Baldur’s Gate 3 players debate usefulness of “completely terrible” spell

The Baldur’s Gate 3 community has long been split on whether or not the spell Hold Person is a broken tool in the game or completely useless, but players are finally realizing how useful it can be.

The second-level spell is meant to hold a target in place, making them unable to move for a single turn and giving all attack rolls against them an advantage.

Since launch, players have been divided on whether or not Hold Person is worthwhile, but now, many are realizing the ability is more useful in Baldur’s Gate 3 than they originally thought.

Reddit: LemonBoi523

In a thread on the game’s subreddit discussing which spells players found most disappointing, the poster included Hold Person due to “the lack of humanoid enemies beyond the goblins/leaders.”

Some agreed with this sentiment, claiming Baldur’s Gate 3 has “hardly enough” humanoid enemies for the spell to be worth it. One even pointed to the spell Tasha’s Hideous Laughter as a better option to accomplish what Hold Person can do at a lower level.

However, many Baldur’s Gate 3 fans defended Hold Person, with one user going so far as to call the spell “OP.”

“I used it on the leader at the Creche. Killed him in one turn from stealth before anyone could roll initiative,” one person explained.

Another responded by saying they don’t understand the hate for it. In their opinion, the humanoid limitation isn’t that bad, and the spell can be incredibly useful in Act 3.

One person even listed the other humanoid enemies the spell can work on, such as Githyanki, Paladins, and Drow. After listing this, they claimed that Hold Person is, in fact, one of the “best spells” in the game.

This point is excellent, as the third act has some incredibly powerful humanoid enemies and bosses to fight. It is useful to be able to stop them in their tracks and unload more damage on them.

While using certain spells in Baldur’s Gate 3 primarily comes down to personal preference, it seems that Hold Person possesses more utility than some players claim.