Baldur's Gate 3: Best Bard College of Glamour build guide

The College of Glamour Bard in Baldur's Gate 3 is a powerful support class that uses crowd control and battlefield manipulation to dominate. With a unique subclass focus on Charmed effects and bonus actions like the Mantle of Inspiration, this Bard excels in utility and survivability.

This article focuses on providing a complete build guide for the newly added subclass.

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Pros and cons of a pure College of Glamour Bard in Baldur's Gate 3

Pros

Here are all the benefits of having a pure College of Glamour Bard in BG3:

• High Charisma: Great for both combat and dialogue.
• Strong support: Inspires allies and charms enemies.
• Bonus action utility: Mantle of Inspiration gives temporary HP and repositioning.
• Access to many spells and CC tools.

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Cons

Here are all the downsides of having a pure College of Glamour Bard in BG3:

• Weak armor options in the early game.
• Heavily dependant on spell slots and Bardic Inspiration uses.
• Less burst than other melee-focused builds.

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Best race for College of Glamour Bard in Baldur's Gate 3

High Hald-Elf (Image via YouTube || AchillesMele)

The best race for College of Glamour Bard is the High Half-Elf. It has +2 Charisma and +1 Dexterity, with extra mobility for repositioning in combat as well. The Bonus Cantrip that you get with this Race is either Fire Bolt or Blade Ward.

If you are looking for an alternative Race, the Half-Orc would be great for survivability and melee synergy.

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Best starting attributes for the College of Glamour Bard build in Baldur's Gate 3

The following statistics would be great at the beginning of the College of Glamour Bard build:

• Charisma: 17
• Constitution: 14
• Dexterity: 16
• Intelligence: 8
• Strength: 8
• Wisdom: 10

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Attribute progression

• At level 4, increase Charisma to 18 using Ability Score Improvement.
• In Act 3, use the Birthright Helm to hit 20 Charisma.
• Use Potion of Everlasting Vigour and Mirror of Loss to boost Strength and Constitution.

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Best skills to take for the College of Glamour Bard in Baldur's Gate 3

Players are advised to choose the skills that benefit from Charisma and offer a broad utility. Here are some of the recommended ones to pick:

• Persuasion
• Deception
• Insight
• Performance
• Stealth

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Pure College of Glamour Bard leveling guide (1 to 12)

Level 1

• Class: Bard
• Cantrips: Vicious Mockery, Fire Bolt, Booming Blade
• Spells: Dissonant Whispers, Thunderwave, Charm Person, Longstrider

Level 2

• Features: Jack of All Trades, Song of Rest
• Spell: Tasha’s Hideous Laughter

Level 3

• Subclass: College of Glamour
• Features: Mantle of Inspiration, Enthralling Performance
• Spells: Heat Metal, Cloud of Daggers (Replace Thunderwave)

Level 4

• Feat: Ability Score Improvement (Charisma +2)
• Spell: Invisibility

Level 5

• Feature: Font of Inspiration
• Spells: Glyph of Warding, Stinking Cloud (Replace Cloud of Daggers)

Level 6

• Spells: Fear, Misty Step

Once you reach level 7, you will be leveling up with multiple Classes by adding Sorcerer to your build.

Level 7

• Multiclass: Sorcerer
• Subclass: Shadow Sorcerer
• Cantrips: Light, Ray of Frost, Friends, Minor Illusion
• Spells: Shield, Chromatic Orb

Level 8

• Spells: Twinned, Magic Missile

Level 9

• Features: Darkness, Eyes of the Dark
• Spells: Quickened, Shadow Blade, Mirror Image

Level 10

• Feat: Savage Attacker
• Cantrip: Bone Chill

Level 11

• Spells: Fireball, Counterspell (Replace Chromatic Orb)

Level 12

• Feature: Hound of Ill Omen
• Spell: Haste

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Best Multiclassing options for College of Glamour in Baldur's Gate 3

Sorcerer in Baldur's Gate 3 (Image via YouTube || Mortismal Gaming)

The best option would be picking 6 Bards and 6 Sorcerers (Shadow Magic). This gives you access to Shadow Blade and Metamagic. An Upcasted Shadow Blade, paired with Booming Blade, deals massive melee damage. Use Quickened or Twinned Spell for burst or support utility. Take the Savage Attacker and Spell Sniper Feats.

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Best items that synergize for College of Glamour Bard in Baldur's Gate 3

Act 1 (Beginner): Best gear

Slot	Item Name	Effect
Head	Cap of Curing	Heals on Bardic Inspiration
Chest	Blazer of Benevolence	Grants HP when inspiring
Gloves	Gloves of the Growling Underdog	Advantage on melee while outnumbered
Boots	Disintegrating Night Walkers	Misty Step & immunity to Grounded
Necklace	Broodmother’s Revenge	Adds damage on healing
Ring 1	Strange Conduit Ring	Bonus damage while concentrating
Ring 2	Caustic Band	Poison damage on hit
Weapon	Shadow Blade (Spell)	Summon via spell for massive damage
Shield	Adamantine Shield	+2 AC, immune to crits

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Act 3 (Advanced): Best gear

Slot	Item Name	Effect
Cloak	Cloak of the Weave	Spell Save and Spell Attack bonus
Shield	Viconia’s Walking Fortress	+3 AC and spell reflect
Head	Birthright	+2 Charisma
Chest	Elegant Studded Leather	Initiative, Stealth Advantage
Gloves	Craterflesh Gloves	Crit hits deal bonus damage
Boots	Helldusk Boots	Mobility and fire resistance
Necklace	Amulet of Greater Health	Sets Constitution to 23
Ring 1	Killer’s Sweetheart	Auto Crit once per turn
Ring 2	Strange Conduit Ring	Psychic damage synergy
Weapon	Nyrulna	High mobility + bonus effects
Miscellaneous	Resonance Stone	Doubles psychic damage from Shadow Blade

Item break-points

• Act 1: Get the Cap of Curing, Gloves of the Growling Underdog, and Adamantine Shield early.
• Act 2: Unlock the Killer’s Sweetheart and Resonance Stone in the Gauntlet of Shar and Mind Flayer Colony.
• Act 3: Use the Birthright + Amulet of Greater Health for peak stats, and buy Cloak of the Weave and Helldusk Boots.

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College of Glamour Bard compared to other subclasses in Baldur's Gate 3

Here's a table to help you understand the key differences between all Bard subclasses:

Subclass	Primary focus	Verdict
College of Lore	Spell access, utility	Strong caster, less melee burst
College of Valour	Melee focus	More tanky but less control
College of Swords	Weapon-focused	Highest weapon damage, low utility
College of Glamour	Charm & Inspire	Best battlefield control and hybrid damage

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Is the Baldur's Gate 3 College of Glamour Bard viable for solo play?

Yes, the College of Glamour Bard is viable, especially with the Sorcerer multiclass and Shadow Blade. The Bard’s charm, fear, and utility options let them avoid or disable entire fights. Just add extra damage with Metamagic, and you can go solo with ease.

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Which companions should you run with a College of Glamour Bard in Baldur's Gate 3?

Here are some of the recommended companions to run with the College of Glamour Bard:

• Karlach
• Shadowheart
• Astarion (Gloomstalker)
• Minthara (Paladin)

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That's everything you need to know about the best build for the College of Glamour Bard. You can either follow the exact steps or take this as a reference point to experiment with the build and come up with something that better compliments your playstyle.

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