Honour Mode - Baldur's Gate III Guide - IGN (2024)

Looking for a real challenge in your next Baldur's Gate 3 run? Here, you'll find a complete breakdown of the new Honour Mode in BG3, going over everything you need to know about this tactical challenge and how to get the most out of your experience.

If you missed it initially, Honour Mode is one of the game modes that was introduced in Patch 5, alongside Custom Mode. Baldur's Gate 3 has always offered players plenty of ways to customize their experience, but these Patch 5 game modes simply take it up to a new level.

It's important to note that Honour Mode is the hardest version of Baldur's Gate 3 and that it's possible to fail a run when playing with this mode. If you've not completed the game on the Tactician difficulty yet, it's worth attempting to beat that before starting this one.

If you're set on beating Honour Mode (and getting the exclusive reward) then keep reading for a full Walkthrough of the game mode, including how to start an Honour campaign and the most important factors to keep an eye on.

Please note - this page contains minor spoilers relating to boss fights and key abilities.

Starting An Honour Mode Campaign

There are no special steps to follow in order to unlock the Honour Mode in BG3- as long as you have updated your game to the most recent version, you'll be able to create an Honour Mode campaign.

Open the game and create a new save file. Then, select 'Honour' from the side-scrolling list of game modes.

You'll notice that there's an additional button underneath the Honour option which reads 'Detailed Overview'. Take a look at this before hitting 'Start Game' for more crucial information about the game mode.

The first thing that's essential to highlight here is that Honour Mode is aimed at seasoned players. As mentioned earlier, you'll want to sink some time into the Tactician mode before attempting Honour Mode as it's incredibly hard and has the possibility of failure.

It then jumps into the key differences between Honour Mode and the other game modes, which we'll look at in more depth now. Use the links below to jump to a specific section if needed, or keep reading to get started with how Honour Mode changes the bosses in BG3.

• Stronger Bosses.
• Harsher Rules.
• Single Save Files.

If you're getting ready to take on Honour Mode, make sure to follow along with our Walkthrough for step-by-step advice on beating the game. Honour Mode does not change the overall story of the game, so you'll be able to start with our Prologue guide as normal.

Stronger Bosses

Firstly, Honour Mode makes boss fights in BG3 much more difficult.

In this mode, players will find that boss battles (like Orin and Gortash in Act 3) are much trickier, as bosses gain access to stronger gear, additional bonuses when rolling, and some truly horrific Legendary attacks.

Orin's Legendary Action in particular can be game-ending for a reason that we'll cover in a moment.

Orin's Legendary attack takes the form of a status effect which sticks to one of the party members. If the affected party member does not kill another character within two turns, the status effect activates and instantly kills them. This can be game-ending if it isn't mitigated, and it's not always possible to pull off the required kill which can be frustrating.

On top of this, Legendary Actions don't necessarily happen during the enemy turn. They can actually happen as soon as a specific trigger is met (this differs for every boss) which means that a Legendary Action can actually happen on a player's turn.

There's a Legendary Action for all of the trickiest bosses in the game, so you'll need to plan for every boss fight with the utmost care.

Harsher Rules

There are several new rules that will come into play when you start an Honour Mode campaign.

Firstly, Honour Mode games follow a permadeath rule. This means that if the entire party wipes, the run is instantly over and the player has lost. This is why Orin's one-shot Legendary Action can be such a pain to deal with.

Interestingly, a failed Honour Mode campaign can actually be turned into a Custom Mode campaign if you want to continue playing with your specific Honour Mode character and party.

When a wipe happens (and trust us- it will) you'll see a summary screen at the end of your run summarizing how far you got. It's not possible to save-scum in Honour Mode either, although we'll dive into the issue of save files in more depth in the next section.

Another change that Honour Mode makes is that the action economy in the game has been altered.

Essentially, the term 'action economy' refers to how players and other characters take their actions, bonus actions, reactions, and movements during their turn. The alterations to the action economy in Honour Mode mean that the player's party is significantly hindered and will struggle to pull off multiple attacks.

To make the most out of your combat turns, you'll need to maximize the usage of your support characters and items. Buffs and protective abilities may not seem particularly interesting to some, but in Honour Mode, they're absolutely essential.

Inventory and resource management is very important in every BG3 game mode, but it becomes especially crucial when playing in Honour Mode. Everything is much more expensive in Honour Mode and you also earn less money when selling items, too.

Single Save Files

Finally, it's impossible to save-scum in Honour Mode as mentioned earlier.

There is only one save file in Honour Mode, and this save file is instantly deleted once you load it up. This means that whatever happens during your play session is permanent. This is pretty harsh, considering that there's a permadeath mechanic to contend with as well.

All in all, it's a huge achievement to get to the end of Honour Mode. Make sure to check out our full story Walkthrough and Advanced Guide for tips and tricks on how to beat the game as smoothly as possible- if you're playing this mode, you're going to need it.