Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Champion Build Guide

The Fighter is a versatile class and is further divided into subclasses, each with unique builds. The Champion subclass in Baldur’s Gate 3 can create one of the strongest builds with several feats and abilities to unlock. 

However, you can only unlock this Fighter subclass after reaching level 3. You must also make certain decisions throughout the game to fully take advantage of what this build has to offer.

Starting Abilities and Skills for Fighter Champion

The Champion subclass in Baldur’s Gate 3 primary will focus on dealing critical hits to get a high damage output. This makes Strength their primary ability. So, we recommend putting most of the ability points into Strength to create a strong champion build. 

Class	Fighter	–
Sub-Class	Champion	–
Race	Wood Half-Elf	Wood Half-Elf is the best race for the Fighter Champion build. It increases your movement speed to 10.5m, up from 9m. You become proficient in Stealth kills and get proficiency with a lot of weapons and Light Armour. Being a Half-Eld means you can see in the dark up to 12m and have the advantage on saving throws against being charmed. You can’t be put to Sleep either.
Ability Points Distribution	STR 16, DEX 14, CON 16, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 10	–
Skills	Athletics, Acrobatics, Intimidation	–

Best Background

In the case of the Champion Fighter, the best background selection will be the Soldier. 

The reason is that it primarily scales with Strength. Also, having Soldier as the best Baldur’s Gate 3 background will allow a Champion Fighter to make dialogue options in its favor since you get a bonus to Intimidation.

Best Feats for Fighter Champion build in Baldur’s Gate 3

After every fourth level, you are given the option to either select a Feat or use an Ability improvement. While abilities improvements only enhance a small percentage of the ability, Feats, on the other hand, will give access to new abilities, bonuses, and even perks. 

Level	Feat	Description
4	Ability Improvement	Invest both ability points into Strength to increase it to 18.
6	Athlete	This feat provides you with additional speed while increasing your jump distance by up to 50%.
8	Sentinel	Sentinel provides more Opportunity Attacks when the enemy is performing melee attacks.
12	Savage Attacker	Allows you to roll your damage dice twice and select the highest number to deal the maximum possible damage.

Best armor and weapons

Choosing the right gear should be your priority when creating the Fighter Champion build in Baldur’s Gate 3. Below is a table dedicated to explaining each gear piece you should use: 

Head: Grymskull Helm – You become impervious to critical attacks and gain resistance against fire damage. Also grants Hunter’s Mark spell. 

Gloves: Gloves of the Growling Underdog – You get an advantage on your attack rolls if two or more enemies surround you. An additional +1 bonus to Strength saving throws.

Chest: Adamantine Splint Armour – This 18AC heavy armor reduces all incoming damage by 2 and protects the wearer from critical hits. An enemy that hits you with melee is sent back, Reeling for the next 3 turns.

Boot: Boots of Speed – Grants Click Heels action which allows you to move twice as fast. Enemies have a disadvantage on opportunity attacks against you.

Necklace: Amulet of Restoration – Allows the wearer to use Mass Healing Word spell that can heal up to 6 allies with 1-4HP each. 

Ring: Ring of Psionic Protection – You can’t draw Illithid powers from your tadpole. In return, the tadpole can’t change you further into a mind flayer.

Weapon: Githyanki Crossbow – Deals 2-11 piercing damage to enemies up to 18m.

Fighter Champion Build Level Progression in Baldur’s Gate 3

Each class unlocks a new feature or another mechanic after progressing a level. These progressions help us choose our classes by showing what each class has to offer at a certain level. Below, we have mentioned what the Champion subclass in Baldur’s Gate 3 has to offer on each level: 

Level	Unlocks	Description
1	Race, Background, and Ability Points Distribution. Second Wind class feature.	Choose from the ones we mentioned above. Second Wind allows you to heal for 2-11 once per short rest.
2	Action Surge class action.	You can perform an extra action per turn
3	Subclass selection. Improved Critical Hit subclass feature.	Reduces the requirement of landing a critical hit by 1.
4	The first Feat unlocks.	Ability Improvement to increase your Strength ability.
5	Extra Attack class feature.	Allows you to perform an extra attack in the same turn.
6	The second Feat unlocks.	Select Athlete to improve your movement speed.
7	Remarkable Athlete: Proficiency and Jump subclass feature.	Adds your proficiency modifier to the skills without one. You can now cover a distance equal to your modifier when you jump.
8	The third Feat unlocks.	Sentinel to gain an advantage on your Opportunity attacks.
9	Indomitable class feature.	You become more durable and get to roll another time if the saving throw fails once.
10	Fighting Style.	Choose Defense to increase your Armour Class by 1 while wearing the armor.
11	Improved Extra Attack.	You can now make 3 attacks in a row in the same turn.
12	The final Feat unlocks.	Savage Attacker to deal maximum possible damage.

Is Fighter Champion any good in Baldur’s Gate 3?

Fighter Champions in Baldur’s Gate 3 rely on dealing heavy burst damage to their enemies. They have a lot of extra attacks and additional actions with feats that enable them to destroy their opposition in a single turn. They are proficient with weapons and armor, making them an absolute unit in the game. 

However, the Champion subclass of Fighters lacks spell casting and is very dependent on the gear. They perform poorly against spellcasters unless you are using a ranged build like ours. The battle master subclass gets way more tactical actions and bonus damage advantage over Champions. 

You can multiclass Champion Fighter with Barbarian (7/5) to get additional attacks and rage while keeping at least 3 feats handy.