What is the strongest sorcerer subclass in Baldur’s Gate 3?

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What is the strongest sorcerer subclass in Baldur’s Gate 3?

Sorcerer is a popular class choice in Baldur’s Gate 3Partly because it Is the default class of the beginning character known as “the dark urge.” But aside from being the favorite choice for a bloodthirsty dragonborn, the sorcerer has a lot going for him. This class uses Charisma as its spellcasting stat, which relates to many of the most important ability checks in the game. It also gains proficiency in Constitution saving throws, which is great for a primary caster, and the ability to modify its spells with metamagic.

The Sorcerer is also one of the four classes that chooses its subclass at level one, making it a popular option for multi-classing, and making the subclass features pretty important in determining its strength. The magician in BG3 did Three options for his subclass: Savage Magic, Draconian Ancestry, and Rage. Each comes with unique powers at levels one, six and eleven, all themed around their special kind of magic. Although the question of “best subclass” is debatable, it is possible to rank the options based on the level of power they bring to the party.

Starting features of the sorcerer are most important

Level one abilities get the most use

The First-level features that sorcerers get are the most important To look into for determining character strength, since players will have them for the longest part of the game, and since players who multi-class will probably only get so far in subclass advancement. One important thing to point out about Sorcerer immediately is that none of the subclass options give expanded spell lists at each level. This differs from many other casters in the game, leaving the sorcerer with fewer spell options.

Regardless, Starting with the Storm Sorcerer, their first-level feature is storm magicwhich allows them to fly after casting a spell. In particular, they can use a bonus action to take off after using a spell of first level or higher, up to 30 feet without taking attacks of opportunity. This is much better than the US Dungeons & Dragons Storm sorcerer ability, with a greater distance it can cover, and with movement is much more important BG3 How many D&D Games. This effectively functions as a free use of Misty step

After every spell, and is quite useful.

Next is the draconic spell, which gets two abilities. The first, Draconic Resilience, gives them a boost to armor class while not wearing armor. It is the same boost offered by Mage Armor

So essentially, the wizards don’t need to worry about taking this spell or spending a slot on it every day. They also gain one extra hit point per level of this abilityGive the magicians a little more health to work with. The other ability they get simply determines what kind of dragon their ancestor is, which doesn’t affect anything mechanical until later levels.

Wild Magic Sorcerers are a little harder to quantify

Risk is the name of this subclass’s game

While the other subclasses get fairly simple abilities at first level, the wild magic subclass immediately becomes chaotic. Their starting feature, Tides of Chaos, allows them to gain advantage on an attack rollAbility check, or saving throw once per short rest. Which doesn’t sound great, until you consider how it affects the Wild Magic subclass’ other level one ability: Wild Magic Surge.

Wild magic surges are the core part of Wild Magic Sorcerer. Essentially, when one of the sorcerers casts a leveled spell, it has a 5% chance of triggering a surge. The “surges” cause a random magical effect, which can be good or bad for the party. however, The chance rises immensely to 50% after a sorcerer uses Tides of ChaosAnd Tides of Chaos recharges after each surge.

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This means that wild magic sorcerers can get a lot of rolls throughout the day by constantly recharging the ability. And that’s really helpful, but the problem is that wild magic surges are unpredictable. There are 23 known effects that a surge can have, and of those, about 9 can be quite negative for the player and their party. Some can be really useful, providing an action surge or extra magic points, however This subclass is much riskier than the others, which makes it difficult to compare.

Mid-level sorcerers get more comparable features

Comparing Sorcery Point consumption is a good way to gauge usefulness

The sixth-level options for the subclass are much easier to rank. The worst by far is the ability granted by the Draconic Ancestry subclass, called Elemental Affinity. This Ability adds damage equal to the mage’s Charisma modifier to spells that are of the same elemental type they chose For their origin in level one. This is alright, and definitely better for some foundations than others. It also allows sorcerers to gain resistance to the same type of damage when they cast a spell that deals it, for one sorcery point.

This sounds somewhat helpful, but often isn’t. Usually, enemies that deal a type of elemental damage, such as fire, have resistance or immunity to that same type. Sorcerers wouldn’t want to cast this damage type against them, meaning that Times when it’s good to deal fire damage and be resistant to it are scarce. Plus, for players who choose a Dragonborn, there is a high likelihood that they already have constant resistance to the same type of damage, making this useless.

Related

Wild Magic Sorcerers get a better ability, albeit one that burns through spell points quickly. Ribbon Lock allows the sorcerer to modify the result of any attack roll, ability check, or saving throw Made within 60 feet. They can add or subtract 1d4 from the result, at the cost of two sorcery points. This can be excellent for forcing enemies to fail instant saves or miss attacks, but the cost is too high to use all the time.

Heart of the Storm provides a major bonus to Storm Sorcerers

This feature fixes a major problem for sorcerers

The Storm Sorcerer, on the other hand, gets an amazing group of abilities and features at this level with almost no downside. Heart of the Storm allows them to deal extra damage equal to half their Sorcerer level When dealing with lightning or thunder damage. This can reach up to six points, eventually overshadowing the elemental affinity feature that draconic mages get, and can apply to multiple creatures at once when casting AoEs.

Storm Sorcerers get to add five new spells to their list at this level.

Not only that, but Heart of the Storm also provides two damage resistances: Lightning and thunder. Obviously, these damage types aren’t super common, but they tend to hit pretty hard when they show up (especially in act 3), and the resistance permanently is nice. Finally, if all this is not enough, Storm wizards get to add five new spells to their list At this level. Most of them are pretty good and not available on the typical sorcerer’s spell list. Sorcerers typically don’t get many spells, so this is huge.

High level sorcerer abilities range from great to almost useless

Capstone features need to do something exciting


Baldur's Gate 3 Sorcerers casting spells

When it comes to eleventh-level features, some of the subclasses have great options, while others fall terribly short. Starting with the latter, draconian ancestral sorcerers now have a 60-foot flying speed. Fly

Is really helpful in BG3And on the surface, a constant flying speed is great. However, there are many ways for characters to gain flight in the game, from potions to spells to a free elite ability available to all characters, which means Players almost always have a better way to get flight As through this.

This gives them much more control over their chaotic abilities and makes the subclass more viable.

The wild magic sorcerer gets a more useful feature related to their surge ability. Controlled Chaos allows the sorcerers to choose when their surge happens based on when an enemy casts a spell in range. This gives them much more control over their chaotic abilities and makes the subclass more viable, and when combined with an act 3 item called the Ring of Feywild Sparks

, This subclass can become very powerful in the end game.

Finally, the Storm Sorcerer gets Storm’s Fury, a reaction they can use when hit by a melee attack. This deals lightning damage to the attacker and knocks them away. This is alright, but the damage is quite low (equal to the Sorcerer’s level), and it relies on the Sorcerer getting hit. Of course, in a best-case scenario, this doesn’t happen in the first place. Players should not have to harm their Sorcerer just to get this ability to trigger. It acts more as an emergency tool to get enemies away, but will probably not come up often.

Conclusions: Which Sorcerer is Strongest?

Risky power versus consistency


Baldur's Gate 3 Party with Sorcerer, Shadowheart, Will and Lae'zel exploring the underdark surrounded by mushrooms

All three options here can be fun, and the Sorcerer is already a powerful class, so any of them are viable. however, The draconian spell is obviously the weakestWith abilities that clash with racial and elite features and generally don’t need to be used. Its early level features are nice for a multiclass, with extra health and armor, but it doesn’t hold up at higher levels.

Subclass name

1st level

6th level

11 level

Wild Magic

Tides of Chaos, Wild Magic Surge

Ribbon happiness

Controlled chaos

Draconic Ancestry

Draconic Resilience, Draconic Ancestry

Elemental affinity

Fly

Storm

Tempestuous Magic

Heart of the storm, storm spells

Storm’s fury

Conversely, the Wild Magic Sorcerer is only really good at higher levels of play. Players will really want the eleventh-level feature to make wild magic more manageable, and while the fun of The class comes from its unpredictability, the same element that makes it less consistently powerful. That being said, once they get to bend luck and control chaos, this is probably the strongest subclass available to sorcerers; It just takes a while to get there.

That leaves the Storm Sorcerer as the most consistently powerful optionLargely due to their sixth-level features. Five more spells are hard to hit, they have great maneuverability and can do great damage with lightning and thunder AOEs. Their high-level feature is not very good, but for the majority of the game, they will have the most powerful abilities at their disposal. Especially when multiclassed with Storm Cleric or Tyne Warlock, this Sorcerer is a powerhouse.

Sources: KhrazeGaming/YouTube, Psych/YouTube

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