Baldur’s Gate 3: The 10 Best Cleric Spells

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Penned by Sarah Arnold

Sarah loves RPGs, sandboxes, and sims. She's played every expansion of World of Warcraft and WoW Classic and spent hundreds of hours modding and playing Bethesda games.

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

Clerics have the most broad and varied spell list in Baldur’s Gate 3. Their arsenal includes heals, buffs, debuffs, crowd control, utility, and damaging spells. They can also change their prepared spells at any time except during combat, which can leave you staring at your screen in indecision. So many options! Have no fear – we’ll give you the rundown on the best cleric spells along with when and how to use them. We’ll start our list with some useful spells and work our way up to some spells that every cleric should have on hand at all times.

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#10 Guiding Bolt

For a level 1 spell, Guiding Bolt does some pretty impressive damage. 4d6 is no joke; that’s 4-24 damage per cast, and higher if you upcast. The only level 1 spell that does more direct damage is Inflict Wounds, and that requires getting into melee range. But wait, there’s more! Guiding Bolt also grants advantage on the next attack roll against the target. So not only are you doing a lot of damage directly, you’re helping your teammates deal damage as well. That’s a win-win.

#9 Heroes’ Feast

The key to crushing combat in Baldur’s Gate 3 is preparation, and clerics have a few spells that you can use before a fight even begins to give your party the upper hand. Heroes’ Feast is a level 6 spell, but it’s well worth burning that highest level spell slot on. The feast gives its buff to up to 12 creatures, which means your entire party plus eight friends – that’s a lot of buffs! Each participant gets 2d10 extra hit points and any diseases or poisons cured. The buff also lasts until the next Long Rest, so you can get a lot of use out of it. As an added bonus, the spell also creates a chest full of camp supplies.

#8 Spiritual Weapon

This level 2 spell is one of the cleric’s signature moves in Dungeons & Dragons, and the same is true in Baldur’s Gate 3. While Spiritual Weapon is active, it’s effectively like having an extra party member – albeit one who can only attack. You can choose the type of weapon you want to summon, and it gets any of the special actions that are associated with that weapon type. It’s a bonus action to cast, it lasts for 10 turns, and doesn’t even require concentration. The fact that it’s a summoned creature makes it even more useful than it is in tabletop D&D, because it gets is own action economy instead of using up your bonus actions. However, it also means that it can be killed, so watch that it doesn’t get destroyed early on, as that would be a waste of your spell slot.

#7 Enhance Ability

In a game where your ability to pass a skill check can make all the difference, being able to give yourself advantage on those rolls is huge. As a level 2 spell, you gain access to Enhance Ability fairly early in the game. You don’t need to use it for every roll, and sometimes it will sit there unused in your prepare spells for long stretches of time – but when you’re trying to pass a particularly difficult skill check, you’ll be glad you had it prepared. It’s a concentration spell, but if you aren’t getting hit it will last until you take a Long Rest, so you can put the Cat’s Grace version of it up before a long session of trap disarming or pickpocketing and make things extra easy for yourself. This spell might not seem necessary when you already have Guidance, but advantage on rolls is way more powerful than a a 1d4 bonus, as it lets you throw away the lower roll entirely.

#6 Death Ward

Death Ward does just what its name suggests – it wards your target against death. The first time they would reach 0 hit points, they’ll drop to 1 instead, preventing you from having to peel them off the floor and allowing them to stay in the fight. This level 4 spell doesn’t require concentration and lasts until a Long Rest, and your cleric doesn’t actually need to stay with the target – you can even leave your cleric back at camp if you wish. Just don’t remove Death Ward from your prepared spells if you want the target to keep the buff.

#5 Spirit Guardians

Another signature spell for clerics, Spirit Guardians is level 3 and turns you into a walking area of effect, damaging and slowing any enemies who are foolish enough to get close to you. It does require concentration, and you have to get close to enemies for it to be useful, which normally you want to avoid – but when used well, it can be extremely effective, both as a damage dealer and as a deterrent. You can also choose whether to make the effect’s damage radiant or necrotic, which will help get around resistances or take advantage of weaknesses.

#4 Bless

This level 1 spell can be upcast to affect more targets, and it’s often worth doing so, because the buff it grants is pretty strong. +1d4 to all attack rolls and saving throws is great, and even better when you can have it up on several people at once. This spell does require concentration, but because it’s cast on allies, you don’t have to worry about it missing – it will always work. The same can’t be said for Bane, which is the debuff equivalent to Bless, but which can fail if the enemy rolls a successful saving throw.

#3 Speak with Dead

Although Speak with Dead is a level 3 spell, you should never have to use a spell slot to cast it because it’s a ritual spell and you’ll only be casting it out of combat. That means this spell is effectively free, except for taking up a spot in your prepared spells. It can open up some dialogue options and quest paths that you might otherwise miss, and it can also be just plain entertaining. Cast it once on a corpse, and for the rest of the day (until you Long Rest), you’ll see a green glow around any corpses that you can speak with. You’ll be able to cast the spell again to speak with them at no cost.

#2 Healing Word

This is the only healing spell you absolutely must have prepared at all times. Healing Word is level 1, but you’ll be using it all the way through level 12. It’s a bonus action ranged heal, a very effective way to get someone up without wasting your action or having to get close. It doesn’t heal for much, but it doesn’t have to. Healing in Baldur’s Gate 3, like in Dungeons & Dragons, is about triage. Over the course of a fight, you’ll have limited spell slots and abilities to heal with, but there’s no limit to the damage you can take if you don’t defeat your enemies. That means that you only want to heal when you absolutely have to, and you don’t want to waste valuable actions in doing so. If one of your party members gets dangerously low, toss a Healing Word their way to buy some time, and then use your action to for something that will bring the fight closer to an end.

#1 Guidance

This spell is the best cantrip in the game, bar none, and you’ll always want to have it available. You can cast it right from the skill check screen, and as a cantrip it doesn’t use any of your spell slots, so there’s absolutely no reason not to use it at every opportunity – of which there will be plenty. You’ll forget how good this spell is simply because you’ll get used to automatically adding the bonus for every roll and you won’t even think about it. You can even use it in combat to help with things like Shoving enemies.

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Thanks for reading! We hope this guide has helped you pick out the best spells for your cleric in Baldur’s Gate 3. If you have any questions, leave a comment below, and be sure to subscribe to High Ground for more useful guides!

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