10 Baldur’s Gate 3 Updates That Stop Players From Cheesing The Game

Devout fans of the beloved Baldur’s Gate 3 are always trying to find interesting new ways to cheese the game and cheat the system by taking advantage of exploits and loopholes that Larian Studios probably wasn’t considering during development. However, Larian has been on top of its game about providing fixes to these oversights with various patches since launch. The newest Patch 7 is no exception, and there are quite a few notes dedicated to fixing cheese-able parts of Baldur’s Gate 3.

These updates prevent players from taking advantage of bugs, using search or trade features in ways they weren’t intended to be used, and much more. They all focus on elements of gameplay that are being used in unintended ways, and are sometimes partially the fault of the developer for not thinking about how creative Baldur’s Gate 3 players would be.

10 Wall Bug

Players Were Able To Pass Through Certain Destructible Walls More Stealthily

Before Patch 7, players were experiencing a strange issue that, when attacking destructible walls in a certain way, the party member would instead navigate through the wall, without breaking it, and try to break it from the other side. Players were able to exploit this glitch to pass through certain destructible walls more stealthily, or to get through walls without wasting time or resources destroying them.

Players were able to exploit this glitch to pass through certain destructible walls more stealthily, or to get through walls without wasting time or resources destroying them.

Apparently there was a bug that allowed players to attack a destructible wall, but instead of destroying the wall they would walk through it without it breaking. According to the Patch 7 notes on the Baldur’s Gate 3 website: “Fixed a bug that would let you waltz your way through destructible walls without actually destroying them. (You could attempt to attack the wall and your character would pathfind right through it in search of a comfortable spot from which to take a swing.)“

9 Wild Shape Bug

Characters In Wild Form Weren’t Dying

Fans of the druid class in Baldur’s Gate 3 may have noticed that using Wild Shape and then casting the seeming spell would yield some unexpected results. Once characters in their Wild Shape were affected by seeming, they were able to drop to zero health without dying. Needless to say, Larian didn’t intend for there to be any invincible druids making their way through Baldur’s Gate, so they addressed it in the recent patch.

While it may have been fun not to worry about dying while in Wild Shape, players will need to find new ways to avoid death as a druid. Or, for players interested in invincibility, Patch 7 also includes official mod support for PC and console, so there will be no shortage of great new community mods that make death a thing of the past.

8 Lathander’s Light Dark Urge Trick

A Trick That Could Save Beloved Companions From The Dark Urge

Players embarking on their first Dark Urge run may have been torn when certain companions were lost. So it’s no wonder veteran players pieced together a little trick that could save their beloved companions from the Dark Urge using the The Blood of Lathander‘s passive ability. Equipping the item on the companion that the Dark Urge kills would presumably save that companion from death: “Lathander’s Light will no longer be able to save companions that the Dark Urge was driven to kill,” according to the patch notes.

Understandably, Larian thought it prudent to patch this up because it completely nullifies one of the essential experiences of playing as Dark Urge. While it was a smart workaround, failing to lose these companions detracts from the Dark Urge experience, and ultimately, players should feel the impact of the Dark Urge’s impulses directly on their gameplay.

7 Active Search Cheese

Players Used Active Search To Obtain Some Valuable Loot

There aren’t many patch notes in Patch 7 as sassy or direct in addressing a cheese as the Active Search patch note, which fixed a loophole that players were using to obtain some very valuable loot in Ramazith’s Tower. This area was intentionally built with many booby traps and a somewhat elaborate puzzle that frustrated quite a few players, but also holds some of the best items in the game. The patch note reads, “You can no longer use the Active Search feature to bypass the booby-trapped display case in Ramazith’s Tower and pick up the key inside it. Smarty-pantses.“

Apparently, some very astute players realized that the active search tool allowed them to grab the valuable keys locked away inside these display cases: Counting House Safe No. 1 Key and the Sorcerous Sundries Mystery Door Key. Players will now have to resort to more traditional methods after Patch 7.

6 Unlock Through Trade Cheese

Players Were Opening Boxes And Containers In A Very Simple Way

Prior to the Patch 7 update’s changes to BG3, there was a way to open locked boxes and containers without using a lock-pick, spell, or any other conventional method. The update fixed an exploit allowing players to open locked containers while trading. The patch notes say, “You can no longer open locked containers through trade as if they weren’t locked.”

Essentially, the player could see what was inside and simply drag the items over to their inventory instead of unlocking the mechanism through proper methods. For certain major quests and to access loot without wasting resources, this was a convenient little workaround, albeit unintended by developers over at Larian. Players will now have to resort to the old-fashioned lock-pick or smash-and-bash methods to get into locked containers.

5 Cazador’s Pentagram Cheese

It Was Possible To Cheese The Pentagram Function

When players finally reach Cazador Szarr during Astarion’s dark and twisted questline, they’re in for a pretty tough fight. Any advantage or upper hand the party can utilize will be incredibly useful, so it’s no surprise players discovered it was possible to cheese the pentagram function on the dungeon floor to acquire additional bonus actions for their characters each turn. An extra bonus action makes the fight much more manageable, but it isn’t something Larian considered fair play, according to the patch notes:

Fixed a bug in Cazador’s fight where it was possible to get more than 1 extra Bonus Action per turn for the same character by stepping on and off the pentagram in front of Astarion several times per turn.

Crucially, players were able to cheese the pentagram in front of Astarion’s pillar in order to gain an unfair advantage with the additional bonus action. This dungeon and Astarion’s legendary final battle were given a handful of quality-of-life updates, as well as an Honour Mode boss update for Cazador that allows him to use legendary abilities in Mist Form.

4 Viconia vs. Shadowheart Wild Shape Cheese

A Trick To Prevent Viconia From Using Her Shadowheart-Specific Spells

In the dramatic showdown between Viconia DeVir and Shadowheart, some players found an interesting trick that would prevent Viconia from using her powerful Shadowheart-specific spells as long as Shadowheart was in Wild Shape. This was an extremely useful trick when dealing with Viconia’s various mapping of the heart spells, a unique set of conditions caused by the ritual undergone when players sit on the bench in the House of Grief. However, Larian put an end to that exploit: “Viconia can now target Shadowheart with her trademark spells even if Shadowheart is Wild-Shaped.“

While this advantage was minimal compared to how difficult the fight is, it did exploit a small loophole that Larian hadn’t quite intended for this particular sequence. It also clearly broke immersion, because it wouldn’t matter from a narrative perspective that Shadowheart was Wild-Shaped – she’s still Shadowheart.

3 Moonrise Towers Tieflings Bug

An Easy Way To Rescue The Tieflings

Another difficult task in Act Two is rescuing all the prisoners in Moonrise Towers. Players would often struggle to rescue the tieflings, and after some trial and error, they realized it was possible to simply leave the area and the tieflings from the Moonrise Tower would be alive and well back at Moonrise upon completion of the fight. However, it seems Larian realized this was in poor taste, and patched the issue, noting in the patch summary, “Fixed a bug where the imprisoned tieflings in Moonrise Towers would be saved and brought to Moonrise if you left the area while they were being rescued.”

It is no longer possible to save the tieflings just by bailing on the area all together, and players will have to actually escort them to the escape boats as intended. Fortunately, this can be done fairly easily with a little practice and careful planning.

2 Witch Bolt Exploit

Allowed Players To Cast An Extremely Powerful Bolt On Multiple Targets

For sorcerers who love a good upcasted Witch Bolt, the Metamagic: Twinned Spell passive feature allowed players to essentially cast an extremely powerful bolt on multiple targets, which is not necessarily a fair use of the spell – at least from Larian’s perspective. The patch notes read, “Upcasts of Witch Bolt can no longer be used with Metamagic: Twinned Spell.” This may feel like more of a nerf to the spell than an exploit fix, but the patch addressed it nonetheless.

The issue with Witch Bolt was fixed on some level in a previous patch, noting the logic that a secondary cast of the Witch Bolt would technically break Concentration. This means casting two Witch Bolts at the same time is technically against Baldur’s Gate 3‘s rules.

1 Leap Of Faith Trial

A Very Easy Workaround To An Otherwise Challenging Puzzle

One of the most prevalent cheese fixes from Larian is in the Guantlet of Shar, an infamous dungeon full of puzzles and hidden pathways. Larian finally decided to patch a major cheese in the Leap of Faith trial inside the Gauntlet of Shar. This puzzle requires players to navigate a hidden path across an abyss, with the map of the correct path laid out on the floor. However, players were able to simply select the Move option, causing characters to pathfind their way across the hidden path, no navigating required.

“You can no longer cheese the Leap of Faith trial at the Gauntlet of Shar by just clicking the final platform and letting your character pathfind their way there. Shar threatened to smite us if we didn’t fix this one,” reads the patch notes. This one probably comes as no surprise to Baldur’s Gate 3 fans, seeing as it’s become a very easy workaround to an otherwise challenging puzzle. Players will now have to give this one a little more attention.

Source: Baldur’s Gate 3