Guide:Sharpshooter

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Sharpshooter - a guide for a build that focuses on dealing Damage TypesPhysical damage from a distance.

Overview[edit | edit source]

Core components for this build include:

Sharpshooter Icon.png Sharpshooter provides additional damage for a penalty to accuracy. Attacking from the distance helps to mitigate the accuracy penalty (high ground, hiding) while Hand Crossbows Icon.pngHand Crossbows allow using bonus action to make attacks. With the bonus damage from Sharpshooter Icon.png Sharpshooter this additional attack more than compensates the fact that Hand Crossbows Icon.png Hand Crossbows have less basic damage compared to Heavy Crossbows Icon.png Heavy Crossbows.

This build does not require any specific Race or Class. Low mobility is also tolerated. Attacking from a distance allows to put less emphasis on the defence in this build.
As a result this build brings high damage while allowing a lot of options for utility and role-play.

Details[edit | edit source]

Having minimalistic core this build allows many approaches from the class perspective. The most notable options are:

  • Class Fighter Battle Master Badge Icon.pngBattle Master fighter - highest average damage, burst potential with Action Surge Icon 64px.png Action Surge, utility with Manoeuvers.
  • Assassin Icon.pngAssassin rogue + Gloom Stalker Icon.pngGloom Stalker ranger - incredible 1st turn burst damage with Assassinate: Ambush
  • Also a multiclass of 3-4 Rogue (Thief subclass), 8-9 Monk (Open Hand subclass) is very strong. Start as a Rogue, emphasise Dex/Con/Wis. The Rogue levels
  • give two bonus actions, so as well as a main attack, each bonus action gives two attacks (flurry of blows) as long as you have a Ki point to spend.

Attack count[edit | edit source]

This build benefits greatly from both: doing multiple attacks for each action and having multiple actions per round.
That's why Fighter Fighters, Ranger Rangers and Bard Bards are good class choices - all of them get an Extra Attack Icon.png Extra Attack and can attack twice for the cost of one Action.
There are several ways to get multiple Actions for each turn of the battle with the most notable:

This results in having, on average, 2-3 Actions per turn plus one Bonus action.

Ability Scores[edit | edit source]

Range weapons use Dexterity Ability Icon.png Dexterity as the primary Ability Score so it should be maxed.
Secondary abilities are up to you. Constitution Ability Icon.png Constitution never hurts. For spell casting Ranger Rangers might want to improve Wisdom Ability Icon.png Wisdom while Bard Bards - Charisma Ability Icon.png Charisma.

Races[edit | edit source]

This build does not rely on any particular Race.
Race Halfling.png Halfling is a good choice because of the Lucky. Their low movement speed is less relevant - as a range striker you don't need to move much around battlefield.
Race Drow.png Drow with Superior Darkvision is nice in the darker settings.
Race Dwarf.png Duergar also has Superior Darkvision and in addition brings Advantage Icon.png Advantage against being Paralysed Condition Icon.webp Paralysed condition.



Note: sections below use numbers and precentages for various things. For an explanation of these numbers and percentages of specific builds see the Math section below.

Class Fighter Battle Master Badge Icon.pngBattle Master version[edit | edit source]

This version of the build performs great early and mid-game, while completely outperforming other options in the late game.
Action Surge Icon 64px.png Action Surge and Manoeuvers provide burst, versatility and additional damage.

Build[edit | edit source]

Put all your levels into a Fighter Fighter.

Get your starting Dex to 16 (or 17 if your are going for a +1 from the Hag).

Get yourself 2 x Hand Crossbows Icon.png Hand Crossbows.

Pick an Fighting Style Archery Icon.png Archery Fighting Style.

At level 3 take the Class Fighter Battle Master Badge Icon.pngBattle Master subclass.
Select any Manoeuvers you like. Promising options include:

Pick Sharpshooter Icon.png Sharpshooter as your level 4 PassiveFeature Generic.png Feat and toggle the passive on.

As an extra fighter level 6 feat pick PassiveFeature Generic.png Ability Improvement to get Dexterity+2 and bring it to 18 or even 20 (depending on your game choices).

For the PassiveFeature Generic.png feats at levels 8 and 12, you can go with what you like. Some good options include:

  • PassiveFeature Generic.png Ability Improvement to get your Dex to 20.
  • Alert Icon.png Alert to win initiative reliably.

Make sure to drink an Elixir of Bloodlust.pngElixir of Bloodlust after each long rest.
Getting someone to cast Bless Icon.png Bless and/or Haste Icon.png Haste on you will be nice as well.
Enjoy an extremely high damage spread over multiple attacks, all from a relatively safe distance.

Mid-game numbers[edit | edit source]

Check assumptions in the Math section below.

Overall Class Fighter Battle Master Badge Icon.pngBattle Master brings about 50% damage increase on top of the core Sharpshooter build.


Fighting Style Archery Icon.png Archery provides a +2 bonus to Attack rolls you make with ranged Weapons - 10% damage increase.

4 x Superiority Die d8 Icon.png Superiority Dice provide 4 x 1d8Damage TypesPiercing damage per short rest. This averages to 2 x 4.5Damage TypesPiercing damage per turn, almost 50% of an Attack - about 10% damage increase.

From an extra feat of PassiveFeature Generic.png Ability Improvement having Dexterity+2 will give +5% chance to hit and +1 damage (about +5% damage) - total of 10% damage increase.

For the turn where Action Surge Icon 64px.png Action Surge is used, 2 additional Attacks will result in 40% damage increase. Per turn, for a battle, it brings around 20% damage increase.

Late-game numbers[edit | edit source]

At level 11 you are getting one more Extra Attack Icon.png Extra Attack now making 3 Attacks for each Action.

Having on average 2.5 Actions per turn will result in 2.5 additional Attacks per turn - about 50% damage increase.

This brings damage of Class Fighter Battle Master Badge Icon.pngBattle Master version of Sharpshooter on next level, compared to all other version at level 11 and beyond.

Late Heavy Crossbow[edit | edit source]

The main argument for having Hand Crossbows Icon.png Hand Crossbows in each hand is an extra attack on a Bonus action. With level 11, doing 3 Attacks on each Action, you will have on average about 9 Attacks per turn. This warrants switching to a Heavy Crossbows Icon.png Heavy Crossbow and using your Bonus action for non-attacking purposes.
Heavy Crossbows Icon.png Heavy Crossbows do, on average, 2 damage more compared to Hand Crossbows Icon.png Hand Crossbows. For 9 Attacks this is additional 18 damage which comes close to doing an additional attack on a Bonus action with a Hand Crossbows Icon.png Hand Crossbow setup.
For your Action Surge Icon 64px.png Action Surge turn this is additional 24 damage which fully equalises with an additional Bonus action attack.

On top of this, Heavy Crossbows Icon.png Heavy Crossbow will give you a Brace (Ranged) Icon.png Brace (Ranged) ability.

Even more - now you have your Bonus action free. You can use it for repositioning, getting utility, etc. By this level you should have a lot of items granting you all sorts of additional abilities that require a Bonus action.

Assassin Icon.pngAssassin version[edit | edit source]

This variation is an ultimate first turn burst build but it comes into play only at level 8 and above.
Assassinate: Initiative Assassinate: Initiative + Assassinate: Ambush Assassinate: Ambush provide a ton of damage potential but require Extra Attack Icon.png Extra Attack from another martial class.

Classical martial pick is a Gloom Stalker Icon.pngGloom Stalker ranger. An alternative with a Class Fighter Battle Master Badge Icon.pngBattle Master fighter is discussed a bit further below.

Build[edit | edit source]

Put first 5 levels into Ranger Ranger.

Get your starting Dex to 16 (or 17 if your are going for a +1 from the Hag).

Get yourself 2 x Hand Crossbows Icon.png Hand Crossbows.

Pick any Ranger#Level 1 Favoured Enemy.
Select any Ranger#Level 1 Natural Explorer.

At level 2 pick an Fighting Style Archery Icon.png Archery Fighting Style.

At level 3 take the Gloom Stalker Icon.pngGloom Stalker subclass.

At level 4 pick Sharpshooter Icon.png Sharpshooter as your PassiveFeature Generic.png Feat and toggle the passive on.

At level 6 subclass by selecting Rogue Rogue leaving Ranger Ranger at level 5.

At level 8 (Rogue Rogue level 3) take the Assassin Icon.pngAssassin subclass.

At level 9 (Rogue Rogue level 4) get another PassiveFeature Generic.png feat. You can select whatever you like. Some good options include:

  • PassiveFeature Generic.png Ability Improvement to get your Dex to 20.

Levels 10 to 12 put into the Ranger Ranger getting one more PassiveFeature Generic.png feat.

Make sure to drink an Elixir of Bloodlust.pngElixir of Bloodlust after each long rest.
Getting someone to cast Bless Icon.png Bless and/or Haste Icon.png Haste on you will be nice as well.
Enjoy an extremely high burst damage on your first turn which allows to wipe several enemies before they even have a chance to act.

Try to always Surprised Condition Icon.webp surprise your enemies by attacking them from the outside of their cone of vision. Guaranteed crit on surprised surprised enemies adds a lot of damage.

Mid-game numbers[edit | edit source]

Check assumptions in the Math section below.

Overall Assassin Icon.pngAssassin brings about 73% damage increase on top of the core Sharpshooter build but most of this increase happens during the first turn.

Fighting Style Archery Icon.png Archery provides a +2 bonus to Attack rolls you make with ranged Weapons - 10% damage increase.

Sneak Attack (Ranged) Icon 64px.png Sneak Attack (for a level 3 or 4 Rogue Rogue) adds additional +2d6 (avg 7)Damage TypesPiercing damage to 1 attack per turn - about 7% damage increase.

From an extra feat of PassiveFeature Generic.png Ability Improvement having Dexterity+2 will give +5% chance to hit and +1 damage - total of 10% damage increase.

Action DreadAmbusher Ranged.png Dread Ambusher gives whole additional attack (+20% damage) and {{DamageText|+1d8 (avg 4.5)|Piercing} to this attack (+4.5% damage) for a total of about 24.5% damage increase but since it happens only once per battle - about 8% damage increase.

Assassinate: Initiative Assassinate: Initiative gives your Advantage Icon.png Advantage against creatures that haven't taken a turn yet. With this build you are going to win initiative almost always, so you will have Advantage Icon.png Advantage against everyone.
Advantage Icon.png Advantage gives your roughly 50% of your turn in value but for File:Action Attack Ranged Icon.png range attacks it is quite easy to get Advantage Icon.png Advantage in other ways, so this feature provides only about 50% of value, as another 50% of the time you will be able to get Advantage Icon.png Advantage by other means - so only 25% of your turn in value. Spread over 3 turns it results in about 8% damage increase.

Assassinate: Ambush Assassinate: Ambush makes a hit against any surprised surprised enemy a guaranteed crit. By nature this can happen only during the first turn of the battle and you will be the first in initiative, hence having Advantage Icon.png Advantage from the Assassinate: Initiative Assassinate: Initiative ability. Chance of landing a crit while having an Advantage Icon.png Advantage is about 10%, so Assassinate: Ambush Assassinate: Ambush adds 90% on top. Spread over 3 turns it results in about 30% damage increase.

Honorable mentions[edit | edit source]

Hunter Icon.pngHunter: an good alternative for the Ranger Ranger approach.
This version allows to specialise in killing huge number of low-health enemies with the Horde Breaker Ranged Icon.png Horde Breaker (Ranged) and Action Multiattack Volley.png Volley features.
Unfortunately this requires enemies to be positioned really tight and even than the damage increase is not that much compared to the 3 attacks per action of a Fighter Fighter.

Beast Master Icon.pngBeast Master: overall a viable alternative for the Ranger Ranger approach.
This subclass does not bring improvements to the range combat per se. Still beasts are strong and overall Beast Master Icon.png Beast Master version will bring both firepower as well as survivability and flexibility to the party.


Class Fighter Champion Badge Icon.pngChampion: an alternative option for the Fighter Fighter approach.
Main benefit of this version is an Improved Critical Hit (equivalent to about 5% overall damage increase). For a ranged build a Class Fighter Champion Badge Icon.png Champion is more interesting than for a melee one - there are a lot of ways to guarantee crits for melee strikers in bg3. Still Class Fighter Battle Master Badge Icon.png Battle Master Manoeuvers provide a comparable damage increase together with a ton of utility and flexibility.
Do note that Class Fighter Champion Badge Icon.png Champion subclass makes more sense for this build if you try to minimise amount of long & short rests.


Class Bard Valour Badge Icon.pngCollege of Valour: an option for a Bard Bard approach.
This variation brings a full caster in addition to getting 2 attacks (as a Ranger Ranger or a Fighter Fighter), especially - ability to utilise Concentration Concentration way better since Bard Bards get a lot of great spells like Hold Person Icon.png Hold Person, Glyph of Warding Icon.png Glyph of Warding, etc.
Main downside - Bardic Inspiration Icon.png Bardic Inspiration cannot be used on yourself. In the end while using all cool spells and abilities Bard Bard ends up not doing actual damage.
Bard Bard variation definitely trades some damage potential for support and utility.


Thief Icon.pngThief: an option for a Rogue Rogue approach (without multiclasses).
Main selling point of this variation is that Thief Icon.png Thiefs get an extra Bonus action which can be used to make yet another attack. In addition, investing all 12 levels into Rogue Rogue makes Sneak Attack quite powerful.
The downside is that Rogue Rogue does not get an Extra Attack Icon.png Extra Attack. While improved Sneak Attack (Ranged) Icon 64px.png Sneak Attack packs a lot of damage, Sneak Attack (Ranged) Icon 64px.png Sneak Attack can be used only once per turn and cannot make up for missing Extra Attack Icon.png Extra Attacks - doing just 3 Attacks with 3 Actions instead of 6 or 9 Attacks makes the total damage of this build variation plummet.
It's just much better to invest all levels into a Fighter Fighter and instead of one Bonus action get 2 additional attacks per each Action.

Assumptions for Math[edit | edit source]

To be able to compare build variations, some assumptions on the combat length, amount of actions per turn, etc. have to be made. Assumptions taken for this guide down were selected based on an empiric experience with the game.

Assumptions:

  • Slow Icon.png Combat length: 3 turns
  • Extra Attack Icon.png Total Attacks per turn: 5
  • Piercing Damage Icon.png Total Damage per turn: 100
  • Actions per turn: 2
  • Extra Attack Icon.png Attacks per action: 2
  • Extra Attack Icon.png Attacks per bonus action: 1
  • Piercing Damage Icon.png Damage per attack: 20
  • Lightning Arrow Icon.png Critical multiplier: x2

Quick reference:

  • Once-per-battle abilities contribute only 1/3 of their damage
  • +1 action per turn = +40% to damage
  • +1 attack per action = +40% to damage
  • +1 damage per attack = +5% to damage
  • +1% critical chance = +1% to damage
  • +1% to accuracy = +1% to damage
  • +1 Dexterity = +1 damage and +5% accuracy = +10% to damage

Slow Icon.png Combat length: 3 turns[edit | edit source]

Combat in BG3 lasts typically for 1-4 turns.
Sharpshooter build brings a lot of damage so if you have good buffing support and/or damage-focused party, your average combat length will be probably around 2 turns.
Still, to be on the safe side, 3 turns are assumed in this guide which will be more than enough for your to even solo kill most of encounters with this build.

Actions per turn: 2[edit | edit source]

While all characters have 1 Action per turn, Haste Icon.png Hastened, Elixir of Bloodlust.pngElixir of Bloodlust and Action Surge Icon 64px.png Action Surge can give up to 3 additional Actions.
Excluding Action Surge Icon 64px.png Action Surge (as it's Fighter Fighter specific) we are left with 1-3 Actions per turn.
Since Elixir of Bloodlust.pngElixir of Bloodlust has a condition for triggering and Haste Icon.png Hastened requires buffing, 3 Actions per turn will not be always possible.
Hence this guide goes with 2 Actions per turn.
Note that in reality, you can have 3 Actions per turn for a good percentage of your fights.

Attacks per Action: 2[edit | edit source]

All variations of the Sharpshooter build include a martial class that gets Extra Attack Icon.png Extra Attack and can do 2 attacks per Action. Doing more than that is possible only for level 11 Fighter Fighter and seems unreasonable to use as an average. Hence this guide goes with 2 attacks per Action as the assumption.

Piercing Damage Icon.png Basic attack damage: 20[edit | edit source]

Hand Crossbows Icon.png Hand Crossbows by themselves do 1d6Damage TypesPiercing damage, which averages at 3.5Damage TypesPiercing.
On top of that Dexterity Ability Icon.png Dex adds 3-5 damage with an average of +4Damage TypesPiercing damage.
Weapon Enchantment typically adds +1Damage TypesPiercing damage.
Sharpshooter Icon.png Sharpshooter adds +10Damage TypesPiercing.
All together it totals to 18.5Damage TypesPiercing which is rounded to 20Damage TypesPiercing.
In reality you character can have multiple items adding even more damage on top of each hit so 20 damage per attack sounds like a reasonable average.