This guide focuses on the essential aspects of a Lockadin build in Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) and how to use those powers to your advantage.
The Lockadin Build in Baldur’s Gate 3 allows you to play a class with the ability to cast magic and use melee weapons. Moreover, this build also allows us to use some of the most powerfull spells and cantrips, including the most powerful cantrip,Eldritch Blast. As you can get this cantrip straight away with Warlock, but we will start with Paladin first to gain both melee and magic options for our build. Moreover, choosing the Paladin class first and leveling it up will let us gain the Extra Attack, increasing our attacks per turn for more damage. Aiming to utilize both your actions and bonus actions at every turn will allow you to deal potential damage.
With our Lockadin Build in Baldur’s Gate 3, we will guide you in picking the best classes/subclasses, the ability score, complete level progression, the best companions to pick, weapons, armor, and consumables.
This build page has been updated for thePatch 8version of Baldur’s Gate 3.
Everything About the Lockadin in Baldur’s Gate 3
This build is a balance spellcaster with melee damage potential. You gain all the utility of the Paladin and Warlock and can play melee or range. With the melee and spellcasting ability of Paladin, you will have a great flexibility in the early game. You can use both simple and martial weapons to deal damage to enemies and utilize the spells to control the battlefield and buff allies. We will be attaining a lot of spells with buff stats which will strengthen your weapon attacks and grant advantage to your allies on Attack Rolls. Moreover, you can also heal and increase their maximum health. So, overall you will be playing a perfect balanced class. Later on, as wemulticlass into Warlock, we will gain more powerful spells allowing us to deal potential damage.
However, due to flexibility, you have to rely on using spells to gain buffs for your attacks and magic. You cannot focus on one type of playstyle. Moreover, this build starts slow but it becomes better as we multiclass into Warlock and gain new spells.
Features and Mechanics of Lockadin
The following list presents all the essential Tactician Build Lockadin Mechanics and Features in Baldur’s Gate 3:
How to Play Lockadin
Lockadin is one of the best user friendly build with several utility spells allowing you to buff you attacks and support/buff your allies. Due to its flexibility, you will not feel bound to a certain playstyle. You can choose to utilize your strong weapons to deal potential damage. On the other hand, you can utilize the utility spells tostealtharound the situations. Like commanding and controlling enemies, turning yourself invisible, and more. Moreover, with the power of Eldritch Blast in your hand at Level 7, you will be able to cast it two times in a turn. Eldritch Blast deals extensive damage and it will help you greatly in the end-game.
Below are some general tips on how to play the best Lockadin build in BG3:
Character Creation
Race Choice for Lockadin
Half-Orc is the best choice for Lockadin Build because it gives Savage Attacks, Darkvision, and Relentless Endurance in BG3. A secondary choice is Wood Half-Elf who receives shield proficiency, Darkvision, and faster movement speed. We highly suggest taking theHalf-Orcdue to the Savage Attacks and Relentless Endurance passive features. The Savage Attacks allows you to deal an extra dice of weapon damage on Critical Hit and the Relentless Endurance gains you 1 hit point on reaching 0 hit points.
Read More:All Bosses in Baldur’s Gate 3 Listed
Lockadin Classes and Subclasses
The Oath ofAncients subclass is the great Paladin subclass in Baldur’s Gate 3 because it offers powerful damage abilities, great healing, and emphasis on controlling the undead. It is the perfect subclass for combining with Warlock to make the best Lockadin Build in Baldur’s Gate 3.
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Recommended Background and Skills for Lockadin
Entertaineris the Bestbackgroundfor the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Lockadin Build. This choice mostly influences roleplaying and dialogue options aspects and allows you to create unique characters when playing the Lockadin Build. Additional choices are:
AthleticsandPersuasionare the best skills for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cold Build because they complement your class abilities and enhance your effectiveness in various situations. In Baldur’s Gate 3, skills represent the abilities and proficiencies of your character that allow them to perform various actions and interact with the game world. Skills are associated with specific attributes and are used to determine the success or effectiveness of certain actions or abilities. They can be edited during character creation or with companions, during respec or reroll screen.
Here are the skills for Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Lockadin Build.
Ability Score
The Best Ability Score for Lockadin Build is17 Charisma,16 Dexterity, and 14 Constitution.Charisma is your spell-casting modifier; the more you have, the greater damage and the better chance to hit a target. Dexterity helps with Armour Class, boosting the chance of not being hit. Lastly, the Constitution is needed for a high health pool.
This guide assumes you’ll use Elixir of Hill Giant Strength or Hill Giant Gloves in Act 3. This allows you to have 20 Strength and increase your overall charisma giving you incredible effectiveness in melee or in spellcasting. Alternatively, you can forgo other stats like Dexterity to have high strength. Lower Dex means lower initiative and the inability to use other armor sets effectively outside of heavy.
Read More:Best Patch 8 Subclass Tier List in Baldur’s Gate 3
Below is the best ability score for a Lockadin Build in Baldur’s Gate 3:
You can increase your ability score via a quest inAct 1, Act 2, and Act 3. Make sure to check out ourPermanent bonus guideon how you can boost your ability score through quests.
Illithid Powers For Lockadin
The best Illithid Powers for a Lockadin build are Luck of the Farm Realms, Black Hole, and Cull of the Weak. Luck of the Farm helps with critical hits and burst damage and, combined with Cull of the Weak, can trigger AOE damage passively. Black Hole requires you to take the Astral Tadpole inAct 2, but it sucks in 5 enemies, slows them, and can be recast for free. This is helpful in certain large-scale boss fights with many enemies. Below are the best Illithid Tadpole Powers for the Lockadin build in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Best Lockadin Build – Level Progression in Baldur’s Gate 3
Level one follows our character creator to pick all correct background, race, skills, and ability distribution focusing on Strength and Charisma. You also can pick your subclass, and for this build, we want to selectOath of the Ancients. Level two will give you the bulk of your spells, in the early game rely on weapon damage. Your goal is to find some heavy armor and a two-handed weapon. you’re able to grab medium armor from Lae’zel in the introduction if you don’t plan on using her. Simply attack and at level two things get interesting with the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Paladin Oath of Ancients Build Guide.
Here’s a breakdown of what you get as a level 1 Paladin:
Gameplay: at this level move along quickly to level 2 for spell unlocks. UseLay on HandsandHealing Radiancefor healing and damage comes from the main weapon attack.
Oath of Ancients Paladin Gameplay & Priorities
At the beginning of BG3, the Ancient Paladin will have dreadful mobility. Thus, you need to find and locate a back-bar ranged weapon like a Heavy Crossbow from Lae’zel or merchants. This gives you some type of upfront damage before you may close the distance. However, at level 5, you will unlock Misty Step and dramatically improve your power and mobility. Moreover, look to acquire Elixir of Hill Giant Strength, Potion of Speed, and Oil of Accuracy consumables. These three consumables “stack” allowing for massive damage.
Your overall priority with this build is the following:
Following these steps ensures a strong foundation, especially if you plan on playingsoloor onHonour Modedifficulty.
At level two the Paladin gains access to five prepared spells, choose a fighting style, and Divine Smite. We recommend choosing theDefencefor +1 AC.
Paladin Divine Smite Explained
Divine Smite is a signature ability of the Paladin class in Baldur’s Gate 3. It allows a Paladin to expend a spell slot to deal additional radiant damage to a creature they have hit with a melee weapon attack. The amount of extra damage is equal to 2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st. The damage increases by 1d8 if the target is an undead or a fiend.
Divine Smite can be toggled on or off in the reactions menu under the user interface. This allows you to make a decision if you want to use it or not. This is very important because the Paladin can run out of Spell Slots quickly, limiting damage. The last thing you want is to expend a spell slot needlessly on a weak creature.
Spells Recommendations
Here is a list of spells that you need to select as Oath of the Ancients on Level 2 Paladin.
At level 3 of Paladin, you will gain 1 spell and a few spells unique to the Oath of the Ancients subclass. For the spell, we recommend taking theCure Wounds. Here are all the unique subclass spells that you will unlock at Level 3.
Spell Selection
For your third main spell, select the Cure Wounds spell.
Level 3 Spell Loadout: Wrathful Smite, Thunderous Smite, Command, Divine Favour, Bless, and Cure Wounds.
The Level four gives you a very important decision between increasing yourability scorelike Strength or taking a feat.Featsgive you a big benefit but doing so will have you miss out on Ability Improvements. Simply increasing your main stat Strength is the simplest and easiest way to advance your character. You can do this by selecting Ability Improvement rather than +2 to strength.
However, we suggest taking theGreat Weapon Masterfeat. This will keep our build simple at the moment, and hitting hard with a better percentage chance with a melee weapon.
You get one additional spell to slot and I recommend taking theShield of Faith.
Gameplay: remains unchanged at this level. Expect more damage and better chances to land an attack. Keep leveling to get more spells and more spell slots.
Level 4 Spell Loadout: Wrathful Smite, Thunderous Smite, Command, Divine Favour, Bless, Cure Wounds, Shield of Faith.
At level 5, the Paladin and Oath of Vengeance subclass unlocks a lot. Extra attack, more spell slots, and two subclass spells. Here are all the features that you will get on Level 5 in Baldur’s Gate 3:
At this level and beyond, you should feel very powerful. You can buff and debuff with a bonus action, mobility with Misty Step, and huge damage for the scenario or enemy using Smite.
Level 5 Spell Loadout: Wrathful Smite, Thunderous Smite, Command, Divine Favour, Bless, Cure Wounds, Shield of Faith, Magic Weapon.
At level 6, the Paladin unlocks 1 more prepared spell, Aura of Protection. Moreover, you will be able to select 1 Level 2 spell.
Spell Recommendation
We suggest you to pick the Aid spell at this level.
Level 6 Spell Loadout: Wrathful Smite, Thunderous Smite, Command, Divine Favour, Bless, Cure Wounds, Shield of Faith, Magic Weapon, Aid.
Level 7 – Warlock (Level 1)
At Level 7, we suggest investing multiclassing into the Warlock class. To do this, simply click the + sign with two access formulticlass. Select your class then a popup will appear on what you’re able to select. The reason we want to use the Warlock class is to get access to Eldritch Blast cantrip. Moreover, the Warlock class grants more flexibility for spells. At level 1 of Warlock, you will get the option to choose a subclass. Select theThe Great Old Onesubclass. Below are all the unlocks and recommended spells for the Great Old One Warlock.
Cantrips Selection – Recommendations
Spell Selection – Recommendations
Level 7 Spell Loadout: Wrathful Smite, Thunderous Smite, Command, Divine Favour, Bless, Cure Wounds, Shield of Faith, Magic Weapon, Aid, Hellish Rebuke, Hex.
Level 8 – Warlock (Level 2)
The Level 2 Great Old One Warlock will unlock one new spell and select two Eldritch Invocations. Eldritch Invocations are passive features unlocked by your Warlock at various levels. Initially, they help augment the power of your primary cantrip Eldritch Blast. As you progress, they can be powerful spells that do not consume spell slots or other passives and active features. At this level, we suggest taking Armour of Agathys spell, Agonising Blast, and Devil’s Sight Invocations.
Spell Selections – Recommendations
Eldritch Invocations
Gameplay remains the same at level two with the addition of a great single-target crowd control and a single-target knockback with Eldritch Blast.
Level 8 Spell Loadout: Wrathful Smite, Thunderous Smite, Command, Divine Favour, Bless, Cure Wounds, Shield of Faith, Magic Weapon, Aid, Hellish Rebuke, Hex, Armour of Agathys.
At Level 3 of the Great Old One Warlock unlocks Improved Warlock Spells. You will be able to pick an additional spell, select a Pact Boon, and Replace a Spell. We suggest taking theDarknessspell,Pact of the Bladeboon, and forgoing a replacement spell.
Level 9 Spell Loadout: Wrathful Smite, Thunderous Smite, Command, Divine Favour, Bless, Cure Wounds, Shield of Faith, Magic Weapon, Aid, Hellish Rebuke, Hex, Armour of Agathys, Darkness.
At level 4 of Warlock, you will get to select another cantrip, a spell, and a feat. We advise you to pick theFriendscantrip,Invisibilityspell, and the Ability Improvement. Selecting the ability improvement will increase the Charisma by 2.
Level 10 Spell Loadout: Wrathful Smite, Thunderous Smite, Command, Divine Favour, Bless, Cure Wounds, Shield of Faith, Magic Weapon, Aid, Hellish Rebuke, Hex, Armour of Agathys, Darkness, Invisibility.
At level 5 of Warlock class, you will get to select an additional Eldritch Invocation, and will grant you access to Level 3 spells. We recommend you select theRepelling Blastinvocation and theCounterspellspell.
Level 11 Spell Loadout: Wrathful Smite, Thunderous Smite, Command, Divine Favour, Bless, Cure Wounds, Shield of Faith, Magic Weapon, Aid, Hellish Rebuke, Hex, Armour of Agathys, Darkness, Invisibility, Counterspell.
At Level 6 of Warlock, you will gain an additional The Great Old One passive feature, Entropic Ward. Moreover, you will get to select an additional Level 3 spell. We recommend you select the Fear spell.
Level 12 Spell Loadout: Wrathful Smite, Thunderous Smite, Command, Divine Favour, Bless, Cure Wounds, Shield of Faith, Magic Weapon, Aid, Hellish Rebuke, Hex, Armour of Agathys, Darkness, Invisibility, Counterspell, Fear.
Best Companions for Lockadin
Shadowheart,Gale, andLae’zelmake the bestcompanionsfor the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Champion Build Guide. We do not recommend additional front-line fighters and damage dealers.
Best Gear for Lockadin Build
Here’s the best beginner gear, items, and equipment for Lockadin Build in Baldur’s Gate 3:
List of best Lockadin Baldur’s Gate 3 Equipment in Act 1:
The following table presents the best gear, items, and equipment for the Dark Urge Build in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Below is the best Act 3 Armor, Weapons, and Equipment for Dark Urge build in BG3:
Best Consumables, Potions, Ammunition, and Items
The following list is the bestconsumableitems that will aid in our Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Dark Urge Build Guide:
Permanent Bonuses
Throughout Baldur’s Gate 3, you will have the ability to gain permanent bonuses to your character. These can grant additional spells, ability scores, and other bonuses. Permanent Bonuses are not displayed throughout the campaign but are vital to increase overall combat performance. We have all permanent bonuses here in a guide, but the most important ones for you to collect are listed below.
Build Summary – Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Lockadin
FAQs about the Lockadin build in Baldur’s Gate 3
What abilities should the Lockadin prioritize for my class?
Answer: Prioritize in Charisma, Dexterity, and Constitution abilities for the Lockadin Build in Baldur’s Gate 3.
What are the best feats for Lockadin builds?
Answer: For the first Feat, select the Great Weapon Master and then improve Charisma (+2) as the second Feat for the Lockadin Build.
What are the best multiclass combos?
Answer: The best multiclass combo for the Lockadin Build starts with Paladin, and ends with Warlock. You need to multiclass into Warlock on Level 7.
Are there “must-have” items for Lockadin builds?
Answer: Elixir of Hill Giant Strength, Potion of Speed, and Elixir of Bloodlust are the must-have items for Lockadin builds.
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