by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 2 Evocation spell available to Druids. A column of pale light that burns anything entering it or starting its turn inside it for 2d10 Radiant damage, and you can move the beam 18m each turn with an Action. It is the Druid’s answer to everything that regenerates, and it keeps earning its slot for the entire game.
Spell description: Call down a silvery beam of pale light that deals 2d10 Radiant damage to any creature that enters it or starts its turn in the light. You can use an action to move the beam 18m. On a successful save, targets still take half damage.
Spell properties
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Area: 1m (3ft)
- Concentration spell
- Save: CON save
- Damage: 2d10 Radiant
- Conditions applied: Grants the Move Moonbeam action.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Damage increases by 1d10 Radiant for each spell slot level above the 2nd.
How to obtain Moonbeam
Source items: Sorrow, Scroll of Moonbeam
Call down a silvery beam of pale light that deals 2d10 Radiant damage to any creature that enters it or starts its turn in the light. You can use an action to move the beam 18m. On a successful save, targets still take half damage.
Duration: Until Concentration ends
AoE: 1m (3ft) Radius
Creatures that enter the beam or start their turn inside it take 2d10 Radiant damage (Constitution save for half). The caster can move the beam 18m as an Action.
When to cast Moonbeam
Radiant is the reason you take this. It shuts down a great many of the game’s undead and regenerating enemies, and the shadows and wraiths of Act 2 take it especially badly. A Druid with Moonbeam prepared has a hard counter to the whole Shadow-Cursed Lands.
The 1m radius is the price. This is not an area nuke, it is a single-target burn that happens to live on the ground. Park it on top of one dangerous enemy and leave it there.
The trick is that it hits a creature when it enters the beam and again when it starts its turn inside. Something that gets pushed out and walks back in takes two ticks. Combine it with anything that forces movement, or simply move the beam onto an enemy who has already been burned once.
Moving it costs your Action, which is the tension in the spell. Every turn you spend maintaining it is a turn you cast nothing else. Against one big target that is a fine trade. Against a crowd it is not.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 2 Conjuration spell available to Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards. Teleports you up to 18m to any unoccupied space you can see, for a Bonus Action. It does no damage and applies no conditions, and it is one of the best spells in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Spell description: Surrounded by silver mist, you teleport to an unoccupied space you can see.
Spell properties
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Cost: Bonus Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Misty Step at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Misty Step
- Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard at Class level 3
Source items: Amulet of Misty Step, Boots of Very Fast Blinking, Scroll of Misty Step
Surrounded by silver mist, you teleport to an unoccupied space you can see.
When to cast Misty Step
The Bonus Action cost is the whole spell. Blink out of a melee and still cast a full spell in the same turn. It is a teleport rather than movement, so nobody gets an opportunity attack on the way out. Grapples, webs, collapsing bridges: all solved for the price of a slot.
Offensively it is just as rude. This game worships high ground, and Misty Step puts you on a rooftop or a rock or the far side of a chasm on turn one, usually somewhere the enemy AI cannot path to at all. A Sorcerer who opens by blinking onto a ledge and Twin-casting from there is very hard to punish.
The one real limit: you must be able to see where you are going. No closed doors, nothing while Blinded, nothing through heavy fog.
If you are playing a Githyanki or a Wood Elf you may already have a free version of this from your race. Check before you spend a spell known on it.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 2 Illusion spell available to Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards. Three illusory duplicates of you, each worth +3 Armour Class. Ten turns, no Concentration. It is the best defensive spell a squishy caster can put on themselves and it is not close.
Spell description: Create 3 illusory duplicates of yourself that distract attackers. Each duplicate increases your Armour Class by 3. Whenever you successfully evade an attack, one of the duplicates disappears.
Spell properties
- Range: Self
- Duration: 10 turns
- Conditions applied: Three duplicates, each granting +3 Armour Class. A duplicate is destroyed each time an attack misses you.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Casting Mirror Image at higher levels provides no additional benefits.
How to obtain Mirror Image
- Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard at Class level 3
Source items: Shelter of Athkatla, Scroll of Mirror Image
Create 3 illusory duplicates of yourself that distract attackers. Each duplicate increases your Armour Class by 3. Whenever you successfully evade an attack, one of the duplicates disappears.
Duration: 10 turns
- Three duplicates, each granting +3 Armour Class.
- A duplicate is destroyed each time an attack misses.
When to cast Mirror Image
+9 Armour Class is an absurd number. A Wizard sitting on 13 goes to 22, which is better than a Paladin in full plate, and most of Act 1 and Act 2 simply cannot roll that. The duplicates only pop when an attack misses, so a good Mirror Image can eat an entire enemy turn and still leave you with images to spare.
The bit people miss: it is not Concentration. That is what makes it exceptional. Your Wizard can be holding Web or Hold Person and still be wrapped in +9 AC. Nothing else at this level competes.
Cast it before the fight, not during. Ten turns covers a whole encounter if you put it up on the approach, and spending your Action on defence once combat is live is a turn where you dealt no damage.
Stack it with Blur if you like. Blur imposes Disadvantage, Mirror Image raises AC, and the two multiply rather than overlap. A caster running both is effectively unhittable by anything ordinary. Blur is Concentration though, so that is your control spell gone.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 2 Evocation spell available to Wizards. A green bolt for 4d4 Acid damage on impact and another 2d4 at the end of the target’s next turn, and even on a miss it still deals half the initial damage. It is the Wizard’s most reliable single-target Level 2 nuke for exactly that reason: it cannot fully whiff.
Spell description: Shoot a green arrow that covers the target and the ground with acid. Deals 4d4 Acid damage immediately and 2d4 Acid damage at the end of the target’s turn. If the spell misses, the target still takes half the initial damage.
Spell properties
- Range: 18m (60ft)
- Attack: Attack roll
- Damage: 4d4 Acid
- Conditions applied: Deals 4d4 Acid damage immediately and 2d4 Acid damage at the end of the target’s turn. On a miss, the target still takes half the initial damage.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
Deals an extra 2d4 Acid damage for each spell slot level above the 2nd. 1d4 on impact and 1d4 at the end of the target’s turn.
How to obtain Melf’s Acid Arrow
Source items: Melf’s First Staff, Scroll of Melf’s Acid Arrow
Shoot a green arrow that covers the target and the ground with acid. Deals 4d4 Acid damage immediately and 2d4 Acid damage at the end of the target’s turn. If the spell misses, the target still takes half the initial damage.
Duration: 1 turn
- Takes 2d4 Acid damage at the end of the creature’s turn.
- On a miss, the target still takes half the initial 4d4 damage.
When to cast Melf’s Acid Arrow
The miss clause is what earns this spell its place. Scorching Ray can miss all three rays and do nothing at all. Melf’s cannot. Even a total whiff returns half of 4d4, which makes it the safe pick against a high-AC target on a turn you cannot afford to waste.
Acid is also the right damage type more often than people expect. It gets past most of the game’s common resistances, and Acid stops Troll regeneration alongside Fire. If your party has no Fire caster, Melf’s is your answer to the trolls in the Underdark.
The delayed 2d4 is easy to forget and easy to waste. It lands at the end of the target’s next turn, so if you kill them first it evaporates. Do not open with Melf’s on something you are about to finish. Open with it on something that will still be standing next round.
Melf’s First Staff gives you a free cast per Long Rest and boosts Acid damage, which is a genuinely strong Act 1 pickup for an Evocation Wizard.
by Claude Helper | Sep 8, 2026 | Spells
Level 2 Transmutation spell available to Paladins and Wizards. Touch a non-magical weapon and it becomes magical with +1 to Attack and Damage Rolls until a Long Rest. It is a good spell for exactly as long as it takes you to find a magic weapon, which in this game is not long.
Spell description: Infuse a weapon with arcane energy. The weapon becomes magical, receiving a +1 bonus to Attack and Damage Rolls.
Spell properties
- Range: Melee: 1.5m (5ft)
- Duration: Long Rest
- Concentration spell
- Conditions applied: The weapon becomes magical and receives a +1 bonus to Attack and Damage Rolls.
- Cost: Action + Spell Slot
- Recharge: Per action
Spell upcasting
The bonus increases by 1 for every two spell slot levels above the 2nd. +2 at Levels 4 and 5, and +3 at Level 6.
How to obtain Magic Weapon
- Wizard at Class level 3
- Paladin at Class level 5
Source item: Scroll of Magic Weapon
Infuse a weapon with arcane energy. The weapon becomes magical, receiving a +1 bonus to Attack and Damage Rolls.
Duration: Until Long Rest
- The weapon counts as magical and gains +1 to Attack and Damage Rolls.
- The bonus increases by 1 for every two spell slot levels above the 2nd.
When to cast Magic Weapon
In Act 1, before the good loot, +1 to hit and damage on your best fighter’s weapon for the whole day is a genuine upgrade, and a Paladin casting it on themselves in the morning is spending a slot well.
It is Concentration though, which is a large price for a small number, and the moment you pick up a +1 weapon from a vendor or a corpse the spell is redundant. Most parties are there by the end of Act 1.
Upcasting brings it back to life: +2 at Level 4 and +3 at Level 6, which beats most of the weapons in the game. A Wizard with a spare Level 6 slot and a Fighter holding a plain greatsword can do worse. It still costs Concentration, and at that level the Wizard usually has something better to hold.
Range: 18m (60ft)
Save: CON save
