When you haven’t decided what character to use for your campaign, the game will ask you to choose from 3 difficulties. The most challenging difficulty in BG3 is the Tactician Difficulty, in which AI will be highly tuned, and all odds will be against you in the campaign.
Don’t worry; we have a perfect guide on tactician difficulty setting and tips that can help you survive the enemy’s onslaught in BG3. However, don’t recommend playing BG3 on Tactician difficult on your first playthrough, even if you are a Divinity Original Sin veteran. The first playthrough involves a lot of learning curves, random mistakes, and sometimes going down a path in CRPGs that you don’t want. Adding too much difficulty to already minor frustrations can totally hamper your experience with the game.
Tactician vs Balanced difficulty differences explained
The Tactician difficulty tests your strategic skills, which means your foes will get several advantages against you like increased HP and attack damage, while putting you at a massive disadvantage. Not only that, but the environment will also turn against you during tactician difficulty as compared to the balanced. You will face more roadblocks than you have ever faced before.
Here are some highlighted facts from the Tactician’s Difficulty in BG3 and how it differentiates itself from the rest:
- The enemies’ HP in Tactician difficulty increases by 60% compared to Explorer difficulty and by 30% compared to Balanced difficulty.
- Your foes get a 5% increased hit chance on attack rolls.
- Enemies get an additional +2 on all their saving throws in tactician difficulty when compared to balanced.
- The AI of enemies gets stronger and more intelligent. They will start using height advantage, cover mechanics, and even elemental arrows to put you at a disadvantage.
- The game puts you at a disadvantage when trying to use long rest. It now costs double the resources. In the balanced difficulty setting, you only need 40 resources for a long rest. However, the value changes to 80 in tactician mode, making long rest and complete recovery a difficult choice.
- You have to use strategic skills like troop placements to win combats; otherwise, enemies will occupy these spaces, putting you and your party at a disadvantage during combat.
- The environment will have roadblocks like more barrels on your path.
- You get a disadvantage on ranged attacks against Shapeshifters, and the game automatically adds a -2 penalty to your attack rolls.
If you want to give up playing on the Tactician difficulty and want to change it, you can do it by going into the menu and changing it from there. However, this will lock you out of Tactician Mode achievement as it only unlocks if you play Baldur’s Gate 3 from start to finish with Tactician difficulty without changing it even once.
Tips for playing on Tactician difficulty
Here are some tips you can use to beat Baldur’s Gate 3 on Tactician Difficulty:
Use Elevation to your advantage
It sounds like a simple tip, but it is beneficial as it is an excellent strategic move. Having an elevated position during combat can save you from many enemy attacks, and you will have a greater chance of hitting the enemy from above.
Have a good party
In Baldur’s Gate 3, some classes are superior to others due to their skills and abilities.
It would be best to last longer in every combat to be victorious in tactician difficulty. Therefore, you should opt for classes with good damage and healing abilities. Having them in front of your party against enemies will make a huge difference in combat.
Take a good long rest
After a fight, you should rest longer in a camp. It will require you to have abundant camp supplies. Resting longer will heal your party and charge your spells and abilities to use in upcoming combats.
Use buffs before combat
Some buffs in BG3 will last until you long rest in BG3. Such buffs can be activated before a combat to utilize them fully against enemies. An example is the Mage Armor, which increases your Armour Class during combat.
Use the element of Surprise
This is very important in initiating combat, as sneaking and attacking an enemy from behind will cause them to lose their first move. This surprise attack is a great tactical move in BG3 Tactician difficulty and deals a massive amount of initial damage.
Be a good chatter
There is no need to go on the offensive every time you across an enemy in the tactician difficulty of BG3. First, analyze the situation you are in, then examine your opponents’ thoroughly. If you believe you can survive the encounter, go ahead with the offensive. Otherwise, try to talk to the enemies and try to either persuade or intimidate them into leaving you alone.
Use your surroundings
The only way to survive brutal encounters in the tactician mode of BG3 is by becoming a master tactician yourself. Knock out your enemies from heights, shove them into the abyss, douse them with fire, or sandwich them in an impossible situation. Look out for items in your surroundings that you can use, like candles, to put your weapons on fire. Every single bit counts and inches you one step closer to victory.
Respec, and do it a lot
The only way to respec in BG3 is by finding Withers. This should be your highest priority, as he allows you to change your character’s and party members’ skills for a particular scenario. Mix and match your skills and see what benefits you the most in a particularly difficult fight.
Recruit everyone
The more, the merrier. Nothing can be truer about the statement when it comes to the tactician mode in BG3. All party members have their unique abilities and combat skills. This will allow you to access a large array of spells and strategy options during the fights.
Save scum your way to victory
Make sure to quick save before every enemy encounter. If you are about to lose or already lost a few party members during the fight, restart from the previous save. This time, try a new strategy or prepare more aptly before the fight. There is no shame in cheating the cheating AI of tactician mode in BG3.
Best Builds to Use During Tactician Difficulty in BG3
Multiclassing plays an important while going for a build in the tactician mode of BG3. Due to difficult enemy encounters and highly intelligent AI, we need builds that cover all the aspects. For this purpose, we have created a very specific build to tackle this insane game mode. Wizards and Monks are the best classes to use for the tactician difficulty.
The Shadow Monk Rogue Thief build (6/6) specializes in stealth while buffing your character with massive HP gains per level. Shadow Monk Rogue Thief moves fast and covers a lot of distance, allowing you to create openings and place your party strategically. You also get proficiency in lockpicking and dexterity-related checks.
If you want to stay with one class that can decimate your enemies, you can’t go wrong with the School of Evocation wizard build. This build can access a plethora of offensive spells like Fireball that can decimate enemies in an instant. You can also use a lot of other AoE spells to make the most of your encounter. Playing with Evocation Wizard also removes the requirement of having a healer in your party, as you can also assume the role when needed. However, this build lacks proper armor, and you need a lot of backup support to survive high-level bosses in the game.
