Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Life Domain Build Guide

This guide will explain the best Cleric Build in Baldur’s Gate 3, the Cleric Class, and the Life Domain subclass, for the optimal setup.

This build page has been updated for the patch 6 version of Baldur’s Gate 3.

Life Cleric Introduction

In Baldur’s Gate 3, the Life Cleric is a character class specializing in healing and supporting their allies. As a Life Cleric, they draw their power from a divine source, often a deity associated with life, healing, and restoration. Life Clerics have a unique set of abilities and spells that make them invaluable members of any party.

The Life Cleric can wear heavy armor, making them a front-line support class. They can also effectively heal themselves and allies due to Discipline of Life and Domain Spells. Clerics also have great out-of-combat spells like Guidance which influences speech and conversation. This build is intended for a support class, healing, buffs and a bit of damage.

Life Cleric Pros	Life Cleric Cons
Great Support Class	Lower movement
Decent Damage	Weak Area Damage
Versatility Outside Combat	Somewhat Complex

Life Cleric Features & Mechanics

The following list are key features and class mechanics of the Life Cleric in Baldur’s Gate 3:

• Primary Ability: Wisdom
• Subclass: Life Domain
• Saving Throw Proficiencies: Wisdom and Charisma
• Weapon Proficiency: Simple Weapons, Flail, and Morningstar
• Armour Proficiency: Light Armour, Medium Armour, Heavy Armour, and Shield
• Preferred Armor: Heavy
• Preferred Weapon: One Hand and Shield
• Preserve Life: Heal all allies around you.
• Turn Undead: Undead that can see or hear you are forced to flee from you

Cleric Spell Mechanics

• Cantrips: are like spells, but you can cast them infinitely, and they don’t take your spell slots. 
• Spell Slots: At each level, you gain access to more usage of spells and high-tier spells but only have a finite number of spells until a long rest.
• Learn Spells: Unlike Wizard, you get opportunities at leveling up to unlearn and learn new spells.
• Concentration: is a spell mechanic that requires you to maintain concentration otherwise, the spell effect ends.

Recommended Subclass

The Best Subclass for a support build is Life Clerics because it provides the best overall healing and group utility for a support class. The Life Subclass comes with Heavy Armour Proficiency, Disciple of Life, and Domain Spells. Clerics choose their subclass right at the start, during the character creation process.

Here are all the Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Subclasses:

• Knowledge Domain: Dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and skilled in history, religion, and the arcana.
• Life Domain: They are skilled in the use of healing spells, and they can also use their divine power to restore hit points to their allies
• Light Domain: Skilled in radiant damage and more offensive Cleric subclass.
• Nature Domain: Skilled in the use of nature’s spells, and they can also use their divine power to control the weather and animals.
• Tempest Domain: Skilled in the use of lightning and thunder damage spells, and they can also use their divine power to control the weather and create powerful storms
• Trickery Domain: Skilled in the use of illusion and enchantment spells, and they can also use their divine power to create illusions and disguise themselves
• War Domain: Skilled in the use of weapons and armor, and they can also use their divine power to enhance their martial prowess.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Life Cleric Features & Progression

The Life Cleric subclass unlocks the following features and spells:

• Disciple of Life (Level 1): Your devotion empowers your healing Spells. When casting a healing spell, the target regains additional Hit Points equal to 2 + Spell’s level.
• Heavy Armour Proficiency (Level 1)
• Domain Spells (Level 1): Bless and Cure Wounds
• Channel Divinity Action (Level 2): Preserve Life
• Domain Spells (Level 3): Aid and Lessor Restoration
• Domain Spells (Level 5): Revivify and Beacon of Hope
• Blessed Healer (Level 6): Regain 2 + Spell Level hit points when casting a healing spell on another creature.
• Domain Spells (Level 7): Guardian of Faith and Death Ward
• Divine Strike: Life (Level 8) – Once per turn deal 1d8 Radiant in addition to your weapon’s weapon damage when you make a melee attack.
• Domain Spells (Level 9): Greater Restoration and Mass Cure Wounds

Recommended Race

Wood Elf is the best race choice for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Life Domain Build Guide because you gain an extra the highest movement speed, Fey Ancestry, and Darkvision.  A secondary choice is the Mephistopheles Tiefling because of fire resistance, and two spells at levels 3 and 5 (Burning Hands, Flame Blade). 

Here is the best race choice for a Life Cleric build in Baldur’s Gate 3:

Wood Elf	Mephistopheles Tiefling
Fleet Food (10.5 movement)	Fire Resistance
Darkvision	Darkvision
Keen Sense Proficiency	Flame Blade spell
Fey Ancestry	Mage Hand Cantrip

The Cleric’s racial choice will not influence ability score, as race will get a +2 and +1 to spend regardless. This frees your race choice up to not completely hinder yourself based on ability score, but race features. Each of these races offers unique advantages that can enhance your combat prowess, survivability, or utility. Additionally, consider the roleplaying opportunities and character concepts that resonate with you.

Recommended Backgrounds

Folk Hero is the Best Background for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Life Domain Build Guide because you gain two Wisdom-based skills. Both survival and Animal Handling skills are helpful in exploration and dialogue.  You want to pick a background that scales with your main stat Wisdom. This choice mostly influences roleplaying and dialogue options aspects and allows you to create unique characters. Additional choices are:

1. Folk Hero: Proficiency in Animal Handling (wisdom) and Survival (wisdom). You’re a champion of the common people, challenging tyrants, and monsters to protect the helpless. Folk Hero companions in BG3 are Minsc and Wyll.
2. Acolyte:  Proficiency in Insight (wisdom) and Religion (intelligence). You have spent your life serving a temple, learning sacred rites, and providing sacrifices to the god or gods you worship. Shadowheart is an Acolyte.
3. Guild Artisan: Proficiency in Insight (wisdom) and Persuasion (charisma). Your skill in a particular craft has earned you membership in a mercantile guild, offering privileges and protection while engaging in your art. No Guild Artisan companions in BG3.

Recommended Skills for Cleric Build

Medicine and Religion are the best skills for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Life Domain Build Guide 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 Cleric in Baldur’s Gate 3:

1. Religion: is an Intelligence skill that helps recognize deities and holy rites.
2. Medicine: is a Wisdom skill that aids in recognizing symptoms and diagnosing disease.

Recommend Ability Score

Below is the best ability score to unlock the full potential of the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Life Domain Build Guide:

Ability	Score
Strength	8
Dexterity	14
Constitution	16
Intelligence	10
Wisdom	16
Charisma	10

The most important ability score for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Life Domain Build Guide is Wisdom followed by Constitution and Dexterity. It’s important to land on even numbers and get at least 16 in Wisdom for optimal spell casting. In Baldur’s Gate 3, ability scores are the six core stats that determine a character’s capabilities. You can adjust for the optimal setup in character creation or reroll with Withers in your Camp.

During character creation, the game will automatically distribute your abilities in the character creation abilities tab. You will need to reprioritize the stats for the chart for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Life Domain Build. Simply use the plus-minus in the character creator and make sure you have the suggested race, or the numbers will be off.

You can increase your ability score via a quest in Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3. Make sure to check out our Permanent bonus guide on how you can boost your ability score through quests.

Cleric Illithid Powers

Illithid Powers are unlocked later in the game when you learn more about the Mind Flayers and Tadpoles. You can gain jars of Mind Flayer Parasite Specimens, and consume them to gain one point. If you decide to advance this skill line, these are the choices we suggest.

Here are the best Illithid Powers for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Life Domain Build Guide:

• Charm: Channel the dark allure of the tadpole to Charm an enemy that attacks you, preventing them from attacking you until their next turn. This is the priority power you want to obtain because you can force enemies to attack something else.
• Psionic Backlash: When an enemy within 9m casts a spell, you can use your reaction to inflict ld4 Psychic damage to the caster per the spell’s level. This is a passive and hard counter to casters near you.
• Repulsor: Deal force damage and Force Push anything and anyone back 6m. This is a great area knockback and does good damage early in the game.
• Concentrated Blast: You must be concentrating on another spell to cast this. if the target was concentrating, you heal as much as the damage that was dealt to it. The spell you were concentrating on, will end. 
• Freecast: You have discovered a marvelous adaption within yourself. Spell slots, charges, and similar resource costs for your next action or spell are removed. Refreshes after a Short or Long rest. This is a must-have feature and should be a priority later in the game.

Note that there are a few “healing” powers. However, they each come with a cost and don’t outperform your in-class heals. I suggest sticking with just the Cleric healing and most of those might be intended for non-healing or support classes.

Cleric Spell Slots

Here is a list of the Clerics’ Spell Slots as they progress:

Cleric Level	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Level 1	2	0	0	0	0	0
Level 2	3	0	0	0	0	0
Level 3	4	2	0	0	0	0
Level 4	4	3	0	0	0	0
Level 5	4	3	2	0	0	0
Level 6	4	3	3	0	0	0
Level 7	4	3	3	1	0	0
Level 8	4	3	3	2	0	0
Level 9	4	3	3	3	1	0
Level 10	4	3	3	3	2	0
Level 11	4	3	3	3	2	1
Level 12	4	3	3	3	2	1

Cleric Level Progression

Level 1

At Level One follow our character creation steps above to pick all correct background, race, skills, and ability score distributions focusing on Wisdom and Constitution. You want to either use medium or heavy armor, along with a one-handed weapon and shield. For Clerics, you’ll be choosing your subclass at Level One, right in the character creator.

At Level One, you will unlock three cantrips and pick three prepared spells. Cantrips are reusable and don’t require a spell slot resource. Prepared spells can be swapped in and out before combat, so make sure to use the loadout at the end of the level for a helpful guide.

Subclass Spells: you will have access to additional spells and cantrips because your subclass grants you them at various levels. So if it looks slightly different that is why.

Cantrip Selection

• Sacred Flame: Conjure a flame-like radiance that deals 1d8 Radiant. This Cantrip acts with a very low damage range ability that can be used without a spell slow.
• Guidance: Bestow guidance upon an ally. They gain a +1d4 bonus to Ability Checks.  This spell is critical during dialogue checks and is very useful outside of combat.
• Thaumaturgy: Gain Advantage on Intimidation and Performance Checks. This is another helpful noncombat-related cantrip.

Spell Selection

• Guiding Bolt: 4d6 Radiant damage that grants Advantage on the next Attack Roll against the target. This is very high damage early and helpful because of the Advantage component. Consider this your main offensive spell.
• Healing Word (Domain Spell): 1d4 Heal a creature you can see up to 18m away with bonus action. Since this is a bonus action heal, you can combine it with an action-based heal like Cure Wounds or others to do two heals in one turn.
• Inflict Wounds: 3d10 damage necrotic. Used in melee range for good damage.
• Shield of Faith: use a bonus action to grant 2 AC to a character. Useful because this spell requires bonus action, not an action to provide protection.

Subclass Feature

• Disciple of Life: Your devotion empowers your healing Spells. When casting a healing spell, the target regains additional Hit Points equal to 2 + Spell’s level.
• Bless (Domain Spell): up to 3 creatures gain a +1d4 bonus to Attack Rolls and Saving Throws. This spell requires concentration which can be broken, but it can be but it can be pre-cast before combat with a long 10-turn duration. This drastically helps melee build land attacks like a Fighter and Barbarian.
• Cure Wounds (Domain Spell): 1d8 heal requiring you to touch a creature to heal it. A melee-based heal that isn’t that powerful but at early levels it can be combined with Healing Word for two heals in one turn.

Gameplay for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Life Domain Build Guide at this level is using Guiding Bolt for damage entirely. You can combine Healing Word and Cure Wounds for two heals in one turn. You can also use Shield of Faith or Blessed as a buff that requires concentration but not both.

Level 1 Life Cleric Prepared Spells: Healing Word, Cure Wounds, Inflict Wounds, Guiding Bolt, and Shield of Faith.

Life Cleric Gameplay & Priorities

During the early phase of BG3, your Life Cleric should equip a One-Handed weapon and Shield as soon as possible. Quarterstaffs can be combined with shield for extra free spells and Armour Class (AC). This will help your defensive potential immensely. Moreover, rely on cantrips for damage when out of spell slots like Sacred Flame. Spell casting can be tough at the start of Baldur’s Gate 3 with limited spell slots. Lastly, look to combine Elixir of Peerless Focus with Potion of Speed. Peerless will help with Advantage for spells that require it while Potion of Speed will give an additional action for 3 turns. These two stack together for a powerful effect early in BG3.

Your overall priority with the Life Cleric build is the following:

• Complete Prologue
• Recruit Other Companions
• Reached Hollowed City/Druid Grove
• Sell, Stock up, complete quest
• Unlock Withers, respec to proper ability score
• Progress to level 5
• Reach Underdark and Grymforged

Following these steps ensures a strong foundation, especially if you plan on playing solo or on Honour Mode difficulty.

Level 2

At level two your spells will largely stay the same. You will have prepared spells and can pick up to 5 to learn and swap out outside of combat the ones you’ve already learned. Next, you will get granted Turn Undead and Preserve Life via your subclass and we recommend you take the spell Command.

Spell Selection

• Command: Command a creature to flee, move closer, freeze, drop to the ground or drop their weapon 18m requiring concentration. This is a powerful area-based crowd-control effect that can force weapons to drop. Use this early in the game when overwhelmed with enemies.

Subclass Features

• Turn Undead: Inflicts Turned. Present your holy symbol and pray. Each undead that can see or hear you is forced to flee from you.
• Preserve Life: Evoke a healing energy that restores (3*Cleric Level) hit points to allied creatures. Has no effect on undead and constructs.

The gameplay stays the same for the most part at this level. The addition of Preserve Life gives you a massive area-based heal that requires charges. Turn Undead can be handy in specific fights. The Command spell is a great additional for crowd control, use it to drop opponents’ weapons or put them in prone.

Life Cleric Level 2 Prepared Spells: Guiding Bolt, Shield of Faith, Healing Word, Command, Inflict Wounds

Level 3

Reaching Level 3 will unlock two level 2 spells and an additional level 1 spell.  Will take Spiritual Weapon for our level two spell slot. Will also get two free spells from Life Domain.

Spell Selection

• Spiritual Weapon: Summon a spiritual weapon that can attack enemies nearby. This is amazing because you can use bonus action AND it doesn’t cost concentration. Recommend spear form, each form has a different attack that can debuff the enemy.

Subclass Feature

• Aid: Bolster your allies with toughness and resolve to heal and increase their hit point maximum.
• Lesser Restoration: Cure a creature from disease, poison, paralysis, or blindness.

Gameplay at this level changes a bit considering how Spiritual Weapon works. Since this is a bonus action, you can use it in conjunction with an action in the same turn. Also, this can be pre-cast before combat along with Blessed if you know an encounter is about to unfold. This spell also doesn’t cost concentration and it soaks up damage and does a bit as well, making it powerful at this stage of the game.

Life Cleric Level 3 Prepared Spells: Guiding Bolt, Shield of Faith, Healing Word, Command, Inflict Wounds, Spiritual Weapon

Level 4

At level four, the Cleric gets one cantrip, one more prepared spell, and a feat or ability improvement. We suggest you increase your ability score Wisdom by 2.  Our goal is to increase the effectiveness of our healing so take the Ability Improvement feat and put two ability points into Wisdom. We will select Warding Bond for our spell and Blade Ward for our cantrip.

Cantrip

• Blade Ward: Take only half of the damage from Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing attacks. This is a decent cantrip when expecting incoming melee damage.

Spell

• Warding Bond: The target gains +1 on AC, +1 on saving throws, and resistance to all damage, but the caster shares damage. This is helpful because it last until long rest and can be pre-cast outside of combat.

Gameplay at this level doesn’t change much, you can use Warding Bond for a buff and expect more damage and healing with a higher ability score.

Life Cleric Level 4 Prepared Spells: Healing Word, Inflict Wounds, Guiding Bolt, Shield of Faith, Command, Spiritual Weapon, Warding Bond.

Level 5

At level five, the Life Cleric gets two free spells via your sublcass and you get to pick a level 3 spell.  The best healing option here is Mass Healing Word because its massive AOE healing and requires a bonus Action rather than an action.

Subclass Spells

• Revivify: Revive a companion. They return to life with 1 hit point. You can use this to revive an ally, although I almost always throw a potion rather than this spell because they return with more HP.
• Beacon of Hope: Your allies will regain the maximum hit points possible when healed. They also gain Advantage on Wisdom Saving Throws and Death Saving Throws. Used as our concentration spell when you expect heavy damage and you won’t be doing anything but healing each turn.

Spell Selection

• Mass Healing Word: heal for 1d4+3 up to 6 creatures. Using a bonus action his is a very powerful wide area-based heal that can be combined with an action in the same turn. 

Life Cleric Level 5 Prepared Spells: Guiding Bolt, Shield of Faith, Healing Word, Command, Inflict Wounds, Spiritual Weapon, Warding Bond, Hold Person, Mass Healing Word, Glyph of Warding.

Level 6

At level six for a Life Cleric, you gain another level 3 spell, another Channel Divinity Charge, and Blessed Healer Passive. 

Class Features:

• Channel Divinity Charges: either Preserved Life or Turn Undead. Preserved Life is preferred because it’s a powerful 9m are based heal. At this level you have two.
• Blessed Healer: When you cast a healing spell of Level 1 or higher on another creature, you regain hit points equal to 2+ the spell’s level.  Healing others essentially heals you. 

Spells Selection

• Glyph of Warding: Inscribe a circle of arcane glyphs on the ground that trigger a magical effect when stepped on by an enemy. This spell is useful because you can proc elemental effects and do massive area damage.

Gameplay for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Life Domain Build Guide at this level is summoning Spiritual Weapon with bonus action on the first turn.  Usually casting Blessed on the team prior to combat or first turn.  Then using Guiding Bolt or Glyph of Warding for damage. Mass Healing Word and another heal Preserved Life for big healing.

Ending Act 1 as a Life Cleric

By the time you reach this point, you should be close to transitioning out of Act 1. Be sure to visit vendors and stock up on camp and alchemy supplies. Additionally, make sure to find the best Act 1 items. Furthermore, there are also permanent bonuses you don’t want to miss in Act 1. Finally, the Grymforge has powerful armor and weapons (Adamantine) that can be used well into Act 3. Consider taking the time to collect the crafting items before moving on to Act 2, where you won’t be able to return.

Life Cleric Level 6 Prepared Spells: Guiding Bolt, Shield of Faith, Healing Word, Command, Inflict Wounds, Spiritual Weapon, Warding Bond, Hold Person, Mass Healing Word, Glyph of Warding

Level 7

When you reach level 7, the Life Cleric gains one level 4 spell slot, and two subclass-specific spells, Death Ward and Guardian of Faith.

Subclass Spells

• Death Ward: When the target drops to 0 hp for the first time, it automatically returns to 1 hp. This is essentially a Relentless Endurance Half-Orc racial feature mimic.  It’s very handy to use on difficult boss fights where you assume someone on your team will get one shot on turn one.
• Guardian of Faith:  Hostiles creatures within a 10-ft radius of the created guardian must succeed on a Dex. save or take 20 radiant damage. This summonses a created guardian which cannot move but deals damage in a 10ft radius. Every time it does damage, it takes damage. The nice thing about this spell is it can be used in conjunction with a Spiritual Weapon. One is an action, one a bonus action and BOTH do not require concentration. So, on turn one, you can drop down Guardian in the middle of the action along with Spiritual Weapon.

Spells Selection

• Freedom of Movement: Target’s movement is unaffected by difficult terrain, spells or water. Can be a beneficial spell for movement in or outside of combat.

Gameplay at level 7: Your first turn is generally the most important if you can cast both summonses on turn one using an action and a bonus action (Guardian of Faith and Spiritual Weapon).  From here, you go into priority mode emphasizing healing and buffs with Blessed.  If everyone is high on health, use Glyph of Warding for area damage and Guiding Bolt for a single target. If you feel you lack crowd control (CC) swap out Freedom of Movement for Banishment which is a great single-target CC. You can also use scrolls for crowd control to avoid using spell slots or different prepared spells.

Life Cleric Level 7 Prepared Spells: Guiding Bolt, Shield of Faith, Healing Word, Command, Inflict Wounds, Spiritual Weapon, Warding Bond, Hold Person, Mass Healing Word, Glyph of Warding, Freedom of Movement

Level 8

At level 8 the Life Cleric gets Divine Strike, an additional level 4 spell slot, and a feat.  Here’s what we suggest at this level.

Feat War Caster

• War Caster: You gain Advantage on Saving Throws to maintain Concentration on a spell.  You can also use a reaction to cast Shocking Grasp at a target moving out of melee range. War Caster helps dramatically maintain concentration which is almost always active for our build. We will use the level 12 feat to push our Wisdom to 20, but after testing this was more helpful at level 8.

Spells Selection

• Remove Curse: Touch a creature or object to remove all Curses and Hexes affecting it. This is a niche spell in this slot, Banishment is a good substitute if you find it lacking.

Subclass Feature

• Divine Strike: Strike a foe with your weapon as it becomes wreathed in gleaming radiance. This weapon damage action isn’t our priority since we are a support build and Guiding Bolt fills out single target needs.

Gameplay: Not many changes at this level as you won’t be using Divine Strike, but expect better luck maintaining concentration which will be helpful to keeping important spells active while taking pressure.

Life Cleric Level 8 Prepared Spells: Guiding Bolt, Shield of Faith, Healing Word, Command, Inflict Wounds, Spiritual Weapon, Warding Bond, Hold Person, Mass Healing Word, Glyph of Warding, Freedom of Movement, Remove Curse

Level 9

At level 9, the Cleric gets two free spells, Mass Cure Wounds, Great Restoration, 1 level 4 spell slot, 1 level 5 spell slot and additional prepared spell bringing the total to 13. I also have some thoughts on multi-classing the cleric at this level. Here’s our recommendations:

Multi-Class with the Light Cleric

At level 9, the Cleric can decide to multi-class. This has some pros and cons and I’ve found it better to fully level the Life Cleric so you can reach level 6 spells.  Here’s a brief breakdown of options:

Fighter (two levels): the Fighter with two levels has Action Surge. This gives you an additional action once per fight and recharges on short rest. The Clerics main issue is lacking multiple actions, and this helps to solve that. You do lose out on level 6 spells and another feat but it’s an option.

Sorcerer (four levels): the Sorcerer gets access to metamagic giving you extra ways to manipulate magic. One is Twinned, which you can cast a single target spell twice. Another, Quickened, you can cast another spell with your bonus action. This is helpful to compliment the clerics’ weaknesses. Big downside is you’ll miss out on higher level spells

Cleric Level 12: this is the way I prefer because you get access to level 5 and 6 spells and another feat pushing our Wisdom to 20 with War Caster.  Something about summoning a Cambion and Spiritual Weapon on turn one makes it so fun and very effective.

Spells Selection

• Insect Plague: 4d10 piercing damage Locust attack everyone within range, make the area Difficult Terrain, and impose Disadvantage on Perception Checks. Requires concentration but this spell does great damage in a massive area and hinders movement though requires concentration.
• Flame Strike: 10-60 damage Make a pillar of divine fire roar down from the heavens like the wrath of affronted angels. On Save: Targets still take half damage. Doesn’t require concentration and a harder hitting area based spell than Glyph of Warding

Subclass Features

• Mass Cure Wounds: Up to 6 creatures regain 3d8+Spell Ability modifier
• Greater Restoration: End one condition (charmed or petrified), one curse, any ability scores or hp reduction, or one exhaustion level.

Gameplay for Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Life Domain Build Guide: at this level you have much better area based healing and damage. You now have two high level spells that can be used with or without concentration and even better healing making this level a big leap in power.

Life Cleric Level 9 Prepared Spells: Guiding Bolt, Shield of Faith, Healing Word, Command, Inflict Wounds, Spiritual Weapon, Warding Bond, Hold Person, Mass Healing Word, Glyph of Warding, Freedom of Movement, Insect Plague, Flame Strike

Level 10

At level 10, the Life Cleric gets a subclass feature Divine Intervention, one cantrip, another spell slot and another prepared spell.

Subclass Feature

• Divine Intervention: You can cast Divine Intervention to invoke your God’s aid. Once used, this can never be used again. You have a couple of options with this one-time-only spell, but the obvious one is a damage spell. It’s a massive area and huge damage. I suggest saving this for the last boss or something you just cannot complete.

Cantrip

• Light: Infuse an object with an aura of light. This is a occasional use utility spell.

Spell Selection

• Planar Binding: Target an otherworldly creature and attach its consciousness to your own. It will follow and fight for you as an ally. Provides decent crowd control if the percentage is high enough, over 60%.

Gameplay remains unchanged, just use Divine Intervention on a tough fight.

Life Cleric Level 10 Prepared Spells: Guiding Bolt, Shield of Faith, Healing Word, Command, Inflict Wounds, Spiritual Weapon, Warding Bond, Hold Person, Mass Healing Word, Glyph of Warding, Freedom of Movement, Insect Plague, Flame Strike, Planar Binding

Level 11

Level 11 you get access to the final level 6 spell slot.

Spell Selection (drop Planar Binding)

• Planar Ally: Summon a deva, djinn or cambion that will help the caster until a long rest. You can summon one of three allies. My favorite is Deva and you can keep it summoned until a long rest. This spell also does not require concentration, so bring this in to a tough fight for extra damage.
• Heal: heal for 70 damage and heal a target’s wounds and remove Blindness and any diseases. Simply put, this is the best single target heal in the game. You can use this or Planar Ally depending on the situation.

Gameplay: I prefer using my 6 spell for Planar Ally after a long rest. It comes with so much health and doesn’t require concentration. Damage, distraction and it just looks cool!

Life Cleric Level 11 Prepared Spells: Guiding Bolt, Shield of Faith, Healing Word, Command, Inflict Wounds, Spiritual Weapon, Warding Bond, Hold Person, Mass Healing Word, Glyph of Warding, Freedom of Movement, Insect Plague, Flame Strike, Planar Ally, Heal

Level 12

In Baldur’s Gate 3 Level 12 is the max level, and since we stuck with the Life Cleric, we get one spell and one more feat.

Feat

+2 ability improvement to 20 Wisdom. There are items that can get you to 22 but this is easy and helps with healing, damage, and success chance.

Spell Selection

• Heroes’ Feast: Produce a feast for 12 guests that cures diseases, immunizes to poison and increases hp by 2d10 for 24 hours. This spell helps with status effects and increasing health. I prefer Planar Ally, but this has some good utility.

Gameplay: at max level you should feel very powerful. Using multiple summons, powerful single target and area based healing along with great damage. The Life Cleric surprisingly has a ton of damage and you can burst your team up with one turn using action and bonus action combination.

Life Cleric Level 12 Prepared Spells: Guiding Bolt, Shield of Faith, Healing Word, Command, Inflict Wounds, Spiritual Weapon, Warding Bond, Hold Person, Mass Healing Word, Glyph of Warding, Freedom of Movement, Insect Plague, Flame Strike, Planar Ally, Heal, Hero’s Feast

Best Companions for Cleric Build

For the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Life Domain Build Guide, we do not recommend another upfront damage dealer as both you and either Lae’zel or Karlach will fulfill that role. The premise of the build is to have one to two melee fighters with a heavy damage dealer, your Cleric providing support.  Having range casters and damage dealers will help with crowd control, area damage, and burst at range.

• Lae’zel (Fighter): damage, high survivability, and in-your-face aggression. 
• Gale (Wizard): range magic damage, crowd control, and utility spells.
• Astarion (Rogue): High Initiative, damage, lockpicking, and sneaking

When putting your party together, consider companions for not only their combat prowess but also their outside ability and skills that can influence storytelling, dialogue, and exploration. A balanced party will fit the traditional RPG ‘holy trinity’: Tank, Healer, and DPS. Ideally, in Baldur’s Gate 3 you’re are going to want one tank, one healer, one melee DPS, and one range DPS. Some classes/subclasses can cover both roles, so feel free to experiment and find out what works best for you.

Best Gear for Life Cleric Build

In Games like Baldur’s Gate 3, you’ll explore the world, loot chests and your enemies’ dead bodies, and complete quests and all those activities can reward you with useful items, potions, armor, weapons, scrolls, and much more. Progression and finding new gear are part of the game, and you will organically get more powerful weapons during your journeys.

Beginner: Act 1

Here’s the best beginner gear for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Life Domain Build Guide:

Gear Slot	Best Gear Item	Effect
Head	Wapira’s Crown	Additional Healing
Cape	–
Chest	Adamantine Splint Armour	18 AC
Gloves	Hellrider’s Pride	Heals give resistance
Boots	Boots of Aid and Comfort	Additional Temporary HP
Necklace	Amulet of Misty Step	Misty Step Spell
Ring	Ring of Absolute Force	Thunderwave Spell
Ring	The Whispering Promise	Healing gives Blessed
Weapon 1 Main Hand	Staff of Arcane Blessing	Free Blessed Spell
Weapon 1 Off-Hand	Adamantine Shield	+2 AC
Weapon 2 Ranged	Bow of Awareness	+1 Initiative

Below is the best Act 1 Armor, Weapons, and Equipment for Life Cleric in BG3:

• Wapira’s Crown: Reward from Zelvor for killing 3 leaders and the Goblin camp (alternative Haste Helm, or Grymskull Helm).
• Adamantine Splint Armour: Complete Adamantine Forge Quest (X: -593 Y: 309) (alternative Luminous Armour, or Githyanki Half Plate).
• Hellrider’s Pride: Can be bought, stolen, or earned from Zevolr (alternative Gloves of Missile Snaring, or Gloves of Hail of Thorns).
• Boots of Aid and Comfort: Sold by Grat The Trader at the Goblin Camp (alternative Disintegrating Night Walkers, or Boots of Striding).
• Amulet of Misty Step: Found in a Gilded Chest (X386 Y8) in a Defiled Temple (Alternatives Moondrop Pendant).
• Ring of Absolute Force: Dropped by Sergeant Thrinn in Grymforge (alternative Crusher Ring).
• The Whispering Promise: Volo in Druid’s Grove or from traders (alternative Ring of Colour Spray).
• Staff of Arcane Blessing: Obtained in Arcane Tower (alternative The Watcher’s Guide,  Spellsparkler, or Staff of Crones).
• Adamantine Shield: Complete the Adamantine Forge Quest in Grymforge (Alternative Glowing Shield, or Wood Woad Shield).
• Hunting Shortbow: Sold by Dammon in the Druid Grove.

Advanced: Act 3 End Game

The following table presents the best end-game gear for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Life Domain Build Guide:

Gear Slot	Best Gear Item	Effect
Head	Helm of Balduran	Cannot be Stunned
Cape	Mantle of the Holy Warrior	Free Crusader’s Mantle Spell
Chest	Helldusk Armour	21 AC, Grants Proficiency
Gloves	The Reviving Hands	Healed Gain Blade Ward
Boots	Helldusk Boots	Cannot be Moved
Necklace	Amulet of Greater Health	23 Constitution
Ring	Crypt Lord Ring	Free Create Undead
Ring	Till Death Do Us Part	Free Beacon of Hope
Weapon 1 Main Hand	The Blood of Lathander	Sunbeam and Healing
Weapon 1 Off-Hand	Viconia’s Walking Fortress	3 AC, Reflect Spell
Weapon 2	Darkfire Shortbow	Free Haste Spell

Below is the best Act 3 Armor, Weapons, and Equipment for Life Cleric in BG3:

• Helm of Balduran: Found on an altar next to Ansur in The Wyrmway, Act 3. (Alternative Helldusk Helmet).
• Mantle of the Holy Warrior: Sold by Vicar Humbletoes in Stormshore Tabernacle (Alternative Cloak of the Weave, or Cloak of Protection).
• Helldusk Armour: Looted from Raphael in the House of Hope (Alternative Armour of Persistence).
• The Reviving Hands: Sold by Vicar Humbletoes (Alternative Jhannyl’s Gloves).
• Helldusk Boots: Chest on the top floor of Wyrm’s Rock Fortress (Alternative Disintegrating Night Walkers).
• Amulet of Greater Health: Archive in the House of Hope (Alternative Amulet of the Devout, or Spellcrux Amulet).
• Crypt Lord Ring: The Mystic Carrion’s Servant quest (Alternative Shifting Corpus Ring)
• Till Death Do Us Part: Looted from Lady Jannath, Act 3. (Alternative Ring of Free Action)
• The Blood of Lathander: The Blood of Lathander quest in Act 2 (Alternative Selûne’s Spear of Night, or Markoheshkir).
• Viconia’s Walking Fortress: Looted from Viconia DeVir during Shadowheart’s companion quest in Act 3 (Alternative Shield of Devotion).
• Darkfire Shortbow: Sold by Dammon Last Light Inn Act 2.

Best Consumable Items and Potions

Consumables are items that can be used once and then destroyed. They are typically used to restore health or other resources. Some common types of consumables include potions, scrolls, food, drinks, and arrows.

The following list represents the best individual use consumable items that will aid in the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Life Domain Build Guide:

• Potion of Speed: 3 turns of an increased action via the Haste condition.
• Potion of Invisibility: Become invisible for 1 minute. Attacking or casting spells ends the status.
• Potion of Flying: 10 turns of flying.
• Potion of Angelic Slumber: fall asleep for two turns, then restore all spell slots, hit points, and abilities.
• Elixir of Peerless Focus: gain advantage on concentration saves (ingredients Sublimate of Belladona, and any ashes).
• Elixir of Vigilance: gain +5 bonus initiative and you cannot be surprised (ingredients sublimate of bloodstained hook, any ashes).
• Superior Elixir of Arcane Cultivation: gain a level 3 spell slot (ingredients Solution of Night Orchid, any Vitriol).
• Elixir of Viciousness: increase your critical hit chance (ingredients Vitriol of Shadowroot Sac, any Ashes).
• Elixir of Universal Resistance: gain resistance to all damage (ingredients Vitriol of Divine Miasma, any Sublimate).

Life Cleric Combat, Gameplay Tips, and Tricks

Here are 10 gameplay tips and tricks for playing a Life Domain Cleric in Baldur’s Gate 3:

1. Heal Allies: focus on healing allies vs doing damage so your heavy hitters can spend actions and bonus actions doing damage.
2. Bonus Action Heal: Make the most of your bonus action heal in conjunction with primary action-based heal.
3. Bless: Cast Bless outside of combat before engaging and get a lot of turns without having to use a turn in combat.
4. Crowd Control: CC opponents with Blind, and Command to take less damage overall.
5. Cantrips: Use these when lacking spell slots are you’re not committed to a major offensive spell to keep some spell slots in reserve.
6. Guiding Bolt: Early on this is your big nuke spell and it’s wise to use it on the first turn when teammates don’t need a heal.
7. Area vs Single Target: Make sure to get the most out of each spell and if you need multiple players healed, get in position, and use an area-based heal.
8. Consumables: Take advantage of a Potion of Speed when you need multiple actions per turn.
9. Health Potions: Make sure teammates are stocked up on healing potions in case they are out of your line of sight or need massive healing themselves.
10. Range: Make sure to hang out at medium range where you can melee heal or do damage but not too far back to the line of sight of your teammates.

Remember, this build guide serves as a foundation, and you can always adapt it to suit your preferences and the needs of your campaign. Enjoy playing as a formidable The Best Cleric Life Domain Build!

Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Cleric Life Domain Build Summary Guide

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