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Reactions are a way to take another damage-dealing action in Baldur’s Gate 3 combat, and this list will rate the top 10 best reactions in the game.
Combat can be complicated in Baldur’s Gate 3, and one of the more minor components are the Reactions. Although these are easy to click past and may not seem to have much impact, when used correctly they can turn the tide of battle. In the following guide, we’ll be taking a closer look at what Reactions are, how they work, and conclude with the top 10 best Reactions in Baldur’s Gate 3!
How to Use Reactions Baldur’s Gate 3
In Baldur’s Gate 3, Reactions are passive actions that your character can choose to take, but they will only become available if the conditions to trigger the Reaction are met. For example, Opportunity Attack is the most basic Reaction in the game. It’s something the player, companions, and even enemies can do. If an enemy is in range of your weapon and on their turn they go to move outside of that range, you will have the chance to make a melee attack roll against them.
Additionally, most Reactions will cost you a Reaction ‘point’. These are represented by a small purple star icon. All characters get one Reaction point at the start of each turn. Furthermore, if you do not use a Reaction on your turn, it does not carry over. However, you can use the Legendary rapier the Duellist’s Prerogative to gain one additional Reaction point per turn. This is the only gear piece in the game that has this perk, and it’s a great end-game weapon for Wyll or Bards.
Furthermore, other specialized Reactions may have additional costs associated with them. For example, a Paladin Smite or a spellcaster Counterspell will use up a spell slot in addition to a Reaction point. Therefore, you’ll want to be strategic in your use of most Reactions.
You can control which (if any) of your character Reactions happen automatically, and which the game should stop and ask you about. You can control this by pulling up the Reactions menu. There you can individually select different Reactions, confirming if you want the game to pause combat to Ask you if you want that character to make the Reaction. You can find this by pulling up the Character sheet and clicking on the Reactions tab of the spellbook page.
Top 10 Best Reactions in Baldur’s Gate 3
Here are the Top 10 Best Reactions in Baldur’s Gate 3:
- Counterspell – Nullify an attacker’s spell
- Luck of the Far Realms – Successful hit deals critical damage
- Fungal Infestation – Raise zombie as a party ally
- Shield – Boost defense against incoming attack
- Hellish Rebuke – Deal fire damage back against any attacker
- Riposte – Free melee attack on enemy miss
- Halo of Spores – Deal Necrotic damage to your attacker
- Destructive Wrath – Maximize Thunder or Lightning damage
- Warding Flare – Impose Disadvantage on your attacker
- Opportunity Attack – Standard reaction available to all characters/classes
10. Opportunity Attack
- Source of Reaction: Automatically available to all characters and classes
- Cost to Use: 1 Reaction point
An Opportunity Attack allows you to attack an enemy moving out of your reach. This means that the enemy must first come within reach of your weapon’s melee range. Then, if the enemy tries to leave it you can make an Opportunity Attack. This is the most basic Reaction in the game and is available right from the start at Level 1 for all classes.
However, the difficulty with this is that enemies will not often attempt to leave your vicinity unless you force them to do so. You can cause this by inflicting the Fearful condition on one or more enemies. Usually, this requires casting the Fear spell, which Wizards, Sorcerers, Bards, and Warlock can learn at Level 5.
Furthermore, you can increase Opportunity Attacks by using a character equipped with a long weapon and the Polearm Master feat. This feat allows you to make an Opportunity Attack against any enemy coming inside your melee range. However, you’ll have to be strategic about which enemy you choose to hit because it will still cost you a Reaction point.
9. Warding Flare
- Source of Reaction: Light Domain Cleric reaction, unlocked at Level 1
- Cost to Use: 1 Reaction point
Warding Flare is a Reaction specific to the Light Domain Cleric subclass, and they unlock this ability immediately at Level 1. This spell will allow your Cleric to impose a Disadvantage on an attacker. Disadvantage means that your attacker will have to roll two dice, and accept the lower number. Therefore, with Warding Flare you are increasing the chance for your attacker to miss.
This Reaction can be helpful more in the early game, or if your Cleric is wearing medium armour instead of heavy. Moreover, at Level 6 you will unlock Improved Warding Flare, which is a Reaction you can use when an ally is being attacked. Similar to Warding Flare it will cause their attacker to have Disadvantage and possibly miss.
However, Disadvantage is not a guarantee that an attack will miss you. Moreover, because this Reaction is only available to Light Cleric it won’t be available to most characters. Shield is a much better option, and we’ll go over that more below.
8. Destructive Wrath
- Source of Reaction: Tempest Domain Cleric reaction, unlocked at Level 2
- Cost to Use: 1 Reaction point and 1 Channel Divinity Charge
Like Warding Flare, the Destructive Wrath reaction is available only to a specific subclass only. Tempest Domain Clerics can unlock this reaction at Level 2. What triggers this reaction is the use of Thunder or Lightning damage against your enemies. When casting a Thunderwave spell or Call Lightning spell you can use this reaction to use a Channel Divinity Charge to ignore the attack roll and deal the maximum amount of damage instead.
Moreover, this Reaction can be impactful with the Destructive Wave spell, which can deal a ton of area-of-effect Thunder and Radiant damage. Destructive Wave is a Level 5 spell that Tempest Domain Clerics won’t unlock until they reach Level 9. However, standing in the middle of a group of enemies and setting one of these off while using the Destructive Wrath reaction will likely result in a lot of instant kills.
However, the downside to this reaction is its limited application by the Tempest Domain subclass. It also costs a Channel Divinity Charge to activate. Therefore, you’ll want to be strategic about how often and when you use this combination.
7. Halo of Spores
- Source of Reaction: Circle of the Spores Druid reaction, unlocked at Level 2
- Cost to Use: 1 Reaction point
Halo of Spores is also a subclass-specific Reaction, this time available only to Circle of the Spores Druids. When your Circle of Spore Druid is attacked they can choose to use Halo of Spores to deal 1~4 points of Necrotic damage against your attacker. Moreover, as you level the damage will scale up a little bit. At Level 6 you can deal 1~6 points of Necrotic damage, and at Level 10 you can deal up to 8 points.
However, the ideal way to use this Reaction is as your opening attack. This means you need lower Initiative, so enemies will go before you in combat and possibly attack you first. Lower Initiative is incredibly counter to the way you should play the game with any other class. Additionally, it will cost your single available Reaction point on that first turn, so you won’t have any remaining if you are targeted again.
6. Riposte
- Source of Reaction: Battle Master Fighter reaction, unlocked at Level 3
- Cost to Use: 1 Reaction point and a Superiority Die
Riposte is a Battle Master Fighter-specific reaction that gives you a chance to counterattack after an enemy attack misses you with a melee attack. Therefore, this will not trigger on ranged physical attacks or spells. However, a Battle Master Fighter is likely to be on the front lines of combat. If you’re fighting a group of enemies, then one may swing and miss, triggering this Reaction.
Additionally, using Riposte will require the use of a Superiority Die, which is a Battle Master Fighter-only mechanic. Starting at Level 3 you gain four of this die, and you will gain another at Level 7. To use Riposte will cost a Reaction point as well as one of your Superiority Die.
Therefore, this is the major downside of the Riposte reaction. Superiority Die can be replenished on Short and Long Rests, but they are still a valuable commodity. You’ll have to carefully judge whether or not it’s worth the cost to your die pool to get in the extra hit.
5. Hellish Rebuke
- Source of Reaction: Warlocks at Level 1, Oathbreaker Paladins at Level 3, Asmodeus Tieflings at Level 3
- Cost to Use: 1 Reaction point and 1 Spell slot
If you have recruited Wyll into your party, then it’s likely that you’re seeing the Hellish Rebuke reaction trigger a lot. All Warlock subclasses unlock this Reaction right away at Level 1. Moreover, it can be used against either melee, physical range, or spell attacks. The Hellish Rebuke reaction will deal a range of fire damage to your attacker. Additionally, you can make this powerful by choosing higher spell slots and scaling the damage up. Furthermore, at Level 11 your Warlock will get the Mystic Arcanum class feature, which lets you choose one Level 6 spell to cast for free each Long Rest. Select Hellish Rebuke, and you’ll get a single free Reaction that will deal some serious damage.
Hellish Rebuke is a reaction you don’t want to trigger automatically. When your Warlock is lower levels your spell slots are really too precious to use like this. Additionally, you don’t want to waste it against an enemy that has resistance to Fire damage.
4. Shield
- Source of Reaction: Sorcerer and Wizard at Level 1, Arcane Trickster Rogue and Eldritch Knight Fighter at Level 3
- Cost to Use: 1 Reaction point and Level 1 Spell slot
The Shield spell is a great Reaction spell in Baldur’s Gate 3 because it is easily accessible, especially if you are a standard spellcasting class. Moreover, you can stack the defensive effect with the Mirror Image spell that also boosts your Armour Class by 3. These two spells alone will give your squishy spellcasters a lot more defense early on when Sorcerers and Wizards are very weak a low levels.
Additionally, this spell does not scale to become any more powerful if you use higher-level spell slots. Therefore, Shield becomes incredibly helpful as your character levels and gains more slots. You’ll be using more powerful spells to deal damage in combat, leaving your level 1 spell slots widely available for an easy Shield boost.
Furthermore, you can also find this spell available on certain gear pieces. Elegant Studded Leather is a fantastic end-game light armour, and the Amulet of the Harpers also comes with a free cast of the Shield spell.
3. Fungal Infestation
- Source of Reaction: Circle of the Spores Druid reaction, unlocked at Level 6
- Cost to Use: 1 Reaction point and 1 Fungal Infestation Charge
Number 3 in our list of Baldur’s Gate 3: Top 10 Best Reactions is Fungal Infestation. This is another Reaction which is specific to the Circle of the Spores Druid. Moreover, it earns this spot near the top of our list because it has a very low cost to creating a new zombie ally to fight for you in combat. It requires no spell slot, which is a huge bonus, but it will cost one Fungal Infestation Charge to use.
Circle of the Spores Druids get four Fungal Infestation Charges per Long Rest, which means that you can potentially raise up to four zombie allies in a single fight if you need to. However, the downside to this reaction is that you must have already killed some of your enemies. Moreover, the available corpse must be either a dead beast or humanoid for the reaction to work.
2. Luck of the Far Realms
- Source of Reaction: Illithid Power
- Cost to Use:1 Reaction point
Luck of the Far Realms gets the number 2 spot in our Top 10 Best Reactions for BG3 partially because it is an Illithid power and thus can potentially be unlocked by any class or character. You obviously have to be willing to consume additional tadpoles, at least two, to unlock this reaction just past the Favourable Beginnings passive feature.
The Luck of the Far Realms reaction allows you to change a successful attack roll into a critical hit once per Long Rest. Consequently, this can grant you a guaranteed incredibly powerful hit whenever you most need it. Moreover, the bonus also stacks with Favourable Beginnings which first grants your first Attack roll or Ability check you make against any target gains a bonus equal to your Proficiency Bonus.
1. Counterspell
- Source of Reaction: Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard unlocked at Level 5, College of Lore Bard unlocked at Level 6, other Bards at Level 10
- Cost to Use: 1 Reaction point and Level 3 Spell slot
The first choice in our Top 10 Best Reactions for Baldur’s Gate 3 list is Counterspell, because it is the only way in the game to completely stop an incoming attack spell. Using this spell can shut down powerful spellcasting enemies, keeping them from blowing up your entire party with strong area-of-effect spells.
However, Counterspell can be tricky to use because you must choose which Level of spell slot you are willing to sacrifice. Moreover, the spell slot you choose must be higher or the same level to guarantee a block. If you choose a spell slot that is lower than the incoming spell, you must pass a dice roll check. The check’s difficulty is equal to 10, plus the level of the spell you are trying to encounter. That kind of roll can get hairy if you are trying to counter a level 5 spell (for a 15 DC).
Finally, you can get one freecast of Counterspell per Long Rest if you pick up the Staff of Interruption in Act 3. This quarterstaff isn’t the best at end-game, but the free Counterspell is a fantastic bonus for a backup spellcaster or a class like Druid which couldn’t normally access it otherwise.
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