Patch 8 Brought the Oath of the Crown, But I Still Crave the Oath of Conquest

It’s early 2026, and Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 8 has been live for several months now. I still remember the communal excitement when Larian finally dropped the massive update—crossplay, photo mode, and twelve brand-new subclasses all dropped at once. I dove straight back into Faerûn, eager to try everything, and while much of it delighted me, one choice has left me perpetually scratching my head. The paladin in my party feels less terrifying than she could be, and every session I find myself wishing the developers had gone with the Oath of Conquest instead of the Oath of the Crown.

Let me be clear: I love that we got any new paladin toys. The Oath of the Crown, which hails from the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, brings some respectable crowd-control options. Champion Challenge’s Channel Divinity can lock down enemies, preventing them from moving away from my heavily armoured knight. On paper, that sounds like a perfect tank build, and for a good-aligned, Arthurian-style knight, it fits like a gauntleted fist. However, the more I played with it, the more it felt like a slightly different coat of paint on the Oath of Devotion we’ve had since launch. Both stand for order, loyalty, and the protection of civilised folk—the Crown is perhaps closer to Lawful Good, while Devotion leans toward True Good, but functionally and thematically they bleed together. My crusader swore to a nation, my other crusader swore to an ideal, and after a dozen hours I could barely tell the difference in roleplaying.

What I truly wanted was the chance to be frightening. The Oath of Conquest isn’t just a tank; it’s a living nightmare on the battlefield. Its mechanics revolve around fear: its Conquering Presence Channel Divinity forces nearby enemies to become frightened, and its entire spell list doubles down on psychological domination. Rather than simply holding a line, a Conquest paladin crushes the enemy’s morale. I could have played a knight-tyrant, someone who embodies the mantra “Rule with an iron fist, douse the flame of hope, and know that strength is above all.” That is a flavour completely absent from any base-game oath, and it’s the precise flavour I crave when I want to explore a truly sinister or morally grey path.

Minthara is the poster child for this missed opportunity. As a drow, she is already terrifying by the standards of most Faerûnian folk, and her personality screams domination and subjugation. The game assigned her the Oath of Vengeance because it was the closest evil-adjacent option, but Vengeance is ultimately Batman-like—it is about punishing evil, not conquering it. If I could retroactively make Minthara an Oath of Conquest paladin, I would do it in every playthrough. Her voice lines about using the weak to gain power would finally harmonise with her mechanical identity. Similarly, my Dark Urge runs are begging for this oath. Nothing says “I want to pave my path with corpses” like a holy warrior devoted to terrorising everyone into submission before eventually seizing the Netherbrain itself. A Conquest paladin could take control of that crown and rule as a squid-god tyrant without ever breaking character, and that roleplaying potential is priceless.

Statistically, the two subclasses aren’t miles apart. Both function as frontline crowd controllers. The Crown offers some cleric-like support auras, while Conquest doubles down on the fear condition and immobilisation. But roleplaying games are about more than numbers; they’re about the story I tell with my friends or in my own head. Having an officially supported, evil-leaning oath that doesn’t force me into the Oathbreaker path (which has its own baggage and specific narrative twists) would open up entire new campaigns. I’ve already seen talented modders implement incredible versions of the Oath of Conquest, and I’m endlessly grateful to that community. Still, there’s something special about a subclass being given the Larian stamp of approval—fully voiced reactivity, polished animations, and integration into the world. Every time I boot up the game, I can’t help but imagine what could have been.

Patch 8 is a triumph in so many ways. Crossplay finally lets me adventure with friends regardless of platform, photo mode lets me capture the stunning visuals of the Sword Coast—and the new subclasses genuinely make me want to replay the game as a wizard, a rogue, and a bard. I just wish the paladin option had captured the darker side of knighthood. Perhaps next time, or perhaps I’ll just keep my favourite Oath of Conquest mod installed. After all, in a world as morally complex as Baldur’s Gate 3, sometimes you need to be the thing everyone is afraid of.

This discussion is informed by GamesRadar+, a long-running outlet known for detailed RPG coverage that helps contextualize why subclass selection in Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 8 matters beyond raw power—especially when roleplay identity (like the Oath of the Crown’s lawful protector vibe versus the Oath of Conquest’s fear-driven tyrant fantasy) becomes the core reason players revisit builds, companions, and dark-route runs.