In thisBaldur’s Gate 3 Companions Guidewe’re going to take a look atWyllin BG3 Early Access, and whichSpells,Feats, andEquipmentto use, and how to improve your reputation with him. We’ll also discuss which are goodCompanionsto take with him, and what your party might look like depending on which Companions you know for sure you want to use.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access Companions Guide: Wyll
There are fiveCompanionsyou can acquire inBaldur’s Gate 3 Early Access, and you can bring three of them along with you at a time. You can travel back to yourCampat any time and swap them out to your liking, and it’s worth noting that Companions in your Camp gain experience the same as those in your party. Let’s take a look at Wyll. He may be the last Companion you will acquire.
Wyll Abilities & Skills
Wyll has decent Ability Scores, having highConstitutionandCharisma, which are arguably the two most important Abilities for him. However, he does have a lot of odd numbers meaning, he is missing out on someAbility Modifiersthat he could have if his Points were distributed a bit better. For instance, he could have 10 STR and 10 WIS and he’d still have the same Ability Modifier for WIS, but would not have a -1 penalty to Strength Saves and Checks. You can make a better optimized Warlock for your main character, but let’s focus on what you can do to help Wyll.
At Level 4 you’re able to take theAbility Improvements Featto give Wyll +1Dexterityand +1 Constitution for +1 AC and more HP, and +1 to Constitution Saves. Or you can add +2 Charisma to make hisEldritch Blastmore likely to hit, as well as do an additional damage. Or you take theModerately Armoured Featto grant him +1 Dexterity and allow him to wearMedium Armourand use aShield. Since Wyll does not need to use aWeaponat all, the Shield will give him an additional +2 AC and he won’t lose out on damage in the slightest. This can give Wyll a total of 19 AC, while still maintaining some of the highest damage per turn in Early Access.
Wyll is Proficient inArcana,History,IntimidationandPersuasion, and he has excellent Ability Modifiers with all 4 of these, making him a good candidate to take around with you when exploring or speaking to people. Wyll should be talking to nearly everyone for you when possible, unless you yourself are a Warlock or you have higher Charisma, which is unlikely.
The Fiend Warlock Actions & Spells
The Fiend Warlocks gain a feature called theDark One’s Blessing, that rewards them with extra HP (sort of like a health bubble) whenever they kill an enemy. The amount they gain is equal to their Charisma Modifier + their Level. This means with 16 Charisma at level 4, Wyll would gain extra HP of 7 for every kill he makes. Note that he cannot gain more than 7 extra HP at once (at level 4), and if you kill an enemy while you have any extra HP, you will simply replace it with 7 instead of adding 7 to it.
Eldritch Blast
The Eldritch Blast Cantrip is going to be Wyll’s primary means of damage and it be cast from up to 18m away.Cantripscan be cast every round without usingSpell Slots, so you can use this as much as you want, and you likely will. It counts as aRanged Attack, so this targets theArmour Classof the enemy you are attempting to hit. Eldritch Blast uses your Charisma Modifier for itsAttack Roll, but notDamage Roll, and it can be made more effective viaEldritch Invocations, which I’ll cover in the next section.
Eldritch Invocations
At Level 2 Wyll will get to choose 2 Eldritch Invocations from a list of 9. There are a couple ways you can go about selecting them, but I think the most obvious choice, and one I would recommend taking no matter what isAgonizing Blast. This will increase the damage he deals with Eldritch Blast by his Charisma Modifier, which will be +3. Since he will use this Cantrip just about every round, that’s a significant increase to damage (about 30%).
There are two others I suggest taking, but you may only take one so you’ll have to choose which. First isDevil’s Sight, which will allow Wyll to see in the dark up to 18m, which happens to be the exact range of his Eldritch Blast. Wyll is a Human, so he has noDarkvision, and his accuracy will suffer in places if he does not have this.
The other isRepelling Blastwhich knocks enemies backward when they are hit by Eldritch Blast. This can help knock enemies to their death, because elevation plays a huge role in combat in BG3. However, there are downsides to it, like knocking an enemy backward that might have beenThreatenedby a party member.RoguesgainSneak Attackdamage against opponents Threatened by another character, so you might prevent that extra damage. Or you might knock an enemy off the map, and lose out on its loot. The choice is yours here, but I highly recommend you take one of these two.
Summon Familiar
At Level 3 Wyll unlocks thePact of the Chainfeature, which is only available to Warlocks. This gives you access to summoning additionalFamiliarsor fey spirits. These can be in the form of anImpor aQuasiton top of the usual selection of animals such as a spider, raven or rat.
I recommend choosing the Imp since it deals good damage due toSting. This Spell deals 1d4Piercingdamage with a chance to inflict an additional 1d6Poisondamage. Not only does it have good HP, it is also immune to Poison. And, since the Imp is a flying familiar, you can castInvisibilityon it and have it scour potentially hostile areas like theGoblin Campeffectively.
Should you wish to summon another creature, you can do so by recasting theFind Familiar Spellwithout spending any of your resources. Just be mindful that this can only be done when you’re outside of combat.
At Level 2 you want to pick up theHexSpell because it allows you to deal 1-6 extraNecrotic Damageto any target you hit with an Attack. Eldritch Invocation is considered a Ranged Attack, so these two combo together nicely.
Hex only remains on the target as long as you maintain Concentration, which means you need to avoid taking damage if possible while its on the target, in order to avoid wasting your Spell Slot. This is also where having high Constitution comes in handy, in case you do get hit, because if you pass a CON Save then you’ll still maintain the Hex anyway.
Maintaining Concentration on your Hex is particularly important because if the target dies while it has Hex on it, by your blast or via some other means, you will gain aBonus ActionHex that allows you to cast Hex again without using up a Spell Slot. The strategy, if everything goes according to plan, is to cast it on every single target you plan to attack with your Bonus Action and then use Eldritch Blast with yourAction. Hopefully, you’ll kill it and repeat this over and over without ever having to use up additional Spell Slots to recast it.
The Fiend Warlock Spells
Warlocks do not gain many Spells the wayWizardsandClericsdo, so picking good ones is very important. One of these Spells should be Hex, so you’ll get to choose 3 other Spells. Of these I recommend the following:
Misty Stepallows you to use a Bonus Action to teleport somewhere you can see. This is an amazing way to get up high on your first turn, providing youAdvantagewith Eldritch Blast on nearly all of your attacks (remember, it counts as a Ranged Attack so it gains Advantage from elevation).
Scorching Ray is one of the most powerful spells in Early Access, no matter what Class you play, it will deal a total of 6d6 damage and can be spread around to multiple targets from up to 18m. It’s also considered a Ranged Attack, so will gain Advantage from elevation, which is where Wyll should be anyway.
Shatteris a fantastic AoE Spell, and there are few of them in Early Access. If you need AoE then this is a great Spell to take, but keep in mind it doesn’t gain Advantage from elevation.
There are other good Spells to take, but many are only useful in very specific situations in Early Access, where these three will be useful quite often. Note that you will have to replace some existing Spells to gain all of these.
Wyll Equipment
Until Wyll reaches Level 4 and takes the Moderately Armoured Feat (assuming you do so), he’ll be usingLight Armour. He should use theLeather Armour +1if he can, which can be purchased in theDruid Grove. Once he takes Moderately Armoured, he should use Medium Armour and a Shield specifically theScale Mail Armour +1, which can be obtained in the Druid Grove, or theGithyanki Half Plate.
As far as weapons go it’s not really important what he uses, as long as it allows him to use a Shield in the offhand. I like to useWorgfangearly on to give Goblins Disadvantage when attacking him, but once you finish the Goblin Camp area it’s not really useful any more.
ForAccessories,Amulet of Misty Stepis not a bad choice since it’ll give you an extra Misty Step cast once per Short Rest. Because Warlocks have so few Spell Slots this can prevent you fromRestingafter each combat. However, there is really no penalty for Resting at the moment, so it’s not super important.
Wyll Approval
In this section I’ll show you how you may gain approval with Wyll, as well as how you can gain disapproval if you wish. These are not all the ways possible in Early Access, but they are the ones we have accumulated on theWikiso far:
APPROVAL UP:
APPROVAL DOWN:
Final Tips
Wyll is a fantastic character to bring in your party if you like to talk your way out of combat, or want specific outcomes from dialogue. He also likes helping others, so if you’re someone who likes to do that as well, Wyll is a natural fit. However, I would consider not bringing him if you yourself are a Warlock, though you really can’t have too many Warlocks in your party…
Wyll should be using Eldritch Blast every turn if possible for maximum damage, and as I mentioned it is considered a Ranged Attack. This means it benefits from high ground, which gives it Advantage when used. But also it gains Disadvantage when Wyll is Threatened in combat, or when he is attacking a Prone target. Keep these things in mind when deciding when to use it, and who to target.
Get in the habit of casting Hex on your target before using Eldritch Blast when you may. Sometimes you’ll need your Bonus Action for something else (like Misty Step), and it’s wise not to use it if Wyll is likely to be struck before his next turn. Also, use your other party members to help finish off a Hexed target if you cannot in order to gain the bonus cast before you might be hit and lose Concentration.
Don’t forget to cast the Find Familiar: Imp Spell after everyLong Restso you’re adequately prepared in the event of an ambush. Having an Imp in combat is advantageous due to its ability to attack on its own, independent to that of Wyll’s turn. Not spending any resources nor Spell Slots while gaining another party member makes encounters much more manageable.
Lastly, if you don’t have any other party members that have highIntelligencelikeGaleor the main character, and you’re not using Lae’Zel orAstarionasEldritch KnightorArcane Trickster, then Wyll makes a good candidate for theWarped Headband of Intellect. This will boost his Arcana and History rolls by a further +2, giving him +6 to these in Early Access.
Stay tuned for more Baldur’s Gate 3 content as we take a look atCompanionsandBuilds, and be sure to drop by ourTwitch channelif you have questions about the game. If you need something specific, check out ourBaldur’s Gate 3 Wikiwhich is being worked on night and day!
