This guide focuses on the essential aspects of an Assassin build in Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) and how to use those powers to your advantage.
An Assassin Build in Baldur’s Gate 3 maximizes ranged damage by taking the “Assassin” subclass and Sharpshooter feat. This provides a -5 penalty to your attack roll but adds 10 damage to your ranged weapon attacks, making it ideal for high-damage shots at the cost of potential misses. This build is best used with Ranger, Rogue, and Fighter classes with Dexterity ability score and access to powerful bows.
Ability scores are a character’s mental and physical attributes that determine their strengths and weaknesses. Use your Assassin Build to increase your character’s level by earning experience points (XP). you may level up to a maximum of level 12, after which you can’t gain any more levels. You can play alongside companions with personalities, motivations, and classes and control them. Our build includes potions, scrolls, and wands but also wearable items to enhance your effectiveness.
This build page has been updated for thePatch 8 versionof Baldur’s Gate 3.
Everything About the Assassin in Baldur’s Gate 3
The Assassin build is all about unloading as much damage as possible in turn one at range. You’ll select classes, subclasses, and feats that build towards damage and critical. Specifically, the Sharpshooter feat takes a -5 penalty to their attack roll in exchange for adding +10 damage to a successful ranged attack. This long-range specialist can deal significantly more damage if they hit but at the cost of potentially missing more often. It’s best used when aiming for high-value targets or when you have a high chance to hit despite the penalty. This feat is particularly beneficial for characters primarily using ranged weapons like bows or crossbows, as it allows them to maximize damage on long-range attacks.
A high Dexterity ability score is crucial to mitigate the penalty from Sharpshooter alongside theGloom Stalker Subclassfrom the Ranger. This subclass gives you access to the most turn-one damage potential via passive skills. Some abilities or spells can synergize well with Assassin, such as abilities that boost our critical hit chance or spells that grant advantage.
Patch 8 Changes to the Assassin Build for BG3
The most significant update to the Assassin build in Patch 8 of Baldur’s Gate 3 is the introduction of new subclasses and the Booming Blade cantrip. These additions give the assassin playstyle additional options, where you’re able to choose the more nimble Swashbuckling subclass and combine it with a Eldritch Knight Fighter to get access toBooming Blade.
However, going this route will change some of the traditional assassin playstyle. You can still be very effective at initiating combat with stealth strikes. But once enemies are engaged, you’ll likely take more of a frontline melee role. This playstyle may not be to everyone’s taste, but it is a possible option we’ll include in an alternative build below.
Features and Mechanics of Assassin
The following list presents all the essential Tactician Build Assassin Mechanics and Features in Baldur’s Gate 3:
How to Play the Assassin Build
Assassin requires a combination of strategic positioning, effective use of the Sharpshooter feat, and leveraging high-damage ranged attacks. We recommend you use high grounds to gain an advantage and maximize the effectiveness of Assassin. Ranger, Fighter, and Rogue are ideal for classes for Assassins.
Below are some general tips on how to play the best Assassin build in BG3:
Character Creation for Assassin Build
Race Choice for Assassin
Halfling is the best choice for an Assassin Build because it has halfling luck, allowing a reroll when landing on a one.Deep Gnome is the second choice for Assassin because it can see in the dark within 24 meters and is best for Gnome Cunning, which is more stealth-focused.Githyankiis the third choice because it offers the best fighting skills and their proficiencies make them a natural choice.
Here is the bestracechoice for an Assassin build in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Assassin Classes and Subclasses
Here are all the Baldur’s Gate 3 Rogue Subclasses:
Recommended Background and Skills for Assassin
The Urchin is the best Background for an Assassin because it gains two dexterity-based skills and can be used as your primary lockpicker and thief. Also, this is theShadowheart companionbackground. Backgrounds in Baldur’s Gate 3 are a way to represent your character’s backstory and give them some starting skills and abilities.
Ability Score
The Best Ability Score for Assassin Build is 17 Dexterity, 16 Constitution, and 14 Wisdom. Dexterity influences your ranged damage and chance to land, giving you higher initiative rolls going earlier in combat. Constitution determines health and concentration saving throws. Lastly, Wisdom influences skills and spellcasting for the build and should be at 14 or higher.
This build is designed to have very low Strength because you can either use theHill Giant CluborElixir of Hill Giant Strengthto gain high strength. This is useful in Act 1 with theTitanstring Bow.
Below is the best ability score for an Assassin in Baldur’s Gate 3:
You can increase your ability score via a quest in Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3. Make sure to check out ourPermanent bonus guideon how you can boost your ability score through quests.
Recommended Skills for Assassin
PerceptionandSurvivalare the best skills for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Assassin Build because they complement your class abilities and enhance your effectiveness in various situations. In Baldur’s Gate 3, skills represent the abilities and proficiencies of your character that allow them to perform multiple actions and interact with the game world. Skills are associated with specific attributes and are used to determine the success or effectiveness of specific actions or abilities.
Here are the best skills for an Assassin in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Illithid Powers For Assassin
The best Illithid Powers for an Assassin build are Luck of the Farm Realms, Black Hole, and Cull of the Weak. Luck of the Farm helps with critical hits and burst damage and, combined with Cull of the Weak, can trigger AOE damage passively. Black Hole requires you to take the Astral Tadpole in Act 2, but it sucks in 5 enemies, slows them, and can be recast for free. This is helpful in certain large-scale boss fights with many enemies. Below are the best Illithid Tadpole Powers for the Assassin build in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Best Assassin Build – Level Progression in Baldur’s Gate 3
Alternative Assassin Build
For our alternative Assassin build, we’re using a more aggressive, melee playstyle. You can still use ranged sneak attacks to initiate combat with a good damage boost. However, once you’re engaged with the enemy, you’ll be on the front line using primarily melee attacks.
The addition of the Fighter class will give you access to theEldritch Knightsubclass and the Booming Blade cantrip at Level 7. Furthermore, you’ll also get all the great Fighter perks including Action Surge and Extra Attack, as well as three additional Feats.
Read More:Baldur’s Gate 3 Bard College of Valour Build
At Level one follow our character creator to pick all correct backgrounds, races, skills, and abilities distribution, focusing on Dexterity and Constitution. Use the character creation steps above and hit the appropriate ability score and race. Strength is not important for this build. Dexterity determines the damage and saving throw effectiveness. The Constitution defines the health pool and your effectiveness at saving throws.
Keeper of the Veil is a Ranger passive feature of Favoured Enemy. You gain proficiency in Arcana and can cast the spell Protection from Evil and Good once per long rest. It helps with Proficiency in Arcana and can grant protection against aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead.
Read More:Baldur’s Gate 3 Shadow Magic Sorcerer Build
Long Strider enhances your movement speed to move longer distances each turn. Hunter’s Mark is important when need additional damage for tougher foes. This makes your weapon defeat enemies with few attacks. Archery is best for ranged weapons as it provides a better hit chance.
Ensnaring Strike is the best option if you need crowd control. It can trap the foes and then deal additional damage each turn. Gloom Stalker is a useful subclass due to its strong ability to gain significant advantages during the first combat round. It can be used immediately at the start of combat without needing a rest to refresh.
Ensnaring Strike-Your attack summons thorny vines, dealing Weapon Damage and possibly Ensnaring your target. Ensnared creatures cannot move and take 1d6 Piercing damage at the start of each turn. An ally can use their Help Action to try and tear away the vines.
Gloom Stalker
Sharpshooter is the best feat because it provides 10 10-damage increase for ranged attacks. However, you lose 5 attack rolls. We recommend you attack from high ground to overcome this. Your ranged weapon attacks do not receive penalties from high-ground rules. Ranged weapon attacks with weapons you are proficient with have a -5 penalty to their Attack Roll but deal an additional 10 damage. (you may toggle this on or off)
Lesser Restoration
Lesse Restoration is practical in some situations as it cuts off paralysis, disease, poison, and blindness. This allows you to cure a party member from debilitating status effects quickly. The spell is cast instantly, meaning you can quickly remove a harmful status effect in the middle of combat. It is readily accessible to many spellcasters and can be used frequently without depleting high-level spell slots. Lesser Restoration is a level 2 abjuration spell. This spell allows the spellcaster to cure an adjacent creature. Casting this spell at a higher level grants no additional benefit.
you may also do a respec when you get level 6. Take only level 1 Rogue and then multiclass to level 5 Ranger, providing additional skill proficiency. Sneak Attack (Melee) can use the enemy’s distraction to deal an additional 1d6 damage. You can use it to enhance the damage by 1d6. Sneak Attack (Ranged) is also no exception as it also provide the same capability on a battlefield.
This level lacks flashy moves. However, it unlocks cunning actions. Instead of using Action Points, use Bonus actions these are similar to normal actions. Cunning Action: Hide is crucial for hiding from enemies by succeeding Stealth checks. You need to be in the dark and avoid enemy sightlines. After that, you can start sneaking using Bonus action to use Sneak Attack. Cunning Action: Dash is important to cover more distance this turn: double your movement speed. Cunning Action: Disengage allows you to retreat without getting caught in a mid-fight.
Assassin is a Subclass of Rogue. It’s focused on dealing higher and more reliable damage to enemies at the start of the battle, especially if you may surprise them. This subclass allows you to deal a lot of damage to enemies at the beginning of a battle, making it crucial to use in the mid-fight. This is especially useful when the player can surprise their enemies. The burst damage is huge with the best setup in the game.
Ability Improvement is the best choice here if you did not pick ability improvement previously. Gain +2 Dexterity if using Auntie Ethel Hair. If not, go for +1 Wisdom and +1 Dexterity. This allows you to directly increase one or more of your character’s core ability scores. It impacts your performance in various aspects of the game like skill checks, attack rolls, and saving throws. You can also choose to take “Ability Improvement” every few levels instead of a feat. This makes your character more effective in combat and roleplaying situations.
Multiclass to the Fighter at this level. Second Wind is a Fighter bonus action. This ability allows them to heal themselves during battle. Draw on your stamina to protect yourself. You regain 1d10 + Fighter Level hit points. It allows you to regain hit points once per short or long rest. If your party is low on healing potions or spells, this is useful as an additional heal.
Action Surge is a free action gained by Fighters at Level 2. This ability allows the Fighter to take another action in the same turn. Immediately gain an extra action to use this turn and is available only in combat. Action Surge will take your build to the next level when you gain an action point at the beginning of the combat. This allows for two additional attacks and critical hits when the enemies are surprised somehow. Use this to gain an extra action once per short rest, especially when targeting a powerful enemy.
Improved Critical Hit is a Champion Fighter passive feature that reduces the number they need to roll for a critical hit by 1. The number you need to roll a Critical Hit while attacking is reduced by 1. This effect can stack. This increases your chance of landing a critical hit dealing the normal damage when you do hit. Doubles damage on a critical hit means that when you land a critical hit, you roll your damage dice twice and add both results together. Doing this allows to increase your potential damage output, dominating the enemies on a battlefield.
Best Companions for Assassin
Shadowheart,Gale, andLae’zelmake the bestcompanionsfor the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Champion Build Guide. We do not recommend additional front-line fighters and damage dealers.
Best Gear for Assassin Build
Here’s the best beginner gear, items, and equipment for Assassin Build in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Here’s the best Act 3 gear, items, and equipment for Assassin Build in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Best Consumables, Potions, Ammunition, and Items
The following list is the bestconsumableitems that will aid in our Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Assassin Build Guide:
Permanent Bonuses for Assassin Build BG3
Throughout Baldur’s Gate 3, you will have the ability to gain permanent bonuses to your character. These can grant additional spells, ability scores, and other bonuses. Permanent Bonuses are not displayed throughout the campaign but are vital to increase overall combat performance. We have all permanent bonuses here in a guide, but the most important ones for you to collect are listed below.
Assassin Build Changes in Patch 7 for BG3
The release of Patch 7 for BG3 brought with it no significant combat, gameplay, or build-related change for the assassin build. The main focus of this update was the final narrative additions, mostly centered around evil endings, along with official modding tools and adjustments to honor mode.
Furthermore, the game now features amodding toolkitand anin-game mod manager, allowing players to create and install mods directly within the game. Consequently, this update is intended to hand over creative control to the community. It enables players to produce unique content and continue the story in new ways.
Build Summary – Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Assassin
FAQs about the Assassin build in Baldur’s Gate 3
What abilities should the Assassin prioritize for my class?
Prioritize Dexterity first for more damage, then Constitution for health, and Wisdom for spellcasting for the Assassin Build in Baldur’s Gate 3.
What are the best feats for Assassin builds?
The sharpshooter is the best feat for the Assassin build because your ranged weapon attacks do not receive penalties from High Ground Rules.
What are the best multiclass combos?
The best multiclass combo for the Assassin Build is Ranger, then switches to Rogue, and finally ends with Fighter.
Are there “must-have” items for Assassin builds?
Elixir of Hill Giant Strength, Potion of Speed, and Elixir of Bloodlust are the must-have items for Assassin builds.
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