Final Baldur’s Gate 3 Update To Include New Subclasses & Crossplay
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Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios recently announced that the game’s final update (known as Patch 8) will be coming in 2025 and will come packed with some major new features that expand the game, including a photo mode, device crossplay and 12 brand new subclasses pulled directly from the pages of the Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition rules.
In a blog post published on their website, Larian indicated that Patch 8 will be the last official update to the popular game, with the developer moving away from the D&D license to work on its own individual IPs (news which sunk many fans hopes for a Baldur’s Gate 4 follow up from Larian). The company also previously announced that they would not be releasing any future downloadable content or expansions (although they are continuing to support the modder community). All of which means that Patch 8 will be the final flourish to Larian’s D&D masterpiece.
So just what is included in this bitter sweet finale for BG3? Below, we button mash apart all the details.
What is the BG3 Patch 8 Updates?
Patch 8 for Baldur’s Gate 3 will include three major components.
- Cross-Play Functionality: Players will be now able to engage in multiplayer sessions across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Windows and Mac.
- Photo Mode: Players will be able to capture in-game moments with new camera and scene settings. This also includes post-processing effects, frames and stickers.
- New Subclasses: Each of the game’s 12 classes will receive one new subclass (taken from the 2014 D&D 5e rules), with new abilities, animations, visual effects, summons, cantrips and, in some cases, even new dialogue lines.
What new Baldur’s Gate 3 subclasses?
There are 12 new subclasses taken from existing 2014 DnD 5e subclasses. They are as follows.
- Bard (College of Glamour): Charm enemies and inspire allies with abilities like Mantle of Inspiration for temporary hit points and Mantle of Majesty to command Charmed enemies to act as you dictate.
- Barbarian (Path of Giants): Gain immense strength and size with Giant’s Rage, increasing damage with thrown attacks and boosting carry capacity.
- Cleric (Death Domain): Specialize in necrotic damage and necromancy with spells like Toll the Dead and an ability to detonate nearby corpses for area damage.
- Druid (Circle of Stars): Harness celestial power with Starry Forms—the Archer deals radiant damage, the Chalice heals allies, and the Dragon boosts Constitution rolls and damage.
- Paladin (Oath of the Crown): Uphold law and protect allies with Righteous Clarity, taunt enemies strategically, and shield your party using Divine Allegiance.
- Fighter (Arcane Archer): Combine magic and archery to banish enemies to the Feywild, inflict Psychic damage, and blind foes with unique ranged attacks.
- Monk (Drunken Master): Recover Ki by drinking alcohol, use Intoxicating Strike to debuff enemies, and finish with abilities like Sobering Realisation for damage and utility.
- Ranger (Swarmkeeper): Command swarms like Cloud of Jellyfish for lightning damage, Flurry of Moths for Psychic damage and blindness, and Legion of Bees for piercing damage and knockback, with teleportation options.
- Rogue (Swashbuckler): Use dirty tactics like blinding enemies with sand, disarming foes, and leveraging Fancy Footwork to avoid opportunity attacks during melee combat.
- Sorcerer (Shadow Magic): Master darkness with Superior Darkvision, Shadow Walk for teleportation in dim light, summon the Hound of Ill Omen, and resist death with Strength of the Grave.
- Warlock (Hexblade): Forge a pact with the Shadowfell to curse enemies, summon necrotic-damage-dealing spirits, and heal by ripping enemy souls.
- Wizard (Bladesinging): Blend swordplay and magic with the Bladesong ability, enhancing speed, agility, focus, and Constitution saving throws while casting spells with your weapon.
When will the BG3 Patch 8 Update be released?
So far no exact release date has been announced, with Larian indicating only that it will occur sometime in 2025. Notably, the last update (known as Patch 7) released in early September 2024 for PC and mid-October for consoles. The Patch 6 update occurred about 6 months before that, so if the release cadence is the same, we’ll likely see the final update sometime in the spring of 2025 (although this date may of course move around).
It’s also possible that the release date of the Patch 8 update may be a little later, given that it contains significantly more content and features than we’ve seen from previous patches.
Final Thoughts
Unfortunately, we won’t see a sequel or any major downloadable content for Baldur’s Gate 3 coming from Larian Studios. That being said, this final update for the game is a significant one and represents a large amount of new content and features for players to explore. It’s not what fans might have hoped for, but it’s still a fitting sendoff to the greatest Dungeons & Dragons video game ever made.
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Cameron Nichols is a Senior Editor who lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and has been playing D&D since the early 90s, when he was introduced by his older brother and cut his teeth on AD&D 2nd Edition. Since then he’s played virtually every RPG he could get his nerdy little mitts on (including a weird Goth phase in the early 2000s when he rocked Vampire: The Masquerade pretty hard). His favorite D&D campaign setting is the Forgotten Realms and his favorite character to play was a Half-Orc Barbarian named Grug (who was unfortunately devoured by a gelatinous cube).
