Baldur’s Gate 3recently released its Patch 8 update, which generously added twelve new subclasses to the game along with photo mode, crossplay, and lots of other useful tweaks. All of these new subclasses bring their own unique flair to a campaign, as well as several brand-new spells and abilities. One subclass, the Swarmkeeper, has been of particular interest to many players, and since the update was announced, lots of fans have been hooked on its concept.
The Swarmkeeper is the newest ranger subclass, and its defining feature is the ability for players to summon certain swarms of nature spirits to their command. This sounds incredibly fun in theory, but in practice, players have found that their creativity is a little limited when it comes to what exactly they can do with their new magical companions. However, one small change could allow the Swarmkeeper to compete with other spellcasting classes without making it overpowered.
Swarmkeeper Rangers Have More Variety In BG3 Than D&D
Baldur’s Gate 3 Introduces New Mechanics For The Swarmkeeper Subclass
SinceDungeons & Dragonsheavily relies on imagination, players have more freedom to flavor their swarms however they like, but will only be able to deal piercing damage when summoning them.Baldur’s Gate 3limits Swarmkeeper rangerplayers to three types of spirits, but gives each of them new, distinct mechanics.While the Legion of Bees deals standard piercing damage, players can now deal lighting or psychic damage with the Cloud of Jellyfish or Flurry of Moths.All swarms have the option to teleport the player 17ft away instead of attacking or using their unique ability.
Cloud of Jellyfish
1d6 lightning damage
Shocking Sting- Target becomes shocked if they fail a constitution saving throw
Disarms the target
Flurry of Moths
1d6 psychic damage
Blinding Swarm- Target becomes blinded if they fail a constitution saving throw
Slows the target
Legion of Bees
1d6 piercing damage
Knockback- Target is knocked back 17ft if they fail a strength saving throw
Knocks target prone
This largely makes up for the lack of freedom players have when it comes to role-playing and makes the Swarmkeeper more fun to play, but fans of this class in aDnDsetting may be unhappy about the class' lack of versatility compared to its tabletop counterpart.Beastmaster rangers can call upon any animalthey like at any time, soit feels underwhelming that Swarmkeepers can only summon one type of swarm.The subclass would be a lot more appealing if players could swap out their chosen swarm with another.
Swapping Swarms More Frequently Could Be Fun
Swarmkeeper Abilities And Progression Are Quite Boring And Would Benefit From A Change
Currently, players can only change their swarm type every time they level up.Even in the early game, this is inconvenient for those wanting to test out the different swarms, since they will either have to spend time reclassing or grinding experience to reach the next level. Compared to some of the othersubclasses released in Patch 8, the Swarmkeeper ranger actually doesn’t have a lot of useful skills, and the ones they do have are far too situational. Outside their bonded spirits, nothing about their progression is that spectacular or unique.
Level 3
These spells are always prepared, but will be obsolete for many players. High elves, high half-elves, githyanki, and Mephistopheles tieflings gain Mage Hand at level one, while drow and half-drow gain Faerie Fire at level three.
Level 5
This can also be cast by a Beastmaster Ranger’s spider companion and learned by many other classes - some at lower levels.
Level 7
“Writhing Tide” is a Swarmkeeper-specific ability which lets players fly a short distance and hover over hazardous terrain. It is slightly more useful than the regularFlyspell, but very situational. Writhing Currents are used to perform the ability.
Level 9
When in a gaseous form, players can’t attack or cast spells, so they won’t be able to summon their swarm.
Level 11
Most players who are multi-classing won’t get to this point, since the features of another class are usually more favorable than the small damage increase and new abilities.
Swarms typically only deal 1d6 to 1d8 damage, and their unique abilities are relatively minor. Limiting Swarmkeepers to one swarm type makes the subclass even more restrictive, especially whenother spellcasters can utilize several types of elemental attacks more effectively.From a technical standpoint, some players may find themselves better off playing a wizard or sorcerer who have access to spells which can do very similar things to the different swarms - and more. Allowing players to change their swarms once per long rest, or even as a passive action, would give players more reason to choose this subclass.
Different types of damage are more appropriate for fighting different enemies,so players would have a much easier time making strategies for certain fights if they could easily swap their swarm type. For example, if a Swarmkeeper finds themselves fighting a steel watcher, they might regret choosing the Flurry of Moths over the Cloud of Jellyfish. Even though psychic damage is usually one of the superior damage options, especially forgithyanki thanks to their unique items, Steel Watchers in particular are immune to psychic damage and vulnerable to lightning damage, which renders the moth’s damage bonuses almost useless.
Versatile Swarmkeepers Wouldn’t Break Baldur’s Gate 3
Swarmkeepers Are Already Underpowered, And Giving Them More Attack Options Wouldn’t Change That
Although the subclass is certainly fun and can bring some fantastic role-play opportunities to aBG3campaign, the truth is that it just isn’t that powerful. Rangers aren’t a very popular choice among the playerbase (viaBaldursGate3on X), andallowing players to use multiple types of swarms without having to level up would not make the class overpowered at all.There is already an overlap between the abilities of the swarms with their teleportation and flight abilities, so the only difference would be a slightly larger variety of attack options.
Players have had similar complaints about the Swarmkeeper inDnDbefore, and fans onReddithave pointed out that, mechanically, there isn’t much reason to choose it over another spellcaster. Larian was very close to fixing what many have seen as a rather dry subclass which is only saved by its roleplay flavor.Limiting players to a small portion of the new Swarmkeeper abilities at once may not have been the best way to introduce the subclassinto a virtual setting, though it’s understandable that the developers were likely trying not to stray too far from the original concept.
It’s unclear if an update like this could ever come toBG3now that we’ve reached the end of patch updates. Small tweaks aren’t entirely off the table, and considering that the new subclasses haven’t been available to the public for very long, it’s quite possible that Larian may briefly come back to the game to fix any balancing issues. This would also be quite a minor change to mod into the game, so it would not be a surprise if this is something theBaldur’s Gate 3community has already started working on.
