Baldur’s Gate 3: [EN] The Selfless Support Cleric – A versatile support build

Whenever you think something along the lines of “I need to cast Daylight before attacking, so I don’t have disadvantage because it is to dark”, “I need to use Create Water on these guys to make them vulnerable to cold/lightning before casting my spell”, “I need Phalar Aluve’s buff on my team”, it’s much better to have a support character dedicated to these sorts of actions than having one of your martials or casters waste a turn that they could use attacking or controlling enemies.

With access to spells like Daylight, Create Water, all sorts off buffs and protections, great control spells, and healing, Cleric is the most natural and probably best candidate for that role. It has access to all healing spells, a ridiculous amount of buffs and protections, and pretty good options in terms of single and area control spells. It is also very easy to fit in any party and to tailor to your precise needs.

PrestigiousJuice’s guide on the build has been a big inspiration, so kudos to them. Their guide is that of a full healer cleric, which is only really necessary in modded difficulties. This guide will adopt a more mixed approach, with extra options to inflict Radiating Orb and Reverberation debuffs on your enemies, more AoE spells, etc.

Shadowheart is a great candidate for this build. She is naturally a Cleric, and will need a respec anyway because the Trickery Domain is bad.

We’re going to go for 1 Sorcerer / 11 Cleric. The domain is actually up to discussion, as will be explained below ; what matters most is the levels distribution. Here’s why:

1 Sorcerer

• CON save proficiency for better Concentration Saving Throws
• Access to the Shield reaction

11 Cleric

• Access to all our spell slots.
• Access to three much needed feats.
• Access to Divine Intervention (level 10), probably the single best ability of the whole game.
• Access to a wide array of incredibly useful spells, such as Aid, Mass Healing Word, Freedom of Movement, Heroes’ Feast (level 11), which only Cleric can naturally have.

Two domains here are interesting : Life and Light.

Life Cleric

• Heavy armour proficiency.
• Access to Preserve Life, which is a great AoE healing action and will allow us to distribute buffs without expending a spell slot.
• Excellent domain spells. Usually with Clerics, you’ll inevitably get a good numbers of domain spells that you don’t want to use. Life Cleric’s domain spells are spells that you usually want on your cleric anyway (Aid, Healing Word), and having them for granted frees up a lot of spell slots for more utlity/buffs.

Light Cleric

• Access to Radiance of the Dawn, which is a great AoE spell and will allow to distribute massive amounts of Radiating Orbs to enemies.
• Access to situational yet very useful spells, such as Fireball or Wall of Fire.
• Access to Warding Flare which is a fantastic reaction to protect yourself and your allies.

The choice between these two domains are essentially personal preference. At the end of the day, the build will serve the same purpose and will do so very well regardless of the choice. I would personally go with Light as Life is overkill for the vanilla game, and Light has more options. But you may find that Life is easier to pilot.

You can respec at any point from one domain to the other, so long as you have all the necessary key items. See loot to use for a breakdown.

• Can heal party members and allies, and in doing so, apply attack and defense buffs in a wide zone for all healed characters.
• Can integrate Radiating Orb and Reverberation to debuff enemies.
• When this build heals, it heals a ton of health. Better yet, it gives buff to every healed ally thanks to key items.
• Good Initiative, and can use it to set up other characters for better damage and/or chances to hit with spells like Daylight or Create Water.
• Decent control with Command, Hold X, Insect Plague spells.
• Has Divine Intervention and Heroes’ Feast which are two of the highest value abilities in the entire game.
• Can wear Phalar Aluve for your party.
• Super easy itemization, next to no contested items.

• Is never going to do much damage, if at all. In the (very rare) cases where you don’t have anything else to do, it’s kind of awkward.
• Doesn’t do much, if anything, if there’s nobody to support. Again, this is pretty rare.
• Not a party face.

While it is not a weakness per se, you should also know that this build is… kind of unnecessary in Explorer and Balanced difficulties, really. The Support Cleric really shines in Tactician and Honour mode, where you want to have a character able to make life easier for the rest of the party. In difficulties where the need for a support to set up, heal and buff the party isn’t as strong, playing a support heavy character can feel a little useless. Not saying “if you play this, you must play in Tactician”, but instead “if you can’t be bothered playing in higher difficulties, this build might not be the most fun”.

Open Cleric, Light or Life (see above to make up your mind). Take 16 CON, 16 WIS, 12 DEX (14 if you want to wear medium armor). Rest is up to you.

If you can’t be bothered doing a respec late game, take 17 CON, not 16.

Irrelevant. Take whatever you like.

You’re going to be leveling as pure Cleric until level 11 included.

At level 4, take Ability Score Improvement for +2 WIS.

At level 8, take War Caster. If you plan to get Concentration saving throws advantage through armor or elixirs, take +2 WIS again instead.

At level 12, respec and open Storm Sorcerer with Shield and whatever else you like, then do the exact same Cleric levels again. If you can’t be bothered doing the respec, just take Resilient: Constitution instead (assuming you took 17 CON).

Guidance and Resistance are fantastic cantrips that you always want in your party. Light is super useful in Act 2.

You will want to grab Healing Word and Mass Healing Word. Both can be used as a bonus action, and the latter will apply buffs to your whole party, provided they are in range and in sight.

Cure Wounds and Mass Cure Wounds are the action counterpart of these spells and come naturally with the Life Domain. They are OK.

Bless is good, but not for this build. More on that in loot to use.

Aid is wonderful for this build. Use it every day on your party. When upcasted at level 4+ and stacked with Heroes’ Feast, it gets really good.

Spirit weapon can be used in the early game for some difficult fights (Goblin Camp, Kahga’s quest). Let go of it once you are level 5+.

Create or Destroy water is fantastic to set up cold or lightning AoE damage for your casters, or martials with elemental damage (e.g. Elemental Arrows).

Command and Hold Person are good filler spells to apply a bit of control when nobody is in need of a buff. Similarly, Guiding Bolt and Inflict Wounds are decent damage spells when you have absolutely nothing better to do. Glyph of Warding is a great AoE or control spell for such situations too. Usually you will have set up Cold and/or Lightning vulnerability on enemies, so use those ; Sleep is pretty good as well.

Fireball (Light domain) is an okay AoE spell if you have nothing else to do. Wall of Fire (same domain) is situational but can make some fights incredibly easier (Crèche, Halsin’s portal, Shar Cloister).

Enhance Ability is incredible to help with dialog or sleight of hand checks. I personally prefer to take it on a Bard or Sorcerer, but it is worth picking on your cleric if nobody else has it.

Daylight is incredibly useful in Act 2 and in some Act 3 fights. Do not sleep on it, it is really good.

Spirit Guardians is situationally strong, and an excellent source of Radiating Orb if you’re using them.

Freedom of Movement is super valuable to snap an enemy out of stun, paralysis and other horrible effects. In Act 3 where a lot of enemies have such effects, it is a must have. Similarly, the Restoration spells are lifesavers against some effects, Charm especially.

Beacon of Hope is your best concentration spell for damage heavy encounters. Otherwise, Crusader’s Mantle (through your cloak) is a solid option. Insect Plague is also really good to make enemies’ day miserable, especially coupled with ground ice.

Planar Binding is good, but in my experience, pretty optional. All encounters where it can be useful can be cleared without it. I’d rather keep my level 5 spell slots for Insect Plague or Mass Cure Wounds.

Heroes’ Feast is one of the best spells in the entire game, and should always be the first usage of your level 6 slot.

The Whispering Promise[bg3.wiki] and Hellrider’s Pride[bg3.wiki] are two of your core items. Make sure to talk to Volo as soon as you reach Emerald Grove, it’s the easiest way to get the ring.

At the goblin camp, get the Boots of Aid and Comfort[bg3.wiki].

In the Underdark, you can get the Ring of Salving[bg3.wiki]. Make sure you get Phalar Aluve[bg3.wiki] which will be your weapon for the rest of the game. You can pair it with any +2 shield for now. Finally, the Boots of Stormy Clamour[bg3.wiki] will be your best boots for a while.

For the Light domain version, you should grab Luminous Armour[bg3.wiki] and never take it off.

The Amulet of Restoration[bg3.wiki] is expensive, but worth it, especially in the early game where spell slots are a rare currency. Speaking of which, the Pearl of Power Amulet[bg3.wiki] is a great tool to cast Aid for free every day (until you upcast it at level 4).

The Adamantine Splint Armour[bg3.wiki] is your best armor for the majority of the game if you’re going Life domain. If you don’t have Heavy Armor Proficiency, take the medium version instead.

If you can’t get either of the Adamantine armors, wear Grymskull Helm[bg3.wiki] if you can, to keep critical hits immunity. Do not craft the Adamantine shield, it’s just not worth it.

Bow of the Banshee[bg3.wiki] is one of the rare special good bows you can use.

At the Crèche, you can grab and wear the Holy Lance Helm[bg3.wiki]. You can also grab the Gloves of Belligerent Skies[bg3.wiki] for more Reverberation on enemies, especially if you’re playing the light domain.

All of these items are easy to acquire, rarely contested, and can stay until early Act 3 if not the end of the game.

Within minutes, you can get Shield of Devotion[bg3.wiki]. The free Aid spell is unfortunately useless as it only works on you, but the extra spell slot and Shield Bash will help.

At Moonrise, get the Spellcrux Amulet[bg3.wiki]. It’s essentially a better version of Pearl of Power. You will want to keep it until the end of the game, as it will allow you to cast Heroes’ Feast and keep a level 6 slot for the rest of the day.

If you do not have War Caster, you can consider grabbing the Dark Justiciar Half-Plate[bg3.wiki]. Either version is fine.

Spineshudder Amulet[bg3.wiki] is a good item for you for more reverberation.

If Gloves of Belligerent Skies are contested, or if you want to inflict more Radiating Orbs, grab and wear Luminous Gloves[bg3.wiki]. You can also replace Ring of Salving with Coruscation Ring[bg3.wiki].

If uncontested, Sentinel Shield[bg3.wiki] and Ketheric’s Shield[bg3.wiki] are always good. Otherwise just stick to Shield of Devotion.

Once you get access to the Lower City, go see Vicar Humbletoes and grab Mantle of the Holy Warrior[bg3.wiki], The Reviving Hands[bg3.wiki] and Amulet of the Devout[bg3.wiki]. The cape will grant you Crusader’s Mantle to buff your damage dealers once per day. The gloves are just an all around better version of Hellrider’s Pride (if you are wearing Gloves of Belligerent Skies, you can keep them). The amulet is very contested, but should go to you regardless as it is one of your rare ways of increasing your spell save DC.

Later in the Act, you should get Shield of the Undevout[bg3.wiki]. It’s a better version of the Shield of Devotion, with a minor synergy with Command: Flee.

On the armour side, Helldusk Armour[bg3.wiki] is tempting for 21 AC, free proficiency, and fly. Speaking of Helldusk, Helldusk Boots[bg3.wiki] are perfect for you. As the Phalar Aluve (+ Crusader’s Mantle) user, you don’t want to be moved by anyone. You can keep the Boots of Stormy Clamour if you like them better.

Nymph Cloak[bg3.wiki] is an alternative cloak for more control.

Grab either Helldusk Helmet[bg3.wiki] or Helm of Balduran[bg3.wiki] for Critical immunity. Helm of Balduran is probably better on you, because unlike Helldusk Helmet, it requires armor proficiency (medium). You have it anyway, and Helldusk Helmet will fit more easily on other characters.

Viconia’s Walking Fortress[bg3.wiki] is your best shield, mainly for flat AC. Spellguard and Reflective Shell will also see decent use.

Here’s a breakdown of your best items depending on domain choice:

Just do whatever your party needs.

Cast daylight to make shadow enemies more visible. Use Insect Plague to block a pack of enemies. Free allies of stun with Freedom of Movement. Drop AoE healing to give everyone Bless and Blade Ward. Activate Phalar Aluve for more attack roll boosts. Etc.

If you’re using Light domain and Radiating Orb/Reverberation items, feel free to drop big AoEs with Radiant Spirit Guardians, and watch the enemies’ attack rolls get radiating orbed into oblivion.

You are also the best candidate to sacrifice an action when you need to bait the counterspell from the enemies. Just cast a measly cantrip or Guiding Bolt and enjoy wasting the enemies’ reaction.

In fights with tough enemies and/or many enemies, use Phalar Aluve’s skill to boost your group. I tend to go for Sing to boost attack rolls consistency for my party, but Shriek is also a fair usage. Remember that you get 1 use of this skill per short rest.

Once you acquire Aid, cast it on your party each day with the highest level spell slot you have, so long as it is not single. That is to say: if you have two level 4 spell slots, you can cast a level 4 Aid; if you have only one level 5 slot, keep Aid at level 4.

Late game, make sure you start your day by casting Heroes’ Feast on your party. Then, restore your level 6 slot with Spellcrux Amulet. You can then use it for Aid, or preserve it for something like Planar Ally. I personally go Heroes’ Feast + Level 4 Aid for + 27 HP each day.

Make sure you are concentrating on Crusader’s Mantle whenever your martials are about to dish out the pain.

Feel free to support them with control using Command, Hold Person or Insect Plague.

Whenever you don’t have anything purposeful to do in terms of control, healing or support, just cast a good Glyph of Warding or, for single target damage, Guiding Bolt or Inflict Wounds. If you really don’t want to spare a spell slot, just shoot your bow. Just spare yourself the embarrassment and don’t attack with your sword.

Yes, if you get 17 CON and the Resilient: Constitution feat for your third feat. You want CON save proficiency.

Level 12 Cleric will not give us anything however, outside of more HP (which is a minor detail). The Sorcerer dip, on the other side, gives us the Shield reaction, which is really good.

This is just a minor optimization, and regardless of the choice we will acquire CON save proficiency late game. So if you can’t be bothered doing the respec at level 12, stick to pure Life Cleric.

If you really want to, you can, but what are the gains?

Nature and Knowledge are bad. Tempest is great, but if not coupled with heavy investment in damaging spells and gear, will not do anything – and you’re not a damage dealer. War doesn’t really make sense for your build as well.

Trust me – stick to Life/Light Domains, and make your life easier.

Concentration Save Advantage is a requirement for a support build, or a Cleric in general. However, you do not have to acquire it through War Caster. There’s essentially two correct, alternative ways for this build to get concentration save advantage: Elixir of Peerless Focus and Dark Justiciar Armor (rare or very rare both work).

Stacking these Elixirs annoys me to no end, and if I’m going to let go of War Caster, I’d rather have my elixir slot free.

As for the alternative feat, you can either take another +2 WIS or Dual Wielder. Dual Wielder would allow you to wear another 1 handed weapon, such as Staff of Interruption for a Counterspell on a stick, or an offensive weapon like The Blood of Lathander to be able to attack (you’d keep Phalar Aluve in off-hand).

I think this build is best with a shield, so if I was letting go of War Caster, I’d just grab +2 WIS.

If you’re playing Light Cleric, you can’t wear any armor other than Radiant Armour, so you should keep War Caster.

If something isn’t clear to you, or if you feel like I missed something, let me know in the comments below. I read every single comment I get, and will do my best to answer yours.

Thanks for reading the guide and I hope you have fun with the build!