Baldur's Gate 3 tier list: What are the best spells in the game?

Casting spells in Baldur's Gate 3 can be incredibly beneficial - if you’re casting the right ones. Some spells are simply more powerful than others. It’s not just about dealing damage, though. You want spells with incredible utility as well. No matter what Evocation Wizards may tell you, you cannot simply Fireball your way through every problem you come across.

Sometimes you need a spell that disables or blinds your foes, so you can complete an objective. It’s much easier to steal an item if nobody, but you can see, after all. I’m looking at my favorite spells in Baldur's Gate 3 today.

I’ve broken them down into tiers based on how useful and powerful they are in a broad, general sense. While we won’t talk about what every spell does, I’ll explain why they are in each tier.

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What are the best spells in Baldur's Gate 3?

1) S-Tier

• Eldritch Blast
• Magic Missle
• Pass Without Trace
• Armor of Agathys
• Sleep
• Healing Word
• Chill Touch
• Guidance
• Friends
• Hex
• Tasha’s Hideous Laughter
• Faerie Fire
• Hunter’s Mark
• Flaming Sphere
• Scorching Ray
• Darkness
• Cloud of Daggers
• Hold Person

These are the most useful spells in the game (Image via Larian Studios)

S-Tier spells in Baldur's Gate 3 are the cream of the crop. They’re useful in such a wide variety of situations for spellcasters. They aren’t necessarily the hardest-hitting combat abilities but are the ones that have the most utility. Magic Missile is a given, as is the mighty Eldritch Blast. Healing Word is also an incredibly useful support spell.

There are also control spells like Sleep, Darkness, and Hold Person. You can’t forget Pass Without Trace either, which masks the movements of you and your companions. You don’t always need to obliterate foes with fireballs, and this list shows just how many options you have.

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2) A-Tier

• Invisibility
• Misty Step
• Shillelagh
• Spike Growth
• Mirror Image
• Shocking Grasp
• Fireball
• Moonbeam
• Aid
• Dancing Lights
• Chromatic Orb
• Hellish Rebuke
• Thorn Whip
• Shield of Faith
• Jump
• Inflict Wounds
• Web
• Mage Hand
• Prayer of Healing
• Ray of Frost
• Bane
• Minor Illusion

They may not be as useful as S-Tier, but they're not to be underestimated (Image via Larian Studios)

For Baldur's Gate 3’s A-Tier spells, they’re slightly less powerful than their S-Tier brethren. However, these are all abilities that other classes are going to love. Web is one of my all-time favorites in Dungeons & Dragons, especially when combined with grease and fireball.

You have Invisibility and Minor Illusion for trickery and stealth and the mighty power of Thorn Whip and Hellish Rebuke. Mage Hand might not be A-tier worthy, but I’m a fan of it as it stands right now. There is a lot of usefulness in this catalog of Baldur's Gate 3 abilities.

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3) B-Tier

• Heat Metal
• False Life
• Cure Wounds
• Fire Bolt
• Protection from Evil & Good
• Lesser Restoration
• Silence
• Burning Hands
• Ray of Enfeeblement
• Longstrider
• Guiding Bolt
• Blade Ward
• Thaumaturgy
• Darkvision
• Find Familiar
• Command
• Mage Armor
• Find Familiar
• Blur
• Shatter
• Melf’s Acid Arrow
• Grease
• Ensnaring Strike
• Resistance
• Sacred Flame

The B-Tier options are still good, if not restrictive (Image via Larian Studios)

The B-Tier picks in Baldur's Gate 3 aren’t bad, per se’. When we get to this point, these are more limited in their use and scope. For example, you don’t need Darkvision as often as you’d think. If you aren’t using a familiar, why would you want Find Familiar?

When you’re dealing with Druids, you have less for Heat Metal, as another example. These are solid spells, but they’re far from useful in every situation. Protection from Evil & Good is another example - it’s worth knowing, but not everything is good or evil.

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4) C-Tier

• Hail of Thorns
• Poison Spray
• Enhance Ability
• Color Spray
• Expeditious Retreat
• Searing Smite
• Feather Fall
• True Strike

Sometimes, you just need to jump off a cliff - that's when Feather Fall is useful (Image via Larian Studios)

Baldur's Gate 3 has an enormous catalog of spells, thanks to Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. Many of these have been around for years before that. When it comes to the C-Tier options, they’re even more restrictive than the A and B-tier options. Again, they aren’t terrible, but moment-to-moment usefulness feels incredibly sparse.

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5) D-Tier

• Enlarge/Reduce
• Speak with Animals
• Detect Thoughts
• Blindness
• Disguise Self
• True Strike
• Animal Friendship
• Ray of Sickness
• Witch Bolt
• Charm Person
• Crown of Madness
• Goodberry
• Arms of Hadar

Lae'zel doesn't need disguise self to blend in. by u/Immawatchinyou in BaldursGate3

By the time you have spare slots for these spells as a high-level character, they really aren’t worth having. Some of them feel more like role-play abilities, which isn’t a bad thing. I can’t think of a moment in Baldur's Gate 3 where I was grateful for a Speak with Animals cast. I’ve had moments in the tabletop version where these came in handy, sure.

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Of course, there will be moments when every spell on this list could be used. Just because I rank them lower doesn’t mean these Baldur's Gate 3 abilities are useless. Consider what you’re trying to do, and make the right pick for your needs as a caster.