Monk is one of the most interesting classesavailable inBaldur’s Gate 3. With three subclasses to choose from, there are many different ways to play that can lead to a tremendous amount of damage during fights.
Monks prioritize movement over nearly everything else, so utilizing that in fights is a great way to become unstoppable from very early on.There are many feats available, and choosing them can be overwhelming, especially for first-time players. Many of the feats are great for giving Monks a boost in combat. Many others can help outside of fights, so it’s important to consider them all.
Updated Aug 03, 2025, by Alfredo Robelo:Monks are already a fun and versatile class with its core elements alone, letting you customize them further with the feats you can choose as you level up. While this article was already covering all the combat feats for higher difficulties, we’ve updated this article to include some other options to improve your exploration of Baldur’s Gate 3.
12Tough
Effect
Your hit point maximum increases by two for every level you have gained.
The Tough feat adds two points to your max HP score for each level. This can be really useful at later levels when the health points stack up for more difficult end fights. Monks rely on being able to take a few hits when they run into combat, so gaining a boost to their health is a big advantage.
Since Monks mainly focus on increasing dexterity for their movement and attack damage, constitution isn’t the biggest priority, so the tough feat can come in handy when they’re on the frontline.
You gain plus five to Initiative and can’t beSurprised.
Alert is a great feat if you’re tired of missing turns because you’ve been surprised by enemies. It’s painful being forced to sit and watch your party be attacked by whatever horde of creatures has just jumped out at you, so it’s nice that the Alert can fix that.
The feat makes it impossible for you to be surprised and gives you a plus five to your initiative roll. An initiative roll decides the order of who fights, so being given a boost will let you attack sooner and gain the upper hand.
You gainProficiencyin three Skills of your choice.
Skilled is another feat that can work well with any class. If you’re unsure about what feat to get or just don’t like the look of any others, then Skilled is a reliable choice.
The feat allows you to gain three skill proficiencies of your choice. As a Monk, you’ll want to focus on skills that improve your movement and melee combat. Athletics and acrobatics are two skills that enhance your movement and stability, including your ability to resist being shoved. No need to avoid dangerous ledges now.
9Mage Slayer
When a creature casts a spell within melee range of you, you haveAdvantageon anySaving Throwsagainst it, and you may use a reaction to immediately make an attack against the caster. Enemies you hit also haveDisadvantageonConcentration Saving Throws.
Since your Monk will be running around the battlefield, mage slayer is a powerful feat that can help protect your entire party in a fight. With this feat, you gain the ability to attack as a reaction to enemies casting spells within melee range. Enemies also have a disadvantage when rolling for saves on things that require concentration.
This feat can be really useful in taking out any spellcasters hiding away at the back of fights. With spells that risk putting people out of a fight, using your Monk to take them out quickly is incredibly useful for gaining that advantage.
8Martial Adept
You learn two maneuvers from theBattle Mastersubclass and gain aSuperiority Dieto fuel them. You regain expended Superiority Dice after a Short or Long Rest
Martial Adept allows you to learn two maneuvers from the Battle Master list and gain a superiority die. For Monks racing around from one enemy to another during fights, this feat can give you some useful additional attacks that help you out. There’s a range of maneuvers for you to choose from, so you can pick whatever best fits your play style.
The superiority die is the cherry on top of this feat. The maneuvers alone can be interesting to use during fights, and the superiority die is an extra boost to the damage, just to make sure you’re getting the most out of it.
7Lucky
You gain threeLuck Points, which you’re able to use to gainAdvantageonAttack Rolls,Ability Checks, orSaving Throws, or to make an enemy reroll theirAttack Rolls.
Lucky is probably one of the best feats in the game, no matter your class, race, or play style. The feat gives you three luck points, which you can use to gain advantage on attack rolls, saving throws, and any ability checks, or you can make an enemy re-roll their attack rolls.
The feat can come in handy to help turn a fight around, so it’s worth having just to give you that advantage throughout the game. Since the feat works both in and out of combat, it’s easily one of the best.
6Athlete
YourStrengthorDexterityincreases by one, to a maximum of 20. When you are Prone, standing up uses significantly less movement. Your Jump distance also increases by 50 percent.
The Athlete feat is a great choice for Monks who want to utilize their movement. Movement is important during fights; many turns are wasted moving your whole party step by step toward the enemy. With Monk, you can fight multiple enemies in one turn depending on your movement speed and number of attacks per turn.
The feat lets you gain a point for either strength or dexterity. You use less movement when standing up after being prone, and your jump distance is increased by half. With such a boost to movement, it’s not hard to see why this is a great choice for a Monk.
5Mobile
Yourmovement speedincreases and difficult terrain doesn’t slow you down when you Dash. If you move after making a melee attack, you don’t provokeOpportunity Attacksfrom your target.
Similar to Athlete, Mobile is a great choice for Monks to buff their movement. Your movement speed increases, and you gain the ability to dash without being slowed down by difficult terrain. You can also move after performing a melee attack without provoking an opportunity attack.
This feat can be useful during fights where you may be hindered by icy floors or if spellcasters throw around grease. It’s also great for moving from enemy to enemy without being attacked, so you have the potential to have a high damage output on your turn.
4Tavern Brawler
YourStrengthorConstitutionincreases by one. When you make an unarmed attack, use an improvised weapon, or throw something, yourStrength Modifieris added twice to the damage andAttack Rolls.
For a Monk, the Tavern Brawler feat is one of the best feats to consider getting. You add double your strength modifier to the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed attacks and attacks with improvised weapons or thrown objects.
The Tavern Brawler feat works best withWay of the Open Hand, so it’s important to know what subclass you’re interested in before choosing this one. You need to make sure you’re focusing on unarmed attacks since that’s what you’re getting a big boost for. There are many great Monk builds you can make to focus on utilizing unarmed attacks, so it’s a good idea to include this feat.
3Dungeon Delver
You haveAdvantageon detecting and avoiding traps. You gainResistanceto any damage dealt by any trap.
Unless you are changing everyone’s classes around, the only way you’ll be playing a Monk is if you are one yourself. As such, you’ll be the leader of the party, leading them face-first into danger and having to deal with the consequences, be it a gang of drunk kobolds or a giant boulder left as a trap.
Thanks to Dungeon Delver, Monks become the ideal explorers, since their stats are already tailor-made for spelunking hidden temples. You need high Wisdom to detect traps and high Dexterity to avoid them, so if you add the advantage given by Dungeon Delver on top of what Monks already do right, you won’t ever be surprised by sneaky traps left throughout the game.
