Best Monk Gear in Baldur’s Gate 3

Yes, you’ll be punching dragons to death as a Monk in Baldur’s Gate 3 while other melee classes get to use fancy swords. But that’s no excuse to look like a vagrant. We recommend decorating your martial artist with the best Monk gear in BG3. Not only will they make your Monk the best they can be, but they also look stylish. Consider the Monk gear we’ll be listing as the Ki (key) to the perfect Monk. These are high-level items centered around the Tavern Brawler Feat and unarmed combat.

Armor

The meat of any Tavern Brawler Monk build is this curious selection of armor. They’re light and they mostly augment the Monk’s unarmed attacks.

Gloves of Soul Catching is generally just a monstrous weapon for any Monk, along with Vest of Soul Rejuvenation.

• Mask of Soul Perception
  • Soul Perception: Gain a +2 bonus to Attack Rolls, Initiative Rolls, and Perception Checks.
  • Bonus Detect Thoughts spell.
  • Location: Act 3 – Gilded Chest in the 2nd floor of Devil’s Fee, Lower City.
• Vest of Soul Rejuvenation
  • Defier‘s Rejuvenation: Whenever the wearer succeeds on a Saving Throw against a spell, they regain 1-4 hit points.
  • Greater Kushigo Counter: The wearer can use a reaction to make an unarmed strike against any attacker that misses.
  • Armour Class +2
  • Location: Act 3 – Sold by Lorroakan’s Projection in Sorcerous Sundries, Lower City.
• Gloves of Soul Catching
  • Soul Fist: Your unarmed attacks deal an additional 1~10 Force damage.
  • Soul Catching: Once per turn, on an unarmed hit, you regain 10 hit points. Alternatively, you may forego healing to gain Advantage on Attack Rolls and Saving Throws until the end of your next turn.
  • Constitution +2 (up to 20)
  • Location: Act 3 – Dropped by Raphael in House of Hope, accessible through Helsik in Devil’s Fee, which you can visit in the “Escape the Deal” quest. Note that you have to free Hope to get the gloves.
• Boots of Uninhibited Kushigo
  • Experienced And Deadly: The wearer deals additional damage equal to their Wisdom Modifier with unarmed strikes.
  • Location: Act 3 – Dropped by Githyanki Monks in the Astral Plane during the “Guardian’s” distress call.

In summary, considering finishing the “Escape the Deal” quest and killing Raphael fast (if you can) as soon as you get into Act 3 so as to enjoy the items for the duration of the Act. Otherwise, you can also mod the items into the game.

Weapons

You’re going to be attacking while unarmed, yes, but don’t forget that you can still equip bows. Besides, you still need bows as part of your Monk gear in BG3 for pesky ranged enemies.

Look for these bows in the game:

• Gontr Mael
  • Promised Victory: On a hit, possibly inflict the Guiding Bolt upon the target.
  • Gontr Mael: Glowing: This object shines with a glowing light in a radius of 6m.
  • Weapon Enchantment +3
  • Bonus Celestial Haste spell
  • Location: Act 3 – Dropped by the Steel Watch Titan in the Steel Watch Foundry, Lower City.
• Darkfire Shortbow
  • Weapon Enchantment +2
  • Grants Resistance to Fire damage.
  • Grants Resistance to Cold damage.
  • Bonus Haste spell
  • Location: Act 2 – Sold by Dammon in Last Light Inn

The idea is to give the Haste skill to your Monk. That way, you can effectively double your damage in a single turn. It’s a busted tactic that can trivialize most fights especially if you ambush enemies. Darkfire Shortbow is a good Act 2 alternative to Gontre Mael.

Trinkets

You can mitigate Risky Ring’s risky risks with Amulet of Greater Health and the Cloak of Displacement though you still need to be careful of enemy spells.

• Amulet of Greater Health
  • Increases the wearer’s Constitution score to 23.
  • Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws Checks.
  • Location: Relic room in House of Hope, accessible through Helsik in Devil’s Fee, which you can visit in the “Escape the Deal” quest.
• Shifting Corpus Ring
  • Bonus Invisibility spell
  • Bonus Blur spell
  • Location: Act 2 – Dropped by Fist Marcus in Last Light Inn
• Risky Ring
  • Risky Attack: You gain Advantage on Attack Rolls and receive Disadvantage on Saving Throws.
  • Location: Act 2 – Sold by Araj Oblodra in Moonrise Towers
• Cloak of Displacement
  • Displacement: At the beginning of the wearer’s turn, the cloak activates, granting enemies Disadvantage on Attack Rolls that target the wearer. This effects lasts until the wearer takes damage.
  • Location: Act 3 – Sold by Entharl Danthelon in Danthelon’s Dancing Axe, in Wyrm’s Crossing.

Potions

These potions are mandatory if you took the Tavern Brawler Feat which you should since it’s the most powerful boost to unarmed attacks you can achieve for your Monk. Consider them as one of the main ingredients to your best Monk gear setup in BG3.

Their quantity is in short stock from merchants so make sure to use them sparingly or just learn how to craft them.

• Elixir of Cloud Giant Strength
  • Increases Strength ability score to 27 until Long Rest
  • Location: Either crafted via Alchemy or sold by merchants with an Elixir or Potion Table near them (starts getting sold to you at Level 9).
• Elixir of Giant Strength
  • Increases Strength ability score to 21 until Long Rest
  • Location: Either crafted via Alchemy or sold by Auntie Ethel.

Feel free to use other potions that won’t overwrite the effect of these Elixirs.