With a proper Baldur’s Gate 3 Monk Multiclass build, players can deal incredible damage per turn with multiple unarmed strikes. Monks are a rather unique class in Baldur’s Gate 3, relying on high mobility to navigate difficult terrain and striking down multiple targets with a flurry of high-damage blows. They’re already incredibly strong, but Multiclassing can elevate their damage output to new heights.

Multiclassing in Baldur’s Gate 3 involves selecting a different class when leveling up, allowing you to gain skills, abilities, and features from other classes. This will enable you to create hybrid characters with diverse builds, maximizing their potential. When it comes to Multiclassing as a Monk, both the Rogue and Fighter classes are ideal. The Monk/Rogue/Fighter build is potent and very popular and even has fans among the developers at Larian.

How To Create A Monk, Rogue, and Fighter Character

All builds start with the character creator, where you can customize your character’s background, race, appearance, and many more. For this build, your primary class will be the Monk – a nimble, unarmed, damage-dealing class whose primary stat is Dexterity. Monks in Baldur’s Gate 3 have a basic unarmed strike action but can spend Ki Points to fuel their special class attacks.

The Wood Half-Elf is generally the best race for Monk characters, as they can move an extra 1.5m on top of their usual 9m movement range. They also have Darkvision, which is useful for seeing in the dark, and Fey Ancestry, which offers some protection from sleep spells.

However, you can also realistically pick any race when playing as a Monk, so feel free to choose based on what you’d like to roleplay as. When picking the best Background, the Monk benefits the most from Charlatan or Urchin. Both of these Backgrounds grant Proficiency in Dexterity-based skills, which aligns nicely with the Monk’s primary stat. You will also want to reallocate a few of your attribute points in the character creator towards the Strength stat – this is essential to increasing your character’s damage output.

How To Build and Level A Monk, Rogue, and Fighter

This build focuses on maximizing the damage output of your unarmed attacks and then maximizing the number of attacks you can make per turn. At Monk Level 3, your character will be able to select one of three subclasses. For this build, use the Way of the Open Hand Monk subclass, which unlocks the following: Flurry of Blows (Topple) which involves two unarmed strikes (1d6+3 Bludgeoning damage each) that can knock the target Prone.

• Flurry of Blows (Stagger), which can Stagger the target and stop them from using Reactions.
• Flurry of Blows (Push) which can push the target up to 5m away.

These special abilities are key to dealing more damage per turn. At this stage, you should also keep leveling up your Monk and avoid Multiclassing until later in the game.

Without some Baldur’s Gate 3 mods, you won’t be able to Multiclass if you’re playing on Explorer difficulty.

Another essential part of this build is selecting the Tavern Brawler Feat at Monk Level 4. This adds your Strength modifier twice to your damage and attack rolls. This is the main reason you want to get your Strength stat as high as possible, as Tavern Brawler makes unarmed attacks much more powerful. It also grants an extra attribute point that you should assign to Strength. Level up to Monk Level 6 to gain extra Ki Points and an extra attack.

At this point, you can Multiclass into Rogue, putting four levels into this secondary class. Rogues in Baldur’s Gate 3 are fantastic stealth attackers, but most of their class features aren’t useful for this build. However, taking the Thief subclass at Rogue Level 3 and the extra Feat at Rogue Level 4 is worth taking.

A Thief Rogue gains Fast Hands, which grants a character an additional bonus action. This bonus action allows you to unleash another Flurry attack, dealing two extra high-damage blows. For the extra Feat, Athlete is highly recommended, as you can add another point to your character’s Strength stat.

Finally, Multiclass into Fighter for your last two levels to unlock Action Surge. Fighters in Baldur’s Gate 3 are basic damage dealers, but Action Surge grants you another bonus action for extra attacks.

Best Items For A Monk, Rogue, and Fighter Build

This build really benefits from certain items, as listed below. Some can be particularly tricky to find, but it’s well worth it for the extra damage potential.

With some of these items, Reddit u/OrkoTheMage managed to deal up to 320 damage in a single turn using a similar Monk/Rogue Multiclass build with a Strength stat of 22. However, they can be difficult to obtain, and most only appear in the mid to late-game. It’s highly recommended that you prioritize any items, particularly gloves, that add damage to your unarmed attacks.

Monk, Rogue, and Fighter Build For Combat

Luckily, the action order for this build is fairly simple. Start by hitting a target with two basic unarmed strikes, then use Ki Points and bonus actions to fuel two Flurry of Blows for six attacks. With Action Surge, you can deal two more basic unarmed strikes for eight attacks per turn.

The goal is to raise the damage of your unarmed strikes as high as possible. Even without some items listed above, you can still deal more than 100 damage in a single turn. It’s enough to pummel most basic enemies into the ground and even gives bosses something to worry about. Multiclassing is extremely powerful in Baldur’s Gate 3, and Monk characters should take advantage of these class combinations.

Source: PlayStation Blog/Emily Gera, u/OrkoTheMage/Reddit