The worst spells of the Baldur's Gate series
HoopleDoople
Member Posts: 23
A common topic of discussion on the forums is the most powerful spells. Knowing which spells to learn as a sorcerer or purchase for your mage is very helpful. Undervalued spells are another good topic, as it is easy to overlook a niche spell that can really pay off in the right spot.
This thread is not about these kinds of spells. Here I will be covering the most pathetic excuses for spells in the Baldur's Gate series. Please note that spells will be evaluated in the context of a complete run of the unmodded game. A spell like Sleep might be next to useless in BG2 but its enormous value in BG1 keeps it off this list. Spells will also be evaluated in the context of their level (even the worst level 9 arcane spell would be amazing as a level 1 arcane spell) and the other spells/abilities available (a spell with a useful effect is still pretty bad if a lower level spell can do the same thing and more).
If you have any brilliant tactics to make the spells listed here worthwhile, let me know. If there's some truly terrible spells that didn't make the cut feel free to point them out. I'm starting with the Arcane spells today. Tomorrow I will add the Divine spells. EDIT: This section has now been added.
Arcane
Level 1 - Infravision
As far as I know infravision had no real use until Siege of Dragonspear added a few checks for it. Should you be lacking innate infravision, it is very easy to pick up a companion who has it or equip an item that grants it (ring or helm).
Honorable Mention - Color Spray
This spell is overshadowed by Sleep, which has a longer duration, easier aiming, and is party friendly. I'm finding conflicting information on the exact mechanics, but the one clear advantage to Color Spray is that it can apparently target non-hostile creatures while Sleep cannot.
Level 2 - Know Alignment
I just completely fail to see the point of this spell. Any insight you could gain through this spell on a first play through is probably spoiling the fun. On subsequent playthroughs "surprise" evil characters.. aren't. Oh and did I mention that enemies get a saving throw?
Honorable Mention - Detect Invisibility
Another useful effect overshadowed by other spells. At lower levels Glitterdust is far superior with its AoE blindness. At higher levels the lack of save gives Detect Invisibility a niche, but by that point you're probably going to have a more versatile anti-illusion spell memorized anyway (notably True Sight) or maybe even a thief/shaman with detect illusion.
Level 3 - Non-Detection
The mechanics of this spell are just bizarre. If I understand correctly, invisibility via spell isn't really protected by Non-Detection, but invisibility via items or hide in shadows is. The bottom line is that only thieves can reliably get value from Non-Detection and there is a Cloak of Non-Detection in both games (the cloak is barely needed in BG1 and available extremely early in BG2). Only if you are running multiple thieves would this spell ever be worth considering.
Honorable Mention - Hold Undead
Hold is a nice effect, but Hold Undead is a pretty niche version. Magic resistance is common for undead enemies and there are plenty of other strong undead counters. I've heard this can be useful against vampires, but even then a more broadly useful spell like Web should be fine.
Level 4 - Contagion
A single target slow that also reduces the enemy's Strength, Dexterity, and Charisma by 2. The enemy gets a save at no penalty. Considering Slow is a level 3 spell with an area of effect and save penalty, Contagion is basically an inferior version at a higher spell level. Maybe you value your level 3 spell slots too much for Slow, but level 4 also has some real useful spells like Stoneskin, Greater Malison, and Emotion: Hopelessness competing for memorization.
Honorable Mention - Remove Curse
In most cases you simply won't have to deal with a cursed item if you simply take the time to identify items before equipping them. If you goofed a simple reload fixes the problem. There are admittedly a few beneficial cursed items like The Claw of Kazgaroth so there is a tiny niche for the spell. Even then you could visit a temple and just pay some gold for the removal.
Level 5 - Protection from Acid
We've finally reached a high enough level that the worst spell isn't entirely useless or redundant. Protection from Acid is merely too niche to be good, as acid damage is pretty rare. Probably the most use you could get out of this spell is by pairing it with Death Fog, but Death Fog is hard to justify using compared to the lower level Cloudkill or the party friendly Death Spell.
Honorable Mention - Protection from Normal Weapons
By the time this spell is available there just aren't many threatening enemies you'll face that use normal weapons. The lower level Stoneskin is usually plenty of protection against normal weapons anyway, and you should always be using it.
Level 6 - Carrion Summons
Carrion Crawlers are pretty pathetic, even if they can paralyze or inflict disease. Much better options exist at this level in the elementals or Invisible Stalker. Animate Dead is an amazing summon spell at a lower level.
Honorable Mention - Stone to Flesh
This spell's primary usage is for quests, but these quests generally have scrolls available during them. There's a few ways you could get yourself petrified in BG2, but the usual solution is a reload or protecting yourself from petrification ahead of time.
Level 7 - Control Undead
Just as with Hold Undead this is probably only going to be of use against Vampires. No need to waste a level 7 spell slot on such a niche application. By the time you get access to level 7 arcane spells any clerics in your party will probably be able to destroy/control undead with Turn Undead.
Honorable Mention - Mantle
Protection from Magical Weapons simply outclasses Mantle, Improved Mantle, and Absolute Immunity. Normal weapons are just so rarely an issue. No point wasting a higher level spell slot for what is basically a worse version of the spell. The Mantle spell line seems more useful for enemies, however, because the player can switch over to normal weapons to bypass PfMW (assuming the enemy isn't naturally immune to normal weapons). I won't bother going over this again for level 8 and level 9.
Level 8 - Symbol, Death
This spell won't effect enemies with more than 60 current hit points, allows a save at no penalty, and isn't party friendly. It is extremely difficult to justify a slot for this when it competes with the likes of Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, which would be very useful against a large number of low health enemies. If you're looking for a save or else spell there's plenty of lower level options with less restrictions.
Honorable Mention - Protection from Energy
This is by no means a bad spell, but it is only a slightly improved version of the level 7 spell Protection from the Elements (which doesn't protect against magic damage). In most cases you're probably better off fully protecting yourself from a single element or utilizing more general protection from weapons or magic.
Level 9 - Energy Drain
Any enemy that will die to just a couple casts of Energy Drain can easily be dealt with using lower level spells. High level enemies will require a multitude of casts to the point that you'll probably need either multiple mages or to pull off a Wish rest. If you really wanted to drain an enemy to death you'd be better off Shapeshifting to a Mind Flayer.
Honorable Mention - Meteor Swarm
Level 9 arcane spells have a surprising number of bad selections and Meteor Swarm just barely avoided the "top" spot. It is almost completely outclassed by the level 8 spell Incendiary Cloud, but has one key advantage of a longer casting range which allows for minor cheese potential. Couldn't Meteor Swarm at least ignore magic resistance like the divine spell Fire Storm?
This thread is not about these kinds of spells. Here I will be covering the most pathetic excuses for spells in the Baldur's Gate series. Please note that spells will be evaluated in the context of a complete run of the unmodded game. A spell like Sleep might be next to useless in BG2 but its enormous value in BG1 keeps it off this list. Spells will also be evaluated in the context of their level (even the worst level 9 arcane spell would be amazing as a level 1 arcane spell) and the other spells/abilities available (a spell with a useful effect is still pretty bad if a lower level spell can do the same thing and more).
If you have any brilliant tactics to make the spells listed here worthwhile, let me know. If there's some truly terrible spells that didn't make the cut feel free to point them out. I'm starting with the Arcane spells today. Tomorrow I will add the Divine spells. EDIT: This section has now been added.
Arcane
Level 1 - Infravision
As far as I know infravision had no real use until Siege of Dragonspear added a few checks for it. Should you be lacking innate infravision, it is very easy to pick up a companion who has it or equip an item that grants it (ring or helm).
Honorable Mention - Color Spray
This spell is overshadowed by Sleep, which has a longer duration, easier aiming, and is party friendly. I'm finding conflicting information on the exact mechanics, but the one clear advantage to Color Spray is that it can apparently target non-hostile creatures while Sleep cannot.
Level 2 - Know Alignment
I just completely fail to see the point of this spell. Any insight you could gain through this spell on a first play through is probably spoiling the fun. On subsequent playthroughs "surprise" evil characters.. aren't. Oh and did I mention that enemies get a saving throw?
Honorable Mention - Detect Invisibility
Another useful effect overshadowed by other spells. At lower levels Glitterdust is far superior with its AoE blindness. At higher levels the lack of save gives Detect Invisibility a niche, but by that point you're probably going to have a more versatile anti-illusion spell memorized anyway (notably True Sight) or maybe even a thief/shaman with detect illusion.
Level 3 - Non-Detection
The mechanics of this spell are just bizarre. If I understand correctly, invisibility via spell isn't really protected by Non-Detection, but invisibility via items or hide in shadows is. The bottom line is that only thieves can reliably get value from Non-Detection and there is a Cloak of Non-Detection in both games (the cloak is barely needed in BG1 and available extremely early in BG2). Only if you are running multiple thieves would this spell ever be worth considering.
Honorable Mention - Hold Undead
Hold is a nice effect, but Hold Undead is a pretty niche version. Magic resistance is common for undead enemies and there are plenty of other strong undead counters. I've heard this can be useful against vampires, but even then a more broadly useful spell like Web should be fine.
Level 4 - Contagion
A single target slow that also reduces the enemy's Strength, Dexterity, and Charisma by 2. The enemy gets a save at no penalty. Considering Slow is a level 3 spell with an area of effect and save penalty, Contagion is basically an inferior version at a higher spell level. Maybe you value your level 3 spell slots too much for Slow, but level 4 also has some real useful spells like Stoneskin, Greater Malison, and Emotion: Hopelessness competing for memorization.
Honorable Mention - Remove Curse
In most cases you simply won't have to deal with a cursed item if you simply take the time to identify items before equipping them. If you goofed a simple reload fixes the problem. There are admittedly a few beneficial cursed items like The Claw of Kazgaroth so there is a tiny niche for the spell. Even then you could visit a temple and just pay some gold for the removal.
Level 5 - Protection from Acid
We've finally reached a high enough level that the worst spell isn't entirely useless or redundant. Protection from Acid is merely too niche to be good, as acid damage is pretty rare. Probably the most use you could get out of this spell is by pairing it with Death Fog, but Death Fog is hard to justify using compared to the lower level Cloudkill or the party friendly Death Spell.
Honorable Mention - Protection from Normal Weapons
By the time this spell is available there just aren't many threatening enemies you'll face that use normal weapons. The lower level Stoneskin is usually plenty of protection against normal weapons anyway, and you should always be using it.
Level 6 - Carrion Summons
Carrion Crawlers are pretty pathetic, even if they can paralyze or inflict disease. Much better options exist at this level in the elementals or Invisible Stalker. Animate Dead is an amazing summon spell at a lower level.
Honorable Mention - Stone to Flesh
This spell's primary usage is for quests, but these quests generally have scrolls available during them. There's a few ways you could get yourself petrified in BG2, but the usual solution is a reload or protecting yourself from petrification ahead of time.
Level 7 - Control Undead
Just as with Hold Undead this is probably only going to be of use against Vampires. No need to waste a level 7 spell slot on such a niche application. By the time you get access to level 7 arcane spells any clerics in your party will probably be able to destroy/control undead with Turn Undead.
Honorable Mention - Mantle
Protection from Magical Weapons simply outclasses Mantle, Improved Mantle, and Absolute Immunity. Normal weapons are just so rarely an issue. No point wasting a higher level spell slot for what is basically a worse version of the spell. The Mantle spell line seems more useful for enemies, however, because the player can switch over to normal weapons to bypass PfMW (assuming the enemy isn't naturally immune to normal weapons). I won't bother going over this again for level 8 and level 9.
Level 8 - Symbol, Death
This spell won't effect enemies with more than 60 current hit points, allows a save at no penalty, and isn't party friendly. It is extremely difficult to justify a slot for this when it competes with the likes of Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, which would be very useful against a large number of low health enemies. If you're looking for a save or else spell there's plenty of lower level options with less restrictions.
Honorable Mention - Protection from Energy
This is by no means a bad spell, but it is only a slightly improved version of the level 7 spell Protection from the Elements (which doesn't protect against magic damage). In most cases you're probably better off fully protecting yourself from a single element or utilizing more general protection from weapons or magic.
Level 9 - Energy Drain
Any enemy that will die to just a couple casts of Energy Drain can easily be dealt with using lower level spells. High level enemies will require a multitude of casts to the point that you'll probably need either multiple mages or to pull off a Wish rest. If you really wanted to drain an enemy to death you'd be better off Shapeshifting to a Mind Flayer.
Honorable Mention - Meteor Swarm
Level 9 arcane spells have a surprising number of bad selections and Meteor Swarm just barely avoided the "top" spot. It is almost completely outclassed by the level 8 spell Incendiary Cloud, but has one key advantage of a longer casting range which allows for minor cheese potential. Couldn't Meteor Swarm at least ignore magic resistance like the divine spell Fire Storm?
Post edited by HoopleDoople on
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Divine
Level 1 - Detect Evil
There are maybe two cases in the entire series where there is a legitimate use for this spell according to the comments so far. Otherwise you're merely satisfying curiosity or determining which enemies will be effected by Holy Smite
Honorable Mention - Shillelagh
A magical +1 weapon can admittedly be useful in the very early game, but Bless would be more useful as it provides a party wide bonus of +1 to attack and damage rolls. I guess you could stack the 2 spells, but its probably still not worth the slot unless you have multiple divine casters. This spell just barely made the cut over Magical Stone, which is certainly pathetic but can deal some guaranteed damage.
Level 2 - Goodberry
This spell may actually be more useful than Know Alignment, but I really despise Goodberry. It is in my opinion the worst designed spell in the game. It is beyond tedious to make use of five berries that heal for 1 hp each. This spell could definitely stand a large buff - something like creating two berries that heal for 5 hp each may actually be worth using.
Honorable Mention - Know Alignment
Already been covered under Arcane spells, moving on.
Level 3 - Remove Curse
Once again we've already covered this under Arcane spells.
Honorable Mention - Hold Animal
I dislike the niche holding spells, and animals are among the least threatening enemy types. A lot of enemies I thought this spell might be good against (Wyverns, Ankhegs) don't count as animals but rather monsters. Bears are a bit of a menace early on, but much less so by the time you get access to this spell. Druids expecting to face animals should instead fill up their level 2 spell slots with Charm Person or Mammal. They certainly don't have much taking at that level anyway.
Level 4 - Animal Summoning I
There is no real truly terrible spell at this level, but there's some very good options for both Cleric and Druid so a weak summoning spell is probably never going to be worth memorizing. Druids will much prefer Call Woodland Beings for summoning at this level while Clerics will utilize the superior and lower level Animate Dead to free up their level 4 spell slots.
Honorable Mention - Cure Serious Wounds
Alright, I admit that there are a lot of overly niche level 4 spells that probably belong here over Cure Serious Wounds. But this spell is way worse than one might think so I'd like to cover it. Compared to the lower level Cure Medium Wounds it only heals for 3 extra hit points and it has a slower casting time. Druids can usually get more value out of Call Woodland Beings since the Nymph has access to Mass Cure. For Clerics I would actually recommend Neutralize Poison over Cure Serious Wounds. Neutralize Poison has a casting time of 1 and will remove poison, disease, blindness, and deafness plus heal for 10 hp. In battle a very quick heal and remedy to several afflictions is pretty valuable. The only real strength of Cure Serious Wounds is post battle recovery, but if you're short enough on healing that those 7 hitpoints make a difference it's probably time to rest anyway.
Level 5 - Cause Critical Wounds
The cause wounds line of spells is pretty bad until Harm, but Cause Critical Wounds is particularly useless in that there are much better damaging spells at this level. Only in rare cases would this spell be preferable to Flame Strike or Insect Plague.
Honorable Mention - Champion's Strength
This spell sets a targets strength to 18/00 and gives a THACO bonus that scales by the Cleric's level. This would be a reasonable option if not for the fact that the Cleric cannot cast spells for the duration. There are probably some clever ways to utilize this, but the only thing that I've come up with is buffing a thief for a key backstab. Even in that case strength boosting gear and and other THACO boosting buffs from the Cleric should probably be sufficient.
Level 6 - False Dawn
This is a mostly unnecessary spell for the Cleric. It only has a minor niche for a few levels before Turn Undead starts to destroy/control weaker undead enemies and the Cleric gets access to the superior level 7 spell Sunray. Against single strong undead enemies Sol's Searing Orb is probably better for the higher damage potential and blind.
Honorable Mention - Animal Summoning III
I don't find the greater quantity of summons to be enough to compensate for the lower quality compared to the alternatives at this level. Aerial Servant, Conjure Animals, and Conjure Fire Elemental can all get you some really strong summons. Lower level summoning spells can fill out your summon army if desired.
Level 7 - Unholy Word
Holy Word isn't an amazing spell, but it will wreck trash enemies and cause problems for spell casters. Unholy Word is basically useless due to the rarity of good enemies. Unholy Blight at least can get a bit of usage for an evil party that is frequently fighting guards and possibly in Siege of Dragonspear (I've been meaning to test this for a while). BG2 is almost entirely devoid of good aligned enemies, though I haven't yet got around to the Dorn or Hexxat quest lines. Even if they exist I'm not sure that Unholy Word would actually be worth using against them.
Honorable Mention - Confusion
Confusion is a moderately useful spell... as a level 4 mage spell. It has no business being a level 7 divine spell. Any enemy worth using a level 7 spell on will most likely save. Earthquake or Symbol, Stun/Fear will be more useful for disabling enemies (higher save penalties, stronger effects) if you're willing to risk a spell that isn't party friendly.
Bonus Honorable Mention - Conjure Earth Elemental
This is a perfectly good summoning spell, but the HLAs added in Throne of Bhaal have very much overshadowed it. Elemental Summoning (2 elementals with a chance for an elemental prince) or Greater Elemental Summoning (elemental prince) provide a lot more value for key fights. The only advantage Conjure Earth Elemental has going for it is a much longer duration, assuming it can survive. If that is a priority the level 6 spell Conjure Fire Elemental is probably what you should use so as not to waste a level 7 spell slot.
Contagion's stat drain effects might not look like much, but a permanent slow effect means that the enemy will stay slowed (and also suffer that STR penalty) even if you escape the fight and rest. Plus, Contagion has the notable advantage of bypassing magic resistance (too bad demons and undead are immune).
Hold Undead is also rather strong. Undead have LOTS of immunities, but Hold Undead bypasses all of them. And unlike Web, it's perfectly party-friendly. I've found Hold Undead is especially useful against the Shade Lord, who is a nightmare with SCS. Unfortunately, liches are immune thanks to their spell level immunities.
Protection from Acid isn't just for Nizidramanii'yt and Kuroisan. Death Fog really is a spectacular spell and works perfectly with Protection from Acid. Death Fog strikes as a level 6 spell and can therefore bypass a lich's spell level immunities, and the damage itself is quite respectable considering there is no saving throw. Almost no enemies are immune to acid, and Protection from Acid lets you dissolve them with Death Fog without wrecking your own party.
Protection from Normal Weapons is actually available very early in Shadows of Amn (you hit level 9 shortly after Chateau Irenicus), and a mage that's immune to normal weapons can wipe out practically every humanoid enemy in Athkatla. It becomes obsolete in the late game, but a mage with Protection from Normal Weapons can solo much of the early game and gather lots of XP with little effort and risk.
Mantle is indeed weaker than Protection from Magical Weapons, but it does block the attacks of many monsters, including Mind Flayers. There aren't a lot of enemies that use +3 weapons or higher, so it's a perfectly good replacement for PFMW in most situations, though it occupies a much scarcer spell slot.
For level 6 I'd consider the Conjure Air/Earth/Fire Elemental spells the worst because of the mental battle you have to win in order for them not to turn against you. I prefer Carrion Summons to soak up an enemy Death Spell over being locked in mental combat for a few rounds. And I'd consider Disintegrate as a runner up instead Flesh to Stone. Disintegrate works very much like fellow level 6 spell Stone to Flesh, except that it's irreversible and results in loss of any loot, which is not good. Stone to Flesh can be reversed with Flesh to Stone, leaving a vulnerable target with 1 HP and loot in tact. Killing the target, nets you the XP you already got for turning it to stone. The only advantage of Disintegrate is that it can be used on targets that are nor made of flesh.
Obviously this is a very specific use that only applies to a class quest that already gets the ability for free (unless a kit that removes detect evil) so it doesn't make the SPELL any less weak, but I wanted to call out that they actually did code a use in to the original game... Also, from an RP perspective, I don't find it meta-gamey at all for Paladins and certain other classes to use detect evil / know alignment in certain circumstances, though it is not necessary it would still be something they would do.
In regards to non-detection, while there is a cloak, the cloak slot often has a lot of competition, especially if your main is a rogue. While you COULD where the cloak of non-detection, you might want to wear some other cloak, and if you are a fighter/mage/thief, mage/thief, or otherwise it can absolutely make sense to have one of these memorized for key encounters such as against liches. Again, not saying it is super important, but it can be more important to free up the cloak slot than a third level spell slot in BGII for magically inclined rogue types. Heck, even non-mage type thieves can benefit from a party member casting it so they can wear a cloak to gain other benefits. It has a fairly long duration and with a shadow dancer it allows them to spam back stabs even against enemies that see through stealth without non-detection. It's a really good thing to have for a scout / backstabber and getting it from the spell can be much more beneficial than from a cloak when going up against powerful enemies where you need all the protection you can get after you land that first hit (or especially if you DON'T land that first hit!)
7th Level: I'm tempted to say Ruby Ray of Reversal is worthless considering the superior Warding Whip occupies the same spell level but it does remove Spell Trap for what it's worth. I'd say the summoning spells should take a spot here since they barely offer anything more useful than a physical-immune tank does.
8th Level: Protection from Magic Energy: Oh no. No, no, noooo. This thing is so damn efficient you have no idea. Put Summon Fiend there instead, now that is actually a bad spell.
I'll also nominate all of the demon summoning spells, because not only are the demons hostile to you, but they're shocking weak (I'll never get over the time my Pit Fiend got killed 1 on 1 by an Earth Elemental), AND, worst of all, you don't get XP for things that they kill.
I do stand by my choices though. Not insofar as I'm confident they are the top 2 worst choices at each level, but that they are among the least likely to justify memorization. Of course a lot of this also depends very much on personal play style. My approach to dealing with undead makes me consider Hold/Control Undead to be very unnecessary but others clearly value the spells.
For those who think my choices are too useful, I'd be interested to know what you consider to be particularly useless. It is likely that some spells I value highly are considered fairly niche by other players.
When we get to the divine spells tomorrow there should be a lot of room for debate. I started reviewing the spell list and there are some real stinkers at low levels.
*EDIT* I have a friend who SWEARS by sheleighleigh in BG1.
It's not really the STR bonus that Champion's Strength is good for; it's the THAC0 bonus. An extra +5 THAC0 can make a huge difference against an enemy with a very low AC, like a dragon.
And yeah, even most "useless" spells can be fun, and useful in a challenge run or some sort of thing.
Except Infravision. I almost wonder why they bothered transferring that spell from PnP to BG. Darkvision things generally don't translate well to a cRPG unless you find a major way to tweak the lighting.