The path through Baldur’s Gate 3 is fraught with adventure, romance, peril, and plunder. It can seem a bit daunting, at first blush. Plus, for those who haven’t played Dungeons & Dragons or even a CRPG like this in a while, there’s a lot to familiarize yourself with. You might need some tips.
While I wouldn’t call myself a D&D 5E expert, I’ve followed the Early Access of Baldur’s Gate 3 for a while and, at the time of this writing, put a solid chunk of hours into the launch state of BG3. It’s a massive, complex game with a lot of interlocking systems and little quality-of-life tips that, even if you are told them once, you might forget ten hours down the road. Well, that’s why I’m here.
This is my bundle of tips for newcomers, and a handy reference for seasoned players. Whether it’s a keyboard shortcut or an inconspicuous toggle, these are some tips I’ve kept noted and on-hand throughout my playtime in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Highlight interactable items
My biggest quality-of-life tip for Baldur’s Gate 3 is to simply hit Left-Alt more often. Pressing this key down highlights all the interactable objects in an area. It’s pretty handy, whether you’re outdoors in a busy environment or in the deep, deep depths of the Underdark.
More than that, though, it helps you get an idea of where to go next. If a gate is blocking your path, Left-Alt might highlight the lever you’re overlooking. Or maybe there’s an important note on a table you didn’t notice. (To be fair, there are a lot of notes, and a lot of tables.) Any point at which you feel you haven’t exhausted all options, hit that highlight button and poke around again.
Stealth-walk together
Sneaking around can be effective in Baldur’s Gate 3, if you manage to execute it. Stealth attacks can get the drop on enemies, taking them unaware and giving you some advantage in a difficult encounter. That said, you’ll want to make sure the whole party is on board with your plan.
While Larian implemented an auto-jump feature, that has companions automatically jump after your lead character if it’s a safe leap, you’ll need a special key for group stealth. Hitting Shift-C on the keyboard will put the whole party into sneaking-around mode. Keep in mind that this works with groups, too; so if you’ve stealthed one character after splitting the party and want to rejoin the group without raising the alarm, you can Shift-C before sending the main contingent over to link up.
Use turn-based mode to handle sticky situations
We’ve all stumbled into something unexpected once, twice, even four times before in Dungeons & Dragons. So when the traps and explosions start flying in this game, my tip to you is to use Baldur’s Gate 3‘s Turn-Based Mode to simplify the decision-making process.
While you explore Baldur’s Gate 3 in real time, there is always the option to hit the big, round button on the right-hand side of your RPG taskbar to swap into Turn-Based Mode. This institutes a turn-based structure on time, having the world and your own party act in roughly six-second increments or so. It might seem strange at first, but it’s actually incredibly useful for precisely skirting around traps or obstacles, as well as sneaking around certain foes.
Hide helmets in the inventory screen
Whether you’re a fan or detractor of funny hats, sometimes a scene gets a little intimate and you want the wizard hat to stop harshing the vibe. Whether the pointy cap stays on or not, there are options for those who want unobscured views of their Baldur’s Gate 3 party.
While you have the party equipment screen open (TAB by default), you can hover the helmet slot in each members’ equipment. You’ll see a tiny icon appear above the box, which you can toggle. The settings are either On, Hide During Dialogue, or Hide. With this, you’ll never have to endure a wizard hat ruining the mood again. Unless, of course, that is the sort of vibe you’re looking for.
You can swap difficulty at any time
Baldur’s Gate 3 can be pretty tough at times, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see those less familiar with CRPGs hit some early walls in this game. There are three difficulty settings in Baldur’s Gate 3, ranging from the story-driven Explorer to the combat Aggro Crag of Tactician.
The nice part is, you’re not locked in to any of them. At any point during your campaign, you can open your Options menu and swap the difficulty to another level. This makes it very easy to throttle your Baldur’s Gate 3 difficulty experience to your own particular taste. Bosses may have imposing spells and powerful equipment, but they don’t have what you have: an Options menu.
Camp when you can
For those who haven’t played much Dungeons & Dragons, you might not get why camping is so important. That’s cool. I’m here to tell you: use the camp, and use it often.
First and foremost, it’s your source for a Long Rest. These Long Rests will, if you have adequate supplies, restore your health and resources to full, and many spellcasting classes need to rest to restore spell slots for more spell-slinging. Long Resting also restores your Short Rest counter; you can do two small, immediate Short Rests between each Long Rest, like daytime naps. For some classes, this even refreshes a few (though not all) of your resources.
Secondly, the camp is where a lot of interpersonal story happens. Nighttime events often advance party members’ plot lines forward. And if you see someone with an exclamation point over their head, that means they have something new and/or important to say to you. These are the companion moments that are very worthwhile, so make time to set up camp every so often to keep the story moving at a decent pace.
On top of all that, you will eventually have an NPC named Withers join your camp. Aside from being one of my absolute favorite NPCs in the game on personality alone, Withers also gives you some crucial boons. You can speak to him to recruit hireling (custom characters you can class out to fill party spots), bring fallen party members back from the dead, and reclass and respec your own characters. There’s a lot of good back at camp.
Check the items in your inventory
While the previous Baldur’s Gate 3 tip was for the D&D novices, this one’s for the CRPG novices: check your inventory. Seriously. Pay attention to items you get. See if you can interact with them. Move them around, examine them, see what makes them tick.
It might sound mundane or silly, but the number of times I’ve picked up something useful, like a tip for my current predicament, and not realized it was there until much later is slightly embarrassing. Reading notes, interacting with objects, and even opening those pouches and backpacks you pick up is extremely useful. Larian’s tucked a decent amount of information away behind those interactions.
Save those Inspiration rolls
Every now and then, you’ll do something really neat or interesting, and be rewarded an Inspiration die. In tabletop, this is how DMs can reward clever players. In Baldur’s Gate 3, it feels like a mixture of that and discovering an easter egg.
It’s extra helpful because Inspiration can give you a second chance at missed rolls. Let’s say you hit a Dexterity check that needs a 10 to clear, and your final tally is a 9. Using an Inspiration roll will give you a do-over. That’s pretty valuable, even if you’re just saving and reloading on failed rolls anyways. We all know each other does that.
ABS (Always be saving/shoving)
This is a two-fold Baldur’s Gate 3 tip: ABS. For one part, that stands for Always Be Saving. Save often, especially after you win a tough roll or finish a fight. You don’t want to botch a roll, get slammed off a cliffside, reload and be forced to win an arduous battle all over again. Yes, I am speaking from experience. You have tons of save slots and a quicksave option, so make use of them, especially since the autosave isn’t so lenient.
But you also want to ABS: Always Be Shoving. More specifically, always use your bonus actions. Each turn, you can move and act. But you can also undertake a bonus action, which can range from chugging a potion or using your class proficiency to take an extra swing, to just plain shoving someone. If you’ve got an option, use it. Worst-case scenario is you gain nothing, and best case is knocking someone prone or down a chasm. Which leads me to my last tip…
Use the environment, control the crowd
The Divinity: Original Sin lineage is alive and well in Baldur’s Gate 3 combat, which puts a similar emphasis on interactions. This means environments can become rapidly dangerous, to your advantage or disadvantage. Characters can be shoved into bottomless pits, grease can be set ablaze, and ice can knock you on your butt like you’re in a fail compilation.
With an angry enemy barging down your door, you might want to just start blastin’ at them. But frequently, the environment can provide an advantage, putting up obstacles and disadvantageous ground to impede their offensive. Seriously, Grease can get you through a lot of early encounters. And spells like Entangle can make hazardous areas for foes.
