OP BARDADIN Bard / Paladin Build Guide: Baldur's Gate 3

Here is an OP BARDADIN Bard / Paladin Build Guide in Baldur's Gate 3! This build is absolutely busted. You can solo the game as a bardadin in BG3. That's because we get two attacks, and we can attack two targets with those attacks as well as news divine smite. This gives us incredible damage. And then, as a bonus action, we can cast crowd control spells and completely shut down the opponent. This is one of the most broken builds in all of Baldur's Gate 3 but it is a ton of fun to play as. You have a lot of options between Command, Hold Person, Confuse, Greater Invisibility and many others!
You have a lot of options for crowd control and damage with this build in particular.
Let me know what builds you would like to see next in Baldur's Gate 3 in the comments below!
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[@stevenjohannesson316]

LOL the more I watch your build guides the more I realize I’m going to be playing this game for a long time! Build looks pretty awesome!

[@KittyCalibur]

Loving the build ideas. Love Baldur's Gate for how replayable it is

[@JasonDunna]

Endlessly replayable!! It’s a blast

[@keithwin3449]

Wow I love bardadins but never thought to use the infernal rapier! Amazing idea

[@JasonDunna]

It goes well if you don’t have the helmet of arcane acuity and instead use the birthright for +2 charisma. It’s funny you can flourish smite with it

[@mynameisstepon7860]

yes, because duellist prerogative, crimson mischief, bloodthirst, and undermountain knife exist

[@keithwin3449]

@@mynameisstepon7860 yeah and none of those use your charisma unless you’re a warlock

[@VesperYTU]

@@JasonDunna Hello! I wanted to ask, is there a difference with which class to start leveling up?

[@lightning2034]

​@VesperYTU yes there is. paladins get heavy armor and access to all weapons as well as the saves are different. it is more "optimal" to start paladin but there are benefits to starting bard too. play how you like 😀

[@iniquitybdm5820]

I tried this build but with nyrulna and bhaalist armour. The damage is insane. And I ran hag hair +1 dex and +2dex on mirror of loss. Always going first. Enemies are cc’d on their turn. Truly a broken and fun build

[@HumbleHomunculus]

Nyrulna does damage based on ste modifier though

[@ppeall]

Many thanks, Jay. I'll use this

[@JasonDunna]

Enjoy! It is plenty strong

[@VaguerCaesar790]

Thanks, I think this is a game that you get into and is definitely best played on PC 👍 Gonna use this build and see how it goes. Also, a slight gripe I have is how your dialogue choices lead to end of conversation before picking the others.

[@JasonDunna]

This is an addictive game, and best on PC! Yeah I wish you could use all dialogue, agreed

[@VaguerCaesar790]

@ gonna give it a go on Xbox Series X. Any combat tips? It is super hard even on easy mode. I found putting proficiency bonus on 2 rather than 4 helped.

[@theusernameicoodfind]

Yeah I’ve been using Nizar GG’s bardadin build forever and this seems similar but using that rapier instead of nyrulna seems like a great idea. He also uses the baalist armor though which would still work with that rapier but it looks like your minsc is using that

[@DanyalElia]

Is not using bhaalist armour reduce our damage output? Because I am on a good path playthrough and don't want to become a bhaalist assasin...

[@cleavelandcoleman1788]

Awesome. Thank you!!!

[@JasonDunna]

You are welcome!!

[@SolidBold00]

reasoning for oath of vengence? I feel like I'd prefer Oath of the Ancients for the extra healing and such

[@JasonDunna]

You can go that route as well!

[@nerdyginger7430]

Pretty sure that heal scales with paladin level, does it not? Vengeance ability doesn't scale and gives you more radiant damage along with dazing enemies. Pretty sure it's not really worth it. But if your build(s) have on heal procs then it could be useful. Scales with cha and prof bonus as well so at level 2 paladin/10 bard it should heal 11 hp twice at 20 cha.

[@rjthecosmonaut5306]

I am officially calling this build ‘Balladin’ and no I won’t call it anything else😂 (Edit: Palard doesn’t sound that good lol)

[@JasonDunna]

Hahahaha that’s perfect too

[@lightning2034]

definitely liked this name better lmao

[@IVISMiLESIVI]

How does the flourishing smites work? Is it only on critical hits with the flourish where the divine smite triggers as a reaction? Or is there a way to manually doit?

[@JasonDunna]

When you smite there should be an option, just make sure your reaction for them is turned on

[@IVISMiLESIVI]

@@JasonDunna ok will do. Thx for the reply.

[@IVISMiLESIVI]

@@JasonDunna Yo I got it to work, holy cow the dmg is insane. I guess it's turned off normally because it uses spell slots automatically? But whatevs man I'll just keep it on because that dmg is fantastic. Thx!

[@JasonDunna]

The damage is incredible!! Glad you got it working

[@jimmystrudel]

Quick question. I'm running 2/10 paladin/sword bard. I'm using the Knife of the undermountain king and I have it set to ask to use smites whenever I crit. I appear to be criting almost every attack now. Is that just how being able to crit on 19 works in DnD? It makes you crit that much more often? I feel like I'm criting way more than I should be but maybe I just don't fully understand the mechanics behind it. Thanks iron extortionist.

[@JasonDunna]

Yeah lowering the number to crit basically takes it from rolling a 20 to rolling a 19 which effectively doubles your chances of rolling a crit! It gets close to a 1/10 chance at that point. Stacking more crit gear takes it even further and it becomes a wild playstyle with a half orc getting an extra damage die on crit

[@jimmystrudel]

@@JasonDunna thanks man and yup, i'm running a orc, it's bonkers how often i crit and how hard i'm hitting. cheers!

[@JasonDunna]

@@jimmystrudel you can add savage attacker feat to this build and it’ll refill your crit dice too!

[@jimmystrudel]

@@JasonDunna hell yeah savage attacker all day. sickening pissening revolting its insulting

[@badmustachecult6233]

I hate to ask, but is there a written version of this build. I am visually impaired so I have a hard time remembering the content of the video.

[@JasonDunna]

I don’t have it wrote out sadly but there is a transcript of what I said in the video

[@alancoffey3088]

Have always played Oath of Vengeance Paladin and never had any problems, but I built a 2 level Oath of the Ancients with 10 levels of Swords Bard. Great build until Astarion freed the other vampire spawn and I’m suddenly an Oathbreaker. This doesn’t happen to my normal Vengeance Paladin. The rules are so confusing and annoying to those who have never played this type of game before. I’ll play the Dark Urge after Patch 7, but after spending hundreds of hours playing this game, there are just too many rules that I feel I need to take a course on them and how and when different ones apply to different versions of classes. It’s destroyed my run and it’s so frustrating after putting so much time and effort into a game that is not relaxing to play, and is boring and monotonous once I get to Act 3, and full of bugs and poor game physics, at least on Xbox.

[@JasonDunna]

The Oath of Ancients is the easiest to break, but the oathbreaker is actually the best paladin! I always try to break my oath. It’s only 1,000 gold to restore it too and gold is so plentiful in the game

[@Aetherealrizz]

@@JasonDunnaJust broke my oath on this build after siding with glut 😭 just wanted the xp

[@lightning2034]

not really they have a book when you start out as a paladin on what you need to uphold. the reason why vengeance is the hardest to break is because it's more flexible on what you can do and what you can't. the easiest way to break your vengeance oath is to not follow through on vengeance (or in my case kill the tieflings holding laezel hostage in act 1) the easiest by far us devotion basically be bad 😂

[@TheLadSteven]

Any early game stuff you'd recc? All the weapons and such you got seems more like act 2/3

[@JasonDunna]

Phalar Aluve is an incredible weapon to include! Svartlebee's Woundseeker is also great in act 1

[@JasonDunna]

Luminous armor is another solid choice for early game radiating orbs with divine smite

[@SolidBold00]

hey you mention getting the hags hair but it would break your oath.. thoughts?

[@JasonDunna]

Being an oathbreaker is no biggie doesn’t impact the build too much! But you can also get a companion to get the hags hair

[@SolidBold00]

@@JasonDunna Oh ive heard having someone else do the dialogue still triggers it

[@ElIoWorld]

​@@SolidBold00 It does, but you can pay smth like 2k gold to the Knight and take your oath back. Just remember when your aoth is broken you cannot use Withers. Also I think in multiplayer you can change party owner before the fight to do the dirty job for you.

[@MulderHiggins]

I *love* bards, and a swords Bard is what I'm currently playing as. I was looking up guides for Bards and heard that Bard/Fighter is great, but I am partial to Paladins and prefer the Bard/Paladin. Edit: Do you know where to find the Infernal Rapier?

[@JasonDunna]

Sword bard is one of the best classes, make sure to get the helmet of arcane acuity and the band of the mystic scoundrel and you’re set! Fighter gives you action surge for burst damage, paladin gives smites and command which I think is better! Plus the paladin gets cool dialogue options

[@JasonDunna]

Infernal rapier is part of Wyll’s quest line in act 2! When you go to the mindflayer colony

[@MulderHiggins]

@@JasonDunna Ahh! Thank you!

[@MulderHiggins]

@@JasonDunna Agreed. Divine Smite is not only one of the most fun things to do, but if I remember correctly can smite on Flourishes, yes?

[@metalfyregaming2468]

@@MulderHiggins Make sure you have Wyll in your party when going to the mindflayer colony. Otherwise you won't get that rapier. And keep in mind that if Wyll is in your party, you can't switch him out for the final fight against Ketheric. All that said, since it's close to the end of act 2, and you'll be going to act 3. There's an even better (and legendary) rapier you can get by defeating Auntie Ethel for the second time after picking up a quest from Lora to save her daughter. In all fairness, the cambion that you can summon with the Infernal Rapier isn't that good. He misses a lot when doing attacks.

[@KnightFighter45]

Quick question could I dump strength for Dex for rapiers since I will be using those, also does dueling stack with both bard and paladin?

[@JasonDunna]

Totally go all in on dex if you’re using rapiers and you can only get dueling from bard or paladin, once it’s selected it won’t appear again. Take +1 armor class from paladin

[@KnightFighter45]

@@JasonDunna thank you I’m doing a bard paladin build in honour mode and I’m starting with bard so this is really helpful. (I’m lvl 4 with bard)

[@baziloneil1271]

Have you beat the game solo/ honour? I gave it a shot with a ranger/rouge but found it a bit tedious as I was just picking off enemies one by one and escaping battle. Started to get cool with the DU cape. Might give this build a shot.

[@JasonDunna]

I haven’t had the time to finish an honour run yet sadly but it’s on the bucket list

[@Emolilyx]

Hey do you know a build for a full on evil durge and using the bhallist gear as gonna do another evil durge killing as many companions as possible

[@JasonDunna]

Ooo there’s an idea! Something piercing damage related, gloomstalker rogue is probably a solid one

[@Emolilyx]

@@JasonDunna maybe yeh though started as a paladin gonna go oath breaker or switch to barbarian as barbarian kinda makes sense losing control 😅

[@JasonDunna]

@@Emolilyx oathbreaker is a lot of fun honestly! But the barbarian is also great. Wild heart tiger barbarian for the cleave attacks is fun

[@Emolilyx]

@@JasonDunna yeh that's why can't decide if go with barbarian will do Beerserker and doing tactician for the first time so dk

[@rickychase18]

is there anywhere to see a playthrough of this build your showing ?

[@rashadvan7330]

Is this doable if I’m using shadow heart and using her for healing role as well?

[@JasonDunna]

Oh yes totally!

[@rashadvan7330]

@@JasonDunna as level 4 in honor mode you’d still recommend going 6 into bard first?

[@JasonDunna]

@@rashadvan7330 yeah the extra attack is a huge power spike but you can add the 2 levels of Paladin whenever you want divine smite

[@rashadvan7330]

@@JasonDunna thank you!

[@rashadvan7330]

@@JasonDunna last question lol. For the ability points since I’m starting as bard. Would you still recommend the same ones?

[@leonardochavez4167]

Gale looks like a cool build what is it?

[@JasonDunna]

Gale’s build is a slightly modified version of this, it’s really strong kzbin.info/www/bejne/sF6pnGCmmM2EmrM

[@archersterling8707]

I'm confused why not take banishing smite? Isn't that kind of the point to go 2 paladin 10 bard?

[@JasonDunna]

Hey Archer, banishing smite kinda sucks honestly so you can take it if you want but there are better options for level 5 spells! Divine smite is the best smite by far

[@joefigueroa8592]

What dye you rocking on the armour?

[@JasonDunna]

I think it’s the boreal blue dye!

[@joefigueroa8592]

@@JasonDunna appreciate it! Tried a few on armor of persistence and a lot came out meh. I’ll check this one out

[@balduri45]

5 vegeance paladin /7 sword bard is very strong too 👍👍

[@JasonDunna]

That is true! I prefer using warlock for the extra attack instead of Paladin

[@DylanWatkins2011]

Question: How do you have a level 6 spell slot at only level 10 bard? I could be confused.

[@JasonDunna]

Two levels of Paladin gives an extra level of spell progression since they’re a half caster!

[@jimmystrudel]

do i need high charisma if im doing this build for a party member?

[@JasonDunna]

The Paladin and bard both cast with charisma but if you want you can lower it for strength / dex Also is that a Jason Genova profile picture 😂

[@jimmystrudel]

@@JasonDunna thank you. Enjoy the ments this build is pissening

[@JasonDunna]

HAHAHAHA that’s hilarious. Funniest comment I’ve gotten in a while Thank you piss lord

[@antoniolamaddalena3113]

What background?

[@JasonDunna]

That’s up to you and your roleplaying honestly. Sage or entertainer are my favourites

[@kevingao6853]

If I chose dueling in paladin and dueling in bard, does it stack?

[@JasonDunna]

It won’t show as an option if you already have it

[@kevingao6853]

@@JasonDunna thanks!

[@lamlam-bw7ev]

Not taking banishing smite for Magical Secrets?

[@JasonDunna]

Not gonna lie banishing smite is kinda weak. It can only banish targets with less than 50 health and by that point you can probably eliminate them another way. Or bonus action hold person / command

[@azrael4885]

seems like pally part of the build is useless is it just for the smite ?

[@JasonDunna]

Using the word smite and useless together is wild 😅 we can smite on our flourishes too! It gives us a level 6 spell slot still since Paladin is a half caster

[@azrael4885]

@@JasonDunna sry never been a fan of those golden boys , pallys just isnt my thing but i just rolled on in bg3 so trying to figure it out .

[@JasonDunna]

Smites adding minimum 2d8 of radiant damage is nice though! Further stacked with the luminous armor applying radiating orbs to give negatives to the enemy’s attack rolls protecting the team. The bard adds a lot to the paladin though

[@azrael4885]

@@JasonDunna nice so how much should i dip into pally/bard and should i start with bard or start with pally ???

[@azrael4885]

@@JasonDunna also killing things with pummel strike and smite so i get why you said that now .

[@MaguumaTV]

Whats the point of an endgame build in bg3? The moment you have it , you completed the story and most mobs to fight are dead?

[@JasonDunna]

I think builds are pretty fun

[@lightning2034]

it's more of a road map for me to how to get to it.

[@Playtho]

Deva mace

[@D4v1dGBH0Y]

Why are the bardadin builds the same….everyone just does a 2 & 10 build

[@JasonDunna]

Because it’s by far the best! More bardic inspiration and the magical secrets at level 10 sword bard are just so good. Paladin gives us smites at level 2 and doesn’t add a lot else to the build so it’s better to go higher in sword bard. 10/2 is the only way we can get a level 6 spell slot too! Since Paladin is a half caster

[@D4v1dGBH0Y]

⁠​⁠@@JasonDunna have you ever tried 6 paladin 6 lore bard? That way you can get aura protection along with magical secrets and cutting words. You don’t get a level 6 spell slot but I find the trade off worth it

[@JasonDunna]

@@D4v1dGBH0Y it’s something I’ve thought about! You can get spirit guardians and hunger of hadar at that level so it would be pretty solid. I’ll have to experiment with it!