Sorceress Build - Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance

The Elven Sorceress class is the Wizard of this game and she comes with a couple abilities you'll recognize from Dungeons and Dragons and a few which are unique to this game. Despite Adrianna being a caster there will be times in this game where you have to engage in melee combat (like the final boss) so you should build her with that in mind.

I'd recommend putting all Attribute Points into Intelligence when you level up and wear Strength Amulets/Rings to increase your carry capacity. Without any boosts Adrianna can only hold a total of 130 lbs which is just barely enough weight for heavier gear and potions. For those of you who haven't played one of these hack and slash games on the Snowblind Engine yet - you're going to be chugging potions left and right.

For Acts 1 and 2 you can get away with not using much Strength jewelry but during Act 3 you'll absolutely need some. The first 2 Acts you'll be using mostly Leather and Studded Leather so our gear won't weigh very much and we'll have 24/7 access to town. During the final dungeon of Act 3 you'll be unable to Recall out of the dungeon which means you'll need the carry capacity to lug around all of our gear and potions.

As far as how to play this class, during almost all of Act 1 you'll want to rely on Magic Missile for your main spell. The next spell you'll want to buy should either be Lightning Bolt or Ball Lightning, it's up to you. Lightning Bolt is cheaper which means you can get it earlier but it'll become crap by the time you get to Act 3 and progressively gets worse throughout that Act. Once you get to Act 3 you should depend on Ball Lightning for your main damage spell.

If you decide to get both ranks of Lightning Bolt you won't be able to max out Ball Lightning by the end of the game. The path you want to go is up to you, I think I prefer all into Ball Lightning because it does a ton of damage once you get it higher level and it consumes less mana than Lightning Bolt.

 

 

 

Skill Points Levels 1 - 10

Magic Missile: You'll typically be using this spell until the end of Act 1 in my experience. It's a good spell but the further you get into the game the worse it'll get; once I unlock either Lightning Bolt or Ball Lightning I stop using Magic Missile.

Meditation: Meditation increases how fast your regenerate mana which is decent. In my opinion this passive is about the same as the rest in terms of usefulness; extra Mana Regeneration will save you a tiny bit of money in the long run but either way you're still going to be chugging potions constantly.

Intestinal Fortitude (Optional): This skill increases your Health Regeneration rate which is... ok. You'll have to decide whether you want to purchase this passive or if you want to experiment with different spells, that's ultimately your 2 choices.

Willpower (Optional): Each rank you buy of this passive will give you +5 mana. 5 mana is not a lot so I don't recommend you invest too many points into this passive either. Again though, your choice is going to be between this passive or investing points into additional spells for you to experiment with.

 

Skill Points 11 - 17

Lightning Bolt: This is an insanely powerful spell for all of Act 1 and Act 2 but it'll start to dwindle in strength once you get to Act 3. It also won't take very many skill points to buy this spell which is why I would recommend it early on. Lightning Bolt's biggest downside is the Mana cost - which is extremely high.

Ball Lightning: I found this to be one of the best spells to use towards the end of the game and it's the main spell I used throughout most of Act 2 and Act 3. The skill isn't as strong for single target enemies but it's pretty great for groups. Also the Mana cost is very reasonable for the spell too!

 

Honorable Mentions:

Meteor Swarm: I didn't really like this skill for anything outside of a few boss fights. When you use Meteor Swarm it makes meteors fall around your character, so it requires you to be in melee range (or near) your enemy. Also, while using Meteor Swarm you are vulnerable to attacks as your character stands there for about a second as she casts.