Baldur's Gate 3: How To Increase Arcana

Arcana is an important skill in Baldur's Gate 3 that determines your character's ability to recognize eldritch symbols and understand the many magical workings of Faerun. Tied to the Intelligence skill, high Arcana could be the difference between wielding an enchanted weapon, or having it consume you.

Thankfully, there are ways to improve your Arcana (and Intelligence) skill in Baldur's Gate 3, if you find yourself lacking in the magical department. Here's what you need to know. 

Can You Increase Your Arcana Skill In Baldur's Gate 3?

While there aren't a huge amount of ways to increase your Arcana skill, there are a few methods to boost it slightly. Certain classes will already be proficient in Arcana as a default, such as Sorcerers or Wizards, but you might want to boost them up a little more, or improve the skill on another character.

Arcana Increasing Feats

The best way to increase the Arcana skill, permanently, is through Feats, which are granted to characters every four levels. For single-class characters, that's a Feat at Level 4, 8, and 12. The best Feats to select if you're looking to raise or affect Arcana, specifically, are:

• Resilient - Intelligence: You increase an Ability by 1, to a maximum of 20, and gain Proficiency in that Ability's Saving Throws.
• Skilled: You gain Proficiency in 3 Skills of your choice.
• Magic Initiate: Wizard: You learn 2 Cantrips and a Level 1 spell from the wizard spell list. You can cast the Level 1 spell once per Long Rest. Your Spellcasting Ability for all 3 spells is Intelligence. 

Arcana Increasing Items & Accessories

Throughout Faerun, there are a huge number of special and magical items that provide various perks. Some are even able to increase your skills and profiencies. These items will increase your Arcana skill:

• Fey Semblance Amulet: Includes Semblance of Fey, which grants Advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma Saving Throws. 
• Aberration Hunter's Amulet: A githyanki wearing this amulet has advantage on Intelligence Saving Throws. Aberrations also have Disadvantage on Attack Rolls against them. 
• The Mage's Friend Ring: Arcana +1, Religion +1 
• Cerebral Citadel Armor: Includes Frightened Immunity and Illithid Protection,  which grants +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma Saving Throws. 

Arcana Increasing Spells

There are also certain spells that help with temporarily increasing skills and abilities. Ones that should help with Arcana (and Intelligence in general) include:

• Enhance Ability: Level 2 Transmutation Spell — Bestow a magical enhancement upon an ally. They gain Advantage on Ability Checks with a chosen Ability.

Permanent Bonuses

Finally, there are some certain permanent bonuses up for grabs that'll help increase Arcana:

Auntie Ethel's Hair: Gain +1 to an Ability Score of choice.
Mirror of Loss: Gain +2 to an Ability Score of choice.

And that's all you need to know about increasing your Arcana skill. Naturally, the choices you make during your Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough are often difficult to rectify, but there's rarely only ever one clear solution to any problem. So, if you find yourself lacking the necessary  Arcana for a particular outcome, don't worry. There's plenty of other ways to achieve your goal.