Baldur's Gate 3 Player Beats The Game Without Leveling Up
19.12.2023 - 05:53
/ thegamer.com
/ Honour Mode
Baldur's Gate 3 has you level up to become more powerful, which is pretty standard when it comes to video games these days. Leveling up gets you more health points and stat bonuses, as well as access to powerful spells you need to defeat tougher enemies. Not leveling up puts you at a massive disadvantage later in the game, but it's one that YouTuber Fracture was happy to burden.
Earlier this month, Fracture set themselves the impossible task of trying to beat Baldur's Gate 3 without leveling up once (thanks GamesRadar), something that they not only managed to accomplish, but did so on Tactician difficulty. Fracture has uploaded a two-hour video of their run to their official YouTube channel, which features quick thinking, luck, and a healthy dose of cheese.
If you want the abridged version, Fracture starts out their challenge by creating a Githyanki Wizard, mostly due to the handy Charisma bonus the race gives you, and the flexibility of the spells that Wizards can learn. They also spread all of their points as equally as possible, but neglecting Intelligence for a reason that doesn't become quite apparent until part way through the video.
The rest of the video is all about that pure cheese, as one event has Fracture boxing in the three Ogres in the Goblin village with wheelbarrows and chests, peppering them with Fireballs from above from complete safety as they couldn't move. Fracture was then able to grab the Headband of Intellect to massively increase their Intelligence and allow them to learn more spells.
You'll also be unsurprised to hear that Fracture is a big fan of Barrellmancy, using powerful explosives to down strong foes such as Auntie Ethel and other hordes of enemies. Couple that with the canny use of stealth to sneak by foes, some cunning chest placement, and a sky-high Charisma stat that allowed Fracture to talk their way through a variety of potentially deadly situations, and you can begin to see how possible it is to actually beat Baldur's Gate 3 without leveling up.
The final fight is just as ridiculous as the whole video is, as Fracture seemingly broke the game by heading into the Netherbrain combat arena completely invisible, stopping the Netherbrain from entering combat. Fracture then cast Moonbeam on its location, and it just sat there and slowly died. A bit anti-climactic I know, but Fracture reloaded and did the fight again just to flex, using high-level scrolls they had collected throughout the game.
There are a bunch more interesting little tricks that Fracture uses, and the video itself is worth the watch just for the many ways in which you can take advantage of Baldur's Gate 3 to meet your own needs. All Fracture needs to do now is do the whole thing again in Honour Mode,