Figuring out what subclass you’d like to be as a Rogue is one of the first major decisions you face after you’ve started your journey. While you can respec later on, it’s best to get the decision right the first time around so you can focus on more important things.
There are three rogue subclasses: Thief, Arcane Trickster, and Assassin. Each of them has distinct benefits, but one stands out above the rest as the best option if you’re optimizing your viability in combat and take advantage of what Rogues do best. Here is our tier list of the best Rogue subclasses in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Rogue subclass tier list
- Thief
- Assassin
- Arcane Trickster
Thief
If you’re looking to optimize your Rogue combat experience, playing a Thief will give you the most utility possible with the level three subclass feature Fast Hands, which gives you an additional bonus action per turn.
While the ability doesn’t seem overly powerful, it is a staple of Rogue play that can be the difference between winning and losing. As a Rogue, you can use a bonus action to Hide during combat. By using this spare bonus action on Hide, players can run out of line-of-sight of enemies and use Hide to create an advantage for Sneak Attack.
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Having Fast Hands effectively lets you go in and out of hiding during combat to hit enemies with fat Sneak Attacks up close and at range. It also allows you to hide following your attacks so you can bob and weave in and out of sight without drawing attention.
Assassin
Assassins have the ability to be more lethal than Thieves early in a fight, but their power level diminishes relative to Thieves during longer fights. As the name entails, this subclass is predicated on finishing fights before they’re started.
At level three, this subclass immediately provides players with Initiative, Ambush, and Alacrity. Initiative gives you an advantage on attack rolls against enemies if your turn is before theirs. Ambush gives you an automatic critical hit against surprised enemies, and Alacrity restores an action and bonus action at the start of combat.
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So if you plan on isolating all of your enemies to kill each of them in one-vs-one situations almost instantly, this could be a strong choice, but any time you need to kill multiple enemies or can’t instantly gank an enemy, you’ll want to run Thief instead.
Arcane Trickster
As the name implies, Arcane Tricksters are essentially a cross-breed between Rogues and casters. By selecting Arcane Trickster, you will gain spell casting and have access to three cantrips immediately as well as two level one spells.
If you’re looking to have more variety with your gameplay experience, playing an Arcane Tricksters will let you do more than your average Rogue, but it won’t necessarily pack the same punch that either Thief or Assassin does.
In making my Rogue characters, I decided to make Thieves because of the combat power, and I was able to feel it as soon as I got into fights with four or more enemies. Being able to move around and stealth to gain huge advantage bonuses was essential to winning many fights.
While at times I wish I had some more buttons to press and some interesting tricks up my sleeve, I don’t know where I’d be without the added ability to Hide and sneak around mid-combat.
