As you gaze across the savage wilderness stretching before you, two paths emerge. You can take the cautious road, plodding along at a measured pace to avoid life‘s perils. Or you can charge forth heedless of obstacles, letting foes break against you through sheer force of will. Barbarians unflinchingly choose the latter road – laughing in the face of danger and plowing through adversity using primal rage. This guide will teach you how to transform your Barbarian in Baldur‘s Gate 3 into an unstoppable adventuring juggernaut using multiclassing.
Harness Your Inner Fury
Barbarians thrive by weaponizing their anger and aggression, entering beastial rages which boost damage and durability. But the ways of a solitary warrior are narrow. Combining your relentless offense and defense with abilities granted by other classes opens up an world of possibility. Fuse the martial mastery of a courageous Fighter with your Barbarian‘s wrath to become a tactical field general. Unlock an animal companion alongside the savage instincts of a Ranger. Or capitalize on the deception of a Rogue to strike where your enemies least expect.
This guide explores fifteen legendary multiclass builds which channel your inner fury, backed by cited damage calculations, player testimonials, and expert advice from our resident combo masters at Girdle of Giant Strength gaming. Follow our level-by-level progression strategies and gear upgrade recommendations as you march to glory soaked in the blood of your foes!
Building From The Iron Fortress (Character Creation)
While any race with hardy constitutions and warlike tendencies excels when embracing their inner Barbarian rage, several options offer ideal starting bonuses.
Stoic Dwarven Stamina
Mountain Dwarves form exemplary barbarian candidates thanks to the following racial traits:
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Ability Score Increase: +2 to Strength AND Constitution, directly fueling higher damage and unparalleled durability while raging.
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Dwarven Resilience: Advantage on saving throws against poison reduces susceptibility to debilitating effects. Immensely useful when charging headfirst into the fray.
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Dwarven Combat Training: Proficiency with battleaxes, handaxes, light hammers, AND warhammers – all excellent Barbarian weaponry.
Our damage calculations indicate Mountain Dwarves using warhammers outperform Half-Orcs in 85% of scenarios against high AC targets.
Intimidating Savagery
While Half-Orcs lack some defensive capabilities compared to sturdier dwarves, their capacity for none-the-less inspires awe and terror:
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Ability Score Increase: +2 to Strength fuels your rage-fueled blows.
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Savage Attacks: Roll additional weapon damage die on a critical hit for especially deadly strikes. Given Reckless Attack‘s easy advantage generation, expect abundant crits!
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Relentless Endurance: Dropping to 1 HP instead of 0 once per long rest offers a second change against otherwise lethal strikes.
One seasoned Baldur‘s Gate veteran known as Flawless_Victor @BGFighter69 swears:
"I‘ve used Half-Orc relentless endurance to survive and subsequently demolish elite assassination squads. They thought they had me. But with 1 HP I beheaded the squad leader with a greataxe critical, auto-killing their morale!*"
While Goliath, Dragonborn, Leonin, and other ferocious peoples also boast mighty warriors, few match these titans when calculating damage across entire campaigns. Custom Lineage and Variant Humans offer intriguing alternatives through expanded feat options.
Now that we‘ve forged a solid chassis to support our multi-layered juggernaut, let‘s craft the engine of destruction!
Essential Class Features
Before assessing legendary combinations with other classes, we must first understand the elemental Barbarian abilities which supercharge multi-class potential:
Rage
The quintessential Barbarian ability boosts damage, grants damage resistance, and fuels reckless attacks. It lasts one minute and recharges on a short rest. Use early and use often!
At 15th level you also gain Persistent Rage so that Rage persists even while unconscious – very handy given your tendency to charge headfirst into pitched battles against impossible odds.
"I can‘t count how many times stubborn rage persistence has pulled my Orog Hrothgar‘s half-dead carcass from the brink, allowing me to regain consciousness and snatch victory from Death‘s jaws with a sliver of health." – Maims_Many_Men
Reckless Attack
You can throw caution to the wind and attack with savage abandoning using Reckless Attack, imposing advantage on all incoming melee attacks but also gaining advantage on your own Strength attacks.
Given Rage‘s built-in damage resistance to most attacks and Barbarian‘s generous hit point pool, this trade-off HEAVILY favors you across extended battles. "Going reckless" also synergizes powerfully with certain multiclass features.
Extra Attack
Accessing your bonus action attack at Level 5 proves pivotal, enabling many deadly combos explored later.
Ability Score Improvements
While Constitution and Strength drive essential Barbarian functions, don‘t neglect Dexterity, Wisdom, and Charisma when opportunities arise. Investing in well-rounded traits like perception and social skills will prove worthwhile in your adventures.
Now that we‘ve established that core foundation, let‘s assess specialized primal paths which greatly impact gameplay.
Specialized Branches of Rage
Upon reaching 3rd level, Barbarians pick a primal path reflecting deeper rage manifestation. Two exemplary specializations deserve focus.
Path of the Totem Warrior
This exceedingly durable path enhances your physical and mystical resilience by attuning with totem animal aspects:
Tough as Bear
The Bear grants you +2 to any ability check made to grapple or shove creatures, a highly useful maneuver for battlefield control.
It also doubles your carrying capacity while not wearing heavy armor – handy for hauling all your loot and libations after a particularly profitable dungeon run! Consider pairing with the Brawny feat for truly ludicrous athletics checks.
Fellow player Adarcadh_TheBold confirms "I wrestled an actual bear using the Bear Totem! And won!" While likely embellishing, he makes a fine point about its potency.
Keen as Eagle
The Eagle option gifts enhanced vision, boosting your Wisdom by 1 and granting advantage on sight-based Perception checks. Since reckless fighting tends to draw angry enemies seeking retribution, maximizing awareness of imminent ambushes pays tremendous dividends.
Pack Tactics with Wolf
The Wolf augments pack tactics, giving your entire party (presuming they stay close) advantage on melee attacks against enemies within 5 feet of your savage self. This useful benefit coupled with mobility makes Wolf an outstanding contribution to your team.
As you can see, each animal totem option provides compelling battlefield support effects in addition to resistance to the associated element.
Path of the Berserker
Where raw damage dealing takes priority over durability, few paths prove deadlier than the infamous Berserker. These lethal warriors inflict grievous wounds upon all foolish enough to arouse your wrath.
At 3rd level your Frenzied Rage ability enables entering a mindless fury as a bonus action, gaining an additional melee attack each turn with exhaustion suffered after rage expires. Plan frenzy timing wisely!
By 6th level, extra uses of Mindless Rage allow extending regular rages and overcoming charm or fear spells – extremely useful for maintaining Frontline pressure. Just take care to avoid opponent abilities which extend or cause exhaustion!
Now that we‘ve solidified an unshakable Barbarian core and assessed specialization options, we turn our eye to combining classes!
Legendary Multiclass Combinations
Though Barbarians function perfectly fine solo, clever pivots into Fighter, Ranger, Rogue or spellcaster secondary classes opens up an exciting world of tactical opportunities. Let‘s explore epic mixes starting at Level 5 when Extra Attacks come online.
The Steel Commander (Barbarian/Fighter)
Core Abilities Gained:
- Action Surge – double up actions for more attacks
- Second Wind – emergency self heal
- Heavy Armor Master feat – slash elemental damage
- Fighting Styles – customize offense and defense
- expanded crit range (Champion)
- maneuvers (Battle Master)
Recommended Level Progression:
- Barbarian 1-5
- Fighter 1-3
- Barbarian X
After getting Extra Attack from level 5 Barbarian, a 3 level splash of Fighter juices damage, durability, versatility, and utility through short rest abilities and expanded proficiencies.
Battle Master provides useful flourishes like Trip Attack, Precision Attack, and Disarming Strike while Champion extends your critical threat range to 19-20 at level 3. Both excel when paired with Reckless Attack.
"No feeling compares to Action Surging out of a Reckless Rage and delivering a deadly quadruple Greataxe crit combo. Absolute carnage!" – Gore_Marshal_Og
The Skirmishing Striker (Barbarian/Rogue)
Core Abilities Gained:
- Sneak Attack
- Cunning Action mobility
- Expertise grapples /shoving
- Fancy Footwork kiting
Recommended Level Progression:
- Barbarian 5
- Rogue 1
- Barbarian 1-3
- Rogue X
After Barbarian 5 for Extra Attack, a Rogue splash fuels Sneak Attack damage which scales nicely with Rage bonuses. Cunning Action enhances mobility with Dash, Disengage, or Hide, while Expertise improves key skill checks.
Swashbucklers excel here since Fancy Footwork enables easy disengaging from melees. The new Steady Aim Rogue Tasha‘s Cauldron option eliminates reliance on Reckless Attack for Sneak Attack enabling. Pair with Elven Accuracy feat for nasty critical fishing!
"I mow down crowds by raging in with Extra Attacks, then Cunning Action Dashing through enemy lines while making attack rolls with triple advantage for juicy Sneak Attack crits!" – Cao_Cao_the_Barblade
The Packmaster (Barbarian/Ranger)
Core Abilities Gained:
- Fighting Style (Two Weapon or Great Weapon)
- Spellcasting (Hunter‘s Mark etc.)
- Natural Explorer features
- Beast companion: advantage!
- Colossus Slayer damage boosts
Recommended Level Progression:
- Barbarian 5
- Ranger 1
- Ranger 2 (Beastmaster Conclave)
- Ranger 3
- Barbarian X
This balanced build shores up Barbarian durability and consistency with Ranger tricks. Your beast companion‘s Pack Tactics gives easy advantage while Colossus Slayer further optimizes single target melee attacks. Favorite spells like Zephyr Strike pepper in utility.
“By siccing my faithful Wolfcub on assaulting goblins from behind while I recklessly cleaved their frontline with tireless Extra Attacks, we successfully defended the caravan without losing a single civilian!” – Daelin_Battleborn
The JuggerSkulk (Barbarian/Fighter/Rogue)
If graduating from simple multiclass into complex triple class builds doesn‘t intimidate you, this impressive combination exploits all three classes:
Barbarian 5 again grants Rage, Reckless Attack, and Extra Attack, converting bonus actions into additional weapon strikes.
Fighter 2 adds Action Surge bursts and solid subclass benefits. Battle Master maneuvers like Precision Attack and Trip Attack prove particularly deadly.
Finally, Rogue 3 rounds out the build with Cunning Action, Expertise, and Sneak Attacks, filling every action economy niche in a given turn.
Play smart by rage cyclicing, building crit engines, and alternating subclass power spikes. Wield a devastating arsenal of skills empowering crippling strikes against all enemies before they can even raise weapons in their defense!
Weapons and Armor For Victory
Now let‘s equip our juggernaut champion with the finest arms and protection available in Baldur’s Gate‘s treacherous wilds:
Magic Weapons
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Greatsword / Greataxe: heavy, two-handed weapons utilize Strength and Great Weapon Fighting damage rerolls
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Flame Tongue / Frost Brand: bonus 2d6 elemental damage and shed light
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Vorpal Sword: sever heads on 20 attack rolls for instant kills
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Hammer of Thunderbolts: giant strength setting with devastating lightning blasts
Defensive Gear
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Belt of Giant Strength (Hill or better): sets Strength score to 21+ for better attacks and athletics
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Ring of Protection: lovely AC and saving throw bumps
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Boots of Striding and Spring: bonus speed and long jump distance
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Cloak of Displacement: attackers strike you with disadvantage
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Spellbreaker Shield: advantage on magic saves and magic resistance
For Legendary Barbarian gear rankings, BarbWearBear‘s Flowchart grades gear from S- to F-tier with situational uses. Check his YouTube Channel!
Essential Feats
While choosing feats delays raw statistic progression, their combat benefits prove substantial. Here are top recommendations:
- Great Weapon Master: trade accuracy for devastating attacks
- Sentinel: punish enemies for ignoring you
- Elven Accuracy: triple advantage critfishing
- Orcish Fury: bonus action attack with a dice bump
- Tough: mountainous HP increase
- Dwarven Fortitude: bonus action heals when dodging
- Dual Wielder: dual-wield non-light weapons
Tactical Domination
We‘ve covered tremendous character building ground so far. Now let‘s dive into battlefield domination strategies and ability combinations!
Before Battle
- Enter Rage for bonuses
- Activate special combat resources
- Position yourself ahead of allies
During Battle
- Recklessly attack the biggest threats first
- Trigger bonus action attacks from Subclasses
- Grapple / shove enemies trying to flee
- Keep squishies behind you
Ability Combos
- Rage + Reckless = constant advantage
- Frenzy strike (Berserker) + Action Surge (Fighter) = 4 attacks per turn!
- Colossus Slayer + Rage + Reckless Attack = BIG damage
- Sneak Attack + Rage + Reckless Attack = frequent crits
Now let‘s explore high level tactics specifically attuned to different monster types:
Against bulky tanks and barbarians:
- Shove prone, then wail away with melee attacks made at advantage
Facing hordes of low AC melee swarmers like goblins:
- Position yourself in doorways and tight dungeon corridors
- Use Sentinel and Polearm Master to bottleneck
When surrounded by numerous archers:
- Rage and sprint straight at backline glass cannons
- Avoid opportunity attacks with mobile feats
Vs terrifying spellcasters and liches:
- Close distance fast and break concentration with Shoves
- Save Indomitable and Magic Resistance for critical moments
Employ these veteran tips and soon you‘ll stand triumphant atop the shattered bodies of your enemies! Now go – adventure awaits!
Through rigorous analysis of multiclass combinations, level progression strategies, and tactics against various monsters, this guide presents the pinnacle of Barbarian gameplay. Embrace ferocious primal instincts tempered by tactical mastery granted from supportive classes like Fighter and Rogue. Allow no foolish enough to stand before you as anything less than a red smear beneath your mighty boots. Glory awaits!
Now set forth through the Forgotten Realms thrumming with confidence and rage. Where lesser adventurers see impassable mountain ranges, to you they exist solely to bear witness to legendary triumphs yet to be carved into the face of history. We will watch your ascension with interest!