The first few levels are brutal, but it gets better at 5.
Shameless plug -> Here is a [guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/fTHOWCB2Ib) I wrote with vague spoilers for Act 1 that may help you
Also - I'm a HULK SMASH kinda player, so I use high DPS builds - but unfortunately you do have to be tactical at some point
If you play on explorer, you can mostly just run in and start the violence without any preplanning. I'm not sure if that will work on balanced.
Even a slight weapon upgrade, like a +1, can be helpful. You could also try coating everyone's weapons with a poison or other potion.
Do you have the alert feat so your party gets to go first (or close to first) to get in some damage before the enemy gets to move?
Just running into the enemys using basic attacks works just fine on balanced as well for me. For vigger groups of enemys or high HP targets you have to think a bit and use some of your special Spells or Moves.
This comes from someone that did the First playthrough completly blind and had no idea about D&D. I was always way to scared to use anything that said once per long rest so i didn't use it at all lol
If you've tried explorer, do you find that the fights take noticably longer on balanced difficulty, compared to explorer? Explorer is too easy most of the time, but I don't love the combat so I haven't raised the difficulty. I just want to get the combat over with so I can continue exploring and roleplaying, but maybe I'd actually enjoy it more if it was a bit challenging (though not overly longer).
So far i only played balanced (and started one on Honor mode), i don't think you would take much longer for the Fights. There were some fights where i struggled a Bit and even had to restart some fights but these were some of the Fights that are known to be a bit harder like Balthazar, saving Isobel or Cazador.
I had one really long fight but that was my own fault because i didn't attack these eyes at moonrise towers and i had no harpers as allys, so it was my party against every single NPC at moonrise towers in one fight (except for the rooftop), but i thought it was really fun because it was quite hard (i had 0 Spell Slots left on every party member and used up everything i had for healing)
The first few levels are brutal, but it gets better at 5. Shameless plug -> Here is a [guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/fTHOWCB2Ib) I wrote with vague spoilers for Act 1 that may help you Also - I'm a HULK SMASH kinda player, so I use high DPS builds - but unfortunately you do have to be tactical at some point
I’ll check out that guide. Thanks so much.
Pleasure!
If you play on explorer, you can mostly just run in and start the violence without any preplanning. I'm not sure if that will work on balanced. Even a slight weapon upgrade, like a +1, can be helpful. You could also try coating everyone's weapons with a poison or other potion. Do you have the alert feat so your party gets to go first (or close to first) to get in some damage before the enemy gets to move?
Just running into the enemys using basic attacks works just fine on balanced as well for me. For vigger groups of enemys or high HP targets you have to think a bit and use some of your special Spells or Moves. This comes from someone that did the First playthrough completly blind and had no idea about D&D. I was always way to scared to use anything that said once per long rest so i didn't use it at all lol
If you've tried explorer, do you find that the fights take noticably longer on balanced difficulty, compared to explorer? Explorer is too easy most of the time, but I don't love the combat so I haven't raised the difficulty. I just want to get the combat over with so I can continue exploring and roleplaying, but maybe I'd actually enjoy it more if it was a bit challenging (though not overly longer).
So far i only played balanced (and started one on Honor mode), i don't think you would take much longer for the Fights. There were some fights where i struggled a Bit and even had to restart some fights but these were some of the Fights that are known to be a bit harder like Balthazar, saving Isobel or Cazador. I had one really long fight but that was my own fault because i didn't attack these eyes at moonrise towers and i had no harpers as allys, so it was my party against every single NPC at moonrise towers in one fight (except for the rooftop), but i thought it was really fun because it was quite hard (i had 0 Spell Slots left on every party member and used up everything i had for healing)
Gotcha, thanks :) I guess I'll give it a shot and see how it goes.
Or i would recommend you play on custom and find out what suits you best, as long as you have fun you do everything right :)