So yesterday I was messing around in my Baldur’s Gate 3 save, right? You know how ice magic has like a bunch of ways to freeze people? Cold Snap, Ray of Frost, that kinda stuff. I got kinda confused about which one was actually worth the spell slot. Figured I’d just test ’em head-to-head, old school style. Grabbed my save where Gale knows all the freeze-y spells I wanted to check out.
The Setup Was Annoying at First
Took me forever to find a good fight spot for testing. Loaded into this random cave area with some goblins hanging around near water – perfect, ’cause I knew Wet condition makes freezing easier. First, I totally screwed up. Used Ray of Frost on this little kobold dude near the water’s edge… but he just took damage, no freeze. Felt dumb. Needed wet targets obviously! So then I chucked a bottle of water at another goblin to get him soaked. Still kinda clumsy.
Actual Testing Time
Finally got my soggy target. Started slow:
- Ray of Frost: Standard cantrip. Zapped the wet goblin. Solid hit, he took damage… but just slowed, didn’t freeze solid. Not bad, but not what I wanted.
- Ice Knife: Tossed it next. Pretty splashy, hit the wet guy and his buddy. Got damage on both, but only the wet one actually froze! Nice little ice statue for a sec. The other just got cold feet.
- Sleet Storm: Bigger spell, bigger slot. Slapped this down over a bunch of them. Huge area, ice everywhere. Slippery, yeah, but freezing? Only got one kobold actually frozen – and he broke free super quick. Others just fell over a lot. Felt kinda wasteful honestly.
Saved the big one I was curious about for last: Cold Snap. Higher level spell, big cost.
The Cold Snap Surprise
Thought it might just be fancier Ray of Frost or something. Boy, was I wrong. Targetted a wet goblin standing near two others – still slightly damp from earlier splashes. Bam! Ice magic jumped out in a circle around the main target. All three little buggers went CLINK! Instantly frozen solid. Like turning on a freezer. Held them stuck for a decent chunk of the fight too. Felt way more powerful than the others for actually creating those ice blocks. Even caught a fourth guy near the edge who slipped and almost froze but managed to wobble away.
What I Figured Out
After wasting a couple hours reloading and smacking goblins around:
- Ray of Frost is just… okay. Reliable cheap cold damage and slow. Not freezing.
- Ice Knife is decent! Freezes one wet target pretty reliably in its splash zone. Useful early game.
- Sleet Storm is chaos. Great for making enemies trip everywhere, but crap for freezing specific dudes. Too random.
- Cold Snap straight-up wins for freezing MULTIPLE enemies. That AoE ice shockwave around the target is brutal, especially if enemies are wet or packed together. Uses a big spell slot, but damn, actually worth it when you need things frozen NOW.
Honestly, Cold Snap kinda blew the others out of the frozen water for actually doing the freeze people solid job. Felt like unlocking the good freezer after messing around with an ice cube tray for ages.