Best Karlach Build BG3

Karlach is a Berserker Barbarian Asmodeus Tiefling in Baldur's Gate 3 who can be recruited as a companion or used as an origin character. As an origin character, she has a ton of potential for different builds due to being a Barbarian with multiple subclass options and can always be respecced by visiting Withers. Below you'll find some great Karlach ideas in our Baldur's Gate 3 Karlach build guide.

Best stats for Karlach in Baldur's Gate 3

For Karlach to be a great Barbarian, you will want very high Strength, as it will increase your attack rolls and actions like Jump, Throw, and Shoves. You should also have high Constitution to increase your health to be able to endure more as a front-liner. Lastly, your Dexterity should be decent in order to increase your Initiative. You should dump the rest of your stats, as you won't need Charisma, Intelligence, or high Wisdom to be a powerful Barbarian.

• Strength: 17
• Dexterity: 14
• Constitution: 16
• Intelligence: 8
• Wisdom: 10
• Charisma: 8

Karlach is a very powerful melee character, especially once you get to level 3. When that happens, you will choose a Barbarian subclass and receive amazing abilities based on the one you chose.

BG3 Karlach leveling guide

Barbarians unlock new abilities at every level on top of the abilities unlocked through subclasses. Here are all the abilities you will unlock at each level of Barbarian in BG3:

Best subclasses for Karlach in BG3

Picking the Berserker subclass gives you access to Frenzy, which will give you the following abilities:

• Frenzied Strike: As a bonus action, make a melee attack with your equipped weapon.
• Enraged Throw: Pick up an item or creature and throw it at a target, dealing Bludgeoning damage and knocking it Prone.

These abilities are very helpful while raging, as you can use your bonus action for attacks or knocking a pesky opponent prone. The Enraged Throw can give thrown weapons its melee damage, making it viable to throw weapons as a bonus action.

At level 6, you unlock Mindless Rage, which will make you immune to Charmed and Frightened. Additionally, Calm Emotion will not end your rage, which can be very helpful against casters and enemies who nullify rages.

Related: Baldur’s Gate 3 Finesse Weapons Guide

Level 10 unlocks the subclass action Intimidating Presence, which can be used to instill Fear into one enemy within nine meters, and to grant you some space against tougher enemies while leaving them vulnerable to more damage.

Following Patch #3, Enraged Throw no longer applies Frenzied Strain, which applied -1 to hit on all attacks per stack. Now that Enraged Throw is more viable, the Berserker build is one of the best builds for Karlach to inflict tons of damage with throws. However, Lightning Charges no longer trigger other damage modifiers following Patch #3, so some of the build items are not as useful, but are still great options for increasing damage.

Alternately, the Wildheart Barbarian subclass can turn Karlach into a great melee tank using the Bear Bestial Heart. When you unlock the Wildheart subclass at level 3, choose Bear, as it will make you resistant to all damage except psychic during your rage. At level 6, you can also choose an Animal Aspect, of which these are the best options for you:

• Aspect of the Bear: Your carrying capacity is doubled, and you have Advantage on Strength Checks.
• Aspect of the Tiger: You add an additional Strength Modifier to Attack Rolls against Bleeding or Poisoned targets, and gain Proficiency in Survival.
• Aspect of the Elk: Give yourself and nearby allies extra movement speed.

Following Patch #3, the Aspect of the Stallion now scales the bonus temp HP based on your Barbarian level, rather than character level. This means Stallion is no longer a great option for multiclassing because you will lose a substantial amount of temp HP with a low Barbarian level.

Best feats for Karlach in BG3

There are a few feats that are very helpful for Karlach; many will increase her health/Constitution or make her harder to hit. You can also always elect to take an Ability Score Improvement, which would be great to get her Strength, Constitution, or Dexterity higher.

Karlach can take and deal a lot of damage as either a Wildheart or Berserker Barbarian. She can also multiclass into melee classes like Fighter, Monk, or even Druid. Make sure if you plan on multiclassing, check the leveling guide to see what Barbarian abilities you are getting and which ones you may miss out on when multiclassing. Karlach is a great ally to have in your party, so make sure you are taking good feats and abilities to improve her in combat and utility.

For more on Baldur's Gate 3, check out BG3 Tactician Difficulty Guide here on Pro Game Guides.