BG3 Beginner Tips: 20 Things I Wish I Knew Before Playing
20 essential BG3 tips for beginners — long rest often, shove everything, talk to animals, save frequently, and more game-changing advice from veteran players.
Combat & Mechanics Tips
1. Long Rest Frequently
The single most important tip. Camp supplies are everywhere — you’ll find hundreds of food items in Act 1 alone. Long resting triggers companion scenes, romance progression, and quest developments. Only a handful of quests have time pressure (and the game warns you).
2. Shove Is a Bonus Action
You can shove enemies off cliffs, into hazards, or simply away from your casters — using only a Bonus Action. Strength characters (Fighters, Barbarians, Paladins) pass shove checks reliably.
3. High Ground = +2 Accuracy
Ranged attacks from elevated positions get +2 to hit. Before every fight, ungroup your party (G key) and position archers above enemies.
4. Focus Fire on One Enemy at a Time
Kill one enemy completely before damaging another. A dead enemy deals zero damage. An enemy at 1 HP deals full damage.
5. Examine Every Enemy
Right-click → Examine shows enemy stats, resistances, vulnerabilities, and special abilities. This is free and costs no actions. Use it at the start of every fight.
Exploration Tips
6. Hold Alt to Highlight Objects
Pressing Alt highlights all interactable objects, lootable containers, and items on the ground. Do this constantly — the game hides treasure in plain sight.
7. Talk to Animals (and Dead Bodies)
Speak with Animals (spell or potion) lets you converse with every animal. They often provide quest hints, secret locations, or hilarious dialogue. Speak with Dead lets you question corpses for passwords and treasure locations.
8. Send Food and Heavy Items to Camp
Right-click items → “Send to Camp.” Your camp chest has infinite storage. Don’t carry 50 pounds of potatoes around.
9. Withers Resurrects and Respecs
Found in the Dank Crypt (early Act 1), Withers provides: resurrection for 200g, respec for 100g, and hirelings. Visit him at camp regularly.
10. Always Have a Shovel
A shovel is required to dig up buried treasure (revealed by successful Survival checks). Buy one from the first merchant you meet.
Social & Story Tips
11. Inspiration Rerolls Dialogue
Inspiration points (earned by doing things your background values) let you reroll failed dialogue checks. Don’t hoard them — you can only hold 4.
12. Guidance Is a Free +1d4
The Guidance cantrip adds 1d4 (average +2.5) to all skill checks. Have Shadowheart cast it before important dialogue or lockpicking attempts. It’s a cantrip — unlimited uses.
13. Non-Lethal Damage Exists
Toggle “Non-Lethal Attacks” in the Passives tab if you want to knock someone out instead of killing them. Useful for certain quests and for avoiding unnecessary murder.
14. You Can Throw Healing Potions
Throw a healing potion at a downed ally to revive them from range. The splash heals them without needing to walk over.
Quality of Life Tips
15. F5 Quicksaves, F8 Quickloads
Use them. Liberally. Before dialogue, before fights, after fights, before opening chests. You can keep unlimited saves.
16. Turn-Based Mode Outside Combat
Press Shift+Space to enter turn-based mode anytime. Use it for: sneaking past patrols, disarming trap sequences, or setting up pre-combat positioning.
17. Customize Your Hotbar
Unlock the hotbar (padlock icon) and drag spells/items to preferred positions. Group your most-used actions on the left side.
18. Read Every Book (Quickly)
Some books trigger quest updates or grant permanent bonuses. You don’t need to read the full text — just opening a book is usually enough. Right-click → Read, then close.
19. Dye Your Armor
Dye items (found everywhere) change armor colors. Apply via right-click on the armor piece → Combine → select dye. Cosmetic only, but armor dyes are abundant.
20. The Magic Mirror Changes Appearance
In your camp, a Magic Mirror lets you change your character’s appearance (hair, makeup, voice, etc.) at any time. Race, body type, and background are permanent.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the #1 tip for BG3 beginners?
Long rest often. Most new players avoid long resting, thinking supplies are scarce or there's a time limit. Supplies are abundant, and there's almost no time pressure. Long resting triggers critical companion story scenes, so you miss character development by avoiding it.