Skip to main content PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES Search PC Gamer View Profile Movies & TV Gaming Industry PC Gaming Show Newsletter Signup Community Guidelines Affiliate Links Meet the team About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine Subscription Why subscribe? Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag Try a single issue or save on a subscription Issues delivered straight to your door or device From£35.99View Oblivion Remastered Baldur's Gate 3 Marvel Rivals Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 Baldur's Gate 3's new Giant Barbarian is beating out one of D&D 5e's oldest powergamer builds, making Karlach the MVP of my second Honour Mode playthrough Harvey Randall 28 April 2025 Giant woman, big damage. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Larian Studios) With Patch 8 of Baldur's Gate 3 landing earlier this month, I've saddled myself with the accursed duty of completing another Honour Mode playthrough. Given that Patch 8 gives me the constituent parts for one of D&D 5e's oldest powergamer builds, the Sorcadin, I reckoned I'd give it a go. The Sorcadin, for the uninitiated, is a delectable entrée built on a fresh bed of one level of Hexblade Warlock, garnished with two levels of Paladin. It's then paired with as many levels of Sorcerer as you can fit on a plate. It's really the best of all worlds, with incredible burst damage achieved by pumping Sorcerer spell slots into your Divine Smites—normally, the Paladin doesn't get a 3rd-level Divine Smite until level 9. I can do that right now, at level 6. You may like Hexblade might the best 1-level dip in Baldur's Gate 3, but going the distance with a full 12 levels and their infinite necrotic ghost turrets has me fixing to finally beat the game without multiclassing Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 testers are whispering that a previously mediocre subclass is now an S-tier war god of infinite thunder smites, but there's no way it can last And since you're a Hexblade, you can focus on bumping up Charisma instead of your other melee weapon stats—giving you all sorts of potent control spells for when something needs to be locked down instead of straight-up melted. Or you can just use your bonus action to cast Hold Person via the Sorcerer's Quicken Spell metamagic, giving you an automatic crit on an incoming Booming Blade + Smite face-melting with your main action. It's all been going rather swimmingly, and—much to my delight—Larian's made Booming Blade work mostly as it should, allowing me to use Quicken Spell to cast it twice in one turn. The Sorcadin is almost a 1:1 translation of its tabletop equivalent, and it's just as strong as I'd hoped. Yet my Dark Urge munchkin isn't the MVP of my current playthrough: Karlach, a straight-up, no-nonsense, zero-frills, mono-classed Barbarian is. And that's because the Giant Barbarian subclass, fresh off the presses with Patch 8, is absolutely, dice-meltingly busted at lower levels. And I don't think it'll get much weaker at higher levels, either. Bigger, better I am currently at level 7, and I'm just about to tackle the Githyanki Creche, which tends to be the most difficult part of any Honour Mode run's early days. I'm not that worried, though, because here's how hard Karlach is hitting, right now: The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. (Image credit: Larian) The Giant Barbarian's rage doubles their rage bonus to thrown weapon attacks, and she has a Strength of 18. That means before any dice get involved, her trident's hitting for eight damage. Add 1d8 from her trident, 2d4 from her Ring of Flinging and Gloves of Uninhibited Kushigo, and 1d6 from her Elemental Cleaver ability at level 6, and that means each attack whomps foes for an average of 22 damage. At level 6. I've also given her The Sparky Points trident, which'll occasionally pop off for another d8 of damage. If she crits, that ramps up to 36 average points of pain. This isn't even taking into account the fact that she can do this twice per turn with Extra Attack, or that I haven't given her Tavern Brawler yet—which'll make her far more accurate, and give an extra four points of damage per hit. Tavern Brawler and the Giant Barbarian's rage, combined, will eventually add up to 11 extra points of bonus damage per attack come level 9—which means she'll be hitting slightly harder than a character with Great Weapon Master, which gives you 10 points of damage for a gnarly -5 penalty to your attack rolls. Except in the case of the Giant Barbarian, you don't need to take Great Weapon Master, or its penalty, at all for the same results. Now, my Sorcadin has her beat for burst, even though I'm far from my final form. At the moment, a 3rd level Booming Blade smite with all the toppings does 1d6 Piercing + 4d8 Radiant + 1d8 Thunder + 4. Or, in plain English, an average of 30 damage. As I get more spell slots under my belt, I'll only outpace her further. But there are a few downsides: Spell slots are a limited resource, Karlach's throwing arm is forever. I need to spend Sorcery points if I want to attack twice, and I need to use my bonus action to do that. I've gotta get into melee range for that: Karlach is, essentially, a ranged character. Karlach just gets to kick people sometimes. Oh yeah, I neglected to mention—Giant Barbarians get a free, non-resourced, bonus action punt that can deal damage and also hurl enemies off ledges, into hazard zones, or just away from Karlach so she can throw her weapon at 'em. All in all, the Giant Barbarian of Patch 8 is an absolute unrepentant monster—especially in the early game—making them a no-brainer choice for any Honour Mode run. Even when my Sorcadin's operating at its full gish-y might, I'd wager Karlach's still going to be pulling her weight with consistent, reliable damage. The Hexblade Sorcadin may one day be king, but until then, Karlach shall protect my smite-happy little Princeling through the horrors of the Githyanki Creche. Baldur's Gate 3 romance: Who to pursue Baldur's Gate 3 multiplayer: How co-op works Baldur's Gate 3 endings: For better or worse Baldur's Gate 3 multiclass builds: Coolest combos Best RPGs: The greatest you can play now Larian Studios Harvey Randall Social Links Navigation Staff Writer Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. Hexblade might the best 1-level dip in Baldur's Gate 3, but going the distance with a full 12 levels and their infinite necrotic ghost turrets has me fixing to finally beat the game without multiclassing Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 testers are whispering that a previously mediocre subclass is now an S-tier war god of infinite thunder smites, but there's no way it can last I'm a Baldur's Gate 3 Honour Mode sicko, and these are the 4 new subclass builds I'm most excited for in Patch 8 Baldur's Gate 3 just got the Hexblade, one of D&D's most OP multiclass options, and it's still the best 1-level dip you could possibly take Baldur's Gate 3's accidental PS5 release of Patch 8 has the theorycrafters in a flurry—though I'm just glad D&D's blade cantrips are officially here Forget Baldur's Gate 3's new subclasses: Patch 8's most disgusting power gamer combo is the Rock That Makes You Stupid paired with a sneakily revamped level 2 spell Latest in Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3's new Giant Barbarian is beating out one of D&D 5e's oldest powergamer builds, making Karlach the MVP of my second Honour Mode playthrough Larian honcho Swen 'The Hammer' Vincke takes a new victory lap on 'high-profile people' who say singleplayer is dead: 'We've proven with BG3 that you can put in a pretty high budget and expect pretty high results' 'If the players own the game, they'll make it fantastic': Larian CEO Swen Vincke doubles down on defense of Baldur's Gate 3 Stardew Valley mod and the modding community overall 'Stories are our bread and butter': Larian is building a special team to lay out the plot of its games years in advance Larian boss Swen Vincke says the studio is 'deep in the trenches' on its 'crazy-ambitious' follow up to Baldur's Gate 3, hopes to show it off no later than 2030 because 'my wife will divorce me if it takes longer' Because of a Baldur's Gate 3 weapon's deceptive description, it took me nearly two years to realize it's a sleeper beast⁠—and I'm kicking myself because it works the exact same way in Baldur's Gate 2 Latest in Features Baldur's Gate 3's new Giant Barbarian is beating out one of D&D 5e's oldest powergamer builds, making Karlach the MVP of my second Honour Mode playthrough Five new Steam games you probably missed (April 28, 2025) I miss old PopCap like you miss old BioWare Hexblade might the best 1-level dip in Baldur's Gate 3, but going the distance with a full 12 levels and their infinite necrotic ghost turrets has me fixing to finally beat the game without multiclassing Oblivion Remastered looks so good that I can't believe I'm saying this: I kinda hope Bethesda remasters Skyrim (again) too My favourite Elder Scrolls YouTuber returned after 2 years, and it's made me fall in love with ridiculous challenge runs all over again HARDWARE BUYING GUIDES LATEST GAME REVIEWS Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads Best graphics card for laptops in 2025: the mobile GPUs I'd want in my next gaming laptop Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most Best 14-inch gaming laptop in 2025: The top compact gaming laptops I've held in these hands Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I've tested Skin Deep review Crucial P310 1 TB (2280) review WD Black SN7100 1 TB review Crucial T705 1 TB review Sennheiser HD 550 review PC Gamer is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. 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