Best Wizard build in Baldur’s Gate 3: Race, skills, spells, invocation & more

❘ Updated: 2024-03-01T15:44:04

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Mastering the Wizard class in Baldur’s Gate 3 can turn the tide of battle in your favor. Learn about the best Wizard build in BG3 and the spells to help you reach your full potential.

Experience the immense might of Baldur’s Gate 3’s Wizard class, embodied by companions such as Gale. With abilities rivaling those of Sorcerers, Bards, and Warlocks, Wizards wield formidable power. But, like Sorcerers, Wizards are susceptible to vulnerability owing to their reduced health and AC, so you must be cautious during character creation.

So, to help you out, here’s the best Wizard build in Baldur’s Gate 3, including the ideal race, spells, subclass, background, and even a few multiclass options in case you want to move away from any Gale similarities.

Contents

Best race to choose for a Wizard in Baldur’s Gate 3
Best subclass for a Wizard in Baldur’s Gate 3
Best background for a Wizard in Baldur’s Gate 3
Best Ability Score spread for a Wizard
Best spells for a Wizard in Baldur’s Gate 3
Best Illithid powers for a Wizard
Best multiclass options for the Wizard
Best build for a Wizard in Baldur’s Gate 3

Gale is a powerful Wizard with a potential for greatness.

Best race to choose for a Wizard in Baldur’s Gate 3

There are a few different races you can choose for an effective Wizard, each prioritizing features that will make your life as a Wizard much easier.

High Elf
Half-Elf
Deep Gnome

Although there are three to choose from, we recommend choosing the High Elf race for its proficiency in perception and additional Wizard Cantrip, especially with it being Fire Bolt.

Best subclass for a Wizard in Baldur’s Gate 3

Your subclass will need to be chosen at Level 2 so don’t worry if you’re just making your character. However, when you get to Level 2, you’ll be presented with eight choices, these are:

Abjuration School: Allows creation of Wards and defense spells. Learns Abjuration spells at half cost.
Conjuration School: Enables conjuring Water, Teleportation, and concentration maintenance. Learns Conjuration spells at half cost.
Divination School: Grants two daily re-rolls for Attack Rolls or Saving Throws, refreshed with Long Rest. Learns Divination spells at half cost.
Enchantment School: Enhances Charm abilities and offers unique Charm spell Hypnotic Gaze. Learns Enchantment spells at half cost.
Evocation School: Shields allies from Evocation spell damage and ensures successful Saving Throws. Learns Evocation spells at half cost.
Necromancy School: Restores HP upon enemy defeat and strengthens Undead summons. Learns Necromancy spells at half cost.
Illusion School: Provides improved Illusion spells and the ability to detect Invisible enemies. Learns Illusion spells at half cost.
Transmutation School: Specializes in potion brewing, buffing/debuffing, and later, Bird shapeshifting. Learns Transmutation spells at half cost.

From the eight mentioned above, we suggest choosing the Evocation School. The Evocation School will help reduce the cost of your spells, and will in turn aid your other companions too. On top of this, you get an extra spell, which never hurts.

Even though Wizards have a limit on how many spells they can cast, Evocation Wizards can make the most of them, especially with Arcane Recovery, which helps when they can’t take a Long Rest.

Evocation Wizards are masters of magical fighting because their spells don’t hurt their friends, thanks to the Spell Sculpt passive. This means they can cast big spells without worrying about hurting their teammates.

Best background for a Wizard in Baldur’s Gate 3

When it comes to selecting the best background for a Wizard in Baldur’s Gate 3 Sage is a no-brainer. It grants you proficiency in History and Arcana, two extremely useful skills when exploring the world and uncovering secrets.

Along with that background, we recommend choosing from these skills if possible as they’re the most used throughout the game:

Insight
Investigation
Stealth
Acrobatics

Best Ability Score spread for a Wizard

The recommended Ability Score spread for the Wizard is pretty good, but if you want to truly optimize your character, these are the scores you should try:

Strength: 8
Dexterity: 14
Constitution: 15
Wisdom: 10
Intelligence: 17
Charisma: 10

Naturally, a Wizards highest ability score should always be Intelligence. This is their spellcasting modifier and will dictate damage, save DCs, and so much more. Then, after that, it’s worth looking at making your Dexterity and Constitution relatively high since those dictate your Health and Armor Class.

Best spells for a Wizard in Baldur’s Gate 3

A Wizard isn’t a Wizard without their spells. It’s easily the most important element of the class, meaning you need to choose wisely. Here are some of the best spells for your Wizard in Baldur’s Gate 3:

Cantrip: Fire Bolt
Cantrip: Ray of Frost
Cantrip: Dancing Lights
Cantrip: Chill Touch
Cantrip: Acid Splash
Cantrip: Mage Hand
Level 1: Grease
Level 1: Mage Armor
Level 1: Magic Missile
Level 1: Thunderwave
Level 1: Chromatic Orb
Level 2: Scorching Ray
Level 2: Shatter
Level 2: Cloud of Daggers
Level 2: Misty Step
Level 3: Counterspell
Level 3: Fireball
Level 3: Haste
Level 3: Grant Flight
Level 4: Dimension Door
Level 4: Banishment
Level 4: Wall of Fire
Level 4: Polymorph
Level 5: Telekinesis
Level 5: Hold Monster
Level 5: Cloudkill
Level 5: Dominate Person
Level 5: Conjure Elemental
Level 6: Disintegrate
Level 6: Sunbeam
Level 6: True Seeing

Best Illithid powers for the Wizard

Force Tunnel

With the lower AC and Health of a Wizard, you can quickly get into a sticky situation when the enemy gets a little too close for comfort. So, being able to use Force Tunnel to push the enemy away from you is just a fantastic backup to have.

Shield of Thralls

Sure, there are plenty of spells you could cast to protect yourself in Baldur’s Gate 3, but having Shield of Thralls means you’re not wasting a spellslot for the same kind of protection. It’s another ideal power to have in your back pocket.

Displacer Beast Shape

Wizards are inherently squishy, so having this power gives you the chance to get on the battlefield for a change. It’s not necessarily the most powerful one in the group, but it’s plenty of fun if you want to give other styles a go. Just make sure you’re safe before the shape drops.

Best multiclass options for the Wizard

Wizard and Fighter

The Wizard and Fighter multiclass in Baldur’s Gate 3 is often considered one of the most powerful. It combines the heavy armor capabilities of the Fighter with the extremely powerful spells of the Wizard.

Mix those two together and you have a strong melee fighter and an even stronger spellcaster. Add that to an action surge and you’re a one-person army.

Wizard and Cleric

You can’t really go wrong when combining two spellcasters like this together. After all, it works in a similar way to the Wizard / Fighter by adding a little more hardiness to the weaker AC of the Wizard.

On top of the useful spells, you can essentially take your place as the group’s spellcasting damage dealer and the support through the Cleric’s healing.

Best Wizard build for Baldur’s Gate 3

Race: High Elf

Background: Sage

Skills: Insight, Investigation

Ability order from highest to lowest: Intelligence, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Charisma, Strength

Build layout:

Level	Feature
1	Cantrips: Ray of Frost, Dancing Lights, Acid Splash — Spells: Thunderwave, Magic Missile, Mage Armor, Grease
2	Subclass: Evocation — Spell: Chromatic Orb
3	Spells: Scorching Ray, Misty Step
4	Cantrip: Chill Touch — Spells: Cloud of Daggers, Shatter — Ability Improvement: Intelligence +2 — Feat: Spell Sniper or Alert
5	Spells: Fireball, Counterspell
6	Spells: Haste, Grant Flight
7	Spells: Dimension Door, Banishment
8	Ability Improvement: Intelligence to 20 — Spells: Polymorph, Wall of Fire — Feat: Ice Storm or Resilient
9	Spells: Telekinesis, Hold Monster
10	Cantrip: Mage Hand — Spells: Dominate Person, Conjure Elemental
11	Spells: Disintegrate, Sunbeam
12	Feat: Warcaster or Tough — Spells: True Seeing

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