Baldur’s Gate 3 Evocation School Wizard Build Guide
Jan. 25, 2023Baldur’s Gate 3 Evocation School Wizard Build Guide
Baldur’s Gate 3 Evocation School Wizard Build Guide– In this Baldur’s Gate 3 Evocation School Wizard Build Guide, I’m going to cover myWizard Build, and show you what I’ve found to work best. I’ll be doing moreBuild Guidesat the launch ofBaldur’s Gate 3, but for now, let’s look at how you can use anEvocation School Wizardeffectively.
Be sure to check out our other Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds including:Eldritch Knight Fighter,Battle Master Fighter,The Field Warlock,The Great Old One Warlock,Beast Master Ranger,Hunter Ranger,Circle of the Land Druid,Circle of the Moon Druid,Wild Magic Sorcerer,Wildheart Barbarian,Draconic Sorcerer,Berserker Barbarian!
The Evocation School Wizard is a fun Build to play due to the various types ofWizard Spellsthey have at their disposal. Casting most of them from any range is even made possible because of how versatile theseSpellsare. Although, theseWizardsare just as vulnerable to taking damage as theSorcererdue to theirClothing Proficiencyand lower-than-usualAC.
At Level 5, the Evocation School Wizard now gains access to Level 3 Spells, allowing them to experiment further with utility and offensive types to mess with the enemy’s plan and destroy them efficiently.
In this section, we’ll take a look at how to set up your Wizard duringCharacter Creationfor the best results.
ForBackground, choosing one that provides you withIntelligence Skillsshould be sufficient since this is your primaryAbilityto hit and damage enemies by casting Spells. Intelligence hasArcana,History,Investigation,Nature, andReligion. Some Background examples areSage,Noble, andAcolyte.
ForRace, if you’re not going to pick an Origin Character, I recommend going for theHigh ElfandDeep Gnome. It’s worth noting that both of them will have the same Ability distribution but they’re going to differ in terms of the perks they offer.
For the High Elf, you gain 1 additionalCantrip, and for this, I suggest takingFire Bolt. Fire Bolt will allow you to incinerate the ground as long as you castGreasebeforehand or you blast oil barrels in the area. In addition to Fire Damage, affected targets also take burning damage over time. Next, you gain access to Darkvision, which lets you fare well in dark places, together withKeen Senses, thereby making youProficientinPerception. You’re not going to really benefit from the Weapon Proficiencies here since as a Wizard, you’ll cast Spells 100% of the time.
Comparatively, choosing the Deep Gnome will grant you anAdvantageonSaving Throwsfor Intelligence,Wisdom, andCharisma, as well asStealth Checks. You also gainSuperior Darkvision, increasing your sight range in the dark.
ForSkillsagain it’s not super important, but you’ll have high Intelligence andDexterity, so selecting Skills that fall under these Abilities is ideal. Dexterity hasAcrobatics,Sleight of Hand, andStealth, and I’ve already listed what Intelligence Skills there are.
First and foremost, Wizards need a highSpellcasting Ability Modifierto boost the effectiveness of their Spells. Since you can no longer rely on the Warped Headband of Intellect for this, you’re going to have to raise Intelligence to 16 during Character Creation. Next, you’ll be increasing Dexterity to the same value to raise your AC. This is vital for Wizards since they’re only Proficient in wearing Clothing, making their AC lower compared to otherClasses. And finally, you’ll be raisingConstitutionto as much as 14 to improve your max HP. Your Ability spread should look something like this:
During Character Creation, you’ll be given many Spells, but you’ll have to choose which to “Prepare” in order to cast them. Every time you level up as a Wizard, you’ll be able to choose from a selection of Known Spells and Prepare more and more Spells.
There are some excellent Wizard Cantrips to select during this stage. On top of Fire Bolt, I highly recommend takingRay of Frost,Acid Splash, and eitherDancing LightsorChill Touch. Ray of Frost is another Ranged Attack Cantrip that potentially knocks the targetPronewhile temporarily reducing their Movement Speed.
Acid Splash has a small AoE effect, which is nice for hitting multiple enemies. Dancing Lights is great for creating light so allies who don’t have Darkvision can see and hit things more easily in dark places. And lastly, Chill Touch lets you deal Necrotic Damage while preventing the target from restoring their HP.
Arcane Recoveryallows you to recover either 2 Level 1Spell Slotsor 1 Level 2 Spell Slot at the start. So use this when you need to cast another Spell or two before taking aLong Rest. Note that Arcane Recovery can only be used outside ofCombat.
At Level 1, you’ll get to Prepare 4 Spells. The ones you should focus on in addition to Grease areMage Armour,Magic Missile, andThunderwave. Mage Armour is crucial to Wizards because it sets their default AC to 13 + their Dexterity Modifier, amounting to 16 in total so they won’t be too much of a glass cannon in combat. What’s more, is that the Spell also doesn’t requireConcentration. You’ll only have to recast Mage Armour after taking a Long Rest.
Next is Magic Missile, which cannot be protected against, nor can it miss. With this, you can target up to 3 enemies at Level 1. Magic Missile is very useful when you need to finish off those with low HP but still hit your primary target, or when you cannot hit the enemy using another Spell that easily. And finally, there’s Thunderwave, which is an excellent AoE Spell that’ll allow you to push back foes who are approaching you, often to their deaths. Once you hit Level 2, you won’t damage allies caught in its blast either.
At Level 2, you’ll get to choose your Wizard’sSubclassand for this Build, you’ll select the Evocation School. Doing so will grantEvocation SavantandSculpt Spells. Evocation Savant reduces the gold you spend when learning new Evocation Spells fromScrollswhereas Sculpt Spells grants allies the benefit of automatically making successful Saving Throws from certain Evocation Spells, thereby taking no damage from them.
Additionally, you’ll get to Prepare another Level 1 Spell, and for this, I suggest takingChromatic Orb. Chromatic Orb is a Ranged Spell whose element changes depending on the type of damage you want to inflict. So you can hurl a fireball at targets and create a burning surface or deal Lightning Damage and conjure an electrified surface. There are a lot of choices to be made with Chromatic Orb, making it a versatile Spell.
At Level 3, you’ll gain another Level 1 Spell Slot and 2 Level 2 Spell Slots. There are a lot of great Spells here such asScorching Ray,Shatter,Cloud of Daggers, andMisty Step.
Scorching Ray deals 2-12 Fire Damage against multiple enemies or 6-36 damage to the same target, making it a must-have Level 2 Spell. Just remember that similar to Fire Bolt and Ray of Frost, getting on Higher Ground will improve the chances for Scorching Ray to hit your foes.
Shatter encompasses a larger AoE and it can also be cast from afar. This deals huge Thunder Damage against multiple adjacent enemies. Additionally, Shatter doesn’t need Concentration so you can cast a Concentration Spell without any problems.
Cloud of Daggers is an incredible Spell to have because although it requires Concentration, the daggers you conjure will continue to circle around and attack multiple adjacent enemies per round for up to 10 turns. It’s also more useful in chokepoints like doorways. But remember that Cloud of Daggers can also damage allies who are nearby so you need to be careful in terms of positioning it.
Misty Step lets you teleport to a location you can see, allowing you to get to High Ground easily to gain the +2 Attack Roll bonus when using Ranged Attacks like Scorching Ray. Since this is aBonus Action, you can also perform anActionduring the same turn. Alternatively, you can opt to get theAmulet of Misty Stepfrom theUnderdarkinstead to be able to gain Misty Step but you’re going to have to wait a while to do so.
Once you reach Level 3, you’ll also be able to cast some Level 1 Spells as Level 2 versions, using Level 2 Spell Slots instead of Level 1 Spell Slots. This works out tremendously for the Evocation School Wizard Build because it allows you to cast some of the better Level 1 Spells as more powerful versions. For instance, you can cast Thunderwave at Level 2 for an extra 1-8 damage. Or you can cast Magic Missile at Level 2 to shoot an extra dart.
Some Cantrips and Spells have effects that are dependent on the Wizard’s Concentration to remain active. Concentration is broken if you cast another Cantrip or Spell that also requires Concentration. You can tell which these are because it will say so on the Spell itself. For example, if you cast Dancing Lights, but then you cast Cloud of Daggers, you would stop “Concentrating” on Dancing Lights and begin Concentrating on Cloud of Daggers.
Moreover, if you take damage while Concentrating on a Spell, you must make aConstitution Saving Throw, and if you fail, then the effect of that Spell ends. Should you succeed in your Saving Throw, you maintain your Concentration and the Spell continues. This is why it’s vital for Wizards to have average to high Constitution because of the Spells that require this Ability and is wasted if it’s constantly broken.
At Level 4, you’ll gain another Level 2 Spell Slot, Cantrip, and 2 more Spells. You can choose the ones you like best from the list of Spells I provided in the previous level. Additionally, you can select aFeat, and here you’ll be takingAbility Improvementto place 2 points into Intelligence. Doing so will boost your Spells’ effectiveness in combat.
At Level 5, you gain access to Level 3 Spells. There are several amazing Spells here that we’ll narrow down to 3, specificallyCounterspell,Fireball, andHaste. Counterspell is a Reaction that can significantly foil your enemy’s plans as long as they’re located within 18m of you. Doing so will let you stop the corresponding Spell effects. But remember that since it consumes the Evocation School Wizard’s Spell Slots, you can only use this at most 2 times before taking a Long Rest.
Second is Fireball, which is a powerful Spell by default as it’ll let you deal 8-48 Fire Damage against multiple targets, even going so far as inflicting harm against allies who are near the AoE so be sure to carefully cast it. And finally, there’s Haste. Haste grants multiple benefits that greatly outweigh the disadvantage of briefly becoming Lethargic when the condition ends. Not only will your ally take one extra Action every turn, but they also gain +2 AC as well as an Advantage onDexterity Saving Throws. When used on a Martial Class like theFighterwho hasExtra Attackat Level 5, they’ll be able to take a total of 6 Actions in a single turn withAction Surge, allowing them to slay multiple enemies.
At Level 6, the Evocation School Wizard gains access to Potent Cantrip, which makes it so that enemies who try to avoid its effect will still be damaged one way or another. If they succeed in rolling a Saving Throw against the Cantrip, they still take half the damage.
At Level 8, you’ll be able to choose another Feat and here I recommend either raising Intelligence to 20 or takingWar Caster. War Caster improves the chances of maintaining Concentration by granting you an Advantage on rolling Constitution Saving Throws, thereby making it easier to prolong the effects of your Spells.
At Level 10, the Evocation School Wizard gains access to the powerful Empowered Evocation, which is makes it so that they’re able to add their Intelligence Modifier to the Damage Roll of any Evocation Spell they use, thereby significantly boosting damage.
And finally, at Level 12, you can choose whichever Feat you didn’t pick at Level 8.
When it comes to the Evocation School Wizard’sEquipment, you can go for theStaff of CronesfromAuntie Ethelif you intend to keep casting theRay of Sickness Spellit grants. Here, Ray of Sickness doesn’t really act like a Spell since it won’t consume a Spell Slot so you effectively deal 2-16 Poison Damage from a ‘Cantrip’. But there’s a catch. As the Spellcaster, you take 2-8 damage every time. This can be reduced by wearing theRing of Poison Resistancefrom theShattered Sanctumnear whereHalsinis, thereby cutting the damage by half. I won’t recommend choosing theStrongheart Halflingfor their natural Poison Resistance since they can’t reach 16 Intelligence during Character Creation.
For otherAccessories, you’ll also be wearing thePsychic Spark. The Psychic Spark, which is bought fromBlurgof theEbonlake Grottoin the Underdark, is the updated version ofThe Sapphire SparkafterPatch 9. Instead of dealing 12-36 damage against a single target at Level 2 of Magic Missile, you’ll only be able to inflict 10-25 Force Damage. Although the difference is high, you still gain the benefit of casting 1 extra dart as long as you’re wearing this necklace.
The Evocation School Wizard is a powerful damage dealer who not only has access to offensive Spells, which are cast from any distance but can also learn Evocation Spells from Scrolls quite easily. Unlike before, however, they no longer have the ability to learn Spells from other Classes like theClerics’Guiding Bolt.
Speaking of Spells, remember that not all of them make use of High Ground, and only those that operate as Ranged Attack do such as Scorching Ray and Ray of Frost. For Spells like Thunderwave and Burning Hands, which make use of Ability Saving Throws, you won’t gain any Attack Roll bonuses by situating yourself at a higher elevation than your targets. So keep this in mind to know when you should cast certain Spells.
Lastly, if you’re not going to cast Ray of Sickness frequently, you can equipThe Spellsparkleras part of completing a portion of theRescue the Grand Duke Quest. What this does is that every time you cast a Cantrip or Spell, you gain 2 Lightning Charges, which are then used to increase your Attack Roll and deal Lightning Damage. At 5 Charges, you’ll be able to inflict 1-8 Lightning Damage on your next cast!
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Reiku
Writer at Fextralife. I enjoy playing RPGs, narrative-driven games, and platformers. Outside of gaming, I like watching meaningful movies and reading sci-fi and dystopian books.
