Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian has detailed the game’s latest major patch – and it’s a big one.

Patch 8, scheduled for release in 2025, expands the extremely successful role-playing game with crossplay, a photo mode and 12 new subclasses. In a blog post, Larian said that Patch 8 is the game’s last major update and that the developer is continuing with brand new games outside of the Dungeons & Dragons universe.

However, Larian promised to continue supporting Baldur’s Gate 3 modders, with “big updates still to come,” including more features “to let you tell your own stories.” Official modding tools were released in September and since then players have uploaded more than 3,000 mods and downloaded over 70 million.

The addition of crossplay means Baldur’s Gate 3 Multiplayer will soon feature full cross-platform progression. Once the update is live, you will be able to invite your friends directly to your crossplay lobby, regardless of platform, and find available multiplayer lobbies with friends on other systems via the Larian Network.

Meanwhile, Patch 8 adds a new subclass for each of the existing Bard, Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue, Wizard, Warlock, and Wizard classes in the game. Larian expects new abilities, animations, VFX, summons and cantrips for the Oathbreaker Knight, as well as unique spoken dialogue lines with written responsiveness for Oathbreakers, as well as “a touch of homebrewing” for certain actions to enhance your roleplaying experience.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 8 new subclasses:

Bard – College of Glamour
As a bard of the College of Glamour, you will find that you have the power to heal friends and command enemies alike. Pour Cloak of Inspiration to give your allies 5 temporary hit points. And should an enemy attack while it is being cast, it will find itself Charmed. Play your hand correctly and you can use this to your advantage Cloak of Majesty. Aim at enchanted enemies and you can command them to flee, get closer, freeze, fall to the ground or drop their weapon.

Barbarian – Path of the Giants

Choose the Path of the Giants and your newfound giant strength will make it easier for you to defeat friend and foe alike. Forget about potions to pump your muscles, these barbarians benefit from it The Giant’s Rage Passive that grants both strength and size – allowing you to deal additional damage with throwing attacks. Do bags weigh you down? Nothing for you and your increased carrying capacity!

Cleric – Death Domain

As the Cleric of Death, you’ll have some sinister new tricks up your sleeve – from spells specializing in necrotic damage to three new necromancy cantrips. This includes Great the Deada cantrip that deals 1-8 damage when your cleric rings the Bell of Impending Doom – a number that scales if your target has already been damaged. We’ve also added the custom ability to explode nearby corpses, dealing damage to enemies.

Druid – Star Circle

These druids search the stars for answers and access powers beyond the classic wild forms. Take on one of three Star shapes for their power – the constellations Archer, Chalice and Dragon. Each of them favors a different play style and strategy – the archer, which deals radiant damage with astral arrows, the life-giving chalice, which restores hit points to you and others nearby, and the wise dragon, which allows you to deal damage with an additional Inflict bonus on Constitution checks. The star forms not only offer a celestial aesthetic, but also practical, powerful options to enhance your role as a healer, fighter or strategist.

Paladin – Oath of the Crown

They have sworn to uphold the principles of the law. Stay true to your oath and you will be rewarded with the power to aid your allies and disrupt your enemies. Lead your companions in battle Fair clarityProvoke enemies with strategic disruptions and keep your party strong Divine faithfulnessabsorb their damage while restoring their health.

Fighter – Arcane Archer

The Arcane Archer subclass masters the two arts of magic and marksmanship and offers unique abilities and new shooting animations. Banish enemies to the fey wilds, removing them from the battlefield for a turn, or unleash psychic damage that forces enemies to make a Wisdom saving throw or be blinded until the start of their next turn.

Monk – Drunken Master

By brewing the brew yourself as the Drunken Master, you have the opportunity to consume alcohol directly from your inventory and drink from bottles you see around the Sword Coast to regain Ki. By sharing the bottle with your enemies Exhilarating punchyou generate an improvement to your armor class and your chance of hitting drunken targets. Drunken enemies are also vulnerable to the Drunken Masters’ other abilities, such as: Sobering realization – which sobers up drunk targets and causes physical and psychological harm.

Ranger – Hive Guardian

The Swarmkeeper subclass provides Rangers with three types of deadly swarms to aid them in combat. The Jellyfish cloud Deals additional lightning damage and may shock your enemy. The moth vortex Deals psychic damage and gives you the potential to blind your enemy. The Legion of Bees Deals piercing damage and forces the enemy to make a power-saving throw or be thrown back 15 feet. Each swarm also has the ability to provide you with teleportation capabilities!

Rogue – daredevil

This Rogue subclass introduces a number of new actions suited to the pirate life. Play dirty by throwing sand at enemies Blind them. Aim your weapon at a target Disarm them. Or use your new one Fancy footwork passively while engaging your enemy in melee to ensure they cannot make attacks of opportunity against you for the rest of your turn.

Wizard – Shadow Magic

As a shadow magic wizard, you wield a form of magic that makes you deadliest in the dark. This subclass provides its wizard Superior darkvisionas well as the ability to do so Shadow walk between places with dim light or darkness. This means you can also enjoy perfectly home-brewed beer Dog of ill omen to harass and use your enemies Strength of the grave to prevent you from going to the ground – ideal for those trying to run in honor mode.

Warlock – Hexblade

Hexblade warlocks make a pact with a creature from the Shadowfell that manifests itself in the form of magical weapons. Curse your enemies and force their souls to obey your commands. Kill any enemy that is generally not an element of nature, not a construct, not a giant blob, or already dead, and you can raise their spirit from their corpse for ten turns. This new summon can deal necrotic damage and rip out a portion of your enemy’s soul to provide healing to your Hexblade Warlock.

Wizard – Bladesong

The Bladesinging subclass combines swordplay with sorcery. Expect new spell animations when you cast spells with your weapon, a new Bladesong ability that grants you supernatural speed, agility and concentration, while also giving you a bonus to every Constitution saving throw you make.

And here’s the rest with Patch 8:

Photo mode

Finally, you can stop using pictures of fish you caught on your dating profile and start taking photos with your Hound of Ill Omen instead. Photo Mode is coming to Baldur’s Gate 3 in Patch 8!

Baldur’s Gate 3’s photo mode is a bit like a photo booth, allowing you to take pretty much any shot you want. This new feature offers a whole range of options to customize and edit your in-game photography, with varying degrees of freedom depending on whether you’re using it while adventuring or during combat, dialogue and cinematic scenes.

Camera settings

You can toggle using the HUD, located near the minimap, or using the keyboard shortcut (F9 on PC and by pressing both analog sticks at the same time on console) to choose which character you want to be the focus of. Determine your best side and adjust the camera position accordingly.

As long as they are in your party during your adventure, you can set your scene perfectly – including summons and wild-form ones! For all you budding virtual photographers, you can also turn on the camera crosshairs and composition grid to ensure you get the perfect shot.

Lens settings

Angle determined and positioning sorted? You can jump to the lens settings where you can experiment with field of view, exposure, depth of field and focus.

Scene settings

NPC ruining your shot? Turn off either “Player”, “Group”, “NPC” or “Enemy”.

Now you’re ready for your close-up! Or, if you’re feeling creative, set the stage for a full Faerûn musical – choose a fixed facial expression as well as a range of over 40 static and animated poses, each with multiple variations to give you the perfect layout.

Post-processing effects

While you can’t customize your party or play around with lens and camera settings for cinematic scenes and dialogue, you can color correct your shot and experiment with contrast, saturation, highlights, brightness and vignette.

Frame

Spice up your scene with a variety of frames and letterboxes to create cinematic shots.

Stickers

Choose from over 300 stickers and add up to 30 to your scene, including emojis, symbols, blood splatters, textures, objects and items, and of course cat ears.

In your hands you’ll soon be able to take role-playing to the next level with unique combinations of poses, stickers and frames. We can’t wait to see what absolute nightmare fuel you come up with.

Larian is planning a stress test for Patch 8 on Xbox and PlayStation as well as PC in early January. “The goal is to go beyond our internal testing and help us catch things before they can become a problem once a patch is released,” Larian explained.

“In addition to all the new features that Patch 8 brings, we will also be incorporating a wide range of bug fixes and polishing cinematics, including ensuring that Shadowheart’s hair dye will no longer be washed away when she takes a bath with her romantic partner. We’ll share more about what’s been fixed in a future update!”

Wesley is the UK news editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].