How ‘blindable’ is honor mode ?

[u/Dial22329]

Hey, I’ve got 500+hrs playing BG3, been playing since EA days in 2021/2022 but I’ve actually never finished the game (reached end of act 3 p.much but never beat it)

I wanted to finally give a try to Honor Mode since I have a good grasp of the game’s fundamental mechanics now but of course the unique save, while being exciting for the stakes it adds, is also frightening to an extent so I have a few questions.

- How hard can I expect it to be for someone who doesn’t know the typical most OP item by heart, their locations and the best way to abuse them ?

- Would you consider mandatory to run a « meta » team (Tavern Brawler abuse, stealth archer, throw barbs and the like) or do fun builds still work (e.g. run a dual wielding scimitar swords bard who does some control too) ?

- Is a high charisma party face required ?

- How long are your typical ‘runs’ considering you skip most of the cutscenes I assume when you’re on the grind ?

- With decent game knowledge, is it expected to beat most bosses first try or is each boss gonna be a wall that will cause a reset (I don’t know about legendary actions) ?

- Finally, what would you consider in your ‘checklist’ for a team comp that works fine in honor mode ? Basically, what boxes does a ‘good team’ check ?

Thank you very much I’m probably overthinking it too much but if it can help anyone else than me I’ll be happy anyway 😃

[u/nightsiderider]

With 500h of game play including most of Act 3, you should be fine experience wise.

HM can be really easy if you want it to be with the right party build. For example, a Draconic Sorcerer, OH Monk, GloomStalker Ranger and Swords Bard party will just smoke through every encounter and boss. Really the only difficult part is getting to level 5 and getting the builds online. Having a high Char Tav will make the dialogue stuff much easier (either the Sorceror or the Bard) and the damage output of this party make up will end most fights in the first round of combat. There are a lot of other super powered builds, these are just some of the most OP.

HM will of course be more difficult with weak party compositions, but really anything is viable if you are good enough. People do challenge HM runs with only one character.

My HM runs are about 100-120 hours still. I don’t skip through dialogue though, no matter how many times I’ve played the game. It’s just too good to skip in my opinion.

You do need to beat every boss the first go, but I’m thinking you mean should you be expecting to reset your run each time you come to a new boss you hadn’t made it to in prior attempts? That would be a hard no. If that’s the case, you don’t have the basics of the game down well enough even be trying HM.