Baldur’s Gate 3: 15 Best Skills [Trial & Tested]

Choosing between all the skills requires proper knowledge about their proficiencies in combat or socializing. If you have played Dragons and Dungeons 5E, this might not be a big problem. This will be a tough decision if you are a newbie. 

---

Key Takeaways

Here are some of my top choices for the best Skills you should focus on in Baldurs Gate 3:

1. Perception:
   • It is an essential skill for all classes, heavily utilized throughout the game.
   • Relies on Wisdom Ability Score.
   • Provides environmental awareness, reveals secrets, and detects threats.
2. Stealth:
   • It enables hiding from enemies, bypassing confrontations, and surprising enemies.
   • Useful for sneaking into guarded areas without detection.
3. Persuasion:
   • A charisma-based skill that facilitates logical reasoning and negotiation.
   • Offers the ability to make alliances, negotiate prices, and extract information.
   • Empowers players to navigate social situations and manipulate outcomes.
4. Athletics:
   • Strength-based skills are crucial for combat situations.
   • Allows forceful movement, jumping to higher locations, and resisting enemy ambushes.

---

Perception

Old players know how this skill used to occupy a permanent slot in their Dragons and Dungeons 5E inventory. And just like there, it derives its functionality from the Wisdom Ability Score. Here is what this all-round skill does in Baldur’s Gate 3:

• Provides Environmental awareness.
• Finds out secrets around the area by noticing changes in the surrounding environment.
• It decodes an NPC’s messages during meaningful interactions and reveals its true aspirations and intentions, failing in every try of thievery or deception.
• It senses unforeseen threats and attacks to notify players beforehand during hostile situations.

History

Knowing the history of everything in the game will give you an easy and insightful approach to everything. It is an Intelligence-based skill; it became useful to me in the following ways.

• History will let you unlock elements of the game’s lore.
• You can uncover various Facts using this skill. These Facts help in finding out new things and dialog trees.
• It will inform you about the places you will visit in the game. For example, a ruined temple may appear to you as a previously used shrine to an ancient deity.
• While it is available for multiple classes, equipping it for Wizard class will bring out its full potential.

Investigation

Here is what else it does:

• It brings in new and relevant information about the surrounding area. 
• You can instantly point out one dedicated item inside a room filled with various items instead of looking through all the items.
• Investigation can look through any text to scan out deciphered text.
• It can also sense dangers and warn you to adopt preventive measures.

Stealth

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this skill in Baldurs Gate 3. While workable with all classes, Rogue makes the best carrier class for Stealth. Here is how it can help you in the game:

• You can hide yourself even when in front of enemies.
• Bypass unnecessary face-offs by simply sneaking away ahead to your main targets.
• You can sneak inside places that usually require permission from guards. 
• It lets you surprise enemies by occupying a higher ground in a room.

Persuasion

Here is what it brings to the table:

• It lets you use logical reasoning to make your way through the game.
• You can make new friends and alliances using Persuasion.
• Persuasion can help you negotiate prices.
• You can make NPCS spit out all information without having to give anything in return.

Deception

You can expect to get the following benefits from this skill:

• Deception can help you get inside wherever you want by fooling the guards.
• It can help you in purchasing useful things by deceiving the merchants.
• You can even get away with murder using this skill.

Athletics

Here is how it will help you in Baldur’s Gate 3:

• Athletics will let you move through any force pushing you behind.
• You can jump on higher locations to have the upper hand on your enemies.
• It lets you deal with an all-in ambush from your enemies.
• You can go for an all-in ambush against multiple enemies with less resistance.

Intimidation

Being a bully, here is what you can do with this skill in your hands:

• It can induce fear in your opponents, thereby asserting your dominance.
• You can terrify NPCs to collect whatever information you want.
• You can get into buildings by scaring the guards.

Sleight Of Hand

Here is how it will help you:

• You can pick pockets for various useful things from multiple targets.
• Sleight of Hand allows you to hide certain things on your character so that NPCs cannot detect them.
• You can place something illegal in your opponents’ pockets and tell the guards about it.
• It opens any door or chest for you without any problem.

Insight

Just like your sixth sense lets you know when someone is lying, hiding something, or if something terrible will happen, Insight does the same.

I suggest combining it with Persuasion to get a character who can talk his way out of any situation. Here is what you can use this skill for:

• You can know when an NPC is lying to you.
• It will tell you if the NPC is hiding some information from themselves.
• Insight also warns about upcoming traps.

Acrobatics

• Acrobatics is highly useful during ranged combats.
• You can land on your feet during nimble movements, including athleticism.
• It can save your life in the game by preventing you from getting shoved.

Arcana

• Arcana can help you deactivate any magical trap.
•  It can help you identify and understand strange artifacts of a magical nature.
• You can interact with magical/enchanted items using this skill in your playthrough.

Survival

Here is how it will help you in your gameplay:

• You can detect valuable resources around you.
• Survival will highlight tracks on the ground to make way for you.
• It can help you find eatables, like various fruits.
• You and your group can pass through frozen wastelands using this skill.
• Natural hazards in the game can be avoided by using this skill.

Animal Handling

Trust me; you need this skill as few primary quest missions require you to deal with animals directly. Here is what you can expect from this skill:

• It can help you to calm down any domesticated animal.
• You can learn about any animal’s intentions.
• Animal Handling can help you calm your animals down in risky maneuvers.

Nature

You can select it for any of the available classes. The information provided by this skill will help you throughout the game. Here are some of its uses in Baldur’s Gate 3:

• You can know what kind of animals or plants surround an area. A specific area’s weather and natural cycles can be understood using this skill.
• Nature will provide you with the necessary information about the lands you travel through.

Expert Picks For Skills Compared

Skill	Attribute	Highlight Functions
Perception	Wisdom	Environmental Awareness
History	Intelligence	Unlock elements of the game’s lore
Investigation	Intelligence	Solving Puzzles
Stealth	Dexterity	Sneaking around/ Avoiding confrontation
Persuasion	Charisma	Logical reasoning, Persuasion, Negotiation
Deception	Charisma	Deceiving guards, getting away with crimes
Athletics	Strength	Avoid getting shoved
Intimidation	Charisma	Assert dominance
Sleight of Hand	Dexterity	Perform mischevious acts
Insight	Wisdom	Acts as your character's sixth sense
Acrobatics	Dexterity	Athleticism, avoid getting shoved
Arcana	Intelligence	How magic works
Survival	Wisdom	Scan out resources and hostile species
Animal Handling	Wisdom	Understand and communicate with animals
Nature	Intelligence	Knowledge about your surroundings and resources

Best Skills compared.

What Are My Pick For Best Skill?

Picking one or two of our favorite skills is impossible, as all of these skills work together to create a complete character. However, a few skills like Stealth and Persuasion should be your top choices for noncombat skills. During my playthrough, I must have used these skills more than once in different situations.

Each of these skills provides something unique and useful that will help you dominate the gameplay in one way or another. Similarly, choosing the right skills for your build should be your ultimate priority, as they go a long way with you in the game.

While you are here, don’t forget to read more:

• Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Multiclass Combinations.
• Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Armor.
• Baldurs Gate 3 Best Wizard Subclass.