Tips & Tricks – Baldur’s Gate 3

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a large and complex game, utilizing an extensive pen-and-paper roleplaying ruleset, and as such certain aspects of it may not be obvious or even cause some confusion if you’re just setting out on your journey through Faerûn. This guide will alleviate some of that confusion and share a heap of helpful tips that will make your Baldur’s Gate 3 experience a more pleasant one.

UI Tips

• The Interface Options tab has a Hotbar Options section allowing you to choose which items will be automatically added to your hotbar when you pick them up. Unchecking these will give you greater control over the things you can easily access in game.
• You can adjust your Hotbar in a variety of ways. The small + and – signs next to the End Turn button allow you to add or remove Hotbar rows, while the lock button above them allows you to rearrange the stuff you have on there by dragging it around. You can also click and drag the red separators on the main Hotbar tab to determine which part of it is dedicated to Actions, Bonus Actions, and Items.

• The Passives tab on the Hotbar is anything but. It actually holds various abilities you can toggle on or off. By default, you get the option to toggle non-lethal attacks, but various class features also go there, like for example the Warlock’s Repelling Blast. The latter lets you choose whether or not you want your Eldritch Blast to push enemies back.
• Pressing Tab (or clicking the helmet button above your party portraits) opens the Inventory screens of your entire party.
• You can create and name custom markers on the map.
• The three buttons in the lower left part of the dialogue screen allow you to open the menu, pick a different character who can keep exploring while your original one is stuck in a conversation, and quickly read the dialogue history.

• You can type things in the Inventory item filter, allowing you to search for a particular item you can’t seem to notice among all the clutter.
• If inventory management is giving you a headache, you can pick up random containers and then drop certain items (like all the notes or special arrows) inside.
• If you have multiple characters that go right next to each other in initiative order (indicated by their portraits being “linked”), you can switch between them at will. An unfilled arrow means they haven’t taken their turn yet, whereas a filled arrow and hourglass icon means that they have. Use this to synergize abilities.
• If you ended the turn of one of your characters, but others who are right next to them in the Initiative order can still act, you can select that character and click the Cancel End Turn button that will appear to the right of the Hotbar. This will allow you to reactivate your character and keep moving, provided you still have actions left.
• When you choose a basic attack (either melee or ranged) from your Hotbar instead of just clicking on an enemy, you get a new menu where, provided you have a Bonus action, you can choose a poison to apply to your queued attack.

Gameplay Tips

• If you are struggling with extreme dice results, turning on the Karmic Dice setting can make the dice more forgiving after consecutive failures (beware — it will also apply to enemies: more on that in our Karmic Dice Guide).
• A lot of enemies in the game have resistances and immunities to certain damage types. As such, having several weapons on hand to swap between them depending on who you’re facing is a good idea.
• If you are faced with an environmental hazard, such as a turret or damaging ground, entering Turn-Based mode will help you avoid damage by letting you think and act “faster”.
• Using the environment is not only incredibly helpful, but sometimes essentially necessary in order to defeat certain foes.

• While shoving enemies into bottomless pits and lava fields can be useful, consider what loot you will be sacrificing if you do so. Humanoid enemies (especially bosses) are generally better to pummel in a place you can reach them, while most monsters are safe to flick off.
  • By that same token, be wary of where you position your party. Enemies are intelligent, and will push your characters into bottomless chasms if given the chance.
• There are plenty of junk items you’ll find in the world: things like a Plate or a Cup. These items have no utility purpose, and your inventory might fill up pretty quickly if you keep picking them up, wondering if they are useful. You can learn how to identify these by their absence of stats and brown background, which we discuss in our Safe to Sell Items Guide.

Classes & Skills

• If you have a Pact of the Blade Warlock (such as Wyll), don’t forget to bind your Pact Weapon daily.
• If you have an ability among your party which knocks enemies prone, especially if your characters’ initiatives are linked, consider starting with that, as it’ll give other characters greater chance to hit.
• Remember that you can use other party members as distractions: a cat familiar can meow to draw attention, or you can Perform with a musical instrument.
• Don’t forget that you can use the Guidance cantrip for more then just dialogues. Your Rogue is looking to steal that cool sword you can’t afford? Casting Guidance beforehand will make the job easier.
• Fire can burn certain items and containers, so if you’re searching for a note that will help you advance a quest, be careful where you’re aiming your fireballs.
• See a chasm or other endless pit? Cast Feather Fall, or go in with a character that can fly. You might be surprised where it leads.

• Some skills are used more than others. Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Persuasion, Deception, and Perception are all used more than the other skills in the game.
• However, Inspiration is much more likely to come from checks involving the other “less used” skills. No proficiencies go to waste, if you have a party composition that includes a background which will benefit from them (like Outlanders with Survival, or Sages with History).

Companion Tips

• Nearly all Companions in the game will upgrade to a second, more powerful version of themselves after progressing on their quest (which should happen soon enough if you are talking to them). These upgrades are not usually game-breaking, but do open up new possibilities.
• Consider the narrative implications of who you take with you on your quest; certain locations will see certain characters have unique abilities and dialog that will open up more possibilities.