Baldur’s Gate 3 BEST Assassin Build [Rogue Class]

Baldur’s Gate 3 features several classes, races, and sub-classes for players to choose from, and using the Rogue Class, players can make the Assassin build. This specializes in stealth, and single-hit kills for most enemies. Various attributes allow the Rogue Class to be perfect for this.

Assassin Build Overview

Rogue Class

Best Damage Dealing Build.

This class gives you additional actions like Sneak Attack, ranged, or melee. The benefit of these attacks is that they deal extra damage against enemies you have an Advantage against. These attacks must be done while sneaking up on them to be effective.

Race

Races define your character’s special abilities, giving them unique characteristics and skills. Remember, the ability points remain the same regardless of your chosen race. Hence you can select them based on their traits.

1. Drow

The best one for our case, Drows, has decent Base Racial Speed and Superior Dark Vision. Thus, they can move quickly and are proficient in handling many weapons. They also have Fey Ancestry, which increases the resistance against spells, and you are not affected by magic spells that cast sleep.

2. Half-Orc

You can take the Half-Orc Race to be your Assassin, as they are professional in seeing in Dark regions. Moreover, they have good endurance to compensate for your build’s lower armor.

Additionally, they have a Savage Attack Feature that triples the damage dice if a Melee Weapon does a Critical Hit.

Background

Backgrounds are similar to race, and they determine the initial proficiency of your build.

1. Criminal

The ideal Background is Criminal, as it provides us with proficiency in Deception and Stealth abilities. Both are related to Dexterity and Charisma, respectively, which is the bread and butter of this build. These will help you get out of tricky conditions if you get caught.

2. Urchin

Another Background you can choose is Urchin who are masters of Sleight of Hand and Stealth skills. Urchin had a rough past, living on the streets and making the most of the small things they had. Hence, their skills can help steal from people while hidden from sight.

Sub Class – Assassin

Sub-classes are more focused on the specific inherited traits of the upper class.

Of course, I will go for the Assassin Sub Class, as it’s the core of my setup. Assassins are masters in dealing with a single enemy at a time and dealing heavy damage to it. However, they must engage silently to keep their presence hidden from others.

Once you select this class, you get three features:

• Assassinate Initiative – You have an Advantage against enemies that have not made their turn yet.
• Assassinate Ambush – You get a guaranteed Critical Hit by any Attack Roll against Surprised enemies.
• Assassin’s Alacrity – You replenish your actions and bonus actions at the start of combat.

You must sneak up on your enemies to give them the maximum damage at the start. The subclass unlocks at Level 3. Progressing to Level 9 unlocks Infiltration Expertise Action. Using this, you will be able to change your appearance, and you can hide from enemies easily.

Ability Points

Dexterity, Charisma, and the Constitution are the main focus of this section. Dexterity allows you to move quickly, rapidly getting in and out of sight after attacking. Charisma improves your talking ability, making your dialogues better and making it easier to conceal lies. Constitution increases your base HP; considering the low Armor, it is also crucial.

Combining all these, you ensure your survival in every condition, whether combat or dialogue. You can allocate other points to Wisdom and Intelligence equally, but they aren’t very important. As you progress, you should keep on increasing Dexterity.

The same goes for bonus points; add +2 to Dexterity and +1 to Constitution or Charisma, which suits you better.

Feats

I will primarily work on three feats for the Assassin Build.

• Alert

When you unlock Feat in Level 4 for the first time, choose Alert. The Alert feat increases your Initiative by +5, and you will not be Surprised. Initiative determines whose turn will be first, and remember that the first attack by Assassin has an Advantage using Assassinate: Initiative.

• Actor

The Actor feat increases your Charisma by 1, but the maximum level it can go up to is 20. Moreover, it doubles your Proficiency Bonus for Deception and Performance Checks. Additionally, it gives Proficiency in Deception and Performance.

• Ability Improvement

This feat allows you to increase your Ability Points by a maximum of 2. You can either give +2 to one ability or add +1 to two different abilities, but the maximum ability level should not exceed 20. It is pretty helpful if you want your character to excel in certain skills he usually lacks.

Using this feat, You can give a total of +3 points to Dexterity and +1 to Charisma. You can check further division in the leveling-up section.

Skills

Skills determine how proficient your character is while doing a specific action. You can choose two additional skills when you reach Level 6. I went with Perception and Sleight of Hand as they seemed more handy.

• Perception

Perception is a Wisdom-based skill that determines your overall senses and awareness of the environment. With this skill, you can have a better understanding of your surroundings, and you can look out for ambushes more clearly. It also allows you to listen to enemies talking far away.

• Sleight of Hand

Sleight of Hand is a Dexterity-based skill. You can do tricky actions like pickpocketing people to get extra gold, hide your weapon, or do other actions that people might overlook easily.

Leveling Up

Playstyle

You must adopt a sneaky playstyle and reduce face-to-face encounters the most. Therefore, it is best to use your actions like Cunning Action: Dash to go behind enemies and attack them when they are unaware. Before you have this, you can also use the Hide action, which will help you remain hidden, as it will slow down your movement speed.

Once you are behind the enemy, any attack will be on Advantage, giving you a higher chance of the attack’s success. You can also use Dash to run away from enemies to avoid getting hit by their attacks. Most sneak attacks will Surprise them, and they will get a Critical Hit due to Assassinate: Ambush.

My Thoughts

The Assassin Build in Baldur’s Gate 3 is incredibly helpful for a stealthy, damage-focused playstyle. It adds a layer of fun and engagement to the game, as sneaking up on foes and executing precision strikes is both satisfying and strategic. Even though I didn’t opt for this build, I applied it on Astarion, as he greatly benefits from this build, not only single-handedly but also for the entire party. 

Being able to have different dynamics during gameplay is incredibly satisfying, My Main Character was more of a brutal upfront kind of attacker while switching to Astarion with the Assassin build provided me that difference in playstyles, being able to sneak up on enemies and thin the herd out before going in loud and proud is the kind of freedom in gameplay that’s unparalleled. 

Make sure to take a look at these guides:

• Baldur’s Gate 3 BEST Sorcerer Build.
• Baldur’s Gate 3 BEST Paladin Build.