Baldur’s Gate 3: BEST Wizard Subclass

Choosing the best wizard subclass in Baldur’s Gate 3 is very important as the races, stats, skills, and all the aspects of your character can complement each other. So it is vital to create a build that can play a specific role for your party to help you survive the turn-based combat. So without wasting anytime, let us find out all the abilities, perks and advantages of all the wizard subclasses.

You have to choose your subclass when your wizard reaches level 2. All the different subclasses focus on different types of magic. They have one passive ability on level 2. You get another subclass perk or skill on level 6. The most vital skill or perk of a subclass is unlocked when a wizard reaches level 10.

These are the following subclasses that you can choose from:

Subclass Name	Description
Abjuration	The magic of defensive spells and creating wards.
Enchantment	The magic of charming your enemies.
Conjuration	The magic of creating elements and influencing surfaces.
Evocation	The magic of dealing damage through elemental magic.
Necromancy	The magic of raising the dead as your minions.
Illusion	The magic of confusing your enemies through illusions and stealth.
Divination	The magic of altering your future to change outcomes through portent dice.
Transmutation	The magic of brewing potions through alchemy and shapeshifting.

Best Wizard Subclass

Wizards can deal with different types of elemental magic that can give you advantages when fighting an enemy with weakness in a specific element. But avoiding damage is critical for a wizard because they cannot withstand too much damage.

So choosing the best spells and skills will help in many situations. Wizards do not possess innate magic skills, so their ability mostly comes from intelligence and wisdom stat points.

They can memorize different spells according to their next fight, making them more flexible and giving their party the upper hand while performing their spells.

All the different wizard subclasses support some types of spells, as every subclass has its type of spells. So specializing in any of them would give different subclass advantages, and your character would be more efficient in those spells.

So this guide will list all the subclasses you can choose from and all the advantages of it.

Abjuration

Choosing the Abjuration School of Magic allows you to specialize in defensive spells and grants you the ability to create wards. This kind of magic best suits the type of wizard that can buff his allies and protect them from the attacks of enemies.

The ward can be a tank in front of your allies by absorbing the damage from enemies, and it grows stronger over time. You can protect the health points of your allies through wards, and the more you level up, the more benefits you can get from it.

These are the following skills and perks that you can unlock after leveling up with this subclass:

Abjuration Savant: This is unlocked at level 2 after you have chosen this subclass. This will allow you to learn the Abjuration spells at half the price, meaning it will now cost only 25 Gold coins per spell level to learn it from a scroll.

Arcane Ward: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 2. Your Arcane Ward blocks damage equal to its charges and then loses one charge. Casting Abjurations Spells increases charges equal to the level of the spell.

Projected Ward: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 6. When a nearby ally takes damage, and you have an active Arcane ward, You can sacrifice your ward to reduce the damage they take.

Improved Abjuration: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 10. Each time you Short Rest, the intensity of your Arcane Ward increases by an amount equal to your Wizard level.

Following are some of the best Abjuration spells you can use:

Spell	Level	Effect
Mage Armour	1	Increases selected tragets armour class by 13 + their dexterity modifier
Aid	2	Heal your allies in a radius of 9m and increase their Max HP by 5 points
Counter Spell	3	Reaction spell to nullify enemies spell if lv 3 or lower. Higher level require a check.
Globe of Invulnerability	6	Creates a barrier and all allies under the barrier become immune to all Damage from outside

Enchantment

Choosing the Enchantment School of Magic allows you to debuff your enemies using charm spells. This type of wizard can lock out some enemies from combat and be helpful for a party to debuff enemies while giving your party more time to plan and initiate their attacks.

You may encounter some enemies that are immune to being charmed. Or they have too many hitpoints to use a charm spell on them. However, many weak enemies can be locked out of combat using enchantment spells and easily killed while debuffed.

Your party can easily wipe out enemies while you charm them or put them to sleep using Enchantment spells.

These are the following skills and perks that you can unlock after leveling up with this subclass:

Enchantment Savant: This is unlocked at level 2 after you choose this subclass. This will allow you to learn the Enchantment spells at half the price, meaning it will now cost only 25 Gold coins per spell level to learn it from a scroll.

Hypnotic Gaze: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 2. This skill charms the affected creature not to move or attack. The spell effect can end upon receiving melee damage or a wisdom-saving throw. The effect lasts for two turns, and You can extend the duration of this skill each turn.

Instinctive Charm: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 6. This skill charms an enemy attacking you. They will attack a new target, if possible, as a Reaction.

Split Enchantment: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 10. With this skill, you can target two enemies with a spell that only previously targeted one enemy.

Following are some of the best Enchantment spells you can use:

Spell	Level	Effect
Tasha's Hideous Laughter	1	Selected creature goes prone due to laughter. Enemy can try to shake it off each time it gets damage or at the end of the turn.
Hold Person	2	You can hold a humanoid enemy still. Any attack within the range of 3m are critical hits.
Crown of Madness	2	Gives madness effect to a humanoid enemy which makes them attack anyone near them.
Hold Monster	5	You can hold a creature still. Any attack within the range of 3m are critical hits.

Conjuration

This school of magic gives you the ability to conjure something, more specifically water, in the form of rain. This can be especially useful in situations involving the fire status effect. The ability to transport is a very useful skill for a wizard of this school of magic. 

It comes with a good mixture of abilities to provide utility for different scenarios. Teleportation skill allows you always to end your turn in a safe position where you can avoid fatal damage from enemies. They can also combine their unique conjure spells to create an AOE effect by performing a combo of attacks with your party.

These are the following skills and perks that you can unlock after leveling up with this subclass:

Conjuration Savant: This is unlocked at level 2 after you choose this subclass. This will allow you to learn the Conjuration spells at half the price, meaning it will now cost only 25 Gold coins per spell level to learn it from a scroll.

Minor Conjuration Create Water: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 2. Calls forth rain. It extinguishes exposed flames and forms a water surface. You can shock or perform any spell on the wet surface with a spell for any desired effect.

Benign Transportation: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 6. It allows Teleport to a nearby, unoccupied space or to swap places with an ally. Especially useful to pick a safe place to stay to avoid enemy attacks.

Focused Conjuration: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 10. Damage taken while you are Concentrating on a Conjuration spell will not break your concentration

Following are some of the best Conjuration spells you can use:

Spell	Level	Effect
Grease	1	Cover the ground in grease, slowing creatures within and possibly making them fall prone
Misty Step	2	You can teleport to any unoccupied space you see within 18m
Cloud of Daggers	2	Creates a cloud That throws spinning daggers.
Conjure Elemental	5	Create a Elemental to follow and fight for you

Evocation

This school of magic allows you to perform strong elemental spells. This is the best subclass for a wizard for damaging enemies.

The skills from this subclass allow you to protect your allies from your spells when cast near them. It also allows you to increase your damage on spells by an additional intelligence roll to boost your damage.

This subclass is the best thanks to the powerful Evocation spells you can learn now for cheaper. This is the best subclass for a wizard to severely damage enemies with powerful spells and protect your allies from danger.

These are the following skills and perks that you can unlock after leveling up with this subclass:

Evocation Savant: This is unlocked at level 2 after you choose this subclass. This will allow you to learn the Evocation spells at half the price, meaning it will now cost only 25 Gold coins per spell level to learn it from a scroll.

Sculpt Spells: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 2. Create pockets of safety within your Evocation spells. So the Allied creatures automatically succeed in saving throws and take no damage from them.

Potent Cantrip: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 6. It allows your cantrips to be harder to dodge. When a creature succeeds its Saving Throw against one of your Cantrips, it still takes half the cantrip’s damage but suffers no additional effects. 

Empowered Evocation: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 10. It allows you to add your Intelligence modifier to damage rolls while performing any Evocation spell.

Following are some of the best Evocation spells you can use:

Spell	Level	Effect
Chromatic Orb	1	Hurl a sphere of energy. It deals 3d8 Thunder damage, or deals 2d8 Acid, Cold; Fire, Lightning, or Poison damage and creates a surface
Magic Missile	1	Shoot 3 magical darts, each dealing 2-5 Force damage. This attack doe not miss
Ice Storm	4	Impels a storm of hail ice from the sky that hit all creatures and objects within 6m range
Chain Lightning	6	hit an enemy with lightning. Three more bolts will leap from the target, hitting as many as three other enemies within 18m.

Necromancy

You can summon the dead to fight for you. You can also steal hp from your enemies to heal yourself while giving them damage. 

A necromancer is helpful to increase the count of your party and helps you to have your minions take damage instead of you. Moreover, you can stay behind your minions to cast powerful spells while your minions also aid you in battle. 

These are the following skills and perks that you can unlock after leveling up with this subclass:

Necromancy Savant: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 2. This will allow you to learn the Necromancy spells at half the price, meaning it will now cost only 25 Gold coins per spell level to learn it from a scroll.

Grim Harvest: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 2. Once per turn, if you kill a creature with a spell, you regain hit points equal to twice the spell slot level used and three times if you used a Necromancy spell.

Animate Dead: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 6. It gives you the ability to create an undead minion from a corpse.

Undead Thralls Additional Undead: unlocked when your wizard reaches level 6. After using the Animate dead spell, you can raise one more undead to become your minion.

Undead Thralls Better Summons: unlocked when your wizard reaches level 6. Creatures created with Animate Dead have additional hit points equal to your wizard level. Your Proficiency Bonus is added to their damage.

Inured to Undeath: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 10. Your maximum HP can not be reduced and resistance to Necrotic damage.

Following are some of the best Necromancy spells you can use:

Spell	Level	Effect
Ray of Sickness	1	Hit enemy with a wave of sick energy that might poison the enemy
Vampiric Touch	3	Touch an enemy to steal their Health. You can regain half of the HP of the damage they take
Create Undead	6	Raise a corpse as an mummy to fight for you
Circle of Life	6	Sculpt a massive sphere of entropic energy around a creature. Devastate the target and all surrounding creatures

Illusion 

This school of magic allows you to cast illusion magic that can confuse your enemies. This type of magic is best for situations where you need a bit of extra time, which you can buy with your illusion magic. It will also help you spot Invisible or cloaked enemies you could not spot before. 

Illusion magic is not that powerful in combat. However, Proficiency in Illusion magic can help if you choose to multiclass with a class that requires stealth, like the Rogue class.

These are the following skills and perks that you can unlock after leveling up with this subclass:

Illusion Savant: This skill is unlocked at level 2 after you choose this subclass. This will allow you to learn the illusion spells at half the price, meaning it will now cost only 25 Gold coins per spell level to learn it from a scroll.

Improved Illusion: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 2. You can cast Minor Illusion as a bonus Action, and you will stay hidden without exposing your location. Additionally, you can also cast this spell now, even when silenced.

See Invisibility: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 6. You can see invisible creatures and possibly reveal them to your allies.

Illusory Self: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 10. When an enemy attacks, you can force it to attack an illusion you created, resulting in the enemy missing the attack, and then your illusion dissipates. You can use it again after a short or long rest.

Following are some of the best Illusion spells you can use:

Spell	Level	Effect
Colour Spray	1	Blind Creatures (up to 33HP)
Mirror Image	2	Create 3 illusory duplicates of yourself to distract attackers. Each duplicate increases your Armour Class by 3
Fear	3	Inflicts Fear on enemies making them unable to move and easier targets to hit
Seeming	5	Disguise a max of 4 party members

Divination

This magic school is unique and uses divine power to grant you re-rolls. You can alter your future rolls to grant you the ability to change outcomes in your combat. You can change the outcomes to perform a stronger attack or debuff on your enemy successfully. 

Divination also helps you to increase your vision by granting passive abilities. You can work for your party and alter some rolls to perform stronger attacks successfully. The re-rolls will be rolled and used again after a long rest.

These are the following skills and perks that you can unlock after leveling up with this subclass:

Divination Savant: This is unlocked at level 2 after you choose this subclass. This will allow you to learn the Divination spells at half the price, meaning it will now cost only 25 Gold coins per spell level to learn it from a scroll.

Portent: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 2. After each Long Rest, you gain two random Portent Dice. During the day, you can use your reaction to change the die of any Attack Roll or Saving Throw rolled near you to one of your Portent Dice. 

Expert Divination: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 6. You now have an additional Portent Die, and taking a Short Rest will regain any spent Portent Dice.

Third Eye Dark Vision: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 10. You can see in the dark for up to 24 meters.

Third Eye Invisibility: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 10. You can spot invisible creatures and possibly help your party spot them.

Following are some of the best Divination spells you can use:

Spells	Level	Effect
Hunter's Mark	1	Mark a creature as your quarry to deal an additional 1-6 whenever you hit it with a weapon attack.
Speak With Animals	1	Communicate with animals
Detect Thoughts	2	Read thoughts of some creatures while talking to them

Transmutation

This magic school focuses on creating potions that buff your allies or debuff your enemies. It has unique perks that can have advantages in different scenarios, but this subclass is not that powerful for combat.

General exploration is more accessible with this subclass because of its unique perks. You can use one of these subclass skills to give your allies different buffs in combat.

However, Transmutation spells are not offensive spells. They are used in various ways to give you different advantages. Like getting the ability to fly, jumping for more distance, increasing movement speed, and many others.

These are the following skills and perks that you can unlock after leveling up with this subclass:

Transmutation Savant: This will be unlocked at level 2 after you choose this subclass. This will allow you to learn the Transmutation spells at half the price, meaning it will now cost only 25 Gold coins per spell level to learn it from a scroll.

Experimental Alchemy: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 2. You can brew two alchemical solutions instead of one when combining extracts, Given that you succeeded in a DC 15 Medicine check.

Transmuter’s Stone: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 6. You can store transmutation magic in a small stone, and then any ally can carry it. Carrying the stone gains a benefit of your choice. The benefits can be Thunder resistance, Fire resistance, Lightning resistance, Acid resistance, Cold resistance, Movement speed, Constitution, or Darkvision.

Shapechanger: This skill will be unlocked when your wizard reaches level 10. You can transform into a Blue jay, which can fly. After your HP hits zero, you revert to your original form.

Following are some of the best Transmutation spells you can use:

Spell	Level	Effect
Feather Fall	1	You and nearby allies become immune to fall damage
Enhance Leap	1	Triple the targets jumping distance
Grant Flight	3	You or your ally gain the ability to fly
Disintegrate	6	Shoots a green thin ray from your finger that inflicts 46-100 force damage

Best Subclass Pick

Although there are many subclasses for a wizard, Picking the best one can help pave your way to a successful journey. All the subclasses give you passive perks, but some of them stand out from the others.

You should choose your subclass based on the spell pool of the subclass. After choosing a subclass, those types of spells become cheaper to learn. 

The best Subclass to choose can be either Evocation or Abjuration.

Evocation can help you, as a wizard, hurl strong spells against your enemies while protecting your allies. An Evocation wizard is very good at dealing with high amounts of damage, and the Sculpt Spells also help your allies in the party. The Evocation spell pool also has many good offensive magic that you can learn cheaply.

Abjuration is very helpful for a wizard as the ward grows more powerful as you level up. The ward can also act like the tank of your party, saving you and your allies from incoming enemy damage. 

Even though these are the preferred subclasses, that does not mean the other subclasses are unsuitable.

However, Evocation and Abjuration are the most straightforward choices for a wizard due to their powerful perks and ability to help your party.

You can also combine spells with each other to create a powerful AOE attack for example using a fire spell on an area affected by grease will make it explode giving AOE damage to all the creatures on that surface. Using your spells with a strategy can help you win fights that are not possible to win with brute strength only.

Wrap Up

You can try out many classes in Baldur’s Gate 3, and choosing the best wizard subclass can be crucial for a more decisive character build. All the different subclasses favour different playstyles, so it is important to know first what kind of approach you want your character to have in the party.

Each subclass can change the style of play of a wizard, as some subclasses are offensive, some are defensive while some offer their own unique style of playing.

The game offers various classes and subclasses, so try each one that interests you. Even though there are better subclasses comparatively, you can choose any subclass and make it stronger for your build, so don’t be afraid to test the waters and have fun.

If you enjoyed this guide, make sure to check out these guides on Baldur’s Gate 3:

• Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Assassin Build
• Baldur’s Gate 3 Best Multiclass