Baldur's Gate 3: All difficulty levels Baldurs Gate 3 guide, walkthrough

In BG3 you can adjust the difficulty level. Our guide contains a summary of all difficulty levels in BG3 - Explorer, Balanced and Tactical. You will also learn about the most important differences between them.

Last update: 31 May 2024

In Baldur's Gate 3 there are a lot of options to customize the gameplay, and this also applies to the level of challenge. On this page of our guide, we explain the differences between 3 main difficulty levels - Explorer, Balanced and Tactician. This will help you choose a diffculty level that will provide the best experience and fit your proficiency in RPG games, especially turn-based ones. We also answer whether a casual "story mode" dificulty level exists.

• List of difficulty levels
• Does BG3 have a story mode?

List of difficulty levels

In Baldurs Gate 3, there are 3 basic difficulty levels available:

1. Explorer - This is the lowest difficulty level present. It allows the player to focus mainly on the story, placing less emphasis on correct character development and hardcore tactical turn-based gameplay. Additional features of this setting are more difficult killing of friendly NPCs (lowering their chances of accidental death), 20% better prices from merchants, and a starting +2 bonus to Proficiencies for party members.
2. Balanced - This is the default proposed normal difficulty level. Choosing this setting will require more attention to character development and party composition, and requires preparing for battles and issuing correct commands. However, there shouldn't be a case where some fragment of the game is extremely difficult and hard to complete. This is the recommended choice for a first playthrough.
3. Tactical - this is the highest possible difficulty level, which is an equivalent of traditional "very high" setting. Every wrong decision related to character development, team selection and tactics during battles can lead to a quick death. This mode increases the number and statistics of enemies, including their ability set and their artificial intelligence. Additionally, the number of traps and other potential dangers may increase.

Does BG3 have a story mode?

1. Many contemporary productions offer a story mode that allows you to focus solely on following the plot without worrying about managing a team or issuing correct commands in battles.
2. In BG3, you won't find a traditional "story" difficulty level, but with Explorer chosen, the game should be noticeably simpler than at default difficulty setting. Nevertheless, you can't completely ignore tactics in battle or the topic of developing the abilities and equipment of the heroes. Explorer does not require detailed delving into statistics or understanding more complex gameplay mechanics.