Masochism and hardcoreCRPGfans go hand in hand, and it surprises no one when first-time players jump intoBaldur’s Gate 3’sTactician Modewithout a clue of what to do and how to do it. The developers promise these players that the game will chew them up and spit them back out if they go into Tactician without a decent knowledge ofD&D systems.
Related:Baldur’s Gate 3: Every Main Character & Their Voice Actor
But, players are stubborn, if nothing else, and will choose thehardest challengein the game nine times out of ten. We’re here to help you brute force your way to victory. Here are the tips we found most useful when trying to slog through Tactician mode without having much knowledge of the game.
Updated by Hamza Haq on August 22, 2025:We’ve updated the article with new links to give players deeper insight on the mechanics of Baldur’s Gate 3.
20Recruit Companions First
You canrecruitalmost all Baldur’s Gate 3 companions before you get into some of the truly hard encounters in the game.Shadowheart,Lae’zel,Astarion,Gale, andWyllare usually the first ones you’re going to meet, butKarlachandHalsincan also be found without getting into a fight if you plan out your route correctly.
Having more companions to call upon in your camp means you have more options to tackle an encounter. Some fights are made trivial with aRoguein your party. But if you don’t have Astarion to call upon, you might end up having to resort to less optimal solutions.
19Optimize Your Party
Players familiar with the Dungeons & Dragons rule set will know the importance of synergy and taking advantage of broken abilities to clear combat encounters. Don’t be ashamed tomin-max your partyto your heart’s content.
Playing ‘for RP’ is for balanced mode. Tactician is for being as optimal as possible. Plan out yourbuild, think about party synergy,powerful feats,leveling upbefore bosses, and everything in-between. It’s a cruel world out there, and you’ll need every advantage you can get.
18Potions have AoE
Not many players realize but some potions have an area of effect. This is most useful with healing potions or buffing potions, as it allows you to consume way fewer resources and apply a beneficial effect to multiple allies in one action.
If you’re mid-combat and three of your allies are low, group them together, chuck aPotion of Greater Healingat them, and suddenly you have a healed party. Sometimes, using potions is going to be more effective than using anyspell.
17Use Explosives
There are more than enough explosives to go around in Baldur’s Gate 3, and you don’t need to discover the alchemical formula for gunpowder to blow something to high heaven; there are explosive barrels to do that for you.
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While using explosives on their own is quite straightforward, there is another way to use them that few players discover. Multiple explosive barrels, rigged to explode, can be stored indefinitelyinside any bag, and these bags can be thrown. On impact, the bag explodes, dealing equal to however many barrels were stored inside. Truly diabolical.
16Upcast Spells
Some spells in Baldur’s Gate 3 can be upcast or cast with a spell slot higher than their original tier.Call Lightning, for example, is a level 3 spell and originally comes with a level 3 spell slot. But, when you unlock level 4 spells, you can consume a level 4 spell slot to cast Call Lightning with as a level 4 spell.
Upcasting comes with a boost in damage relative to how much higher the spell slot being used is.Magic Missileat level 1 is barely a tickle, but it can decimate an entire group of low-health enemies in one go when upcast at level 5. Know which spells can be upcast, and you’ll never be out of options in combat.
15Dip Weapons In Candles
One of the cool features of Baldur’s Gate 3 is that it allows players to perform the Dip action on every character. Dipping allows a character to dip their weapon in an element that is within range of their weapon, giving the weapon a coating of the element as bonus damage.
It’s a nifty little feature that doesn’t see much use most of the time as there is not always a surface to dip into, making this action somewhat situational. But, if you have a candle in your inventory, you can drop it on the ground and dip your weapon into it to gain fire damage. Candles don’t weigh much and are unextinguishable in BG3, making this an easy way to increase your damage for free. Just remember to pick up the candle afterward.
14Follow The Map Order
As you progress through the game, you’ll start to notice that the game pushes you to do certain encounters first. The battle at the crash-landed nautiloid comes before the battle at theblighted village, but there is nothing stopping you from sidestepping the first fight entirely and bull-rushing your way to thegoblin campat level 1.
But this will pit you at level 2 against enemies that are at least level 5. Not a smart idea. Follow the route the game has laid out for you, and you’ll have much less trouble progressing and leveling up. Don’t try to enter theMountain Passat level 3; exhaust your leveling options in the first part of Act 1 before venturing forth. It’s easier that way.
13Understand Multiclassing
Multiclassingin Baldur’s Gate 3 allows you to flex your knowledge of the D&D system and break the game wide open. Most classes in BG3 are frontloaded, meaning the classes have some of their best abilities given to players during levels 1-3 in many cases.
Related:Baldur’s Gate 3: Best Cleric Spells
This means that you can dip into a class you want to get an extremely powerful feature that’s available to that class at level 1 or 2. A good example of this is the Fighter Class’s Action Surge, an extremely broken skill you can obtain at Fighter level 2. Combine it with something like a Rogue or a Ranger, and you have an absurdly powerful DPS in your party.
12Shift Party Members Around
Some party members are better suited to different roles. Astarion is great atlockpicking, Stealth checks, and bypassing hordes of enemies unseen to take out their squishyWizardbefore the fight begins. Lae’zel is a reliable front-liner, and Gale is well-suited to taking down groups of smaller enemies in a single go with an AoE spell.
Hard save before a tough encounter, find out what the enemy is bringing to the fight, and plan accordingly. It’s hard to ask Karlach to sit one out, but sometimes a rampaging tiefling is just not the right person for the job, and there is no shame in recruiting a fresh face to a fight if you’re feeling stuck.
11Examine Enemies
A common mistake players make is to forget to investigate enemy weaknesses and powers before a fight begins. As soon as you see an enemy, move your mouse over to them, right-click, and click on Examine. This brings up their character sheet, which not only shows their abilities but also any weaknesses or buffs they have.
If you find out that skeletons are susceptible to bludgeoning damage, bring a mace. If you see an aberration of the Underdark that doesn’t appreciate sunlight, send Shadowheart in to bring light to the darkness. And so on.
