Baldurs Gate 3: Wizard - best build Baldurs Gate 3 guide, walkthrough

Last update: 28 November 2023

This chapter of the Baldur's Gate 3 guide describes a ready Wizard build. We suggest which race works best as a Wizard, how to best spend ability points, what equipment and spells to choose, and what skills to select.

Wizard is one of the most powerful character classes available in Baldurs Gate 3. Wizards deal significant damage to one target and/or a larger group of opponents at a time at the cost of low armor class and few lifepoints. In the presented Wizard build, we focus on the Evocation specialization (subclass), which allows your hero to wield the energy of powerful elements.

• Race
• Background
• Concentration
• Skills
• Abilities
• Learning Spells from Scrolls
• Cantrips
• Level 1 spells
• Level 2 spells
• Arcane Recovery - an important action
• Equipment
• Specialization (Subclass)
• Upgrading abilities
• General tips

Race

When choosing the right race for the Wizard class, it is definitely worth choosing the High Elf. Below is a list of all the significant bonuses your character will receive.

1. 1 to Intelligence: an ability allowing the Wizard to cast spells;
2. 2 to Dexterity: a useful auxiliary ability;
3. Keen Senses: the hero is proficient in Perception;
4. Base race speed: the distance you can travel in each round is 9 metres;
5. Fey Ancestry: the hero will have an advantage during saving throws against charms, and the magic can't put them to sleep;
6. Darkvision: the hero can see in the dark within a radius of 12 meters. As a result, the character will not receive penalty when attacked in a dark room.

From all the High Elves' cantrips available, we suggest choosing Dancing Lights.

Dancing Lights Effect: create wisps of light that illuminate in a 12m radius. Range: 18 meters. Concentration: required Additional information: characters who do not have the Darkvision skill receive penalty to attack when fighting in a dark room. With the Dancing Lights spell, you'll be able to light up the darkness, help your team, and affect their chances of hitting the target.

Background

When choosing the background for your Wizard, it is worth choosing between options that benefit from the developed Intelligence, and avoiding those that guarantee skills related to Charisma, which we won't develop in this build.

1. Sage: proficiency in Arcana (Intelligence) and History (Intelligence);
2. Hermit: Religion proficiency (Intelligence), Medicine proficiency (Wisdom).

Concentration

Some Wizard's spells are complicated enough to require concentration so that their effect is not interrupted. Unfortunately, concentration is not a lasting effect and can be interrupted in several ways.

1. By casting another spell that requires concentration;
2. After receiving damage while maintaining concentration, the Wizard must perform a defensive dice roll (Constitution) to ensure the effect is not interrupted.

Skills

When choosing skills for your Wizard, pay particular attention to those that will benefit most from his most developed abilities, such as Intelligence and Dexterity.

Depending on the background you choose, opt for any of the following options:

1. Investigation: a skill associated with Intelligence;
2. Nature: a skill associated with Intelligence;
3. History: a skill associated with Intelligence;
4. Religion: a skill associated with Intelligence;
5. Arcana: a skill associated with Intelligence;
6. Acrobatics: a skill associated with Dexterity;
7. Stealth: a skill associated with Dexterity;

Abilities

When developing Wizard's abilities, one must first focus on Intelligence as the ability responsible for Spellcasting. Then it's worth assigning points to Constitution and Dexterity.

We propose to allocate the ability points for your Wizard as follows:

1. Intelligence: 16 points;
2. Constitution: 15 points;
3. Dexterity: 15 points;
4. Strength: 10 points;
5. Wisdom: 10 points;
6. Charisma: 10 points;

Learning Spells from Scrolls

The Wizards gain their knowledge of spells from many sources, one of which is the scrolls you will find when exploring the vast world of Baldurs Gate 3. When you find a spell scroll that you don't know yet and you want to learn it, just click on it and choose the spell learning option which will cost 50 gold pieces.

Cantrips

By creating a Wizard-class character in Baldur's Gate 3, you will be able to choose 3 Cantrips that your character will be able to use. When looking at the list of available spells, we particularly recommend Ray of Frost, Fire Bolt, and Poison Spray.

	Ray Of Frost Effect: the hero summons an icy ray of pale blue light that causes 1d8 Cold damage and reduces the target's speed by 3 metres. Range: 18 meters.
	Fire Bolt Effect: you throw a fireball that causes 1d6 Fire damage and creates a flammable surface. Range: 18 meters.
	Poison Spray Effect: project a puff of noxious gas that deals 1d12 Poison. Range: 3 feet. Additional information: in the later stages of the game, you will find the Poisoner's robe, which will have synergy with the Poison damage spells.

Level 1 spells

Wizards have the largest pool of spells of all the characters available in the game, and during character creation you can choose the ones that your character will have at the beginning of the game. We particularly recommend Magic Missile as an extremely useful attack spell, Mage Armor that will greatly enhance your hero's defense, and Sleep as a useful control tool.

	Magic Missile Effect: you create three magical arrows, each one dealing 1d4 1 Force damage. Range: 18 meters. Additional information: the opponent cannot protect himself from this spell, and your hero cannot miss so he will always hit the target. You can choose up to 3 targets that the Wizard will hit at the same time.
	Mage Armour Effect: surround the creature with magical energy to enhance its armor class by 3. Range: 1.5 meters. Requirements: no armor. Additional information: after casting this spell, its effect lasts until a long rest in the camp.
	Thunderwave Effect: the hero unleashes a wave of deafening power that causes 2d8 Thunder damage and kickbacks creatures and objects. Range: 5 meters. Additional information: it is worth knowing that creatures thrown off from a high altitude receive a lot of damage from falling, so this is an ideal way to quickly eliminate stronger opponents.
	Sleep Effect: magically put the creatures with a total of 24 health points to sleep. Range: 18 meters. Additional information: an excellent control tool that does not require concentration. With this spell, you can completely disable an inconvenient opponent from the fight. Because in Baldurs Gate 3 you see how many health points your opponent has, you don't have to wonder if the spell will be effective. Sleeping creatures will wake up if injured.
	Ray of Sickness Effect: the hero summons a beam of toxic energy that inflicts 2d8 Poison damage and can cause the target to be poisoned. Range: 18 meters. Additional information: poisoning is a great way for dealing with Wizards, because every turn they will have to make a defensive dice roll to maintain concentration - provided they use such spells. In the later stages of the game, you will find the Poisoner's robe, which will have synergy with the Poison damage spells.
	Witch Bolt Effect: the hero summons a beam of energy that causes 1d12 Lightning damage and connects to the target with an electric arc. Range: 18 meters. Concentration: required Additional information: you can activate the arc of lightning in each round to automatically inflict 1d12 electrical injuries.

Level 2 spells

After reaching experience Level 3 Wizards gain access to Level 2 spells and two spell slots for this type of spells. After reaching experience level 4, you will be able to select 2 additional Level 2 spells, so you will have 4 of them in total. We particularly recommend Misty Step, Scorching Flame, Melf's Acid Arrow and Shutter.

	Misty Step Effect: your hero is surrounded by a black mist and teleported to a vacant spot in his field of vision. Range: 18 meters. Additional information: This spell is included as an additional action, so you can use it to quickly teleport your hero to a place, which will give you the High Ground advantage over your opponent.
	Scorching Ray Effect: fire three streams of fire, and each one deals 2d6 Fire damage. Range: 18 meters.
	Melf's Acid Arrow Effect: shoot a green arrow that sprays acid and deals 4d4 instant Acid damage and 2d4 additional Acid damage once the turn ends. Range: 18 meters. Additional information: after a successful defense test, the target receives only half of the initial damage.
	Shatter Effect: cause an intense, painful noise that deals 3d8 Thunder damage for creatures and items. Range: 18 meters. Additional information: after a successful defense test, the target receives only half of the initial damage. Inorganic creatures build from materials like rocks will have their defense throws harder.

Arcane Recovery - an important action

From the start, a Wizard has access to a special action that he can use once per day.

Arcane Recovery Effect: once a day, while not in combat, you can regenerate used spell slots. Additional information: the hero can recover two Level 1 spell slots or one level 2 slot cell.

Equipment

A Wizard is a character class who relies on spells to deal damage to opponents in every possible situation. Wizard uses pole weapons (stick, staff), which often provides him with additional properties and bonuses. Your Wizard should wear Robes so you can still use the Mage Armor spell.

Specialization (Subclass)

After reaching level 2, a Wizard will have to choose one of two specializations (subclasses). If you choose the Evocation School, your character will be able to use spells that focus the energy of powerful elementals. The Evocation School is a perfect choice for Wizards who prefer to focus on causing as much damage as possible. By choosing this path you will also get an additional passive ability.

1. Sculpt Spells: Wizard creates a safety pocket for the Evocation School spells. Allied creatures will automatically pass defense tests successfully and they won't receive damage from these spells.

Upgrading abilities

After reaching experience level 4, you will be able to improve your Ranger's abilities by spending additional 2 points on chosen abilities. This is the best time to increase the value of the Intelligence ability to 18 points.

General tips

Before you play as a Wizard in Baldurs Gate 3, you should know a few key tips that will bring you even closer to this class and significantly affect your hero's effectiveness during combat.

1. High Ground advantage: if possible, always try to take a position above your opponent before starting a fight (on a hill, roof, stairs, balcony, etc.), to gain the High Ground advantage. If necessary, do not hesitate to use the Misty Step spell;
2. Spell slots: some of the spell slots you use can be restored with Arcaner Recovery. All the spell slots used will be recovered after a long rest in the camp;
3. Scrolls: Wizards can learn additional spells from scrolls you find as you wander through the game's vast world. If you come across a spell that your hero doesn't know, he can always learn it.;
4. Mage armor: try to keep the effect of the mage armor spell on the hero to increase his defense.