Baldur’s Gate 3 Paladin Warlock Multiclass build – Level by Level Guide

If you are into power-gaming and min-maxing or want to absolutely obliterate your enemies in BG3 completely, then the Paladin/Warlock multiclass build is what you need to try next! Some people like to call this multiclass a Padlock. 🙂

In particular, we are looking at the Vengence Paladin and the Blade Warlock multiclass build, as they work great together and provide the best damage output. In my opinion, Vengence Paladin / Blade Warlock is the best BG3 build damage-wise. If hasted you can output 6 melee attacks per turn (imagine 6 Divine Smites) or 2 Eldrich blasts (actually 2×3=6 at level 12) if you are fighting from ranged combat.

We will build a character of 6 levels in Vengence Paladin and 6 levels in Blade Warlock. You can use the links in the list below to quickly scroll down to the section of interest. The level progression will look like this:

• Starting Ability Points: STR 17, DEX 10, CON 14, INT 8, WIS 8, CHA 16 (link)
• Character level 1: Paladin level 1 – Oath of Vengence – (link)
• Character level 2: Paladin level 2 (link)
• Character level 3: Paladin level 3 (link)
• Character level 4: Paladin level 4 – Great Weapon Master Feat (link)
• Character level 5: Paladin level 5 – Extra Attack (link)
• Character level 6: Paladin level 6 – Aura of Protection (link)
• Character level 7: Paladin level 6 Warlock level 1 (link)
• Character level 8: Paladin level 6 Warlock level 2 (link)
• Respeced Ability Points: STR 12, DEX 10, CON 16, INT 10, WIS 10, CHA 16 (link)
• Character level 9: Paladin level 6 Warlock level 3 – Pact of the Blade (link)
• Character level 10: Paladin level 6 Warlock level 4 (link)
• Character level 11: Paladin level 6 Warlock level 5 (link)
• Character level 12: Paladin level 6 Warlock level 6 (link)

This article will break the build down level by level and tell you exactly what skills, feats, and spells to take to build the most OP character in Baldur’s Gate 3. Now, let’s first look at the starting ability point requirements for a Paladin/Warlock multiclass build.

Paladin Warlock Multiclass build – Level by Level

Starting Ability Points

I will not focus on the race or background, as they are pretty much irrelevant for the build. So as stated above you should start the build with ability points of STR 17, DEX 10, CON 14, INT 8, WIS 8, CHA 16.

Character lvl 1 – Paladin lvl 1

• Select the class: Paladin
• Select the subclass: Oath of Vengence – you will gain a class action called “Inquisitor’s Might” which will give you 3 Radiant damage and a chance to Daze an enemy – more damage is always good, no? 🙂

• Skills: Athletics, Intimidation

Character lvl 2 – Paladin lvl 2

• Class action: Divine Smite – this will be our bread and butter for dealing damage

• Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting – this essentially gives you better chances to hit enemies

• Spells: I like to use Wrathful Smite to Frighten my opponents and increase my hit chance

• Spells: I also like Thunderous Smite to knock enemies off cliffs or make them prone

• Spells: Shield of Faith is another good one, as it gives you +2 AC and it lasts until a long rest

Character lvl 3 – Paladin lvl 3

At Paladin level 3 we gain some more oath actions and oaths spells.

• Action: Oath Of Enmity – this is great for gaining an advantage over bosses since it lasts 10 turns!

• Spell: Hunter’s Mark – this spell can also be great in combination with Oath Of Enmity, when fighting one string enemy – but know it costs a spell slot.

Character lvl 4 – Paladin lvl 4

At class level 4, you will be able to choose a feat.

• Feat: I would choose Great Weapon Master for maximum damage output 🙂

Character lvl 5 – Paladin lvl 5

At Paladin class level 5, you will gain an extra attack per turn. This is an insane power spike, as it will allow you to perform 2 divine smites or even 4 if hasted – and here we are not even mentioning the critical hits Divine Smite reactions!

Character lvl 6 – Paladin lvl 6

At level 6 we get another great action called “Aura of Protection” that grants nearby allies a bonus to Saving Throws based on the Paladin’s Charisma.

Character lvl 7 – Paladin lvl 6 Warlock 1

At character level 7 we will start leveling Warlock – subclass Fiend. For cantrips choose Eldrich Blast and Blade Ward. For spells choose Hex and Hellish Rebuke.

• Cantrip: Eldrich Blast – this is the best cantrip in the game, as it scales incredibly well – at character level (not class level!) 5 you get to fire 2 Eldrich blasts, and at character level 10 you can fire 3 Eldrich blasts! So since we are character level 7, we will be shooting 2 Eldrich blasts immediately, giving us a great range attack. Also, Eldrich blast receives a charisma modifier bonus per each Eldrich Blast!

• Cantrip: Blade Ward – this is a great cantrip when you are surrounded by many enemies, as it reduces all physical damage by 50%.

• Spell: Hex – this is a great spell when you want to focus on one target. It will provide you additional necrotic damage on each attack. Since we are firing multiple Eldrich Blasts or outputting several melee attacks per turn, you can already see why this is so powerful. You can also use it to inflict a disadvantage on a particular ability check.

• Spell: Hellish Rebuke – great spell to speed up the damage through a reaction.

Character lvl 8 – Paladin lvl 6 Warlock 2

At Warlock level 2 you can choose another spell – I would go with Armour of Agathys for additional protection. You also get to choose 2 Eldrich Invocations – take Agonising Blast and Repelling Blast.

• Spell: Armour of Agathys – a great defensive spell that doesn’t require concentration and lasts until long rest. Prebuff right after your long rest.

• Eldrich Invocation: Agonising Blast – this will apply our charisma modifier to damage to each Eldrich Blast!

• Eldrich Invocation: Repelling Blast – this will allow you to knock enemies of cliffs – it is extremely powerful as it can trivialize an encounter. The only downside is, that you can lose loot if you push an enemy down a chasm or cliff that is not reachable.

Respeced ability points

Since at level 3 Warlock, we will be taking a Warlock subclass called “Pact of the Blade” we don’t need to invest any ability points into strength.

Pact of the Blade will provide us with a class skill called “Bind Pact Weapon” that will allow us to get all our modifiers from charisma and not strength! This is great, as it means we can dump strength and max out the constitution right after charisma. The ability points split should look something like STR 12, DEX 10, CON 16, INT 10, WIS 10, CHA 16.

Character lvl 9 – Paladin lvl 6 Warlock 3

At Warlock level 3 we will be taking Pact of the Blade and a level 2 spell Darkness.

• Pact Boon: Pact of the Blade – as already explained above, this will allow us to use our main weapon with our Charisma modifiers.

• Spell: Darkness – This is an incredibly useful spell, especially combined with Eldrich Invocation called Devil’s Sight that will allow us an advantage when fighting in Darkness.

Character lvl 10 – Paladin lvl 6 Warlock 4

At Warlock level 4, we get a bunch of good spell options. You should already have Misty Step from Paladin at this point, so we can leave this one out. I would take Hold Person and Replace Armour of Agathys with Scorching Ray. But I leave it up to you, as these are not really crucial decisions. We also get another Feat – make sure you take Ability Improvement, bumping your charisma score up to 18!

We also get to choose another cantrip – I would suggest taking Mage Hand, as it allows you to throw bombs at enemies or throw potions at yourself for “action free” heals!

Character lvl 11 – Paladin lvl 6 Warlock 5

When you reach Warlock level 5 it is when this build really takes off. First of all, because you’ve taken the route of the “Pact of the Blade” your “Bind Pact Weapon” now allows you to make 1 extra attack per turn. Funny enough, this also stacks with 1 extra attack that we gain with Paladin level 5. So you essentially get 3 attacks per turn, 6 if hasted! This is already insane, but there is more.

At Warlock level 5, you also get access to level 3 spells – make sure to take the spell “Fireball” for some reliable AOE spell damage that scales incredibly well.

We also get to choose another Eldrich Invocation – like we mentioned before, we will take an invocation called “Devil’s Sight” that does wonders with the spell Darkness, as it blinds all enemies and gives them a disadvantage to all rolls. For you it is exactly the opposite, you will now have vision in darkness and have an advantage on enemies standing in the darkness.

Character lvl 12 – Paladin lvl 6 Warlock 6

At level 6 Warlock just takes and replaces some great level 3 spells.

I would suggest taking Counterspell as it can save you from very difficult situations.

Another good offensive spell is also Hunger of Hadar. It can also serve as a good defensive spell, as it Blinds nearby targets.

CONCLUSION

And there you have it, the strongest Baldur’s Gate 3 build in terms of damage – 6 attacks per turn, if not more with all the bonus actions, great range attacks with Eldrich Blast, highly versatile and strategic abilities like darkness, counterspell, hunger of hadar, and not to forget the iconic fireball spell for great AOE damage. This build just might have it all! Have fun playing with it, and give me feedback on unique twists that you made in your build 🙂