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Baldur’s Gate 3 Sorcerer Build guide

When it comes to the BG3 Sorcerers, what's the best way to play?

Updated: Jan 11, 2023 10:31 am

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When it comes to magically powered classes, Sorcerers can be some of the most devastating and powerful classes in Baldur’s Gate 3. With a wide repertoire of damage-dealing spells, sorcerers are a damage-focused class. Unlike wizards who are more versatile, thanks to sorcerers’ metamagic abilities revolve around dealing as much damage or inconveniencing your enemies as much as possible.

With Baldur’s Gate 3 still being in Early Access, it’s worth noting that your Sorcerer build will be restricted to either the Wild Magic or Draconic Bloodline subclass. Both of which are vastly different, but equally powerful and brilliant.

Sorcerers in Baldur’s Gate 3

As with most classes, they’re nearly identical to their TTRPG version with a few minor adjustments. Well, Sorcerers’ are one of the classes whose minor change results in one of the most powerful classes in the game. If you’re familiar with how Spellcasters work in regular 5e Dungeons & Dragons you’ll know that the general rule is you cannot cast more than one spell in a turn. There’s a slight exception with Sorcerers, in that they can use one of their Metamagic abilities (Quickened Spell) to cast a spell and a cantrip.

Larian has chosen to adjust this rule slightly to the digital counterpart of the game, with Baldur’s Gate 3 featuring an improvement to the Quickened Spell metamagic. This means your sorcerer – as long as they have the spell slots – can deal a substantial amount of damage in a single turn. And as long as the dice favors you, you might be the most damaging class.

So let’s take a general look at what you have access to as a Sorcerer, see what works the best and what’ll suit you!

Best race for Sorcerers?

Considering we’ve only got access to the Early Access content now, you’ll only have access to a certain number of races to play from. Each of which will have its own buffs and ability score modifiers. Sorcerers are a charisma-based class, where your Charisma is really your most important stat. But bear in mind that you’ll still be quite small and squishy as you’re a spellcasting class, so we’d recommend your next stat to focus on its Constitution. Then again, as long as you’ve got good charisma, you’ll mostly be set.

That’s why we recommend these two races for Sorcerers:

Half-Elf, with a good buff to Charisma and general fey-abilities, half-elves are also fantastic choices for Sorcerers.

Tiefling, a nice buff to Charisma straight away, and regardless of the type of tiefling you play, you’ll get a +2 charisma increase. Not to mention, Hellish Resistance from an early level is also equally powerful and useful.

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Spellcasting

Sorcerers are a magic-focused class. Unlike some other magic-driven classes, you will rarely have the need to use a weapon as a sorcerer. So the spells you use need to matter because you can’t learn new spells or prepare new ones after each long rest like wizards or clerics. It’s the one downside to Sorcerers, you’re locked into your spell list. You can swap them out when you level up, but that’s not exactly reliable.

You also have a smaller spell list than other magical classes, but to make up for these faults are the types of spells you’ll have access to. If you’re looking to be a versatile and supportive spellcaster, the sorcerer isn’t the class for you. But if you’re the type of player who loves to see your big bombastic spells do big damage, then sorcerer is pretty amazing.

Sorcerer spells

As previously mentioned, your spell list won’t be quite as dense as other spellcasters but you will have access to all the most damaging spells. But we’ll outline the best spells you should have on your spell list. We know that some spells might be good for some players, but we’re going off the basis that as a mage you’ll be keeping your distance from your foes and what’ll benefit you the most. For example, Sleep is a great spell, but you’re better off giving Sleep to Gale or another spellcaster while you – as a sorcerer – focus on damage.

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Cantrips:

Acid Splash

Dancing Lights

Fire Bolt

Ray of Frost

Friends

1st Level Spells

Magic Missile

Chromatic Orb

Witch Bolt

Burning Hands

Ray of Sickness

2nd Level Spells

Misty Step

Cloud of Daggers

Scorching Rays

Shatter

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Metamagic

This is the feature that makes Sorcerers powerful and unique when compared to other spellcasters. You’ll have the choice of two Metamagics at the start with a later one at level 3. All are good but some are simply better. So here’s our recommendation for which Metamagics you should pick:

Quickened Spell: This is your must-have. This’ll be the ability that lets you cast two spells a turn!

Heightened Spell: This ability gives you the advantage and your enemies the disadvantage. It’ll help ensure you get the upper hand.

Distant Spell: Increasing your range might not be as important on the TTRPG version but you will find yourself more often than not in Baldur’s Gate 3 needing those extra feet movement to get in range.

If you’re an avid D&D player, and a Sorcerer main, you’ll know how fantastic and a must-have Twinned Spell is, but sadly with the limited spell list right now, we can’t really recommend Twinned spell until the spell list is expanded more. You’d only end up using Twinned Spell on Hold Person or Invisibility for the time being. So we’ve recommended others that’ll be better now.

Draconic Bloodline or Wild Magic?

So far, you’ve got two choices for your Sorcerer subclass. The tough and tacky Draconic Bloodline or the untempered and unpredictable Wild Magic. When it comes to some classes, one subclass will usually stand out above its competitor. The sorcerer subclasses are both fantastic, but both for different reasons.

Draconic Bloodline

First of all? You get a special and unique cosmetic option. Players who use this subclass will be able to pick a variety of ‘scales’ to spruce up their character. The colors of these scales depend on your chosen dragon ancestor.

Obviously, there’s much more to Draconic Bloodline Sorcerers, at by the time you reach the Early Access level cap, you’ll see the first feature.

  • Draconic Resilience: Hit Points: Your maximum Hit Points increase by 1 for each Sorcerer level.
  • Draconic Resilience: Armour Class: Dragon-like scales cover parts of your skin. When you aren’t wearing armour, your Base Armour Class increased by 3.

Furthermore, depending on your Draconic ancestor, you’ll get buffs to your spells and abilities. For example, if your Draconic ancestor is a Red Dragon, At 6th level, spells that deal Fire damage are more powerful, and you can become resistant to Fire Damage. You learn Burning Hands. But obviously, you won’t be seeing the majority of these features until much later.

Wild Magic

Wild Magic sorcerers might not get an aesthetic upgrade, but they do have access to one of the strongest abilities in the game, Tides of Chaos.

  • Tides of Chaos: Manipulate the forces of chaos to gain Advantage on the next Attack Roll, Ability Check or Saving Throw.
    After Tides of Chaos triggers, the chance of triggering Wild Magic increases for the next spell of 1st level or higher.
    Recharges after a Short or Long Rest.
  • Wild Magic (Feature): Wild Magic stems from the forces of chaos. It churns within the sorcerers that wield it, waiting to burst free.

Wild Magic Sorcerers are very fun, the Wild Magic features adds a very interesting and amusing addition to the game. The perfect amount of Chaos to make things fun.

Which is best?

When it comes to deciding which is best? It entirely depends on your choice. Thankfully, both of these subclasses are very powerful so you don’t lose much by not picking one over the other. So it comes down to preference, do you want to be a tanky spellcaster with some special aesthetic changes? Or do you want to Tides of Chaos and the fun Wild Magic feature?


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