Baldur's Gate 3: Best College Of Valour Bard Build

Whether it's Baldur's Gate 3 or Dungeons & Dragons, bards are all about supporting the team with spells, swords, and songs. The College of Valor embodies this noble profession better than any of the bard subclasses. You've got weapons and armor to stand toe-to-toe with anyone in combat, you've got powerful spells to disrupt and dismay opponents, and you can play inspirational songs that add damage or defense to your teammates.

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With the right spells and the right equipment, a College of Valor bard can take on any of the challenges Bladur's Gate 3 can throw at you. If you're ready to enroll in the College of Valor, read on.

College Of Valour Bard Overview

Hit Points Per Level

5 plus Constitution modifier

Saving Throw Proficiencies

Charisma, Dexterity

Weapon Proficiencies

Simple Weapons, Martial Weapons

Armor Proficiencies

Light Armour, Medium Armor, Shields

Skill Proficiencies (Choose Three)

History, Insight, Medicine, Persuasion, Religion, Deception, Intimidation, Performance, Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Animal Handling, Arcana, Investigation, Athletics, Nature, Perception, Survival

Spellcasting Ability

Charisma

The College of Valor bard is all about supporting the team, whether that's plugging a hole in your battle line, healing your tank before they collapse from exhaustion, or inspiring your damage dealer to new heights of power. You're also the consummate jack-of-all-trades, able to do a little bit of everything without being spectacular at any particular task.

You begin enrolling in the College of Valor at level three, at which point you immediately gain proficiency with medium armor, shields, and martial weapons. This gives the College of Valor access to all equipment barring heavy armor. You're not necessarily the best at firing a bow or wielding a sword, but you can certainly hold your own in a fight.

You also gain Combat Inspiration upon enrolling in the College of Valor. This expands your Bardic Inspiration to be more versatile, allowing allies to choose to add damage or armor class as a reaction alongside the original three options of attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws.

You'll generally want to give your Combat Inspiration liberally during combat. Starting at level five, Font of Valor recoups your Inspiration Charges every short rest, allowing incredible flexibility with how your allies use their Inspiration.

Although you're a decent fighter, you're still a spellcaster at heart. Your focus during combat should be on supporting your allies with spells before wading into battle with sword and shield. Those are just kind of nice bonuses to have over something like a wizard or sorcerer.

Starting Ability Scores

Strength

Dexterity

Constitution

Intelligence

Wisdom

Charisma

8(-1)

16(+3)

14(+2)

10(0)

10(0)

16(+3)

We're starting off with equal scores in Dexterity and Charisma, although the focus will be on Charisma as you level up. Charisma is your primary spellcasting stat, so improving it will make you a better spellcaster.

Dexterity at 16 is sufficient to make you a valid combat character in the early game, with plenty of armor class and the ability to wield rapiers and bows with some skill.

This ability wanes somewhat as your Dexterity won't increase much during the course of the game, but you'll still be able to make use of that extra attackwith the right late-game equipment.

Constitution at 14 provides sufficient hit points to take the occasional hit, and we'll be boosting this saving throw later to ensure your ability to maintain concentration on your spells.

Intelligence and Wisdom are at 10 just to provide a good baseline for your saving throws, and Strength is left at 8 as the bare minimum required to make certain jumps. You'll be sticking with finesse weapons, so strength won't matter in the long run.

Leveling The Build And Spell Choices

Bard Levels

Level

Class Features

Spells

Level 1

• +3 Bardic Inspiration Charges (d6)
• +2 First-Level Spell Slot
• +2 Cantrips
• +4 Spells

• Vicious Mockery (Cantrip)
• Friends (Cantrip)
• Dissonant Whispers (Level 1)
• Healing Word (Level 1)
• Longstrider (Level 1)
• Tasha's Hideous Laughter (Level 1)

Level 2

• Song of Rest
• Jack of All Trades
• +1 First-Level Spell Slot
• +1 Spell

• Faerie Fire (Level 1)

Level 3

• Choose Subclass: College of Valor
  • Combat Inspiration
  • Medium Armor, Shields, Martial Weapon Proficiency
• Expertise
  • Choose Deception, Persuasion
• +1 Spell
• +1 First-Level Spell Slot
• +2 Second-Level Spell Slots

• Cloud of Daggers (Level 2)

Level 4

• Ability Score Improvement or Feat
  • Choose +2 Charisma
• +1 Cantrip
• +1 Spell
• +1 Second-Level Spell Slot

• Mage Hand (Cantrip)
• Lesser Restoration (Level 2)
  • If you're playing with Shadowheart: Shatter (Level 2)

Level 5

• Improved Bardic Inspiration (d8)
  • +1 Bardic Inspiration Charge
  • Font of Inspiration
• +1 Spell
• +2 Third-Level Spell Slots

• Hypnotic Pattern (Level 3)

Level 6

• Countercharm
• Extra Attack
• +1 Spell
• +1 Third-Level Spell Slot

• Glyph of Warding (Level 3)

Level 7

• +1 Spell
• +1 Fourth-Level Spell Slot

• Greater Invisibility (Level 4)

Level 8

• Ability Score Improvement or Feat
  • Choose +2 Charisma
• +1 Bardic Inspiration Charge
• +1 Spell
• +1 Fourth-Level Spell Slot

• Dimension Door (Level 4)

Level 9

• +1 Spell
• +1 Fourth-Level Spell Slot
• +1 Fifth-Level Spell Slot

• Greater Restoration (Level 5)

Level 10

• Improved Bardic Inspiration (d10)
• Expertise
  • Choose Performance, Perception
• Magical Secrets
• +1 Cantrip
• +1 Spell
• +1 Fifth-Level Spell Slot

• Minor Illusion (Cantrip)
• Mass Cure Wounds (Level 5)
• Magical Secrets: Counterspell (Level 3), Banishing Smite (Level 5)

Level 11

• +1 Spell
• +1 Sixth-Level Spell Slot

• Otto's Irresistible Dance (Level 6)

Level 12

• Ability Score Improvement or Feat
  • Choose +2 Dexterity
• +1 Spell

• Spell of your choice

At level one, we're starting with a strong assortment of support spells. Vicious Mockery can keep a character from being struck each turn, while Healing Word can bring them back from the brink of death. Friends is an incredibly useful social cantrip (although be careful using it on higher difficulty levels), and Longstrider is a ritual spell that should be cast every day to improve the movement of your entire party.

Tasha's Hideous Laughter and Dissonant Whispers are two concentration spells that can totally disable an enemy, either by causing them to fall to the ground laughing or becoming frightened of the party.

At level two, Faerie Fire is a great support spell that can reveal invisible enemies and make them easier to hit. At level three, you join the College of Valor and can equip medium armor and shields, greatly increasing your survivability. Cloud of Daggers is an incredible offensive tool for maps with choke points or limited area.

At level four, Mage Hand is essential for some of the game's side quests, while Lesser Restoration cements your role as the party's healer (if Shadowheart is around, take Shatter instead for more offensive options). At level five, Hypnotic Pattern offers wildly efficient crowd control over an extremely wide area.

Glyph of Warding at level six offers exceptional utility, able to deal damage, push, or send enemies to sleep in a large AOE. Greater Invisibility and Dimension Door at levels seven and eight are utility spells that are just too good to be ignored, and Greater Restoration at level nine cures almost every status ailment in the game.

At level ten comes the all-important decision of Magical Secrets. Our two choices are Counterspell for a useful reaction and Banishing Smite. The latter choice brings a bit more swordplay to the College of Valor bard by adding immense potential damage to a single attack (and with the late-game equipment, you should still be landing hits regularly).

Minor Illusion is a useful cantrip for when trickery is called for, and Mass Cure Wounds heals up the party after an AOE attack.

Level 11 brings Otto's Irresistible Dance. This is preferable to Eyebite as the enemy doesn't get an initial saving throw, guaranteeing they'll be disabled for at least one turn. Level 12 brings the final ability score improvement. Up until now, we've been pushing Charisma to ensure spell potency, but you can now boost Dexterity a touch to improve your armor class and saving throws.

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Best Races For A College Of Valour Bard

Several races provide beneficial bonuses to a College of Valour bard. Below we have the potential races ranked best to worst.

Elf

Wood elf offers two skill proficiencies, advantage against being charmed, immunity to sleep, Darkvision, and increased movement speed. That's more than any other race will offer.

Drow

In second place is the drow. For one less skill proficiency and less movement speed, you get better Darkvision and a few useful spells in Dancing Lights, Faerie Fire, and Darkness.

Half-Elf

Either wood or drow half-elf will offer most of the benefits of being an elf, but you might as well just be an elf. None of the weapon or armor proficiencies of this race are relevant.

Tiefling

A useful damage resistance, Darkvision, and several spells for flavoring. Asmodeus tiefling is probably the most useful, but you can make either Mephistopheles or Zariel tieflings work too.

Half-Orc

You're still mostly a spellcaster, but you're still stabbing with a melee weapon often enough for Savage Attacks to not be completely useless. Intimidation proficiency, Darkvision, and Relentless Endurance make half-orc a surprisingly decent bard.

Gnome

You'll probably want to go with forest or deep gnome as history expertise isn't all that useful. Being able to Speak with Animals or having an advantage in stealth is way better.

Halfling

Halfling Luck is always great to have, but the advantage against being frightened is largely mitigated by Countercharm. Strongheart halfling's resistance to poison is probably the better call over Lightfoot's advantage on stealth checks.

Dwarf

Stay away from shield dwarf as it gives you next to nothing. Your choices are gold dwarf for more hit points or duergar for Superior Darkvision, advantage against being charmed or paralyzed, and the Enlarge and Invisibility spells. Both get resistance to poison too.

Human

All human provides is 25 percent better carrying capacity and one skill proficiency. You can do better.

Githyanki

You've already got proficiency in everything githyanki offers and you've also got Jack of All Trades, reducing the efficacy of Astral Knowledge. This leaves you with Githyanki Psionics, which are a few nice spells, but they're by no means essential.

Dragonborn

One damage resistance and a breath weapon are all Dragonborn brings to the table.

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Early Game Equipment Build For A College Of Valour Bard

Helmet

Cloak

Cap Of Curing

Inspiring an ally with Bardic Inspiration heals 1d6 hit points.

None

N/A

Armor

Amulet

Breastplate +1

15 AC Medium Armor, reduces all piercing damage by one.

Silver Pendant

Cast Guidance once per long rest.

Gloves

Ring #1

Wondrous Gloves

+1 AC, gain one additional Bardic Inspiration charge.

Strange Conduit Ring

Weapon attacks deal an additional 1d4 psychic damage while concentrating on a spell

Boots

Ring #2

Boots Of Aid And Comfort

Gain three temporary hit points whenever you heal a target

Crusher's Ring

Increase movement speed by 3m/10ft.

Main-Hand Melee Weapon

Off-Hand Melee Weapon

Phalar Aluve

1d8 + 1 slashing damage, +1 Performance, the sword can Sing or Shriek to provide either a buff for the party or a de-buff to your enemies.

Safeguard Shield

+2 AC, +1 to all saving throws.

Main-Hand Ranged Weapon

Off-Hand Ranged Weapon

Harold

1d10 + 1 piercing, struck targets must succeed a Charisma saving throw or be Baned for two turns.

None

N/A

The goal of the early game is maximum resilience and support. Cap of Curing, Boots of Aid and Comfort, and Wondrous Gloves all make inspiring your allies more fruitful. Breastplate +1 and Safeguard Shield provide excellent armor class and a slight boost to your saving throws.

Be sure to grab the Safeguard Shield from Dammon in the Druid Grove, and Boots of Aid and Comfort from Grat the Trader in the Goblin Camp. Both are missable depending on your actions.

Phalar Aluve can be found in the Underdark and is the perfect College of Valour bard weapon. It's a longsword, but it's also a finesse weapon, meaning you can use your Dexterity instead of strength. It also adds to your Performance skill and provides an incredibly useful ability in combat.

Harold is likely your best ranged attack option. Being able to potentially bane targets makes it exceptionally useful when you're saving spell slots.

Strange Conduit Ring is great to use alongside Tasha's Hideous Laughter or Dissonant Whispers. Crusher's Ring adds some movement, and Silver Pendant is great to add to your saving throws and ability checks.

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Late Game Equipment Build For A College Of Valour Bard

Helmet

Cloak

Helm of Balduran

+1 to AC and saving throws, +2 hit points per turn, immunity to stun effects, attackers can't land critical hits.

Cloak of Displacement

Enemies have disadvantage on attacks until you take damage.

Armor

Amulet

Armor of Agility

17 AC Medium Armor, adds full Dexterity modifier to AC, +2 to all saving throws.

Amulet of Greater Health

Constitution becomes 23. Advantage on all Constitution saving throws.

Gloves

Ring #1

Helldusk Gloves

+1 to spell attack rolls and spell save DC, weapon attacks deal an additional 1d6 fire damage, unarmed attacks deal an additional 1d6 necrotic damage and can cause bleeding. Strength saving throws +1. Cast Rays of Fire as a cantrip once per short rest.

Ring of Protection

Weapon attacks deal an additional 1d4 psychic damage while concentrating on a spell

Boots

Ring #2

Helldusk Boots

Ignore difficult terrain, spells and effects cannot forcibly move you. You can use your reaction to automatically succeed on any failed saving throw. Teleport to an area and deal 2d8 fire damage in a 10ft blast radius once per short rest.

Orphic Ring

Cast Confusion at level five once per long rest.

Main-Hand Melee Weapon

Off-Hand Melee Weapon

Infernal Rapier

1d8 + 2 piercing damage, adds spellcasting modifier instead of Dexterity to damage and attack rolls. +1 to spell save DC, cast Planar Ally: Cambion at sixth level once per long rest.

Ketheric's Shield

+1 to spell save DC and spell attack rolls, advantage on Dexterity saving throws, Shield Bash.

Main-Hand Ranged Weapon

Off-Hand Ranged Weapon

The Dead Shot

1d8 + 2 piercing damage, add double your proficiency bonus to attack rolls so long as you do not have disadvantage. The number required for a critical hit is reduced by one.

None

N/A

In the late game, you might not hit very hard, but you're incredibly tough to take down. Amulet of Greater Health provides you with 23 Constitution and advantage on Constitution saving throws, making it very hard for you to lose concentration on spells. Your spells also land more easily thanks to Ketheric's Shield and Helldusk Gloves.

You should have 25 armor class thanks to Helm of Balduran, Armor of Agility, Ketheric's Shield, and Ring of Protection, with Cloak of Displacement making you even harder to hit. Orphic Ring is providing Confusion, which is another great crowd-control spell.

Infernal Rapier makes it so we can deal melee damage based on our Charisma rather than Dexterity, making you almost as good at swordplay as you are at spellcasting. Planar Ally: Cambion is also a great perk.

The Dead Shot isn't quite as strong as Harold in terms of damage, but it offers improved reliability thanks to doubling your proficiency bonus.

If you'd prefer to forgo ranged attacks entirely (outside of spellcasting), then Darkfire Shortbow offers two damage resistances and Haste.

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