{"id":1134111,"date":"2026-02-04T01:20:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T01:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/SBRBDqN9WFcW6WuzAbDmGQ"},"modified":"2026-02-04T01:20:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T01:20:07","slug":"baldurs-gate-3s-stress-test-update-has-mercifully-made-one-of-its-new-op-cantrips-halfway-balanced-again-but-its-really-still-quite-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/baldurs-gate-3s-stress-test-update-has-mercifully-made-one-of-its-new-op-cantrips-halfway-balanced-again-but-its-really-still-quite-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3&#8217;s stress test update has, mercifully, made one of its new OP cantrips halfway balanced again\u2014but it&#8217;s really still quite good"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<p>Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 has a <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/baldurs-gate\/baldurs-gate-3s-patch-8-is-so-big-it-needed-its-own-patch-before-it-even-released-and-were-one-step-closer-to-a-permanent-booming-blade-economy\/\">big stonking new patch on its way<\/a>, which is currently in stress testing\u2014and it&#8217;s almost certainly doomed me to another <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/a-jack-of-all-trades-in-dandd-an-absolute-monster-in-baldurs-gate-3-why-the-college-of-swords-bard-is-the-best-choice-for-honour-mode\/\">honour mode playthrough<\/a> because, well, I&#8217;ve got 12 new subclasses to tinker with and I&#8217;m a bit of a build fiend.<\/p>\n<p>One thing had been concerning me, though: The scourge of Booming Blade had been looming large over its <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/rpg\/baldurs-gate-3-patch-8-stress-test-is-now-live-for-real\/\">current stress test<\/a>. For the uninitiated, with new subclasses comes new spells and cantrips, including the ever-yearned for &#8216;Blade&#8217; cantrips from D&#038;D 5e&#8217;s TTRPG rules. To sum it up, these spells make a lot of spellblade builds, such as the terrifying Sorcadin, possible.<\/p>\n<p>As per said rules, Booming Blade lets you do a melee attack\u2014triggering things like the Rogue&#8217;s Sneak Attack, or the Paladin&#8217;s Divine Smite\u2014as part of casting the spell. You also get a scaling burst of thunder damage, and extra thunder damage if your enemy tries to run away from you. It&#8217;s really very good. Only, up until now, the stress test allowed it to work with Extra Attack\u2014which basically made it free damage. A complete and utter no-brainer with zero tradeoff.<\/p>\n<p>Well, that&#8217;s changed in the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/baldursgate3.game\/news\/stress-test-update-2_136\" target=\"_blank\">stress test patch notes<\/a>, which read: &#8220;Limited the Booming Blade cantrip so it cannot be used more than once per turn.&#8221; Praise Mystra!<\/p>\n<p>Now, if this has upset any build aficionados, I&#8217;d like to reassure you that Booming Blade really is still quite good. It&#8217;s basically free damage on Arcane Trickster Rogues, who can only really attack once per turn anyway\u2014and, if I&#8217;m reading this right, it&#8217;ll still work with Extra Attack, you&#8217;ll just get one Booming Blade swing in your mix-up on your turn.<\/p>\n<p>Though, making it work this way does have some issues. For starters, it makes Eldritch Knight&#8217;s &#8220;War Magic&#8221; feat a little busted. Essentially, this Fighter Subclass gets to make an Extra Attack, so long as it casts a cantrip with its main action. Usually this isn&#8217;t a great idea, because most cantrips&#8217;ll be weaker than just hitting your enemy with your weapon twice.<\/p>\n<p><em>However, <\/em>these patch notes read the following: &#8220;Fixed War Magic being active before Extra Attack, forcing the player to use a bonus action before getting access to other Extra Attacks.&#8221; The implication here is that it&#8217;s intended that throwing Booming Blade into your usual attack routine will unlock the War Magic bonus attack\u2014in other words, Eldritch Knights are going to be very very strong.<\/p>\n<p>Conversely, a multiclass powerbuild I thought would take off\u2014the Sorcadin\u2014is indirectly nerfed. The Sorcadin is a Paladin\/Sorcerer multiclass that&#8217;s the scourge of D&#038;D 5e\u2014see, Divine Smites can be used on any spell slot, so if you take a 2-level dip in Paladin to unlock it, and get high level spell slots from another class, you&#8217;re gravy.<\/p>\n<p>The trick with the Sorcadin is to quicken spell Booming Blade to cast it as a bonus action, and then hit them with it again for your main attack\u2014pumping Divine Smites into your foe all the while. With this hard restriction, the Sorcadin just got a little less strong, though I&#8217;m probably still going to play one.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway\u2014while this nerf has dethroned Booming Blade from being basically mandatory on any character who hits anything with a melee weapon (you don&#8217;t just turn down several d8s of free damage), it&#8217;s still really rather good, because Booming Blade has always been good, and the ways it diverges from D&#038;D 5e make it even better still. Villains should live in fear, for the spellblades are here\u2014armed with a bunch of thunder damage and a big whackin&#8217; stick.<\/p>\n<div class=\"product\"><a data-dimension112=\"9d46ea22-b464-4232-b2a2-adff0a64a48f\" data-action=\"Deal Block\" data-label=\"Baldur's Gate 3 romance\" data-dimension48=\"Baldur's Gate 3 romance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><\/p>\n<figure class=\"van-image-figure \" >\n<div class='image-full-width-wrapper'>\n<div class='image-widthsetter' style=\"max-width:400px;\">\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:100.00%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"E4JL5DbKeweC5p7opWdx2K\" name=\"baldurs-astarion-square\" caption=\"\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/baldurs-gate-3s-stress-test-update-has-mercifully-made-one-of-its-new-op-cantrips-halfway-balanced-again-but-its-really-still-quite-good.jpg\" mos=\"\" align=\"middle\" fullscreen=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" attribution=\"\" endorsement=\"\" credit=\"\" class=\"\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/baldurs-gate-3-romance-options-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-dimension112=\"9d46ea22-b464-4232-b2a2-adff0a64a48f\" data-action=\"Deal Block\" data-label=\"Baldur's Gate 3 romance\" data-dimension48=\"Baldur's Gate 3 romance\" data-dimension25=\"\"><strong>Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 romance<\/strong><\/a>: Who to pursue<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/baldurs-gate-3-multiplayer-co-op-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 multiplayer<\/strong><\/a>: How co-op works<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/baldurs-gate-3-endings\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 endings<\/strong><\/a>: For better or worse<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/baldurs-gate-3-multiclass-builds\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 multiclass builds<\/strong><\/a>: Coolest combos<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/best-rpgs-of-all-time\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Best RPGs<\/strong><\/a>: The greatest you can play now<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/baldurs-gate\/baldurs-gate-3s-stress-test-update-has-mercifully-made-one-of-its-new-op-cantrips-halfway-balanced-again-but-its-really-still-quite-good\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3 has a big stonking new patch on its way, which is currently in stress testing\u2014and it&#8217;s almost certainly doomed me to another honour mode playthrough because, well, I&#8217;ve got 12 new subclasses to tinker with and I&#8217;m a bit of a build fiend. One thing had been concerning me, though: The scourge of Booming Blade had been looming large over its current stress test. For the uninitiated, with new subclasses comes new spells and cantrips, including the ever-yearned for &#8216;Blade&#8217; cantrips from D&#038;D 5e&#8217;s TTRPG rules. To sum it up, these spells make a lot of spellblade builds, such as the terrifying Sorcadin, possible. As per said rules, Booming Blade lets you do a melee attack\u2014triggering things like the Rogue&#8217;s Sneak Attack,&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/baldurs-gate-3s-stress-test-update-has-mercifully-made-one-of-its-new-op-cantrips-halfway-balanced-again-but-its-really-still-quite-good\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1134112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[336],"tags":[584,748,34],"class_list":["post-1134111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pc-gamer","tag-baldurs-gate","tag-games","tag-rpg"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Baldur&#039;s Gate 3&#039;s stress test update has, mercifully, made 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one of its new OP cantrips halfway balanced again\u2014but it's really still quite good | Arcader News","og_description":"Baldur's Gate 3 has a big stonking new patch on its way, which is currently in stress testing\u2014and it's almost certainly doomed me to another honour mode","og_url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/baldurs-gate-3s-stress-test-update-has-mercifully-made-one-of-its-new-op-cantrips-halfway-balanced-again-but-its-really-still-quite-good\/","og_site_name":"Arcade News","article_published_time":"2026-02-04T01:20:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-04T01:20:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":400,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/baldurs-gate-3s-stress-test-update-has-mercifully-made-one-of-its-new-op-cantrips-halfway-balanced-again-but-its-really-still-quite-good.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arcade News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arcade News","Est. reading time":"3 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