Baldur's Gate Level 3 Arcane / Mage Magic Spell Guide
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- Опубліковано 25 лип 2024
- This is the third installment of my arcane magic spell guide for the classic PC game, Baldur's Gate.
This video covers Level 3 mage spells, one of the best and most powerful spell levels in the game!
The Level 1 spells video is here: • Baldur's Gate Level 1 ...
The Level 2 spells video is here: • Baldur's Gate Level 2 ...
The Reddit post that I referenced, discussing the details of spell turning vs spell deflection vs spell trap, is here: / interaction_bw_and_nua...
This series will take an analytical / rule / power game oriented approach to discussing the strengths and weaknesses, and use cases, for each spell in Baldur's Gate, BG2:SOA, and TOB. The spells are assessed across the entire saga and mainly using the unmodded Enhanced Edition releases (so no SCS, although I do touch on SCS frequently)
Thanks to:
BG Reddit - / baldursgate
Davaeorn - / @davaeornlol
BG Wiki - baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/B...
NearInfinity - github.com/Argent77/NearInfinity
0:00 - Intro
4:30 - Clairvoyance
12:10 - Detect Illusion
17:56 - Dire Charm
20:53 - Dispel Magic
26:47 - Fireball
38:33 - Flame Arrow
44:44 - Ghost Armor
50:20 - Haste
59:32 - Hold Person
1:08:14 - Hold Undead
1:11:15 - Invisibility 10' Radius
1:14:44 - Lightning Bolt
1:19:38 - Melf's Minute Meteors
1:41:00 - Minor Spell Deflection
1:48:28 - Monster Summoning I
1:53:53 - Non-Detection
1:57:35 - Protection from Cold (and discussion of elemental resistances)
2:10:35 - Protection from Fire
2:16:30 - Protection from Normal Missiles
2:20:00 - Remove Magic
2:47:46 - Skull Trap
2:52:37 - Slow
2:57:15 - Spell Thrust
3:00:42 - Vampiric Touch
3:03:56 - Wraithform
3:08:49 - Conclusion and summary of all spell ratings - Ігри
Great video JWD!
Lots of good discussion about Melf's Minute Meteors. I will definitely agree that this spell falls off significantly once you begin Alacrity chain casting, and not being able to use the Staff of the Magi or other passive-buff weapons for the duration can be difficult.
There are two details about this spell, however, that I feel are often overlooked:
1) the duration is infinite, persisting between rests, and
2) you can throw meteors in-between casting spells.
These two factors mean that if you pre-cast MMM, unlearn MMM, and add another spell in the slot before you rest, you can throw a full complement of meteors during combat, in-between spells, while still casting your maximum allotment of lvl 3 spells-per-day. Throwing meteors between spells increases your damage-per-round by ~45/54/90 dmg, assuming 5 /6/10 APR respectively. In addition, if pre-cast as described, you won't lose any lvl 3 spells at all, allowing you the rare opportunity of both having your cake and eating it too.
Sorcerers have to make the choice whether this is worth the cost of a known 3rd lvl spell, but I feel like this is a good argument in favor of taking MMM. Barring the Alacrity and inaccessible weapon caveats, in any battle there is essentially no downside to using this spell to increase your total dps if used in this manner.
You should use the option to scale interface when you're doing a guide like this, it would make it a lot easier to read what's on screen. UA-cam video conversion doesn't do it any favors either.
Thanks for the tip, I will scale it up in the next vid for sure.
The risk of Skulltrap is if you send one out in an unknown area and it doesn't hit anyone, now you have a powerful spell waiting to be triggered while Fireball is a better fire and forget for clearing a room. But at a higher level you can send a summon to remove it
You can even send a summon at a lower level. Summon Monster 1 is a 3rd level spell.
wow, such a nice thing to roll this out so fast and right before the weekend :) Much appreciated!
Thanks! No problem!! This was a deep one given all the new game mechanics in level 3. Enjoy and let me know your tips at this level..
@@WJ_24 my only tip is to perhaps include some hints on spells useful when you solo the game, for example the wraithform could be a nice ohsht spell for when you are "waylaid by enemies" and then want to kill them in a badass mode in bg1 :) I know this would not change the overall rating much, but it is nice to know if something might be useful in rare situations. Otherwise awesome video! Helps me know more about the game before I make up my mind for my next playthough which I have been planning for some time now.
@@wundermax1993 got it!
Regarding Melfs minute meteor; they are outstanding when cast by a blade kit bard. Cast before combat, blades level very quickly, so more MMM, better thaco, plus max damage with offensive spin.
I had never played a bard until recently, despite playing since 1999, didn’t realise what I was missing.
I think you're vastly underselling Melf's Minute Meteors.
The value of it is that you can pre-buff it, and then cast other spells during combat, and fill the rest of the round by throwing meteors.
It doesn't have to compete with skull trap. You can get value out of both - by casting a skull trap, and then throwing 3 meteors while you wait for your aura to clear.
Also, skull trap won't do much to mages in BG2, because so many of them will have a Minor Globe of Invulnerability up.
I think your asessment of milf's minute is pretty accurate, however I found another way to use it. I use it to put pressure on enemy mages that trying to cast something nasty, while sitting on a backline. In that sense, milf is pretty much is reliable miscast magic at mid b1, sod and up to early soa. There're really not much that can stop it: it eats through mirrors fairly quickly, and stoneskin does nothing to stop it either, you don't really aim for damage, just for interrupting. It also activates your mage, thus making it auto-attack do something useful, and it's party friendly (I mean you could also pummel everyone with skull trap). So I really like it, especially that there's no decent archers in soa with good apr, in bg1 and sod there're plenty, so I found milf's role at pummeling enemy mages rather satisfying.
And I have to strongly disagree with you about invis 10 foot radius, I think this spell is amazing in terms of consistency, because it helps you to control party on party fights very easily in bg1 and somewhat in sod. You can position your party members beforehand, and it could trivialize some tricky encounters (sarevok acolytes for example). And it's invaluable for managing where and when to activate your party member, inserting them into a fight, and manipulating when the enemy can see you, thus making enemy casters to cast nasty spells on who you want them too (person with greenstone amulet, protections). Lastly, it helps managing simplistic bg aggro system, enemies will unlikely switch from your tank in timely manner, if they were see him/her first.
Nice job, keep it up!
Invis 10' can actually do something that other sources of invisibility can't. It can apply invisibility to a character who already has Improved Invisibility, but broke the effect. (They can't be targeted by spells, but can be hit by physical attackers.)
I’ve watched Davaeorn’s guide and now most of yours as well as Coredumped, and it is interesting how much one’s installation and playstyle influences their views. The discussion on MMM versus Skull Trap is a perfect example. I can think of few situations where MMM would be superior to Skull Trap for a solo run on vanilla, but it’s not as easy a choice for a full party with SCS installed since SCS nerfs Skull Trap, and because friendly fire from Skull Traps is quite deadly at high levels. I find MMM very helpful for longer battles where I’ve already launched my AOE damage/debuff barrage and now need to contribute damage without killing my now fully engaged frontline. The final battle against Sarevok with SCS is a good example of that. In either case, though, I agree it makes little sense to use it over skull trap when you’re unloading your whole spellbook in ToB.
A thoughtful comment and I appreciate it! I agree there’s a bias… and no right way to play the game! With MMM even with party play I do struggle with giving up a level 3 slot when darts are not so horrible and still give 3 APR. I can see it both ways though! Glad to have you watching!
Melf"s Minute Meteors -= Golem Busters!
You are a great wizard :o
Thank you!!
Dispel is useful at low levels when you don't have many buffs yet, and your party members get CCd - you want to Dispel them immediately. So, it's not true that you only cast it out of combat. However, it is correct that a priest should cast it. It's also true that as soon as your party gets spells like Chaotic Command and buffs that make you immune to elements you stop casting Dispel.
One other thing to note about meteors. They can be used to easily kill trolls. This was helpful when I first played the game back in the day and I didn't have any way to kill them at the time. I didn't have burning hands memorized or a fire weapon. Niche situation I know but still
This is a good point, although there are all kinds of other options as well. Weapons with plus fire damage, fire arrows, want of fire… still, you’ve got a good point for sure.
Melf’s kills EVERYTHING. Seriously. Juggernaut golems, liches, Chromatic Demons…😮
The 9 hells are essentially another plane, and the direction in the DND universe happens to be down from the material plane. It's why the Shadow fell, though is seeped in darkness, is still out doors even though there is no natural light, which is also a description of an outdoor environment.
Love it , thanks for the lore!
summon mosters or any summon tbh. you can use to feed them to traps or even you can use them to feed to more powerful mages or spellcasters so they can use their memorized spells on them instead of on you.
like knock its kinda useless, but for someone that likes to play solo they can be pretty handy. like knock you can use them to walk into traps and free even more thief points to put on more useful skills
I just discovered this serie and i love it. Good job ! I'm going to nitpick but i have to disagree partialy with your rating of ghost armour.
I think AC matter a lot. And every AC bonus you get have more value. In later tob i agree it's pretty worthless.
Let's break down a few examples on middle game encounters in each games for a dragon disciple ( sorcerer ) with 18 DEX:
BG1: Against Tazok in bandit camp, 9 times less likely to get hit
Thaco: 12 - CHARNAME AC with just blur : 0 (45% chance to hit)
CHARNAME AC with blur and ghost armour : -8 (5% chance to hit)
BG2: Against Bodhi, 5 times less likely to get hit
Thaco -2 CHARNAME AC with just blur : -5 (90% chance to hit)
CHARNAME AC with blur and ghost armour : -13 (50% chance to hit)
Of course your main defense will always be stoneskin, but the higher your AC the longer you can use your offensive spells.
Lightening Bolt either needed to just hit one target, or not bounce around. Lightening Bolt is so much better in Neverwinter
I understand that you play mostly solo.... that explains many of your takes like the ones on Melfs and skull trap (that isn't party friendly and if yoi don't takr time to position your party well can be devastating to your party too)
Regarding Fireball vs. Skull Trap: Its much easier to protect yourself or your team from fire than from magical damage, thus you can effectively use FB more freely in chaotic environments or tight areas - which makes it my go to spell AoE spell in like the first quarter of BG2 (unless I know I'll fight highly resistant enemies ofc)
This changes with things like: belt from trademeet, limited wish for party MGof Invul etc and enough level 6 slots for prot from mag. Energy
This makes sense! That window before fire resistant enemies start being very common is pretty short tho. It does exist.
@@WJ_24 thx for the reply. Would look forward to the fifth part of the series, though I know it's quite the task for a relatively small audience, but it will grow: we BG kids are pathetic nerds, that will return to this game eventually, even if we didn't touch it for 5+ years and once that moment comes, we're binging this kind of content, hehe. Very inspirational, to hear other peops PoV
SCS caps skull trap at 12d6 btw. Recommend turning "SetPrivateProfileString('Game Options','Show AOE','1')" to "1" while doing these guides. You can show actual AoE then.
For Clairvoyance, if you use the Scroll version it WILL work in places like the Underdark
For real???? I gotta try that. Thanks for the tip.
@@WJ_24 another example is the Sahuagin City, for some reason the scrolls will work in certain underground areas aka inside places.
1:01:39 how could you?? Who will help the needy now? 😧
But in all seriousness, great content. Looking forward to the next one!
Lol! Sometimes when it’s needed to demo a spell, the good are victims. I was actually amazed the hold person went off , I got lucky with the saves …
Thanks for all your comments! I’m working on level 4!
protection form xxxx element you use on your frontline and unload AOE of that element on him to kill the mob attacking him. as you know what you will cast you need only the specific one, not necessary protection from everything
Dispel Magic - unless i am missing something, wouldn't this spell be useful during combat to remove panic and confusion? I guess panic and fear can be removed with Remove Fear (does it work proactively?), but confusion or domination?
How often do you fight a whole party that’s buffed to the gills? Vast majority has one target that needs to be stripped of protections. This is what limits the usefulness of remove magic the most for me.
Did EE change Skull Trap? I remember it not having a damage cap, so a Bard could do up to 40d6 damage with it.
In EE it caps at 20d6 like pretty much all other spells, in other words it caps at level 20.
I don't disagree with your thoughts on Melf's in general, but I think the strength of it changes heavily depending on how Arcane heavy your party is. Playing solo you'll almost never take Melf's late game, if you have a single mage in your party then it's similarly hard to justify taking Melf's - if you have 3/4/5/6 arcane casters then it's extremely easy to find space for it on all of them, and depending on your definition of "powergaming" there are certain fights even into ToB (even in SCS) where in terms of real life time it's far quicker to just machinegun through fodder enemies with wizard melf autos than otherwise and on non-fodder mobs the exact number of skull traps you have on non-Vecna mages is irrelevant.
Obviously every spell becomes more viable the more arcane heavy you run, but contrast this to Fire Arrow where you also easily have space for it if you have 4 wizards but the use case (party friendly single target burst damage) is *still* extremely niche as compared to skull trap.
Great videos btw, I've binged all three over the last couple days.
Thanks for the comment and nice words! I can definitely see how if you have a 3-6 mage arcane party, melfs is strong and easier to manage… just not the way I play and there’s still good arguments casting 6 skull trap at once is better in many scenarios. However, you are correct, without Vecna and alacrity then the choice becomes less clear.
It’s stylistic and up to the user!! Not many spells are so stylistic but this certainly one.
I dont know who tell Melf's minute meteors are best spell in the game. It sounds pretty stupid. Its so unique that calling it best is like comparing stone skin with whatever else. And also skull trap is spell with totally different mechanics, there is actually not choice this or that, but both. And thats why Melf's minute meteors are really good and useful spell. You can always precast it, it last like forever. And what you didnt say in 20 minutes is, that you most of the time(unless late game alacrity) are doing this: spell + attacks (until timer for next spell is ready) spel + attacks...and guess what...Melf's minute meteors are far best choice(until HLA) to fill this spaces between spellcasting. Its really strong to do for example Sequencer(skull traps)->attacks->minor sequencer(magic missles)->attacks....thats how you do most dps with mage and theres really no better alternative for mage attacks then Melf's minute meteors until late game. So theres no discussion if this or that is better, this is unique....you also dont compare stone skin with spell trap, right?
Skull Trap is superior but Melf's Minute Meteors is still useful for those times when you wanna avoid friendly fire
What's up with the echo?
The reason people consider MMM one of the best spells is that it works no matter what. Enemy is immune to a bunch of stuff? MMM still works. Need to interrupt an enemy mage through protections? MMM can do that as well. Enemy is resistant to magic? MMM still works. You're in a messy fight where your Skull Traps risk killing your own party? MMM is safe and therefore works. Enemy has high damage reduction? MMM creates many damage instances fast and therefore works. I don't think that a mage should use MMM as their main damage spell, it's more like the ultimate plan B that never fails.
3 fire arrows in spell sequencer will kill any mage in the game. t
They fly faster than skull trap, fast enough to beat their opening buffs. It should be ranked higher IMO.
Dispel Magic is NOT inferior, particularly if your party is afflicted with DEBUFFS
Dispel Magic - **MAGE VERSION** (important) is inferior, he told you why. Clerics can do that for you better, because they level up faster. Therefore there's not much reason to have it unless you do some solo/cleric-less shenanigans. Mage rounds are more precious than cleric rounds in general, too, they have more impact on a fight.
@@Tumeq depends on your party make up and who needs to do what, when. Very myopic view you have.
@@gethriel I didn't even mention that dispelling teammates is risky as fuck. Fighters, whatever, but dispelling a mage is a way to get him permanently killed whereas he might shake off Chaos or similar by the time his Stoneskins and Mirror Images (or Contingencies of those) wear off.
Mage dispel won't work a lot of the time to begin with, because they level up so slowly, only Druid after 13th level to 15 is worse and that's only because of Druid politics.
@@Tumeq While true for actual mages, bards have same xp/level cap progression, so if you have a bard you could in principle run the arcane vs divine variants semi-interchangeably at various spots in the game. Though arcane slots feel even more limited on bards than real mages, and you have stiff competition for taking advantage of level scaling during the periods of time you care about this. Some meme-ish party comps might actually consider it on their bard though.
remove magic: if you have a bard in your party its his main job
Very narrow minded views creeping in. A truly great wizard chooses the right tool for the job, not imagine there's only one "best way."
There's not just one best way, but over half of the spells in this game are spells you should never bother with. Just the way it is.