Draconic Sorcerer Build and Guide
The Red Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer is an interesting Baldur’s Gate 3 subclass for the sake of it being one of the tankiest starting subclasses for spellcasters.
The subclass gives a Draconic Resilience – Hit Points which gives +1 hit dice for every Sorcerer level you have.
It also gives Draconic Resilience – Armour Class which gives +3 armor class if you are not wearing armor, which as a Sorcerer you never wear armor.
Lastly, by taking the Red ancestry, you’ll get access to the powerful Burning Hands spell.
Overall, this subclass gives you a potent mix of power and survivability.
Find out where the Sorcerer ranks in our Baldur’s Gate 3 class tier list.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Great balance of survivability and power
- More consistent than RNG-based Wild Magic Sorcerer
- Gain perks like resistances and extra spell based on Dragon Ancestry
Cons
- Less spells than other classes
- Dragon Ancestry can be situational
- Unable to manipulate rolls like Wild Magic Sorcerer
While the Wild Magic Sorcerer is what I would call the “gambler” subclass, but a glass cannon. You would need crazy rolls to get heavy damage, or massive survivability. They get no bonuses and basically die off quickly without proper protection. However, it’s a subclass you would choose if you are looking to have fun.
The Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer is what I would call the “safe” subclass, it’s the optimal subclass to take if you are looking for a full playthrough with survivability and power. With bonuses to Health and more choices in starting spells, it allows you to pick a play style that fits your needs.
Races
Note: This article was written based on Early Access, we will have updates that include the new Racial bonus changes very soon.
Race choices involve anything: Charisma, Constitution, and Dexterity. That leaves our choices with Drow, Halflings, Half-Elf, and Tiefling. I find Drow to be the best start with +1 Charisma, +2 Dexterity while also giving bonuses like Superior Darkvision, Fey Ancestry, and Faerie Fire.
I know the bonuses don’t seem all that, but Drow’s are also treated as Deities within the game, allowing for easier dialog from Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion all of which heavily benefit the Sorcerer because of the Charisma bonus you are looking for.
Stats, Backgrounds, and Proficiencies
Your stat priority, in order, should be Charisma, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Strength. As a Sorcerer, you strive on your power to Manipulate, meaning Charisma should be our first Priority. You need survivability so we should look to Constitution and Dexterity next since you don’t wear armor.
Intelligence and Wisdom help certain spells to use, and should be kept up if you can, but are not as high of a priority. Strength though useful is something we try heavily to avoid upgrading since we want to avoid fist fights, meaning this only really helps carry weight.
Proficiencies include Constitution, Charisma, Quarterstaff, Light Crossbow, and Dagger. I would recommend you always try to stay out of melee range, but equip a melee weapon that benefits you, from an extra spell, or high damage. You have spells and a Crossbow for ranged combat, which is where Sorcerers naturally stay to help swing the fight for the tanks.
Recommended Spells and Abilities
- Cantrips
- Fire Bolt
- Poison Spray
- Shocking Grasp
- Chill Touch/Ray of Frost
- Dancing Lights
- Mage Hand
- Spells
- Magic Missile (Level 1)
- Chromatic Orb / Thunder Wave (Level 1)
- Cloud of Daggers (Level 2)
- Misty Step (Level 2)
Spell recommendations are typically two ranged, and two touch. We are given a good AoE spell from our subclass called Burning Hands that is cast in a cone. Cantrips recommendation includes Fire Bolt for its damage and range, Poison Spray with low range, but high damage, and you take no disadvantage for using up close.
Shocking Grasp, being the first touch spell, with the ability to deal high damage to armored enemies, and Chill Touch being another ranged spell allowing you to stop them from healing, and if Undead, they take disadvantage on attacks.You can also swap out Chill Touch for Ray of Frost.
Later on, we can look to add Dancing Lights to distract and illuminate for party members without Darkvision. Lastly, we can look to add Mage Hand allowing us to move things at distance.
Level 1 spells include Magic Missile which will always hit up to 3 targets with low damage and Thunder Wave being a short range, but AoE dealing high damage with a save to avoid a knockback or Chromatic Orb is a ranged AoE with the ability to pick an element for situational fights.
Level Two Spells include Cloud of Daggers for high damage and the ability to cut off flanks, or choke points. Misty Step allows for quick relocation when you’re in a pinch.
Our Metamagic recommendations start off with Twinned Spell and Distant Spell. Twinned Spell allows us to attack two enemies for one action, doubling the damage output. Distant Spell allows us to double the range of the spell we are using which is also better than the other options, since they don’t really help us in fights.
Metamagic can also be used on cantrips to not take up a spell slot. Quickened Spell allows us to cast a spell as a bonus action. This gives us options from using an action to deal damage, and then using a bonus action to deal more damage. We can also reposition and use Quickened Spell to deal damage. I find it to be very handy for situational conditions.
Equipment
As of the Early Access content, there isn’t any equipment that is necessarily best-in-slot for Sorcerer just yet, although I do recommend a few early choices.
With Burning Hands, Circlet of Fire is particularly good:
Utility items like The Amulet of Lost Voices which allows you to speak to the dead can be a solid choice since the Sorc is CHR based. This means that they should be a good contender to be the “face” of your party who does the talking.
Be sure to check back here after release for more Equipment suggestions since we’ll have a better idea of what loot is in the game.
Conclusion
That’s all for our Draconic Sorcerer guide! Overall, it is the most consistent Sorcerer subclass offering valuable survivability and reliability for the role.
Although it can work for many races, we highly suggest the Drow, Halfling, Half-Elf, or Tiefling. Like many Sorcerer builds, it has a wide range of viable paths but we strongly recommend our list of spells if you aren’t sure what to go with.
Check back in the future for more guidance beyond Level 5.
