Of all the many spells in Baldur’s Gate 3, there is one that outshines all the others – because it doesn’t even consume spell slots.
In Baldur’s Gate 3, you have a wide range of abilities to send your friends (or annoying allies) to the digital afterlife. While spells like a big fireball are favorites, there is another spell that counts even as a cantrip and is still so powerful that it outshines many others. We’re talking about Eldritch Blast.
The community celebrates this spell, and rightly so.
How popular is Eldritch Blast: The popularity of the spell is wonderfully illustrated by a post in the Baldur’s Gate 3 subreddit. After just 18 hours, a picture of beloved Eldritch Blast gathered over 7,000 upvotes and many stories of why people will never let go of this spell.
- “Eldritch Blast combined with Hunger of Hadar is so overpowered. I will never not laugh when I shoot someone back to the void from which they crawled.” – Mekanicum
- “My campaign is exactly the same when I play Warlock. There’s virtually no reason to use any other cantrip because [Eldritch Blast] is just so overpowered.” – fly3aglesfly
- “Screaming DOLOR and then throwing people off cliffs into abysses or back into Hunger of Hadar will never get old.” – chronocapybara
- “Eldritch Blast is the only reason I never play a wizard. Somehow, Warlock feels like a ‘wizard light’, with all the useful stuff but none of the overloaded garbage.” – Only_Rellana
What makes Eldritch Blast so powerful? Another bonus is the fact that Eldritch Blast is a cantrip. These are spells that do not consume spell slots (effectively level 0 spells). However, Eldritch Blast can be improved with feats, allowing it to outshine nearly all other cantrips. Some of the useful enhancements include:
- Eldritch Blast adds the character’s Charisma modifier as bonus damage.
- Eldritch Blast pushes enemies back 4.50 meters.
This is shown in this little YouTube clip by Toyhouze:
If you combine this with the ability to see perfectly in darkness while enemies are blinded, you can position yourself in darkness and always benefit from an attack advantage against melee fighters, instead of receiving a penalty from being threatened.
With equipment, this can be further enhanced, making Eldritch Blast critically hit more often and causing affected enemies to be frightened.
When players claim that this “cheap level 0 spell” has carried them through the entire game – in many cases, that is true. Those who engage in a bit of multiclassing can even achieve a “machine gun” build, firing 8 or more Eldritch Blasts in a single round.
Baldur’s Gate 3 might also get new areas – a mod is said to make it possible.
