Baldur’s Gate 3 player gives convincing argument for trying this underrepresented class

I've been playing the game completely wrong this whole time.

In the BG3 class editor, the pale skinned elf Astarion stands with palms out in BG3's yellow and green monk gi. He does a forward-leaning pose with a natural background.
Honestly, the gameplan of Monks and Rogues are quite similar. Monks just don't need friends. Screenshot by Dot Esports.

Shortly after Baldur’s Gate 3 released in August, Larian Studios released some statistics to show the distribution of classes among the playerbase. Nearly two months later, it’s clear that almost all of us have been sleeping on what is probably one of the game’s best classes.

Recommended Videos

In a post to Steam a week after the game’s release, Larian noted that Paladin was far and away the most-selected class by players creating their own character, and while that’s certainly a powerful class to have in your group, it appears as though many players failed to see just how impressive one particular class can be.

Monk was among the bottom three classes created in BG3. The only classes created less were Druid and Cleric, each of which are represented by companions that you can add to your team. However, one player on social media is out to show everyone that they messed up by not picking the Ki-centric class that’s well-versed in unarmed combat.

Posting an image to Reddit with the caption, “This is your sign to try Monk build next,” the player shared the damage stats of their Flurry of Blows: Topple, which has a damage range of 56-100. I’m not sure what kinds of builds any of you are running, but the top-end damage of my characters’ abilities at level 12 sit around where this person’s low-end is.

Not only do they have a +20 to their damage as a baseline, but they also have numerous extra damage dice rolls including one Necrotic, one Force, and a Radiant that has a flat +4 boost. Not to mention all of that is on a Bonus Action, so your main action can be used elsewhere.

Comment
byu/punk249 from discussion
inBaldursGate3

The player said that they were able to achieve these stats by having the Tavern Brawler feat and using the Elixir of Cloud giant, which gives 27 strength. The Radiant damage comes from an Open Hand subclass passive that you can change to Psychic or Necrotic damage.

Additionally, the player uses Horns of the Berserker to add Necrotic damage and Gloves of Soul Catching to add Force damage. Meanwhile, Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo give that juicy bump to the ability’s baseline damage by adding a Wisdom modifier to unarmed strikes.

It all adds up to a ton of damage for the unassuming class, and might make BG3 players consider a new game just to get in on the fun.

Author
Image of Max Miceli
Max Miceli
Senior Staff Writer. Max graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a journalism and political science degree in 2015. He previously worked for The Esports Observer covering the streaming industry before joining Dot where he now helps with Overwatch 2 coverage.