Are you tired of fighting your own fights and want to summon a plethora of undead minions to your aid? The School of Necromancy wizard build in BG3 is created for this very specific purpose. As a king of the undead, you can wreak havoc on your foes and rule the land of living.
In this guide, we will solely focus on selecting the Necromancy class specialization for our wizard character. This allows you to access necromancy scrolls for half the cost. This is a very well-balanced build that focuses on both offense and defense via minions. We recommend that you follow the guide step by step and constantly look out for the last section to learn the character progression.
Starting abilities and skills for Wizard Necromancy build in BG3
The following are the starting abilities that I believe are the best for the Necromancer class after spending dozens of hours with it. However, as an RPG, these things are not written in stone, and you can change them to your liking as the game progresses.
| Class | Wizard | – |
| Sub-Class | School of Necromancy | – |
| Race | Githyanki | This race grants you a bonus cantrip for the wizard class, Githyanki Psionics: Mage Hand (summon an astral hand to manipulate objects). You also gain Astral Knowledge as a special action that increases your proficiency in Intelligence skills. Githyanki race features include 9m movement speed and Martial Prodigy (proficiency with light and medium armors). |
| Spells | Ray of Sickness, Magic Missile, Sleep, Chromatic Orb, Burning hand, and False Life | Wizards get to choose 6 spells at the beginning of the game as a bonus. |
| Cantrips | Bone Chill, Minor Illusion, and Shocking Grasp. | You can also choose 3 cantrips as a starter bonus on the character creation screen. |
| Ability Points Distribution | STR 8, DEX 14, CON 15+1, INT 15+2, WIS 10, CHA 8 | Intelligence is the main ability modifier for Wizards. |
| Skills | Arcana, History, Investigation, and Insight | – |
| Prepared Spells | Burning Hands, False Life, Magic Missile, and Sleep. | Prepare these spells at the beginning to avoid getting pummeled by the enemies. |
Best background
The best background for the School of Necromancy Wizard build, in our opinion, is Sage. This background allows you to gain knowledge, which in turn increases your Intelligence. It features Arcana and History, which are both based on intelligence-based feats.
You can learn the past of anything in the game and become knowledgeable about the Eldritch gods and their teachings. The more you yearn for knowledge, the higher your intelligence gets. This allows you to summon more powerful zombies and undead.
Best Feats for Wizard Necromancy build in BG3
Feats are unique passive skills that unlock only thrice per character playthrough. They provide some amazing bonuses but can be replaced in favor of 2 ability points per feat. I will recommend the following feats to be used with a Necromancy Wizard in Baldur’s Gate 3.
| Level | Feat | Description |
| 4 | Ability Improvement | Use one skill point to increase Intelligence up to 18 and the other to increase Dexterity to 15. |
| 8 | Moderately Armored | This feat allows you to put an additional point in the Dexterity skill. It also allows you to wield shields and medium armor without any penalty. |
| 12 | Medium Armor Master | This feat removes all penalties from wearing medium armor in wizard class. Armor class also gains a +3 skill bonus from Dexterity. |
Best Spells for Wizard Necromancy build
This section is only a placeholder for all the best spells from each level. These levels unlock with character progression (details below). So, don’t mix the level of spells with character level. A lot of lower-level magic spells can be equipped in upper-level slots via upcasting in BG3. But it doesn’t work in the opposite direction.
Level 1: We recommend the following spells for level 1 magic slots.
- Ray of Sickness: Deals 2d8 poison damage to enemies.
- Magic Missile: Deals 3d4+3 force damage upon enemies.
- Burning Hands: Deals 3d6 fire damage upon enemies.
- Sleep: This spell puts your enemies to sleep.
- False Life: You gain double hit points instantly.
Level 2: The recommended level 2 spells for the school of necromancy wizard build in BG3 are
- Blindness: This spell limits the vision of a foe up to 18m.
- Phantasmal Force: Deals specific 1d6 damage to any creature, even if you use another damage type.
Level 3: Our favorite spells from the level 3 tree are.
- Animate Dead: This necromancy magic creates a minion from a small or medium corpse.
- Vampire Touch: This necromancy spell deals 3d6 necrotic damage to enemies, and you gain half of the HP they lose.
- Glyph of Warding: This spell traps an enemy in glyphs and deals specific magic damage upon them.
Level 4: Below is a list of recommended level 4 magic spells for the Necromancer Wizard subclass.
- Blight: This necromancer magic deals 8d8 to enemies and puts them at a disadvantage for their rolls.
- Polymorph: This spell transforms foe creatures into harmless sheep.
Level 5: Below is a list of a couple of level 5 magic spells recommended for the School of Necromancy wizard build in BG3.
- Conjure Elemental: This spell allows you to summon a medium-sized elemental. This summon fights by your side until it loses all HP.
- Hold Monster: This spell completely neutralizes a monster. It can’t act or attack.
Level 6: Our picks for Level 6 spells for the Necromancy Wizards are:
- Create Undead: This spell allows you to turn a small or medium corpse into an ally mummy.
Best armor and weapons
Weapon: Despair of Athkalta. This quarterstaff enhances arcane and provides a +1 bonus to magic spell attack rolls. It also does 1d10+1 bludgeoning damage.
Rings: Ring of Protection. Increases Armour Class by 1 and grants a bonus of 1 for all your saving throws.
Amulet: The Sapphire Spark. One more missile projectile is added to your missile attack spell.
Armor: Armour of Agility. This medium armor adds a dexterity bonus to your Armour class and enhances saving throws by +2. It also removes all disadvantages from stealth checks.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Wizard Necromancy build level progression
The School of Necromancy Wizard build progression in Baldur’s Gate 3 is the same as other wizard specializations. In this section, we will detail what you gain at each level and how higher-level magic slots become available.
| Level | Unlocks | Description |
| 1 | Race, Background, and Ability Points Distribution. | Select from our recommendations to get four level 1 spell slots at the start of the game. |
| 2 | Necromancy Savant sub-class feature, Grim Harvest sub-class feature. | The former allows you to learn Necromancy spells from scrolls for half the gold. The latter returns you twice the HP of the spell slot level if you kill any creature with a necromancy spell. |
| 3 | The Level 2 spell slot unlocks. | Choose from Blindness and Phantasmal force spells. |
| 4 | Additional Level 2 spell slot, Dancing Lights bonus cantrip, the first Feat unlocks. | Ability Improvement to invest one ability point each in both Intelligence and Dexterity. |
| 5 | Level 3 spell slots unlock. | Choose from Vampire Touch and Glyph of Warding spells. |
| 6 | Animate Dead free spell, Additional Undead sub-class feature, Better Summons sub-class feature, Additional Level 3 spell slot. | Animate Dead spell can now raise two corpses instead of one. Better Summons grant your summoned minions as much HP as you. |
| 7 | Level 4 spell slot unlocks. | Choose from Blight and Polymorph spells. |
| 8 | Additional Level 4 spell slot, the second Feat unlocks. | Moderately Armored to equip medium armor and carry shields without penalty. |
| 9 | Additional Level 4 spell slot, Level 5 spell slot unlocks. | Choose from Conjure Elemental or Hold Monster spells. |
| 10 | Injured to Death sub-class feature, Blade Ward bonus cantrip, Additional Level 5 spell slot. | It makes you immune to necrotic damage, and enemies can no longer reduce your HP permanently. |
| 11 | Level 6 spell slot unlocks. | Choose and prepare the Create Undead spell. |
| 12 | The final Feat slot unlocks. | Medium Armor Master to equip any medium armor and gain +3 proficiency bonus from Dexterity ability. |
How good is Necromancy Wizard in BG3?
Necromancer Wizards are kings of undead hordes and can deal massive necrotic damage upon their enemies. This build is also proficient with medium armor and shields, making them the tankiest wizard build in BG3. They work flawlessly solo, and we don’t recommend multiclassing Necromancy Wizard at all.
However, this class lacks support and healing spells making it compulsory to have a healer in your party. They lack access to metamagic and are generally very slow in movement.
