It’s obvious why these are the least popular Baldur’s Gate 3 classes

Baldur’s Gate 3 has a staggering number of character creation options, to the point where you could do drastically different playthroughs for years to come. Unfortunately, some classes are extremely unpopular, and the blame lies at the feet of your beloved party members. 

While some classes and subclasses in BG3 are stronger than others, you don’t need some overpowered, highly optimized build to finish the game. Just play with what you like, and you should be fine. 

It’s surprising, then that there’s such a wide division in popularity among the classes, especially as some are beloved options in D&D 5E. However this is because certain characters make select classes almost totally redunant. 

Clerics, Druids, and Wizards are unpopular thanks to the companions (despite being loved in D&D 5E)

According to Larian Studios 1st year anniversary stats for Baldur’s Gate 3, the Cleric is the least popular class in the game. Out of the 12 classes, Cleric is ranked #12, Druid is #10, and Wizard is #8.

On the surface, this is a shocking poll, especially with the melee warrior classes being highly ranked. Cleric, Druid, and Wizard are full spellcasters with lots of cool powers that are popular among D&D players, yet they’re losing out to the people who whack enemies with sticks and sharp bits of metal.

The answer to this conundrum is simple, though: the game gives you great companions who are deeply connected to the Cleric, Druid, and Wizard class. In fact, the classes are an important part of their identity. 

As soon as you finish the tutorial, you run into Shadowheart, a Cleric of Shar who can handle all of the healing and buffs you’ll need. Shadowheart’s popularity as both a party member and a romance option means that there’s really no need to play a Cleric, unless you’re going for a Selunite run and want an angry rivalry that turns into a love story. 

Not long after, you’ll run into Gale, the Wizard of Waterdeep. Gale has a whole story that involves Elminster, the most powerful mage in the Forgotten Realms, ancient magic from the lost arcane Netheril empire, and even Mystra, the goddess of magic. His story is way more wizard-y than whatever your character is up to, so you may as well pick something else.

While you don’t get a Druid companion in Act I, you can potentially receive two in Act II. Both Halsin and Jaheira are recruitable, with the former following the Circle of the Moon subclass, and the latter taking the Circle of the Land. There’s really no need to play a Druid when the game is spoiling you for choice.

The most popular Baldur’s Gate 3 classes are the ones with limited party representation

Meanwhile, Baldur’s Gate 3’s two most popular characters (the Paladin and the Sorcerer) are ones that aren’t tied to popular characters.

While Minthara the Paladin has a sizable fanbase among the ‘dommy mommy’ lovers of the world, she’s also tough to unlock in a good alignment playthrough. You really need to metagame to get her, and then RP explain to yourself why you keep an evil Paladin of Lolth the Spider Queen in your party. 

Minthara is much easier to unlock in an evil playthrough, but as the stats showed, most people went for the good route. Even the mighty Dark Urge was only selected by 15% of the fanbase while the majority ( 93%) went the Custom character route.

The fact that Minthara is pretty evil means that those who want a holy Paladin (or just a scumbag but rad Oathbreaker Paladin) will have to do it themselves.

Meanwhile, the Sorcerer is the least popular arcane spellcaster in D&D, yet it’s the 2nd most chosen class in Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s also the only arcane spellcaster class not linked to a party member, as Gale is a Wizard and Wyll is a Warlock. 

But what about the Fighter, Barbarian, Rogue, and Warlock?

There are some outliers to this. The Fighter is the #3 most popular class, Barbarian is #4. Rogue is #5, and Warlock is #6. This is despite Lae’zel being a Fighter, Karlach being a Barbarian, Astarion being a Rogue, and Wyll being a Warlock.

However, these classes all share a trait that explains why they’re so popular: they’re the best choices for multiclassing, which is where the best builds in the game can be found. 

A lot of players dip into Fighter for Action Surge and its proficiencies, Barbarian for Unarmored Defense and its hit points, Rogue for Sneak Attack and Cunning Action, and Warlock for the mighty Eldritch Blast. 

Notably, the Cleric, Druid, and Wizard are terrible choices for most multiclass builds. The full spellcasting classes work best when you reach max level without dipping, as that’s how you get the strongest spells in the game. 

It also bears mentioning that the Fighter, once one of the most disliked classes in the history of D&D (due to how boring it was compared to pretty much everything else), is actually the most popular choice in D&D 5E. Sorry, Lae’zel, but you just can’t compete with homegrown Action Surge (maybe she should have tried being a bit nicer). 

Baldur’s Gate 3 gives you the ideal D&D balanced party (while dissuading you from certain options)

Once you’ve escaped the Nautiloid at the start of Baldur’s Gate 3, you’ll quickly run into Shadowheart, Gale,, Astarion,, Lae’zel, Wyll, and Karlach. This gives you plenty of options for forming the ideal D&D party, with choices for the meat shield, healer, DPS spellcaster, and trap finder. 

While you can respec these characters in the camp, it can take a great deal away from their storylines. Shadowheart the Bard isn’t quite as apt as when she’s a Cleric of Shar, and the same is true of Gale the Barbarian. 

As Baldur’s Gate 3 is a game that tempts players to start over with a new character, it’s easy to see what party member options are available to you early on and then boot up a new game with a character with a role not represented by an ally. 

And this means that the Cleric, Wizard, and Druid, some of D&D’s most beloved classes, are left behind.