Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Baldurs Gate 3 is ridiculously hard

I find the game pretty easy now. My first play-through maybe a year ago i had a couple difficult encounters. Second play-through with sorceror main character i stomped through the game pretty easily. Third play-through with berserker im not finished with yet but overall the class seems pretty OP and im betting im going to complete it without having anyone reach 0 hp. I cant wait for increased difficulty options!

If you think the Sorcerer is OP try Barbarian in Berserker mode with GWM feat and Reckless Attack. I't so good, and throwing axes can also topple the enemy. But most of all it does good damage and have a high hit chance because it also uses Strength. I am having a blast with it as we speak.

Do you seek some advice with this problem?

I would advice you: Then dont. :P

I dont do any of those "abuses" you mentioned, my fighters are fighting, my casters are casting, and my enemies are dying ... everything works well.
If they dont to you ... maybe check some guides, since there is solid chance you do something wrong. :-/

I'm not sure I understand you're question here. As the player, you have no idea how tough any new encounter will be. You don't even know if there even will be an encounter?? The first thing I found in my game was find the druid grove, and they told me to kill the Goblins, then in the first part of the Goblin camp there was a water well which leads you to an underground cave with the Matriarch spider.

I must have missed the sign on the well that reads, "hey, you're too low level for this fight, come back later!"


Yeah, it seems really silly that you are assuming everyone else has also played this EA multiple times.. and expect others to know how to build and equip their characters. Actually, I don't think I even have anything to equip them with?? Besides a couple of minor magic items that mostly do nothing in combat.

I've also just accepted the default\recommended stats and spells. So they should definitely not be built incorrectly.


You don't see a problem with the fact you have to already know all the encounters, what levels you should be for what encounters, and know how to properly build out your characters. And have access to items I've yet to even see?

We are very different people lol.

It's hard with such a map design to guide players in the good lair depending their levels.

The matriarch is a boss fight for level 4 characters but you can run into it really soon without any warning about the danger of the area.
This fight can be extremely easy or extremely hard even for level 4 characters, as most "hard" combats in the game. Again, depending the tools you're using the experience can change A LOT, which is not a good thing imo (unbalanced tools = unbalanced difficulty).

An exemple of tips for that fight : you can shove/thunderwave the matriarch in the pit in the middle of the room to OS her... Yes, you can OS the boss with a bonus action.

So funny enough, I spent a bit of time reading and watching guides today. And they actually all pretty much repeat what @Madscientist said. Abuse the jump mechanic, use consumables like barrels and grenades. Only one guide mentioned target prioritization. If you happen to know of any good guides, please let me know. Otherwise, the message is obvious, your fighter should be creating surfaces and shoving enemies.

I am reading things like "only send one party member into combat at first, then do the same for each other party member one at a time". Sounds like fun!

My guess is just like the comment right after yours, you've been playing this game a lot and have already memorized most of it so you can max out your characters and prepare ahead of time for all your fights.

Happy you are enjoying yourself, but I hope Larian is listening to constructive feedback from new players.

Thanks, for the tips. What does OS mean?

One shot

Try the guides by Fextralife on youtube (or written)

My first play through EA I encountered the matriarch pretty quickly as well. One look at its HP from a distance told me to come back later. So yes, there are signs if you pay attention.

That is what stealth and exploration are for, it's not like you jump down the well and land on top of the matriarch. You can find a room in the caves with the clues that there might be something more powerful down there (and how it came to be). You can scout ahead to find out what it is exactly. You can then decide whether it's even worth fighting at low level, considering these caves are clearly not inhabited by the goblins the druids have asked you to kill.

I have to admit berserkers are the first fighter type that I'm enjoying playing, because of their dialogues.

That's fair. I did have a hard time with the Ettins and phase spiders before it too. Honestly, I just thought it was me. Like "I should be able to beat these enemies. Otherwise, it wouldn't there in front of me. It's a video game and game designers don't put in fights you can't win." Apparently they do, lol.

But I think most players have that same mentality. It's a video game. Of course you are supposed to fight the monsters. Maybe the game should look for ways to tell the player to not think that here. And that we should be expected to turn around in dungeons. Not my idea of fun, but if that's the game the devs want to make, it would be nice to not have to waste an hour learning it the hard way...


How? Based on what? The spookiness of the text?

I like to explore, so I actually did find all the books and lore. (Gale got an inspiration point from it). Every monster in a video game is built up to be a big and scary.

But let's say I did exactly that. I read the in-game lore about the spider. And said, "too spooky!" So now what, should I come back in another level? Or three? Maybe the fight requires a special story item I have yet to learn about.

If someone does what you are suggesting, they would have absolutely no clue when they should return.

So people should play the whole game assuming any scary monster should be avoided and miss out on the content that they paid for? I think you're a being silly goose

Shortly: it's RPG, with hostile encounters not being necessarily lethal for anyone (you know stealth, persuation, intimidation...), and your character supposed to have common sence and you're supposed to role-play it. So the way of thinking like "Oh! I see a hostile encounter! Kill it with fire!" is not for this genre of games at all.

That is just your assumption based on ignoring the "stealth and exploration" part of my post.

The books are a hint. You can use that hint and stealth the caves and find out it's a giant spider, larger than the kind that surrounds it. You can examine it, which lets you know how many hitpoints, resistances, level etc. If you do not know how much damage on average your party can deal, and therefore how long it will take them to take monster down, any new enemy will be tough in the game.

This is an open map game. The devs have no way of telling what part of it players choose to explore first, depending on the plot. You were for example told to kill the goblins, yet decided to take a detour to kill spiders in a cave that clearly is not the goblin lair. And that spider cave is an entrance to an even tougher place. At which point the only way to make it easy for players who assume everything they find on their way should be easy would be to introduce level scaling.

And not every new player thinks like that, at least not in this genre (cRPG). The original BG games were like that as well; open maps where you could encounter monsters too tough to kill, and where the game gave you hints about them through storytelling.

Personaly i watch Wolfheart guides ...
So i would recomend those:



I have and maybe i can ...
But i dont.

Im too lazy and forgetive to do that.
True i dont need to test my artefacts and spells since i allready know wich suits my style best ... that probably helps me a lot ... but except that?
I would not say that im going to encounters anyhow prepared. I often starting battle unhealed, with wasted spellslots and unused arcane recharge, sometimes with wrong weapon that i switched for some purpose and forget to switch back, etc. etc.

I don't find the game that difficult.

Some fights require more resources than others, of course. The githyanki patrol, for instance. I've never actually lost a fight against them, and I rarely bother with prep work or getting the high ground. But I do find that I lean on resources like potions and such much more heavily in that fight than others.

With Ethel, some folks say she's difficult, but my biggest problem is not killing her too fast in her house. I usually want to wait to kill her in her den. In fairness, I almost always have a magic missile spell at hand in that fight, making it much easier when her illusory doubles appear.

The Bulette is a rush to do as much damage as possible. I've never failed to kill the Bulette in the first three turns, but I admit it can be difficult, and I sometimes have to push myself. This is another fight where I rely heavier than usual on resources, specifically poison. It's also good to get some light or faerie fire on the creature, although I wouldn't call that foreknowledge. It's obviously difficult to hit; you notice that in combat right away, so it's immediately apparent that you need extra light or faerie fire to land enough hits.

I've heard people say the Minotaurs are tough, but I've never had a problem with them. I usually just concentrate all my damage on them one at a time until they've both fallen.

I always try to stay aware of my positioning, and I make a point of knowing what resources I have at hand. I think a big problem some players have is that they forget about their scrolls and potions and such. Part of what I mean about positioning is being cognizant of what threats are around you. Put yourself in a position that isn't attractive to your enemies. You don't want to tempt them into shoving you, and it's important to keep in mind that it's always better if your enemy dashes toward you instead of you dashing toward your enemy.

Use your effects. If you're trying to close in on an enemy, try to disarm them from range along the way. Try to frighten them, if possible.

Some people trade out weapons to take advantage of vulnerabilities. For example, they'll use blunt weapons on skeletons. I've never bothered with any of that, although it's probably smart to factor those things into your choices. For me, the skeletons fall plenty fast to a sword... fast enough that I don't have to worry about pulling out a club.

Which other fights are difficult? I suppose there's the druid grove. In that fight, I like to keep my companions close, but slightly separated. It's probably the best, most difficult fight in the entire game. Maybe a close second to Nere and the Duergar, assuming you don't have any help from rebel Duergar and you're not using any explosives to soften the targets.

Those fights are resource heavy. Concentrate on your positioning and use your inventory. Do you have any void bulbs left? If so, great. You can use those to reposition your enemies, helping to control the field. It's good to concentrate a few of your attacks so you can eliminate enemies from your opposition as quickly as possible.

A lot of it is just controlling your enemies and the battlefield as much as possible, all while remaining conscious of your positioning and utilizing your scrolls, potions, bombs, and poisons when and where necessary.

I think its a GOOD thing that the game be ridiculously hard. Gamers now-days get way too but-hurt feelings on a GAME OVER.
The problem is, the game isn't.

It seems hard until you get what Larian really wants you to do, forget D&D and use LHR (Larian House Rules) gimmicks/cheese the battles.
The <problem> is we have choice but AI does NOT. We can force ourselves to play D&D style (ignore barrels, pretend shoove is a regular action, turn the gamma/brightness down to simulate day/night cycles...) but the AI in combat will use LHR...

You do not need gimmicks or cheese to defeat the encounters.

Exac
Exactly and you don't need spells/magic/abilities to win an encounter. Larian House Rules makes that possible.

And this is why the game is so good ...

Everyone can find that kind of entertainment he was looking for. :P