Honestly, I saw all this hype about Wrath in Baldur’s Gate 3 forums and thought “meh, it can’t be that great.” Grabbed my Half-Orc Barbarian save file around level 6 yesterday afternoon. Figured I’d run some trash mob fights near the Blighted Village to test it properly.
Setting Up The Experiment
First thing I did? Dug through my spell list to find Wrath on Shadowheart since she always rides shotgun. Slapped that concentration spell on her before kicking down the door to the goblin hideout. Made sure Lae’zel had Sentinel feat active too – more on that later.
Battle starts with three goblin archers on rafters and two melee guys rushing us. Immediately cast Wrath on the left archer. Big mistake. That little jerk passed his wisdom save like it was nothing. Reloaded quick and changed tactics.
The Real Combat Breakthrough
Round two I sent Lae’zel charging toward the melee goblins. Waited for them to swing at her – boom, Sentinel reaction locks them down. THEN hit the trapped goblin with Wrath while he’s standing beside his buddy. This time it sticks.
- Wrath victim freaks out and smacks his ally for 12 damage
- Panicked archer falls off the rafters trying to reposition
- Trapped melee guys eat opportunity attacks trying to flee
Total chaos erupted for three rounds straight. Made cleaning up the fight stupid easy.
Discovering The Killer Combo
Later against Phase Spiders? Holy crap. Saved spell slot by hitting the baby spider first. Big mama spider immediately murders her own offspring when Wrath procced. Genuinely shocked when her health chunked down 25% from one friendly fire incident.
Final test was the gnoll fight near Risen Road. Positioned Astarion to sneak attack their leader, then immediately hit her with Wrath. That raging gnoll turned and cleaved two of her own archers into bloody chunks before we even landed another hit.
What Actually Works
So after eight reloads across three hours? Here’s what WRATH genuinely nails in fights:
- Crowd crushes when mobs cluster up near ledges
- Boss softeners by making adds turn on main targets
- Resource saver – one spell slot causes multiple enemy actions
- Zoning tool to break archer/kiter formations
Would 100% waste spell slots on this again. That moment when the enemy Minotaur yeeted his buddy into a chasm? Pure gold worth the price of admission alone.