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Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Ranger build

Hunt down every last enemy with the best Baldur’s Gate 3 Ranger build, make yourself a new home in the wilderness, and have your very own animal companion.

Baldurs Gate 3 Ranger build: An elf female, with pointed ears, wearing leather armor, carrying a bow on her back.
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Baldur's Gate 3 

What is the best Baldur’s Gate 3 Ranger build? There are few classes who are as attuned to nature as the Ranger – they take to the wilderness like a fish to water and can use all of the wild’s advantages to strike fear in the heart of their enemies. Some BG3 Rangers exclusively hunt the most dangerous prey, and others skulk in the shadows, waiting for their target – which will you be?

As you head into the Baldur’s Gate 3 character creator, you need to think about which BG3 class you’ll be picking and how you’re going to build them. If you’re considering a ranged character, our best BG3 Ranger build, might be for you, combining a mixture of ranged damage, animal companions, and powerful magic.

Baldurs Gate 3 Ranger build: a female elf with greenish skin and pointed ears, wearing leather armor and carrying a bow on her back.

Best BG3 Ranger build

The best Baldur’s Gate 3 Ranger build is:

  • Subclass – Beast Master
  • Race – Wood Elf
  • Background – Outlander
  • Skills – Dexterity and Wisdom
  • Weapon – Longbow

Best Ranger Subclass

The best subclass for Ranger is the Beast Master due to the animal companion.

What is a Ranger, really, without their animal companion? You can choose to stomp around with a bear at your side, clawing at anyone who looks at you weirdly, or you could employ a raven to be your eyes in the sky, exploring the area so you’re safe to travel.

Baldurs Gate 3 Ranger build: a female elf with pointed ears, tattoos on her face, and heavy eye makeup.

Best Ranger abilities

Here are the best abilities for the Ranger:

  • Strength – 12
  • Dexterity – 17
  • Constitution – 13
  • Intelligence – 8
  • Wisdom – 15
  • Charisma – 10

You have a fairly even spread of abilities as a Ranger, with a high starting dexterity stat, especially if you choose to play as an Elf. Having points in Wisdom will help massively when it comes to animal handling – something that is a key part of the Ranger’s kit.

Best Ranger race

Wood Elf is the ideal race for this class due to its backstory, the fact that they give bonus dexterity and their excellent base movement speed. You’ll be nimble in a fight, whilst also having enough where it counts to wield your longbow to deadly effect.

Best Ranger background

The best background for Ranger is Outlander.

The Outlander background story is that of someone who lives in the wilds and as a Ranger, that’s exactly where you’ll feel most comfortable. Outlander grants you proficiencies in both athletics and survival.

Baldurs Gate 3 Ranger build: a female elf character wearing leather armor.

Best Ranger spells and leveling

As a Ranger, you do have some arcane control over the wilds, if you so choose. The most powerful of these spells come at level 5. Before then, try to focus your combat skills as much as possible, with the archery class passive coming in very useful at level 2.

Level 2

  • Ensnaring Strike
  • Hail of Thorns
  • Archery

Level 3

  • Hunter’s Mark
  • Beast Master

Level 4

  • Sharpshooter

Level 5

  • Speak with Animals

Level 6

  • Keeper of the Veil
  • Urban Tracker

Level 7

  • Enhanced Leap

Level 8

  • Mobile

Level 9

  • Lightning Arrow

Level 10

  • Bounty Hunter
  • Wasteland Wanderer: Fire

Level 11

  • Barksin

Level 12

  • Alert

Best Ranger equipment

Here is the best equipment for the ranger in BG3:

The Dead Shot

  • The number you need to roll a critical hit while attacking is reduced by one. The Wielder doubles their proficiency when rolling ranged attacks with this weapon.

Disintegrating Night Walkers

  • Can’t be enwebbed, entangled, or ensnared and can’t slip on grease or ice.

 

Baldurs Gate 3 Ranger build: a female elf with greenish skin, tied back hair and leather armor.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Ranger character creation overview

The Ranger class can be a fantastic jack of all trades if you build it correctly. They can take elements from several other classes and put them all into one deadly package. You can have an animal companion, if that’s what you’re into, or you can take the thieves route. There is even a path for those who wish to wield magic.

Class features

  • Strength saving throw proficiency
  • Dexterity saving throw proficiency
  • Light armor proficiency
  • Medium armor proficiency
  • Shield proficiency
  • Simple weapon proficiency
  • Martial weapon proficiency

Natural Explorer Ranger options

  • Beast Tamer: You can cast Find Familiar as a ritual.
  • Urban Tracker: You gain Sleight of Hand proficiency.
  • Wasteland Wanderer Cold: Gain resistance to cold damage, taking half its damage.
  • Wasteland Wanderer Fire: Gain resistance to fire damage, taking half its damage.
  • Wasteland Wanderer Poison: Gain resistance to poison damage, taking half its damage.

Favored Enemy Ranger options

  • Bounty Hunter: Gain proficiency in investigation and learn the Thieves’ Cant passive.
  • Keeper of the Veil: Gain proficiency in arcana, and gain the ability to cast Protection from Evil and Good.
  • Mage Breaker: Gain proficiency in arcana, and the True Strike cantrip.
  • Ranger Knight: Gain proficiency with history, and heavy armor.
  • Sanctified Stalker: Gain proficiency in religion and the Sacred Flame cantrip.

Beast Master subclass

The Beast Master subclass allows you to keep an animal companion. Your companion stays with you in and out of combat, and you share an intelligent bond with them that can flourish over time. The animal companions you can summon are:

  • Bear
  • Boar
  • Giant Spider
  • Raven
  • Wolf

Hunter subclass

Hunters live to take on the most dangerous of prey, no matter how large, deadly, or numerous. You must choose a specialization within the Hunter subclass, each with its own advantages in battle.

  • Colossus Slayer
  • Giant Killer
  • Horde Breaker

Now that you have the best Ranger build, the only thing left to do is don your best cloak, grab your bow, and start hunting evil. If exploring the wilderness isn’t for you, we also have the best BG3 Cleric build, or even the best BG3 Wizard build – for those who enjoy firing lightning bolts out of their fingers and cooking their enemies from the inside out.

When he's not writing guides at PCGamesN, PK is usually found waiting for the respawn timer in League of Legends, hanging around a tavern in Baldur's Gate 3, or fighting his way through the Settled Systems in Starfield. PK's extensive knowledge of video games is matched only by his extensive wardrobe of flannel shirts, which he has been curating since he was born, proving he was always meant to be a games journalist. He watches an episode of Star Trek every night before bed, and he loves toast, even though it makes him feel a bit sick. Buttery goodness exacts a heavy toll, one that he's willing to pay.