Oathbreaker Paladin BG3 Build Guide

Raw power defines the Oathbreaker Paladin – brutal melee combat, huge damage, with abilities such as Smite, Dreadful Aspect, and Hellish Rebuke boosting it. A subclass embracing darkness and corruption, you can play as an antihero or a fallen Paladin seeking redemption. If you are aiming to deal heavy damage, the Oathbreaker Paladin is a solid pick. This subclass is defined by making morally questionable choices, with the option to break your Oath—but doing so becomes increasingly difficult in later Acts. A major strength of the Oathbreaker build is its ability to control, manipulate, and summon undead.

Oathbreaker Paladin

Oathbreaker is one of the most unique subclasses in BG3 and requires a specific event to unlock. Gaining this subclass can be tricky in Act 2 and Act 3, depending on NPC locations, so be mindful when progressing to become an Oathbreaker. The Oathbreaker build offers great crowd control, high burst damage, and the advantage of heavy armour, making it a strong and versatile choice. However, it comes with some drawbacks, including being starved for spell slots, having a limited selection of spells, and being somewhat complex to master.

Paladin’s Features & Mechanics

The Paladin class in Baldur’s Gate 3 is defined by the following mechanics and features: It has primary ability of Charisma with saving throws in Wisdom and Charisma. It is proficient in Light, Medium, and Heavy Armor as well as Shields, and Simple and Martial Weapons. 

Their preferred weapon is the Greatsword, and they favour Heavy Armor for protection. Notable abilities include Spiteful Suffering, which deals damage each turn to the target and grants Advantage against them, and Divine Smite, which allows you to spend spell slots to add radiant damage to melee attacks. The Paladin also can control undead creatures using Channel Divinity and can use Dreadful Aspect for area-based crowd control.

Oathbreaker Paladin Class Mechanic

In addition to these features, Paladins have specific spell mechanics. Cantrips, which are spells that don’t use spell slots and can be cast infinitely, are only available to Paladins through certain race choices. Spell Slots are a limited resource, and Paladins must rest to replenish them. Prepared Spells allows you to pick which spells to swap in and out before combat for flexibility. Concentration for some Paladin spells, meaning that you need to maintain focus so the spell will stay active, and give a balanced mix of offence, defence, and utility capabilities.

How to be an Oathbreaker Paladin

In Baldur’s Gate 3, to become an Oathbreaker Paladin. Essentially, you need to break your oath by attacking or killing an innocent NPC. At Level 2, you can trigger this by deceiving the two Tieflings holding Lae’zel hostage. Alternatively, you can kill an innocent NPC while they are sleeping. After doing this, you’ll trigger a dialogue with the Oathbreaker Knight. To fully access the subclass, head to your camp and speak with the Oathbreaker Knight.

To become an Oathbreaker Paladin, simply follow these steps: break a promise or kill an innocent NPC (such as by saying “I won’t attack” and then attacking anyway), which will trigger a cutscene with the Oathbreaker Knight. Then, visit your camp, find the Oathbreaker Knight NPC, and talk to them. Accept the Oathbreaker path, and you’ll gain access to the subclass. If you decide later that you no longer want to be an Oathbreaker, it’s not a permanent choice—you can abandon it.

Paladin’s Divine Smite

Divine Smite is one of the Paladin class’s core abilities in Baldur’s Gate 3. You get to spend a spell slot and make an additional radiant damage roll on a hit against a creature using a melee weapon attack. The damage starts at 2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, with an additional 1d8 for each higher spell level. If the target is an undead or fiend, the damage increases by another 1d8.

You can toggle Divine Smite on or off in the reactions menu under the user interface, giving you the flexibility to decide when to use it. This is important because Paladins can run out of spell slots quickly, which can limit your damage potential. You don’t want to waste a spell slot on a weak enemy, so being able to choose when to activate Divine Smite can be crucial. 

How to Use the Divine Smite

To use Divine Smite effectively with the best Paladin build in Baldur’s Gate 3, save your higher-level spell slots for tougher enemies to make the most of your damage. Target enemies vulnerable to radiant damage for maximum impact, and don’t hesitate to use Divine Smite on critical hits to deal even more damage. If you’re facing a group of enemies, don’t be afraid to use Divine Smite multiple times in one turn to maximize your effectiveness in combat.  

Best Race for Oathbreaker Paladin

The best race for Oathbreaker Paladin in Baldur’s Gate 3 is Half-Orc. Relentless Endurance racial ability can keep you from dying if you drop to 0 hit points, and you will end up with 1 for a turn. The Half-Orc’s Savage Attack provides extra damage, and Darkvision is crucial for exploring the Underdark. A good secondary choice is the Zariel Tiefling, as they offer fire resistance and two free smite spells—Searing and Branding.

While the Paladin’s racial choice doesn’t affect ability scores directly, since you’ll receive +2 and +1 to distribute, it allows you to prioritize race features. Each race offers distinct advantages to enhance combat, survivability, or utility, so consider the roleplaying opportunities and character concepts that best align with your vision for the Oathbreaker Paladin.

The Oathbreaker Paladin subclass offers powerful features focused on high damage and undead manipulation. Abilities like Spiteful Suffering deal necrotic damage and grant Advantage on attacks against affected enemies, while Hellish Rebuke adds passive damage. You also unlock several useful skills to control and summon undead, making this subclass perfect for players who enjoy playing a morally “bad” Paladin. Key features include Control Undead, Dreadful Aspect, and Inflict Wounds, with more abilities to curse, manipulate, and summon undead as you level up.

Best Sub Class for Paladin 

For backgrounds, the Soldier is an excellent choice for an Oathbreaker Paladin, providing proficiency in Athletics and Intimidation. These skills support combat and exploration alike, matching Paladin’s power and Charisma-based abilities. Soldier backgrounds affect roleplaying and conversation choices, too. Another great background choice is Noble with History and Persuasion proficiency and Guild Artisan with Insight and Persuasion. All these backgrounds bring their unique elements to character building in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Best Ability Score for Oathbreaker Paladin 

The ideal ability score for a Paladin is 16 in both Strength and Charisma. This combination boosts your melee damage and enhances your spellcasting abilities, particularly Divine Smite. After that, prioritize Constitution at 14 to ensure you have a decent health pool to survive in combat. Maximizing Strength and Charisma at 16 is essential for optimizing your damage output for the best Oathbreaker Paladin build in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Once you have selected your class, subclass, race, and background, the game will automatically allocate your ability points in the character creation screen. You’ll need to adjust the stats to fit the optimal Paladin build. Use the plus and minus buttons in the character creator to tweak your numbers, making sure you’ve chosen the recommended race. If your racial choice prevents you from reaching the ideal stats, lower your Wisdom score accordingly.

Best skills for Oathbreaker Paladin 

The best skills for an Oathbreaker Paladin in Baldur’s Gate 3 are Persuasion and Insight since they enhance your class abilities, which help navigate various situations much better. The skills in this game reflect what proficiencies a character has; the more success in certain tasks or interactions the character will have with it. All of these are linked to specific attributes and are thus essential for both dialogue and exploration. You can change them either at character creation or later by using respec or reroll screens.

For the Paladin, Persuasion is a Charisma-based skill, good for dialogue ability checks, and Insight is a Wisdom-based skill, good for dialogue and exploration. These skills are excellent for the Oathbreaker build, but your character’s concept and challenges must also be taken into consideration. Your skill choices should align with your playstyle, complement your party, and enhance the roleplaying experience you want to create in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Best Companion for Paladin

For the best companions to complement your Oathbreaker Paladin in Baldur’s Gate 3, we recommend characters who specialize in ranged and support roles. The idea is for your Paladin to charge into melee combat while the companions provide support, ranged damage, or even stealth attacks. Having too many melee characters, like 2-3, can make close-quarters combat more challenging.

Some good companion choices include:

• Shadowheart: Provides buffs, healing, and crowd control.
• Gale: Offers ranged magic damage, area effects, and crowd control.
• Asterion: Brings burst damage, lockpicking, and ranged attacks when necessary.

Remember, your party’s composition and synergy are important factors. Think about which strengths and weaknesses each companion brings to fit with your Paladin playstyle and abilities. You might also try a more ranged-damage-based approach with Wyll or a double melee setup, now that Lae’zel is there. Feel free to mix and match to find what works best for your strategy.

Paladin’s Illithid Powers

Illithid Powers become available later in Baldur’s Gate 3 as you uncover more about Mind Flayers and Tadpoles. You can find jars of Mind Flayer Parasite Specimens and consume them to gain points. This mechanic acts like a skill tree, offering powerful abilities. If you choose to pursue these powers, here are the best options for an Oathbreaker Paladin build:

• Luck of the Far Realms: When you land a successful attack, you can turn it into a critical hit.
• Psionic Backlash: When an enemy within 9 meters casts a spell, you can use your reaction to deal psychic damage to the caster based on the spell’s level. This is a great counter to nearby spellcasters.
• Ability Drain: Once per turn, when you make an attack, the target’s relevant ability score is reduced by 1, helping to debuff enemies without requiring any extra actions.
• Repulsor: Deal 2-12 force damage and push enemies back 6 meters. This is a useful area-of-effect knockback with good early-game damage.

Oathbreaker Paladin build Priority

For the Oathbreaker Paladin build, your priorities should be as follows:

1. Complete the Prologue
2. Recruit other companions
3. Reach the Hollowed City or Druid Grove
4. Sell items, stock up, and complete quests
5. Unlock Withers and respec to adjust your ability scores
6. Progress to level 5
7. Reach the Underdark and Grymforge

Oathbreaker Paladin after Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 7

There were no changes to the Oathbreaker Paladin class in Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 7, so if you’re already familiar with how the class works, things remain the same. The main focus of this patch is on mods. Larian Studios has introduced a modding toolkit and an in-game mod manager, allowing players to create and install mods directly within the game. This update gives the community more creative control, enabling them to create their content and expand the game’s story. As a result, this Oathbreaker build guide remains unchanged in Patch 7. 

Best Consumable Items for Paladin Oathbreaker

Here’s a list of the best consumable items that will support your Paladin Oathbreaker build in Baldur’s Gate 3:

• Elixir of Hill Giant Strength: Boosts your Strength score to 21 until the next Long Rest.
• Potion of Speed: Grants an extra action, +2 AC, Advantage on Dexterity Saving Throws, and doubles movement speed.
• Elixir of Bloodlust: When you kill an enemy, you will gain 5 temporary hit points and an additional action once per turn.
• Drow Poison: Adds a Constitution Saving Throw or poisons the target, causing them to fall asleep.
• Potion of Flying: Grants a flying speed of 60ft for one hour.
• Elixir of Heroism: Provides 10 temporary hit points and Blessing until a Long Rest.
• Potion of Greater Healing: Restores 4d4 + 4 hit points.
• Oil of Accuracy: Coats your weapon, granting +2 to Attack Rolls.
• Elixir of Vigilance: Gives +5 to Initiative and prevents being Surprised.
• Elixir of Darkvision: If your race doesn’t have Darkvision, this lets you see in the dark up to 12 meters.