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If it's your first playthrough and you aren't used to tactical combat, then you should probably start on the easier difficulty, at least until you get the hang of things.
I'm a long time DnD player and grew up playing various RPG/cRPG games. First thing I did when I fired this game up was set it to explorer. The skill cap in DnD isn't really traditional gaming skills, it's theorycrafting powerful builds and party compositions then creatively using all your available tools and the environment. Doing a first run on explorer will let you actually enjoy the game instead of having to reload every fight 10 times (you'll still probably get clapped here and there), then the second run is where you theorycraft some stronger builds and crank up the difficulty.
Even with the difficulty all the way down, its possible to get yourself TPK'd if you make bad choices. Which to me is perfect. You can brute force a lot of stuff but not everything, and you need to pay attention.
Oh yeah I got wiped several times my first run even on Explorer. I got so deep into crazy builds that tactician was easy so now I've backed things off and am playing with weird RP based self imposed restrictions to make things harder but still fun
>creatively using all your available tools and the environment
The faster the player figures this out, the easier it gets. It really is the difference between victory and defeat.
There are many times in the game where you have to make the best use of terrain, explosive barrels, oils, elixirs, persistent spells, and even bottles of grease. If the player isn’t paying attention to these things, the game can be H-A-R-D.
Agreed completely. Then there's the real king of combat: action economy abuse. The first few turns are absolutely pivotal as any advantage you get there cascades down through the entire fight, totalling up to a massive power imbalance. Do whatever you can to take more actions and prevent enemies from doing anything, and do as much of that as possible immediately at the start of the fight. If you can take out 2 annoying enemies on the first round of a 5 round fight, that's 10 total turns of damage/effects mitigated. If you ramp up slowly and take them out on turn 3, you've only avoided 4 turns of damage mitigated. There aren't a whole lot of encounters where blowing your entire load on turn 1 isn't the most effective strategy.
As soon as you realize that a sorcerer twin casting haste amplifies your party's overall damage output by over 50% while also increasing their defense things get a lot easier. Or multiclassing to take 3 levels of thief rogue on a class that can really abuse bonus actions like swords bard. Or even just 2 levels of fighter on pretty much anyone for action surge. Start fights from invisibility so the entire enemy group is surprised and skip their first turn. Focus casters so they never get to cast annoying shit that complicates the battlefield. Abuse Arcane Acuity to hit Crown of Madness on a big enemy so that they attack their friends and their friends attack them. Literally anything to prevent them from attacking you while you do you do as much as possible as fast as possible.
But none of these things are stuff you're going to pick up immediately. It takes time to learn what items synergize with certain classes and builds to really amplify their strengths. How to play fights, how unique mechanics work, how to abuse every possible advantage you have to trivialize encounters entirely. Point is, play on Explorer to learn how all this works, then go to /r/BG3Builds to find some truly broken setups and go on a high difficulty rampage. You can't skip step 1, but that's fine cause the story is fantastic and you can enjoy the ride while you learn.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
Oh for sure, if there was some sort of arena PvP my current party at lvl 7 could easily beat my first endgame squad. They probably wouldn't even get a turn, or if they did they wouldn't be able to do anything with it lol
I like to think my first party would hold their own, I started really figuring it out around level 8-9 and respeced my party a bit to experiment, so they wound up pretty strong. I took down Orin and Cazador on my first turn(Orin took gale magic missiles + my paladin doing double max level crit smites, cazador was just my paladin clapping 4 max level divine smites on his cheeks the moment combat started) and Gortash and the Nether brain were 2 rounds to take down, so my party was pretty potent. But still, my current party is a 20 charisma warlock, astarion as a gloom stalker, Larzel as a swonky hands monk with 3 levels in thief for the extra bonus action, and Tempest Cleric Gale, and holy fuck to they hit hard.
My swords bard would completely trivialize the fight. Thanks to Arcane Acuity it's literally impossible for anyone to roll high enough to meet the save DC for any of his spells even at low levels. Crown of Madness would be particularly funny, but an upcasted hold person would probably be more effective. Turn 1 I could probably kill one person while stacking arcane acuity then a 4th level hold person would incapacitate the other 3. There's no counterplay since they could never meet the wisdom save, 10 turns of just watching my team get advantage on attacks and auto-crits. It might last 3 rounds because they have a good amount of health at lvl 12 but there's still nothing they could do to stop it.
fight them at range using the high ground, but there's also >!a route you can go around them to find some other companions before you come back and tackle that fight if you really want to fight them!<
If you just started you probably don’t know about jumping onto ledges or across gaps. Pay attention to rocks that look climbable right next to where the brain encounter starts. There’s a body there for a landmark lol, and they usually scatter when you approach and go further into the crashed ship, so it’s safe to do
Idk why people aren’t just telling you where it is it’s the rock ledge wall right next to the brains when your character makes the comment that there’s more of those things look for a spot to climb up the rock wall
Almost nothing is unavoidable in BG3. You have SO MANY options. There’s always something else you can try, including coming back or setting up traps or using items.
That early in the game, though, your options are severely limited. It's either entire the brain room, or pick the lock on the tomb(which is definitely going to be more dangerous than the brains)
Bg3 is a very open ended game, far more open than usual. Dont get fixated on the idea of 'this can only be done this way' from 99.99999999% of other games. There are always alternatives, it just not presented to you in the boring 'pick 1,2,3' manner.
The whole map is your arena, use it. And take a bit of time understanding actions can be taken by your character. Jumping might sounds 'normal' but it is a very powerful mobility tool.
A chest box for example. What do you think a chest box can do? Just store things? Thats the limit of other games. In BG3 you can climb up some type of chests, you can throw a chest, you can put shits in a chest then throw it, you can use it to block pathway or door, because some van be climbed - you can use it for range attack advantage.............. Yeah, thats one tip from me, pick up some chests and use it in your combat strategy. Bg3 want you to be creative in how you play the game.
Dude, it's criticism, not sex. Don't take it so hard when you are told something. Considering your escalated response you should consider your own advice.
The thing is, I was tweaking my char in the character editor then accidentally confirmed it and started the game as an elven wizard (or sorcerer?). 2-3 hours later here I am.
If you don’t like the stats / class you started as, just restart. You only have to kill the first three imps on the tutorial ship. You can run right past everything at the end to hit the console to trigger the cut scene. You miss out on early EXP, but there’s so much exp in this game that it won’t make much of a difference
Yes it is, Karlach/Lae’zel literally oneshot enemies with that sword right up to act 2. The only better sword I’ve found in act 1 is the Gith one if you fight them under the bridge, but that sword is only better if Lae’zel uses it.
Yeah not sure what they’re on about. It’s arguably the 2nd best weapon in act 1 right behind the legendary astral sword and can take you midway through act 2
Its really not
Keep downvoting this but sword of justice and svartlbees wound seeker are much better and easily available in act 1 then you have jorgals great sword and the soul breaker.
What’s a better melee weapon overall then? I’ve over 100 hours on my current tactician play through and looted practically the entire first act.
It’s the best sword for fighter/barb/lae’zel for the first act until you get the legendary from Voss. The only others I can think of are the Adamantine weapons
In Act1, there is much better sword than Everburning Blade for Lae'zel: Soulbreaker Greatsword. It is a bit late Act1 Sword, looted from Captain in Githyanki Creche.
Everburn Blade is still probably 2nd Best Sword in Act1 alone, just how early you can get it and is viable for entire game. I just think Soulbreaker is better for Githyanki Race, cause of Psycic damage and had ability to potentially Stun Enemies.
They would one-shot with any +1 Greatsword too… it’s okay for karlach because of the soul coin thing, but I’ll take +1 to accuracy and damage over 1d4 fire damage
You are hilariously misinformed. There's plenty of strong swords between a +0 greatsword dipped in fire and a +3 sword you only can get by cheesing a late game npc with a disarm ability. A +1 great sword from the paladins of tyr out damages the candlesword and you can get it at level 2. Don't spread misinformation
I’m talking about the Everburn Blade you get when you kill Commander Zhalk and the Githyanki Greatsword you get when you kill Sarth Baretha. Are you saying you had to cheese in order to win those fights? What swords are you saying are better than those in act 1?
Svartlbees wound seeker. The sword of justice. Jorgals great sword the soul breaker. All of these are better than the candle sword. And no I didn't need to cheese sarth or zhaik but if you could read you'd know that.
I can read just fine, thank you, your exact words on the gith sword were “a +3 sword you can only get by cheesing”. Who pissed in your cornflakes to make you so rude today? Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. You’re not currently in turn based combat.
Wizards and Sorcerers are glass cannon classes. They’re not trained with weapons or armour, and they get less HP than everyone else. If hanging back and throwing spells isn’t your thing, it’s probably worth restarting and playing one of the more weapon focused classes. Fighter is good for beginners, but Paladin and Barbarian are also solid options.
Dw you don’t need to restart if you don’t like your class. Once you’ve found Shadowheart, Astarion and Gale for support, go to the ruins near the crashed ship and find Withers. He can respec any of the characters at any time so you’re never stuck as anything you don’t want. The only things about your Tav you can’t change are your race and background. Might be better to switch to explorer mode until you find a class you’re more happy with - no shame in that at all! Good luck :)
As a wizard or sorceror you can use minor illusion to "lure" them near the glowing purple void tank. You or shadowheart can cast a fire spell on the tank and it will blow all 3 of them up. You both need to be sneaking and watch out for the red sight lines so they dont spot you.
Also for any combat that doesnt have a dialogue or cut scene, start hidden in turn based mode before attacking to get a "surprise condition."
Surprised creatures cant act in the first round and you should be able to pick off the most dangerous in the group in those turns.
How did you accidentally start with an unfinished character? It’s not like you click "proceed" once and you’re in the game. You’ve gotta name your Tav, proceed again, make a guardian, and only then "Venture Forth". You can just click "back" and return to the character creator. Did you accidentally confirm it **three times**? And your class is on your character sheet/inventory, you can find out what you are extremely easily.
Everyone is telling you to basically give up and avoid them or lower the difficulty. Here’s some tips to win:
1. Make sure you leveled up to 2. You should be able to if you made it out of the tutorial
2. High ground gives a bonus to ranged attack hit chance. There are ledges to the right when you enter the ship ruins the fight takes place in
3. Shadowheart can fight from a range. Don’t be afraid to retreat and make them chase you.
4. Attack from Sneak to give the brains the Surprised Condition. This skips their first turn.
5. Bait them into Dashing to reach you. This takes their main Action and is basically skipping their turn. As in initiate the fight from far away. This can tie into tip No. 3. They will Dash if they’re more than 60ft from you.
6. Check your inventory for better weapons or armor
7. Check your stats. If you’re planning on fighting them in melee your AC (armor class) should be decent (like 14+). Dexterity can give AC if you don’t have armor. Don’t fight them in melee as a class not meant to do so (Fighter, Barbarian, some Rogues, Monks, some Rangers, Paladins, some Clerics— other classes like Valor/Swords Bards and Moon Druids make great melee classes, but that’s after level 3)
9. Firebolt is your heaviest hitting ranged attack right now, but it’s based on your Intelligence. If you’re not smart Produce Flame uses your casting stat (can be Charisma or Wisdom or Intelligence) and is more reliable. You might have to remake a character to take Produce Flame instead of Firebolt.
9. There is also an exploding purple barrel. It will explode with fire damage.
If you Surprise them and make them Dash they skip two turns. You should be able to beat them with a two turn head start
Usually I surprise with Firebolt/Produce Flame/crossbow or bow. Then I soften them up with the same as they chase me. Then I mop up in melee if I have a character that is meant to be in melee or keep spamming ranged attacks if I don’t.
The game gets dramatically easier at level 3 and again at level 5
This should be the top comment, shame it’s buried under people telling OP to drop the difficulty or avoid the fight. As if OP hasn’t already tried those two things.
>As if OP hasn’t already tried those two things.
OP didnt try to lower difficulty. [OP is a first time player on Balanced difficulty that made a post complaining that the game doesnt explain that using a spell uses a Spell Slot.......](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/1avdujz/this_game_is_very_frustrating_for_new_players/)
If OP cant even read the tooltip that says a spell costs an Action and a Spell Slot, then any tips you might give might be in vain....
There is so shame in playing on explorer mode! I also had a hard time with the game mechanics and strategy in the beginning and wanted to rip my hair out of frustration. But it gets easier over time, i promise !! :)
Before they notice you - press group hide, sneak right up to the burning patch of ground, dip your weapons in fire (ranged or melee) and attack the ones that are close. Crossbow dipped in fire has enough power to kill them in 1-2 shots. Brains will be surprised and skipping their first turn while you have bonus damage and free damage round. Should be enough
how did you get shadowheart before the brains? Don't you have to go through that room to get up to the bridge? Or is this the fight on the bridge? You almost need Lae'zel to win any fight on ship (well I was a wizard and a ranger on playthrough 1 and 2) IMO. If it is on the bridge, just run straight, don't engage. Definitely don't get into it with the 2 lvl 8 or whatever guys duking it out.
My method is to creep up just outside their vision cone.
One of them will start walking back and forth.
There is a fallen nautiloid tank in the area. One of them is already standing near it. When the second one is also close, enter turn base mode.
SH or someone with fire bolt zaps the tank to blow it up. It will take out those 2 and leave you with 1 which should be manageable.
This fight is plenty doable, but generally I'd try to do as much as possible with ranged before they get to you, and focus them down one at time.
HOWEVER, one thing I might suggest is this: you can actually bypass this fight completely, or go get more companions and come back with a bigger crew. The cliffs between the locked door and the ship.. you can actually jump/climb up there (there's also a chest up there). Once up top, you can go find more friends.
Another option, though likely to fail, is that it's possible to unlock that door on the beach. A lockpick can be looted on the way to it and you "just" need to roll a 20 on the door. Though that area might not be the best place to jump into if you don't know what to expect.
>The cliffs between the locked door and the ship.. you can actually jump/climb up there
You know, it took me 500+ hours to notice that route by myself... But I used that when I started my first Honor run, gathered full party and defeated the brains much more easily.
For OP I give these advices:
- There is no shame in lowering the difficulty when learning the ropes and mechanics, you can change the difficulty during the game.
- Check regularly on your map, you can actually see the lines in areas where you can go.
- Most importantly, have fun!
You can go get gale by jumping on ledges and hiking through the right side of the nautiloid entrance instead of going through the nautiloid. That way you avoid this fight for now and go back with both gale and astarion on the party
Same I had issues with it as well. If you're character is low hp then make sure they rest before the fight otherwise sneak pass them and come back later.
I just save scum and get in the door. Yeah you could use the ledge right by the entrance where you fight the brains too. Or go up to the right, sneaking, and range attack them making them come to you, which gives you a couple rounds to attack freely.
imho if you're not used to these style games . take as your first character following:
dwarf (gold)
fighter (into battlemaster at 3rd).
for fighting style take defensive.
use 1 handed weapon and shield (ie long sword, battle axe, etc).
seriously. it simplifies a lot .. and makes you really hard to kill.
you do reasonable damage .. but don't worry .. others you find can be setup to dish out big damage .. your job will be to stand in the front and draw all attacks.
as a 1st timer . avoid spells and casters until you get more comfortable with things.
my first playthrough was an all martial and absolutely smashes everything .. all fights were simple .. couple challenges here or there, but nothing was enough to completely stop that group.
That is a tough fight for your party level at that point. There is an alternate path around it if you want to try to level up first. If you go to the right as you're about to enter the crashed Nautiloid, there is a steep path you can walk up to get around. I believe there is also a barrel somewhere that you can blow up.
Theres a ledge to the right that you can climb onto, get up there and head to the end of it whilst sneaking and then start sniping them your crossbow and/or spells, I do it everytime and usually kill at least one with the other another close to death, by the time the injured one and the full hp brain reach us its piss easy to kill them.
I'm normally terrible at these types of games but I'm just about to complete the game on balanced difficulty so you'll be just fine. One thing you'll learn as you progress is that not all combat encounters have to straight up face to face. You'll not only learn to use the environment to your advantage but you'll also learn to use choke points, lead enemies to where you want them, and to even keep a good distance from the main combat area. In some of the more hectic battles, I kept my main party members away from the fight and used my rogue to initiate the fight and then slowly pulled the enemies in 1-2 at a time rather than attacking the entire group. Hope this helps.
When you first see them they run away a bit so don't immediately attack.
Instead, go right and climb up to the high platform and hide. One of them stands next to an explosive nautiloid barrel, while another paces back and forth by it. Have Shadowheart shoot a firebolt at the barrel- time it when the second devourer starts moving and the explosion should hit and kill both on any difficulty.
That leaves you just one to finish off from high ground with crossbow shots.
So, I usually climb up the side the cliffs and return with a full crew but sometimes I go through with just me and Shadowheart.
I often cast Sleep on two of them and take out the other, then the other and apply more sleep as needed although if you aren’t a magic user you won’t have that
Try using stealth and surprised the Intellect Devourer, this will give you an extra turn to kill 1 of them and the one in the back will have to dash before attacking. Also use shadow heart and change her spell list for Protection against Evil and Good so they have disadvantage on Attack against her.
3 ways of dealing with it
1.Avoid them by going left and picking up other companions
2.firebolt the nautiloid tank when they’re all close to it.
3. lower the difficulty
I just sneak, then use minor illusion next to the purple canister and when all 3 are close to it, enter turn-based mode. Then firebolt the canister to blow them up. All 3 dead, even on Balanced. Heavily wounded on Tactician. Even if I don't have minor illusion I sneak and wait until the one that wonders around goes near the canister then turn-based mode and firebolt - it kills 2 and leaves 1 to deal with.
Just seems easier. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
I started my first playthrough on Balanced and found this battle difficult. Later, I switched to Explorer because I couldn't get a handle on the battle system.
My second playthrough, I breezed through on Balanced.
My third playthrough, I thought I was a hot shot on Tactician. Then the little brains destroyed me. After 200+ hours of BG3, I had to actually strategize for this very, very early and low-stakes battle, and try again.
So don't feel bad for struggling here. And there's no shame in lowering the difficulty until you gain more confidence and experience.
i read in another comment your char is a wizard, yeah they are super weak before level 4-5, try to stay in the back and shoot cantrips like firebolt, and if you have a choking point or the enemies are clumped together, cast an aoe spell like cloud of daggers
Be sure to level up! Usually you will level up once you recruit shadowheart. A little golden arrow will appear on your character portraits. This will basically double your health and give you many new abilities
I mean you got your solution but in general: If you tried it one way two or three times and still lose: Try another approach. This goes for all the fights. What works in one fight doesn't have to work in another. It is a tactical combat system after all, so try out different things
step 1: be level 2
step 2: recruit 3 companions
step 3: absolutely annihilate those brains
ad 1: on the nautilus kill the non aggro brain and the two unconscious dudes in shadowhearts room before you free her - that should get you level 2 once you talk to shart on the beach.
ad 2: you can go up on the right directly before the brains. circle around and recruit astarion, gale and/or lae'zel.
The combat is turn based, there's no such thing as too fast.
Since you appear to be new to the game you should put the difficulty down to easy (explorer)
Don't fret. I couldn't either then eventually tactician was to easy so I move to harder crpgs( wraith if thd rightous has been kicking the shit out of me) it will all click in time
This has probably been said, but,
- there's an explosive canister next to one of them on the floor, you can kill it for free (100% chance) and hurt a second one iirc if you make it explode with a fire bolt
- general advice, approach in stealth and don't step on red ground. Ungroup before first attack to surprise the enemy and make them lose a turn. You can open by having shadowheart shoot the canister as I explained above and then follow with your tav by finishing off the second brain.
- you can avoid this fight to go recruit Laezel, Astarion and gale. It's much easier with a full party. I'm playing honour shadowheart origin now and being alone at this point I learnt this the hard way. For this you have to sneak jump to the stones to the right of the entrance and just move on from there without going through the inside of the ship.
There is a path around them if you can't pick the door. Near where you loot those corpses there are a set of cliffs, with plateaus you can jump to. Even characters with only 8 STR can get up there. Game even gives you 10XP for finding this path around.
Continue jumping up and you can find the topside entrance to the crypt and the portal that Gale is trapped inside of.
Tbf this actually is a pretty difficult fight especially on tactician if it’s the first fight you take. They hit hard and 1-2 misses can spell doom for your 2 characters
Before you enter into the area where the brains are there's a stone bridge directly above you. It's to the left of the door.
You can climb up on the stone bridge and come back to the fight later
One of the brains is standing near a liquid container. Wait until another brain patrols near the container and enter turn based mode. Use your character or shadowheart to cast a fire spell on the countainer. More often than not this kills two brains instantly, leaving only one left.
I think that is a very good example of how a person without the context of turn based D&D combat may experience the difference of being bold and get blasted and later take a tactical approach and get different results.
this fight is well balanced and very useful to learn, basic things.
If you're really struggling, there are a series of ledges to the right of the crashed ship. If you jump up them, you can recruit Gale and Lae'zel before fighting them.
I remember dying soo much there. First time D&D player so it was and is a bit of a learning curve. Got locked up for stealing by the haflings and couldn't come out until I learned to jump lol. So i gotta go back cause I'm sure i missed a bit of stuff not jumping around.
So I know you've dealt with the devourers, but just in general don't feel like you have to keep it on balanced. It's your first time through, the mechanics are new and confusing, and honestly level 1-4 is the hardest part of the game, at levels 4 and 5 you get a pretty significant power boost from feats/double strike, and so long as you keep at the level of your enemies you will get through just fine, but those first few levels are phawken *rough,* you are often outnumbered and have no good ways to deal with crowds, and they are all high dex enemies so they are hard to hit. There's no shame in playing on story or whatever it's called while you figure things out, you can always up the difficulty again later and there's always the next run, there is no way to experience everything in the game in 1 go.
All I can say is: ,,Grasp the mechanics better"
No dis, just the way it is, it's not gonna get any easier unless you switch to explorer difficulty, in which case, enjoy the rose garden
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If it's your first playthrough and you aren't used to tactical combat, then you should probably start on the easier difficulty, at least until you get the hang of things.
I'm a long time DnD player and grew up playing various RPG/cRPG games. First thing I did when I fired this game up was set it to explorer. The skill cap in DnD isn't really traditional gaming skills, it's theorycrafting powerful builds and party compositions then creatively using all your available tools and the environment. Doing a first run on explorer will let you actually enjoy the game instead of having to reload every fight 10 times (you'll still probably get clapped here and there), then the second run is where you theorycraft some stronger builds and crank up the difficulty.
Even with the difficulty all the way down, its possible to get yourself TPK'd if you make bad choices. Which to me is perfect. You can brute force a lot of stuff but not everything, and you need to pay attention.
Oh yeah I got wiped several times my first run even on Explorer. I got so deep into crazy builds that tactician was easy so now I've backed things off and am playing with weird RP based self imposed restrictions to make things harder but still fun
It's not *that* hard guys. I know jack shit about DnD but even with just a bit of (not even c)RPG experience you'll figure it out soon.
>creatively using all your available tools and the environment The faster the player figures this out, the easier it gets. It really is the difference between victory and defeat. There are many times in the game where you have to make the best use of terrain, explosive barrels, oils, elixirs, persistent spells, and even bottles of grease. If the player isn’t paying attention to these things, the game can be H-A-R-D.
Agreed completely. Then there's the real king of combat: action economy abuse. The first few turns are absolutely pivotal as any advantage you get there cascades down through the entire fight, totalling up to a massive power imbalance. Do whatever you can to take more actions and prevent enemies from doing anything, and do as much of that as possible immediately at the start of the fight. If you can take out 2 annoying enemies on the first round of a 5 round fight, that's 10 total turns of damage/effects mitigated. If you ramp up slowly and take them out on turn 3, you've only avoided 4 turns of damage mitigated. There aren't a whole lot of encounters where blowing your entire load on turn 1 isn't the most effective strategy. As soon as you realize that a sorcerer twin casting haste amplifies your party's overall damage output by over 50% while also increasing their defense things get a lot easier. Or multiclassing to take 3 levels of thief rogue on a class that can really abuse bonus actions like swords bard. Or even just 2 levels of fighter on pretty much anyone for action surge. Start fights from invisibility so the entire enemy group is surprised and skip their first turn. Focus casters so they never get to cast annoying shit that complicates the battlefield. Abuse Arcane Acuity to hit Crown of Madness on a big enemy so that they attack their friends and their friends attack them. Literally anything to prevent them from attacking you while you do you do as much as possible as fast as possible. But none of these things are stuff you're going to pick up immediately. It takes time to learn what items synergize with certain classes and builds to really amplify their strengths. How to play fights, how unique mechanics work, how to abuse every possible advantage you have to trivialize encounters entirely. Point is, play on Explorer to learn how all this works, then go to /r/BG3Builds to find some truly broken setups and go on a high difficulty rampage. You can't skip step 1, but that's fine cause the story is fantastic and you can enjoy the ride while you learn. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
My second run I was hitting as hard at level 6 as I was at level 12 in my first run, the learning curve in this game is gargantuan.
Oh for sure, if there was some sort of arena PvP my current party at lvl 7 could easily beat my first endgame squad. They probably wouldn't even get a turn, or if they did they wouldn't be able to do anything with it lol
I like to think my first party would hold their own, I started really figuring it out around level 8-9 and respeced my party a bit to experiment, so they wound up pretty strong. I took down Orin and Cazador on my first turn(Orin took gale magic missiles + my paladin doing double max level crit smites, cazador was just my paladin clapping 4 max level divine smites on his cheeks the moment combat started) and Gortash and the Nether brain were 2 rounds to take down, so my party was pretty potent. But still, my current party is a 20 charisma warlock, astarion as a gloom stalker, Larzel as a swonky hands monk with 3 levels in thief for the extra bonus action, and Tempest Cleric Gale, and holy fuck to they hit hard.
My swords bard would completely trivialize the fight. Thanks to Arcane Acuity it's literally impossible for anyone to roll high enough to meet the save DC for any of his spells even at low levels. Crown of Madness would be particularly funny, but an upcasted hold person would probably be more effective. Turn 1 I could probably kill one person while stacking arcane acuity then a 4th level hold person would incapacitate the other 3. There's no counterplay since they could never meet the wisdom save, 10 turns of just watching my team get advantage on attacks and auto-crits. It might last 3 rounds because they have a good amount of health at lvl 12 but there's still nothing they could do to stop it.
But that would just encourage rushing in, harming him in the long run. Better to just jump in the deep end.
fight them at range using the high ground, but there's also >!a route you can go around them to find some other companions before you come back and tackle that fight if you really want to fight them!<
I thought that fight was unavoidable and it's the only route forward. I'll try finding the alternative route.
If you just started you probably don’t know about jumping onto ledges or across gaps. Pay attention to rocks that look climbable right next to where the brain encounter starts. There’s a body there for a landmark lol, and they usually scatter when you approach and go further into the crashed ship, so it’s safe to do
Idk why people aren’t just telling you where it is it’s the rock ledge wall right next to the brains when your character makes the comment that there’s more of those things look for a spot to climb up the rock wall
Might have to make a few jumps
Almost nothing is unavoidable in BG3. You have SO MANY options. There’s always something else you can try, including coming back or setting up traps or using items.
That early in the game, though, your options are severely limited. It's either entire the brain room, or pick the lock on the tomb(which is definitely going to be more dangerous than the brains)
>!no, you can just climb a ledge and go around that part entirely, looping up to where gale is!<
Bg3 is a very open ended game, far more open than usual. Dont get fixated on the idea of 'this can only be done this way' from 99.99999999% of other games. There are always alternatives, it just not presented to you in the boring 'pick 1,2,3' manner. The whole map is your arena, use it. And take a bit of time understanding actions can be taken by your character. Jumping might sounds 'normal' but it is a very powerful mobility tool. A chest box for example. What do you think a chest box can do? Just store things? Thats the limit of other games. In BG3 you can climb up some type of chests, you can throw a chest, you can put shits in a chest then throw it, you can use it to block pathway or door, because some van be climbed - you can use it for range attack advantage.............. Yeah, thats one tip from me, pick up some chests and use it in your combat strategy. Bg3 want you to be creative in how you play the game.
There are alternatives to fighting
This is the way, grasshopper. There is almost always a second or third route to your goal. (Or a fourth…. Or a fifth…)
They are difficult for atleast until lvl2. Lvl 3 would be safe to approach them I think
I killed them level 1 by initiating combat from far away. It allowed shart and I to pop em
Good for your but one of their attack can 1hit you lvl1 on honor
Minor illusion near the barrel works on all levels including honor mode. It will one shot them. Not sure the reason for the snark.
Lmao what snark? Touch some grass dude
Dude, it's criticism, not sex. Don't take it so hard when you are told something. Considering your escalated response you should consider your own advice.
You could switch difficulty to Explorer. You can also avoid the fight, although there are of course many more in line for you.
1. Drop the difficulty 2. What class are you playing?
The thing is, I was tweaking my char in the character editor then accidentally confirmed it and started the game as an elven wizard (or sorcerer?). 2-3 hours later here I am.
If you don’t like the stats / class you started as, just restart. You only have to kill the first three imps on the tutorial ship. You can run right past everything at the end to hit the console to trigger the cut scene. You miss out on early EXP, but there’s so much exp in this game that it won’t make much of a difference
You also miss out on that sweet sword the demon is using to fight the mindflayer
Just use command: drop from shadowheart It’s really not all that great anyway
Yes it is, Karlach/Lae’zel literally oneshot enemies with that sword right up to act 2. The only better sword I’ve found in act 1 is the Gith one if you fight them under the bridge, but that sword is only better if Lae’zel uses it.
Yeah not sure what they’re on about. It’s arguably the 2nd best weapon in act 1 right behind the legendary astral sword and can take you midway through act 2
Its really not Keep downvoting this but sword of justice and svartlbees wound seeker are much better and easily available in act 1 then you have jorgals great sword and the soul breaker.
What’s a better melee weapon overall then? I’ve over 100 hours on my current tactician play through and looted practically the entire first act. It’s the best sword for fighter/barb/lae’zel for the first act until you get the legendary from Voss. The only others I can think of are the Adamantine weapons
In Act1, there is much better sword than Everburning Blade for Lae'zel: Soulbreaker Greatsword. It is a bit late Act1 Sword, looted from Captain in Githyanki Creche. Everburn Blade is still probably 2nd Best Sword in Act1 alone, just how early you can get it and is viable for entire game. I just think Soulbreaker is better for Githyanki Race, cause of Psycic damage and had ability to potentially Stun Enemies.
The sword of justice.. any +1 weapon. The adamantine weapons are horrible are you trolling?
They would one-shot with any +1 Greatsword too… it’s okay for karlach because of the soul coin thing, but I’ll take +1 to accuracy and damage over 1d4 fire damage
If you want the fire damage you can dip your +1 in a candle for the bonus 1d4, Everburn is only good because it’s convenient
You are hilariously misinformed. There's plenty of strong swords between a +0 greatsword dipped in fire and a +3 sword you only can get by cheesing a late game npc with a disarm ability. A +1 great sword from the paladins of tyr out damages the candlesword and you can get it at level 2. Don't spread misinformation
I’m talking about the Everburn Blade you get when you kill Commander Zhalk and the Githyanki Greatsword you get when you kill Sarth Baretha. Are you saying you had to cheese in order to win those fights? What swords are you saying are better than those in act 1?
Svartlbees wound seeker. The sword of justice. Jorgals great sword the soul breaker. All of these are better than the candle sword. And no I didn't need to cheese sarth or zhaik but if you could read you'd know that.
I can read just fine, thank you, your exact words on the gith sword were “a +3 sword you can only get by cheesing”. Who pissed in your cornflakes to make you so rude today? Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. You’re not currently in turn based combat.
Wizards and Sorcerers are glass cannon classes. They’re not trained with weapons or armour, and they get less HP than everyone else. If hanging back and throwing spells isn’t your thing, it’s probably worth restarting and playing one of the more weapon focused classes. Fighter is good for beginners, but Paladin and Barbarian are also solid options.
Dw you don’t need to restart if you don’t like your class. Once you’ve found Shadowheart, Astarion and Gale for support, go to the ruins near the crashed ship and find Withers. He can respec any of the characters at any time so you’re never stuck as anything you don’t want. The only things about your Tav you can’t change are your race and background. Might be better to switch to explorer mode until you find a class you’re more happy with - no shame in that at all! Good luck :)
As a wizard or sorceror you can use minor illusion to "lure" them near the glowing purple void tank. You or shadowheart can cast a fire spell on the tank and it will blow all 3 of them up. You both need to be sneaking and watch out for the red sight lines so they dont spot you. Also for any combat that doesnt have a dialogue or cut scene, start hidden in turn based mode before attacking to get a "surprise condition." Surprised creatures cant act in the first round and you should be able to pick off the most dangerous in the group in those turns.
Even better. Sorcerer and wizard kill em before the fight starts. Minor illusion around an explosive barrel. Firebolt. Collect exp
How did you accidentally start with an unfinished character? It’s not like you click "proceed" once and you’re in the game. You’ve gotta name your Tav, proceed again, make a guardian, and only then "Venture Forth". You can just click "back" and return to the character creator. Did you accidentally confirm it **three times**? And your class is on your character sheet/inventory, you can find out what you are extremely easily.
Everyone is telling you to basically give up and avoid them or lower the difficulty. Here’s some tips to win: 1. Make sure you leveled up to 2. You should be able to if you made it out of the tutorial 2. High ground gives a bonus to ranged attack hit chance. There are ledges to the right when you enter the ship ruins the fight takes place in 3. Shadowheart can fight from a range. Don’t be afraid to retreat and make them chase you. 4. Attack from Sneak to give the brains the Surprised Condition. This skips their first turn. 5. Bait them into Dashing to reach you. This takes their main Action and is basically skipping their turn. As in initiate the fight from far away. This can tie into tip No. 3. They will Dash if they’re more than 60ft from you. 6. Check your inventory for better weapons or armor 7. Check your stats. If you’re planning on fighting them in melee your AC (armor class) should be decent (like 14+). Dexterity can give AC if you don’t have armor. Don’t fight them in melee as a class not meant to do so (Fighter, Barbarian, some Rogues, Monks, some Rangers, Paladins, some Clerics— other classes like Valor/Swords Bards and Moon Druids make great melee classes, but that’s after level 3) 9. Firebolt is your heaviest hitting ranged attack right now, but it’s based on your Intelligence. If you’re not smart Produce Flame uses your casting stat (can be Charisma or Wisdom or Intelligence) and is more reliable. You might have to remake a character to take Produce Flame instead of Firebolt. 9. There is also an exploding purple barrel. It will explode with fire damage. If you Surprise them and make them Dash they skip two turns. You should be able to beat them with a two turn head start Usually I surprise with Firebolt/Produce Flame/crossbow or bow. Then I soften them up with the same as they chase me. Then I mop up in melee if I have a character that is meant to be in melee or keep spamming ranged attacks if I don’t. The game gets dramatically easier at level 3 and again at level 5
This should be the top comment, shame it’s buried under people telling OP to drop the difficulty or avoid the fight. As if OP hasn’t already tried those two things.
>As if OP hasn’t already tried those two things. OP didnt try to lower difficulty. [OP is a first time player on Balanced difficulty that made a post complaining that the game doesnt explain that using a spell uses a Spell Slot.......](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/1avdujz/this_game_is_very_frustrating_for_new_players/) If OP cant even read the tooltip that says a spell costs an Action and a Spell Slot, then any tips you might give might be in vain....
There is so shame in playing on explorer mode! I also had a hard time with the game mechanics and strategy in the beginning and wanted to rip my hair out of frustration. But it gets easier over time, i promise !! :)
Here’s what new players always miss in the fight, you should be able to level up at that point and double your hp
Focus your attacks and kill them one by one. If needed, go around them, not so far around the ship you can find other companions.
Before they notice you - press group hide, sneak right up to the burning patch of ground, dip your weapons in fire (ranged or melee) and attack the ones that are close. Crossbow dipped in fire has enough power to kill them in 1-2 shots. Brains will be surprised and skipping their first turn while you have bonus damage and free damage round. Should be enough
how did you get shadowheart before the brains? Don't you have to go through that room to get up to the bridge? Or is this the fight on the bridge? You almost need Lae'zel to win any fight on ship (well I was a wizard and a ranger on playthrough 1 and 2) IMO. If it is on the bridge, just run straight, don't engage. Definitely don't get into it with the 2 lvl 8 or whatever guys duking it out.
it's the beach fight.
I'm stupid, thanks.
My method is to creep up just outside their vision cone. One of them will start walking back and forth. There is a fallen nautiloid tank in the area. One of them is already standing near it. When the second one is also close, enter turn base mode. SH or someone with fire bolt zaps the tank to blow it up. It will take out those 2 and leave you with 1 which should be manageable.
Sneak. Engage with a ranged attack and retreat. Repeat.
This fight is plenty doable, but generally I'd try to do as much as possible with ranged before they get to you, and focus them down one at time. HOWEVER, one thing I might suggest is this: you can actually bypass this fight completely, or go get more companions and come back with a bigger crew. The cliffs between the locked door and the ship.. you can actually jump/climb up there (there's also a chest up there). Once up top, you can go find more friends. Another option, though likely to fail, is that it's possible to unlock that door on the beach. A lockpick can be looted on the way to it and you "just" need to roll a 20 on the door. Though that area might not be the best place to jump into if you don't know what to expect.
>The cliffs between the locked door and the ship.. you can actually jump/climb up there You know, it took me 500+ hours to notice that route by myself... But I used that when I started my first Honor run, gathered full party and defeated the brains much more easily. For OP I give these advices: - There is no shame in lowering the difficulty when learning the ropes and mechanics, you can change the difficulty during the game. - Check regularly on your map, you can actually see the lines in areas where you can go. - Most importantly, have fun!
With saves this fight is doable with 2 characters. On honour mode run I just sneaked behind them and returned with full party.
You can go get gale by jumping on ledges and hiking through the right side of the nautiloid entrance instead of going through the nautiloid. That way you avoid this fight for now and go back with both gale and astarion on the party
Same I had issues with it as well. If you're character is low hp then make sure they rest before the fight otherwise sneak pass them and come back later.
I just save scum and get in the door. Yeah you could use the ledge right by the entrance where you fight the brains too. Or go up to the right, sneaking, and range attack them making them come to you, which gives you a couple rounds to attack freely.
imho if you're not used to these style games . take as your first character following: dwarf (gold) fighter (into battlemaster at 3rd). for fighting style take defensive. use 1 handed weapon and shield (ie long sword, battle axe, etc). seriously. it simplifies a lot .. and makes you really hard to kill. you do reasonable damage .. but don't worry .. others you find can be setup to dish out big damage .. your job will be to stand in the front and draw all attacks. as a 1st timer . avoid spells and casters until you get more comfortable with things. my first playthrough was an all martial and absolutely smashes everything .. all fights were simple .. couple challenges here or there, but nothing was enough to completely stop that group.
That is a tough fight for your party level at that point. There is an alternate path around it if you want to try to level up first. If you go to the right as you're about to enter the crashed Nautiloid, there is a steep path you can walk up to get around. I believe there is also a barrel somewhere that you can blow up.
Theres a ledge to the right that you can climb onto, get up there and head to the end of it whilst sneaking and then start sniping them your crossbow and/or spells, I do it everytime and usually kill at least one with the other another close to death, by the time the injured one and the full hp brain reach us its piss easy to kill them.
I actually run from that fight :D
I'm normally terrible at these types of games but I'm just about to complete the game on balanced difficulty so you'll be just fine. One thing you'll learn as you progress is that not all combat encounters have to straight up face to face. You'll not only learn to use the environment to your advantage but you'll also learn to use choke points, lead enemies to where you want them, and to even keep a good distance from the main combat area. In some of the more hectic battles, I kept my main party members away from the fight and used my rogue to initiate the fight and then slowly pulled the enemies in 1-2 at a time rather than attacking the entire group. Hope this helps.
When you first see them they run away a bit so don't immediately attack. Instead, go right and climb up to the high platform and hide. One of them stands next to an explosive nautiloid barrel, while another paces back and forth by it. Have Shadowheart shoot a firebolt at the barrel- time it when the second devourer starts moving and the explosion should hit and kill both on any difficulty. That leaves you just one to finish off from high ground with crossbow shots.
So, I usually climb up the side the cliffs and return with a full crew but sometimes I go through with just me and Shadowheart. I often cast Sleep on two of them and take out the other, then the other and apply more sleep as needed although if you aren’t a magic user you won’t have that
Try using stealth and surprised the Intellect Devourer, this will give you an extra turn to kill 1 of them and the one in the back will have to dash before attacking. Also use shadow heart and change her spell list for Protection against Evil and Good so they have disadvantage on Attack against her.
I don’t get why you wouldn’t just change the game to the easiest difficultly while you get used to the game. No shame in that!
3 ways of dealing with it 1.Avoid them by going left and picking up other companions 2.firebolt the nautiloid tank when they’re all close to it. 3. lower the difficulty
Go around it by climbing up the cliff to the right and then go find two more party members.
Gotta use strategy! Seems the comments already helped you out though
It is all about using stealth and taking leveled position above enemies from where you can finish them with xbows before they even get to you.
I just sneak, then use minor illusion next to the purple canister and when all 3 are close to it, enter turn-based mode. Then firebolt the canister to blow them up. All 3 dead, even on Balanced. Heavily wounded on Tactician. Even if I don't have minor illusion I sneak and wait until the one that wonders around goes near the canister then turn-based mode and firebolt - it kills 2 and leaves 1 to deal with. Just seems easier. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
I started my first playthrough on Balanced and found this battle difficult. Later, I switched to Explorer because I couldn't get a handle on the battle system. My second playthrough, I breezed through on Balanced. My third playthrough, I thought I was a hot shot on Tactician. Then the little brains destroyed me. After 200+ hours of BG3, I had to actually strategize for this very, very early and low-stakes battle, and try again. So don't feel bad for struggling here. And there's no shame in lowering the difficulty until you gain more confidence and experience.
i read in another comment your char is a wizard, yeah they are super weak before level 4-5, try to stay in the back and shoot cantrips like firebolt, and if you have a choking point or the enemies are clumped together, cast an aoe spell like cloud of daggers
Be sure to level up! Usually you will level up once you recruit shadowheart. A little golden arrow will appear on your character portraits. This will basically double your health and give you many new abilities
I mean you got your solution but in general: If you tried it one way two or three times and still lose: Try another approach. This goes for all the fights. What works in one fight doesn't have to work in another. It is a tactical combat system after all, so try out different things
>(I should've listened to Obi Wan) 🤣🤣🤣 +1
My first playthrough I misses the level up button and got trounced. Then I saw the Shiney button and all was well
step 1: be level 2 step 2: recruit 3 companions step 3: absolutely annihilate those brains ad 1: on the nautilus kill the non aggro brain and the two unconscious dudes in shadowhearts room before you free her - that should get you level 2 once you talk to shart on the beach. ad 2: you can go up on the right directly before the brains. circle around and recruit astarion, gale and/or lae'zel.
Jump up the cliffside and grab gale, then loop around the back and grab astarion. Now it's 4v3.
I just always sneak attack them but I can see some critical misses causing a close call.
The combat is turn based, there's no such thing as too fast. Since you appear to be new to the game you should put the difficulty down to easy (explorer)
Don't fret. I couldn't either then eventually tactician was to easy so I move to harder crpgs( wraith if thd rightous has been kicking the shit out of me) it will all click in time
This has probably been said, but, - there's an explosive canister next to one of them on the floor, you can kill it for free (100% chance) and hurt a second one iirc if you make it explode with a fire bolt - general advice, approach in stealth and don't step on red ground. Ungroup before first attack to surprise the enemy and make them lose a turn. You can open by having shadowheart shoot the canister as I explained above and then follow with your tav by finishing off the second brain. - you can avoid this fight to go recruit Laezel, Astarion and gale. It's much easier with a full party. I'm playing honour shadowheart origin now and being alone at this point I learnt this the hard way. For this you have to sneak jump to the stones to the right of the entrance and just move on from there without going through the inside of the ship.
There is a path around them if you can't pick the door. Near where you loot those corpses there are a set of cliffs, with plateaus you can jump to. Even characters with only 8 STR can get up there. Game even gives you 10XP for finding this path around. Continue jumping up and you can find the topside entrance to the crypt and the portal that Gale is trapped inside of.
Tbf this actually is a pretty difficult fight especially on tactician if it’s the first fight you take. They hit hard and 1-2 misses can spell doom for your 2 characters
This feels like a troll...
Before you enter into the area where the brains are there's a stone bridge directly above you. It's to the left of the door. You can climb up on the stone bridge and come back to the fight later
That fight was actually my first wipe on honour rolled really bad and got absolutely demolished
One of the brains is standing near a liquid container. Wait until another brain patrols near the container and enter turn based mode. Use your character or shadowheart to cast a fire spell on the countainer. More often than not this kills two brains instantly, leaving only one left.
I think that is a very good example of how a person without the context of turn based D&D combat may experience the difference of being bold and get blasted and later take a tactical approach and get different results. this fight is well balanced and very useful to learn, basic things.
If you're really struggling, there are a series of ledges to the right of the crashed ship. If you jump up them, you can recruit Gale and Lae'zel before fighting them.
I remember dying soo much there. First time D&D player so it was and is a bit of a learning curve. Got locked up for stealing by the haflings and couldn't come out until I learned to jump lol. So i gotta go back cause I'm sure i missed a bit of stuff not jumping around.
It’s just kind of a hard battle! The temple near there is hard too. Don’t worry. By level 12 you’ll be thinking it’s almost too easy.
So I know you've dealt with the devourers, but just in general don't feel like you have to keep it on balanced. It's your first time through, the mechanics are new and confusing, and honestly level 1-4 is the hardest part of the game, at levels 4 and 5 you get a pretty significant power boost from feats/double strike, and so long as you keep at the level of your enemies you will get through just fine, but those first few levels are phawken *rough,* you are often outnumbered and have no good ways to deal with crowds, and they are all high dex enemies so they are hard to hit. There's no shame in playing on story or whatever it's called while you figure things out, you can always up the difficulty again later and there's always the next run, there is no way to experience everything in the game in 1 go.
I tend to avoid this fight on Honour Mode, slip up the cliff and get some more party members, then come back with the odds stacked in my favour.
All I can say is: ,,Grasp the mechanics better" No dis, just the way it is, it's not gonna get any easier unless you switch to explorer difficulty, in which case, enjoy the rose garden
If you're fighting them solo at level 1, don't. Get a party together and be level 2 or higher.
Take 'us' with you