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Each ofBaldur’s Gate 3’sSorcerer Subclasses fills a different niche and offers unique benefits. From the Draconic Bloodline’s resilience and empowered elemental damage, to the Storm Sorcerer’s flight and storm conjuring, and the sheer chaos of Wild Magic, each Sorcerer brings something different to the party.
Similarly,Baldur’s Gate 3’snewest Sorcerer Subclass,Shadow Magic, fills a survivability and enemy control niche. Strength of the Grave can save them from a deadly blow once per long rest, they can create darkness to obscure sightlines and deal with ranged foes, and their Hound of Ill Omen can sprint into the fray and inflict omens on their foes. Finally, with their last ability, they can step into the shadows as a bonus action, teleporting up to 18m/60ft away and gaining the benefits of extended spell on their next spell without using any sorcery points.
Best Shadow Magic Sorcerer Build Without Multiclassing
This build is for a pure Shadow Magic Sorcerer, without dipping into multiclassing in any way.It is designed to take advantage of the Shadow Mastiff’s Omensto recharge your Sorcery Points with a wide range of elemental damage types, while providing high maneuverability and plenty of ways to put distance between the Sorcerer and their foes.
Race, Stats, Background, & Skills
While all Races work well with this build, we’ve used a Mephistopheles Tiefling to take advantage of Legacy of Cania: Burning Hands and get Mage Hand as an additional Cantrip, the former as an extra source of fire damage early on, and the latter because Mage Hand can be used in all kinds of difficult situations to provide extra reach or otherwise take advantage of the environment. (Try dropping a stack of potions for it to throw during combat, for example.)
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As our spellcasting stat, reaching the cap in Charisma as early as possible is crucial, especially on higher difficulties.We also want a reasonably good Constitution to help with concentration checks and to bolster our meagre D6 Hit Dice. Dexterity is our third priority to improve our AC and help with saving throws against troublesome surfaces like ice and grease. We want Intelligence at 10, so we aren’t getting a penalty on our Arcana checks, and Wisdom at 10, so we stand a slightly better chance at spotting traps and dangers before we walk into them, though neither are top priority here.We dump Strength because we don’t need it for anything in this build.
While all backgrounds have merit, and there’s nothing wrong with just picking your favorite,we’ve gone with Entertainer for proficiency with acrobatics and performance.The former is more important here than the latter, since it’ll help us safely traverse slippery surfaces that could knock us prone and break concentration on our spells.
For our remaining skill proficiencies, we’ll take Persuasion so we can act as the face of the party and negotiate more effectively, and Arcana to help us investigate magical mysteries.You could swap Arcana for Deception to really become a master of conversation, if preferred.
Leveling Guide
At first level,you’ll want to set up your stats, background, and skills as discussed above, and then take the following cantrips: Ray of Frost, Firebolt, Shocking Grasp,and Friends. The first three are to give you access to multiple damage types so you can always take advantage of the Shadow Mastiff’s Omens (which restore 1 Sorcery Point whenever you hit the enemy with the corresponding damage type), while Friends will come in handy when negotiating by giving you advantage (though you should use it with caution and move away quickly on higher difficulties and honor mode,as the NPC will realize what you did and get upset when the spell wears off). Take Chromatic Orb and Shield as your 1st Level Spells to give you even more options for elemental damage and a way to shrug off dangerous incoming attacks by buffing your AC as a reaction.
At second level,pick up Mage Armor for better AC, and grab Distant Spell and Twinned Spell as your metamagic options so you can hit from further away (even with Shocking Grasp) and split your spells to hit multiple targets.At Third Level you can pick up Shadow Blade to take advantage of it’s bonus to attack rolls while a target is lightly or heavily obscured(which seems to apply to all attacks you make while holding it based on our testing, including spell attacks) and Quickened Spell to give you a way to spend your bonus action on even more casting.At fourth level,pick up Acid Splash as a cantrip for more elemental coverage and Misty Step for a ton of extra mobility. Take an Ability Score Improvement as your feat to get your Charisma up to 18.
At fifth level you can pick up Haste,which can be combined with Twinned Spellto great effect in tougher fights where your party needs the extra actions.At level six, you’ll finally get your Hound of Ill Omen ability,and you can pick up Lightning Bolt to help you blast through enemies in a line (for double damage if somebody throws water on them first) or Fireball for a big blast of fire damage.Level seven is the perfect time to pick up Ice Storm,which is great for damaging enemies while also creating ice surfaces that’ll disrupt anyone who has to walk through them (especially spellcasters, who lose concentration when they become prone).
At level eight,you can pick up Wall of Fire and grab a feat. This is a good time to pick up the Dual Wielder Feat, allowing you to hold a staff in one hand and the Shadow Blade in the other, taking advantage of the benefits of both as you cast spells. Alternatively, you can max out your Charisma now by taking another Ability Score Improvement, and save the Dual Wielder Feat for level 12 instead.At level nine,you can add Cloudkill to your spell repertoire, giving you another way to disrupt enemy movements and dish out damage.
When you reach level ten,you can pick up Hold Monster for locking down dangerous foes, and Heightened Spell to make it harder for anyone to resist your spells.You can also grab the Bursting Sinew cantrip here, turning any dead body into a potential explosion of damage.Level eleven is when you’ll get your first 6th level spell,and we recommend Chain Lightning for blasting entire groups (and again, if they’re splashed with water first it’ll double the damage). This is also when you’ll get Shadow Walk to help you teleport around and apply Distant Spell for free.Finally, at level twelve,you should pick up Eyebite, Disintegrate, or Sunbeam, and either get your Charisma to 20 if it isn’t already or take the Dual Wielder Feat if you don’t already have it.
Equipment
The Necklace of Elemental Augmentation is great for empowering your cantrips, which can be further strengthened with the Potent Robe to dish out incredible cantrip damage.Use this to deal decent damage while taking advantage of the Hound’s Omens to regain Sorcery Points. Swap in the Robe of the Weave in the late-game for a boost to Spell Save DC. The Spellcrux Amulet is also an item you should pick up and swap on between fights to restore a spell slot as needed.
If you’re playing as the Dark Urge, or with another player who is,you can use the Deathstalker Mantle as an excellent early-game cloak, giving you another way to fade in and out of combat and position yourself between attacks. In Act 3 you can replace this with the Cloak of the Weave to further boost your Spell Save DC.
The Daredevil Gloves from Creche Y’llekwill allow you to use your ranged spell attacks in close quarters without suffering a penalty, and also provide +1 to spell attack rolls, making them a fantastic glove option that can easily last you the entire game, though you could also swap them for the Gemini Gloves or Quickspell Gloves for utility in Act 3, or the Helldusk Gloves if you can get hold of them.
Staying on theme, grab the Spellshade Circlet for a +1 to Spell Save DC while obscured,and the Eversight Ringso you may take refuge in your conjured darkness without being blinded. You could also use the Fistbreaker Helm for a general +1 to Spell Save DC and a +1 bonus to initiative rolls. You can switch the Spellshade Circlet/Fistbreaker Helm for the Hood of the Weave during Act 3 for a +2 bonus Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Rolls. Pick up the Ring of Free Action to make it even harder for enemies to pin you down, or the Ring of Mental Inhibition to apply mental fatigue when enemies fail saving throws against your spells.
Naturally, as touched on earlier, this build will be dual-wielding to take advantage of the Shadow Blade’s special properties, granting advantage on attack rolls against lightly or heavily obscured foes. In the main hand, we’ll be using Creation’s Echo, then replacing it with Melf’s First Staff once we can get into the Underdark.We’ll later swap it for Markoheshkir during Act 3, or the Staff of Spellpower if another party member is already using Markoheshkir. Woe is also a solid option, if you prefer healing over the spell battery ability.
The best in slot Boots are Disintegrating Nightwalkers to make most slippery or sticky surfaces a non-issue, but the Boots of Arcane Bolstering are also a solid choice if another party member is using the Disintegrating Nightwalkers already.
Playstyle
With this build, you’ll want to send in your Hound to lock down targets with shadow vines and mark them with Omens, then conjure darkness over them and use powerful elemental damage spells to blow them away. When enemies get in close, use Misty Step or Shadow Walk to reposition and keep firing.
Multiclassing
While the build above is focused on utilizing the Shadow Magic Sorcerer alone,it is important to note thatthis subclass has unique synergy with the Hexblade Warlock.Six Levels in Hexblade Warlock to gain access to Accursed Spectre will give you more shadowy allies and allow your Hound to teleport to any target marked with Hexblade’s Curse as a reaction, just like the Spectres can.
This works well with a more melee-focused build, taking advantage of the additional Armor and Weapon proficiencies from the Hexblade Warlock to become much more resilient. Very little in terms of stats needs to be changed for this to work, though you won’t be able to spare a feat for Dual Wielding, so it’s better to grab a good shield and a strong melee option like the Pelorsun Blade or Harmonic Dueller.
