Baldur’s Gate 3 Sorcerer Guide | Best Builds and Options

So, you wish to be a Sorcerer in the highly anticipated Baldur’s Gate 3? We can see why! The Sorcerer is a natural-born spellcaster, created by circumstance to be able to rain hell upon their opponents. They have access to perhaps the most spells out of anyone, but can use their sorcery points for far more than mere spell regeneration. They are masters of metamagic, and using their innate powers, will cause their enemies to feel the wrath of the arcane. If you want to know the best options for your character this early on, our Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access Sorcerer guide will try to give you a hand!

Sorcerers in Baldur’s Gate 3

As might be expected from a bloodline-based caster, the Sorcerer keys off of their Charisma for their damage and utility spells. They are heavily restricted by number of spells known, making the Sorcerer be a specialist in either blasting or damage control. The best roles for a Sorcerer in your party are combat damage caster, combat utility caster, and minor problem solver.

Best Subclass

Currently, there are three subclasses that a Sorcerer may choose from at character creation. These subclasses are the Draconic, Storm Sorcery, and the Wild Magic Bloodline.

The Draconic Bloodline is a simple, straightforward archetype. You begin by choosing a Dragon color. You will eventually become resistant to the dragon’s element, and your spells of that type will hit harder, allowing you to add your Charisma modifier to those spells. Finally, the dragon will grant you one free level 1 spell known. Your options are;

Red (Fire): Burning Hands
Black (Acid): Grease
Blue (Lightning): Witch Bolt
White (Cold): Armor of Agathys
Green (Poison): Ray of Sickness
Gold (Fire): Disguise Self
Silver (Cold): Feather Fall
Bronze (Lightning): Fog Cloud
Copper (Acid): Tasha’s Hideous Laughter
Brass (Fire): Sleep

All of these options are somewhat good, but we’d recommend against Green or Gold. Poison is a very unrepresented spell type, both on the sorcerer list and for mid-game enemies. Gold is probably the weakest of the possible Fire option, though Disguise Self can be handy in very niche situations.

Other than these small bonuses, all Draconic types gain +1 health per level, and natural armor equal to 13 + Dexterity. This saves you a spell slot per day, since you no longer need mage armor or light armor proficiency. Fantastic durability upgrade for a Sorcerer!

The Wild Magic Bloodline has a few less choices, but is much crazier. They unlock a spell augmentation list. This list has a low chance of adding to your spells each turn. Here are some (but not all) of the effects that can occur;

At the start of each turn, a magical effect occurs.
Summon a Mephit that hates everyone
Switch positions with a target each time you cast magic.
Until the end of your next turn, as a bonus action, you may teleport 9 meters.
Create a dense cloud of fog on yourself which obscures and blinds creatures within.
Each creature within 9 meters gains the Blur spell effect.
Your spells of level 1 and higher heal nearby creatures for 1d4 health.

As you can see, a moderate mix of good and bad for you. Thankfully, this isn’t the only thing you get; you may also gain advantage on an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw once per long rest. However, this increases your chance of triggering a Wild Magic surge.

In general, the Draconic Bloodline is significantly better. The good effects for Wild Magic are great, but you can also really screw yourself over, and Tides of Chaos is not good enough to balance things out. The guaranteed durability is significantly better for a standard campaign.

The Storm Sorcery Bloodline is – you guessed it – themed around harnessing the power of weather. The highlight here is the Fly feature. When you fly as your bonus action after casting a leveled spell, you can retreat without facing opportunity attacks. This lets you weave in and out of combat without fear of getting pinned down.

Best Spells

Choosing the perfect spell for your Sorcerer is probably as important as your choice in Bloodline. Your choice will follow you until you get to a new level, so you should try and choose something strong!

Cantrips

Your cantrip options are important. Make sure you have at least one damaging cantrip, since that will be your primary source of damage when you do not wish to spend a spell slot. You can take more damaging options if you wish to dodge damage resistance.

Fire Bolt deals great damage with a good damage type.
Acid Splash deals some damage in an Area of Effect.
Chill Touch deals good damage and debuffs undead.
Ray of Frost deals good damage and reduces movement speed.

The only bad damaging cantrips are Poison Spray and Shocking Grasp. Both suffer a lot from being in melee range. If you really want those melee options, Shocking Grasp prevents reactions which can allow you to escape.

Your other cantrip options are mediocre, as Cantrips should be! Choose some of the following;

Blade Ward for damage reduction
Dancing Lights OR Light for vision
Mage Hand for object manipulation

The other cantrip options are usually too weak to make a significant difference. Though, Friends can be situationally nice.

Spells

The Sorcerer spell list is pretty hectic. The Draconic Sorcerer learns some of these spell options innately, so think about that before you select your magic. Some winners include;

1st

Charm Person easily prevents someone from hurting you.
Chromatic Orb hits for a lot and can weave around resistances and weaknesses.
Color Spray is great for early game crowd control.
Feather Fall is good for emergencies.
Fog Cloud lets you set up for fights however you’d like.
Mage Armor is recommended for Wild Magic sorcerers.
Magic Missile is consistent, medium damage.
Witch Bolt deals high damage at the cost of actions.

2nd

Blindness shuts down enemy fighters and spellcasters alike.
Blur can keep you safe from harm consistently.
Cloud of Daggers lets you control a space of the fight.
Darkness shuts down ranged attackers.
Detect Thoughts is useful in and out of combat to find creatures.
Hold Person can shut down a tough encounter.
Invisibility lets you scout more easily.
Mirror Image makes you hard to hit.
Misty Step is one of the best mobility options in 5E.
Scorching Ray is high single-target damage.
Shatter has decent Area of Effect damage.
Web can shut down multiple enemies for a long time.

See Our Baldur’s Gate 3 Warlock Guide

Best Metamagic

Currently, there are 7 metamagic options. 4 unlock at level 2, and 3 more unlock at level 3. You take 2 options at level 2, and 1 more at level 3.

Level 2 Metamagic

We will order these by how important they are to general builds.

Extended Spell is pretty specific, and most fights don’t last long enough to make it useful.
Distant Spell is legitimately good, but can be safely ignored if you have good positioning and choose long-ranged spells.
Careful Spell allows a blaster to fire without mercy. However, right now, there aren’t that many area of effect options. Still, good backup plan! Especially for strong magic like Web.
Twinned Spell is very expensive, but allows you to basically cast two spells with the same action. Great for combat control and dealing high damage across the board.

Level 3 Metamagic

We will be adding other options to the list, since you can still take the 4 other metamagic if you’d like.

Extended Spell
Distant Spell
Careful Spell
Subtle Spell is a bit situational. However, you can
Twinned Spell
Quickened Spell is expensive, but allows for high-burst turns where you cast a spell and then use a cantrip. Remember that you can’t cast 2 spells in a turn no matter what!
Heightened Spell is perfect for when you need to ruin a boss’s day. Combine this with spells like Hold Person and you can decimate specific encounters. Exceptionally expensive for a good reason.

See Our Baldur’s Gate 3 Wizard Guide

Best Races

While there are no “best” races, there are some that you should definitely avoid. For a Sorcerer, you should be focusing on a race that has some access to Charisma.

Drow: A decent stealthy option with good Dexterity for AC. The weapon proficiencies are usually wasted.
Half-Elf: Any Half-Elf option is fine. Drow Half-Elf grants Dancing Lights which is usually worse but can be better if your party is missing Darkvision. High Half-Elf gets another cantrip to add to your collection. Wood Half-Elf has ridiculous movement speed and stealth.
Human: Humans are a safe option. However, they offer no significant strength and should be taken only if you plan on making use of all of those +1s.
Lightfoot Halfling: A sneaky choice, similar to Drow. You’re replacing stellar Darkvision with Lucky. If you fear rolling 1s, Lucky might be better.
Tieflings: All Tiefling options are fine. We suggest Mephistopheles, as that demon heritage comes with Mage Hand.

Of these options, Tiefling and Half-Elf are probably the two we’d go for consistently. They mix good statistics with fantastic utility.

Best Feats for Sorcerers in Baldur’s Gate 3

At level 4, the Sorcerer obtains a Feat. We would recommend Ability Score Improvement to get +2 to your Charisma. This is because your spells are critical for your build! Getting your Spell Attack roll and DC high is going to be very important.

If you don’t want to go ASI, you can take Lightly Armored so a non-Draconic Sorcerer can get acceptable AC. You can also take Tough for the extra health. Magic Initiate: Warlock could be interesting if you’d like Eldritch Blast or other Warlock spells like Hex.

Conclusions

While the Sorcerer will likely not completely replace a Wizard, it is a valid option in any party. Its mastery of arcane is undeniable, and should be taken quite seriously. While it is not the most versatile caster by any means, it more than makes up for it by augmenting their spells in ways that a Wizard could only dream of. So, if your party is lacking damage or basic Arcane utility, the Sorcerer might be the way to go!