Best BG3 Gale Build Guide - Maximum Spell Power!

Welcome to the Best BG3 Gale Build. In this build guide, we will explain how to create a powerful wizard with Gale, either with Gale as your origin character or as a recruited companion.

For this BG3 Gale Build, we’ll be using the Wizard’s Evocation School subclass. Evocation School Wizards can create pockets of safety within their Evocation spells, meaning that allies will automatically succeed their Saving Throws from the effects of these Spells and take no damage. At high levels, their evocation spells become supremely powerful, and they deal unmatched damage to enemies.

Please visit our Best BG3 Builds overview page for more builds or check out our Best BG3 Wizard Build, BG3 Necromancer Build or the optimized companion BG3 Gale Build. If you are interested in builds for the other members of your party, check our BG3 Origin & Companion Builds category page. To get an overview of all classes please visit the BG3 Classes overview page.

The BG3 Gale Build was last updated in October 2025. It works for both PC and Console (PS5 and XBOX Series X/S).

Table of Contents for the BG3 Gale Build:

Gale Build Overview
Gale Character Creation (Level 1)
Gale Levelling Guide
Gale Build Equipment
- Early-Game
- Late-Game
Gale Build Extra Info

BG3 Gale Build Overview

Here is a quick overview of the Wizard class and the Evocation School subclass. We’ll also explain how to recruit Gale, and how & why to respec him. If you’re already familiar with this info, please skip this section.

Wizard Class Summary

The Wizard is the most astute spellcaster in Baldur’s Gate 3, with access to a huge array of spells.

Arcane Recovery (Level 1) – You can spend Arcane Recovery Charges to recover spent Spell Slots. You accumulate more Arcane Recovery Charges as you level up, and they are recovered during Long Rests.
Weapon Proficiency with Daggers, Quarterstaves and Light Crossbows.

Evocation School Summary

We’re using the Evocation School subclass for this Wizard Build. It focuses on enhancing Evocation Spells, the school which contains some of the strongest attacking spells in the game. This makes this Wizard variant arguably the best Wizard for raw damage potential and AoE capability.

Here are the most important features of the Evocation Wizard:

Sculpt Spells (Level 2) – Create pockets of safety in your Evocation Spells. Allies take no damage from these spells and automatically succeed Saving Throws against them.
Potent Cantrips (Level 6) – When a creature succeeds a Saving Throw against one of your Cantrips, it still takes half of the Cantrip’s damage.
Empowered Evocation (Level 10) – You add your Intelligence Modifier to any Damage Rolls on Evocation Spells. With an Intelligence score of 20, this translates to +5 damage per roll.

How to unlock Gale in BG3

Unlocking Gale is very easy and you can almost immediately do it at the start of the game after you crash with the ship.

To recruit Gale, find the strange purple portal at the Roadside Cliffs and interact with it. This will trigger the dialogue where you can meet and befriend him. This is located directly north-west of where you start after escaping the Nautiloid.

How to Respec Gale in BG3

To follow this build guide precisely, you will need to respec Gale (unless you are starting the game with Gale as your origin character). It is up to you when you do this, but I recommend getting it done by the time you reach Level 4. Here is a quick tutorial in case you don’t know how to respec characters in BG3:

Recruit a full party, then head to the Refectory Ruins, roughly north of where you washed up on the beach. Enter the ruins either by brute force, stealth or persuading the bandits outside.
Fight your way through and find the Skull Lever to open the secret door to gain access to the Dank Crypt. If you can’t find the Skull Lever, you can instead go back outside and head to the side-entrance mentioned above. You’ll need to Lockpick your way through if you go this way.
Once inside the Dank Crypt, head to the room with the skeletons and open a second secret door. This will cause several skeletons to attack you.
Defeat the skeletons and head into the small room you opened. Interact with the big coffin and you will meet a friendly but mysterious skeleton called Withers.
After you leave the Dank Crypt, Withers will join your camp.
Once he is in your camp, speak to him as Gale and ask him to change your class. This costs 100 gold.
This will reset Gale’s stats, allowing you to change anything except his Background and appearance. Choose the Wizard class, then proceed with the per-level guidelines later in the guide.

If you don’t find Withers in the Ruins, he will eventually show up at your camp anyway. But this is the quickest way to recruit him.

BG3 Gale Build Starting Point (Level 1)

In this section, we will explain the ideal starting point for Gale. Please note that some parts of this section (most notably the Ability point distribution) will be slightly different to what is recommended here if you recruit Gale as a companion. You can fix this by visiting Withers with Gale selected and asking to change your class. This will allow you to fully customise Gale’s class, skills and abilities in the same way as your origin character. This respec is strongly recommended because the default choices are not optimal and make Gale weaker.

Race

Gale is a Human, a race which is not especially well-suited to magical pursuits. But there is no way to change Gale’s race without modding the game, and the racial differences in Baldur’s Gate 3 are quite minor anyhow, so it’s not a big deal.

Gale gets the following bonuses from being a Human:

Can wear Light Armour and Shields (though these are not recommended for this build)
Extra Weapon Proficiencies:
- Spears
- Pikes
- Halberds
- Glaives
Human Versatility
- One unrestricted Skill choice
- Increases Carrying Capacity by 25%

Cantrips

The BG3 Gale build can choose three Cantrips to start the game with. Cantrips are basic spells that do not consume a spell slot when cast, effectively meaning you can cast them as often as you like without limitations.

We recommend choosing the following Cantrips to start the game with:

Fire Bolt – Hurl a mote of Fire, dealing 1-10 Fire Damage. Use this as your main damage Cantrip.
Ray of Frost – Call forth a beam of Frost, reducing the target’s movement speed and dealing 1-8 Cold Damage. Use this when you need to slow down an enemy.
Acid Splash – Hurl a bubble of Acid that deals 1-6 Acid Damage. This has a small AOE, so it’s good to use when there are multiple enemies in a tight space.

Spells

The Wizard Class lets you learn 6 Spells in Character Creation, but only prepare 4 of them. This can cause a bit of confusion for new players – it’s important to note that you’ll only be able to select Prepared Spells from your 6 chosen Learned Spells, and only the Prepared Spells can actually be used.

Fortunately, the Wizard can open their Spells menu and freely prepare and unprepare Spells (from their learned spells list) as long as they are not in combat, so if you don’t like a spell that you prepared when levelling up, then you don’t need to respec, you can just swap it for something else.

With that in mind, we recommend Learning the following spells:

Mage Armour – This is vital for the Wizard Class since you have no Proficiency with normal Armour and have to settle for wearing Clothing. Mage Armour will improve your Armour Class to a total of (13 + Dexterity Modifier), allowing you to be more or less on par with other classes defensively. When cast, the Spell will last until your next Long Rest, so remember to cast it after every Long Rest before entering combat.
Magic Missile – Shoot three projectiles at a target, each one dealing 2-5 Force Damage. In total, this spell deals 6-15 damage, so it’s guaranteed to hit for at least a somewhat decent amount, and if you get a high Damage Roll then its damage is not too shabby for an early-game spell. The missiles will always hit their target, so this is a great way to guarantee some damage to an enemy.
Thunderwave – Arguably the best first-level damage Spell in the game, Thunderwave deals 2-16 Thunder Damage to all enemies in front of you and also sends them flying backwards. You can use this to knock enemies off ledges or cliffs for extra fall damage, or potentially even one hitting them.
Witch Bolt – Link yourself to an enemy with an arc of Lightning. Deals 1-12 Lightning Damage to the enemy and can be activated again for more damage each turn as long as you maintain your Concentration.
Chromatic Orb – Hurl a Sphere of Energy, dealing 2-8 Thunder, Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning or Poison Damage (of your choice) and create a surface of that type.
Grease – An easy-to-overlook Spell that creates an 8 metre wide AOE of Grease, slowing down enemies and potentially knocking them Prone when they try to move through it.

We won’t tell you which of the learned spells to prepare at each level because you should ideally be changing this based on your party composition, playstyle and other variables. Keep trying different spells in different situations, and try to scout ahead and examine enemies before engaging in combat to see what their strengths and weaknesses might be – this can help you to decide which spells to prepare for the upcoming fight. In general, it’s best to have a mixture of damage spells, personal protection/mobility spells, and debuffs or crowd control spells to slow enemies down or make them weaker to your party’s attacks.

Skills & Background

Your most important Abilities for Gale are going to be Intelligence and Dexterity. For optimal results, you should choose your Skills accordingly.

Gale is locked into the Sage Background, which gives you two Skill Proficiencies:

Arcana (INT) – Recognise and interact with magical objects during your exploration.
History (INT) – Recall historical details about the world around you. It can sometimes open up additional dialogue options.

You can now choose two additional Skills to be Proficient with. Make sure you have these two covered:

Investigation (INT) – You are better at noticing and deducing hidden details. Can open up extra dialogue options.
Religion (INT) – Recognise religious icons and recall details about religions that you may encounter on your adventure.

Since Gale is a Human, you can make one additional unrestricted Skill pick. For this, I recommend choosing Acrobatics (DEX), which will make Gale better at resisting enemy attempts to push you and reduce the fall damage you take.

Abilities

Intelligence is the most important ability for the Gale build, as it’s the attribute used for Spellcasting. The higher your Intelligence score, the more likely your spells are to successfully hit your target. The second most important attribute is Dexterity, used mainly to improve your Armour Class. This is particularly important, since the Wizard has no Armour Proficiency and relies on Dexterity to protect themselves. Thirdly, it’s important to have some points in Constitution, which will increase your Maximum Hitpoints and improve your chances of succeeding at Concentration Checks (continuing to channel the effects of an ongoing Concentration Spell after you take damage).

With all of this in mind, we recommend an ability spread something like this:

8 Strength
16 Dexterity
14 Constitution
16 Intelligence
10 Wisdom
10 Charisma

Bolded Abilities are the most important for the build. The others can be tweaked if you wish.

Gale Build Levelling Guide – BG3

We will now walk through the process of levelling up Gale in Baldur’s Gate 3. For ease of reading, we’ve split this part up into early, mid and late game levelling sections.

We’ve listed what we think are the strongest or most useful spells and cantrips to unlock at each level, but don’t shy away from experimenting with other spells.

Early-Game Levelling Guide for Gale

We will start with the early-game levels, 2-4.

Level 2 – Select your Subclass

At Level 2, you need to choose your Subclass for the Gale build. The Wizard class has a total of 9 different subclasses (Abjuration, Evocation, Necromancy, Conjuration, Enchantment, Divination, Illusion, Transmutation and Bladesinging). For this build, we’ll be going with the Evocation School, which allows you to learn spells from Evocation Scrolls for half of the gold cost and prevents your own Evocation Spells from harming your allies. Evocation spells focus elemental energy into powerful attacks and enchantments.

The full list of unlocks at this level:

Evocation Savant – Learn Evocation Spells from Scrolls for half the gold cost.
Sculpt Spells – Create pockets of safety in your Evocation Spells. Allies take no damage from these spells and automatically succeed Saving Throws against them.
Learn 2 more Spells:
- Tasha’s Hideous Laughter – If the target fails the Saving Throw, they are overcome with a laughing fit. This is a “hard CC” effect that prevents the victim from doing anything.
- Sleep – A great early-game stun spell. It can put one or several enemies up to a HP limit into a magical slumber. Saving Throws cannot block this spell, but the victim will wake up if they take damage, get Shoved or Helped.

Level 3

At Level 3, Gale gains another Arcane Recovery charge, increasing the number of Spell Slots he can replenish without needing a Long Rest.

You gain another level 1 spell slot and two level 2 slots. We recommend learning the following Spells:

Cloud of Daggers – Deals AoE Slashing Damage and can be placed in tight areas where enemies have to get to you. They will walk through it and get high damage.
Misty Step – Teleport to a valid location within 18 metres. Only uses a Bonus Action, so you can attack on the same turn.

Level 4

At Level 4, it’s time to choose a Feat to unlock for Gale. Grab the Ability Improvement Feat, which will give you two extra Ability Points to spend. Put both points into Intelligence, which will take you up to 18 INT. This will boost your spellcasting and will give you an extra Prepared Spell vacancy.

You can also select another Cantrip; we recommend Shocking Grasp, a melee Cantrip with Advantage against enemies with metal armour. It applies the Shocked condition, preventing the victim from taking Reactions. This can be used to help you run away from a melee heavy hitter without incurring an Opportunity Attack. Ensure that Shocked was applied before running away, or you’ll still risk an opportunity attack.

You’ll be able to Learn 2 more Spells here, too. We recommend picking up the following Spells:

Enlarge/Reduce – A handy spell that allows you to Enlarge or Reduce the size of yourself or an ally. Enlarged characters deal more damage in melee and are better at Strength Checks. Smaller characters may be able to access small passageways to access hidden areas. This works well if you have a melee heavy-hitter in your party, such as a Fighter, Barbarian or Paladin.
Hold Person – A powerful hard stun that completely paralyses a humanoid target, unless they succeed on a Saving Throw. A victim of Hold Person will always take Critical Hits from melee attacks, making them very vulnerable to damage. They will attempt a new Saving Throw at the start of each turn.

Mid-Game Levelling Guide for Gale in BG3

We’ll now go through the levelling process for Gale at levels 5-8.

Level 5 BG3 Gale Build

At Level 5, your Proficiency Bonus is improved to +3, meaning you’ll now get a +3 bonus to all Skill rolls that your character has Proficiency for.

Your Arcane Recovery charge is increased to 3, too, again improving the amount of Spell Slots you can replenish with this ability.

You also unlock Third Level Spells at this level, too. Some First and Second-Level spells can be upcasted to the Third Level to make them more powerful.

As usual, you can choose two spells to Learn. We recommend:

Haste – A Concentration Spell that grants the Hasted buff to the target. This gives them an extra Action each turn, increases their Movement Speed and gives them Advantage on Dexterity saves. Beware that when the effect ends, the target will become Lethargic, forcing them to skip one turn.
Fireball – This is a very powerful AOE spell, dealing 8-48 Fire Damage to everything in a 12-metre wide area, with a range of up to 18 metres. Targets that perform a Saving Throw will still take half of the damage.

Level 6

At Level 6, your Gale gains the following new features:

Another Third Level Spell Slot, taking your total up to three.
Learn another two Spells. We recommend:
- Counterspell – nullify another creature’s spell as a Reaction. This is great for interrupting powerful enemy spells. If the target spell is above Third Level, you must Upcast your Counterspell or pass a spell roll to block it.
- Stinking Cloud – Create a cloud of gas so nauseating that it prevents creatures from taking Actions if they fail a Constitution Saving Throw. This is a good spell for shutting down multiple weaker enemies. Strong enemies will often succeed saving throws against this, as they have high Constitution. But this is great for reducing the threat posed by minions.
Potent Cantrips – When a creature succeeds a Saving Throw against one of your Cantrips, it still takes half of the Cantrip’s damage.

Level 7

At Level 7, Gale unlocks the following:

Arcane Recovery Slots increased to 4.
Access to Fourth Level Spells.
One Fourth Level Spell Slot.
Learn two more Spells. We recommend choosing:
- Conjure Minor Elemental – This lets you conjure a Minor Elemental. We prefer the Azer summon, but check out the others to see which one you like best. Summoned creatures are great to have around because the AI will often waste their turns attacking them instead of your party members. As a result, you deal more damage and take less damage.
- Blight – Deals 8-64 Necrotic Damage to a single target. Remember that Undead and Constructs are immune to Necrotic Damage.

Level 8

At Level 8, you can choose another Feat. We recommend choosing Ability Improvement again and increasing your Intelligence to 20.

You can Learn two more Spells, as usual. Good options are:

Dimension Door – Teleport yourself and one adjacent ally to a location within sight. This is great for getting a couple of characters into an advantageous position or to escape from a dangerous one.
Confusion – An AoE Spell that causes those within to become Confused, randomly attacking, wandering around or passing their turn. They can resist the effects with a Wisdom Saving Throw.

Since you increased your Intelligence to 20, this time around you’ll get two new slots for Prepared Spells, instead of the usual one.

Late-Game Gale Build Levelling Guide for BG3

Let’s finish off the levelling guide for the BG3 Gale Build by exploring the best options at levels 9-12.

Level 9

At Level 9 of your Gale Build in BG3, he gains access to even more powerful magic. You’ll unlock the following features here:

Arcane Recovery Slots increased to 5.
Another Fourth Level Spell Slot, giving you three in total.
One Fifth Level Spell Slot, and the ability to Learn and Prepare Fifth Level Spells.
Learn two more Spells. We recommend:
- Hold Monster – Paralyse a creature. It can’t move, act or react. Attacks from within 3 metres are always Critical Hits. Lasts for up to 10 turns, as long as you maintain Concentration. This is an upgraded version of Hold Person that can be used against any target. You can unprepare Hold Person and replace it with this spell.
- Conjure Elemental – With this, we can summon even more powerful creatures.

Level 10

At Level 10, you unlock the following:

Choose one more Cantrip. We already picked all the best options, so you can choose whatever you like here.
Unlock another Fifth Level Spell Slot, giving you two in total.
Empowered Evocation – Your grasp of Evocation magic has tightened, and you can add your Intelligence Modifier to damage rolls with any Evocation spells.
Learn two more Spells. We recommend:
- Cone of Cold – Make a flurry of frost, crisp air, and condensed snow crystals erupt from your hands. Deals 8-64 Cold Damage to targets within 9 metres.
- Cloudkill – Craft a large cloud that inflicts 5-40 Poison Damage per turn. You can reposition the cloud every turn. The cloud Heavily Obscures everything within it. Requires Concentration. Check for enemy resistance or immunity to Poison before casting this spell.

Empowered Evocation is an extremely strong passive effect for the Evocation Wizard. Your Intelligence modifier is +5 now that you’ve increased your Intelligence to 20. This basically means that every Evocation Damage Dice is guaranteed to roll at least a 6, and the maximum possible roll is also increased. Your Evocation spells will now hit extremely hard.

Level 11

At Level 11, you’ll gain access to the most powerful magic available in Baldur’s Gate 3, making Gale even stronger.

At this point, you’ll get:

Another Arcane Recovery Charge, bringing your total number to 6.
One Sixth Level Spell Slot, and the ability to learn Spells of this tier.
Learn two more Spells. We recommend choosing:
- Chain Lightning – Strike an enemy with lightning. Three more bolts will leap from the target, electrifying as many as three other enemies within range. Deals 8-80 Lightning Damage. Damage is halved if the target Saves.
- Sunbeam – A beam of brilliant light sears and Blinds all creatures in its path, dealing 6-48 Radiant Damage. Until the spell ends, you can recast Sunbeam without expending a spell slot. Requires Concentration.

Chain Lightning is another Evocation Spell, so you’ll get a +5 bonus on your Damage Rolls from Empowered Evocation.

Sunbeam is also an Evocation Spell, so you’ll get the same buffs here. It’s especially useful in tight areas and chokepoints, and the damage will be doubled against Undead and Unholy enemies, allowing you to easily deal with enemies of these types.

Level 12 – Max Level BG3 Gale Build

If you’ve made it to this point, then you’ve now reached the maximum level with your Gale Build in Baldur’s Gate 3. Congratulations!

At Level 12, Gale unlocks the following:

Choose another Feat. We recommend choosing War Caster, which grants Advantage on Saving Throws to maintain Concentration on a spell. By this point, you have a lot of powerful Concentration spells, and this feat will make combat more forgiving. You can also use a reaction to cast Shocking Grasp at a target moving out of melee range (1-8 Lightning Damage).
Learn two more Spells. We recommend:
- Wall of Ice – High damage Spell that raises a wall of solid ice that deals Cold Damage to nearby creatures and blocks movement. Covers a huge area, and you can decide where it is placed.
- Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere – Create a ball of churning ice that can be launched instantly to generate a frosty explosion or stored for later use.

On a final note, if you’re really struggling to keep your party alive in the late game, you can instead replace one of these spells with Globe of Invulnerability. This creates a 6 metre area that makes all creatures and objects within immune to damage for three turns. But beware that enemies inside the sphere can also gain the buff.

Gale Build Equipment for Baldur’s Gate 3

In this section, we have powerful equipment recommendations for our BG3 Gale Build. We’ve included both an early-game and a late-game variant of the build, so you don’t need to wait until Act III to make use of it. Early-Game equipment is obtainable in Act I and the earlier parts of Act II, while Late-Game equipment is found in Act III and the latter parts of Act II. Sometimes early-game equipment may make it into the late-game section, as a few items obtained early in BG3 are powerful enough to compete with items not found until much later in the game.

Early-Game Equipment

The table below shows the recommended early-game setup for Gale. Check below the table for more information about each item, including where to obtain it. Don’t worry if you don’t have all of the items, and don’t be afraid to try new things not mentioned here, either. This is only a guideline and the build can still work fine if some equipment is different for you.

Our early-game equipment selection is intended to provide a wide-range of buffs to Gale’s spellcasting, damage output, mobility and Armour Class. This is because there isn’t a huge amount of highly specialised gear available early in the game.

Slot	Item	Effects	Location
Head	The Shadespell Circlet	When obscured in Shadow, gain +1 Spell Save DC	Sold by Omeluum in the Underdark, after helping him to investigate the Parasite
Cloak	Cloak of Protection	+1 to Armour Class and Saving Throws	Purchased from Quartermaster Talli in Last Light Inn
Chest	The Protecty Sparkswall	+1 to Spell Save DC +1 to Armour Class and Saving Throws if you have at least 1 Lightning Charge	Looted from a gilded chest at the far end of the trapped bridge in Grymforge
Gloves	Bracers of Defence	+2 to Armour Class, if you have no armour or shield equipped	Looted from a gilded chest in the secret area of the Apothecary’s Cellar
Boots	Boots of Genial Striding	You cannot be slowed down by Difficult Terrain	Sold by Blurg in the Myconid Colony
Necklace	Pearl of Power Amulet	Recover a Spell Slot up to Third Level, once per Long Rest	Sold by Omeluum in the Myconid Colony
Ring 1	Ring of Protection	+1 to Armour Class and Saving Throws	Steal the Sacred Idol in Druid Grove (quest)
Ring 2	Crusher’s Ring	+3 metres Movement Speed per turn	Dropped by Crusher in the Goblin Camp
Main Weapon	The Spellsparkler	Gain 2 Lightning Charges when you deal damage with a Spell or Cantrip Each charge has a +1 bonus to Attack Rolls and +1 bonus Lightning Damage on attacks Reaching 5 charges consumes them all to deal 1d8 bonus Lightning Damage	Rescue Counsellor Florrick from the fire in Waukeen’s Rest
Second Weapon	Any	You can equip any Ranged Weapon that you have Profiency with We’ll usually use Cantrips, so won’t get much use out of this weapon	N/A

The Shadespell Circlet

The Shadespell Circlet adds +1 to your Spell Save DC rating whenever Gale is standing in a shadowy area. This makes it harder for enemies to resist all of your Spells and Cantrips that impose a Saving Throw (i.e. not Attack Rolls). For example, an enemy trying to roll a save against your Hold Person spell will now need to roll 1 higher to be successful.

The Shadespell Circlet can be purchased from Omeluum in the Underdark Myconid Colony. You must first complete his quest to help him investigate the parasite.

Cloak of Protection

One of the first cloaks available in BG3 and also one of the most useful, the Cloak of Protection gives you a +1 buff to your Armour Class and Saving Throws, making for a solid defensive item. It is sold by Quartermaster Talli in Last Light Inn, Act II.

The Protecty Sparkswall

The Protecty Sparkswall improves Gale’s Spell Save Difficulty Class by 1, making all of his spells that impose Saving Throws a little bit harder for enemies to resist. You’ll also gain a +1 bonus to your own Armour Class and Saving Throws as long as you have at least one Lightning Charge, something that you’ll be able to get with the early-game melee weapon of this build. Looted from a gilded chest at the far end of the trapped bridge in Grymforge, Act I.

Bracers of Defence

The Bracers of Defence boost Gale’s Armour Class by+2 as long as he isn’t wearing armour or a shield. This is an excellent defensive buff for a pure spellcaster like Gale, since he’ll never wear armour unless you’re making a highly unusual build. It can be looted from a gilded chest in the secret area of the Apothecary’s Cellar, beneath the Blighted Village in Act I.

Boots of Genial Striding

The Boots of Genial Striding prevent Gale from being slowed down by Difficult Terrain, providing you with a decent boost to your mobility. Note that other affects associated with terrain types, such as the chance to slip on ice or taking damage from spikes, will still apply even with the boots equipped. These boots are sold by Blurg in the Myconid Colony in the Underdark, Act I.

Pearl of Power Amulet

The Pearl of Power Amulet is a decent early-game item for any spellcaster in BG3. Once per Long Rest, it allows Gale to restore a Spell Slot of third level or lower. This lets you cast an extra spell before you need to take a Long Rest to replenish your Spell Slots. It is sold by Omeluum in the Myconid Colony, however you must complete his quest to investigate the parasite before you can trade with him.

Ring of Protection

The Ring of Protection has the same effect as the Cloak of Protection, making it another decent defensive item, important for a class like the Wizard which cannot wear armour. It is granted to you as a reward by Mol in the Druid Grove for completing the quest to steal the sacred idol.

Crusher’s Ring

Crusher’s Ring gives Gale 3 metres of extra Movement Speed per turn, which is great for improving your mobility and staying one step ahead of melee enemies who might be chasing you. This is especially important if you chose a race with low mobility, such as a dwarf, halfling or gnome. It is dropped by Crusher in the Goblin Camp, Act I.

The Spellsparkler

The Spellsparkler is an excellent early-game weapon for any spellcaster. Whenever you deal damage with a Spell or Cantrip, you gain 2 Lightning Charges, a special type of buff only granted by some equipment.

Each Lightning Charge gives you a +1 bonus to Attack Rolls and causes your attacks to do 1 bonus Lightning Damage. When you reach 5 charges, they are consumed to deal 1d8 bonus Lightning Damage on your next attack. This gives you a considerable bonus when attacking enemies, and with this staff all you need to do is keep casting Spells and Cantrips to benefit from this mechanic.

To get the Spellsparkler, you need to rescue Counsellor Florrick from the fire in Waukeen’s Rest during the Rescue the Grand Duke quest in Act I. Meet with the Counsellor outside the burning building and you’ll get a choice of rewards, one of which is the Spellsparkler.

Late-Game Equipment

The table below shows the recommended late/end-game setup for the Gale. In the late-game there are many more gear options available, so we can now put more emphasis on improving Gale’s Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Rolls than we did in the early-game section. However, there is still some gear that helps Gale with his Armour Class and mobility.

Slot	Item	Effects	Location
Head	Hood of the Weave	Gain +2 Spell Save DC at all times	Sold by Mystic Carrion in Philgrave’s Mansion
Cloak	Cloak of the Weave	+1 to Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Rolls	Sold by Helsik at the Devil’s Fee, once her special stock is unlocked
Chest	Robe of the Weave	+2 Armour Class +1 Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Rolls Whenever you succeed a Saving Throw against a spell, restore 1d6 HP	Inside a Globe of Invulnerability in Ramazith’s Tower
Gloves	Helldusk Gloves	+1 to Strength Saving Throws +1 to Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Rolls Rays of Fire (Unique Cantrip)	Dropped by Haarlep in the House of Hope.
Boots	Helldusk Boots	You cannot be forcefully moved by enemy Spells or Actions You’re immune to Difficult Terrain You can use a Reaction to succeed a Saving Throw that you were about to fail	Looted from a locked gilded chest on the top floor of Wyrm’s Rock Fortress
Necklace	Spellcrux Amulet	Recover a Spell Slot of any level, once per Long Rest Can be used in combat, and only requires a Bonus Action	Looted from the Warden in Moonrise Towers Prison
Ring 1	Ring of Protection	+1 to Armour Class and Saving Throws	Steal the Sacred Idol in Druid Grove (quest)
Ring 2	Ring of Feywild Sparks	+1 to Spell Save DC	Carried by Auntie Ethel in The Blushing Mermaid – Basement
Main Weapon	Markoheshkir	+1 to Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Rolls Arcane Battery – Cast any spell for free, once per Long Rest Kereska’s Favour, once per Long Rest	Found inside a Globe of Invulnerability in Ramazith’s Tower
Second Weapon	Any	You can equip any Ranged Weapon that you have Profiency with We’ll usually use Cantrips, so won’t get much use out of this weapon	N/A

Hood of the Weave

The Hood of the Weave improves Gale’s Spell Save DC by +2, meaning enemies will have to roll 2 more points in any given Saving Throw to succeed it. This makes many of your spell effects harder to resist. It is sold by Mystic Carrion in Philgrave’s Mansion, Act III.

Robe of the Weave

The Robe of the Weave is a good late-game clothing item for Gale. It Improves his Spell Save DC by +1 (along with Spell Attack Rolls), gives you a +2 bonus to your Armour Class, and also heals you by 1d6 HP when you succeed a Saving Throw against a Spell. This is nice distribution of defensive and offensive bonuses that make this a well-rounded item.

You can find it inside a Globe of Invulnerability in Ramazith’s Tower, Act III. To access it, you need to use a See Invisibility effect (Spell, Scroll or Elixir) to find the hidden lever and pull it, which will deactivate the Globe. You can then retrieve the Robe.

Helldusk Gloves

The Helldusk Gloves give Gale a +1 bonus to Strength Saving Throws and infuse your weapon attacks with 1d6 bonus Fire Damage. More importantly, they give a +1 bonus to spell Attack Rolls and Spell Save DC, making all of your spells more likely to have the desired effect against enemy targets. Obviously we don’t really care about the weapon attack buff here, the spell buffs are the reason we want these gloves.

The gloves are dropped by Haarlep in the House of Hope.

Helldusk Boots

The Helldusk Boots prevent Gale from being forcefully moved by an enemy’s spells or actions, and give immunity to the effects of Difficult Terrain. You can also use a Reaction to succeed a Saving Throw that you would have failed, making these extremely good defensive boots. As another added bonus, you get access to the Hellcrawler action, which allows Gale to teleport and deal fire damage to anyone at the destination.

These boots can be looted from a locked gilded chest on the top floor of Wyrm’s Rock Fortress. Take them before Gortash’s coronation to avoid making NPCs in the area hostile.

Cloak of the Weave

The Cloak of the Weave is useful mainly because it adds another +1 bonus to your Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Rolls, making Gale’s spells harder to resist. This cloak also lets you absorb elemental damage once per Short Rest, reducing the damage of the incoming attack by 50% and then adding 1d6 of the same element to your next attack. It is sold by Helsik at the Devil’s Fee, once her special stock is unlocked.

Spellcrux Amulet

The Spellcrux Amulet is pretty much a direct upgrade from the Pearl of Power Amulet that we were using in the early-game section. It allows Gale to replenish one spell slot of any level, once per Long Rest. Unlike the Pearl of Power amulet, you can use the effect in combat, and doing so only costs a Bonus Action, making the amulet easier to use. If you really want to get the most out of your gear, you can unequip this after using it and put on another amulet to get a different effect (you still need to Long Rest at some point to reset the cooldown).

It is looted from the Warden in Moonrise Towers Prison, Act II.

Ring of Feywild Sparks

The Ring of Feywild Sparks is a late-game ring – at first glance it looks like it’s much more suited for the Wild Magic Sorcerer rather than a Wizard like Gale, and it is true that the ring is designed for that subclass. However, this ring also gives another +1 bonus to your Spell Save DC, making it harder for enemies to succeed Saving Throws against your spells. The Ring of Feywild Sparks is, therefore, a good pick, even for a Wizard.

This ring is carried by Auntie Ethel in The Blushing Mermaid – Basement.

Markoheshkir

A Legendary quarterstaff, Markoheshkir is one of the strongest weapons in the game for “full spellcaster” characters like Gale. It gives several bonuses:

+1 bonus to Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Rolls
Arcane Battery – Once per Long Rest, remove the Spell Slot cost of your next spell.
Kereska’s Favour – Gain a special elemental buff of your choice until your next Long Rest, unlocking a special buff and new abilities. This is especially good because it doesn’t require Concentration. You can choose from the following variants:
- Sizzling Cataclysm – Gain 50% Resistance to Acid Damage. Can cast Melf’s Acid Arrow and Hunger of Hadar once per Short Rest. Acid Spells deal extra Acid Damage equal to your Proficiency Bonus. When you deal Spell damage, you inflict 1 turn of Noxious Fumes, causing nearby creatures to take 1d4 Acid Damage per turn.
- Deadlier than Arsenic – Gain 50% Resistance to Poison Damage. Can cast Cloudkill and Ray of Sickness once per Short Rest. Poison Spells deal extra Poison Damage equal to your Proficiency Bonus. When you deal Spell damage, you inflict 1 turn of Poisoned on the target, causing Disadvantage on Attack Rolls and Ability Checks.
- Bone-Shaking Thunder – Gain 50% Resistance to Thunder Damage. Can cast Shatter and Destructive Wave once per Short Rest. Thunder Spells deal extra Thunder Damage equal to your Proficiency Bonus. When you deal Spell damage, you inflict 1 turn of Reverberation on the target, causing a -1 penalty to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution Saving Throws.
- Bolts of Doom – Gain 50% Resistance to Lightning Damage. Can cast Chain Lightning and Lightning Bolt once per Short Rest. Lightning Spells deal extra Lightning Damage equal to your Proficiency Bonus. When you deal Spell damage, you gain 1 Lightning Charge.
- Frost of Dark Winter – Gain 50% Resistance to Cold Damage. Can cast Cone of Cold and Ice Storm once per Short Rest. Cold Spells deal extra Cold Damage equal to your Proficiency Bonus. When you deal Spell damage, you inflict 1 turn of Encrusted with Frost, causing Disadvantage on Dexterity Saving Throws and possibly Freezing the target if they reach 7 stacks.
- Flame of Wrath – Gain 50% Resistance to Fire Damage. Can cast Fireball and Wall of Fire once per Short Rest. Fire Spells deal extra Fire Damage equal to your Proficiency Bonus. When you deal Spell damage, you gain 1 turn of Heat, causing you to take 1d4 Fire Damage per turn but allowing you to use Heat Convergence to convert your Heat stacks to bonus Fire damage on your next attack.

Feel free to experiment with the different versions of Kereska’s Favour to find your favorites.

The staff is found inside a Globe of Invulnerability in Ramazith’s Tower in Act III. Use a See Invisibility Spell, Scroll or Elixir to find the lever which disables the globe.

Gale Build Extra Info

Below is some additional info that will help you to play this BG3 Gale Build.

Gale Build Tips & Tricks for Baldur’s Gate 3

Try to stay mindful of positioning when using Gale in combat. Remember that having melee enemies in your face will give you a Disadvantage on many of your Attacks, and having the High Ground will give you a bonus to Attack Rolls. It will get a little easier to manage this when you unlock the Misty Step Spell. Make use of Crowd Control Spells like Thunderwave to keep enemies from reaching you.

Don’t be afraid to sometimes use an AOE spell like Shatter or Fireball on a single target, if you just need some extra damage. This is especially true in the early-game, when you won’t always have the “perfect” spell for each given situation.

If you have no Spell Slots left or don’t want to expend any at the moment, then your best bet is usually to cast a Cantrip like Fire Bolt on the enemy, as these have unlimited uses. Swinging your melee weapon is only advised if a melee enemy has got into close range (thus giving all your spells Disadvantage) and you have no way of retreating safely. Running away is always an option, but if the enemy has already reached melee range then be ready to take some damage from their opportunist attack. Melee-focused boss enemies might one-hit-kill you this way, so be especially careful of positioning when fighting them.

Let us also talk about the Haste spell. It is recommended to use Haste once you have access to it with your Gale Wizard Build in Baldur’s Gate 3. You can buff yourself or another group member. The Haste spell will allow them to do more actions per turn, massively increasing their damage or utility potential. It works best on heavy-hitting melee fighters like Karlach and Laezel, or on spellcasters with a repeatable concentration spell like Call Lightning (Druids unlock that spell at Level 5), Moonbeam, Sunbeam, etc. There are also items that give Haste. For example the Darkfire Shortbow that you can buy from Dammon at the start of Act 2 that our BG3 Monk Build uses also gives us access to Haste.

Best Party Composition for Gale

Gale has a Neutral Good alignment at the start of the game. Gale’s alignment is quite rigid and can’t be influenced much by the player. However, he is more open to working with evil characters than other good-aligned companions (as long as they don’t go too far).

While you can use any party composition with Gale, you’ll have an easier time with characters who match up with his alignment. This leaves the following four options as the most obvious choices:

Halsin (Neutral Good) – Halsin shares Gale’s neutral good alignment, and they both have an affinity for magic, so they work quite well together.
Wyll (Lawful Good) – Despite his otherworldly pact, Wyll typically maintains a lawful good alignment throughout the game. This goes well with Gale, and you shouldn’t have any problems keeping a positive rapport with both characters by simply being kind.
Karlach (Chaotic Good) – Karlach is a very emotional character who can sometimes have outbursts, in contrast to Gale’s calm demeanour. Nevertheless, both characters tend towards the same moral direction in most cases, so they get along well enough.
Shadowheart (Neutral Evil or True Neutral) – Shadowheart starts the game with a very neutral alignment, and can be influenced towards a good or evil alignment based on the player’s choices. Shadowheart can’t become evil enough to truly upset Gale, even if you pursue her darker path.

Gale Build Illithid Powers (optional)

Illithid Powers are unlocked later in BG3 when you learn more about Mind Flayers and Tadpoles. By eating Jars of Mind Flayer Parasites you gain one point. This is another optional skill tree that you can get access to if you want. Here are some of the best Illithid Powers for the BG3 Gale Build:

Concentrated Blast: Allows you to deal extra damage to a target when you are Concentrating on a spell, potentially also healing if the target is Concentrating too. Ideally, you will spend a lot of time Concentrating on spells, so you should be able to get good use from this.
Cull the Weak: When you reduce a creature’s hit points below a certain threshold, this power instantly kills it and deals 1-4 Psychic Damage to nearby enemies. This is particularly effective when engaging groups of weaker foes, enabling you to thin their numbers rapidly.
Fly: This can be used to reach hard to get to places or change positions in combat. Use this to keep your Wizard safe from enemy attacks, so your Concentration won’t get disrupted as easily.
Black Hole: This power creates an area-based effect that pulls in and slows targets. It’s particularly useful for crowd control, allowing you to cluster enemies together for area-of-effect attacks or to isolate them from vulnerable allies.
Psionic Backlash: This is a top-tier reaction from the Illithid Powers skill tree in BG3. This allows you to deal psychic damage when a nearby enemy casts a spell. This is especially useful if the target is casting a Concentration Spell. The damage from Psionic Backlash can immediately break their Concentration, ending the spell’s effects.

More BG3 Companion Builds:

Best BG3 Gale Build Guide – Maximum Spell Power!