Our recommended Baldur’s Gate 3 Rogue build will give you all the action points you’ll ever need in combat, allowing you to use most of the class’s essential abilities all in one turn. We’re here to show you one of the best ways to build a Thief Rogue in this Baldur’s Gate 3 Rogue best build guide.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Rogue build guide – Thief
We’re going with a Thief build here because of how much freedom it gives your Rogue in various situations. You’ll be able to attack up to three times per turn, or use your bonus actions for movement and hiding whenever you see fit. We also have a Rogue class guide that provides tips for character creation.
Just to be clear, we avoided multiclassing in this build, but you can always respec and change classes if you’d rather go with a slightly different Rogue instead.
Rogue Build Summary
This build will turn your Rogue into a dual wielder to take advantage of those three attacks we mentioned above–one with the main hand, and two with the off hand. You’ll also have high movement to reach distant targets, along with the ability to pass difficult stealth checks to keep your Advantage when attacking. Your high initiative will also ensure that you’re always one of the first characters to act when combat begins.
- Race: Wood Elf, Half-Elf, or Drow
- Background: Charlatan, Criminal, or Urchin for any mix of Deception, Stealth, and Sleight of Hand
- Abilities: 8 STR, 17 DEX, 14 CON, 13 INT, 13 WIS, 10 CHA
- Weapons: Dual-wielding rapiers, scimitars, shortswords, daggers, and hand crossbows
- Armor: Only light armor
Rogues do their best work when attacking from stealth because it gives them Advantage on attack rolls, and they’re able to pass stealth checks with relative ease. And when you have Advantage, you gain access to the strongest Rogue skills – Sneak Attack (Melee) and Sneak Attack (Ranged). You should be using Sneak Attack as often as possible when attacking.
Rogues can even attack from stealth inside enemy vision cones after passing checks.
Rogue Leveling Progression
Level 2
Class Actions:
- Cunning Action: Hide – Hide from enemies by succeeding Stealth checks. Stick to the dark and avoid enemy sightlines. Attacking or casting a spell will reveal your location.
- Cunning Action: Dash – Cover more distance this turn: double your movement speed.
- Cunning Action: Disengage – Retreat safely: moving won’t provoke Opportunity Attacks.
Level 3
At Level 3, you can pick a subclass–this is where you choose to become a Thief. As a Thief, you immediately gain a second bonus action and resistance to fall damage.
Subclass Features:
- Fast Hands: Gain and an additional bonus action.
- Second-Story Work: You’ve mastered the art of falling and gain resistance to Falling damage.
Level 4
At Level 4, you can choose a Feat–this is where you have the option to go with Dual Wielding or gain two extra ability points with Ability Improvement. We recommend picking Dual Wielding here since you can already gain one extra ability point by defeating Auntie Ethel to bring your DEX up to 18.
You’ll still be able to pick Ability Improvement in the future, but Dual Wielding will allow you to dual-wield non-light weapons, raising your damage output. This is how you’ll dual-wield rapiers.
Feat:
- Dual Wielding: You can use Two-Weapon Fighting even if your weapons aren’t Light, and you gain a +1 bonus to Armour Class while wielding a melee weapon in each hand. You cannot dual-wield Heavy weapons.
We recommend that you choose the Dual Wielder Feat when you reach Level 4 as a Thief.
Level 5
Class Feature:
- Uncanny Dodge: Use your lightning-quick reflexes to protect yourself. When an attack hits you, you only take half the usual damage.
Level 6
At Level 6, you’re able to choose two more skill proficiencies. We chose Persuasion and Acrobatics to help with dialogue options and traversal outside of combat. Any mix of Persuasion, Deception, Acrobatics, and Perception works as well.
Skill Proficiencies:
- Persuasion: Turn on the charm. Coax and cajole.
- Acrobatics: Keep your balance. Land on your feet. Helps you resist being shoved.
Level 7
Class Feature:
- Evasion: Your agility lets you dodge out of the way of certain spells. When a spell of effect would deal half damage on a successful Dexterity Saving Throw, it deals no damage if you succeed, and only half damage if you fail.
Level 8
At Level 8, you get to select another Feat, which is what we mentioned earlier when suggesting Dual WIelding at Level 4. This time, choose Ability Improvement and put both points into DEX since it’s your main stat as a Rogue.
You can also put one point into DEX and the other into another ability if your DEX reaches either 18 or 20 after one extra point. You only receive bonuses on even numbers, so don’t bother pushing DEX to just 19 unless you’re sure it can eventually reach 20.
Feat:
- Ability Improvement: You increase one Ability by 2, or two Abilities by 1, to a maximum of 20.
Ability Improvement brings DEX to 19, and Auntie Ethel’s boon bumps it up to 20.
Level 9
Class Action:
- Supreme Sneak: Blend into the environment so completely that you become Invisible (lasts 10 turns). Invisibility ends early if you attack, cast another spell, take an action, or take damage.
Level 10
At Level 10, you can choose another Feat–this time, we suggest you pick either Lucky or Mobile. The former can turn poor dice rolls into positive ones, and the latter is an extremely useful movement buff. We decided to go with Lucky, which replenishes after a long rest.
Feat:
- Lucky: You gain 3 Lucky Points, which you can use to gain Advantage on Attack Rolls, Ability Checks, or Saving Throws, or to make an enemy reroll their Attack Rolls.
Level 11
Class Feature:
- Reliable Talent: When you make an Ability Check with a Skill you are Proficient in, the lowest result you can roll on the die is 10.
Level 12
At Level 12, you can choose one final Feat, and we suggest picking whichever one you didn’t pick at Level 10. For us, that would be the Mobile Feat.
Feat:
- Mobile: Your movement speed increases, and difficult terrain doesn’t slow you down when you Dash. If you move after making a melee attack, you don’t provoke Opportunity Attacks from your target.
This is our recommended build for a Thief Rogue in Baldur’s Gate 3 without any multiclass deviations. There are plenty of other options as you gain levels if you decide to multiclass as a Ranger or Fighter, but for this guide, we kept the build as focused as possible.
We have many more guides to help you through Baldur’s Gate 3, including romance options, quest guidance, build suggestions, and more. Find everything in our Baldur’s Gate 3 hub.
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