Wizards are a pure spellcasting magic class in Baldur’s Gate 3. They’re a great starter choice that fulfills the role of ranged DPS while maintaining a safe distance. When it comes to multi-classing, there are a few viable options for the Wizard.
A guide to the Wizard multiclass build in Baldur’s Gate 3
Wizards start off as powerful spellcasters who can deal damage and crowd control from the early stages of the game. When you get to level six, you gain the option of multi-classing, which involves combining two classes, preferably similar to each other, to bring out the best in both classes.
When it comes to Wizards, if we choose to focus on their spellcasting abilities, there are three viable options to multi-class into.
- Sorcerer: For the ultimate burst damage playstyle.
- Warlock: For more crowd-control and support.
- Cleric: For a more defense-oriented caster focused on buffs and healing.
For the purposes of this build, we will be choosing the Sorcerer class to bring out the most in our Wizard via Metamagic. Since both these classes are similar to each other, they share a lot of traits that when combined, result in a pretty explosive class that can clear mobs and bosses alike.
Starting out as a Wizard also grants you access to Arcane Recovery, an action that can restore your spell slots outside battle. This ability comes in clutch when you have to fight prolonged battles and don’t have a spot to Long Rest.
Now that we know what to start with, let us begin with the character creation.
Character creation
Since we want the best for our Wizard-Sorcerer multiclass, we pick a Custom Origin character and work our way through the initial character creation. There are five aspects of a character that influence their initial impression and character progression throughout the game.
- Race
- Subrace
- Background
- Abilities
- Spells
To begin with, we pick the ideal race for our Wizard.
Race
When it comes to starting races, there are some good choices to begin with. If you’re looking to be a Gale cosplay, you can always choose a Human, but for an optimal start, we pick Half-Elf. While Asmodeus Tieflings are a great choice as well, we start with the Half-Elf for their Darkvision, which is great for a spellcaster that needs vision, and one of their subrace choices which we pick next.
Subrace
After going with the Half-Elf as our race of choice, the next part is picking a subrace. Half-Elves have three choices and the one we need to pick for this build is the High Half Elf. The reason for this is that High Half-Elves start with a bonus Cantrip that works perfectly for a spellcasting class. You can choose a variety of powerful Cantrips like Fire Bolt or Shocking Grasp to begin with.
Background
The next part is to choose a background for your Wizard. Since our class’ primary stat is Intelligence, we opt for the Sage background for a bonus in our Arcana and History checks. Since both of these skills depend on Intelligence, starting off as a Sage will help you succeed in all but the hardest Arcana and History checks throughout the game. With some Intelligence boosters, you should not fail.
Abilities
The next part of this build showcases the ability point distribution of our Wizard. With Intelligence being our primary stat and the catalyst for most of our spells, it has the highest point distribution by default. A high Constitution stat is perfect for survival since spellcasters are fragile by nature. From this point on, Wisdom and Charisma boosters found in the game should help fill out your stats.
Spells
The final part of character creation addresses the prepared spells that you begin the game with. For our build, we chose these starting spells.
- Grease: Conjure grease on the ground that can cause the affected units to slip and land prone. It can also be ignited, dealing fire damage.
- Fog Cloud: Release a cloud that blinds and obscures all units caught within its radius.
- Sleep: Put the target to sleep, causing them to miss two turns. Sleeping units can be woken up by attacking them.
- Magic Missile: Fire a volley of three force projectiles that never miss their target. Each level above the first creates an additional missile.
The spells chosen are a healthy mix of offense and defense, letting you get through the early stages of the game by controlling the battlefield. The next part of our build will focus on gear choices.
Gear choices
In Baldur’s Gate 3, getting the right gear is the least problematic aspect of the game. Unlike most RPGs that focus on constantly swapping out gear for better options, in Baldur’s Gate 3, you can stick with some items throughout the entirety of an act. While most items are replaceable, we will list out the best gear for each act in the game.
Act One
The best gear in Act One can be found throughout the Wilderness and in the Underdark. For the purposes of this build, this is the gear we chose for the act.
- Amulet of Misty Step: Grants the Misty Step skill. This spell allows you to teleport a short distance, keeping you safe from any immediate threats.
- Circlet of Blasting: Grants the Scorching Ray skill. This spell fires three powerful blasts of sunlight that can either hit multiple targets or be focused on one enemy for high damage.
- Staff of Crones: Grants the Ray of Sickness skill. This spell shoots a beam of poison at a target, dealing damage with a high chance of poisoning the target.
These items should get you through the act till you get to the Shadow-Cursed Lands.
Act Two
The Shadow-Cursed Lands are home to some of the better spellcasting gear in the game. You can find these items via merchants and by exploring the area.
- Disintegrating Night Walkers: You can’t be affected by any movement-hindering abilities including Enwebbed, Entangled, or Ensnared.
- Shifting Corpus Ring: Grants the Invisibility and Blur skills. The former lets you vanish from sight while the latter causes enemies to miss their attacks on you.
- Spellcrux Amulet: Grants Spell Slot Restoration. Once per Long Rest, you can restore an expended spell slot of any level.
Act Three
The final act of Baldur’s Gate 3 takes you to Baldur’s Gate, where you find the best possible gear for your mage. These items are perfect for the endgame fights that are to come.
- Markoheshkir: Grants Arcane Enchantment and Arcane Battery. The former grants you a bonus to spell attack rolls and spell save DCs while the latter lets your next spell cast not use up a spell slot. Additionally, grants the Kereska’s Favor skill which imbues you with elemental energy.
- Quickspell Gloves: Cantrips that use an action now consume a bonus action instead.
- Robe of the Weave: Grants Arcane Enchantment and Weave Eater. The latter allows you to regenerate health every time you succeed in a spell Saving Throw.
The last part of this guide deals with the leveling-up process of your multi-class.
Level progression
Now that we have our starting spells and eventual gear options sorted, the final part of this build involves actually multi-classing into a Wizard-Sorcerer hybrid. This part will also showcase what every level-up should ideally look like.
Level two
Our first level up grants us an additional subclass and two spells. From the eight different schools of magic, we choose Evocation because Intelligence is the primary stat. For the prepared spells, choose any two of the following.
- Chromatic Orb
- Color Spray
- Mage Armor
- Shield
- Thunderwave
Level three
From this point on, we have access to more level two spells, so the target here is to acquire more damage and crowd control. These are all the useful spells we recommend. You can pick any two of these at level four as well.
- Crown of Madness
- Flaming Sphere
- Melf’s Acid Arrow
- Mirror Image
- Web
Level four
Similarly, for level four, we have access to level two spells, so pick any two options that you hadn’t picked from the five choices mentioned above and move on.
The Cantrip of choice here can either be Blade Ward or Ray of Frost.
For the feat, you can’t go wrong with Ability Improvement to gain more Intelligence.
Level five
Now we get the meaty spells. Level three spells deal a lot of damage with more disables. Choose any of the following. You can pick these up at later levels as well.
- Counterspell
- Fireball
- Lightning Bolt
- Sleet Storm
- Slow
Level six
This is where we multiclass into the Sorcerer. We can’t use Metamagic until we gain another level as a Sorcerer, so we recommend picking up the Draconic Bloodline subclass. These are the features we choose.
- Draconic Resilience: Hit Points
- Draconic Resilience: Armor Class
- Dragon Ancestry: Red (Fire)
Our Cantrip can either be Bone Chill or Minor Illusion.
Choose any of the above level three spells to prepare.
Level seven
This is where we gain access to Metamagic, a toggleable passive ability that grants us bonuses to spellcasting. Since we have two levels as a Sorcerer, we can choose any two Metamagic options.
- Careful Spell: Allies automatically succeed at spell Saving Throws.
- Distant Spell: Increases the range of spells by 50 percent.
- Extended Spell: Doubles the duration of status effects caused by spells.
- Twinned Spell: Spells with one target now gain an additional target.
Every Metamagic passive consumes one Sorcery point when they’re active during a spell cast.
Level eight
At level three, we gain access to more Metamagic choices. However, this time we can only select one Metamagic option from the previous four andf three new ones.
- Heightened Spell: Enemies that you cast your spell on have a disadvantage on Saving Throws.
- Quickened Spell: Spells that cost an action now cost a bonus action.
- Subtle Spell: You can cast spells while Silenced.
These are the last of the Metamagic choices you get since you aren’t a pure Sorcerer, so make sure you have three that you deem useful.
Level nine
Because you are an Evocation Wizard, you get an additional subclass feature at this level. Choose Potent Cantrip as your subclass feature and move on to level 10.
Level 10
Since you are a multiclass Wizard and have leveled up your Sorcerer, this is where you gain level four spells. Work any of these into your build.
- Dimension Door
- Evard’s Black Tentacles
- Fire Shield
- Ice Storm
- Wall of Fire
Level 11
Fill out the rest of your skills with more level four spells.
Pick up Ability Improvement again to gain even more Intelligence for your spells.
Level 12
You’re finally at max level. That means it’s time for level five spells. All of these specialize in dealing major damage or inflicting powerful negative statuses on your opponents. These are the optimal ones for this build.
- Cloudkill
- Dominate Person
- Hold Monster
- Planar Binding
- Telekinesis
Most of these skills help you control different types of foes, so you can always take out enemies from combat.
That’s everything you need to know to run a successful Wizard-Sorcerer multiclass in Baldur’s Gate 3. Check out our list of multiclass guides if you’re looking for other multiclass builds to play.
