Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Swarmkeeper Ranger Build

This guide focuses on the essential aspects of a Swarmkeeper Ranger build in Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) and how to use those powers to your advantage.

With the launch of Patch 8, Larian Studios releases 12 new subclasses, including the Swarmkeeper Ranger. In this guide, we explain how to set up a proper build with all the variables, such as ability score, level progression, companions, weapons, armor, and consumables.

This build page has been updated for the Patch 8 version of Baldur’s Gate 3.

Ranger Class Guide in BG3

The Range is a versatile class in BG3 that can play at range or in melee effectively. With limited spell casting, the Ranger benefits from martial and spells with a variety of armor and weapon proficiencies. Most players use the Ranger at range as an archer, and it’s one of the best methods for completing honour mode.

Why Should You Choose the Swarmkeeper Subclass for the Ranger Class in BG3?

You should pick the Swarmkeeper subclass for the ranger if you want more flexibility when attacking a target with Hunter’s Mark. The Prey’s Scent feature allows you to passively swap between bonuses with Hunter’s Mark, like extra piercing damage, teleoprtation, or Psychic damage. Ultimately, this gives players more flexibility in attacking targets than simply increased damage.

Everything About the Swarmkeeper Ranger in Baldur’s Gate 3

What makes the Swarmkeeper Ranger build unique is the use of Prey’s Scent to change Hunter’s Mark effects. A powerful combination is combining Act 2’s resonance stone and Moth Attacks to increase overall psychic damage. Moreover, you have a mobility component in the Prey’s Scent, allowing you to changing you tactics each battle.

With this subclass and build, the Ranger maintains all its strengths like weapon and armor proficiencies, range, and damage. The main downside is you need to multiclass for optimal damage and lose the turn-one utility of the Gloom Stalker.

Swarmkeeper Ranger Build Pros	Swarmkeeper Ranger Build Pros
Versatility	Needs Multiclass
Range	Weaker Turn One
Weapon and Armor	Less Spells

Features and Mechanics of Swarmkeeper Ranger

The following list presents all the essential Swarmkeeper Ranger Build Mechanics and Features in Baldur’s Gate 3:

• Class: Ranger
• Subclass: Swarmkeeper
• Background: Urchin
• Skills: Animal Handling, Insight, Survival
• Ability Score
  • Strength: 8
  • Dexterity: 17
  • Constitution: 16
  • Intelligence: 8
  • Wisdom: 14
  • Charisma: 10
• Saving Throw: Wisdom, Charisma
• Armour Proficiency: Light Armour, Medium Armour, Heavy Armor, Shields
• Weapon Proficiency: Simple Weapons, Martial Weapons

Character Creation

Category	Selection
Character	Origin – Custom character
Race	Wood Elf
Racial Bonus	Elven Weapon Training, Darkvision, Fey Ancestry, Fleet of Foot
Class	Ranger
Subclass	Swarmkeeper
Background	Urchin
Ability Score	STR: 8 DEX: 17 CON: 16 INT: 8 WIS: 14 CHA: 10
Skill Proficiencies	Animal Handling, Insight, Survival

Race Choice for Swarmkeeper Ranger

Wood Elf is the best choice for a Swarmkeeper Ranger build in BG3, offering Longbow proficiency, Darkvision, and the highest movement speed per turn. A solid alternative is Githyanki, which gains access to Misty Step and Mage Hand. Lastly, the Duergar Dwarf can be helpful due to Invisibility spell and enlarge if playing in melee range.

Here is the best race choice for a Swarmkeeper Ranger build in Baldur’s Gate 3:

Race	Features
Wood Elf	Elven Weapon Training Darkvision Fey Ancestry Fleet of Foot
Githyanki	Astral Knowledge Githyanki Psionics Martial Prodigy
Duergar Dwarf	Duergar Resilience Superior Darkvision Enlarge Spell Invisibility Spell

Ranger Subclass – Swarmkeeper

The Ranger unlocks their subclass at level 3, and the Swarmkeeper grants you Prey’s Scent and Gathered Swarm. These features are meant to change the usage of Hunter’s Mark and the effects it provides.

Below are the Swarmkeeper Ranger subclass features that become available while leveling up in Baldur’s Gate 3:

• Prey’s Scent (Level 3): Your swarm deals additional damage to creatures marked by Hunter’s Mark.
• Gathered Swarm (Level 3): Choose the swarm of nature spirits you’ve formed a bond with. You can change your swarm whenever you level up.
  • Legion of Bees: it can attack and deal additional Piercing damage, push the enemy away from you, or teleport you to a safer location.
  • Cloud of Jellyfish: it can attack and deal additional Lightning damage, Shock your enemy, or teleport you to a safer location.
  • Flurry of Moths: The swarm can attack and deal additional Psychic damage, Blind your enemy, or teleport you to a safer location.
• Subclass Spells (Level 3): Mage Hand and Faerie Fire
• Subclass Spells (Level 5): Web
• Writhing Currents: 3 (Level 7): Used to cast Writhing Tide.
• Writhing Tide: Gain a flying speed of 9 m / 30 ft and become unaffected by surface effects.
• One additional use of Writhing Tide (Level 9).
• Subclass Spells (Level 9): Gaseous Form
• Mighty Swarm (Level 11): The swarm’s regular attack now deals 1d8 damage, its special attack has one additional feature, and teleporting with your swarm now also increases your Armour Class for the rest of the round.

Recommended Background for Swarmkeeper Ranger

Urchin is the Best background for the a Swarmkeeper Ranger Build because you gain proficiency in to highly useful dexterity based skills. Additional choices are:

• Urchin: Proficiency in Stealth (Dexterity) and Sleight of Hand (Dexterity). After surviving a childhood on the streets, you know how to make the most out of very little. Using your street smarts bolsters your spirit for the journey ahead.
• Charlatan: Proficiency in Deception (Charisma) and Sleight of Hand (Dexterity). You’re an expert in manipulation, prone to exaggeration, and more than happy to profit from it. A Charlatan companion is Astarion.
• Criminal: Proficiency in Deception (charisma) and Stealth (dexterity). You have a history of breaking the law and surviving by leveraging less-than-legal connections. 

Ability Score

The best ability scores for a Swarmkeeper Ranger build are 17 Dexterity, 16 Constitution, and 14 Wisdom. Dexterity boosts your ranged damage, accuracy, and initiative, allowing you to act earlier in combat. A high Constitution increases your health and improves concentration-saving throws. This build intentionally keeps Strength low, as you can use the Hill Giant Club or Elixir of Hill Giant Strength to gain high Strength when needed. This synergy works particularly well in Act 1 with the Titanstring Bow.

Below is the best ability score for a Swarmkeeper Ranger in Baldur’s Gate 3:

Ability	Recommended Score
Strength	8
Dexterity	17
Constitution	16
Intelligence	8
Wisdom	14
Charisma	10

You can increase your ability score via a quest in Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3. Make sure to check out our Permanent bonus guide on how you can boost your ability score through quests.

Recommended Skills for Swarmkeeper Ranger

Animal Handling, Insight, and Survival are the best skill choices for a Swarmkeeper Ranger build. These skills align with your class abilities and improve your overall effectiveness in different scenarios. In BG3, skills reflect your character’s proficiencies and talents, influencing their ability to perform actions and interact with the game world. Each skill is tied to a specific attribute and helps determine the success of various tasks and abilities.

Here are the skills for Swarmkeeper Ranger in Baldur’s Gate 3:

1. Animal Handling: is an Wisdom skill use to calm or intimidate animals.
2. Insight is a Wisdom skill used in dialogue and exploration.
3. Survival: is a Wisdom skill used to help keep you alive in the wilderness.

Illithid Powers For Swarmkeeper Ranger

The best Illithid Powers for a Swarmkeeper Ranger build are Luck of the Far Realms, Black Hole, and Cull of the Weak. Luck of the Far Realms boosts critical hits and burst damage, while Cull of the Weak adds passive AOE damage when enemies fall. Black Hole requires taking the Astral Tadpole in Act 2, but it pulls in up to five enemies, slows them, and can be recast for free—making it especially useful in large-scale boss fights with multiple enemies.

Below are the best Illithid Tadpole Powers for the Swarmkeeper Ranger build in Baldur’s Gate 3:

Illithid Powers	Description
Luck of the Far Realms	When you make a successful Attack Roll against a foe, you can change that hit into a Critical Hit.
Cull of the Weak	When you bring a creature down to fewer hit points than your number of evolved Illithid powers, it dies and all nearby creatures take 1-4 Psychic damage.
Psionic Backlash	When an enemy within 9m casts a spell, you can use your reaction to inflict ld4 Psychic damage to the caster per the spell’s level.
Blackhole	Area-based suck-in that slows targets.
Repulsor	Massive area knockback that can hit friendlies.
Charm	This is the priority power you want to obtain because you can force enemies to attack something else.

Best Companions for Swarmkeeper Ranger

Shadowheart, Gale, and Lae’zel make the best companions for the Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Fighter Champion Build Guide.

• Lae’zel (Fighter – Battlemaster) – Have her as the front-line attention-getter doing Fighter to level 12.
• Shadowheart (Cleric – Life) – Utilize Shadowheart to buff, heal, and stun enemies.
• Gale (Wizard) – Ranged damage and intelligence-based skills.

Best Swarmkeeper Ranger Build – Level Progression in Baldur’s Gate 3

Level	Class	Selection
1	Ranger	Wasteland Wanderer: Cold, Bounty Hunter
2	Ranger	Spells: Hunter’s Mark, Longstrider Fighting Style: Archery
3	Ranger	Subclass: Swarmkeeper, Ensnaring Strike
4	Ranger	Feat: Sharpshooter
5	Ranger	Lesser Restoration
6	Rogue	Multiclass: Rogue, Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, Stealth
7	Rogue	Cunning Actions
8	Rogue	Subclass: Assassin
9	Rogue	Feat: Ability Improvement Dexterity
10	Fighter	Multiclass: Fighter, Fighting Style: Defense
11	Fighter	Action Surge
12	Fighter	Subclass: Champion

Level 1

At level 1, choose the appropriate background, race, skills, and ability scores, prioritizing Dexterity and Constitution. Since you won’t unlock your subclass until level 3, expect a slower start in terms of overall performance. For this build, you’ll focus on Ranger for five levels before multiclassing into Rogue (Assassin). This progression grants Extra Attack, enabling two attacks per action. Here’s what you gain as a Level 1 Ranger:

• Favoured Enemy: Bounty Hunter (class feature): Gain Proficiency in Investigation. Creatures you hit with Ensnaring Strike have Disadvantage on their Saving Throw.
• Natural Explorer: Wasteland Wanderer: Cold (class feature): Gain resistance to Cold, taking only half damage from it.

Level 2

At Level 2, the Ranger will unlock a Fighting style, two spells, and spell casting. Below are our recommended selections:

• Archery Fighting Style (class feature): You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons. 
• Hunter’s Mark (spell selection): Mark a creature as your quarry to deal an additional 1~6 whenever you hit it with a weapon attack.
• Longstrider (spell selection): Increase a creature’s Movement Speed by 3 meters.

The Archery Fighting Style is crucial for ranged damage dealers, and we highly recommend using a Longbow throughout BG3. At level 2, you gain Hunter’s Mark, allowing you to apply it as a bonus action before attacking with your action. Ideally, you should use both an action and a bonus action each turn for maximum efficiency. However, Hunter’s Mark requires concentration, meaning it can’t be stacked with other concentration-based abilities. Your typical turn should start by marking your primary target with Hunter’s Mark, followed by an attack with your Longbow (or Heavy Crossbow).

Make sure to use Longstrider on yourself for extra movement speed, and always apply Hunter’s Mark to one target.

Level 3

At level three, you will unlock a Subclass, and we suggest Swarmkeeper due to its flexibility with Hunter’s Mark. With it, you’ll get several subclass features, two always prepared spells, and get to choose a third spell. Below is what you unlock at level 3:

• Prey’s Scent (subclass feature): Your swarm deals additional damage to creatures marked by Hunter’s Mark.
• Gathered Swarm (subclass feature): Choose the swarm of nature spirits you’ve formed a bond with. You can change your swarm whenever you level up.
• Flurry of Moths (subclass selection): You gain a swarm of moths that fights on your side. Once per round, the swarm can assist you in one of three ways after you attack an enemy: it can attack and deal additional Psychic damage, Blind your enemy, or teleport you to a safer location.
• Mage Hand (sublcass spell): Create a spectral hand that can manipulate and interact with objects.
• Faerie Fire (sublcass spell): All targets within the light turn visible, and Attack rolls against them have Advantage.
• Ensnaring Strike (spell selection): Your attack summons thorny vines that possibly Ensnare your target.

Level 3 Gameplay

At this stage, your gameplay revolves around bonus action Hunter’s Mark, then choosing the passive bonus. Flurry of Moths will be much stronger in Act 2 with the Resonance Stone. The damage will be applied passively. Both Hunter’s Mark and Flurry of Moth adds a lot of damage per turn. Make sure to always use the bonus action to recast the Hunter’s Mark spell before attacking.

Level 4

At level 4, you must choose between taking a feat or increasing an ability score. For the best ranged build, we highly recommend the Sharpshooter feat. This feat removes penalties from High Ground Rules, ensuring consistent accuracy, and grants +10 bonus damage to ranged attacks at the cost of a -5 Attack Roll penalty. You can toggle this feature on or off in the passive section of your toolbar, allowing you to balance damage output with accuracy as needed.

While Sharpshooter reduces hit chance, spells like Bless can offset this drawback, helping you maintain high damage. In Act 3, you can acquire a permanent Bless, making the penalty negligible. Additionally, in Act 1, you can obtain The Graceful Cloth, which increases Dexterity by +2, along with a permanent +1 Dexterity boost, further improving your effectiveness.

• Sharpshooter (feat): Ranged weapon attacks with weapons you are Proficient with have a -5 penalty to their Attack roll, but deal an additional 10 damage.

Level 5

At level 5, expect a significant power spike with the Extra Attack feature. Your weapon attacks now grant a free second attack per action. Always cast Hunter’s Mark before attacking your primary target on the first turn. On turn two, consider saving your bonus action for consumables.

For spell selection, we recommend Lesser Restoration. Having a way to remove Diseases, Poison, Paralysis, or Blindness is crucial. Most of your spell slots at this stage will go toward Hunter’s Mark and Misty Step, which are essential mobility tools for repositioning.

You should be ready to take on tougher challenges in the Underdark by this level. Level 5 or 6 is also the ideal time to transition into Act 2 or explore the Githyanki Creche. Before moving forward, gather resources, stockpile gold, and acquire the best gear available in Act 1 to ensure you’re fully prepared.

At Level 5 into Ranger, we gain two level 2 spell slots, Extra Attack, one prepared spell, and subclass spell.

• Extra Attack (Ranger class feature): Can make an additional free attack after making an unarmed or weapon attack.
• Lesser Restoration (spell selection): Cure a creature from Diseased, Poisoned, Paralysed, or Blinded.
• Web (subclass spell): Cover an area in thick, flammable webbing that can Enweb creatures within.

Level 6

At Level 6, we recommend multiclassing into Rogue. The Ranger’s power drops off after obtaining Extra Attack, and further power can be gained with other classes. Rogue grants additional skill proficiencies, and you gain Sneak Attack, allowing for extra damage when attacking with Advantage. At Rogue level 3, the Assassin subclass provides additional utility when attacking a surprised target.

• Sneak Attack (Ranged & Melee): Deal an additional to an enemy you have an Advantage against. Attack/Save: Ranged Attack Recharge: Once per turn. To gain an Advantage, you need to be hiding or that enemy to be engaged with another in 1.5 meters.

Level 7

Now at character Level 2, we will put a second level into the Rogue. Consequently, you will unlock additional bonus action utility skills below:

• Cunning Action Disengage: Retreat safely: moving won’t provoke Opportunity Attacks.
• 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.

Level 8

At character Level 8, you can put another level into Rogue and pick your subclass. We recommend the Assassin because you’ll get three additional passive features that help with doing damage and survivability. 

Here are the Assassin subclass bonus features unlocked at level three for the Rogue class in Baldur’s Gate 3:

• Assassin’s Alacrity: Quick as an alley cat in a rain-dark city, you immediately restore your Action and Bonus Action at the start of combat.
• Assassinate Initiative: You are deadliest against unprepared enemies. In combat, you have Advantage on Attack Rolls against creatures that haven‘t taken a turn yet.
• Assassinate Ambush: Any successful Attack Roll against a Surprised creature is a Critical Hit.

Level 9

At character Level 9, another level investment into Rogue will get you another feat for the best Swarmkeeper Ranger build in Baldur’s Gate 3. With many options, keep it simple and take an Ability Improvement to increase Dexterity by +2. If you obtained the permanent bonus from Act 1, you should now be at 20 Dexterity. You can additionally improve your Dexterity by +2 in Act 3 by using the Mirror of the Loss.

Another alternative here is the Alert feat, which makes it impossible to be surprised. Surprise can skip your turn and end an honour mode campaign. Usually, you can counter this by knowing all the fights or using one character to scout ahead.

Level 10

At character Level 10, we will now multiclass into the Fighter. The main reason is to gain Action Surge and Champion Subclass. These bonuses will increase your power further, and the Rogue has zero combat power beyond level 4.

• Second Wind: You will receive a very powerful self-heal immediately called Second Wind.  This allows you to heal yourself using a bonus action, not an action.  This is very important because you can heal and attack in one turn. 
• Fighting Style Defence: You gain a +1 bonus to Armour Class while wearing Armour.

Level 11

Upon reaching character Level 11, we’ll invest a second level in the Fighter class. This will give you one new skill, Action Surge.

• Action Surge:  Immediately gain an extra Action to use this turn.

Level 12

Congrats on reaching the maximum level with our best Swarmkeeper Ranger build in Baldur’s Gate 3! We’ll put this last level into the Fighter class, enabling us to pick a subclass.

• Champion Subclass Unlocked: Improved Critical Hit The number you need to roll a Critical Hit while attacking is reduced by 1, and this effect can stack.

Best Gear for Swarmkeeper Ranger Build

Beginner

Here’s the best beginner gear, items, and equipment for Swarmkeeper Ranger Build in Baldur’s Gate 3:

Gear Slot	Best Gear Item	Effect
Head	Shadow of Menzoberranzan	Invisibility skill
Cape	Deathstalker Mantle (optional)	Invisibility on Kill
Chest	Graceful Cloth	16 AC & Crit Immunity
Gloves	Gloves of Archery	+2 Ranged Damage
Boots	Disintegrating Night Walkers	Free Misty Step
Necklace	Amulet of Branding	Vulnerability to Piercing
Ring	Caustic Band	+2 Acid Damage
Ring	Strange Conduit Ring	Concentration dmg
Weapon 1 Main Hand	Titanstring Bow	Scales with Strength
Weapon 2 Off-Hand	Club of Hill Giant Strength	19 Strength
Weapon 2 Ranger	Adamantine Shield	+2 AC

List of best Swarmkeeper Ranger Baldur’s Gate 3 Equipment in Act 1:

• Shadow of Menzoberranzan: Looted from the Pale Corpse in the Myconid Colony, Underdark (Alternative Haste Helm).
• Deathstalker Mantle: Automatically acquired as part of Dark Urge story.
• Graceful Cloth: purchased on Rosymorn Trial (Alternatives Adamantine Scale Mai, or Hide +2 Armour).
• Gloves of Archery: Sold by Grat the in the Goblin Camp (Alternatives Gloves of Dexterity, Gloves of Missile Snaring, or Gloves of Hail of Thorns).
• Disintegrating Night Walkers: Looted or stolen from Nere in Grymforge (Alternatives Boots of Striding, or Boots of Genial Striding).
• Amulet of Branding: Obtained in Githyanki Creche (Alternative Moondrop Pendant, or Amulet of Restoration).
• Caustic Band: Buy it from Derryth in the Myconid colony, Underdark (Alternative The Sparkswall).
• Strange Conduit Ring: Looted in Githyanki Crech (Alternative Fetish of Callarduran Smoothhands, or Ring of Absolute Force).
• Titanstring Bow: Brem in Zhentarim Hideout Act 1 (Alternatives Bow of Banshee, Spellthief, or Joltshooter).
• Club of Hill Giant Strength: Found in Arcane Tower under Stool top level (Alternatives Hunter’s Dagger, or Knife of the Undermountain King).
• Adamantine Shield: Crafted in the Adamantine Forge (Alternatives Glowing Shield, or Wood Woad Shield).

Advanced

Gear Slot	Best Gear Item	Effect
Head	Helm of Balduran	Cannot be Stunned
Cape	Deathstalker Mantle	Invisibility on Kills
Chest	Armour of Agility	Full Dex Modifier
Gloves	Legacy of the Masters	+2 Attack Roll
Boots	Helldusk Boots	Cannot be Moved
Necklace	Surgeon’s Subjugation Amulet	Stun on Crit
Ring	Killer’s Sweetheart	Auto Critical
Ring	Ring of Free Action	Ignore movement impairment
Weapon 1 Bow	Gontr Mael	Best Bow
Weapon 2 Mace	Blood of Lathander	Automatic Revive
Weapon 2 Shield	Viconia’s Walking Fortress	+3 AC
Misc	Resonance Stone	2x Psychic Damage

• Helm of Balduran: Found in Dragon’s Sanctum X: 636 Y: -964 Act 3 (alternatives Sarevok’s Horned Helmet, Mask of Soul Perception).
• Deathstalker Mantle: Automatically acquired as part of Dark Urge story (alternatives Cloak of Protection or Shade-Slayer Cloak).
• Armour of Agility: Purchased in Stormshore Armour (alternatives Helldusk Armour, Dark Justiciar Half-Plate).
• Legacy of the Masters: Sold by Dammon in Lower City, Forge of the Nine (alternatives Gloves of Soul Catching, Helldusk Gloves, or Gloves of Dexterity).
• Helldusk Boots: Wyrm’s Rock Fortress X: -32 Y: 219 Act 3 (alternative Disintegration Night Walkers).
• Surgeon’s Subjugation Amulet: Looted from Malus Thorm at the House of Healing in Act 2. (alternative: Amulet of Greater Health, or Periapt of Wound Closure).
• Killer’s Sweetheart: Found in Self-Same Trial inside the Gauntlet of Shar. (alternative Risky Ring, Ring of Protection).
• Ring of Free Action: Sold in Moonrise Tower Act 2 (alternative Ring of Regeneration, or Shifting Corpus Ring).
• Gontr Mael: Looted from the Steel Watcher Titan in Steel Watch Foundry (alternative The Dead Shot).
• Blood of Lathander: Act 1 and 2 Quest (Alternative Club of Hill Giant Strength).
• Viconia’s Walking Fortress: Looted from Viconia (Alternative Shield of Devotion).
• Resonance Stone: End of act 2 in puzzle mind flayer colony.

How to Play Swarmkeeper Ranger

The best way to play the Swarmkeeper Ranger is by using Hunter’s Mark with your bonus action and attacking the marked target. Make sure to swap bonuses via the gathered swarm on your passive bar. Different enemies may be susceptible or vulnerable to damage types like psychic or lightning.

Below are some general tips on how to play the best Swarmkeeper Ranger build in BG3:

• Loot Everything – Gold is essential for purchasing consumables, potions, and ammunition, so make a habit of looting and selling frequently.
• Crafting – Elixirs and potions are crucial, so be sure to buy crafting materials whenever trading.
• Reach Level 6 – Complete as many early-game quests as possible to hit level 6, where your power spikes significantly.
• Sell Regularly – Limited carrying capacity means you should sell excess items often and store valuable but unused gear in your traveler’s chest.
• Stealth – Whenever possible, initiate combat in stealth to trigger the Surprise status effect for a tactical advantage.
• Consider Illithid Powers – Though they may alter your appearance, these abilities provide significant power boosts.
• Oils & Elixirs – Use both coatings/oils and elixirs in combat to maximize their combined benefits.
• Persuasion – Leverage dialogue options to avoid unnecessary combat when possible.

Best Tips and Tricks for Swarmkeeper Ranger in BG3

The best tip to using the Swarmkeeper Ranger is combine the Flurry of Moths Attack Psychic damage with Resonance Stone from Act 2. This stone doubles Psychic damage, and can be combined with the Strange Conduit Ring which makes your Hunter’s Mark extremely powerful.

Best Consumables, Potions, Ammunition, and Items

The following list is the best consumable items that will aid in our Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Swarmkeeper Ranger Build Guide:

• Elixir of Bloodlust: Once per turn when you kill a foe, you gain HP 5 temporary hit points and an additional action.
• Elixir of Hill Giant Strength: Increases Strength ability score to 21 until Long Rest.
• Potion of Speed: Gain extra action, +2 AC, Advantage on Dexterity Saving Throws, and double movement speed.
• Drow Poison: Weapon poison that adds Constitution Saving Throw or becomes Poisoned and falls Asleep.
• Potion of Flying: Drink to gain a flying speed of 60ft for one hour.
• Elixir of Heroism: Gain 10 temp HP and become Blessed until a long rest.
• Potion of Greater Healing: 4d4 + 4 hit points restored.
• Oil of Accuracy: Coat Weapon. Bonus of +2 in Attack Rolls.
• Elixir of Vigilance: Drink to gain a +5 bonus to Initiative and you can’t be Surprised.

Permanent Bonuses

Throughout Baldur’s Gate 3, you will have the ability to gain permanent bonuses to your character. These can grant additional spells, ability scores, and other bonuses. Permanent Bonuses are not displayed throughout the campaign but are vital to increase overall combat performance. We have all permanent bonuses here in a guide, but the most important ones for you to collect are listed below.

Act 1	Act 2	Act 3
Auntie Ethel’s Hair: Gain +1 to an Ability Score.	Potion of Everlasting Vigour: Gain +2 Strength.	Mirror of Loss – +2 to an Ability Score of your choice.
Awakened: Use illithid powers as a Bonus Action.	Slayer Form: Ability to transform into the Slayer.	Partial Ceremorphosis: Access to tier 3 illithid Powers.
Scratch: Gain Find Familiar Scratch.	Summon Us: Allows you to summon Us.	Sweet Stone Features: Blessed permanent.
Cheeky Quasit: Gain Summon Quasit Shovel.		Statue of the Gods: +2 to Saving Throws
Loviatar’s Love: 30% Hit Points or less, you gain a +2 bonus to Attack Rolls and Wisdom saving throws.
Necromancy Of Thay: access to powerful spells in Act 3.
Volo’s Ersatz Eye: See Invisibility

Swarmkeeper Ranger Changes in Patch 8 for BG3

The release of Patch 8 for BG3 included 12 new subclasses and new spells and cantrips. The Swarmkeeper adds a unique build focused on Hunter’s Mark and specific debuffs. Otherwise, the Ranger remains unchanged.

Build Summary – Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Swarmkeeper Ranger

FAQs about the Swarmkeeper Ranger build in Baldur’s Gate 3

What abilities should the Swarmkeeper Ranger prioritize for my class?

The Ranger should increase dexterity for more ranged damage and constitution for health and help with concentration savings.

What are the best feats for Swarmkeeper Ranger builds?

Sharpshooter is the best feat for the Sarmkeeper Ranger because it increases damage and ignores high ground rules.

What are the best multiclass combos?

The best multiclass combos for the Swarmkeeper are four levels of Rogue and three levels of Fighter.

Are there “must-have” items for Swarmkeeper Ranger builds?

The best items for the Swarmkeeper Ranger are the Strange Conduit Ring and the Resonance Stone because it doubles psychic damage including moth attack gathered swarm.

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