Baldur’s Gate 3: Best Bladesinger Wizard Build

Your typical Wizard in Baldur’s Gate 3 is far from being a Fighter or Barbarian. You will usually see them behind the other characters, firing off spells, and controlling the battlefield from a distance. This is what they excel at.

Things change, however, when you decide to build a Bladesinger Wizard, as this Wizard subclass focuses on being more of a frontline combatant, slashing away at their opponents, and then retreating to fire off spells should they stay too long.

If you want the best of ranged and melee combat, consider trying out this Bladesinger Wizard build in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Best Bladesinger Wizard Character Creation Selections

The Bladesinger Wizard offers an interesting mix of ranged and melee combat. Thanks to the Bladesong ability, you can enhance your armor class and movement speed, making you a threat at both range and melee.

Because of the addition of melee combat, more races make good Bladesingers, and you will want to change your stats around a little bit when creating your character.

Gale is also an option if you would rather use an Origin character, though you miss out on some good racial bonuses.

Best Bladesinger Wizard Race Selections

Since the Bladesinger is a hybrid subclass that blends melee and ranged attacks, you can stick with a good Wizard race, such as High Elf, or you can mix things up and choose a more melee-focused race, such as Half-Orc.

I prefer to choose the High Elf race because of the additional cantrip they get from the Wizard spell list. This means that I have more spells to work with.

A great alternative would be the Asmodeus Tiefling, thanks to the additional spells that you get access to as you level up. You can also take Half-Orc for the damage buff from Savage Attacks since you will be using melee attacks.

Best Bladesinging Wizard Starting Spells

Wizards get access to the largest spellbook out of all the Baldur’s Gate 3 classes. They also get the ability to learn spells from scrolls at the cost of gold – a useful tool that you can take advantage of throughout the campaign.

Here are the spells I recommend choosing when creating your character.

Being a Bladesinging Wizard, you will get Bladesinging healing charges by attacking with your weapon, and Bladesinging damage charges by attacking with spells of 1st level or greater. Because of this, you want spells that are reliable and can hit multiple targets.

I have found that Thunderwave and Burning Hands are very useful in combat since you will be up close to many enemies. Casting one of these will grant you charges while Bladesinging and will also help you damage multiple enemies at once.

Of course, you will want long-range spells as well, which is why you take Magic Missile and Witch Bolt.

Longstrider is also very useful, as it is a ritual spell that doesn’t cost any spell slots and will increase your movement speed, allowing you to move farther on the battlefield, especially when combined with the movement speed increase of Bladesinging.

Best Bladesinging Wizard Background and Skills

Wizard is a very intelligence-focused class. As such, you will want to choose skills that work with the Intelligence ability. You can also choose skills that use the Dexterity ability, since Bladesinger is a very combat-focused class.

I recommend taking the Acolyte background, as this will grant you the Insight and Religion skills. When it comes to your skill choices, I go for the Arcana and Investigation skills.

Best Bladesinging Wizard Ability Score Choices

Your primary Ability Scores are going to be Intelligence and Constitution, as these will increase your spell attack and health. Of course, you will also want to focus on Dexterity, since you will be very combat-focused.

Intelligence is set to 17 since it is your primary attack stat and what you need to hit and deal damage with your spells. Meanwhile, Dexterity is set to 14, since you will be mostly using finesse weapons.

Next, Constitution is set to 14 to get that extra health on the battlefield. Strength, meanwhile, is set to 8, since you won’t be using any strength-based weapons.

Finally, Wisdom is set to 10 since it is not extremely useful, and Charisma is set to 12, so you can do some of the talking.

Bladesinging Wizard Level-Up Abilities and Feats

As a Bladesinging Wizard, you will get access to the Bladesong ability. This will be your primary ability used during battle, and something you will be reliant on. Luckily, you will also get added armor proficiencies to help you out.

Whenever you enter battle, I recommend activating Bladesong, as this will increase your armor class and increase your movement speed. Combining this with the Longstrider spell from character creation will allow you to move an additional 6m in combat.

While Bladesinging, hold onto the charges that you accumulate, and try to use the Bladesinging Climax ability near the end of the 10-turn ability. This way, you will accumulate the most charges possible. You will also want to use it in an area where both allies and enemies are present to apply healing to your allies and damage your foes.

One of the best Feats that you can get is War Caster, since it gives you advantage on checks to maintain concentration. You will be getting attacked a lot, and nearly every spellcasting class needs this Feat to maintain their concentration.

Mobile is another great Feat, as this allows you to avoid attacks of opportunity. This can be used to attack targets and then retreat to a manageable distance if you are surrounded. Spell Sniper is also good if you want to increase your chances of scoring a critical hit with your spells.

The Ability Score Improvement is a good replacement for Mobile or Spell Sniper if you need the increased stats. I have found that you can get better stats by performing certain actions, such as eating the Hag’s Hair to increase a stat by 1 point.

Bladesinging Wizard Spell Choices

As stated previously, Wizards get access to a massive spell list. Luckily, you can switch out your spells while not in combat, but you switch to spells you have not learned from leveling up or from scrolls. I find it very important to hang onto scrolls, so that you can learn more spells over time.

Wizards get a lot of very useful spells – some of which are the best in the game. Early on, the Shadow Blade spell is a great replacement for a weapon, and it will also deal more damage than most weapons you will find in the early game.

Later on, Fireball will be used to clear out groups of enemies, while Vampiric Touch will be used as a melee attack to regain health when needed. Blur is another great spell, as it will make you more difficult to hit in combat.

Haste is a great spell that will allow you to rapidly attack targets around the battlefield. In the late game, spells like Fire Shield can protect you, while your summoning spells can grant you additional allies to aid you in battle.

Best Equipment for Bladesinging Wizard

The combination of the Arcane Absorption Dagger and Gleamdance Dagger is great for Bladesinging Wizards, since the Arcane Absorption Dagger allows you to regain spell slots, and the Gleamdance Dagger increases your armor class.

As a replacement for the Arcane Absorption Dagger, the Executioner Sword works very well, as it allows you to cast a 1st-level spell for free whenever you kill an enemy.

Since you can use light armor, you can take advantage of the Elegant Studded Leather, as it increases your initiative rolls and grants you the Shield spell – a useful spell to protect yourself using your reaction. When combined with the Executioner Sword or Arcane Absorption Dagger, the spell slot usage doesn’t matter that much.

Of course, the Robe of the Weave is also great thanks to its bonus to spell saves and spell attack rolls, both of which will help you tremendously. It also provides a +2 bonus to armor class.

The Hood of the Weave is a great choice for head armor since it grants you additional spell save and spell attack roll bonuses. You can also use the Mask of Soul Perception, as this will give you bonuses for melee combat, which is useful for gaining healing charges during your Bladesong.

While the Quickspell Gloves are great for using cantrips faster and getting off another spell in a round, it is far more useful to have the Daredevil Gloves, as these will allow you to use your ranged spell attacks as melee spell attacks, allowing you to stay in battle.

The Cloak of Displacement can be your best friend, as it will allow you to forgo using the Blur spell during combat and grant you a similar effect. The Cloak of the Weave is also great if you want additional spell attack and spell save bonuses.

The Helldusk Boots are amazing for allowing you to stay in combat without being pushed away by any effects. You also get to avoid the effects of terrain. You can also use the Bonespike Boots, which grant you additional armor class when not wearing armor. This works well with the Robe of the Weave, since it doesn’t count as armor.

The Spell Savant Amulet is great for getting an additional level 2 spell slot. If that is unnecessary for you, the Spellcrux Amulet will allow you to restore a spell slot. Finally, the Amulet of Greater Health will increase your Constitution score, granting you more health and increasing your survivability.

The Ring of Protection will further increase your armor class, making you a tougher target. Meanwhile, the Ring of Regeneration will give you health each turn. Finally, the Orphic Ring will grant you the Confusion spell, allowing you to take a different spell when selecting spells from your spellbook.

Baldur’s Gate 3

Released

August 3, 2023

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence

Engine

Divinity 4.0