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Discover everything you need to know about the Great Weapon Master Feat in Baldur’s Gate 3 and how it works.
Great Weapon Master outputs great (pun intended) damage and is mathematically and logically rarely not worth toggling on all of the time. If you want to use a two-handed weapon, this is the first and best feat for you in the whole game. When you deal a critical hit or shove a target or bring a target down to 0 HP whether you kill it or you knock it, you may make another melee weapon attack as a bonus action. You can toggle the Great Weapon Master all-in feature when attacking with a two-handed weapon or a versatile weapon in both hands. This allows you to gain double your proficiency bonus to damage at the cost of losing your proficiency bonus to attack. Adding a shove mechanic to Great Weapon Master gives a lot more usability in the low levels of crowd control. While in certain areas, it maximizes damage by taking advantage of instant kill falls. In this guide, we’ll discuss how Great Weapon Master work in Baldur’s Gate 3 and the best tips and tricks to consider when choosing this feat.
How does Great Weapon Master Work in Baldur’s Gate 3?
Great Weapon Master in Baldur’s Gate 3 grants two abilities. Choosing it allows you to gain a bonus attack as a bonus action after landing a critical hit or killing a target with a melee weapon. You can also get an option to add +10 damage to attacks with heavy melee weapons at the cost of a -5 to hit, which can be toggled on and off. To put it simply, when an attack with a melee weapon lands a Critical Hit or kills a creature, you can make another melee weapon attack a bonus action that turns. For this part of the passive, if you roll a Nat and you get a critical hit or you land the killing blow on a creature. If you want to get a free extra hit for a bonus attack, kill something, or quit something see it pop up on the right-hand screen column there. If you don’t have the passive option open, you will not see it.
You can use your bonus action to make a melee attack with that same weapon. This applies to make melee weapons not specifically heavy weapons. When attacking with heavy melee weapons you are proficient with, attack rolls take a -5 penalty, but their damage increases by 10. This means that you decrease your chance to hit by on average 25% but you can increase your damage by a flat value of 10. This depends on how much damage your base weapon is doing can be an increase in damage. This part is referred to in-game as the all-in passive.
Attacking and Passives
You can go to your passive tab and click on it to enable it or disable it, allowing you to take a -5 penalty for an additional 10 damage. You can select to toggle the -5 to hit and the +10 damage effect on and off as required. This allows you more flexibility in combat, making it easy to eliminate the enemies. The bonus attack is always beneficial and the -5/-10 toggle is situational. It depends on your hit chance and the enemy’s AC. Great Weapon Master is highly effective when combined with tactics that increase hit chance. If your off-hand is empty, then this feature applies to any Two-Handed or Versatile melee weapons.
Best Classes for Great Weapon Master
The best classes to get Great Weapon Master are the following.
- Barbarian- The strong embrace of the wild that hides inside – keen instincts, primal physicality, and most of all, an unbridled, unquenchable rage.
- Fighter- Fighters have mastered the art of combat, wielding weapons with unmatched skill and wearing armor like a second skin.
- Paladin- Fuelled by the Oath you swore to uphold justice and righteousness, you are a beacon of hope in dark times.
You can use the Great Weapon Master with the Smite but the bonus attack only triggers if your weapon damage kills the enemy. Great Weapon Master works with versatile weapons when held without a shield. We recommend you use buffs like Bless, Sacred Weapon, and Magic Weapon to improve your accuracy and compensate for the penalty. Make sure you have enough supply of Elixirs of Hill Giant Strength as it increases your Strength and improves your hit. Use Darkvision or cast the Light cantrip on your weapon if you’re roaming in a dark area. Barbarians can reduce the -5 penalty by gaining an advantage on attacks.
Great Weapon Master is best with the high Strength characters like Fighters, Barbarians, and Paladins as their attack bonuses remove the -5 penalty. Combine it with the Advantage or high attack rolls to make it more effective. The feat works well with abilities like Divine Strike and other critical strike-based builds. The only time I ever turn this off is when I know my minimum damage will kill a target and I gain accuracy without using it. Otherwise, the +10 damage is ridiculously overpowered.
Great Weapon Master Tips and Tricks in BG3
Here are the best tips and tricks for Great Weapon in Baldur’s Gate 3.
- You need to aim for critical hits to trigger the extra attack bonus.
- Use buffs like Bless, Elixir of Hill Giant Strength, and Haste to improve accuracy.
- Potion of Speed provides extra action and increased mobility and Bless can add 1d4 to attack roll.
- Paladin, Fighter, and Barbarian are the best builds to include Great Weapon Master.
- You need to minimize the accuracy penalty by improving your hit chance.
- You can toggle power attack when fighting low AC enemies, have an Advantage, or when you’re buffed.
- Turn it off while fighting the high AC enemies or if you’re in a low-hit chance condition in combat.
- Look for opportunities to attack with advantage, such as attacking prone enemies, or hidden enemies.
- Make sure you are positioned to attack enemies with advantage or to take advantage of terrain.
- Use weapons with bonuses to hit, such as +1 or +2 weapons, or weapons with high accuracy.
- Use Greater Weapon Master to kill enemies, triggering the extra attack bonus.
- Equip Briskwind Boots as it grants a bonus to movement speed and allows you to move through difficult terrain without facing any kind of penalty.
- Use Running Tiger Heart to gain a bonus to damage rolls when you are wielding a heavy weapon with Great Weapon Master.
FAQs about Great Weapon Master in Baldur’s Gate 3
Which weapons work with Great Weapon Master?
Any melee weapon that has heavy property can work well with the Great Weapon Master feat. However, you must be proficient with a heavy weapon to use this feat.
When should I use the -5 attack penalty for +10 damage?
The penalty to your attack roll is meaningless as you will get a +10 to damage when you hit.
Does it work with ranged weapons?
No, the Great Weapon Master feat does not work with ranged weapons because it does apply to heavy weapons when used in a melee attack.
Does the Bonus Action attack apply to all melee kills?
Yes, the Great Weapon Master applies to all melee kills in Baldur’s Gate 3. You can make another melee weapon attack as a bonus action when you reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a melee weapon attack.
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