Improve your initiative in Baldur’s Gate 3, increasing the combat potential through status effects and dexterity score to gain an advantage. Here is the key to victorious battles.

Baldur’s Gate 3, based on D&D 5th edition, may be confusing and challenging in combat for new players or those unfamiliar with the tabletop version. This guide will focus on the initiative in combat, how you may improve it, and what factors precisely influence it. It aims to help you grasp this combat feature and become more skilled on the BG3 battlefields.

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What is an initiative in Baldur’s Gate 3?

In Baldur’s Gate 3, Initiative decides the order of turns in combat, and it’s based on your Dexterity score. To calculate Initiative, the game rolls a d20 dice for each character and adds their Dexterity modifier. The character with the highest Dexterity, and as a result, often the initiative, goes first, followed by the character or creature with the second-highest initiative, and so on, and the one with the lowest goes last, making a high Dexterity advantageous.

Dexterity and Stealth’s Role in Initiative

Dexterity also influences the success of your attacks, the chances that the enemy has to hit you (Armor Class), or the damage of your dexterity-based weapons. It is also associated with specificskillssuch asacrobatics,Sleight of Hand, andstealth. Moreover, dexterity helps your characters pick a lock, disable a trap, wriggle free of bonds, or even play an instrument. Someclassesbenefit even more from Dexterity, as it is their primary statistic determining damage and usually will also have high initiative.

In combat, it’s important to have at least one character in your group with a high dexterity score. Additionally, to gain an advantage, you can attempt to approach each fight in stealth if possible. For example, launching an attack on an enemy before they get a chance to strike back or casting a beneficial spell can give you an advantage in the fight. If you successfully catch the enemy off guard and attack them when they’re not expecting it, they may receive astatus effectknown as aSurprise.

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Advantages of the Surprise Status Effect

Surprise is astatus effect, which occurs when one or more characters manage to catch the opposing group off guard through stealth, cunning, or a sudden attack. The enemy is taken by surprise, resulting in them skipping a turn and being unable to take any action.

Also Check:-BG3 Map

How to Improve Your Initiative in Combat

you may improve your Initiative by increasing your dexterity ability score. Here are all methods to increase dexterity and initiative in Baldur’s Gate 3:

What is The Best Dexterity Score You Should Aim For?

Dexterity improves the initiative but its required score is very dependent on theclass, weapon, and armor you pick. To determine the exact dexterity and other ability score you should aim for we advise you to check specificclass builds. Each class will need different statistics and as a result, their initiative will vary.You will want a dexterity 12 or 14 if you plan on using range weapons, light armor, or medium armor.

Classesthat use Dexterity as their primary statistics, such asMonk, Rogue, or Ranger will aim at 16. Inany other situation, Dexterity at 10 is a decent choice. The initiative is important. but even more important is to distribute your ability points to correct statistics so your character will cast powerful spells and their attacks will deal significant damage. Ensure you distribute your abilities including dexterity properly.

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What Classes Benefit from Dexterity?

Theclassesthat benefit from Dexterity and will have high initiative in Baldur’s Gate 3 are:

Rangers,Rogues, and Monkclasses use dexterity as their primary statistic, which determines their overall effectiveness in combat and their saving throw proficiency.

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Fighters‘ primary abilities can be Strength or Dexterity. They often use ranged weapons and can find themselves in the midst of the enemy on the battlefield. The high score in Dexterity will also increase their ability to dodge attacks.

TheBardclass excels at support, and high dexterity not only enables them to buff their team or debuff enemies early in the fight but also boosts their saving throw proficiency.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Monk Class

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