Thunderwave

Category: Baldur’s Gate Spells

Level 1 Evocation spell available to Bards, Druids, Sorcerers, and Wizards. It deals 2d8 Thunder in a 5m cube and pushes everything 8m away. Devastating with a cliff at your back.

Spell description: Release a wave of thunderous force that pushes away all creatures and objects.

Spell properties

Damage: 2d8 Thunder
Damage type: Thunder
Range: Melee (1.5m)
Area: 5m (17ft) cube
Save: CON save
Conditions applied: Pushed back 8m.
Cost: Action + Spell Slot
Recharge: Per action

Spell upcasting

Casting Thunderwave at a higher level deals an additional 1d8 Thunder damage for each spell slot level above the 1st.

How to obtain Thunderwave

Bard, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard at Class level 1
Tempest Domain (Cleric) at Class level 1, as a Domain Spell
Arcane Trickster (Rogue) and Eldritch Knight (Fighter) at Class level 3
Storm Sorcery (Sorcerer) at Class level 6
Granted by features: Magic Initiate: Bard, Druid, Sorcerer, or Wizard
Source items: Ring of Absolute Force, Thunderpalm Strikers

Release a wave of thunderous force that pushes away all creatures and objects.

Range: Melee (1.5m)

AoE: 5m (17ft) cube

When to cast Thunderwave

Thunderwave is damage plus a big shove: 2d8 to everything in a 5m cube and an 8m push on a failed save. Stand with your back to a ledge, let the enemies close, and blast the whole group off the edge for a Level 1 slot.

The push is the point, so cast it where the terrain does the killing, a chasm, a cliff, a hazard, rather than into open ground. In the right spot it is one of the highest-value Level 1 spells in the game; on flat terrain it is just a small area nuke.

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Spell properties

Level

Level 1

School

Evocation

Casting resource

Action + Spell Slot

Damage type

Thunder

Range

Melee: 1.5m (5ft)

Duration

-

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Notes & sources

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Spell mechanics, descriptions and values are based on Baldur’s Gate 3 version 4.1.1.7209685 and may change with future patches. Where applicable, sources are cited within each article.

Copyright disclaimer & licensing

Some or all of this work is © Larian Studios. Some spell icons and game data are property of Larian Studios and used here under their fan content policy. Any fan-created works using content from Larian fall under: Larian Fan Content Policy and / or Baldur’s Gate 3 Fan Content Terms. Some of the icons used in these spell cards were downloaded from Sammy8932 on NexusMods.

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