Shadowheart is a cleric. We all know this. We all accept it. However, what kind of cleric is a question for the ages. Her default 
Trickery Domain is thematic and fits her, but is also… Well, very weak. Meanwhile, 
Life Domain clerics are the best healers and can be decent, but they are weak in combat and the Domain is a poor fit for her. So, what remains? We want something that fits Shadowheart, gives her some utility and power in combat, and is strong enough to be worth taking.
Well, thankfully, Patch 8 added the necromancy-themed 
Death Domain, which fits all three requirements. After all, Shadowheart would become the Mistress of Death, wouldn’t she?
Build Summary
Not only is Death Domain one of the strongest subclasses for 
Cleric, it also fits Shadowheart‘s dark persona. The subclass ensures she still provides valuable healing and utility, and lets her take advantage of items that are very powerful but usually don’t find a use. Between summoning resurrected servants, inflicting poison and necrotic damage, and keeping her allies alive (or undead), this is one of the strongest builds for Shadowheart, and is more fitting for her character and arc than the boring Life Domain.
It should be noted that several of the abilities unique to the Death Domain mean that this build is best played with a melee-centric Shadowheart in mind — she should usually be fighting weaker enemies alongside summoned allies, dealing massive necrotic damage to those that oppose her.
As for specifics, this build will center around dealing devastating necrotic damage and effects the entire time, while also adding in huge utility when she gets the spells 
Animate Dead and 
Create Undead. This build can be somewhat gear-dependent, but thankfully the kind of gear she wants is pretty unique to her, and Act 2 provides it aplenty for her to really come into her own.
Character Build Links
See this build at various levels (roughly corresponding with how the build should look by the end of each Act) in our Baldur’s Gate 3 Build Planner below:
Character Creation
- Origin Character/Companion: Shadowheart
- Starting Class: Cleric
- Subclass: Death Domain
- Deity: Shar (Forced)
- Background:
Acolyte (Forced) - Abilities:
- Skill Proficiencies:
- Starting Cantrips:
For this build, we are going to be making sure that Shadowheart can surviving in melee as well as perform her normally Cleric duties of healing and buffing allies. As such, she still needs a 17 in 
Wisdom (the most important single stat for all Clerics), but we are also going to buff her 
Strength (for melee damage) and 
Constitution (for survivability). Combine that with just a little bit in 
Dexterity (for better AC and the ability to use finesse weapons) and you have a deadly start for Shadowheart.
Skill Proficiencies don’t really matter for this character, but it is useful to round out her automatic skills with Medicine and Persuasion, just in case it comes up.
Lastly, you can select 5 cantrips (1 from her 
Half High-Elf race and 4 from her class), allowing you to pick up all 3 Necromancy cantrips, 
Guidance, and 
Sacred Flame for a very well-balanced cantrip user (this becomes really important after the 2nd level).
Subclass Choice
For this build, we will be selecting the Cleric‘s Death Domain for all 12 levels. It will carry Shadowheart through the entire game and keep her scaling up well in terms of utility, spells, and even damage. We are not going to be multiclassing at all, as Death Domain already includes a little bit of everything that a summoner/necromancy Cleric could want and still enables her to play the support-healer when necessary.
Level Map for Feats & Abilities
Level 1
At level 1, we need to spec or respec Shadowheart into a Death Domain Cleric. Firslty, this gives her the 
False Life and 
Ray of Sickness spells (working great for buffing allies and weakening enemies, respectively). It will also give her Reaper, empowering her mainstay Toll the Dead, 
Bone Chill, and Bursting Sinew cantrips (which are all some of the most powerful damaging cantrips in the game). In addition, we take Guidance and Sacred Flame, because Shadowheart without Guidance is like 
Karlach without 
Rage.
- Subclass: Death Domain
- Class: Reaper
- Automatic Subclass Spells:
- Cantrips:
Level 2
Touch of Death at second level comes with the Death Domain no matter what, but it is important to point it out because it’s damage buff is what enables Shadowheart to go from an exclusively back-of-the-line healer into an actual front-line contender. While she will never compete will full martial classes for damage, this lets her get into the fray with her undead minions and compatriots in order to maximize damage and clear out enemies quickly, while still retaining her healing abilities for when they are necessary. Finally, no more wasted Shadowheart turns!
- Class: Touch of Death
- Automatic Subclass Spells:
Level 3
Blindness and 
Ray of Enfeeblement are the next spells that Shadowheart unlocks, and they have some use in weakening enemies and making sure they miss constantly against both you any allies. This essentially gives your party more longevity for long fights.
- Automatic Subclass Spells:
Level 4
At this level, you will be approaching Act 2, where you’ll want the Light Cantrip. More importantly, though, this is the level where we select our first feat. And — no surprise — we will be taking an 
Ability Improvement in order to bring Shadowheart’s Wisdom up to 19
Level 5
Level 5 is where this build goes from “good, front-line Cleric” into full “master of skeletons.” Sure, 
Destroy Undead is great when you happen to fight the undead (which is more often than you might expect), and 
Vampiric Touch is an absolutely incredible Necrotic melee spell. But the true star of Level 5 is Animate Dead, letting you summon an undead ally from any body you and your companions come across (or make). In combination with your buffing and healing spells, the Circle of Death item, and general good positioning, this essentially gives you a constant stream of strong allies to help you fight in the front lines and to make up for numeric disadvantages in most fights.
Level 6
Lots of creatures are normally resistant to all kinds of damage, including Necrotic damage. That being the Mistress of Death Shadowheart‘s bread-and-butter, Inescapable Destruction is what allows you to ignore that and deal full damage anyway. So long as a creature isn’t immune, they will feel Shadowheart’s deathly damage.
- Class: Inescapable Destruction
Level 7
This level isn’t the most exciting for this build, but 
Blight is a very strong necromancy spell. 
Death Ward will help Shadowheart stay alive as she fights alongside her minions (undead or companion), making her that much better at what she is supposed to do.
- Automatic Subclass Spells:
Level 8
For this level, we have a bit of an unusual Feat pick, 
Resilient: Wisdom. Here’s the thing: not only do we want to bring Wisdom up 1 more rank in order to get it to 20, but we also want to make sure Shadowheart can always win against Wisdom Saving Throws. This helps considerably against the tons of late-game spells that enemies use like 
Command and 
Hold Person.
We also get Divine Strike: Necrotic, which… Like, yeah, who doesn’t want an extra 1d8 of impossible-to-resist damage?
Level 9
Cloudkill‘s insanely high, per-round damage makes it one of the best crowd-control spells in the game. It’s also very versatile, allowing you to directly damage enemies, close off pathways behind you, or force enemies away from certain key objectives. It almost makes up for the fact that 
Contagion is only situationally useful (we never found a good situation to use it).
- Automatic Subclass Spells:
Level 10
By this point, Shadowheart will probably be spending a lot more time in melee than out of it, so giving her 
Blade Ward to keep her alive in melee is useful, even if it isn’t the most exciting level.
Level 11
This level is notable because it unlocks Level 6 spells for Shadowheart, the most important of which being Create Undead. This is the spell that improves upon Animate Dead by giving her the ability to now summon extraordinarily powerful mummies that can fight for her, and are boosted by the Circle of Death. At this stage, she should be able to summon between 2 and 4 undead thralls, depending on her loadout, making her a nearly unstoppable commander of an undead army — one that can also survive on her own in melee if need be.
Level 12
At this stage, Shadowheart is in melee a lot. And, while she generally won’t be casting a ton of concentration spells with this build, there are a few that you might want to make sure stay up. In addition, being able to cast 
Shocking Grasp as a reaction is very useful, especially for all the late-game enemies that are vulnerable to Electric damage.
Equipment
The following equipment is presented first by Act acquirable and then by slot, with the actual items in that slot being given in no particular order (though the first item is usually the best in slot). An ideal build will try to acquire as much of the gear as possible, and to swap between the gear as different situations merit.
In general, we are going for any weapons or effects that deal or improve Necrotic damage, equipment (especially rings) that let you summon additional undead allies, and gear that improves healing or gives secondary effects from healing. The only item that should be considered mandatory for the build is the Circle of Bones in Act 2.
- Act 1:
- Weapon: Loviatar’s Scourge, The Blood of Lathander, Corrosive Flail, Skybreaker
- Secondary Hand: Adamantine Shield, Glowing Shield
- Helm: Wapira’s Crown, Helmet of Autonomy
- Armour: Poisoner’s Robe
- Gloves: Abyss Beckoners, Herbalist’s Gloves
- Boots: Boots of Aid and Comfort
- Amulet: Amulet of Silvanus
- Rings: Caustic Band, Ring of Colour Spray, Ring of Salving
- Act 2:
- Weapons: Shadow Lantern, Infernal Rapier, Justiciar’s Scimitar
- Secondary Hand: Shield of Devotion, Justiciar’s Greatshield
- Helm: Circle of Bones
- Cloak: Vivacious Cloak
- Armour: Dark Justiciar Half-Plate
- Gloves: Dark Justiciar Gauntlets
- Boots: Dark Justiciar Boots
- Amulet: Amulet of the Harpers, Strange Tendril Amulet
- Rings: Ring of Exalted Marrow, Shadow Blade Ring
- Act 3:
- Weapons: Duellist’s Prerogative, Dread Iron Dagger, Infernal Mace, The Sacred Star, Woe
- Helm: Keep Circle of Bones
- Cloak: Nymph Cloak
- Armour: Armour of the Sporekeeper, Veil of the Morning
- Gloves: Quickspell Gloves, The Reviving Hands, Bhaalist Gloves
- Boots: Blackguard’s Greaves
- Amulet: Khalid’s Gift
- Rings: Crypt Lord Ring, Keepsake Ring
