Cleric Subclass Ranking Baldur's Gate 3 - bg3 Patch 6

[@Lampaluile]

Nature 6th? Come on sheep take

[@CasualVeteranGamer]

Baa

[@Lampaluile]

@@CasualVeteranGamer lmao legend

[@RPGandFPS]

Life Cleric has pretty much trivialized all my Honour Mode clears so far. The ability to bless, ward and crazy heals on demand is too good.

[@CasualVeteranGamer]

I find that any cleric can do the same using the amulet of restoration if I want all those juicy buffs. I'm currently doing an honour mode run with a light cleric wearing the reverb and radiant orb debuffing gear and I'm barely having to heal. Life clerics are all good though, I did use one as well for my first honour mode run.

[@RPGandFPS]

@@CasualVeteranGamer All of the stacking heal buffs along with the bless ring and blade gloves + 2 aoe heals that come back on short rest just make the game mega easy. Especially since you can get all of the gear in act 1.

[@KudzuHaiku]

Nature clerics are shockingly strong with the right party. I used to think they were weak, but proved myself wrong. If you play them to their strengths, they are tanky, heavy hitters, with strong crowd control. They're not bad at all, if you value ancillary effects.

[@RonnieMyers777]

Can you go into it a bit? Im trying Nature Cleric with Shadowheart

[@CasualVeteranGamer]

I'd argue that all clerics can be heavy hitters, but I can appreciate that their domain spells give a lot more crowd control options.

[@KudzuHaiku]

@@RonnieMyers777 Use plants to commit war crimes.

[@itsJPhere]

​@@RonnieMyers777 Nature Clerics cast Spike Growth. Did I miss anything?

[@Deathelement53]

True. My problem with them is all the good one are Concentration spells and I dont think they are better than what the base cleric normally would be using. But they certainly aren't bad. If only you could double up spike growth on the ground lol

[@marcrainbow1714]

Great video. Your rankings are spot on. I am not as enamored with War domain (most likely due my knack of using the BA attack inappropriately), but I agree with the premise that either War, Tempest, & Light could be #1. My heart aches that Nature & Trickery domains aren't better. Cheers

[@CasualVeteranGamer]

Thanks! I really didn't know who would come out on top before trying to give scores to each of these things. With the top 3 so close it almost feels unfair to actually label 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I agree with your last sentiment, it's such a shame that Nature and Trickery offer so little compared to the other domains.

[@brendanguymer3885]

My first honour mode run was a knowledge domain cleric to cast command drop. Got the everburn blade first try

[@daveyfunk]

1 level dip into War Cleric adds a lot to an Abjuration Wizard. Early in the game War Cleric is great anyway for getting armour prof, weapon prof and war priest charges, but also then getting bless and create water for your Abjuration Wizard offers so much flexibility. For example 8 Wizard/1 War Cleric/1 Sorc (con save and AoA)/2 Paladin makes you a beast in magic and melee. If you wanted to go ham you could go 2 Paladin/6 swords Bard for extra attack, flourishes and font of inspiration/1 War Cleric (heavy armour prof without needing Pally 1st)/1 Wizard for haste and other spells you fancy (just use headband of intellect) and spend 2 levels at your leisure (maybe 8 levels Bard for feat and 2 lvl4 spellslots). If you chose GWM you then have options of bonus attack through War Cleric or crit/kill and then extra action from haste for spells. 1 level in War Cleric offers SO much

[@vladimirk7686]

Tempest domain is a top tier for me. In early game a difference between your regular Thunderwave of 9-11 damage and thunderwave of 16 damage also is a lot. Also you can tank for your allies and deal additional quite respectable for early game damage via reaction. But real fun starts from level 5 and especially level 6. With two actions and wet applied to the target you can now deal 120 lightning damage with Call Lighning. This spell is basically everything you need from now - use it with 4 and 5 spell slots, other top spells are ice storm and destructive wave but these are more greedy in terms of spell slots. In late game you can equip Markoheshkir and gain access to chain lightning to deal 168 damage in one action, recharge on short rest. Crazy. And of course with all that you still are a cleric, so use every item that boosts your alies and yourself through healing, warding bond, summon djinni, heroes feast etc.

[@dj44640]

Light Cleric combined with in-game items (for orbs & reverb) is the single MOST OP build in game and does not even need multiclass Pretty much setup at Act1 or early Act 2 and gets you till the Netherbrain with no problem at all

[@CasualVeteranGamer]

Yeah, I've currently got Shadowheart doing that now in an honour mode run!

[@dj44640]

@@CasualVeteranGamer same. That build just steamrolls past fights.

[@InnocentLock-er6et]

I do believe this is a great way to rate subclasses against each other. I’d be interested in seeing other classes done this way. I did have a thought while you were going over life cleric that could bring their level 6 feature higher. Warding Bond. Since you take the same damage as the warding bond creature, now when you heal them, you’re healing yourself for a good bit of that damage as well

[@CasualVeteranGamer]

I hope that others will find this type of ranking useful as well. I think it's clearer to show why I rate a particular subclass highly or not. I can agree with your comment about warding bond and life clerics. They will survive very well because of that level 6 feature, and this is a downside to this sort of ranking because there will always be specific spells/items that will make some subclasses perform better than I have given them credit for. I've tried to ignore specific things because not everyone will necessarily use the character in the same way, but yeah, it will mean I probably score more harshly than I should.

[@InnocentLock-er6et]

@@CasualVeteranGamer I can definitely understand not including something that specific into a ranking. It’s a niche use case so probably shouldn’t tip the scales, especially when most people favor high DPS / crowd control over Tanking in BG3 and 5e in general

[@SirCharles12357]

Love your methodology, demonstrations, and I completely agree with you on this topic. I've yet tried a cleric as my TAV, but you made a good case for using a knowledge domain cleric. Great video!

[@CasualVeteranGamer]

Thanks! I'll probably try this sort of video for other classes as well. I hope a knowledge cleric works well for you!

[@soccercrazed13]

Your videos always make my love for bg3 swell up again. I'm committed to a new play through simply to spec Shadowheart out of trickery.

[@Diceux]

I'm currently playing a Light Cleric with 2 levels in Paladin for Smites and 1 level in Monk for bonus action Unarmed attack/Flurry of Blows. I was trying to find a way to add a bit more Martial flavor into my Cleric without going 5 levels deep in a class that get's Extra Attack. I have found this to be very good so far. I take the Tavern Brawler and Great Weapon Master feats. I use a Versatile Weapon and Medium Armor. All of this, plus Spirit Guardians, gives me highly respectable melee capability.

[@CasualVeteranGamer]

Sounds like a cool character!

[@GodofTrek]

I rate Life as #1, simply because I pretty much on play only Honour mode now, and that really boosts the level 1 feature and spell list. Bless with the staff from the wizard tower in the underdark for +2d4 on rolls is obscene. Also, format is good, please keep and do the other classes as well, as except Wizard, they should be much faster anyway! :)

[@stinkymuffin]

Nature cleric is top 3 the domain spells are so good. 1 tempest 2 light 3 nature 4 war 5 life

[@Mystra]

I disagree, number 1 is life domain because on honor mode survival for the team is important and you can still be a tank performing 2 roles at once. They don't even do bad damage. Really, they are the only amazing healer in the game. Were as all the other domains can be kinda covered by other classes. Life Cleric cannot.

[@CasualVeteranGamer]

I find that my light clerics are helping to kill things so fast that healing isn't needed too often. Like I said though, during my first honour mode run I also had a life cleric because I wanted to have extra healing if needed, but since that I've never founded that I needed it and the other domains tend to be able to heal enough. Nothing wrong with life clerics though!

[@Mystra]

​@CasualVeteranGamer And that is totally fine on any other difficulty imo but on honor mode it is 1 bad fight and it's over lol That's why I prefer the security of life Cleric. I will agree thoguh, that if any domains above Life it would be those 3. I've never had a need for nature or trickery, unfortunately

[@Mystra]

​@@CasualVeteranGamerSo what I am saying is, great video honeslty. Maybe the top 3 just comes down to preference :)

[@CasualVeteranGamer]

@@Mystra Understandable. I'm not sure what other metric I could put that security under though! It's sad to see nature and trickery fare so badly compared to all the other domains.

[@Mystra]

@@CasualVeteranGamer Agreed! They really should have made Trickery stronger because it is Shadowheart canon subclass. And nature because it has to be stronger to be a relevant choice over Druid. I really think Larian should buff them but it might be too late as they start to look forward to making a new game.

[@ecbrown6151]

I like nature, heavy armor is nice. Spiked growth is some great crowd control, put hunger of Hadar on top of it with stinking cloud or cloud of daggers etc etc is always entertaining

[@benjaminjam666]

If one takes into account item combos the Reverberation/Mental Fatigue. On one/Storm cleric and (as mentioned) Per. Of Health make a world of difference. Same w/Radiant orb focused builds. Such a versatile class, almost no reason to not MC 1 lvl of a War w/any-all?-martial builds unless you really have a solid plan for that 12th level feat. Great video!

[@alexsamurai1230]

About the only time I could imagine Trickery being the best choice would be something like a Paladin 5 / Assassin 3 / Trickery 4. The cleric levels are just there for smite slots anyway and if you want suprise rounds Pass Without Trace is worth having. Yes, like a lot of other comments I can't resist the urge to play devils advocate ;)

[@ProbeAway]

I love how much work you’ve put into assessing these. I’d personally have War Domain lower and Nature Domain higher though. War Domain is an amazing multiclass for a martial class with a 1-2 level dip. But I think it’s an inferior choice for a pure (or 8+ level) cleric. The war priest attack isn’t a compelling reason to take it if you’re not actually playing a martial class, since you don’t get enough charges to really become a good weapon user, and the domain spell list is really underwhelming. Guided strike is excellent, although more so for allies at level 6 than for yourself at level 2 (if not multiclassing), since you don’t have many attack roll spells. OTOH, I think Nature Domain has a good level 6 ability and an excellent spell list that justifies playing it as a pure class. It provides big AoE control, which is something clerics generally lack, and thorn whip and grasping vine work really well with spirit guardians. Your comment about how you’d rather be a druid perhaps highlights the need to factor in how these subclasses gel with the base cleric class. Wild shaping aside, Nature Domain gives you a great hybridisation of cleric and druid. Best (or maybe not best, but a good representation) of both worlds! Without any of the scientific rigour you’ve applied, I’d probably go: Light Tempest War Nature Life Knowledge Trickery As an aside, the level 8 divine strike abilities have a bug where you can use them twice - manually when you attack, and then as a reaction if you hit. Probably not a reason to shift any rankings though.

[@00Mk000]

I'm currently on honor with a lore-friendly shadoweart setup cleric/thief (8/4), trickery. She's not that bad. Of course trickery will never be as strong as other domains, but if you combine it with a nice multiclass and party setup - my main is a shadow monk/thief, and I have gale cast improved invis as well to capitalize on pass without trace - it's at least viable and quite fun.

[@CasualVeteranGamer]

Building around greater invisibility is one of the strengths of the trickery domain, I imagine it works very well.

[@b1ackm4gic]

Devils advocate for Trickery's invoke duplicity, getting damage buff for your team from advantage and then also wasting enemy's action as they attack something other than your team is a good use of an action. Enemy attacking illusion can be seen like any feature that makes them miss you which are goated. It's like a perfect shield cast or divination miss + team damage buff. If you rewire expectations for it to be a 1 turn effect instead of expecting it to last whole fight and hog concentration, it looks a lot better

[@CasualVeteranGamer]

My problem is that it usually lasts less than a whole round. Maybe it's a skill issue, but I've had enemies attack it immediately after my cleric's turn, so I didn't actually get any use of the advantage. If I was a bit smarter I would only have used it when my characters share the same turn. In bigger fights I don't think using an action to waste a single enemy action is a good idea. Against fewer enemies I feel like it would be more worthwhile.

[@geoffreysherman609]

Really like this format! I would have put Tempest at the top, but I am biased so, lol.

[@CasualVeteranGamer]

Heh, we all have our biases. I secretly hoped light would come out on top!

[@geoffreysherman609]

@@CasualVeteranGamer It is possible that you rated the flare ability a little low? especially after lvl 6. Still a great list and format. I really like that style of chart!

[@Ddotsattack]

would be cool to see more deep dives into sub classes from your POV.

[@coldwetn0se172]

I love the Light and War Cleric domains. They have made Cleric a lot more fun (especially when you toss in some of the items that synergize well with them). I have yet to play around with Tempest Cleric, but look forward to multi-classing them. I might switch Jaheira to multiclass with Tempest (have already played with her as a War Cleric). Thank you for the content! Oh...and I think the demonstration where the reaction didn't proc, might have been because your cleric was entangled...? Doesn't that remove a character's ability to use a reaction?

[@rajivkurian2285]

The level 6 class feature (thunderbolt strike) for tempest clerics can be really good if one plays around it. Electric charges are easy to get through items, so it procs all the time. My favorite multiclass for the tempest cleric is with a Druid to get spike growth. If you then get electric charges, your spike growth does electric damage and constantly pushes enemies back making for a hilarious cheese grater build. Some examples here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/aIKuqYOmZ8Z1gsU

[@andrewcarter9649]

I think you're wildly overvaluing War Domain as I would put it down with Trickery and Nature, it's a pretty badly implemented attempt at a martial Cleric that should be skipped over for Light or Tempest Domain at every opportunity. War Priest's charges are terrible solely for the reason that it's a very limited resource that recharges on a long rest, you'll basically use it up in just one fight and then either long rest on a very regular basis or spend most of your time without your Level 1 feature. Considering that duel wielding short swords/scimitars is doing the same thing without the need to expend a limited resource I just really don't see the point. The Channel Divinity isn't terrible but compared to what Life, Light and Tempest are getting it's nothing to be impressed with, the Level 6 upgrade to it is nice but thats a long time to wait for your CD to get good. I don't see any multi class potential either, if a full caster wants access to Heavy Armour then they'll go for Tempest as it's features synergise with spell casters much better, or Light as it's Level 1 feature makes any one tankier. I don't see what martials get out of it either, they're doing everything this subclass offers better already and then have to worry about being a bit too MAD, Ranger might be the exception since they're both Wisdom casters to start with. A good example of this done better is the mod for the Sword Dancer Domain, it's Level 1 ability lets me use Wisdom for melee attacks, the CD gives me a 10 turn boost to movement and Dex saves (works similar to the Bladedancers Bladesong ability) and the Lvl 6 ability is War Priests charges, but without the charges. It's a great subclass and really makes for a martial Cleric that still feels like a Cleric and doesn't step on the Paladins toes. I do agree with most of your views on the 7 Domains though and like the way you present the information, says a lot more than a simple tier list.

[@CasualVeteranGamer]

Thanks for the feedback and comment. Regarding the war domain cleric, I don't think we should be using all the war priest charges in one fight, and should be used at opportune moments, such as when an enemy is close to dying. I will concede that the fact they replenish on a long rest is not good for them though. As for dual wielding, we're limited to light weapons only, and as a war domain cleric there is no option to add the ability modifier to the damage. I'd usually either wield a shield in my off hand, or perhaps a great sword if I wanted to do more damage. Sadly, there is no other option for a martial based cleric at all in bg3, assuming we're not multiclassing at least. Again, thanks for the comment, it has made me reflect!

[@davidwagner3710]

Tempest #3? Shocked, just shocked. Its channel divinity should be worth 20/10. :)

[@CasualVeteranGamer]

Like I said, I really feel the top three are interchangeable depending on what you want from a cleric and if you're multiclassing. I imagine a tempest cleric would be the best at shocking anyone!

[@lixnix2018]

Tempest is just strong due to being able to just do max damage (cleric wizard / sorcerer)

[@CasualVeteranGamer]

Yeah, those maximum damage spells are just so strong.

[@Ddotsattack]

love it