Lots of good level 3 wizard spells to pick 2...

[craig234]

Bestow Curse
Counterspell
Fireball (taking that, so it's one pick left)
Fly (but less needed with Misty Step)
Gaseous Form (all those burrow holes...)
Haste
Protection from energy (not sure how useful)
Sleet Storm (but wouldn't the casters just move out of it)
Slow
Stinking Cloud
Vampiric Touch (so, the wizard has an enemy next to them...)

[grape cough syrup]

Counterspell is essential, and of course Fireball is really strong as well. Haste is very strong when cast on a big chunker melee like Lae'zel. I know this is a wizard thread, but I love sorc, and using Twinned Spell + Haste on two melee characters is basically "gg ez". It's so much fun lol

[kbiz]

Originally posted by Obedear:

Counterspell is essential, and of course Fireball is really strong as well. Haste is very strong when cast on a big chunker melee like Lae'zel. I know this is a wizard thread, but I love sorc, and using Twinned Spell + Haste on two melee characters is basically "gg ez". It's so much fun lol

Agreed. Sooo much fun!

I'm a lightning bolt man for my one lvl 3 dmg spell. I find that enemies are more in a line than a cluster.

OP, Counterspell stops that party ruining enemy spell. One of the top lvl 3 spells for sure.

[Ele]

Counterspell is pretty crucial but not in act 1--definitely get it before act 3 though, you will need it. I'd say fireball and haste as top picks when you first get level 3 spells. Vampiric touch, not so much--unless your wizard has armor, you don't want her in melee range.

[AokiYakumo]

Originally posted by yaerav:

Some 3rd level spells in D&D are traditionally really, really good for their level.

Fireball was basically designed, from the get-go of the Pen and Paper game, to be mildly overpowered, and I'd say, it is the way to go for an Evoker.

I don't really like evokers though, personally. Damage-dealing, in my very subjective and probably wrong opinion, is the task of fighters (etc) and rogues. A wizard, I think, shines when setting and changing battlefield conditions. So my 3rd level spells of choice would be Haste and Hypnotic Pattern.

Were it in BG3, I would choose Dispel Magic over Hypnotic Pattern, but Larian gave very good reasons why they definitely did not want to include that spell in the game. What I am a little bit sad about is the total lack 3rd level spells (not just in BG3, but in core D&D 5e) in my favourite school, Enchantment (but still, honorary mention for upcast Sleep spells)

Plus, it's not just Wizard spells that get the glow-up at the 3rd Spell Level.

Spirit Guardians, Hunger of Hadar, Aura of Vitality (aka Warden of Vitality in BG3, it's lowkey kinda busted to nab that spell if you need a lot of healing since it's 2d6 over 1d4), Call Lightning (which is WAAAY stronger in BG3 than it is in tabletop), Sleet Storm, Blink, Fear, Plant Growth (Oh, btw, Plant Growth + HoH is stronger than Sleet Storm + HoH because it's movement quartered, not movement halved, I've had mobs burn 3 turns or more trying to leave THAT particular thunderdome), Glyph of Warding (again, WAAAY stronger in BG3 than it is in tabletop, because 1: it ain't expensive, and 2: it takes an action to cast as opposed to an HOUR to cast), etc. Even a restrictive list like the one in BG3 has so many powerhouse hitters it's insane.

Although, yeah, more spells in general would've been nice as hell. Ashardalon's Stride would have been such a pick for Dragonborn or Draconic Sorcerer character because it's Longstrider to hell with chip damage. Caustic Brew (I know it's only a 1st level spell, but still . . . ) would have been a nice back-pocket pick for Acid Mages or Geomancers. Tidal Wave (Not Tsunami, that's an 8th level spell iirc) and Maelstrom would've been PERFECT for some character themes, and would round out some Ice builds really well with the extra water/Wet application.

[craig234]

Thanks, luckily I had scrolls for a couple of the spells, such as slow and fireball.

[guard65]

Sleet Storm and Counterspell but I am biased since I have an Ice Wizard with addition Ice spells including Ice Prone Immune, Ice Sheet and an Ice shield...

[eightspoons]

Originally posted by AokiYakumo:

You can't forget Lightning Bolt, not with the field effects in BG3. Hit a designated target with Create Water from a support (which can be cantrip-cast now), then bask in the afterglow of 16d6 Lightning damage to the face.

I enjoy Lightning Bolt too. The way large numbers of mobs often approach leaves them nicely lined up. it's also fun to shoot down the corridors of the Iron Throne.

[Farsha]

For Wizard it does not matter too much, you can learn any spell from scrolls.
Sorcerer, Bard and Warlock are a different story.

Haste is #1 for all classes that can learn it. Twin spell Haste from Sorc makes the game a joke on any difficulty. Just take Karlach and Lea'zel, haste em both and kill anything in record time.
#2 CounterSpell, it's so good till the end of the game.

But always Role-play over min-max in this game and take the spell that is best for your character theme. It's about fun and roleplaying not min-maxing.

[Pat Fenis]

Fireball and counterspell are my first 2 picks.

[AokiYakumo]

Originally posted by Farsha:

For Wizard it does not matter too much, you can learn any spell from scrolls.
Sorcerer, Bard and Warlock are a different story.

Haste is #1 for all classes that can learn it. Twin spell Haste from Sorc makes the game a joke on any difficulty. Just take Karlach and Lea'zel, haste em both and kill anything in record time.
#2 CounterSpell, it's so good till the end of the game.

But always Role-play over min-max in this game and take the spell that is best for your character theme. It's about fun and roleplaying not min-maxing.

Really the only reason to minmax at all in BG3 is if you're having issues with Honour Mode, or if you're brain is activated by big diqk numbers and 1-turn clears (which to be perfectly fair is a valid way to play).

I have a run right now where I'm imposing a tiny bit of challenge by restricting spell/ability/item selection to one "Element" per character (though there are duplicates, sinc there's 10 playables, so even a Final Fantasy esque "8 Elements" approach would have 2 holdovers). So Gale is restricted to only using Lightning-themed spells, my MC is restricted to Water-themed spells, I have SHeart and Mama K restricted to Fire, Astarion will inevitably be Ice (and I just got Mourning Frost so GGEZ), Lae'Zel is Wind, that sort of thing. It's still perfectly fine, even with the restrictions, especially when I start having to break up the buffs by Element as well to fit the challenge better.

[Scheneighnay]

I wouldn't take haste if you're an actual wizard because haste scrolls are easy to come by and you can just learn it later.

I'm a fan of sleet storm because it's just a massive obscuring area denial spell.