Larian Studios has officially announced that the much-anticipated Patch 8 for Baldur’s Gate 3 will launch on Tuesday, April 15. After being available in stress test form for some time, this update is now ready for all players to enjoy next week.
Patch 8 brings a wealth of new content to the critically acclaimed Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Players can look forward to 12 new subclasses, a photo mode, cross-play functionality, and split-screen support for Xbox Series S. For a detailed breakdown of all the changes, be sure to check out the Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 patch notes.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 8 new subclasses: ---------------------------------------Bard - College of Glamour
As a College of Glamour Bard, you'll harness the power to both heal your allies and command your enemies. With Mantle of Inspiration, you can grant your allies 5 temporary hit points, and if an enemy attacks while this is active, they'll be Charmed. Utilize Mantle of Majesty to manipulate these Charmed enemies, commanding them to flee, approach, freeze, drop to the ground, or relinquish their weapon.
Barbarian - Path of Giants
Choosing the Path of Giants grants you immense strength, making it easier to hurl both friends and foes. With the Giant’s Rage passive, you'll gain both size and strength, enhancing your Throw attacks and increasing your carry capacity, eliminating the need for strength-boosting potions.
Cleric - Death Domain
As a Death Domain Cleric, you'll master dark arts, specializing in necrotic damage and wielding three new necromancy cantrips. Toll The Dead causes 1-8 damage, scaling up if the target is already injured. Additionally, you can now explode nearby corpses to damage enemies, adding a strategic edge to your gameplay.
Druid - Circle of Stars
Circle of Stars Druids draw power from the cosmos, beyond traditional wildshapes. Choose from three Starry Forms - the Archer, Chalice, and Dragon - each tailored to different strategies. The Archer deals radiant damage with astral arrows, the Chalice restores hitpoints, and the Dragon enhances constitution rolls, offering versatile options for healing, combat, and strategy.
Paladin - Oath of the Crown
Sworn to uphold the law, Oath of the Crown Paladins can guide their allies with Righteous Clarity, taunt enemies with strategic interrupts, and protect their party with Divine Allegiance, absorbing damage and restoring health.
Fighter - Arcane Archer
Arcane Archers blend magic with marksmanship, featuring unique skills and new shooting animations. You can banish foes to the Feywild or unleash Psychic damage, potentially blinding enemies until their next turn.
Monk - Drunken Master
As a Drunken Master, you can consume alcohol from your inventory or around the Sword Coast to recover Ki. Use Intoxicating Strike to share the bottle with enemies, boosting your Armour Class and hit chance against drunk targets. Additionally, Sobering Realisation sobers up drunk enemies while dealing physical and Psychic damage.
Ranger - Swarmkeeper
Swarmkeeper Rangers command three types of deadly swarms in combat. Cloud of Jellyfish deals extra lightning damage, Flurry of Moths inflicts Psychic damage and can blind enemies, and Legion of Bees deals piercing damage, potentially knocking enemies back. Each swarm also offers teleportation capabilities.
Rogue - Swashbuckler
Swashbuckler Rogues embrace a piratical lifestyle with new actions like tossing sand to Blind enemies, flicking weapons to Disarm them, and using Fancy Footwork to avoid opportunity attacks during melee combat.
Sorcerer - Shadow Magic
Shadow Magic Sorcerers thrive in darkness, equipped with Superior Darkvision and the ability to Shadow Walk between dim light or darkness. Summon the Hound of Ill Omen to harass foes and use Strength of the Grave to avoid being downed, perfect for Honour Mode runs.
Warlock - Hexblade
Hexblade Warlocks form pacts with Shadowfell entities, manifesting as magical weapons. Curse enemies and raise their spirits from corpses for ten turns, dealing necrotic damage and healing your Warlock by ripping away enemy souls.
Wizard - Bladesinging
Bladesinging Wizards merge swordplay with spellcasting, featuring new animations and the Bladesong ability, which enhances speed, agility, focus, and Constitution saving throws.
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Patch 8 marks the final major update for Baldur’s Gate 3, concluding a remarkable journey for Larian Studios. The game, which launched to critical acclaim and commercial success in 2023, has continued to thrive into 2025.
Larian has surprised the gaming community by announcing their departure from Baldur’s Gate 3 and Dungeons & Dragons to focus on a new, undisclosed project, entering a media blackout to concentrate on this mystery endeavor.
Meanwhile, Hasbro, the owner of D&D, has hinted at future plans for the series. Speaking at the Game Developers Conference, SVP of digital games at Hasbro, Dan Ayoub, mentioned that with Larian moving on, there is significant interest 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 stated. While he didn't specify whether this would be a new Baldur's Gate game or another form of crossover, he expressed a desire for a Baldur's Gate 4, acknowledging that its development would take time.
"It's somewhat of an unenviable position," he added. "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."
To celebrate the release of Patch 8, Larian will host a Twitch livestream where senior systems designer Ross Stephens will detail the changes and additions.
