Leveling up is important in almost every RPG, but for a CRPG as deep and ruthless as Baldur’s Gate 3 can be, being underleveled can make many aspects of the game essentially impossible. Each level provides you with valuable points within your skills, but also the opportunity to learn new abilities for in and out of combat. If you’re too focused on simply trying to complete the main story, sooner or later you will hit a wall and need to level up before you can progress. Or, if you’re more interested in making sure you can crush any battle and pass any skill check without needing to use Inspiration Points to reroll, then knowing the best way to earn XP will get you there. Here’s how you can level up fast in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Fight, fight, fight!
Let’s get the most obvious source of XP out of the way first. Every enemy you slay will deposit a nice, little chunk of XP toward your next level, with the amounts varying depending on the level of your enemies. There are a ton of optional fights in Baldur’s Gate 3, such as some you can just happen to come across in your travels, but also others that you can choose to avoid by talking your way out of a confrontation. With the latter option, you will want to consider whether or not you’re OK with potentially killing the specific person or group you will be fighting. Killing certain characters can have unforeseen consequences later on, but on the other hand, so can letting them live.
Another bonus to earning XP through combat over conversation is that every companion you have with you will earn XP from a battle, as opposed to just the one doing the talking.
Choose your words carefully
On the topic of talking your way out of combat, dialogue will often come with skill checks of various types that you can attempt depending on your stats. This does include persuading others to not fight you, but also things like tricking them, as well as catching on that they’re trying to trick you. Successfully passing these verbal skill checks give you a bit of XP, and sometimes you will earn it for simply choosing a correct response in certain branches, so chatting it up is well worth your time.
This also applies to general skill checks you will come across when perfoming certain non-combat actions. Essentially any time you have the option to roll for an outcome, succeeding will give you XP.
Complete your quests
As long as you’re generally exploring the map (more on that in a bit), you will stumble across a good number of optional quests you can pursue or ignore. While the more tangible rewards of a quest will be different, every single one will give you a decent amount of XP. These quests will typically also lead you to more fights, which are obviously good, as well as the potential to find secret areas, treasures, and puzzles, which also net you more XP.
Explore the world
Finally, don’t just stick to the roads. Go off the beaten path! Every area you find will reward you with some XP just for uncovering it on the map. This will obviously lead to more fights and quests you may have missed. Check your map and see what areas are covered in the fog of war, then fast travel as close as you can and scout it out!
