Animate DeadLevel 3 Necromancy Spell Create an undead servant from a corpse.
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 Action  Level 3 Spell Slot |
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Animate Dead is a Spell in Baldur's Gate 3. Animate Dead is a Lvl 3 Spell from the Necromancy school. Spells can be used for dealing damage to Enemies, inflict Status Ailments, buff Characters or interact with the environment.
Animate Dead Information
- Description: Create an undead servant from a corpse.
The target must be a Medium or Small corpse.- Level: Lvl 3 spell
- School: Necromancy School
- Casting Time:
Action - Range:
3m - Requires Concentration: No
- Saving Throw: N/A
Animate Dead variants comparison table
Animate Dead has up to 2 different variants to choose from. This allows players to have more tools at their disposal when casting this Spell against any type of enemy.
NAME |
INFO |
EFFECT |
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Create a zombie that specializes in melee combat. STR 16, DEX 6, CON 16, INT 3, WIS 6, CHA 5 HP: 22 AC: 8 Slam: Hit a target with your bare fists for 2d6+3 Bludgeoning and infect it with the Crawling Gnaw. If the infected enemy dies with Crawling Gnaw active, it turns into a Newborn Zombie, allied to you but not controlled by you. (A Newborn Zombie has 10 HP and takes 1 Necrotic damage each turn. A Newborn Zombie otherwise has the same stats as a regular Zombie.) Immune to poison |
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Create a skeleton that specializes in ranged combat. STR 10, DEX 16, CON 8, INT 6, WIS 8, CHA 5 HP: 17 AC: 10 Ranged Attack: Makes a ranged attack with its weapon, dealing 1d6+3 Piercing damage and 1d10 Necrotic damage. (60 ft range) Vulnerable to Bludgeoning damage. Immune to poison |
Animate Dead: Skeleton Squad |
Level 4 Spell Slot Until Long Rest
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Summons 3 skeletons instead of 1, need 3 corpses. |
Animate Dead: Zombie Batallion |
Level 4 Spell Slot Until Long Rest
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Summon 3 Zombies instead of 1, need 3 corpses. |
Animate Dead: Ghoul |
Level 5 Spell Slot Until Long Rest
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Create a ghoul that specialises in melee combat. STR 16, DEX 17, CON 10, INT 11, WIS 10, CHA 8 HP: 35 AC: 17 Claws: Lash out with deadly claws dealing 3d6 + Strength Modifier Slashing damage and possibly Paralyse the target. Devour: Bite a knocked out, prone, or sleeping target, and deal 3d10 + Strength Modifier Slashing damage. Heal that many hit points. Immune to poison Darkvision |
Animate Dead: Ghoul Pack |
Level 6 Spell Slot Until Long Rest
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Summon 3 Ghouls instead of 1, need 3 corpses. |
Animate Dead: Flying Ghoul |
Level 5 Spell Slot Until Long Rest
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Create a ghoul that specialises in melee combat. STR 16, DEX 17, CON 10, INT 11, WIS 10, CHA 8 HP: 30 AC: 15 Claws: Lash out with deadly claws dealing 3d6 + Strength Modifier Slashing damage and possibly Paralyse the target. Devour: Bite a knocked out, prone, or sleeping target, and deal 3d10 + Strength Modifier Slashing damage. Heal that many hit points. Fly: Fly to a target position using your movement speed. Immune to poison Darkvision |
Animate Dead: Flying Ghoul Flock |
Level 6 Spell Slot Until Long Rest
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Summon 3 Flying Ghouls instead of 1, need 3 corpses. |
How to Acquire Animate Dead
Animate Dead can be acquired by the following classes:
- Cleric
- Paladin (Oathbreaker) at level 9
- Circle of the Spores (Druid Subclass)
- Life Domain (Cleric Subclass)
- Light Domain (Cleric Subclass)
- Trickery Domain (Cleric Subclass)
- Necromancy School (Wizard subclass) at Level 6
- Pact of the Tome (Warlock subclass) at level 5
Animate Dead can be cast by using the following Items:
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Animate Dead Tips & Notes
- You cannot cast it more than once to raise multiple undead, if you do then the most recent summon dies. But if you're a Necromancy Wizard you gain the ability to target two corpses at level 6.
- Wizards with the Necromancy School subclass can raise an additional undead for each level and version of the spell. These Summoned Undead do not have weapons so are not affected by Aura of Hate from Oathbreaker Paladin
- Most friendly and neutral NPCs will respond to undead minions with horror, causing them to express alarm and flee from proximity of the thralls, in some cases to their death.
AnonymousCRPGS and nerfing necromancy into complete worthlessness, name a more iconic duo
I've experimented a lot with the concept of a full necromancer team, and this is what I came up with. Note that I could just stack 4 Spore Druids for the absolute max number of summons, but they would all constantly immediately die without a high level cleric in the group. Also, I wanted it to be a somewhat balanced team that can cover every checks, and also having the characters in a class that is still at least kind of relevant to them. So ;
- Tav 12 Spore Druid. 10-14-14-17*-22-10. (+4WIS and Warcaster from feats, +1WIS from Ethel, 17INT from Warped Headband of Intellect) Can summon 3 skeletons, 4 fungal zombies, 2 ice mephits, 1 water elemental, 1 woodland being, 1 wood woad, 1 Scratch, 1 Us, 1 Connor. (15 summons)
- Shadowheart 11 Knowledge Cleric / 1 Ranger Knight. (23*-14-16-8-20-10. (+4WIS and Warcaster from feats, 23STR from Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength, Spellbind Amulet for additional lv.6 spell slot. Ranger Knight dip is for armor prof and find familiar) Can summon 3 skeletons, 1 mummy, 1 deva, 1 spiritual weapon, 1 spider. (7 summons)
-Minthara 11 Necro Wizard / 1 War Cleric. 14-18*-16-20-10-8 (+4INT and Warcaster from feats, 18DEX from Gloves of Dexterity. War cleric dip is for armor/weapon prof, Shield of Faith and Extra bonus attack) Can summon 4 skeletons (tho I prefer 2 ghouls), 2 ice mephits, 1 water elemental, 1 mummy, 1 Shovel. (9 summons)
- Lae'zel 9 Oathbreaker Paladin / 3 FiendChain Warlock. 18*-14-23*-8-10-18. (+2CHA and GWM from feats, +2STR from Potion of Everlasting Vigour, 23CON from Amulet of Greater Health) Can summon 1 skeleton, 1 imp, and 1 Controlled Undead. (2 summons + 1 control. Looks very sad compared to the others, but she brings a frontliner, auras, charisma checks and you can control some really powerful undead bosses that I won't spoil here)
For a whoopin' 34 total summons. Having 2 Wisdom characters (Druid and Cleric) seems redundant at first, but both together are needed here as Spore Druids have the most summons, and Cleric for a high level Aid, which is absolutely essential since you have multiple summons with very low health otherwise. Both classes have access to Heroes' Feast for even more health, but our druid will cast that one since our cleric' spell slots are already drained.
Wonder what yall think, if you have any questions or ideas to make an even better team
Everyone with access to Animate Dead (cleric, wizard, sorcerer, druid, etc. By default, Shadowheart as well) can become an undead overlord. However, every animated undead requires a body.
How to get as many corpses as you wish to have for this spell?
Here is what I've been doing: after every (or most) battle, check dead bodies' weight and pick up all (or most) the lightweight dead bodies, take a quick trip to the camp and transfer them to the party stash. Always have party members with higher carry weight carry a dead body or two. A character with 20 strength can typically carry 5+ corpses all the time with no issue. This way, you'll never run out of bodies to animate.
Alternatively, you can fast-travel to previous battle fields where dead bodies never vanish, such as the Goblin Camp (where there are 20+ bodies to animate after you destroyed their camp).
If you have an average of 3 summons per party member, you will walk around with a big army of 4 + 12 = 16 combat ready members. You will overwhelm enemies in most battles from then on. Just make sure spread them out enough to avoid a single AOE spell hurt your entire army.
The latest patch #3 has mitigated NPC's unnecessary reactions to many of the summons. So, from now on, you don't have to park your summons somewhere when you walk among NPCs.
- Anonymous
The lastest patch changed the spell from needing only one corpse to animate up to 4 zombie / ghouls to now needing 4 different corpses to animate the 4 zombies / Ghouls. Playing a full necromancer have now become a micro-management nightmare, I can't cope with it anymore.
- Anonymous
Animate Dead: Skeletons are now unarmed after the latest patch, making them useless.
- Anonymous
how the **** do the dwarfs in the underdark cast this on 5 targets simultaneously, they arent even necromancers, just slavetraders.
- Anonymous
Corpse killed by a certain damage type, will get destroyed. Destroyed corpses cannot be raised back. Useful to know both to use against enemy necromancers, and to not deny yourself of corpses.
There are a list below:
Can be Resurrected:
Physical, Poison, Cold, Force. Psychic, Sound/Thunder.
Cannot be Resurrected.
Fire, Acid, Lightning. Radiant, Necrotic.
- Anonymous
Been trying to equip my undead with weapons, normally you can’t. BUT ive found three weapons so far that when thrown on the ground my skeletons can interact with. These are the Sword of Screams, the Everburn blade and Loviathar’s Scourge. This qualifies them for the Oathbreaker’s hate aura. Keep in mind that when the undead die the weapon dissappears forever. You can go to your own singular inventory screen however, move it over, select your thrall on the left and unquip the weapon by dragging it on the floor. I suggest you also do this before long resting.
- Anonymous
For some reason when I use "Animate Dead: Zombie", it creates a "newborn zombie" instead of a main regular one. Does anyone know why?
- Anonymous
The UI for this seems to be kinda bugged for this spell, but if you select your level 4 spell slots at the header above your spells this will filter your spells by all that can be cast at level 4. THEN select animate dead it will take you to a menu where you can use it as a 4th level spell which allows you to have 3 skeletal archers or 3 zombies. Having 3 skeletal archers paired with a Spiritual weapon allows a Cleric to focus on casting buffs / heals while their summons do all the damage.
PS. if you select Animate Dead from your spell list without first filtering by level 4 spells you WILL NOT see the option to cast it at level 4. Instead, you will only see the option to cast it at level 3 or level 5.
- Anonymous
to anyone wanting to buff their friends summoned with this spell, note that only the skeleton archers have weapons for the sake of Crusader's Mantle -- zombies and ghouls use their fists. also while undead can't normally be healed normally, Aid does "heal" them and it doesn't have a target cap.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Here is some useful information about this spell not listed on the wiki:
• You cannot cast it more than once to raise multiple undead, if you do then the most recent summon dies. But if you're a Necromancy Wizard you gain the ability to target two corpses at level 6.
Zombie
• Deals 2d6+STR bludgeoning melee damage and inflicts "Crawling Gnaw" until the enemy's next turn.
• Crawling Gnaw: If the target dies while under the effects of Crawling Gnaw they raise as a temporary "Newborn Zombie" with 10hp that takes 1 necrotic damage each turn and attacks enemies on its own. (Crawling Gnaw cannot effect Constructs, Elementals, Oozes, Plants, Undead, or members of your party).
• Undead Fortitude: The first time the zombie would die it comes back at 1hp unless the death was due to radiant damage or a critical hit.
• Immune to poison damage.
Skeleton Archer
• Deals 1d6+DEX Piercing +1d10 Necrotic with 60ft range.
• Vulnerable to Bludgeoning damage.
• Immune to poison
The above makes the Zombies potentially really effective if you can use them to inflict Crawling Gnaw and then finish them off before that enemy acts again to keep summoning more Zombies. But their AC of 8 means everything hits them so keeping your main zombie alive can be difficult. Meanwhile the Skeleton Archer's range makes them a fairly safe 5-19 extra damage per turn.
I'm not high enough level to see what you can summon with upcasting, but I hear it's ghouls.
- Anonymous
Zombies are useless at 5th lvl of Wizard... They are like a paper and can be killed in a blink of the eye. Better to cast fireball once more time...
- Anonymous
Someone should probably add that on upcasting to lvl 5 you gain access to ghouls + flying ghouls.
- Anonymous
Some pro tips for new necromancers of all brands. Animated Dead has a lot of use even later into the game.
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1. Zombies make amazing scouts, and combat initiators. If you think a fight is coming up (Or know) send a zombie in to check or start the fight. Enemies that can't reach, or attack them in a turn or 2 can then be funneled into advantageous positions for your rouge, and other melee fighters coming in with stealth for easy hits. They can also be used to clear out traps, and mine fields if your worried about disarming failures, or fail a perception check.
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2. Both zombies, skeletons can still deal chip damage. Well the hit chance, and damage is in no way amazing, possibly getting just a little bit of chip damage can easily swing certain fights in your favor. Zombies are also great for threatening targets allowing for better hit chance, and opening up sneak attacks for characters, as well as clogging up choke points, or taking a hit or 2 which can allow for breathing room. It also allows you to save create undead casts for later.
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3. People are scared of the undead. Well this is very annoying, when you need talk to people, due to them running away from your attractive buddy, so send them back to shadow realm (Jimbo) when you need to talk to people, but this fear can also be used to your advantage. Need to murder someone in a secluded spot? Put your undead pal in front of the door, and enter turn based mode for some private murder. This can also be done to buy time to hide the body, and clean up mess as well. Need to push a annoying NPC into hole? Use your undead friend to "escort" them to ledge where your fighter can "convince" them to take the plunge. Need to steal? Same as murder. Put your minion outside the door, and plunder that red text loot! You do need to be aware that some people won't run in terror, and will instead stand to up to your undead delinquent shenanigans. So make sure to be careful when picking who you want to terrorize!
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4. Role-playing. RP. Be the spooky. Need I say more?
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So, well Animate Dead, may not seem like much on paper it does have alot of utility in and outside of combat to make use of.
--- signed "a career necromancer since they were 10."
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Having a skeleton or a zombie with you might outright break some of the sequences in the game as the NPCs will react to it by trying to shoo it away or just run away from it. Sounds good on paper, only it completely messes with the original NPC pathing and breaks some cutscenes. If you go into a city or smth better leave this guy out the door unless you plan to turn the place into a bloodbath
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Zombies apply debuff that spawns more zombies, the spell is level 3, but if you cast it with level 4 spell slot as a necromancer, you can spawn 4 and maintain 4 permantly.
- Anonymous
Zombros or Spooky Skelly bois?
So many corpses so hard to choose which one to take for the ride.
- Anonymous
Zombies are hilariously awesome against swarms of low hp enemies, like goblins. Goblin camp courtyard is a great place to bring three Zombies and watch them spawn a temporary Army of Darkness. After a few engage targets in melee, drop a Stinking Cloud on top. Zombies are immune.
The Clawing Gnaw doesn't appear to create a zombie if you kill the host with elemental damage, similarly to how Speak with Dead doesn't work on charred or electrified corpses. Killing with poison appears to be OK.
- Anonymous
Man, why does Larian nerf all the fun thing, at patch 9 you can only have one at a time , when casting while having one the first one disappears.
The whole point of weak semi permanent summons is that you can have many, with the idea of having about 4 and needing to recast the spell once per day to retain control ( 1 casting to retain 4 undead, could cast more to retain more ).
Also it would be nice if the body of the summon remained so you could reuse it, guess mods could fix all this.
- Anonymous
Scroll located in chest on the left of the forge entrance past the stairs
Honestly, after playing pure evil party with necro wizard on honour (necro wizards get bonus damage for their summons) I must say this is probably the strongest level 4 spell in terms of damage. Consider the following: You cast it single time, get 3-4 skeletons, each deal 1d6+3 + 1d10 necro (average 12 dmg per shot) + 3 damage from necro proficiency. This is almost 50 damage _every turn_ for every fight. Without any additional spell slot investment. Plus they can absorb damage. Imo skeletons are better because most fights are really crowded when you approach 5+ active members and they have really good range. Naturally they are less effective against necro resistant targets and suspectable to aoe damage, but turns out there's really not many enemies with aoe skills.
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