This guide focuses on the essential aspects of a Shadow Magic Sorcerer build in Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) and how to use those powers to your advantage.
Larian Studios releases Patch 8, which includes 12 new subclasses, one for each class. In this guide, we will feature the Shadow Magic Sorcerer Build. As the name implies, you deal withdarkness, shadows, and shadow arts. The subclass excels early on due to it’s powerful unlocks at level 1. Below, we explain the optimal and best say score, level progression, companions, weapons, armor, and consumables for a Shadow Sorcerer in BG3.
This build page has been updated for thePatch 8 versionof Baldur’s Gate 3.
Sorcerer Class Guide in BG3
The Sorcerer class excels as a spellcaster due to their unique “Metamagic” feature. This allows you to manipulate magic with a resource called sorcery points. Moreover, the Sorcerer class is excellent for multiclassing whether with the Warlock, Paladin, or others. The downside to the Sorcerer class is a limited spellbook in comparison to the Wizard. So while you won’t’ have as much spells, the amount of damage is substantial along with the utility thanks to metamagic.
Why should you choose the Shadow Magic Subclass for Sorcerer Class in BG3?
The best part of the Shadow Magic Sorcerer is being able to see in Darkness spell. You can cast this unique spell ontop of yourself that acts as a barrier for ranged spells and makes it near impossible for enemies to hit you. You can also combo this with Shadow Blade, which increases damage when obscured. This allows the Shadow Magic Sorc to play in melee range. Moreover, at level 6, you gain a Hound that can act as another ally incombat.
Read More-The Top 10 Best Spells
Everything About the Shadow Magic Sorcerer in Baldur’s Gate 3
What makes the Shadow Magic Sorcerer unique is the blending of melee attacks and spellcasting into one build. After Patch 8 in BG3, two new skills were introduced that allows a spellcaster to attack in melee, scaling off of strength: Booming Blade, Shadow Blade. Therefore, this build stacks strength (with Elixir) and charisma as well as multiclassing to make it the most effective possible. You can cast darkness on yourself, which increases Shadow Blade’s effectiveness while you can see normally.
The downside to this build is the slow start due to needing Paladin multiclass for Divine Smites and it’s a bit complex. However, if you want a spellcaster that can destroy enemies up close or at range, this is for you.
Patch 8 Changes to Sorcerer for BG3
Patch 8’s most impactful update to Baldur’s Gate 3 is the introduction of 12 new subclasses—one for each class. For Sorcerers, this includes the addition of the Shadow Magic subclass, a powerful option that allows you to see through magical darkness and unleash devastating damage with spells likeShadow Blade. This unique combination makes the Shadow Sorcerer a formidable force in stealth and close-quarters combat.
Another strong option is multiclassing with the newHexblade Warlock subclass. This pairing unlocks access to better armor and weapon proficiencies, improving survivability and opening up a melee-oriented playstyle. The synergy is especially strong because both Sorcerers and Warlocks rely onCharismaas their main spellcasting stat, allowing you to make full use of both classes’ abilities without diluting your build. For a detailed breakdown of how to level this hybrid character, check out the alternative build in the Level Progression section below.
Features and Mechanics of the Shadow Magic Sorcerer
The following list presents all the essential Shadow Magic Sorcerer build Mechanics and Features in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Character Creation
Race Choice for Shadow Magic Sorcerer
Half-Orc is the best race choice for the Shadow Magic Sorcerer build because you gain Savage Attacks, dealing twice the damage on weapon melee critical. This bonus applies to Shadow Blade attacks. Therefore, it gives you the most burst possible and a bonus for intimidation and darkvision. The second choice is Zariel Tiefling because you gain an extra smite spell, fire resistance, and Thaumaturgy Cantrip. Lastly, we recommend High Elf because of the extra passive, specifically obtaining Booming Blade and others and extra proficiencies.
Here is the best race choice for a Shadow Magic Sorcerer build in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Sorcerer Subclass – Shadow Magic
The Shadow Magic subclass is unlocked at level 1 and grants immediate use of Eyes of Dark and Strength of the Grave. The Eyes of the Dark is helpful seeing in the dark, and at level 3 you gain eyes of the dark: darkness. This spell allows you to cast darkness and see through it. Therefore, enemies won’t be able to hit you, but you can hit them while in the cloud. This gives you a massive offensive and defensive bonus. At level 6, you gain a Hound summon very powerful creature and level 11 teleport into the shadows.
Below are the Shadow Magic Sorcerer subclass features that become available while leveling up in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Read More-Baldur’s Gate 3: Top 10 Builds for Patch 8
Recommended Background for Shadow Magic Sorcerer
Entertaineris the Bestbackgroundfor the Shadow Magic Sorcerer Build because you gain proficiency in a dexterity and charisma-based skill. you may also increase your athletics skill with high strength or select Charlatan which similarly gives one dexterity and one charisma proficiency. Additional choices are:
Ability Score
The Best Ability Score for the Shadow Magic Sorcerer Build is 17 Charisma, 16 Dexterity, and 14 Constitution.Charisma is your primary stat for spellcasting, however, strength is also high since a new spell (Shadow Blade) scales in effectiveness off of strength or Dexterity.
We suggest using an Elixir of Hill Giant to increase your strength vs. Ability Score increase. This allows maximum flexibility and power in spellcasting. An alternative is finding gear or using an elixir of Arcane Acuity. However, since the build uses melee attacks with Shadow Blade, either drop strength and use an elixir, or boost strength and lower dexterity.
Below is the best ability score for a Shadow Magic Sorcerer in Baldur’s Gate 3:
you may increase your ability score via a quest in Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3. verify to check out ourPermanent bonus guideon how you can boost your ability score through quests.
Recommended Skills for Shadow Magic Sorcerer
Athletics and Persuasion are the bestskillsfor the Sorcerer in Baldur’s Gate 3 because they aid in dialogue, exploration, and discovery. In Baldur’s Gate 3, skills represent the abilities and proficiencies of your character that allow them to perform various actions and interact with the game world. Skills are associated with specific attributes and are used to determine the success or effectiveness of certain actions or abilities. They can be edited duringcharacter creationor with companions, during respec or reroll screen.
Here are the best skills for the Shadow Magic Sorcerer in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Illithid Powers For Shadow Magic Sorcerer
The best Illithid Powers for a Shadow Magic Sorcerer build are Luck of the Farm Realms, Black Hole, and Cull of the Weak. Luck of the Farm helps with critical hits and burst damage and, combined with Cull of the Weak, can trigger AOE damage passively. Black Hole requires you to take the Astral Tadpole in Act 2, but it sucks in 5 enemies, slows them, and can be recast for free. This is helpful in certain large-scale boss fights with many enemies. Below are the best Illithid Tadpole Powers for the Shadow Magic Sorcerer build in Baldur’s Gate 3:
Best Companions for Shadow Magic Sorcerer
Shadowheart,Gale, andAstarionmake the bestcompanionsfor the Shadow Sorc build because you gain healing, range damage, and lockpicking.
Best Shadow Magic Sorcerer Build – Level Progression in Baldur’s Gate 3
Alternative Shadow Magic Sorcerer Build
For this alternative Sorcerer Build we’ll be starting out with the Draconic Bloodline subclass at Level 1. Althought this means skipping the popular Shadow Magic subclass, Draconic Bloodline offers stronger synergy with Warlock, making it a better fit for this hybrid setup.At the beginning this build will be primarily spellcasting focused, with the traditional magic playstyle. You’ll be wearing robes, and staying at range to deal damage and keep away from attacks.
However, at Level 6, we recommend investing three levels into the Warlock class, choosing the Hexblade subclass. This unlocks a range of new possibilities for your character. You’ll gain medium armor proficiency and the ability to wield martial weapons, allowing you to equip more protective gear and experiment with a melee-oriented playstyle. This transition adds both durability and flexibility to your build, making your Sorcerer far more versatile in combat.
We’ll start our build with one level into the Paladin class. We’re doing this upfront because you want to get the Armor and Weapon Proficiencies that aren’t innate to the Sorcerer class. Once we have those, we’ll multiclass into our Shadow Magic Sorcerer. Moreover, you may alternatively do two levels to gain divine smite. However, you won’t have many spell slots, so 1 to gain access to proficiencies is optimal.
You can also pick your subclass; for this build, we want to selectOath of Vengeance.
Here’s a breakdown of what you get as a Level 1 Paladin:
At character Level 2, now we’ll multiclass into Sorcerer. To do this, simply click the + sign with two access formulticlass. Select your class, then a popup will appear on what you can select. As a Sorcerer, you can also choose your subclass at the first level. We’ll obviously be taking the Shadow Magic subclass for this build. However, if you want to get Divine Smite immediately, take another Paladin level (see level 8 below for details).
Shadow Magic subclass gets:
Cantrip Recommendations
Spell Recommendations
Level 2 Shadow Magic Sorcerer Spell Loadout: Shield and Thunderwave
At this stage, you play in melee range with Booming Blade in heavy armour with one hand and shield. Shadow Blade comes in level 2 spell slots, and we will switch to as your main damage source. This build starts off slow but will ramp up in power shortly.
With this next level as a Sorcerer, you unlock Sorcery Points, Metamagic, and one additional spell. We suggest taking theChromatic Orbspell withTwinned SpellandCareful Spellfor metagmagic class passives.
Spell Recommendation
Chromatic Orb: Hurl a sphere of energy. It deals 3d8 element damage and creates a surface. This area damage spell is useful to cast at range and control choke points or proc certain elemental effects. The strength of this skill on a Sorcerer is you can use Sorcerery point Twinned and cast it twice even at level 2 with one action. This gives you a ton of power early on and even later in the game.
Metamagic as explained above, essentially lets you manipulate spells to add range, cast on multiple targets, and more. Sorcery Points can be converted into additional Spell Slots, allowing you to cast more spells in between long rests. At level two, you get to select two Metamagic Options out of four: Careful, Distant, Extended, and Twinned. We suggest taking Twinned and Distance.
At this level use Twinned for double Chromatic Orb shots. Use Careful for the darkness duration increase. Once you get Shadow Blade, hanging inside of the cloud will give you an advantage when attacking with Shadow Blade (eyes of darkness).
Level 3 Shadow Magic Sorcerer Spell Loadout: Shield, Thunderwave, and Chromatic Orb.
With three levels into Sorcerer, you will unlock more metamagic options, Heighted, Subtle, and Quickened Spell. Moreover, we now gain the Shadow Blade spell.
New Spell and Replace Spell Recommendation
Level 4 Shadow Magic Sorcerer Spell Loadout: Shield, Chromatic Orb, Shadow Blade, Invisibility
At this level, you’re able to now hit targets with Shadow Blade, which scales off of your strength. Act 2 has a resonance stone that doubles the damage of this attack. We will eventually combine this attack with Divine Smite via the Paladin. However, playing in melee range can be tough. Spells like Mirror Image and Blur are advised if you struggle with survival (or scrolls).
Moreover, you can now cast Eyes of the Darkness ontop of yourself to give Shadow Blade and Advantage. You can also attack with Booming Blade AND Shadow Blade in the same action (eventually Divine Smite).
At the next level of Sorcerer, you will gain a cantrip, spell, and feat. For the Feat, select +2 Charisma. Alternatively, you can go with Alert for help going earlier in combat. However, Savage Attacker and Great Weapon Master won’t work with Shadow Blade. Another Alternative is Spell Sniper if you use more spellcasting.
For the cantrip, we recommendLightand for the spell, we recommendMirror Image.
Level 5 Shadow Magic Sorcerer Spell Loadout: Shield, Chromatic Orb, Darkness, Eyes of the Dark: Darkness, Shadow Blade, Invisibility, Mirror Image.
With five levels in Sorcerer, you will get access to Level 3 spells. There are a lot of powerful spells to choose from at this point, but we suggest you to pickFireballfor more area damage. Moreover, we recommend you replace the Chromatic Orb withCounterspellfor a bit more defense. Swap out another spell if you use Twinned Chromatic Orb.
Using Fireball as a Shadow Magic Sorcerer
Up until now, we’ve set up your Sorcerer to be survivable and lean on Chromatic Orb and Twinned Metamagic for damage. This is the point at which we switch to huge damage. With the introduction of Fireball, expect massive area damage. However, you are not anEvocation Wizard, so you do not want to hit friendly targets. Placing the circle radius just at the edge to hit as many targets as possible is the key to using this ability. You can use the Careful metamagic selection if you find it hard to do this.
With Quickened Metamagic, you can cast this spell and another with a bonus action (3 Sorcery Points). Once you get more spell slots, you guessed it, you can cast two Fireballs on your first turn. The key to mastering the damage output is using Metamagic Quickened for area-based spells and Twinned for single targets. This also applies to buffs, debuffs, and crowd control, not just magic.
At this stage, you may do ranged AOE burst damage with Fireball or play in melee range with Shadow Blade and Booming Blade.
Level 6 Shadow Magic Sorcerer Spell Loadout: Shield, Darkness, Eyes of the Dark: Darkness, Shadow Blade, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Counterspell.
With six levels into Sorcerer, you will gain a Sorcery Point and an additional Level 3 spell. Take Misty Step spell for more mobility. You can also use Haste if you want to hold concentration and use Twinned on you as an ally.
Additionally, the Shadow Magic subclass will receive a unique class action called Hound of Ill Omen.
Level 7 Shadow Magic Sorcerer Spell Loadout: Shield, Darkness, Eyes of the Dark: Darkness, Shadow Blade, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Counterspell.
At character Level 8, we’ll now switch back and invest more into the Paladin class. At level two the Paladin gains access to five prepared spells, choose a fighting style, and Divine Smite. We recommend choosing theDefence Fighting Stylefor +1 AC.
Paladin Divine Smite Explained
Divine Smite is a signature ability of the Paladin class in Baldur’s Gate 3. It allows a Paladin to expend a spell slot to deal additional radiant damage to a creature they have hit with a melee weapon attack. The extra damage amount equals 2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st. The damage increases by 1d8 if the target is an undead or a fiend.
Divine Smite can be toggled on or off in the reactions menu under the user interface. This allows you to decide if you want to use it or not. This is very important because the Paladin can run out of Spell Slots quickly, limiting damage. The last thing you want is to expend a spell slot needlessly on a weak creature.
Spells Recommendations
Here is a list of spells you must select as a Level 2 Paladin.
With three levels into Paladin, you will gain 1 spell and a few spells unique to the Oath of the Vengenace subclass. For the spell, we recommend taking theCure Wounds. Here are all the unique subclass spells that you will unlock at Level 3.
At level 10 you get a second feat, we suggest taking Alert. This will help you going first in the turn order. For spells you can take whatever you want, Bless is helpful if not using a Cleric.
With five levels invested in Paladin, the Oath of Vengeance subclass unlocks a lot. Extra attack, more spell slots, and two subclass spells. Here are all the features that you will get on Level 5 in Baldur’s Gate 3:
For spell selections, take Aid, Lesser Restoration, and drop searing smite for Magic Weapon.
At this level and beyond, you should feel very powerful. you may buff and debuff with a bonus action, mobility with Misty Step, and huge damage for the scenario or enemy using Smite.
At character Level 12and Paladin Level 6, you unlock 1 more prepared spell, Aura of Protection. Moreover, you will be able to select 1 Level 2 spell.
For spells, take Protection from Poison.
How to Play Shadow Magic Sorcerer
The best way to play Shadow Magic Sorcerer is by using the Shadow Blade level 2 spell and Booming Blade. With Shadow Blade, you may attack based off your strength ability score, which can be improved to 27 via Cloud Giant Elixir. Moreover, you can pick up the resonance stone in Act 2 and double psychic damage. Then, spec into Paladin to gain Divine Smite and Extra Attack. Now, use your spell slots for divine smites while attacking with your Shadow Blade.
Below are some general tips on how to play the best Shadow Magic Sorcerer build in BG3:
Best Gear for Shadow Magic Sorcerer Build
Here’s the best beginner gear, items, and equipment for a Shadow Magic Sorcerer Build in Baldur’s Gate 3:
The following table presents the best gear, items, and equipment for the Shadow Magic Sorcerer Build in Baldur’s Gate 3:
List of best Shadow Magic Sorcerer Build Baldur’s Gate 3 Equipment in the end-game:
Best Tips and Tricks for Shadow Magic Sorcerer
Before combat, make sure to pre-buff with spells that do not cost concentration. you may also expend sorcerery points to increase spell slots. This is helpful to cast higher power spells or upcast something like Shadow Blade. Then, you want the remainder of your spell slots for Divine Smite when attacking in melee range. Another help trick is to cast Eyes of the Dark: Darkness ontop of yourself to protect and increase damage with Shadow Blade. If you run out of spell slots, use Booming Blade as your main attack.
Best Consumables, Potions, Ammunition, and Items
The following list is the bestconsumableitems that will aid in our Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Shadow Magic Sorcerer Build Guide:
Permanent Bonuses
Throughout Baldur’s Gate 3, you will have the ability to gain permanent bonuses to your character. These can grant additional spells, ability scores, and other bonuses. Permanent Bonuses are not displayed throughout the campaign but are vital to increase overall combat performance. We have all permanent bonuses here in a guide, but the most important ones for you to collect are listed below.
Shadow Magic Sorcerer Changes in Patch 8 for BG3
The release of Patch 8 for BG3 adds three important parts to the game: Shadow Magic Sorcerer Subclass, Shadow Blade spell, and Booming Blade cantrip. Shadow Blade spell exited previously via a weapon granted by a ring. Now, you can summon the weapon with a bonus action and it deals psychic damage scaling off of your strength stat. Therefore, Sorcs can now play melee with high strength and be very effective.
Build Summary – Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Shadow Magic Sorcerer
FAQs about the Shadow Magic Sorcerer build in Baldur’s Gate 3
What abilities should the Shadow Magic Sorcerer prioritize for my class?
Charisma and Strength if using the Shadow Blade spell. Charisma is your spell-casting modifier, while Shadow Blade scales in effectiveness based off your strength. You can also use an elixir for increased strength and forgo this ability.
What are the best feats for Shadow Magic Sorcerer builds?
Spell Sniper, Savage Attacker, and ability improvement are the best feats for Shadow Magic Sorcerer. Spell Sniper helps with critical hits on spells while Savage Attacker increases raw damage for melee attacks when using Shadow Blade. Lastly, increasing charisma is always a safe bet.
What are the best multiclass combos?
The best multiclass combos for a Shadow Sorcerer are 6 Sorc / 6 Paladin or 2 Warlock / 6 Sorc / 4 Paladin.
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