Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Help Tips & Tricks Need help. Getting my butt kicked.

Playing this on the default difficulty still find most battles to be difficult and have to save spam in battle in order to win. Heard playing rogue makes it easier but I'm not really into that class and prefer to play something else. Wondering if I need to buy my equipment in order to get stronger as I haven't been doing it, I've been relying on finding stuff. Currently have a level 4 Monk and still in Act 1 and manage to save the grove. I've done a bit of research on the unarmed monk and I am suppose to multiclass to fighter/rogue but I am looking for a build that can be useful straight off the bat instead of waiting for more levels.

Don't fret. Learning curve.

Monks get really powerful later on. My mage also got into a lot of tough spots early in the game, because passing near a burning shrubbery could kill her. And I do recommend getting into brewing your own potions and elixirs!

YOu should definitely buy stuff. Very early in the game you could try to get one or two magical bows from the druid grove. Once you get to the goblin camp there is some better gear to acquire.

Yes even to people like me who can basically play BG1 and BG2 in their sleep BG3 gets really hard sometimes, until you have found the right strategy.

Or, in the case of the initial battle on the Nautiloid, it can also stay hard, because you just have so few resources to begin with.





Assuming you have taken Tavern Brawler and use no weapons, i.e. attack with bare fists, I dont know why anyone would ever complain about open hand monk[1]. Thanks to that broken feat, they are insanely overpowered.

And their extreme mobility (use the Ki Ability and then move using jump) is super helpful, too. I think all monks can do that beginning with level 2 ?

It only gets worse if you use strength elixiers to get strength 21 and later 27 all day. Or if you retrain Karlach to Monk and use soul coins on her, because as of 6.9 those actually also work with bare fist attacks.


Oh and yes of course you buy stuff. Its insanely cheap in BG3 to buy stuff, especially in Act 1, and what else do you want to spent your money on, anyway ?

Dont buy regular items though. Only buy special magic items with unique properties. The regular stuff you can get from drops, sooner or later.



[1]: Oh, and either taken strength potions or using a natural high strength. Thats of course needed.

Without any information about how you're going about things, there's only generic information I can give:

1) Pay attention to stats and proficiencies.

Make sure your characters are using weapons they're proficient with and have the right stats for them. Melee weapons need Str with Finesse weapons being able to use Dex. Ranged weapons need Dex. Each caster's spells have their own stat (Cleric uses Wis, Warlock uses Chr, Wizard uses Int, Bard uses Chr, Sorcerer uses Chr, Druid uses Wis)

Also, make sure to respec Shadowheart if you're using her, to adjust her stats into something not awful. Give her either some decent Str or decent Dex and a suitable weapon that fits the option you chose so she can actually attack things.

2) Dex and Con are your friends.

These stats are pretty valuable to have. Dex increases your initiative rolls (Making it more likely you act first in combat) and your AC (So long as you're not wearing Heavy Armour). Con provides health and helps with Concentration checks.

3) Concentrate!

Most spell capable classes have at least 1 useful Concentration spell. Which is well worth utilizing as such persistent spells can provide good bang for your buck in terms of spell usage. Spells that can make your opponents weaker, make your allies stronger or outright deal massive damage in an area are always great.

In regards to some of the points you raise:


Buying equipment isn't necessary. Especially during Act 1 where there's not a great deal of worthwhile equipment (Off the top of my head, there's the shortbow from the gnome in the Grove that gives advantage vs Monsters, the Pike in the Goblin Camp if you're using a throw build character, the ring in the Underdark that applies +2 acid damage to attacks and the staff in the Underdark that gives +1 spell DC)

In Acts 2 and 3 there are much more valuable items available to purchase which are definitely worth acquiring.

In Act 1 most of the best stuff is simply found on enemies or given as quest rewards. Though, do check out the vendors to see if any item seems like it'd be useful for one of your characters. Gold is not a rare resource once you get a run going so you don't need to hoard it.


Unarmed Monk is fine to start with. It's not particularly item dependent (Especially given you don't need melee weapons), though it is pretty crucial you have the stats for your build (High Str if going Tavern Brawler or high Dex if not)

I know many min/max builds will dump Str but still go Tavern Brawler because they rely on using Elixirs to set their Str to a high value. If you're not doing this, you'd want to raise your Str.

As far as multiclassing goes, Unarmed Monk doesn't need to (Or want to) multiclass until after level 6 because Manifestations are what super juice your fists into the strongest weapons in the entire game (Provided you have the Wis to back it up).

One thing I'll point out, is level 5 is a pretty significant powerspike for characters. Since it's when Martial classes get their second attack and Caster classes get an extra damage die on their Cantrips which significantly increases the damage you're able to do.

I think if you are new to the game, then playing such builds can feel a bit too complicated. Imo the simplest way is a strength based fighter, ranger or paladin. Paladin has the most conversation options of these classes, especially the oathbreaker. Get Karlach or Laezel, or even better both, to join you. Respec one companion to a bard, and they can cover locks and traps, spellcasting and help with dialogue checks.

Then it is pretty straightforward; give everyone the best armor and weapons, and just hit things (while the bard sings battle songs :D).

Thank you for the replies. These two questions most likely belong in a different subforum but I might as well ask them here.

First off is there a specific quest order that players follow to slowly gain experience. I would imagine doing the hag quest would require a high level good geared party to tackle it.

Second, I was thinking of trying to make a fighter/cleric because I want to make a melee character that has good AC and damage. I looked up one guide on how to do it on youtube but also willing to hear other player's opinions on how they do it.

- The lowest level I would attempt the hag quest with is level 5. For ironman I would even suggest Level 6, just to be sure. This is probably the hardest battle in act one ? Level 5 is maybe the biggest power spike in the game. Warrior classes except for Bards get their second attack (Warrior Bards only gets it on level 6; Lore Bards get more magic instead).

I also try to keep the Hag as merchant as long as possible to stock up on strength elixiers. They are really cheap and last all day, unless you die or use a different elixier. Running more than one character on strength elixiers is a PITA but running just one, and maybe occasionally boost the other warrior(s) in the group for especially hard encounters, is perfectly fine.



- Fighter and Cleric are both amazing pure class choices, even for ironman mode. I dont see much synergy between them though. Combining them will mainly delay both the good Fighter and Cleric features, and you will never get the third attack per action Fighter gets at level 11.

If you want to play a Battle Cleric, there is the War Domain. It gets extra attacks, though only a limited amount. AFAICS the really OP choice for Domain seems to be Light though, also thanks to itemization: https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Luminous_Armour - with the right item choices, Light can shut down whole encounters on their own later.

Fighter has synergies with other classes, namely Barbarian and/or Rogue. And you can always add 2-3 levels of Fighter to really any warrior class for Action Surge and possibly some initial Battle Master or Champion features. However initially you want to play all warriror classes as pure class so you get to having the second attack ASAP - the second attack is a huge powerup.

Cleric doesnt really have synergies with other classes. You can add one level of Wizard to get a Cleric/Wizard pretty much as we had it in BG1/BG2. This is because 1. Wizard can learn spells from scrolls and 2. The number and level of spells only depends upon the spellcaster level, and both Wizard and Cleric are full spellcasters and give you a spellcaster level for each level. Other than that I think one should keep Clerics pure class.



- Keep playing monk, really. Its a great class, also thanks to itemization. You unfortunately locked yourself out of one of their best items by not buying the Returning Pike +1 from the merchant in the goblin camp. Its never equipped; whenever you need a ranged attack, you just keep it in the inventory and throw it when you need a ranged attack, and unequip it after the battle to get your unarmed melee attacks back.

You can just throw javelins instead though, just remember to collect them after the battle. Thats what I do on my second warrior anyway.

There is another thrown weapon later[1], but you either need to play as dwarf or have the Disguise Self ritual spell to turn yourself into a dwarf to use it.



- If you really want to change your class, you can use Withers. You cant change race and "body type" (aka gender) or name or racial features you picked (like the extra skill proficiency of humans or the wizard cantrip for High Elves), but you can change the class around as you wish.



[1]: I meant RETURNING. You can throw all kinds of stuff in this game, including all weapons, but very few of them magically return after throwing.

Quest order is pretty flexible really, just depending on how confident you are at tackling different things (Like, going after the Gnolls might be done a bit later)

The main thing to do is ensure you complete ALL of the Grove quests before initiating the Goblin Camp sequences (Either causing the attack on the Grove or killing Dror Ragzlin). Since doing so will cause any uncompleted quests to be unavailable (Things like saving the kid from the Harpies, confronting Kagha, stealing the Idol, helping Sazza)


In terms of good AC, it's normally Dex based classes that have the best AC due to the fact that Dex provides AC.

A Dex/Wis Monk will have the best AC in the game and after level 6 as Open Hand they'll also be dishing out crazy damage. Rogues, Dex Rangers, Dex/Con Barbarian and Dex Fighter can also get good AC (Though this will usually kick in during Act 2 when you can purchase Yuan-Ti Mail which is medium armour that doesn't have a cap on its Dex bonus to AC - The exception is Barbarian because they can use robes/clothes and get their Con modifier to AC like Monks do with Wis)

Barbarian also gets the benefit of resistances (Reduced damage by 50%) while Raging. Normally just physical damage (Slashing/Blunt/Piercing) but Bear Wildheart provides resistance to everything but Psychic (Which you won't encounter until the end of Act 2)

Though, if you want a character that is super unkillable... Melee Wizard. 5 levels of Fighter (Eldritch Knight) to get second attack and equipment proficiencies (Get the Shield spell) the rest of your levels as Wizard (Abjuration School) and hoard every single item that provides you with the use of an Abjuration spell (And pick those spells as you level up) to use after each rest (To stack up Arcane Ward). Get some Heavy Armour (Ideally you're looking for Heavy Armour that has a passive effect of reduciing damage taken, the earliest you can find this is in Grymforge) and the Heavy Armour Mastery feat. You'll take very little damage at all and if you throw in a Warding Bond from a Cleric you'll likely take 0 damage from practically everything.

With Melee Wizard you can ignore most spells and thus spell stats (Abjuration spells don't have spell stat scaled effects or any DC's) and simply go full Str and slap things with big 2 handed weapon. Spell slots simply are used to cast Shield or to generate Arcane Ward charges for damage reduction.

Adding to what others have already said (and I apologise if this has been mentioned already and I missed it), it's not just the order of encounters or your party build that can make things easier, but also how you approach encounters. Often the game gives you a bit of a hint that you may want to look around and try something other than charging in headlong, such as at the encounter at the grove gates when you hear shouting and your companions are likely to urge caution.

It is possible to win that fight by just running up to the gates, but easier if you start from the high ground overlooking them. Similarly, in the Blighted Village it's easier to beat the ambushing goblins if you find a way to climb up and turn the ambush on them (or indeed talk your way out of an attack altogether which is easier if you're a drow ... or appear to be one). Look around for terrain that gives tactical advantage such as high ground or choke points, consider splitting your party and positioning them carefully if you think a fight is likely, try drawing your enemy onto ground that suits you better, try to sneak in and get the first shot in (though this can backfire in certain situations) and look for things around you that you can use such as firewine barrels. Larian are very good, in my opinion, at setting up fun tactical encounters and there'll often be a number of ways you can use the environment to your advantage. There's an impressive array of approaches you can take to, for example, dealing with the goblin camp and some of them are much easier to pull off with a lower level party than others.

In terms of order, there are a few battles in the first area with higher level foes who can do considerable damage to a lower level party if you end up fighting them (you don't always need to), so you may want to avoid, eg, the tea house, toll house, githyanki patrol and a group of gnolls beseiging a cave until you're at least level 4 and possibly level 5, unless you are careful with your tactics.

And as others have said, don't worry about the learning curve! If you persevere you'll get there, and the things that make combat a bit overwhelming to start with are what makes it fun once you've got the hang of the basics

I approve this comment.

Despite what some people with 1000 hours plus in this game might say, it’s not particularly easy. It takes a bit of time to learn the systems and working out good tactics.

I’ve not tried as a monk, but I hear they can be quite powerful. I don’t think any class is crap, so personally I’d not advise picking one just because someone says they are easier. Unless you want to play a bit to figure out how it works and restart or respec. It is an RPG and combat is only part of it, so I’d stick with the character you want to play.

Some general things:

- Make sure you understand what uses actions, bonus actions, spell slots, etc. Drinking a potion is a bonus action, using a scroll is an action, etc. Also whether things recharge on short rest, long rest, etc.

- Read all the tool tips for sells and special actions so you are clear on what they do.

- Note spell durations and if a spell is concentration or not (you can only have one at a time and it can be broken by taking damage).

- In combat pay close attention to the order of who goes next. Combat in BG3 is almost like solving a puzzle. Often that comes down to who needs to die or be incapacitated first. Try to plan a few moves ahead a little

- Examine enemies. It’s kind of ridiculous, but you can apparently learn everything you need to know about an enemy just by looking at them. (On PC) right click and examine. You’ll see all their abilities, and resistances/vulnerabilities to different types of damage.

- Look out for any equipment that synergises well with a character’s abilities. Don’t worry to much about giving everyone +1 items unless you think they need it. The one thing that I consider essential from act 1 is the whispering promise ring. It grants bless to any character you heal. Give it to someone (eg shadowheart) with healing word, and it’s a ridiculous combination. That then heals, revives and gives a decent buff, at range, all for a bonus action.

- Positioning and using environment can make a big difference. Larian included quite a lot of ways to cheese some fights. Sometimes it’s the environment, or using certain spells and abilities. It’s much more rewarding to think of them yourself than look them up though.

I was thinking of making another thread about this but decided I might as well post the message here. I know that you can "talk" Turgor into defeat but I would like to know how to beat him in a proper fight. Is there a spell out there that can detect invisibility? So far I have Wyll in my party and I use the hunger spell to prevent him from going invisible which sort of helps with fighting him but would like to know if there are additional/better options to follow.

talk to Volo and let him do what he wants

There is a See Invisibility spell as well as a magical eye from Volo and potions that grant See Invisibility. But they're not particularly great given that they don't work right and instead of seeing invisible things they just make invisible things roll a DEX save at the start of your turn if you're close enough to them...

The best ways to deal with invisibility are AoE effects. Notable are things like Create Water (Or throwing bottles of water), Spirit Guardians (Especially with any Radiant Orb generating items) and Sleet Storm.

Any AoE's will do, but things that hit a large area and always affect targets (I.e. No save to nullify them) work best.

I have also noticed that enemies tend to turn invisible at the end of their movement (not 100% but seems very common) giving you a clue where you can employ the AOE even if just a water bottle.

Also as has been mentioned positioning is very important in many fights. The AI will usually have significant advantage at the start, however you don't have to fight on ground of the AI's choosing. A tactical retreat/fighting withdrawal (not "flee combat") is almost always effective. You will find the AI will usually abandon good terrain in order to pursue you and close to melee range. As you retreat/withdraw you can wear them down with ranged attacks and slow them with AOE. You can usually withdraw/retreat to where the terrain is neutral or you have the terrain advantage (high ground, choke points etc). Not possible in all fights but it is in many.

Another effective strategy is to prioritize reducing enemy numbers quickly, I prefer to have party members concentrate fire on the same target whenever possible rather than having each of my party engage in 1vs1 battles. If outnumbered, gain parity ASAP, if you have parity. achieve superior numbers ASAP.

I manage to save spam my way through most of the battles of Act 2 and have come across a battle that appears to be impossible for me to beat even with save spam.

The gith ambush after defeating Ketheric.

Current situation:

*No Shadowheart. Had to ditch her. Won't explain due to spoilers.
*Currently a pure Cleric.
*Party is level 7 right now.
*Did not go through the Underdark because I wanted to roleplay as somebody who didn't want to deal with puzzles even though I know that you can gain access with high perception. At the time wanted to see how far I could go under-leveled and got my answer.

I made a cleric because I found out what would happen to Shadowheart in a previous playthrough but was thinking maybe I should make a wizard.

Level 7 AFTER Ketheric? How did you manage to do that?

Like I said before I save spammed.

What fight/fights before Ketheric's defeat are you asking me about?

Well, they said they didn't go to the Underdark. Which also means no Grymforge. That's 2 entire areas worth of exp missed out on.

Given the way they are prioritizing RP, there's potentially even more content they've skipped to boot.


You're aware there's multiple ways into the Underdark right? Only one way goes through Priestess Gut's chambers.

You can also get there via the lift in the Zhentarim hideout as well as by jumping into the giant pit near the Spider Matriarch (Provided you have some way of having Feather Fall such as a Potion, Scroll or Spell)


For that fight, my go to strategy is to rush up the left side ASAP, with the priority to take out the crossbow Gith (Since I find that crossbow Gith are the most dangerous since they do so much damage), while having a Tank character occupy the leader. Once the crossbow guys are dead, I focus down the leader and then mop up the rest.

I don't know if it's the most effective way to deal with that particular encounter, but it's what I typically do (I also usually do the fight before Ketheric and the Shar temple so aren't as high level as it's possible to be)