Baldur’s Gate 3 gave a key companion the worst build in the game

Baldur’s Gate 3 may give the players plenty of opportunities to craft the most powerful characters possible, but that’s got nothing on the pretty useless companion Larian crafted themselves.

It’s well known among the Baldur’s Gate 3 community that Shadowheart, the Cleric you meet at the start of the game, is pretty lackluster in her power. Some blame it on her odd array of spells, others swear she’s coded to miss 90% of her attacks. Either way, the poor loveable companion just doesn’t hold up too much in combat.

However, after the players took to Reddit and performed a deep dive into why Shadowheart doesn’t quite hold up, it was revealed that it’s not her spells or her coding, but her stats and subclass that let her down.

Larian Studios

Typically, as highlighted by the post, Clerics are designed to be up-front fighters. Their high armor class, weapon proficiencies, and well-thought-out spells make them perfect for a frontline healer. However, with a 13 in Strength, and 14 in Constitution, Shadowheart’s armor class and attack damage are already incredibly sub-par.

Combine that with her Trickery Domain subclass, and many fans were quickly wondering why Larian decided to design her in such an odd way.

“The way her stats are balanced in her base kit is INCREDIBLY stupid,” commented one fan, going on to explain how the issues “ended up giving a lot of new players who might not have understood why things weren’t working/how to fix it in respec a really bad opinion of her.”

Of course, if Shadowheart is respecced then players can completely change her stats subclass. Fans quickly took to the comments to showcase the best choices for these.

“Shadowheart gets a respec into tempest or war domain every time” explained one player, adding that the “former has more caster vibes and latter is also fun and badass.”

The Tempest Cleric is undeniably the favored subclass for Clerics and Shadowheart. After all, it does grant you tons of damaging spells like Thunderwave, Shatter, and Call Lightning, but also some handy utility spells like Freedom of Movement.

So, if you intend on adding Shadowheart to your Baldur’s Gate 3 party, be sure to respec her as soon as you can, change her stats around to work more with her attacks or her spells, and be sure to avoid the Trickery domain as much as possible.