BG3 2nd Level Spells Tier List

[@Rahdwiin]

I would say that you definitely keep some bias towards the Crown of Madness, as I myself at first didn't really like much what I could get from the spell. However, once you start kicking in some good amount of spell DC, you can very very consistently land Crown of Madness on enemies, and when you do so, there is really nothing buggy, it really just makes enemies waste a TONS of their turns while literally killing the one you targeted with the spell. And you just have to use it with the slightest of care for the mad enemy to never really target any of your own allies. Bonus is, if coupled with sorcerer with twinned metamagic, because it allows you to cast and keep TWO enemies mad for the cost of a single Lv2 spell slot, and merely 2 sorcery points. In many fights this can literally win the fight by itself for you, like for example the Shar cultists, where there are exactly two humanoids there much more powerful than the others and easily susceptible to madness, and if you crown them with it, they will literally slaughter all the others enemies while these enemies will be focusing mainly on them. In late game? I would say this is a S tier for me, because it really changes the entire fight and has tremendous impact. Overall? I would put it as a low A because in the early game it's quite unreliable, and while a Lv2 slot is nothing later on, in the early game it's quite costy to use like this.

[@Aestus_RPG]

Is there situation where its better then casting Hold Person?

[@Rahdwiin]

@@Aestus_RPG Yeah, in my opinion, plenty. While Hold Person is also extremely good and ideally you would keep both, it's entirely single target, as in that you use it to neutralize a single enemy in the fight, and it will be really neutralized. Crown of Madness meanwhile, while being less effective on a single target, (depending of the fight, because if the fight has plenty of powerful enemies and they all attack the one you made mad, then this one single target will be demolished too) it really shines in completely disrupting the battle for the enemies, because a well targeted Crown of Madness will cause plenty of enemies to waste their turns for 3 whole turns, provided the target can tank this long, while also dealing and taking damage. It is in my opinion a better version of Confusion, because it is much more reliable, costs less, and can combo much better with others things (like the twinned spell).

[@Aestus_RPG]

@@Rahdwiin Wait, unaffected enemies will attack the mad target? I've never had that happen to me before.

[@Rahdwiin]

@@Aestus_RPG Yes, they will, and that is absolutely nuts for me with how much it can disrupt the fights. Perhaps you need to keep a certain distance from them, so that they won't go all the way towards you, I would have to test, but they definitively do that. In the example I mentioned of the Shar's cultists, it was after having killed Viconia and returning to them after making Shadowheart refuse Shar, so they all got hostile. I twinned a Crown of Madness one at each of the sides of the arena, since it was divided in 2 groups, on the strongest foe, and both of the sides died without me having to do anything else at all. The mad ones killed all the minor ones while the minor ones tried to fight them back, and then the two maddened ones went to kill each other on the last turn, leaving for me to just finish off the survivor of this death match. Another one time I used it and it was quite fun was against Minsc group when you catch them with the money and the fake Jaheira. I made Minsc and a random other one mad, and they also essentially all killed each other, with the only problem that they killed Minsc who was mad, and the true Jaheira treated it as if I killed him myself, and thus abandoned the party.

[@Aestus_RPG]

@@Rahdwiin Damn... Yeah in that case I agree it 100% has a use that is unique to Hold Person. I probably rank it equal to Hold Person, which is high A-tier. TY for the info!

[@parsus7797]

59:42 - about Silence. The Sussur weapons only silence on a saving throw. Silence also shuts down some magical reactions from casters like Lorroakan, Ethel (even her legendary actions in honor mode), prevents Priestress Gut from calling for help, makes you immune to Gryms legendary action, cancels the effects of the Harpy Song and casting it on npc's does not trigger a fight/negative reaction which means that in some cases you can prep it out of combat and make it action economy free.

[@aaronleland2096]

One thing that's not obvious either; it's a ritual spell. I don't know the exact conditions, I think it's a free cast once per short rest and after that it costs a level 2 spell slot, but how often are you casting this more than once per short rest?

[@parsus7797]

@@aaronleland2096 Ritual casts are completely free to cast outside of combat or the turn-based mode.

[@carcosa_tyrant9444]

Be careful using silence on Ethel, though. If you want to accept her stat bonus for sparing her, she needs to be able to talk lol. I missed the bonus on my first ever playthrough because of silence.

[@Sindrella.]

Been sitting at my computer for nine days straight, unmoving and unwavering, as I eagerly awaited this next installment in the spell tier list

[@Aestus_RPG]

I'm truly sorry it took so long!

[@mmogeek1]

I think darkness definitely deserves its spot even though fog cloud exists. The devil's sight invocation makes it so good, free advantage and basically immunity. I could see a double warlock comp using it as its main tactic, just gotta remember it wont work against devils!

[@mistakai4226]

Darkness breaks the game when combined with a bonus action hide or bonus action attack.

[@senexiratus973]

I had my shadow monk go down, got up, cast darkness, healed up without assistance. Like Sanctuary, then popped out and back in rest of the battle.

[@eathotdog]

The enemy ai reacts to it in very weird ways as well, sometimes fumbling around or jumping back into the darkness after getting out.

[@Avoncarstien]

This. The fact even a 2-level warlock dip can be so powerful and give access to Devil's Sight... run it in a party comp of like...Warlock/bard, lock+Abj wiz, and some kind of Paladin hybrid? You could have a whole or near-whole party build around this and it would be positively comical XD The bonus action hide works just as well as well with Fog Cloud, but Devil's Sight definitely deserves a specific callout for how situationally insane it is with this. It's basically like free blindness on the entire enemy side of the encounter, no-save, while you're fine. And again....Eldritch Blast is *so* good >_> the opportunity cost of going into warlock isn't even all that bad. The only trick is there are so many good invocations available at level 2, you're pretty pressed for choices 😅

[@mistakai4226]

@@Avoncarstien it's not really a choice when one invocation let's you talk to animals and one invocation makes you invulnerable to 95% of the enemies in the game. The AI needs some serious work.

[@mrdoomman97]

Crown of madness is indeed pretty inconsistent but oh man when it works it's insane. I Crowned the goblin boss in front of the windmill with the gnome tied to it and he tossed his smoke powder bomb into his own crowd, killed a random goblin, then walked through 3 attacks of opportunity and died. Ending the encounter with a single 2nd spell slot. While other times i've cast it they just walked up to an ally and attacked them.

[@Aestus_RPG]

Yeah, I completely whiffed on Crown of Madness. Its very good actually.

[@Coolguy98765]

These tier lists are so helpful as someone who is not that well versed in DnD and was completely overwhelmed by all the spell and feat choices this game has.

[@SubmitToTheBiomass]

Pathfinder WOTR would make your head explode then

[@dathunderman4]

He makes these lists from the perspective of someone playing Honour mode so they may not always apply to a beginner playing on standard difficulty

[@Zettern96]

Another problem with Arcane Lock is that most doors are easliy destroyed so in most situations it makes one enemy use one action to destroy the door.

[@Krater84]

And sometimes they will bypass it, if area transition is involved

[@alexcompositionflat]

He never casted the spell in combat so he didn’t actually know how it worked.

[@Rahdwiin]

That's not really true. While it doesn't makes this spell any better than B tier due its niche use, when it can be used, the doors aren't really this easily destroyed. Almost every door has the passive resistance thing that nulifies any damage below a certain threshold, and specially in the early and mid game, many enemies are literally unable to break them no matter how much they attack, because they simply can't surpass the threshold with their attacks and thus they always deal 0 of damage to the door.

[@Tiltigo]

I feel like upcasting arcane lock should make the door more durable.

[@oliorogue]

Sigh... I want to love arcane lock...

[@Vi0ar]

It might have been patched, but if you cast crown of madness outside of combat to non aggressive enemies turn hostile to their ally and they will attack them.Even if you fail it doesn't start combat. It's a little cheesy but it was a major reason I was able to do the gith camp and moonrise as a solo wizard.

[@conorduh]

been really enjoying your rankings and tierlists lately, thanks for another one :), your defo my fav bg3 youtuber right now :)

[@Aestus_RPG]

Thank you! I appreciate the encouragement!

[@slimevagrant]

One thing that Darkness has over Fog Cloud is that ranged attacks can't be made through it. Even normally auto-hit ones like magic missile will just get completely blocked by it. This can make it an excellent defensive option when fighting a lot of ranged attackers. A good example is the battle with Yurgir and his army of snipers. I had my party hide in darkness while the enemies were just getting chipped away by hunger of hadar and moonbeam.They couldn't even touch me.

[@TacticalStrudel]

The battle where halsin goes through a portal that you have to protect. I cast darkness on the portal and none of their arrows could touch it.

[@Tastehunter777]

That battle over the bridge at bhaalist temple where there is a guy casting power word kill is one of the best uses of this spell. Archers are using arrows that knock you off the bridge for an insta kill. So completely covering your passage by alternating darkness on 2 casters ensures you safe passage.

[@galax12370]

nere fight without any cheese was literally saved by darkness.

[@dasphoenixable]

I was going to say the same thing. On my warlock play through I cast darkness almost every fight once I had it. I don’t think I cast fog cloud once.

[@jlstudio1050]

Darkness also doesn't aggro NPC while fog cloud does. Found out the hard way

[@Mikee512]

Out of combat, Arcane Lock can be used in situations where you want to control the patrol region / foot traffic of neutral NPCs, mostly for thievery. There are always like 10 different ways to steal without getting caught, but in certain areas (usually densely populated ones with lots of patrols), Arcane Lock can be situationally "not useless." There are some buildings (mostly act 3) where the NPCs seem to have E.S.P. about missing items.

[@ThunderBolt1915]

Yeah, for instance in the Society of Brilliance

[@IsilionNELE]

can you give examples? In my experience there's not a single container that can't be looted by stealth+turn based. And thanks to Alfira EVERY party has someone who is proficient with musical instruments. 1 second of playing an instrument is already enough to make NPCs turn their vision cones away from a container.

[@JoshSweetvale]

Almost all big enemy zones are buildings.

[@N1ghthavvk]

Enhance Ability is very good during Conversation (when cast on Charisma), and very good during Stealing (when cast on Dexterity - because it allows you to replace equipment granting that advantage with +1 or +2 equipment). Sure, that doesn't matter during combat, but it is very impactful or your run.

[@PhongNguyenThanh2503]

Enhance Ability is S tier, because a lot of combat can be skipped by Conversation check. Stealing, lockpicking... also gain advantage (2 dices roll)

[@lukestaniscia2513]

You are the best at what you do and have taught me SO much about BG3. Thanks for all the hard work. It is appreciated

[@ryguy3842]

aid upcasted is really op. S tier imo

[@MaleBrawler]

A buff that give you free hp and you don't need concentration that fact it not s tier make no sense seeing all my run I have a cleric just for that reason 😂

[@uffish2]

Yeah, spending one of my higher spell slots to give everyone in my party (including the summons, which I bring out for the occasion) an extra 25 HP to their max is fantastic. Suddenly Scratch and Shovel and Us and Quothe and whoever are soaking up hits galore, and the humanoids can stay alive better, too. I don't always have someone who can cast aid, but when I do, it gets cast early.

[@JoshSweetvale]

​@@MaleBrawlerMy house rule is: No-concentration buffs can be cast by camp followers.

[@goodriddance729]

AID + Hero’s Feast is insane in honor mode

[@Sotanaht01]

Enthrall doesn't do what you think it does. What enthrall does is force an NPC to look at the caster OUTSIDE OF COMBAT, and narrows their vision cone to a very thin line. Casting it is not a hostile action and cannot be "caught" in tactician mode the way Charm spells can. It's mostly a useless spell, only technically good for pick-pocketing or other thieving, but Fog Cloud or Darkness usually do that job much better and easier.

[@Avoncarstien]

Minor Illusion as well, if you need to get someone looking a particular direction

[@SubmitToTheBiomass]

Yeah, with Minor Illusion being free as a cantrip it's the best choice for pickpocketing shenanigans. Combined with good timing and entering turn-based mode at the right moment, it's all you need. Wouldn't waste a cast of Fog Cloud or Darkness for it.

[@Sotanaht01]

@@SubmitToTheBiomass Minor Illusion is far from the best choice. NPCs will very frequently turn and look at you when you get close instead of the illusion, and it doesn't really last that long. As far as FREE options, it's still really good, but I think Enthrall is probably far more reliable against a single NPC. If vision obscuring spells like Fog Cloud didn't exist or counted as a hostile action, I might consider it worthwhile.

[@JoshSweetvale]

​@@Sotanaht01Ah, I see. So Minor Illusion is a tendency (and great with fireball), and Enthrall is _guaranteed._

[@shivafrost1317]

One thing you missed about acid arrow is that it also leaves acid surface. So when you cast it even if it does not hit it can still be a -2 AC on the enemy for at least a turn.

[@Dwapking]

I like how much effort you put into these. Other creators tend to just ramble/use gut-feeling to create a tier list, but not you.

[@clap2973]

I still come back to these. They’re perfect background noise for playing this game

[@SageOfLimitlessHands]

I love Spike growth. I just used it for the first time in the fight in the hatchery in act 2 and it made a fight against a lot of enemies a cake walk

[@r6TrdSlow]

I’ve really enjoyed this series. As someone who likes to test things out and just better understand what I’m doing - and this being such a complex game - these videos are very helpful. Yeah sure some folks might disagree on some of the rankings, but I have agreed for the majority of them. I love playing Druid, and I’ve been pleased to see that there are a good number of Druid spells that are higher ranking on your lists. I love that several of the damaging spells are concentration spells, which allows me to not just blow through spell slots and then spam long rests. I find I’m having to long rest way more often with Wizard and Sorcerer. That said, I am not just real experienced playing those two classes so I might be doing something wrong

[@WhiskeySins]

As a new player in A1, Moonbeam is absolutely carrying my combat lol. With the double dip proc anytime you move it, makes it a 4d10 on any creature you target. I understand using shoving enemies around for stuff like spike growth, cloud of daggers etc but, so much easier to just toss my beam on top of an enemy or new chokepoint if stuff changed. Also, I doubt I could play without ritual longstrider since discovering it.

[@bennybento4459]

Super late to this comment but i just put one on here. If you use moonbeam AND sanctuary you can do huge damage without being able to be damaged

[@rings-cn1yn]

Lot of people putting out similar BG3 content to you, but you're my fave. Good work dude.

[@NathanT_Performer]

Bard with enhance abilitiy and expertise in sleight of hand. Now you don't need a rogue in the party

[@MichelDood]

or get the act 1 zentarim gloves and free up your concentration

[@solverrex]

As soon as you can get to Zhent hideout and buy Gloves of Thievery, enhance ability becomes redundant for sleight of hand. And in Mountain Pass you can just buy a robe that gives you cat's grace, so yeah, usable for 2-3 long rests at most.

[@kalbarnes2494]

Besides crown of madness, which is already pinned, I would bump misty step to S tier. It’s an everything spell to me. Offensive? Throw your fighter right into the spellcasters. Defensive? Dual cast haste and MS around a corner to stay out of range. Need high ground for ranged attacks? That perfectly angled lightning bolt, or the thunder wave into chasm that would have otherwise been impossible? I find myself putting this on every character, not in every party, but literally every single character in that party. The items that grant this are some of my most prized and go right to classes that don’t otherwise get access to this. I can’t personally consider it anything less then S tier.

[@paultapping9510]

100% agree, I significantly prefer it to the other movement options like Fly or Dimension Door even. Seems like an autopick on most every character to me also.

[@JoshSweetvale]

Everybody needs it, even if you have jump. To run away.

[@SouthernShodan]

Only watched a few of your videos on BG3. I'm already at the point of hitting like right as I start the video playing. Good job.

[@galax12370]

blur is absolutely insane on eldritch knight I was able to beat yurgir only because of that lmao.

[@wangertown]

Calm Emotions makes absolute fools out of harpies with its Immune to Charm effect and it totally negates Fear. It's a concentration spell, sure, but it's a party-wide buff with a decent radius. It's kind of a no investment spell either because it comes with the cleric spell list, but it's also available to most other spell-casters too. Its ability to negate Fear and Charm stays relevant through the whole game as well. Focusing on it's ability to prevent barbarian rage does it a huge disservice - personally I've only seen this happen to my own party member, but it was worth the sacrifice to see that last harpy singing away as my full party surrounded it.

[@anotherfreeroller]

Calm Emotion removing charm is also useful for ending an enemy mind control on NPC targets, including sometimes during dialogue to bypass combat altogether.

[@jaradrichardsC137]

I was surprised it fully worked on the boy at the beach allowing him to safely run away from harpies

[@makiiavely]

finally someone pointing this out, I legit don't get how he got it so wrong. It's not a single target spell lmao it's an AoE (you can even see the area it covers in the wiki page) that protects you from being feared, a very common and annoying group of status ailments. I mean I'm not saying it's SSS+ tier or something but all the way down at the bottom? It's one of those spells my cleric has equipped almost all the time because it's cheap and impactful

[@WarriorOfVale]

crown of madness on the final shar sounds pretty insane

[@persistentpally]

Chess. Poker. Now BG3. When content creators start using terms like "action economy" "DPS" "DPTr" , summon comps, flatten math, among other method terminology, it reminds me of chess (Openings, Midgame, Endgame, Tempo, Forks, Skewers), Poker (Independent Chip Model, Game Theory Optimal, Position, Starting Hands). I L-O-V-E Baldur's Gate 3 for all the above. What I love even more is how it highlights just how powerful 5e D&D really is. Granted, there are differences in approach to each area of 5e, and it is what separates this game from Skyrim. Just about everything we need in an CRPG is already there...some slight improvements needed but I wasn't impressed by the mods available compared to OOBE. It's when you start learning the mechanics that prepare you for Tactician and Honor Mode (BG3's Requiem if you will). That's where the value is added in Aestus YT videos. I also like his approach to the community "discussion" about spells like Enhanced Leap which I use religiously. Is it an x tier spell? Who cares! It's useful, and that's all I need it to be. Aestus has his level where he puts a spell, but I will find use for a spell. Find Familiar is weak out of the box, but the Raven can provide an insight to what is far ahead of you that I flew him in the Goblin camp just to get an idea of the area. So before you comment, remember the value of the spell is in the eye of the caster in addition to methology that is applied. Thanks Aestus, will be a Patron soon.

[@persistentpally]

I have Shatter on three of my four characters. One of those characters is a Tempest Cleric. Casting Shatter after Cloud of Daggers causes most 5 member or more opponent parties to reduce to 2 to 3. Casting Shatter three times with the Wrath of Destruction eliminate a group of Githyanki quite easily with the few that are left being subjected to Create water and Call of Lightning. Whatever tier it fits into - which I agree with your assessment - it has been very useful for my runs. Then again I've never reached Act 3 yet and I've been playing for 577 hours only reaching the Astral Plane twice (yes, I'm one of those let's start over types. Honor Mode is my goal from Balanced so I'm learning everything I can about these spells in real time. Thanks for the very solid effort in the explanation of spells in relation to action economy - something that I will have to learn in Honor Mode.

[@crazy-tommy]

If there would be a tier below RP tier, I would put Detect Thoughts into it because it needs concentration and the potion version does not, so I would never ever use the spell version. Enhance Ability is S tier for me as getting advantage is so good - at least in early game. Its amazing for hard skill checks and pickpocketing, but I assume that does not match your tier system criteria. Later on there are so many items that give advantage on rolls, so its usefulness drops quite a bit. I only had to use Knock on the chests in Wyrm's Rock Fortress barracks in Act 3 as these could not be lockpicked. Although this was fixed with patch 4, so I probably don't need Knock ever again. Especially as I learned (after finishing the game) that bashing chests actually does not destroy any of its content unless the chest is trapped ... so just bashing everything is usually the easiest way to get your loot. In my game I always regretted casting Spiritual Weapon. It's movement is so slow, that its hard to get a use out of it and it's almost useless in endgame as it dies too quickly. Sure it may soak up a few hits, but all I remember about it is that it slows down the combat.

[@dnlmachine4287]

Spiritual Weapon has bad movement, yes. It has to be cast in the right place. Does Long Strider work on it? But its immunities make it very useful in certain fights to occupy numerous enemies, esp those that only do a condition attack like poison. The Spider fight below Blighted Village = YUS. Stay gold.

[@Rahdwiin]

For the late game Spiritual Weapon is indeed kinda so so, and I end up stopping to use it entirely, specially because of this VERY low speed indeed, however, in the early game I think there are few spells that can be as good as this one. Some times it feels like you just added a literal 5th member in your party, so good that it is.

[@senexiratus973]

I think Spiritual Weapon is very much C tier, because of the movement issue.

[@Tokru86]

@@Rahdwiin Yeah at the start it is very good. Just cast it in front of some enemies and they will waste a lot of actions on it. What makes it especially good is, that it is only a bonus action. The slow movement is irrelevant in such situations.

[@ztrax7133]

Early on as a Thunder domain cleric shatter can be pretty hard hitting to weaker enemies since you can use destructive wrath on it dealing at least 12 damage in an aoe, later on it definitely drops off but until you unlock 3rd lvl slots it hits pretty good for its level

[@michaskrzypczak3262]

I agree with Shatter being B tier, however I would like to point out one use - you can use Tempest Cleric’s Destructive Wrath to maximize the damage on this spell, making it guaranteed 24 AoE damage (12 if the succeed the saving throw). But on level 5 you can just use it on Call Lightning and guarantee 60/30/15 dmg instead (depending on Wet/saving throw)

[@rigor_erectus69]

There's a lot of doors in game that can't be opened with lockipicks but can be with with knock. You can just skip a lot of puzzles with, like the vault in Sorceres Sundries

[@Aestus_RPG]

But the puzzles aren't even hard, and don't take a resource anyways.

[@roaringthunder8069]

Yeah once you know what doors you need to go through its just a chore

[@jaradrichardsC137]

Eh, there's so many lockpicks anyways and if you succeed they're not used up so you wind up carrying 20 of them. Not worth a lvl 2 spell slot

[@SpiseyMcHaggis]

For Arcane Lock, the Counting house entry doors are a perfect place to use, both front and dock doors. 👍🏼

[@langa77777]

Persuasion destroys that fight.

[@johnhuysentruyt8644]

I think Aid in s tier would be fair even considering the reasoning behind longstrider. I have never been in a situation where longstrider was the reason I won or lost a fight, but there have been numerous times where the extra hit points from aid is the reason I survived huge boss attacks and closed it out the following round, but those situations could also be avoided if I played better.

[@pianogal5816]

Entangle works once when you cast it. The persistent effect is the difficult terrain. Web, however, procs every round

[@davidsterling7570]

Laying down a couple AOE spells and arcane-locking the door handed me a no-effort win against the steel watch boss

[@M.L.official]

On tactician and probably honor mode aid is A or S tier, casting it as a 6 level spell (once you get to act 3 and cheese the bodouir in house of hope where you get infinite long resrs whilst retaining your buffs). HP is always good

[@XannyTanner77]

misty step is S tier for me

[@joshwalton25]

Misty Step *IS* S-tier

[@Aestus_RPG]

Is this a game where running away clears encounters? Because yall treat mobility spells like it is.

[@StickyTapeZz]

@@Aestus_RPG any ranged character needs to "run away" / distance bonus action - teleport - without Attack of Opportunity IS just perfect for that isnt it? :D

[@Aestus_RPG]

No, ranged characters clear encounters by killing enemies, same as everyone else.

[@nangz]

You've said S tier is meta defining and something worth building around? You have also said aoe spells are weak and are often ranked lower because you need to eliminate enemies? Well, spells like Cone of Cold, Lightning Bolt, Gust of Wind, are just a few positioning dependent spells that can eliminate enemies outright when they are hit due to their high damage or effects. Misty step is S tier in my book - with your definition, for the improvement it gives to aiming them.

[@astrix1238]

Moonbeam does’t proc gear effects but it also doesn’t effect other conditions aswell. You can use moonbeam in sanc without it breaking and enemies with radiant retort don’t reflect damage. With moonbeam do damage twice with high spell DC and upcast you can do 100 plus damage cleave while being un killable. Plus orbital laser from the sky looks pretty sick.

[@oliorogue]

Interesting take on playing the game... I prefer to use some of the less desirable spells for a challenge than limit my long rests (especially since there are so many content driven story triggers related)

[@moosiemoose1337]

That's one thing I kinda dislike. In the very early game, you have to long rest a lot in order to not miss anything. I'm currently playing the game with my buddy and I'm trying to nudge him into long resting a lot more often.

[@kennymcintyre4791]

I use calm emotion every time I meet the harpies in the beginning. It applies on the whole groupe and prevent charms which makes the fight very easy. I've wiped in honor mode against them in having 3 of my char get charm on the first round.

[@jvlomax]

I haven't tested it, butvI believe gust of wind also removes cloudkill and poison fog type spells. Which can make it really good in certain situations

[@AvangionQ]

1:10:00 Don't sleep on Web, it's probably one of the strongest crowd control spells there is. A-tier. If you're up against melee combatants, put this between you and them ... they'll never reach you. Ah, the boots you're talking about that give immunity to Enwebbed condition are Spiderstep Boots. Wiki Spoiler for BG3 location in the Read More: Can be found at Whispering Depths in Act 1 (X:-510 Y:-400) in a cave chamber on a skeleton.

[@bg-cc6hn]

I am little surprised on the C rank on Web Not only does it Potentially restrain enemies, but it creates difficult terrain which cuts their movement While I don't think Web is as good in BG3 as it is in Tabletop with how surfaces work, but at the very least that is situationally good and should be at least B A ranged team comp that casts Web early can deal damage to the enemy while safely mitigating damage or reducing it to 0 (many enemies ranged attacks are weakers than their melee attacks if they have them at all). Really liked the tip about Scorching Ray and the Hat of Fire Acuity, may have to try that out on a build with Red/Gold Draconic Sorcerer! Really enjoying these Spell ranking videos!

[@Aestus_RPG]

I tend to dislike persistent ground effects because they get in the way of my melee strikers. I understand that full ranged comps are a thing, and they are good, but its just one kind of composition among many. Most compositions have melee units.

[@Minty_MH]

I love web in BG3. Sure, it's nerfed from tabletop but the spell is insanely overpowered there so that's not surprising. CC in general has been nerfed in BG3. My one gripe with web is this: in act 3 when your save DC gets high and when used alongside doors, you eventually run out of web surface since enemy blood completely covers it. You're literally suffering from success. It's only really a problem when you're memeing and aggroing an entire keep at once for no reason, but its still a fat rip sometimes.

[@kellymccarthy7109]

There's just better alternatives. Grease has the potential to completely end an enemies turn and leave them slowed on the next turn as they use movement to stand up, and it wont cost your concentration. Plus it's only a level 1 slot compared to 2. Or a druid who can wildshape into a spider and throw webs down every turn as a bonus action for zero cost and completely litter the field. Or a ranger whos spider summon can do the same. It's a decent spell, but why settle for it when better exist? Especially when it's going to steal your concentration and will vanish if it breaks.

[@JamFlexx]

​@@kellymccarthy7109vro thank you for the druid/ranger ideas

[@slamindorf5478]

Misty step is an easy S tier, every class than can use it should take it, its only negative is that you can find the spell on items too

[@theblackspark2644]

You also get it from the Githyanki.

[@josephgries4683]

It isnt really S tier by his definition imo

[@CramerGamer99]

Calm Emotions has some niche uses that are actually strong in the right situation. While it says it effects humanoids, that only means when targeting enemies. When targeting allies, it always gives calm. This sets up fun things, like having a crazy mass summoner build, and using abyss beckoners to give them all resistance to damage, while using calm emotions to charm them all and make them immune to the madness. It also trivializes fights like the harpies because they can no longer lure you.

[@Toromboloize]

I would argue that Enhance Ability is a required spell if you are going to enter conversation or undergo some sort of interaction where ability checks are concerned. Enhance Ability can easily help you make those checks with advantage (double dice instead of a single one). In a fight, the improvement is too little but out of combat, its as useful as guidance.

[@harold121]

Shatter synergizes with tempest cleric well and can shove targets at distance, kind of situationally good when your shadow heart is not in close distance to use thunder wave.

[@davidwagner3710]

i get why you have knock ranked where it is, but i find it useful for a party that doesnt have a good lockpicker since im too lazy to dismiss someone to get astarion out just to pick a lock. Have played campaigns where my best lock picker was +3 and any lock past 15 DC would be very difficult to pick.

[@vasheroo]

Ive been enjoying your videos a lot. Thanks bruh.

[@AspectPL]

Worth to note that Crown of Madness makes the mad enemy hostile to others around it so they will also attack them sometimes and provoke opportunity attacks. So it's better than hold person when you can also deal damage with it and not only treat it as CC

[@ThanhLai5]

55:30 don't forget that you can stack Heat with Scorching Ray as well. With Sorcerer, you can use Scorching Ray to build up Heat and then use Quickening Spell+Bonus Action to cast Fireball with Heat stack. And since it's an attack spell, you can also cast it while sneaking around to gain maximum advantage.

[@Aestus_RPG]

Is heat actually good? Haven't messed around with it much because it seemed not worth the effort.

[@ThanhLai5]

@@Aestus_RPG the damage may not be in top tier but still quiet strong in my opinion. The problem is it only works best with skills that hit once and hard. For skills with multiple projectiles like Scorching Ray, Heat bonus damage only applies to the first projectile. That's why I use Scorching Ray to build up Heat and then use Heat charges with skill like Fireball.

[@Aestus_RPG]

@@ThanhLai5 I'll try it out!

[@yohanes2034]

​@@ThanhLai5tbh heat mechanics is the worst gimmick compared to others such as lightning, reverberation, encrusted with frost, etc. The best way to use it is with fireball and after use the entire stack will be gone. It's all good for free damage if it does not hurt you at the same time. The 1d4 fire inflicted to self is not fun cause it can break concentration. The damage can be mitigated with fire resistance, or reducing flat damage (by 2 or 3) but then again if you choose fire elemental adept, your fire resistance will be nullified and you get hurt again. Overall underwhelming mechanic imo

[@ThanhLai5]

@@yohanes2034 yep. It's mediocre when compared to buff like lightning charge. Right now I'm playing with it just to explore every nook and cranny of the game.

[@alexanderoakland2607]

I think it might be worth retitling this series to Combat Spells Tier List or something of the like. Your reasoning is very sound and I agree with the majority of what you are saying in terms of combat. However, the title is a bit misleading, as it gives the impression of the spells overall ranking, as opposed to just it's combat use. In a game where combat takes up less than half (maybe a quarter) of the gameplay time, spells like Enhance Ability, Detect Thoughts, etc. are S or A Tier in terms of the overall game. Still, I get that they don't help in combat, so a little more specificity in the title may help to alleviate some out-of-context misunderstandings of their rankings. In terms of combat ranking though it's a great tier list!

[@Aestus_RPG]

I sometimes use the phrase "my channel is just about combat," but I don't think my tier lists are only about casting IN combat. There are lots of spells that have what I call "indirect combat utility," which basically means they help you in combat, but not because you cast them in combat. A good example in this video is Prayer of Healing. Its impossible to cast in combat, but its a combat spell, because it helps you recover damage for the next encounter. I definately take indirect combat utility into my rankings. Ultimately, BG3 is a game about combat. You win the game by beating the final boss. Of course we all roleplay along the way, but its impossible to lose roleplaying, so it doesn't need a tier list. All of this is to say, I think my current titles are accurate.

[@Tokru86]

The problem with many of those "S-Tier" out of combat spells is that you need to know what is going to happen beforehand to really get any use out of them. Enhance ability for instance. The chance you picked the right stat to help you in your next ability checks is very slim if you don't exactly know whats coming up. And even then you can always reload if you failed an important check. And others like Detect thoughts, and Speak with animals you get WAY easier and more consistend through potions anyway.

[@snapfrostzz9946]

You actually consider knock to be one of the strongest non combat spells, you can open any locked door and they help with any 30 roll lock when sometimes it seems impossible to open

[@Tetragramix]

It can open doors with "lockpicking impossible." Literally can only open certain doors (and chests) with knock.

[@ThunderBolt1915]

Hi Aestus! What about a feat tier list? I'd like to know your opinion on each of the feats

[@Aestus_RPG]

Its on the list!

[@revpro06]

You should rate a popular spell as normal but just put it in F tier in the tier-list so that all the people who skip ahead will generate that sweet sweet engagement.

[@Aestus_RPG]

Haha then I would never beat the "engagement bait" allegations!

[@revpro06]

@@Aestus_RPG if you can't beat em join em lmao

[@senexiratus973]

Can't argue much, but I can. I think you should consider who gets the spells in your ranking, and rank for the classes. You're not ranking what a class could use better vs. some spells. Crown of Madness is a fine CC spell. I don't CC, but I was watching a bard playthrough where the player really didn't have a lot of DnD background, picked it cause it seemed cool, and once he figured it out, he used it very effectively. Solid B tier, situationally good. Prayer of Healing is not a combat spell. RP. Enlarge/shrink is almost RP. For those that can cast it, why would you take a resistible spell and burn a spell slot, when you have damaging spells, that even if resisted do half damage. It's fantastic for Duergar once per long rest. Useful in exploration. Not a good spell to burn a level 2 slot for in combat. Speaking of Duergar, invisibilty is not a cantrip, it's a once/battle spell. Pretty strong, but not a cantrip. Ray of Enfeeblement is not worth slotting. No business in B tier. There may be situations with foreknowledge where you would slot and use that spell, but it's just not worth preparing for the average fight. Unsure why arcane lock is in B tier. Again, situationally slotted, but you wouldn't have it even prepared for most days, let alone encounters. Phantasmal Force is rp. Only theorycrafters on KZbin think it belongs in a build. There are too many other spells to use a level 2 slot on that do better. Web is a solid B tier for those that use it, maybe C because it burns. The player just needs to know how to use it. There are just better uses for spell slots than cc, imo, but as a cc spell at this level, it belongs with the others.You correctly put spike growth in S, but it's because it's huge, more than it's good, and it doesn't burn. It does get overwrittten by other surfaces, I believe, but yeah, you can do a cheese grater comp.

[@Dumah36]

just started playing the game and clicked on this list just to see where you placed Spike Growth. I am not disappointed! That spell is fing broken! Then I got my druid to summon a dyrad and she can do that sht as a free action. I thought my little brain was gonna explode!

[@persistentpally]

Arcane Lock - you can lock a door that has a Medium to Strong Toughness. It would take burst damage to destroy. It's an RP spell because there are other more valuable option. What you could use it for is a storage area where you can put items in a room and lock it. Even then you have storage in camp. If this was an online PvP then Arcane Lock would have value. Thoughts?

[@jordanwhite2339]

Shatter is actually really solid on a tempest cleric but yes other than that it gets overshadowed

[@burningknight7]

Interesting thing to note is spells like moonbeam or hunger of hadar don't proc any damage effects like radiating orb or elemental infusion is because the AOE effect is actually considered as an NPC by the game's code and not a source attributed to your Player character which makes me think its not a bug and probably will never be "fixed" sadly. Edit: but another cool thing about Moonbeam is that it never procs Radiant Retort/ Removes sanctuary so that technically does put it into S tier.

[@yeasstt]

You severely undervalued shatter. It's a thunder AOE spell on the cleric spell list, meaning Tempest Clerics can guarantee max damage on it and use it to shove from a distance. As you mentioned, it also stacks reverberation which just adds mkre value. Cloud of Daggers and Fireball do more damage on average, but neither has the consistency of tempest cleric shatter. Thunder is also fairly uncommon as a resistance, whereas fire and slashing are two of the most common resistances. Sure, a wizard or sorcerer shoukd probably be doing other things. But shatter is a fantastic non-concentration AOE spell for clerics. Even other domains can make use of it since they don't get fireball or cloud of daggers

[@joeywheeler3838]

The thing about crown of madness that you arent taking into account too is that Enemys will also target the affected person which can reduce the amount of attacks against your party in a turn. Definitely better than RP tier.

[@nateh5736]

The cloud of daggers entangle wombo combo is insane, plus if you have someone else to bane them. Insane power out of such easy spells to maintain

[@ragecounterfit309]

Don’t they both require concentration. So you’d need separate party member concentrating on each spell.

[@nateh5736]

@@ragecounterfit309 yeah that's what I was getting at

[@chrishendry1031]

You can cheese Balthazar on Honor Mode with Arcane Lock. Open his door with Knock while the Justiciars are out, bait him into the fight, and then Arcane Lock behind you. He will get absolutely crushed, and the Justiciar is easier to deal with than he is.

[@jaradrichardsC137]

You mean when you first meet him in his office area?

[@chrishendry1031]

@@jaradrichardsC137 Yeah. When the fight outside with the Dark Justiciar portals starts, you can Knock his door open, and he will engage. After he's outside, Arcane Lock the door once your party is snuck in. His toolkit is geared towards buffing undead, and killing living targets. The entire Dark Justiciar Fight is undead, so he gets slapped around.

[@parsus7797]

38:33 - about Knock. There's actually one door that is high DC (30) that essentially wins an important combat encounter for you. If you go to Balthasar in the Gauntlet of Shar and open the door to his room while Dark Justiciar fight is still going on right before it - it a) wins the dark justiciar fight for you and b) makes Balthasar and his minions (there won't be many left of them anyway) so weak that you can kill him before the fight ends. Also the door right next to it is also 30 DC and contains the Callous Glow Ring which is one of the best items in the game. Still a B tier spell though

[@TheInfidel23]

Gust of wind is a bit a fun one. I use it on my sorc as a 'rp' but also situational thunderwave. The main difference is that thunderwave has a close, square AOE where gust of wind has an aoe similar to lightning bolt, long and narrow. It also clears cloud/fog effects. I remember using it to walk across the room Nere was trapped in without disarming or covering the gas vents. Just blew a straight carpet of clean air through the room. It does miss out on the damage so for most combats it loses to thunderwave for damage purposes.

[@OroborOSX11]

I aggro’d the entire goblin camp near one of the side areas and had a tiny little opening in the stone wall to funnel them through. Cloud of Daggers literally killed 10+ goblins because they kept running into it to get to me.

[@persistentpally]

Overall comment on spell rankings: When someone, like Aestus takes part of their 168 hours per week to support a game they appreciate and want to share their thoughts, I find myself listening to what they have to say about - in this case, leveled spells - and then add in my insight and experience to make a decision to use a spell. For instance, Cloud of Daggers. An S-Tier spell that I put to use with the Phase Spiders. In my first run, I did not have an understanding of 5e and then BG3 mechanics. Aestus and Fextralife have both given me insight. For Cloud of Daggers, I use that on the mother Phase Spider on the web - she fell doing an insane amout of damage. My bard character and Gale have Cloud of Daggers. So when Mama went to get her babies and then phased to the web near us. I had Wyll (Eldritch Knight) case Magic Missle for some damage. Finally it got back to my character and the Cloud of Daggers finished after we used Firebolt on the web to drop her a second time. So by using an AOE movement control spell and Cloud of Daggers, you can inflict a lot of damage quickly and then use Firebolt, Guiding Bolt, Magic Missile, Scorching Ray to finish off most difficult of builds. Shatter also has a purpose here as well - all my characters have Shatter, and when all four (Shadowheart being Tempus Cleric for insane damage), use it to crowd control who is left is usually insignificant. My Bard, Wyll (Eldritch Knight), Shadowheart are all melee and range effective.

[@SpruceReduce8854]

Fun fact: the land's stride feature for ranger and land druid makes you immune to the damage and difficult terrain of spike growth

[@olafthebear2327]

What makes Darkness better than Fog Cloud, is that you can't make ranged attacks into it from the outside, or out of it. Though this seems to be a little bugged, since some enemies will still throw weapons into the cloud occasionally (haven't checked this since patch 5)

[@ProbeAway]

I never thought about it but arcane lock might have been useful [SPOILER..........................] in the fight against Sarevok in Act 3. Cast it on the door into the tribunal and lock out those three guardians (who drop dead as soon as Sarevok is defeated). Although confusion made that fight trivial anyway. ---- I get the theory behind heat metal and it looks like a great spell on paper... I just hardly ever used it. There always seemed to be a better use of concentration, even at early levels (e.g. bane, hold person, cloud of daggers, Tasha's). Plus command, disarming attack and (from memory) sleep can make enemies drop their weapon without a need for concentration. ---- Beyond that I don't disagree too much with your rankings. The weird thing is that even though you have a fairly high bell curve here, I feel like second level spells are a bit underwhelming on the whole. My experience is that a lot of first level spells are more useful than most of these, and then it's a big jump in quality from second to third level.

[@Aestus_RPG]

Totally agree. It's a huge jump from 2nd to 3rd.

[@hobojoe9717]

Bro you gotta hit enter a few times after you give a spoiler warning 🤦‍♂️

[@ProbeAway]

@@hobojoe9717 lol what? I don't 'gotta' do anything. If you keep reading past a big SPOILER in all caps then that's 100% on you. Especially if you're reading a comments section about a game that you haven't finished yet 🤨 Also, you might want to skip the rest of this particular comments seciton. There are other Act 2 and Act 3 spoilers in here that don't have any spoiler warning at all

[@hobojoe9717]

@@ProbeAway This didn’t spoil anything for me, personally. But if you can see the spoiler info without hitting “Read more” then your big spoiler warning is kinda pointless. Literally directly below where it says “SPOILER” is the name Saverok lol, it’s kind of impossible to miss even if you stopped reading where it says spoiler. You obviously cared enough to put a spoiler warning in the first place, all I’m saying is that it’s not really gonna be effective unless you put some space between your spoiler warning and what you’re trying not to spoil. So no, you don’t “gotta” do that, but if not then you might as well just not bother giving the spoiler warning in the first place.

[@ProbeAway]

@@hobojoe9717 I mean, the spoiler tag stands out, if a reader isn’t noticing that before they see anything below it then they’re obviously not taking much care to avoid spoilers anyway. And as far as I can see I’m one of the only people in the comments section - which is littered with spoilers - who has even bothered with a warning, yet I’m the one you choose to have a go at? If someone wanting to avoid spoilers is reading this comments section, my comment is the least of their problems lol

[@BSMaker]

29:02 are you sure? I tested this rather recently(patch 3) and it did give me a bonus action. I didn't use it because it was still kinda awkward, especially for act 3 where there are much better options.

[@Aestus_RPG]

I tested it on release, but haven't retested it in any of the new patches, so it could have been changed.

[@biiill5259]

So when it comes to darkness vs fog cloud there is 1 factor that sets darkness above fog. Warlocks. The warlock devil’s sight invocation makes them immune to darkness both magical and non magical. So while fog makes you untargetable darkness does the same in a wider area and gives you advantage on all attacks

[@dukeragereaver2208]

I feel like b tier is fair for arcane lock, however there are a few times right before combats that are helpful, such as at the creche you can lock the ghustil in the room with you or say your not taking hag hair you can lock her in the fight by locking her stairs so some use but not crazy use and i never really bother to prepare it again

[@SleepyChloeFist]

Longstrider is great, assuming you remeber to cast it. I find myself forgetting about it more than i use it, and i still get by just fine.

[@mekmekoo1269]

Barkskin is a level 2 spell. If you are playing a druid, the best wild shape available at the point where you get level 2 spells is the bear. The bear has 10 AC. I would say going from 10 to 16 is pretty good. Not amazing since you're still more likely to get hit than missed but it's definitely a decent upgrade.

[@marvinn6044]

Repositioning Moonbeam is an action, can confirm.

[@Aestus_RPG]

TY! My brain was a bit slow on that one.

[@yung_hrrnia]

On the Moonbeam/Radiating Orb thing: perhaps the damage is technically coming from the beam and not the caster? I've heard Cloudkill behaves the same way.

[@Aestus_RPG]

Yeah, probably.

[@bennybento4459]

I know im super late to the game commenting here but if you give a character moonbeam AND sanctuary you can move your moonbeam to deal high damage which wont break your sanctuary because the game registers moonbeam as an entity not an offensive spell. You can do that without taking damage and while also buffing allies, makes for a ridiculous high damage and unkillable build

[@klasgelinder]

Calm emotion is not that great but it’s a aoe and stops the Harpies song and forge masters whatever charm in Nere fight. So maybe C tier perhaps

[@Aestus_RPG]

Good point! I didn't know that. C-tier is better.

[@bluewizzard8843]

Longstrider is absolute S-tier. I play a Ranger and the spell is extremely good. You can use it all the time for no spellsllot and it makes outmanouvering your enemys so much easier. In a turnbased system it's insanely powerful.

[@havelockjones]

You have omitted see darkvision and see invisibility. I predict that you would place darkvision in low B tier. You want characters to be able to see, and the spell lasts until long rest, so you can cast it on a character who doesn't have natural darkvision at the start of the day and not worry about it, but there are other ways to get darkvision which don't cost a level 2 spell slot. You can also use the cantrip light, but this has the disadvantage that enemies can also see your character. It's only really an issue in act 2. See invisibility is interesting, because you might have acquired a magical eye which renders this spell pointless. If you haven't, then it would be somewhat useful to have this spell memorised. It's similar to lesser restoration, in that you won't need it often but you'll be pleased you have it when you do. So I would say B tier if you don't have the eye, but RP tier if you do.

[@travisauruss]

Crown of madness in RP is wild! As if patch 6, and even in 5, can’t say for before that, but it works on non humanoids. Used it on goblins and knolls. It’s pretty great tbh.

[@slimevagrant]

The one time I used Arcane Lock in a fight was at the last light inn when Marcus tries to kidnap Isobel. I used it to lock Isobel alone in her room because she's an idiot who acts in combat like she's trying to get herself killed.

[@vovasyhin7219]

I'm curious if you equip adamantium weapon like the scimitar will it effect this spell? I know if you dual wield it bypasses slashing resistance on both weapons, it would be amazing it if works on this spell as well.

[@Jeff-uu9vo]

I'm curious, at the beginning of this video you put a strong emphasis on hit points. And I felt this during my casual playthrough. However in your feats video you did not like tough at all. And personally tough felt really strong later on in the game when the amount of relevant feats felt small. Then again I don't have alert lol, so maybe tough was the one I shouldn't have had

[@Aestus_RPG]

Its just a numbers thing. Feat slots are extremely valuable, and Tough just doesn't give enough hit-points to compete.

[@akira3871]

Crown of madness is amazing imo. From what I've noticed they only target non party members even if they're the closest. Granted ive only tested it a few times so I could be mistaken.

[@geekyghecko5732]

How can prayer of healing be B if it can't be used in combat

[@persistentpally]

For non-Warlock characters, could you case Darkness on a group of enemies, then use light on a tank player and be able to see in the darkness or would it defeat the purpose by being lit?

[@IlRe720]

Calm emotions is an aoe and tbh it’s like pretty useful in about 2 fights in the game, the meenlocks in act 2 and I think there’s another one I can’t remember… maybe? Also I never tried but does the immune to charmed work for tadpole charm? Coz it is pretty annoying getting charmed by a mind flayer on an extra attack character on like your first attack, then you gotta go attack someone else and maybe everyone else is out of range, then you gotta like resort to throwing something in its general direction… anyway does it??

[@lendial]

So glad to see blind is so high up. The only thing I'd rank higher is aid due to it being upcastable and giving your party a large health buffer that lasts until long rest and isnt concentraition. tier 3 and beyond concentraition is going be so competitive.

[@elliot8518]

Hey Guga, you should try making a fry bread dog, which is a staple at pow wows. You basically wrap a hot dog in fry bread and then fry it! Very tasty

[@HW-ow9zp]

48:25 you have an excellent channel and i appreciate your analysis but i must respectfully disagree with your logic of moving it up based on what people said. I think it's great to be educated and aware of what other opinions are but it's your tier list man. Not that making a tier list makes anyone infallible but you could say you think PWaT sucks and it could be true and someone else can say its great and that could be true simultaneously. I understand you want to have a definitive opinion on these things but i know i take any opinion piece with a grain of salt. So all of that to say, if you think it sucks then i mean maybe you re-test it to make sure you didn't miss something (haha) and continue having your opinion :)

[@common_undead]

I think another way I look at spell tierlists for any particular spell is considering that I'm going to be casting a spell at 2nd level. Like yes, hold person/ aid are great spells, but realistically you're going to be casting aid at 5th or 6th level to get as much health for your party and summons or to cc as many humanoids at once. Similarly, scorching ray is amazing, but who's casting this as a 2nd level spell? Thinking of it this way, my personal top level 2 spells (i.e. I'm casting them specifically as level 2 spells) are heat metal, darkness and spike growth. Also, I feel shatter is a pretty good but niche spell in tactician for 2 reasons. 1) Con save, which by passes the evasion ability or high dexterity on a lot of enemies and is a nice option to have. 2) Is great for taking out the scrying eyes on tactician where they have a lot of resistances and a pretty big flat reduction to damage. Shatter is by far the most reliable way to guarantee killing them in 1 hit.

[@platypus547]

Chromatic orb kills them in one hit for a lower spell slot.

[@Tokru86]

Well, I tend to use those higher spell slots for those higher spells that reuiqre them which is practically always better than upcasting lvl1 or 2 spells. Except in very few very specific circumstances.

[@iversolheimstranden802]

Love these videos

[@slimevagrant]

I didn't think Potent Robe worked with Scorching Ray, isn't it only for cantrips?

[@Aestus_RPG]

You are correct. I misremembered. My apologies!