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BEST WEAPONS: Baldur's Gate 1, Baldur's Gate 2


Best Weapons Baldur's Gate



The Dagger of Venom is the best weapon in Baldur's Gate, and the Flail of Ages is the best weapon in Baldur's Gate 2.

Best Weapons: Baldur's Gate 1


Dagger of Venom is not only the best one-handed weapon and the best melee weapon, but it is hands down the absolute best weapon in Baldur's Gate.



The Dagger of Venom devastates with the copious poison pouring out of its blade. Not much stands against it; even flesh golems drop like sacks of potatoes. It's a playful wield in that STACKING poison damage works over time, disrupts enemy spellcasting, and also slows down the victim's movement rate. It's really funny watching the enemy cry out in pain every round or so trying to GET AT US, while being slowed by the poison, and then succumbing to it.

The DoV is not just for backstabbing. What a waste that would be. Even our supertanker should be packing DoV with Specialization in Small Swords. And any class except Clerics can wield DoV.

See: Fighter BG1 for hand-holding.





Best Weapons: Baldur's Gate 2


Hands down, Flail of Ages, Celestial Fury and Belm are the best weapons in Baldur's Gate 2. This rests primarily on their easy and early acquisition, wieldability in parties and extremely powerful abilities.






This is why the Flail of Ages is so good


  • +3-5 enchantment. With the exception of PfMW and magical golems (both rare), such an enchantment means FoA can hit any enemy in the campaign as we progressively make our way through it.
  • 1d6 +4 to 1d6 + 6 crushing dmg. Solid damage for a one-handed weapon. Crushing aka bludgeoning damage is not easily resisted by the most common armor AC mods and the more stubborn monsters such as skeletal undead and clay golems. Remember that skeletal undead have 50% resistance to slashing and clay golems have full immunity to slashing.
  • Highest average dmg one-handed weapon. Range of 22-32 for 27 per hit.
  • Insane Rainbow Damage: 3-10 elemental dmg per hit for up to Fire +2, Cold +2, Acid +2, Poison +2, Electrical +2. This means we can burn through stoneskins and ironskins very quickly. We can disrupt enemy spellcasting and then slay the spellcaster outright before we have burned through their protective coatings. "Kills trolls dead" goes without saying.
  • on-hit magic resistance bypassing, no-Save cumulative 33% chance of Slow. This is godly because it can reduce the attack rate of enemies to the point of immobility.
  • Freedom of Movement and token MR (5%).

Criteria for Assessment for Best Baldur's Gate Weapon


As can be seen, the Baldur's Gate series itemizes a wide range of unique, interesting and powerful weapons. Due to the variety of foes, their various resistances and our limited proficiency allocations, the chosen wield is not to be taken lightly during the chargen process and subsequent level-ups. 

Some weapons sport blanket immunity against negative status effects, others bestow stat bonuses and powerful activated abilities, many inflict crippling on-hit status effects that hapless monsters will have difficulty recovering from, and some weapons are so great that they will change the way we play the game.

We should ask ourselves the following when assessing a weapon's worth:

How combat encounter-impacting / -dictating is the weapon over the course of the campaign?

  • Does the weapon inflict on-hit debuffing or immobilization? [example, example]. Especially, the MR-bypassing or no-save type?
  • Is it capable of acute damage or HP bypassing insta-death (backstab-capable or Vorpal and effects akin to vorpal such as shattering and disruption)?
  • Is it capable of spellcaster disruption (on-hit elemental or para-elemental damage-over-time)?
  • Is it capable of illusion/stoneskin dispersion (on-hit Dispel, elemental, para-elemental or ApR)
  • What is the weapon's enchantment level?
  • Does it confer blanket immunity to negative status effects, e.g., Free Action, Negative Plane Protection, Mind Shield?
  • Who can wield the weapon, how easy is its acquisition, and is its usefulness long-lasting?

Such traits can be decisive factors in how a weapon ranks.

This article is based on the original Baldur's Gate and BG2, as released and patched by BioWare. While there won't be many differences, it does not take into account the Enhanced Edition (BG:EE + Siege of Dragonspear, BG2:EE).

Also, this post does not relate to Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance.

Best Weapons for Companions


If a Baldur's Gate companion can wield the Flail of Ages or Celestial Fury on-hand, then that is the weapon they should be wielding unless they lack ApR or someone else in the party wields it better. 

Likewise, Belm on the off-hand if they can dual-wield bladed weapons.

Obviously, there is only one each of the best weapons. Thus, we have to give some companions second-tier wields. For example, the best weapon for Aerie IS the Flail of Ages, but she doesn't do it justice because she lacks warrior ApR, THAC0 and weapon proficiency. So we're not going to "waste" it on her unless she is our best melee-martial companion (which is not inconceivable).


Underrated Weapons Baldur's Gate



Baldur's Gate 1 (Index)Baldur's Gate RacesBaldur's Gate Magic
Best Classes Baldur's GateBaldur's Gate ItemsBaldur's Gate Dual-classing
Best Spells Baldur's GateBaldur's Gate THAC0Baldur's Gate Specialist Mages
Best Weapons Baldur's GateBaldur's Gate Armor ClassBaldur's Gate Weapon Proficiency
Best Companions Baldur's GateBaldur's Gate ApRBaldur's Gate Thieving

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