Summary
- Clerics in Baldur's Gate 3 have a wide range of roles they can fulfill, including tanking, healing, buffing, debuffing, and dealing raw damage.
- Clerics have access to a massive spell list and can switch their spells on the fly, allowing for experimentation and customization of builds.
- Some notable spells for Clerics include Guidance, which boosts ability checks; Create or Destroy Water, which can be combined with other spells for devastating effects; and Healing Word, a powerful healing spell that can revive downed party members.
Clerics in Baldur's Gate 3 can take up multiple roles in a party. With a huge variance of spells and as much versatility as Wizards, they can build into whatever suits your fancy. Tanking, healing, buffing, debuffing, battlefield control, or just raw damage, it's all on the table for Clerics.
Since all Clerics are prepared spellcasters, it means they can switch their spells on the fly and experiment with different builds freely. And while there are some spells that are only available to select subclasses, the base Cleric spell list has enough variety that it can shift to suit your needs at any juncture.
Updated by Hamza Haq on September 21, 2023: As incredibly versatile spellcasters, the Cleric spell list is massive, and they don't need to go looking for scrolls like a Wizard to reach their full potential. Five new spells have been added to the list to give players some more options to choose from when finalizing their builds.
20 Guidance
Guidance is perhaps the most useful cantrip in all of Baldur's Gate 3. While it can be cast during combat or before it, that is rarely going to be the reason why you will find this spell useful. Guidance is a concentration spell that gives a target +1d4 to their ability checks. All ability checks.
You'll be doing a lot of rolls for ability checks in BG3. Persuasion, deception, intimidation, athletics, and everything in between is an ability check, and Guidance benefits all of them. This spell alone makes the Cleric a useful class to have in any situation.
19 Create or Destroy Water
Elemental interactions in Baldur's Gate 3 are baked into the game engine, and clever players can take advantage of game knowledge if they have the spells to do so. Create or Destroy Water is one of those spells that looks innocuous at first glance, but a lot can be done with it.
There are two actions a caster can take when they use the spell. Create Water creates a cascade of water that falls down in an AoE, while Destroy Water destroys a water surface. By itself, Create Water isn't very useful, but when combined with Lightning or Cold spells, it decimates groups of enemies in a single turn.
18 Healing Word
In most parties, the primary role of the Cleric is going to be the healer, and nothing suits the healer more than being able to heal every single turn from a distance. Healing Word is the perfect level 1 spell that you'll find yourself keeping in your list of prepared spells well into the later acts of the game.
Healing Word heals any unit you can see for 1d4. While it may not seem like much at first glance, it can turn the tide of a battle completely. Any downed party member, as long as they are within 18 meters, can be revived with a sliver of health as a bonus action. Always useful.
17 Command
Clerics get Command at level 1, regardless of their subclass. Command is a level 1 enchantment spell that allows the caster to give one of five commands to an enemy, and if they fail a WIS saving throw, that enemy has to obey you.
With Command, you can force a character to run away, drop their weapon, fall to the ground, freeze, or move closer. Depending on the situation, it can be an incredibly powerful tool to have, even at the later stages of the game.
16 Guiding Bolt
Early-game Clerics might find themselves quite lacking in damage. Most of their spells are dedicated to either buffing your allies, debuffing your enemies, or healing. Guiding Bolt is one of the few offensive options available to a Cleric, and it's a good one.
A level 1 Evocation spell, Guiding Bolt does 4d6 Radiant damage to a single target within the range of 18 meters. Its ranged nature makes it ideal for Clerics who prefer being on the fringes of battle, at least during the early levels. And Guiding Bolt also debuffs enemies on hit by making the next Attack Roll against them have an advantage.
15 Bless
No Cleric is complete without Bless on their prepared spell list. Bless is an incredible ally buffing spell that adds 1d4 to Attack Rolls and Saving Throws on allies who are being buffed. Excellent in the early game; Bless is going to tilt the odds in your favor if your Cleric can maintain it. On higher levels, it can be cast on even more allies.
However, there are caveats to Bless. For one, it is a concentration spell, and if your Cleric is interrupted successfully and fails their constitution saving throw, Bless fades. For another, on higher levels, there are more useful Concentration spells, and Clerics can only cast one such spell at a time.
14 Glyph Of Warding
Glyph of Warding is an extremely powerful area of effect spell that can be customized to any elemental damage type and even some utility options. Think of it as a better Fireball, it affects as large an area but it has more applications than just raw damage.
The ward can either be cast directly where an enemy is standing or in an area where they're likely to go. If you cast it where an enemy is standing, it detonates immediately and unleashes its effect. But if you pre-cast it, it activates when an enemy walks over it, like a trap.
13 Prayer Of Healing
Prayer of Healing is an area of effect, massive healing spell that can heal most parties as much as a short rest does. The only downside to this spell is that it can't be used during combat and needs to be activated outside of it.
But even with this caveat, Prayer of Healing is an excellent spell to have for when you need it. The optimal way to use it on your Cleric is to add it to your prepared spell list when a combat encounter is over, heal your party, then unequip it. Clerics are prepared casters and can easily switch between spells any time they want outside combat.
12 Silence
Silence creates an invisible dome with no sound. All characters within the sphere cannot speak or make any sound, which means that casters cannot cast verbal spells if they're standing within Silence.
In combat, Silence can be used to nullify enemy casters and prevent them from casting most of their spells. Outside of combat, Silence is a thief's best friend, allowing you to destroy doors and chests without having any of the noise escape the soundproof sphere.
11 Enhance Ability
Enhance Ability is a level 2 transmutation spell that is one of the best utility spells available to any caster. Casting it allows you to pick between one of six options, each option giving the target advantage on one of the six ability scores (CON, DEX, STR, CHA, INT, WIS).
Enhance Ability is almost exclusively a utility spell, typically cast when you're about to roll the dice with an ability score. If you have a cleric in your party with this spell in their prepared spell list, you will get the chance to use one of their spell slots to cast this spell and gain an advantage on the dice roll, meaning you roll two dice and use the higher result.