BG3: BEST Gale Companion Build [Complete Guide]

If you’re looking to focus your party composition around magic-based companions and playstyles, the best BG3 Gale build is a must-have. Like most in-game companions, you can find Gale in the early-game phase near the Ravaged Beach during Act 1. Because he is a Human Wizard, he can provide several powerful defensive and offensive spells. So, he can be a valuable asset to your team with the right gear, abilities, and progression.

Best Gale Build In Baldur’s Gate 3

Here’s a brief overview of Gale in BG3, detailing his feats, spells, and Cantrips at each level for his build, along with the potions and scrolls you’ll need.

Best Build And Level Progression For Gale

The level progression in BG3 is arguably the most vital part of any build, especially Gale, as you’ll pick his Cantrips, Prepared and Regular Spells, and Feats, all of which will determine his stats and overall playstyle. Unlike other melee-based builds like the Karlach build, Gale’s progression offers much more variety and versatility thanks to the plethora of tools you can use with him.

However, before starting, it’s worth noting this companion’s Race, Human, which cannot be changed at any instance or level. As such, you’ll receive the following Traits as part of the build:

• Base Racial Speed: The distance you can move per turn is 9 m.
• Civil Militia: You have weapon proficiency with Spears, Pikes, Halberds, Glaives, and Armour Proficiency with Light Armour and Shield.
• Human Versatility: Increase your carrying capacity by a quarter and select one of the best skills (ideally Intelligence or Wisdom) to be proficient in.

To get a better idea of Gale’s initial strengths and weaknesses, you can find his base stats and figures from the list below:

Level 1/2: Evocation Subclass And Add-on Spells

With Level 1, you unlock Arcane Recovery action, which replenishes spell slots while your character is out of combat. However, your first significant decision with Gale comes at Level 2, where you must decide the appropriate subclass for him.

There are eight possible Wizard subclasses, each with unique skills and benefits, but the suitable pick is the Evocation Subclass to make this companion a heavy-hitting spellcaster. Personally, I find that it gives the most Damage per turn, and I’m all about “blowing” things up.

1. The Evocation School is excellent for long-range and AoE damage and utility, making Gale a primary choice in most mobility-limited battles.
2. Furthermore, as an Evocation Wizard, you automatically save your allies from any friendly fire by Evocation spells, so you can cast attacks like Acid Splash without worrying about your teammates getting hit.
3. You’ll also access two additional slots to fill with some of the best level 1 spells for Gale. 
4. Ideally, you should pair an Evocator Gale with melee-oriented characters for a balanced team composition.
5. You’ll also unlock the following Subrace Features:
   • Evocation Savant: Learning Evocation spells from Scrolls costs half as much.
   • Sculpt Spells: Allied creatures automatically succeed in their Saving Throws and take no damage from them.

On top of selecting a subclass, you also need to choose 5 Prepared Spells from a starting list of 17 for Gale. If you go Evocation, you should mainly prioritize Evocation Spells for the optimal build

As such, these are the spells you should equip:

• Magic Missile: Shoot 3 Magical Darts, each confirmed to hit and deal 2-5 Force Damage.
• Burning Hands: Each flammable target is hit with 3-18 Fire Damage.
• Ray of Sickness: Call forth a sickening energy and possibly Poison the target.
• Thunderwave: Release a wave of thunderous force that pushes away all creatures and objects.
• Mage Armor: Protect a target from attacks by increasing its Armour Class by 13 + its Dexterity modifier.

Level 3-4: Ray Of Frost Cantrip And Ability Improvement Feat

The next few levels primarily include you unlocking even more spell slots for Gale to utilize. With access to Level 2 spells, you’ll have a lot more variety between choosing offense, defense, healing, and buff alternatives, adding to the already diverse build. In my personal builds, I just build pure offense since I have Shadowheart for heal and Karlach for peel.

1. You unlock two more spell slots and an extra Prepare Spell slot for Level 3. I would suggest going for the ones listed below.
   • Shatter: Damages all nearby enemies and objects and enforces Disadvantage on inorganic creatures’ Saving Throws.
   • Prayer of Healing: Heal all allies you can see.
2. It’s better to put Shatter into the Prepare Spell list from these two to make it even more potent in terms of damage.
3. Moving to Level 4, you can learn two more spells, ideally Darkness and Scorching Ray, since they’re related to Evocation, and equip the Ray of Frost Cantrip.
4. Furthermore, you can also choose Ability improvement as your first Feat ability for increasing Intelligence twice.

Level 5/6/7: Learning And Preparing More Spells

From Level 5 and beyond, you’ll only be learning two spells each time, one of which you can also put into the Prepared list to optimize your build’s efficiency further. Unlike the previous levels, you now gain access to Level 3 spells of various types, which can impact Gale’s combat to a much higher degree.

1. Starting with Level 5, you should for a lethal spell combo by selecting Fear, a Level 3 Evo Spell that projects a frightening image that causes targets to be fearful, and Fireball, a large AoE projectile without which this best BG3 Gale build would be incomplete.

2.  With Fireball, all you have to do is sneak as close as you can to enemies until you’re in range to unleash hell on them.
3. For Level 6, you should focus on mobility and passive effects by grabbing Grant Flight and Mass Healing Word for better mobility and sustainability.
4. Furthermore, you also gain a new Subclass Feature, Potent Cantrip, which improves your cantrips.

5. Finally, once you hit Level 7, you can work with Level 4 spells and balance Gale with defensive abilities by choosing Haste, making you or an ally faster and harder to hit.

Level 8: Elemental Adept (Fire) Feat

Once Level 8, you can choose your second Feat ability for the Human Wizard, and this time, it’s better to stick with his main benefit, damage. The Fireball above at this stage would likely be your best spell for damage output. Naturally, I recommend going Elemental Adept: Fire for the most lethal damage output.

1. Elemental Adept (Fire) makes targets less resistant to fire-based attacks. It removes invulnerability from fire (If any) or completely removes the resistance altogether.
2. Additionally, you can learn two Level 4 spells, making the following spells the obvious choices:
   • Wall of Fire: Create a blazing fire, burning anyone who dares stand too close.
   • Conjure Minor Elemental: Conjure a minor elemental to fight alongside you.

Level 9/10/11: Stronger Spells And Acid Splash Cantrip

At Level 9, you’ll access Level 5 spells, most of which contain highly versatile Evocation abilities. These spells range from protecting to giving passive AoE attacks, where meeting certain conditions gives you a massive bonus on HP or attack power, crucial for the best BG3 Gale build.

1. For Level 9, the only major magic you need is the Wall of Stone, a defense-based spell that raises a solid non-magical wall you can use to buy time to recover.
2. As for the other slot, you can choose whichever one you like, although I’d suggest going for the Dispel Good and Evil spell.
3. Moving on to Level 10, you’ll get your second Cantrip, the best one being Acid Splash with its wide AoE damage.
4. You will also unlock another Subclass Feature, Empowered Evocation, which lets you add your Intelligence Modifier to damage rolls with Evo spells.

5. Finally, Level 11 brings you Level 6 spells with a massive jump in effectiveness and strategical advantage over their predecessor, so the best choices here include:
   • Chain Lightning: Strike an enemy with lightning; three more bolts will leap from the target, electrifying as many as three other enemies within 18m.
   • Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere: Create a ball of churning ice that can be launched instantly to generate a frosty explosion or stored for later use.

Level 12: Magic Initiate (Wizard) Feat

This is the max level for most classes in Baldur’s Gate 3, and also where you’ll get to pick the final Feat ability for Gale. Most players here go for ASI and boost their stats like Intelligence or Wisdom. However, since Gale already hits like a truck, it’s best to choose the Magic Initiate Feat and its Wizard Feat Passive.

1. With this Feat, you learn two additional Cantrips and a Level 1 Spell from the Wizard’s Spell list, which can only be cast once per a Long Rest.
2. Magic Initiate is typically used for Multiclassing and adding versatility, and although you don’t need the former advantage, the latter can be useful against enemies with different immunities.
3. You can select Fire Bolt and Produce Flame for the Cantrips because of its incredible base damage and because it gets a buff from the Elemental above Adept Feat from Level 8. 
4. You also learn two more Level 6 spells, and the optimal choices here include:
   • Globe of Invulnerability: Creates a barrier that makes creatures and objects inside it immune to all damage.
   • Wall of Thorns: Create a 60-ft-long, 10-ft-high, 5-ft-thick wall of brush that slows movement and can inflict 7d8 piercing damage (damage/lvl).

Recommended Scrolls For Gale

Scrolls are important consumable items that you can use or learn permanently if you’re a Wizard. You can find most of them randomly from chests, bodies, enemy encounters, or specific locations in Faerun.

You can only use scrolls once per battle, making them a minimal resource, and you can find the top-notch scrolls for Gale to learn from the list below:

My Tips For Effectively Using Gale

Gale is one of the most fun companions you can bring to your adventures. From subtle remarks here and there to his iconic “You licked a dead spider” line, he is truly entertaining. Furthermore, his capability in battle is nothing to scoff at. Even if he is the only caster you have, he brings more than enough to the table.

Building him is a bit tricky, though, because a slight change in his progression completely changes his build altogether. I would suggest prioritizing Intelligence, as he is a Wizard, followed by either Constitution or Charisma. Choosing Charisma seems a bit troll, but in my personal weeks of experience in BG3, it honestly works pretty well.

That wraps up this detailed guide on the best BG3 Gale Build, covering his level progression, feats, spells, and scrolls. As seen, this companion mainly relies on his spellcasting and spell collection, like every Caster. You can refer to Huzaifah Durrani’s review of BG3 to see where your best bg3 Gale build may be useful.

Learn more about other intriguing recruitable companions in Baldur’s Gate 3 from this guide on the best Shadowheart build. Make the most out of your melee-focused party members by equipping the best Greatswords. And if you want to turn your attention to relationship-building instead, consider reading up on all the Romance options in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Next:

• Baldur’s Gate 3: Gandrel Choices
• Baldur’s Gate 3: Stone Disc Puzzle
• Baldur’s Gate 3: How To Unlock Gilded Chest
• Baldur’s Gate 3: How To Get The Owlbear Cub