The rogue is a popular class choice for players ofBaldur’s Gate 3, both for its skill expertise and its adaptability. It’s thefourth-most popular choice players make for custom characters, and is pretty unique as far as martial options in the game go. Rogues are the only weapon-centered class that don’t receive extra attack, instead focusing on insanely high damage from each individual strike using sneak attack and stealthy tactics.
The rogue’s subclass options tend to improve upon these tactics, but in drastically different ways.Players have three choices for their subclass when playing as a rogue:thief, assassin, and arcane trickster. These choicescome fromDungeons & Dragons, but with a few key changes that add and/or take away from their usefulness. Players may wonder which of these subclass options classifies as the strongest, and while that decision is ultimately subjective, there are a few objective metrics to assess how powerful these options are.
Early Abilities Matter Most For Multiclassing
Rogues Often Dip Into Other Classes, Making This Worth Considering
The rogue subclasses grant features at third and ninth level, meaning they get one ability rather early on and another pretty late.This makes the third-level subclass features the most important, both because they are available for the majority of the game, and because players that multiclass with rogue likely won’t reach ninth level with it. Multiclassing is a popular choice for rogue characters. They benefit greatly from getting extra attacks from other martials, and their intelligence focus makes them a possible match for wizards.
All of this is to say that the subclass with the best third-level features gets a massive advantage. That would bethief,which gets an additional bonus action every turn. This is huge; actions and bonus actions are the most valuable resources characters have in combat, andbonus actions can do a lot inBaldur’s Gate 3. Thieves can drink an extra potion, take an extra offhand attack, use Cunning Action twice, and the list goes on. This feature is not only the best rogue subclass ability, but alsoone of the best subclass abilities in the entire game.
The thief subclass also grants resistance to falling damage, though this is almost not worth mentioning in comparison to the power of an additional bonus action. In addition, rogues are often multiclassed with monks inBG3, who get the same ability at higher levels, making it less useful here.
The assassin and arcane trickster features are good, but they just can’t match up. The assassin gets advantage on attack rolls against creatures who haven’t gone yet in initiative, andautomatically crits when they hit a surprised creature. These both work wonderfully with the rogue’s sneak attack, and the other feature assassins get at this level, which restores their action and bonus action at the start of combat. This means assassins can initiate combat with a surprise attack and still have their whole turn after rolling initiative.
The Trickiness Of Ranking The Trickster
Spellcasting Varies Greatly In Strength, Making This Subclass A Wild Card
Then, there’s the arcane trickster. The trickster differs drastically from the first two options by virtue of being a spellcaster. They getmage handand two other cantrips at level three, as well as three first-level spells from the wizard list. There are some restrictions, with the spells having to be from certain schools of magic, but spellcasting is still an immensely powerful tool. Rogues of this subclass can pick upshieldormagic missle, can grab ritual spells likefind familiarordisguise self, and they learn more spells as they level up.
Unlike the other two subclasses,the arcane trickster technically has features at levels five, seven, and ten, when they get new spells. They eventually get level-two options, likecloud of daggersandmisty step, which can be very useful. This means this subclass is best when players stick with rogue, or multiclass a few levels into wizard.
15 Most Fun-To-Play Class Builds In Baldur’s Gate 3
When creating a Baldur’s Gate 3 character is can be tempting to try to optimize everything; however, some of the most interesting build put fun first.
There’s also the alterations tomage handthey get at third level. They cast it invisibly and can use it to unlock doors and chests or disable traps. This is all well and good, but the issue comes with a change tomage handthatBaldur’s Gate 3introduced.Mage handcan now only be used once per short rest,which diminishes the usefulness of this feature quite a bit. Still,mage hand can be a lifesaver in certain situations, like shoving enemies or setting off traps.
High-Level Rogue Subclasses Are Mostly A Letdown
A Lot Of Commitment For Not Much Payoff
Unfortunately, the rogue subclass features at level nine are not very good. The thief, which starts out so promising with an extra bonus action, gets an ability called Supreme Sneak that allows them to use an action to turn invisible. This can be nice, but the invisibility breaks when the rogue interacts with anything, and it can only be used once per short rest.
Arcane trickster rogues can castinvisibilityat around the same level, creating the same effect multiple times per day through use of spell slots.
Similarly, the assassin gets an underwhelming feature called Infiltration Expertise. It functions essentially the same asdisguise self, letting the assassin change their appearance at will outside of combat. It’s alright, until one considers thatthe arcane trickster could have had this same ability through a spell six levels ago.
The trickster’s ninth-level feature is pretty good, though it may not be especially useful depending on their spell choices and intelligence modifier. It gives creatures disadvantage on saving throws against the rogue’s spells, as long as the rogue is hidden when they cast them. Theoretically, this gives the rogue a good chance of causing enemies to fail saves, and can be good for spells likehold person. But the arcane trickster will typically not have a super high intelligence modifier, andthe spells they pick tend to affect themselves.
Which Rogue Subclass Is Strongest?
A Fairly Even Fight Between Three Options
The rogue is an odd case where there aren’t really any clear winners or losers in their subclass choices. The thief and assassin both have very bad ninth-level abilities that the arcane trickster can emulate, but they also get great early features which make them viable. The thief and assassin are both really strong as multiclassing options, whilethe arcane trickster is best when fully committed to.
Technically, that probably makes the arcane tricksters the most useful subclass for rogues, since it is the one that functions best on its own. Still, no one can deny the strength that a thief brings to a multiclass build with a monk or fighter, or the power of theassassin-gloomstalker combo. EachBaldur’s Gate 3rogue subclass has its perks, and ultimately,it comes down to what kind of rogue players want to be.
Baldur’s Gate 3
Developed and published by Larian Studios, Baldur’s Gate 3 is an upcoming role-playing game set to release in August of 2023. Players will create a character to embark on a large-scale journey and can do so solo or cooperatively with a friend. Combat is a turn-based style this time around.
