So you’ve got Baldur’s Gate 3 and maybe you’re the type of gamer that wants to play on Tactician, the hardest difficulty mode.
So you’re going to put lore and roleplay on the backburner a bit and just want the best possible race for your class. Regardless of what you pick, some races are simply better at some jobs than others.
The Best Race for Each Class
Barbarian
Barbarians are straightforward, they do big damage and have a lot of HP. They can Rage for even more damage but also they act recklessly and can grant the enemy advantage for better attacks, making their health a volatile stat.
- Best Race: Wood Elf, Wood Half-Elf
- Runner Up: Drow, Halfling, Half-Orc
Wood Elves come out on top here because of their bonus movement speed. Enemies like to run around and kite strong characters around when they can and you lose your rage if you don’t take damage or make an attack each round. Enjoy +1.5m of movement.
Drow have a similar reasoning but against Invisible opponents since they can cast Faerie Fire as a racial spell at level 3.
Bard
Bards are a support specialist and don’t often interact with a lot of racial mechanics, but there’s still something to be said for some of the perks.
- Best Race: Githyanki
- Runner Up: Shield Dwarf
You wouldn’t expect Githyanki to be musically inclined, and they’re not. But their access to Misty Step at level 5 is a boon for any support class since it lets you get out of trouble for free if you’re surrounded.
The Medium Armor proficiency from Shield Dwarves will help protect most Bards. College of Valour Bards need not care since they get medium armor proficiency anyways.
Cleric
Clerics, like Bards, are another support class but they’re a bit tankier and have some unique utility at the expense of Bardic Inspiration.
- Best Race: Gold Dwarf
- Runner Up: Half-Orc
Clerics are the foundation of a solid party and need to be nearby to both heal and to soak up hits for the more damage-capable party members. Gold Dwarves have bonus HP and Half-Orcs have their endurance racial that saves them from being knocked out once per Long Rest.
Druid
Druids are pretty straightforward since they excel in combat when using Wild Shape. Otherwise they act as support and battlefield control casters.
- Best Race: Wood Elf, Wood Half-Elf
- Runner Up: Githyanki
Similar to Barbarian, mobility is the name of the game here and whether you’re a Wild Shape mauler running into battle or a support caster trying to hang back; being able to go where you want is a big help.
Fighter
Fighters are very straightforward like Barbarians, except Fighters trade damage for more tankiness depending on their build.
- Best Race: Half-Orc
- Runner Up: Wood Elf, Wood Half-Elf
Similar to the reasoning for Druid and Cleric, except you’ll basically always be going into the fray. Misty Step doesn’t matter as much because if you’re Strength based your jumps are nearly as good. You’ll want the Endurance ability from Half-Orc or the movement speed from Wood Elf depending on if you want resilience, or battlefield mobility.
Monk
Monks are a strange class but can be built to be stronger than fighters depending on how your stats shake out.
- Best Race: Drow
- Runner Up: Hill Dwarf
Monks can’t hit what they can’t see, having Faerie Fire is always good to have on hand for martials. Hill Dwarves meanwhile offer more HP to Monks which lag behind Barbarians in sheer meatiness.
Paladin
A mix between Fighter and Cleric, it’s better to build them more like Fighters.
- Best Race: Half-Orc
- Runner Up: Wood Elf, Wood Half-Elf
This is exactly for the same reason as Fighter, but Half-Orc does even better here. You can safely rampage on the frontlines until your Endurance procs, then heal yourself with a Greater Lay on Hands and keep on fighting a bit longer. Wood elf is just added mobility for a melee attacker.
Ranger
Depending on how you build them, Rangers can play more like a Fighter or like a Rogue. It’s better to go with a versatile race.
- Best Race: Drow
- Runner Up: Wood Elf, Wood Half-Elf
Faerie Fire’s benefit cannot be understated enough. Also Superior Darkvision will help for ranged attacks indoors or in caves. Wood Elves are good for their movement, as usual.
Rogue
Rogues hit HARD, and if you want to hit hard, you have to hit in the first place.
- Best Race: Deep Gnome
- Runner Up: Wood Elf, Wood Half-Elf
Advantage on Stealth and Superior Darkvision. Kill anyone and everything from a distance and stay hidden the whole time. If you don’t want to be a gnome, Wood Elf again for movement speed. If you’re going to go for a sneak attack, you need to get the hell out before all the newly aggro’d enemies collapse on you.
Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
These next three classes are going to virtually be all the same and for the same reasons.
- Best Race: Shield Dwarf
- Runner Up: Githyanki
Did you know that Arcane Spell Failure isn’t a thing in 5e? Pick Shield Dwarf, wrap yourself in Medium armor, and survive a bit longer than most other spellcasters. Mage Armour is just 18 AC if you have 20 Dex. Meanwhile if you have the Medium Armor Mastery Feat, you can have as much as 20 AC (22 if you can get shield proficiency) with a smaller stat investment of only 16 Dex.
Best Race Overall?
You might have noticed a lot of repeats in the list. If you want to be meta but don’t want to pick exactly what we suggested, you can’t go wrong with Wood Elf, Drow, Githyanki, or Half-Orc. But truth be told Race will rarely be the defining factor of your build.
