The long-awaited Patch 8 of Baldur's Gate 3 brings with it twelve new subclasses, one for each of the game's existing classes. These include the Swashbuckler Rogue, Path of the Giants Barbarian, Bladesinger Wizard, and many more. All twelve of the subclasses are fun to experiment with and use in a play-through, creating new builds and multi-class combinations. However, two of Baldur's Gate 3's new subclasses, the Hexblade Warlock and the College of Glamour Bard, represent two ends of a broad spectrum when it comes to widespread use versus niche appeal.
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Hexblade Is Receiving Praise As A Powerful Subclass
The Hexblade, a subclass of the Warlock, has already begun receiving praise from players as an extremely powerful class that could suit any character. It works well as a mono-class, offering new abilities and spells at multiple different levels, but is also ideal for a single-level dip due to the additional weapon and armor proficiencies it provides at Level 1. Some of the Hexblade's well-liked abilities include:
- Hexblade's Curse, which grants the Hexblade bonus damage against certain targets and the ability to regain health when defeating a cursed target.
- Bind Hexed Weapon, which lets the Hexblade bind a weapon and instantly gain Proficiency with it. Hexed Weapons also cannot be dropped.
- Accursed Spectre, which lets the Hexblade raise a cursed spectre to fight at their side. The spectre possesses a range of powerful abilities depending on its size.
The Hexblade is a strong all-around class that can deal powerful melee damage while also having access to a wide range of useful spells. It's a good fit not just for Wyll, the existing Warlock companion, but any character with a good Charisma score. It's a balanced class that can play many different roles in combat, whether that's dealing straightforward damage or sneaking around the battlefield with Greater Invisibility.
The College Of Glamour Bard Is Seen As Niche And Underwhelming
On the other side of the spectrum is College of Glamour, a subclass for the Bard introduced in Patch 8 of Baldur's Gate 3. It is not necessarily a bad class, and can certainly be useful in any playthrough, but is a lot less universally strong and often requires multiclassing - particularly due to its small roster of class actions and exclusive focus on support abilities rather than attacking. The College of Glamour bard gets only two special abilities, which are:
- Mantle of Inspiration - Lets the Bard inspire two allies and grant them temporary hit points. These allies also have a chance to Charm enemies who attack them. The number of allies who can be inspired and the number of temporary hit points granted increases at Level 6 and Level 10.
- Mantle of Majesty: Command - Lets the Bard Command enemies via a bonus action. Command options include Approach, Drop, Flee, Grovel, and Halt.
With only two unique abilities, one of which requires Concentration and can only be used once per long rest, the College of Glamour Bard is sometimes seen as underwhelming compared to its fellow Bard subclasses, College of Lore and especially College of Swords.
Some fans of Baldur's Gate 3 have already called on Larian Studios to add new abilities to the subclass. The version of the Glamour Bard in Dungeons and Dragons' Fifth Edition has additional abilities, such as Unbreakable Majesty, which forces enemies to make Charisma saves in order to attack the Bard. If they fail the save, they must choose a different target or waste the attack entirely. This ability, or others like it, could enhance the Glamour Bard significantly and make it more universally useful compared to its current rather niche role.
Baldur's Gate 3
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 96 /100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- August 3, 2023
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Larian Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Larian Studios
- Engine
- Divinity 4.0
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op, Local Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- Full cross-platform play.
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- RPG
