The paladin I've ran most is lockadin some varient I usually always run oathbreaker I like the dialogue

7 pal 5 warlock works under hm 11 pal 1 hexblade in hm 8 OB 3 Thief 1 Hexblade also good in HM

Sorcadins I like 7 OB pal 5 white drag sorc 6/6 is superior in a lot of cases using either crown veng or devo

Bardadins Never ran one hot take because theyre crazy good but I dont really like playing bard though I have played a few mixes on party members but seen a few builds One I saw was a lore bard paladin with high defences and control spells

The other is a 10/2 swordsbard paladin but that just plays as a martial bard for the most part

Wizadin 10 bladesinger 2 crown paladin is really good

6/6 sorcadin with shadowblade is the strongest, as someone else mentioned c4b wrote a really good guide on sorcadins, though I’m not 100% sure if it’s updated for patch 8 (although really the changes boil down to shadow blade now being BiS and booming blade opening up easy arcane synergy with the ring)

Personally I’m a fan of just full 12 OB with racial booming blade to keep things simple. Room for GWM ASI CHA and SA feels pretty great. Since you plan to use Minthara though I’d run 11/1 with hexblade to still get booming blade and you get the shield spell on top, which is decent enough.

Crown paladin is also fun. I don’t think anyone on your team is using reverb or rad orb gear (lorelock maybe?), so crown can take that and fill the revorb role with spirit guardians. More offensively focused spirit guardians beyblade. There are a few decent variations but full 12 or 11/1 with hexblade same as OB are probably the most common ones.

I like the bardadin either 10 swords bard 2 pali or 6 lore bard 6 pali. Combining command and cutting words is glorious :)

Try 6 paladin 6 sorcerer. You'll have spell slots for days and you'll smite constantly

Sorcadin is an incredibly versatile addition to any party for me. Look up c4b's guide on it on this subreddit

Probably the best paladin build is a 2 paladin/10 swords bard because this gets full spell slots, extra attack, flourishes, and the only access to banishing smite. If you combine the helmet of arcane acuity with the band of the mystic scoundrel you can also benefit from extra strong control spells as a bonus action.

It is and it isn't. It hits the main features of a paladin while having all the features of a bard too. While strictly its a bard with a paladin dip I feel like it operates as a much better resourced paladin. In honor mode I would prefer an effective build rather than a thematic one.

Its really simple!

You want 6 paladin asap for the aura.

You want to stockpile strength elixirs if possible, always use them and raise your other stats instead.

Pick defense fighting style, so you can use whatever weapons you come across.

If you want damage, Great Weapon Master with Devotion or Vengeance and a 2 hander is the way.

If you want to be supportive, Devotion or Ancients while maxing cha.

Cha increase, savage attacker and GWM are your best feats.

Orcs are the best for critical hit smites, and have a passive that keeps them at 1 hp instead of dying once per day.

Gnomes (deep gnome is best) have advantage on all mental saves

Wood elf runs fast

Halfling is probably the strongest for rerolling 1s, especially if you go devotion and/or focus on saves.

Those are probably the best races in general, altho gith and duergar I suppose belong on that list too.

People are throwing out meta damage builds that rely on knowing the game well, specific gear, etc. You're playing honor with friends, and you're playing blind.

Worry about lategame builds later, you can always respec. You want your oath at 3, feat at 4, extra attack at 5 and aura at 6.

If you're not sure how to optimally play a hard fight early, throwing up bless on your party, using lay on hands healing, and/or smiting the big bad thing are all going to really help your squad.

As far as lategame builds go, 6-8 paladin is ideal. My personal favorite is 6 paladin, 4 thief 2 barbarian because you can clear fights without smiting. That setup ends up with like 50-60 damage per hit using 0 resources, it cant fail saves and it never misses.

Higher level smites only add 4.5 damage per spell level 3 thief levels gives you an extra bonus action for a smite spell, which adds 7 damage.

Anyways thats nice, but any good paladin damage setup is going to slay bosses. A blind honor mode run is more likely to end because you got in a tough spot while out of resources.

I always liked paladin warlock pact of the blade multiclass. 7/5 or 6/6 even without getting the third attack in honor mode it’s really strong. You can leave strength that way and fully go on charisma and dex.

5 lvl in warlock first for 2 attacks then paladin all the way. Is how I would do it

12 straight paladin is also strong and less stressful as you can’t really screw up if you raise strength OR dex, con and charisma, and make sure to take Savage attacker at some point.

For Honor mode if you want to min max there's really two builds you should consider:

1. Go straight paladin until level 7, then at level 8 respec into 2 paladin / 6 swords bard (since bard doesn't get extra attack until level 6, you just go straight paladin until 8), and keep going bard until you're 2/10. Use the band of mystic scoundrel in act 2 to cast vicious mockery (or any other enchant/illusion spell) between melee swings.
2. 10 paladin 2 fighter (action surge and a 2nd fighting style is, imo, better than improved divine smite and a 3rd feat since there are some enemies that reflect radiant damage back on you). This build lets you get all 3 paladin auras, so you'll have bonus to saving throws equal to your CHR modifier, immunity to being frightened, and the oath specific aura / relentless avenger if you pick oath of vengeance. EDIT: You can use band of mystic scoundrel with this build too, but you'll have to take magic initiative: bard as your level 8 feat and get vicious mockery as the cantrip.

Make note that some people in this thread are suggesting paladin/warlock, but on honor mode the extra attacks from pact of the blade and level 5 paladin DO NOT STACK.

SSB is definitely the strongest. And luckily someone already made a guide so that it can be new player friendly as well! As a new player I suggest taking ASI STR +2 rather than GWM for your first feat. It’s easy to forget to toggle GWM as a new player and can make you feel like you just can’t hit anything.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/s/R0CbzmwuzN

Check out that guide for an easy to follow path to victory!

16 str, 16 Charisma, 14 Con, 12 Dex, 8 int. Half-elf is probably the most standard and boring paladin.

But it is good.

Also oath of the ancients is better in 90% of the fights.

It currently has an aoe heal for 15 each. As a bonus action. Which automatically triggers at the start of the turn once again.

It can heal up to 120 hit points as a bonus action. Its broken.

I’ve enjoyed making a dexterity based Paladin.

I go Strongheart Halfling to get +2 Char. And +1 Con. Then I give them the equipment to make the build work.

-Speedy Feet - Every dash action creates lightning charges

-Momentum Helmet - You start every combat with 3 momentum

-Medium Armor - Found in the selunite stronghold in the Underdark. This armor lets you expend Momentum to “dash” for free.

-Speedy Reply - Finesse Scimitar found on the body near the Gnolls. Every time you hit an enemy, it increases your momentum by 3

Gameplay - Essentially, when combat starts, you cast Sanctuary on yourself. Then you use your action to dash (+3 charges) and then your free action to consume momentum and “sprint” (+3 charges). Combine this with the “Real Sparky Wall” the +3 shield, you can activate lightning aura on turn two.

You also want to be on the lookout for the gloves that give you +1 saving throws with lightning charges.

I essentially play this character as a swift hard hitter, use the first few turns to build up lightning charges and move yourself into a good position and then when ready, quickly down squishies. Your damage will really come from the lightning charges and smites you have access to. The Speedy reply scimitar is there so that you can continually gain momentum so that even when you want to use your action to attack instead of dash, you can still “sprint” for free.

Overall a very fun build. You could also run Oath of the Ancients for the insane heal abilities. Sort of a mobile infirmary. Run in, cast your mass heal, then escape. The heal also activates on the next turn as well so no need to stick around.

Can't speak for Drow however I really like Zariel Tiefling for Paladin since they give you extra smite abilities with their racial bonuses at at least level 3 and 5 opening stuff up for your chosen spells. Don't get that with half-elves

Oath of Devotion I've had most success with just taking a big stick and smiting stuff. Sacred Weapon pairs so well with GWM and it's quite fun.

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Oath of Ancients, I went Dex and its solid so far. Grab a Rapier/Shield + Longbow, Entangling Strike is usually what I throw my slots into. Very tanky frontliner with an actual range option to fall back on(typically a problem for STR). Definitely a more supportive paladin and quite a ton of healing thanks to the healing radiance oath power

You can do a 6 paladin vengeance/6 draco sor. Make sure to use vow of enimty (vengeance Paladin ability) on yourself to get advantage on everyone. 6 levels in sorcerer gives you alot of spell slots for smites. Best part you can twin haste probably the best buff in the game. For feats I say GWM and Savage attacker for maximum dmg output. You can completely drop str to 10 and use Elixir of hill giant strength so you have enough points to spare for decent dex.

You can check the full build here

Imo Barbarian (12) & Monk (9 monk, 3 thief) has been the most damage for me.

Ofc one could just go barb + fighter 2 for action surge.

But Monk is certainly the most versatile and damage i've played.

But i have also not tried any ultra OP build like those crossbow rogues that do 700+ dmg per turn.

I played paladin in my first playthrough, but i liked my second playthrough more where i was barb.

I would actually go all 12 levels in Paladin. Action Surge is nice, but you don't really get anything extra out of these 4 levels of Fighter, and lvl 3 spell slots + Improved Divine Strike totally overshadow it.

My current build, is a Lockadin

Level 5 Oathbreaker Paladin

Level 5 Pact of Blade Warlock

Build Guide

6/6 sorcadin is the best paladin build overall, and patch 8 does improve it a fair bit. You get max level shadowblade which is the strongest melee weapon in the game, booming blade allows you to easily get arcane synergy from the ring while still keeping the acuity hat for control, you get the most important aura and with angelic potions can basically create infinite spell slots to smite to your heart’s content. If you’re draconic sorc and have your melee weapon enchanted with the matching element from drakethroat, you get + CHA damage on booming blade (weapon damage, not elemental damage, so it gets doubled by resonance stone if you’re using shadow blade), yes this is probably a consequence of spaghetti code but it’s neat. Vengeance is probably the best oath here. ASI CHA and savage attacker are your feats (assuming shadowblade)

The new crown subclass is along with oathbreaker the best paladin subclass to take more than 6 levels in. Crown gets spirit guardians at level 9 so you can run pretty standard cleric revorb beyblade things while actually being competent with your weapons and having smites.

Hexblade being a thing means 11/1 paladins are also very common to go for CHA weapon attacks + booming blade but this is genuinely not even that much of an improvement if any over 12 paladin with STR gloves as long as you’re playing high (half) elf to get booming blade, unless you’re down for some bug abuse with craterflesh, or maybe martial exertion. But yeah it basically frees up your glove slot. You can’t use shadow blade so GWM + one of ASI CHA and savage attacker (or both if you just go full paladin) are probably the overall best choices.

There also exists some multis with bladesinger and swords bard but those just take two paladin levels for the smites so I wouldn’t exactly call them paladins.

For me it's 7 Ancients Paladin 5 Hexblade. You can go Shadowblade and a shield or I prefer going 2H weapons with Great Weapon Master and Fighting style. In act 1 use use everburn blade/doom hammer/Blooded Great axe. In act 2 use Halberd of Vigilance. Continue to use it until you get Baldurans Giantslayer. Once you get Giantslayer you'll want the Gauntlets of Hill Giant strength so you can continue to use Bloodlust elixrs.

Other good weapons are: Soulbreaker Great sword, Silver sword of astral plane (if you're a Gith or disguise self), Sword of Chaos, Sussar Greatsword.

I too love and adore Paladins. It’s a hard choice for every time I sit down to play to not pick one. I’ve found that even after patch 8, the Sorcadin is amazing. Play Paladin for 6 levels. Sorcerer for 6 levels. All awesome.

I'm a simple man: Oath of Ancients, 1 or 2 levels of Hexblade (to be SAD), grab Ethel's hair (charisma), retake my oath, ASI Charisma, try really hard not to break my oath again. Maybe throw in some sorcerer at later levels as a little treat (more smite slots). I keep "stealth archering" into a Radiant orb/reverberation build (gloves of belligerent skies, Boots of Stormy Clamour, Luminous Armor, Blood of Lathander, Coruscation ring, Callous glow ring, thunderskin cloak, and Grymskull helm) and god does it feel pretty good.

I ducked the hex blade dip on my last run by chugging potions but you can get shield prof off Paladin if it’s your starting class.

Paladin 6/Sorc 5/Wiz 1

Is my favorite build. So many spell slots to smite with. Strong spells to cast when targets are too far. Can learn a ton of spell scrolls even with just 1 wiz lvl.

I'm a forest gnome, oath of ancients, tempest sorc Wizz that can smite damn hard or cast strong spells followed by flying to my enemy when I can't reach them. Or I can quicken powers and cast strong spells as a bonus action AND smite them in melee twice all in the same turn. Then learn almost all wizard spells for utility on top of all that.

Not to mention I get to wear heavy armor and shields, have aura of protection and concentration shield of faith so I'm virtually unhittable. Pick war caster feat. Gnome cunning also makes me Hella good at saving throws.

Then I can choose even more defence with a shield or go hard on great weapons.

Let a companion cast haste on you as well, and you are an unstoppable god.

Edit: forgot to mention sorcery points, which is also a great boon for spell slots

You can respec later for 100 gold if you decide to. I have no idea what will be most fun for you, and don’t leave it up to anyone else. I’d suggest playing forward and decide when the time comes.

Oath of devotion dark urge playthrough, don’t renew your oath until you deciding you RPwise did a worthy enough deed to be able to

Paladin is pretty strong in this game. Between heavy armor/shield builds with Auras and Divine Smite your paladin will be a pretty heavy contender in most fights. Survivability is greatly increased with Ancients because of your extra healing and Spell Resistance.

That being said, good luck keeping your oath. This game has some non-sensical fail conditions for paladins.

11/1 Crown Paladin/Hexblade - just does everything well, SAD, and a Paladin with Guardian Spirits feels great.

I really like 6 lore bard 6 pali, smites, extra attack, cutting words, and magical secrets. I also like 2 pali 10 swords bard.

My favorite is still 6/6 Sorcadin. Go Vengeance to not break your oath for sneezing on someone, level 6 gives you def aura. Sorc go Dragon Lineage and pick an Ice color for free Armor of Agathys. Spell slots for whatever you need, all Cha-based so not MAD. Loads of options for tanky load outs or utility spells casting. It's a Swiss Army Knife that you kit out based on what you want to do.

12 Vengeance Paladin. No frills, just beat the shit outta dudes.

There are a whole lot of good Paladin builds out there.

What would you like to be doing with this build specifically?

Do you have any theming/character concept or particular tricks in mind?

What does fun mean for you in this context?

This this this!

Can't agree more. 100% this. Most fun and busted ass pally build I've tried. Plus you get tons of utility from the warlock.

Take darkness and devil's sight too, you just make massive attacks while you never get hit in darkness cast on yourself. Plus hunger of hadar too for cc and other spells

5 warlock pact of blade and 7 oath breaker paladin. This gives you 3 attacks per action and up to 3 action (haste and blood elixir) so 9 attacks per turn. Each of your attacks have double charisma modifier (aura of hate and pact weapon). I dual wield the harmonic rapier in off hand for another charisma modifier on attacks and use a +3 weapon on main hand. This build is super busted.

Depends on what you consider strong and what you want out of your paladin.

If going with a damage focus then I suggest level 1 make sure to get a 17 str (if want a stronger early game, but slightly weaker later game otherwise take 16 str and put the other points elsewhere) and rest up to you (will probablty want a good con and cha score, but not required) Race doesn't matter too much, but if maximizing damage then go drow or half orc. For subclass devotion or vengeance work fine, but would recommend vengeance as voe of enmity is better then radiant weapon. Now to maximize damage take 2 short swords and from leve1 to 3 cast bless or divine favor round 1 and then use action and bonus action to attack adding a d4 to each (divine favor) or hitting either imporved accuracy. At level 2 take 2 weapon fighting style if want to maximize damage at every stage otherwise take 2 handed weapon fighting style.

At level 4 take great weapons master, and use the -5 to hit for +10 damage and switch to a heavy weapon as well as using bless as go to spell. Vow of enmity will be a big boon here giving you advantage to hit your target, so will make up for the -5 to hit giving big damage increase. Also focus on weapons and magic items that give you bonuses to hit because want to offset that minus 5 to hit as much as possible. (If want the extra damage now then if left str at 17 use the hag could make it 18, and if didn't then take a +1 to charisma and either way going oathbreaker now isn't a worry since we wanted to become one eventually). Also at level 4 if took 2 weapon fighting style respec to 2 handed weapon fighting style or defense fighting style.

Level 5 increases damage a lot but will be the same as level 4 tactics wise.

Level 6 great defensive bonus, but wont do much for damage.

Level 7 if oathbreaker will get charisma added to damage, so maybe respect for better charisma score if have a lot low, but keep str at 18. If not an oathbreaker can go fighter, bard, sorcerer, or warlock. The last 3 give good ranged cantrips, so now low/lower dex paladin has good ranged option for when can't get into melee. Fighter gives second wind and later action surge. Sorcerer and bard do give more smite spell slots as well as useful spells, and warlock we will be eventually switching to.

Level 8 if stayed paladin either take str to 20 if have a very nice 2 handed magic weapon, or if have good magic polearm then take polearm master to get bonus action attack as well per turn and more chances to get oppurtunity attacks. If you want could respec here to 5 paladin 3 warlock raising charisma as high as you can and taking great weapons master, but will mean you lose aura of protection which is an amazing buff.

Level 9 no matter what want to respec here unless did last level. Take charisma as high as possible and paladin to level 6 then warlock to level 3 taking pact of the blade, and making whatever 2 handed weapon you have your pact weapon.

Level 10 take warlock to 4 getting either cha to 20, or pole arm master based on what equipment you have.

Level 11 take warlock 5 for extra extra attack.

Level 12 take paladin 7 for aura of hate and will need to be oathbreaker.

If you don't go oathbreaker damage will be lower, but will still hit really hard, and can change other aspects for concept and what not. If decided to go tome warlock (or sorcerer for 5 levels can get haste and through in game things a 24 str), so are benefits to other paths as well as it feeling more organic or being more fun for you to play.

Paladins can also make good tanks, support characters, or could get a strong control character that's a paladin multiclass, so by most OP what do you want them optimized for? Paladins in general are one of the strongest classes and can bend to a lot of different areas.

Forgot to say the reason for Drow is Farie Fire a great alternative spell to bless, especially if someone else on the party can cast bless. The reason for half orc would be making the crits hit just a little harder majority of damage will come from straight bonuses to the damage roll unless are smiting then can really add up the values fast.

Hope this helps.

Just go vanilla paladin until you find reason to change. Focus on str because it gives you higher attack (more chances to smite).

Paladin 7/Warlock 5 is obviously the correct answer because of the bug that erroneously allows Thirsting Blade to stack with Extra Attack from other classes. This becomes all the more insane when you add Haste and Elixir of Bloodlust.

If you just want to be OP, OP, that's your answer.

Half-Orc is arguably best for paladins due to how crit dice work. The tiefling with smite is handy too. But wood elf or half wood-elf are nice for that bit more movement since paladin has no good ranged options exclusive to them. Halflings are always nice with their lucky.

But even with half orc in the lead, the differences aren't that big, so pick what you like.

I keep wondering if sorcadin is better than padlock if I refuse to abuse the three attacks bug pact of blade currently gives. Just being a paladin gish is my current goal regardless of how I do it, but Warlock just seems so... smooth, there's nothing to really think about. You get an insane cantrip and a bevy of good passives - plus a bard in the party gives another set of warlock slots and offsets the burden of Haste. As long as I don't oathbreak I can always try both I suppose

I really like Zariel tiefling for MC vanilla paladin. Mostly because you get thaumaturgy for performance/intimidation checks. You also get some extra smites that don’t cost a spell slot. And thematically it works well for paladin.

Half orc is also a strong choice, you get intimidation for free and their savage attacks is probably mathematically best for smiting.

Any other race for theme also works. You already have every armor/weapon prof so you don’t NEED anything. Elves get Perception. High elves can get Friends. Just avoid subraces that mostly give armor/weapons (shield dwarves).

Oath of Ancients feels a lot stronger than Oath of Vengeance. I started Ven then respecced. That AOE 2 round heal aura is nuts, and it's nice to have speak with animals for free without relying on items. I really wanted to try oathbreaker but might have to save it for an evil run, because I can't seem to break it for the life of me.

I'm a total beginner in this type of game. I'm thinking about either making a battle master fighter due to it being pretty simple or an oathbreaker paladin for roleplay even though it's more complex. Which would you guys recommend?

What level did you oathbreak on for that build?

Yeah ancients is good but I use shadow heart as a cleric and she pretty much heals my group, also I stack a lot of health pots, I went with the oath of vengeance, it also has some heal spells so imo that’s the best one but it depends on your group and play style.

I started out playing an oath of vengeance with the soldier background, really helped with intimidation checks as a way to avoid combat. Ended up breaking my oath in my last session however

Sounds cool asf, is dark urge the base oathbreaker or is that some sort of subclass for oathbreaker?