Baldur’s Gate 3provides you with tremendous freedom in how you approach problems, combat or otherwise. One of the main tools available are spells, but with over 600 in the game it’s easy to miss some of the more inventive ways to deploy these arcane – or divine – abilities.
If used with a little planning, even simple spells can have a huge impact on your playthrough, unlocking social and tactical options you otherwise might not have considered. Inventiveness with your spellcasting is almost always rewarded, even if not in the way you might expect. Here are some creative uses for spells not included or made obvious by their in-game description.
Updated July 11, 2025 by Jonathan Eakin:Baldur’s Gate 3 has been successful even beyond Larian Studios most hopeful expectations. Much of this success has been driven by the player base, as the social media buzz around the game has been something rarely seen outside of the biggest releases. Players continue to find interesting and inventive ways to use the tools the game provides, sharing these experiences with each other both to be helpful and, let’s be honest, show off a little. This means we have more hidden spell uses to share with you that are sure to help level up your experience of this astounding game.
13Banishment
InDungeons & Dragons, Banishment is a great spell that can work differently depending on whether the target is from the plane of existence you’re currently on or not. Sadly, in Baldur’s Gate 3, it has been nerfed substantially. Banishing someone to another plane doesn’t last anywhere near as long, and unlike the tabletop version, there’s no usage for sending someone back to their home plane and leaving them there.
Even so, it has a use if you ignore the obvious one of removing an enemy from combat for a brief time. Banishment can be cast on allies, including vulnerable NPC’s likely to get themselves killed by wading into combat or spending too long in environmental damage. This way, you may give them a planar vacation for a couple of rounds and potentially see them survive.
12Command
Command is a great spell available right from the beginning of the game, enabling you to give foes simple orders. One of the best uses is that you may command someone to drop their weapon, leaving them considerably less effective in combat unless they pick it back up — which they can’t do if you pick it up first.
The best use for this is right at the start of the game, as you avoid fighting a deadly Cambion, while seeking to activate the Nautiloid controls. That Cambion has one of the best two handed swords in the early game, perfect for Lae’zel all the way through Act 1. If you rearrange Shadowhearts spells to give her Command, you may use this trick no matter who your player character is and watch Lae’zel carve through enemies with ease.
11Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere
Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere is a tricky spell to use well, but there is a way to finesse the spell to your advantage. It can be used to lock an enemy out of combat, ideally a boss, while you mop up the minions. It’s a Dexterity Save to resist the spell, sure, but prone targets have disadvantage on those.
Prone targets also have to spend half their movement speed to get back up, and Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere reduces the targets movement speed by half. Not only are you stopping them from dealing any damage while you claim the battlefield for your own, you’re also locking them in place. That sort of crowd control shouldn’t be underestimated.
10Polymorph
Combat in Baldur’s Gate 3 is both tactical and challenging, with awide variety of dangerous monsters ready to run right through your adventuring party. The spell Polymorph can allow you to turn even the most dangerous of foes into a harmless, fluffy sheep.
This can be used to buy you time to deal with other dangers, but it also means you’re able to pick up that sheep with ease and throw them over the edge of a cliff. The massive fall damage will carry over to the monsters actual HP and now your party can have a peaceful Long Rest, counting polymorphed sheep.
9Enlarge/Reduce
Enlarge/Reduceis a rare two-in-one spell that either lets you increase or decrease the size of a creature. In combat this has clear uses, tiny enemies or gargantuan allies both make fights easier in their own way.
One convenient, if not obvious, use for the spell though is to make your own characters smaller. This will let them wriggle through small openings they would otherwise be too large to fit through, opening up areas in the game you may never have been able to access otherwise.
8Disguise Self
The ability to change your appearance has all kinds of uses both in Dungeons & Dragons and a game like Baldur’s Gate 3, but one of the more ingenious ways to use it is actually hidden behind another spell.Speak with Deadallows your character to converse with the deceased, often gaining information you would have missed otherwise. The catch is that enemies you had a hand in killing aren’t so keen to have a chat with you, even through the power of magic.
If you useDisguise Selfbeforehand to change your appearance, however, the dead won’t recognise you as the one behind their untimely death and will be more than happy to spill their secrets. It might not be honest, but it’s certainly effective.
7Create Or Destroy Water
Veterans of other Larian Studios games likeDivinity: Original Sin 2will know all about elemental effects, a feature carried over into Baldur’s Gate 3. you’re able to useCreate or Destroy Waterto make it rain on enemies, applying the Wet status effect, and then follow up with a cold or lightning spell for double the damage. That isn’t the only unexpected way you can use this spell though.
When romancing the internet’s favorite fiend, Karlach, you’re presented with the obstacle that she generates so much heat from her internal infernal engine that touching her is going to mean you need to call a Cleric for healing right away. Before you find a permanent solution to this, you can use Create or Destroy Water on her in your camp to cool her off just enough to steal a quick and fiery kiss. Other spells like Ray of Frost have the same effect, but making it rain is more peaceful and arguably more romantic too.
6Grease
Grease is a Level 1 spell that never loses value through the entire game. It creates a slick, flammable surface that can be set ablaze to turn otherwise safe areas into killing fields for your adventuring party and this isn’t even the best thing about it. Grease is an undervalued way to make enemy magic users little more than a nuisance.
Creatures in the area have to make a Dexterity saving throw or fall prone. While prone a creature can’t do very much at all until they spend half their movement speed to stand up, but most importantly being knocked prone causes spellcasters to automatically lose Concentration on their spells. No need to damage them and hope they fail their Concentration check; just cast Grease and watch them slip up on their incantations.
5Daylight
Daylight is an interesting spell not only for its uses in Baldur’s Gate 3 but also how those differ from the same spell in Dungeons & Dragons. While in both games the spell illuminates an area and dispels darkness, even magical darkness, the difference lies in the kind of light created. In the tabletop game Daylight creates bright light, but in Baldur’s Gate 3 it specifically creates sunlight.
Sunlight is particularly useful in one specific circumstance, fighting vampires. Vampires or vampire spawn will each take 20 Radiant damage per turn they spend in sunlight, making this spell a great way to exert battlefield control and reduce their HP at the same time.
4Selûne’s Dream
This spell can only be cast by using the Amulet of Selûne’s Chosen, found in the notorious Goblin Camp in Act 1. It provides one-to-eight points of healing, which as you level up becomes less impressive, and can put the target to sleep. This makes it a dangerous way to heal your party during combat, and an inconvenient one out of combat. However, there is a way to enjoy the benefit with none of the drawback.
Elves are immune to effects that would magically put them to sleep, meaning you can cast Selune’s Dream on someone like Shadowheart without fear that she’ll nod off. The healing may not be much, but with the downside removed, it’s free HP, which is never a bad thing.
