BG3 All Cleric Subclasses, Ranked

In a party-based RPG, you’ll want to put together a team that contains a tank to soak up damage, a DPS to deal it, and a healer to keep everyone alive. In D&D-based games such as Baldur’s Gate 3, you’ll likely want a Cleric such as Shadowheart to be your healer, meaning you'll have a variety of subclasses to choose from. To help point you in the right direction, I’ve ranked all the Cleric subclasses in BG3 below.

Best Cleric Subclasses in Baldur's Gate 3

A Cleric’s subclass is called their Domain and is chosen at level one. There are seven cleric domains in total; Shadowheart's, for instance, is Trickery. The best Cleric subclass will depend on how you want to play your character, as it is a very versatile class. I’ve pointed out the pros and cons of each subclass below.

All Cleric subclasses start with the following:

• Proficiency with simple weapons, flails, and morningstars
• Proficiency with light armor, medium armor, and shields
• 2 Proficiencies of choice from Religion, Insight, Medicine, and Persuasion
• 3 Cantrips of your choice (I recommend Resistance, Guidance, and Sacred Flame.)

Related: Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) Cleric guide

7. Nature Domain Cleric Subclass

As you’d expect, deciding to become a nature-focused Cleric gives you a set of spells and features that concentrate on animals and plants, such as Animal Handling, Survival, and Animal Friendship. You’ll also get heavy armor proficiency and the Nature skill, as well as the Shillelagh cantrip, which infuses a club with magical damage while also using your Spellcasting ability for attack rolls. But to be honest, you’re probably better off just choosing to be an actual Druid.

Strengths

• Heavy armor proficiency: There are many excellent sets of heavy armor in BG3, and few classes can wear them. Having this proficiency means the Nature Domain Cleric can be a solid melee spellcaster.
• Speak With Animals: In a game where so many quests are hidden behind dialogues with animals, having this spell is a wonderful gift.
• Charm Animals and Plants (Channel Divinity): If, like me, you prefer not to have to kill any animals, this can come in handy when you accidentally get in a fight against a beast you didn't want to harm. You can charm them and run away from the fight.
• Acolyte of Nature: You gain an extra cantrip from the Druid spell list and also get to pick one extra proficiency from Animal Handling, Survival, and Nature.

Weaknesses

• Lack of uses: There aren't that many fights against Beasts and Plants in BG3 that actually require the presence of a Nature Domain Cleric.
• Low-level Druid: Whatever the Nature Domain Cleric can do, the Druid can do better.
• Mostly for roleplay: Overall, this subclass makes more sense as a roleplay character than an actually effective build.

Related: Baldur’s Gate 3 – Best Cantrips & Spells List

6. Trickery Domain Cleric Subclass

As the name suggests, a Cleric with the Trickery Domain adds illusions to confuse and thievery buffs to their usual skillset. As an example, you’ll get bonus spells such as Charm Person and the ability to give stealth check bonuses to your allies.

This can be a fun subclass to play, but you’ll want to build a team around exploiting these effects. If you don’t intend to do that, any of the choices below—particularly Illusion Wizard or Rogue—will be far more useful, making this a very niche subclass.

Strengths

• Blessing of The Trickster: Grant another creature Advantage on Stealth Checks. This is good to support your party.
• Invoke Duplicity (Channel Divinity): Gives Advantage to all your allies in the area, making it great to support Fighters, Rogues, or Barbarians.

Weaknesses

• Lack of extra proficiencies: Getting stealth proficiency would have been useful and would have made sense with the theme, but that is not the case. In fact, this Domain gives you no extra proficiencies at all.
• Didn't adapt well to a video game: Many of the spells you gain with this subclass are very effective in tabletop Dungeons & Dragons, but unfortunately didn't translate well into BG3. Examples of these are Charm Person, Polymorph, Dimension Door, and Barkskin.

5. Knowledge Domain Cleric Subclass

The Knowledge Domain Cleric offers a unique skill set to your party while still being able to hold their own as a healer, but their bonus abilities are largely concentrated on non-combat scenarios. This can be great if you’re more about the story and setting than the battles. That said, you get a solid defensive combat move from the start, with Advanced Command offering strong crowd control. In addition, your History skill is doubled, and you have the Arcana skill that allows you to recognize magic, as well as interact with enchanted items. 

Strengths

• Blessings of Knowledge: You can choose two extra proficiencies from Arcana, History, Nature, and Religion, and on top of that, you get Expertise on them (double proficiency bonus).
• Potent Spellcasting: Emulating the Evocation Wizard at level 8, you gain a feature that allows you to add your Wisdom modifier to the damage of your cantrips. This turns you into a consistent spellcaster.
• A good set of Spells: Calm Emotions can be used in scenarios that frighten your party, while Hold Person, Confusion, and Slow can be great for crowd control.

Weaknesses

• Damage output: Even with the Potent Cantrip feature, the Knowledge Domain Cleric isn't the best at hurting enemies.
• Skills aren't that relevant: In tabletop Dungeons & Dragons, skills can have much more relevance than in a video game. For this subclass to shine, it needs a Dungeon Master that gives them opportunities to do so.

Related: Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Starting Classes – BG3 Best Beginner Classes

4. Tempest Domain Cleric Subclass

If you want to boost your damage output by harnessing the power of storms, then Tempest Cleric is the way to go. You’ll get strong lightning and thunder attacks, plus fog to hinder your enemies, all of which make great use of the BG3 combat engine. In addition, you get martial weapons proficiency and heavy armor proficiency alongside the standard cleric setup, giving you much more flexibility on the battlefield. However, this boost to melee seems counter-intuitive for what feels like a spell damage class, making it feel a bit too jack-of-all-trades to make the top three cleric subclasses.

Strengths

• Heavy armor and martial weapons proficiency: This makes the subclass great for melee builds or to avoid hits that would have broken its concentration.
• Wrath of the Storm: This feature allows to deal damage on a Reaction, which can finish off an enemy that was severely wounded by the end of the first round.
• Thunderbolt Strike: At level 6, the Tempest Domain Cleric can push Large or smaller enemies whenever they deal Thunder or Lightning damage. We all know how effective shoving can be in BG3.

Weaknesses

• Spread thin: The Tempest Domain Cleric is a good melee fighter, but it isn't the best. Its spells are mostly not weapon-focused, so at times, it might feel like the subclass is good for many things but doesn't excel at any.

3. Life Domain Cleric Subclass

If you’re looking to concentrate heavily on healing, the Life subclass is a great choice. You get the unique Disciple of Life feature that adds extra HP to all of your heals (+2, plus the spell’s level), while you’ll benefit from improved versions of Cure Wounds and Bless from level 1. As you level up, you’ll get more restorative abilities such as Revivify and Aid, thus resurrecting allies and curing diseases. Finally, you’ll benefit from having Heavy Armour proficiency alongside the usual light, medium, and shield proficiencies.

Strengths

• Heavy armor proficiency: Since the Cleric of Life isn't the best fighter, the heavy armor serves to increase your survivability rather than tanking.
• Best Healer in the game: Arguably, there is no other class that gets access to more and better healing spells than the Life Domain Cleric. The Disciple of Life feature allows it to empower every healing spell, adding to the total hitpoints it can recover in a turn.

Weaknesses

• Mostly Support: The Life Domain Cleric is so focused on a single purpose that it can feel like a one-trick pony.
• Lack of Roleplaying abilities: Since the subclass does not gain any extra skill proficiencies or spells that are made for dialogue and interaction, playing it as a main character can feel lacking in terms of roleplaying options.

2. War Domain Cleric Subclass

If you want to double down on spellcasters or Rogues in your party, you can choose to be a War Domain Cleric and become a tank as well as a healer. You’ll also start with the martial weapons proficiency in addition to the standard Cleric setup, as well as the heavy armor proficiency. This increases your range of weapon and armor options.

Meanwhile, the War Priest subclass feature can be employed to make a second unarmed or weapon attack on your turn, and your Shield of Faith is double strength (adding 2 AC). With the War Domain, your bonus spells will concentrate on damage output, but you’ll still be a competent healer.

Strengths

• Heavy armor and martial weapons proficiency: Deal damage and soak up just as much.
• Spiritual Weapon: At level 3, the War Domain Cleric gains access to this spell that is always useful, particularly when your character is engaged in melee. Having a floating halberd by your side effectively grants you an extra attack per turn.

Weaknesses

• Lack of Extra Attack: The War Priest feature allows you to spend War Priest Charges to make an additional attack as a bonus action. This is meant to equate the War Domain Cleric's number of attacks to that of the martial classes, but once the charges run out (and they do so pretty quickly), you are back to being a subpar melee fighter.

1. Light Domain Cleric Subclass

I prefer my cleric to be on the backlines but also to have a little more utility, so the Light Domain Cleric comes in as my favorite choice. You get all the healing power of a cleric, with the addition of a deadly arsenal of powerful damage spells, allowing you to blast opponents from relative safety when not healing your allies.

Strengths

• Extra Cantrip: At level one, you gain the cantrip Light, which infuses an object with an aura of light. This is a handy little bonus to aid your party members who lack darkvision.
• Warding Flare: You gain this feature at level 1, which you can use as a Reaction to possibly blind and impose Disadvantage on an attacker.
• Fire Damage: The subclass comes with an array of AOE damaging spells like Flame Strike, Scorching Ray, Fireball, and Wall of Fire. This makes the Light Domain Cleric the best subclass for dealing damage.

Weaknesses

• Spell Slot dependent: Since this subclass lacks heavy armor or extra attacks, it is very dependent on spells to deal substantial damage. Once you are out of slots, you have no other choice but to resort to cantrips.

How to build a Cleric in Baldur's Gate 3

This comparison of subclasses was aimed to help you to choose your Domain at level 1. But if you would like to see how to build a Cleric more in-depth, you should check this Cleric guide, where we discuss level progression and the best spells.

We’ve got loads more Baldur’s Gate 3 content for you here at Pro Game Guides! For example, why not take a look at BG3 – How to Cure the Shadow Curse and BG3 – Upcasting, Explained?