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I've seen the Baldur's Gate 3 pacifist run, and while this is not exactly that, it's pretty close. One player has completed the entire RPG - on Honor Mode, no less - via no greater means than simply walking at their opponents.
We're at the point in the Baldur's Gate 3 community's life where challenge runs are starting to get pretty serious, and in their latest effort, YouTuber Fracture concocted a build that allowed them to literally run the whole game without making any direct attacks or spells against their enemies. Instead, they used a build that would allow them to use their movement speed as their greatest offensive resource.
As with any of these runs, things start slowly. Fracture isn't able to attack anything on the Nautiloid, so having started out as a Half-Elf Wizard, they sprint through the ship and end up on the beach. Disguising themselves as a Drow, they talk their way through any Goblin encounters to get some of the XP they've missed out on by skipping combat, picking up some boosts to movement speed along the way, like the Haste Helm and Crusher's Ring.
Article continues belowAt level 2, they multi-classed into a cleric of the Drow goddess Eilistraee. After that, the next important item was Phalar Aluve, a sword discovered in the underdark. Add to that the Boots of Stormy Clamour from Omeluum, a respec into a Rogue at level, a Bard-ified version of Astarion capable of Knocking open the Adamantine Chest in the Grymforge, and the build has pretty much come together. Here's how it works:
Having taken the Alert trait to make sure he always gets the first turn in combat, Fracture activates Phalar Aluve's action. See, he can't actually wield the weapon properly, but he can use its 'Shriek' ability, which deals a small amount of Thunder damage to any nearby enemies, and gives them disadvantage on a number of saving throws. That counts as applying a condition, and whenever that happens, Fracture's boots also inflict Reverberation, which deals more Thunder Damage once it hits five stacks.
Normally, Baldur's Gate 3 only allows one instance of Reverberation from Shriek per turn, but that resets with every ability use. That's where the Grymforge chest comes into play, as it hosts a Sentient Amulet that the player can talk to. Talking to the amulet counts as an ability, even though it doesn't actually work during combat - you'll 'use' the jewelry, but your character will simply utter a bark about how now isn't a good time to do that. By walking the Shriek aura back and forth over any enemy positions and hitting up the amulet each time, Fracture's able to stack infinite amounts of Thunder damage until their opponent dies. Coupled with a Sanctuary spell from Shadowheart that's not interrupted by this passive approach to combat, Fracture can simply repeatedly walk at his foes while they're all but powerless to hit back.
After pulling the build together in the Grymforge, Fracture heads to Moonrise Tower and recruits Minthara to grant even more movement speed, respeccing her into an Aspect of the Elk Barbarian to offer another five feet of movement on top of that. Coupled with a couple of class levels into Fighter to unlock action surge and get three dashes in a single turn, Fracture can travel a long way and deal a huge amount of damage.
That number only goes up, however, as Fracture actually discovered an exploit attached to the Aspect of the Elk. As it turns out, it can grant five feet of movement speed per active dash every time Fracture enters Minthara's aura, essentially ensuring that they never run out of stamina and can continue to deal damage by simply walking back and forth until any opponent is dead. The entire Thorm family lies dead by the end of Act 2, with one last major boost to come in Act 3.
By siding with the Bhaalists beneath Baldur's Gate, Fracture can equip the Bhaalist Armour and its Aura of Murder. Crucially, that aura can be toggled on and off, meaning that Shriek is no longer required - by toggling the aura and speaking to the amulet, Fracture does enough reverberation damage that he's able to take down the few bosses remaining in his path to complete his Honor Mode run.
This isn't the first ridiculous Baldur's Gate 3 build I've seen - plenty of items work in bizarre enough combinations that they can be used to cheese swathes of the RPG. What I enjoy here is how many different classes Fracture makes use of. Including the starting classes of Shadowheart, Astarion, and Minthara, I count seven different classes - more than half of the base D&D roster. While there is a terrifying Baldur's Gate 3 achievement that asks that you use all 12 classes in a single run, only 2.2% of the player base has achieved it. This is the closest I've ever actually seen anyone get to that particular smorgasbord, and while this is a very impressive feat in and of itself, seeing the variety that's gone into it is my personal highlight.
