“Background goals” in Baldur’s Gate 3 are essentially unknown in-game objectives that your character class has to accomplish, in order to unlock a reward. These objectives in-game range from decisions you make, to items you discover, and will differ for each “background.” 

Not only do you get a chunk of XP for every single background goal you accomplish, you'll also get an Inspiration Point, which allows you to reroll a dice at any point in the game (you can only hold 4 Inspiration Points at once though), which should be saved for big in-game decisions… don’t use them on a lock-pick or disarming a trap, for instance. That’s just a waste.

If you're searching every area, doing all the side quests and diligently scouring all of Faerun, you'll smash through 10 of these in no time. To give you an example of what counts as a background goal, we picked up the following in the first few acts (and a few from the beginning of act 3):

• Guild Artisan - Craft something in the Adamantine Forge.
• Guild Artisan - Evaluate the ruins in Grymforge and share your findings with the duergar master.
• Guild Artisan - Create a masterwork item from sussur bark.
• Guild Artisan - Restore power to the elevator in the Arcane Tower.
• Guild Artisan - Observe the effects of the Chest of the Mundane (Arcane Tower).
• Guild Artisan - Repair the elevator in the Zhentarim hideout.
• Guild Artisan - Rescue Oskar the painter from the Zhentarim.
• Guild Artisan - Fill all sockets with Sharran gems in the Gauntlet of Shar.
• Guild Artisan - Unlock and take the Spear of Rampant Night.
• Guild Artisan - Return Wulbren’s tools to him.
• Guild Artisan - Give your blood to Araj Oblodra.
• Guild Artisan - Acquire a magical item from the toll collector’s confiscation chest.
• Guild Artisan - Take Shar’s ceremonial dagger.
• Guild Artisan - Obtain a piece of infernal equipment from Dammon.
• Guild Artisan - Investigate the Moonlantern and find its power source.
• Guild Artisan - Partake in the lurid services of Sharess’ Caress.
• Guild Artisan - Return the Sentient Amulet to Shirra.
• Guild Artisan - Commission a statue of yourself.
• Guild Artisan - Discover the booby trapped toys.
• Soldier - Kill every leader in the Goblin Camp.
• Soldier - Defeat the duergar patrol on the Ebonlake.
• Soldier - Survive a fight in which you kill ten enemies or more.
• Soldier - Help Guex (Emerald Grove) learn how to fight.
• Soldier - Kill all members of the Thorm family.
• Soldier - Complete the assault on Moonrise.
• Soldier - Defeat yourself in the Gauntlet of Shar’s mirror trial.
• Soldier - Kill the orthon, sending him to Raphael.
• Soldier - Obtain Selune’s blessing from Isobel.
• Soldier - Tell Arabella what happened to her parents.
• Soldier - Defeat the Surgeon without being operated on.
• Pentacrush - Defeat 5 enemies in a single turn.
• Sage/Acolyte - Unlock and read the Book of Dead Gods.
• Acolyte - Destroy Selune’s protection over the Underdark fort.
• Acolyte - Complete Eilistraee’s ritual of sorrow and obtain her blessed blade.
• Acolyte - Earn the worship of the kuo-toa.
• Acolyte - Resurrect anyone in your party.
• Acolyte - Recover Selune’s lost treasure through prayer.
• Acolyte - Piece together Ketheric’s allegiances. 
• Acolyte - Solve each of Shar’s trials in the Gauntlet of Shar.
• Acolyte - Witness Isobel’s ritual to keep up the protection of Last Light.
• Acolyte - Witness Jonas’ funeral.
• Acolyte - Find the aasimar’s journal.
• Acolyte - Pass all of Shar’s tests in the middle of the cursed town.
• Acolyte - Side with the open-minded priest.
• Acolyte - Ask the Master of Love to test your bond.
• Acolyte - Persuade the merchant to let the refugee squatters stay in his home.
• Outlander - Destroy each kind of hazardous Underdark mushroom.
• Outlander - Successfully tame the owlbear cub.
• Outlander - Survive the bandit’s rolling boulder trap.
• Outlander - Successfully use a fairy ring.
• Outlander - See past the illusion covering the swamp.
• Outlander - Explore all sections of the mind flayer colony.
• Outlander - Reach Nightsong without having been affected by the shadow curse.
• Outlander - Obtain orthon’s crossbow.
• Outlander - Explore each key area of the Shadow-Cursed Lands.
• Outlander - Enter a restricted area in Moonrise Towers from the outside.
• Outlander - Enter the oubliette… for better or worse.
• Outlander - Meet the tadpole hunting cat.
• Outlander - Protect Halsin’s portal while he saves the spirit of the land.
• Outlander - Take a full Long Rest in the Shadow-Cursed Lands.
• Outlander - Conquer three combat encounters in the Shadow-Cursed Lands.
• Outlander - Find the missing letters.
• Outlander - Meet Commander Lightfeather.
• Outlander - Tame the dilophosaurus, making it non-hostile towards you.
• Outlander - Witness the Gur funeral. 

The above is based on who was in my party for the most part - as you can see, I was running a Druid (with Guild Artisan), Fighter, Berserker and Cleric party composition, but background goals are available for all classes and of course depend on your character’s background (i.e. Lae’zel is a Soldier, Karlach is an Outlander, Shadowheart is an Acolyte, Gale is a Sage, Wyll is a Folk Hero and Astarion is a Charlatan).

It seems to be 10 in total too, as opposed to for a single character, because I got this long before the end of Act 1. So, if you do a lot of searching and exploring, you'll no doubt unlock the ‘Roleplayer’ achievement as you go without too much of an effort, but if you are struggling, consult the list above and see what you need to go and do.

There are very few achievements in Baldur's Gate 3 that you'll get naturally. The ‘Bedrolls and Breakfast’ achievement, however, is one of them. Throughout your time in Faerun, in order to replenish spell slots and certain other class specific actions (like the Barbarian’s Rage), you're going to need to perform a Long Rest.

Long rests require sleeping at night at camp, and using 40 Camp Supplies (on Balanced, it's more on Tactician and Honour mode), and while they do refresh spell slots and the like, they also trigger key camp sequences, so they’re worth doing as often as you can, anyway. 

Anything less than 40 camp supplies performs a Partial Rest, which isn't quite as effective as a Long Rest. So, perform 4 Long Rests in one playthrough and the ‘Bedrolls and Breakfast’ achievement is all yours. Don't sweat this one, you'll likely do closer to 100 if you're doing most of the game's content anyway.

The ‘Dig for Victory’ achievement in Baldur's Gate 3 is another of those you're likely to get naturally. Perhaps the most important tool in BG3 is the shovel. This will allow you to dig up buried chests when someone in your party passes a perception check while out in the open-world.

There are literally hundreds of these chests dotted throughout Faerun, and there's a good chance that you'll get this one as one of your first few achievements. 

In terms of where to get a spade, if you miss the one on the critical path on the main road in the Wilderness in Act 1, various traders in and around Faerun stock them and sell them.

If for some bizarre reason the game won't let you dig up a buried treasure when the mound of dirt appears after the perception check, pass the shovel to someone else and either get them to do it, or pass it back to your main character after and then it should work.

Dig up 5 buried treasures and this achievement is all yours.

Throughout your time in Baldur’s Gate 3, you’ll on occasion get the chance to use ‘Detect Thoughts’ on others, to see what they’re really thinking. These situations will happen throughout the game and to unlock this achievement, you just need to pass the check on one solitary occasion.

The earliest instance of this we came across was with Silfy and Mattis in The Hollow in the Emerald Grove - two young Tiefling refugees. While you talk to Mattis, Silfy will try and steal from you, giving you the chance to [Detect Thoughts] in the conversation. If you pass the +10 skill check and successfully detect their thoughts, you’ll unlock the ‘No Penny Required’ achievement. 

If you have a good Intelligence stat here, that will definitely help you here too, but so can a little tactical saving and loading. Wink wink. There’s also another couple of obvious instants in the Wilderness, which are as follows:

• When we first spoke to Kagha in the Emerald Grove.
• When you meet Kith’rak Voss in the northeast of the Wilderness, by the bridge.

In order to get arrested and taken to prison in Baldur's Gate 3 you basically need to get caught either being hostile or stealing while inside one of the game's hub areas or well-guarded encampments i.e. the Emerald Grove or the Goblin Camp in the Wilderness in Act 1.

So, basically steal something that's marked with red text while holding in the  while in front of a guard and you'll get given a few options: Talk your way out of it, drop the goods, attack, or go to prison. Choose to go-to prison.

Then, when in prison, lock pick your way out - or find an alternative escape route, like turning into a cat and going through a hole in the wall, or jumping your way out the back (like in the Emerald Grove). Once you’re out, the ‘Escapologist’ achievement is all yours.

We advise doing this in the Emerald Grove for one reason: the prison where you get taken is opposite where Sazza is caged up, and when you've escaped, you can free Sazza for the She Cannot be Caged! (15G) achievement too. Win-win.

First things first, before you can recruit hirelings and perform resurrections for gold in Baldur's Gate 3, you're going to need to rescue Withers from the Dank Crypt (as part of the Explore the Ruins quest) in the Wilderness - although he is said to eventually make his way to your camp if you don't, but to be safe, and to get some more XP for the combat encounters and get some decent loot, go and rescue him whenever you’ve got a squad of 4.

You'll find Withers beneath the ruins to the east-south east of the Wilderness area (east of the Roadside Cliffs waypoint and north of the Overgrown Ruins waypoint). After defeating the looters outside and inside, make your way further in until you hit the main temple room, with a large statue in the middle. Withers can be found inside a large sarcophagus in a hidden room behind the statue - accessed via a secret button which is uncovered with a perception check.

Once you've defeated the enemies that come to life, head into the secret room, open the sarcophagus and then answer Withers’ question (the answer doesn't matter). Once you've done that he'll make his way to your camp.

Then, when he’s at your camp, he’ll offer you a few different services. If you speak to Withers, you’ll be able to do the following:

• Resurrect a fallen squad member.
• Respec your character.
• Recruit a ‘hireling’

Hirelings are blank slates, effectively, allowing you to create another squad member, who you can mould into your vision. So, if you want a Bard or a Paladin to complement your squad, then rescue Withers and spend 100 gold to get your own hireling. Plus, you’ll also get the ‘Outsourcing’ achievement.

**Missable**

First things first, as I said in the Road Map, it's important that you DO NOT use Withers to respec any character until after you’ve got this achievement. That’s because there have been others across the internet reporting that they didn’t get this achievement even though they fulfilled the criteria, after having used Withers to respec another character. So, just to be safe, don’t use him for this until you’ve unlocked the ‘Jack-of-all-Trades’ achievement.

In terms of where to recruit Withers, as we explained in the Outsourcing (15G) achievement, you’ll find him in a sarcophagus behind the large statue in the central chamber of the Dank Crypt. The Dank Crypt can be found beneath the church ruins, which are east-southeast of the Wilderness area - to the east of the Roadside Cliffs waypoint and north of the Overgrown Ruins waypoint.

Then, to get this achievement, you’ll basically want to get to level 12, and then once you have, speak to Withers in your camp and recruit a “hireling” - you’ll also get Outsourcing (15G) too for this.

Once you have, basically choose a class for your hireling, and then level him up 12 times, changing classes at every level, so that you have 12 different classes under one character (Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock and Wizard).

If you’re wondering how to multiclass on the Xbox Series X|S, it’s actually quite simple. Just hit the button on the level up screen and you’ll be able to choose a new class.

So, start with one class, and then cycle through them as you level up your hireling to level 12.

If you want to maintain an edge in combat in Baldur’s Gate 3 (especially on the harder difficulties) and not spend all your gold on potions, you’ll have to get your hands dirty with a wee bit of alchemy. 

The first part of alchemy is getting all the materials together. This can be done by looting or harvesting plants and such in the open-world (like picking Bullywug Trumpets or Belladonna, for instance).

Once you’ve got enough resources, head into your character wheel and go to alchemy at 11 o’clock on the radial menu. Then, when you’re in there, you’re going to want to go across to Extract, and either extract the items manually, or choose “Extract All Ingredients.” Now, usually, we’d do the latter, but you definitely should be aware that there will be the odd mission that will require a limited raw ingredient, so be careful what you do extract - for instance, “Help Omeluum Investigate the Parasite” will require a couple of ingredients (Tongue of Madness and Tinmask Spores) which you can actually extract and destroy, meaning you won’t be able to complete this optional side quest. Same with the Night Orchid for Shadowheart (see To Bloom in Darkest Night (15G))

Anyway! Once you’ve extracted all your ingredients, you’ll unlock recipes you can then craft in the ‘Solutions’ tab (alternatively, you can find recipes in the open-world), and from there, you can brew them with one click of a button.

So, when it comes to the whole process… for instance, 3 x Acorn Truffles can be extracted into an Essence of Acorn Truffle, which in turn, with any salt, can be turned into a Potion of Animal Speaking. 

Do that for 3 separate potions, elixirs, grenades or coatings and you’ll unlock the ‘Homebrewer’ achievement.

The most important potions (etc.) and what you need to brew them are:

• Potion of Animal Speaking (if you don’t have someone that has the spell) - Acorn Truffle
• Potion of Healing - Rogue’s Morsel
• Potion of Healing: Greater - Balsam
• Potion of Healing: Superior - Musk Creeper
• Potion of Speed - Hyena Ear
• Elixir of Bloodlust - Worg Fang
• Elixir of The Colossus - Chasm Creeper
• Oil of Accuracy - Daggerroot

The most confusing aspect of the ‘Kill Two Birds with One Gnome’ achievement is two-fold:

• Firstly, how the hell do you throw an enemy?
• Secondly, “I’ve done that, why hasn’t the achievement unlocked?”

The first part is simple, and best done with someone with a high Strength stat - a la Karlach. The enemy you need to throw needs to be smaller than you as well - i.e. you won’t be able to use Karlach to throw a dragon, for instance, but you can use her to throw a goblin. You will need to pass an Athletics check as well.

In order to actually pick up an enemy (who is alive), you need to be within melee range, select Improvised Melee Weapon, hit the button to “Select from World,” and then click on the character you want to throw - before choosing who you want to throw them at.

Now, the most confusing part to this achievement is that there are in fact 2 different “Improvised Melee Weapon” abilities - one is an ‘action’ (green) and the other is a ‘bonus action’ (orange). For this achievement, you need to use the green action, and not the orange bonus action, otherwise the achievement won’t unlock.

As far as we’re aware as well, you don’t even need to kill them both with one throw (as the name suggests). We got it by just killing the one we were throwing, but we suspect you don’t need to kill any of them.

In terms of where to do this, there’s loads of chances throughout the game to get this. For instance, the vast majority of goblins in the Goblin Camp in Act 1 are throwable, as are most humans when you’re controlling Karlach. We actually got this in the northeast of the Grand Mausoleum area in Act 2, in an area accessible by interacting with the Ominous Crevice - inside there’s a load of tiny fish people that Karlach can throw around to her heart’s content.

For the ‘Busker’ achievement, you’re best off waiting until Act 3 to try this, and doing it one fell swoop - the reason for this is that PC players were reporting that the tracking can all of a sudden stop if you’re doing it over a long period of time. Below is a sure fire, tried and tested way to get it super easily.

When you’re in Act 3, go to your camp and speak to Withers and pay him 100 gold to recruit a hireling. Then, when creating the hireling, you’re going to want to do the following:

• Choose the Bard class.
• Choose your proficiency boost in Performance and Skill Expertise in Performance at level 3 too.
• Then, at level 4 and 8, you’re going to want to get your Charisma up to 20, choosing the Ability Improvement and Performer Feats to take you from 17 to 20 Charisma.

Next step is to take your Bard, and send all their money back to camp - they won’t have any if they’re a new hireling, but if you did what we did and respecced a character instead of creating a new hireling (which is possible too), you’ll have loads of gold on you. This isn’t necessary, but it does allow you to track your progress in real-time. What’s also not necessary but we recommend it, is to take your Bard and separate them from the rest of the party and do this achievement solo.

Then, all you need to do is fast-travel to Rivington, and walk from crowd to crowd, on your way to Baldur’s Gate’s Lower City. So, find a load of people, stop, select “Perform” from your ability wheel (you’ll obviously need an instrument equipped to do this) and then wait for the Performance check. If it’s successful you can stop the performance by moving the character, and then the people surrounding you will clap and then throw a gold piece at you. Then, simply hold the button, hoover up all the gold from the floor, and move onto the next group of people. If you fail, just move onto the next crowd and try again.

There’s more than enough people on the road from Rivington to Baldur’s Gate to get 100 gold (from the refugee camp and the circus, to the church and the bridge), and you’ll spend no longer than 5-10 minutes total getting the ‘Busker’ achievement.

The ‘Action Surge’ achievement may seem a tad daunting early on in Baldur's Gate 3, but as you work your way through the game, you'll pick up equipment and learn spells/actions that will mean that you'll be consistently making 5 attacks in one turn.

The easiest way to get 5 attacks in one turn is with someone from the Fighter class (Lae’zel is a fighter, but you can create your main character as a fighter too, recruit a hireling or respec another character).

With the Fighter class you'll get an Extra Attack at levels 5 and 11, taking your total from 1 attack to 3 attacks per turn. Now, if you combine that with the Action Surge ability (which a Fighter unlocks at level 2), you'll be able to perform 5 attacks in 1 turn with relative ease.

There are other ways to improve the amount of actions and bonus actions per turn too, including Potion of Speed and learning the Haste Spell (a Transmutation spell available to spellcasters), for instance.

You can also purchase the Darkfire Bow from Dammon in the Last Light Inn stable in Act 2, which allows you to cast Haste by whoever equips the bow. Even better, though, if you loot the legendary bow, Gontr Mael, from the Steel Watch Titan in the Steel Watch Foundry in Act 3, you can cast Celestial Haste, which is superb (it’s basically Haste, without the Lethargic state at the end) not only for this achievement, but for the end-game and on all difficulties too.

This one is as simple as it sounds. Go into your character menu, unequip your weapon, and then punch someone to death. You’re probably best whittling down someone’s health to pretty low before doing this, just to save you time. As soon as you whack someone with your bare fists and kill them, though, you’ll unlock the ‘Fists of Fury’ achievement.

Two things to note: no, melee attacks as a Druid’s shapeshifted animal do not count; but a Monk’s ‘Flurry of Blows’ move does.

**Missable**

The ‘Devil’s in the Details’ achievement is the first missable achievement in Baldur’s Gate 3 - and actually, the first achievement you can actually unlock.

The aforementioned Commander Zhalk can be found on the helm while you’re in the Nautiloid during BG3’s prologue. He’s hard to miss, as you’ll see him battling a Mind Flayer on the left hand side of the map from where you enter the ship’s helm.

Now, this is missable because you can just wander past him and interact with the ship’s helm, and thus end the prologue, and the Mind Flayer will suggest as much. Ignore the Mind Flayer, though, and start whaling on him too.

Some tips for the fight:

• Rescue Shadowheart and temporarily recruit Us to make this fight easier.
• When you get into the room, have one party member thin out the mobs, and have the other 3 go straight for Zhalk. Don’t stray past the halfway point either, as you’ll trigger more enemies.
• Zhalk won’t attack you until the Mind Flayer is dead, so have someone buff and heal the Mind Flayer to protect your squad, because if he turns on your party, he hits hard.
• Use Shadowheart’s ‘Command’ ability to make Zhalk drop its sword, making his attacks pretty tame in comparison. You can also pick it up and equip it on Lae’zel too - it's called the Everburn Blade and it's a great early to mid-game weapon for her.
• And finally, when there are 11 turns to go, two Cambions will join the fight. These enemies are tough and hit just as hard as Zhalk, so try to finish off Zhalk before they get there. If it’s getting close, and they’re getting close, have Shadowheart make a dash for the controls at the far end of the helm. However, don’t interact with them until Zhalk is dead and you have his Everburn Blade.

Stick to the above and you’ll not only defeat Commander Zhalk in no time, but you’ll also have its sword which is fabulous, as well as the ‘Devil’s in the Details’ achievement, which is even more fabulous.

**Missable**

In Act 2, while in the Shadow-Cursed Lands, to the southwest of the Last Light Inn (over the bridge and on the northern side of Reithwin Town) you’ll find the House of Healing. Inside the House of Healing are a couple of important quest items and points of note.

While upstairs, in one of the wings, you’ll find Arabella’s parents, down in the main area you’ll find Doctor Malus Thorm - AKA the “Surgeon” - who will have a key quest item that you’ll need to wake up Art Cullagh who’s comatose in the Last Light Inn.

Now, while it’s certainly possible to get this achievement with a straight up fight with Malus Thorm, so long as you take down all the nurses before they hand the special weapons to him, there is a much easier way.

First things first, you cannot talk Thorm into killing himself and having the nurses kill him - you need to enter into combat for this achievement. However, you can make this achievement easier if you persuade the nurses to operate on each other. You can do this by winning the rolls on the following conversation options:

• “[Persuasion] The sisters aren’t ready. They’ll make me sick instead of curing me.”
• “[Persuasion] Why not have them hone their skills on each other?”

If you pass both of those checks (save before each conversation choice or use Inspiration Points if necessary) the nurses will take themselves out before the fight with Thorm.

While this makes the fight 10-times easier, and sets you on your path to the ‘Non-invasive Procedure’ achievement, you will have to take out the nurses that he resurrects throughout the fight, before he grabs the weapon off of them. This is easy as they’ll only be resurrected with a tiny bit of health.

Focus on the nurses as they get resurrected, and when they’re dead, throw everything that you have at Thorm. As soon as he goes down, you’ll unlock the achievement and be able to grab Art Cullagh’s instrument.

**Missable**

On the south-east side of Reithwin Town in the Shadow-Cursed Lands in Act 2, just by the bridge, and near to the Moonrise Towers, is the Tollhouse.

Inside the Tollhouse, on the west side, upstairs, is Gerringothe Thorm AKA the “Toll Collector.” In order to let you pass, Gerringothe will want his toll.

Now, if you plan to fight Thorm, before you enter into the conversation make sure you have no gold on you or any of your squad, as that gold will dictate Gerringothe’s damage output. Then, it’s a case of taking out the skulls, which removes a piece of her armour with everyone destroyed and thus reduces her health.

However, to unlock the ‘Penny Pincher’ achievement easily, and to bypass the fight with Gerringothe, you simply need to talk her into exploding herself. Really. All you need to do that is have one solitary coin.

To make Gerringothe Thorm kill herself and get the ‘Penny Pincher’ achievement, say the following things in your encounter with her:

• “Who are you?”
• “If I give you gold, what do I get in return?”
• Toss the creature a gold piece.
• “I don’t hand out so much for so little in return.”
• “[Persuasion] Why stay in this rotted building? Take your gold and be free.” (you’ll need to roll an 18, so make sure you have someone with good Charisma involved in the conversation… or save scum).
• “[Deception] Haven’t you heard? The local authority has decreed the gold belongs to the toll collector - you.” (you’ll need to roll a 21 on Charisma this time).

If you manage to pass both tests, Gerringothe Thorm will literally explode, and you’ll unlock the ‘Penny Pincher’ achievement too (and also get the Twist of Fortune mace off her body). Not bad for 2 minutes of work.

**Missable**

In Act 3, when you hit the city of Baldur’s Gate, you’ll have two main objectives out of the gate: to kill Orin, and to kill Gortash - a devious and dangerous politician, who’s one of the Dead Three.

While there are numerous times you can battle Gortash in Wyrm’s Rock - the big fortress between Rivington and the Lower City - the easiest way to battle him and get the ‘Fancy Footwork’ achievement, is by using the tools at your disposal to get the jump on him.

First things first, you’re going to want to attend the coronation of Gortash (don’t fight him here, and if Kalach is with you, you’ll need to talk her out of it too). After that disable the Steel Watch in the city by visiting the Steel Watch Foundry and putting an end to all the gigantic robots patrolling the entirety of Baldur’s Gate itself. While this isn’t 100% necessary, it will mean you won’t have to resolve to stealth in and around Wyrm’s Rock itself when we get to the business end of this achievement. 

Once you’ve done that, you’re free to fight him and get the ‘Fancy Footwork’ achievement with ease.

To do that, head to the drawbridge at the northern end of Wyrm’s Crossing. Don’t go onto the drawbridge itself, but head to the left of it. Here, you’ll need to pop a Scroll of Feather Fall or cast the Feather Fall spell.

Then, when it’s active, jump down to the grassy rock platforms underneath the bridge (on the far side of the ravine). From there, head left, up the knotted vines and follow the path around to the west.

Once you’ve followed the path to the end you’ll come across a ladder (you’ll be on the west side of Wyrm’s Rock) and some knotted vines. Climb them to get onto the outer walls of Wyrm’s Rock.

From there, go through the door (after you’ve picked the lock) and head south. From the southwest corner of the fortress, jump up the scaffolding and climb up. If you’ve got Misty Step, Fly or Dimension Door, it’ll make it easier for your entire party to make this trip up the walls. We actually had a few squad members (our main character and Shadowheart) who couldn’t make the jump, so we used Karlach to throw them up. Yes, that works.

Then, when up there, go up the small stairs nearby and climb to the top of the armament - near where you get to the top. From there, use Misty Step, Fly or Dimension Door again to get all of them to the top roof. When up there, disable the two proximity mines, and enter the balcony area.

From here, split up the party and unlock the ladder that leads down to the interior level. Send your best Dexterity character down said ladder, and in that room there are 4 traps you have to disarm - note: disarming them explodes them, but doesn’t void the achievement or alert the other guards, so don’t worry.

When you’ve disarmed those 4, take that one character and fire a crossbow bolt/arrow/use a spell at Gortash in the next room, and then when the combat encounter kicks off, make a break for the ladder.

At this point Gortash and co. will chase after you, and follow you up the ladder, where the rest of your party will be waiting. 

Kill Gortash here - which doesn’t set off any traps - and the ‘Fancy Footwork’ achievement is all yours and potentially one of Act 3’s trickiest fights is a cakewalk

**Missable**

Deep beneath Wrym’s Rock in Act 3 of Baldur’s Gate 3 is an epic fight with a dragon. The less said about the story circumstances and what to expect, the better. But, suffice to say, if you make your way down there, prepare for a fight of epic proportions - and a pretty damn tricky one at that, which we’d advise waiting until you’re at least level 11 before attempting.

To get to the Wyrmway, head to Wyrm’s Rock Fortress, and then head into Wyrm’s Rock Prison on the west side - accessible by interacting with the stairs down, labelled “Passageway.” Incidentally, it’s near the Wyrm’s Rock fast-travel point.

When downstairs, interact with the sleeping guard and do the following:

• “[Persuasion] Listen closely to the guard’s babbling” 
• “Excuse me.”
• “I’m here to see Old Man Otto. He’s my father.”

Then, head down the four steps and go left at the junction. At the end of that corridor, on the south wall, are two dragon head lanterns. Use an electricity spell or scroll (like Scroll of Witch Bolt) on them to change the colour of their flame to blue (you can also use an Arrow of Lightning too).

Once both dragon heads have blue flames, the wall between them will disappear and you can pass through it into a hidden area. Follow the path round and down the stairs and go through the door.

You’ll now be in The Wyrmway. In order to fight the dragon though, you’ll have to complete a series of trials. Firstly, assess the statue with Arcana and then say “I am worthy. Open the way.”

In order to open the door to the north, however, which is where the dragon is, you’ll have to enter the 4 adjacent chambers and complete their trials:

• Chamber of Courage - Interact with the statue and survive a combat encounter.
• Chamber of Strategy - Put the black king in checkmate in 2 moves on a giant chessboard (this one is random, but if you have Gale with you, he’ll tell you what to do).
• Chamber of Insight - In this chamber you need to work out who isn’t serving the city to the best of their abilities. Clue: read the books flying around the room. Even bigger clue: kill Suelto to complete it.
• Chamber of Justice - Cast Remove Curse on the Judge, and then pick up The Cell, and place it on the pedestal - the punishment then fits the crime.

If you fail any of the above, however, it doesn’t really matter, in truth, as the door to the dragon boss fight will open. That said, failing any of the trials will spawn in a load of enemies in each of the chambers - some of which will seep into the main area too - so be wary of that.

When you’ve passed the trials/cleared the way, head through the door to fight the dragon (Ansur).

Now, the key to this fight is spreading your party out and first taking out the Elementals. Once you’ve done that, start wailing on Ansur - who doesn’t really have any weaknesses.

When its health gets really low, Ansur will start to charge up an attack - it’ll glow and say that it’s in a “Gather Power” phase. This is the phase you need to kill it in - and while it might not look like it’s flying, it does when the attack lands.

Ansur will take less damage in this phase, but won’t attack until he’s fully charged up (after the lightning bolt attacks, which give you time to do some serious damage). You’ll need to kill Ansur in this phase for the ‘Crash Landing’ achievement - or at least survive the attack to get through to the next “Gather Power” phase where you can kill it.

The Scroll of Globe of Invulnerability (as is the spell if you have it) is a godsend here to protect your party from either the onslaught early on, or the devastating attack after he’s gathered power. If you’ve picked one up or bought one (or even have the spell unlocked), use it in this boss fight, it’s the best time to use it. 

The truth is, this one might take a bit of luck too, with you needing to land a crit on Ansur as you’re wailing on him during the power gathering phase, so just make sure to do a few quicksaves along the way.

The key to getting the ‘Bottoms Up’ achievement is to pick up every bottle of wine you find while adventuring, whilst also a.) not drinking them; b.) not using them for supplies for any Long Rests you do.

Then, when you finally have enough, just choose alcohol to fill up all 40 Long Rest camp supply slots (it’s more on harder difficulties) and away you go - you’ll know it’s alcohol as it’ll have a yellow bottle symbol under where it says “Camp Supplies” and a number indicating how many turns the effect stays for.

If you’re looking for wine galore, and are still in Act 1, head to the northeast of the Wilderness to where the mission “Find the Missing Shipment” takes place. In the crates there will be loads of wine. 

If all else fails, head to a local tavern and buy all the booze the bartender is serving - or just steal it. Your call.

One of Baldur’s Gate 3’s easiest achievements, this. As the achievement says, you just need to kill someone/something with fall damage. So, pick someone who’s strong (Karlach) and find an enemy on a ledge (preferably over an abyss as it’s an insta-kill), and then “Shove” them into oblivion. If your character passes the Athletics check, they’ll fly off into the abyss.

Personally, I’d prepare a save before doing this one, and then load the game after, as any loot that person has on them will disappear with their corpse - and we hate to waste loot! You can, of course, do this from high ledges as well, by pushing (or throwing) them down to lower areas of the map, but sometimes it won’t kill them. It needs to kill them to unlock the ‘Shove Off’ achievement.

An easy place to get this, though, is on the boat fight between the Underdark and the Grymforge, as you can push loads of them into the water.

This might seem a little daunting from the off, but the actual truth of the matter is, there’s bloody loads of books (probably thousands of them) to read throughout your time in Baldur’s Gate.

So, when you see a note, a book, or something you can read, simply “read” it  by interacting with it and then leave it where it is - after all, you don’t want those books weighing you down.

Once you’ve done that 100 times, the ‘Bookworm’ achievement is all yours.

When you drink alcohol in Baldur’s Gate 3, you’ll get a temporary “Alcohol” status, indicating that you're drunk. The key to getting the ‘Punch Drunk’ achievement, then, is to defeat 20 opponents while this status effect is present on the character that’s doing the killing. Now, you can do this as you go, in various fights, one or two here as you make your way across all 3 acts, or, because there’s no real point to drinking alcohol in a fight and you don’t want to waste a bonus action, you can also just wait until Act 3 and do it all in an instant with our strategy.

When you reach Lower City in Baldur’s Gate, if you head west from the Basilisk Gate fast-travel point, on the main road, to the north, is the Elfsong Tavern.

If you head into the kitchen and speak to Chef Roveer you’ll be able to start the side quest, “Roveer’s Storehouse.” He’ll ask you to clear the basement of the kitchen because it’s developed a rat problem - this is also part of the murder mystery quest in the city too, as he’ll be one of the targets.

The next bit is simple. Take your character with big AOE attacks - maybe a Druid or Wizard with Ice Storm - and separate them from the group. Then, make sure they have all the alcohol on them. It doesn’t matter if it’s Brass City Struggle, Common Table Wine, Whaleboned Spiced, Suzailian Sweet or whatever, all that matters is the alcohol status effect.

Before you head downstairs, drink one drink that has a 2 turn status effect, and as soon as you’ve drunk it, click on the stairs down. As soon as you land in the basement the fight against a crapload of rats will start. Instantly drop an Ice Storm, hitting as many as you can, and you’ll kill more than half instantly.

Then, let the rats have their turn. And when it’s your turn, firstly make sure you’ve still got the alcohol status - if you haven’t, drink another alcoholic drink. And then secondly, finish the rest of the rats off with another Ice Storm.

Bang! Once you’ve done that you’ll have unlocked the ‘Punch Drunk’ achievement in about 30 seconds and without even breaking a sweat. Not bad, eh?

**Missable**

Now, we’ve marked this one as missable, as it’s entirely possible that you can miss Scratch altogether - a dog you can recruit to your camp - and thus, miss the chance to play fetch with him.

You’ll find Scratch to the north-northeast of the Blighted Village in Act 1 in the Wilderness - just before you enter the Blighted Village, hug the east wall and follow the path into the woods (he’s near the Owlbear nest). You’ll find Scratch there by his now dead owner’s body, Gomwick.

If you pop a Potion of Animal Speaking (or use the spell if one of your party has it) you can speak to Scratch and persuade him to come to your camp - you will need to pass a number of checks, of course. In fact, you can do this without an Animal Speaking spell or potion, it just makes it a little bit trickier. Whatever you do though, do not shout at the corpse, as that will anger Scratch and you won’t be able to recruit him.

If successful, Scratch will stay for the time being, but will eventually make his way to your camp. Then, when he’s at your camp, every time you rest, make sure to find Scratch and pet him.

After a while he’ll start to bring you gifts, like a bone, maybe a potion of healing, before eventually bringing you an object called ‘Scratch’s Ball.’ If you pass a Strength/Sleight of Hand or Animal Handling check, you’ll be able to get the ball from him.

And then, to unlock the ‘Fetch Quest’ achievement, simply just throw the ball somewhere in the camp using the ‘Throw’ action, and Scratch will go and fetch it for you - try not to throw it into a heavily populated area, as Scratch has a tendency to get stuck.

The irony is, that in a game with no fetch quests as side quests, the only one that remotely resembles a fetch quest is actually a game of fetch for an achievement called ‘Fetch Quest.’ That's a mind boggler!

Tactician mode is the game’s hardest standard difficulty (well, aside from the new Honour mode, of course - see Foehammer (35G) for that) and anyone who’s played Divinity Original Sin 2 will know how tricky this can get. Also, before we push on: no, you can't change the difficulty at the end of a Balanced playthrough and get this - you must start on Tactician and end on Tactician.

Tactician mode means enemies have more health, they have better strategies, they hit harder, they have better spells, more spells, heal and support each other more often, amongst other things. It’ll also cost twice as many resources to Long Rest now too.

Luckily, however, because of the game’s open-world nature, Baldur’s Gate 3’s perceived difficulty compared to DOS2 is a lot more forgiving, because if you’re struggling, you can go elsewhere and do something and then come back later. 

Like DOS2, however, the game follows a similar pattern in terms of difficulty spikes and what not, in that it’s pretty hard early on, then gets a lot easier when you start to level up with side content in the latter parts of Act 1 and 2 (when you start to outlevel your foes), before getting much harder when you reach the level 12 level cap towards the end of the game.

In terms of actual tips, here’s what we suggest:

• If you’ve already played the game on Balanced, there’s a chance that you never had to use scrolls, elixirs, or even potions to get through encounters. On Tactician difficulty, these should become part of your routine in every fight.
• Use examine on enemies to a.) see their weaknesses; b.) see their resistances; and c.) work out what kind of attacks they’ll do.
• Use the objects in the environment. Carry barrels. Set traps. Funnel enemies into a choke point. Cripple them. Combine elements like water and electricity, and so on. Just be an absolute annoyance. 
• Don’t overstretch too much. Let the enemies come to you and control the battlefield between you and them. Remember, use parts of the environment to your advantage too, i.e. use walls as cover to force an enemy to exit their comfort zone to open up the line of sight; and use the high ground where possible. 
• Shove! Shove! Shove! Have your strength character push grunts into abysses where possible too, just don’t do it with boss-like characters if you want their loot.
• If this is your second playthrough (and it really should be), you’ll know when fights are coming and when and where you can ambush/pre-setup your squad (like get them up high, find a stealthy place to aggro them, etc.). 
• Kill. Kill. Kill… especially early on. XP early on is massive, because it helps you climb those levels, and the best way to do that is to kill enemies. Just don’t get embroiled in impossible fights too early though, as it’s a sure way to die, but if you can get to level 6 or 7 by the end of Act 1, the next 30 hours will be infinitely easier.
• Advantage is your friend. For Tactician you need to get your head around the Advantage system, and when you do, you’ll fare a lot better in battles. On the flip side, get your head around Disadvantage too, and how not to attack from disadvantaged positions - and how to get the best out of your attacks.
• Likewise, you should be buffing (Bless) squadmates and debuffing enemies as a standard part of your fight moveset. Buffing your squad and griefing the enemy is more important than getting one solitary hit in.
• In terms of builds, the Paladin is pretty solid as it stands, as is the straight up Sorcerer, but honestly, we found a composition of a Druid, Fighter, Berserker and Cleric pretty effective. The Fighter and Berserker were the frontline, while the Cleric and Druid offered backline support. On Tactician, the enemy will target your squishies, so leave them well protected. Having the Druid’s Wild Shape, though, (and becoming an Owlbear at level 6) can effectively be an extra life, adding an incredibly mobile attacker too to the frontline when you need it, so there’s plenty of flexibility as well.
• You also want to keep an eye on your actual main character’s stats as well - having high Charisma will help with worming your way out of certain situations, and making some fights easier (like killing the nurses before you fight the Surgeon in Act 2).
• Summons! It’s always easier when you have more turns and more units on the field. So, summon distractions and annoyances to slow down the enemy, and give your attackers some breathing room. Remember, some summons, like the Elementals, can be summoned outside of battle too, saving you a turn when you get into the mix of things. If you can get Scratch (to trigger battles and stop getting surprised), Quasit, and so on, you’ll eventually just win because of pure numbers.
• Get all the legendary armour and weapons you can. So, do the Adamantine Forge, get the Blood of Lathander, get the Helldusk Armour, and so on, and so forth. By Act 3 you want all your squad members to have the best armour and weapons available to make things as easy as possible.
• Loot and sell. Loot and sell. You can then use that gold to buy valuable equipment and also spend 5k when you get to the Circus to get the statue boost in Act 3 as well. Plus, you need a ton of supplies to Long Rest too, which is incredibly important, so keep an eye out for any food and drink, and always loot it.
• Don’t forget to move characters around while one character is engaged in a conversation and a battle is imminent. This will stop a lot of encounters going south from the first enemy attack (with them being all bunched up). Spreading your party out in general is something you should do too, to avoid AOE attacks from the enemy combatants.
• Save. Lots. And don’t be afraid to reload if you have an awful start to a fight or get a rough roll of the dice.

Tactician mode is pretty damn tough, but as long as you take your time, save often, and have a plan for every situation, you should be able to make your way through it. Just remember, you can’t really afford to have a weak point in your play, whether that’s squad composition, positioning or move selection, so get a foolproof strategy for your build, and stick to it.

If you need some more tips, we've put some really high level ones in our Foehammer (35G) guide that are more applicable for Honour mode, but work here too. So check that out if you're looking to gain every advantage.

Honour mode in Baldur’s Gate 3 is the hardest of hardest modes. It’s basically Tactician Plus mixed together with permadeath and giving players one solitary save slot. I’m not going to sugarcoat it… It’s bloody hard.

Not only do enemies seem smarter and have bigger skill sets, but bosses in Honour mode have devastating legendary attack moves too. So, combine that with the fact that you only have one save slot (auto-saves included) and any squad wipe will end the run, and boy, do you have a challenge ahead of you.

We put some general tips for Tactician mode in our Critical Hit (25G) guide, which are all relevant here, but below are some Honour mode specific tips that you’ll need to get your head round as well.

And no, the Tactician and Honour mode achievements do not stack. You have to do each mode separately. We’d suggest doing this last, of course (unless you’re a madman) as you may develop some strategies along the way in previous playthroughs that will help in the long run.

Anyway! Here’s some tips for Baldur’s Gate 3’s Honour mode.

• First things first, examining bosses is absolutely essential for Honour mode. This will allow you to see what their legendary action is, and work out how to avoid it.
• Initiative is massively important in Honour mode runs. Because if your enemy attacks first, some enemies might not even get their first turn! Attack is the best defence, and all that. So, any items that improve Initiative or stats that help you attack first, are vitally important - Dexterity is key to winning Initiative rolls. The following skills/abilities/items are great for getting your strike in first:
  • The Alert Feat (available for all classes at level 4).
  • A Ranger’s Dread Ambusher subclass has a Gloom Stalker ability which is +3 Initiative and gives the attacker two turns out of the gate for the first attack in every encounter.
  • A Fighter’s Champion subclass gets the Remarkable Athlete: Proficiency at level 7, which significantly increases Initiative.
  • Barbarians get Feral Instinct at level 7, which adds +3 to Initiative and guarantees they can’t be surprised.
  • The Soulbreaker Greatsword, dropped by Kith'rak Therezzyn in the Creche Y'llek has a +2 to Initiative.
  • The Elven Chain medium armour has a +2 Initiative bonus, and can be purchased from Exxvikyap in Rivington.
  • The Elixir of Vigilance gives you a +5 Initiative bonus until you Long Rest, so use it if you know there’s an ambush coming up.
• If in doubt, use Invisibility spells/scrolls to get the hell out of dodge, or to move someone out of danger. It's always best to have Invisibility scrolls or spells handy for every character in every fight.
• If you’re struggling and have lost party members and need to escape before you suffer a full squad wipe, the Feign Death ability/scroll can be a godsend to de-aggro enemies, especially if you’ve moved out of the combat arena a little.
• If you’re looking like the party is about to be wiped, or you have no chance to win the encounter, then run away, head back to camp, and resurrect your party with Withers, and then try again either when you’re higher levelled, or more prepared.
• Seek out permanent boosts and stat buffs where possible i.e:
  • Making a deal with Ethel in Act 1
  • Getting the see Invisibility eye from Volo in Act 1
  • Read all of the Necromancy of Thay (Danse Macabre in Act 3 is great as a distraction spell)
  • Convince Astarion to bite Araj Oblodra in Moonrise Towers in Act 2 (and give her your blood too for a bonus in Act 3)
  • Save Us in Act 2 for an additional summon
  • In Act 3 have the statue commissioned at the Circus
  • Interact with the Mirror of Loss in Act 3
  • Get the Unstable Blood from Araj Oblodra in Act 3 (great for Karlach)
  • Read the Tharchiate Codex in Act 3
  • Let Astarion complete the ritual in Act 3 
• Don’t take on fights that you don’t need to. So, if you're not feeling confident about fighting someone like Cazador or Raphael, don't. The important thing is getting to level 12 for the Orin fight and end-game, anything else is a bonus.
• Every fight, especially boss fights, you should have a strategy. For instance, taking in someone with Magic Missile to fight Orin; disarming Zhalk; summoning minions to fight Viconia; and so on.
• For encounters, it's always important to have an escape route/plan B in case things go sideways.
• Always have Inspiration Points to avoid fights you don’t want to take on - or make them easier. i.e. the Toll Collector and the Surgeon in Act 2.

The truth is, Honour mode is just really an evolution of the strategies you’ll have learned while finishing Tactician. It’s a mode where you have to master the systems, the mechanics, and really understand the nuts and bolts of everything. You can’t afford to waste turns, so every turn must be carefully planned out. Knowing little things like the 100% guaranteed Magic Missiles don’t work in darkness shrouds comes from experience, and will help you in good stead as you plough through another playthrough.

Lastly, don’t stress too much. There’s a good chance you won’t do this on your first attempt, so don’t go in expecting to do so. You’re likely to die more times in Act 1 than any other act, and that’s because when you get past that early game grind and start to open up your build, you’ll become more effective and fights will become easier.

And if all else fails, folks, and you’re sick of getting wiped and having to restart, try having a party of 4 and leaving 1 outside of combat, and then using the party of 3 active players to get through the game (while the fourth relaxes elsewhere on the map). Sure, you’ll have less party members in a battle making it harder, but you won’t have to keep restarting. It might take the honour of our Honour mode, but it’ll save you some frustration!

If you take these Honour mode tips, in conjunction with the Tactician mode tips, you’ll be well set to defeat the bloody hard Honour mode! And if you beat it, you’ll more than deserve the 'Foehammer' achievement. Congrats to you if you can do it!