Rogues are the masters of assassination whether it be from range or melee. Items on this list will boost your damage as well as provide additional utility and defensive options so you can take targets out. Here’s my best rogue gear in Baldur’s Gate 3 and how to get it.
What is the Best Rogue Gear in Baldur’s Gate 3
When it comes to playing an effective Rogue, I would recommend sticking to a ranged build in the early to mid-game and checking out some of our recommended ranged weapons here. It’s safer to do so on higher difficulties until you get better armor and melee weapons. That said, melee Rogues become quite deadly in Act 3 once you get access to some of the best melee options in the game detailed here. Either way, here’s a quick overview of my best Rogue magic items so that you can jump to the ones that interest you:
- Cloak of Displacement
- Gloves of the Balanced Hands
- Mask Of Soul Perception
- Disintegrating Night Walkers
- Bhaalist Armor or Elegant Studded Leather
- Darkfire Shortbow
- Hellfire Hand Crossbow
- Bloodthirst
- Duelist’s Prerogative
- Risky Ring
Gloves of the Balanced Hands
I usually dual-wield weapons on my Rogue so that I have the highest chance of triggering Sneak Attack with two attacks per round with the Bonus Action. Since Rogues don’t have access to the Two Weapon Fighting style, the Gloves of the Balanced Hands are the next best option. They will allow you to add your Dexterity to damage on off-hand attacks.
I highly recommend pairing this up with the Thief subclass for an extra Bonus Action and therefore an extra attack per turn. My Rogue build dual-wielded hand crossbows with this item and rained death from afar, especially once I grabbed some Ranger levels for additional attacks. You can buy the gloves from Talli at the Last Light Inn.
Cloak of Displacement
As a Rogue, you also have to think about defenses and one of the best defensive items in the game is the Cloak of Displacement. It imposes Disadvantage on all attacks against you until you get hit. Even if you do, the effect comes online again at the start of your turn. Buy it from Danthelon in Danthelon’s Dancing Axe in Wyrm’s Crossing Act 3.
Mask Of Soul Perception
Since we need to land our Sneak Attack each turn to be effective, we need to look for attack roll-boosting items. When it comes to helmets our best option is the Mask of Soul Perception. It’ll grant you a +2 to attack rolls, Initiative rolls, and Perception checks which Rogues desperately need as much as possible. Perfect synergy. You can also cast Detect Thoughts once per Short Rest for some extra dialogue options. I stole this from a gilded chest in the Devil’s Fee in the Lower City.
Disintegrating Night Walkers
Mobility is also crucial for a Rogue and one of the best mobility items in the game are the Disintegrating Night Walkers. They’re the best for two reasons. First, you cannot be slowed or hindered by any kind of movement-restraining effect. Second, you can teleport with Misty Step once per Short Rest for free. You can loot them from Nere in Grymforge. Just don’t shove him into the lava no matter how tempting that is.
Bhaalist Armor or Elegant Studded Leather
The Bhaalist armor throws the cliche of “offense is the best defense” for a loop. It drastically increases your melee damage by making nearby enemies Vulnerable to piercing damage like from daggers, shortswords, and rapiers. This means that as long as they’re not resistant or immune to it, they take double damage. This works with Sneak Attack too. It also comes with a hefty 14 AC which is incredible for light armor and +2 to Initiative.
The Bhaalist Armor can be bought from Echo of Abazigal in the Murder Tribunal after you accept Bhaal and become an Unholy Assassin. If you’re a ranged build or just don’t want to accept Bhaal, then the Elegant Studded Leather Armor is the better option from the Counting House High Security Vault nº9.
Darkfire Shortbow
Even though Rogues aren’t proficient with longbows, you can still play a bow-wielding sniper with shortbows. The Darkfire Shortbow is an excellent shortbow alternative to Gontr Mael since it also grants us Haste. This is a powerful effect that allows us to attack multiple times per turn as well as double our movement speed and increase our AC. The bow is also a +2 weapon and grants us Resistance to Fire and Cold damage the former of which is quite common. You can buy this from Dammon at the Last Light Inn or later in Act 3 when you meet him at Baldur’s Gate.
Hellfire Hand Crossbow
Bows are great and all, but I much prefer hand crossbows since you can dual-wield them for an extra ranged attack, even two with the Thief subclass. The best one in the game is the Hellfire Hand Crossbow which is a +2 weapon that inflicts Burning when you hit a creature while hiding or when invisible. You also get a free empowered Scorching Ray spell. I highly recommend dual-wielding it with any +1 hand crossbow for a barrage of shots each turn. Loot it from Yurgir the Orthon in the Gauntlet of Shar.
Bloodthirst
If daggers are more your fancy the Bloodthirst is one of the two best Rogue melee weapons in the game. First off, you crit on a 19 and this stacks with other critical hit chance buffs to reduce the d20 number you need to crit. Second, this is a +2 dagger that makes creatures you hit Vulnerable to piercing damage. Finally, you get the True Strike spell for free and can cast it as a Reaction when someone misses you. The +1 AC bonus from this dagger helps with that. Loot this by defeating Orin the Red in the Bhaal Temple.
Duelist’s Prerogative
The other best melee weapon for Rogues we talked about is the Duelist’s Prerogative rapier. It’s a powerhouse of a weapon but it does require you to fight with it in your main hand and nothing in the off-hand. If you fulfill this condition, you get a slew of benefits like critting on 19, an extra Reaction, and the ability to deal extra Necrotic damage as a Reaction.
Furthermore, you can make an extra attack as Bonus Action with this weapon and force creatures to attack only you with the Challenge to Duel taunt. At the end of the day, this is also a +3 weapon that deals +1d4 extra Necrotic damage on each hit. It’s incredibly powerful but you can’t use a shield or a different weapon in the off-hand which I found is a small price to pay. Get this incredible melee Rogue option by completing the Save Vanra quest.
Risky Ring
Lastly, we have a wild card. The Risky Ring can be one of the strongest items in your Rogue arsenal, especially for ranged builds. It grants you Advantage on all attacks but imposes Disadvantage on all saving throws. It’s a high-risk high-reward item and I found that it’s worth it for ranged builds since you’re usually removed from the action and skulking in the shadows.
The benefit far outweighs the reward when you realize you can trigger Sneak Attacks whenever you want without your allies and without hiding. This frees up your bonus action to attack an additional time with off-hand weapons. Overall, this is a crucial item for any Rogue build. Buy it from Araj Oblodra in Moonrise Towers.
That concludes my guide on the top 10 best Rogue gear pieces in Baldur’s Gate 3 and how to get them. For more BG3 guides, check out my best gear for Rangers and Fighters as well as my Gloomstalker build which includes Rogue levels.
