Are you a fan of Shadowheart or emo, goth people in general? Well, then, the Trickery Domain subclass of Cleric in Baldur’s Gate 3 is perfect for you. Trickery Domain is the default starting subclass for Shadowheart, so if you wish to make a similar character, then we have created this perfect Trickery Domain build for you.
Starting Abilities and Skills for Trickery Domain Cleric
| Class | Cleric | – |
| Sub-Class | Trickery Domain | – |
| Race | Wood Elf | This race has a proficiency in using bows, which is quite useful for Trickery Domain Cleric since you will not get involved in up-close fights. Your illusion spells are going to be the primary focus while you deal damage from a distance using bows. |
| Ability Points Distribution | STR 13, CON 14, DEX 13, INT 10, CHA 8, WIS 17 | Wisdom is the main ability modifier for the Cleric class. |
| Skills | History, Religion, Insight, Medicine, Persuasion |
Best Background
Since Wisdom is the main ability a Trickery Domain Cleric in BG3 relies on, we recommend selecting Guild Artisan as your background. With this background, you will gain proficiency in Insight and Persuasion which will help in exploration and conversations. On top of that, both these skills will gain benefit from your Wisdom ability.
Best Feats for Trickery Domain Cleric in Baldur’s Gate 3
Feats are special abilities that unlock at regular intervals at level 4, level 8, and level 12 respectively. We have selected the following feats for our Trickery domain cleric build in Baldur’s Gate 3.
| Level | Feat | Description |
| 4 | Sentinel | When an enemy melee attacks your ally, you can use the reaction to attack the enemy. You also gain an advantage on Opportunity attacks, leaving enemies immobile. |
| 8 | Medium Armour Master | You gain proficiency with Medium Armor. Also, your armor class bonus from Dexterity skill increases from +2 to +3. |
| 12 | Ability Improvement | Invest both points in the Wisdom ability to increase it to 19. |
Best Spells for Trickery Domain Cleric
The following are the best spells from each spell level for the Trickery Domain Cleric.
| Level | Spells | Description |
| 1 | Charm Person and Disguise Self. | Charm person spell gives the ability to charm a humanoid, so enemies cannot be able to attack. You will get the benefit of charisma checks, which can be taken in dialogues. Your opponent will get the benefits of saving throws once you charm them. Disguise Self is an illusion spell (Ritual) that allows you to magically transform your appearance aspects. |
| 2 | Pass Without Trace and Mirror Image. | Pass without Trace spell brings a veil of shadows and silence to the surroundings. Whoever is close to these shadows will get 10 points of bonus to Stealth Checks. The mirror image spell gives you the ability to craft 3 illusions of yourself, and the opponents get confused and attack randomly. Every illusion raises your 3 Armor class. |
| 3 | Fear and Bestow Curse. | Fear spell appears as an image and everyone looking at the image will get so frightened that they drop whatever they are holding. They will be stuck, and you can hit them as much as you can during that time. The Bestow Curse spell can be used with the help of a torch that you possess to curse a creature. You can get a disadvantage on saving throws along with the checks, or you will get a disadvantage on Attack Rolls, which will allow you to charge extra damage to your opponent. |
| 4 | Dimension Door and Polymorph. | Dimension Door spell will let you teleport to your ally who is close to you, and you are also able to see him. Polymorph spells can be used to change a creature into a sheep who does not do any harm to anyone. |
| 5 | Seeming and Dominate Person. | The Seeming spell allows you to disguise a maximum of four of your allies in your party. Dominate Person spell gives you the ability to summon a humanoid who will be helping you to fight off your enemies. |
| 6 | Planar Ally. | This spell allows you to summon either a Fiend, Elemental, or Celestial to fight on your behalf. |
Best armor and weapons
Shield: Adamantine Shield – You can’t get hit with critical attacks and can react with a Bash attack to knock enemies prone.
Weapon: Devotee’s Mace – It allows you to deal bludgeoning as well as Radiant damage to enemies while healing you and your allies at the start of every turn.
Armor: Dark Justiciar Half Plate – All incoming damage is reduced by 2 and reflected to the enemy. You also gain an Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Trickery Domain Cleric Build Level Progression
| Level | Unlocks | Description |
| 1 | Race, Background, and Ability Points Distribution. Level 1 spell slots unlock. Blessing of the Trickster class feature. | Choose from the recommendations mentioned above. The Blessing of the Trickster allows you to grant an advantage on Stealth checks to another creature. |
| 2 | Channel Divinity Charges unlock. Turn Undead action. | This action allows you to compel the undead who can see or hear you to go away from you until you attack them. |
| 3 | Level 2 spell slots unlock. Invoked Duplicity. | Choose from Pass Without Trace and Mirror Image spells. Invoked Duplicity lets you cast illusions to confuse enemies’ focus. |
| 4 | The first Feat unlocks. | Sentinel to attack enemies as a reaction. |
| 5 | Level 3 spell slots unlock. Destroy Undead class feature. | Choose from Fear and Bestow Curse spells. Destroy Undead allows you to deal 14 damage to the undead after you successfully Turn them. |
| 6 | Second Channel Divinity charge. | Get access to channel divine energy. |
| 7 | Level 4 spell slots unlock. | Choose from Dimension Door and Polymorph spells. |
| 8 | Divine Strike: Poison action. The second Feat unlocks. | You deal an additional 1-8 poison damage with your melee attacks. Medium Armour Master feat to gain medium armor proficiency. |
| 9 | Level 5 spell slots unlock. | Choose from Seeming and Dominate Person spells. |
| 10 | Divine Intervention class feature. | This feature allows you to ask for God’s help once per playthrough. |
| 11 | Level 6 spell slot unlocks. | Choose and prepare the Planar Ally spell. |
| 12 | The final Feat unlocks. | Ability Improvement to increase your Wisdom ability to 19. |
Is Trickery Domain Cleric any good in Baldur’s Gate 3?
Trickery Domain Clerics are masters of creating illusions and scaring their enemies. They have a large variety of Helpful spells and can act as support by using healing spells. These clerics can also summon some powerful creatures to aid them through difficult battle scenarios.
However, they have terrible movement speed and can’t access additional actions. Powerful summons becomes available really late in the game, making Trickery domain clerics a bit useless during action-heavy sequences.
Trickery Domain Clerics in Baldur’s Gate 3 get access to some powerful level 5 and level 6 spells. For this reason, we don’t recommend multiclassing them at all to have a real OP build once you hit level 11.
