Baldur’s Gate 3 has plenty of nooks and crannies to explore to find hidden areas and loot, and sometimes you’ll need to have certain spells or characters on hand to access those tucked-away places. One example of this is Feather Fall, which, on the surface, allows your team to jump long distances without having to worry about taking fall damage. However, if you know where to use it, you can find some hidden secrets within Baldur’s Gate 3’s world.
11 Minutes With Baldur’s Gate 3’s Character Creator
Who can learn Feather Fall?
As a spell, Feather Fall is mostly restricted to the magic users in your party, but certain Rogue and Fighter subclasses can also learn the spell through leveling up. Bard, Sorcerer, and Wizard can learn it normally, or you can teach it to the Rogue subclass Arcane Trickster, or Fighter subclass Eldritch Knight.
Screenshot: Larian Studios / Kotaku
If you don’t have anyone who knows the spell on-hand, you can also cast it by using the Scroll of Feather Fall, which is an item you can buy from Arron, the merchant at the Emerald Grove in Act 1. It’s good this item is accessible early, because one of the best uses of Feather Fall is found in the game’s early hours.
What secrets can I access with Feather Fall?
An early place to use Feather Fall is in the Blighted Village in Act 1. While passing through this area, you’ll find a well across from the fast travel point that you can descend down to find an underground cave system. Here you can fight some powerful enemies, though do be aware if you have arachnophobia that they are mostly giant spiders that can teleport. However, you’ll also find a seemingly endless chasm that, if you simply jump down, you’ll fall to your death. But if you cast Feather Fall, you can gracefully reach the bottom and end up in the Underdark.
Screenshot: Larian Studios / Kotaku
You can reach this area normally by progressing the main plot, but unless you go out of your way to find this particular spot, you’ll miss it on your way to your next destination. This section of the Underdark features some high-level enemies like powerful minotaurs and the Bulette boss fight, but also has a camp area where you can find some good loot. It’ll be tough getting there, but it’s one example of how using spells outside of a combat context can open up new paths within Baldur’s Gate 3.
With the gift of magic, Sorcerers can set things on fire, freeze their enemies, and create wondrous demonstrations of lightning’s lethality. Reminds me of when I was a teen, really. As a result, the Sorcerer is a hell of a lot of fun to play and very versatile thanks to their many options for direct damage, area of effect damage, and healing.
The Week In Games: What’s Releasing Beyond Diablo IV
That in mind, here are three powerful but straightforward builds for the Sorcerer, with Frost, Fire, and Lightning specializations.
Frost Sorcerer Build: Levels 1-15
Kick things off with Frost Bolt, Enhanced Frost Bolt, and Flickering Frost Bolt. Flickering will make frozen enemies Vulnerable for three seconds. A universal truth across almost every Sorcerer build (and probably every class for that matter) is that the more you can send enemies into Vulnerable status, the better.
Next up, grab Ice Shards, Enhanced Ice Shards, and Greater Ice Shards. Greater Ice Shards helps us plan ahead for the next upgrade. Select Ice Armor, Enhanced Ice Armor, and Mystical Ice Armor. Here, we’re looking to stack as many opportunities as possible to freeze and make enemies Vulnerable. After Ice Armor, get yourself Frost Nova, Enhanced Frost Nova, and Mystical Frost Nova. To wrap up your first 15 levels, continue investing skill points into previously acquired skills, and consider unlocking Teleport and Enhanced Teleport. You can leave Teleport at Enhanced for a while if you want, otherwise consider Mystical Teleport if you want to up your damage output or Shimmering Teleport for some damage reduction. If you grab the second Teleport upgrade, go ahead and grab Glass Cannon or Devastation. Ideally you should have both before you reach level 50.
Once you hit level 15, take on the “Legacy of the Magi” quest which will automatically appear in your quest log. That complete, it’s time to start building toward 50, taking additional skills and powering up existing ones.
Fire Sorcerer Build: Levels 1-15
For our Fire Sorcerer, start with Firebolt, Enhanced Firebolt, and Glinting Firebolt. (Glinting Firebolt is the better choice here as it’ll have you outputting more damage over time.) You’ll find that fire builds benefit greatly from abilities with the “Burn” keyword. Following Firebolt, grab Fireball, Enhanced Fireball, and Destructive Fireball. Because it’s so useful, grab Teleport and Enhanced Teleport next. Unlock Flame Shield, Enhanced Flame Shield, and Mystical Flame Shield. You should also take Glass Cannon.
Continue investing in previously unlocked abilities until you hit level 15 for the Sorcerer’s class quest, “Legacy of the Magi.” Now it’s time to aim for level 50, unlocking additional abilities and investing further into existing ones along the way.
Lightning Sorcerer Build: Levels 1-15
For a Lightning-focused build, start with Arc Lash, Enhanced Arc Lash, and Flickering Arc Lash. After that, grab Chain Lightning, Enhanced Chain Lightning, and Greater Chain Lightning. Now you’ll want to get Teleport, Enhanced Teleport, and Shimmering Teleport. You may also find Mystical Teleport to be useful if you’re not satisfied with your damage output. Few Sorcerers can live on Lightning alone, however, so you’ll also want to unlock Ice Armor, Enhanced Ice Armor, and Mystical Ice Armor. You may also wish to grab Frost Nova or Fireball and be sure to unlock Glass Cannon and try to put at least two skill points into it in your first 15 levels.
Finish the Sorcerer class quest “Legacy of the Magi” that unlocks at level 15, and then proceed to level 50 by juicing current abilities and unlocking new ones.
Frost Sorcerer Build: Levels 16-50
As you progress toward level 50 as a Frost Sorcerer, consider the following abilities:
Deep Freeze > Prime Deep Freeze > Supreme Deep Freeze
Avalanche
Upgrade as much of these as you can, prioritizing anything that increases your ability to deal more damage to Vulnerable enemies, such as Ice Blades.
Fire Sorcerer Build: Levels 16-50
In the run-up to level 50, consider these abilities:
Devastation
Hydra > Enhanced Hydra > Summoned Hydra
Firewall > Enhanced Firewall > Mage’s Firewall
Meteor > Enhanced Meteor > Wizard’s Meteor
Align the Elements > Mana Shield and Protection
Inner Flames > Devouring Blaze and Crippling Flames
Inferno > Prime Inferno > Supreme Inferno
Fiery Surge > Endless Pyre > Warmth
Esu’s Ferocity
Increase these as necessary, when you’ve acquired all the skills you think are necessary, start investing into the AoE and healing skills you find yourself using most.
Lightning Sorcerer Build: Levels 16-50
As you level up your Lightning Sorcerer to level 50, consider the following abilities:
Unstable Currents > Prime Unstable Currents > Supreme Unstable Currents
Coursing Currents > Conduction > Convulsions
Vyr’s Mastery
Feel free to experiment with skills from different elements for the Lightning Build, especially ones that’ll stun or freeze enemies in place, making it even easier to chain lightning off of them.
These elemental specializations merely scratch the surface of Sorcerer build possibilities, but they’ll help you get a taste of the many different arcane arts at the class’s disposal. As demonstrated by the hybrid aspects of the Lightning build, combining different elements can make for even more destructive possibilities.
