In Honor Mode of Baldur’s Gate 3, you will face significantly more challenges than usual. One class helps to survive even tough fights. This is true even when playing “normally”.
What class is this?
- Thieves are one of the subclasses that Rogues can choose at level 3.
- Rogues are actually one of the weaker classes, but the Thief archetype is among the better specializations.
- Although Thieves receive fewer special actions and abilities compared to Arcane Tricksters and Assassins, they are the best choice in combat and tricky situations.
This is why Thieves are so strong: Compared to other classes, Thieves have a decent damage output. While they cannot oneshot enemies like Assassins can, they are powerful attackers with two hand crossbows.
What sets Thieves apart from all other classes, making them so valuable, is their unique feature “Fast Hands”. At level 3, Thieves get a second bonus action that they can use for various things, such as:
- an attack with the offhand
- drinking a potion
- pushing, which can directly kill enemies
- jumping
- refined actions, special bonus actions only for Rogues
And here comes the strength of the Thief: A Refined Action is the Sprint. With it, you double your movement speed. Thieves can therefore sprint a total of 3 times: once through their normal action and then twice with a bonus action. This is enough in most cases to escape a battle:
- The base movement rate for most characters is 9 meters.
- Sprinting 3 times increases this to 4*9, which is 36 meters.
- To flee from a fight, you need to be 27 meters away from the nearest enemy.
Thus, Thieves can almost always escape, even from scattered enemies, and revive the party should they be wiped out. Additionally, at level 9, Thieves gain the ability to become invisible – making them even better suited for escape. This is especially important in Honour Runs, because here the death of the party means the end of the game.
Want to try it yourself? Here’s how to build:
“Nice idea, but a bar brawler monk is better”
Many in the community agree that Thieves are one of the best classes for Honour Runs (via Reddit). Especially if you have never played in Honor Mode before, the class is ideal. However, some disagree and share their more advanced techniques.
User FarTooYoungForReddit explains his trick. Crossbows would be better suited for Rangers or Bards, as they can deal more damage. A monk would then be better for damage and escape instead of a Rogue:
You can use your Wind Step to sprint or escape. After doing that, you just spam jumps with far more than your movement speed without using your action at all. It feels like you can just escape the Sword Coast in one and a half rounds, and you can jump over enemies to avoid opportunity attacks.
FarTooYoungForReddit on Reddit
Wind Step removes the action cost for jumps, allowing you to move by hopping. With appropriate strength and/or the “Jump” spell, you can easily cover 10–15 meters per jump.
The only problem is that neither works in areas where you cannot go to camp. Even if you escape the fight, you cannot simply revive your companions. But Honor Mode is supposed to be tough.
With the Thief, you make such a run slightly easier, and it is advisable to take every advantage available. The bosses have more abilities in Honour Mode and can sometimes turn a fight that seems won in one round. However, such runs often end simply due to stupidity: Player masters Honour Mode for 90 hours, messes everything up with a fling.
