Honour Mode is a brutally challenging way to playBaldur’s Gate 3, and with Patch 7, even Honour Mode runs that are going well could end up running into serious issues. As a concept that first appeared in theDivinity: Original Singames byBaldur’s Gate 3developer Larian Studios,Honour Mode ratchets up the difficulty while adding a brutal game over mechanic. Minor mistakes can end the campaign outright in Honor Mode, so making it to the credits is quite an accomplishment.
The newest changes toBaldur’s Gate 3comecourtesy of the long-awaited Patch 7, which introduces an official modding toolkit and mod manager, new evil endings, dynamic split screen support, and more. It’s also the latest in a series of patches to tweak Honour Mode, which was introduced in Patch 5. Although some bugs that caused initial Honour Mode challenges have been quashed over time, the challenge has largely grown more intense with every update, but the way that Larian adds new hurdles to overcome also makes the gameplay more interesting.
Legendary Actions Make Honour Mode Bosses Tougher
More Bosses Now Feature Special Abilities In Patch 7
Patch 7’s biggest changes to Honour Mode (available on theBaldur’s Gate 3website) focus on boss fights, mostly tossing newLegendary Actions into the mix. Legendary Actions are a concept taken from tabletopDungeons & Dragonsplay, giving bosses the ability to interrupt the turn order with powerful special moves. It’s a great way to curtail the party’s dominance of the turn order when fighting a solo boss or one with only a few minions as backup, and it intensifies the threat of leaving characters in vulnerable positions with the intent of healing them up later in the round.
One Clever Baldur’s Gate 3 Trick Could Save Your Next Honour Mode Playthrough
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Honour Mode can be brutal, but working smarter instead of harder can bring a successful Honour Mode campaign within closer reach.
The bosses that receive new Legendary Actions in Patch 7 are the bulette in Act One, Malus Thorm and Ch’r’ai Tska’an in Act Two, and Ch’r’ai Har’rak and Ptaris in Act Three. All could already be challenging fights, so it’s important to make every move count against them after the patch.
Ptaris
Ptarian Dogma
For Malus, the new Grasping Appendage joins his pre-existing Legendary Action Wail of Loss.The other bosses previously lacked Legendary Actions, but their addition expands the roster of enemies with this feature to a total of 31 found throughout the game.
Other Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 7 Honour Mode Boss Tweaks
Legendary Actions Are Just The Tip Of The Iceberg
Baldur’s Gate 3has also added a few new boss features to Honour Mode that don’t qualify as Legendary Actions. Pushing Act One boss Dror Ragzlin into the spider pit can now intensify the threat thanks to his new spell,arachnid compulsion, which can convince the spiders to take his side. The bulette gains a condition called Diamond Scales, adding a temporary hit point pool and negating attacks that deal minor damage. Spectators now have a new aura called Panicked Sentinel and a spell calledocular nightmare.
Legendary actions have been tweaked for some bosses in Honour Mode, most often in a way that makes them more powerful. Cazador can now use his in his Mist Form, which sounds like a nightmare. Gortash’s now works when Blinded.Thisobald Thorm’s Legendary Action is now larger, more powerful, and doesn’t run the risk of hitting itself. The trigger for Mystic Carrion’s Legendary Action has changed, and it now inflicts conditions as curses. The patch notes also mention that certain Legendary Actions and Reactions “can now trigger from further away,” but it doesn’t clarify which have been changed.
Baldur’s Gate 3: How to Find (& Beat) Cazador
Cazador is the former vampire master of Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3 who you can find and beat in Act 3 to help your companion gain ascended powers.
The other two big buffs in Honour Mode are applied to Thisobald Thorm and the Shadowed Spirit of the Land, even though neither actually get new features. Thisobald’s blighted allies get an increased buff, and overindulging in his brew won’t make him vulnerable to all types of damage in Honour Mode. The way the fight with the Shadowed Spirit of the Land works is cleaned up a bit in general, with his Shadow Friends disappearing after his dome is destroyed but remaining on the field otherwise.
Combat Changes To All Game Modes In BG3 Patch 7
Even Standard Campaigns Will Be Affected
Not everything is doom and gloom for Honour Mode adventurers, and some changes across game modes work in the party’s favor.The biggest nerf to a boss fight is that Cazador no longer receives vampiric healing after ascending. Therestore soulspell has been changed to make taking a soul back from Raphael easier than before. A number of crash fixes in combat should also reduce the potential for frustration in tense moments.
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It’s common to rely on loopholes that take advantage of awkward game mechanics or mistakes in boss behavior to get through Honour Mode, and it should come as no surprise that more of those exploits are getting patched up. One big example is thatextra bonus actions can no longer be acquired in the Cazador fight. For every encounter, swapping weapons between characters in combat now takes an action for each character.
Some other boss changes apply across all game modes, but they’ll definitely be hardest to deal with in the general gauntlet of Honour Mode. Priestess Gut’s tendency to hit herself with her own conditions has been fixed. Yurgir now moves around more when invisible, making his location harder to nail down.
Baldur’s Gate 3Patch 7 takes up less than 12 GB of additional space, but installing it temporarily requires 160 GB of free space, so it might be necessary to uninstall and reinstall the game if it’s on a cramped hard drive.
For those who want to experience the thrills of Legendary Actions and more without the threat of a true game over, Patch 7 makes it possible to useHonour Mode mechanics in Custom Mode. It’s also possible to convert failed Honour Mode campaigns to playthroughs without permadeath after getting a game over, but the run will no longer count as Honour Mode past that point. Surviving the trials of Honour Mode isn’t something that will appeal to everyBaldur’s Gate 3player, but it’s looking like a more interesting gauntlet than ever before.
Source:Baldur’s Gate 3
Baldur’s Gate 3
Developed and published by Larian Studios, Baldur’s Gate 3 is an upcoming role-playing game set to release in August of 2023. Players will create a character to embark on a large-scale journey and can do so solo or cooperatively with a friend. Combat is a turn-based style this time around.
