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Baldur’s Gate 3’sFinal Patch, Patch 8, adds one new subclass to each of the game’s playable classes, along with Photo Mode, Crossplay, and many other improvements. Among these changes, you’ll find a few new spells as well, which add to existing playstyles and, in conjunction with the new subclasses, open up all kinds of new build options.
With new Cantrips like Booming Blade and Bursting Sinew, and new leveled spells like Staggering Smite, the focus is definitely on giving more options to the subclasses added inBaldur’s Gate 3’sFinal Patch. That said, many of these new spells also offer something new and useful to existing strategies, so this guide will go over all five of them and discuss ways they can be used to your advantage. It’s also worth noting that there are a few minor bugs with some of these spells, most notably Booming Blade, in the current version of Patch 8, so these will be noted where applicable.
Booming Blade
Booming Blade adds a much-needed weapon attack cantrip,ideal for Eldritch Knight Fighters, Arcane Trickster Rogues, Hexblade Warlocks, Bladesinging Wizards, and Bards using College of Valor or College of Swords.Initially, this simply spends an action and a bonus action to perform a weapon attack on the target, infusing them with energy that will detonate for 1d8 Thunder Damage if they move before your next turn.This is great for discouraging enemies from disengaging and punishing them for doing so.
At level 5,Booming Blade deals 1d8 Thunder Damage up front, and then 2d8 Thunder Damage if the target moves, allowing you to add bonus damage onto your melee swing. This damage is increased to 2d8 up front and 3d8 on enemy movementat level 11.Booming Blade is a must-have Cantrip on any character that makes melee weapon attacks and also casts spells.Bladesinging Wizards can make use of it during Bladesong to make stronger melee attacks, though these will give you Bladesong Healing Charges instead of Bladesong Damage Charges, as this spell is treated as a weapon attack for the purposes of Bladesong.
Booming Blade is currently not registered as dealing Thunder damage for the purposes of several magic items and abilities that react to the wearer dealing Thunder damage.The Storm Sorcerer’s “Heart of the Storm” Thunder will not be triggered, and the Tempest Domain Cleric’s “Destructive Wrath” cannot be used to maximize the damage.
Furthermore, the Necklace of Elemental Augmentation will not add your spellcasting modifier to the damage dealt by this spell, nor will the Bone-shaking Thunder buff from Markoheshkir apply reverberation when you damage an enemy with this spell. This means that builds utilizing these items won’t work correctly with this spell.
Strangely, some effects will function if the weapon has another source of elemental damage on it. For example, the Draconic Bloodline ability Elemental Affinity: Damage, the extra elemental damage from the Ring of Elemental Infusion, and the Momentum Buff from the Boots of Elemental Momentum, will trigger correctly if the weapon used for this spell already has a source of elemental damage on it. This can be achieved most easily by dipping the weapon in fire or by using the elemental weapon spell.
Toll the Dead
Toll the Dead is a Necromancy Cantrip, with a range of 18m/60ft, that deals 1d12 Necrotic Damage to an injured target, or 1d8 Necrotic Damage to a target at full health, if they fail the Wisdom Saving Throw. This makes it tremendously useful for dishing out damage without wasting your spell slots, and it only gets better at level 5 (2d12 to injured targets, 2d8 to targets at full health) and level 11 (3d12 to injured targets, 3d8 to targets at full health).
This spell is available to Clerics, Wizards, and Warlocks,and is definitelybest used with the new Death Domain Cleric subclass, though it’s also perfect for Necromancy Wizards to take advantage of their Reaper ability. Whenever you don’t have a more important spell to cast, it’s worth using Toll the Dead to blast any enemy that has already taken damage to soften them up, or take them out entirely.
Bursting Sinew
Bursting Sinew is a Necromancy Cantrip that detonates a corpse within 18m/60ft,dealing 1d10 Piercing Damage to all creatures within a 3m/10ft radius of the corpse (damage negated by a successful Dex Save). This lets the caster repurpose defeated enemies for extra damage, and is a rare example of an AOE damage cantrip. At level 5 the damage increases to 2d10, and at level 11 it becomes 3d10, so it remains a useful damage source well into the endgame, as long as you have a corpse to target.
Naturally, this spell is right at home in the hands of a Death Domain Cleric or a Necromancy Wizard, though it’s also available to Sorcerers and can prove useful for dealing with groups. If you don’t mind lugging them around,you could load some corpses into your Fighter or Barbarian’s inventory,throw them at the enemy, and then detonate them with this spell, allowing you greater control over where your damage comes from. You could also have an ally use Telekinesis, or have a Mage Hand shove corpses around the battlefield, to position them for this spell.
Shadow Blade
Shadow Blade is a level 2 Illusion spell that was previously only accessible via a specific magic item(The Shadow Blade Ring, an easily missed quest reward found during Act 2 in the Shadow-Cursed Lands). It creates the Shadow Blade weapon in the caster’s main-hand, which remains until their next long rest even if unequipped, as long as it remains in their possession. The Shadow Blade is a weapon that deals Psychic Damage (2d8+STR or DEX) and provides advantage on all attack rolls against lightly or heavily obscured creatures while held. When testing this, we found that this advantage is granted to any attacks made by the wielder, not just weapon attacks, giving this incredible value even to pure spellcasters by providing advantage on their spell attacks.
By upcasting the spell with a 3rd or 4th level spell slot,you may increase the weapon’s damage to 3d8, while upcasting with a 5th or 6th level spell slot will increase it to 4d8. This weapon works well with Hexblade Warlocks, and can be used by Shadow Magic Sorcerers, Wizards, Arcane Tricksters, and Eldritch Knights too. While Eldritch Knights will often have better weapons to use in their main hand, it remains useful as an offhand weapon in dual wielding builds, and the same is true for Arcane Tricksters. The Dual Wielder feat can be used to pair this blade with a staff for a Sorcerer or Wizard, to utilize the attack advantage without sacrificing better spellcasting implements.
Staggering Smite
Staggering Smite is a level 4 Evocation spell that was previously exclusive to certain NPCs in the game.While typically a Paladin spell, Paladins are not able to learn 4th-level spells in Baldur’s Gate 3 due to the level cap, so it’s currently exclusive to Hexblade Warlocks (even Bards are unable to learn it through Magical Secrets at the time of writing).
Staggering Smite uses an Action and a Bonus Action to perform a weapon attack,dealing an additional 4d6 Psychic damage. If the target fails a Wisdom Saving Throw, they will also become staggered, giving them disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks, and preventing them from taking reactions, for one turn. This spell is a fantastic way to damage and debilitate a powerful foe,though its exclusivity to the Hexblade Warlockmeans only certain builds will be able to take advantage of its power.
