Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 added a busted new spell that gives Fighters better smites than Paladins—and it's only a cantrip
Baldur's Gate 3's Patch 8 arrived today, and Larian's last major update risks sending us all back into a fresh Faerun frenzy more than a year and a half after release. Its flashiest additions are the suite of new subclasses, but there's one new spell that promises to become a fast favorite for any melee character. Let me introduce you to Booming Blade. You're going to get along very well.
A new cantrip that can be picked up at Level 1 by spellcasting classes, Booming Blade is a weapon attack that slaps a debuff on enemies, which causes them to take 1d8 Thunder damage when they move. Booming Blade really shines at higher character levels, when it first adds 1d8 and then 2d8 Thunder damage to the initial weapon attack.
In tabletop D&D, casting Booming Blade eats your turn's entire action. As our Ted Litchfield wrote back in January, however, what makes Booming Blade so spectacular in Baldur's Gate 3 is its compatibility with any melee class's Extra Attack feature. It's essentially a Paladin smite that, as a cantrip, doesn't burn spell slots—and it's not hard to see why BG3 theorycrafters were convinced it was too good during the Patch 8 stress tests.
As an illustration, imagine you're a Fighter with access to Booming Blade either through the Eldritch Knight subclass or from investing a level in a spellcasting class. With Booming Blade, you can hammer an enemy with extra Thunder damage on an initial attack, and follow up with two more hits from your Improved Extra Attack feature.
Then, because Booming Blade is only a cantrip, you're free to Action Surge for another heavy Thunder hit and two more extra attacks. And if you've got a spellcaster to hit you with Haste, you can drop Booming Blade and your extra attacks a third time. That's a total of nine attacks in one turn, one third of which are getting a hefty damage boost.
As someone who started out Baldur's Gate 3 as an Eldritch Knight Fighter and found it lackluster enough that I ended up grudgingly switching to Paladin to get the big, magic weapon hits I was hoping for, I'll admit I feel a certain amount of glee from seeing Fighters upstaging fantasy supercops and their hallmark Smites. But while Booming Blade seemed primed to turn Eldritch Knight from underdog to demigod, the subclass still can't catch a break.
During the Patch 8 stress test, it looked like Booming Blade might trigger the Eldritch Knight's War Magic feature, which gives a free weapon attack after casting a cantrip—potentially adding yet another attack to the Fighter's thunder damage onslaught.
Based on some quick testing I did after the patch dropped today, however, it doesn't seem like casting Booming Blade successfully activates War Magic. I'm not a true BG3 sicko, so I might be overlooking something, but sadly it seems like Eldritch Knight is staying on the bench.
Fighters hoping to make the most of Booming Blade are probably better off going with the Champion or Battle Master subclasses after grabbing a level in a spellcaster class to pick up the cantrip. If you end up going that route, you can't go wrong with a Hexblade dip.