BG3 Spell List: 8 Spells Every Spellcaster Needs Before Act 2 (And 5 That Waste Your Slot)

Verified: Patch 7 (2026). Spell values may shift with future updates — confirm in-game if anything looks off.

Quick Start: 5 Things to Know Before Picking Spells

1. Cantrips are unlimited. They cost no spell slot and can be cast every turn. Every spellcaster should have at least two damage cantrips from the start.
2. Concentration locks you out. You can only maintain one concentration spell at a time. Taking damage forces a Constitution saving throw to keep it active — fail it and the spell drops.
3. Short rest vs long rest. Warlocks recover spell slots on a short rest. Every other class needs a long rest. Spend slots differently if you are playing a Warlock.
4. Ritual spells are free outside combat. Speak with Animals, Detect Thoughts, and Find Familiar cost no slot when cast as rituals. Use them liberally during exploration.
5. Preparing spells matters for Clerics and Druids. Both classes learn their full class list automatically, but only prepared spells can be cast. Reprepare before long rests to match the fight ahead.

How Spellcasting Works in BG3: Full, Half, and Third Casters

Every spellcasting class falls into one of three tiers based on how many spell levels they unlock by the end of the game.

BG3 spells belong to eight schools of magic: Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation. Your class determines which schools you access, and subclasses often expand that list. For a complete searchable database of every spell in the game, the bg3.wiki spell page is updated each patch and covers all classes and levels.

The single rule that shapes every spell pick: Concentration. Most duration effects — Hold Person, Silence, Hex, Bless — require you to hold concentration. Taking a hit triggers a Constitution saving throw (DC 10 or half the damage taken, whichever is higher). Fail it and the spell drops. You cannot stack two concentration spells — only the last one persists, and the first is wasted.

The 8 Spells Every Spellcaster Needs Before Act 2

Act 2 escalates sharply — Undead enemies, Shadowcurse zones, and tougher enemy casters. These eight spells carry any party through Act 1 and remain useful well beyond it. Classes that can learn each spell are listed in parentheses.

1. Guidance (Cantrip) — Cleric, Druid

Guidance adds a d4 (1 to 4) to any ability check — lockpicking, persuasion, medicine, arcana — at zero slot cost. Cast it on an ally before every skill check as a bonus action. If your Cleric or Druid is not casting Guidance before every out-of-combat roll in Act 1, you are leaving guaranteed points off every dice roll for free. The only cantrip with this breadth of application outside combat.

2. Healing Word (Level 1) — Cleric, Druid, Bard

Healing Word uses a bonus action and reaches 18 metres. That means your healer can revive a downed party member and still take a full action to attack, cast a damage spell, or use an item in the same turn. Cure Wounds heals more per cast but costs your action — you lose the turn’s offensive output. Every Cleric should prepare Healing Word from level 1 and keep it slotted for every dungeon.

3. Thunderwave (Level 1) — Wizard, Sorcerer, Bard, Cleric (Tempest subclass), Druid

Deals 2d8 thunder damage and pushes every target in a cone. The push mechanic is where the value lives: cliff edges and elevated platforms turn into instant kills. The goblin camp in Act 1, the bridge fight in the Underdark, the docks in Act 2 — positioning one caster at the right angle and casting Thunderwave clears four to six enemies with a single Level 1 slot. If they go over the ledge, the fall damage finishes what the spell started.

4. Hold Person (Level 2) — Wizard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Bard, Cleric, Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)

Any melee attack against a paralysed humanoid target within 3 metres automatically becomes a critical hit — double dice, every swing, until the enemy saves out or the spell drops. Pair it with a Rogue’s Sneak Attack or a Paladin’s Divine Smite and a boss fight collapses into a single turn of burst damage. Hold Person is the most efficient control spell available before Act 2. The only limitation is humanoids only — Hold Monster at level 9 handles everything else.

5. Misty Step (Level 2) — Wizard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Bard, Paladin (Oath of the Ancients), Cleric (Arcana/Trickery subclasses)

Bonus action teleport to any visible location within 18 metres. No movement cost. No attack of opportunity. Misty Step solves being surrounded, standing in a burning surface, and needing to reach a high ledge without burning a full turn — all as a bonus action, leaving your action free. It is the correct answer to the question the game asks at least once per major fight: how do I survive this position?

6. Pass Without Trace (Level 2) — Druid, Ranger, Cleric (Nature/Trickery subclasses)

Grants +10 to Stealth checks for every party member within range. Ten points. That converts a mediocre roll to a reliable one and a reliable one to near-certain. With Pass Without Trace active, most Act 1 and Act 2 dungeon patrols can simply be bypassed — every fight you skip is spell slots and hit points you carry into the next encounter. The Druid who keeps this prepared before every dungeon contributes more to party resource economy than any damage spell.

7. Silence (Level 2) — Wizard, Sorcerer, Cleric, Bard, Ranger (Gloomstalker subclass)

Creates a zone where verbal spell components fail entirely. Any enemy caster inside that zone cannot cast Fireball, Hold Person, Healing Word, or any other spell with a verbal component. Drop Silence on the enemy Cleric before the fight starts, and they spend the next three turns trying to walk out of it or hitting someone with a mace. Enemy caster encounters in Act 2 — particularly the Shadow-Cursed Undead mages — become dramatically easier once one caster on your team consistently deploys this.

8. Fireball (Level 3) — Wizard, Sorcerer, Cleric (Light subclass)

8d6 fire damage to every target in a 6-metre sphere. One Level 3 slot, one action, entire rooms cleared. In most Act 1 and early Act 2 indoor encounters — the Underdark Mind Flayer caves, the Moonrise Towers — a well-placed Fireball hits six to eight enemies simultaneously. Evocation Wizards can use Sculpt Spells to exclude allies from the blast, making it reliable for clustered fights. Fireball is the benchmark all other Area of Effect spells get measured against because it regularly ends encounters outright.

5 Spells That Look Good But Waste Your Slot

These appear on class spell lists and some have impressive descriptions. In practice, a specific mechanical problem makes each one underperform against its obvious alternatives.

1. Witch Bolt (Level 1) — Wizard, Sorcerer, Warlock

The pitch: deal 1d12 lightning damage now, then deal free bonus lightning damage each subsequent turn without spending another slot. The problem: the ongoing damage does not scale with character level. By level 5, your Fire Bolt cantrip deals 2d10 per turn for zero slot cost. Witch Bolt’s continued damage loses to a free cantrip and also burns your concentration slot. Every class that gets Witch Bolt also gets Chromatic Orb — use Chromatic Orb for the initial burst and Fire Bolt for sustained damage.

2. Goodberry (Level 1) — Druid, Ranger

Creates 10 berries, each healing 1d4 HP. Best-case output from one slot is 40 HP across 10 berries — average is closer to 25 HP. The berries vanish on a long rest, so you cannot stockpile them. Healing Word costs the same Level 1 slot, heals as a bonus action, works at 18 metres, and can revive allies from 0 HP. Goodberry cannot revive anyone. Slot for slot, Healing Word does the same job with better mechanics in every situation.

3. Barkskin (Level 2) — Druid, Ranger

Sets the target’s AC to 16 — if it is currently below 16. Any character in medium armour, any Monk using Unarmoured Defence, and any Druid who chose Natural Armour already sits at 16 AC or higher, so this spell does nothing for them. When it does apply, spending a Level 2 concentration slot for a conditional +2 AC is a poor trade against Hold Person or Misty Step for the same slot cost.

4. Sacred Flame (Cantrip) — Cleric

Free to cast (cantrip), but the mechanic ruins it: a successful Dexterity saving throw means the enemy takes zero damage. Enemies — especially Act 2 and 3 enemies — save successfully more often than not. Toll the Dead is a Cleric cantrip from the same list that deals 1d8 necrotic damage, scaling to 1d12 when the target is already hurt, with no saving throw to negate it. Against any wounded enemy, Toll the Dead deals roughly double Sacred Flame’s average output per cast.

5. Charm Person (Level 1) — Wizard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Bard, Cleric (Trickery subclass)

The charmed enemy won’t attack the caster — but still attacks every other party member. The effect ends the moment any ally deals damage to the charmed target, which happens on the first swing of every fight. The Friends cantrip handles the same social interactions out of combat for free. In combat, Hold Person at Level 2 does what Charm Person attempts and does it reliably — paralysis instead of a conditional, fragile ceasefire that a single Rogue arrow ends.

BG3 Spell Quick Reference by Class

Strongest picks at each level, per class. Starred entries are the trap spells listed above — skip them for the alternatives shown. For the complete list of every available spell, the bg3.wiki spell database is updated with each patch.

* = trap spell — see the section above for better alternatives

What to Pick First: A Guide by Player Type

Spell priorities shift depending on how you play. If you have not locked in your class yet, our BG3 Beginner’s Guide 2026 covers the three best classes in detail and walks through which Act 1 choices you cannot reverse.

Before heading into Act 2, back up your saves — our BG3 save file location guide shows exactly where BG3 stores save files and how to recover from corruption. If performance has been inconsistent, check the BG3 best settings guide for a tested configuration across GPU tiers before your Act 2 run.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many spells can you learn in BG3?

Wizards can add spells to their spellbook from found scrolls, theoretically unlocking most of the Wizard spell list across a full playthrough. Sorcerers and Warlocks learn a fixed number at each level-up and cannot swap freely. Clerics and Druids access their entire class list automatically but prepare a limited subset before each long rest — for them, spell count is not a constraint, preparation slots are.

Can you change your spells after picking them?

Yes, at every level-up you can replace one learned spell with another from your class list. Wizards are more flexible — they can reprepare freely from their full spellbook before each long rest without waiting for a level. Clerics and Druids reprepare from their full list each long rest as well, so day-to-day spell flexibility is high for prepared-spell classes.

What is the strongest spell in BG3?

For boss encounters, Hold Monster at Level 5 consistently performs — paralysis guarantees critical hits from melee for up to 10 turns and works on non-humanoids including major bosses. For area damage, Fireball at Level 3 remains the benchmark. For Honour Mode parties, Heroes’ Feast at Level 6 prevents the fear, poison, and disease conditions that wipe runs in single rounds.

Do cantrips scale with level?

Yes. Most damage cantrips gain an additional damage die at character levels 5, 10, and 15. Fire Bolt goes from 1d10 to 2d10 at level 5. This scaling is the reason Witch Bolt — a Level 1 spell dealing static 1d12 with no scaling — becomes weaker than a free cantrip after level 5. Prioritise cantrips that scale rather than low-level spells that front-load their damage.

Sources

• Spells — bg3.wiki (https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Spells)
• Baldur’s Gate 3: 23 Best Spells — Game Rant
• Baldur’s Gate 3: 10 Spells To Avoid — Game Rant
• All Spell Lists for BG3 — Diamond Lobby
• Best Early Game Spells in BG3 — CBR

Michael R.

I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.