Baldur’s Gate 3 offers players numerous chances to create the strongest characters imaginable, but even that pales in comparison to the largely ineffective companion crafted by Larian.
Within the Baldur’s Gate 3 community, it is widely recognized that Shadowheart, the Cleric encountered at the beginning of the game, lacks significant power. Some attribute this to her unconventional spell selection, while others believe she is programmed to have a 90% miss rate in her attacks. Regardless of the reason, this beloved companion unfortunately struggles to make a strong impact in battles.
Despite the initial belief that Shadowheart’s lackluster performance was due to her spells or coding, a thorough analysis on Reddit by players revealed that it is actually her stats and subclass that are the cause of her underwhelming performance.
As emphasized in the post, Clerics are generally meant to be front-line combatants. Their impressive armor class, weapon skills, and strategic spells make them ideal for the role of a frontline healer. However, Shadowheart’s low Strength and Constitution scores of 13 and 14 respectively, result in a significantly lower armor class and attack damage.
In addition to her Trickery Domain subclass, many fans were left questioning Larian’s reasoning behind designing her in such an unconventional manner.
“A fan expressed their frustration with the unbalanced stats in the character’s base kit, stating that it negatively affected new players who were unfamiliar with how to fix the issues during a respec. This led to a poor opinion of the character among these players.”
Naturally, players have the option to completely change Shadowheart’s stats and subclass if she is respecced. Fans wasted no time in sharing their top recommendations in the comments section.
“According to one player, Shadowheart is always able to respec into either the tempest or war domain. They noted that the former has a stronger caster feel while the latter is equally exciting and impressive.”
The Tempest Cleric is without a doubt the preferred subclass for Clerics and Shadowheart. This is because it not only provides powerful offensive spells such as Thunderwave, Shatter, and Call Lightning, but also includes useful utility spells like Freedom of Movement.
Therefore, if you plan on including Shadowheart in your Baldur’s Gate 3 team, it is essential to respec her promptly and adjust her stats to better complement her abilities and spells. Additionally, it is advisable to steer clear of the Trickery domain.
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