Abjuration: protection Evocation: Offensive Damage spells (often AOE) Necromancy: Summons Conjuration: Create (usually terrain) Divination: There are literally three divination spells True Strike, See Invis, and Detect Thoughts take this subclass for the features not the spells. Enchantment: Debuffs Transmutation: Buffs Illusion: tricks
The evocation subclass is probably my number one reason for friendly fire incidents. I am so used to Gale casting his fireball wherever he wants, that I occasionally forget to take care where everyone else plants their effects. 😅
@@Chefkraken Oh... I didn't realize it also ignored the half damage, guess I didn't read that through lol. Thanks for the tip, even if it was simply to refute someone who has since deleted their comment lol.
If you choose a high half elf you get some basic proficiencies including light armour and shields. Since quarterstaves are versatile it means you can wield staves *and* shields without any penalties and there are actually some solid light armour picks that allow you to boost your AC without nerfing your spellcasting
Thank you, as someone who’s not used to playing magic users because it seems too complicated, this is extremely helpful. I still don’t quite know how to make Gale the most effective Wizard he can be, but this has taught me a fair bit.
I find Wizard to be one of the simpler ones, to be honest, not a lot of core features besides Arcane Recovery. It all depends on the subclass of choice. If you don't know what spells to bring, think of it more like choosing what you need in a given situation, the right tool for the job, if you will. The added benefit of learning additional spells through scrolls can be wonderful because then you start to think, "How do I best make use of this?"
Fog Cloud can be used to negate ranged characters from shooting your party, giving you ample time to recover or prepare. They might even get closer to you, giving your martial an easier time. Magic Missile's damage might not be the greatest initially, but it's about the fact that it always hits and is a way to knock out a spellcaster's concentration. Something as simple as Longstrider, coupled with Ray or frost, to cause your foes a massive amount of movement disparity, that it might be all you need to deal with a big hulking ogre. Lightning Bolt offers an easier way to not hit allies close by your enemies, and it's less resisted overall for the same damage as a fireball. I'm of the opinion that all spells have a place and purpose. It just comes down to what you need. Good luck with that friend
Most people will say sorcs are just better than wizards and while this is generally true for pure offense and big plays but ive found wizards to be very versatile simply due to larger spell selection and being able to swap between spells even between fights. For my playthrough I had both a sorc and wizard so I could really feel how the two classes compare.
Wizards are complete dogshit compared to sorcerers, they have the exact same drawback of long rest restrictions but do a billion less damage. Easily the worst class in the game. Also ridiculously squishy without the cannon in glass cannon. They are useable but they feel a lot worse than sorc and also have a much worse core stat. CHA is absolutely broken and INT is pretty useless
Sorcerers will always be better than wizards inside a video game, at least until AI dungeon masters become a thing. Wizards don't really shine without the freeform nature of tabletop, and they were also severely nerfed by WotC in 5E.
@@HenriFaust ToEE wizard's Tasha's hideous laughter was an AoE. Dominate person basically lasted for like a week. You could make so much fodder for yourself and still rest a few times. Still, Think i'll get on the Enchantment wizard again. If you can pull 2 enemies in a single turn to either bumble around or do what you want, I'm intrigued.
Any time I pulled off some kind of crazy play as a Wizard, my friend would notice and coined the term, "Oh shit he's Wizzen out!" And it always makes me laugh
I had a lot of fun on my illusion wizard playthrough. Used images to distract enemies, and being able to dodge an attack at 10th level came in very handy. You can get really creative!
Absolutely, a great mind can come up with some great ideas! Three of the subclasses provide you with a way to keep your concentration with varying potency. Conjuration has the most potent effect, but only for its school, Transmuter can use their stone to get Con saves, and can even give this stone to others! Like a cleric's Spirit Guardians, for instance. Abjuration's ward will prevent you from even MAKING the check because the ward took the damage, not you. This effect also benefits other casters that you protect with the level 6 feature by giving your ward to others. You can indeed get creative!
Oh one thing you didn't mention in the intro about sorc vs. wizard is there are a bunch of spells in the game that ONLY come from scrolls, meaning at best a Sorc can cast them 1 time, but the wizard gets them forever.
@@hzt_rzkyi In act3 there is an uber version of magic missile. I one-shot a few bosses with it combined with the illithid power that causes vulnerability.
@@hzt_rzkyi For example a named familiar quazit "Shovel" with dialogue that you can pick up in Act 1 as a quest scroll, if I lose it as my Sorc right now, it will just die. Wizard, if he ate a scroll, now just have a permanent Companion with cool dialogue and battle speeches. That can be perma invisible, frighten targets and do 2-12 damage. He just might be the best scout in the game, not sure? I can walk around enemy camps freely or even walk around battlefield with my entire party in battle, open doors, pull some (not all) leavers, destroy key environment like War Drums in Goblin camp if we got engaged by surprise. But with Sorc I'm a bit afraid to engage him in battle, so as not to lose him, I know with Wizard I would have thrown him in all the time no problem, cus I can always resummon.
@@ookam9685 Scroll of Summon Quasit "The Secret Necromancer Cellar is in the Blighted Village section of BG3. You need to head down the hatch and pull a lever hidden behind some boxes to unlock a bookcase door that will lead you to the Secret Cellar. The scroll will be inside one of the wooden caskets.
I can't emphasize enough how powerful the level 10 ability for Conjuration wizard is. Wizards frequently take the Resilient: Constitution feat to gain advantage on Constitution saving throws so they don't lose concentration, but Conjuration wizards simply do not lose concentration on their conjuration spells which effectively frees up an additional feat for you to take. Create water is surprisingly good as you can combo it with lightning spells from your druid companions and do better AoE than an Evocation wizard. Benign transposition is also good since you usually cast at least one conjuration spell a fight and get one or two free teleports, making you the most mobile class outside of monk. Make Gale a Conjuration wizard on your next playthrough, really invest in learning all the good Conjuration spells, and you might be surprised how good it is.
"Hi I'm a conjuration wizard, why do I need to end the possibility of friendly fire and cantrips that can't miss when I can summon water...as my turn action...once? Well, that's all for now, conjuring that water wore me out, and its time to long rest." Seriously though, every subclass can learn every spell in exchange for a few gold, the subclasses only matter for their perks and Evocation is, rightly or wrongly, the only one that matters. I hope they offer some buffs for conjuration at some point, like extra summons at once or more damage/hp for a summons or something to make it worth it. Edit: Oh, and Gale is a natural Enchantment wizard...tell me I'm wrong.
@@fortusvictus8297 Friendly fire is not a factor at all with good positioning, and you barely use damage-dealing cantrips once you get more spell slots. A buff to conjured allies like Necromancy gets would be nice, but if you play a Conjuration wizard as you should, with map denial spells like Stinking Cloud and Cloudkill (that CANNOT be broken), it's the 2nd-best wizard subclass after Necromancy. Evocation is for people who just want to turn their brain off and blast as if wizard were like every other class.
If need water surface, unless you equipped a character with an item that let you to cast create water for free, it's much convenient to throw bottled water into the enemy than expending a spell slot.
Yes, Conjuration is almost as good as evocation, but neither is anywhere near as good as Transmutation. The level 6 'Transmuter's Stone' ability is just massively OP!!!! Give PERMANENT buffs to yourself and everyone in your party(Superior Darkvision, or CON save Proficiency, or Move +10ft, or Resistance[1/2 dam] to Acid/Cold/Fire/Lightning/Thunder). And these buffs can be swapped out at a moments notice, at any time! OP, I said!! The elemental resistance can be replaced with an elixer, but the 3 other permanent buffs are difficult to get any other way.
@@cecagna The problem with Necromancy is that minion management is a complete pain in the butt. In my book, the Transmutaion 6th level 'Transmutation Stone' power is completely OP.
Divination Wizard. The absolute BEST wizard subclass. At lvl 6 you get a portent dice back on a short rest. This is absolutely broken. Load up on spells that have detrimental effects when you fail a saving throw and you can guarantee effects. A failed fear saving throw.. or slow.. or polymorph can take a tough fight and make it considerably easier. The best part is yolu can see the portent dice each day, so you know what you have available to you.
Playing a divination wizard myself and it's loads of fun. Cast hypnotic pattern onto a group, for those that would succeed the saving throw, use portent dice, profit. I will say that getting a save on a damage roll is less impactful than landing a crucial crowd control spell so I think divination generally pairs better with control wizard builds compared to blaster builds. In my opinion, playing a wizard as a blaster is missing its potential anyway.
Absolutely. The combination of Resilient Sphere or Banishment and Portent means saying "Goodbye dangerous enemy, I'll deal with you when I'm done killing all your friends." It has a massive impact on combat, as it should. However, I always dip Sorcerer for the Extended Spell metamagic. Larian greatly reduced the duration of the best CC spells. I disagreed. ;-P
@@loganmulroney It's "only" on rolls where your prepared dice make a difference. I play tactician so I tend to play "slow" anyway and it doesn't bother me. For "small" fights you can turn it off like any reaction, just don't forget to turn it back on when you need it.
Subclasses for mage as nothing to do with the "type of magic you want to use", but more with the passive/bonus each subclasses provide. Abjuration for instance give you more tankiness with the ward. Evocation will help you cast aoe damage without touching your ally, ect... The reduce cost for learning spell from scroll is almost negligeable, especially at low level. You can choose a school and cast any spell you want.
What, are you honestly saying that in act 3 when you want to learn level 6 spells, the difference between it costing 300 and 150 doesn't matter? *checks whether they still got more than 100k gold Okay, you might have a point.
Note that currently if you have spell slots of a certain level BG3 will still let you learn and memorize wizard spells of that level. So you can go 1 Wizard/11 Cleric and have access to level 6 wizard AND cleric spells. You would just be restricted to memorizing only a few wizard spells at a time as you can have (wizard level + intelligence modifier) spells memorized. I don't know if this is a bug that will be patched or working as intended.
The spells you get from the wizard tower vault are great and one benefit of playing a wizard over sorcerer, since you can’t learn them on level up but can copy them to your spellbook.
I've been considering a Multiclass between a wizard and a cleric. Abjuration spells seem fairly common for clerics, and you also gain the ability to have healing spells as well as well as being really defensible from the Ward. I've easily gotten it up to 15 or so early on from casting things like Aid and making use of Counterspell, of course
2 Evoker / 10 Storm Sorcerer my favourite Arcane Multiclass. Effectively, the warped headband of intellect allows any class to dip into Wizard and as long as your main class is a full casting class, you'll be able to cast lv6 Wizard Spells at a +3 modifier (from 17 INT) if you wish. That includes all the unique spells you'll get from Ramazith's Tower.
Was about to mention the item too. Note you can get it pretty early in act 1 too. Similar how the DEX gloves gives 18 DEX, should make for some interesting OP builds since it leaves so many more points to put into something else as long as you don't mind not being able to hit the 20 cap. Edit: Just thought of using both the DEX gloves and the INT helm at the same time on the same character.
@@zartle873 spell progression between classes stacks. So a 2Wiz/1Sor can learn lv2 spells from Scrolls and upcasted lv1 spells to lv2. The class levels only determine which spells you can learn through level-up. But CASTER LEVELS increase each time you level in a class that provides those, irrespective of which class it is. 4Druid/4Cle/4bard can only learn lv2 spells, but because each of these classes adds Caster Levels, you have the same amount of spell slots as a level 12 Wizard. It's why dipping into Wizard is broken for basically every casting class.
Does that mean that you start as a wizard and then multiclass into a sorcerer and change the stats to those of a sorc? Or do you start as a sorcerer and at level 11 you multiclass into wizard?
@@DarkFriday1408 there are plenty of ways to make it work. Personally, I like to start with the Sorc levels first, to get proficiency in CON saves. The best races are Githyanki, Shield Dwarf or Elf thanks to their Armor and Weapons proficiency.
It is so funny to me that I chose wizard as my first character because HOLY SHIT was I not ready for everything that is going on with this class. Luckily, warlock allowed me to dip my toe into the casting world and I have this channel to thank for it. I also have this channel to thank for my main class as well (circle of the moon druid). I would not be enjoying this incredible game nearly as much as I have been if not for this channel.
Let's not forget the strongest wizard build. A single level then 11 levels of sorcerer/cleric/druid/bard - all the spellcasting through scrolls with none of the nuisance.
@@nathanfivecoate5848 How is it different than the 2 lvl fighter dip on almost any marital build. 1 lvl Wizard dip is a great addition to any caster build but you will be limited in terms of number of spells and spell DC/Spell attack. There are definitely some unique Wizard fully dedicated builds.
Currently at lv9 transmutation wiz for the eventual bluejay. One to two levels of sorc give you a bit of nice efficiency with free mage armor from draconic blood and meta magic for twin spell etc.
Alchemy tip: if you respec to Wizard: Trasmutation with Medicine and high Wisdom (all other stats are irrelevant), have a Owl's Wisdom buff and do Alchemy then, you have big chances to get 2x the potions. After finishing, just respec back to your build - 200 gold total for respecs will give you double the potions.
Of note regarding armor, I discovered that Mage Armor does still work even if you're using a shield (but not other armor). Additionally, you can still cast spells while equipped with a shield AND a weapon. So if you're proficient with shields, you can get the +2 AC on top of Mage Armor, which is quite nice.
And potentially some very handy enchantments on that shield to boot. Half elf race is quite OP for a mage in that regard, you can get 18 AC as soon as you step out of the Nautiloid, kind of crazy.
At level 6, Divination Wizards receive a third Porten Die, and more importantly, *_all Portent Dice are refreshed after every Short Rest!_* This means *_SIX_* Portent Die per Long Rest. Borderline overpowered but also very fun to use. Also very cool from an RP/Lore perspective (your Diviner is so powerful that he can literally alter destiny~)
@@Guaguadeath you can force a d20 roll to be whatever you have rolled for those portent dies, and it works for both your own party and the enemy's rolls. So you can, for instance force an enemy to have rolled a 2 on a saving throw versus a spell you cast, if you got a 2 as one of your portent dies. Or just decide that your Paladin's attack was a natural 20 instead of a miss (again, if one your portent dies that you rolled after the most recent rest was a 20).
@@GuaguadeathIt allows you to change a dice roll to whatever one of your portent die is. If an enemy rolled high enough to hit and one of your portent dice is a 1, you can force them to take the 1 and critically miss. Likewise, if an ally were to miss an attack, but one of your portent dice is a 20, you can have them take the 20 and crit instead of missing. It essentially allows you to manipulate dice rolls in your favor based on what you get for your portent dice. You roll your portent dice to determine what they’ll be, then “pocket” them to later use whenever you want. 20 and 1 are the best possible for obvious reasons, but 15 and above along with 5 and below are very useful as well.
Finally touching on the non-super popular classes! I know why they're coming out in the order they have but I am dying for weirdos like Monk, Druid, and Ranger to get covered!
I've really enjoyed having Gale on the team. Nothing like teleporting behind a group of enemies and thundering them off a cliff. Walls are also fantastic. Wall of Fire is devastating, and Wall of Stone affords so many tactical options its crazy - I am sure there are ways to do the Iron Throne rescue without it but having it during that quest it was a lifesaver.
Tempest Sorcerer can fly from Level 1 after casting any spell. Ritual Caster feat on level 4 makes it a "Fly on demand" out of combat feature too. I'm having a blast with that right now.
Yeah, I am so glad I picked up Gale in my party as permanent party member and his story gets even more interesting further in the game! I only swap him for others, when I need to complete certain character-specific quests. I am just too biased to swap my best girls instead lol 😅
Divination > everything. Evocation is kinda ok, but if you need dakka mage - pick sorcerer. Fighter and clearic at lvl 1 (thx to respec) is a great choise. Heavy armor, shield, and stuff.
Transmutation is strongest to me. Double potion creation, and Transmutation Constitution Stone (basically its resilient). Add that with War caster or Elixir of Focus makes a strong concentration spellcaster (Call Lightning as example), and the other benefits of CON
Thank you for this guide, lot's of great info in it. One thing I was hoping to find was a description of how to best use Gale (I'm not a wizard myself) in the game - which mostly means in combat. Figuring out how to best use each character in combat seems to be the most challenging part of this game. I'll search your other videos to see if you have one that helps with this.
Both perfect choices for evil wizard. Necromancy is harder to rp tho, but is the most “evil”. Sickeningly so. Enchantment is perfect for a cunning , evil manipulator type
I think you are overemphasizing the benefits of armor for wizards specifically. Wizards really shouldn't be frontlining and there are some really awesome robes in game that you want to use anyway. There's also 14 dex for +2, and armor increasing gear, so you can get very decent armor class as a wizard in a robe and you have the shiled spell for when you mess up. There's also gear that increases AC when not wearing armor. Not to spoil specifics, but my wizard is comfortably walking around with 20 AC and he's not even hogging all the AC gear, in a robe. Shield would be great if I had proficiency, but there are other things that I value higher. There's also creative ways to defend yourself, like darkness, or playing divination, or other creative ideas. I am playing as a gnome and having advantage on three separate mental saving throws is in my opinion worth more than armor for a wizard.
Definitely something to consider, Arcane Ward helps shore up the times you do get hit should you get hit by critical attacks. I've had several occasions where I take no damage from a crit
5e has some really fun magic to throw around but managing components, slots and AoEs was never for me. Glad the game streamlines it so well and balanced it all with Gale eating all of my loot and excluding the... ethically challenging sections of the spell list.
Taking one level in dragon sorcerer: white gives you armor of agathys. Pair this with Abjuration wizard and max cast AoA, and your wizard becomes a super punishing tank for enemies. It's better to take sorcerer over warlock because it preserves spell slot progression.
From an Abjuration addict, yes, the Ward always takes damage before everything else. They even made it better than tabletop, in 5E it was effectively a health pool, in BG3 it absorbs the damage then ticks down by 1 for EACH instance of damage. So 10, then 9, so on so forth. So, you got your regular health, your temp health, and your Ward Health. To further add to this Thorny build, take Fire Shield, you get to choose between fire and ice resistance, and do additional retaliation damage, on TOP of the Agathys
Transmutation Wizard is the best stay at home Wizard. Max Wis, take medicine and use enhanced ability to make those DC 15 medicine checks fir double pots. Level 6 is a free buff for a party member while gale just sits at xamp.
I've been waiting for this guide. It definitely has helped & is giving me ideas for my guy to come to life, even if the race & class combo isn't the best.
So I made an unkillable abjuration god. One level war domain cleric. Heavy armor proficiency, extra attacks, and abjuration cantrips. One level sorc to get the shield spell from the white dragon ancestry. Then the rest in the abjuration wizard. Activate shields stand in battle. You either won't get hit or will explode dealing massive AOE damage.
@@DoffyDogg but if you attack someone with a zombie and he dies he will turn into a zombie .. 😂 gonna try spore druid next .. I'm so into it since I watched last of us recently 😂
Since im playing a dark urge necromancer wizard i turned gale into a transmutation wizard keeping him at camp using it to make the stone and double potions etc when needed
Getting 1 level of Wizard for another caster class is OP: you can learn any Wizard spell (from scrolls) that your TOTAL combined caster level could cast. I.e. get Haste for any caster for just a 1 level dip. 😉
I was just looking this up last night. I am going to predict the TL;DR of it is: Only Evocation matters, all the others were phoned in. This hurts my soul as Gale is an obvious match for Enchantment Wizard, and my favorite is Conjuration Wizard in 5e play. This is one area Larian fell short with many opportunities to make the subclasses matter, but they went the 'nuke only' route.
Something I’d like to point out is that Resilient feat gives you proficiency in the saving throw of the ability you pick. This means the bonus at level 12 is +4 on top of your constitution modifier. Warcaster gives advantage on concentration checks. Advantage is approximately equivalent to a +5 bonus on any d20 roll. For concentration specifically, therefore Warcaster is better throughout the whole game.
It's true, Warcaster is better for passing Concentration checks, especially at low levels. But Resilient Con gives you a stat point, and helps you resist Con save spells as well.
Hope in the 3 wizards builds guide you do multiclass builds for Arcane Trickster and Eldritch Knight. Everyone already knows about a level 1 dip into wizard for the other caster classes to learn all the spells, and those two suggestions are the only other classes that use intelligence as far as I remember. Great content either way man. Hope we see Baldurs Gate content from you for a long time to come.
Seriously you guys are ignoring dual wield feat for dual wield staff. There are a lot of staff here that are awesome. Also dont forget to dual wield hand crossbow, so you can always use your bonus action for cheap shots. Those +1 in the weapon and +2 in the dex will help in hitting despite not being proficient with it
@@dntthe88 this needs further testing. Im still not sure about spells from 2 non identical staff. For me i used 2 melfs first staff, and the 2 staff share one free melf acid arrow.
Monk/Wizard is good too if you want to use a robe and still get some AC from WIS or get enough monk to get stunning strike if you get in melee and need to hit them and get away, or abilities like patient defense, step of the wind, etc. are good as well.
Man, i wish my gameplay was as smooth as your gameplay. My gtx 1060 6gb / i7 8750h potato laptop has really started struggling in act2. I think might try out grforce now!
Oh and Divination Wizard is underrated. Changing the result of the roll is very powerful, especially when you get hit with a critical and you just say, "uh, no thank you take this 4 instead."
I like Abjuration personally, it enables the Wizard to be on the field longer, even if you're good about not getting hit to often, the times when you do, the Ward keeps you around, and you can give it to others, even if you're hitting your allies with your AOE spells, you can protect one if it's absolutely necessary. And it negates making concentration checks should you negate all the damage of an attack with big Ward. Conjuration Wizards might not have to worry about this as much, but being able to maintain concentration on any spells just by negating the damage of it is quite nice to me
I dont plan on sub classing my Teifling necromancer however im considering changing from necromancer to illusionist for that sweet battlefield control.
What is the maximum charge level for Abjuration Ward? There has to be one, otherwise the theoretical limit would be 83 based ONLY on wizard level+natural wizard spell slots. That would let you block over 50 damage per hit for at least 30 hits. Also sacrificing your entire ward to reduce ONE attack aimed at an ally seems really dumb, thoughts?
High Elf Nature Cleric 1 / Divination Wizard 11...taking Cleric at level 1 gets you heavy armor, shields, martial weapons (although not needed), Shillelagh cantrip for staff melee attacks, Speak with Animals, Charm Animals, Healing Word, Guidance, etc. And, the rest of the Wizard build allows continued spell slot progression while learning new spells via scrolls before I'm supposed to be able to learn them (being 1 level behind a pure Wizard build). This is a GREAT combo which is hard to hit, doesn't need Mage Armor (AC 18 is easy to get) and has a ton of utility.
Are you going to do a cleric video soon? I'm particularly interested in Tempest clerics as they seems to have the potential for a very competent spellsword class.
From personal experience, Tempest and War Domain Clerics do indeed make good gishes in the tabletop game. I imagine Tempest will be even moreso effective given that it's easy to douse enemies in water.
No one remembers to give enchantment wizard credit for being able to double cast any single target control spell for 0 additional cost from level 10 onwards. Not forgetting no boss is immune to hold monster/ person
Wizard penny pinching: When you level up learn spells that are not from your school of magic. Learn your school of magic from scrolls. If you reflexively take your school of magic when you level up there is a whole subclass benefit you’ll not be able to make much use out of. This is especially easy if you know you already have the scroll in your inventory.
I highly regret choosing Cipher - a debuff class - in Pillars of Eternity 2, since ALL bosses were immune to debuffs. Wizard seems to be the Cipher of BG3.
With wizards, if you go out of your way to learn every spell you can, really do have an answer for every encounter. Very exploitable on 2nd and 3rd playthroughs when you have a good idea what's coming, but with enough experience, you can play wizards just fine by having a good cross-section of spells memorized for what you expect to be doing that day. Exploring or stealing? Movement spells and Disguise Self/Seeming. Fighting brute enemies? Wisdom Saving Throw control-type spells. Fighting other casters? Plenty of Counterspelling about to occur and things that break concentration (i.e. Magic missile or Shield-bypass alternatives). Playing Defense? Wall of Fire and Glyph of Warding.
@@ryllharu Ok, that sounds exciting - thank you. I'm intrigued by evocation and illusion spells. Are things like the cloud spell versatile or will I hinder my own group too much with such shenanigans? (I'd like to make fights as different from one another as possible) Oh, and will my concentration be broken often (without that one spell school lvl10 bonus)? A lot of spells seem to be concentration-based.
@@Daskard Cloud spells you tend to not want to use on your own party if you can help it, but there are exceptions. Fog Cloud/Darkness can protect the entire party from archers, but the other ones are generally offensive and should be used to shrink or split the battlefield. Constitution and Bless can ensure Concentration is harder to break. Other spells like mage armor, blur, or mirror image can help with that too. I tend not to use Concentration spells much since I made a squishier wizard, but I don't feel any lesser for it.
Silly question, do you have a Playlist set up for all the class guides? The only Playlist I can find is with the early builds and the early access guids vs these videos.
Unfortunately, compared to sorcerers I feel like wizards can’t compete. Why would I play a wizard when I could play sorcerer and reap the benefits of meta magic?
Only because wizard has access to scrolls that have spells that sorcerer at best will only be able to use once. A wizard can study and learn the scrolls to use as many times as they like. Giving them more magic overall However If you take the dip for wizard you can have the benefits of a wizard with the meta magic of a sorcerer You dip sorcerer, then go wizard the. You can go cleric and have access to cleric, wizard, and sorcerer spells as wizard can study and learn cleric spells too. Get your cake and eat it too.
I think specifically to make a necromancer build wizard is probably the best. It’s also more about combining utility with offense and just being the most prepared that you can be for a fight, since wizards can learn way more spells. The raw damage output per turn of sorcerers is always going to be higher thanks to meta magic, but you’re also churning through resources like crazy, so the utility/ strategy advantages you gain as a wizard are a fair trade off imo.
unsure if this is intended, but the portent die doesnt actually even use a reaction to activate, you can use it multiple times per round in addition to your reaction. wildly strong battlefield control
You are correct. There are technically two types of Reactions. Ones that use the "Reaction Resource" and ones that do not. Portent Die doesn't. But you still use a Reaction to implement its die and it is setup under the Reactions tab.
@Fextralife is the pop up for portents dice also coming up and shooting to deal with? Or do they only come up when one of your dive would change a result?
Love your guides, always look for them when I want to understand a class. But there's so few, unfortunately. Please make a guide on Cleric, I want and play with Shadowheart in my party, but I don't want to make her work as a Rogue alternative. I want her to have a more classic role of a Healer. And although Life Cleric works great so far, I would like to know all the options for her in more detail, as I am just level 5 still. It's also a good idea to make a guide about, apparently, the most popular companion's class (her and Asterion) so it will bring in more views for you.
I'll get through all the classes, it just takes a long time as I have to play and level each one to get a good understanding, then write up and produce the video. I'll get there!
Wizard equipment: At lower levels casters are often better off using ranger weapon attacks instead of cantrips if they have some dexterity. The key is adding in your attribute modifier. In older editions all casters were basically just terrible archers who could cast a couple of spells per day. Now that’s not much of a thing. But, you can look at accuracy for spell and compare that to accuracy for a ranged weapon attack and make your choice.
With a CON of 16 your Concentration saves will be just fine. War Caster(Advantage[+4] to CON saves) is better than Resilient: CON(Proficiency[+2] for CON saves), but both are not as useful as just taking the ASI to get your INT to 20.
Wanna hear you guys about what i am doing with my Gale - 2lv in wizard to get evocation sub class (no friendly fire lol), rest in sorcerer with dragonblood so i can get more AC. i have my stats in 8str, 14dex, 16 cons, 10 int, 10wis and 16 charisma. At the begining using that circlet that gives 17 in int.
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Abjuration: protection
Evocation: Offensive Damage spells (often AOE)
Necromancy: Summons
Conjuration: Create (usually terrain)
Divination: There are literally three divination spells True Strike, See Invis, and Detect Thoughts take this subclass for the features not the spells.
Enchantment: Debuffs
Transmutation: Buffs
Illusion: tricks
10 months later, I thank you.
The evocation subclass is probably my number one reason for friendly fire incidents. I am so used to Gale casting his fireball wherever he wants, that I occasionally forget to take care where everyone else plants their effects. 😅
@@latenightcynic3582Sculpt Spells causes friendly characters to autopass saves AND ignore the half damage on passed saves from evocation spells
@@Chefkraken But does fireball ignite the terrain?
@@anto8375 Only if there's flammable material like oil or other materials.
@@Chefkraken Oh... I didn't realize it also ignored the half damage, guess I didn't read that through lol. Thanks for the tip, even if it was simply to refute someone who has since deleted their comment lol.
Anyone know why my subclass choice hasn't appeared when I hit level 2 I'm on level 5 now it still hasn't come up I'm confused
If you choose a high half elf you get some basic proficiencies including light armour and shields. Since quarterstaves are versatile it means you can wield staves *and* shields without any penalties and there are actually some solid light armour picks that allow you to boost your AC without nerfing your spellcasting
light armour nerfing a spellcasting ?
@@chocho6766 if you are able to wear it then no penalty applied to the character
Thank you, as someone who’s not used to playing magic users because it seems too complicated, this is extremely helpful. I still don’t quite know how to make Gale the most effective Wizard he can be, but this has taught me a fair bit.
I find Wizard to be one of the simpler ones, to be honest, not a lot of core features besides Arcane Recovery. It all depends on the subclass of choice. If you don't know what spells to bring, think of it more like choosing what you need in a given situation, the right tool for the job, if you will. The added benefit of learning additional spells through scrolls can be wonderful because then you start to think, "How do I best make use of this?"
Fog Cloud can be used to negate ranged characters from shooting your party, giving you ample time to recover or prepare. They might even get closer to you, giving your martial an easier time. Magic Missile's damage might not be the greatest initially, but it's about the fact that it always hits and is a way to knock out a spellcaster's concentration. Something as simple as Longstrider, coupled with Ray or frost, to cause your foes a massive amount of movement disparity, that it might be all you need to deal with a big hulking ogre. Lightning Bolt offers an easier way to not hit allies close by your enemies, and it's less resisted overall for the same damage as a fireball. I'm of the opinion that all spells have a place and purpose. It just comes down to what you need. Good luck with that friend
Most people will say sorcs are just better than wizards and while this is generally true for pure offense and big plays but ive found wizards to be very versatile simply due to larger spell selection and being able to swap between spells even between fights. For my playthrough I had both a sorc and wizard so I could really feel how the two classes compare.
Wizards are complete dogshit compared to sorcerers, they have the exact same drawback of long rest restrictions but do a billion less damage. Easily the worst class in the game. Also ridiculously squishy without the cannon in glass cannon. They are useable but they feel a lot worse than sorc and also have a much worse core stat. CHA is absolutely broken and INT is pretty useless
Sorcerers will always be better than wizards inside a video game, at least until AI dungeon masters become a thing. Wizards don't really shine without the freeform nature of tabletop, and they were also severely nerfed by WotC in 5E.
@@HenriFaust ToEE wizard's Tasha's hideous laughter was an AoE. Dominate person basically lasted for like a week. You could make so much fodder for yourself and still rest a few times. Still, Think i'll get on the Enchantment wizard again. If you can pull 2 enemies in a single turn to either bumble around or do what you want, I'm intrigued.
Any time I pulled off some kind of crazy play as a Wizard, my friend would notice and coined the term, "Oh shit he's Wizzen out!" And it always makes me laugh
I had a lot of fun on my illusion wizard playthrough. Used images to distract enemies, and being able to dodge an attack at 10th level came in very handy. You can get really creative!
Absolutely, a great mind can come up with some great ideas! Three of the subclasses provide you with a way to keep your concentration with varying potency. Conjuration has the most potent effect, but only for its school, Transmuter can use their stone to get Con saves, and can even give this stone to others! Like a cleric's Spirit Guardians, for instance. Abjuration's ward will prevent you from even MAKING the check because the ward took the damage, not you. This effect also benefits other casters that you protect with the level 6 feature by giving your ward to others. You can indeed get creative!
Oh one thing you didn't mention in the intro about sorc vs. wizard is there are a bunch of spells in the game that ONLY come from scrolls, meaning at best a Sorc can cast them 1 time, but the wizard gets them forever.
for example? sorry I need to fantasize about playing the OP character first before actually playing it
@@hzt_rzkyi In act3 there is an uber version of magic missile. I one-shot a few bosses with it combined with the illithid power that causes vulnerability.
@@hzt_rzkyi For example a named familiar quazit "Shovel" with dialogue that you can pick up in Act 1 as a quest scroll, if I lose it as my Sorc right now, it will just die. Wizard, if he ate a scroll, now just have a permanent Companion with cool dialogue and battle speeches. That can be perma invisible, frighten targets and do 2-12 damage. He just might be the best scout in the game, not sure? I can walk around enemy camps freely or even walk around battlefield with my entire party in battle, open doors, pull some (not all) leavers, destroy key environment like War Drums in Goblin camp if we got engaged by surprise. But with Sorc I'm a bit afraid to engage him in battle, so as not to lose him, I know with Wizard I would have thrown him in all the time no problem, cus I can always resummon.
Is this the dog?
@@ookam9685 Scroll of Summon Quasit "The Secret Necromancer Cellar is in the Blighted Village section of BG3. You need to head down the hatch and pull a lever hidden behind some boxes to unlock a bookcase door that will lead you to the Secret Cellar. The scroll will be inside one of the wooden caskets.
I can't emphasize enough how powerful the level 10 ability for Conjuration wizard is. Wizards frequently take the Resilient: Constitution feat to gain advantage on Constitution saving throws so they don't lose concentration, but Conjuration wizards simply do not lose concentration on their conjuration spells which effectively frees up an additional feat for you to take.
Create water is surprisingly good as you can combo it with lightning spells from your druid companions and do better AoE than an Evocation wizard. Benign transposition is also good since you usually cast at least one conjuration spell a fight and get one or two free teleports, making you the most mobile class outside of monk.
Make Gale a Conjuration wizard on your next playthrough, really invest in learning all the good Conjuration spells, and you might be surprised how good it is.
"Hi I'm a conjuration wizard, why do I need to end the possibility of friendly fire and cantrips that can't miss when I can summon water...as my turn action...once? Well, that's all for now, conjuring that water wore me out, and its time to long rest."
Seriously though, every subclass can learn every spell in exchange for a few gold, the subclasses only matter for their perks and Evocation is, rightly or wrongly, the only one that matters. I hope they offer some buffs for conjuration at some point, like extra summons at once or more damage/hp for a summons or something to make it worth it.
Edit: Oh, and Gale is a natural Enchantment wizard...tell me I'm wrong.
@@fortusvictus8297 Friendly fire is not a factor at all with good positioning, and you barely use damage-dealing cantrips once you get more spell slots. A buff to conjured allies like Necromancy gets would be nice, but if you play a Conjuration wizard as you should, with map denial spells like Stinking Cloud and Cloudkill (that CANNOT be broken), it's the 2nd-best wizard subclass after Necromancy. Evocation is for people who just want to turn their brain off and blast as if wizard were like every other class.
If need water surface, unless you equipped a character with an item that let you to cast create water for free, it's much convenient to throw bottled water into the enemy than expending a spell slot.
Yes, Conjuration is almost as good as evocation, but neither is anywhere near as good as Transmutation. The level 6 'Transmuter's Stone' ability is just massively OP!!!! Give PERMANENT buffs to yourself and everyone in your party(Superior Darkvision, or CON save Proficiency, or Move +10ft, or Resistance[1/2 dam] to Acid/Cold/Fire/Lightning/Thunder). And these buffs can be swapped out at a moments notice, at any time! OP, I said!! The elemental resistance can be replaced with an elixer, but the 3 other permanent buffs are difficult to get any other way.
@@cecagna The problem with Necromancy is that minion management is a complete pain in the butt. In my book, the Transmutaion 6th level 'Transmutation Stone' power is completely OP.
Divination Wizard. The absolute BEST wizard subclass. At lvl 6 you get a portent dice back on a short rest. This is absolutely broken. Load up on spells that have detrimental effects when you fail a saving throw and you can guarantee effects. A failed fear saving throw.. or slow.. or polymorph can take a tough fight and make it considerably easier. The best part is yolu can see the portent dice each day, so you know what you have available to you.
Playing a divination wizard myself and it's loads of fun. Cast hypnotic pattern onto a group, for those that would succeed the saving throw, use portent dice, profit. I will say that getting a save on a damage roll is less impactful than landing a crucial crowd control spell so I think divination generally pairs better with control wizard builds compared to blaster builds. In my opinion, playing a wizard as a blaster is missing its potential anyway.
Absolutely. The combination of Resilient Sphere or Banishment and Portent means saying "Goodbye dangerous enemy, I'll deal with you when I'm done killing all your friends." It has a massive impact on combat, as it should. However, I always dip Sorcerer for the Extended Spell metamagic. Larian greatly reduced the duration of the best CC spells. I disagreed. ;-P
With both Gale and MC as divination wizards + lucky feat. There's no such thing as a bad roll.
Is the pop up for each roll annoying to deal with?
@@loganmulroney It's "only" on rolls where your prepared dice make a difference. I play tactician so I tend to play "slow" anyway and it doesn't bother me. For "small" fights you can turn it off like any reaction, just don't forget to turn it back on when you need it.
Subclasses for mage as nothing to do with the "type of magic you want to use", but more with the passive/bonus each subclasses provide. Abjuration for instance give you more tankiness with the ward. Evocation will help you cast aoe damage without touching your ally, ect... The reduce cost for learning spell from scroll is almost negligeable, especially at low level.
You can choose a school and cast any spell you want.
I think the point was not the reduced cost of learning from a scroll but rather being able to do it in the first place
What, are you honestly saying that in act 3 when you want to learn level 6 spells, the difference between it costing 300 and 150 doesn't matter?
*checks whether they still got more than 100k gold
Okay, you might have a point.
Removing the limitations of older D&D subclasses kind of does that. Not that I liked the way it was handled there or here.
@@DrZaius3141 yeah on table you would never have that amount of money so it make sense, but by the end of Act 1 you already have almost 10k so...
Note that currently if you have spell slots of a certain level BG3 will still let you learn and memorize wizard spells of that level. So you can go 1 Wizard/11 Cleric and have access to level 6 wizard AND cleric spells. You would just be restricted to memorizing only a few wizard spells at a time as you can have (wizard level + intelligence modifier) spells memorized. I don't know if this is a bug that will be patched or working as intended.
The spells you get from the wizard tower vault are great and one benefit of playing a wizard over sorcerer, since you can’t learn them on level up but can copy them to your spellbook.
If you multiclass even a single level into wizardry, you can learn from scrolls as a sorcerer
I've been considering a Multiclass between a wizard and a cleric. Abjuration spells seem fairly common for clerics, and you also gain the ability to have healing spells as well as well as being really defensible from the Ward. I've easily gotten it up to 15 or so early on from casting things like Aid and making use of Counterspell, of course
Subclasses for wiz timestamps
8:05 abjuration
9:15 evocation
10:23 necromancy
11:22 conjuration
12:04 enchantment
13:04 divination
14:02 illusion
14:53 transmutation
2 Evoker / 10 Storm Sorcerer my favourite Arcane Multiclass.
Effectively, the warped headband of intellect allows any class to dip into Wizard and as long as your main class is a full casting class, you'll be able to cast lv6 Wizard Spells at a +3 modifier (from 17 INT) if you wish. That includes all the unique spells you'll get from Ramazith's Tower.
Was about to mention the item too. Note you can get it pretty early in act 1 too.
Similar how the DEX gloves gives 18 DEX, should make for some interesting OP builds since it leaves so many more points to put into something else as long as you don't mind not being able to hit the 20 cap.
Edit: Just thought of using both the DEX gloves and the INT helm at the same time on the same character.
Why can you cast level 6 wizard spells? Normally in 5e you'd need 11 actual wizard levels to cast level 6 wizard spells, is it different in bg3?
@@zartle873 spell progression between classes stacks. So a 2Wiz/1Sor can learn lv2 spells from Scrolls and upcasted lv1 spells to lv2.
The class levels only determine which spells you can learn through level-up. But CASTER LEVELS increase each time you level in a class that provides those, irrespective of which class it is.
4Druid/4Cle/4bard can only learn lv2 spells, but because each of these classes adds Caster Levels, you have the same amount of spell slots as a level 12 Wizard.
It's why dipping into Wizard is broken for basically every casting class.
Does that mean that you start as a wizard and then multiclass into a sorcerer and change the stats to those of a sorc?
Or do you start as a sorcerer and at level 11 you multiclass into wizard?
@@DarkFriday1408 there are plenty of ways to make it work. Personally, I like to start with the Sorc levels first, to get proficiency in CON saves. The best races are Githyanki, Shield Dwarf or Elf thanks to their Armor and Weapons proficiency.
It is so funny to me that I chose wizard as my first character because HOLY SHIT was I not ready for everything that is going on with this class. Luckily, warlock allowed me to dip my toe into the casting world and I have this channel to thank for it. I also have this channel to thank for my main class as well (circle of the moon druid). I would not be enjoying this incredible game nearly as much as I have been if not for this channel.
What’s wrong with wizard ? I was thinking of playing wizard . Im watching videos as my game downloads
@@MrArjay123 Oh nothing, I just didn't understand how wizard really worked, now that I do I love it lol
Let's not forget the strongest wizard build.
A single level then 11 levels of sorcerer/cleric/druid/bard - all the spellcasting through scrolls with none of the nuisance.
Don't be tempted by Larian's cheesy darkness. Resist!
If you're going Sorcerer after a Wizard dip you might as well start Sorcerer for Con save prof
Sorlock supremacy
@@nathanfivecoate5848 How is it different than the 2 lvl fighter dip on almost any marital build. 1 lvl Wizard dip is a great addition to any caster build but you will be limited in terms of number of spells and spell DC/Spell attack. There are definitely some unique Wizard fully dedicated builds.
@@nathanfivecoate5848 a fair point
Im excited to play Wizard Necro. Undead army for the win
Currently at lv9 transmutation wiz for the eventual bluejay. One to two levels of sorc give you a bit of nice efficiency with free mage armor from draconic blood and meta magic for twin spell etc.
Fextralife trying to recommend a race other than Githyanki challenge (impossible)
Alchemy tip: if you respec to Wizard: Trasmutation with Medicine and high Wisdom (all other stats are irrelevant), have a Owl's Wisdom buff and do Alchemy then, you have big chances to get 2x the potions. After finishing, just respec back to your build - 200 gold total for respecs will give you double the potions.
Better yet, hire a hireling.
Of note regarding armor, I discovered that Mage Armor does still work even if you're using a shield (but not other armor). Additionally, you can still cast spells while equipped with a shield AND a weapon. So if you're proficient with shields, you can get the +2 AC on top of Mage Armor, which is quite nice.
And potentially some very handy enchantments on that shield to boot. Half elf race is quite OP for a mage in that regard, you can get 18 AC as soon as you step out of the Nautiloid, kind of crazy.
I would love it if you could carry a shield in your main hand and strike with a weapon as a bonus attack, reserving your main action for a spell
Well, in table top, you needed a free hand to cast spells, I'll take what I can get
At level 6, Divination Wizards receive a third Porten Die, and more importantly, *_all Portent Dice are refreshed after every Short Rest!_* This means *_SIX_* Portent Die per Long Rest.
Borderline overpowered but also very fun to use. Also very cool from an RP/Lore perspective (your Diviner is so powerful that he can literally alter destiny~)
What's a porten die? Like a third die for your attack roll or something?
@@Guaguadeath you can force a d20 roll to be whatever you have rolled for those portent dies, and it works for both your own party and the enemy's rolls. So you can, for instance force an enemy to have rolled a 2 on a saving throw versus a spell you cast, if you got a 2 as one of your portent dies. Or just decide that your Paladin's attack was a natural 20 instead of a miss (again, if one your portent dies that you rolled after the most recent rest was a 20).
@@GuaguadeathIt allows you to change a dice roll to whatever one of your portent die is. If an enemy rolled high enough to hit and one of your portent dice is a 1, you can force them to take the 1 and critically miss. Likewise, if an ally were to miss an attack, but one of your portent dice is a 20, you can have them take the 20 and crit instead of missing. It essentially allows you to manipulate dice rolls in your favor based on what you get for your portent dice. You roll your portent dice to determine what they’ll be, then “pocket” them to later use whenever you want. 20 and 1 are the best possible for obvious reasons, but 15 and above along with 5 and below are very useful as well.
Running a multiclass being cleric and transmutation wizard on one of the hirelings for healing,buffs, and alchemy it makes honor mode way easier.
Finally touching on the non-super popular classes! I know why they're coming out in the order they have but I am dying for weirdos like Monk, Druid, and Ranger to get covered!
I've really enjoyed having Gale on the team. Nothing like teleporting behind a group of enemies and thundering them off a cliff. Walls are also fantastic. Wall of Fire is devastating, and Wall of Stone affords so many tactical options its crazy - I am sure there are ways to do the Iron Throne rescue without it but having it during that quest it was a lifesaver.
Thanks for the tips.
Tempest Sorcerer can fly from Level 1 after casting any spell. Ritual Caster feat on level 4 makes it a "Fly on demand" out of combat feature too. I'm having a blast with that right now.
@@ElidanVideosSounds awesome. Got to switch Gale (so he still can be a story character) over to that and try it.
Yeah, I am so glad I picked up Gale in my party as permanent party member and his story gets even more interesting further in the game! I only swap him for others, when I need to complete certain character-specific quests. I am just too biased to swap my best girls instead lol 😅
I play a Wizard because Gale always dies...
Now I always die.
Start with 2 lvls fighter. Get a sheild and heavy armor. You will die a lot less.
Just take the shield spell at first level and a one level cleric dip for medium armor and shield proficiency
Not a bad suggestion, just with fighter you get a constitution saving throw bonus. @@bigsmoke8816
@@bigsmoke8816Even better - take War or Tempest domain Cleric to get heavy armor proficiency!
Divination > everything. Evocation is kinda ok, but if you need dakka mage - pick sorcerer. Fighter and clearic at lvl 1 (thx to respec) is a great choise. Heavy armor, shield, and stuff.
Transmutation is strongest to me. Double potion creation, and Transmutation Constitution Stone (basically its resilient). Add that with War caster or Elixir of Focus makes a strong concentration spellcaster (Call Lightning as example), and the other benefits of CON
Thank you for this guide, lot's of great info in it. One thing I was hoping to find was a description of how to best use Gale (I'm not a wizard myself) in the game - which mostly means in combat. Figuring out how to best use each character in combat seems to be the most challenging part of this game. I'll search your other videos to see if you have one that helps with this.
We have a Gale video on here you can check out.
I just want to be a necromancer who's main strategy is to throw kids as is main weapon, then ressurect them just to throw them again.
I want to do an evil wizard for my second playthrough, but can't decide between necromancy and enchantment. Also want to give Conjuration a go
Same. Im going for necro 😈
Both perfect choices for evil wizard. Necromancy is harder to rp tho, but is the most “evil”. Sickeningly so. Enchantment is perfect for a cunning , evil manipulator type
I did a necromancer on first playthru and hes OP as crazy once you get the zombie mob snowballing
I think you are overemphasizing the benefits of armor for wizards specifically. Wizards really shouldn't be frontlining and there are some really awesome robes in game that you want to use anyway. There's also 14 dex for +2, and armor increasing gear, so you can get very decent armor class as a wizard in a robe and you have the shiled spell for when you mess up. There's also gear that increases AC when not wearing armor. Not to spoil specifics, but my wizard is comfortably walking around with 20 AC and he's not even hogging all the AC gear, in a robe. Shield would be great if I had proficiency, but there are other things that I value higher. There's also creative ways to defend yourself, like darkness, or playing divination, or other creative ideas. I am playing as a gnome and having advantage on three separate mental saving throws is in my opinion worth more than armor for a wizard.
Definitely something to consider, Arcane Ward helps shore up the times you do get hit should you get hit by critical attacks. I've had several occasions where I take no damage from a crit
The shield shown during the equipement section is maybe a bit too spoilery...
5e has some really fun magic to throw around but managing components, slots and AoEs was never for me. Glad the game streamlines it so well and balanced it all with Gale eating all of my loot and excluding the... ethically challenging sections of the spell list.
So the sub-class part of the video was recorded in the morning wasn't it. That voice went deep.
Taking one level in dragon sorcerer: white gives you armor of agathys. Pair this with Abjuration wizard and max cast AoA, and your wizard becomes a super punishing tank for enemies. It's better to take sorcerer over warlock because it preserves spell slot progression.
thank you! Answered a question I had about this. The porcupine thicc boi battlemage is going to be so much fun!
From an Abjuration addict, yes, the Ward always takes damage before everything else. They even made it better than tabletop, in 5E it was effectively a health pool, in BG3 it absorbs the damage then ticks down by 1 for EACH instance of damage. So 10, then 9, so on so forth. So, you got your regular health, your temp health, and your Ward Health. To further add to this Thorny build, take Fire Shield, you get to choose between fire and ice resistance, and do additional retaliation damage, on TOP of the Agathys
Transmutation Wizard is the best stay at home Wizard. Max Wis, take medicine and use enhanced ability to make those DC 15 medicine checks fir double pots. Level 6 is a free buff for a party member while gale just sits at xamp.
Starting as a fighter gives your wizard proficiency in constitution saves for concentration and good armor proficiency to boost your survivability
I've been waiting for this guide. It definitely has helped & is giving me ideas for my guy to come to life, even if the race & class combo isn't the best.
So I made an unkillable abjuration god. One level war domain cleric. Heavy armor proficiency, extra attacks, and abjuration cantrips. One level sorc to get the shield spell from the white dragon ancestry. Then the rest in the abjuration wizard. Activate shields stand in battle. You either won't get hit or will explode dealing massive AOE damage.
fyi when he says shield spell from white dragon ancestry, he means Armor of Agathys, which is an Abjuration spell that gives you temporary hitpoints
Dude goes Barry White mid video
Fighter Class Guide!!! 🛡️🗡️
at level 7 necromancy you can actually summon 4 undead with animate dead
its clanky to move around and most npc u want to interact run away... i leave my spore druid outside while the other 3 chars explore :D
@@DoffyDogg but if you attack someone with a zombie and he dies he will turn into a zombie .. 😂 gonna try spore druid next .. I'm so into it since I watched last of us recently 😂
Since im playing a dark urge necromancer wizard i turned gale into a transmutation wizard keeping him at camp using it to make the stone and double potions etc when needed
Getting 1 level of Wizard for another caster class is OP: you can learn any Wizard spell (from scrolls) that your TOTAL combined caster level could cast. I.e. get Haste for any caster for just a 1 level dip. 😉
I was just looking this up last night. I am going to predict the TL;DR of it is: Only Evocation matters, all the others were phoned in.
This hurts my soul as Gale is an obvious match for Enchantment Wizard, and my favorite is Conjuration Wizard in 5e play. This is one area Larian fell short with many opportunities to make the subclasses matter, but they went the 'nuke only' route.
Something I’d like to point out is that Resilient feat gives you proficiency in the saving throw of the ability you pick. This means the bonus at level 12 is +4 on top of your constitution modifier. Warcaster gives advantage on concentration checks. Advantage is approximately equivalent to a +5 bonus on any d20 roll. For concentration specifically, therefore Warcaster is better throughout the whole game.
It's true, Warcaster is better for passing Concentration checks, especially at low levels. But Resilient Con gives you a stat point, and helps you resist Con save spells as well.
Advantage is +3.3 not +5.
Oh thank god I've needed the Wizard guide so badly
Thank you! Been waiting for your Wizard Guides
I like the presentation you’re using. The effort is appreciated!
This is exactly the type of guide I was looking for. Thank you
Awsome guide. Thank you for this. And your background music is spot on. Keep up the good work with all the videos. Peace from Sweden
Hope in the 3 wizards builds guide you do multiclass builds for Arcane Trickster and Eldritch Knight. Everyone already knows about a level 1 dip into wizard for the other caster classes to learn all the spells, and those two suggestions are the only other classes that use intelligence as far as I remember. Great content either way man. Hope we see Baldurs Gate content from you for a long time to come.
It took me until like level 10 to realize Gale could hold a staff and a shield at the same time
Also just found out you can recharge spell slots after combat just now
Seriously you guys are ignoring dual wield feat for dual wield staff. There are a lot of staff here that are awesome.
Also dont forget to dual wield hand crossbow, so you can always use your bonus action for cheap shots. Those +1 in the weapon and +2 in the dex will help in hitting despite not being proficient with it
Do per weapon bonuses stack while you dual wield them?
This would be nice for maximizing fireballs since there are two staves that give you a free fireball on short rest
@@joeneighbor dpends on the buff. There are buff that works just by equipping it and those that affects only with attacking with the equip weapon.
@@dntthe88 this needs further testing. Im still not sure about spells from 2 non identical staff.
For me i used 2 melfs first staff, and the 2 staff share one free melf acid arrow.
Monk/Wizard is good too if you want to use a robe and still get some AC from WIS or get enough monk to get stunning strike if you get in melee and need to hit them and get away, or abilities like patient defense, step of the wind, etc. are good as well.
This is what I waiting for🔥
Man, i wish my gameplay was as smooth as your gameplay. My gtx 1060 6gb / i7 8750h potato laptop has really started struggling in act2. I think might try out grforce now!
Oh and Divination Wizard is underrated. Changing the result of the roll is very powerful, especially when you get hit with a critical and you just say, "uh, no thank you take this 4 instead."
Let’s be real everyone, we are all choosing evocation and spamming fireball
I like Abjuration personally, it enables the Wizard to be on the field longer, even if you're good about not getting hit to often, the times when you do, the Ward keeps you around, and you can give it to others, even if you're hitting your allies with your AOE spells, you can protect one if it's absolutely necessary. And it negates making concentration checks should you negate all the damage of an attack with big Ward. Conjuration Wizards might not have to worry about this as much, but being able to maintain concentration on any spells just by negating the damage of it is quite nice to me
Sleep
IGNIIISSS!! 🔥💥♨️ 😁😁😆😆😆😆😆🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🙂🙂🙂🙂
What?? You're saying I can do other more powerful things?...............why would anyone do that? 😀
Ok ok I love your videos and really hope you read this! I am totally overwhelmed with micro managing and learning about so many companion classes.
The game is very overwhelming and party management can get really hectic? I suggest trying on easy so you can learn the concepts slowly
I dont plan on sub classing my Teifling necromancer however im considering changing from necromancer to illusionist for that sweet battlefield control.
How are you liking the necromancer subclass?
@@jpat3794
it's fun.
I started a Monk-Wizard hireling... it seems cool.. the quarterstaff synergy is a thing
I don’t even have the game yet just glad to find some good gameplay
What is the maximum charge level for Abjuration Ward? There has to be one, otherwise the theoretical limit would be 83 based ONLY on wizard level+natural wizard spell slots. That would let you block over 50 damage per hit for at least 30 hits. Also sacrificing your entire ward to reduce ONE attack aimed at an ally seems really dumb, thoughts?
Wizard 10 + Sorcerer 2
you get metamagic and cast spells on bonus action every turn. way better than action surge!
This video is magic.
Buh dum tsss 🥁
Looking forward to bard guide. Great video
High Elf Nature Cleric 1 / Divination Wizard 11...taking Cleric at level 1 gets you heavy armor, shields, martial weapons (although not needed), Shillelagh cantrip for staff melee attacks, Speak with Animals, Charm Animals, Healing Word, Guidance, etc. And, the rest of the Wizard build allows continued spell slot progression while learning new spells via scrolls before I'm supposed to be able to learn them (being 1 level behind a pure Wizard build). This is a GREAT combo which is hard to hit, doesn't need Mage Armor (AC 18 is easy to get) and has a ton of utility.
Are you going to do a cleric video soon? I'm particularly interested in Tempest clerics as they seems to have the potential for a very competent spellsword class.
From personal experience, Tempest and War Domain Clerics do indeed make good gishes in the tabletop game. I imagine Tempest will be even moreso effective given that it's easy to douse enemies in water.
No one remembers to give enchantment wizard credit for being able to double cast any single target control spell for 0 additional cost from level 10 onwards. Not forgetting no boss is immune to hold monster/ person
Mini maxing versus roleplay, what do you choose for your mage build? 🧘
wow this i a really good video, thank you:)
I love using Wall of Stone.
thank you as always for the very helpful content.
wanted to roll a wizard so this helps a ton.
Wizard penny pinching:
When you level up learn spells that are not from your school of magic.
Learn your school of magic from scrolls.
If you reflexively take your school of magic when you level up there is a whole subclass benefit you’ll not be able to make much use out of.
This is especially easy if you know you already have the scroll in your inventory.
I highly regret choosing Cipher - a debuff class - in Pillars of Eternity 2, since ALL bosses were immune to debuffs. Wizard seems to be the Cipher of BG3.
With wizards, if you go out of your way to learn every spell you can, really do have an answer for every encounter.
Very exploitable on 2nd and 3rd playthroughs when you have a good idea what's coming, but with enough experience, you can play wizards just fine by having a good cross-section of spells memorized for what you expect to be doing that day. Exploring or stealing? Movement spells and Disguise Self/Seeming. Fighting brute enemies? Wisdom Saving Throw control-type spells. Fighting other casters? Plenty of Counterspelling about to occur and things that break concentration (i.e. Magic missile or Shield-bypass alternatives). Playing Defense? Wall of Fire and Glyph of Warding.
@@ryllharu Ok, that sounds exciting - thank you. I'm intrigued by evocation and illusion spells. Are things like the cloud spell versatile or will I hinder my own group too much with such shenanigans? (I'd like to make fights as different from one another as possible)
Oh, and will my concentration be broken often (without that one spell school lvl10 bonus)? A lot of spells seem to be concentration-based.
@@Daskard Cloud spells you tend to not want to use on your own party if you can help it, but there are exceptions. Fog Cloud/Darkness can protect the entire party from archers, but the other ones are generally offensive and should be used to shrink or split the battlefield.
Constitution and Bless can ensure Concentration is harder to break. Other spells like mage armor, blur, or mirror image can help with that too. I tend not to use Concentration spells much since I made a squishier wizard, but I don't feel any lesser for it.
Haven't watched it yet but man have I been waiting for this
Silly question, do you have a Playlist set up for all the class guides? The only Playlist I can find is with the early builds and the early access guids vs these videos.
I really hope he's gonna do guides on all the classes
Unfortunately, compared to sorcerers I feel like wizards can’t compete. Why would I play a wizard when I could play sorcerer and reap the benefits of meta magic?
Only because wizard has access to scrolls that have spells that sorcerer at best will only be able to use once. A wizard can study and learn the scrolls to use as many times as they like. Giving them more magic overall
However If you take the dip for wizard you can have the benefits of a wizard with the meta magic of a sorcerer
You dip sorcerer, then go wizard the. You can go cleric and have access to cleric, wizard, and sorcerer spells as wizard can study and learn cleric spells too. Get your cake and eat it too.
I think specifically to make a necromancer build wizard is probably the best. It’s also more about combining utility with offense and just being the most prepared that you can be for a fight, since wizards can learn way more spells. The raw damage output per turn of sorcerers is always going to be higher thanks to meta magic, but you’re also churning through resources like crazy, so the utility/ strategy advantages you gain as a wizard are a fair trade off imo.
Thank you, a very informative and comprehensive guide
we need more spells!
Best class of 5e
Showing the spells was really helpful, thanks!
unsure if this is intended, but the portent die doesnt actually even use a reaction to activate, you can use it multiple times per round in addition to your reaction. wildly strong battlefield control
You are correct. There are technically two types of Reactions. Ones that use the "Reaction Resource" and ones that do not. Portent Die doesn't. But you still use a Reaction to implement its die and it is setup under the Reactions tab.
@Fextralife is the pop up for portents dice also coming up and shooting to deal with? Or do they only come up when one of your dive would change a result?
Love your guides, always look for them when I want to understand a class. But there's so few, unfortunately. Please make a guide on Cleric, I want and play with Shadowheart in my party, but I don't want to make her work as a Rogue alternative. I want her to have a more classic role of a Healer. And although Life Cleric works great so far, I would like to know all the options for her in more detail, as I am just level 5 still. It's also a good idea to make a guide about, apparently, the most popular companion's class (her and Asterion) so it will bring in more views for you.
I'll get through all the classes, it just takes a long time as I have to play and level each one to get a good understanding, then write up and produce the video. I'll get there!
Wizard equipment:
At lower levels casters are often better off using ranger weapon attacks instead of cantrips if they have some dexterity.
The key is adding in your attribute modifier.
In older editions all casters were basically just terrible archers who could cast a couple of spells per day.
Now that’s not much of a thing. But, you can look at accuracy for spell and compare that to accuracy for a ranged weapon attack and make your choice.
ty dan wizerian
WTB Cleric guide, and maybe Ranger/Cleric Hybrids
Thanks mate
Are devs planning to add more subclasses to the game?
i was sure you was gonna let Cleric and Wizard last
With a CON of 16 your Concentration saves will be just fine. War Caster(Advantage[+4] to CON saves) is better than Resilient: CON(Proficiency[+2] for CON saves), but both are not as useful as just taking the ASI to get your INT to 20.
Ready to see the cleric set up
Wanna hear you guys about what i am doing with my Gale - 2lv in wizard to get evocation sub class (no friendly fire lol), rest in sorcerer with dragonblood so i can get more AC. i have my stats in 8str, 14dex, 16 cons, 10 int, 10wis and 16 charisma. At the begining using that circlet that gives 17 in int.
Waiting for ps5 release so I can test abjurer with a 2 level dip into warlock for unlimited mage armor casts