As bringers of arcane mayhem with powerful magic at their disposal, Wizards are among the strongest characters in BG3. So, when it comes to the best feats for Wizards, there are only a few options better than simply improving your character’s core. Let’s talk about them.
Wizards in Baldurs Gate 3 serve the party as Intelligence-based spellcasters with a wide array of specializations, from buffs and utility to debuffs and damage. Their magical abilities include the strongest damage-dealing spells in the game, capable of wiping out several enemies with a single action. That said, without the wide range of feats in modern 5E, Wizards can find themselves starved for potent options to take for their level four, eight, and 12 feats.
Best Wizard feat choices in BG3
The best BG3 Wizard feat is Ability Score Improvement, specifically to get your Intelligence to 20. Once you have your 20 Intelligence, the best Wizard feats are defensive and focus on improving your survival in BG3’s multiple deadly encounters. Keeping concentration is more crucial in this game than tabletop 5E, so several feats on this list will be dedicated to that goal.
As Ability Score Improvement isn’t really a feat, and is more of a boon, we won’t mention it on this list. Getting your Intelligence to 20 is required for a Wizard, since your spells are all based on that single stat. Once you get there—either through Ability Score Improvement or the several hidden methods of boosting stats—you’re ready to take more unique feats for your level eight or 12 bonuses. Let’s explore a few of those choices.
5) Spell Sniper
Spell Sniper is a wild choice for a Wizard, but one actively worth considering. Spell Sniper improves your critical hit rate with spells by one. It also allows you to learn a cantrip that uses a spell attack roll, which includes Eldritch Blast. This is one of the few ways a Wizard can cast Eldritch Blast using Intelligence instead of Charisma, and thus is very much worth your consideration.
Spell Sniper is a minor improvement to the damage of a Wizard’s cantrip. Wizards tend to focus entirely on options like Fire Bolt for consistent turn-to-turn damage, which can usually carry you though the game. But, alongside the Potent Robe quest reward for freeing the Tieflings, Eldritch Blast can be a massive increase to your Wizard’s free damage.
You could multiclass into Warlock for Eldritch Blast, but that makes you use Charisma instead of Intelligence. For a standard Wizard build, Charisma is not worth investing in at all. Unless you plan on really stretching the definition of Wizard, Spell Sniper can be your best path to a 40 damage Cantrip turn.
The extra critical hit rate actually isn’t the good part of this feat, since precious few spells actually have attack rolls. Scorching Ray is a big example, but you’re otherwise stuck with options like Chromatic Orb. 5E isn’t huge on spell attacks, so this is mostly a minor improvement to your Wizard’s cantrip damage. And that’s still worth thinking about.
4) Alert
Alert is an interesting feat in BG3, providing a plus-five bonus to initiative checks. You also become immune to being Surprised. This means your Wizard will almost always go first in combat, and the few ambushes in the game aren’t problematic for your otherwise squishy caster.
A plus-five to initiative is absurd. It’s like you get a +10 to your Dexterity score, but only for a stat rolled at the beginning of combat. For a Wizard, this lets you set up very important spells, like Hold Person, Haste, or Wall of Fire. It also lets you reposition easier, getting your squishy butt to a safe spot very early in the initiative order. Wizards can do a lot to change the field of combat for the better, so getting a plus-five to your initiative is really solid.
The immunity to Surprise is more useful for your first time though BG3. Surprised comes from ambushes, which you can avoid by checking guides or just knowing where enemies are. Hitting an enemy first can prevent Surprised easily, so this part of the feat is more situational than strong.
Still, this feat is very solid and worth considering for a crowd control-based Wizard setup.
3) Tough
Tough is a simple feat that boosts your health by two per level. For a Wizard, this is a pretty significant improvement, granting you up to 24 bonus health by endgame.
This feat is essentially a plus-four to Constitution, which is quite good. Wizards don’t need much other than their spellcasting and the ability to stay alive, so Tough works. That said, Tough does come with an asterisk. Since you aren’t actually improving your Constitution, Tough doesn’t improve your Constitution saving throw. This means you’re more likely to drop Concentration if you ever take chip damage, which can happen frustratingly often.
You can use items to compensate for this, though. Bonuses to saves are scattered across BG3, like Corellon’s Grace or the Absolute’s Warboard. The Amulet of Greater Health from the House of Hope sets your Constitution to a direct value, which means your Wizard can have upwards of 146 health. That’s one beefy Wizard. Everyone in the party would love to use this amulet, though, so it’s not like your Wizard will get it with no fuss.
Tough is a great way to augment a Wizard’s defenses, but can’t handle everything by itself. Use spells like Mirror Image, Invisibility, Greater Invisibility, and Misty Step to keep your Wizard out of danger. Tough is a good way to keep your Wizard alive when they would have died, but your armor class and saving throws can only do so much when you have the lowest health scaling in the game.
2) Resilient
Resilient is a potent part of a Wizard’s growth. Resilient grants proficiency in a saving throw of your choice, as well as boosting that stat by one. For a Wizard, you’re almost always picking Constitution with this feat.
Resilient is in an excellent spot for a Wizard’s eighth or 12th level feat. In BG3, it is very easy for a Wizard to have 15 Constitution by the end of character creation, depending on how you build them. In that case, Resilient not only gets you to 16 Constitution, but also provides proficiency in Constitution saving throws.
Constitution is one of the three big types of saving throw in BG3, alongside Dexterity and Wisdom. Constitution covers your character for big-deal spells like Flesh to Stone. It’s also what you use to keep your concentration—rather than relying on the reroll for War Caster, you can instead just get a plus-four to the saving throw altogether. We adore this consistency for a common saving throw, which is why Resilient made it so far up this list.
1) Lucky
Lucky is the strongest non-Ability Score Improvement feat a Wizard can get in BG3. Lucky creates a pool of three Luck Points you can use to reroll attack rolls, saving throws, or ability checks, as well as enemy attack rolls. This can be critical for the many, many rolls a Wizard might have to make to avoid negative consequences in BG3—both in and out of combat.
The primary use of Lucky is to prevent failed saving throws. Getting another chance at a big dodge for a spell like Fireball or Disintegrate can easily be the difference between your Wizard being a huge boon for the combat or a corpse. Rerolling ability checks can be nice out of combat or for resolving a Counterspell in a clutch situation. And rerolling enemy attack rolls can be the difference between getting thrown through a wall by a crit or dodging the attack entirely.
Lucky isn’t without its downsides, though. The main drawback is its daily limit of three points. Those three points can be eaten up very quickly if you’re unlucky during fights. So, making each one count is important. Try to save them for saving throws that will make a fight get ugly, like failing a concentration check for Haste right before your turn comes up or preventing Hold Person from taking effect.
It’s also important to remember that Lucky is just for rerolling. This means sometimes, Lucky can reroll into another failure. It’s the prospect of another chance that’s so beneficial, especially since you can use it after rolling with advantage or disadvantage. Use it well, and remember to sleep often, and Lucky can easily swing a fight in your favor.
