Baldur’s Gate 3 offers a delightfully vast amount of options for spellcasters and executes each iteration of a magic user in a unique and satisfying way. The Warlock class, a personal favorite of ours, doesn’t achieve their magical prowess via institutions of learning or natural talent like the Wizard or the Sorcerer. Rather, its grasp of the arcane is achieved the good old-fashioned way—by selling one’s soul to an ancient and nefarious being.
Since, as everybody knows, one must be a silver-tongued devil when conferring with demons, Warlocks will want Charisma as their highest ability score, which will conveniently make them as dangerous in a bout of bartering as they are on the battlefield. There is much more to the class than just charm, however, and selecting the right race and ability scores is essential to make the most out of this or any class in Baldur’s Gate 3.
The best race for Warlocks in Baldur’s Gate 3
If you’ve played Dungeons & Dragons extensively, you may make the same mistake I did and assume that Baldur’s Gate 3 is the exact same as its source material. While the two are quite similar, one key difference lies in the bonuses from different races.
In the tabletop game, ability score bonuses are unique to different races, meaning one can narrow down their options by simply noting which races offer a bonus to their classes’ primary ability (Charisma in the case of Warlocks). In Baldur’s Gate 3, you can choose which ability gets a bonus. While this is great for versatility, it does mean that suddenly every race is potentially viable for every class, and settling on one can feel overwhelming.
Because racial ability score bonuses are off the table, players must begin looking elsewhere—specifically at class features, skills, and weapon/armor proficiency. Of these three, class features are the most important, as the other two can more easily be picked up during your playthrough. So, what races have the best class features for a Warlock? Here are our top picks.
- The Human race is a solid option for virtually every class and will allow your Warlock to start with an extra skill, and decent weapon and armor proficiency while remaining highly customizable. It’s worth noting, however, that a jack of all trades is a master of none, and there are still stronger options for Warlocks.
- The Elf race has access to dark vision, good proficiency, and, most notably, an extra cantrip. High Elves start with the firebolt cantrip, which deals decent damage at a safe distance at will. Take note, however, that it uses Intelligence as its casting modifier—so unless you want to multiclass as a Wizard, you won’t be taking advantage of this as a Warlock.
- The Tiefling race is our recommendation for Warlocks in Baldur’s Gate 3. Tieflings begin the game with good proficiency, dark vision, fire resistance, and an extra cantrip. Additionally, a bonus to intimidation checks allows your Warlock to take advantage of their Charisma outside of combat as well as during a fight. Tieflings have several options for their extra cantrip, depending on subrace, and all are viable for Warlocks. Oh, and did I mention you get horns?
Best ability score distribution for Warlocks
After selecting a race, you’ll need to decide how to set up your ability scores. Thankfully, the game does a great job of auto-distributing points, so you can skip this part of character creation if you really want to. If you have any intention of multiclassing, however, this section is worth putting some thought into.
So long as your Charisma is at least 16, you’ll be in decent shape for a Warlock. Other important abilities are Constitution for general vitality, Dexterity for saving throws and the Hexblade Subclass (if a melee Warlock sounds appealing to you, make this your second highest ability), and Intelligence for arcana checks and saving throws. The remaining ability scores can be distributed how you please, but avoid making any score below 10, as this will lead to negative bonuses on correlating skill checks and saving throws.
Charisma is a Warlock’s primary ability score no matter what, but all others can change dependent upon multiclass options. A couple of popular options here are Sorcerer (also uses Charisma as their primary ability), Rogue (meshes well with the Hexblade Subclass), and Paladin (this multiclass deals absolutely insane single-target damage). We recommend trying out several different multiclasses and build options—there is no objectively right answer here. Just remember to keep high Charisma and a shifty demeanor, and your Warlock will do what they do best.
