On 15th April, Belgium's Larian Studios has released Patch 8 for Baldur's Gate 3, which the developers say will be the last major update for the game. We can expect 12 new subclasses (one for each class in the game), new spells, as well as the long-awaited photo mode and cross-platform compatibility.

Here's a detailed look at what's new in Baldur's Gate 3's eighth patch.

New Subclasses

The developers have created a new subclass for each of the game's 12 professions: Bard, Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue, Wizard, Sorcerer, and Warlock.

Minstrel - College of Glamour

The Minstrel in the College of Glamour can heal allies and enchant enemies. In particular, he can make them freeze, fall, approach, or drop their weapons.

Barbarian - Path of the Giant

Carry more in your backpacks and pockets (which is very handy), gain the passive skill Giant's Fury, which increases your strength and allows you to inflict more damage on enemies, particularly by throwing things (such as dead rats) at them.

Cleric - Death Domain

Prepare for the Dark Passage with the Death Domain subclass. Now you can specialise in necrotic damage, cast the Tombstone spell, and also blow up enemies that have already been destroyed, inflicting damage on the survivors.

Druid - Circle of Stars

It is now possible to become a real star, but only for constellations. This area allows you to take the form of Sagittarius, the Chalice and the Dragon. Each of these will give you different abilities, such as the ability to shoot ray arrows, regenerate health, or have an advantage in the stat line.

Paladin - Oath of the Crown

You have taken an oath to uphold and defend the law. If you keep it, you will be rewarded with the power to help your allies and destroy your enemies: "Righteous Clarity" allows you to taunt enemies and protect your team from attack, and "Divine Loyalty" allows you to absorb damage to your allies to restore their health.

Fighter - Arcane Archer

Master the art of magic and marksmanship. Blind your enemies, banish them to the Faerie Plane and unleash psychic damage.

Monk - Way of the Drunken Master

If you've ever wanted to create a Rock Lee from Naruto in Baldur's Gate 3, this is what you've been missing. Restore your Ki by drinking alcohol and hit drunken enemies even harder. You can also sober them up painfully by inflicting physical and mental damage.

Ranger - Swarm Keeper

Rangers now have three swarm variations to use in battle: Cloud of Jellyfish deals extra lightning damage and can shock enemies, Flurry of Butterflies deals psychic damage with the possibility of blinding, and Swarm of Bees deals stinging damage and can knock enemies away. Each swarm also allows you to teleport.

Rogue - Swashbuckler

This subclass allows you to play dirty like never before. Push enemies into the sand, blind them, dodge attacks, and use fear to make them drop their weapons.

Sorcerer - Shadow Magic

Like Shadow Monks, Wizards can now use shadow and darkness to their advantage in battle. They also gain Darkvision, the ability to teleport between shadows, summon a Shadowhound to hunt down enemies, or stay at one health instead of dying thanks to Grave Strength.

Warlock - Hexblade

This is traditionally the most popular subclass for Warlocks in D&D. However, it was unfairly ignored in Baldur's Gate 3. Now the developers have rectified this, and Witchblades will finally be able to be strong duelists: creating magical weapons, cursing enemies, and raising the dead for 10 turns.

Wizard - Bladesinging

Wizards will now be able to fight with weapons. They will be able to combine magic and natural dexterity in combat, with improved focus on spells.

Photo Mode

Baldur's Gate 3 will now feature a full-featured Photo Mode that will allow everyone, including creators and reviewers, to take pictures of their game using camera customisation tools, stickers, borders and post-processing effects. The Photo Mode in Baldur's Gate 3 is a bit like a photo booth where you can create almost any kind of image you want. This new feature introduces a range of options that allow you to customise and edit your in-game photography with different levels of freedom depending on whether you're using it during your adventures or in combat, dialogue and cinematic scenes.

Cross-Play

Finally, multiplayer is cross-platform. It doesn't matter if you want to join PS5 players from your computer or Mac users from your Xbox. Now you can play with anyone from any device.

About Baldur's Gate 3

Baldur's Gate 3 is a role-playing video game developed by Larian Studios. It is the third main entry in the Baldur's Gate series, which is based on the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing system.

  • A partial version of BG 3 was released in early access for MacOS and Windows in October 2020. It remained in early access until its full release for Windows in August 2023, with the release of versions for PlayStation 5, macOS, and Xbox Series X/S. 
  • Critics have praised the game for its gameplay, story, and production values. It has won several game of the year awards, including the Golden Joystick Awards, The Game Awards, DICE Awards, and Game Developers Choice Awards. 
  • Baldur's Gate 3 also received 11 nominations at the BAFTA Games Awards.

Despite fans' expectations for a fourth instalment in the iconic Baldur's Gate series, Larian Studios has refused to make a sequel, although it has been in the works for some time.

Earlier, the CEO said that the Larian team is currently working on a new RPG game that will "outshine all previous ones".