Highlights
- Some spells in Baldur’s Gate 3 may seem powerful at first, but they actually have limitations or disadvantages that make them less effective.
- Spells like Witch Bolt and Goodberry may appear useful, but they lack scalability or practicality compared to other spell options.
- Spells such as Barkskin, Prayer of Healing, Charm Person, and True Strike, for example, are generally considered underwhelming or inefficient choices in the game.
There are plenty of spells to choose from in Baldur’s Gate 3, and some are much more useful than others. Whilst some spells can be far more powerful than they may let on, there are indeed many spells that may seem much better than they actually are.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Best Evocation Spells, Ranked
The Evocation School in Baldur’s Gate 3 is home to a variety of useful spells. Here are some of the best ones.
Players will only get a small selection of spells available to them in a single playthrough, and it can be pretty demoralizing to waste a level on a useless spell, only to have to pick another on the next level-up. Whilst it can be interesting to look at the most powerful spells available in the game, it’s important to learn which spells are best avoided.
10 Witch Bolt
A Deceptively Poor Spell That Rarely Lives Up To Its Full Potential
Witch Bolt links the caster to a target via a bolt of lightning, that deals 1d12 lightning damage on a hit and deals a further 1d12 on subsequent turns. At first, this spell seems like it might be a great pick, particularly for a first-level spell. Unfortunately, the damage for this spell does not scale with level, meaning at higher levels, it’s way worse than a Cantrip.
The problem with Witch Bolt arises with the concentration aspect, as it requires concentration, it’s unlikely a player will ever get more than 2 turns out of it before an enemy breaks their concentration and ends the spell. Furthermore, if it gets upcast the damage is only increased for the first time it hits, and not on subsequent turns.
9 Goodberry
Medicoreberry May Be A More Fitting Name For This Spell
Goodberry creates four magical berries that restore 1d4 hitpoints to whichever character consumes them. This means with the highest possible rolls, a caster would be sacrificing 1 spell slot for 16 healing. On average, this might look more like 1 spell slot in exchange for 6-10 healing.
If the berries didn’t disappear on a long rest, this may be a more useful spell to stock up on berries before a big fight, but when the party could simply stock up on healing potions instead, it’s hard to justify learning this spell. The only benefit to this spell in Baldur’s Gate 3 is that the berries can be used as camp supplies, which may come in handy in a pinch.
8 Barkskin
A Spell That Fails To Defend Against Melee Attacks
Barkskin protects a creature from attacks and increases its armor class to 16. Firstly, this spell is useless when cast on most martial characters, who will often have an armor class that is already much higher than 16. Meanwhile, for classes like Monk, who benefit from not wearing armor, this spell will count as wearing armor, negating the unarmoured defense bonuses.
Barkskin is also a concentration spell, which means if a Wizard were to cast this on themselves to buff up their armor class and prevent melee attacks, there’s the chance that this spell could crumble and break the caster’s concentration after the first hit. It’s also hardly ever worth it for a caster to maintain concentration on armor class being buffed to 16 instead of literally any other option for concentration spells. There’s no shortage of 2nd level spells that are much better picks than this one!
7 Sacred Flame
An All-Or-Nothing Cantrip That Is Exceedingly Common To Save Against
Sacred Flame seems like a good Cantrip choice at first. Similar to Fire Bolt, the damage increases by 1d8 as players advance through the levels. By level 10, Sacred Flame deals 3d8 damage, which is not too shabby for a Cantrip! The problem with this spell arises as it forces the target to make a dexterity saving throw. Most of the time, if targets fail their saving throw against a spell, they will simply take half damage instead of full damage, but with Sacred Flame, a save means they receive no damage.
13 Best Cantrips In Baldur’s Gate 3
The best cantrips in Baldur’s Gate 3 can be a powerful asset to those that seek magical abilities and extended power.
This makes it an extremely underwhelming spell, and considering it forces a dexterity saving throw, which is one of the most common saving throws for enemies to be proficient in, players will find themselves wishing they had cast something else instead of wasting their turn.
6 Prayer of Healing
A Seemingly Powerful Spell That Pales In Comparison To A Simple Short Rest When Outside Of Combat
Players might be forgiven for thinking this is a great spell choice at first, as it does 2d8+WIS modifier healing when cast, which is not too bad for a second-level spell. What’s more, it can heal all allies that the caster can see, which definitely makes this spell seem like a strong choice. The only issue is, that this spell cannot be cast during combat, and is only allowed to be cast when members of the party are at peace.
This means in almost every circumstance, a short rest would be a better option than wasting a 2nd level spell slot. Long rests are also not particularly uncommon in Baldur’s Gate 3, which means long adventuring days when resources are stretched thin is not exactly a common scenario.
5 Charm Person
One Of The Most Iconic Spells From Dungeons and Dragons Falls Flat In Baldur’s Gate 3
Bards and Sorcerers will make fantastic use of Charm Person in Dungeons and Dragons, however, spells geared towards roleplaying do not fare amazingly in Baldur’s Gate 3. In practice, this spell prevents a humanoid from attacking the person who cast it and grants an advantage on Charisma checks in dialogue.
Whilst this can come in handy in some cases, the Friends spell will be more beneficial in almost every circumstance and is a Cantrip, instead of a 1st-level spell. The effect of this spell can be ended early if the caster or an ally harms the target, which is not far outside the realm of possibility in the heat of battle.
4 Phantasmal Force
A 2nd Level Spell That Struggles To Keep Up With A Cantrip
Phantasmal Force is not the worst spell a player could take early on in the game, but it quickly becomes outclassed by most Cantrips! Phantasmal Force deals a measly 1d6 of damage per turn, and to make matters worse, it doesn’t scale with player levels as Fire Bolt does. This means it’s an extremely ineffective spell very quickly, and it’s definitely worth learning a more useful spell instead. Much like other poor spell choices in Baldur’s Gate 3, this is a concentration spell.
This means a spellcaster will be unable to cast any more powerful concentration spells simply to maintain 1d6 of damage per turn, which doesn’t seem like a worthy trade-off.
3 Blade Ward
A Seemingly Useful Spell That Crumbles On Further Inspection
Blade Ward is one of those spells that might seem useful at first, but in practice, is effectively worthless. The only saving grace that this spell has is that it is a cantrip, and players won’t waste a spell slot by casting it. It provides resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage, meaning damage of that type towards the player is halved.
Baldur’s Gate 3: How to Learn Spells From Scrolls
Characters can learn spells from scrolls in Baldur’s Gate 3. Use this to round out your spellbook with any you may have missed.
The caveat however, is that this resistance lasts only 2 turns, making it extremely useless to use in combat, which would waste a whole turn for most characters when players could potentially mitigate all damage by simply moving away from the source of damage!
2 Magic Weapon
An Extremely Underwhelming Spell That Burns A 2nd Level Spell Slot
Magic Weapon seems like it might be useful at first, and if it was a Cantrip, it might be! Magic Weapon infuses a weapon with arcane energy, making it magical and giving it a +1 bonus to Attack and Damage Rolls. Now, if this was simply Cantrip like Shillelagh, which grants an additional 1d8+WIS modifier damage, it might be worth taking, but burning a 2nd-level spell slot for a measly +1 bonus is simply not worth it.
Like many of the worst spells available in Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s also concentration, meaning the effect will only last so long as characters are concentrating.
1 True Strike
One Of The Worst Spells From Dungeons and Dragons’ Makes Its Way To Baldur’s Gate 3
Baldur’s Gate 3 carries on the trend with what is perhaps the worst spell from Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. True Strike is a spell that provides an extremely minimal advantage for the resources it uses up in the action economy. True Strike is a Cantrip that allows a player to gain an advantage on their next attack roll. Whilst this may seem useful at first, it means players end up spending a whole turn, and one action, to gain advantage.
This is hardly a worthy use of a turn, and players would be much better off simply throwing a Fire Bolt at the enemy instead! If that wasn’t bad enough, True Strike is a concentration spell, meaning players won’t be able to utilize any of their more powerful spells without breaking their concentration on True Strike.
