This guide focuses on the best Bard build in Baldur’s Gate 3, the College of Swords Subclass, and includes all components to build a powerful character.
This build page has been updated for thePatch 8 versionof Baldur’s Gate 3.
Everything About the College of Swords Bard in Baldur’s Gate 3
In Baldur’s Gate 3 the College of Swords is a subclass that will turn your Bard into a potent weapon-based damage dealer with spells. Therefore, this fundamental change to the class means that their ability score, gear, and additional loadouts will look significantly different. Additionally, the College of Swords subclass gets Extra Attack which will improve overall damage significantly. Pick up this build if you want a different playstyle of the Bard based on weapon damage rather than support. The following guide will walk you through character creation, level progression, and gear for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Swords Bard Build Guide.
Bards are versatile characters who are skilled in a variety of areas, includingmusic,magic, andcombat. They are known for their ability to inspire their allies, debuff their enemies, and their unique ability to playmusical instruments. Think of the Bard as an out-of-combat, fun, different and unique playstyle. Inside of combat, their ability diminishes significantly and is weak compared to other classes.
Patch 8 Changes to College of Swords Bard Build for BG3
Patch 8 introduced some major changes to the Bard class in Baldur’s Gate 3, most notably the College of Glamour subclass and theBooming Bladecantrip. The College of Glamour is an excellent choice for players focused on support, offering powerful crowd control and enhancing your ability to engage in dialogue and persuasion.
While Bards don’t naturally gain access to Booming Blade, you can unlock it by multiclassing into Warlock. This allows you to craft a versatile build, and when combined with levels in Fighter later on, you can create an incredibly potent melee character. In the Leveling Progression section below, we’ll explore an alternative hybrid build that takes advantage of this unique combination.
Bard Class Features and Mechanics
The following list presents all the essential Bard Mechanics in Baldur’s Gate 3
Bard Spell Mechanics
For the list of the best spells for the Bard, look below in level progression.
Blade Flourish Explained
Bardic inspiration is a core feature of the bard class in Baldur’s Gate 3. It allows the bard to inspire their allies, giving them a bonus to their next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. This is a limited usage resource that recharges on long rest. The amount of resources you can spend goes up based on level and you get 3 to start.
Also Check:-BG3 Interactive Map
For this build, Bardic Inspiration will change to Blade Flourish at level 3 with the College of Swords subclass selection. This changes the resource to weapon-based attacks that can be used at range or melee. Below is a list of Blade Flourish for the College of Sword Bard:
College of Sword Bard Subclass Explained
The College of Swords is a great subclass for Bard players looking to use weapons and skills for damage rather than play a support class. You can unlock skills that consume Bardic Inspiration for damage, stuns, and defense. And with Extra Attack, you attack and deal some significant damage while providing the Bard’s support. This build is recommended for players wanting weapon-based Bard that still has spells for crowd control and support.
College of Sword Progression
Below is a list of the College of Swords Bard subclass progression, features, and spells:
Character Creation for College of Swords Bard Build
Recommended Backgrounds for College of Swords Bard
Entertaineris the Bestbackgroundfor the College of Swords Bard Build in Baldur’s Gate 3. This choice mostly influences roleplaying and dialogue options aspects and allows you to create unique characters. Additional choices are:
Best Race Choice for College of Swords Bard Build
Asmodeus Tieflingis the bestRacialChoice for a Bard because you get a Hellish Rebuke, fire resistance, dark vision, and an extra Darkness spell.Wood Elfis a secondary choice because they have the highest movement speed, Darkvision, and Elven Weapon training which gives proficiency in Longbows.
The ability score improvement will be determined by your class and no longer your race freeing up choices. Every race will get +2 and +1 to spend on their Ability Score. Each of these races offers unique advantages that can enhance your combat prowess, survivability, or utility. Additionally, consider the roleplaying opportunities and character concepts that resonate with you for this Best Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Swords Bard Build Guide.
Recommended Skills for College of Swords Bard Build
Deception, Intimidation,andPersuasionare the best skills for the College of Swords Bard in Baldur’s Gate 3 because they complement your class abilities and enhance your effectiveness in various situations. In Baldur’s Gate 3, skills represent the abilities and proficiencies of your character that allow them to perform various actions and interact with the game world. Skills are associated with specific attributes and are used to determine the success or effectiveness of certain actions or abilities. They can be edited during character creation or with companions, during respec or reroll screen.
Here are theskillsfor Bard in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Best College of Sword Bard Ability Scores
Here’s the recommendedability pointdistribution to maximize a College of Swords Bard Build potential in Baldur’s Gate 3:
The best ability score for a College of Sword bard is 16 Charisma for spellcasting, 16 Dexterity for weapon damage, and 14 Constituion for the health pool. With the College of Swords subclass, Dexterity is our ability that determines damage from weapon attacks. Charisma is less important in this subclass because our spells are mostly used for crowd control and utility. As we progress with this build, we will look to improve Dexterity with the +2 ability improvement feat.
You can increase your ability score via a quest in Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3. Make sure to check out ourPermanent bonus guideon how you can boost your ability score through quests.
Bard Spell Slots
Here’s a chart that shows the levels and spell slots unlocked for the Bard class in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Best Companions for College of Swords Bard
With this particular Bard build, you won’t be doing much of the support and it’s a good idea to bring a Cleric particularly Shadowheart to your party. We suggest respecing her to the Life subclass which has a lot of powerful healing and utility spells. This will allow you to stick with doing high damage.
Here’s a list of the best companions for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Swords Bard Build Guide:
When putting your party together, considercompanionsfor not only their combat prowess but also their outside abilities and skills that can influence storytelling, dialogue, and exploration. A balanced party will fit the traditional RPG ‘holy trinity’: Tank, Healer, and DPS. Ideally, in Baldur’s Gate 3, you are going to want one tank, one healer, one melee DPS, and one range DPS. Some classes/subclasses can cover both roles, so feel free to experiment and find out what works best for you.
College of Sword Bard Illithid Powers
Illithid Powersare unlocked later in the game when you learn more about the Mind Flayers and Tadpoles. you’re able to gain jars of Mind Flayer Parasite Specimens, and consume them to gain one point. This is essentially another skill tree advancement with some very strong powers. If you decide to advance this skill line, these are the choices we suggest.
Here are the best Illithid Powers for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Swords Bard Build Guide:
College of Swords Bard Level Progression
Alternative College of Swords Bard Build
For this alternative College of Swords Bard build, you’ll start at Level 1 by choosing Warlock and theHexblade subclass. This grants you access to two potent cantrips, Eldritch Blast and Booming Blade, providing a solid foundation for both ranged and melee combat. At Level 2, take another level in Warlock to unlock Hellish Rebuke and a couple of useful Eldritch Invocations, boosting your versatility and survivability.
At Level 3, you’ll multiclass into Bard, and at Level 5, you’ll select the College of Swords subclass. This works perfectly with a melee-focused build, enhancing your combat effectiveness. To cap it all off, take levels in Fighter, choosing the Eldritch Knight subclass for additional spellcasting and even greater melee damage potential.
As a level one Bard, you will be able to pick an instrument and have Bardic Inspiration, Cantrips, and Spells. Musical instruments are for roleplay, nothing performance-based. At level 1 you will be wearing light armor and random weapons. Then at level 3, you will want to select subclass and switch to medium and Rapier because the College of Sword grants proficiency and these armor and weapons. For now, mainly work towards reaching your subclass which will give you a lot more damage.
Bardic Inspiration(class feature): 18m range consuming a bonus action ally can add a +1d6 bonus to their next Attack Roll, Ability Check, or Saving Throw. This can be used four times and recover charges by taking a long rest.
Gameplay at this level revolves around buff allies with Blade Ward, Crowd Control with Hideous Laughter, and healing with Healing Word and Cure wounds. You use Thunderwave to knock back enemies and Vicious Mockery for some damage and debuff. From here, the Bard gets more of the same as the levels progress. Mainly in the form of enemy crowd control effects and debuffs. Keep reading to find out more level progression for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Swords Bard Build Guide.
College of Swords Bard Gameplay & Priorities
During the early phase of BG3, the Bard should equip a Shortsword in the main hand and a dagger in the off-hand or a Longsword. You will also want to equip a back bar Hand Crossbow, or Shortbow for ranged damage. Additionally, your other primary goal is to focus on spells that give you utility and crowd control. This build isn’t concerned with supporting allies, but until levels 3-6, you won’t have much at your disposal for damage. Moreover, look to acquire Elixir of Bloodlust and Oil of Accuracy. you’re able to combine these two for massive damage increases and your Bard will feel very powerful immediately.
Your overall priority with the College of Swords build is the following:
Following these steps ensures a strong foundation for her especially if you plan on playingsoloor onHonour Modedifficulty.
Level 1 College of Swords Bard Spell Loadout: Healing Word, Cure Wounds, Thunderwave, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter.
At level 2, Jack of All Trades is unlocked which adds half of your Proficiency Bonus (like persuasion) to Ability checks that you are not Proficient in. This essentially has little impact on performance but helps in story-telling and exploring situations.
Song of Restwill be unlocked at level two as well. This essentially provides an out-of-combat heal, like a short rest. Nothing that will aid you in a fight but can help you from heading back to camp repeatedly to heal up.
At level two, you will unlock more level 1 spell slots. You will also get the chance to unlearn any spells. This is useful if you picked the wrong spell loadout at character creator since you cannot prepare spells like a Wizard. We suggest taking Faerie Fire to this level.
Your gameplay remains unchanged here, you just use Song of Rest to help outside of combat recovery.
Level 2 College of Swords Bard Spell Loadout: Healing Word, Cure Wounds, Thunderwave, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, Faerie Fire.
At level three you get to pick a subclass.The obvious choice is College of Swords because it unlocks all the weapon-based damage attacks and a fighting style. We’ll unlock the Heat Metal spell and get to choose a Fighting Style.
College of Swords Bard Subclass Actions
The subclass selection unlocks a lot of attacks which you need to understand. Slashing, defensive, and mobile flourish all consume Bardic Inspiration but can be very helpful. You need to be aware of your Bardic Inspiration and just like spell slots, recharge them frequently because this is where your damage and utility come from.
Slashing Flourish is great for area damage (multiple enemies), Defensive is great for increasing your AC (harder to hit you), and Mobility is an awesome knockback that can be used to instantly kill enemies off ledges.
Your Fighting Style Duelling gives you extra damage for a Rapier or Scimitar in your off-hand with just one weapon. So, this is the reason we recommend this playstyle and weapon type. Rapiers are more common with some very powerful even legendary items in Act 3. Rely on your weapon attacks to do damage, and spells to crowd control. Level 6 you see a spike in damage via Extra Attack which gives you two attacks per action.
College of Swords Bard Proficiencies
Lastly, you gain proficiency in medium armor and Scimitar. Scimitars can be a great weapon, but are harder to find and in Act 3 become weak due to options. Medium armor gives higher AC but caps your AC to +2. Later in the game, you can get item sets that remove this cap giving you massive AC, thus making you very hard to hit. Feel free to use either light or medium depending on the bonuses and work towards collecting Act 3 gear sets with medium and rapier as weapons and armor.
Level 3 College of Swords Bard Spell Loadout: Healing Word, Cure Wounds, Thunderwave, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, Faerie Fire, Heat Metal
At level four, you can either take a feat or an ability improvement, one new spell and another Cantrip. Below are our recommendation selections for the College of Sword Bard at level 4:
The Savage Attacker feat will increase your damage significantly, and once we get more Dexterity, the damage will further increase. Shatter can be useful as a range damage-dealing tool, and Mage Hand is purely for utility. The gameplay remains the same at this level, and not much changes until level 6.
Level 4 College of Swords Bard Spell Loadout: Healing Word, Cure Wounds, Thunderwave, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, Faerie Fire, Heat Metal, Shatter
At level five,Bardic Inspirationis enhanced going from a 1d6 to 1d8 benefit on attack rolls. You also gain all Bardic Inspiration on a short rest. Bards get access to level 3 spells at this point, and what you pick will depend on what your group composition needs. Our recommended spell is Stinking Cloud. This spell is in a massive 8m radius and creates a huge cloud that constantly makes Dex check to see if enemies cannot use actions. It essentially shuts down an entire area (friend or foe) from taking action.
At level 5, you get another area-based crowd control Sinking Cloud.
Level 5 College of Swords Bard Spell Loadout: Healing Word, Cure Wounds, Thunderwave, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, Faerie Fire, Heat Metal, Shatter, Stinking Cloud
At level 6 we gain Counter Charm, Extra Attack, and another spell. Here are the details at this level:
Level 6 gives us an Extra Attack making one attack deliver two attacks increasing our damage radically. The only issue with the Bard at this point is the lack of bonus action utility. You don’t have many ways to combo your action with a bonus action. Look to use your bonus action for potions, consumables, etc., and action for pure damage with weapons or spells for CC.
Ending Act 1 with the College of Swords Bard
Around Level 6 you should be close to finishing Act 1 content. Be sure to check in with merchants and stock up on camp and alchemy supplies. Moreover, check out thebest Act 1 items. Additionally, you don’t want to miss thepermanent bonuses you can acquire in Act 1. Lastly, Grymforge has powerful armor and weapons (Adamantine) that can aid you well into Act 3. Consider taking the time to craft at least one thing there before transitioning to Act 2, where you won’t be able to return.
Level 6 College of Swords Bard Spell Loadout: Healing Word, Cure Wounds, Thunderwave, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, Faerie Fire, Heat Metal, Shatter, Stinking Cloud, Glyph of Warding
At level 7 we get access to level 4 spells. We recommend taking Polymorph.
Polymorph(spell selection): Transform a creature into a harmless sheep.
We won’t see much happen at this level, but Polymorph is a great single-target CC. Use this on the enemy’s primary damage dealer only if the percentage to land is 60% or higher. The reason why, you don’t want to use your action and whiff (miss) and lose out on two attacks with Extra Attack. You want the percentage to land to be higher or it’s not worth the risk. Factor that into your gameplay when doing any crowd control from this point forward.
Level 7 College of Swords Bard Spell Loadout: Healing Word, Cure Wounds, Thunderwave, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, Faerie Fire, Heat Metal, Shatter, Stinking Cloud, Glyph of Warding, Polymorph
At level 8 we get access to another spell slot and a feat.
At this level, you get a utility spell and more Dexterity which will help with damage and landing attacks. Feel free to select a different spell, it’s not critical, and mainly the Bard levels from this point forward are lackluster.
Level 8 College of Swords Bard Spell Loadout: Healing Word, Cure Wounds, Thunderwave, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, Faerie Fire, Heat Metal, Shatter, Stinking Cloud, Glyph of Warding, Polymorph, Great Invisibility
Past level 8 the College of Swords Bard doesn’t get much for their subclass selection and so we’re going to lean into their action-based combat and choose to multiclass. There are two different, but effective routes you could choose here:Thief Roguefor their extra bonus action, orBattle Master Fighterfor Action Surge. I’m choosing to go with Fighter because Battle Master will give us Action Surge, two attacks per short rest, and with Extra Attack you’re able to take a lot of actions per turn.
If you choose to stay in the Bard levels, you will get weak spell selections, zero increase to actions, and only two weak subclass features. Fighter is the play with four levels you can unlock Action Surge, Battle Master Subclass, and an extra feat! To do this, press the + box in the upper left when leveling then select the Fighter class. We will stay with Fighter until the maximum level of 12. Your spells will remain unchanged from this point forward, so use them for utility mainly.
We still have 5 Bardic charges, which is good since they regenerate on short rest. Your Bonus Action at this point should be used for Bardic Inspiration or consumables.
At level 10 you’ll put another level into the Fighter class. This will unlock the Action Surge feature, which allows your character to take another free turn once every short rest. Action Surge is an incredible ability that needs to be used wisely. You get a second action, and with Extra Attack, that means four attacks and one bonus action per turn. This gives you huge damage potential but needs to be recharged with short rest.
The way to use Action Surge is to wait for a target to be vulnerable or nearly at death. You use Action Surge and finish the target off. Do not use Action Surge on your first turn, be precise with it when you need to press the action, retreat, off-heal or your party will die. Once you get used to it, the combination with all your spells and weapon damage makes the Fighter levels worth it in the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Swords Bard Build Guide.
Action Surge(Fighter class feature): Immediately gain an extra action to use this turn.
At Level 11, you can take another level in the Fighter class and you’ll now be able to select a subclass. I recommend choosing the Battle Master subclass. This will unlock three maneuvers, as well as superiority dice. Superiority Dice is another resource that can be spent for abilities or passive benefits. You will now have a lot of resources to manage but short rest will recharge Superiority Die and Action Surge.
Feinting Attack is the maneuver that consumes both your action and bonus action for extra damage, somewhat similar to a Smite. This is very useful for the Bard considering our weakness is the lack of bonus action utility. With this resource, you can use Smite or Feinting on back-to-back turns for a huge damage ability, or with Extra Attack one turn produces massive damage.
Riposte is a passive reaction that will do damage and consume superiority dice resources. With high AC, up to 21 with our armour choices, enemies will miss you a lot. This simply punishes them with free damage that does not require an action. Precision Attack is useful because it’s a passive skill, it does not require an action or bonus action, and it does a bit of damage. Using the maneuvers for extra damage and bonus damage usage, not crowd control since we have that alongside healing.
You’ve reached the maximum level of 12 with the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Swords Bard Build Guide. At this level, you will select a +2 Dexterity bonus and reach 20 if you follow this guide. Not many changes gameplay-wise, and our next suggestion is to look below for gear sets and start optimizing your builds loadout.
Best Gear for College of Swords Bard in Baldur’s Gate 3
Beginner: Act 1
The following table is a recommended beginner gear for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Swords Bard Build Guide:
Below is the best Act 1 Armor, Weapons, and Equipment for College of Swords Bard in BG3:
Advanced: Act 3 End Game
The following table presents the best advanced and end-game gear for the best Bard College of Swords Build in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Below is the best Act 3 Armor, Weapons, and Equipment for College of Swords Bard in BG3:
Best College of Swords Bard Consumables, Potions, and Items
The following list represents the best individual useconsumableitems that will aid in our College of Swords Build:
Read More –Baldur’s Gate 3 Shadow Magic Sorcerer Build
Permanent Bonuses for College of Swords Bard BG3
Throughout Baldur’s Gate 3, you will have the ability to gain permanent bonuses to your character. These can grant additional spells, ability scores, and other bonuses. Permanent Bonuses are not displayed throughout the campaign but are vital to increase overall combat performance. We have all permanent bonuses here in a guide, but the most important ones for you to collect are listed below.
Best Permanent Bonuses for College of Swords Bard in Baldur’s Gate 3
College of Swords Bard Gameplay Tips and Tricks
The following list is 10 gameplay, combat, tips, and tricks for playing a Bard effectively in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Remember, this build guide serves as a foundation, and you can always adapt it to suit your preferences and the needs of your campaign. Enjoy playing as a formidable Best Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Swords Bard Build Guide!
College of Swords Bard Changes in Patch 7 for BG3
The College of Swords Bard class didn’t receive any changes with the Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 7. Nothing major has changed if you’re already familiar with how the class works.
Read More –Top 10 builds for Baldur’s Gate 3
Larian Studios’ main focus in this patch ismodsand some new cinematic scenes focusing on evil endings. The game now features amodding toolkitand anin-game mod manager, allowing players to create and install mods directly within the game. This best College of Swords Bard Build Guide remains unchanged, mainly in Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 7.
Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Swords Bard Build Summary Guide
Looking For More About Baldur’s Gate 3?
Thank you for reading Best Baldur’s Gate 3 College of Swords Bard Build Guide guide. We provide the latest news and create guides for Baldur’s Gate 3. Also, watch me play games onTwitchor visit myYouTubechannel!
