Quick Links
Baldur’s Gate 3has no end to the possibilities when it comes to taking silly, obscure, uncharted paths. With so many magical items, boons, character progression, and more, it’s easy to make a wholly original build. But in a land of high fantasy, of swords and shields, have you ever found yourself wanting agun?
Focusing on Thunder damage and thrown items, you’ll be blasting your opponents from afar with the best—albeit wackiest—Thunder build of all: the Thunder Gun. It’s only possible in Act Three, but for those of you who have made it to the final chapter, your perseverance will be rewarded with a build capable of fulfilling your grandest shenanigan-incitingdesires.
What Is A Thunder Gun Build, And How Does It Work?
The Thunder Gun iscompletely built around the item,Nyrulna:
Nyrulna (Legendary Trident; Versatile):Deals 1d8 (1d6) + Strength Piercing damage + 1d6 Thunder damage. This weapon cannot be dropped. When thrown, it deals 3d4 Thunder damage in a 6m blast and returns to the hands of its thrower. The wielder enjoys a 3m bonus to Movement and Jumping as well as Immunity to Fall damage. It radiates a glowing light in 3m.
Its importance lies in itsability to cause blast radiiandimmediately return to the thrower’s hands. With the help of other items, you’ll also cause mass-Daze, mass-Prone, and additional Reverberation damage.
In principle, this build focuses onusing this trident from afarto strike groups of enemies and cause explosions repeatedly. It works well forhigh volumes of damage, crowd control, and dominance of the battlefield space.
To get this trident, you’ll have totake onthe djinn at the Circus of Last Days.If you see through his ruse and elect to be sent to the jungles of Chult, you willfind this trident in a chest just beside the exit portal.
For our full guide on the topic, you’ll want tocheck out ourofficial walkthroughon this quest.
Best Thunder Gun Starting Race And Background
No particular race will significantly outpace otherswith this build. You could be anything and make the Thunder Gun build work.
If you’re sold on min-maxing, then thebest recommendations are:
As the build on this page is based on Strength, werecommend taking the Soldier Background.
17
24
Araj Oblodra’s Potion +2, Ability Score modifier +2, Tavern Brawler +1, Mirror of Loss +2
16
–
10
23
8
14
Strengthwill determine your attacking and hitting for everything in this build. As such, you’ll want your Strength modified by these boons:
You can elect to take the Hair from Auntie Ethel if you wish, but it’s better used on another character as you’ll end up with an odd-number in any category (which won’t change your stats at all). It won’t work on Constitution as the Amulet will set it there permanently.
Dexterity is important for deciding who will go first in battle, so we’ll want topour into Dexterity as much as possible.We don’t want your enemies closing the distance too fast.Wisdom will prevent several types of charm spellsthat may affect your ability to attack properly (like Hold Person).
Intelligence and Charisma aren’t needed here; Thunder Guns are persuasive without the need for high Charisma.
Best Thunder Gun Class And Feat Progression
There are several ways to make this class work well. But to take full advantage of it, you’ll always want aminimum of three levels in Barbarian.We’ll take the Berserker class, as you’ll be able tomake Throwing attacks as a Bonus Action.
For this particular build, we’ve decided to take the bombastics of this build further bytri-classing Barbarian(5)-Rogue(3)-Fighter(4).
1
Barbarian
Unarmoured Defense is nice, but we don’t plan on getting hit. Really, the importance here is on Rage, allowing us access later to the important subclass features.
2
Danger Sense willincrease survivability,but Reckless Attack will be important for ensuring that your trident consistently hits even the most slippery targets.
3
Subclass Choice: Berserker
Will give access to Frenzy: Throw. This will give a Bonus Action throwing attack, giving one full extra attack every round.
4
Feat Choice: Tavern Brawler
Will increase the damage of thrown items and hit rate by doubling your Strength modifier.
5
Increase your mobility and your number of attacks per round.
6
Nothing here is critically important, but Expertise is always appreciated.
7
Bonus Action Dash/Disengage/Hide
Nothing here is important either, but Bonus Action Disengage will allow you to back away from opponents and keep throwing your trident from a comfy distance.
Subclass Choice: Thief
This will give you an additional Bonus Action. Because this build is centered on throwing your trident, this is essentially an entire extra attack where needed (or a potion, Rage, or Disengage).
9
Action Surge
This is an opportunity for two more attacks on the same turn. Incredibly powerful for first-turn domination.
11
Subclass Choice: Battlemaster
Allows manoeuvres to add more damage to your attacks, push enemies away when stuck in melee, and cause enemies to fall Prone when Reverberation isn’t stacked.
12
Feat Choice: Ability Score Modifier
Added +2 Strength for more damage, higher Hit Rate.
The Loviatar’s Love boongained by withstanding the torture at the Shattered Sanctum can be very useful for this build, though it’s unlikely you’ll ever see your HP beneath 30 percent. It’s not an important part of this build, but it wouldn’t hurt to have.
Sarevok’s Horned Helmet
Gain or enhance your Darkvision. Reduce Critical Hite DC by 1. Become immune to emotion-altering conditions such as Frightened.
Flame Enamelled Armour
Gain +2 to Initiative and Resistance to Fire damage. Gain +2 to Saving Throws and one free cast per long rest of Fire Shield: Warm.
Gloves of Belligerent Skies
Each time you deal Thunder damage, lay 2 stacks of Reverberation on the struck target(s).
Boots of Persistence
Increase Dexterity Saving Throws by +1 and gain Lonstrider and Freedom of Movement permanently.
Sold by Dammon at the Forge of the Nine in Baldur’s Gate: Lower City.
Thunderskin Cloak
When attacked by a Reverberating creature, it must make a Constitution save or be Dazed.
Amulet of Greater Health
Increases Constitution of the wearer to 23 and gain Advantage on Constitution saves.
Strange Conduit Ring
Deal an extra 1d4 Psychic damage on weapon attacks when Concentrating on a spell.
Ring of Spiteful Thunder
When dealing Thunder damage against a Reverberating creature, it must make a Constitution Saving Throw or become Dazed.
Nyrulna
Deals 1d8 (1d6) + Strength Piercing damage + 1d6 Thunder damage. This weapon cannot be dropped. When thrown, it deals 3d4 Thunder damage in a 6m blast and returns to the hands of its thrower. The wielder enjoys a 3m bonus to Movement and Jumping as well as Immunity to Fall damage. It radiates a glowing light in 3m.
A reward found in a chest at the end of the Chult portal area. Must see throughAkabi the Djinn’s ruseat the CIrcus of Last Days.
Sentinel Shield
Increase initiative by +3 and gain Advantage on Perception checks. Enemies that strike you can be pushed Prone with your Reaction on a failed Dexterity Saving Throw.
The Dead Shot
1d8 + 2 Piercing damage. Lower required Critical Hit by 1 (stacking effect). Double proficiency bonus when attacking with this weapon unless you have Disadvantage. +2 weapon.
Sold by Fytz the Firecracker in Lower City.
As previously stated,Nyrulna is the foundation of this build.Every other item serves to bring out the best in this weapon and the build that supports it.
Thegreatest items for this buildinclude:
The Ring of Flinging is only available if you are playing in Honour Mode. If you are not, you can use the Strange Conduit Ring instead, as Gontr Mael’s Haste counts as a Concentration spell.
We’veadded the Sentinel Shieldto help ensure you’llgo as early in the turn order as possible.Meanwhile,Sarevok’s Horned Helmand theBoots of Persistencewillprevent unwanted setbacksthat may paralyze you (literally or emotionally).
There aretwo choices for your cloaks:
TheFlame Enamelled Armouris a decent enough item tohelp with Initiativeand not get in the way of the Rage feature. Other armours can also work well with this build, depending on your needs.
You can choose the Displacement Cloak for an added chance to avoid being hit, but this feels redundant in this build as it is not often you are close enough to be struck. The same can be said for the Deathmantle Cloak.
24 (+7)
16 (+3)
23 (+6)
8 (-1)
10 (0)
151
Feats
Danger Sense, Extra Attack, Fast Movement, Dueling, Fast Hands, Second-Story Work: Falling, Tavern Brawler, Unarmoured Defense
Before starting any round of combat,we do recommend two things for the smoothest experience:
With these two steps out of the way, you’ll be able to start any combat encounter with the odds heavily in your favour.
From your advantageous position, you canbegin throwing Nyrulnatoward any enemy,preferably a group of enemies together.*
On turn one, you’ll be doing a lot of set-up if you didn’t prepare before the battle, but anoptimized turn one with proper set-up looks similar to this:
That’s six attacks in the first round. In your subsequent rounds, you’llalways be able to attack four times every roundif you use all your Actions and Bonus Actions on attacks.
If there are enemies that can be pushed together, you can use your Pushing Attack manoeuvre to control the shape of the battlefield. However, you cannot use anything except Precision Attack on Thrown Weapon attacks.*
Where needed, you can use potion effects, a Dash, Second Wind, or Disengage instead of an attack with one of your Bonus Actions.
If you start a round of combat Surprised or unable to find high ground, you canuse Zephyr Flash or Zephyr Break(Nyrulna’s Gust of Wind)to push away overzealous enemies.Once pushed away, you can begin abusing your throw mechanic again.
No matter where you are or what enemy you’re facing, you’ll soon find that no enemy in Act Three will be able to withstand your thunderous might. Perhaps next time, they’ll remember not to bring swords to a gunfight.
