Baldur’s Gate 3 has a lot of classes, and a lot of those classes just so happen to be powerful magic users like Druids, Wizards, and even Bards. Whilst many classes share many spells, there are some unique ones scattered here and there. With so many spells to pick from, even at level 1, what do you pick?
Well, that depends on Class and what you want to achieve. However, we have compiled this handy guide to help you craft the perfect spell-slinger for any occasion. We are going to cover everything from the mischievous Bard to the mighty Wizard.
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Bard
The Bard is a merrymaker, songer singer, and potent magician. Their magic is heavily titled towards curing the ails of your allies whilst instilling powerful debuffs on your enemies. This makes them incredibly useful in a fight, and they can very easily tilt a battle in your favour.
Faerie Fire
Advantage in Baldur’s Gate 3 is incredibly important. In short, Advantage means you roll two dice instead of one when attacking (you then pick the highest). If you are attacking with Advantage, you are far more likely to land a hit. You should always be trying to secure this buff, and Faerie Fire is one of the easiest ways to pull that off. This is thanks to it coming with a pretty large area of effect.
Dissonant Whispers
Dissonant Whispers deals a lot of damage for a level 1 spell and comes with the added benefit of inflicting Frightened. This debuff prevents enemies from moving, and if they try to attack, they do so with a Disadvantage (roll two dice, pick the lowest). Not only that, they are far more susceptible to failing ability checks, making them vulnerable to other afflictions too.
Tasha’s Hideous Laughter
This spell is rather ludicrous. Providing it lands, your enemy is incapacitated for 10 whole turns – provided you don’t attack them. This is an excellent way to take out a powerful enemy who you don’t want to deal with yet. Easily one of the most powerful debuffs in the early game.
Cleric
Clerics are all about channelling divine forces to shape the course of a battle. They are powerful battle wizards capable of fighting from a distance or up close and personal. Their biggest strength is their ability to buff and heal, but they can do just about anything if you set your mind to it.
Bless
Bless is an excellent AOE buff that adds +1D4 to all Attack Rolls and Saving Throws. This might not seem like a lot, but in the early game, this can mean the difference between life and death. Entire battles can be swung by the use of Bless and this should be your go-to opener.
Guiding Bolt
Guiding Bolt is kind of bonkers. Its damage is ludicrously high for a level 1 spell, dwarfing just about every other spell in its category. Not only that, but it comes with a very powerful bonus effect. If the spell lands, the next attack targeting this enemy will have an Advantage. In the early game, if Guiding Bolt doesn’t kill an enemy, it ensures the next person who attacks will.
Healing Word
Healing is always useful in Baldur’s Gate 3, and the easiest way to heal is to use some healing magic. Conventional wisdom might push you towards picking up Healing Touch, however, we would advise Healing Word 100% of the time. The reason for this is that Healing Word is a ranged heal, and this means your Cleric can operate in any capacity and still have the reach to heal an injured ally in battle. Healing Touch heals more HP, but you have to be next to the person you want to heal which is less versatile.
Druid
Druids have a lot of crossover with other classes, and some of their best spells have already been mentioned on this list. As a result, we are going to pick some other spells you can run on the Druid that help the party tick. Druids, like Clerics, can do just about everything thanks to their diverse kit. They just have a nature twist instead of a divine one.
Entangle
Entangle is pretty great by virtue of being a powerful AOE debuff. Whilst it doesn’t prevent enemies from attacking or even moving, it does slow them down, giving you more time to deal with whatever threat is coming your way.
Fog Cloud
Fog Cloud is outstanding and should be used all the time. It’s a very large AOE that blinds anyone who is inside of it, and also can’t be seen through as it is obscuring. What does this mean? It means you can shut down ranged enemies with ease. Either drop this on their head and force them to relocate, or put it in their line of sight to, again, force movement.
Thunderwave
Thunderwave is a very powerful AOE damage spell that has a significant pushback as an added benefit. Considering how many high ledges and death drops there are in Baldur’s Gate 3, you will have endless fun launching enemies to their deaths. This spell never lost its usefulness.
Sorcerer
Sorcerers are some of the least-restricted spell-casters in Baldur’s Gate 3. Whilst they don’t have a massive selection of spells to choose from, they can cast an awful lot of the spells they have. They also scale with Charisma, making them pretty good at talking their way out of bad situations to boot.
Mage Armour
Robe-wearing characters are very vulnerable to being brutally murdered in combat, and Mage Armour helps prevent that. You are looking at a fairly substantial increase in survivability that lasts until your next Long Rest. It’s a great spell to have in your arsenal.
Magic Missile
Most spells can be avoided in one way or another. Maybe an enemy is hiding around a corner, or maybe they have great stats and can just dodge the spell. Magic Missile cares not for any of that as it always hits, it always does damage, and that damage is decent. You fire out 3 missiles at level 1, and each one can home in on a different enemy or you can launch them all at a single target for maximum damage. It’s a very reliable spell that gets pulled out even at higher levels.
Sleep
Sometimes you want an enemy to stop what they are doing, and sleep does just that. It can even affect multiple people, although it has limitations. Inducing a magical sleep makes it far easier for you to hit and kill enemies as they are completely defenceless. There are also many abilities that trigger or have differing effects when targeting sleeping enemies, so Sleep pulls its weight in the early game. It does drop off later on, however.
Warlocks
Warlocks are like Sorcerers in many ways, only they are way cooler. Bound to demonic pacts, Warlocks throw out powerful eldritch abilities that deal massive damage and debilitate in equal measure. Their biggest draw is their stupidly powerful Cantrip, Eldritch Bolt, but they have access to some pretty powerful spells too.
Armour Of Agathys
Warlocks can often find themselves getting stuck into close combat, especially as they get more powerful. Armour Of Agathys lets them do that without risk of death. This spell grants bonus HP in addition to dealing damage to enemies who dare strike you in melee. Not only that, but the spell scales as you get more powerful, making it endlessly useful.
Arms Of Hadar
Escaping combat is sometimes required if you want to come out alive. Sure, you can use the disengage action, but if you want to run away with a bang, Arms Of Hadar has you covered. Cast this spell, deal a decent chunk of damage, and then shut off your opponent’s reactions.
Hellish Rebuke
Hellish Rebuke is rather silly. You cast this, and then the next person who dares to attack you gets blasted with up to 20 damage worth of fire damage. This is more powerful than most damage spells at level 1, and the best part is that it triggers on your opponent’s turn so you are free to do whatever you like on your turn.
Wizards
Wizards are the masters of magic. They have access to the most magic, they have the least restrictions in what spells they can take, and they scale like crazy once you start gaining levels. They have a spell for every situation, and even at level 1, Wizards can do some ludicrous stuff. Sadly, we have covered most of their best spells already. Here are some extra ones that can help you in a bind.
Burning Hands
This spell is very simple – you fire out a short stream of AOE fire and deal a lot of damage. This, in our opinion, is often outclassed by the likes of Thunderwave, but due to its element, it can cause some pretty hilarious chain reactions.
Grease
As we have already established, preventing enemies from doing things is just as useful as dealing damage. Grease slows enemies down in a large area in addition to making them fall prone if they fail a test. It’s a win-win.
Shield
Shield is an interesting Spell because it can be cast as a regular spell to drastically increase your Armour Value in addition to making you immune to Magic Missile. However, it can also be used as a Reaction, and this is where it shines. You don’t want to waste a valuable cast on Shield if nobody is going to attack you. Instead, wait until you are in danger, pop Shield when needed, and reap all the benefits.
That’s all we have for Baldur’s Gate 3 for now. Be sure to check out our other guides and lists for more Baldur’s Gate content.
