Baldur’s Gate 3: Best Gale Build

Key Takeaways

• Gale is a Wizard companion in Baldur’s Gate 3, which makes him a glass cannon character in combat.
• Players can recruit Gale early in Act 1 and optimize his stats and spells for maximum effectiveness.
• Equipping Gale with items like Melf’s First Staff and Quickspell Gloves makes him even more powerful on the field.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has many possible companions to take on the player’s journey with them. One such character is Gale, a magic prodigy that the player can make great use of in BG3. He starts off as a Wizard, and those who intend to stick with his starting class may feel overwhelmed by the number of spells and options he has at his disposal.

Updated by Rei Penber on November 20, 2024: Baldur’s Gate 3 is a game that can be replayed many times without the player getting bored, thanks to its fascinating characters and gameplay mechanics. Gale definitely has one of the most interesting stories out of the recruitable characters, and, if the player hasn’t made use of him yet, here’s a guide on how to best use his abilities and how to build him up.​​​​​​​

Who Is Gale And Where To Recruit Him?

Meeting The Wizard Of Waterdeep

Gale is one of Baldur’s Gate 3’s origin characters and can therefore be used by the player if they desire. If the player does not want to play as Gale, he can still be recruited fairly early on in Act 1 of the game.

After the crash of the ship on the Ravaged Beach, the player should head towards the waypoint located at the Roadside Cliffs, close to where the player fought some intellect Devourers. Once there, the player simply has to interact with the waypoint to rescue Gale who is stuck in there. Once he’s out, he will join the player.

After playing with Gale for some time, he will come to ask the player if they can give him magical items to consume. While this can be frustrating, it can definitely be worth helping him to advance his quest.

Default Gale

Starting Stats & What To Respec

“Gale has one ambition: to become the greatest wizard Faerûn has ever known. Yet his thirst for magic led to disaster. A Netherese Destruction Orb beats in his chest, counting down to an explosion that can level a city. Gale is confident he’ll overcome it, but time is not on his side.”

Gale is a magic prodigy. He is a human and is part of the Wizard class. The Wizard class definitely highlights his magical expertise and talent as he will probably be the best magic user the player has.

His background is that of the Sage, which compliments his Wizard class perfectly. The Sage background will grant him proficiencies in Arcana and History. Besides that, he also has proficiencies in Investigation, Insight, and Persuasion.

When it comes to his stats, here’s what to expect from Gale, as well as a suggested respec that better suits his needs as a Wizard:

The Best Gale Build

A Lightning Wizard Without Parallel

Gale’s starting class is Wizard, so this guide will assume that players will stick with it. His stats, as mentioned above, can be optimized to better suit the needs of a Wizard by respecing at Withers—more specifically, by adding more points to bring his CON to 16 in order to ensure he can succeed in more CON saving throws while using Concentration spells.

The goal of this build is to focus on spells that deal Lightning damage (especially later on, as early Lightning spells like Witch Bolt are weak). Pair him up with another party member who can cast Create Water, and he easily becomes a powerful source of damage.

Level 1

At level 1, you can choose 6 spells and 3 cantrips for Gale. Here’s what’s suggested:

Level 2

This is when players pick their subclass. Although Gale’s default pick is Evocation, Abjuration is far more useful due to its Arcane Ward passive ability that protects the glass cannon Wizard from damage. At level 6, you can even use this Ward as a Reaction to protect an ally, and at level 10, the ward’s intensity is increased according to Wizard level whenever players Short Rest. You also gain two new Level 1 spell slot.

Level 3

Your Arcane recovery is improved. You also get access to two Level 2 spell slots, and get one new Level 1 spell slot.

Level 4

You can choose a Feat. War Caster is by far the best for any class that uses spells requiring Concentration. That also includes Wizard.

Level 5

Now, you can also cast Level 3 spells.

• Pick Hasteand Lightning Bolt

Level 6

As mentioned, your Projected Ward gets an improvement here, and you also have a new Level 3 spell slot.

Level 7

Another Arcane Recovery improvement. Gale will have access to Level 4 spells with one slot.

Level 8

This is when Gale will get to pick his second Feat. Ability Improvement is great here to round out some key stats like INT and CON, which are highly crucial for a Wizard. Also, pick another Level 4 spell.

Level 9

Players gain a Level 4 slot and one Level 5 slot.

Level 10

Your Abjuration passive effect is greatly improved here. Gale also gains another Level 5 spell slot and can pick one more cantrip.

Level 11

Finally, Gale will have access to Level 6 spells.

Level 12

In its final stage, Wizard gets another Feat from the list. Something like Alert is especially useful this late in the game to always make sure your party gets to go first. There are no new spell slots, but the full catalog of spells is now available for Gale to use.

Since Chain Lightning is so incredibly powerful when paired with spells like Wet, it’s recommended to keep that in his repertoire unless fighting a Lightning-resistant enemy. In that case, Globe of Invulnerability is absolutely amazing to clutch fights like the one in the House of Hope.

With two more spells to round off with here, players can either pick Ritual spells or spells that provide utility, if they don’t have a Bard in their team.

• Utility spells like Longstrider, Greater Invisibility, or Knock
• A Cold spell that also deals extra damage on Wet targets, like Wall of Ice

Best Multiclass for Gale

As most players know by this point, Gale defaults to the Wizard class, which is one of the best when it comes to casting spells and magic. Due to that, it can be a bit hard to Multiclass a Wizard, and Gale, in general, can be quite good just being as he is. But, for those who are interested, here’s a recommendation for multiclassing Gale if the player wants to continue down this road.

For Gale’s Multiclass, we’ll include the Wizard class, as well as the Sorcerer class, making this unstoppable spell-casting build.

At the beginning, Gale will start as a Wizard for level 1. There, he will unlock Wizard spellcasting, as well as Arcane Recovery. Thanks to the Wizard class, Gale can learn any spell through a scroll, giving him access to a large array of spells.

At level 2 as Wizard, now Gale can pick the subclass of the player’s choice. The Wizard class has many many options which can be overwhelming to any new player. These are the options for the Wizard class: Abjuration, Evocation, Necromancy, Conjuration, Enchantment, Divination, Illusion, and Transmutation. Out of these, the best option would be Evocation, as it focuses more on powerful attacks. With that, Gale will also unlock Evocation Savant, which reduces the cost to learn evocation spells from scrolls, as well as Sculpt Spells, which can help allies succeed in saving throws when inside Gale’s spells, as well as take no damage.

Now, at level 3, as a Wizard still, Gale gets an additional Arcane Recovery charge, which allows him to restore some of his spells between combats.

At level 4 as a Wizard, he can choose one Wizard cantrip, and a good option for this is Shocking Grasp, which deals lightning damage to enemies. Gale can also choose a feat. He should go with Elemental Adept, specifically, either the Thunder or Lightning option.

Now at level 5, he simply gets a new Arcane Recovery Charge, and continues on to level 6, his final Wizard level. Here, he will get a subclass feature, known as Potent Cantrip. This will allow his cantrips to become hard to avoid. Even if a creature succeeded in their saving throw, now they will still take half the damage, without the additional effects, however.

Now, Gale will switch to the Sorcerer Class, making him right now a Wizard 6 – Sorcerer 1. Immediately, he unlocks sorcerer spellcasting, and gets to choose a sorcerer subclass. He gets to choose between three options: the Wild Magic, the Dragon of Bloodline, and the Storm Sorcery. When it comes to Gale, the most fitting here is the Storm Sorcery. Immediately, he will unlock Tempestuous Magic, which allows him to fly after casting a spell as a bonus action.

At level 2 as a Sorcerer, or Wizard 6 – Sorcerer 2, Gale unlocks Sorcery Points, a very important mechanic of the Sorcerer class. Along with this, he also unlocks Create Sorcery Points and Create Spell Slot. He also has to choose 2 Metamagic, the best options here being Twinned Spell and Distant Spell.

At level 3, he can pick one additional Metamagic. The best option here is Quickened Spell, which allows him to cast a spell as a bonus action instead of an action.

Following at level 4, becoming a Wizard 6 – Sorcerer 4, he unlocks an additional Sorcerer Cantrip, and something like Eldritch Blast here is a great option. He can also choose another feat here, and War Caster works well for him.

Level 5 is uneventful, with nothing new happening with Gale as a sorcerer.

And, finally, at level 6, making him a Wizard 6 – Sorcerer 6, he unlocks quite a few interesting subclass features. First, he gets Heart of the Storm, which allows him to cause a small storm whenever he uses a lightning or thunder spell. He also gets Heart of the Storm: Resistance, granting him immunity to lightning and thunder damage.

He also learns quite a few interesting spells, notably:

• Call Lightning. This causes lightning to hit all enemies in range and allows Gale to call on lighting again after that.
• Sleet Storm. Gale can break the concentration of enemies who are spellcasting.
• Gust of Wind. Gale can create a gust of wind that pushes back everyone by 5m and throws them off balance.
• Create or Destroy Water. As the name implies, it gives him the ability to make it rain or to remove water.
• Thunder Wave. Gale can create a thunder wave that damages all creatures while also pushing them back.

Best Items For Gale

From Melf’s First Staff To Markoheshkir

As with any build, it’s essential to pick good items to give to the character to exploit their full potential. When it comes to Gale, here are some great items to consider equipping him: