BG3 difficulty - Baldur's Gate 3 difficulty settings and differences explained (2024)

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BG3 difficulty - Baldur's Gate 3 difficulty settings and differences explained? ›

Explorer is the easiest mode with forgiving combat for players just looking for a fun story, while Tactician offers a tough combat experience. You can kick things up a notch with Honour mode, which removes save scumming, or you can create your own difficulty with Custom Mode.

Firstly, Honour Mode makes boss fights in BG3 much more difficult. In this mode, players will find that boss battles (like Orin and Gortash in Act 3) are much trickier, as bosses gain access to stronger gear, additional bonuses when rolling, and some truly horrific Legendary attacks.

The value of loot is reduced on Tactician but that doesn't really matter since there is ample gold available to buy what you want and in any case you can steal it if you like doing that sort of thing although it's not in any way necessary.

Tactician difficulty in Baldur's Gate 3 increases enemy intelligence and tactics, making battles more challenging and requiring careful strategy and counter-strategies.

While the difficulty setting affects gameplay and enemy strength, players can still obtain the majority of game achievements at any level of difficulty.

It builds on the game's Tactician difficulty, which already makes things plenty harder, so it's an unrelenting experience for seasoned players. If you persevere and complete the whole game on Honour Mode, you'll be rewarded with an opulent Golden D20 to use in-game.

BG3 difficulty differences

These difficulty levels affect almost everything in the game, most notably enemy AI and ability scores, but also shop prices, the chance for you to succeed in attack rolls and ability checks, and the option to multiclass.

The Balanced difficulty setting is the "normal" mode of Baldur's Gate 3. Newcomers to the game, or the Dungeons and Dragons style RPG genre in general, ought to try the Explorer difficulty for the tutorial area to get a feel for the game before switching over to Balanced, as it can be a big step up in challenge.

Basically, if you're not proficient with a certain kind of Armour and try to wear it, you will be unable to use Spells and will have a Disadvantage for all Ability Checks, Saving Throws, and Attack Rolls. Armour Proficiency can be gained with Classes, but some Races and even Feats also grant Armour Proficiency.

The Paladin is the strongest class and subclass in Baldur's Gate 3 due to its damage output, survivability, and versatility. The Paladins can access various weapons and armour types, allowing for diverse playstyles. Combining Extra Attack with Divine Smite results in exceptional raw damage potential.

Is karmic dice good or bad in BG3? ›

Because of the way the difficulty curve works ( in terms of enemy and encounter design and balancing ), enemies are more likely to benefit from the Karmic Dice than the heroes. Replacing a low roll with a high roll only matters if the low roll would have failed and the high roll would succeed.

However, its superiority in Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't stop there. The Everburn Blade equips players with fundamental attack maneuvers. Overall, it stands out as one of — if not the most — most potent weapons in the game.

While it's not too different from the scene with Henk, the Honk cutscene is most likely the rarest interaction in the game, and probably impossible to find unless you're deliberately seeking it out.

Each subclass has its own strengths, with players likely picking them for different reasons, though the hardest to master has to be the Arcane Trickster due to a player struggling to balance their magic alongside their damage.

The rarest achievement is playing instruments, which many players may not be aware of or may not prioritize during their playthrough. The Busker achievement, earned by earning over a hundred gold from playing music in public, is the least-achieved achievement on Steam and is also rare on PlayStation 5.

One of the most popular methods involves leaving someone at camp, which gets around honour mode's perma death. Now, some players have gotten into the habit of constantly leaving one party member behind, so they can get Withers to revive anyone who's killed in battle.

Honour Mode in Baldur's Gate 3 is incredibly challenging, but players can bypass the final boss by sacrificing Gale and detonating his Netherese Orb on the brain. Detonating Gale's orb in Act 2 does not count as clearing Honour Mode, so players must do it in the final battle to earn the achievement and golden dice.

“Balanced Experience” is obviously pretty close to how the developers intended the game to be played for most people, but I find “Give Me a Challenge” is great for those who expect to die multiple times on bosses and really want to explore some of the game's deeper upgrade mechanics.