach. Furthermore, she was previously enslaved, so freeing slaves will likely garner sympathy from her. You will also raise her approval by defending her, defending the Tieflings, and showing kindness to children.

Should you give Karlach Soul coins? ›

Soul Coins can be used to power the Infernal Engines and give Karlach a boost of power in combat, making them valuable in tough battles. While Soul Coins lack other uses in the game, they may gain more options in future DLC or expansions, so holding onto them is the best choice for most campaigns.

Is Karlach proficient with heavy armor? ›

Can't rage in heavy armor so stick with medium. No armor best. There is an armor in act 2 that gives 15 health when you rage and some other bonus, I give her that. Medium by default, you can spec her as heavy.

Should I let Volo take my eye? ›

Yes, you should let Volo take your eye in Baldur's Gate 3.

Still, successfully sitting through the Volo eye interaction rewards you with Volo's Ersatz Eye, which grants a permanent upgrade that will enable you to see Invisibility within 30 feet.

Is Karlach evil in BG3? ›

While there's no alignment technically in BG3, Karlach is very obviously a good-aligned character.

How to increase Karlach armor class? ›

For Karlach, make sure she isn't wearing armor, and grab her the gloves of dexterity, also in the mountain pass. If you're in act 2, make sure to grab the permanent +2 str potion for her, and the clothes Dammon sells that give +2 constitution. This should get her around 18 ac, higher if you get the cloak of protection.

Can Karlach have an action surge? ›

At level 8, Karlach will gain Action Surge from taking her second level of Fighter.

What is the highest damage weapon in Baldur's Gate? ›

The Everburn Blade has one of the highest damage outputs in Baldur's Gate 3. Even more astonishing is that players can obtain this remarkable weapon within the first two hours of gameplay. To acquire it, players must confront one of the most demanding optional bosses, Commander Zhalk, aboard the Nautiloid ship.

How to cool down Karlach act 1? ›

Summary
  1. Use 'Create Water' spell to cool down Karlach temporarily.
  2. Throw water at Karlach or use cold damage spells.
  3. In Act 2, talk to Dammon to permanently cool her down.
Apr 14, 2024

Is Karlach a companion? ›

Karlach is an Origin character in Baldur's Gate 3. Origin characters are playable heroes who have their own stories, desires, and attitudes toward the world. You can play as Karlach to live out her story, or you can choose to create a custom character and recruit her as a companion instead.

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