Summary
Baldur’s Gate 3will stand the test of time as a turning point in what video games can be, look like, and feel like. With more than 17,000 permutations, every playthrough is promised to be unique and distinct (provided players make different choices each time). This, too, means that various combat strategies come into play regarding playstyles, character builds, and more.
Enter: combat consumable items. Of course, the standard Healing Potion is a feature in the game, but there are so many other types of combat items inBaldur’s Gate 3that players can exploit. This doesn’t refer to equipment such as jewelry, weapons, or armor. It also does not include story items, even if they are consumables like the Tadpole Elixir, Iron Flask, or Scrolls as they function as spells in combat as opposed to items with unique effects. Just what are the best combat items inBaldur’s Gate 3?
This article contains spoilers for various aspects of the game Baldur’s Gate 3 including late-game boss fights and character reveals.
1Buff Grenades Like Haste Spore Flask
Turn The Tide Of A Few Battles
This one sits at the bottom of the list for two main reasons: there aren’t that many of this kind of item and the ones players do get or can craft aren’t numerous either. There’s really only one kind and it all comes back to theMyconids.Haste Sporesprovide the same benefits that thePotion of Speeddoes: a character can take extra actions in the same turn, gain increased movement speed, gain advantage on Dexterity saving throws, and gain +2 AC.
However, the cloud of spores provides doubled movement speed and players can avoid theLethargicdebuff entirely. If they stay in the spores or re-enter them, they regain theHastestatus. Use the grenade or flask, but remember that the Grenade effects do not last as long as the Flasks.
Haste Spore Flask
3 meters
Creates a permanent Haste Spore cloud that grants Haste for 1 turn.
Haste Spore Grenade
2 meters
Creates a Haste Spore cloud for 3 turns that grants Haste for 1 turn.
2Arrows Of Slaying
Great For Specific Enemies
Many players may not feel that the various “Arrows of X Slaying” are worth the trouble to use or gold to pick them up. But they can prove very useful at higher difficulties and against specific enemies. These arrows double damage done to whatever enemy type they favor such asBeastorAberration.
For instance, the difficulty of theAnsurfight can be mitigated by usingArrows of Dragon Slaying. Fighting theSteel Watchgets a bit easier by using theArrows of Construct Slaying. The game hands out different kinds throughout the campaign and players can buy them from merchants as well.
3Damage Grenades
Deal AoE Damage Or Set Up A Spell Wombo Combo
Dealing damage with consumable items like grenades is not a foreign concept to most gamers. ButBG3has the added effects of things like surfaces and how players can leverage their spells, weapon coatings, or enemy attacks with those surfaces. Grenades such asAlchemist’s FireorHoly Waterboth do damage and create surfaces.
That said, most players won’t find themselves reaching for a grenade all too often as the damage output is not nearly as useful in the mid-to-late game. However, players who sell their blood toAraj Oblodracan purchase a powerful combat item called theSanguine Explosivein theLower City of Baldur’s Gate(multiple times!).
Spiked Bulb
4 meters
Causes affected entities to Bleed for 1 turn and deals 1 Piercing damage.
Acid Vial
Creates a permanent Acid surface and deals 2d6Acid damage to affected entities.
Achlemist’s Fire
Creates a Fire surface and causes affected entities to burn for 2 turns.
Holy Water
Creates a permanent Water surface and deals 3d6Radiant damage to affected Undead and Fiends.
Scrap and Shrapnel Grenade
4Utility Grenades
Effective For Fights With Lots Of Enemies
Leveraging negative status effects like movement speed reduction or confusion becomes increasingly important throughoutBG3. One of the first fights where crowd control feels mandatory is when/if the player and party attack theGoblin Campin Act I. The hoards of half-drunk gobbos running toward the player can be slowed easily with crowd control.
There are plenty of spells for just this effect, but not everyone likes torely on spellcastingor maintain spell slots for battle. Using crowd-control grenades like the easy-to-come-byGrease Bottleis a no-brainer in any battle. More specialized items such as theHearthlight BomborFlashblindercome in handy against specific enemy types, as well. Keep some of these in character inventories just in case of an emergency.
Void Bulb
6 meters
Pulls creatures into the point of impact and deals 1Force damage.
Grease Bottle
Creates a Grease surface that can inflict Prone on entities susceptible to Difficult Terrain.
Oil Flask
Creates an Oil area that can be set on fire until a Long Rest.
9 meters
Fungal Bamboozler
Creates an area of Timmask Spores for 3 turns that can cause Befuddlement for 1 turn.
5Weapon Coatings
Especially Useful Early-Mid Game
Though many enemies have high resistances in the late game ofBG3, early to mid-game enemies can be thwarted quickly by exploiting various weapon coatings. Though the early items focus on poison, other options include things likeOil of Banethat can inflictBaneon a target when attacked with a weapon coated in the item.
Many veteran players opt to use thePurple Worm Toxinfor the most effectiveness as others such asThisobald’s Brewed-Up Bellyglummertake rare resources to create.Karabasan’s Poison, a powerful paralytic, is availableall over Act III, so try it out in the next playthrough.
Effect
Basic Poison
Inflicts Poisoned for 3 turns on a target attacked with the coated weapon.
Simple Toxin
Inflicts Simple Toxin for 1 turn on a target attacked with the coated weapon.
Drow Poison
Inflicts Sleeping and Poisoned for 10 turns on a target attacked with the coated weapon.
Serpent Fang Toxin
Inflicts Serpent Fang Toxin for 1 turn on a target attacked with the coated weapon.
Wyvern Toxin
Inflicts Wyvern Toxin for 1 turn on a target attacked with the coated weapon.
Purple Worm Toxin
Inflicts Purple Worm Toxin for 1 turn on a target attacked with the coated weapon.
Thisobald’s Brewed-Up Bellyglummer
Inflicts Brewed-Up Bellyglummer until a Long Rest on a target attacked with the coated weapon.
Oil of Diminution
Inflicts poison for 3 turns on a target attacked with the coated weapon.
Oil of Accuracy
Inflicts Reduced for 2 turns on a target attacked with the coated weapon.
Wizardsbane Oil
Inflicts Wizardsbane Oil for 2 turns on a target attacked with the coated weapon.
Crawler Mucus
Inflicts Paralyzed and Poisoned until a Long Rest on a target attacked with the coated weapon.
Malice
Inflicts Stricken with Malice until a Long Rest on a target attacked with the coated weapon.
Karabasan’s Poison
Oil of Bane
Inflicts Bane for 2 turns on a target attacked with the coated weapon.
Oil of Freezing
Inflicts Encrusted with Frost for 2 turns on a target attacked with the coated weapon.
Oil of Combustion
Inflicts Oil of Combustion for 2 turns on a target attacked with the coated weapon.
Arsonist’s Oil
Turns a target’s Fire resistance to Fire weakness for 2 turns.
6Arrows That Do Something Special/Specific
A Game Changer For Many Areas And Fights
Who else didn’t enjoy theTemple of Bhaalentrance fight? Here’s a new strategy to try: just have every character useArrows of Transpositionto bypass most of the fighting and get to the exit instead. TheArrow of Salvingalso lets players heal other characters without having to touch them, as the case usually is with many healing spells.
But theArrow of Arcane Interferencecomes especially in handy as players get into the late game ofBG3. They can use it to break theConcentrationof an enemy whether they are targeting the player’s party or buffing an enemy character instead.
7Utility Potions That Provide Or Enhance Abilities
Gotta Go Fast…And Fly…And…Sleep?
Sleeping during combat sounds like the worst idea imaginable, but thePotions of Angelic ReprieveandSlumberprovide the effects of aShort RestandLong Rest,respectively. Forspell slot-hungry casters like Gale, these potions can be total game changers. ThePotion of SpeedprovidesHaste,which is highly exploitable in late-game fights, too. But not all of these potion types are created equally.
For instance, theRemedial PotionandBasilisk Oilboth remove negative status effects, but they aren’t as useful in combat as something like aPotion of Flying. The table below ranks the potions based on their inherent combat usefulness.
Potion of Mind Reading
Allows the target to cast Detect Thoughts at will while talking to certain creatures until a Long Rest.
Potion of Animal Speaking
Allows the target to converse with animals until a Long Rest.
Potion of Sleep
Inflicts Sleep for 3 turns and can be thrown at enemies.
Cures petrification.
Potion of Feather Fall
Slows the rate of falling, granting the target immunity to fall damage for 10 turns.
Cures any Disease or Poison.
Removes the negative statuses Silence, Poisoned, Blinded, and Paralyzed.
Potion of Angelic Reprieve
After 2 full turns of uninterrupted sleeping, the target gains the benefit of a Short Rest, regaining all Level 1 and 2 spell slots.
Potion of Angelic Slumber
After 2 full turns of uninterrupted sleeping, the target gains the benefit of a Long Rest.
Grants the target Flight for 10 turns.
Potion of Speed
Grants the target Haste for 3 turns, followed by 1 turn of Lethargic.
8Multi-Enemy Or Elemental Damage Arrows
Beware Of Friendly Fires And Enemy Resistances
Any player opting for a ranged, non-spellcasting build will want to keep elemental damage arrows in stock. Not only do these add elemental damage to normal weapon attacks, but they often create surfaces as well or do area-of-effect damage. The best part is that, technically, anyone can use them – even onextra attacks as with Rogues, Warriors, some Bard builds, and Barbarians.
It’s extremely easy to come by elemental damage arrows as loot from enemies or the surroundings and, of course, from merchants throughout the game. Just keep in mind that using an elemental damage arrow on an enemy that has resistance to that element may not work out as well as with other enemies.
Barbed Arrow
Deals 1d4 Piercing + Weapon Damage when moving for 5 turns.
Arrow of Fire
2d4 Fire+Weapon Damage and creates a fire surface for 2 turns.
Arrow of Cold
2d4 Cold+Weapon Damage and creates an ice surface for 2 turns.
Arrow of Roaring Thunder
Deals Weapon Damage and knocks targets back by up to 5 meters.
2d4 Acid+Weapon Damage and creates a permanent Acid surface.
Arrow of Darkness
Deals Weapon Damage and creates a cloud of Darkness that can inflict Blind for 3 turns.
Arrow of Piercing
Deals Weapon Damage+half that damage to any creatures behind the original target.
Deals 4d6 Fire+4d6 Force+Weapon Damage and knocks targets back.
Arrow of Ilmater
Deals 1d4 Necrotic+Weapon Damage and target cannot regain Hit Points for 1 turn.
Arrow of Many Targets
Deals Weapon Damage+half that damage to original target and three other targets in range.
9Elixirs Of Resistance
Invest Early And Exploit Late Game
Especially in higher difficulties of combat, resistances to certain damage types such asNecroticandPsychicbecome paramount.Elixirs of Resistancedo exactly what their name suggests: provide boosted damage resistance against a specific damage type. All but theUniversal Resistance Elixirlasts until the player takes aLong Rest, but this item is still very much worth having in the inventory.
Players can craft or buy theElixir of Universal Resistance, too (which they should) even though it only lasts for 10 turns in battle. Think of the late-game fights where characters can take three or more types of elemental damage in a single turn. Every action counts and so does every Hit Point.
Grants target resistance to Acid damage until a Long Rest
Grants target resistance to Poison damage until a Long Rest
Grants target resistance to Cold damage until a Long Rest
Grants target resistance to Fire damage until a Long Rest
Grants target resistance to Force damage until a Long Rest
Grants target resistance to Radiant damage until a Long Rest
Grants target resistance to Lightning damage until a Long Rest
Grants target resistance to Thunder damage until a Long Rest
Grants target resistance to Psychic damage until a Long Rest
Grants target resistance to Necrotic damage until a Long Rest
Elixir of Universal Resistance
Grants target resistance to all damage for 10 rounds of combat
10Healing Potions
The Old Standard No One Should Overlook
Not much needs to be said aboutHealing Potionsother than hoard all of them. UnlikeDivinity Original Sin 2, players cannot merge smaller potions into bigger potions. They’ll just have to use up the lesser potions outside of combat when the amount healed is less important.
When it comes to battle, be sure to provide characters with the types ofHealing Potionthat best suits them.Lae’zelorKarlachmight need theSupreme Healing Potionssince they probably have more health than someone likeAstarionorGale. In the base difficulty of the game, merchants regularly restock withHealing Potions, too, so players should not have issues keeping them around.
