Summary
There are plenty of spells to choose from inBaldur’s Gate 3,and some are much more useful than others. Whilst some spells can be far more powerful than they may let on, there are indeed many spells that may seem much better than they actually are.
Players will only get a small selection of spells available to them in a single playthrough, and it can be pretty demoralizing to waste a level on a useless spell,only to have to pick another on the next level-up. Whilst it can be interesting to look at the most powerful spells available in the game, it’s important to learn which spells are best avoided.
Updated July 15, 2025, by Hamza Haq:As a fairly faithful recreation of the Dungeons and Dragons ruleset in video format, Baldur’s Gate 3 offers players a ton of spells to experiment with. As a consequence, spontaneous spellcasters like Sorcerers often face decision paralysis. When so many seemingly good options present themselves, it’s hard to commit. To make this decision just a bit easier, this list covers the spells players should avoid investing in, as their effects are either underwhelming or outclassed by others at the same spell level. Of course, no decision is truly irreversible as BG3 makes it very easy to respec.
12Witch Bolt
A Deceptively Poor Spell That Rarely Lives Up To Its Full Potential
Witch Boltlinks the caster to a target via a bolt of lightning, that deals 1d12 lightning damage on a hit and deals a further 1d12 on subsequent turns. At first, this spell seems like it might be a great pick, particularly for a first-level spell. Unfortunately, the damage for this spell does not scale with level, meaning at higher levels, it’s way worse than a Cantrip.
The problem with Witch Bolt arises with the concentration aspect, as it requires concentration, it’s unlikely a player will ever get more than 2 turns out of it before an enemy breaks their concentration and ends the spell. Furthermore, if it gets upcast the damage is only increased for the first time it hits, and not on subsequent turns.
11Goodberry
Medicoreberry May Be A More Fitting Name For This Spell
Goodberrycreates four magical berries that restore 1d4 hitpoints to whichever character consumes them. This means with the highest possible rolls, a caster would be sacrificing 1 spell slot for 16 healing. On average, this might look more like 1 spell slot in exchange for 6-10 healing.
If the berries didn’t disappear on a long rest, this may be a more useful spell to stock up on berries before a big fight, but when the party could simply stock up on healing potions instead, it’s hard to justify learning this spell. The only benefit to this spell inBaldur’s Gate 3is that the berries can be used as camp supplies, which may come in handy in a pinch.
10Barkskin
A Spell That Fails To Defend Against Melee Attacks
Barkskinprotects a creature from attacks and increases its armor class to 16. Firstly, this spell is useless when cast on most martial characters, who will often have an armor class that is already much higher than 16. Meanwhile, for classes like Monk, who benefit from not wearing armor, this spell will count as wearing armor, negating the unarmoured defense bonuses.
Barkskin is also a concentration spell, which means if a Wizard were to cast this on themselves to buff up their armor class and prevent melee attacks, there’s the chance that this spell could crumble and break the caster’s concentration after the first hit. It’s also hardly ever worth it for a caster to maintain concentration on armor class being buffed to 16 instead of literally any other option for concentration spells.There’s no shortage of 2nd level spells that are much better picks than this one!
9Sacred Flame
An All-Or-Nothing Cantrip That Is Exceedingly Common To Save Against
Sacred Flameseems like a good Cantrip choice at first. Similar to Fire Bolt, the damage increases by 1d8 as players advance through the levels. By level 10, Sacred Flame deals 3d8 damage, which is not too shabby for a Cantrip! The problem with this spell arises as it forces the target to make a dexterity saving throw. Most of the time, if targets fail their saving throw against a spell, they will simply take half damage instead of full damage, but with Sacred Flame, a save means they receive no damage.
This makes it an extremely underwhelming spell, and considering it forces a dexterity saving throw, which is one of the most common saving throws for enemies to be proficient in, players will find themselves wishing they had cast something else instead of wasting their turn.
8Expeditious Retreat
A Somewhat Useful Disengage Spell Outclassed By Misty Step
Expeditious Retreatis a confusing spell for a couple of reasons. On paper, it sounds like it should work as a get-out-of-jail-free card, allowing the player to disengage from a bad situation quickly and easily. That is not the case. When cast on a character, it makes it so that the character can cast Dash as a bonus action instead of an action.
This is not great, actually, because Expeditious Retreat itself uses a Bonus Action, meaning its effect cannot be used on the turn this spell is cast and only takes effect on the next turn. Compare this toMisty Step, which allows the caster to teleport anywhere in their line of sight using a bonus action, leaving them the option to use their action for a ranged attack, and it becomes apparent which of the two spells deserves a spot on the Hotbar.
7Ensnaring Strike
A Spell With a Powerful Effect But Too Many Downsides
Ensnaring Strikeis a Ranger classic, and it’s a shame thatBG3’simplementation puts it so far down in the dumpster that it’s become useless. The reasoning behind this is not its damage, which is decent for a level 1 spell, nor its utility, as rendering opponents Ensnared is a powerful debuff. No, the reason why this spell is one to avoid is because of what it costs to cast it.
When cast as a level 1 spell, Ensnaring Strike consumes an action, a bonus action, and a level 1 spell slot to cast, making it one of the costliest spells at this level. This isn’t a deal breaker on its own, but on top of this, keeping a target Ensnared withthis spell requires Concentration, and Rangers absolutely loathe using Concentration spells because their bread and butter, Hunter’s Mark, which also requires Concentration, should always take priority and no two spells of this nature can be active at the same time from the same caster.
6Prayer of Healing
A Seemingly Powerful Spell That Pales In Comparison To A Simple Short Rest When Outside Of Combat
Players might be forgiven for thinkingPrayer of Healingis a great spell choice at first, as it does 2d8+WIS modifier healing when cast, which is not too bad for a second-level spell. What’s more, it can heal all allies that the caster can see, which definitely makes this spell seem like a strong choice. The only issue is, that this spell cannot be cast during combat, and is only allowed to be cast when members of the party are at peace.
This means in almost every circumstance, a short rest would be a better option than wasting a 2nd level spell slot. Long rests are also not particularly uncommon inBaldur’s Gate 3, which means long adventuring days when resources are stretched thin is not exactly a common scenario.
5Charm Person
One Of The Most Iconic Spells From Dungeons and Dragons Falls Flat In Baldur’s Gate 3
Bards and Sorcerers will make fantastic use of Charm Person inDungeons and Dragons,however, spells geared towards roleplaying do not fare amazingly inBaldur’s Gate 3.In practice, this spell prevents a humanoid from attacking the person who cast it and grants an advantage on Charisma checks in dialogue.
WhilstCharm Personcan come in handy in some cases, the Friends spell will be more beneficial in almost every circumstance and is a Cantrip, instead of a 1st-level spell. The effect of this spell can be ended early if the caster or an ally harms the target, which is not far outside the realm of possibility in the heat of battle.
4Phantasmal Force
A 2nd Level Spell That Struggles To Keep Up With A Cantrip
Phantasmal Forceis not the worst spell a player could take early on in the game, but it quickly becomes outclassed by most Cantrips! Phantasmal Force deals a measly 1d6 of damage per turn, and to make matters worse, it doesn’t scale with player levels as Fire Bolt does. This means it’s an extremely ineffective spell very quickly, and it’s definitely worth learning a more useful spell instead. Much like other poor spell choices inBaldur’s Gate 3,this is a concentration spell.
This means a spellcaster will be unable to cast any more powerful concentration spells simply to maintain 1d6 of damage per turn, which doesn’t seem like a worthy trade-off.
3Blade Ward
A Seemingly Useful Spell That Crumbles On Further Inspection
Blade Wardis one of those spells that might seem useful at first, but in practice, is effectively worthless. The only saving grace that this spell has is that it is a cantrip, and players won’t waste a spell slot by casting it. It provides resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage, meaning damage of that type towards the player is halved.
The caveat however, is that this resistance lasts only 2 turns,making it extremely useless to use in combat, which would waste a whole turn for most characters when players could potentially mitigate all damage by simply moving away from the source of damage!
