Baldur’s Gate 3 Wizard School Of Evocation Build And Subclass Guide

Want to play as a wizard that takes any source of elemental energy and turns it into a weapon? The School of Evocation wizards in BG3 are master manipulators of elemental energy. They invoke their arcane abilities to protect themselves and their allies while dealing devastating AoE damage upon their enemies. Plus, the School of Evocation is a recommended build for Gale in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Despite having 8 distinct schools, our focus in this guide is only on the School of Evocation wizard. This build sacrifices defense to favor offense and is one of the most powerful wizards builds in the game. The following guide contains a step-by-step explanation of everything you need to know about this ultra OP build.

Is School of Evocation Wizard any good in BG3?

School of Evocation wizard is all about dealing massive AoE damage without hurting your allies. They have the largest array of spells available to them in Baldur’s Gate 3 and can learn even more from the scrolls. They are the most powerful among the wizard subclasses.

When compared to the sorcerers and other wizard classes, the School of Evocation is complex and not that durable. They lack healing spells and can’t assume the support role for the party.

Starting abilities and skills for School of Evocation Wizard in Baldur’s Gate 3

Once you create your character, you are welcomed with a new screen to select some more attributes. This is where we decide our starting class and stats. Due to its nature of providing players with immense freedom, you can always respec your Evocation Wizard build later in BG3.

Class	Wizard	–
Sub-Class	School of Evocation	–
Race	Elf	Selecting the Elf race for the evocation sorcerer build has numerous advantages. You gain additional movement speed, Eleven Weapon Training (increases proficiency with swords and bows), Darkvision (allows you to see up to 12m in the dark), and Fey Ancestry (allows you to avoid sleep magic spells, and you have saving throw advantage against charmed).
Sub-Race	High-Elf	This subrace grants the players an additional evocation cantrip, Fire Bolt.
Spells	Ice Knife, Magic Missile, Thunderwave, Mage Armour, Shield, Grease	Wizards get to choose 6 spells at the start of the game.
Cantrips	Firebolt, Shocking Grasp, Minor Illusion, Mage Hand	The Wizard class can take 4 cantrips as a bonus gift at the start of the game.
Ability Points Distribution	STR 8, DEX 14, CON 14+2, INT 15+1, WIS 10, CHA 10	Intelligence is our main ability for the wizard.
Skills	Insight, Arcana, History, Perception	–
Prepared Spells	Magic Missile, Ice Knife, Thunderwave, Mage Armour	–

Best Background

For the School of Evocation Wizard build in BG3, our selected background is Acolyte. This background originates from the wizards’ mastery in Insight and Religion. Any person with an Acolyte background gains inspiration from helping churches or religious cults. They are very adept at finding out about liars and have a keen knowledge of ancient symbols and rituals.

Best Feats for School of Evocation Wizard build in BG3

One of the coolest features in Baldur’s Gate 3 is also its hidden one. As you reach level 4 for the first time, you are greeted with something new called Feats. This special feature allows you to equip one unique passive perk that matches your build. This happens three times during a character run. At level 4, level 8, and level 12.

Level	Feat	Description
4	Spell Sniper	This feat allows you to get one additional Cantrip (Eldritch Blast) and reduces your critical attack roll by 1.
8	Ability Improvement	Invest both ability points into Intelligence skill to bring it to 18.
12	Ability Improvement	Use this opportunity to maximize Intelligence to 20 by using both ability points.

Best Spells for School of Evocation Wizard build in BG3

Wizard class is nothing if not for spells. This is the area where they truly shine in the game. For this purpose, we have listed the spells that you should prepare and use for the School of Evocation Wizard build in BG3.

Spells can’t be downcast. A level 4 spell can’t be prepared for a level 3 spell slot. However, you can prepare a level 4 spell in a level 5 spell slot, making it even more potent. This is called upcasting. This is a very important phase to understand if you are planning on playing as a wizard.

Level 1: Some of the best level 1 spells include.

Magic Missile: This evocation spell deals 3d4+3 force damage via 3 magical darts.
Ice Knife: This conjuration spell deals 1d10 (piercing) +2d6 (cold) damage to the enemies.
Thunderwave: This evocation spell deals 2d9 thunder damage to enemies.
Mage Armour: This abjuration spell increases your AC to 13 + dex modifier.
Grease: This conjuration spell covers the 4m terrain with grease. This slows down enemies and even trips them.

Level 2: For level 2 spells, you must choose the following ones.

Shatter: This evocation spell 3d8 thunder damage against enemies and puts their saving throws at a disadvantage.
Scorching Ray: This evocation spell conjures three rays of fire, each dealing 2-12 fire damage to enemies.

Level 3: We have carefully tested and selected the following level 3 spells for the School of Evocation wizard in BG3.

Fireball: This evocation spell shoots a fireball that explodes on impact and deals 8d6 fire damage.
Lightning Bolt: This evocation spell conjures a bolt of lightning that damages everyone in its AoE and deals 8d6 lightning damage.
Glyph of Warding: This abjuration spell creates glyphs on the floor that hurt enemies who step inside them.

Level 4: Level 4 spells is the place where you finally bring out the big guns.

Wall of Fire: This evocation spell creates a wall of fire around, dealing 5d8 damage to an enemy who touches it.
Ice Touch: This evocation spell creates a storm of hail and ice, which deals 2d8 (bludgeoning) + 4d6 (ice) damage to any enemy in range.
Fire Shield: This evocation spell covers your body in fire, protecting you from both fire and cold attacks. Enemies take 2d8 fire + 2d8 ice damage if they touch you.

Level 5: A couple of level 5 spells that we recommend for evocation wizards are.

Cloudkill: This conjuration spell creates a cloud of poison that deals 5d8 poison damage to enemies.
Cone of Cold: This evocation spell creates a cone of ice that deals 8d8 cold damage to enemies.

Level 6: Due to their extremely high cost and limited available slots, we can only recommend one level 6 spell for now.

Chain Lightning: This evocation spell hits an enemy with a lightning bolt that creates three more bolts. They hit 3 more enemies within an 18m radius.

Best armor and weapons

Weapon: Markoheshkir. This quarterstaff (1d6 bludgeoning) adds +1 to your save rolls and magic attack rolls. It also allows one to use one spell per long rest for free and grants a level 4 evocation spell (Kereska’s Favour) as a reward.

Rings: Tourmaline Ring (increases charisma to 20) and The Sparkswall (provides resistance to lightning damage).

Amulet: Ilmater’s Aid. This amulet allows your non-cantrip spells to deal 1-4 force damage when you are below 50% HP.

Armor: Potent Robe. This robe allows you to deal more damage with your cantrips (equal to Charisma modifier) and increases your AC by +1.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Wizard School of Evocation build level progression

This section tackles all the perks and bonuses that you get as you progress through each level of School of Evocation wizard in Baldur’s Gate 3. We have mentioned each level individually. However, as we have already mentioned the spells you will be needing, we refrained from mentioning them here again.

Level	Unlocks	Description
1	Race, background, and Ability Points Distribution.	Choose the ones we mentioned above.
2	Sub-class selection, Evocation Savant subclass feature, Sculp Spells passive skill, Level 1 spell slot.	Evocation Savant allows you to learn evocation spells from scrolls for half the gold. Sculp Spells allows your allies to roll a successful saving throw against your evocation spells
3	Level 2 spell slot unlocks.	Choose from the spells we mentioned above.
4	The first Feat unlocks, Level 2 spell slot, Light cantrip.	Spell sniper to get Eldritch Blast cantrip.
5	Level 3 spell slots unlock.	Choose and prepare the spells we recommended above.
6	Potent Cantrip class feature, Level 3 spell slot.	Potent cantrip makes it difficult for enemies to avoid your cantrip attacks.
7	Level 4 spell slot unlocks.	Select from Wall of Fire, Ice Touch, and Fire Shield spells.
8	The second Feat unlocks.	Ability improvement to increase Intelligence skill to 18.
9	Level 5 spell slot unlocks.	Choose from Cloudkill and Cone of Cold spells.
10	Poison Spray cantrip, Empowered Evocation sub-class feature, Level 5 spell slot unlocks.	Empowered Evocation adds a +5 Intelligence modifier on all your damage rolls.
11	Level 6 spell slot unlocks.	Select and prepare the Chain Lightning spell.
12	The final Feat unlocks.	Ability Improvement to max your Intelligence skill to 20.