InAs magicians we take a lot of heat and can only withstand very little. The perfect solution? We hide behind a small army of undead, mummies and elementals and bombard our enemies from the second row with deadly spells.
Last updated on December 24, 2024: Many will certainly play Baldur's Gate 3 again over the Christmas holidays. Here you can find the current build guide before the new one next yeargives.
This is how we properly level up the necromancer
As a necromancer, our goal is to summon (undead) reinforcements. The main reason this is so powerful is because we deal more damage with the additional attacks from our minions. At the same time, the incantations also serve as a shield and protect us from enemy attacks.
We also have the opportunity to heal ourselves once per round by killing monsters with our spells. If it is a spell from the school of necromancy, the healing is particularly strong.
Distribute attribute points correctly
If we create our own character, we distribute the points correctly when we create it. If we want to make Gale or another character a necromancer, we have to add his classto distribute the points as follows:
- Strength:8
- Skill:14
- constitution: 16
- Intelligence:16
- Wisdom:10
- Charisma:10
Intelligence is particularly important for magicians, as this is used as the basis for all spells in the class. We can ignore strength, wisdom and charisma. We distribute the remaining points to constitution and dexterity in order to get as many hit points as possible and to become a little more resistant to attacks.
If we usually use the character for conversations, we can also swap skill and charisma to receive bonuses for options such as “persuasion” or “deceiving”.
As with all builds:Only even numbers make sense, as bonuses or penalties are only granted at these levels. On 10/11 we get neither bonuses nor penalties. On 12/13 we get +1, on 14/15 we get +2, with 8/9 we have to accept -1 and so on.
Spells and magic tricks to start with
On the first three levels, our build - with the exception of the specialization - is no different from our Evocation skill, which you can take a look at here:
Start-Loadout:
- Fire arrow (trick)
- Cold Ray (Trick)
- Simple illusion (trick)
- Lubricate
- Mage armor
- Donnerwoge
- Sleep
- Magic missile
- Chromatic sphere
Prepare spell:Mage Armor, Smear, Magic Missile, Sleep
We use Magic Missiles to deal damage. Since we can set a separate target for each projectile, the spell is perfect for finishing off multiple downed enemies.
We protect our character with the “Mage Armor,” which is why we recommend casting the spell after every long rest.
“Sleep” and “Smear,” on the other hand, give us options to control enemies. While "Sleep" temporarily takes individual targets out of combat, "Smear" slows down entire groups. If we have greased several opponents at once, it is also worth using a fire arrow to set entire areas on fire.
With Thunder Wave we do some damage to several enemies, but the recoil with which we push enemies into deadly abysses is much better.
Level 2
Learn spells:Spring fall, improve bounce
The same applies to the improved jump, which also allows us to cross very wide ravines. However, we only prepare both spells when necessary.
Prepare spell:Mage Armor, Smear, Magic Missile, Sleep, Thunder Surge
Specialization:Nekromantie
Level 3
Learn spells:Misty Step, Searing Ray
Searing Beam works like Magic Missile, but does more damage. Miststep is a teleport that gives you incredible flexibility on the battlefield.
Prepare spell:Mage Armor, Smudge, Searing Ray, Sleep, Thunderstorm, Miststep
Level 4
Learn spells:Shattering, Mirror Images, Bone Cold (Trick)
With Shatter we get our first spell, with which we can deal decent area damage. Mirror images, on the other hand, confuse our enemies and make us harder to hit.
Prepare spell:Mage Armor, Smudge, Sleep, Thunderstorm, Searing Ray, Miststep, Shatter,
Talent:We choose "Novice Magician: Warlock" and "Eerie Beam" and "Mage's Hand" as tricks, as well as "Curse" as spells. With the combo of "Curse" (bonus action) and "Scary Ray" we can deal good damage even without any remaining spell slots.
Level 5
Learn spells:Animate dead, fireball
Revive Dead does exactly what we expect the spell to do. We can create one or more undead allies from a corpse. With “Fireball” we get our next area of effect spell, with which we can cause a lot of damage.
Prepare spell:Mage Armor, Smudge, Thunderstorm, Searing Beam, Miststep, Shatter, Animate Dead, Fireball
Level 6
Learn spells:Haste, counterspell
With the counterspell we can use a reaction to block spells directed at us. Haste, on the other hand, is a super powerful buff that not only increases the target's movement range, but also ensures that the enchanted person receives an additional action per turn.
Thanks to our subclass, Animate Dead becomes a always-prepared spell at level 6.
Prepare spell:Mage Armor, Smear, Thunderstorm, Searing Beam, Miststep, Shatter, Fireball, Haste, Counterspell
Level 7
Learn spells:Summon weak elemental, plague
With “Summon Weak Elemental” our minion troop is growing. Plague, on the other hand, does high necrotic single-target damage, which works well with our healing mechanics.
Prepare spell:Mage Armor, Smudge, Thunderstorm, Searing Beam, Miststep, Shatter, Fireball, Haste, Counterspell, Summon Weak Elemental
Level 8
Learn spells:Powerful invisibility, banishment
With the powerful invisibility you make a character of your choice invisible, with banish you take a target out of combat for two rounds. Even if we don't prepare for invisibility directly, it's always good to have the option in hand.
Prepare spell:Mage Armor, Smudge, Thunderstorm, Searing Beam, Miststep, Shatter, Fireball, Haste, Counterspell, Summon Weak Elemental, Banish, Plague
Talent:We choose Attribute Improvement and increase Intelligence to 18.
Level 9
Learn spells:Death Cloud, Summon Elemental
Death Cloud is a powerful area attack that not only causes high damage, but also blinds our opponents. We can also change the cloud's position each round without spending another spell slot. With “Summon Elemental” we replace the previous spell and from now on summon a stronger elemental.
Prepare spell:Mage Armor, Smear, Thunderstorm, Searing Beam, Miststep, Shatter, Reflection, Fireball, Haste, Counterspell, Banish, Plague, Summon Elemental
Level 10
Learn spells:Stoneskin, telekinesis, spray poison (trick)
Stoneskin is another very good defensive skill that we include in our spellbook, but only use when necessary. We use telekinesis to throw enemies away from us, towards our minions or into deep abysses.
Prepare spell:Mage Armor, Smudge, Thunderbolt, Searing Beam, Miststep, Shatter, Reflection, Fireball, Haste, Counterspell, Banish, Plague, Summon Elemental, Telekinesis
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Level 11
Learn spells:Create undead, orb of invulnerability
With "Create Undead" we summon a mummy from a corpse and thus further expand our small army.
The Orb of Invulnerability creates a barrier in which our entire party and minions are immune to damage.
Prepare spell:Mage Armor, Smear, Thunderstorm, Searing Beam, Miststep, Shatter, Mirror Image, Fireball, Haste, Counterspell, Banish, Plague, Summon Elemental, Telekinesis, Create Undead
Level 12
Learn spells:Hero's feast, denouement
With Dissolve we get a spell that does very high damage to a single target. Hero's Feast gives us powerful buffs that, among other things, make us and our team immune to poison and diseases. Since we still only have one level 6 spell slot, we'll add a lower level spell.
Prepare spell:Mage Armor, Smear, Thunderstorm, Searing Beam, Miststep, Shatter, Mirror Image, Fireball, Haste, Counterspell, Banish, Plague, Summon Elemental, Telekinesis, Stoneskin, Create Undead
Talent:We choose Attribute Improvement again and increase Intelligence to 20.
