When you opt for the Paladin class, you can choose from several subclasses or Oaths. However, it is hard to decide which Oath to opt for because all of them offer buffs in different ways. As such, it may be vital to view a BG3 Best Oath guide that covers all of Paladin Oaths while discussing which is best suited for certain builds and playstyles.
- There are a total of 4 Oaths (including the Oathbreaker Subclass) you can opt for when you play the Paladin Class in BG3.
- Each Oath is focused on a different kind of playstyle, and the best Oath at the moment is the Oath of Ancients.
- This Oath is one of the most popular builds in Baldurs Gate 3 as it focuses on dueling in melee range, ideally with a one-handed weapon and a shield.
- In my opinion, Oath of Ancients is the best because it uses the close-range Legacy of Avernus Fire Smite, offering a lot of crowd control for locking down enemies effectively.
- Author’s Note: You can trust and rely on my expertise since I’ve gone through Baldur’s Gate 3 for well over 80 hours.
1. Oath Of Ancients
- Why I Chose This: The Oath of Ancients has amazing versatility by offering healing, mobility, and attack power, giving the players tons of options, in my opinion.
This is an Oath based on defending Life and Nature, somewhat like a Druid. The Oath of Ancients is also one of the more popular Oaths and, so far, my pick for the best BG3 Best Oath. It starts out by giving you stable AoE healing through Healing Radiance.
As listed in the table below, you can level it up and gain many more skills:
- You get two extremely useful spells that can heal you (Healing Radiance) or CC a target enemy (Nature’s Wrath.)
- As you level up, you gain teleportation (Misty Step) and resistance spells (Protection from Energy, Aura of Warding) that create the perfect environment for dueling.
- High DPS Utility.
- Makes the best use of Legacy of Avernus.
- Solid Dueling Capability.
- Quick movement.
- Easy to use CC.
- Well balanced.
- Power spike is after Level 5.
- Does not offer too much sustain.
- No ranged capabilities.
2. Oath Of Vengeance
- Why I Chose This: The Oath of Vengeance is a self-sufficient oath that makes the use of solo skills and spells to pump out damage.
Unlike the other Oaths, I found that this Oath doesn’t rely on helping allies too much. Rather, it gives you the power to become an unstoppable foe for all your enemies. The Oath of Vengeance provides a similar but more aggressive dueling like the Oath of Ancients.
- At level 1, you gain Inquistor’s Might, which allows you to deal bonus damage.
- Later on, you learn Misty Step(teleport) along with Hold Person, which completely freezes the target.
- Finally, at level 9, you’ll get Haste (additional actions) and Protection from Energy, making you resistant to one elemental damage type.
- Relatively High DPS.
- Extremely aggressive dueling utility.
- Easy and Fast movement.
- Very easy to chain CC on enemies.
- Very late power spike.
- Not good for ranged.
- Does not offer a lot of healing or resistance.
3. Oath Of Devotion
- Why I Chose This: While this Oath can be considered the jack of all trades and master of none, I have to highlight the usefulness of one of its starting spells, Silence, which was extremely helpful in some early-game scenarios.
The next Oath for the Paladin class is the Oath of Devotion. This Oath is your usual textbook Knight in Shining Armor. Full of honor and might, users are dedicated to fighting for the greater good and defending the weak. It’s the farthest possible thing from the BG3 Best Oath.
All the skills and spells you will learn under this Oath are listed below:
- The path of Devotion is the support role for your allies.
- All your abilities, like Lesser Restoration and Divine Rebuke, boost your allies’ health and combat power.
- Silence is a key spell in your kit at level 5, which creates an area where every entity is silenced.
- With level 9, you gain Beacon of Hope, which increases your healing, and Remove Curse, which removes all curses from your allies.
- Healing utility and sustain.
- Boosts companions‘ combat power.
- Useful from level 1.
- Silence spell for quick CC.
- Horrible damage throughout.
- Relies heavily on ally damage.
- Needs a lot of haste items to keep allies alive.
4. Oathbreaker
- Why I Chose This: If you’re someone who likes to stay at a safe distance and continue buffing your allies, I think this Oath is for you.
Oathbreaker isn’t necessarily an Oath, but it is a Paladin subclass; therefore, it is a viable candidate for one of the best Oaths in BG3. It is also a Paladin Subclass, but the only way to get it is not to pick any Oath at all. You can get your Oaths back by paying 2000 gold to the Knight.
The skills you can obtain as an Oathbreaker are listed as follows:
- The Oathbreaker skills and spells are quite destructive and grim, owing to the evil nature of the subclass.
- Your Level 1 spells include Control Undead, which gives you control of an undead being, and Spiteful Suffering, which allows you to deal necrotic damage to enemies.
Additional spells and skills that are unique to this path are listed as follows:
- Crown of Madness will make enemies aggressive towards their allies.
- Animate Undead will give you the ability to revive a fallen unit and use it as an ally.
- Aura of Hate will add a Charisma modifier to your attacks.
- Impressive Bonus damage.
- Additional Charisma scaling on attacks.
- Reanimates the dead for allies.
- Crown of Madness ability that makes enemies strike their allies.
- Costs 2000 gold to revert to any other oaths.
- Dialogue options are negative.
- No healing or resistance initially.
- Very dependent on luck.
What I Think On Paladin’s Oaths
As a dedicated player of Baldurs Gate 3, I have tested all of these builds, and my personal best seems to resonate with the majority. The Oath of Ancients is simply too helpful as a paladin because of the easily available misty step very early on and the insane healing. No more hunting for the perfect equipment 3 acts later.
Finally, this concludes the BG3 Best Oath guide, covering the pros and cons of all Paladin Oaths and determining the one best suited for you. Since you’re here, consider checking out a similar guide, such as the Best Bard Subclasses. If that doesn’t sound fun, you can always check out how to unlock Withers in BG3. Lastly, if there is something you wish to let the readers know, feel free to leave it in the comments below.
Up Next:
- Baldur’s Gate 3: Gandrel Choices
- Baldur’s Gate 3: Ranger Gloom Stalker Build
- Baldur’s Gate 3: Cleric Class Guide
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