Baldur's Gate 3 - Best Ranger Build Guide

Rangers in Baldur’s Gate 3 are very versatile combatants. They can engage in melee combat with dual wield or two-handed weapons, or attack from range with both projectile weapons and spells. To make the most of your Ranger, you will need to choose one of those avenues, however, because while Rangers are a solid class, they quickly fall off on power if you try to do too many things at once.

Baldur’s Gate 3 - Ranger Best Build Guide

For my money, the best Ranger build in Baldur’s Gate 3 is Beast Master. This specialization gives you the Ranger’s Companion spell, which allows you to summon an additional party member to aid you in combat. From tanking bears, to damaging wolves and a whole lot more, splitting focus in Baldur’s Gate 3 can give you breathing room that can spell the difference between winning and losing.

I opted to focus on a build that avoids multiclassing for this guide, but if you want to multiclass, I do have recommendations, and you're able to respec and change classes when you see fit, which is a nice bonus.

Picking up a few ranks in Fighter can be great to gain weapon and armor proficiency, as well as their very flexible, multi-attack Battle Master sub-class feat. This is especially true if you are doing a melee build. Bard or Rogue are solid options for adding more functionality, and Cleric or Druid are great if you want to branch out and learn more spells.

Beast Master Ranger Build Summary

You have some options as you level up, so we’ll highlight the best choice first (to lean into our preferred range weapon Beast Master build), but also highlight some other great options for those who want to do different versions of Beast Master, which includes melee fighting options.

As mentioned in my Ranger Class Guide, Elf (Wood Elf sub-race) is the best pick for Ranger, with starting bonuses to Longbows, Shortbows, Longswords, Shortswords, and more.

Level 2

Spells

• Ensnaring Strike
• Hunter’s Mark

Fighting Style

• Archery
• Two-Weapon Fighting

Level 3

Spell (1 New)

• Speak with Animals (if you don’t already have it)
• Cure Wounds (If you don’t have a healer or want more healing

Subclass

• Beast Master (Ranger’s Companion)
• Gloom Stalker (More Rogue-like with assassination and stealth bonuses)
• Hunter (Horde Breaker for crowd control and multi-target damage, Colossus Slayer for single target damage)

Level 4

Feat

• Ability Improvement (2 to Dex or 1 Dex 1 Wis if you use spells)
• Sharpshooter (Ranged builds)
• Dual Wielder (Melee builds)
• Heavy Armour Master (Melee builds)

Level 5

Spells

• Lesser Restoration (Healing utility)
• Silence (Shutting down casters)

Level 6

Favoured Enemy

• Bounty Hunter (Investigation Proficiency, buff to Ensnaring Strike)
• Sanctified Stalker (Religion Proficiency, Sacred Flame cantrip which is good against Undead)

Natural Explorer

• Urban Tracker (Sleight of Hand bonus)
• Wasteland Wanderer: Fire / Poison

Level 7

Spells

• Spike Growth (Good for ranged builds)

Defensive Tactics

• Escape the Horde (ranged builds)
• Multiattack Defence (melee builds)

Level 8

Feat

• Lucky
• Savage Attacker (Melee / Dual Wield builds)
• Charger
• Ability Improvement (+2 Dex)

Level 9

Spells

• Lightning Arrow (Damage)
• Plant Growth (Crowd Control)

Level 10

Favoured Enemy

• Bounty Hunter / Sanctified Stalker / Ranger Knight / Mage Breaker (If you haven’t taken them yet)

Natural Explorer

• Urban Tracker (If you need Sleight of Hand bonuses) or Wasteland Wanderer: Fire/Poison (whichever you haven’t taken yet)

Level 11

Spells

• Any of the previous spells we mentioned that you haven’t taken yet

Feats

• Ability Improvement (+2 Dex)