Summary
- Honour Mode in Baldur's Gate 3 adds a new level of challenge by limiting players to a single save file and making boss fights tougher.
- Legendary Actions in boss fights introduce surprise elements, requiring players to adapt and stay on their toes to overcome new challenges.
- Facing tough bosses like Phase Spider Matriarch, Bernard, and Gortash in Honour Mode tests players' skills for a truly challenging RPG experience.
Baldur’s Gate 3 brings D&D's tactical combat to the digital world. While its turn-based combat may already be hard enough for some players, others may want even more of a challenge. Honour Mode, introduced in Patch 5, is the perfect answer for those players. It makes sweeping changes to the game, such as limiting players to a single save file, and also makes boss fights more difficult through the use of Legendary Actions.
Baldur's Gate 3: Every Character That Can Join Your Camp
Players have the opportunity to recruit several characters to their camp in Baldur's Gate 3.
Legendary Actions are powerful reactions unique to each boss. Some deal massive damage while others are designed to surprise players and prevent them from using well-known strategies that exploit their weaknesses. Players will have to stay on their toes and adapt to all sorts of new challenges that Honour Mode presents.
Updated April 12, 2024 by Matthew Weideman: As players go back to start new playthroughs and test their skills in the game now that it has been out for several months, they will find that Honour Mode continues to be the peak of challenging RPG gameplay.
Players interested in knowing about the toughest encounters in BG3's Honour Mode will find some useful tidbits in this updated article.
15 Phase Spider Matriarch
She Is Extra Protective Of Her Spawn
- Found In Act 1 Under The Blighted Village Well
The Phase Spider Matriarch is an unexpected encounter for most players venturing beneath the Blighted Village for the first time. If giant spiders weren't bad enough, the fact that they can teleport as well makes them even more intimidating.
The Phase Spider Matriarch is a difficult boss because the party is likely still at a low level when they encounter her. It is also an encounter where it is easy to be outnumbered by the enemies, which can make things tricky. In Honour Mode, she can entomb a target in webs that will eventually explode for up to 80 damage. Thankfully, players can destroy the webbing to prevent damage, so this needs to be the priority any time the matriarch uses Gossamer Tomb successfully.
Legendary Action
Gossamer Tomb - Entombs a creature that attacks a spider offspring. Will do 8d10 damage after 3 turns if not destroyed.
14 Bernard
The Arcane Tower Guardian Lashes Out With Lightning Damage
- Found in Act 1 at the top of the Arcane Tower in the Underdark
Players find Bernard the automaton at the top of the Arcane Tower in the Underdark. Combat with him can be avoided if players have managed to find all the pages of a play scattered throughout the tower. To resolve the encounter peacefully, players have to respond to Bernard's line with the corresponding couplet from the play. If they do not, Bernard attacks.
In Honour Mode, Bernard gains access to a new spell called Leaping Static, which can hit up to three party members with lightning damage. Keeping the party separated so that the lightning bolt cannot jump between them is a good way to mitigate the amount
Legendary Action
Leaping Static - Bernard strikes an attacker for 3d8 lightning damage. This attack spreads to up to three other nearby targets.
13 Thisobald Thorm
His Brew Gains Extra Potency
- Found in Act 2 in the Waning Moon tavern in Reithwin
Thisobald Thorm, like Ketheric's other children, can be defeated in combat or through successful checks during conversations. For this Thorm sibling, the player must pass checks related to drinking the vile brew that Thisobald pours and outdrink the cursed elf. After several drinks and successful checks, Thisobald explodes.
If the player fails a check or just outright attacks Thisobald, they must defeat him in combat instead. The fight against him is difficult both because he has help from the cursed bar workers and because he uses his brew to hit the party with area-of-effect attacks. In Honour Mode, Thisobald gains the extra ability to boost the damage done by his brew once per round.
Legendary Action
Overflowing Brew - When his brew type changes, Thisobald can cause it to overflow to deal an extra 3d6 damage of the brew's new type. He can use this once per round.
12 Gortash
He Retaliates With The Wrath Of Bane
- Found in Act 3 at the top of Wyrm Rock Fortress
Gortash is one of the Chosen of the Dead Three and serves as one of the final obstacles between the player and the Netherbrain. Players can forgo this battle by making a deal with him and following through on it after killing Orin. Otherwise, they are in for a tough fight.
Players should take out the Steel Watch by destroying the Foundry so that the mechanical soldiers are not an added hindrance. They should also equip a spell that can cure curses because that is how Gortash's Legendary Action can easily kill a companion with a single action. Tyrannical Branding places a curse on someone who attacked Gortash. If not removed, the curse deals its target up to 200 damage at the end of their next turn, making Gortash one of the strongest foes in the game.
Legendary Action
Tyrannical Branding - Gortash reacts to an attack by placing a curse on the attacker. At the end of the target's next turn, Bane's fist will fall on them to deal 20d10 force damage.
11 Ansur
The Undead Dragon Unleashes Lightning On His Attackers
- Found in Act 3 through the Wyrmway
Ansur is an undead dragon that players find in the Wyrmway. The quest is a misdirect of sorts since players find him while thinking that he will be a great ally in the fight against the Absolute. Instead, they discover that the Emperor killed him and that Ansur cannot be swayed from seeking to destroy the party.
Defeating Ansur is very difficult, especially in Honour Mode. He has a Legendary Action that allows him to hit an attacker with Lightning Breath for up to 72 damage as a reaction. In addition to the fact that he can fly and crash down on the party, the player is in for a tough match if they face this undead dragon.
Legendary Action
Draconic Wrath - Once per round, Ansur reacts to an attack by using his Lightning Breath on the target. This hits his attacker for 12d6 Lightning damage.
10 The Owlbear
Extra Help From Her Mate
- Found in Act 1 in the Owlbear Cave
Fighting the owlbear mother and her recruitable cub is tough since it's early in the game and players don't have access to the full range of their abilities yet.
Baldur's Gate 3: Should You Kill the Owlbear
Players that are trying to decide if they should kill the Owlbear in Baldur's Gate 3 can find details on the consequences of this choice here.
In Honour Mode, this fight is even tougher because the mother draws out the fight at a point when the party is already low on health and spell slots by summoning a second adult owlbear, her mate. Players have to deal with both, as the mate does not disappear if the mother dies, but she can summon him back to battle if he dies first.
Legendary Action
Call Consort - The mother summons another owlbear with 118 HP
9 Grym
Temporary HP, Extra Movement, And A Shockwave
- Found in Act 1 in Grymforge
Grym is a very defensive boss. It is invulnerable unless superheated by lava, and can target characters for a lot of damage. While dealing massive damage to it with the GrymForge’s hammer is still a viable strategy, extra lava pits in Honour Mode can become a problem in and of itself. Grym also has a defensive Legendary Action that grants it temporary health points and makes it move faster, weakening the strategy of kiting it around in the lava to prevent its damage.
Legendary Action
Adamantine Reverberation - Grym gains 10 temporary HP. As long as these HP remain, Grym has double its movement speed. When they are removed, it releases a shock wave that pushes enemies away and deals force damage.
8 Auntie Ethel
Every Time A Spell Is Cast, She Copies Herself Again
- Found in Act 1 under the Riverside Teahouse
The fight against Auntie Ethel is a memorable one. Mayrina sits in a burning cage over a bottomless chasm while Ethel spawns illusory copies of herself. Players have to figure out which hag is the real Ethel and whittle her HP down before she starts the loop over again. Honour Mode makes this more difficult by allowing her to create more illusions. Whenever the player casts a spell, Ethel spawns another copy and shuffles herself around to a new location. What's worse is that she makes more copies based on how high the spell level is.
Baldur's Gate 3: Auntie Ethel's Potion Effects
Players are free to drink many potions in Baldur's Gate 3, even poisonous ones; Auntie Ethel has a mix of good and bad ones to sample.
Legendary Action
Weird Magic Surge - Auntie Ethel creates more illusory copies of herself immediately after a spell is cast. The higher the spell level, the more copies she gets to make.
7 Inquisitor W'wargaz
Two Unique Summoned Weapons Aid Him
- Found in Act 2 in the Githyanki Créche
Inquisitor W'wargaz is the boss of the Githyanki Crèche, a site that can only be visited in Act 2. He fights alongside four other githyanki, all of whom can parry attacks and dole out damage. He has an extra attack each turn and can use 
Misty Step to close the distance to any potential target. He can also cast Mindsteal Link to increase his Armor Class. In Honour Mode, he gets more opportunities to use Mindsteal Link while also increasing his damage output by summoning unique psionic weapons.
Legendary Action
Mind-Claw of Tu'narath - Inquisitor W'wargaz can summon up to two psionic blades. When these blades deal damage, W'wargaz can cast Mindsteal Link as a reaction.
6 Balthazar
Extra Defenses For Himself And Revenge For Killing His Minions
- Found in Act 2 in the Shadowfell
Defeating Balthazar is no easy task. The area is small and crowded with undead, and Balthazar can easily overwhelm players with spells like Cloudkill if they don't disable it. He is one of the few bosses in the game with two Legendary Actions. One affects him directly and makes hurting him more difficult and even painful for the characters. The other has the necromancer use the death of his minions to his advantage.
Legendary Actions
Spectral Aspect - When hit the first time each round, Balthazar gains resistance or immunity to each type of elemental damage and can fly. Until the end of the round, anyone who strikes him is Bone Chilled.
The Dead Wastes - When the first creature dies each round, Balthazar creates a miasma that heals nearby undead and damages party members.