Starting Baldur’s Gate 3 and not sure which difficulty to pick? For your first run, go with Balanced, the game’s default difficulty. Explorer is for players who are mainly there for the story, while Tactician and Honour Mode are for people who already know the rules. Below you’ll find an overview of every mode, what to do in your first hours, the mistakes to avoid and how long the game takes. This applies to PC, Mac, PS5 and Xbox as of Patch 8, the final major patch released on 15 April 2025.
Which difficulty should you choose
BG3 offers five modes: Explorer, Balanced, Tactician, Honour and Custom. The last two arrived with Patch 5 in November 2023. Larian calls Balanced the default difficulty, and Swen Vincke advises staying on it until you know the Dungeons & Dragons rules. The developers describe Tactician as the game’s hard mode.
| Mode | Who it’s for | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Explorer | Players who mostly want the story | Easier combat, multiclassing switched off |
| Balanced | Your first playthrough | Default difficulty, multiclassing available |
| Tactician | Players who know the D&D rules | More enemy health, enemies hit more easily, smarter AI, extra traps and explosives in encounters |
| Honour | Experienced players, ideally after finishing the game | Hardest mode, a single save, a total party kill ends the campaign |
| Custom | Anyone who wants to tune the challenge | You set individual difficulty elements by hand |
You can only pick Honour Mode when starting a new game, never in a campaign that’s already running. Bosses get Legendary Actions, the action economy is tightened and some exploits are fixed. If the run fails, you can finish it as a Custom campaign, but it no longer counts as an Honour Mode completion. Our Honour Mode guide covers the rest.
Your first hours: what to do
Save often
The game doesn’t autosave very often, so get into the habit of saving manually, especially before conversations that involve a dice roll and before fights. Outside Honour Mode, save scumming is completely legitimate: save before an important roll and reload if it goes wrong.
Camp, resting and Send to Camp
Outside combat you can fast travel to camp at any time. Items you don’t want to carry can go to the Traveller’s Chest with the “Send to Camp” option. Short Rest and Long Rest restore health and spell slots, and a Long Rest uses up camp supplies, so hang on to your food.
Inspiration and rolls outside combat
Companions award you Inspiration when you act in line with their character. Outside combat, an Inspiration point lets you reroll a failed check. You can also turn Karmic Dice on or off in the settings.
Stealth, high ground and shoving
Attacking from stealth gives you advantage, so opening a fight from sneak mode pays off. Sneaking past a large group of enemies is risky, though. High ground gives advantage on ranged attacks, and Shove is a bonus action you can use to push an enemy off a ledge.
Perception and your party
Since Patch 8, an item you find with a successful Perception check shows up on the minimap and in the log, so it’s hard to miss. Your party is your character plus up to three companions. Ten companions can join you in total, but you can’t have all of them in one playthrough. Who they are and where to meet them is in our companions guide.
Mistakes to avoid
- Don’t underestimate Tactician. If you don’t know the D&D rules, start on Balanced. That advice comes straight from Larian’s Swen Vincke.
- Don’t expect multiclassing on Explorer. It’s switched off on the lowest difficulty and available on Balanced.
- Don’t upset your companions. If you keep going against what matters to them, they can leave the party.
- Don’t rely on autosaves. The game saves on its own rarely, so save manually.
- Don’t jump straight into Honour Mode. Both IGN and GamesRadar+ recommend it only after some Tactician experience or a first completion.
Looks and class aren’t final
You don’t need to worry about ruining your character for good. You can change your appearance at the Magic Mirror, added in Patch 3. You can respec your class for a fee with Withers, who settles in your camp. Withers is also where you hire mercenaries (hirelings) if you’re short a party member. For every class and subclass, including the Patch 8 additions, see our classes and subclasses guide.
How long is Baldur’s Gate 3
In a 2023 interview with IGN, Swen Vincke said a typical playthrough takes 75 to 100 hours. If you want to do everything, he said you’ll probably hit around 200 hours.
In July 2025, Larian’s Michael Douse said the median playtime on Steam was 62 hours and 55 minutes. Keep in mind that this isn’t how long the game takes to beat. A median only tells you that half of Steam players have spent less time in the game and half have spent more, whether or not they finished it.
If you want to play with friends, read our multiplayer and crossplay guide.
Join our Discord to find players for a co-op run and get help picking a difficulty: GamersTogether Discord.
How players and critics rate the game is summed up in our Baldur's Gate 3 review (9/10).
FAQ
Balanced. It’s the default difficulty, and Larian’s Swen Vincke recommends staying on it until you know the D&D rules. Explorer suits you if you mainly want the story, but you lose multiclassing.
Yes. You change your appearance at the Magic Mirror and respec your class for a fee with Withers, who settles in your camp.
According to Swen Vincke, a typical playthrough takes 75 to 100 hours, and doing everything takes you to around 200 hours.
Four: your character and up to three companions. Ten companions can join you in total, but not all of them in one playthrough.
No. You choose Honour Mode only when starting a new game. A failed run can be finished as a Custom campaign, but it won’t count as an Honour Mode completion.
Information verified on 20 October 2026. More guides are waiting in our BG3 guides section.