GameSpot's Guide to Baldur's Gate

PC GAMES
  News
  Reviews
  Previews
  Movies/Media
  Downloads
  Hints/Codes
  GameGuides.com
  Special Features
  Beta Center
  Release Calendar
  Forums
  Top Games

PC GENRES
  Action
  Adventure
  Driving
  Puzzle
  Role-Playing
  Simulation
  Sports
  Strategy

SWITCH TO:
  VIDEO GAMES
  GAMESPOT LIVE
  GAMEBUYER
  HARDWARE

SUBSCRIBE TO:
  PC Newsletter
  HW Newsletter

ELITE SERVICES
  Join GameSpot

SEE ALSO
  GameFAQs
  Gamespy Arcade
  Netflix

INFORMATION
  Help
  Contact Us
  International

Use your Wands: Wands can be found in abundance, so don't be worried about saving them for special occasions. Use your wands of fire to cast fireballs at groups of spell-casting or arrow-launching enemies. Similarly, potions of explosions and oil of fiery burning can be used effectively to wipe out batches of enemies, including ones out of your line of sight. Since your party members should be equipped with missile weapons of their own, you shouldn't have to worry about your own members wandering into fire zones. Arrows of detonation, on the other hand, are a little too dangerous to be used except in prearranged circumstances.

Use Area of Effect and Incapacitating Spells: Your best spells are those that effectively take out several opponents at once. Early on, sleep and grease spells are very effective. Once your mages hit level three, you'll be able to use stinking cloud (one of the very best spells in the game) and web to incapacitate opponents. color spray is also a useful early spell to take out a number of opponents at short range. Later on, fireball is an extremely useful spell for taking out large groups of enemies simultaneously. Clerics can get into the act too, as hold person will make its victims helpless unless they make a successful saving throw, and it will affect a number of grouped opponents (up to four).

Charming Effects: Charm spells are also extremely useful. Charmed animals or enemies can be used as cannon fodder, serving as lightning rods for enemy attacks (just ensure that they are always closer to your enemies than your party members are). dire charm can effectively turn the course of a battle, if you can convert one of your key opponents in a battle. It's also useful to have charm person spells available for a defensive purpose as well, as nothing is quite as frustrating as seeing your own fully equipped fighters charmed to the enemy ranks.

Summon Some Help: Perhaps the most useful spells are those that create additional allies for you: animate dead, summon monsters, and summon animals. While these allies won't be able to stop formidable opponents (although hobgoblins with bows are pretty effective), they'll draw your enemies' fire, allowing your characters to concentrate their firepower without being endangered.

Disrupt Spell-Casters: Missile weapons do an effective job of disrupting spell-casters, preventing them from launching spells. Some spell-casters are so dangerous, however, that you shouldn't even risk the possibility that your characters will miss with ranged weapons. If you sense that an opponent is a dangerous spell-caster, launch a quick-acting sure hit spell of your own at the spell-caster, such as a magic missile or Larloch's minor drain spell.

Combine Attacks: For particularly tough battles, don't rely solely on one line of attack. Instead of just casting a web spell and relying on your ranged weapon attacks, send in a few hasted fighters equipped with potions of freedom and powerful melee weapons to quickly dispatch opponents that get entangled. Launch a dire charm spell at a key opponent while you concentrate your ranged weapons on another and try to stun a third with a chromatic orb. If there is more than one enemy spell-casters, make sure you direct enough firepower at each of them to disrupt all of their spells, or charge a fighter under a protection from magic scroll at the casters. Cast a dispel magic spell as soon as your enemies cast protection from normal missiles or haste.