The BEST SPELLS in Baldur's Gate 3 - Complete Guide to Spells of Every Level

[@Exxyo]

I think that the lightning cantrip is underrated, yes it's melee range, but remember that the damage can be enhanced with water, AND it prevents enemies from using reactions, which is fairly useful for some fights and to deal damage instead of just using disengage in case someone gets too close.

[@BenjaminRodriguezReyes]

You can also give it 9m of range with a Sorcerer's Distant Spell

[@gustavoconti3431]

You can always use it and move away with the "free disengage", which I feel like is very valuable AND it has advantage against armored opponents which can be very good AND you can use destructive wrath with it. I agree, would put it right next to firebolt, if not higher.

[@milanstepanek4185]

Yeah I like it too. You cant always outposition mobile melees (they have misty step, 2km jump range at higher lvls) so the ability to damage them (with advantage if they have armor) and then walk away without triggering opportunity attacks is pretty good. Not to mention lightning dmg benefits from a lot of items and status combos (reverberation items) so it can be part of a decent build.

[@Laurannah101]

fr ive used it so many times for gale

[@dangr123]

It's my default disengage on casters

[@mtaur4113]

Shrodinger's Darkness is a superposition of S rank and D rank until it is discussed.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

The second one is supposed to be Darkvision! The person who made the tiermaker just put in the wrong image. You can see me run into that in the level 2 tierlist

[@GitGoodGaming]

The outcome changes depending on who is witnessing it

[@bilboteabaggins8645]

@@GitGoodGaming nobody is witnessing it because they're all blinded

[@SeemsLogical]

I find it ironic that the friends cantrip makes you enemies with the guards more often than not.

[@EclipsedYamiOld]

​@@bilboteabaggins8645except if they have Darkvision. Which means the outcome is always S tier, as no one is there to witness it and argue otherwise

[@juliogomezplascencia6580]

Being a duergar bard with minor illusion, unlimited invisibility and bow, makes the honor mode accessible. Practically with my character I defeated the entire goblin camp without being seen. Minor illusion carries me on his back in this mode.

[@payday7679]

Duergar in general can trivialise the game most people overlook the bonuses because there not super exciting or clearly dps increasing but infinite invisibility, being able to avoid insta deaths via pushing attacks and paralysis resistance are genuinely amazing for the entirety of the game

[@socjocinus]

how infinite invisible work?

[@plagueamer4877]

@@socjocinusLike the 2nd level spell but you can use it an unlimited amount of times out of battle, but only once in battle.

[@zifnabdr]

Love the line at 29:17 that "the enemy of optimization if randomness." Now i really want you to make a Wild Mage sorc class and optimize the hell out of it! Great content. Love everything you have done the last few months!

[@LadyBernkastel92]

These guides are super helpful. I'm way more of a roleplayer and much less of a character planner. I love making characters, but a lot of the time I have trouble making them be... good mechanically, and these help a lot. There are some things I won't do like taking a single level in a new class unless I can think of a story reason to do so, but knowing that the option could improve my character and is there makes me more inclined to try to think of good RP reasons. Your guides are super helpful without being overwhelming, and I just wanted to thank you for that. Keep up the great work!

[@dathunderman4]

Luckily on the balanced difficulty I feel like I haven’t had much trouble despite not optimizing my characters. This is my first DnD experience and I have basically no idea what I’m doing and these types of videos help me a lot as well. But from my previous RPG experiences, I’ve learned to be thorough with talking to NPCs and doing quests and whatnot, and through doing just that, I’ve gotten good items and remained properly or even over leveled, making combat encounters not too difficult despite my lack of build optimization. After hitting level 4 and getting past the Spider Matriarch, I basically havent died yet, and I just got to Act 3.

[@RagnellAvalon]

Something that was pointed out in the cantrips video which is worth bringing up again is that if you have the Awakened buff from the Githyanki Thingy in act 1 which lets you use Illithid Powers as bonus actions, you can use one of the Concentration cantrips like True Strike as your action and then spend it to use Concentrated Blast as a bonus action, which is a *lot* of damage (3d6) for no investment other than it being your action and bonus action, especially as it's part of Act 1. This doesn't make them good in a vacuum but it makes them much better in context than many other cantrips.

[@soulmata]

People keep spreading false information about Friends - even on Honour mode, you can use 100% safely, every time, even against friendly NPCs. All you need to do is not be within their detection range when you break concentration (and stay away for 2 turns while they investigate the crime). You can spam this on every dialogue in the entire game that isn't against companions (companions will always lose 10 reputation). I use Friends on Honour Mode for literally every dialogue check where it's available instead of wasting Enhance Ability. It is straight up S-Tier as it gives you free Advantage for every Charisma-based dialogue check, with absolutely no downside if you know how to use it properly.

[@TheGodPoing]

Was gonna say this, best cantrip to pick as Astarion/shafowhearth

[@chad522]

That's a bug, not intended. Honour mode was supposed to fix those (like extra attack shenanigans) but clearly they missed one, so he doesn't suggest it.

[@soulmata]

@@chad522 It's been like that since EA. Just because it's not RAW doesn't mean it's not intended. They could have fixed it in any of the hundreds of patches since EA until now. And nothing about youtube videos pertaining to BG3 tactics do anything but gloss over things that might be bugs or oversights. They cover what is reality. And what is reality is that Friends is S-Tier.

[@Kirahie]

So exploiting a bug. Clearly not intended. Hopefully patched on 8.

[@raewsyadrs4645]

Lightning grasp should be in a tier at least. In honor mode there are so many bosses which have debilitating reactions which they can cast infinitely. The fact that you can just disable that with a cantrip is insane. It also does pretty good damage and is easy to hit for a cantrip

[@juliogomezplascencia6580]

Disguise self should be higher only because of Shapeshifter's Boon Ring. Extra points to all ability check, makes charisma tests, stealing, cheating, etc. easier. Fantastic for a main character

[@chwaterchearthchfirechair8254]

The ring is a godsend for Wild Shape users, much better for them in my opinion

[@lllooo1214]

For normal dnd player, Fire ball as a B rank is criminal

[@ivatio]

Why

[@ysius]

I just beat honour mode today. Thanks for helping me with your videos

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Nice, congrats!

[@peterbrand8547]

All your videos are amazingly useful. I would love you to do a deep dive on concentration spells explaining strengths and weaknesses, breaking them down by the user's class, tactics in battle, when and when not to use them, and what else you can do in combat while doing them. Thanks! I've always been a bit afraid to use them fearing that I won't be able to maintain concentration or that I won't be able to focus on anything else in combat. Thanks!

[@tyguy8194]

Have a wizard cast haste on your best martial attacker that already has 2 attacks and you lose this fear very quickly and start casting it round 1 every fight 👍

[@markuskonrad6049]

I completely ignored minor illusion in my first playthrough. In my honor run, I was playing around with it to see what all the fuss is about. My first aha moment was in wither's tomb, where I used it to group the bandits around the explosive barrel - one firebolt later all but one of them were dead. From then on I've been using it whenever I can, a lot of times combining it with invisibility to get into the right position to cast minor illusion, completely destroying any positional advantage enemies might otherwise have. It honestly trivialises most fights in the game.

[@CMiY0]

Lmao exact same story here. Now that I play shadow monk in my honor run, minor illusion is the GOAT. There’s way too many things you can do by taking away attention.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

One of the things I think BG3 did incredibly well is translate the illusions and enchantments from tabletop to a video game. That's incredibly hard to do, and they made disguise self and minor illusion feel extremely impactful in a way I don't think any other D&D adaptation has managed.

[@DonkThikkness]

My cheesy strategy involved my Deugar Bard (race Invisibility Cantrip is so broken), Minor Illusion, followed by Glyph of Warding:Sleep. Then I’d let Asterion and Lae’Zel unleash their anger issues on the sleepies.

[@clarencewalters338]

Minor illusion? More like major illusion.

[@realdaggerman105]

The real best spells were the friends we made along the way.

[@prometheus5405]

Planar allies

[@meusana3681]

YEssss, owly was rather a good boy. Can't say the same for the rest of the slaves.

[@Blockyraps]

The oomfies

[@Karina-winsmore]

Shillelagh can be taken as nature cleric and allow you to build a melee focused caster that uses wisdom for both melee attacks and spells like command. Shillelagh is especially brutal when you get access to Arcane Synergy - doubling your wisdom scaling for damage. My current character is thematic nature cleric of Mielikki / beastmaster ranger built around using shillelagh. I will get 5 levels of ranger minumum for second attacks, rest will go into cleric probably for more spell slots.

[@GRIFFIN1238]

What do you prefer to trigger the Diadem of Arcane Synergy with? Hunter's Mark comes to mind, radiating orbs too.

[@Karina-winsmore]

​@@GRIFFIN1238 People claim that playing an instrument in combat will give you Performing condition and give Arcane Synergy. Going close to the enemy will inflict Threated condition and also give Arcane Synergy. Cant verify if its still work (comments about it were somewhat old), i did not reached monastery yet to grab the hat myself. If it does not work - probably with Hunters Mark, yes.

[@GRIFFIN1238]

@@Karina-winsmore bg3.wiki notes that they've patched the self buffs out of triggering Arcane Synergy. I'm theorycrafting how to keep it active on a Bardadin, so I'm exploring all options. Unfortunately the gloves of dexterity bar me from the radiating orb gloves. The threatened condition does seem like the easiest option. I'll have to playtest.

[@yvaskhmir]

Enhance Ability is especially good for getting Advantage on Charisma rolls, as then it's almost never a single-use spell, rather a spell that makes several rolls in a row a lot easier, because there's no turn limit. And there's a lot of scenarios where you'll be making a lot of dialogue checks in a row. The added bonus of the average 20% increase on a very important roll is why the spell should always be prepared by at least one character. And mid-late game 2nd level spell slots are not that important, so using just one to gain advantage on several checks is worth it. I don't understand why it's in B, rather than A.

[@aagm.]

Was inevitable, been going back and forth from each part of each level, good call

[@Vassilinia]

Seeing True Strike so low always reminds me that it's only good because of the mod that makes it last 1 turn as a bonus action. True Strike is in such a weird spot where it's god awful but if you mod it even a little bit it becomes awfully broken.

[@l_ndonmusic]

I used True-Strike on an Arcane Trickster/Paladin, that used Two-Weapon Fighting, as their racial Cantrip and let me tell you, True-Strike was busted then. Being able to just decide “hey I want advantage on my offhand attack to trigger sneak attack/have a higher crit-chance” was buuuuuuuusted…

[@Takkunda]

True strike got changed in one dnd to be a green flame sword type cantrip. Its OP now.

[@Brunkbrank]

Changing an action into a bonus action makes pretty much every action with any use case instantly broken

[@panampace]

True strike pairs great with sneak attack, and that’s about it

[@Princess_Salami]

Overall comment: This entire series of Tier list videos has been AMAZING, and has given me so many ideas for builds and party compositions. Also, it feels like I'll probably send the link to all my friends who I've slowly started turning into fellow optimizers. Fun Counterspell Fact: Pretty sure Counterspell is the only reason the Act 2 final Boss fight's Special Attack was turned from a Cantrip to a 7th level spell in Patch 6. Because no roll to Counterspell Finger of Death is... most likely not what the devs intended. Elemental Summon Party: I LOVE having party members summon the different levels of Conjure Elemental (or Minor Elementals), because they work pretty well off of each other. So I usually end up with one party member with 2 Ice Mephits, one with a Water Elemental and one with a Water Myrmidon. Build idea based on Shillelagh and Ensnaring Strike: I'm really wondering if a Spores Druid/Gloomstalker or Hunter Ranger could be a good melee combo, if you consider how having Shillelagh means you can focus on increasing your Wisdom instead of Dex or Strength, and with Bounty Hunter, that could make Ensnaring Strike even more reliable. Also, some quarterstaves have some pretty interesting bonuses, like Cacophony dealing an extra 1d4 Thunder on hit, and giving access to Short Rest Thunderous Smite. Or the Gold Wyrmling Staff that's a +1, deals an extra 1d4 fire damage on hit, AND gives access to Fire Bolt.... Same-ish but cold damage with Mourning Frost... Gloomstalker's bonus 10ft move speed in the 1st round of combat would make getting into melee with enemies much faster. And if you REALLY felt like it, wielding a staff in 2 hands would let you make use of Great Weapon Master....

[@TheRedAzuki]

For that Spore Druid / Gloomstalker combo Get Winter's Clutches + Mourning frost, (Winter's Clutches = Whenever you do cold damage, you do Encrusted with Frost x2,) and your Mourning frost is a 1d8+1d4, with hasted, you'll do a total of 4 attacks + 1 on turn one, that could and then maybe proc the frozen condition, and thus making them vulnerable to bludgeoning damage.

[@Princess_Salami]

@@TheRedAzukiWell, I've been mainly playing Honor Mode, so the Haste thing will only mean one more attack, instead of an entire new Action. But I'm LOVING the idea. Especially if I use the Drakethroat Glaive buff to add Thunder Damage to the Mourning Frost 😯

[@longboy5639]

The absolute Legend, never missed

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks very much!

[@julianshook8869]

Love the BG3 vids. You are one of my favorite BG3 creators

[@DonkThikkness]

Good tier list, thanks for all the effort. One thing I don’t think gets stressed enough is that in combat, most spells and available options are competing for that coveted “Action” in a turn which I think drops a lot of spells down. Add in specific conditions (enemy type, required concentration, low chance % to hit, spell slot rarity, etc) and they fall further in usefulness. Rarely would I use Hold Person or Monster and often opted for a spell like Glyph of Warding: Sleep. Found myself not using many spells because of concentration and the low success %. Wish there were fewer spells requiring concentration, or could be upcast to not require concentration. All the time I found myself saying, ‘Why cast that, instead of Haste?’ Found Tasha’s Hideous Laughter to get better in later levels and think it should rank higher. Level 1 spell to completely remove an enemy and make them prone. Laughing maniacally as your team takes turns wailing on them…so satisfyingly disrespectful. High save DC at later levels offsets the multiple save opportunities. Oh, many of the animals have over 5 Int and the spell deserves to go up a tier just to see laughing animals. =) For a Bard, I’d say this spell is better than their level 6 spell options: Eyebite and Otto’s Dance. Save the level 6 for a Counter Spell. Only other spell I think I’d change is Glyph of Warding. My personal favorite spell in the game and think it deserves an S rank. It’s a devastating control spell that does not require concentration, sleep is probably the best debuff in the game, and it works on many bosses. My Deugar Bard would turn invis (with their OP race Cantrip) cast minor illusion to group as many together, and GoW:Sleep. My go to cheesy strategy. Being able to select a damage type instead of crowd control is just icing on the cake.

[@destinygalearies7382]

Glyph of Warding also works great with elf or half elf spellcasters (such as our very own Shadowheart) since they're immune to magical sleep. if they're ever in a bind they can just slap a sleep glyph down on top of themselves with no worries at all, and enemies have to waste an action to shove/help their ally to wake them up

[@jaxsonfanta5420]

I want you to know: if I see you uploaded a Baldurs gate 3 video, it IS the next thing I’m watching on KZbin. I’m on KZbin a lot thanks to my job, and your content is prime time KZbin for me. I always learn so much, you have a great way of educating and helping me understand the mechanics of the individual parts of this very deep and complex game, and break it down well for a scrub like me. I’m trying tactician now, and I believe that a lot of my confidence in my Sword Bard build comes from the knowledge that I now possess, and a lot of the knowledge is what you taught me. Also you have a fun personality and are humble enough to change your mind if one of us normies comes at you with a good point. Anyways, thanks, and subscribe to this guy, he deserves it!

[@jaxsonfanta5420]

I did want to shoot an opinion at you. I feel like Shocking grasp is a really good cantrip. It and Ray of Frost are my sorcerers go to’s. You can double the damage with wet condition, tempest clerics can also maximize the damage it does, but best of all, it’s a spell that is melee ranged/focused, almost no other spell is that, and it’s free…. It also (whenever it hits) make it to where the enemy that is probably melee, and can probably hurt you/kill you since you’re probably squishy, they now cannot opportunity attack you…. Allowing you to then run away and not trigger an opportunity attack……. For free, PLUS it has advantage on characters in armor. It being melee range, unlike almost every other spell in the game, does not immediately get the disadvantage dice whenever some enemy is standing near you. Its design in my opinion is to be the sorc and wizards “get off me” action… especially before you have misty step/invisibility, which each cost a spell slot, whenever it does not. I use this spell a lot, it’s one of the greatest spells at what it does, which is get your squishy character out of a bad situation for free. Unlike disengage at least shocking grasp did damage, and debuffed the enemy to be unable to tack any reactions until their turn, quicken spell this cantrip if your in melee range, hit, then run away and cast something else since your now not in the dreaded disadvantage range with your spells. I know it’s long, but I had to defend the cantrip that has been so useful on my sorc.

[@thomasohara5926]

This list definitely makes me feel a lot less afraid to multi-class spellcasters - losing out on 4th or 5th spells doesn't sting quite so bad as long as you're still getting 4th/5th lvl spell slots. I wonder if this was an intentional design decision to encourage multi-classing, or if it was just a happy byproduct of a rule meant to limit bookkeeping.

[@niedomyty00]

If you haven't already please consider trying Lore Bard with 2 levels of Warlock. It's so freaking good!

[@markopusic8258]

​@@niedomyty00The one I heard about is lore bard with 3 levels of sorcerer to twin cast haste. Yeah that seems interesting.

[@kursedgunner2657]

Isn’t disguise self S tier , in act 1 you can easily get shapeshifter boon ring that give you a bonus to all you checks for the whole game , if you rate guidance so high for a free spell why rank so low a free no cost spell that can give a stacking buff which only takes a ring slot which isn’t highly contested early if at all considering the buff it gives

[@juliogomezplascencia6580]

That ring is helping me a lot in the first act in honor mode. It makes most of the checks accessible

[@EuphoriaDeep]

I'd guess that because if you bought the deluxe edition, you get that spell free with a shapeshifter helment waiting for you in your camp chest. I use it all the time, but if I didn't have it, I'd call disguise an A tier.

[@kursedgunner2657]

@@EuphoriaDeep free spell meaning it’s a ritual spell and it does not cost a spell slot to use

[@EuphoriaDeep]

@@kursedgunner2657 i just mean it's an enchanted item, so you can use it whenever you want, and it doesn't take up a slot in your memory, you use it once, put on your regular headgear, and can recast it all day at no cost.

[@Ampathetic]

The rationale was that Disguise Self requires a lot of meta game knowledge to know where and how to best use it. I love the spell, and I use it whenever possible alongside Shapeshifter's Boon, but I get the reasoning for a video that's probably aimed at players who might not get the ring or know specific racial options for encounters.

[@1000fix]

I have never played an eldritch knight in bg3 and after hearing about the warcaster feature 13:04 where you cast a cantrip and then make an attack... my first thought went straight to true strike cantrip... I need to keep watching your vids, they have great value information...

[@alexw4482]

I’m surprised to see hellish rebuke so low. Yes it’s just damage, but it has decent scaling and gives characters a way to utilize their reaction that they might not otherwise have.

[@zylo4029]

I was thinking the same thing, it’s almost like having an extra attack action if your character has no other good reactions to use

[@nCedric1]

Acid Splash is carrying me in act III with the necklace that gives you spellcasting ability bonus to cantrip damage, since it's aoe and doesn't brake my concentration :).

[@ProbeAway]

How is a 3d6 + mod damage in a tiny AoE, with a highly resisted damage type that is *completely* negated by a save, carrying you in Act 3?!? With a +5 mod that’s an average of 15.5 damage at level 10+ lol I’m glad you’re having fun with it - which is the main thing - but it’s an objectively bad spell

[@nCedric1]

@@ProbeAway tell me, are those highly acid resistant enemies in the room with us? If I hit 2 people with it, I'm dealing 26 extra damage a round without spending a slot on top of my spirit guardians...

[@ProbeAway]

@@nCedric1 lol no, they’re just scattered throughout BG3. 26 damage is mediocre, and that’s assuming they don’t make a DEX save (which many enemies will) and negate the damage completely. If you have spell slots, casting command, guiding bolt or inflict wounds is a much better option, and if you don’t have any spell slots at all then… rest. Or cast produce flame, which does more single target damage on average, can also be boosted by that necklace, is more likely to hit, and can crit. And you’re a cleric? The only way to get it as a cleric is the magic adept feat, high elf racial cantrip or to multiclass as a wizard or a sorc. In which case it operates off INT or CHA. You’d be way better off taking the spell sniper feat and getting eldritch blast to cast using your WIS. Again, great if you’re having fun, but you’ll struggle to convince anyone that this is actually a good spell. There’s a reason it sits near the bottom of these tier lists

[@joshtanner8048]

@@ProbeAwaylet the man enjoy his acid splash

[@im7254]

I refuse to play without acid splash. It breaks open boxes in aoe infinite times

[@milat9287]

I love Viscious Monkey. Just wish they'd bothered to model the monkey

[@DropoutJournal]

I think Grease has some more utility due to it being flammable. In many scenarios, using Fire Bolt to set the Greased AoE on fire can do a fair amount of damage, particularly at the lower levels, that can have significant utility even outside of it just being a better version of Ice Knife.

[@EuphoriaDeep]

Thank you, kind sir. I have loved this whole series.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks very much!

[@alexgourdplant]

Best BG3 tier lists on the Internet. Period.

[@JirkaKunst]

May I please suggest a tier list of all the different Tadpole/Illithid powers? Some of them are incredibly OP (Luck of the Far Realms) while others seem to not be worth the time required to read the tooltip (Displacer Beast Shape). I would love to hear your opinion on this topic. You could perhaps group them by how many other powers you need to unlock them.

[@Henry-iz7iv]

I know im months late but displacer beast shape is incredibly OP

[@markuskonrad6049]

There is almost no risk to friends, even in honor mode. The effect lasts 10 turns and enemies only turn hostile after it ends, so usually there is more then enough time to get away from them, which also prevents them from calling you out.

[@Vassilinia]

​@@christopherbohan145110 rapport? Christ that's steep.

[@Ampathetic]

Additionally, a lot of charisma checks cause a potential enemy to leave, meaning you don't need to deal with the potential fallout from Friends anyway, since they can't turn hostile after they disappear. If you're doing an honor mode run, you should always take Friends if you can fit it, and use it whenever you can get away with it. I go so far as picking High (half) Elf purely for Friends, and it pays off about as much as a different racial trait.

[@EuphoriaDeep]

Do they remember you used it on them if you come back later? Like, say, a shopkeeper? That's been the one thing that's kept me from taking it in character creation yet.

[@markuskonrad6049]

@@EuphoriaDeep Never happened to me. Same as if you get enemies temporarily hostile, but then flee the combat - they will not remember.

[@EuphoriaDeep]

@@markuskonrad6049 Thanks, good to know! I've got a few builds I want to try without having to bump up charisma. Two rolls are better than one!

[@77sewvern17]

I feel like I'm the only person who understands that healing is super viable in bg3. Let me lay it out for you. Life Cleric uses beacon of hope on party and bonus action casts sanctuary on themself. On the following turn they can cast spiritual weapon. They now can run around with total immunity healing with all remaining slots with max heal on EVERY SPELL. Enemy cannot attack the cleric to remove concentration. And with icing on the cake, the cleric can attack every turn with the spiritual weapon without removing sanctuary. Tell me now that healing and cure wounds are weak. Throw in a raging barbarian who doubles healing effectiveness already, and you're unstoppable.

[@theslay66]

I'd say it's a good strategy for your first runs, when you don't really know what to expect and how to manage combat efficiently. But as you get better you will need less healing, and it becomes more beneficial to switch to an offensive strategy. What's dead cannot hurt you.

[@bradywright4229]

I do this exact same thing. I find it to be really effective primarily in acts 1 and 2

[@matthewfuhrken9835]

some comment/thoughts: Cantrip Shocking Grasp is a reaction cast with War Caster Feat which I basically always take on casters. Level 3 Bestow Curse is an amazing, if not 100% reliable boss killer. Making bosses just skip turns is hilariously helpful. Level 3 Sleet Storm is one of the most OP spells in the game, its singlehandedly shuts down entire encounters SO often, it's insane. It's easily equal to Spirit Guardians for 'best spell in game' Level 5 Flame Strike, on its own isn't amazing, but doesn't deserve to be so low. It's the only AoE Radiant damage spell that doesn't use concentration, and Radiant orb builds are AMAZING. Level 5 Cone of Cold, should also be higher if only for Cold damage and wet. Level 6 Otiluks Sphere is cold so at least +1 tier, but also can be given to an ally like a grenade without concentration, which can be useful if you are setting up a burst damage turn.

[@prkeene]

In my experience, Command, Fear and Hypnotic Pattern are the best CC spells in the game. They completely neutralize enemies and are either AoE or multi-target when up casted. Hold Person, Dominate and Hold Monster are only single target. Also Fear and Hypnotic pattern can target undead where most CC spells cannot.

[@thewanderers97]

Hold person is also multi target when upcasted (though one less target per spell slot than command)

[@the_born_again1350]

Lightning grasp I think is a bit better if you get it triggering for opportunity attacks. Thaumatergy and make friends are FANTASTIC on a cha character. You win so many rolls with those in your kit. But this is coming from someone who has not tried warlock and the eldritch spell that is S tier. Lol. Gonna have to try it next game. (Best warlock solo build anyone?)

[@destinygalearies7382]

Bardlock is a really good build I think because at level 2 or 3 you get Song of Rest which functions as a third Short Rest and thus a third refresh of your warlock spell slots.

[@ADerpyZelda]

Worth noting for Glyph of Warding too, if you plan on starting combat with people that aren’t yet hostile, you can cast it on a group, start combat with a damage spell, and it will trigger the glyph as soon as they’re hostile, essentially getting an extra, free AoE attack

[@JoeFrogz]

Would have been really cool to have these spells in action spliced in (particularly for the S and A tier ones). I’m new to bg3, I’ve played 5e but seeing in action would really help give context. One thing I struggled starting out is not really knowing how a spell plays out in action. Plus visuals are always nice. Great video though

[@gebcrafter]

Thorn whip is my favorite spell in the whole game. Any time I get to pick it, I do. Enemy manipulation, to me, is priceless. Knocking archers off their post, pulling things off of cliffs, or even just pulling them towards your DPS. Too fun

[@TheDemidem0n]

Sorrow is my favorite weapon 🤝

[@colebengston3963]

I like that you have the tier list posted and that you explain the list entirely

[@Shaman5EUSK]

i just want to note that people should get Shart to take Produce Flame cantrip to stop her from using her dex save so she actually hits her cantrips. you're welcome!

[@phlyphlo]

Okay though, black tenticals are underated though, they do not burn up and if your wizard has medium amour profiecnacy theres an amore from Moonglow in Act 2 that gives disavantage for restraint spells. So with wall of fire any dot.

[@johanedfors3899]

Is it controversial for me to say that ray of frost is better than eldritch blast? Eldritch blast might have 3 rays but ray of frost can be twin spelled and have damaged doubled from chilled or wet conditions while also leaving enemies prone with ice surfaces due to snowburst (potentially skipping their turns too). There are also far more damage modifiers for cold damage cantrips than force damage too, like Kereska's favor, necklace of elemental augmentation and draconic ancestry. With all of these in mind and lets say you have 24 charisma, you'll deal 360 - 612 damage per turn with bloodlust and haste against wet/chilled enemies while creating ice surfaces underneath them, only costing 6 sorcery points (something that is easy to get if you are mostly using cantrips anyway). If you also don't want to bother making enemies wet, then you still have a chance to inflict chilled with Mourning Frost on enemies you are targeting, potentially passively getting the vulnerability bonus anyway. Ray of frost just has way more potential and consistent damage than eldritch blast from what I see. Like you might say that this is like specific sorcerer build, but the reason eldtritch blast gets so much credit is because of how its damage is easily stack-able in specific warlock builds, and as I demonstrated in this build, ray of frost has super easily stack-able damage too and potential for extreme damage.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

I think that's a very reasonable take! Part of why they're rated like this here is the question I'm really asking is "should you take this spell?" A sorcerer without ray of frost will be weaker than one with it of course, but won't be crippled - a warlock without eldritch blast is just an embarrassment to their friends and family.

[@johanedfors3899]

@@Cephalopocalypse I feel like that's more of a fault of the class and not the spell. I mean, would circle of death be ranked higher if it was the only good damage spell of some specific class? I don't think so. The class is just garbage with and without it and will never be considered better than any other class with any other level 6 spells, just like Warlock with Eldritch blast will always be worse than sorcerer and ray of frost (arguably). That's just what I think though.

[@destinygalearies7382]

@@johanedfors3899 He's basically ranking in terms of opportunity cost. So not taking Eldritch Blast as a warlock is bad because your entire build is based around EB, whereas with something like Ray of Frost it's good on a frost build, but there are other equally viable builds such as radiant damage. Basically the difference between "amazing keystone cantrip vs absolute bullshit" (warlock) versus "multiple elemental playstyles that all have their own individual benefits

[@tohrulol]

If I may suggest an idea for a video, I would like to see a video on putting together a spell list for a build. It's not really practical to just pick S-tier spells since many of them use concentration (not to mention they won't all be available to the build). Not enough guide makers talk about how spells work together, how lower tier spells can compliment higher tier spells, spreading out the saves you can target, etc.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

I've done dozens of these - you can find spell lists for specific builds in any of my build guides :D

[@fakeaccount6319]

You spent all that time typing a long ass paragraph when you literally could’ve just visited his page. KZbin IQ

[@tkgg]

My last playthrough was paladin, fighter, bard and cleric so I used both the arcane battery staves to apply heroes feast at the beginning of the day and summon a deva. I could also just restore a lvl 6 spell slot with the pendant if I wanted to keep an arcane battery charge for later or throw a high lvl aid on the team. There's a lot of nifty things you can do in this game. Limitation is your imagination.

[@hahaureadmyname]

Guiding Bolt in B-tier is a surprising opinion. Not only is it solid damage on it's own, but enabling sneak attacks from your rogues or turning potential misses into hits as a bonus is really underrated IME, Healing Word tends to underperform as for the overwhelming majority of the game you average being able to cast only about 15 spells before you need to take a long rest and the small amount of healing typically doesn't mean much in the long run. Essentially, it incurs a very poor spell slot economy.

[@yoshihammerbro435]

The fact that the final hit to end it all in my countless hours and attempts at honor mode was a measly pathetic acid splash is just hilarious

[@lucashampton6269]

Setting up the Susan twist (lmao) was genius by Sutekh. The TARDIS groaning is the indicator of Sutekh being attached to the TARDIS. That groaning started in Wild Blue Yonder after the TARDIS crashed on the ship that had the No-Things. Sutekh probably watched them prey on the Doctor's tumultuous mental state, his connection to found family in Donna. Plant the Harbinger around where the Doctor goes, name her Susan, leave hints like the anagram. Play on the Doctor's familial connections and get him to bend to your will. Genius move really.

[@rubenimmanuel9339]

Globe of invulnerability saves my honour mode in at least 3 separate occasion

[@maddux_17]

would you say that you would rather upcast a level 1 or 2 spell like command rather than using a level 3+ control spell thats in b tier?

[@HereAndThere-o4j]

Lightfoot Halfling. Halfling luck, reroll 1's on any activity. Naturally stealthy, advantage on stealth checks. Portent dice, and spell save dc stacking. Sharpened Snare Cuirass, add full dexterity to armour class, no stealth penalty, and enemies have disadvantage on resisting your attacks and spells that inflict restrained. Including flesh to stone/gold as long as the enemy lacks immutable form.

[@nicholasw3387]

Sleep in act one is the most satisfying spell in the game. 1-3 enemies lose 2 turns and get auto-melee-crits while sleeping, and they have reduced movement from needing to stand up, all with no save or concentration.

[@colin8696908]

Undead dragon was charging up a massive electival blast. I realized that shadowheart had a globe of invulnerability on her, she through that spell down master chief stile and we survived the discharge. Epic moment.

[@ProbeAway]

One of the other things that people seem to overlook with spiritual weapon is that it gives adjacent enemies the threatened condition, meaning you and your companions have advantage against them. It’s just such great utility for a bonus action

[@jsmjsmjsm00]

You do not get advantage from an enemy having the threatened condition. It only gives them disadvantage on ranged attacks.

[@ProbeAway]

@@jsmjsmjsm00 correct, I wrote this four months ago and was mixing things up! I was thinking of rogues, who can make sneak attacks against an enemy adjacent to it (it counts as an ally for that purpose)

[@ayylmao752]

I really love your videos. Thanks for teaching me so much about this game. I do have to say though, I scarcely can ever get spiritual weapon to play in my favor. Usually what ends up happening is that enemies ignore it, run away, its got no attack of opportunity so they can safely just book it. It's got no movement speed so it can rarely catch up. As a result it usually ends up getting one or two hits in, if im lucky, those hits will actually land, and i usually end up just wasting the spell slot. I feel like there's just considerably less high variance spells i can throw out. Id rather put down a moonbeam any day of the week for example. Or for a non concentration spell, a just casting scorching ray or an upcast ice knife or something. I don't know maybe i just need to cast it in better locations or something.

[@tallyhanma.official]

Keep up the great videos

[@HallsteinI]

@ayylmao752 I agree completely, Spiritual Weapon (to me) has similar problems to Cloud of Daggers. That said, if you have access to Sleet Storm in your party and manage to funnel the enemies into Sleet Storm through a choke point that's when Spiritual Weapon has performed really well for me at least since it can't slip on the ice and proned enemies can't take reactions so you can just run the weapon in and out of range repeatedly.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Try using it in chokepoints! The goal with the spell isn't to do damage, it's to distract enemies and block their movement - look for doorways and other obstructions you can use to force them to interact with it.

[@ayylmao752]

@@Cephalopocalypse Thanks. I'll try that out.

[@trengilly01]

Why would you ever take a 1 level dip in to Warlock? Wouldn't it always be better to take Spell Sniper feat (or Magic Initiate Warlock)? if you just want Eldritch Blast? And also for Thaumaturgy wouldn't it be better for a Bard to take Magic Initiate Cleric instead of a one level dip into Cleric?

[@EuphoriaDeep]

Good question. I always dip 2 in warlock if I'm going to at all, so you can get the charisma bonus on EBlast and unlimited darksight. I haven't found thaumaturgy worth going out of your way for.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

A 1-level fiend warlock dip (for a bard or sorcerer) gets you Command and Eldritch Blast, as well as a bunch of extra spell slots. A 1 level Cleric dip gets you heavy armor, shields, guidance, thaumaturgy, bless, and a ton more besides - either give you much more than you'd get from magic initiate. They're not mandatory of course, but if you were looking at magic initiate anyways it's almost always better to just take the class level instead.

[@trengilly01]

Thaumaturgy is what sold me on a Zariel Tiefling. The only othe way to get it. Was perfect for my Vengeance Paladin!@@EuphoriaDeep

[@EuphoriaDeep]

@@trengilly01 Most of the builds I've done so far have been high charisma, so I haven't really needed it yet. I took it once for a Storm Sorcerer with a dip into Storm Cleric, and just ended up never using it.

[@trengilly01]

I like to restrict my characters to just one social skill (Persuasion, Intimidation, Deception or Performance). And have played several non-charisma focused classes. That then defines their character and limits their social options. The role play is just so much more fun and its nice to not automatically be able to pass everything. @@EuphoriaDeep

[@zacharyadler4071]

Shatter is massively underrated here. It is niche but great for mid level Tempest Clerics as the best thunder/lightning AOE damage spell to utilize your channel divinity

[@michasz7693]

Worth noting that warding bond gives resistance to all damage type on target also, so its 50% less dmg on target.

[@JinmingMa-v7b]

Which bolt is tooooooo underrated. First it benefits 1d12 from up casting, which keeps it up with most other high level spells. Second, it deals lightning damage, which takes advantage from wet and Tempest ability. Third, it could even trigger luck of far realm or kill’s sweetheart, dealing double damage on top of already doubled damage by wet. It could one or two shot kill almost all bosses from act1 to act3.

[@ahilal]

It’s so weird to me that people long rest after every fight. I will hang on to my bliss spores absolutely as long as I can. And elixir effects and such.

[@yoruichixx6951]

Its also roleplay friendly, like my guy you sleep for 8 hours after killing 4 goblins

[@tylerwarwick7975]

I see that guiding bolt only got a B and that spell is basically the offensive crutch of every group I've played so far and I'm curious to find out why it's not solidly in A.

[@N-Double-D]

Finished my honor run with your help. Thanks so much.

[@OddConrad]

I've gotten some pretty good mileage out of Mage Armor by casting it on my summons. Few (if any) wear armor, and it's just a nice little buff to let them tank more hits and such

[@AkantorCZ]

I'd put Sun Beam higher. The fact that you can cast it up to 10x without spending additional spell slots as long as you can keep the concentration up is actually pretty good.

[@yaboi7232]

my go to for spells is always ice storm with any area damaging spells like insect swarm or cloudkill on a choke point and just wait as they die

[@beagleplease8693]

you can go one step further and use hunger of hadar, then when everything is struggling to get through that drop your ice storm on top of it, now they have reduced movement and are gonna slip

[@Sparking_Ram]

I played a Circle of Spores Druid and though I wasn't casting tooooo much because, well lets just say everyone I've shown my character has mistaken them for a paladin. but Moonbeam was always a constant for most fights and it was always upcast. The amount of damage it can drop on someone is beyond comical.

[@Longshot-qv8is]

Shocking Grasp with the Lumious Cleric build is so good.

[@BedrockBlocker]

Cone of cold is very good, you can double it against wet targets!

[@doloresabernathy9809]

Haste also had s big AC buff. So its offensive and defensive. No such thing as too much Haste.

[@cameronschmid4773]

Mad disrespect for Warden of Vitality for level 3. Non concentration (IS concentration in 5e), and is a free bonus action 2d6 healing for 10 turns. Paired as a Life Cleric, and you get an additional 5. It’s literally a healers wet dream of a spell. I normally do Spirit Guardians on turn 1, then Warden turn 2. Can’t. Die. Ever. Goated

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Check my build "the best healer in bg3" :D

[@cameronschmid4773]

@@Cephalopocalypse I like it! Currently running a Lore bard with 1 level in Life Cleric (only at level 8). Having an absolute blast with it, healing like crazy, giving Bless and Blade Ward with every one. But, I’m definitely gonna make Shadowheart that build on an Honor mode run so I have a healer!

[@Fallouter123]

There are items that give blessing and weapon DMG resist for 2 turns after healing. So you can heal entire party and summons while giving them OP buffs.

[@davidsalts]

Short comment on the introduction. I believe it is wrong to take into account those who take a long rest after each match, since this is basically a resource-wasting way of playing. There are only two evaluations as I see it, and it's shock value in combat ... i.e. max damage output in a few rounds, and then how to be able to gain efficiency over time if you go without resting.

[@thefish322]

So I am new to bg3 and I was very paranoid in act 1 as a new player taking rests because literally I had played fallout 1 and they had a time limit feature of the game... but after a long gaming session of conserving as a new player I would just create or load an old save before a battle and just go all out and use up like 100 bombs and barrels lol 😆

[@IlRe720]

Scorching ray also let you stack acuity pretty easily in combat, with the fire acuity hat, especially on a sorc with quickened and hold monster in act 3 it’s S tier imo in that situation XD

[@carlosleite7011]

i think Hold monster should be A tier, same as Hold person. With some spell save DC itens and some arcane acuity scources, on act III you can easily achieve 25+ DC on your spells with a Bard or Wizard (without even using Hat of Fire Acuity or Helmet of Arcane Acuity, just use elixir of battlemage power), this is enough to guarantee a hold monster even against the strongest enemies in the game. I don't even know the moveset of some bosses, because i just exausted their legendary resistance and continously cast enchantment spells and mind blast, so they can't even fight back. Also Tasha's Hideous Laughter seens to be a very underated spell, should be A tier too, because it can be as good as Otto's Irresistible Dance if you have high DC and the enemy doen's have legendary resistance anymore, also it's only a level 1 spell slot.

[@Reddotzebra]

One other hilarious thing with moonbeam is... Remember your comment about how friendship was good enough just because you could use it to win the persuasion checks on the Act 2 bosses? Moonbeam is also custom made to melt those bosses to bonemeal, which is a major part of why I always want a druid in my party.

[@peanuts7324]

i would move sleep up to at least B since in early game (what i would say is one of the hardest points in the game) it can be extremely useful. after level 4 though its pretty useless since the upcast scaling is ass

[@nat.1193]

Witch's Bolt amazingly serves as an early game nuke when upcasted, especially with 2 levels in tempest cleric. Utilizing Luck of the far realm you can force a 96 damage crit, which is frankly absurd at lvl 3-4.

[@ryanstewart2289]

I almost always give my full casters Shocking Grasp to my full casters if they can take it. It's decent damage, it's a relevant damage type, it's almost always better than a regular melee attack, and it's great for when their fighter gets in your wizard's face and you need to get out of there.

[@Kirahie]

Most of the list was doing well, minor disagreements, then we hit 3rd level and i disagreed with.... a lot. The s tier is fine, but it seems like several b tiers should be high A. For 4th level i dont even see the polymorph symbol on the list which is the best 4th level spell. Greater invisibility is also way better then conjur woodland being.

[@Lowetide87]

Thought I’d add a comment to say you’ve earned a subscriber and new follower from this series. In a couple of videos you comment on what draws in new blood - for me it’s high quality content (there’s a LOT of BG3 stuff out there, it’s annoying when people post videos and clearly don’t know the game as well as the average audience member), a series of longer average content (I’m used to Dav & OG BG, but I also listen on the drive to work so 17 min videos do nothing for me) and also your view/approach is great (great content, but funny too). I’m a rare commenter but had to shout up!

[@Th3og0ny]

I would argue Shatter is C tier. Reason is early game on either tactician or honour mode, good luck destroying the scrying eyes without shatter

[@equilibrium9135]

Consider making a video for a full 4 members party build with as many of top notch spells as possible and no overlapping concentrations. Curious which party would that actually make.

[@bludart]

Great videos. Have you thought about doing spells from the 5e mod? How about a video about quirks and spell/ability behaviors? I know tool tips aren't always right like produce flame or you mentioned certain spells trigger at the beginning of a turn vs others that trigger at the end for example. A Cephalopocalypse deep dive into these inconsistencies would be amazing.

[@isaz2425]

About otto's irresistible dance. it does have a saving throw. It's not that op anymore (compared to hold monster for example)

[@alexismerlo4521]

Ended the brain last night with dethrone and it felt so, so appropriate. That’s usually the only time I use it but I ended her with it. Was delicious.

[@s.p.1434]

For the second level spells: It should be noted that Enhance ability is quite useful if you don't mind spending a second level spell slot if you are in an area with a lot of lockpicking that needs to be done and you don't have a party rogue/bard or are low on lockpicks. If nothing else it's a huge time saver and on honor mode where you cannot reload after a failed lockpick it can be useful. Also I disagree that prayer of healing is so low a ranked spell. Yes, you can *technically* long rest between every fight, but keep in mind there are a lot of scripted events throughout the game where if you long rest certain characters or events might happen that are "suboptimal" from a roleplaying standpoint for certain characters. I.e. some characters will literally die due to you being "too slow" to save them due to long resting too often. If you're playing a character with such thoughts in mind (or if you simply don't like long resting so often), Pray of Healing is quite useful between fights to help heal up simply due to it FAR outclassing every other healing spell in terms of HP restored per slot level used to do so, especially early game if you don't yet have access to a lot of gold to use to buy extra healing potions. And that is before you factor in any sort of character builds or magic items that proc effects off of restoring hit points like Life Cleric or the items that grant temp hp on a heal. I'd probably label it more C or even possibly B rank myself.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Prayer of healing is a pretty useful spell in tabletop for out of combat healing, but this game gives you healing potions out the ears so in practice you just never need to heal out of combat with spells even if you literally never long rest

[@nicmana6637]

the lightning cantrip is one of my favourites

[@DodgeThatAttack]

im surprised shield of faith is so low. sure its not great on most spellcasters, who actually want to use their concentration spells, but on stuff like paladins, its a great way to gain an almost permanent 2AC buff, while saving most of my spell slots for smites

[@thomasrosendahl2783]

What are the top mono classes? I dont like to multi class if i can avoid it. Im planning to do a solo run on balanced, so it has to be a strong versatile class with support, damage and protection etc.

[@mccoyrj452]

Fighter is particularly strong as a mono class because you do reach 3 attacks per action at high levels as well as having flexibility in armors etc. The subclasses let you be flexible in a lot of ways. Druid is another great one for high end spell casting but can still get in the mix in melee when you need to because of shapeshifting. I would avoid Warlock as a mono class even though by the end you will have an amazing set of spells but it benefits the most from multi classing in my opinion. All in all though any class can do full mono class and be successful you just gotta work around what it’s not good at if you are going solo.

[@Pietime2121]

AestusRPG just made a killer tier list on exactly this 😊

[@proteuswest1084]

In addition to what was already said, Monk is a great mono class…very powerful melee damage with great movement, unique gear sets, and strong control plus some self healing.

[@EggsZacLee]

I would def do paladin or bard

[@Graysett]

Any fighter, Moon Druid, Beastmaster Ranger, Abjuration Wizard, Draconic Sorcerer, any Monk (but they really like going 3 Rogue to get the Thief subclass). Bard too. If you're gonna do a solo run as a monoclass I'd do Moon Druid or maybe Gloomstalker Ranger. Stealth builds can do the majority of encounters on their own if you know how to abuse them, but Moon Druids can be built to do pretty much everything in a much more straight forward manner.

[@RafaelMartins-fg9rb]

Maan.... Why i didnt think about magic missile on that encounter? LoL 😂

[@a-walpatches6460]

Very helpful goto video, cheers. What were the eldritch knight spells that were ranked low because they're only good for that class? I'm about to start my first playthrough, I think there were two and Blade Ward was mentioned in this video but I don't think that was one of the two.

[@u_mad_bro7266]

1st level spells: "The name of the game here is control" Meanwhile command being the only pure control spell in S-Tier

[@Tentacl]

42:50 I used to LOVE enhance ability until I started just carrying SPOILER The Ressonance Stone you get from the end of act 2 near the brain "reader" machine in my inv. Perma advantage on rolls for free and the debuff is VERY situational, basically never matters.

[@Divock]

I thought conjure woodland being was insane when I thought it and the wood woad’s spells (not the resummoning of wood woad since the interface hinted that enough) were one use only. I’m pretty sure I’m using the spell incredibly inefficiently and yet they get so much done (why does the dryad’s bonk ALSO ensnare 😂) The fact that I chose Druid for my first run and there are two additional Druid companions leads to leading entire armies throughout the day and I love it

[@Cephalopocalypse]

I've played this game for 100s of hours and I still keep discovering new abilities that spell has - it's like 20 spells in one! It's ridiculous

[@kylehalpern6695]

I don't get the appeal of hunger of hadar. It does very low damage. Enemies just walk out of it. And darkness doesn't seem to prevent them from hitting me or me from them.

[@bentrieschmann]

You force push them back with your invocation powered eldritch blast. They stay CC'd and take damage. Plus, it hit multiple targets.

[@Jafin16]

I will never forget taking on a certain powerful devil and turning him into a big nothing because of Hunger of Hadar. He basically didn’t take a turn…

[@joaquincaceresguibovich3182]

"usually you get one 6th level spell per day" meanwhile my sorcerer casting 6 chain lighting per long rest

[@pawelsubko7277]

I agree, finaly someone who understands that GoI. On the contrary to the author I don't recommend using it as it is basically broken. Hero's feast is nowhere near. Chain lightning >>> HF.