Larian has confirmed the hotly anticipated Patch 8 update for Baldur’s Gate 3 finally launches on Tuesday, April 15.
Patch 8 has been available in stress test form for some time now, but Larian has announced it is finally ready to be released to all players next week.
There’s a huge amount of new content coming to the record-breaking Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game with Patch 8, including 12 new subclasses. Elsewhere, there’s photo mode, cross-play, and Xbox Series S split screen. Check out the Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 patch notes for more.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 8 new subclasses:
Bard - College of Glamour
As a College of Glamour Bard, you’ll find you have the power to heal friends and command enemies in equal measure. Cast Mantle of Inspiration to bestow your allies with 5 temporary hit points. And should an enemy attack while it is cast, they’ll find themselves Charmed. Play your hand correctly and you’ll be able to use this to your advantage with Mantle of Majesty. Target Charmed enemies and you can command them to flee, move closer, freeze, drop to the ground, or drop their weapon.
Barbarian - Path of Giants
Opt for the Path of Giants, and your newfound giant strength will make it easier for you to yeet friend and foe alike. Forget chugging potions to pump those muscles, these Barbarians benefit from the Giant’s Rage passive that grants both strength and size - allowing you to deal additional damage with Throw attacks. Pockets weighing you down? Not for you and your increased carry capacity!
Cleric - Death Domain
As a cleric of death, you’ll find a few dark new tricks up your sleeves - from spells that specialise in necrotic damage to three new necromancy cantrips. This includes Toll The Dead, a cantrip that causes 1~8 damage when your cleric rings the bell of impending doom - a number that scales if your target has already been damaged. We’ve also added the homebrewed ability to explode nearby corpses, damaging enemies.
Druid - Circle of Stars
These Druids look to the stars for answers, accessing powers beyond those offered through the classic wildshapes. Taking on one of three Starry Forms for their power - the constellations of the Archer, Chalice, and Dragon. Each one favours a different play style and strategy - the Archer dealing radiant damage with astral arrows, the life-giving Chalice restoring hitpoints to you and others nearby, and the wise Dragon, allowing you to deal damage with an added bonus to constitution rolls. The Starry Forms offer not just a celestial aesthetic, but practical, powerful options to enhance your role as a healer, fighter, or strategist.
Paladin - Oath of the Crown
You’ve been sworn to uphold the principles of law. Stay true to your oath and you'll be rewarded with the power to aid your allies and disrupt your foes. Guide your companions in battle with Righteous Clarity, taunt enemies with strategic interrupts, and keep your party standing strong with Divine Allegiance, absorbing their damage while restoring their health.
Fighter - Arcane Archer
Mastering the dual arts of magic and marksmanship, the Arcane Archer subclass offers unique skills on top of new shooting animations. Banish foes to the Feywild, removing them from the battlefield for a turn, or unleash Psychic damage that forces enemies to make a Wisdom saving throw or be blinded until the start of their next turn.
Monk - Drunken Master
Putting the brew in homebrew, as the Drunken Master, you have the ability to consume alcohol straight from your inventory, as well as drink from bottles you see around the Sword Coast, in order to recover Ki. By sharing the bottle with your enemies using Intoxicating Strike, you’ll generate a buff towards your Armour Class and your Chance to hit Drunk targets. Drunk enemies are also susceptible to the Drunken Masters' other abilities, like Sobering Realisation - which sobers up drunk targets, dealing physical and Psychic damage.
Ranger - Swarmkeeper
The Swarmkeeper subclass provides Rangers with three kinds of deadly swarms to assist them in combat. The Cloud of Jellyfish deals extra lightning damage - potentially shocking your enemy. The Flurry of Moths deals Psychic damage, giving you the potential to Blind your enemy. The Legion of Bees deals piercing damage and forces the enemy to make a strength-saving throw or be knocked back 15ft. Each swarm also has the ability to provide you with teleportation capabilities!
Rogue - Swashbuckler
This Rogue subclass introduces a range of new actions fit for the piratical life. Play dirty by tossing sand at enemies to Blind them. Flick your weapon at a target to Disarm them. Or use your new Fancy Footwork passive while meleeing your enemy to ensure they can’t make opportunity attacks against you for the rest of your turn.
Sorcerer - Shadow Magic
As a Shadow Magic Sorcerer, you deal in a form of magic that makes you deadliest in darkness. This subclass gives its sorcerer Superior Darkvision, as well as the ability to Shadow Walk between places of dim light or darkness. It also lets you call forth the perfectly homebrewed Hound of Ill Omen to harass your foes, and use Strength of the Grave to prevent you from being downed - ideal for those attempting Honour Mode runs.
Warlock - Hexblade
Hexblade Warlocks make a pact with an entity from the Shadowfell that manifests in the form of magical weapons. Curse your enemies and force their souls to do your bidding. Slay any enemy that isn’t generally an element of nature, construct, giant blob, or already dead, and you’ll be able to raise their spirit from their corpse for ten turns. This new summon can deal necrotic damage and will rip away a chunk of your enemy’s soul to provide your Hexblade Warlock with healing.
Wizard - Bladesinging
The Bladesinging subclass merges swordplay with wizardry. Expect new spellcasting animations when casting spells with your weapon, a new Bladesong ability to grant you supernatural speed, agility, and focus, plus gives you a bonus to any Constitution saving throw you make.
Patch 8, as Larian has signalled, is the final major update for the game and draws a line under what has been a remarkable time for the developer. Baldur’s Gate 3 launched to critical acclaim and enormous commercial success back in 2023, and has continued to sell strongly throughout 2024 and into 2025.
Larian shocked the gaming world by confirming its intention to leave Baldur’s Gate 3 and Dungeons & Dragons behind to work on a brand new game, which it teased at various points before announcing a media blackout to focus on the new mystery project.
D&D owner Hasbro. however, has teased plans to continue with the series. Speaking to IGN at the Game Developers Conference last month, SVP of digital games at Hasbro, Dan Ayoub, let on that with Larian moving on, Hasbro has "a lot of people very interested in Baldur's Gate."
"We're kind of working out our plans for the future and what we're going to be doing with that. And actually, in pretty short order, we're going to have some stuff to talk about around that."
Ayoub didn't offer any further information about whether this "stuff" would be a full-blown new Baldur's Gate in the works, or some sort of crossover like the characters had with Magic: The Gathering previously. However, he did acknowledge that he eventually wants a Baldur's Gate 4, but that making one will likely take a while.
"It's somewhat of an unenviable position," he said. "I mean, we're not in a hurry. Right? That's the thing, we're going to take a very measured approach... We've got a lot of plans, a lot of different ways to go about it. We're starting to think about, okay, yeah, we're ready to start dipping toes a little bit and talking about a few things. And I think, in really short order, like I said, again, not to over-tease that point, we're going to have some other things to talk about around that."
Meanwhile, Larian will celebrate the release of Patch 8 with a Twitch livestream in which senior systems designer, Ross Stephens, will run through the changes and additions.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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