Many have tried to determine the most powerful character builds and foes withinBaldur’s Gate 3; however, that is not what the goal is here. This list is not about creating strong player characters, nor is it about discovering the most dangerous enemies one can encounter. This list is about the biggest numbers possible. Here, we will determinethe most damaging attacksBaldur’s Gate 3has to offer, both from players and NPCs.
[Warning: Spoilers for certain events and encounters in Baldur’s Gate 3.]
First, to set some criteria:the goal is to find the action, bonus action, or reaction in the game that deals the highest possible damage to a living creature, given optimal conditions, and average dice rolls, while not considering glitches or patched-out techniques. Attacks that damage multiple creatures can be counted, but only the damage dealt to one creature will be tallied; otherwise, there would be too many variables to consider with the number of summons present during an attack. Without further ado, these are the 10 strongest attacks inBaldur’s Gate 3.
10Starting Things Off With Power Word Kill
This Bhaalist Secret Weapon Is Fairly Deadly
First on the list ispower word kill, a ninth-level spell players can use to instantly kill an enemy. It sounds pretty strong, but in practice, is weaker than one may believe. The spell can be used against a creature within 60 feet of the caster, and if the creature has 100 hit points or fewer, it dies without a saving throw or attack roll ever being made. The spell is a reward only available to theDark Urge Origin character, in the event that they slay Orin the Red andbecome Bhaal’s Chosen.
While the lack of any kind of save or attack makes this spell incredibly reliable, it does only work on creatures with less than 101 hit points. That may sound like a lot, butlate-game bosses typically have close to three times that or more, and high-level characters can routinely dish out 100 damagein a round working together.Power word killdeserves a spot on the list, but essentially sets a bar that everything else manages to leap over.
Players Can Combine Damage Buffs To Achieve Incredible Numbers
Paladins are often considered the best single-target damage dealers inBaldur’s Gate 3due to their ability to use Divine Smite, which adds radiant damage to their melee attacks. Divine smite adds 2d8 radiant damage when used with a first-level slot, but a max-level paladin can use a third-level slot to deal 4d8 damage, or 5d8 if attacking a fiend or undead. However,a paladin/cleric multiclass of max level could use a fifth-level slot to deal 7d8 radiant damage with Divine Smite, plus the damage from their melee attack.
The average of 7d8 is roughly 32, or64 if attacking an enemy weak to radiant damage like a shadow or wraith. Assuming the paladin is wielding a powerful end-game weapon, likeBalduran’s Giantslayer, that would be added to 2d6 + 3 and adding in twice their strength modifier, which we will assume is 5. But that’s not all. We can also add damage modifiers from rings like the Caustic Band or the Shadow-Cloaked Ring, as well as fromPhalar Aluve’s shrieking aura and Inquisitor’s Might if playing as aVengeance paladin subclass.
Moving forward, there will be times when it is assumed that damage modifiers like these are being used when possible. They will be commented on when new ones are added; otherwise, they will be reflected in the final calculations.
There are many, many, many damage modifiers players can use inBG3to amp up their attacks, and figuring out which ones can all be combined at once is another topic entirely. Suffice it to say thatthe damage for a single hit from a paladin smiting at fifth level is capable of averaging between 90 and 150, or higher on a critical hit. This is just the beginning of the number crunching that will follow.
8A Rogue’s Sneak Attack Can Similarly Smash Enemies
Exploiting Every Damage Buff Possible
Using a similar principle, rogues can max out their damage using a smorgasbord of buffs in conjunction with their sneak attack. But rogues have another ace up their sleeve:the Assassin subclass' Assassinate feature, which gives them an automatic critical hit against surprised creatures. Paladins can hope for a crit, but it is guaranteed for these rogues, meaning that with a max-level character, they can double the dice for sneak attack and a heavy crossbow shot to reach 12d6 + 2d10 + 5 piercing damage.
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That’s already an average of 58 points of damage, doubled to 116 if the Amulet of Branding is used to give the target vulnerability to piercing damage beforehand. Combine that withSharpshooter, the Stalker Gloves (which are some of thebestBG3items to possibly give a rogue), and the Callous Glow ring to raise the average above 125, or even use Slaying Ammunition on a specific creature type to add 4d8 extra piercing damage to the total.It comes out close to 160 on average, and with less resource cost than the paladin’s high-level smite.
7Tempest Clerics Can Juice Up Their Spell Damage Considerably
Chain Lightning Has Never Hit This Hard
Even better than a guaranteed critical hit is guaranteed maximum damage on a spell.Tempest clerics can use their Destructive Wrath Channel Divinity feature to deal max damageon a lightning- or thunder-based attack, meaning high-level spells likechain lightningcan become even more powerful. Ordinarily, clerics can’t get this spell outside using a scroll; but for this attack, a multi-classed wizard-sorcerer-cleric hybrid will cast it, to take advantage of an ability Storm sorcerers get: Heart of the Storm.
Spells likechain lightningcould theoretically affect multiple creatures, meaning the damage output gets really high; however, for the purposes of this list, only the damage dealt to one creature will be considered.
This adds half your sorcerer level to the lightning damage this attack will do to a creature within 20 feet. This character has nine levels in sorcerer, one in wizard, and two in cleric, meaning thata max-damagechain lightningwill deal 85 points of lightning damageto creatures that fail the save. But creatures which are wet, from spells like create water, will take 170 points of lightning damage, and that’s before factoring in damage modifiers and buffs. The true total comes closer to 200.
6Stormheart Nova Deserves Its Legendary Reputation
Lightning Damage Once Again Topping The Charts
Keeping with the trend of lightning-based attacks,Stormheart Nova introduces our first non-player character attack on the list. This is the special move of Ansur, Heart of the Gate, an undead bronze dragon below Wyrm’s Rock Fortress. He’ll use it multiple times during his fight, showering the arena with lightning damage and creating intense storms. In theincredibly difficult Honour mode, this also causes party members to become wet, meaning they will take double damage on subsequent turns.
Stormheart Nova deals 18d10 lightning damage at its base, whichaverages out to around 99 points of damage, or 198 if doubled. While enemy attacks can’t benefit from as many damage riders as player attacks can, this one still manages to crack the top ten in terms of sheer damage output.
5Curriculum Of Strategy: Artistry Of War Lives Up To Its Name
Concentrating Damage With Beefed-Up Magic Missiles
Besides the Tempest cleric’s Channel Divinity, there’s another way for spellcasters to rival the martial classes in terms of single-target damage, and that’s with a hidden spell calledartistry of war. It can be found in the vaults below Ramazith’s tower, and while it can be used once as a scroll,wizards can add the spell to their book to cast it once per short rest. It works likemagic missile, sending out six force projectiles that automatically hit their targets, each dealing 2d6 + 6 damage.
This spell works so well for damage because each projectile can apply damage modifiers, such as the 1d4 thunder damage from Phalar Aluve, or the 1d6 necrotic damage fromhexif this wizard has multiclassed into warlock. Combining these with stacks of Lightning Charges against a wet creature can result in incredibly high unavoidable damage, climbing upwards of 200 with ease.
4Breaking The Rules With Radiant Retort
An Exception To The Criteria That Deserves Explanation
This doesn’t technically fit the criteria of this list, since it isn’t an action or reaction, and is activated by multiple enemies at once. But it’s included because it fits the theme of finding the biggest amounts of damage dealt to a single creature at once, if activated under certain conditions. Radiant Retort is an ability some followers of Shar possess, whichallows them to deal out force damage when hit with radiant damage, hitting their attacker back for twice their original damage.
Theoretically, using a massive radiant AOE like thedivine interventionspellin a room full of characters with this ability would result in hundreds of points of force damage being dealt back to the cleric casting it. Fortunately (or unfortunately), there is such a room:the Cloister of Sombre Embrace, below the House of Grief, which holds 14 enemies with Radiant Retort.
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Divine intervention’s Sunder the Heretical action deals 8d10 radiant damage in a 50-foot area, wide enough to deal an average of 44 radiant damage to each of these enemies.This will result in the caster immediately taking roughly 616 force damageand almost certainly dying instantly.
3The Cursed Imp’s Caustic Retort Is Unexpectedly Strong
A Surprisingly Difficult Foe To Vanquish
Sitting in a chest aboard a quarantined pirate ship is the Cursed Imp, a green variation of the small fiend that has a surprisingly strong special move. It’s a feature calledCaustic Retort, which allows the imp to lash out with acid damage when it is hurt by a creature,dealing triple the original damage back to the attacker.
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Given that,it’s possible to use any of the super-strong player attacks from higher up on the list and achieve triple the damagethey are already dealing out. A rogue’s sneak attack that deals 150 piercing damage would become 450 points of acid damage dealt back to that rogue, and the same applies to a paladin’s smite, a cleric’s lightning, or a wizard’sartistry of war. By tripling the player’s attacks, the Cursed Imp technically has a stronger attack, approaching or even surpassing 600 points of acid damage.
2Gerringothe Thorm Can Rend Characters Apart With Her Jealous Avarice Attack
This One Can Shred Player Characters – If They Are Rich
Many players may never have seen this attack, since Gerringothe Thorm is aboss that can be defeated through words alone. But it does manage to be one of the most damaging actions in the game, provided it is used against a character carrying tons of cash. Jealous Avarice deals 8d12 slashing damage to one creature if they are carrying gold, a measly average of 52, butthis damage is repeated for each stack of 500 gold in the target’s inventory.
In some cases, it’s possible to intentionally raise the damage an enemy deals to a player character by using debuffs like the Amulet of Branding. However, this is not considered in each calculation, since it is something players aren’t likely to do intentionally, outside just trying to get big numbers.
It’s possible to be quite rich by this point in the game, and one player character could be carrying upwards of 10,000 gold pieces if they never buy anything and sell things often. If used against such a character,Jealous Avarice would deal an average of over 1,000 damage to them, or roughly 500 if they succeed on a saving throw. Either way, that character will die for their greed.
1Dropping An Owlbear On Grym Is Still The Strongest Attack
The Reigning Champion Of The Top Ropes
Perhaps unsurprisingly,the so-called “owlbear drop” remains at the top of the list when it comes to strong attacks– by a mile as well, since players have recorded instances of this method dealing almost 12,000 points of bludgeoning damage whendefeating enemies like Grym. Grym’s vulnerability to bludgeoning damage and its positioning under a huge drop makes it an ideal target for this method, and the Wild-Shaped owlbear’s weight and Crushing Flight bonus action make the whole thing possible.
The attack includes casting enlarge on the owlbear in question, filling up its inventory, and giving it the feather fall condition so it survives its trip down.The damage Crushing Flight does is directly determined by both the vertical distance of the drop and weight of the character, which can cause the attack to deal game-breaking levels of damage. Once that gets doubled by Grym’s vulnerability, it easily becomes the strongest attack inBaldur’s Gate 3.
Source: Larian Studios/YouTube (1,2,3)
Baldur’s Gate 3
Developed and published by Larian Studios, Baldur’s Gate 3 is an upcoming role-playing game set to release in August of 2023. Players will create a character to embark on a large-scale journey and can do so solo or cooperatively with a friend. Combat is a turn-based style this time around.
