Baldur’s Gate 3 Difficulty Settings Differences: Explorer vs. Balanced vs. Tactician

The Baldur’s Gate 3 difficulty setting differences aren’t explained when you start a new game. This can make it tough to figure out whether to play BG3 on Explorer, Balanced, or Tactician difficulty, which is essentially Easy, Normal, and Hard respectively. The three-year Early Access period for the game didn’t have an option for players to choose a different difficulty setting apart from the default Balanced setting. Fortunately, we’ve been able to do some testing with the full release to work out some of major changes between these three difficulties. You can also switch between them in the game at any time, even in the middle of combat. Here’s a breakdown on the list of differences between Explorer, Balanced, and Tactician in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Explorer difficulty setting

This is a list of major changes that come with the Explorer difficulty setting, compared to the standard Balanced difficulty:

• Enemy HP reduced by 30% – For example, Commander Zhalk on the mind flayer ship only has 105 HP as opposed to the normal 150 HP.
• Attack rolls on enemies have an increased chance to hit by 5% – This is effectively a +1 bonus on the dice roll for
• Enemy tactics feel the same as Balanced

Choosing Explorer makes combat much easier overall, allowing you to focus on the story without having to worry too much on tactical play.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 Balanced difficulty setting

The Balanced difficulty is effectively the game’s standard setting. Enemies have a regular amount of HP and the player does not have any extra proficiency bonuses.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Tactician difficulty setting

The Baldur’s Gate 3 Tactician difficulty will require players to eke out every tactical advantage they can get on the battlefield and comes with the following changes:

• Enemy HP increased by 30% – Using Commander Zhalk again, his HP becomes 195 HP instead of the standard 150 HP.
• Enemy tactics enhanced – Enemies will more frequently focus fire on weaker party members like spellcasters.
• More environmental hazards – There’s a chance of more interactive barrels to appear on the battlefield

For more Baldur’s Gate 3 guides, here’s whether the game is coming out on Xbox Series X|S or Xbox One, and how to change the cursor size while playing in 4K.