Everyone’s list of Baldur’s Gate 3 spells ranked will look wildly different thanks to the delicious suite of magic options available. You can explode your foes, throw them in a hole, turn them into a sheep and then throw them into a hole, summon raging thunderstorms, and envelop an area in deep silence while you commit crimes. Unless you stack a party with movement and debuff spells, there’s really no bad spell setup in the PC game. There are, however, some spells that work better than others and should always be a candidate for one or more of your spell slots.
For more Baldur’s Gate 3, check out our ranking of each Baldur’s Gate 3 class.
Ray of Frost
Ray of Frost is a Cantrip, which is already a point in its favor since Cantrips don’t cost spell slots. It might deal comparatively little damage, but it slows foes and can freeze surfaces. Frozen surfaces have a decent chance of hindering enemy movement or making foes fall, which leaves them in a prone condition open to attack.
Guidance
Guidance is the reason you should keep Shadowheart around unless you have another cleric or use a Feat to learn Guidance. Outside of battle, Guidance gives you an extra four-sided dice to roll during ability checks, so you get between +1 and +4 on any dice roll. It works the same in battle, too. Allies with Guidance roll an extra die that augments their attacks and spells.
Guiding Bolt
Guiding Bolt is excellent for setting up combos. It damages your target and ensures the next attack roll against them gets the Advantage status. That’s handy in general, but especially if you’re playing Astarion or another stealth-based character who needs Advantage to pull off some of their more powerful attacks.
Misty Step
Misty Step is the spellcaster’s biggest boon as you near the end of Act 1 and beyond. It’s like an enhanced jump and lets the caster instantly teleport to anywhere they can see – with the caveat that the sightline is within their normal movement range.
Even with that limitation, Misty Step lets you disengage without using an action, flank enemies, and even bypass certain exceptionally frustrating turrets in specific areas.
Create Water
Create Water opens several ways to manipulate the environment to your advantage, which is key for winning some of Baldur’s Gate 3’s tougher fights. You can put out fires and douse burning party members, but you can also make puddles.
“Why make puddles?” you might ask. And the answer is so you can freeze them and slip enemies up or hurl electricity in there and electrocute anyone who steps foot in it as a handy way to deal extra damage and slow foes down.
Fog Cloud
Fog Cloud does what it says on the label and creates a cloud of fog. That’s a good thing if you need to obscure your enemy’s sight. Anyone in the fog cloud becomes blinded, which means they’re a lot more likely to miss their attacks.
The downside is that the fog covers a comparatively small space, so enemies such as the terrifying Gnoll, with high mobility and the Dash skill, can easily escape it. Make sure you time and position it with your foes’ attributes in mind.
Gust of Wind
Getting enemies away from you or near a trap you’ve set makes a huge difference in battle sometimes, and that’s where Gust of Wind comes in handy. You can knock foes back and even put them off balance, which makes it easier to topple them or shove them further into a dangerous (for them) situation.
It’s a bit useless if the target rolls a saving throw, but if you can’t risk damaging nearby allies, then this is a good choice.
Web
Web lets you bring the silky tangled horrors of the phase spider cave to the battlefield, without the spiders. It has a chance of Enwebbing the enemy, which means they can’t move or attack. Even if they save themselves from that effect, they still get bogged down in the mass of web and move slowly, making it a good counter for speedy foes like Gnolls and some animals.
Melf’s Acid Arrow
Lesser Restoration
Lesser Restoration is the Esuna of Baldur’s Gate 3. It removes poison, paralysis, and other nasty effects from the targeted ally, and while that’s very handy indeed during battle, you can use it on NPCs to gain their favor or produce a new effect as well.
Eldritch Blast
Eldritch Blast is one of the most powerful spells in the game, even at early levels. It delivers a powerful magic blast that scales both on your spellcasting modifier and ability proficiency, so for someone like Wyll or a Bard with high Charisma, you can deal quite a bit of damage.
It sends out more blasts at higher levels, and you can modify it to push enemies back or imbue it with different effects. This is a spell worth spending a Feat on for any spellcaster, whether they’re a Warlock or not.
Cloud of Daggers
Cloud of Daggers rolls four four-sided dice to determine the damage dealt, and it affects anyone within range. The spell lasts 10 turns or until your caster’s concentration breaks, so it’s useful for hitting slow-moving foes or blocking passageways. Just make sure you don’t run into it yourself.
Ray of Enfeeblement
Debuffs are much more important in Baldur’s Gate 3 than in your usual RPG, and Ray of Enfeeblement is one of the best if you’re up against an ogre or another strength-based enemy. For 10 turns after casting the spell, the affected target deals half damage with their strength weapons.
That sounds pretty situational, but if you’ve fought trolls, ogres, or any of the other strength-based enemies, you know what a mighty punch they can pack. And if you haven’t, check the barn in the Blighted Village for a surprise.
Thunderwave
If you’re feeling a bit more reckless, then this is the knockback spell for you. Thunderwave deals thunder damage twice and blows enemies away, if they fail the skill’s saving throw. That sounds pretty basic, but it covers a substantial area and lets you easily get groups of enemies out of your face.
Entangle
Entangle reproduces the effects of those pesky vines you might have stumbled into on the road. Your target can’t move if the spell hits, giving you extra breathing room to regroup and plan a counterattack – or just escape while they can’t pursue you.
Rangers get Ensnaring Strike, which is basically the same thing.
Feign Death
Feign Death is a last-ditch attempt to save someone from dying. It makes them resistant to all except psychic damage and halts the effect of disease and other status conditions.
The downside is that they’re in a coma and can’t act. This isn’t one you should bust out on a whim, but if the choice is fake death and a win versus real death and another battle lost, it’s worth keeping Feign Death in mind.
Scorching Ray
Scorching Ray is like Magic Missile, but actually good. The caster launches three rays of fire, each of which you can pick independent targets for, and they deal up to 12 points of damage each. It’s an easy way to ignite whole swatches of the battlefield at once and set multiple enemy groups on fire.
Silence
The adage “silence is golden” is absolutely correct in Baldur’s Gate 3. Aside from the usual effect – muting a mage so they can’t sling spells – you can quiet your movements with it. Silence makes stealth play even more viable so you can commit crimes without getting caught more easily, as long as you stay out of sight. And if you need some extra visual help, Blind or Fog complement Silence nicely.
Mass Healing Word
Mass Healing Word is fairly basic and tame compared to some of the spells on our list, but there’s no denying the usefulness of a healing spell that reaches multiple nearby targets. Even if your healer is the last one standing, you still have a fighting chance to revive everyone. Just try not to bring your dead enemies back to life.
Hellish Rebuke
Hellish Rebuke is a reaction spell. That means it only triggers when an enemy attacks, but when it does go off, it has the opportunity to deal up to 40 damage without even using an action. Hellish Rebuke is cheating a bit for this list, since it technically doesn’t use a spell slot, but it’s too good to ignore.
Beacon of Hope
Beacon of Hope ensures you get the most out of your healing. It affects all allies within range, and any healing spell you use while it’s active will heal the maximum possible amount.
You need to keep your caster safe, since Beacon of Hope is a concentration spell, but it’s worth it in a tough fight. If you combine it with Mass Healing Word, you can keep your entire party safe and happy during the toughest fights.
Faerie Fire
“Why should I waste a spell slot just to see invisible things?” you might ask, before you fight invisible enemies and realize just how essential this kind of magical vision is. More enemies use invisibility tricks as you progress in the game, and it makes battles an absolute pain. Faerie Fire has the added advantage of giving your allies, well, the advantage if your target fails a saving throw.
Faerie Fire is also a concentration spell, so if you’re using Illithid powers, it’s a handy way to set up for Concentrated Blast.
Spirit Guardians
Spirit Guardians is Cloud of Daggers for Clerics, with the added bonus of not damaging your allies. You can choose between spirits that deal Radiant or Necrotic damage, the former of which is exceptionally useful in the Shadowlands, and the guardians move with you. Run into a crowd of enemies and soften them up for your tougher units to finish off.
Just make sure to plan ahead. Like Cloud of Daggers, this spell requires concentration.
Fireball
The Fire Bolt cantrip hurls a tiny ember at foes and usually misses. Fireball drops a small sun on them and burns everything in a broad area. It’s straightforward and deals a hefty amount of damage, but it can set your friends on fire as well. Cast this one early in a battle when your enemies are at a distance, or target a group of foes that isn’t engaged with your allies.
Lightning Bolt
Witch Bolt lets you attack multiple times without spending more than one spell slot, but it vanishes if you lose concentration. Lightning Bolt solves that problem by bulldozing everything in front of you in one go. Line up your wizard or sorcerer – and keep allies out of the way – and you’ll hurl out a substantial amount of damage without even having to think about it.
Bonus points if you electrify pools of water to keep harming foes after your turn ends.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
