Honour Mode is the hardest mode in Baldur’s Gate 3. Patch 5 added it on 30 November 2023, and its rules are strict: you get a single save slot that keeps overwriting itself, and if your whole party goes down, the run is over. Bosses also gain Legendary Actions. Here’s what Honour Mode changes, how to turn it on, what happens after a wipe and when it’s worth taking on. Everything is current as of 20 October 2026.
What Honour Mode changes
BG3 has five modes: Explorer, Balanced, Tactician, Honour and Custom. Honour sits above Tactician and, on top of tougher fights, adds rules that affect both saving and how a run can end.
| Area | How it works in Honour Mode |
|---|---|
| Saving | A single save that is constantly overwritten. You can’t load an older save. |
| Party death | If the whole party dies (a total party kill), the Honour run ends. Individual fallen characters can still be revived. |
| Bosses | They get Legendary Actions, extra actions outside the normal turn order, plus stronger abilities. |
| Combat rules | A reworked action economy limits stacking attacks and actions, and some exploits are fixed. |
| After a wipe | You can finish the campaign in Custom Mode, but it no longer counts as an Honour run. |
For most players, saving is the biggest change. Outside Honour Mode, save scumming (saving before an important roll and reloading if it fails) is a perfectly legitimate way to play. In Honour Mode that safety net is gone, and every failed roll stays with you.
How to turn on Honour Mode
You can’t switch to Honour Mode in an existing campaign. You can only pick it when starting a new game, from the list of difficulty modes. If you’re partway through a Balanced or Tactician run, you’ll need to start over.
What happens if your party dies
Losing one character isn’t the end. You can keep reviving fallen party members. The run only ends when the entire party goes down.
At that point you have two choices: end the campaign, or carry on in Custom Mode. Custom Mode lets you set individual difficulty settings by hand, so your story progress isn’t wasted. The run just won’t count as an Honour Mode completion any more.
The reward: the Foehammer achievement
Finishing the game in Honour Mode unlocks the Foehammer achievement, described as “Complete the game in Honour mode.” You’ll find it among the game’s 54 achievements on Steam.
What Patches 7 and 8 changed
Honour Mode kept being tuned after release:
- Patch 7 (5 September 2024) gave Honour Mode bosses additional Legendary Actions.
- Patch 8 (15 April 2025) fixed a bug that could trigger a Game Over in one location while a party member was merely controlled, fixed stacking damage riders and fixed settings saving after a Game Over.
Patch 8 is the game’s final major update, so don’t expect further big changes to Honour Mode. What else it brought is covered in our Patch 8 overview.
Who Honour Mode is for
Both IGN and GamesRadar+ recommend tackling Honour Mode only after you’ve got experience on Tactician or have finished the game. Tactician is a “hard mode” in its own right: enemies have more health, hit more easily and use smarter AI, and encounters get extra traps and explosives. Larian’s Swen Vincke advises players who don’t know the Dungeons & Dragons rules to stay on Balanced.
So don’t pick Honour Mode for your first playthrough. Learn the basics in our beginner’s guide and get to know the classes and subclasses first. Once you understand combat, your party and the risks of each encounter, Honour Mode makes a great challenge for a second or third run.
Join our Discord to get advice from players who’ve already beaten Honour Mode, or to show off your Foehammer achievement. Come say hi on the GamersTogether Discord.
FAQ
The game’s hardest mode, added in Patch 5. You get one save that keeps overwriting itself, the run ends if the whole party dies, and bosses have Legendary Actions.
No. You can only choose Honour Mode when starting a new game, from the list of modes.
The Honour run ends. You can continue in Custom Mode, but the completion won’t count as Honour.
The Foehammer achievement, whose description reads Complete the game in Honour mode.
Not really. Reviewers recommend it only after Tactician or a full playthrough, and Swen Vincke advises players new to the rules to stay on Balanced.
Information verified on 20 October 2026. More guides are in our BG3 guides section.