Baldur’s Gate 3’s Honour Mode can be a pretty intimidating prospect. You’re limited to one save file, and if your party all dies during an encounter, you won’t be able to continue. This can result in tens of hours of playtime evaporating in minutes due to a bad decision or even just some bad dice rolls. The best way to ensure a successful Honour Mode run is to make some good early decisions that will keep you from dying before you really get started.
Like anyD&Dcampaign, some of the most dangerous parts ofBaldur’s Gate 3happen early on. This isn’t to say the world is unbalanced, but a level one character has far fewer resources than their higher-level counterparts. You also won’t have found nearly as many helpful items,like spell scrolls, that you can use to help get yourself out of a bad situation. With that in mind, here are some mistakes to avoid early on, and some ways to help set yourself up for success.
10Command The Demon To Drop His Flaming Sword
Zhalk On The Nautiloid Carries An Everburn Blade
Near the end ofBaldur’s Gate 3’s prologue section on the Nautiloid, you will come across a Mind Flayer fighting a demon, the latter of which wields a powerful flamingtwo-handed sword called the Everburn Blade. On easier difficulty levels, it is actually possible to kill the demon, depending on how well the Mind Flayer rolls, and your party composition. However,killing the demon in Honour Mode is a much less realistic option. However, there is still a way to get your hands on its sword.
After rescuing Shadowheart from her pod,have her prepare the spell Command. Then, you may use the spell to command the demon to drop the Everburn Blade. Although the spell says it only has a 55% success rate, I’ve never seen it fail here, and you can try it twice if you don’t use Shadowheart’s spell slots on anything else. You can then have another character pick it up, giving you a great sword that will be strong through at least Act One.
9Have One Character That’s Good At Escaping
Only One Character Needs To Survive To Preserve An Honour Mode Run
Although you’ll want to focus mainly on building a team that can win fights, it’s not a bad idea to have a backup plan in Honour Mode. Having a character that is quickly able to get the 27 meters away necessary to flee combat can bea good way to ensure a TPK doesn’t send you back to the start. Luckily, a few classes come to mind when considering who would make a good escape artist.
Any spellcaster that can learn Misty Step is a good option here.It will give you 18 meters of separation and also won’t provoke opportunity attacks. It’s also a bonus action, meaning you can dash and use your full movement after using it, which will likely get you far enough away from any enemies to flee combat. Rogues are another good option, as they can dash twice in a turn, allowing them to cover a lot of ground. So long as one party member survives the fight, your run is safe.
8Kill The Goblin Boss At The Windmill After Dialogue
Killing Fezzerk Will Cause His Allies To Flee
If a fight seems too difficult, there is likely a way to avoid having to do the entire thing. This is the case with the fight outside the windmill in the Blighted Village. Here you will find a group of goblins torturing a deep gnome.you may attempt to resolve the fight peacefully, but if you don’t succeed, you’ll find yourself squaring off against a huge crowd of goblins and a few wargs, a fight that could easily bring your Honour Mode run to an early end.
Luckily, you don’t have to defeat every enemy here.As soon as you kill the goblin boss, Fezzerk, combat will end and any remaining enemies will immediately flee. However, don’t try to cheat this by killing Fezzerk before combat begins. I made this mistake in one of my playthroughs, and when he died the rest of the goblins didn’t run away. Make sure the fight is initiated before attacking Fezzerk, then focus on him with your entire party to end the fight in a single turn.
7Illithid Powers Are Your Friends
Illithid Powers Offer A Range Of Additional Buffs And Abilities
The first time I playedBaldur’s Gate 3, I completely ignored theIllithid powers gained through using tadpoles. I had been worried that it would have some story implications later on, or might accelerate my Tav’s transformation into a Mind Flayer. On subsequent playthroughs, I just kind of forgot about them, since I was so used to ignoring them. However, once I started to struggle my way through Honour Mode games,I realized how useful they could be.
I really enjoy using Favorable Beginnings with my Assassin Rogue build. Not only does this help with my first Sneak Attacks against unsuspecting enemies, it also helps me talk my way out of bad situations. Fly is another solid skill, especially given how important positioning is in many battles. While there are some potentialconsequences of using Illithid powers, you can use at least some without it having a big negative effect, andthe benefits can help you immensely in Honour Mode.
6Leave No XP Unfarmed
Finishing Every Encounter Will Ensure You Don’t Fall Behind On Levels
In anyBaldur’s Gate 3run, you’ll likely want to do most of the sidequests you come across, if not just for XP, then to experience the story. However, when playing in an easier mode, you can get away with skipping some minor encounters here and there and not miss much. For instance, if you don’t fight the Phase Spiders or Mud Mephits in Act One, you won’t miss any meaningful parts of the story. However,in Honour Mode, you don’t want to leave any potential XP unearned.
Farming all available XP is one of the easiest ways to ensure you stay safe in Honour Mode. You never want to reach a big fight against someone like Ketheric Thorm only torealize you aren’t as strong as you should beand have your run come to an abrupt end. This is also why I always do every quest in both the Underdark and Rosythorn Monastery, despite the game’s narrative framing these paths as a one-or-the-other situation.
5Complete Quests In A Specific Order
You Don’t Want To Face Certain Challenges Too Early
Although you will want to complete every available quest so as not to miss out on any experience, you will also want to do them in the right order. For instance,there are several quests - like fighting Auntie Ethel - which I typically save until after I’ve leveled up a bitin the Underdark and near Rosymorn Monastery. Similarly, I don’t immediately face the Phase Spiders under the Blighted Village. Instead, I tend to return to them around when I hit level five. An outline of the order I recommend approaching early fights can be seen below in sequential order:
Some of these fights are probably doable earlier, and with the right builds they won’t be terribly challenging.I still like to be overly cautious when doing an Honour Mode playthrough, because nothing feels worse than losing hours of progress to a poorly chosen fight. While fleeing combat is also an option, resurrecting party members early on can be a big drain on your finances, and make it difficult to afford everything you need.
4When An Encounter Will Result In Combat, Avoid Dialogue
Talking yourself out of combat encounters can be a great option for safely gaining some early experience inBaldur’s Gate 3. There are also a few instances where you can double-dip, like convincing goblins in the Blighted Village you mean them no harm, earning some experience, then killing them anyway for more XP. However,some conversations are fated to end in a fight, and won’t offer you bonus XP for completing them. For moments like this, you may be better off not talking.
One of the strongest examples of this is Balthazar in Act Two. Instead of talking to him in the Shadowfell, I sneak my party into strategic positions before the point where his dialogue is initiated.I also make sure to bring a character that knows Counterspell. If you initiate combat with Balthazar instead of talking to him, you will get the opportunity to counter his Raise Undead spell, which will stop all the other enemies from spawning in the fight. He can only cast the spell once, so a successful Counterspell turns it into four-on-one in your favor.
While Balthazar is an extreme example, there are plenty of other encounters that work better early on if you don’t talk first. One good example is against the supposed Paladins of Tyr that are hunting Karlach.You can isolate and take out Cyrel, forcing the other two to spend a turn or two getting to you. This also lets you set up a trap, like a well-placed Cloud of Daggers you know both of them will run through. Approaching encounters this way can often make difficult fights more manageable.
3Collect Smokepowder Barrels For Tough Fights
Smokepowder Barrels Are Explosives That Deal High AOE Damage
Some of the most challenging encounters in Honour Mode, andBaldur’s Gate 3in general, are the ones where you are greatly outnumbered. Later in the game, you can rely on Gale and some AOE spells to help take out multiple enemies in a turn, and summon spells can help level the playing field. However, there is an alternative earlier in the game, before you’re able to cast spells like Fireball or Ice Storm.
Sprinkled throughout the world, you’ll find explosive Smokepowder Barrels.There are about five in the Goblin Camp behind the door being guarded by the Zhentarim, and they are sprinkled around sporadically in other places. Any time you find one, have a strong character pick it up and put it in their inventory for later. Then, you can strategically place these barrels around a battlefield before starting combat, giving what is essentially an AOE spell that does a lot of damage.
You don’t have to place the barrels right next to your character, so you have some wiggle room to sneak close up behind an enemy, then drop the barrel in the middle of them. So long as you click and drag the barrel from your inventory, and not throw them,enemies don’t react to seeing the barrel suddenly appear. You can also throw a Smokepowder Barrel at a fire source if you want it to instantly detonate, which is usually how I start my Honour Mode fights against Dror Ragzlin.
2Respec Shadowheart If You’re Running Her
Shadowheart’s Starting Stats Aren’t Optimal
If you’ve ever noticed that Shadowheart tends to miss most of her melee attacks, it’s becauseher pre-determined stat block is pretty poorly distributed.BG3has her as a well-rounded character, which leaves her with only average Strength and Dexterity skills. Typically, I will respec her using Withers, and redistribute her skill points in a more optimized fashion. I tend to dump Strength and put the points into Dexterity so she has a higher AC, and then just have her use Finesse weapons. I also get rid of her Charisma score and redistribute it into Wisdom, Dexterity, or Constitution.
I also tend to pick a new Cleric domain for her, since Trickery doesn’t seem all that useful. The Death domain gives you Touch of Death, which can help Shadowheart output more damage, as can Tempest Domain thanks to the powerful spells it provides. I’ve read that some players will also pick up a few Paladin levels with her for additional damage, though I haven’t tried that build myself.
1Kill As Many Enemies As Possible Without Entering Combat
Killing Enemies With Stealth Can Reduce Their Numbers Before Combat Starts
A lot of times inBaldur’s Gate 3, attacking or killing an enemy will immediately roll all characters present into initiative order and start a combat encounter. However, there are ways to get around this, andtaking advantage of them can make any combat encounter less dangerous. One possible way to do this is to have a single character sneak up to an isolated enemy and attack. You’ll gain advantage and possibly be able to take the enemy out in a single hit, which could even keep you out of combat if the enemy is out of sight.
Using this method,you’re able to pick off a few odd enemies on the fringes of a battle, reducing the numbers you’ll have to face when proper combat starts, and giving you less of a disadvantage on action economy. Even if your first character is spotted, so long as they roll high in the initiative order, you can just freeze combat on their turn, allowing the rest of your party to sneak up and attack individually. This could result in you picking off a few more enemies before they get a turn.
There are also certain areas where you can talk your way out of a fight. I consistently attack goblins in the Goblin Camp before starting combat. So long as you have a high persuasion skill, you can just keep talking your way out of starting a fight, chipping away at multiple goblins' health. Once the fight starts, several goblins will be low enough to pick off at once with something like Magic Missile or an AOE attack, giving you a leg up.
I will admit, some of these methods make me question the “Honour” in Honour Mode, but sometimes you have to play a little dirty to overcome unlikely odds.Baldur’s Gate 3’s Honour Mode is a serious challenge, but once you learn some of these tricks, it starts to get a bit easier. You’ll still need to be careful and make good decisions during fights, but these tips can help give you an advantage.
