This guide attempts to comprehensively address initiative throughout all 3 Acts in Baldur's Gate 3. I feel the full read could be insightful for all players, new and old. You can simply search sections by using cntrl+F “Act X Initiative” if you wish. The "Item/Elixir Swapping or Alert?" section at the end serves as a decent TL;DR/summary.
I feel all the different impressions on initiative and the Alert feat can leave some players confused. So I decided to put together a comprehensive guide covering why high initiative is beneficial, what the initiative benchmark goals are for each Act and for specific boss fights, and the options we have to reach these goals- including itemization breakdowns per Act and example builds. The end result suggests Alert often isn’t the definitive Act 1 solution, but it can pick up in value in the late game.
If your characters have higher initiative, then it’s more likely for them to go first in combat, as well as sync their turn order together. Going first lets you eliminate and prepare for threats before they become problematic. For example, KOing the Mud Mephits at a distance before they summon more Mud Mephits and/or swarm you, exploding, and spreading their mud debuff.
Syncing your turn order enables smoother combo plays, such as having your Phalar Aluve Shriek friend stand next to an enemy while your archer KOs them, and then having them walk by another enemy so your Fighter can brutalize them. If the PA holder went after the enemies instead of before, then neither character would be able to benefit from the shriek. Another example is having your martials attack before your spellcaster, so they can finish off multiple enemies with Magic Missile or Scorching Ray. If the caster went before the enemy and the martials after, their spell use could be less efficient.
Does this mean every character should take Alert at level 4? Not exactly. The demands of initiative can be met easily enough with moderate Dex scores and mindful itemization. All in all, the game is easy enough where you could completely ignore initiative and clear it, even on Honor Mode. How much you want to fortify your initiative is up to you. This guide aims to simplify the process and highlight feat and itemization choices to meet initiative benchmarks.
Turn order is determined by 1d4+Dex+Other Bonuses. True Dex is used as a tie-breaker (so 17>16, even though both give +3). If your character has 14 Dex (+2 Dex), then you’d beat out +0 Dex enemies 93.75% of the time, as your total of 3 (2 Dex, 1 Dice) would beat the enemy’s 3, as you’d have higher Dex. However, not all enemies have +0 Dex. Enough enemies have +2 to their initiative where I feel it’d be reasonable to treat +2 on them as a baseline.
In Act 1, various Goblins, most Gnolls, most Duergar, all Harpies, all Bugbears, all Phase Spiders, all Ettercaps, and Nere all have +2 to their initiative. Navigating the wiki to find all character’s initiatives is a pain in the butt, so this list doesn’t encompass all +2 enemies, but I think it gets the point across. If you have +2 and they have +2, this means you’ll be going first 62.5% of the time (maybe 50%, idk what the tie-breaker-tie-breaker is), 37.5% vs 15 Dex having enemies (idk who all does, but some Gnolls and Nere do). This suggests that 16 Dex may be a more comprehensive starting point for all characters.
With 16 Dex (+3), you’d cover those +2 enemies 81.25% of the time. With +4, you’d cover them 93.75% of the time. You don’t need 18 Dex for +4 though, as the game provides you with the Hide Armor+2 (Grat the Trader) and the Bow of Awareness (Roah Moonglow) early on. Between those pieces of equipment and you likely having at least 1 Dex focused character, most of your gang should be able to get the jump on most encounters with 16 Dex.
It is worth highlighting that the following enemies have +3: Gnoll Hunters, the Mask of Terror, the Githyanki Raiders (17 Dex), and Kith'rak Therezzyn (the gith commander that casts AoE Fear). These encounters can drop your +3 and +4 to 62.5% and 81.25% respectively. This puts more emphasis on the +4, and provides decent incentive for +5-6. However, getting even +5 on multiple characters would be significantly more restrictive in Class, Feat, and Itemization choices, let alone +6. It’s up to the player to weigh the opportunity cost here.
+4 and beyond enemies include: Trynn (Paladins of Tyr’s archer), Spider Matriarch, Flind (+7, the Gnoll you can mind control), and dear sweet Aunty Ethel (+7). Trying to go before these enemies consistently would require heavy Class, Feat, and Itemization restrictions. Given the scope of these fights in particular, not much is gained by going ahead of them either.
Given that +3-4 is a pretty prime sweet spot, this suggests you’d want to respec your companions to: 17 main stat, 16 Dex, and 12-14 Con at a base. Due to the utility the feats Lightly Armored and Moderately Armored can provide full casters (Class/Race depending) in the early game (giving access to the Spidersilk Armor, Shields, Hide Armor+2, and The Speedy Lightfeet+Expeditious Retreat), they may want to consider 17 Dex and a 16 casting stat, should their build allow for it. The half ASI from the feats would round them out to 18 Dex. This can be changed later on in the game, as our itemization and build options expand.
Gloom Stalker is worth highlighting, as they get a flat +3 to their initiative at level 3. With at least 16 Dex, this brings them to +6. While Rangers are better known for Bows and Dual Wielding, nothing is stopping us from making a Great Weapon Master Ranger. Instead of Action Surge, “Free” Advantage, Rage, and/or Divine Smite, you have +3 Initiative, Dread Ambush, skill proficiencies, bonus action hide, and Disguise Self (namely for Gith gear, should you want it). Just be mindful of your hit rate, should you go down the Sharpshooter or GWM paths.
Example Act 1 Builds
Note: These aren’t the best builds 100% of time, they’re examples of how focusing on Dex isn’t a huge limitation and can provide unique advantages.
Sor/Lock - 17 Dex, 16 Cha, 14 Con
- Moderately Armored feat for 18 Dex, Shield access, and Speedy Lightfeet for the Expeditious Retreat combo (+1 to hit and damage for each ray, effectively mirroring the bonus you’d get from 18 Cha to EB)
- Either Spidersilk Armor (Con Adv) or Hide Armor+2 (+1 Initiative)
- Melf’s Staff for +1 Spell Save DC, Atk Rolls, and 1 cast of Melf’s Acid Arrow per long rest or Spell Sparkler for a 1d8+1 bonus hit at 5 Lightning Charges
- SLF gives 3 for a bonus action and Sparkler gives 2 for each hit
- Progression: Warlock 1-5, at 6 swap to Sorcerer 4/Warlock 2
- You could respec to dump Dex and take a different feat once you get the Gloves of Dexterity from the Creche (you would lose Shields though if you aren’t a Human/Half-Elf, the loss of SLF is mitigated by the addition of Quickened Spell)
Human/Half-Elf Wizard - 17 Dex, 16 Int, 14 Con
- Same as the Sor/Lock, but using Moderately Armored to boost cantrip and Magic Missile damage with the Speedy Lightfeet combo
- Psychic Spark is excellent for Magic Missile builds
- Could dump Int for Headband of Intellect until you get Act 2 gear
- “Why not just start level 1 Fighter or Cleric?”
- Delays early spell slot and/or class feature progression
- This is mostly important for Divination, Necromancy, maybe Abjuration schools
- Sorcerer 1 or Cleric 1 are fine respecs for Wizard after level 6
- Fighter 1 has more to lose d/t caster level progression: level 7 and 9 enable some really powerful spells, level 8 is a feat (I'm not saying don't ever use it, just highlighting the downsides)
- Not to mention, Spidersilk Armor, Dark Justiciar Armor (Act 2), Armor of Landfall (Early Act 3), and Amulet of Great Health (Late Act 3) all give Con Advantage
Any Martial - 17 Str, 16 Dex, 14 Con
- The feat choice is inconsequential: ASI, Athlete, GWM, whatever floats your boat
- Hide Armor+2 and/or Bow of Awareness
- Dumping Dex for Gloves of Dex is an option once they reach the Creche
- Soulbreaker Greatsword only gives the +1d4 Psychic to Gith, but is still a +1 Greatsword that gives +2 Initiative and Soulbreaker for non-Gith
- Notable for Paladin of Vengeance and Barbarian, as they get “free” Advantage, making the Unseen Menace less enticing
- Frees up the Gloves of Dex, Hide Armor, and/or Bow of Awareness for other characters
Hill Giant Elixir TB Monk - 8 Str, 17 Dex, 16 Wis, 14 Con
- 17 Dex to tie-break 16 Dex enemies
- Bow of Awareness to get to +4 initiative
- Could also use the Graceful Cloth once you reach the Mountain Pass
- Not a terrible Hag Hair Dex candidate, but you should strongly consider who most wants that resource in your team
Non/Pre-Spirit Guardians Light/Life Cleric - 17 Dex, 16 Wis, 14 Con
- Weapon Master feat for 18 Dex and proficiency to atk rolls with Hand Crossbows (dual wielding), Heavy Crossbows (Harold, Giant Breaker) and/or Longbows (Titanstring + Hill Giant Club/Elixir)
- If you were wondering why your Light/Life Cleric Shart still has a poor hit rate, she doesn’t have these proficiencies
- Longbow can be covered by Gloves of Archery or being an Elf (not Half-Elf), but they might want Hellrider’s Pride for support
- Hide Armor+2 if you want to reach +5 initiative earlier
- Kind of niche after level 5 if your Cleric is more spell focused than “support”
- Not a bad “Alert feat at level 4” candidate, as spreading radiating orbs, reverberation), and/or reeling asap is nice
- Assuming you’re using Con Adv gear (like Spidersilker Armor), Elixir of Peerless Focus (crafted from Belladonna), or are otherwise unconcerned about your concentration saves (big AC and/or Portent Dice/Counterspell support).
Act 2 introduces a wealth of initiative boosting items. Most traders will have Scale Mail+2 (higher AC sidegrade to Hide Armor+2) and Studded Leather Armor+2 (Light Armor). Last Light Inn has the Yuan-Ti Scale Mail (no Dex limit Medium Armor). Lann Tarv in Moonrise Towers sells the Fistbreaker Helm (+1 bonus and +1 to spell save DC), the Halberd of Vigilance (+1d4 Force damage, +1 bonus, and Avantage on Perception checks), and the Sentinel Shield (+3 bonus and Advantage on Perception checks).
The Act 2 initiative goals remain roughly the same as Act 1. +4 is the soft goal, +5 is notably better, and +6 is luxury. There is one enemy that can stand out as one you really want to get the jump on though: Marcus. Dude has +6, suggesting you’ll want at least +8-9 (81-94%) on 1-2 of your characters so you can dumpster his ass before he can even think about touching Isobel.
This +9 can be achieved with at least 2 characters without using Alert or the Elixir of Vigilance by stacking initiative gear (of course, Alert and the Elixir are both options too). Depending on how you arrived at the Last Light Inn, you may not have access to Lann Tarv’s gear until after fighting Marcus. All in all, even if you’re opposed to using Elixirs frequently, Marcus may be a good fight to pop a few before.
- Ex 1, no Lann Tarv: Dex (+4), Armor (+1), Bow (+1), Soulbreaker Greatsword (+2)
- Ex 2, Lann Tarv: Dex (+4), Armor (+1), Fistbreaker Helm (+1), Sentinel Shield (+3)
Other high initiative enemies include Balthazar (+7), Yurgir (+8), Malus Thorm (+4), and Gerringothe Thorm (+9). The latter 3 fights can be avoided or made significantly easier through specific dialogue checks, and the former 3 fights generally have you focusing down their allies first. Of these fights, Balthazar could be a good one to try to beat in initiative, either to ORKO him or to help keep his Legendary Action more under control. Compared to Marcus though, it’s fairly inconsequential.
If you’re looking for new gear, right away in Rivington you can pick up the Hellrider Longbow (+3 bonus) from Ferg, as long as Shart is either not in your group (either in camp, or ungrouped at a distance) or if Shart completed the evil Shart ritual in Act 2. Exxvikyap sells the Ambusher (+1 and a really good stat stick for archers/dual wielders), the Elven Chain (+2, fairly decent armor for some spellcasters), and the Stalker Gloves (+1 and have a bonus 1d4 force damage with Sneak Attack, which is a DRS outside of Honor Mode). You can also pick up the Nimble Finger Gloves, provided you saved the Ironhand Gnomes in Act 2.
In the lower city, you can steal the Mask of Soul Perception (+2 to initiative, atk, and perception) from the Devil’s Fee. Wyrm’s Rock has the Flame Enamelled Armor (+1, +2 to saves, fire shield, and fire resistance). And The Counting House has the Elegant Studded Leather (+2, free Shield spell, no Dex limit to AC).
Completing the Murder Tribunal and becoming an Unholy Assassin gives access to the Bhaalist Armor (+2 and bugged to make all enemies vulnerable to piercing damage, often considered Best in Slot gear) and the Assassin of Bhaal Cowl (+2). While it’s not “gear” per se, the Mirror of Loss from the House of Grief gives an additional +2 to any stat for anyone, aside from “good” Shadowheart. If your other stat goals are satisfied or the character is using a Cloud Giant Elixir build, this could easily go to Dex for an additional +1 to your initiative. If you’re using a Dex build, this is probably going to Dex anyways.
Acts 1 and 2 feature a healthy amount of +2 enemies with some +3’s sprinkled in. Act 3 is similar, but with +4 and +5 enemies showing up every so often in packs. This ups the passive initiative goal to 6-7 for 81-94%, moreso 7-8 as some have 18 Dex.
Higher initiative enemies include: The Steel Watch (+6 w/ 22 Dex), Ethel (+7), Orin (+7), Dolor (+9), and Cazador (+9). Of these, the Steel Watchers stand out as a pain point, as each turn they have to act is another turn they could kill more Gondians (if you care to save them). They hit hard and are a nuisance in general, so you may want +8-9 for your initiative when facing them. Orin may also be one to push your initiative further for, as her breaking up your team's turn order could get members killed by Bhaal’s Edict and can help rush her down in general before she gets Murderous Assault up. She also has 22 Dex, so +9-10 is the “safe” range (81-94%).
With the robust itemization and 2-3 feats at our disposal, meeting the basic +7-8 isn’t difficult but is easy to overlook. For the few fights you really want to pump it up, you could rearrange your equipment or indulge in the Elixir of Vigilance. Build depending, you could reasonably swap elixirs after initiative is rolled should you want to benefit from Bloodlust, Cloud Giant, or anything else. Some builds may have difficulty with that though (namely the Monk, Barbarian, Spore Druid, Sorcerer, and some Swords Bards, which utilize their bonus actions more than most other builds). It’s up to you to weigh the opportunity cost here for your specific build.
It all comes down to what the character build is and what your goals are. I’ll provide some examples to clarify, but first some questions to ask yourself are:
- Does my build have non-negotiable feats? If it takes ASI, Alert wouldn’t be a bad trade-off
- Does my build have a non-negotiable elixir slot and/or round 1 bonus action? If no to either, Elixir of Vigilance and/or turn 1 elixir swapping is an option for higher initiative encounters
- Does my build have a non-negotiable bow/helmet/glove slot? If not, Mask of Soul Perception, Hellrider’s, etc. may be a good fit
For example, if you want to maximize crit, then your Weapon, Bow, Helmet, and Elixir slots are fairly non-negotiable. Most often, this will just leave your Armor to work with. +5-6 initiative isn’t quite 7-8, let alone 8-10. In this case, working in Alert could be your “best” solution, if hitting >7 initiative is appealing to you.
Most full caster builds have decent gear, feat, elixir, and bonus action availability. For them, it’ll often come down to what gear you need/want on them and/or freed up for your other characters, and how important the bonus action on turn 1 is for them.
Below are some example builds that showcase how difficult and easy it can be to pump up initiative. Keep in mind that 7-8 is the “goal” with >7 being a stretch goal for specific encounters (should you want it).
TB Monk (Monk 8/Thief 4) link
- The standard is to dump Str for Giant Elixirs and shoot for 18 Dex and high Wis
- Feats are generally TB, ASI (Dex+Wis), ASI (Wis+Wis), using Khalid’s Gift or Hag Hair to bring Wis to an even number
- Itemization is fairly strict, leaving only the Bow slot free for +3 Initiative
- Given that this build relies on Cloud Giant Elixir, we’d have to spend a bonus action to do the Elixir swap method
- The majority of a Monks utility comes from their bonus action
- Therefore, swapping the ASI (Wis+Wis) for Alert could be the “best” solution to get >7 initiative (should you want it)
- To reiterate, reaching +7 is the “goal” and that is achieved with Dex+Hellrider, going >7 for some encounters is the stretch goal that is difficult here without Alert
Throwzerker (Barb 5/Thief 4/Fighter 3) link
- The standard is to dump Str for Giant Elixirs and shoot for high Dex and Con
- The post isn’t clear on specific stats, but since we don’t need a casting stat to manage likely 16 Dex + Mirror of Loss (+4), 17 Dex if using Hag Hair (+5)
- The Bow (+1 or 3), Armor (+1 or 2), and potentially the Helmet (+1 or 2) slots are free
- Helmet of Grit is huge here, but if you don’t want to manage the HP range then any helmet is fine
- The majority of the Throwzerker’s power come from their bonus action
- Throwzerker is pretty flexible with managing initiative with equipment, even moreso if they took an uncanny Dex Hag Hair
Pyro Control Sorcerer (Sorc 11/Warlock 1) link
- Primary stat goals are high Dex and Cha w/ Scorching Ray spam
- The Bow (+1 or 3), Armor (+1 or 2), Gloves (+1 or 2), and Off Hand (+3) are fairly negotiable
- Changing items and feats can have a massive impact on their damage dealing potential and comfort, in ways that may be less straightforward than the Monk or Throwzerker
- Spellmight Gloves apply 1d8 to each ray
- Removing Dual Wielding and Rhapsody removes +3 spell save DC and damage from each ray
- Removing Armor of Landfall or Dark Justiciar Half-Plate) (there are 2 variations)) removes Con Advantage
- Removing Bloodlust or elixir swapping reduces actions per turn
- As with Monk, simply dropping ASI for Alert has the fewest consequences for damage and utility
- Unlike Monk, there is a reasonable amount of give in itemization and playstyle/comfort to gain >7 initiative by swapping around equipment
u/Dxiled helped considerably with identifying the softer initiative goals in the game and with evaluating how initiative isn’t always the best solution vs higher initiative bosses
u/Prestigious_Juice341 for proof reading this, as well as inspiring the creation of such robust and extensive guides, along with providing a “baseline” of what could be considered “optimized” character builds to use as examples
https://bg3.wiki/ for making it relatively simple to navigate enemy stats to determine initiative goals, along with having a page listing out all of the sources for boosting initiative
I’d also like to apologize for any confusion my previous post on the Alert feat may have caused. My intent was an escalation towards +6-7 in Act 1, not that +6-7 was the letter of law for Act 1. I also didn’t elaborate in detail on all the options available and the opportunity cost of having >7 initiative. I hope this guide serves the community better.
