Gale is one of the many companions you can add to your Baldur’s Gate 3 party as you progress through the story. He’s a powerful wizard with access to various useful spells, but to truly use this character, you’ll want to consider the type of Feats he should be using.
Primarily played as a Wizard, Gale’s Feats typically empower his magic, turning him into a more powerful spellcaster. Although you can change his class, this is not recommended, and for this guide, we’ll be focusing on Gale’s Feats as a Wizard. Here’s what you need to know about the best Feats to give Gale during your BG3 playthrough.
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The Best Feats for Gale in Baldur’s Gate 3
When you encounter Gale at the beginning of BG3, you can select him to remain a Wizard or swap out to a different class. For this guide, we will treat it as if Gale has not changed types and is instead your primary spellcaster for your party, capable of unleashing some of the best and most powerful spells on this side of Faerûn. I enjoyed having Gale in my party as a Wizard because my Monk was all about hitting things, and did not have a good Intelligence score.
When using Gale, it’s important to note that he will typically be behind your fighters, rarely at the front of an encounter. He will rely on his powerful Spells and Cantrips to do the most damage, making those your top priority when picking out the feats for Gale. These are some of the best Feats you should give Gale during your Baldur’s Gate 3 playthrough.
Alert gives Gale a +5 to his Initiative, and he’ll never be Surprised in combat. This is a massive bonus as it likely means that Gale will be one of the first characters to go in a battle, giving him the best chance to set up for a difficult encounter. He’ll also have a good opportunity to unleash his magic on the most formidable enemy your party is facing, hopefully taking them out or pinning them down before they can react to the fight.
As a Wizard, Gale uses a variety of element-based spells whenever he’s fighting. You’ll want to pick your favorite one between Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, and Thunder, and if Gale ever uses that type of spell in combat, he can never roll 1. Plus, he’ll be resistant against that type of damage, which means he can walk across Fire and not take too much, or if he’s hit with a particularly nasty Lightning spell, he doesn’t take as much damage as another party member. It’s an excellent Feat for this spell-flinging Wizard.
Lucky is never a bad feat to give any character in Baldur’s Gate 3, including Gale. With it, he provides 3 Luck Points where he can get an Advantage on Attack Rolls, reroll an Ability Check or Saving Throw, or force an enemy to reroll their Attack Roll. It’s a good, situational Feat that can be used nearly anywhere, in and out of combat, which makes it excellent for Gale. I found it especially useful if I wanted to have Advantage when attempting to use a particular spell on a foe.
The Mage Initiate Feat works for Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard. Unfortunately, Wizard is the only spellcasting class in Baldur’s Gate 3 that uses Intelligence for its spellcasting roll, which means you could give Gale a range of spells from the other classes, but they won’t hit too hard. It’d be a bit of a waste of time, but you could give him additional Spells from the Wizard spellbook, and it never hurts to give him more Cantrips and a level 1 Spell to use in combat.
There are a handful of Spells you might not want to grab for Gale when he levels up, such as Speak with Dead, Find Familiar, Longstider, Enhance Leap, Disguise Self, or Speak With Animals. These are situational spells that have use in and out of combat, but if you’d rather not waste the precious Spells you can learn from leveling up, grabbing Ritual Caster to acquire two of those choices never hurts, especially if Gale is the most magically-based character in your party.
Spell Sniper is an excellent Feat to grab for Gale in Baldur’s Gate 3. With it, you can learn another Cantrip to your growing arsenal of Cantrip spells. It lowers the number you need to hit a Critical down by 1, which means if Gale rolls a 19 on his attack roll, it’d be as if he were rolling a 20, giving him a chance to unleash Critical Damage against an enemy. The best part is that this effect can stack with other weapons and armor you find on your journey.
Finally, we have War Caster. Although Gale rarely gets close to the front line, what he does far more often is use Concentration with his spells. With War Caster, Gale gets an advantage whenever he rolls a Saving Throw for his Concentration-based spells, and if an enemy is in Melee range and Gale has an Attack of Opportunity, he can use Shocking Grasp as an attack. Gale likely won’t be using the Attack of Opportunity benefit from this Feat too often, but having an Advantage on every Saving Throw for his Concentration spells is a huge boon for him.
If you were to switch Gale to one of the other classes in Baldur’s Gate 3, such as Fighter, Monk, Barbarian, Rogue, or anything else, these favored Feats might look differently. However, I believe Gale is best when he’s slinging spells from his book, and providing sage, Wizardly advice. Hopefully, these chosen Feats help your Gale soar to amazing heights and becomes a terror to your enemies as you face off against Raphael, the Elder Brain, Gortash, or Orin.
Need more advice? Check out Gamepur’s complete Baldur’s Gate 3 guide for battle strategies, story tips, and BG3 gameplay breakdowns.
